You hit the nail on the head with your thoughts on the original core set. I was super excited for it, loved it for a while, but it eventually grew tedious and repetitive. Glad to hear this version made a lot of quality of life improvements!
Lovely overview. Nice job, Mike! I wanted to know if I should stop my old 'campaign' I'm playing now and just pick up the new system, but I think I'll hold off for now. The main reason is that I've customized my gameplay anyway to accommodate my busy schedule. I call it the 'One Location-one hero-one event' mode. It basically divides one regular Adventure up by its locations (usually 5) which I tackle over 5 short game sessions with one hero each. With a Time Deck of 10 cards and 9 cards+1 henchman/villain, it becomes a race to see if I can close one location before my time runs out. It's nice, simple and compact and usually costs me only 30 min to set up, play and pack up again. Another reason I can't switch btw is the theme. I'm hooked on pirates so it's Skull & Shackles all the way for me! And on a final note: I supplement my card game with the stories found in the Pathfinder S&S RPG modules, so I still have a sense of thematic background - even if the actual locations, monsters, and items I encounter differ...I still get my story ^_^
I didn't like the new art layout on the cards. Since I still own an old set, and also picked up the modern occult-themed 'Apocrypha' and a couple expansions on sale, I already have more of this system than I'll likely ever finish. So many games, not enough time to catch up! Thanks for the quick review!
The new set is better, for me, but I think you’re right. Probably not ENOUGH better to justify a bunch of extra spending when you already have a lot of content.
Great stuff. Question, just how compatible are the old previous edition cards with the new; how interchangeable are they? Thanks for the review. ~Fritz
They have rules for this in the new rulebook, but short answer is that they are pretty much totally compatible. You can even play the old campaigns with the new rules additions, with a few alterations.
@@OneStopCoopShop This is good to hear. With all I have invested in the original I probably would skip this if it weren't compatible. May give it a closer look knowing that it is.
Bit of a late comer but I must say, first : Thank you for the video! 2nd: The make or break for me was the ability to buy the whole adventure path, no more buying 5-7 smaller packs... In my country those small boxes are soooo hard to get, plus I really do not like the drip effect so in that way the core set was amazing and an amazing insta-buy for me.
Yes, that is a great point. It also reminds me of what they are doing now for Arkham Horror the card game, switching to two big boxes for each cycle/campaign instead of 7 separate products. Much better!
I have a question. I have a few of the older sets. I really enjoy the style of gameplay, but I would agree with your cons list. Are there any games that have a similar play style and feeling of progression that you would suggest? Thanks for the review/video.
Hmm, Arkham Horror LCG has nice tactical cardplay and slow and steady character progression, though it's much more of a board game with travel between locations and such. Heroes of Terrinoth has progression within a given mission, but no campaign-based progression, and isn't as tactically interested as Pathfinder. I haven't played Gloom of Kilforth, but I get the feeling that it might have some similarities?
This is an all new core set, though it does repeat a lot of characters from the first original set (with new abilities and such). It's pretty much a full reboot, but it's still generally backwards compatible. Hope that helps!
This was actually really great man. I liked that you gave us a time stamp for the Original vs Core Set instead of dragging us along to boost your rating. I also share a lot of your opinions on the original, especially the fact that the narrative was COMPLETELY non-existent. My only question is, what is backwards compatible? I have RotRL, and I think a character pack and a weapon pack. Is that all gonna get tossed if I buy the new Core Set? If so, I'll trade it in towards that. I found the whole "DnD in a box with cards" tagline to be a little misleading. I found the game much more puzzley with a strong emphasis on turn/action/hand management (which played fine, just misleading). Also, the whole "all players are on their own little island" aspect was a let down. I ended up playing much more of RotRL through the digital version and playing 3 characters by myself.
Thank you so much! Yeah, I never really think about "how to rope in viewers to watch the whole video" and all that. I'm not that UA-cam savvy ;) From the core set rules, everything is basically backwards compatible. You can use old cards in new missions, or play old missions with new cards. They have a few rules about how to change things, different keywords, etc. But really, it's more a case of adding some bits rather than changing the core heart of the system.
Digital implementations of board game always seem to have very suspect die rolls! I swear they programme them to roll bad more frequently as a way of incorporating an artificial difficulty. I believe a six sided die should have a 1/6 chance of rolling a 6 etc but it’s never the case. The digital version of this was (in my opinion) a total disaster in this regard. I hated it.
