IMO this is as close to D&D in a board game there is. The depth of content + the breadth of choices is just immense. With great production values and the strong commitment from the developer, this game is so impressive. It's admittedly not for everyone as it's a lot to track, think about, and remember, so it can feel like a slog if it's not what you enjoy. So happy to see you do a playthrough.
@@OneStopCoopShop I do think combat is meant to be relatively quick and streamlined, except for bosses. I feel like the harder the game is (as opposed to just being able to do your biggest attack every round because you aren’t at risk), the choices become more interesting. I’ve been playing true solo (1 character), and it can be quite tough. I agree that with 2 characters you just sort of settle into a rhythm. In general I wish all the tracking and such was streamlined as well. There is an app if you haven’t run into it which removes a bit of the “fun” of manual upgrading etc, but reduces the fiddliness of all the tracking and boards dramatically, and they are continuing to work on it.
Great production values relative to what? It looks kind of rough compared to a lot of the fantasy games I've seen the past few years. Graphic design seems pretty austere with plain font and minimal illustration. If the gameplay shines through I'll try anything but it the look did give me pause to be honest.
@@Dratio For me, the game is beautiful and inspiring. The first box set was released 4 or 5 years ago. So we should compare with games of the same time and of the same value, which was $60~65 if I remember correctly. How many games in that price range can offer that much replayability? (if only Colin had shown all the races and roles in the first box only, and the magnificent illustrations for the roles) The last box set (Domains of Mizra Noctis) has a lot more of illustration and looks really beautiful. And you have the base game, the expansion and the encounter deck for only $99. Which compared to game in that category is really cheap. So it's really a whole lot of things to take into account.
WOW! I just watched your video from a few years ago last week because I finally got a copy of this and was really enjoying it. Super excited you got back to this one Colin. Your one of the best at playthroughs out there. Thanks
Love the Hexplore It series i have almost everything 😁 DoMN is probably the most refined but Kilks Madness elevates VoTDK to a whole other level. Just a small thing but the dead king does not target in the same turn as when he first comes onto the board giving you another turn before he moves.
Wow, glad you covered this Colin! I just started getting into Hexplore It a few months ago and since picking up Valley of the Dead King and the Klik’s Madness campaign book I went all in on the Kickstarter and am now a huge fan. I do think it is easy for it to leave a bad first impression and people just bounce off it, so I’m glad you tried again! A couple quick rule things: 1) I don’t think all your animals get the +20 health etc, it says just opponents when you increase difficulty. Doesn’t really make sense for your things to get better as you make things harder and 2) I also feel like the Hexclusive characters are super overpowered. I’ve played 2 player with one normal and 1 Hexclusive and we dominated as well (it also snowballs because then you’re getting better rewards faster etc), so maybe two normal characters would be interesting to see next. Also, I see a lot of people try to disable the food, and despite being someone who hates survival mechanisms in games, I don’t find it very annoying at all, it’s easily mitigated as you get your survival up and cheap to buy, it just puts a little extra pressure to need to return to town more often at the start. But overall, great playthrough, I love your enthusiasm in general and glad to see you pick this up! I +1 picking the Campaign. It’s a MUCH more polished experience in my mind and especially as a solo experience really levels things up. Also excited to see Volume 4 (don’t have it yet but hear great things!)
Thanks so much for watching! I actually confirmed with the designer you summons do get the level ups as well as the enemies otherwise they are wimpy. I think going forward I will stear away from the hexploreit characters!!
@@OneStopCoopShop Oh that's interesting thanks for the clarification. I guess the way to understand is they already have the bonus in the circumstances row as opponents, then you pick it up. I also find the beast lord cool but makes the combat and tracking extra fiddly as you have to manage all those extra mobs.
@@OneStopCoopShop Hexclusive characters (from what I heard the designer say once) are intended to be used when you are playing a single character (their skill sets cross all of the archtypes -- striker, sapper, utility, etc...indicated by the color bands in the top left of the character placard). That's why they seem OP when they are paired with another character. Something to keep in mind for future playthroughs if you want a bit more challenge.
