We play Everdell at all expansion variations. My partner and I love Spirecrest the most, but teaching new players with the base game then adding expansions as flavours for experienced players is fun. Farshore looks great, but the original is a delight that hasn't diminished over the years. Thanks Starling! Keep up the stunning work!
Was always interested in Everdell, but never got around to purchasing it. Then they came out with numerous expansions, and being the completionist I am, it felt too daunting to jump into the game. But now this is something that has renewed my interest once again! Mission accomplished Starling Games!
It seems like they took a few elements from each expansion and combined them to make one new game under a different theme. I see elements of Newleaf and Spirecrest in here. Looks fun!
Thanks for your playthrough and thoughts on this game (i know playthroughs are less popular but i certaintly appreciate them since they give a better sense of how a game plays which pairs well with your final thoughts) a friend of mine had Everdell with some expansions and i considered getting her this but given the overlap/sequel nature to it i got it for myself instead so we both have a game of that ilk and i love it. The game has been very popular with all friends who have played it so far (12 people) and we kept the variety in the group. Personally i agree Farshore is better thanks to the flexibility in anchors and treasure as well as the compasses giving some direction to new players and early turns. But both are very good (: I think the ship movement is a great way to add more pseudo-interaction between players as well since euro games can get quite solatair but seeing other peoples ships move is fun but adds a little tension (:
Fantastic review, Radho! Much appreciated, including the cards at the end. I have the whole collection except Pearlbrook. Everdell got me hooked on the hobby. What I like about Everdell is that depending on how I feel I can do base, add an expansion and/or play with bonus stuff (Legendary cards) or the new spider solo. It's customizable. I get a new experience depending on which expansion I play and the level of complexity I'm after. But I also see how this new reiteration of Everdell takes inspiration from elements from different expansions and integrates them in an easier way into the base game. Though now they are baked in instead of 'adding or removing' from your base Everdell. I would say it answers to different needs, some fans will love having a base-plus sea-themed version, while others will stick to the older 'add as you want' version. Glad we get options now :)
I love playing Everdell with my gaming group (one of the others own it). This looks more like something I can play with my son, so I think this is something I'll invest in.
Kind of feels like Raiders of Scythia. A repackaged version of the original game with a few key elemnents from across the expansions and some new stuff. Its a good idea. I actually got rid of my Raiders of the North Sea because I always reached for Scythia when I wanted to play. Its just more streamlined.
The difference is the cost of going all in on Everdell versus Raiders of the North Sea. This could have been of huge interest to many including myself, but this is an absolute pass for me.
i am totally flummoxed i have to admit. if someone loves everdell enough to buy the super expensive mega box, that means theyreally value the gameplay here, so a new take on it that changes the feel in subtle but significant ways would be very attractive i would think. like if you really LOOOVE chocolate ice cream, it would seem so strange to me to me if you said "oh, that chocolate ice cream has chocolate chips in it? ABSOLUTE PASS!" but different strokes for different folks and all that :)
@@crosscutgames This doesnt seem to be the same. North sea and scythia are almost the same game with very minor differences and the game feels the same. This doesnt seem to hold true here.
I was the same with TTR: Europe, though I still own the original. Just got the Everdell Big Box without having ever played it and have really enjoyed my time with it but I like what Farshore is doing. I will have to give it a try before making the switch but it doesn't seem like they are different enough to justify necessarily owning both with my limited storage space. Appreciate the playthrough and final thoughts!
Hmm this is just simpler approach of Everdell. I prefer original with exp defienietly much more but 8 unique cards on Meadow is the way I will play Everdell now.
I'd be curious how this holds up to Everdell with expansions. Like I love the variabile player powers and general variability of the entire system. The New Leaf expansion improves on the base game immensely and gives you so much more control over the large deck issues. I like to change out all the other content between plays giving each time we play a bit of a different feel. Can't imagine Farshore being at that level for awhile.😊
of course everdell with any expansion is going to be bigger and more complex and longer than regular everdell or farshore. all of the expansions basically add new "extra stuff" that gets layered on top of the core game. farshore instead changes the core game itself to follow mostly the same rules while making the game feel very different
I like the look of this, as an Everdell fan, and Rahdo does a great job of explaining the differences. But but but, I have neither unlimited funds nor unlimited space, if I was going to spend the amount this likely costs I am not sure how I would justify buying this rather than just a different game. I don't really need two slightly different versions of the same thing. There are lots of other games out there on my wishlist! Looks good though, had I not had the original I would def. go for it. Maybe I'll look for a trade in due course!!
I have to admit, I'm pretty bummed this isn't an entirely new game. I don't see the reason to drop the money on this, even with the few differences from Everdell. And I'm also bummed this doesn't feature Bosley's art. That feels like an odd choice, similar to if Garphil was to use a "Mico-esque" artist for their next trilogy series.
If they had just created the new elements, like the track, windroses, new map tiles, etc., as an expansion to the original Everdell, I'd be buying this immediately. As it stands, this is so much like Everdell, it doesn't make sense to have both and I'm certainly not giving up the big investment I put into all the expansions for the original. I guess I'll be making some new pieces and house rules to add the things I like from Farshore to my original Everdell experience!
i'm pretty sure they annouced when the did the superbox that they're done with more content for original everdell, so now they're in a sitaution more like pandemic (which got 3 or 4 expansions, and now a days they do the spin off standalone games instead) :)
I think what made Everdell work for me was that it made me feel clever and the more difficult a card or combo is to play the more clever I feel. This seems to take away some of that by making cards easier to play and by making it easier to get the resources you need. The restrictive nature of Everdell made it satisfying when you finally pulled off what you wanted to do or if you pivoted and worked your way into an equally enjoyable strategy. It’s not that I enjoy harder games but Everdells game arch is one of the best in gaming and the difficulty at the beginning of the game is the key reason for that. Also the shared objective cards will be missed, that was a fun race at times and it also made for interesting choices that may or may not pay off. I will say this might be better at 4+ players, maybe even 3+, but Everdell at 2 is what I mainly play and Farshore seems too open with less players.
i'd say in base everdell you're more narrowly focused while farshore gives a broader array of paths to victory and imo it's actually a more challenging game because it makes you have to balance and compromise between those different avenues more, and because there are more paths to victory, there are more tools to follow those paths :)
@@rahdo wonder if we would like this better then. We sold Everdell after one play. It just seemed meh. Kind of boring and I didn’t care if I ever played it again, despite the cute art and world. A drag though here is that there is no Andrew Bosley art. To me, that’s close to a dealbreaker. That is Everdell and any connected game in that world. Seems like they may have cheaped out to not go with Andrew Bosley for this, which is a shame.
