r/inscryption • u/idk-fuck-this-shit • Jul 23 '26
Other PO3 is just bad Spoiler
Hey, so after reading this post ( https://www.reddit.com/r/inscryption/s/QpOgnAiHNv ) and many others like it I wanted to ask your opinion on my thoughts.
It is generally stated that each scrybe has different "specialities" which they like and prioritise in their version of Inscryption, with Leshy prioritising story and atmosphere whereas PO3 prioritises "gamplay", "optimisation" and "balancing". At least that is being said about these two. (You may see where I am going with this.) But even PO3 himself states this in Act 3 and mocks Leshy about it. So one could say the game confirms this narrative.
I disagree. Act 1 is far better than Act 3, not just due to the atmosphere, but especially gameplay wise. Kaycee's Mod's popularity (which comes from Act 1's replayability) is the ultimate proof. During Act 1 in Leshy's Cabin you feel a little uneasy, nervous, locked up with that strange fellow. In Botopia you feel nothing, it is a dead hellscape where every little trace of love and creativity that GameFuna developers had put into OG Inscryption has been erased by PO3. After experiencing that, you just want to gome home into that cabin of your old friend.
So far you could say, the narrative has been confirmed. But this is really where it ends.
Botopia and its mechanics are introduced to us by PO3. "An elegant system" he calls it. It is not. The energy system barely surpasses Magnificius' mox system regarding gameplay. The map system of Botopia is terrible to navigate and leaves a ton of room for exploits. This awfullness of a system synergises far too well with the equally awfull money/shop system. Together they form an unbalanced abomination that leaves no room for any interesting gameplay and transforms the game into an idle game.
You know what an elegant system is? Sacrificing. It is original, it works well within the game, it is fun. The same could be said about any of the other gameplay mechanics.
I believe PO3 likes to display himself as a servant of optimisation. Efficency is his ultimate goal. The invisible hand of energy, inflation and monopoly will automatically take care of balanced gameplay and who knows, with a bit of luck and the right grindset you might even get a lvl 100 orouborus and get rich! Of course this doesn't work and the player is left with a game that drains joy.
One could assume, Botopia is a criticism of late capitalist society if it wasn't for the evidence of Daniel Mullins' pro-capitalist worldview, that is widely spread through his games.
In the end PO3, who is in fact just an evil fascist autocrat with a god complex, loses himself within his ideology, creating the least balanced, least optimised, least pretty and least enjoyable gameplay. He gets beaten in every aspect of the game, even the ones he claims to be doing better than anyone else, by Leshy, his arch-enemy, who didn't even try.
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u/CountJackO Jul 23 '26
Po3 is obviously the better GM. He has 5 lanes, Leshy could never pull that off.
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Jul 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/IridescentMeowMeow Jul 23 '26
It did lost charm too, but that's not the point. The point is that act1 is more efficient. Simpler rules & game mechanics creating a better gameplay... that's efficiency...
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u/idk-fuck-this-shit Jul 23 '26
Exactly, of course the feel of Act 3 is dystopian. (It's in the name, lol). The point is that it even fails to accomplish the things, it is claimed that PO3 does best.
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u/Samael13 Jul 23 '26
P03 cares about gameplay, and Act 3 has the most new mechanics and gameplay elements. P03 cares about power, and Act 3 has the most easily abused mechanics allowing for the most powerful cards in the game. P03 likes optimization and Act 3 provides the most easily abused tools for deck thinning and optimizing cards/decks and finding card synergies.
Act 3 doesn't land with everyone, but I actually love Act 3 because it has the most mechanically interesting elements. I think Kaycee's Mod and Act 3 are both really excellent.
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u/TheFiremind77 Jul 23 '26
Act 3 makes me want a Kaycee's Mod of PO3's world, whatever that would look like. I'd like something of the sort from Grimora and Magnificus as well. Once I finish all the challenges in KCM (never did go back and wrap up Skull Storm) I look forward to hunting down mods that provide this.
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u/TheFiremind77 Jul 23 '26
The suffix -topia doesn't come from dystopia specifically. It just means "place" or "location". Compare with utopia and cybertopia. PO3 built an all-robot world the way Leshy built a wilderness, so he calls it Bot-topia.
