What Video Games Have You Been Playing #16: Retirement Party For The Active Mind

[H4run]

The story lost a lot of charm when it stopped being about Goku and his band of friends training to overcome challenges and instead become exclusively about what new transformations the Saiyans could reach.

That's around Bow IIRC, there is this Super Saiya who get long hair, another super transformation when Gohan and Trunk used earing to fused themselves, and when Goku band faced Bow is pretty much where I stop reading the comic. And that's true, the story lost its charm when it becomes uncontrollable with how the Saiya finding a new way to top the power of their ever increasingly strong enemy with a new saiya transformation.

I can't believe you called this "top-shelf storytelling"

It was Syns, Cell and Frieza story is just very satisfying. Hobb making a summary that look like it was a silly competition of power, but when you dip into the story, it has its moment.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The show definitely had issues but the game thankfully not only massively streamlines the story and cuts out the fat, it also does a much better job of giving the pre-Z backstory and characters. I remember watching the show and they'd cameo certain characters from the original series and if you hadn't seen the original, you had absolutely no clue who these people were. The game however, has lots of story tidbits to collect and many interactions with these characters through side missions that really flesh them out and puts them into place in the universe in the way that DBZ itself kind of skipped. The game even has relationship charts you can fill out through the main and side missions.

 

[H4run]

The game even has relationship charts you can fill out through the main and side missions.

Stop it Hobb you really make me want to buy that game, I'm a huge fans myself

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I'm not even a huge fan (anymore) but it's definitely a lot of fun both as a game but especially as fan-service. Before this game, I kid you not, I hadn't really thought about the series in over a decade. I was a super fan as a kid but then one day I completely lost interest and never looked back until I came across this game.

 

[H4run]

I'm not even a huge fan (anymore) but it's definitely a lot of fun both as a game but especially as fan-service. Before this game, I kid you not, I hadn't really thought about the series in over a decade. I was a super fan as a kid but then one day I completely lost interest and never looked back until I came across this game.

Also mine not anymore But as a kid I even collect DBZ cards and spend a lot of time talking about it with other kids. The only anime that I'm a fan from kid till now is Doraemon, but I guess that anime not really that popular in the West, well except Spain and Latin America are mostly watch similar anime like us.

 

[Takhisis]

America unironically does english better than the english, change my mind

Slavery, check, civil wars, check, imperialism, check, mispronouncing French, check, fascination with the Windsors, mate.

It hit me yesterday that DBZ: Kakarot is a better way to watch the series than actually watching the series. I don't know if any of you ever watched it but the original series is stuffed - and I mean positively, morbidly stuffed - with filler. I think it probably took a month's worth of episodes for Goku to charge one spirit bomb, for example. Even as a kid it bugged me and I know there are fan cuts out there that remove a lot of it and I think even an official edited version of the series that removes a lot of it as well but I've never seen any of them. This game removes all of the fluff* and makes for a much more straightforward viewing experience.

*Really it was less fluff and more sandbagging

Dragon Ball Z Kai is the official de-fillered version. But it lost some of the charm along with it.

Cultural pressure was a thing in Civ 3? I didn't remember that.

Bloody well yes, in the Arab victory I had right before the Babylonian one I just flipped three out of Carthage's five cities throughout the game.

Well, yes, but that's English for you. Americans basically let Noah Webster rewrite their language for them, but even then not consistently (e.g. theater and center, but not ogre or acre). Of course, then pronunciation warped to fit the new spellings (e.g. pedaphile or estrogen, rather than paedophile and oestrogen),but that just goes to show that language use cannot be controlled, despite the efforts of people like Webster and Johnson.

Actually you can, but it is an ongoing effort and it does yield good results, even with pluricentric languages with multiple standards. It's a bit of a cultural thing.

Stop it Hobb you really make me want to buy that game, I'm a huge fans myself

Play civ3 instead!

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Dragon Ball Z Kai is the official de-fillered version.

