Alpha Centauri 2

Other Games => Other Games => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 04:35:17 AM

Title: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 04:35:17 AM
So if I was talking to a PR person at a big game publisher and the possibility of review copies came up, who would be interested?

If anyone could show me some quality reviews they'd written, they'd get preference.  Community contributions, and I don't know whether that's also content creation (lotta modders here) or just good posts, would help, too.  Most of you are literate and good writers, so I don't have worries on that count.

Basically, before the rest, I need to know who's interested in general, and what game genres those who are play.

?
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 16, 2014, 04:40:37 AM
what kind of games?
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 04:45:25 AM
What kind(s) do you like?  Seriously; this is a member poll, and I don't know what kind yet.  I could show your Kerbal thread as something that shows some of what you're capable of, if I was to be talking to a promotions person from a gaming company.  No harm in posting more KSP, BTW - I love that stuff.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 16, 2014, 04:55:08 AM
reviews I've penned.

http://www.halloweenforum.com/product-reviews/129640-best-darn-pumpkin-knives-ever.html (http://www.halloweenforum.com/product-reviews/129640-best-darn-pumpkin-knives-ever.html)
http://www.halloweenforum.com/product-reviews/114187-foam-coat-hotwire-foam-factory.html (http://www.halloweenforum.com/product-reviews/114187-foam-coat-hotwire-foam-factory.html)
http://www.halloweenforum.com/product-reviews/115977-exterior-foam-coat-hotwire-foam-factory.html (http://www.halloweenforum.com/product-reviews/115977-exterior-foam-coat-hotwire-foam-factory.html)
http://www.anunorthodoxhalloween.com/?cat=41 (http://www.anunorthodoxhalloween.com/?cat=41)

Oh, you meant GAME reviews? 
;)

Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 16, 2014, 05:07:51 AM
I am a strategy fan and was going to play ffta insane difficulty mod, but I couldn't beat the first scenario.

Apparently x-difficulty is considered more of a chore than strategy.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 16, 2014, 05:08:36 AM
What kind of games...

Well, TBS is always appreciated. 

I'm awful picky about RPGs and RTS and don't do shooters or platformers.   
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 16, 2014, 05:09:42 AM
I'm awful picky about RPGs and RTS and don't do shooters or platformers.
What are your favoured RPG's?
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 16, 2014, 05:10:06 AM
I am a strategy fan and was going to play ffta insane difficulty mod, but I couldn't beat the first scenario.

Apparently x-difficulty is considered more of a chore than strategy.
Final fantasy tactics advance....mod?   you can mod GBA games? 
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 16, 2014, 05:12:35 AM
Final fantasy tactics advance....mod?   you can mod GBA games?
You could even put them on a cartridge with the right equipment. 

But honestly, I couldn't be bothered to play GBA games or much anything else anymore.  Though I'll probably log onto to StarCraft once a year forever.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 05:19:30 AM
ffta
?

Actually, Uno, I think that stuff is helpful in this line -- The Kerbal thread is still a lot better, not least for being onsite.  Could you point me at anything you're especially proud of in your Random thread?  Text-heavy for a preference.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 05:20:40 AM
Blanek, anything you'd care to point at with pride, especially onsite?
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 16, 2014, 05:21:09 AM
ffta?
Favorite game of mine when I was like thirteen.

Blanek, anything you'd care to point at with pride, especially onsite?
I will let you know if I think of anything. 
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 05:22:36 AM
Post something.  It's a member of the community thing...
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 16, 2014, 05:30:48 AM
I'm sorry but it's very rare that I even considered games to be particularly good.  I liked NWN1, but it's certainly not what it could be.  I guess I liked the Divine Divinity series also.  But I don't play any of them anymore.  Limited value, you know.

The only game I really play anymore, besides AC single player, would be Age of Wonders PBEM. 

One Paradox strategy that might have had "potential" but died was Kaiserreich, but they stopped developing after they banned me for trying to get them to combine the socialists and the monarchists.  I have a number of other strategy games on gamersgate that I have not bothered playing.

I will list several that are a waste of time.
1. EU3, although MEIOU mod is alright
2. Sword of Stars, which I couldn't bother playing past the loading screen
3. Crusader Kings
4. Paradox Games

I almost forgot to mention that if you like strategy, well, you should at least have played Master of Orion 2.  If you like RTS and have already played the StarCraft you could play Warhammer...  just not the second one.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 16, 2014, 06:02:25 AM
I'm able to criticize games if that would be helpful.  But I don't make a habit of criticizing the original StarCraft and AOW.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Geo on May 16, 2014, 11:38:32 AM
Game review writing? I guess that means one or two tries at a beta version, writing your review, and then nothing until the next version of one of another title comes available from this publisher?
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 16, 2014, 12:14:55 PM
ffta
?

