Grimcoven - a look at this boss-battler prototype from Awaken Realms
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- In this episode of the Dungeon Dive, we take a look at the prototype version of Grimcoven, a new bass-battler gamer from Awaken Realms, highly inspired by Bloodborne.
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gamefound.com/en/projects/awa...
#bloodborne #soloboardgames #awakenrealms #adventuregame
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www.teepublic.com/user/the-du... - Ігри
I love this one and done style scenarios. I do like campaign style games, but its very rare i can get the same group of friends to continue the same campaign. In fact i don't think i have actually completed any single campaign game with the same group of friends the whole way through, and often i end up finishing them solo, if possible.
Same here. I've only ever completed a campaign solo. We are, however, on mission 6 of 8 in The Gates of Valhalla campaign for Shadows of Brimstone, but that's really short! :)
The moment AR are sending you their prototype -
A. It is kind of disclaimer that they proud with their creation.
B. It is kind of an official recognition that you are no longer a niche channel. You are on the adults playground now. So first of all, congrats D.
Second, it is beautiful to see that playing in the adult playground doesn't affect your authentic approach and mindset.
Keep shining on!
Thanks man! Appreciate the comments / kind words. :).
Thank you for covering this. Love Bloodborne (the videogame) and love the theme. I will probably go for the standee version, though the miniature version is incredibly tempting.
Thank you for this video! I was going to pass this by until I saw the standee version. Varied combinations of scenarios, dice placement actions, I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Bloodborne character design, not a campaign, and now a reasonable box size and price point!
Glad it was helpful!
Th an you for your great review as always mate 😊
I previously watched others' videos on this game. DD's coverage is by far the most comprehensive and informative. Are big games coming back to the channel 😅?
I have the luxury of not showing game play, so I'm able to just discuss things about the game. I have a hard time learning about a game by watching game play, and I prefer to just hear someone talk about a game, so that's what I try to do. :) You might be seeing move coverage like this.
Great coverage of this game! Found this coverage far more insightful than other videos on this game. Keep up the good work! 👍
Glad it was helpful. :).
Components look great - it really is amazing to see how so much has changed (the recessed player boards for example) over the last decade and become almost standard. I'd be surprised if there was more flavor text coming - Awaken Realms seem to be one publisher that makes sure to include it. Would be nice if they opt for a smaller box and KS for a change - I guess we'll see!
Thanks so much for covering this Daniel! Great job!
My pleasure!
Incredibly informational video as usual! I'm very interested in this one, particularly that it's not a campaign at heart, as I have too many of those still unplayed at this time.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for amazing insight into this game. Love how you cover the games you talk about. Your one of my favorite channels out there keep up the great work!!! As for Grimecoven I am thinking a lot of the same things you are we shall see how the Gamefound goes. All the best!!!
Thank you! And likewise. :)
Thanks for the comprehensive overview, most helpful look I've seen yet. Intrigued, might want to back just support the relatively inexpensive standee version! Theme is great too.
Glad it was helpful!
I think this is one of my fave reviews - really cleared some things up for me!
Too bad in the final version they are getting rid of the red Lament cubes, I kinda liked them! 😅
What are they being replaced with!
@@TheDungeonDive I thinks it’s a single blue acrylic marker that you move across the track. It looks like a mini Convergence boss 😅
Excellent video!
Thank you very much!
Looks really interesting. I’d be keen for a standee version. My backlog of SOB miniatures to paint means I just don’t need anymore minis.
They just released the new Hunter “The Doll” today. Man, I just don’t know. I love everything about this game except one thing - the character designs. They look cool, but they have such a “busy” look to them. I mean, there’s detail and then there’s going overboard. And some of the designs don’t scream Victorian steampunk enough for me. I wish they would design a young female character in Victorianesque dress dual wielding a rapier and pistol with bows and ribbons in her hair. I would definitely be all in pledge if that happened 😅😅
I agree! The detail is kind of piled on.
They have confirmed a full standee version, at a great price. And the fact that it's scenario based really makes it perfect. But what turns me off and will stop me from backing is that there isn't any significant character progress between scenarios. This one was so close to becoming exactly what I wanted, haha.
No character progression? That would actually be a selling point for me
It not connecting the scenarios is a huge plus for me. I don't want abilities and other content locked behind having to play a campaign.
Also, there are multiple Secret Card 32's so even that won't be the same all the tiime.
Thank you for the „look at“ and i am VERY interested what you think of the actual gameplay. Already watched 2 playthrough’s and all got smoked BIG TIME. Seems to me to balanced at all… eager to hear/ read your experience from the gameplay. 🤘🏻🙌🏻😎
According to the documentation, the game is supposed to be a grueling uphill battle for the hunters until a certain point, at which the tides turn. I'm not good at games, so I never even got close to that. I would bet they're still working on overall balance.
this might have the chops to challenge CDMD as my top game of all time, and the fact that they're making an affordable standee version makes it even more appealing. not sure if i want to hope for a ton of expansions (because i am a glutton) or not a lot of expansions (because who am i kidding, my closet is already full). :)
CDMD is probably a pretty good point of compairison!
