Tag: strategy

Pyramid Scheme: Revisiting Pharaoh and Other Sierra City Builders

Back in the early days of high school — sometime in the Mesozoic Era, it feels like — one of my favourite subjects was history. We can probably thank the Civilization series for seeding and Age of Empires for nurturing that interest, but that fascination carried over into my schoolwork. I was always keen for an opportunity to study the past, particularly ancient history.

This was something that my dad took notice of, hence why I found myself gifted a jewel CD case bundle containing Caesar 3, Pharaoh, and the latter’s expansion Cleopatra. Made by Impressions Games under the Sierra banner before their closure, these were (at the time) the latest entries in a series of city building games. I was vaguely familiar with Sim City 2000 by this point, but the notion of a real-time game in which I built cities in Ancient Rome and Egypt was fascinating and immensely alluring.

I ended up playing both games quite a bit during my high school years. They were a couple years old by the time I got to them, which meant they had the advantage of working on the low-specs PC I had in my room that was ostensibly for school work only. This made them staples when I wanted to slack off, so naturally I played them a hell of a lot.

Of the two, Pharaoh had the advantage of improving on the issues of Caesar 3, being a much more enjoyable experience that also had a few more unique elements. It was easy enough to build farmland in ancient Italy, but Egypt had no such luxury, forcing me to make use of the limited Nile floodplains per map and abiding by the whims of the seasonal inundation. Certain resources were much harder to get, trade was more important… but most importantly, Pharaoh demanded that you build some of the great monuments and structures. In the end, this one saw a lot more playtime.

I never did finish all the missions and campaigns on offer for either game, but Pharaoh quickly became one of those titles that I would just pick up on a whim every few years to play a couple levels. It even became one of the first titles I purchased on GOG, back when they were still Good Old Games.

From this same platform, I had the opportunity to dabble in the games that followed it: Zeus and expansion Poseidon, the Ancient Greek version steeped heavily in mythology; and Emperor – Rise of the Middle Kingdom, one set in China. Both games ostensibly had more features, improvements, and better graphics than Pharaoh, but I never did end up sticking with them or finding the same satisfaction.

While I had considered this a matter of nostalgia or just preferring the Egyptian thematic over the alternatives, I ended up playing all of these games again following the Christmas search I outlined in my last post. Once again, Pharaoh ended up being the one that stuck with me the most, and this time I was able to figure out why.

Continue reading “Pyramid Scheme: Revisiting Pharaoh and Other Sierra City Builders”

Fantastic Resources and Where to Find Them: Delf’s Search for a Strategy Game

Back on Christmas Day (which was almost a month ago already, where does the time go?), I spent a couple of hours in the evening being somewhat… manic. I don’t recall precisely what initiated this, but for whatever reason I had pictured a specific kind of game in my head, and I was now tearing apart my collection or the internet in a frenzy to find and play it. It cascaded into me playing a handful of games since that point, trying to find something that would absolutely meet the requirements I was searching for.

From this, I ended up discarding or putting aside most of these games when they failed to achieve success, or else playing the ones I did stick with for incomplete or else different reasons. Most of these games I’ll speak about at length in the future (probably their own articles), but by now I feel like I should address the kind of game I was looking for.

In short, I was looking for quite possibly the nerdiest thing I could: a game of resource management, production chains, and logistics. And while I’m sure a few people could see that and immediately list off a few examples — just as I could, did, and started with in my search — I was looking for something more expansive. I don’t just want the end result of the chains, but the acquisition of the resources used, and the utilisation of these to allow me to expand or further my goals.

See, the first title I gravitated towards during my thought process and subsequent search was Black Desert Online. Besides the flashy and graphically striking action combat that the game sells as its main feature, it has a variety of “life skills” to complement this. You can set up farms, buy and sell trade resources in various markets that you can either manually carry or transport via wagons and boats (which you can build, and even breed better horses for), acquire property in towns that can be converted into production centres, and hire workers to work these centres or even gather the resources themselves from some areas if you didn’t feel like doing it yourself.

This was the part of the game that kept me playing for a lot longer than I expected previously. I would frequently go from place to place in order to figure out what resources were available, do smaller quests in order to open them up or else just farm contribution points that let me expand my sphere of influence, or just run trade routes back and forth in the background while doing other things. And it was this model that the manic searching for more games like this was based around.

So why didn’t I just play Black Desert Online when this mood struck me? Well… a few reasons.

