shadoza
Gentoo penguin
If I am not here, I am somewhere else...
Posts: 207
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"000000"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ffffff
Mini-Profile Text Color: ffffff
Likes: 429
|
Post by shadoza on Jul 21, 2015 23:52:02 GMT
Is this the Early Access Lego World?
|
|
|
Post by [PP] blueasbutterfly on Jul 21, 2015 23:54:29 GMT
Is this the Early Access Lego World? Yep, it is I've had it for awhile but hadn't taken any screen shots. Too busy running around like a maniac!
|
|
shadoza
Gentoo penguin
If I am not here, I am somewhere else...
Posts: 207
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"000000"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ffffff
Mini-Profile Text Color: ffffff
Likes: 429
|
Post by shadoza on Jul 22, 2015 0:06:33 GMT
I thought about getting Lego World several times. However, I do not have much free time anymore and the games I do play take most of that free time away. Maybe...when it comes out of open beta mode, I'll take another look at it. It does look like fun for even a creative-orientated player like myself.
|
|
bekkasan
Fairy Penguin
Posts: 900
Likes: 1,606
|
Post by bekkasan on Jul 22, 2015 0:46:17 GMT
That looks cute! I loved Lego and played Lego with my son building stuff. I've never bought the games though I notice the monkey has those little hands you can put things in. Maybe he wants a banana?
|
|
|
Post by [PP] blueasbutterfly on Jul 22, 2015 18:19:36 GMT
shadoza I think waiting for official release is perfectly reasonable. My son was really excited about it, and he has gotten a lot of happiness from it so that's why I got it early access. Most of the time, I wait - and then wait for it to go on a huge sale xD it will be interesting to see what they add! bekkasan I think I actually have a banana in my inventory, I should look at that. You might be right!
|
|
|
Post by [PP] blueasbutterfly on Aug 20, 2015 18:37:30 GMT
The Old City: Leviathan
Developed and published by PostModSoftworks Release Date: Dec 3, 2014 Current price on Steam: $9.99 This will be a tough review, because this isn't the sort of game one can easily sum up. And before you scroll on, some of these photos may be spoilers. I posted a bunch of photos of the early game in another thread, and I may repeat some here, but for the most part, I tried to capture some of the essence of the feeling of the game with the screen shots. Perhaps it would be a good start to explore why these screen shots may or may not be spoilers. Let's consider what this game is. Tagged under "adventure," "exploration," and "walking simulator" doesn't really get at the heart of how this game digs at you. It could just as easily be filed under "psychological horror," and some of the imagery, I have to say, is pretty disturbing, partly because it is put forward in such a passive way. Your character has no interaction with the environment, except some very minimal door opening and collecting of "Solomon's Notes" from small, futuristic-looking, glowing boxes (which appear anachronistic in the post-apocalyptic, yet somehow strangely old-fashioned world). This game probably has the slowest beginning of any game I've ever played. Why? Because you begin by standing in a room, and there are letters or notes of some sort pinned to the wall. What are they? Who are you? Why are you here and what is this place? The notes don't make much sense. There are philosophical and biblical references throughout all the text and dialogue within the game, and having some background in these topics would be very useful, but I don't feel it's necessarily required - the experience of the game is extremely cerebral, and that is a great deal of what makes this game so interesting. It makes you think, sometimes almost to the point of frustration, if you choose to follow all the notes as you go. Most of you probably remember learning in English class about unreliable narrators, and the feeling of never knowing precisely where you are, or who you are, or why, or what's actually happening, or whether you can even believe what you're seeing or hearing, creates this isolation that is both surreal and frightening. Sometimes, you find things are different from the way they first appeared. Often, the scene is clearly not real - a dream? But it's a game, so you can never be sure what's meant to be real. "Realities" within games are not the same as realities we can touch, just like dreams, and that's one of the questions that's raised during gameplay, in fact. And, if you're like me, that will make you start wondering about where the line is between real and unreal. This is the first game that I have played that could truly be called a philosophy game. It literally pulls you into a realistic, fallen world, and puts forward questions about existence, what's important, what it means to be human. I hadn't realized when I started playing what I was really in for, and looking back, it was a bit daunting. I played through twice, beginning to end, and I feel that there were still more nuances that I would pick up if I went through it again. So, unlike many "walking simulator" types of games, I think there is replayability, in that sometimes you miss something your first, second, third time through. Once you've played a chapter, you can go back whenever you wish and play it again, so you can skip parts you weren't fond of, or go back to the beginning if you moved ahead too early (one small annoyance, you can't always tell what will progress you forward. It's usually elevators or super long corridors, or doors marked "exit," but not all "exit" doors are exits, and not all hallways lead out of a chapter - sometimes it's just progress). For the most part, the way you move through the game is easy and obvious. The chapters are pretty short, and there's not a lot of ground to cover with each one. Personally, I didn't feel extremely set back by a bit of confusion, and I thought they made the repetition work - many of the scenes look similar, but are not, and that adds to the overall feel of the game. This could also be a great game for people who just want to walk around, but don't want to read anything. It would be pretty short for those folks, but the scenery is hauntingly beautiful when it isn't terrifying, and even that is relative. The way that the text/dialogue relates to the environment is equally interesting. There are layers of metaphor and allegory, and I think they got the voice acting just right - your character sometimes speaks out