Video Games: Wallets Getting Steamed

[Werthead]

Unfortunately, I haven't got the time to pour into GalCiv2 in terms of doing giant maps or anything. I'm doing the campaigns as they're structured quite well (and work well in lieu of a proper tutorial mission), though the story and writing are a bit ropey. And the Dread Lord starships being orange versions of the Vorlon heavy cruisers from Babylon 5 is a bit eyebrow-raising. The map where all the stars and planets are named after Raymond E. Feist characters and locations was quite amusing as well.

How much grunt do you need in a PC to play Crusader Kings II? I have a relatively new PC, but the graphics card is at the lower end of the performance scale. It's a 1GB card, but it's not much chop in terms of the performance specs.

CK2 is not very demanding at all and it's turn-based, so it doesn't matter even if your PC chugs a bit.

So you're still working your way through Dragon Age? A few of your posts describing your experience made me think you'd be casting it aside.

I completed DA:O and have Awakenings and DA2 still to play. DA:O was sort-of okay in the end. It's not great, definitely towards the lower end of BioWare quality, but certainly entertaining for a while. After 50 hours I did just drop the remaining side-quests and powered to the end. It was too big, although I appreciate the amount of optional content in it.

[generic]

CK2 is not very demanding at all and it's turn-based, so it doesn't matter even if your PC chugs a bit.

It's not turn based but could as well be.

[Seli]

...

CK2 is not very demanding at all and it's turn-based, so it doesn't matter even if your PC chugs a bit.

...

Pausable real time with ticks, and variable speed. But nothing too demanding once the graphics card passes requirements

They also have a demo, which at this point probably runs worse than the fully patched game.

[Fez]

I was thinking about getting KoA, but when I saw this (bolded) it's rather put me off. Someone's going to have to convince me that it really isn't like Skyrim at all if I'm going to give it a try.

Well, it doesn't really feel much like Skyrim if that helps; its more like a twin separated at birth. Its a massive, single-player RPG with a fully customizable silent protagonist who gain skills in many different areas of combat and other gameplay mechanics (including blacksmithing, potionmaking, and enhancting), but you cannot level up enough to get anywhere close to mastering everything. The world is essentially a standard middle ages fantasy world, and through the game you'll follow a main plot, be able to join factions and follow plotlines for each through quests, and complete numerous sidequests.

However, KoA has a different take on a lot of this. Also, its 3rd person instead of 1st, and combat (which is 80% of these games anyway) is fun for a change, which is huge. I'd recommend checking out some gameplay videos on youtube; like

.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

It looks like the next Community Choice sale is going to be Risen 2. If you like RPGs I think this might be a good one to try out. Piranha Bytes has always made fantastic rpg gems, such as Gothics 1 and 2 (my favorite RPGs ever I think). They're open world to an extent but usually in a much smaller world. Gothic 2 came out a few years before Oblivion but it had "radiant AI" long before Oblivion, and it's actually worked.

Risen is a pirate game where you get to ultimately get your own merry crew of pirates and explore a number of pirate like islands. It is a lot of fun, I've loved playing this game over the last few months.

Of course, being a PB game it has some drawbacks. It is low budget and that shows sometimes, and the combat is pretty...odd. Once you get used to it it isn't so bad, but don't expect third person Kingdoms of Amalur stuff here. It is pretty difficult too, but if you played Gothic and were turned off by the difficulty of that game, be assured, Risen 2 is nowhere near that.

For 10 bucks I say you might find a hidden gem on this one.

[The Anti-Targ]

I enjoyed KoAR at least twice as much as Skyrim, possibly as much as four times. The narrative is a lot more structured - basically the world is divided into zones and each zone presents a semilinear story, or sometimes a few intertwined; in Skyrim, it's a lot looser and more random. Skyrim has a sort of tension where the more you try to do all the things, the less your character resembles anything that an actual reasonable character (story-wise or RP-wise or whatever) would do. KoAR, by being more structured / less extreme in its nonlinearity, is a lot better with that. That's a big deal to me, though, I gather, not to very many other people.

And the combat is actually fun. Is that even allowed in an RPG? (I say this as someone who plays almost exclusively RPGs.)

Finally: Skyrim lets giants play baseball with you. KoAR lets you play baseball with gnomes.

I thought the combat in Dragon Age 2 (using console controls) was pretty fun for a RPG, aside from the multiple hoards dropping from the sky aspect. At least the combat animations were pretty good. But not a patch on the like fo God of War of course.

[Werthead]

The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief has been picking up some good reviews. Interesting. Looks like the return of the adventure game is in full swing. Reminds me a little of the rock-hard Cruise for a Corpse from 20 years ago or so, only not quite so difficult.

[Gears of the Beast]

I was thinking of what game I should play next when I saw Fallout: New Vegas lying around in my Steam library. I felt like playing through it again but I've already done so like 4 times. *sigh* I need a new Fallout game. Dammit Bethesda, if you hadn't wasted precious time making shitty Skyrim DLC....

[Muttering Bill]

I saw that Trine 2 is on sale on PSN for $3.49. I might pick it up. I never got around to finishing the first one, but I did enjoy what I played of it.

I thought the combat in Dragon Age 2 (using console controls) was pretty fun for a RPG, aside from the multiple hoards dropping from the sky aspect. At least the combat animations were pretty good. But not a patch on the like fo God of War of course.

I've only played a little bit of KoA, but for that, I wouldn't say it's very much like Skyrim at all. Yeah, there are some similaries in it's basic structure, as Fez pointed out. But it's much more combat oriented, and 3rd person. It's more like a hack-and-slash action game done in an RPG world. (But again, keep in mind that I've only played it for maybe 2 or 3 hours.)

