I’ve started to become more concerned whether a game has an actual true solo mode, or whether it is more of an afterthought to try and get more sales. When it isn’t very good solo, it probably isn’t sticking around. For Euro games I’ll look for someone like David Turczi designing the solo mode. His almost always come with addition solo components and cards, and usually simulate opponents quite well, while also being very minimal overhead to manage. If you are looking for an adventure game that is more true solo, you should consider The Isofarian Guard. It is technically 1-2 co-op, but honestly it is a true solo game. Amazing story telling up there with Oathsworn or Awaken Realms titles. Fun gameplay and excellent components. If you really explore the world and map, there are over 300 hours of gameplay. Also, no expansions to speak of; everything in one box. This has become my number 1 recommendation for anyone looking for an adventure/exploration and narrative solo game.
Isofarian Guard is not an adventure game. Its map only serves as a backdrop to provide a context for chip based battles. Those 300 hours is 99% those battles. So you’re swapping ability cards and gems around and that’s it.
David Turczi is definitely the name that gets my attention on Euros with a solo. We're lucky he's so prolific! Isofarian Guard looks like it was an incredible value
I'm jealous of your ability to sell games! I've heard every gamers collection will become so overwhelming that they will eventually sell a game. I haven't gotten to that point, but I feel like I'm right on the edge. Right on the edge! So close! And I've heard to feels amazing to cull your collection to those few gems you truly enjoy, and get money for those holy grail games that cost way too much to justify, but I can't do it yet! D':
haha yeah, I think that it does eventually become a necessity. I'm sure when you go to shelve a cool new game and you literally have to remove a box or two to make space, you'll know exactly which ones you can do without. Primal the Awakening just showed up on my door and it's about three times as big as I thought it was going to be...
I am lucky in the fact that I dont feel like collecting board games, for me it is more about a new expierence after I had my fun with a game. I have about 30-40 games in my collection with constant rotation. Some of the bigger games I had liked but sold are, Sleeping Gods, Massive Darkness 2, Concordia, Earth, HEAT, Final Girl, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Obsession, Spirit Island. The only one I regret selling so far is Lost Ruins of Arnak and might pick it up again at the right price.
I'm definitely working on clearing space on my shelves right now rather than adding games. The problem is I still have old kickstarters coming in. I had no idea the size of the box Primal would come in, for instance
After starting getting really involved in the boardgaming hobby, I started buying a lot of games that were often highly praised by YT contents creators or the 1PG Top 200 on BGG. I eventually came to possess 120+ games, but felt bad because most of them didn't leave the shelf, and only brought discomfort. I also noticed that choosing a game to play became overwhelming, and that the breadth of choice was detrimental to playing the games I loved the most. I took the matter into my own hands and decided to play all my games, and cull the ones I didn't like or that I couldn't bring myself to play. One year later I was down to 30 games (now 24), but I only kept games that I truly loved. I got rid of the "OK games", or even some great games that just weren't for me, or that I could play with someone else's copy. However I largely favor the depth of each game, as I now have a solid amount of time to play the games I love the most, and finishing a campaign game isn't that much of a problem anymore (it's still a commitment not to be undertaken lightly, though). Overall, getting rid of this excess of games has made me way happier.
That sounds like a great way to curate a collection. I'm removing games and not currently buying new ones, but I learn slowly, so I hesitate to call it anything like a culling because it's in such slow motion. Especially since I'm starting with the games I think I'm most likely to enjoy, probably leaving a bunch of stinkers on my shelves still in shrink. And then I still have kickstarters coming in that take up so much shelf space. Goodness, I didn't expect Primal to be in such a big box!
Shadows of Kilforth - gorgeous quality, unfortunately when setting up the map the gloom and happy sides were so similar I couldn't reason over the game state. Tried a few times and boxed it up. I don't know why nobody complains about it. Sleeping Gods - beautiful map and ship travel, unfortunately the combat felt like an entire different game and killed it for me. Also sold it while it was hot. Aeon's End Legacy - great idea of a game but it just fizzled out around chapter 6 (of 8). Sold it with the reset pack and probably is rotting away in somebody else's cellar. Thunderstone Numenera - while I found the DB too old-fashioned initially, the main gimmick was to have the boss right after you have "prepared" your deck a few times. That felt limited, you had to get lucky in the end or not which made one hour a 50/50 chance of success or failure. So I designed a good roguelite version around it plus added some more modern mitigation but didn't get much chance to play this "numenera plus" because i got a good price for it, and well bye bye. D Day Dice 2nd edition - great variety of boards and cards but each scenario you're doing exactly the same thing. Still have the t-shirt and the dice tray, but the game is gone.
