Carpe Diem | Rahdo's Final Thoughts

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A video outlining gameplay for the boardgame Carpe Diem.
For more game info, boardgamegeek....
Part I: Gameplay Runthrough
• Carpe Diem Gameplay Ru...
• (static cam) Carpe Die... (Static Camera)
Part II: Extended Gameplay
• Carpe Diem Extended Ga...
• (static cam) Carpe Die... (Static Camera)
Part III: Final Thoughts
• Carpe Diem | Rahdo's F...

[@windyhillbomber]

Feld needs to get a meeting going with Eagle Gryphon games. I am still waiting for a reprint of Castles of Burgundy. He needs to appreciate that modern designer boardgames is almost as much about the game’s presence as it is the mechanics

[@jyoung10]

David Thurling Agreed wholeheartedly. We actually owned Macao years ago - the gameplay, for whatever reason, fell a bit flat for us. Kinda dry and abstract. But I was really disappointed with the quality of the components - thin, chintzy cardboard stock and lackluster art design. Sometimes the art, colors, and substantial feel of the components can elevate the theme of the game. Eagle Gryphon usually does a nice job with this as exemplified by Vital Lacerda’s games. And in this day and age, with as much outcry as there is over publishers who ignore players with color deficiency, it’s a shame that a good game like this will be passed over by nearly 10% of players who refuse to purchase a game that is difficult to play (color wise) out of the box.

[@SushmeitMadhavan]

FELD MECHANICS AND EAGLE-GRYPHON PRODUCTION? - EXPLOSIVE!

[@MarlonKruis]

That's exactly what he should do indeed. This game is one of the ugliest I have seen in awhile and that's just a shame. Artwork is subjective, but this just looks like a '90s game and lacks quality in every sense besides game play. I don't think the reprint will be anywhere Eagle or Roxley could have done with e Feld title. (Look at Vital Lacerda games, both great looking and amazing game play) I also thought there were some problems with the way the roundel plays out and they were going to fix that too? Can't find the source atm. Game play trumps looks, sure, but getting a inferior product is just unacceptable in these Golden Age of board games. Trajanum isn't a looker either, bu at least production is decent on that from Huch!

[@windyhillbomber]

Marlon Kruis exactly....will not buy this or Trajanum until i feel I am getting my money’s worth. Got plenty of great games which have amazing production qualities until Feld pulls his finger out. Imagine seeing Wonder Woman shot on a Samsung phone. No thanks. #pulloutyourfingerstefan

[@stefanvansteenberge]

TMG did a pretty good job for Luna, that's about it

[@cashliam]

I took a sharpie to the brown building and highlighted them. Also put dots on the back of the dark green tiles. I’m not going to sell it because it’s a great game. So who cares if it’s marked up.

[@solomanolo1931]

According to the publisher there's gonna be a second edition that fixes all the "visual" problems. Hat's off to Alea for acknowledging that "something went wrong" ;) Still kind of a bummer as I own the first edition and don't want to buy it again...

[@Sir_I.I_William]

I'll buy it again, gladly.

[@ydryas454]

Can't seem to find this news anywhere, do you have a link?

[@solomanolo1931]

@@ydryas454 It's an offline news ;) The publisher said it in an interview that was published in the board game magazine Spielbox...

[@solomanolo1931]

@@ydryas454 It's also mentioned in the review of the game on www.poeppelkiste.de (in German).

[@solomanolo1931]

@@Sir_I.I_William The CTU must be paying awesome wages ;)

[@northernbeadle]

SOLD! Even if I didn't know what you were talking about, the excitement and passion portrayed, I'd buy it! Great review of an incredible game (minus the production missteps....seriously!?!?). Can't believe I was going to pass on this!

[@JJ_TheGreat]

Yeah, Alea is not known for their awesome production quality. I have even seen complaints about the production quality of the 10th Anniversary Edition of both Notre Dame & In The Year Of The Dragon... In addition, didn’t Castles Of Burgundy have similar issues with the yellow/lighter green and darker green (Alea, as well).

