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Game Info
Year
2023
Collection
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Description
The Isofarian Guard is a solo/co-op narrative driven adventure board game for 1-2 players.
Welcome to Isofar, a wild land severe in its beauty. The Isofarian people take great pride in their ability to flourish among the hostile wildlife and cruel elements of their mountainous home. As a member of the Isofarian guard, life is never dull. You try to keep the peace among your fellow Isofarians (a never-ending job), as well as deal with constant threats from the aggressive Falmund Empire to the south.
But now, the old patterns are shifting. New forces are at work that will challenge the very underpinnings of reality. You will guide eight different Isofarian Guards throughout 5 interweaving campaigns as they deal with a power that threatens not only Isofar, but the entire world.
In The Isofarian Guard, you will travel throughout the cities and wildernesses of Isofar on a beautifully illustrated world map, fight off enemies using a unique and highly customizable battle system, and use your wits to talk your way out of sticky situations. As you forge important alliances, opportunities will arise for you to craft stronger gear, gain new powers, and step into the destiny you were called to.
—description from the publisher
Featured Videos
Rules Teach
Isofarian Guard- Unboxing
Unboxing
Isofarian Guard- Unboxing
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 5
This page: 5
Sentiment:
pos 5 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–5 of 5
Video AInqqT3CVfY
Man vs Meeple News at 4:06 sentiment: positive
video_pk 85871 · mention_pk 220922
Click to watch at 4:06 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Successful crowdfunding
- Good following and critical acclaim
- Adds deck building
- Quality of life improvements
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Bag Building — Bag building is still present in the expansion.
- Deck Building — The expansion adds a deck building element to the game.
- Positional Grid Play — Playing cards into a grid orientation where the enemy can mess with your grid or add negative cards to it.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- We are back with some board game news.
- Everything about this game feels 80s.
- It sounds like an organizational game where you're trying to basically collect these photos, maybe some other things, and put them in your yearbook to score as many points as you possibly can.
- The expansion adds a deck building element to the game.
- Anytime you're going to add deck building and deck building and bag building, it's a very interesting well to this to a game of this scope, right?
- I feel like I could finally enjoy Frost Haven instead of it being it takes all the tedium out of it for me.
- Until next time, make sure everyone has fun at the table and we'll see you then.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ZQc9oZW7z08
Meet Me At The Table Playthrough at 1:26:40 sentiment: positive
video_pk 85260 · mention_pk 218168
Click to watch at 1:26:40 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Amazing narrative
- Cinematic feel
- Engaging gameplay
- Fun chip management
- Challenging combat
- Good character progression
Cons
- Chip management can be tricky
- Some combat encounters are very difficult
- Bag building can be frustrating if you don't draw the right chips
Thematic elements
- Guard duty, adventure
- Fantasy world
- Story-driven with narration via Foreller app or reading
Comparison games
- Nanolith
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Bag Building — Players draw chips from their bag, and the contents of the bag can be managed and improved throughout the game. The goal is to draw specific chips to perform powerful actions.
- Card Play — Players use chips that they draw from a bag to activate abilities and perform actions. These chips represent different types of actions like attack, defense, or special abilities.
- character customization — Players can level up their characters and gain new abilities or equipment, such as adding swords, shields, or health chips to their bags.
- Resource Management — Players manage stamina and other resources to perform actions. Some abilities require spending stamina or specific chips to activate.
- Scenario-based progression — The game is played through a series of chapters and nodes, with players moving a miniature on a map to trigger events and encounters. The story unfolds as players progress through the game.
- Set Collection — Players collect metal fragments and other items that can be used for crafting or sold for resources. The limited capacity of the bag adds a strategic element to resource management.
- Storytelling — The game is narrated by Foreller, and they even wrote background music for it. Players can use the Foreller app or read the story aloud.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- The narrative for this game is knockdown gorgeous. Knockdown gorgeous.
- Cinematic mode means more fun.
- You know how I feel. All these are great. Now you know how I feel.
- My gosh, that guy was nuts. That was awesome. I love it. I was afraid we weren't going to make it cuz if you would have gone down, I can't do enough damage with any blue chips on that thing.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 4D7PngiC3Do
Rules Teach at 2:35 sentiment: positive
video_pk 74125 · mention_pk 178370
Click to watch at 2:35 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- High production quality.
- Lots of content.
- Bag building combat is engaging.
- Cooperative play allows for player interaction and support.
- Detailed narrative and side stories.
- Good character progression system.
- Optional companion app enhances experience.
