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Study in Emerald Impressions?

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23 Aug 2014 13:01 #185772 by Gary Sax
Hey guys, Grudunza had a great post in the board games played thread about his early impressions of Study in Emerald. It caused me to do a search and look at what people had said about it. I remembered that Kingput liked it, he posted about it sometime in the last year. There were some dissenting voices about the game too.

Anyone care to revisit their impressions of the game for my benefit? Almost all the comments were single posts in the boardgames played thread. Does it hang together in the long run? Are people who enjoyed it still seeing it hit the table?

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23 Aug 2014 13:08 #185773 by engineer Al
I did not love this game after one play. It seemed like a bunch of game mechanics were compiled and randomly thrown together. I have been told, however, that you need to play it more than once to "get it".

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23 Aug 2014 13:23 #185776 by Grudunza
We had to play it halfway through before it really started to make sense, but from that point on it was great, and we were eager to play again. I don't think it feels thrown together at all, but more that you come to realize that everything is a means to the purpose of seizing the right opportunities at the right time to jump ahead on points and win. Sometimes you have control over when the game ends and have to initiate that, or take a chance on that. There's a lot of opportunities for screwage and I would say it's highly interactive... you need to be very aware of what everyone else is capable of doing and how many points they have, and sometimes need to second guess where they might move their agents and so on, and there's a push and pull with the area control aspect. Relatively short game, too, for being pretty meaty... our two games lasted two hours and one and a half. Put me down in the love it camp.

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23 Aug 2014 13:41 #185777 by jgriff
It's been a huge hit in our group. We have a few Wallace fanboys so that helps. Personally, I got about 20 plays in this year. The first play or two get sucked into the mechanics and there are alot of moving parts which take a while to digest. After that, it slows down and you start to realize the options. It really opens up when you can start to focus on what everyone else is doing and trying to determine something from that.

Like BSG or any of the other hidden team games, there are alot of opportunities to deceive and different players will make or break that aspect of it. There are some gamey mechanics which can be abused but in the end, there are alot of levers to toy around with and they all end up differently game to game and player to player.

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23 Aug 2014 15:35 - 23 Aug 2014 16:36 #185781 by Gary Sax
I must admit the fact that it would be pretty easy to flip in a year if it didn't hit the table much is making the high price tag more palatable.

Incidentally, I just watched this game on a BGG run through and it is completely insane, like Archipelago. I love that.
Last edit: 23 Aug 2014 16:36 by Gary Sax.

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23 Aug 2014 17:08 #185784 by bfkiller
I'm in no rush because I have a lot of unplayed games, but this would be tops on my want list. I haven't read up on the fine details of how the game is played, but the broad strokes sound amazing.

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23 Aug 2014 17:20 #185785 by Chaz
I'm in the same boat. It sounds fascinating, but I know it wouldn't get played enough to really justify owning it. I'd still absolutely love to own it.

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23 Aug 2014 19:36 #185786 by Grudunza

jgriff wrote: Like BSG or any of the other hidden team games, there are alot of opportunities to deceive and different players will make or break that aspect of it. There are some gamey mechanics which can be abused but in the end, there are alot of levers to toy around with and they all end up differently game to game and player to player.


In our games last night, the hidden teams didn't even really factor in too much... it became very obvious after a while who was who and we didn't really try too hard to obscure that. But we were talking afterwards about how there are probably some subtle ways to obscure your role, which could end up creating some fun situations, for example where you kill someone's agent because you're sure they're a Restorationist and intending to end the game, but then they're a Loyalist. So even without the factions really being much of a factor, it was still great to figure out what to do and how to win based on knowing who was who. I can see the game getting more in depth when you are more familiar with the game and are able to manipulate the roles better.

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23 Aug 2014 19:39 #185787 by duckgoatwombat
Wallace fan. Played twice. Loved it more the second time and also a potential GotY despite the 2013 release date. I take it regularly to gaming nights where it sits looking forlorn in my bag as we play co-op/family game 27.

It's the game I wanted Arkham Horror to be, where everything happening in the world feels insane, but here the story unfolds without relying on flavor text, which is how I become most immersed into a game.
The hidden roles really help make the game but they can often be figured out very quickly if players aren't subtle which can strip much of the tension as it switches from a points race to a points fight.
It's a game that can also end within a couple rounds much like a turn 3 alliance victory in Dune. Interesting but not much fun.
The mechanisms do feel somewhat thrown together and my god the size of that FAQ to clarify the rules, but you know what, it doesn't matter.
The game will be divisive but that highlights its brilliance to the believers.

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24 Aug 2014 08:00 #185794 by KingPut
I looked at my geek buddy analysis of the game. ( n=14) mean = 7.4. Mostly 7's and 8's. That's a pretty solid rating. Other games that have come out over the last couple of years that rate similar with my geek buddies includes Kemet and Spartacus.

A Study in Emerald got a lot a play this year and will probably get it's fair share of play with our Wed. Night game group in the future because the game meets following. Plays in less than 2 hours, scales great from 3-5 players, once people have played it twice the rules sink in and most import the game plays out very differently each team because of the unique set up with the cards that come out and how the secrete identities play out.
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25 Aug 2014 02:39 - 25 Aug 2014 03:01 #185835 by Grudunza
This: boardgamegeek.com/thread/1085852/delicio...age-knight-fa/page/1

Eh, that's a bit over-the-top, I suppose, but does convey some of the feel and potential that the game has.
Last edit: 25 Aug 2014 03:01 by Grudunza.

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25 Aug 2014 08:50 #185843 by Sagrilarus
I really didn't like this game, but I'll admit it's not my kind of thing. The whole secret team-mates genre bores me to tears. That said, you can buy an airship in it and cruise from site to site at no cost, and that intrigued me enough to stay with the game.

I would have like a marker to indicate I was in a blimp. That would have improved the experience for me.

S.
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25 Aug 2014 09:05 #185846 by iguanaDitty

Sagrilarus wrote: I would have like a marker to indicate I was in a blimp. That would have improved the experience for me.


Clearly some role-playing is necessary. Puff your cheeks, hold your arms away from your body, and talk with a high squeaky voice.
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28 Aug 2014 23:51 #186126 by Gary Sax
I decided to buy it. It's a strange fucking game. Don't know if it's good, but it sure is odd---especially for such a *short* game.

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01 Sep 2014 10:30 #186292 by Chaz
I just caved and put in an order. CSI had a copy on Amazon for $75 because there's a crease on the cover or something, and shipping was $4. I figure I can live with that, and I'll probably be able to flip it later if I decide it's not for me. I love the theme and the mechanics sound suitably bonkers. I'll always be going for the blimp though.

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