Trade or Play? Why Not Both?
by Faery

Most of this recent hiatus from the internet has been spent (time and money) on the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG (trading card game) and trying to construct myself a Fairy-type deck (and, by accident, acquiring a decent ‘girl power’ deck – Spice Girls, anyone?). This is something I swore I’d never do. I couldn’t get into Magic: the Anything, Wyvern (anyone remember that?) or even Magi-Nation (for which I own 5 starter decks) – in my head, TCGs and CCGs (collectible card games) were a waste of both time and money. Then again, I thought that about video games once upon a time. Now I can respect a well-done TCG/CCG nearly as much as I can a quality console game.

There is one thing I feel card games lack, and it is with good reason: characterization. I can not create a character (in most games) and I can’t connect with a preexisting character through that said character’s story. This is obvious and perhaps this is the one small factor that keeps ‘nearly’ in my above statement about respecting the TCG/CCG and RPG. With card games one can (often) personalize a deck to the point of being completely unique, and the act of constructing a deck can be a satisfying one. I compare it to building that final party in Suikoden 3 after you’ve collected all the 108 Stars – you spent all that time collecting the pieces and now you get to put them to the ultimate test by playing them. If you fail miserably, you’ll no doubt end up back at the inn to recast the party – or the card shop to buy the newest booster or booster box. It’s all in what you choose.

Then I tried Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories for the PlayStation. It has an RPG mode. It has a duel mode. In theory, I could play an RPG while learning how to better build a deck and duel effectively. What I imagined was far from what I was able to play (I saw Xenosaga-esque cut scenes, Suikoden 3-esque menus and storylines reminiscent of the FF series) and I was faced with the harsh reality that this is not, perhaps, geared towards loyal RPG fans. and, again, probably with good reason. I am not the target audience. I can enjoy the TV series (even though it lacks strong female characters), the TCG (though only because of the Fairies and other female monsters) – but this console games wasn’t my thing. And the acronym RPG, when used in this Yu-Gi-Oh! game, is misleading.

If handled properly, with a focus put on the important aspects of an RPG, a Yu-Gi-Oh! RPG could be very successful and appeal to the hardcore anime fans, the rabid booster box consumers and the ‘get-it-the-day-it-is-released’ RPG players. Even with enhanced graphics, a playable menu, stunning cut scenes and perfect voice acting, though, one key concept would be missing: customizing of a character. Yugi has his personality, Pegasus has his motives and Joey has his attitude. Mai and Charity don’t hang around long enough to warrant an entire subplot – but they’d make killer fan service, so you know they’d be there. Dark Magician Girl would hardly see her male counterpart, Dark Magician, save for the scene where he helps her out of peril.

What the great debate boils down to, then, is not whether a TCG or CCG is more fulfilling than an RPG, but why someone should or would choose one over the other – and whether a successful crossover could be done that would please all the fangirls and fanboys involved.

i feel u i would be the less likely person to play card games i loath(hate)mtg but yugio cought my eye and im was triyin to make a dragon deck but now i graduated and have know one to play sigh*
but yugio to me has style thats why i play it has a certain sheek to the charecters thats why i play it instead of magic wich looks really dull to me

The depth of M:TG is incredible, as it has been around for a very long time. Yu Gi Oh's card game would not be where it is now, if not for Magic, nor would any of the others. Personally, I find Magic to be the best, although I do hate it when rich people buy incredibly powerful cards, and beat everyone.. just for the sake of winning. It's not about winning every single game... but oh well. I think a crossover between TCG/CCG and RPG is very possible.. I've always dreamt of what a TCG based on the Final Fantasy Series would be like.

There is a Suikoden CCG in Japan, I believe.
Sounds pretty fun too.

As a TCG/CCG player, I do find them more satisfying. I have over 15,000 Magic the gathering Cards and I go through them on a regular basis and try to think up completely unexpected decks. I also like to do research on the web, see what deck is winning currently, mold it to my personality play test it. I think the TCG/CCG has a much broader ability to be open ended. That is something I completely enjoy in a game.

RPG's tend to be for the most part to linear for my liking. Creating a character is nice but I can do that in Tony Hawk Pro Skater Series as well.

Monty

I also agree with Griever and Monty. I began playing Magic years ago, when ice age was about to be released. I only stopped after the prerelease tournyment for Planeshift. Throughout the time, I also expiremented with other CCGs and TCGs such as; Star Wars (second favorite, only to magic), Pokemon, Magi-nation, yugioh, as well as other not so well known games. I was an avid gamer, and a big fan of consoles since before Magic, and I continue to be to this day. One aspect I really enjoyed about CCGs was the tournyments and the joy of trading and associating with many others every week, who enoyed the same game. The only video games that I really have that opportunity to do that is LAN games like Counter-Strike, or possibly MMORPGs.

