GIAdam Blog - All Comments

re: Baldur's Gate II: Best RPG Ever

Ichon — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:59:05 GMT

Planescape Torment hooked me on RPG and Baldur's Gate II made me a lifelong fan. That said while I have played all the NWNs, Gothics, Mass Effects, Bethesda's series, Diablo's etc, I have gotten bored before the final fight in all of those games so I just can't give them much credit. Final Fantasy was even worse in that regard though I did not play every title same as the Ultima series.

The only games that have come close to BG 2 for me are Dragon Age and The Witcher. Dragon Age graphics and storyline/NPC's are strong but the quests and scripted battles are weak. The Witcher Enhanced and 2 on the other hand are fantastic despite a lack of a party system which I can't quite forgive but comes the closest to the enjoyment of BG2 as the story, quests, and NPC's are all fantastic and the visuals beat anything else I've seen though Skyrim comes close at certain times.

Also you need to check out this- Infinity engine games on Android! http://androidforums.com/android-games/243051-pc-games-android.html
Battles in The Witcher on higher difficulties are also very satisfying and with the various skills and alchemy potions can sometimes be quite tactical though not coming close to matching BG2 fights against Dragons or Liches or Drizzt, or some of the hidden fights against Dark Templars in the add ons from Wes.

re: Master Of Orion: Best Strategy Game Ever

Ichon — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:21:48 GMT

MoO is the best strategy game of the electronic age so far- Agreed! It is the only game as an adult that I return to and play occasionally other than Risk or Chess. I pray for someone to port it to Android or iOS.

Civ is a fair comparison and deserves to be in the running but Starcraft, AoE, Total War, etc are not strategy games. Total War has a few elements of strategy but you could probably make nearly random moves on the campaign map and still win the game just fighting the battles which are tactical not strategic. RTS reward dexterity and quick thinking. I played both Starcraft and AoE in 100s of ranked matches online and can testify to that. MoO is a solitary game without any hotseat capability and so it is also difficult to compare it to some other games.

The strategy games which should be in the running are 1. MoO 2. Heroes of Might and Magic 2&3, 3. Civ, 4. Hearts of Iron, 5. XCOM, 6. Europa Universalis

Hybrid strategy/tactical games are; Total War, Panzer General, Close Combat, Company of Heroes, Galactic Civ, Sins of Solar Empire, Sword of Stars, etc

RTS is about tactics and speed, not strategy. Starcraft, AoE, Command&Conquer, Total Annihilation, Warhammer 40K, etc

BTW- Darlocks and Psilons are the most powerful races in MoO. Not sure why you are so dismissive of Darlocks. I've won more Impossible level games with them than any other race. Their spying bonus is huge and means you only need to focus all tech research on computers, you can steal everything else while fomenting wars between the other races.

Alkari are also not to be dismissed- their defense bonus means they can be several techs behind in military and still win battles.

Most difficult races on Impossible have to be Mrrshan and Meklar both of whose bonuses don't come into much effect until midway thru the tech race. Meklars will have 4 planets and still be building factories when Klackon with 20 planets come sweeping in on Impossible. Mrrashan attack bonus is made irrelevant much faster than Alkari's defense bonus by battle computers and they also piss off most other races and will be attacked relentlessly.

Humans, Darlocks, and Psilon are the easiest races. Klackon, Silicoid, Sakkra, Bulrathi, and Alkari are average. Meklar and Mrrshan are the most difficult in MoO. Bulrathi and Meklar are probably the most subject to luck as Bulrathi require enemy races to start close to use their ground combat bonus while Meklar benefit from a long turtle and if can develop even a handful of planets in peace will be quite powerful but if they are attacked early its very hard to use their bonus as production is required for tech research, combat fleets, and planetary defenses.

re: Master Of Orion: Best Strategy Game Ever

GwaR — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:49:40 GMT

Sorry to be late to the party Adam, I just noticed this blog. For all those positives about the game you listed, a couple negatives do stand out.

* Some of the races are hopelessly over-powered once you have even a rudimentary understanding of the game (Klackons, Humans, Psilons, and Silicoids are probably the biggest offenders) while some of the other races are woefully under-powered (Alkari and Darlocks, I'm looking at you).

* Some of the mid-level tech advancements also make it almost impossible to get beat by what the AI is puting on their ships (high engery focus and a better battle computer ensures that the enemy fleet is usually destroyed before their missiles even launch).

* Planetary defenses are near useless about halfway through the game, yet the AI will still retreat from attacking your planet if it has enough missile bases (usually a few hundred will scare them off). This is despite the fact that one blast from their weapons would decimate the entire population, rendering the missile bases useless.

* It's ridiculously easy to bribe a hostile race into liking you again and to exploit the diplomatic channels. For example, I just destroyed three of their planets and invaded two others in one turn. Their hate level of my race is at maximum. On my next turn I gave them a bunch of extra cash I had lying around and some outdated tech. Their hate level has evened out to neutral, so I sign a non-aggression pact. ONE TURN LATER.

