Yugioh, Yugioh, where fore art thou going?

[Razer]

I've always liked the Yugioh cartoon series and videogames much more than I have the actual card game but something disturbing is going on. The Gameboy games have always been translations of the card game (albeit weak translations) while all other versions (except the recent PC ones) have been totally different. The PS2's DotR is a map strategy game, the GC's FK is a realtime strategy bastard child, and I don't know what the XB version will turn out to be. This isn't the problem tho. I like both of the console versions (along with the GBA's DDM game) but the latest GBA versions have been getting progressively worse...stagnant at best. Just using the most recent ones as examples I'll say this:
Worldwide Edition was fairly interesting as it followed a substory from the TV series and accurately portrayed the characters somewhat. The AI was weak but that's a staple of the series and card games in general (Only the Pokemon TCG had any AI to speak of). The fact that it has no real ending or flowing story is also a series trademark.
The Sacred Cards continued that trend and storyline and fleshed it out a bit adding the Egyptian God Cards. Again, we follow the TV series storyline so fans can get into it. Again, the AI had glaring holes and it did lack true challenge. Konami used the Capcom Streetfighter excuse of "It's always better to play aganist human competitors" but it doesn't fly at all. If that's the case then sell the game for $20.
Now I just got World Championship Tournament 2004 and it's gone so far backwards it's borderline pre-K. The story has been 100% omitted. Seriously, there is no story folks. Not a bad story or weak story, they totally didn't write one. You simply select your opponent and battle ad nauseum. Characters look to be better fleshed out (giving them stats) but the stats aren't accurate since the AI IS SO F-CKIN' CRAPPY!!! You rate someone (Tristan) as offensive because he has powerful cards but when you play him he continually throws offensive cards in defense mode or purposely clears the board of them. I've also read that the CPU can use multiple copies of One-Per-Deck cards but there is an option to remove that limitation once you reach a certain level so just assume everyone (everyone?) has reached that level except you.

I can go on but I'll sum it up by saying fans should rent this first. HARDCORE fans should rent this first. Hell, Yugioh himself should rent this game first. It is very true to the actual card game rules so if you do like the card game then it may appeal to you. If you're looking for realism and fair play tho, look to WWE or TSC.
I got my WCT2004 on Ebay for $10 (without promo cards) so that pretty much sums up the demand for it.

[Nogrick]

WCT is almost horrible. There is no card code feature on it (this allows you to put in a code on the bottom of the actual cards that gives you a game version of the card.) Which totally limits your possiblities of getting any good cards. I think they did this on purpose though, because there is supposed to be this big tournament this summer for cash prizes.

Plus Yugi keeps pissing me off with his billions of Gemini Elves and using cards at the right time. ex: I had black luster soldier on the field and 4400 life points. I had just brought yugi down to 700 life points and he only has one card in his hand. I know it has to be Summoned Skull, because I just used my Penguin soldier to return it to his hand. So I think I've won. But no. Yugi draws and plays change of heart and sacrifices my BLS to summon Summoned Skull and ruin my chances of winning. It's rediculous. And Mako is no better. He always draws like Four tornado walls and always has umi on the field. It's no use to even play the upper duelist beccause they are almost garunteed to blow you away. In the real card game, Those decks would hardly ever win, but I guess they trust in the Heart of the Cards more than me.

Now, If I had a card code option, I could get my control deck out and blow them all straight to hell. But no. Stupid stupid konami. They really just need to make Yugioh Card games and not these stupid spin offs like FK and DotR. All you need are the cards, plus it's less expensive to buy a game than to buy billions of the same cards.

[Razer]

True all the way but that's why I like DotR and FK. I am not planning on spending tons of cash on cards that will be "rotated out" (read as: "go buy more of our cards, please") just to have some cheapo cheezer drop $15 per card to make a deck that plays itself. I just wish SOMEONE would actually take the time to make a decent AI program instead of a new graphics engine. I mean, with the $25 Konami spent on Yugioh's grafs you'd think they could have invested some money into decent AI.