Really interesting to watch two videos released on the same day: Cody's video endorsing PoK, and Matt Lees' video from SUSD which did not. Matt presented some reasonable contrarian points but didn't really seem to back them up in a way that reflected my own positive experiences with the game, whereas Cody delivered a clear & concise "go buy it now!". Confirmation bias at its best! Thank you, Cody! 🖖
Add old distant Sun tokens to board - (if you still have the old TI3 tokens) - players can then choose to reveal a Distant Sun token as well as draw the cards from the POK expansion when they explore a planet - adds the danger function if that is what you want - some players would just leave it alone - sometimes danger but sometimes a help
What a fascinating review! I have been eagerly awaiting this one and it was delivered with well reasoned points. I also think it is a must have expansion. It plays FASTER with it and there is more to do. I am so glad Mech are in the game and the new races flesh out good Cruiser and Destroyer roles too. Dane, his team, the playtesters, and SCPT really made this something to behold. I have listened to hours of podcast content before getting to play it and it was a facinating journey. This game is such a great hobby game to love. Some people play 40k or MTG and for me TI4 does a that hobby experience in a box.
Totally agree about the exploration. It would have been nice if they had included additional negative discoveries and identified them as optional in the rules for those of us who want to feel that sense of the unknown.
I wish I could justify buying the expansion. I got ti4 a year ago. The board game shop had a drawing and I won 50% off one game, so I jumped on the chance to get ti4. Since then it sat on the shelf since than unopened. No one wanted to take the time to play with me. I never played any other ti game. I think I will buy the expansion later, but I want to play the game first.
Time to jump on the internet and find people in your area willing to play it with you. TI4 is too good a game to just let sit there. Hope you get to play it soon.
I also have the game sitting still sealed for almost two years. I don't know anyone that wants to play board games. I have a decent collection that's going to waste.
..wouuuld you say with PoK it became your top 1 once again? The expansion feels like they really took the best from the game and upgraded it even more ! Especially for the old factions with the not-unsignificant-at-all addition of leaders and mechs specific to each !
I was curious whether this expansion would include Distant Suns or something similar, as I remember you praising it in the past. You made me itch to get this expansion, but I have yet to be able to get TI4 to the table, and the price point for an expansion -- yowza. Perhaps they will introduce something like Distant Suns in the future as a small box expansion. Seems there would be a market for it. Thanks for the review!
As I mention in this review, there is an exploration component is this game. It is not as good as Distant Suns, I’m my opinion, but I did enjoy. It adds a dimension that the game needs.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer Ithink it will be good. As an BSG-Owner I don't need it...But the mechanic is still great and will work with Cthulu-Myth I think...
The collector/hobbyist in me really wants this expansion, but the player in me knows that it would be a waste since I never get the core game to the table anyways DX
personally I never liked to get kicked out of the game by the first planet I landed on but I would also badly miss an exploration mechanism. But since we have TI3 in my gaming group and I don't want to screw over the fellow who bought all the stuff for it, I won't play TI4 anytime soon :-(
If the elements on this expansion were modular it would be a no brainer for me. As is, it has been a pass. I play TI4 3 or 4 times a year. Base game is super fun. Plus, new races look like a fan fiction version of the TI4 universe.
The various elements all work together very well, and are not nearly as complicated/convoluted as one might think. It all fits with the regular game almost seamlessly. I hope you get a chance to try it at some point.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer i did try it in TTS. I played a full game with it in fact. I don't think it is worth it. Sure I could just not touch the new races which I don't like the look of or the abilities, I could try and leave leaders out as I think they just add confusion to the game with you extra faction objectives and all. The exploration part is funish but I liked it less than I was expecting. I really like having more tiles and the hyperlanes. Makes the galaxy more varied. Then again, I played with those for 5 player games even before the expansion came out. Much better way to balance the game out imho. So for me, not worth the asking price. Especially because I really only want the exploration (sometimes), new tiles and stuff.
Cody, this review seemed flat. TI4 being your favorite game and saying this expansion is essential… I thought you’d be more excited about it. (Tone and inflection)
I wouldn't go that far. I think they just didn't want a situation where somebody gets such a setback early in the game that they can't recover - which sometimes happened with distant suns. Still, I would have liked some negative event cards. Regardless, just happy to exploration back in this version.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer FFG has been toying with modularity with the codices released for TI4, maybe a future codex will include some negative events for those that desire them.
