A brand new style of puzzle game! Fragments: Solara Board Game Review
Transcript
Hello everyone. This is Cinear
and this is Johannes
and you're watching Board Gaming Ramblings
and today we are taking a look at Fragments Solara. This is a brand new puzzle style game and we love puzzle style games. Yes, we do.
This is a game. We're not going to do any spoilers. We're going to show you the tutorial. So, if you don't want to know anything about what's happening in the tutorial, it's a tutorial. That's okay. Not supposed to be hard. even though we spend some time on it because we miss we misread the rule in the rule. We like there's nothing to do here. We're stuck. Um it is a jigsawbased puzzle game in a way. Not in a way, it is a jigsaw based puzzle way puzzle game.
Last year we had behind which was a way more this is if you played behind you know it's kind of complicated. If you play the second box you know it's kind of impossible because it was badly translated. But all in all, that concept was really good. So when I heard about fragments, I really wanted to play it. And you just play what I put in front of you because you don't know about stuff coming out before we go.
And also I heard puzzle game and I was like, "Ooh,
puzzles,
puzzles." Intrigued.
So I'm just going to go uh briefly over the tutorial because that's the easiest way to explain how this system work and then we're going to talk more in depth or shallow about fragments without any spoilers. So, Fragments is a gaming game system. So, this is like a one scenario box. There's going to be another one called Fungatai, I think it's called, which is a bigger one. And one thing I'm very happy about, go get that box back. From the pictures, I thought this box is going to be a normal square size box. So, when this showed up, I was very happy because then it makes easier to get the other box back from Shiel. Uh,
and it looks nice as well.
Yes. So, it's a narrative game. So you are going to read from a story book and then from time to time you you're going to like mix or like move between reading from a story book and doing puzzles. So basically we're not going to go into what happening. You're reading and then it says take this symbol which means then we take this out. It's going to have a puzzle piece on it and I'm going to punch a puzzle piece out. And now I see on this puzzle piece basically I'm going to show you the whole tutorial because that's the easiest way to do this. It shows two things. It shows this symbol which means I can take this but it shows a lightning bolt which means I have to read this first and this says something and it gives me a goal. It is water the planters. So let not the panthers but the planters. So I'm going to grab this and this is a it has this turn symbol.
It mean I can turn the tile over. It also has this kind of hidden symbol over here which is the last symbol which is a watering can. So I basically get the watering can and and this is a cool thing about this system is like now if I turn this over I basically turned on this faucet. And now you have to think like what is the logical thing that you can do. The logical thing I can do is that I can try to fill this with water. And if I do that by placing it under I see oh they match. And I see the symbol right here which says that if this is connected to something and the rules for connection is basically it has to fit perfectly. I can flip it over. And now this is a piece which has a I mean like a watering can with water in it. And now it says if this is connected to something I flip it over. I unconnect it and then I discard it. And then I can say okay how do I how do I water things?
See, I have to turn it like this and I flip fill it in. And now this is actually stuck together, which means that if I flip this top piece, I also flip this bottom piece. So I flip that over. And then I also disconnect and I discard this. And now this says now I see the plants are growing and it says that if two pieces are connected, I get to read this thing and then I get to read a thing. And that is basically the tutorial of the game. And that is what you will be doing. You will be observing. You'll be reading the story. Thinking how can we use this for solving the puzzles, trying to think what is the most logical thing to do. Flipping tiles over, turning them around to tell the story. We're not going to show you anything of the actual game. So, we are going to talk about it now without any spoilers.
The first thing that I want to mention is that tutorial you just watched if you did not skip to this part. We did not solve that that easily. So, I think the tutorial gives you like a good sense of how to approach this game. And it's also really good examples in the rule book as you're going along the tutorial that you will go back to when you're playing the actual game to remember the rules and clarifications. It's a nice balance between the puzzle and reading the book. The reading the book drives the story along. It makes you um sure that on your on the right page
and also it it will open up possibilities that would be clunky to fit in on the actual like um pieces. So it might tell you for example as a tutorial did that now after you're reading this you're supposed to do this and it's a nice context for the story and also driving the puzzles along as well. So question from me. What did you think about the story?
