I'd say it's very tastefully done too, Nokomento did a great job of unifying the characters under a consistent style. If you compare anything from the original print of War of Indines to Devastation of Indines it's night and day. The only character that sticks out as fan service to me is a very minor one (One of Gerard's mercenaries, but I think they're supposed to be archtype-driven and a bit cartoonish anyway).
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New Board Gaming |OT2| On Tables, Off Topic
- Thread starter Karkador
- Start date
I'd say it's very tastefully done too, Nokomento did a great job of unifying the characters under a consistent style. If you compare anything from the original print of War of Indines to Devastation of Indines it's night and day. The only character that sticks out as fan service to me is a very minor one (One of Gerard's mercenaries, but I think they're supposed to be archtype-driven and a bit cartoonish anyway).
BomberMouse
Member
It's up to you, do you like co-ops, minis, anime aesthetics and a medieval setting?
The rules are on bgg, take a look.
Iced_Eagle
Member
I'm in Seattle, but dammit if the game is good enough I might as well do a relatively short road trip.
I shot them an email asking if they still had any in stock.One thing I'll never get about KS-native games is how their creators manage to really nail that second-rate feel on pretty much everything, whether it's art, components, or especially game design. I'm looking at the Ghostbusters II KS right now and it's just a classic example -- pretty amazing license, art and sculpts seem pretty OK, but the game just looks mediocre as anything. Now there are tons of mediocre games released outside of KS, but they're not pulling in $1m+ or even 1/20th of that. Can't help but think all the hoarders stacking up these KS games is not great for the hobby because eventually they'll just stop buying games altogether. And if these KS games are peoples' first intro to the hobby, as opposed to some classic like Dominion, Carcassonne, or heck even Catan, that can't be good either.
BattleMonkey
Member
KS just feeds into ppls need to have it, cause otherwise they might miss exclusives.... That they think they need. You see it all the time, the folks thinking they are getting value, yet they spend hundreds on kickstarters cause they had to get all those add one and exclusives! Game they have no idea is good or not, but they still go and spend 300-500 on a kickstarters. Would they do such a thing for a game in store? No, cause they have no fear of being left out of exclusives like kickstarters do.
Ghostbusters was not a good game, it reviewed poorly, and stores were quick to discount it after release, but look at the rabid pace ppl are buying into its sequel game.
Ghostbusters was not a good game, it reviewed poorly, and stores were quick to discount it after release, but look at the rabid pace ppl are buying into its sequel game.
I'm quite happy that my introduction to more serious games were no dominion, carcassonne or Catan
I think my introduction into more serious board games was small world. all three of those weren't to far after, but I disliked all 3 of them lol thus if I hadn't had some other games beside them I likely would have lost interest. I played a good amount of Descent as well early on.
for a lot of these IP games it feels like more people buy the game for the figures than to play the game. which is fine. plus it's not like you can't work to fix games. there are a number of games I own that I have tweaked things over plays to fix some things with them. I mean I had to create a baby mode for ghost stories lol.
I think the hobby will survive without them, as it did before KS was around, but that day will probably be marked as the "crash", even though it was inflating the whole thing to begin with.
Thing with Kickstarter now is that so many companies have used it multiple times they have track records now.
1. I avoid Cryptozoic like the plague.
2. CMON, I like Arcadia Quest, but I'm wary of their other kickstarters because they have way too many kickstarter/convention exclusives. Other than that, it's very dependent on developer and theme.
3. Level 99 - Seems to be good, my only problem with Level 99 is that they change printers way too much so it affects the quality of their product at times. I did the Pixel Tactics Kickstarter which did have some exclusives, but they're extremely superflous compared to CMON.
4. Soda Pop/Ninja Division - I think they really need to get some new blood in their game development, but at the same time I think I love their miniatures and I like their kickstarter policy.
BattleMonkey
Member
If it ever crashes. Seems like the kickstarters keep doing bigger and bigger numbers, while companies that put out several duds or do a shitty job with a kickstarter fulfillment, are still getting tons of backing with each project.
"Man I'm still waiting more than a year for my previous pledge, but holy crap look at those new exclusives!"
I rather not reward companies with my money who put out inferior product. Just because it's a fancy package, doesn't mean it's good. Got quite a few games now with boxes of minis, but games that are just not worth the time. And hundreds of minis really serve no purpose unless you are into the painting hobby or alternate use for the figs, which really I doubt most have. People just see the mountain of plastic included in a Kickstarter and can't resist missing out.... then they start spending extra on add ons until it goes out of control.
Polioliolio
Member
This is why the Dark Souls kickstarter is so off putting to me. I just wanted a decent dungeon crawl with a couple expansions. Not a 500 dollar pile of minis.
