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Magnetic North posted:Just finished the second case in that same Unlock box [snip] I think I liked this box more overall than you, but I agree that getting accidentally spoiled due to a bad bit of math seems to happen constantly with these games. Curious to hear your thoughts on the third puzzle - for me it had some really high highs but also some low lows (and a final puzzle that we couldn't get to work even knowing exactly what the answer was and how it works).
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Jun 12, 2022 20:12
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Azran posted:Can't play with a single character so solo is two characters at the very minimum Oh. Haven’t even glanced at the rules yet, been trying to get everything back in the box after punching and bagging everything.
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Jun 12, 2022 20:16
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My Republic of Rome story is that i unleashed a plague which decimated all but me and one other player. We quickly consolidated our rule by exiling the few survivors. Then i threw away victory somehow, i can't quite remember. Now, that may be within ten years. I will not depress myself by thinking back to find out. Radioactive Toy posted:...it probably wasn't smart to play our learning game starting after 9pm. It's not a short game, so even with everyone knowing the rules i wouldn't start at 9. But it sounds like you enjoyed it!
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Jun 12, 2022 21:02
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Fate Accomplice posted:I played Alchemists for the first and hopefully only time yesterday after owning it for years. Your loss! It's kind of a hit for my current board game group, but I don't entirely disagree with your beefs. The deduction element isn't cumbersome IMO but it is dense and required and if your gaming group doesn't "get" logic deduction puzzles, they are going to have a very bad time. It's like, a worker placement game with a sudoku in it and you have to be able to logic that out or the game is just going to fall instantly flat. It's definitely a niche game IMO, I, and my current gaming group just happen to be the right group for it.
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Jun 12, 2022 21:17
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Glagha posted:Your loss! It's kind of a hit for my current board game group, but I don't entirely disagree with your beefs. The deduction element isn't cumbersome IMO but it is dense and required and if your gaming group doesn't "get" logic deduction puzzles, they are going to have a very bad time. It's like, a worker placement game with a sudoku in it and you have to be able to logic that out or the game is just going to fall instantly flat. It's definitely a niche game IMO, I, and my current gaming group just happen to be the right group for it. We certainly “got” it, and correctly figured out all 8 ingredients, and ended up with an exact tie at first.
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Jun 12, 2022 22:22
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I really hated the alchemists, but I had a very poor experience. Somewhere somewhat early on I made a mistake recording; put the little disc in the wrong spot, and didn't realize it until about halfway through, and didn't know which, so literally all of my research was invalidated and useless. It felt kind of thematic! But also really unpleasant and meant I didn't really get to play the deductive part.
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Jun 12, 2022 22:31
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Hey folks if people feel that the prob for spoilers was not deserved, I’ll talk with Leperflesh about it. The whole point of me being an IK is for me to prob as appropriate, ie I know the hobby and the games. So let me know. Here or PM. I don’t know if it’s going to do any good but I’ll let them know how it came across. Of course any mod can probe, but if they don't know the hobby/games they shouldn't probe just because they think it's a spoiler.
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Jun 13, 2022 00:15
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Alchemists is great and there's a lot of hidden depth to it. You don't know true fear until you've decided to sell a potion to last-minute figure out what an ingredient is the same round you're publishing. That said, the base game gets samey pretty fast. Always play on Master difficulty, and add the expansions if you have access to them.
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Jun 13, 2022 00:23
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I liked Alchemists for the simple fact that it caused me and all my PhD labmates to laugh about how it emulated academia, down to one person at the table trying to make assumptions about other people's test results and rushing to publish first. It is also a pretty good game.
