I LOVED Pandemic Legacy but find it hilarious that it's at/near the top of BGG rankings given how flawed (but still awesome, unlike TIME Stories which is supremely flawed+shitty) of an experience it is. BGG truly is cult of the new and I guess you have to accept it. My only major issue overall though is just that most months are way too easy to win. Like it's not even close in many of those middle months. But it did get close for us by the end which was fun.
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New Board Gaming |OT2| On Tables, Off Topic
- Thread starter Karkador
- Start date
I did like that the (still Pandemic Legacy)
military betrayal part is designed to make it hurt by encouraging you to go military since it is super helpful to do that. It's like of course you're going to put up permanent military bases in each region. Get that free objective! And Drone Escort is a sweet upgrade! This character sure is useful. Oh no he or she is gone forever.
antiquegamer
Member
We don't find TIME Stories shifty, just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad. Our group like it better than Pandemic and one game we still talk about and eager to play at our next get together.
The thing I liked the most about Pandemic Legacy was that you had to make short-term decisions with long-term implications. Pandemic + long term consequences is brilliant in itself, because you have to think about the game (which is already great on its own) in a different way.
What would have been interesting is if
The Faded disease was a great twist to the game rules, and the different tools and synergies you can try to tackle that problem feels open and super thematic.
What would have been interesting is if
the script and minigames itself were randomized somehow, since it's pretty basic anyway.
Played up to June in Pandemic and played through Marcy's Case in TIME Stories, my thoughts are that Pandemic Legacy is just Pandemic, feel nothing huge has really happened to change the game too much. It is fun to play with my gf and am eager to see what changes but I am not thinking it will blow my mind from what I've played so far. Pandemic is fun though.
TIME Stories has been a lot of fun. Some fuzzy gameplay components but a great experience.
That is why I play board games, for fun. Both have satisfied this criteria.
TIME Stories has been a lot of fun. Some fuzzy gameplay components but a great experience.
That is why I play board games, for fun. Both have satisfied this criteria.
EYEL1NER
Member
Just received an exciting email from L99 Games: The Kickstarter for BattleCON: Trials of Indines goes live next month! I can't wait for more BattleCON, despite my recent post stating how disappointed I was that the person I finally found who would play it just moved away. At least it is all nice to look at though.
The mechanics are turrible. Its an entertaining enough experience, and you should definitely check it out via someone else's copy once.
Well you know I joke because I love. "imo" before everything I say.
Time Stories I give extra grief just because some of my favorite reviewers love it and it's befuddling to me, but I don't ever mean to say it's objectively bad, just that I had a subjectively bad experience with it and it's really not my cup of tea (even though I like story games like ToTAN!) but I know I'm in the extreme minority on that one, hence some of my joking.I just started playing Steam: Rails to Riches via the iPad app because I saw a couple vids about Via Nebula and wanted to get a feel for the mechanics. I'm liking it so far even though it's just the basic game. I think I would enjoy Via Nebula with its improved visuals and building mechanics even more.
No not entirely, it's a pickup and deliver in the same vein but you need to collect building materials of certain kinds to build buildings which have different effects.
This video is a good overview:
https://youtu.be/lnRwyMLRSxg
Battlecon is one of my all time favorite games! Sooo good!
BomberMouse
Member
Well you know I joke because I love. "imo" before everything I say.
No need to apologize, time stories is super shitty.
Dimitri2401
Member
I just found a brand new copy of Bruxelles 1893 in a Montreal store, for a good price. I didn't think this would happen.
I was very excited for the reprint of this game later this year, but I guess I won't have to wait
It looks amazing, I hope it plays the same.
I was very excited for the reprint of this game later this year, but I guess I won't have to wait
It looks amazing, I hope it plays the same.
