Hahah he's not a solo gamer, but he's a solo campaigner

Tom Solo.

Is not a sólo campaign

The 7th Continent is really half Exploration, half Survival game. The very first sentence of their first kickstarter is 'The 7th Continent is a cooperative exploration and survival board game with mechanics inspired by the adventure books where "you are the hero”.' You know, those books where you make a choice, turn the page and oops, a werewolf eats you. :D T7C is never THAT bad. You don't just insta-die. Bad things happen, but as you get more experienced at the game you learn how to deal with them. Just like any other survival game. Once you get better at the survival aspect, the exploration becomes less treacherous.

Not a bad review overall. I certainly enjoyed quotes like "There's two more full size campaigns and some minor ones, that's crazy! I mean I wanna see them all" and "I really enjoyed the game" but I thought quotes like "If you're more about game mechanisms during the story you might be thinking alright let's move along, but if you play for the story you'll love it" (something like that) he could have instead said "If you like game mechanisms, WOW. If you like good story? WOW. You're gonna love this twice!" I didn't much care for lines like "This isn't gonna be everyone's cup of tea." This isn't Gold Peak it's a board game, there isn't one answer like there is with tea. And anyone who wouldn't find this to be their cup of board game, do we really care about their opinion at that point? They can go play chutes and ladders and admire their crayon drawings up on the fridge while us big kids can play Tainted Grail :) All in all, his seal of choice to give the game was an excellent decision, and considering I spent more than a full two-week paycheck to get this game (since I missed the kickstarter and bought on ebay) I'm happy with the review. One last recommendation to make future reviews easier to process, instead of two different seals or a pass, maybe you can implement the "Tainted Grail Scale." Just tell us on a scale from 1 to 10 with Tainted Grail being the highest, where the game you're reviewing falls. It would be a big help in knowing exactly how much we would enjoy the game. Looking forward to your Etherfields review! (Disclaimer: I do NOT work for Awaken Realms.)

Soo...two months. Meaning three. Certainly four.

@@PrinceGastronome I think it's shipped so distribution should be before xmas

@@exist2758 Just received an update: Shipping (the copies to the backers) starts early november and should take about 6 weeks in total. Christmas should definitely be doable.

@@exist2758 Soooo.....January.

@@PrinceGastronome Maybe. I haven't started GH or 7thC so I can wait 😄

Oh man, I couldn't agree more with you Fred. The story, not just in it's content and narrative was a fear but also were the grammatical risks and complication with rules and language. So happy to hear they absolutely nailed this. Cannot wait!!

Manny83M AR has had around 5-6 proof reads so there is no surprise that the quality is great. There are though some small mistakes, but they are all listed in the unofficial and the official FAQ, if you are interested.

Enjoy 😊

I'm right there with you. Glad I went for the KS on this bad boy.

Same here, looking forward to a Christmas play-through. Hope you all enjoy it thoroughly!

Confirmation biais...youll find excuses to like to game even if u truly don’t like it that much, especially with huge kickstarter games..the more you pay, the more biais we become.

@@TheMedianGam3r we’ll I wrote this over a year ago and I’m now on the 2nd expansion. So I’m clearly deluding myself 😉

A comparison would definitely be interesting, but it'd almost need to wait a year or two... At the very least, I'd like to hear Etherfields and Sleeping Gods in the mix... Though, they do say not to watch reviews for things you've already bought....

@@megamer29 well they did play a single chapter of Oathsworn. Also Tom has played Gloomhaven. I would just like to see where they think there is a place for them.

Agreed. The price is ludicrous for the gameplay all in.

These time estimates has changed from the Kickstarter. If you watch the latest Q&A, Marcin says you should expect 50-70 hours just with the core for your first campaign.

Die Nische Typical for you😉

What was it that made you pass this Kickstarter?

I just wasn’t sure how much it’d hit my table plus the price and the amount of space it would take up I just decided not to back. I probably made a mistake. :(

@@VictoryConditionGaming Nah, why did you make a mistake? I mean, I'm sure you'll be able to try it out in the future.

I don’t think any of my friends backed it and now if I want to pick it up I’ll have to pay secondary prices. 😳

Also the recently completed Nemesis game is fantastic. Very challenging, especially if you go for the semi-competetive rules, but I am having a great time with it.

Genomerio I had to skip that one, but I’ve heard good things!

This war of mine isnt unplayably difficult. You can win at it, its just takes a little luck and a lot of planning.

I loved those! Are they still around?

4 days from germany now

Agree

GloomGrail

BlueKryptonite45 I would like to buy it. Which kickstarter version u have?

@@NycLogics I purchased the King's pledge. For $250 I've already recieved the the tainted grail core box and the monsters of Avalon. With the Red Death, Echoes of the past expansions and all of the stretch goals to be shipped when development is finished. Where are you located?

BlueKryptonite45 I’m in queens New York. You can email me at nyclogics@gmail.com

It's definitely replayable by others: there are no permanent changes to the game. Not sure how replayable it would be for the same player, but with different characters and choices you could probably play through it at least twice.

I'm really excited for the smaller games they are releasing at Essen this year.

