After a dozen plays, I can’t come to like this game. It is an example where you CAN have too much of a good thing. 4-player was brutal. 2 and 3 player ok. Solo best. But, there are so many better choices out there.
Played this on BGA and I really like the theme (it feels like an even more soup-ed up Meadow, in the sense of leaning into that eco-system building aspect): it reminded me a lot of Race for the Galaxy, on first blush, in the way the cardplay synergizes, but I also love the idea of the following mechanism (a la Fort), and the way the tableau works reminds me a lot of Verdant, also. I don't know that these are all exact comparisons, but just the impressions I get from it. It seems like a very mechanical game, overall, which makes it seem heavier at first glance than I think it really is, which I agree with you on. I thinkthe Winspan comparison is very interesting, and probably apt
I have been on a 45-60 min game kick and that feels weighty. This is perfect for me. I just have less and less time and I have a serious AP friend. I like the flexibility and it feels like Cascadia in which I always have something to do. So this has been a weighty game where I get to the table much more then Ark Nova. Ark Nova is Holiday time or the wife is out of town and I have a whole morning or evening blocked off.
@@MarcTelesha my play group generally tends to prefer a similar length, because they're mostly gateway gamers, but the 1.5-2hr games have been getting some more airtime lately. I agree, this one is pretty accessible
I played this "hot game" recently at Dice Tower West. I really enjoyed it. While the follow mechanic adds some chaos, I appreciate how you're always involved and I found that I forgot whose actual turn it was. While you are racing and trying the score the most points, at the end, I find myself marvelling at the environment that I had built. I had built a Jamaican mushroom paradise, which is weird because they are notorious for other "flora". Great work, once again, everyone.
Thanks for the review and taking the time to play it, well appreciated! Glad you've enjoyed it and I do hope that it will be widely popular as you mentioned! Only time will tell. Regarding creating a market for cards, it's a good idea, I tried while play testing and it didn't really work at all for several reasons, but mainly because it slowed down the game to much. 1) It was hard to determine the drawing order on the market since it's simultaneous play. 2) Every time a card is turned, everybody wants to read it, which slows the game. 3) It creates AP every time people draw cards, trying to decide which one they should draw. 4) It was more fiddly to handle since you draw so many cards, you always spend time replenishing the market. The solution to replace this market is by making players draw tons of cards and they can read and choose from the vast number of card they have in their hand compared to other games. The more you draw, the more you reduce the randomness impact. For the player interaction and the replay factor, I would add that a considerable part of those come from the Fauna objective and not just the main actions. The races for Fauna objectives is really important to win and keeping track of where others are is quite important to score more. At the same time, Fauna give the direction to the game and are the main reason every game you will try to target different things, thus giving the replay value. Do I grow tall trees, a lot of small ones, accumulates resources, put a lot of sprouts, keep cards in hand, compost a lot, create lines, focus on bushes, try to optimize sunny habitats, etc. Edit: I do want to mention though that if you don't like to much solitaire games, games with a lot of stuff going on, big puzzle or games with many things onto which to focus, Earth is not the game for you. You guys did a good point highlighting that, thanks for it it is a really good advice for people who are trying to decide weather Earth is a good game for them or not :) Great analysis! Anyhow, thanks for the great review and the thoughtful analysis, it's well appreciated :)
I agree about player interaction, my group likes games in wich you have to compete for objectives even if you're builiding your own engine (like meadow). in this game however you can still get points even if you're not the first to get to the objective. wich is a good thing for someone and a bad thing for those who like more competition. anyway, i love this game and i will buy it as soon as will be released in italy!!
@@moscerino07 thanks for reaching back and glad you agree on the player interaction side of things. Earth is definitely not a game you will interfere with other player's plans a lot, so if this is what you are searching for in a game don't go for it! I saw this morning that the Italian version of Earth is starting to get delivered to backers, so it should be out in shops in Italy by the end of April or early May :)
Mr. Tardif, thank you for this long explanatory comment. I agree with you on all counts, especially on how the card drawing was put as a way of mitigating randomness and bad draw luck. If one is not satisfied with drawn cards, one just focuses more on actions and abilities that let more cards to be drawn, seen and cycled through. I do this in Wingspan and I never have a problem of not getting great cards I want. Both games have very smart and beautiful design in place just for that, by making every card worth something, every card being usable in at least some useful way. Cause even discarding cards which are useless for primary goals, is worth some lesser points and/or gets you resources. I love Wingspan and Earth for this particular reason. Luck, based on card draws, is minimized and players have meaningful ways of mitigating any bad luck. In Wingspan I get high scores consistantly, almost every game, no matter what cards I draw. Because those cards which are bad for my tableu and goals l, I tuck under existing already built cards for points or abilities on birds or trade them in during actions and birds' abilities in order to gain more of those resources I need at that specific moment. At the same time, I even build one or two birds which let me draw or cycle through more(additional) cards, all as a secondary effect to my main action/focus. And this game, Earth, obviously provides similar options to the players as Wingspan. In this playthrough, if Monique was not satisfied with the card she was drawing, she could have just chosen to draw more cards, and compost drawn bad cards for points and other resources. I am not gonna claim I remember 100% correctly on what actions she was focusing on and which ones she was ignoring, but I think she was purposefully choosing not to discard/compost "bad" cards and replace them by drawing new ones. I definitely would have. It's not called tableau building type of game without a reason. Each payer builds their tableau in a way that they find gameplay requires them, in a way so that they can manage all the resources(cards are basically also a resource), trade one for another, based on how their card draws have been so far and what they have built up to that point. Of course players are not gonna be able to build an ideal tableau and score everything high as they would wanna score, but what would be the point and fun of the game and process of playing, if every playthrough was going equally successful in every aspect of the resource collecting and point scoring and if every playthrough finished with the ideal layout/tableau. There would be no point then, no replayability, no fun in creating the tableau. I haven't played Earth yet myself, but I recognize it's great solid design that is fun for people who like this sort of games, and it still has a broad appeal. I love Wingspan and therefore I know I will love playing this game. Thank you for designing such a great thinky smart game! ❤
Player interaction can be negative interaction (hindering an opponent) or positive interaction (helping an opponent). In the action selection phase you try to choose the action that helps you more than it helps your opponent. That's where the player interaction is. This game doesn't lack player interaction, it just doesn't have much negative player interaction.
@@mavweirdo that was one of my goal designing it indeed, instead of having actions that gives -1, 0 and 1 vp to three different players in Earth it gives 1, 2 and 3 vp to three different players. In the end the vp difference is the same, but everyone has an enjoyable experience.
As far as release, I think it releases to retail on 4/22. And by the way, this game has a fantastic price point of $50, compared to Wingspan at $65 and Ark Nova at $75. That is a lot of game for $50.
