What games are you playing now?

Dungeon Keeper, on like mission 15

Really got screwed! Was at like the 2 hour mark, had the mission done, and was basically digging out the rest of the level looking for secrets when the game crashed. My own fault, older games like that should be saved all the time. My last save was last level =[
 
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A good diplomatic system is really key for me in a strategy game. But the betrayls for no apparent reason thing strikes me as bad. Is that no apparent reason bit because you didn't see something coming, or just shoddy AI behaviour?

That is a big turn-off. When I play a Total War game, I rarely, if ever, play for the battles. They take too long and the absolute control you have over nearly every foot step of every soldier in the army is ludicrous. So it's a huge time investment with very little pay-off (for me).

I guess my biggest complaint with the Total War games is that for all their scope and scale, I never feel involved, but rather more a spectator. The feeling of "owning" my faction or country never manifests. So I guess with each Total War release I keep hoping they'll hit that magic point where it all works for me, because they keep coming so close but ultimately leaving me feeling empty and wasting my time with the game.

As Curiously touched on, the seemingly random attacks by your former allies is controlled by their mission objectives - Every nation has specific lands to conquer and keep in order to 'win' the game. This even applies to AI controlled nations and the objectives are historically based. So, no, it has nothing to do with poor foresight, or shoddy AI, just the way it was designed. Admittedly, that aspect of the game still needs work, nevertheless, it has seemed less of a problem so far in Kingdoms expansion.

You feel like a spectator when you play Total War games because you aren't about the battles - that's where the game shines and makes you feel personally responsible for every movement of your soldiers, and makes you feel as though you're on the field with them.

Ultimately, the game is about epic scale real-time battles, so if you don't play the game for those, you're really wasting your efforts. If it is empire building you crave, play a Sid Mier game, you'll probably be happier. :)
 
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You feel like a spectator when you play Total War games because you aren't about the battles - that's where the game shines and makes you feel personally responsible for every movement of your soldiers, and makes you feel as though you're on the field with them.

Ultimately, the game is about epic scale real-time battles, so if you don't play the game for those, you're really wasting your efforts. If it is empire building you crave, play a Sid Mier game, you'll probably be happier. :)

Yeah, and this is the core of my TW problem. I like a realistically modeled map of the world, rather than the fictional placements that happen in Civilization, and Total War has this. It has (reasonably) historically accurate units and I really like the named generals who gain traits and family and such. Civ doesn't have these things. Total War also sticks to one era, and doesn't span time frames (which I hate - I usually get bored in Civ once out of the medieval era).
So there's lots that I want in a game in Total War, but then it all falls apart with only trying to absorb the player via battles, which I find terribly tedious. They don't make me feel like I'm on the field with them, as even if I were a general, I can't control every step of every soldier. The lack of realism there utterly overwhelms me.

On that note, I really like the way Slitherine's games handle battles. You place your army, set formations and assign marching/engagement orders based on your choices using information gleaned from scouts. But once it starts, you've only got limited control, which models the role of the General much more realistically.

Slitherine's games however lack a certain absorbing element, I just don't feel drawn into the world.

All in all, the game I want doesn't seem to exist :p
 
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I get what you're saying Gallifrey. Well, that's why they keep making games I guess - the relentless pursuit of perfection, eh?
 
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I get what you're saying Gallifrey. Well, that's why they keep making games I guess - the relentless pursuit of perfection, eh?

If by perfection you mean profits, I agree :p
 
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Playing Two Worlds now... and loving it. I know I will get some kicks in the ribs for this... but I am enjoying it more than Gothic 3. Now keep in mind... I'm not enjoying it more than I did G1 or G2, not by a long shot.

But so far Two Worlds is more coherently designed, and basically more fun than G3. Plus I had really looonnnnggg load times in G3 which made it a pain in the a$$ to play... every time I had to reload I could go get a sandwich and eat it before the game was up again. Two Worlds loads in about 3 seconds... very nice.

I think the world looks great... and the character models are very nice (first time I've seen chest hair on a NPC in any first or third person perspective RPG that I can remember... and it looks real... not that I'm into chest hair... just an observation :) ).

