Hi folks,

this is my first post here, so nice to meet everybody :.smiling:: It's quite a long time I wonder about the chance of getting this game, but I haven't decided yet which way to go. So, I thought it was better to ask here and read the opinion of some veterans, which I trust much more than some reviews I can find in the web.

I know a little of the game mechanics (just some basics ideas); what I do not know (yet) is how the game really is. So maybe some of you could help me on this subject. How is the mood of the game? Is it a mere exploration game, or could you add some stories behind it? Is it atmospheric (like Arkham Horror) or more focused on combat? How about the replayability of the game (I know there are tons of custom creations / expansions for this, but for now I'm just asking of the base game)? Would you recommend buying it to a player who likes a lot strategic games (I do play mostly strategic games, from A Game of Thrones to Chess to Arkham Horror) or not? How heavily is it dependant on luck?

If you have time, any suggestion would really be appreciated!

Thanks everybody for your time

Julia

Julia,

Looking at some of the games in your collection, I see that you play...or have played Doom:TBG

Descent uses the same game engine as Doom...with custom combat dice, Hero actions, and Overlord cards.

Think of Descent as a more evolved version of Doom.

Descent adds things like fatigue, (for the Heroes) which allows them to increase movement, or make an attack stronger. It also adds things like threat (for the Overlord) which is like a type of "mana" that the Overlord needs to play his cards.

There is also no ammo in Descent, so you never need to worry about that unlike in Doom.

As for theme, this game is highly strategic and really depends on the tactics of the heroes if they can win or not. The overlord player can be as passive or as aggressive as they want and it really doesn't affect the heroes, however...a more aggressive OL player will make the heroes play a harder game.

Hopefully this helps make up your mind

Good luck!

-Jonathan

*writing this post because of the back-button a second time*

I played Descent roughly 8 times, so I'm not that experienced as others here in the forum. But i also came in touch with some of the expansions.

According the mood of Descent it has to be said, the focus is clearly on combat. There are backroundstories for each quest, sometimes they add some nice special game-mechanics for that dungeon, nevertheless they are quite stock fantasy ("Tavern > old man with map > treasure guarded by nagas" in worst case) and not that important while playing. All in all it's not that dark and sometimes a little bit self-ironic, as the answer, why heroes cannot jump over puddles shows:
Q: Why can’t I jump over water like I can pits?
A: As every hero knows, the dank water found in
subterranean caverns is usually infested with deadly
bloodsquids, ready to pull an unwary hero to his doom at
a moment’s notice. As a result, only the most acrobatic
heroes dare to leap across even the most innocent-seeming
pools of water.

The time you can spend with Descent is quite impressive. Nine quests in the base game which will you take 5-9 hours to succeed. Each of the three Addons offers 6-9 Quests, i think, of that calibre. Then there is the Quest Kompendium with a doubtfull reputation with adds 16 Quests. And then you can use some of the numerous user-created ones. Besides that it's unlikely that you will win all dungeons in the first attempt, even if thats the case playing a quests with naturally different heroes, skills and items multiple times will not bore you - i think.

Especially on the hero-side, Descent is a very tactical game. The time always flies by while we intensely debate on our turn. And as you know from Doom, attacks and some other events are rolled with dices or cards are drawn randomly. So overall there always exists a luck component, but i think tactic has the biggest influence. You are annoyed when you rolled two times a big "X" on your attack and that big monster stays there untouched, but I never put the blame on the dice when i lost a game. (Maybe because also the Overlord is affected by luck, though not that strong as the heroes are)

Thanks to everybody for your answers & kindness. Yeah, I played Doom quite a lot of time (even if I played only the base game, but i think the expansion shouldn't change dramatically the substance of the game) and I thought Descent could have similar mechanics.

It's very important for me knowing that tactical is the most important part of the game. I've played many and many games to Fury of Dracula, a game with a similar idea behind it (1 player plays Dracula, the others play the Hunters) and I lost a couple of games simply because I had bad luck with three dice rolls after a "perfect" game. This hurts me *a lot*. It's not a problem if you have to roll dice, the problem is when in the whole game you have to roll 1 die and you lose everything for that dice. From your words it seems to be like a well-balanced game, and I'm glad to hear this! ::smiling::

So ok, a lot of materials to play with, and I saw there is an editor for create custom stuff and a list of fan-made scenarios to play through. One last question: the game is featured for 2-5 players, which means 1 Overlord and the Heroes. Are 2 players games good? I mean, can the 2nd player control more than one Hero? I think so, being the Heroes supposed to co-op, but I'm not sure

Julia said:

Just to add in, I come from a 'serious' tactical historical miniatures background (the sort that calls any rules by Games Workshop an absolute joke, tactically). This is the most tactical boardgame I've ever played - as much (though different) as ASL.
The Advanced Campaigns add in a heavy strategic element as well.
And the game can be played 'light' as well.

2 Player games require the hero player to play several heroes. Officially you can play with just two heros, but frankly, it just doesn't work.
Most of my gaming is 1v1 Advanced Campaigns, with a player controlling 4 heroes.
The heroes coordinate better, but it is quite hard to keep track of everything if you goes several weeks between sessions.
Typically, because it is so tight tactically, heroes coordinate to a high degree anyway - they tend to get smashed if they don't. It might pretend to be a cooperative game, but mostly the best tactician will come up with the plans for each turn, even if there is input from everyone.

Regarding Luck and Dice, well, it isn't eliminated totally, and games can come down to 'this roll fails we lose' - but that is usually because things are close and tense and a lot of things have come together already to get you to a critical point. I've played games where if the last hero moving moved one space differently on his exact route (which was round-about), or missed that last attack, the heroes would have lost, because they were on their last life and the OL had a lot of very big, very nasty monsters that hit very hard all around them and would certainly have crushed them on his next turn. But that was a really good game, not a bad one.

@ Corbon: this is exactly what I wanted to read. 1 player able to controll more than one or two heroes is great. Really. I love co-op games, but I noticed that when you're able to play them just playing you and someone else, they are really more intriguing. I mean, it's a mind against a mind. And controlling multiple forces allows you to go precisely towards a certain goal, while playing with more people - which is always fun - it's something different, simply because it's very hard a single strategy is pursued with the same skill (simply because if one person controls everything, when something unespected happens, he can easly adapt the whole strategy to the new event, while playing with many others can make this more difficult, or simply consumes more time). This does not imply I'm against a multi-player (where multi = more than 2) game, but being able to play the full adventure just in 2 players, it's a huge plus.

Apart from this, knowing you like this game after playing ASL... well, that's something great. I played (well, better: I witnessed some friends playing) ASL a *life* ago (I think I was 14 y.o. or something like that). I was too young to really understand the game, but there is one thing I'll never forget: it wasn't just a game. It was like being here.

As far as the luck thing is concerned, yeah, I see what you mean, and I do not have problems with this at all. It's not important losing or winning a game, when you finish it and are happy for the adventure lived. So thanks everybody for the feedback and kindness :-) Probably we'll see again in these forums, in not such a long time ::smiling::

(and apologies for the grammar errors, English is not my native tongue)