I thought it was really nice. Yes. Yeah. I I was invested in in the story and it was not a lot of reading but it was Yes. But it it was enough to keep me interested and also it was well written.
It was a cute little story. It was not like an amazing epic story but it was a fun little like piece of life fun little story there. And I one thing I really enjoyed is the fact that it didn't feel like oh no we have to read again like it was just a few lines and it told you either it was like just information about something or just like I'm not saying fluff but like theme.
Yes.
Or it was like this is your new goal. This is what you're supposed to do now. Um
this is a easier puzzle game. I would say most of the time it's more like observ observational and more like a this is for me makes it like this is a good um
comparison
comparison I think it feels more uh like a kind of lighter easier pointandclick game
than like a core puzzle game. It's like I have this thing who can I give this to? Who can I show this to? Who? Like I have I have this I'm gonna just make up some stuff. I have this
apple.
Who wants an apple? Like in a in a monkey island that would probably be the toilet because those puzzles are weird. But like in in more of a lighter one, it would make sense. Maybe the monkey wants the apple and and then I tried to connect those pieces and it made sense. The monkey wanted the apple and now the monkey gave me back my phone. Like stuff like that.
And like board games wise. And you talked about this while we played it as well. It's easy to compare it to unlock because it has like in unlock you have this blue uh P puzzle piece card and then the red and you might see like oh this fits perfectly together. Of course we're doing that. But sometimes that's connection is a bit of a stretch and you're just like okay we're just trying this and oh that was the thing where we're supposed to do and you could have [clears throat] that same experience in this game. Like sometimes it's like, "Oh, of course we were supposed to do that." Or it's you see the connection. But sometimes you might be stuck and you're just like trying something and you just like, "Oh, okay. Now it revealed itself."
But just to make clear, it's very much lighter than unlock and less puzzly. There were like a few puzzles that was actually felt like puzzles,
but it's like not I don't I think it's important to say that don't go into this um expecting like an unlock or like a heavier puzzle experience. More of a pointandclick thing where there sometimes, oh, you put these things together, you give this and and there was a couple of puzzles that I really enjoyed, but most of it was a bit simpler than I had kind of hoped for, if that makes sense. Uh
but we were stuck a few times, not for too long, but
not saying that it was too simple, but
yeah. Um but but turning of the pieces is cool and because you you can see kind of more of the world they're trying to build that way. So they will have for example uh a little observational thing that you like, okay, I can see that maybe there's something of that on the other side. and you flip it over and you can see more detail what you have explored for example
and it's done some cool things with the art as well and sometimes it even tricked me into thinking I think I've seen the both sides of this and it turned over oh I didn't see the back of that and that was really nice in a way that it's it's a it's progressing that story I'm like just going to go back to like the the the level of complexity I think for me the next time I play this I'm going to not this box but like the next box I'm going enjoy it more
because I know what I'm getting into.
Absolutely.
Like it's more like some of the things feel more like this is just an activity because it makes sense that you're doing this and you are enjoying that evolving of the uh landscape and the story and then you have some puzzles and then you're back to the other thing. H I will say one thing which might be like a pitfall a which sometimes happened for me when I play this is that for example let's go back to this where you have this piece and you have this piece uh you can't there's like there's only you you see you have these two pieces you can think like I said earlier which is what the game wants you to say like oh I need to turn this over to fill the water in but I can also just see that this fits it's there and that is a thing that will happen because like I my brain can't stop from seeing that. So it it will happen in the game that you will be like I can already see that this piece is going to fit that I don't exactly understand. Sometimes we did it and I was like oh that makes sense.
Yes. And I think that's the clue to this game which makes me be okay with that. I think one they've done a good job on hiding those connections because a lot of those jagged edges feel similar. I I I I would say that we struggled enough with seeing those connections that it wasn't huge problem.
No, but I'm saying I'm saying like because that's when you start trying.
Yeah.
Instead of trying to understand why.
