We’re back for the normal streaming schedule after a few weeks of changing things up with Gen Con. That means that The Isofarian Guard by Sky Kingdom Games is hitting the table again. Grigory and Alek just left a fort last session, so they need to travel down to another fort. How will that adventure go and how far will they get. Join me as I play The Isofarian Guard over on Malts and Meeples on YouTube.

The Isofarian Guard – Story to Grind Ratio

So, one complaint that I’ve heard about The Isofarian Guard is the amount of grind in the game. And this, also from what I’ve heard is a factor of two things. One of the two causing another issue with the game, but that is a player problem, so we’ll touch on that second. Let’s start with talking about last nights session.

Battle Grind

So in last nights session of The Isofarian Guard, I got the same combat twice. Now, I hit different zones, so that changes up what I might be facing. There is also a balancing act of not wanting something to be too hard or having too many monsters or enemies to face. Adding more is a great way to make a big game harder to get to the table. This is already a game that takes up a whole gaming table.

The downside is that I beat up two of the same enemy and due to how those enemies work, it was not that unique. Now, some of this is due to lower leveled characters. Alek is always going to be able to pull of his starting combo. That is always going to make Grigory’s next turn better. So it is a balancing act for the The Isofarian Guard that way.

Is it a bummer to hit the same combat twice. I think so. Right now is it too much of grind for me, definitely not. This is not indicative of the game always being the same. There are just times where you fill be hunted by a certain enemy or pack of them that you need to deal with. That is how it makes sense thematically.

Side Questing

Now, this is where The Isofarian Guard has a player problem. The game comes with side quests and side quests are a great way to get a whole bunch of resources. Then to use those resources to level up armor, weapons, and characters.

There is one major flaw with this, the game is not meant to have you play every side quest. It is meant, when you need a little boost, to give you that little boost. So players are deciding to over power and over level their characters in The Isofarian Guard. But to do that, you end up grinding a lot of side quests and fights to do that. And as you grind, the more it throws off the balance.

So I think this is a player problem. Players, I get it, want to be powerful in the game. But it creates an experience where the grind is more than what it should be. And also, that the game is easier than it should be. Trying to get ahead in the game is causing more issues than solving.

Upcoming Streams

So, as normal, Wednesday is for campaign games. That means for a little bit longer my plan is to play more Isofarian Guard. I like to play around ten sessions, we might play this longer, to show off the game and how it works. So expect on Wednesday’s to see more of The Isofarian Guard. Streaming time is 8 PM Central on Wednesday.

Then on Monday, this is going to be more of a mixed bag. I still plan on streaming every Monday, and Monday streams are at 9 PM Central. But I think I want to start doing more Top 10 Lists again. And as we wrap up the summer that means it is closer to when I start my Top 100 list. That is going to be on the Monday stream to keep the campaign games going on Wednesday. But I play smaller games, put together lists, or discuss topics on Monday’s. Join me then as well.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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