July 14, 1998
Just the other day, I popped over to monnok.com to see if anything new had been posted. Although Tom Sokol is currently on a break from SW:CCG, he had posted an article by Imperial Mike; the article was advertised by Sokol as being a description of why he is burned out on the game. After reading the article (which was very well-written and highly critical of the Jabba's Palace expansion) and comparing it to similar complains I've read on the Decipher BBS, I felt compelled to respond to some of the assertions in the article and to provide an alternate view.
The first point that I would like to make is that SW:CCG is BOTH Star Wars and a game. While that sounds rather obvious; it's obviously overlooked by many players. From my point of view, Decipher has two primary responsibilities to the players of this particular card game: 1) to protect the integrity of and stay within the spirit of the Star Wars movies that we all know and love and 2) to design an enjoyable, competitive, high-quality game that is playable and assessable to the a wide range of players.
Let's first explore responsibility one; I truly believe that it is Decipher's responsibility to its players (not to mention to Lucasfilm) to stay as true as possible to the Star Wars Trilogy. After all, it is our collective love for the Star Wars universe, story, and characters that started most of us playing this game, and it is also what helps maintain our interest in the game (and keeps us buying cards). I know that I was feeling a little burnt out on the game about five months after Cloud City was released, but there was something about wanting to know how Decipher was going to portray Jabba and the sarlacc that kept me around. I still can't wait until to see what the Death Star II is going to be like or how the Emperor's lightning will be simulated. We love Star Wars, and Decipher has given us a game that lets us be more connected to the story and to the characters. It's Decipher's job to make sure the gaming aspect of the SW:CCG doesn't take over the story or diminish it.
As a way of remaining loyal to the Trilogy, I think it's fair to say that most loyal SW:CCG players expect the following things from Decipher.
1) Be true to the movie, its major themes and implications. This has been accomplished by designing sites, systems, weapons, devices, characters, effects, interrupts, vehicles, and epic events that are part of the Star Wars universe and linking them together with game mechanics that operate within the confines of the story. In my opinion, Decipher has generally done a good job of this (with the exception of a few spray-painted aliens in the Cloud City expansion). I mean, we never actually saw Ord Mandell in ESB, but I've never heard anyone object to the existence of it in the game.
2) Simulate the major events, actions, and forces in the movies. An excellent example of this is in Decipher's creation of Asteroid Fields and the accompanying rules. There was a great advantage to Han's flight into the asteroid field near Hoth, but there was also great danger to both the Falcon and the Imperials who followed it. I believe that Decipher came up with a brilliant way of simulating these circumstances. The Hoth shields and the deployment restrictions that come with them is another good example. During a recent game, I actually saw in my head the Battle of Hoth as it appeared on the movie screen as I marched my Blizzard I toward the innermost marker, targeted the main generators, and blew them out of existence (of course in the game, it was Vader piloting the AT-AT, but that's another story entirely).
3) Portray characters, their abilities, and their development in a plausible manner. In the beginning, there was the Farm Boy, young and inexperienced but full of the potential that was his birthright. After his trial by fire at the Death Star, he matured into the man we knew as Commander Skywalker, still untrained and limited in his abilities, but growing in power. But our hero didn't stop there, and as he visited the Jedi Master Yoda, we began to see for the first time how powerful this Son of Skywalker could be if he dedicated himself as a student of the Force. Decipher was even smart enough to hold off on presenting the still unproven Skywalker as a Jedi in Jabba's Palace, yet they gave us a way to symbolize his bravery when he told the Hutt that he Must be Allowed to Speak. As cool as it is to create dream card characters, there would be something inherently wrong with Decipher creating a power 12, ability five Boba Fett with thermonuclear underwear.
4) Demonstrate the interactions between the Empire and the
Rebellion, as well as between individual characters.
Although the lines are often blurred in the movie, Decipher has drawn
clear lines by making cards that are either light or dark. This allows us
to pit one side against another using our own abilities and imaginations.
The dark side has big, bad Star Destroyers that can wreak havoc, but the
light side's space fleet is often faster and more skilled in space. The
dark side has a great deal of power, but it requires more resources (high
deploy cost) to get it into play. Although the dark side has powerful
characters, it is rare to see the characters linked to together and come
to one another's aid in battle (exceptions: Dark Collaboration and the
Vader/Tarkin combo). The light side characters consistently lend helping
hands to fellow Rebels (Don't Get Cocky, Life Debt, Rug Hug, Skywalkers,
Punch It, Protector, Chewbacca's game text, etc).
All of the above are important, but they can't be absolute laws because SW:CCG ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE A REENACTMENT of the Trilogy (despite what some players might think or want).
We must keep in mind that this is a *game*, and that Decipher is a company that sells games. That's what the "G" in CCG stands for; it's why we gather and play rather than just sit around and talk about how pretty our cards are (although I do think that CC was beautiful). Since this is indeed a game, there must be rules and gaming actions that make it playable. In a game, there is generally a winner and a loser. In this case, the winner is the person who is able to cause the opponent to deplete his/her life force first. For the most part, Decipher has been masterful at creating gaming actions that are consistent with the spirit of the Star Wars universe.
The concepts of Force draining, attrition, and battle damage are remarkably well-suited to Star Wars (though I know the concepts are common to many similar games). However, if these were the only way to win or lose a game, this would be a very boring game - Decipher must develop new strategies and think of new ways to attack and defend (and make us buy more cards). This is where things like Asteroid Sanctuary, Imperial Decree, Jedi Training, EBO, and (eww, yuck, I cannot believe I'm really going to mention this) inserts come into play. They force us to re- evaluate our strategies, change the way we play, and, in some cases, to abandon or modify strategies that were too powerful or easily abused.
Example: I have always thought that Asteroid Sanctuary is stupid, stupid, stupid. It seems ridiculous that I have to lose four force a turn (in addition to the force drain of three) based on the fact that at one point in time, my opponent occupied an Asteroid Field that smashed him to smithereens just one turn later (sorry for the sexist language there, but I've never played another girl). But Asteroid Sanctuary decks are very effective, and they require almost no rares. In addition, it's a strategy that made me think harder about the dark side decks I put together. AS exists because this is a game, and it's another way that Decipher has created to help determine a winner or loser. And the truth of the matter is that Decipher usually comes up with an antidote to some of the more potent of these gaming functions - especially to those that get out of hand -- although it took them forever to get rid of the idiocy of inserts, and we are still waiting for something to curb the fury of Imperial Decree.
So all of this brings me to Jabba's Palace....
Stay tuned for Part Two of this mini-series.
Queen Jawa