loud when you get to certain places in the game. I think the voice, tone, and manner of speech fits the character quite well. Ultimately, I have to say that I do recommend this game to people who enjoy this type of thing. What is this type of thing? Let me try to give you a tl;dr. People who enjoy philosophy, imagery, and question the heck out of everything would probably enjoy this. (If they didn't absolutely hate it - I don't think the game was very heavy-handed with pushing any one perspective, but I can see why some people would find it heavy.) If you enjoy walking sims, this could be your thing, provided the creepy aspects don't bother you. It's exactly the sort of thing I love, so I'm hoping to see more like it in the future. It's stunning, both from an intellectual perspective and a visual one, and combing the two was, for me, an extremely satisfying (and yet frustrating) experience. (Note: I usually talk a bit about communication, development, etc, if possible, but that just doesn't apply to this game. It was released, it seems to work as intended, and there's no DLC for it - it doesn't appear to be an ongoing project. 83% of the reviews on Steam are positive.)
|
|
shadoza
Gentoo penguin
If I am not here, I am somewhere else...
Posts: 207
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"000000"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ffffff
Mini-Profile Text Color: ffffff
Likes: 429
|
Post by shadoza on Aug 21, 2015 5:36:43 GMT
Reminds me of the game Myst.
|
|
|
Post by [PP] blueasbutterfly on Aug 21, 2015 6:03:43 GMT
shadoza it reminds me very much of the Myst series in some places. I'm a devoted Myst fan only in Old City you don't pick up things or solve puzzles or unlock contraptions, it's all mental. Definitely similar in the atmosphere, somewhat darker and more disturbed.
|
|
|
Post by [PP] blueasbutterfly on Aug 27, 2015 15:48:11 GMT
Cities: Skylines
Developed by Colossal Order Ltd. Published by Paradox Interactive Release date: March 10, 2015 Price on Steam: $29.99, $39.99 for the deluxe edition (can be upgraded for the $10 difference) Cities: Skylines is one of the most-discussed new releases this year. There is a lot to be said about it, and a lot to be said for it - I will do my best to cover what I can, from the perspective of an avid Simmer and someone who has been badly burned by the lackluster releases of yesteryear. Therefore, this review will be multi-dimensional. I cobbled together a small city to get some screen shots and showcase some of the features/mechanics, and I'll also be discussing the various other features and perks, such as the Steam Workshop and the content that has been patched in since release. If, after reading this novel, you feel there is something I haven't fully explored (or something I've entirely missed, which is likely to happen with an undertaking like this,) please let me know and I'll happily find whatever information I can for you. First, let's get into the game itself. Welcome to the default-named, newly-founded city of Springvalley! Here, you can see the majority of my 777-person town, along with the UI along the bottom. I've unlocked a few things at this point, including the medical clinic in the front of the screen shot, and that fuzzy little garbage truck. Life is good for the citizens of Springvalley. They've got water, green energy (thanks to wind turbines,) and the industrial center is far enough away from the residential zones that it can do its polluting without disrupting the lives of respectable citizens. Notice that along the bottom of the UI, some of the icons are greyed out. When you begin playing, reaching population milestones unlocks various services, buildings, and zone types. I often prefer to just dive into sandbox mode, but there is so much to this game that I actually prefer to get into it a little more slowly. Money is tight at first, and you have to be careful how you spend it - if everything was available right from the start, it would be really overwhelming, at least until you get comfortable with the more complex aspects of playing, such as traffic management (maybe easy for some, but I'm terrible at it,) and where to place what service buildings, things like that. It also feels authentic. Tiny towns don't usually have giant hospitals right away, they expand their facilities and services as their population grows. So far, so good. Note - If you're not the type who likes unlockable achievements or worrying about petty things like money, you can set your game accordingly. (These settings, while listed under "mods," are automatically on this menu when you download the game. I haven't installed any additional mods in my game, so everything you see is totally vanilla.) As you can see, there is a direct link to see what's available in the Steam workshop, and you can add mods to a game you're already playing if you so desire - so if you start off in standard mode, and you decide you don't like it, you can always unlock everything or give yourself unlimited money later on, as you wish. This is one of the major perks of Cities: Skylines. How you play is really and truly decided by the player, and as far as I've seen, Colossal Order and Paradox have done everything possible to keep this game as open and mod friendly as possible. Here you can see my early zoning map. It follows SimCity's color strategy - green for residential, blue for commercial, yellow for industrial. Zones are placed along roads, and the size of the road, along with how many intersections there are, determines how much traffic can pass through. This is a really big deal in Cities: Skylines, and is a challenge in the beginning, since road types need to be unlocked as you go. Roads can be upgraded once they're unlocked, provided there's enough space available - which can sometimes be tricky to manage. There are lots of tutorials that can help with city planning, which are really helpful. One thing I really love about city planning is that no spot is too small to be zoned. See here, I have all these little grid squares along a curved road. Because of the curve, I can't connect these little areas - but the way the game is designed, small buildings can still be placed on those small plots. So you can come up with some pretty diverse neighborhoods if you want to get creative with your zoning, and you can create more spaced out, rural-looking zones by placing small residential zones fairly far apart on smaller roads, or you can create a tight urban center without wasting a single