Yes, you can pretty much throw old cards in without any changes. If you want to go back and play older quests, the rulebook has a few additions and changes to make, but still pretty simple. The only jarring thing might be the mixed graphic design ;)
@@OneStopCoopShop Yeah, and after watching your play-through and other reviews, it looks a little darker in theme than I would like. Thanks for the help!
I have played Dragonfire! In fact, we did a podcast on it: soundcloud.com/user-318456537/coop-cast-episode-17-dragonfire Long story short, I did NOT enjoy most of Dragonfire. I would much rather play PACG any day of the week :)
Mike, what about playing with 5-6 players? I just found out about this game, me and my husband are in love with it. We were thinking about getting the old version plus the new characters expansion. Does this new one allows more than 4 players?
I just checked the box, and yes, they have rules for scenarios to have up to 6 players. If you get the core and some other content (like the characters expansion you mentioned), I think that'll be a large enough card pool to accommodate you.
Definitely not. It's an adventure card game, and honestly besides the little story narratives at the beginning of each scenario you aren't really roleplaying, just playing cards and rolling dice. We have a playthrough on the channel too, if you want to see the game in action and see what I mean.
Love the review. Definitely not for me. Sounds like much too much work and way too repetitive. (edit 3 weeks later: this might be interesting after all. Once I watched your playthrough, I decided to jump in, much to my surprise. I'm happy to be wrong!)
@@OneStopCoopShop it is a shame because I really do like what the attempt was here. It's just that, with other adventure games being on the market now that were not in existence several years ago, including Thunderstone Quest and Aeons End Legacy, even though those games are different in their mechanisms, they're similar enough in the fantasy theme that I prefer them, especially when I find they all have weak narrative story lines, but Pathfinders is the weakest. Thank you so much for your content.
@@mattlowder For me, Thunderstone Quest was a major letdown when it comes to cooperative and solo play. They cut too much of the stuff I enjoy. It's still great competitive though. I haven't had the chance to try Aeon's End Legacy, but I would like to!
@@OneStopCoopShop Thought I would come back and tell you that after watching your playthrough of this game, I think it's well worth the $35 gamble. Good value, and the gameplay looked intriguing afterall. Thank you, sir!
I personally don't like the new box insert and its divider cards, it's way better in the previous series that makes it easier to organize the cards and basically have space for everything even there's a space to place your expansion boxes inside the core box like we actually install another module in it and it's really cool... (it's bigger tho, but better)
That’s a good point I didn’t consider. The box holds all the core set and the first campaign, but extra campaigns will probably require another option...
Yes considering all of it's contents will be mixed up with the core set, and many people also think the new box layout is as efficient as it should be compared to another lcg like the legendary series, this also adds more space if we want to sleeve all the cards, but still it feels cheap IMO. But hey it's all about the actual gameplay isn't it? Sure it improves a lot in many aspects..
Seems similar to Apocrypha, though I think Apocrypha wins out because it has simpler dice resolution, and seems like it has a better way of keeping the scenarios fresh.
Someone on our slack also said Apocrypha has better scenarios, though they also think its rulebook is really confusing, and that solo play can be very tough to manage.
@@OneStopCoopShop Oh the rulebook is terrible. The game itself is simple enough, but so often it uses 'alternative' words for fairly basic stuff. And while the scenarios are what lift it above Pathfinder (though I haven't played Pathfinder) they are also defined in an unnecessarily confusing way. A really cool system is how the structure cards add different rules to the game. But rather than list 3 cards you add, the scenario book gives you a weird sentence to parse like "Corner the Wendigo Along The Trail As The Hours Pass". Buried in there are the names of three cards which combine to make up the special combination of rules for the scenario. I don't know about solo play but a two player game... it works, and if you can get past the game's issues and allow the story to draw you in it's fun.
I still have it! Do you mean the Crimson expansion that came out at the same time? I've played about half of it, but haven't finished yet. Or is there a new one?
So they didn’t change anything about the actual game? What I didn’t like about the original was the repetitive nature of EVERY single mission. You get multiple locations and have to close them down, in order to catch the bad guy. The title of the adventures were different but it was literally the same exact thing over and over. Disappointed to hear.
It's not QUITE that extreme in the new version. There is more variety. But yeah, it's mostly the same game. They made it one of their goals to keep the game backwards compatible. I'm sure that was a nice decision for the fans who have tons of content already, but I also wish they had rocked the boat more!
@@OneStopCoopShop Really? I've looked some Dragonfire gameplay and it seems it's only fight and buy cards in between. In Pathfinder you explore locations, disarm traps, encounter allies...it has lots more stuff. Don't know about campaign.