CDMD is what I thought of too, which is one of my favourite games! My main concern with this one in comparison is the fiddly-ness of managing the enemy turns (as touched upon in this video). CDMD is such a smooth flowing game due to the relative lack of an actual enemy turn
I watched already 2 other gameplay videos… no way that one will substitute CDMD (for me) 😆
It would be nice if they offered standees in place of the miniatures and they miniatures would be an option. Just my take, the miniatures don't really do anything on the board but look pretty.
I standee version is confirmed!
Hey! Great video. I used to have that black card holder but I think I lost it and I don’t remember the name of it. I’d like to pick up another one. Where can I get one? Thanks!
Amazon. Hold It.
I was kinda hoping for something along the lines of Kingdom Death where you develop gear and a base as you play the game.
Unfortunately this is not that game.
I love the look of this game but I don't think I'll back it. I have too many big games I don't play already. I wish them well as it does look cool.
The secret cards and the side missions they provide actually sound more fun than the boss battles.
I agree!
Oh no… a Dungeon Dive video on this upcoming game. Oh my wallet…
Well, hopefully you're armed with enough information to make an informed decision. :)
@@TheDungeonDive Lol. Well after watching a few other videos, I've decided to pass on this.
AR announced that the base game with standees will be $59 and the base game with minis will be $109.
Nice!
Hmmm this or Dante: Inferno?
I think I'm still betting on Dante but this looks very well produced already.
What scale would you say the minis are?
No idea. I don’t know a lot about minis. They’re larger. Bigger than 32mm.
Same reason I didn’t PREORDER the new CMON dungeon crawler.
I now have too many games and I have become very very selective to invest in another game when I already have more then a dozen in played.
Yep!
How do you ultimately defeat the boss? Do players have to eliminate every single card? If so, is there anything else players have to damage?
By attacking it's body parts and whittling down it's health.
@@TheDungeonDive So the boss's health is a combination of the health total from all cards or the health total from all body parts? If you destroy a body part, it seems like all cards relating to that body part should be removed.
I never got that far in the game before losing, so I’m not sure. Maybe check one of the gameplay videos to see if they did better than I did!
does this game lives up to ultimate Bloodborne impression?
I love everything about this game ive seen so far, however as i play dice placement games ive learned i like them less and less. It starts to feel like i roll dice and then watch how things play out, rather than having a choice of options for my turn, and doing what id like. I'm being taken for a ride rather than choosing my own destiny. Not to mention all the weirdness to explain a bad roll of say, all movement when surrounded by enemies. It breaks the suspension of disbelief as to why my hero when they have an enemy they can defeat with a single sword swipe is right in front of them, open opportunity, and decides to run away instead.
all that said.. lets be real, still probably going to get it. Random side note, why are all of the dungeon crawlers on crowd funding right now dice placements? so weird.
I love dice, and I prefer games that are mostly luck, so I dig that part of the game. But I know there are a lot of modern gamers that really don't so I get it.
Your channel hasn't been recommended to me for a fair while. I am partly responsible for not searching you directly but busy life etc. Anyway, I now have a bunch of videos to go through so that is good I guess.
Thanks! Yeah, UA-cam hates this channel. I hear this thing from tons of people.
Guess I'm just not a fan of this style of game. Not a fan of Oathsworn either but this looks better. I do wish something like this was in the Berserk universe. Good review though! Only one for this game I've actually sat through.
I so totally agree- pls do a standee version. Or at least like Vanguard, no enemy minis. But I'm also not interested in boxes of plastic.
Curious to know what are your thoughts on AI art (as used in this game).
The game looks quite nice, not outstanding though.
Too much plastic. Nowadays I prefer games with cool wooden pieces over plastic miniatures. But, if the game is good, I don't mind the unnecessary plastic.
Also, there is so much already being offered for this game, like added terrain pieces, expansion stuff, extras, etc. That is never a good thing.
There is another comment in which this is discussed.
@@TheDungeonDive I was not aware. Thanks.
No problem! :) That's why I mentioned it. I don't have a lot of thoughts on it right now. I'm waiting to pass judgement on everything AI related until I know more about it. It's a very complex situation, with things I don't understand, so I'm not drawing any line in the sand at the moment.
@@TheDungeonDiveI know that '3-minutes-boardgame' (an awesome New Zealand BG channel) has decided, out of principle and respect to the artists' careers, to not cover any game which performs AI art...