One thing I loved about G1 and G2 was how the living creatures in the world would react to each other. If you were being pursued by wolves and you ran by an animal that was easier prey, the wolves would change course and attack that animal. In G3 I only saw that in the first village. As the game progressed, especially in Nordmar, animals would all be standing in big clumps acting as if they didn't even know that their natural enemies were standing right beside them. I had several occasions where there were a group of wolves, a group of bison, a group of rhinos, and a group of goblins all standing within meters of each other... and they would just all stand there until I got close... and then the would all attack ME... what? That really broke the immersion for me.

In Two Worlds I see wild animals attacking Groms or Bandits all the time. That's just one example of how the world feels more realistic to me compared to G3... then there's combat...

Combat in G3 was pretty good once you got to where you could do combos... but it never felt like I was actually hitting anything. There was just that almost silent *thud* sound for every creature you attacked. But in Two Worlds it sounds like you're in battle. Blood splatters and the creature/person recoils when you hit them... the screen freaks out when you get hit... etc. AND the fights in Two Worlds are not an exercise in "chase the foe". EVERY creature in G3 just continually backs up when you are attacking them... from Orcs to wolves to rhinos... they're all the same... it was just awful. In Two Worlds your enemies don't back away from you (unless they are archers or spellcasters which makes sense due to the fact that they are trying to stay at ranged attack distance).

So... I'm very pleased with Two Worlds so far. I know it's not perfect... but it sure is fun. I truly had to force my way through G3... but I don't feel that way with this game...

Okay... you can all start slapping me now ;)
 
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Nah, no slaps Narpet... I think enough time has passed since G3's release. Plus even the fanboys like me are realistic on this one - I haven't completely finished G3 yet for the same reasons you mentioned. :blush:

My opinion of the TW's demo, however, didn't get me exicted to buy it either. Something about it seemed to shallow. Enemies like groms or whatever were living right outside a human village, not even in cave off the beaten path. Instead of me thinking, wow that's cool! I thought, yeah right, that's stupid. :uncool:
 
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I think Two Worlds is here to stay. Ive only played the demo, but I know a cult classic when I see one. I'll get the fv in the next few months, until then I'm trying to finish up the older games on my pc.

Just playing some Fate right now at work here and there, trying not to get fired!
 
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It may be one of those games that I would like after everyone makes a bunch of cool mods for it. Kind of like Morrowind (for me that is)
 
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I started a new tour of Hexen II to keep me from developing strategies about how to defeat one boss in FFX; after that I'll replay Portals of Praevus. I do hope that I'll manage to get through the Egyptian hub in one session this time... Hexen's Egypt hub remains difficult even after n replays.
 
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Enemies like groms or whatever were living right outside a human village, not even in cave off the beaten path. Instead of me thinking, wow that's cool! I thought, yeah right, that's stupid. :uncool:

Actually, that's explained. If you run into any of a number of Brotherhood guys at various camps outside the starting town, they'll tell you how the Groms have begun infilltrating the lands and have set up various camps from which to strike. You also get a quest to steal three of their spritual totems in an attempt to scare them off.

But in a larger sense, that seems a bit picky to me. Pretty much every fantasy cRPG has lots of bugaboos living close to villages. I can't think of one that doesn't. Wouldn't make much design sense to have the player travel for a long time to get some action. Kind of counter to the idea of "fun", wouldn't you say?
 
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Yes, it is picky, I'll admit. But at least in the Gothics it seemed more natural. I dunno, something about the whole atmospere I was presented in Two Worlds seemed 'fake'. I know that's a silly term considering the gameworld is fake, but still, there were things not quite right that made it seem more like a hacknslash acrade than a serious RPG. The Grom's living too close to village was just an example I was using to try and put some sort of identifying factor on my overall impression. Perhaps another example could be the NPC's that just sort of stand around like in Morrowind, instead of doing things. Yes, I know there was a guy sawing wood, but most people were just standing around. I also didn't like the weapons stacking idea. That completely made it unrealistic to me, and again, turned it into more of an arcade type thing like Gauntlet.
I was excited about Two Worlds before it was released, but after playing the demo, I just couldn't see spending the money on it, especially since I just bought Medieval II: Kingdoms, and The Witcher is right around the corner...

I'm not trying to bash the game - I don't have enough experience with it to do so. You're explanation of the Groms makes it a little more palatable, so I may fire up the demo again and see if it's something I could get a little more enjoyment out of..