@@alessandromassi3659 yes, dragonfire is a more focused/limited experience. But the thing that annoys me most is that you level up SO SLOWLY. Pathfinder gives you new stuff every mission.
@@OneStopCoopShop I only played a couple scenarios but I sadly did not have even the slightest bit of fun. Wish I had liked it more because I was excited to try it. Can't win'em all I guess :)
Hard pass. It seems like Paizo tried to compress the Pathfinder table-top game into a card game. If I want to play a tabletop game I'll just play Pathfinder. If I want to play a card game I'll play MTG.
Andras Fey Fair enough. Neither alternative you mentioned is fully cooperative. And both generally require a lot of upfront work (building a deck, designing an adventure). So for me, this game and those like it still have a place.
You hit the nail on the head with your thoughts on the original core set. I was super excited for it, loved it for a while, but it eventually grew tedious and repetitive. Glad to hear this version made a lot of quality of life improvements!
Still could be tedious, though! I haven’t found it so, but the groundwork for repetition is still there.
Thanks for the press!
Not gonna lie, not a fan of the card game. But I'm loving 2e.
Lovely overview. Nice job, Mike! I wanted to know if I should stop my old 'campaign' I'm playing now and just pick up the new system, but I think I'll hold off for now. The main reason is that I've customized my gameplay anyway to accommodate my busy schedule. I call it the 'One Location-one hero-one event' mode. It basically divides one regular Adventure up by its locations (usually 5) which I tackle over 5 short game sessions with one hero each. With a Time Deck of 10 cards and 9 cards+1 henchman/villain, it becomes a race to see if I can close one location before my time runs out. It's nice, simple and compact and usually costs me only 30 min to set up, play and pack up again. Another reason I can't switch btw is the theme. I'm hooked on pirates so it's Skull & Shackles all the way for me! And on a final note: I supplement my card game with the stories found in the Pathfinder S&S RPG modules, so I still have a sense of thematic background - even if the actual locations, monsters, and items I encounter differ...I still get my story ^_^
I like this a lot! Clever way to focus the gameplay.
I didn't like the new art layout on the cards.
Since I still own an old set, and also picked up the modern occult-themed 'Apocrypha' and a couple expansions on sale, I already have more of this system than I'll likely ever finish. So many games, not enough time to catch up! Thanks for the quick review!
The new set is better, for me, but I think you’re right. Probably not ENOUGH better to justify a bunch of extra spending when you already have a lot of content.
Thumbs up for the "Renegade" in the background.
I got it based on Colin’s video and recommendation. Still haven’t played it enough though!
Great stuff. Question, just how compatible are the old previous edition cards with the new; how interchangeable are they? Thanks for the review.
~Fritz
They have rules for this in the new rulebook, but short answer is that they are pretty much totally compatible. You can even play the old campaigns with the new rules additions, with a few alterations.
@@OneStopCoopShop This is good to hear. With all I have invested in the original I probably would skip this if it weren't compatible. May give it a closer look knowing that it is.
Bit of a late comer but I must say, first : Thank you for the video! 2nd: The make or break for me was the ability to buy the whole adventure path, no more buying 5-7 smaller packs... In my country those small boxes are soooo hard to get, plus I really do not like the drip effect so in that way the core set was amazing and an amazing insta-buy for me.
Yes, that is a great point. It also reminds me of what they are doing now for Arkham Horror the card game, switching to two big boxes for each cycle/campaign instead of 7 separate products. Much better!
@@OneStopCoopShop They are doing that? Well my time to join has come haha
I have a question. I have a few of the older sets. I really enjoy the style of gameplay, but I would agree with your cons list. Are there any games that have a similar play style and feeling of progression that you would suggest? Thanks for the review/video.
Hmm, Arkham Horror LCG has nice tactical cardplay and slow and steady character progression, though it's much more of a board game with travel between locations and such.
Heroes of Terrinoth has progression within a given mission, but no campaign-based progression, and isn't as tactically interested as Pathfinder.
I haven't played Gloom of Kilforth, but I get the feeling that it might have some similarities?
I'm confused, it says core set, but does it include all 6 adventure sets from the original, along with all characters?
This is an all new core set, though it does repeat a lot of characters from the first original set (with new abilities and such).
It's pretty much a full reboot, but it's still generally backwards compatible. Hope that helps!