Thank you for another wonderful review/playthrough. I absolutely enjoy your channel and love the way you do your videos. I have this game ordered and I can't wait to get it. It really looks enjoyable and seems to fit in with the type of games I love.
I didn't understand this game until I saw this playthrough, so thank you for that. Seeing how similar it is to Wingspan, I would probably like it, I just don't know if I need it.
This game seems similar mechanically to Ares Expedition; simultaneous action selection, actions even during others actions, etc. Plan on getting it to the table this weekend for the first time at a high player count. Wish me luck!
Great game! Looks like Naveen may have gotten some extra points, though, as he scored one card twice in his personal ecosystem card. Still would have won, though, I think.
It is surely less bloated than Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova, achieving a similar feeling in regards to the engine building itself, not mentioning the serious reduction on playtime (which was quite absurdly high in these two other games for me). Very nice. That being said, I still don't like it. 🤣 Thanks for the video and all of your work, you two!
57:22: If I am not mistaken Naveen is counting one card twice. the actual way to get the 7 diagonal card line (involving the top left card) would involve one card in the 2nd colomn 4th row, making a line via the following cards: (1:1 = top left, 4:4 = bottom right.) 1:1, 2:2, 1:3, 2:4, 3:3, 4:2, 3:1 Very nice Playthrough though. :D
I saw it too. I guess he can still make it work if he put the 7th herb card on his very last free spot. @1:2 So it should end up with 2:1 > 1:2 > 2:3 > 3:4 > 4:3 > 3:2 > 4:1
It seems like a mash up of wingspan and race for the galaxy but with less interaction between players. I have played a lot of multiplayer solitaire euro games over the last few years and I find my interest in this kind of games has significantly deteriorated. I think this game doesn't seem interesting or different enough in order for me to get hyped about it. Thanks a lot for the video, great work!
You may correct this later on the video, but I wanted to mention before I forget that your starting Island does indeed count toward Panther Chameleon! It does in fact have two abilities- the side with all of your starting resources is just a black ability, the kind that resolve immediately and only once. I actually looked this up to verify and the designer confirmed it on BGG! ❤
Really good to see a deep review that's more measured and thoughtful about this game. I love a game with a big stack of cards - Wingspan and Ark Nova are two of my favourites, and I had been confused by comparisons with Ark Nova as it seems so much more like Wingspan so it's good to see that confirmed. I'm really looking forward to my kickstarter arriving (any day now!).
I am definitely the target audience for this one, as I love searching for and cobbling together those combos together. So I’ll likely love this. However, I really appreciate your review. You guys are quite good at explaining what you do/don’t like and identifying what others may/not like. I really like your content, so thanks for all the hard work.
One thing I wanted to add that really makes this game have its own niche is if you’re trying to find a satisfying engine builder that plays quickly even at higher player counts. (It also plays well at 5, which is often times great for those awkward player counts) With the simultaneous actions, the game can run relatively fast compared to its “common comparison boardgames” The rules are also super light. Makes a great gateway for people to get into engine builder tableaus. AND a great game to have if your groups goal is wanting to pump as many games in a meet up session as possible (especially if multiple meet ups you’ve only played a single longer game like ark nova) Also proud of this game being CANADIAN MADE 🇨🇦!! Woo!!
At the end of the game it was still worth drawing the cards - whilst cards in hand aren’t worth anything innately, if you draw an event card, you can immediately play it if worth it. Wouldn’t be likely to be many net points but could end up gaining you a few!
so people are comparing this to ark nova, but other than the fact there are animal photos, it doesnt seem that similar to ark nova at all. It seems much more similar to wingspan in terms of tableau building, engine building, sequential activation, end game conditions, etc, maybe with a bit of terraforming mars mixed in.
You guys are my favorite TH-camrs to watch for how to plays and reviews. I played the game for the first time last night and had wished you guys had a video, so happy you guys do now. I find the rule book to be not so great but it’s a fun game and ours was great quality.
1:06:20 - The card itself counts in the row and column, so Naveen gets 1 sprout for the mushroom and 2 for the herb. And he can put the sprout on another plant, not just the one with the ability. 1:10:05 - The island card is also a double abilities, so here Naveen already had 6 cards and completed the objective earlier, as Monique.
Not sure I have ever commented on your videos, but I have watched quite a few now. You guys are great teachers so I keep finding myself on your channel. Thanks! Tonight I learned and played Earth and I love it! Love Wingspan too but always want a few more turns. I am solo playing so no problems w missing anything. ❤
I played Earth at 3 and 5 players, and it's really more of a race to the end. It's more difficult to fill all 16 spots at higher player counts. Also, I think Wingspan is very unsatisfying with the engine building, where as Earth has a larger engine and is very satisfying that everything triggers and you get a lot of everything.
Card dependent games like Ark Nova, Terraforming Mars and Wingspan are actually my favorite type of game, so this might just be right up my alley, but so far I'm not super drawn to getting it.
Awesome teach and playthrough as usual. Thanks M and N for taking the time and effort to show us this much anticipated game. One small correction… your Island and Climate cards DO count towards the common goals on the main board. So your Island cards contribute to the Panther Chameleon common goal!! You can tell because the Island and Climate symbols are printed on the card below the text! So give youself another 11 points, Monique!!
yes, i thik Monique deserved 11 points for that card.Also, like someone said, i think Naveen counted a card twice for his personal ecosystem card. so maybe the outcome of the game could have been different!!! Maybe Monique could have won 😃
Naveen double counted the Hairy Crabgrass for his diagonal herbs. He could have legally scored 7 if his top row 2nd card was an herb. Wouldn't change the outcome but very close!
Looks like a great game. From Monique’s comments in the second part of the playthrough I thought it was going to be a landslide victory for Naveen. In the end, it was pretty close. Does this mean it is difficult to predict the winner because of the many scoring opportunities? I don’t know if my brain will be able to make all those objectives happen 😅 Can’t wait to get my copy!
Great review and game play! We just had that sprouts ecosystem card yesterday. And played/scored it differently....where you actually had to have sprouts (or none) on your cards. In order for it to count. I see you guys did it based off of how many boxes for sprouts are on the cards....funny how different interpretations can come up!
