| bloodiris |
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I genuinely empathize with people who don't want to see their preferred system have a subsequent edition that moves it in-line with a system they do not enjoy. (It almost happened to me with PF2, but the playtest solved almost all my problems.)
But you have to understand, there are a lot of Starfinder players who aren't playing Starfinder because the system is keeping them at bay. To those people, this news is like manna from heaven. I personally enjoyed Starfinder 1e, having come fresh from PF1 which I also enjoyed. However I was unable to continue playing unless I was willing to handhold everyone I game with through it, and maybe even bribe them with money. Then I hopped into PF2 and now I wouldn't even want to go back to SF1 because of how much more I enjoy the PF2 system.
You may feel that this is PF2 players taking your game from you, but to our group, SF1 players trying to keep the rules as-is are akin to squatters keeping a fantastic game from reaching its potential.
I don't think the OP wants to gatekeep, but to say that SF players must accept it becoming a clone of PF (but set in space) in order to allow other players to play the system is disingenuous, to say the least.
I play both systems and I like both systems and this change is not a good thing for Starfinder. Pathfinder players are not going to wholesale invest in SF content because it's now become "PF2e in Space". If they loved Sci-Fi enough to care, then they would already be enjoying some space-based system out there; there are many, and most of them are not particularly complicated.
I'm sure some groups will pick up a book here or there to add some spice, but fantasy players like *fantasy* worlds and will spend most - if not all - of their time in PF, not SF. None of my PF groups are even slightly interested in this change.
To try and cater to a fantasy market with a sci-fi system is marketing suicide.
As for my personal opinion, SF as it stands is overly complicated - I like that, but I know it doesn't suit many - and they should definitely make the system more accommodating in some way. Hell, I don't even really object to the 3-action system being introduced, but they could have accomplished these things without turning it into a PF clone. This is lazy design.
I will no longer be investing in SF or suggesting SF to any of my groups or friends, and I will be dropping it entirely. Since I was the primary advocate amongst my gaming circles, it will see no joy on our discord server and live groups.
I hope the people who are excited about these changes get what they're expecting and can have fun with the system. Then maybe it won't fade into obscurity.