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Video Games: A (Sonic 3D) Blast From The Past


KiDisaster

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Good gawd, it's 409 and very possible that I've wrapped this campaign into a goddamn bow. Judea is still going strong, and actually owns quite a bit of the Arabian Peninsula as my satellite. During the latest spasmic outburst of internal strife between Persia and Sassanid Persia an independent state popped up in between the Sassanids and myself. They were some kind of tribute state to the Sassanid's and declared war on Armenia, my ally. I joined the conflict expecting the climactic battle with all of Persia, but they declined to get involved. So I crushed the tiny state and made them my puppet. Now, about 6 turns later after I've been giving them 10000 talents a turn their little province has 3 full stacks of armies camped around the city.

They won't stop a Persian invasion, but they'll blunt it.

Meanwhile I've secured the islands off the eastern coast of Spain. Can't remember what they're called, but I've rebuilt them and have an armada patrolling the waters. I'm looking for an excuse to move on Syracuse (controlled by Italia) so that all of the Mediterranean will be mine.

Oh, and the Western Roman Empire is still kicking! Pretty strong too. They control about 3 quarters of Spain, a bit of Gaul, most of Italy, and even still hold Mediolanaum. And Stilichio is still the Emperor! I'm pouring money into his coffers as well and he just crushed the Ostrogoths in the field to retake Ravenna.

 

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Finally went back Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, jumped right back to my save halfway through mission 9 and finished that thing; took three hours to finish it off. Now I'm at mission 10 and it looks even worse, but I would like to be able to put this game in my 'beaten' pile

 

Still one of my favourite games of the last few years. Went back to try to do some of the tougher missions on the hardest difficulty level and ha ha nope.

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I'm really impressed with how well balanced everything seems to be in this game.  And on an aside I never realized the original Elite goes back to the 80's (I was telling my friend who turned me onto it that it seemed like a weird name for the game, and he clued me in).  Really surprised I never came across it as a kid during my Commodore 64 days.  Maybe because it wasn't as popular in the US?  But anyway, I think I would have loved the original back in the day.

 

Elite I liken to either Metropolis or The Jazz Singer in terms of their importance to cinema: Elite may be the biggest quantum leap forward gaming has ever taken, or ever will take. The first proper 3D game (as in it allowed you move around properly in 3D space, not just around a very basic maze which looked 3D but wasn't), the first proper open-world game, the first space combat simulator, the first game that really let you set the parameters of what you wanted to do and fulfil that. It's mind-boggling they fitted it into 32K (!) of the original BBC Micro version of the game. Very few other games that are 33 years old are as playable, even if of course it is limited by modern standards.

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Started playing the Battlestar Galactica strategy game Deadlock. It's really, really good! I was surprised as I was pretty down on the Battlefleet Gothic strategy game from last year which was similar, but Deadlock is much better. It takes a lot of cues from XCOM as well as channelling a turn-based Homeworld approach (including the third axis!).

There are a few problems. The fleet cap feels too small. It feels a bit pointless building larger ships as they turn into massive targets and get obliterated too easily (in a BSG game there is no point to building Battlestars, which feels wrong). Unfortunately I think I started playing just after a patch nerfed the Adamant escort carriers, previously reportedly the most powerful ship in the game. Now there's no point building them, they are destroyed within seconds of the battle starting. It's actually more worthwhile now building Manticore gunships and using the shipyard's Vipers. Vipers are really powerful. Once you destroy enemy Raider squadrons, they can take down quite powerful warships by themselves.

The best bit is playing the battles in turn-based mode but then after the battle is over you can watch the battle in real time and they do a fantastic job of nailing the CGI battle choreography from the TV show, complete with familiar camera angles.

Overall, very impressive, but it's a bit cheesy that every second character in the campaign is an ancestor of a BSG character.

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On 10/13/2017 at 9:36 PM, Werthead said:

Elite I liken to either Metropolis or The Jazz Singer in terms of their importance to cinema: Elite may be the biggest quantum leap forward gaming has ever taken, or ever will take. The first proper 3D game (as in it allowed you move around properly in 3D space, not just around a very basic maze which looked 3D but wasn't), the first proper open-world game, the first space combat simulator, the first game that really let you set the parameters of what you wanted to do and fulfil that. It's mind-boggling they fitted it into 32K (!) of the original BBC Micro version of the game. Very few other games that are 33 years old are as playable, even if of course it is limited by modern standards.