Two notes about this:
1. It's actually simpler than it seems -- check out the brief youtube video on teaching Scythe.
2. The Automa AI works quite well. You can play 1v1, or 1 vs. 2 AI's with modified rules.
Oh I see. It looks like a neat game, maybe good for people who would never think to touch a train-themed game and maybe want a layer or two on top of Splendor, though I think I prefer Steam's mechanics more.
Played Scythe for the first time tonight. Really tight design; I love that the action selection system minimizes analysis paralysis by making the turns fly. It's pretty amazing that it gives you a nice light 4X experience with such simple mechanics. There's a bit of Twilight Imperium and Hyperborea in there, but at 1/4 to 1/2 the time to play. Plus amazing art. Really impressed.
Its perfect for me because it plays in such a short time. And it's amazing with two.
With the having a baby cutting my available gamer time significantly and my wife currently being my only gaming partner, it just ticks all boxes.
The game length and player count is the reason I never bought Steam, even though I know I would love it.
I don't think it would work for my regular group.
The AI part is interesting. I will try the game out in Essen I guess. German release is supposed to be there.
SillyEskimo
Member
We played the base game of Machi Koro last night. My family enjoyed it so much, I immediately ordered both expansions.
My oldest daughter won the first game and was quite proud of herself. This is a great game for my daughters, ages 7&9. It is simple on the surface, but requires planning and intuition when buying your land. This games gets high marks from my family!
My oldest daughter won the first game and was quite proud of herself. This is a great game for my daughters, ages 7&9. It is simple on the surface, but requires planning and intuition when buying your land. This games gets high marks from my family!
antiquegamer
Member
Well you know I joke because I love. "imo" before everything I say.
I apologize for coming off like a jerk, but TIME Stories just seems to get bash around because of the business model. For me, if you don't like legacy style game or LCG or CCG models you could find many other games to play. I think the reason so many reviewer like the game is probably because it the group they play with. I can see why people like Secret Cabal where they have close group of players would find this game entertaining.
Anyway, I finally got Scythe to the table today at Euro day at my sort of local game store. It was our first game so it started off a bit slow and people seems to get really confuse about the top and bottom actions, I think the concept of able to do both action in one space really confuse people. The game ended and score were 43 - 39 - 36 (me) and the last place he didn't even bother to total up his score. I don't think he did that bad but he said not to bother because he didn't even get one star up on the board. The jury is out if we like the game or not, I think it's a good game not great and we all agree may be a few more games before we decided. The venue was really crowded today and with Magic tournament in the background, playing and learning new game is sometime can be very frustrating. I also put in a few solitaire game and it plays really well as a single player game. The movement for AI can be a bit of a bear to learn but once it clicks, it is pretty easy.
I picked up Imhotep and hopefully get to try it tomorrow with my daughter. Though I read that 2 players is not really optimal number for that game.
Got a couple games of Eldritch Horror in today. I felt like the doom track wasn't a threat at all and combat was too easy. Granted we played spell gains wrong (missed the rule about double sided cards get drawn from the bottom) but I don't think it was enough to make up for the doom track's position (It was on 8 when we beat shug-niggurath). We were thinking that maybe there's another condition for gate spawns besides Mythos cards.
Oh yeah on my side the business model is a total non-factor. I actually really appreciate that there are some great designers out there now creating tight, focused, memorable experiences. Then again I have like 300 games or so, so when I'm buying a game it's really more like "will this give me an amazingly fun 20-30 hours of play" rather than "will I be able to play this every week for the next ten years." But TIME just whiffed with me. Probably feels more pronounced with the extreme praise it's gotten (which I'm not saying isn't warranted, just that when something falls flat, it falls harder when it's GOTF candidate in certain media).