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Jun 13, 2022 00:29
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Mayveena posted:Hey folks if people feel that the prob for spoilers was not deserved, I’ll talk with Leperflesh about it. The whole point of me being an IK is for me to prob as appropriate, ie I know the hobby and the games. i accept you're apology
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Jun 13, 2022 00:59
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TheDiceMustRoll posted:3-4 is the sweet spot, especially if you're going to have the Borg in it. This all sounds pretty awesome, but also a lot like eclipse. not sure I could justify owning both! Jarvisi fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Jun 13, 2022 |
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Jun 13, 2022 00:59
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Mayveena posted:Hey folks if people feel that the prob for spoilers was not deserved, I’ll talk with Leperflesh about it. The whole point of me being an IK is for me to prob as appropriate, ie I know the hobby and the games. Ty. It was only a 6 hour probe so nothing serious but it's still dumb since nothing I said was a spoiler. I don't want that to become a precedent that people should be putting things like game names, taglines, and back-of-the-box descriptions behind spoiler tags. It'd be the equivalent of being expected to spoiler tag that in Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures, you are researching and solving cases related to Jack the Ripper, avoiding mentioning that Aeon's End sequels/expansions exist at all since their presence implies some kind of continuation of the narrative started in Aeon's End, or getting in trouble over saying that Pandemic Legacy is about fighting a pandemic. tl;dr there is a reasonable and understandable expectation to not spoil narrative/puzzle/surprise elements of a board games that feature that kind of content, but that expectation should not extend to tossing anything and everything about a game's existence behind tags "just in case."
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Jun 13, 2022 01:11
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FirstAidKite posted:It'd be the equivalent of being expected to spoiler tag that in Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures, you are researching and solving cases related to Jack the Ripper, avoiding mentioning that Aeon's End sequels/expansions exist at all since their presence implies some kind of continuation of the narrative started in Aeon's End, or getting in trouble over saying that Pandemic Legacy is about fighting a pandemic. also, Final Fantasy is evidently not final
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Jun 13, 2022 02:50
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Mayveena posted:Hey folks if people feel that the prob for spoilers was not deserved, I’ll talk with Leperflesh about it. The whole point of me being an IK is for me to prob as appropriate, ie I know the hobby and the games. In the rap sheet entry they admitted they didn't know if it was a spoiler or not; I don't know what to add to that, it's self-admittedly heavy-handed.
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Jun 13, 2022 03:23
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Jarvisi posted:This all sounds pretty awesome, but also a lot like eclipse. not sure I could justify owning both! Oh yeah, dont buy it if you're not gonna play it. I made that mistake with Twilight Imperium and it's literally sat on a shelf for three years. I hate it!
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Jun 13, 2022 04:11
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TheDiceMustRoll posted:dont buy it if you're not gonna play it.  whomst among us doesn't have a pile of shrink-wrapped shame
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Jun 13, 2022 04:58
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I keep getting obliterated in Gaia Project. I know how to play and I know how to score, and I just think my dumb brain won't let me strategize and think ahead. I think playing with friends turns my brain off or something. I feel like I need something akin to a coach. Still love the game despite the frustrations.
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Jun 13, 2022 04:59
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got gifted Castles of Tuscany and it.... does not look like a game I can successfully teach to my SO. i'll do some Rodney due diligence, but does anyone care enough about it to sway my opinion, whether towards definitely playing it or immediately placing it on the sell stack?
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Jun 13, 2022 07:16
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Finished the first part of The Emerald Flame. Hell yeah. Had to use hints to give us a nudge in the right direction or to confirm we were going about things correctly. Fun times, looking forward to starting the 2nd part.
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Jun 13, 2022 07:24
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PRADA SLUT posted:
Ha not me. I open and punch all my games then don't play them.
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Jun 13, 2022 07:45
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Aramoro posted:Ha not me. 
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Jun 13, 2022 07:54
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homullus posted:also, Final Fantasy is evidently not final I assumed for a long time that it was a mistranslation and the game was meant to be called Ultimate Fantasy. But no; Square were on the edge of going out of business and so they renamed their last active project Final Fantasy. It immediately became a success and saved the company. With wonderful self deprecating humour, they decided to call their next game Final Fantasy 2. And that's why none of the games in the series are more than tangentially related: it's a 30-year joke that this time they really will go out of business.
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Jun 13, 2022 10:07
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SettingSun posted:I keep getting obliterated in Gaia Project. I know how to play and I know how to score, and I just think my dumb brain won't let me strategize and think ahead. I think playing with friends turns my brain off or something. I feel like I need something akin to a coach. Still love the game despite the frustrations. If you're serious about wanting a coach, I'd be happy to play a couple of BGA games with you and kind of walk through your decision-making process as much as you care to.
