Conquer Club

thegreekdog wrote:While I puffy-heart love Crusader Kings II, it is a very frustrating game to play. I may turn back to Hearts of Iron II if I continue to be rebuffed in establishing the Kingdom of Ireland or the Kingdom of Spain.

I like CK2 a lot, but I think I dig EU4 a lot more -- since it allows me to attempt to create expansive empires as unusual countries, and to change the shape of the world.

Right now, I am playing has Friesland -- I started out as a few provinces in the Netherlands region, and a minor state in the Holy Roman Empire. Now I basically have a long border with France and own all of Denmark, and am eating away into middle of the Germanic region. I also have a foothold in England -- Essex, Norfolk, and Kent. My goal is to eventually surround london and make England relocate their capital elsewhere, and then conquer the rest of the British Isles.

It's tough going, but since I've been long time friends with France, they are pretty supportive of me. Protestantism has also taken over the HRE, and most of Europe.

mmmm.


--Andy

AndyDufresne wrote:

thegreekdog wrote:While I puffy-heart love Crusader Kings II, it is a very frustrating game to play. I may turn back to Hearts of Iron II if I continue to be rebuffed in establishing the Kingdom of Ireland or the Kingdom of Spain.

I like CK2 a lot, but I think I dig EU4 a lot more -- since it allows me to attempt to create expansive empires as unusual countries, and to change the shape of the world.

Right now, I am playing has Friesland -- I started out as a few provinces in the Netherlands region, and a minor state in the Holy Roman Empire. Now I basically have a long border with France and own all of Denmark, and am eating away into middle of the Germanic region. I also have a foothold in England -- Essex, Norfolk, and Kent. My goal is to eventually surround london and make England relocate their capital elsewhere, and then conquer the rest of the British Isles.

It's tough going, but since I've been long time friends with France, they are pretty supportive of me. Protestantism has also taken over the HRE, and most of Europe.

mmmm.


--Andy

I love EU4 as well. I like the colonization aspect more than anything else (I usually end up as England, take Ireland, then Scotland, and then move overseas). There are too many good Paradox games to play.

That being said, it's interesting how different my playing style is depending on the game. In CKII, I'm all about generating a good family structure and good characters. In EU4 I'm all about colonization. In HOI2, I'm all about conquest (in my last game, the New Roman Empire stretched from Italy to Yugoslavia, Greece, Africa, and the middle east).

TGD is a man of many diverse flavors.


--Andy

*****

Saints Row 2, 3, and 4 on steam now.

BGtheBrain wrote:

DoomYoshi wrote:A dystopian document thriller, for those who didn't get enough of the Passport Challenge, and are jealous of saxitoxin:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/papersplease_storefront

Well I bought this and it doesnt work.

So now, I just keep checking all new members and deciding if theyre multis or not...

Oh shit... I was thinking of buying it; in what way does it not work?

*****

Oh : (

tkr4lf wrote:But yes, that is a major problem with Elder Scrolls and any other titles that have a similar leveling system. At least the games have a healthy modding community to remedy those problems though. For Morrowind, I would recommend the Galsiah's Character Development mod. It changes the entire leveling system and tends to keep characters feeling very different, for the entire game. Your mage character will have the stats and abilities of a mage for the entire game, just as your warrior character will have the stats abilities of a warrior for the entire game, etc. etc.. Now, you can still branch out and learn to use a battle axe as a mage should you have that desire, but it will be much harder and take much more time than if you were playing vanilla Morrowind.

I was looking at that mod for my recent playthrough, but the problem is that I like to create characters that blend classes together, a bit of the fighter, a bit of the mage, a bit of the rogue, and Galsiah's mod doesn't seem to allow for that kind of build. That kind of freedom is what I like about a system like GURPS, although with GURPS, it's significantly harder to build a character who's good at, say, both magic and fighting prowess. With Morrowind, it's perhaps too easy.

Dark Souls 1 first playthrough ....
its fun

Steam has Civilization Beyond Earth as part of the "free weekend trial." I've played it for like 4 hours or so. Seems fun and is at times different from main Civ, but it seems like you can sort of employ the same strategies. It's on sale for like $29 USD right now -- which I think is still too high for me. I'll pick it up if it ever drops to like $20.00 or so.


--Andy

I've debated for years whether or not I should buy WoW. I've heard too many negative things about people and WoW. But after five years or so debating with myself, I finally decided to go ahead and buy it. Now I have shit my pants five times, don't brush my teeth, and jerk off to fantasy animated Monster Porn! I was up for a promotion and my fiance has just left me...but I'm gonna get to level 70 if it frickin' kills me, dude!

I need some advice on the next Xbox game I should play. I'm limited to the following:

Fallout 3 (and then Fallout New Vegas)
Skyrim
Mass Effect (the entire series)

I've played just the "escape from the tunnel" missions in Fallout 3. I've played a lot of Skyrim, but havent finished. I've completed Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, but haven't played Mass Effect 3 yet.