I've heard that there would be a new game in the Everdell universe but did not expect it to be the same with a few alterations. What is great about Everdell is you start with so little, and wonder 'How in the heck can I build 15 cards with only 2 workers and a handful of cards?' Surprisingly, things ramp up quite quickly. That's the beauty of Evedell. That said, this one seems easier than its bigger brother. Not that it's a bad thing. I have everything Everdell and that is enough. Some of the ideas could be 'house ruled'. Simple ones would be to stack copies of cards already in the center. This is a pass for me. That's ok. I say this now, then later they will have an expansion with asymmetric (my favorite aspect of modern gaming) critters and other additions. As always, great video.
Playing Everdell 2P, we have adopted BGG variants that reduce the cards and increase the meadow. Works beautifully and we don't mind the luck aspects that remain. Looks to me like this game somewhat simplifies and makes the game play easier overall, so no thanks. 🙂
i am surprised some folks are coming away with this perspective... there are more rules in farshore than there are in original everdell. it's literally a more complex game (only slightly, but still). there is more to consider and balance and compromise on with every card played in this game than there was in the original :)
@@rahdo But it still isn't that much more complex. After putting in hundreds of dollars in Everdell, I wanted something genuinely different. Great for those who never got into Everdell before, but Everdell is my wife's favorite game, so good luck getting me to switch or even having both. This is a genuine wasted opportunity. Case in point, I showed my wife My Lil Everdell and she instantly wanted it, and we have gotten to play it with kids. This? (chuckles) There's so no real point to this. Seriously. If anything, it just reinforces Everdell needs some house ruling. Hell, they could have added some of this in the complete collection.
sure, it's roughly the same overall weight, slightly more complex but in the same ballpark. i was just trying to correct the assumption that it's a simpler or easier when that's not the case at all when you're comparing base game to base game :) as for the point of it, that would be to enjoy everdell in a new way with a new feel to the core gameplay (rather than stacking new things on top of existing gameplay). if that's pointless to you, that's perfectly fine... different strokes for different folks and all that :)
Would you consider this a replacement to the base game and expansions? I like the game in general but with the expansions it ends up being more to set up than I typically want to. I wonder if this version would allow me to trade my old copy?
i like this approach to the system more than i like original everdell, and it'd say this is kind of the equivalent of everdell + 1 expansion built into the box. if you're looking for a faster set up and play, this might make sense
Hello Rahdo, I really like the improvements on this new Everdell, even the bigger fonts, however, does it have only 50 unique cards out of the two decks of cards? These are fewer unique cards than original Everdell or this is more or less the same? Thank you
according to this list: boardgamegeek.com/filepage/200245/one-page-card-list-specs-summary the original everdell came with 48 unique cards, so you're getting basically the same variety in farshore (but then farshore also adds weather cards so you're actually getting effectively an extra promo's worth of cards here) :)
Great review I personally really liked the original Everdell without any expansion but then each new expansion felt so disjointed as if playing several separate mini-games, Good expansions are supposed to be strategic with options and choices that get combined with the main game, Expansion did not do any of that ... none of the expansion had a strategic clever interaction with the main game and board it was just an extra scoring mechanic on the side, making the game rather more tedious than strategically clever ... I am not saying it was not pretty but it was far from strategically well-incorporated gameplay ... For example, If a frog meeple can go only to that one particular expansion board, then there is no really a strategic choice in regard to the main game and main board, the frog should have been a special advanced unit that is able to go to both the expansion and the main board giving a player strategic choice on what he wants to focus and do ... otherwise we are just playing separate mini-games ... endless winter also suffer from same issue, it is like playing poker ,monoply and chess at the same time and scoring it all together, but making theme of all 3 games into animal illustrations and meeples to create an illusion it is all the same game ...
Does look like they have taken inspiration from the weather cards and the maps from Spirecrest which is a big part of that expansion. Only thing missing would be the big meeples and ability cards.
Is it my impression or they went for a larger font on the cards? That was one of my main complaints for the original version. Maybe you mentioned it and I missed it.
yes i just went and compared and you're right: the font size on farshore is significantly larger, both for the game text and the flavor text. they got rid of the card boards so the art and text area go right up to the edge, allowing for easier to read text AND more of the game art on the card. HUGE improvement :)
presumably the press release will come within the next few hours. i was about to go to sleep when i saw other channels starting to post it, so i figured i would too (originally planned to do so when i woke up in about 6 hours). not sure when it will be listed on bgg. presumably again within the next few hours :)
i would bet no. i think everdell is switching into a state similar to pandemic. original game gets a bunch of expansions, all very successful. designer decides "okay i'm done building on this game design base, but how can i change the base", and then does a series of spinoff games with changes to setting and the core gameplay. so for pandemic we've had a half dozen spin offs now, and i'd bet that's the future for everdell universe now as well :)
It seems like a refinement / cherry picking of Everdell and that feels kinda bad after just getting the giant collectors edition. I want to try it but I’ve already spent so much on Everdell. I might try playing the meadow like that in Everdell. The meadow is available to everyone so shouldn’t impact game balance too much I’d hope. I’m surprised you make a point of the randomness in Everdell when you love Wingspan. I haven’t felt frustrated by Everdell but in Wingapan I constantly feel stuck and frustrated. Numeric rating?!