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Jun 13, 2022 10:50
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FirstAidKite posted:Finished the first part of The Emerald Flame. Hell yeah. Had to use hints to give us a nudge in the right direction or to confirm we were going about things correctly. Fun times, looking forward to starting the 2nd part. Reported for spoilers that you go in the right direction rather than the left. Seriously though glad it sounds like it's fun! We've been doing some Exit games to get in the escape room box mindset before I'm willing to open it up. So far we did Abandoned Cabin and Mysterious Museum. We enjoyed Cabin a lot more than Museum. The ending of Museum just gives you 4 cards that are "souvenirs" which kept feeling like it should have been another puzzle? Or maybe it is and we didn't notice? It felt like a letdown to wrap up on a final puzzle that was pretty simple only for the last 4 riddle cards to not be riddles. I picked up Orient Express as well, hopefully we get to do that one sometime this week
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Jun 13, 2022 11:35
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In this thread, a few times people have talked about coming across the unique 3-player-only game Three Kingdoms Redux. Well, interestingly enough, it is now available on the BGG Store. Price is $70 USD, as compared to $70 Singaporean dollars (about $50 USD) from the publisher. Of course, I also have no idea about shipping between the two. I've only ever used the Geek Game Shop which is different from the BGG Store. The BGG Store sells promos and the Geek Game Shop sells games, but the BGG Store also sells games sometimes but oh no I've gone cross-eyed. I think there was talk of them considering destroying some stock to not have to store them since they are small business and all, but maybe enough people decided to spring for it that BGG took some inventory off their hands, maybe?
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Jun 13, 2022 21:52
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Magnetic North posted:Price is $70 USD, as compared to $70 Singaporean dollars (about $50 USD) from the publisher. Of course, I also have no idea about shipping between the two. Looks like about $11 shipped to Missouri, compared to like $50 or whatever it was from Singapore.
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Jun 14, 2022 00:10
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Mayveena posted:Hey folks if people feel that the prob for spoilers was not deserved, I’ll talk with Leperflesh about it. The whole point of me being an IK is for me to prob as appropriate, ie I know the hobby and the games. So, hey, just to clarify: that probe was based on a report made by Magnetic North (who posted about this in the thread too). I didn't have complete context, but my quick research on the game didn't immediately contradict the possibility that some of FAK's content may have been spoilery, so I decided to assume the report was valid. I don't read this thread, so any action I take in it is going to be based on reports. If you'd prefer that I refer reports like that to you for IK action/that posters here talk to you first before reporting, that's fine! Just let me know.
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Jun 14, 2022 06:42
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Antivehicular posted:So, hey, just to clarify: that probe was based on a report made by Magnetic North (who posted about this in the thread too). I didn't have complete context, but my quick research on the game didn't immediately contradict the possibility that some of FAK's content may have been spoilery, so I decided to assume the report was valid. Genuinely curious here, not being sarcastic or dunk on you or anything like that, this is a sincere question: what was your quick research? Did you go check BGG or the publisher's store page or something? You're not likely to find spoilers, narrative/puzzle/surprise or otherwise, in a plain description on the game box, store page descriptions, or the BGG description.
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Jun 14, 2022 07:06
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FirstAidKite posted:Genuinely curious here, not being sarcastic or dunk on you or anything like that, this is a sincere question: what was your quick research? Did you go check BGG or the publisher's store page or something? You're not likely to find spoilers, narrative/puzzle/surprise or otherwise, in a plain description on the game box, store page descriptions, or the BGG description. I believe it was the publisher's store page? Basically, I was looking to see if "the castle one is a sequel to the cabin one" and "the villain is a Jigsaw-type character" were obviously in the marketing, and I didn't see them immediately. I erred on the side of caution because I know that games with sealed/destroyable elements can actually have pretty major spoilers involved.
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Jun 14, 2022 07:11
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Antivehicular posted:I believe it was the publisher's store page? Basically, I was looking to see if "the castle one is a sequel to the cabin one" and "the villain is a Jigsaw-type character" were obviously in the marketing, and I didn't see them immediately. I erred on the side of caution because I know that games with sealed/destroyable elements can actually have pretty major spoilers involved. Well I hope if this comes up again that you'll ask about it since other posters found that info pretty easily. It's better to ask so you have context for that stuff and there's no harm in asking. Then if you do end up having to probate someone for spoilers you can edit the post since probating for it but leaving it up is a bit silly.
