finalark
SNORLAX
Link to original post: [drupal=1274]Collectible Card Games...[/drupal]
I've been into CCGs (or TCGs, which ever you prefer) as long as I can remember. This also makes me a nerd for as long as I can remember. But that's not what I want to write about. I really don't know what it is that I like about CCGs, but this is probably going to end up being a retrospect on CCGs in general.
You know, while I love CCGs the problem that I have with them is that there's only... two (that I can think of) that aren't based off of a previously made franchise. Those two would be Magic the Gathering and Magi-Nation, the latter being an underaprchated gem that spawned an excellent (and extremely obscure) gameboy color RPG. The first was the first CCG to ever come out. Now don't get me wrong, Magic the Gathering over all is good. The only thing that I don't like about it is that while it may have started CCGs it also introduced another arch-nemesis of mine, resource cards.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with CCGs I will take a paragraph to explain recourse cards. Recourse cards are cards that have no reason for existing other than to provide you with means to perform actions such as summoning a creature or playing a spell. Good in theory, but a lot of things are good in theory but fall apart in action (like communism). The problem I have with resource cards is that they usually take up around 40% of your deck, and your whole game can be shot if you can get a resource card. While this may not seem like something to cry about in casual play, it's a ***** in tournaments.
So after Magic came out everyone tried to jump onto the CCG bandwagon. The next CCG I'm going to talk about is Pokemon. Pokemon was an overnight success in the US, and the CCG was no exception. I'll say this, the CCG is defiantly good. Not great, but it's good for preparing small children for manly, (I can't type that with a straight face) better CCGs. My first problem with the Pokemon CCG is that it uses resource cards. Those blasted energy cards always took up too much room in your deck and then you had to load your deck with energy searches to get them. My second problem is that while all of the other types were balanced the Psychic type was in a liege of it's own. Actually, they tried to balance out the psychic type by putting in light and dark variants of different pokemon in second edition. But while they may have made the psychic type balanced they also made the light and dark variants extremely broken. But other than a few little problems the game overall was good.
The Yu-Gi-Oh CCG really was the first CCG to do what I consider to be doing CCGs right. Yeah, it had that problem of being based off of a previously established franchise. But if the game had just come out on it's own and the anime and manga never existed (although we would be missing out on an awesome manga series) it would still be able to hold up on it's own. First, the game didn't have any resource cards. So that's an instant thumbs up for me. Second, it didn't have the same problem as most CCGs based off of a franchise where they're limited to remaking the same cards every new set because they can only make cards based off of stuff in the franchise. In the Yu-Gi-Oh CCG, because it's so expansive they weren't just limited to the cards in the anime and manga. And although I really miss the first edition rules where you only had 2000 life points and Red-Eyes was still considered a good card I've learned to live with the newer rules and I still find the game fun to play. Yeah, I'm called immature for liking the game but my usual response is "I would rather be immature and having fun then be mature and bored." Oh, and while the game overall is really good I can't help but feel bad deep inside whenever I buy a pack of cards because I know that I'm giving money to 4kids.
One CCG that was based off of a franchise and wasn't so good was the Zatch Bell CCG. This was one that a friend of mine had grown particularly found of and he got me to buy a starter deck and a few packs. I'll admit that it was original, but not that good. If you've ever seen the anime series Gash Bell (Zatch Bell in the dub) then you'll probably remember the spell books that were used to control the Demons (Mamodo in the dub). In the Zatch Bell CCG, you have a small spell book with clear sleeves to slip your cards into. I'll admit that this is both faithful to the anime and really original. Plus your cards are never going to get bent or scratched so that's a plus. But if you wanted to have more than one deck you needed to go out and spend fifteen bucks on another starter deck. In the CCG, both players had one Demon/Mamodo and various spells in their spell book that they could use. The idea was to get your opponent to get to the end of his/her spell book before you got to the end of yours. Yet another thing that's good in theory but not so good in action. The game play was really limited in terms of what you could do because of this, and getting cards that support your specific Demon/Mamodo was a pain.
