Well I m a bit late but I totally disagree on the luck factor. The river of cards enables you to choose a strategy and profit from it. I think that it is a great help to any strategy (try playing small animals by picking animals from the river). About interactions, even if there isn’t on your board you can disturb your opponent’s strategy by taking cards in the river which he was targeting. The main interactions though id the pause system because it means you have to fight with your opponent to control the rythm of the game this is a huge advantage and getting the upper hand is even better than having combos. All Inwant tonsay is that it might not seem to complicated at first but this game is quite competitive up close.
It's interesting for me to think of this as a card game when there's so much board. But it's true. It's Wingspan with some more complexity added, like tile placement and a slightly more advanced worker placement.
I disagree on the luck factor since the game is designed to have so many interactions that you can make do with any interaction. The game isn't a combo maker but a lemonade maker out of lemons. my friend had two of the primate sponsors and played 7 primates and was the only player in the negatives because he wasn't reacting to cards, but solely tried to combo primates.
i dont think the game is bad. its quite fun actually but it has a high luck factor, i hope the next expansion actually has a way to reduce the deck rather than increase it.
"Too much luck" well Ark Nova and Terraforming mars are both tactic games, which means you have to answer / react to events, interactions of things that you can't control. The one who can make the best decisions in the given situation is always the winner. For example, if one of the players just wins because of one card, then it doesn't mean this is a luck based game, but it means you have made wrong decisions. So someone with only 1 good card could defeat you. This is the nature of all tactic games. Other example: When one player enable to find combinations of cards and build a good engine with them, there will be no just only 1 good card that could make the others overcome. That's the beauty of tactic games and that's why I love playing with them ☺ (And the reason why they are soo high on BGG rankings)
I really like that we have different takeaways. For you, from one play, it's a buy. For me, from the initial play, though I enjoyed playing with you, I probably won't pursue the solo mode.
It's not just that. There are games that are strategic and deep enough that I don't mind moving the pieces around on Tabletopia (which is so annoying.) This game flows so smoothly, Tabletopia gets in the way. It's definitely one I want to play in meat space. Who knows, maybe once I play it "in real life" I will change my mind again.
I pre-ordered thinking I'd love the solo game but now that I've played it, I much prefer it multiplayer - so much so that my last "solo" game was just me playing as 2 players and it was awesome
@@doggyaugie that's what i did in Wingspan. I just played both players like it was a 2 player game. It's hard not to "cheat" though knowing what everyone has. Needless to say the scores were close because of that.
I just got this game today as my first euro (I guess) and I like it very much after two playthroughs. I'm a big animals lover and I like art in this game, very thematic. Quick, easy to understand, and I don't mind it's randomness, I'm not a great strategist, just general idea of my goals and looking for opportunities to reach them is perfect. ^_^
My main issue with Ark Nova is that game plays you not the other way around...you just adopt strategy as you gain cards... Other than this, game is great.. amazing flow... I would make maybe a separate deck for sponsors and donations and separate for animals to maybe mitigate this randomness in card draw...
Adding separate decks is a great house rule. Yes, the game does play you. That’s a good way of putting it, yet the flow you are talking about is what makes it work for me, too.
Yeah. We just played it again at my game group tonight. (I bought a hard copy.) VERY low player interaction, but it was still so much fun! Also, note there are “interactive” cards. The interactive cards aren’t very cool. They feel like they go against the spirit of the game: why should having a venomous snake at YOUR zoo hurt OTHER zoos? I don’t recommend the interactive cards. It was a sorry attempt to make the game into something it isn’t.
Get video. I agree that people are overhyping the complexity of the game, I think it is very intuitive. Love how they incorporated the civilization action card theme into the game Only think I really disagree on with your review is that you gave the theme a 6. I think the them is at least an 8 if not a 10. My son and I liked it so much we even went the zoo and read about how the zoo was doing conservation. Finally, my biggest plus in this game is the end game scoring. So so so simple.
I can see why you would give it an 8/10, The game has a lot of flavor! The reason I score lower for theme is because I also think about how the mechanics support the theme. I think the card play mechanic itself is a little abstract, even while the game does a great job suggesting “the feeling” of a zoo.