Yeah I had no idea it was so groundbreaking until I read up on the series.  Disappointed I didn't catch it in the beginning... but ce'st la vie.

So I'm about halfway to outfitting my Cobra3 the way I want.  Took on my first mining mission yesterday during a long session (kids are gone for the weekend)... and I'm embarrassed it took me about 4 hours to figure out I was going about it all wrong.  Once I figured out a much more time-efficient strategy it went rather quickly.  Pirates kept coming after me (even though I had nothing of value in my cargo hold).... but with the help of the authorities we made light work of them.  I don't like the federation security forces poking their noses in all the time to "save" me (and scanning my ship)... I'm assuming the independent systems don't have that, or at worst the anarchy ones.  Contemplating a move to a less regulated section of the galaxy when I'm ready. 

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Is anybody else getting the South Park sequel tomorrow? I'm not a big fan of the show, I've seen the odd episode here and there, but I absolutely loved the first one.

And what I've heard about the way they retcon your gender sounds absolutely golden. Sure, Matt and Trey are allegedly some libertarian dumbasses, but they have the occasional hilarious idea.

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58 minutes ago, WinterFox said:

Is anybody else getting the South Park sequel tomorrow? I'm not a big fan of the show, I've seen the odd episode here and there, but I absolutely loved the first one.

And what I've heard about the way they retcon your gender sounds absolutely golden. Sure, Matt and Trey are allegedly some libertarian dumbasses, but they have the occasional hilarious idea.

I would but I'm very behind on the show. I enjoyed Stick of Truth because it was hilarious, not for the gameplay. It was way too easy and simplistic for my tastes. I do really want to play this one, but I may as well wait for a sale and to catch up on the show. I understand they recently did an episode that set's up the new game so you may want to watch that at least before playing if you haven't.

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The battle video uploader for BSG Deadlock is pretty cool. In this video two Manticore-class gunships and the Jupiter-class battlestar Athena, aided by four Viper squadrons, take on three Cylon Nemesis-class light cruisers.

The video is pretty good for the way it replicates the CG camera from the show itself. Pretty smart stuff.

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1 hour ago, RumHam said:

I would but I'm very behind on the show. I enjoyed Stick of Truth because it was hilarious, not for the gameplay. It was way too easy and simplistic for my tastes. I do really want to play this one, but I may as well wait for a sale and to catch up on the show. I understand they recently did an episode that set's up the new game so you may want to watch that at least before playing if you haven't.

No need to watch the ep to set it up.  Boys are playing superhero and trying to sell their universe to Netflix for shows.  Some of the boys don't like how Cartman is running it so they split.  That's where the game starts I believe.

Can't wait for it.  I got pretty excited last night because my PS4 suddenly downloaded the game.  I thought maybe digital pre order gave it to me early or something, but nope, I have the game buy there is a countdown timer until I can play it, the bastards, lol.

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1 hour ago, Werthead said:

The battle video uploader for BSG Deadlock is pretty cool. In this video two Manticore-class gunships and the Jupiter-class battlestar Athena, aided by four Viper squadrons, take on three Cylon Nemesis-class light cruisers.

The video is pretty good for the way it replicates the CG camera from the show itself. Pretty smart stuff.

They totally stole that battle cam thingy from good ol' "Star Wars Empire at War", didn't they? But yeah, it looks very good, especially the Viper cam.

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43 minutes ago, Toth said:

They totally stole that battle cam thingy from good ol' "Star Wars Empire at War", didn't they? But yeah, it looks very good, especially the Viper cam.

Empire at War stole it from Homeworld: Cataclysm, which was inspired by BSG, so in a way it's come full circle :)

But the more immediate inspiration for the battle cam was the battle cam used in the BSG TV series itself, which predated Empire at War by a few years.

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I played quite a bit of Elite late last year - so my information could be a little out of date.

But... if you want to start raking in some big cash, check out the weekly "Community Goals". Land at any station and you should be able to read up on what the current week's goals are. A common one is to deliver as many units of a given commodity to a specific station. So search online for a nearby station that stocks that commodity and start ferrying it back and forth. Now, you'll be competing against ships with hundreds of tonnes of cargo capacity, so there's no chance of you achieving the top ranks of the contributors. But even the lowest tier can give rewards in the millions of credits.

