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Diamond Hunter (Jack Lark #11)
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JACK SOLDIER, LEADER, IMPOSTER. The eleventh book in the gripping military adventure series for...
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Quests: Heroes of Sorcado in Tabletop Games
May 26, 2021
I’ve mentioned before that we at Purple Phoenix Games are currently working our way through a DnD 5e campaign. For almost all of us, this has been our first foray into the world of role-playing games. It’s a lot of fun, although it’s quite a daunting task at first. But more often these days, you can find board games that serve as fun, cooperative, and easier to learn/manage versions of these popular role-playing giants. Enter Quests: Heroes of Sorcado. How does it fare in the lineup of campaign-driven board games? Let the demo adventure help you decide.
Disclaimer: For this preview, we were provided with a Tabletop Simulator file for the demo/prequel adventure. These are not the final components, since it is a digital file, but the artwork and rulebook are mostly finalized – so the gameplay is what you will get in the physical copies of the game. -L
Quests: Heroes of Sorcado is a cooperative, campaign-driven game in which 1-6 players will take on the roles of party members with the goal of completing all 8 of the included adventures. The game does come with a tutorial/prequel adventure to help introduce players to the mechanics and overall gameplay before diving in to the full game. To setup for this Adventure Zero, place the game board within reach of all players, set aside the Campaign and Adventure books, place the Boss card for this adventure face-down above the board, and sort and place Potion/Loot/Armor/Health tokens in their corresponding areas. Set the 6 required Adventurers for the prequel in a circle near the game board, and take the listed Health and Starting Equipment for each Adventurer. The prequel uses only a single Location, so set that Deck in one of the Location spaces of the board, and the game is now ready to begin!
Depending on the player count, everyone will take on the role of at least one of the Adventurers, and the game itself is wholly cooperative. Here is how Adventure Zero works. Each Adventurer, in clockwise order, will be dealt 1 face-down Location card. Then, starting from the first dealt Location card, the Adventurers will take turns revealing their card. Some cards are Events or Story Moments, and prompt players to read from the Adventure/Campaign books. These cards often describe a scenario and require the player to select one of several provided choices, either earning a reward or penalizing the group. Most cards are Monster cards and will begin a combat! Each of the Adventurers has varying values for the four Stats of the game: Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Wisdom. Combat in the game involves rolling a d20 and adding the appropriate Stat modifiers to the roll. You can also use Potions and Equipment to buff your rolls as well. How do you determine success or failure? Every Monster has a weakness to a specific Stat, so you will use that Stat modifier to enhance your rolls. Equal or exceed the Monster’s weakness, and it is defeated! Depending on the difficulty/level of the Monster, you will either fight with 2-6 Adventurers – adding their modifiers and abilities to your roll as well. How you setup your Adventurers is important, as adjacency is what helps determine who can be in each combat. If you defeat a Monster, collect the reward (Loot tokens, Potions, or Treasure cards), and the game continues to the next player. If you lose the fight, the Monster moves to the next Adventurer and combat begins anew. Once every Location card has been revealed and resolved, the Adventurers will reveal the Boss card and the final combat begins! Even though each combat has one primary Adventurer/player at the helm, the game is cooperative, so make sure you’ve got that teamwork mentality!
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by Quests: Heroes of Sorcado. The gameplay may seem a bit involved at first, but it actually flows pretty seamlessly and effortlessly. As someone who has played a handful of other campaign-driven board games before, I have to say that this one was by far the easiest for me to learn and play. Resolve Location cards, beat Monsters, and (hopefully) defeat the final Boss. Pretty straight-forward, and I really appreciate that. One thing that helps make it so user-friendly is that the game is based on only 4 Stats, instead of every conceivable Stat used in other role-playing games. That helps keep the game uncomplicated, while still offering players options every turn. Another thing that I really like? The Campaign/Adventure books are pre-written stories, prompts, and scenarios that allow the game to be truly cooperative. No need for an all-knowing Game Master here, as everything is already laid out for you. I also really like these pre-written aspects because it helps deliver the role-playing feel without pressuring the players to create their own campaign. Yes, there are still some ‘choose your adventure’ elements to it, but it doesn’t give so many options to overwhelm players.
That being said, I do have to mention that this is a campaign-driven game, so you will know the main storyline after your first complete playthrough. Although you would know the Monsters/Events/Boss/etc. of each adventure, the shuffle and draw of the decks would allow for variability, and thus replayability. You know the all the twists in the story, but will be able to play with different hero combinations as well! All 8 adventures will take quite some time to complete though, so don’t let the fact that you’ll know the main storyline after one playthrough turn you off from the game completely! Normally, I like to talk about the components of a game. Since this was a Tabletop Simulator version of the game, I am unable to really do so. I will commend the artwork and style of the game though – it is very thematic, engaging, colorful, and fun to look at. The text and abilities are clear, I love the color-coded modifiers, and the cards are all pretty intuitive. I have no doubts that the physical copies of the game will be quality productions as well.
