| Board List | |
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| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/16/18 12:45:10 PM #192 | 68. Cosmic Encounter Genre/mechanics: Player-vs-player, take-that, negotiation, variable player powers Rules complexity: 6/10 Game length: 75-105 minutes Player count: 3-5 Experience: 2 games, 5 players First played: 2015 Cosmic Encounter is, as its name may imply, a confrontational game. You control an alien race's spaceships, and on your turn, you draw a card from the destiny deck, which will determine which player you attack. The attacker commits a number of ships to attack one of the defender's colonies, and then both the attacker and defender can invite others to join in. The final result is determined by cards, which include a negotiate mechanic. The game ends when one or more players colonize five opposing planets. Enjoyment: Cosmic Encounter isn't bad, but my experience is... I just don't really get it. I suppose it's supposed to result in laughs and ultimate betrayal. There are laughs to be had for sure, but in large part, I felt like I was going through the motions and playing cards. My first play was with a mix of strangers and friends, the second play with friends and a friend of a friend. Design: The rabid cult following CE has essentially confuses me. The rules are clever to produce moments of fun without hard feelings. The Destiny Deck is a neat idea, since it's essentially the game telling you, "Nothing personal." You lose ships and you surrender VP when you lose a battle, but nicely enough, there's no "gameplay penalty" for having opponents colonize your planets, so you don't feel like you're getting crushed. The Negotiate cards allow for one player to stab another (or both to coexist peacefully) and there are very swingy cards in the deck. And the invitation system feels really nice. For some reason to me, the package just doesn't feel tight, or consequential. Committing ships to a cause for a strength boost of 1 to 3 doesn't seem to mean that much when card frequently have printed strengths of 8 or 12. Future - Given how beloved this game is, if someone wants to play it, I'm definitely willing to give it another shot. Bonus question - Do you enjoy games where you can form temporary alliances? What factors make you more or less likely to enjoy that? Hint for #67 - You can train as hard as you want, but it might not get you out of your missouri --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | resuming veronica mars [spoilers] |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 11:47:44 PM #64 | tbc --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | just finished episode 3 of life is strange and omg |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 11:47:19 PM #16 | bumpo --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 8:20:34 PM #180 | FCM is one of the few major diffs between BGG and r/boardgames, I think. Lots of overlap in those top lists - Gloomhaven, Pandemic Legacy, etc. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 5:23:08 PM #173 | 69. Qwirkle https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/25669/qwirkle Genre/mechanics: Abstract, tile-laying Rules complexity: 1/10 Game length: 35-45 minutes Player count: 2-4 Experience: 2 plays with 2-3 players First played: 2015 Six colors, six symbols, three copies of each square tile. In Qwirkle, you draw a tile to your hand of three and then lay one or more tiles onto the communal board. Adjoining tiles must match in either color or symbol, and once the "rule" for the row/column has been established, all other tiles that adjoin had to obey the rule. When you lay a tile, you score points for the length of the row. If you've placed the sixth and final tile that can go in the row, you get a point bonus called a "Qwirkle." Design: Qwirkle is an abstract that's very visually appealing. The tiles are black, and the symbols are very pretty colors with simple, distinctive shapes. They've got a nice heft to them and there's a reasonable amount of strategy in deciding where and when to lay your tiles. Tile-counting in Qwirkle is simple and intuitive, unlike in other tile games, since the frequency of each tile is identical, and no tile is unique from the other. It's a semi-think-y, relaxing, pretty game. Enjoyment: Undoubtedly my enjoyment of Qwirkle is biased by when I first played it - which was following a bit of a disastrous homebrew game brought by a meetup member. Anyway, as I covered in the design section, I just really like the way this game looks and feels. The decisions you make aren't the meatiest, and there's nothing particularly cartoonish or cute, and there aren't a ton of resources to keep track of. And in 2015, this was almost an ideal non-party game for me. Suffice it to say that my expectations for hobby games are a bit different now. Future: I'd like to play this a few more times with different people, but there's nothing that compels me to do so. I'll be OK. Bonus question - Have you ever been really fond of a game, then had your tastes move on from it? Hint for #68 - You can have these of the third kind --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 5:21:37 PM #172 | ScareChan posted... I got Word on the Street when my dad had a stroke and gave it to his speech therapist. It helped this is a sweet story! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 1:02:12 PM #162 | The Mana Sword posted... skipping right to #60 huh thanks for the catch! not very deep seems like a good way to describe SG. it's also got a sort of interaction that doesn't make me feel great. Naye745 posted... sushi go party is almost exclusively better but theyre both solid i think SG is miles better than 7W as an intro game due to the massive gap in learning symbols --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 12:56:31 PM #159 | 70. Sushi Go https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/133473/sushi-go Genre/mechanics: Drafting, set collection Rules complexity: 3/10 Game length: 25-40 minutes Player count: 2-5 Experience: 5+ games with 3-5 players First played: 2015 Sushi Go has nothing to do with Go, the classic area control board game. It's a strict card-drafting game, where you're dealt a hand of cards, select one to add to your collection, and pass the rest to your left or right. You then take the cards that have been passed to you and repeat. The goal is to create the tastiest sushi meal over three rounds, with nigiri, sashimi, dumplings, and pudding. Design - Sushi Go plays simultaneously and is very easy to learn, two assets you can't underestimate. Art-wise, it's almost unconscionably adorable. The food items have freaking cartoon-y faces on them. And who doesn't want to make a delicious meal as a theme to a game? Simultaneous play means that the game scales effortlessly at the higher player counts. Enjoyment - It should be noted that I've never won a game of Sushi Go. But I've also never felt particularly compelled during a game. There are a few plays that feel satisfying - being the maki or pudding king (the player with the most maki at the end of the round, or pudding at the end of the whole game, gets a bonus), combining wasabi with a good nigiri (the wasabi triples the value of your best nigiri card), and assembling three sashimis (three sashimis together are worth 10 points, but any fewer is worth zero). But unless you're hitting one of these combos, the game feels a little bland. And of course, good Sushi Go play means trying to