Continue reading “Fantastic Resources and Where to Find Them: Delf’s Search for a Strategy Game”

Some Games I Liked From 2018’s First Half

My personal favourite game of the year for 2018 was Yakuza Kiwami 2.

Amazing how short this can be when I skip all the preamble, huh?

Regardless, welcome one and all to the other side of 2018. Love it or hate it, it was an interesting year for video games. There was a slew of stellar indie titles, some absolutely incredible high budget games from big triple A studios that were purely single player or console exclusives… and there was a continuing, unrelenting downwards spiral into a late-stage capitalist hellscape which saw more backlash and discussion from gamers than I’ve ever witnessed before despite all that.

Single player games got better, multiplayer games didn’t (for the most part), fan-favourite company goodwill was squandered, burned, and ultimately lost, and we’re all starting to feel quite bitter and jaded of the whole hobby.

With all of that in mind, I’d still like to draw attention to some of the games that I quite enjoyed throughout 2018, which I’ve picked from a list of game releases I found on Wikipedia. The list proved too long and unwieldy to fit in one article, so I’ve split it based on the first half of the year with the latter to come around Soon™.

I don’t plan to draw it out or make a spectacle of it like the hideously late Delfies, though I will draw special attention to and write at length about my favourite game that I mentioned up there afterwards. Instead, I’m going with the abridged format: no more than 2 or 3 paragraphs on each game, and the only criteria was that they released from January to June and I played and enjoyed them. Let’s begin.

Continue reading “Some Games I Liked From 2018’s First Half”

Backlog Battle Report (5th Feb 2018)

Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

I hadn’t been intending to skip over the last couple of reports, but with the focus being on keeping up with the Delfies I didn’t get the chance to write it. Clearly, I didn’t really keep up with the Delfies either. After having to put Right Click to Zoom to an intermittent release schedule due to not meeting my regular plans, you’d think I’d know better, but alas! I’m still working to get those written and out as quickly as possible, so do stay tuned.

Given that I was trying to write a lot during the skipped weeks, I didn’t play all that many different games at first. After three weeks though? Well, I’ve accrued quite a bit of playtime in various games and sampled a few titles, so I’m going to hit as many as I can. Let’s go.

Super Robot Wars J (GBA)

At some point a few weeks ago, I got to talking about mecha in a Discord chat. Very soon a handful of us were nerding out about our favourite giant robot anime or games, our favourite robot designs, and other such discussions. I love this stuff, but this knowledge tends to lie dormant for extended periods up until something reminds me about that love.

In this case, the discussion was enough for me to immediately go out and order a couple of giant robot games to fill the void. Problem is, good games that utilise good series and designs don’t tend to be all that common of late. I wanted to go to the heart of it, but in order to do so I would have to order a couple of games that don’t get western releases.

Rather than have to muddle through Japanese menus and incomprehensible plots, however, I nowadays have the option of ordering games from Southeast Asia that have cheaply done but perfectly functional English translations. The only catch is that those usually take a few weeks to ship. So I ordered my mecha fix, and then immediately was left waiting for it to arrive… meaning I had to take stopgap measures in between.

Continue reading “Backlog Battle Report (5th Feb 2018)”

Backlog Battle Report (15th Jan 2018)

This week’s report is sponsored by sleep; appreciate what you get of it, because you probably are more rested and feel better for it than I do presently. In conjunction with a big sleep deficit, I’ve also been very fickle and have jumped from game to game pretty rapidly, meaning we’re back to having a wide assortment of titles listed today. So here’s what I’ve been up to this week.

Heroes of the Storm (PC)

I’ve eased up a little bit on the relentless Heroes games over the last week, but it’s still seeing at least a game or two from me on most days. As suggested, the latest patch went through last week and attempted a few balances to keep the games from being snowbally stomps. It also introduced the newest hero: Blaze, a Firebat from Starcraft. Betcha that name took a while to come up with. There’s also been a handful of buffs/nerfs and another rework for Malfurion.

I haven’t played Malfurion just yet so I can’t speak on how that treated him, but I can talk about Blaze and the other changes. So, did the changes make the game less early game centric? A little bit. Towers and keeps hurt a bit more so minions won’t completely bulldoze them if a specialist walks up to them with a wave and a funny look, but they’re still not the threats of yore. Things are a little slower and late-game is a thing, but it’s certainly possible to keep rolling through and win fairly easily. Probably could use more tweaks, but we’ll see. As I said last week, I don’t really mind the faster pace of the games.

