But I've read some reviews in amazon that I need to ask here if they are correct.
One review said:
In conclusion, Descent second edition is not better than Descent first edition. In Descent first edition, your characters grow, develop, gain strength, new skills, better gear, new weapons and become richer with gold. By the end of the game, whether you win or lose, you feel as if the characters have been on a long journey and have become better and stronger for the experience. In Descent second edition, there is none of this growth or satisfaction. Your characters are the same as when they started. And, since you don't gain anything at all in terms of new skills, weapons, gear, or even gold, there is absolutely no satisfaction from seeing that they have developed from their original personas. This flat and featureless game sucks away all the fun of what playing a good dungeon adventure should be. This was a fair comparison done with both games played back to back. Let the buyer beware.
yet another reviewer said:
I have found this game to be incredibly unbalanced, particularly when expansions are added. While those of us playing were novices to Descent, we were not novices to RPG or tabletop strategy games, and the fun was sucked out of our evenings when we continued to lose by wide margins despite our best efforts and a balanced party (thief + damage warrior + mage + healer).
The game's board creates so many choke points, it makes it impossible to get through enemies quickly enough to stop the overlord from meeting the OL objective, because so many of the mobs take up 4 or more spaces while the board is mostly 2 spaces across. Likewise, blocked paths mean the heroes can't complete the hero objective, either.
Losing a scenario means the OL gets additional special abilities in the form of items, additional OL cards, or other perks like moving through doors without needing keys, that make it even harder for the heroes to win as they go along. This means you can pretty much never lose a scenario without never winning any of the scenarios thereafter. It's probably best if you lose a scenario to respec and replay the scenario you lost until you win. But that is boring and frustrating.
The game's rules are contradicted in every scenario by scenario-specific rules. There's no scenario that plays with the rule book's rules entirely intact. This means having to consult the rule books and scenario guides continuously throughout gameplay, leading to squabbles overrules each scenario because the text on the various cards and in the books is often vague. It makes it hard to play, let alone fully understand gameplay enough to form strategies because the rules of the game change each scenario.
While the OL gets ability cards, the players do not. The powers the players have are often far too weak to defeat mobs when the OL plays cards to boost his stats or add extra attacks. There are no special powers that compensate, as even the shop items' abilities are weak. If the mobs and OL cards were equivalently weak, this might not matter, but the OL cards and items are stronger. Essentially, the OL is OP.
If these opinions are correct, how is this game so popular and revered? These appear to be huge issues.
Is there credence to these reviewers or did they play it wrong?
One review said:
In conclusion, Descent second edition is not better than Descent first edition. In Descent first edition, your characters grow, develop, gain strength, new skills, better gear, new weapons and become richer with gold. By the end of the game, whether you win or lose, you feel as if the characters have been on a long journey and have become better and stronger for the experience. In Descent second edition, there is none of this growth or satisfaction. Your characters are the same as when they started. And, since you don't gain anything at all in terms of new skills, weapons, gear, or even gold, there is absolutely no satisfaction from seeing that they have developed from their original personas. This flat and featureless game sucks away all the fun of what playing a good dungeon adventure should be. This was a fair comparison done with both games played back to back. Let the buyer beware.
yet another reviewer said:
I have found this game to be incredibly unbalanced, particularly when expansions are added. While those of us playing were novices to Descent, we were not novices to RPG or tabletop strategy games, and the fun was sucked out of our evenings when we continued to lose by wide margins despite our best efforts and a balanced party (thief + damage warrior + mage + healer).
The game's board creates so many choke points, it makes it impossible to get through enemies quickly enough to stop the overlord from meeting the OL objective, because so many of the mobs take up 4 or more spaces while the board is mostly 2 spaces across. Likewise, blocked paths mean the heroes can't complete the hero objective, either.
Losing a scenario means the OL gets additional special abilities in the form of items, additional OL cards, or other perks like moving through doors without needing keys, that make it even harder for the heroes to win as they go along. This means you can pretty much never lose a scenario without never winning any of the scenarios thereafter. It's probably best if you lose a scenario to respec and replay the scenario you lost until you win. But that is boring and frustrating.
The game's rules are contradicted in every scenario by scenario-specific rules. There's no scenario that plays with the rule book's rules entirely intact. This means having to consult the rule books and scenario guides continuously throughout gameplay, leading to squabbles overrules each scenario because the text on the various cards and in the books is often vague. It makes it hard to play, let alone fully understand gameplay enough to form strategies because the rules of the game change each scenario.
While the OL gets ability cards, the players do not. The powers the players have are often far too weak to defeat mobs when the OL plays cards to boost his stats or add extra attacks. There are no special powers that compensate, as even the shop items' abilities are weak. If the mobs and OL cards were equivalently weak, this might not matter, but the OL cards and items are stronger. Essentially, the OL is OP.
If these opinions are correct, how is this game so popular and revered? These appear to be huge issues.
Is there credence to these reviewers or did they play it wrong?