Games You Want to Love More than You do
I'm sure we all have games we would like to love more than we do.
This weekend, I spent some time with Legends of Andor in preparation for an upcoming video. I absolutely love the way this game looks. It has some of my favorite art in any board game ever. I also love the overall production quality. All of the cardboard looks and feels great, and the wooden pieces offer up a kind of "classic" feel that I don't get from plastic.
Each of the scenarios is comprised of various elements requiring the players to undertake a number of different tasks and quests.
Each of the expansion also adds interesting elements, and the boxes are overflowing with cool stuff to touch, more, and use.
I also love the theme. Legends of Andor is an epic fantasy akin to Lord of the Rings, or the Arthurian legends, with heroes out to do heroic things and stop the evil scourge from plaguing the land.
It's also not a very complicated game, but still manages to offer up meaningful choices on each turn.
And yet, I simply don't love the game, and with these last few sessions I realized that it is a game I need to sell.
And that bums me out, because it all looks so damn good!
It's a recognized fact that The Legends of Andor is not an adventure game, and not even close. It is, rather, a highly tuned puzzle game with an adventure theme. The main reason I don't like the game is that, frankly, I'm really, really bad at it! To me, it feels like each scenario has one, or maybe two, optimum paths to victory, and if you deviate from these paths at all, that victory will be well out of reach.
Typically, I don't mind losing in adventure games, because for me the true fun is usually in the journey. But with Andor being so highly tuned, with such a tight time economy, the journey is rarely fun for me.
Do you have a game that you would love to love more than you do?
Comments (8)
I've had a bunch of sales of games I initially was excited about but didn't fully click with me. What comes to mind is Hellboy the Board Game. It's clearly a great design and highly thematic which I should love but I've come to realize that I just am not into dungeon crawlers that feel like 'beat em up' video games where combat is EVERY single round of the game. If you flip your question to ask what games do you love that you initially thought you would dislike based on what you knew of it, I have far more games. Marvel Champions probably is on top of that list. Thematically it's way stronger than I imagined and gives adventure game vibes in a way I didn't expect. Definitely one of my top games.
I also played it twice and that’s what really bugged me. It’s a puzzle/race game. No time for adventuring/ exploring. So it was sold a long time ago and i never looked back😎
You nailed it. If I want an adventure puzzle, I'll play Make Knight. If I want a tactical puzzle, I'll play X-hav n or Jaws. This series plays so tight and bound to the board that there is really only one way to solve each puzzle with variations. Trying to get that magic axe in the mountains? Too bad, you lose. It's about sacrificing adventure to save the city (etc.).
I agree about Andor. I appreciate your article though! Sad truths.
For some reason I needed to have Andor a year or so ago and I still haven't played it. I look at it and think "anything I've heard about this game tells me that I'm not going to like it"....so I don't play it. I feel like I came to the same conclusion as you except I haven't even made the first step yet! Obviously, I need to play it and figure it out...
I feel the same about Andor. It is great, and I even like the game mechanics itself. Yet, I somehow feel like I do not have enough freedom to play how I want to play - I know the turns I NEED to make, but I do not WANT to make them, as they feel like a chore instead of having an adventure... I think it is the same with Gloomhaven - it simply is too much of a puzzle instead of an experience.
Mage Knight, Twilight Imperium, Gloomhaven, and other big box, more complex games. I understand the hype for these famous titles, yet no matter how much I try, I always fall back to the simpler stuff. I'd love to get lost in these larger, lengthier sessions, but they just don't suit my taste, and always seem somewhat bloated. Oh well, Escape the Dark Castle with snacks it is, again... 😂
Dang, sorry to hear that, man! Hopefully you can get a decent return on it! I felt the same about Gloomhaven. Went in (before ever playing or knowing it existed) wanting League of Dungeoneers, but just got an optimization puzzle with cards.