I think that the variety of themes and styles is part of the appeal for me. The occasional in-joke like Sue isnt too bad and there hasnt been much else that has jumped out at me as being terribly out of place (Hamelin perhaps).ennui wrote:This model (Sue) is an example of what's irking me right now about Malifaux.
I feel like the entire range is slowly becoming some dude's "oh it'd be so cool if there was a game with THIS in it! lol". Where I think it'd be cool if everyone once in a while there was a "joke" or special edition model, it seems like the entire catalogue is full of inside jokes or weird that don't mesh either rules or style-wise . That, and the paper-rock-scissors of certain masters make it hard to take the game seriously. I know you're not supposed to take the game "seriously," but there you go.
There is a definite imbalance between the masters, especially the ones from the second book compared to the first. (The Dreamer for example surpasses most of the characters in book 1 and is a pain to deal with ). I think this is down to Wyrd being new at this whole game design thing more than anything else.
As has been said before, you definitely need to play to your strengths in Malifaux, which is something else I like about the game. The differences in play style help make the game fun and stop it from being just another line up your models and shoot kind of game. Between that and the card mechanics in place of dice, I just cant help but love the game and I wish they would do an RPG version. THAT would be cool.
And yeah, dont take it seriously.