I know that you are a principles person yourself and I didn't want to put you in an inconvenient and conflicted situation, but...
I do believe that being aware for the way others respond to this new situation/status might open your mind and even inspire you in your own decision of how to handle..
Personally, I think the art in this game is gorgeous, but I would have felt better about it if there was some... any at all... credits to those who made the entire art direction choices... Even if they were only technicians with good taste which know how to speak with machines... I miss this human anchor and touch... And uncredited art makes me feel... Sorrow.
That's super cool! I'm glad for them that they know enough about the entire situation to take a stand. I just don't at this time. Still learning.
If they will not add any kind of meta progress it will only prove they don't understand idea behind repetitive nature of boss battlers.
I prefer one and done.
@@TheDungeonDive sure, but you are mostly a dungeon crawler guy (if I may do such an assumption). BB as a genre is a bit different beast, meta progression is a bread and butter here. And for clarification - by meta progress I mean a system of progression that unlocks an additional content by playing more and more, not a system that makes game easier, not a campaign, not a story book. If a game is one and done it is simply not worth my money & time. There has to be a carrot to motivate me to play more! ;) Grimcoven tries to catch a few birds at once, but I'm not convinced yet if it's doing it successfully.
I’ve got like 800 hours in Bloodborne the game. :). Been playing From Software games since the PSOne days.
Looks like you saved some money! So that’s always good. :).
@@TheDungeonDive Yup, it seems like I saved money here, but who knows what will they show during campaign. At least bosses/scenarios are gated in some way.
Bloodborne with AI xD
How do you feel about their use of AI-generated art in their last several campaigns and games including this one?
For myself, aside from the unethical usage of copyrighted material in training these programs, I feel like the quality of art in AR games has decreased a lot since their reliance on AI-art has increased.
I don’t have any real thoughts on it. I know they have an in house art team, and that AI is used in things like Photoshop all the time. I also don’t know what kind of AI they’re using, if they’re using it, in what aspect, to what degree, so I prefer to not cast stones.
@@TheDungeonDive I can give some more context then, seeing as their press release/update about this was purposefully vague. Yes they do have artists in-house but it is confirmed that they are using final art from AI-generated programs such as Dalle and MidJourney. They have had multiple listings for jobs (in Polish so fly mostly under the radar) specifically seeking for people with experience generating AI art. In addition, they have also been caught with AI art in their projects, with many discernible features that clearly demonstrate AI as the source. It was so apparent that Ravensburger stepped in with the new Puerto Rico edition and made them remove all the art, once it was made public about the use of AI art.
This is not the same as tools using AI technology within other programs, such as those you named within Photoshop. Adobe also have their own AI art generation tools, but these are purely based off of their own stock libraries that they have secured the rights too.
Programs like MidJourney have used libraries originally planned for research use only, containing masses of copyrighted material of artists. These artists have no consent in the matter or compensation.
Aside from the ethical discussions of such tools, I do genuinely think that AR art has taken a turn for the worst, and correlates with this increased use. All of their projects now have this very similar “painterly” and “brushed” style, that did not exist as much before. I felt like there were clearer distinctions between the art used in different AR games in the past. A lot of the art has also become needlessly “busy”. How many random whisps of clothing and additional small details does the character art have for this game, for example?
Both aspects are indicative of the kind of art that is produced from such tools. This painterly style has become very popular as it hides a lot of the imprecise nature of AI-generated art. It doesn’t take much for someone to merely bury the most obvious peculiarities (although this has been shoddily done). The excessive detail and unrealistic aspects also lean into what these programs natively produce.
For my part, it is very saddening to see this move. It feels like corner cutting a hugely important part of the games in order to quicken the process and pump out more products. I have always valued this community and specifically this channel for championing the DIY and indie, but larger companies like this undermine talented artists and more unique art direction. I honestly fear for the future of art in our games with this type of thing being seen as a viable alternative. Everything ends up becoming more and more homogenised. Games like Dark Venture and Dungeon Degenerates would not get produced if this was the standard.
Cool! Thanks for the info.
I’ll be doing my top 10 board games with the best art episode soon, and none of the entries contain any generative AI as far as I know. :).
@@TheDungeonDive look forward to it! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with covering such games and people can vote with their wallets, but I don’t like the lack of transparency that exists currently in the industry. Like I said, the update going into this by AR was purposefully vague and quite defensive. If your method is to use AI-generated art the least companies can do is be honest about it and let customers decide with their purchases.
Either way, appreciate your insights as always and I’m sure this will remain an amazing space to highlight indies and DIY games.
No, no, no....Grim "CUH-ven" sounds like Grim Oven, man. And that's just....it doesn't work.
It's alright, it's ok, there's something to live for, Jesus told me so.