Guards of Atlantis II - Shut Up & Sit Down Review

[@andrewtorrens7790]

SUSD. The only boardgame reviewers where I'll see them post a review about a game I know I have no intention of owning, and I'll watch the video anyway because they never fail to entertain!

[@Gabu_]

I don't even play boardgames, but still watch them.

[@z-man7312]

@Andrew - this is literally how I describe this channel to people. Lol.

[@wishmeheaven]

I don't know about "the only" (..what about Efka and Elain.?), but I can agree with the rest.

[@murrayjeffree8245]

I love the idea that friends are drafted, rather than chosen freely. Personally I mainly hate-drafted my friends, choosing people that would just be too powerful to let anyone else have.

[@ej____________]

It's pretty insane when Tom talks about how much Dota he's played and my reaction is "Oh, only 1500 hours"

[@qumpania]

Exactly, that's fraction of the time I spent playing dota2

[@Aburner1109]

y'all should seek help

[@FairyRat]

I played for 300 and I've had enough. Incredible game, an absolute beast of a thinking man's team e-sport. Dota is a lifestyle hobby and gets the better the more you play, sadly it's not for me, haven't played for years, I still watch Purge regularly though lol

[@jacksonreynolds7433]

There's a certain appeal to playing a game like this in person because nothing will drive a person away from MOBAs faster than "those" MOBA players

[@TheSludgeMan]

Its a good point. Reviewers assume people buy this game because they love MOBAs. Im intrigued by video game MOBAs but they're intimidating and require a huge time investment. I've never tried the genre in any format but this game gives me that opportunity finally.

[@CheshireCad]

I have never met a group of people so determined to sabotage themselves by relentlessly harassing their own teammates over the slightest misplay. Their toxicity is so normalized, that nobody even cares when they stand in base typing verbal abuse. Instead, they also harass the person that's being targeted. And they sure as hell don't report the abuser. Anyone with any shred of decency flees from that.

[@Healermain15]

​@@CheshireCad The developing studio are often pretty toxic too. Riot just settled a lawsuit over their sexual harassment of 1600 employees. With people like that in charge, it's no wonder the community is also an abusive cesspool.

[@DirkusTurkess]

@@Healermain15 Oh boo hoo buttercup.

[@TorIverWilhelmsen]

@@DirkusTurkess spoken like someone who are on the giving end of sexual harrassment

[@AntoineHorns]

I don't have the game IRL yet but I did manage to play 4 times online on Tabletopia. Every play most players were very experienced, with myself and at most one other noobie on the other team, and every single game went amazingly. It was tense and fun and came down to the wire every time. Almost every decision felt important and impactful, and the mistakes I made didn't even feel bad because it was so fascinating to think about how I should have considered things to take a better decision. So maybe I have a skewed representation of this and it's good to keep in mind that it might not go as well when I teach the game to my group IRL.

[@jesseclark7105]

I'm really loving the variety of sound effects on top of the text and visuals. Tom and Matt being a force of chaos yet again. Not quite Pipeline chaos though, hopefully you devolve back into that lunacy again sometime.

[@MrSomebunny]

Matt Lees in 2 videos, BACK TO BACK!?? Best month of my life!

[@adamwasp2717]

I was able to sneak in a gme last week, and it was honestly pretty magical. I was having a rough start as Ursafur where everyone was grinding out levels while I was the lowest. However, my teammates getting kills plus me slapping the last minion in our back line means we reset the board while I jumped 4 levels. Suddenly I became an anchor, getting dashes in and pressure while also becoming a huge obstacle thanks to my high attack and defense. Probably the only team game where I immediately jump into the game, it’s really impressive how well they captured the essence of MOBAs. So many characters also means there is so much variety in team composition that it will unlikely get boring

[@hakushara]

Wow, Dota2 and Battlerite shout-outs? I think I'm in love with Tom now.

