Vale of Eternity Review: Gotta Tame 'Em All!

[@caseypeterson5827]

Sounds like a good time, thanks Tower people for the review!

[@XCM666]

Sounds to me like the "nasty" cards could be there to reduce the chance of a runaway leader. If somebody gets a particularly good combo early on, this creates an opportunity to weaken them. (Just based on what I could gather from this review, I have not played the game.)

[@RBproductionsss]

Seems a good bit like a forgotten game that Zee (and I) like a lot: Paper Tales

[@TabletopToolbox]

I played this with Mike and Zee at the retreat… They obviously liked it way more than I did! What I find interesting is, even in that playthrough, they seemed annoyed at the card destruction, take-that bit, which I had to do twice just to keep up in the score. They made me feel so bad doing it that I had to find another way to win! I’m also surprised no one complained about that awful, five-sided board that made it impossible to read the cards. Game was a meh for me, 6.5 at best. :)

[@markvanderwerf8592]

I hate how overproduced games are these days. Seeing this you see a cute draft game with an interesting money mechanic which should basically just have cards and limited amount of tokens. But then there is a fairly useless round tracker/score board and display thing. Put this game in a smaller box instead and go for nice quality cards instead and a smaller board for rounds/points.

[@KyriosHeptagrammaton]

Sound like if Reiner Knzia made pokemon

[@maxduro]

I played it yesterday for the first time and I agree with the reviewers about almost everything they said. The game it’s quick, fun and can create a variety of interesting combos with a handful of simple keywords and rules. For example I was lucky enough yesterday to grab the card that extends to 6 the max number of stones I could hold, then I filled my hand with small currency and played a dragon that turned all the stones to sixes. Finally I played a card that gave me VPs equals to the number of sixes in my hand so I was able to score 30 points in one fell swoop, which is half of the points needed to finish the game! However the theme or lack of thereof was really disappointing, the five suits fell more or less the same without any strong distinguishing feature or power, overall a very mechanical experience. Also the star shaped central board looks fancy but definitely uncomfortable for all players. Finally, less text and more iconography on the cards I think would have worked really well with this title and make it much friendlier to inexperienced players. As it is while simple, it’s not a game I would present to non gamer friends. It’s a solid 7 for me.

[@tonycork2pa469]

I'm a sucker for such thinky light card games - I will check out. I'm curious why there aren't 80 cards to avoid a reshuffle with 4 players - it's probably due to a combination of game balance and production cost containment. I guess if the reshuffling gets to bother me, I will just have to ask a 3rd opponent to leave.

[@samanrahemi2199]

Amygdala (2023) from Kiesling/Kramer has the same mechanism of limited capacity for currency which forces players to break their currency in order not to overpay.

[@JustinNichols66]

Played one of my fav games last night, 7 Wonders Duel. Has a similar flow as Zee described - draft, collect or scrap for coin. Cards are always useful, + hate drafting. Gonna keep my eye out for this one. Great overview & review, Thanks!

[@brandonmarkwell6613]

Excellent, sounds like a super fun game. Can't wait to play with my mom and nieces and nephews. Keep up the good work 🤙

[@benfoster6715]

I can't unsee the blue chips/tokens as guitar picks ha

[@nshaw1299]

New people watching 'Dice Tower' videos: So why are their theme songs sometimes different? People watching 'Dice Tower' for years: So what determines when Zee's music is used for a review? Is it foretelling us something?

[@danielguimond3740]

I believe it means (like in this video with Zee’s music playing) that Zee is the one giving the rundown of the game.

[@kevinbhieey9188]

More likely, that Zee is the one editing the video.

[@Listan1]

Does it play well at 2 player?

[@jodymitchell1678]

This is one of my biggest problems with Dice Tower reviews. They hardly ever touch on which player counts games play best at. Sure, they will sometimes vaguely mention it but I wish they'd give more insight on the best player count preference.

[@carstenmuscat3400]

But yes, it plays well with 2

[@kevinbhieey9188]

They get hundreds of games every year. They don't have the time to play every game at every player count. BGG's "Best At" is one of the few things I go to BGG for. It's quite reliable.

[@TheJerandelapp17]

What is the game on the shelf in the background? Between baby groot and the green stuffed dragon? Please!

[@ikster19]

This game looks crazy fun, when is it out for everyone to purchase?

[@ThorAxiun]

Agreed!! Mandoo website says early October!

[@ikster19]

​@@ThorAxiunThanks for the info, couldn't find any information anywhere about it's release

[@dadtier564]

@@ThorAxiunany chance you could link that website? Having a hard time finding it

[@ThorAxiun]

@@dadtier564 Pretty sure KZbin deletes links but its mandoogames . The top banner image shows the dates for Vale of Eternity and Pocket Farm

[@kodiakuk373]

Seems like Furnace without the bidding...

[@deards116]

I wish they made a summoning board 😭 it adds aesthetics

[@wedgeex]

Definitely Seasons vibes. I really dig it.

[@mikeputrino1203]

Sounds like a combo between Jump Drive & Star Realms.

[@danacoleman4007]

I will stick with Seasons

[@KMReviews]

Maybe I missed it, but I don’t get how you actually score? He said the hourglass but that didn’t give him points it gave him more currency. Is the currency also points? I don’t get how the scoring works lol

[@AaronAndSusie]

I had the same issue. No idea. Imo Zees explanations over the last few years have gotten a bit lax and rambling and missing details.

[@TabletopToolbox]

The cards themselves provide scoring opportunities - maybe. Some cards score when played, some score if they exist in your tableau at the end of each round, etc. Its a bit of a mixed bag.

[@KMReviews]

@@TabletopToolbox ok yea he never explained that well. He mentioned one card having a timer which triggers on the s prong round but it just gave him more of those tokens, no points.

[@TabletopToolbox]

@@KMReviews to be fair, the game overall was weird in how things worked. I scored nothing the first 2 rounds and was way behind. Took out a few cards for points to the ire of everyone at the table, then scored something like 25 points in round 9, ending the game early and winning. It just felt weird...

[@KMReviews]

@@TabletopToolbox yea sounds weird lol

[@foxbear60]

Having fewer than 80 cards makes it really easy - almost a necessity - for people to buy future expansions just to avoid the reshuffle. That being said, it totally would work on me! 😄 I'm touching base with my distributor buddy to see when he'll have a copy in my area.

[@Jootie_de_Kop]

Pitty they didn´t went for another title and theme. Too generic for this fantastic game.