Another type of goal has you on even footing with everyone else in the game, though. An "exploration" goal simply had people jumping into as many systems as possible, "honking" (doing a long range scan) and then jumping to the next. Explorers complained that the goals didn't reward actually scanning planets, so it's possible they could have changed now. But, if not, equip a system wide scanner and a fuel scoop and start jumping and honking. (You need to scan different systems, so you cant just jump back and forth between two). Getting in the top tiers can easily reward you 10-20m credits. And you're on an even footing with players flying 200m credit ships.

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I never played the original Elite, but I did play Frontier: Elite 2.  The wiki is slightly wrong; it says that if you keep zooming out, you see other galaxies surrounding the Milky Way (albeit identical to it) but there's no way of getting to any of them.  There was a cheat in the UK version of the game called the Wormhole bug that let you jump massive distances (every 655 ly) in one hyperspace jump due to a maths error in the code.  I used this bug to travel to one of the adjacent galaxies, but it was identical to the Milky Way.  I like to think of it as a parallel galaxy.

Fronter also came with a book containing short stories, one of which was about an android who owned a space station in an Imperial system who planned to fit it with hyperspace engines and go exploring circa 3250.  I hung about the system in that year in the hope something would change, but nothing did.

 

However - in Elite: Dangerous they remembered that story, and that space station is now sitting thousands of light years away near the galactic core, and was found by players.  Search out Colonia.  The station is called Jacques.  When I get my Asp I plan to travel there and then head off exploring further out.

 

Meanwhile I'm about 460 ly 'south' from the Imperial heart in my Cobra hunting for previously unexplored systems, heading for the rim.  Not found any yet, but I should make money from 'dinging' the systems already discovered.  I should have lightened my ship by unloading its weapons and defensive systems, but oh well.  Refuelling is a chore, so I try ad refuel a little in each system with a suitable star rather than get bored filling the whole tank.

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I got tricked into doing a recon SRV mission against a federation outpost yesterday (the mission never said it was against a federation outpost... just an outpost).  Safe to say I was blown to bits by a Python that came out of nowhere once I was discovered.  I *DID* manage to make it back to my ship in the SRV, dodging fire and flopping end over end in the low G the entire way.  Once I entered my Cobra though it was game over.  At first I just tried to run for it, which I quickly realized was futile.  Then I tried to put up a fight, which also turned out to be futile.  Besides, these guys currently show up to help me fight off pirates while I'm mining... I wasn't exactly looking to piss them off.

Abandoned that mission.  Would've made for a good Youtube video.

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I had no clue that The Fractured But Whole had released.  I was at Target today and saw it there

Loved Stick of Truth, will have to grab this one as well.  I really have lost touch with recent releases when I don't even know what's coming down the pike.

 

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A massive open-world SF/fantasy hybrid game called Elex was just released. Apparently it's fairly janky but surprisingly good.

It's from the makers of Gothic and Risen, of which I know we have a few fans on the board.

The Witcher 3 and all its DLC is also on a special offer until the weekend on Steam and GoG.

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28 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Argh. EA has shuttered Visceral Studios and is overhauling its staunchly singleplayer Star Wars game, presumably to add bullshit like loot boxes and multiplayer bullshit. Oh well.

God... EA's announcement oozes with corporate bullshit.  They even use the hot buzzword "pivot"  :stillsick: 

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53 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Argh. EA has shuttered Visceral Studios and is overhauling its staunchly singleplayer Star Wars game, presumably to add bullshit like loot boxes and multiplayer bullshit. Oh well.

Oooof course they fucking have. EA and the rest of the Triumvirate of Evil major publishers are diving headfirst into the lootbox fiesta. If they can't market their pseudo-gambling bullshit they aren't interested. 

Fuck lootboxes. Sick of them. 

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2 hours ago, Werthead said:

Argh. EA has shuttered Visceral Studios and is overhauling its staunchly singleplayer Star Wars game, presumably to add bullshit like loot boxes and multiplayer bullshit. Oh well.

 

1 hour ago, KiDisaster said:

Oooof course they fucking have. EA and the rest of the Triumvirate of Evil major publishers are diving headfirst into the lootbox fiesta. If they can't market their pseudo-gambling bullshit they aren't interested. 

Fuck lootboxes. Sick of them. 

Today's Star Wars news makes the future of single player look very messy.

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There are few brands in the world that can compete with Star Wars. Marvel? Disney? (It's not a coincidence all three—Star Wars, Marvel, Disney—are owned by the same company.) If there was a fictional universe with enough fandom to give a game publisher confidence it could support an expensive game aimed at players looking to experience a good story and move on, you'd think it would be Star Wars. And yet, here we are. That game is no more.

:crying: 

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