- Flexibility in choosing game modes (cinematic vs. standard).
Cons
- Expensive game.
- Cinematic mode can make bosses very difficult if not adjusted.
- Puzzle quests can be difficult to figure out without clear rules.
Thematic elements
- Protecting the lands of Isopar from the Falundians and the dark force Tenebris
- Isopar
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Points — Characters have action points to spend on various abilities, attacks, and movements during combat and exploration.
- Campaign play — The game is played through a series of campaigns, each divided into chapters with a narrative progression.
- Character progression — Characters can improve their stats and abilities by spending 'Lux essence', unlocking new chips and improving their effectiveness.
- Companion app — An optional paid companion app ('Foreller app') enhances the narrative experience with voice acting and music.
- crafting — Players gather resources to craft new items and weapons, such as upgrading a sword or tunic.
- Deck/Bag Building — Combat involves drawing chips from a bag, which can be modified through character progression and abilities.
- Narrative events — The game uses narrative chips and event cards to drive the story and present choices to the players.
- Resource Management — Players must manage their inventory capacity, stash items, and currency (sill) for various actions.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is not a cheap game, but the quality of production, these are really good poker chips.
- The amount of content in this game is scary.
- The Foreller app for this game is amazing.
- It's a huge game. There's a lot of content in there.
- So, the game has just given us four pine. So the natural assumption is that we should spend that four pine on rebuilding the lumber mill.
- It's not an ambush, we go first.
- You have to draw the poison because you haven't got enough blacks.
- This is going to be tough.
- My bag is just filled with green and red chips.
- My defense is minus one.
- If the attack deals damage, draw a card.
- My attack is six.
- My attack is minus one.
- This is going to be very tough.
- It's a tough fight.
- This is the round where there's going to be the win or lose round.
- This is the tip of the iceberg.
- It's a completely optional part of the game.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video zg6uoeBokN0
Unboxing at 3:13 sentiment: positive
video_pk 74126 · mention_pk 178371
Click to watch at 3:13 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Significant amount of content and components
- High-quality production with extensive voice acting via app
- Cinematic rules improve pacing and reduce grind
- Cooperative gameplay that emphasizes player support
- Heavy and substantial physical product
Cons
- Amount of grind in earlier printings (addressed by cinematic rules)
- Heavy box difficult to handle
Thematic elements
- rough northern
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- app integration — The game utilizes the Foreller app for narrative delivery, featuring extensive voice acting.
- Bag Building — Players place chips into bags, and drawing from these bags is a main part of the game, allowing for cooperative strategy by assisting allies.
- Campaign play — The game features multiple campaign books and is designed to be played over an extended period.
- Card Play — Numerous decks of cards are present for accessories, armor, harvesting, enemies, and abilities.
- cooperative play — The game is a one-to-two player cooperative campaign-style game where players actively help each other.
- Dice Replacement — Instead of dice, the game uses poker chips for randomization and progression.
- miniatures — The game includes miniatures for characters, though it's not described as miniatures-heavy.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- So bear with me a minute. I always forget one thing. The screen has gone blank. Don't worry about it. I will be back. I'm just changing the name of the game from Entropy to Isoparian Guard.
- So, yes, welcome to a live unboxing video where things go wrong of Isoparian Guard.
- this is physically one of the heaviest games uh that I've got.
- So, um, we will find out when we will look inside.
- the third printing of the game with the cinematic rules are going to be the best version of this game that there is.
- I will probably be playing cinematic mode when I play.
- This must have taken years to design.
- There are no dice in this game. We have chips.
- you can put chips in your um your allies bag. So you can support each other.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video XYAcUdJiOm0
Board Gaming Ramblings Top 3 List at 3:42 sentiment: positive
video_pk 42599 · mention_pk 129401
Click to watch at 3:42 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- great campaign game
- we both really enjoy it
Cons
- campaign length makes scheduling difficult with other content creation
Thematic elements
- cooperative campaign with ongoing story
- fantasy campaign world
- campaign-driven, narrative-rich
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- campaign_progression — Long-term progression across multiple sessions
- Cooperative Game — Players work together to tackle a campaign with evolving scenarios
- cooperative_play — Players work together to tackle a campaign with evolving scenarios
- Track Advancement — Long-term progression across multiple sessions
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's just so enjoyable
- the puzzle with building the katanas and the weapons is really um puffly and cool
- I enjoy many parts of it
- this is my number one as well
- a game that we both really enjoy, yes like a great campaign game
- it's hard to combine with all the other games that we need to play with the videos and the reviews
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–5 of 5