[@dddmmm21]

2018 seems to be a year of games with interesting scoring innovations! Crown of Emara, Newton, Carpe Diem...

[@rahdo]

oooh, nice observation!

[@felizitash3661]

Yeah, played it at Essen, wanted to grab it - sold out... But I got lucky and got a copy with a big discount the other day, so now I will have it at the end of the year :-) And I will definitely go and mark the dark green tiles with a sticker or something. The colour scheme was a BIG complaint at my test game and the other runthrough I saw before Essen.

[@simba2k8]

Has Alea no shame?

[@Nain1982]

i have been waiting for this review for ages! I'm glad you finally got your copy. I had pre-ordered this item because it was a feld (along with forum trajanum) and was worried about the component quality from Alea. It's sad that it ended up looking that way, although it won't turn me off from playing it. In spite of Alea aiming on producing affordable games, they still should have some minimal production standards. No one is asking for them to over produce components and be extravagant, but I mean come on! I'm sure that many people will not buy this game due to component quality. Moreover, possibly way more people would be inclined to buy this even if it meant paying 10-15 usd more for better quality. It's a pity that a game that could be a contestant for a game of the year award or more recognition doesn't get the so deserved praise because of a design that looks as if they went back on a time machine 10-15 years ago to develop. I feed bad for Feld as this game deserved a so much better look.

[@geurt681]

Hello Richard, said it a couple of months ago: this is awsome game by King Feld. So glad that I had my annual Feld moment at Spiel again. Next year a 2 player game only: Revolution of 1828! Can’t wait.

[@rlholo]

Agreed. It is all the goodness of a Feld game but without the Dice rage of Burgundy. The production is fine. The backs of the green tiles are similar though I've gotten used to it. I have no problem with the tiles or iconography. Maybe the gold and brown buildings are too similar, but I've never mistaken them. I once swapped the green buildings for the green fields on the exterior bonus track but I think it was likely dyslexia more than lack of visual differentiation because I got all of my green bonuses exactly backward... my wife chuckled and insisted I take the bonuses that I intended to build - I think she still beat me ;-) Wonderful game.

[@Gorstak3u1]

Amazing game. You did great job teaching it. This one jumped in top 3 in my wish list!

[@Davearmstrong42]

I hope it gets better with more plays... We looove Burgundy but this fell flat for us. It’s just too frustrating because you don’t have time to recover from losing the only tile that would have worked where in burgundy you usually take a less optimal tile, here you’re just out of luck.

[@ChrischoBoardgaming]

"Losing the only tile that would have worked" happens to me only around phase 4 when building boards are almost full, no carpenter's houses can be built to acquire one of those dark building tiles and when players pay attention to what the other players need. WHEN it happens, it's a huge take-that moment, indeed. Instead of grabbing tiles that benefit yourself, you can often just pick those that would have benefitted your opponents, but if that always pays out, is a different question.

[@niktheItalianGreek]

I discover this game only the last week, borrowed by a friend. Sunday I opened it with my sister and we played 8 games that same night! It's literally awesome! I would like to know your top feld's board games. For now I only have burgundy (classic and card editions) and I bought right now carpe Diem. I would like to buy in the year of the dragon.

[@ChrischoBoardgaming]

In my opinion, ALEA are paying their designers to create boxes, boards and components that a couple of old fellows -- sitting down in a smokey hotel lobby or *Kaffeehaus* in a serious, dignified manner -- can put on the table without running the risk of reaping any ridicule by their peers. "Hahah, look: Johann and Fritz are playing a kid's game again!" No, that wouldn't do. ALEA games absolutely HAVE to look like they were made two to four thousand years ago. Artists' have to reduce their palettes so that only colours from the DRAB spectrum remain, think dust, leathered skin with aging spots, grey, coffin, graveyard. And I like it! I've said it before and will gladly again -- I hate loud colors and dislike too many colors in one place. As long as there's enough contrast, the size is big enough for older eyes and there's no chance of misinterpreting one element for another, I am fine with ALEA's design strategy. One of the least attractive recent games to me would be Santa Maria or any other game with "funny", cartoonish depictions of characters, kid's book icons and colors from every corner of the CMYK color space. I could go on. I have what appears to be a revised version of Carpe Diem on my table. The building tiles still have two *similar* greens on their backs, which does not bother me much, because I keep them separate in my game box and thusly have no trouble finding out which go where. The meeple movement style has been changed and the often shown "hopping" is not needed/possible anymore, which simplifies figuring out from which two blueprint spaces the current player is allowed to pick. A few minor details are different, too, but even though baker and merchant are clearly distinguishable now, I still find it hard to read the small frame achievement icons at a glance.

