After complaining about X-Com 2, I thought I could try to start a more positive games discussion.
Currently:
Tera. F2P MMO, that's more fun than I expected, mainly thanks to action-game combat (rather than you and an enemy yelling numbers at each other). Cons: Social tools are surprisingly poor (it is literally impossible to do a lot of the early content in a party), fucked up gender politics (the female characters' armor is, shall we say, impractical).
Northgard. This one surprised me...I was not impressed during my first 10 or so minutes, as it seemed overly simplistic. But it's quite a bit of fun; kind of a mixture of Battle Realms and Settlers. Cons: still early, so not a ton of content yet, and does virtually nothing to teach you how the game works.
This Is the Police. Picked it up on sale, and so far I'm really underwhelmed. Tries to be story-heavy, but the story is mediocre, while so far the gameplay is far too simplistic to be really engaging. Going to give this one more play session.
Stellaris. A friend had said to wait for this one until they expanded the late game, and apparently the new expansion did just that. Currently on sale on Steam. It's a space 4X by Paradox, but not as complicated as EU or Victoria. Lots of really cool ways to customize your species, and does some cool things in the late game in terms of events that help that stage not get boring.
Seconded. My Robust Pleasure Source and I have a survival world shared with her little brother and it's been a ton of fun. I've never been a fan of big multiplayer servers unless they were super casual. At one point I had leased server time to host a Hubski exclusive world but it was hard to get everyone together it seemed. I would restart it if there was sufficient interest.
I haven't touched Minecraft in years, but that could be fun.
Neato. I remember reading (probably a year or two ago now) that there were some problems with optimization?
I'm playing Dota 2, 'cause I can play nothing else on my laptop. It's a game that teaches you the value of teamwork - and punishes you for its lacking. Working together is the only way to ensure victory. It's extremely rare that you'd be able to win the game on your own, and a five-man gank onto your poor ass will end up in blood and tears for you, no matter how many items you have. That being said, it has quite a steep learning curve. To play effectively, you have to know all of the 113 heroes: what they do, what are their abilities, how to play them well (which lets you know how to play well against them) and even the quirks they have. You have to know the items, too: what to buy, what combines into what, what would be beneficial for this specific strategy (as there is no set way to play)... It may seem monumental, but it's this that gives Dota 2 a lot of depth. It's chess with 113 different pieces - and then some. I've recently found a cool group of people to play with through voice chat, and it's been a completely different experience to playing with random match-made players. Ideally, you'd want this level of coordination and cooperation to persist in every game - using text chat, pre-made phrases activated through the chat wheel or hotkeys, or in-game voice chat. That doesn't always happen, because people play the game for different reasons and with different mindsets, not all of which aim at cooperation foremost. It's the reason Dota 2 is known to be "toxic", lacking as the word may be for description. It's a fun game. If that's your kind of thing, you'll probably play it for a long time. It's free, and you can buy cosmetic additions - in-game music packs, HUD, hero outfits - from the official store or the Steam Marketplace. Be prepared to do lots of reading and lose lots of games to stupid mistakes if you want to be any good. Luckily, there are both the Gamepedia and the player-made in-game guides for heroes and various aspects of the game.
I was addicted to League of Legends -- a DOTA port I'm sure you're familiar with. I would play for ten hours straight, and love every minute. I'd collapse into bed at absurd hours of the morning, and I did that regularly during a two-year period. I had to quit video games cold turkey because I just could not regulate myself well. It's such a tantalizing, exciting, addicting gametype. Reading your description took me back.
I'm currently in that state. I defaulted to it after a 2 year break when my favorite Minecraft server went down. Sadly, it's gotten so much more interesting since then now that I'm grasping the many win-conditions on both micro-/macro- scale. Riot's pacing on updates and teasers is down to a science, too. Ugh.
Don't video game designers have fully fledged clinical psychologists on retainer to help them squeeze serotonin out of our monkey brains? I feel you.Riot's pacing on updates and teasers is down to a science, too. Ugh.
Nah, they're just making enough product so they can get their own fix, too. Did you ever follow the competitive scene? I swear that's what really got me into it. My only peeve is there's no real sense of fan loyalty since all teams are based in the same area, meaning bandwagonning is where the masses thrall to. Other than that, it only serves the hype. Their promo team is fire. They out-sourced this piece: Most promo clips are outsourced, from what I read. Even some modeling of champions, IIRC. The thing that tickles me is the studio which created the piece shown is Studio Mir (which did AtLA and LoK).
I would definitely watch streams, but not to follow the pros as much as to gain insight as to how to get better. But you're right, Riot is on their shit with the marketplace and all the goodies just a click away.
No, not hypocritical. Even though it brings up something interesting. People can and ought to self-regulate. It's healthy and necessary for someone to be their own best steward. But what about people who never get to the level? I don't want to hijack the thread, but video games get me thinking about this sort of thing a lot.
League of Legends. Too much of it. Finally got over ranked anxiety now that I'm understanding wave management. Going toplane enables me to play on an island (if I want), yet also apply pressure across the map as a split pusher - which is missing in my elo. Been threading B2 and B3 recently after neglecting to play ranked at all last season. Some friends from my old uni have been waiting patiently to climb with me once I hit B1. I gotta say, if anyone here plays a game with a competitive aspect, watch the pro scene to learn sweet tricks. Only then could I see what else was possible/what I've been missing. EDIT: Can't state "Too much of it" without recalling the amount of time I dump into games I get into, and rotate in/out of. I'm a fan of games that get consistent attention from the devs. Dumping a running 500+ hrs. per game. Not much variety, but I'm a fan of depth in games I play (mechanics and nuance, and an element of mindlessness).