@@westlin3 I am not sure what you mean by smaller games. Care to enlighten me ? I might have to add things to my to-buy list ! :)

@@giannisc.5254 they are releasing a game called "Bees" and some flicking area control game I believe. I forget what it's called but I'm sure it's easy to search for

@@imasexydinosaur2656 Thank you for the info ! I'll look them up !

@@imasexydinosaur2656 Flick of Fate :)

I hear you...

Oh no you didn't?

Yeah, for the relative savings in shipping, choosing one wave really wasn't worth it.

I learned my lesson on Nemesis so I got 2 wave on this one

Same here, already backed Middara and Isofarian Guard, 2 other huge narrative campaign games, so that will keep me busy. Wish they made a version of this into a choose your own adventure type of novel that I could just read instead as the story sounds cool.

I really disliked Gloomhaven, since the story was incredibly weak. So I will eventually sell my copy of gloomhaven, but Tainted Grail looks like a game that will stick with me a long time.

I think the pledge manager will only allow people who already have an order add to those existing orders, or for backers with unspent funds from the kickstarter.

Stephen Davis this is true. So you will have to piggy back on the pledge of someone else if you want the game.

Did they mention when the pledge manager reopens? Because I never put in my shipping info so now I can’t get the game unless/until it reopens. :/

@@b.c.eckhoff3495 They said january, but who knows.

B. C. Eckhoff it will reopen when all the English wave 1 copies have been delivered

Yes. On the other hand, you bought 3 games and maybe a couple of expansions.

When is this happening? I didn't see information on this. Wasn't able to back it at the time even though I wanted to, I might be able to if it reopens : )

@@Skarpo89 I'm not sure they have given an exact date, I believe first quarter of next year is what they announced. So you still have a good amount of time to get the funds together should you want to back it. Though I'm not actually sure if this is available to people who didn't pledge anything.... I did the pledge $1 to get into the pledge manager strategy.

@@anab0lic yes! I had done that too, so hopefully I'm able to back all that I want when it comes back. Thanks!

Yea, he didn't want to hit the Menhirs

I told my wife, "You can tell he loves this game. Watch the gavel." 😆

Haha that's the most cautious gavel smackdown I've ever seen!

Something tells me it's not his copy.

EBay is your friend.

They reopened the pledge manager today. Go on BGG and find someone to “piggyback" with.

The Game Steward resells Kickstarters that they pledge on. BGG has a market that can be less greedy than ebay.

Wade Sutton nope it was not. Just the red death expansion will be around 30 hours. And that is the smallest of the campaigns

I think they said 30-45h per campaign

Each campaign is 30-40 hours, and there are 3 total in the Kickstarter version (the other 2 delivered in wave 2). The Red Death add on campaign is 15-25 hours.

Richard it has changed from the when the Kickstarter was up. If you watch the latest livestream Marcin talks about it.

Richard check out the latest Q&A, at the timestamp 8:13.

The english version will probably not be sold in retail, but the different language editions will.

@@eliashartmark1522 What makes you say that?

I'm pretty sure it will be in retail, but like most AR games the entire game will be more expensive. All the SGs are KSL, meaning you will have to buy them. Looking at LoH, it was much cheaper for the KS as they got a lot of free stuff which they sold for about $60. If you're fine with the base game though it might be slightly cheaper due to free shipping.

pfenn1tw It has been mentioned multiple times by the CEO of AR, Marcin.

Christopher Thomas The language editions will, but the English version will not go to retail.

spoiler: It will probably alter your ending if you use it, but we don't yet know in what way.

I think there is a PC version of this game.

Nope. Since his sloppy unboxing I’ve been having panic attacks just thinking about that and the component drop. Thank god he was gentle this time

william mathon There are two types of people in the world. People who have anxiety over the way Tom handles components, and people who think people who have anxiety over this are hilarious.

The component drop is a symbolic gesture to remind us all that games are just games. They are important and fun, but also in the end, something that can be disposable. Well, that would be my PhD dissertation on it anyway 😛

You will still be able to do a late pledge when the pledge manager reopens in january.

@@tommykokko2336 ooh rly.... was not following much, nice

sjormasklin you will not be able to pledge as a new backer. You will have to piggy back on the pledge of someone that lives close to you if you want the game. The English version of the game will not go to retail.

@@sjormasklin Sorry for the false information, it's only for existing backers. Try to find a retailer that is backing and piggyback on that or someone close to you.

@@tommykokko2336 What's the date?

I didn't go all in, but even the core box is expensive, so yeah... another sigh here :).

So you need someone else to justify your purchase? That is what I'm seeing in these comments...

@@sp1cychick3n No, it's often hard to tell how good a KS game really is until you get it, more so for narrative driven games where you're basically backing based on a really good pitch and/or reputation. And Tom's review went up really quick, so it was one of the first indicators of whether the gamble paid off. Sounds like you don't back a lot of Kickstarters.

argel1200 I actually do but I’m just extremely wary of these kickstarters that are like $300 or more and ones that don’t go to retail.

My guess is that TG is more fleshed out story wise. Core box+stretch goals is 600+ pages of adventures. Choices/actions seem to have more influence on how the story turns out.

