Now that the game has been out in general release, and there have been a few more reviews cropping up here and there, I'm wondering if anyone has changed their mind about this game? For someone like myself, who finds writing a full-blown review too cumbersome, I'd prefer a little thread where you can just post a few thoughts and musings, without the need for cohesion or anything so grand.

Personally, I'm now in two minds about it, having been a big fan all through the last few months. I suppose partly because 16 months of anticipation was bound to be setting me up for something big. What surprised me most was just how short this game is - admittedly, I've only so far played one game, but it was over in about ten minutes. There is a lot going on, but you don't seem to have a chance to build up to any great strategy because in a few more minutes it'll all be over and done with. I hope future expansions produce more cards that allow the DS dial to turn back, or at least stall it, to get more time with the game. I thought Warhammer was fast, but this is just insane!

Pretty much everything else was great - or, at least, I knew what to expect that I wasn't let down. The issue of speed is probably going to take some getting used to, though!

What about everyone else? Has having physical cards in your hand changed your perception?

I am not sure how your games have been going but I have yet to have a game go that fast. The fastest I have gone is 30 mins and this was with the pre built decks so yeah. To me it sounds like your playing to build up and not taking the chances to walk your opponent into a corner. The thing I keep hearing from people is they feel Dark Side is at an advantage because of the dial, but as I have played Light Side now I realize they need to be played aggressivly. You can't sit back building up a good hand and staging area you need to apply pressure and back your opponent into a corner.

Overall out of the prebuilt decks I feel the strongest LS is Rebel Alliance, and the strongest DS is Imperial Navy. This is of course based on my game play experiences though and it may vary for others.

I picked up a Core set but haven't had the pleasure to actually pley yet. I will say from looking over the cards that (in my opinion) FFG has done a pretty good job of capturing the feel of the SW universe. I like the attention to the little details - like being able to blow up the Death Star for a total LS win (or blowing an objective away with the superlaser).

To quote one of my favorite characters: "Impressive. Most Impressive"

Denied said:

Yeah, it looks like the deckbuilding isn't the only aspect of this game that is forcing a change upon old habits!

My wife and I have played 2 games thus far, and I have to say they go by pretty quick. I'm used to the pacing of Call of Cthulhu, and this was much quicker than I was expecting. I really like it though! I've enjoyed myself (as has my wife) and we're looking forward to doing some custom deckbuilding soon.

spalanzani said:

This is my first LCG and probably my first realy card game in general so the nice thing is I don;t have any of those old habits to worry about :-P

From playing other branded TCG games I can see limitations in deck creation. The core set comes with 8 objectives per deck with two spare for ls and ds.

I may have missed something as this would be my 1st LCG card game but only havinga deck tweaking objectives is fairly limited? Maybe this will improve over times I know each expansion will bring 2 sets of 2 new objectives per expansion (Guessing 1x LS and 1x DS)

iStasis said:

well, now… going from CCG/TCG to this as your first LCG must be a real leap. Bear in mind that this deckbuilding style does not match FFG's other LCGs, so if it is discouraging, don't let it turn you off to the format. I know that's not what you said, but just view it as a caveat when forming your opinion.

I, personally, find the objective building new and refreshing. This coming from years as a M:TG and Decipher's SW:TCG, along with getting involved in Game of Thrones LCG, Netrunner, and Lord of the Rings LCG. I find it tedious, in comparison to this one, the hours of card-by-card comparrison. I know more people find to the opposite, finding it more nerve wracking to try and compare 6 cards to another 6 cards and weighing which set they want to include, but I actually kind of like it.

I still stand behind my thoughts here. This game is AMAZING. My games rarely go more than 30 minutes at this point. 20-30 is the usual. Deck building feels limited up front, but even with just two cores I was having to make some very difficult decisions and could take my deck in all different ways. I can't event imagine when force packs hit.

I had the same experience; even with two core sets I am feeling myself pulled to take decks in all sorts of different directions. If anything, the deckbuilding might be more intense and complex than traditional card-by-card building.

The one thing that I do like, is that it also is appealing to people who have not been doing card-by-card building in the past. FFG has made it easy to open the core set, and get people modding decks, and having fun doing it, even if they are relatively inexperienced with CCG/TCG/LCG, etc.

