[Asmodee Digital] Gloomhaven

[Smoove_B]

Coming to STEAM Q4 2018.

Features:

- Discover the digital adaptation of Isaac Childres’ ultimate strategic board game.

- Face countless enemies in the dungeons of this turn-based rogue-like game with addictive and tactical gameplay.

- A huge variety of hero classes are available so that you can create your own custom group of formidable champions!

- Each hero class may be played in various ways. Do you prefer your golem to be soaking up damages on the frontline or crushing your enemies in a crater? It’s up to you to choose your specialty.

- Don’t forget to consider all of your characters’ skills to create a truly epic team !

- Also, please do not feed the development minions after midnight. Who knows what could happen?

[Moat_Man]

Oh crap.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Now I feel bad for convincing a friend to pay $125 for Gloomhaven a month ago...

[Smoove_B]

I wouldn't. There's still plenty of reasons to own (and play) an actual board game.

[Moat_Man]

More info from an IGN article:

Asmodee Digital said that it won’t be trying to make a direct digital translation of the board game, but an actual adaptation. They are working directly with Gloomhaven creator Isaac Childres as part of that. The Gloomhaven video game will be a first-person dungeoun crawling roguelike that aims to capture the experience and appeal of the board game. It will initially be a single-player only game. Asmodee confirmed to IGN that its combat will still be turn-based.

Gloomhaven digital won’t be a direct translation or 1:1 recreation of the tabletop game, but instead an adaptation of the experience like Mansions of Madness: Mother's Embrace. Instead of a third-person tactical game it’ll be a first-person dungeon crawler, though Asmodee says it will retain the original's turn-based combat.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

A solo first person dungeon crawler? Sounds like it's Gloomhaven in name only then.

[LordMortis]

A solo first person dungeon crawler? Sounds like it's Gloomhaven in name only then.

Yeah, after reading the teaser, it doesn't sound like the board game at all. And part of the $125 for the board game is to have have role playing self contained. A group of people together playing co-op to advance a cause. Three of us have probably put in close to 100 hours apiece in to the game so far and we aren't that far in to it. Well worth the $100 I spent. That and bb2112's wife has probably spent more than $100 (and considerable time) feeding me.

[Smoove_B]

[Montag]

Looks pretty faithful to the game to me.

[coopasonic]

7/17 release date, as in next week...

[Skinypupy]

I love the board game, and since I recently lost my board gaming room to Mrs. Skinypupy (and the physical game pretty much requires an entire damn room to play), this'll be an insta-buy...once it's out of early access. Hell, I'm strongly considering breaking my "no early access" rule for only the second time ever and jumping in on this from the start. Will wait to hear feedback on whether it's in good initial shape, or a buggy mess.

I'm glad they decided to make a more faithful adaptation of the board game, instead of some weird "based on" hybrid thing. This looks very close to the real thing.

[Sepiche]

(and the physical game pretty much requires an entire damn room to play)

FWIW We use the app Gloomhaven Helper when we play, and it reduces the need for a lot of the extra parts from the game. Monster stats, hit points, initiative, etc. are all handled by the app.

[Skinypupy]

(and the physical game pretty much requires an entire damn room to play)

FWIW We use the app Gloomhaven Helper when we play, and it reduces the need for a lot of the extra parts from the game. Monster stats, hit points, initiative, etc. are all handled by the app.

Yeah, I used GH Helper and the Campaign Tracker on my iPad.

In retrospect, I suppose I probably could have put about half the stuff I had laid on the tables when I unboxed it back into the box. Due to the companion apps, I didn't use the big area map, the party tracking sheets, any character tracking sheets, the element board, the mob card holders, etc., etc, but just never got around to putting them away.

Maybe I'll see about busting out a "condensed version" tonight and see how much space that actually takes.

[TheMix]

I hadn't realized that they'd changed the design to a more faithful version. I don't mind. I was going to pick it up regardless.

[LordMortis]

Gloomhaven went EA today for $25. I'm tempted but the letters EA scare me. Even if I'd happily $25 for a game I've already paid a whole lot more for physically. By myself, I might even finish it... And it will fascinating to see how many rules we still screwed up after all those play throughs.

Edit: This is on the Steam Page. This doesn't look like it is the same zip code with content complete. I can wait.