Actually, Uno, I think that stuff is helpful in this line -- The Kerbal thread is still a lot better, not least for being onsite.  Could you point me at anything you're especially proud of in your Random thread?  Text-heavy for a preference.


Most my game reviews are, um, somewhere else....

I think the closest thing HERE would be the Dominions 4 AAR. 

http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=5666.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=5666.0)
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 16, 2014, 12:41:34 PM
I'm awful picky about RPGs and RTS and don't do shooters or platformers.
What are your favoured RPG's?

My personal favorite was (I'm not sure the servers are still running) the original Guild Wars. 

It avoided many of the pitfalls of common RPGs.  There was no abysmal loot treadmill, "elite" gear was only superior in looks, not stats.  It was also notable for it's strict adherence to limiting the number of skills you could use.  HUNDREDS of possible skills in the game, and you were limited to 9.  A lot of RPG's try to give you the entire keyboard in skill hotkeys.  This meant coming up with builds for particular situations was not only possible but encouraged.  I spent most of my time traveling the world unlocking different skills on my main character, seeking out trainers and bosses in remote areas of the world. 

Now, guild wars 2....no secondary profession, no need to seek out skill trainers, since you automatically learned them all, access to maybe 30 possible skills per character, not hundreds, and one of the first updates they did was to add a new, better, more elite stat gear to farm.  Not to mention you could really only customize half your skillbar since the first half was locked into your classes weapons now (because as a wizard, your skills are obvisouly based on your wand, wtf?). ugh.  It's 'fun', but it's not something that's going to keep me in a game looking. 


Caveat:  I don't do monthly fees, so have missed a huge swath of MMOs.  And the current "free to play" systems, I'm ok with a game charging me for additional storage (within reason) or more character slots, or stuff like that...."Pay to win" to buy the best equipment is sure to get me to ignore a game. 
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 03:34:27 PM
Game review writing? I guess that means one or two tries at a beta version, writing your review, and then nothing until the next version of one of another title comes available from this publisher?
I wouldn't know - it's a free game.  With what they cost these days, an hour or two thoughtfully writing it up after you've tried it is a good deal, even for a beta.

I'm able to criticize games if that would be helpful.  But I don't make a habit of criticizing the original StarCraft and AOW.
Perhaps you could post a longish thing about what you like?  I believe you have it in you, and it would help a lot.  Pick one game, pick several, pick a genre - it's open-ended.  I know you can write - being able to point at you talking about what you love and approve of would help.  Start a new thread or just post it here - it's up to you.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Geo on May 16, 2014, 04:28:25 PM
Game review writing? I guess that means one or two tries at a beta version, writing your review, and then nothing until the next version of one of another title comes available from this publisher?
I wouldn't know - it's a free game.  With what they cost these days, an hour or two thoughtfully writing it up after you've tried it is a good deal, even for a beta.

I'll let pass the opportunity.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 04:47:12 PM
Okydoke.

Let me add this - I worked amateur PR a lot when I was running a RL chess club for a good deal of the last decade.  I think what a flack for a game publisher would be looking for in this case, guessing, is pull-quotes.  Promotions people would naturally prefer rhapsodious good reviews of wall to wall love, but I wouldn't cooperate if that was required.  Trash the game hard if that's what it deserves, but it would be polite to look for one or two good things to say, to validate their investment.

Honest reviews, however - I'm not going to participate in this myself, so I can be impartial in  handling things, and I want this deal to be on the level.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 04:53:22 PM
Oh - and I'm chatting with sisko offsite right now, and he agrees that we'll make an Other Games folder if we can get enough other games talk going.

In fact, he phrased it as soon as we have reviewers lined up.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 16, 2014, 10:42:04 PM
I am now posting a review of Neverwinter Nights
(edit: I expand on this the next page)
NWN had enough boons and flaws that I could write something here.  NWN was the first RPG I played after action-rpg Diablo 2.  It had a "good" multiplayer, but I only consider single-player campaign because multiplayer are just loot collections.  So really I am reviewing the campaign.

NWN1 has replay value.  I do not find that NWN2 had replay value - maybe with it's second campaign.  I don't feel that either game is really for suited alignments other than lawful good - NWN2 has a rougeish path, but I'm not a rouge anyway.  I don't feel that CRPG really does justice to it's class system.  It's almost pointless having it.  I played as a Bard first playthrough on NWN before I knew what I was doing, and since the other paths don't offer differing options for playing something else, it's not really worth doing unless you just feel like another playthrough after some years - which is plausible. 

Now, that aside, as an adventurer hired to save the city of Neverwinter, the game is good, and so are a number of the characters and much of the story.  But for Christ sake, am I the only one that has no interest in free-booting?  I'd tell Aribeth to keep her gold and give me rank and office.  Gold is filthy!  There are plenty of side-quests.  Are they not beneath my dignity?  Damn King Nasher!

