The Best & Worst | Elden Ring: The Board Game
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– TimeStamps –
00:00:00 Hello, hello
00:01:04 Introductions
00:01:25 Overview
00:02:53 The IP/video game
00:04:02 Format of the video
00:04:25 Our best parts of the game
00:14:57 Our worst parts of the game
00:18:32 Final thoughts
00:20:53 That’s a first impressions
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This game was provided by the Publisher
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Welcome to the Lands Between, a mysterious and otherworldly realm where the landscape is rich and varied. As you explore, you’ll build out a hex-based map of your surroundings, with unique locations to visit, resources to gather, NPC’s to interact with, and enemies to fight. Your progress is tracked by a narrative story that provides objectives as well as guidance on how to achieve them – and, depending on your decisions, alternative side-quests and emergent narrative to experience, too.
Diceless and with strong elements of deck-building, combat is both deadly and personal. As your Tarnished character levels up, you must carefully build your attack and effect decks to best optimise with your equipment. Although exploration takes place on the zoomed-out hex map, each player has their own dedicated quest book on which combat encounters will take place face-to-face.
When you enter combat, you’ll open your quest book to the indicated page. There, you’ll find a battlefield grid that raises the level of combat from one of simple physical positioning to state of mental readiness. Using rows and lanes, this unique system means your position dictates not only your physical position in the encounter, but your battle stance: aggressive, neutral, or defensive. Each battle stance has benefits and drawbacks to exploit and avoid with the changing state of battle, which can even vary from one encounter to the next.
Understanding enemy attack patterns is key, helping to inform when to expose an enemy weakness and press home an attack, and when to play defensively while your stamina returns. Drawn at random but possible to manipulate, the marching order will determine which characters act when, and give you the vital opportunity to plan ahead, just as you’d learn ‘tells’ in the video game.
A single bad decision can mean death to the unwary, sending unlucky Tarnished back to the nearest Site of Grace to respawn.
Because combat takes place in your individual quest book, your encounters also won’t disrupt play for everyone else. After making the three actions in your turn — and enduring any enemy attacks — your combat will pause while the other Tarnished continue exploring the overworld, with combat resuming once your turn comes back around.
When your party locates a dungeon, your quest books will be joined together, allowing you to take on bosses together on a much larger stage while still being up close and personal. But boss encounters aren’t the only time you’ll fight side by side. If one of your fellow Tarnished is in trouble, there are also ways to join their personal combat book and lend a hand — or a sword.
The official tabletop adaptation of the hit video game that sold over 13 million copies in its first month after release, ELDEN RING™: The Board Game features huge and lavishly detailed miniatures, as well as close to a thousand cards, four large quest books, and a towering stack of exploration tile, all in the core box alone.
It’s a big box cooperative campaign game for 1-4 players, where each session is playable in 90-120 minutes and core box campaigns will span 30-40 hours, increasing to 90 hours with the expansions. And your Tarnished can make the entire journey with you, from one region to the next…
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#Boardgames #Quackalope #eldenring
How to lose your complete credibility with one simple video. The bias in this video is a total cringe. Getting invited to the publisher's office overseas (no doubt all expenses paid) and then doing this video with the publisher in the same room…. Utterly astonished! Basically you are selling yourself to create hype and marketing. Very disappointed about the direction this channel has been going: quantity over quality, selling your soul for your ticket on the hype train.
'It is trying to be Elden Ring the board game'. I gave up watching at that point as your gameplay videos showed the opposite. Bland exploration w/ no ambushes where we try to stack up lives to so we can die over and over in boss fight w/o worry. I know this was only the first boss fight but your attack/defense cards and the bosses attack patterns felt like the most generic thing I have seen in a while and it got combined w/ Aeon's End turn system which is my most disliked mechanic of all time. The only thing that felt accurate compared to the game was collecting materials and not actually using them for anything which is hardly a good thing.
if completing tasks for npc's counted as an "important task" that didn't make you lose time tokens i think it'd be perfect. hoping they add a feature where that's the case
first quak quacck!
What a cast!
Jessie, did you convert to judaism??
Good job! I for one have zero attachment to the IP and will be looking at this game now. Thanks
Do you see enough room for variability in the mechanics so this doesn´t become a grindfest? Esp. looking at the all-in.
I'll be honest, the body language of everyone in this video isn't giving me much hope that this game is everything I want it to be.
I think the hex map creation is extremely clever and mirrors the gray cloud that goes away when you find map pieces in the game. My big reservation is that the combat just does not look visually appealing when your miniature is capable of "hitting" a miniature that is 3-4 hexes away. So much of FromSoft combat is about exploiting enemy weaknesses and getting around them by rolling through attacks or making contact with shield blocks.. The lane system just feels wrong to me.
Although I'm sure many folks will love this game, as a huge Elden Ring fan this is not for me, in it's current state. Hopefully they can add some colour, and art from the game.
Seems like a very complex game with a lot of connecting parts that are not quite clear at the moment. Asking $400 for what covers maybe 1/3 of the video game without a clear picture of the whole of the project is a lot. These types of videos should have started posting a month ago, not the day the Kickstarter launches.
Thanks for sharing this. I think my current sentiment is that I would have a better experience waiting until I have a chance to play it on PS5. I already have Middara and Oathsworn, with Sleeping Gods arriving next year which are already big campaign games. I could probably playthrough and beat the video game before the board game ships in two years.
