Yeah nice…I am here to unite myself to God, and then in that unity and love I wish for others to have it too, which means I will support what is good through protection and giving, and I will attack viciously what is evil and seek to remove through its destruction. I have so much burning hatred for evil, and I laugh at its ridiculousness. Any part of a person that is evil I hate, and any part of a person that is good I love. My sword is pointed toward evil and my shield is up to defend good. I love defense, I wish I didn’t have to attack so much, but serving Justice is pleasant
I love that friendly pieces are made of wood and paper symbolizing the natural order and the invaders and blight are plastic symbolizing the unnatural. Love it.
"Spirit Island ,where you are deamons fighting off Christian Missionaries." That is the most interesting translation of the rule book I have ever heard.
I mean there is one single Event Card that implies this. But that's just how you'd react if you were the spirits... people getting triggered by everything ^^
@@jamesburns6603 Yes, it's called "Missionaries arrive" and you can either risk them "preaching the gospel" to the dahan and possibly converting one of them or stop them from doing so.
I really enjoy this format of you reading the negative reviews and providing feedback to the points being raised. You should totally do more of these with other games you are passionate about!! I just recently purchased this game (haven't gotten to play it yet) and you are right, I'm more excited about the game now than I was before. Hearing everyone complain that it is too much information to process gives me hope lol. I love games like that because it increases the longevity of the experience for me. I always get really disappointed in (big-box expensive) games where I feel like the game is "Solvable" or it is too easy to figure out how to play optimally. Basically I do scoop negative reviews myself, for information and entertainment.
thanks so much! glad you enjoy it:) and i may have to do more videos like this! especially if the video performs well 😯😆 YES i completely agree with you. You’re going to have a blast with this one then! It’s got infinite replay value.
@@BeingFriends Yeah this will be fun! So first of all I like this game, but the first one that comes to mind is Concordia for me. Solvable might be a weird word to use, but it is definitely too methodically same-y every playthrough, I always feel like I am having the EXACT same experience with it every time I play, it is too rigidly structured. The main issue is that the game's scoring system is tied to the cards you are buying and the same cards come out at the same times in general since they are shuffled in by era. There are different number of cards of each scoring type, and since the cards act as multipliers, some are clearly more useful to go for than others. So everyone ends up in the same gameplay loop or cycle going for the same cards each playthrough. I never really feel as though my decisions are tough or nuanced, I always know exactly what I need to get and what cards to play to get there, so I end up feeling like I am just going through the motions. However when I play games like Troyes, Keyflower or Innovation.. even if I am using the same mechanics game to game, the experiences you end up having in those games are massively different. Because the game allows you to manipulate those mechanics and systems in different or clever ways as the game unfolds and more information and options are open to you. Another big one one is Machi Koro, playing the regular game without the variations. Where buying Forest, Furniture Factories & Mines will give you so much money you just Bulldoze everyone else. Like you have two 6 sided dice, rolling the number on a card gives you that effect. Those three cards above are the numbers 5, 8 and 9 respectively. Which in turn gives you a 11.11% chance, a 13.89% chance, and a 11.11% chance of rolling. Which is substantially higher than any other combo in the game. It's just silly to go for any of the others statistically. What about you, have you felt that way about a game? Or found a game where there are certain strategies, like that Machi Koro example, that is almost weirdly unbalanced?
@@pandorasfolly4559 Playing Rusviet is Scythe gives me the feeling I think you're describing. Whenever I play it, I always do randomly selected factions, and I almost feel disappointment when I get Rusviet because playing them optimally seems so straightforward and uncreative, especially for the first four or five rounds.
I'm the type of person who comes home after a long day of work and then needs something to think about to not overthink my all day problems. If I would play super light games, i would have the possibility to think about my work/problems while playing, so i would never get relaxed.
Regarding the theme, Spirit Island is one of the more thematic euro games. Some questions answered: Q: Why are the spirits weak at first? A: Because the natives have largely stopped practicing the old ways so the spirits are largely inactive. It's a bit like Tinker Bell in that the spirits need believers to continue to exist. Q: Why do the spirits grow in strength as the invaders also grow in power? A: Because the natives renew their faith in the spirits as they witness the destruction brought by the invaders as well as the spirits' responses to this destruction. As the spirits grow stronger they do more impressive deeds, which creates a feedback loop of increased believers and increased powers. Q: Why don't the spirits grow weaker as the invaders grow stronger? A: They very easily can and do if the invaders are permitted to cause blight to lands where the spirits are present. Destroying nature harms the nature spirits. Q: Why are there slow and fast powers? Is this just a game mechanic? A: Yes, it's obviously a game mechanic. But thematically it represents acts of nature on shorter and longer timelines. Events such as lightning, forest fires, and flash floods happen very quickly whereas massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and such take months or years to coalesce. These powers are also a reflection of the personalities of the spirits. Consider, for example, how long it took the Ents in Lord of the Rings to reach even the simplest conclusions: "We have decided that you are not orcs." But once they finally got into action, they tore apart Isengard.
Would love to see an in-depth teaching video. Still only played this once or twice and having a hard time teaching it to others, so would love to see it from a pro!
I can say from experience, one of the best ways to learn is the app. Because it automates everything for you, it helps streamline the process and can make things a lot easier to understand. Just make sure you understand the systems and what it's actually doing before playing it. Once you play the app a lot, it's a lot easier to come back to the actual board game and sit down with it because you know how the systems work and can automate it in your head super easily. Also, I play this pretty exclusively as a solo game so it keeps the complexity down. I wouldn't ever want to play with more than three at most. Three is already very high. If I'm feelings particularly feisty, I might play with two by myself. But that's a lot of interaction already.
in regards to climactic ending i've had one match i'd like to share: we were 3 players and playing Shifting Memory of Ages, Shroud of Silent Mists and Lightnings Swift Strike. the board was getting overwhelmed but Memory got Cast Down Into the Briny Deep (Threshold: 2 Sun, 2 Moon, 4 Water, 4 Earth: Destroy the board containing target land and everything on that board. All Destroyed Blight is Removed from the game instead of being returned to the Blight Card.) since Memory was able to get the threshold and energy required, Lightning making the power fast and Shroud using Powerstorm (Target Spirit gains 3 Energy. Once this turn, target Spirit may Repeat a Power Card by paying its cost again) we were able to remove 2/3 of the island and generated 3 fear cards that ended the match swiftly it was a true moment of all stars aligning
This video on reading negative reviews of your favorite game was BRILLIANT! What you say about reading reviews and assessing whether or not that comment makes or breaks a game for you is so on point. If everyone in the room likes the meal because its spicy and you hate spicy, you are not going to love the meal. Same goes for game reviews...good or bad, you have to know what makes a game shine FOR YOU. I still need to go back and watch your live play-through. I think I will learn a lot more about the game. I've barely scratched the surface of playing with an adversary, which from what I've been told, is the way the game is truly played. Thanks as always. You guys are awesome!
I totally agree!! I hope you enjoy our playthrough!! its a bit drawn out just cause we talk alot about all sorts of things. Eventually we will make some playthroughs that we didn't livestream that are more concise and dedicated!
Great post. I love how you give credit where credit is due and discuss your different reaction. This approach may even be more useful than a straight up review. Love it. Thank you.
I love the theme. Playing a spirit is nature is something I dig. I also enjoy complex games. And I love working with people to beat a game and not against then. So this game is up my alley.
I usually feel like Spirit Island is anticlimactic but I've gotten over it. Also refereeing to Spirit Island as Ferngully is hilarious! very fun video! Brilliant! :D
I always felt the same way, up until I played the higher level adversary and/or scenario. When I played it with my casual friends with low level difficulty though, it is usually anticlimactic.
4:00 As someone who loves Spirit Island and Ferngully - a movie literally about nature versus the literal manifestation of Blight - I demand that you go watch it!
3:05 In Spirit Island you play as the non-Christian God, heathen-worshipped animas. And you fight against the “Go forth and multiply” manifest destiny of the White Christian conquerors. I can see why die-hard Christians would get upset with the themes of the game.
