The Casual Christian Female Gamer

My opinions on games from my point of view as a fairly casual gamer, a Christian, and a female. YMMV.

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Dixit 2: Letdown? Some dislikes, some cards banned.

Posted by TW Crew

07 Aug 2011

Selah Fairport

(twcrew)

United States
Allen
Texas

Dixit 2 finally arrived and today we finally got to play. We decided to play only with Dixit 2 cards so we could test them out. Three of us have played 2-5 games of Dixit, and were comparing the artwork of the original to the expansion. The unanimous opinion was that Dixit had better, more useful as a storyteller, more in-depth cards than Dixit 2.

Of the first set, many cards were commented on as "Oh I'd love to have that as a print or screensaver" and only one got thrown out of play as being offensive or creepy based on a religious point of view.

I only heard one card get the "I want this to keep!" type comment today and five cards got thrown out for offensive, creepy, or unplayable.

I'm hoping Dixit Odyssey takes us back to the joy and wonderment of Dixit's original artwork.

For those considering skipping Dixit to just order Dixit 2, please reconsider. I think the art in Dixit is better for newbies playing this game, and think Dixit 2 really will be better when mixed in with Dixit.

EDIT: Here's the pictures that have gone over poorly:

[geekurl= http://boardgamegeek.com/image/696476/dixit-2?size=original]Dixit Art Pictures[/geekurl]

Sorry don't know how to do in-line image links.
Ok here's a mega grid of the Dixit 1 and 2 cards.

The ones we pulled from play at player(s) request:
Dixit 1:
Line 4 #2 "Demon Dice"

Dixit 2:
Line 7 #12 "White Robe Eye"
Line 8 #13 "Blood Chalice"
Line 9 #3 "Huge Red Eye"
Line 10 #7 "Bishop Bird"

Ones we all hated as storyteller, and these usually ended up being trashed when no other cards matched the target story.
Dixit 1:
Line 4 #13 "Yellow Hairband"

Dixit 2:
Line 7 #8 "Nuclear Power Plant"
Line 8 #2 "Earth-ish"
Line 8 #9 "Spit-Fire"
Line 10 #1 "Donkey Dude"

15 Comments

Mon Aug 8, 2011 2:02 am

Post Comment

Jonathan

(jmw23)

United States
Maitland
Florida

Offensive and/or creepy? Do tell!

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 2:53 am
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Selah Fairport

(twcrew)

United States
Allen
Texas

Two of my friends have sexual abuse histories (one from clergy/religious figures) and a few of the Dixit 2 cards have cloaked figures or creepy watchful eyes (or both like a white cloaked figure with a big eyeball coming out of the chest). There is also one card of a black bird wearing a Catholic looking clergy robe holding what appears to be a Rosary.

Most people won't notice these cards, some sexual abuse survivors may be bothered by some of the "evil" or "menacing" or "intense" eyes or people in this deck, and then there are the very few who fall into the category my friends are in.

I'm actually impressed that so few of the Dixit cards have a dark, depressive, or menacing vibe. But I still feel like deck 2 was a weaker collection of art than deck 1.

Edited Mon Aug 8, 2011 4:49 am
Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 4:16 am
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Chris Stanton

(Toc13)

England

Why the objection to the Blood Chalice?
The 'Bird-Clergy' looks like a plague doctor of the 1600s to me....but I can understand it triggering bad memories for your friends.

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 8:36 am
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Eric Walkingshaw

(walkie)

United States
Corvallis
Oregon

The lists of cards your group hates strike me as extremely idiosyncratic. Our group also has a few cards from each deck that we "hate" in a similar sense, because they are hard to make a good clue about and never seem to fit with anybody else's clue. But I think the intersection with your list is exactly zero. I'd guess most groups are this way, making it difficult to really give advice as to which set would be better for another group.

That said, the original Dixit comes with pieces and a board, so that sort of seems like the better starter set by default, doesn't it? I think both are fantastic, by the way, and that playing with both of them together is the best way to play!

