Gloomhaven

Last Week’s Gaming – July 29th, 2019

The Pretty Clever Lords of Waterdeep had a Rapid Response to the incident in the Blue Lagoon

It was another great week of gaming! I have a lot of new games coming in via both retail orders and Kickstarters, and quite a few games launched last Friday and I got to play two of them!

Travel may interefere with my gaming this week, but with the original Doom trilogy, finihsing Final Fantasy X and waiting to start Fire Emblem: Three Houses I will have some solid replacement games waiting in the wings!

Lords of Waterdeep (with Scoundrels of Skullport)

It has been far too long since I got Lords of Waterdeep to the table. It was a mix of new players and a couple of veterans, and everyone had just as good a time.

Lords of Waterdeep takes a long time to play, especially when learning. But two brand new players jumped in and played the full expanded game (to accomodate 6 players) with no issues at all.

It was a fun night, with breaks for dinner and desert making for a long but very social night. Expect to see more on this game over time, it still makes me happy to play 🙂

Lords of Waterdeep is my most 'blinged' game, hands down.

Ganz Schon Clever/That’s Pretty Clever

Playing solo, I am still enjoying That’s Pretty Clever on my phone. But I am thinkign of a Roll and Write night for my games night, so I pulled out the physical version again.

That was for 2 reasons. First, you quickly forget how much admin the app does for you! Secondly, playing the physical version takes longer and I wanted to get a feel for how long a game may take per player.

My biggest gripe is I was concentrating so much on those things, I made very poor decisions. Maybe I should take a bit longer and go for a much better score!

I pulled out the physical version for something different, even though I was playing solo

Blue Lagoon

Another Alpal special that I would never have even thought to look for – and it’s a Reiner Knizia game!

Very similar in a lot of respects to games like Through the Desert, Blue Lagoon has players exploring land and collecting resources. A lot of players start turning away at such a description, but Blue Lagoon is surpricingly accessible for all players.

Want to claim a chunk of land as yours? Have more people on it. Want to have explored the most? Have people on every island. Add set collection for the resources, and you have the trademark ‘everything gives you points somehow’ of a Knizia game.

Another Reiner Knizia classic - simple yet deep, with the top 3 spots within 6 points of each other

We had a four player game, and even on the very first game almost everything clicked quickly for everyone. You play in two stages, and there are slight placement changes between the two, but it’s a game you can teach and be playing wihtin five minutes every time.

Pandemic: Rapid Response

I have been looking forward to this since it’s announcement. Rapid Response is the latest addition to the Pandemic universe, and is designed by Kane Klenko of Fuse, Flatline and Flipships fame.

A real time turn based race against the clock, players have to strategise, carry out their turn and hope luck is with them against an unstoppable force – the timer :p

Instead of using cards like normal Pandemic, players roll dice and use worker placement type mechanics to create enough supplies to save a town after an unnamed disaster.

I was worried this would have the same initial 'huh' factor as Fuse and Flatline. There was nothing to be worried about.

Every time the timer runs out (every 2 minutes), you lose a token and a new city has a disaster you must deal with. Every time you save a city, you get a token back, so there is no downtime in this game!

We played until we cleared the first card without a timer to make sure we had the mechanics and the like nailed down. We also played without the crisis cards – extra machanics to increase the challenge!

Unlike explaining Fuse and Flatline to new players, Pandemic: Rapid Response seemed to click a lot better and work a lot smoother out of the gate. Look forward to a formal review in the next few weeks!

Gloomhaven (Steam)

You knew I was going to give this another go. Or thirty.

Nothing has changed since I played last week, but I am still really enjoying the ability to jump in and just clear a dungeon.

I am thinking of resetting and playing with all 4 available characters, but that will be in a week or so. I am having fun just finding my feet with the systems again.

One thing I did do differently was move Gloomhaven to my ultrawide screen, and I am glad I did. The extra screen real estate works nicely, and it the UI doesn’t feel strange like some other games.