There’s actually two different symbols - if it’s just a sprout, it means it has to have that number of sprouts on it; if it is surrounded by a sort of box, that means it just has to have that *capacity*. Exact same thing for sprouts. It’s not open for interpretation, it’s two different symbols :)
Played this at Dice Tower West 2023 a few weeks ago, have been playing on Board Game Arena, and my KS copy is due to arrive in a couple of days! Thanks for posting your VERY helpful videos!
i still disagree after all this time that ark nova is a synergy game... ive logged 80 games and ive played games with and without synergy and did well both. you might get a few tickets or crosses or a few bucks, but ultimate you want animal icons, which is needed for conservation points. the benefits of synergy are not vital to winning. the true winner is the person who squeezes the most juice out of their lemons
I enjoy Earth a lot but I am tactical player so like games with a lot of cards where you have to optimize within the probabilities (rather than playing heavier strategy games like Lacerdas). I don’t find it too constrained since if you need more cards, you can just select the Yellow action to get 4. Even the Green action lets you see 4 and keep one. There is a lot of abundance and lack of constraints. The challenge is in maneuvering through all of the ways to score to do as well as possible. In that sense I like Earth as much as Wingspan though not quite as much as Ark Nova or Terraforming Mars. Race for Galaxy is also fun but too hard to teach easily. Thanks for review
Exactly! Fully agree with you. That's why I love this type of games, cause they do let you to mitigate luck and build around the randomness(which is there for replayability) and bad luck. Bad card drawing is simply not a problem in Wingspan, especially not as big of a problem as people think and say it is. And based on what I have seen, bad card drawing isn't a problem in Earth either, even though I haven't yet played it. Random and bad card draws is perfectly mitigated and balanced, by this kind of drawing, building and trading mechanics in these types of games like Wingspan and Earth.
1:19:00 - I feel like Naveen counted two more cards for his goal than he should have. He crossed over on the sixth one and counted the sixth one twice and the seventh one when he shouldn't have. To max out all 7, you would need to zigzag a lot more. I numbered a pathway in a 4×4 grid as an example. 1 - 3 - - 2 - 4 7 - 5 - - 6 - - Having said that, I'm still surprised Naveen didn't win by more. But the game seems mostly balanced. Engine-building games often depend a little too much on card draw and finding random cards to get the most bang for your buck, but it seems there's so much you can go for that it's okay.
Thank you! I'm happy I'm not the only person that doesn't really dig simultaneous play :) This game looks very nice and thanks for showing it in great light :)
I would compare this more to T.M. Ares Expedition, or to Race for the Galaxy. Engine builders where all the player interaction is in the action selection, instead of negative player interaction.
I share the same thoughts as you two. I love the theme, and I have enjoyed playing on BGA, but it hasn’t grabbed me the way it seems to enthrall many. I prefer Wingspan and Race for the Galaxy for games with similar mechanisms. It’s still solid, and one I’m glad is available to play on BGA.
Great video as usual! I actually used your video to prepare for my first play, it was a huge help I’m not feeling brand new when sitting down for our first game! 😊
I've found that playing games multiple times and getting to know them better, helps with not looking at other players. It just gives me more mental capacity to see what's going on. Which is interesting, because it's an advantage for the more "skilled" player, which helps offset the randomness of the cards.
What's the purpose of the first player token? It seems like it was just constant turn-taking (unless I'm missing something). The initial player for each round doesn't change, does it?
I know that we have similar tastes because my issues with Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova are the same; I hate that it is so dependent on whether you can get the right cards.
The "simple game" board has space for four fauna cards rather than the two you mentioned. With the simple game I don't think you play with the Ecosystem cards at all (even on your personal boards)
Did Naveen actually get his personal score objective? It seems to me that saying no backtracking, that would mean he can't count any card twice...but idk
Thank you very much for this interesting very well filmed playthrough. I enjoyed it a lot! You are great at doing these. Keep up the great work. ❤ I like this kind of puzzley card tableau building games, so based on your playthrough I think I will love playing this game a lot.
Mine is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I'm a bit scared of the production value. Lots of reports on warped player boards and the wooden insert not fitting the box.
Just bought Earth, and your video(s) is really helpful! Some games I need to know a little about how the rounds work. And you guys are the first I search for, if I need to know that 😊
I actually found the comparisons to Wingspan very helpful! I think I'd love this game but I'm not sure a heavier Wingspan would see much play in my group. I also think the tableau & theme remind me of Everdell. This does seem more combo-tastic than Wingspan though.
Complete game world beginner here ! I’m so glad I came across you guys’ channel! I’m wanting to start game nights with hubby but both of us were hesitant in learning all the components to games like these. Your videos are EXACTLY what a beginner needs, explanations were slow and understandable; proceeding with a play through is the icing on the cake. Really appreciate the time, effort, and creation of your videos!
I'm so glad you two reviewed this. I've been on the fence about this for a while now. Almost pre-ordered it based on the Dice Tower reviews that absolutely loved it, but after hearing your review, you mentioned a lot of things that I feel I wouldn't enjoy so much. I've got Ark Nova and I really enjoy that one, so I doubt that I would pull Earth off the shelf before Ark Nova. Thanks for the review!!
@@MarcTelesha I've had very different experiences with Ark Nova, I find that I am a little surprised when the end approaches there are still three or four things that I'm aiming to achieve and I just can't get them all done. The last time I played, we actually played two games back to back and, yes, that did end up taking us about 5,5 hours, it was a great time and I could easily spend my time doing that again. I'm so engaged when I'm playing that I don't notice the time flying by.
Not sure if you corrected this later, but at 57:56 you made a mistake regarding the Caerlaverock Nature Reserve - according to the FAQ, you can't go through the same card twice, so you scored 20 points, not 28. I'm watching this as a tutorial so I can teach my group tomorrow. Great playthrough! Very easy to understand.
You keep talking about “spending points” and not wanting to do that, Monique, in regards to the ability allowing you t trade 2 compost for 4 sprouts. I think you may have been missing out on the fact that sprouts are each worth a point, just like compost! So you are trading 2 points for 4 points, which I think you would agree is a great deal ;)
This game is just as over rated as Wingspan. Its solitare with a million options that all boil down to the same thing. There's an illusion of options and complexity when its just a bunch of random stuff going on. Yes you can make better choices or bad choices, but it really just feels like going through the motions. The playtime of this game is way too long for what it is too. Play Race for the Galaxy for a game that uses this action selection mechanism amazingly well.
Sounds like a simple house rule of having a face-up display of cards to choose from would address one of your issues with the game. When I play this on Saturday, I'm going to make a face-up card row equal to the number of players. Any player may spend 2 soil to wipe and re-fresh the card row. How's that sound?
Feels like Wingspan but with worse theme and not as polished. What makes Wingspan great is the set number of rounds (modifiable by non scoring rounds from expansion), but it means there is no need to rush to full display. Here knowing that the winning player will always have full display means everyone else has to keep up, taking focus away from other mechanics.
