does anyone else out there think that this game is a little to difficult? I've only played maybe 3 times but every time it felt like we were fighting a losing battle.

Lurchxe said:

It's not. How many players are you using and what expansions. It sounds like you need Arkham Strategy 101 :')

I like the feeling of impending doom, adds to the excitement when you pull off a win (or not) by the skin of your teeth.
But guardians and one of the game modifier cards(cannot remember their name at present) tones down the difficulty, but like avi said once you have the game sussed it becomes easier.

It can also depend upon which investigators you have compared with the AO you are facing.

Lurchxe said:

Well, actually the base game is quite easy, once you find out the correct strategy to beat the game. Pay attention to the gate frequency; some unstable locations are more unstable than others. And try to seal every time you can, especially the high frequency gates. I remember one game played eons ago, when a friend of mine went to Independence Square. A gate opened and he was sucked in. He returned to Arkham, closed the gate without sealing it. Mythos phase: a gate opens at Independence Square. And this happened three times in a row (we, stubbornly, continued in this suicidal tactict of closing and no sealing... ::innocent smile:

Remember that clues are a vital source, so it's better to save them for sealing and for adding dice only for crucial skill checks.

Ease in with the Black Goat herald and Innsmouth expansion. Start off with an easy ancient one like Quachil Uttaus.

Personally I think that sometimes the game is too easy. Within my experience after a few games (how many depends on the group) you will pick a suitable strategy and the rest will be a lot easier, at least with the base game. The expansions are a little bit of a mess, some element will increase the difficulty to untold levels, others will make the game laughably easy (Daisy who... no she isn't here I just feed her shett to Cthulu yesterday).

As general rules there are some things that the group should remind:

• This is a cooperative game, anyone who like to play for himself alone (keeping objects because he drawn them, not helping other investigator to chase monsters etc.) should leave the table
• Survival is the key, if you want to survive it's better to use those Clue Tokens right away, no matter if you won't be able to seal the next gate
• Unless you are facing a superfast ancient one (like Yig) sealing is always a worth option, it slow the beast down and give more time to pick up some heavy ordnace for the final showdown

The game can have a fairly high random element to it, i.e you face an early rumour that has to be left to tick over because you don't have the resources to deal with it or you don't have enough weapons between the players to deal with difficult monsters leaving the terror level to ramp up when surges occur. What about it in particular are you finding hard?

The game has a big sphred and can be both really hard and really easy, with the right combination of ancient one, investigators, expansion packs and luck. You will soon find the right strategy. A good setting is the ancient one Yig, just the main game and a combination of fighters and gate sealer. Go for gates as fast as possible and seal them while other investators take care of the monsters. Find tactics to handle different types of monster and read their special advantages like physical immunity carefully so you don't go into a battle you can't win. Remember that by closing certain gates you put some monsters back at the cup. The terror track is usually no worry if you play with few investigators and you can even give the monsters some room and focus on evading them instead. Use your monster trophies and gate tokens to buy allies and be blessed (especially before battling Yig so you don't start of cursed). Some suggestions how to play the game but I guess you find your way soon.

Personally I like it when it's diffucult and I think you should lose at least every second game to really appreciate the challenge. But then again you can be a really good player and never lose, but then I think you should include some disadvanting house rules to keep the game challenging.

Even do the game is cooperative I think that players still deserve to have the option to play solo if they want to. If the players discuss tactic together to much some players can start taking a leading role and steer other players move. If there is a conflict between one player's style of play and other players' request the one player should chose for herself what to do. In games I played some players have take it for granted to use for instance Expedition Leader or Researchers special ability without asking.