You're right about Shadows of Kilforth. It is hard to judge the gloom at a glance. That's actually a good thing to know about D-Day Dice. I've got the pnp ready to make at some point, and knowing that maybe I should stick with it instead of buying the full game makes me more likely to actually make it
I was about to sell The Witcher when I gave the solo mode by Marcus of Outtama Design Labs a shot. It is so good, I not only kept the game in my collection, I got the cards for the solo mode professionally printed and created additional cards myself. So The Witcher will remain a bit longer in the collection, instead I sold Folklore The Affliction. 🤷🏻♂️
Why are you telling me this?!?! The solo mode not being very compelling definitely contributed to my selling it. I'm going to check out that solo mode. Maybe get the game again if it goes on sale
@@JAlanRykerGames I don't know? Why? Why did I? Cruelty? The G_ds? PSA? 🤣 The solo mode from the base game was lame, but did you ever play The Wild Hunt solo mode from the strech goals box? I found it kind of fun, for a while. Have you ever played Utopia, the card based worker placement game? It has a very moderate table footprint and really fun and challenging solo mode. If you ever see it on the 2nd hand market, take it into consideration.
@@Biodelic I played it once and--while it was a hasty decision--I liked it but felt that it didn't have staying power, it sounds like what you experienced. I haven't played Utopia, but now it's going on my list!
I have a very strong urge to sell off like 1/3-1/4 of my collection, specifically euros. I kinda fell out of love with them. I still love GWT Argentina, Gaia and Paladins, but Kanban, The Gallerist, Underwater Cities, The Red Cathedral, The Magnificent and even Hallertau can gtfo and I probably won't miss them at all. I played them all recently (except for Kanban, that one I already sold) and didn't feel even a tiny bit of excitement.
Sounds like maybe you got what they have to give and now they can go. If it's a game I used to like but have grown tired of, I do sometimes think, maybe I should just wait 5 years and try again. But that's a lot of time to fill shelf space, especially when it's a game you can easily get again
@@JAlanRykerGames Yeah, totally. I mean, it can happen, right? Maybe even in a couple of years. But there are games that I'm not getting tired of, so I'd better keep those and get rid of the rest.
I have yet to sell any game although I probably should. I did get Zombicide Green Horde for the orcs and goblin minis to add to other games as well as checking out the Horde mechanic. I still haven’t played it as I usually will grad Zombicide Dark Side if I’m in the mood to play Zombicide as it just fits better for me. The marvel one sounds great but I haven’t played it.
I can see you enjoying Dark Side. Did you ever play Invader? That seems like your sort, as well, though I know people have been split on it. I've never played it but like the look of it.
@@JAlanRykerGames I haven’t played Invader but picked up the tile pack to play those missions with the miniatures I have. I really didn’t like the fungus mechanic when I read the rules and love the line of sight rules as well as the partial cover if the model is on a digger hole representing that they are in the hole. Invader also has the need for oxygen tanks that I believe came in one of the supplements I purchased, maybe Black Ops. I may eventually try the fungus spores representation at some point but for now I am good. My cull list would probably be the games I have purchased and never got to the table for one reason or another.
@@kevinstricklen7579 I need to make shelf space, like, right now, and I know the best course would be to sell several games I haven't played that I'm pretty certain I won't like. I'm finding it hard to do that. I have a much easier time selling games I played and didn't connect with
Multiplayer games with a half hearted attached single player modus is not the same as a solo player game like under falling skies or final girl that is specifically conceived for solo gaming
Stonesaga looks like it will be a good one. I don't think it will have the limitations of Discover Lands Unknown, even though it has some of the same focus
No, I enjoy the video game, but the computer manages so many condition timers, and that's one of my least favorite things to do in a board game, so I didn't even really look into it. But I just started hearing about people getting it and really enjoying it, so maybe that's not an issue. I almost asked if you backed it, but you're not doing kickstarters at all, right?
