by KAM1138
brokenstring424 wrote:
@KAM, I like to think that my friends at my LGS and I are definitely players of complex deck building games. So I have to disagree with your statement.
Well, I don't mean to imply that people who like this game are not players of complex games. I'm saying that THIS isn't a complex game. People who enjoy complex games MAY like this game, but if they like it, I doubt it is because they enjoy complexity (in this game), because (my opinion) it simply doesn't exist.
At best, I would say there are some simple combinations of cards that work together.
brokenstring424 wrote:
You also seem to have a great dislike for this game. Out of curiosity, what changes would you make to the game, if you could? What would you keep the same? Thanks for replying :)
To be clear--I'm disappointed in this game, because it is very generic and very simplistic. That doesn't mean that I've gotten no enjoyment out of it. I love DC comics and have been wanting a good super-hero game for YEARS, so I see this as a lost opportunity.
As for what I would change. Well, that depends how far you want me to go back. The short answer is that I'd probably have an entirely different game. I like deck-building games, and I don't mind a super-hero themed one, but I wouldn't have chosen to apply the DC Universe to a generic and simple one. So, the answer really is...everything.
Assuming that I was sticking with a Deck building game, my first thing would be to separate "buying" from "fighting." The One-attribute nature of this game really limits it. From a concept standpoint I would also significantly increase the building to key off of the Hero cards. They included specific hero cards into the game, but it didn't go very far. I would have treated it more as a fully-developed "faction" if you will.
I don't mind that Flash can be in the same deck with the Batmobile, but I think building to a tighter theme (based on the hero) should have been a component of the game (reduced cost, increased benefit, etc). But, I'd also have liked to see a viable merging of two (or more) heroes. Let's say you go for a Superman/Batman build with each of them having a more developed set of advantages/disadvantages.
Of course to do this, the nature of the villains would have to be different. Defeating them would entail more than "buying" them. There might have to be more than one villain available at a time. I'd also probably not have had villains in the draw-deck, but maybe villain "action" cards that provided some sort of intermediate threat (perhaps not unlike when they are played from hand).
This could be an entire topic, and these are just thoughts off the top of my head. You could go an entirely different route just as easily. I happen to love the old Wildstorms CCG, and while that wouldn't work for a boxed game quite as well, you could do something conceptually closer to that.
If I assume that we start with the basic concept of this game, and just change a few things: I'd probably have more variety in starting cards, and have vulnerability do more than take up space. I'd probably rework "weakness/vulnerability" to have more variation, rather than being all the same. I think it could be interesting to have a Kryptonite card for example, that negates the power of kryptonians (Superman, Supergirl, Krypto, etc) while in hand, but does something less to other heroes (maybe just negative VP). Similarly, I'd have other negative cards for other heroes.
I'd also have an inherent "rest" action that allows you to subtract cards from your deck, and along with this make the game significantly harder--with the goal being that you really have to build carefully to succeed in fighting the super-villains.
Changing the as-produced game is fairly restrictive, given that it is a weak foundation to build on, but there are some things that could improve it. However, you can't (now) get rid of the one-dimensional resource, so that limits how much can change.
I haven't looked at the LotR version of this game, to see what they did, but perhaps some of those concepts can translate over and help improve this one.
KAM