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Jun 14, 2022 08:05
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My wife and I have really been enjoying My City. As we are coming to the end of it we were both discussing how good in particular some of the early rounds were when we were exhausted from work and too zonked to play anything too complex, so just having the game be “draw a card, stare at your board and place a tile” with pretty much zero setup and playing in 20 minutes was exactly what we needed. I’m wondering what’s a good polynomimo game to maybe recapture that feel now once we are done. I’m unethused about patchwork based on the “theme” (to the extent it exists) and components. Barenpark is probably the lead contender as it looks pretty simple and clear and we can probably bring the kids in, but I understand the setup is a bit of a bear. NY Zoo? Anything else we should consider? I’ll insta buy that sequel to my city coming out (my island) and we also have feast for Odin (too much for a quick after dinner thing) and ark nova (unplayed but presumably ditto).
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Jun 14, 2022 09:27
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It's not quite what you are asking for.. But Carcassone surely?
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Jun 14, 2022 09:32
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Cascadia maybe?
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Jun 14, 2022 09:49
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Blamestorm posted:Barenpark is probably the lead contender as it looks pretty simple and clear and we can probably bring the kids in, but I understand the setup is a bit of a bear. I see what you did there.  Bärenpark setup is actually quite quick if you store it right. Bag the enclosures as a stack in numerical order and it's just a matter of pulling out the stack and putting it in place. Then the hardest part is stacking the statue tiles into order. Even adding a module from the expansion doesn't take much longer.
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Jun 14, 2022 09:58
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Cartographers is great, although it doesn't have physical components.
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Jun 14, 2022 09:59
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:It's not quite what you are asking for.. But Carcassone surely?
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Jun 14, 2022 10:27
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I’ve got Carcassonne but got a bit sick of it, especially as the 2p game feels quite zero sum and nasty in that it feels like you want to block people off from high scoring opportunities. I think we are both enthusiastic about the more Tetris like thing of how do you fit all this stuff together that My City had, it felt more like a visual puzzle. I’ll check out Cascadia though. Is Barenpark still considered good?
Blamestorm fucked around with this message at 10:41 on Jun 14, 2022 |
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Jun 14, 2022 10:27
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Blamestorm posted:I think we are both enthusiastic about the more Tetris like thing Copenhagen might be a choice. I've been playing it recently since it came to BoardGameArena (not premium, just plain old free), having not really noticed it before. The theme is you're creating building facades, but it's really essentially an abstract trying to make rows and columns in what is the most similar many polyomino games get to actual Tetris  . Each row is 1 point, each column is 2, but there's a tweest! Each tile has windows on some but not all of its segments. If you complete an entire row or column with all windows, it's worth double (2 or 4 respectively). The game is a race to 12 points. The tiles are gained by discarding cards equal to the number of segments the polyomino has, though you can get a 1 card discount by putting it touching a matching color tile already placed. That's easier said than done because the cards are drafted, and when you draft these cards, you have to take two cards that are adjacent in the display so you may or may not like what's out there. Fortunately, you can gain simple one-use power tiles, which will let you take 2 non-adjacent cards, take an additional card or take cards and purchase a facade in the same turn, etc. In what I think is my favorite little wrinkle, when you earn a bonus tile, you can instead forgo gaining another to refresh the ones you have. Is it better to have 2 refreshed, or a 3rd action you can use now?I don't mean to overstate the game's quality. It's quite light and fairly lucky, but I've enjoyed it so far. It also appears to still be in print. There is also a version with acrylic tiles instead of cardboard, which sounds pretty sweet. Here's Queen Game's video on the rules.
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Jun 14, 2022 10:43
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Blamestorm posted:My wife and I have really been enjoying My City. As we are coming to the end of it we were both discussing how good in particular some of the early rounds were when we were exhausted from work and too zonked to play anything too complex, so just having the game be “draw a card, stare at your board and place a tile” with pretty much zero setup and playing in 20 minutes was exactly what we needed. Cartographers has already been mentioned, but would Isle of Cats be too obvious?
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Jun 14, 2022 11:55
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Resident Idiot posted:Cartographers has already been mentioned, but would Isle of Cats be too obvious? The problem with Isle of Cats is that it's not very good and has loads of bits.
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Jun 14, 2022 12:16
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