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Speaking of HoMM6-alikes, I've discovered the old Age of Wonders series. It is awesome.
The first one is pure and simple and quaint; the sequel has better graphics yet retains the satisfying 'next turn' dynamic that makes games of this kind so playable. Its combination of magic and army-building smacks of Master of Magic, one of my all time favourites.
Highly recommended if you've never played them.
You're lucky you can actually play it. Installed it, played for a bit and noticed the infamous texture pop-in problem and thought to myself: "Wasn't the latest ATi-driver update supposed to fix this?"Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
Now I've still got the texture pop-in AND the game is unplayable due to 5 seconds long freezes every one(!) second. Honestly, whoever did the QA on the game should be taken out and shot - I'm not sure how they missed such a huge problem. It's only explainable by them not having any PCs with ATi cards at all. Yes, I know it's at least partly ATi's fault - but you would have thought this issue came up at some time before the game went gold...
Ouch!
No such worries here. Did have to install the latest nVidia Beta driver, but the game runs fairly seamlessly.
World Golf Tour is a free online golf game played in a browser window but the crazy thing is this is the best golf game I've played. It costs nothing to play but if you wish to purchase items from the pro-shop you can earn credits by various different means (online surveys is one, spending real money another), but I've managed to play the game for a few days without needing to spend any money or do any surveys.
I shelled out $50 for a Tiger Woods golf game a few years ago and it was so crappy I chucked it in the "buyers remorse draw" and I have refused to buy a golf game since.
Must Not Play At Work!!! :)
I think the point is to get people to appreciate the abilities of the lower-level units. If you let people build all the dwellings right away, people will just play with the most advanced units (which is not a good strategy). Oddly enough, despite holding your hand in some ways, the game doesn't really explain some major components of it (like the skill system and unit attributes). As someone who's played Heroes 5, it's not too much of a learning curve, but I think they need to add some additional tutorials for the newbies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziggy Stardust
The gameplay differences from Heroes 5 are relatively minor, but all the other changes have been for the better. There are now weapons that level up and can be carried over to any scenario (not just the same campaign). There's a far larger variety of bonuses to choose from before each level. At level up, you're no longer forced to choose between 3 different skills; you can choose whatever you want (restricted by your level). There are fewer "gimmicky" special abilities for units, which adds to the realism. The campaign stories I've seen so far have been significantly better than the ones in the previous editions, and the cutscenes are no longer crap. I'm up to the first scenario of the second campaign (the first campaign is a glorified two-scenario tutorial), and the only real complaint I have thus far is that there's no way to speed up combat (short of simulating the fights).
I think it's my approach top the game. I want to find out for myself what's the best strategy and I want to blunder into making mistakes so I want everything available to me to make those decision. For instance, the first few game-weeks it looks as if money won't be an issue, but when creature rosters fill up, you find yourself without money pretty fast. I'm wondering whether this pushes towards a rush one of your opponents so you'll have two towns early on strategy. But I think that is the fun part of the game. Making those decisions. Trying out different things.
One thing I've learned already is that the AI players don't do diplomacy ;) After playing CIV and Shogun I wasn't expecting the AI to beeline towards my town the moment he came into view and waltzing straight in.
Okay, you chaps talking about homm is making Timmy want to play. Might have to download tmw.
Heh. Love those reviews. :up:Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziggy Stardust
Rage really isn't at all bad. The storyline is shitty, and the missions are oddly put together, but it has exactly the right amount of ARRGHWHATTHEFUCKISTHATSHOOTITSHOOTITARGH that any mindless shoot-em up should have. The action is definitely good enough. And the setting, the dead city, the wasteland, are scarily convincing.
When I want a more fulfilling storyline, I go back to Witcher 2.
So if I want a good-looking mindless shooter, this would be a candidate. I'll keep that in mind. Might be a bargain-bin contender.
I've heard good things about Hard Reset, a PC shooter. Its a little short so full price is asking to much, but greenmangaming has it for half off right now, and it activates on Steam.
If any game can survive the level of hype this is getting, its an Elder Scrolls title. :up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic6dKnv3WdU
Looks amazing :eek:
And Bethesda still hasn't listed the minimum or recommended system requirements, AFAIK.
http://www.rockstargames.com/
GTAV trailer debutes on the 2nd. I'm curious what they can bring to the table with this. With mods like Icehancer making GTAIV damn near photorealistic, the community has set a damn high bar for the next title.
Playing Battlefield 3 now. It's very pretty, and pretty fun for a shooter.
Never had you down as a shoot-em-upper Wraith ...
~
Ok, couldn't hold off on getting HoMM6.
Finished the 2 tutorial levels, and now into the heart of a campaign, playing as one of the necromancer types with ghouls and skeletons.
It's addictive. I thought the battles might turn into too much of a numbers game, just whittling down large stacks, and the side with the bigger stacks win, and while I'm sure that's true to a point, it is more interesting than that and your approach to the battle can sway it.
Pretty good :up:
I can't wait for Skyrim! I've even stopped playing WoW in advance for it - that's how much I'm looking forward to it. Morrowind is still my favorite RPG and I've a lot of fond memories of it. I hope Bethesda learn from their mistakes on Oblivion. The whole leveling system in Oblivion was very questionable. You really shouldn't be able to complete the game at level 3, or be fight peasant farmers in Glass Armor at level 50...
Recently tried Duke Nukem. Very meh. Meh.