This was actually really great man. I liked that you gave us a time stamp for the Original vs Core Set instead of dragging us along to boost your rating. I also share a lot of your opinions on the original, especially the fact that the narrative was COMPLETELY non-existent. My only question is, what is backwards compatible? I have RotRL, and I think a character pack and a weapon pack. Is that all gonna get tossed if I buy the new Core Set? If so, I'll trade it in towards that.
I found the whole "DnD in a box with cards" tagline to be a little misleading. I found the game much more puzzley with a strong emphasis on turn/action/hand management (which played fine, just misleading). Also, the whole "all players are on their own little island" aspect was a let down. I ended up playing much more of RotRL through the digital version and playing 3 characters by myself.
Thank you so much! Yeah, I never really think about "how to rope in viewers to watch the whole video" and all that. I'm not that UA-cam savvy ;)
From the core set rules, everything is basically backwards compatible. You can use old cards in new missions, or play old missions with new cards. They have a few rules about how to change things, different keywords, etc. But really, it's more a case of adding some bits rather than changing the core heart of the system.
It was great how the digital version let you skip the tedious setup. Too bad that it didn't do well enough for them to add the other campaigns.
Agree completely!
Digital implementations of board game always seem to have very suspect die rolls! I swear they programme them to roll bad more frequently as a way of incorporating an artificial difficulty. I believe a six sided die should have a 1/6 chance of rolling a 6 etc but it’s never the case. The digital version of this was (in my opinion) a total disaster in this regard. I hated it.
Nice review. Though I suggest showing the actual game how it looks
Jo Jerico Manalang ah, this was an older review. Check all of our recent ones and you’ll see I always include clips of the game.
Thank you. Can i play the new core set mixing with old set cards?
Yes, you can pretty much throw old cards in without any changes. If you want to go back and play older quests, the rulebook has a few additions and changes to make, but still pretty simple. The only jarring thing might be the mixed graphic design ;)
Don't know if you check your older videos for posts, but what's the game with the chinese title to the right?
I had to go digging through a ton of old videos, but I found it! Raid on Takao. I think I did a Playthrough…
@@OneStopCoopShop Thanks for this! I'll definitely look it up. Sometimes unique covers draw us in to a game!
@@larryjex215 I think it's a Taiwanese publication. Not sure if it got a stateside release.
@@OneStopCoopShop Yeah, and after watching your play-through and other reviews, it looks a little darker in theme than I would like. Thanks for the help!
Have you played Dragonfire by any chance ? If so, do you like this or DF ?
I have played Dragonfire! In fact, we did a podcast on it: soundcloud.com/user-318456537/coop-cast-episode-17-dragonfire
Long story short, I did NOT enjoy most of Dragonfire. I would much rather play PACG any day of the week :)
@@OneStopCoopShop Hey thanks for your reply !
Mike, what about playing with 5-6 players? I just found out about this game, me and my husband are in love with it. We were thinking about getting the old version plus the new characters expansion. Does this new one allows more than 4 players?
I just checked the box, and yes, they have rules for scenarios to have up to 6 players. If you get the core and some other content (like the characters expansion you mentioned), I think that'll be a large enough card pool to accommodate you.
Does this require a DM? I’m looking for an rpg’ish game, with characters items skills but we dont know and probably wont enjoy being a DM.
Definitely not. It's an adventure card game, and honestly besides the little story narratives at the beginning of each scenario you aren't really roleplaying, just playing cards and rolling dice.
We have a playthrough on the channel too, if you want to see the game in action and see what I mean.
Love the review. Definitely not for me. Sounds like much too much work and way too repetitive. (edit 3 weeks later: this might be interesting after all. Once I watched your playthrough, I decided to jump in, much to my surprise. I'm happy to be wrong!)
Can't argue with the repetition at all. If you don't enjoy the core scenario mechanics, you will see far too much of them while playing a campaign ;)
@@OneStopCoopShop it is a shame because I really do like what the attempt was here. It's just that, with other adventure games being on the market now that were not in existence several years ago, including Thunderstone Quest and Aeons End Legacy, even though those games are different in their mechanisms, they're similar enough in the fantasy theme that I prefer them, especially when I find they all have weak narrative story lines, but Pathfinders is the weakest. Thank you so much for your content.
@@mattlowder For me, Thunderstone Quest was a major letdown when it comes to cooperative and solo play. They cut too much of the stuff I enjoy. It's still great competitive though.
I haven't had the chance to try Aeon's End Legacy, but I would like to!