[Sepiche]

I have no doubt this will be solid eventually based on a little time I spent with the EA, but if it's the main campaign you're interested in, it's going to be a while.

Seems like they have the basic combat and exploration system setup and running well, but the majority of the classes and the campaign elements are still a good ways off.

[YellowKing]

Yeah I picked it up yesterday just to A) get in cheap and B) to follow the progress. I'm halfway through a physical Gloomhaven campaign with my gaming group, so we're obsessed with it at the moment.

Right now I'd say the EA is really only suitable for people familiar with the board game and want to play around with the digital implementation. I don't feel like it's close to worth $25 in content yet.

[Skinypupy]

Thanks guys, I'll wait until it gets more fully baked.

[Skinypupy]

Quill18 did a great playthrough. Gotta admit, I'm really impressed with the package as a whole.

[Kurth]

When is this coming to Switch???

[LordMortis]

Don't tempt me SP. Don't tempt me.

[Skinypupy]

Don't tempt me SP. Don't tempt me.

It's a good start, but obviously still got a loooooong way to go. I don't see much reason for getting it at this point, unless you know the board game by heart and are absolutely dying to give a digital version a try in some skirmish(ish) modes.

The only thing I really didn't like in that preview is that equipment now apparently degrades over time. That seems like a wholly unnecessary addition. I'm also curious to see if the campaign allows for more equipment loadout customizations. Looked like you're assigned specific gear based on the character class, which seems like an odd choice.

I'll be interested to see if they maintain the mechanic of needing to accomplish a main quest for each character before you can unlock other classes. That's an aspect I haven't particularly enjoyed about the board game. I've been sorely tempted to just ignore it and open all those shiny sealed boxes.

[LordMortis]

I'll be interested to see if they maintain the mechanic of needing to accomplish a main quest for each character before you can unlock other classes. That's an aspect I haven't particularly enjoyed about the board game. I've been sorely tempted to just ignore it and open all those shiny sealed boxes.

I think we opened a total of 4 beyond the initial choices (was it six or eight?) before we got distracted and Terraforming Mars pretty much took over. I finally packed up the game and put it away this spring. I thought the dynamic of character reveal was interesting. Especially how it changed some of the encounters and such. I lamented that we had probably run 35+ scenarios and had only played with a total of 7 of the characters, though. At 35 scenarios in, we were well past 1/3rd of the way and perhaps were as much as 1/2 way done (as you seal off options as you go) with the campaign and a long way off from experiencing all of the characters.

I get tempted to start over solo style in my basement but I don't have time for that and the thing I'd give up to play solo? Those rare times I go out and have contact with other people, like boardgaming...

[Sepiche]

That's kind of why I'm interested in this digital version... even with a good group, the chances of seeing everything in the game are virtually nil, so having a copy I can play alone will let me see parts of the game I'll probably miss in the physical version.

[Skinypupy]

I lamented that we had probably run 35+ scenarios and had only played with a total of 7 of the characters, though. At 35 scenarios in, we were well past 1/3rd of the way and perhaps were as much as 1/2 way done (as you seal off options as you go) with the campaign and a long way off from experiencing all of the characters.

That's been my biggest issue with the board game. I've put in probably close to 30 hours at this point, and have yet to unlock anything other than the initial two characters. Both of them have quests that I'm honestly not even sure if I'm close to unlocking, as they require completing specific scenarios. I haven't wanted to peek forward to see if I'm near getting to those quests because I didn't want to potentially spoil anything.

[LordMortis]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/780290 ... 7343672274

Reading the FAQ, they say the price is going to go up and "adventure mode" is not from the campaign. So I bought it.

I keep saying no more EA games. And then I keep buying more EA games.

[dbemont]

Never played the board game (I'm almost totally a single player gamer), but this really looks interesting. I love highly detailed turn based games with a lot of exploration and level ups. And the Let's Plays certainly look good.

I'm not really clear on what's in, so far, though. Do you continue on with your characters through a lot of levelups and so on, or is it just a short series of battles and then game over?

[LordMortis]

After a long weekend and a long Monday I played a first easy scenario in Adventure mode last night.

At this stage of development I would get nowhere near this game if I have never played the board game. There is no UI overlay help at all and I'm struggling to remember rules I knew very well less than a year ago. This game is designed to be RPG light through rules lawyer extreme to automate a the GM.

