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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Magic: The Gathering Online  |  Topic: WTF is this? Magic the Gathering Tactics? 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: WTF is this? Magic the Gathering Tactics?  (Read 14724 times)
Xilren's Twin
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on: April 23, 2010, 06:23:20 AM

While tooling around with MTGO last night, i saw somethign which had completely slipped my radar: an upcoming pc game Magic the Gathering Tactics from Wotc and SOE.  Announced in Nov 2009 and supposed to be out "early 2010" which means its already late.  Cant find any screen shots, videos, real info other than the crappy teaser trailer on the above site.

Of the spotty info, the best seem to be from penny arcade of all places.  They talked to our old friend John Smedley...
Quote
Historically, we've had a strange relationship with SOE's John Smedley - though I think it's more or less reached equilibrium now.  We received a press release for a new game he's catalyzed over there, namely Magic: The Gathering Tactics, but since we don't run press releases there's no place for that.  This being established, I think a lot of their work out of their Tucson and Denver studios is woefully underappreciated, and I want to show some support.  I gave him a call yesterday to see if I could find anything out, and while I don't know if I succeeded especially well, if you share my vague enthusiasm for this currently mysterious game, read on.  I have taken the liberty of adding smileys where I believe he was being ironical.

Me: Your press release contains no information.  That's not a question, so much as a statement.  You can't just say there's a Tactical Magic: The Gathering game, swirl your cape, and then leave!

Maybe this will help.  It's a turn-based strategy game based not just on Magic, but the idea of Magic.

Me: Are you saying that the existing interpretations don't communicate the entire game?  Like Duels of the Planeswalkers, for example, which is more like Magic: The Gathering recast as a fighting game?

Smed: First and foremost, we're trying to retain the core idea of Magic, or at least what we think it is.  The whole idea is that we can provide the depth and variety of the card game online.  Players will tell us if we've done it right, but I think they'll agree with us that deckbuilding is core to the experience of playing Magic.  The idea that you never really know your opponent's true capabilities is so important - what's on the table doesn't represent everything they can do.  Obviously we'll have dueling, and we'll investigate other ways to use your cards, but the single player experience is also very important to us.  Long term, campaigns are a major focus.

Me: I'm glad to hear that.  I own decks and cards for a ton of games from SOE Denver and SOE Tucson, but going online to be obliterated by strangers isn't something that really appeals to me.

Smed: You're in the majority, about seventy percent of Legends of Norrath and PoxNora players play it that way.

Me: Really?  I guess you would know.  Actually, there is one game that I duel online in, which is Free Realms - but that's only because I feel like I'll probably be matched against a child, who I'll be able destroy.

Smed: I don’t know.  Some of those kids could probably destroy you!

Me:  Well, let's not dwell on it.  When I think about games that are online, tactical, and collectible though, I think immediately about SOE Tucson's Pox Nora, which we both got into back when they were still Octopi.  Did SOE Denver seek their input in creating Magic: The Gathering Tactics?

Smed: The design was completely collaborative in fact, and it's not just a reskin of our existing games.  It's a completely new codebase, something we made from the ground up to live on the PC and the PlayStation3.  The PS3 version comes out a little later, but obviously they're both very important to us.   

Me: Will the two versions share an account?  i.e., can I play the PC version at work when I should be working, and then jump on the PS3 version when I get home?  All my decks will be intact and so forth?

Smed: Absolutely.

Me: Yeah, I've been trying to figure out when you would start doing things on the PS3.  You've been pretty good about the "Online Entertainment" part of SOE, but maybe not so hot on the "Sony."

Smed: Well, we do have three MMOs in development, all launching next year on the PS3.  Our strategy is very broad, and it's taken a long time to arrive there, but we're getting close.
 
So,some sort of turn based, collectible, oniine game inspired by magic.involving 3rd avatars.

Great, it will probably suck which will give me another reason to dislike SOE.  Anyone else have info on this?

