Etherfields Review - with Tom Vasel
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ค. 2024
- Tom Vasel takes a look at a story adventure game about being trapped in a dream! Etherfields!
00:00 - Introduction
02:43 - Game overview
14:39 - Final thoughts
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BGG Link: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2... - เกม
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I’m just waiting for that box to show up- glad to hear you dig it Tom!!
That component drop almost gave me a heart attack! XD
Wow this review couldn’t be more different than Shut up and Sit Down’s 😂😂😂
Well they did both hit on the complexity of the rules and the difficulty of following along in the manual. But yeah, it certainly seems that Quinns just got tired of pushing through while Tom sees all that content ahead of him as just being more to do.
Lol quinns is my favourite reviewer but if he starts losing a game, he then hates it lol.
Well I guess they are gathering new topics for them comparing different opinions. But having seen both reviews, Tom focusses on the story beeing ok to good, while Quins bashes on the gameing in between beeing not so good.
@@aerouge4492 And I guess that's really what matters in regards to this game; how much minutia are you willing to put up with in between cool things happening?
@@RunawayWindmill Yup I think thats where personal preferences set in. Both reviews make valid points about the game and everybody needs to decide how important those points are.
Thank you!! Looking forward to getting this game!!
Fantastic overview of the game without spoiling anything. Very well done and very excited to see my copy arrive.
Hi, have you tried the Continuous Dream Mode? What do you think about it? Thanks :)
I did some voluntary work proof-reading the language in Tainted Grail. It had allegedly already been proofread by 'several professional editors'. I was shocked to see how bad the prose I was reading was. I spent four 16-hour days making the text readable. They rejected a lot of my edits but 'did me a favour' by 'including many of them'.
Yeah. I'm guessing they stuck with their 'professional editors' for this one 😖
Are you talking about the rulebook or the scripts?
Are you talking about English or...?
@@eliashartmark1522 Scripts only.
The original text was written by a Polish author. Incredibly good English for a non-native, but still, nowhere near natural.
Clearly Awaken Realms' editing team must be Polish too, or else they like getting paid for pretending to work, because the 'final once-over look' I got paid a couple minis to do was really tough, working on text that was really first-draft quality.
I'd already ordered Etherfields when I realised what it was going to be like.
I'm not going to bother opening it tbh... Straight to eBay. I can't handle poor prose in a narrative driven game.
Even Tainted Grail made me cringe every time I hit a paragraph where they'd rejected my edit, to the point that I stopped playing half-day through. 😖
@@stephendavis7327 yes, English. The narrative text was written by a Polish author.
@@FoolishFishBooks hmm, I know they used professional English proof readers and I found the writing in TG to be great. How did they get in touch with you btw?
Can not wait for mine. You’d be amazed how important I find your reviews for the big kickstarters ..... confirmation to an extent that I should open the packaging 😂
Same. If Tom doesnt pan it then I cam breathe easy, it is ok, there is a game in there, a good or maybe great game. If he hates it...well, all hope is lost
@@aonline_abridged It's alright to disagree with Tom. There's a Top Ten on it.
@@MrScrawnjuan oh I am aware, but he is usually mostly right. A decade of listening to the man has my taste filters calibrated almost to perfection.
@@aonline_abridged you mean to his taste? what are you? a sheep?
@@VeganCATS1I meant I can identify the gameplay preference bias behind his pros and cons and extrapolate if it is a game that I would like. Sheep do not have filters, I believe they have homing beacons.
And did you get back to the game, or even finish the main campaign since this review? I'd be curious to have a debriefing of sorts ;)
Are you going to do a quick review of Etherfields v2.0 (the new revised rules)?
Many Thanks! Great review.
Oh man this game is soooo good! Thank you for agreeing with me Tom 😂
Tom if you ever read this, did you try the game with 3+ players? In which case, did it scale well? That's my main concern
Publisher "We have the rights to some interesting art from 50 different artists."
Game designer "I'll start writing a dream-scape board game."
I maintain that the die atop the tower in the intro is saying "rainbow bright."
