The actual Anime Elfen Lied is fuckin nuts. I enjoy this as well !! And the part where Lucy is talking to her inner demon is sooo much better here than it was in the show.
@@disposable157Yes! I normally have trouble falling asleep, but this is somehow the perfect combination of funny enough to be engaging, and chill voice acting. It's basically asmr to me <3
Great review. So many reviews these days are going waaay to deep into just describing the rules, or some part of them, which until you actually play something yourself and experience how said rules mash together, is a useless information, while this gave (admittedly subjective) feelings, that can be understood easily. Admittedly a slight lack of structure, with some points a bit too overdragged, some very underdescribed (20min writing analysis vs ~ a minute on the combat system being not great); but honestly, x1.25 speed and overall a really fantastic review. I'm very keen to learn if you think the new 'Definitive Edition' currently on KS for another day or two, which offers a digital edition (all the chapter booklets and the storybook are in an app, but you still get all the remaining components in a physical form), might make things a bit better? Although, I suppose since your criticism is focused largely on the writing and to a slightly smaller extent on the combat/investigation mechanics, which I don't imagine would have been improved on in the new edition (?), your opinion would remain largely unchanged. Would love to see more board game reviews from you, especially interested in learning your fuller thoughts on ISS Vanguard, since you were quite positive on that, and I am considering it, but not sure if I'd actually enjoy it personally.
Well this was a lovely comment. Thanks, I'll put ISS Vanguard on my list. I can probably do something with that. The definitive edition... Sorry I missed the deadline. I don't check my comments much. So, if any game would really benefit from a second edition, it's VTM: chapters. If they take care of the quality of life features, edit their damn stories, and make the game a little less faffy, it could genuinely be a 9/10 game. The thing is, I just don't trust Flyos to be able to pull it off. They've demonstrated they don't really know how to complete this sort of project. however, that's the sort of situation that can definitely change. I'd recommend avoiding any crowd funders from Flyos and seeing what the new edition of the game is like when it's ready.
This is a great review - thank you! The issues you mention seem annoying, but I don't think they would bother me (famous last words). I really like the setting too, so might be able to look past a lot of it. In sum, I'm likely backing this current Kickstarter campaign...just hope they deliver all okay. It's also interesting to see the perspective of a writer (and I presume a very well read person) on the writing, as it seemed totally fine to me! 😄 It made me really think I should probably read more good books!!!
You should engage with whatever the h*ck sort of art you find enjoyable, damn it! But yes, if you don't mind the writing it's probably worth a try. I'd only advise caution with Flyos and crowdfunding as they've demonstrated they're not great at running that whole side of things, so the price might suddenly spike when it's time to pay for shipping. Who can say, they might have sorted that side of their operation out by the time they get to the current campaign...
Just adding my own comment, as one of the people who played this game with Mike. I enjoyed the prologues, as introductions to the characters and mechanics, but the story itself felt so much like a bad Choose Your Own Adventure story, or Telltale computer game, where you click on all the relevant clues to progress (which works well through the abstraction and great visuals/voice acting of a computer game, less as a GM-less RPG simulation). Granted, some of it is down to the limitations of having a book trying to account for all the things a GM might allow or, importantly, elaborate on/clarify. A certain degree of railroading down certain investigative routes is kind of necessary. But the vibe was definitely more World of Darkness computer game and not World of Darkness tabletop RPG, or the moody vampire TV shows or films that it emulated. There's little build up of mood. The first chapter, in a park, where you've been sent to find the bad guys and clear a park of innocent bystanders, has the bad guys doing a bad thing in plain sight - apparently - of the bystanders, but the story has you just 'click' on encounters with the bystanders to deal with them one at a time before confronting the obvious bad guys. The random couple who stick their heads in a door of an apartment is another moment of dissonance where, having established people are living in a run down block suggests two of them will approach a broken into an apartment and cheerfully chat to the strangers inside. Now, I've played some World of Darkness choose your own adventure style games before, both on paper and on screen, and they've been good, although admittedly a solo game when you have the POV of one specific character can be a lot more railroady without breaking immersion, as you tend to be playing true to that one character. But Chapters has issues that feel like they're not just issues of POV - they just feel like there's clunky exposition, attempts to set up drama where, as the reader you can anticipate well in advance what will happen but are forced to 'react' like it's a shock and something that couldn't have been prevented (the Etienne section mentioned in the video, for example, where it was obvious that the character was going to throw themselves out of the window). Still, as Mike points out, if you've played through these sections/heard the narration in this video and liked the story as a means to get you from one point of game play/puzzle solving to the next, that's fine, and you may well enjoy the game. However, I think our group played the game the opposite way, navigating the mechanics in order to get to a fun and engaging storyline, and it just felt like it was World of Darkness window dressing, with little of the intrigue and drama of a proper game of Vampire (or, indeed, the great fluff for the storyline).
