New games I wish were worth getting...

[kandrathe]

I'll start with; The Legend of Korra.

I watched the entire Avatar series with my kids, and I wish the game were worth getting, but according to this Gamespot Review... I'll save my money and wait for someone else to do it right.

"The Avatar universe is rich with fantastical history and earnest storytelling, but those elements are nowhere to be found in The Legend of Korra (the game, and not the excellent animated program), which tries its best to boot M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender film out of its rightful position as "worst Avatar-related thing yet produced." What rescues developer Platinum's short downloadable game from earning that not-so-coveted title is the elemental bending itself: it's not very complicated to perform, but it looks flashy and fun, and proves that The Legend of Korra could have (should have) been, at very least, a serviceable beat-em-up."

[kandrathe]

Ok, another game, I wish was more "worth it" -- is The Elder Scrolls Online. I've been a huge fan of the previous works. I jumped into it with Morrowind, then went back and picked up Daggerfall and Arena. I have over 500 hours into playing about a dozen characters on Skyrim.

I just can't justify to myself the cost of the TES online (60$, or $80 for imperial), plus modest monthly subscription fees (15$). From what I've heard from reviews, the on-line game becomes fairly linear -- something anathema to previous TES games. I guess if you would enjoy it to play a few characters (three factions) from 1-50 , then it might be worth it, if not still on the slightly expensive side. Here is the consensus of Metacritic; http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-el...lls-online

Maybe I'm just old school. But, if you're a huge RPG fan wouldn't you first exhaust all the fun you could from known winners like 'The Legend of Grimrock, plus The Legend of Grimrock II" bundled for $30 bucks?

[Jester]

Civilization: Beyond Earth.

I've been waiting for a sequel to Alpha Centauri for 15 years. Something that preserved everything I loved about the game - the rich, encylopaedic homage to classic science fiction, the bold history-of-the-future speculation, the brilliant creation of seven distinct and coherent ideologies and leaders, the mountains and mountains of flavour text - and taught the AI how to play the game, and maybe streamlined some of the clunkier interface issues.

Instead we apparently got Civ5 in space. Anyone want to recommend this? Because it looks bland as oatmeal.

-Jester

[Bolty]

Some of my guildies were playing Civ: Beyond Earth recently and, not being familiar with anything that isn't WoW nowadays, I had them describe it to me.

With every feature they told me about, my reaction was "that's just like Alpha Centauri." It really reminded me of how awesome that game was. However, it didn't seem that any of these players had experienced Alpha Centauri, so none were able to make a direct comparison.

Stinking Morganites. Like you said, the deep science fiction and philosophies (for a computer game) involved in the various factions is what made that game for me.

[kandrathe]

Civilization: Beyond Earth.

I've been waiting for a sequel to Alpha Centauri for 15 years. Something that preserved everything I loved about the game - the rich, encylopaedic homage to classic science fiction, the bold history-of-the-future speculation, the brilliant creation of seven distinct and coherent ideologies and leaders, the mountains and mountains of flavour text - and taught the AI how to play the game, and maybe streamlined some of the clunkier interface issues.

Instead we apparently got Civ5 in space. Anyone want to recommend this? Because it looks bland as oatmeal.

-Jester

This is good to know. One of my sons is keen on getting it, and I'm sort of so-so.

My older son bought "Sins of a Solar Empire" and I've tried my best to play it a few times in a small system against 1 AI opponent, which with pirates means you are against two opponents. Maybe it's me, but I just continually eventually get my rear handed to me fighting off both the pirates and the enemy. I think offenses are better than defenses, so it is easy to take away territory but nearly impossible to hang on to it, while also researching, growing and expanding.

[Kevin]

Civilization: Beyond Earth.

I've been waiting for a sequel to Alpha Centauri for 15 years. Something that preserved everything I loved about the game - the rich, encylopaedic homage to classic science fiction, the bold history-of-the-future speculation, the brilliant creation of seven distinct and coherent ideologies and leaders, the mountains and mountains of flavour text - and taught the AI how to play the game, and maybe streamlined some of the clunkier interface issues.

Instead we apparently got Civ5 in space. Anyone want to recommend this? Because it looks bland as oatmeal.

-Jester

Thanks to a convoluted path that got me a free copy of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (great game) and a $5 copy of XCOM: Enemy Within (waiting to play it until I've finished a few runs on Enemy Unknown) I got a 50% deal on a pre-order of Beyond Earth. So I have played 2.5 games of BE now.