Griever: Go play some drafts, or sealed tournys. When everyone has random cards, it is the skill that decides who wins or not... ;D

Monty: I go through the same process. (Or used to...) The last deck I played was blasto-geddon (type 2), and panda-burst (type 1). I just stumbled on this website, and so far I have been very suprised at the quality of conversation. I will be posting more later today. Peace.

-Greigh

maybe u don't know how to play magic the gathering because it is designed for people who have brilliant brains. Yu gi oh is nice....then again gameplay is fairly simple. What I mean is...it is for kids. TCG is better than CCG because in a tcg you meet real people with different concepts of decks unlike CCG you duel the same stale opponent.

Well, there are many games. Oh, any by the way....Magic the Gathering really isn't that hard. I think it is just time consuming, which is always good. Yugioh was easy, however. I just really want to play the Japanese Suikoden card game. I believe Sol Badguy was talking about that.

The heck are you doing playing Yu Gi Oh Faery? The game will die out once the fandom does.

I suggest playing Magic or something, I used to play back in the day... Still have many of my second edition, Ice Age, Legends, and other cards. It was a pretty well put together card game and I'd play today if it didn't cost so much to keep up on.

magic the gathering rules...........

At first glance and according to what is seen on the show, yes it does look simple. But I am actually an official tournament judge for the game and it's not so simple at all. In fact, to really understand all the technicalities and special combos and card rulings, I'd say you'd at least have to be over the age of 12. Everyone knows the basics, and everyone who plays, thinks they are playing right, but the rules and spell speed stuff goes so deep, it could take a long time to really learn. Once you know all of that, it really makes the game a whole different experience. The game has a lot more depth than it seems, you just have to study it to find that. I am going to expand my knowledge of other TCGs soon so I can run a wide range of tournaments, but for now the only games I've gotten into are DBZ, Yu-gi-oh, and that failure of a game, Poke'mon. Magic is my next target. I don't have a lot of personal interest in the game at all, but it is a popular game and if I can make more money by running MTG tournaments, then so be it.

Umm... Magic is far superior to that of Yu gi oh, or any of the games you have mentioned thus far. It has more than enough history and enough game play to confuse people. It is a great game and I suggest playing it, as it will provide you with a lot of fun.

Monty

I like Magic the Gathering a lot, but I'm like the only person who has it in like a radius of 200 km...

Stupid radius.

Anyhow ppl say I'm way too old to be playing with cards, and when I say something like **** they get pissed !!

Now this is one unfair world we live in...

there is more to magic than meets the eye.....it has a great story line whic you can't find in a tcg or ccg yu gi oh.......I've watch the series it still seems childish to me.....shouting the name of the cards or the moves they have......pretty inventive but childish......well somebody told of a suikoden ccg.....i think thats a cool game.....there are other cool anime ccg's than yu gi oh like yu yu hakusho, dragon ball....etc....better than yu gi oh......I don't mean disrespect for the yugi oh gamers....it's just my opinion...... i respect the tourney guy......memorize the rulings for each card.....man that's hard........but the guys at magic the gathering tourney.....they have a school for card erratas or they have thier own skill level......no offense mr.tourney guy

It always struck me that the cards in Shadowfist had a lot of personality. Okay, so they're pre-created, but the game was designed to lend itself to a narrative structure. And you can make some modifications — dole out weapons, boost magic power, Open a can of whupass, etc.

Also, Shadowfist is not without its strong female characters.



And if you're really unhappy about inability to create your own characters, you could always just play 1000 Blank White Cards. Lord knows it's a heck of a lot cheaper, too.

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[email=the_h_monkey(at)yahoo.com]the_h_monkey(at)yahoo.com[/email]

There's a bunch of links in that post, but in my browser they showed up underlined until I actully posted it. Weird.

Hmmm... reading this topic kinda helps a little. Well, I'm not a card game player but I'm fairly interested in both Yugioh and MTG. In fact two of my friends are each pretty avid fans of those two card games respectively.

Like one of the posts said, Yugioh is not too simple a card game. Sure, it is easy to learn and play, but it takes more to master the game. I know because my friend and I play it sometimes, and she handed me rather high level cards that requires much thinking before using... and the cards are in pure japanese no less T.T But, compared to MTG, I'll say it's much simpler.

As for MTG... it's gonna take me a while to learn the basics... and being not very rich to afford my own cards... I'll say it will take a long long while.