Hmm. Yay?

By Daedalus, in Descent: Legends of the Dark

2 minutes ago, KalEl814 said:

This is where I'm coming from, too. Descent 1st and 2nd ed art is very much of its era, this game has art that's very much of its own.

Yeah the art just goes hand in hand with the rest of 2020.

What I pay for $175 bucks and what I determine value is entirely subjective. We all have different opinions and value is entirely subjective. Value and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Before the pandemic I just bought a nice prime rib dinner at a high end restaurant, w/wine, and the whole nine yards. Yeah it was overpriced and the next day the money I spent went down the toliet but I worked my tail off and decided to treat myself. App or not if its a good game ( good to me)I going to blow some serious cash on descent. Craving for a prime rib dinner again.....

Edited by Mr. LeeOC
30 minutes ago, Swordbreaker said:

I mean, sure it's not super realistic, but it looks okay to me, and is identifiable. I play Final Fantasy games, so I have a high-threshold for ridiculous weapons. It just looks stylistic to me, and wouldn't by itself be a deal-breaker.

Ok but Im not talkin bout "realistic"... im talkin bout making good art.

Yeah, definitely looking forward to this. My only reservation is that it may be a bit to similar to Journeys in Middle Earth, but I'm optimistic.

  • Artwork: I'm indifferent. As someone who remembers how much hate 2nd edition received for its artwork when it first came, people hating this artwork is to be expected. For the record, I was never a fan of the previous editions art either so this is a moot point personally.
  • No overlord. As someone who is a forever GM, I like this. There are other dungeon crawler games out there and I've always personally preferred the pure coop ones. If you want a GM, Genesys and it's Terrinoth expansion can do a far better job than an overlord player in a restrictive boardgame.
  • App-driven- yup, this is a thing these days and its fine. Should all board games have apps? **** no! But app-driven games are now a legitimate sub-genre of the hobby. For people concerned about app life span: If the game is popular enough, someone will find a way to keep the app working. I mean, I can still play my Star Wars VHS board game if I want as the video it requires is on the Internet. I don't however, because games have moved on and it's a very dated design. This game will either be successful, and will get future editions which update its design ( or people will find ways of supporting the app as we have precedent for), or this game will fail and will simply take up space on peoples' shelves until they get rid of it: another thing well within the realms of normality.

I can understand why some fans of 2e may be disappointed because this is different. I feel your pain, Arkham Horror 3rd edition was a big letdown for me compared to previous games (such as Eldritch Horror), but back then, like now, all it was, was a duff boardgame in a time of many wonderful boardgames that scratch similar itches. The sky is not falling! Let's see what happens :)

3 hours ago, rugal said:

The game is as worse as I bêta tested it : the art is ugly, the game is almost disconnected from descent universe, the only payable app is a scandal ...

App only games do fine, I get that some of the hardcore 1vsmany crowd are going to freak out but honestly we all knew it would be app coop. That's the only thing FFG's to set them apart in an over crowded genre.

How did the app compare to Mansions of Madness?

11 minutes ago, ringofox said:

Ok but Im not talkin bout "realistic"... im talkin bout making good art.

If we were not so distant, I would love to have you as one of my players :)

Edited by rugal
6 minutes ago, Gregor Eisenhorn said:

I feel your pain, Arkham Horror 3rd edition was a big letdown for me compared to previous games

Can be a letdown (actually, not for me, i love the 3rd of arkham) but theres something you must agree: it has QUALITY in every aspect, design, art, material...

In the other hand, im with you, the sky is not falling... just we are seeing how FFG is drowning slowly (people abandon the ship every year) and well... everyone here grow with this amazing games... so we are sad when we see the long shadow of asmodee over the "soul" of this publisher

Edited by ringofox
1 minute ago, rugal said:

If we were not so distant, I would love to have you as one of my players :)

Yay! gonna be a pleasure! this is the best hobby in the world! 🙂

5 minutes ago, Bucho said:

App only games do fine, I get that some of the hardcore 1vsmany crowd are going to freak out but honestly we all knew it would be app coop. That's the only thing FFG's to set them apart in an over crowded genre.

How did the app compare to Mansions of Madness?

Not sure I can tell, but my experience was no better. And since I hate all FFG games with app ... !

Edited by rugal
2 minutes ago, ringofox said:

Can be a letdown (actually, not for me, i love the 3rd of arkham) but theres something you must agree: it has QUALITY in every aspect, design, art, material...