Nasher gives you noble rank in NWN2, but I'd ask him to keep it and instead send people to disperse the Blacklake nobles to the countryside.  Nobles are absolutely useless if they are not used for farming and fighting!  Others should be defrocked.  That is the intelligent way to rule!  You're not sending me to some far-flug outpost, I'll go to Luskan!
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 16, 2014, 11:58:14 PM
;b; :D  This will be helpful.  It's not a bad sample of a quick off the top of your head essay.

Style tip - say NeverWinter Nights the first time, to make it clearer what NWN and NWN2 are.  Not every reader will be as hardcore as you.  And I still haven't figured out what the C in CRPG stands for.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 17, 2014, 12:18:03 AM
Not every reader will be as hardcore as you.
I'm a hardcore google user, I type acronyms into google and everything.  Or rather, startpage.com
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 17, 2014, 12:29:47 AM
I'm just saying.  You can pretty safely assume everyone knows acronyms like NASA and CIA that get used more than full names*, but even gamers usually say NeverWinter Nights instead of NWN the first mention.  Style matters.

*And laser.  That's actually an acronym that's turned into just a word.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 17, 2014, 12:37:38 AM
I'm just saying.  You can pretty safely assume everyone knows acronyms like NASA[/size]
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 17, 2014, 12:46:32 AM
Naw, that was something different I think you made up. ;)

So I googled CRPG, and I've actually played a bunch of those.  Are you old enough to have played the SSI D&D games like Pool of Radiance?  I still have several of those, and really loved them back in the 90s when they ran slow enough.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 17, 2014, 01:31:16 AM
SSI had some killer games back in the day.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 17, 2014, 01:36:29 AM
So I googled CRPG, and I've actually played a bunch of those.  Are you old enough to have played the SSI D&D games like Pool of Radiance?  I still have several of those, and really loved them back in the 90s when they ran slow enough.
I looked at it recently, but it didn't look interesting for me to bother.  RPG's have to be heavy enough on the RPG element now for me to care, otherwise they ought have some really excellent strategy/tactical element like FFTA should have had.  in my opinion, they ought to have both.  Then we can finally have a good game.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 17, 2014, 01:45:04 AM
Have you tried Tactics Ogre?  I think there was a GBA remake of it (look for let us cling together, I can't speak of knights of lodis, as I don't do mobile gaming) similar to the FFTA remake.  I can't speak to either remake, but Tactics Ogre was basically a deeper FFT.  Both made by essentially the same team, Tactics Ogre had the poorer graphics, but your map was much larger, and you fielded twice the number of units.  The important characters were not as overpowhelmingly powerful as the were in FFT, and their living or death at the end influenced the ending(s). 

Definite downsides to TO, though.  Most notably, training up an army can get PAINFULLY dull unless you know a trick or two...that just makes it annoyingly dull. 

As with all ogre battle series...I always end up 'evil'.  In fact, March of the Black Queen marks the first game ever I just EMBRACED the evil side.  I was really trying to be good, and that meter kept nudging dark, so I said the hell with it. 

(yes, ogre battle games are based on Queen songs.  Really)
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 17, 2014, 01:49:41 AM
So I googled CRPG, and I've actually played a bunch of those.  Are you old enough to have played the SSI D&D games like Pool of Radiance?  I still have several of those, and really loved them back in the 90s when they ran slow enough.
I looked at it recently, but it didn't look interesting for me to bother.  RPG's have to be heavy enough on the RPG element now for me to care, otherwise they ought have some really excellent strategy/tactical element like FFTA should have had.  in my opinion, they ought to have both.  Then we can finally have a good game.
Wanna write a whole essay on what the perfect game would be like?  Or a whole series covering the perfect game in each genre you prefer?

SSI had some killer games back in the day.
Yes.



Gentlemen, even just shooting the breeze about what you like and don't and your playstyle may be useful in this.  Chat away.  Try to be extra articulate, but chat away.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 17, 2014, 02:23:43 AM
Wanna write a whole essay on what the perfect game would be like?
I thought that's what I'd been doing..  Really just saying that RPG's and strategy games don't have to be different genres.  In many strategy games they really aren't, as far as the campaign goes, except for not going far enough with the RPG element. 
(click to show/hide)

RPG combat, especially that of like, DND style, has been... meh.  I mean, Diablo you know, gets old past teenage years.  But you know, other people like Adventure style or something?  While you can call a Daiblo 2 an action RPG, I'd call Divinity 2 essentially a combat RPG.  The game runs out when you've tried the different classes, gets older faster than Diablo 2 did.  And I don't really even call those two games RPG's because they have no RPG choices.

