I haven't seen the whole video yet, but I want so say; I really enjoy the close up of you're starting hand, and hearing you're thought process. It's nice to see why you would pick certain cards. I noticed this first on your terraforming mars gameplays, I wished more channels would this. You get better idea why the make certain choices, because they are working to a card they really want to play. So, I'm going back to gameplay, keep up the great work!
This should come in the mail soon. I'm looking forward to teaching this one to my siser and brother in law. What they don't know is that I own CATAN the dice game. The confused look on their faces when I say "okay and now you'll need to roll these dice..." as I walk them through the gameplay mechanics; it will be priceless.
The last 2 animals played by Shrey required the association of africa, which he didn't have, so he didn't have to play those cards that triggered the end of the game. Icon overview sheet: "Condition: have a partner zoo of the same continent (Sponsor cards: any continent)" Greetings from Spain.
Was a little intimidated by this one until you did this teach/play! Really appreciate the time taken each turn to enhance the experience. Nice work sir!
When you play an animal with the "partnership zoo" requirement you have to have the matching partnership zoo that matches the continent tag on that animal. It is not just have a random partnership zoo.
1:29:40 the action card order at the end of Edward's turn should be: Animals, Build, Cards, ... according to rules p.8 (the shift to spot 1 effect happens always at the end of the round; after the current action moved), if I'm wrong pls let me know. Any feedback welcome.
I thoroughly enjoyed the stream. From what I have seen the game looks great to me, especially as I primarily play solo. I usually prefer games that emphasize dealing with what you’ve got over an overarching strategy, so that looks right in my wheelhouse. Thanks for the playthrough and discussion. Love the channel.
Solo is brutal. You know how many turns you have from the start and you can't waste any turns. Either the break needs to come sooner so you have income or it comes too quickly and the game is over sooner than you need it to be. It's good.
Our 4 player games now average about 2h15m. And we are not a group who is usually fast at games at all. You definitely get faster games with more experience, which addresses the main concern people usually cite. Of course that doesn't help with your first couple of games...
Just thought I'd let you know, ostriches are African. The ones in Australia were bought over for farming which failed I believe. So now they roam free in the outback. The emu however is Australian.
This game takes less than 1,5h for 3p. It's a race game and your time spend on it depend on how well you do it. As for take that i totally agree that it doesn't fit game. We usually use solo abilities on cards and it helps a lot for the game.
Thank you for the playtrough and for speaking the truth about this game (so many reviewers are getting paid these days to tell lies). Your conclusions were similar to what I suspected about it. Keep up the good work and have fun!
We use the solo card effects instead of the take that effects. The take that never seemed like it fit the game, and the solo effects are already printed on the cards.
Loved you're game play, great as always ty, also would like your opinion on which action card you would not upgrade seeing as you can only upgrade 4 of them.
Love your channel. I’ve only played a practice game and I’m wondering if there could be a house rule to take an turn like the “x” counter action to trade in cards? Or look through the discards? Has anyone tried drafting the first cards? Or other house rules? I’m guessing expansions will “fix” the issues folks have.
Just to leave this registered for posterity's sake ;) - the coati species' name ends in an "i" not an "l". I am not sure how is "coati" pronounced in English, but the Portuguese world for it, "quati" sounds like .
Just curious, why don't you have the chat up anymore on the screen while playing? (I miss it when I watch afterwards, was always interesting seeing the interaction between the players & the peanut gallery.) Either way, thanks again for another fun playthrough!
There were some intolerant and extremely unkind things being said in a past episode. Edward said later in an update that the on-screen was going down for now.
@@HainishMentat thanks, that's a bummer. A few bad apples ruining it for all. Maybe a few good moderators could handle it. Throw down a few ban hammers and people tend to think a little bit before posting.
@@2099ross The issue is that the on screen software doesn't respect moderation. The live chat is still available, but the mods can't moderate the on screen chat.
@@alyssagambone5544 Ah, that makes sense then. Thanks, still enjoy the playthroughs! Got one play in of this at dicetower west, can't wait to get a copy. I see it being right up there with Terraforming Mars (my #1 game) for me. Some see the big card deck as a detriment, but for me it's a big plus - love all the variety it offers each game!