This is also my one of my favorites games, if not my favorite game. It's so meaty and complex and interesting. There's so much depth to it that I love and appreciate. Especially adding all the Jagged Earth stuff in there.
It is the sole cooperative game that I am actively excited to get to the table other than rpg-in-a-box sorts of games like gloomhaven. I think that the key is the "this is my board of the map" thing. There's this sort of challenge for each player to take care of their own space THEN lend a hand as they can. Some spirits like ocean and call or maybe the volcano have a bit of a built in "I'll cover this, you cover that" but for the most part there is a sense of territory. Like you are competing to keep your space clean but also cooperating to not lose. Thematically I like to think of the spirits as being territorial and only really working together out of a sense of survival.
Great concept and totally agree. When interested in a game I always read through the negative reviews, because people who love a game will praise it no matter what. But if you know the 'bad' things you can then look at what the positive reviews say about that, just like you did
Even though I love SI I also can understand those who found it somewhat tedious and anticlimatic. In fact the game experience depends highly on choosing the right difficulty level for your group playing. This is where Branch & Claw waltzes in and steals the show: those event cards introduce the small random factor needed even in such calculated game making interesting and more exciting easier difficulties just as well.
Spirit island is my all time favorite co op game hands down. I even purchased broken token insert box, my biggest pain is to construct those wood inserts.
i loove upgrading my games!! but i personally like my organization solution for SI enough so I haven't wanted to get an insert! Its totally worth it for some people though!!!
@@jaydeestrong I dont know if I have all the promo, but honestly there are just so many spirits to pick from the expansion alone, love the game! Unfortunately I am still building mine, the wood keep chipping because I mess up a lot. I wish they come build together or like lego where all the parts is already separated so I don’t have to sand the joints down. Overall I’m happy that I get it, because I can already see that it will speed up the set up and takedown time and better gameplay experience!
@@Riley9pi9 im not good in any mechanical work. But was able to build it with almost no errors. Just watch youtube build with 0.5x speed. Ps. It saved me around 40 mins set up+tear down on my 1st game 😁
I really enjoy the channel and enthusiasm for Spirit Island. I have only recently discovered Spirit Island and it has rocketed up to the top tier of my best board game list after about five-six plays. What's your take on Branch & Claw? It could be an interesting video to do a negative review over this expansion. I don't own it nor have I played it and I can't recall from recent memory an expansion that appears so divisive amongst folks who all love Spirit Island. It seems the event cards bring a breath of fresh air of volatility to a game that becomes calculable but on the other hand the feedback seems to say that these event cards are almost always negative and seldom work in the Spirit's favor, which makes a game that can be difficult to win even more difficult. I think that this variety would bring another added layer of depth which sounds enjoyable to me, even if these event cards seldom work favorably.
I personally LOVE the events! soo i cant make a negative review hahaha. I have found that if you are playing smart and doing good, the event cards are more often helpful than not tbh... Also, while the expansion added a layer of chaos and unpredictability(which I personally like), it also gives you all the different tokens! All the tokens are tools and if you use them well, it honestly balances out quite a bit. More chaos AND more control.. more fun.
Spirit Island is a 10/10 for me. But it's worth noting that I like solving all sorts of puzzles AND I like complex brain-burning games with large decision spaces. I also enjoy playing games solo, especially when that means I get to bathe in the plethora of options - such as what a 3-spirit solo game of Spirit Island provides - without irritating my friends with how long I take to make a decision. I get that my tastes here are not shared by everyone. However, I would have a hard time understanding why people with similar enjoyments would dislike SI. It's just too fantastic at creating interesting puzzles, scaling the challenge difficulty, and giving players many options to customize their solution through the use of different spirits and decisions of how to advance, gain, and manage their powers.
3:20 Church really disliked the pagan connection to nature and the monumental churches we built to show the accomplishment of man as tribute to god (and protective castles to plebs) can evoke this very much. Of course the subversion of pagan religions required to include the nature aspect plus it is only natural to be for the nature which despite our best efforts we are part of - even if we built cities of concrete castles like pens for humans. Back to the topic - from Religious perspective (Jewish, Christian and Islam) you play as the pagan demons fighting against rather white colonizer.
People's taste in board games is as subjective as movies or food. The review at the 16:30 mark pretty much describes exactly how I feel about the game. No matter how great a game is, if I can't get it to the table with my group, it's not worth keeping.
Only found this video now. Spirit Island is my favorite game of all time and has been for about three years. (And yes, it grew on me, although it already started out in my top-10 when I a friend brought me the base game from Essen.) Around 6:00 where you talk about the importance of having fast and slow powers: I think a good thing to remember is, that a single turn in Spirit Island thematically represents about about 10 years of time. So a slow power would be an effect that takes a spirit the better part of a decade to implement.
With your knowledge of the game and the time you've spent on it, I would love for you to do a video teaching the game. I actually recently bought the game, unpacked it, and look through it, but I haven't gotten up the confidence or time to really flesh out the rules and play my first game yet. A tutorial video would be amazing!
Than kyou for this very interesting meta-review of Spirit Island. I think the "anti-Christian" negative review could have been read more "Anti-European Colonialism", or perhaps "it's anti-white!" It is easily my favorite game right now, with over a hundred games in and over a dozen teach games given.
They could have easily just had fast slow invader powers but by putting the invader phase in the middle it throws off our brains tempo which is so clever. It’s arbitrary but changes everything because we’ve all assumed the arbitrary way of coop board games is us then the board.
Despite all the negative reviews, this game is number 12 of all time on bgg. It's in the top 10 non-legacy games, and the number one non-legacy co-op game ever. Sure, it's a bad entry game into the hobby of boardgaming, but so is almost every game in the top 100, and every game in the top 20
To be fair, this game needs a good teacher badly. After a dozen of plays I still screw up major rules that affect the overall feeling and arch of the game. Through one of your other videos I just realized that you only get one blight for ravaging, even if you get 10 damage. I assumed it would be 1 blight for every 2 damage, thus intensifying the urge to protect land instead of doing other stuff
I bought Spirit Island for my brother because he loves brain burning high interaction games. And this game delivers that in droves. I think the best element beyond the asymmetrical powers is simultaneous play. I think this works incredibly well at 2 players. But for those who are already mentally fried after work this game might be too much. Either way I loved it, my brother loved it. Can't wait to play again
I received this game for the holidays and I really like it. (I only played it 3 times) Some of the comments presented in this "comment review" video are indeed true to me. For example, the plastics elements for the invaders and the blight. I think the plastic element is kind of true to the theme in some way, since they do feel odd on the board. They are invaders, they're not supposed to be there. Bit I felt that the Explorers look very fragile. I'm almost nervous handling them. For the Blight, I don't like them because they are extremely difficult to pickup. It happened at least 3 times that the damned thing flew off because they slipped between my finger tips or nails. Anyway. Can't wait to put it on the table again and keep my cats at bay far from the components!
Like most people with a game of this type I have a good number of games. Each delivers something a bit different. Sprit Island weirdly is one of the most intimidating games I own and I tend towards the heavy. I have it set up now and it is my intention to play this for the next five times I solo a game to give myself a chance to improve and make it more fluid. It’s an amazing experience but not a game to just blast through. I suspect that’s why there are so many games! A time and place for each to suit the mood at time available at the time.
Hi there! I usually don't comment on things. BUT I wanted to let you know that I very much appreciated this video. Good job, keep it up :) liked and subscribed ;)
it's kind of crazy to me that some people don't like spirit island. All my friends like it, sometimes we argue to play other games like lords of waterdeep, splendor or dominion, but when it comes down to spirit island everyone is down to play it
i honestly can see it, but man Its so dang good so its just too bad when someone doesnt like it. My favorite people are the ones that say "yeah It's a super good game, but its not for me"
I love this game, play it 2-player (never often enough), but seems to take much longer to play it, than you said (age is probably a factor, and lack of hard gaming practice in our youth). If memory serves, we'd think the game took about 2 hours, and were astonished to find it was 3.5 to 5 hours! Love it though. Liked this novel format, the game really deserves the love you have lavished on it. Thanks.
