Thanks for reviewing our game! Just as a reminder part of the reward for killing the Epic is their blue action bracket resets to just show the first symbol of the next epic. This allows the kill of Epics as way to contain them.
The point about changing a focus from killing epics to containing epics once you've researched steelheart lines up surprisingly well with the book series. I wouldn't be surprised if that value shift was designed in intentionally. Setting up the city with the least damaging epics and then controlling them to make them manageable while focusing on taking steelheart down, really does fit the theme of the books. Even the idea of taking down an epic only to have them potentially be replaced with somone worse. . . It seems like the designers really nailed the alignment of the game design with the ideas and tone of the books!
I wonder of the issue of not getting enough reward for killing an epic could be solved by making it so the space stays empty for a turn instead of drawing a new one. It's thematic since it takes time for a new one to gain power, and it means that there are less abilities being used during the epic turn so the player team has some more breathing room.
Another backseat balance/ house rule that might be neat is if they are on the board for 5+ turns they go up by +2. And for rewards, maybe the research tokens can be used on other enemies once Steelheart is unveiled
or maybe they could already join in but only gain the tracker that gives them an ability to the board at the end of the round, when every other Epic also gains another ability. That way, it still plays the same, but only the Epics who survived actually do something, while you have one round's time to get ready for the newcomer. Also, love the idea that research rewards pass on to learning more about other Epics instead. I mean, I assume they represent that you squeeze information from these people before killing them, so supposing you'd ask more about their friends, colleagues, whatever their relationship is, as opposed to their boss once you've got a plan for dealing with him. That just makes sense tbh.
I personally enjoy your reviews and other videos. Your review feels very concise, informative, always intriguing and maintains objectiveness as much as a review can. After all reviews will always have subjective views from the reviewer which is not a problem people can have favourites which can change during time.
I have never watched one of your board game reviews. Brandon Sanderson is easily my favorite author, however, and upon seeing the video title I figured it was connected. I did not know this existed but was not disappointed.
I felt much the same about this game. The way the players interact with the game was fantastic(I always love simultaneous play and it works great in a cooperative) , the presentation was good, but the game's progression and balance was off. I never read the books and I see from other comments here that you were supposed to select and manage weak Epic as opposed to bashing them all up like I wanted to do. It is an interesting idea, maybe it needed clear signposting for the player.
yeah, it is truly a situation where the game is designed with the INTENT that you game the system, which is fun on paper but with the meticulous set up and intricate appearance, it just makes me go "no, that can't be what they want; there's no rules for this! the mechanics are built for killing so SURELY killing must be advantageous!". Bottom line, I love that this is how it works, it makes a lot of sense and does a good job of framing the difficulties of just getting rid of these people to fix things. Problem is that it shifts the moral dilemma of murdering despots to a conflict between my want to see all the cool and different supervillain characters in action, and actually winning the game by playing smart. Maybe, and I don't assume this happens in the book but I feel like it could work for the game, there could be a more difficult, but simultaneously more rewarding, option, in which you befriend the Epics rather than killing them. It sounds dumb but I think it could possibly solve the problem of that particular design, by giving rules to non-lethally containing Epics, while still shuffling through the range of them.
Thanks for reviewing our game! Just as a reminder part of the reward for killing the Epic is their blue action bracket resets to just show the first symbol of the next epic. This allows the kill of Epics as way to contain them.
ah yes, i did forget to mention that, thank you
The point about changing a focus from killing epics to containing epics once you've researched steelheart lines up surprisingly well with the book series. I wouldn't be surprised if that value shift was designed in intentionally.
Setting up the city with the least damaging epics and then controlling them to make them manageable while focusing on taking steelheart down, really does fit the theme of the books.
Even the idea of taking down an epic only to have them potentially be replaced with somone worse. . .
It seems like the designers really nailed the alignment of the game design with the ideas and tone of the books!
Yeah, from a gameplay perspective it's kinda iffy, but it does really match the books.
This was a fantastic novel series. Binged the trilogy in like 2 weeks. Brandon Sanderson is a great writer.
I wonder of the issue of not getting enough reward for killing an epic could be solved by making it so the space stays empty for a turn instead of drawing a new one. It's thematic since it takes time for a new one to gain power, and it means that there are less abilities being used during the epic turn so the player team has some more breathing room.
