On Sunday, I ran across and demo'd a quaint game called Hull Breach while making my way back towards the tabletop area. I fell in love, even though I generally dislike CCGs.
Here's the way it basically works:
Each player has a deck of 55 cards. This deck includes an Outpost and cards detailing ships, marines, events and upgrades. At the beginning of the game each player pulls out their Outpost and two upgrades to the Outpost, and deploys them for free.
After initial deployment, the game flows nicely with resources being amassed, ships being deployed and upgraded, and attacks/defenses happening regularly. The object is to protect your Outpost while destroying your opponents' Outposts. There can be anywhere from 2-8 people playing.
It's a CCG in that there is a collectible side to it, with certain cards being rare. I played the demo at PAX, grabbed a few decks, and played again last night. Great game.
Hull Breach looks interesting, but how arbitrary is the game itself? Are there tactics and tests of skill? CCG's worry me, since a lot of them aren't games...
Define skill. There are tactics cards and enough varying units to where you can put together interesting strategies, especially with multiple players (more than two).
It seems like a lot of the strategy comes in with building a good deck though, and then managing resources and deployed ships optimally. No real manuevering, but there are boarding operations and stuff.
X3 is just insane. Fun, and very challenging(It's doesn't so much throw you in the deep end as drop you off somewhere halfway down the Marianas trench before shouting "Have fun, we'll send postcards" and fucking off post haste), but so maddeningly large-and-confusing. It's like Freelancer turned up to eleven, which is then subsequently turned up to eleven. I have no fucking idea what I'm doing, or what I'm meant to be doing. But I'm having fun failing to figure it out.
I've been at that same spot with X3 for a couple years now. I can never bring myself to dedicate the time necessary to figure out what I should be doing, though. I can't even dogfight properly in it, so I just end up cranking up Freelancer again.
I've been at that same spot with X3 for a couple years now. I can never bring myself to dedicate the time necessary to figure out what I should be doing, though. I can't even dogfight properly in it, so I just end up cranking up Freelancer again.
Same here
And with those Gothic games, that first one is a lesson in bad control. :-p
I've been at that same spot with X3 for a couple years now. I can never bring myself to dedicate the time necessary to figure out what I should be doing, though. I can't even dogfight properly in it, so I just end up cranking up Freelancer again.
I'm getting there. I've managed to amass a fleet of three ships - I've got a wee little scout craft that I use for super-speedy courier missions, a massive cargo hauler, and my bog-standard buster. Pretty sweet. Might start the second mission at some point.
And with those Gothic games, that first one is a lesson in bad control. :-p
The controls on the first were god awful, but they seem mostly sorted - though of a sort of steel battalion complexity - in X3. I just have the basics(fly around, shoot things, open cargo bay, open map, speed up time, that sorta thing) memorized, and the rest I do through menus.
I bought Fez without demoing it. And it's been pretty sweet. I'm just not sure what I think about using QR codes as a mechanic to get codes to get collectibles. I have a smart phone so I have to problems, but there are people with no smart phones and they have to use Internets and gamefaqs. I kinda don't like the idea that to be able 100% the game you need external tools.
I bought Fez without demoing it. And it's been pretty sweet. I'm just not sure what I think about using QR codes as a mechanic to get codes to get collectibles. I have a smart phone so I have to problems, but there are people with no smart phones and they have to use Internets and gamefaqs. I kinda don't like the idea that to be able 100% the game you need external tools.
Forcing you to buy a specialized peripheral, i.e.: a plastic guitar, to even play a game is AOK. Requiring a player to use something a lot of people have to access only a few very tiny special features. Not OK?
Forcing you to buy a specialized peripheral, i.e.: a plastic guitar, to even play a game is AOK. Requiring a player to use something a lot of people have to access only a few very tiny special features. Not OK?
Well it's not like the game told it to me directly "Hey, you might want to have ability to process QR codes, is that cool?" It's not a huge problem, but I feel that there will probably be people who buy the game and face a QR code without a way to solve it's secrets. But on the other hand they are kinda interesting idea. When I first encountered one I was quite surprised, wasn't expecting it and it was kinda clever.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Speaking of freelancer, both Freelancer 1 and 2(with expansions) are 3 bucks each on GOG at the moment.
Freespace, not Freelancer. Excellent games that everyone who enjoys space sims should own(and I do) but not Freelancer. I wish Freelancer was on GOG so I could just have it digitally.
Well, it's official now. I can't play NS2 anymore. The last several builds made it so my 5 year old PC cannot contain it's awesomeness. After playing it for close to a year now and watching the game progress to it's current state, I'm really bummed out that I have to stop playing it now.
In other news, I've almost beaten Metroid Prime. I'm gathering the last of the Chozo artifacts to get to the final stage of the game. Samus looks cool in black and red armor, I have to say.
Lastly, I've beaten Advance Wars: Dual Strike on normal. There was only one map that I failed multiple times to beat, but I do have to say, it really is a satisfying game to play. I also love it how the hard campaign is a completely different game from the normal campaign.
Fez just blew my mind by giving me a video game puzzle that used controller rumble as a part of the puzzle. Never seen that before and probably won't see it ever again.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Speaking of freelancer, both Freelancer 1 and 2(with expansions) are 3 bucks each on GOG at the moment.
Freespace, not Freelancer. Excellent games that everyone who enjoys space sims should own(and I do) but not Freelancer. I wish Freelancer was on GOG so I could just have it digitally.
Derp derp derp, that's what I get for posting at stupid o'clock in the morning, I make silly mistakes.
However, Freespace, still pretty good, like you said.
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More 48 hour video game oddities here.
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Could Zedla not be a mcguffin for once. We could have been bros.
Here's the way it basically works:
Each player has a deck of 55 cards. This deck includes an Outpost and cards detailing ships, marines, events and upgrades. At the beginning of the game each player pulls out their Outpost and two upgrades to the Outpost, and deploys them for free.
After initial deployment, the game flows nicely with resources being amassed, ships being deployed and upgraded, and attacks/defenses happening regularly. The object is to protect your Outpost while destroying your opponents' Outposts. There can be anywhere from 2-8 people playing.
It's a CCG in that there is a collectible side to it, with certain cards being rare. I played the demo at PAX, grabbed a few decks, and played again last night. Great game.
It seems like a lot of the strategy comes in with building a good deck though, and then managing resources and deployed ships optimally. No real manuevering, but there are boarding operations and stuff.
And with those Gothic games, that first one is a lesson in bad control. :-p
In other news, I've almost beaten Metroid Prime. I'm gathering the last of the Chozo artifacts to get to the final stage of the game. Samus looks cool in black and red armor, I have to say.
Lastly, I've beaten Advance Wars: Dual Strike on normal. There was only one map that I failed multiple times to beat, but I do have to say, it really is a satisfying game to play. I also love it how the hard campaign is a completely different game from the normal campaign.
However, Freespace, still pretty good, like you said.