September 29, 2009
IoTM Review: Shugar-y.
Are we sick of Tomes yet? No? Cause, you know, this month’s IoTM (with the review barely in in time!) is the Tome of Sugar Shummoning. This is a tome that lets you summon 3 Sugar Sheets a day, which you can then change into a wide variety of equipment. These last for approximately 30 combats, then break into Sugar Shards, which are healing items.
Frankly, I think this is much more effective than the other tome I have, the Sticker Tome. In this run, I have used Sugar equipment a ton. It is amazingly useful in Hardcore, especially in Hardcore Oxy, where a day’s worth of summons can keep you in equipment for all of your day’s turns. The Sugar Shorts stat boost is nothing to sneeze at, and until you build your Legendary Epic Weapon or whatever, a Sugar Shotgun, Sugar Shank, or even Sugar Shillelagh for Seal Clubbers are all viable options. Finally, if you have Torso Awaregness, the extra substats from the Sugar Shirt are almost reason enough to have the tome right there, if you’re a serious ascender.
I compare this to the Sticker Tome, and the stickers just come up short. Sure, there are plenty of very strong enchantments on the stickers, but having to be stuck with the Sticker Sword really just kind of nullifies them for me. The main reasons you’d want to use it would be for things like substat and +item boosts, and both those things just don’t seem worth it if you’re having a lot of trouble killing monsters, which is going to happen if you get the sword early, at 10 power, to use these enchantments. I’m sure that more skilled players use the stickers all the damn time, but I have trouble getting myself to use them if I don’t have Double-Fisted Skull Smashing, so I can still equip another weapon, and even then I rarely think to use it. It just goes by the wayside.
For whatever reason, this temporary equipment clicks with me in a way that makes it feel slightly less consumable, and that makes me take advantage of it. That’s neat stuff. Well, it is to me.
So yeah, it’s another tome. But it’s a very good tome. It comes recommended. Plus, let’s face it, if you’re speed ascending in Hardcore, you need the Sugar Shirt anyway, so you’ve already got the tome. But, you know, at least you can feel confident that I agree with your purchase. Everyone cares what I think, right? That’s why I write on the internet. So people can care about what I think.
Right?