Off-Topic: Gaming

[spacewhale]

Anyone playing anything good? The XCOM reskin, Battletech is pretty sick. Insanely slow paced, but robot boxing is great.

[Arioch]

Ozymandias is a small indie "Civilization lite" strategy game with abstract but interesting mechanics. You can play a game in less than an hour. It has a free demo on Steam.



Citizen Sleeper is an indie SF RPG/digital novel featuring artwork by Guillaume Singelin. You attempt to survive as an artificial person with a decaying body stranded on a derelict space station. I was drawn to it by the artwork, but the narrative is surprisingly well written.



Civilization VI has a new Leader Pass coming out starting this Monday that adds a bunch of new leaders to the game. It's supposed to be free to anyone who already owns all the DLC.



(And yeah, I'm still playing XCOM2.)

[spacewhale]

I found X-COM 2 to be much more punishing than the first, intentionally an uphill battle, and just found it harder to get into. I assume it's the same sort of reverse difficulty curve of X-COM where once you get decent equipment and experienced troops you can spank ET. Beyond that, the sort of pressure for pacing (i.e. you must do all these things before the end of the world) I find irritating.

Battletech pilot training is pretty simple, but tweaking mechs and hunting down parts is a ton of fun. No real time crunch, instead you have runway with cash flow, and if you can't complete enough missions at a profit, game over. Missions get pretty repetitive (but I guess you don't really have much choice in a game where your only interaction with other mechs is to kill one another) and the DLCs are very expensive, though.

The new Shadowrun games were super fun (if mixing trolls, magic, and cyberpunk doesn't disgust you at a deep primal level), and don't really demand a powerful computer to run, strongly recommend. Not a ton of micromanagement of a party (as the NPC companions come equipped to missions on their own), and the big focus is just on customizing your main character, so the crappy inventory management never becomes a chore (i.e. Infinity Engine games). I usually just end playing a troll that punches people to death, though.

[Arioch]

Some of the early XCOM2 DLC made the game unreasonably difficult even on the easier settings, so depending on when you played it, that may have been the case. But with the current expansion/DLC (War of the Chosen), I think it's both a better game overall and has a more reasonable difficulty level.

That said, it's still XCOM, and a certain amount of hardship is part of the ethos.

[spacewhale]

That said, it's still XCOM, and a certain amount of hardship is part of the ethos.

Things were more random, for sure, which throws me off. Also, I just miss how excited Dr. Vahlen was to meet the new guests.

Xenonauts is another X-COM alike as well, which I enjoyed the aesthetic of (drab Cold War feel), but as soon as height differences come into play the UI just feels very painful in that it's harder to see LoS.

[Arioch]

Xenonauts is another X-COM alike as well, which I enjoyed the aesthetic of (drab Cold War feel), but as soon as height differences come into play the UI just feels very painful in that it's harder to see LoS.

I also enjoyed UFO: Afterlight, which was the third game in its series, but the only one that I liked. It's a little bit like XCOM2 in that it takes place after the aliens have already taken over Earth, and is set on a Mars base, so it's completely stand-alone. It's probably a bit dated now, and doesn't have the clean new XCOM-reboot 2-action interface that every new XCOM-alike game seems to use... but the interface is a lot more usable than in the first game of the series.

[spacewhale]

Some of the early XCOM2 DLC made the game unreasonably difficult even on the easier settings,

I feel like a bunch of sequels do that too. Was playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and I usually just played max difficulty on the first game, do that early on in the second game and it's like you're some augmented barney fife rentacop trying to fight off Hans Gruber.

[Cthulhu]

I'm still playing Master of Orion 2, Freelancer (modded), Civilization 4 and Surviving Mars.

Civilization VI has a new Leader Pass coming out starting this Monday that adds a bunch of new leaders to the game. It's supposed to be free to anyone who already owns all the DLC.

The Civilization franchise took a very sharp turn with the fifth installment. Some praise this change, but quite frankly, I never got into it. It no longer feels like Civilization at all. I mean, all the other titles were similar at their core, and this includes Alpha Centauri, or even the less known spin-offs (Call to Power 1&2). But the 5th and 6th, this is a completely different game, and the cartooniefied graphics are simply painful to look at. Therefore, I mostly play the fourth one, sometimes with the Fall from Heaven 2 mod.

