Hi, thanks to this video I bought the game. And I am so glad I did, other reviews pointed out the difficulty of Bitoku/soloplay but I totally agree with you: the solo it is not so hard, I really enjoy it. So thank you very much for getting my worries away, I am falling in love with this game and the story it is telling.
@@thelastmotel Thanks for the complement. What I try to do is not hem and haw as much over my moves because I think Rhado and others take a bit too much time to do that. I am not perfect on that, but I try to be as concise as possible to minimize the time people need to spend watching in order to get what they need out of the video. And now with my camera setup, I am doing a lot less moving around than I used to.
Hey John, could you put your little cheat sheet in BGG? I agree with you that it was a super bad move to have put the cycle in the penultimate page of the rulebook. Thank you for the great video
If you've played Tekhenu, how would you compare Bitoku to Tekhenu on possible actions to take (player and Ai actions). Tekhenu has multiple actions to take, but you choose one. From watching, this looks similar to how Tekhenu works by choosing an action. What do you think about the two in comparrison?
Both are great games and I have a review of Tekhenu on my channel as well. I would say that Tekhenu has less interlinked actions where Bitoku is a little more constrained. Once you chose an action in Bitoku, that will lead you to taking another action in line with the one you just took. Both are a bit heavy in regards to managing the AI and I had to make a player aid for both games to help with this. I still have both in my collection and don’t see myself selling either one of them.
@@JohnLaRuffa I recently got Bitoku and now it's on the table. Learning Bitoku / managing the Ai is harder than running the Ai in Tekehnu, since it takes the highest die in that god area, if die are tied take the pure die, perform that action, if not, go to the next god counter-clockwise. Sure, I was overwhelmed with Tekhenu when I was learning it but it's easy at it's core.
@@JohnLaRuffa Looks like I should be owning Bitoku then if you said it's a great game. If it will be permanently in your collection (plus expansion if you get it), I'll buy it.
@@realdealastrology9 I see it as a permanent keeper for sure. I am not going with the expansion on because most of it does not work for solo but also because the game already has plenty of things going on.
Yo, at 18:38 you moved your Kodama ahead then one of YOUR Kodama's back. The red Kodama symbol means you move an opponents Kodama back except for the neutral player.
one of my pet peeves about games is terrible rulebooks...a seasoned gamer and a first time gamer should be able to read thru any rulebook and have a good understanding of how to play the game...if they dont then the rulebook is a fail
For the life of me, I cannot understand why games have vague, poorly written or bad rulebooks. Designers put so many hours and years into play testing and designing their games and then they shoot themselves in the foot when it counts the most.
Hi, thanks to this video I bought the game. And I am so glad I did, other reviews pointed out the difficulty of Bitoku/soloplay but I totally agree with you: the solo it is not so hard, I really enjoy it. So thank you very much for getting my worries away, I am falling in love with this game and the story it is telling.
So glad you like it!
You have your neutral kodama counters on the 5th spaces of their tracks, but they should be on the 4th space. The starting space is space 1.
I wondered about that and looked at Rhado’s run through to check. I think he had them where I had them as well, but maybe we were both wrong. Thanks!
@@JohnLaRuffa Rahdo is a total muppet, and I can't watch him because I get motion sickness :P. You are ten times better than Rahdo.
@@thelastmotel Thanks for the complement. What I try to do is not hem and haw as much over my moves because I think Rhado and others take a bit too much time to do that. I am not perfect on that, but I try to be as concise as possible to minimize the time people need to spend watching in order to get what they need out of the video. And now with my camera setup, I am doing a lot less moving around than I used to.
@@JohnLaRuffa Rahdo moves around like an epileptic crackhead trying to dodge sniper fire.
Hey John, could you put your little cheat sheet in BGG? I agree with you that it was a super bad move to have put the cycle in the penultimate page of the rulebook. Thank you for the great video
Sure thing. Check for it to be on the site soon.
I just printed off page 31 from the PDF of the game rules, personally, but I checked out your sheet and it is pretty nice.
@@thelastmotel thanks!
If you've played Tekhenu, how would you compare Bitoku to Tekhenu on possible actions to take (player and Ai actions). Tekhenu has multiple actions to take, but you choose one. From watching, this looks similar to how Tekhenu works by choosing an action.
What do you think about the two in comparrison?
Both are great games and I have a review of Tekhenu on my channel as well. I would say that Tekhenu has less interlinked actions where Bitoku is a little more constrained. Once you chose an action in Bitoku, that will lead you to taking another action in line with the one you just took. Both are a bit heavy in regards to managing the AI and I had to make a player aid for both games to help with this. I still have both in my collection and don’t see myself selling either one of them.
@@JohnLaRuffa I recently got Bitoku and now it's on the table. Learning Bitoku / managing the Ai is harder than running the Ai in Tekehnu, since it takes the highest die in that god area, if die are tied take the pure die, perform that action, if not, go to the next god counter-clockwise.
Sure, I was overwhelmed with Tekhenu when I was learning it but it's easy at it's core.
Look in the files section of BGG. I made a chart to help me understand how to handle the BOT. That might help you out.
@@JohnLaRuffa Looks like I should be owning Bitoku then if you said it's a great game. If it will be permanently in your collection (plus expansion if you get it), I'll buy it.
@@realdealastrology9 I see it as a permanent keeper for sure. I am not going with the expansion on because most of it does not work for solo but also because the game already has plenty of things going on.
20:10 Why did you place a die when earlier you said you dont place a die (the TAC said dont place a die but take the action).
I probably just made a mistake.
Yo, at 18:38 you moved your Kodama ahead then one of YOUR Kodama's back. The red Kodama symbol means you move an opponents Kodama back except for the neutral player.
Thanks for clarifying!
@@JohnLaRuffa No problem. Such a good game.
@22.25 you did not reduce the value of your die. I believe you are suppose to.
Yes. I made a mistake there. When crossing the river you always reduce by 1 unless you are at 6. In that case, you reduce down to a 3.
one of my pet peeves about games is terrible rulebooks...a seasoned gamer and a first time gamer should be able to read thru any rulebook and have a good understanding of how to play the game...if they dont then the rulebook is a fail
For the life of me, I cannot understand why games have vague, poorly written or bad rulebooks. Designers put so many hours and years into play testing and designing their games and then they shoot themselves in the foot when it counts the most.