Disney Animated Review: So Close But Yet Jafar

[@Kasotic]

Mike- Even if I’m not interested in the game, your reviews are always a delight to watch. I miss you being with the full crew (as I am sure you do) but I’m so thankful you still are part of the Dice Tower and look forward to everything you put out!

[@RobvanderLeek]

Was him not being with the main crew not a temporary thing? Bummer if so!

[@ChiiOMarteel]

yeah thought so too, what happened?

[@RobvanderLeek]

@@ChiiOMarteel So I did some searching and it seems he moved to another part of the US. Still a part of the Dice Tower, and will still be joining the main crew for certain bigger videos (I'm thinking/hoping their top 100 of all time soon) but it won't be as regular as before. Which is a shame, but glad he's still putting out video's :)

[@ChiiOMarteel]

@@RobvanderLeek Oh :( I mean glsd he's doing videos but sad not to see his interactions with tom and the crew as often :(

[@-unknown8566]

Was wondering why mike wasn't in as many videos. His chemistry with the rest of the crew in group videos was always the best, hope he will do a group video soon!!!

[@namelessfire]

Here I thought the subtitle would be “Close But No Jafar”

[@laniehrlich9271]

Such a cool theme! I studied animation and it was my dream to work at Disney - now I finally can 😂

[@CamObscura88]

Wow, this looks way better than I would have ever guessed. Thanks for the review and overview!

[@deronfreudenthal5646]

My journey with Prospero Hall has been similar to yours, Mike. Being a huge Disney fan, I really wanted this to be good but did not have high hopes. So glad you and some others I’ve heard from have ejoyed it! Will probably pick this one up sometime soon. Thanks for the video and thanks for representing the Midwest! :-)

[@Raphaelus13]

Lovely graphic design. Thanks for the overview, Mike.

[@robcannon]

This was near the top of my list of games to try at Dice Tower East, but it always checked out every time I tried to get it. I definitely saw it played on the floor a lot. I love the theme and can't wait to add it to my collection.

[@davidriemaker]

This action selection system originated in Civilization New Dawn, I think. One question: can you solo the game?

[@michaeldilisio557]

Yes you can. You would just control 2 or more characters.

[@boardgamequeens]

Please be good please be good 🤞 🤞

[@TheMetalMark666]

It took me too long to realise Mike wasn’t saying “Incan paint”! 😅

[@thegamesninja3119]

Ink and paint, not paint in cans or paint in the Americas. I thought it might be a reference to paint in cans.

[@TheColonelSassacre]

That's in the Emperor's New Groove expansion

[@maxwellhouse750]

I think I’ll wait for the seven magical creatures expansion pack.

[@labyfan1313]

Hahaha, great jab. But seriously, it's so sad and maddening what they're doing to a classic and especially it being the one that started it all. 😡 So much disrespect over at Disney these days.

[@Coralou]

Thanks for the great teach, Mike! Who came up with the pun for the title? I've seen a release date of December for Canada, I can't wait!

[@michaeldilisio557]

I’m responsible (for better or worse) for most of the video titles.

[@rexation8952]

The strength of action selection reminds me of The Grand Carnival

[@annominous826]

What a weird theme. "It's 1937 and 1992. You're working on getting the movies Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Aladdin released simultaneously. But the villains from those movies are trying to stop you by making time pass faster so you'll miss your deadlines!"

[@cmdgdaniel]

As someone who went through animation school, seeing this video in my feed made my really excited. Love the idea of playing as an animator, working together with others on multiple films simultaneously (as did actually happen in early Disney)! But I gotta admit some of the design choices for the theme are a little strange to me. As an animator, why is my main antagonist the actual villain from the movie? This just seems a little lazy in order to make the game more visually interesting without a lot of effort. It would probably make more sense for the antagonist to be a production studio head breathing down your neck, or maybe even Walt himself, although I’m sure that would have never gotten past PR. Animation and especially early Disney animation was a very refined process and it feels weird to me thematically to do be doing the painting, background art, and cell placing all at the same time. In my head this game would make more sense if each person at the table took on one of the specialized roles (painting, cell art, backgrounds, etc) and needed to balance their expertise against the demands of different films. There’s so much history to draw on here and there’s definitely some good nods, one of the action cards has the multi plane camera that Disney invented, but it just all seems like it doesn’t go far enough with it. I think this game would have been more interesting if it had gone more of the way that Age of Comics is. I’d want an animation studio game to actually make me feel like I’m in a stressed for time chaotic environment like real life. As it is, I feel it’s somewhat on the verge of propaganda, haha.

[@michaeldilisio557]

Technically, the villain isn’t the antagonist. You’re just “placing” the villain into the film as the last step. You’re really fighting against the time deadline.

[@hectormanuel8360]

I like the idea of animator too

[@DanielDo187]

It seems a little overcomplicated for what it is. By the end of the overview I had the same feeling as when Joey explains the rules of Bamboozled in FRIENDS. Also, I'm not sure about the theme. You're an animator, yet the calamities are represented by characters. 🤔 It feels like those mechanics could fit many different themes. Though the mechanics are totally different, I think that Roll Camera delivered a better feel, thematically.

[@22gjreyes]

They can easily add all those classic Disney movies. Hope they add Hercules.

[@leonzuendel123]

This uses quite a lot of Ark Nova's mechanisms lol

[@KMReviews]

You were all adding the total of your dice every round to determine first player. You only do that the first round. After that it just moved clockwise lol.

[@michaeldilisio557]

There are no dice in this game. Are you sure this is the video you meant to comment on?

[@KMReviews]

@@michaeldilisio557 definitely commented on the wrong video lol