Another overhyped, overhyped kickstarter project. I can't wait for this bubble to burst. Companies have no desire to release a decent product because they know nerds will throw money at anything.
I think this is completely untrue. A good half of the games I've loved from the last ten years have been kickstarters. Loads of Kickstarters are crap, but most games published through traditional means are crap
Yeah, everything which has happened since my video as well has revealed Flyos as a company which just... Has no idea what they're doing ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Zyyypv6WlOE.htmlsi=vzoMXUcThdyZRt83
I love your honest opinion review! Refreshing to see. I think it’s hard to get any support from publishers with this style but I hope you can continue to release videos. This was really useful to me as I really want a good VTM board game.
Because the writing was so fundamentally bad it demonstrated that the writers had no idea what they were doing. You can try and build an amazing house but if you have no idea how to use your tools you're going to build a disaster stack of bricks and badly mixed cement
I too love V5 and have played the game off and on since 92. I also think Chapters is garbage. 4 vampires got destroyed by the 4 ghouls easily in the first post-prelude encounter. The vampires can take 4 or 6 damage depending on their physical attribute but the enemies (ghouls) can take 9 each? They also do more damage? I kickstarted it, excited by the premise of an RPG and a loyalty to the brand. It took me months to play it and now I regret buying it.
I absolutely love this video. It feels super honest, it is very informative, I get the feeling that you know what you're talking about. I miss reviews such as yours. I didn't feel like watching a review online, but rather like listening to a friend, who shares my passion for games. PLEASE do more reviews.
Not gonna lie I just started watching this back for the first time in about ten years and it's not very classy how much I keep laughing at my own damn jokes
I find your critics partially weird. I totally agree that the combat system is not the best and that the game is overproduced. Storage could be better, but at least as you mentioned they provided online a solution for that. But that you dislike the game because of the writing in two aspects (‚run-down ambiance‘ and ‚repetitive/long-winded descriptions‘) is strange for me because 1. those seem very personal dislikes of you and 2. have little to do with the ‚game‘ itself. It is called ‚rpg in a box‘ but nonetheless is NOT an rpg as D&D or V5 but a board game in the end. Furthermore you criticize the long-windendes of the writing but it takes you about 20 min. to complain about just that. Which I myself found too long-winded. ;) As you can imagine I like the game so far, but I am not yet very deep into the campaign. It is by far not perfect (I am most annoyed about the endless errors in the rules/cards/book), Awaken Realms have way more experience when it comes to creating (campaign) games, but V:TMC has its own appeal.
Hiya! For me, personally, if the writing isn't good in VTM:C, then there's absolutely no point in plaing it, because there are much better games out there. Even Vampire: The Masquerade: Heritage was a better board game and that thing had serious problems too. Glad you're enjoying the game, though. You get a lot more out of enjoying it than I did out of not enjoying it.
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t like this game. I’m about 20+ hours into it and I’m loving it. I agree that the writing should’ve been cut by about 20-30%. But the writing overall is really good. There are so many possibilities and branching paths - way more than Tainted Grail (which I also completed, and enjoyed). It is also not as grindy as TG. Plus I’m also a huge V:TM fan so I’m delighted there is a game set in this world and rules set. As for the skill checks, I just roll dice based on the number of dots (no auto-successes); it’s better this way as it’s more exciting and you have a higher chance of failing. Campaign games like this often benefit from some house-ruling.
I totally agree with your review! We played a few evenings and as of yesterday, we just gave up, the writing, choices and impact, railroading and most of all, the amount of errata is just to much. This was another bad Kickstarter and it is very obvious they never played their own game.
Yeah I think you're right about the game, I just wonder how fair it is to expect such a high quality from it. It's Flyos' first game in this style and size, there were obvious problems with development and while it does seem like they hired ('invited', whatever that means) somewhat experienced writers, they don't have a narrative background. Those are excuses, so I do agree the game should be better but it seems like the same problems plague so many big narrative games. I wonder if creators are designing for an audience that doesn't know the difference between good and bad writing and game design and don't care. The few standouts that don't fall into this pit, like the Awaken Realms games you mentioned, are because they do have a powerhouse between Marcin's game design and Krzysztof's writing, who's an accomplished author already. If you're up for some boss battlers with narrative sprinkled in between I suggest Oathsworn and Aeon Tresspass, I'd love to hear your thoughts on those too sometime
I didn't get oathsworn because it seemed as if the gameplay was mostly boss fights and that's not my sort of thing. I don't think I've done aeons end trespass but just did aeons end legacy 2 which was super fun. The clank legacy storyline was really good. Gloomhavens is pretty neat too, but neither has the story as the main selling point. So, you're right in that it may be harsh to come down so hard on flyos given that it was their first time making something like this, but honestly, as someone who has made all the writing mistakes they made in Chapters, I think they should have done some smaller projects trying out the idea first to see how they found it. I suspect they pitched Chapters to White Wolf without expecting to get accepted and then had to scramble to pull the thing together, trying to learn a load of writing and game design skills as they went.
