Eldritch Horror

What did everyone else think about this one? I had a good time but wonder if I was the exception. I seemed to have an amazing run of good luck and was the recipient of most of Arun's buys, plus took a couple of good items from other people too. Meanwhile I saw a lot of other people getting delayed several times and missing whole turns, or with piling up madness conditions -- did that become a nuisance? The length didn't bother me -- four and a half hours went fairly quickly -- though it looked like some people were zoning out by the end.

I missed the last few minutes. How did Jamie die and was it still possible to win after he did?

Sam wrote:What did everyone else think about this one? I had a good time but wonder if I was the exception. I seemed to have an amazing run of good luck and was the recipient of most of Arun's buys, plus took a couple of good items from other people too. Meanwhile I saw a lot of other people getting delayed several times and missing whole turns, or with piling up madness conditions -- did that become a nuisance? The length didn't bother me -- four and a half hours went fairly quickly -- though it looked like some people were zoning out by the end.

I missed the last few minutes. How did Jamie die and was it still possible to win after he did?

Not sure what it was Sam, something happened that caused me to lose about 3 health, and it was curtains for me. We all pretty much gave up after that. I imagine the grief felt by the group, at my loss, was just too much for everyone to bear...

I though it got a whole lot more exciting when the main bad dude materialised in Africa, and our fate was in the balance. Generally though, I wasn't over the moon with the game. I think the main issue for me was the co-op aspect. I'm not sure what it is about co-op games, maybe I feel like they inhibit creative play (when your actions impact on the entire group). Also, doing mostly support stuff (generate clue, give to other player), or just standing my character back up, on quite a few turns, was a bit boring. For 4.5 hours, can think of other games I'm much rather play.

Glad I tried though, and thanks Jen for hosting.

Interestingly (for me), I don't have any problems with co-op games when it's one team against another team.

I don't have much experience with the Lovecraft thing (I never got into Cthulu and with the exception of the iPad version of Elder Sign I've not played any of the FFG games in this family.

For me the game kinda outstayed it's welcome - I think there were just too many players so things got bogged down, especially in the downtime between rounds/turns.

I don't share Jamie's dislike of Co-op games but it really didn't feel like I was able to do much of anything to contribute once the first mission was done with, which got pretty old - hate to say it but was almost a relief to get killed once the "no respawn" point had been passed. How much longer did it run after I died?

I'd be tempted to give it another spin at say 3-4 players but certainly wouldn't fancy playing with a full (or nearly full) roster again.

Given that Eldritch Horror is meant to be a more streamlined alternative to Arkham Horror I know I can strike that one from the "to play" list!

Jamie wrote:Interestingly (for me), I don't have any problems with co-op games when it's one team against another team.

That wouldn't really be a Co-op then, would it

I really enjoyed it, I do thnk 8 is a stretch and I think facilitates more people taking the support role for others to do more meaty things, which I guess my character and Jamies fit. Personally I don't mind it and got my fun from how I usually do in most games, esp with flavour and talk shit and make jokes. Eldritch definately facilitateed that aspect of what I like and I did enjoy the lovecraftian flavour it had.

I think it would be more meaty for each individual with a lower player count and I think I'd only play with 8 again if we had plenty of time and drink

Thanks all for the game and especially Jen for the hosting.

DaveB wrote:

Jamie wrote:Interestingly (for me), I don't have any problems with co-op games when it's one team against another team.

That wouldn't really be a Co-op then, would it

Not strictly, no. I guess what I'm talking about would be best described as a Team game?

Even so, with a team game, you still need to cooperate with the other players on your team, in order to play optimally and beat the other team. I actually really like that kind of thing. It's just when all players are cooperating with each other, against the game; I'm not a massive fan of that kind of thing, however, that kind of game I do find a lot more palatable when one of us may be a traitor. *evil chuckle*

Thanks everyone for agreeing to play. I do like the cooperative, puzzle-solving element of Eldritch, and I like being invested in the outcome of tests (I find I can be invested in watching someone else roll successfully against the odds and don't need to be the person fighting monsters myself, although I guess not being able to face more interesting encounters because of taking on a particular role in the team could be annoying). I enjoyed playing on Tuesday, but I think 8 people does make the game very long, and you lose some of the opportunity to chat and joke around the scenarios with a big table in a loud room. I think I'd probably set a maximum of 6 in future. I also wonder how much it helps to share spaces, as monster-fighting and gate-closing seemed like very distinct skills and potentially something to do by planning turn order and working with someone whose abilities complement yours.

Eldritch was a game I was bought rather than picked, and overall it feels like something I fancy occasionally, but not too often as I think coming fresh to the encounters is better than being really familiar with them.

I wonder, would we have faired any better, had we spread things around a bit more? Made everyone capable of fighting monsters, rather than just one or two of us. Limiting it to a max of 6 sounds very sensible, maybe even fewer (say, 4) would be optimal though?