square of space. Another neat feature is the ability to re-name just about anything you see in your game. Here, you can see the tool tip that explains re-naming, as well as the details for this industrial building, the box factory. You can see that this building hires uneducated workers - which is something you have to think about later when building schools (which unlock at various stages, from elementary school to university). How you zone your city and how highly you choose to educate your citizens will have an impact on future growth and development. Here's a milestone screen for Springvalley. Every time a population goal is reached, you get a clear summary of what has been unlocked. It even shows you the UI symbols so that you know what to click on to read about or place the buildings you've unlocked. The UI for Cities: Skylines is very intuitive that way, and since its release, several improvements have been made based on user input. It's easily one of the most easily-navigated interfaces I've seen in a simulation game. For example, above, you can see the power overlay. The areas highlighted in blue are connected to the electrical grid, yet some of my buildings don't have power. It looks like some of them are in desperate need of it, judging by the red background of some of the notices. If you leave your citizens without services for too long, they will abandon their homes/workplaces - if enough of them do this, you can lose significant revenue, which may make the problem very difficult to solve. Looking at this screen shot, you can tell that I still have positive income, but haven't saved enough to buy another wind turbine. Once I have sufficient funds, clicking on the windmill will change the overlay to show the best places to build it - and so long as I put it somewhere already connected to the electrical grid, and it's producing enough electricity to compensate for the shortage, those notices will disappear. So, while it might be challenging to take everything into consideration as far as services and the needs of your citizens, it's also fairly easy to prioritize and see where and when things need to be taken care of. I have to add that there are also really neat details, like these little vans! This screen shot also illustrates one of my few annoyances with the game, however - the blurriness. This was a much bigger problem with SimCity '13, I could barely play that game for 5 minutes without getting a headache. And the blurring in Cities: Skylines is only really an annoyance when zooming in, things look perfectly clear from a distance. I expect this is something that could be fixed with mods. But as you can see, trying to get close-up shots of your city using built-in settings creates a sort of tunnel vision effect - the center is fairly clear, but everything out toward the edge is a blur. (My settings are all set to high, and there doesn't appear to be an option to turn the blurring off - hopefully there will be one in the future). As Springvalley grew, I decided to give it a proper name - Penguintopia. I even gave it a district to use later, called Penguin Rock. Expansion is a really exciting aspect of Cities: Skylines. As your city grows, you can buy new areas to develop, and I can't even imagine the time and dedication that it must take to create cities as large as they can possibly be. You can download other people's builds from the Steam Workshop, and many of them are truly remarkable. I aspire to that kind of talent. Here's a slightly closer view. By the way, if your goal upon starting out is to develop every possible bit of land that you can, this is what the map selection screen looks like. It shows natural resources, map theme, and how much land is available for development. There are lots of custom maps available on the workshop, as well as lighting mods and customized buildings, so you can truly create the city that you want to see. It also comes with tools to create your own custom content, which you can share with others on the Steam Workshop. (I'm sure there are also mods available on other sites). The creative potential for Cities: Skylines is enormous, and the development has truly followed the interests of its players. Paradox has just announced its first expansion pack, After Dark, due to be released September 24, which will also come with some free content for those who don't purchase the expansion. According to this article on PC Gamer, Cities: Skylines will follow the general patterns of Paradox's previous releases when it comes to expansions/DLC. I admit, I have some mixed feelings about this, because if you look at some of their more established games, the DLC content is extensive and expensive. I can't comment on whether their previous additional content is worth the asking price, but I'm a completionist at heart, and when I purchase a game and love it, I tend to want to get the extra content for it. Looking at the downloadable content for Crusader Kings II, there are 55 total items, with a total price of $218.46 on Steam. Now, they do appear to do a sort of "tiered" system for that DLC, for example, some of the larger expansions sell for $15, with an optional extra bonus pack, which would bring the cost to around $20. So while I'm really excited about After Dark, it does sort of make me wonder (as I did with The Sims 3) how much money I'm going to be in for over the long haul. That being said, the free content is an interesting aspect of Cities: Skylines. It ranges from UI tweaks to several large content increases that added entirely new aspects to the game, including the European-style buildings and maps. These releases and the extensive support of the modding community (including featuring a lot of the most interesting mods on their news feed on Steam) follows their attitude toward piracy, as explained in this article. In short, by continuing to support the game with free patches, new paid content and mod support, they are making owning a legitimate copy of Cities: Skylines more appealing. And for its $30 price tag, way below most of today's AAA titles, it's hard to argue with their logic. Overall, it has been fascinating to watch this game grow from the very beginning, and I look forward to continuing to support it in the future. Not only is there a ton of content that I haven't fully explored yet, but the model that is being used to promote and support the game is commendable, especially in today's market, where so many gamers have begun to feel that the overall quality of games - and the customer service involved with those games - has gone downhill. Cities: Skylines is here to show the gaming world that all those excuses made by the big developers regarding the broken, unfinished releases and blaming players for not liking the games they've so obviously cut corners on for the sake of profit are completely bogus. Here is proof positive that a company can create an amazing game, a game which takes player satisfaction and feedback seriously and doesn't contain nasty, computer-destroying DRM, and still make plenty of profit in the process. I hope that more companies will start following this example. (As an end note, Cities: Skylines currently has nearly 15,000 reviews on Steam, 94% of which are positive. The Steam workshop has nearly 55,000 items available for download, including mods, maps, buildings, assets with modified functionality, and more.)
