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

[Takhisis]

Which, of course, begs the question of how many fingers you have per hand...

*raises the question

 

[bhsup]

I said what I meant.

 

[Takhisis]

Ah, you were pointing at it being circular logic… I think.

 

[bhsup]

I meant what I said.

 

[Takhisis]

If you insist, I'll just award you the points. But no mayonnaise, as I've spotted a singular Missouric rant in an edit-justification, which looked like a footnote.

 

[Quintillus]

Page 49 was an amusing read.

I started a new CKII game, as Gascony. My main goal at this point is to establish myself as one of two primary powers in Aquitaine, the other currently being ruled by my in-laws who control Auvergne, Toulouse, and Barcelona. They're actually regular in-laws, too - no-breeding. No Karling-killing thus far, either, though establishing hegemony of Aquitaine will require deposing or gaining independence from a Karling one way or another. So far I've annexed a kingdom (Navarra) in my quest to establish my duchy as a power, and established an absolute cognatic ultimogeniture succession that should mean no more splintering of the realm among 7+ offspring (8 last generation, 7 this one... there wasn't enough land for everyone to inherit some).

Long-term, I'm undecided on what to do. I quit my last game after I got too powerful, so I don't really want to inherit all of West Francia or something like that. Becoming a heretic was pretty fun last time even though heresies were a lot less interesting back then, so I'm considering trying to become Jewish, or maybe Hindu if there are some Hindus that aren't out of range for interactions. Shia already became a heresy of Hurufi, and Mallorca was taken over by Fraticelli heretics, but otherwise religion is proceeding as expected.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I plunked down a few bucks for the alpha build of The Long Dark over the weekend. It's a survival & exploration game that takes place in Canada in deep winter. The primary goals are surviving the deadly weather, finding food and water and avoiding the starving wolves. No zombies, no radiation.

It's in alpha right now, so it's far from finished, with only 4 or 5 craftable items, a dozen different pieces of clothing, and only 2 maps to explore, and Story Mode is not yet enabled. Still, it's surprisingly playable. I played probably 6 hours over the weekend. The art and atmosphere are amazing. I have no idea when the game will be finished; I think they're following the "it's done when it's done" timetable.

 

[Phrossack]

I plunked down a few bucks for the alpha build of The Long Dark over the weekend. It's a survival & exploration game that takes place in Canada in deep winter. The primary goals are surviving the deadly weather, finding food and water and avoiding the starving wolves. No zombies, no radiation.



It's in alpha right now, so it's far from finished, with only 4 or 5 craftable items, a dozen different pieces of clothing, and only 2 maps to explore, and Story Mode is not yet enabled. Still, it's surprisingly playable. I played probably 6 hours over the weekend. The art and atmosphere are amazing. I have no idea when the game will be finished; I think they're following the "it's done when it's done" timetable.

Wow. That's pretty similar to some of my ideas for a dream game. Graphics could be better, but that's just judging from a single alpha screenshot.

 

[bhsup]

You could just get Skyrim and the Frostfall mod and meander around aimlessly...

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I just got Crusader Kings II.
So far I have arrested a missionary, married an underaged slavic priestess, started an affair and sired a (legitimized) daughter with my underaged daughter in law which my son found out about. Since he can't be trusted any more I have fired him as spymaster and gave the job to said daughter in law. I have also divorced my wife after she converted to catholicism.
Now that I'm single again I tried to have my lover's husband (my son in case you had forgotten) arrested, but he managed to escape. I need to 'get him out of the picture' so I can marry his wife and have a pagan heir.

 

[madviking]

cities in motion (free)
civ 5 (bundle)
simcity 4 (deluxe)

 

[Civ'ed]

I just did a road trip in JC2 from one side of the desert island to the other.
14km of beauty and AI crashing vehicles into mine, blowing them up.

Spoiler :

 

[EgonSpengler]

Wow. That's pretty similar to some of my ideas for a dream game. Graphics could be better, but that's just judging from a single alpha screenshot.

I really like the graphics, but yeah, one screenshot never does any game justice.

