PhilBowles
Deity
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2011
- Messages
- 5,333
Eldritch Horror - I never played Arkham Horror but I can't imagine how Eldritch could be streamlined from that. Granted, we had seven players, but we were struggling to finish the first phase for about four hours before a few people had to leave. It just. Kept. Going. I think part of the problem was that we weren't really able to synergize with other very well. We noticed too late that the Politician and the Psychic were able to trade items. Maybe next time. So far it looks like Fantasy Flight's usual array of "move your dude, get a condition card for no reason."
Arkham's pretty straightforward - ruleswise, it's basically Talisman save that the players cooperate rather than compete (though you have fixed rather than random rules) - the same strength, craft and luck type stats that work the same way, the same drawing random cards when you land on certain spaces (and some with shops et al. that you can choose instead), combat works much the same way. It's less combat-focused, as monsters show up in fewer event cards, but not a great deal less random.
Oh, they'll loathe Archipelago's endgame. I like it but it's not for everyone's taste. One: the game is shorter than you think, often lasting less than ten turns on short to medium modes. Two: the winning conditions are kept secret. The trick in this game is not just to build an engine, but to guess what other people are going for and try to make the most out of that. This can still feel too random for some people, especially if someone who wasn't playing very well wins anyway.
I'm probably more opposed to the random elements than they are - and they like Arkham more than I do, for all that it's basically Chthulu Yaghtzee. They rather like the Catan expansion, save that we were introduced to it in a run that gave us particularly tedious rolls and a lot of pirates. One of them insists that the expansion is better with good rolls/set up. I think if it had got rid of the pirate and knight gimmicks the commodities and tech ideas had some merit, but weren't implemented well - again, too much randomness involved in who draws development cards when, where the original game made that a strategic choice, and all you really have control over building is tech buildings and cities that only increase the bonuses you get if you happen to get lucky.
And while I'm a fan of Britannia which - while it doesn't have hidden victory conditions - does have different ones for each faction, they got bored with it before even a single playthrough (much to my disappointment).