Oracle of Delphi | Rahdo's Final Thoughts 

You really hit the target with this criticism. In a game where everything is good and useful, nothing is a tense challenge since even a bad choice leads to good avenue from another angle. I have the same problem with Caverna. Billions of options and trillion of ways to get points, but nothing is really limiting or bad. As opposed to tight and tense Agricola. But some really do enjoy Caverna and I'm sure many will enjoy this too for the same reasons.

That point you were making reminds me of the changes that have happened in the video game sphere over the past few decades. Games used to be very tight and they'd just kick the crap out of you. They were all about mastering the mechanisms and systems. But now games have relaxed and they're not about challenging the players, they're about giving players big sandboxes to play around in.

A very underrated Feld game. Seven years late but I will say that after having played lots of Delphi, that you need to perform ultra efficient actions every turn. Merely good actions just dont cut it. All turns do something but you need to be pumping out really superb combo filled turns or you will be left in the dust. You can essentially lose the game after the first two or three rounds at 2p if your moves are not absolutely on point, despite even thinking that you're doing pretty well. While the game is generous in many respects, it judges good but not great actions harshly.

This sounds like it could be the PUD game for me. I like the dice mitigation. I like the billion options design. The tension comes from the race, so it is more direct competition of skills. If a game is going to give me choices, then they should all be equally valid for a general strategy. Let move optimization but what distinguishes the winner rather than solving the puzzle that essentially only has one answer.

Nice review, and you shouldn't apologize for how you feel about the game. You showed us how the game works, and you told us what boxes it ticks in your and Jen's tastes. I don't share all of your board game appetites, but I do respect all of your reviews. I can easily see if I will like a game from the runthrough. I picked this up at Essen Spiel and have done a first play today with three players. We liked it, and the game was close. The fact that you can always do something meaningful, seems to make your choices and strategy the deciding factor. Our second session is already planned.

I personally couldn't care less about who designed a game, I just want two questions answered by the time I finish playing. 1. Was it fun? 2. Would I play it again? The answer to both of these for me when it comes to playing Oracle of Delphi is yes. I do agree that the dice are always in your favour and you don't tend to interfere with other players plans unless you are playing a four player game. The one area where I think the game could be improved is maybe to allow players to use favour tokens or a dice to influence other players dice by moving them forwards or back along the Oracle track, then this could make the game a lot better. I'm also not sure why you get rewarded for failing to build a shrine. That doesn't make much sense to me. You don't get rewarded for failing to kill a monster. That said I've not played that many games compared to most as I've only got back to gaming in the last three to four years, and this is my number 1 game along with Century: Golem Edition. Everytime I've played Oracle of Delphi I've loved it, the two hours flies by due to how involved you are in planning during other people's turns and their dice influencing your God track. I've always had fun and always want to play it again.

I am so happy you didn't say "...and what a great little game!" 10 seconds in. Kudos for that!

Interesting discussion. My husband and I have lately discovered that we really enjoy the head to head competition in race games--even something as simple as Karuba. It can be really really hard to pull off the win and there is huge satisfaction to being the one who does. It comes down to efficiency. I am still undecided but since we're such Feldfans we'll probably cave sooner or later.

great review, ripping in to your favourite designer with openness and honesty. Kudos.

I think, for me to buy into a pick up and deliver it would require a more interesting, spatial move mechanic. If the core of a game is going to be movement it needs to be more than counting spaces and matching colors. That said the theme, the injuries, the god track, the various cool super powers, are really interesting and unique for Feld.

Enjoyed the insights into evolution of game designers designs later in their careers. Thanks for a helpful summary.

Just played Odin from Uwe the other day, I agree that there are a lot of decisions but the final scores were 73 78 43 55. So I don't think its so forgiving :) But it was our first gave so who knows :)

Richard I greatly appreciated the insight here. I liked hearing your thoughts on this and enjoyed the honesty behind it all. Thank you for what you do for the community! Looking forward to your review of Feast for Odin

I think that this impression of the game being 'kind' is on purpose. If a bad roll could screw you up it would be too lucky. So you have tons of methods to mitigate luck and 'bend' the dice rolls - you are never screwed up, just have to rethink and sometimes adjust your plans. I love that. One of my favorite games of all time.

Thanks for saving me a purchase Richard!

I totally understand your desire for tighter, meaner designs - but I'm much more of a Caverna than an Agricola. I really like Delphi - but I love pick up & deliver / logistics / efficiency games. This is made for me :)

I'm curious what you think of the randomness, as this is my biggest reservation. I agree it seems like the action dice have enough ways to be mitigated and the game gives you enough good options that those shouldn't feel too random, but it seems like the titan die and the monster fighting would be too random. If I spend more time getting my shields up than anyone else but the titan die is always either higher than everyone or lower than everyone, then I'm going to feel cheated out of a supposed benefit of boosting my shields. Similarly if monster fighting rolls go sufficiently differently. And even beyond that, the idea that the damage color is random but there's a way to get two card at once means that you're not safe even at one card, an unlucky 6 on the titan plus a particularly poor draw means you lose an entire turn. That seems like a crazy thing to show up in a modern game. But I'm aware that some people have a higher tolerance for randomness than others, and I was wondering your thoughts.