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Aez
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Reply #1 on: April 23, 2010, 06:33:19 AM

I remember earing about this a couple of months ago.  I wasn't enthusiast. I'll try to find something for you.

Found it : a crappy trailer with no info : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2L4LUZUIg0
« Last Edit: April 23, 2010, 06:35:08 AM by Aez »
stu
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Reply #2 on: July 06, 2010, 09:41:30 PM

The link in the OP has been updated. They are planning an autumn release. I'm new to Magic but this caught my eye since I was considering MTGO.

The backgrounds shown are drab. I can see why the duels would take place in the... plains, but shouldn't there be some epic battles going in the the distance? There's a lot of space out there for players to be fighting over a couple blocks. Maybe it's a Highlander type thing.

The deck interface looks sleek and I recognize some of the cards from Duels of the Plainswalkers. The polished look of DotP is sometimes offset by issues with responsiveness so if this new game turns out to be good, hopefully they fix that.
« Last Edit: July 06, 2010, 09:59:45 PM by stu »

Dear Diary,
Jackpot!
Xilren's Twin
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Posts: 1648


Reply #3 on: August 17, 2010, 04:17:52 AM

From GenCon writeups...

Quote
It's basically a turn-based miniatures game with both online and single-player content. I got to play through one scenario in which I was a Planeswalker trying to kill another Planeswalker. Each turn, I was able to cast a spell and move around. I cast a Birds of Paradise, then waited until I could put out a Serra Angel, which I then Oakenformed. Knowing the Magic cards helped, but the numbers were different and things played out differently from how they do in the TCG. For example, since both I and my computerized opponent had an army, we had the option of attacking creatures directly.

From what I was told, this isn't going to be a subscription-based product. People will be able to buy virtual boosters to add to their armies and then play online with those.

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Xilren's Twin
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Posts: 1648


Reply #4 on: January 24, 2011, 07:57:59 PM

Xilren casts Raise Dead....

Um, lookee at this email i received in my inbox.
Hmm Magic the Gathering Tactics is now available.  Play for free
Looks like free to play with microtrans for "station cash" for boosters and crap.

So, im downloading as we speak.  Anyone else try this yet?

Oh yeah, game info stuff here http://www.magicthegatheringtactics.com/archive.vm?id=9&month=current
« Last Edit: January 24, 2011, 08:01:02 PM by Xilren's Twin »

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
schild
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Reply #5 on: January 24, 2011, 08:08:07 PM

I'm too lazy to start the tutorial. Whenever I boot it up I just call a friend to play actual Magic instead...
Cadaverine
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Reply #6 on: January 24, 2011, 11:34:50 PM

Anyone else try this yet?

I gave it a go this evening.  It's interesting, enough, I suppose. 

It's something of a mix of MtG, and Sony's other online card games, but played on a turn based, 3d battlefield.  Most of the core MtG gameplay is intact, though they added things like initiative, and your damage/hits have been multiplied by 10, so your 1/1 Skeleton is now a 10/10 skeleton.  Instead of casting land cards for mana, you just get X amount of whatever color(s) you are using each turn.  So, playing Blue/Black, I'd get 1 Black on turn one, then 2 blue, 1 black on turn 2, etc. 

You can level up your planeswalker, but as of yet, I have no idea what purpose that serves, other than you can get talent points somehow that you can use to buy bonuses for the different colors similar to WoW's talents trees.  One of the first two talents for black was that your zombies have a 3% chance per point to start with +10/10, the other is a chance to gain 1 black mana when one of your creatures dies.

There's a couple different game options.  Solo, you can play the campaign, but you only get Chapter 1 to start, you have to buy the additional chapters for 500 SC each.  You can also play against other players, and join tournaments, but I haven't tried any of that yet.  Booster packs cost 395 SC, and the Booster box(24 packs) is 8900, or thereabouts.  You can also buy single cards at varying prices once you've unlocked them.


Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.
Thrawn
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Reply #7 on: January 25, 2011, 04:55:16 AM

For a company that puts such amazing art on it's cards the artwork on that page is terrible and the in game video doesn't look much better.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the Universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
schild
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Reply #8 on: January 25, 2011, 02:22:49 PM

For a company that puts such amazing art on it's cards the artwork on that page is terrible and the in game video doesn't look much better.
Uhm. What?

Wizards likely had very little to nothing to do with the actual game. It was licensed to SOE.
Xilren's Twin
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Posts: 1648


Reply #9 on: January 25, 2011, 07:11:06 PM

After playing for a bit, it's underwhelming.  Tactics game with magic flavor.  Nothing wrong with it per se but definate flat out money grab.
Blew through the free content in like an hour.  I may tool around with it just to see what can be done with no cash investment, but the game is not compelling enough on its own for me to want to spend any money on it.

In all honestly, i think regular MtG has much more "tactics" than this.  Some simple movement and positioning with lots of grey ogre wanna bes hardly seems like a good trade off for not having things like counterspells, milling, infinite combos, mana ramps, artifcats, planeswalkers, graveyard manipulation, hand destruction, land destruction, etc, not to mention good deck design and land/spell ratios.

BTW, they are apparently "cracking down" on exploits for station cash, which simply amounts to people making lots of free station accounts with different email addresses to funnel all the start up SC they give you to one account.  And I am seeing rumors of dupe bugs too.  Good job SOE.

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
naum
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Reply #10 on: January 25, 2011, 08:28:25 PM

After playing for a bit, it's underwhelming.  Tactics game with magic flavor.  Nothing wrong with it per se but definate flat out money grab.
Blew through the free content in like an hour.  I may tool around with it just to see what can be done with no cash investment, but the game is not compelling enough on its own for me to want to spend any money on it.

In all honestly, i think regular MtG has much more "tactics" than this.  Some simple movement and positioning with lots of grey ogre wanna bes hardly seems like a good trade off for not having things like counterspells, milling, infinite combos, mana ramps, artifcats, planeswalkers, graveyard manipulation, hand destruction, land destruction, etc, not to mention good deck design and land/spell ratios.

BTW, they are apparently "cracking down" on exploits for station cash, which simply amounts to people making lots of free station accounts with different email addresses to funnel all the start up SC they give you to one account.  And I am seeing rumors of dupe bugs too.  Good job SOE.

I don't understand all the energy devoted to "derivative" MtG products while the core MMO implementation limps along in the chasis of a boneyard glued Dodge.

"Should the batman kill Joker because it would save more lives?" is a fundamentally different question from "should the batman have a bunch of machineguns that go BATBATBATBATBAT because its totally cool?". ~Goumindong
Thrawn
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Reply #11 on: January 26, 2011, 06:15:21 AM

For a company that puts such amazing art on it's cards the artwork on that page is terrible and the in game video doesn't look much better.
Uhm. What?

Wizards likely had very little to nothing to do with the actual game. It was licensed to SOE.

I guess I just assumed since it was MtG Wizards was heavily involved, shame on SOE I guess then.  swamp poop

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the Universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
HaemishM
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Reply #12 on: February 02, 2011, 09:48:33 AM

You must have missed my diagnosis in the BIIF section.

Conclusion: Yes, it's pretty crappy.

AndyDavo
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Reply #13 on: July 14, 2011, 08:08:44 AM

How good is this game? I was thinkign of trying it out. (and expanding my experience beyond one forum)
schild
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Reply #14 on: July 14, 2011, 08:40:19 AM

How good is this game? I was thinkign of trying it out. (and expanding my experience beyond one forum)
Why can't you just read the goddamn thread?
HaemishM
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Reply #15 on: July 15, 2011, 08:26:58 AM

As has been said a number of times in a number of places, it's total shit.

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