What's in so far is something called adventure mode. It's a "procedurally generated" mini campaign with a very limited set of enemies. I haven't gotten to level ups or purchases.

When they get far enough to have a tutorial and UI help overlay, I would say hop in. The only reason to hop in now if you have no familiarity is because you have $25 burning a hole your pocket and you won't want to spend more later. This version of the video game will be even more intimidating than learning the box version of the game at this juncture.

That said, they're nailing the board game with the limited scope they've published so far. The only thing to throw me for a loop is that adventure mode seems to pool gold. It makes me wonder if we had been playing the game wrong. My feelings about development over next year are very good and I'm looking forward to playing when I can this week... or weekend... or next week... or sometime!

Anyone who has played? How do you get the warrior boots to go off on Melee Attack? Time after time I tried on the first scenario and time after time I failed.

Also I'm hard time remembering how to XP abuse, something I did excellent in the box game (when I was only concerned about the greed of one player)

[TheMix]

The only thing to throw me for a loop is that adventure mode seems to pool gold. It makes me wonder if we had been playing the game wrong.

You probably aren't. In the boardgame rules they very clearly say that you can't pool gold. Which we long ago decided was absurd and house-ruled. Though we don't actually "pool" the gold, we just trade/share as needed.

Anyone who has played? How do you get the warrior boots to go off on Melee Attack? Time after time I tried on the first scenario and time after time I failed.

Not sure which ones you mean. Are those the 'move in a straight line ones'? Maybe they don't have the code in yet? Have you checked the bug forum?

Also I'm hard time remembering how to XP abuse, something I did excellent in the box game (when I was only concerned about the greed of one player)

Not familiar with this.

[Sepiche]

The only thing to throw me for a loop is that adventure mode seems to pool gold. It makes me wonder if we had been playing the game wrong.

You probably aren't. In the boardgame rules they very clearly say that you can't pool gold. Which we long ago decided was absurd and house-ruled. Though we don't actually "pool" the gold, we just trade/share as needed.

Our group does the exact same thing.

[LordMortis]

We never shared gold. It became a coopetition thing (much different than if you would play solo). When we were playing two player, it was not uncommon for redrun to spend extra effort snagging gold before I could get it as a result I would spend extra effort getting extra XPs playing the enemies inefficiently. He'd get better loot, I'd advance quicker. Our combined ability to kick butt, um, hurt. I often burned too many cards XP accumulationg and left him to finish the scenario hoarding gold by himself.

That dynamic changed when bb2112 started playing with us.

Anyone who has played? How do you get the warrior boots to go off on Melee Attack? Time after time I tried on the first scenario and time after time I failed.

Not sure which ones you mean. Are those the 'move in a straight line ones'? Maybe they don't have the code in yet? Have you checked the bug forum?

Warriors axe. axe. axe. The two handed weapon you can use to stun on melee attack once. I didn't try to use the boots. I had no need for them. I did successfully use the healing potion.

Also I'm hard time remembering how to XP abuse, something I did excellent in the box game (when I was only concerned about the greed of one player)

Not familiar with this.

In our board game, I would very diligently choose the options that would produce the most XP for me. It was not uncommon for me to finish scenarios with upwards of 30 xp, sometimes more, even a lot more depending on bonuses that are not in adventure mode. I typically leveled up my character about every 1.5 scenarios. In the game, I think the two characters combined got less than 30 XP, which includes the XP awarded for finishing the scenario (I want to say a combined 20 XP)

Gaming the XP system was part of the board game enjoyment for me, even if you could fail and play again for even more XP.

[TheMix]

Ah. That's definitely something I run into a lot. The tinker only gains XP by burning cards. Granted he starts with 12 cards. But if I burn too many early, then I jeopardize our ability to succeed. On the last couple of turns, however, I'll often try to go all-in as much as possible to try and nab some XP.

[YellowKing]

Our group doesn't pool gold. If someone is really trying to save up for something we may avoid looting to give them a chance, but otherwise it's every man for himself. While it can occasionally be frustrating, it also provides a mechanism against the party getting too powerful too fast.

But to bring it back to the digital implementation, I've pretty much decided to shelve it until it gets fleshed out a bit more. The adventure mode stuff is fun to play around with to see how they translated the game, but I'm primarily looking forward to playing a true campaign.

