Minor Spoiler: one of the runes in the original game gave you fast travel. If I ever play that one again, I will certainly help myself to that rune in the very beginning.
I had one that gave free extra movement for the ship, which helped a ton. But then you had to take a while to clear it of command. Is that what you are referring to, or do you mean they had one that could actually teleport you to a different map entirely?
@@OneStopCoopShop Great video by the way, loving distant skies myself. Yea i remember it was on the first page of the map book somewhere over on the right. you run into a coliseum and these huge giant stone statues come alive and chase you into a cave. You can either dig your way out of the cave or go back and explore the cave, I wont completely ruin what happens but if your sucessful in exploring the cave you get the rune that allows you to spend 3 command points and teleport to ANY port on the map regardless if youve been there before or not.
Considering the one mixed you mentioned is easily house ruled (I will definitely probably be limiting cards to 5 per player) sounds like the game is great. Can't wait to give it to myself on Christmas!
@erikpeters7072 which cards? Ability upgrades or adventure cards? But either way the answer is yes :). Probably reducing the adventure cards would be smoothest, like having to stash them when they get over a certain number, kind of like how roll player adventure changed things with the new legendary difficulty
@@OneStopCoopShop yes that's exactly what I was thinking. I did the same with RPA and definitely made it more easy to manage while keeping the checks/dice manipulation from becoming trivial
@@OneStopCoopShopCan you elaborate on the stashing mechanic from RPA? I don't have that game and couldn't find information on it. I'm looking at a small change to make Distant Skies a little more challenging during the end game.
So, basically made the game a lot easier (to get a wider range of gamers/customers). I think the Travel changes takes a lot of the original challenge out of the game, you had to earn your objectives by planning where to go but, yes, the event deck timer did make this a lot harder than it probably should have been.
Ha, yes, pretty much. And like I mentioned in the review (and expanded on in this week's podcast, airing tomorrow) in some ways it's too easy. The faster travel is going to make some gamers feel like the map is too small, the adventure card recharge can make you too powerful in the end game (without a houserule limiting how many cards you get when you rest, which is what I'm going to start using), and the lack of enemy attacks at the end of combat rounds can make combats anti-climactic. Ryan Laukat has released an official Veteran rules set to address some of this, but I think hardcore gamers will still need a bit of houseruling if they want the game to be a challenging adventure and not a fun narrative romp (though to be clear, there's nothing wrong with a fun narrative romp!)
It's hard for designers/companies to decide what direction to go with their games, they may enjoy a harder game thelselves (or their actual vision for the game was harder) but then they have to sell copies to be a viable business (and a lot of copies to allow tem to do more). Awaken Realms discovered this dilemma with Tainted Grail and Etherfields, both brilliant but hard/grindy games (by design) but they had to release v2.0 rules to get a larger customer base for them. And they even changed the ISS Vanguard 'ship mode' (much to my acute annoyance) when playtest groups (very average gamers by the sound of it) said they couldn't understand it, or just didn't want to do it, for the actual game ... basically watered it down to ensure a larger customer base.
@@anzac_exile3780 not sure I agree on all of the ones you cited. Tainted Grail 1.0 was just boring with the grind a lot of the time. I vastly prefer Kings of Ruin.
Our group of three were enthralled by it and did the 70 odd hours to finish it and wanted more story (I'm likley going to take a new group through it again to find more of the story). And that's what my comment was about - they had to change Kings of Ruin to get a larger customer base (since they are a company making money first, before designers creating their dreams - they've done that now anyway), so gamers with tastes like yourself (we're all different) would buy it as well as the backers from the TG 1.0.
I am enjoying this game so far, but I would warn newcomers to the game that the combat is quite lackluster. The most exciting part of combat is when you first look at the enemies. I find assigning damage dull, and I agree with you that combat kinda just fizzles out. However, I would strongly recommend this game for it's story narrative, with another caveat. There are 5 characters, but 1 is the Main Character and you must be ok with other players in your group making decisions you disagree with and then living with those consequences. I do look forward to playing this campaign solo, but I should get another table...
easy sounds good to me! I’m coming to the end of my first play through of Earthborne Rangers and will be looking for something to tide me over until the expansions come out. The original Sleeping Gods would be too punishing for me so this sounds like it might work.
Playing more, it gets in some ways TOO easy at the end, so I'll be playing with hard mode, the new veteran mode the publisher posted online, and/or some house rules to up the challenge some :)
would anyone agree that distant skies has more grim boards. that not may appeal to everyone? i think thats already been said the the characters are also less interesting. i wonder what other arguments may actually still favour Sleeping Gods first edition?
