Wait a minute that “it’s two deluxes” is BS. It’s only one.
Creation and Control had 165.
You play Pandemic Legacy between 12 (haha good luck) and 24 times before a campaign is complete. That’s far more plays than the average $50-60 board game gets. The permanent and evolving nature of it keeps you playing.
[T]he fun of games is playing them over and over again and seeing new strategies.
That is exactly the experience Pandemic Legacy provides. It might not be for you but if you haven’t played it then you don’t know what you are talking about. I have not played the other two legacy games (Risk and SeaFall) but Pandemic Legacy is all about changing strategies and repeated plays.
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I know I don’t buy too many games above $50, but I’d say I’ve played Runebound, Runewars, and Civ over 12 times each, and Millennium Blades maybe not 12, but it is new (and I’ve got the expansions coming in Jan. Woot woot!)
But how can you change your strategy if you can’t play the campaign again? What if I want to go a different way? Take the new Arkham Horror for example. Wouldn’t that suck if I couldn’t play out a campaign after playing one before where I blew up my house instead of saving it?
It looks like FFG didn’t put so many gimmicks into the campaign itself that we might be able to play multiple times if I mount the stickers on cardboard though, so that is exciting.
I agree the price seems steep, and you probably want double digit plays for that money. Personaly I’m enough of a sucker to get it just for the cards though. Hopefully the price represents the extra development costs and means that a lot of work went into the story part.
Whether I should or shouldn’t, I will totally play the campaign multiple times anyway.
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The question is whether we can. A mystery makes me weary that it will end up like Time Stories, where no matter what you do, you can literally only play it once.
Being someone who spent most of the time so far playing just with the Core Set, it’s interesting and cool to see that this is being presented as a ‘second step’ after you’ve started the game. Much easier for newer players to feel they’re getting more involved without having to buy EVERYTHING.
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I know I don’t buy too many games above $50, but I’d say I’ve played Runebound, Runewars, and Civ over 12 times each, and Millennium Blades maybe not 12, but it is new (and I’ve got the expansions coming in Jan. Woot woot!)
If you look around on BGG and similar sites you will see lots of opinions swayed as people play the legacy games and see how little they play the other games in their collections. There are standouts that people play a ton, but if you are part of the boardgame scene it’s extremely likely you have several games you have bought and played 1-5 times tops. Not because they are bad, but because there are just too many good games and too little time to play them. Legacy games, because of their nature, drive you to finish a full campaign. You may not be one of these people, I’m just saying don’t dismiss legacy games. They are way better than you assume.
But how can you change your strategy if you can’t play the campaign again? What if I want to go a different way? Take the new Arkham Horror for example. Wouldn’t that suck if I couldn’t play out a campaign after playing one before where I blew up my house instead of saving it?
Every time you play a new round of Pandemic Legacy, the board has changed in permanent ways, altering the game in both subtle and profound ways and requiring your team to react accordingly. You have also purchased upgrades and frequently change characters, completely altering your strategy. The narrative even branches as players fail and succeed at accomplishing objectives. I understand your concern over wanting to attempt different strategies, and several people have made home-grown systems for this, but one playthrough is a massive time investment and definitely leaves you feeling accomplished. I play a lot of boardgames and I have rarely been as satisfied as I was when we finished Pandemic Legacy.
To be fair, Descent does this without resorting to gimmicks like hidden info and stickers.
- The modular board changes based on what happens in the previous scenario. (winner chooses the next map, very important)
- Also, the results of previous games have effects on what the heroes go up against in future games.
- Heroes and the Overlord “level up” between games.
- Both sides can win artifacts, and the heroes can buy new gear.
- There is a branching scenario narrative, and choosing one scenario leads to many other being totally closed off for the rest of the campaign.
But I’ll let you have your opinion, and me mine. Neither of us is right. It’s just that I’m upset because FFG has produced basically the highest quality games in the industry, and now those high quality games will be fewer and further between it appears. With this mad rush to move towards Legacy games, us normal gamers are feeling a little left out as our favorite companies slow/stop making games for us. So many companies are quitting normal games to make legacy ones, so every time another company adopts the model, we die a little inside. Eventually companies will realize that the market for Legacy is a fairly niche one, and slow their production, at least I hope. Because the other option is that they keep forcing legacy on us until we break and give in.
But they’re not stopping making non-legacy games. FFG just announced and has released several non-legacy style games, but legacy-style games have some really cool design space. Not to mention, unlike a lot of other legacy games, has components that work after the game has finished.
The current legacy games that have come out so far are: Risk Legacy, Pandemic Legacy, Seafall, Gloomhaven and now Terminal Directive. It’s not like they’re a dominating part of the market. Hell, FFG announced about as many games during GenCon. But I think that legacy games are a design space worth exploring because it does create interesting diversification of strategy and tactics.
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Descent is probably my all time favorite long-form game so you have me there. Currently 3-0 on my current group of heroes but I think I’m boned on this next quest.
There is definitely impetus for the industry to produce legacy style games. It makes perfect sense for FFG to try their hand at it, and I’m certainly willing to give the product a chance (hell I’d buy it just for the cards).
The actual problem I see here is that competitive players will pretty much be required to shell out $60 just to get the cards, even if they have no intent to play the campaign. This sucks a bit, but it’s not too different from needing to buy three cores.
For my part I’m glad FFG is trying this, and even happier they are trying it with my favorite card game of all time.
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yeah, i think this is the product that explains the gap in release numbers
I’m concerned that we won’t get 3 copies of each new card
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Isn’t it awesome!
It’s incredible. Not ashamed to say I own everything they’ve made for the line. I am ashamed I’ve barely played with any of it! I actually wrote an app to pick monster groups for me randomly so I can get more of my expansion content into our campaign.
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Many of us don’t get to play board games very often, bro 
. Pandemic Legacy’s 12 sessions is 1/3rd of my 2016 boardgaming to date (card games excepted).
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Haven’t learned arguing with Toenail is futile yet?
The legacy aspect is gravy AFAIC. The real beauty is the fact that a bunch of new cards are being thrown at factions that need them. We’ll see whether or not they make a difference. Based on the Worlds gunslinging and Flashpoint, I’m guessing ‘Yes.’
I would think this is out before RS starts. Will be a nice drop towards the end of SCs/beginning of Regionals.
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Well, given that their plan is to release it in Q1 2017, they’re certainly planning to have it out and legal for the first Regionals. We’ll see if that works out, but I certainly hope it does.
This is a product that I’m really looking forward to buying. It is cool.
My only concern is that they have some powerful singletons in it. Shelling out 3x60 would sour my mood for netrunner.
Otherwise it seems fun. Find a friend and play through the campaign and after that you have some new nice cards for your collection.
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They specifically call out in the product page that it’s a full playset of each card
With its four new identities and a complete playset of each new player card,
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Hi, I never played a legacy game. Can you give me a hint how it prevents you from playing multiple times? I don’t care about spoilers so you can give me real examples.
I hope there are reasons other than spoilers (of the story) and physical damaged components.