Good MTG games not possible on Electronic Format?

[IrishDrinker]

I can't say anything about this game, because I have not been able to get it to run, but I did wonder why it has been so hard to do a good computer version of MTG? I have played a few of the DOTP games, own one of them. I found them... playable, but uninspiriing (the one I own I think is the first one, so can only use pre built decsk with a side board). I have also played a number of the console games (Battlegrounds and Battlemage). Even tried Tactics (which I thought was pretty good at the time i played it).

Their has only been one decent/good MTG game for the PC, and it was way back in 97. Shandalar, or Magic: The Gathering. It has a pretty nifty RPG-tyoe solo game, where you wandered around Shandalar, collecting cards to become more powerful, gaining quests and trying to save the world from the evil mages of each color. It had a niffty duel system, and even allowed Sealed Tournaments. The interface was easy to understand (though sometimes the computer did foolish things, like double clicking on a card would have the computer take the mana it needed, but not always the best mana needed.) It handled all phases of the game (including the multi-combat phases). It wasn't on a timer, meaning if someone went afk, things could take a long while, as one had to click the finished button to end a turn or end a action (like interrupts).

When I heard about Duels of the Planeswalker, I was excited because I thought they were going to make something similar to the old game I love. It was.. just playing cards. No deck stratagies, no interesting stories... just the card game. At least Battlegrounds took away the cards for a more 3d type effect.

Am i the only one that see's that some games just don't transfer well? I

[ratedx73]

I actually really like all the Duels games, but that's just because I love Magic and love playing it as much as I possibly can.

[IrishDrinker]

I was having some hopes for this one. Let me play the game, not spend money, and I really liked Origins (Own about half the cards from the set already, and that was from 2 Pre Releases and a box). So, I was hoping to jump on, and get started playing some games with Origins cards. I can't.

Also, I won't say they were bad. Just for me, they were uninspired. They played the game fine, but that was all. I can't get to much into the newer versions, but was deck construction ever introduced, or just for sealed?

[Vilkata]

Shandalar was the bomb. If it would run with a crap on modern PCs, I'd blow the dust off the CDs in my closet and load it up. The adventure mode was so much fun.

[IrishDrinker]

I play it ever month or so. At least the Adventure Mode, since.. you know.. servers long since died. Runs fine for me. I have it installed on a portable, so I don't need worry about where I am going, I can load it up and play it :)

Just wish it had more cards from Legends (Like was intended with bringing over gold cards), and it was slightly easier to get mana links...

[ratedx73]

Originally posted by Vilkata:

Shandalar was the bomb. If it would run with a crap on modern PCs, I'd blow the dust off the CDs in my closet and load it up. The adventure mode was so much fun.

I was playing Shandalar last night and it seems to be working just fine.

[SlackerBoe]

I like the pre-made deck format and had tons of fun with DOTP yearly. Then they started stripping out options and features in order to focus on deckbuilding. It's still fun, but I miss olf things like AI takoever turnoff and secondary game modes.

[Voilodion]

This could have transferred extremely well if the developers, for whatever reason, hadn't taken the approach of removing a perfectly good feature from the previous year's version every time they add a new one.

2014 lacked deckbuilding but had 2-headed giant, sealed decks, and 3 or 4 player free-for-all, all in both vs. player and vs. AI formats.

2015 added deckbuilding but removed sealed decks and 2HG.

This game brought back 2HG, but only in a vs. player mode (some of us like vs. AI), and removed all FFA formats.

I can't figure out what the lead developers were thinking. Even if Wizards gave Stainless a tight budget, it's the same company who made all the previous games, and they should still have the code for all those game modes they put in previously.

All this is not even considering all the problems with terrible UIs and game-breaking bugs.

[IrishDrinker]

Well, I hadn't played the more modern Duels, because I wasn't that thrilled with the one I did buy. Perhaps 2014 might be the one for me... I don't know. I would talk about this game, but haven't been able to run it because of Unknown Error Fatalities.