So I played this just last month with a bunch of friends (5-player game) and loved it. One thing that really messed us up because we only realized it mid-game is that while the Ecosystem cards are fairly clear, they aren't always intuitive. Some mistakes I believe you made: -Yuanjiang Savanna scores you points based on the actual sprouts on the cards, not their capacity. (There is one that gives you points based on the growth, not growth capacity, which is the one we messed up in our game) which means that Monique actually only achieved it in one row, but could've easily fixed that during gameplay by placing the growth on different cards. -Caerlaverock. You got this one wrong, Naveen is double-counting his Hairy Crabgrass. The way you get 7 with that requires all + and one x to be herbs xo+o o+ox o+o+ +o+o +o+o o+o+ o+ox xo+o Then you can draw a continuous line through all herbs without repeating one. It has very little breathing room. Otherwise, thanks again for the wonderful video, always enjoy them :)
Thanks for the review. My family are Wingspan fanatics, so the chatter that this was "a new wingspan" piqued our interest. After your review, I think we'll be passing on this one. I think the blind draws would really hinder our enjoyment, and unless I missed something (or its on cards you didn't see), there doesn't even seem to be much as far as choices you can make in game to give yourself better card availability. In Wingspan, you can play more birds to your water habitat, find birds that specifically draw you more cards, or find birds that reset the card tray to give more options. Also, the complex spatial placement element is something we tend to enjoy more when its the main/only part of the game like Barrenpark. So its implementation here hurts it more for us than it helps.
Played it twice. A friend of mine bought it at Origins and we really liked it. He got the additional playmats as well. My engine was kind of running out of gas in the mid-game so I didn't finish strong and ended up 4th out of 5 players. It is fun and I would gladly play it again. It reminds me of a mix of Race for the Galaxy (tableau building, card chasing, role selection) and Wingspan (engine buiding, highly points-driven). It has lots of "moving parts" to it, but you never have down time. I think our first game was a long one because we were taking our time to learn the cards and iconography & wanted to be sure we were doing the action selection the correct way. Definitely NOT a gateway game for this reason. Overall I give the game an 8 out of 10.
My experience with it has been pretty much identical to what Monique said. First play was super high fun factor. Each play since has been less fun than the previous one. Randomness is extremely high and if you race to finish your grid, you will win most times no matter what cards you built. In my most recent game, I drew the "1 Point per composted card (max 30)" right at the end and I already had a pile of composted cards (no plan, it just happened that way) so I spent the 12 soil, built it and ended up winning the game. It just seems like it doesn't matter what you do as long as you plant as much as possible. I've played Wingspan a lot and Ares Expedition some and I'm pretty sure I'm over the "huge deck of cards" games. Earth has lots of randomness, pretty much zero interaction, and no sense of discovery game after game. You're going to see just about everything it does in the first game or two. I would still take it over Wingspan just any day though. Thanks for the video.
The fauna card that wants maxed out flora cards does NOT count terrain cards- terrain cards are a completely different card type to flora- flora means plants :) terrain doesn’t count towards that requirement. - ah, you addressed it!
I've just played my first game yesterday (it was on the shelf of shame since April) and I have enjoyed it. Yes, I felt there's a quite amount of randomness, mainly due to the higher number of cards, but this is also fairly mitigated with a few drawing mechanics and card synergies. The art is very well done and pleasurable to feel and watch. I also think that if an expansion will come out ever in the near (or far) future, they should consider to do a few minor changes in some mechanics to make it even less random, because I can see potential in the game to make this happen (like changing the way Event cards are drawn or played, for example). Overall, the game is a solid 7,5/10 for me, and could become an 8 or 8,5 if those few minor tweaks ever happen. Regarding Mrs Monique and Mr Naveen, keep videos like these on air, please, because they are (at least, to me) very helpful, even to learn how to play the game! :) (That Gaia Project playthrough video was awesome btw!)
I felt exactly the same as you did. I'm not a fan of games where everything is going so fast I have no idea what the other players are doing. Sure, you still can easily look at where the other players in regards to objectives, and that's good, but it's about it. I still enjoyed it, but it's not my style.
Let us know what you think about Earth (The Board Game).
After a dozen plays, I can’t come to like this game. It is an example where you CAN have too much of a good thing. 4-player was brutal. 2 and 3 player ok. Solo best. But, there are so many better choices out there.
Played this on BGA and I really like the theme (it feels like an even more soup-ed up Meadow, in the sense of leaning into that eco-system building aspect): it reminded me a lot of Race for the Galaxy, on first blush, in the way the cardplay synergizes, but I also love the idea of the following mechanism (a la Fort), and the way the tableau works reminds me a lot of Verdant, also. I don't know that these are all exact comparisons, but just the impressions I get from it. It seems like a very mechanical game, overall, which makes it seem heavier at first glance than I think it really is, which I agree with you on. I thinkthe Winspan comparison is very interesting, and probably apt
Wife and I love it. Its like wingspan + furnace. Can't get enough.
I have been on a 45-60 min game kick and that feels weighty. This is perfect for me. I just have less and less time and I have a serious AP friend. I like the flexibility and it feels like Cascadia in which I always have something to do.
So this has been a weighty game where I get to the table much more then Ark Nova. Ark Nova is Holiday time or the wife is out of town and I have a whole morning or evening blocked off.
@@MarcTelesha my play group generally tends to prefer a similar length, because they're mostly gateway gamers, but the 1.5-2hr games have been getting some more airtime lately. I agree, this one is pretty accessible
Subbed for an honest review and not just buying into the hype. Great comparisons drawn to existing games as well.
I played this "hot game" recently at Dice Tower West. I really enjoyed it. While the follow mechanic adds some chaos, I appreciate how you're always involved and I found that I forgot whose actual turn it was. While you are racing and trying the score the most points, at the end, I find myself marvelling at the environment that I had built. I had built a Jamaican mushroom paradise, which is weird because they are notorious for other "flora".
Great work, once again, everyone.
Thanks for your playthrough and review. Love what you two are doing, I wish you a happy new year! Greetings from Finland 👍🏻
Thanks for the review and taking the time to play it, well appreciated! Glad you've enjoyed it and I do hope that it will be widely popular as you mentioned! Only time will tell.
Regarding creating a market for cards, it's a good idea, I tried while play testing and it didn't really work at all for several reasons, but mainly because it slowed down the game to much. 1) It was hard to determine the drawing order on the market since it's simultaneous play. 2) Every time a card is turned, everybody wants to read it, which slows the game. 3) It creates AP every time people draw cards, trying to decide which one they should draw. 4) It was more fiddly to handle since you draw so many cards, you always spend time replenishing the market.
The solution to replace this market is by making players draw tons of cards and they can read and choose from the vast number of card they have in their hand compared to other games. The more you draw, the more you reduce the randomness impact.
