Love this video. It's the first and only playtrough I've seen of this game, which I'm so excited to have recently found and backed. Please do another one. I'd love to see you both play the other roles.
Thanks heaps guys. That was really fun to watch. All that cheerful playfulness makes me smile! I just got my copy delivered this week but am waiting till birthday and my son to open and play with next week. Subscribed.
Except each has a different consequence if you lose as the Shark. And those consequences aren't equal; some are better than others. Fight Card - The Octopus chooses which of the four Den the shark gets placed. Flight Card - The Octopus gets to shuffle with any Hidden block. Flinch Card - The Octopus gets to swap with an adjacent block. The Fight Card is arguably most potent if the shark is located in a Rocky Zone because the Octopus gets to send the shark to the opposite side of the board. Flight Card is arguably better than the Flinch Card because it randomizes the Octopus' location and leave the Octopus hidden. Meanwhile, swapping preserves the state of the blocks (hidden stays hidden; revealed stays revealed). If your strategy was to pick a random card, then my counter strategy is to pick the card I want the most. If I were the Octopus, within the 2/3 chance I win, I have a 100% chance of playing the effect I want. If I played randomly... then within the 2/3 chance I win, I have a ~33.3% of playing the effect I want. Playing randomly would be stupid of me. If I were the Shark and the Octopus was playing randomly, then I would pick the card with the effects I least want to occur on the turn. I either win or I have a 100% chance of guaranteeing that a certain card's effect does not happen. So the counter to the opponent playing randomly is to simply to play the card you want the most.
I loved watching this playthrough - so fun! I'm a little late to the party watching this one, but thanks for the content. I'm glad I backed this one, it looks so good!
Fun fact. Some octopie that take shelter near coral reefs are capable of killing reef sharks. Of course anything bigger than that will be a threat. Not even a challenge, a straight up threat
35:27 the blue die that was jumped over should have been moved to the growth track, meaning that the shark would have three dice and potentially could have drawn a blue die the next turn.
Fun gameplay! This has been on my radar for a while. (a whale?) I wonder if I should start looking for Lego sharks now to proxy out the final game component...
Just a question: in your experience has the eating food tactic ever been viable for the octopus? Or has there ever been a situation where there was significant pressure on the octopus to switch to the eating food tactic? Furthermore, I noticed you weren't really learning as the octopus. Did learning come up significantly in your other games (even if not to switch to the eating food tactic)?
I usually try the food option only if I’m feeling confident about my positioning which I didn’t in this game. As for learning, most games im learning quite aggressively. But again, this game I felt like I had to move more than normal. I wasn’t confident I had good positioning to focus on building out. This playthrough was actually a bit more unique then most of our others
@@FostertheMeeple Ah, alright, good to know! It's a beautiful game and it looks fun. I just hope there is enough strategic depth. Thanks for the reply!
According to the creator of the game, he said that when the Octopus won (presumably through playtesting), it won through the Food Blocks route 40% of the time. Remember that the Food blocks have their own effects which can be pretty darn good. For example, eating the Lobster can hide all your revealed blocks. That's pretty powerful under the right situation where a lot of your blocks are revealed. While it's true that Octopus must be revealed to eat a food block, why would you care about that if the Shark already knows your location? Also, the Shark is only a threat to you if it has a Red Dice in its bag. If all of its red dice are in the Stored Energy slots or Hunger Track, then the Octopus doesn't have to worry about being attacked until the Shark cycles that Red dice back into its bag or buys more Red dice through the Shark cards.
Really the only luck involved is the card flipping at the end. And even that “luck” is mitigated through probability when you eliminate cards through successful attacks. Similar to the dice, there’s mitigation to reduce luck pretty heavily.
