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OnePompousPenguin

Help me choose...please.

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Ground Control was great, I played it fairly recently and I think it holds up pretty well, even visually. Another one I'd strongly recommend is Myth II by Bungie. It's a little more awkward to play because of the strange camera controls, but you can slow down / accelerate time which helps a lot. Perhaps it's more of a real-time tactics game than a strategy game but it's so much fun. I think its campaign has more interesting gameplay than most RTS and I think it tells a decent story too. Or perhaps just tells it well, I love the voice of the narrator in Myth II. Be sure to get the mod that makes it run on modern machines and in higher res: http://projectmagma.net/

 

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Still on the RTS thing, is there any love for Nexus: The Jupiter Incident here? I quite liked that game, it was fucking hard though.

Superficially similar to Homeworld, but definitely a tactics game more than a traditional RTS. Small groups of highly customizable ships and details-focused battles.

It was unfortunate that the kickstarter for the sequel failed.

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I think you should re-consider Fez. You don't want to think very hard, and Fez is quite a pleasant platformer, and once you've gotten all 32 cubes you'll be wanting something a bit more cerebral, and Fez will have your back there, too.

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Hmm, that's interesting. Is it more combat, less jockeying for position than Demons Souls? Or are you better off playing it safe, keeping your distance, and finding your opportunity every now and again to attack?

 

It depends on what type of equipment you're running with. Right now I have a rapier, which has a pretty sizable forward lunge, so I'm doing a lot of jockeying for position to get the right range for my lunge, followed by panicked maneuvering if I miss my jab. The best players are parrying all the time, so you have to be a more active participant and hit the block at exactly the right moment, don't over commit when they stumble, etc.

 

I guess it all depends on what you want out of combat. It feels very intense and fast paced to me, but I may not be the typical gamer.

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I think you should re-consider Fez. You don't want to think very hard, and Fez is quite a pleasant platformer, and once you've gotten all 32 cubes you'll be wanting something a bit more cerebral, and Fez will have your back there, too.

 

I will get to Fez, but there is something I can't put my finger on that just does not appeal to me at the moment.  Maybe after Deus Ex / October Horror Games Fest.

 

It depends on what type of equipment you're running with. Right now I have a rapier, which has a pretty sizable forward lunge, so I'm doing a lot of jockeying for position to get the right range for my lunge, followed by panicked maneuvering if I miss my jab. The best players are parrying all the time, so you have to be a more active participant and hit the block at exactly the right moment, don't over commit when they stumble, etc.

 

I guess it all depends on what you want out of combat. It feels very intense and fast paced to me, but I may not be the typical gamer.

 

Fair enough, I will probably get to it sooner rather than later, but for now I don't think it's what I'm looking for.

 

Also, I just finished the training mission in Deus Ex....sneaking in this game is not easy to do.  Then the, get across the river mission, turned into, swim for your life, really quick.  I ended up as just a torso and arm by the end, dragging my pitiful self through the end of the mission.  Yep, this is going to go well :-P

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Also, I just finished the training mission in Deus Ex....sneaking in this game is not easy to do.  Then the, get across the river mission, turned into, swim for your life, really quick.  I ended up as just a torso and arm by the end, dragging my pitiful self through the end of the mission.  Yep, this is going to go well :-P

I don't know if it's the detail you're missing, but do keep in mind that it's not as much about line-of-sight as other modern stealth games are, it's more like Thief, where it's about hiding in shadows and making as little noise as possible. (The Thief games being what Warren Spector worked on before and after Deus Ex, you should also play those.)

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I will get to Fez, but there is something I can't put my finger on that just does not appeal to me at the moment.

I know that feeling! I have a ton of games I know are great that I'd love to play, but just... not right now.

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I don't know if it's the detail you're missing, but do keep in mind that it's not as much about line-of-sight as other modern stealth games are, it's more like Thief, where it's about hiding in shadows and making as little noise as possible. (The Thief games being what Warren Spector worked on before and after Deus Ex, you should also play those.)

 

Hmm, that's an interesting tip.  I'm so used to line of sight that I didn't really consider it.  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to tell whether you are in the shadows or not, correct?  That makes things difficult, in a frustrating sort of way.

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Still on the RTS thing, is there any love for Nexus: The Jupiter Incident here? I quite liked that game, it was fucking hard though.

Superficially similar to Homeworld, but definitely a tactics game more than a traditional RTS. Small groups of highly customizable ships and details-focused battles.

It was unfortunate that the kickstarter for the sequel failed.

I love that game. The campaign was crippled by missions that were not just hard but also frustrating due to the stealth shit, the way only certain loadouts were good, and the lack of checkpoints, but aside from that, the game is amazing.

Also, I just finished the training mission in Deus Ex....sneaking in this game is not easy to do.  Then the, get across the river mission, turned into, swim for your life, really quick.  I ended up as just a torso and arm by the end, dragging my pitiful self through the end of the mission.  Yep, this is going to go well :-P

Very few people make it through the training mission with all of their limbs. I think losing both legs is pretty common.

And it's not like you need more games to play but personally I enjoyed the first System Shock more than System Shock 2, and I loved System Shock 2. Plus, yeah, the Thief games. You can play those...

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Hmm, that's an interesting tip.  I'm so used to line of sight that I didn't really consider it.  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to tell whether you are in the shadows or not, correct?  That makes things difficult, in a frustrating sort of way.

There's definitely a lot of ambiguity about stealth in the two original Deus Ex games, yeah. You just have to trust that the spots you are perceiving as being very dark and in shadow are being perceived by the game systems the same way.

The Thief games, which came before and after Deus Ex, had a clear UI element to let you know how deep in shadows the game was perceiving you to be. It's a small, excellent detail unfortunately missing from Deus Ex.

Also, Human Revolution, which was from an entirely different team, was built on a completely different los-focused stealth system.

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And it's not like you need more games to play but personally I enjoyed the first System Shock more than System Shock 2, and I loved System Shock 2. Plus, yeah, the Thief games. You can play those...

Eh, I've got the rest of my life right :-P

I love the classics. So much more focus on developing mechanics over visuals. I will definitely check out System Shock before 2.

And I've been meaning to get into the Thief games as well, so maybe down the line.

Edited by OnePompousPenguin

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You should obviously take this to its logical conclusion and play Ultima Underworld, the secret most influential game ever. :P

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There's definitely a lot of ambiguity about stealth in the two original Deus Ex games, yeah. You just have to trust that the spots you are perceiving as being very dark and in shadow are being perceived by the game systems the same way.

That's good to hear. Maybe I'll be able to overcome a little of the anxiety I'm feeling and just play for fun... one of these days I'll figure that out.

You should obviously take this to its logical conclusion and play Ultima Underworld, the secret most influential game ever. :P

If that's what this deep dive leads to then so be it. :-P

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I think Ultima Underworld might even be better to start with than System Shock 1. I just started SS1 recently and it's totally overwhelming in the beginning.

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