Hey Alexander, congrats for this game but can you share with us why the player boards ended up looking so incredibly cluttered? I would be so nervous to bump and move all my disk...in a game so dense isn’t this absolutely begging for more passable player boards that underwent some proper UX design
Just want to add that my 2nd edition had 100 & 200 score track tokens. That we found some excellent acrylic overlays on Etsy and had no issues sleeving the game with our affordable Sleeve Kings from their last KS. The rope issue is also very minor. Love the game!
An extra hassle on an already long setup isn't minor but glad that a third party has at least made an effort to improve things. Doesn't excuse the publisher for shortcomings though.
You don't think game is mostly dictated by the cards then? Or you think this game actually has a theme and gripping story line? Or that it's a long affair? Even the die hard fans are usually accepting of those criticisms.
@@TheBrokenMeeple The cards are the game for me which is a feature, not a bug. Building that little tableau is the most interesting part of the game, I don't feel its an engine builder at all. You should see a lot of them during the first two rounds if the ones you have are not to your liking. Two hours (four players) for a heavy euro is about normal I would say. Fiddly wise, the setup is a bear I agree but the cards (dark border/ light border), scoring, combat, etc are all fairly straight forward once you have done it once. Strangely I disagree with you on the rulebook I needed to watch a playthrough to fully grasp how the game flowed. Theme is a hard one for me as for the most part, I don't care, superficial theme as long as the gameplay is engaging is enough and Maracaibo has an adequate amount I can easily imagine my ship and crew adventuring around the map though I can see why those who value theme over mechanisms would find it lacking. The 10 year part is amusing I never noticed it, but I think you might be overthinking it. What would you say is the best game of 2019?
Mayday Chimera sleeves fit just fine. You'll need 3 packs. Buy from BGExtras, and they will cost you a total of £7.15, and that includes postage. You'll have enough spare sleeves to see you right if you get the Armada mini expansion too.
Thanks for the very thorough review. I also didn’t enjoy Great Western Trail, but I liked Mombasa. I think it’s worth checking out when you have a chance.
I like Maracaibo a lot but I also find some design details not perfect - ships look like hedgehogs, corn looks like... bananas and these upgrade disks are really annoying. Anyway - I'd love to play it again!
I haven’t played it, but I know exactly what you mean about the small components. My biggest bugbear with Underwater Cities (a game I really like) is the little tokens for buildings which you need to stack for advance buildings; it drives me bonkers! A very detailed review though - one of your longer ones and I for one, liked it. Cheers!
All fair points Luke, although the component complaints seem very nitpicky. I mean, Terraforming Mars has some of the worst components ever made but remains almost universally loved. Thanks for another excellent review!
Thanks! And in my defence, I don't like Terraforming Mars and agree its components are shoddy and fiddly. But Maracaibo's disks are also annoying and fiddly. I've had to since acquire some ERaptop overlays for the player boards to fix the problem.
My man, for the life of me, I can never understand why you consider the deck building aspect of Great Western Trail “tacked on”. It’s a pretty core mechanism within the overall game play, and definitely adds some “liquid” so to speak into the game play. It seems to be your core gripe with that game, and I fundamentally don’t understand why.
Answer this - why is it in the game? Why do you not simply have a tableau of cows? Much easier and more streamlined. How does it work with the theme? Why when you get to the festival have your prize cows mysteriously vanished? I can't see a reason beyond "I want more euro mechanics in my game" to warrant its inclusion.
The tableau would minimize the gamble, what deck builder “works with the theme”, and the cows vanish because you sell them. What about, “I want a mechanic to make building your herd an additional tactic and gamble”?
@@thomasgraham5281 I mean why do the cows vanish when you come to sell them? Your arrive at the festival yet you can't sell your best cows because your deck has inconveniently hidden them from view? How is selling your cows a gamble? Breaks the theme and yes deck builders rarely work with the theme, so don't use the mechanic as a side mini game! On top of teleporting back to the start, I get taken out of the experience. Not to mention the luck of the draw in a 3 hour euro.
But Luke, you are on record as saying it’s one of the least thematic games you’ve ever played, so the deck building is tacked on because it lessens the theme of a game you already consider themeless?
@@thomasgraham5281 what? No it's for reasons like that, that it is themeless. It already doesn't have a ton of theme, stuff like that just makes it worse.
I was intresred in this game until this review. Seems to have alot more negatives than positives. Why cant publishers use player board with double layers like Scythe? I don't wanna have an issue with knocking the cubes and ruining the entire game. The combat seems too mathy for me. One question though. How does it play at 2 players?
With a bit of care you can avoid ruining the entire game, it's not so much a game breaker as just a fiddly piece to manipulate. It played m fine at two, a very quick game in comparison to 4. However with only two players you don't get much movement usually in the influence tracks.