Hey guys need your expect opinion.
I'm really new to all of this. Do I have to get in the late kickstarter in order to assure I get the game?
I ask because a lot of kickstarter games seem to not be sold anymore.
I don't want to miss this, but kinda wanna support my local shop for games like this
There is no way of knowing what game on Kickstarter will become popular enough for FLGS to stock it from the distributor. Just go to the FLGS, when the Kickstarter is live, to ask whoever does the ordering if they are backing it with a retail pledge. If it is entering delivering phase (like this one currently is at the time of this response) and ask the FLGS if they backed it.
Those that back games on KS get rare exclusives, earlier access to game (or they should), and access to higher quality pieces. Also, remember that while you want to help your FLGS, pledging a game on Kickstarter helps the game designers and publishers bring games to life. Finally, it is a gamble. Not all games on KS are worth backing. Do your research.
@@anthonypaolilli253 thank you that was very helpful!
:)
Every game store I’ve been to raises the price of practically every game by 30%.
It has never made financial sense to make a board game purchase from a game store. The only reason would be that you want the game right that second or you have a lot of extra money and want to support local gaming.
I’ve always wondered why they charge such ridiculous prices for games? Anyone of us can just order online and I think it’s actually a disservice to board game stores in general.
From what I understand these stores make most of their money off having Magic tournaments and such so maybe they don’t care about sales?
Sometimes I purchase a game from a game store to support the community, as you mentioned, but only on cheaper games where the 30% increase in price is only $5-10$.
Still waiting on my TG ks. Didnt back this one as that one is big enough to keep me busy for a year.
My friend has this coming in I'm so excited
Awesome review Tom! I know how difficult it would have been trying not to spoil the story.
Can't wait for my copy to arrive now 😁
Super happy that I didn't doubt my interest in this game with all the negative reviews. It was a unique constantly shifting puzzle of a game with a great dream theme. Yes the the board is terrible (I actually cut mine in 2 parts), yes the narrative isn't the main thing and it is loose, yes slumbers can get grindy (but there is officially a continuous dream mode now), but the experience each dream has to offer is something else. Awaken realms pushed the limit with this and although it is far from perfect, it is easily in my Top 10. If you're reading this, give it a try!
This was the first really BIG Kickstarter game that I agonized over backing since getting into the hobby. Ended up chickening out and after that review I'm still not sure if it was the right call or not.
Same :(
And me!
Yeah. Agreed. So close after Tainted that I only backed for the barebones version.
Kinda a sucks since the minis in Tainted do nothing, here at least they seem to do something.
next time, pledge 1 dollar, then wait for reviews, and they always reopen the pledge manager several times :) is what i do with all their games, at this point they assure me i can still get my ks copy of tainted grail. Imagine that
So far, I haven't enjoyed TG as much as I thought I would. The story is pretty good, but the gameplay is so difficult and takes way too long to get anywhere. The note-taking is the worst part. You have to take such extensive notes about your options and everything. I'm just exhausted with TG. This looks soo fun though. The thing that concerns me is he says he died once and was on the verge of dying multiple other times --> sounds like TG to me which scares me. I want a game that has a great story but isn't so difficult you feel like you are going to die all the time
Just got mine today, can't wait to start playing in six years when lockdown #14 is over and friends are allowed to visit again!
Less than a month away from getting mine. Can’t wait to paint those minis. No sundrop for me
I'm sure this is good, but I have to admit I am happy I passed on this one. This just seems overwrought - maybe it isn't and it's just being overwhelmed from the overview. I know some of it is Tom not wanting to spoil anything, so he remains vague, but I feel lost.
I think this just isn't for me. Glad it is a good one for those who did back it!
Probably depends what other games you have as a point of reference. If anything it looks less complicated than Arkham Horror LCG in terms of player actions. :/ I guess if you don't enjoy multi-use cards, >30 card decks, and a bunch of text on your map cards then yeah it probably isn't for you. Could probably be eased into it if someone else taught you how to play?
