This was a gutsy playthrough. To film a cold first attempt shows your mastery of games in general. Thanks for doing this! I'm revving to start my 1st game
The new English player aid includes both the marketing campaigns and the milestones (just like the original German one). Nevertheless, I like having a laminated copies of the milestones list, and hand them out with a dry-erase markers; that way everyone can mark them off and I just keep the milestones in a big pile.
For me, gameplay seems very similar to Orleans, but more strategic and openended. Both games are essentially engine building euros. Similar feel to Orleans bag effect, when you hire too much employees and can't activate them all because of management lack. It is essentially the same that Knights in Orleans. Citizens in Orleans is very simple implementation of milestones, some sort of short time strategy goals to achive, that after you did it becomes unavailible. What you called "follow suite" is a kind of farmer track in Orleans, where you try not to be the last. Area control existing in both games, but in FM it makes more thematic sense and plays bigger role. What do you think?
What stops the beginning of FCM from being scripted is the Milestones. If you go the route of heavy recruiting right off the bat, someone else might get the fridge, or the waitress bonus, or the infinite campaign, or the permanent dollar discount, or the $15 salary reduction, or... (etc). and these special powers might be the difference later on.
+Andrew Meredith I agree with you absolutely on this. Collecting certain milestones are part of the strategy and should not be treated merely as 'rewards'. Of course, the map configuration could change those plans greatly from one game to the next. I love this game.
It has been my experience with this game that the tile layout really has a lot to do with the strategy developed. I played without the Recruiting girl in one game nearly up to the last few turns of a game, and won. I had few employees, but great locations and everything just worked for me. I believe that this game has a variety of ways to play it out, and sort of like the way the cards in Agricola can change your game-plan, so the tile layout can alter the same, in this game. I did not find this game 'mean' at all, but it is very competitive. I loved it. Thanks for your reviews.
I strongly disliked the game the first and second time I played it. It didn't click for me on the third time either. The fourth playthrough though, it really clicked, and now I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this game. Can't get enough of it!
This game is highly interactive and doesn't work on 2 in my opinion since then its min max and doesn't simulate a market really rather 2 franchise competing.
We played one round, screwed up massively, reset the game, and then started over. Most people will need to do that if they don't want the game to massively infuriate them. In the end, I found it too mean, and the hatefully ugly board - $100 for THAT? It looks like a freaking prototype!! - means I probably won't play it again.
It doesn't seem that hi quality materials... why its not a 40 € game ? 70+ € is a miniature game normally :S or a game full of wood like Agricola or Terra Mystica ......... I really like heave Euros and if they are aggressive better cause I don't have much of those in my collection, but the price is stopping me so much.
+Lluis Fontanella It's a limited print run by a small publisher. Every other Splotter game has gone for $100 and this one is no exception. I don't believe the price to be an issue when the game is this good. And if you hate it, you're almost guaranteed to get most or even more of your money back from reselling it. I believe FCM is being picked up by another publisher so expect it to be cheaper in the future.
+pickboy87 I suspect you're referring to Passport Games, who reached an agreement to act as a distributor/broker for the US (at least). ACD Distribution is advertising a Feb 12, 2016 street date with an MSRP of $140; at the usual 30% off from discounted online stores, it's just a bit under. They just sold through their third print run, and a fourth hasn't been announced. As for cost, the main thing is that they seem to do print runs of 1,000-2,000 copies at a time, which means higher per-unit cost but lower risk of unsold copies. Additional factors are that the game is manufactured in Europe and includes a fair number of bits: 200 wooden tokens, 330 cards, plus the cardboard tiles+tokens. (Of course the high price and limited availability are bothersome, but hopefully that provides some perspective about why).
Why are people saying the game is too cut-throat or mean? It's a competitive game with one winner and everyone else loses, same as almost every other board game out there.
This game is rather cutthroat. You can undercut your opponent and sell stuff a little cheaper to get all the custom your opponent spent time advertising for. It's very strategic and my wife doesn't like it either. Constantly one upping your opponent can be stressful.
This game doesn't make sense to me. If you sell no food how can you make money? The board layout (I agree with Richard that it could use some colours), the theme and the people you can hire does make sense and is good but.....but it has so many holes that it a pass for me. I want to like this game but I don't. :(
How can you review a game not even playing it all the way through? So many games are make or break for me based on how the ending feels. I will follow suit and judge this review based on watching just the beginning.
i can only assume you didn't actually watch the beginning because i made it clear within the first 10 seconds that you shouldn't give any weight to this video in the first place. but then, you shouldn't pay attention to *any* of my personal subjective opinions about any game i play, and instead watch the runthrough so you can draw your own conclusion!