So I just listened to 10 min of all of the things that make this not a great game to then hear “I like this game.” Not sure I get that. I feel that people don’t want to be on the other side of the fence on this because of it popularity. Perhaps one of the several upcoming expansions will fix these issues. Perhaps not. Alyssa’s opinion on the take that aspect is spot on btw.
For me specifically, I enjoy have enjoyed all my plays of it -- but that's not as useful to people watching the video, so I try to focus on the issues that I have during much of the discussion. This game isn't going to make my top 25 or anything, but it's a game that if someone brought to the table, I'd happily play it if we were 2-3. I'd have to think about it at 4 players just due to the downtime/length.
@@alyssagambone5544 If you're playing a game with friends, is downtime really a concern, though? It's time spent together, whether it's your turn or theirs. That's how I've always felt about it, anyway.
@@davids5195 Depends on the group. With the HC crew, no not really. But with my other group, yes, because people will get distracted by phones/other things and lose interest in the game.
Super nice discussion there at the end. I hope a future expansion or official variant can adjust some elements that have now been criticized many many times. So far it sounds like the designer is not responding to the luck related criticism. Sounds like his plans for an expansion are at this moment „more cards“. However, cards really aren’t what will ensure this game will continue to be played. It’s core gameplay that needs some adjustment. It’s a very good game with a few bits that occasionally can ruin it. Still I can’t believe Tom put this in the no 1 spot of all time. A bit ridiculous really. PS: There’s a sublime solo variant on BGG (called ARNO or something) that you need to check out! It’s so much better than the timer like solo in the game
I am not? you can check out "The Wild Card Variant" Thread on BGG from Addiction2k for some of my thoughts on that topic, Iqer. In short I do think the requirements on the cards reduce the luck factor and ensure long time replayabilty. Obviously you dont have to like that :) You have so many choices and ways to optimize, even if you are not able to play some of the cards in every game, that its just a very minor/subordinated factor for winning or loosing. That doesnt mean I dont listen - Future stuff wont be spoiled here, though :)
@@mathiaswigge2314 Hey Mathias. Congratulations to a successful game. Yesterday we had another 2p game. At some point it would be great to hear your thoughts on the association board. After several plays what’s strange to us is that the no. 2-4 spots become completely irrelevant after 60-70% of the game. At that point we felt the association card becomes like a dead card in the tableau that only males sense to use if it can be played at 5 power. At that point we already have 3 universities and 4 partnerships. We feel at that point the „more“ workers become useless most of the time. I am surprised the association action does not offer value in the late game at weaker power levels. What are your thoughts on that?
Ark Nova is a good game with a near fatal flaw that keeps it from being a great game for the more deterministic minded gamer. Were this an hour long game, the variance likely wouldn't feel as frustrating. Has the bones to be an 8 or 9...except for the broken bone that drops it to a 6. Still a good game though.
The large deck issue can easily be fixed with a “search” ability/action like LotR lcg uses. For example, play this sponsor and search the deck for the first card with this symbol. As a shorter game variant could you just have everyone start at a higher appeal level?
i dislike search options, especially if it lets players search in both discard and draw piles, it always adds an incredible amount of downtime as players have to literally read every single card in the game. I don't know a single euro with a big draw pile which doesn't suffer from the same problems, it's inherent in all card based games, but the bigger, longer and heavier the game, the more it matters, because it's always adds messes with balance and adds a lot of luck. Maybe a mulligan in the beginning of the game to at least give players an equal chance to find some synergies. To me, Ark Nova is a two player game only, I have zero interest in playing it any other way
@@BGBarbarian We both know that this is not how it's going to play out irl, especially not with new players who don't even know what they are looking for, or what they want to achieve. Also you need to shuffle the deck every time people go through it, or it gives player a double advantage
I think an interesting option would have been to reduce the deck by playing with 5 continents with 4 players, 4 continents with 3 players, and 3 continents with 1/2 players. That would take a lot of changes, so it's not feasible as a home variant, but I think it would have helped and you'd still get the variability because you could pick different continents to exclude each time.
