[Asmodee Digital] Gloomhaven

[stimpy]

Any opinions on the state of this game currently?
It's on sale and I've had my eye on it, but I have never bought into an early access game.
What are the pros/cons of doing so?
Are you basically just beta testing it?
Cant imagine there is enough content to feel like a playable game, otherwise why not release it?

[Smoove_B]

Do you have experience with the board game at all? I only ask because it's (quite frankly) a difficult game to play IRL - which seems to be a common complaint for this translation.

Regardless, overall I think I've heard more positive than negatives recently, though maybe someone with actual hands-on experience can confirm. I also have been looking at this but typically avoid EA games on principle.

[stimpy]

No experience at all. I've read thru the past posts here and it seemed to be an issue at first but trending towards improvements for the uninitiated.
Since the last post was a few months ago, I just wanted to see if/how opinions have changed.

[Smoove_B]

Well, the good news overall is that assuming you're not a habitual user of the purchase/return feature for STEAM, you always have the option to do so without much difficulty if it turns out to not be worth it. Assuming of course you get it and then immediately start playing - just remember the 2 week / 5 hour limit on making a return claim.

And let me know how it is.

[Skinypupy]

I really like it, and the recent Guildmaster update makes getting into it even better. The full campaign and multiplayer have yet to be implemented, if that makes a difference to you. You can play a mini-campaign with a few of the characters (but not all) right now.

That said, I had lots of hours with the board game coming in, so there was no learning curve. No idea what that experience would be for someone coming in brand new.

[dbemont]

I had very little experience with the board game, but did not find it all that difficult to pick up in digital form.

I can't remember the details, I played it when it first came out, and there was not a lot of content yet. I decided to wait til more of the game was included, but felt very optimistic.

[LordMortis]

Bought a few games at the Epic Sale this week, so naturally rather than playing them, I pulled this out after a long time of letting it cook. The development looks like it will be done this year and the game has matured a lot since I last played it. I'm not sure how playing the "Gulidmatster" is different than the campaign at this point, other than it being different a different overland experience than the boardgame campaign was but it's pretty solid in the shape it's in. I played all day today and only hit two bugs that were fixed by reloading the turn and leather armor doesn't seem to work. Beyond that my only *harumph* is if you click on something wrong you can't like an attack or movement, you can't undo it, even if it doesn't trigger a reveal/random effect. You have to go and reload the whole turn.

[Skinypupy]

Full release is scheduled for Oct 20. Includes a campaign, although it's unclear if it's ported over from the board game or something new.

Cool new gameplay overview.

[LordMortis]

Time to try this weekend? Maybe I'll actually finish the campaign

[LordMortis]

You can still undo a round and you can't undo an action.
Your chosen cards reset to their defaults between missions and there isn't a clear "HEY DUMMY THIS IS WHERE YOU CHOOSE YOUR CARDS BEFORE YOU GO IN" moment.

I assume I won't be alone in these gripes and they are enough for me consider the game mechanics annoying, so I will wait for a patch. How sad is that?

[Tao]

I played Gloomhaven a few years ago, although never made it very far, maybe the 3rd or 4th scenarios. I do recall having fun playing, maybe it was the company, as the Steam version is about the least fun that I’ve had playing a game in quite some time, this is horrible.

I started a party with Brute, Mindthief and Tinkerer, and headed to the first scenario. The first road encounter, my party loses 2 city reputation, that sucks but not terrible, although the setup and choices presented were pretty bad.

The first room of the scenario I am presented with a group of melee fighters. I figure they need to move in to range to hit me so I choose late initiative actions for my party and close-range attacks. I also queue up a heal for my Tinkerer as I figure my Brute will eat a lot of damage in the first round. The A.I. goes and not a single enemy takes a step forward, they all stand in place and buff, so now I have lost 2 actions from each of my characters that were completely wasted. This is where I recall that enemy A.I. is controlled by random card draws. Things pretty much went downhill from there. During one round I had an elite enemy with 2 health, all three characters attempted to finish him off, he ended the turn with 1 health, after 3 separate attacks from my party and on the enemy turn, he did an ATTACK 3 x2 and killed my Mindthief in one hit. I managed to clear the first room but failed the scenario on the second room.

I loaded up again and made a second attempt and managed to finish the scenario with two of my three characters exhausted and just my Tinkerer still up, with a single HP left against an enemy with one HP left, who won initiative but died from a wound. Close is an understatement. Oh and the road encounter this time was every character lost one perk point.

Moved on to the second scenario, and for the road encounter my entire part started the scenario with a wound. Managed to get everyone healed and made it to the final boss but lost the scenario with the boss still at full health and 10 enemies in the room, the encounter starts with the boss and 2 enemies.
Loaded up again and the road encounter on the way to the scenario is every party member has to discard 2 ability cards at the very start of the scenario. I turned off the game.

