by MattShinners
Paul G wrote:
But Dominion never explains why you can use the same copper coin over and over again. Ascension never tells you why you have to wait to draw constructs. Mage Knight never says anything about why your hand is a random assortment of cards, and you have to play Rage sideways if you want to take a step instead of just using Stamina or March.
My argument wasn't whether there were other deckbuilders that had solid theme - just that this one doesn't. I wouldn't for a second argue that Dominion has solid theme implementation at all. I haven't played Ascension, but the theme from Mage Knight comes from other places than your deck (such as the individual actions - if I Intimidate some people, it makes it harder for me to interact with people in the future.)
I completely agree that thematic integration in a DBG is difficult. I think the Star Trek one actually comes closest from everything I've played, and even that isn't all that great. However, if the main selling point for your DBG is that it's set in the DC universe (which is the main selling point for this game, as they're not really focusing on any innovative new mechanics), you better make that theme deeper than 'we threw some DC pictures on the cards and changed the titles of a few cards from that Penny Arcade DBG'. From what I've seen of this game, it doesn't do that. I could be wrong, and I hope I am (I'd love a thematic DBG set in a comic book universe).
But saying the theme is "DC comics" instead of 'DC Superheroes' in no way changes my mind on this one. I know what the distinction is in your head between the two of them, but the distinction isn't one through which I was looking at this game. From what I've seen, this game neither tells the story of a superhero group OR of a comic book issue well without a lot of help.