As I stated above, this preview only covers the demo/prequel adventure, and its real purpose is to introduce players to the gameplay. That being said, I know that the full adventures will offer players additional elements (Side Quests, trading Loot and Potions, ‘level up’ the Adventurers, etc.) that will just add to the experience. Yes, there is the ‘one and done’ aspect of a campaign-driven game, but there is so much content in the full game to keep you going for quite a long time. If you’re looking at getting into this genre of game, but are worried about complexity, I would highly recommend Quests: Heroes of Sorcado. The gameplay overall is simple and straight-forward, while still offering the epic campaign feel. This one hits Kickstarter today, so head on over and check it out for yourself!
Disclaimer: For this preview, we were provided with a Tabletop Simulator file for the demo/prequel adventure. These are not the final components, since it is a digital file, but the artwork and rulebook are mostly finalized – so the gameplay is what you will get in the physical copies of the game. -L
Quests: Heroes of Sorcado is a cooperative, campaign-driven game in which 1-6 players will take on the roles of party members with the goal of completing all 8 of the included adventures. The game does come with a tutorial/prequel adventure to help introduce players to the mechanics and overall gameplay before diving in to the full game. To setup for this Adventure Zero, place the game board within reach of all players, set aside the Campaign and Adventure books, place the Boss card for this adventure face-down above the board, and sort and place Potion/Loot/Armor/Health tokens in their corresponding areas. Set the 6 required Adventurers for the prequel in a circle near the game board, and take the listed Health and Starting Equipment for each Adventurer. The prequel uses only a single Location, so set that Deck in one of the Location spaces of the board, and the game is now ready to begin!
Depending on the player count, everyone will take on the role of at least one of the Adventurers, and the game itself is wholly cooperative. Here is how Adventure Zero works. Each Adventurer, in clockwise order, will be dealt 1 face-down Location card. Then, starting from the first dealt Location card, the Adventurers will take turns revealing their card. Some cards are Events or Story Moments, and prompt players to read from the Adventure/Campaign books. These cards often describe a scenario and require the player to select one of several provided choices, either earning a reward or penalizing the group. Most cards are Monster cards and will begin a combat! Each of the Adventurers has varying values for the four Stats of the game: Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Wisdom. Combat in the game involves rolling a d20 and adding the appropriate Stat modifiers to the roll. You can also use Potions and Equipment to buff your rolls as well. How do you determine success or failure? Every Monster has a weakness to a specific Stat, so you will use that Stat modifier to enhance your rolls. Equal or exceed the Monster’s weakness, and it is defeated! Depending on the difficulty/level of the Monster, you will either fight with 2-6 Adventurers – adding their modifiers and abilities to your roll as well. How you setup your Adventurers is important, as adjacency is what helps determine who can be in each combat. If you defeat a Monster, collect the reward (Loot tokens, Potions, or Treasure cards), and the game continues to the next player. If you lose the fight, the Monster moves to the next Adventurer and combat begins anew. Once every Location card has been revealed and resolved, the Adventurers will reveal the Boss card and the final combat begins! Even though each combat has one primary Adventurer/player at the helm, the game is cooperative, so make sure you’ve got that teamwork mentality!
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by Quests: Heroes of Sorcado. The gameplay may seem a bit involved at first, but it actually flows pretty seamlessly and effortlessly. As someone who has played a handful of other campaign-driven board games before, I have to say that this one was by far the easiest for me to learn and play. Resolve Location cards, beat Monsters, and (hopefully) defeat the final Boss. Pretty straight-forward, and I really appreciate that. One thing that helps make it so user-friendly is that the game is based on only 4 Stats, instead of every conceivable Stat used in other role-playing games. That helps keep the game uncomplicated, while still offering players options every turn. Another thing that I really like? The Campaign/Adventure books are pre-written stories, prompts, and scenarios that allow the game to be truly cooperative. No need for an all-knowing Game Master here, as everything is already laid out for you. I also really like these pre-written aspects because it helps deliver the role-playing feel without pressuring the players to create their own campaign. Yes, there are still some ‘choose your adventure’ elements to it, but it doesn’t give so many options to overwhelm players.
That being said, I do have to mention that this is a campaign-driven game, so you will know the main storyline after your first complete playthrough. Although you would know the Monsters/Events/Boss/etc. of each adventure, the shuffle and draw of the decks would allow for variability, and thus replayability. You know the all the twists in the story, but will be able to play with different hero combinations as well! All 8 adventures will take quite some time to complete though, so don’t let the fact that you’ll know the main storyline after one playthrough turn you off from the game completely! Normally, I like to talk about the components of a game. Since this was a Tabletop Simulator version of the game, I am unable to really do so. I will commend the artwork and style of the game though – it is very thematic, engaging, colorful, and fun to look at. The text and abilities are clear, I love the color-coded modifiers, and the cards are all pretty intuitive. I have no doubts that the physical copies of the game will be quality productions as well.
