Viticulture Essential Edition & Tuscany Review - Are We Done With The Dry Jokes Yet?

Рет қаралды 15,637

Күн бұрын

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In Viticulture, the players find themselves in the roles of people in rustic, pre-modern Tuscany who have inherited meager vineyards. They have a few plots of land, an old crushpad, a tiny cellar, and three workers. They each have a dream of being the first to call their winery a true success.
BGG Link - boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1...
TimeStamps:
0:00:00 - Overview
0:03:20 - My History With Stonemaier & Viticulture
0:05:05 - And Then I Played It
0:05:24 - What I Like
0:10:15 - What I Can See Others Not Liking
0:12:50 - It's Compelling
0:14:08 - Final Thoughts
0:16:47 - Recommendations
5.0 - My absolutely favorite games. You can pry them out of my cold dead hands.
4.5 - Love this game! At the same time missing something that would make it a 5. Could be hard to table, lacking variability, a little light, etc.
4.0 - Really great game, almost always keeping, although has meaningful complaints as to what takes away from the experience.
3.5 - Really enjoyed, don't love it, may lose out to better games but the idea of never playing again is a bit sad.
3.0 - A good game, would play and suggest with the right people, if I never played it again wouldn't lose any sleep.
2.5 - A game I'd play again , but will never suggest it myself
2.0 - A game I don't want to play again
1.5 - A game I can't find any reason to recommend
1.0 - A game that is just bad.
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For media inquiries, please email me at alex@boardgameco.com

Пікірлер: 82

@TableTopTroubadour 2 жыл бұрын

I've passively and occasionally watched your channel for a while now, feeling pretty neutral. But over the last 3-4 days, Alex, I have binged watch a TON of your videos, and you have become my favorite content creator. Love your pace, your insane speed (I never have to turn your videos to 1.25-1.5x haha), your dry humor, and your intellectual approach at game breakdown. Permanent subscriber here -- sorry I haven't been along for the ride all along. Very nice job!

@michaelJ34 2 жыл бұрын

We’ll said. I have been watching since around the first 1000 subs give or take. His content and viewpoints are excellent. Loved watching the progression of him getting better in front of the camera as well as the improved production quality. Excellent channel. Actually I’m really surprised that he’s not at 300k subs at this point.

@booklover2285 Жыл бұрын

The art is what drew me to the game. I don't drink alcohol, so the theme isn't one I would typically go for but the art was exactly what I was looking for in a game! It looks like the fields my house overlooks!

@paulhamrick3943 Жыл бұрын

I’m shocked by the criticisms of the artwork, I realize it’s a matter of taste but this is one that I never suspected would be the target of art complaints. I think the art style is perfect for the theme and as far as dryness goes, many many other euro games are much much more dry.

@jfducusin7186 Жыл бұрын

I like the game. but I also dont feel excited about the art. its enough but its not as beautiful as other stonemaier games. ps.either way, i still think this is so far the best stonemaiers game

@danielmarlett1421 2 жыл бұрын

I'm a big fan of this game. I actually really like the art a lot because it is traditional for the region. I feel immersed.

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

Nice, glad to hear it :)

@mihirshahisme 2 жыл бұрын

Good review and I am happy Viticulture gives you joy :)

@huhhhh963 2 жыл бұрын

Wow. Long time coming I guess. Good stuff man. Cheers.

@cmchristensen 2 жыл бұрын

Wait - that may have been our phone conversation! Glad you like the game!

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

It was :)

@itsGabrielaCristina Жыл бұрын

I got Viticulture last month and Tuscany today. I have enjoyed the solo version so much and now that I have Tuscany, I can't wait to play it with my friends. I totally understand that the art isn't very exciting, but it's very thematic and makes sense for the context.

@Carsten_de_1981 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome game. We are loving it! Even better with Tuscany EE!

@steeveman 2 жыл бұрын

Wow, I feel the exact same way! I heard good thing about it and picked it up for a great price, but haven’t brought it to the table because it doesn’t appeal to me as well. I’ll have to break it out this weekend. New subscriber. Really enjoying your shows.

@successfulgeek 2 жыл бұрын

I am leveraging this with our friends who we met at a winery to get them into board games!

