Kroem

Members
  • Content count

    16
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Kroem

  • Rank
    Member
  1. This is absolutely my feelings on it as well. It probably doesn't help that in TJ Hafer's own words " Crusader Kings II is the game that launched a thousand DLCs, and pretty much spawned an unprecedented system of post-release expansions that could see a game supported even five or six years after the original launch." Supported being a soothing euphemism for emptying people's wallets and, worse, encouraging other strategy games to follow the same model!
  2. I love it when you guys do these balst from the past programmes. I might have missed you talking about it, but Broodwar would be my favourite strategy game that released in 1999! Absolute classic year overall though. Just to point out Lethis: Path of Progress was the Impressions'alike game that Rob was trying to recall.
  3. I'm really looking forward to Field of Glory: Empires this year, it bolts on a cool looking strategy layer to Field of Glory II. Essentially, you export the situation from the strategy map into FoG II to play the battle.
  4. As requested I would like to log my interest for the Three Kingdoms Episode, I need all the hours I spent in Dynasty Tactics 2 explained away and to hear someone rant about how Koei ruined the Dynasty Warriors series with Dynasty Warriors 5. And before you claim this it off topic...if you play enough Dynasty Warriors 3 and 4 you come to realise that they <can> be played as strategy games, I had great fun carefully managing the moral of my own and enemy units along with activating special events at just the right time to beat the different stages without killing any generals or sub-generals myself. Why you <would> indulge such madness is perhaps a greater question!
  5. Yea the wheels do come off of this episode about an hour in, but the good thing about a pre-recorded podcast is that you can skip ahead! This is one of those games I'd always dismissed because I thought it was only on Playstation, I'm much more likely to give it a look now! I thought the discussion about the 'negative potentials' and how they directly tie the character's story into the way they perform on the board was especially interesting, I wish more games would do something like that as it is frustrating when characters have so much personality in cut scenes that never comes across in the battles. The friendship thing soulds a bit something I really enjoyed in Dynasty Tactics 2, where you had to learn all the friendship circles to get the bonuses in battles and ensure you could recruit all the generals. It's a good little hook to reward people caring about the story rather than just the mechanics.
  6. Episode 437: Slay the Spire

    It funny that people keep praising the game (though its always best to take internet fads with a large pinch of salt!) but I just can't get over how terrible the graphics look. If you told me this was a flash game from the 90's I would totally believe you! They're just so damn ugly. I appreciate that it shouldn't stop me trying it, but it doesn't half but a barrier in the way!
  7. Episode 435: Omnia vincit Roma

    I assume this is the one? http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?308597-RTR-VII-Fate-of-Empires-1-4-Download-Mirrors-and-Installation-Guide
  8. I played Gangsters but I was too young and never really understood how to succeed in creating a crime empire, I did like to watch my chaps move around the city and rob supermarkets though! Unfortunately, I stepped on my CD whilst moving a couple of years ago so now I'll never know how it works! Talking of weird 3D games, I had this one called Armour Command which seemed mainly set sandstorms and rainstorms but remains in my memory as a cool attempt of bring RTS into 3D! I had another weird game called Warbreeds from 1998, did some really cool things with unit customisation but again I never really understood much of what was going on! Apart from Starcraft obviously, Settlers III was the game I played most of in 1998. It was so pleasant just watching goods move around and become other things. Brilliant supply chains in that game!
  9. Best Third-Person Shooters

    Objectively speaking, Gears of War 3 probably had the best 3rd person shooter mechanics of all the ones I've ever played. Saying that, the ones I've had the most fun with are PS2 classics such as Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Freedom Fighters or Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. I think the jump is a useful distinguishing factor between good and bad 3rd person shooters. I hate the floaty jump that allows you to still shoot you get in some games. Either have no jump or make it feel like a distinct manoeuvre. Resi 4 and MGS2 were brilliant, although I've never really thought of them as a 3rd person shooters!
  10. Episode 409: Field of Glory II

    Yea I'd say so, I'm still playing it regularly. The community content and expansions have been keeping things fresh.
  11. The annoying thing with Sid Meier'S Gettysburg is that my disk doesn't seem to read properly any more and there is nowhere else to get it. I'm not really interested enough in the American Civil War to go trawling through old interfaces to get a similar experience either. Rob must be happy that Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far just came out on GoG though. Weirdly it doesn't look anywhere near as good as I remember, still have nightmares about poorly positioned Flakk 88s!
  12. I'd like to see an episode on 'The Settlers' series in all its glory! Also speaking of glory, with the upcoming expansion to Field of Glory II making changes to the campaign system that will be interesting to revisit given that the Campaign was the worst part of that game.
  13. 2000 hours is utterly insane, I think my most played game is Dynasty Tactics 2 with about 300! Really interesting to hear you chaps talk about this game especially as I will probably never play it. I do wonder with this type of game if snowing you under with features is necessarily a good thing, I've spent over 100 pleasant hours in CK.1 but never managed to get into CK.2 despite multiple tries mainly because it seems like it is just the same game with loads of extraneous stuff piled on top! I think a lot of games could do with something like this, rather that boiling down to biggest is best.
  14. Episode 409: Field of Glory II

    I was keen to prove you all wrong by enjoying a nice campaign as Pontus, and in a way I think I did as I have no problem with the linked battles with a bit of flavour text in between. However what I wasn't banking on was it so brutally difficult, even though I'm only on the third difficulty! And yes I did lose far too many troops in the first battle but the Scythians are such frustrating opponents that I not going back to it and I'm too stubborn to give up. Suffice to say Elite Roman Legionnaires are absolute murder machines and beating a Roman army when you have fewer, poorer quality troops is a bit of a mission.
  15. Episode 418: They Are Billions

    I love the concept of this game and it is exciting that companies are experimenting with single player focused RTS games rather than focusing only on multiplayer. However, they successfully hit on my gripe with the game; 8 resources is too many for the elegance of a Starcraft or Command and Conquer style RTS but too few to support things like dependency chains and resources occupying physical space and requiring storage and transport that make economy optimisation interesting a la Settlers 3. This leaves it in a middle ground where you spend a lot of time building an economy using systems that are not very interesting. The mini-map pings and warnings about incoming waves also feels very gamey. Take that out and let me create my own early warning system with scouts, lookout towers, spotter balloons etc so that being prepared doesn't only boil down to 'do I have enough soldiers and walls?'.