Brand New Dark Souls Core Sets for Preorder | What We Know So Far Regarding Contents & Gameplay
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Always Board Never Boring loves the Dark Souls Board Game from Steamforged Games. Two new core sets that include revised rules and a new way to play have just gone up for preorder, so in this video we take a look at what we know regarding contents, changes to the rules, pricing, and release dates.
This information is derived from several Steamforged Games resources, as follows:
steamforged.co...
steamforged.co...
steamforged.co...
Additional information is coming to light all the time. Apologies for any errors or oversights.
Please note, images are the property of Steamforged Games.
#darksouls #darksoulsboardgame #steamforgedgames
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On 16 September 2022, one day after I made this video, Steamforged Games announced they have acquired the rights to make an Elden Ring board game. If I was a gambling man, I would bet that these two new Dark Souls core sets are just to offload the last of the Dark Souls content. This is probably it. A final way to appease the fans of this game, and encourage them to take a look at the Kickstarter campaign for Elden Ring.
Steamforged also have repackaged some of the minis as separate items for their Dark Souls RPG ruleset. In a way that supports your theory that they're offloading the remainder DS content. A shame since the three 3 games have a wealth of areas and monsters to explore and fight.
Definitely disappointed in the player boards and component choices. Definitely a cost cutting measures to save on their end. The prices is pretty steep given the downgrade in quality. I would have like alternative sculpts if they were going to use the characters from the player expansion (but once again savings on their end). Will be interested in seeing how they change the rules and how that can work going back to the original sets. Will only incorporate the new rules if they are significantly better. Plan to pre-order though will probably pay $10-15 per box more than from 3rd party. They really struggle to everything they do related to this game.
They do seem to make such odd choices. I am quite happy to carry on collecting the old stuff for now. I will check the rules when they upload them, but I really am quite happy with the rules the game originally shipped with. I did try the double souls half sparks thing, and I thought it ruined the whole flow of the game. But then, I don't really care if a game takes a long time to play as long as I am enjoying it that whole time.
The quality was already sub-par before. a downgrade is no good
Wait, these are $110 each? I'm pretty sure the big core set was 120 retail here in the US, or at least it was close to that at one point in time. I never picked it up due to the size & price, and because of the things I've heard on it being too long. I find anymore I rarely choose really big, longer games like this.
The promise of updated rules based on community feedback & lower cost, more minimal core sets had me excited. For 110 though? Feels like too much for the component downgrades
The prices seem way too high to me. It also feels like they could have done a single revised core set, and then made the other box an expansion, because then you don't end up paying for two sets of dice and tokens. Splitting the characters into sets of three feels off as well.
Everything is more expensive now. Every mini company has increased prices.
I picked this (The Original) up after you recommended it and it shot up to my top ten list in a matter of 24 hours. I was already shopping for expansions after one play.
I will likely pass on these new boxes for the foreseeable future, the only thing I REALLY like is that SICK LOOKING SKELETON BLOB! (I never even played the videogames and I absolutely love this game.)
Very much looking forward to your stick to the script video for the original, you are an excellent and thoughtful writer.
Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad I helped you find a game you love. Your description of getting the game and instantly wanting expansions feels so familiar to me for some reason...
I want to use those figurines to play Dungeons & Dragons.
They are selling figure packs for use with the Dark Souls RPG. The only issue with these miniatures is they are quite large, so they make miniatures from other ranges look a bit weedy sometimes.
As a long time Dark Souls fan, I was pretty excited for the first edition. I never got around to trying it, although I did pick up the Phantoms expansion just because the minis were great. Now after watching your video I'm not sure if I want to wait for the new version or get the old one (or just continue buying it for the minis haha).
If you are interested I would say get the original core box. You get more content and Stewmforged are going to publish the updated rules online. That’s what my friend decided to do recently.
Hope we a painting video on the dark souls game from you.
Painting videos are in the works for Dark Souls. They should start popping up soon.
Awesome!
uff they just amped the price...
I wish it was painted world of ariandel rather than ariamis. I'd much rather get to fight Freide than Priscilla.
Agreed on all the issues, but despite that I'm glad to see them return to this game. Was a pleasant surprise.
I don't think they've handled this very well, but it will be interesting to see the new rules. I'm glad they will be sharing them for free online.
Ehhh.. those core sets are about $30 more expensive than they should be. Or they should have been rolled in to one single release for like $100-$150. I can't think of a reason to release such slim "core sets" other than encouraging people to buy both for a full experience. Not really in the spirit of the games, where dlc was expansive and well worth it.
couldn't disagree more about wooden cubes fiasco. it's not a cost cutting downgrade, it's an enormous ergonomy and usability upgrade.
Considering they've been selling the individual bosses for $50-$60 I'm not sure what people were expecting for price. I was hoping for closer to $99 but I can't say the amount surprises me.
