[RPG]: Exalted, reviewed by Sergio Mascarenhas (4/3)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9204.phtml

Sergio Mascarenhas's Summary:

FANTASY SERIES #6: Exalted is a gem. A shining, a bright, a colourful gem. It’s just a pity that it is a fake gem. The review of Exalted you never though you would read.

Go to the full review for more information.

Post originally by Stormwalker at 2003-04-03 12:10:24
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A couple of minor nitpicks at the moment:

1) That's not the coast of a continent. That's the entire continent. At 800 miles an inch, it's huge.

2) The Realm is much more Chinese in style than Roman, with its dynasties, noble houses, religious order, writing style, fashions and so forth.

Post originally by Attila at 2003-04-03 12:19:57
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...I think I understand how deeply you DISLIKE this game. How much WORK did you put into this review to HIGHLIGHT every possibble NEGATIVE aspects of it. I saw how much FUSS did you make about RINGING IN this review.

Too bad, it isn't that great review IMHO. The only thing I gathered from it, that Exalted isn't the style of game you prefer.


Tastes differ, I guess. While I don't think either that Exalted is a completely original game (It reminds me always to Feng Shui and Earthdawn) and I don't like the Storyteller system, but I still prefer it to Runequest 3, for example. In fact, Exalted is the first rpg from White Wolf I don't dislike, which probably means something.

Post originally by Dave Turner at 2003-04-03 12:31:19
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While we disagree on some of the aesthetic parts of your review (I'm more forgiving to the setting), I do think you made an excellent point regarding Exalted's dice pool system.

In my playtest of the game, I found the sheer amount of dice required was distracting. The combat is supposed to be full of evocative and furious action. Yet it seemed more like a slideshow as dice were gathered, counted, rolled, and sorted. It was an absolute nightmare for me as the GM, since a battle between even two Solars and a bunch of extras was an exercise in dice-rolling for me. I shudder to think what an Exalted GM has to go through with a handful of Exalted opponents.

In the end, I realized that Exalted is a game about superheroes. With that in mind, I'm in the midst of a slow conversion of Exalted to the Mutants & Masterminds system. The speed and simplicity of M&M combat is more friendly to the spirit of what I think Exalted combat should be like.

It's not a strict and faithful conversion, actually, but more a series of guidelines and notes that others might find handy in running a game set in the Exalted world using M&M. ;-)

Post originally by Timothy Moerke at 2003-04-03 12:33:42
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You're confusing a review you dislike with a a bad review. Frankly, this is one of the best (if not the best) reviews of the game I have ever seen.

And I like Exalted. I don't agree with everything in the review, but that doesn't make it a bad review.

Timothy

Post originally by Conan McKegg at 2003-04-03 12:39:41
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Well, I would have to say that this was one of the most biased non-biased reviews I have read.

Of course I will admit to being a pro-Exalted gamer, so my opinion may in and of itself be a little over critical of Sergio's review.

It just seemed to me that Sergio <i>wanted</i> to not like the game. For crissakes - he counted typos!

As for pretentious - may I point you to the on going thread discussion on the definition of the word in the forums. There is nothing pretentious in Exalted's writing if you follow Greg Stolze's dictionary definition.

<Hr>
<b>Sergio Said</b><p>
<i>And then there are useless, stupid and patronizing calls like “Exalted is not really the secret history of the world”, or “Combat in Exalted should be cool”, or even that the rules for diseases “should not replace formal medical advice or treatment”. </i>
<hr>

Er... sorry. You were offended by these? Remember that Exalted is targetted at the RPG market at large - including <i>younger</i> players...

A long review is not always a good, or detailed review. Sergio spends a lot of time accusing the game of being repackaged ideas - Butsaying that the map is ripped off Europe strikes me as reaching. And using Ages? That hardly makes it a rip-off. Considering that they are using a pan-asian base for their setting- uh, yeah their empire shares more with China than Rome - this is acceptable.

Either way - it isn't whether it uses something that's been done before, but rather if they do it <b>well</b>.

<hr>
<b>Sergio Said:</b>
<i>The forth reason is the exact complementary of the previous ones. Exalted suffers of a quantity over quality syndrome. You have 11 houses in the Empire. Plenty of cities with populations above 1 million. Dozens of cultures. Everything is grand, “over-the-top” (an expression the game designers seem to love given how frequently they like to point to it), extreme. If only the game designers had opted to loose less time in collecting “cool” ideas, and to spend more time developing in depth just a selected few. </i>
<hr>

If you had read Scavenger Sons you would have seen that they have gone in depth. The point of the main book is to provide the players with a complete <i>consistent</i> overview. There is enough in the main book to play - but there are also rewards for purchasing more supplements. You may not like this - but it is a business... White Wolf needs to continue making money. However the game IS playable straight from the first book.

The inconsistency you mention is fictitious - the Solars <i>are</i> still human beings - which mean they do their own thing. What they were supposed to do and what they <b>will</b> do are two different things. It's like democracy - everyone is supposed to vote. But not everyone does.

Sergio, your hostile language throughout the review - shows a bias. Fine, you like Hero Wars and Middle Earth - more strength to you.

But as I mentioned in the Exalted thread - your criticisms are more a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. You have spent so much time finding things you didn't like - that you failed to look over what did make the game a good and in depth game. Because Exalted is extremely in depth and thought out - the main book could not hold all the info, but managed to contain all the vital details needed to start playing...

I am dissapointed with your criticisms - as most are personal bias rather than actual criticisms of the game itself.

Conan

Post originally by The Shadowy Mr. Evans at 2003-04-03 12:59:07
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"When will game designers understand that 3 secs rounds in fantasy is a completely idiocy? "

Why? You expressed your dislike , but didnt explain why you think this is too short for a round. I'm not saying you're wrong, I just would like to know why. I know that , weilding a sword, I can make a single attack on an opponent within roughly a second of time.

Post originally by Conan at 2003-04-03 13:08:14
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Agreed - having observed our local medieval re-enactment group on a couple of occasions, 3 seconds is plenty of time to swing a sword - twice even!

And they slow things down so as not to hurt each other...

Conan

Post originally by The Shadowy Mr. Evans at 2003-04-03 13:10:51
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I respectfully disagree. I don't know why you would assume Sergio had a bias before reviewing the game. I think it's obvious that he bought Exalted, read it, and disliked the majority of it. And for the most part he explained his dislikes. A "bias" would assume he had some reason to dislike the game before reading it, or had some chip on his shoulder about Exalted and so was unfairly harsh or prejudiced . I dont see any reason to think this.


"If you had read Scavenger Sons you would have seen that they have gone in depth. "

I have to say I am always put off when someone reviews a core rulebook, critisizes an aspect of the rules or setting, and someone disputes this by pointing out it is fixed in one of the line's supplements. What relevance at all does that have to a review of the Corebook?

"Er... sorry. You were offended by these? Remember that Exalted is targetted at the RPG market at large - including younger players... "

I'm not sure what you mean by "younger players", but Exalted has a warning stating that it contains "mature content", and it makes many references to what players did "as children". I also share Sergio's disgust at these constant disclaimer, which I found insulting. I understand some of them ere there for legal respnsibility reasons, but many were just part of WW's notoriously patronizing style of writing.

Post originally by Conan at 2003-04-03 13:16:34
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Well I did warn that I was somewhat biased. I did rant a little there didn't I...

*blush*

Conan