What video/computer game are you currently playing?

[RunThisTown]

I've heard good things about Tropico, but I've never played the series.


--Andy

I watched a little bit of a walkthrough on youtube and read some reviews and checked out it's wikipedia page, overall I like what I see so I'm going to give it a go. I'll let you guys know if I liked it or not. And of course why as well.

I only played tropico 4. The only thing worthwhile about the series as far as I can tell is the salsa music playing in the backround while youre toiling away with your island.

[DoomYoshi]

I had a friend come over this weekend. He comes by every other month, and I try to keep it fresh what we do so we played fighting games. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, King of Fighters XIII and Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Pretty fun times. I haven't played any significant time with fighting games since Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and most of his experience is specific to Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom III, but he has played fighting games his whole life.

All in all, I am amazing at video games and he is amazing at fighting games so in the second day of competition it switched from him dominating me to vice versa. Now we have something to train for next time he comes.

--------------------------------


Also played Ys: The Oath in Felghana. I am a big action-RPG fan and this one was really good, but the jumping puzzles were kind of lame. The normal fights had a great difficulty curve. When you first get to an area you struggle but then as you figure out timing and level up it gradually gets easier... as it should! The game is beautiful (although old graphics) and the sound is neat. The boss fights are where action RPGs are made or broken and this one has a great balance between hard to do and possible, making each one feel like an accomplishment but not actually so hard that you want to quit. However, the game has the worst plot hole in the history of my anus so the story was ruined 3/4 of the way through.

[Gweeedo]

Computer War Games; Combat mission beyond Normandy, Strategic Command, Hannibal (ACTS).

I have been playing board games lately, much more enjoyable.
I thought board game were a thing of the past, not true.
Board games are in, many (most popular) become Computer games.
So, If you are into board games, buy the one you like...soon you will be playing it on your computer.

[rdsrds2120]

Going to try SMITE. A few friends have recommended it if not for the gameplay, the theme.

--Gomez

[AndyDufresne]

This is a game I will likely purchase and play in the fall when it comes out...Civilization: Beyond Earth (spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri): http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/12/560000 ... -sid-meier


--Andy

[macbone]

No mention of Alpha Centauri in that article? Weird.

This one from Gamespot actually goes into the connection with Alpha Centauri, and cool, they have some of the same designers who worked on the original game working on Beyond Earth.

I'm looking for a new game for my ipod. I just finished Horn and then Oceanhorn, and they were fun, but I wish they'd port Baldur's Gate to ipod/iphone.

[mrswdk]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

And 2048

[macbone]

Is Advance on ios? I do have FFT: War of the Lions, and it's a fantastic game, but too much tapping on the ios version. I've started it up twice now, but I usually stop somewhere around Act 4. XCOM, KOTOR, Monkey Island, and King of Dragon Pass are all fun. I liked that Oceanhorn was a completely new game (albeit a copycat Zelda).

Maybe Final Fantasy VI? I picked up FFI and FFIV, but it's the same deal as FFT - I'll be plunking down US$16 for a port of a game I've already played through.

I could try out FF II, III, or FFV, maybe. Or The World Ends with You? It's supposed to be good. Or Device 6? Year Walk?

[mrswdk]

I have FFVI Advance, which is good.

Also, Beyond Good & Evil is pretty solid.

[mrswdk]

I'm running the advance games on a Windows emulator. No idea about ios, SOZ.

[Low Baller]

This is a game I will likely purchase and play in the fall when it comes out...Civilization: Beyond Earth (spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri): http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/12/560000 ... -sid-meier


--Andy

Huh, that's the first I heard of it. Interesting article.

I was excited about it for 30 seconds until I remembered how utterly unsuited to me Civ 5 was. Civ 4 played like a true 4x strategy game and was the pinnacle of the series for me. Civ 5 was like taking ice-cream and pizza and mixing them together only to end up with a soggy mess. Yea, hex-based combat games are awesome and 4x games are also awesome but the mixture of the two together in Civ5's case made for hilariously bad game-play (longbowmen firing from England to Holland, anyone?) and a clueless AI unable to play either of the two systems. But it's OK because shinier graphics and much tighter (smaller) map sizes.

