White Wolf was always at its best in the Minds Eye Theatre books. Those games are not our type of games, but at least they are in fact games and fit for purpose.
One of the games my TTRPG group in college was most enthusiastic about running was Exalted. I was new to the hobby at the time so excited to play because they hyped it up so much. It started off fine. But after a handful of sessions, I was checked out. I couldn't articulate what I disliked about it so much at the time, but I think I finally found the words with, "The game is, at best, a mealy-mouthed half-assed fusion of 2D fighting game and a fanfic writing committee run by people who hate the very source materials drawn upon as inspiration." The word "fanfic" always popped up into my head when I thought about it because the "totally awesome and radical" bullshit things the party was doing and everyone was so hyped about was, in my opinion, as ridiculous as someone writing, "My OC powers up to level 99 billion and punches a hole right through Goku and then does a Fortnite dance" on top of the body. They were so enamored with the fact that they could "do anything" in the setting that every session became an arms race for who could come up with the most ridiculous shit to do and I just... got tired of it very quickly. And that was a controversial opinion.
So I'm finally glad to see someone who agrees with me that Exalted is a disappointing game.
So glad that it’s not just my impression of the 1st, 2nd & 3rd editions. They all seemed… hollow. I put it down to loss of focus, wanting to develop other (repetitive) exalts, but the core (and the lunar, dragon blooded, sidereal, infernal, etc, etc) always fell short of explaining what the game was supposed to be.
It's refreshing to see someone call out White Wolf and its cult of Community Theater Kids for what they are in gaming.
White Wolf was always at its best in the Minds Eye Theatre books. Those games are not our type of games, but at least they are in fact games and fit for purpose.
One of the games my TTRPG group in college was most enthusiastic about running was Exalted. I was new to the hobby at the time so excited to play because they hyped it up so much. It started off fine. But after a handful of sessions, I was checked out. I couldn't articulate what I disliked about it so much at the time, but I think I finally found the words with, "The game is, at best, a mealy-mouthed half-assed fusion of 2D fighting game and a fanfic writing committee run by people who hate the very source materials drawn upon as inspiration." The word "fanfic" always popped up into my head when I thought about it because the "totally awesome and radical" bullshit things the party was doing and everyone was so hyped about was, in my opinion, as ridiculous as someone writing, "My OC powers up to level 99 billion and punches a hole right through Goku and then does a Fortnite dance" on top of the body. They were so enamored with the fact that they could "do anything" in the setting that every session became an arms race for who could come up with the most ridiculous shit to do and I just... got tired of it very quickly. And that was a controversial opinion.
So I'm finally glad to see someone who agrees with me that Exalted is a disappointing game.
So glad that it’s not just my impression of the 1st, 2nd & 3rd editions. They all seemed… hollow. I put it down to loss of focus, wanting to develop other (repetitive) exalts, but the core (and the lunar, dragon blooded, sidereal, infernal, etc, etc) always fell short of explaining what the game was supposed to be.