This was discussed in pieces in several posts in the forum, but I'd like to express my feelings about this new set, Tekken 6. I'm not as hyped about it as with any of the previous sets. Why? It's not that there isn't any good cards. I have many reasons adding up to my slump feeling but it boils down to the following:

1. Bad card art

2. No foils

3. The 5-pt cards as a whole are quite slow... I like faster games, despite the fact that many of my games end up lasting longer than intended.

There are many cool stuff and decent art in Kazuya's support, but it still leaves my shrugging "meh". Maybe my feelings will change once I find some fast combos to work with but I'm a bit unmotivated to find one quickly.

So, basically, I miss the Imaginary Friends and Udon and I miss shiny cards and the fact that they're not here at the moment is making me feel down. Didn't think looks were that important to me in a card game, but it just do. I'll just have to adopt and adapt.

To FFG, Steve and James:
I can deal with the foils not being there, but adding onto the fact that there's less attractive cards makes the game less interesting for me. I hope the next set that's already completed and sitting in the warehouse have some stunning artwork cause these never-heard-of-artists' work is mostly amateur work in my opinion.

GraveLord said:

That would be because it is. And that would be because Udon/IFS charge a whole lotta cash.

From the few cards of SC4 that were in James' deck at GenCon, I can say that the art in the next set is amazing. I miss IFS and Udon too, but like Hatman said, IFS has gotten way too expensive for FFG to use (this happened around set 11). Not sure about Udon though, but we'll probably see them again whenever the next SF set hits.

ShadowDragon said:

Considering Udon reuses art from their Street Fighter line of comics, I wouldn't be surprised if they charged less than IFS.

Then again, Udon being Udon, I wouldn't be surprised if they charged more.

It'd be kinda nifty if FFG could run a poll or something listing artists that fit within their budget, (and other constraints) and have players vote approve/disapprove/meh on each. It's not like *all* of the art is bad - some of Kazuya's stuff as mentioned, Christie's stuff looks mostly okay, and there are some Paul cards that look pretty good imo. (i.e. Hammer of the Gods) Obviously there's no way they could in any way promise to stick to the results, but it just seems like it'd be a good idea to seek some organized feedback, for both practical and PR reasons. It shouldn't take that long to do, just to write up a poll for the forum/site or maybe make up a little sheet to send out with prize support or something. Heck, maybe I'll just post a something up here and if FFG ever cares to look at it they can.

You're absolutely right Thai. The game is not the same as it used to be for me either...

It doesn't suck now.

I will trade foil cards and udon art for a WELL DESIGNED AND FUN ccg any day of the week. I hope that you still keep with the game Thai as you are an awesome dude and great player, but the game as it stands right now is great outside of aesthetics. And even some of the Tekken art is pretty solid... just not all of it.

I would've thought by reducing the sets from 2 to 1, it would effectively increase the attractiveness of the cards...obviously not the case here.

Its okay if FFG doesn't use IFS or Udon, but there are MUCH better independent artists out there than the ones they have chosen. Either way, I hope the Soul Calibur set looks significantly better.

KawaiiMistress said:

According to ShadowDragon, it looks great.

We'll see when we get there, however.

Oh the new SC4 art is fantastic.

You know what I miss?

BLOCKS BEING ON ******* FOUNDATIONS!

I realize they're trying to make this game aggresively-oriented, but holy ****, attacks are just NOT getting blocked, and at this point, it seems like we ARE going to have to go back to running characters for our 6 checks and for our blocks.

Blocks should be determined by the card's effect, not by the card's type. Putting good blocks on attacks is COUNTER INTUITIVE, becuase attacks are meant to KILL, not BLOCK.

MarcoPulleaux said:

Please stop failing at Standard.

MarcoPulleaux said:

And there is something wrong with that?