@AfterNow_72 Жыл бұрын

Suggestion : House roles (by The Brothers Murph) - Draw 1 card more them it's suppose to and pick what you want, return the extra card to the discard deck pile . I found it a great improvement !! Thanks for the content ! cheers

@hoflpeter 2 жыл бұрын

A friend of mine and me had the same problem you had. Heard it was great, we both had the full edition on the shelve never playing it. We just did and man is this a gem. The rules are simple and the game is easy to learn. It still has a lot of depth while staying fresh. We are very glad we finally played it 😁

@nineaplus 2 жыл бұрын

Ooh, nice new logo at the start of the video

@williamskogen9895 2 жыл бұрын

I appreciate the review in general. I would have liked to have seen the components more in depth. Are those metal coins on the board and do those coins come with the game?

@barbaramazzocca4605 8 ай бұрын

I love the art because it looks vintage, like fine wine!

@sethwinslow 2 жыл бұрын

Huh! after avoiding the game for years, I played Viticulture for the first time last week at Washingcon, and immediately ordered it. My copy (and Tuscany) was just delivered today. :)

@GameschoolingFamily Жыл бұрын

Wow, this sounds fantastic! I just picked up a copy of Viticulture: Essential Edition and the Tuscany expansion. So excited to get it to the table! Hope my husband likes the art okay. Art in games is a big deal to him.

@charliedc4728 2 жыл бұрын

We love Viticulture with Tuscany. Still so good.

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

It's excellent :)

@franciscorubengonzalezsenc9780 2 жыл бұрын

I just bought the essential edition a couple of weeks ago, and its really starting to grow on me. It has made to consider getting the Tuscany expansion in the future and to sleeve all its cards. Seen that you have your copy sleeved, may I ask which brand of sleeves did you used? Are they premium or standard sleeves? Thanks in advance :)

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

Sleeve kings regular :)

@JonoNZBoardGamer 2 жыл бұрын

My thoughts very much align with yours. I only got into playing this game in the last year or so after hearing lots of good things about it for years. I enjoy this game a lot. The luck can leave people a bit salty at times, but it is enjoyable every time. My first game I struggled to get the engine going while another person at the table top decked great card after great card and ran away with the win by simply getting a ton of points from cards... It almost stopped me from playing it again, but I'm glad I gave it another shot. Rhine Valley does a decent job of staying away from point giving cards and simply boosting the engine of the game. I'm curious to see what the new expansion adds. I really don't feel like the game needs anything new, but hey, Jamie is good at building the hype so I might get sucked in!

@EfrainRiveraJunior 2 жыл бұрын

My main issue with Viticulture is that is End Game can sneak up on you. I'd prefer that when a player hits the 20 or 25 mark, it would then trigger the End Game for the _next,_ and final round.

@wsiegel9539 2 жыл бұрын

You do play out the entire year so unless it is in winter and you are out of workers, you will still get to play.

@EfrainRiveraJunior 2 жыл бұрын

@@wsiegel9539 - I meant, play onto the NEXT year. I know that you continue until Winter.

@mattkutrik 2 жыл бұрын

Hey Alex. Another great review! Quick note about Rhine Valley - This expansion is NOT supposed to be mixed in with the base cards. It's meant to replace the visitors with 40 new summer and 40 new winter cards. It's meant to fix some players' complaints about winning the game about making wine, without making wine at all. Rhine Valley encourages you to make more wine and less on random bonus points. That said, I've never played Moor Visitors, but I think you can mix Base, Tuscany and Moor no problem. Edit - The stickers on the pieces look great! I did the same thing to mine. Boy-oh-boy, what a fun process that is pulling off the tiny stickers and fitting them on the wooden pieces perfectly...

@jeremyraymond494 2 жыл бұрын

I just received Viticulture and Tuscany in the mail today. I feel like somebody might be stalking me.🤣

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

I'm not saying I know where you live....cause really, I don't know where you live.

@twinkle04evr Жыл бұрын

Hi Alex, do you think the Tuscany EE is essential? We only play the base game once every few months, thanks

@Sthunderrocker 2 жыл бұрын

Elegant... That's the word.