I'm playing the new Age of Wonders 3 now and it just seems that the trend recently in the latest batch of 4x games from the big devs is to add max graphical bling in exchange for smaller map-sizes, smaller army sizes, less factions and much less customization options.

Anyway, I'm hoping it will turn out to be an actual 4x game but I can't manage much optimism sadly.

[muy_thaiguy]

Been playing Call of Duty Ghosts (yeah I know, but sometimes all you want is simplicity), and it's not bad, but the criticisms of all the weapons being pretty much the samething with different skins does hold to be pretty true.

I did enjoy the level where you use a silencer pistol in the jungle to take out one enemy after another by tracking them with a handheld sensor.

[AndyDufresne]

Huh, that's the first I heard of it. Interesting article.

I was excited about it for 30 seconds until I remembered how utterly unsuited to me Civ 5 was. Civ 4 played like a true 4x strategy game and was the pinnacle of the series for me. Civ 5 was like taking ice-cream and pizza and mixing them together only to end up with a soggy mess. Yea, hex-based combat games are awesome and 4x games are also awesome but the mixture of the two together in Civ5's case made for hilariously bad game-play (longbowmen firing from England to Holland, anyone?) and a clueless AI unable to play either of the two systems. But it's OK because shinier graphics and much tighter (smaller) map sizes.

I'm playing the new Age of Wonders 3 now and it just seems that the trend recently in the latest batch of 4x games from the big devs is to add max graphical bling in exchange for smaller map-sizes, smaller army sizes, less factions and much less customization options.

Anyway, I'm hoping it will turn out to be an actual 4x game but I can't manage much optimism sadly.

Mmmhm. It is a game that sounds fun on paper. I likely won't be one to buy it right away -- I'll wait for reviews and Lets Plays to get a sense of it is worth it.


--Andy

[DiM]

There's still no "free market capitalism" option, the downside with being a dictator is that you have to "dictate"......*chuckles*. But you can set the wage for groups of workers such as "construction workers", "soldiers" or "farmers".

you can set the wages for the 3 large groups, uneducated, high-school and college.

i generally pay the employees with college degreees twice what i pay the uneducated ones, and the high-school educated ones get something in the middle. it works and i rarely have to micromanage a specific building.

i really like tropico (the whole series) and i can't wait for tropico 5.

my biggest hope is that they'll finally manage to make it viable to rule as a dictator. for some reason i always end up being good, with a thriving economy plenty of cash, happy people and 100% relationships and respect. being evil is simply not worth it. heck, even syphoning money into your swiss account is not worth it.

what's interesting is that in tropico 5 we'll start from the colonial era and play for a much longer period of time (not 1950-2000 like in tropico 4). this could make things great or could destroy the whole series, as a lot of the fun was the cold-war banana-republic dictator thing.

[Gillipig]

There's still no "free market capitalism" option, the downside with being a dictator is that you have to "dictate"......*chuckles*. But you can set the wage for groups of workers such as "construction workers", "soldiers" or "farmers".

you can set the wages for the 3 large groups, uneducated, high-school and college.

i generally pay the employees with college degreees twice what i pay the uneducated ones, and the high-school educated ones get something in the middle. it works and i rarely have to micromanage a specific building.

i really like tropico (the whole series) and i can't wait for tropico 5.

my biggest hope is that they'll finally manage to make it viable to rule as a dictator. for some reason i always end up being good, with a thriving economy plenty of cash, happy people and 100% relationships and respect. being evil is simply not worth it. heck, even syphoning money into your swiss account is not worth it.

what's interesting is that in tropico 5 we'll start from the colonial era and play for a much longer period of time (not 1950-2000 like in tropico 4). this could make things great or could destroy the whole series, as a lot of the fun was the cold-war banana-republic dictator thing.

Oh and btw, I've pretty much stopped playing Tropico 4. Not that much replay value as it turns out. I've read that Tropico 5 is going to be a totally different type of game though. Apparently it doesn't just include one man's tenure as dictator, you start of the game in the early colonial age and you're the one who explores the island (it's in fog of war mode in the beginning) then you colonize it and try to keep up with technology and manage resources as the years go by. I think there's also going to be a multiplayer option where you can play against and with other players on other islands and on the same island. This radically changes the series froma purely economical and societal game into a game that oncludes warfare as well. I'm very intrigued of the posssibilities of this game, but it's going to be one hard gaem if you ahve to juggle such an advanced economy game with warfare.

