5 Reasons you SHOULDN'T back : Skyrim - The Board Game

[@RafikisCheeks]

Actually played the demo which took about 3 1/2 hours (which is already far longer than most board games out there) and besides the annoyance of learning new board game mechanics that comes with every game, it was actually very fun, the lore was refreshing from the usual Skyrim story line and the battle system is enjoyable and simple even for people like me who have an extremely hard time getting used to new mechanics. Id say if people are on the fence about it just play the demo with a few friends to see if its for you, but I defiantly wouldnt say its something you SHOULDNT back, because it can be fun as hell, just dont back it if the content given just isnt for you or out of your price range. Though the models' could defiantly use new art work, but I suspect thats more on Bethesda holding out on certain freedoms regarding that so I can get why newer art and models werent used (besides ya know, commissioning art can get incredibly expensive and that goes into more copyright and use prices)

[@Mantala0611]

Backed it and love that I did !

[@oliwardcomics]

7:34 you sounded exactly like the dark elf from the general store in riverwood

[@roberthuffman2620]

LOVE the way you describe things. I may not agree with you on every point, but it is a refreshing take on the hype of the board gaming world in general. Including (YOU FORGOT THIS POINT) how gambling with your money on a board game that has NO OTHER TESTS or REVIEWS like a normal board game from Fantasy Flight, Hasbro, etc etc. YOU DONT KNOW if it is really good. AND THAT IS ANY KICKSTARTER!!!. Love the video man and your speaking/presentation ways!

[@ToboldStoutfoot]

For me this one was borderline, so I ended up with just the reduced-price base pledge, which is expensive enough. I don’t mind the card filing, it seems a lot fewer cards than 7th Continent, which I liked. The reason for me to pledge was that I was looking for a narrative game with relatively light rules and game mechanics, which this seems to be. My “main reason not to back” would have been the lack of a physical prototype, which always makes me suspicious.

[@kosterix123]

Lack of prototype Lack of scenario book Lack of blind testers There is a rulebook though. But I couldn’t chew through it.

[@koonfasa]

I got caught up collecting cabbages trying to fill up my house. It started off with trying to fill up each house simply dropping junk, but I could only get it knee deep before my x-box started getting clunky… and I lost a few key items in there somewhere. I’m not even trying to look at this one, and I’ve played a lot of Skyrim. I’ve got Mothership and Cy-Borg in my sights…

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Ahaha that's fantastic. So funny.

[@scottarmstrong8178]

This video was practically an arrow to the knee.

[@williamblack6912]

I'm was not sure what put me off in the first place, but you summed ut up perfectly. Another big factor for me are the miniatures they look less interesting than I thought at the beginning and many of the iconic enemies like draugr, dwemer automata etc are missing. So my intention to get this game took an arrow to the knee.

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Yeah, I was pretty underwhelmed by the minis too. An arrow to the knee for sure XD

[@danyjacco4853]

Perfect! Now give me 5 reasons you shouldn't influence people from buying what they want! Thank you

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Ooh you got me! You cracked the code and found the answer! Feel free to go buy all the heroin and cocaine your heart desires!

[@tomsteele2845]

The only draw for me ended up being the IP… and really that was it. Reused art, dull (appearance) gameplay (to me), the game just gives me a BIG cash grab appearance more so than BIG game feeling I wish it had… I was unaware of the creators first game and I’m was not aware of Modiphuis before this. Could explain it…. Also lots of small print on lots of cards. Enjoy it if you get :-) Just not for me from what I can see.

[@Thomas-kx9op]

Modiphius creates a lot of RPGs and a few board games. They have been around for quite a while and have had the Skyrim license for their Elder Scrolls Call to Arms tabletop game.

[@ste1bro]

Modiphius are great, one of my favourite companies. Their Star Trek and Dune RPGs are stunning, amongst others. They did a great job with their Fallout games, Thunderbirds is fantastic. The thing that puts me off their Skyrim game is... it's Skyrim. A game I like but don't love.

[@tomsteele2845]

Their IPs sound great! Although I’m more of a board game player than a RPGer… so still not sold on Skyrim the board game. Thank you for the info about Modiphius :-)

[@HeeeeySteve]

Are you going to cover Gartenbau in this weeks countdown? I’m curious to hear what you think of the mechanics even though the games been out for a long time. I’ve been interested in it but not enough to back. Been holding off this long but in the final days I lose some self control. 😬

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Yeah just finishing editing it up. I think it does look neat, I like the two choices of when you place your person, but the price for me is just a little too much for what it is.

