Fantasy Strike by Sirlin Games is a video game based on a card game inspired by a video game. You still following?
Yomi, the card game that is the source material Fantasy Strike is based on, is one of my all-time favourite tabletop gaming experiences for how well it translates the thrill of playing a fighting game into a tabletop experience. Does Fantasy Strike bring the whole thing full-circle as a compelling video game?
My brother Randy came by the house and we competed in a pair of team battles!
Game 1: Jett (Setsuki/DeGrey/Argagarg) vs. Randy (Lum/Jaina/Grave)
Game 2: Jett (Rook/Geiger/DeGrey) vs. Randy (Valerie/Rook/Grave) GG Randy!
GG Randy! At the end, we discuss our games of the decade!
View the full post to see the full video, highlights, and shoutouts!
This stream was not part of the original plan. However, with a bunch of new equipment in need of testing, I decided to hop on in the middle of the night and play some Fantasy Strike! I mess around with Argagarg and DeGrey, while also playing a few online matches with Grave and Rook. Hoping you enjoy the FPS boost and we’ll see if I can bump the bitrate back up for a sharper image!
My brother Randy and I continue our sibling rivalry in this set of Fantasy Strike online matches! Would you be interested in watching more of this game as part of a live stream?
Click through for the shoutouts!
Playing as the grapple-happy stone golem, I take on a pair of online opponents in Fantasy Strike! I hope this is a much better demonstration of how fun and involved this game can be vs. my first video. Loving this game a lot and I’m hoping to have a full review up for the new year!
One cannot overstate the importance of characters in a fighting game. We play these games in large part because we want the power fantasy that comes with being that character. It’s probably even more important than having tournament-level balance or a deep feature set.
Reflecting on my own life, there are so many examples where my character selection was the primary driver of my enjoyment in a fighting game. Discovering Rose in Street Fighter IV changed my life, as she and I melded into one being while climbing to the top of the leaderboards. The Marvel vs. Capcom series intimidated the hell out of me until Wolverine slashed his way into my heart. Despite my fundamental issues with Street Fighter V, I played that game for way longer because Rashid mobility and aggressive offense were so fun to use. Fight of Gods is a straight-up bad game, but I still found enjoyment out of playing as Jesus while making great use of his juggle combos.
Most recently, I’ve been dabbling with Fantasy Strike. Exploring what each character has to offer, my quest for a main character has taken me in an unusual direction.
Based on the fantastic Yomi card game, Fantasy Strike aims to find the balance between depth and accessibility. With this being day 1 of my time with it, we spend a bit of time talking about the game’s features, play a few arcade mode matches, and I showcase my set of Yomi cards!
Video games owe a lot of its success to board games. Dungeons & Dragons alone has had elements of its gameplay cribbed by countless video games, such as the concepts of quests, health points, item usage, combat and more. If you dig far enough into the history of video games, you can probably find a theme or gameplay concept rooted in a board game. Video games have also innovated within its own space. From Super Mario to Call of Duty, there are a ton of unique experiences that have their roots in this digital medium.
Nowadays, you’ll see those video game specific concepts appear in board games. Whether they’re board games based on video game properties or digital gameplay mechanics that have gone analog, they feed off one one-another to push each other forward.
In this edition of the Board Game Night Playlist, we embark on an adventure that marries the best of both worlds. This list should be particularly interesting for video game fans looking for a smooth transition into the analog side of things. Time to press start on this playlist!
Given the chance, I will sing the praises of the Yomi series every chance I get. Compared to anything else on the marketplace that is trying to replicate the Street Fighter experience in tabletop form, Yomi crushes them all. I love the core concept of Rock Paper Scissors combat, which is an accurate analogy for how fighting game combat works. I love being able to manage all of the different maneuvers that each character has and the nuances that make them different. For the hardest of hardcore fighting game fans, there are so many nods to how a real fighting game plays that it scratches the exact same itch for me.
Despite that, this marquee title from Sirlin Games suffers from a steep pricing challenge. The complete first edition, packed with 10 characters and two playmats, will set you back about $100 if you’re lucky enough to find it nowadays. I’m certainly glad to have it, but it’s a very difficult proposition for even the most enthusiastic customers. Instead of anchoring the series down with a complete big box – and potentially an even bigger box with the additional 10 expansion characters on the way – Sirlin Games is moving in a different direction.
After months of anticipation, my Yomi Kickstarter package arrived in the mail just before Christmas! With the goodies enclosed being an expansion to a game I already love that won’t be available to the general public for months, and this being the first Kickstarter I’ve ever backed, my excitement levels are running pretty high right now. Let’s take a look at what’s in the box!
