otthegreat

Rowan's point towards the end of the podcast is why the HoMM series will always be one for which I have particularly fond memories. My younger sister too had no interest in games except for Heroes of Might and Magic. I think it was the art and music that initially drew her in too. The two of us and my dad would all sit around our one computer for hours playing hotseat games. I don't think we ever actually finished one, but that wasn't really the point anyway. I keep meaning to fire them up again, especially II, but I think you all are right, this series is probably best left as fond memories and a design artifact. I looked up some screenshots while listening to the podcast, and the early games really are striking. I'd go so far as to say they're beautiful, but can see where others would disagree.

I just finished listening to the podcast and haven't had time to look much over the thread but just had to add this. Jettas and water do not mix. I had a black Jetta station wagon a few years ago when we had a huge rainstorm here in Philly. It lasted several days. Apparently a mouse had made a nest at some point in the drains under the windshield blocking them up. So, rather than draining onto the ground, all of that water got diverted into the car. When I got in it there was a good 4-6 inches of water on the floor on the driver's side. I bailed out the car as best I could and took it to the dealer who told me that all of the vital electronics were stored where else but under the floor on the driver's side. Further, there was no way of knowing how much if any damage had been done to them. Basically, they said I'd be driving along at some indeterminate time in the future and the electronics would all simply fail. So I sold it. Nothing compared to Jake, but still an ordeal at the time. And for Disney, I can at least confirm their policy regarding water guns. I had a cousin who was I think still in training to work there when he was fired and evicted when he was discovered with one.

Great episode, I really enjoyed it. As mentioned above, it goes well with Bruce's Vietnam series. It's funny how "America saves the day" is both kind of a joke but also informs so much of our understanding of history through both classrooms and popular media. I think the podcast John mentioned was Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. I just started listening myself and while I like it, I've gotten a bit bogged down in the most recent episode.

I've been coming up against this for the past year or so. My gaming time generally comes in half hour to hour long chunks. I've found that one obstacle to playing longer-form games like RPGs or big strategy games is that I spend a large amount of my gaming time just remembering where I was and what I was doing. And that's for a game with which I already have some familiarity with the systems. Even more than that, there's no satisfying conclusion an hour or so in. It's difficult to walk away from the game when I have to since I'm usually just getting settled in. For these reasons I've mostly just played multiplayer RTS matches since I can have a self-contained experience in about a half hour. I don't know if this is what Chris was talking about, but it's how I related to/interpreted it. I also haven't tried Dark Souls yet.

Wargame doesn't use UPlay, I bought it through steam and haven't had to sign up for anything else. Edit: Oh now that I think of it I did have to register my CD key with Eugen but didn't have to download anything. I agree that the implementation of ships is less than ideal. I don't really even enjoy the combined land-sea maps. They require you to play an annoying naval game, the winner of which can park their ships along the shore and annihilate anything that moves on land. It makes the excellent land game largely pointless. On another topic, I also think the large number of units is a double edged sword for Eugen. On the one hand it sounds really cool but on the other I know people who are far too intimidated by it to even give the game a chance. You guys touched on the reality of the situation: you don't need to know the units, but the classes (atgm, apc, tank, AA, etc.) to get started. The unit icons are great for this. Does it help to know the difference between a malyutka and a konkurs? Sure, but its far from essential. Anyway, I don't have much to add to what you said on the 'cast. Despite Red Dragon's shortcomings, Wargame is an excellent series and has replaced Company of Heroes as my go to multiplayer RTS.

I'll be disappointed if I can't pull a piece of burning wood out of my leg.

I missed most of the early Battlefield and Halo games back in the day, but the discussion of them reminded me a lot of my experiences in Planetside 2. I suppose the comparison isn't surprising since it is deliberately recalling games from that era. Still, Nick's discussion especially reminded me of the times I jumped in a transport plane with a bunch of strangers and flew around having adventures or joined in on a massive base assault. Have the Thumbs ever tried it out? I can't recall if the game has really been discussed on the podcast. The Red Orchestra games are also pretty good at making you feel like just a random guy storming a beach, especially Rising Storm. Oh and I'm 24 and have only ever seen a handful of Simpsons episodes. I don't feel like I'm missing out on much but then maybe I'm just used to having '90s TV references go over my head since all we had was an antenna that got PBS if it wasn't raining.

Immediately followed by "discussion" of The (Great) Game. Surely another aspect of the ARG... it's been happening for years and we never knew.

And apparently Age of Mythology will soon be available on Steam. It goes without saying that every 3MA listener should go pick it up as soon as possible.