[@SamRingOfCards]

As somebody who has introduced the game to about 10 different people and having had a vastly different experience than what they describe in the video I like to share my perspective on some of the points from the review: I never had a player express that they felt too incompetent to make informed decisions. During our first game we didn't fully grasp what the 5 colored cards represented. Understanding that each color has characteristics that apply to all champions (gold always being the fastest and green being the slowest, for example) helps a great deal in reacting to the current board state. Also which colors have been played/discarded by your opponents is always clearly visible allowing you to know exactly which colors remain in their hand. The review seems to suggest that only highly intelligent players will be able to do well enough in the game for it to be fun - this was not something that was experienced among our players. "Games were mostly long stretches of boredom" It would be very interesting for me to see how their group played the game because this statement is so far opposite from what the general feeling around the table has been for us. There are tactics to discuss with your team - also a constant threat is present because any unblocked attack is lethal. For this reason I don't agree with the assessment that a mistake will leave your team "treading water" because the nature of the combat system allows for comebacks to happen frequently. I greatly enjoy SUSD's content and of course respect their opinion but wanted to share a different view on the game because I feel that if this video was out before the 1st printing release I would have been hesitant to get the game and maybe would have missed out on what has become my favorite game of all time. On the channel Ring Of Cards I did a series of 3 videos on the game covering for example the 5 colored cards in a bit more detail.

[@helxis]

Indeed, it seemed like they took a wholly wrong approach to this game and it is a true shame. They did not take in the correct heuristics as you have mentioned here about card colors and understanding their options versus the opponents. No mention at all of the very fun constraints on team communication. And it seems like they predominantly went for changing characters and/or players frequently instead of seeming any amount of mastery. Disappointed with their approach on this one, and very afraid that it is going to be damaging to this game's place in the market. Thanks for providing some more accurate information about the game.

[@SamRingOfCards]

​@@helxis I also got the feeling that they changed characters too quickly and maybe even went for higher complexity ones too early. To get a good idea of the fundamentals first seems to be key to enjoy this game.

[@violetfontaine]

Thank you for sharing your perspective that highlights another experience of the game.

[@helxis]

@@SamRingOfCards Exactly. I think they changed players and characters probably in every game of it that they played. You need some consistency and repetition in the beginning to get a solid foundation under you. Sit down, pick some 1-star characters, and then rematch a few times in a row.

[@boondag]

It's genuinely lovely to have Matt back for two vids in a row

[@jonbeckettschreiber52]

What I thought was interesting was the lack of comment on the communication rules. That's a big part of GoAII and was not covered at all. All communication MUST be open. Both sides of the table need to be able to hear everything, even if they can't pay attention to it. Also, once the cards are flipped, no communication can happen. No quarterbacking the rest of the team, each player makes all their actual choices themselves. It's a key aspect that probably should have been called out. Fun video, sorry it didn't land completely for the SUSD team.

[@helxis]

The lack of mentioning this makes me wonder how many times Tom and Matt played this at the very not recommended 2 player variant. Also, I personally can't imagine playing this game with Matt. Especially not on my team. He's a little more "Codenames" and a little less "Tigris & Euphrates".

[@Talliesyn]

actually your comment made me see the project, bc that one aspect sounds really intriguing. It's like moba and open to people's error. But then again people would have to be open and totally fine with 'feeding' and mistakes.

[@Keasarr]

Someone else remembers Battlerite! Thank you Tom! Battlerite was indeed awesome!

[@DDeathStriker]

THE BATTLERITE REPRESENT!! that game was GOLD and i'll never understand how so many people play mobas but don't like battlerite

[@markonom2]

Love the battlerite spot, it's a great game, hopefully you nudged a couple people to try it! One tidbit, the default mode is 3v3, but 2v2 is cool too

[@yamahkogribbis6212]

I love battlerite, but I am fairly certain they're shutting down servers within weeks. Lost ark's pvp might scratch that itch though...

[@gregharshman351]

Rook main here! I loved Battlerite so sad that game failed. Not hitting someone’s counter and just standing there looking at them and them at you . One of the best video game feelings. Haha

[@nuk3snip3r]

So much effort in this review. Tom even made up a game called Battle Right, BattleWright, or BattleRite and then made graphics for it! So impressive!

[@ChiccinTendies]

kek

[@joshuarohl9371]

What a well executed video! The interplay between Matt and Tom was excellent, each amplifying each other's character. Even if this game isn't for me, it's handy to know what's out there and possible, rather than just buying another popular euro or worker placement game 😅

[@chrispiccaro]

Thank you for explaining DOTA2 so well. I’d heard of it, heard that it’s super popular, but never really knew what it was.

