Video games as board games.

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

Recently there's been a load of vidya being adapted to board game. Steamforged Game' Dark Souls was a notorious fuck up by both being incredibly delayed and not that great of a game. The Resident Evil 2 game was seemingly more successful, Horizon: Zero Dawn's Kickstarter was successful though being made by the same company as Dark Souls doesn't bode well.

Now the Bloodborne kickstarter was funded in under 20 minutes and raised over $1.5m in the first 24 hours and Steamforged recently acquired the rights to make a Devil May Cry board game and there's also a Metal Gear Solid game in the works.

Is it just that people like combining social activites with game franchises they like? Is it just to own miniatures of things from those franchises? Why in the fuck would you make a Devil May Cry board game when there are far more suitable IPs out there? Thoughts? Opinions? Do you like board games based on video games? Do you not see the point?

 

[CaitSeith]

Define "more suitable". What dictates the grade of suitability? There is such a variety of board games with different themes and rule sets that I don't see what makes an IP unsuitable to even try.

 

[CritialGaming]

Board games from Video games fail when they try to adapt the video game mechanics to a tabletop setting. The best adaptations are games that just take the themes from the IP and create a new game with a similar theme around it.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

Define "more suitable". What dictates the grade of suitability? There is such a variety of board games with different themes and rule sets that I don't see what makes an IP unsuitable to even try.

DMC is about chaining combos, KUH-RAZEE moves and fast, fluid combat. I just can't see it translating well into board game while maintaining the pace of the video game.

The other games I mentioned all have a fairly methodical pace to them. Even Bloodborne to an extent despite having a fast paced combat system is more about learning enemy moves and striking at the appropriate moment.

 

[CritialGaming]

Define "more suitable". What dictates the grade of suitability? There is such a variety of board games with different themes and rule sets that I don't see what makes an IP unsuitable to even try.

DMC is about chaining combos, KUH-RAZEE moves and fast, fluid combat. I just can't see it translating well into board game while maintaining the pace of the video game.

The other games I mentioned all have a fairly methodical pace to them. Even Bloodborne to an extent despite having a fast paced combat system is more about learning enemy moves and striking at the appropriate moment.

DMC as a board game would probably be best suited to something card based. Where you have a hand of various cards that you would play in a certain order to string together the best possible combo you could. Perhaps it could be a neat idea as a Deck-Building game, as you bought and swapped out cards to try and make sure your "hand" of cards has the best possible options to chain together the best combo.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Is it just that people like combining social activites with game franchises they like? Is it just to own miniatures of things from those franchises? Why in the fuck would you make a Devil May Cry board game when there are far more suitable IPs out there? Thoughts? Opinions? Do you like board games based on video games? Do you not see the point?

You always have to be careful with any kind of game that is licensed. Just like movie licensed video games are usually poor, same with licensed board games (whether they're licensed off video games or something else). You buy a game (video or board) based on the game system, not the license. With that said, you can make a good board game out of anything with good game design. I knew the Dark Souls board game wasn't going to work because the RNG of dice rolls is the opposite of what a Souls game is about. There's tons of board games with combat that doesn't use dice rolls.

You can make a DMC board game with cards that combo together. Sentinels of the Multiverse is about comboing cards together for example. CriticalGaming mentioned DMC could be a deck-builder, which is a sound idea. But just making a bunch of cool miniatures with a hackneyed combat system doesn't make for a good game.

 

[Marik2]

I saw a board game for bloodborne at barnes and nobles.

 

[SupahEwok]

Is it just that people like combining social activites with game franchises they like? Is it just to own miniatures of things from those franchises? Why in the fuck would you make a Devil May Cry board game when there are far more suitable IPs out there? Thoughts? Opinions? Do you like board games based on video games? Do you not see the point?

No, it's just that most IP's get exploited to hell and back to squeeze out every last dime possible, and board games have regained attention in the last decade as a viable market (a viability that I think is generally over-rated, but anyways). There were all sorts of board game adaptations of whatever people could get their hands on back in the 80's or 90's too.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

I saw a board game for bloodborne at barnes and nobles.

That'll be the card game that got released a few years back. Its pretty good.

Define "more suitable". What dictates the grade of suitability? There is such a variety of board games with different themes and rule sets that I don't see what makes an IP unsuitable to even try.

DMC is about chaining combos, KUH-RAZEE moves and fast, fluid combat. I just can't see it translating well into board game while maintaining the pace of the video game.

