I love culling videos and articles; they offer great insight from a different point of view instead of cult of the new and review videos. thanks for doing this!
As usual, very good and clear presentation of your subject. Kudos for the angle change of your camera... seems more natural. Always glad to hear your opinions. 👍
Good video idea! Funny since After the Virus is my 2nd most played solo game! And I love the expansion... which adds lots of replay value and somehow brings some nice twists to the game. Different tastes here!
Not only did you present well with good reasons, but you also made me aware of some that I didn’t even know offered solo. So thanks for such an informative video John!
Great to hear you capitalized on my recommendation for this particular topic :) I also got rid of Aeon's End. I had almost everything for it, but it got too stale for me, and they never stopped churning out material. The designers didn't know when to stop..and frankly, they still don't know when to stop because they reskinned it as Astro Knights. Fortunately, I traded it off for Terra Mystica and Gears of War with the rare card expansion. Sad to hear about Cerebria and Outer Rim with the expansion! I have both of those unwrapped. I've heard many good things about them for other reasons that I'm excited about, so I'll give them a shot.
@@JohnLaRuffa Thanks. The temptation is still there to see what they're about at least, so I'm pretty interested in exploring the hype. I'll report back later on about my feelings for those two games. Bookmarked this video! Thanks for your insights, John.
Recently found your videos, and am really enjoying them. I like the no nonsense, honest approach! Anyway, I wanted to comment re Outer Rim. I am a big star wars fan (1st 6 films anyway!). I don't particularly like Firefly as an IP, but I ended up selling Outer Rim and kept Firefly. Firefly is long too, but it just feels more immersive. I wanted to love Outer Rim but had the same experience as you. Anyway, thanks for all the vids!
Good video idea! Funny cause After the Virus is my 2nd most played solo game! And I love the expansion... which adds lots of replay value. Different tastes here!
I really like your video. Thanks. I enjoy Aeon's End. There is usually a way to make the game a little easier if you are struggling with it at the cost of enjoyment. You have to really mitigate the loss of heath because the issue is usually a very limited resource to regenerate the mage's health.
Like I always say, to each their own. I don’t think it is a bad game at all, but just didn’t click for me after a couple of plays. I thought the ease of playing the iOS version would help, but it still did not make me want to come back for more games. Oh well…
I have a game recommendation for you: Dice Realms, by the designer who did Race for the Galaxy. He came out with an official co-op and solo A.I. variant last summer that people raved about. Very much deserves a serious look at. EDIT: I see you did an unboxing on your channel here, but you said there wasn't a solo mode. I think 1 or 2 months after that video, the solo mode came out. If you haven't tried it, now you have a big reason to break out Dice Realms.
Nice, different and fun video to watch. 6 castles we were considering for 2 player experience but eventually just faded and never persue further. Was unaware of the solo mode. Had the same experience with After the Virus. Your Cerebra experience sound like my Mage Knight. Man so many little rules and was rules heavy. Just had to trade, was just fatigued thinking about relearning the rules again. Of course there are some experiences that we are in sync while other not. That's to be expected 😊. Great video looking forward to future episodes.
@@JohnLaRuffa Brilliant! (I call Adelaide home) Keep up the great videos. I have a good game collection now, but learning how to play them can be challenging. So TH-cam videos are very helpful. Appreciate what you do.. awesome, mate.
When it comes to "After the Virus" my thoughts mirror yours. As for Star Wars Outer Rim, I have not played it but I have heard that it has similarity to "Firefly: The Game". Have you tried "Firefly"?
While I agree Cerebria is a bad solo because of the nature of area control, it is a good multiplayer game. With the expansion it plays really nice at 2-6 players. I will not play this solo, but will play this as a multiplayer area control game. Some solos just cat capture the feel of the multiplayer game without complicated rules that take you out of the game.
4:00 AE: yeah every time I felt like a lab rat. Not my kind of game. I could make a series of videos on 30 such not for me games I tried and dumped... as for AE - never realized this before... add a postit stating the boss's initial health. Say half of the printed. Play boss, and if you lose, halve it again. After you win, you add +16 points to it and so on until you lose, then detract half (=8) until you win again, then add +4 and so on. Either you get better vs the boss, or not get better, and when delta =1 and you didn't get better you can say that's enough. interesting for the dev doesn't mean winnable for mortals.
I could have done that, but I don’t usually like these types of changes to games. I would prefer bosses that go from easy to very hard so I don’t just nerf everything.