I really have to agree, Jamie got nowhere near attacking the entire game despite Jeff having nearly all of his tiles revealed most of the game. Then she wins with a final attack and a 1/3 chance. No matter how much mitigation the game boils down to a luck based card draw after actual strategic play for the first two shark attacks which means it's always going to be frustrating for both players. And from what I see a good octopus player could go the whole game and never come close to being attacked. This game is kickstarting right now so everyone is still figuring out how to play but I don't think it'll have any staying power once it hits the actual market and people really figure it out because the game really does look super biased towards the octopus.
@@brettnause5411 I respect your opinion, but you’re watching one single playthrough, of a game you haven’t played. The designers have stated it’s very close to 50% win rate for either faction. It’s totally ok for this not to be a game for you, but it might be a game for others. I just don’t agree with your assessment and want to be clear for people that might be interested in this game but see these comments.
While you're not wrong, there is still strategy and skill to overcome the luck. If I'm not mistaken, there is the whole aspect of eating food which can lead to an Octo victory that isn't even mentioned in this vid. The risk is everytime you eat you have to reveal yourself to the shark. If you have the right cards, you can escape again without getting attacked. The 1 in 3 draw at the end keeps the game from ending too quick if you have a good shark player.
When the shark swims over a chain of dice in descending order such as [6, 4, 2, 1], it's the first dice in that chain that gets taken off the board and placed onto the Growth Tile. In the case of [6, 4, 2, 1], the first dice is '6'. You can think of the descending order as like high-pressure water to low-pressure water.
Love this video. It's the first and only playtrough I've seen of this game, which I'm so excited to have recently found and backed. Please do another one. I'd love to see you both play the other roles.
Thanks heaps guys. That was really fun to watch. All that cheerful playfulness makes me smile! I just got my copy delivered this week but am waiting till birthday and my son to open and play with next week. Subscribed.
Hope you have a blast playing!!
This is when Stratego meets boardgame mechanics in the 21st century 🎲🃏 and then you play rock paper scissors in the end to win 😅
Except each has a different consequence if you lose as the Shark. And those consequences aren't equal; some are better than others.
Fight Card - The Octopus chooses which of the four Den the shark gets placed.
Flight Card - The Octopus gets to shuffle with any Hidden block.
Flinch Card - The Octopus gets to swap with an adjacent block.
The Fight Card is arguably most potent if the shark is located in a Rocky Zone because the Octopus gets to send the shark to the opposite side of the board.
Flight Card is arguably better than the Flinch Card because it randomizes the Octopus' location and leave the Octopus hidden. Meanwhile, swapping preserves the state of the blocks (hidden stays hidden; revealed stays revealed).
If your strategy was to pick a random card, then my counter strategy is to pick the card I want the most.
If I were the Octopus, within the 2/3 chance I win, I have a 100% chance of playing the effect I want. If I played randomly... then within the 2/3 chance I win, I have a ~33.3% of playing the effect I want. Playing randomly would be stupid of me.
If I were the Shark and the Octopus was playing randomly, then I would pick the card with the effects I least want to occur on the turn. I either win or I have a 100% chance of guaranteeing that a certain card's effect does not happen.
So the counter to the opponent playing randomly is to simply to play the card you want the most.
I loved watching this playthrough - so fun! I'm a little late to the party watching this one, but thanks for the content. I'm glad I backed this one, it looks so good!
Hope you enjoy it!!
Nice playthrough! Definitely made me more interested in the game.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for making this video! My girlfriend and I were trying to figure out the game and were getting confused. This helps out a lot thanks!
You’re the most welcome!
Just backed this game, so I'm glad to see a playthrough. Thanks!
Wooo! Hope you enjoy it!
@@FostertheMeeple That was a tense game to the very end! Thanks for the fun playthrough!
That was a tense finish, good game! xD
Thank you!
Fun fact. Some octopie that take shelter near coral reefs are capable of killing reef sharks. Of course anything bigger than that will be a threat. Not even a challenge, a straight up threat
Love fun facts!
35:27 the blue die that was jumped over should have been moved to the growth track, meaning that the shark would have three dice and potentially could have drawn a blue die the next turn.
