GeekNights 20110809 - Taluva and Reef Encounter

MrPeriod

Tonight on GeekNights, we review two interesting board games: Taluva and Reef Encounter. Rym is shocked that anyone is surprised by what The Sims Social actually was (crap). Diablo 3 is a clusterfuck of DRM, closedness, and perverse monetization, and Rym has a geekbite for the Android Catan.

• Scott's Thing - QWOP Cosplay
• Rym's Thing - It's OK to not like things
• Rym's Thing - It's OK to not like ponies

Download MP3

Sail

Scott's Thing - QWOP Cosplay

Wrong link?

Rym

Scott's Thing - QWOP Cosplay

Wrong link?

Corrected. ;^)

SquadronROE

Good show. Have you guys ever played Survive: Escape from Atlantis?

Apreche

Good show. Have you guys ever played Survive: Escape from Atlantis?

Never heard of it. I will look for it in the PAX gaming library.

SquadronROE

I hadn't heard of it, but I think BoardGameGeek put out a promo expansion for it at one point and a bunch of guys at the gaming group down here bought it. It was really popular for our group for awhile, it's a pretty fun "screw your neighbor" sort of game. Based on the mechanics you guys were talking about in this show I think you might enjoy it. It's a solid game.

Matt

I don't know if that would be in the PAX library. Survive is an old game, and this new remake came out less than a year ago. It was also the first game put out buy a small company, Stronghold Games (same people who make Confusion, which I talked a lot about in the boardgame thread, their second game). The game has a big fanbase now though. I haven't played but apparently it's quite fun. I guess it's just a matter of whether an enforcer puts a personal copy of theirs in the library or not.

Apreche

I don't know if that would be in the PAX library. Survive is an old game, and this new remake came out less than a year ago. It was also the first game put out buy a small company, Stronghold Games (same people who make Confusion, which I talked a lot about above, their second game). The game has a big fanbase now though. I haven't played but apparently it's quite fun. I guess it's just a matter of whether an enforcer puts a personal copy of theirs in the library or not.

Buying a copy might also be a possibility.

Matt

I don't know if that would be in the PAX library. Survive is an old game, and this new remake came out less than a year ago. It was also the first game put out buy a small company, Stronghold Games (same people who make Confusion, which I talked a lot about above, their second game). The game has a big fanbase now though. I haven't played but apparently it's quite fun. I guess it's just a matter of whether an enforcer puts a personal copy of theirs in the library or not.

Buying a copy might also be a possibility.

Yeah I don't think you'd be doing yourself wrong there. The Stronghold guys are really on a roll, and Survive was raved about by just about everyone whose opinion I value. There's a 5-6 player expansion about to come out, you might be able to score a pre-order or bundle deal.

VichusSmith

Scott, there such a thing as cheating yourself. Yes, using cheats in a single player game isn't taking advantage of the creator or other players, but we play games partly to gain satisfaction in knowing you played by the rules of the world you've inhabited,and won.

Also, what about that social currency? All your friends play Greatest Hardest Game Evar 4 but you're the only one who cheated throughout it. Aren't you unfulfilled that you can't share in the experience everyone else had?

Hey, I like cheats, but more in the emulated Final Fantasy 1 example. I like cheats as a Easter egg you open up after you've braved the campaign.

Matt

Playing by the rules and winning is most satisfying if you are engaged in a test of skill. Grinding in Final Fantasy or Diablo involves almost no skill, so you should eithrler cut out the fat of the experience by cheating, or go play a game where you don't feel the urge to cheat.

VichusSmith

I agree that if you can't take the grind, you should play another game which doesn't drag you down with grinding.

Matt

Just listened to about 2/3 of this episode. Regarding Rym's experience with Catan for Android, I can actually shed some light. Up until recently, the mobile version of Catan that was out for iPhone was just a port of a mobile version originally made many years ago for Motorola phones. I had it for my SLVR! It was the same damn thing, graphics and all. They only updated it a few months ago to actually look and feel like an iPhone app, and adding all of these microtransactions. I'm sure if they're this far behind, they're way off from adding good features like online play, especially on Android. The solution if you want to play German board games online vs. other people: buy an iPhone (or play in a browser as you said).

Apreche

Scott, there such a thing as cheating yourself

How am I cheating myself? Oh woe is me. I get to experience the fun parts of the game, but I'm cheating myself out of all the time-wasting and suffering through monotonous bullshit grinding and such.

Playing the game the way it was intended is cheating yourself. Cheating yourself out of precious hours in your life you could have spent doing something worthwhile.

open_sketchbook

That argument could be made about gaming itself, you know. When I am at the height of my art-mode, I can go weeks without doing anything but draw and make 3d models constantly, and it's extremely rewarding. I actually find it hard to play games at that point, because even when I was playing short RTS matches I felt I was wasting my time when I could be improving myself in more meaningful ways.

Your argument is just one of subjective degrees.

Matt

Finished listening to the episode. Scott, if you are into Battleline, you should check out the iPhone app, it's $2.99 and has a great interface. You can play versus AI or live online matches. It's been my go-to time waster phone game for the past week or so since I just discovered it myself.

VichusSmith

I was talking more about cheating yourself in terms of putting on god mode or a level select cheat when you haven't finished the game once. Also, like I said, if a good part of game involves boring grinding, maybe you should just watch video of it on youtube.

Jonesy

In case anyone was interested, the deck instead of dice was added in an official expansion (got mine from the store for under 5$)

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/20038/catan-event-cards

It is exactly as you described it, it even has a mechanic to remove some cards from the deck each cycle. some cards also have special events that happen and is compatible with cities and knights.