Yes, it couldn't have gone any better! Great job to everyone. I think I'll join all those people in resolving to spend more time in this wonderful goofy place.

Well, you aren't alone.

I also had no idea about Pandora before this, I'll have to give it a try. And congrats on the 250 episodes! I think I could listen to you all talk about just about anything. Not that this is an endorsement of turning 3MA into a Final Fantasy podcast...

Wait now I'm confused. The grenade rolling down a hill story that I was thinking of is in fact from the end of this episode (Thanks Mr. Tabacco!). It's also a great episode.

I'm fairly certain it was told to close out a live show. I can't remember which one though so I just realized I'm not really being that helpful.

Man, Phoenix was the best. All that I remember from my high school physics class was playing games on our TI-83s and 84s. Poor Mr. Hodgkins, it was his first year teaching and he got stuck with 25 or so apathetic kids who cared more about calculator games. I wonder if he's still there. And yeah, I just looked them up, a TI-84+ on Amazon is still $130. It's crazy.

That music! I haven't played Dominions 3 in years, it's a great game but can be draining. I lost my last multiplayer game to a sneak attack by those terrible Irish elf people while I was busy on another front. Their name starts with a T. Anyway, it was a bit annoying so I put the game down, lost the CD in a move shortly thereafter, and never went back. But hearing about Dominions 4 has gotten me excited to jump back in as soon as I get the time. I'm especially looking forward to checking out the team options.

Where? I lived in Athens a couple years ago and will be near Thessaloniki this summer. We also started missing America so we went to the TGI Fridays across from our apartment and then saw The Adjustment Bureau one night. I can't remember the name in Greek but it came out to something like The Agency. Also watching them try to come up with Greek subtitles for the various ways Americans answer phones was surprisingly funny.

There are a lot of games that I haven't finished or played recently (it's usually been a year +) but keep meaning to come back to at some point. It never seems to happen though. If I'm going to be realistic, I've probably essentially quit about half on this list. Bioshock, Portal (that's right, the first one), EU 3, Half-Life 2 ep. 1, Mass Effect 2, Space Pirates and Zombies, Hegemony, Civ IV (yup never finished a game), Dominions 3 (I will never be remotely competitive in that game), Defense Grid But there are a couple I've quit for good: Terraria - it was interesting but I got impatient with it. I've never really enjoyed games with such an emphasis on memorizing crafting formulas. I don't particularly like tabbing out of a game to check the wiki every 10 minutes. This is what scares me about minecraft (probably unfair of me) Risen - Got it cheap on steam. It was long enough ago I don't really remember why I quit, just uninstalling it and thinking "well, I'm never doing that again"

I've been looking for an excuse to get this game. So count me in as interested too.

"It is every citizen's final duty to go into the tanks, and become one with all the people" "More gold your majesty!" "My service ... ends" And not from Video games: "It was not on account of the Trojan spearmen that I came here to fight, since they have done no wrong to me. Never have they driven off my cattle or my horses, nor ever in deep-soiled Phthia, nurse of warriors, did they lay waste the harvest, for many things lie between us: shadowy mountains and sounding sea. But you, shameless one, we followed, so that you might rejoice, seeking to win recompense for Menelaus and for yourself, dog-face, from the Trojans. This you disregard, and take no heed of." Okay I had to look up some of the wording on that last one.

I'd be interested, but yes It'd probably depend on the details for me too.

Since I was hanging out in chat with you guys yesterday, I guess it's about time I posted this here http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198010576757

If you guys are thinking about starting up another game and are ok with someone new joining up I'd be interested. I haven't played in a long time though.

Thanks for talking about Kohan, it was one of my favorite games back then and you guys did a great job describing what makes it special. This podcast made me buy it on steam and start playing again. To me they still hold up (apart from some issues - for some reason the minimap and building icons don't work for me) but I don't know how someone new to the games would feel. As for Kohan vs. Kohan 2, I bought and played both but Kohan 2 definitely suffers from being a sequel in that it isn't new and original anymore. In the end, I prefer the original for various reasons - Shouta mentioned some - but I do enjoy some of the changes. I'm glad both exist. I never got a chance to try multiplayer, though yes I've heard there were some technical problems, but if there's interest here, I'd be willing to give it a shot.

Having lived in Boston - ok well, near Boston - for the past few years, I can tell you that a more "organic" city layout definitely has its drawbacks. Really, that whole state has the most ridiculous and convoluted road system that I have ever seen. Oh and yes, I very much enjoyed hearing about what all you guys are working on.