I'm not sure what you mean by "grim boards". But after playing more Distant Skies, it has more flaws especially late game with the difficulty being too easy. The official "veteran" difficulty that's been posted online helps with that. But I think people looking for a more challenging experience might still prefer the original. Also, in some ways, the original's combat system is better. I don't think the characters are very interesting in EITHER set, but I certainly prefer Distant Skies' smaller cast of characters. With the original I don't think any one character got enough time to be fully interesting.
@@OneStopCoopShop thank you, this is really interesting. i may get sleeping gods first as there are some bargains when people selling it almost unplayed. sorry what i meant the the boards (mountains, forest ) back ground are a bit darker (at least what i can see on the most reviews), the seas from the first game reminded me more of an adventure.
And 6. Sleeping Gods is multilingual and this one is not. They had a great campaign but offered only an English edition. I had high hopes for this one and ultimately did not back it. Huge disappointment.
Eeehhh, well, I gonna stay away from that one. A lot of pros there but I just don't trust it. Not related to your review, don't get me wrong. The original one just layed down some serious infutiation (is this even a word?). Aside from that, this Christmas season is insane with games on deep sale. I don't think I ever bought that many awesome games in retail at such little coin.
Completely agree! From a solo gamer's perspective, this improves upon the already awesome original. But it's a lot easier to manage everything.
Absolutely, though it’s still easier to do it all with 2+ players splitting the cards :)
Minor Spoiler: one of the runes in the original game gave you fast travel. If I ever play that one again, I will certainly help myself to that rune in the very beginning.
I had one that gave free extra movement for the ship, which helped a ton. But then you had to take a while to clear it of command. Is that what you are referring to, or do you mean they had one that could actually teleport you to a different map entirely?
@@OneStopCoopShop If I remember correctly, you can teleport to any port after paying the cost on the card
@sapien01010 ah, that one I never found
@@OneStopCoopShop Great video by the way, loving distant skies myself. Yea i remember it was on the first page of the map book somewhere over on the right. you run into a coliseum and these huge giant stone statues come alive and chase you into a cave. You can either dig your way out of the cave or go back and explore the cave, I wont completely ruin what happens but if your sucessful in exploring the cave you get the rune that allows you to spend 3 command points and teleport to ANY port on the map regardless if youve been there before or not.
I appreciate the spoiler. Need to know some key tips to not make the game tedious for too long
Considering the one mixed you mentioned is easily house ruled (I will definitely probably be limiting cards to 5 per player) sounds like the game is great. Can't wait to give it to myself on Christmas!
Well there are a lot of potential mixes here depending on taste too, like the game being too easy at the end, but I still think it’s a blast
@@OneStopCoopShop would reducing the number of cards per player help with that problem?
@erikpeters7072 which cards? Ability upgrades or adventure cards? But either way the answer is yes :). Probably reducing the adventure cards would be smoothest, like having to stash them when they get over a certain number, kind of like how roll player adventure changed things with the new legendary difficulty
@@OneStopCoopShop yes that's exactly what I was thinking. I did the same with RPA and definitely made it more easy to manage while keeping the checks/dice manipulation from becoming trivial
@@OneStopCoopShopCan you elaborate on the stashing mechanic from RPA? I don't have that game and couldn't find information on it.
I'm looking at a small change to make Distant Skies a little more challenging during the end game.
Easier to manage everything is such an improvement.
So, basically made the game a lot easier (to get a wider range of gamers/customers). I think the Travel changes takes a lot of the original challenge out of the game, you had to earn your objectives by planning where to go but, yes, the event deck timer did make this a lot harder than it probably should have been.
Ha, yes, pretty much. And like I mentioned in the review (and expanded on in this week's podcast, airing tomorrow) in some ways it's too easy. The faster travel is going to make some gamers feel like the map is too small, the adventure card recharge can make you too powerful in the end game (without a houserule limiting how many cards you get when you rest, which is what I'm going to start using), and the lack of enemy attacks at the end of combat rounds can make combats anti-climactic.
Ryan Laukat has released an official Veteran rules set to address some of this, but I think hardcore gamers will still need a bit of houseruling if they want the game to be a challenging adventure and not a fun narrative romp (though to be clear, there's nothing wrong with a fun narrative romp!)