If someone has a much stronger game that I should be playing, please let me know, but I'm really choosing between these three "worlds" (for lack of a better term).

ME3 is very good, up until the ending, even with the "fixed" ending Bioware put out later. But multiplayer is pretty fun, if pretty grindy at times.
Skyrim is honestly better on the PC (trust me, I have played it on both the 360 and PC) because the mods fix things, add things, and overall make it better. Also, Skyrim doesn't really "end". You just finish up story lines.

thegreekdog wrote:I need some advice on the next Xbox game I should play. I'm limited to the following:

Fallout 3 (and then Fallout New Vegas)
Skyrim
Mass Effect (the entire series)

I've played just the "escape from the tunnel" missions in Fallout 3. I've played a lot of Skyrim, but havent finished. I've completed Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, but haven't played Mass Effect 3 yet.

If someone has a much stronger game that I should be playing, please let me know, but I'm really choosing between these three "worlds" (for lack of a better term).

Do ME, since I never did. The I can live vicariously through you.

thegreekdog wrote:If someone has a much stronger game that I should be playing, please let me know, but I'm really choosing between these three "worlds" (for lack of a better term).

I don't have a console, but I've heard good things about Red Dead Redemption for world and character(s).


--Andy

muy_thaiguy wrote:ME3 is very good, up until the ending, even with the "fixed" ending Bioware put out later. But multiplayer is pretty fun, if pretty grindy at times.
Skyrim is honestly better on the PC (trust me, I have played it on both the 360 and PC) because the mods fix things, add things, and overall make it better. Also, Skyrim doesn't really "end". You just finish up story lines.

DoomYoshi wrote:Do ME, since I never did. The I can live vicariously through you.

I think that clinches it. I'll play through Mass Effect. Two additional notes (that may have been relevant): I'm not big on multiplayer and I don't play anything but strategy games on my PC (my laptop doesn't have the horsepower).

Also, DY's quote has been added to no context quotes thread.

AndyDufresne wrote:

thegreekdog wrote:If someone has a much stronger game that I should be playing, please let me know, but I'm really choosing between these three "worlds" (for lack of a better term).

I don't have a console, but I've heard good things about Red Dead Redemption for world and character(s).--Andy

I played (and loved) Red Dead. It was the greatest RPG I've ever played and possibly one of the best games I've ever played.

I would definitely recommend doing Mass Effect again. I'm on my second playthrough and it's a completely different game, if you choose it to be. I highly suggest going with an opposite gendered Shepard to your first playthrough, going with a different class (if you were a soldier on your first playthrough, go with a biotic or an engineer this time through), and being a complete dick.

I am already planning a third playthrough where I try to screw with the game by doing things in the "wrong" order - in ME1 leaving Liara's recruitment mission to the very end, in ME2 getting Legion as quickly as possible then taking him on Tali's missions, etc.

Also, I am one of the few people not disappointed by the ending of ME3 (although I never played the original, just the "extended").

Oh, and get all the bonus content and DLC if you haven't already.

denominator wrote:I would definitely recommend doing Mass Effect again. I'm on my second playthrough and it's a completely different game, if you choose it to be. I highly suggest going with an opposite gendered Shepard to your first playthrough, going with a different class (if you were a soldier on your first playthrough, go with a biotic or an engineer this time through), and being a complete dick.

I am already planning a third playthrough where I try to screw with the game by doing things in the "wrong" order - in ME1 leaving Liara's recruitment mission to the very end, in ME2 getting Legion as quickly as possible then taking him on Tali's missions, etc.

Also, I am one of the few people not disappointed by the ending of ME3 (although I never played the original, just the "extended").

Oh, and get all the bonus content and DLC if you haven't already.

The original ending after Shepard makes his/her choice
[spoiler]Spoiler for people like greekdog;
is basically all the mass relays blow up, just in different colors. The End. No explanation of what happened, no input from the characters, etc. Just 3 different colors of lights.[/spoiler]

muy_thaiguy wrote:

denominator wrote:I would definitely recommend doing Mass Effect again. I'm on my second playthrough and it's a completely different game, if you choose it to be. I highly suggest going with an opposite gendered Shepard to your first playthrough, going with a different class (if you were a soldier on your first playthrough, go with a biotic or an engineer this time through), and being a complete dick.

I am already planning a third playthrough where I try to screw with the game by doing things in the "wrong" order - in ME1 leaving Liara's recruitment mission to the very end, in ME2 getting Legion as quickly as possible then taking him on Tali's missions, etc.

Also, I am one of the few people not disappointed by the ending of ME3 (although I never played the original, just the "extended").

Oh, and get all the bonus content and DLC if you haven't already.