From your video I got the impression, that there are no physical copies yet so everyone else who reviewed it either only played online or got a Review pre-copy. This is not true. It has been out already since Essen SPIEL in October 2021. Even though I have to admit, that this was only in Germany/Europe. I own this game personally since Christmas and I love it a lot. Otherwise I really enjoyed your viewpoints otherwise.
Thank you for this correction. I should have been more careful. The Capstone Games website says this is the “2nd printing” so I suspected as much, but I should have been more thorough in my research.
So I can assume, that as a Terraforming Mars lover whi enjoys pictures on cards there and also is not into really heavy eurogames, I am safe to buy Ark Nova and enjoy it? :)
In my opinion, Ark Nova is lighter than Terraforming Mars and while the pace of the game is faster, the mechanics are very similar. It even has objectives that players select during the game. If you don't like Ark Nova for any reason, it might be because it is TOO similar to T.M. But if that's the case, I'n not sure if you will prefer T.M. or A.N. When I play T.M. I feel like it is a more serious, strategic game. A.N. feels less serious and more "just for fun".
I will never buy Food Chain Magnate because I am not a fan of the quality of Splotter games. They charge a lot for artwork that a junior high student could do. Their games should be priced at half of what they are.
You're not wrong. What you're paying for is all game, the components are terrible. These days, there are so many great games with beautiful components, why would you buy something from Splotter? I bought FCM for $95 and I thought THAT was a lot. It's more now. Yet despite all my complaints, it is still one of the most brilliant games I own.
After all this hype for this game, I finally manage to get my hand on an overpaid copy expecting to absulutly love it... what a disappointment, it was a yawn fest and the ending of the game is the most unsatisfactory ending I have ever experienced with any board game... there was zero sense of achievement, This game is supposed to touch that need we have for collecting things, but it just does not work ... I don't know is it because there are too many cards and as result we rarely manage to get cards that we need, or collecting engine is badly done ... but it just never happens that you have a few collections of animals in a form to make you feel a true sense of achievement in the way Anno 1800 computer game does with the zoo collecttions ... I also feel green conservation animal cards that give you task to score per collection should have been played mechanically in personal space in your zoo, whilst ecological ones should have been public, I understand why this happen they literally copied how Teraforming Mars deals with achievement, bur Teraforming Mars was not a collection game and there it worked... conservation cards should have been made easier to access and complete because that is where real fun and engine drive is ... because these cards are driving engine that makes you collect animals... and then due to a limited number of workers and limited access to that part of the board , you don't get to do this conservation cards as much so you want or should ... so you will mostly end up playing random animals without any sense of strategy because these are cards that you have and cards that could create strategy never will come up! and when you finally will be able to do conservation and collections game will be over ... the whole game is too random strategically ... and that feels lame ... I find this game a miss of what it could have been ... and that is because rather than creating their own engine focused on what games tries to do ... they just used a mix of stollen ones in a new mash-up that does not quite work! DONT GET ME WRONG ... this is not a bad game ... just not nearly as good as hype wants you to believe ... for me it is a mediocre game that several board game influencers made into a sensation that never should have been!
I love this review. I'm not swayed by it, but the way you've explained your gripes: I get that. I've played the game more since I made this video and I still really like it, but you make excellent counter points. Thank you so much!
I’m confused at the point of this Channel. Your first line in this video is that you don’t like Terraforming Mars, Wingspan, or Ark Nova. So you don’t like board games… got it. Maybe change the Channel to be about something you do enjoy?
Although not bad games, I don't feel the need to play terraforming mars or wingspan again. These are not the only board games out there. There are games like dune imperium, and Anachrony which I adore. So just because the reviewer don't like three you mentioned does not make his reviews or this channel not worthwhile.
Well I m a bit late but I totally disagree on the luck factor.
The river of cards enables you to choose a strategy and profit from it. I think that it is a great help to any strategy (try playing small animals by picking animals from the river).
About interactions, even if there isn’t on your board you can disturb your opponent’s strategy by taking cards in the river which he was targeting.
The main interactions though id the pause system because it means you have to fight with your opponent to control the rythm of the game this is a huge advantage and getting the upper hand is even better than having combos.
All Inwant tonsay is that it might not seem to complicated at first but this game is quite competitive up close.