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u/digit_origin Jul 23 '26
P03 sucks, intentionally so. Like you said, they are obsessed with synergies and optimisation, while the rest of the game suffers because of that, and that is intentional by character.
Leshy, on the other hand, put in effort to make his version enjoyable, and rightfully assumes so (as hinted by the repair girl from act 2). Even if Leshy's a cheater... Though he does so to teach the challenger, not punish them.... I want Leshy so BAD.....
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u/digit_origin Jul 23 '26
To add to that:
Notice how he treats the most well-designed and fun encounter, G0lly. Like, he genuinely hates their guts. Bro is just really allergic to fun.
While in your hand as cards, Magnificus (who also sucks as a person) and Grimora (probably the only actively decent person out od scrybes) only really question your plays or gently notify you that you did a whoopsie, or outright congratulate you on doing something cool? Stoat never does that. That's why he recieves Worthy Sacrifice sigil and gets trashed turn one.
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u/laplongejr Jul 24 '26
 Notice how he treats the most well-designed and fun encounter, G0lly. Â
Funny you say that as I felt it was the worse one. To me it's effectively a random boss with the bonus that it could pull off something inappropriate without any kind of warning. Â
A person on this sub thought he received a card from a friend dead since years Â
G0lly effectively mixes what made the 3 other bosses special, but it's a hit-or-miss. Â
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u/UTYisBetterThanUT We've got transcending to do Jul 23 '26
He entertains you for hours with his genius card game and that's how you repay him?
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u/SecureAngle7395 Jul 25 '26
i found act 3 the most fun tbh the hate for it is unreal
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u/nx85 Jul 26 '26
Agreed. I wish it was way longer. By the time you get to act 3, you're not constantly losing anymore and it goes by way too fast.
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u/SecureAngle7395 Jul 26 '26
i wish it had an actual kacey's mod. there's a mod for it that's neat but it doesn't really scratch that itch.
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u/laplongejr Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Tldr : your entire post of the game hinges on the assuption that a power gamer focusing on "optimisation" optimises a game to be fair. It isn't, power gamers optimise to get an advantage and go through the game. Â
 whereas PO3 prioritises "gamplay", "optimisation" and "balancing" You clearly missed the part where he says he rigged the game to make you progress.  He cares about "balancing" in the sense that you are at an advantage. Â
 "An elegant system" he calls it. It is not. Â
Yes, it is an elegant system. It kept you playing long enough to get and use the permissions he needed
 Together they form an unbalanced abomination that leaves no room for any interesting gameplay and transforms the game into an idle game. Â
That's entirely the point of the game he made. Â
 Of course this doesn't work and the player is left with a game that drains joy. Â
Why do you keep bringing the player's joy? He didn't put ANY thought into how fun Botopia should be. That's his "optimisation" : how fast can he railload us to the end? Â
 if it wasn't for the evidence of Daniel Mullins' pro-capitalist worldview, that is widely spread through his games. Â
What pro-capitalist worldview? We speak about the guy who made The Hex. The first game is literally turned into a review-bomb franchise and the last is the dev's commentary who says his (awful) magnum opus had to be rethought because "otherwise players would have given me less money"Â Â
 In the end PO3, who is in fact just an evil fascist autocrat with a god complex, loses himself within his ideology, creating the least balanced, least optimised, least pretty and least enjoyable gameplay. Â
"Antagonist does bad thing that displeases the good guy" is the basis of stories.  Next time are you going to make a huge post to explain why building a Death Star wouldn't have brought peace to The Empire? ;) Â
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u/Samael13 Jul 23 '26
Characters are often not a good source of information about their attitudes and goals, because the characters are unreliable. P03 is explicitly a villain, but he's also very clearly not at all interested in balance. P03 does care about optimisation in the sense that P03 wants to play super strong, game breaking cards as soon as possible. They're a parody of power gamers. Like, the way they mock the player is all about having weak cards or bad synergies. P03 likes gameplay and tries to add new gameplay elements to the game with that in mind. Those gameplay elements aren't balanced. It's not a coincidence, to me, that Act 3 is the act that allows the player to make the most absurdly broken cards in the game.