[@OtterOwnage]

Dota 2 and Battlerite? Tom is now my favorite SUSD'er 🎉

[@DoomEye66]

It's good Matt put on the Frosthaven lid on his head... if he would have taken the bottom half, he would have fallen into the infinite void where all the other Frosthavens are stored.

[@DanteOne86]

I didn't like Guards at 4 Players but for us it shines at 6. My play count is now 24 times (1x 4P, 2x 8P and the rest with 6P). Its still awesome

[@steveschlepphorst]

I immediately wondered if they’d only played 4. Many 4p games are exciting and dynamic, but most games that aren’t that way are newer players playing at 4 - hard to develop a good hero kill rhythm/meta, play can feel very incremental and minion-focused.

[@Hogy58]

i need to try 3v3 then

[@arcanevision1]

​@@steveschlepphorst What leads to games like that? So is 4 still fun if you get it down.

[@steveschlepphorst]

@@arcanevision1 2v2 is fantastic! Usually successful hero kills require some teamwork to take them out. (There is no health in Guards - your cards are your 'health', so you need to land multiple attacks or time a strong attack well.) In a 3v3 game, the map is a bit more crowded and team aggression comes more naturally. In a 2v2 game, it's more possible to make some lonely ineffective attacks, get frustrated, and stick to defeating minions.Walking around and defeating minions can lead to a more procedural, dry experience.

[@MasterRaccoon9000]

One of the best games I’ve ever played. It is tense and thinky. Buy it now!

[@teddy4392]

A Dota 2 intro reference on SUSD, blimey! Never did I imagine this, keep up the good work lads o7

[@mienzillaz]

Ironically Quinn's Root review gave me yet another reason to buy the game and i love it. So saying that GoA is similar case makes me kind of more interested in buying it.

[@Sm0k3zGaming]

As someone with 2k hours in Dota 2, 300hours in Battlerite and a dozen or so games of Guards of Atlantis 2 under my belt, I'd highly recommend trying out Super Fantasy Brawl for a 2 player (each controlling 3 champions) Battlerite-esk experience that avoids the over-thinkiness that comes from GoA2. Rest in peace Battlerite

[@Aq7]

A stellar review, as always. Would be always nice to get a mention of good player counts and how it plays with different amount of players.

[@AmstradHero]

It's a team based game, so you'll being playing 2v2 or 3v3 for the most part. You can play the game as a 1v1, but the feel is very different and skill will make a massive difference between players which is mitigated somewhat in a team game. You can also play with uneven teams, but I've found that doesn't quite work as well. The game does scale all the way up to 5v5, and there's a reverse side of the map with two lanes instead of one to cater for that. Those can feel like you are sort of playing two games simultaneously, but with the possibility of players jumping between the two games. I think 3v3 is probably my favourite player count because things get a lot tighter and more crowded, and you're more likely to have fights occur and focus on trying to win the game via killing enemies because there's greater scope to do so. That said, I've played it most at 2v2, and I still think the game plays very well at this player count - going for hero kills can be a conscious choice of trying to gang up and displace an enemy hero so they can't attempt to take out the minions, but knowing that you're potentially sacrificing some minions to the other team's "free" player.

[@Pokephantom]

battlerite was so good, hope V Rising gets to that level. I like these moba genre games, currently battle for biternia has got my goose. But I wish I gave Skytear more of a chance. Gonna try Guards of Atlantis 2 someday.

[@Deiflex]

Battle for Biternia is awesome, I feel it's like GoA2 "lite". A lot more control on what you do in GoA. It feels like the grown up version of it. But I wouldn't part with any of these 2, especially since Biternia is really good at 2 players, and Guards isn't made for that player count.

[@CallipygianMoose]

Just recently invested in Skytear.

[@mlheureux2663]

You may want to try skytear. Skytear is a bit more streamline, most champion are not so different mechanically while all being a bit different. There is a bit of a learning curve, but my friend who was a monopoly noob was able to understand all the mechanics at the middle of his first game.

[@JoesphGeorgeBlaise]

Man, kudos for sneaking the six million dollar echo slam in there!

[@gregorys9629]

Loved the long intro - I feel a lot of board gamers (myself included) had a similar progression from playing video games to playing board games. No doubt that's part of the reason why there's a lot of video game adaptations of board games out there these days!

[@chibiraptor]

Battlerite was SO good. Easily the best mix of WoW arena and typical Moba mechanics.

