Hey !
It's time for a newsletter! So, listen. I thought about starting this off telling you about my recent Pokemon adventures, but there is some serious news that is far more pressing. You know that big Gloomhaven expansion I've been talking about and alluding to for the last three years?
Yeah, I know. Three whole years of teasing and withholding information like a jerk. Well, it's finally time! Are you ready?
That's right, my friend! Frosthaven is coming!
I know, I know, we just announced Jaws of the Lion, and now there's this, too! So much new Gloomhaven! Or, err, I mean Frosthaven.
While Jaws of the Lion is geared towards bringing in new players to the Gloomhaven world, Frosthaven is my chance to tell another epic story on the scale of the original game, with the same complexity and grandeur. This is Gloomhaven 2.0, with 16 new characters, over 25 new enemies, over 100 new
items, somewhere around 100 new scenarios, and so much more.
So why Frosthaven? Well, that is the name of a small outpost far to the north of the capital city of White Oak. There, a group of mercenaries at the end of their rope will help bring back this settlement from the edge of destruction. Not only will they have to deal with the harsh elements, but there are other, far more dangerous threats out in the unforgiving cold as
well.
There are Algox, the bigger, more yeti-like cousins of the Inox, attacking from the mountains, Lurkers flooding in from the northern sea, and there are even rumors of machines that wander the frozen wastes of their own free will. The party of mercenaries must face all of these perils, and perhaps in doing so, make peace with these new races so
they can work together against even more sinister forces.
I could probably rant for a good while about everything that is going to be in this game, but I don't want to throw out any potential spoilers, and also I am going to be doing a lot of ranting already on Saturday at PAX Unplugged. On Saturday at 10am in the Mothman Theatre, I'll be doing a live Q&A with Tom Vasel about all things Frosthaven. I'll answer
his questions, and questions from the audience, and it will be a grand old time.
Also you should come by the booth! It will be right under the giant Frosthaven sign, and it will have all sorts of cool stuff. Like, really cool stuff. If you will be at PAX Unplugged, I would absolutely love if you could come and hang out with me. And if you won't be at the show, that is okay, too! It will be live-streamed by PAX here, so please tune in Saturday 10am EST to get all the Frosthaven infos!
A celebration of my friend Danny getting a shiny Yamper.
Okay, you got me. I still want to talk about Pokemon.I feel like I spent about an hour or two playing a Pokemon game on a Game Boy about 10 years or so ago, but other than that, I don't have much experience with it. Well, I guess I can play a pretty mean Pikachu in Super Smash Brothers, but I'm not sure that
counts.
The point is, the new Sword and Shield Pokemon games came out just a week or so ago, and a lot of my friends were getting all excited about them on social media, so I decided to try them out. And as much as I am reluctant to rain on people's parades, these games are... not great.
There is definite joy in encountering so many different types of cute monsters, and the fact that you can capture any of them to fight with you instead of against you is a thrilling concept that has a lot of staying power, but, well, the game is for children, and this really shows in the incredibly basic game play. The vast majority of the game is comprised of 1v1 battles - a single player-controlled
unit versus a single computer-controlled unit - and the depth of tactics in such a matchup is incredibly limited. I mean, I thought we evolved past this type of RPG back in the NES days.
It's just tedious, and all strategy comes from whether you've memorized the 18x18 chart of what all Pokemon types are weak or strong against every other Pokemon type. I really wanted to like it, but they tacked a very addictive and compelling game of "catching them all" onto a battle system that is just pure boredom ripped out of the most basic
RPG video game from the 80s. Not only that, but every single battle in the game is so easy, I never once felt the threat of loss.
It's a real shame, because I really wanted to like it, but I guess I am just not the target audience. I think you have to already be deeply immersed in the nostalgia of it, or be someone very young playing an RPG for the first time. Oh well!
Now that I've got that off my chest, I suppose I can end this letter. Remember! Frosthaven Q&A on Saturday at 10am EST either in person at the PAX Mothman Theatre or live-streamed through the PAX Twitch here. See you then!
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