Now moving on to anther CCG I liked. Another one that I really got into was Duel Masters. I'll be honest, it was a series based off of a franchise (or did the anime come second?) and was watered-down Magic but it was still good. Yeah, it was an absolute Magic clone, right down to it's five types (Duel Masters: Water, Fire, Nature, Light, Darkness. Magic: Blue, Red, Green, White, Black) but it was still fun to play. Plus it didn't use resource cards. And I really like how they kept it basic with only two kinds of cards; spells and monsters. The monster's all had a really interesting style to them, some baddass and some fun. And I'll say this again, it was a Magic clone, but it was a good Magic clone. Too bad the series ended.
I'm going to end this little retrospect by bringing up a CCG I talked about at the start of this post, Magi-Nation. I consider Magi-Nation to be the best CCG I've ever played (and I'm also pissed that not only was it discontinued, they deiced to turn it into a Saturday morning cartoon). Magi-Nation could best be described as a fusion between Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic and Pokemon. Each player started with three Magi. That Magi had a preset amount of energy on him/her. Each player would then use their Magi's energy to summon creatures, play spells, relics, ect. But every move you make was a double edged-sword, because the point is to try and kill your opponent's Magi by reducing his/her energy to 0 first. Such a good CCG, one of the best RPGs I've ever played and an excellent, well established world. But now... God they've screwed up the series so bad. That's not Agram, that's not the evil, menacing, heavily-armed blind orc like monster that I know. That new guy looks like a Scooby Doo villain. And on top of that, they're not going to even re-continue the CCG. *******s.
The problem with CCGs as a whole is that there are so many these days that if you were to release a CCG you would either have to pray for an overnight success or else your game would just be forgotten and a failed attempt. Releasing a CCG these days is like pouring water into a river. Oh well, at least we have always have other things to keep us entertained like video games and Dungeons and Dragons.
I've been into CCGs (or TCGs, which ever you prefer) as long as I can remember. This also makes me a nerd for as long as I can remember. But that's not what I want to write about. I really don't know what it is that I like about CCGs, but this is probably going to end up being a retrospect on CCGs in general.
You know, while I love CCGs the problem that I have with them is that there's only... two (that I can think of) that aren't based off of a previously made franchise. Those two would be Magic the Gathering and Magi-Nation, the latter being an underaprchated gem that spawned an excellent (and extremely obscure) gameboy color RPG. The first was the first CCG to ever come out. Now don't get me wrong, Magic the Gathering over all is good. The only thing that I don't like about it is that while it may have started CCGs it also introduced another arch-nemesis of mine, resource cards.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with CCGs I will take a paragraph to explain recourse cards. Recourse cards are cards that have no reason for existing other than to provide you with means to perform actions such as summoning a creature or playing a spell. Good in theory, but a lot of things are good in theory but fall apart in action (like communism). The problem I have with resource cards is that they usually take up around 40% of your deck, and your whole game can be shot if you can get a resource card. While this may not seem like something to cry about in casual play, it's a ***** in tournaments.
So after Magic came out everyone tried to jump onto the CCG bandwagon. The next CCG I'm going to talk about is Pokemon. Pokemon was an overnight success in the US, and the CCG was no exception. I'll say this, the CCG is defiantly good. Not great, but it's good for preparing small children for manly, (I can't type that with a straight face) better CCGs. My first problem with the Pokemon CCG is that it uses resource cards. Those blasted energy cards always took up too much room in your deck and then you had to load your deck with energy searches to get them. My second problem is that while all of the other types were balanced the Psychic type was in a liege of it's own. Actually, they tried to balance out the psychic type by putting in light and dark variants of different pokemon in second edition. But while they may have made the psychic type balanced they also made the light and dark variants extremely broken. But other than a few little problems the game overall was good.