So I read that edit removed side stories. Did it also remove all the standing around and yelling at bad guys? I read the original cut of the Frieza saga had 19 full episodes devoted to the final Frieza/Goku battle but almost all of that was pointless dialogue and not actual fighting. I know there are fan cuts around that removes this fluff.

 

[Lexicus]

I fired up HOI4 as the Germans and played a game where I overthrew Hitler and brought back the Kaiser....and it was boring AF, non-aligned nations can hardly do anything and it's just super wack.

So I'm playing as Hitler this time and it's pretty fun, haven't played as the Germans since many patches ago. The new mechanics definitely make Germany more interesting to play.
Basically, I followed the historical chain of events except that I rushed the Netherlands in 1937, didn't sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and didn't invade Denmark or Norway (or Greece, but Italy did so I used it as a bit of a training ground for my medium-tank divisions). The British annoyingly keep landing there but I don't think they can break out into the Balkans, at least not without opening up maneuvering space for my tanks to seize the ports and ruin their supply situation.

One cool move I made was rushing Panthers, finished researching them in January 1940.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is awesome!

 

[Takhisis]

Civ3 rolls on. I won an unexpected Diplomatic victory as France. I had a northern hemisphere thalassocracy split up into 6 landmasses (non-contiguous in the largest one for a time so that was 7 for 3/4 of the game) with the largest landmass but smallish population (it's impossible to control citizen moods over size 12). Meanwhile my main rival slowly shaped up to be Gandhi, who had a large contiguous landmass with all resources and a lot of fertile territory after fighting the Arabs for it.
An important drawback is that after the Hittites made the mistake of invading me (a stack of Archers and Spearmen tried to attack a heavily-populated city of mine that was garrisoned by 2/5 musketmen) I counterattacked with Knights, got a leader, broke the truth with my awesome 4/3/3 13-HP army before the 20 turns had passed and thus both reduced a former rival for continental domination to reservation status, unified my thitherto non-contiguous mainland and ruined my trading reputation for the rest of the game.

Gandhi-ji started a war after centuries of trading gpt and luxuries and threw some regional-power-level civs at me. I managed to turn them against one another after enduring bombardments and landings, saving my territorial integrity by the skin of my teeth thanks to good logistics, i.e. efficiently-placed transports, an airport network that allowed the airlift of six units (Mechanised infantry, SAMs, Tanks) every turn to whichever of the four landmasses under attack was at the most peril.
After India and Spain had devastated some of my cities (a dozen popheads lost at least)
India made peace and left a few Mech infantries and Tanks just on my side of the Aztec-French border while they went on their usual late-game rampage against minor and middle-tier powers.

It is worth noting that at this point they were enjoying a plurality of the UN votes against (of course) France and had an advantage of three techs and three SS parts over me. They declared war on me soon after the 20 turns of peace truce were over. That same turn I made MPPs with China, Russia, Aztlan and Spain. As soon as the stack on the Aztec-French border attacked my city and failed to kill a single unit they had four new enemies plus their existing ones. My stack of three battleships plus land-based bombers and Artillery sunk their Transport and its escort (1× Battleship and 2× destroyers) which bought time… and then there was the next election: everybody abstained or voted France.
Boinnng! The Artificial Idiot lost the unlosable game. If they'd just stayed peaceful and kept ahead on the tech race they'd've finished the spaceship at least five turns before I could have started building the last 2 SS parts.

 

[H4run]

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is awesome!

Final Fantasy 7, man that game meant so much for me, I'm so happy seeing the remake, but why it looks like Dynasty Warrior game or say like Tales series. I really prefer it to be a turned based game.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Final Fantasy 7, man that game meant so much for me, I'm so happy seeing the remake, but why it looks like Dynasty Warrior game or say like Tales series. I really prefer it to be a turned based game.

If you play it in classic mode instead of easy or normal, it turns into a turn based game.

I have not tried out the classic mode yet.
I'm not sure how it would handle block or dodge sonce the characters can move around now.

