Thursday, July 26, 2012

Cardfight!! Vanguard

Cardfight! Stand up, my Vanguard!

...

No.

But yeah, I've been watching the English dub of the Vanguard anime.  Yes, I'm that bored.

It is somewhat entertaining, and does a good job of making me want to buy the cards and play the game.  It's really very smart, the way the show was made.  It focuses on some kid who had no friends, basically, and found meaning in his life in a card game.  It's kind of the same with Yu-Gi-Oh, except that the main character loses half of his duels and his life doesn't depend on him winning.

Too bad I'm still not going to spend any money at all on such a silly game.  Yeah, Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't take much skill this format, but Vanguard will never take much skill ever.  Yes, knowing when to guard and such is important, but it's all math and statistics.  It's more memory and knowledge than thought and application.  And that's why it's so popular, because it's easier to remember something than to understand it.

I do know how the game works and everything.  I'm not just bashing on the game without knowing what I'm talking about.  I know the rules and all that, it's really quite simple.

And not to say that Vanguard isn't fun.  It is pretty fun, but it's not fun in the challenging way that I like.  That's why I play Yu-Gi-Oh and Kaijudo, to be challenged.  I mean, Kaijudo punishes you for attacking unnecessarily, whereas Vanguard rewards you for attacking as often as possible.

But yeah, this is just a random little post about why I don't play Vanguard, despite having watched the show and having the funds necessary to play.

9 comments:

  1. You made your point really clear in that short post :P

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  2. Hi Grunty, but I'd like to say a few things about your post.

    I'd like to say that the game is not actually that silly, and it doesn't necessarily only reward players for attacking as often as possible. Of course, on the surface, it does looks simple, but once you get into the game, then you find out how deep the rabbit hole is.

    Sorry for that, but I just had to get that off my chest, as I am a Vanguard player. I'm not trying to convince you that Vanguard doesn't have any bad points, but there is more to it than at first glance, that's for sure.

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    1. Well, of course the game is deeper than I made it out to be. I only know of themes from the first ten or so episodes of the anime, plus things I've heard of from my friends who play Vanguard.

      The thing is that when I played Vanguard (yes, I have played Vanguard), every game against the same opponent was the same. The game is built to be very linear, and if your opponent is any good, their deck will be consistent enough so that they can accomplish their goals every game. This linear path, which I honestly forgot to touch on in my post, was another thing that drives me away from the game. Yes, it'll change if I play against a different deck, but once I figure out how to play against that deck (which shouldn't take more than one or two fights), that's it.

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  3. Something that is different between Vanguard and Yu-Gi-Oh is the fact that the game is more balanced. Any player with even a structure deck can win often against a $200 dollar deck due to the surprise of trigger activation. It cost less money to make a decent deck because of this unlike in Yu-Gi-Oh where the tier 1 is simply too hard to overcome without money. VG gives everyone a chance and levels the playing field for all players. The fact that you you say that the game is about purely memory and knowledge shows that you have not truly understood the game. Every clan has their own special theme which there are many ways to build the deck towards that goal. It is the deck making and knowing what to do against all the different opponents you play that would refer to the thought and application. The game isn't as tier related as Yu-Gi-Oh where you notice your running Inzektors/Dino Rabbit against some rouge deck and you can close your eyes to play the game. VG leaves you at the edge of you seat every time you check for a trigger.

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    1. I'm not saying that Yu-Gi-Oh is a great game. Yu-Gi-Oh was designed to be one of the most flexible (if not THE most flexible) card games ever, meaning that cards can easily become broken. And, Konami exploits this for money. Yeah, Yu-Gi-Oh is pretty awful this format, I'm not denying that.

      The fact that a Trigger can determine the game is something that I don't like about Vanguard. Yeah, you can beat a $200 deck with a $20 deck because you got all your Heal Triggers and Critical Triggers, but then that took no skill on your part (unless you were playing Oracle Think Tank, maybe...).

      I've stated on this blog that the reason that Vanguard is so popular is because everyone can play and everyone can win. You don't need money or skill to win, just luck. Even in Yu-Gi-Oh, you at least need some skill to pilot a simple deck like Dino Rabbit. Believe it or not, some people will play Effect Veiler on your Monsters when they have Evolzar Dolkka out.

      I do admit that I'm not aware of all of the Clans in Vanguard, but I doubt it's very hard to build a one-Clan deck, seeing as how you don't have that many options. Hybrid decks do take a lot of skill to make, from what I've seen, however.

      And I don't really care if Vanguard "leaves you at the edge of your seat every time you check for a trigger." I know that, I've played. Vanguard is fun, I admitted that in my post, but it's not challenging. That's why I don't play Vanguard.

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    2. Don't listen to that guy LightGrunty, he has no idea what he's talking about either. Though maybe saying that VG relies on luck is not 100% accurate on your part, you are absolutely spot on when you say it's all math and statistics. A good player is one who can anticipate his trigger flow, as well as his opponent's. That said, any newb with an SD can walk right over that with sheer dumb luck, something we rarely see in YGO, no matter how bad the format.

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    3. Uhmm, yeah, even as a VG player, luck is really a major part of the game. Even if your field is Perfect, double crits will easily beat you if it caught you off guard. Yes, the player who attacks most gets the most advantage, but the more you extend in calling the lesser cards you have for blocking and you rearguards are wide for attacks. Vanguard is not a game in which you only attack well um, the vanguard (lolz) but you can attack the rearguard as well, pretty much like kaijudo, either you go for the shields or go for the creatures, if you go for the shields, the game will end fast, if you go with the creatures, the opponent loses board control

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    4. Yeah, I understand the balance between attacking and guarding in Vanguard. When I played Vanguard with my friends' decks, I liked to attack my opponent's front Rear Guards first, then go for their Vanguard when they ran out of cards.

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  4. Yeah!!! LightGrunty agrees with me. Vanguard should not have existed, because we have Weiss Schwarz!!!

    Anyhow, Yu-Gi-Oh is not only flexible in making OTKs and such, but also your decision on when to play your Traps or Spell Speed 2 effects. And we have a Main Phase 2 when you think the opponent is done when he finished attacking.

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