But, the dark souls community is so strong I imagine someone will fix the game or make the game I want using the official components, if the actual game isn't that great.
But, the dark souls community is so strong I imagine someone will fix the game or make the game I want using the official components, if the actual game isn't that great.
re: Kickstarter, I backed a dozen titles back in 2012 (before stopping because of booming shipping costs), and even then there was a lot of chaff I had to sift through to find the gems. So, I mean, there have been at least four years of gems (some niche, some not) buried in a sea of middling-to-poor titles and it seems to be growing. I'm not quite sure it will ever 'crash' - I'd expect a slow decline at some point as people start to wise up or drift away from the medium. I do think people need to be far more discerning with their purchases.
There does seem to be a big uptick in "here are some cool miniatures with a game pasted on" stuff, though. That may eventually burst.
There does seem to be a big uptick in "here are some cool miniatures with a game pasted on" stuff, though. That may eventually burst.
I'm not sure if the DS community will know how to fix a broken board game; perhaps instead they'll just settle for having bought a box of Dark Souls figures.
FWIW, the demo of the boss fight they showed seemed liked it worked - and the videogames have a solid game template to copy.
However, trying to emulate the scale of the videogame (numerous environments, enemies, bosses, etc.....times 3) in plastic is what's making this thing ridiculous.
That's the weird thing about this recent wave of board games trying to be tabletop videogames. The idea of my favorite videogames in physical form seems neat, but those videogames tend to work only because the computer calculates and fiddles with all the variables for me.
BattleMonkey
Member
Biggest thing with Dark Souls, is the company is untested for such a project, and majority of everything being added has not even a model render yet. Similar projects with tons of stretches that were obviously not ready at the campaign tend to float about with people waiting for their shit to arrive for years. This might not go well for them either when they see how expensive all these extras end up costing them to produce and ship.
Companies like CMON with their shaddy crap, at least know to expect success from the people who just toss money at them, they have their figures and stuff already planned and typically done. So many times during their KS campaigns, they got already sculpted everything and production models being used in their demos even. Stretches already sculpted and prototyped, and so on.
Companies like CMON with their shaddy crap, at least know to expect success from the people who just toss money at them, they have their figures and stuff already planned and typically done. So many times during their KS campaigns, they got already sculpted everything and production models being used in their demos even. Stretches already sculpted and prototyped, and so on.
I just wait out kickstarters. If the product is good enough I end up getting it when it hits shelves. I can be impulsive but the price of kickstarting things usually is enough sticker shock to keep me at bay. I like Dark Souls a ton, but if that game is actually good I don't have to worry about being able to pick it up from a retailer.
I'd never back something from Queen Games. Not that they don't produce good stuff, but why bother if it comes to store shelfs no matter how that Kickstarter turns out?
It used to be that if a game is still getting reprinted 10 years later, it's a mark of a quality game- now the bar is apparently "if it shows up in retail shelves"?
I think it's roughly "if it shows up and succeeds on retail shelves." A lot of these KS would be total flops if retail-only as they're critically panned. But throw some minis, special exclusives, or a license on there, and combine that with guerilla marketing through the many shady reviewers, and you've got a $500k+ title potentially.
Even people who should be good at this stuff screw up. I'm still waiting for my Tokaido which originally had a date of Nov. ...2014. Now I have a shitload of games so it doesn't really bother me as much as it should, but I can't even imagine people who are actually relying on KS in any way to fill out their library and to actually have good games shipped to them roughly on time.
Gaming Truth
Member
Speaking of which: What is your favorite KS-exclusive game. KS-exclusive can't be found online or in stores, though some stores do buy KS games to sell, which is weird in itself.
super-famicom
Member
I have only backed a small number of KS games, but my answer would be Vye. The publisher has made it available on their website, though, so I guess it can't be considered KS-exclusive anymore.
Is there such a thing? I buy a bunch of KS and I don't think I've ever seen one that doesn't hit the after market.
EYEL1NER
Member
Millenium Blades just arrived and I have to say, that is a lot heavier of a box than I was expecting. I really want to dig in and start opening the cards to look at them but I have zero ideas yet for a storage solution and that would be a HUGE mess inside the box, or a lot of bagging if I just threw them in zip-able plastic baggies. So I'll set it aside for now and check BGG for suggestions or see if there has been any progress on the official sotrage box or not.
EDIT: Seems like the Go7 official storage will be unveiled pretty soon, so maybe I'll start putting the money together at least.
EDIT: Seems like the Go7 official storage will be unveiled pretty soon, so maybe I'll start putting the money together at least.
Kingdom Death.
