Free Games to Review/Other Games Forum

[Geo]

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?

[Unorthodox]

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

[Unorthodox]

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. 

[Buster's Uncle]

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.

[Geo]

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.

[Buster's Uncle]

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.

[Buster's Uncle]

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.

[BlaneckW]

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!

[Buster's Uncle]

  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.

[BlaneckW]

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

[Buster's Uncle]

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.

[BlaneckW]

I'm just saying.  You can pretty safely assume everyone knows acronyms like NASA[/size]

[Buster's Uncle]

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.

[Unorthodox]

SSI had some killer games back in the day.

[BlaneckW]

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.