Solo Chat 2025 Episode One: Big Box Bangers!

hey party people welcome back to MVM 2025 is here and I'll tell you what I am really excited to talk about 2025 games because games have delivered that are already going to be at the top of the solo 202 list 2024 though I didn't have a solo list why well your boy don't have any excuses okay that's just what it is I didn't have a solo 2024 list I will tell you that at the top you're going to definitely have Primal you're going to have Elder Scrolls which I guess is technically a 2025 release Harry Ki uh there's just a whole bunch of solo games that were in there I could go on and on forever but I didn't get a chance to play all of them to finish out the year so that was a problem and I didn't want to you know just make up stuff so I try not to make we try not to do that I mean fate Forge was absolutely amazing title blades 2 absolutely amazing I'm just trying to think of all the ones off the top of my head but there's a lot of great games to finish off especially if you're a big box game fan for solo and Co-op Galileo galile which is coming soon that was a good one for 2024 moving on so for 2025 I'm going to bring to you several games start with three they came out at the tail end and then we have one delivering now so let's just go ahead and talk about them we'll pop in right away seti number one seti is a game that is my game of the year for uh multiplayer and for solo we're going to talk about that a little bit now it's a very very mod modular game uh you are taking action selections you are taking a worker a placement of a an Orbiter kind of thing here and you're going to be going and scanning scanning out to unlock part of the board so you dominate that you unlock something you're going to gather that data data is something that you can unlock to take actions free actions as well you're trying to upgrade your board that's another way through popularity and then you're also trying to orbit or land on planets and our solar system and when you do that you're going to be unlocking things on your board so all this unlocking why are we unlocking stuff well we're unlocking things because we want to bring in planets okay so once we get sorry aliens oh Lord Jesus all right here we go so we're trying to bring in Aliens and the different aliens have different abilities so every one of those you bring in they're going to add different ways to score and they're also going to add different kind of wrinkles to the game play and it's kind of a pacing for the game but you may not even un lock one of the two there are five five in the game and you put them in there randomly so it's kind of like you're relearning and experience and over multiple plays you will probably have played all of them but it's a combination of those two that will change the game play up every time now this game does have an AI and I believe it has different levels so you have different levels I believe one through four on the back of each board is one and this one is kind of like a it's got kind of a a lapping thing it's kind of got like a anger meter in a sense and what your job to do what your job is is to uh complete mission tiles and kind of keep pace because it's completing these things but it's also got some ways that it unlocks kind of keeps unlocking things and doing things super fast as it angers and goes around so you want to make sure that and I'm using that term just because it kind of it gives you an idea of how fast it ramps up in a sense so over the course of several rounds with the game uh you are going to try to basically out compete uh for for these U missions so you want to make sure that you're completing these tasks and also beat the AI try to score as much many points as possible and by the way let me know how you feel about that kind of stuff in the comments below because sometimes you know some people don't necessarily like beater score some people don't uh like to have objectives and beater score some people like to have ai beat objectives and beater score it doesn't matter let me know in the comments below and let's make it like a tier list you know like a tier list of what you like top to bottom because sometimes people just go beat and score absolutely not we're going to talk about a game that has that pretty much uh but it just depends on the experience for me actually just depends on how the game is built is it built to score points or is it built to find objectives and this game has a little bit of both specifically when you play solo and with that what is my final final opinion on this while this game is the game of the year for me I would tell you for solo you might want to wait and see okay simply because simply because this game is very modular and like its its brother or cousin or whatever on the roster lost ruins arnac it it has this ability to go to a way a higher higher another level for example lost WIS of arac only got better and better and went higher to the greatness of greats uh because they added and added content to it and then they even added a solo and Co-Op campaign and I feel like that's what this game is going to do over time it's going to add to its awesomeness uh there's opportunities to add the scoring uh the more alien races alone different cards because the cards have this wonderful little multi uh multi-use situation that gives the tight resources in the game this great decisions and I think that works for solo and and multiplayer but it's still one of those things it's just like you're going to be learning that and you may not be that good at it so the get good portion of it it's going to go pretty heavy but there's also more cards that can come into play they can probably even add another Sol system I mean they can do all kinds of stuff here with this game and add mechanics and that comes through with the aliens so maybe you want to pump the brakes for now that's a good choice but you'll probably have these mini expansions that you'll see and you'll say hey man this is starting to ramp up I think that's where this game is going to be at next game civil lution okay so cvoluion was uh one of my top 10 games of the year but I will also say it is one of my most disappointing in the sense that I thought it was going to be home run easy peasy lemon squeezy Game of the Year for me when I first heard about it did my research on it saw some initial plays I was like this is going to be a game of the year ASAP it's not this is a a formality okay I was wrong but the game ended up being great as a matter of fact it took me playing it multiple times to even see like okay this game has it's big it's awesome it's long it's medium to heavy it's not light don't let anybody tell you it's light it's easy once you get used to it it gets easier it is not easy okay don't let them tell you that anyway cvoluion is a game where you're going to be using selection using dice you're going to be rolling and kind of