Awesome review Alex. After a very frustrating first play due to the rules and keywords being all over the place, I downloaded some game play aids from board game geek. I now have the following pdfs open on my computer while I play and it has made all the difference: Primal Player Aid, Keyword A-K, Keyword L-Z, and Primal game flow with trigger check boxes. The last one really helps to make sure you don’t forget things. Awesome game :) I also designed a 3D printable agro token holder, threatened holders, and a monster player board that makes it all a lot easier for me to keep track of things. I haven’t uploaded them to makerspace yet, but will soon so others can print them if they want. Awesome game :)
You were part of the reason I decided to get this one, and I'm loving it, 20 plays so far including a full play-through of the campaign, and painted all the miniatures.
if they made a standee version, both for storage and cost, they would have sold so many more copies. I would 100% back a standee version. Thats what i did for oathsworn and 0 regrets. They can keep minis for heroes and standee all bosses (or just flat our no standee just a big rotating top down view of a boss) Dont get me wront, these giant minis are amazing. But I just have too many and its too hard to store all that stuff.
Yes! A top down standee/token for the bosses would have been perfect. I'm buying fewer and fewer of these mini heavy games because of space concerns. And I feel very guilty looking at all this plastic.
@mithrandir510 i think it depends on the game. Some games have 1 extra box for minis, and the price is overall lower due to mini size. This one needs many boxes and costs a fortune. Different market
This is exactly how I feel, I'd give anything to trade the massive box that I've got for bits of cardboard in a smaller box. I haven't even opened my copy as I'm just to daunted to play it, an with me only having max 3 hours a week to play, I need faster set up an tare down time, along with easier storage, instead I bet I'll just sell my one without even playing it
Totally agree with your review. The game is fantastic but I have one major complaint. The game's biggest drawback is that it has too many triggers, too many rules and upkeep to keep track of which makes it almost impossible to play a game without forgetting something. You have to check for triggers before your turn, at the start of your turn, at the movement phase, after each card you play, after the attrition phase, after the monster orientation phase, at the end of your turn, at the start of the other player's turn, at the end of the round etc. etc. And triggers are not only behavior cards but also peril cards (one or more), objective cards, your items, your tokens, the monster's tokens, your weapons etc. I think they overloaded the game with unnecessary things, rules and details. If they kept it more simple it would be better.
I just finished a 3rd game of this. Did not prefer it the first game; second game was "well, it's ok and interesting"; after 3rd game you REALLY start seeing the strategies and possibilities for deck building; crafting; and quests. Main gripe is there is SO many little rules to remember. If they ever make a good quality PC game for this, it will be a 9.5 game, because the computer will remember all the upkeep and rules, and you can just concentrate on the fun. In fact, a good app for this game would do wonders for it's rating.
Great review Alex! I REALLY need to get this to the table! I'm just happy that the one-shot mode is so robust as I have near zero interest in the campaign.
Oathsworn is still the best boss battler for me, mostly for it's compelling story, where Primals story are a big wall of tekst, that can be a bear to read through. But Primal is a close second, and it's smaller campaign do that I im playing it with my friends, as it's more accessible 😊
I feel the best campaign in primal is the three-fight campaign in one of the expansions, it gives a bit of progression, while not having the, ah, bad text.
This is one of my favorite games and I'm very thankful that you posted the preview during the campaign. It wasn't on my radar until I saw your preview and I might have missed it otherwise. It's been everything I hoped it would be. I think I've tabled it 7 or 8 times so far and I'll be playing it for years to come.
I bought a gameplay all-in last week, after dropping my original pledge. Haven't played yet as I am getting the core box painted first. I have painted just over half of it in the last 3 days and so expect to be playing by the weekend.
Would have liked to give this a go but id rather have a standee/token version to slash the price and size. Seems like it has been overproduced for the sake of it which is an issue I have with quite a few games.
Thank you for this video! I know it's a very small publisher that doesn't have the capacity to make different versions of the game, but it breaks my heart that it's only available as a giant box full of giant minis that could easily be monster disks and hunter standees. I'm willing to pay a lot for a great game (I have the standee version of Oathsworn) but this feels like it's a great game bundled with extras that a customer is not allowed to un-bundle.
I can’t stay away from this game. Been rotating between this, 6 Siege, Dawn of Madness, and Nexus non stop since I’ve gotten them. All sooooo good. I wish there was more time in the day
The box size, set up an tare down time are basically holding me back from playing this one, have a feeling ill sell it soon as its just raking up too much space
I've gotten this to the table about 6 or 7 times now. It is indeed one of the best boss battlers I've played in recent years, and there are already a lot of good ones out there. Storage space issues aside, I'm really glad to have gotten this game!
