I had not expected a BGWS video when I turned on the computer today but there the announcement was in my inbox. I wasn't really in the mood and when I saw it way Prophecy and not Agricola I didn't feel like watching but then I thought: Hey, it's another BGWS video! After downloading and making lunch I watched it
Been thinking about Prophecy before but I had no idea about how it played so this movie was very useful. I like how fast the turns are compared to Runebound, a game that really draaags if you have bad luck. It's also not very expensive so I think it might make it into our next batch of games for my association.
BTW, Scott you look decades younger hiding behind the box without your glasses
YAY! I'm first
Last edited on 2008-08-09 10:34:30 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Prophecy looks really neat. Seems like it's the adventure game that's usually left out of the discussion, but from the video I was very impressed.
Combat is very simple (it doesn't get much simpler than single d6 rolls really does it?), but I can see a lot of strategy in moving here or there based on your available health and will and items, on the enemies you know are there, etc. Also, nifty little bits like those bats that you have to kill 3 times and the other guy that you can get a pile of gold from if you take him alive sound really immersive and different (something Return of the Heroes badly needed, where the enemies might as well have just been blank white chits with stats on them), giving you interesting options of how to deal with them. For example, I can kill this with magic, but since it's depleted if I use it I might need my magic next turn somewhere, but I have this item that would help that or could go to this space to remedy it, etc.etc. It just sounds like there would be a lot of little interesting things like that to think about (as opposed to Return of the Heroes, where most of the time you're just slowly trudging across the board for an item on the other side).
I've previously played Arkham Horror (co-op just isn't my thing), and Return of the Heroes (just felt very bland and "multi-player solitaire"...you've probably figured out I'm not a fan by now!); but I've been trying to find the right adventure game for me. Your review (Scott's review I mean) of World of Warcraft: The Boardgame made me want to turn it off...actually I'm not sure if I finished that episode. The game was just soooo involved and fiddly and it sounded soooooo loooooong that I'm sure I'd never get it played, and if I did play someone else's copy I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy it. Runebound sounds like it would suffer from the same drawbacks (though probably not to the extent that WoW would).
That leaves Talisman (which is only liked nostalgically it seems), HeroQuest (out of print and expensive, and probably more nostalgia than game there too), the World of Warcraft Adventure game (which looks really good) and Prophecy.
So for my dollars (I look for light'ish games good with 2 players)...I guess I'd be looking at Prophecy or the World of Warcraft Adventure game.
Nice review Scott - hit the spot in that it encouraged me to order the game, and I and my son (who needs something like this to tempt him away from Lord of the Rings Online)are both looking forward to giving this one a go next week!
Happy 50th Scott! You old LARPing rapscallion you.
I too am a Prophecy fan. Though I haven't play all of those other games yet, I came to play and own Prophecy because of exactly those things you highlighted - movement speed, combat speed, and character development. When people are familiar with the system, the game can move quite swiftly. And I concur that the short version ending is the way to go. The standard version seems to be sort of a nod to Talisman but it's too long for my taste. My next "nerdy" step is to buy some D&D minis and paint them up to match the various Prophecy characters.
Liked the video... but I thought you were going to talk about Descent in the final comparison, the same as the other games Know I wonder what makes Descent so popular.
And I agree, you look much better with the trimmed beard and without glasses.
Liked the video... but I thought you were going to talk about Descent in the final comparison, the same as the other games Know I wonder what makes Descent so popular.
I talked about it at the beginning as it's a completely different experience from the other games - it really didn't belong in the comparison at the end; those 4 games are all very similar to Prophecy, which Descent is a tactical miniature combat game, focused on combat, moving one-step-at-a-time and hitting monsters many times over many rounds of dice-rolling. Fights take 15-30-60 minutes for one combat, and that's the focus (as compared to roll a die and you're done..)
I talked about it at the beginning as it's a completely different experience from the other games - it really didn't belong in the comparison at the end; those 4 games are all very similar to Prophecy, which Descent is a tactical miniature combat game, focused on combat, moving one-step-at-a-time and hitting monsters many times over many rounds of dice-rolling. Fights take 15-30-60 minutes for one combat, and that's the focus (as compared to roll a die and you're done..)
Posted Sat Aug 9,2008 02:00 am
Know I wonder what makes Descent so popular.