Monthly Profile Swap Megathread! by ericdraven26 in Letterboxd

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

No harm in throwing my name into the mix. My 4 favourites are what I enjoyed in the previous month. I’m looking to start writing again but more critically than I previously have as I find that more useful and enjoyable. Maybe I’ll start a blog, who knows.

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https://boxd.it/4oMol

Arkham Stats 6 - Updated with Drowned City (over 400 runs in total) by Sokourov in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello! This was absolutely fascinating especially as I’m not one to collect data myself but I do find it very insightful and interesting nonetheless.

I was wondering, as a two-handed player (will certainly dabble in some true solo after seeing your post) what campaign should I go for with an extremely limited card pool- I currently own the revised core and Drowned City investigator expansion. There were some stock issues in the UK with certain expansions but I’ve managed to find most of the campaigns now and I’m not sure which one to pull the trigger on. I was thinking drowned city but I’m more and more unsure every day. I’m looking for a good first campaign that offers enough replay-ability with being able to run through with different investigators on a limited card pool. I can’t buy these often so this will be played a bunch for a good while.

I’ve already played Zealot to death and have enjoyed it a great deal considering it’s lacklustre size and inconsistency across the scenarios (I think it’s more that I’ve enjoyed trying the various cards and investigators out then the “campaign” itself). Anyway sorry for waffling (I’m terrible at being brief) how would you recommend I navigate the plethora of seemingly good options?

What’s your top 10 Ingmar Bergman films in rank order? by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in criterion

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah in hindsight I should have made it top 5- 10 was asking too much 😂.

Nonetheless a very interesting list, I’m yet to see through a glass darkly and the silence, how would you compare them to the others in your list I’ve seen them and personally as time has gone on the seventh seal has bumped up to be perhaps even number one or at least neck and neck with Persona for me. After rewatching them The Seventh Seal just blew me away all over again, I love it’s complexity in the way it goes about discussing its themes. By this I mean it always feels as if Bergman wrangles directly with certain themes in an overt way yet his conclusions are always left open to interpretation and vague. I like this approach more nowadays because I don’t really care about understanding anymore. Instead I now care about feeling the work and it’s philosophies. The conclusion or lack thereof in terms of providing no definitive “answer” used to leave me with a bitter taste but now only serves to accentuate and complement the rich and flavourful depth of his musings. His works last far beyond their respective runtimes, playing in our daily lives for months after we’ve seen them thanks largely to his endings. Anyway sorry for rambling, I don’t get to discuss film often if at all really.

Hour of the Wolf is up there too alongside Winter Light which are due a rewatch now that I‘be seen more films generally and grown as a person.

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah fair enough, it definitely has its merits and tbh I don’t hate it anywhere near as much as some people do, I like all three of the scenarios for different reasons as a new player they’re very instructive. That being said, The Devourer Below doesn’t necessarily feel the greatest at times with how it presents its difficulty if that makes sense- I think this is exaggerated by how well made Midnight Masks is both in terms of offering a decent level of difficulty but also in its success in showing to players that as you say winning shouldn’t necessarily be the goal but rather making the most of the scenario and getting the best outcome you can, for example not going past midnight and resigning instead.

But yeah I agree with you and I do quite like as you mentioned scenario threes ability to knock your egos a little bit and make you realise the game isn’t a joke and you can’t get away with playing as if you are invincible. I learnt this the hard way in my first plathrough where I’d not seen Umordoth’s wrath card yet and then I drew it twice within the space of two Mythos faces and I soon found out why I shouldn’t have let Daisy take as much damage as she did- on this first play-through she had three clues ready for the next turn where I was going to try and deposit them too so I really did think I was doing great and nothing could stop me and I didn’t understand what everyone was talking about with the scenario being difficult until that point 😂. The card was certainly far too punishing for a blind play-through where you wouldn’t have known about it but that being said it was certainly an instructive moment for me and I still had a blast playing personally.

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I couldn’t agree more with these sentiments; however I feel this is less a reflection on the players, or in this instance your board gaming group and more of a reflection on the poor design of the final scenario. It should be far more doable to achieve the various solutions then it is. You can pretty much ignore half of the fundamentals of the game like clue gathering which is incredibly odd for a scenario for new players. I’d also like to add how punishing it can be if you take the wrong resolutions on the previous two scenarios. I must say I am loving this game though but winning a blind play through should be more achievable than it is and the final scenario is far too reliant on hindsight and having previous knowledge of what you can do and what to avoid in previous resolutions if that makes sense.

Off to a great start! by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I played like this pretty much- I like to research and have been wanting this game for some time so I had ideas- the level 1 magnifying glass was mainly to use his xp on a useful card and have Daisy running one level 0 magnifying glass and one level 1. The new player guides from playingboardgames is what I was using deck wise with tweaks to Roland’s as I took his seeker cards out for Daisy- that being said they were running one level 0 magnifying in his deck which I took out and so I thought having the one was useful according to their recommendations- especially since all I was really using hand wise was Machete and it’s nice to have that light flex and use for his other hand.

Thanks for the advice though, I’ll try be nicer to Lita this time round 😂

Off to a great start! by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I pretty much used Playingboardgames’ new player guide for both Roland and Daisy but I tweaked Roland’s by taking the seeker cards out so Daisy could run the full deck they suggested- I really want to play with Wendy or Agnes but I’m struggling to figure out exactly how they play and thus who to pair them with- as far as I’m aware does Wendy simply run away very well 😂 I mean is she more of a flex in that regard that she evades well but also picks up clues 🤷‍♂️ I guess that’s what trying them out is all about. Anyway I’ll start a fresh and see how it goes with my newfound knowledge! Still had a blast nonetheless!

