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Kevin Klemme
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Mycelia Board Game Review

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River Wild Board Game Review

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Outback Crossing Review

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What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

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22 Oct 2017 21:50 #256183 by the_jake_1973
I picked up Bomber Crew on Steam. It is a FTL model, but in a Lancaster bomber. There is no pause button and that can make things a little hairy. You get to upgrade your plane's components and your crew's kit as well as get skills for your crew members.

I like it.

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22 Oct 2017 23:12 #256185 by Sevej

Black Barney wrote: THose games get a ton better


Do you mean later in the same game or on 4 & 5?

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23 Oct 2017 00:14 #256187 by Cranberries

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23 Oct 2017 08:32 #256194 by Black Barney
IV and V, Sevej. Chinatown Wars is great too

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23 Oct 2017 08:48 #256195 by ThirstyMan

Erik Twice wrote: I was bored so I decided to make some fast One-City-Challenge culture runs in Civilization V.

Here's the issue: If you play on Immortal or Deity, the AIs spam so many cities that you cannot produce enough tourism to win. Hence the game turns into a less fun science victory or military victory game. Worse, half of the game is just out of wack: Half of the marvels are impossible to obtain, there's a 20% that Hagha Sophia cannot produce a religion and it's impossible to convert anyone because the AI just has too many bonuses and spams too many Missionaries.

Emperor, while a touch too easy, at least is playable.

That said you are locked in Brazil for fast wins. There's simply not enough Tourism to win in any other manner. I'm trying with Egypt now but I don't see myself winning before turn 249 (Year 1600) with them.

Oh well, it was ok. The more games I play the more problems I find in Sid Meier's Civilization. I used to like this series a lot but there's just so much stuff that just doesn't work from a design perspective:

- The AI does not play to win
- The AI is whiny and irrational.
- The AI does not comprehend the game and requires massive, game-warping bonuses to function
- In other words, the AI simulates the kind of person I wouldn't invite to boardgame night.
- Balanced strategies offer no benefit compared to going all-in
- The best strategies are based on snowballing early on and then cruising to victory
- Most of the game is irrelevant because snowballing is just better. You win the game based on whether you build 4 Crossbowmen or not, all research after that is just icing the cake.

So yeah, dunno. I would rather play strategy boardgames at this point.


I was persuaded to get the fan mod for Civ5, Vox Populi. I'm told it totally upgrades the AI and adds new features.

Have you tried it?

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23 Oct 2017 09:35 #256197 by jeb
Can affirm on GTA: CHINATOWN WARS, that game is good. But it is formulaic. If you just want to do crazy goofy shit in your sandbox, get a JUST CAUSE title.

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23 Oct 2017 18:11 #256220 by Michael Barnes
I downloaded the FIFA 18 demo intending just to check out the new features, hot off of going to an Atlanta United game...welp, I bought the whole thing.

So far it is REALLY good, I've liked FIFA on and off going back to FIFA 97 (OMG 20 years), this one so far feels like the most accessible it's ever been since those old timey days. I really like all of the learning features, since I've never really had a good sense of having total control over the game. It's DEEP. There's so much to get into, so many actual skills to develop...it seems somewhat weighted toward an aggressive, attacking game which I like, and the crosses feel better than they ever have. I still struggle with using the set pieces effectively, but after just a couple of days I already feel like I'm playing better FIFA than I ever have.

While downloading it I looked at the menu and realized, shamefully, that I still haven't really dug into XCOM 2.

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23 Oct 2017 18:53 #256225 by Erik Twice

ThirstyMan wrote: I was persuaded to get the fan mod for Civ5, Vox Populi. I'm told it totally upgrades the AI and adds new features.

Have you tried it?

I haven't, sadly. I've always wanted to try out some mods, like that one that always gives you a mountain when you play OCC, but I never actually did. Now I fear I'm way too burned on the game to do it.

But if you have, please tell, I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

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23 Oct 2017 19:29 #256226 by Wetworks
I just beat the Evil Within 2 on nightmare difficulty, it took me around 21 hrs. Overall I really enjoyed it, the first third is good, the middle third loses some momentum as the environment doesn't change much and your mostly doing the same things as the first third, but the final third is super strong. It has one of the best endings for a video game that I played recently.

Overall I give it an 8/10, carried by the strong third act and ending. A definite must buy for survival horror fans.

The game does a good job of making the NPC's memorable, they actually inject emotion and life into the game and are not just mobs standing around with an exclamation point over their heads handing out fetch quests. You really only see that stuff over the final third of the game though.

Also, the game does a good job of introducing a lot of different enemy types and bosses to keeps thing feeling fresh. That was a problem I felt Resident Evil 7 suffered from, it had good bosses but the mold monsters were too similar for my tastes.
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23 Oct 2017 20:09 #256227 by Sevej
So, go a little more out of San Andreas, and then after a couple of frustrating tries on a mission, I decided to take a break and play Sleeping Dogs again (which was released 8 years after San Andreas...).
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23 Oct 2017 23:39 #256232 by hotseatgames
Sleeping Dogs was incredible. Quite possibly the best story of an open world game that I have played.
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23 Oct 2017 23:47 #256233 by Sevej
The thing with Sleeping Dogs (in addition to its great story) is how playable it is. You can store cars without worrying about bringing it back from the beginning (ok, bikes...). When you fail at a mission, you get to retry from a checkpoint (instead of driving across the town from your last save spot). Save anywhere. One button to bring up the map. On screen waypoints.

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24 Oct 2017 00:38 #256236 by Cranberries
I don't really play video games, then someone pointed me to Universal Paperclips, which is along the lines of Ian Bogost's Cow Clicker, one of those annoying academic games designed to teach you life lessons or be ironic. Except that it transmogrifies into something amazing that consumed about ten hours (sad!) of my Sunday.

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24 Oct 2017 09:31 #256238 by hotseatgames
When you posted that, I immediately saw that it was a clicker, and backed away quickly.

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24 Oct 2017 10:10 #256241 by jeb
It's based on an allegory in SUPERINTELLIGENCE helping the reader understand that AI is not necessarily bound by human morality or desires. It might just want to maximize paper clip production and convert a lot of the Earth's mass to this activity.

Someone keep me from dropping $18 on OPUS MAGNUM.

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