yeah i can't imagine why anyone wouldn't apply that bay rule to the meadow! :) you'll note that i said others have complained about the randomness of everdell, and i didn't necessarily agree. but i do understand the frustration and yes it can exist in wingspan as well, and pretty much any game with a deck of cards. farshore does a lot more to mitigate that randomness than most games i'd say :) right, i forgot to rate the game because it wasn't on bgg last week when jen and i were playing it. i'll go do it now :)
I think the pushback on this version comes from fans of Everdell, like myself, who are disappointed this was not a more different game in the same universe. Especially if you have the big box; why get another version that plays similarly unless you are planning to keep just one and may get rid of the original which could also mean the big box. IMO, Starling Games took the easy route to reimplement base Everdell with some expansion mechanics and "milking" an existing system. Sure, this is great for folks who don't already own Everdell but as a huge fan of Everdell, I wanted something different. I hate to say this but I would have preferred a roll and write over this. I'm assuming the publisher spending time to put Farshore out is delaying any future Everdell universe game, if that is a consideration at all.
i guarantee if they had gone the way you suggest and did something completely new, there's be people here complaining "why did you slap the everdell name on whatever this is. this isn't everdell... what a cheap cash grab!!!" (i saw plenty of this on the recent scythe: expedition game) if there's one thing i've learned from doing this job for 11 years, there no end to negativity in the boardgame community can produce in spite of the fact that there's never been a better time to be a boardgame fan :(
@@rahdo yeah, that is sad. I am sincerely glad this version exists because there is an audience for it. There are plenty of great games so I'm all for less complaining and more playing.
Your input about being able to see what the next weather or season behold I feel is a bad recommendation/house rule. You are making it more strategic rather than random. You may want the predictable nature, but that takes away the gambling feel. Just don't feel that is a good suggestion.
This looks much less fun then Everdel. It turns it into judt another dry point track game. Also as Rahdo mentioned he hasn't even played everdell with more than one expansion so he can't compare it most of the expansions. Though it probably wouldn't change his mind given his taste. The solo mode here looks fun but I haven't seen the spider solo mode from from the train expansion either.
@@rahdo It depends on the game... If you just want control don't play any games with cards or dice. It's important to understand what a game is and what people like it. I'm glad that some people will enjoy this more. It would be fun to add the winds alone as a 10 $ expansion to everdell. I also like idea of using the no duplicates rule you suggest. However the card power largely do not combo anymore. The variety in the original provide more drama which more than makes up for a bit less control. The new powers seem much more shabby. I suggest you play a variant of far shore where everyone gets dealt a copy of every card for their own personal deck and if you rest early you can look 5cards x # of unused workers and pick out a card for each unused worker from your personal deck. Is that automatically better because there's more control?
_if you just want control don't play any games with cards_ or play a game with cards that gives you more control over them, which is what this new approach to the everdell system does :)
@@rahdo It depends how much control you want. This is enough for you. However like I said abstract games such as go or chess offer the most control. A game with a theme is usually going to sacrifice a bit of control for a variety of reasons. Just adding more control doesn't make a game more fun. If there was a version of everdell called everdell essentials with a streamlined deck but there was still opportunity for combos then I might be interested but this just looks like dryer but not adding anything that would be more interesting to someone who already likes Everdell. I see this as Everdell for folks who don't really like everdell. I'm glad that many will enjoy it but I don't think anyone who has everdell in their top 50 is going to switch to this though they may want it just as an intro game.
i'm not sure why you're suggesting these cards don't combine in interesting ways... i demonstrated exactly that in the runthrough i filmed where i created a mini-engine within the first few turns. i don't expect anyone who loves everdell would get rid of their original to get this... that would make no sense. but i'd be boggled that anyone who loves everdell wouldn't want to experience a game they love it in a new way that makes them more proactive instead of reactive, just for the sheer variety of it. and yes, i expect this will also make everdell appeal a lot more to folks who did not like the original game. for the record, i liked the original game quite a lot, but i felt it got top heavy as the expansions kept coming out. they kept piling on more and more and more "stuff", which is fine, but i like this approach better where they're fundamentally re-examining the core ideas of the game instead of just adding additional layers on top of the original game. so it seems very win-win to me, but then i would do that since i tend to be a positive person :)
Thanks for presenting. I have purchased each expansion as it came out. I have very little interest in this one. Many other games on the list prior to this one.
Love Everdell, I have the giant expensive collectors edition. But not sure how I feel about this. It doesn’t look like it’s different enough to need to own both games. Does it replace the game people have spent hundreds of dollars on already? Does this game really need to exist? Seems like a bit of a cash grab.
It's for people who have not yet gotten Everdell or have found Everdell too random or too difficult. Or for those who want to bridge friends into Everdell through something a bit lighter.
nope, it doesn't replace the game at all. just gives it a different feel. the everdell expansions that have come out so far generally add to the base experience. this changes the base experience. i would think folks who love everdell would enjoy experiencing it with a new underlying game design philosophy, and also people who didn't like everdell could potentially enjoy this one more :)
It reminds me a bit of what the variants of Carcassonne were like years ago-familiar but with differences. Everdell fans will probably want it because of loving all things Everdell.
