Obsidian's Pathfinder Adventures card game

[Ninjerk]

It has that quality that a lot of fantasy TV show costume design has--useless looking armor, lots of little metal studs that do what exactly, there's a thief character that has a bunch of brown things sticking out from her back that I guess are knives? It's impossible sometimes to tell what is supposed to be communicated because we rarely, if ever, see the back of the character so it just ends looking superfluous.

 

[Alchemist]

The art style here is really kind of Nomura/McFarlane-esque in the sense of adding "gimmick motifs" (e.g. MOAR chains, MOAR straps, MOAR zippers, MOAR spikes). Is this the rule in Pathfinder? In any case, a good deal of the illustration is well-done.

Yeah, that's the Wayne Reynolds influence. He has done all the cover art for Pathfinder books, most of the iconic class characters, and numerous interior illustrations, thereby defining the look of Pathfinder. Much of the work in this card game is probably his.

He takes the dungeonpunk aesthetic that began with 3rd edition D&D, amps it up to 11 and adds anime influences to the mix. I heard him speak at a convention panel once, and he explained that the "rule of cool" wins out over realism or practicality.

Indeed, he goes totally overboard with belts, buckles, and ridiculously cluttered assemblages of gear on his characters. I admire his rendering and composition skills - they really are top-notch - but some of his stylistic / conceptual choices drive me bonkers!

 

[Galdred]

The flow of the game is kind of fun. I suspect the advantage to this is that it handles the book keeping aspects of the gameplay.

The art style here is really kind of Nomura/McFarlane-esque in the sense of adding "gimmick motifs" (e.g. MOAR chains, MOAR straps, MOAR zippers, MOAR spikes). Is this the rule in Pathfinder? In any case, a good deal of the illustration is well-done.

On the other hand, I find the UI not so good on a phone. I can read the text without problem on the screen, but the buttons usually conflict with the phone menus on my motorola moto X2.
I also had to forcequit the game at some point as I was locked on a screen (something like taping a menu before the previous action resolved, and having no way to get out of the menu, or finish the action).
The game is enjoyable, but the asking price is quite high for a tablet board game IMO.

 

[catfood]

The POS is currently being installed on my garbage-tier tablet as I type this. Will post impressions later.

 

[Duraframe300]

The flow of the game is kind of fun. I suspect the advantage to this is that it handles the book keeping aspects of the gameplay.

The art style here is really kind of Nomura/McFarlane-esque in the sense of adding "gimmick motifs" (e.g. MOAR chains, MOAR straps, MOAR zippers, MOAR spikes). Is this the rule in Pathfinder? In any case, a good deal of the illustration is well-done.

On the other hand, I find the UI not so good on a phone. I can read the text without problem on the screen, but the buttons usually conflict with the phone menus on my motorola moto X2.
I also had to forcequit the game at some point as I was locked on a screen (something like taping a menu before the previous action resolved, and having no way to get out of the menu, or finish the action).
The game is enjoyable, but the asking price is quite high for a tablet board game IMO.

The game isn't ready for phones yet (Will probably appear alongside pc version). They didn't lock them out, but playing on tablet is recommened.

 

[pakoito]

Imma "demo" the bejesus out of this.

It's free...

$25 for the Runelords expansion. Twenty-five-dorrah.

 

[Duraframe300]

On the bright side purchases are universal. So you don't have to buy again on pc.

 

[TigerKnee]

You can technically buy everything using in-game gold but the rate is terrible - around 100/200 per game won and thousands for each purchasable item...

But what I think is going to happen is that they're probably going to implement Hearthstone-like "dailies" that you'll be forced to do if you want everything for "free"

 

[Quigs]

Fuck. I hate having fun for reasons.

 

[Ninjerk]

Oh, it's definitely made to be a cash engine.

 

[Galdred]

You can technically buy everything using in-game gold but the rate is terrible - around 100/200 per game won and thousands for each purchasable item...

But what I think is going to happen is that they're probably going to implement Hearthstone-like "dailies" that you'll be forced to do if you want everything for "free"

But that makes no sense at all in a solo game. MP F2P games do that to make players active, hence more people to play against, and a better game experience, but I fail to see what they get by getting you to grind the same adventure over and over again, except make you fed up with the game, and not want to play it again at all.

 

[Ninjerk]

You can technically buy everything using in-game gold but the rate is terrible - around 100/200 per game won and thousands for each purchasable item...