@@disposable157 Thanks for your thoughts. Flyos should have done better given the gravity of the narrative, I agree. Oathsworn is a boss battler mechanically but 50% of the gameplay is a narrative adventure before you battle. There's a great example of the writing and VO here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wsejjqjI_GE.htmlsi=vZVyX3Ffhw6WmnJi I just bring it up because there's so few stand out examples in a sea of games. Just to be clear, Aeon Trespass: Odyssey which is also a boss battler at heart but with an overworld adventure wrapper has no voice over but from what I'm told a fairly decent narrative (It's on my shelf, waiting play)
@@cheesedanishable ooo that's a really good point I hadn't thought of it like that. I always thought of aeons end as just a deck builder and didn't consider that yes, it's also a boss battler. Brains. Thanks!
@@disposable157No. The current IP holders for White Wolf are greedy idiots. I truly believe they get a kick out of hustling fools from their money and that’s it. Flyos might not be Paradox but they aren’t the original creators either. They are another Disney to Star Wars. Cash grabbing connected to an unnecessary political agenda.
Don't really understand your problems with Tainted Grail, and you definitely are not two of a few people who have completed a campaign - it's been played massively around the world. Maybe a bit too complex for you, but our group of three good (but not brilliant) gamers finished Fall of Avalon quite easily, we even hardened the rules half way through when it got a bit too easy as we wanted to keep the challenge - and the story is very complex so you can play it more than once, and so it is rich. So it appears you have a very black or white view on games and if it doesn't hit you well then straight away it gets a poor rating. So not too sure how much notice I should take of your review.
My problem with tainted grail was that it was grindy as heck. And yes, I know many people have finished the game. I was making a joke. The game has a reputation for people enjoying it for the first few chapters and then dropping off due to the grind. Like... At the end I recommend people play it. I say all this at 43:33 wait I just realized you didn't watch the video and decided to leave a comment after not liking a joke. Never mind, carry on
I'm 7 minutes in to the video, really enjoying it. You are obviously a smart guy, and when you say you are getting distracted, if you did not mention it no one would notice :)
With all your literary prowess one would think that you’d take some time to learn the real OG definition of fascism before it was changed to suit left wing ideology. Otherwise - I appreciate your perspective on the game. Everything you have stated actually sounds pretty badass - sounds like you are extremely sensitive to bad writing. Sorry it ruined your enjoyment. Thanks for your thoughts.
Well they were going for this 'chapters' thing, and so putting each chapter in one booklet was quite neat and self contained... But yeah I really don't think it was a good idea. It's telling that I've not seen another studio try the same idea, everyone's just stuck with having a big book, so far as I've seen
I'm at the point about the glove. I'm not familiar with the game mechanics, but are there items you collect/use with a "clothing slot"? Because that would be a reason for the glove to be called "clothing" at one point. If nothing of the sort exists in the game then I agree.
Thanks a lot, I really appreciate your kind words. Generally speaking my brain is too broken to do things like this on the reg. Even in this video, where I was relatively coherent, my points were still super scattershot. Still, I appreciate the lovely comment 💚
I have looking for reviews for this game for some time now. This is by far the greatest one. Granted there aint lots of reviews... You bring up points that I haven't even thought about but will now. Your criticismen of the writing is spot on! Thanks for a great review!
Watched this again after a long while since my first viewing at this is still just as funny on the 2nd or even 3rd viewing, got reminded because my brother and I use “Ze Best. Day. Ever.” Whenever the other goes out and “And an Axe on a Spring” whenever we suggest stuff for shopping lists 😁 this abridged creeped into our vocabulary in the oddest of ways, but yea, wanted to say thank you for this great piece of Abridging
You probably won’t see this comment but on the off chance you do - thank you so much for making that Sherlock analysis video - I have literally never felt so seen in my life. I am also afflicted with ADHD and that video has been running through my brain for YEARS now like an ear worm and watching it tonight was like fog lifting - this probably sounds really stupid - anyways - greatly researched and appreciated video!! ❤
Heyaaa. When I made the decision to turn comments off on that vid I didn't even conceive of the idea that I'd get nice comments like this. Fork me. I was having a pretty bad day and then I saw this. I feel a decent amount better now :D I'm super happy you felt seen. That's... it's one of the most important feelings for ND people in my opinion. The idea of fog lifting absolutely makes sense. Your brain was hanging onto it for a whole bunch of reasons and seeing the vid made it feel as if it could let go? That's bloody amazing. I'm super happy about that :D
Very much no, it's a massively cut down, re-edited thing where the plot is sort of summerised but also I cut a load of stuff and made some things completely different.