I like strategy, so ideally a good RPG could also be a Tactical RPG.  Not that TRPG wouldn't get old, it's just what I like, and it's not really been done.  The right combination, with the right quality, would be real art.  But I don't want RTS combined with a genuine RPG, like Larian tried.  I'd have bought it if it was a plain, deeper RPG, like I bought their other two games.


You're already somewhat familiar with my gripes about RPG's.
1.) Fantasy Strategy game like AOW puts you as the good king.  Or AOW1 has a compelling story for the evil king!
2.)  RPG's make you as a gangster!  As a result, strategy games sometimes have more compelling stories than RPG's! (overall, there can be good chracters.)  Why do they do this?  Even If I'm "adventuring", and it's not a tactical RPG like I'd like, doesn't mean I want to be a damn robber.

NWN2 realized this, and makes a different path for the robber, than the decent enough story for the Lawful Good character. 

But regarding evil, I'm going to be evil, than make it interesting like a necromancer, not the robber path.  Or give me a lawful neutral necromancer!, grey morality and all that.  Or the lawful evil cleric, for what was the Lawful Good story.  But of course, NWN 2 only gives you the lawful good or rouge path.  Trying to play the good path alternatively aligned becomes terribly uninteresting.

3.)  You've read about my complaints about magic.  Tedious should just be auras; and they don't give it atmosphere! Make it macabre!  Give the magic itself a story, in the game, make it a part of the RPG.  It's not like we don't already have real-life religions to be drawn from, like a favorite of mine, Zoroastrianism.  Have the Clerics actually in contact with the gods!  And don't do the DND class system.  DND had a funny story so wizards and clerics could be different classes, but they're really the same thing in older religions.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 17, 2014, 03:00:10 AM
Have you tried Tactics Ogre? 
I think I tried to play it on SNES emulator, my understanding is that it was more of a Grand Strategy or something, didn't have the tactical battle field.
As with all ogre battle series...I always end up 'evil'.
My understanding was that evil didn't mean a great deal.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 17, 2014, 05:20:55 AM
Have you tried Tactics Ogre? 

I think I tried to play it on SNES emulator, my understanding is that it was more of a Grand Strategy or something, didn't have the tactical battle field.
As with all ogre battle series...I always end up 'evil'.

My understanding was that evil didn't mean a great deal.


You're thinking ogre battle of one version or the other, I think.  TACTICS OGRE is, almost literally, a bigger, deeper, FFT. 

First video review on a quick search, for the ps vita remake version.  (Only caveat I have with his review is he says you can have 12 characters on the map, 2 of them will be guests you have no control over, you control up to 10) 
[HD] Vita Tactics Ogre : Let Us Cling Together Review ( PSP ) [ Review Zone HD ] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cA657DhtdI#ws)

As far as evil/good goes, having never beaten one of the games as a GOOD character, I can't say definitively, but March of the Black Queen's ending for my character had me being worse off for the country than the black queen I was on a quest to destroy.   ;b; ;lol  In Tactics Ogre, if you go all Chaos (evil), you can have a hard time keeping Lawful characters in your army.  (EVERY unit has an attitude towards you, and alignment weighs heavy in that, as does race and a couple other things) Considering the more powerful priestess ladies are all lawful, that can make things difficult.  (as well as other classes that are of less importance)
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Valka on May 17, 2014, 06:53:41 AM
The only game reviewing I've done has been on the Big Fish Games site. I've beta tested some of them, and posted in some of the forums. I guess that's not the sort of games meant here, though.  :-\
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: BlaneckW on May 17, 2014, 12:12:19 PM
I wanted to mention that i also like moogles.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 17, 2014, 03:10:41 PM
The only game reviewing I've done has been on the Big Fish Games site. I've beta tested some of them, and posted in some of the forums. I guess that's not the sort of games meant here, though.  :-\
It might be - just as well link a review you're proud of...
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Unorthodox on May 17, 2014, 09:05:24 PM

Gentlemen, even just shooting the breeze about what you like and don't and your playstyle may be useful in this.

I vary greatly in my likes and dislikes as well as my play styles, depending on my mood. 

In an RPG, thus, I appreciate something that will give me a nice variety to play around with.  It's important that the different classes and whatnot FEEL different as well.   Preferably with multiple ways to play individual classes, and expect me to go 'against the grain' and roll up that elite archer class as a 2 handed hammer wielder or something off the wall like that. 

I'm a guy that will quickly roll multiple characters and try varying builds.  I consider it a 'good' game if I can enjoy those differing builds, and want to make MORE.  I'll generally not play too much "end game" loot treadmill stuff, in favor of exploring other ways to play, and appreciate the ability to respec characters to minimize my need to play the really early tutorial crap.  Now, "end game" actual new content, I will tend to play, especially if it presents new challenges and not more of the same.  If it's just another mob farm, forget it. 