ETA - if you're looking for an RPG with great combat, check out Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen.

[Gears of the Beast]

Thinking of picking up some of the Civ 5 small DLC packs since they're like $1, is there any in particular that I should get?

[Procrastimancer]

I really enjoyed Kingdoms of Amalur, but after a while I had to just power through to the end because I was struggling with repetition-based boredom. Mind, it takes a while to get there thanks to being able to reset your characters skills and take an entirely different combat route. I started out a rogue, went warrior, mixed it up a bit, and finally ended the game as a pure mage (which isn't suggested if you want a challenge).

I've played Skyrim since and don't think I'd compare the two. There are similarities, sure, but I think some of those (the crafting and gathering systems and huge maps in particular) come from it having been branched off from the MMORPG the company was developing. The game I'd most compare it to is Fable on a much larger scale (I want to say that it is closer to the Fable we were supposed to get, but, fuck, I can't remember that far back and I'd probably be full of shit).

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte]

Currently playing Alan Wake. Great bargain for 2 bucks!! Although im finding the titular character annoying as fuck.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

I really enjoyed Kingdoms of Amalur, but after a while I had to just power through to the end because I was struggling with repetition-based boredom. Mind, it takes a while to get there thanks to being able to reset your characters skills and take an entirely different combat route. I started out a rogue, went warrior, mixed it up a bit, and finally ended the game as a pure mage (which isn't suggested if you want a challenge).

I've played Skyrim since and don't think I'd compare the two. There are similarities, sure, but I think some of those (the crafting and gathering systems and huge maps in particular) come from it having been branched off from the MMORPG the company was developing. The game I'd most compare it to is Fable on a much larger scale (I want to say that it is closer to the Fable we were supposed to get, but, fuck, I can't remember that far back and I'd probably be full of shit).

Haha, Fable is what I compared it to as well, and I even said upthread Amalur is what the original Fable should have been. But then your doubt made me do some checking. Here's a link to Project Ego (which is what Fable was originally called) and all its promises. In truth Amalur isn't close to what Fable promised, and looking back, I don't know how any of us could have believed the promises behind Fable, though the day that game is made (not by Lionhead obviously as they've run further away from this in ever iteration of the franchise) it will be phenomenal.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/03/25/in-depth-with-project-ego

It's a fun read though, really brought all the disappointment right back up like it never left, even after 11 years.

Amalur is like Fable in style, the art direction and character work is very similar, but the improvements over Fable would be much longer playing time (instead of the 12 hours Fable actually took), and interacting with people without that stupid fart/burp/flex my muscles wheel.

Amalur is a lot of fun, definitely worth it if you like RPGs, but sadly, we must still wait for Project Ego.

[Werthead]

Homeworld and Homeworld 2 will be returning. Gearbox will be releasing both modern-PC-compatible versions of the original games, and also 'remastered' versions with higher-res textures.

Sadly, the source code for Homeworld: Cataclysm has been lost, so it's unclear if that can also be updated.

[Talleyrand]

Can anyone think of any good city building games - more in the vain of Black and White 2 than SimCity?

[Sir Thursday]

Thinking of picking up some of the Civ 5 small DLC packs since they're like $1, is there any in particular that I should get?

I quite enjoyed the New World DLC (the one with Spain and Inca), but that was mainly because I'd just come back from South America and so playing as the Inca was cool. But you might as well just get the Gold Edition Upgrade (which in the UK at least is £2.50 for the rest of today). It has all of the DLC plus the Gods and Kings expansion.

ST

[Ser Hippie]

Tomb Raider, Bioshock:Infinite, Walking Dead and Dishonored (with DLC) for $65. I love you Steam!

[JonArryn]

You got some nice gaming ahead of you then :D

I bought KoA last year but I think I've only played like 10 hours and I don't think I'll pick it up again. It was quite fun and has nice gameplay, but it just doesn't interest me I guess. The protagonist is bland (doesn't speak) and the story felt pretty dull too. I guess I need a protagonist with a personality nowadays, I just feel bored playing a blank slate. Although there are of course good games with those protagonists too.

Otherwise this year has been very slow on the gaming front for me. I've played the biggest releases but not much else. I think I've played MGS: Peace Walker, Journey, Bioshock: Infinite, God of War: Ascension, Walking Dead, Last of Us and Tomb Raider. That's it for me, and most of those games are pretty short too. I just feel like I've become tired of games in general. Often there are pretty mediocre storylines and characters, and I just feel less patient now. All this playing 5 hours to get to a character progression or story makes me a bit tired of it. Then it's just easier to turn to tv shows and movies, where you get invested quickly and gets layered characters and stories. That may just be a problem I have though.

Of course, the games I have played this year has all been pretty good, with one being a complete masterpiece and rivaling many of the better movies I've seen. You know I mean The Last of Us. But I seem to have tired on gaming in general, at least for the time being.

[Werthead]

Can anyone think of any good city building games - more in the vain of Black and White 2 than SimCity?

Never played B&W2. The Tropico series is decent, if a little lightweight (Tropico 4 is the latest one). I have Cities XL 2012 but haven't played it yet.

[Gears of the Beast]

Decided to grab Total War Shogun 2 before the Steam sale ended because it was on flash sale and I guess I should play a bit before Rome 2 comes out. Pretty good Sale, there wasn't a whole lot I really wanted to pick up going into it but I did ok. Still kinda confused as to why my inventory is filled with cards that I can sell for like $0.14...