So this is something that Dave put me on to. The mechanics of the game are not dissimilar to Thunderstone: Dragonspire that we played a few weeks ago, but is just different enough to make it feel like a different game. Probably the most significant difference is that there is a genuine risk of death, as I was to discover. For another, the strategy of the game is set in place by the character you play (chosen at random from characters who appeared in the video games, though I don't recognise some of them,) and the cards you buy; there are weapons but it's not like you're building a balanced party or anything like that, it's a case of get tooled up, go into the Mansion and kill things. But it's the same thing that you have to do to win; kill the boss (in this case a plant called Uroboros,) and the person with the most points at the end of the game based on how many monsters you killed wins the game. There are other differences but I won't bore you with the details.
So how did I get on? Well... not all that well actually. The character I drew was Rebecca Chambers, who's special ability allowed her to 'trash' cards (throw them out of the game so there is no chance of drawing them again) and hand cards over to one of the other plays. Playing competitively, this skill is invaluable later on in the game when you've got a lot of cards to draw and several useless ones to get through before you find the card you need. I was prepared to use the skill, but not before I'd made a couple of foolhardy journeys into the mansion early on and nearly killed myself. I did this wondering how bad it could possibly be; in some cases I was still playing Thunderstone but the fact that in Resident Evil you can't actually see what you're attacking until it attacks you compelled me to test the water (or mansion) as it were.
Now at that point Dave and I decided to play the 'realistic' version of the game, where once your character is dead you are out of the game. The other version is basically you miss a turn if you die and come back the turn after with full health. I chose 'realistic' because there's a lot more at stake when you're about to die, and therefore the game is more fun... but it was time to regroup and it was a long time before I headed into the mansion again. I built up an impressive collection of cards to use once I got in there, and decided to risk it. After all, by refusing to take risks, Napoleon cost himself Russia... I actually managed to pick up a herb that healed me a bit, and took down several monsters, maxing out Rebecca's ability (which came in very handy later,) and giving me a nice selection of commendations (points) with which I could comfortably win the game were it to end at that point. Dave was trying to pull it back but the monsters he was fighting were of relatively low power and he wasn't getting all that many rewards for his efforts.
Then, as I prepared myself for another excursion into the mansion, disaster. I came up against Uroboros, and found myself 15 points short of killing it. It, therefore, killed me, and Dave won the game by default.
So what to do next time? Well, I won't be ne-he-hearly so quick to go into the mansion next time, knowing that the weapons you get at the start of the game really aren't up to much without at least some augmentation from some of the other cards. The Uroborus monster takes a whopping 90 points of damage before it will go down so I need to be sure that I'm capable of delivering such a blow before I venture in too many times. What I'd really like to see though, and this is very little to do with the game, is more players. The game carries up to 4 people and right now it's just me and Dave. It's great and we really do have fun playing it, but a 3rd and 4th player will lend a new element of strategy to a game like this that we just don't have at the moment.
Still, not complaining, it's been a great night and I'm really looking forward to the next one! Incidentally, I might be buying Thunderstone before too long. Games like this are really too much fun to let slide.
Off to Plymouth for a week next week, so unless I complete Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance or finish painting some models before I go on Sunday (Not likely, it's taking me ages to do both) that'll be the last you'll hear from me for a bit. See you in a couple of weeks!
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