My concern with this game is that it might get tiresome after a few good plays. It just seems with the limited number of plot cards that this could happen to this game. The game concepts seem great but am worried about the fact that after one has played it for some time one will basically do some "auto pilot" turns since that is what you should do for that character.

Has anyone experienced that ? Would appreciate any input.

I would say your concern is premature. Even in the broad scope of plotlines, there's going to be a wide range of experiences.

Across the five characters, you've got thirteen possible week-one plots, and then seven possible week-two plots (Raymond only gets one plot, Caprice has a pre-set week-two plot). Since the resolution of one plot will affect the second week, you're looking at close to twenty-two unique play experiences, based on plots alone. That's not counting the influence of the 40+ twilight cards for each character, as well as general plot cards and different murder scenarios. Also, the game will play out differently depending who you're playing against.

I haven't played the game yet (my first game's on Wednesday night), but I've read the rules and every other thing I could get my hands on, and it seems like there's a lot of rich, novel replayability built into this game, and the mechanics seem tight enough to bear repetition even if you've played the game enough times to exhaust the larger narrative structure (and I think that would take some doing).

Plus, it's not too unreasonable to think that they'll make expansions with extra characters. While we won't see as many new characters as say, Arkham or Descent in each expansion, we'll probably see a handful of new faces regardless.

LinkN said:

I believe that Kevin said that they were planning on making Android light on expansions; so I think it very possible that there won't be any.

I could be wrong, but I think it would be better to expect no expansions and be pleasantly surprised than to hope for more and be dissapointed.

Joram said:

Joram, that is where I was going with the question - if there are no expansions, can the game get "dull" or repeative because people have played the characters enough to know what to do.

Yes I know the game hasn't been out that long but that is the one concern I can see with it.

Cab

From my gut feeling, this game has less replay value than Arkham Horror - but still on very large scale. While the "what's that?" effect might wear out after ten to twenty games when you know all plots and played all detectives, I'm fairly certain that the huge amount of complex interaction between the three pillars (murder, conspiracy, character development) will yield a fresh playing experience every time. Compare it to the Arkham Horror base box where you have only a small amount of Arkham Encounter cards and GOOs.

In addition, an expansion will have a much more powerful impact on the playing experience than with other game systems due to the inherent strong influence the diverse detectives have.

Also, there are so many different game mechanics at work in any one game. People are going to be finding new stratagies throughout the first ten games or so, and then they'll start playing with those strategies in mind. After that, people would have to have specific strategies for each character, and each character they'd be playing against. This means that this game would have huge replay value strictly on the basis that there are so many completely different characters.

Joram said:

Well, I don't want to suggest that FFG only cares about money, but it's probably safe to say that if the game sells well and there is demand for more material, we will see an expansion.

it's also worth noting that while, yes, seeing tons of new characters like we have seen for games like Arkham is out of the question, well designed new detectives will add a lot more individuality and flavor to Android than they would for many other games. They'll also be a lot harder to produce and test. But hell, an expansion with, say, 2 new detectives would be awesome and add a lot of variety, even if that was the entire thing.

to get more on topic, I've only played once, but I don't think lack of replayability will be a big issue. i'd say it's got as much as the base game of arkham at least, if not more. it's just that, i think, the replay value is found in different areas. After a several plays most of the cards may not be new to you any longer, but you'll be able to start really learning the various characters' strengths and weaknesses and get into the strategy of the game more.

I had heard that Kevin made similar comments about Arkham Horror when it first came out - that expansions would be light.

The game appears to have a tremendous amount of variables in it from event cards to plot decks to the quality of evidence pulled that the possibilities seem endless. I think a lot of people still have a "Clue" type mentality in that you can "solve" the 6 murders. When in reality, the murders are just the backdrop while the flavor comes from the card deck and player interactivity.

I do appreciate the input by all of the above. As I suspected, after a certain number of games, where obviously the first few you are learning the game as well as the characters, it seems that after a set # of games (be it 10 or 20), that by then you should have a good feel for what each character's plot cards are.

But sadly though, unlike Arkham Horror, where you do have cards that may or may not enter play, here in Android it seems (and correct me if I'm wrong in this area), that the plot cards will always be there FOR those characters. Sure you might not be able to do the plot AS you hoped for due to interaction with other people. The main point though is the plot card will always be there..at least the initial starting of it, each week. How it unfolds after that is up to the character plus the interaction with the other characters as well.

Obviously an expansion would be great, but also, wouldn't it also fall into that same "Great it's new, everyone learn it for the first few turns and then fall back to okay we now know what we should do" mentality as well? In AH, you always have unknowns that you can't always count on whereas here in Android you have at least a general premise to go on (i.e. more known vs unknown).

Not saying Android is not a good game and probably would love to at least play it once or twice but still debating to buy it and then see it gather dust, if you know what I mean (i.e. after a while, no one wants to play it). Obviously that can happen with any great game if you can't find people to play the game.