The Yu-Gi-Oh CCG really was the first CCG to do what I consider to be doing CCGs right. Yeah, it had that problem of being based off of a previously established franchise. But if the game had just come out on it's own and the anime and manga never existed (although we would be missing out on an awesome manga series) it would still be able to hold up on it's own. First, the game didn't have any resource cards. So that's an instant thumbs up for me. Second, it didn't have the same problem as most CCGs based off of a franchise where they're limited to remaking the same cards every new set because they can only make cards based off of stuff in the franchise. In the Yu-Gi-Oh CCG, because it's so expansive they weren't just limited to the cards in the anime and manga. And although I really miss the first edition rules where you only had 2000 life points and Red-Eyes was still considered a good card I've learned to live with the newer rules and I still find the game fun to play. Yeah, I'm called immature for liking the game but my usual response is "I would rather be immature and having fun then be mature and bored." Oh, and while the game overall is really good I can't help but feel bad deep inside whenever I buy a pack of cards because I know that I'm giving money to 4kids.
One CCG that was based off of a franchise and wasn't so good was the Zatch Bell CCG. This was one that a friend of mine had grown particularly found of and he got me to buy a starter deck and a few packs. I'll admit that it was original, but not that good. If you've ever seen the anime series Gash Bell (Zatch Bell in the dub) then you'll probably remember the spell books that were used to control the Demons (Mamodo in the dub). In the Zatch Bell CCG, you have a small spell book with clear sleeves to slip your cards into. I'll admit that this is both faithful to the anime and really original. Plus your cards are never going to get bent or scratched so that's a plus. But if you wanted to have more than one deck you needed to go out and spend fifteen bucks on another starter deck. In the CCG, both players had one Demon/Mamodo and various spells in their spell book that they could use. The idea was to get your opponent to get to the end of his/her spell book before you got to the end of yours. Yet another thing that's good in theory but not so good in action. The game play was really limited in terms of what you could do because of this, and getting cards that support your specific Demon/Mamodo was a pain.
Now moving on to anther CCG I liked. Another one that I really got into was Duel Masters. I'll be honest, it was a series based off of a franchise (or did the anime come second?) and was watered-down Magic but it was still good. Yeah, it was an absolute Magic clone, right down to it's five types (Duel Masters: Water, Fire, Nature, Light, Darkness. Magic: Blue, Red, Green, White, Black) but it was still fun to play. Plus it didn't use resource cards. And I really like how they kept it basic with only two kinds of cards; spells and monsters. The monster's all had a really interesting style to them, some baddass and some fun. And I'll say this again, it was a Magic clone, but it was a good Magic clone. Too bad the series ended.
I'm going to end this little retrospect by bringing up a CCG I talked about at the start of this post, Magi-Nation. I consider Magi-Nation to be the best CCG I've ever played (and I'm also pissed that not only was it discontinued, they deiced to turn it into a Saturday morning cartoon). Magi-Nation could best be described as a fusion between Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic and Pokemon. Each player started with three Magi. That Magi had a preset amount of energy on him/her. Each player would then use their Magi's energy to summon creatures, play spells, relics, ect. But every move you make was a double edged-sword, because the point is to try and kill your opponent's Magi by reducing his/her energy to 0 first. Such a good CCG, one of the best RPGs I've ever played and an excellent, well established world. But now... God they've screwed up the series so bad. That's not Agram, that's not the evil, menacing, heavily-armed blind orc like monster that I know. That new guy looks like a Scooby Doo villain. And on top of that, they're not going to even re-continue the CCG. *******s.
The problem with CCGs as a whole is that there are so many these days that if you were to release a CCG you would either have to pray for an overnight success or else your game would just be forgotten and a failed attempt. Releasing a CCG these days is like pouring water into a river. Oh well, at least we have always have other things to keep us entertained like video games and Dungeons and Dragons.