The other games I mentioned all have a fairly methodical pace to them. Even Bloodborne to an extent despite having a fast paced combat system is more about learning enemy moves and striking at the appropriate moment.

DMC as a board game would probably be best suited to something card based. Where you have a hand of various cards that you would play in a certain order to string together the best possible combo you could. Perhaps it could be a neat idea as a Deck-Building game, as you bought and swapped out cards to try and make sure your "hand" of cards has the best possible options to chain together the best combo.

Your probably right but Steamforged are a company that rely on miniatures because that's what makes fat stacks of cash on Kickstarter. I guess they might try to combine both but I feel like it would be kind of weird. I'm fully expecting dice based combat though since all their other games have been.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Board games from Video games fail when they try to adapt the video game mechanics to a tabletop setting. The best adaptations are games that just take the themes from the IP and create a new game with a similar theme around it.

Second that. Unless you have a video game which is set up like a board game, and you almost certainly don't unless it was a video game version of a board game to begin with.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Board games from Video games fail when they try to adapt the video game mechanics to a tabletop setting. The best adaptations are games that just take the themes from the IP and create a new game with a similar theme around it.

Ehhhh....Depends.

I still find the fan-made Persona 5 board game really nifty, and it uses quite a lot of the game's mechanics (hitting weakspots for some kind of bonus, social links being really useful, having a limited number of days to beat the boss, etc), while discarding the ones that wouldn't make for a good board game experience.

It really needs to be judged on the basis of which kinds of mechanics will carry over well for the intended experience.

 

[Lufia Erim]

I lack imagination, therefore i can't play board games.

Also fuck remembering all the mechanics and rules.

 

[Marik2]

I lack imagination, therefore i can't play board games.

Also fuck remembering all the mechanics and rules.

thats why i cant get into d&d

 

[Richard Kain]

Okay, how about a board, that IS a video game? What if you had coffee-table, that had a screen built into it, say under a sheet of plexi-glass. And it was set up to run a video game, that basically served as a board game. Players would download an app for their smartphones to store data for their characters, and then connect to the table to actually play the game with friends who had done the same.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

In the last decade distance has helped my family get back into board games as a pastime when we get together, particularly after buying several good ones during a visit to the US. A hearty recommendation for Citadels, though the more (in)famous Munchkin isn't as popular with them as I had hoped.

Board games based on video games however, would be a very niche market. Most are too complex to be brought across in any but the most general of terms. The Civilization board game was one of the most complex and lengthy games I've ever seen... and I was bored by it when I tried it. Perhaps strategy games such as Warcraft might have a better time. And hey, I might enjoy something that simulates Mario Party with a mishmash of more traditional 'minigames' such as Pictionary or charades (not the GBA one though).

I did once have thoughts about a Shin Megami Tensei board game that follows the general outline of the original game or Devil Survivor. All players are demon tamers wandering the usual post-apocalypse Tokyo trying to recruit/fuse better demons and cooperate to complete various missions that end with a chaos or law outcome/rewards chosen by the players who help complete it. Then, after a certain number of missions get completed there's an alignment lock and players divide up into competitive teams- I really like the idea of a game where players begin by cooperating as one, but eventually turn on each other.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

In the last decade distance has helped my family get back into board games as a pastime when we get together, particularly after buying several good ones during a visit to the US. A hearty recommendation for Citadels, though the more (in)famous Munchkin isn't as popular with them as I had hoped.

Board games based on video games however, would be a very niche market. Most are too complex to be brought across in any but the most general of terms. The Civilization board game was one of the most complex and lengthy games I've ever seen... and I was bored by it when I tried it. Perhaps strategy games such as Warcraft might have a better time. And hey, I might enjoy something that simulates Mario Party with a mishmash of more traditional 'minigames' such as Pictionary or charades (not the GBA one though).

I did once have thoughts about a Shin Megami Tensei board game that follows the general outline of the original game or Devil Survivor. All players are demon tamers wandering the usual post-apocalypse Tokyo trying to recruit/fuse better demons and cooperate to complete various missions that end with a chaos or law outcome/rewards chosen by the players who help complete it. Then, after a certain number of missions get completed there's an alignment lock and players divide up into competitive teams- I really like the idea of a game where players begin by cooperating as one, but eventually turn on each other.

In fairness to your family, Munchkin is a pretty bad game. Video games are not too complex to be adapted into board games, they are usually far too simplistic. The average board game has far more depth and complexity than the average video game and it's not even close. Hell, video games can't even do money as a resource properly. Whereas if you play even some staple board game like Puerto Rico without any money making strategy, you ain't going to win that.