deny you these combos with opportunistic hate-drafting (i.e. if you see your opponent with two Sashimi already, you should steal the last Sashimi even if it costs you 2-3 points, because you deny 10 points to the opponent). Dumpling collection, which increases in value quadratically, has just never felt particularly powerful, unfortunately. Future - I have never played SG Party, which apparently allows you to play with up to 8 - would be interested in trying that out, perhaps. I'm not going to turn down a game, but I'll probably see if there are alternatives first. Bonus question - What is your favorite food-themed game? Hint for #69 - It's abstract, but the tiles are really quite pretty on a table --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 11:51:08 AM #156 | Simoun posted... SeabassDebeste posted... I really want Cockroach Poker! It looked incredibly fun. But it seems like a ridiculous expenditure of money, on principle. banananor posted... i've kinda enjoyed mechs vs. minions, but i suspect that's only because we're in the early scenarios and haven't lost yet being a good sport about both winning and losing is one of the keys to being a pleasant gaming buddy in my experience on the flipside, a game being fun while losing is also key to my enjoyment of it LeonhartFour posted... oh hey I see someone mentioned Phase 10 there's a game i haven't played, actually! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | Ace Attorney Topic Part 2: The Continuation (Spoilers for AA1-6, AAI1-2) |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 10:28:55 AM #483 | bleh, forgot about 3-1 when i hazarded that edgeworth could outlast phoenix through the end of 1-3 --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 9:34:39 AM #146 | 71. God's Gambit https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160125/gods-gambit Genre/mechanics: Designer card game, push-your-luck, take-that Rules complexity: 3/10 Game length: 20-30 minutes Player count: 3-6 Experience: 2-3 plays, 4-5 players First played: 2015 God's Gambit is a neat card game with some angels and demons-y, anime-esque chrome. Your goal is, over the course of three total hands, to minimize your score. The cards are played based on their suit and face and the corresponding suit and face of the previous card, and they each have a special power in addition. Design: The combos this game allows are pretty neat. Uno's simple joys are popular for a reason. I've always enjoyed regular card games. There are a few more decision to make here - playing a card "in front of yourself," building a tableau that penalizes you, or "into the pile." Also, cool anime art (s/o to boardgamegeek): https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2046040/gods-gambit Enjoyment: It's kind of hard to gauge God's Gambit against other games on this list. I haven't played it too much, those plays were kind of far apart time-wise, and they didn't particularly stick strongly in my memory. While the artwork is excellent, there's a distinct "filler" feel to the game, as the theme is as thin as the cards themselves. Which is all to say, it has a tendency not to feel like an 'experience' afterward. It's pleasant enough as a puzzle, but not something that you take with you. Or that I take with me, at least. Enthusiasm: Only one friend of mine has this game, and I'm unlikely to buy it or see it at a meetup otherwise. If the player count is right and the time we have is right - i.e. we're waiting for someone to come, or we only have 20 minutes, or we want an activity between heavier games - it's a fine choice. I doubt I'll request it much independently. Bonus question - Do you like any games that feel like regular card games? Hint for #70 - Get your Sapporo on draft --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | NBA Discussion Topic 6: The Quietest Trade Deadline |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 9:01:49 AM #215 | glad i didn't watch that game y'all ever seen 13 going on 30? watched the first 40 minutes of that, great stuff so far --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | Just cleared my ignore list. |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 8:59:30 AM #12 | LeonhartFour posted... good to be seen again this, good to see you again pal i removed sephg earlier this week since it's deep enough into the nba season definitely not touching the other names on it, though. pretty much all joke/troll accounts that serve no useful purpose. i guess i could get rid of the banned ones but whatever. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/15/18 8:57:10 AM #145 | Robo Rally is a really nice game! I played it a few times, but I didn't include it since those plays were all in the same session. Would very likely rank higher than Colt Express. Naye745 posted... i was underwhelmed by boss monster - fits the typical american game mold where cards/characters are full of stats, there are too many unncessary rules, and the whole thing seems a bit strategically flat. c'mon now, ONUW is definitely better than that this seems to be the general consensus on BM. chrome-y but lacking in the guts area. ONUW is definitely better designed from a gameplay perspective, but i've played it a bunch and still never really found a memorable experience, so that's the difference-maker! cyko posted... I like making a plan and thinking out several moves. If I can only plan out one move at a time due to a game's mechanics, though, that's fine. But I find it really irritating when a game asks me to plan out several moves and completely screws them up with everyone else's moves. Too much chaos for my taste. do you consider yourself a control freak when it comes to board games? how bout IRL? --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | I got offered a new job |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 6:31:49 PM #7 | congrats! imagine the pay will be much better. how bout the hours? --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 5:51:13 PM #130 | 72. Colt Express https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158899/colt-express Genre/mechanics: Action programming, take-that, area control Rules complexity: 6/10 Game length: 30-40 minutes Player count: 2-6 Experience: 2-3 games with 3-4 players First played: 2016 You, represented by a miniature, are robbing a train at a bunch of different stops, and attempting to take the greatest loot. On each of the legs of its journey, you can move through the train's cars, ascend to the roof, punch and shoot at your rival robbers, or pick up loot. The catch? You have to "program" all of your actions, i.e. you select them all without knowing what your opponents are doing, before they're executed. Past enjoyment: I like Colt Express alright. My first time playing, however, basically sucked - I was essentially locked out of ever getting anything done, and it was immensely frustrating to be flailing about shooting my gun when no one was getting affected. Even though I wasn't targeted by other players' attacks, I couldn't seem to pick up any loot, because I was in the wrong area, or others would pick it up before me. The second time, I performed better and felt actually involved in the game. Game design: Colt Express is pretty amusing and light, and it's got an excellent miniature train that you actually get to sprinkle the loot onto and move your character on. However, it's not particularly clear why this game is a programming game. Thematically I get why the do-nothing wound cards for programming are there, but do they actually make the game more fun? In many games, incompetent/impotent actions can make everyone laugh, but CX can leave you rather hapless, then give you no cards to fix this during the next turn, and rather feasibly have you end with close to zero loot whatsoever. Even when I won I felt more, 'I hope you guys are okay with this' than triumph or amusement. Next play: No real enthusiasm here - I feel like I've seen what it has to offer. Expansions might make it a little more interesting? Bonus question - This might be the only programming game that I played enough to make the list, though the others I tried a bit I generally liked more - what are your favorites? Hint for #71 - No way anyone guesses this one - it's an obscure, Kickstartered game that's similar to Uno. Feel free to Google away as a challenge! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 3:35:07 PM #124 | based on responses, i might have found the ultimate lukewarm one-play game here ClyTheCool posted... Oh, I actually have Boss Monster! I'm sure this bothers a lot of board game enthusiasts who are all about dat gameplay but theme matters sooo much on whether a game is fun to me. Theme can get me interested and make me more charitable in terms of giving leeway to a game, for sure. Nice chrome - especially nicely executed chrome - can really improve engagement. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | post and ill rate your gimmick |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 3:00:34 PM #2 | . --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | just finished episode 3 of life is strange and omg |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 2:39:18 PM #15 | yeah, it's not very fun to have that type of moral, which is part of why this cliffhanger blows me away! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 2:19:01 PM #119 | I'll Participate 73. Boss Monster https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/131835/boss-monster-dungeon-building-card-game Genre/mechanics: Designer card game, bidding, dungeon-building Rules complexity: 5/10 Game length: 20-30 minutes Player count: 2-4 Experience: 2-3 plays with 3-4 players First played: 2016 In Boss Monster, you play as the architect/final boss of a video game... but you lack a dungeon. So you draw cards to create your dungeon, which must include both hazards (to kill heroes) and treasure (to lure them to your dungeon). The goal is to kill as many heroes as you can without letting them clear your dungeon and deal you damage. Past enjoyment: Now we're moving into a better tier of game! Or possibly a less memorable one. Boss Monster is a fairly thin game, but it's never unpleasant. The most interactive part of the game is competing to see who can attract the heroes; however, there's also some schadenfreude to be had when an opponent is unable to kill the hero(es) they outbid you for! Game design: Lots of nice features here - simultaneous revealing of cards, short playtime. There's a fair amount to read on the cards, or symbols to understand, which can slow the game a bit, especially for first-timers. (And the weight/depth of this game is not one where you'll have players compete to become 'experts.') But honestly, the best part of this game by far is the 8-bit-style art. Very charming card designs, even if they don't string together to create memorable experiences. I have very few specific memories of this game. Next play: I'm interested in playing again, but almost solely so I can form a more solid opinion. More likely, if I don't pay specific attention, it'll float by in my mind again, just like it has in the past. But that's okay - I'm sure it'll be pleasant. Bonus question - What are your favorite 8-bit games? What 8-bit game would you like to see as a board game, and what genre/mechanics would it use? Hint for #72 - Everyone got a plan til they get punched in the face. Or shot. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | NBA Discussion Topic 6: The Quietest Trade Deadline |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 1:34:52 PM #208 | davidponte posted... One benefit to having a bench that produces is that when we get the inevitable playoff game where Derozan/Lowry decide to not show up, the chance for a win might still be there. yeah, nick young was the reason the clippers won that game 1 against memphis in 2012 (down 27 entering the 4th, IIRC?) --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | NBA Discussion Topic 6: The Quietest Trade Deadline |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 1:01:17 PM #206 | my best comparison: the last time a high-seeded team was so renowned for its bench was probably the clippers before they lost eric bledsoe. so... yeah. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 12:51:44 PM #111 | okay, i've wrapped up the first tier on the list! Maybe I'll Pass 80. Secret Hitler 79. Mascarade 78. Sheriff of Nottingham 77. Good Cop, Bad Cop 76. Dead of Winter 75. Word on the Street 74. One Night Ultimate Werewolf --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 12:29:34 PM #108 | Tom Bombadil posted... Scrabble is like the one "classic" game (I'm sure there's a better word?) that hasn't gotten plowed over by eurogames and the like for me hmm, i tend to categorize most of these (other than a few) as "designer" games. that said i never really played scrabble and i've mainly included only games that i've learned in the last few years. Simoun posted... Tag. maybe i'm playing mascarade wrong, because i'm not sure what anyone's role is, including my own (and as a result i can't call out others on their bluffs, unlike in other games)... but somehow, most other people are pretty correct about what role they are --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | just finished episode 3 of life is strange and omg |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 12:17:35 PM #13 | agreed i think chloe in the wheelchair is just as personal as kate, if not more, since max has so much more of a relationship with her nuking that relationship and unleashing this world of sci-fi is "whaaaaat" --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 12:12:05 PM #95 | Tom Bombadil posted... th3l3fty posted...no need for Scrabble when there's a Scrabble-themed Dominion-style game tbqh th3l3fty posted... yeah, I think I'll stick to Paperback and Hardback in the word game niche --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 12:05:43 PM #92 | 74. One Night Ultimate Werewolf https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147949/one-night-ultimate-werewolf Genre/mechanics: Social deduction, hidden roles, role-swapping Rules complexity: 4/10 Game length: 5 minutes Player count: 4-10 Experience: 10+ games with 6-10 First played: 2015 One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a lighter, "party" version of the classic Mafia, where each player is handed a special role, with at least one werewolf. A night phase then ensues where each players secretly executes an ability associated with his role. A day phase follows in which players discuss and vote to lynch one or more players - if a werewolf is lynched, the townies win; if no werewolf is lynched, the wolves win. Past enjoyment: I first saw ONUW being played at a meetup, and it seemed incredibly fun - the pointing, the weird assumptions, the laughing when everyone turns over their roles at the end. But for some reason, it's never clicked with me quite that well. Maybe my mentality