It's hard for designers/companies to decide what direction to go with their games, they may enjoy a harder game thelselves (or their actual vision for the game was harder) but then they have to sell copies to be a viable business (and a lot of copies to allow tem to do more).
Awaken Realms discovered this dilemma with Tainted Grail and Etherfields, both brilliant but hard/grindy games (by design) but they had to release v2.0 rules to get a larger customer base for them. And they even changed the ISS Vanguard 'ship mode' (much to my acute annoyance) when playtest groups (very average gamers by the sound of it) said they couldn't understand it, or just didn't want to do it, for the actual game ... basically watered it down to ensure a larger customer base.
@@anzac_exile3780 not sure I agree on all of the ones you cited. Tainted Grail 1.0 was just boring with the grind a lot of the time. I vastly prefer Kings of Ruin.
Our group of three were enthralled by it and did the 70 odd hours to finish it and wanted more story (I'm likley going to take a new group through it again to find more of the story). And that's what my comment was about - they had to change Kings of Ruin to get a larger customer base (since they are a company making money first, before designers creating their dreams - they've done that now anyway), so gamers with tastes like yourself (we're all different) would buy it as well as the backers from the TG 1.0.
are the expansions only for the old sleeping gods? dungeons and tides?
Correct. I don’t think there are any expansions for this one (yet?)
What a great review..!
So actually... as weird as this conclusion might sounds...
Is that a Sleeping Gods killer..? 🤔
Haha, maybe!
I am enjoying this game so far, but I would warn newcomers to the game that the combat is quite lackluster. The most exciting part of combat is when you first look at the enemies. I find assigning damage dull, and I agree with you that combat kinda just fizzles out.
However, I would strongly recommend this game for it's story narrative, with another caveat. There are 5 characters, but 1 is the Main Character and you must be ok with other players in your group making decisions you disagree with and then living with those consequences.
I do look forward to playing this campaign solo, but I should get another table...
Yeah, combat has a decrease of tension as you go, which is fine, and I still like it better than the original, but it’s not perfect
easy sounds good to me! I’m coming to the end of my first play through of Earthborne Rangers and will be looking for something to tide me over until the expansions come out. The original Sleeping Gods would be too punishing for me so this sounds like it might work.
Playing more, it gets in some ways TOO easy at the end, so I'll be playing with hard mode, the new veteran mode the publisher posted online, and/or some house rules to up the challenge some :)
How are those Resident Evil games behind you?
Check my recent review, and/or my top co-op video coming next week. But TLDR, I like it a lot!
Awesome. Will check it out. @@OneStopCoopShop
would anyone agree that distant skies has more grim boards. that not may appeal to everyone? i think thats already been said the the characters are also less interesting. i wonder what other arguments may actually still favour Sleeping Gods first edition?
I'm not sure what you mean by "grim boards".
But after playing more Distant Skies, it has more flaws especially late game with the difficulty being too easy. The official "veteran" difficulty that's been posted online helps with that. But I think people looking for a more challenging experience might still prefer the original. Also, in some ways, the original's combat system is better.
I don't think the characters are very interesting in EITHER set, but I certainly prefer Distant Skies' smaller cast of characters. With the original I don't think any one character got enough time to be fully interesting.
@@OneStopCoopShop thank you, this is really interesting. i may get sleeping gods first as there are some bargains when people selling it almost unplayed. sorry what i meant the the boards (mountains, forest ) back ground are a bit darker (at least what i can see on the most reviews), the seas from the first game reminded me more of an adventure.
And 6. Sleeping Gods is multilingual and this one is not. They had a great campaign but offered only an English edition. I had high hopes for this one and ultimately did not back it. Huge disappointment.
Ah, that’s too bad. Hopefully they can add more languages down the line
@@OneStopCoopShop Great news, the French edition is coming to crowdfunding on April 2nd, 2024 😃
@@orangetoucan148 Hope they'll do a German edition, too! Good news the French players get a localisation :)
Eeehhh, well, I gonna stay away from that one. A lot of pros there but I just don't trust it. Not related to your review, don't get me wrong. The original one just layed down some serious infutiation (is this even a word?).
Aside from that, this Christmas season is insane with games on deep sale. I don't think I ever bought that many awesome games in retail at such little coin.
Yeah, this one still has its growing pains, but I found it much more enjoyable than the original
@@OneStopCoopShop Are you saying that you have a slight masochistic tendency? 😜
@biodelic I wouldn’t be doing 3-4 videos a week if I didn’t 😬😬😬