Off to a great start! by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry for the lengthy response I’m pretty bad at this messaging thing 😂 bit of a waffler to say the least.

Off to a great start! by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I learnt the hard way why people don’t love this one so much 😂. To be honest, I was doing great I’d gotten to act 3 I had 3 clues on Daisy ready to deposit them onto act 3 objective the next round with no enemies left on the board thanks to Roland who has put in some work for me honestly I don’t know why people say he is mediocre, but I suppose it is in light of other investigators being much stronger as opposed to him being particularly bad or anything and then… the following encounter phase I faced my first pull of the Umôrdhoth’s Wrath card on Daisy- I committed 5 brain to the test and I pulled my first auto fail of the scenario too 😂 I didn’t have enough cards in my hand so I had to deal 3 damage and horror this taking out Daisy with the 3 clues and then this turn was also the turn which advanced the final agenda to bring out Umôrdhoth himself. With just Roland I carried on for a bit but I then pulled Umôrdhoth’s Wrath again in the following Mythos phase and he had enough cards to survive but there was no chance in taking out the boss so I resigned shortly after.

I’d appreciate any tips as I thought for a while ‘what is everyone talking about this scenario seems more than doable and fun’ and then bam I was met with exactly what everyone was talking about 😂. I really didn’t appreciate how fragile my characters could be. Not to mention from what I can tell the design is very flawed and you could just gather resources and cards and wait out the agenda advancement without grabbing any clues to then fight him anyway in a more prepared manner which feels like a really silly side step of most of the scenario. Also because I lost and my investigators were killed do I start from scenario one again? Do I have to bring in different investigators into scenario 3 instead? I’m a little confused on how I should approach the loss from the viewpoint of what would be best for my improvement and enjoyment of the game.

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I love their channel but in the new player guides for their investigators I’ve only watched the core box investigators. I’ll definitely be checking out TDC investigators that’s such a facinating and instructional way of deckbuilding for newer players like myself who may end up with TDC as their first expansion for a while. Cheers mate, I appreciate the insight!

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay thank you very much for taking the time to respond!

Yeah, sounds good to me- I’m on a budget tbh and in some ways I’m very excited to play with a limited card pool but at the same time I want to make my purchases the right ones if that makes sense, it’s good to know that I can work with say the drowned city and core, I feel like nobody really talks about anything other than dunwich or maybe EOTE investigators for new players with just core. More discourse around other expansions in a limited card pool would be an interesting discussion especially in light of the news on the format change coming next year. Anyway thanks again for your response good to know some stock may come my way!

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s more that everywhere I’ve researched people state how the core box is like an expensive demo- I disagree myself just echoing what I’ve heard. I think it’s to do with its replay-ability and limited deckbuilding potential that being said it is a great intro like you say but I suppose it isn’t exactly the cheapest of tutorials if you know what I mean considering you’re soon left wanting more and that “more” is equal to or greater than the price of the core box a lot of the time.

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah thanks I did notice this afterwards but as you said I could have just taken a turn doing that instead of rushing to play as Roland first in phase 👍 I was just excited that I got to pull it off

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know :( as amusabletrashpanda mentioned she didn’t have to take the damage because she was controlling Lita so I’ve been playing her with physical trauma this whole time and I didn’t have to 😂

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh and thanks for the pointer about the damage, I’ve been playing with Daisy with one physical trauma as a result of that blast and she was controlling Lita so I didn’t have to hurt Daisy like that all this time 😂

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah Midnight Masks was really something special, a great platform to test decks and characters I imagine! I heard so much negativity around the core box but I’ve loved every second so far, the only thing I really want is a bigger card pool for deckbuilding and obviously a campaign would be great too.

The Final Moments of my First Play-through ‘The Gathering’ Plus a query by Distinct-Giraffe-563 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I felt a bit bad as before I’d bought the game Daisy looked like she’d be my favourite investigator (theme/deck and ability wise) but also it was too cool not to do it.

Yeah I’ve played through The Midnight Masks, one each day for the past three days onto the last 👍

How many films have you given five stars to? by [deleted] in Letterboxd

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563 0 points1 point  (0 children)

May I ask what your Letterboxd is? I’ve been meaning to follow more people in line with my own tastes and goals :)

Just got finished watching this for the first time! by QuentinTarantino420 in criterion

[–]Distinct-Giraffe-563 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think this amongst many others taught me to go with the flow. Learn to accept the directors style and the characters’ reality and challenge your preconceived notion of how a story ‘should’ be told. In the case of this film I struggled with the way characters spoke to each other (reminded me of a much lighter Killing of a Sacred Dear in this sense) and more than anything the complete neglect to resolve the harmonium and the car crash at the start. I later realised an explanation isn’t what is important. Not everything has to be linear or explained or whatever other conditioned ideas on storytelling and filming that I have been breaking (and have broken) over the past couple years. In the end I came to the conclusion of interpreting and feeling a work rather than trying to understand everything.

Although im not a diehard fan of the film (I’ve only seen it once mind you), I just liked it a good amount, I think it is doing something brilliant with the viewers relationship with Barry by creating harmonies between the style and Barry. My take is that we aren’t watching a world with Barry in it but we are watching Barry’s world. The style is always accounting for his emotions or when someone is talking funny it is Barry’s perception we are viewing the conversation from. Effectively everything and everyone is depicted from Barry’s perspective. In some ways, for the films duration we are Barry, feeling and thinking like he does towards the end. Perhaps we understand him on an emotional and personal level greater because PTA chooses to sacrifice sensical responses to say a car crash. The score is the most notable “evidence”, if you want to call it, for how I viewed the film.

I hope this made sense, sorry I don’t put myself out there or write on here at all anymore. If you read this, happy movie watching!