The great thing about having a budget is that it prevents me from dumping $3-600 dollars on this sort of thing. I have Too Many Bones. I have Gloomhaven. I think I’m good on this sort of thing.
Has anyone played Primal, Oathsworn AND Aeons Trespass Odyssey? I am interested in all 3, to play exclusively solo, and I'd love to know if there's a "clear winner" for a new solo life style game of the sort.
I have, and I can tell you that you're asking a bit of a wonky question, because these 3 are actually very different and appeal to different kinds of players, it depends on what you want. Story is important? Primal is out, its story is bad, its mainly focused on battles. Intricate fights important? Primal or ATO may be good candidates, Oathsworn less so as it's more an entry boss battler Do you hate upkeep? Never even consider ATO and try primal several times in TTS before considering it, Primal and ATO are both very upkeep heavy Want tons of replayability of the same fights? Primal may be best Want long, LONG campaigns with tons to discover? ATO is the prime pick, Oathsworn less so. There's pros and cons for all three, and it really depends on your specific goals.
I have, as well as KDM for what it's worth. Unfortunately there's no clear winner. Each game is a master piece in it's own different way. It really depends what is important to you, what you want out of it and what you find intriguing about these games.
Only had a chance to play this once and I was underwhelmed. Felt too random and I couldn’t predict the monster movement. Guess I need to give it another chance
After 5 plays, I sold this on. Didn't enjoy it at solo, and while 2p worked okay, we found that, for some enemies at least, managing the constant triggers was just getting in the way of any fun we might have been able to have. I would almost recommend playing this with a Gamemaster - someone to manage all the monster cards and other related triggers. That might save it. But for me and my group (at least the ones that tried it), this was just not enjoyable.
Great review. I enjoy this game a lot, though yeah, some of the keyword stuff is silly. Kickstarter issue, at least not as bad as ATO >_>; Ended up fully painting it because this one is a keeper for sure.
I have loved this game since I got it and my only trouble is I am probably one of the few people in my group who loves boss battlers so I can never really get the same group of people to sit down and play through even part of a campaign
@@BoardGameCo that's pretty much how I've been playing it. I play marvel champions with a group regularly but until you mentioned it it hadn't occurred to me that they might enjoy Primal so I'm going to see how that goes.
@@LWo_Australia ah. Well that depends how much you love TMB. If it’s fun but just ok, probably not worth investing more. It’s my second favorite solo so I have close to everything, but if you’re not playing it all the time you don’t need that. Even if you ARE playing all the time you don’t need it.
Surprised you didn’t find the crafting system clunky. Getting it all out and storing it between each play is a lot. Playtime balloons at higher play counts while difficulty increases at a lower player count. Also agreed about the difficulty being low for at least the first 3 games. People say they have lost scenarios but we only got dangerous close to losing two times.
I’ve really enjoyed it, been trying to paint the all-in (quite the undertaking) but just finished 3d printing an organizer to condense it all to one box, the mechanics are a lot of fun and want to try it with more friends, do you prefer the campaign or just doing the expeditions?
So torn on this one, reviews are hooking me up. I hate character and especially weapon art style (dragons are beautiful on the other hand). Because it was smaller kinda first time creator, and it was during the time when i thought that 250 for gameplay allin was too much (sweet innocence), i passed.... but, every time im watching video with it, want to play it badly. Just those over-the-top anime style weapons (it also shows how fragile our picking choices are, if this wouldnt be the case, i would be more than probably admiring those dragons personaly 😄)
While I do love the game, I'm also a big fan of the idea that there are so many games out there, that we shouldn't have to convince ourselves to get something we're not certain of. There will always be more games than we have time to play or buy.
Dear Alex, great review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I just picked this game up and looking forward to play it. One additional question. What is the game on the top of your shelf between Oathsworn?
Looks alright. But idk, when it comes to boss battlers, if it's not tactical grid-based, I just feel like it doesn't feel as epic or immersive. I feel like for battles like these, a lot is lost when not accounting for spatial distance / movements between you an monster as well.
Have it, played it, love it! Only the story leaves me unhappy, oathsworn i loved the story part while in primal somehow the big chunks of text bore me :(
Bigger sure, better lol no. It's typical steamforged minis, they're so-so at best. It's not as bad as the gap(filled)ing dragon in dark souls tbg, but they're inferior to primal's.
@@fy8798Wrong. Monster Hunter World Iceborne has better sculpts and much bigger miniatures. It is a more high-end game than Primal and that’s why MHW Iceborne is significantly more expensive than Primal.
