What Video Games have you been playing II: Have you finished that backlog?

[Wolfbeckett]

Bought FTL, though I haven't had a chance to play it yet. Any tips for me?

I can't give specific advice because I haven't really played it since they released the free update that added a bunch of stuff. So I don't really know how the new stuff has changed the game. But my advice would be, don't get discouraged. You'll die a lot at the beginning until you figure out the game, but it's a fund kind of dying .

Also, learn how to use boarding parties effectively, boarding enemy ships and killing their crew gives you more stuff than blowing up their ship.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I'm one of those people who usually prefer to play my games close to vanilla, anyways. Even with mods I haven't used much for Oblivion. Guess I am weird.

Nothing weird about it. I've never understood the appeal of taking a carefully crafted and self-consistent world and then forcing in totally jarring manga-style cat eared armour for female characters (or whatever).

 

[Arakhor]

If I told you I played 500-600 hours of Oblivion without mods, would you believe me?

I'd believe you, but naturally, I'd think less of you too.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Nothing weird about it. I've never understood the appeal of taking a carefully crafted and self-consistent world and then forcing in totally jarring manga-style cat eared armour for female characters (or whatever).

I'd do that if I were doing a game for the lulz.

Actually, no, I wouldn't.

I'd believe you, but naturally, I'd think less of you too.

I am highly offended!

 

[bhsup]

I'm sort of with cybrxkhan and Manfred here. I'll do some mods, but they're usually cosmetic ones and not "game changer" types. Well, except for the unofficial skyrim patches / bug fixes / etc.

 

[Zack]

If I told you I played 500-600 hours of Oblivion without mods, would you believe me?

I'm one of those people who usually prefer to play my games close to vanilla, anyways. Even with mods I haven't used much for Oblivion. Guess I am weird.

Wait, I thought you were the one saying something about using a lightsaber in Skyrim?

 

[cybrxkhan]

I'm sort of with cybrxkhan and Manfred here. I'll do some mods, but they're usually cosmetic ones and not "game changer" types. Well, except for the unofficial skyrim patches / bug fixes / etc.

Conservative mod users unite!

Wait, I thought you were the one saying something about using a lightsaber in Skyrim?

Guns in tropico skyrim, to be precise.

But basic gameplay itself and the core mechanics aren't that different. No huge overhaul or balance mods, for instance.

That said I understand what counts as a conservative mod set up might be subjective.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Conservative mod users unite!



Guns in tropico skyrim, to be precise.

But basic gameplay itself and the core mechanics aren't that different. No huge overhaul or balance mods, for instance.

That said I understand what counts as a conservative mod set up might be subjective.

Well I wouldn't consider adding a tropical climate and guns to Skyrim to even remotely qualify as conservative

 

[caketastydelish]

Two questions for anyone interested:

1. Are any of you planning on buying Assassins Creed Unity for either the Xbox One or Playstation 4?

2. If the answer to that is yes, would you be willing to play with me online to do the story mode?

(this is the first AC game where that's possible)

 

[cybrxkhan]

Well I wouldn't consider adding a tropical climate and guns to Skyrim to even remotely qualify as conservative

Well, um, er, there's an exception to every rule?

But honestly besides those I don't think my mods are really that game-changing, I.e. the balance and gameplay is more or less the same.

 

[Arwon]

I... I'm worried Beyond Earth is actually rubbish. Got bored both games I've played.

Hope it gets patched and expanded a lot like civ 5 did, because it's not very compelling right now. ):

 

[Takhisis]

Why not play civ3 again? The epic game might be rubbish but the scenarios are fantastic.

 

[Arwon]

Miiiiiiiicro

 

[Joecoolyo]

I... I'm worried Beyond Earth is actually rubbish. Got bored both games I've played.

Hope it gets patched and expanded a lot like civ 5 did, because it's not very compelling right now. ):

I'm enjoying it a bunch. The only problem I've really had with it is that it's kind of short.

But I think playing on epic speed will fix that, as opposed to standard. Civ V had the opposite problem where it was a slugging to get to the fun modern eras. I seem to blaze through to them in Beyond Earth.

 

[caketastydelish]

I... I'm worried Beyond Earth is actually rubbish. Got bored both games I've played.

Hope it gets patched and expanded a lot like civ 5 did, because it's not very compelling right now. ):

You and several others are making me feel happy with my decision to not buy beyond earth until there is either a price drop or an expansion is included for the same price.

 

[PhroX]

I think the mechanics and gameplay of BE are solid - they need some tweaking, with things like reducing the micromanagment hell of trade routes, but overall they're good IMO. It's the non-mechanic based stuff that the game falls down on for me. It lifeless, bland, devoid of character. I'm yet to feel immersed in way. The faction and their leaders are characterless with no real differntiation between them. The flavour behind things like techs and wonders is shallow (which isn't helped by having the quotes read out by a bored woman instead of the person who the quote is attributed to). The victories are a couple of lines of text.

 

[Civ'ed]

I find BE to be a wonderful game, although I might be somewhat biased in this aspect as I have never played SMAC and thus am incapable of going on a nostalgiatrip.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I've been playing Beyond Earth obsessively over the weekend since it unlocked at 1 am. A very good game, but a bit rough around the edges. There are a few bugs, balance issues and diplomacy is rubbish, but it's in far better shape than Civ 4 or Civ 5 until they had a couple of patches. I wouldn't call it great or wonderful just yet, but it clearly has the potential.

 

[Takhisis]

Miiiiiiiicro

Some of the mods deal away with the micro…

 

[warpus]

I had Beyond Earth on for a half an hour or so.

My first impressions: The UI looks unfinished and bare, and for some reason I didn't get this sense that we were on a strange new planet, like with Alpha Centauri. With Beyond Earth it just feels like I'm sitting in front of a gaming board, like RISK, rather than an actual world that exists out there somewhere. I'm not sure why that is exactly, but I found it very hard to immerse myself in the environment. With some civ games, "it just sort of happens". With this one, it didn't.

It also feels weird to see all the Asians (for example) grouped as a playable entity.. That seems maybe a bit.. unrealistic? too simple.. If we end up on another planet, there's no way the Japanese, Chinese, Indians, Kazakhstanis, Pakistanis, Afghans, and Indonesians will all join hands and sing kumbaya as they're launched into space. I'm not sure what other playable camps exist in the game, the other one I saw was South America. That's a bit more believable, but I still don't buy it. I think people are far more likely to organize themselves along purely ideological or religious or even nationalist lines, rather than what this game is trying to push. It feels very artificial.

So.. those are my first impressions. I am going to try to have another go at it sometime this week.