I am hugely disappointed by the player characters though as there's still a large number of armor sets they could have leveraged for other characters or even just gone with an alt gender option.
While I personally haven't seen a high enough resolution screenshot to make it out I've also heard the game now specifically says 1-3 players and does not in fact support 4 players any longer. Would love to see an official response on that but as you said SFG has been pretty light on the info so far.
A few points I would make on price though. First of all, core sets are always priced more competitively than expansions, and as new core sets, these should be priced to entice new players. Second, compared to the cost of the existing core set, the pricing is out of whack, especially when you consider you get less content, they have replaced the wooden cubes, cut down on the package weight, and some of the sculpts are reused which reduces tooling costs dramatically. They are also recycling some art assets.
The box says for 1-3 players. They have to do that because there are only three characters in the box and they can't sell it as being for more players than can actually play with the contents provided. It's like Lords of Waterdeep shows 2-5 players on the core box, but it actually had provisions on the board for another player which was held back for the expansion. On the expansion, the player count is listed as 2-6. Dark Souls, being completely compatible with all that came before, will still support the same number of players. It would be a terrible move to reduce it. Apparently they have confirmed this when asked, but I haven't located an official comment to share yet.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I would cost these as two combined expansion with some core set stuff added to make them standalone, rather than as loss leaders.
There's a mental wall people tend to hit around the 100 mark. 50 is basically pocket change, but when you hit triple digits I expect much more in the box than they're providing. They should have really just combined the 2.
@@DustyLamp Boardgames with minis overcame the 100 dollar wall years ago.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I think you are dismissing the fact that the original core box is 5 years old. The world and prices have certainly changed since then. I agree that it could have been more competitively priced, really they should have at least gone for the same price as the existing core set, but I don't think this isn't inline with their existing products or the competition. If it had been more competitively priced it could have led to a resurgence of the game, as is it will probably just be the final piece of the collection before the license moves on.
I was really hoping they'd include the black dragon knights from DS2's dragon shrine. Seems like they're keen on sticking with the first DS for now.
Definitely disappointed.
Yeah, almost everything has been related to DS1. I guess that makes sense, but as someone who is a big fan of 3 I do wish there was a bit more of that stuff.
The Miniatures look nice, but the price instantly put me off
Those prices are rough. It will be interesting to see what they go for at retail.
Steamforged seem very much like a “minimum viable product “ kind of company. Nothing I’ve ever seen or experienced first hand has ever felt like quality.
I know there have been quality issues with some of their stuff, but I've personally been really pleased with the quality of the products I have, although I don't have a lot. I thought the Dark Souls core set and the character expansion were very good quality, and so were the two Godtear starters. But I do think they sometimes feel like their products aren't quite complete, or that you need to buy a few more things. Godtear in particular felt like that, as the full game involves three teams per side, and you only get two teams in a starter set. So really, you need to buy the starter and one other team, just to have enough for one person. You need both starters and two other teams to cover yourself and a friend. I'm getting a similar sort of vibe with these new Dark Souls core sets.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring that's good to know, I've always seen the box of DS but not seen the contents in person. Unfortunate that this may not hold up for you in that case. But I'm still interested in seeing it for sure.
i remember getting into the RE2 kickstarter. They ignored 2 emails I had about a broken model, and the game played like a slow ass dungeon crawler. I doubt they can do anything remotely competently.
Painted World of Ariamas.... Ironically unpainted... 😅
Ugh, by the sounds of it we'll all need to give SFG more money for a core set if we want to enjoy the new rules. I'm pretty disappointed in this.
Seems to be sort of yes and sort of no. They are making the rules available free online, so you can access them without a purchase, but the new way they are going to run encounters in the game means you will need new encounter cards if you want to play that way.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Well, by enjoying the new rules, I mean being able to actually use them. No use for us having access to the rules but we can’t play the game using them.
@@JevousGaming But it sounds like there will be elements we can use without buying the new sets. Sounds like they have tweaked a few values and the like - some things that won’t require any new materials. I don’t like the sound of the new combat encounters anyway, but there might be a few things in the new rules I will want to try out.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Thanks for taking the time to respond. Again here we are left guessing about what’s going to happen with a SFG game. It’s honestly so tiring getting our hopes up every time for their games. But yes, I’d like to know what their version of “double souls half sparks” is, and how they handle the loot this time around.
@@JevousGaming it’s going to be interesting to see. Their blogs have been a bit vague so far. I believe they are planning to share more info on how the sets are backwards compatible.
I hated the original rules, and I really doubt in steamforged's ability to improve upon them considering their track record of ruining my favorite videogame IPs with shitty board game adaptations. Nice minis, thou.
Sigh
I wish people stopped giving money to this company, putting aside the quality of the miniatures, I feeled scammed by the first DS kickstarter, and makes me sick to see that they are as obscure as always. The new core sets seems like a money grab.