I'm looking forward to Tropico 5 too, but only because it's promised to be a very different type of game than the previos games in the series, I have stopped playing tropico 4 very shortly, wasn't much replay value for me.

[AndyDufresne]

I've been playing the free "advanced edition" expansion to FTL. I like having more variety in weapons, drones, augments, and systems now, and the new events help keep things from getting too repetitive. I also like the new alien species, and that you can unlock ships by beating the boss now with a specific ship, instead of just randomly lucking into unlocking some of the special cruisers.

Can't beat free expansion.


--Andy

[Phatscotty]

Taking away from my CC time!

[rishaed]

Trying out GW2.... I have mixed feelings about it so far....

[DoomYoshi]

I've been playing the free "advanced edition" expansion to FTL. I like having more variety in weapons, drones, augments, and systems now, and the new events help keep things from getting too repetitive. I also like the new alien species, and that you can unlock ships by beating the boss now with a specific ship, instead of just randomly lucking into unlocking some of the special cruisers.

Can't beat free expansion.


--Andy

You never told me that you played FTL. Love that game. Hate how stupidly hard some of the unlocks are though. I will have to try out this expansion.

Taking away from my CC time!

We should get together on ZBattle and play. We will tier-pick starting cities though.

[AndyDufresne]

I've been playing the free "advanced edition" expansion to FTL. I like having more variety in weapons, drones, augments, and systems now, and the new events help keep things from getting too repetitive. I also like the new alien species, and that you can unlock ships by beating the boss now with a specific ship, instead of just randomly lucking into unlocking some of the special cruisers.

Can't beat free expansion.


--Andy

You never told me that you played FTL. Love that game. Hate how stupidly hard some of the unlocks are though. I will have to try out this expansion.

I feel like I've mentioned FTL a billion times in this topic. The ability to unlock ships via victories of other ships -- is easier to me than finding and lucking into the random chance encounters -- I've already unlocked the Slug and Rock cruisers this way, and I might get the Crystal cruiser this way too.

But where the new FTL stuff shines is the new stuff to play with. Some sweet new lasers, ions, and other weapons, and drones. And more variety in terms of augments is great, and more systems and subsystems help make things feel way different.

I like the new "battery backup" subsystem. You can invest like a total of 85 scrap or something, to get 4 temp extra power bars -- which is great if you are fighting in a nebula that sucked your power down, or if you simply want to say boost up your engine's dodge every while (how I typically use it).

I also dig the new "Hacking" system, and the new "clone" systems as an alternative to the medbay.

All in all, great value for free.


--Andy

[muy_thaiguy]

Game of War. Pretty addictive, and alliance members can help in reducing build times. you can have massive armies of over 100,000, but you do need the resources for it.

[AndyDufresne]

There are likely a few of you out there who have never played Portal or Portal 2. They are discounted on Steam -- you can get the Portal Bundle for 6.24 USD. Get it right now.


--Andy

[MoB Deadly]

There are likely a few of you out there who have never played Portal or Portal 2. They are discounted on Steam -- you can get the Portal Bundle for 6.24 USD. Get it right now.


--Andy

forreal? I have never tried either, I may have to grab this

Edit: I did! Thanks andy

[DoomYoshi]

There are likely a few of you out there who have never played Portal or Portal 2. They are discounted on Steam -- you can get the Portal Bundle for 6.24 USD. Get it right now.


--Andy

I played a portal clone on my TI-84+ SE.

[AndyDufresne]

There are likely a few of you out there who have never played Portal or Portal 2. They are discounted on Steam -- you can get the Portal Bundle for 6.24 USD. Get it right now.


--Andy

forreal? I have never tried either, I may have to grab this

Edit: I did! Thanks andy

Good. I think 6.24 is a pretty good steal for these two games. They are of the more memorable game experiences I've had.


--Andy