Just wondering what peoples' thoughts are on the most recent total overhaul of the game. I haven't bought the megacorp DLC yet, but I did play a multiplayer game with a friend that did, and I was pretty impressed. Much as I detest tedious micro, the new planet management system is light years ahead of the old one, and represents a much more realistic pace for colony development- no more outpopulating and outdeveloping your homeworld in twenty years. The main issues I've seen so far are poor balancing between raw materials, market balance, and finished goods, and AI. Since nearly all finished goods require minerals exclusively as an input, you get constant mineral deficits and a market that places more value on minerals than the goods made from them.

As for the market, the demand/pricing mechanism is poorly implemented, so you can exploit it for infinite money. Say a good costs 1EC/ea, you put in a bulk purchase order for 10,000 units. You pay 1EC for each of them, but after the order the sell price is boosted to 2EC. You can then immediately dump everything you just bought, selling each for 2EC. They could (and probably will) fix this by considering the price of each unit individually based on whatever formula they use for calculating market demand.

Finally, the AI completely shits the bed with the new administrative cap mechanic, and ends up decades behind any competently managed player empire in both economy and technology. But then I suppose poor AI is nothing new for Stellaris.

Issues aside though, I feel like with this patch, Stellaris has finally taken its place as a worthy successor to the classic Master of Orion 2.

For me, I value gameplay and originality. For example, let's take Splatoon. It gets a lot of hate because it has "kiddy" graphics. But I like it. It's gameplay is great. It's a really fun shooter, and I don't care if it has cartoonish graphics. As far as originality, it has amazing new ideas, such as the ability to swim through ink laid down by your weapon. What do you all value in a game?

I myself am a very, very competitive person. Because of this, I play almost exclusively competitive titles that feature a ranked ladder and esports. I find that even on a game that takes care to be competitive, there are still plenty (read: the vast majority) of people that don't seem to care for playing to win, or that don't make any sincere effort to ever improve. There's a guy called Labor on a game I play who plays hundreds and hundreds of ranked matches per season, but plays exactly the same today as he did a year or two ago. He's totally average, stagnant in rank, but keeps playing. Are any of you like Labor? If you are, what do you look for in a game? Even if you aren't, I'm curious. What kinds of games do you play? What types of experiences are you looking for? Why do you look for those experiences?

I was wondering about uncommon game mechanics recently and would like to get some inspiration for a possible next project. :)

I personally enjoy games in which a story is generated organically based on the user's gameplay.

By "lost", I mean games that have been lost to time--games that you would not be able to play now, even if you wanted to.

It could be because you cannot currently get a copy of the game (through legitimate means), or your own copy is not able to run since the tech has moved on. Perhaps the game's servers have been shut down or the multiplayer base has died out. Or, perhaps the game's development took it in a different direction and you're left hankering for an older build.

A classic can be a franchise or just a standalone game. Some examples of current classics can be old arcade/Nintendo games such as The Legend Of Zelda, Mario, and Pac-Man, or slightly newer ones like Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, or The Sims.

With Essen Spiel 2018 arriving tomorrow, I was wondering what boardgames you guys are most anticipating.

I've listened to a bunch of podcasts and watched a bunch of top-10 most anticipated videos and there are a bunch of games that are getting me excited.

For example, Treasure Island, which I only found out about yesterday, looks pretty interesting to me. It involves one player hiding some treasure and the other players trying to seek it out (Scotland Yard style). The pirate hiding the treasure has to give out clues that may involve drawing areas on the may in dry-erase marker with a compass, like a ship's navigator.

However I'm most eagerly awaiting more detail on the forthcoming Capstone game, Pipeline and some more details on the Splotter expansion to Food Chain Magnate (even though I don't think it needs an expansion).

I was inspired to ask this because I see a lot of other groups like ~TV people have been doing periodic discussions, and I got to thinking it could work here too. Every now and then, we could hold a discussion on either a video game or board game, for example. If I were to start this up would anyone be interested?

Edit: Oh, and any suggestions for if I do start it up? What games I could start with etc?

Just joined the site. Looking to see if anybody here plays TCG's.
What games, formats, decks, etc y'all play.
I play Magic and Dragon Ball Super.
Used to play Yu-Gi-Oh, Vanguard, and the previous DBZ card game that was far from understandable, lol.

