Not that this is a bad thing, but I’ve yet too see a crowdfunding game put so much into advertising. Hah. I’ve seen more promotions, adds and play throughs show up on my feed than a new marvel movie.😂
This is what IV Studios does... nothing but a hype machine. They pay out of the ass for advertising and then expect their customers to pay for it. None of their games are worth the money they're asking for. Moonrakers is basically a color matching game with a Munchkin scoring system. Never even wanted to play Veiled Fate and Mythic Mischief is just an overpriced abstract game, although it is certainly their best game. Just not even remotely worth the cost. If they would just come down from their high horses, I think that would significantly help them out. I am clearly in the minority... but I am absolutely always willing to talk shit about IV, I see through their facade.
They really have gone hard on advertising. It's everywhere and seems to be with all the various influencers. I go on any social media or RU-vid and I can't scroll far without seeing it. It's got to the point I'm sick of seeing it everywhere.
@@7H3541N7 Yup. Can't be cheap to fly people out to your studio just to play your game. Of course, they will all have positive things to say after being treated like royalty. Seems like poor business ethics to me.
I like Fractured Sky because I think it is simple enough to get my family to play. Sure, complexity makes it more interesting for dedicated gamers and adds to the variability and long-term shelf life. But that complexity often becomes overwhelming for people who only dabble in the genre. The complexity in Fractured Sky for me is guessing where to go based on available information and reading into other players intentions rather than the game itself providing that mechanical complexity.
Wow.. super pricey for a game that you're looking for expansions before it's even released. I watched the playthru with tom/zee/paula and it feels like I'd not touch it again after a play or two. After seeing what the price point for the game is gunna be for me for delux this is gonna be a hard pass.
If you had to choose between Skyrise (Roxley) and Fractured Sky, which would you lean towards? Amusingly you gave them both a 4 and mentioned the same lack of variety as a con for both. I'm interested in this game but a lack of variety does seem like a bummer
All of the mentioned negatives are actually positives for me. My wife and I watched a playthrough and felt its rules are just heavy enough to possibly play this with family and friends. Our biggest negatives are the board design being hard to read the connecting lines to hex spots and of course how expensive the deluxe version is.
As someone who has purchased veiled fate, moonrakers, and mythic mischief, I feel like it would be dishonorable not to get this game. IV’s quality, top tier customer service, as well as their excellent shipment timing is more than a reason that I’m sold on essentially anything they pump out! How is this game at 2players?
If it's not the cost of the game, it's the vat and postage afterwards too. I know costs have gone up, but not to the degree that we're seeing right now with games.
Doesn’t play 6 players, doesn’t seem to have enough variability, and too expensive. I should have grabbed battle for rokugan before it went out of print. City of spies didn’t seem to get good reviews from what I remember. I was more comparing this one to blood rage, wonderlands war, dune imperium, and andromedas edge. Maybe that’s wrong though?
I had a similar feel, but with more going on in "Lock-Up". Some hidden area control, but not all hidden info, you choose the hidden components. I would label this one as a light to med-light game that I could teach almost anybody. Same weight as Astra, but gamers can elevate this with the bluffing and misdirection. For me there is just not enough going on to hold my attention.
I’m not too familiar with Lock Up but I’m curious now. I was comparing this to Blood Rage, Dune Imperium, Wonderlands War, and Andromeda’s Edge. But maybe it’s more similar to these other games.
IV typically designs for larger player counts, except Mythic Mischief which is designed for two. This will require an automata player at two, and won't be as good at two.
The thing about "replayability" of games that we boardgamer speaks of so much and hold so dearly. I am like you, I love variations in powers, set ups etc which spice things up but then again there is Chess, Go, Backgammon. It has been the same for quite some time and people play them again and again and again. So what is actually replayability when it comes down to it? I would say how engaging the game is and if you feel you either get pure joy from it or feel you can constantly challange yourself and have tight interesting games with friends. Just a few thoughts about replayability. =) In this game I think I do not need special powers ets cause the game is about outwitting your players. And yes it would be annoying to fall because someone else makes a bad call but that is part of the experience imo. Have a nice day! Great review!
The game seems appealing, but it's also missing something for me. I like the simplicity for sure... When getting into the hobby, I had a phase of adding more complex games in my librairy, which is great for a while, but when you collections gets bigger, it's harder to pull an old timer as you will likely need a big rule refresher. Now I try to aim for medium weight game if possible. Still, I would love if there was some asymmetric races and if the board was modular in some capacity. Seems that would add just enough variability to be more interesting.
Alex, have you played "Battle for Rokugan"? The hidden action and area control give me a similar feeling. There are more elements that differentiate Fractured Sky from thats one, but I feel like there is a similar tactile feeling between both games. Would you say it's close or not? (of course if you haven't played the former, naturally you don't have a point of comparison 😅)
Maybe they should spend a bit less on making it pretty and marketing the hell out of it and instead spend a bit more on refining the gameplay. Also Alex this didn’t sound like a 4/5. You are being very polite. You made it sound like a 3/5
I hate the direction these board game reviews are going. All reviews tend to be on delux versions, and you can almost never find a proper review of the version I would be able to actually buy.
They actually define different personalities for the different factions, but mechanically they don't seem to have much impact if any at all. I wonder if that's a stretch goal or if they will launch it as an expansion or what are they planning? It's an odd decision to give such detailed personalities to each one faction and not use it on the game play nowadays
@rpwn_kt @BoardGameCo I asked on kickstarter apparently they didn't want to make it to complex, but with how much lore they wrote, if there are no gameplay mechanics around the fractions it doesn't matter. They are not going to put it in this kickstarter. Probably will be module in a second kickstarter like moonrakers titan or expansions for Mystic mischief in September