For the player interaction and the replay factor, I would add that a considerable part of those come from the Fauna objective and not just the main actions. The races for Fauna objectives is really important to win and keeping track of where others are is quite important to score more. At the same time, Fauna give the direction to the game and are the main reason every game you will try to target different things, thus giving the replay value. Do I grow tall trees, a lot of small ones, accumulates resources, put a lot of sprouts, keep cards in hand, compost a lot, create lines, focus on bushes, try to optimize sunny habitats, etc.
Edit: I do want to mention though that if you don't like to much solitaire games, games with a lot of stuff going on, big puzzle or games with many things onto which to focus, Earth is not the game for you. You guys did a good point highlighting that, thanks for it it is a really good advice for people who are trying to decide weather Earth is a good game for them or not :) Great analysis!
Anyhow, thanks for the great review and the thoughtful analysis, it's well appreciated :)
I agree about player interaction, my group likes games in wich you have to compete for objectives even if you're builiding your own engine (like meadow). in this game however you can still get points even if you're not the first to get to the objective. wich is a good thing for someone and a bad thing for those who like more competition. anyway, i love this game and i will buy it as soon as will be released in italy!!
@@moscerino07 thanks for reaching back and glad you agree on the player interaction side of things. Earth is definitely not a game you will interfere with other player's plans a lot, so if this is what you are searching for in a game don't go for it!
I saw this morning that the Italian version of Earth is starting to get delivered to backers, so it should be out in shops in Italy by the end of April or early May :)
Mr. Tardif, thank you for this long explanatory comment. I agree with you on all counts,
especially on how the card drawing was put as a way of mitigating randomness and bad draw luck.
If one is not satisfied with drawn cards, one just focuses more on actions and abilities that let more cards to be drawn, seen and cycled through. I do this in Wingspan and I never have a problem of not getting great cards I want.
Both games have very smart and beautiful design in place just for that, by making every card worth something, every card being usable in at least some useful way. Cause even discarding cards which are useless for primary goals, is worth some lesser points and/or gets you resources. I love Wingspan and Earth for this particular reason.
Luck, based on card draws, is minimized and players have meaningful ways of mitigating any bad luck. In Wingspan I get high scores consistantly, almost every game, no matter what cards I draw. Because those cards which are bad for my tableu and goals l, I tuck under existing already built cards for points or abilities on birds or trade them in during actions and birds' abilities in order to gain more of those resources I need at that specific moment.
At the same time, I even build one or two birds which let me draw or cycle through more(additional) cards, all as a secondary effect to my main action/focus. And this game, Earth, obviously provides similar options to the players as Wingspan.
In this playthrough, if Monique was not satisfied with the card she was drawing, she could have just chosen to draw more cards, and compost drawn bad cards for points and other resources. I am not gonna claim I remember 100% correctly on what actions she was focusing on and which ones she was ignoring, but I think she was purposefully choosing not to discard/compost "bad" cards and replace them by drawing new ones. I definitely would have.
It's not called tableau building type of game without a reason. Each payer builds their tableau in a way that they find gameplay requires them, in a way so that they can manage all the resources(cards are basically also a resource), trade one for another, based on how their card draws have been so far and what they have built up to that point.
Of course players are not gonna be able to build an ideal tableau and score everything high as they would wanna score, but what would be the point and fun of the game and process of playing, if every playthrough was going equally successful in every aspect of the resource collecting and point scoring and if every playthrough finished with the ideal layout/tableau. There would be no point then, no replayability, no fun in creating the tableau.
I haven't played Earth yet myself, but I recognize it's great solid design that is fun for people who like this sort of games, and it still has a broad appeal. I love Wingspan and therefore I know I will love playing this game.
Thank you for designing such a great thinky smart game! ❤
Player interaction can be negative interaction (hindering an opponent) or positive interaction (helping an opponent). In the action selection phase you try to choose the action that helps you more than it helps your opponent. That's where the player interaction is. This game doesn't lack player interaction, it just doesn't have much negative player interaction.
@@mavweirdo that was one of my goal designing it indeed, instead of having actions that gives -1, 0 and 1 vp to three different players in Earth it gives 1, 2 and 3 vp to three different players. In the end the vp difference is the same, but everyone has an enjoyable experience.
As far as release, I think it releases to retail on 4/22. And by the way, this game has a fantastic price point of $50, compared to Wingspan at $65 and Ark Nova at $75. That is a lot of game for $50.
Beautiful game- Creating an ideal ecosystem. Great narration and explanations.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for another wonderful review/playthrough. I absolutely enjoy your channel and love the way you do your videos. I have this game ordered and I can't wait to get it. It really looks enjoyable and seems to fit in with the type of games I love.
I didn't understand this game until I saw this playthrough, so thank you for that. Seeing how similar it is to Wingspan, I would probably like it, I just don't know if I need it.
This game seems similar mechanically to Ares Expedition; simultaneous action selection, actions even during others actions, etc. Plan on getting it to the table this weekend for the first time at a high player count. Wish me luck!
Kill ‘em Kurt!!!
Great game! Looks like Naveen may have gotten some extra points, though, as he scored one card twice in his personal ecosystem card. Still would have won, though, I think.
Thanks for another amazing game review!!!
thank you guys! I always enjoy your videos. You are both really good at explaining things.
At 1:05:00, Monique declines to trade for 4 sprouts due to space, but the bottom left card is empty. Am I missing something?
I noticed that too! Wonderful gameplay however!
I can't get why there is so much hype for it..
Ok, time to see what all the fuss is about.
It is surely less bloated than Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova, achieving a similar feeling in regards to the engine building itself, not mentioning the serious reduction on playtime (which was quite absurdly high in these two other games for me). Very nice. That being said, I still don't like it. 🤣
Thanks for the video and all of your work, you two!
It's nothing like Ark Nova. People need to stop comparing it to that.
🤗
🤗
57:22: If I am not mistaken Naveen is counting one card twice. the actual way to get the 7 diagonal card line (involving the top left card) would involve one card in the 2nd colomn 4th row, making a line via the following cards: (1:1 = top left, 4:4 = bottom right.) 1:1, 2:2, 1:3, 2:4, 3:3, 4:2, 3:1
Very nice Playthrough though. :D
Yep, Noticed the same thing.
I saw it too.
I guess he can still make it work if he put the 7th herb card on his very last free spot. @1:2
So it should end up with
2:1 > 1:2 > 2:3 > 3:4 > 4:3 > 3:2 > 4:1
Came to mention the same thing.
The card doesn't say you can't count the same card twice. You just can't backtrack, or go backwards.
@@pcarrizal6829 This interpretation would let you get infinite points.