@@yogibbear I do fine with complex games, and I am glad it isn't that much more complicated than something like Arkham - I played MtG for years and love the concept of a deck like an old combo deck called "Second Breakfast" that was so complicated the going-off turn took 45 minutes for a pro and all the other pros just watched to see what it actually did. It was really cool.
Maybe it was simply Tom's overview, but the explanation just sounded like a layer of mechanics on top of another on top of another, and I had a hard time following how they connected or why, gameplay-wise, I was supposed to care about how mechanic A fit into mechanic B. I have no doubt it's a good game, but from the explanation, it sounded like some of the mechanics could have been streamlined.
I think multi-use cards are cool, and so on, but I think it's also just an Awakened Realms thing for me. Even Lords of Hellas, which I know isn't hugely complicated seemed like just a jamming of mechanics together in some ways.
It's funny because I find Gloomhaven pretty approachable, conceptually. Largely because the base concepts are pretty compacted: cards for actions and life, and its complexity comes from the interaction of those cards and things that fit into my head as reasonably complex, like how AI prioritizes targets.
I think it's just that I didn't see the "outline" of the game from the overview maybe, like what the flow of the game is, even in broad terms. Maybe a single play would lock it all in for me, but I honestly just don't have the desire to.
There are enough big, sprawly games out there that I am glad this one is excellent for those that want it, I just have no desire for it. I don't really need many big sprawly games anyway. My disinterest should harm no one else's enjoyment of the game.
@@bricelory9534 Trust your instincts. What you're noticing is the difference between a well-designed game (Gloomhaven) and a badly designed game (Etherfields). Even the players who are excited about the games created by 'Awaken Realms' aren't excited because of the rules. It's because of the quality of the components, the story, the theme, etc.
@@Udonotknowmeatall I hear you. In fact, I've stayed away from all their games so far because their rule sets seem unpolished to me. I'm not afraid of complex rulesets, but there's something that feels like I would prefer if all their games had gone through one more round of rule polishing to streamline just that bit more, take out needless exceptions, etc.
Watching the playthrough the DT did though did help me see why people would be into this game. I can see how you can get really into the experience of it all. Just not for me!
I desperately want this game, but I discovered the hobby long after the original kickstarter ended. I obsessively watch the gamefound late pledge, but it looks like I will not get my hands on this game for a long time D: But thank you for the great, non-spoiler overview!!
I know the feel 😢
You're in luck Jasmine, they just reopened the pledge manager!
@@edadams5786 You're a saint, your ping got me to the pledge manager and I am IN!! Thank you :)
@@jasmineolvany3896 I wasn't sure if you'd see the youtube reply, but figured it was worth a shot. Congrats on grabbing it up. I'm still on the fence :).
Makes me even more excited to get my copy. Thanks for the review
this way marcin can relax now, it got the seal of excellence, but don’t forget to creat a pdf sheet with remember xyz rule. 😁👍🏻
Marcin did really good on this one!
this is like 10 percent game 90 percent experience
No chickening out on this component drop!
Ha. Not really! Tom coulda gone all out and dropped all the cards! :P
Mine will come in few months (language edition) but I'm excited!
The SUSD review was really put off by the heavy cost of failure, causing a repeat of hours of game time. I have a copy in the post but It’s got me worried cos that was a major downside of 7th Continent for us. Just like SUSD said for Etherfields , in 7C we found we had to cheat to avoid losing the will to continue, but then doing that caused the game to lose all tension. Curious to know how Tom deals with this issue?
There is no issue there SUSD misplayed it..you can actually skip the slumber, the cost is on the card..he made it harder for himself and complained..playing solo is not recommended though, def harder
@@davidgulyas9509 oh good! I’m still hoping to love this game, but we have no patience for replaying hours of it
@@davidgulyas9509 SUSD put answer under video on your point, skiping is not answer for his review.
The reviewers from SUSD had fair points though. The board which is not really well designed in order to play it in an easy fashion without having to stand up, the vast number of rules in all different places, the whole immersion that halts every time you need to check the rules again, etc.