[@jasonadkins8434]

I feel pretty optimistic about this game, I totally am backing this at the second teir for the hopes of a pledge manager. However I am biased due to I'm a huge Elder Scrolls fan. It was this or witcher for me. And I'm passing on the witcher for this game. But like I said. I'm going into it open minded, and think it will be a fun campaign. I can see me and my lil one player together.

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Nice, I hope you love it :) I'm hopeful the story is going to be fun for fans, at least to dive back into the world

[@kosterix123]

To pass Witcher is not a valid argument to buy Skyrim.

[@krs4395]

I'm not sure yet, I'm one of those people in for the Lore and the idea of following the Blade storyline knowing the aftermath of what happened to them from Skyrim is intriguing. So Because of that I've watched several playthroughs of the game and there's barely any difference between each playthrough so there's very little takeaway and the Lore itself in some case comes down to a single sentence of "go do this because X says so"

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Yeah the first playthrough I thought, oh wow this is pretty neat, and then I saw it repeated again and got significantly less enthusiastic.

[@cobracommander4516]

Your videos are great! And its funny because I always feel the need of backing to be increased after watching :D Every reason here makes me realise the game actually is perfect, at least for me. I'm all in on solo-play with this game and maybe two-player once in a while 5. I like to be able to play through the campaign at least twice before I die. 4. The Deluxe-pledge with mouse pad playmat, coins and extra figures is great. 3. I'd love to return to the world without having to sit in front of a computer. 2. Good point, but as noted, the rpg-background from Mophidius sounds great. Thematic ameritrash-games isn't as sensitive to designing as eurogames. 1. I love cards and to zip-bag everything makes it easy to sort and protect sleeved cards. I dislike apps in board games. Said design choice is not the best, but it makes the game faster, just hide the lower part while checking and store face down. Did I say this was a great video to watch for me? :)

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Haha, that's awesome to hear - that's exactly my hope, that it'll confirm your choice one way or the other :) I'm excited for you to get it! Thanks for saying so.

[@kosterix123]

Zerywia is the game for you then.

[@kgeo2686]

So the pace and combat are my biggest issues. There is a lot of down time and it took ages just to get through 2 turns. I did combat for both my turns. It was really slow and pretty boring. The combat was so unexciting and was a back and forth snore fest of rolling. Pay for swing miss, pay for reroll miss, enemy hits, lose stamina, swing miss, pay for reroll miss, enemy miss, rest, enemy hit, rest, swing hit, repeat. It was just boring and all the players were sitting there as I went on the back and forth miss and rest dance with a bear. There was no meaningful choice, just watching my stamina go up and down and trying to hit on my 3 dice. It made me ask why the combat was so bad? Board game combat is usually about choice, not a rollfest back and forth to simulate every swing. Maybe some games do combat swing for swing but they must have more choice then roll, reroll, or rest. You may think, well Eldritch Horror has a simple roll for combat? There is a lot more going on in and out of combat in that game and also that game is fast paced compared to this. The rest of the game wasn’t too bad but it’s all rolling. With a pace this slow and a combat this uninteresting it will be a pass for me.

[@illuminatidorito4029]

What was your opinion on etherfields, since you dont like fiddly narrative cards..? You did back it, no?

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Yeah I did back it, and we've played 3 chapters of it. Had to stop because of Covid and are getting back into it now. I think I don't mind the card searching aspect of Etherfields because they tell you all the cards you need to grab for the specific chapter and just put them on the side. And they're usually (or at least so far) in a clump together, so it just feels like part of the setup, not that you have to turn and search the deck every single time you explore a new place. And then for the narration I find it so much easier to search for specific passages instead of cards. The board definitely should have been oriented the other way though (horizontally instead of vertically), since most of the action takes place on the top 3rd of the board.