I did some quick reading into this a few weeks ago. Think we're about 50/50 with EH against various AOs. Looks like it does fall on the harder side though, <50%. Maybe you guys are just playing really well and/or maybe missing a few rules? For as "streamlined Arkham" as it purports to be it does have some fiddliness for sure, just off the top of my head like how if you have no matching gates on a monster surge, you're supposed to open a gate and spawn a monster. That's one of the easier "easy to miss" things though iirc. EH like AH though does sometimes have that snowball to where you start making your checks and keep riding that momentum forward (Elder Sign has this to an insane degree), so maybe that was it too, you just got on a good roll. I like the difficulty level quite a bit myself -- feel it's in a good spot. Same with Elder Sign actually now that they have Streets of Arkham and Omens of Ice modes. Feels nice and tough like a good game of Ghost Stories.
This for sure is probably what would've made it feel on par and was a rule that we missed. It's not like the games we played weren't close; we closed on the second to last or last round of Mythos cards, but more that the doom track never felt close to being a threat so it felt off compared to the rest of the game difficulty..
Ah yes! I know what you mean. For us it feels like we're always racing against just running out of Mythos cards. I don't know if the game OOB is totally tuned right in this respect, though it doesn't bother me too much.
toddhunter
Member
I feel exactly the same way about Quadropolis. When you don't understand the praise, you tend to think something else must be going on. I mean, it can't be me
While I think the business model is a money grab, that is ultimately not something I care about. I just dont support it. If other people want to spent so much money for a few hours of entertainment, then more power to them.
I havent played T.I.M.E Stories. I will If I get the chance.
I just wish you could buy the game with one of the other stories instead of the Arkham one which I have zero interest in.
I worry I wont like it though, since the last time a story based game got this much hype (Dead of Winter) it turned out to be a game that was absolutely mediocre and not worth the money.
antiquegamer
Member
I am not sure how the game can be call money grab. You get many hours of entertainment for about $10.00 a person and in the end if it's not for your group you probably could recoup at least half of that and selling it to another group. I think their model is actually too generous, with people selling used copy I can't see the model can be sustainable for them. I paid about $22 for Macy's case and we spend good 5-6 hours on it with 4 players, I probably can put it on eBay for $10.00 and sold it so quick or if I am lazy and can sell to my FLGS for $8 and the entire experience still cost less than $15. I think you probably should find out more about it before label stuffs as cash grab, it is an absolutely insulting and rude. Cash grab is something that you spend little time on and put out low quality products because you know there is a demand, slap a license on Monopoly game is a crash grab, I wouldn't consider hiring artist, came up with story and puzzle, and spend hours play testing the game they created is a crash grab.
I play test a game today at local meet up and I can see how much work the guy have put in to even make a simple prototype, let alone coming to a Meet up and hoping someone will want to help you play test your game instead of just play one of the many other games that are going. I think before calling something derogatory like cash grab may be put more time to research or at least try it before call it as such.
It's a great game for all ages indeed, the expansions make it much better too even if some games can go on for quite a while.We played the base game of Machi Koro last night. My family enjoyed it so much, I immediately ordered both expansions.
My oldest daughter won the first game and was quite proud of herself. This is a great game for my daughters, ages 7&9. It is simple on the surface, but requires planning and intuition when buying your land. This games gets high marks from my family!
Codenames wins Spiel des Jahres! Well deserved. Easily the game I've played the most this year and the one that has had the most universal appeal with everyone I've played it with.
Isle of Skye wins the Kennerspiel (the award for more complex games). Have not played that one yet, but it looks real nice.
Isle of Skye wins the Kennerspiel (the award for more complex games). Have not played that one yet, but it looks real nice.
toddhunter
Member
Time stories hate redeemed
I'm waiting for pictures to jump into codenames, but will no doubt give it a try at some stage. Was really hoping for karuba though.
I love Codenames but don't think I'll be getting Pictures. Seems a bit too simplistic, even for Codenames. I guess you could make it 5x5 again and just use the legends from the original but overall seems maybe a little too easy.