For all those nit-picks, though, I have to agree that MOO is the best 4X game ever. Like you said, even with those exploits, you have to constantly expand or die. Like you, I also really enjoyed MOO 2 despite it being so easy to break (Democratic, Lucky, Lithovores FTW!).

Here's to hoping that a true sequel is in the works at some point (MOO 3 was garbage) or at least a spiritual successor that can capture the same vibe without all the added complexity that most make the mistake of including (...cough....Galatic Civilizations...cough..).

re: Baldur's Gate II: Best RPG Ever

Vetsen — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:02:12 GMT

you really need to BG2 another shot. It might be hard to understand at first but it's really rewarding once you get into it. Trust me, I only played BG2 last year after hearing for years how good it was, and I tried like 8 or 9 times to get into it until I just sat down and dug into it and by the end I was a total believer that it's the best RPG ever.

re: Baldur's Gate II: Best RPG Ever

Vetsen — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:57:25 GMT

Um, how about the fact that you can have more than your main character and an idiotic, worthless follower? And Baldur's Gate 2 isn't just running from one area to the next killing everything in your way? And the combat in BG2 actually requires some semblance of strategy instead of just clicking on things to attack them? Don't get me wrong, I really like NWN, but BG2 is a FAR better game.

re: Master Of Orion: Best Strategy Game Ever

TryckSh0t — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:39:31 GMT

Adam, I completely agree with you in regards to the games you compared it against, MOO is superior. That being said, I offer up two counters to MOO:

UFO: Enemy Unknown (The original Xcom didn't have Xcom in the title).

and

Galactic Civilizations 2.

re: I Think I Broke Final Fantasy Tactics

TryckSh0t — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:16:03 GMT

I called 'em The Troupe. 2 Dancers, 1 Bard, 2 Mimes. Hilarity ensues. Another fun one was 5 Monks with Geomancer subs. Good times there too.

re: I Think I Broke Final Fantasy Tactics

Grisfox — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:00:04 GMT

Well, if you're willing to put in way too much time, you can boost a character's stats by deleveling (using the delevel traps over and over), then releveling back up as a dark night. The job you have affects your overall stat growth. Leveling as a dark knight boosts your attack, if I recall, so going up 99 levels as a DK boosts your attack unnaturally high. Throw in some evasion moves or auto potion and your Ramza becomes an unstoppable one-hitting death machine.

re: One Way To Lose At Total War: Shogun 2

Rich Perry — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:54:02 GMT

Ah, I know your plight well. RTS is not mygenre, no matter how much I try. I just seem to lack the basic strategic insight that RTS players seem to have. That and I lose track of resources and forget about things I do or do not have.

Who knows, maybe if I sunk enough time into them I'd develop these necessary skills, but for now I'll stick to watching my mates decimate everything in their path in these games.

re: Baldur's Gate II: Best RPG Ever

CountDreg — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:39:56 GMT

BG 2 is definitely great. But yeah, put it against Ultima IV V or VI, Might and Magic IV V or VI, Wizardry VI or VII, The Bards Tale Series, Fallout I and II, Dungeon Master, Eye of The Beholder, Lands of Lore, and I think you have some competition. Even The Gold Box series has some advantages over BG2. Like Proper turn based combat.

Edit: How could I forget: Wasteland is the best rpg ever.

re: Baldur's Gate II: Best RPG Ever

Rich Perry — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:05:02 GMT

I like reading these, they're good fun! Keep up the good work Adam!

re: I Think I Broke Final Fantasy Tactics

Iago407 — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:32:43 GMT

I can honestly say that there's no game that I'd like to see a new version of more than Final Fantasy Tactics. No, I'm not talking about a Gameboy or DS or even 3DS version, but a fully realized next gen console game.

This was one of my top 5 favorite games of the PSone and PS2 eras, and I've honestly played all the way through it more than any other video game before. If only Square would listen to the small but vocal minority that feels next gen doesn't have to mean action RPG's like Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect (though those are also great games, of course).

As for my party, I can't resist going with Dark Knights. Their HP is always huge and they do so much damage. I always equip a few with Time Mage and Priest abilities so I can cast Don't Act and Don't Move on the last opponent so I can just level up and gain JP by hitting my own players and healing them nonstop. But the completionist in me likes to get every ability for every job, so I still mix and match.

re: Master Of Orion: Best Strategy Game Ever

weirjf — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:43:06 GMT

Not sure if MOO beats Starcraft as the best... it is pretty much a toss-up. I had my butt handed to me more than a few times in MOO and I love a challenge.

How about we say MOO is best turn-based strategy game ever just to save me the brain damage?

re: I Think I Broke Final Fantasy Tactics

calvin6200 — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:11:19 GMT

I give my whole party 97 Bravery with the Shirahadori ability and equip them with Aegis shields so that they can block half of magic attacks too.

re: I Think I Broke Final Fantasy Tactics

DoctorNight — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:33:39 GMT

I think I'll try this, FF Tactics is one of my favorite games ever and I have tried many set ups, but not all!