[@illuminatidorito4029]

@@RoomandBoardReviews I did back it but I find it hard to put all in the box and the next day take all out again... The second wave is about to come so better hurry up liking the Game hahaha

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

@@illuminatidorito4029 Yeah I get that for sure. We had plans to play the other night and then I really just didn't feel like talking all that much so we played power grid instead. There are a few things I'd do differently with that storage to optimize the setup and tear down, but it's pretty jam packed as it is haha. It marked my initiation into group buys so ended up going all in :0 I'm terrified for the 4 campaigns that are to come haha

[@ryangilmore3678]

These videos have always been needed. Thank you again. All your points are spot on, and you've pulled me back over the fence. It's a good thing! I should wait, see how it's received, and get it [cheaper] at retail. Keep up the great work!

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

I appreciate that - I'm glad it's helpful :)

[@TheAndrevarela]

Too bad it’s more expensive at retail.

[@ryangilmore3678]

@@TheAndrevarela Not at all. I want it even less now!

[@JamesPattersonME]

7th Continent PTSD 😆 I've heard the game referred to as 7th Continent: Filing Cabinet the Board Game

[@Jacob-gi6ig]

I want to make my own DnD game and story with the elderscrolls as my setting

[@kosterix123]

This is a very useful series on project evaluation from an undervalued point of view. Your last point is the most relevant. If you promise immersion and meandering in a reactive world, you break the narrative by spoiling the answer on every card. I don’t think searching through a file of cards will be a problem, they are numbered so in log o time you find your card. What amazed me most was why I felt bored halfway through the 2h playthrough. And the text on the cards is really bad, all in past simple tense. As if it’s done already. A reactive world should present itself in the here and now. On Discord I got asked the fundamental question: is it better than Zerywia? Answer: no. Nothing is better than Zerywia. So I canceled my pledge. I guess you’re right that it won’t be changed after pm closes today, but also I didn’t like the tone in which Modiphus refused to answer my questions on game mechanics. Finally, digital form is never enough. Projects like these are always bug ridden, most mortals are really not prepared for that. Don’t expect Middara quality here. When a creator has to bribe Rahdo into saying hey time flew by and I got nothing to show, all that is left are red red flags. And yes, even I almost fell for it :-)

[@davrosdavros7198]

If they had more classic enemy miniatures I would have been interested but good points

[@mel_from_hell]

Even though I was not even planning to be bothered by Skyrim:Board Game I like your 5 reasons so here I am

[@DustGamingEST]

I realy want that game but i dont know if i will like it AS a boardgame i would buy it 100% if it was on pc

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

I agreee completely, which is so weird, but I would definitely be in for this board game if it were implemented as a pc game.

[@nimblegoat]

I don't even have to be convince on this one- for my country 140 pounds plus 30 euros for shipping for game tier - it's got to grab you by sus cajones /huevos for that money - lots of good rpgs out more will come

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Yeah completely agree, if you're not in love with it these days the Kickstarter prices are just too high.

[@lotterwinner6474]

I might just have to back this because you compared it to 7th continent.

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Haha our eternal battle continues!

[@Table.Fables]

Thanks for this mate! You’ve turned my mild interest into a confirmed skip- while I love the video game I don’t think this will have the replay ability and depth that I crave. Cheers 🙂

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Cheers I'm glad it was helpful :)

[@matthewmanghi5765]

I feel like “lack of original art” was a reason for me to not back as well. I also would have liked to have seen physical prototypes as well so I could have gotten a better sense of what the final product will look like. I think you raise some good points and I do like a narrative adventure. I just backed ISS Vanguard though, so I wasn’t sure I needed to back another one that I think looks less interesting to me. I’m going to wait and see what happens in retail for Skyrim, crowdfunding is like blind betting sometimes, and I’m not always into that.

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Yeah the lack of original art is a really good one as well. It's tough without seeing ANY physical prototypes, you really don't know what you're going to get.

[@petergross7235]

This in two years? Or Gloomhaven now? I think we know...

[@82ndmi]

1. top reason - you'll never play the miniatures game. The minatures game is interesting, it has coop, but all the value is tied to the two minatures games these pvc pieces work with. 2. its not a campaign - if you've owned some of these ffg style adventure games, you know the cards eventually repeat, and overall you get less plays than the big dungeon beaters. 3. you don't want a card based story system - the mechanics are more complex than most adventure games that aren't mage knight, but they aren't close to most dungeon crawlers, there's not much game here. also filing cabinet syndrome, which is much worse here because you're actually having to go burn cards out of the file to burn narrative paths as you play, meaning you're hitting the file for the card, the follow up card, and the card for the path you can't take. that's 50% more card pulls in that thousand card deck 4. minature quality is below the industry standard. Not retail standard, but definitely kickstarter stanadard 5. the company that makes it has been really really slow to release their kickstarters - expect this to take 2-2.5 years. by the time this releases you could play skyrim on your ps6.