Strategy games, I'm similarly influenced by random whims.  I'm equally as likely to turtle as I am to zerg rush (and more likely to do one or the other if it is an 'inferior' path in a given game), and in MP, "winning" is virtually NEVER my primary goal.  Though what that goal is changes.  I've joined games specifically to make sure a newer player survives the initial bloodletting, and formed entire teams with the specific goal of just throwing a monkey wrench into the normal boring progression.  My failure to play according to game theory really pisses some people off, and some games really don't like either. 

I like my strategy games, thus, to provide the ability to handle differing play styles.  Campaigns that force you to rush or turtle instead of letting the player choose how to go about it are just not as fun.  I tend to enjoy the tactics level gameplay more than the grand strategy level, but like games that provide BOTH.  I really enjoy RPG elements thrown into the strategy as well.  Let me grow my units and become attached to them. 

Oh, and I don't like cheating. AI with infinite supplies/money/etc is really past it's usefulness people.  Let it beat me by the same rules I play with, thanks. 
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Valka on May 17, 2014, 11:18:55 PM
I can't link my reviews, since they were sent directly to Big Fish Games. The way it works is, they occasionally email me with an offer to beta test a game, and when I've done that, I click a link to answer questions and provide a review. I never saved any of them. The only other extensive posting I've done re BFG has been a rather snarky series of comments on "Design This Home."
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 17, 2014, 11:24:16 PM
If you wanted to write about anything gaming/reviewish to provide a sample, right here would be fine.  You're a mature poster with good grammar/spelling, and I can recommend you with confidence already, but samples to show would help.  I think.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 17, 2014, 11:38:07 PM
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=28.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=28.0)

I know we have some Uno threads here in Rec Commons that belong there - I'll wait for input before I do anything, and want input in general.  This is your place, not just mine.

This thread should probably be moved there, in fact, and replaced with a notice...
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: ete on May 18, 2014, 04:27:57 AM
Possibly interested, depending on style of game (TBS/RTS preferred, not interested in FPS) and how early a version I'd get to try/whether there was opportunity for feedback to be used to improve the game. I'm much more interested in helping improve games than getting a free game if I'm honest.

I don't have game review samples, but I've done quite a lot of reviews of AC custom factions (see my posts here: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=3819.285 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=3819.285) ) and built the wiki for this site. I can write and have a pretty good feel for game balance and strategy in the types of game I like.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 18, 2014, 05:02:20 AM
ete is once of my best, most useful, people, and I endorse him.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 19, 2014, 03:21:39 PM
I wish I was getting more feedback here.  There are a number of questions outstanding...
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 19, 2014, 09:48:58 PM
My Buncle powers are giving me a strong feeling that the next post is going to be solid gold.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review
Post by: Rusty Edge on May 19, 2014, 09:55:59 PM

2.)  RPG's make you as a gangster!  As a result, strategy games sometimes have more compelling stories than RPG's! (overall, there can be good chracters.)  Why do they do this?  Even If I'm "adventuring", and it's not a tactical RPG like I'd like, doesn't mean I want to be a damn robber.

NWN2 realized this, and makes a different path for the robber, than the decent enough story for the Lawful Good character. 

But regarding evil, I'm going to be evil, than make it interesting like a necromancer, not the robber path.  Or give me a lawful neutral necromancer!, grey morality and all that.  Or the lawful evil cleric, for what was the Lawful Good story.  But of course, NWN 2 only gives you the lawful good or rouge path.  Trying to play the good path alternatively aligned becomes terribly uninteresting.

This thread has me thinking about what makes a game great.  I'm  about making games better, not about getting something for nothing.

One of those things is more ways to play. In Civ IV, you have the variety of victory conditions- Conquest, Domination, Cultural, Space, Diplomatic, and the cheesy Religious victory. In Sid's Pirates! you can play as someone loyal to his country, as a mercenary, or as an outright pirate. In both, you can change as the game goes on.  Where they come up short is that the score doesn't give proper credit for playing with high ethics, but you can at least win.

In Civ V your play style is dictated from the start by the leader you play as. In Civ IV Colonization, the winning play style was counter-intuitive. It was more of a puzzle. Once solved, it loses it's luster and replay ability. The glorious graphics don't overcome the constraints to play style. They made me a bird in a gilded cage.

It's better to have plenty of possibilities. Not just in play style, but in customization. I never played them myself, but I think that's part of the success of SIMS and SPORE. In Pirates! you collect stuff that helps you play better. You can customize the sails and flags. You can make several  improvements to the various ships in your fleet.  In Civ it's about cities, landscape, units and your civilization yourself. There's opportunity to specialize. Lots of choices.

