by callidusx3
Leaf Ninja wrote:
... we always end up kind of awkwardly not playing them anymore after a couple weeks or months or so. It happened to Agricola...
Now consider the games we still play after months and months or even years: Mage Wars, Summoner Wars, Netrunner, Battlelore ... And now ... Runewars.
So now it's weird, because we're all HIGHLY competitive and enjoy soundly skill-beating the snot out of each other, but in terms of boardgames we actually continue playing, we're beginning to prefer these games with significantly more random elements. I suspect the following:
- We prefer games that don't sacrifice thematic execution for slick, "balanced" mechanics.
- Games that prioritize "balanced mechanics" but "allow small instances of randomness or variation" become ALL ABOUT those small instances of randomness or variation.
Now consider the games we still play after months and months or even years: Mage Wars, Summoner Wars, Netrunner, Battlelore ... And now ... Runewars.
So now it's weird, because we're all HIGHLY competitive and enjoy soundly skill-beating the snot out of each other, but in terms of boardgames we actually continue playing, we're beginning to prefer these games with significantly more random elements. I suspect the following:
- We prefer games that don't sacrifice thematic execution for slick, "balanced" mechanics.
- Games that prioritize "balanced mechanics" but "allow small instances of randomness or variation" become ALL ABOUT those small instances of randomness or variation.
Junjun,
Your suspicions are correct. The simple reason for this preference by you and your brothers is this characteristic: Narrative.
Simply put, eurogames rarely provide a memorable game experience because the game does not create a story. Ameritrash games (and Wargames) however are chock full of elements that create narrative through the course of the game.
When I retell a gaming experience to a friend, I don't bring up that time I won Dominion with only 8 points or cooked a sheep for that last food I needed to avoid a beg card. Rather, I tell the STORY of how I, as the Bene Gesserit, manipulated my ally the Atreides and the Fremen to ensure the Fremen won on Turn 7, just as I predicted and thus win a glorious game of Dune. Or perhaps I regale them with an opera of how my Romans won against all odds despite being surrounded by three enemies, including the mighty Pyrrhus in Sword of Rome. I suspect the same is true for you and your brothers.
Euros simply cannot create that kind of narrative because of the two reasons: a. the mechanics are divorced from the theme, and b. the minimization of luck deprives one of those unexpected and memorable moments of treacherous defeats or surprising victories.
Welcome to the world of storytelling through games!
A question for you. When you think back to your earlier, pre-BGG gaming days, do you remember better those games of Risk or those of Monopoly?