I can't stop playing this game during covid. I got the digital version on STEAM, and it's so worth it. Patiently waiting for the Jagged Earth expansion to come to digital. IT'S SUCH A GREAT SOLO GAME!!!
Honestly, anyone who says the theme is dumb is full of shit. Why did they buy the game in the first place if the theme did not at least interest them in the store? They obviously looked at the box and probably read the back. Most of these reviews basically boil down to: "this game is hard and I bought it to play with my kids and I have no idea what I'm doing. It's stupid"
right!! thing is.. I literally taught my 3rd grade cousin how to play this game this summer and we played it like 4 times in a week and he had no trouble learning it😂 no more excuses for anyone anymore.
@@BeingFriends I will allow that this game might be beyond the comprehension of some people..but that kind of goes away with the utilization of UA-cam, taking the time to play multiple games to get familiar with it, and if you own the digital version on Steam, reaching out to the community online. You just have to WANT to learn how to play it. It can be overwhelming when first starting out, but it’s easily one of the most unique games out there. And for that reason, it is also my favorite
Quite literally just bought this game less than 24 hours ago, I was able to get it for 66% off which is nice. It will arrive in a day or two in the mail and I look forward to trying it out! Thematically It looks neat and it's rare to see a game like this (as in not something that's 5+ hours long) marry mechanics and theme so closely. A lot of games have a great setting, but the mechanics are usually "Do a thing you did in another game... but in Spaaaaace!" Few games I have combine the two. I will agree with *ONE* thing one of the reviewers said... Gloomhaven is terrible! ;) Ok it's not a 1/10, I give it a 5, but it's purely from a solo player perspective.
I really love this game but as people said it's on the other hand nothing you just play to have simple fun. One tense game feels ro me as having workes 2 days in 3 hrs. As if yow were playing 3D Chess. So that's nothing I would play many rimes the Same day. On the other hand it's what makes it special like a really hard puzzle.
Maybe one day i'll get it out of curiosity for solo board gaming. It's just that some cards after looking at its card catalog online got me scared like Call on Midnight's Dream, Veil of the Night's Hunt, etc. 😂😂😂
Great game! I picked it up partly off the back of one of your earlier videos. I hasn’t knocked Mage Knight off it’s perch for me though ;) still can’t beat the exploration you get in MK
I don't "hate" this game at all (I believe I rated it a 6 on BGG). I respect the incredible level of design work that was clearly required here. HOWEVER...on a personal level, I find that the game feels more like "work" than "fun" in the level of complexity involved in its cooperation, via its "order of operations" approach. It absolutely succeeds at avoiding the "Alpha Gamer/Quarterback" issue and for that, the designer should be commended. But the couple of times I've played, I end up feeling mentally drained by the experience and not in a positive way that my favorite kinds of strategy games challenge and tickle my logic centers. Rather, I end up with a sort of "game hangover" and the feeling that I wished it had only taken half as long for as much energy as it demanded of me. "Exhausting" may be the right word for it. And this coming from someone who actually feels energized after an 8-hour game of Twilight Imperium. Go figure. But my personal opinion (or anyone else's) should in no way detract from your love for this game. My #1 favorite board game is possibly one of the most divisive games in the hobby and there are just about as many people that HATE it and call it utter garbage (some even go so far as to claim it isn't even a "game" at all) as there are people (like me) who consider it one of the greatest games ever designed. Pursue your passions and enjoy yourself in whatever ways the fun comes alive for you!
After makeing sure that Spirit Island is my new favourite game, i've done the same. I was so curious why some people hate it. In my opinion the most people did not get how to play the game. Not rules-wise but in getting along with the idea of not being able to control every part of the game and the other players. Some people speaking of an alpha leader problem?! Yeah, if your group is stupid enough to play with open hands or telling each other about every single detail of every card they are holding in their hands. I can understand that its a lot of book-keeping at first. But after everyone knows how to handel the explorer steps, everyone could do them for their own part of the island. Sry for my bad english!
I think thats probably true! at least partially! It's crazy to me how many people's experiences of a game can be dramatically different based on mindset and such! sometimes I'll play a game and that specific round of the game was quite odd and even not super fun, and I'll go, "man.. i can see why someone wouldn't like this game if this was their first experience!" so interesting!
I’ve played it like 7-8 times already. Twice with others and the rest by myself. Played Ocean, Shadows, Earth, Lightning, River, and Thunder next. Then I’ll play Green and Nightmare. All of them have been fun to play and the ones I haven’t played yet look fun too. Once I play a few times I can make my favorite list
I think the review saying it doesn't really feel like a coop game is probably contingent on being unfamiliar with the game. For me my first games were trying to figure out what my spirit does and how it works. Beyond that you can start to recognize where you're in a position to help free up another player to handle something they're better equipped to deal with than you, or to give them a turn to focus on getting stronger, and there are plenty of times where you want to work together to solve (or mitigate) a high priority land. That said even once you're familiar with the game there are plenty of times (especially in the early stages) where everyone just handles their own boards and it's fair to not like that or to not like the number of learning games it might take you. Also on Spirit Islands complexity I feel like it isn't pointless complexity, right? Like it pretty much all adds depth. Double also I gotta say it really irritates me when people take their subjective opinion and present it as fact. Like "I don't like coop games, or complicated games so this game is garbage". There's more than just the one way to enjoy board games, damnit!
Spirit Island's theme is not mature? I suppose all the carnage is lost on these people; it sure does look pretty and colourful, but boy if you let your imagination run wild you can surely imagine the beasts tearing invaders limb for limb or a bunch of the explorers drowning in a tsunami... This game is very macabre.. Oh, did he mean it's not mature as in not fully developed? Nah, it got to be the first one... :P As for the Christian bit I really don't want to stir up trouble, but I doubt there was EVER an instance where the spreading of Gospel went down peacefully; in the end it was all about that knife/gun... :) I leave it at that. Having Fast and Slow powers is maybe the best mechanic in this game. Only people who have never played this game or played it wrongly can complain about that system. There is beauty in (not) having the Fast power to deal with the imminent threat immediately and Slow power to mop up damage or alter the course of seemingly set future.
I'll admit that I didn't like this game at all on the first 3-ish playthroughs, but as soon as my friends introduced me to Spread of Rampant Green I ended up falling in love with the game. I think the game mechanics aren't as intuitive to me as with other games I usually play (Russian Railroads, Nusfjord, Agricola, Puerto Rico, Terraforming Mars), but having an overpowered spirit like Spread of Rampant Green with easy-to-grasp cards makes it such an enjoyable experience to play Spirit Island now.
hey thank you so much! so glad you enjoyed it. That is funny! this is the kind of game that the more you talk about it the more it all comes together for me 😂
Pretty easy: the game is naturally made to make new players lose - a lot. Nobody can come in first game understanding the Spirits, how to manage their growth, which cards synergize with their Spirit and anticipate how Ravage/Build/Explore will translate on the board - especially the coastal card and the double regions cards. Spirit Island reminds me of One deck dungeon: if you like losing 5 games before winning 1 and then repeating the process when you change characters, then of course you will love those games. I understand that it is not fun for everyone.
Had the game for 2 months. Idk why I didn't watch a playthrough beforehand because I got the game and started reading the rule book. I HATE the look of the game and can't bring myself to learn how to play this game. I am sure it's fun but I don't know that for certain myself. One day I'll give it a go.
I kind of agree with the first comment though. I think board gamers are unreasonably against mature themes in board games. It's like being against all mature themed films! It seems they don't respect board games enough as a medium capable of different things! All board games have to cater to everyone and be inoffensive to everyone! That's the key to good art, isn't it? Wait, NO IT ISN'T!
I mean I don’t think Ive ever heard anyone say all mature themed games are bad and no one should enjoy them under any circumstances 🤣 no i hear what you’re saying though 😂 totally agree that art shouldn’t necessarily be inoffensive. -Evan
I absolutely love this game! However I’m no good at it. I feel when I played last we used a bad combination of spirits and just had a super hard time to keep up. So definitely keen for a how to play maybe even a little bit about what spirits work well together!