A couple of years ago I had the itch for a 3D platformer and didn't feel like replaying Super Mario 64 for the nth time. I saw that there was a game called Poi and it was clearly inspired by SM64. I picked it up and played it while it was in early access.

I enjoyed my time with it, but because the game wasn't content and feature complete, I ended up making my way through an unfinished, buggy version. This is not a complaint, as I knew well that it was still in development, but I can't deny that it hampered my enjoyment of the final product. When I finally sat down to play through the game for the "first" time after its release, my previous experience soured my current one because I was retreading familiar, albeit improved, levels.

Distance, another early access game I purchased, released in full this past month. Unlike with Poi, I actually stopped myself from playing Distance in early access (after trying it out briefly), so that I wouldn't ruin the game for myself. As such, my enjoyment of it has been far greater. Those two games, plus a handful of others, have made it such that I pretty much will no longer buy a game if it's in early access, simply because I'd rather wait for the full thing.

With that in mind, I'm curious if other people do the same thing, or if some people actually like the behind the scenes experience of playing a game as it gets built? Also, what are some early access success stories that have had solid, full releases? What are some that would be considered successes in spite of the fact that they haven't fully released yet?

The games are masterpieces in their own right. DQ11 probably the best jrpg I've played in a very long time (dq8 ps2) . Spiderman is just a very fun game. It's light hearted enough and has some intense moments. I'm level 41 I think right now and I have a lot of my abilities unlocked and I just destroy the dudes even if I'm out matched 11 to 1. Very satisfying.

Back to dragon quest. They made huge strides in quality of life with book shelves that actually show you that yes, you can read a book from it. The visible enemies is something that is sort of a relief for me because by my second playthrough of DQ8 I was so sick of random battles I almost just threw in the towel. I can explore and fight if I want. I would neglect exploring in DQ8 because of the random battles. Anyway what are your guys' thoughts on the games?

edit: emulating DQ8 on pcsx2 is very very cool. You can make the graphics look almost exactly like DQ11. The textures work wonderfully with interneral resolution increase. Plus you can trigger "fast mode" when runs the game at like 3x speed, which makes the random battles not so monotonous

My vote is for bounties god damn near everywhere. The Rider adventure is cool and I really enjoy Gambit so far.

Not a huge fan of the weapon mod perk reworking, the grind feels longer than ever before.

Tonight we are having our weekly game night.
Recently i've been in love with Mottainai. Specially playing with my SO.

Lisboa and Agricola are still my favorites.

What are your favorite games right now?

Is anyone playing ARMS?

I know it has some bad press, but I like it – it seems to be one of those specific games that either click for you or not.

So, I’m wondering if anyone else is playing it and would be willing to spar.

Anyone else excited for the next installment in the franchise? DQ11 is the first US console release of a mainland DQ game since DQ8 on ps2 in 2005. I've been playing DQ5 on Android for the last few months and it still holds up!

Hi,

I am looking into flight simulator games, they seem pretty cool, i've seen videos of guys with cockpits on their homes, is there any tilder(?) that plays any flight simulator and has a cockpit at home? If so tell what your setup is and maybe post some photos :)

The embargo drops on the 4th. No reason to pre-order because you can get all those items just by playing the game. The game actually looks fun and I'm craving another open world game after God of War. I've been revisiting the fallout games in the meantime. The xbox trolls have ramped it up because they aren't getting the game, the whole "downgrade-gate" thing is stupid.

So recently, No Man's Sky has put out probably their biggest update yet. Prominently featuring Multiplayer, Cargo Freighters, and many QoL changes, Hello Games is determined not to drop their baby just yet. Has anyone been having more fun since the update? Less fun? Did anyone pick it up because of the update? How are your guys' adventures going?

I'm a huge fan of co-op games and have played over 100 by now, sometimes I stumble on a little co-op game I had never heard of and give it a go, I'm curious to hear about them.

I'm going to throw in Clandestine, which is an asymmetric infiltration game where one player is a field operative in a 3rd person stealth shooter, and the other player is a hacker that has to control a little avatar on the network, manage CCTV cameras so the field operative isn't spotted, crack door key codes, direct the field operative to mission objectives, disable guards by overloading power and water utilities, and even call in for body cleanup and ammo/health drops.

