Digital Versions That MURDERIZED Their Analog Counterparts

[Cyrano]

Our brief "Blood Bowl" conversation elsewhere led me to this question:  What analog game do you have or have played would you now never get into because there's a digital version of it and it's just a better experience?

Never is weird so I'll avoid that, but...

I cannot imagine playing tabletop "Blood Bowl" ever again as long as the Legendary Edition exists.  I can customize the devil out of the armies, experiment with ALL the races that I'm aware of, avoid all the ugly rule hassles in that absurd living rulebook, run whole leagues, play multi-player, and all for a tiny fraction of the cost of building just orcs and Empire.

Same for "Talisman", although my tolerance for the original game of "Roll and Screw Your Buddy" is terribly limited.

Same for "Battlefleet: Gothic"

And while any  game I can play socially with friends -- remember we used to do that? -- is of course to be preferred to remote play., even here I cannot tell you how nice it is to set up and play one of the TTS SPI games, play the turns, and either save the damn thing mid-game or just hit the restart and the whole things put back the way it was.  DEFINITELY the case for C&C:N which I like very much, but is a bear to get up and down.  Besides, as you all know, I get to play with big tables full of pixel minis...

Anyone here letting the machines take control?

[ojsdad]

Paradox is publishing board games of their big digital games.  I cannot fathom how those games would be as fun as board games as they are digital.  Of course, I'm sure they're had simplify the board games quite a bit, but still, I don't think they would be as fun.

[bayonetbrant]

Civ

[Cyrano]

Civ
[/quote

Ooooh, them's fightin' words to the AHAC crew.

I never got into Sid's Civ that deeply (checks over shoulder for MD) and never had a chance to play AHAC.

]

[bayonetbrant]

tell 'em to come and get me....

[Barthheart]

Yeah, Sid's Civ is nothing like AH Advanced Civ. Nothing at all. My group still plays AH Civ a lot.

[Cyrano]

Yeah, Sid's Civ is nothing like AH Advanced Civ. Nothing at all. My group still plays AH Civ a lot.

My impression, but, again, I'm no expert.

[bbmike]

Civ didn't start out as a board game. You might be able to argue (poorly) that it was based on the AH game, but it wasn't.

[bayonetbrant]

Civ didn't start out as a board game. You might be able to argue (poorly) that it was based on the AH game, but it wasn't.

yeah, but the FFG board game is based on the computer game and isn't as good as the digital one.

[Cyrano]

I find just about every attempt to convert digital games to the tabletop to be silly.

Oooh, I'm never likely to play "Twilight Struggle" on the tabletop again.

[bbmike]

It will be interesting to see what happens with LnL Tactical. The PC version is very impressive so far and it just released.

[bayonetbrant]

Oooh, I'm never likely to play "Twilight Struggle" on the tabletop again.

were you before?

[Cyrano]

It will be interesting to see what happens with LnL Tactical. The PC version is very impressive so far and it just released.

This may become another Cyrano rant.

It IS really good.  Very efficient, very good looking, and seems true to the rules.

It's also very stable for being EA.  And the price point is brilliant.

And it has caused me to wonder if we've fetishized process and convinced ourselves it equates to simulation.  I first noticed this when playing Panzer Battles with Doug.  It -- and LnL -- have PILES of rules under the hood.  Modifiers, charts, tables, &c., and, while LnL lets you see it if you want, it is far too easy to glide right over that and just keep clicking.  Games that would take hours take minutes.  We thought we were using tactics and it was all layers of modifiers.  And, in so doing, I can't imagine playing on the tabletop again where, dollars to donuts, I'm going to forget no fewer than 45 rules before I"m done.

[Cyrano]

Oooh, I'm never likely to play "Twilight Struggle" on the tabletop again.

were you before?

Yep.  Michelle actually almost likes it.

[Advocator (Scott)]

Given that we're all stuck at home, a few of the local guys I game with have gotten me to use Vassal for the first time.  Gotten in a few games of Combat Commander and Tank Duel.  It's not optimal and I doubt that I'd be able to handle it if I didn't have a second monitor to keep the cards and other miscellaneous things on, but it works.  Course, I loaded up the C&C module and it set everything up for me, which leads me to believe that I'd be much, much more likely to play it that way than tabletop ever again.  But it's at least letting us play even when we have to stay away.

But for things that are much more automated, my Twilight Struggle map was framed and is hanging up in the office now.  And Carcassomne... having the scores calculated for you by a computer ruined the tabletop version for me.

And while it hasn't hit the table in a long time, Advanced Civilization and Sid Meier's Civilization are nothing alike and you should feel bad for suggesting that