P.S. - I really did like the costumes in TWs!
 
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i have to disagree with the gothic 3 comments. nordmar was one of the most immersive gaming experience i've ever had (that made me say i can't believe this is a game). from the tall deep gorges to the mist, the lovely music. it was just awesome. gothic 1 and 2 had minimal animal interactions. basically only when one was accidently pulled into a different area. you are forgeting that all the gothics don't spawn enemies so if animals were to kill each other all the time there would be nothing left when you got there. i loved all the non-violent herds in gothic 3, i've yet to see any game do that aspect as well or at all. sure it may not be realistic for them to not be stalking each other but i'd much prefer that to static enemies that are confined to a very small area rather than the flightly animals that cover the landscape. the plains outside silden (i think that was the town) had some amazing praries and streams. video games are a visual experience for me and its usually much more rare to find a game that tries hard to immitate reality and some of the beautiful places than a game that nails gameplay mechanics but fails to be a work of art by any imagination.

the two worlds demo seemed very fake to me as well almost like i was playing a board game with individual crafted pieces but zero connectivity to them all that would make it seem natural. i also had higher hopes for it originally and the screenshots seemed more likeable than oblivion to me. even though i didn't take to the combat that would be forgivable if it had a memorable art direction, and or a good story/dialogue/voice acting.
 
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I have a serious problem with how the "weapon stacking" works in Two Worlds. Is there a plausible explanation for it? I mean, is it ever explained in the game why having more than 1 of the same weapon magically makes it stronger?
 
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I have a serious problem with how the "weapon stacking" works in Two Worlds. Is there a plausible explanation for it? I mean, is it ever explained in the game why having more than 1 of the same weapon magically makes it stronger?

Nope, it's not explained at all. It's just a developer's stab at trying to change the way loot is handled in an action RPG. Instead of having to grab all you can carry and take it back to town to sell it... like in Gothic 3 where you can carry 100 rusty short swords if you want to. Both systems are extremely unrealistic, but the stacking is fun. Let's face it... could you pick up and carry dozens of different weapons in an invisible backpack to take back to town to sell... with no limitations on how much weight you can carry (a'la Gothic 3)? Nope... you couldn't. Just like you could never magically combine two identical weapons together to make a new, better weapon. But at least TW puts a limit on how much weight you can carry (like Oblivion)... which does make sense. It's all just a matter of taste.

Even though it makes no sense whatsoever (the stacking), it is actually implemented pretty well. It's fun to try to get a weapon or armor up to a level where its really impressive. And since most armor is part of a set, you can also try to collect the entire set and upgrade them as you go.
 
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I'm not trying to bash the game - I don't have enough experience with it to do so.

No worries. :) To each his own.

I do find the dichotomy of opinions on the look of the world to be interesting. I can't put my finger on why several people think it looks "fake" and several (like me) think it looks great. Hmmm....
 
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No worries. :) To each his own.

I do find the dichotomy of opinions on the look of the world to be interesting. I can't put my finger on why several people think it looks "fake" and several (like me) think it looks great. Hmmm....


I think it looks great, unfortunately, looks aren't everything when it comes to an crpg. I think the landscapes in Gothic 3 have a more natural feel and slightly better atmosphere than TW.
 
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Finished Hexen II, redoing Portal of Praevus now. It's funny how little I remember of this addon even though I replayed it just as often as the main game... the Demoness player character and Praevus stuck, but the rest was just not memorable enough.
 
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going thru Alice again, one of my fave old classics. Love the victorian psychedelia thing - http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-3/668811/alice01.jpg

The Cheshire Cat is cool too. "When is a croquet mallet like a billy club? Whenever you want it to be"
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-3/668811/alice03.jpg

I started Resident Evil 4, but shut it down soon. It was a no-effort, sloppy console to pc port. Cant reconfigure the buttons (which have an odd default config imho), some other little nagging things were bugging me. I guess I can literally reconfigure the buttons myself using the actual gamepad's software, but it's more time then I wanted to spend on mundane tasks. Maybe there's a cfg file I can get into or something too. In any case, Sunday afternoons and evenings are made for gaming, not configuring. Couldnt even figure out how to simply shut down the game at first (have to pick "reset game"). It looks like something I'll eventually enjoy, but I decided to just slide into some comfy Alice play for the afternoon.
 
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