[Zenn7]

Understanding that this is a boardgame adaption, am I correct in thinking this will be something like the Warhammer Quest (1, not 2) or the Monster Den games?

[Zenn7]

Understanding that this is a boardgame adaption, am I correct in thinking this will be something like the Warhammer Quest (1, not 2) or the Monster Den games?

[LordMortis]

Played again last night. Reset the table, learning I could choose two from the four available starting characters. I didn't test the axe but I think I learned how to use it, as I used another combat item. First you select your attack action, then you select the item, then you select your self, then you commit to the item, then you select the targets of the action, then you commit. Selecting yourself seemed implicit and there was not clear (to me) signifier that this was what I needed to do.

It looks like items will break after x battles. I think that's what they number and tear up the card symbol mean. I'm not sure why they chose to make that change.

I still feel like I need to game the system on XP accumulation but I haven't adapted like I did no the board game. I don't know why.

Is there a way to see what cards you have left after you have started playing the round or are in the middle of an attack, etc...?

....

I can't speak to comparisons. I've not played any of the other games in question.

But to bring it back to the digital implementation, I've pretty much decided to shelve it until it gets fleshed out a bit more. The adventure mode stuff is fun to play around with to see how they translated the game, but I'm primarily looking forward to playing a true campaign.

That's where I'm at right now but I'm having fun playing around with it. If Adventure mode were beta testing facets of the campaign, I probably wouldn't have bought the game at all feeling like it was a spoiler.

At the same time, I am impatient for a better (intuitive) UI, like where a mouse over explains the multitude of icons and rules or even that a space has an obstacle in it, etc... The most intimidating thing about the board game is all of the rules in play at any given decision. The mouseover UI description is exactly thing to explain what's up. Also I'd like to see the cards you play in attack. I will likely play with the settings to see if I can at least slow down the attack animation so I can see the results on the enemy bar for more than a fraction of a second.

I never join the forum conversations on EA games but this may be an exception. We'll see how I feel this weekend. There is so much Quality of Life this game could benefit from that may or many not already be in the plan.

[MonkeyFinger]

Funny... I own the boardgame but have yet to manage to actually play it. Sure, I skimmed through the rules after I got it from the KS reprint campaign but that was some time ago. Then for some reason thought I would pull the trigger on this for the price reduction and who knows, play some? Got to the first dungeon and had No Freaking Clue what to do next. Random clicking brought no enlightenment. Abort! Abort!

Since then I've managed to watch someone playing it so will at least have a clue what all is going on - top of the card, bottom of the card, generic move/attack, initiative, burning cards, the modifier card pool, resting, yada yada. We'll see!

[MonkeyFinger]

New roadmap posted and this:

This week was a real milestone in Gloomhaven Digital's adventure: we released the first major update including:

* a fifth mercenary, Tinkerer, including all of his level 1, and 3 of his X cards, as well as 10 cards to unlock while leveling up
* the highly requested tutorial
* a slew of features and content following community feedback including, the removal Durability from the game, the implementation of X cards for the all the current mercenaries, etc.

But it is just the beginning, and many milestones will appear throughout the Early Access of Gloomhaven: due to the overall complexity of the rules, UI/UX and general design of Gloomhaven, we are relying on your engagement and feedback to ensure we develop a great video game based on an incredible board game.

Yay, removal of Durability and a tutorial.

[dbemont]

I've been enjoying this quite a bit, and think it will be awesome when they add the campaign down the road.

There are still a few little things that go wrong, cards that don't play quite right, and UI imperfections. But no show stoppers.

And I never found it all that difficult to figure out how to play, although I had limited experience with the board game.

[Skinypupy]

I broke my personal "no early access" rule and picked up Gloomhaven this afternoon. Figured I could give it a spin for a few battles just to get familiar with the UI and systems, then wait to really dig in until the full campaign gets released.

I'm actually rather floored at just how well this digital version is implemented. It is incredibly well done. Granted, I was very familiar with the board game coming in, but they have done a truly excellent job of working in all the elements of a very complex system here. It's very intuitive (once you understand the basics), easy to understand, and an absolute blast to play.

Hats of to the devs on this one, it seems they've done a truly excellent job so far. Now that there are quite a few classes available, I can't wait to jump into a few of the ones I haven't seen yet in the board game.