But really, I liked Tactics because it was different. I can play magic myself, with my real cards. Thier is so much more to do on Electronic Formats. Tactics I found fun and enjoyable, but it got shut down. Battlegrounds was a fun, quick game of hitting things with your staff and summoning things. Battlemage was... a mess. I wanted to like it, but, it was a pretty bad game. Some awesome music and lore in it though.

I knew this game was like the old duels, but it is new, and is supposed to get updated unlike really the old ones, so I was looking forward to this aspect. Also, I have played Hearthstone, Duels of Champions Berserk, and other CCG's online, and usually I stick with them for a few months, before I get board. I was hoping something familiure like magic would keep me entertained a bit longer.

[Skepticon]

Magic just has a lot of sophisticated, nuanced interactions and rules that (mostly) play simply and easily with the physical cards, but can be very clunky-feeling online depending on how they are implemented.

Personally, of course I would 'more' when it comes to cards, game types, and features. But Stainless has to code (and test!) every single card AND game mechanic they put in. Take the 5 planeswalker cards we got - not only is it an entirely new card type, with its own flipping mechanic, but each planeswalker has *3* unique abilities that have to be coded and tested. That's a lot of work, just for 5 cards (but totally worth it and exciting for us players!).

Also remember - Magic Duels is now going to try and keep pace and release at the same time (or close) as the physical sets. And we don't know how much lead time they are being given with the finalized cards in order to actually get them in the game.

So yeah, I'm optimistic for more cards, more game types, more features in the future... but I'm also realisitic and happy with the huge amount of work being done right now and in the future as new sets are released and added into the game, starting with Battle of Zendikar.

[Planeforger]

I know Magic Online gets a lot of flack for looking like late 90s accounting software, but it really does an excellent job of laying out all of Magic's complexities in an easily-understood, largely customisable way. That's pretty much the best digital interpretation of Magic that we're going to get.

But yes, the Microprose game was awesome. It's a shame that they didn't keep updating it with newer sets - the existing ones got old after a few years of playing that Shandalar mode!

[Skepticon]

Planeforger - I actually prefer this game to Magic Online, for two reasons.

First, obviously, its free. Magic Online is hard for me to play casually because its just too expensive. And as someone who has a significant physical collection of cards, its a disincentive for me to try and rebuild that online, even if a lot of the cards can be had for pennies.

Second, while MTGO certainly faithfully represents all the rules (and cards!), the user interface is incredibly clunky, cluttered, and unituitive. I greatly prefer the Magic Duels interface for casual play; it mostly just feels a lot better.

[CampyMcLurkstein]

Hey Irish - http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1850

All kinds of Shandalar updates shared by modders. With no despicable tactics of preying on the impatience of todays' average person via buying instant unlocks. It's all shared entertainment. I hope you find what you are looking for :)

[Evalis]

If you enjoy deck making and are simply bothered with the small card pool, I suggest you pick up DoTP 14 (and it's expansions) then check out some mods for it. Very versatile card pool due to a great community.

I still have hopes for this version. I really think they should have included more cards however. The pool we have to work with leaves too many strategic holes.

[IrishDrinker]

I like the fact that it IS just one core set atm (though some rumor is that not all of Origins is actually in the game???) and it will expand from there. Card pools should start small, and then grow. When I started Duel of Champions, all the cards were legal, and it was fun. Then after a few expansions, while I was busy and not playing, apparently all my decks were no longer legal, because they made a 'second core' set, basically replacing the first one, and so most of my decks didn't have legal cards for their normal tournaments. I stopped playing after that.

In Magic, it is buy more packs, buy more packs, new set comes out, buy more packs. I have more cards then I can count, at least 100,000, and I don't use most of them. EDH has given allot of my cards more use, but mostly they sit in boxes.

I wanted to like this game, so I could play a bit during the week, and just enjoy the game as I felt it was meant to. Playing with cards that are not overpowered, and just have some fun. FNM doesn't really have that feel anymore, and in my area, we have allot of spikes.

Campy, Ill take a look at that when I am not about to pass out, but thanks for posting it :)

[(GL) Ze_Blightcaller]

I have loved playing MTG Battlegrounds a favorite type of game back in my young days.