I think I view Eldrich (and probably Arkham) Horror with rose tinted glasses, as they fill that whole "everything is doomed" bill so nicely. Only now that I'm getting them replayed or maybe because I'm trying to design a game of my own do I see the flaws more clearly.
Even after cutting Arkham's game time by half, "It is a long game," is still an easy phrase to throw around. Yes the amount of components make it long to set up, but the "long" part that is poorly designed - at least time management wise - are the actual encounter cards.
You look at the clock. Roll for sanity!
What!? But those give the story and the theme of the game! Yes they do, and they are fantastic. But they only apply to ONE player at a time - and I see now that it's a pretty big draw back. It's almost like everyone plays together in the fast "action" phase, then the momentum stops again when reading out the cards or indeed, fighting monsters.
Even if said encounter only takes 2 minutes, in a six player game that's 10 minutes of each player idling while the others have their encounter. In Police Precinct, you similarly have individual encounters but every other player has an opportunity to assist you. It doesn't make sense logically, but game play wise it keeps everyone invested in what's happening. Glasses off, score adjustment: -0.5.
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