Cab

Caboose said:

You are still going to have only 2 of 3 pot cards in each game. Each plot can resolve in one of 4 ways. As you said, the interaction and specific combos will offer some variety but maybe get exhausted after X games. However, Plots are only a fraction of the game. You also have event cards that may or may not come into play, you also have different murders set ups. So plot resolution A may interact differently with Murder 1 vs. Murder 2. And it might even interact differently with Murder 1 if Event X come out vs. Murder 1 if Event Y comes out.

Is this going to be as diverse as Arkham? Probably not. But most games aren't. Puerto Rico only has 5 roles to play with a set amount of buildings yet people play it hundreds of times. Power Grid only has 42 Power Plants in the base game yet the replayability is there as well.

I don't think you should worry about replaybility. I sometimes use a quick formula of if I would collect 1 dollar per hour per player, that was a good value on a game. With shipping, you can probably get Android for $40. With a 5-hour game, that is 8 players getting one shot at it or 4 players playing twice. So 2 full games and I feel I will have my money's worth. And I think it is obvious there are a lot more games in it than that.

I agree with what's been said here so far. In fact, after reading the rules last night, the first thing that I did was turn to my wife and tell her how much replayability I saw. The only thing that I'd add is that the game will change depending on which characters are even in the game. Sure, it seems that there may prove to be certain strategies that are generally effective for certain characters, but because of the cardplay you will always have to be on your toes to be able to react to the stones that the other players will throw in your path. Furthermore, each character interacts with the game in a fundamentally different way, and that means that the presence of a certain character in the game is going to change how I play. Obviously, this will matter less if you only ever play with all five people, but if, for example, Raymond wasn't being played then that drastically changes how the rest of the players will be interacting with the conspiracy (I haven't looked through his whole deck of cards yet, but I seem to remember people saying that he was a badass at the conspiracy; that could be wrong). I look at this game and see tons of replayability, those are my thoughts.

I think this game has a ton of replayability personally.

The first few games you'd be learning the rules, characters, mechanics, etc.

By the third or fourth game you probably have a good idea of how everything works together, and how all the mechanics apply.

At this point you're able to start working on utilizing different strategies to see what works best for each character. The characters in this game really do feel completely different when playing. They all focus on something different. This means you need strategies to get more VPs for yourself, while finding better, more efficient ways to combat the other characters. Considering you have to learn these for each character, this will take a while.

After that you have each murder sheet, which adds various new rules and such.

It's going to take a good long while to get stale.

I appreciate the discussion a lot, guys. Android is next on my wishlist and the polarised views on BGG make me wonder if I'll find people willing to try such a monument of a game with me...

I was initially having similar thoughts... That the game could get repetative and dull after a number of replays. I cannot speak from personal experience, as I have only played my first game. My local gaming club, on the other hand, has played many games. This is a group where it's uncommon to play the same game twice in a year, and they've already had about 5-6 plays. I've talked to two of the people who have played all these rounds:

Person 1: There are so many mini-games going on and so many different aspects of the game that every time you play it's substantially different. Your strategies shift, and you find yourself playing your character completely different each time, though the more you play with the same character, the better you get to know them, and the more you can adapt to the shifts in the flow of the game.

Person 2: I highly recommend you play with the same character each time. Much of your ability to succeed in the game comes from knowing your character intimately, and knowing what they can and can't do. The more you play, the more your character becomes an extention of your own play style, and the more your fellow players' personalities show through the gameplay.

What I gather from this feedback is this: That the game adapts and evolves with you as you play. It would seem that it has an extensive replay value, and that the way the game plays out changes as the players become more familiar with their characters.

My recommendation: If you are planning on playing the game with your local gaming group, send each person home with their character and all their cards and let them read through and review everything before their games. Thus when they read the rules, they can keep their own character in mind, which will help to navigate all the character-based exceptions in the rulebook, and when you get together to play, they have a good grasp on their character's strengths and weaknesses, and can formulate a strategy.

Hope this is of help!

After playing a game, I can definately say that this game has a lot of replayability.

You can play a character and barely feel like you're scratching the surface.

It's easy to think that it's all about your personal plots. And that's a big part of the game. I played Floyd and while I completed my two plots, nobody focused on making me fail them. And it would have been just as interesting to see me fail. And I was able to focus on the murder but not the conspiracy, so I saw that part of the game but didn't get to partake. I didn't even get off the moon to try anything on 'earth' out.

Also, while your plots are linear (ish) it's all about the dark cards that get played on you. Some work out very well or very poorly, depending the the choices you make and where you're at in the game. The dark cards tell a lot of the story that you're involved in. And that part is a lot of fun too.

Every character has their strategies and I could play Floyd a few more times before I'd be ready to play a different character. I could see me wanting to play each character at least 2 times to figure out how they interact with the game. So that's 10 plays before the game might start to feel 'old'. I have a ton of games that I played 1-3 times and am done with. So I think that Android really works and has the replayability that you're looking for.

But I also love the story behind everything. My group fabricated the 'back story' of the murder and conspiracy after we played and that was a lot of fun too. =D

Sarim Rune said:

Whilst I like the game, I have to disagree with this. After one game, you have seen 2/3 of the plots and a lot of the light / dark cards. Probably 80-100% of your light cards and a lot less of your dark cards. After 2 games, you've probably seen most stuff.

Each game plays out pretty much the same - the actual case / events dont really change things that much