You know, that would be a nice touch. Wherever they may be with the rules, they will no doubt have commissioned (and received) plenty of art by now. Why not give some of it to us as avatars? They could even heavily crop them (to just faces and such), so that the actual cards are still exciting to see, once we get them…

 Yeah! After all, we've got two sets of Star Wars card sleeves and no avatars? That's a little ridiculous. And at least they should have X-wing avatars. That artwork should be all finished. I'd love to get a Y-wing avatar.

so i talked to some guys who said they know some ff devs who r working on the star wars card game. apparently what happened was they had one of their lead game designers try the game and he felt the game would work better going in "a different direction". From what the dudes said hes done some really good games, though i cant remember his name or the games they told me. 

In fact it may even be from their speculations that the game is no longer co op. But they said from what was explained or shown to them they r really hyped about it and told me its gonna be a way better game then the co op clone that was originally intended.

Mind you this is second hand, i didnt speak to the devs and am just passing what was told to me. But I think it gives us a little bit of hope and news.

Beyond that the X-wing miniatures game is coming out soon. And while no game has been made for it Knight Models is now making new star wars 30mm miniatures which fit in perfectly with the old wizards game and look much better, so long as you are good at painting.

[QUOTE efidm=677710]

In fact it may even be from their speculations that the game is no longer co op. 

 Thanks for the update. It's good to hear that they're so psyched about it. Hope it lives up to expectations.

Just a question about the quoted sentence. Is "their speculations" referring to this new game designer that walked into the project, or the dudes you were talking to? Did you get any gist from your conversation on whether it was co-op or pvp?

cant say for sure, but the impression i got from the people i talked to was that it might be headed in a different direction. But it may still have a solo play feature. We wont know till it actually is confirmed. But im sure this delay is for the best and thats the impression i got from the guys i talked to. Also in really good news, from what they said the whole reason that ffg went with the painting images instead of screen caps is so they can explore the expanded universe. That if its true is the most exciting news for me as id personally love to see every single character and story line make it onto the game.

If the lotr lcg is any indication well also get to see the clone wars and possibly even bane and the TOR. I think if i was in charge id release TOR, Clone Wars, Legacy, FOTJ, Legacy, New Jedi Order, Classic, and so forth as different games but with the same rule base so we can easily cross over. But most likely they will do it as they are doing LOTR with the new upcoming Hobbit Expansion.

But again only time will tell. Heres hoping we will get a game worthy of Star Wars that we can enjoy. What I will say to FFG is this.

PLEASE dont make the game if its a co op or solo game so damn hard. the LOTR most recent expansions have been nearly impossible to do for me and my friend. We play a two player game and the last watcher in the water expansion just cant be done duo. Least we havent figured out how to do it yet, but it seems like the coop game expanions, some of them focus on 4 players and thus are nearly impossible for solo or duo players.

I think the solution to that would be printing on the cards that if there is X amount of players this happens instead of some crazy super killer cards that just slaughter all your characters and or companions.

Anyway my best suggestion is PLAY TEST PLAY TEST PLAY TEST!!

and DONT BE AFRAID TO ERRATA certain OP cards.

Back on topic yeah, The new star wars game might actually be pretty cool, well just have to wait to find out.

yagyu said:

That is super super exciting :)

yagyu said:

If I had it my way, the starter and the first cycle would be for classic era and each succeeding deluxe expansion and cycle would explore a new era. Then they could move on to cycles that mix eras. If they released it that way, they would really be succeeding in making a game where you can easily pick and choose which products you want to buy. I don't think it will happen like that, though. More money to be made if you mix up the eras in the packs so a TOR fan has to buy all the CW stuff too.

You know, back when it was first announced I spent about a week worrying about the different eras - to the point where I emailed FFG. To what end, precisely, I had no idea. It just seemed like the scope was incredibly narrow, just focusing on the classic era, when they're supposed to be producing a living game. But it would be good to get a game with the eras sorted by the use of factions, much like SW minis from WotC. I like budge's idea of the deluxe expansions bringing in different eras, but I think it's likely they will go along with different eras in the same expansions, if indeed they branch out into the eras etc.

 What do people think about the suggestion I had, where the cards would bear a symbol corresponding to the Star Wars publishing eras? Would this be a desirable feature to have, or would it just be annoying?

 Yes! I had that in mind when I made my suggestion, but I couldn't remember who had mentioned it. I think an era symbol is a must-have for this game.

My biggest fear is that the game will be made for Dark Side vs. Light Side (or bad guys vs. good guys, if you prefer) and that some of the best card combinations will involve mixing eras. For instance, Order 66 having some way of powering up Vong-forming or something strange like that. I'm pretty sure the best combos will use combinations of era, but I'd like era-specific decks to be competitive as well.

