Descent definitely totally not 3.0

I bought this from my local game store -- I try to support them when I can with the occasional "big" purchase.

I assembled all of the scenery -- which is fine (some of it clever, but most of it lower quality than HeroQuest/Dark World). Probably will give the game a whirl tomorrow night.

So far, I find the art very mixed (I am self-aware that I know jackshit about art -- just what I like vs. what I don't). Some of it is downright off-putting; some of it is cool. I assume multiple artists work on this -- it feels like there wasn't a cohesive vision (or at least not brought together under the same umbrella; but again, what the hell do I know).

Good video review. Their Shut Up and Sit Down style whimsical comedy doesn't hit for me, but they do quite a good job centering discussions of the mechanics and how they fit with dungeon crawls more broadly. I like reviews that actually feel like the reviewers understand the mechanical context from other designs without specifically ranking them against those designs or whatever.

Would be glad to play someone else's copy but definitely not buying one. The crafting is a good approach to making your character unique, very video game, but I do share the general concern upthread that there's too much managing stuff in an app that feels like it's "owned" by whoever is closest to/owns the tablet or phone.

Just built all the terrain, it’s cute stuff- definitely usable for TTRPG. But if you are one of those folks for whom a game must be in absolutely pristine condition...just don’t buy this. You are going to mess up edges, make little tears, and bend pieces. Be prepared for lots of whining about that, as well as whining about how long it took to build. I did it in about an hour, taking time to do it carefully. It was not hard to do and I’m not crying because I peeled up a couple of corners and one of the chests tore a little. SFW, shit is meant to be played with FFS.

The minis are superb, as has been widely reported.

Rules look pretty solid, basic stuff really. Honestly it looks to me like there is as much “game” on the table as there is with previous versions of Descent. Just less tokens and faffing around with cards, which as I stated I will happily do without. I think players will do pretty much exactly the same things they would do in 2.0, just with the app handling the Overlord tasks.

BUT...there is still a pile of fatigue tokens, some things never change.

Art is great all over. I like that it had a more hand drawn look, including the tokens. It’s refreshing after all the gaudy, tasteless shit I see daily coming from KS.

Flipside hooked me up with the preorder promos, and I’m selling them for a nice $100 rebate on the purchase price. They are just alternate components, nothing that isn’t already in the box in a less premium form.

OK I played it. Burn your old Descent stuff in a fire. The new age is here.

There we’re a couple of key moments:

- We got through the woods and found a tower that I had no idea would be there, it felt like actual exploring rather than “turn left or right”
- I went to attack a bandit with a Warhammer and the app was like “oh no no no, that weapon is slow and this dude is fast- he hits you for X damage.” A completely unexpected and DM-y kind of thing.
- I tried to climb a tree and fell down.
- I had to make character-building RP decisions- binary choices, but still a lot more than any other dungeon crawl.
- I thought we were at the end but there was ANOTHER area.
- it really is like playing an RPG session with a DM setting up encounters.

It is absolutely a board game, not a video game. Your fears were unwarranted. The app lets you enjoy the board game part of it more without administrative bullshit. If you really like counting, sorting, and distributing while keeping track of effects and abilities then maybe this is not a game for you.

There is not “too much reading”.

As for the difficulty, I am on Heroic and there were some tight spots.

Terrain is darling but if you are going to flip out over some bends and Munro blemishes, maybe don’t get this game.

The potential for this game is astronomical. My worry about it now has shifted to a) will the other adventures take full advantage of the potential here and b) will act 2 also be $175.

What do the little colored plastic ends on the enemy minis represent?

Identifiers if you have more than 1 of the same enemy.

I hate that I'm even asking this, but would it work well with a seven year old?

LOL I feel you. with some guidance, maybe. It is still Descent. you are still rolling, applying surges, converting advantages to fatigue for effects, choosing from a number of action options, and making tactical decisions. But if you help then with that then the app does all the boring complicated stuff. You eill be required to read in funny voices.

I think I'm buying this, and I hate you for it. Now I need to peddle some shit to pay for it.