[@kosterix123]

Summer 2022 was promised. That’s impossible. Every similar game had a 2 year delay, summer 2024, maybe.

[@jda0987654321]

I was initially interested because of the IP, but after watching a playthrough video and seeing the price I decided to skip this one. One of your points made me interested in getting it, but then I had to remind myself of the price and shipping. Points 1 & 2 definitely helped solidify my choice to skip this one. Also if I got this one, there's a real good chance I'd be playing it by myself, which for me is a great reason not to get it.

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Yeah, I don't play that many solo games either, and I know I'd probably want to play this one solo so that makes it also an easy decision for me.

[@herr_der_spiele]

I fear that your Mission has failed.... i am still pledging 🙂😉👍

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Haha Awesome, I hope you love it :)

[@lu7ky]

Looked up the Gamefound for this and it seems SUPER basic, the art on the cards which are the main component of the game need to be perfect to get this to be visually impressive. It definitely looks like it will be very annoying to play and remember what is going on. Also some of the player figures look like they are just using default poses. This will not be a good game by August I'd hypothesize.

[@morgaknightgames]

I was very skeptical that this was going to meet expectations from the first announcement. It really came down to the fact that I have at least 5 very large campaign games headed my way and the Skyrim board game was just not going to fill any niche that I have missing in my collection. Plus, I still have never "completed" the video game, so I'll just go play that instead.

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Yeah the too many campaigns on the way is always such a consideration

[@Nidamir]

1. I own orginaln Skyrim, and still didn't finished it.

[@BobbyLCollins]

There's no way I'm paying $300 for a product that should only cost $49.99. If I had $300 to spend on Skyrim, I'd just buy the video game on 5 different platforms FFS.

[@stephendavis7327]

I wouldn't touch this campaign with an arrow.

[@dcrbdh]

In the RPG hobby PDFs are generally an okay option for add ons. I think that this mentality made them think that this would be an okay option for board games…. Which does not fly. On the other hand, maybe all the glitches in the board game are there as a homage to all of glitches in the video game?? On the other, other, hand the publisher puts out some good rpgs, so hopefully this translates well *fingers crossed*. Also I did not finish the video game either because… ADHD, and side quests that were way too interesting. Also I married the hot werewolf girl and called it a day. I mean, no sex scenes? Disappointed. What?! I’m not creepy you’re creepy!

[@nipzie]

I'm totally with you on this one, I don't have any FOMO for this. The card sorting I totally get and it's why I got rid of 7th continent myself. If you're going to have me searching for a bunch of cards all in a row, why do they have me skipping through all kinds of ranges of cards? And why have a small line of text then have me immediately look for another card? Be a little efficient when having someone sort through cards.

[@jonathana6298]

I'm on the fence on this one. 1) Short Campaign - This is a positive for me. I'm trying to keep the long campaign games in my collection to a minimum. Aside from that, according to them, you will see roughly 10% of the story cards in a single play through of the came. I think that's where the "practically" comes from. Variability on which of the other 90% of the story cards you'll see on subsequent plays. On top of which build you're going to play, random events, and decisions. I would defend their "hundreds of hours" comment with the 10% claim (versus the "literally" every other game behind you). Because it's an adventure game, it's not exactly the same as playing hundreds of hours of Chess. 2) Stretch Goals - These seem medium. Not terrible and not great compared to other games. This doesn't belong on this list. The stretch goals are fine. 3) Skyrim Theme - This is a good point. If you're not familiar, this is just another generic fantasy game on top of countless other generic fantasy games out there. I'm positive on this, but it can be negative for some. 4) First (?) Game on BGG - This is always a good point for any new game developer. 5) Narrative Card System - I have no experience with narrative card systems. I skipped on 7th Continent (and currently waiting on 7th Citadel). But I like choose-your-own-adventure type games. I'm neutral on this point.

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Yeah the short campaign is a plus for me as well. I must have missed that 10% comment but that makes sense as a calculation, good thinking :) and this actually does seem like a world I would jump into again after playing through, but since I don't usually play that much solo and I'd want to with this one, that's what inevitably led to me not being tempted by this one.