My gut feeling says this review is too positive. Time will tell
The latest KS update explained that they are adding a mode for skipping the slumbers (what SUSD said was grindy and tedious). This way you can play how you want. It's being released in wave 2.
I am a backer , and I really hope this game is good. What I like most about Tom is his ability to spread enthusiasm about good games even when they are 'not for him'. Despite the Seal of Excellence I am missing that here. Nothing like 'man I love that game' or the like. Has anyone the same impression?
I dunno lad,i am a lot more excited about getting my copy after hearing him talk about it
@@duduthedruid1835 actually, it does not matter a lot. I am one of the LANG Edition and Single Shipment guys, so concerning my Tainted Grail experiance it will be years until my copy arrives. There will be plenty of reviews then. I hope good ones.
History tells us that Tom would not pour as many hours into this game as he has if he wasn't engaged. I think he's just trying to be very careful not to spoil things.
I agree. Reading some of the comments I wonder if we watched the same review. You sorta have to read between the lines because Tom's downplaying the game's flaws (and that's just the flaws he's noticed so far...).
how does it play with different player count?
V glad to hear it was worth backing! Very excited for this!
Sounds like a more involved version of the old Sandman RPG from the 80's where players role play in various dream scenarios.
Awaken Realms realy seem like a rock solid company.
Backed Lords of Hellas (which I loved) and Tainted Grail (which I havent played yet).
People love Nemesis.
I wanted to back the Edge 1. 6, but a friend got Hate wich kinda scracthed the same 1v1 mini battle itch.
And now this?
Seems realy neat, but my pile of shame (ie games unplayed or just played once or twice) is slowly getting out of hand,and since I backed Tainted Grail I felt they were the same genre.
Looking forward to their space game!
Well, they sure know how to create a successful kickstarter campaign. I'm less sure about their qualities as game designers. 'Nemesis' is so far their only game I consider good. 'Lords of Hellas' has a lot of issues, but maybe you haven't played it often enough yet to notice.
@@Udonotknowmeatall I have This War Of Mine:The Board Game by Awaken Realms and all I can say it's top 3 Awaken Realms game at least for me and top 10 board games of all time.
It's strongly narrative survival game with heavy topic, very immersive and thematic also. Difficulty is high too.
It's experience, more than game itself, simply piece of art, you won't find any game similar to it.
TWOM:TBG is not for everyone for sure, I won't give it to play anyone under +18 age.
Ahhh, what a relief. All is well with Tom, the component drop os back! Now I can return to my normal ways. Don't do this to us Tom 😊.
Your review makes me so happy! I'm glad my husband backed the game and got the fifth player addition!
It just sucks for me that I will not receive my copy till next year. All I backed was the base game no extras.
If you backed just the core game, then you will still receive the SGs which are wave 2 content. Which is why you have to wait if you did not get split shipping. AR made split shipping the default for this project.
So this game only exists in Kickstarter Time.
They have took extra care on everything with the idea it could go to retail. So if you wanted it, but didnt get it during the Kickstarter campaign, in the next 12-18 months, you may be able to find it somewhere.
So excited
Really wanted to play this but ended up selling my All-In pledge. You've confirmed that was the right choice. It sounds amazing but I despise solo board gaming and would never be able to get through it in a group. Oh well..
How and where you sell yours? I want to sell my all in too
@@DontNickMe I’ll buy
@@au7oma7ic can you pm me on here or another chat app?
Ah damn. I only just heard of this and was REALLY interested but... A step down from Tainted Grail, which I have? Lamentably, I pass.
Is this slated to be released commercially?
No, but some retail shops may have backed the game. Language editions often go to retail because of the deals between AR and translators.
They have took extra care on everything with the idea it could go to retail. So if you wanted it, but didnt get it during the Kickstarter campaign, in the next 12-18 months, you may be able to find it somewhere.
edit: not definite, just that they have hopes it could go to retail.
@@level_mind I strongly doubt that this will ever go to retail.
