Woodinville, WA
Quoted from soren:Hmmm. I am not so sure. And that is because I see video mode in a larger perspective. What does it bring to the gameplay. Does it work well in the flow and for the time it takes to play and how difficult it is to understand. How does it work strategically for points.
STTNG video mode works a bit like IJ. With the latter being random. And considerably more difficult. And the IJ one does not even have the bombs.
I still stand on the STTNG one suffers mainly for being too easily restartable. To me that is death to a video mode element because video mode is safe points.
I think I agree with what you are saying overall, with regard to the role of video modes and the problem when they are too easy to restart.
In the case of STTNG specifically, if I had a magic wand, I would definitely wave it to make video mode randomized. You still have access to the sure thing points, but if you want a higher skill, higher risk/reward path, you'd play the game... which I would try to calibrate accordingly. In home use, having that video mode be randomized would be a real blessing because it might be fun again, instead of a chore.
I am sure it's tough to balance the needs of tourney and home players, they are pretty much opposite in some ways!
(FWIW the best video mode I have ever played is in The Shadow. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but it's actually fun. The control inputs feel good, there's a little forgiveness where you can graze a falling phurba and not die, there's no pattern to memorize, difficulty gradually increases, and the added aspect of pulling the trigger to clear the screen for a moment adds a genuinely interesting tactical choice.)