So, Blaze. At long last, the long awaited and anticipated Firebat enters the field. With his release, every leaked hero from a credible source has now hit the Nexus, which means anything further from here is new ground. No idea who’s next, which is always a fun place for speculation… but even if the next release is a way off, I’ll probably need that long to fully acquaint myself with Blaze.

Continue reading “Backlog Battle Report (15th Jan 2018)”

Backlog Battle Report (11th Dec 2017)

Yep, okay, this one’s late. It’s been a week, and I’ve got no excuse. Doesn’t matter, it’s here now, so let’s get into it. Not a lot of games this week but here’s what’s been there nonetheless.

Realm Grinder (PC)

Need to bring this one up first again because, quite frankly, it’s becoming a problem. Addiction to the notion or sensation of progress isn’t uncommon for me, and I’ve bounced around between a few idle games offering similar stuff, but something about this one is keeping me checking on it to the point that it’s actually inhibiting my other gaming or writing.

It’s seriously gotten to the point where I will set up things or do what seems like a maximised build for this run, then sit and see it through. I’m not spam clicking the entire time or anything, but I’ll be watching Youtube or chatting on Discord in between managing that when I should be doing other things. It’s not entirely to blame for my hold-ups and delays, but it is a factor and I need to start really limiting how I go about maintaining this.

All that said, I’m a way into Reincarnation 6. More upgrades and challenges are right around the corner of unlocking, I think. Seems like more aspects of the game go quite a way back if you keep running it… which I will probably do, but in the background. Or offline.

Continue reading “Backlog Battle Report (11th Dec 2017)”

Backlog Battle Report (2nd Oct 2017)

Astute observers may notice a lack of Right Click to Zoom from this Friday. I’m hoping to have that up tomorrow, but I was in no state to be writing on Friday or during the weekend thanks to work related drama that I had to resolve. If all goes well I’ll be back on schedule this week. In the meantime, here’s the list of games I tackled this week.

Elder Scrolls Online (PC) — Keep Scroll-ing

Another week has passed but I’m still firmly entrenched in the universe of the Elder Scrolls. In fact, I don’t think I played anything but it and Heroes of the Storm until halfway through the week. That in itself is probably telling of how much the hooks are in, given how quick I am to jump between games at the drop of a hat.

Nonetheless, I’m still playing through. This week has seen me still playing my Templar, reaching the mid-30s in level. I’ve spent a lot of that time working on different skill trees and varying my action setup as much as possible, both to create variety and facilitate later progress. Since the aim is to eventually be a healer on this character, quite a few healing skills have been picked up and kept on hand just to make the transition as painless as possible when the time comes.

Beyond that, it’s mostly just been questing through the world of ESO. Since I’m sticking to the primary Dominion faction’s questlines, this sees me almost permanently locked in some variety of forested areas as I plumb the depths of the Valenwood, home of the Wood Elves.

Continue reading “Backlog Battle Report (2nd Oct 2017)”

Backlog Battle Report (25th Sept 2017)

I was a little less diverse in my gameplay time this week and instead was more focused on just a couple of titles. Some decent progress made in what I did play, but nothing to cross off the list since Samus Returns last weekend. With my new job and potentially a second one in the wings, game time might be slightly reduced, but that shouldn’t stop me from still having some opinions to share as I go. So here’s what I’ve been up to.

Elder Scrolls Online (PC) — The current MMORPG of choice

As stated last week, I ended up attempting this one again and getting far more invested than I had previously. Couple a number of friends playing alongside me, and it has remained compelling enough throughout the week to quickly become the game I gravitate towards most when I have a few spare minutes. Again, that will probably change once the next Final Fantasy 14 patch drops in about a fortnight, but the subscription-free system of ESO means I can comfortably drop in and out without issue.

Regardless, I’m fully wrapped up in this one now. The game has continued to provide me with a good mix of content and variety, with even the more basic and genre-standard stuff still proving entertaining to keep me focused. I’ve healed dungeons with friends, gone exploring solo in the public dungeons, tried out the opening zones of all three factions (the Dominion still seems my best fit), and otherwise just gone wandering and questing through the world. My internet and general game lag makes me disinclined to try PvP, but I might end up doing that eventually.

I wasn’t here for the launch of the game, but what I initially saw following ESO’s announcement and from beta footage left me completely disinterested. It’s really impressive to hear and see how much it’s turned itself around. With the removal of level and faction restrictions on so much of the content, it really does provide a huge world to go exploring in, with all sorts of compelling and interesting quest chains that I literally just stumble into.