It's a little thing, but I really love the little touches already present - like the adventure 'map'

Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot (PSVR)

Both games coming out Friday interested me for very different reasons.

Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot has you strapped to a chair and using the move controllers as virtual control sticks – both in and out of the game.

The first level has you controlling a panzerhoung – a giant robot dog with a flamethrower, and the second level has you controlling a drone with a cloak and short range zap.

I only finished two levels, but I have played enough to know I want to finish it. I don’t know if I want to platinum it, but we will see.

Flying a drone through an enemy office. That guard is about to get a shock :p

Fair warning though – in the drone level, I got my first case of VR motion sickness in a very long time. It may have been because I was playing standing while my ‘body’ was seated, but it defninitely happened. I will let you know how that goes as I play more.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood (PS4)

The other Wolfenstein game, Youngblood, had me as a co-op shooter I could play with Rabbit. Thanks to the buddy system, I only need to buy one copy of the game, and I can play with any of my friends – with some restrictions. I will talk more about that during the week.

Playing at the moment in offline mode myself, I am surprised how much Wolfenstein: Youngblood has drawn me in. I can stealth almost every area, but the run and gun gunplay is satisfying when things go wrong.

If all zeppelins had nightclub casinos, I am sure they would be a lot more popular!

Developed with Arkane Studios, the Dishonoured and Prey mechanics are very much present and fit right in. Stealth, collectables, great level pacing – it’s all here.

If I can setup a regular game partner session time, I think this might be my first Arkane platinum – I am enjoying it that much!

Horizon Chase Turbo (PS4)

Back in the day, I could mostly fit in the arcade Out Run machine at my local shopping center – the one with the car you sat in and moved as you steered. It was different, it was fun, but I never quite had the drive (hah puns!) to finish it.

Last weekend, I sat on my couch and had the exact same experience, minus the moving chair.

You can grab Horizon Chase Turbo on PlayStation Plus for July still (for a few days anyway), and if you would like to kick back with an OK racer with nostalgia feels, it works? Personally, I will just fire out Burnout Paradise again next time I want a race.

This is very much old school racing - even down to the graphics

Beat Saber (PSVR)

Yep, switched back to the goold old PSVR for a bit this week after playing the Vive for a couple of weeks.

Beat Saber is still excellent, and you should definitely play it. That hasn’t changed.

Bonuses for PSVR – the screen noticably doesn’t have the ‘screen door’ effect like the Vive does. The headset is more comfortable to wear overall, but it still has the annoying cable that must lead in front of you.

Well that was a terrible cut - but it was a cut!

Bonuses for Vive (w/ wireless adaptor) – No cable, except for a small cable to a battery pack. Obvious increase in precision tracking. Level Editor on PC which I will be messing with in a couple of weeks 🙂

Basically, I don’t think I will ever get sick of playing Beat Saber. I am giving serious thought to finally doing a semi-concentrated platinum run on PSVR though.

What about your week? I hope you had a great one!

What games did you get in? Or are you looking forward to a new one? Do you have a Gen Con wish list?

Shout out in the comments, on Facebook or @JohnHQLD me on Twitter!

Until tomorrow,

JohnHQLD

Gloomhaven Early Access – Initial Play and Thoughts

So I finally got to jump in the dungeon… and jump in the deep end I did!

So if you follow me at all, you will know how much I have been looking forward to trying out Flaming Fowl Studios and Asmodee Digitals version of Gloomhaven. And this week, it finally came out on Early Access!

I have had the physical version for a while now, but it’s always been one of those ‘not tonight’ games. Not because I am not keen – setup and teardown are my two biggest concernt. Just setting up Gloomhaven can take the better part of an hour (especially without practice), so being able to turn the PC and play is appealing.

Yesterday, I finally got a chance to sit down and play the game. And I must say at the moment there is a lot of promise for what can be achieved!

So what’s missing in Early Access?