Video thumbnail shows Ark Nova, but I’m 2/3 of the way through and it’s still a video of Edward playing the newest edition of Bärenpark with the new Cheetah expansion. WHAT IS GOING ON
Combat Wombat? There is a story going around about how, when demonstrating the Australian modifications to a combat helicopter flight simulator, the US pilots were hit by kangaroos firing stinger missiles. The programmers had used enemy infantry as the basis for the kangaroos and forgot to disable the normal response of infantry to an enemy helicopter.
1:29:40 the action card order at the end of Edward's turn should be: Animals, Build, Cards, ... according to rules p.8 (the shift to spot 1 effect happens always at the end of the round; after the current action moved), if I'm wrong pls let me know. Any feedback welcome.
Catching this after the stream but all I could hear in my head after Combat Wombat is "MORTAL WOMBAAAAT!"
I haven't seen the whole video yet, but I want so say; I really enjoy the close up of you're starting hand, and hearing you're thought process. It's nice to see why you would pick certain cards.
I noticed this first on your terraforming mars gameplays, I wished more channels would this. You get better idea why the make certain choices, because they are working to a card they really want to play.
So, I'm going back to gameplay, keep up the great work!
+1!
The main thing I like about Heavy card board playthroughs is the camera action.
Thank you! Glad you appreciate/enjoy it!
This should come in the mail soon. I'm looking forward to teaching this one to my siser and brother in law. What they don't know is that I own CATAN the dice game. The confused look on their faces when I say "okay and now you'll need to roll these dice..." as I walk them through the gameplay mechanics; it will be priceless.
The last 2 animals played by Shrey required the association of africa, which he didn't have, so he didn't have to play those cards that triggered the end of the game.
Icon overview sheet: "Condition: have a partner zoo of the same continent (Sponsor cards: any continent)"
Greetings from Spain.
Exactly Sir 👌
Was a little intimidated by this one until you did this teach/play! Really appreciate the time taken each turn to enhance the experience. Nice work sir!
When you play an animal with the "partnership zoo" requirement you have to have the matching partnership zoo that matches the continent tag on that animal. It is not just have a random partnership zoo.
I LOVE this game. My new #1 game. I like all the cards. You have to be able to switch your strategy based on the cards that show up.
1:29:40 the action card order at the end of Edward's turn should be: Animals, Build, Cards, ... according to rules p.8 (the shift to spot 1 effect happens always at the end of the round; after the current action moved), if I'm wrong pls let me know. Any feedback welcome.
Best tutorial out there for this game!
That's kind of you to say. Thank you for watching (and commenting).
The third track is called the reputation track. Loving the video so far.
I thoroughly enjoyed the stream. From what I have seen the game looks great to me, especially as I primarily play solo. I usually prefer games that emphasize dealing with what you’ve got over an overarching strategy, so that looks right in my wheelhouse. Thanks for the playthrough and discussion. Love the channel.
Solo is brutal. You know how many turns you have from the start and you can't waste any turns. Either the break needs to come sooner so you have income or it comes too quickly and the game is over sooner than you need it to be. It's good.
As always, great vid Edward, loved the playthrough and sad I missed the live stream. GG to Alyssa and Shrey, #BadTeacher
At 1:47:40 when Edward plays the slot bear, shouldn't he also get the bear tag discount (polar bear exhibit) and the predator tag discount (cheetah)?
Our 4 player games now average about 2h15m. And we are not a group who is usually fast at games at all. You definitely get faster games with more experience, which addresses the main concern people usually cite. Of course that doesn't help with your first couple of games...
Just thought I'd let you know, ostriches are African. The ones in Australia were bought over for farming which failed I believe. So now they roam free in the outback. The emu however is Australian.
This game takes less than 1,5h for 3p. It's a race game and your time spend on it depend on how well you do it.
As for take that i totally agree that it doesn't fit game. We usually use solo abilities on cards and it helps a lot for the game.