There’s also a lot of versatility in how one builds a character. Effectively, every character has a variety of skill lines that they can choose to invest points in, ranging from armour and weapon types to guild or faction specific abilities to class skills. You gain skill points every time you level up, by completing certain quest chains, or finding collectables in the world. The actual skill lines level up through use as they do in regular Elder Scrolls games, which unlocks more of their abilities and passive bonuses.

So as well as all the universal skill lines based on quests and weapon types, each of the four classes has three unique trees that you can go into. You also gain a single stat point when you level up which you can drop into Health, Magicka or Stamina and upgrade relevant abilities that way. What’s really interesting is that there’s no set ways to build these classes; a Dragonknight might typically be a heavy armour wearing tank, but I’m building mine as a full magic damage type.

At the moment, I’m juggling three characters but primarily sticking with my Wood Elf Templar tank. Currently I’m in the late 20s for level with them (level cap is 50 but with further progression afterwards) and looking to push ahead, but there’s no real rush. Absolutely everything in the game gives experience, so I’m just exploring, crafting, doing quests or faction objectives as I see fit and having a good time.

It’s been a while since I’ve just been able to completely lose myself in a world like this. Plus, for all its pros and strengths, Final Fantasy 14 doesn’t really make much use of its actual world after you finish the main questlines. There’s less to discover and accomplish just by wandering as this game incentivises, and it’s wonderful. Definitely will be chipping away at this for some time to come.

Continue reading “Backlog Battle Report (25th Sept 2017)”

Mid-February Activity Dump

I usually do my best to consolidate the number of games I’m focusing on playing at any given time, hence the Current Projects list on the sidebar. That said, my attention span is the exact opposite of my backlog, and tends to falter quite a bit. The last couple of weeks have seen me jumping between a number of games in relatively quick succession, so rather than write a number of articles focusing on them individually, this article is going to be a rapid fire synopsis of my feelings and experiences on them.

There will be more focused articles, of course, but that’s for another day. Let’s begin.

Gravity Rush 2 (PS4)

I really enjoyed the first game as my post on that indicates, and hearing good things about the sequel saw me anticipating playing it quite a bit. Sadly, I don’t like it nearly as much. The primary reason for this is that, well… there are large stretches of the game where I’m not playing Gravity Rush. Instead, the new features and attempts to expand the game feel like a mix of things like Assassin’s Creed or Beyond Good and Evil, just… not nearly as good.

Stealth missions where you can’t use your gravity powers, or missions where you have to comb through crowds and ask people about X or Y… it’s an attempt to expand on the core of the game, but it’s so far removed that it ends up pulling me out of it. When Gravity Rush lets me play Gravity Rush, it’s great! But that is actually rarer than it should be. Lots of points I could make on this one that deserves its own post or GameSkinny article; I’ll just move on for now.

Digimon World: Next Order (PS4)

I haven’t played a Digimon game in a while, but there were immediately enough elements that this felt very much like revisiting a childhood memory. Sadly, that feeling didn’t last long. This game isn’t bad at all, but it’s not really what I expected. I planned on it being more like a JRPG, but it’s true to its roots as a monster raising game through and through.

Now while that’s not a bad thing, it immediately sets itself up for one BIG problem. See, training your Digimon back at the base city gives considerable stats and improvements as you’d expect. But going out and actually fighting? The rewards and stat gains are so negligible as to actively discourage fighting to keep from wasting time. So you’re effectively choosing between power or progression, and it feels like a very strange dichotomy that could’ve been woven together better.

And when you’re not really interested in fighting in a monster raising game, well… I’m sure you can see why this sapped my interest. I owe this game more time and attention, I really do, but it’s on the backburner for now.

Nioh (PS4)

I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while now, letting myself get hyped by videos and trailers despite my normal caution. That said, it’s met my expectations nicely. The game is a lot of fun to play, and I’m greatly enjoying my time with it. I’m dying LOTS, mind you, but that’s to be expected when I don’t have much experience with the SoulsBorne games to prep me for it.

At one point, I spectated my friend and brother playing the game, and they were much better at it than I was due to their familiarity with Dark Souls – they died considerably less and made progress much faster than I did. I have much to learn in my quest to git gud. Despite this, I must reiterate that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting my ass kicked by this one and look forward to playing more in the coming days.

Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star (PS4)

Purchasing this on a whim after a friend’s recommendation, I’ve been playing this over the last day or two. It’s a Musou/Warriors game ala Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors style games, set in the Type Moon universe made famous by Fate/Stay Night.