That brings me to another point. Games I like to tend to reward decision making rather than fast reflexes. Reflex games are for teenagers. I'm not as quick as I used to be, and being reminded of that is annoying rather than challenging. It certainly isn't fun.

Another thing that makes a game great is the introductory premise. The opening in the original Civ did that beautifully. So did the parchment/Leonard Nimoy remake in IV. It's up to you to build a Civilization that will stand the test of time.  It was the same way in Sid's Pirates. It gives you a brief Count of Monte Christo type story. It's up to you to free your family, recover your fortune and seek revenge.  These things are easy to understand...
You know what the game is about before you buy it.

I like adventure in my games. My sister likes to play Tomb Raider. I like to watch her play.
Easy to understand what the game is about. You can think of the character as more of a scientist or more of a grave robber.

I think there's a lot of potential for a Robin Hood game or a Flash Gordon game, provided you could play the different characters, as fit your mood or personality. People would know that the goal is to get the girl and depose the tyrant so that you can go home. Unless you're
Dale Arden or Maid Marion, then you have more options.



Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 19, 2014, 10:09:38 PM
My Buncle powers are not to be trifled with. :D

I think you're right about the sandbox aspect - it's actually the way I play SMACX.  I like to leave one opponent alive in one city and play out the rest of the time limit like it's Sim city or something.  -That part isn't actually as fun once the conflict/challenge element is gone, which is why I'm not playing Sim City instead, but it's fun enough to keep doing it that way rather than going for a quick victory.

A lot of that is just my personality - my mother's family all gravitate towards things like jigsaw puzzles and solitaire - what I call "sorting games"...  I imagine many people in the community have similar stories.  The best TBS games are sorting games if you like to micromanage.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Rusty Edge on May 19, 2014, 11:20:42 PM
Yeah. Omnipresence and Omniscience. Maybe you should be in my Super Hero group. ;)
It's been one of those multitasking Mondays.

Sorting games is a good term. I like to do jigsaw and Mahjongg solitaire as a way to maintain my skills. Micromanaging more than a few of my Civ cities drains the fun from my game. I wish doing that kind of sorting exercise actually improved my eyesight as well as my brain function. Oh well. Can't have everything. Where would you put it?

I've come to appreciate a couple of other things about computer games.

The ability to Modify. Civ is modifiable. Pirates! is not. Well, it was designed to be theft proof, and guys at Hooked on Progress are only recently hacking and modding it. Modifiable has helped Civilization a lot. Modding communities tested and developed ideas as well as designers and programmers for use in future versions.

The other is the ability to "Toggle" game settings. I love random events in Civ. Not knowing what will happen next makes me want to play "One more turn". Knowing that each game will be unique means that the game is more replayable. Other people hate random events. They want to test and develop and measure their skills against a predictable program.   Fortunately we can have it both ways and make everybody happy. There is an On/Off switch for this feature.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Dale on May 20, 2014, 01:19:58 AM
The ability to Modify. Civ is modifiable. Pirates! is not. Well, it was designed to be theft proof, and guys at Hooked on Progress are only recently hacking and modding it. Modifiable has helped Civilization a lot. Modding communities tested and developed ideas as well as designers and programmers for use in future versions.

Pfffft.  Don't believe that for a second.  Pirates! on the C64 was the first game I ever modified.  Got sick of taking days to sail from one end of the Main to the other just to chase down a map in Vera Cruz.  So I modified the map and moved all the towns to the east.  Wow, that must've been late 80's?
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Rusty Edge on May 20, 2014, 03:53:37 AM
I think I knew that fact...
But I never had a C-64. Or heard of Pirates! back then.

I'm talking about the version circa 2005.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 20, 2014, 04:01:25 AM
Because it will give everyone a laugh - I was on a Radio Shack TRS80 Color Computer 1980-1990, roughly.  Couldn't have made it through college without that thing.  I still have it in the room with me, in fact, and it still worked six years ago...
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Dale on May 20, 2014, 04:36:17 AM
This was my first computer.  Very early 1980's, 81-2 I think?  Got a C64 in 83 and that was my mainstay childhood computer till my first PC in 89.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 20, 2014, 04:40:42 AM
1980, and the only thing I ever thought I pulled one over on my dad about.  Then momma bought me a printer and I ended up computer-literate, and I guess it really WAS educational like I'd told him in 79...
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Dale on May 20, 2014, 04:47:26 AM
Sorry, forgot to add the image.  This was my first computer, 1981.

(http://www.pong-picture-page.de/catalog/images/dick%20smith%20wizzard%20-%20y-1600.JPG)
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 20, 2014, 04:53:01 AM
And your early games?
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 20, 2014, 05:42:39 PM
Again, I'm looking for volunteers and some info on their tastes and some samples I could show to demonstrate why I endorse who I endorse.  Please speak up if you're interested in trying and reviewing free games.  I don't know if there's a possibility of some formal beta testing or if this will remain purely promotional.  I imagine any formal beta testing experience would help in either case, but solid reliable citizens who will post about what they've tried is what I'm basically looking for until I know more. -IF something in this line happens.

