Arkham Horror,

[Rack]

I'd say no, it's an interesting and attractive piece of design but the balance is all over the place, some games the Old One will appear almost immediately and there's nothing you can do about it, others there's almost nothing you can do so wrong that will make victory anything other than a foregone conclusion; very rarely will it be anything else. Even then the Old Ones are ludicrously underpowered in combat and prepping to defeat them from the start is almost a guaranteed win. On top of that it's ludicrously slow and fiddly packing very little game in its 2-4 hour set up plus run time. The expansions might some elements of this but Arkham Horror pretty much never gets a game in our group and no-one seems to mind at all.

I'd recommend looking at Elder Signs, which has a less developed theme and less interesting themes but runs MUCH faster or the Cthulhu Living Card game which I have played only once and can't really critique properly. That said none of them are really thought to be classics, unfortunately there seems to still be lacking that classic Lovecraftian board game.

 

[southparkdudez]

If you have friends and ample patience, get it, it's a helluva lot of fun.
Word of advice: you want to control 2 characters per player instead of 1 (up to 4, so divide accordingly) because it gives you far more opportunities than just playing with 2 characters.
Also, it's not that long, around 2-3 hours, so enough time for a retry should Cthulhu triumph.

and isnt it like Xcom where the outcome is you might lose ven if you're doing well?

Yes, but you have ample opportunity to fix it.
What happens is, if you can't seal 6 gates that open one by one, eventually the Ancient One will awaken, and you'll be transported to a final boss fight. This can be delayed by keeping the monster population controlled and a few other ways. If you can beat him, you win, regardless of the situation in the real world.
So, if you find that you're getting overwhelmed and can't win by sealing, you should start gearing up for the fight with Cthulhu or his contemporaries.
Again, I cannot stress just how important having more characters is, as it allows you to do several things at once, and since a lot can happen in a turn, you need as much of an advantage as you can get.

Unless the Ancient One is that angry cloud, then its awakening is game over.

True, but it's one out of a dozen or so possible Ancient Ones, so it's not very likely.
It also has the largest time before awakening, so it's not that difficult to outrun.

so you mean ether Yog-Sothoth or Azathoth?

I believe it's Azatoth that insta-kills you if he awakens.
This ugly son of a star:

Azathoth the blind idiot god creater of all, that actually looks pretty awesome

 

[Haukur Isleifsson]

You should get it if you like co-op. It will take a while to get into it and you need 4 or more people to play it properly. One hint. You can (and should at first) select a Ancient One manually rather then doing it randomly. Some of them are just much much harder than others.

 

[tzimize]

Yes. Its a fantastic boardgame, but the setup/clean up is a nightmare. Especially when you start investing in expansions....but FUN. I would buy it digitally if it existed. No more cleaning up :|

 

[Silvianoshei]

Yes. Its a fantastic boardgame, but the setup/clean up is a nightmare. Especially when you start investing in expansions....but FUN. I would buy it digitally if it existed. No more cleaning up :|

I 100% agree with this. The major problem with Arkham Horror is the expansions. The base game, maybe plus Dunwich Horror was amazing. One you started adding in Rifts and all sorts of other places and mechanics, the game setup was just too much of a hurdle to overcome. Considering the cost we invested in the game as a family, that was pretty rough.

The game is a lot of fun, just don't go overboard with the expansions. Try and see if you can beat the base game first, some of those Ancient Ones are hard enough. If you think you have the time, money, and patience for the expansions, then go for it.

 

[J9ACK9]

It's a lot of fun, but holy GOD, is there a time commitment involved... my group usually plays with an expansion or two, and our games can definitely hit the eight-hour mark.

Protip: If you're going to play it, make an afternoon of it: Start at 2 on a Sunday, bring snacks. Have a dinner plan.

That being said, if you and your friends have this kinda time, by all means buy it and play it. It's really fun. If you and your friends work on the weekends, you're not gonna have a lot of time to play this.

Also, while the game looks complex, it really, really isn't: Mythos, Upkeep, Player Movement, Encounters.


Really easy, once you get going.

 

[Davroth]

If you hate playing games and like getting stupidly railroaded by the game without being able to do anything about it, even against basic reason, then buy this game.

It sucks. It eats up far too much time, and winning it is more luck then I'm comfortable with. On the plus side, it's really pretty. But that's about it.

 

[southparkdudez]

Bought the game today, opened it up and Holy mother or board game pieces. Yeah so I punched out all the pieices now I'm going to watch some videos about the game. Ps i almost decided to play and randomly chose a Achient one, but didn't look. While I was puting all the stuff away I peeked at what Achient one i got and It was Azathoth...... lets just say I would of lost instantly if I decided to play. Well thanks everyone for all of your opions and helping me.

 

[Fat Hippo]

Bought the game today, opened it up and Holy mother or board game pieces. Yeah so I punched out all the pieices now I'm going to watch some videos about the game. Ps i almost decided to play and randomly chose a Achient one, but didn't look. While I was puting all the stuff away I peeked at what Achient one i got and It was Azathoth...... lets just say I would of lost instantly if I decided to play. Well thanks everyone for all of your opions and helping me.

You're lucky if you randomly pulled Azathoth. He might look badass, but his negative effect on the game is negligible, and he takes forever to awaken. Plus, since you never have to fight him, you can ignore an entire facet of the game, and never have to make that tough decision: "Do we keep trying to seal gates, or do we gear up for the final battle?" Definitely my recommend Great Old One for any beginner.