Germany will be sorely disappointed with the way they remade the game
-tetsuo-
Unlimited Capacity
I was going to say something about Dark Souls as well. I am a huge fan of the games, but this looks really lackluster. The encounters are going to have to be really something special for this to pan out. There are only 9 times now, all square and all with the same node layout. I would think the game needs alternate terrain/tile cuts. Some narrow hallways, big ballrooms etc. Nope. Fight through this tile, flip over the next one with the same layout and repeat until you find the boss. I am in for the base game at the moment. No way I am dropping more money without a real runthrough being posted or at least the damn rules.
As far as kickstarter only games, I have only played Kingdom Death and it is a hell of a thing. Easily among the very best of the stuff that I have.
As far as kickstarter only games, I have only played Kingdom Death and it is a hell of a thing. Easily among the very best of the stuff that I have.
EYEL1NER
Member
A lot of Kickstarter-bashing on this page, a lot of it warranted even, so it feels odd to post about a current one, but I was wondering what people's thoughts on The Depths of Durangrar were. I don't know that I will back it at all but I still like the idea of a game played in the dark with LED bases on the hero characters and the player controlling the monsters having NVGs and capable of seeing the whole maze. I don't know that there is enough 'game' to it when compared to something like Descent, but it makes me think of how cool a setup like this in the middle of a Descent campaign could be. You beat a scenario only to find that the next one takes place in a dark cave with only a torch per hero to provide any sight. Then the Overlord flips the lights off and turns on the LEDs on the mini bases.
I go in spurts but really if the game is under $50 and looks interesting there is a decent chance I back it.
heck I backed two of them today.
aeon's end (looks fun and has a number of kickstater exclusives, but I didn't back the expansion that I will pick up at coolstuf if the game is good)
The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game (wife is a fan of the series and it seems well put together. I did back for the expansions of this one)
looks slightly nifty but I can easily wait for a game with miniatures to go down in price. They are big and often get good discounts when they hit online retailers.
that and I invested in the last big super dungeon explore one which is more than enough miniature game for me for a long ass time.
Gaming Truth
Member
I'll have to look when I get home. KS is the home for Queen game reprint preorders, a lot of interesting, but quirky games, etc. I think one big graduate of KS is Ryan Lukaut. I don't know about Eight-Minute Empire, but all of his other games eventually got a non-KS printing and made it to stores.
Most of my Kickstarters are reprints/SE's, so without going home and looking, Best Treehouse Ever is my current pick for best KS-only game I own.
Gaming Truth
Member
That does. It's probably leftovers from the KS run
I heard it did ... in Europe. It definitely didn't in the States
toddhunter
Member
Just got an email advertising a dark souls preorder. It is already discounted from the KS (when converting to aud).
But in general I like KS. Hit or miss of course, but I'm happy to back games and feel involved.
But in general I like KS. Hit or miss of course, but I'm happy to back games and feel involved.
Does anyone know where I can order card sleeves with opaque backsides? The seer in my ONUW set is marked with a stain, and I can't use it like that =/ so I'm thinking I'll buy card sleeves for the role tiles even though they won't look very nice, at least I'll have a complete playable set.
Tons of companies do sleeves with 'art' on one side or mono colour. FFG do for sure, for example.
Great. Yeah, I've been looking and I found them. On the other hand I just realized Bezier Games offers custom sleeve packs that will fit the ONUW cards perfectly, but those are $20 for 50 when on Amazon a 100-pack is like $10. Screw that, I'm not paying more than I did for the game in the first place just so they don't feel a bit loose
Great. Yeah, I've been looking and I found them. On the other hand I just realized Bezier Games offers custom sleeve packs that will fit the ONUW cards perfectly, but those are $20 for 50 when on Amazon a 100-pack is like $10. Screw that, I'm not paying more than I did for the game in the first place just so they don't feel a bit loose
Bunch of recommendations on this BGG Geeklist entry, including some opaque sleeves. Make sure to expand the comments. It might be hard to get an exact fit with the size/shape of those cards, but if you're willing to live with a few mm of room, it'll give you more leeway for sure.
Oh & according to MayDayGames' sleeve list, ONUW cards are 59x92, which in theory will fit in this particular sleeve, which has a black backed option in the drop down list.
MayDay sleeves can be hit or miss for sure though.
Already discussed, looking for alternatives.
Oooh, these seem perfect. Thanks!
I played Burgle Bros for the first time. The box is cute and smaller than I expected. The wooden pieces are nice though I grumbled a bit at having to apply stickers. Weirdly, the box comes with two sets of stickers so you choose which you like better.
As with almost all cooperative games I try, we failed horribly. We used 3 players and the easy 2-floor intro building. We cracked the first safe with me on the second floor, but by then the other 2 players were down to 1 stealth each. A guard had an unlucky card and it was over.
