Completed the 2 first "story" scenarios that were linked (also found a few side quest scenarios in chest or random encounters too) and i'm starting to like the game more and more even despite the slow pace, the technical annoyances (another Unity game with long loading time and not good performance for such a small playfield).
The 2nd scenario was very easy in comparison to the first, maybe because after the many tries of other missions i had both Brute and Scoundrel level to 2, but also maybe because i managed to kill the bandit commander before he could open some of the locked doors to reinforce his troops (though he summoned 2 skeletons during the battle).
The leveling made an important difference as it unlocked some very good (at least for the way i play both mercs) new cards for their deck, but leveling allowed me to get a perk.
According to the perk analysis link i decided to go with the removal of 2 "- 1 disadvantages" , this while seemed to be minor for now allowed to slightly move the advantage/disadvantage random system more toward being advantageous, further perks to complement this will continue to twist the balance toward giving me more advantage in combat.
Both the gold i got from the many failed missions also allowed me to get some very good items for my mercs (usually 1 or 2 use for each in combat) , some that allow them to move further during a move action, some that allow to lower the amount of damage they recieve, and some healing too.
Replayed the original scenario and completed it in less turns than before (more money and XP for my mercs), so leveling is definitively a good thing in that game.
I'm unsure at which point i'll need to hire a 3rd or 4th mercenary , but so far the default 2 are doing the job.
What i learned about Gloomhaven :
Exhaustation by not having enough card anymore to play is the main source of failing a quest, the 1st scenario by example can be very easily failed because you run out of cards before the end.
To avoid that :
- avoid at all cost to burn cards to avoid damage, especially early game when your characters are still level 1 , in the 1st scenario they will not be able to complete it if you start burning cards to avoid damage.
- only use Small Rest when your deck is starting to get empty (as a Small Rest will refill your hand for a merc but will burn one of his card) , Long Rest will do the same but allow you to choose which card to burn instead of randomly, but it will put you at 99 in the initiative for the next turn, and you usually don't want that because it means you'll get to move after the enemies
- don't take your time ! that's the major point of the Gloomhaven gameplay that you need to understand and the first scenario is extremely hard if you take your time because the hidden turn limit is very small (the exhaustation system).
- take note of which action will burn the played card, some actions on a card have the "burn card after use" effect (there's the burning icon in one of the corner of the action part of the card), and some do not have that.
So if you're in a situation in which there's no enemy in range by example don't use an attack action that may have the burn card effect only to skip it to end your turn by example, instead use the "base" attack button of that card, so it will only be discarded and can be taken back for when you'll use a short rest. This can delay your character "turn limit"/exhaustation. Same with the move action, if you don't need the exact move action of a card (of course in case this specific one has a burn card effect) , just use the "base" move button of that card, only 2 tiles but can be good if you're close to a door and don't need to waste your "Move 4 + attack adjacent enemy" that may have a burn effect
Basically in Gloomhaven you need to consider each room+the enemies in them as each individual puzzles, in which your goal is to find the best combination of cards and action that allow you to do the following in the less possible amount of turns :
1-kill every enemies
2-move to the next room
Some of the tutorial mini puzzles are good as example of what kind of mindset you need to have, they usually have you needing to complete a room in 1 or 2 turns max.
But anyways, what is it with developers that create their text with as small fonts as possible ? are they all playing on giant monitors ?
Similarly to Frostpunk, in Gloomhaven lowering resolution for more performance means garbled text and increasing resolution makes it barely readable.
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Topic: Epic Free Game of the Week (Read 33936 times)