It's interesting for me to think of this as a card game when there's so much board. But it's true. It's Wingspan with some more complexity added, like tile placement and a slightly more advanced worker placement.
Drawing 4 sponsor cards in a row sounds like a made up bad luck moment.
I wish it was.
I disagree on the luck factor since the game is designed to have so many interactions that you can make do with any interaction. The game isn't a combo maker but a lemonade maker out of lemons. my friend had two of the primate sponsors and played 7 primates and was the only player in the negatives because he wasn't reacting to cards, but solely tried to combo primates.
i dont think the game is bad. its quite fun actually
but it has a high luck factor, i hope the next expansion actually has a way to reduce the deck rather than increase it.
Really enjoy your scoring method like the short breakdown of it all great video can’t wait to get my copy
Thank you! I spent a lot of time thinking of how to best break down the important aspects of a game.
"Too much luck" well Ark Nova and Terraforming mars are both tactic games, which means you have to answer / react to events, interactions of things that you can't control.
The one who can make the best decisions in the given situation is always the winner. For example, if one of the players just wins because of one card, then it doesn't mean this is a luck based game, but it means you have made wrong decisions. So someone with only 1 good card could defeat you. This is the nature of all tactic games. Other example: When one player enable to find combinations of cards and build a good engine with them, there will be no just only 1 good card that could make the others overcome.
That's the beauty of tactic games and that's why I love playing with them ☺ (And the reason why they are soo high on BGG rankings)
I really like that we have different takeaways. For you, from one play, it's a buy. For me, from the initial play, though I enjoyed playing with you, I probably won't pursue the solo mode.
It's not just that. There are games that are strategic and deep enough that I don't mind moving the pieces around on Tabletopia (which is so annoying.) This game flows so smoothly, Tabletopia gets in the way. It's definitely one I want to play in meat space. Who knows, maybe once I play it "in real life" I will change my mind again.
I pre-ordered thinking I'd love the solo game but now that I've played it, I much prefer it multiplayer - so much so that my last "solo" game was just me playing as 2 players and it was awesome
@@doggyaugie that's what i did in Wingspan. I just played both players like it was a 2 player game. It's hard not to "cheat" though knowing what everyone has. Needless to say the scores were close because of that.
I just got this game today as my first euro (I guess) and I like it very much after two playthroughs. I'm a big animals lover and I like art in this game, very thematic. Quick, easy to understand, and I don't mind it's randomness, I'm not a great strategist, just general idea of my goals and looking for opportunities to reach them is perfect. ^_^
My main issue with Ark Nova is that game plays you not the other way around...you just adopt strategy as you gain cards... Other than this, game is great.. amazing flow... I would make maybe a separate deck for sponsors and donations and separate for animals to maybe mitigate this randomness in card draw...
Adding separate decks is a great house rule. Yes, the game does play you. That’s a good way of putting it, yet the flow you are talking about is what makes it work for me, too.
So is it very low on player interaction? If so that’s a massive no no for me
Yeah. We just played it again at my game group tonight. (I bought a hard copy.) VERY low player interaction, but it was still so much fun!
Also, note there are “interactive” cards. The interactive cards aren’t very cool. They feel like they go against the spirit of the game: why should having a venomous snake at YOUR zoo hurt OTHER zoos? I don’t recommend the interactive cards. It was a sorry attempt to make the game into something it isn’t.
Even if the break track could ruin other players' hands & plans?
Ark Nova looks better than Wingspan. I'll gladly die on that hill.
Get video. I agree that people are overhyping the complexity of the game, I think it is very intuitive. Love how they incorporated the civilization action card theme into the game
Only think I really disagree on with your review is that you gave the theme a 6. I think the them is at least an 8 if not a 10. My son and I liked it so much we even went the zoo and read about how the zoo was doing conservation.
Finally, my biggest plus in this game is the end game scoring. So so so simple.
I can see why you would give it an 8/10, The game has a lot of flavor! The reason I score lower for theme is because I also think about how the mechanics support the theme. I think the card play mechanic itself is a little abstract, even while the game does a great job suggesting “the feeling” of a zoo.
