Sunday, April 14, 2013

The New Model SUCKS!

Often times your favorite pop culture institution goes through a major change and to quote Mr. Horse from Ren and Stimpy, "No sir, I don't like it!" It's like Doctor Who fans say you never forget your first doctor, but the one after is bound to cause some ire. I remember all the nerd rage over David Tennant "Come on man, he looks like he's like 12 years old!" Same was complained by Jon Pertwee fans "This jackass is all teeth and curls!," Tom Baker fans "Who the hell is this prettyboy!" and Peter Davidson fans "this new doctor is a total clown, just look at the way he dresses!" And of course this is more than Doctor Who,  Trekkies get it too with new series, and with the new movies (though I am shocked at people hating on the new movies myself).  And the less said about the Star Wars Prequels, the better.

So that's my question, what is the new impelentation of a classic pop culture icon that just pissed you off to no end. For me I have a few, the first is Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition.

Now to be fair I was never the biggest D&D person to begin, but as it was the biggest game in the hobby thus you have to deal with it some times because of that. I was always more of a runequest fan because the rules were more realistic and interesting. I put up with people in the 2nd edition calling my beloved RQ archaic and old while their system was "modern" Really? Modern? you still use levels, have a ton of "just because" rules (Why cant mages use swords, because they are mages!) etc. etc. but 3rd edition was an incredible improvement. More tactical, and engaging, it did a lot to improve the inherent goofiness of the D&D rules. and other than the D&D revolution (which is a rant for another time) D&D had actually moved into my stable of enjoyable fantasy games.

Then came 4th. TSR had been bought by Wizards of the Coast (the makers of Magic the Gathering) who in turn were bought by Hasbro. That's right Hasbro, makers of G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, and Mr. Potato Head! in fact the afore mentioned d20 "revolution" was really an attempt to sell more players handbooks by saying you can use the basics of the OLR to do what you like but must require the use of the player's handbook in a full d20 version of the rules. (too bad clever game companies found several loopholes and then began to release their own many clones with different and many may say better feel.  Through company brainstorming it was determined that D&D and in deed all roleplaying games as a hobby were circling the drain! to attract new blood we need to make the game more like a rising star in the gaming industry, the MMO. And thus D&D 4 was born, with online content. World of Warcraft terminology, and an attempt to homogenize the classes to the point of uselessness. The whole game was now like the old video game gauntlet. Wizards and Elves had different ranged attacks (magic vs arrows) but no real difference other than semantics. It was a perfect example of the company over thinking and mass packaging a good thing. Others have argued that progress is important. But when it is mutated beyond the point of being recognizable is it progress or something else? So what about you guys what is the big implementation hat you think sucked? New Star Trek, New Star Wars, new Coke? let me know!

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