Besides, this "milk the audience dry with countless DLCs" scheme is one of the worst things to haunt the gaming world. It's not as bad as with Crusader Kings 2 or Stellaris, but still nothing I'd like to support.

[Ithekro]

Waiting for the sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters (Star Control 2) that's being worked on by Pistol Shrimp Games (Otherwise known as Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III).

[Snoofman]

Just finished A Plague Tale: Requiem. Awesome game. Also play Destiny 2 whenever friends are available. Halo fan all the way. Though bummed out that Halo Infinite did not have Firefight like in Halo 5: Guardians.

Right now I just started Signalis. Need to catch up on Division 2.

If anyone else here is a gamer, would love to do multiplayer sometime.

[Arent]

Haha, most people here have the same taste as me. Also playing alpha centauri, the shadowrun games, mankind divided. And also hating civ 5 & civ 6.

One game I can recommend: Into the Breach. Quick strategy game, doesn't take long.

Kena, Bridge of spirits has gorgeous graphics, even if I'm usually not into these games.

[Arent]

Ah, I forgot Tactics Ogre Reborn and the final fantasy vii reboot.

Tactics ogre reborn is a reaaally good tactical RPG with difficult moral choices.

Final Fantasy VII is well known & has an interesting world & a little romance/commedy.

[spacewhale]

Waiting for the sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters (Star Control 2) that's being worked on by Pistol Shrimp Games (Otherwise known as Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III).

Wasn't even aware they were working on one. Follow the Melnorme arrow.

Tactics ogre reborn is a reaaally good tactical RPG with difficult moral choices.

Played this on PSP, would be nice to not have to use an emulator now.

[Arent]

Tactics ogre reborn is a reaaally good tactical RPG with difficult moral choices.

Played this on PSP, would be nice to not have to use an emulator now.

Exactly. It's one of my all time favorite games. They have now full voice acting and also rebalanced the classes.

Oh, and in 2 weeks, the Master of Magic remake of Slitherine is released. Sadly without multiplayer, but it still might help as a little civilization alternative.

[spacewhale]

Tactics ogre reborn is a reaaally good tactical RPG with difficult moral choices.

Played this on PSP, would be nice to not have to use an emulator now.

Oh, and in 2 weeks, the Master of Magic remake of Slitherine is released. Sadly without multiplayer, but it still might help as a little civilization alternative.

I recall Battle for Wesnoth borrowed from the combat of it (though being a simplified game). MoM sounds like Saruman simulator.

[Arent]

Oh, and in 2 weeks, the Master of Magic remake of Slitherine is released. Sadly without multiplayer, but it still might help as a little civilization alternative.

I recall Battle for Wesnoth borrowed from the combat of it (though being a simplified game). MoM sounds like Saruman simulator.

Maybe just the very basics like attack power, retaliation strikes etc. Wesnoth is also a nice game & completely free.

[Overkill Engine]

I've been recently enjoying Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander, it needs polish but what is there has been fairly decent. Starts off fairly easy if you use the ship with lasers and shields, but you have to diversify your defenses before taking on level 5+ enemies or it'll take your lunch money.

[Ithekro]

I remember that the first MMO I played was Earth & Beyond, followed by Guild Wars. I remember that I didn't care about the music in Guild Wars all that much and had a CD playing tracks from Revenge of the Sith going while I played. Later a friend got me into World of Warcraft (and am still there from each expansion). Star Wars: The Old Republic for brief time.

But table top-wise I run Star Blazers games at conventions locally. I've even converted the rules to take into effect the changes in Space Battleship Yamato 2199.

[Mithramuse]

Dwarf Fortress just released on Steam today...

--Mithramuse

[Keklas Rekobah]

. . . But table top-wise I run Star Blazers games at conventions locally. I've even converted the rules to take into effect the changes in Space Battleship Yamato 2199.

Traveller fan here. Adapting the GURPS sheets for Alex, Beryl, Fireblade, and Tempo to any version of Traveller seems like trying to put human clothes on a live squid. Psionics alone is easier, but still requires some 'fudging' at the lower power levels for PK.  I do this mainly as an intellectual exercise.

Since moving to the Philippines for retirement (I am 65), the possibility of finding 2 to 5 people to run any kind of Old-School TTRPG in person is asymptotically zero.