Customer Reviews

Descent Journeys in the Dark

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Have sat down with friends twice now and played this game. We are all long time gamers and are familiar with fantasy flight's way of doing things which no doubt helped us learning this game. That being said, the only negative thing I can say about this game is that it takes a long time to setup, and can be slow until you have really got the rules down. Once you have a handle on how things work though, battles are fast and challenging. So far I have always been the overlord, and have enjoyed it. The heroes all seem to enjoy it as well. The same guys that complain in other games whine about the overlord being too powerful, but it really seems well balanced. I am looking forward to playing more and if we continue having fun in the long run (which I see as a very likely possibility), I will be getting the expansions as well.

Descent is one of the best buys I have made in a long time. I'm an old-school dungeon crawler, with my roots in games like Hero Quest, which whiled away many hours of my youth. This game is what happens if you take a game like HQ and ramp it up about 10 levels of awesome.

The game is expensive, yes, but the components are of extremely high quality. I've probably put over 100 hours of play into this game in the past few months and the pieces are still holding up remarkably well. The plastic figurines are durable and look really cool, especially when painted. There is an excellent variety in both heroes and monsters which keeps things fresh. The customer service from FFG is also very good; I discovered a missing figurine from one of the expansions and a replacement one was mailed to me within a week from FFG

There are about a billion pieces to this game (by far more than to any other I've ever played), and you definitely need some kind of sturdy storage box with a good filing system to keep it all organized (I use plastic baggies). The game is also very long; I'd say an average of about 4 hours for a single quest from set-up to take down (although depending on the quest I've had some go for as few as 2.5 hours and others for as long as 6!). It can get a bit tedious at times, especially in the longer quests, but if you have a strong Overlord player, the pace of the game can be managed well depending on the skill level of your heroes.

The biggest downside to this game is that it is horribly, hideously unbalanced in favor of the Overlord. If you have an Overlord who has a good grasp on strategy and play using the default rules, there is no way the Overlord will lose. It's a bit ridiculous, really. The good news is that it's easy to fix that; I've instituted some house rules that balance things out nicely. It took a fair amount of time and effort to get to the point where the game is balanced, though, and that was a bit annoying to say the least.

Overall this is an excellent game, although not really one for a casual gamer with the steep price tag and very long play time. If you get into longer games, though, Descent is an excellent bang for your buck and will keep you entertained for a very long time.

I bought this game for my son for his birthday and haven't seen him since. He and his friends have enjoyed hours of playing. They've actually left their computer games to play this and have had so much fun doing it. The personal interaction and challenges the game provides are a major plus.

I've played this game about 4 times now, and after playing twice I had had enough. I really enjoy RPG's, including pen and paper games like Aberrant and console games like Final Fantasy, but this board game just won't hold my interest.

Each quest, no matter how "unique", essentially entails the exact same strategy and game play for both the overlord and the players. At the beginning of the quest, the heroes are weak, and it's the only chance the overlord has to get their conquest tokens. After the first silver chest is opened, even the weakest mages and rogues are likely to one-shot any monster in their line of sight. If the players have a melee character with the "cleave" skill then the overlord is lucky to ever get a shot in again. For each game I played, by the time we got to the boss we could one or two shot it. It's this huge dragon, and my lowly mage opens the door and blows it up in one shot - and possibly everything in the room if it was equipped with a blasting weapon.

After a few games we removed a lot of "overpowered" cards - like blasts and even removed some characters from the game (such as battle mage Jaes), yet the boss still wasn't getting a shot in before being killed by the heroes. We changed a lot of rules to make it harder for the players (i.e. no buying silver or gold chests at the shop), yet we were still dominating the GM and destroying his/her monsters before they even got a shot in. This game could really use with some evolution of the monsters, so it's not simply a case of "get strong really quickly before you are killed, then cut through everything like butter". As a player or overlord, I find this play very boring.

Thus I give this product two stars, because I don't care to play anymore and I think 80+ dollars for a game you may only enjoy a couple of times is a rip off.

Descent: Journeys into the Dark is a good game made average by its overly complex rules and long setup times. After playing around 10 games, my friends still argue over what certain abilities can do. Usually, a hunt through the manual solves the question. But sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes, it actually makes things worse (most remembered: the online manual said at one location that a potion costs only 25 gold at the start of the game and 50 gold after the start, while the printed manual said 50 gold).

We've actually had 4 hours set aside to play, and after 3 hours, decided not to play b/c we spent all of our time trying to set stuff up.

That said, when everything is running smoothly, the game works out pretty good.

But now that we have the Ravenloft game, I doubt we'll play this one much anymore.

Descent is my favorite game now. I love to play it and can't wait to get all of the expansions.
It runs a little long, sometimes up to seven hours, but I do expect that to get better as my group learns the game more.

There's alot of board setup in this game as one person plays the overlord type who controls all the monster and tries to eliminate the players, while everyone else plays the heroes that are dungeon diving. There is a pretty stiff learning curve to this game if you have a group that hasn't played it before, but once people start to get the jist of it the other elements of the game are similar to those in other fantasy. There is a ton of small parts/tokens, I would highly recommend a tackle box to keep them in or some ziplock bags.

There's a decent amount of replay value based on the amount of quests in the manual. This is a large board game.

Descent is a very thorough, well-balanced game that is geared towards seasoned gamers who have lots of time and patience. For those gamers, Descent is a very challenging and entertaining dungeon crawler. For those with no experience in roleplaying games and tabletop adventuring, there's a very steep learning curve. If you get by that, though, there is a lot to explore.

It's best played over daily or weekly gatherings to keep the rules fresh in your mind; there's a lot to keep track of and it only gets more difficult as new quests open up. Questions about the rules will come up frequently, and the rulebook doesn't have all the answers. There is a very helpful FAQ you can find online, though, that acts as an amendment to the rulebook. Don't play the game without downloading or printing it out beforehand, or there will be some problems you will have to solve with house rules.

The game should last you a long time if you take care of it. If you finish all the quests, there are more to be found in expansions and web sites, and you have the option to create your own. Descent is well worth the price as long as you're willing to put time and effort into it.

This game is the best. Its very well balanced. I have played it many many times and I find the overlord wins about 1 out of every 4 or 5 games, which is also dependent on the overlords skill and mercy. Its a long game lasting on average about 4-7 hours, but it is 4-7 hours of fun. Its similar to DnD but it has more structure and visuals. I dont have any expansions yet but plan to invest in many. I am a big gamer and participate in many boardgame meetups with other very serious gamers and there are always people wanting to play descent. I like how the figures can be painted however you want to paint them. I spent a good couple days painting all the monsters and heroes to match their pictures. My only point of negativity is that i wish the rule book had an index, sometimes we have trouble finding specific rules. Its also a great investment, the value of this game has doubled since i got it 2 years ago. Best game ever! (although I hear there is a 2nd version coming out that may be better)

Great game. I bought it to game with a few of my friends who enjoy similar, nerdy things. The game is great, high replay value and worth the money.

Comes with tons of figures, pieces, chips, etc...the box is huge. You might think the price is big but once you see how much stuff comes with it you won't be that shocked anymore.

The game itself is a blast; it's easy to see why there are so many expansions out for this game. Games take a few hours to complete, but as you play more and more they'll get quicker. Tons of rules to learn and the setup takes a little bit, but once you get going you won't want to stop.

There are already good reviews explaining the game, so I'l just endorse it - buy this game, you won't be disappointed.