Also, right now the game is perma-death. I assume that 'Story Mode' won't be, but I wouldn't mind if 'Sandbox Mode' continues to be hardcore.

The combat mechanics are extremely challenging, and I can't decide if the frustration-to-cool ratio is too high. For example, I like that getting out of a fight with a wolf with 20% health is an accomplishment. otoh, last night I found a .303 rifle and a box of 10 rounds. There's no crosshair on the screen, you just have to line up the sights and fire, which I like. To toot my own horn for a moment, I'm pretty good at FPS gunplay, and I fired 5 shots at a deer from as close as I could get before it ran, and hit nothing. I've never been deer-hunting in real life, so maybe an old, bolt-action .303 really can't hit the broad side of a buck. But of course it's still alpha. Could just be some fine-tuning needs to be done.

 

[Farm Boy]

Yes, old bolt action rifles can hit the broad side of a buck provided they're sighted well or you at least know how they're sighted wrongly. It's not that easy though. Standing without a brace puts a surprising amount of wobble in your aim, wind and drop happen, and things don't die as fast as in games or the movies. A fatal shot is worse than useless if your aim was off an inch or three and the buck runs a half mile to a mile and you can't find where it died.

 

[Phrossack]

To make the game even more fun, you should keep a log.

"Day 31. Running low on food. Found an old rifle and ten rounds in the woods. No idea what it's doing here. Sighted a buck and fired five times, but missed."

 

[Snerk]

There seems to be several of these non-supernatural you vs nature survival games on the horizon these days. I find the concept really really intriguing. Though I've never played one.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Yes, old bolt action rifles can hit the broad side of a buck provided they're sighted well or you at least know how they're sighted wrongly. It's not that easy though. Standing without a brace puts a surprising amount of wobble in your aim, wind and drop happen, and things don't die as fast as in games or the movies. A fatal shot is worse than useless if your aim was off an inch or three and the buck runs a half mile to a mile and you can't find where it died.

Equipment has a Condition state that degrades over time that you can improve with repairs, but it's only stated as a percentage (e.g. "Hunting Rifle (89%)". I don't think there's anything as specific as misaligned sights. That could be cool, though. When I fired at the deer, I tried using the Crouch command, but I couldn't tell if that made any difference, since I missed anyway. I've seen on the game's forums that you can wound an animal and then follow it, but after I fired and the deer ran off, I looked for blood in the snow and didn't see any.

To make the game even more fun, you should keep a log.

"Day 31. Running low on food. Found an old rifle and ten rounds in the woods. No idea what it's doing here. Sighted a buck and fired five times, but missed."

The game does keep a log for you, but it's pretty minimal. If you wanted to write a narrative, it'd be enough to remind you when you got bitten by the wolf and whether you spent the night in the ranger station or in the logging camp.

There's a rumor on the game's forums that there's a survivalist-prepper's bunker somewhere in the woods, presumably stocked with MREs, water purification tablets, and Canadian-approved Winter-weather clothing. The devs have neither confirmed nor denied, as far as I can tell.

 

[EgonSpengler]

There seems to be several of these non-supernatural you vs nature survival games on the horizon these days. I find the concept really really intriguing. Though I've never played one.

There are certainly plenty of remote, dangerous locations around the world you could set such a game. The American Southwest, Death Valley. A tropical island, like in that Tom Hanks movie. Those tv shows with Les Stroud and the British SAS guy seem to have endless material to work with.

 

[bhsup]

It's not video, but I used to love to play this one as a kid. I wonder if the box is around somewhere in a long packed crate...

Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival

 

[EgonSpengler]

It's not video, but I used to love to play this one as a kid. I wonder if the box is around somewhere in a long packed crate...

Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival

Nice. I never played Outdoor Survival, but Avalon Hill was a staple for my gang of nerds back in the day. Wooden Ships & Iron Men; Diplomacy; Amoeba Wars; Afrika Korps; Feudal; and Squad Leader. Even with all the great PC gaming available today, I do kind of miss my tabletop gaming days.