But what I think is going to happen is that they're probably going to implement Hearthstone-like "dailies" that you'll be forced to do if you want everything for "free"

But that makes no sense at all in a solo game. MP F2P games do that to make players active, hence more people to play against, and a better game experience, but I fail to see what they get by getting you to grind the same adventure over and over again, except make you fed up with the game, and not want to play it again at all.

bbut you can grind with friends

 

[Alchemist]

bbut you can grind with friends

"Grind with Friends" - coming soon from Zynga!

 

[Galdred]

How is the board game? Is it interesting enough to play beyond the novelty/skinner box(aka leveling up and looting) factor?
I would have bought Mage Knights : the board game in a heartbeat, but Pathfinder seems to have less puzzle like elements and deckbuilding decisions to make.

 

[vonAchdorf]

He takes the dungeonpunk aesthetic that began with 3rd edition D&D, amps it up to 11 and adds anime influences to the mix. I heard him speak at a convention panel once, and he explained that the "rule of cool" wins out over realism or practicality.

The axe looks surprisingly practical for modern RPG standards.

 

[Galdred]

oh, the physical version of Rise of the Runelords sells for around 145$ with all the big expansions, so I may have been a bit harsh on their pricing, as the bundle contains more stuff.

 

[TigerKnee]

The axe looks surprisingly practical for modern RPG standards.

Tranny Cloud

 

[Ninjerk]

The, IDK, "flow" of gameplay is pretty satisfying. The way the dice are rolled look janky. There are dialogues between the heroes and the villains that are pretty standard teenage DnD table top conversations.

 

[Excidium II]

I'd play it but I don't want to stare at wayne reynolds art for more than 5 seconds.

 

[deuxhero]

The art style here is really kind of Nomura/McFarlane-esque in the sense of adding "gimmick motifs" (e.g. MOAR chains, MOAR straps, MOAR zippers, MOAR spikes). Is this the rule in Pathfinder? In any case, a good deal of the illustration is well-done.

Yeah, that's the Wayne Reynolds influence. He has done all the cover art for Pathfinder books, most of the iconic class characters, and numerous interior illustrations, thereby defining the look of Pathfinder. Much of the work in this card game is probably his.

He takes the dungeonpunk aesthetic that began with 3rd edition D&D, amps it up to 11 and adds anime influences to the mix. I heard him speak at a convention panel once, and he explained that the "rule of cool" wins out over realism or practicality.

Indeed, he goes totally overboard with belts, buckles, and ridiculously cluttered assemblages of gear on his characters. I admire his rendering and composition skills - they really are top-notch - but some of his stylistic / conceptual choices drive me bonkers!

Even aside from the designs he's really a questionable quality artist.

It's a shame he's their primary artist because a lot of the alternate artists are pretty decent and pull off the "characters hold everything on their sheet" better. (In order: Eric Belisle, Kiki Moch Rizky, Damien Mammoliti. Second and third were chosen at random by clicking on artists on the Pathfinder wiki till one had non-cartography, non-cover art)

Spoiler

(the sword and gauntlets that stab the user are stupid, but mostly fine)

.

 

[Ninjerk]

Yeah, I don't know which of those artists is which, but there are definitely others who actually ate their Wheaties and have some understanding of anatomy, how light works, etc. I can't remember if I actually made the reply or not, but W.R. definitely looks like he comes from that "school" of artists that learned by tracing comic books and photographs exclusively.

 

[Scroo]

Ok I installed it and shop prices seem insane. The game might be fun but this is so off-putting to me that I cannot even play the tutorial.

 

[Ninjerk]

WoW has trained you well. First thing you do in the game is run to the store.

Spoiler

I haven't looked at the store yet, you might be right.

 

[MicoSelva]

Installed on a Galaxy S4 phone. Pretty fun so far and not trivial - does not play itself and requires you to pay attention to details. I assumed it would be a clicker phone game, so this took me by surprise. The game flow is pretty cool, and there is a lot of decisions to be made - actual gameplay in a mobile game, incredible.

The plot is garbage as far as I have seen, and writing quality is pretty bad, but there is not a lot of it, and can be skipped.

EDIT: Quest mode seems to be bugged for me - indefinitely stuck on a loading screen.

Works fine now, after the game updated.

 

[Scroo]

Ok I played it now for a bit - it's actually fun and it feels incredibly satisfying. But the gold gains are ridiculously low, trying to get the stuff from the store with ingame gold will take an endless grind - in an SP / coop game! I wish they wouldn't have chosen the P2W path, make it a one time purchase and it's a great game.