|
|
|
Post by staceyuk on Aug 28, 2015 14:07:35 GMT
Cities: Skylines
Developed by Colossal Order Ltd. Published by Paradox Interactive Release date: March 10, 2015 Price on Steam: $29.99, $39.99 for the deluxe edition (can be upgraded for the $10 difference) Cities: Skylines is one of the most-discussed new releases this year. There is a lot to be said about it, and a lot to be said for it - I will do my best to cover what I can, from the perspective of an avid Simmer and someone who has been badly burned by the lackluster releases of yesteryear. Therefore, this review will be multi-dimensional. I cobbled together a small city to get some screen shots and showcase some of the features/mechanics, and I'll also be discussing the various other features and perks, such as the Steam Workshop and the content that has been patched in since release. If, after reading this novel, you feel there is something I haven't fully explored (or something I've entirely missed, which is likely to happen with an undertaking like this,) please let me know and I'll happily find whatever information I can for you. First, let's get into the game itself. Welcome to the default-named, newly-founded city of Springvalley! Here, you can see the majority of my 777-person town, along with the UI along the bottom. I've unlocked a few things at this point, including the medical clinic in the front of the screen shot, and that fuzzy little garbage truck. Life is good for the citizens of Springvalley. They've got water, green energy (thanks to wind turbines,) and the industrial center is far enough away from the residential zones that it can do its polluting without disrupting the lives of respectable citizens. Notice that along the bottom of the UI, some of the icons are greyed out. When you begin playing, reaching population milestones unlocks various services, buildings, and zone types. I often prefer to just dive into sandbox mode, but there is so much to this game that I actually prefer to get into it a little more slowly. Money is tight at first, and you have to be careful how you spend it - if everything was available right from the start, it would be really overwhelming, at least until you get comfortable with the more complex aspects of playing, such as traffic management (maybe easy for some, but I'm terrible at it,) and where to place what service buildings, things like that. It also feels authentic. Tiny towns don't usually have giant hospitals right away, they expand their facilities and services as their population grows. So far, so good. Note - If you're not the type who likes unlockable achievements or worrying about petty things like money, you can set your game accordingly. (These settings, while listed under "mods," are automatically on this menu when you download the game. I haven't installed any additional mods in my game, so everything you see is totally vanilla.) As you can see, there is a direct link to see what's available in the Steam workshop, and you can add mods to a game you're already playing if you so desire - so if you start off in standard mode, and you decide you don't like it, you can always unlock everything or give yourself unlimited money later on, as you wish. This is one of the major perks of Cities: Skylines. How you play is really and truly decided by the player, and as far as I've seen, Colossal Order and Paradox have done everything possible to keep this game as open and mod friendly as possible. Here you can see my early zoning map. It follows SimCity's color strategy - green for residential, blue for commercial, yellow for industrial. Zones are placed along roads, and the size of the road, along with how many intersections there are, determines how much traffic can pass through. This is a really big deal in Cities: Skylines, and is a challenge in the beginning, since road types need to be unlocked as you go. Roads can be upgraded once they're unlocked, provided there's enough space available - which can sometimes be tricky to manage. There are lots of tutorials that can help with city planning, which are really helpful. One thing I really love about city planning is that no spot is too small to be zoned. See here, I have all these little grid squares along a curved road. Because of the curve, I can't connect these little areas - but the way the game is designed, small buildings can still be placed on those small plots. So you can come up with some pretty diverse neighborhoods if you want to get creative with your zoning, and you can create more spaced out, rural-looking zones by placing small residential zones fairly far apart on smaller roads, or you can create a tight urban center without wasting a single square of space. Another neat feature is the ability to re-name just about anything you see in your game. Here, you can see the tool tip that explains re-naming, as well as the details for this industrial building, the box factory. You can see that this building hires uneducated workers - which is something you have to think about later when building schools (which unlock at various stages, from elementary school to university). How you zone your city and how highly you choose to educate your citizens will have an impact on future growth and development. Here's a milestone screen for Springvalley. Every time a population goal is reached, you get a clear summary of what has been unlocked. It even shows you the UI symbols so that you know what to click on to read about or place the buildings you've unlocked. The UI for Cities: Skylines is very intuitive that way, and since its release, several improvements have been made based on user input. It's easily one of