So saving the game feels like such a hard reset .
If u compare on how to save in This War Of Mine then this feels very abrupt and its like u cut the story in pieces . Kinda hard to explain .
We just finished the first dream after the tutorial and we both still had 2 and 3 red distress tokens and allot of cards sealed . No keys left . We know the wraight was still in the deck before the delta phase so it would be harder to defeat him but saving feels like cheating now .
Just reset everything and go for the next gate, reset everything => next gate , ....
Also im playing specialist and i need 4 green progress cards for my first memory , i got 2 now but next game i start with 0 again ?? My wife needs the 5 ethereal and has 4 now , same issue .
The first Slumber cards talk about having X or X progress cards to ...
For now we placed the board in its whole away ,where the kids cant reach it :) , and we will continue tomorrow evening but we cant keep doing this so i wonder why this is the case ?
Coulnd u make something so we could carry over our scars of combat or is this a balancing issue ?
Hello AR,
Is there any update on the template (alternative saving system) you promised ??
Interesting to read that playtesters preferred to reset and found it less punishing. From my viewpoint, it would be more punishing and thus I have not used Awakening once yet. I have done about 7 dreams now and thanks to some ingame mechanics, I am always able to recover fairly easily. Between game sessions, I just place a cover over my table and everything stays as is eliminating the need for setup and tear down aside from putting minis away.
We still waiting for an alternative save system promised by AR.
Interesting thread. Thanks Awaken Realms for your answer, and I share most of op's views on this. Atm we have played 6 dreams, and saving feels incredibly punishing and demotivating. We are so far managing a good balance at restoring our resources through Delta phase alone. It's not always easy, but it feels VERY rewarding when you come out of a delta phase almost fully rested, the same as when waking up from the perfect power nap in real life. And then it's super demotivating to look at the real life clock and realise all your calculating and effort was for nothing, because you have to work tomorrow and that means saving the game and losing progress, ether, gems and keys.
Also, this makes it impossible/pointless to play shorter sessions (just a dream, or just a few slumbers).
We stuck to the standard saving system until now because we were not sure if there was some higher reason for it that would become clear later on, but if you say it was a balancing choice as you explain, we might end up going for a more Taimted Grail-style saving, just taking a snapshot of the current game situation and restarting from there.
I think atm saving is really the weakest and most annoying point of an otherwise excellent game (congrats on the work done, and thank you)
While AR comes with an official solution, you might be interested in checking this alternative we came out with to preserve the game state without Awakening. I think it works pretty well.
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2546057/alternative-save-system-without-awakening
I found some difference between save/restore and awakening. If i restore, i can reset the clock and buy influence cards, but the simple awakening process does not allow them. It feels like i can save and restore instantly instead of awakening, just to reset the clock, or use my hard earned ether without using any shopping cards. Is it okay to do this or is it cheating the system?
First of all thx for replying .
"This is a balancing act between the fact that we want to go as far as possible without a reset (with a good card engine and resources) and the risk that we will miscalculate and die (which by the way - also not a huge loss, it will not take us back to the beginning of the campaign or anything like that) , we won't lose our character etc)."
Exactly what i was trying to say here .I have absolutely no problem with having the Awakening (reset) in the game , my problem was the that if u stop the game it was forced upon u and i didn't got that feeling that u described about the choice i have to make to keep going and maybe die or wake up and lose everything (keys , progress cards,.. ) This is a campaign game and it felt like separate games to me .The fact that going from dream to dream takes a couple of hours and u have to reset it cause i cant let it stay on my table gave me a sour taste .
I can imagine later in the game when it gets harder and harder the option to awake is a welcome one but just not for now :) .
Nevertheless we worked out our own system with bags and a pic of the dreamworld but it would be nice to have a more "professional" save :D .
> The reset (Awakening) is a tool not only for saving, but also for healing characters and recovering Sealed cards.
The gameplay has a rhythm of cycles from Awakening to Awakening.
In one such cycle, we try to build an effective engine (placed Progress cards, Sining Gems, collected Ether, Keys, without returning to Awakening Location, etc) and go as far as possible with such an engine (Dreams, shopping, Deliverance in Slumbers etc).
On the other hand, the character inevitably gets tired (Distress, Sealed cards), so sooner or later Awakening will be necessary.
This is a balancing act between the fact that we want to go as far as possible without a reset (with a good card engine and resources) and the risk that we will miscalculate and die (which by the way - also not a huge loss, it will not take us back to the beginning of the campaign or anything like that) , we won't lose our character etc).
We wanted the game to have a reset rhythm. On the one hand, it mobilizes to "one more step" in the campaign, even though the character is not in good shape anymore, on the other hand, building the engine takes place much more often (we don't just build the engine once and then go through many Dreams with such an engine).
And on the third hand - the inability to reset was a problem for players during testing - when they came out barely alive with Dream, it did not encourage them to continue playing, they just wanted to make it to the nearest reset option and it was a rather frustrating stage.
Reset (sometimes almost forced) turned out to be a much better solution.
What is fun for some players (strategically managing Sealed cards, Distress etc) turned out to be a nightmare for most. Few of the groups were able to play the game to get out of Dream (after the previous difficult trek to Dream and play inside Dream) in a relatively good shape and be able to do anything on Dreamworld Map (get somewhere, survive a few Slumbers). Not to mention trying to enter the next Dream without a reset.
In order not to create two game saving systems, we decided to give only one - based on the reset (Awakening).
However, we can also prepare a second, much more complicated save system for the few players who can exit Dream in such a state and be able to continue playing without a reset. We will try to prepare such a solution (for example, based on a save game card printed from pdf)!