@@Udonotknowmeatall As i said, not definite that it would go to retail. At the time of that original comment by me, Awaken Realms themselves said on a Q&A call, that they plan to bring it to retail. However, since then, I am also in the 'strongly doubt' sides of things that it will ever get there.
Entity is a more useful term because not all entities may be monsters (unless they are in this game).
Captain Crunch
sadly i couldn`t support the kickstarter... can anyone help me a tell me when is this going to be released for everybody?
Never. I'm quite sure it is not planned to be released in retail.
And then you remember how many more campaigns will be delivered of this game.
Just 2, right?. Funeral Witch and Sphinx if I remember correctly. Or am I missing one?
@@raulgarcia5846 also Harpy and She-wolf which are both stretch goals and will be delivered in the second wave
@@nataliacheparina Thank you for the reply. Are all the stretch goals in those two boxes? So when I see my pledge on Gamefound and part of it says like all unlocked stretch goals, it is referring to these two boxes?
@@raulgarcia5846 yeah, that's right. But these stretch goals come in a one box.
@@nataliacheparina Cool. I got the All-In Sundrop Pledge. So all I will be getting wave 2 is the Funeral Witch box, the Spinhx bos, and like a stretch goals box? Thx for helping me out btw.
I cam here, bc someone on FB said Tom Vasel is not good in reviews, but Im surprised, all parts of the review seems logical. So I have no idea where the hate is coming from. GL & HF
He is a well known reviewer in the Boardgame World(tm). As a reviewer, he says things that not every single person on this planet agrees with. And so haters gonna hate for no other reason than in this ONE review, he once said...!
Different tastes is all! He's definitely a good reviewer, but that doesn't mean you'll enjoy the same kind of games Tom enjoys playing.
Oh now you are killing me Tom.
I went 1 wave shipping. I thought I could w8,but .....
At least I hope when I will play it, there will be a narrative app
ouch, 2 wave for me. I knew Id have plenty to chew on. And the 2nd wave would encourage I to jump back in (and probably finish) the epic story.
I was thinking the same as you lad,but decided against it and im soo happy with that decision right now,can't wait
There will probably not be made a narrative app for EF.
I did single-wave shipping for an AR game once and never again.
@@eliashartmark1522 if AR will not make one, they can work with forteller app like gloomhaven, midara and others did
Exelent review. Waiting for my copy...thinking about expansions/minis/extras....
Nice review Tom. What do you think of Dawn of Madness?
I am really looking forward to this one. I did not take the extra mini, hope to not regret it
Thorn knight or 5th character? Either way you don’t need them. But they are fun to have ;)
Think he means the creatures of etherfields pack he didn't get. The fomo would be too real if I didn't get them, they look amazing and adds immersion.
yes, the creatures of etherfields pack. In case I can always add them on the second wave of shipping... XD
@@marcoboschetto4568 tbh, I am thinking about getting the alternate sculpts now for 2nd wave lol
@@eliashartmark1522 hehehe, maybe we should play the game first! but I totally understand you :D
I am confused about the gameplay. Is there no combat??? Is the gameplay just walking around and paying ressources?
To know more search for Rolling Solo's playthroughs of the prototype.
How similar is it to 7th continent? the layout of the cards with many details and text / numbers reminds me of 7th continent, and the riddles of discovering things on the tiles too - BTW it was extremely badly explained that the "curse" was in fact a riddle you need to understand to get through to the end, it's reading some comments on a forum that I saw that I didn't play the same game, just trying to discover map tiles but going randomly when trying to solve the curse riddle I would have gone better. ; I hope in Etherfields it's better explained what you have to do to and which kind of elements are to be found on the map and what riddle you have to solve.
Imho, unfortunately, it's even worse in 'Etherfields'. You're right about the similarities, though.
I just got my FedEx notification today. Looks like this is what I'll be rounding out my year with. I bought it to play solo so the semi-lockdown we're in suits me just fine :)
How did Tom love this and Quinn hate it. Watch both reviews before deciding on this game, I guess?
They have different tastes.
