2024-07-15T17:28:46Z
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… okay, I don’t agree with what he says about TI4 and its player interaction (or, alternatively, I agree that it can be that way, but only with people who don’t fully grasp how TI4 actually plays).
But I am now officially curious enough to pick up a copy of Arcs. I think Tom might be in the pocket of Big Werhle (the Werhle-Gig Economy, you might say), but I’m willing to give it a stab for curiousity’s sake at least. And I have a committed group that I can give it more than a few earnest whacks to see what shakes out.
Good review, overall.
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I think I can (only) imagine enjoying this game as a story generator, without any competitive angle.
Which is not to say “no conflict”, but rather: “let’s all just do stuff and find out what happens”, without any attempt at “winning” the game, or particularly caring what the other players are trying to do, or are capable of doing. (I can imagine taking in some of that stuff and working with it, but only little bits here and there – if it was important to have a handle on most of it then I’m bailing out before we even start.)
I do think that could be genuinely fun. However… am I willing to play the base game at least 3 times (~12 hours) as a preparation for that experience? It’s hard to say for certain without actually playing the game, but I’m highly doubtful.
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Do you mean Arcs or Arcs++++++++++++?
That whole second part makes the game sound cool and makes me wish it wasn’t based on a game with a rules tbh.
I wonder if it’s completely necessary that the whole of Arcs base is required to support the wildness of the narrative bit or whether there’s a version of Arcs possible where the base game is pure chill game and then the real game is where all the complexity is.
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I don’t think the actual rules overhead of the base game is all that bad (see my explanation in the other thread) but I think it still wants to be grokked before you try its longer sibling.
The card play is integral to the game and if you look at a hand of cards you draw in a chapter and have no idea how to achieve anything with it, it probably makes the campaign game seem more stressful than it might otherwise be.
The likelihood of drawing a hand that makes it easy to see what to do with it is small. In my trial all 10 sets of 6 cards that I saw–2 players for 5 chapters–seemed rubbish for the board state of that particular player at first. I can already see my partner sitting there complaining: “And what do I do now? You win. This is never going to work out. These cards are awful.”
But I don’t think they are. There are a lot of options to play around with. No suit is solely tied to a single action. If you have a terrible hand, you can always try to copy the lead suit. You get less actions but maybe just one build action may enable you to carry out a particular plan… and even if not. It is quite likely that everyone else at the table is in a very similarly leaky boat barely staying afloat.
I wish I could convince someone to play this with me in a non-competitive mindset. Just like Oath. But those among my friends who I think would be willing to sit down with me for Arcs are definitely quite competitive. So no chance of that.
The campaign narrative with the fates sounds quite compelling. But I am sure, it will be just like with Oath. A lot of people will end up saying “That’s supposed to be telling a story? I don’t see it.”
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It’s quite a weird one. Like if I want to sink my brain in to the attitude of being a rock man shepherd I want to invest in that but I think it becomes trickier if also one is concentrating on whether it’s a possible play to move or not.
I want to spend a minute to look over the fence and see that the guy over there is making his giant cannon and react but that is much harder if one is forced to plan a set of moves.
I think trick taking (if it is that) is already a risky mechanic before you get to the spicy bit.
I think you’re right about trying to play this non competitively - or sort of non competitively it seems like it would create the right atmosphere for getting the story out.
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It’s really not trick taking. I think trick taking would be quite difficult in this context, but Arcs’ card play is definitely something else.
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