That said a well-deserved win. Codenames is such a perfect game for so many situations that I often have to actively discourage people from picking it just b/c I've played it so much. (I run into this with Mysterium too, but Codenames with its rules simplicity and flexibility on player count is pretty remarkable if you ever have a need for casual games. I do think it suffers <6 though.)
That said a well-deserved win. Codenames is such a perfect game for so many situations that I often have to actively discourage people from picking it just b/c I've played it so much.
(I run into this with Mysterium too, but Codenames with its rules simplicity and flexibility on player count is pretty remarkable if you ever have a need for casual games. I do think it suffers <6 though.)We played the base game of Machi Koro last night. My family enjoyed it so much, I immediately ordered both expansions.
My oldest daughter won the first game and was quite proud of herself. This is a great game for my daughters, ages 7&9. It is simple on the surface, but requires planning and intuition when buying your land. This games gets high marks from my family!
Well beloved game in our family. Good choice on getting the expansions since they make the game even better and the new rules prevent everyone from going for repetitive strategies.
I love Codenames but don't think I'll be getting Pictures. Seems a bit too simplistic, even for Codenames. I guess you could make it 5x5 again and just use the legends from the original but overall seems maybe a little too easy.
That said a well-deserved win. Codenames is such a perfect game for so many situations that I often have to actively discourage people from picking it just b/c I've played it so much.
I think pictures looks even better as a party game. The pictures are easier to see and you can grasp them quicker than words. I know I will replace my copy or Codenames with the pictures version.
Isle of Skye is great btw. I have played it many times already.
Thats a flawed logic. By that logic the game is more expensive the less people play it? o.0 the price is the same.
The game is 4 hours. Thats it. You pay full bank for that. Then if you want more you have to pay again.
No other way to look at it.
In the videogame world we look hard at paid DLC etc and question business models. Why is that so frowned upon in the board game world?
Anyways Isle of Sky a great winner for Kennerspiel Des Jahres. Seems to fit the award the best.
Codenames is weird to me because its so bad unless you have at least 4. Also I would bet alot of money that if Vlaada wasnt the designer the game would have just been slottet in with all the other word/party games out there.
I heard some of the Dice Tower guys saying this over the weekend too but I'd say the majority of the Codenames phenomenon is based on people who have literally never heard his name before, so that certainly says something for the broad appeal of the game. Also I love word games, and have tried most popular designer and non-designer ones and I'd put Codenames way above them. If anything lumping Codenames in with Walmart trash, or saying it's not worth SDJ because it's a light word game, just shows how unduly dismissive some can be of a game that doesn't have ornate mechanics, overlong playtimes, or dudes with swords. (Not accusing you of this, but definitely have seen this line of thinking on podcasts and BGG.) If anything "party-style" games don't get nearly enough respect among the BG media, kind of like how animation or comedies don't get respect at the Oscars (i.e., they're not for "serious" folk) so it's good to see that turning around a bit.
I'm pretty sure that the box also says that the "competitive" version of Codenames requires 4+ too so I don't think that should be much of a ding against it. If anything it gets bonus points for scaling so amazingly well even past 8. Just a brilliant design (though per above I do think/agree that <6 is not the best Codenames experience).
Oh it's definitely not Walmart trash. Personally I just don't see how it's so much better then the other great party games out there.
I do agree with you though that it's nice to see a lighter game get this praise.
Just because your not a theme heavy or complex game doesn't mean it's bad.
In fact I'd argue that it's far harder to make a game that is simple to play yet deep, rather then a complex fiddly game.
Jables Swan
Member
Codenames is pretty much the perfect party game.
His name definitely got me interested in checkin gout but the game itself got a whole bunch of my non-gaming friends and family playing it and loving it.
Dimitri2401
Member
I actually very much enjoy the 2 players variant of Codenames (with my SO). But I agree that the 3 players one is not great.
And I don't really agree that Chvátil's name has so much to do with the critical (and commercial) success of the game. Codenames is a fantastic party game that anyone I know really enjoyed (and even non native English speakers, including me).
