I just barely played third expansion yesterday, at a huge gaming group/weekend thing one of my friends in Orange Country was throwing. (I met Ian there...from Northeastern, now of Seattle. He says he knows you and says 'hi'.)
I think this prestige thing is interesting...it can be an alternative to farming VP (with the right cards in play), which can be a pain since you're usually the one left throwing down the Produce phase. I like the idea that there's a mechanism whereby you can buff up your phase bonuses just once per game, but so far I'm not sure how well it integrates with the rest of the gameplay. I agree that first expansion is best, and I liked playing that with just the vanilla rules (no longest road, first-to-whatever cards). I sort of feel like all the new rules (takeovers, prestige, etc.) are just bells and whistlee. I personally think that takeovers detracts from gameplay, but that prestige might be something to run parallel to the game that won't take away from the experience.
I ended up winning my game hardly working any prestige at all so...*shrugs* It's not something you need as a player...I seriously just think a lot of these expansion mechanisms are in there for the purposes of making more money off the game. :/ I think I'll pick up the expansion just because, but it'll likely be the last one I pick up for the game.
RftG
I think this prestige thing is interesting...it can be an alternative to farming VP (with the right cards in play), which can be a pain since you're usually the one left throwing down the Produce phase. I like the idea that there's a mechanism whereby you can buff up your phase bonuses just once per game, but so far I'm not sure how well it integrates with the rest of the gameplay. I agree that first expansion is best, and I liked playing that with just the vanilla rules (no longest road, first-to-whatever cards). I sort of feel like all the new rules (takeovers, prestige, etc.) are just bells and whistlee. I personally think that takeovers detracts from gameplay, but that prestige might be something to run parallel to the game that won't take away from the experience.
I ended up winning my game hardly working any prestige at all so...*shrugs* It's not something you need as a player...I seriously just think a lot of these expansion mechanisms are in there for the purposes of making more money off the game. :/ I think I'll pick up the expansion just because, but it'll likely be the last one I pick up for the game.