OT: Stardocks Fantasy TBS - Page 9

DonCorazon · #1 November 14th, 2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omnirizon

For that matter, I've never found a Stardock game I've liked. What do they lack? I can't put my finger on it. A certain wit, a certain satire, a certain soul. Too much cliche, not enough craftsmanship.

I totally agree with this sentiment.
I admit I have bought the GalCiv games and never played them much - they just have a kind of flavorlessness to them. I am probably a fool b/c I preordered Elemental but it seems like it could end up the same way.

Take a look at their video clip. Phrases like "the solders saw their extermination was at hand" to me sum up how Stardock games feel. They masquerade as classics like MOO2 but miss the sense of humanity. I mean, who talks like that?

licker · #2 November 14th, 2008, 01:50 PM

Heh...

Even for my rant on GalCiv I still got my moneys worth from it, even it wound up in my uninstall and don't care if I lose the CD pile...

Oh, there's plenty of wit and satire in GalCiv, though I would agree that it may or may not be ones cup of tea.

Honestly, I don't care too much for any of that 'craftmanship' if the game mechanics are great, and if the game mechanics suck then no amount of craftmanship is going to make it interesting (basically ALL RTSs in my opinion...)

Omnirizon · #3 November 14th, 2008, 02:23 PM

AlphaCentauri = wit/satire/soul

GalCiv = flat/stiff/stupid

it had the game mechanics, but it didn't have much of anything else. If all I want is game mechanics I would just play Tetris.

WraithLord · #4 November 14th, 2008, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omnirizon

AlphaCentauri = wit/satire/soul

GalCiv = flat/stiff/stupid

it had the game mechanics, but it didn't have much of anything else. If all I want is game mechanics I would just play Tetris.

Well I like GalCiv. However I also had this kind of "boring, been there done that" nagging feeling when playing it. And I was like thinking while playing, hey you're supposed to have fun with this game what's wrong with you???

Anyway, that's why I never really got into it. Its nice and interesting and has the elements in place but something was missing that I can't put my finger on. Dunno, the "magic" maybe, the one that MOM had and dominions has.

Still there's a chance that elemental will not be a fantasy GalCiv spiritual clone, and even if it would be it will still be worthwhile just to run the campaign and more importantly to get an understanding of where FTBS stands as of 2k9.

licker · #5 November 14th, 2008, 02:28 PM

Different strokes for different folks...

Some people (though I'm not one of them) like the flavor of GC, but ultimately it comes down to is the game worth playing or not based on the underlying mechanics.

Tetris sucks horribly though, the mechanics are fatally flawed due to the fact that there is no 5 piece block!!!

Omnirizon · #6 November 14th, 2008, 03:00 PM

don't be bad-talkin Tetris!!!

licker · #7 November 14th, 2008, 06:21 PM

My comments are based on GC2 and the 2 expansions. The core issue is that of the open movement system making it far too easy to exploit AI tendencies with small and faster fleets.

TotA plays like a different game because of some new rules for colonization and racial specials, but while it provided a nice little bump, once you get through the new mechanics the core is still the same.

Some people love it, I'm not one of those people. It's not a bad game, it's just not a GREAT game, and IMHO a badly flawed game from the movement system standpoint.

MoO3 got movement and map strategy so completely right it's a shame that the rest of the game was such a puddle of **** (well to most people) which killed anyone wanting to 'borrow' mechanics from it.

Sword of the Stars is another good one though. However, they really stripped down the empire management to bare bones so you don't really get the planet building fix most 4x games tend to provide. It's also horrendous at micro on large maps in long games.

Zeldor · #8 November 14th, 2008, 06:57 PM

If they aimed for the most boring trailer ever award they surely succeeded.

Sombre · #9 November 14th, 2008, 07:08 PM

Worst. Trailer. Ever.

Tifone · #10 November 14th, 2008, 07:10 PM

Totally agreed with Zeldor & Sombre

Meh, that turns me off. You don't have in-game sequences yet? That's ok! Don't worry! Just don't come out with a d*mn trailer! Wait till you have "something"! This says nothing and isn't intriguing or mysterious, is just... BORING

I mean, someone really sees this and feels the hype growing?

Those sentences are totally naive too