Basically – a lot. And yes, you are being asked to pay a pretty hefy price up front for a game with what looks like minimal content.

How do I come up with the very scietific quantity of a lot? Of the physical games 17 characters and 47 enemies, only four playable characters, nine enemies plus three bosses are available on Early Access Launch. Environments are not yet available, and I would guess maps and equipment as well.

Also missing is the 95 scenario campaign – by far Gloomhavens biggest drawing point. Instead, you have random adventures across the land in a stripped down turn based dungeon crawl.

Gloomhaven in play 2 — A lot of the physical game contents are missing from the digital version - but the developers are working on it and being very upfront about it

None of this has dampened my enthusiasm at all though. Flaming Fowl Studios and Asmodee Digital have been very upfront that the full experience will be coming in time, with Early Access a chance to make sure all is going well.

So knowing that things are ‘missing’, let’s get playing.

Initial Impressions

When I fired up Gloomhaven for the first time, there were some intial dialogue screens that basically read:

“Hey, thanks for buying Gloomhaven. It’s Early Access and we know there will be problems, sorry in advance. We promise to try and not break your games as we do updates, but we can’t guarentee it. Also, if you haven’t played Gloomhaven before, the tutorial is being worked on and fleshed out. Have fun, and let us know your feedback!”

Now I have been avoiding the physical version for about 8 months, so I was pretty much a newbie again. What I wasn’t expecting was a locked tutorial menu option though! Without reading any rules beforehand expecting some handholding from the game, I nevertheless continued on.

Adventure Mode

The current game mode and I would guess the post campaign mode of choice, Adventure Mode lets you explore the lands in a proceduraly generated set of adventures.

From your base town, you have paths with different difficulty levels of adventure. The more of a challenge, the greater the rewards – hardly unique to Gloomhaven!

The map itself looks like a hand drawn map, including some nice touches like animated clouds. When you begin your scenario, you enter your dungeon and always have your objective up on screen, which is nice.

The graphics and animations are nice, and serve their purpose well. Gloomhaven is undeniably pretty without being over the top. I did notice some jagged edges on shadows when zoomed in close, and I am not a fan yet of the way the walls become see through, but I got used to both quickly enough.

Choose your path, and see what adventures wait for you

All of the relevant information is shown on screen in an easy to see way

Combat is effectively the same as the board game, and familiar territory for any turn based strategy fan – XCom fans for example will already have the pacing down pat.

The firelight flickers nicely, the gold coin drops shimmer beautifully, and the attack animations are fun to watch still.

Having only gotten a little way in, it will be interesting to see where Adventure Mode ‘ends’ if at all. There is a lot of potential for quick dungeon runs here!

Controls are very intuitive, and even without looking anything up controls wise I was panning the camera and navigating with ease. I have no doubt I am probably overlooking some very helpful commands already, but until the tutorial is released and/or I sit carefully with the game manual again, I am not worried about that.

Everything is working the way I would expect it to work, which is just what you want in a game really.

The Deep End and Party Death

So on my first scenario, I almost got to the end reasonably well but my party got wiped. Not by the enemies – by my bad playing.

Only half remembering how to play Gloomhaven after not looking at a manual for months, I forgot how important hand management was in this game. Your character may be at full health and ready to go, but if you run out of ability cards (and you have to discard them throughout the scenario), they become exhausted and are effectively out.

This makes for an effective timer in the game – no ‘hanging back until everyone comes to you’. But when you forget about that intially and throw cards away for the sake of it – or worse don’t know that rule – you will fail quickly and hard.

See those really dark cards on the right? I can't use them anymore this scenario. This builds in a timer to battles.

Now I am not saying this as a complaint – far from it. This is an example of why Gloomhaven is such a popular board game!

But if you are going in only having heard about Gloomhaven, you may get the wrong idea from the digital game.

This is only because of the current lack of tutorial within the game – once you are introduced to the game mechanics, I am sure you will be enjoying your adventures. It’s just being left to sink or swim today might put some players off.