expanding your CI uh civilization very abstractly over this board that you're going to kind of simulate putting it around each area in this in this region or the pieces that you're putting together has resources on it and you're trying to populate yourselves and move across civilization right so you're doing that but you're doing that through dice actions so you'll be placing two dice on things and kind of trying to decide what you want to do with those dice so they match up and take actions and over the game you can develop those actions twice you also have things where you can develop your kind of like your mindset that happens and it contributes to stuff as well and then you also have cards that will represent you developing yourself once again very abstractly not 100% like this so civilization thing the cards uh will be like part of your Tableau which will give you some abilities that are permanent it'll give you a lot of different things but ultimately it's going to go tuck into your board in the middle and give you points for rows and how high it goes and that's where you want to get us insane amount of points now your AI is doing things to spread around as well uh it has these rules that you're going to have uh you're going to have as you flip the cards it's going to tell you what they're doing but I will tell you when they're talking about movement and the reproduction part there's going to be a lot of if then if then if then on how they travel and you got to watch out for that now I don't know how you feel about this but sometimes these AIS with the the if then if that and then this and that they get a little for me especially when you play heavier games uh like I remember a game called MV it was like that if then if then if then too many if then start to start to get to me even though I figured it out the road to figuring it out was way too much this one is like sort of in the middle of that I feel like you could get it but it's kind of iffy let me know how you feel about that but anyways this game you are basically placing the dice trying to make choices I will tell you there is some mitigation in the game also the dice when you run out you kind of refresh them there's a timer in the game that's around that the computer will amp that up for you so they're trying to move the game along you're also going to have events that happen that kind of are out of your control and they will move this weather thing up and down which can take away from your your troops but there's also different just different ways to score it'll never feel the same that's the thing it's not a samey game you're going to have to change your strategy up you're going to feel different every time the randomness of the cards coming out uh there's like six Decks that are out at once the randomness of that alone will will steal you a certain way but it also will limit you because sometimes that doesn't feel that doesn't kind of fulfill your combo situation and that is where the challenge of this game comes in are you down for that kind of stuff I tell people like that's where the cuck of it is is like are you down for not having 100% control of what's going on in a euro game especially a long one this is going to take about 90 minutes to two hours to not feel like I'm controlling my destiny it's a little tough okay it's a little tough but I will tell you this game is worth it the thing is is how heavy do you want to go and this one is not a light game I know a lot of people are skewing towards lighter games uh nowadays but this one is worth its weight it is an expensive game it's like 80 80 bucks I think it's like 80 bucks that's cuz there's a lot in that box and if you're playing at multiplayer I'll just warn you ahead of time the more players you play the more hours you're adding we're talking like three to four hours total if you're playing out a 4-H hour game and that's assuming everybody at least has an idea how the game plays otherwise you're going to be explaining just the actions alone for a good 30 minutes even if you get good at it just keep all that in mind for someone who is learning to do a pretty good job with all the examples and the rule book it seems pretty easy to translate but you're going to have that solo book bent open solo part of the rule book bent open looking at that page again if then what if if then what uh okay so then if it's that and that it's a thing it's a thing you're going to have to learn it maybe you don't have time for that I do recommend it though Evolution next up is the game I've been waiting to talk about you for years for years and here you are here you are thank you you're finally here that is aidia folks that's right aridia this one here I've been waiting I'm not kidding you when I say maybe six seven years right three years before the campaign then the campaign and then three years for delivery man shout out to that team okay shout out to that team far off games they executed and I'm going to have a fullon review of this game full all deck in to show you the gameplay experience I'm going to try to explain it here in a very condensed way so that you at least have an idea what you get into first of all I should say this game is is like you don't need another campaign game you don't I'm not here to tell you just to buy I'm not I'm not here to tell you to buy stuff that's not what I'm here to do I'm here to inform you and I will tell you this game is expensive it's like $220 it's a lot bro it's a lot I bought one they sent me one so I got I mean I just had it it was crazy it's crazy this is worth it this is worth that so let's talk about why if you like games like Legends of Mana Zelda uh linked to the Past uh Wild Arms Tales of Symphonia you know those types of games even final fantasies like five six seven that kind of thing little bit of tactics in there you know that kind of stuff this is your game literally this is your game I mean actrazer you remember actraiser anyway so Dam man that is old that just came out of me act all right anyway act Razer 2 better anyway what this game does is it does that top World thing the inw thing and the combat thing so well okay so top World Part you're traveling across these tiles you get to pop them out that's really cool right and on those tiles you're trying to like discover lands uh you're discovering lands it's the more chill relaxed part cuz you're in adventure mode you uh flip in there and then you zoom in you zoom in to the uh the tiles and these tiles can be big small long tiny okay uh so when you go there you're going to see a village or wherever you are you've zoomed in and you go into the land just like in a video game like where you you know click on the land and you go and then you go in there right this place has tiles that go on top of the tiles and they're just cardboard but like um they're just paperboard but you are like taking them and when you walk in a door you flip it over and