I love the asymmetric cooperative nature of the game and Hacktag appears to be similar, though I've never tried it. I'm played through the whole campaign as a field operative and now I'm going through as the hacker and finding myself enjoying a whole new way to play the game, which has been challenging.

There's been a bit of drama regarding the direction of the general story, but I reckon they know what they're doing - I'm mostly excited for the new zones anyway. And quests, storylines in new zones, etc.

WoW has been on a slow and steady downward trend in terms of popularity, and it's not very talked about in gaming communities - but hey, it's now 14 years later and it's still going strong with millions of subscribers! Although mildly annoying that we can no longer see exactly how many there are, it's understandable - if nothing else for the beauty of an updated version of this graph!

So who's excited for BfA?

Since D&D gained prominence in the late-70s, it's been a game that outsiders to the hobby don't really understand. It has held the stereotype as that weird maths game where kids play as wizards in basements, or to some: a game that trains you in black magic to be devil worshippers.

D&D is experiencing a boom right now in popularity as the nerdy is becoming cool and many people who would never have dreamt of playing have found themselves with a new hobby. Whether you hold one of those views previously mentioned or are otherwise curious: What would you like to know about D&D and by extension - Tabletop Role-Playing Games?

-LTADnD

Does anyone play Monster Hunter around here?

The game comes out tomorrow, and I'm so stoked. I pre-ordered it for $45 here . I'm so excited to be able to play it online with so many friends that didn't have consoles. I'm so excited to be able to stream it. I'm so excited for the more "open world" aspect of it, with minimal loading screens. The graphics look so nice.

So who else plays it? What weapon do you main? What monster are you most excited to get killed by?

EDIT: I think I'm going to go hammer this time around. In the past I've use the greatsword, bow, switchaxe, and chargeblade.

Hello ~games!

Like most of us, I spend way too much time gaming. Lately i've been playing Islands of the Nyne because PUBG hasn't been fun the past few patches. I normally play one genre at a time such as RTS, BR, MMO etc until i move onto a whole new genre of games.

What games or genre's have you been playing lately? Anything to recommend?

For me, that'd be a multiplayer war sandbox. Take a big map, plop down resources, population centers and factories, spawn a lot of players who then have to organize to fight a war.

• To add espionage, you'd not hard-code a lot about the way teams organize(think removing the guild mechanics from WoW), so one could sign up with one side, then run to a different side (who do not know you already signed up with the first) and do ye olde double agent.
• Research could be modelled as being done by NPC civilians, which produces documents detailing the results. These documents must be on-site whenever the research is being used (i.e. present at factories), so it could be stolen.
• No need to go factorio on the production chains. Their purpose is mostly to enforce cooperation to reach better hardware for the guys in the field.

So, what's your crazy dream game that's never going to be built?

TRS80 gaming is a group for casuals. Back in the day I could play TF2, CSGO and PlanetSide 2 for 4-6 hrs a night (yes I've done the all-nighters, and done an all-nighter with Civilization too). But as I've grown older, I've been more busy with work.

So I, with some friends, wanted to create a gaming group that's basically for casuals.

The games we play are:

• Destiny 2 (we have a clan)
• Guild Wars 2 (we have a guild)
• WarFrame (no guild yet)

Mobile games we're playing:

• Idle Heroes (we have a guild)
• Brawl Stars (no guild right now)
• Clash Royale (no guild right now)

Some of us stream on Twitch (twitch.tv/condenasty80) and I can auto-host channels.

It'd be cool to get other casual players on Tildes on the Discord chat to coordinate some games for Destiny 2, Guild Wars and Warframe (and to group up on mobile games too!)

Reply if you're interested!

edit: forgot to mention, we have a blog, twitter and facebook page so if you want to write a game review or just make comment about recent game news, I'm open to scheduling/publishing posts

What mechanics are the most fun, innovative or immersive?

I'll start with my list.

Enemies reacting to your gameplay choices in MGS V

I still think that game is a masterpiece when it comes to stealth gameplay and generally reaxtive gameplay but I thought that the system of enemies adapting to your gameplay choices was particularly clever.

