-
I've played Dungeon Lords about 5 times now, so I'll admit that I'm not an expert on all things Dungeon Lords. However, I feel that I've got enough of a grasp on the game to comment on it.
Dungeon Lords is a pretty good game. It has complexity, humour, a cool theme, and enough substance to it to make it worth playing numerous times. There is one thing about it though that doesn't sit well with me and that is, it's one of those games that after you have finished playing it and lost, it's very difficult to look back at what you did (or didn't do) during the game and say "Ahh, that's where I made my mistake. Now I know what to do better the next time."
I think that maybe, Dungeon Lords has too many random elements in the game. I say maybe because the gameplay experience is very good and seems well balanced, however this isn't a game you can really develop sound strategies for before you play and execute them for a victory. Too many things shift throughout the course of a game for that to be possible. On the one hand, it's nice and challenging to have a game that keeps you on your toes like Dungeon Lords does. It forces you to continually evaluate the playing field and form short-term goals. I appreciate that. I just find it somewhat frustrating that you can't really learn from your mistakes in this game because the "mistakes" you make one game could turn out to be strokes of genius the next, depending on the lay of the board.
I know that every game needs some level of randomization in it for re-playability and I'm not the kind of guy who must win a game to enjoy it. But I am the type of gamer who enjoys the challenge of improving my game play. I like to be able to play a game, think about how it went, and figure out where I can improve for the next time I play.
There is no doubt that Dungeon Lords is a challenging game and a fun one. I've enjoyed my 5 or so games of it. It just seems that the outcome of the game is too dependent on random elements. It's either that or the subtleties of Dungeon Lords are just so advanced that you can't fully appreciate it until you've played it a ton.
In the end, I would recommend this game to pretty much any serious gamer looking for a good, challenging game, so long as they aren't the type of person who needs to be able to "beat the game" so to speak. If it drives you nuts when you can't formulate a solid, winning strategy for a game, I'd stay away from this one. That or you'd better have a lot of patience as you play the game over and over until you figure one out.
-
John Di Ponio
United States
Warren
Michigan
-
I am getting in more plays and it seems to get better each time! It is the best with 4 players although I never mind a 2 player game. After numerous games, the rules are down no problem and its easily teachable. The game is rather random...but the game has its challenges when deciding what cards to play and what to forgo for the next turn after they are played! I see this staying in the collection for a long time!
-
Jeff Thornsen
United States
Nottingham
Maryland
-
I've found that it's usually pretty easy to see why I've lost. I've only played 3 times, but the players with low scores have always:
1. Ran out of Food and/or Gold
2. Were unable to pay Taxes and/or Monsters on PayDay
3. Gotten screwed by the Spell cards (gain Paladin, waste a Monster, No Fatigue, etc)
It also seems to be very hard to win without at least 1 Production Room. They help a LOT in the 2nd year if it means never having to collect Food/Gold/Traps/Tunnels/Imps again.
-
Tommy Liles
United States
Baltimore
Maryland
Call me Tommy
Check out my gaming blog! www.playingitwrong.blogspot.com
-
As with cards games like Race for the Galaxy or Through the Ages, the best way to learn strategy in games with a high degree of uncertainty is to keep playing. Eventually recognizing the odds associated with certain strategies will become second nature.
-
Guy Srinivasan
United States
Seattle
Washington
-
Magnusun wrote: it's one of those games that after you have finished playing it and lost, it's very difficult to look back at what you did (or didn't do) during the game and say "Ahh, that's where I made my mistake. Now I know what to do better the next time."
The last game I played I lost because I tried to be tricky with food and ended up without any for too long. This was very clear because I failed to take a couple actions due to lack of food and decided not to place on a couple actions due to lack of food.
Before that, I lost games due to getting far too few monsters (I needed ~2 more), forgetting exactly when taxes came and taking on debt due to lack of gold, getting the 1st-year paladin but not knowing I would until season 3ish, losing my only year-1 room (no imp use), and... well those are the reasons I can remember now.
Maybe once I play a game without an egregious mistake I will share your feelings, but not until then.
-
Scott Schneider
United States
Monterey
California
-
Magnusun wrote: I think that maybe, Dungeon Lords has too many random elements in the game.
Do you mean truly random elements or elements that are hard to predict? The random elements are the initially unavailable orders, spells, monsters, rooms, event order, special events, and especially the adventurers. The elements that are hard to predict are other players' orders, the spells (if you didn't peek), where the paladin will go, and who will win titles. (I probably missed a few in each category.)
-
-
I certainly wouldnt call this game "random". Its a very high decicive game. Every single monster/room etc will come at a certain time. Its certain that this will happen. Its your fault if you are unable to get it at that time. You can greatly manipulate which heroes you will face etc.
It takes a few games to make your own game easy and predict alot better what your opponent will need. At this point predicting his actions will become much easier.
Alls Vlaada games have a very steep learning curve. This game is no different. (even though all Vlaada games have the cool factor that you can just play them right away and have tons of fun)
-
Michael Purser
United States
Utah
-
It took me several plays before I learned how to craft a sound strategy in Dungeon Lords. My first games were reactionary. I took whatever looked cool, and didn't bother to plan ahead. In my last game, however, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to use a lot of traps while delaying the enemy from conquering tiles. In year one I grabbed an ooze and a goblin. The ooze was to delay conquest so I could use more traps. The goblin was handy, but I really took him to feed to a demon next year. I got the trap room and stocked up on the traps. In year two I took a golem and a dragon.
Between my 3 monsters and all my traps, the adventurers didn't even conquer a single tile. I had to manipulate my evil constantly to get exactly the adventurer I wanted. I ended up with a party made up entirely of healers, because I planned on just straight up killing at least one party member a round. It worked out beautifully.
You have to look at the adventurers coming up, and make your dungeon decisions based on that. You can build a dungeon that basically revolves entirely around one resource if you want. Or you can decide to be the nice-guy dungeon lord and attract wimpy adventurers. Once you know what monsters and rooms there are in the decks, you can really craft some pretty delicate strategies. You just have to adjust on the fly. Dungeon Lords just has a steep learning curve that you appear to have not yet mastered.
Keep playing, I think you will see that things aren't as random as you perceive.
-
|
|