It seems like a mash up of wingspan and race for the galaxy but with less interaction between players. I have played a lot of multiplayer solitaire euro games over the last few years and I find my interest in this kind of games has significantly deteriorated. I think this game doesn't seem interesting or different enough in order for me to get hyped about it. Thanks a lot for the video, great work!
You may correct this later on the video, but I wanted to mention before I forget that your starting Island does indeed count toward Panther Chameleon! It does in fact have two abilities- the side with all of your starting resources is just a black ability, the kind that resolve immediately and only once. I actually looked this up to verify and the designer confirmed it on BGG! ❤
I've played this game soooo many times since it was released on TTS, then on BGA, and now my physical copy. I have yet to get bored of it!
Really good to see a deep review that's more measured and thoughtful about this game. I love a game with a big stack of cards - Wingspan and Ark Nova are two of my favourites, and I had been confused by comparisons with Ark Nova as it seems so much more like Wingspan so it's good to see that confirmed. I'm really looking forward to my kickstarter arriving (any day now!).
Glad you enjoyed it!
I am definitely the target audience for this one, as I love searching for and cobbling together those combos together. So I’ll likely love this. However, I really appreciate your review. You guys are quite good at explaining what you do/don’t like and identifying what others may/not like. I really like your content, so thanks for all the hard work.
One thing I wanted to add that really makes this game have its own niche is if you’re trying to find a satisfying engine builder that plays quickly even at higher player counts.
(It also plays well at 5, which is often times great for those awkward player counts)
With the simultaneous actions, the game can run relatively fast compared to its “common comparison boardgames”
The rules are also super light.
Makes a great gateway for people to get into engine builder tableaus. AND a great game to have if your groups goal is wanting to pump as many games in a meet up session as possible (especially if multiple meet ups you’ve only played a single longer game like ark nova)
Also proud of this game being CANADIAN MADE 🇨🇦!! Woo!!
At the end of the game it was still worth drawing the cards - whilst cards in hand aren’t worth anything innately, if you draw an event card, you can immediately play it if worth it. Wouldn’t be likely to be many net points but could end up gaining you a few!
Smart!!
so people are comparing this to ark nova, but other than the fact there are animal photos, it doesnt seem that similar to ark nova at all. It seems much more similar to wingspan in terms of tableau building, engine building, sequential activation, end game conditions, etc, maybe with a bit of terraforming mars mixed in.
Yes it's nothing like Ark Nova. People need to stop comparing it to it. It's more like Wingspan mixed with Race for the Galaxy.
Naveen is always explaining and informing on his goal advances...Monique is like a ninja 😂
Artwork looks beautiful. Dammit, another one for my ever-growing wishlist 😂
Although, how come the box isn't round? *hears X-Files theme*
You guys are my favorite TH-camrs to watch for how to plays and reviews. I played the game for the first time last night and had wished you guys had a video, so happy you guys do now. I find the rule book to be not so great but it’s a fun game and ours was great quality.
1:06:20 - The card itself counts in the row and column, so Naveen gets 1 sprout for the mushroom and 2 for the herb. And he can put the sprout on another plant, not just the one with the ability.
1:10:05 - The island card is also a double abilities, so here Naveen already had 6 cards and completed the objective earlier, as Monique.
Not sure I have ever commented on your videos, but I have watched quite a few now. You guys are great teachers so I keep finding myself on your channel. Thanks! Tonight I learned and played Earth and I love it! Love Wingspan too but always want a few more turns. I am solo playing so no problems w missing anything. ❤
Thank you so much for your kind words!!
I played Earth at 3 and 5 players, and it's really more of a race to the end. It's more difficult to fill all 16 spots at higher player counts. Also, I think Wingspan is very unsatisfying with the engine building, where as Earth has a larger engine and is very satisfying that everything triggers and you get a lot of everything.
Card dependent games like Ark Nova, Terraforming Mars and Wingspan are actually my favorite type of game, so this might just be right up my alley, but so far I'm not super drawn to getting it.
Awesome teach and playthrough as usual. Thanks M and N for taking the time and effort to show us this much anticipated game. One small correction… your Island and Climate cards DO count towards the common goals on the main board. So your Island cards contribute to the Panther Chameleon common goal!! You can tell because the Island and Climate symbols are printed on the card below the text! So give youself another 11 points, Monique!!
yes, i thik Monique deserved 11 points for that card.Also, like someone said, i think Naveen counted a card twice for his personal ecosystem card. so maybe the outcome of the game could have been different!!! Maybe Monique could have won 😃
YOU ARE BOTH AWESOME! ❤❤❤
The game is being released on Earth Day on the States. April 22.
Most American Kickstarter backers should have theirs by now.
Naveen double counted the Hairy Crabgrass for his diagonal herbs. He could have legally scored 7 if his top row 2nd card was an herb. Wouldn't change the outcome but very close!
This game seems SO FUN. I'm going to give it a try on BGA to see if I need the physical version (I think I do! 🤣)
Lots of people are super excited about the BGA implementation!
Seems easy enough to house rule a display of 3-5 cards in the game. I will try it this way
Looks like a great game. From Monique’s comments in the second part of the playthrough I thought it was going to be a landslide victory for Naveen. In the end, it was pretty close. Does this mean it is difficult to predict the winner because of the many scoring opportunities?
I don’t know if my brain will be able to make all those objectives happen 😅 Can’t wait to get my copy!
Great review and game play! We just had that sprouts ecosystem card yesterday. And played/scored it differently....where you actually had to have sprouts (or none) on your cards. In order for it to count. I see you guys did it based off of how many boxes for sprouts are on the cards....funny how different interpretations can come up!
There’s actually two different symbols - if it’s just a sprout, it means it has to have that number of sprouts on it; if it is surrounded by a sort of box, that means it just has to have that *capacity*. Exact same thing for sprouts. It’s not open for interpretation, it’s two different symbols :)
Played this at Dice Tower West 2023 a few weeks ago, have been playing on Board Game Arena, and my KS copy is due to arrive in a couple of days! Thanks for posting your VERY helpful videos!
i still disagree after all this time that ark nova is a synergy game... ive logged 80 games and ive played games with and without synergy and did well both. you might get a few tickets or crosses or a few bucks, but ultimate you want animal icons, which is needed for conservation points. the benefits of synergy are not vital to winning. the true winner is the person who squeezes the most juice out of their lemons
I enjoy Earth a lot but I am tactical player so like games with a lot of cards where you have to optimize within the probabilities (rather than playing heavier strategy games like Lacerdas). I don’t find it too constrained since if you need more cards, you can just select the Yellow action to get 4. Even the Green action lets you see 4 and keep one. There is a lot of abundance and lack of constraints. The challenge is in maneuvering through all of the ways to score to do as well as possible. In that sense I like Earth as much as Wingspan though not quite as much as Ark Nova or Terraforming Mars. Race for Galaxy is also fun but too hard to teach easily. Thanks for review
Exactly! Fully agree with you. That's why I love this type of games, cause they do let you to mitigate luck and build around the randomness(which is there for replayability) and bad luck.