[@0emordnilap0]

I absolutely love this game & honestly thought SU&SD would too, so I'm slightly surprised at the reception of GoA2. There were some good points made but thought I would see more about: - the rules for team talk. Since you can only talk strategy before cards are revealed & all talk has to be done in the open for both teams to hear, it's critical to know when/how much to talk about your strategies. - the push mechanic. Reducing their team life counters to 0 is only one way to win. By eliminating minions in the battle zone, your team can push the wave into their opponents pre throne room zone &/or, if played carefully into the throne room itself. Or if there has been a tug-of-war all game, whoever wins the 5th push wins. - the two lane map. You can seat a 3v3-5v5 game on the other side of the one lane map for bigger more experienced players. - the multiple options each card holds. When resolving a card played, you have the option to either resolve a primary action or secondary action. Primary actions come with the text at the bottom of the card while secondary actions are usually moving or defending. Sometimes you play a card intending to use the text at the bottom only to see your enemy intends to attack you, so you settle on moving away from them so as to live to fight another day. - this game is a game of repetition. In order to get better, you should play with the same characters more repeatedly & not be afraid to make mistakes. I can understand not wanting to if you aren't having fun but this game truly rewards those who play often. It just kinda felt like the review lacked information on why whether or not this game would be right for a certain person & spent more time talking about the collective "itchy" personal experience. I recognize my bias as a lover of this game but I also love your channel so I feel like my assessment is somewhat fair. I am also aware that a smaller review was done over this game that touched on some of the points I've brought up but thought they should have been included here as well. Anyway, love the channel & am always excited to see you all post. Much love ❤️

[@helxis]

Agreed. Found this one to he a huge disappointment and it feels like they took a completely wrong approach to the game. The real bummer is that this review will have a non-trivial impact on the game's success in the market. This is one of the best board games of the decade, if not of an entire generation.

[@Sammathnar]

Again, if you need to play a game mutiple times before it gets fun or good, then it is not a good game. It is like people insisting that tv shows gets good "after the first 2-3 seasons". It might be true, but that is a huge failure of the series and you cannot expect viewers (or players) to wade to bad stuff to get to the good. At least in a TV show you can skip to the good parts, but if you are required to put in 10h before a game gets good, then it just is not good enough when so much else is fun from the first game.

[@0emordnilap0]

@Sammathnar you have misunderstood what I said. I said in order to get better at the game, it requires repetition. I specifically mentioned that because of what they said about maybe playing the game "wrong". Like any MOBA, your first few games are usually kinda confusing but with repetition, you start to connect certain pieces. You start to understand the combos, when it's time to finish an opponent off, & when it's better to focus on different objectives. Being "good" is sort of subjective & while I've had an immediate affinity for the game, doesn't mean everyone will see it my way. I'm simply stating what I know to be true from my experience with Guards. Sorry you misunderstood what I meant.

[@helxis]

@@Sammathnar The game of Go has a proverb of "lose your first 100 games as quickly as possible", and yet it is the best board game ever created. Check and mate. Or, inescapable atari, in this case.

[@0emordnilap0]

@@helxis I unfortunately agree. They're usually a lot better with their pros & cons list but this review felt like it was a box of "Oops! All Cons". I respect their opinions but wish they had given more reasons why this game might work for others. Also, you are totally right. This game is the stuff of legends! Truly a masterpiece 🤌🏼

[@h2_]

A real Dota 2 player wouldn't respond to "Can squirrels be sexy?" by saying "What??" A real player would say "Have you seen Hoodwink?"

[@The19th_Ronin]

This a surprise: a su&sd vid, well it just made my day, thx su&sd

[@Iraski]

My main complaint about MOBAs is they don't tend to be fun if you're losing - and boy do you spend a long time losing. While every once in a while you do get epic struggles and surprising turnarounds, it feels to me like most games involve somebody screwing up early game, giving the other team an early lead, and then spending the next 10-30 minutes watching that lead turn into a steamroll. This is at worst boring if you're doing the steamrolling, but is frustrating and infuriating experience for the losing team that brings out the worst in people. I think this is why MOBAs tend to have such toxic communities. I'd be curious if any of that survived the adaptation of the genre into a board game.