Had same experience I got forests of adrimon and thought it was way too complicated so sold it then saw a playthrough on rolling solo and realized it was actually very simple. Ended up buying it back and loving it. Klik's madness campaign also revitalized my interest
What a game! I taught the game designer’s children, so this has always been on my radar. Now you’ve sold me! There’s a copy at my FLGS that I may have to snag…
So glad you are playing this, I've had it for some time, and have attempted to play twice, both times it's always overwhelmed me,maybe this play through will inspire to actually understand it lol😂
Nice one Colin, the most unlikely party proved to be pretty good. What a team! Not needing food looks to be the way to go! Would make life so much easier. Just think how much time we spend shopping, preparing it, eating and digesting... That's valuable tome better spent on hobbies imho! 😂😂 Thanks as always, great stuff!
Thanks for the play! I own this but have always found it pretty tough to learn.. it always ends up back in the box :D Makes way more sense after this, so will give it another shot! :)
Yay, I just took a plunge and bought Mirza Noctis second hand with all expansions and backed FOA with campaign book 2 weeks ago. This is really very good game, a bit long and for that I would need some sort of save system but adventure feel, open world with so many options to do. Time flies by very quickly with this series.
If you find it long, try the “Double Up” variant. Definitely brings it to a more reasonable under 2 hours (for me solo) and just makes things move twice as fast, though therefore you have fewer turns and explore less of the content, and perhaps the Power Ups/stats start to feel a little less meaningful as you’re often upgrading piles of stuff at the same time. I actually really like the feeling of playing the game “true solo” with one character, though there’s a variant in the book to make that work as well as it’s a good amount harder.
So I haven't watched the whole play through yet so you might touch on this, but how exactly does the updated Beastlord's passive work? Do you just find the next creature type card you would draw and add it to your hand?
You've got it! You'll see how it works as it plays. However one thing I may have done wrong is that health of beats roll over from encounter to encounter. Still not sure if that is true or not!
A game seires I've always looked at, and would have liked to have in my collection... But time to play and funds to buy is rather low when family comes first. Looking forward to this playthrough though! If I can't play it, I can just as well watch one of my favorite channels play it ;)
love Hexplore it ! What other games would you say are most like Hexplore it ? (Deep, not too easy open world adventure game on a map that's not a 'campaign' game ? (ik there's klik's madness etc but i'm not counting those))
Dang... I'm not sure what other ones to suggest. 7th continent gives a good exploration, isofarian guard like amazing for exploration and ISS Vanguard is planet exploration
Strangely enough I played this game 2 player last week for the first time in ages. I do like the adventure, lots to manage but gets smoother as you play. There was a few bits you missed a believe, the favoured opponent d10 'hexplodes' on a hex (1) and 10. I also think the vitals on the summons do need to be tracked between encounters, they are resummoned at full health next encounter if they die. Also I don't think the summons level with difficulty, an FAQ/rules reference with that would be appreciated 👍 Great fun all the same!
Thanks for this! I just looked in the forums and found this confirmed by the designer "Since summoned Encounters are still Encounters, they would receive the numerical benefits of an increased Difficulty Rating. As for the Level of an Encounter, for use in the Invocation Mastery, for example, that is the number in the top left corner of the Encounter."
Keeping track of encounters health from encounter to encounter seems just silly, how in the world would you do that??? Regardless really enjoyed the game!
@One Stop Co-op Shop I had a check and saw contradicting things on bgg, although it's meant to be a sandbox type system so whatever people prefer. Summons seems crazy OP with the extra difficulty bonuses though 😄
I've just found this, and it's a really fun way to learn the rules so far! I appreciate you. Quick question that I think I missed: I'm not seeing where in the rules it allows you to add consecutive modifiers to tests done while camping, can you elaborate? In the first few rounds, you were able to eventually get a success with much wider roll than when you started, and I don't see where it came from
Is the 2nd edition a new box? I’m interested in buying this game but it seems to be a lot of expansions and extras. Want to make sure I’m buying the best and most up to date version
Agreed, strongly recommend making sure you buy the 2nd edition, they updated a lot of small things, including the map art. Though you’d have to buy it used at this point to get the old one.
