Nomad moves Mystic Vale to mobile

Front Page Discussion
#1

Originally published at: https://statelyplay.com/2019/06/06/nomad-moves-mystic-vale-to-mobile/

  • iOS, Android, PC/Mac

Right up at the top of my “digital board games that have been around a while and yet I can’t seem to find time to play but really want to and plan to someday when things aren’t so crazy and life settles down and maybe my kids move out of the house and I’m retired” list sits a little gem from Nomad and AEG called Mystic Vale. It’s been available for a bit on Steam now but today it moved to the little leagues. That is, today it released for iOS and Android.

Mystic Vale is a board game in which you build your cards, not deck, as the game progresses. Cards are transparent and can be mixed and matched to create unique powers as you and your fellow Druids (obligatory “no one knows who they were or what they were doing” quote) battle to keep evil from the titular Vale.

Everything I’ve heard indicates that Nomad has knocked it out of the park with this one, so if you’ve just been waiting for it to land in your pocket, you’re good to go. As an added bonus the first expansion, Vale of Magic, is included in the mobile version for no extra charge.

Maybe, someday, I’ll get to play it and let you know what I think. Don’t get your hopes up.

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#2

Looks pretty from the store description. I added it to my wishlist but I’ve got such a backlog I don’t think I’m going to get to it right away unless we have a tourney here.

#3

A tourney’s going to be impossible without async multiplayer.

Which this app desperately needs, because it’s so good otherwise!

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#4

Ugh.

#5

Nomad has yet to do async. I wish Talisman was async, doesn’t seem to be in the cards anymore.

#6

Talisman I can see, though. Lots of interrupt cards, it would be difficult.

But there is literally nothing in this game that would require live play.

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#7

Difficult should not be a reason not to do it. If Galaxy Trucker can figure out how to be asynchronous, anything can.

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#8

Digital board game devs should all have this quote pasted into their mission statement.

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#9

I’m pretty much enjoying my time with MV. I have yet to test the expansion, but the vanilla mode is captivating and demanding enough for now. Demanding in terms of AI. There are 5 difficulties to play against, and I haven’t beaten difficulty 3 yet.

The objection, that the game is just a solitaire, is true to a high extent though. There is no interplayer interaction in any kind, except, that maybe the AI takes a card you had your eye laid upon. Every player hunts down for score points from a pool, and when it’s finished, the final results show. If the expansion has more interaction between players, I can’t tell yet.

#10

Is there no way to continue a game if you get interrupted? I’m on iOS and, if I get a crash or even go to other apps before coming back to MV, there’s no “Continue” button that I can see.

#11

I’ve heard this complaint elsewhere. I don’t have the game but I can say anecdotally that there isn’t a fix for the problem.

#12

I bought the game for $3, a sale that I believe still continues.

Deck-building games seems to be a dime a dozen these days, so in order for one to hold my interest, it either needs to do something fairly unique, or execute its design exceptionally well. Mystic Vale certainly fits in the former category, and I think the card-building mechanic is pretty neat. The game design is solid and the app seems fairly well-polished. Lack of asynch means that I paid $3 for a tutorial should I ever want to play the tabletop game, but I knew that going in to it. Anyone interested in play against the AI or in live online games should give this one a look, especially if the sale continues.

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