As I stated above, this preview only covers the demo/prequel adventure, and its real purpose is to introduce players to the gameplay. That being said, I know that the full adventures will offer players additional elements (Side Quests, trading Loot and Potions, ‘level up’ the Adventurers, etc.) that will just add to the experience. Yes, there is the ‘one and done’ aspect of a campaign-driven game, but there is so much content in the full game to keep you going for quite a long time. If you’re looking at getting into this genre of game, but are worried about complexity, I would highly recommend Quests: Heroes of Sorcado. The gameplay overall is simple and straight-forward, while still offering the epic campaign feel. This one hits Kickstarter today, so head on over and check it out for yourself!
Andy K (10821 KP) rated Star Wars: Bounty Hunter in Video Games
Dec 13, 2017
Jango (1 more)
The blaster sound
Technical problems (1 more)
Bad Camera
This third-person shooter game was one of my favorite GameCube games of all time. Lucasarts put out a few great Star Wars games in the 1990s and 2000s, and this was one of them.
Original actor Temuera Morrison again supplied the voice of Jango who is probably one of the coolest prequel characters.
The adventure and shooting enemies was great fun and kept me engaged for hours and hours. Unfortunately, rotating the camera, especially in tight spaces was a big negative.
Original actor Temuera Morrison again supplied the voice of Jango who is probably one of the coolest prequel characters.
The adventure and shooting enemies was great fun and kept me engaged for hours and hours. Unfortunately, rotating the camera, especially in tight spaces was a big negative.
Shaun Collins (3 KP) rated Doctor Who: The Justice of Jalxar in Books
Jan 12, 2018
Nice solid story with a lot of fun elements. The Doctor and Romana stop off in Victorian England and meet up with... Jago and Lightfoot, which EVERY Who story could use more of. The characterizations are wonderful and just as you remember, without all the prejudicial and racist overtones of Talons. The story may not be more than just standard adventure fare (alien tech falls to earth, gets misused) but a Judge Dredd style robot exercising justice based on how guilty you feel is a neat idea. For a full review, visit www.travelingthevortex.com.
GameCritics (290 KP) rated Elite Dangerous Legendary Edition in Video Games
Aug 11, 2017
The freeform structure and wide variety of roles is impressively liberating. (2 more)
Nuanced but accessible combat controls.
Fun multiplayer options. Decent port from the PC.
very steep learning curve. (1 more)
Earning money at the beginning can get extremely repetitive, as can the mission design, lifeless planets, and identikit space stations.
The pioneering space adventure makes an impressive landing on PlayStation 4, with more content than ever and the promise of even better things to come.
Critic-
Original Score: 8 out of 10
Read Review: http://metro.co.uk/2017/07/07/elite-dangerous-ps4-review-everymans-sky-6761108/
Original Score: 8 out of 10
Read Review: http://metro.co.uk/2017/07/07/elite-dangerous-ps4-review-everymans-sky-6761108/
Gagnrath (14 KP) rated The Goonies (1985) in Movies
Mar 13, 2019
Steven Dodd (1449 KP) created a post
May 25, 2019
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated The Wolverine (2013) in Movies
Jun 10, 2019
Darren Aronofsky was originally chosen to direct this second Wolverine solo outing but had to drop out due to travel restraints. Instead, James Mangold was brought in to helm this thrilling adventure as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine was the fish-out-of-water that the series needed. Set for the majority of the runtime in Japan, and with an exciting action sequence set atop a bullet train, The Wolverine was a reasonable return to form for the X-Men solo movies.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2019/06/01/the-entire-x-men-franchise-ranked/
https://moviemetropolis.net/2019/06/01/the-entire-x-men-franchise-ranked/
AquaWoman (37 KP) rated The Princess Bride (1987) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
Phenomenal Casting (2 more)
Terrific writing
Great scenery
Epic Adventure Awaits!
My favorite movie of all time. I have seen this movie over a million times it seems. I can never get enough. The chemistry between Mandy Patinkin, Andre the Giant and Shawn Wallace is amazing. Billy Crystal is Miracle Max, adlibbing his way through the movie is total genius. Who wouldn't love an adorable blonde pirate played by Cary Elwes and Buttercup played by Robin Wright, in her first movie role. This is a not to be missed movie. Fun for all ages.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2194 KP) rated Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones (Alcatraz, #2) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Alcatraz and some new friends and relatives are off to the Library of Alexandria to hopefully track down his grandfather and maybe even his long lost father. But will they be able to do it while escaping the assassin on their tail and the keepers of the library who want their souls. A second absolutely delightful adventure for kids that keeps you laughing and turning pages to find out what will happen next.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/04/book-review-alcatraz-versus-scriveners.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/04/book-review-alcatraz-versus-scriveners.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.