Someone into way off-genre games like shooters and racers and Mario Barbie's Fashion Whatsis and I don't know what will have an unfair advantage, I'm guessing.  Interest in 4x and TBS, even RTS, is rather assumed as a given in this community.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: BlaneckW on May 20, 2014, 06:02:18 PM
Racing is apparently the most common genre. 
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 20, 2014, 06:13:42 PM
Rusty, my buncle powers tell me that you like wargaming and are a little interested in scoring free games to review if the genre is right.  I need you to let me know how my buncle powers are doing there and elaborate on your preferences if I got that right...
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 20, 2014, 06:38:16 PM
I can't link my reviews, since they were sent directly to Big Fish Games. The way it works is, they occasionally email me with an offer to beta test a game, and when I've done that, I click a link to answer questions and provide a review. I never saved any of them. The only other extensive posting I've done re BFG has been a rather snarky series of comments on "Design This Home."
Can you tell us anything about genres you beta'd and your tastes in general?  I imagine you have some atypical likes, and as I mentioned above, that's an advantage, probably.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Rusty Edge on May 20, 2014, 06:49:16 PM
Right again, Buncle.

Yes, I'm willing to give a game a try and write about it in hopes of making it better. I cited Civ and Pirates!, because those are my two favorites of all time. I continue to play them year after year.

It's probably fairer to say that I'm attracted to games with a historical element. That's what I spend money on, even if they wind up in a cardboard box.  A War between goblins and elves doesn't really excite me the same way as a game in an Ancient or Age or Reason setting.

I play Luminosity games, too. On my phone I play mostly memory and sorting games. I thought Khet was an awesome game, but I gave mine to my nephew because he has many nerd friends, and my nerdy friends are all virtual or in another time zone. I used to love playing submarine games, and tank games, and biplane games.

 I might like a shooting game, because shooting/hunting  was my real-life hobby, but when I researched shooting games that real shooters enjoyed I wound up with games that had too much shifting visual perspective, and that aggravated my inner ear disorder to the point that I had a hard time staying in my chair.

Gotta Go.

Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: BlaneckW on May 20, 2014, 07:45:44 PM
I can try to review a wargame if that is desired.  Most of the games I'd played could probably have been called wargames.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 20, 2014, 07:48:59 PM
If I was talking to someone, I would have endorsed all the volunteers thus far in a briefing I would have just sent...
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: BlaneckW on May 20, 2014, 08:02:26 PM
lol
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Green1 on May 21, 2014, 04:41:54 AM
The only beta I did was one of the last closed then open betas for vanilla World of Warcraft back in 2004. I had a battlenet account and played a lot of Warcraft 3 back in the day and kind of lucked into it. Was not much to miss. I had an older machine that was underpowered for World of Warcraft at that time, and it was painful. I also had a beta for the Cataclysm expansion, but never logged into it.

All in all I have never been a fan of betas. Yeah, there is the whole nerd pride thing about being "one of the first" or maybe "being able to shape the game" crap. But all and all it just seems to be unpaid QA work.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 21, 2014, 05:13:11 AM
No interest in writing reviews?
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Green1 on May 21, 2014, 05:31:31 AM
No interest in writing reviews?

Reviews are on the table.

But, this will be via YouTube. I did finish recording an Age of Wonders 3 underground only game at Knight difficulty, but the game was not painful enough and I stomped the 4 AIs. I am discarding that and upping the difficulty and recording again.  I will upload that. I can not stand folks uploading vids of them stomping everything and I will not share anything like that.

That said, I think there are some things that can only be done through text. I personally can speed read much faster than watching a video. Add to that, video watching for many is painful if you have a smart phone connection. But, then again, youtube videos can provide more beer money than a forum post, podcast, or blog. Even the folks that were good reviewers on iTunes, blogs, etc seem to have all moved to youtube. Sad.

Maybe I will find a compromise.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Valka on May 21, 2014, 10:37:17 AM
I can't link my reviews, since they were sent directly to Big Fish Games. The way it works is, they occasionally email me with an offer to beta test a game, and when I've done that, I click a link to answer questions and provide a review. I never saved any of them. The only other extensive posting I've done re BFG has been a rather snarky series of comments on "Design This Home."
Can you tell us anything about genres you beta'd and your tastes in general?  I imagine you have some atypical likes, and as I mentioned above, that's an advantage, probably.
Most of the games I've beta'd are Hidden Object Games. I've also done a few Match-3 games, and a couple of the open-ended "find resources and build your town/castle/manage whatever" sort of game (I don't care for that kind - too much confusing micromanaging).