Bad card drawing is simply not a problem in Wingspan, especially not as big of a problem as people think and say it is. And based on what I have seen, bad card drawing isn't a problem in Earth either, even though I haven't yet played it.
Random and bad card draws is perfectly mitigated and balanced, by this kind of drawing, building and trading mechanics in these types of games like Wingspan and Earth.
Played this today at my FLGS! Had a great time. Love all your videos! Also, love your floral shirts today! Very on theme 😊
Ohhh I backed this one. Waiting for my copy 🎉🎉🎉🎉.
Amazing content. Fantastic gameee
Naveen, new haircut? 😂
38:09 You gave me 2 soil earlier?
37:00
1:19:00 - I feel like Naveen counted two more cards for his goal than he should have. He crossed over on the sixth one and counted the sixth one twice and the seventh one when he shouldn't have. To max out all 7, you would need to zigzag a lot more. I numbered a pathway in a 4×4 grid as an example.
1 - 3 -
- 2 - 4
7 - 5 -
- 6 - -
Having said that, I'm still surprised Naveen didn't win by more. But the game seems mostly balanced. Engine-building games often depend a little too much on card draw and finding random cards to get the most bang for your buck, but it seems there's so much you can go for that it's okay.
LOVE THAT DIAGRAM!!! Yeah I think we thought you only couldn’t go back a path that you’ve already travelled, (a line) vs the same card.
Thank you! I'm happy I'm not the only person that doesn't really dig simultaneous play :) This game looks very nice and thanks for showing it in great light :)
Awesome!! Thanks for checking out the video.
How does this compare to Cascadia? I'm deciding between those two games. Which is more fun and replayable?
I would compare this more to T.M. Ares Expedition, or to Race for the Galaxy. Engine builders where all the player interaction is in the action selection, instead of negative player interaction.
I share the same thoughts as you two. I love the theme, and I have enjoyed playing on BGA, but it hasn’t grabbed me the way it seems to enthrall many. I prefer Wingspan and Race for the Galaxy for games with similar mechanisms. It’s still solid, and one I’m glad is available to play on BGA.
Yeah I think we both prefer Wingspan.
Great video as usual!
I actually used your video to prepare for my first play, it was a huge help I’m not feeling brand new when sitting down for our first game! 😊
I’ve only had the chance to play solo so far. It is so fun! Pretty easy to learn/play and can’t wait to try it out multiplayer soon
Monique’s personal ecosystem card was scored incorrectly according to the maker’s website.
This game was added to the World Series of Board Game Games as one of the 16 Ring games. Great game with so much content.
I've found that playing games multiple times and getting to know them better, helps with not looking at other players. It just gives me more mental capacity to see what's going on. Which is interesting, because it's an advantage for the more "skilled" player, which helps offset the randomness of the cards.
SO excited for this one to come in the mail.
Also, I just need to say Monique your hair looks fantastic.
Hope you like it!
What's the purpose of the first player token? It seems like it was just constant turn-taking (unless I'm missing something). The initial player for each round doesn't change, does it?
I know that we have similar tastes because my issues with Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova are the same; I hate that it is so dependent on whether you can get the right cards.
The "simple game" board has space for four fauna cards rather than the two you mentioned. With the simple game I don't think you play with the Ecosystem cards at all (even on your personal boards)
Did Naveen actually get his personal score objective? It seems to me that saying no backtracking, that would mean he can't count any card twice...but idk
My KS copy, goodies and all, just came in over the weekend. It was our first venture into KS, and we are so excited to get it to the table.
Thank you very much for this interesting very well filmed playthrough. I enjoyed it a lot! You are great at doing these. Keep up the great work. ❤
I like this kind of puzzley card tableau building games, so based on your playthrough I think I will love playing this game a lot.
Its got some great mechanics, may need to get a copy of this one.
Mine is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I'm a bit scared of the production value. Lots of reports on warped player boards and the wooden insert not fitting the box.
I received mine a couple of weeks ago, and it was just fine. Hope yours is too!
Got mine this week and it was amazing quality.
I like multiplayer solitare eurogames so this hits the spot, because it distills a lot of those mechanics all into one game that is not overly long.
Just bought Earth, and your video(s) is really helpful! Some games I need to know a little about how the rounds work. And you guys are the first I search for, if I need to know that 😊
And sometimes I want to watch a whole play even if I have played the game 😅 just to see how other people play it.
I can’t stop playing this on BGA. I have 25+ games now I think. Such a great game. Immediately pre-ordered.
I'm hoping I love it. Waiting for my copy
@@lajeit I tested it on BGA before pre-ordering. It’s time well spent. I’ve even taught others and both of them ended up ordering as well.
Yes !! i was waiting for this one to watch .
Thanks for this review, hadn't heard about it, but was pretty much an instant buy for me
Beautiful game! I always look forward to your playthroughs. Thank you!
I actually found the comparisons to Wingspan very helpful! I think I'd love this game but I'm not sure a heavier Wingspan would see much play in my group. I also think the tableau & theme remind me of Everdell. This does seem more combo-tastic than Wingspan though.
Glad to hear it!
Make it your Destiny Naveen!! FInd that Dragon Blood tree! 😅😅😅
LOL!!
Cool game. Monique you cracked me up when you said "what am I doing with my life" that was hilarious as Nevine is doing his move 🤣
LOL!!
If Amazon is to be believed, it releases on April 18
Amazon is supreme leader
I definitely enjoy this game. It’ll see regular play at my table.
Complete game world beginner here ! I’m so glad I came across you guys’ channel! I’m wanting to start game nights with hubby but both of us were hesitant in learning all the components to games like these. Your videos are EXACTLY what a beginner needs, explanations were slow and understandable; proceeding with a play through is the icing on the cake. Really appreciate the time, effort, and creation of your videos!
I pre-ordered from their website just a few weeks ago. Got mine already but haven't had a chance to play yet.
Hope you have fun!!
1:04:50 You have room for 6 sprouts on the row 4 mushroom,
I like it because of its simultaneous action. I really dislike waiting my turn in wingspan and terraforming mars.
Yeah this would be perfect for you then!
I'm so glad you two reviewed this. I've been on the fence about this for a while now. Almost pre-ordered it based on the Dice Tower reviews that absolutely loved it, but after hearing your review, you mentioned a lot of things that I feel I wouldn't enjoy so much. I've got Ark Nova and I really enjoy that one, so I doubt that I would pull Earth off the shelf before Ark Nova. Thanks for the review!!