has been warped too much by more 'serious' social deduction games - the arc of the game is too role-dependent, and there's a massive degree of randomness that isn't really based off reading people, which seems like it should be at the core. I've never felt invested in my team due to the team-shifting mechanic, even if I laughed afterward. Game design: That said, the game obviously works. It just tests skills (or a lack thereof) that I'm not usually looking to test. A very high percentage of players in ONUW can perform an action at night. Virtually everything about the game encourages you not to get too down about a single game - its one-night structure, the funny art, the fact your team can shift, the high degree of randomness, and of course, the extremely short play-time. These mitigating factors also suggests that it's not a serious game, one that you should be laughing at when it ends. Maybe the reason I don't like it is because I've never been able to execute a really clever play in all my times playing - I've felt more spectator than agent. While I don't feel as involved, however, it's clear that the game is well designed to turn finger-pointing into something that doesn't ruin relationships, and I can dig that. Next play: Eh. This game frequently gets played at meetups. I don't think I'd object to a game, but to me, it would be solely a change of pace, or an entry point from which I could peel off a few people to join a game I prefer. Big hater here. Bonus question - Do you have any 'go along with it' games? What type of groups do you play tabletop games in? Hint for #73 - It's not a video game IP, but it's certainly inspired by video games. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | NBA Discussion Topic 6: The Quietest Trade Deadline |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 11:45:06 AM #204 | was that his breakout game in msg? i remember avery bradley holding him to like 4/13 the next game loved that insane lockout season --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | just finished episode 3 of life is strange and omg |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 10:36:44 AM #11 | I've never been a try-to-solve-the-mystery type of dude, which I feel like distances me from the sci-fi community a little bit. I'm more interested in seeing where the writers take the story. To me, it's not so much what's going to happen in our original timeline, as whether (and why) Max will want to go back, and how that process unfolds if/when it does. When a butterfly effect has a price that's this significant (and wipes out such an important slate of character development), I expect it to be reversed somehow. How guilty will Max feel? The original timeline's Chloe is angry and frustrated and vulnerable and has lost so damn much, but she's so fucking alive, and she has her entire life ahead of her to fix things, and she's formed deep and meaningful relationships with Rachel and Max. It's too early to say, but the new Chloe seems to be at peace, but her life will be so much more limited, and it's hard to see someone so full of vitality turned into someone bound to a chair. And if Max can live with this, then will something else disturb the past and jolt us back to the original timeline? Honestly speaking though - I did not expect Max's key-toss to be successful. I figured that the point of the flashback was to show us that certain events would be written in fate - maybe William gets killed at the bus stop, or dies in a cra crash shortly after that or something. Definitely didn't expect things to turn out this way (and the trickle-down effect on Max is particularly interesting, too - love that 'Maxine' was just a decoy, too). So, I've already been wrong once. Can't say too much on what's gonna happen, just excited! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 9:45:54 AM #84 | 75. Word on the Street https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40990/word-street Genre/mechanics: Word game, team vs team Rules complexity: 1/10 Game length: 20-40 minutes Player count: 2-10 unlimited Experience: 4-6 games with 6-8 people First played: 2017 Most of the letters alphabet, minus vowels, are lined up in the center of the board (a street). On your team's turn, your team is given a category ("band name"), and your goal is to think of one word ("Rush"). Then, you move each of the remaining letters on the board one space toward your side of the street. Pull it onto the sidewalk, and you win the letter. Game ends when a team has 8 of the 17 letters. Positive experiences - This game can make people feel included. It's kind of fun to see people scramble for words that fit "career" that use a lot of letters ("Prostitution!") and there's some fun in challenging opponents for their words' categories, or spelling. Unfortunately, games have outlasted their welcome. Design - There is one great positive part of this design, and that's that it is collaborative on your team. 30 seconds allows a bunch of people to get their voices in, and it's a nice icebreaker type of game. Certain cards also feel insanely swing-y, as you might expect from a non-designer, trivia-ish type of game - "brand of beauty product," for example, stumps people a lot more than "fruit," and you have no control over which card your team draws. There's some tension in battling over the final three letters for sure (once each team has six to seven of the eight required to win). But it can also get a bit dull as words go from "shotgun"-style - getting as many letters as you can - to focusing on something simple and stupid that happens to have two k's in it, like "kick." But the biggest issue might be that there are some objectively better words than others to use at the beginning of the game, so the replay value can be a little limited. And as a result, the game can lend itself hard to quarterbacking, where the most experienced player basically plays his entire team's role. Oh well. Next play - My weekly group, which I mostly attend, plays this with some frequency. So it's going to happen, and I'm honestly dreading it. Bonus question - Can you think of competitive games that lend themselves to quarterbacking? Hint for #74 - a game with an app companion in what's clearly my favorite genre based on this list so far --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 9:23:46 AM #83 | glad to see diverse opinions about dead of winter, does make me want to try it again banananor posted... I'm currently being pitched gloomhaven, but at that point i might rather just play d&d i would love to play gloomhaven! but the commitment seems immense, and we replaced one group member from our previous campaign game, and he'd rather play a different legacy game... so for now we're equivocating on both Alanna82 posted... I'm banned from playing betrayal because I was a sore loser the last time I played. (To be fair, I was on a medication for an infection which messed with my antidepressant) feeling massive second-hand embarrassment for you! Peace___Frog posted... I adore semi coop. Betrayal and bloodborne are among my favorite tabletop games. I didn't even think of games like Bloodborne (or Marvel Legendary) - they are absolutely semi-coop, but I guess games where you are competing for VP seem a little different from games where you have a secret win condition? --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | NBA Discussion Topic 6: The Quietest Trade Deadline |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 9:20:58 AM #202 | Since I don't feel like talking about recent NBA game results, can we quickly discuss Charles Barkley's famous "jump shooting teams in the playoffs" argument? The consensus seems to be to ridicule Chuck for this, but I don't think he's completely off-base, even in today's NBA. The counterexample I usually see is GSW, but that feels absurd to me. GSW underperformed in the playoffs in consecutive years (2015 and 2016). Yeah, they wound up winning in 2015, but they were down in two series where they had no business being down, and they dropped two games in the Finals to a one-man team with LeBron shooting 38%. They were down 3-1 to an OKC team that's never had a coherent offensive scheme. Meanwhile, Curry has gotten hot in individual games a lot, but he's never taken over in the Finals. (Blame injury if you want, but the same applies to Klay.) GSW outperformed in the playoffs only when they added Durant, one of the best rim attackers in the game. You can also say that most other successful playoff teams have shot a lot of 3s, but those teams mostly aren't jump-shooting teams like GSW is. LeBron generates 3s by being a post-threat and the best driver in the game. The Celtics collapsed in the playoffs so it's hard to say they're a counterexample, but they also relied a lot on IT to take it to the rack. The Spurs aren't a jump-shooting team anymore, but even when they shot a lot of 3s, they used post touches for Duncan and the driving threat of Parker/Ginobli to get those looks. I think it's fair to say that if your best form of generating offense is for a guy to pull up and hit a 3, you're likely to underperform in the playoffs. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | happy valentine's day b8 |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 8:57:36 AM #2 | cooking a steak dinner. it's my first time marinating meat, lol --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | fine then, post in THIS topic when you exercise |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 8:20:24 AM #424 | back after four days off feels bad man --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | NBA Discussion Topic 6: The Quietest Trade Deadline |
| SeabassDebeste 02/14/18 6:31:23 AM #200 | MZero11 posted... why is it that whenever the Cavs are bad in the regular season everyone says it doesn't matter but when they beat the Celtics suddenly the regular season it's a big deal because the celtics actually are trying, because this better fits past performance, because the celtics are one of the teams that would have been a contender to KO the cavs in the playoffs, and because the cavs just made a huge trade --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 4:52:45 PM #67 | Emeraldegg posted... Darn it I was thinking that one but didn't want to sound like an idiot! I also haven't played nearly as many board games so I was sure it was some one I'd never heard of. nothing ventured, nothing gained! The Mana Sword posted... Dead of Winter sucks! how much have you played it? it's so immensely popular that i'm hesitant to say that it sucks without getting to know it better. Tom Bombadil posted... On paper I like semi-coop but I'm not sure offhand if I've ever played anything of the sort. i think DoW is the only one that's on this list will get to perfect information pure co-ops later! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 4:12:34 PM #62 | 76. Dead of Winter https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150376/dead-winter-crossroads-game Genre/mechanics: Cooperative, hidden goals, hidden traitor, thematic/Ameritrash Rules complexity: 8/10 Game length: 45-120 minutes (depending on scenario) Player count: 3-5 Experience: 2 plays with 5 players (scenarios 1 and 2) First played: 2016 Dead of Winter features a zombie apocalypse in which you and your fellow players travel between your home base and abandoned sites. You have a group goal, which is usually related to survival, morale, and colony size, and a hidden individual goal. There may or may not be a traitor who has a hidden individual goal and wants the group goal to fail. The players can recruit new characters and search and use equipment and fight zombies, but must deal with their growing population with food to maintain morale. Past enjoyment: I've only played DoW twice, and once was a tutorial game. It's arguable that I shouldn't be including it yet as I haven't seen everything the game has to offer. But what I saw... wasn't that good? The game is super-interesting, with everyone's secret goals potentially conflicting with the main goal. But in practice, the game felt kind of arbitrary and very low-interaction, which isn't necessarily what you'd expect when you're all in a colony together trying to fend off zombies. I'm guessing this had a bit to do with my group, which is really good at playing games quickly and not taking things too personally, but also very bad with thematic immersion. Everyone behaved rather matter-of-fact, and most people wanted to cut to the chase when we'd draw an encounter card instead of getting sucked up by the flavor. I spent most of my turns just holed up in the library or the school or whatever, digging for the cards that were my victory condition. Game design: Huge props to the semi-cooperative aspect. Hidden goals (alongside the main goal) are a really great idea to spice up the game, and the idea of a secret traitor is pretty cool (though when we lost to the traitor in game 2 it felt tremendously random). I can't exactly fault DoW for being thematic, but it feels a little fiddly and loose. Aside from the lack of player interaction, which was probably an issue with the group, the digging for equipment didn't feel great. It doesn't feel like a lot gets accomplished on the average turn, and I'm rarely laying grand plans unless the cards tell me I can. Moving around is appropriately dangerous - you can get exposed to zombies if you go outside! - but it winds up disincentivizing trips out, further limiting interaction. Next play: Maybe further plays with more role-playing and different scenarios would help. But there's so much out there, and limited time. I'd like to try, but don't want to make time specifically for it... Maybe someday. Bonus question - What's your opinion on semi-cooperative games? How about cooperative games? Hidden traitors? Hint - You might feel pulled toward these letters --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 3:03:54 PM #60 | Great_Paul posted... GCBC is excellent. One of my favourite parts is the randomness from the equipment cards. Definitely not one to take too seriously. I've grown a bit fonder of it. When you have to wait less than a minute between turns, it can be pretty solid. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 2:30:33 PM #57 | I think aside from having hidden information, these games don't necessarily have a lot in common at all! * Sheriff of Nottingham doesn't even have hidden roles. Each lie is isolated and not impacted by secret information at the beginning. * Good Cop, Bad Cop barely asks you to deceive anyone - it's a very swing-y type of game more impacted by the cards than by the social element. * In Mascarade, the goal isn't really to figure out what other people are; it's to win on your own terms. Keeping track of roles is just an aid to that. It's also not team-based. Secret Hitler is really the only 'pure' social deduction game here! ClyTheCool posted... Tag Well, keep following! I can't in good conscience recommend you not get SH if you've researched it and it sounds fun to you. If your group would be into the theme and mechanics, then go for it. Also, I've edited my post because my previous hint was for #75 instead of #76 whoops. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 2:04:52 PM #51 | 77. Good Cop, Bad Cop Genre/mechanics: Social deduction, hidden roles, team vs team, player elimination, take-that Rules complexity: 3/10 Game length: 20-40 minutes Player count: 4-8 Experience: 7+ plays with 5-8 First played: 2016 In Good Cop, Bad Cop, you're dealt three face-down allegiance cards, which together determine whether you're a crooked or clean cop. Your goal is to eliminate the Leader of the opposing team by shooting them with a gun, and you can deduce who is who by cards' slowly being flipped up, or by taking an investigation action, or by using special equipment cards. Past enjoyment: I don't think I've ever had a game of GCBC where I was thrilled., only ones where I felt it was acceptable. It has resulted in some laughs when people would shoot their own teammates, or when someone who'd worked really hard as an honest cop suddenly became crooked and had to undo his own work. But then there are a lot of negative events that can happen. Game design: The positive aspects of the games I played mainly came from the players' sense of humor, while negative aspects came largely from game design. GCBC is a party game that plays up to eight - but it's turn-based and goes clockwise, so depending on how much time people spend thinking on their turn, the downtime is surprisingly high. The swinginess can be real; you're not guaranteed equal-size teams, and your own allegiance can switch (entirely outside of your control), which is quite obnoxious. Then there's the slooooowness with which you shoot people - taking a gun takes one turn; shooting it, another. That means that you might determine you want to shoot player X on turn 1 (after investigating their card), then have to wait 7 turns to take the gun (if there are still guns for the taking at that point), and not be able to shoot until 7 turns later - but then, the equipment cards might well have denied you the gun you took. Or, the player to your right may have played the "reverse turn order" card, and you're out waiting another 7 turns before you can go again. The game demands not to be taken seriously, which is okay, except the downtime is high and the random fun takes a bit of time to develop, so being screwed can feel bad. It's really a shame, since I love so many of the ideas. I love hidden roles and team vs team; I love the allegiance cards; I love games that aren't supposed to be taken too seroiusly; I don't mind a bit of take-that. But GCBC's marriage to the turn-based system slows it down too much for a game of its swinginess. Next play: One of the more distant guys in my monthly book club/board games group has this game, and he's likely to bring it. So it's going to get played. I don't dread it as much as I used to - my first experience at a meetup was awful - but it's never going to be exciting to see it hit the table. Bonus question - What games seem to ask for more engagement than their game design can deliver on? Hint for #76 - Did this game popularize the term "semi-cooperative?" --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 2:04:28 PM #50 | A long game can definitely feel punishing to lose, I think. Hard situation to be in, don't envy you! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 1:44:13 PM #48 | azuarc posted... PrinceKaro posted...these seem really shitty games so far Hmm, I see what you're saying. How many video games have you played in the last 3 years? I might legit be in the single digits, and for games I've beaten you might be able to count 'em on one hand. Imagine replacing all of your video gaming with board gaming and you probably have a good approximation of me. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 1:38:03 PM #47 | The Mana Sword posted... I think Sheriff is alright, but my group never spends too long on the negotiation part, so the game is pretty snappy. My first game was really nice. The person who brought the game Xiahou Shake posted... Negotiations taking more than like 30 seconds in Sheriff is a pretty weird idea to me. Maybe the groups I played with were playing it "wrong" or something but the game always felt really boring to me. Like it was just going in a circle and doing a thing, rather than each player actually working toward a goal with any real kind of strategy. Yeah, that's what I meant when I criticized the game length. There's no 'story arc' to the game, just a bunch of actions, so it doesn't really feel like it needs to be as long as it is (with 5). Great_Paul posted... Spectre Ops. First time I played it was with a really negative group. They all were declaring it as the worst game ever and such, mostly because they didn't spot me once. How did you enjoy that game, complaining aside? How many hunters were there? Did you leave them in the dust, or did you feel really tense throughout? My Immortal posted... I know that I'm a very competitive person. I love to win and I don't like to lose, but I try not to be a sore loser. And I must not be that bad, because I still host weekly game nights. LOL. My first thought was that I really don't care if I don't win as long as losing isn't painful and I can feel like I'm 'in it.' My second was that I'd be wary of playing with someone who hates to lose and loves to win. But when I got to the part about the player shaking with rage... this had me cringing, Office-style. I'm physically uncomfortable reading about a board gaming experience of yours, congrats! Emeraldegg posted... Rant incoming While Sheriff of Nottingham was the first confontational game on my list, the next game I have is the first one that really says "take that" and has player elimination. In general, my engagement level is very high in games where I can be attacked (such as Endless Space, it sounds like), but it can often feel tense and kind of unpleasant. I (or at least my groups) can generally relax a bit more in games where that confrontation is ameliorated a bit by a 'nothing personal' feeling - though of course that intensity can still be exciting. Your group doesn't seem well-suited to 4x games. How long is a typical game? Did you find others to play with? Sounds like a neat game, but it would be tough for me to feel the trust I'd need in a gaming partner to sit down with someone who's rage-quit in the past. Not that I've never been guilty of doing this type of thing... --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 12:22:42 PM #39 | 78. Sheriff of Nottingham https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/157969/sheriff-nottingham Genre/mechanics: Bluffing, set collection, negotiation Rules complexity: 2/10 Game length: 45-75 minutes Player count: 3-5 Experience: 2 plays, with 4 and 5 players First played: 2015 Sheriff of Nottingham is very simple to play - you have a hand full of goods and you're trying to transport them down the road to the market. But you can only ship one type of good, and only certain types of goods, at a time. You have to get them by the Sheriff, who can inspect your goods. Each player gets to be the Sheriff twice, and the Sheriff can either take bribes, investigate a cart, or let it go by. Past enjoyment: So, Sheriff was one of the earlier games I played. At the time, it was with four players, and those four would eventually become a core group. It was all right - people tend to think I'm a liar, so being called on your non-bluffs is really energizing and fun. It's intuitive to learn, and the mechanic makes sense. The next time, I played with five people - mostly strangers - who weren't so great. I wound up short on cash, and it was just a slog. Possibly a good case study on how much the people you play with matter, as I wasn't really into watching the other people's interactions at the time, while I was engaged during the (fewer) interactions in my first game. Design: Sheriff of Nottingham has an odd contradiction in it, which may become a recurring theme. It feels like it should be a party game, with relatively quick decisions and laughs available when you fool the sheriff. But one major question is, what do you do about the playtime? There's no natural story arc to SoN beyond an individual player's being honest and dishonest in turn, but the game has an issue with scalability - it grows quadratically in time since you have N players being the sheriff * (N-1) players being merchants. Downtime can be real. Also, is it just me, or does it kind of suck to be sheriff and call a bad cart? There are a decent number of positive strategies, but it kind of feels unreasonably bad to pay on this particular type of error. Honesty seems like an unreasonably strong strategy here if you can draw the right legal goods. And in my experience at least, negotiation just isn't very fun. (In one particularly annoying instance, the sheriff offered me a price on my bag of illegal goods, I took it, and then he opened my bag. We rolled it back and people agreed it wasn't a legit play, but it's obnoxious and souring in my experience.) Next play: With the right people, I think it could be done. Also with a 60-second timer on every negotiation, because yikes. Bonus question - Has one bad play soured anyone's early experience on a game? Did you manage to turn it around, or did it kind of turn you off on the game? Hint for #77 - These lawmen aren't policing bluffs. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | just finished episode 3 of life is strange and omg |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 11:20:34 AM #8 | Frankly Speaking Getting the keys from Frank is immensely satisfying. I like that he responds to the dogs and not to the drugs. But the options around are also amazing - Max's utter brashness as she pours beer right on Frank's head, Frank's rage if you spill his beans (followed by Max laughing in his face), the snootiness with which she takes his keys, knowing she can just rewind afterward. It's Max having fun with her powers and I love it. Outside, we save Alyssa again and she semi-lisps her way to another thank you. Frank's RV is an absolute dump, but it clearly confirms the relationship between him and Rachel. She gets so upset about this that she attracts Frank's attention as she pulls out of the diner, and when we resume the conversation, her eyes are red. We try to tell her to get over it, obviously unaware of her romantic feelings, but Chloe eventually turns the blame to William for dying at all. 'You're still here,' we try to tell her, but she won't hear it - because if she can't blame everyone else for leaving, she can only blame herself. Chaos Theory And then suddenly we're thirteen years old, throwing William's out the sliding door, and watching as Rachel's rebellious adolescence is overwritten by continued smiles and an ominous car key as a gift. Max has been inducted into the Vortex Club, and David is merely a bus driver... William is alive in the present day. And Chloe - the "Max and Chloe forever" Chloe - is in a wheelchair. But perhaps most haunting of all... Chloe is smiling and looks at peace. Choices and Consequences * Our plant drowned! What the hell! Well, we're feeding this bunny. Hopefully it doesn't die of overeating. * Friendship ended with Victoria, Taylor is my best friend now. (Also, there's no way she's not modeled after Taylor Swift, right?) She's sent us some nice texts. * Oh hey - petition was successful. Suck it, Big Brother/stepfather. Sassy Maxy, Nosy Chloe, and Witty Graffiti * Max, on a Vortex Club photo: "Portrait de la Assholes." * Max, on soda: "Release the kra-Can!" * Boys' locker room graffiti: "Victoria loves the D." Max's response: "Nice to know Victoria loves something besides herself." * Boys' locker room graffiti: "Max is a feminazi." I see ExTha is a student at Blackwell. * Girls' locker room graffiti: "VICTORIA CHASE RULES" LMAO * Girls' locker room graffiti: "Dear Kate, I don't care. -God" - both hilarious and horrifyingly cruel. But the funniness of it can make you see why kids are okay with doing this. * Max: "You're the bro killer." / Chloe: "Warren is nice..." / Max: "Gross!" --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | just finished episode 3 of life is strange and omg |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 11:19:35 AM #7 | Traces of Rachel We sleep over at Chloe's, and it's almost painfully beautiful - that euphoric feeling of peaceful and happiness that you know even in the moment is going to be temporary. The girls gossip about boys (and Max doesn't seem to think Chloe is into women - she does have condoms, after all). Chloe's phone background has Max on it again. The butterfly pic sits next to Rachel's. Life is strange, but also beautiful. After absorbing the atmosphere, We wear Rachel's clothes. This leads to Chloe wanting to kiss us. The way that the game freezes here is terrifying. I love that the framing can make an innocent scene seem sinister. At first we refuse, though Chloe accuses us of having already kissed ther, then re-wound. C'mon girl, we wanted the kiss to be the lasting memory - we saved that for last! Chloe is taken aback when we actually do kiss her, joking that Warren doesn't stand a chance now. You had us at hello, Chloe. Rachel's clothes cause a reaction among everyone we see - Chloe, her mom, Frank, even Nathan. Max herself hopes that she's getting a little cooler by wearing a badass's clothing. We resolve to search David's computer, which is also a painful experience. A beautiful breakfast with Joyce is punctuated by Chloe's preferred method of breaking it up (i.e., wanton disrespect to her mother). The search of the garage is rather tedious and unpleasant, though it does confirm some interesting things: 1. David does care about Joyce 2. People never seem to have random passwords (even something like "doughnuts" would be better...) in fiction 3. Rachel was mixed up with Frank - and clearly she's not a lesbian... While the Rachel thing is the plot-driver, it gets much worse. David's somehow figured out Max's online handles. And if that's not a gross enough level of stalking, his notes on Kate include how long she stays in the bathroom, and the fact that she's been withdrawn since the Vortex Club party... and in a shocking lack of empathy, attributing all of Kate's withdrawn behavior to drugs. I'm getting sick to my stomach. So yeah. When we go back inside, and David shows up, there's a showdown. We are Team Chloe all the fucking way. Max spits out everything she knows David's done, and we peace this joint. It Ain't Just Suburban Decay The last leg of the day takes us back to the diner, where Frank's RV is parked (and still has the dusty writing on it). You've got the trucker whose only love is his truck, but whose business is dying out. You've got the drug dealer that no lawman gives a shit about. You've got the police officer who's deep in the pocket of the Prescotts. You've got the seriously disturbed son of the Prescotts ("Calm down, dude, we're in a diner!") But that's just the usual corruption and decline of civilization. We're talking more metaphysical - first it was snow, and then it was a freak eclipse. Today? Dead fucking animals, everywhere, including the ocean if we're to believe the fisherman. It's only fair that we warn the homeless lady about the impending storm. