What to get myself for "Xmas"?

[Avilan the Grey]

I have the following games that I want and I don't know what to choose

Overwatch
Stellaris
Civ VI
Tyranny

I know Overwatch is on sale for a few more days, which is a huge point in it's favor...

[Antonok]

Personal choices would be Stellaris (on my 'to get eventually' list, also 33% off on Steam atm) and Civ VI.

Overwatch I just found boring after a couple hours. Been a while since I played so it may have changed, but at the time it was the same 2 match types over and over and over and over. Haven't heard/seen anything on Tyranny so can't comment on that.

[Aotrs Commander]

Stellaris is okay, but at the moment, it still needs quite a lot of work, to be honest. At the moment, it's an absolute archetypical 4X (and not a Grand Strat like CK2 or EUIV). I think in time, it will get there, but at the moment, not so much.

I mean, it's not bad (I've played some tens of hours), but it definitely lacks polish and, to be honest, some direction to become really good.



Tyranny is not bad, and if like me, you take lots of time, a single playthrough could take some 30-40 hours (it took me 49, but I'm glacially slow and reload a lot...!) If you tend to move through those sort of games space though, and/or don't replay them much, you might want to wait for a sale or something.



No comment on the other, since Civ lost me a Civ V and I don't shooter (especially multiplayer).

[Rodin]

I would describe Tyranny as being to Pillars of Eternity what Dragon Age 2 was to Dragon Age: Origins, minus the production issues.

Lower in scope, but far better on close detail and replay value as you have more control over the path events take. The combat is mirrored too - faster, more simplified combat that is given less of a focus in order to get to the juicy story bits. Whether that appeals more or less is down to the person - I've found that I enjoyed both DA2 and Tyranny more than their parent titles.

Can't comment on the others - I tried Civ VI but it just reinforced that they lost me after Civ II and have never gotten me back, but that opinion is personal and not a reflection on the game itself. Haven't played Overwatch or Stellairis.

[Avilan the Grey]

I really hope you're wrong there (btw I have settled for Overwatch, because it's on sale and quite frankly Steam Sales are more frequent, so I pick Tyranny up later). Because to me, Dragon Age 2 is where Bioware screwed up completely. I LOVED DA:Origins. I could not make myself finish DA2.

[Winthur]

I would not get Civ6. Currently, the AI is absolutely abysmal and even players who don't push themselves to the limit with difficulty will find the AI's ineptitude at expansion and war absolutely jarring - and the biggest complaint people always have with Civ is that AI cheats, but in Civ6's case, you will REALLY have to stack things in AI's favor to have any challenge right now. At best, you'll have fun looking at your cities growing and playing around with new mechanics - which are pretty good, I admit - but you will have trouble finding competition. As with every Firaxis game nowadays, I think the MO should be to wait for the expansion packs before purchase - these tend to fix stuff; I couldn't get into Civ5 at all (and I'm still firmly in Civ4 fandom) until all the expansion packs kicked in. Be patient on that release.

[Sian]

Stellaris is probably the 'worst' of Paradox's grand strategy games, as it pretty much manages to plant it self between the two chairs of Grand strategy (in the style of EU4, CK2 and HoI4) and 4X, and IMHO the good things it manages to get from merging the two styles fails to outweigh the losses from doing so.

While the AI in Civ6 are fairly abyssal (which quite honestly is as expected and as usual ... Firaxis have never been good AI-coders) and the balancing is a work-in-progress, Civ6 is by quite a distance the most feature-complete edition without expansions. Instead of waiting for the inevitable expansion (which have usually been the way to go for the franchise), I'd just wait a few patch-cycles (they've just released the second patch)

[Winthur]

While the AI in Civ6 are fairly abyssal (which quite honestly is as expected and as usual ... Firaxis have never been good AI-coders) and the balancing is a work-in-progress, Civ6 is by quite a distance the most feature-complete edition without expansions. Instead of waiting for the inevitable expansion (which have usually been the way to go for the franchise), I'd just wait a few patch-cyces (they've just released the second patch)

Vanilla Civ4 AI was terrible, but they got a modder, Blake, to fix that for the expansion packs, based on his mod work. It's still not that smart, but not terrible, either, and the difficulty curve is fairly steep as you advance with levels. I dunno how moddable CiVI is, but I'd also be on the lookout for AI fix mods.

[factotum]

Currently, the AI is absolutely abysmal and even players who don't push themselves to the limit with difficulty will find the AI's ineptitude at expansion and war absolutely jarring

Yeah. I struggled to beat Civ5 on Prince difficulty--in Civ6 at that difficulty, it's incredibly easy to win. It's a shame, because a lot of the changes they made to the mechanics of the game are really fun to mess around with--they just don't seem to have managed to produce an AI that can use those mechanics properly.

[Aotrs Commander]

I really hope you're wrong there (btw I have settled for Overwatch, because it's on sale and quite frankly Steam Sales are more frequent, so I pick Tyranny up later). Because to me, Dragon Age 2 is where Bioware screwed up completely. I LOVED DA:Origins. I could not make myself finish DA2.

Well, I played DA 2 for about an hour and have not revisited it, bit I played through Tyranny, so there's that.

[Sian]

Yeah. I struggled to beat Civ5 on Prince difficulty--in Civ6 at that difficulty, it's incredibly easy to win. It's a shame, because a lot of the changes they made to the mechanics of the game are really fun to mess around with--they just don't seem to have managed to produce an AI that can use those mechanics properly.

Eh, general word in the Civ circles I attend, is that Civ5 AI is embarrassingly easy as well... or at least (giving credit, since I signed out of that discussion early after the first expansion at latest), were before they patched, threw expansions on it and patched it again

[Avilan the Grey]

Eh, general word in the Civ circles I attend, is that Civ5 AI is embarrassingly easy as well... or at least (giving credit, since I signed out of that discussion early after the first expansion at latest), were before they patched, threw expansions on it and patched it again

When you figure the AI out, which is quite easy after a lot of playthroughs of Civ I, II, III and IV (the ones I have played) it might not be easy, but it can be easy. Heck I remember in Civ I and II where you could lock the AI out of advancing since certain techs were dependant on others and if you denied say another civ pottery, they would never be able to develop the wheel (or whatever it was). In Civ IV spamming religion kinda made cultural victory ridiculously easy at least on Normal.

[Sian]

... and that counters my argument that Firaxis have never been all that great at AI coding ... how?

[Winthur]

When you figure the AI out, which is quite easy after a lot of playthroughs of Civ I, II, III and IV (the ones I have played) it might not be easy, but it can be easy. Heck I remember in Civ I and II where you could lock the AI out of advancing since certain techs were dependant on others and if you denied say another civ pottery, they would never be able to develop the wheel (or whatever it was). In Civ IV spamming religion kinda made cultural victory ridiculously easy at least on Normal.

The difference is, in Civ4, I can play remotely successfully on Emperor after years of playing fairly consistently; release Civ5, I've been able to exploit the AI and win on Immortal on a completely standard map in just a few games; and current players are reporting that Civ6 AI can't even utilize the bonuses from the highest difficulty levels at all.

[Avilan the Grey]

... and that counters my argument that Firaxis have never been all that great at AI coding ... how?

It was a supportive argument, not a counter argument :smallbiggrin:

[gooddragon1]

Not exactly for Xmas, but I got...

Saints Row III: Full Package
Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Torchlight 2
Star Wars Knights of The Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
Lords of the Realm 2

For 15$.

So much cheating to do. So much.