Sadly I didn't play much Alpha Centauri (SMAC). I came to the series late, starting with Civ III, so SMAC was already dated by the time I learned about it, which was after Civ IV was out. I own a copy but I just couldn't get past the interface and never really looked at mods to help. Interface and graphic limitations seem like an odd thing to keep me from playing it since I still play MoO II from time to time, but it is what it is.

I enjoy BE, but I also played, and still play, too much Civ V. I like the new concepts in BE but the game still runs on the Civ V engine, and it wasn't a heavily modified engine. If you didn't like Civ V you probably won't care much for BE. It's more than Civ V in space, but it's also got some limitations. It could be a typical Firaxis/2K release of a Civ game though. Civ V vanilla plays differently from Civ V Brave New World. But it still feels like Civ V. Civ IV vanilla plays differently than Civ IV: Beyond the Sword.

You won't find the really distinct personalities that everyone talked about from SMAC. The 8 factions do have distinction but since they moved to a tech web, which I think will prove to be a very good decision, the personalities tend to be more blank slates that develop as the game moves and don't tend to flavor the same way. So ARC might be alien hugging miasma loving space hippies one game, and the next they are militaristic cyborgs looking to liberate Earth from it's sad state, by force if necessary. Think playing Civ V but with the "randomize leaders" checkbox clicked every time. Of course maybe the flavor tendencies for the BE leaders are stronger than I think and it's just been the couple of games I've played being a way too small sample size.

Looking at game reports from others it seems things are just more variable and that it was done that way to make the AI more adaptive to situations. The leader bonuses and starting bonuses aren't strong enough to lead anyone down any particular path. I think it allows better use of the tech web.

Also I'm not positive if some of the complexity that the game has adds depth or just adds complexity. The potential for a truly excellent game is there, but it might take an expansion or two.

So I don't think it's a successor or even spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, but maybe a spiritual cousin might work. If you liked Civ V, you'll like BE. If you hated Civ V, you may still find BE OK since it does change core things enough. If you want SMAC in a modern format, I'm not sure that is what you are getting, because while it shares concepts, I don't think you get strength of flavor. Oh and you better like managing trade routes, or enjoy playing handicapped because trade routes are power in BE. If you have to be perfectly min/maxed then they will drive you nuts. If you are OK with being 80% optimal then you can mostly "fire and forget".

It does feel more like SMAC than Civiliztion IV: Colonization felt like the original Colonization to me. Yes I got to the series late, but I had played Colonization then it all dropped off my radar for like a decade.

[kandrathe]

I just picked up BioShock 2 for $4.99 on Steam, so if it was on anyone's "waiting for it to be cheap list..." http://store.steampowered.com/app/8850/

You can also get package deals, 1+2 for $9.99, and 1+2+infinite for $11.99.

[Taem]

Gauntlet Remake

Been playing the Gauntlet remake on Steam. It's a very well-made game with HUGE room for expansion, however the lack of levels leaves much to be desired leaving the experience rather lackluster. There are only twelve levels, whereas the original Gauntlet games had well over 100+ levels on them, and the lack of monster variety is sorely noted, however the polish on the game cannot be overlooked as the artwork is terrific, the game-play controls fantastic, and the feel captures the original beautifully. Like I said, until more content is released, I can't really recommend this game, but once it is, I won't be able to recommend it enough!

---

Legend of Grimrock II

Also been playing Legend of Grimrock II. In all honestly, it's a well polished and fun dungeon crawler-type game in the same vein as the old Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder genre. There are however, several elements that turned me off to this otherwise terrific game, enough so that I haven't bothered to pick it up again until these issues are giver proper attention to. Mainly support for the new "firearm" mechanic they tossed into the game, which you'd think was a viable class and skill, but sadly is not due to lack of ammo in the game. And making an all firearm squad is a pipe dream in this game. The only way to make "special" attacks is to hold down your attack button for a time to "charge" it, however by the time it's released, you could have attacked with all four of your toons dealing twice as much damage in the process. Charged items aren't really useful for front-line fighters who dole out massive damage and have good protection, but are best used for wizards who run out of mana and need a backup item, however the caveat here is that the charged items in this game require.... more mana! Literally, everything I was trying to do in this game with my first two parties was squashed by these silly rules that weren't an issue in Legend of Grimrock I, so as of now, I cannot recommend this game until these issues are addressed, as I have stopped playing it myself. I feel that once proper attention is given to these, and other balance issues, then this game will be outstanding and deserve a place amongst some of the very best, however even great games fall due to stupid game-play crushing bugs and balance issues and this game is no exception.