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

Yep :)

@CJM3407 2 жыл бұрын

To your concern of randomness at the end of the game. I have found there are times where you have to go YOLO to the deck and hope you draw a perfect card to keep up with the first player. But in general, this game you are really molding you hand from the first few turns. And often my hand is comprised of 2-4 Orders, a yellow, a blue that I will attempt to use as many of them and cross the finish line eking out the final Victory Points. Also, getting back to how Tuscany "fixed" the game, Trade 1 for 1 reduces the randomness of cards so immensely. There are a lot of games where working with the cards you are given is essential and this can have that formula as well. But getting to trade your "bad drawn" cards in for 2 new ones, as well as turning your extra vines into orders at the end of the game, or 3 dollars into 2 orders/blues. I would also suggest don't sleep on this action in the first half of the game. Exchanging out cards, sacrificing a victory point or 3 coins for draw 2 can really help you jumpstart your engine as well as mold your hand for those "Cash Out Years" in this game. Also, i think others have mentioned this, but the 2 card expansions, one is a replacement and one is the mix in. I really do love the Rhine (replacement) one (haven't played Moor) because it changes your cards from most having victory points to very little having victory points, but enabling stronger ways of kickstarting your engine to the next level. Glad you are loving this game, it was one my wife and I picked up only in the last couple years, and we absolutely love it.

@Andrew.Griffin 2 жыл бұрын

The Rhine cards fix the Visitor card problems, I think. Never play with the original cards anymore!

@joshuag7027 2 жыл бұрын

Viticulture may not be my favorite worker placement game (that goes to Anachrony) its a great introduction for friends who want something a little meatier than Lords of Waterdeep, And it plays so smooth. I haven't tried the Rhine Valley expansion yet, but I want to because it focuses on the engine building side more-so than the base cards + moors expansion.

@wiirown_gerrard 2 жыл бұрын

ever since our group played with Rhine Valley, we've never got back to the original :)

@hidddenchameleon 2 жыл бұрын

This is easily my favorite game!

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

Nice! It's not that high for me, but I definitely love it.

@semcfadden 2 жыл бұрын

Psst, there's a new expansion for Viticulture coming this summer. Official announcement later this month (April 13th). I'm cautiously optimistic only because I'm not sure how a game this refined can be improved through expansion. Might just be more cards like the last two expansions. We'll soon find out!

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

I've played it ;)

@ericmattar-hurlbut2317 Жыл бұрын

I felt and did the exact same thing. I felt it looked dull to play, until I found myself with a $46 game credit, so I took the plunge and bought the Essential Edition, plus the Rhine expansion. I've got it set up for 2 players for a dry run.

@wsiegel9539 2 жыл бұрын

I will keep Viticulture with the Tuscany expansion for a long time as I see it as a classic and the engine building with your vineyards and building works well. For more flavor the 2 visitor expansions do that for me.

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

Yep!

@fingolfinfinwe 2 жыл бұрын

Still a great game. I have both mini expansions and ended up making custom decks, mixing most of the cards together and taking out some of the straight VP less thematic cards. But also I basically won't play this without Tuscany. (Original collectors edition backer) still need to try the cheese module tho.

@EfrainRiveraJunior 2 жыл бұрын

Vi-ti! Cul-ture! Vi-ti! Cul-ture!

@gravecac9522 2 жыл бұрын

We love this game as well. Several things I like about the game is it plays fast at higher player numbers and there are many different viable strategies for victory. I actually like the art style. Funny but my favorite Italian restaurant uses a similar style and it always reminds me of the game when we go there. It’s an evergreen for us.

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

At this point given how long it's been around It's definitely an evergreen for a lot of people

@yanmartins7935 7 ай бұрын

Do you think the amount of luck in this game is similar to Wingspan or this one has more luck factors? Or less?

@BoardGameCo 7 ай бұрын

Less to me

@wiirown_gerrard 2 жыл бұрын

even better with with Rhine Valley expansion!

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

Nice :)

@Greggiexplore 11 ай бұрын

I have same reservations on how dry the game looks, I keep looking at the game displayed in the store, and feel zero attraction to swipe my credit card for it. It’s interesting how the artwork is viewed by many. We have two camps and opinions on how the art looks. And both camps are right simply because we are all individuals with distinct tastes.

@Sulucion6Tone 2 жыл бұрын

This game is Excellent ! - For pulling people into euro games this game is #1 to get new players hooked; kicking it out the top 100 was a bad call from yesterdays video (i cringed).. . Love this game and always will, even more with Tuscany expansions.

@Daniel-pb3um 2 жыл бұрын

Hi, you can make videos about games that arrived in your country, state in March for example April games that arrived in store, Kickstarter... top 15 no matter if you played it or not. Games that really got into people's hands.