 

[Ajidica]

I'm trying out Galactic Civilizations III after getting it years ago and never getting around to really playing it; and I am finding myself hopelessly lost.
I know there are a number of Expansion packs for it. Do they offer meaningful gameplay changes, or just new factions and surface stuff?

EDIT: Ended up picking up the Crusade expansion as it seems to have 'fixed' the most stuff. Are the other two major expansions worth getting? I'm not particularly interested in scenarios.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I was playing Surviving Mars. And I might've managed to kill off all my colonists.

 

[AdamCrock]

I was playing Surviving Mars. And I might've managed to kill off all my colonists.

That just means You are the "one" ... I for one am looking forward to our fireball tossing overlords ! xD

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Best XCOM mission name I've had so far:

"Operation Rotting Mother"

I love the mission names. The Firaxis XCOMs don't get enough credit for their procedural storytelling. I'll never forget "Operation Hidden Serpent" in Enemy Unknown. An ominous name for a total desaster.
I sent my sniper to an elevated position far away from the rest of the team and she revealed a group of enemies and got killed. Everything went wrong after that. Panicked soldiers, friendly fire, it was a a total massacre that eventually resulted in a total team kill.
Random XCOM missions can be more memorable than scripted cutscenes in story heavy games

All I remember about Civ 4 was I converted the Germans Judaism.

Didn't feel right.

Haven't played Civ 4 in a long time, but I remember that Germany would adopt Judaism in most games.
Frederick's trais were very good for early tech and pretty decent for a Monotheism beeline.
I also remember that Germany would often adopt Judaism if the didn't found a religion.
Could be a coincidence, or maybe Firaxis wanted to make a statement.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is awesome!

I was sceptical about the episodic structure and the real time combat, but reviews won me over.
Really bad time for me to find out that it's PS exclusive.
I should start to follow game news again.


I've been playing some Offworld Trading Company because it was free on the Epic store.
The idea (Economic RTS without combat) is better than the actual game.
All of the weaknesses of the genre condensed in a very short timeframe.
Sessions can last between 10 minutes and one hour. Your first three decisions can lock you into an unwinnable situation or set you up for a slow but certain victory.

 

[r16]

wait , wait , Civ lll epic game knight as a veteran would have 4 health bars , army would hold 3 , so a proper army of that kind should have 15 bars ?

 

[Zardnaar]

wait , wait , Civ lll epic game knight as a veteran would have 4 health bars , army would hold 3 , so a proper army of that kind should have 15 bars ?

Yes. Ideally you fill your armies with elite units, ideally ones that have already generated a leader.

 

[Takhisis]

Ideally,yes, but I had to make do with what was at hand.

I lost my game as Rome. Started at the tundra/taiga end of a pangaea without Horses, Saltpetre or Iron, somehow managed to get a Science leader and rush the Library to catch up with everybody and got the Knights Templar so fought the Dutch and Japanese for them.
I ended the game as one of four surviving civs with 21% of population and 15% of land surface, not bad in military terms and good for a cultural, SS or diplo victory, but the Byzantines in the centre of the map started conquering neighbour after neighbour and after one or two tipping points it became clear that it would be they or the Aztecs winning by domination (AIs are incredibly stupid and they ganged up behind Theodora in beating up their neighbours before each being conquered in turn).

 

[Zardnaar]

Ideally,yes, but I had to make do with what was at hand.

I lost my game as Rome. Started at the tundra/taiga end of a pangaea without Horses, Saltpetre or Iron, somehow managed to get a Science leader and rush the Library to catch up with everybody and got the Knights Templar so fought the Dutch and Japanese for them.
I ended the game as one of four surviving civs with 21% of population and 15% of land surface, not bad in military terms and good for a cultural, SS or diplo victory, but the Byzantines in the centre of the map started conquering neighbour after neighbour and after one or two tipping points it became clear that it would be they or the Aztecs winning by domination (AIs are incredibly stupid and they ganged up behind Theodora in beating up their neighbours before each being conquered in turn).

What difficulty level?