If I demo it I will share my thoughts. I caught it on Nick's top 10 list this morning, was the first time I had heard of it.
Yeah I saw it in a preview video as well. I like hidden movement games and the idea of switching between hunter & hunted seems cool. Having a Slasher theme is also a plus for me.
So my friend (and podcast co-host!) recently had a pretty major medical emergency a few weeks back and has been pretty much isolated to his house for a while, so on Saturday another friend drove him up to mine and we all played a bunch of board games to get him out the house and cure his boredom!
We played:
Via Nebula - He actually got this for review, I'll link his review here when it's up if people are interested. But for now, I really enjoyed it. It's one of those games where even if you don't end up enjoying the gameplay the components are so beautiful and well made that it's just nice to look at. Thankfully I also enjoyed the gameplay though, you basically are trying to construct building to have the most points at the end of the game while also exploring a map and gathering resources (but not too many resources as that loses you points.) I liked that when one person exploits a tile for resources, everyone who is connected can take those resources but you also get points for exploiting them in the first place and can exploit more once they're used up meaning other players leeching your stuff is actually beneficial. It's smart and pretty, I liked it.
Libertalia - I'm a bit late to the party of Libertalia but I really enjoyed it. When it was originally described to me I didn't think it sounded all that fun but there's so much strategy and bluffing that it ends up being a good competitive laugh. I loved things like that there was a card (i forget their names...) where you get points every turn if she's in your Den (basically been used but not discarded) as long as nobody else has her in her den too and if someone else does, everyone has to discard her. So the turn after two of us used ours and we all had to discard her, then the fourth person playing played his the turn after that and got free points without us being able to really do anything about it.
Fuse - Also a bit lttp with this one but I found it pretty fun too! I'm not usually a fan of games with a timer but it works really well in this. We won but apparently I was being really slow and my girlfriend (who is super competitive) was yelling at me about it.
We also played Splendor which I've professed my love for in this thread before. It's quite simply one of my favourite games.
Oh, also my girlfriend and I played Discworld: Ankh Morpork the night before. We've played it a lot before but it had been a while. That game's a lot better with more than two players but it's still fun with two.
We played:
Via Nebula - He actually got this for review, I'll link his review here when it's up if people are interested. But for now, I really enjoyed it. It's one of those games where even if you don't end up enjoying the gameplay the components are so beautiful and well made that it's just nice to look at. Thankfully I also enjoyed the gameplay though, you basically are trying to construct building to have the most points at the end of the game while also exploring a map and gathering resources (but not too many resources as that loses you points.) I liked that when one person exploits a tile for resources, everyone who is connected can take those resources but you also get points for exploiting them in the first place and can exploit more once they're used up meaning other players leeching your stuff is actually beneficial. It's smart and pretty, I liked it.
Libertalia - I'm a bit late to the party of Libertalia but I really enjoyed it. When it was originally described to me I didn't think it sounded all that fun but there's so much strategy and bluffing that it ends up being a good competitive laugh. I loved things like that there was a card (i forget their names...) where you get points every turn if she's in your Den (basically been used but not discarded) as long as nobody else has her in her den too and if someone else does, everyone has to discard her. So the turn after two of us used ours and we all had to discard her, then the fourth person playing played his the turn after that and got free points without us being able to really do anything about it.
Fuse - Also a bit lttp with this one but I found it pretty fun too! I'm not usually a fan of games with a timer but it works really well in this. We won but apparently I was being really slow and my girlfriend (who is super competitive) was yelling at me about it.
We also played Splendor which I've professed my love for in this thread before. It's quite simply one of my favourite games.
Oh, also my girlfriend and I played Discworld: Ankh Morpork the night before. We've played it a lot before but it had been a while. That game's a lot better with more than two players but it's still fun with two.
BattleMonkey
Member
Armored Core kickstarter is up. Game mechanics sure are different......