@Krsnik666 2 жыл бұрын

That's not his things. Other content creators do this

@johnathanrhoades7751 2 жыл бұрын

This is a game that falls into a weight category that I only enjoy for the social aspect, which makes it hard. I generally like fun light games with crazy story and/or swing and deep heavy games with intense decisions over hours of play (1817, Lisboa, Dice Throne, and Nemesis all make some of my favorite games), but this middle ground is less engaging to me for some reason. I'll gladly play if people want to, but I would never choose it for myself. My wife and I found that Agricola or Everdell fills this slot for us in a way we much prefer.

@TheLuminousCleric 2 жыл бұрын

I never considered Viticulture to be an engine building game.

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

It's not a strong engine builder in the classic sense, at the same time, the nature of the structures and the escalation of your grapes and wine inevitably result in large point swings in the final rounds of the game. It's definitely not evenly paced which is why I think of it in engine building terms.

@JeremyDobler 2 жыл бұрын

The wife and I finally sat down last night and played Visit from the Rhine card pack. I thoroughly enjoyed replacing all of the Yellow and Blue cards with these more wine making focused cards. One of the primary issues I had with the game, and more specifically the Structures module in Tuscany, is that a lot of the original decks and Moor Visitors expansion have "magic point" gains that have 0 to do with making wine in a game all about making wine. I absolutely love Viticulture, just didn't like losing to someone who fulfilled 0 wine orders. I do agree that it is an evergreen game, and will always have a place in my collection. I look forward to your video regarding Viticulture World, the upcoming co-op only expansion for Viticulture.

@lcronovt 2 жыл бұрын

So… everdell with humans

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

Well...Ummm...not exactly.

@HeeeeySteve 2 жыл бұрын

Good thing you don’t have Devon here. He wants this game out of the top 100! I do love having Devon on the channel though. Such great banter between you two and I love when you crack up.

@maxf.7262 2 жыл бұрын

🐐🥁👍

@deuxvega 2 жыл бұрын

Viticulture doesn't "look" dry, It "is" dry. I haven't played more dull games than Viticulture E: the base game. But that all changed when I included Tuscany. Men! Does that expansion make a big difference. It added much more dynamics and things to pursue while add the same time add a lot more theme.That said, It's still not enough for Is. I've played It with 7 different people and none of them liked It much. They all said the same: "It's ok, but nothing exiting". None of them wanted to play again. I actually like It the most, and I'm not a fan. That said, I'm not a big WP fan. But there are plenty of WP games that I prefer over this one. What I dislike most Is this sensation that It's not me building an engine, I'm literally within the engine with some different flavor cogs to pick from, always with the same result (wine), just maybe not quickly enough. In that regard this really is like a race. Anyway, just my 2 cents. Baffled about the success of this game. I do however kind of like the art. I think It fits the wine theme well. It has a unique look, but yes, I can also see why people wouldn't like It. It has a bit of that old prudish look.

@Oaklestat 2 жыл бұрын

I love viticulture. The gameplay is continously engaging throughout the each playthrough

@Fabierien 2 жыл бұрын

Be watchful one of the card expansions actually replaces the visitors deck, not adds to it.

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@TheLuminousCleric 2 жыл бұрын

Rhine Valley replaces, Moor you mix in.

@Fabierien 2 жыл бұрын

To be clear I like the replacement deck better.

@Fabierien 2 жыл бұрын

@@TheLuminousCleric thanks. I have both couldn't remember which was which.

@aeryellae5837 2 жыл бұрын

So....is this like Dom Pierre ;) j/k

2 жыл бұрын

Well, I think Caylus 1303 is way better. Still, I only played Viticulture twice and I found it just ok. Anachrony is also better, but way below 1303.

@BoardGameCo 2 жыл бұрын

Oh man, I've played the original, but I have to play 1303

@crivgil 2 жыл бұрын

It's good but when I play Viticulture I always wish I was playing Vinhos instead...

@TheLuminousCleric 2 жыл бұрын

Different game for different people.

@crivgil 2 жыл бұрын

@@TheLuminousCleric you're right, and that is what I like the most, nowadays there's is a game for every one of us...

@ghstrdio 2 жыл бұрын

Liking these older reviews

@katherine9537 2 жыл бұрын

Tried Viticulture for the first time yesterday. Like the other Stonemaier games I’ve tried I liked it enough but didn’t love it. Haven’t played with Tuscany but probably wouldn’t seek it out over other games.