@@JAlanRykerGames only small ones - I did back Dieson Crusoe, Rome and Rove. I try to hold off on bigger kickstarters - given my 95% disappointment rate with them. I'm really torn about StS TBG. The rulebook is really good. On r/slaythespire lots of people say the game is really deep. I don't see that though. I can't see beyond the random card deals. But there are people who consistently beat the spire. I should wait until it hits the secondary market, but if it's really good not many will sell their copy, or at least not in my country. Backerkit doesn't show where backers come from, which was a very useful feature in kickstarter.
@@kosterix123 Like you, I'm having a hard time buying any first edition on kickstarter. Especially because I have a difficult time feeling what a game will be like from reading the rules, which I think you're able to do. Another issue for me is that I enjoy slay the spire quite a bit on my phone. I watched your first video about it yesterday and it made me want to play it again. But even on the phone there's so much grind. Sometimes you get a good build going and then it's a fun grind. Other times, it's just boring. And that's with the computer handling the minutiae. I'm finding that I like an IP applied to a new game but am rarely up for a more direct port.
@@JAlanRykerGames In the end I decided that (1) for sure I will enjoy this game a lot; (2) the secondary market will flood with cheaper copies. Main reason for (1) is that I investigated the products of people raving about StS:TBG and they love the bg that I love, and their rating of them is in line with my own impression of such products. It's a good proxy I think. Main reason for (2) is the 11k backers. And finally, there is zero incentive to back any first edition once it has been funded. Your money means nothing to anyone. Besides, I found the cards simplistic, the insert but-ugly, too seventies, the minis ugly as well. Nobody knows about durability of these sleeves. Played several hours again StS, I can for sure see its charm (try daily challenges!) but there is just 4 characters (2 before unlocking the third), and both have a very boring card set. The premise of multi playing with friends kind of gets lost if you picked the short straw and have to spend an entire evening with boring hero, while your friends on the table have the time of their life. Thank you for watching my videos, I hope they helped! ♥
![[UNCUT] The Loyal Pin ปิ่นภักดิ์ EP.4 (4/4)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/d3l5rxl5CVo/mqdefault.jpg)
I’ve started to become more concerned whether a game has an actual true solo mode, or whether it is more of an afterthought to try and get more sales. When it isn’t very good solo, it probably isn’t sticking around. For Euro games I’ll look for someone like David Turczi designing the solo mode. His almost always come with addition solo components and cards, and usually simulate opponents quite well, while also being very minimal overhead to manage.
If you are looking for an adventure game that is more true solo, you should consider The Isofarian Guard. It is technically 1-2 co-op, but honestly it is a true solo game. Amazing story telling up there with Oathsworn or Awaken Realms titles. Fun gameplay and excellent components. If you really explore the world and map, there are over 300 hours of gameplay. Also, no expansions to speak of; everything in one box. This has become my number 1 recommendation for anyone looking for an adventure/exploration and narrative solo game.
Isofarian Guard is not an adventure game. Its map only serves as a backdrop to provide a context for chip based battles. Those 300 hours is 99% those battles. So you’re swapping ability cards and gems around and that’s it.
David Turczi is definitely the name that gets my attention on Euros with a solo. We're lucky he's so prolific!
Isofarian Guard looks like it was an incredible value
I'm jealous of your ability to sell games! I've heard every gamers collection will become so overwhelming that they will eventually sell a game. I haven't gotten to that point, but I feel like I'm right on the edge. Right on the edge! So close! And I've heard to feels amazing to cull your collection to those few gems you truly enjoy, and get money for those holy grail games that cost way too much to justify, but I can't do it yet! D':
haha yeah, I think that it does eventually become a necessity. I'm sure when you go to shelve a cool new game and you literally have to remove a box or two to make space, you'll know exactly which ones you can do without.
Primal the Awakening just showed up on my door and it's about three times as big as I thought it was going to be...
I am lucky in the fact that I dont feel like collecting board games, for me it is more about a new expierence after I had my fun with a game. I have about 30-40 games in my collection with constant rotation. Some of the bigger games I had liked but sold are, Sleeping Gods, Massive Darkness 2, Concordia, Earth, HEAT, Final Girl, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Obsession, Spirit Island. The only one I regret selling so far is Lost Ruins of Arnak and might pick it up again at the right price.
