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Friday, October 25, 2013

ImprEssens - Rokoko

Rokoko was one of the top games that I was eagerly looking forward to at Essen.
So I went to the booth shortly after visiting Eagle Games, but to my own surprise, I struggled to pull the trigger. I hesitated and eventually Dion bought it instead so that we can try and whoever likes it will keep it. Traveling with friends is indeed a blessed thing.

Well, played it we did. 
We had a 4 player game that lasted almost 2 hours including rules explanation. I read the rules before so that went pretty quick.


By the way, the lady's face is so strikingly lifelike that my ipad camera did an auto face focus. Nicely done Mr Menzel.

I won't go through in detail how to play Rokoko, it's pretty detailed with lots of parts but basically in short you have a deck which you can manage by buying cards. This deck determines your actions in the game. Each player starts with the same basic characters with abilities but new ones are bought and that is how the game is different for each player. With these characters, players buy resources to make dresses that score points and are placed in areas to score more points ( think area control ).

Money is crucial and can be used as donations to secure end game points, these donations also have multiplier effects for some of the dresses you create throughout the game.
There are other nitty grtitty details but you will find yourself mainly buying characters, getting resources, and making dresses for its area control and end game points. 


I really enjoyed my play of Rokoko, so much so that I might just pick up a copy tomorrow. The fact that I am still unsure worries me slightly though. But I can't put my finger on why.
It seems different enough from what I have in my collection. The deck management is definitely interesting though it is in fact only a slight variation from other deck management systems.

The resource collection and dress making is obviously found in most euros but I think it was done in a very elegant way in Rokoko. Turns went quick after the slightly sluggish opening round. The last round took slightly longer but that is understandable. 


I am not sure about the replayability as the main ways to score points are rather straightforward. So in the long run it might suffer in this aspect.
Overall Rokoko was a very nice way to end our day. I was engaged throughout and there were moments where you really needed to do something before someone else and you could feel your plans slightly ruined by someone else's actions.

We'll see whether it ends up in my loot tomorrow,

Pre-play Thoughts: It reads as an interesting game, am slightly worried about the many intricate details of gameplay
In-game Thoughts: turns are quick and important, now why didn't I buy that guy earlier ?
Post-play Thoughts: that didn't seem like 2 hours. Maybe I should have bought a copy

Other Thoughts: I would consider this a medium weight game but with medium-heavy weight rules to teach. There's basically a lot of things to tell someone before you can begin






Jon


1 comment:

  1. This seems to be my cup of tea ....... I wonder will I get a chance to play this in the near future..........

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