Aeon’s End has a pretty big learning curve in terms of strategy. Love it solo but I had a lot of losses handed to me in the beginning so I get that (plus you need to play 2handed to unlock the character roles/combos).
Ehh it wasn't so much of a learning curve for strategy. It honestly wasn't that big of a curve. What i disliked was all the material that kept coming out for it. The amount of shelf space it took up was enormous, so I just said enough is enough and sold it all. There are better deckbuilders out there. For one, I much prefer Thunderstone Quest over AE.
Thanks for the video, i always like to hear the reasons when someone doesn't like a game, specially when i consider it a good game at least for me. Btw, have you ever made a video of Dragonfire that i see you have on the shelf?
I love culling videos and articles; they offer great insight from a different point of view instead of cult of the new and review videos. thanks for doing this!
culling fails when there is zero demand. As it is in NL on marketplace since a month or so.
I am very lucky to have a FLGS that offers a fantastic consignment option for me to turn my sold games through them into store credit.
Sure thing!
Wonderful video. Super honest yet respectful.
Thanks. That is the intent. I’m not so keen on trashing someone’s creation, even if I don’t like it.
As usual, very good and clear presentation of your subject.
Kudos for the angle change of your camera... seems more natural.
Always glad to hear your opinions. 👍
Thank you very much. I also think the angle works a bit better.
Nice topic for another great and well explained video 😊👍
Thanks!
Liked this. Good video. Plus I love trying to see all the different games behind you.
I do that too when I watch other channels 😀
Good video idea! Funny since After the Virus is my 2nd most played solo game! And I love the expansion... which adds lots of replay value and somehow brings some nice twists to the game. Different tastes here!
Not only did you present well with good reasons, but you also made me aware of some that I didn’t even know offered solo. So thanks for such an informative video John!
Always happy to help!
Great to hear you capitalized on my recommendation for this particular topic :)
I also got rid of Aeon's End. I had almost everything for it, but it got too stale for me, and they never stopped churning out material. The designers didn't know when to stop..and frankly, they still don't know when to stop because they reskinned it as Astro Knights. Fortunately, I traded it off for Terra Mystica and Gears of War with the rare card expansion.
Sad to hear about Cerebria and Outer Rim with the expansion! I have both of those unwrapped. I've heard many good things about them for other reasons that I'm excited about, so I'll give them a shot.
By all means, I hope they click for you!
@@JohnLaRuffa Thanks. The temptation is still there to see what they're about at least, so I'm pretty interested in exploring the hype. I'll report back later on about my feelings for those two games. Bookmarked this video! Thanks for your insights, John.
Sounds good!
Recently found your videos, and am really enjoying them. I like the no nonsense, honest approach!
Anyway, I wanted to comment re Outer Rim. I am a big star wars fan (1st 6 films anyway!). I don't particularly like Firefly as an IP, but I ended up selling Outer Rim and kept Firefly. Firefly is long too, but it just feels more immersive. I wanted to love Outer Rim but had the same experience as you.
Anyway, thanks for all the vids!
Glad you like my stuff! I did the exact same thing but I sold Firefly because it was too long. Still looking for the right kind of game in this genre.
Good video idea! Funny cause After the Virus is my 2nd most played solo game! And I love the expansion... which adds lots of replay value. Different tastes here!
Certainly! I have a feeling that many people will have comments like this as the episodes go forward.
Great vidoe. As I never played any of the five I have no comments.
Looking forward to the next installment.
Keep up the awesome content.
Take care
Thanks!
Hi from France! So agree with you. And I've the same feeling with Mage Knight which I tried so hard to love... but that's not a game for me 😢
Just wait until you see episode three…!
Enjoyed the video, thanks
Thank you!
Once again, a great video. Thanks again John. I was thinking about Outer Rim as i am a big Star Wars fan, but I tink I'll pass.
Don't pass on it! Do your research first and never rely on one person's opinion. Gather more info about it.
It’s always important to get both sides of the story. Many people like the game, but for me, it just overstayed its welcome.
I really like your video. Thanks. I enjoy Aeon's End. There is usually a way to make the game a little easier if you are struggling with it at the cost of enjoyment. You have to really mitigate the loss of heath because the issue is usually a very limited resource to regenerate the mage's health.
add a postit stating the boss's initial health.
Say half of the printed.
And you CANNOT do that in videogames, and that's why I prefer analog.