Told ya all - you old 'get off my grass' naysayers . The world moves on and new ideas come along and some of them are good ... unfortunately I have so many games still to arrive and others on my shelves that need a good few play-thrus to allow a $175 spend, plus I want to squeeze in re-plays of my Descent 2e with the 'Valkyrie' app that runs off the same engine as the Road to Legend co-op app but allows users to build custom scenarios/campaigns.
Maybe 2022/23

I’m now on the second scenario. This is the first boardgame I’ve played solo that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and not felt like I’m missing out by playing it solo. It is also the first game I’ve played with an app so take my comment with a grain of salt. I liked a lot. Enough that I’ll be shipping my minis off in a couple weeks’ time to get painted while I work on painting the edges of the cardboard scenery. On the whole investing extra $ and time on sprucing up this game is an especially silly proposition since the game may not be playable 15 years from now do to software dependency. Still I could not help myself. When I saw the pictures of 3D cardboard scenery reminiscent of Hero Quest I knew I needed this in my life. I have very few games which I love, I’m not a collector.

The other game I have that I think is very good solo is Arkham Horror LCG. In AH LCG I will play a single investigator or 2 at most due to overhead. Of course because of the action economy and lack of flexibility with a 1 or 2 investigator party, succeeding a scenario is difficult, even with the game’s scaling enemy hit point and clue gathering. And then after I’ve play a scenario by myself I feel I’ve spoiled the excitement of the story it for what I feel is truly the awesome experience, which is playing with other players. But in Descent 3.0, because the app handles so much overhead I can use the full party of 4 characters easily and it feels like I’m playing the sweet child of Hero Quest and Baldur’s Gate. I like having somebody else (the app) be the Ref/Facilitator for a change. And I love that while playing solo I can still have true exploration of a well thought out scenario, rather than exploring a randomly generated map which may or may not provide good gameplay. If I were ever to play this with a group I would want to have a large TV in the room to share the story and shopping/crafting decisions without having to crowd everyone around the iPad. But I have other games to play with a game group, this game is a treat I’m reserving to play for myself. I expect now that what little mini painting I did will be reduced even further. It used to be that painting minis was how I engaged with the hobby when I had no one to play with. Now I have Descent 3.0 for that, and I don’t feel I’m being short-changed or spoiling the story by playing solo.

Used some Noble Knight credit and picked this up. Literally just hit the porch. Glad to hear that the app does the mundane and provides a good solo experience.

Thank god for a PTO Friday to run this thing through it’s paces...

Michael Barnes wrote: Art is great all over. I like that it had a more hand drawn look, including the tokens. It’s refreshing after all the gaudy, tasteless shit I see daily coming from KS.

Flipside hooked me up with the preorder promos, and I’m selling them for a nice $100 rebate on the purchase price. They are just alternate components, nothing that isn’t already in the box in a less premium form.

I got the promos from the game store --- I honestly can't tell the difference between the bonus mini and the one that comes with the game, other than it is preassembled. The health dials are really nice, actually. I might keep them --- seems easier for the kids to handle.

Ok -- now you can help me figure out what my problem with the art is I like all the scenery, tokens, etc. The thing I don't like are some of the character styles (Brynn and Galaden, specifically. Kehli is ok. The other three look cool. I like the cultist-thing on page 31, do not like the zombie-thing on page 19). My son (7) is an amazing artist/illustrator --- he used to get pissed when I would draw with him because I am terrible at it. Now, he just does this little sigh -- gathers his patience -- and tries to teach me techniques and why something looks cool. So, it is conceivable that this is just me not understanding art/styles/composition. I have much the same problem with music (and to some extent, the spoken word -- especially foreign languages). Something I desperately want to understand, but never can quite grasp.

Read online about people giving the designers grief because they are new. Good lord, that seems silly. Most KS designers are new. Everyone starts from somewhere. I think this looks neat and a nice natural progression of dungeoncrawls. Playing tonight with a friend. Probably will run all 4 characters on heroic.

It's the incredibly over stylized aeon flux art style thing you're reacting to, I think, which that video review above mentioned. It is an intentional style but it is offputting to a lot people because of the very weird proportions of people. They look super long and taut and not very human in some ways; real stringy human golem vibes.

I'm just glad to see it isn't very anime, which I have gotten tired of seeing everywhere.

That's helpful -- I suppose I should watch more video reviews (I just can't bring myself to spend the time doing that). I do think it's odd that not all of the characters have that art-style. The two I mentioned do, the dwarf almost has a D&D cartoon art-style, which l like but seems different than the rest. The other three characters don't seem to share that style (perhaps different artists working on different characters? interpreting the style differently?). Again, I feel like I am just saying words....

In any event, it doesn't bother me enough not to play. There are definitely worse art decisions in board games -- as Barnes mentioned, there are about a bazillion KS games that I find more off-putting.