Heh, I got to the part about graphic design. I remember someone who said it looks like a prototype. :D Still want to try it, but now I've been warned, twice.
@@TheBrokenMeeple I suppose that's fair to say. Though I never found that game to be super luck driven. To me it was all about reacting to what you drew and making the best long term investments. It's a rare game and worth a small fortune here in the States if you have all the expansions.
I enjoy the reviews, I do find the comment about first time players being at a disavantage a bit weird, because.. is a heavy euro, that will always be the case in that type of game.
Wow, dude, if you get this upset over board game components and design choices, I'd hate to see how you handle really big crises, such as breaking a shoelace! Anyway, Maracaibo is a very engaging game with lots of replay value.
It is a good game with replay value. But shoddy choices on graphic design and components that frustrate will get called out none the less. No one out there is praising the use of 24 tiny brown discs or shades of brown to distinguish card types.
I think as a respected designer he should be happy with a good 7 rating and the equivalent of a seal of endorsement. 😉 He's very accepting of opinions which is good for a designer to be. After all they have to be able to take constructive criticism.
Hilarious review! I think as good as the core game is...it’s either because the developers are either super lazy or truly detached from reality for completely ignoring very basic user experience learnings that were made in the past 10 years in this hobby
Thanks for your review! The important thing for me is: You liked the game!
Hope it wasn't too harsh in places!=😄
@@TheBrokenMeeple I can't change it anyway 😆 And your overall verdict is positive, so lets face it: You like the game! 😆
Alexander Pfister 😂
Ha ha exactly! I do like it! It's still on my shelf! That's a big deal! 😄 Many flip if I don't give it a 10/10! 😆
Hey Alexander, congrats for this game but can you share with us why the player boards ended up looking so incredibly cluttered? I would be so nervous to bump and move all my disk...in a game so dense isn’t this absolutely begging for more passable player boards that underwent some proper UX design
Thanks for your honesty and listing cons along with pros. Many reviewers don't mention cons much if at all, or minimize them.
Thanks, that's how I like to roll! Honest opinions without bowing down to publishers!
Hillarious review, man.! I laughed a lot, when you were talking about fiddly components ;). Great evalueation of pros and cons.
Just want to add that my 2nd edition had 100 & 200 score track tokens. That we found some excellent acrylic overlays on Etsy and had no issues sleeving the game with our affordable Sleeve Kings from their last KS. The rope issue is also very minor. Love the game!
An extra hassle on an already long setup isn't minor but glad that a third party has at least made an effort to improve things. Doesn't excuse the publisher for shortcomings though.
Thanks for an excellent review
My pleasure!
Apart from the brown discs (just don't stack them) I feel all the issues expressed here are way off base.
You don't think game is mostly dictated by the cards then? Or you think this game actually has a theme and gripping story line? Or that it's a long affair? Even the die hard fans are usually accepting of those criticisms.
@@TheBrokenMeeple The cards are the game for me which is a feature, not a bug. Building that little tableau is the most interesting part of the game, I don't feel its an engine builder at all. You should see a lot of them during the first two rounds if the ones you have are not to your liking. Two hours (four players) for a heavy euro is about normal I would say. Fiddly wise, the setup is a bear I agree but the cards (dark border/ light border), scoring, combat, etc are all fairly straight forward once you have done it once. Strangely I disagree with you on the rulebook I needed to watch a playthrough to fully grasp how the game flowed. Theme is a hard one for me as for the most part, I don't care, superficial theme as long as the gameplay is engaging is enough and Maracaibo has an adequate amount I can easily imagine my ship and crew adventuring around the map though I can see why those who value theme over mechanisms would find it lacking. The 10 year part is amusing I never noticed it, but I think you might be overthinking it.
What would you say is the best game of 2019?
@@astrastriker Easily Journeys in Middle Earth, I have so much fun with that game. Favorite Euro, easily Terramara.
I like the way you explain the gameplay, subscribed!
Many thanks! :-)
Mayday Chimera sleeves fit just fine. You'll need 3 packs. Buy from BGExtras, and they will cost you a total of £7.15, and that includes postage. You'll have enough spare sleeves to see you right if you get the Armada mini expansion too.
You really should give Mombasa a try. I am with you and don't really care for GWT and thought Blackout was just okay, but Mombasa is really good.
There will come a time I'm sure, just not high on priorities.✋
Thanks for the very thorough review. I also didn’t enjoy Great Western Trail, but I liked Mombasa. I think it’s worth checking out when you have a chance.
4:52 in, my head exploded together with that bot. Mind blown indeed.
I like Maracaibo a lot but I also find some design details not perfect - ships look like
hedgehogs, corn looks like... bananas and these upgrade disks are really annoying. Anyway - I'd love to play it again!