the most easily-navigated interfaces I've seen in a simulation game. For example, above, you can see the power overlay. The areas highlighted in blue are connected to the electrical grid, yet some of my buildings don't have power. It looks like some of them are in desperate need of it, judging by the red background of some of the notices. If you leave your citizens without services for too long, they will abandon their homes/workplaces - if enough of them do this, you can lose significant revenue, which may make the problem very difficult to solve. Looking at this screen shot, you can tell that I still have positive income, but haven't saved enough to buy another wind turbine. Once I have sufficient funds, clicking on the windmill will change the overlay to show the best places to build it - and so long as I put it somewhere already connected to the electrical grid, and it's producing enough electricity to compensate for the shortage, those notices will disappear. So, while it might be challenging to take everything into consideration as far as services and the needs of your citizens, it's also fairly easy to prioritize and see where and when things need to be taken care of. I have to add that there are also really neat details, like these little vans! This screen shot also illustrates one of my few annoyances with the game, however - the blurriness. This was a much bigger problem with SimCity '13, I could barely play that game for 5 minutes without getting a headache. And the blurring in Cities: Skylines is only really an annoyance when zooming in, things look perfectly clear from a distance. I expect this is something that could be fixed with mods. But as you can see, trying to get close-up shots of your city using built-in settings creates a sort of tunnel vision effect - the center is fairly clear, but everything out toward the edge is a blur. (My settings are all set to high, and there doesn't appear to be an option to turn the blurring off - hopefully there will be one in the future). As Springvalley grew, I decided to give it a proper name - Penguintopia. I even gave it a district to use later, called Penguin Rock. Expansion is a really exciting aspect of Cities: Skylines. As your city grows, you can buy new areas to develop, and I can't even imagine the time and dedication that it must take to create cities as large as they can possibly be. You can download other people's builds from the Steam Workshop, and many of them are truly remarkable. I aspire to that kind of talent. Here's a slightly closer view. By the way, if your goal upon starting out is to develop every possible bit of land that you can, this is what the map selection screen looks like. It shows natural resources, map theme, and how much land is available for development. There are lots of custom maps available on the workshop, as well as lighting mods and customized buildings, so you can truly create the city that you want to see. It also comes with tools to create your own custom content, which you can share with others on the Steam Workshop. (I'm sure there are also mods available on other sites). The creative potential for Cities: Skylines is enormous, and the development has truly followed the interests of its players. Paradox has just announced its first expansion pack, After Dark, due to be released September 24, which will also come with some free content for those who don't purchase the expansion. According to this article on PC Gamer, Cities: Skylines will follow the general patterns of Paradox's previous releases when it comes to expansions/DLC. I admit, I have some mixed feelings about this, because if you look at some of their more established games, the DLC content is extensive and expensive. I can't comment on whether their previous additional content is worth the asking price, but I'm a completionist at heart, and when I purchase a game and love it, I tend to want to get the extra content for it. Looking at the downloadable content for Crusader Kings II, there are 55 total items, with a total price of $218.46 on Steam. Now, they do appear to do a sort of "tiered" system for that DLC, for example, some of the larger expansions sell for $15, with an optional extra bonus pack, which would bring the cost to around $20. So while I'm really excited about After Dark, it does sort of make me wonder (as I did with The Sims 3) how much money I'm going to be in for over the long haul. That being said, the free content is an interesting aspect of Cities: Skylines. It ranges from UI tweaks to several large content increases that added entirely new aspects to the game, including the European-style buildings and maps. These releases and the extensive support of the modding community (including featuring a lot of the most interesting mods on their news feed on Steam) follows their attitude toward piracy, as explained in this article. In short, by continuing to support the game with free patches, new paid content and mod support, they are making owning a legitimate copy of Cities: Skylines more appealing. And for its $30 price tag, way below most of today's AAA titles, it's hard to argue with their logic. Overall, it has been fascinating to watch this game grow from the very beginning, and I look forward to continuing to support it in the future. Not only is there a ton of content that I haven't fully explored yet, but the model that is being used to promote and support the game is commendable, especially in today's market, where so many gamers have begun to feel that the overall quality of games - and the customer service involved with those games - has gone downhill. Cities: Skylines is here to show the gaming world that all those excuses made by the big developers regarding the broken, unfinished releases and blaming players for not liking the games they've so obviously cut corners on for the sake of profit are completely bogus. Here is proof positive that a company can create an amazing game, a game which takes player satisfaction and feedback seriously and doesn't contain nasty, computer-destroying DRM, and still make plenty of profit in the process. I hope that more companies will start following this example. (As an end note, Cities: Skylines currently has nearly 15,000 reviews on Steam, 94% of which are positive. The Steam workshop has nearly 55,000 items available for download, including mods, maps, buildings, assets with modified functionality, and more.) Love your reviews. Echoes my own thoughts. Love the gameplay detail in the game bus routes etc.