[@marcoschaub8978]

Thanks for speaking up against ugly Eurogames! I don't know why Alea makes their games so bland, I really don't. You know, some people put lipstick on a pig, Alea would put a pig on lipstick... Doesn't Alea understand that I have a much harder time getting such games to the table when there are hundreds of better-looking games out there?

[@mikaelhansson9260]

Thanks for the info. I really like Stefan Feld's games, I own several of them and this one seemed like a great game as well. However, I have problems with similar colours in games normally, and with some of these being very similar, I'll probably not pick this game up.

[@dsquaredgames9286]

I just got the newest version of the game that has workers moving to adjacent spaces instead of across the rondel. I think I remember Richard saying at some point that he had a newer version that he sharpied those lines back on because he preferred that movement. Did that happen, or am I just nuts?

[@rahdo]

i just never got the new version, and kept my original one where the lines are already in place :)

[@Killer62Joe]

I used small red circle stickers on the backs of the dark green tiles.

[@J-Wheeler-G]

Wich one do you prefer specially for the 2 player experience? Carpe Diem or Santa Maria. Funny you mentioned it in this review because I've been looking at both trying to decide Wich one to get.

[@rahdo]

wow, that's a really tough one!!! wow wow. they both work fantastically as 2p games, so i don't think i can give the nod to one over the other based on that. i guess it comes down to whether you want dice (which introduces a little more random luck) or not?

[@J-Wheeler-G]

@@rahdo she loves Grand Austria Hotel and COB so dice are not a problem for her

[@rahdo]

@@J-Wheeler-G well then maybe the dice ar a draw? one other thing to consider: santa maria is a more complex, heavy game, while carpe diem is a bit more streamlined. they're both very heavy thinky games, but carpe diem is i think the easier game to teach and just setup & play, while there's more overhead with santa maria :)

[@rahdo]

like i said, it's a tough choice! spoiler alert, i'm going to be doing an update to my "top 10 must have games" video that i did 5 years ago, and i'm putting both of these games on that list :)

[@J-Wheeler-G]

@@rahdo Santa Maria is more like Grand Austria Hotel and Carpe Diem a little bit lighter than COB?

[@jankogo]

This looks promising, but as you say: why does the game have to look so bland? I would really like a nicer version of this game as well as Castles of Burgundy.

[@Arjay82]

It's funny looking back at all the complaints about the visuals of this. Now everyone hates the 2021 version and wants the ugly euro look back.

[@dddmmm21]

Too bad it is also the ugliest of the year... Just incredible... Call me superficial but I found it so atrocious I had to sell it...

[@GusG_]

Couldnt be more on the other side of the spectrum. This game pissed me off since I had big hopes and its terrible. Very restrictive and punishing resulting in a few "nothing to do" moments. Its a lot more dificult and punishing than I thought. The artwork is ugly but the main problem is that it does in fact impact the game in a negative way. Some buildings are hard to tell apart and why use 2 similar shades of green in the back of the tiles? Irritating and easily avoidable mistakes. Do not want to play it again.

[@rahdo]

those tight restrictions that you felt punishing is what we love about it most! so different strokes for different folks. but yeah, the usability issues are pretty unforgivable!

[@MarinerLingus]

Similar feelings... His graphics and components has to change. Feels samey.. Not interested...Already own Trajan ...

[@lasttruegypsy]

Could be great. I will not ever play it unless it is reprinted with decent artwork and production quality. It doesn't have to be Stonemaier level quality. But it has to be at least decent. This is one of the ugliest games I have ever seen.