Man, this thread is dangerous to my wallet. Just ordered Hexplore It…
Sigh…as did I.
so weak. so very, very weak.
I’m at least gonna wait on one of you folks to partially review or give impressions at least of Hexplore It first, since I HATE the name of the game so, so much.
Love Dawn of the Zeds and Nemos War but just played Doctor Who: Solitaire Story Game 2nd edition and this is by far my favorite solo game still! This is as close to a single player RPG as I’ve ever experienced! The mechanics are tight, very few I’ll have to look that rule up. Its biggest downside is that you can find yourself flipping and opening 4 of 5 books at one time, and making notes and special paragraphs you need to revist if a certain condition triggers.
However, there is simply no other game that is this thematic, and has the depth of choices, and creates such a clear and powerful narrative as this game. I do think I slightly prefer the 1st edition, where all the companions were pulled directly from the show, as the companions in the 2nd edition are bit characters from the show (basically allies from individual episodes) and thus you end up creating your own unique narrative, rather than traveling with Amy and Rory, or Clara.
I use most of the optional rules, including enhanced combat since it provides more depth… and since I like more narrative than challenge I house ruled that I can spend 1 luck point to reroll a dice, but must accept the new result. It makes the game just slightly easier, and yet still have to face interesting consequences.
Last game Talia, my companion was captured twice! The last time on turn 10 of 12. Her roll on turn 11 to escape failed, spent a luck and STILL failed. I basically accepted I would have to fail the adventure and decided I would rescue her and hope she didn’t get killed or I wasn’t forced to regenerate for failing the mission. Turned out in turn 12 she met an ally in jail that got us the DM we needed to finally oppose the Mandasians, which meant I had to decide between saving her or confronting the Mandasians. I decided to save her and hope she didn’t die. Got her out, (again had to spend a luck to make that roll), and then…
The end of turn event had the Mandasians attacking me, and with me now being able to finally oppose them. I committed sabotage and finally defeated their plans! By pure luck and a turn of fortune from the rest of the adventure I finally managed to win the adventure at the last possible moment. Really, enjoyed that one.
I really enjoy the game also. i really tell a story and most of the decisions you make have some impact. The major issue is that you have to have 4 or so PDFs open to play it, so jumping back and forth, with the note-taking you mention. I can see it being harder to get into for some people but shouldn’t be too much for anyone reading this thread.
Awesome! Mine is in the post and will be in transit the next couple weeks.
Got Dungeon Alliance and 7th Continent coming soon. Hexplore it…now I gotta check that out.
Mine arrived a couple days ago. Very nice. :)
What? Where are you that you already got yours???
-Tom
Australia!
Believe it or not it seems we’re first to get ours. The cargo ship from China was on time, customs weren’t overly grabby/holdy, and the local fullfillment company seems competent having got straight to work mailing them out. :)
Got mine Monday but I hear some people in southern states even got theirs last Friday. New Zealand won’t be far behind as they’re being handled by the same company. US I think the ship got delayed.
edit: seems our ship was always scheduled to arrive first, 17 Feb and it pretty much arrived on time. Canada was 22 Feb (delayed until 21 March), Europe 4-13 March, and US 7th March ( delayed until 16th).
I opted for the cheaper, “oh my god what a pile of stuff”-maximizing “get everything at the same time” option, so I look forward to experiencing it in November or so. (It’s not like I don’t have other games to get played.)
This is not fair. You guys are supposed to wait until after America and Europe get stuff before you can have it!
-Tom
Thanks for the reply. I’m still mulling it over, although I’m not sure when the late pledge thing lasts.
Yeah sorry about that. ;)
Yours should be in your hands in around 3 weeks I’d predict. If it’s any consolation, the game is trash anyway*.
*Actually it’s fresh and exciting and I’m loving it. I’ve only just made it out of the the starter area but I’ve never really played anything like this before. As a solo exploration and survival game it seems quite remarkable.
Looking forward to hearing impressions on 7th Contintent. I think it looked interesting, but the No Pun Included video made it sounds like it is not for me.
Was just at the VPG website and noticed that the 2nd Edition of Darkest Night will be in FLGS starting next month.
The 2nd Edition does a lot of the things that Eldritch Horror did right, with an obvious variation on theme. It is very good.
I think it ends up being significantly more focused than Eldritch Horror, despite having added several systems over the course of the expansions first edition received (all now included in second). I like both, but Darkest Night just feels neater and easier to deal with.
I recommend Darkest Night 2nd edition for solo play with no reservations. I think it is simply the best at what it does.
Yep, the 2nd edition rolling all the expansions into the rules at once makes it feel really organic with quests and now mysteries (and clues!) going as a big part of finding the holy relics.
Also the 2nd Ed components are wonderful. The standees are a lot nicer, the game board is much bigger (and kind of needs to be with the expansions) and more colorful, and the tarot-sized, satin-finish Map and Event cards are lovely.
Yeah, it’s a huge upgrade from an aesthetic perspective. VPG put out some great games, but their traditional production values have been…functional…at best. They’re selling a sixth expansion for the original edition that backports the new material from 2nd edition, but I don’t think I could ever go back to playing that version at this point, just because the new edition is so much nicer.