[@jokerES2]

This can be very specific to the MOBA. Some are designed to allow "stretching" the game out to catch up and others arent (LoL vs. DotA, largely). Item and hero design often reflects this as well, as scaling and hard caps on values keep a "catch up" viable.

[@coleryan5553]

This game doesn’t feel like it has that issue. Player kills mean a lot less until level 4, so the beginning of the game is usually attacking minions. When the minions are in your court, you start with an extra minion, which is usually enough to act as a catch-up, but since you are forced to focus on minions, they can get some extra PKs in. Usually towards the end of the game, things are pretty close, and we’ve had several come-from-behind victories

[@alexandervlasse]

GoA II does not feel this way to me, at all. I've played several dozen games and even when one team has a significant level advantage, I've been on both sides of the under-leveled team pulling out a win. Because everything dies with one unblocked hit, generally two low level characters can kill or out-push a higher level character due to action advantage. Each team has a starting amount of health tokens (6 or 8) that are lost when someone on the team dies; think of these as reverse victory points that cause that team to lose the match if they ever run out. Additionally, it's key to note that a higher level characters cause more health tokens to be lost when they are killed. For example, a level 1 character's death causes a 1HP token to be lost (out of the team's 6 or 8), whereas a level 4 causes 2HP loss and level 7 is 3HP. This means that if one character on a higher level team makes a mistake, the lower level team can definitely capitalize on it and score significant points towards victory for themselves. The game also ends if the minions are pushed into one of the bases or the minion pushes are going back-and-forth for too long without going into a base. Without going into more minutia, if a higher level team makes a mistake and is out of position, it's possible for the lower level team to capitalize on minion pushes to win the game. I actually believe that GoA II does a much better job of allowing out-leveled teams to stay relevant and make a come-back than most video game MOBAs. GoA is far more about tactical positioning and when I've been frustrated or bored in a game of GoA, it's usually been because I've made a positional mistake.

[@steveschlepphorst]

Many games played, almost never had one feel like losing team couldn’t come back (except for ‘mate-in-1’ type plays. There are games that are over and games that are still up for grabs.. - but also the lane status and level progress meaningfully contribute to the advantages held by each player / team

[@petrbroz7145]

Stellar ending. Who needs component drop when you can have box head.

[@kylemoore7746]

This video just made me realize the song I've probably listened to the most in my life is the DOTA2 theme

[@Ultr4l0f]

This another one of those games that looks pretty dang rad. But while I was younger I had time for some three thousand games of LoL. I wont have time nor energy to play GoA II anywhere near enough to learn its finer points. Another big game. Another game that I an alternative time line might love. But in the end its another one that Im gonna pass on

[@WRX3]

Learning that Tom is the same age as me has me confused and shooketh.

[@bary1234]

Wonderful ending for the video. Love it!

[@John-cr7tm]

I'm liking the tradition of ending the videos with the board game boxes on your heads.

[@chaicheenyuen]

LOL. That final bit with the 2nd box killed me... thanks guys.

[@KillerSquidHugs]

Wow props for that Battlerite shout-out. I adored that game

[@yogzoth]

As an avid League of Legends player, I feel like Skytear has gotten closer than any tabletop has to capturing that MOBA feel on the tabletop.

[@GaryG00ch]

Yeah I just started playing Skytear and my friends and me are loving it. I'd be curious what the fellas think of that game vs this one.

[@samuelrouleau2504]

I've played both and Guards of Atlantis is superior in pretty much every way.

[@Aquateenmitch]

Love skytear as well!

[@Ironhawx]

I’m late to the party, Skytear is best at 2 and requires pre deck construction before the game begins. You create a bad deck and it’s a very steep hill to climb. I’m a Skytear player going to GoA purely on the multiple player aspect. Hopefully Skytear 2.0 will be better at multiplayer

[@IamJFD]

I love Mechs vs Minions, though its not really the same and its coop. But all my LOL friends like it 😁

[@Vertrucio]

Now we need a Silent Hill boardgame review where the box is a pyramidhead head.

[@dark-lq5jx]

Tom has excellent taste in MOBAs!

[@yamahkogribbis6212]

Needs to try Smite next. Everyone should.

[@BBlueBBasterd]

I'm so glad you talked about battlerite because I love battlerite and it is SO GOOD

[@cobalt2672]

Loving the "box on head" review ending, this should end all reviews from now on

[@dahSweep]

Hearing you talk about Battlerite made me sad.. one of the best games ever made, and squandered by the developer, just like Bloodline Champions. At least V Rising is pretty fun, but I would've rather had more support for Battlerite.