"nonsensical theme"? what?! The theme makes a ton of sense, he just didnt like the theme. People are really bad at reviews. Quarterbacking - There is nothing preventing it in this game. If they cant reign it in, then that is a player problem. Also, the subjectiveness of reviews makes them rough without knowing the reviewer. "Game slow and dull" makes sense if they are an FPS spaz and that review is very valuable to another low attention span player, but his 1star review is meaningless to puzlesolvers. It is right up there with people that rate something one star because THEY ordered the wrong version of an item that was clearly labeled.
I don’t see the game as anti religion and white men/women were not the only ones to spread Christianity, if I’m not mistaken it was the Ethiopians that spread it. Either way, game is anti colonization not anti Christian. It may have anti white themes due to the history of white colonization.
I just had a read though some of them myself now. I just don’t understand why people who CLEARLY don’t like, or even outright hate, co-op games feel the need to review this…is it because not enough people like their own favourite pvp game?
Before I watch this clip, my answer is: "Maybe, a lot of people want to play an easier game, not one where they have the feeling they should have gone to University, and therefore they know have to feel dumber than the ones who like this type of game?" Just saying.
Wow, nothing like finding a year+ old post and wanting to reply. KDM actually gets a lot of bad reviews based on a bad understanding of the "mature content" level. Most famous is Shut Up and Sit Down (one of the biggest reviewers out there) not recommending it almost exclusively over the nudity and gore. KDM is not for everyone, but it's a hard sell for anyone to give it a 1-star review in general if they're ok with the maturity level. What it does right, it is best in class for. Obviously it does some things wrong (it's hard to justify the 60-hour playthrough without a better-designed save system, for example), but anything below "mediocre" seems like a fairly unjustifiable review based on the content, play, and fun of the game alone. I get tired of folks 1-starring things that simply cannot reliably be called "bad".
3:45 I don’t agree with the Christian, but I don’t agree with what you said, either, as a Christian, you should believe in people and culture and developing the culture, not nature. Nature kills with 100% success rate, and the game uses fear as power which is accurate for nature it’s not evil, because nature is destroying something that is destroying it, and not cultivating it, so you’re both wrong and right on some levels. I still love this game not my favorite and very amazing.
The spirits get stronger because they have to fight back. If the invaders never came, they would never be any reason for the spirits to develop their strength or learn new abilities. Copcopps is nitpicking and biased. I win, bye bye
ooo fantastic true. he severely misinterpreted the game lol. The spirits aren't just like oh no they have so much dominance on the island! we are stinky now! they're like uh oh we need to step it up now. Now, when the invaders do start getting out of control, and blight gets wild, and the spirits start losing presence because of it, THAT is when the spirits start getting weaker. But they aren't so puny that when the invaders start spreading out they give up.
Unfortunately, Jagged earth will never come out in german. It just gets delayed again and again without any official statement. Very frustrating for such a great game which really got me into boardgames
Condemning colonists is not anti-christian. It is just pro-humanity. If you don't know what I mean then research the torture, rape, and thievery colonists pursued
I love MTG and I love spirit island but Netrunner never clicked with me and I tried desperately. Bought all the expansions and sold them on eBay after months of attempting to understand the gameplay.
Dude board game Christians unite! Also WHAT. Anti Christian... my oh my. People will attempt to find everything wrong with a game. I myself am not a huge fan of the game, but I can still appreciate that its wonderful! honestly I need to play again so if you would like to I would love to play with you for real!
17:45 Very well put. My girlfriend hates complex, difficult games for the same reason and I love them. It's not easy to find something we both like. Azul is one of these.
3:00 Nature is not sacred in Christianity, but we are to be good stewards of it; that's an important distinction. To be fair to the reviewer, the spirits in this game explicitly seek to harm humans, so that would be cast them in a negative light if the fiction of the game was real.
To be fair, the spirits in this game explicitly seek to harm humans... who themselves are seeking to harm humans (remember that the Dahan are killed during the ravage phase, and the Dahan are humans, too).
I have Gloomhaven, have played about 15 quests and I can say it is definitely no higher than a 2 or 3 at best. It is NOT FUN (unless cleaning out someone's garage and being rewarded for it with advice on other things to clean sounds fun to you). The card system is a great IDEA, but in practice, usually yields your tertiary plan at best. You are almost never going to get the combos you want, You have to leave immediately after killing the last enemy... Why can't I turn around and pick up that coin before I leave??? I NEED IT, I HAVE NOTHING! Stupid rules, weak story, a puzzle game, not a dungeon diver. The most overrated game of all time.
There is little to none of randomness in the game, and making combos is purely up to you. What do you mean by "almost never going to get"? Not a fanboy, just curious (both have and love SI and GL)
interesting! I haven't played it a ton yet, but I do quite enjoy it. Plus the scale is crazy!!! I have a feeling it gets better the more you play it, although if you really dislike it after 15 plays, itll probably stay that way 😆😂 I think that's accurate to call it a puzzle game, but hey lots of us like puzzle games 😂
I can actually relate to that feeling! often you have this cool idea, but by the time your turn comes, someone else moved or killed the guy you were about to clobber.. It seems like that kind of stuff happens decently often! Which frankly, is ok! It makes for really interesting cooperation, though I can see how it'd feel more like you often have to sacrifice your cool plans for someone else's.
One of the games that I disappoint the most. They sell it to you as super thematic and immersive and it is one of the most abstract, mechanical and repetitive games that I played in my life. And what I don't understand is why they don't say it. Why are they afraid to say that it is an abstract puzzle? As an abstract I believe that it is the best. Nice video!
Hope you liked my review! This is one of the worse designed games I’ve ever played. After I played it, I was actually angry at how badly it was designed. So anti-climactic and the slow and fast powers are irritating and unthematic in their application. Honestly, I’m not surprised so many simple Americans like this game… 🤦♂️
Best game ever, though I have to admit I've thought of it as critical to colonialism (as it should be), if that makes it antichristian then I fear for the one writing that review since colonialism is the most despicable turn of events in mankind history and I would NEVER celebrate that, or refer to it as something positive. Nature sure is sacred and I don't have to be a believer to appriciate that.
Pastor: Evan, why do you come to church?
Evan: 22:43
🤣🤣 i cannot believe how perfect that lines up thank you.
That's really funny! :D
Yeah nice…I am here to unite myself to God, and then in that unity and love I wish for others to have it too, which means I will support what is good through protection and giving, and I will attack viciously what is evil and seek to remove through its destruction. I have so much burning hatred for evil, and I laugh at its ridiculousness. Any part of a person that is evil I hate, and any part of a person that is good I love. My sword is pointed toward evil and my shield is up to defend good. I love defense, I wish I didn’t have to attack so much, but serving Justice is pleasant
I love that friendly pieces are made of wood and paper symbolizing the natural order and the invaders and blight are plastic symbolizing the unnatural. Love it.
"Spirit Island ,where you are deamons fighting off Christian Missionaries." That is the most interesting translation of the rule book I have ever heard.
i seriously cannot believe it. 😓😂😂😂
I mean there is one single Event Card that implies this. But that's just how you'd react if you were the spirits... people getting triggered by everything ^^
@@Loxorius What Event Card? Is it one that changes a Native into a Colonist?
@@jamesburns6603 Yes, it's called "Missionaries arrive" and you can either risk them "preaching the gospel" to the dahan and possibly converting one of them or stop them from doing so.
I really enjoy this format of you reading the negative reviews and providing feedback to the points being raised. You should totally do more of these with other games you are passionate about!!
I just recently purchased this game (haven't gotten to play it yet) and you are right, I'm more excited about the game now than I was before. Hearing everyone complain that it is too much information to process gives me hope lol. I love games like that because it increases the longevity of the experience for me. I always get really disappointed in (big-box expensive) games where I feel like the game is "Solvable" or it is too easy to figure out how to play optimally. Basically I do scoop negative reviews myself, for information and entertainment.
thanks so much! glad you enjoy it:) and i may have to do more videos like this! especially if the video performs well 😯😆
YES i completely agree with you. You’re going to have a blast with this one then! It’s got infinite replay value.
i’m curious what some of those games you’d say are solvable though!
