u/DanyDanyDanyDanyDany

Size 2 Animals Elimination Game (Day 7) - Which of these cards is your least favorite?

Comment which of these animals you like to play the least, top comments get eliminated.
Next round in about 24 hours

Eliminated Animals:
27th - Great Hornbill
28th - Inland Taipan
29th - Longhorn Cowfish
30th - Indian Rock Python
31st - Australian Dingo
32nd - Western Green Mamba
33rd - Llama
34th - Malayan Tapir
35th - Laughing Kookaburra
36th - Eurasian Eagle-Owl
37th - Gravy's Zebra
38th - European Badger

u/DanyDanyDanyDanyDany — 8 days ago

▲ 10 r/ArkNova

Size 2 Animals Elimination Game (Day 2) - Which of these cards is your least favorite?

Comment which of these animals you like to play the least, top comments get eliminated.
Next round in about 24 hours.

Eliminated Animals:
37th - Gravy's Zebra
38th - European Badger

u/DanyDanyDanyDanyDany — 21 days ago

▲ 24 r/ArkNova

Size 2 Animals Elimination Game (Day 1) - Which of these cards is your least favorite?

Comment which of these animals you like to play the least, top comments get eliminated.
Next round in about 24 hours

u/DanyDanyDanyDanyDany — 22 days ago

▲ 4 r/pokemonanime

I love Journeys and Horizons - Will I like X&Y and/or Sun&Moon?

The question is pretty much in the title.

So, I did watch the anime back in the early 2000s when it was running on television. As a child, I loved everything Pokemon and did not care about good writing or animation, so I watched every episode I could, up to the "Advanced Generation" series. After that I kinda lost touch with the franchise for a few years, playing Gen 4 and 5 only years later after they were released and not watching the anime at all.
When Gen 6 arrived, I bought a copy of Pokemon Y and started playing again, so I thought, why not give the anime another try? I started watching the Diamond and Pearl series and altough I loved the rivalry between Ash and Paul, I was bored by most of the episodes being structured almost the same, so I gave up on it after ~60 episodes.
As a result, I never watched a single episode of Black&White, X&Y or Sun&Moon.

Fast forward a few years to 2019, I'm playing a lot of Pokemon Go, get back into the TCG and together with my roommate, we decide to start watching the new Pokemon series 'Journeys' and what can I say? I loved it!
I thing I hated most about the 'old' series of the anime (most episodes being more or less the same) was no longer a factor. Sure, not all the episodes were great, but most of them were at least unique. Some are focused on fights, some on catching Pokemon, some on some mystery, some on the characters, travelling through different regions, meeting new and old charcaters, you never knew what to expect. I loved how they fully commited to an episodic style and not trying to make it feel like some bigger storyline with Ash collecting badges, that never really clicked for me. Also, I get that a lot of people didn't like Goh, as a character who is mostly there to promote Pokemon Go, but I loved his dynamic with Ash, who was framed more as the experienced trainer, focused on battling.

When Journeys was over, I was excited for the new series 'Horizons', the first one without Ash and although I'm not fully caught up yet (currently on episode 129), I have to say, I probably like it even more than Journeys. The character writing is amazing (in most cases at least), the story feels connected and exciting, even the episodes that feel more like filler are contributing in some way to the progression of the story and even the animation is not that bad in some parts.

I often read that X&Y has some of the best fights and the most 'mature' tone and Sun&Moon is praised for its chill vibe, creative artstyle and cool characters (mostly read only bad stuff about Black&White 'tho) - at the same time, reviews for Horizons are mixed and most people didn't really enjoy Journeys at all, so I wondered if I'm just enjoying different things than most people or if I might love X&Y and/or Sun&Moon the same (or even more) as Journeys and Horizons.

People, who have watched most/all of these series, what do you think? Should I give it a try? Which one will I probably enjoy more, X&Y or Sun&Moon? Should I even pick Diamond&Pearl back up? Is Black&White underrated and also worth a shot?
I would love some insight and/or recommendations, thanks so much in advance!

reddit.com

u/DanyDanyDanyDanyDany — 1 month ago

▲ 21 r/ArkNova

Winning vs. Having fun

So, I've been playing Ark Nova for a few years now and I made steady progress in understanding the mechanics of the game, knowing what the best possible move in different situations is and what cards to play. It was fun to get this deep into a boardgame!