I'm disappointed that this seems like a shared solo experience more than a cooperative one. The fact that you can fight while your buddy is still just running songs exploring might prevent me from getting this…
Just knowing how well this company did darksouls board game i have high expectations and confidence that they will get this game right. Back this while you can if it's not right for you, I'm sure you can resell it easily.
I would've really liked to see the left page of the spiral battle book be a full art print of a battle arena with the lore in the bottom corner instead of in the middle of a black page.
I know that sometimes the fight won't make total sense as to where you are on the board, but overall areas of the game drawn into artwork as a full page print would be stunning and help keep you in the world. -Dan
Super helpful.
Thank you. I have so many campaign games coming I’m so glad to hear that this is a unique combat system. That plus the theme is enough reason for me to go all-in.
This doesn't seem like it's worth the cost at all. Can't say i'm excited. Thanks for the video though!
I'm sorry, but I'm quite bored by the battle, and I can't understand how this has a positive comparison against Oathsworn/KDM/Gloomhaven. The battle feels so flat! Can't imagine playing 50h of unique combat like this. Smells like grindsung.
Can you honestly tell me that you would pick Elden Ring out of the shelve against the possibility to play any of these 3 games?
If I'm to risk with lots of money I think that Kingdoms Forlorn will be a better bet.
I don't understand how a game which is 70% cards 10% small hex's 10% miniatures and 10% quest books cost this much on Kickstarter or why it's even on Kickstarter to begin with given steamforged assets are over £5 million and they know this will sell based on the IP alone why does it need Kickstarter crowd funding? And why's it not out until 2024 estimated
Did any of you ask about the fact that the boss "exists" inside 1 Square but the borders of the boss runs outside that square. It looks a bit messy and if the larger based bosses do the same I could be afraid that it might be hard to see. But might be a prototype thing
Sad to see the awful graphic design (gray on black, tiny icons without words, minimal game art) returns. That was my deal breaker for Dark Souls TBG and it looks like it's the same for Elden Ring. Thanks for all these informative videos!
Sorry this game is boring. I play Elden Ring and i kill all Bosses. most fights are melee, you jump and roll away when the boss generates an ult, but then you are very much on him to do damage. You have to learn the rhythm of the attacks and that's how you defeat him. I don't find any of that in the game. Elden Ring is an action game and not a big puzzle. Learn the fast moves of the boss or you're dead.
Remember guys. We have 2 years until release, and the Dark souls board game in my opinion is really fun. I have every expansion for it except the exclusives. It drives you In to play more just like the video game.
I like your guests but OMG this video is dripping with biased opinions. I don’t think it’s even on purpose. Your literally in the same room with the designer and publisher…
Funny how people are already judging it poorly because of the prototype of the board game and for it being steamforged games as the creator and comparing it to a ps4/ps5 video game that will always feel better to play being a VIDEO GAME. For me at least it feels like a step up from the original dark souls board game they made several years ago combat wise. The figures are good but the board being inside of the booklet gives me the impression that the book might get damaged easily if you are not careful.
I just need my maidens to be made into figures and the game is set. Obviously since they barely just made prototypes for proof of concept the current price point is really hefty without knowing how much they will add or alter after. I still went all in pledge since I would like a boardgame variant of the game I like to play on my ps5. Currently I give this a 2.5/5 not worth it but since you can't get the price lower after the initial kickstarter I'll get it now before I regret since this version of board game feels better than the original one.
Really appreciate the content. For some reason this one isn’t pulling me in but maybe it’s since I haven’t played the video game. I am just not sure I have space for this one and other dungeon crawl boss battlers and this one is very expensive
Thanks for the videos and insight on this game. It takes a lot of hours in coordinating, recording and editing time. Again, THANK YOU. You do great work.
IM really torn between Elden Ring and Heroes of Might and Magic. Im leaning towards heroes atm.
Did Jessie convert to judiasm recently?
Ty for the video!
I appreciate you covering the positive and negative impressions for us gamers who are unable to experience the prototype but must stake our own money on the success of this development. I, too, am a huge fan of Elden Ring the board game, and this video has helped to alleviate some of my concerns about the game's accessibility.
Here's my take on the SFG decision. My main beef with the SFG direction is how they're monetizing the miniatures rather than the gameplay. If the game is truly good, selling games with standees will be a success. I am completely fine with purchasing gameplay expansions. But I'm not going to keep the miniatures if I'm only going to use them occasionally. Shelf space is a real issue for gamers. Please allow me to express my concern about the financial concern on the extra cost to the game, shipping challenges, and storage space issue here from Asia. There are many project campaigns that produce games without the use of miniatures and are still successful. Miniature should be available as an optional extra. I'm not sure how this resonates with others, but I don't have the luxury of paying 10 times the price of the video game and renting more space in Asia for storing boxes for ONE game. With all due respect, I strongly support this. Please consider adding an entry level pledge for standee to save backers money on shipping and future expansion incentives. I haven't even seen Rennala, Malenia, Mohg, Commanda Nial, or any of the other characters. Do I have to pay a hundred times as much to see them!? That, to me, is the true white elephant in the room.
I would say that this game not capturing the exploration aspect of the videogame is an understatement. The "90% black" art style, the slow and chess-like combat, the random exploration on tiny tiles that form a tiny map, the forced quest timer…all these things have nothing to do with the VG 😅
This boardgame is Elden Ring in the name (and probably the lore) and nothing else…