by schmoo34
I'm well aware that some of you enjoy this game thoroughly, and I'm not even saying that I don't enjoy it, however, I feel it missed its mark and I'll try my best to explain why.1) The target audience. LOTR is a very recognizable realm, especially due to the recent movies. The game is targeted for experts in every way you can imagine.
A) The new quests are brutal with very low success rates (especially if playing solo) unless you are really a master at this style of card gaming. And I fully admit some of you readers are in this category of master and will say, "I don't think it is difficult" but I challenge you to let your wife try it and let me know if this truly appeals to the broader audience...because, it simply doesn't.
B) I hinted on it above...the appeal is to a narrow rather than a wide audience. If I design a game, I expect, at minimum, to appeal to the same crowd who went to see the movie. You can make fun without compromising quality. I know most movie based games miss this mark and I'm not suggesting this game falls in that category...but it missed the mark on the other end of the pendulum.
C) Early campaigns/missions are dreadfully simple as newer more powerful cards come out...so it has turned into "wait six months, buy the expansions and then you can enjoy the game as it should be.
D) Epic battles aren't epic. When someone mentions LOTR, who doesn't think of Helm's Deep? Why then, are we limited to three heroes? Why aren't we having scenarios specifically designed for 10, 12, or even more heroes? Why don't we have epic battles? Instead, there is secrecy and encouragement to actually play with less than three heroes or to continually throw out some heroes due to threat considerations.
Lack of epic battles = epic failure in my book.
E) Having to customize a deck for each scenario is a chore. Honestly, do y'all find this to be fun? I guess many of you do, but I do not. Why can't I thematically have a dwarven party and expect to be able to have success with every scenario, not just some of them? Why can't I build a tactics deck and enjoy all the scenarios instead of being relegated to player #2 support only?
F) Multiplayer scaling...some scenarios are easier with multiplayer, some are easier with solo...so I'm not going to suggest one is superior to the other; however, why are we having this discussion at all? Why aren't we simply enjoying the game regardless of the number of players?
G) New expansion packs are doing nothing but scaling the damage done, damage received, or amping things up. It seems as if the designers have wedged themselves into certain game mechanics, which are not flexible, thusly reducing the fun factor. What is different from the recent scenarios from the Mirkwood ones? Absolutely nothing. The only things to look forward to is the new cards, new heroes, etc. But the game mechanic is stale.
Anywho, I have enjoyed the game for over a year now. My 9 and 7 year old sons play it with me. I have to design their deck for them because it is way over their head...I don't expect FFG designers to cater to a 7 year old at all, however, we fail our quests a lot. Some quests are brutal with 3 players and we have to skip them repeatedly. My sons astutely pointed out that we spend more time designing our decks than we do playing the game and have actually requested that we stop playing for that reason. How more succinct of a point can a child make?
We spend more time designing our deck than we do playing the game. Is that truly the end point the designers wanted? Is that truly why you purchased the game?
I'm sure some of you will read this and disagree thoroughly with it all. But I personally feel it is missing its mark. The mark should be to appeal to a broader audience, and to have flexible mechanics because it is, after all, a "LIVING" card game, and to be a game you spend more time playing than designing.
Lastly, I know I dwelled on the movies a bit but I have read the books and am aware that the license is on the books/lore, and not on the movies and they, in fact, have had to steer clear of any references made by the movies. I understand all of that. HOwever, the allure of this series is fueled by the success of the movies, and to deny that is a calculated error in judgement.