I'm about 20 hours into Gloomhaven and my immediate reaction to this question is: "there's story in Gloomhaven?". Thin at best.

I assume this...Gloomhaven's story is mostly just there, I feel. Not bad, but definitely a game driven by its combat and mechanics.

@@simonadams Same here. The Gloomhaven story is more like flavour text. There aren't really that many choices. I think you can easily enjoy Gloomhaven without reading any of the story. I doubt that's the case with this game.

Michael Hastriter as others have said. Gloomhaven does not really have a story. It is if so incredibly weak.

This is why I'm glad I enjoy playing some board games solo. I can play as much as I want without having to wait for a group meetup every week. It allowed me to get through Gloomhaven. But if I had to wait for a group everytime, I probably wouldn't have play it. It'll be the same with this game. I can set it up and leave it out and play on my own schedule and not have to rely on waiting on people to show up.

wildinferno1984 aye, that’s the only way I’d get through it also.

I bought this just for solo ,who are you kidding ,this is solos heaven haha

Yeah, these kinds of story heavy games are made for the solo gamer

I'm guessing your experience is the norm. For me though I play these kinds of games more then others you describe. While I might play games like Orleans or Ticket to Ride 3 times a year. I play campaign games usually at least 10 times after purchasing them with a group within the first 3-4 months. I also usually play through a couple of times solo within the first year. After I have went through the game 4-5 times I'm usually finished with it and pass it on. That means with a game like this that has 30-45 hours of play in a campaign I will play the game between 120-225 hours. It will take me a long time before I have played the non campaign games which I play a few times each year that much.

This is very cheap really for the amount you gameplay you get. The base game gives you two additional campaigns for free.

@@eliashartmark1522 yep , this for the price i paid araund 80/90 euros and you basically get 3 full games 30 hours each is maybe the cheapest game i have ever bought haha

@@JanFrensin The core campaign is actually between 50-70 hours. So yes, very cheap for the amount.

@@eliashartmark1522 Very cheap? Really?

Because they over-price everything with these miniatures and components that add nothing to the main game.

If you've been following along, they've been saying the app will be after (3-6 months)

Rammvis Awaken realms is focusing on finishing their wave 2 campaigns at the moment, and the app will probably be very limited in the beginning with its functions. In 3-6 months it should be completed.

Thanks guys I was getting worried

The die rolls can often be heavily modified, since they often add the value of your health etc. So if you are in good shape, then the chance of failing is very low.

Well if you want review thers one on shut up and sit down .. basically its slog of a game ,conan 2.0 with maybe the worst rulebook ever.. while this is an amazing game.. maybe thats why Tom was exited to review it..

Batman is a great game marred by a bad rulebook and lack of player aids. The game feels like Batman, and it's fun to play as any of the heroes. The scenarios (I've played) are balanced and reward skillful play. The game is far from being a slog.

@@VaultBoy13 im just repeating what i heard , everyone is different, for me Mage Knight is the best game ever and i have no problems with the rules or the rulebook of that game.on the other hand there are lots of people that cant get past the rulebook and the learning curve..everyone is different, someone's garbage is other mans treasure:)

@@JanFrensin and @Vaultboy - I saw other reviews and it seems these assessments are correct (i.e. good game, bad rules, need player aids) - My comment was more about how weird is for the DT to ignore it...

@@dddmmm21 ok so now you got me pissed , why cant you people search the KZfaq on your own , here there are not one not two but 3 reviews on dice tower network from 5 months ago.. here man enjoy 1 . kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qZ2Aha2asr_LZGQ.html

why'?

Or the digital game

same :(

His complaints didn't sound that serious actually. They are negatives but if they are minor compared to the rest of the game, the seal is justified.

Chris Musix Menhir dials hard to read Some die rolls that seem very fueled by chance Some dead ends I would say that is minor when talking about a 50-70 hour campaign

@@eliashartmark1522 hard to read, not like any other game doesn't have the odd component tweak. Dead ends are fine it's a story based game, Time Stories did the exact same thing. Die rolls rely on chance, you don't say? A seal of excellence probably means Tom gives it a 9. I'd say with small mostly subjective issues like that, that's reasonable.

@@TheBrokenMeeple Agreed

It's not a Legacy game in the slightest. You may not *want* to replay after finishing it, but it is entirely replayable

Honest Word Better gameplay is more recommended than better miniatures I think....

@@Dogma-mr7bq Yes

Agreed, CMON and FFG minis are way better, i was frankly a bit disappointed by the minis in Lords of Hellas with the many bent spears and monument body parts that didn’t piece together as seamlessly as I imagined from the KS renders.

Honest Word the miniatures in TG is far better than their earlier games. They have increased size and changed to harder plastics for bases and bendy bits. Their sundrop versions is easily the best sundrop you can get for that cheap prize right now. When I compare these minis to my CMON blood rage minis I would easily say ARs are of higher quality. The CMON games often have bendy bases and weapons, which is not so weird since they prop their games full of minis.

How do you know that? Did you actually play it? Also it is his personal opinion. A really weak comment from you.

Rhaum GamingTV how about no

how about no