[@renatocarvalho6059]

This is a very easy skip for me, honestly. You just tuned rock hard the already cement covered certainty that I would save my money on this one. xD

[@paolothehoo]

Thank you for this! I was on the fence, but you talked me off the ledge and saved me some money that I can put toward games I will enjoy more!

[@kickedfromcampaign]

Lol never take advice from another person, just experience it yourself. There is a free demo about it on tabletop simulator

[@warpaint9385]

Yeah I was backing this but changed my mind and pulled out few days ago. Honestly if it’s going retail, I’ll just wait. I don’t care about the stretch goals, I don’t care about the miniature add on so no reason to back. I live near a game store that sell Kickstarter games so I’ll probably be able to get it there and save on shipping costs.

[@NeilY1000]

Great summary. Exactly what I was thinking, and why I wont be backing it. Infact I just upped my Witcher pledge up to a gameplay all in, as I 'think' that gives what Skyrim is missing. One final note. Do you want me to recommend a shrink to help your 7th Continent trauma. I'm getting worried :P

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Haha, all the shrinks send me away, they say it's too deeply rooted for them to help me!!

[@ulf-nicklassdegenhardt-mei3121]

Thanks for this ne interesting episode. What I tke away for me... I will go and play Skyrim on my good old PC. 😋

[@ianmcleod8898]

I was on the fence for a long time on this one. The campaign is rubbish! There are stretch goals now for the base game, they may be lame but its something. I've backed it for the game play. Never played the video game so I cant compare anything there.

[@pauls3585]

I was disappointed with the look of this game as well as the high price and really bad stretch goals. I wanted to back this but I able not going to.

[@aaronm.837]

Thanks for the video, Chris, the FOMO Slayer. After stepping back and looking at The Witcher Old World more closely, I came to the same conclusion with Skyrim. The reason I want to like these games is because I really enjoyed them in video game form. That then begged the question of, well, why do I want a board game that is trying to imitate a video game? And I the only reason I came up with for why I shouldn't just replay the video games that require no fiddly mechanics and don't cost $100-200 (and also have practically hundreds of hours of play...) is the possibility of new narratives in these worlds. However, based on Skyrim's reuse of video game assets for card art, I wouldn't be surprised if they reused quest lines from the video game too, maybe with a few name and dialog changes but ultimately copy and paste (pure speculation on my part). I get that IP games have to stay true to the IP, but instead of a direct port of the video game, I'd rather the designer take a risk and use other board game mechanics to give a unique experience that adds to the world the IP built, not repeat what has already been done.

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

The video game art doesn't bother me as much as it does for some, but I agree unique would be better. There's a lot of dynamic art that could happen and just isn't, which is too bad.

[@commandershepard9920]

This is your first video I couldn't completely get through, which I think is very appropriate for Skyrim.

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Hahah yeah definitely

[@TabletopTussle]

I thought this was interesting when I first heard about it but after looking at this game in regards to the actual mechanics and art/miniatures I am not really that impressed. This is not to say people won't enjoy it but when I look at it it seems like a gimmick based game. I very much agree with what you said that it presents an "illusion of choice". I think Oathsworn/Stormsunder/ISS Vanguard will blow this out of the water.

[@dcrbdh]

"My name is Chris George and I don't have a catchphrase" is kinda a catchphrase. Just saying . Like you legit need to start ending your videos like that.

[@Mepper.]

One of the best things about the video game is the moding community. They fixed most of the bugs and let you change the game in a myriad of ways. I'm not sure that would work out well for the board game... Imagine having 5 pages of notes on house rules. :)

[@RoomandBoardReviews]

Haha, yeah be pretty hard to mod the board game. I do love that some of the mods made it into the anniversary edition.

[@Thomas-kx9op]

You failed :-)

[@DireMcCann]

Always Leary of video game IP board games. What video games offer: the visuals, soundtrack, quick battle machanics (vs board games), etc…. So many things to love and list! But when you’re translating that into a board game, you have to pick and choose elements of the game you want the player to experience, and do it successfully, and many games don’t execute those things well. So I’m with you: why spend $100+ for a board game that gives me a partial experience that I’d get if I just loaded up a game I already have on my console….