Cost cutting doesn't just mean making it cheaper for the consumer or new gamer. It often means cutting the costs down to remain in a target price point when the cost of manufacture, transport, and materials all increase. Everything is getting more expensive across the board. I can't think of a minis game that isn't more expensive now, from Mantics stuff to Victrix increasing all their prices by 10% recently.
Compared to the cost of a boss expansion and an enemies expansion, these are pretty affordable. I don't think you are ever going to get back to the cheaper prices that many older kickstarters provided.
I like the the skeleton set they have here, as the monster design is more toned down. The general aesthetic of Dark Souls exaggeration has never appealed to me much.
You can't really compare a core set price to an expansion price. And yes, prices for everything are going up, but this still feels egregious to me. Considerably less miniatures, including some that are existing sculpts where the tooling and design is paid for, repurposed art assets, a reduction in size and quantity of the heavy board components, cutting the wood, and an overall reduction in size and weight means the pricing feels excessive to me, especially when you are locking the fourth player behind a paywall.
All the miniatures look great. I think Steamforged always do a decent job on that front. I think the Ariamis set is more interesting to me personally, though.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring The core set came out years ago. Things are more expensive now.
Look at this way, if these were sold as expansion boxes with just the boss, enemy figures, and a couple board tiles with cards, they would likely sell for exactly the same price. Here they throw in three characters and the components so you can play them without anything else. So, in effect, the repeated content is free and can be disregarded by the existing fan base that would just pay the expac price normally.
And since when is reusing assets a grave game crime? GW has done this for years and almost every box set they make reuses sprues of something. GW uses arts assets that are 30 plus years old and have appeared dozens of times already. FFG has used the same Lovecraft and LotR art how many times?
The fourth player paywall thing is mostly a fallacy too. The majority of people play this game solo or two handed. Have you ever played with 4?
I would guess the main reason for the new sets is that the stock of the original Core is limited and not going to be reprinted and they were faced with the possibility of having to reprint the old core and sell it at a much higher price point, or do something different. This also allows them to avoid adding either two to 4 new extra expansions and eliminate the character 6 pack. That's a huge savings in production labor, container space, shipping, warehousing, etc.
I think the minis looks ok, it's the actual dead Souls video game design for many creatures that looks weird to me. Then again, I don't like most anime styled stuff outside of the real robot genres like older Gundam, Dougram, and Votoms.
I never said it was a grave crime to reuse assets, don't put words in my mouth. But we're talking about costs. And you'll never convince me this is a £110 expansion with some free stuff thrown in.
And yes, I do play the game with four players with my D&D group. It takes a long time. One of them subsequently bought the game for himself as he enjoyed it so much, actually.
I'm pretty sure these were originally going to be expacs, but have been adapted into core sets subsequently. Regardless, to me this feels wrong all round.
@@johnmiddleton4291 They're reusing assets in the same game. It doesn't feel very good from a buyer perspective to pay more and receive less, especially when 1/8th of what you receive has already been sold to you. I wouldn't really have a problem with it if they were in fact gw plastic and not solid pre-built minis, so you could at least kitbash or whatever.
Calling the complaint of lack of 4 player option a fallacy and giving assumedly anecdotal reasoning is, in fact, a fallacy.
You're probably correct about the depletion of of core game stock and opting for another approach. However, these feel like a single core box that has been cut in two and sold separately. I would have been begrudgingly ok paying $150 for a single, but selling separately allows them to charge nearly double without being held to the same standard an upfront $250 price tag would bring.
@@DustyLamp The price isn't $250 for 2 or $150 for 1 either. The MSRP is $109.99 and the retail will be much less.
Games companies have to do what makes them stay afloat, not just what makes you fee good. These products are clearly aimed at bringing new player's into the game and not so much at existing fans.
Most of this is moot anyway, with the Elder Ring kickstarter coming soon from them, likley before Nov. when these new cores are supposed to ship.
A disappointing way to extinguish the bonfire. If I was a new player why would you get these over the original core box.
I guess the original core box will disappear now, but that is definitely the option I would go for if I was planning on getting into the game now.
Complete ripoff and a terrible entry point for newcomers. You might as well buy the original game for the price they're asking for here. It's either the same or outright cheaper, and it comes with more content, more miniatures, 4-player compatibility right out the gate, and better components. The only thing you're getting with these expansions is an updated and possibly improved ruleset, which Steamforged SHOULD have put up as a free download (which it sounds like they're doing, so good for them I guess) and/or sold as its own standalone product.
My friend was waiting to buy Dark Souls to see what these new core sets were going to be like. As soon as he saw them, and how much they cost for what they included, he ordered the original core set and character expansion pack. Steamforged have confirmed they will make the rules update free online, which is the best news to have come out of this situation.