I understand you made it clear your review was not worth much for not playing all the way through. I was pointing it out that you owe it to yourself as a reviewer and your viewers to finish a game before "Final Thoughts". I wouldn't read a review of a restaurant if the reviewer didn't even get past the appetizer. I have played countless games that I have changed my initial opinion halfway through (swinging to positive and negative opinions). I also see this a lot in the many people I teach games to. The experience changes throughout the game. So even if your mind would not have changed, you didn't even give yourself a chance. Not to mention you should hold your own play testing to a higher standard. Multiple plays with multiple group sizes so you can analyze a game in its entirety. Don't get me wrong. There are games I have played once and will never play again. However, if I want to take myself serious as a reviewer, I would probably finish the game and maybe a few more games with different people before I spend time editing a video review.
I *clearly* stated in the first 10 seconds that it was not a review, but a 'first impressions'. that aside, i regularly state in many of my videos that they should not be considered reviews, and in fact should be roundly ignored in that context.
Good to know. I will not use your "final thoughts" as a review (as misleading of a title that is). I was looking for a review, glad to know I didn't waste my time not getting one. Nor the rest of the "not reviews" on your channel.
sounds good. there's a reason i say "today rahdo runs through" and not "today rahdo reviews" at the beginning of ever game i cover. i'm always glad to see only a fraction of my viewers even bother watching the final thoughts vids. the runthrough is where the value is (IMO) :)
![ปฏิเสธไม่ไหว (Crush on you) - LIPTA feat. No One Else [TEASER MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VC689EgdSIw/mqdefault.jpg)
This was a gutsy playthrough. To film a cold first attempt shows your mastery of games in general. Thanks for doing this! I'm revving to start my 1st game
The new English player aid includes both the marketing campaigns and the milestones (just like the original German one). Nevertheless, I like having a laminated copies of the milestones list, and hand them out with a dry-erase markers; that way everyone can mark them off and I just keep the milestones in a big pile.
For me, gameplay seems very similar to Orleans, but more strategic and openended. Both games are essentially engine building euros. Similar feel to Orleans bag effect, when you hire too much employees and can't activate them all because of management lack. It is essentially the same that Knights in Orleans. Citizens in Orleans is very simple implementation of milestones, some sort of short time strategy goals to achive, that after you did it becomes unavailible. What you called "follow suite" is a kind of farmer track in Orleans, where you try not to be the last. Area control existing in both games, but in FM it makes more thematic sense and plays bigger role. What do you think?
What stops the beginning of FCM from being scripted is the Milestones. If you go the route of heavy recruiting right off the bat, someone else might get the fridge, or the waitress bonus, or the infinite campaign, or the permanent dollar discount, or the $15 salary reduction, or... (etc). and these special powers might be the difference later on.
+Andrew Meredith I agree with you absolutely on this. Collecting certain milestones are part of the strategy and should not be treated merely as 'rewards'. Of course, the map configuration could change those plans greatly from one game to the next. I love this game.
It has been my experience with this game that the tile layout really has a lot to do with the strategy developed. I played without the Recruiting girl in one game nearly up to the last few turns of a game, and won. I had few employees, but great locations and everything just worked for me. I believe that this game has a variety of ways to play it out, and sort of like the way the cards in Agricola can change your game-plan, so the tile layout can alter the same, in this game. I did not find this game 'mean' at all, but it is very competitive. I loved it. Thanks for your reviews.
It's interesting how everything you've highlighted here are the reasons why I LOVE this game!
thankyou for the effort of showing us the game
This has become my favourite 3-5 player game. With the expansion its worth every dollar. A perfect economic simulation.
I strongly disliked the game the first and second time I played it. It didn't click for me on the third time either. The fourth playthrough though, it really clicked, and now I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this game. Can't get enough of it!
Richard, you did a fantastic job on explaining and showing us this game, thank you!
This game is highly interactive and doesn't work on 2 in my opinion since then its min max and doesn't simulate a market really rather 2 franchise competing.
We played one round, screwed up massively, reset the game, and then started over. Most people will need to do that if they don't want the game to massively infuriate them. In the end, I found it too mean, and the hatefully ugly board - $100 for THAT? It looks like a freaking prototype!! - means I probably won't play it again.
Julia Ziobro
May i have it?
OdeToTheDarkness my husband will keep it in our divorce. he's into it.