then you're inside the room and then it unlocks different things it's a really smart system it gives you enough theme and enough reading to do uh on the back of the the tiles before you flip them over they're not tiles I'm just saying that um on the back of the boards before you flip them over really interesting little way to show stuff it's got a ton of cards the cards have themes you have rooll checks on them uh this game can be played true solo so it feels you get to develop that character oh I should just jump off the side here the character development is absolutely amazing you're going to have these uh characters that you choose use paths on there's six I think Six Paths you got rogy stuff you got you know your your Ranger your fighter but you also have uh BS you also have Arcane you also have the Healer palet in person and they all kick butt in their own way you can even develop them in a certain path and they have tiles where you can develop a path and you have you can unlock the abilities of them so you don't just unlock the ability you have to unlock the kind of have an Awakening of that ability it's a really interesting thing here and um you also add to your stats and you have like an interesting catch-up mechanic to adding you to your stats really really smart makes you feel good for like adding a stat later on in the game because it kind of ramps it up to it instead of just starting from one every time love that I love that about this game character development on point you even have your own little story depending on your race you get to put your own little race head on top of it man woman put it on top of the little body they have different little action poses for the different characters so you get to see the cool little thing there there's a lot of interesting stuff just with that so let's go ahead and just get down into the combat though so when you get to combat situations you're going to have um these different character cards and the cards have jewels that you're going to be putting on them as you attack them now how you attack is you're going to select the actions the the pieces that you have and they have attack patterns it has a D20 roll system you roll the die you're going to use that uh in a u you're going to compare that to the patterns that are on there the enemies have patterns and your weapons have patterns that go like this they go diagonal they go you know down here or they even have skills and abilities that will go on specific spots or represent shooting through uh some of the um Shields and stuff that characters will have so then you're going to be putting the gems in kind of a puzzle like way according to how you're attacking those people and you're also have to deal with shields now the interesting part on top of that is is if you go through a pattern of certain way you get like a critical hit across uh that area so you can get like an extra hit in there so it makes you feel really smart but there's also this kind of puzzly Challenge on what you're going to do and how you're going to attack so the timing and the teamwork of that is pretty awesome that is a little different when you're playing strictly solo I played two-handed went to three-handed have having a hell of a time it's on my table it's been on my table for almost a month now I've just been playing the hell out of this game so people are starting to get this game you're going to get I I know you I know you look at me look you know what look at me I'm going to stand over here okay look at me here we go you're going to buy this game I know you you don't even need another you got Elder Scrolls coming you you haven't played nanothep Rock Galactic you forgot to play that you have an open Primal it doesn't matter probably getting freedom five you have you have not played all the campaign games you have but you know what you're going to buy this one anyway you're going to buy this one okay so we already know that okay so just it's okay don't tell anybody don't tell anybody and just buy the dang on game I know I know you I know you anyway so aridia has that good sense of adventure I will tell you there's a lot to unlock and you don't see it right away that's my spoiler for the game every per every path every skill I mean every uh path that you have in the game which just means CL has their own treasure chests that they will pull out of there's General Treasure Chest but there's this own treasure chest they get to pull out of and get weapons and items and things like that to buff themselves so that's a really fun little kind of thing if you know what that sound is let me know in the comments below anyway but there's that feeling too so you get that little toy surprise inside and like I said things expand during the game even where you travel all that stuff and they have that that they just kind of thought of everything there's just that true sense of adventure that true video game feel and just the absolute joy of seeing more and wanting no more I mean you get jobs you can go to town There's a job board I mean that's so video that's so Fable remember like Fable you know Skyrim something like that that's what this game does it just has fun and Spades it's fun and Spades adventure and Spades all that stuff definitely check out aridia I'm not telling you to buy it but I'm telling I'm telling you it is I have the highest recommendation for this game full-on review coming up because it's not without flaw there's definitely some of that D20 and some Phil uh D20 is just hit or miss right sort of there sort of um but that uh there's a little bit of Philly fitl with how you do the attack uh gems and stuff like that I'm going be honest with you it's not really just not that much wrong with this game at all honestly review spoiler it's great give it a look okay and with that that goes the end of solo chat usually I have a topic but today I just kind of wanted to highlight some games I've been playing uh for 2025 to start out in the end of 2024 because I haven't been in touch with you for a while it's been a while sorry about that and hopefully you got an idea of what's going on out there what games are good for you let me know what games you've been playing big small doesn't have to be the biggest Euro doesn't have to be the tiniest card game but I want to hear about them all what button shy games have you been playing lately I mean anything right any games you've been traveling with any mediumweight EUR games under the radar let people know in the comments below and let them know why you love them there's a lot of questions I've asked in here hopefully you answer at least one of them feel free and like if you like the content okay subscribe if you feel in the vibe all right folks didn't mean to make that rhyme and sound silly but I want to thank you for your time you take care of party people have a wonderful day see you next time watch the reviews watch our content take care