Each HexploreIt Game only has 1 expansion, basically the 'Return to' box which has the Hexclusive characters, they do however each have a Living Card Deck and an Encounter Deck which he is using for the creatures in this playthrough.
as i said on the community tab, i'm glad you decided to give this one another shot, colin. at first, i was like you: i didn't understand or care for hexplore but i found FOA on sale on amazon so i decided to cop it. and i'm glad i did. hexplore it is so damn fun. even better with the other volumes. and the devs are very friendly and active on both BGG and youtube. currently i own first 4 volumes, the expansions and living card games for each, the hero chest, which introduces aspects into the game, and the first campaign book. i hope to see you give the other volumes a shot or even better, the first campaign book. :D
I've been intrigued by this for a while but not convinced enough to pick it up but the 2 campaign books pushed me towards getting it. Looking forward to the movie length play-through (might have to watch in a few chunks though!)
Not sure if my reply was blocked or something - but regardless thanks for watching and I agree the campaign books are making me very tempted! Probably won't get the forest one though as I don't plan on buying that version. Thanks for watching this long video!!
@@OneStopCoopShop Just finished - and an enjoyable play-through as always! As you mentioned at the end, think this original version is meant to be the simplest version, but the Forests of Adrimon seems to be slightly better regarded and the theme appealed to me a little more. Not been able to track down this original version in the UK for some time either so waiting for a reprint, so there's that as well. I do have the physical campaign book - it's very well produced and a surprisingly hefty tome - and would definitely be interested in a partial play-through of that at some point as find your videos a great way to cement the rules and flow of the game. Also agree with your comment on the Encounter Deck - the extra art on the encounter cards seem to help with the theme, as the many walls of text make the game seem rather dry from other play-throughs; I suspect the campaign book will help with that as well.
Thanks so much for watching! So now you are making me feel I should sell this one and get forest!! Haha!! Thanks for taking the time to watch and excited to play again!
@@OneStopCoopShop Nooo, don't do that - going to be a long time before the 2nd campaign book is released and I want to see a campaign playthrough of Klik's Madness from you! 🙂
Deal! I found the PDF version and downloaded it. That should work right? Is there anything in the physical copy I would need? I am thinking that the PDF will work well for recording purposes
I love this series! I have everything for it, except I chose to not back the Adrimon campaign book. I beta tested Klik's madness and it is not at all what I want from these games. I love the emerging story, exploration and character development.
Great play through but your missing out on rolling all three dice, if you crit on all three you gain a power up, so when you can roll all three dice you should for that chance.
Looks like you didn't read the Favorite die upgrade fully it Hexplodes on a Hex and a 10, you missed Hexploding on that second turn against King when you rolled Hex, also you should have used your potions to heal energy on the Beastlord so he could use that Alpha ability.
I don't understand the events/encounters/circumstances on the 1 to 5 spot - why do the players know, what they potentially can encounter in what should be a unknown mystical area?
Yea, probably... It’s just weird. “We will go on this exciting adventure, but we will for sure only meet a treant and find a astrolabe before or after we maybe find a frozen portal.” Do you know if the adventure books like Kliks Madness removes this aspect and make it more realistic?
If you want to think about thematically, assume when you’re in town people are like, “Be careful, there are wild bears nearby, there’s a magical storm nearby that’s been killing travelers, but I’ve heard of a magic astrolabe hidden in a nearby forest”. You don’t know what’s going to happen (there’s a die roll), you just know what might happen. There is an alternate rule set (in the book and in the campaign), where you roll a d10 instead based on your location type which adds a bit more randomness and is more thematic. I think it’s more of a gameplay thing, as if you’re drawing from the entire deck, you might just randomly pull a level 5 dragon the first turn which isn’t fun (and definitely can happen, many people underuse or completely forget about luckstones when they start playing).
Twice I've commented recommending an official (free!) supplement to this game, and twice my comments have been deleted! Is that in violation of something? Disheartening, to say the least.
We have a setting to automatically delete comments with links in them, because (unfortunately) our channel and others get tons of spam with malicious links and such. But I can see if those posts are in the channel somewhere and try to approve it…
@@omgMerrick I can't find the original comment, sorry. It isn't showing up. Not sure what's happening there. Feel free to send the info to our email, and we can add a comment with it to make sure it goes through - onestopcoopshop@gmail.com