Rapid exploration is rewarded now more than it was before. I like the ideas in the expansion pack but not totally in love with them. It now feels like it's complete, but I just don't enjoy sitting through the whole game as much as I used to. I feel like there's too much going on now that I can't remember everything that I should be doing.
@The Discriminating Gamer I am willing to join the Cody Discriminating Gamer Brigade to turn "Mom, Cody is making X into a military superpower again" into a meme, so it can go viral and you be able to sell it on merch. The top seller will be: Mom, Cody making Ghandhi's India a military superpower again! 🥷
what a fantastic, clear, and strait to point review ... thank you
Thank you. Happy to help.
I love the raz naka race mechs, super fun time playing those
Indeed.
I have it, can't wait to play it.
You'll have a ton of fun with it.
Lucky! My copy of TI4 is still sitting in its shrink wrap for over two years.
Yay, glad to hear it! The expansion has been sitting on my shelf thanks to covid but I can't wait to play it. Thanks for the review.
Thank you! You're going to have fun!
Love the 1984 dune soundtrack snuck in there
Actually, it's a royalty free audio file from UA-cam that sounds suspiciously like the Dune theme.
Amazing expansion that should have been included into the base box if not for the price point
Indeed.
Really interesting to watch two videos released on the same day: Cody's video endorsing PoK, and Matt Lees' video from SUSD which did not.
Matt presented some reasonable contrarian points but didn't really seem to back them up in a way that reflected my own positive experiences with the game, whereas Cody delivered a clear & concise "go buy it now!".
Confirmation bias at its best! Thank you, Cody! 🖖
Ha! Happy to help!
Add old distant Sun tokens to board - (if you still have the old TI3 tokens) - players can then choose to reveal a Distant Sun token as well as draw the cards from the POK expansion when they explore a planet - adds the danger function if that is what you want - some players would just leave it alone - sometimes danger but sometimes a help
I actually sold my TI3 stuff last year when I moved. I had hoped they'd eventually give us exploration in TI4. They did, but I do miss the danger.
This expansion got me back into loving ti again. Oh man, does it bring ti to another level in my mind. I love it!
Indeed. Great expansion.
What a fascinating review! I have been eagerly awaiting this one and it was delivered with well reasoned points. I also think it is a must have expansion. It plays FASTER with it and there is more to do. I am so glad Mech are in the game and the new races flesh out good Cruiser and Destroyer roles too. Dane, his team, the playtesters, and SCPT really made this something to behold. I have listened to hours of podcast content before getting to play it and it was a facinating journey. This game is such a great hobby game to love. Some people play 40k or MTG and for me TI4 does a that hobby experience in a box.
Indeed. It's a great game! Thanks!
Totally agree about the exploration. It would have been nice if they had included additional negative discoveries and identified them as optional in the rules for those of us who want to feel that sense of the unknown.
Indeed. Just a little more spice and sugar dir the game. The “push-your-luck” aspect is pretty fun in TI3 with Distant Suns.
Thank you for the video
@@eriksjogren800 Thank you!
I wish I could justify buying the expansion. I got ti4 a year ago. The board game shop had a drawing and I won 50% off one game, so I jumped on the chance to get ti4. Since then it sat on the shelf since than unopened. No one wanted to take the time to play with me. I never played any other ti game. I think I will buy the expansion later, but I want to play the game first.
Time to jump on the internet and find people in your area willing to play it with you. TI4 is too good a game to just let sit there. Hope you get to play it soon.
I also have the game sitting still sealed for almost two years. I don't know anyone that wants to play board games. I have a decent collection that's going to waste.
@@ishotmyboss Too bad.
you could play it online, i believe there is quite a big community of people playing on tabletop simulator
TDG vs SU;SD. It is on!
Ha!
..wouuuld you say with PoK it became your top 1 once again?
The expansion feels like they really took the best from the game and upgraded it even more !
Especially for the old factions with the not-unsignificant-at-all addition of leaders and mechs specific to each !
I think this is a fantastic - dare I say essential - expansion. I still think War Room is my #1, though. Just something about that game.