Rahdo thanks for the video! i pre-ordered the game and was waiting for your review! I can see why you may struggle with the game, and the limitations it could have in a 2 player mode. I feel though that it's good to have games where people feel that they are always accomplishing something, and nevertheless, regardless of the player count, part of the challenge is making the best decisions and being more efficient than the other to achieve the goals first. I love to have games that work well in a 2-player mode, but I still feel that in spite of the issues you addressed I will keep a hold of this one. The 2 player mode probably needs a variant though to make the border tight, but like any Feld game, I love the plethora of choices you can accomplish with your dice. I also found this one to be one of his more thematic games; I like how everybody's rolls help to favor each player's God Track and the Titan attacking everyone :) can't wait to play the game. Thanks again for your great reviews and analysis.

So this is Rocky 3?Year of the Dragon is Clubber Lang and Delphi is a rich and comfy Rocky. Makes me really want to play both.

Hey Rahdo, like you I also play a lot of 2p with my wife, however very often we also play 4p. I always try to find games that play good with 2 and scale up. I played this game at Essen and found it really fun but noticed immidietly that the 2 player mode would be lacking, the map does not change in size and it is not as tight as when playing 4p. We still love castles of burgandy :)

Gameplay looks cool to me. Hate it when I'm stuck because of bad die roll. PUD is not a deal breaker for my gaming group. So, looks like a game for me. Can't wait to get it!

Thanks for the runthrough. Oracle of Delphi looks interesting, and the components are gorgeous except for that tacky modular hex map. Hope you're right about it possibly being better with more players!

I had a suspicion when I heard the description, it wouldn't be your favorite Feld game.

Well that's a pity, but it does look like the player count might make a difference. That being said, i completely trust you on this and i'm really happy just to have CoB and Luna, they are awesome!! On a side note, just played Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill 2 player, and wow, it really worked. Happy Halloween!!

If there is a change in the game designs, I'd guess it has more to do with changing player attitudes than designer age.

Excellent video, very informative

Did you ever think you would hear Rhado say a game was too kind? :) This review mixed with the Dice Tower review really makes me want to own this game.

The increased leeway may be a compensation against Aquasphere, which was restrictive but definitely not received as well as he hoped.

This is a must get for me, thanks for the runthrough. This is the game i want the most this year. Being a huge Feld fan. I dont mind pick up and deliver games. Railways of the world is one of my top three games of all time witch is a pick up and deliver game. Railways is the game i play the most with all my gaming groups. And i love racing games, Lewis and Clark being the favorite. My wife on the other hand is a Rosenberg fan, Agricola is her favorite game, so she is hyped about A feast for odin. I must say it's an intereresting debate about the development of boardgames and if the are becoming easier. I probably dont know as much about it as you rahdo, but im not too worried about Feld. It's only two years since he came With aquasphere, my biggest brainburner of all times. Easy to play, but extremly hard to play optimal, meaning doiing the best possible move on Your turn. Is Oracle of delphi like that? Meaning you could always do something but you need to really think¨on whats the best move? Some links to the games i have brought up. I recomend all of them strongly, kept A feast for odin, only because i nhavent tried it yet. :) boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159508/aquasphere boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17133/railways-world boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140620/lewis-clark boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31260/agricola boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/177736/feast-odin

Boy, sounds good to me!

Thanks for the run through. I value your opinion but I'm still getting this game, it looks amazing. On the other hand... you look kind of tired, please try to take it easy.

Completely missed the real problem with this game. The randomly determined, overly harsh lose a full turn mechanism. The rest was excellent in my 4-player game.

Don't apologise for not loving this game) It is your point of view and it is ok!

Amerigo ruined Feld for me. I don't think he could make another Macao, Bruges or In the Year of the Dragon if he had to. Thanks for the confirmation that Feld's best days are well behind him.

Rahdo, Rahdo, Rahdo. You are such a sea of contradiction. Oracle of Delphi (you don't like): "You're never going to have a bad turn; the dice will never screw you." Castles of Burgundy (your favorite Feld game) : "There is never a bad turn. There's no such thing as a bad roll." ???

Isn't this what you guys like - being able to always do something. Because if it was more restrictive, then you would have always had the feeling you are taking all the options from each other just by playing your turn in a normal way. I mean, that seems to be what you dislike about most of the games that you actually dislike. I tried to guess what your opinion would have been from watching the gameplay and I thought it was your type of a game - running around and staying out of each other's way so nobody gets hurt.

Sandbox for children with too many rules. Does anyone have a variant that gives more interaction?

I think that some popular designers are falling into the video game trap where it's more about entertainment, than challenging players and letting them face difficult decisions that may lead to failure.

Like most euros, it's probably much better at 4.