Yeah that could fix the issue maybe
Another backseat balance/ house rule that might be neat is if they are on the board for 5+ turns they go up by +2.
And for rewards, maybe the research tokens can be used on other enemies once Steelheart is unveiled
or maybe they could already join in but only gain the tracker that gives them an ability to the board at the end of the round, when every other Epic also gains another ability. That way, it still plays the same, but only the Epics who survived actually do something, while you have one round's time to get ready for the newcomer.
Also, love the idea that research rewards pass on to learning more about other Epics instead. I mean, I assume they represent that you squeeze information from these people before killing them, so supposing you'd ask more about their friends, colleagues, whatever their relationship is, as opposed to their boss once you've got a plan for dealing with him. That just makes sense tbh.
I personally enjoy your reviews and other videos.
Your review feels very concise, informative, always intriguing and maintains objectiveness as much as a review can. After all reviews will always have subjective views from the reviewer which is not a problem people can have favourites which can change during time.
I have never watched one of your board game reviews. Brandon Sanderson is easily my favorite author, however, and upon seeing the video title I figured it was connected. I did not know this existed but was not disappointed.
I just saw you on the dropout make some noise trailer and I have never been more excited
So not whole heartedly, but Steelheartedly? Thanks for the review! Love the Reckoners series.
Damn, all those lil trays are so slick
Wow didn't expect a game version of this. The books are pretty good, glad they at least made a decent effort to adapt them even if it's not foolproof.
I love the series, and I've been wondering how the game turned out. Thanks for taking a look!
Didn’t know this was a thing. Neat!
The Chicago Theater is already inside The Loop.
I'm excited that they set the game in Chicago. I love it when my city gets rep.
Yoooo there’s more board games based on sanderson’s works? I loved the stormlight archive game, I’ll have to check this one out
Board game review suggestion: Dark souls board game.
Which verison of the game is this? It looks like there's 3 different versions of their website
You can't research Steelheart directly if I'm not mistaken. Which is why you need to defeat the other epics
This game made me want a board game for Worm.
On today's episode of "I accidentally pressed 'Play all'." the sea get's a little bit more rough
Seems fun enough i guess. Seems good for one/two shots, even for someone out of the box
Huh… feels like elder signs crossed with The Captain is Dead
can you make these videos a bit louder? I have to turn the volume up a bit to hear what you're saying but then the advertisements blast my ears
Seconded. ProZD's channel is consistently much less loud than the rest of UA-cam.
For the next one, I recommend Prometheus
I felt much the same about this game. The way the players interact with the game was fantastic(I always love simultaneous play and it works great in a cooperative) , the presentation was good, but the game's progression and balance was off. I never read the books and I see from other comments here that you were supposed to select and manage weak Epic as opposed to bashing them all up like I wanted to do. It is an interesting idea, maybe it needed clear signposting for the player.
yeah, it is truly a situation where the game is designed with the INTENT that you game the system, which is fun on paper but with the meticulous set up and intricate appearance, it just makes me go "no, that can't be what they want; there's no rules for this! the mechanics are built for killing so SURELY killing must be advantageous!". Bottom line, I love that this is how it works, it makes a lot of sense and does a good job of framing the difficulties of just getting rid of these people to fix things. Problem is that it shifts the moral dilemma of murdering despots to a conflict between my want to see all the cool and different supervillain characters in action, and actually winning the game by playing smart.
Maybe, and I don't assume this happens in the book but I feel like it could work for the game, there could be a more difficult, but simultaneously more rewarding, option, in which you befriend the Epics rather than killing them. It sounds dumb but I think it could possibly solve the problem of that particular design, by giving rules to non-lethally containing Epics, while still shuffling through the range of them.
I own and have played the game a few times with a few friends and we found the game to be overchallenging.
Eyyyy, keep up the grind man! :)
I see UA-cam has really started to crack down on the garbage bot spam /s
try checking out the novels first for full immersion.
Why did they send a review copy of a game that's out of stock and unpurchasable?
Ngl kinda epic
Dope
This looks really fun. I wanna play
Wow man, cool
Singewin!
Purple
I’m early ok we’ll there’s nothing really to it
The day has arrived.
DAY 69 OF ASKING PROZD TO REVIEW 1830: RAILWAYS AND ROBBER BARONS!
This looks like it would be fun but isn't it just marvel United with a different skin on it?
Why doesn't this guy do those funny voice skits anymore??