I've never done first-person shooters or the usual RPG-style games that a lot of folks here have done.

Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 21, 2014, 01:05:56 PM
I've been surprised at how little variation in tastes have been reported here - 4x TBS is a given for this crowd, and the same sort of people will usually go for the Age of Empires family and some RTS, allowing for stress levels.  I wish I could get some MPlayer participation; that would probably provide more diversity.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: sisko on May 21, 2014, 04:56:16 PM
  I wish I could get some MPlayer participation; that would probably provide more diversity.
not necessarily. they are all builders anyway.. which means they're most likely playing RTS/TBS games.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Green1 on May 22, 2014, 03:22:27 AM
I've been surprised at how little variation in tastes have been reported here - 4x TBS is a given for this crowd, and the same sort of people will usually go for the Age of Empires family and some RTS, allowing for stress levels.  I wish I could get some MPlayer participation; that would probably provide more diversity.

I dabble in MMOs. At least until they sicken me. Does that count as diversity? I think I am one of the few here that stands them.

 In fact I think I have shared some MMO drama and snippets in the past. Never did finish up that Eve Online one, but it ended up we ended up losing the war and I became a villain (er... misunderstood hero). I blew up a fellow corp member's Orca mining ship because he annoyed me (being excessively whiney) and ended up being kicked by the corp because that guy was the CEO's mentally challenged brother.

That went over well.

Then I stopped my sub and had to move IRL.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 22, 2014, 03:24:58 AM
Are you expressing interest, sir?

You certainly always have a lot to say about gaming that has an online community aspect...
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Green1 on May 22, 2014, 03:49:38 AM
Are you expressing interest, sir?

You certainly always have a lot to say about gaming that has an online community aspect...


I tend to go through those little spurts. I get into games then get tired of them. Longest I ever lasted was my first foray in Eve during the Atlas-Pure Wars (6 months of dying horribly and losing millions over and over while being totally worthless) and about 3 years in WoW (Guild officer for a 500 member guild during Vanilla/BC/early WotLK).

Only on MMOs, though. I am preparing to switch to Cox instead of my tether since I have had a bit of disposable cash in a few weeks, and an MMO may be on the table. Depending on what I do, I will share and create some drama.

Plus, If it is Eve, I have been reading things like this:

http://themittani.com/features/being-villain (http://themittani.com/features/being-villain)

Not sure I like that style, though. Some things are even too much for me.

Before then, though I should have a video up on Age of Wonders 3 patch 1.10. I will link it when it is ready. Would do it tonight, but I have been sweating my ass off in a hot factory for 12 hours and just want to type on multiple sites. Tomorrow most definitely.


Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Rusty Edge on May 27, 2014, 11:33:40 PM
Eve sounds like an online version of Survivor.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Green1 on May 28, 2014, 02:45:58 AM
Eve sounds like an online version of Survivor.

Depends on where you are in Eve and where your travels take you and who (if anyone) you fly with (if at all).

Some people never see the inside of a ship, they sit and treat it as a complex commodities market simulator. Which Eve has such a complex economy, they had to hire a Phd economist to keep tabs on it. There are even stock market style tick sites for market indicators across all 60+ regions of space, each having many hundreds of star systems. That and scam.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Green1 on May 28, 2014, 03:06:41 AM
Speaking of which, all those star systems are unique in a way.

I remember Amarr, where I caught a glimpse of Chribba's massive dreadnaught turned mining ship, the Veldnaugt. One of only a few of it's kind left since CCP made it to where capital ships could not enter high security space.

I remember the Russians at LQX. I lost millions of ships to those vodka slurping bastards camping the only gate leading into lawless space as I tried to ferry meager supplies 30+ jumps down "the pipe" shaking and scared to death and hunted.

I remember Jita, the wal mart of Eve with suicide gankers right outside all the stations  supported by ships with cargo scanners, scanning for valuable cargo then blowing up your ship while another scooped up anything valuable that survived in the wreckage.

I remember Teonusude, an oasis before the pirate infested reaches of Molden heath.

I remember Kamela, home of the Amarr militia and building ships and selling them to the pirates for a mark up since they were outlaws and could not enter high security empire space.

Yeah... survivor... I guess for me.
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Geo on May 28, 2014, 05:30:11 PM
They became unique because of the players camping said systems?
Title: Re: Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum
Post by: Green1 on May 29, 2014, 01:12:53 AM
They became unique because of the players camping said systems?

Yes. The people. Not necessarily camping, but living there. None of what brings back memories in ANY video game except 4xs ever came from NPCs.

While Eve does have definite problems that I have gone over in the past, it's crowning glory and strength lies in the fact that the real story is driven by the people. Each group is different and has different motivations.

The evil bastards of Eve are "content creators".
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