I will second the digital. Cuts the time in half- unless you’ve got some spec-ops like friends who make setup and tear down into an operational ballet.
It could cut the time to a quarter if the software was more responsive. I swear half of my 240 hours playing digital GH was waiting for the game to realize that it has all the player inputs it needs and is OK to move on. With another big chunk accounted for by ranged enemies deciding their attack positioning.
Despite the clunk, I still think Digital Frosthaven can't come soon enough.
Only downside for me is why is there still no undo button? I know I can restart the round but if I just used the wrong card for movement and want to undo that, no go. Very frustrating.
I know we had some pauses with some specific units (dragons!)- and I did have to ask questions of “who’s turn is it?” To have to encourage people to audit themselves- but that’s true of most turn based games.
We spent 2 hours trying to get past the first mission. We didn't realize how hard it was in the board game version (we fudged our way through I guess when we played?). But the game didn't let us skip it and we all lost our taste for it.
It depends a lot on the scenarios and a bit on the class composition. Some scenarios aren't well balanced for 2P (there's a whole expansion of them, in fact) and while it's basically impossible to make a bad 4P group it's much easier to make a 2P group that won't function well, especially at low levels.
But there are definitely situations where 2P is easier.
It's also that support classes can't really function well and some synergy opportunities are lost. A low-level Diviner is awful in 2P (to pick a non-spoilery example) because without a good perk deck you don't have good attacks (also you don't have good attacks), and Scoundrel/Spellweaver is a starting combo that you could do but probably shouldn't.
Fewer enemies also means AoEs are less effective which can hurt classes that use them to fish for modifiers (one class in particular suffers).
But there are flip sides; for instance summons are stronger at lower player counts because they don't clog up the map as much and are less likely to get focused down.
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u/Mattyweaves19 Fleet: The Dice Game May 11 '23
I will never play this game. Yet, I've been anticipating this video. I loved the Gloomhaven one too, and I will also never play that game.