|
|
bekkasan
Fairy Penguin
Posts: 900
Likes: 1,606
|
Post by bekkasan on Sept 2, 2015 19:02:40 GMT
Love the review of Cities Skylines. My hubby has it on steam and I've tried it once and I miss my peeps to much to play it for long. I usually end up with my townies mad and moving out as I raise taxes too fast or don't give them water or something like that.
|
|
|
Post by [PP] blueasbutterfly on Sept 9, 2015 4:49:27 GMT
Thanks for the kind comments I enjoyed playing CS but am a bit intimidated by reviewing it, honestly, because there's just so much to it. I hope I managed to cover the essentials. As always, if I didn't, let me know - I plan to bring more in when they release their expansion... at least, I hope. I'll have to hone my traffic skills!
|
|
|
Post by [PP] blueasbutterfly on Sept 9, 2015 5:45:21 GMT
Tallowmere
Developed and published by Chris McFarland Release Date: March 3, 2015 Price on Steam: $4.99 I don't know if we could actually say I have a "usual" game type yet, but I would be the first to say that Tallowmere is outside my "normal." I'm not usually into hack and slash types of things, and I don't tend to like games with a lot of gore (blood spurts, yuck?) but Tallowmere has really caught my interest. It was created by a single person, who has simply, from what I can tell from his website, created the sort of game that he would like to play. The concepts, controls, and strategies are all very simple, and, as several of my friends have heard me moan, when you die, it's always your fault. And I die, a lot, and lose all the awesome loot I had, and close the game down in frustration, and then can't help going back to it later because I'm so determined to get just one more room than I had the last time. (Deep breath) This is the beginning of every Tallowmere game ever. The axe-wielding man is... you. You have an axe, a shield, a suit of clothing with one random stat point, a health potion, and your wits. To begin your journey, you hop up onto the ledge, grab the key, and proceed to the locked gate there on the right, which takes you to an elevator... and from there, you go to meet your doom. Use A and D to move side to side, space to jump, left mouse button to attack, right mouse button to block. Very, very simple. If you need to be healed, and you don't have any health regen stats on your equipment (as you almost certainly won't at first,) you can use any portal you find on your journey to bring you back to the gate you see there - the blue glowy thing in the middle - and Lady Tallowmere (the damsel in purple) will heal you up. So, essentially, you are left to balance damage reduction with damage dealing. Each room has more monsters to fight, and each type of monsters has different abilities, which you learn very quickly (especially the annoying ones). There are also elites and special rooms, which may have bosses or challenges, depending on the type. Here's a screen shot of the Hydra lair, which I encountered at room 29 (the room number is in the upper right.) In the lower left corner, you can see my total HP and damage output, which has increased significantly since the beginning. Every time you kill a monster, you acquire one or more "souls." When you reach a milestone, you go to a "demon statue" to increase your stats - a few extra health points, a few attack points, and a few random stats, such as +1 coin find or a few points of fire resist. Now, the Hydra originally had 3 heads, I've already dispatched one of them while dodging the acidy burps. Once all three are dead, the treasure chest you see there will unlock, and I'll get (hopefully) a decent prize. All loot in the game is random, though chances of getting better stuff increase as you move forward. This means the stats on everything are also largely random. You sometimes get weapons with terrible attack stats and lots of resist (defense,) or you can wind up with a shield that gives you a lot of useless stat points that do nothing but increase your attack with specific weapon types that you never use. Paying attention to stats and using the best weapon types in a given situation helps a lot with survival in this game. Here we have another special room, Attack of the Zaeries. Because this was room 26, there were plenty of them, and you can see a small portion of the stragglers following me around the screen. In both of these screen shots, I was using my ice wand - at this point, it was the only viable weapon that I had to use in these particular rooms. Yes, there will be times when you get plenty of rooms in and you're still stuck using crummy gear. But this, to me, is where the real challenge of the game lies, and it's the main reason I absolutely cannot get enough of this game. You have to adapt, you have to think. If you run into a whole group of mobs that are all trying to stun you or drag you across the room, you have to plan where to stand, what weapon to use, when to block, and then, if necessary, where to go so that you can heal up if things don't go your way. One wrong move, or missing a detail, or not blocking quickly enough, or any number of other small errors can lead you straight into being dead - just when you were doing so well, too. This situation seemed like a bit of a pickle, with two elite fire mages shooting at me and that archer determined to get around my shield - solution? Zap them both with the flamethrower, taking constant damage over time, and then take out the archer. Hacking and slashing might work for some, and I don't claim to be an expert, but I do decently well with my wits. So while I'm usually not a big fan of spurting blood, blood on walls, scorch marks from explosions, and flying body parts, I put up with it - because this is truly a game