Having bested all the Elder Sign: Omens beasties first with a full party of four (see the review post), and then again with Jenny Barnes alone, and then again with little Wendy Adams alone, I’m now working my way through them with just Luke Robinson, the “Lucid Dreamer.”
SPOILER ALERT…
Luke’s ability to spend four trophies to open an “Other World” location changes game strategy quite a bit—at least with the first four monstrosities. For one thing, I’m no longer annoyed if the Curator shows up, because I’m spending trophy points before he gets a chance to rob them. Also, with so many Other Worlds on the table, it’s easy to avoid an unexpected appearance of a midnight location: just go to an Other World on the pre-midnight turn; solving one of them doesn’t automatically bring any other locations.
Also, it’s sort of fun to get every Other World out there, solve one that reduces the Doom Track, and then spend trophies to bring that same world right back (because it’s the only one available).
The only problem is that the game doesn’t seem to like this sort of abuse. With the map full, it tends to freeze with every new Other World placement, requiring a shut down and relaunch. But on relaunch, it places that same Other World just fine.
Not sure how well Luke will fare against Cthulhu, the Dark Pharoah (Nyarlathotep’s avatar), or Ithaqua. He’s been pretty bruised and bloodied at the finish of Yig, Tsathoggua, Hastur, and Azathoth. And those Other Worlds won’t carry over from Museum to Pacific or Alaska, nor from Cairo to the Desert or Underground. If I recall correctly, the Pacific doesn’t allow Other World locales at all. I’ll see pretty soon, though, as Cthulhu is up next.
Wish me luck!
Luke somehow survived Cthulhu. Not being able to open Other Worlds in the Pacific definitely hampered him, but he prevailed. And after a couple of tries (including one restart because the game got it a freeze loop), he defeated the Dark Pharaoh, as well. Now on to Ithaqua.