Comments on: Sucks so badly, it hurts

By: games

games — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:15:32 +0000

games…

You are the last……

By: Alexander

Alexander — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:36:38 +0000

@ Zohner: That’s what I’ve heard. I enjoyed AoEII, but AoEIII just looked disappointing.

@ Schmidty: “I long for combat!”

By: Schmidty

Schmidty — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:26:29 +0000

"Somebody call for an exterminator?"

By: zohner

zohner — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:48:08 +0000

AoE III was ok. If you can get it for cheap, i.e. free, then it’s worth a play. I wouldn’t spend money on it though considering AoE II was so much better.

By: Zuke

Zuke — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:18:13 +0000

Starcraft was amazing! I will fully agree with that right there!

By: Alexander

Alexander — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:42:35 +0000

I'm a big strategy fan, though I only play any given strategy game if I think it has something good to offer. I tried to steer clear of all the crappy imitation WarCraft/Age of Empires/Command & Conquer clones out there, and limit myself to franchises that I can trust.

In my opinion, the pinnacle of RTS gameplay is still StarCraft, even after a decade, and I don't imagine it will be unseated until StarCraft II next year. There haven't been many good RTS titles in recent years. I heard Age of Empires III sucked, so I didn't bother with it. C&C: Red Alert III is coming out soon too, but I doubt I'll get it.

However, the TBS (Turn-Based Strategy) genre is thriving. What's a TBS? Well, the Civilization series is a good example. Risk would also qualify. TBS games are the opposite number of the RTS, but are often intended for strategy nerds and history buffs like myself. Some simpler ones can be good for casual gamers.

Where an RTS is all about how fast you can click your mouse, TBS gameplay is much more cerebral: outlining your battle plan, organizing your forces and resources to the minutest detail, setting up a great trap for your enemy.

And then, there are the super-nerd games, generally made by Paradox Interactive: the Europa Universalis series, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings. These are sort of a synthesis between the two genres -- cerebral planning and strategy combined with real-time gameplay (sort of).

Example: Europa Universalis games generally start around the Fall of Constantinople and the beginning of the Renaissance (about AD 1450) and last until the end of the Napoleonic Era (about AD 1820). The gameplay is similar to Civilization, in that you improve your technology and gradually get better armies and government forms, but it's also similar to Age of Empires, in that you build fortresses and train units in real time. The thing is, that's an awful lot of time. You sit there staring at that world map for hundreds of years; you can adjust how fast time goes by, but it's still a really long time to play.

The strategy genre is diverse: some solid, fun games, a lot of worthless crap, and some ridiculously complicated impossible games. Anyway, I'm just going to keep playing the titles I have for now, and hope that StarCraft II is as good as it's cracked up to be.

By: Zuke

Zuke — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:56:33 +0000

It’s amazing that W. hasn’t announced you as our Secretary of Defense!

By: Schmidty

Schmidty — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:52:30 +0000

Now that sounds more like a “Strategy” game. This makes all the others seem less like a Strategy, and more like a “Do what I tell you to and you’ll win” game. What’s the strategy in doing things the way the computer wants you to? What if I just want to set up a big circus tent instead of a barracks, and train some entertainers. Then when it sells out and the seats are full of the enemies’ arses, I blow it to smithereens! Now there’s a strategy for ya!

By: Zuke

Zuke — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:31:53 +0000

I think we need a reworked RTS out there. One where it’s just “here is your enemy. here are your forces as they are now. here are his forces (to the best of our knowledge).”

The game wouldn’t tell you, pre se, which targets to hit, it’d let you do that instead. You could center on supply lines, or training areas or the capital. You’d have to manage your own supply lines, and your home economy for the war machine, and recruitment.

By: zohner

zohner — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:02:38 +0000

I used to be a big fan of RTS games. Then I started to realize that they were all the same game; the only differences were the time period, the characters, etc. Everything was built on the Age of Empires engine which was good but the genre got old for me.

There have been a few RTS games that have piqued my interest lately though. Company of Heroes was a great WWII game and I can't seem to get enough of Civilization IV.