[LochnarITB]

Darn it! When will I learn to not read threads like this? Two more games on my wishlist, waiting for sales, so I can spend money I don't have.

Gauntlet Remake

Legend of Grimrock II

"Wizard needs food badly" I spent so many quarters, while enjoying "electronic lunches", on the original Gauntlet. The option to feed more quarters, to continue from where you were, was a brilliant money maker. The only video game that rivaled it in capturing my coins was the original Darius side scroller with the 3 screen cabinet. This remake looks great and just 12 levels doesn't even deter me. After all, 4 classes times 12 levels is kinda like 48 levels.

LoG2 is also a huge draw. I started my long addiction to gaming with the original Wizardry, played on an Apple II+ (with a green screen monitor) that I bought just to play it and other games to come. Probably many dozens of dungeon crawls later, the mapping (drawn by hand on quad ruled paper in the early games) is still a massive draw for me. I played LoG and think I found and solved everything... except the stupid door in the spitting face room on level 7(?). I could never get all the way through the lightning ball catch sequence to get the door to open. From what I had read, I almost got it but never quite completed it.

[LennyLen]

The option to feed more quarters, to continue from where you were, was a brilliant money maker.

Which makes it interesting to note that what set the Gauntlet Legends arcade game (~2000) apart from other arcade games was the fact that you could save your progress on the machine with a password and come back at a later point and start from there. It also had secret unlockable characters.

[kandrathe]

Legend of Grimrock II

... and the original Legend of Grimrock are on my wishlist. I will wait patiently for a good bundle deal. I will... wait. Patiently. Yes.

[Kevin]

Legend of Grimrock II

... and the original Legend of Grimrock are on my wishlist. I will wait patiently for a good bundle deal. I will... wait. Patiently. Yes.

You might want to keep an eye on Bundle Stars (http://www.bundlestars.com/) I've gotten several free steam keys from them and I did grab a bundle from them that had a couple of games I wanted and others that were, eh, whatevers. I'm pretty sure I've seen the Legend of Grimrock games there before, but stuff cycles through. Be warned it's kind of like a Steam Summer sale that doesn't end. Though most of the stuff is significantly older, you'll get new stuff. I almost pulled the trigger on The Banner Saga but didn't so I'm waiting on that one to get down cheaper too.

[Jester]

It does feel more like SMAC than Civiliztion IV: Colonization felt like the original Colonization to me. Yes I got to the series late, but I had played Colonization then it all dropped off my radar for like a decade.

I was a bit of an obsessive about Colonization, and I was entirely disappointed with the new version, which seemed pretty terrible.

Is this just rose coloured glasses? Or has Firaxis just lost the plot? At least X-Com was good.

-Jester

[Kevin]

It does feel more like SMAC than Civiliztion IV: Colonization felt like the original Colonization to me. Yes I got to the series late, but I had played Colonization then it all dropped off my radar for like a decade.

I was a bit of an obsessive about Colonization, and I was entirely disappointed with the new version, which seemed pretty terrible.

Is this just rose coloured glasses? Or has Firaxis just lost the plot? At least X-Com was good.

-Jester

I too was very disappointed with the Colonization remake. I'm not completely disappointed with Beyond Earth. However, I didn't go into Beyond Earth looking for a new Alpha Centauri either.

I don't know if I would go as far as saying that Firaxis has lost the plot. But I think they wanted a different feel to BE than the feel SMAC had. Like you said the remake of XCOM has been excellent and I've been playing that a lot after getting my free copy. I think they actually made BE the game they set out to make, but as mentioned I think there is more potential to it than they implemented. I worry that is intentional because expansion for Civ IV and Civ V sold so well. I think they designed it "good enough" but didn't do everything they could have or plan to. So I think part of the issue money driven design. Since you've waited this many years, you might be happier waiting until after the 2nd or 3rd Xpac is released getting some bundle deal and by then it will really feel like the SMAC successor you wanted.

[Chesspiece_face]

I just picked up BioShock 2 for $4.99 on Steam, so if it was on anyone's "waiting for it to be cheap list..." http://store.steampowered.com/app/8850/

You can also get package deals, 1+2 for $9.99, and 1+2+infinite for $11.99.

Great buys. I've not played fully through Infinite yet. I started and got distracted by other games at the time. What I did play though, I would agree with many of it's critics - Great world and atmosphere, but the gameplay suffered greatly.

If anyone is looking for a great place to throw a buck fitty, check out :Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves. For that cheap how can you go wrong?