That's an opinion. It's fine; but it's not mine. Pre-SW sci-fi was fairly dire, IMO, excepting some harder sci-fi from the like of Asimov. War of the Worlds was the best it got.
An Open Letter to Fantasy Flight and Cubicle 7 -- Cut the "Foreplay" and Give Us the Good Stuff
That's an opinion. It's fine; but it's not mine. Pre-SW sci-fi was fairly dire, IMO, excepting some harder sci-fi from the like of Asimov. War of the Worlds was the best it got.
TrippyHippy
Hero
They've decided to make three games in total - to cover multiple aspects of the same setting - and they are all firmly reflective of Star Wars canon, even if you cannot respect that.
Remus Lupin
Adventurer
Well, as I noted, Star Wars did update those tropes. 1940s era serialized Flash Gordon looks feeble compared to Star Wars, but all of the tropes were there. I could be misremembering this, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that Lucas did Star Wars because he couldn't get a licence to do Flash Gordon, which is actually a shame in one sense, because I think he could have done it justice. And of course, both the 1970s versions of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers don't hold a candle to Star Wars.
But again, my only point is that I want you to be able to play your game and I'd like to be able to play mine. Of course, I can because I think Saga Edition does Star Wars quite well. But I would have preferred if FFG had made their version more attractive to me.
Remus Lupin
Adventurer
I can't say what the other two games will be. I only know about Edge of the Empire thus far. I can't comment on a game that doesn't exist.
TrippyHippy
Hero
The 70s/80s versions of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were released in the wake of Star Wars success, not before. As I said previously, the old pulp style sci-fi of the 30s/40s were largely scorned at the time, in favour of more high brow 'philosophical' scifi. Star Wars' release in 1977 changed the way we viewed SciFi as entertainment.
Remus Lupin
Adventurer
Yes, I know. I'm sorry that wasn't clear.
TrippyHippy
Hero
You do know what they will be about though - the second one will be about the Rebellion vs the Empire and the last one will be about Jedi vs Sith. These things will come, and I'd rather they take their time to create quality products that reflect the themes of the Star Wars setting well, rather than rush through poor products simply to meet the impatient demands from certain fans.
Moreover, I actually like getting a slow burn of satisfaction in the way the Star Wars games will build on each other. It's a bit like watching Game of Thrones on TV, where it ostensibly appears to be a mundane, almost historical setting at first - but slowly builds up to be more and more fantastic.
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Remus Lupin
Adventurer
See, this sentiment has been stated enough in this thread to make me think that some people really have a different understanding of Wizards' run as the licencee than I do. WotC's biggest problem from my perspective, came from trying to get the game out to be in synch with the new movies and that's where the rush came from. Thus we had Star Wars, then Star Wars Revised, neither of which, I will agree, were very good.
But I actually thought that they hit their stride with the Saga Edition. I liked it a great deal, bought every book, and enjoyed playing it. I thought it came to a very logical conclusion at the end of its publication run and gave me, as a player, a very complete system for playing any number of different kinds of Star Wars game. It certainly wasn't perfect, but for me as a player, it gave me a very good product. And, here's the thing, Saga edition had Jedi from the start. So the idea that the alternatives are "have Jedi from the start" and "do Jedi well," just doesn't stand up from my perspective.
TrippyHippy
Hero
The problem I had with all of the D20 Star Wars games was that there was no incentive to play non-Jedi at all. Almost every game I ever tried to run had players scrambling over themselves to play Jedi, and hardly any of them played them in spiritual/ascetic ways which was how I perceived Jedi to be in the Original Trilogy. They played them like superheroes. In this respect, the D20 games were highly reflective of the Prequel movies, but poor mediums for playing tales from the Original Trilogy.
And I'll say it again, in the Original Trilogy, Jedi were so rare that most people didn't think that they existed anymore and that The Force was just hokey religion. The manner that the Edge of Empire is presenting the game world is entirely appropriate to canon - and that is not to say playing Force sensitive characters is not doable, as they are.
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Somewhere earlier in this thread, someone commented that Firefly was basically Star Wars without the Jedi. While that may we'll be true, Star Wars came first. Firefly was cool because it picked up on the scum and villainy vibe of Star Wars, amped up the western elements that were already there, and made something equally good.
Yet Firefly was good because it showed that lots of stories can be told in such an environment. Edge of the Empire knows this and has demonstrated it very well... Plus it does have the option for using Force-sensitives in an era where they are all in hiding. Lightsabers exist, but they are dangerous and very rare. I suspect rolling a despair result with one might end up with a self-inflicted amputation!
What I have seen with EotE is an excellent start to a building franchise. It may not have everything that people might want, but it is a complete system to itself that is also part of a larger whole.
I would also say that truthfully, the characters created in EotE are far more likely to engage far more of the various reaches of the Star Wars galaxy than even the Rebellion or Jedi might. The sewers of Coruscant or the spice mines of the outer rim are much more likely to be locations you might find EotE characters...
Yet Firefly was good because it showed that lots of stories can be told in such an environment. Edge of the Empire knows this and has demonstrated it very well... Plus it does have the option for using Force-sensitives in an era where they are all in hiding. Lightsabers exist, but they are dangerous and very rare. I suspect rolling a despair result with one might end up with a self-inflicted amputation!
What I have seen with EotE is an excellent start to a building franchise. It may not have everything that people might want, but it is a complete system to itself that is also part of a larger whole.
I would also say that truthfully, the characters created in EotE are far more likely to engage far more of the various reaches of the Star Wars galaxy than even the Rebellion or Jedi might. The sewers of Coruscant or the spice mines of the outer rim are much more likely to be locations you might find EotE characters...
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