But recently I noticed I didn't actually get any better for a while now and the problem is, I know exactly why that is.

For context, I played around 570 games on BGA and probably around 100 games physically with friends. My peak Elo on BGA was around 530, for the past few months I was always around 450~500, currently I'm at 481, which is pretty good I guess, but to get even higher I would have to adapt my playstyle in a way that, I feel like, would be less fun.

Here is what I mean:

Upgrading Build - I know most top players almost never flip the build action card and instead take the free 2 size enclosure early, but I just love the feeling of building a zoo that is also pleasant on the eyes. Lots of kiosks and pavillions, no gaps between my enclosures and often the 7 points for completing the map. I also love the aviary, because the birds are by far my favorite animals in the game (of course especially the eagles, but I do also really like the vultures, the kite, the secretary bird and the shoebill). In rare cases I even build one just in case I'll draw one of those in the future. The one action card I almost never upgrade in Association, making a donation feels really boring (I do know, it's really strong) and I never feel like I need the extra partnerzoo (sometimes I only flip three action cards and take no PZ at all)
Snapping vs. Drawing cards - I get that snapping cards leaves you with way less cards than just drawing some from the deck, but if I see a card I want to play, I often can't resist just snapping it. As a consequence I almost never use the effects of Pouching or Sunbathing and rarely play animals with that ability. I also really dislike the map Commercial Harbor, because I seldom have the necessary cards in my hand for it to be impactful
Playing Sponsors vs. Pushing for Break - Playing sponsors is the most fun part of the game, there I said it. I get that Ark Nova is a race game and not an engine builder, but playing a sponsor early to get some kind of passive bonus for the rest of the game just feels so nice. I almost exclusively push for break if there is no sponsor in my hand or in the display and since I almost always upgrade build and build a lot of kiosks, it's at least not a money problem in most cases. I play around 7~8 sponsors per game on average, but it's also not a rarity that I play 10 or more. I actually switched to almost only playing 3 or 4 players games on BGA, because I feel like the game around when to push for break is less impactful there.

So, my question is, have you had similar feelings for Ark Nova or any other game? How did you handle these thoughts? Do you value having fun over winning or is winning in a game what makes it fun for you? Are my concerns valid and is it only possible to rise to a higher Elo when playing optimal or am I exaggerating and it's possible to win, even when playing a suboptimal playstyle?
I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on this!

reddit.com

u/DanyDanyDanyDanyDany — 3 months ago

▲ 12 r/ArkNova

Maps Elimination Game (Results)

After Resue Station was so good, it was eliminated first, Silver Lake was able too win gold in the Maps Elimination Game! Thanks everyone for participating!
Next elimination game starts in a few days (If you want more)

Full Ranking of r/ArkNovas Maps Elimination Game:
1st - Silver Lake (#3)
2nd - Outdoor Areas (#2)
3rd - Research Institute (#6)
4th - Commercial Harbor (#4)
5th - Park Restaurant (#5)
6th - Ice Cream Parlor (#7)
7th - Lagoon (#14)
8th - Observation Tower (#1)
9th - Tournament (#T1)
10th - Artificial Intelligence (#12)
11th - Caves (#11)
12th - Hollywood Hills (#8)
13th - Geographical (#9)
14th - Drawing Board (#13)
15th - Rescue Station (#10)

u/DanyDanyDanyDanyDany — 3 months ago

▲ 10 r/DrStone

So I just finished Dr.Stone and decided to rank the cast - how did I do?

Just watched the last episode of this amazing anime and since the abundance of cool characters was one of its greatest features, I decided to rank them (or the least the ones I thought of as 'relevant') - how did I do? Do you agree with me or are there characters you put way higher or lower?

u/DanyDanyDanyDanyDany — 3 months ago

▲ 8 r/ArkNova