The original ending after Shepard makes his/her choice
[spoiler]Spoiler for people like greekdog;
is basically all the mass relays blow up, just in different colors. The End. No explanation of what happened, no input from the characters, etc. Just 3 different colors of lights.[/spoiler]

Yeah, I can see why that wouldn't go over well. I guess I just got lucky in not discovering the series until after they had fixed the ending.

thegreekdog wrote:If someone has a much stronger game that I should be playing, please let me know, but I'm really choosing between these three "worlds" (for lack of a better term).

Ever played Wizardry 8? If not, it seems like the sort of open-ended world game you'd enjoy.

(Never mind...just noted you specifically mentioned "Xbox games", and so my suggestion doesn't apply, I don't believe.)

Woodruff wrote:

thegreekdog wrote:If someone has a much stronger game that I should be playing, please let me know, but I'm really choosing between these three "worlds" (for lack of a better term).

Ever played Wizardry 8? If not, it seems like the sort of open-ended world game you'd enjoy.

(Never mind...just noted you specifically mentioned "Xbox games", and so my suggestion doesn't apply, I don't believe.)

That is not to say I won't play PC games and I do like my PC RPGs (i.e. Baldur's Gate, BGII, Neverwinter Nights). I'll give it a shot.

How are things?

FYI - Gog has issued wave II of Lucasarts games (including Battleground, X-Wing v. TIE Fighter, and KOTOR II).

macbone wrote:

tkr4lf wrote:But yes, that is a major problem with Elder Scrolls and any other titles that have a similar leveling system. At least the games have a healthy modding community to remedy those problems though. For Morrowind, I would recommend the Galsiah's Character Development mod. It changes the entire leveling system and tends to keep characters feeling very different, for the entire game. Your mage character will have the stats and abilities of a mage for the entire game, just as your warrior character will have the stats abilities of a warrior for the entire game, etc. etc.. Now, you can still branch out and learn to use a battle axe as a mage should you have that desire, but it will be much harder and take much more time than if you were playing vanilla Morrowind.

I was looking at that mod for my recent playthrough, but the problem is that I like to create characters that blend classes together, a bit of the fighter, a bit of the mage, a bit of the rogue, and Galsiah's mod doesn't seem to allow for that kind of build. That kind of freedom is what I like about a system like GURPS, although with GURPS, it's significantly harder to build a character who's good at, say, both magic and fighting prowess. With Morrowind, it's perhaps too easy.

Yes, that is the downside of that mod, it makes it harder to do hybrid characters. You can still make them, it will just be much harder in the early game. I do agree though, hybrids can be a lot of fun.

thegreekdog wrote:I need some advice on the next Xbox game I should play. I'm limited to the following:

Fallout 3 (and then Fallout New Vegas)
Skyrim
Mass Effect (the entire series)

I've played just the "escape from the tunnel" missions in Fallout 3. I've played a lot of Skyrim, but havent finished. I've completed Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, but haven't played Mass Effect 3 yet.

If someone has a much stronger game that I should be playing, please let me know, but I'm really choosing between these three "worlds" (for lack of a better term).

I know you've already chosen, but my vote would be for Fallout 3/NV. Both great games, but NV is a bit better IMO. Less focus on exploration, a bit truer to the general tone of the original FO games, which isn't surprising considering Black Isle Studios did the original two and NV.

thegreekdog wrote:I played (and loved) Red Dead. It was the greatest RPG I've ever played and possibly one of the best games I've ever played.

Wait, what? Red Dead is an RPG? I agree with you, Red Dead was an awesome game. But calling it an RPG? It wasn't even one of those hybrids that have some RPG elements. It had no RPG elements that I remember. Did it?

Woodruff wrote:

thegreekdog wrote:If someone has a much stronger game that I should be playing, please let me know, but I'm really choosing between these three "worlds" (for lack of a better term).

Ever played Wizardry 8? If not, it seems like the sort of open-ended world game you'd enjoy.

(Never mind...just noted you specifically mentioned "Xbox games", and so my suggestion doesn't apply, I don't believe.)

Holy shit, a Woodruff sighting!

thegreekdog wrote:FYI - Gog has issued wave II of Lucasarts games (including Battleground, X-Wing v. TIE Fighter, and KOTOR II).

I wonder if they got KOTOR II to work on modern PC's. I tried to get it working on my laptop with Windows 7, and ran into a problem with the graphics card. Basically it would require downgrading some graphics something back to the XP version, so that you could turn off a specific function, assuming one has Intel integrated graphics on a laptop, anyway. It would be awesome if they fixed it, I always loved that game, even in it's unfinished form they released. Considering that all of their games are made to work on modern PC's, I imagine they did, in which case, I may have to go get that one. Although I do have a desktop gaming computer now though, so perhaps their wouldn't be a problem anyway. Anybody know more about this?

I guess Red Dead isn't an RPG.

I haven't downloaded KOTOR II (I have it for Xbox) and I'm not sure whether I will. I need to figure out whether it's worthwhile for me to purchase a joystick to play X-Wing. I just don't think I have the time to play or the wherewithal to answer questions from my wife like "Why do you have a joystick attached to your laptop?"