Rob Zacny

Episode 319: Armello

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Three Moves Ahead 319:

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Armello
Rob, special guest Paul Dean, and Troy "Blue Balls Appear Irregularly" Goodfellow talk about Armello, an Early Access game available on Steam. Armello combines charming graphics and design with a game concept that is unapologetically a board game. The PC translation of this is full of potential that has time to be realized by the time the game is ready for release. We learn that Paul is lukewarm on the game, Troy is a fan, and Rob doesn't like Talisman.

Armello, Talisman

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When watching Giant Bomb's recent Armello video, I was initially excited because I thought someone had made a digital riff on Mage Knight, but there is definitely only a surface-level resemblance to that amazing game, and this cast seems to confirm my fears about it looking rather arbitrary in that classic Ameritrash board game way. I will still likely give it a shot sometime in the future, but my enthusiasm is dulled pretty considerably. Good episode, though!

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This game left me feeling cold when I played it (though like the panel, I never dipped into the multiplayer game, although I don't know anyone else that has the game, and I'm not sure playing strangers would feel any more satisfying). I think Rob's Sideshow Bob in a field of rakes analogy was apt. Randomness in games is great if it generates exciting, tense, and/or memorable moments, but the randomness in this game does none of those things really. 

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I hope to play some MP this week - I'll post my impressions in this thread.

 

Please do. At least one 4-people purchase is at stake.

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Now I really wish for a episode about Talisman, almost every steam sale I feel temped about it, but end not buying it. Maybe how about a episode with you guys talking about other games that you disliked like along with Talisman?

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Now I really wish for a episode about Talisman, almost every steam sale I feel temped about it, but end not buying it. Maybe how about a episode with you guys talking about other games that you disliked like along with Talisman?

 

Bit tangent but my only contact with Talisman is via Northernlion Live Super Show where they played the game without reading the manual and just made up their own narrative for like 2 hours straight.  I like to cherish that memory by not understanding the game lol

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I've played Talisman a fair number of times, and... yeah, it's basically kind of terrible.

 

If we're going to have a board game episode, why not Dune?  I think that's still my favorite board game by a wide margin. I understand there's a de-branded version called Rex now; friends have strongly recommended it, and it's actually in print, I believe.

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DO NOT BUY Talisman, or at least the video game implementation. I like talisman and talisman 40k in one scenario. When I have had a hard week at work and i don't want to think, i just want to relax away a  lazy afternoon with my friends and play a mindless game. I move plastic bits around a pretty board flipping picture cards and laugh about the misfortunes of my character. If I approach it as a game with strategy or any competitive element it disintegrates fast as it is incredibility arbitrary and prone to snowballing. The steam version really drives this home as the AI will not be nearly as merciful as your friends. A typical game involves a few bad rolls at the start followed by slowly (you cannot skip turns) watching the AI beat the crap out of you.

 

I would like to hear a boardgame episode, but on games the panel know well, War of the Ring was mentioned that's a neat game. Alternatively have friend of the podcast Rob Daviau on to further discuss the woes of designing seafall.

 

 

I will probably pass on Armarillo. I don't mind very random games, but i think the structure and the ethos of the game really has to sell you on it being a rather random experience. Few video games do this well.

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I'm puzzled as to why this show was done before any of the panel tried multiplayer, given that seems to be the main focus of the game? Or is the game being sold on its single player?

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Now I really wish for a episode about Talisman, almost every steam sale I feel temped about it, but end not buying it. Maybe how about a episode with you guys talking about other games that you disliked like along with Talisman?

 

I'd recommend steering clear of any version of Talisman. Board game design has come a long way since Talisman was released, and there are many games out there that deserve your time and money more than that one. 

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Played a fair amount of this game over the past week. It is definitely better in MP, and esp. with people you know.

 

Havent quite reached the end of the episode yet, but I feel the cast missed a few things. 

For example, you can cast perils straight onto characters and they will trigger instantly.

The card that incites rebellions in towns can remove gold income from a player, but you can also cast it on a nearby town and get prestige for "saving" it (IIRC) 

 

I did feel that a lot of the cards were useless until I played more games and found some nice uses. The game is kind of random though, and it is hard to plan for any end game win condition until the first few turns, particularly if you want to go for the rot win condition

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