bonethug0108 said:
I've said straight out that concepts like respec-ing and per encounter very well likely came from video games, as well as many newer mechanics.
But the argument most people tote around is that d&d is becoming too hack and slash like video games when it was d&d that was hack and slash to begin with. It was the players that turned it from a hack and slash tatical squad based game to a true roleplaying game. Then in response the designers started building the game around that.
As in a lot of these discussions, the opinions of all people on a given side of an issue are often puréed by into one opinion shared by all of them, when it isn't the case. I've always preferred about a 50% mixture of hack & slash Vodka in my D&D Screwdriver. But by its nature I also don't like where the "per encounter" of Saga takes the game as opposed to a more Vancian system, or even preferably a slow-regenerating points system.
As for styles of play, that is your opinion that they become invalid, and I see it as a false statement to begin with. Name a style of play that is now invalid with saga and maybe I can see what you mean. Otherwise you have no leg to stand on with this statement.
One style that's gone: Holding back resources so that you can have something in reserve when fighting something tougher later on. In our Saga games our players have fallen into a pattern. The Jedi will ALWAYS, ALWAYS without fail open with Move Object, Force Grip, or Force Slam (depending on who chose what power suite) and move on to lesser powers. It doesn't matter if they're fighting Storm Troopers, maimed Mynocks, or A SITH LORD, it's 1,2,3 by the numbers; the Robin Laws-ian "method actors" or "story tellers" might change it up if they're bored, but it's rare. Instead of debating whether to use a resource, they use it up because they don't know or care if it's the first of 5 fights that day, or the first and only fight that day. It doesn't matter -- they have no reason to be combat-ineffective.
Another style: Finding it necessary to rest before tackling a bad guy. I ran at least two games where they either started off hurt and on the run, or completely tapped out of hit points and in chains. They went from 1 hit point to all six of them being at half hit points within 6 hours, and able to kick major butt. Even the Soldier was only slightly less combat effective with a tree branch spear with a burned tip-point than he was normally. To be honest, they probably could have taken on the opposition with about 1 minute of rest, because they second-winded and recovered and jedi-healed to a pretty good strength anyway. The only time they're NOT at full power is in the middle of combat rounds, and I don't really want wall-to-wall 25-round combats just to give them a little challenge -- which it what I've had to do.
Another style: having low-level characters fight their way through low-level opponents and be crafty and clever in tackling their enemies, before they graduate to tackling tougher foes. A first level Jedi can Take down a Clone ARC trooper (the "special forces" troopers) with a move object or force grip like he was a spacer thug.
This works for Star Wars, as I said; but for me, it doesn't work for D&D, because all of those used to be viable play styles in the years I've played. I'm glad if it does end up bringing more people to the table in the long run instead of to the MMORP guilds, but it is one style of play I've seen as either not viable, or very, very difficult to emulate. Any counter examples of being able to emulate this style of play in Saga Edition, short of changing the rules, are welcome.