Thanks for this, MUCH appreciated. I appreciate narrative and well crafted combat and equipment system - in love with ATO. I am selling this. Been considering for a while but this was the last drop. Or Oathsworn, after finishing now playing with my son, agree it rocks. Thanks for sharing!!!
@@Venturello Well, I appreciate that you consider my reviews so validating! It’s not that this game is bad, just that there’s others out there that are better. Lol
Interesting. I'm sick of big campaigns so a straight boss battler sounded really enticing. But I'm not sure if a 7/10 warrants gobbling up that much space on the shelf.
Do you have the Mount Havoc expansion? Maybe the campaign there is more interesting for you. There are only 3 chapters, there is no crafting phase (the choice of items is much freer) and you can rebuild your action deck before each battle. And wound cards are carried over to the next fight. Maybe you'll have more fun with it.
So, some fair points and some absolutely rediculous points. So getting new gear is bad in the campaign? You have some agency over what gear to get for the upcoming fights, and it will fit your character and playstyle. In Oathsworn you could pull ranger and witch gear after a hard fight, and be severely behind the curve for the next fight, and you have ZERO control of that (I ended up houseruling that one).. Your campaign informs somewhat how the final fight is going to be. In Oathsworn there's a ton of handwaving in the super cool story, but you don't get ANY say between different fights. You mention swingy combat, but in Oathsworn there are party wipe cards, and as far as I remember you can't avoid them, you can only hope to finish it before the card shows up - AND Oathsworn is not fail forward as far as I remember. Plus the very best tactics in Oathsworn can be screwed by randomness of cards/dice much more than in Primal. You get to learn the monster even more in Primal, and you know that some cards for some monsters contain absolute devastating effects, so you try to avoid triggering it. In Oathsworn if you mixed that cards in an unlucky way, you get a party wipe at start of phase 3. Oh, and did I mention that Oathsworn is my number 1 or 2 game of all time?.. Anyway, Primal you can get better at, and due to largely deterministic combat, you get to actually feel like you're better at hunting. It doesn't overstay its welcome with a fairly shot campaign, and since there's like 2x the bosses in an all in than you will see in any single campaign, there's quite a bit of replayability. I don't see the restrictiveness you mention either. Again with Oathsworn, yes you get loot and you have store. But is there REALLY a choice? It's mostly the item and maybe your armor. Your weapon is 90% of the time obvious, so even though there's an illusion of choice, there really isn't one.. So yes, the story isn't fantastic, but the rest of your points fall flat to me. In Oathsworn, regardless of ANY choice made in the campaign, you have the same final fight with 0 difference (or any fight with 0 difference, bar some check that could make you not surprised or something)..... Other top rated games in this genre could be KDM, I have never tried it, it's incredibly expensive, I have to glue models and half the game is base building and crafting which I care 0 about. Aeons Trespass, looks quite good, I'm looking for a used copy to show up. But it's still 100+ hour game with a setup time of a week. It looks cool and I want to play it, but I am also fairly certain I won't finish it :).. I must admit that the turn tracker orignally caused me to actually cancel my Primal pledge. I have a really hard time with those things. But now seeing final gameplay I got it off their store. I understand the game requires it, and if you're struggling it doesn't break the game to try a monster with 12 rounds, and then 11 and then try to get it to 10. Luckily it's not as bad as Gloomhaven.
@@theblaznee It’s not that getting new gear is bad, it’s the you can’t combine it or utilize it in any creative way. I’m not saying the items themselves are bad but it would’ve been better if you could combine items instead of only taking one and then 3 potions. Your only incentives to fight a monster is to unlock the element type and then you look at the gear, see what it does and then move on. In Oathsworn, you’re constantly refreshing items and making do with what you get but neither of them are as creative or build-inducing as Middara. Also, in Oathsworn, you play with the top AI card face up so you know exactly what is gonna happen. If it’s a party wipe card, then you know what is coming and can either avoid it or position yourself to handle it. Sure, the Primal campaign is shorter but it’s far less fulfilling than any other boss battler that I’ve played
Thanks for this, MUCH appreciated. I appreciate narrative and well crafted combat and equipment system - in love with ATO. I am selling this. Been considering for a while but this was the last drop. Or Oathsworn, after finishing now playing with my son, agree it rocks.
