Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem

GWJ Conference Call Episode 699

Device Six (iOS), Kentucky Route Zero (PC) , Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem (PC), Forgone (PC), Disco Elysium (PC), In Other Waters (PC).

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Amanda, Julian, and Rich get into the games they're most looking forward to in 2020!

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00:02:29 Device Six (mobile)
00:06:21 Forgone
00:10:00 Kentucky Route Zero
00:16:29 Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
00:21:50 Disco Elysium
00:23:33 In Other Waters
00:26:50 Games We're Looking Forward To in 2020
01:08:00 Your Emails

I backed In Other Waters on kickstarter the millisecond i saw it and got my hands on the first test demo. can't wait for the final release.

You can also tell it's made by a legit graphic designer

I feel like I failed to gush enough about the visual design - it is incredibly sleek and pleasing.

One of a myriad of reasons to get this game into your wishlists stat!

what i especially like (from the demo at least) is the sound design. since the visuals are more or less left up to your imagination, a lot of the heavy lifting is done by sound.

The last chapter of ‘Kentucky Route Zero’ sounds like my every day life since adopting Flynn the cat. He has a plethora of meows: There are the volley of meows that mean, I’ve just woken up and don’t really know what’s going on, his standard ‘do the thing I want you to do’ meow (that one is contextual.) His ‘help I’m trapped at the bottom of this well and you’re the first person I’ve seen in five days’ meow which is as heart wrenching as it sounds and, my new favourite, the affirmative meow. I talk to him a lot and ask him questions. Occasionally he will let out a short ‘mow’ which feels, for all the world, like him saying, “Yes, you are correct in your assumption.”

I adored the combat in 'The Last of Us' (it's occurred to me before that the combat has a weight and heft to it that is, in a way, similar to that of Dark Souls.) The crafting, especially on higher difficulties, gave me the same satisfaction as Resident Evil type games. Managing on meagre resources and being forced to use a certain weapon because it's the only one you have ammo for. The Last of Us Part II is, by far, my most anticipated game of 2020.

TLOU: Left Behind is worth playing. It's an incredible DLC and probably as important as the main game in terms of informing what is happening in Part 2. It is violent in places though.

Re: Games We're Looking Forward To in 2020

Great topic this week. Loved everybody's lists. A big reason I love this podcast so much is the deep cuts, indie darlings, or just out-there stuff you all bring up and discuss.

Although, you still didn't mention any of my top 3 of the year!

1. Final Fantasy 7 Remake (Part 1) - FF7 is a big part of why I'm a gamer. This was a formative experience for me. I really appreciate the care they seem to be taking with the remake. I'm not sure if I'll buy it on release or wait until the PC release. There's no way I have time to play a game like this multiple times, so I much prefer playing it once on PC in case I ever want to get back to it in the future. It'll depend on how much the hype draws me in. But man I'm hyped for this.

2. Psychonauts 2 - Is this really going to ever come out? The first blew me away with the creativity of the mind-worlds. If they can recreate the magic, which I'm hoping they do since they've given it a LOT of time to bake, then this'll be amazing for me.

3. Ori & the Will of the Wisps - Ori & the Blind Forest was a surprise gem. Absolutely gorgeous art, an engaging story told through action, gameplay that was fluid yet tight. From what they've shown so far, this looks like it's going to be another masterpiece.

Re: Board games to play with new potential friends / board gamers

This is a tough one. It depends a LOT on context. There's a reason the modern classics are such safe bets though. Things like Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, even Catan (although I'm personally not a fan) are great games. If you're trying to create new friendships as the main goal, then it's not really about playing the new hotness. Most board gamers will already have this common ground and generally be okay with feeling out a new relationship by rehashing games they've played dozens of times. Further, these games are quick to learn yet have a lot of depth to them so a newbie and an expert can play together.

For a second step into board gaming, I've personally had success with: Splendor, Smallworld, Galaxy Trucker, Camel Cup, Magic Maze, Azul.

For more artsy/creative groups, consider: Dixit/Muse, Telestrations, Concept, Pictomania.

For lighter/filler/starter games: Love Letter, Sushi Go, Dude.

Re: Upcoming episode 700

Any special plans...? (:

Can't go wrong with Dixit.

My local board game club is a very casual affair with a lot of people who kinda just drop in whenever so it's always generally lots of smaller, quicker games. Right now, i've got a rotation of about five kickstarter backed things that I really love..

Crypt
Real quick and easy to learn dice placement / set collection thing. Nice and simple mechanics

Fire Tower.
Bit of a grim theme, especially in 2020, but fire tower is a game where you place pretty orange plastic fire pieces on a board in an attempt to burn out your opponents in their own fire towers, all depending on the wind direction, or playing cards to put out fire / lay down fire breaks. It's really fun, if a bit...potentially uncomfortable, thematically!

Runica and the Six Sided Spellbooks
The most recent game i got (with a 5th player expansion). I REALLY like this. It plays like a sliding block puzzle with you rolling dice and then pushing them on to a 6x6 grid according to their elements (each side of the grid is surrounded by a dial that represents one of the four elements, and it rotates due to certain actions or die rolls. You're then trying to match the colours and patterns on cards to create runes in order to win points and special abilities. I like this one a LOT.