So what is wrong with the current version?

A question many will be asking, and it is one that really depends on your point of view. Overall Gloomhaven is what is advertised – an Early Access Game that will have content added over time.

Some will be complaining about paying full price for a game with limited characters, enemies, maps, etc. If that is your concern, wait for the full game release would be my advice.

There were a couple of times during the game (the second game in particular) where my attacks seemed to be doing no damage even though the target wasn’t shielded.

The stats just aren't right on this screen - it's a bit of a puzzle, but far from game breaking

I could have been missing a status icon or the like, but I don’t think so. Bottom line though it took me an extra round to take out the two Living Bones, so no real harm done.

The victory screen stats also aren’t correct. I opened doors, took damage, pushed an enemy on a trap, but none of this shows. Is this a bug? Yes. Did it break the game? No.

After playing Gloomhaven for a couple of hours, right now I can see a fun quick dungeon crawl experience that is going to be improved. In a few months, the first major ‘update’ is set to include the Tinkerer class and take into account early feedback. Coming around December will be a new environment with new enemies and bosses.

Will there be bug fixes? Yes. Will things like the tutorial and multiplayer eventually be opened up? Sure. But they aren’t here yet.

Should I get Gloomhaven now?

The real million dollar question. It depends.

If you love the physical version and want to have a look at a digital release shaping up to being done well, yes I think you should get Gloomhaven. Even if you tear through its content and get bored, you will get all of the content later so it’s not like you will be missing out.

If you are just curious about Gloomhaven and want to see what all the fuss is about – hold off. Not don’t get it, there is not enough to guide you through the experience yet. While the basic information is shown in the compendium, maybe watch a How To Play video for the board game first for a better idea of how the game works.

All of the technical information is available in the Compendium - but it's not the same as learning the game

I wouldn’t expect to see the final version released before this time next year. Not out of any pessimism, but if the second update is due around the holidays, it’s not exactly a rapid fire release schedule. Overall I think this is a good thing though – I would rather a good polished game than a rushed one.

And while the graphics are very pretty, they aren’t exactly photorealistic. Not going to lie – if Gloomhaven can come out on Switch, I will be buying it again just as enthusiastically!

So you mentioned last week something about capturing the game?

If you would like to see my first attempt at a capture video with the new setup and all the terrible choices I made in playing a game I didn’t look up how to play, have I got a surprise for you.

Yep – I recorded my first game! I was going to time lapse sections of it, but I decided later to just leave it as is. That’s the catch with unscripted videos – what I say on camera isn’t always correct 🙁

If you want to see what it’s like jumping in with no knowledge right now, this is probably a good indication of what to expect. It has been so long since I played Gloomhaven, this is pretty much the same as trying the game knowing nothing about it.

Hopefully this will be the first of a new series called ‘JohnHQLD Tries To Play’. This series is almost in Early Access itself, so for the moment I ask for patience with the layout and content (little things like forgetting to talk halfway through for example). While far from a must watch clip, I thought I would leave it to show exactly what going in blind would be like, and get some feedback on if you think this sort of video series would be fun to watch!

So without further delay, don’t say you haven’t been warned, here is my trying to play Gloomhaven!

Until next time,

JohnHQLD

Gloomhaven Early Access Price Announced

So now we know when it’s coming, and roughly how much

So I have talked about this a couple of times now, but Gloomhaven is almost here – digitally that is.

On the 17th of July (I am guessing late in the day for Australia), Early Access will unlock for Gloomhaven for the price of USD$24.99.

At the start of the Early Access, players will be able play a roguelike (i.e. random) Adventure Mode, combining both combat and exploration.

The roster of characters, enemies and bosses (and all of their abilities!) will be updated and added regularly during Early Access. Eventually, you will be able to play the full Gloomhaven boardgame campaign!

But you already know this. Check out the new gameplay overview for a look at what the new Gloomhaven will be like:

All going to plan, I will be going to sit down and play for about an hour so the Saturday after it’s release.