I was curious whether this expansion would include Distant Suns or something similar, as I remember you praising it in the past. You made me itch to get this expansion, but I have yet to be able to get TI4 to the table, and the price point for an expansion -- yowza. Perhaps they will introduce something like Distant Suns in the future as a small box expansion. Seems there would be a market for it. Thanks for the review!
As I mention in this review, there is an exploration component is this game. It is not as good as Distant Suns, I’m my opinion, but I did enjoy. It adds a dimension that the game needs.
I recently got into board gaming. Where do I get one of those hats?
You must climb the tallest mountain, then confound the he wise one by reciting the lyrics to your favorite Justin Bieber songs.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer 😆😆
Last great game from FFG?
Loving TI since third ed.
Can't wait to play it...
I’m hoping Unfathomable lives up to its promise.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer Ithink it will be good. As an BSG-Owner I don't need it...But the mechanic is still great and will work with Cthulu-Myth I think...
@@Dogma-mr7bq I’m a BSG owner as well, but I’m still picking it up.
Your PhD link didn’t work
Thanks. Should work now.
POK is a mixed bag but the design makes you swallow the whole thing. We play with only part of it and I really wish it were a modular design.
Yeah. I think that’s fair.
The collector/hobbyist in me really wants this expansion, but the player in me knows that it would be a waste since I never get the core game to the table anyways DX
Tough call. I believe for many in the hobby it is as much about collecting as it is about playing.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer This is true! And I really want the pink and orange pieces...Oh man...
personally I never liked to get kicked out of the game by the first planet I landed on but I would also badly miss an exploration mechanism.
But since we have TI3 in my gaming group and I don't want to screw over the fellow who bought all the stuff for it, I won't play TI4 anytime soon :-(
I hope you get to play TI4 sometime down the line. It is a pretty big improvement.
If the elements on this expansion were modular it would be a no brainer for me. As is, it has been a pass. I play TI4 3 or 4 times a year. Base game is super fun. Plus, new races look like a fan fiction version of the TI4 universe.
The various elements all work together very well, and are not nearly as complicated/convoluted as one might think. It all fits with the regular game almost seamlessly. I hope you get a chance to try it at some point.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer i did try it in TTS. I played a full game with it in fact. I don't think it is worth it. Sure I could just not touch the new races which I don't like the look of or the abilities, I could try and leave leaders out as I think they just add confusion to the game with you extra faction objectives and all. The exploration part is funish but I liked it less than I was expecting. I really like having more tiles and the hyperlanes. Makes the galaxy more varied. Then again, I played with those for 5 player games even before the expansion came out. Much better way to balance the game out imho. So for me, not worth the asking price. Especially because I really only want the exploration (sometimes), new tiles and stuff.
Cody, this review seemed flat. TI4 being your favorite game and saying this expansion is essential… I thought you’d be more excited about it. (Tone and inflection)
I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe I was tired that day.
SUSD got it wrong. DG got it right!
Thank you, sir. Yeah, I just watched the SUSD review, and frankly didn't really get his point. To each their own.
SUSD are a little full of themselves these days
@@rexross1461 Generally I enjoy SUSD, but sometimes I wonder if they like to be contrary just to be contrary.
How can an opinion be right or wrong? Its an opinion you have yours they have theirs.
Sounds like it has been “Millennialized” so that all risk is removed and everyone gets a gold star for the refrigerator.
I wouldn't go that far. I think they just didn't want a situation where somebody gets such a setback early in the game that they can't recover - which sometimes happened with distant suns. Still, I would have liked some negative event cards. Regardless, just happy to exploration back in this version.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer FFG has been toying with modularity with the codices released for TI4, maybe a future codex will include some negative events for those that desire them.
@@ormhaxan Indeed.
Rapid exploration is rewarded now more than it was before. I like the ideas in the expansion pack but not totally in love with them. It now feels like it's complete, but I just don't enjoy sitting through the whole game as much as I used to. I feel like there's too much going on now that I can't remember everything that I should be doing.
Mom, Cody is making the Universities of Jol-Nar a military superpower again! 🥷
It’s what I do.
@The Discriminating Gamer I am willing to join the Cody Discriminating Gamer Brigade to turn "Mom, Cody is making X into a military superpower again" into a meme, so it can go viral and you be able to sell it on merch. The top seller will be: Mom, Cody making Ghandhi's India a military superpower again! 🥷