When comparing Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization vs Pandemic Legacy, the Slant community recommends Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization for most people. In the question“What are the best board games?” Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization is ranked 10th while Pandemic Legacy is ranked 19th. The most important reason people chose Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization is:
Managing a variety of resources and balancing which areas of their civilization to improve are key aspects of this game that players will deal with and figuring out the best way to do it leads to many important and deep strategic decisions.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro A very strategic game
Managing a variety of resources and balancing which areas of their civilization to improve are key aspects of this game that players will deal with and figuring out the best way to do it leads to many important and deep strategic decisions.
Pro A brilliant civilization-building game
Beginning in the age of antiquity, players will spend the next 4 ages competing to build the best civilization. They can do this by building improvements and wonders, developing techs and tactics, gaining leaders, implementing political systems, and using military might. The multitude of options in each of those areas lead to players civilizations feeling unique and expansive each time you play.
Pro Very high short-term replayability due to the persistent story in the game
With individual plays regularly ending in teasers and cliffhangers players will be eager to play the next round in order to move the story forward and find out what happens next.
Pro A persistent campaign means that your descisions have consequences, both good and bad, in future games
Pandemic Legacy is the latest in the Legacy line of games where things that happen in one game can, and often do, have affects in later games. The characters you use can gain new abilities and or flaws, components can be added and/or destroyed and rules can be added, amended, or removed, all based on the things that you do from game to game. This helps players feel invested in the game and makes their decisions even more meaningful than they already were. This ongoing change also means that your experiences may very well be unique to your group and that other campaigns of the same game will go drastically different, with only main plot points in common.
Cons
Con Too complex for new players
This game is very complex and has a steep learning curve which makes it difficult for people who are new to board gaming.
Con Very long game
Games can take as much as 2 hours for a 2p game and up to 4 or 5 hours for a 4p game.
Con No long-term replayability
After the main campaign is finished (12-24 games) the game is mostly finished. Technically you can play the final mission over and over, but permanent changes made over the course of the playthrough, such as stickers added to the rules, board, and player sheets as well as components that are physically destroyed make the game less fun to replay after the main story concludes.
Con Requires a commited group to play and experience the full extent of the game
Pandemic: Legacy games are meant to be experienced over 12-24 games with the same players so that everyone involved can share in the overarching story of the game. Unfortunately, many gamers may struggle to find 2-4 players that can regularly meet up to play the game, making it difficult to finish the main story.