I'm definitely working on clearing space on my shelves right now rather than adding games. The problem is I still have old kickstarters coming in. I had no idea the size of the box Primal would come in, for instance
After starting getting really involved in the boardgaming hobby, I started buying a lot of games that were often highly praised by YT contents creators or the 1PG Top 200 on BGG. I eventually came to possess 120+ games, but felt bad because most of them didn't leave the shelf, and only brought discomfort. I also noticed that choosing a game to play became overwhelming, and that the breadth of choice was detrimental to playing the games I loved the most. I took the matter into my own hands and decided to play all my games, and cull the ones I didn't like or that I couldn't bring myself to play. One year later I was down to 30 games (now 24), but I only kept games that I truly loved. I got rid of the "OK games", or even some great games that just weren't for me, or that I could play with someone else's copy. However I largely favor the depth of each game, as I now have a solid amount of time to play the games I love the most, and finishing a campaign game isn't that much of a problem anymore (it's still a commitment not to be undertaken lightly, though). Overall, getting rid of this excess of games has made me way happier.
Culling doesn’t work with pnp games.
30 games? That’s great. Not counting small games I have about 40.
That sounds like a great way to curate a collection. I'm removing games and not currently buying new ones, but I learn slowly, so I hesitate to call it anything like a culling because it's in such slow motion. Especially since I'm starting with the games I think I'm most likely to enjoy, probably leaving a bunch of stinkers on my shelves still in shrink. And then I still have kickstarters coming in that take up so much shelf space. Goodness, I didn't expect Primal to be in such a big box!
Shadows of Kilforth - gorgeous quality, unfortunately when setting up the map the gloom and happy sides were so similar I couldn't reason over the game state. Tried a few times and boxed it up. I don't know why nobody complains about it.
Sleeping Gods - beautiful map and ship travel, unfortunately the combat felt like an entire different game and killed it for me. Also sold it while it was hot.
Aeon's End Legacy - great idea of a game but it just fizzled out around chapter 6 (of 8). Sold it with the reset pack and probably is rotting away in somebody else's cellar.
Thunderstone Numenera - while I found the DB too old-fashioned initially, the main gimmick was to have the boss right after you have "prepared" your deck a few times. That felt limited, you had to get lucky in the end or not which made one hour a 50/50 chance of success or failure. So I designed a good roguelite version around it plus added some more modern mitigation but didn't get much chance to play this "numenera plus" because i got a good price for it, and well bye bye.
D Day Dice 2nd edition - great variety of boards and cards but each scenario you're doing exactly the same thing. Still have the t-shirt and the dice tray, but the game is gone.
You're right about Shadows of Kilforth. It is hard to judge the gloom at a glance.
That's actually a good thing to know about D-Day Dice. I've got the pnp ready to make at some point, and knowing that maybe I should stick with it instead of buying the full game makes me more likely to actually make it
I was about to sell The Witcher when I gave the solo mode by Marcus of Outtama Design Labs a shot.
It is so good, I not only kept the game in my collection, I got the cards for the solo mode professionally printed and created additional cards myself.
So The Witcher will remain a bit longer in the collection, instead I sold Folklore The Affliction. 🤷🏻♂️
Why are you telling me this?!?! The solo mode not being very compelling definitely contributed to my selling it. I'm going to check out that solo mode. Maybe get the game again if it goes on sale
@@JAlanRykerGames I don't know? Why? Why did I? Cruelty? The G_ds? PSA? 🤣
The solo mode from the base game was lame, but did you ever play The Wild Hunt solo mode from the strech goals box? I found it kind of fun, for a while.
Have you ever played Utopia, the card based worker placement game? It has a very moderate table footprint and really fun and challenging solo mode. If you ever see it on the 2nd hand market, take it into consideration.
@@Biodelic I played it once and--while it was a hasty decision--I liked it but felt that it didn't have staying power, it sounds like what you experienced. I haven't played Utopia, but now it's going on my list!
I have a very strong urge to sell off like 1/3-1/4 of my collection, specifically euros. I kinda fell out of love with them. I still love GWT Argentina, Gaia and Paladins, but Kanban, The Gallerist, Underwater Cities, The Red Cathedral, The Magnificent and even Hallertau can gtfo and I probably won't miss them at all. I played them all recently (except for Kanban, that one I already sold) and didn't feel even a tiny bit of excitement.
Sounds like maybe you got what they have to give and now they can go. If it's a game I used to like but have grown tired of, I do sometimes think, maybe I should just wait 5 years and try again. But that's a lot of time to fill shelf space, especially when it's a game you can easily get again
@@JAlanRykerGames Yeah, totally. I mean, it can happen, right? Maybe even in a couple of years. But there are games that I'm not getting tired of, so I'd better keep those and get rid of the rest.
