Quote:
Originally Posted by soviet
Like a lot of indie games, BE is specifically designed to be very focused. It does one thing very well and it does other things not at all. That's a feature, not a bug. BE is very clear about this focus, and I don't think anyone reading it will be under any illusions that they can do Firefly with it or something. So I don't think it's fair to judge it by the 'can it do Firefly?' standard (or whathaveyou). I think the only fair standard to judge it by is the 'does it do what it says it does?' standard.
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Just because a game accomplishes the goal it sets for itself does not mean it is a good game. First there is the question of whether the goal is worth accomplishing. (For all I know, FATAL does a great job of accomplishing its own goals.) Even if the goal is not necessarily a bad one, it may be too narrow to interest most gamers or to provide much replay value. An RPG is not judged by the same standards as a board game. If an RPG only allows you to do
one thing, then no matter how well it allows you to do that
one thing, it is still lacking in substance. Finally, there's the question of whether the goals of the game were properly described. The ad copy that Black Sun quoted gives no indication that BE is designed to allow you to play one and only one storyline.
Let me ask you a hypothetical question. If Wizards of the Coast had published a Star Wars RPG that contained very little information on the Star Wars universe, but had lots of complex and detailed rules allowing you to play out variations on the "blow up the Death Star" plot
and nothing else, would you say it was reasonable to give that game a 2 for Substance?
Wyvern