Just to make sure this comment isn't taken the wrong way: I certainly respect your group's decision to take out cards that make people uncomfortable for whatever reason. I'm just commenting here on whether this advice is applicable to groups beyond your own.

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 10:06 am
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Moritz Eggert

(Eggo)

Germany
Munich/Germany
Unspecified

The Bible has a lot of creepy imagery (if not in pictures than in words, depending on the edition) and endless descriptions of demonic activity, mass murder, wars, torture and rape. You don't read that as well then?

Not that you misunderstand me - I can totally understand if players remove cards because they remind them of horrible things of their personal history, nothing wrong with that. But I find it strange to constantly go through things like games, books etc. and filter out (remove) everything I don't like or appraise, especially if it's about pure fantasy things like demons and monsters. There are many churches which have loads of demons (gargoyles), there are church windows and altars which have scenes of hell on them and still these are places of worship, not of satanic shenanigans. Playing a game that involves demons as an archetype doesn't mean one worships them - as much as praying to the cross doesn't mean I approve torture.
I personally think it is a good thing to be against evil in the world, but to do that we have to be aware of it, we can't pretend "it's not there".

And the dixit cards are clearly only as "evil" as one interprets them. Some pictures are perceived creepy by one person and totally harmless by another person. It's a bit like a Rorschach test - it's all about your own perception of the world.
"Honi soit qui mal y pense" fits it quite well, I think...

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 11:32 am
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I suck at Bingo .... but I don't mind

(KrisVerbeeck)

Belgium
Mol

First of all I agree with taking cards out to suit the group better.
dixit is one of the few games you can actually do that without "unbalancing" it and making it less enjoyable. Dixit has to be just plain fun.

The reason why you have a few comments on your article probably is the name of the article.

Allthough you write a well founded article we, other boardgamelovers, tend to disagree. Dixit two is as good as the original. If I were to show dixit 2 first to my friends and then the original I'm pretty sure they would love the cards of the first one I showed better. The first time you see Dixit you think the art is highly unusual. If next versions, expansions have similar art. well it becomes less unusual.

MMM this actually wants me to show the game to someone with an arts degree and give points to the cards

I could tally the points up... But it wouldn't mean a thing. Art is personal.

Anyway good job on the article and I hope you enjoy your stay on the geek.

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 12:57 pm
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Ryan Twombly

(rtwombly)

United States

North Carolina

Eggo wrote:

There are many churches which have loads of demons (gargoyles), there are church windows and altars which have scenes of hell on them and still these are places of worship, not of satanic shenanigans.

Common logical fallacy #13474: All Christians believe the same things and approve what other Christians do.

The OP disclosed the personal, nuanced motivations of those in her playing group, and you still felt it was worth jabbing a strawman?

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 3:12 pm
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Bobsled Seven

(stjase)

United States
Duluth
Georgia

True enough. Christians are an extremely diverse group.

But any post with the phrase 'satanic shenanigans' has value.

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 3:18 pm
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¡dn ʇǝƃ ʇ,uɐɔ ı puɐ uǝllɐɟ ǝʌ,ı

(MABBY)

Canada
Calgary
Alberta

There are 10 kinds of people who understand binary: Those who do, and those who don't.

I agree with you that the original deck has better images for stories.
What we've done is remove the cards from the original deck that we couldn't ever come up with good (or original) "stories" about, and replaced them with 12 random cards from Dixit 2.
Then, after we played 3 games with those, we chose 12 other cards (some of them were from Dixit 2, but not many) and replaced those with 12 more from the unseen pack of Dixit 2.

I still haven't worked my way through the entire expansion deck yet, but it's been a good way to keep the replayability of Dixit high, and to draw out the excitement of seeing new crds for the first time.

I also think that I'm going to have to get Odyessy, when it becomes available to me.

