Budgernaut said:

Not to mention that it runs counter to their purpose from a marketing standpoint. Ideally, FFG would have you purchase all cycles as they are released. No company that wishes to make money will go out of its way to distribute products that an entire group of players can easily pass up (in this case, fans dedicated to a specific era of Star Wars).

Where I differ from you, Budgernaut, is that I think the mixing of eras in Force Packs* would be a really cool trend, as the theme would instead be focused around motifs seen throughout the saga. Your imaginary Force Packs: Dark Machinations, Scoundrels and Hunters, etc. are good examples of this. A pack called Dark Machinations could be about the history of the Sith, and the Jedi's ever-constant vigilance against the rise of the dark side.

*Still not 100% on calling them "Force Packs," but what can ya do. :P

Budgernaut said:

I'm worried that they will have a complete hodge-podge of eras, events, and characters in each expansion. I'm not saying for certain that I won't buy it if they are, but I will think twice about it. Really, it comes down to the question of whether it will be solo/co-op. If not, I probably won't be willing to invest in another space-taking Star Wars game anyway.

MarthWMaster said:

This very thought worries me. If they put Darth Vader in a pack that is filled with Prequel stuff just to make sure they are going to sell Prequel stuff, that would be shady, but shrewd. There ARE enough people who don't like the prequels that it is a financial risk to put them out separately. So, it only makes sense, from a certain point of view.

Just want to throw in my two bits that I wouldn't enjoy a game that mixed eras. Fielding Padme Amidala and Cade Skywalker against Darth Vader and General Grievous just seems goofy, to me. 

FFG have the rights to make Star Wars games, and I'd like to see them make several games. Save the Clone Wars for a large-scale, strategic, big-box ground battle game… I'd buy that.

Not trying to sway anyone's opinion, just stating my own.

I. J. Thompson said:

The problem with this is that you divide up the potential player base, and then instead of having one popular game with many players that stays alive for many years due to popularity, you get multiple games with smaller, subpar player bases that go away quicker. You also confuse casual gamers who see 5 different Star Wars FFG things and aren't sure what is what.

herozeromes said:

I think you and others give this thought too much credence though. There are many people who don't like the prequels as much as the originals but who will definitely throw a Darth Maul in their deck or buy many or all of the expansions regardless of era to be able to compete in tournaments.

I saw it many times throughout the Decipher SWCCG era.

Mattr0polis said:

I think you'd end up with an insanely popular Original Trilogy game and an unsuccessful Prequel Game, personally.

Mattr0polis said:

The Episode I stuff didn't overlap long enough for me to see this happen, but I did see a lot of it when I tried to play on Holotable online.

I think it's wrong to say that a prequel game would be a loss-maker because not many people like them. From my perspective, the prequels seem to be hugely popular, and there is a thriving market for prequel-related gear out there, and I don't think it's just the SW name that's selling it. There is a whole generation growing up now, separate from the original trilogy generation, who may well prefer these films because of their modernity or whatever. Just because they aren't vociferous on such message boards doesn't preclude their existence. For my own part, I happen to like them as a trilogy, but I think of the two trilogies on separate planes, they can't be compared, etc. 

As to their being confusion from people because of there being a lot of Star Wars games available from the same publisher, well look how many Cthulhu games FFG publish - there are two card games and two board games that I can think of off the top of my head, and all four seem to be thriving obscenely. While I wouldn't think there will be two SW LCGs, one for the classic era and one for the prequels, I don't see there being a major issue with them having the LCG for the classic era, then a separate card game in the prequel era, something like Rune Age, that sees one expansion a year or whatever. 

Such are my thoughts, anyway.

At least the tradeoff of putting cards from all eras together in one LCG is a real good one. The game could unite fans, young, old, Prequel fans, Original Trilogy fans, Expanded Universe fans, Clone Wars fans and lead to a potentially outstanding tournament scene.

In SWCCG's golden age, you could run a local tournament and easily get 25+ people to show up. And regionals and other bigger-type tournaments had crazy amounts of people show up. I once went to a States tournament in Pennsylvania that had over 100 players. That's crazy.

I'd love for this game to bring back that atmosphere, comradery, etc. The people I met and the friends I made at those events are priceless. We bonded over Star Wars. Not any specific trilogies or anything.

So you can make an Original Trilogy-only LCG game and a Prequels-only LCG game. Or you can make a STAR WARS LCG game and have something truly special.

Star Wars has the power to do that if you don't alienate parts of the fanbase, friends.

spalanzani said:

I agree that there is an UPCOMING generation who thinks of Star Wars as all 6. However, that generation is not quite the age that would be sinking dollars into a game like this. I think it would be an interesting test to release them as separate games (or expansions) and see how the sales break down.

Seriously, if the sales were about even for both, then I would forever stop my rants about how terrible the plot and characters are in the prequels. I would still dislike them, but I'd be more content to keep it to myself. I mean, no matter how bad, they're still better movies than Twilight, amiright?

herozeromes said:

I think that generation is older than you might think. I see a LOT of teenagers that really love Star Wars due to the prequels and The Clone Wars cartoon on Twitter and such. Usually around age 14/15/16. You figure they would've been around 5/6 for Episode II and 8/9 for Episode III which could've been their entry point and now The Clone Wars cartoon is on in their teens.

15/16 is right around the time I was getting HEAVILY into Magic The Gathering TCG and Star Wars CCG.

And I'm with ya, I think we can all agree that the prequels are way better than those crappy vampire soap operas. ^_^

Mattr0polis said:

I forgot to put on my smart hat and was just counting 1999 to now was 13 years, lol.

Also, I've was going to make a comment that maybe it's time to watch the prequels again, but then I remembered I couldn't even watch Revenge of the Sith a second time because they made Anakin a completely unsympathetic character with the things he does. If he had stopped at slaughtering Sand People, I think I could have dealt with it. But killing children is too far.

herozeromes said:

I have an ex-girlfriend who used to get upset when me and my mates too the piss out of Jar Jar, he was her favourite character. She's in her mid 20s now, so it's not JUST kids who like the prequels.

And yes, even Phantom Menace is infinitely better than sparkly vampires.

ChaosChild said:

You know, I'm kinda jealous of kids who were younger than 10 when the Phantom Menace came out. I would probably enjoy them all if I hadn't been nearly 16 when it premiered.

 Well I love the original trilogy, prequels, and CW TV show. They're all cool. I just love Star Wars. The prequels spanned my high school and undergraduate university years and I just loved them. Revenge of the Sith was my favorite movie for a long time. I've since gotten back into the OT, but it comes and goes.

There are always things about Star Wars that I may not like, but there's so much good stuff, that I can look the other way when the love lines are cheesy or they decide that zombies and voodoo have a role in Star Wars.

But I'd like to go back to I.J.'s comment. I think a CW ground battle game would be awesome, and if they did it right, they wouldn't even have to do any expansions, so it wouldn't exactly be competing with their other products, because you'd just get people to buy one. If they focus on X-wing and SW:TCG for the infinitely-expandable model, I think they should still be able to make a profit off of some great stand-alone games. If only they had the board game licence . . .