Starving Artist
Another great one! It's got an absolute crapton of classic, gorgeous art cards. The idea being you need to collect delicious coloured plastic cubes and "complete" canvases with different combinations of colours (the "palette" for each card is determined by the artwork on it, and you can even upload and design your own cards to print out). Completing canvases earns you more cubes as well as keeps your food level up so you don't starve and lose the game.

Fickle
A faery themed card game that contains dozens of cards that can be combined in different ways to create a deck that plays sort of like a reverse set collection game. You're trying to make a collection of different faery types (there are 5 per deck, built out of the aforementioned 20-odd different possible faery types) and you are either aiming to have one of each type of fairy, or five of one type of fairy. anything else (2 types of the same fairy nets you zero points, or 3-4 actually deducts points) is a problem. And then each card also has special actions which trigger when you reveal them (e.g. all players pass the faery with the lowest score in their collection with the player on the left).

100% go with CAD or Adult Telesrations for your non-hardcore gamer types.

For easing into "real" games, Exploding Kittens, Bonanza, The quilting one i am blanking on.

Great suggestions everyone! I do have Concept and Codenames and both are great. Word Slam has always been a good one for bringing people together at past conventions. I sent out a call on the Nextdoor app and got DOZENS of responses. Whoops.

IF there are any goodjers here in Atlanta (I know a few responded that were about an hour outside) let me know! DM me or whatever.

And thanks for taking my question Conference Call! (he/him but was not offended so no worries. My old ass xbox randomly generated gamer tag confuses everyone and I kinda like it. I'm also very white and don't care for horses. Go figure).

Obligatory link to the recent community thread, Games coming in 2020 - Which new titles are you excited for?

Lots of games there that weren't mentioned. I'm a little worried about clearing my backlog from 2019, because I know the avalanche is coming.

Thanks Agathos! Added to the link list.

I really hope I live to see the day where the internet stops being obsessed with felines.

b_scott wrote:

I really hope I live to see the day where the internet stops being obsessed with felines.

Cat obsession is human trait that predates the internet.

Cats as pets have existed for almost 10K years.
We buried them in our pyramids.
We have put them in all our artistic mediums.
We have even elected them as mayors.

I suspect cat obsession will end when the final human draws their last breathe.

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:
b_scott wrote:

I really hope I live to see the day where the internet stops being obsessed with felines.

Cat obsession is human trait that predates the internet.

Cats as pets have existed for almost 10K years.
We buried them in our pyramids.
We have put them in all our artistic mediums.
We have even elected them as mayors.

I suspect cat obsession will end when the final human draws their last breathe.

It’s the aloofness. Cats don’t give a crap about you, or are at least expert in generating that impression.

People love something they think they can’t have. (See also: tulips, beanie babies and Nintendo consoles)

I used to think that about cats. I have been convinced otherwise.

There is a small purring cat on my chest as I type.

lunchbox12682 wrote:

The quilting one i am blanking on.

Patchwork?

Jonman wrote:
lunchbox12682 wrote:

The quilting one i am blanking on.

Patchwork?

That's it.

Another great ep ... and OMG is it 700 already?!?!?! Can't wait for next week.

The only thing I still value about physical copies of games is the deals in the bargain bin at the games store.

A game may be $2 online and I'll still pass, but put it in a 2-for-1 deal and suddenly I'm down.

Can we all pause for a moment and appreciate that Amanda has a life goal to become desensitized to violence? I look forward to their future takes on Mortal Kombat 11.

On the board game topic; it’s perhaps overplayed but I like Carcassonne for new groups. I would also like to add my voice to the chorus for Codenames. Also, Terror in Meeple City (Nee Rampage) seems like it would fit the bill as a good icebreaker game, but it’s only up to four players.

b_scott wrote:

I really hope I live to see the day where the internet stops being obsessed with felines.

Agree to disagree, then!

Higgledy wrote:

I used to think that about cats. I have been convinced otherwise.

There is a small purring cat on my chest as I type.

I’m with Higgledy on this one. My most recent kitty has pretty much “imprinted” on me, despite adopting her as an adult. She will be waiting behind the door when I come home (and can tell the difference on who’s coming in) and she’ll just hound me until I sit down so we can share cuddles. Cats care. They just don’t express it like dogs do.

Incidentally, that description of KR0 has definitely increased my interest in it tenfold.

I was so thrilled that Boyfriend Dungeon was mentioned!!! I Kickstarted it way back when and I am sooooooo looking forward to it. It’s gonna be awesome. I’m on their Discord and the devs are putting so much love and care into it. It’s gonna be great.

I’m probably an outlier here, but I almost exclusively buy physical media for my Switch or PS4, at least for big name games. I actually got some cute little Zelda pins from Target when I bought Links Awakening last year.

For board games, a few light card games come to mind: Kariba is cute and fairly quick. It takes 5 minutes or less to teach but has a little more strategy to it than you might think. Llama is sort of like Uno, but fun. We’ve really enjoyed that one. I also usually bust out Sushi Go Party when I have newbie gamers around, but it always makes me want sushi, so be warned.

Lastly, it could just be our game group, but Mysterium is one of our perennial favorites.