next »

[s0]

i apologize again for being completely wrong about the witcher 3 which is a great game i enjoy very much.

[s0]

Board games I've played recently:

Cuba Libre

This is my entry into the COIN (short for COunter INsurgency) series by GMT games. It's about the Cuban revolution and I picked it up both because I liked the theme and because it was recommended to me as the best starting point. It's technically a "wargame" about guerilla warfare, but focuses much more on the politics surrounding war and heavily de-emphasizes and abstracts the actual fighting.

How it works is: There are four factions, the government, 2 different rebel groups and the mafia. Each of these factions is totally asymmetrical. They have different victory conditions, different actions they can perform, different types and numbers of "units", different ways of acquiring resources etc. That doesn't mean everyone just does their own thing though. The game is HIGHLY interactive and allegiances are going to shift constantly. There's some serious mindgame shit going on. Not just that, the asymmetry is also very interesting theme-wise. You're going to have a totally different perspective on the revolution depending on which faction you play. Also the factions synergize so well that that the game has very few of the balancing issues that normally plague asymmetrical games.

The "downside" of this is that you can only play the game with all four factions. If you're playing with fewer than 4 people, there are flowchart "AIs" for non-player factions. Those take a while to get used to but work almost shockingly well once you do.

So yeah, highly recommend this game (and I guess other COIN games) if you're into deep asymmetrical strategy games and guerilla themes. Oh also the game is fairly accessible for non-wargamers if you're used to "nerdier" board games. Helps that it's rather atypical for the genre lol. The basic rules are actually pretty simple, most of the complexity comes from the asymmetry. That means it'll take a few games until you've mentally mapped out the possibility space and can formulate coherent strategies.

Codenames:

Finally got a chance to play this and now I know why everyone is buzzing about it. This is probably the most fun I've had with a casual social game ever. It's easy and quick enough that basically anyone can play it, so I recommend trying it with a group of friends if you get the chance. You'll probably play 5 or 6 games in a row right away if you're anything like my friends and family lol.

[Alec S.]

i apologize again for being completely wrong about the witcher 3 which is a great game i enjoy very much.

If I disliked the combat in Witcher 2 enough for it to ruin the game for me, will I still like Witcher 3?

[s0]

Never warmed up to witcher 2, love 3. combat Mechanics and controls are still mediocre, but storytelling is amazing. Can't remember when I last played a game with so much well written and well acted narrative content. Even the most minor sidequests are usually interesting. It helps that it doesn't reat the open world as a sandbox, but as a big nonlinear storybook for you to explore. They really got a LOT out of the setting and I haven't even started with the reportedly just as good expansions yet. haven't had this much fun with a big narrative driven RPG since fallout new vegas. It is also one of the most polished games of this size that I've played and has some beautiful landscapes. Oh and the best collectible card minigame since final fantasy 8.

EDIT: the combat is still not that good, but it's improved. Feels smoother and the glitchy auto lockon is gone (there's now a manual lockon function). I'd say it's acceptable for a game like this. Plus if you level up the delusion skill you can avoid quite a bit of combat anyway. Most random encounters you can just run from seeing as you get very little EXP from killing enemies to begin with.

[Tanner]

i really wanted to get into the witcher 3 but the text is too small on my tv and with my poor eyesight it's almost unplayable.

[Alec S.]

Never warmed up to witcher 2, love 3. combat Mechanics and controls are still mediocre, but storytelling is amazing. Can't remember when I last played a game with so much well written and well acted narrative content. Even the most minor sidequests are usually interesting. It helps that it doesn't reat the open world as a sandbox, but as a big nonlinear storybook for you to explore. They really got a LOT out of the setting and I haven't even started with the reportedly just as good expansions yet. haven't had this much fun with a big narrative driven RPG since fallout new vegas. It is also one of the most polished games of this size that I've played and has some beautiful landscapes. Oh and the best collectible card minigame since final fantasy 8.

EDIT: the combat is still not that good, but it's improved. Feels smoother and the glitchy auto lockon is gone (there's now a manual lockon function). I'd say it's acceptable for a game like this. Plus if you level up the delusion skill you can avoid quite a bit of combat anyway. Most random encounters you can just run from seeing as you get very little EXP from killing enemies to begin with.

In that case, I'll probably give it a try at some point (Manual lock-on was something I felt was sorely missing from Witcher 2).

[s0]

i really wanted to get into the witcher 3 but the text is too small on my tv and with my poor eyesight it's almost unplayable.

you can enlarge the font in the options afaik. have you tried that?

[Tanner]

yeah, it barely made a difference

[s0]

RIP

[ThemsAllTook]

So, Shovel Knight is totally just as good as everyone says. I've been meaning to play it for a long time, but only just got around to starting. Amazing game! These days pretty much all of the games I play are done at a metered pace of half an hour every 2 days, but I'm having trouble holding back on this one. It just makes me want to keep going.

I've also been playing The Way, which has been super interesting so far. I'm not even sure yet what genre it falls into, if any. Really polished, interesting story and world, devious puzzles. Definitely worth a look. My only complaint so far is that for some reason I have to rebind my fire button every time I start the game, or it won't work. No idea why.

[s0]

Tbh the main reason I like shovel knight is that it's finally an indie retro platformer that people with normal reflexes can play

[Tanner]

yes yes yes that is exactly why i liked shovel knight. except i couldn't do the final boss rush. but everything else was great.

[Alevice]

I played the duck tales remaster and it was pretty bad. Castle of Illusion remake was miles better.

[Tanner]

yeah, wayforward is a very frustrating developer. i was expecting shovel knight to be very mediocre after finding out it was being developed by ex-wayforward people and was very surprised when i played it. i will say that the last shantae game was pretty good, though.

[Alevice]

Yeah I just looked at their record, and Contra 4 and Shnatae aside, I am not very fond of their output. Boy and his Blob i did not like much, neither mighty switch force nor bloodrayne betrayal.

[NowSayPillow]

Yeah I just looked at their record, and Contra 4 and Shnatae aside, I am not very fond of their output. Boy and his Blob i did not like much, neither mighty switch force nor bloodrayne betrayal.

Same page, I loooooooooooove their art but I can't say I really enjoy playing their games.

[Tanner]

woah holy shit the new shiren game is amazing. i just survived my first monster closet (that i would've avoided had i noticed the stairs to the next floor were in the room i started in) by throwing nearly everything i had in my random-ass newbie inventory at it. i haven't felt that awesome in a game in a long time. there's so much content there too, with all the bonus dungeons and modes. this is a very qualified recommendation, but if you have a vita and like actual roguelikes, you need to get it.

[Cobralad]

ill wait until its on steam, just like every third party vita game

[Schoq]

New Shiren? Why was I not informed?
Is the dungeon layout more interesting yet? That always seemed like the weakest point of the series

[s0]

Is the dungeon layout more interesting yet? That always seemed like the weakest point of the series

japanese roguelikes have been mucking around with the levelgen algorithm from the original rogue for decades now, so i wouldn't bet on it. actually that's the #1 reason i don't play them much.

even games that otherwise deviate a LOT from the standard roguelike formula like dark cloud or baroque use the same old square rooms + straight corridors setup. why???