Now those who know anything about Dynasty Warriors or any relevant spinoff will know what the gameplay of this boils down to, and little really changes here. But I’ve long been a fan of that style of play, and mowing down thousands of enemies while clashing with the tougher figures is quite therapeutic even if it gets repetitive quickly. There’s a lot of context and nuance to the plot that I don’t fully understand, since it’s a sequel to a PSP game I never played… but I’m filling in the blanks as I go and it’s reasonably enjoyable.

Will see how it lasts in the long run, but again, it’s therapeutic and a good game to wind down with since (at least in regular difficulties) I can mow things down without a thought.

Final Fantasy 14 (PC)

As my interest in WoW wavered, my interest in revisiting the world of Eorzea grew. It was kind of a whim at first, since I hadn’t played the game for around a year after unsubbing before any Heavensward patch content was released. That said, after dragging a good friend in for the ride, I got back into it. And, well, this has absolutely been where all my time has gone since.

I’m back in the game with a passion and vigor that I sincerely didn’t expect, even replaying old content that I’ve done while leveling up a fresh character instead of returning to my main. In between playing with my friend and leveling solo, I’ve almost reached Heavensward content a second time and I’ve been having a blast doing so. I really do love the world they’ve made here, and it’s remarkably refreshing to be pulled back into a fictional universe that I feel like I can relate and invest myself in without fear of harsh disappointment. There’s even been fanfiction! What can I say, I love developing on my characters even in video games.

I tend to play a little of this every day and am pushing on ahead to endgame where I can visit all the patch content I missed and hopefully be ready to tackle the Stormblood expansion when it’s fresh. I really did miss this, though.

Heroes of the Storm (PC)

Anyone who knows me knows that this game is a constant, and nothing has changed. I’m still picking this game up and playing a couple of games every so often, usually in QMs with friends but occasionally attempting to climb the ranks back up into Diamond. My frequent run ins with angry and abusive assholes as well as people intentionally ruining ranked games is stifling any attempt to get seriously back into that one, though.

Lucio is due out soon, though, and he looks fun to play. That should be interesting.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (3DS)

Strangely, while enjoying this game a reasonable amount, I quickly put it down once I reached almost the same point as I put down the PS2 version and have yet to really pick it back up. It’s not bad – it’s quite good, honestly, and I’m having more fun than I remember from the first attempt at beating this years ago. I just… can’t seem to stick to it? I don’t know. I’ll give it another shot in the coming days.

Fire Emblem Heroes (Mobile)

The first of many impending Fire Emblem games, and the one I was looking at with the most skepticism, as mobile games are rarely anything but quick cash-ins. Nintendo’s offering has more quality and gameplay than the vast majority, and it was a pleasant surprise to find myself quite enjoying it.

That didn’t last long, though. Eventually, I reached the end of the current content save for repeated arenas or grinding ceaselessly to beat the highest difficulties, and then the veneer starts to wear off and… surprise! It’s your standard mobile Gacha game designed to draw in whales! For all the negativity in this statement, though, I did enjoy myself. But I’m already at the point where I don’t even bother to log in and play it now. Feel like I’m done with it already, especially when I could be playing

Dandy Dungeon (Mobile)

The last game on today’s list is also the biggest surprise, because up until I saw it reviewed on GameSkinny, I’d never heard a damn thing about it. That said, it’s easily the best game I recall playing on mobile since You Must Build A Boat, and I’ve sunk a considerable amount of time over the past few days into it.

The general plot and style of the game is completely wacky, zany Japanese humour that is amusing and delightful to behold. The gameplay sees you plot the path of the main character through a dungeon and then use items at the right time to make sure you get through it, as well as equipping and upgrading the right gear before tackling those dungeons. There’s a lot of farming and grinding involved to get the item drops you need to make progress, but honestly? The game’s so entertaining that I don’t even mind just playing a dungeon or two when I get a spare minute and my energy’s full.

Yes, it has the standard free to play mobile game energy system. In this case, however, a small purchase will completely negate that akin to just purchasing the game outright, and I’m starting to think it might be worth it to do so. Nonetheless, even with the free to play elements, the game is well executed and entirely too endearing. Highly recommended!

 

Barring a few minor dabblings, that largely covers my gaming over the past few days. With any luck I’ll settle in on knocking over set projects and making headway in the backlog… though with the impending release of Torment: Tides of Numenera, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and NieR: Automata in a matter of weeks, I can only foresee the list growing rather than shrinking. Oh well!