@@BeingFriends Yeah this will be fun! So first of all I like this game, but the first one that comes to mind is Concordia for me. Solvable might be a weird word to use, but it is definitely too methodically same-y every playthrough, I always feel like I am having the EXACT same experience with it every time I play, it is too rigidly structured. The main issue is that the game's scoring system is tied to the cards you are buying and the same cards come out at the same times in general since they are shuffled in by era. There are different number of cards of each scoring type, and since the cards act as multipliers, some are clearly more useful to go for than others. So everyone ends up in the same gameplay loop or cycle going for the same cards each playthrough. I never really feel as though my decisions are tough or nuanced, I always know exactly what I need to get and what cards to play to get there, so I end up feeling like I am just going through the motions.
However when I play games like Troyes, Keyflower or Innovation.. even if I am using the same mechanics game to game, the experiences you end up having in those games are massively different. Because the game allows you to manipulate those mechanics and systems in different or clever ways as the game unfolds and more information and options are open to you.
Another big one one is Machi Koro, playing the regular game without the variations. Where buying Forest, Furniture Factories & Mines will give you so much money you just Bulldoze everyone else. Like you have two 6 sided dice, rolling the number on a card gives you that effect. Those three cards above are the numbers 5, 8 and 9 respectively. Which in turn gives you a 11.11% chance, a 13.89% chance, and a 11.11% chance of rolling. Which is substantially higher than any other combo in the game. It's just silly to go for any of the others statistically.
What about you, have you felt that way about a game? Or found a game where there are certain strategies, like that Machi Koro example, that is almost weirdly unbalanced?
@@pandorasfolly4559 Playing Rusviet is Scythe gives me the feeling I think you're describing. Whenever I play it, I always do randomly selected factions, and I almost feel disappointment when I get Rusviet because playing them optimally seems so straightforward and uncreative, especially for the first four or five rounds.
I'm the type of person who comes home after a long day of work and then needs something to think about to not overthink my all day problems. If I would play super light games, i would have the possibility to think about my work/problems while playing, so i would never get relaxed.
oh! Thats an interesting perspective and difference! Super interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Regarding the theme, Spirit Island is one of the more thematic euro games. Some questions answered:
Q: Why are the spirits weak at first?
A: Because the natives have largely stopped practicing the old ways so the spirits are largely inactive. It's a bit like Tinker Bell in that the spirits need believers to continue to exist.
Q: Why do the spirits grow in strength as the invaders also grow in power?
A: Because the natives renew their faith in the spirits as they witness the destruction brought by the invaders as well as the spirits' responses to this destruction. As the spirits grow stronger they do more impressive deeds, which creates a feedback loop of increased believers and increased powers.
Q: Why don't the spirits grow weaker as the invaders grow stronger?
A: They very easily can and do if the invaders are permitted to cause blight to lands where the spirits are present. Destroying nature harms the nature spirits.
Q: Why are there slow and fast powers? Is this just a game mechanic?
A: Yes, it's obviously a game mechanic. But thematically it represents acts of nature on shorter and longer timelines. Events such as lightning, forest fires, and flash floods happen very quickly whereas massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and such take months or years to coalesce. These powers are also a reflection of the personalities of the spirits. Consider, for example, how long it took the Ents in Lord of the Rings to reach even the simplest conclusions: "We have decided that you are not orcs." But once they finally got into action, they tore apart Isengard.
Would love to see an in-depth teaching video. Still only played this once or twice and having a hard time teaching it to others, so would love to see it from a pro!
+1
+2
+3
okay okay! we'll do it!!
I can say from experience, one of the best ways to learn is the app. Because it automates everything for you, it helps streamline the process and can make things a lot easier to understand. Just make sure you understand the systems and what it's actually doing before playing it. Once you play the app a lot, it's a lot easier to come back to the actual board game and sit down with it because you know how the systems work and can automate it in your head super easily. Also, I play this pretty exclusively as a solo game so it keeps the complexity down. I wouldn't ever want to play with more than three at most. Three is already very high. If I'm feelings particularly feisty, I might play with two by myself. But that's a lot of interaction already.
in regards to climactic ending i've had one match i'd like to share:
we were 3 players and playing Shifting Memory of Ages, Shroud of Silent Mists and Lightnings Swift Strike.
the board was getting overwhelmed but Memory got Cast Down Into the Briny Deep (Threshold: 2 Sun, 2 Moon, 4 Water, 4 Earth:
Destroy the board containing target land and everything on that board. All Destroyed Blight is Removed from the game instead of being returned to the Blight Card.)
since Memory was able to get the threshold and energy required, Lightning making the power fast and Shroud using Powerstorm (Target Spirit gains 3 Energy.
Once this turn, target Spirit may Repeat a Power Card by paying its cost again) we were able to remove 2/3 of the island and generated 3 fear cards that ended the match swiftly
it was a true moment of all stars aligning
This video on reading negative reviews of your favorite game was BRILLIANT!
What you say about reading reviews and assessing whether or not that comment makes or breaks a game for you is so on point. If everyone in the room likes the meal because its spicy and you hate spicy, you are not going to love the meal. Same goes for game reviews...good or bad, you have to know what makes a game shine FOR YOU.
I still need to go back and watch your live play-through. I think I will learn a lot more about the game. I've barely scratched the surface of playing with an adversary, which from what I've been told, is the way the game is truly played.
Thanks as always. You guys are awesome!
I totally agree!!
I hope you enjoy our playthrough!! its a bit drawn out just cause we talk alot about all sorts of things. Eventually we will make some playthroughs that we didn't livestream that are more concise and dedicated!
Great post. I love how you give credit where credit is due and discuss your different reaction. This approach may even be more useful than a straight up review. Love it. Thank you.
I love the theme. Playing a spirit is nature is something I dig. I also enjoy complex games. And I love working with people to beat a game and not against then.
So this game is up my alley.
samee!! super up my alley too!!
of course lol
I usually feel like Spirit Island is anticlimactic but I've gotten over it. Also refereeing to Spirit Island as Ferngully is hilarious! very fun video! Brilliant! :D
I always felt the same way, up until I played the higher level adversary and/or scenario.
When I played it with my casual friends with low level difficulty though, it is usually anticlimactic.
4:00 As someone who loves Spirit Island and Ferngully - a movie literally about nature versus the literal manifestation of Blight - I demand that you go watch it!
3:05 In Spirit Island you play as the non-Christian God, heathen-worshipped animas. And you fight against the “Go forth and multiply” manifest destiny of the White Christian conquerors. I can see why die-hard Christians would get upset with the themes of the game.
Cool idea. Although I’m unsure I could do this for my favourite games and not lose it! 😂
😂😂😂 fair enough. though hearing that makes me want you to do it even more.
@@BeingFriends that sounds like a challange to me!
maybe it is! 😂😂 Tbh i don’t remember.. what is your #1???
@@BeingFriends changes regularly. Probably dune right own
This is also my one of my favorites games, if not my favorite game. It's so meaty and complex and interesting. There's so much depth to it that I love and appreciate. Especially adding all the Jagged Earth stuff in there.
It is the sole cooperative game that I am actively excited to get to the table other than rpg-in-a-box sorts of games like gloomhaven. I think that the key is the "this is my board of the map" thing. There's this sort of challenge for each player to take care of their own space THEN lend a hand as they can. Some spirits like ocean and call or maybe the volcano have a bit of a built in "I'll cover this, you cover that" but for the most part there is a sense of territory. Like you are competing to keep your space clean but also cooperating to not lose. Thematically I like to think of the spirits as being territorial and only really working together out of a sense of survival.
This is a neat concept. Might borrow it. Lolz.
do it! Looking forward to seeing what you make!
Great concept and totally agree. When interested in a game I always read through the negative reviews, because people who love a game will praise it no matter what. But if you know the 'bad' things you can then look at what the positive reviews say about that, just like you did
Even though I love SI I also can understand those who found it somewhat tedious and anticlimatic. In fact the game experience depends highly on choosing the right difficulty level for your group playing. This is where Branch & Claw waltzes in and steals the show: those event cards introduce the small random factor needed even in such calculated game making interesting and more exciting easier difficulties just as well.
