Extra Creditz episodes pertinent to Alteil

[Ropey]

Lets take the example of how meta works in XBOX 360 games.

The game is reviewed by lots of respected sources. Then a medium is taken of all the scores given by magazines and online sources. In noway is the popularity of a game considered. As you say this could be affected by price, taste or that the game or licence has a strong fan base. Maybe this is a bad example, but it's how I understand meta.

[shadowsketch]

Lets take the example of how meta works in XBOX 360 games.

The game is reviewed by lots of respected sources. Then a medium is taken of all the scores given by magazines and online sources. In noway is the popularity of a game considered. As you say this could be affected by price, taste or that the game or licence has a strong fan base. Maybe this is a bad example, but it's how I understand meta.

You're right, it is a bad example.

Meta is not about opinions, it's about observing trends. When people counter the metagame, they observe what people play to strategize against it. Popularity plays a role in countering the meta since people want to prepare most for the matchup they are most likely to play against.

For example, in Alteil, if the arena started filling up with Level 3 files, how would you counter it? You can try packing Level 3 hate like Afeemina SS and Withdrawal Strategy. Same with bigs -- you can try packing Fierte SS and SP Drain. However, as I said before, Alteil has no true meta due to card availability, but I just want to show examples of strategies and counterstrategies in this game.

There's more info out there about metagaming, so if you want more info, check out Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metagaming

[Scientiafide]

I definitely agree with the micro transaction and skinner box aspects of the post. This game's business model is horrible, and players aren't really rewarded for playing this game at all. After some thought on the matter, I have to disagree with the counterplay argument though. The problem is that a lot of people seem to think about counterplay as, "if player a plays card x, player b counters with card y." The truth is, there are a lot of subtle decisions and plays that can be made that have a huge impact in the game; often times, it's easy for a player to play on auto-pilot, breezing right through without even realizing he/she missed out on a decision that could've changed the outcome of the match.

I often find that the main problem is that players simply haven't built a good file that gives them a chance to win most games. Often times a lot of files I encounter have sub-par SS lineups, or don't utilize the file space very well. This does not necessarily mean the players are bad; after all, file building is probably the most challenging aspect in this game.

Of course, figuring out and constructing the optimal strategies for each tribe and file type is hampered by a lot of different problems. First of all, alteil has a very small playerbase, so there aren't as many ideas floating around as in other games (and alteil is a fairly complex game). In every game I've played, it seems most players are quick to pass judgment on cards/units/strategies, which means often times there are lots of good, underrated strategies that have yet to be discovered; the fact that alteil has a small playerbase further compounds this problem. Alteil's business model makes it really difficult to make competitive files due to the difficulty of acquiring the cards you need. While I do believe the cards are generally balanced when it comes to the cards you play from your file, there's some really obvious power creep going on when it comes to the soul skills. Players who do not have access to these soul skills for their files are put at an immense disadvantage when facing those players who do.

As it stands now, I'd say you can take most tribes and file types and make a competitive file out of it. After playing the game and messing around with different cards for over 2 years, I'm now convinced that if your file's well made and you're a good player, you should have a chance to win every game you play. Granted, if you're playing someone who's equally skilled who has a file type that has an advantage over yours, they have a higher chance of winning, but it's not a predetermined event. I'd say in such instances a player would win at most around 60-65% of the time assuming both players have equal skill level and well made files. Alteil has a lot of glaring problems, but I don't think the lack of counterplay is one of them.

[DeeGee]

What SS powercreep are you talking about, particularly, sci? The best SSs in this game IMO are a set 1 EX, set 1 or 2 SS (Asuet/Distrier), and some from set 5 (sergis, Rasam, Faytis), and prior (Dub Rido). The only good ones that have come lately are the sisters (E/A), Gafc, and possibly BER, who's a variation on a theme that was originally taken up by Lapierre/Zuga.

[Scientiafide]

What SS powercreep are you talking about, particularly, sci? The best SSs in this game IMO are a set 1 EX, set 1 or 2 SS (Asuet/Distrier), and some from set 5 (sergis, Rasam, Faytis), and prior (Dub Rido). The only good ones that have come lately are the sisters (E/A), Gafc, and possibly BER, who's a variation on a theme that was originally taken up by Lapierre/Zuga.

Maybe it's not powercreep, but there's no denying there are huge differences in power in the card pool as far as SS are concerned. That's what I meant.