that makes you think. And there's something really, really satisfying about opening all the treasure chests and picking up all the coins that go flying everywhere when something explodes. (I never thought I'd say that.) Woohoo, raining body parts and coins and treasure! Make no mistake, however - this game is hard. The screen shot above is from nearly as far as I've ever, ever gotten - my record is room 43. According to the Steam leaderboards, that puts me at #193 for all time, and I was in 15th place for the month of August. That should give you some indication of what you're up against. The person on top of the leaderboard has cleared what I assume are all 150 rooms, with all kittens alive (yes, you can sacrifice kittens for more health - I don't, because ... well, kittens.) Only one person on the Steam boards has managed all 150 rooms. I don't expect to beat this game any time soon, though I keep trying to push higher and higher. There are also some pretty humorous moments in the game, which sometimes help to push you onward when you're feeling a little down. It's a nice touch. According to Steam, I've played Tallowmere for 43 hours. This is a bit inflated, because I do have a habit of, say, pausing on floor 30 to go have dinner, and leaving the game up on my screen while I'm away. I'm also the sort of person who doesn't mind repetition as long as there's a challenge, and since the dungeon is different each time you play, the challenge is always there. I have also been known to die on room 3 or 4, so I've played a lot of individual games. And even if I had gotten bored, for $4.99, I'd say it was well worth it. The person who created Tallowmere is still coming out with updates. He has added two new monsters to the dungeon since I got the game, the latest came out on September 1. The creator actually participates in the discussions about the updates, as you can see in this thread about the addition of the Feelers, and this one here that discusses the addition of the Bloats (the most recent addition.) The acceptance and encouragement of feedback is one of the things that brought my level of love for this game to a whole new level. So far, all the updates have been free and automatic. And the attention to the fans and their thoughts is one of the main reasons I decided to bring this review to you. If this one single person can respond to the people who play his game, and make changes accordingly, and can actually come in and interact with people on the forums on Steam, why can't a giant company do that much? Yes, I realize a giant company is different. One individual doesn't control the game, there are more fans, more opinions, publicity matters to consider, etc etc - but the more I see game developers really interacting with their fans, from indie devs to larger companies, I can see very clearly that it is possible to make your fans feel valued and heard. It gives me hope that this genuinely player first attitude - not the slogan, the action - could be the future of gaming, if the gamers themselves show enough support. So this is me, one player, showing support. Chris McFarland, keep it up, you're wonderful.
|
|
|
Post by [PP] blueasbutterfly on Sept 12, 2015 21:33:29 GMT
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter ( Redux released 9/11/15) Published and developed by The Astronauts Originally released Sep 25,2014 Price on Steam: $19.99 The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is, hands down, one of the most satisfying gaming experiences I've ever had. It's immersive, the story is compelling, the scenery is absolutely stunning - it's like a book you just can't put down, and yet, you almost feel like you're living it. It is extremely atmospheric, but it has a narrative, and figuring it out is part of the charm - so I'm going to do what I can to display the game mechanics, and not just flood you with pretty pictures, while giving as few spoilers as possible. There are tons of gorgeous photos of this game out there, but I wanted to give you an idea of what the game itself is. If you want to see more screen shots of the scenery, I plan to create an album so that anybody who wishes to can look at more photos - I'll add the link at the top when it's ready. Both the narrative and the exploration add to the sense of discovery you get while playing this game, so for the purposes of this review, I'm only going to include screen shots from the first part of the game, just in case you want to do the exploring for yourself. The album will have photos from later on in the game, so click at your own risk. The game begins in a forest, after some dialogue from the character whose perspective you take on - a supernatural detective of sorts named Paul Propspero. The general idea is that you find clues as you go through the world, and as you find more and more clues, you put your supernatural "sensing" talent to work to figure out how they all fit together. Here's an example: A trap is sprung as you approach it. Click and hold the mouse button to "sense," and with each clue you find, your view becomes a bit more informed: When you've gathered enough pieces, the picture expands, and either begins a re-enactment of events (a "visualization") or transports you somewhere nearby. Depending on the area you're exploring, this could be pointing to your next destination, the answer to a puzzle, or an echo one of Ethan's memories. By going from place to place around the map, which is, for the most part, very intuitive, you begin to put together the story. Sometimes, the clues direct you to a particular place, sometimes you have to put things in order to get a summary of events - little by little, you begin to understand what's going on. While not