gkizilis wrote:
Great review of the game in General. Couple of points taken from the review:
This is what we saw. This is a four player game minimum, if you are to choose heroes/villains in a random fashion.
and the following:
Great truth and contradiction in the same sentense: if it cant be played as two hero game for 2 players, then it doesnt scale well. Simple.
And finally:
There is the truth right here. You need to carefully construct your team in order to beat whateven boss you are playing against. Part of the fun in these games would be to choose a "superhero" you fancy playing with not min-maxing in order to get the game to work. Again: bad design.
"One minor complaint, though. The “advanced rules” section also mentions the option that “two experienced players” could play with “two characters each”. This is somewhat misleading; if you are playing with two players, it is absolutely mandatory that each player chooses two characters each. The game is next to unwinnable with two characters, we tested this with all kinds of combinations against the “weakest” villain Omnitron (one story AAR of a two-character game can be found here). The game is sold as a game for “2-5 players” but actually, the game is meant to be a game for “3-5 hero characters”, regardless of the number of players involved."
This is what we saw. This is a four player game minimum, if you are to choose heroes/villains in a random fashion.
and the following:
"The game scales according to the number of heroes in play, nevertheless we don’t see how two players can ever win the game with only one character each."
Great truth and contradiction in the same sentense: if it cant be played as two hero game for 2 players, then it doesnt scale well. Simple.
And finally:
"So we highly recommend that, if you are only two players, to play one test game to get a grasp of the rules (it won’t take long, you will be beaten within a short time), and then to start fresh with two characters each. This also allows for a much more balanced team because you need a good combination of damage-dealers, supporters, deck controllers, healers, damage-takers/tanks to have a chance against the very tough villains and hostile environments."
There is the truth right here. You need to carefully construct your team in order to beat whateven boss you are playing against. Part of the fun in these games would be to choose a "superhero" you fancy playing with not min-maxing in order to get the game to work. Again: bad design.
This review is completely invalid, or at least mileage may vary... I play SotM far more times with two players (two heroes) than with 4 or 5 players and it is manageable to win. Just last week I played 4 games with my fiance, resulting in 2 wins and 2 losses.
1st game: She was Wraith, I was Haka, and the villain was Baron Blade. We won with Wraith having 2HP and Haka having 4HP.
2nd game: She was Tempest, I was Ra, and the villain was Omnitron. We lost and Omnitron had 29HP left.
3rd game: She was Legacy, I was Bunker, and the villain was Plague Rat. We lost and Plague Rat had 24HP left.
4th game: She was Visionary, I was Fanatic, and the villain was Spite. We won with Visionary having 4HP and Fanatic having 1HP.
Is the game harder with two players? Slightly... But its not unmanageable. I think the Enhanced Edition scales the game just fine.
For comparison, a few weeks back, I had a game day with friends and we played a 5 player game consisting of Tempest, Ra, Absolute Zero, Wraith, and Tachyon against the Plague Rat. We lost with Plague Rat having 16HP, which is 8HP better than what my fiance and I did when we faced Plague Rat.
I can definitely say that my fiance and I never felt the urge to have to play 2 heroes each.