[@JailBot07]

Oh my god, Bloodline Champions was soooo good!

[@francescodefilippis9384]

This looks so much like skytear with a more chaotic map and simpler mechanisms, would have liked to hear a comparison of the two games

[@joeljanzen8121]

Nicely reviewed, guys! I'm glad to see a nuanced take on a game talked about in a good way.

[@Haloeddster]

Yes, Battlerite is amazing and people still play it. You should all try it for free.

[@foodforfaeries]

The biggest benefit of a computer game is that it does all the admin for you, and also let you purchase and use blink dagger. Another benefit is that all the maths becomes a thing you can /feel/ during play.

[@philthephreak]

So what’s the best MOBA board game? I’d love to see a review or comparison with the other 2 main contenders: Skytear and Rum & Bones. Great video! Saved me from another crowd funding backing. I’d love to try this, but not willing to go all in without at least one play.

[@nactra2685]

For 1v1, it is Aristeia! Moba but only the teamfights for objectives, no laning.

[@AmstradHero]

"Did we need to make more mistakes?" YES! 100% YES. This is absolutely what you need to do. Pick cards with a 30 second or 60 second timer in play so that mistakes are made. Do not overthink and plan massively and draw the games. Heck, keep playing short games with fewer life counters and only 3 wave pushes. And play with 3v3 so you get mistakes and kills. If your games are taking 3 hours, then yes, I absolutely think you're drawing them out too long and robbing yourself of the enjoyment the game provides.

[@Hogy58]

im hesitant to play fast, it seems so much would lead to players just being killed via dumb spacing mistakes, and so much of winning already seems like taking advantage of opponent mistakes or things they straight up didnt realize or calculate for. I think i could come around to this with more games under my groups belt however

[@clanechelon]

@@Hogy58 the way I see it (for any games really) is that I much prefer to try things and lose really fast than be the AP guy that everyone hates and lose over several hours. Losing should not be a deterrent for anything... Not learning / improving should be the thing to fear.

[@pajander]

Then the devs need to add a timer to the rules. It's not great game design if the game breaks with people who actually want to think about what they're doing and want to play well. I guess that's why we usually have random and/or time-restricted elements in games, to narrow down the decision space that tends to grow exponentially. I love Twilight Imperium, but TI with zero luck would be terrifying, even if it doesn't have that much luck in it to begin with.

[@pajander]

​@@clanechelon We have four AP guys in our group of four and we're doing fine, thanks! #NoThinkShaming

[@clanechelon]

@@pajander xD

[@messymari]

Any suggestions for people who are only interested in the flying donkeys?

[@rasin9391]

I miss Battlerite sooooo much D:

[@ohnusbohnus5834]

Great review. Also, just realized I'm older than Tom, and know I feel Ancient.

[@BradleyGalbraith]

Battlerite was absolutely a great game!

[@Spoutnicks]

Battle For Biternia is a more casual take on a tabletop MOBA and I find it to be a lot of fun. You may want to check it out.

[@coleryan5553]

The player count makes this a great game for me and a weak game for smaller groups. If I have 8 or 10 people strategy minded players over, it’s nice to have an option besides Codenames or yet another social deduction game Most of the games we’ve played have worked out really well, but it’s usually come down to player elimination after players get to level 4 or higher, but having the minions in your court definitely made things harder for the defending team. Oftentimes the game came down to which killing attack had the higher initiative in the same round

[@nashwinston1395]

It’s weird that on this day I learned Tom and I were born in the same year. I knew he was young but this does makes me wonder what am I doing with my life.

[@mshahrukh92]

I have put about 600 days worth of hours in Dota 2. Finally last year I quit it for good all because of board games. I wish I found board gaming as a hobby earlier in my life. Dota 2 became so toxic towards the end

[@ChiccinTendies]

I will pray for you bro that's a lot of hours put in. Can't be easy transitioning out from that. God bless you and remember that while that time might have not been optimally spent, everything happens for a reason.

[@christopher3226]

For me, I love Rum and Bones Second Tide, which does a watered down MOBA idea. I have never had a bad game.