Quinns liked it at first, it seems to eat time though. If someone said 'you can play this 40 hour game or 10 Twilight Imperium games' I know what I would prefer.
Not to be confused with Chesterfields, which is a chicken franchise.
What about player count? does it feels like a solo game or it scales well with player count?
You super hyped this up for me. I was a backer and was a little on the edge about this one, but now I cannot wait! It looks so engaging!
I was never on the edge about this, just sad that I couldn't afford more of it!
Tom, but did you end up "Fudging more that a corrupted Accountant of a Fudge Factory on Free Fudge Friday?" -Quitin of SU&SD
Tom, love watching your reviews but your set’s lighting has become dim. Everything looks a bit dark. Think you might need to update your studio lighting.
I thought it's only my screen (which is actually new). Thanks for coming this up.
I (unfortunately) agree...
Getting mine hopefully soon... Problem is not sure I can stand these grandiose games anymore... So much stuff, the campaign... As 99% of people out there, realistically can only play this solo, which I find highly demotivating... Lets see... May end up just selling it.
If you are serious, I would be interested in potentially buying your copy.
I'm glad I took Tainted Grail and passed on this one.
I'm glad I passed on both games :-)
I have this 1 and Tainted grail backed in single wave shipping but i dont think I’m ever gona get them, a bit of soft scam lol
fazeclan
I backed this instead of Tainted Grail because we wanted a great story that isn’t too classic fantasy and isn’t too grimdark - dream worlds sounded much more interesting to us
Kinda annoying how small the map is and it seems to be fiddly and moving a lot when you move on it with miniatures....this system is very unappealing
I so now wish I backed this game. I almost late pledged but the 'masks' for some reason turned me away.
Don't worry, it's not as good as he says. Maybe he disn't play as long as the other reviewers and is still in the "it's a great game"-phase. Also check out the review from shut up and sit down as well as no pun intended and then you might not feel so sorry as I feel for backing all of this ^^
This just sounds like a really messy implementation of the 7th Continent with some awesome looking minis thrown into the mix to distract from the chaos of the mechanics.
I think you need to play it to understand the mechanics. As Tom Vasel says, he could get you playing very quickly.
It sounds like 7th Continent or Tainted Grail without the grinding mechanisms. Etherfields looks like a large-scale adventure game that focuses on adventure instead of bloating the play time with survival mechanisms.
I feel this is awaken realms take on arkham horror the card game. The dual use of cards, building a deck, exploring locations with choices to make and horrors lurking.
Tainted grail being AR's take on 7th continent (i imagine)
Iooking forqard to this arriving, now i need to figure out how its actually going to get played on a weekly basis with friends! 4 hour weekly gaming sessions, that could take half a year!
I think 7th continent is a really messy implementation of 7th continent :D. Almost all groups I know who didn't give up halfway through are using some kind of house rule to avoid the mechanics and enjoy the exploration.
@@szendroib yes... I’ve had to essentially redesign the game from the ground up to get any enjoyment out of it. I have some decent rules in testing that basically use the components but seriously reinterpret the mechanics of the game.
am i the only one that hates boards made from cards... ?
Once again though, what's the point of this review if you didn't back the game on Kickstarter?
I hate that they dropped the minis.... then sat the heavy box on them.
Showing disrespect to a copy of the game they were given for free. If they had spent the couple hundred dollars on their copy, you know for sure they would not treat it that way.
Haha are you new here? It’s his copy who cares what he does with it
It is his copy, so his choice. AR would not mind.
So you produce a product, give it to someone for free as a review copy with full upgrades that cost extra to those that paid for it. Then you watch them burn it. How would you feel?
@@level_mind he is not burning it though. That is a far leap from reality here. He has played 15-20 hours of their game and he is just doing the bit that he does with every game he reviews.
It's his trademark, the component drop. Does it with all his games, but it's also the one thing that bothers me because of the reason you stated. It could damage assets but I guess he's just doing his thing :) It makes his life probably a bit more challenging.. resorting everything 🤮