Thank you for the playtrough and for speaking the truth about this game (so many reviewers are getting paid these days to tell lies). Your conclusions were similar to what I suspected about it. Keep up the good work and have fun!
We use the solo card effects instead of the take that effects. The take that never seemed like it fit the game, and the solo effects are already printed on the cards.
Loved you're game play, great as always ty, also would like your opinion on which action card you would not upgrade seeing as you can only upgrade 4 of them.
Love your channel. I’ve only played a practice game and I’m wondering if there could be a house rule to take an turn like the “x” counter action to trade in cards? Or look through the discards? Has anyone tried drafting the first cards? Or other house rules? I’m guessing expansions will “fix” the issues folks have.
Just to leave this registered for posterity's sake ;) - the coati species' name ends in an "i" not an "l". I am not sure how is "coati" pronounced in English, but the Portuguese world for it, "quati" sounds like .
Hi.I cant figure out how to buy the petting zoo ,the reptile house or bird avery. Do you use the build action and pay 2 per hex like normal buildings?
Yes, but you have to have the upgraded Build card for some of them.
Did Alyssa and Shrey get their 7 bonus appeal for filling in the entire map?
I know I did --- I took it as it happened instead of end game, I wasn't sure of the timing.
They both got the 7 when they filled their respective maps.
Just curious, why don't you have the chat up anymore on the screen while playing? (I miss it when I watch afterwards, was always interesting seeing the interaction between the players & the peanut gallery.) Either way, thanks again for another fun playthrough!
There were some intolerant and extremely unkind things being said in a past episode. Edward said later in an update that the on-screen was going down for now.
@@HainishMentat thanks, that's a bummer. A few bad apples ruining it for all. Maybe a few good moderators could handle it. Throw down a few ban hammers and people tend to think a little bit before posting.
Sadly they start new accounts and then after the time limit they start posting hateful and trollish posts.
@@2099ross The issue is that the on screen software doesn't respect moderation. The live chat is still available, but the mods can't moderate the on screen chat.
@@alyssagambone5544 Ah, that makes sense then. Thanks, still enjoy the playthroughs! Got one play in of this at dicetower west, can't wait to get a copy. I see it being right up there with Terraforming Mars (my #1 game) for me. Some see the big card deck as a detriment, but for me it's a big plus - love all the variety it offers each game!
So I just listened to 10 min of all of the things that make this not a great game to then hear “I like this game.” Not sure I get that. I feel that people don’t want to be on the other side of the fence on this because of it popularity. Perhaps one of the several upcoming expansions will fix these issues. Perhaps not. Alyssa’s opinion on the take that aspect is spot on btw.
For me specifically, I enjoy have enjoyed all my plays of it -- but that's not as useful to people watching the video, so I try to focus on the issues that I have during much of the discussion. This game isn't going to make my top 25 or anything, but it's a game that if someone brought to the table, I'd happily play it if we were 2-3. I'd have to think about it at 4 players just due to the downtime/length.
Yes. We are all frightened sheep. Except you.
Or…. hear me out here… some people like the game and some don’t.
@@alyssagambone5544 If you're playing a game with friends, is downtime really a concern, though? It's time spent together, whether it's your turn or theirs. That's how I've always felt about it, anyway.
@@davids5195 Depends on the group. With the HC crew, no not really. But with my other group, yes, because people will get distracted by phones/other things and lose interest in the game.
Hey nice stream! Do u know how to enable the live chat after the stream ends? Thanks in advance!😃
Next to the like and dislike, buttons, I have button called live chat which replays the chat for me.
Super nice discussion there at the end. I hope a future expansion or official variant can adjust some elements that have now been criticized many many times. So far it sounds like the designer is not responding to the luck related criticism. Sounds like his plans for an expansion are at this moment „more cards“. However, cards really aren’t what will ensure this game will continue to be played. It’s core gameplay that needs some adjustment. It’s a very good game with a few bits that occasionally can ruin it. Still I can’t believe Tom put this in the no 1 spot of all time. A bit ridiculous really.