I have been doing card-by-card building for many years. But, the person who I was teaching to play the SW LCG has never built a deck of any kind. And, after 20-30 minutes, they were already talking about wanting to add a second copy of certain objectives, wanting to take out certain objectives, etc.

I think that us veterans realize how complicated and fun the deck building in SW LCG will be. But, it also appeals to newbs, since we can just tell them "pick 10 of these."

As a seasoned LCG player I have looked forward to this game coming out. I have not been disappointed. I have made the decks from the core set and me and my kids have had great fun playing each other. We are just getting used to the cards - it's great to find combo's to play together. Cannot wait to get another core set to get another copy of that card - is a common comment. We are now watching the Star Wars movies again or for the kids it is the first time they have seen some of them.

Yeah I wasn't saying its going to be bad but a lot tighter than I have been use to in other tcgs like MTG and UFS so far ivejustplayed two game but love the mechanics

im enjoying playing at the moment but they need to get the chapter packs out sharpish, they dropped the ball imo with netrunner and letting the buzz die down before releasing the first datapack.

They need the first pack out 1 month after release to stop the game going stale and keep it going from there.

Esmer said:

I'm glad it's not just me who's thinking this!

It has just been released here, and the stores got it today only! But it's now under the tree and I can't open it until midnight.

I have only played seriously Pokemon as CCG, but I've tried The Game of Thrones and 2 games of LOTR LCG. I'm really looking forward for this one, especially because of the deck building. I don't like the deck building in general, so I'm optimistic that I will like the way it's done with this one.

spalanzani said:

While I appreciate the sentiment behind this line of thinking, Fantasy Flight does not want to overburden players, especially those working with a limited budget. Spacing out the Core Set release from that of the first Force Pack will enable the more hesitant player to test his initial investment a bit more, without feeling pressured to immediately make further purchases lest he fall behind.

Additionally, the Force Pack is still listed as "In Development" on the Upcoming page, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say there's absolutely zero chance that you'll see it within one month. Sorry.

MarthWMaster said:

I know you're right, but I still want it now.

I think the Force Pack should be released in February. That gives players enough time to get the game and get up to speed. If it comes out too quickly, players won't have mastered the core set.

I think FFG did a great job with the game. Building a "traditional" CCG is tough because the Star Wars CCG was such a good game and going in that route, something closer to AGoT would have drawn comparissions. Now, the game is very much its own game and cannot really be compared to the CCG or the poor TCG from WoTC.

I appreciate the price point and the completeness of the set. I also appreciate being able to buy a second core set without having too many dead/useless/garbage cards. The strategies in the game are right about the correct level of challenge for me, as does deck building. Neither game I have played so far felt like a runaway. I lost one game but was only a single objective kill from winning (and I would have drawn Yoda next turn). My friend lost the second game, but he would have trampled me when he drew that At-St next turn.

On the down side, I need more. I need more Smugglers and Spies sets. I need more Scum and Villainy sets. I need more Chewbacca. I need more versions of the Big Name Characters in different affiliations. Let's get moving, FFG. Also, I feel the need to get some sleeves…about 500 of them for two core sets. So very broke…

Having finally gotten my hands on some of the cards, I'm having a blast. I only have 1 Core so far, so I haven't been able to really get into the deckbuilding yet, but the game itself is incredibly fun to play even with just the starter decks.

Do you need 2 core sets I know from friends that netruner was like this but had this conversation. With my local store and most people at the store are not mixing core sets to build thier full decks until new objectives are out.

whats people's view?

I wouldn't say that you need two core sets, just as you don't need more than one core set of any of these games. I have two, but that's just because I can. The way the deckbuilding has been designed for this game really makes me believe the traditional practice of "I can have three copies of a card in my deck, therefore I WILL HAVE THREE COPIES" is really dead and buried here. While there is perhaps something to be said for running two Heart of the Empires in your objectives, I really don't think I'll be doubling up on many, if any objectives. Particularly as different objectives often have the same cards in their respective pods.

But then, I haven't yet had the game for a full week, so I may revise this opinion!

I like having two core sets. Having two Ultimate Power objective sets is quite nice…

FiendishDevil said:

"Gravitational laws make it impossible for two Death Stars to be located in the same system. Your order cannot be carried out." - IMP-22