100 dollars MSRP? Even the 75 on preorder is a bit much. I think the everdell MSRP was only 70 and it sells for 60... which means this game is going to be in the 90 dollar range. Way too much for what it is.
actually it's the same msrp as everdell collectors edition, which at retail (when it was widely available) hovered around $60, and i expect the same will be true here
@@rahdo No the collectors edition wasnt 60 dollars at retail. You are getting that confused with the base edition that you can still get in retail right now for 60. I waited and waited for the collectors edition to come down and it never went below 90. I ended up getting the normal edition for about 50.
oops you're right. wow i thought the regular edition of everdell was less, but i guess it's always been a spendy game! squishy components aren't cheap it seems :) looking on amazon the collectors edition has occasionally dropped into the $79, but it doesn't stay there (here's a price history). camelcamelcamel.com/product/B07WWJMQFW?context=search i guess i must have looked it up in the past at one of those times when it was lower :)
This is extremely disappointing. Everdell is my #3 game all-time. When I heard there was a new game coming in this world, I thought it might be an RPG. Like what Tidal Blades did. That's not my jam but I know a lot of people would like that. What I was hoping for was a new game that had some familiarity to aspects of Everdell. Analogous to what Expeditions is to Scythe (my #2 all-time). What I wasn't expecting was a reimplementation with slight twists that honestly make the game less interesting and less tense for me. And art that, while still beautiful, doesn't actually feel like Everdell; but an imitation. This feels lazy and exploitive of those who are big Everdell fans and completionists. I own everything Everdell and these choices (art, gameplay tweaks, gameplay overlap) are such a turnoff that I feel no desire to own this. I think if someone doesn't have Everdell, though, this will probably be a great jumping on point for games in this world. Though they can probably wait out a better price.
those slight twists make a big different in terms of what the overall gameplay feels like. i would think an everdell SUPERFAN would appreciate those changes and want to experience them even more than someone who doesn't know the game. like a wine connoisseur wants to try different vintages and such. but different strokes and all that :) waiing for prices to come down is always a reasonable approach though. thie game has the same MSRP as everdell collectors, which went for like $60 on average when it was widely avaialble, so one could imagine that here as well. but then, EVERYTHING gets cheaper if you're willing to wait... you always pay a premium to get things early :)
@@rahdo I don't know if I qualify as a SUPERFAN but it is the most played competitive game in my collection and I have been following and supporting Everdell since the base game. I would play Farshore but I wouldn't pay for it or want it taking up valuable space in my collection. This just isn't different enough mechanically to justify. (And honestly doesn't feel like an improvement). I feel similarly to this as I did when Dinosaur World came out (Dinosaur Island being another top ten for me). No need to spend money and space on a reimplementation of a game I already adore and have no complaints with. Especially since Everdell is endlessly replayable with all the content I've already amassed. Starling Games should take notes from Stonemaier on how to properly expand a game's world: same artist, continuation of storytelling, and different mechanics. Farshore doesn't offer any of that.
hehe, owning "everything everdell" ain't cheap, so i think that qualifies you as a superfan! i hope you get a chance to try farshore someday, it might surprise you! and i guess the fact that you think the game feel hasn't changed means i didn't do as good a job as i could have demonstrating... :( and OMG, dinosaur world obliterates dinosaur island... you should definitely go back and take another look there! :) and believe me, stonemaier gets PLENTY of "why did you make this? this isnt' scythe! this is a lousy money grab ripoff to exploit the goodwill of a great game by slapping it's name on a POS that no one wants!". i know, because i saw lots of this when i posted my expeditions video, and if anything the backlash was much more vitriolic against that game that what i've seen this morning so far for farshore... though it's a lot of IMO unwarranted gloom and doom here too. so whether publishers of a well loved games do a sequel (farshore) or a spinoff (expeditions), there's always plenty of negative nellies in the comments, rest assured!
@@rahdo Oh no not at all! I wouldn't say that my lack of enthusiasm here has anything to do with the quality of your presentation. You did a good job giving me an idea of how the game operates and what's new/what's the same. Knowing Everdell as well as I do I can tell this isn't going to resonate with me. It isn't a justifiable purchase. But your videos continue to be excellent. In recent memory your videos regarding Expeditions, Sabika, and Alubari have helped me feel more confident in my decisions to purchase them. I would say my disappointment in Farshore is due to different expectations rather than any shortcomings on your part as a presenter. I will have to re-research Dinosaur World. I don't remember all the details of it. I know it added route building, which is cool. But I also remember thinking it wasn't different enough and that either only World or Island would ever get played. And Dinosaur Island was my first KS and I had all the deluxified goodies along with a wooden Broken Token insert to house it all. So, that wasn't going anywhere. But I'll take another look. Thanks for the recommendation! And I understand that completely. I felt like Expeditions was "unnecessary" until I saw some gameplay and design info. Then I realized that it's something I would enjoy immensely. Mainly the expansion of a beloved theme being explored in a mechanically different way. I do feel like Expeditions is a legitimate sequel to Scythe while Farshore is more of a spin-off or even reimplementation of Everdell. Doesn't make it a bad game in any way; just not a game I'm going to buy. But I will probably recommend my friends who are intrigued by Everdell but intimidated by the massive buy-in at this point to check out Farshore as a good intro to this amazing world. Thanks, as always, for the work you do for this community, Rahdo!
@@rahdo it is definitely not about the artist! For me, it’s like you leave the Big Mac sauce from the Big Mac and still call it Big Mac (vegan or not … you decide 😜)
i'd say it's more like you replace the big mac sauce with salt lick bbq sauce so you get something equally good but a fun new flavor (omg, that actually sounds amazing... salt lick bbq is the best in the world!) :)
We play Everdell at all expansion variations. My partner and I love Spirecrest the most, but teaching new players with the base game then adding expansions as flavours for experienced players is fun. Farshore looks great, but the original is a delight that hasn't diminished over the years. Thanks Starling! Keep up the stunning work!
Was always interested in Everdell, but never got around to purchasing it. Then they came out with numerous expansions, and being the completionist I am, it felt too daunting to jump into the game. But now this is something that has renewed my interest once again! Mission accomplished Starling Games!
hehe i was literally in the exact same boat as you! :)
It seems like they took a few elements from each expansion and combined them to make one new game under a different theme. I see elements of Newleaf and Spirecrest in here. Looks fun!
exactly.
Same as others here, I had some Everdell a while ago but this sounds like it fixes some of the issues I had with it.
Very cool! Definitely picking this one up... eventually!
Thanks for your playthrough and thoughts on this game (i know playthroughs are less popular but i certaintly appreciate them since they give a better sense of how a game plays which pairs well with your final thoughts) a friend of mine had Everdell with some expansions and i considered getting her this but given the overlap/sequel nature to it i got it for myself instead so we both have a game of that ilk and i love it.