There was some mod I got for Oblivion that Miang had told me about that fixed that issue, mostly. It (mostly) ended enemy scaling with you, and that actually made the game a lot more fun for me. I did spend a lot of my first couple levels running away, but it was just more enjoyable when I could come back later and blast the hell out of all the creatures that tormented me early on.Quote:
Originally Posted by gogobongopop
I do hope that they didn't screw up via scaling again in this one. I think they have found a better balance in the Fallout games, so that's probably an indication of how it's likely to work in Skyrim.
The video talked about easy and difficult areas to explore with some randomisation added. But it's always wait and see with these things.
Oh! And they better fix the inventory system. I've never come across such a unintuitive inventory and spell selection interface as I did in Oblivion :mad:
They did .... alter it. Not sure if they 'fixed' it. ;)
Check out the clip (top of the page) I posted for a glimpse into the game, including a brief thing about the inventory system.
Oh no no (but thanks). No previews. I don't wanna know. I've spent too much of my life over the last couple of years reading about and analysing every single proposed changed in WoW, I'm approaching Skyrim as a complete and utter ignoramus. It's more fun that way!
I thought Oblivion was excellent. I don't think I ever finished it, though.
I'm also looking forward to Skyrim.
I disliked Oblivion because I reached a point in the story where supposedly powerful demons were teleporting in and I was still learning how to cast my 'light' spell properly.
Worse, it actually kept the demons at bay somewhat.
I dusted off my NWN2 again recently, possibly my favourite RPG game. I really like how the game was written.
Wanted to take a look at Sword of the Stars 2.
After visiting the Steam forum, I think I'll wait for a month or two. According to the guys who bought it, it's missing half the content, is seriously broken in some regards and crash prone. Seems to be worse than the state MoO 3 was in.
Mellowing out with Tropico 3
So, after the debacle with the 2nd part of Sword of the Stars, I took a look at the 1st part.
Good grief. Whoever is responsible for the UI should be given a cigarette, a blindfold and then be stood against the wall.
First: The "tutorial". Which consists of a bunch of YouTube-Videos done by fans and a number of help panels.
Second: The star map. Which is 3D but you can't fly through it - your view is always centered on a planet. Couple that with star lane lines, additional lines to indicate where ships are going, ship icons, special icons and stars everywhere - and it becomes confusing very fast
Third: The research screen. Which is also in 3d. But the x-axis for the mouse is inverted here! Plus, the description for the research projects only pops into view if you zoom in quite far.
Fourth: The design screen. If you want to know what a certain ship segment does, you'll need to click on the info button and then cycle through the options. No tooltip. At least the weapons have a tooltip.
Fifth: Escape does nothing. You have to press a non-descript round button in the lower right corner for game options.
Sixth: Combat. 3D again. Centered on one ship again. With lots of buttons without description. And unimportant commands like "mass retreat" don't have a button - only available by key command like "Ctrl F1".
Gah.
From your interest in Sword 2, I thought you were one of those people who inexplicably liked the first one. They apparently exist. I found the first one to be infuriating. All the same complaints you listed. It was supposed to be a simpler, more accessible 4X game, but to me it seemed that just meant stripping away all the depth while somehow making everything left more complicated and opaque. I remember tactical combat being especially aggravating, and having to spend a lot of effort wrestling with the camera.
Naw, I was only interested because it described itself as a 4X game. The awesomeness of this launch continues by the way: First they told the guys who bought it that they accidentally pushed a beta version to Steam - and now we get some comments from developers that the launch amounted to "publish or perish". Meaning that the "beta" version isn't.
In light of our frustration with the UI, I also found one particular amusing tidbit: Kerberos (producer) had to lay off some people. Which also included the "only guy who knew anything about UI design".
Playing Dragon Age at the moment. Quite enjoying it :)
Here's a review of Rage which, while being in Russian, sums up the problems of the game:
http://www.ag.ru/reviews/rage_2011
You'll need to scroll a bit for it to become obvious.
Because everyone on this forum just so happens to be able to read Russian :p
I'm not quite sure how to respond to this example of epitome stupidity.Quote:
Originally Posted by Draco
I know it's in Russian. That's why I mentioned it. And yet, also as I mentioned, it displays the biggest problem of Rage quite clearly, despite being in Russian.
Which means that you'll be able to understand it, even if it is in Russian.
On second thought, scratch that last sentence for Draco.
Target is currently doing a buy 2 get 1 free offer on all of their console and PC games. Even brand new titles. Thats insane. Amazon is doing something similar, but as of this morning it didn't include PC titles, or nearly as many console titles :(
I finally managed to pick up a physical copy of The Witcher 2, as well of Starfox 3D, and Brent is getting a free copy of Resident Evil 3D for christmas. I almost want to go back to pick up the PS3 Ico collection and some of the Wii greatest hits titles.
Interested to know what you make of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
Quite enjoyed it so far.
You know what, you're a nasty person.Quote:
Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__.../Dumb_sign.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Draco
:haha: Noice.
So this looks like a "game" I might want to "play":
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/review...oon-review.ars
:o
""
Men of War: Red Tide for free via GreenManGaming (requires capsule program).
Anyone here getting joining the masses and getting Modern Warfare 3?
I checked out Battlefield 3 on Friday night, I must say I don't quite get the hype. I'm quite glad I didn't buy it really, I certainly would have taken it back.