I'm hoping the game doesn't end up being crazy hard every time, but it looks like I'll get to try at least one more time before we throw it into the too-hard pile.
I am going to post some rules questions on boardgamegeek. For example, with 2 players how is it possible to do 3-floor buildings? You can't carry all the loot. Even with the 2-floor building, you could draw the gold bars and be screwed -- no one can leave the roof to go back. Also, I want to know if the green dice are supposed to be limited. If you use 2 dice each for 3 safes, does that mean you can't open any keypads?
*edit* I think I misunderstood and you can hold 2+ loot of any kind BESIDES gold bars.
As with almost all cooperative games I try, we failed horribly. We used 3 players and the easy 2-floor intro building. We cracked the first safe with me on the second floor, but by then the other 2 players were down to 1 stealth each. A guard had an unlucky card and it was over.
I'm hoping the game doesn't end up being crazy hard every time, but it looks like I'll get to try at least one more time before we throw it into the too-hard pile.
I am going to post some rules questions on boardgamegeek. For example, with 2 players how is it possible to do 3-floor buildings? You can't carry all the loot. Even with the 2-floor building, you could draw the gold bars and be screwed -- no one can leave the roof to go back. Also, I want to know if the green dice are supposed to be limited. If you use 2 dice each for 3 safes, does that mean you can't open any keypads?
*edit* I think I misunderstood and you can hold 2+ loot of any kind BESIDES gold bars.
I haven't played it in person yet, but I've been getting super into playing Terra Mystica on http://terra.snellman.net/
I still haven't won a game yet, but I feel like I'm learning a little bit more with each loss. And this game plays well asynchronously. Anyone else play there? I don't think there's any kind of friends list functionality but my name there is Taborcarn.
Edit: I'm also Taborcarn on http://boiteajeux.net/ where they just put in a pretty good implementation of Kanban.
I still haven't won a game yet, but I feel like I'm learning a little bit more with each loss. And this game plays well asynchronously. Anyone else play there? I don't think there's any kind of friends list functionality but my name there is Taborcarn.
Edit: I'm also Taborcarn on http://boiteajeux.net/ where they just put in a pretty good implementation of Kanban.
Do you mean you had one token remaining or none?
If giving up your last token your still fine. It's only when you are required to give up a token and you have none your caught.
*One loot requires you to give up a token. If you have none to give up your still fine. Tim confirmed it.
It's not too hard, try purposefully setting off alarms to distract guards heading for your mates. It's a great game.
On a side note I'm a sucker for worker placement games and I always say this is the last one I'm buying.
I bought Steam Time a mid weight 2-4 player game. Some neat novel ideas in this one. Players have a Steam Zeppelin time machine which can be upgraded via crystals in 6 different areas. These give bonuses to actions but in a twist the crystals can also be used as a resource so your machine is constantly in flux upgrading and downgrading as fit.
Anyway it's the last one I'm buying.
I remember posting in the BGG thread about a year ago, when this guy was first pitching this idea and getting feedback. It mostly seemed like a gimmick with a very generic maze game attached to it. Somebody suggested that the hero players could just close their eyes while the monster moved pieces, but the designer's dismissal was that it would be easy to cheat. I think if you're regularly playing with cheaters, you have problems this game wont fix.
The biggest problem is that the gimmick of the dark room and the NVG only introduces a bunch of needless new problems. What if the room you play in doesn't normally get dark enough? What if players' eyes adjust? What if someone opens a door and it shows the map? How do I look at components like stat sheets and dice in a pitch black room? What if I see what the monster player is doing simply because I can see his hand moving around? Dealing with all those issues for a barebones maze game doesn't seem worth it.
Terra Mystica is life. I have a hard time convincing my roommates to get any other game on the table. Once people get through the first game, which is definitely a learning experience, you just want to keep playing to see how you can do better. And with all the races that completely change how you strategies it stays fresh.
I'd rather have a version of Ra, than no version of Ra at all.
Augh, you're right. The guard brought them to 0 stealth and I thought that meant they lost. Fortunately we had to leave for a movie anyway.
I misinterpreted that AND imagined a "carry one loot per person" rule.
Replies on boardgamegeek say that dice aren't supposed to be limited, so that's good.
Do you have Tzolk'in yet? It's the most unique worker placement I own. *not helping* :-D
I've actually resisted the urge on that one.... For the moment.
We just played it again a couple days ago. It's interesting how you have to plan several turns ahead to start your workers climbing around.
I'm still learning all the nuances of the player races, playing both as and against them. Seems like no small undertaking but that's part of the appeal.