In truth, the first couple statements make sense to me in isolation, but not in the context of our conversation. That might just be my brain with lack of sleep at the moment, though. I don't know what the qualm is with not having all heroes to begin with, but it's preference since that's how I was introduced to MOBAs. Having to earn the currency to own a champion gives a small sense of accomplishment for me. On top of that, earned champions can have customized playstyles with runes and masteries. Males for shitloads of fun when I can play a champ I love in 3 different roles viably. On the other hand, I've read the lack of runes/masteries make DOTA a bit more skill-based competition.
Dota 2 can be played in a variety of ways, even if the goal is eventually the same. It's not unlike how you can approach a project from different sides, all of which push to the eventual goal of its completion. It doesn't make the game less fun or more predictable. As for champions of LoL, it's twofold. First, it's a paradigm change from the original DotA from WarCraft III. That, in itself, would cause a lot of uproar, empty and meaningless as it may be. However, it's the second part that brings the argument up for me. In Dota (both the original and the standalone) all players start out equally, barring skill level. Each player can pick a hero to either enhance their team's performance or counter the other teams' enhancements. What use, say, your illusion-based hero against one whose spells increase in damage based on how many enemies they hit? On the other hand, while you can't counter strong pushers directly, you're likely to be able to harm their farm or ability to take part in pushes with certain picks. It's the same foundation, the same base for everybody that does it. Having all heroes available to you from the start has been the founding principles of MOBAs. You can play whomever, and while there are certain more prevalents ways to play certain heroes, nothing is stopping you from changing your style for this match or even this hero. The fact that you have to earn your champions sounds like a false achievement when everybody else's characters are there to be picked from the start. Know what I mean? Couple that with the fact that you could pay real money for that, and for many non-native players, it crashes the experience. You're right to note that Dota 2 is a more skill-based game. You have to know your heroes, your items and even your map to navigate your game and be able to push it to victory. I'm not gonna deny its steep learning curve: I'm still learning things about the game, although now it's ways to use all the present things I know about rather than anything new. Who knew you can save your squishy support with an astonishingly-powerful ultimate by hiding it with invisibility cloak? Everything but area-of-effect disables are off the shelf for those precious few seconds. I'm not against LoL or people playing it. If that's your thing, that's your thing, and I'm not gonna judge you for that. I've seen people switch from LoL to Dota 2 because latter is more complex. I've seen LoL players try Dota 2 and not get it. I don't like the superiority complex Dota players gain nowadays, but it is a more complex and it does take more skill to play. Doesn't mean other games are inferior. EDIT: Feel free to ask me about how different a hero can be played in Dota 2. I'll do my best to explain it using as plain language as possible.
EDIT: Thanks for taking the time to elaborate. Much appreciated. In hindsight, I see I'm knit-picking, and that I still haven't slept, so I'm likely to revisit this tomorrow. This isn't the case for other popular MOBAs like Heroes of the Storm and SMITE. Many of them have champion rotations or 'free weeks' to test champions out. This is something I haven't grasped, but I can assume it alleviates toxicity within the community. Frankly, I could care less about the stereotypes as well. I guess my investment in LoL so far started with friends and the complexities engaged me in learning more. That said, I'm content on my side of the fence. :) Happy hunting in DOTA. It's interesting to read of those who play both/cross over and bring insight from other games as well as point out the game design similarities.Having all heroes available to you from the start has been the founding principles of MOBAs.
nothing is stopping you from changing your style for this match or even this hero.
Lately I've opted to rob my roommates and other kids in my unit of their money every saturday night in poker. like stealing candy from a cadet. Actually though I play Counter Strike during most of my do-nothing down-time and it's freakin' awesome if you can contain the game into a non-detrimental time-span.
Slime-san and Banner Saga. Actually, if you like the way Xcom's battle system works you might dig Banner Saga. works in a similar way.
So I just started with XCOM2 this weekend. I'm not having the same experience with you where the statistics seem baked, but damn the macro game is more cutthroat now. The last game had the problem that you would often be waiting around with nothing to do in the command screen, but if anything this one has the problem of too much shit happening at once that it's hard to advance on any one thing. Meanwhile the death counter keeps going up at an alarming rate and all the objectives to counter it are in areas I can't access. It seems like I'm bound for a reset because I didn't understand certain macro-game mechanics as well as I needed to and now I'm screwed. It plays a lot like the last game, but with an extra dose of frustration.
I picked up WarioWare Touched and played through the story mode this weekend. The demo was actually the first game in the series I played, back when the DS first came out. EB Games had it set up, and I completely forgot what I went in for. The two GBA installments are some of my favourite games on the console, and Touched doesn't disappoint. As always, I've been playing a lot of NHL 2K10. With the right gameplay sliders, it's probably the best hockey sim I've played. I let up a little with a 4-2 lead last night and paid the price, having to finish the game in overtime. There are no shortcuts to victory, just as it should be.
Rainbow Six Siege is what I'm on almost every weekend. A streamer I hang out with got me into it and it is the most intense game I have played in a long time. Extremely tactical FPS that takes elements from CS:GO and elsewhere and makes it into one of the most unique and satisfying shooters that I've played. It's too bad that uPlay's servers are complete shit but it's pretty much the only game worth fighting them for, at least that I've played. Got back into Starbound recently too. So much fun just to mess around in, although I constantly get sidetracked base building. A really good exploration/mining game with an extensive modding community. Really need to actually get a ways into the game for a change. Finally, I've got Shining Force. It was the first SRPG I ever played as a kid but have never finished. Nice short play game on the go or while matchmaking on Siege.
911 Operator, as mentioned by ThatFanficGuy looks pretty fun, although I haven't played it. Stellaris I quite like. One of the best things about it is it's real-time (but pauseable, of course), so it feels like it flows better than its turn-based competitors.