Personally, I'd rather see the eras separated. I think that all the OT with the OT Expanded Universe would work quite well. But the mere lack of existence of Jedi in the OT makes reconciling the Prequels with the OT era's gameplay almost impossible. Either you have cards that are too narrow in scope for both, or you have ones that are too general in scope to make the game really sizzle.

Hate to beat a dead horse, but what ruined Decipher's CCG was the addition of Episode I characters and situations. It completely unbalanced the game and, even if Lucasfilm had left the rights with Decipher, no amount of tinkering with II and III rulesets would have made the game playable with both eras.

herozeromes said:

No, what ruined Decipher's CCG was completely unbalanced cards. Being Episode I cards had nothing to do with it as the biggest overpowered offenders where the maintenance cost Original Trilogy characters from Reflections III.

Mattr0polis said:

I should rephrase. The gameplay mechanics and concepts introduced by the Episode I expansions in a rushed fashion around the end of the game's run completely unbalanced it.. What made the game unplayable was trying to merge concepts from the different eras and evolve the game into something else which resulted in unintended consequences. New cards and concepts became so overpowered that it was impossible to play an OT deck simply because no one wanted to lose. They had other plans in place for new OT and EU expansions which were axed when Decipher decided to pull the contract. So, they ended up doing slap-dash Episode I expansions. The main problem wasn't that it was based on Episode I, so much as they didn't take the time to see what could go wrong with it.

Although, one COULD make the argument that it didn't work BECAUSE it was based on Episode I. Logically, the OT and PT universes, as presented, are not the same universe. Sure, they both have space battles and lightsabers. However, the Force is not the same Force and the Jedi are not the same Jedi. Just going by the clues given by Obi-Wan about the past would indicated that the Anakin in the prequels is an alternate universe Anakin. Anakin was not a star pilot when they met. Yoda did not train Obi-Wan as he trained Luke. It's very clear that the methods for instruction of "younglings" introduced in Episode II were just to make up for the fact that Obi-Wan had said that Yoda trained him. Also, the concept of forbidden attachment had to have been made up on the spot just for DRAMA. But, one word really proves that they are not the same universe: Midichlorians.

Exactly, they rushed out those last few expansions with little playtesting which was the problem. If they would've had the proper amount of time (aka not losing the license) there's no reason to think they couldn't have figured out ways to keep the game balanced just because of different movie episodes.

And I'm not even sure what to make of your second paragraph (or your similar post in the era symbol thread) because you went into one of those rambling anti-fan frenzy-rants that seems so chic nowadays. I never understand why people feel the need to do that. They're the same universe, deal with it. Either you like Star Wars or you don't. Or you only like parts of them, which is fine too. But personally I wouldn't play a card game of a franchise that I hate 50% of the movies from.

Also, why should deep-down, true-blue Star Wars fans miss out on cards from like half the movies/books/cartoon/etc or have to play those cards somehow separately just to appease some people who aren't even full fans of Star Wars? It just makes no sense.

My point is, there are incompatible aspects in the OT and PT eras. My rant isn't anti-fan, it's just to point out that there are differences in the eras that can't be overlooked or smoothed over without gameplay becoming more and more generic.  Let's say I decided to make a card game about American History. Could George Washington command the Union army? Or would he be a Confederate commander?

What are the Prequels about? Senate and bureaucratic machinations and a Jedi police force. The Jedi are strong and The Force is everywhere. Everyone knows who the Jedi are immediately.

What are the Originals about? They are about space combat, and a rebellion vs a totalitarian regime. There are Jedi, but the Jedi have been out of power long enough that no one would believe they exist.

So, how can you reconcile gameplay between two eras with completely different backdrops? How do you play cards trying to accomplish political goals in the senate against an opponent who is trying to sabotage a base? Similarly, you can't have cards for the powerful Jedi in a time when the force is unknown and its existence is doubted. The individual trilogies work by themselves, but not all 6 together. Yes, you could make a game that encompasses all of the eras, but then it wouldn't really feel like the experience of Star Wars. Also, what if the Light Side player has an Anakin themed prequel deck and the other player comes in with a Darth Vader themed OT deck? Who's Anakin is negated? Do the cards that benefit Anakin also benefit Vader if both are allowed to be played?

It's just an endless rabbit hole that wouldn't have to be a concern if the eras are kept distinct and separate. In order for Star Wars to feel like Star Wars, Jedi characters would have to be unplayable in the OT setting. Just as Vader should not be playable before Vader existed. It may be a good game, but it just wouldn't feel like Star Wars in game form. How do you capture the spirit of Star Wars and make the separate eras truly playable together without making them feel like Just Another Game, but featuring art inspired by Star Wars? If they figured it out, they would be starting with Episode I and not Episode IV.

EDIT: I love the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but I don't feel that the characters and situations from The Hobbit should be in situations in The Lord of the Rings and vice versa. There is about a 60 year gap between them.