@@OneStopCoopShop Thought I would come back and tell you that after watching your playthrough of this game, I think it's well worth the $35 gamble. Good value, and the gameplay looked intriguing afterall. Thank you, sir!
@@mattlowder glad it worked out!
I personally don't like the new box insert and its divider cards, it's way better in the previous series that makes it easier to organize the cards and basically have space for everything even there's a space to place your expansion boxes inside the core box like we actually install another module in it and it's really cool... (it's bigger tho, but better)
That’s a good point I didn’t consider. The box holds all the core set and the first campaign, but extra campaigns will probably require another option...
Yes considering all of it's contents will be mixed up with the core set, and many people also think the new box layout is as efficient as it should be compared to another lcg like the legendary series, this also adds more space if we want to sleeve all the cards, but still it feels cheap IMO. But hey it's all about the actual gameplay isn't it? Sure it improves a lot in many aspects..
Seems similar to Apocrypha, though I think Apocrypha wins out because it has simpler dice resolution, and seems like it has a better way of keeping the scenarios fresh.
Someone on our slack also said Apocrypha has better scenarios, though they also think its rulebook is really confusing, and that solo play can be very tough to manage.
@@OneStopCoopShop Oh the rulebook is terrible. The game itself is simple enough, but so often it uses 'alternative' words for fairly basic stuff.
And while the scenarios are what lift it above Pathfinder (though I haven't played Pathfinder) they are also defined in an unnecessarily confusing way. A really cool system is how the structure cards add different rules to the game. But rather than list 3 cards you add, the scenario book gives you a weird sentence to parse like "Corner the Wendigo Along The Trail As The Hours Pass". Buried in there are the names of three cards which combine to make up the special combination of rules for the scenario.
I don't know about solo play but a two player game... it works, and if you can get past the game's issues and allow the story to draw you in it's fun.
@@JohnLudlow Thanks for the details. I'll try to check it out if I ever get the chance.
It's been a year...did you sell it or keep it? Also, I'm curious about the expansion. Any plans to cover that?
I still have it! Do you mean the Crimson expansion that came out at the same time? I've played about half of it, but haven't finished yet. Or is there a new one?
Спасибо за развёрнутый и при этом лаконичный обзор!
Thank you for detailed and concise review!
You have probably answered this somewhere but what happened to Colin?
He is on indefinite leave to spend more time with his family. But he’s welcome back any time!
So they didn’t change anything about the actual game? What I didn’t like about the original was the repetitive nature of EVERY single mission. You get multiple locations and have to close them down, in order to catch the bad guy. The title of the adventures were different but it was literally the same exact thing over and over. Disappointed to hear.
It's not QUITE that extreme in the new version. There is more variety. But yeah, it's mostly the same game. They made it one of their goals to keep the game backwards compatible. I'm sure that was a nice decision for the fans who have tons of content already, but I also wish they had rocked the boat more!
I don't like the new design, pass.
good serie as usual, surely a great game but isnt for me :(
Lots of other great games out there for us all, luckily :)
Thank you for the video but not for me this one
This or D&D Dragonfire? This looks so much richier...
I certainly prefer this one by a wide margin
@@OneStopCoopShop Really? I've looked some Dragonfire gameplay and it seems it's only fight and buy cards in between. In Pathfinder you explore locations, disarm traps, encounter allies...it has lots more stuff. Don't know about campaign.
@@alessandromassi3659 yes, dragonfire is a more focused/limited experience. But the thing that annoys me most is that you level up SO SLOWLY. Pathfinder gives you new stuff every mission.
Do you still like this game? I found it to be absolutely terrible. Almost no skill or decision making. Extremely simple and underwhelming.
I still enjoy the system quite a lot, but I did eventually sell it when the company stopped supporting it and announced there would be no new content
@@OneStopCoopShop I only played a couple scenarios but I sadly did not have even the slightest bit of fun. Wish I had liked it more because I was excited to try it. Can't win'em all I guess :)
Hard pass. It seems like Paizo tried to compress the Pathfinder table-top game into a card game. If I want to play a tabletop game I'll just play Pathfinder. If I want to play a card game I'll play MTG.
Andras Fey Fair enough. Neither alternative you mentioned is fully cooperative. And both generally require a lot of upfront work (building a deck, designing an adventure).
So for me, this game and those like it still have a place.
@@OneStopCoopShop Each to their own. That's just my preference.
Of course! It’s a glorious world of gaming ;)
@@OneStopCoopShop Agreed! :D
Nice review, thank you!