Cool, thanks!
Super fun playthrough. Played the prototype and backed on Kickstarter. Very fun.
We had a blast!
thanks for this, I just got it to review and am excited to jump in!!!
Good luck!
First watch and loved it, but I was hoping the octopus was going to win. 🐙 Well done, though! 😄
Not this time!
This was fun!!!! Jamie Shark do do do.
Love this game. Played the prototype and am going to back when it comes to kickstarter.
We had tons of fun with it!
Fun gameplay! This has been on my radar for a while. (a whale?) I wonder if I should start looking for Lego sharks now to proxy out the final game component...
The correct answer is yes
Just a question: in your experience has the eating food tactic ever been viable for the octopus? Or has there ever been a situation where there was significant pressure on the octopus to switch to the eating food tactic? Furthermore, I noticed you weren't really learning as the octopus. Did learning come up significantly in your other games (even if not to switch to the eating food tactic)?
I usually try the food option only if I’m feeling confident about my positioning which I didn’t in this game. As for learning, most games im learning quite aggressively. But again, this game I felt like I had to move more than normal. I wasn’t confident I had good positioning to focus on building out. This playthrough was actually a bit more unique then most of our others
@@FostertheMeeple Ah, alright, good to know! It's a beautiful game and it looks fun. I just hope there is enough strategic depth. Thanks for the reply!
According to the creator of the game, he said that when the Octopus won (presumably through playtesting), it won through the Food Blocks route 40% of the time.
Remember that the Food blocks have their own effects which can be pretty darn good. For example, eating the Lobster can hide all your revealed blocks. That's pretty powerful under the right situation where a lot of your blocks are revealed.
While it's true that Octopus must be revealed to eat a food block, why would you care about that if the Shark already knows your location?
Also, the Shark is only a threat to you if it has a Red Dice in its bag. If all of its red dice are in the Stored Energy slots or Hunger Track, then the Octopus doesn't have to worry about being attacked until the Shark cycles that Red dice back into its bag or buys more Red dice through the Shark cards.
Looks like a great game but not my preferred style. Love the look of it!
Looks fun, but there is so much luck involved
Really the only luck involved is the card flipping at the end. And even that “luck” is mitigated through probability when you eliminate cards through successful attacks. Similar to the dice, there’s mitigation to reduce luck pretty heavily.
I really have to agree, Jamie got nowhere near attacking the entire game despite Jeff having nearly all of his tiles revealed most of the game. Then she wins with a final attack and a 1/3 chance. No matter how much mitigation the game boils down to a luck based card draw after actual strategic play for the first two shark attacks which means it's always going to be frustrating for both players. And from what I see a good octopus player could go the whole game and never come close to being attacked. This game is kickstarting right now so everyone is still figuring out how to play but I don't think it'll have any staying power once it hits the actual market and people really figure it out because the game really does look super biased towards the octopus.
@@brettnause5411 I respect your opinion, but you’re watching one single playthrough, of a game you haven’t played. The designers have stated it’s very close to 50% win rate for either faction. It’s totally ok for this not to be a game for you, but it might be a game for others. I just don’t agree with your assessment and want to be clear for people that might be interested in this game but see these comments.
While you're not wrong, there is still strategy and skill to overcome the luck. If I'm not mistaken, there is the whole aspect of eating food which can lead to an Octo victory that isn't even mentioned in this vid. The risk is everytime you eat you have to reveal yourself to the shark. If you have the right cards, you can escape again without getting attacked. The 1 in 3 draw at the end keeps the game from ending too quick if you have a good shark player.
kelpy goodness!
I missed how current die get removed from the board after being placed?
When the shark swims over a chain of dice in descending order such as [6, 4, 2, 1], it's the first dice in that chain that gets taken off the board and placed onto the Growth Tile. In the case of [6, 4, 2, 1], the first dice is '6'.
You can think of the descending order as like high-pressure water to low-pressure water.
An OctoShark.......