The game has been very popular with all friends who have played it so far (12 people) and we kept the variety in the group. Personally i agree Farshore is better thanks to the flexibility in anchors and treasure as well as the compasses giving some direction to new players and early turns. But both are very good (:
I think the ship movement is a great way to add more pseudo-interaction between players as well since euro games can get quite solatair but seeing other peoples ships move is fun but adds a little tension (:
I love the combos in Everdell. So this is Everdell without the combos, just the pointsalad part.
Fantastic review, Radho! Much appreciated, including the cards at the end. I have the whole collection except Pearlbrook. Everdell got me hooked on the hobby. What I like about Everdell is that depending on how I feel I can do base, add an expansion and/or play with bonus stuff (Legendary cards) or the new spider solo. It's customizable. I get a new experience depending on which expansion I play and the level of complexity I'm after. But I also see how this new reiteration of Everdell takes inspiration from elements from different expansions and integrates them in an easier way into the base game. Though now they are baked in instead of 'adding or removing' from your base Everdell. I would say it answers to different needs, some fans will love having a base-plus sea-themed version, while others will stick to the older 'add as you want' version. Glad we get options now :)
I love playing Everdell with my gaming group (one of the others own it). This looks more like something I can play with my son, so I think this is something I'll invest in.
Always been a fan of Everdell, will need to get this on as well.
Always top notch production quality from starling
Kind of feels like Raiders of Scythia. A repackaged version of the original game with a few key elemnents from across the expansions and some new stuff. Its a good idea. I actually got rid of my Raiders of the North Sea because I always reached for Scythia when I wanted to play. Its just more streamlined.
Yup. Sure looks like that to me - minor (?) changes from the OG Everdell.
they are minor changes that have major impact on the feel of the game :)
The difference is the cost of going all in on Everdell versus Raiders of the North Sea. This could have been of huge interest to many including myself, but this is an absolute pass for me.
i am totally flummoxed i have to admit. if someone loves everdell enough to buy the super expensive mega box, that means theyreally value the gameplay here, so a new take on it that changes the feel in subtle but significant ways would be very attractive i would think. like if you really LOOOVE chocolate ice cream, it would seem so strange to me to me if you said "oh, that chocolate ice cream has chocolate chips in it? ABSOLUTE PASS!"
but different strokes for different folks and all that :)
@@crosscutgames This doesnt seem to be the same. North sea and scythia are almost the same game with very minor differences and the game feels the same. This doesnt seem to hold true here.
I was the same with TTR: Europe, though I still own the original. Just got the Everdell Big Box without having ever played it and have really enjoyed my time with it but I like what Farshore is doing. I will have to give it a try before making the switch but it doesn't seem like they are different enough to justify necessarily owning both with my limited storage space. Appreciate the playthrough and final thoughts!
Hmm this is just simpler approach of Everdell. I prefer original with exp defienietly much more but 8 unique cards on Meadow is the way I will play Everdell now.
well you got one thing out of it! :)
Agreed--I'm definitely house-ruling the Meadow! Might even print my own map tiles to switch out the events.
I'd be curious how this holds up to Everdell with expansions. Like I love the variabile player powers and general variability of the entire system. The New Leaf expansion improves on the base game immensely and gives you so much more control over the large deck issues. I like to change out all the other content between plays giving each time we play a bit of a different feel. Can't imagine Farshore being at that level for awhile.😊
of course everdell with any expansion is going to be bigger and more complex and longer than regular everdell or farshore. all of the expansions basically add new "extra stuff" that gets layered on top of the core game. farshore instead changes the core game itself to follow mostly the same rules while making the game feel very different
I like the look of this, as an Everdell fan, and Rahdo does a great job of explaining the differences. But but but, I have neither unlimited funds nor unlimited space, if I was going to spend the amount this likely costs I am not sure how I would justify buying this rather than just a different game. I don't really need two slightly different versions of the same thing. There are lots of other games out there on my wishlist! Looks good though, had I not had the original I would def. go for it. Maybe I'll look for a trade in due course!!
totally valid points! :)
I have to admit, I'm pretty bummed this isn't an entirely new game. I don't see the reason to drop the money on this, even with the few differences from Everdell. And I'm also bummed this doesn't feature Bosley's art. That feels like an odd choice, similar to if Garphil was to use a "Mico-esque" artist for their next trilogy series.
If they had just created the new elements, like the track, windroses, new map tiles, etc., as an expansion to the original Everdell, I'd be buying this immediately. As it stands, this is so much like Everdell, it doesn't make sense to have both and I'm certainly not giving up the big investment I put into all the expansions for the original. I guess I'll be making some new pieces and house rules to add the things I like from Farshore to my original Everdell experience!
i'm pretty sure they annouced when the did the superbox that they're done with more content for original everdell, so now they're in a sitaution more like pandemic (which got 3 or 4 expansions, and now a days they do the spin off standalone games instead) :)
I think what made Everdell work for me was that it made me feel clever and the more difficult a card or combo is to play the more clever I feel. This seems to take away some of that by making cards easier to play and by making it easier to get the resources you need. The restrictive nature of Everdell made it satisfying when you finally pulled off what you wanted to do or if you pivoted and worked your way into an equally enjoyable strategy. It’s not that I enjoy harder games but Everdells game arch is one of the best in gaming and the difficulty at the beginning of the game is the key reason for that.
Also the shared objective cards will be missed, that was a fun race at times and it also made for interesting choices that may or may not pay off.
I will say this might be better at 4+ players, maybe even 3+, but Everdell at 2 is what I mainly play and Farshore seems too open with less players.
i'd say in base everdell you're more narrowly focused while farshore gives a broader array of paths to victory and imo it's actually a more challenging game because it makes you have to balance and compromise between those different avenues more, and because there are more paths to victory, there are more tools to follow those paths :)
@@rahdo wonder if we would like this better then. We sold Everdell after one play. It just seemed meh. Kind of boring and I didn’t care if I ever played it again, despite the cute art and world. A drag though here is that there is no Andrew Bosley art. To me, that’s close to a dealbreaker. That is Everdell and any connected game in that world. Seems like they may have cheaped out to not go with Andrew Bosley for this, which is a shame.