I will give you thoughts on the game after that. And hopefully, I will include gameplay video as well 😀

Until then,

JohnHQLD

Gloomhaven is coming to PC via Steam in 2019

It’s true – Gloomhaven is going digital

Gen Con has been going strong again. By the time this article is up, the annual event will be wrapped up. Wallets will think themselves safe for another week after the purchasing frenzy of new releases and wishlist additions grows ever longer.

It’s no surprise there has been new game announcements that have had me reaching for my credit card yet again. There are a few games I have been waiting for, and a few that have come out of left field for me. Nothing strange there, and you will be reading about some of these titles over the next few days.

Board Games in general though have almost taken a similar place in my game times as some of my Video Games.

The Witcher 3, for example, is a game I will play, and play at my pace. This massive world will be explored fully, with every piece of lore I can find studied to the nth degree. But right now, Octopath Traveler is being played in its place.

Nowadays I have board games that find themselves in similar positions. Legacy of Dragonholt is a game I have been happy to put on hold, but will probably knock over for in two days. Arkham Horror LCG is a game that is starting to get at least a fortnightly play session in, but it won’t take much to displace this.

And then there is Gloomhaven.

Gloomhaven Box — It looks like a normal game box. Then you realise it's 10kg and takes up a shelf on its own.

Gloomhaven is a 10kg box of legacy adventuring goodness. It is a game that is simply described – a dungeon crawler with legacy like elements.

And that description is somehow accurate but in every important way completely wrong.

It is a game that takes hours to punch and sort. I ended up buying a wooden insert, making my game now closer to 14kg or now organised gaming goodness.

But it has the problem of I want to play the game and give it the attention it deserves. Each game takes an hour or three? Fine. But each game is a part of an estimated 100+hour board game and from all reports a unique experience for each player.

Now there are plenty of times that such hype is given, however Gloomhaven has a few points going its way. In its first year with a limited print run, it became the number 1 game on Board Game Geek of all time. It has sold approximately 120,000 copies as of the time of writing, with another 60,000 being printed – and there is already concern that this third printing won’t be enough.

That’s right – a game that came to Kickstarter because its designer Isaac Childers didn’t think anyone would buy the huge expensive game that makes up Gloomhaven can’t stay on the shelves.

Well this Gen Con, Asmodee Digital has come up with an interesting halfway solution.

That’s right – Gloomhaven is going digital.

Now I know I called this a halfway solution, and for the moment I am going to stick with this.

Initially Gloomhaven Digital will be a solo dungeon crawling experience, with campaign elements and multiplayer to come. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing and is a quicker way to get it into gamers hands.

However, the huge box and cost of Gloomhaven is justified by the fact that a campaign that exceeds some video games is fully included in the box.

Gloomhaven Digital Gameplay 1 — No table space or setup required - Gloomhaven Digital edition

With all this goodness comes the issue for players like myself where this much content makes the game difficult to just play.

Setup has been a good 20 minute affair, and then once everything is done and ready to put away up to 40 minutes to resort and put away. The two initial games I have played were easily an hour longer hour than they had to be simply because I had to look up a bunch of rules again.

Taking Gloomhaven digital means that none of this needs to be. No parts can be misplaced or lost, and the games bookkeeping elements are handled by the game itself.

And even better for a lot of people – no rulebook to read. The game keeps track of all that itself, you can’t get a rule wrong that can have lasting impact throughout the campaign.

So there is a lot to be said for the transition to digital. This will open up the world of Gloomhaven to many new players for a much lower price point. But Asmodee Digital have already said they are only aiming for the spirit of Gloomhaven, not a true digital conversion, so does this make Gloomhaven Digital a side game type of affair?

I have added Gloomhaven to my Steam wishlist and will be keeping an eye on it in the months to come. But I would be keeping this as a new Gloomhaven experience until a lot more information comes out, rather than looking forward to a true Gloomhaven experience in digital form.

Until next time,