Like I always say, to each their own. I don’t think it is a bad game at all, but just didn’t click for me after a couple of plays. I thought the ease of playing the iOS version would help, but it still did not make me want to come back for more games. Oh well…
I have a game recommendation for you: Dice Realms, by the designer who did Race for the Galaxy. He came out with an official co-op and solo A.I. variant last summer that people raved about. Very much deserves a serious look at. EDIT: I see you did an unboxing on your channel here, but you said there wasn't a solo mode. I think 1 or 2 months after that video, the solo mode came out. If you haven't tried it, now you have a big reason to break out Dice Realms.
I have this one and really enjoy it. I have played it with an old solo mode as well as with others and it is fun. I need to check out the new one!
Nice, different and fun video to watch. 6 castles we were considering for 2 player experience but eventually just faded and never persue further. Was unaware of the solo mode. Had the same experience with After the Virus. Your Cerebra experience sound like my Mage Knight. Man so many little rules and was rules heavy. Just had to trade, was just fatigued thinking about relearning the rules again. Of course there are some experiences that we are in sync while other not. That's to be expected 😊. Great video looking forward to future episodes.
Oh Mage Knight…where do I begin. I will leave that for a future episode. Thanks as always for watching!
@@JohnLaRuffa That could be it's own episode. I've been there done that (Mage Knight).
Great videos John. Very informative, helpful. Cheers from South Australia
Thanks! Glad you find it so. I have visited your land once. Adelaide and the surrounding area. Very nice place!
@@JohnLaRuffa Brilliant! (I call Adelaide home) Keep up the great videos.
I have a good game collection now, but learning how to play them can be challenging. So TH-cam videos are very helpful.
Appreciate what you do.. awesome, mate.
Thanks! My challenge is remembering how to play the ones I learn.
When it comes to "After the Virus" my thoughts mirror yours. As for Star Wars Outer Rim, I have not played it but I have heard that it has similarity to "Firefly: The Game". Have you tried "Firefly"?
Yes and I ultimately sold that one too. I sold that one for different reasons but still, I just didn’t feel it.
While I agree Cerebria is a bad solo because of the nature of area control, it is a good multiplayer game. With the expansion it plays really nice at 2-6 players. I will not play this solo, but will play this as a multiplayer area control game. Some solos just cat capture the feel of the multiplayer game without complicated rules that take you out of the game.
That is more than fair. Never had the chance to play it with others.
4:00 AE: yeah every time I felt like a lab rat. Not my kind of game.
I could make a series of videos on 30 such not for me games I tried and dumped...
as for AE - never realized this before...
add a postit stating the boss's initial health.
Say half of the printed.
Play boss, and if you lose, halve it again.
After you win, you add +16 points to it and so on
until you lose, then detract half (=8) until you win again,
then add +4 and so on.
Either you get better vs the boss, or not get better,
and when delta =1 and you didn't get better you can say that's enough.
interesting for the dev doesn't mean winnable for mortals.
I could have done that, but I don’t usually like these types of changes to games. I would prefer bosses that go from easy to very hard so I don’t just nerf everything.
Aeon’s End has a pretty big learning curve in terms of strategy. Love it solo but I had a lot of losses handed to me in the beginning so I get that (plus you need to play 2handed to unlock the character roles/combos).
Something I usually don’t like is playing 2 handed. That never really appeals to me…
Ehh it wasn't so much of a learning curve for strategy. It honestly wasn't that big of a curve. What i disliked was all the material that kept coming out for it. The amount of shelf space it took up was enormous, so I just said enough is enough and sold it all. There are better deckbuilders out there. For one, I much prefer Thunderstone Quest over AE.
Ugg. You confirmed my Star Wars outer Rim. It’s fantastic in multiplayer but I found the AI annoying and as you said dry. Time to part ways
Sadly, I never got to play it with others.
Thanks for the video, i always like to hear the reasons when someone doesn't like a game, specially when i consider it a good game at least for me.
Btw, have you ever made a video of Dragonfire that i see you have on the shelf?
No. That one was in my collection for a few years before I started this channel. I need to get it out again and play it…
Totally agree on Star Wars. I know it gets a lot of love in the solo community, but it fell so flat for me.
Yes, and I love Fantasy Flight’s treatment of the license…but not in this game. Flat as can be for me too.
Wht? What? You sold after the virus? How dare you 😢😢😢😢
Its my number one game or at least the number one deck building there is
Still shocked
Just didn’t work for me. To each their own though.
@@JohnLaRuffa I know I know...
Just so disappointed it is a great game
But ho well you are a euro heavy gamer so what can I say 🤷