by Zejety
Last warning: This thread discusses the secret stuff introduced in April. As such, it features heavy spoilers.The first paragraph is spoilered to give you a chance to avert your eyes now!
[o]Going into the campaign, I said something along the lines of, "I hope they don't go the cliché route of a zombie outbreak"
I do like zombie games but I felt like Pandemic should have a more grounded-in-reality setting.[/o]
Well - yeah, I wasn't exactly surprised but neither excited when we learned what April, and probably the rest of the campaign was going to be about.
However, despite my negative priming, I ended up minding it way less than I thought and actually looking forward to how it will develop.
My reasons are as such:
1) The faded are worth saving!
The very first card already spells out that the raging episodes of the afflicted are only temporary. These people are sick, not turned so we will hopefully not have to mow them down. The introduction of a militairy category of specialists hints towards forceful options but this will (hopefully) not end in mass slaughter of zombies.
Even though we cannot cure COdA yet, I feel like this is the direction the story will develop towards.
Effectively, this simply remains a dangerous disease that can cause physical harm to those close to the infected.
2) The mechanical implementation seems interesting so far
I really like the mechanics that the faded introduce. Our group already had a strong focus on avoiding the permanent consequences of outbreaks but these consequences have just became even more severe.
The incurable COdA permanently spreading to more different-colored cities with every outbreak at a border is really scary and a cool mental (and eventually sticker-caused actual) image.
We were really lucky in that our April game was very easy thanks to our draws so we ended up with only one faded city, but I am already dreading the May setup.
3) The mechanics already start to affect our pre-game choices
We have not played May yet, but the value of the different specialists has already changed dramatically in our perception.
We never cared for the Quarantine Expert (especially since our Operations Expert can quarantine adjacent cities from a military base) but now that being close to faded cities and figures became that much more dangerous, she immediately seems pretty valuable.
I also looks like the relative focus will shift more and more away from treating and curing, making our initial reliance on the Medic, Scientist and Reasearcher less clear-cut than in the earlier months.
I can also see our Generalist making a comeback.
So all in all, I am surprised to find myself stoked by this development and I'm looking forward to what else the game has in store for us.
What are everybody else's thoughts on April? Anybody else who felt like me? Please avoid any post-April spoilers.