I totally agree. 😍 Love those events and tokens 🙌🏻
This is such a good idea. I enjoy reading reviews of the games I’ve designed as well haha!
hey thanks! glad you enjoyed it! ooo what games have you designed??
A bunch of monopoly versions, and other for Hasbro. The strange planet game, some stuff like that.
Spirit island is my all time favorite co op game hands down. I even purchased broken token insert box, my biggest pain is to construct those wood inserts.
Took me 8 hrs to build it. But its super worth it if you have everything promo packs included
i loove upgrading my games!! but i personally like my organization solution for SI enough so I haven't wanted to get an insert! Its totally worth it for some people though!!!
@@jaydeestrong I dont know if I have all the promo, but honestly there are just so many spirits to pick from the expansion alone, love the game! Unfortunately I am still building mine, the wood keep chipping because I mess up a lot. I wish they come build together or like lego where all the parts is already separated so I don’t have to sand the joints down. Overall I’m happy that I get it, because I can already see that it will speed up the set up and takedown time and better gameplay experience!
@@Riley9pi9 im not good in any mechanical work. But was able to build it with almost no errors. Just watch youtube build with 0.5x speed.
Ps. It saved me around 40 mins set up+tear down on my 1st game 😁
@@BeingFriends Hi! What solution did you find?
Great video man! I’m one of the odd men out with this one. I left this one a 4.5. I do appreciate it though. Keep up the awesome work
thanks so much!!! 4.5/10? Interesting!! Tell me why!!
I really enjoy the channel and enthusiasm for Spirit Island. I have only recently discovered Spirit Island and it has rocketed up to the top tier of my best board game list after about five-six plays. What's your take on Branch & Claw? It could be an interesting video to do a negative review over this expansion. I don't own it nor have I played it and I can't recall from recent memory an expansion that appears so divisive amongst folks who all love Spirit Island. It seems the event cards bring a breath of fresh air of volatility to a game that becomes calculable but on the other hand the feedback seems to say that these event cards are almost always negative and seldom work in the Spirit's favor, which makes a game that can be difficult to win even more difficult. I think that this variety would bring another added layer of depth which sounds enjoyable to me, even if these event cards seldom work favorably.
I personally LOVE the events! soo i cant make a negative review hahaha. I have found that if you are playing smart and doing good, the event cards are more often helpful than not tbh... Also, while the expansion added a layer of chaos and unpredictability(which I personally like), it also gives you all the different tokens! All the tokens are tools and if you use them well, it honestly balances out quite a bit. More chaos AND more control.. more fun.
Spirit Island is a 10/10 for me. But it's worth noting that I like solving all sorts of puzzles AND I like complex brain-burning games with large decision spaces. I also enjoy playing games solo, especially when that means I get to bathe in the plethora of options - such as what a 3-spirit solo game of Spirit Island provides - without irritating my friends with how long I take to make a decision.
I get that my tastes here are not shared by everyone. However, I would have a hard time understanding why people with similar enjoyments would dislike SI. It's just too fantastic at creating interesting puzzles, scaling the challenge difficulty, and giving players many options to customize their solution through the use of different spirits and decisions of how to advance, gain, and manage their powers.
3:20 Church really disliked the pagan connection to nature and the monumental churches we built to show the accomplishment of man as tribute to god (and protective castles to plebs) can evoke this very much.
Of course the subversion of pagan religions required to include the nature aspect plus it is only natural to be for the nature which despite our best efforts we are part of - even if we built cities of concrete castles like pens for humans.
Back to the topic - from Religious perspective (Jewish, Christian and Islam) you play as the pagan demons fighting against rather white colonizer.
People's taste in board games is as subjective as movies or food. The review at the 16:30 mark pretty much describes exactly how I feel about the game. No matter how great a game is, if I can't get it to the table with my group, it's not worth keeping.
Only found this video now. Spirit Island is my favorite game of all time and has been for about three years. (And yes, it grew on me, although it already started out in my top-10 when I a friend brought me the base game from Essen.)
Around 6:00 where you talk about the importance of having fast and slow powers:
I think a good thing to remember is, that a single turn in Spirit Island thematically represents about about 10 years of time. So a slow power would be an effect that takes a spirit the better part of a decade to implement.
With your knowledge of the game and the time you've spent on it, I would love for you to do a video teaching the game. I actually recently bought the game, unpacked it, and look through it, but I haven't gotten up the confidence or time to really flesh out the rules and play my first game yet. A tutorial video would be amazing!
Than kyou for this very interesting meta-review of Spirit Island. I think the "anti-Christian" negative review could have been read more "Anti-European Colonialism", or perhaps "it's anti-white!" It is easily my favorite game right now, with over a hundred games in and over a dozen teach games given.
They could have easily just had fast slow invader powers but by putting the invader phase in the middle it throws off our brains tempo which is so clever. It’s arbitrary but changes everything because we’ve all assumed the arbitrary way of coop board games is us then the board.
It's fantastic!!!
This is such an interesting idea for a video. Great job!
Great video! What are your thoughts on Horizons of Spirit Island
Despite all the negative reviews, this game is number 12 of all time on bgg. It's in the top 10 non-legacy games, and the number one non-legacy co-op game ever. Sure, it's a bad entry game into the hobby of boardgaming, but so is almost every game in the top 100, and every game in the top 20
Oh man..... i totally get if this game is not for people, but some of these they just do not understand the game.
for real!! the misinterpretation is real!
To be fair, this game needs a good teacher badly. After a dozen of plays I still screw up major rules that affect the overall feeling and arch of the game. Through one of your other videos I just realized that you only get one blight for ravaging, even if you get 10 damage. I assumed it would be 1 blight for every 2 damage, thus intensifying the urge to protect land instead of doing other stuff
3:04 I can't believe it, Hernan Cortes reviewed the game
😂😂😂😂 pretty much haha
I bought Spirit Island for my brother because he loves brain burning high interaction games. And this game delivers that in droves. I think the best element beyond the asymmetrical powers is simultaneous play. I think this works incredibly well at 2 players. But for those who are already mentally fried after work this game might be too much. Either way I loved it, my brother loved it. Can't wait to play again
yes!!! absolutely yes. So glad you guys are enjoying it. It seriously gets better as you go 😆😆😆
I received this game for the holidays and I really like it. (I only played it 3 times)
Some of the comments presented in this "comment review" video are indeed true to me.
For example, the plastics elements for the invaders and the blight.
I think the plastic element is kind of true to the theme in some way, since they do feel odd on the board. They are invaders, they're not supposed to be there.
Bit I felt that the Explorers look very fragile. I'm almost nervous handling them.
For the Blight, I don't like them because they are extremely difficult to pickup. It happened at least 3 times that the damned thing flew off because they slipped between my finger tips or nails.
Anyway. Can't wait to put it on the table again and keep my cats at bay far from the components!
Like most people with a game of this type I have a good number of games. Each delivers something a bit different. Sprit Island weirdly is one of the most intimidating games I own and I tend towards the heavy. I have it set up now and it is my intention to play this for the next five times I solo a game to give myself a chance to improve and make it more fluid. It’s an amazing experience but not a game to just blast through. I suspect that’s why there are so many games! A time and place for each to suit the mood at time available at the time.
Hi there! I usually don't comment on things. BUT I wanted to let you know that I very much appreciated this video. Good job, keep it up :)
liked and subscribed ;)
Thanks Oliver! That means a lot :)
What these negative reviews show is that everyone has different preferences. The same thing that appeals to one person turns another off.
it's kind of crazy to me that some people don't like spirit island. All my friends like it, sometimes we argue to play other games like lords of waterdeep, splendor or dominion, but when it comes down to spirit island everyone is down to play it
i honestly can see it, but man Its so dang good so its just too bad when someone doesnt like it. My favorite people are the ones that say "yeah It's a super good game, but its not for me"
I love this game, play it 2-player (never often enough), but seems to take much longer to play it, than you said (age is probably a factor, and lack of hard gaming practice in our youth). If memory serves, we'd think the game took about 2 hours, and were astonished to find it was 3.5 to 5 hours!