Yeah, I I I agree. But I think it was a good mix when we played um that we sometimes we didn't understand kind of for example that we should have this and this and that's why it works. Sometimes we just like tried something but a lot of the times we didn't try a lot and we still got it. I think it was a nice balance, but [clears throat] also I for me it's really important when I do something that I understand why I'm doing it and what happens. So for example, let's say it connected like that and I didn't think that was logical. I think I I was just like, okay, it connects, but so but why? That would be a huge problem for me, for example. And it's I feel like that's the clue to a good unlock box as well. I'm just going to compare the two right now because those things to me are a little similar. Sometimes I connect something that for me it makes sense and I get something that makes sense. But I've played unlocked scenarios where I'm just like, "Okay,
let's do this." and it works and it's just like that was a total stretch. I I see the finished product. I would never have guessed it. But in this case, every single thing that I can think about made sense.
That I agree 100% about that. I'm just saying I think the game wants you to understand the connection and not just connect the pieces. And I would have liked it in some way to be even harder. But also it has to be like this because it can't fit any other way because then it wouldn't work with the rules of the game. Yes. I think we said what we can say before we go into our final thoughts. Do you want to begin?
Yes.
Do it.
I think this was a breath of fresh air because this
I don't think that's so fresh. Uh but but yeah, because it's so unique. I have never seen a puzzle um game in this way before. It combines the jigsaw elements with logic puzzle. I really liked behind. There are two different things, but but you kind of in both games need to think logical in what way things fit for it to progress. And I I think it sometimes was a little tricky, but that's that's the joy of it, not being like, oh, boom, boom, boom, like a little thinkiness. But I agree with you. Most of the time it was a lot of like point andclick stuff that wasn't puzzle very puzzly. I would have loved some more of those more creative puzzles. I am excited to play the next one uh because that also looks like a bigger uh box.
There's like more chapters at
Yes. And and I'm even though those stories I don't know if they're combined in any way. Uh, I don't know if there going to be a lot of more of this like puzzle things or it's going to be in the same vein, but as as you said, now that I kind of know what I'm going into, I'm okay with that. But also, I think this was a pleasant enough puzzle game that I'm just like, okay, I want to see where they're going with this because I have not seen it before. So, I'm excited to like experience and explore what they're trying to do with with this concept. I think this has some flaws. It's not perfect. I'm hoping the next one will be a little more to my liking, but I think this was a good introduction to the system. I'm going to land this on A7. I think it's a good puzzle game.
I enjoy Fragments. I think like my main takeaway is that uh I will next time I go into it I will not what know what to expect and very often in games it happens that I play a game and I don't like it too much because I didn't know what it I was thinking it was going to be this thing and it was this thing and next time I play it thinking it's this thing I like it way better and of course I can't play this again because it would be boring because I know all the solutions but I did enjoy it enough like I agree with you almost 100% that I en enjoyed this enough to be very excited to see where they take this system because I think there's a lot of things to do with it and the puzzles that was there was really nice and I think the pointand-click stuff is also fun but I my personal preference would have been more puzzles and and when I say puzzles I mean like multi-layered puzzles that oh I have to understand this not just connect these two pieces flip it and that was the thing I am excited to play it more. I think that this was a good exper I'm basically just saying the same things.
Good. We agree.
We agree.
That's fine.
I think it was fun. I think I'm excited to play the next one. I'm always like, this was more of a um I'm going to use the word activity, not in a negative way, but more in like a relaxing, sitting down, puzzling these things more. It was like a okay, how are we supposed to solve this puzzle? So, if you are also newer to puzzle games and you like the jigsaw thing, I think this will be a good fit as well.
Recommending this.
I'm going to land on a seven as well for this. And we are excited, as I've said now 16 billion times, to play the next one. If you're going to spiel, you can get this not, but you can get the box. You can also get to see us. Yes.
And if you do see us walking around or hiding behind a waste basket, you we don't do that too often. You can show us the secret sign. It looks like this. Somebody said it wasn't that secret anymore. But it kind of is because it's like 200,000 people at Spiel and maybe a thousand people know about secret
and now it's trademarked the name. So trademark secret. We can't like name it something else. It is the secret sign.
We hope to see you there. If you have watched this video, you can
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I'm Cinema.
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