I've heard that there would be a new game in the Everdell universe but did not expect it to be the same with a few alterations.
What is great about Everdell is you start with so little, and wonder 'How in the heck can I build 15 cards with only 2 workers and a handful of cards?' Surprisingly, things ramp up quite quickly. That's the beauty of Evedell. That said, this one seems easier than its bigger brother. Not that it's a bad thing.
I have everything Everdell and that is enough.
Some of the ideas could be 'house ruled'. Simple ones would be to stack copies of cards already in the center.
This is a pass for me. That's ok. I say this now, then later they will have an expansion with asymmetric (my favorite aspect of modern gaming) critters and other additions.
As always, great video.
Playing Everdell 2P, we have adopted BGG variants that reduce the cards and increase the meadow. Works beautifully and we don't mind the luck aspects that remain. Looks to me like this game somewhat simplifies and makes the game play easier overall, so no thanks. 🙂
i am surprised some folks are coming away with this perspective... there are more rules in farshore than there are in original everdell. it's literally a more complex game (only slightly, but still). there is more to consider and balance and compromise on with every card played in this game than there was in the original :)
@@rahdo But it still isn't that much more complex. After putting in hundreds of dollars in Everdell, I wanted something genuinely different. Great for those who never got into Everdell before, but Everdell is my wife's favorite game, so good luck getting me to switch or even having both. This is a genuine wasted opportunity. Case in point, I showed my wife My Lil Everdell and she instantly wanted it, and we have gotten to play it with kids. This? (chuckles) There's so no real point to this. Seriously. If anything, it just reinforces Everdell needs some house ruling. Hell, they could have added some of this in the complete collection.
sure, it's roughly the same overall weight, slightly more complex but in the same ballpark. i was just trying to correct the assumption that it's a simpler or easier when that's not the case at all when you're comparing base game to base game :)
as for the point of it, that would be to enjoy everdell in a new way with a new feel to the core gameplay (rather than stacking new things on top of existing gameplay). if that's pointless to you, that's perfectly fine... different strokes for different folks and all that :)
Sounds like you and I are on the same page with this one !
great minds think alike :)
Would you consider this a replacement to the base game and expansions? I like the game in general but with the expansions it ends up being more to set up than I typically want to. I wonder if this version would allow me to trade my old copy?
i like this approach to the system more than i like original everdell, and it'd say this is kind of the equivalent of everdell + 1 expansion built into the box. if you're looking for a faster set up and play, this might make sense
Hello Rahdo, I really like the improvements on this new Everdell, even the bigger fonts, however, does it have only 50 unique cards out of the two decks of cards? These are fewer unique cards than original Everdell or this is more or less the same? Thank you
according to this list: boardgamegeek.com/filepage/200245/one-page-card-list-specs-summary the original everdell came with 48 unique cards, so you're getting basically the same variety in farshore (but then farshore also adds weather cards so you're actually getting effectively an extra promo's worth of cards here) :)
@@rahdo Thanks a lot Rahdo. Hopefuly MalditoGames release It in Spain
Great review I personally really liked the original Everdell without any expansion but then each new expansion felt so disjointed as if playing several separate mini-games, Good expansions are supposed to be strategic with options and choices that get combined with the main game, Expansion did not do any of that ... none of the expansion had a strategic clever interaction with the main game and board it was just an extra scoring mechanic on the side, making the game rather more tedious than strategically clever ... I am not saying it was not pretty but it was far from strategically well-incorporated gameplay ... For example, If a frog meeple can go only to that one particular expansion board, then there is no really a strategic choice in regard to the main game and main board, the frog should have been a special advanced unit that is able to go to both the expansion and the main board giving a player strategic choice on what he wants to focus and do ... otherwise we are just playing separate mini-games ... endless winter also suffer from same issue, it is like playing poker ,monoply and chess at the same time and scoring it all together, but making theme of all 3 games into animal illustrations and meeples to create an illusion it is all the same game ...
So this is base Everdell + Spirecrest (with new theme) just more stream lined and therefor a bit lighter?
i wouldn't say so
I would. ;)
Does look like they have taken inspiration from the weather cards and the maps from Spirecrest which is a big part of that expansion. Only thing missing would be the big meeples and ability cards.
Is it my impression or they went for a larger font on the cards? That was one of my main complaints for the original version. Maybe you mentioned it and I missed it.
yes i just went and compared and you're right: the font size on farshore is significantly larger, both for the game text and the flavor text. they got rid of the card boards so the art and text area go right up to the edge, allowing for easier to read text AND more of the game art on the card. HUGE improvement :)
@@rahdo Thank you so much! This is such a simple and important change that improves accessibility!
Is this being posted pre-press release? No bgg entry as of yet. Looks good though. :)
presumably the press release will come within the next few hours. i was about to go to sleep when i saw other channels starting to post it, so i figured i would too (originally planned to do so when i woke up in about 6 hours).
not sure when it will be listed on bgg. presumably again within the next few hours :)
Will there be a farshore complete collection though? That’s the real question
i would bet no. i think everdell is switching into a state similar to pandemic. original game gets a bunch of expansions, all very successful. designer decides "okay i'm done building on this game design base, but how can i change the base", and then does a series of spinoff games with changes to setting and the core gameplay. so for pandemic we've had a half dozen spin offs now, and i'd bet that's the future for everdell universe now as well :)
For now I am just going to stick with Everdell. Looks good, but I have the new big box and going to get my value from it.
well this will likely sell out, but presumably there'll be reprints down the road so you can try it then :)
It seems like a refinement / cherry picking of Everdell and that feels kinda bad after just getting the giant collectors edition. I want to try it but I’ve already spent so much on Everdell. I might try playing the meadow like that in Everdell. The meadow is available to everyone so shouldn’t impact game balance too much I’d hope.