Earth is sooooo much shorter. I feel like Ark Nova is tooooo long for what it is. My friend that owns it has serious AP and the game takes hours.
@@MarcTelesha I've had very different experiences with Ark Nova, I find that I am a little surprised when the end approaches there are still three or four things that I'm aiming to achieve and I just can't get them all done. The last time I played, we actually played two games back to back and, yes, that did end up taking us about 5,5 hours, it was a great time and I could easily spend my time doing that again. I'm so engaged when I'm playing that I don't notice the time flying by.
I am totally blaming you for the "got to have this one". 😂
Would you guys prefer this over Planted or Verdant? Thanks
Planted was pretty “light” comparatively. Monique has played Verdant but only solo. I think we would at least prefer this one over Planted.
Not sure if you corrected this later, but at 57:56 you made a mistake regarding the Caerlaverock Nature Reserve - according to the FAQ, you can't go through the same card twice, so you scored 20 points, not 28. I'm watching this as a tutorial so I can teach my group tomorrow.
Great playthrough! Very easy to understand.
You keep talking about “spending points” and not wanting to do that, Monique, in regards to the ability allowing you t trade 2 compost for 4 sprouts. I think you may have been missing out on the fact that sprouts are each worth a point, just like compost! So you are trading 2 points for 4 points, which I think you would agree is a great deal ;)
This game is just as over rated as Wingspan. Its solitare with a million options that all boil down to the same thing. There's an illusion of options and complexity when its just a bunch of random stuff going on. Yes you can make better choices or bad choices, but it really just feels like going through the motions. The playtime of this game is way too long for what it is too. Play Race for the Galaxy for a game that uses this action selection mechanism amazingly well.
Sounds like a simple house rule of having a face-up display of cards to choose from would address one of your issues with the game. When I play this on Saturday, I'm going to make a face-up card row equal to the number of players. Any player may spend 2 soil to wipe and re-fresh the card row. How's that sound?
Mine comes today. Can't wait.
Feels like Wingspan but with worse theme and not as polished. What makes Wingspan great is the set number of rounds (modifiable by non scoring rounds from expansion), but it means there is no need to rush to full display. Here knowing that the winning player will always have full display means everyone else has to keep up, taking focus away from other mechanics.
How many event cards can you play in your turn ?
So I played this just last month with a bunch of friends (5-player game) and loved it. One thing that really messed us up because we only realized it mid-game is that while the Ecosystem cards are fairly clear, they aren't always intuitive.
Some mistakes I believe you made:
-Yuanjiang Savanna scores you points based on the actual sprouts on the cards, not their capacity. (There is one that gives you points based on the growth, not growth capacity, which is the one we messed up in our game) which means that Monique actually only achieved it in one row, but could've easily fixed that during gameplay by placing the growth on different cards.
-Caerlaverock. You got this one wrong, Naveen is double-counting his Hairy Crabgrass. The way you get 7 with that requires all + and one x to be herbs
xo+o o+ox
o+o+ +o+o
+o+o o+o+
o+ox xo+o
Then you can draw a continuous line through all herbs without repeating one. It has very little breathing room.
Otherwise, thanks again for the wonderful video, always enjoy them :)
Thanks for the review. My family are Wingspan fanatics, so the chatter that this was "a new wingspan" piqued our interest. After your review, I think we'll be passing on this one.
I think the blind draws would really hinder our enjoyment, and unless I missed something (or its on cards you didn't see), there doesn't even seem to be much as far as choices you can make in game to give yourself better card availability. In Wingspan, you can play more birds to your water habitat, find birds that specifically draw you more cards, or find birds that reset the card tray to give more options.
Also, the complex spatial placement element is something we tend to enjoy more when its the main/only part of the game like Barrenpark. So its implementation here hurts it more for us than it helps.
Played it twice. A friend of mine bought it at Origins and we really liked it. He got the additional playmats as well. My engine was kind of running out of gas in the mid-game so I didn't finish strong and ended up 4th out of 5 players. It is fun and I would gladly play it again. It reminds me of a mix of Race for the Galaxy (tableau building, card chasing, role selection) and Wingspan (engine buiding, highly points-driven). It has lots of "moving parts" to it, but you never have down time. I think our first game was a long one because we were taking our time to learn the cards and iconography & wanted to be sure we were doing the action selection the correct way. Definitely NOT a gateway game for this reason. Overall I give the game an 8 out of 10.
My experience with it has been pretty much identical to what Monique said. First play was super high fun factor. Each play since has been less fun than the previous one. Randomness is extremely high and if you race to finish your grid, you will win most times no matter what cards you built. In my most recent game, I drew the "1 Point per composted card (max 30)" right at the end and I already had a pile of composted cards (no plan, it just happened that way) so I spent the 12 soil, built it and ended up winning the game. It just seems like it doesn't matter what you do as long as you plant as much as possible. I've played Wingspan a lot and Ares Expedition some and I'm pretty sure I'm over the "huge deck of cards" games. Earth has lots of randomness, pretty much zero interaction, and no sense of discovery game after game. You're going to see just about everything it does in the first game or two. I would still take it over Wingspan just any day though. Thanks for the video.
The fauna card that wants maxed out flora cards does NOT count terrain cards- terrain cards are a completely different card type to flora- flora means plants :) terrain doesn’t count towards that requirement. - ah, you addressed it!
I've just played my first game yesterday (it was on the shelf of shame since April) and I have enjoyed it. Yes, I felt there's a quite amount of randomness, mainly due to the higher number of cards, but this is also fairly mitigated with a few drawing mechanics and card synergies. The art is very well done and pleasurable to feel and watch. I also think that if an expansion will come out ever in the near (or far) future, they should consider to do a few minor changes in some mechanics to make it even less random, because I can see potential in the game to make this happen (like changing the way Event cards are drawn or played, for example). Overall, the game is a solid 7,5/10 for me, and could become an 8 or 8,5 if those few minor tweaks ever happen.
Regarding Mrs Monique and Mr Naveen, keep videos like these on air, please, because they are (at least, to me) very helpful, even to learn how to play the game! :)
(That Gaia Project playthrough video was awesome btw!)
I felt exactly the same as you did. I'm not a fan of games where everything is going so fast I have no idea what the other players are doing. Sure, you still can easily look at where the other players in regards to objectives, and that's good, but it's about it. I still enjoyed it, but it's not my style.
1:18:10 Am I missing something, Monique counts her top right card like it has 6 sprouts... I see none?
We scored it according to the number of sprout symbols on the card
@@BeforeYouPlay got that, but do you think you did it right? I guess I am only one who thinks its wrong