Space Cowboys Time Stories: Lumen Fidei

Chapter 1 was okay. Chapter 2 had a cool mechanic. Chapter 3 suckedFound out there was an error on one of the cards that resulted in us getting stuck in chapter 3, there is an errata published online about this. Overall I don't think chapter 3 was well thought out at all

We really like TIME Stories- and all of the continuing games / cases. We know that we are going to have a wonderful and fun day or evening, whenever a new story comes out --

The game play is poorly designed with some parts being left up to a guess. Multiple parts of the game are pure happenstance. The story is bad. It doesn’t have any actual plot. There are no stakes to propel you through the story. The chapters are a fun take on it but it doesn’t save the ending. The stories end is so bad and it doesn’t make any sense. Save your time.

This expansion is highly disappointing. T.I.M.E. Stories is my favorite board game, and I was so excited to play through Lumen Fidei, so I went into this with a positive mindset. So please know that this isn't a review written by a stick-in-the-mud pessimist. I like almost everything I play.I'll start with the good: we FINALLY get a puzzle to solve, which was my favorite thing about Asylum! Also, as usual, the artwork is amazing.And that's about it.Cons:- New game mechanics mean that, if you don't pick the perfect team from the get-go, you're screwed.- Battles are way more difficult than in other expansions. There are some battles that are impossible to pass/survive unless you use a certain bonus earned in other expansions.- There is a printing error that gets your team literally stuck in one location, if you happen to have a specific ally with you.- There really is no plot. The gist: you are after a specific object. You pick up an ally or two who might know something about the object (but who, ultimately, don't give you much info), and then have to fight a bunch of guards for seemingly no reason. Suddenly, things get supernatural (don't know why). Then you solve a puzzle and then go into impossible battles. Your original quest is forgotten until the last card of the game. I never felt like I was actively searching for it. I have no idea what the puzzle had to do with anything.What I'm now wondering is if, based on the specific choices/actions of my team, we somehow skipped a location that would have tied this story together for us. We "won," but felt no joy in winning this one, because (aside from the one puzzle) it never felt like we were actually doing anything besides fighting guards for the sake of fighting guards.This expansion had a lot of potential, but it never lived up to that potential. It needed a more cohesive story, either easier fights or more hearts for characters, way more items, and more than one puzzle. These expansions are not cheap, and I'm a little butthurt that the one that got so many rave reviews didn't work out for us at all, for some reason, and I can't get my money back.And for the love of God, whatever you do, do not skip Asylum and go straight to this one, as is suggested by another review here. :facepalm: This expansion introduces a number of new game mechanics, so if you do this one first, you'll be confused when you play all the others. Plus, you'll need things from previous expansions to get you through this one. Third, Asylum is the BEST.

Intro- If you want a sloppy, disappointing mess, buy this expansion.1) The Story- This story here was disjointed, poorly fleshed out, and thoroughly disappointing. I was hoping for intrigue, secret societies, and a historical clash of cultures. Instead we got the same generic fantasy stuff that’s been done a thousand times. No one at the table could even give a summary at the end of what happened, who the characters were, or what anyone’s motivation was.2) The Mechanics- The mechanics here were unclear, not playtested, and pointless to the ultimate outcome of the adventure. The biggest infraction here is that the mechanics of the final boss battle were not playtested well enough, and result in the players having to hand-wave things in what should be the climactic point of the adventure. Utterly disappointingConclusion- Do not spend your money on this. It is a poorly realized, un-playtested mess. Space Cowboys keeps getting away with this kind of thing because you can’t look up anything about the game before you buy it (because you don’t want to be spoiled). Don’t be fooled-this expansion is a disappointing waste of money and…time.