I think it's still too early to judge too harshly. The video demo shows Jedi vs Sith, so only a third of the factions available. I'm betting we'll see lots more interesting stuff, hopefully very thematic as well, from Rebels and Imperials, Scoundrels and Scum. Jedi and Sith are probably the most iconic of the six to go down well in a demo, but in this timeframe I wouldn't really expect that much greatness from them, thematically. 

While I am, to some extent, still in mourning for the game-that-was, on reflection I think it did feel a bit too much like the other LCGs. Lord of the Rings is the obvious one, of course, but also the idea of card functions depending on which zone they're employed to is straight from Warhammer. If anything could have been said to have been cobbled together to satisfy the Lucas licence, I would have said it would be that one. While my immediate reaction to reading darksbane's report was "how very like Cthulhu", having now seen it in action, it doesn't actually feel like that at all. I think some thought has gone into it, and I'm actually pretty pleased to see that FFG staff haven't been sat on their hands since that announcement in February, and the long silence can now be explained away by them being too busy. 

I should probably say at this point, however, that I've never played another Star Wars card game before, so don't have the luxury of comparing it to the Decipher one. While everyone seems to hold that game as the absolute benchmark and nothing will ever be as good etc etc ad nauseum, is anyone qualified to compare it with the Wizards game of the early 2000s? Is the LCG, at least, better than that?

The game definitely looks better than the WotC version.

This video did show me one thing I was hoping for: The use of the Force. However, I do not like the "gambling" component that they use with edge battles. I know they were trying to do something with Force draws that WASN'T Destiny, but I think, for me, this game has missed the mark. I will have to talk to my wife and see what she thinks about it, since she would be the one that I would play with. She may just say she'd rather play the one I already have (Decipher). I am definitely getting X-Wing and all the expansions. That game looks AWESOME. It's funny, because when they were both announced at last year's GenCon, I had the exact opposite reaction.

herozeromes said:

I'll have to see more of the game in action to decide for sure, but I think there's an interesting tactical component in the bidding for the edge battles.  If you're defending, you can more aggressively bid cards, because as soon as the battle is over, your turn comes up and you can refill your hand.  When you go to attack, your opponent may have depleted their hand and will be relatively powerless to stop you.

The other side to that, is that you have to discard the cards you were bidding with, so you may have some tough choices to make when some of those sweet game changer cards show up in your hand.  It may be worth letting the damage go through.

Another thing I noticed is how you can pass on a bid, then see what your opponent does, then opt to pass again OR play a card after.  I believe I heard Corey say that a player must pass twice in a row for the bidding to end.  So in effect, it could play out like this;

Me: play a card

You: play a card

Me: pass

You: pass

Me: play a card

etc

I like the fact that, unlike the WotC game, it's the Light Side that's racing against the clock, rather than the Dark Side. And it's a separate mechanic, rather than something built into the gameplay itself, so that fan variants can be imagined. Furthermore, even though the so-called "Death Star Dial" is tied thematically to the Classic Era, I could see this mechanic justifiably existing in other periods as well. For instance:

• OR: The heroes of the Republic has to find and destroy the Star Forge before its fleet lays waste to the civilized galaxy.
• RotE: The Jedi must bring the Clone Wars to an end before Darth Sidious is able to form his Empire and initiate the Jedi Purge.

Obviously these scenarios are too specific to describe every match-up, especially given the freedom players have in constructing their decks (give or take the impact of Objectives in determining deck composition). Regardless, whatever the in-universe explanation, it should always be the heroes who are fighting a desperate battle against time, while the villains sit and laugh at the Light Side's insignificant fight for justice.

MarthWMaster said:

YES! This is it precisely! 

cleardave said:

Pis it each player must pass twice, or that there must be two consecutive passes like in go. I assume that it's like go, because that works when one person can see that it's over but the otheperson wants to play it out. So they keep going for a bit and it's clear to the first guy that it is still over and he passes again, but if the second player still thinks he can change the outcome, he is still allowed to go, and there for the first player is as wel

I am really looking forward to play this game. It looks like fun. I just hope i can talk my gaming buddies into buying it.

I just hope FFG will make rules for 2 vs. 2 games (and perhaps 3 vs. 3) but that is perhaps to much to ask?  

Smilingknight said:

From what I gathered based off of the demo vid, a player would have to pass twice consecutively in order for bidding to end.

I'm also very much hoping for 2v2 rules to come out at some point. I'd love to see some proper multi player star wars games taking off. 

cleardave said:

From playing in the demo a couple of times: Once both players pass consecutively (ie player 1 passes and then player 2 passes), the bidding ends

dbmeboy said:

Thanks for clearing that up

No problem.  I will say that I found the game play rather quick to pick up and very fun overall.  That said, there are some things I don't like about the game.  First, I'd rather have separate theaters for ground and space.  They could have come up with different creative options to keep both theaters relevant… but instead they went with the "everything fights everything" route which loses a lot of the flavor.  A X-Wing should feel different than a stormtrooper.  Also, I'm not really a fan of the deck building.  For this game, you build your objectives deck (minimum of 10 cards, no more than 2 of any objective) and each objective comes with a set of 5 other cards which then become your deck.  Personally, I love deck building and switching out one card for another.  I'm not really happy about losing out on that level of control.  So overall, it's a fun game.  It works mechanically, the flavor comes out ok.  It won't be my favorite competitive card game nor my favorite Star Wars card game, but it's pretty good.  I'd give it 3/5, for what it's worth.

(CCG background: SWCCG, MtG)

dbmeboy said:

I'm surprised they didn't come up with a card trait, like "Starship" or whatever that was functionally like a Flyer in M:TG, where you would need to commit another Starship type card to fight in the edge battle.  It also would open up card possibilities like a card for the Echo Base Ion Cannon, being a "ground" unit that can only attack Starship cards.

Who knows, maybe they'll work on something like that, or that in the big picture of the game, it won't impact too much as is.

On the one hand, I suppose it's possible for certain characters to fight starships. Either they're assumed to be piloting a starship of their own, or if it's feasible, they physically oppose the starship on their own (like when Starkiller brought down a wing of TIE Fighters and a Star Destroyer by himself, or if a strike team of commandos sabotaged an enemy cruiser). This should be the exception rather than the rule, though. I would like to see a "Flying" trait like cleardave is describing, but with many Characters and Events that can circumvent the trait's effect. This would be the best way to reflect the Star Wars canon, IMO.

MarthWMaster said:

Yeah, I just see myself facepalming huge if someone uses C3P0 as a chump blocker against a TIE Fighter.   Not mechanically, mind you, but thematically, like as if Goldenrod would be doing anything to get in the way of a TIE Fighter.