It doesn't seem that hi quality materials... why its not a 40 € game ? 70+ € is a miniature game normally :S or a game full of wood like Agricola or Terra Mystica .........
I really like heave Euros and if they are aggressive better cause I don't have much of those in my collection, but the price is stopping me so much.
+Lluis Fontanella It's a limited print run by a small publisher. Every other Splotter game has gone for $100 and this one is no exception. I don't believe the price to be an issue when the game is this good. And if you hate it, you're almost guaranteed to get most or even more of your money back from reselling it. I believe FCM is being picked up by another publisher so expect it to be cheaper in the future.
+pickboy87 Thanks for the Info, I will wait for a cheaper reprint then!
+pickboy87 I don't think so. I think there is a publisher importing the game, but I wouldn't expect it to be any cheaper.
+pickboy87 I suspect you're referring to Passport Games, who reached an agreement to act as a distributor/broker for the US (at least). ACD Distribution is advertising a Feb 12, 2016 street date with an MSRP of $140; at the usual 30% off from discounted online stores, it's just a bit under. They just sold through their third print run, and a fourth hasn't been announced.
As for cost, the main thing is that they seem to do print runs of 1,000-2,000 copies at a time, which means higher per-unit cost but lower risk of unsold copies. Additional factors are that the game is manufactured in Europe and includes a fair number of bits: 200 wooden tokens, 330 cards, plus the cardboard tiles+tokens. (Of course the high price and limited availability are bothersome, but hopefully that provides some perspective about why).
It's not an excuse, it's the actual reason. Whether you accept it or not doesn't matter a bit.
omg there's rhado's face piece!
Why are people saying the game is too cut-throat or mean? It's a competitive game with one winner and everyone else loses, same as almost every other board game out there.
faq.rahdo.com :)
just to let you know, you defenitely can win without haveng anohter card except your CEO card that lets you hire people ;)
Should give it away for a contest.... so I can get it :P
This game is rather cutthroat. You can undercut your opponent and sell stuff a little cheaper to get all the custom your opponent spent time advertising for. It's very strategic and my wife doesn't like it either. Constantly one upping your opponent can be stressful.
boy i would have loved to see that staff management system in a less aggressive game!
This game doesn't make sense to me. If you sell no food how can you make money? The board layout (I agree with Richard that it could use some colours), the theme and the people you can hire does make sense and is good but.....but it has so many holes that it a pass for me.
I want to like this game but I don't. :(
I didn't like Food Chain Magnate the first 3 times I played it, now it is a top 3 for me. It's amazing.
I won't play it again either... to chaotic for my taste!
You pay a lot for this one, and it looks like a prototype. I'm out!
How can you review a game not even playing it all the way through? So many games are make or break for me based on how the ending feels. I will follow suit and judge this review based on watching just the beginning.
i can only assume you didn't actually watch the beginning because i made it clear within the first 10 seconds that you shouldn't give any weight to this video in the first place.
but then, you shouldn't pay attention to *any* of my personal subjective opinions about any game i play, and instead watch the runthrough so you can draw your own conclusion!
I understand you made it clear your review was not worth much for not playing all the way through. I was pointing it out that you owe it to yourself as a reviewer and your viewers to finish a game before "Final Thoughts". I wouldn't read a review of a restaurant if the reviewer didn't even get past the appetizer.
I have played countless games that I have changed my initial opinion halfway through (swinging to positive and negative opinions). I also see this a lot in the many people I teach games to. The experience changes throughout the game. So even if your mind would not have changed, you didn't even give yourself a chance. Not to mention you should hold your own play testing to a higher standard. Multiple plays with multiple group sizes so you can analyze a game in its entirety.
Don't get me wrong. There are games I have played once and will never play again. However, if I want to take myself serious as a reviewer, I would probably finish the game and maybe a few more games with different people before I spend time editing a video review.
I *clearly* stated in the first 10 seconds that it was not a review, but a 'first impressions'. that aside, i regularly state in many of my videos that they should not be considered reviews, and in fact should be roundly ignored in that context.
Good to know. I will not use your "final thoughts" as a review (as misleading of a title that is). I was looking for a review, glad to know I didn't waste my time not getting one. Nor the rest of the "not reviews" on your channel.
sounds good. there's a reason i say "today rahdo runs through" and not "today rahdo reviews" at the beginning of ever game i cover. i'm always glad to see only a fraction of my viewers even bother watching the final thoughts vids. the runthrough is where the value is (IMO) :)