Post by nerafim on Apr 9, 2016 10:05:45 GMT
To add-on to the topic I did on general DM overview. Basically you can see the whole of DM as several different games in one, and here is what they are...
1) DM I = This is basically standard, good ol' classic DM that everyone knows, learned and started getting used to, the highly tactical RTS like game that it began as and tried to figure itself out for years before becoming this very techincal and rather weird way to build and play card game, and the one that was for its lifespan outside Japan and for all the people that started playing it. So this basically covers TCG format and the duration of the world wide DM (first 12 sets) and the one a lot of us got to back on DZ and DMC, more importantly it covers the "set 17" era which includes KPs times and KC format which was the greatest and most competitive this game ever got (especially online) and which still continues being played to this day it seems, but which also went on for a few more set blocks in Japan maybe (in terms of how much people knew about playing the game). It also includes Kaijudo's rework for most of it's history I feel since it was just built like that too with some exceptions.
I wrote more on DM I because history, but it's at its core it's just the first 17 sets (as the first 14 were also designed by the same one guy), however because basics don't change in DM we can say it covers also parts the next 2 blocks.
2) DM II = Or 2.0 as some might say arguably starts with DM-19 as that is also both a thematic and game design (gameplay, strategy, mecanic) change in direction for DM, a rework that happened because sales were not great, but mostly on the surface of the fancy yet impractical big mecanics (Phoenixes, multis and Gods, etc.). DM II truly began with the Samurai block for many reasons, and that was also one of the most popular and great sales sets in DM ever, that really put it on the map and made it surpass MtG and YGO. Needless to say the Evo block expanded on it greatly (DM-35) and that is where we are at now and arguably it lasts a good portion of the next blocks meta.
3) DM III = This is already a pretty different beast than the other 2 ones and reasonably began with the DMR reset sets, and very hard into it from the beginning, but honestly the Awakening Saga (DM-36 and 39) already layed much of the foundation for it and that is why I am reluctant to have it added. The huge shift is an emphasis on higher cost creatures being stronger, stronger sweeper cards (not fun), Psychics and certain individual cards/mecanics that really took DM in unfamilliar territory or overpowered old stuff that used to be harder before.
Most of TCOs population and past metas experienced this DM, its also when they started paying attention to Japans meta and kinda evolving but I am not sure if they ever truly played it to its full mecanical glory, not consistently.
4) DM IV= This one is pretty recent, arguably just with this most recent and new Evo block or partly with the one before it (names later) and I also was out of it for its duration so I can't say much except that in most ways it is not the DM that most people are used to at all...For one all the effects are now ridiculously techincal and preemptively metasavy to the point where you need to already know the "deck structure" and only then can you refit cards into it. It is in many ways simpler, in many ways ridiculously complicated, but by this point most of what you could have done in the game in the past becomes obsolete and bad, and most cards are just useless. Not something we might want to rush towards.
There are obvious game design, card pool, playing, deck building, metagaming differences between these 4 DM games which matter hugely for competitie play, creativity and more importantly recreational casual FUN that is another long story I won't get into now. Long because it mainly needs to be seen and experienced, and explaining it can only be done with decks and by explaining how everything in DM works. But as an orientation guide, yeah, you can just see DM as more games in one.
-Nera
1) DM I = This is basically standard, good ol' classic DM that everyone knows, learned and started getting used to, the highly tactical RTS like game that it began as and tried to figure itself out for years before becoming this very techincal and rather weird way to build and play card game, and the one that was for its lifespan outside Japan and for all the people that started playing it. So this basically covers TCG format and the duration of the world wide DM (first 12 sets) and the one a lot of us got to back on DZ and DMC, more importantly it covers the "set 17" era which includes KPs times and KC format which was the greatest and most competitive this game ever got (especially online) and which still continues being played to this day it seems, but which also went on for a few more set blocks in Japan maybe (in terms of how much people knew about playing the game). It also includes Kaijudo's rework for most of it's history I feel since it was just built like that too with some exceptions.
I wrote more on DM I because history, but it's at its core it's just the first 17 sets (as the first 14 were also designed by the same one guy), however because basics don't change in DM we can say it covers also parts the next 2 blocks.
2) DM II = Or 2.0 as some might say arguably starts with DM-19 as that is also both a thematic and game design (gameplay, strategy, mecanic) change in direction for DM, a rework that happened because sales were not great, but mostly on the surface of the fancy yet impractical big mecanics (Phoenixes, multis and Gods, etc.). DM II truly began with the Samurai block for many reasons, and that was also one of the most popular and great sales sets in DM ever, that really put it on the map and made it surpass MtG and YGO. Needless to say the Evo block expanded on it greatly (DM-35) and that is where we are at now and arguably it lasts a good portion of the next blocks meta.
3) DM III = This is already a pretty different beast than the other 2 ones and reasonably began with the DMR reset sets, and very hard into it from the beginning, but honestly the Awakening Saga (DM-36 and 39) already layed much of the foundation for it and that is why I am reluctant to have it added. The huge shift is an emphasis on higher cost creatures being stronger, stronger sweeper cards (not fun), Psychics and certain individual cards/mecanics that really took DM in unfamilliar territory or overpowered old stuff that used to be harder before.
Most of TCOs population and past metas experienced this DM, its also when they started paying attention to Japans meta and kinda evolving but I am not sure if they ever truly played it to its full mecanical glory, not consistently.
4) DM IV= This one is pretty recent, arguably just with this most recent and new Evo block or partly with the one before it (names later) and I also was out of it for its duration so I can't say much except that in most ways it is not the DM that most people are used to at all...For one all the effects are now ridiculously techincal and preemptively metasavy to the point where you need to already know the "deck structure" and only then can you refit cards into it. It is in many ways simpler, in many ways ridiculously complicated, but by this point most of what you could have done in the game in the past becomes obsolete and bad, and most cards are just useless. Not something we might want to rush towards.
There are obvious game design, card pool, playing, deck building, metagaming differences between these 4 DM games which matter hugely for competitie play, creativity and more importantly recreational casual FUN that is another long story I won't get into now. Long because it mainly needs to be seen and experienced, and explaining it can only be done with decks and by explaining how everything in DM works. But as an orientation guide, yeah, you can just see DM as more games in one.
-Nera
