OT: Recommendations?

[fahdiz]

Originally posted by Azlandius:
I am also new to Dom 2 and loving it! The (other) TBS I really love right now is Stardock's Galactic Civilizations. They have been making updates and adding enhancements to the game since it was released. They even have an expansion coming out in the next couple of months. It is purely SP, but the AI is very well done and can offer a challenge. Since they haven't been mentioned, I'd also point you to the first 2 Master of Orion games.

Thanks! I used to play MOO2 quite a bit.

Galactic Civilizations sounds interesting...I'll have to search around a bit. Is it shareware or retail?

[Arryn]

Originally posted by fahdiz:
Galactic Civilizations sounds interesting...I'll have to search around a bit. Is it shareware or retail?

GalCiv is retail. It's an interesting game, but it's replayability is, IMO, limited, compared to MOO3 or SE4. After a few games, all your games seem to play out pretty much the same. A large part of this problem is the fact that you can only play as humans, unlike MOO3 or SE4 with their great ability to create custom races.

[tinkthank]

Hello!
I'm no wargamer, nor experienced gamer at all, and have no clue about publishing houses and all, but I really really liked
Planescape Torment
Fallout (1&2)
Arcana
-- I think these were all by Bioware or Bioware related people.
I did not care for NWN at all, finding it totally superficial, and Morrowind bugged me for the same reasons.
I know none of these are the same genre as DomII, but I think you asked for that in your original post.

[Bossemanden]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
Hello!
I'm no wargamer, nor experienced gamer at all, and have no clue about publishing houses and all, but I really really liked
Planescape Torment
Fallout (1&2)
Arcana
-- I think these were all by Bioware or Bioware related people.
I did not care for NWN at all, finding it totally superficial, and Morrowind bugged me for the same reasons.
I know none of these are the same genre as DomII, but I think you asked for that in your original post.

Ah yes. I fondly remember Torment and the Fallouts as the best CRPG´s I´ve ever played (Possible contenders are Baldurs gate I and II). Havent heard of Arcana. Do you mean Arcanum, by Troika?

[Arryn]

Planescape Torment - Black Isle Studios (Interplay)
Fallout - Black Isle Studios (Interplay)
Arcanum - Troika Games (Sierra)
NWN - Bioware (Atari)

Bioware is famous for Baldur's Gate (etc.), which they developed in conjunction with Black Isle (yes, two major design studios on one project). Bioware's most recent product is Knights of the Old Republic, distributed by LucasArts.

Troika's most recent effort is the POS game Temple of Elemental Evil. OTOH, they are working on Vampire: Bloodlines, which may give me cause to forgive them for prostituting themselves with Temple.

[fahdiz]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
I know none of these are the same genre as DomII, but I think you asked for that in your original post.

Yes, Dom II is pretty much the only turn-based fantasy game I'm playing these days. Every once in a while I fire up Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic to look at the pretty graphics...and then I shut it down again and play Dom.

Thanks for all your suggestions, by the way - I've played every game on that list and loved them all (except for Torment and Arcanum, which I just "liked", my enthusiasm having been tempered somewhat by combat-related issues). Great minds think alike, eh?

So far I've come out of this discussion with some great finds - chief among them being King of Dragon Pass, Space Empires IV, Laser Squad Nemesis (what a kick that little game is!), and Europa Universalis II. I'll be buying all four of those, for sure.

If anyone has further suggestions of current "indie" games which are labors of love rather than labors of cash, I'd still love to hear them. But these, plus Dom, should keep me going for a while.

EDIT: By the way, I don't know how many of you were fans of the old Eon boardgame Cosmic Encounter (I used to play it like crazy, until my set got water damage ), but I found out recently that the Eon folks have gotten back together to make a fully Online Version of their classic game, with new stuff being added all the time. It's at Cosmic Encounter Online if you want to check it out. Just trying to return the favor in some small way.

[ March 10, 2004, 18:32: Message edited by: fahdiz ]

[Arryn]

Originally posted by fahdiz:
Great minds think alike, eh?

Scary ...