What Video Games Have You Been Playing, Part 10: Or; A Shameful Display!

[Broken_Erika]

I'd been planning to eventually grab the GOG version of SimCity 2000, but I just learned it was the inferior DOS version. So I dug out my old Special Edition disc. Used this to get around the 16-bit installer and save/load bug. Works perfectly fine on Windows 10, 64-bit...so long as you don't run on African Swallow speed.

Both firefox and windows says it's a virus...

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I had that issue too. VirusTotal also didn't like it, but if you look closely it's mostly variants of "generic trojan." Didn't see anything too weird going on with Hybrid Analysis, and the source code is available, so it's a false positive.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I found a free (and ad free) mobile game that's a lot of fun. It's called Polytopia and it's a civ-style game where you build cities, harvest resources, build infrastructure and wage war on you neighbors. There's not really any diplomacy that I've seen yet but overall it's a solid game. No ads, the only in-app purchases are additional civs at $0.99 each. The 4 base civs are decent and you can unlock a further 8.

The time line is not broken up into formal technology ages but the game ends in the medieval era. Basically, once knights show up the game will end pretty quick. They move fast, have powerful attacks and can attack multiple times per turn so they break through the slogfest that the midgame becomes with archers, swordsmen and horsemen.

The game has two modes - timed play and free play. Both are fun as the timed play forces you to focus on objectives while free play is more freewheeling. You can only win through conquest that I've seen but you spend a lot of time and effort on research and tile development. The one free play game I tried really dragged out once all of the other empires were consolidated under myself and one other AI. For 30 turns or so we painfully, slowly murdered each other with ranged units as we vainly threw our melee units at city walls and entrenched positions. The turning point was when I got knights - I didn't know they were so powerful so they were literally the last technology I researched.

Once I got knights I swept the map in about 5 turns. It's a lot of fun.

 

[Josu]

I found a free (and ad free) mobile game that's a lot of fun. It's called Polytopia and it's a civ-style game where you build cities, harvest resources, build infrastructure and wage war on you neighbors. There's not really any diplomacy that I've seen yet but overall it's a solid game. No ads, the only in-app purchases are additional civs at $0.99 each. The 4 base civs are decent and you can unlock a further 8.

The time line is not broken up into formal technology ages but the game ends in the medieval era. Basically, once knights show up the game will end pretty quick. They move fast, have powerful attacks and can attack multiple times per turn so they break through the slogfest that the midgame becomes with archers, swordsmen and horsemen.

The game has two modes - timed play and free play. Both are fun as the timed play forces you to focus on objectives while free play is more freewheeling. You can only win through conquest that I've seen but you spend a lot of time and effort on research and tile development. The one free play game I tried really dragged out once all of the other empires were consolidated under myself and one other AI. For 30 turns or so we painfully, slowly murdered each other with ranged units as we vainly threw our melee units at city walls and entrenched positions. The turning point was when I got knights - I didn't know they were so powerful so they were literally the last technology I researched.

Once I got knights I swept the map in about 5 turns. It's a lot of fun.

I have played as well, it is really addictive.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I played a little Dawn of Man and a little Path of Exile this weekend, but I ended up feeling disgruntled with both of them.

The Dawn of Man animal behavior is a little weird. Wild animals don't seem aware of their surroundings, and will wander right through your village. Domestic animals breed much too fast, and at strange times of the year. Dawn of Man also has much of the problem that Banished had, that life is far, far too easy and safe for these 'struggling' settlers in untamed lands. I don't need the game to be as punishing as Frostpunk but, for example, nobody ever dies in childbirth (and children never die at all); in several years you'll see maybe one person die of a disease (and the disease doesn't spread); etc. It just kind of ruins immersion for me.

Meanwhile, I've been finding Path of Exile really hard to log into ever since the new league went live. I get disconnected 2-4 times before finally getting to play, and it takes a few minutes to load even when it works. I brushed it off at first, but it's been 2 weeks and it's starting to grate on my nerves. And if I don't get booted transferring to a new zone, it seems to run fine.

 

[Lohrenswald]

Feels like I've lost all skill in the civilization games

which is really odd, because I have actually won some games in civ 6 vanilla

 

[Phrossack]

In Mass Effect 2, I find I compulsively pick the Paragon option almost every time, even when it doesn't seem that noble. Really should've told Conrad Verner to bug off. Instead, the Paragon option was to lie to make him feel like a hero. Ugh.

It's probably for the best, since if I played as myself I'd be half Renegade, minus all the human supremacist stuff.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

In Mass Effect 2, I find I compulsively pick the Paragon option almost every time, even when it doesn't seem that noble. Really should've told Conrad Verner to bug off. Instead, the Paragon option was to lie to make him feel like a hero. Ugh.

It's probably for the best, since if I played as myself I'd be half Renegade, minus all the human supremacist stuff.

I struggle with good/bad moral choices in games as well and find myself locked into the 'good' story arc more often than not.

 

[Phrossack]

I struggle with good/bad moral choices in games as well and find myself locked into the 'good' story arc more often than not.

Realistically, I'd just argue with every jerk rather than hearing them out, like the bigoted asari on Ilium.