[@AaronQ64]

You gents are hilarious and really make every board game sound like fun. Also where did the weird googly eyed old man in the background come from? Creeped me out a bit when I noticed it honestly lol

[@damianoduci]

Thanks for reviewing GOA II !! Great idea love the MOBA adaptation. Although, to move away from the screen on a boardgame MOBA if I have to try it online first, I'd rather stick to a videogame MOBA. Seems a bit of a contradiction to move to TTS to play a board MOBA game haha!

[@ghostmutton]

Have you guys tried Godtear? Might be more up your alley.

[@hranolky3751]

1440 hours? You gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers in this racket.

[@SocialDownclimber]

The "Can squirrels be sexy" was very adequately answered in the Beef Babes twitch stream.

[@NothingYouHaventReadBefore]

Bro the fact that Tom is only a year older than me gives me age anxiety. What a man. What a guy. So precious, one of the best things to happen to SU&SD.

[@IronSalamander8]

I really liked Battlerite! It was very fast and fun, but it didn't very well as stated here, which is a shame.

[@nazokashii]

I doubt I'm the person for this game, but I always enjoy your reviews :) thank you so much

[@DaEdge89]

Nice review guys! Now please do my favorite game❤

[@eopatcjo]

I'm very glad you reviewed this one. I'm super interested in it.

[@mazman9355]

the ending sold me: "its nice in here" ....that miiiight be just the game for me🤔🤔

[@Cosmitzian]

This feels like my experience with Stationfall. I can see the bones of a fantastic time there, extremely clever plays, supreme bouts of luck as well as folly, random CHAOS that you have to navigate through while you don't reveal your hand or character... but it's all caked in a hell of a lot of teach, and it requires a lot of people, and playing a lot of times, and.. i have not had a game of it that i enjoyed in the seven sessions of it i have played. I thought maybe it's me, maybe it's the people i'm playing with, sandboxes do things to people, maybe, maybe... but at the end of the day, yeah, it's not really my job to force things to have fun with a game. I'm sure this works for some people, in some specific groups, or at a certain time, in a certain mood, but i feel a game fails if it can't at least produce a modicum of fun for everyone, even if its not their thing specifically, at any time or vibe or etc.. as long as people come to it with the concept of enjoying themselves. Consequently, something like Western Legends i have never had a game i didn't enjoy with it, no matter the group or the setup, and it's basically a sandboxy do-things-hope-to-win game.

[@samuelrouleau2504]

Except Guards of Atlantis has zero randomness, the uncertainty comes from the other players' choices

[@petargnip6164]

Is that a Disco Elysium poster in the background? And a Kim Kitsuragi portrait! Amazing. 😊

[@camyron]

The issue I can see with this that actual videogame mobas have is how easy it is to check my opponent's stats and items. Irl it requires peering across the game board and is that 2 or 3 cards pushed under each other? And am I allowed to ask if that attack does 6 damage or should I remember that? Did you upgrade it?

[@helxis]

It's all very easy to see.

[@Hogy58]

this isnt so bad with this game. Your opponents will play the cards and you should be able to see them before they start. We could easily calculate how much DPS our opponents would put out up until they leveled, then its a nice surprise to see what they picked

[@killuhKD]

Stop making me want to play Dota again Tom, I can't go back to that darkness.

[@Maw0822]

I've played 4 games of GoA so not a lot. But my experience was that if you make a mistake and die you might as well just "go next". In all 4 games the winning team had 0 deaths and just stomped. Different players/heroes won each game but each one was a stomp and not fun to play as the losing side. This might be better at 6 players than 4 but at 4 it is very very precise which does not feel very Moba-like to me.

[@Maddogxx7]

Plenty of comeback potential baked into the design.

[@Hogy58]

For my early games we allowed for our friends to undo turns for mistakes that were very blatant. Maybe this is not ideal but otherwise you can play a long game that was decided by an early spacing mistake. But i agree, at 4 it often feels difficult to get much of anything done besides killing some creeps and then spending a ton of time trying to adjust to the spacing afterwards

[@Groovebot3k]

Currently just excited to sit down and play Thunder Road Vendetta... and then start getting hyped for the Cubitos expansion launching next month (that I'll have to wait a year or so to play, lol).

[@randyho8128]

Thank you guys for your honest review.