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 4:35 pm
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Selah Fairport

(twcrew)

United States
Allen
Texas

Eggo wrote:

Yes I do, but I don't buy art depicting those moments and I don't frame those quotes around my house. I also don't want to sit down to a game with those images when people I'm playing with (or even myself) aren't in the mood or aren't expecting to be faced with them.

The way I see it is like a movie. If I'm going to choose to sit through a bloody horror movie, that's my choice. I can mentally prepare myself ahead of time. If I go to see a light-hearted comedy, I do not have that preparation and may not appreciate a bloody horror scene within the comedy.

I'm also skewed in my perspective because I'm a therapist and understand that a large percentage of the population has traumatic baggage. I'd like for them to know, and prepare for, and have informed consent that either a light-hearted game is being used or a heavy, possibly triggering game is up ahead.

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 5:09 pm
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Selah Fairport

(twcrew)

United States
Allen
Texas

walkie wrote:

I certainly respect your group's decision to take out cards that make people uncomfortable for whatever reason. I'm just commenting here on whether this advice is applicable to groups beyond your own.

Which is why I post this as a blog instead of an official "review" on the site. No matter the reviewer, we each have different filters which affect how we see a game.

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 5:15 pm
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Selah Fairport

(twcrew)

United States
Allen
Texas

That's a very interesting way of blending the decks to avoid too much change at once for a group that is already used to one Dixit set. I have already looked at images for Dixit 3 and so far they seem quirky and have a lot of details (allowing cards to have a lot of different areas to focus on for clues). I have it on pre-order and hope they ship soon!

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 5:19 pm
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Dan C

(jedimusic)

United States

Florida

Valuable info and thanks for sharing the personal blog. I can't stand the games that you go out and buy, but then has the odd witch/demon/etc. card that your group is going to cringe at, but that you can't take out without unbalancing the game (I got a new artscow deck for Kingsburg for example). I think there are more folks out there that would like to avoid supernatural imagery in games than some realize.

I don't have Dixit yet, but I would likely remove those same cards for the same reasons.

Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 7:16 pm
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Rick

(RiffRaff14)

United States
Burnsville
Minnesota

I had to read the post after seeing the title. Thank you for going into more detail with your first reply. After seeing the original blog post I could only agree with the "Earth-ish" and "Spit-Fire" being trashed. There's just not enough going on in those images. But the rest confused me until I read the personal reasons why those were removed. That makes much more sense now and never would have considered that before.

Personally, the Crow Priest is one of my favorite cards. And "donkey dude" is really good opportunity to get in any political commentary in your clue.

You didn't use the "And in the darkness..." for the "Yellow Hairband"?

(Link for reference: http://boardgamegeek.com/video/716/dixit/video-review-dixit 4:30 minute mark)

Posted Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:14 pm
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Jim Nightshade

(Jim Nightshade)

crow priest freaks me out too, & I'm not even a little theistic.

Hair band?!?! This looks like a wedding ring + lock of hair to us, so gets a lot of play there with 'commitments', etc.

I love the meteor shower (back to school!) as well as the donkey w/ mask. In fact, donkey with mask is my favorite card--it's hard for me to think of a clue that wouldn't work for him.

I always thought what you call 'earth-ish' was a little gross too, but most of the people I play with love it--it was used as 'the essence of womanhood' in a recent game, much to the delight of many playing. I was confused.

I can't imagine playing with less than the full deck, but that's b/c I need as much variation as possible to not get bored. Plus, what will I put for disturbing answers when disturbing or intense clues are given?

I guess y'all just don't give disturbing or intense clues?

Our favorite type of clue is "what I think of person x--where x is a person sitting at the table. this makes the game much more intimate and interesting. Clues like 'my best qualities', or 'me when I'm in deepest anger' are also fun, giving people a chance to show how they view you.

Posted Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:06 am
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The Casual Christian Female Gamer

Dixit 2: Letdown? Some dislikes, some cards banned.

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