HEXplore It Thoughts?

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YellowKing
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HEXplore It Thoughts?

Post by YellowKing »

Hi all,

I've had some weird urges towards the HEXplore It series, particularly after finding out about the new Klik's Madness campaign book coming out for the original Valley of the Dead Kings game.

On the other hand, it seems this series is pretty divisive so I'm a bit wary. Some people seem to love it for the open world aspect, others hate it because they say the combat is dull. It does look a bit number crunchy, but I don't mind that.

Any thoughts on those who have played any of the games in the series? If you recommend it, would you recommend starting with VotDK or some other point in the series?
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baelthazar
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Re: HEXplore It Thoughts?

Post by baelthazar »

So, I just got my copy of Domain of Mizra Noctis and just put up my game of Sands of Shurex. I understand why the game is divisive - there is a LOT of luck involved and the beginning game is brutal (while the late game can be very easy). This has to do with the power ramp of the heroes - you start off very weak and eventually become pretty godly (you have to be to beat the final bosses).

The games largely play like a more elaborate and interesting Runebound. You go to a place, you roll some dice to see if you succeed, you draw a card to see what you encounter (could be a goblin, could be a giant killer Shadow Dragon), the big bad causes havoc, rinse and repeat. If that sort of cycle is not for you, with all the luck-based stuff of card draws and dice rolls, then you should look elsewhere. But it is a nice emergent story, if you like that sort of gameplay loop.

I would NOT start with Sands of Shurex. It is the most sandbox (pun intended) but it also is the most complicated with so many edge cases that aren't easily explained. You can basically do whatever and it is easy to get overwhelmed (for example, I had my gladiator basically rule the Arena while my Assassin gambled - meanwhile a giant sandworm was destroying the world). There are four potential Win scenarios with very different ways to reach them. It is a lot to take in.

Most people say that Forests of Adrimon is the best place to start - since it has a more contained world, a little more linear, but still enough sandbox to be fun. VotLK is the most linear, you basically are laser focused on defeating the baddie. Some people like it best for that. If you can get a copy of Domain of Mizra Noctis, that looks like the clear winner to me. The rules are clear, the cards are great, the updates seem welcome, and the board seems a nice mix of freedom and linear path to a goal. I haven't played it yet, but I suspect it is the sweet spot to me (and I like the theme the best).

But yeah, it is chaos-filled luck fest with dice that simulates a nice overland D&D experience. For example, in my recent game my Gladiator got killed on the first turn, resurrected by the power of my Assassin's air elemental race. After some turns of wandering in the desert, we got some power-ups and money, then found a magic lamp that allowed us to make three wishes - one of which was for 300 gold. We used that gold to buy amazing gear in the city-states (after some harrowing travels by caravan). We killed a mummy boss on the way between city-states, after getting some good stuff, but had to waste a wish on healing during the fight. We used out gear and gold to gain power in the arena, gamble for major profit, then we made our final wish for some power up cards - which also meant we had to fight the genie (but we goth had Spirits as our favored enemy, so he went down easy and gave us more stuff). At this point, I saw the writing on the wall that we had let the Ravager do too much damage and I doubted we could win - this was after about three hours of me playing off and on over several days.

If that sounds fun to you - go for it.
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hepcat
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Re: HEXplore It Thoughts?

Post by hepcat »

I am not a fan. To the point where I literally gave away the 2nd game in the series at the Gencon auction after it didn't sell because I didn't want to bring it back home with me.

My issue is two fold:

The combat is absolutely no fun for me...whatsoever. It normally consists of just writing down the same numbers on a dry erase board over and over and over again. You rarely do anything different as you have one...MAYBE two...options that will work for each fight. And you just do the same thing ad nauseam. Open a 3rd grade math book and start answering the questions. It's about the same as combat in this game...and more rewarding.

And leveling up is a giant card with a +1 on it. That's essentially the extent of your character building.

Granted, I've only played the first two games. And obviously this is just my opinion. But I have zero desire to ever play a Hexplore It game again.
Last edited by hepcat on Tue Sep 27, 2022 9:56 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Smoove_B
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Re: HEXplore It Thoughts?

Post by Smoove_B »

I currently own the second title and the newest one; I previously owned the first and I'm confident I'm getting rid of the newest one (that just arrived).

First and foremost for me is the theme of each game. The first two are "classic" high fantasy. The third is desert and this newest one is horror. If you go to the current page, they actually have an animated graphic to help people figure out which title is best for them. Link is here and they chart out various features for each title (complexity, sandbox level, villain management). Overwhelmingly, the 3rd game is the one I hear the most polarized opinions about and I think if you look at that set of charts, you might see why. I like the theme of the second one the most, so for me it's a keeper. I think if space wasn't an issue, I'd likely be keeping #4 as the addition of dungeons to the overland crawl is something I know I would enjoy. However, I don't know if I feel like I need to own re-themed and slightly tweaked versions of each game.

I haven't seen too much about the Klik campaign book as I think people are still playing the new base game, but the limited opinions I've read seem to suggest it's really good. I am personally waiting for a campaign book that will cover the second title; I didn't quite trust them enough to blindly back (and repurchase the updated first title) during the last campaign.

Anyway, yes, the games are very crunchy and potentially swingy - it all depends on how your game unfolds. I like randomly selecting a class to play, but if you really wanted to tweak your potential experience you can make intentional choices during setup to help give you an edge.

I think the best series of videos I've seen come from the Dungeon Dive. He is currently playing through the newest title and he is really enjoying it. This is the link to the first in the series and how he revised his opinion (to a positive one) based on something Tom Chick wrote.



So yes, I'd recommend it if you're into overland map crawls and I think #1, #2 and #4 are all winners depending on your theme interest. #1 was revised and updated a bit and paired with that campaign book it's like a whole new game. There were optional decks released that included art (one of his criticism back in 2019) But if the theme doesn't matter much to you, I think the overall opinion of the newest one is more favorable.
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YellowKing
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Re: HEXplore It Thoughts?

Post by YellowKing »

Thanks for the feedback, all.

I think I'm going to take a step back and Hexplore other options for now. :D Hoping at some point I at least get to try it for myself, but don't want to drop $100 on it unless I'm really confident it's something I'll enjoy.
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