Love at Second Sight

FFG Arkham Horror. Absolutely hated it the first time I played. But I had played the original a lot. The original game is a bad point of reference for the FFG version. It just confused me. Like I just couldn't wrap my head around the map, plus it was the first printing with the dark purple back ground which was difficult to read.

The original game board is a street map, so moving around is totally intuitive. FFG's board is really very abstract until you get used to it. I kept asking, "Where are the streets?" and the guy teaching would say that the blocks titled Downtown, or whatever, were the streets. I'd say, "Those aren't streets, those are squares."

I kept trying to move on the streets that are faintly depicted on the background image of the board. In the original, most of the game is plotting an efficient route from point A to point B, so that you avoid the huge numbers of monsters roaming the streets. You have a lot of options, because the streets are mostly laid out in a grid, so can go around the block, or down a different street to get where you need to go. You also never want to end your turn in the street, because monsters WILL land on you and just KILL you. Going into buildings to avoid monsters pretty much sucks too, but sucks less than being killed by a monster. Also, characters just die. No auto healing at the hospital. If your character lasts longer than 14 minutes, you're doing well.

So anyway, the FFG version was just familiar enough, and different enough to confuse the hell out of me.

Shellhead wrote:

Suddenly, I liked the FFG board. But I don't like the daylight version from all the subsequent printings. That sepia tone was great for Dunwich, gave everything an appropriately dirty and rural look. but I prefer nighttime for Arkham.

I'm not crazy about the sepia tone either. Since getting my copy (the daylight version) I've discovered that there is significant variation in the background colors/contrast of the nighttime boards. A different friend has a copy where the night background is perfect. Now I'm jealous. I want his board.