New Players looking at Descent as Co-Op game

[Tom1132 193]

Hello,

 

My girlfriend and I are big into our co-op games (LOTR, Zombicide etc.) and have been looking at Descent as a possible addition to that.

 

Since it's just the two of us; my question is aimed at the Road to Legend app specifically. And that is - how good of a "co-op vs the AI" game is it?

 

I have no doubt we'd enjoy the *gameplay*; we've played Imperial Assault with a group before and loved it. From what I've seen this is mechanically similar in a lot lf ways. But in the absence of a human Overlord, does the game deliver in that regard?

Even if it does; is there anything we need to be mindful of going in?

Looking forward to your thoughts

[any2cards 2,508]

While you as heroes have an opportunity to make some decisions for the OL, the app does play surprisingly well, and certainly does present an acceptable challenge.  Yes there are times that the app will do things that most human OLs would not, but sometimes it also pays off.

Further, when faced with multiple acceptable equal choices, the heroes can always choose the "best" choice for the OL, increasing the difficulty they face.

I can attest that after playing both D1e and D2e for over 1,000+ hours, I can still be challenged by the app.  It is certainly not an automatic win for the heroes.

Quite frankly, when you first begin playing with it, and until you understand and properly utilize the synergies available within classes, base, ACT I, and ACT II shop items, you will most likely lose to the app, especially if you play on the hard difficulty setting.

Edited August 16, 2017 by any2cards

[Silidus 191]

@Tom1132

The app makes for an exceptionally good co-op experience.  There are a large number of side quests available, the Delve (for shorter more random experience) and some great campaigns (3 to be exact).  For the base game you will only be able to play 2 of the campaigns, the shorter intro campaign, and the larger main campaign (kindred fire).

Kindred Fire was good, but lately the "Rise of All Goblins" campaign sees far more playtime as you can basically play it over one or two evenings (skipping the tutorial mission) and it basically plays as 2 random side quests, followed by the finale.  I should mention, that some of the side quests are REALLY good, and very fun to play.

When you get bored of that, H&M packs add more heroes, more monsters, and more side quests.  Makes for a really good experience.

[10355ts 24]

The app makes a great co-op experience, and is fairly challenging for new players even on normal difficulty. In some ways it's superior to the standard five-person game mode, as the app can hide things behind closed doors and pull surprise battles in a way that a human Overlord can't do to the same extent.

The AI does have some limitations. Sometimes you will get into situations where there's a coinflip decision that the AI can't resolve (example: "attack closest Hero" when two heroes are equidistant); basically you have to play "in good faith" and sometimes make the "best" choice for the AI as if you were playing the Overlord. Mostly that's not an issue though, but once or twice in every fight there'll be something like that come up.

In terms of "things to be aware of", main thing is I'd suggest playing on a large screen (probably on a computer via Steam) rather than a phone. Phone screen is small enough that the app becomes a little annoying to use; it works better on a tablet or laptop.  Other thing is I'd suggest playing two characters each, the game balance just works better with four players.

Edited August 24, 2017 by 10355ts