OT: The Future of Computer Strategy Games

[BudgetMessiah]

Just about any game where one can go online and read a walkthrough on how to do a certain mission or campaign. It all seems like it is a pretty much straight line path to reach your objectives with the exception to some RPGS.

First off, reading a cheat book online doesn't mean you sat down and figured out a pattern in 5 seconds, so this doesn't qualify.

I haven't really played any RPGs like that since the 90's, so I really couldn't say. Then again, most RPGs are basically scripted, interactive books or movies. Get back to that in a minute...

It just seems with many FPS there is no personal investment. I can hop into a game shoot a couple people, maybe accomplish the mission, possibly die, and hmm.. no big deal, I just start over again. 15 minutes of my life spent looking at eye candy. Not a big loss.

Played Half-Life 2? Bioshock? STALKER? Again, they're FPS, but they have a lot of backstory and atmosphere, and besides being excellent games, they're extremely entertaining. Also, they aren't solved in any fashion in 5 seconds, and require a fair amount of thought, and problems can be solved in various ways, offering diverging paths depending on what you've done.

Now a grand epic strategy game

Yeah...we're not editorializing here at all...

you build yourself up, even if you opt to join a game as a subordinate and go into a FPS style mission for the empire owner. You do a good job, you could get an actual promotion and work you way up into the hiearchy of that empire if you wanted to. Submit a request to the empire to research a particlar technology to help you on the front lines, or would benefit a citie's fluctuating obsolete power supply. You find yourself not liking ranking officials that are starting to give you the shaft, shorting you on supplies, or providing you with ancient weaponry, you could sabotage one of your missions, jump ship, scheme with the other empire owners, act as a spy and gather real intel, in effect actually hurt the empire. Try doing that with any FPS out on the market today.

What "epic grand strategy" game is this where you're going through so many situational, scripted events? A full blown FPS inside the game? Are you kidding? It sure as hell isn't Space Empires. The only strategy games that offer that level of detail (promotions, spying, loyalty and bribes, developing technologies/armies, treaties and diplomacy) are some of the titles from Koei, at least that I've played.

Anyway, it sounds like you play "epic grand strategy" for almost exactly the same reason that people play RPGs...for the narrative elements. It seems odd, then, that you criticize people who enjoy these sort of games. Or at least rather short-sighted.

Being able to hop into a massive online strategy game that incorporates a FPS engine, or Flight Simulator engine, or even a "Sim City" or "Civ" world building style engine would give a sense of endless possibilities. Heck there could be an internal design engine for those that just like to tinker with designing things, modding from within the game in a sense. Another bonus to this would be that one would actually be rewarded in a fulfilling sense if they accomplished a mission, brought a city or planet to it fullest capacity, or desinged some real eye catching, architecture or ships. The battles you win or the cities you design would actually possibly change the outcome of the bigger picture. Plus one would get the fulfilment that all of their time invested into the game means something rather than dying every 5 minutes (usually my case) and restarting thinking nothing of it.

Hmm...I think this may be the problem. You haven't invested much time in FPS, and therefore aren't very good at them, so you dismiss all FPS as unworthy of note, and further defame them as games for the unintellectual.

Sounds like an argument from ignorance to me.

Try picking up any of the FPS titles I mentioned above, they're not all of them very new and are probably even in the bargain bin. You might be surprised at how good some of them are.