PS: There’s a sublime solo variant on BGG (called ARNO or something) that you need to check out! It’s so much better than the timer like solo in the game
I am not? you can check out "The Wild Card Variant" Thread on BGG from Addiction2k for some of my thoughts on that topic, Iqer. In short I do think the requirements on the cards reduce the luck factor and ensure long time replayabilty. Obviously you dont have to like that :) You have so many choices and ways to optimize, even if you are not able to play some of the cards in every game, that its just a very minor/subordinated factor for winning or loosing. That doesnt mean I dont listen - Future stuff wont be spoiled here, though :)
get ratioed
@@mathiaswigge2314 Hey Mathias. Congratulations to a successful game. Yesterday we had another 2p game. At some point it would be great to hear your thoughts on the association board. After several plays what’s strange to us is that the no. 2-4 spots become completely irrelevant after 60-70% of the game. At that point we felt the association card becomes like a dead card in the tableau that only males sense to use if it can be played at 5 power. At that point we already have 3 universities and 4 partnerships. We feel at that point the „more“ workers become useless most of the time. I am surprised the association action does not offer value in the late game at weaker power levels. What are your thoughts on that?
Ark Nova is a good game with a near fatal flaw that keeps it from being a great game for the more deterministic minded gamer. Were this an hour long game, the variance likely wouldn't feel as frustrating. Has the bones to be an 8 or 9...except for the broken bone that drops it to a 6. Still a good game though.
The large deck issue can easily be fixed with a “search” ability/action like LotR lcg uses. For example, play this sponsor and search the deck for the first card with this symbol.
As a shorter game variant could you just have everyone start at a higher appeal level?
i dislike search options, especially if it lets players search in both discard and draw piles, it always adds an incredible amount of downtime as players have to literally read every single card in the game.
I don't know a single euro with a big draw pile which doesn't suffer from the same problems, it's inherent in all card based games, but the bigger, longer and heavier the game, the more it matters, because it's always adds messes with balance and adds a lot of luck.
Maybe a mulligan in the beginning of the game to at least give players an equal chance to find some synergies.
To me, Ark Nova is a two player game only, I have zero interest in playing it any other way
@@morecoffee998 that’s why I said search for the first icon so it’s fast and that could be done during the next players turn to save time.
@@BGBarbarian We both know that this is not how it's going to play out irl, especially not with new players who don't even know what they are looking for, or what they want to achieve.
Also you need to shuffle the deck every time people go through it, or it gives player a double advantage
@@morecoffee998 just trying to make positive suggestions for their complaints. Maybe go with his grouped deck idea instead then.
I think an interesting option would have been to reduce the deck by playing with 5 continents with 4 players, 4 continents with 3 players, and 3 continents with 1/2 players. That would take a lot of changes, so it's not feasible as a home variant, but I think it would have helped and you'd still get the variability because you could pick different continents to exclude each time.
Video thumbnail shows Ark Nova, but I’m 2/3 of the way through and it’s still a video of Edward playing the newest edition of Bärenpark with the new Cheetah expansion. WHAT IS GOING ON
What happened to the yearly Golden Elephant award?
Covid did. They'll be coming/starting back up soonish.
Combat Wombat? There is a story going around about how, when demonstrating the Australian modifications to a combat helicopter flight simulator, the US pilots were hit by kangaroos firing stinger missiles. The programmers had used enemy infantry as the basis for the kangaroos and forgot to disable the normal response of infantry to an enemy helicopter.
Wigge = Vigga
Some say this game is bear-ely worth it, but I disagree. I find it very Zoo-thing. Sorry, I´ll see myself out...
I LOVE the fact that you only get through half the deck. To see every card every game would ruin the suspense.
So may gamers overuse ending sentences in "if you will".
or "as it were" :)
It must be difficult to have you around in life
1:29:40 the action card order at the end of Edward's turn should be: Animals, Build, Cards, ... according to rules p.8 (the shift to spot 1 effect happens always at the end of the round; after the current action moved), if I'm wrong pls let me know. Any feedback welcome.
you are correct, the effect takes place after finishing a turn, so it should be Animals, Build, Cards, ...