[@brucelb]

Guards is the pinnacle of team based competitive board games. My favorite game of all time. Everyone needs to at least try it once.

[@rattenusrattoonus1880]

Meh

[@xChikyx]

Have you played League of Ancient Defenders?

[@somerandomperson8282]

Tried it, didn't like it. Lots of my buddies do though!

[@helxis]

100%! This review was a bit of an injustice given how they approached the game (breadth rather than depth), and it is very regrettable as they are going to have a direct impact at how well the game does in the market as a result. Quinns used to be a Netrunner lifestyler to the point that he has it tattooed on his arm. Now it seems that asking for even a few plays to "get good" at a game like Root or GoAII is too much for any of the SUSD team. This team needs another person that is willing to find the beauty in these games that demand more of its players. GoAII could be someone's next Netrunner. The game that they want to play so much that it is almost all they play, and end up getting it tattooed upon their body.

[@kevinespinoza7128]

@@helxisnot everyone has the time for that tho they p much said if u busy prolly don’t bother w it

[@Renouf]

Never thought I'd see Torte de Lini in a SUSD video but here we are.

[@izzet513]

If anyones interested in looking at some other MOBA board games, my absolute favorite is Skytear.

[@Hogy58]

BATTLERITE IS STILL AVAILABLE AND FREE TO PLAY. Custom lobbies with friends at 2v2 or 3v3, its still the best multiplayer fighting game out there

[@Tr3yWill]

I was kind of surprised there were no Cloudspire comparisons.

[@yamahkogribbis6212]

It was cloudspire that convinced me that I don't want to play anything similar. It felt like ten minutes of action stretched over 2 hours. I was hoping that GoA might pique my interest but I fell into a "no thanks, not ever" feeling about it.

[@AmstradHero]

@@yamahkogribbis6212 I'd recommend trying it online to see if it will grab you. SUSD's review to me indicated that they were SIGNIFICANTLY stuck in analysis paralysis land and taking ages to make decisions for their turns, dragging out the game massively. That's not a fun way to play any game. It honestly feels like they didn't get the experience they wanted from the game because they were playing the game in a way that would not allow them to do so.

[@yamahkogribbis6212]

@@AmstradHero I'll try it online.

[@TwoToneTrumpet]

I am loving you ending reviews with putting board game boxes on your head. Brilliant. No notes.

[@voodoomeeple]

The most shocking thing about this video is learning that I'm 5 years older than Tom

[@WoodieW]

I bought Skytear out of impulse at the Spiel last year. Fell in love with the superb minis and the price(which was like 40% discount? Which is rare, even on big fairs, nowadays)... Game isnt bad either. And judging/comparing by this review, its maybe a lot better? Sure, the pre-game deckbuilding can make or break the game but each combat feels intense. It only has some minor character progression, but the minis are gorgeous as well as the whole art design. Doesnt play well at anything above two, though but hey... Did I mention how great the minis are? (especially for that price point and the small production. About as detailed as the monsters in DmD, where Cmon showed that they can do pretty and detailed minis with all their money)

[@CalinBalan]

+ rep for playing dota 2

[@tahunuva4254]

If the game pushes you towards being bossy, *_insert League toxicity joke_*

[@Deiflex]

I taught this game quite a bit and I believe it needs to be taught, so not necessarily being bossy but a proper intoduction is very important IMO. There is a mechanic in the game to prevent alpha gaming and it works like a charm. There is a possibility you'll have beef against your team mates once in a while, but since it's IRL, then it quickly dwindles. I've seen people more enraged in games of Twilight Imperium, etc.

[@RoosterLewis]

Boys are back with a vengeance

[@Maseiken]

I like that the Danny Devito mini is to scale

[@RanwulfMaxwell]

Dany De Vito is starting at my soul.

[@Helkezin]

That classic saltshaker combo was so sweet. Top 5 DotA 2 moments

[@B-rice28]

I can’t believe dota 2 got a shoutout in the intro haha you got me nerding out as well since its my fave video game

[@89taklung]

I love GOAII though I get you complaints I gues n.n Luckily my husband loves it too so we play a lot 2 player style it's not how it is supposed but still nice XD

[@VgJono00]

I already liked Tom, but his remarks on Dota AND Battleright shot him right up to the top of my list.

[@Septembersmith9633]

I'm really liking this shiny bright new image quality 😊