Arydia: the Paths we Dare Tread review (review copy provided)

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Playthrough - kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5LdaWSBoN2Wa9U Patreon - www.patreon.com/onestop Podcast - soundcloud.com/onestopcoopshop Discord - discord.gg/p4jX8AF 0:00 - Introduction 0:34 - Organization and components 1:22 - Enemy activation 2:25 - Path advancement 3:25 - Combat tactics 4:36 - Exploration and quests 6:07 - Final thoughts

[@Biodelic]

The hype train has crashed through the station, has left earth, whipped around the moon and is now heading towards Mars.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

LOL!!!! But all my stuff is still stuck on earth!

[@Biodelic]

@OneStopCoopShop in that case, please find your way to the nudist section of the hype train. 😏😂

[@JackoDaddy5]

We have Roll Player Adventures, Kinfire Chronicles, Arydia (arriving), and Agemonia (the reprint in a couple months). I think we'll go through them in that order. The pre-order of Arydia started us on this ttrpg journey.

[@BlakeAustin2011]

Fantastic review, Mike! It was actually Steve and Kim on the OSCS channel doing a preview play of Arydia that had me ready to be a first-day backer for this one. Not sure if you guys track that info when you get it, but cheers to a patient journey on this one!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Steve and Kim did an amazing job doing the early coverage for this. It's actually their videos that got me to reach out to the Arydia team and end up covering this one!

[@Kaelor_Aetel]

Thanks for the great review Mike. No surprise after watching your playthrough. I was ok with the enemy activation system and loved the heroes turn/actions/weapon system. This is great to see that it takes inspiration from galzyr for questing but makes it more interesting in the quest line and also changes the world dynamically. I am thinking I will play solo two handed to avoid gaming the enemy activation too much and playing with more than one class. Great that it is easy to change paths mid game!!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

2-handed was my preference pretty quickly, and luckily it’s easy to drop in characters so I didn’t need to restart

[@Kaelor_Aetel]

@ that is nice. No pressure of not starting with the ideal path/number of heroes. Looks like a chill game!

[@MrYorkshiremonkey]

Nice review Mike, fair and not too many “mixed”, this only solidifies my hype for this arriving in (hopefully) a couple of weeks, can’t wait to get it to the table with the kids !!

[@jcapo5]

I played this game for like 8 hours straight. Its phenomenal. It's unlike anything I've ever played

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Amazing! I'm so happy it's starting to arrive for people.

[@19kvet96]

Just got mine and my group is ecstatic. Can't say enough about the quality.

[@Deltium5683]

I am really looking forward to this game.

[@robcannon]

I can't wait for this to arrive!

[@Camj41]

Can’t wait to play! Great review! Which two paths looked the most intriguing to you?

[@zifnabdr]

Getting my copy soon!!

[@sebastiang.5032]

My most awaited Crowdfunder. Can't wait!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I think you’ll have a blast with it!

[@IraFayGames]

Thanks for the thoughtful review! Out of curiosity, approx how many hours did you put into the campaign before recording this review? And did you complete the campaign in that time? We've been estimating 40-60 hours to complete the campaign, but we don't actually have that much real data on that yet... Thanks again, and happy holidays!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I played through half the campaign, and your estimates sound right. I think it was around 20 hours of play, maybe 25. But I play quickly 😅

[@ThomasStockx]

@@OneStopCoopShop Did you check any of the "legacy do not open" content? One of your mixed points was a path getting kind of stale after a while, so would that mean that the second half of the campaign there is no worthwhile progression anymore?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

There is worthwhile progression. You unlock the most advanced abilities which tend to be super powerful, and the highest powered weapons do things like hitting more spots or piercing armor or things like that. It’s just not as exciting as your initial leveling up, but that’s the case in most RPG experienced like this… a ton of progress early, more incremental progress later

[@IraFayGames]

Interesting. There are certainly things we designed for higher level play that you might not have seen, then. What level were you when you stopped playing?

[@ThomasStockx]

@@IraFayGames 👀 Exactly why I asked my original question. Might still be wishful thinking, but with all the spoiler-averse-ness of you and Cody, I found it strange that the only progression would be the already shared skill-tree and "the same weapons but slightly better stats".

[@Slyfox1775]

Ageamonia , tidal blades 2, isofarian guard and now this game on the shelf !! Ugh where to start !!