I’m surprised you make a point of the randomness in Everdell when you love Wingspan. I haven’t felt frustrated by Everdell but in Wingapan I constantly feel stuck and frustrated.
Numeric rating?!
yeah i can't imagine why anyone wouldn't apply that bay rule to the meadow! :)
you'll note that i said others have complained about the randomness of everdell, and i didn't necessarily agree. but i do understand the frustration and yes it can exist in wingspan as well, and pretty much any game with a deck of cards. farshore does a lot more to mitigate that randomness than most games i'd say :)
right, i forgot to rate the game because it wasn't on bgg last week when jen and i were playing it. i'll go do it now :)
@@rahdo Thanks Rahdo! =)
I think the pushback on this version comes from fans of Everdell, like myself, who are disappointed this was not a more different game in the same universe. Especially if you have the big box; why get another version that plays similarly unless you are planning to keep just one and may get rid of the original which could also mean the big box.
IMO, Starling Games took the easy route to reimplement base Everdell with some expansion mechanics and "milking" an existing system. Sure, this is great for folks who don't already own Everdell but as a huge fan of Everdell, I wanted something different. I hate to say this but I would have preferred a roll and write over this. I'm assuming the publisher spending time to put Farshore out is delaying any future Everdell universe game, if that is a consideration at all.
i guarantee if they had gone the way you suggest and did something completely new, there's be people here complaining "why did you slap the everdell name on whatever this is. this isn't everdell... what a cheap cash grab!!!" (i saw plenty of this on the recent scythe: expedition game)
if there's one thing i've learned from doing this job for 11 years, there no end to negativity in the boardgame community can produce in spite of the fact that there's never been a better time to be a boardgame fan :(
@@rahdo yeah, that is sad. I am sincerely glad this version exists because there is an audience for it. There are plenty of great games so I'm all for less complaining and more playing.
Your input about being able to see what the next weather or season behold I feel is a bad recommendation/house rule. You are making it more strategic rather than random. You may want the predictable nature, but that takes away the gambling feel. Just don't feel that is a good suggestion.
In Rahdo's World, there are no bad or mediocre games. At least not as long they pay.
no one paid for this coverage. also please see faq.rahdo.com #7
This looks much less fun then Everdel. It turns it into judt another dry point track game. Also as Rahdo mentioned he hasn't even played everdell with more than one expansion so he can't compare it most of the expansions. Though it probably wouldn't change his mind given his taste.
The solo mode here looks fun but I haven't seen the spider solo mode from from the train expansion either.
i'd say this is significantly more fun than regular everdell, given my taste. more agency & control is always a good thing imo :)
@@rahdo It depends on the game... If you just want control don't play any games with cards or dice. It's important to understand what a game is and what people like it. I'm glad that some people will enjoy this more. It would be fun to add the winds alone as a 10 $ expansion to everdell. I also like idea of using the no duplicates rule you suggest. However the card power largely do not combo anymore. The variety in the original provide more drama which more than makes up for a bit less control. The new powers seem much more shabby.
I suggest you play a variant of far shore where everyone gets dealt a copy of every card for their own personal deck and if you rest early you can look 5cards x # of unused workers and pick out a card for each unused worker from your personal deck. Is that automatically better because there's more control?
_if you just want control don't play any games with cards_
or play a game with cards that gives you more control over them, which is what this new approach to the everdell system does :)
@@rahdo It depends how much control you want. This is enough for you. However like I said abstract games such as go or chess offer the most control. A game with a theme is usually going to sacrifice a bit of control for a variety of reasons. Just adding more control doesn't make a game more fun.
If there was a version of everdell called everdell essentials with a streamlined deck but there was still opportunity for combos then I might be interested but this just looks like dryer but not adding anything that would be more interesting to someone who already likes Everdell. I see this as Everdell for folks who don't really like everdell. I'm glad that many will enjoy it but I don't think anyone who has everdell in their top 50 is going to switch to this though they may want it just as an intro game.
i'm not sure why you're suggesting these cards don't combine in interesting ways... i demonstrated exactly that in the runthrough i filmed where i created a mini-engine within the first few turns.
i don't expect anyone who loves everdell would get rid of their original to get this... that would make no sense. but i'd be boggled that anyone who loves everdell wouldn't want to experience a game they love it in a new way that makes them more proactive instead of reactive, just for the sheer variety of it.
and yes, i expect this will also make everdell appeal a lot more to folks who did not like the original game.
for the record, i liked the original game quite a lot, but i felt it got top heavy as the expansions kept coming out. they kept piling on more and more and more "stuff", which is fine, but i like this approach better where they're fundamentally re-examining the core ideas of the game instead of just adding additional layers on top of the original game.
so it seems very win-win to me, but then i would do that since i tend to be a positive person :)
Thanks for presenting. I have purchased each expansion as it came out. I have very little interest in this one. Many other games on the list prior to this one.
I see they have done away with Open locations.
there are still 3
@@rahdo I meant on the cards, sorry.
Yeah that was a big surprise I have to admit!
Love Everdell, I have the giant expensive collectors edition. But not sure how I feel about this. It doesn’t look like it’s different enough to need to own both games. Does it replace the game people have spent hundreds of dollars on already?
Does this game really need to exist?
Seems like a bit of a cash grab.
It's for people who have not yet gotten Everdell or have found Everdell too random or too difficult. Or for those who want to bridge friends into Everdell through something a bit lighter.
nope, it doesn't replace the game at all. just gives it a different feel. the everdell expansions that have come out so far generally add to the base experience. this changes the base experience. i would think folks who love everdell would enjoy experiencing it with a new underlying game design philosophy, and also people who didn't like everdell could potentially enjoy this one more :)
It reminds me a bit of what the variants of Carcassonne were like years ago-familiar but with differences. Everdell fans will probably want it because of loving all things Everdell.