I haven’t played it, but I know exactly what you mean about the small components. My biggest bugbear with Underwater Cities (a game I really like) is the little tokens for buildings which you need to stack for advance buildings; it drives me bonkers! A very detailed review though - one of your longer ones and I for one, liked it. Cheers!
And you really should try Mombasa - it’s a great game :)
I'll try to some day and thanks for the kind words. 😃
I’m loving this Game!
All fair points Luke, although the component complaints seem very nitpicky. I mean, Terraforming Mars has some of the worst components ever made but remains almost universally loved. Thanks for another excellent review!
Thanks! And in my defence, I don't like Terraforming Mars and agree its components are shoddy and fiddly. But Maracaibo's disks are also annoying and fiddly. I've had to since acquire some ERaptop overlays for the player boards to fix the problem.
Yep. Broken Token player boards here.
My man, for the life of me, I can never understand why you consider the deck building aspect of Great Western Trail “tacked on”. It’s a pretty core mechanism within the overall game play, and definitely adds some “liquid” so to speak into the game play. It seems to be your core gripe with that game, and I fundamentally don’t understand why.
Answer this - why is it in the game? Why do you not simply have a tableau of cows? Much easier and more streamlined. How does it work with the theme? Why when you get to the festival have your prize cows mysteriously vanished?
I can't see a reason beyond "I want more euro mechanics in my game" to warrant its inclusion.
The tableau would minimize the gamble, what deck builder “works with the theme”, and the cows vanish because you sell them.
What about, “I want a mechanic to make building your herd an additional tactic and gamble”?
@@thomasgraham5281 I mean why do the cows vanish when you come to sell them? Your arrive at the festival yet you can't sell your best cows because your deck has inconveniently hidden them from view? How is selling your cows a gamble? Breaks the theme and yes deck builders rarely work with the theme, so don't use the mechanic as a side mini game! On top of teleporting back to the start, I get taken out of the experience. Not to mention the luck of the draw in a 3 hour euro.
But Luke, you are on record as saying it’s one of the least thematic games you’ve ever played, so the deck building is tacked on because it lessens the theme of a game you already consider themeless?
@@thomasgraham5281 what? No it's for reasons like that, that it is themeless. It already doesn't have a ton of theme, stuff like that just makes it worse.
I was intresred in this game until this review.
Seems to have alot more negatives than positives. Why cant publishers use player board with double layers like Scythe?
I don't wanna have an issue with knocking the cubes and ruining the entire game.
The combat seems too mathy for me.
One question though.
How does it play at 2 players?
With a bit of care you can avoid ruining the entire game, it's not so much a game breaker as just a fiddly piece to manipulate.
It played m fine at two, a very quick game in comparison to 4. However with only two players you don't get much movement usually in the influence tracks.
Nice touch on that SpongeBob joke. :D
I was quite proud of that! 😄
Heh, I got to the part about graphic design. I remember someone who said it looks like a prototype. :D Still want to try it, but now I've been warned, twice.
I really just want to see your review on great Western trail now. Also, you would probably love Bruges if you like multi use cards.
I don't mind Bruges, but being a typical themeless Feld and having a ton of card draw luck involved it never stuck with me.
@@TheBrokenMeeple I suppose that's fair to say. Though I never found that game to be super luck driven. To me it was all about reacting to what you drew and making the best long term investments. It's a rare game and worth a small fortune here in the States if you have all the expansions.
I enjoy the reviews, I do find the comment about first time players being at a disavantage a bit weird, because.. is a heavy euro, that will always be the case in that type of game.
Some heavy games do allow you to at least get a general gist of what to do. The speed aspect of racing around the map is impossible to gauge.
Wow, dude, if you get this upset over board game components and design choices, I'd hate to see how you handle really big crises, such as breaking a shoelace! Anyway, Maracaibo is a very engaging game with lots of replay value.
It is a good game with replay value. But shoddy choices on graphic design and components that frustrate will get called out none the less. No one out there is praising the use of 24 tiny brown discs or shades of brown to distinguish card types.
I hope Alex pfister next game will be tailored made for Luke to give him the full marks. Since he come and watch luke videos.😊
I think as a respected designer he should be happy with a good 7 rating and the equivalent of a seal of endorsement. 😉 He's very accepting of opinions which is good for a designer to be. After all they have to be able to take constructive criticism.
Hilarious review! I think as good as the core game is...it’s either because the developers are either super lazy or truly detached from reality for completely ignoring very basic user experience learnings that were made in the past 10 years in this hobby
Heehee, thanks! I had fun making this one! And no script, just on the fly!
Your hands are in focus but your face is not :(
This is why I've gone back to wide angle permanently. 😊
I agree the art is so ugly