Love it though. Liked this novel format, the game really deserves the love you have lavished on it. Thanks.
What a cool format
I can't stop playing this game during covid. I got the digital version on STEAM, and it's so worth it. Patiently waiting for the Jagged Earth expansion to come to digital. IT'S SUCH A GREAT SOLO GAME!!!
Honestly, anyone who says the theme is dumb is full of shit. Why did they buy the game in the first place if the theme did not at least interest them in the store? They obviously looked at the box and probably read the back.
Most of these reviews basically boil down to: "this game is hard and I bought it to play with my kids and I have no idea what I'm doing. It's stupid"
right!! thing is.. I literally taught my 3rd grade cousin how to play this game this summer and we played it like 4 times in a week and he had no trouble learning it😂 no more excuses for anyone anymore.
@@BeingFriends I will allow that this game might be beyond the comprehension of some people..but that kind of goes away with the utilization of UA-cam, taking the time to play multiple games to get familiar with it, and if you own the digital version on Steam, reaching out to the community online. You just have to WANT to learn how to play it. It can be overwhelming when first starting out, but it’s easily one of the most unique games out there.
And for that reason, it is also my favorite
Quite literally just bought this game less than 24 hours ago, I was able to get it for 66% off which is nice. It will arrive in a day or two in the mail and I look forward to trying it out! Thematically It looks neat and it's rare to see a game like this (as in not something that's 5+ hours long) marry mechanics and theme so closely. A lot of games have a great setting, but the mechanics are usually "Do a thing you did in another game... but in Spaaaaace!" Few games I have combine the two.
I will agree with *ONE* thing one of the reviewers said... Gloomhaven is terrible! ;) Ok it's not a 1/10, I give it a 5, but it's purely from a solo player perspective.
You should do a "Reading POSITIVE Reviews..." video. It will be much more interesting.
i like that idea:) we may have to do that 🎉
Also straight up "The end is futile" vibes like he's hiding some very important secret message in his spirit island review
🤯🤯🤯
I really love this game but as people said it's on the other hand nothing you just play to have simple fun.
One tense game feels ro me as having workes 2 days in 3 hrs.
As if yow were playing 3D Chess.
So that's nothing I would play many rimes the Same day.
On the other hand it's what makes it special like a really hard puzzle.
Maybe one day i'll get it out of curiosity for solo board gaming. It's just that some cards after looking at its card catalog online got me scared like Call on Midnight's Dream, Veil of the Night's Hunt, etc. 😂😂😂
you shouldddddd it’s one of the BEST solo games. infinite replay value. most of the cards aren’t scary luckily!!! -evan!
Great game! I picked it up partly off the back of one of your earlier videos. I hasn’t knocked Mage Knight off it’s perch for me though ;) still can’t beat the exploration you get in MK
I don't "hate" this game at all (I believe I rated it a 6 on BGG). I respect the incredible level of design work that was clearly required here. HOWEVER...on a personal level, I find that the game feels more like "work" than "fun" in the level of complexity involved in its cooperation, via its "order of operations" approach. It absolutely succeeds at avoiding the "Alpha Gamer/Quarterback" issue and for that, the designer should be commended. But the couple of times I've played, I end up feeling mentally drained by the experience and not in a positive way that my favorite kinds of strategy games challenge and tickle my logic centers. Rather, I end up with a sort of "game hangover" and the feeling that I wished it had only taken half as long for as much energy as it demanded of me. "Exhausting" may be the right word for it. And this coming from someone who actually feels energized after an 8-hour game of Twilight Imperium. Go figure.
But my personal opinion (or anyone else's) should in no way detract from your love for this game. My #1 favorite board game is possibly one of the most divisive games in the hobby and there are just about as many people that HATE it and call it utter garbage (some even go so far as to claim it isn't even a "game" at all) as there are people (like me) who consider it one of the greatest games ever designed. Pursue your passions and enjoy yourself in whatever ways the fun comes alive for you!
I can respect that!
Okay. Now i’ve gotta know what your favorite game is!!
After makeing sure that Spirit Island is my new favourite game, i've done the same. I was so curious why some people hate it. In my opinion the most people did not get how to play the game. Not rules-wise but in getting along with the idea of not being able to control every part of the game and the other players. Some people speaking of an alpha leader problem?! Yeah, if your group is stupid enough to play with open hands or telling each other about every single detail of every card they are holding in their hands.
I can understand that its a lot of book-keeping at first. But after everyone knows how to handel the explorer steps, everyone could do them for their own part of the island.
Sry for my bad english!
I think thats probably true! at least partially! It's crazy to me how many people's experiences of a game can be dramatically different based on mindset and such! sometimes I'll play a game and that specific round of the game was quite odd and even not super fun, and I'll go, "man.. i can see why someone wouldn't like this game if this was their first experience!" so interesting!
9:14
tell me you like making people mad without telling me you like making people mad
"Winning isn't fun unless you make someone else lose"
I’ve played it like 7-8 times already. Twice with others and the rest by myself. Played Ocean, Shadows, Earth, Lightning, River, and Thunder next. Then I’ll play Green and Nightmare. All of them have been fun to play and the ones I haven’t played yet look fun too. Once I play a few times I can make my favorite list
I think the review saying it doesn't really feel like a coop game is probably contingent on being unfamiliar with the game. For me my first games were trying to figure out what my spirit does and how it works. Beyond that you can start to recognize where you're in a position to help free up another player to handle something they're better equipped to deal with than you, or to give them a turn to focus on getting stronger, and there are plenty of times where you want to work together to solve (or mitigate) a high priority land. That said even once you're familiar with the game there are plenty of times (especially in the early stages) where everyone just handles their own boards and it's fair to not like that or to not like the number of learning games it might take you.
Also on Spirit Islands complexity I feel like it isn't pointless complexity, right? Like it pretty much all adds depth.
Double also I gotta say it really irritates me when people take their subjective opinion and present it as fact. Like "I don't like coop games, or complicated games so this game is garbage". There's more than just the one way to enjoy board games, damnit!
So dang true on every front! It has incredible depth in complexity and co-op play
Spirit Island's theme is not mature? I suppose all the carnage is lost on these people; it sure does look pretty and colourful, but boy if you let your imagination run wild you can surely imagine the beasts tearing invaders limb for limb or a bunch of the explorers drowning in a tsunami... This game is very macabre.. Oh, did he mean it's not mature as in not fully developed? Nah, it got to be the first one... :P As for the Christian bit I really don't want to stir up trouble, but I doubt there was EVER an instance where the spreading of Gospel went down peacefully; in the end it was all about that knife/gun... :) I leave it at that.
Having Fast and Slow powers is maybe the best mechanic in this game. Only people who have never played this game or played it wrongly can complain about that system. There is beauty in (not) having the Fast power to deal with the imminent threat immediately and Slow power to mop up damage or alter the course of seemingly set future.
I'll admit that I didn't like this game at all on the first 3-ish playthroughs, but as soon as my friends introduced me to Spread of Rampant Green I ended up falling in love with the game.
I think the game mechanics aren't as intuitive to me as with other games I usually play (Russian Railroads, Nusfjord, Agricola, Puerto Rico, Terraforming Mars), but having an overpowered spirit like Spread of Rampant Green with easy-to-grasp cards makes it such an enjoyable experience to play Spirit Island now.
YOU ARE AWESOME! ❤❤❤
What a brilliant video.)
Paradoxically it has more useful tips than your video for tips :D
hey thank you so much! so glad you enjoyed it.
That is funny! this is the kind of game that the more you talk about it the more it all comes together for me 😂
Pretty easy: the game is naturally made to make new players lose - a lot. Nobody can come in first game understanding the Spirits, how to manage their growth, which cards synergize with their Spirit and anticipate how Ravage/Build/Explore will translate on the board - especially the coastal card and the double regions cards. Spirit Island reminds me of One deck dungeon: if you like losing 5 games before winning 1 and then repeating the process when you change characters, then of course you will love those games. I understand that it is not fun for everyone.
