Incline Gloomhaven/Frosthaven

[pakoito]

Good to hear :D As you advance build theorycrafting kicks in, JotL has a couple of brilliant scenarios too. For the full version of GH there are character unlocks (16 classes total), you can use stickers to permanently modify cards, and more optional scenarios with quirky mechanics Plus many more items. FH will introduce city management too.

and ty bro for the recommendation!

Yeah, Ive already done the research. Dont think ill be using the card stickers, (or removable stickers for that matter), just gonna write that stuff on the sleeve.

We roflstomped the first three scenarios, and while the fourth one was a noticeable bump in the difficulty, we still didnt feel challenged by it. Once we move to scen 6, and can choose the difficulty, would you recommend hard or very hard?

The first 2 scenarios are unloseable, scenario 4 is almost a regular one, and scenario 5 is the end of the tutorial. If you don't feel challenged by then just try, hard is just monsters being 1 level higher than usual, which translates to stats.

 

[v1rus]

I always had trouble when it came to spoiling myself. With vidya, somehow I manage, especially since i play it on my own time. This otoh, is different, and it will take a quite long time. Plus, even when I'm not playing the game, I like browsing strategies and reading other people experiences, so some sort of spoil is bound to come up, as it already did for me with JotL. Heck, i dont know how I even managed to last two weeks when it come to opening those small boxes from JotL.

pakoito Snorkack

The two of you completed the big box, right? Feel free to ignore if you didnt. (lots of spoiler boxes inside, so you can still close it if the particular thing hasnt come up yet)

Spoiler

The contents of the infamous envelope X

Spoiler

The cat is out of the bag. I dont know how to finish it, but i know whats at the end of it.

Spoiler

Liked the idea of it, but I'm wondering how did it work out for your group? Has your group completed it? How did you feel about the puzzle, was it too hard, was it gratifying, was the reward good?

Spoiler

Was googling character tiers, and someone made a nice looking tier list, and under tier B wrote "DONT CLICK UNLESS YOU OPENED ENVELOPE X. So, to a Sherlock such as me, the contents came naturally.

 

[pakoito]

By completed I mean the main story, I didn't get to do what you mention on the spoiler. I do know there was an upgrade for it on the Frosthaven KS.

Spoiler

My campaign:

 

[Snorkack]

The story and writing is indeed trash and the one single weak point of the game. And maybe the summoning mechanics. Thankfully you're free to ignore both.

Just wondering - Did anyone play all three games/expansions yet? Is there any point in playing Jaws of the Lion with a group that has beaten Forgotten Circles? We're one or two sessions away from completing the expansion and worried that JotL now might be trivial for us and we should rather play other games while waiting for Frosthaven.

Alright, can answer that myself now. Last weekend we finally revived our monthly gloomhaven sessions, and we decided to abandon Forgotten Circles in favour of JotL. Good decision. Maybe the fact that we didn't play for over 12 months helped with it, too, but JotL completely blew my Gloomhaven weariness away.

It is streamlined in all the right ways, but certainly not dumbed down. The classes are very original and require finesse, and the decision to use books instead of tiles for the floorplan is genius. Thought it would feel very cheap and flimsy, but it works really well and underlines even more how annoying Forgotten Circles was, where you had to modify the battlefield even mid-scenario.
I don't miss most of the stuff that was cut, like road events, puzzles or 'Fame management'. The one thing I'm sad about is that you are stuck with a single character and there are no personal quests for unlocking new ones. However, none of us is level 5 yet and there are still four little sealed boxes... so there's still hope

All in all a great experience and if you, dear reader, are hesitant to buy Gloomhaven because of the price, or the long setup time, Jaws of the Lion has you covered!

 

[Arbaces]

I hope they provide better options for summons in Frosthaven. I wanted to like them, but at higher difficulty levels (my group plays 6-7 right now) they are so absurdly fragile compared to the monsters that you can safely ignore any melee summon, and you can also forget them even being relevant at low levels because the summons heavy classes are unlocks. It plays more like herding special needs cats than conjuring up an army. They need some serious item and card support, which Gloomhaven just doesn't have, to be good as anything other than a constant ranged nuisance to inflict statuses and minor damage every turn. The items we've found are so bad: a couple of weak summons and a pitiful heal in a slot where you'd much rather have something else. A card to prevent damage to summons for a few hits would be a good start.

I told my group that I called dibs on the Necromancer when the level 1 cards were revealed as a teaser for Frosthaven. They laughed at me, but I believe the developers are confident in it being fun if they're willing to make it a starting character.

 

[pakoito]

I put my summons on the same bag as that cloak of invisibility: "saves you from one enemy turn"

 

[Arbaces]

I'm playing Circles and one of the other players just retired and started Two Minis. After one game I'm already having much more fun with them in the party. We're a mix of levels 7, 8, and 9 playing on monster level 6. I went from providing boring, consistent damage to actually having some engagement with the game while keeping my boring, consistent damage up. Anyone who didn't like Circles or has heard bad things about it, I strongly recommend to play it with Two Minis in the party, as they complement eachother very well.

 

[Elwro]

My wife bought me Gloomhaven for Christmas. I had time ONCE to set it all up, started a campaign with 3 heroes, and promptly lost the 1st scenario, it only took 5 hours. [counting the preparation of the pieces, which will be faster now]. Well, NOW I understand the game actually consists of a series of resource-optimisation riddles in a fantasy dressing. Good. But my brain hurts after juggling 3 chars. What's a fun, feasible duo I could start with?

 

[pakoito]

Brute is above average so it's your first choice. Then either the Tinkerer because it has a large toolbox and high stamina, or the Scoundrel that'll give you plenty of the main resources: move and attack.