I have yet to sell any game although I probably should. I did get Zombicide Green Horde for the orcs and goblin minis to add to other games as well as checking out the Horde mechanic. I still haven’t played it as I usually will grad Zombicide Dark Side if I’m in the mood to play Zombicide as it just fits better for me. The marvel one sounds great but I haven’t played it.
I can see you enjoying Dark Side. Did you ever play Invader? That seems like your sort, as well, though I know people have been split on it. I've never played it but like the look of it.
@@JAlanRykerGames
I haven’t played Invader but picked up the tile pack to play those missions with the miniatures I have. I really didn’t like the fungus mechanic when I read the rules and love the line of sight rules as well as the partial cover if the model is on a digger hole representing that they are in the hole. Invader also has the need for oxygen tanks that I believe came in one of the supplements I purchased, maybe Black Ops. I may eventually try the fungus spores representation at some point but for now I am good. My cull list would probably be the games I have purchased and never got to the table for one reason or another.
@@kevinstricklen7579 I need to make shelf space, like, right now, and I know the best course would be to sell several games I haven't played that I'm pretty certain I won't like. I'm finding it hard to do that. I have a much easier time selling games I played and didn't connect with
Multiplayer games with a half hearted attached single player modus is not the same as a solo player game like under falling skies or final girl that is specifically conceived for solo gaming
It's true, and thinking back, I think that was a strike against Witcher
I must admit that you should buy hero realms with the campign instead
I tried Hero Realms on my phone and it didn't click, but I might try again
1st one sounds kind of like Stonesaga. Looking forward to it though.
Me too
Stonesaga looks like it will be a good one. I don't think it will have the limitations of Discover Lands Unknown, even though it has some of the same focus
yeah I still have roll player but.... I agree I don't think its as interesting as other games.
are you backing Slay the Spire TBG?
No, I enjoy the video game, but the computer manages so many condition timers, and that's one of my least favorite things to do in a board game, so I didn't even really look into it. But I just started hearing about people getting it and really enjoying it, so maybe that's not an issue. I almost asked if you backed it, but you're not doing kickstarters at all, right?
@@JAlanRykerGames only small ones - I did back Dieson Crusoe, Rome and Rove. I try to hold off on bigger kickstarters - given my 95% disappointment rate with them.
I'm really torn about StS TBG.
The rulebook is really good. On r/slaythespire lots of people say the game is really deep. I don't see that though. I can't see beyond the random card deals. But there are people who consistently beat the spire.
I should wait until it hits the secondary market, but if it's really good not many will sell their copy, or at least not in my country. Backerkit doesn't show where backers come from, which was a very useful feature in kickstarter.
@@kosterix123 Like you, I'm having a hard time buying any first edition on kickstarter. Especially because I have a difficult time feeling what a game will be like from reading the rules, which I think you're able to do.
Another issue for me is that I enjoy slay the spire quite a bit on my phone. I watched your first video about it yesterday and it made me want to play it again. But even on the phone there's so much grind. Sometimes you get a good build going and then it's a fun grind. Other times, it's just boring. And that's with the computer handling the minutiae. I'm finding that I like an IP applied to a new game but am rarely up for a more direct port.
@@JAlanRykerGames In the end I decided that
(1) for sure I will enjoy this game a lot;
(2) the secondary market will flood with cheaper copies.
Main reason for (1) is that I investigated the products of people raving about StS:TBG and they love the bg that I love, and their rating of them is in line with my own impression of such products. It's a good proxy I think.
Main reason for (2) is the 11k backers.
And finally, there is zero incentive to back any first edition once it has been funded. Your money means nothing to anyone.
Besides, I found the cards simplistic, the insert but-ugly, too seventies, the minis ugly as well. Nobody knows about durability of these sleeves.
Played several hours again StS, I can for sure see its charm (try daily challenges!) but there is just 4 characters (2 before unlocking the third), and both have a very boring card set.
The premise of multi playing with friends kind of gets lost if you picked the short straw and have to spend an entire evening with boring hero, while your friends on the table have the time of their life.
Thank you for watching my videos, I hope they helped! ♥
Discover has to be the biggest flop in board gaming history.
I think you're probably right! Especially if you're talking about just the game itself and not something that went wrong with the launch