100 dollars MSRP? Even the 75 on preorder is a bit much. I think the everdell MSRP was only 70 and it sells for 60... which means this game is going to be in the 90 dollar range. Way too much for what it is.
actually it's the same msrp as everdell collectors edition, which at retail (when it was widely available) hovered around $60, and i expect the same will be true here
@@rahdo No the collectors edition wasnt 60 dollars at retail. You are getting that confused with the base edition that you can still get in retail right now for 60. I waited and waited for the collectors edition to come down and it never went below 90. I ended up getting the normal edition for about 50.
oops you're right. wow i thought the regular edition of everdell was less, but i guess it's always been a spendy game! squishy components aren't cheap it seems :)
looking on amazon the collectors edition has occasionally dropped into the $79, but it doesn't stay there (here's a price history). camelcamelcamel.com/product/B07WWJMQFW?context=search
i guess i must have looked it up in the past at one of those times when it was lower :)
This is extremely disappointing. Everdell is my #3 game all-time. When I heard there was a new game coming in this world, I thought it might be an RPG. Like what Tidal Blades did. That's not my jam but I know a lot of people would like that. What I was hoping for was a new game that had some familiarity to aspects of Everdell. Analogous to what Expeditions is to Scythe (my #2 all-time). What I wasn't expecting was a reimplementation with slight twists that honestly make the game less interesting and less tense for me. And art that, while still beautiful, doesn't actually feel like Everdell; but an imitation. This feels lazy and exploitive of those who are big Everdell fans and completionists. I own everything Everdell and these choices (art, gameplay tweaks, gameplay overlap) are such a turnoff that I feel no desire to own this.
I think if someone doesn't have Everdell, though, this will probably be a great jumping on point for games in this world. Though they can probably wait out a better price.
those slight twists make a big different in terms of what the overall gameplay feels like. i would think an everdell SUPERFAN would appreciate those changes and want to experience them even more than someone who doesn't know the game. like a wine connoisseur wants to try different vintages and such. but different strokes and all that :)
waiing for prices to come down is always a reasonable approach though. thie game has the same MSRP as everdell collectors, which went for like $60 on average when it was widely avaialble, so one could imagine that here as well. but then, EVERYTHING gets cheaper if you're willing to wait... you always pay a premium to get things early :)
@@rahdo I don't know if I qualify as a SUPERFAN but it is the most played competitive game in my collection and I have been following and supporting Everdell since the base game. I would play Farshore but I wouldn't pay for it or want it taking up valuable space in my collection. This just isn't different enough mechanically to justify. (And honestly doesn't feel like an improvement). I feel similarly to this as I did when Dinosaur World came out (Dinosaur Island being another top ten for me). No need to spend money and space on a reimplementation of a game I already adore and have no complaints with. Especially since Everdell is endlessly replayable with all the content I've already amassed.
Starling Games should take notes from Stonemaier on how to properly expand a game's world: same artist, continuation of storytelling, and different mechanics. Farshore doesn't offer any of that.
hehe, owning "everything everdell" ain't cheap, so i think that qualifies you as a superfan! i hope you get a chance to try farshore someday, it might surprise you! and i guess the fact that you think the game feel hasn't changed means i didn't do as good a job as i could have demonstrating... :(
and OMG, dinosaur world obliterates dinosaur island... you should definitely go back and take another look there! :)
and believe me, stonemaier gets PLENTY of "why did you make this? this isnt' scythe! this is a lousy money grab ripoff to exploit the goodwill of a great game by slapping it's name on a POS that no one wants!". i know, because i saw lots of this when i posted my expeditions video, and if anything the backlash was much more vitriolic against that game that what i've seen this morning so far for farshore... though it's a lot of IMO unwarranted gloom and doom here too.
so whether publishers of a well loved games do a sequel (farshore) or a spinoff (expeditions), there's always plenty of negative nellies in the comments, rest assured!
@@rahdo Oh no not at all! I wouldn't say that my lack of enthusiasm here has anything to do with the quality of your presentation. You did a good job giving me an idea of how the game operates and what's new/what's the same. Knowing Everdell as well as I do I can tell this isn't going to resonate with me. It isn't a justifiable purchase. But your videos continue to be excellent. In recent memory your videos regarding Expeditions, Sabika, and Alubari have helped me feel more confident in my decisions to purchase them. I would say my disappointment in Farshore is due to different expectations rather than any shortcomings on your part as a presenter.
I will have to re-research Dinosaur World. I don't remember all the details of it. I know it added route building, which is cool. But I also remember thinking it wasn't different enough and that either only World or Island would ever get played. And Dinosaur Island was my first KS and I had all the deluxified goodies along with a wooden Broken Token insert to house it all. So, that wasn't going anywhere. But I'll take another look. Thanks for the recommendation!
And I understand that completely. I felt like Expeditions was "unnecessary" until I saw some gameplay and design info. Then I realized that it's something I would enjoy immensely. Mainly the expansion of a beloved theme being explored in a mechanically different way. I do feel like Expeditions is a legitimate sequel to Scythe while Farshore is more of a spin-off or even reimplementation of Everdell. Doesn't make it a bad game in any way; just not a game I'm going to buy. But I will probably recommend my friends who are intrigued by Everdell but intimidated by the massive buy-in at this point to check out Farshore as a good intro to this amazing world. Thanks, as always, for the work you do for this community, Rahdo!
No Andrew Bosley No „new“ Everdell for me
wow, not a fan of jacqui davis??? that boggles my mind! jacquidavis.com/
@@rahdo it is definitely not about the artist! For me, it’s like you leave the Big Mac sauce from the Big Mac and still call it Big Mac (vegan or not … you decide 😜)
i'd say it's more like you replace the big mac sauce with salt lick bbq sauce so you get something equally good but a fun new flavor (omg, that actually sounds amazing... salt lick bbq is the best in the world!) :)
@@rahdo ah! Now we are clear 😅