My typical tactic is taking out the smaller enemies then tackling the shield guys. Obviously it makes more sense to reduce the numbers especially when the player has only 3 attacks and the shield guy starts the fight with 2 shields already. The problem in that photo came from two events:
1) one of the enemies would always instantly flee whenever I attacked, with him doing the "flee when attacked" mechanic each time I faced him so I ended up chasing him through several battles up to that point in the photo (the angry individual in the middle if you're curious). But as you can see he wasn't the only one I chased up to the boss level.
2) the first shield guy I ran into fled after a few attacks and I ended up fighting two shield guys later on who perpetually boosted their shields until one fled again and I could focus battling the other - praying he didn't flee either. Luckily he didn't, but still resulted in a massive boss fight.
I played for about an hour and similar results would occur. Again, maybe just bad luck on my part. I understand the flee mechanic is to prevent exploiting card mechanics and I think it's a winner, but maybe veterans only occur after the first boss or appear only once or can't flee? Either way still loving the game!
Developers, the game is amazing and not adding more would be a sin and will make dolphins cry.
Please don't sit on this game too long. I was very impressed with what I played and can see this game blowing up if it moves past this initial stage.
Even with the design loopholes everyone is figuring out (with the main one being fighting an enemy who doesn't attack and exploiting card rules-I got a card up to over 450 damage after grinding) I think the big make-or-break mechanic will be how dying is approached.
Some sort of mechanic to get a card you built up back will make it worth playing again. Maybe add a shop keeper that sells 3 of your old cards picked randomly? Or a shroom token to turn in for one of your old cards? Something. Anything. Anyway, keep it up!