Had the game for 2 months. Idk why I didn't watch a playthrough beforehand because I got the game and started reading the rule book. I HATE the look of the game and can't bring myself to learn how to play this game. I am sure it's fun but I don't know that for certain myself. One day I'll give it a go.
I kind of agree with the first comment though. I think board gamers are unreasonably against mature themes in board games. It's like being against all mature themed films! It seems they don't respect board games enough as a medium capable of different things! All board games have to cater to everyone and be inoffensive to everyone! That's the key to good art, isn't it? Wait, NO IT ISN'T!
I mean I don’t think Ive ever heard anyone say all mature themed games are bad and no one should enjoy them under any circumstances 🤣 no i hear what you’re saying though 😂 totally agree that art shouldn’t necessarily be inoffensive. -Evan
I absolutely love this game! However I’m no good at it. I feel when I played last we used a bad combination of spirits and just had a super hard time to keep up. So definitely keen for a how to play maybe even a little bit about what spirits work well together!
If you haven't yet, check out our 7 tips to win spirit island video! That may help you to start doing better!!!
Oh yes watching it now ❤️
"nonsensical theme"? what?! The theme makes a ton of sense, he just didnt like the theme. People are really bad at reviews.
Quarterbacking - There is nothing preventing it in this game. If they cant reign it in, then that is a player problem.
Also, the subjectiveness of reviews makes them rough without knowing the reviewer. "Game slow and dull" makes sense if they are an FPS spaz and that review is very valuable to another low attention span player, but his 1star review is meaningless to puzlesolvers. It is right up there with people that rate something one star because THEY ordered the wrong version of an item that was clearly labeled.
I don’t see the game as anti religion and white men/women were not the only ones to spread Christianity, if I’m not mistaken it was the Ethiopians that spread it. Either way, game is anti colonization not anti Christian. It may have anti white themes due to the history of white colonization.
9:51 Sorry, but the balls of a MtG player shitting on Android Netrunner... 😅
yeah!!!! I KNOW!! 😨😨😨 thank you.
I just had a read though some of them myself now. I just don’t understand why people who CLEARLY don’t like, or even outright hate, co-op games feel the need to review this…is it because not enough people like their own favourite pvp game?
Before I watch this clip, my answer is: "Maybe, a lot of people want to play an easier game, not one where they have the feeling they should have gone to University, and therefore they know have to feel dumber than the ones who like this type of game?" Just saying.
Wow, nothing like finding a year+ old post and wanting to reply.
KDM actually gets a lot of bad reviews based on a bad understanding of the "mature content" level. Most famous is Shut Up and Sit Down (one of the biggest reviewers out there) not recommending it almost exclusively over the nudity and gore.
KDM is not for everyone, but it's a hard sell for anyone to give it a 1-star review in general if they're ok with the maturity level. What it does right, it is best in class for. Obviously it does some things wrong (it's hard to justify the 60-hour playthrough without a better-designed save system, for example), but anything below "mediocre" seems like a fairly unjustifiable review based on the content, play, and fun of the game alone.
I get tired of folks 1-starring things that simply cannot reliably be called "bad".
Jokes on the designer i play three player solo and am working towards a fourth. I could 100% quarterback 😁
7:21 clearly this man has never heard of climate change
SI is my favorite game too
Peepser from Canada disliked this video
😂😂😂
Ugh. Note to reviewers - please hate something that fails at what IT wants to do. Don't hate it for not doing what YOU want it to do.
3:45 I don’t agree with the Christian, but I don’t agree with what you said, either, as a Christian, you should believe in people and culture and developing the culture, not nature. Nature kills with 100% success rate, and the game uses fear as power which is accurate for nature it’s not evil, because nature is destroying something that is destroying it, and not cultivating it, so you’re both wrong and right on some levels. I still love this game not my favorite and very amazing.
The spirits get stronger because they have to fight back. If the invaders never came, they would never be any reason for the spirits to develop their strength or learn new abilities.
Copcopps is nitpicking and biased. I win, bye bye
ooo fantastic
true. he severely misinterpreted the game lol. The spirits aren't just like oh no they have so much dominance on the island! we are stinky now! they're like uh oh we need to step it up now. Now, when the invaders do start getting out of control, and blight gets wild, and the spirits start losing presence because of it, THAT is when the spirits start getting weaker. But they aren't so puny that when the invaders start spreading out they give up.
Realtalk though, watch FernGully.
Unfortunately, Jagged earth will never come out in german.
It just gets delayed again and again without any official statement. Very frustrating for such a great game which really got me into boardgames
Also ich habs erst letztes Wochenende im Store gesehen.
Condemning colonists is not anti-christian. It is just pro-humanity. If you don't know what I mean then research the torture, rape, and thievery colonists pursued
So when are we playing over TTS???
join our discord and we might be able to find a time!!
I love MTG and I love spirit island but Netrunner never clicked with me and I tried desperately. Bought all the expansions and sold them on eBay after months of attempting to understand the gameplay.
Dude board game Christians unite! Also WHAT. Anti Christian... my oh my. People will attempt to find everything wrong with a game. I myself am not a huge fan of the game, but I can still appreciate that its wonderful! honestly I need to play again so if you would like to I would love to play with you for real!
17:45
Very well put. My girlfriend hates complex, difficult games for the same reason and I love them. It's not easy to find something we both like. Azul is one of these.
3:00 Nature is not sacred in Christianity, but we are to be good stewards of it; that's an important distinction.
To be fair to the reviewer, the spirits in this game explicitly seek to harm humans, so that would be cast them in a negative light if the fiction of the game was real.
To be fair, the spirits in this game explicitly seek to harm humans... who themselves are seeking to harm humans (remember that the Dahan are killed during the ravage phase, and the Dahan are humans, too).
such a good game
Cool video
Best game!
I have Gloomhaven, have played about 15 quests and I can say it is definitely no higher than a 2 or 3 at best. It is NOT FUN (unless cleaning out someone's garage and being rewarded for it with advice on other things to clean sounds fun to you). The card system is a great IDEA, but in practice, usually yields your tertiary plan at best. You are almost never going to get the combos you want, You have to leave immediately after killing the last enemy... Why can't I turn around and pick up that coin before I leave??? I NEED IT, I HAVE NOTHING!
Stupid rules, weak story, a puzzle game, not a dungeon diver.
The most overrated game of all time.
There is little to none of randomness in the game, and making combos is purely up to you. What do you mean by "almost never going to get"? Not a fanboy, just curious (both have and love SI and GL)
interesting! I haven't played it a ton yet, but I do quite enjoy it. Plus the scale is crazy!!! I have a feeling it gets better the more you play it, although if you really dislike it after 15 plays, itll probably stay that way 😆😂
I think that's accurate to call it a puzzle game, but hey lots of us like puzzle games 😂
I can actually relate to that feeling! often you have this cool idea, but by the time your turn comes, someone else moved or killed the guy you were about to clobber.. It seems like that kind of stuff happens decently often! Which frankly, is ok! It makes for really interesting cooperation, though I can see how it'd feel more like you often have to sacrifice your cool plans for someone else's.
One of the games that I disappoint the most. They sell it to you as super thematic and immersive and it is one of the most abstract, mechanical and repetitive games that I played in my life. And what I don't understand is why they don't say it. Why are they afraid to say that it is an abstract puzzle?
As an abstract I believe that it is the best.
Nice video!
Antichristian??? Please...
14:17 don't call amercan style game trash geez, there are good games in that group out there like Eldrich horror
Hope you liked my review! This is one of the worse designed games I’ve ever played. After I played it, I was actually angry at how badly it was designed. So anti-climactic and the slow and fast powers are irritating and unthematic in their application. Honestly, I’m not surprised so many simple Americans like this game… 🤦♂️
No one asked, Jeffrey.
Best game ever, though I have to admit I've thought of it as critical to colonialism (as it should be), if that makes it antichristian then I fear for the one writing that review since colonialism is the most despicable turn of events in mankind history and I would NEVER celebrate that, or refer to it as something positive. Nature sure is sacred and I don't have to be a believer to appriciate that.