LogFAQs > #934402888

turbopuns3 posted...

I noticed Coup is quite a bit higher than werewolf and secret hitler. Why is that? And how awful of a time did you have playing secret hitler to rank it dead last?

I got around to going back and skimmimg the comments about these games from topic 1. Better late than never...!

First I will say, yes, with social deduction games especially, if you don't have a good group you aren't gonna have a good time, period. But when you've got a table of 10 who have all played such games extensively, it's an entirely different conversation. I have a significant amount of experience with each case, and here's my take on the games I mentioned.

Secret Hitler
What stands out most to me about SH (in terms of positives) is the high tension that happens when you're in danger of electing Hitler, or when you have to shoot someone and if you hit a liberal, it's game over, etc. Those moments are just so juicy and fantastic. There is nothing better than that moment of truth when the election has passed after 15 minutes of discussion and you have to then look the chancellor in the eye and say, "OK. Are you Hitler?" Nothing in the other games comes close to that. I got chills just now thinking about it. The relief that hits like a waterfall when they say no, or the gut wrenching feeling when they get a big devlisih grin.

In addition, the whole nature of Hitler not knowing the fascists is just plain fun. Allows for cute plays such as, as a fascist, investigate Hitler and report that he is liberal. It also removes a great deal of pressure from being a regular fascist because it is stilly pretty possible to win and to mess with people even if most everyone thinks you're a fascist. If I'm regular fascist in a large game, if I'm given a choice as chancellor early I will just burn the blue and play the red most of the time.

As for negatives...well, the order of liberals/fascists around the table can really mess with a game a ton if the teams are all grouped together consecutively. Sometimes that makes a game feel pretty lame. Or when you just can't manage to draw liberal cards when you get a liberal government. I want to be clear in saying I don't oppose RNG as a blanket rule. There are situations where it fits well and others where it doesn't. I don't think any of the random elements of SH are a positive, though.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf
First off all - Vampire is the best, hands down, for me. Base game and alien are really close, just kind of depends on what mood the group is in. Daybreak just misses the mark with roles in some ways, I think.

One of the greatest qualities of ONUW is the obvious fact that you can easily play 6 games an hour, or more if you don't dilly dally between rounds. As a lifetime lover of card games, the ability to get dealt a lot of hands in a short time is very appealing. Given the choice between one night and its multi-night cousin (just plain Ultimate Werewolf), I will choose ONUW 9 times out of 10. The longer version feels more like an "event" and less like a game, which has its own place, obviously! But in general when I think "game night", I don't like the idea of a two hour long game of social deduction where people are getting eliminated all throughout, and then several people are too exhausted to do anything else after it's over.

But anyway as for gameplay I just love the limitless avenues you have. Yes of course sometimes you get trapped in ways like revealing you are seer who saw a werewolf and then troublemaker reveals they swapped and now you're actually the werewolf. But then you evolve your game and you don't just cough up info quickly after that! You have reasons to be cagey and on your toes as village which is pretty unique and fun.

One thing that often goes overlooked which ONUW really has going for it is the tanner role (well, and the minion, to an extent). By virtue of the tanner existing, the game can become considerably more accessible to those who aren't good at lying or who haven't grasped all the nuances of the game yet. It instills this inherent doubt in villagers minds when they've caught a wolf and it also allows wolves the option of being blatantly suspicious which is, obviously, a hell of a lot easier than being an evil mastermind.

In general, two of the most fun hings about werewolf/hidden role games are 1) finding out your role, and 2) getting to leverage your special ability. This game allows rapid fire shots of endorphins in that way. I find it to be a game with very high highs and almost no lows to speak of (why get bent out of shape? What just happened was ridiculous and the next round is starting!)

Oh also, we never really use the timer. We still keep rounds short but after like 5 times playing we realized there is no actual reason to respect the arbitrary time limit. Some rounds need lots of time and others not so much.

Coup
This one I personally rank the lowest of the three. For my taste, the game feels a bit too...mechanical, in a way? Sometimes your deal stinks (double assassin! ...great) and you just flat out have to bluff early. And yes, I realize it's a bluffing game. But what I'm getting at is that particular flavor of bad deal is especially unsatisfying to me for whatever reason. Like the dude who started with captain and duke is just gonna bully everyone, or whatever.

The bluffing is more...quantifiable? I guess? Like it's very binary and driven by a series of calls. As opposed to say HS or ONUW where it's more of a group conversation that is fluid and qualitative. Also, your state of whether you're "bluffing" (so to speak) or not is long lasting and basically permanent, rather than a series of situations where you alternate back and forth between bluffing or not as a response to other people's actions.

I guess I just enjoy the broader flavor of deduction over time from a general feel for people as opposed to the turn-based, money counting type where sometimes you flat out win based almost entirely on getting a good deal with one or two lucky breaks where other people blunder a challenge that doesn't even involve you.

Also it's solo play as opposed to team play (though from the comments I guess they made a team version? I've only played the base game) which I don't like as much.