Game Blues...

[Miklus]

It's Sunday, it's freezing cold outside with rain promised later...It's the perfect day to sit and play a computer game!

Alas! I'm bored with all my games. Even worse, I went down to the game shop, but could find nothing to exite me. Is this just some lull before the christmas season or is games just getting worse? Where are all the strategy games?

The last good strategy game was Civ IV. But the title say it all...it number 4 in a row. It has better graphics and nicer music. But it's basically the same old game.

Then we have the "Total War" series. I loved the japan one, but the rest are also basically the same game.

On to the real time strategy scene. So...many...clones. I actually thought about buying the original StarCraft, it was cheap and everything. But I have already owned it once, played it to death and given it away.

Railroad games. So many Railroad games. If I see another one, I'm gonna scream.

Aha! Space 4x games. Unfortunatley, this branch of gaming is still recovering from the cataclysm that was MoO3. Both Galactic Civilazations and Sword of the Stars left me cold. Homeworld was annoing as hell.

Is there something I have missed? By the gods, I hope there is. But I could find nothing at the game shop. Sigh...I guess I have to go outside and look at nature or something... :smallannoyed:

[Om]

It sounds like you're looking for the Paradox Interactive games. They've a series of grand strategy games that cover the period from 1066 - 1953: Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis III,, Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun, and Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday. Pick a period and you're all set to go. These are far more detailed and historical than 4X games and they allow you to play as any historical nation that existed during the time periods.

The learning curve is steep but the games are hugely rewarding once you master them. CK is a cross between strategy and RPG, Victoria is an economic/empire management game set during the 19th C, HoI is probably the best grand strategy WWII on the market, and the EU series has elements of them all. If you're really desperate for a fix then you can buy and download each game from the GamersGate website.

[Triaxx]

Let's see, there's the ageless glory of Total Annihilation. You can still pick it up reasonably priced. Alpha Centauri was far more fun than it had any right to be. Supreme Commander is quite enjoyable. I'm still playing AOE2, and SWGB.

[Miklus]

Hmm...maybe I will look into Crusader Kings. I have played Europa Universalis once. Maybe I was too quick to dismiss it.

I have played Total Annihilation too. A much underrated game, I agree. It got overshadowed by StarCraft IIRC. Age of Empires ever really caugt on with me either. What is SWGB??? Star Wars Galactic Battle? I dismissed it as a cheap movie-carry-over thing.

And of cause I pulled out Alpha Centauri yet again. It from, what 1999? And still unsurpassed! This time I'm playing as Morgan. The only win a haven't got is the economic one.

If only Sid Meyer had made MoO3...:smallcool:

[Om]

Crusader Kings is a great game, one of my all time favourites. You pick a medieval dynasty (out of hundreds) and you basically play as a character instead of a country or faction. Your character can marry, have kids, manage a court, accumulate titles and traits, grow old and eventually die. There is really nothing like having your military genius king die during a battle and be succeeded by a schizo idiot son who believe he is the Messiah... civil war usually follows :smallbiggrin:

If you do decide to get CK, make sure to update to 1.05. An expansion pack (Deus Vult) has recently been released but I'd wait until the first patch for that arrives before getting it.

[Shameless plug]Also, check out an old AAR of mine (http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6118882#post6118882) for a taste of the game's flavour[/Shameless plug]

[Lord_Butters_I]

Are stratigy games all you're open to?

[Mustiado]

Portal crosses pretty much all boundaries, so even if Strategy is all you're interested in, you might find a place in your heart for a humor-puzzle-fps-drama-shooter-think 'em up. Also, I'm starting to get into Sherlock Holmes, The Awakening and it promises to be a very in-depth puzzle adventure.

And there was a game about microbes that apparently had crap graphics and amazing gameplay. I wish I remembered the name, but it was one of those very first titles by a company that will be huge in three years but putting out the same stuff as everyone else. It was marketed as a sim RTS, so you might want to see if you can find out what it is (Or if any other Playgrounder has an idea what I'm referring to?)

[Icewalker]

Portal is indeed totally awesome.

I thought Homeworld was quite good myself, although my brother was always way better than it than I was. The expansion was crap, and I disliked a few pieces of plot in Homeworld 2, but the games themselves were quite excellent.

Hmmm other strategy games...not sure. I've never been huge on strategy games.

But get Portal. Although the plot section of the game is short, the opportunities for custom maps are endless.

[Morrandir]

Empire Earth III recently came out. No idea how it is, but I did enjoy the first and second.

Essentially, the closest thing you can call it would be like Age of Empires, except with about 11 extra steps added. No joke, you can take a civilization from the Prehistoric Era all the way to laser cannons and 'Mechs. Granted, it takes an unholy amount of resources, and an even unholier length of time, but it's still possible.

[Miklus]

Are stratigy games all you're open to?

Yes..right now anyway. I've played some RPGs too, like BG 1+2 and planescape Torment, but they take up too much time.

Anyway, I got good old Alpha Centauri for now. I am trying out this super-economy strategy I read about. I'm playing Morgan and I'm going for an economic victory.

Year 2114: Yang shows up and wants trouble. :smallconfused:
Year 2131: I kick his sorry butt right off the continent. :smallamused:
Year 2150: "Mad Dog Miriam" makes a suprise invasion. :smallannoyed:

Looks like this is going to be another brawl...Next I'm playing Sparta with a super police state :smallamused: That'll show them!

But I'm going to check out Portal, thanks for the tip.

[A Rainy Knight]

Try the "Beyond The Sword" expansion for Civilization IV. I've got it, and there are a lot of cool campaigns, such as one in which you try to hold out against an endless tide of enemies or a tactical game where you lead a squad through the "Afterworld," populated by suitably nasty aberrations. Or, although I don't know if it's your kind of game, I enjoyed The Sims 2.

[Triaxx]

Movie tie in? Perhaps, but it's another six full length campaigns, plus an additional two if you get Saga. It may be a movie-carry-over, but it's certainly not cheap, and it's genuinely difficult, rather than the forced difficulty of AOE2.

[....]

I wish the Xbox version of Portal had custom maps :smallfrown:

[Bryn]

Thirding (or is it fourth-ing) the suggestion of Portal (which is absolutely amazing), and if you get that you could do a lot worse than picking up the rest of the Orange Box. Half Life 2 and its episodes remain great games, with a good story and the like, although they're FPSes (which apparently you don't like). No, there's no such thing as too many parantheses.

[Semidi]

The Cake is a Lie.

Another for portal.

[Blayze]

Portal, Imperialism, Total Annihilation, Populous, SWAT 2, Dungeon Keeper, Pharaoh, Sacrifice, Homeworld, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Jagged Alliance 2...

And that's just for starters.

[Winterwind]

Given your apparent preference for strategy games, I would suggest The Battle For Wesnoth (http://www.wesnoth.org/).

Turn based strategy game with unit progression, lots of campaigns, a pretty good AI... and you don't even have to go to some shop to get it, since it is available for free download.

[hobbes543]

Given your apparent preference for strategy games, I would suggest The Battle For Wesnoth (http://www.wesnoth.org/).

Turn based strategy game with unit progression, lots of campaigns, a pretty good AI... and you don't even have to go to some shop to get it, since it is available for free download.

I downloaded this and played through the tutorial... It seems like a decent strategy game. The fact that its a freebie makes it that much better in my book.