The parkour system in Dying Light

I don't think any other game has pulled this off that well. Combined with the stressful night sequences this made that game a sleeper hit for me.

The lack of weapons in Subnautica

This is what turned this into one of my favourites of this year. It really makes you feel vulnerable, especially in the beginning, making for some very atmospheric and creepy gameplay.

Since RuneScape (both RS3 and Old School) currently has a free month for those of us using Twitch Prime, is anyone here playing? I find that despite it being one of the best games I've ever played, I tend to drift away from OSRS after some time because it's so enveloped in that YouTuber meme culture that gives me a headache. So, to any players here, are you hanging out in a friendly clan chat or Discord server to escape that? Would we want to start our own?

Or, more generally, how do you deal with the toxic nature of the game's community?

There are two big unrelated things giving gaming a lot of exposure right now. One is people broadcasting gaming sessions (e.g. Critical Role). The other is that a lot of shows are doing an RPG episode (e.g. Community).

How much of this is a good thing? What happens to the community when the vast majority of fans don't actually play the game? And is anything being done to transition people from audience to participants?

So since we no doubt have many rpg gamers amongst us, I thought I'd start a weekly or bi monthly thread to post about looking for groups, looking for members and the like. So if you want to, why not come and make a post.

I myself happen to be looking for people who'd be up to play a spot of Shadowrun or preferably Cryptomancer.

It's been a while since the last one of these, so whether you're providing an update or a brand new story: What's been going on in your game? What excitement has transpired in your life-on-paper?

-LTADnD

I'm curious if we have any game devs on Tildes, either professional or amateur. If so, share your games, experiences, or advice for any aspiring developers.

I briefly dabbled with game development in the past, which amounted to a goofy helicopter combat game made from the Ogre framework. I've been trying to get it running again, and it's inspiring me to get back into hobbyist game development.

(First post on Tildes, feel free to blast me if I screwed something up posting this.)

So, as the title says, I'd love to hear about how your game is going. Also, if there's a lot of D&D discussion, we might talk the admins into going ahead and making us a ~games.dnd (wink, wink).

Disclaimer: If anything cool happened, I may or may not steal the idea. =]

On reddit I post the occasional AAR (after action report) for Victoria 2 on the ParadoxPlaza sub. I was just wondering if there was any interest in me posting those here as well, since vic2 is a little obscure and it's entirely possible I'm the only player here out of our active users.

Which games had really well thought out and engaging leveling system?

Skyrim was a good baseline I believe, not perfect but engaging and not too punishing. Path of Exile seems convoluted to me, to many skills the dont make any real impact. Fable was effective but very simple. Oblivion tried hard for a deep leveling system but was basically broken. Witcher 3 was pretty run of the mill (I thought, despite the praise the game gets).

I'm trying to find something where there are several viable different playstyles. And it's always good when combat isn't the only way to proceed.

This question stemmed from a friendly argument my S.O. and I had involving The Sims. She thought it was the weirdest thing ever to try and create myself within the game. I understand the idea of truly creating a new character, but my first impulse is always to create myself and then behave how I normally would in whatever game I'm playing. I don't know if this is laziness on my part, or some sort of subconscious effort to maximize immersion.

Disclaimer: I do often create characters that don't just emulate myself, but it's almost always after I've finished my first play-through. I'm not averse to role-play AT ALL.

I noticed it spans further than character creation too. Like, if there's a pool of characters to pick from, I almost always pick one that looks the most like me, or one that I relate the most with. My S.O. will pick whichever one she's feeling at that time (usually the cutest). I've also noticed that I'm more apt to consistently pick that same character, while she is more likely to switch it up every so often.

One last observation I made that I think ties closely to this topic: When I'm playing a game, my mentality is always "I'm going to do this, then I'm going to do this. Did you see what I just did?!" etc. I see it from a first-person perspective, even if I happened to create a character that does not emulate myself. When she plays, it's always "Look what he's doing, oh man my guy did this" and verbalizes the game from a third-person perspective.

What's your take on this? What's your mentality when you game? Do you think there is a fundamental mental split among players? Is it because I game drastically more than her or started gaming sooner in my life? I'd love to hear some other perspectives on this.