But then, realistically, you can't instantly change someone's mind with a few gentle words like that. Hell, in ME1 I talked Saren into killing himself, and in Fallout: New Vegas I talked Lanius into going home instead of a final boss battle.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

In video games I have a hard time being mean. I tried playing the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim once but I felt like an ass.

 

[Phrossack]

In video games I have a hard time being mean. I tried playing the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim once but I felt like an ass.

The decision's easier in video games because "being a good guy" still lets you kill bad guys, if not outright rewarding you for it. To be considered evil in video games, you have to be really evil.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I played a little Dawn of Man and a little Path of Exile this weekend, but I ended up feeling disgruntled with both of them.

Meanwhile, I've been finding Path of Exile really hard to log into ever since the new league went live. I get disconnected 2-4 times before finally getting to play, and it takes a few minutes to load even when it works. I brushed it off at first, but it's been 2 weeks and it's starting to grate on my nerves. And if I don't get booted transferring to a new zone, it seems to run fine.

Yes, this league has been bad for that stuff. It's getting better though, and there's a new patch this week that might go further.

 

[Akka]

In Mass Effect 2, I find I compulsively pick the Paragon option almost every time, even when it doesn't seem that noble. Really should've told Conrad Verner to bug off. Instead, the Paragon option was to lie to make him feel like a hero. Ugh.

It's probably for the best, since if I played as myself I'd be half Renegade, minus all the human supremacist stuff.

Renegade in ME2 can actually be the morally superior option sometimes, with the Paragon being "deceiving". Should be "confrontational vs diplomatic" actually.

I also have a big problem being "bad" in video games due to my nature, but nevertheless I'm often frustrated that being "bad" is so often just "being evil for the sake of being evil". Too many times, designers have the urge to "reward" chosing the "good" outcome, so too often being "evil" is just asking to get biten later. You would logically be "evil" because it's beneficial to you, but in games it's often the opposite.
Samely, the "acceptable" flaws vs "unacceptable" flaws are just quite a bit too egregious and caricatural.

I guess I'd like a bit less gamelogic and more realistlogic.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Renegade options in ME can range from telling someone a harsh truth to randomly shooting them in the face, with no way to know until after the fact. Bit of a lottery.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Renegade in ME2 can actually be the morally superior option sometimes, with the Paragon being "deceiving". Should be "confrontational vs diplomatic" actually.

Renegade options in ME can range from telling someone a harsh truth to randomly shooting them in the face, with no way to know until after the fact. Bit of a lottery.

Something that drove me crazy is that the dialogue choices in the first Mass Effect is that the dialogue wheel said one thing, but when you clicked on it your character said something completely different. It made roleplaying as your character kinda difficult. Like if you were tired of an argument and told another character to "cut it out" (the renegade option) your character said something really nasty to them instead.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Renegade in ME2 can actually be the morally superior option sometimes, with the Paragon being "deceiving". Should be "confrontational vs diplomatic" actually.

I also have a big problem being "bad" in video games due to my nature, but nevertheless I'm often frustrated that being "bad" is so often just "being evil for the sake of being evil". Too many times, designers have the urge to "reward" chosing the "good" outcome, so too often being "evil" is just asking to get biten later. You would logically be "evil" because it's beneficial to you, but in games it's often the opposite.
Samely, the "acceptable" flaws vs "unacceptable" flaws are just quite a bit too egregious and caricatural.

I guess I'd like a bit less gamelogic and more realistlogic.

I don't know of any game designed for an actual equilibrium beetween being bad and good. Being good is always better and easier and wins in the long run or at least the being bad walkthrough is not so developed as the being good one, maybe because developers know most players will take the good way and put more work in it.

 

[PhroX]

ME's alignment system wasn't supposed to be "good vs evil", but instead something closer to "idealistic vs pragmatic". How well it turned out seemed to vary throughout the series (and not in a consistent way). Renegade in particular had an annoying habit of varying between "the fate of the galaxy is at stake, we can't afford to risk it on niceties" and "gimme more credits or else".

More generally though, I don't tend to enjoy "muahahaha" type evil characters, but I can have fun playing fundamentally selfish characters - ones that are basically just in it for personal gain. Yet when I do play that type of character, if there is an alignment meter, I tend to end up pretty close to the middle, possibly even slightly on the good side. "Evil" options usually tend towards being really stupid.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Something that drove me crazy is that the dialogue choices in the first Mass Effect is that the dialogue wheel said one thing, but when you clicked on it your character said something completely different. It made roleplaying as your character kinda difficult. Like if you were tired of an argument and told another character to "cut it out" (the renegade option) your character said something really nasty to them instead.

Sometimes multiple dialogue wheel choices would actually just lead to the same spoken dialogue. The illusion of choice.

 

[Lexicus]

In video games I have a hard time being mean. I tried playing the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim once but I felt like an ass.

I, otoh, felt that the Dark Brotherhood didn't give me enough scope for indulging my thirst for NPC blood, so I typically do the "kill the Dark Brotherhood" quest to take them down a peg or two.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Something that drove me crazy is that the dialogue choices in the first Mass Effect is that the dialogue wheel said one thing, but when you clicked on it your character said something completely different. It made roleplaying as your character kinda difficult. Like if you were tired of an argument and told another character to "cut it out" (the renegade option) your character said something really nasty to them instead.

Fallout 4 is pretty egregious about this as well.