[coopasonic]

so now I have lost 2 actions from each of my characters that were completely wasted.

In case you forgot, every card has default options of move 2 on the bottom and melee attack 2 on the top. I have no idea how it is used in the online implementation but your turn shouldn't have been a complete waste

[Paingod]

It sounds like the AI can Move2/Melee2 OR utilize the card's other effects and Tao just misjudged what the AI would do, assuming melee fighters would charge right in without thinking or buffing.

It sounds like an adjustment to rules & algorithms, though. Having opponents not do what you expect them to do isn't necessarily bad. It doesn't sound like they derped around in little circles and declared "Broken AI!" - rather they buffed, which is a logical 1st round move.

GOG keeps tossing this up in front of me and I'm curious about it, but not enough to jump at it just yet. I'm curious to see other impressions.

[coopasonic]

This may not be the most popular option, but...

It was groundbreaking as a board game. I don't think it is even worth a look as a PC game. It may be a very good adaptation of the board game, but that alone doesn't make it a good video game.

[TheMix]

It sounds like the AI can Move2/Melee2 OR utilize the card's other effects and Tao just misjudged what the AI would do, assuming melee fighters would charge right in without thinking or buffing.

It sounds like an adjustment to rules & algorithms, though. Having opponents not do what you expect them to do isn't necessarily bad. It doesn't sound like they derped around in little circles and declared "Broken AI!" - rather they buffed, which is a logical 1st round move.

GOG keeps tossing this up in front of me and I'm curious about it, but not enough to jump at it just yet. I'm curious to see other impressions.

FYI, the players choose 2 cards, each with a top and bottom section. Then they can choose to use the top of either card and the bottom of the other card. You always have the option of using a 2 Attack as the default option for the top card or a 2 move as the default for the bottom card.

The enemy opponents, on the other hand, have a deck of 8 cards that control their behavior. They do not use the same top/bottom style. And they have default values for move, attack, range, etc. As well as default special abilities, in some cases. Their cards will modify those defaults and/or add additional stuff. (Like having them spend a turn ignoring their default move/attack to instead buff or heal themselves.)

One thing that might help, if one has the physical game, would be to pull out the 8 cards for each opponent to see what options they might have. That would remove some of the "surprise", but would definitely off-set the frustration factor.

[Madmarcus]

The enemy opponents, on the other hand, have a deck of 8 cards that control their behavior. ... One thing that might help, if one has the physical game, would be to pull out the 8 cards for each opponent to see what options they might have. That would remove some of the "surprise", but would definitely off-set the frustration factor.

I can see where having at least some idea of the range of available choices for the opponents might be good information but I can't see why anyone would get frustrated by the opponents. I think that the unpredictable nature of the opponents is one of the best features of Gloomhaven. I am so sick and tired of completely predictable opposition in games with alternating actions.

[Fardaza]

I keep seeing this offered on Steam. I've decided not to buy it. Reason? If it's good, the board game will never hit the table again! I spent too much money on this beast to let it languish on the shelf.

Now, if I could just get up the desire to pull it all out of the box, set it up, and play another scenario.

[TheMix]

I got a sunken, covered gaming table. I should just rename it the Gloomhaven table. We've had it set up there for the last... two?... years. We play every couple of weeks, usually, with some friends. Part of me is looking forward to the day that I can finally put it away and use the table for something else.

[Fardaza]

I got a sunken, covered gaming table. I should just rename it the Gloomhaven table. We've had it set up there for the last... two?... years. We play every couple of weeks, usually, with some friends.

Nice! I wish I had that option.

[TheMix]

I got a sunken, covered gaming table. I should just rename it the Gloomhaven table. We've had it set up there for the last... two?... years. We play every couple of weeks, usually, with some friends.

Nice! I wish I had that option.

Yeah. For Gloomhaven, it feels a bit like a requirement. I can't even imagine having to put everything back every time. And getting it all out. I think the thought of having to do that would be enough for me to just leave it on the shelf...

While it doesn't help with the "use the physical copy" issue, there is an excellent TableTop Simulator scripted mod for the game. That would alleviate some of the setup/tear down issues. And you could use the manual and storybook from your game to feel like you were "using the game you bought".

[LordMortis]

We got some 30 or 40 adventures in and broke it out and put it away after every gaming session. It wasn't too bad if you had a good system. I bought that Smoove (I think) recommended storage system and it worked it pretty well.

I'm sad that I don't care for the digital version. I was going to finally finish the game. Instead I paid an extra twenty something on top of the over $200 I dropped from game and supplies and I got two scenarios in and said "fuck this UI. These design decisions are just stupid."

[Max Peck]

The base game is free on Epic Games Store this week.

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/gloomhaven-92f741

[Fardaza]

The base game is free on Epic Games Store this week.

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/gloomhaven-92f741

I've never bought anything from Epic. Do I have to install a new gamestore front (ala Steam) to get this to work?