From your video I got the impression, that there are no physical copies yet so everyone else who reviewed it either only played online or got a Review pre-copy. This is not true. It has been out already since Essen SPIEL in October 2021. Even though I have to admit, that this was only in Germany/Europe. I own this game personally since Christmas and I love it a lot. Otherwise I really enjoyed your viewpoints otherwise.
Thank you for this correction. I should have been more careful. The Capstone Games website says this is the “2nd printing” so I suspected as much, but I should have been more thorough in my research.
Learn how to use commas
So I can assume, that as a Terraforming Mars lover whi enjoys pictures on cards there and also is not into really heavy eurogames, I am safe to buy Ark Nova and enjoy it? :)
In my opinion, Ark Nova is lighter than Terraforming Mars and while the pace of the game is faster, the mechanics are very similar. It even has objectives that players select during the game. If you don't like Ark Nova for any reason, it might be because it is TOO similar to T.M. But if that's the case, I'n not sure if you will prefer T.M. or A.N. When I play T.M. I feel like it is a more serious, strategic game. A.N. feels less serious and more "just for fun".
I will never buy Food Chain Magnate because I am not a fan of the quality of Splotter games. They charge a lot for artwork that a junior high student could do. Their games should be priced at half of what they are.
You're not wrong. What you're paying for is all game, the components are terrible. These days, there are so many great games with beautiful components, why would you buy something from Splotter?
I bought FCM for $95 and I thought THAT was a lot. It's more now. Yet despite all my complaints, it is still one of the most brilliant games I own.
Nice review have you played witchstone yet. It’s a lot f fun
No, I haven't what a cool looking game! It appears to have a lot going on.
After all this hype for this game, I finally manage to get my hand on an overpaid copy expecting to absulutly love it... what a disappointment, it was a yawn fest and the ending of the game is the most unsatisfactory ending I have ever experienced with any board game... there was zero sense of achievement, This game is supposed to touch that need we have for collecting things, but it just does not work ... I don't know is it because there are too many cards and as result we rarely manage to get cards that we need, or collecting engine is badly done ... but it just never happens that you have a few collections of animals in a form to make you feel a true sense of achievement in the way Anno 1800 computer game does with the zoo collecttions ... I also feel green conservation animal cards that give you task to score per collection should have been played mechanically in personal space in your zoo, whilst ecological ones should have been public, I understand why this happen they literally copied how Teraforming Mars deals with achievement, bur Teraforming Mars was not a collection game and there it worked... conservation cards should have been made easier to access and complete because that is where real fun and engine drive is ... because these cards are driving engine that makes you collect animals... and then due to a limited number of workers and limited access to that part of the board , you don't get to do this conservation cards as much so you want or should ... so you will mostly end up playing random animals without any sense of strategy because these are cards that you have and cards that could create strategy never will come up! and when you finally will be able to do conservation and collections game will be over ... the whole game is too random strategically ... and that feels lame ... I find this game a miss of what it could have been ... and that is because rather than creating their own engine focused on what games tries to do ... they just used a mix of stollen ones in a new mash-up that does not quite work! DONT GET ME WRONG ... this is not a bad game ... just not nearly as good as hype wants you to believe ... for me it is a mediocre game that several board game influencers made into a sensation that never should have been!
I love this review. I'm not swayed by it, but the way you've explained your gripes: I get that. I've played the game more since I made this video and I still really like it, but you make excellent counter points. Thank you so much!
I’m excited to try this, got the game because of your amazing reviews!
More steps than I like but I did enjoy playing the game and it was pretty!
A friend of mine just attempted to teach me this game, after about a 20 min teach I was still confused.
Oh god. The first 30 seconds are like a major red flag
Nice review but your audio is bad. Sounds like you have a fan next to your mic.
It is. I think my mic wasn’t properly connected so I used the sound captured by the camera. But usually I have a great mic.
Explaining this game to others seems complicated.
I’m confused at the point of this Channel. Your first line in this video is that you don’t like Terraforming Mars, Wingspan, or Ark Nova. So you don’t like board games… got it. Maybe change the Channel to be about something you do enjoy?
I'm going to change the Channel to be about this comment! Love it!
Although not bad games, I don't feel the need to play terraforming mars or wingspan again. These are not the only board games out there. There are games like dune imperium, and Anachrony which I adore. So just because the reviewer don't like three you mentioned does not make his reviews or this channel not worthwhile.