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | just finished episode 3 of life is strange and omg |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 11:18:54 AM #6 | Broke-in Records The pipe bomb is successful! It also triggers a fire alarm, but fortunately Max is a reality-warper. We let Chloe into the office from inside, and the good times roll. Rachel and Chloe were apparently polar opposites - the model student versus the untouchable type. (Rachel's being a model student seemed to be well known - I had no idea that she was considered a trouble-maker.) Did we already know Chloe was older than Max? Well it's confirmed now, I guess. We find out even more confirmation about just how creepy Nathan is. And most distressingly (to me - the story doesn't make a big deal about this), we find out that the school knew how unstable Kate was and already launched an investigation, but nothing was done. Ugh. After a lot of effort, we manage to un-stick Chloe's ass from a chair she's beginning to love, and we hook her up with $5000. We're real moral here. Victory Laps This swimming pool segment bothered me for lots of reasons. At least part of it is because I'm an anxious, stodgy fun-hater who hates being physically comfortable or doing risky things. There seems to be almost no upside here now that we've both broken into the principal's office and stolen a bunch of cash. The idea of getting normal undergarments and street clothes wet and chlorine-y is icky, and then they go into the October early morning like that?! Not to mention the utter lack of sleep Max has been getting. It all makes me feel physically uncomfortable just to think about, a sensation amplified by the down-to-earth nature of this game. (Compare to, say, 24, where most of the characters are superhuman.) But there are also gameplay reasons - having to hide (predictably), having to do an exercise to find the lights, the enormity of the swimming pool - Max moves annoyingly slowly, and I hate the idea of leaving nooks and crannies unexamined, so this resulted in a loooong walk around the water. It's nice that they get their moment of triumph, though. I guess. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | just finished episode 3 of life is strange and omg |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 11:18:32 AM #5 | I actually did take copious notes, but I played the game over a very long period of time, so they'll mostly be bullet-pointed. Tuesday's not over yet Episode 3 actually begins in the dying minutes of Episode 2, near midnight. Our journal here confirms that procedural scenes have been skipped - cop visits, the like. Everyone is still recovering from the aftermath of Kate's suicide attempt. The midnight corridor is eerie. The boarding-up of Kate's room is incredibly ominous, and Max's internal monologue is more explicitly angry as opposed to being 'above-it-all' in disgust. There are whiteboard messages everywhere supporting Kate, with a hypocritical message on Victoria's whiteboard. (Max's personal whiteboard quotes William Blake. Max is great.) From our venture to the school later, we find out that the ripple effects are so strong that opinion is turning against the formerly elite Vortex Club. Two main visits of note here - Dana is utterly devastated and doesn't know what to do. But more interesting is Taylor, whom we've grilled before. It's fun blaming her for Kate, but in the end, Taylor's vulnerable, so we instead take advantage of her by pumping her for information and using it to gain her favor. Outside, we discover that the creepy Samuel has silky scarves in his closet. WHAT THE FUCK. Also, what am I supposed to do with this squirrel...? "Max, this is a sneaking mission." Alright, this rewind-to-escape-the principal segment is inexplicably dumb. I guess it's simple, but... bleh. Anyway, nice to have confirmation of his drinking problems? BOO! I'm not gonna lie, Chloe legit got me on that jump-scare! We have some un-rewindable conversation choices, so I push her into talking about Chaos Theory and Rachel (rather than Kate). Then we witness a hilarious scene with Victoria and Mr. Jefferson, as she first tries to seduce her way in with him, then tries to blackmail him, and even , all regarding her photo contest submission. While it's very transparent to us as players how Victoria is immensely insecure about herself, Max doesn't seem to get it. And it's not hard to see why - she resents Victoria for the bullying, and she still admires Victoria's work and fashion sense. What, in Max's eyes, does Victoria have to be insecure about? To that note, it's great how much Max respects Victoria's work. She finds Victoria's photo submissions and is kind of upset that she can't rag on her for them. Victoria's 'dirty secret' in her locker? Selfies. Max attempts to mock her, but can't even complete the barb in internal monologue - 'Go fuck your -- okay, these are some cool shots.' Forlorn Warren I absolutely LOVE that Chloe is unable to pick the lock. When you take off the badass rose-colored goggles through which Max views Chloe, it ain't hard to see that Chloe doesn't get a whole lot done on her own. Anyway, we pump poor Warren for information on how to build a bomb without giving him any clue what's going on. We also stonewall him the next day when he tries to bring up the movie tickets again (WHY are movies still considered a first date option at all?! Is this Hollywood just trying to promote itself, i.e. by selling tickets?!) Oh, and to add insult to injury, Max is still in massive denial about Warren's crush. Even when the writing is almost literally on the wall in the boys' locker room, Max wonders why Warren keeps a selfie featuring Max in his locker. I guess she didn't touch it and find out how sticky it was. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 8:08:13 AM #31 | Bonus question for #80 and #79 - What are your least favorite copies/re-skins? Tabletop games are obviously the theme here, but feel free to use movie remakes, video game copies, etc. Hint for #78 - You can bluff, but usually, honesty is the best policy. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
| Topic | eighty tabletop games, ranked |
| SeabassDebeste 02/13/18 8:05:36 AM #29 | Paratroopa1 posted... Wow, it really is spelled Mascarade. Whaddya know. probably a holdover from a european spelling? I agree on everything you said about Secret Hitler. Worse times can be had, but I think it's just a shitty version of Resistance with a really tasteless theme (there's always the ONE asshole at the table who makes crass nazi jokes. It's like, we fucking get it already). All of the criticisms you gave are totally accurate. SH just hasn't encouraged good debate or interesting play at our table whereas Resistance has given us hours upon hours of it. (Resistance is my favorite game.) this makes me feel so good to hear! also, i'm embarrassed to say that i completely forgot the coup/mascarade comparison while thinking about mascarade --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness |
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