For me Spirit Island is my favorite game, and it can be tempting to simply say "get everything." I think it can depend on how you feel about the base-game (or Horizons if you start there). It already comes with a great amount of complexity and diversity for a boardgame. If someone is really enjoying the base-game, maybe that is enough for a while. If they want some some diversity, Branch and Claw does a big job by itself by introducing tokens & events, more cards, and a couple more Spirits. Jagged Earth and Nature Incarnate (the latter I have yet to get myself) are ones that are great to plan to get eventually if one wants to experience all of Spirit Island content. I will I had a more enjoyable experience after getting B+C and JE expansions (after about 30 games), maybe from the tokens giving me more options, maybe from the new Spirits, maybe because I was just getting better -- who knows. I am conscious that people will have limitations with space, money or time to play. For example, there are other games I only have the base game of (e.g. Everdell) where people might swear on the expansions, but I am happy because I have a range of games to play and have to make choices.
I feel that Horizons is a good option for players who like the game but are unlikely to play it quite a lot. I don't know about shelf space, but Horizons is definitely much cheaper and the spirits are better than the base game ones on the whole. As long as they don't plan to buy expansions in the future then it should be okay. Even if they do, they can buy the base game first, while keeping access to the main spirits. I think Horizons is also a more financially safe investment, especially if someone hasn't played yet and wants to try it. (The digital version also works for this purpose too).
I got into SI quite recently. I own Horizon for the rare times I might get to play in person, and I recently got the iPad app with branch and claw so I can play solo (or online with my sister) Having played a bit now, Horizons is a pretty easy win every time now
@@tbahr123 You can always add an adversary. if you have the app you can easily see the card in your tablet, you could also check any other adversary online. i personaly own horizons and the app with base game and B&C. I recently bought JE to have more content to play at home, it has enough material for a 1 or 2 player game
One thing is that some of the material can be played by printing or writing it down. Having double-checked, there are official PNP copies of Finder of Paths Unseen & Shifting Memory of Ages online (along with the Apocrypha Spirits Spreading Rot & Covets Gleaming Shards of Earth). Particularly material such as Adversaries or Aspects (being a single panel or card) can be found on the Wikia and written down or printed. For one wanting to play against some level of Scotland, for example, or change the rules of the Spirit, you can easily do so. Will say I love the game and have (or intend) to buy everything and even upgrade some things. But can be a way of trying out things, or adding to your base-game, being more budget conscious. I have primarily printed out some things from Feather and Flame, might get around to buying a box if it will complete the collection one day.
From the perspective someone who loves to 'bling' up their games, Horizons is a "must-buy" as it completes the colour set for the Defend and Isolate markers that come in the Premium Token Pack 2 (otherwise you have some extra Defend and Isolate markers that don't have the matching player tokens for them) 😄 It also has some reworded Minor and Major cards (functionality remains unchanged) and different card backed Invader cards. All completely unnecessary of course 😆 I must also say that the Premium tokens (expensive as they are) really increases the tactile enjoyment of the game. Full marks.
I'm a true solo gamer. The more I dive into and understand this game, the more conflicted I feel about how to buy physical SI. I like the heavy puzzle nature of this game. But the early design turns me off a bit: I want every decision to be hard and impactful. I want to tactically plan out combos and get the satisfaction afterwards; I don't want to mindlessly go for the strongest build path and wipe the invaders easily (or risk getting rekt if you don't follow). I don't go for the same Minor draft with the same reason. From what I understand of your videos, almost all Spirits from the base game have this problem, and aspect cards (especially the ones from NI) fixed this... sort of... That leads to another point: price for entry. Base + B&C + JE is still pretty high for a solo game (but still an excellent value for a group co-op game). NI is pretty good, but the balancing is still not the best after that (Earthquake strongest build OP. Some Minor/Major powers need tweeks). I wanna buy the base game at first, then I wanna get B&C as well, then JE also intrigues me because of the amount of contents. Later, I'd replace basic spirits with horizons'. Things only get more complicated once NI is analyzed. In the end, I think what I actually want is an essential edition. With all those Minor/Major/events/tokens/adversaries/scenarios/boards and fear cards. I don't need all the spirits up to date (It'll be cool if we can choose which spirits to buy at the start. Or let them pick fan-favorite/well-balanced spirits with wide range of complexity for me). So the entry price is more expensive than base game alone, but not as ridiculous as all-ins It's just silly ol' me. One man can always dream
