Just finished playing 2 games of L & C 2ND EDITION on solo. While this might not be the ideal medium to assess the changes, I've often played First Edition solo games on the hardest difficulty, with 100 percent success. Here I struggled mightily, and failed by a long way on both occasions, clearing the first mountains, but so many turns behind Mckensie that I had no chance to catch up.
One obvious reason was the disorientation caused by time tokens. Having played hundreds of games according to the old rules, I found it very difficult to get used to. Instead of the drag back due to resources effecting your movement after camping, it stops you moving forward. I felt like an invisible hand was holding me back (presumably those who didn't like the old game rules would have felt the invisible hand dragging them back instead). But you become used to calculating your moves with respect to how much they are going to take you backwards, and if you don't then move forwards as you expect, its very frustrating. This is especially true in a transition area, if you are expecting to reach the end of the mountains, with the river again available to use, but your time tokens won't let you reach it.
The other constant frustration was the nerfing of various cards and perhaps even more annoying, boats. You can't buy big ones anymore (I would generally buy those by default, for resources anyway). At least you had the choice before.
Then there are the nasty surprises with the cards. I didn't get to see a very broad range, considering it was solo play. But even then there were annoying changes. For example a card like Little Raven would give you quite a lot of any one resource without having to be powered up more than once. Now if you're getting anything much out of him, you need 2 or more power, and are limited to furs and wood. He used to be a safe bet to replace any of your original resource gatherers. Then there was One Eye. I was hoping he might save the day for me, since I was behind. But no, he's been nerfed so badly he can't move you more than 1 space per power. Similar problem with Nicholas Jarot, originally one of the most useful cards. Looking at the rules both Little Thief and Tetoharsky have been made far more difficult and complicated to use, as you first have to stash some canoes or horses to use them effectively, and keep them on board. Part of the point of using them previously was that no canoes/horses were required.
I don't really feel like I'm likely to enjoy playing this version of Lewis and Clerk, though fortunately I don't have to, unless I happen to play someone offline who has the new edition. Whether this will make things easier for new players, I dunno. What I do know is that a poll on a certain popular board gaming website was solidly in favour of the old edition. I second that!
One obvious reason was the disorientation caused by time tokens. Having played hundreds of games according to the old rules, I found it very difficult to get used to. Instead of the drag back due to resources effecting your movement after camping, it stops you moving forward. I felt like an invisible hand was holding me back (presumably those who didn't like the old game rules would have felt the invisible hand dragging them back instead). But you become used to calculating your moves with respect to how much they are going to take you backwards, and if you don't then move forwards as you expect, its very frustrating. This is especially true in a transition area, if you are expecting to reach the end of the mountains, with the river again available to use, but your time tokens won't let you reach it.
The other constant frustration was the nerfing of various cards and perhaps even more annoying, boats. You can't buy big ones anymore (I would generally buy those by default, for resources anyway). At least you had the choice before.
Then there are the nasty surprises with the cards. I didn't get to see a very broad range, considering it was solo play. But even then there were annoying changes. For example a card like Little Raven would give you quite a lot of any one resource without having to be powered up more than once. Now if you're getting anything much out of him, you need 2 or more power, and are limited to furs and wood. He used to be a safe bet to replace any of your original resource gatherers. Then there was One Eye. I was hoping he might save the day for me, since I was behind. But no, he's been nerfed so badly he can't move you more than 1 space per power. Similar problem with Nicholas Jarot, originally one of the most useful cards. Looking at the rules both Little Thief and Tetoharsky have been made far more difficult and complicated to use, as you first have to stash some canoes or horses to use them effectively, and keep them on board. Part of the point of using them previously was that no canoes/horses were required.
I don't really feel like I'm likely to enjoy playing this version of Lewis and Clerk, though fortunately I don't have to, unless I happen to play someone offline who has the new edition. Whether this will make things easier for new players, I dunno. What I do know is that a poll on a certain popular board gaming website was solidly in favour of the old edition. I second that!