Thanks for sharing!!!
@@Venturello Well, I appreciate that you consider my reviews so validating! It’s not that this game is bad, just that there’s others out there that are better. Lol
Interesting. I'm sick of big campaigns so a straight boss battler sounded really enticing. But I'm not sure if a 7/10 warrants gobbling up that much space on the shelf.
@@Dratio If you’re wanting a straight boss battler, I would highly recommend; Townsfolk Tussle, Leviathan Wilds, or Oathsworn!
Do you have the Mount Havoc expansion? Maybe the campaign there is more interesting for you. There are only 3 chapters, there is no crafting phase (the choice of items is much freer) and you can rebuild your action deck before each battle.
And wound cards are carried over to the next fight. Maybe you'll have more fun with it.
Nearly went all in on this, think I made the right choice not to.
So, some fair points and some absolutely rediculous points. So getting new gear is bad in the campaign? You have some agency over what gear to get for the upcoming fights, and it will fit your character and playstyle. In Oathsworn you could pull ranger and witch gear after a hard fight, and be severely behind the curve for the next fight, and you have ZERO control of that (I ended up houseruling that one).. Your campaign informs somewhat how the final fight is going to be. In Oathsworn there's a ton of handwaving in the super cool story, but you don't get ANY say between different fights. You mention swingy combat, but in Oathsworn there are party wipe cards, and as far as I remember you can't avoid them, you can only hope to finish it before the card shows up - AND Oathsworn is not fail forward as far as I remember. Plus the very best tactics in Oathsworn can be screwed by randomness of cards/dice much more than in Primal. You get to learn the monster even more in Primal, and you know that some cards for some monsters contain absolute devastating effects, so you try to avoid triggering it. In Oathsworn if you mixed that cards in an unlucky way, you get a party wipe at start of phase 3.
Oh, and did I mention that Oathsworn is my number 1 or 2 game of all time?..
Anyway, Primal you can get better at, and due to largely deterministic combat, you get to actually feel like you're better at hunting. It doesn't overstay its welcome with a fairly shot campaign, and since there's like 2x the bosses in an all in than you will see in any single campaign, there's quite a bit of replayability.
I don't see the restrictiveness you mention either. Again with Oathsworn, yes you get loot and you have store. But is there REALLY a choice? It's mostly the item and maybe your armor. Your weapon is 90% of the time obvious, so even though there's an illusion of choice, there really isn't one..
So yes, the story isn't fantastic, but the rest of your points fall flat to me. In Oathsworn, regardless of ANY choice made in the campaign, you have the same final fight with 0 difference (or any fight with 0 difference, bar some check that could make you not surprised or something)..... Other top rated games in this genre could be KDM, I have never tried it, it's incredibly expensive, I have to glue models and half the game is base building and crafting which I care 0 about. Aeons Trespass, looks quite good, I'm looking for a used copy to show up. But it's still 100+ hour game with a setup time of a week. It looks cool and I want to play it, but I am also fairly certain I won't finish it :)..
I must admit that the turn tracker orignally caused me to actually cancel my Primal pledge. I have a really hard time with those things. But now seeing final gameplay I got it off their store. I understand the game requires it, and if you're struggling it doesn't break the game to try a monster with 12 rounds, and then 11 and then try to get it to 10. Luckily it's not as bad as Gloomhaven.
@@theblaznee It’s not that getting new gear is bad, it’s the you can’t combine it or utilize it in any creative way. I’m not saying the items themselves are bad but it would’ve been better if you could combine items instead of only taking one and then 3 potions. Your only incentives to fight a monster is to unlock the element type and then you look at the gear, see what it does and then move on. In Oathsworn, you’re constantly refreshing items and making do with what you get but neither of them are as creative or build-inducing as Middara.
Also, in Oathsworn, you play with the top AI card face up so you know exactly what is gonna happen. If it’s a party wipe card, then you know what is coming and can either avoid it or position yourself to handle it.
Sure, the Primal campaign is shorter but it’s far less fulfilling than any other boss battler that I’ve played