surferthanos wrote:
This brings me to the first negative of the game; some of the Encounter cards can be "cheap." For example, some cards say take 1 or 2 damage without even making a roll. Now most cards give you an opportunity for a roll which to me is fair. However many people do not like that aspect of the game. Another negative for some is that the monsters/villains always get initiative (meaning they get to attack first.) Under tough aspect however, we are entering their castle and it makes it more challenging. The last negative for some is that the game is very challenging and with a small percentage of victory probably like 30-35%. I personally find this a plus because I do not like games that are too easy.
See, this is one of the big problems I have with the D&D Adventure Games. My daughter bought Ashardalon, we have played Drizzt numerous times, and my friend has Ravenloft.
Cheap encounter cards are just cheap. That is artificial difficulty, not any real challenge. It kills the game for me. In Ashardalon, you could enter a tile, get a nasty event happen while spawning a monster that auto spawns 2 more, and then basically die.
With the crappy treasure, and best skills single use per game (not to mention everything stil being dictated by one 20 sided die), it is just way too random for me to enjoy it. I also feel as another stated, the tiles are bland and repetitive. You do get a lot of them, but they really don't stand out much from each other.
I guess if you don't mind a huge chunk of random dictating a large portion of the game, you could find this fun. Playing 2 player with my daughter, spending a while setting up all the chits, tiles, cards, etc for a scenario and then losing 15 minutes in due to horrible combos of encounter cards and monster draws, coupled with bad die rolls, just did not equal fun for me. Drizzt slightly fixed that, and you can house rule as well as remove some of the worst offenders,but then I just feel like Im trying to fix a broken game.
Mice and Mystics is a slightly better system, but Im still not entirely in love with that game either (I have a take it or leave it attitude with that game. I didn't fall for the hype or the (albeit solid) storybook, but at least there is some luck mitigation in the game and progress carries forward with a cohesive story. Im about to try Descent 2.0, as I want a game with less full blown random events and more tactics + story. Prophecy is a fun game though, and we all love Claustrophobia. My daughter even plays a stripped down version of Mage Knight with me. But I'll never touch the D&D Adventure games again if I can help it. They are pretty nice miniatures though, which is why my daughter likes them. She thinks of it as less a game, and more a toy.