[@WojoO]

Agemonia for last as its probably the best among this :p TB2 is shortest campaign i believe so start with it :)

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I know how I rank all of those games, but that’s coming next week with my “top 40 of 2024” videos :)

[@jbringas9582]

@@OneStopCoopShopPlease do a Top 100 or at least a Top 25 Campaign Games of All-Time. That would be epic!!

[@jbringas9582]

Campaign Top Games of All-Time! So will you please?!?😊

[@moneybee517]

Would you mind sharing a bit of a comparison between this and Agemonia? Thanks!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Sure! Agemonia has really in-depth exploration on each map, using cards to discover cool (or dangerous things in the area). Arydia has a bit of this, but far fewer things to find on each map. However, Arydia has no time limit while you are exploring. When you aren't in combat you can bounce around the map as much as you like. Agemonia on the other hand often has very tight timers. So there is more to discover in an Agemonia scenario than in Arydia, but you'll feel more pressure to do so and you will miss things. As for combat, Arydia has a bit more going on in fights, with the directional attacks and all that. Agemonia is much simpler in combat, BUT you are fighting enemies AND exploring your environment and trying to solve puzzles and such. So Agemonia's combat can feel more tense in that combat is only one part of what is going on. But purely comparing mechanics to mechanics, Arydia's combat is more interesting. I'd also give Arydia's paths the edge over Agemonia's characters. Both have unique traits, but Arydia's special attacks and leveling trees feel more exciting to me. Oh, also a big one. Agemonia (while it has side quests) is focused on one big main narrative of trying to stop (or join) this demonic incursion. Arydia gets to some main connecting narrative stuff, but it's more focused on disconnected side quests. Both games are great in their own way. Hope some of that helps!

[@moneybee517]

@@OneStopCoopShopthank you for the detailed answer. With only some much time for campaigns, this is a huge help!! ❤

[@goldsmeeth2771]

Thanks for review. Would you pick Arydia or Agemonia?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Both are great, but at the moment I think arydia slightly wins for me. But both games have their strengths and weaknesses

[@Muhd_Akmal]

Easily my game of the year. Cody and team hit it off the park on this one!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Yeah, this is a winner through and through

[@renmaster7319]

Thanks for the review Mike, did you try solo playing two handed or just pure solo?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I tried both, and slightly preferred two-handed for more combat complexity

[@Ragingspoon]

Been interested in this for a long time but I am going to give it a miss. I like the idea of the side quests but I dont feel it has the mechanical depth and longevity I am looking for at that price point.

[@tonybowers9490]

Thanks for sharing.

[@boardgamebodycount]

Really like this review! Wish I had backed 😢

[@OneStopCoopShop]

They have preorders open on their website - faroffgames.com

[@doanepoole6640]

Thanks for the review. Gonna pass on this one on price alone. Yikes!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Yeah, it ain’t cheap, though at least with this game you can see where the money is going. It’s a lovely production

[@tiredguy2753]

Lands of evershade may be worth a look as a nice alternative . Assuming you are not going for the “premium” version , evershade does have like a 90$ pledge level . With arydia the painted minis like any game that has a painted mini option really drives up the price .

[@jacobdresen9412]

Any chance you're selling the review copy?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

No, that would be pretty scummy, especially before the game is widely available. But you can preorder it from their website!

[@ttocsisme]

This one's going to take some squillage

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Get squilly with it!

[@wiblick]

Torn... considering pre-ordering for solo only (and feel very lucky to be able to do so considering how many people have waited years for this).... but is there too much combat I wonder... In Ireland this will cost me the equivalent of about $370 (with the expansions) - will watch some more playthroughs... looks amazing.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Combat isn’t too frequent. Some locations will have zero combats, and most have only one or two. It feels like a nice mix of adventure and fighting

[@babylonsfall7]

This or Elder Scrolls: BotSE?

[@OneStopCoopShop]

VERY different games. If you want the best and deepest tactical combat, go for elder scrolls. If you want more narrative and exploration and role playing, go for arydia

[@dougradcliffe1466]

So there's no overarching story at all? At least in Sleeping Gods there's a main story even though its primarily side quests.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

There is some main storyline, but the focus most of the time is on questing and helping people

[@podam3789]

Ouch combat is trash. I’ll just stick to CRPGs for narrative games then. So far no games can seem to do narrative right

[@OneStopCoopShop]

The combat has been a ton of fun, and the narrative (while side quest-focused) is also good. But of course a CRPG will have more content and more going on than any board game RPG. That’s just reality 🤷‍♂️