In the other hand, im with you, the sky is not falling... just we are seeing how FFG is drowning slowly (people abandon the ship every year) and well... everyone here grow with this amazing games... so we are sad when we see the long shadow of asmodee over the "soul" of this publisher

Oh, well yes. I was around during FFG's golden years. It didn't take long to Asmodee to completely suck the soul out of the company. Actual FFG has not been a thing for so long now, i'm done mourning. It's why i'm happy to see this game: It's not yet another LCG release. All I can say is regardless of how well it does, it'll take forever for expansions to release compared to previous editions because that is how Asmodee operates.

2 minutes ago, rugal said:

Not sure I can tell, but my experience was no better. And since I hate all FFG games with app ... !

Different games for different folks. While it is expensive for what it is, some of my best gaming experiences have been with the app-driven Mansions of Madness 2e.

Just now, Gregor Eisenhorn said:

Different games for different folks. While it is expensive for what it is, some of my best gaming experiences have been with the app-driven Mansions of Madness 2e.

I don't see the point to play with an app; If the app was intelligent to know where figures were, how many like points, energy, situation of the monster, the game ... I would love it !

but it is not. If the app was like that, you could remove all components and play only by app, and so the app is just a boring brainless straight forward actions with small randomized action

And the worst is that all of this can easily be done with cards, no need for an app ! And I would like better cards than app in this conditions

I feel like most of the commenters that hate the app necessity never played Mansion of Madness nor Journeys in Middle-Earth.

When I finally tried Journeys in Middle-Earth I was kind of anxious as it was our first app-driven board game. And you know what? It's a wonderful experience. The app integration in Journeys in Middle-Earth is excellent. Stunning. To the point, that it quickly became our number one fantasy adventure game, because you get the real sense of adventure. You explore map tile by tile. You encounter tokens not knowing what's behind them. You can't prepare for enemies because you don't know what they'll do. And that's what I expect from the new Descent.

I get that many of you have been playing Descent since its inception, but that's how games look like in 2020. I don't need an Overlord player, nor do I want one. Especially that 90% of time I play just with my girlfriend. I get that many of you feel 'robbed' out of this option, but if I'm honest - I feel like it's a good trade for a great story campaign and a real sense of exploration.

21 minutes ago, rugal said:

Not sure I can tell, but my experience was no better. And since I hate all FFG games with app ... !

Yeah...I can see how you'd get kicked out with that opinion.

On the plus side regardless of if you are/aren't hyped for 'legends' - there's plenty of fan content for 2e- Rugal, Sadgit and others have made some epic stuff and plenty more is on the way (and some of us *might* be able to make some good maps for both 2e and 'legends' eventually *crosses creative fingers*) plus there's the community rules guide for 2e and more....

I am mixed here, fan of DE 2nd , Imperial Assault and JIME in that ascending order. So app play I’m not bothered by and coop is awesome. The art I’m mixed on because it reminds of Banner Saga which was a great IOS/PC game with the hand drawn art. But the human models look just off. And maybe it’s just the lack of characters only having 6 instead of 8 and that two of them are random animals. But its hard because if you are like me and wanting to play a character that somewhat resembles yourself in a game (so generic white guy) it limits your options to the anorexic genderless elf? Hey if that’s what you want for immersing as a different character cool, but it’s harder to get into it for me. So soft pass for now but I’ll follow for updates.

Super glad I’m not the only one who isn’t happy with the artwork...

Well, this announcement saved $175. I had been stoked for this since the teaser at the end of the inflight report. The art work is just not clicking for me and I doubt it will grow on me. It's great if someone else likes it but to me it is too cartoony and does not fit the theme.

Regarding app only, I am neutral on this. I have and enjoy mansions 2nd edition. But I make the decision to play a board game for a reason vs a video game. I know app can work but I am not interested in a large portion of games having this feature. Especially since it is proven that co-op dungeon crawls can work with a smart game design. If they came up with some cool app integration i would take that for its own merritt's. But I still can't get over the art.

4 minutes ago, apolishbeast said:

i would take that for its own merritt's

You're not from Tulsa , are you? Rare to see another one around here, but this seems like a giveaway...

39 minutes ago, General_Grievous said:

and that two of them are random animals.

...just wanted to mention the dragon hybrids and Hyrrinx were established races in Terrinoth before this game.

Hard pass at 175. After the way they dropped support of Heroes of Terrinoth and BattleLore I have zero belief they'll even release the expansions and finish the campaign. Sucks, descent is my favorite boardgame and it's still incomplete.

5 minutes ago, thinkzinc said:

Hard pass at 175. After the way they dropped support of Heroes of Terrinoth and BattleLore I have zero belief they'll even release the expansions and finish the campaign. Sucks, descent is my favorite boardgame and it's still incomplete.