sleuthing, of course, you have this gorgeous world to explore. (I have to apologize for my screen shots here. I think some of the areas are coming out blurry because so much of the scenery is moving, that is, the grass sways gently, and so do the leaves. So please keep in mind that what you're seeing in these still photos really doesn't do the game justice.) There is an argument to be made that the replay value of Ethan Carter isn't as high as it would be with some other games. The story is always the same (though interpretations vary,) and after you play through a few times, there isn't a whole lot more to do. I'm an explorer at heart, so my first play through took me about six hours, because I wanted to see and do everything. I did get it on sale, and for me, the cost was well worth it, and while I might not play through the actual story again (this will be my third time through, since I'm still testing Redux,) I absolutely love wandering around and seeing beautiful places, so its space will be reserved on my hard drive for the foreseeable future. If you're looking for a better deal, there have been several sales recently, probably due to the release of their Redux version, (also linked at the top,) which is a complete re-do of the game that uses Unreal Engine 4 (the original used 3). The newer version is a separate game, so if you buy Ethan Carter, you get both versions, and you can decide which one suits your system specs. The story is the same for both, and I'm really pleased that The Astronauts decided to do the overhaul and also keep the original, because Redux might be too hard on some people's hardware. It must have taken a great deal of work, but they have shown themselves willing to stand by their game and to make it the best it can be, at no additional cost to the people who already own it. About the story itself, I should say here that it is pretty creepy at times, and there are some very graphic scenes that come out during the visualizations. This is definitely not a game for kids, or for people who are bothered by violence or potentially disturbing or emotional subjects. There are also several places that are startling (for example, the traps right at the beginning - my first time through, I jumped every time one of them got set off). I didn't include any photos of the gritty bits, because I didn't want to upset anyone. When "visualizing," or seeing a re-play of events, the lighting changes and you watch ghostly people acting out the scene. That helps a little bit with some of the difficult parts. Violence is not quite so vivid when it's see-through. The effect also gives you a new, dusky view of your surroundings, which is something you would miss if you didn't play through the story (of course, the context would also be lost). The photo below was taken during the first "visualization," you can see for yourself - on the one hand, it's ghostly, and the story it tells is grim. On the other hand, you're not facing it in full HD gore. While I'm sure it would be somewhat possible to simply avoid the creepy bits and play this as a walking simulator, you would still come across things like dead bodies and pools of blood. For me, all of this came together with the beautiful, tranquil solitude of the scenery, and created an immersive experience unmatched by almost any other game I've played. You will never stumble across an actively violent scene - all of the visualizations occur as a result of finding and pursuing clues. So some of the blood and whatnot that are part of the scene are there, but no direct violence happens without warning. There is one part later on in the game that can be really startling, my solution was to look up the solution on Google and get past it ASAP. Please proceed with caution if you feel this game might be upsetting for you. Once you complete each scenario, a wisp of light flies through, leading you to the "conclusion" of the scene and giving you a clue about what happened after, or what's coming next. You'll find that the different paths lead you forward, others lead you to clues, but I barely noticed this the first time through, because it all comes together so seamlessly. There are also areas that are off the path that can be explored, should you decide to wander into the woods. There are a few things you probably won't find (not necessarily linked directly to the story itself) unless you do go wandering, which I enjoyed. The Steam achievements will let you know more or less when you've found everything there is to find story-wise, but there is always a chance to find a view you hadn't seen before. Currently, there are almost five thousand reviews of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Steam, 89% of which are positive. The only DLC available is the upgrade to the collector's edition, which includes the usual perks like the soundtrack and "making of" album and some wallpapers. Definitely not required to get the full game experience, although the music is nice. I think that's about all I can say without giving spoilers. I'll post an update with a link when I've got the photo album up, but you don't have to wait - there are TONS of screen shot albums out there, many of which are in much higher definition than I'll be able to provide. As always, let me know if you're left with any questions or I glazed over anything too quickly - if there's a spoiler in it, I'll PM you the answer.
|
|
bekkasan
Fairy Penguin
Posts: 900
Likes: 1,606
|
Post by bekkasan on Sept 13, 2015 14:26:28 GMT
This really sounds like an eerily awesome game. I like games where you get a chance to explore and hunt for things/clues. I don't always like to 'save a world'. I'll have to wait awhile so perhaps price will go down too.
|
|