I absolutely love this series! So much better than all the countless Top-10 lists out there. I appreciate you talking about games from an emotional standpoint much more than someone trying to be super "objective" about it. So glad it's back.
Listening to you talk so passionately about the games you love is such a refreshing thing. Totally beats out the countless top 10s hauls with no passion
Besides the fact this is all so well articulated, I also love that your videos have such a nice relaxing vibe. It is super calming to just have your videos on while folding laundry or doing stuff around the house.
This will always be special to me for being the first game we played one-on-one in person, and how after learning it directly from you I was able to win my first game of Ark Nova on BGA! I think what you said about the beginner map being a kind of equaliser is such an excellent way to see the sheer depth of dimension in the game design. Definitely a keeper for me! Thanks for another excellent video
I just got introduced to this game a couple of weeks ago, and played a few games of it. I think it's a really nice game, and can see how it has a lot of 'board-gamey' mechanical concepts that all work well, and how it appeals to (and is well-balanced for) numerous different audiences ("Aaww, I wanna buy the cutest animals!" zoo-building roleplayers through eurogamers all the way to ruthlessly-strategising number-crunching power-nerds!). But one thing I would pick out as really neat, which might seem a weird thing, is the coffee breaks! Sure, there might be a need to somehow delimit "rounds" and mechanically that happens in a satisfyingly organic way that itself forms part of the game. But the fact that it's been delightfully implemented as "zoo-keeper's coffee time" with a little coffee cup to move along the track (while hardly an Earth-shattering concept in itself) I think is a really neat encapsulation of how really well _designed_ and thoughtfully put together the whole game is. Nothing at all seems lazy, it's all feels very carefully done, which is a really specific sort of joy in a game, or indeed any product. (It's kind of like my personal "fried tomato rule" that I have for full English breakfasts: they often seem to be treated as a less important afterthought, but if someone has obviously taken care over the tomatoes, you can reckon that the whole breakfast is going to be excellent!)
I bought Ark Nova 2 weeks ago and played once so far. I loved it, and trying to find time to go again (I did horribly, haha). Frosthaven is enthralling my friends too much to get them to switch right now.
This video is barely about games beyond the surface level. It almost feels like more of a psychology video, and so personal, I almost feel like I'm intruding. Thank you for sharing.
Only played once, perhaps a bad learning game. However, I didn't want to play again. Thanks for the explanation of why you love it. I couldn't understand how it was so popular.
Hey! That's okay! I do think it takes a game or two to wrap your head around, but I also think: who cares! Don't do it. Play the games that sing for you. There's no right or wrong in gaming opinions. I can speak to how well designed and replayable I think something is, but individual tastes dictate a lot. My hope isn't to sell you on this game or any, but that you can see whether something is for you or not or just to geek out a bit with fellow gamers along the way