I really cant understand why they stop supporting HoT. First Warhammer Quest TCG was cancelled cause the Games Workshop end of contract... but they reimplement the game quickly in terrinoth! if they decide that, why decide to stop supporting? is not clear to me. A game very cheap to produce, and easy expandable... and one of the best designs so far this last years.

The Tiles are killing me.

Having read everything released officially now I started coming round to the idea that this might be something pretty great. Start small with a band of new misfits, wandering through Terrinoth (which I love - lots of great lore back in 1e and Runebound 2e). Get swept up in a story. I started getting those wonderful how-cool-is-Syndrael vibes from Brynn.. but those ugly tiles. Man . If they were a bit more evocative, I'd be already explaining my newest game expense to my wife. Well she's home now, and I have be 'reasonable'.

That said, something else I thought. Do I really need another Gloomhaven, Frosthaven, Jaws of the Lion, Folklore, Dungeon Universalis, WHQ, AHQ, DS, etc.? (my wife, here beside me and who I have since been boring with Descent related news, wants to say that that I found a reason to need all of them and that's why we had soup tonight..)

But also, do I need another D1e or D2e? How or what could replace those?

I have so many sprawling, wonderfully intricate, complex Dungeon Crawlers on the shelves and coming over the next year, maybe a good story and some perhaps lighter app assisted delving is exactly what I would want..

But them tiles. Man . I am poised to preorder, right on the tipping point then back again, for the chance at something wonderful in Terrinoth.

Edited by Cotgrave

I'd like to comment:

First, I have never played descent, and looking at this game makes me think this will not change soon. I'll wait for a better product.

I think the art is not exactly what we are used as fantasy players. Perhaps the art direction has done a poor job choosing this kind of art for this kind of genre... this art (in my opinion) would suit perfectly in a cyberpunk genre game. Or perhaps a modern warfare game. Or an urban modern environment.

But not medieval fantasy. Medieval fantasy suggest traditional colors, complex and desaturated palettes, smooth shadows and lights, volumes, evocative backgrounds...

Sketchy looking characters with duotone textures backgrounds and pop color schemes DON'T say "medieval". High contrast shadows aren't for medieval themes... (it is VERY difficult to mix both concepts, but if you dare to do it and do it right, then you got a gem like Darkest Dungeon).

Extreme palettes of flat colors are for superheroes and modern comic books... but all this stuff simply doesn't have nothing to do with fantasy art.

Is like using steampunk chrome aesthetics in your next marvel champions expansion... sure it would be "original" and "different" but it would be horrible and a bad decision... and people would be upset, simply because the art chosen by the art directors REQUIRES to FIT the theme.

That makes me thing that the main purpose of this game is NOT to tell a good story, or to include wonderful and original mechanics... the purpose is to make you freak out giving you 3d environment, groundbreaking aesthetics, great minis... and an expensive B I G box that, now that I see the content... is TOO big... that suggest me FFG has done it again, big empty boxes filled with air.

And now that I have mentioned it... 3d environment... Why?

You say an app will make your games more agile... good luck placing cardboard trees and cardboard stairs... and again... what is the purpose of having these elements? what does this add to the experience? rules for different levels work perfect in other systems, using coloured lines, and different straight levels don't exactly make a prettier board... it makes it impractical and in my opinion, unneeded on a dungeon crawler. Come on... you CAN'T pass UNDER the elements, so, what's the difference between 3d stairs and drawn stairs??? where's the enjoyment once you have seen all the cardboard placed over there?

For this price, I'd prefer the contents of Gloomhaven. With a good story you DON'T need 3d cardboard chests... in fact they look ugly. I REALLY prefer an obstacle printed in 2d... OR a real plastic model for doors or chests. But 3d cardboard trees?????

So, in my opinion they seem to have prioritized aesthetics over gaming mechanics and story... and they have done a very poor job. And the price is simply excessive... taking into consideration that you will need a new expansion and/or miniatures box after a couple of missions...

And I really jhave enjoyed a lot of app driven games, UBOOT for example is a wonderful app driven game, very immersive! or MoM, a wonderful game that I have played a lot of times... but seeing the screens with the crafting system, the weapons, the experience... it seems TOO MANY rules and mechanics have been displaced outside the board. Even inside graphics in the app are terrible... the interface seems poor, the pop-up windows don't have elaborated backgrounds or borders, everything is flat... again everything makes me think about a cyberpunk game and not a fantasy setting.

Sorry for my poor english :)