With how much you talk about playing tekken and other fighting games shinji, you should know that if you are attacking in a fighting game, you are not blocking. How is this counter intuitive? If I am playing someone in tekken and I am bulldogging them with paul, and i miss a deathfist, you better bet im going to get punished. In ufs, if i miss a deathfist, you better bet that my opponent is gonna come across the table next turn and wreck me.

this is the first time this game has EVER felt like an actual fighting game. And, basically, it's rad. Keep garbage blocks on foundations because they are the cards that you NEED to play the most of. They shouldnt be sitting in your hand. Keep good blocks on attacks because if you aren't bashing, then you should be defending. It like a fighting game where the person that messes up less wins.

ShippuJinrai said:

This.

This.

A million times this.

Killing people in UFS now actually feels like you're comboing someone out in a fighter, seeing as 90% of your powerful abilities are on your attacks, where they should be. Your foundations are your 'training', the attacks are the payoff from putting in the groundwork. It's cool, I dig it. And actually being able to interact with opponents outside of 'I commit you out and Spike/Snipe/etc you for a billion' is rad.

Also yeah, Atlanta is back, baby!

Cetonis said:

Yeah, it is. The best art in the set, barely passes as "ok". There isn't a single GREAT looking piece of art. I'm hopeful that ShadowDragon is right about the future, but for the time being, I'm in the same boat as Thai.

At least the cards themselves don't all suck. From a gameplay perspective I like the Nina and Kazuya stuff and the Paul cards are very good, way better than that POS deserves for support.

ROTBI said:

Please point to me on this doll where the blonde man punched you.

Homme Chapeau said:

Oh my god... deathfisted...

Homme Chapeau said:

Didn't mean to step on your toes if you are somehow a fan of Paul Phoenix. You must be a fan of Master Chief as well.

ROTBI said:

Didn't mean to step on your toes if you are somehow a fan of Paul Phoenix. You must be a fan of Master Chief as well.

What the hell does that have to do with anything?

For the record, if there are two buildings I could blow up in this world, it would be Epic Games' and Bungie.

Homme Chapeau said:

ROTBI said:

Didn't mean to step on your toes if you are somehow a fan of Paul Phoenix. You must be a fan of Master Chief as well.

What the hell does that have to do with anything?

Painfully boring, uninspired, generic characters.

Homme Chapeau said:

ROTBI said:

Didn't mean to step on your toes if you are somehow a fan of Paul Phoenix. You must be a fan of Master Chief as well.

What the hell does that have to do with anything?

For the record, if there are two buildings I could blow up in this world, it would be Epic Games' and Bungie.

ROFL! In Paul's defense, he is not a POS. Paul was just one of those characters that in the right hands could be a devastating character to face. But as it pertains to Gravelords post...you know that Steve and Hata do not have the final say when it comes to the artwork. That is in the hands of Namco, Capcom, and SNK/Playmore. Shadowar is the only one in which they have any say.

I do find it quite interesting that you look for those sort of things. I myself, like some of the artwork in this new set. Kazuya's art work is pretty good and some of Christie's as well. Though Manaical Laugh is an exception.

I am very disappointed in the art this set. However I could care less about foils...I mean they are nice but not needed to keep my interest in a card game. I didn't get into UFS to look at shiny cards. I got into it to play a card game.

But yeah I would like it if they could at least get IFS to do at least 1 character per set(Tira and a few Seig cards had IFS art).. I also really liked the Artist that did Basara and Zhao Daiyu's arts though I don't think you can just apply him to any character of course =/

Mt_Do said:

He meant in terms of actual character development. Of which he has no idea what it actually is, as comparing a player avatar meant to represent the player themselves inside the game to an actual developed character shows you clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

Maybe I'm just wierd but i prefer my cards to not be foiled. I hate how they curve in the sleeves and how ufs foils scratch up so freakin' easily.

It could just be my bad experience in magic tournys. It is possible in that game for foil cards to get you a match loss if the judge considers your deck marked.

I'll be normal here and agree that the majority of this art is just god awful. I've seen all of the SCIV art...everyone will be pleased I think.

bloodocean said:

I'll find a way to *****, believe you me ;p