[stimpy]

The base game is free on Epic Games Store this week.

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/gloomhaven-92f741

I've never bought anything from Epic. Do I have to install a new gamestore front (ala Steam) to get this to work?

Yes, you have to install the Epic Games Launcher.

[LordMortis]

The base game is free on Epic Games Store this week.

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/gloomhaven-92f741

I've never bought anything from Epic. Do I have to install a new gamestore front (ala Steam) to get this to work?

Yeah and shut it down when you aren't using it. It's a resource hog.

[Skinypupy]

I revisited this last night for the first time since the 1.0 release. It's a good game, but I finally figured out my issue with it (and with the board game, tbh): I don't want to think this hard to play a game.

Every single turn, every single action, every single move or attack, every single decision requires an exhaustive "if this, then this, but maybe this, need to consider this" level of examination. There are multiple factors you have to consider for everything that happens in the game, and a single wrong decision in that chain (or one that doesn't work out the way you expect) could spell doom for the mission. I know that level of detail and decision making is awesome for some people, but it honestly just makes me...tired.

[TheMix]

I fired it up last night just to check it out. I still have an every-other-week game going with some friends that will probably go for another couple years, so I don't really want to play the campaign digitally.

I will say that it's just as unforgiving. And especially hard since you don't get to "rethink" things like you can with the physical copy. It's more like "you took your finger off the piece, so you are screwed".

And that first mission still sucks when those bandits get the 'stand still and armor up' card - twice in a row, when you planned everything around them moving into range...

[TheMix]

I revisited this last night for the first time since the 1.0 release. It's a good game, but I finally figured out my issue with it (and with the board game, tbh): I don't want to think this hard to play a game.

Every single turn, every single action, every single move or attack, every single decision requires an exhaustive "if this, then this, but maybe this, need to consider this" level of examination. There are multiple factors you have to consider for everything that happens in the game, and a single wrong decision in that chain (or one that doesn't work out the way you expect) could spell doom for the mission. I know that level of detail and decision making is awesome for some people, but it honestly just makes me...tired.

We have a very casual gaming group (a friend and his wife). In our case it's very much about the dinner and hanging out. So we are pretty relaxed about take-backsies as we move through our games. But I definitely get your point. In the digital version you need to really think everything through. As I learned in my disastrous attempt last night. Way too many times I was like "oh, I don't want to do that... oh. too late."

[TheMix]

I did notice that it looks like it's possible to reset a turn. So I might have been able to salvage some of my blunders. Not sure.

[LordMortis]

I fired it up last night just to check it out. I still have an every-other-week game going with some friends that will probably go for another couple years, so I don't really want to play the campaign digitally.

I will say that it's just as unforgiving. And especially hard since you don't get to "rethink" things like you can with the physical copy. It's more like "you took your finger off the piece, so you are screwed".

And that first mission still sucks when those bandits get the 'stand still and armor up' card - twice in a row, when you planned everything around them moving into range...

I find the digital game to be more difficult. It's much easier for me to sort through cards and look at the board and think than it is to see compartmentalize what I am doing on a screen back and forth. Especially with multiple characters (which we/I never did in the physical game)

[YellowKing]

I know that level of detail and decision making is awesome for some people, but it honestly just makes me...tired.

That's part of the reason I think Gloomhaven works much better as a group game than a solo game (aside from what I think is one of the key joys of the game, the chaotic element of someone doing something you didn't anticipate).

We played through the campaign with a group, and while it's still brain-burny, it definitely helps when you have three other people distributing the thinking.

Still, I think the digital implementation is fantastic, and certainly a lot easier than dragging out all those components to play solo.

[Skinypupy]

Still, I think the digital implementation is fantastic, and certainly a lot easier than dragging out all those components to play solo.

Fully agree. If you don't have a gaming group, this is a really great way to experience it.

[gbasden]

It's awesome with a gaming group, too. My wife and I are playing with a couple of friends that had never played before, and we're about halfway through the campaign. It's pretty excellent.

[Kurth]

I’ve always been interested in this one based on the rave reviews from OO and everywhere else. Looking forward to it getting on to consoles next year. It will likely hit XBOX GamePass, and I’ll be 100% giving it a shot.

[Kurth]

A small-necro on this thread, as Gloomhaven has now released for consoles (XBOX, PS5, Switch). Any one try it out on any of these?

I'm especially interested to hear if anyone has tried it on the Switch, despite the somewhat middling reviews I'm seeing. I've got a couple of business trips coming up - including a 10 day one I'm really not looking forward to - and I was thinking this might be a great distraction and a good game to play while traveling.

[Pyperkub]

Is there cross play console to pc (and on other console platforms)?

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

[GreenGoo]

Looks like Gloomhaven is at an all time low on gog.
Gloomhaven on GoG 50% off

20 Canuckibucks.