Simon's Quest doesn't deserve to be called a bad game. The music and graphics are quite good for the NES and the open structure of the game was quite novel and many elements like the leveling system became staples of the series from SotN onward. The thing that really holds it back is the terrible english translation which makes the puzzles way harder than they need to be.
Noxar
Atlus keeps making me regret buying their games on release with these definitive editions that are definitely better versions of the games but are sold for the same price with no option to upgrade from the original version.
I had the same experience with the game. It has a really cool world and story but as I finished the game, because I guess I wanted to be able to say I've finished one of the classics, I felt mostly just annoyed. There were moments where the game felt truly magical but the controls were constantly stopping me from getting immersed. It's one of those unfortunate instances where everything else is great but it fails for me in the most important aspect of a game which is the gameplay.
Sure there aren't that many cards but those cards are so well balanced. Every single card has its uses so you're constantly presented with interesting decisions. It feels like almost every other roguelike has dead time where you're just going through the motions whereas in slay the spire you're making decisions from floor 1.
Would you like them to test on you instead?
I can't help but respect spy mains because they play by far the weakest merc in the game. If your team has a somewhat competent pyro on spy duty they don't get to do anything.