Vidya Games Thread

[Abomination]

We are at the point where another "Cities Skylines" situation can happen in the gaming industry:

A rogue studio with/without publisher backing could make a successor to Civ IV with modern tech - Old World seems to fill the void more than fine for enthusiasts, and Mandalore/Hooded Horse is publishing Endless Legend 2, Age of Wonders 4 is the only good Paradox game in recent memory (while their closer Civ clone Millenium fell to the wayside), so we may see a cultural shift to one of the above paving the way toward the future.

Heaven forbid Firaxis meet the competition head-on, and excel where they have otherwise failed time and time again. Even XCOM is dead in the water, no news on XCOM 3, but Xenonauts seems to be eating its lunch just fine. If they don't get their act together, it's entirely possible Firaxis could be shuttered within the next decade.

As much as I love Civ 5 still, I haven't gone back to it since I started playing Old World. It's certainly not perfect, and other 4X games do certain aspects better, but it is a ton of fun. Definitely my favorite 4X game right now. Looking way more forward to the new DLC next month than I would have been for Civ 7 if it didn't already sound off to me.

I also recently started playing a bit of AoW4 again. Haven't played since like the first DLC, so trying to get all the new shit down, but it's also a fun one. I also still like loading up an Endless Space 2 game every once in a while. Also been wanting to go back and play Endless Legend more. Actually reinstalled it like a week before the EL2 announcement. Last time I tried playing it was back in 2016, and I didn't get too far into it.

As far as Civ 7 goes, like many others have expressed, I'm pretty cautious on it due to some of the questionable design decisions, but I also wasn't a fan of Civ 6 when I tried playing it, so I was always going to be cautious of the next installment because of that. I have no plans of buying it anytime soon, if I end up at all. I don't think there's anything that'll dethrone Civ as the top of 4X games any time soon, but there's definitely plenty of other choices out there that may start steering people away if public opinion of the series starts to go down more.

 

[Smelliest007]

I wonder how much Civ7 was affected by the woman placed in charge of Firaxis last year.


2K today announced that industry veteran and Firaxis Games Chief Operating Officer, Heather Hazen, has been promoted to Studio Head, ushering in a new era of development at the legendary interactive entertainment studio behind Sid Meier's Civilization, XCOM, and the recently-released and critically-acclaimed Marvel's Midnight Suns.

As Studio Head, Hazen will manage Firaxis Games' development teams and lead its mission to build the best strategy games on the planet. With 22 years of experience in gaming and entertainment, Hazen joined Firaxis Games in 2020 as the studio's Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Firaxis Games, she was an Executive Producer on Fortnite at Epic Games, as well as Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled while at PopCap Games. Hazen's promotion comes as longtime Firaxis Studio Head, Steve Martin, will be leaving the studio after more than 25 years with the organization.

A New Era Begins at Firaxis Games

2K today announced that industry veteran and Firaxis Games Chief Operating Officer, Heather Hazen, has been promoted to Studio Head, ushering in a new era of development at the legendary interactive entertainment studio behind Sid Meier's Civilization, XCOM, and the recently-released and...

www.techpowerup.com

Take-Two Boss Says 'Legacy' Civilization Audience Will Eventually Come Around on Civilization 7 Amid 'Mixed' Steam User Reviews - IGN

Civilization 7 is out, and while the game has launched to a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, the boss of parent company Take-Two believes hardcore fans of the series will eventually come to love it.

www.ign.com

https://archive.is/bUnrh

https://archive.is/EFGSI

Topkek from the CEO.

In an interview with IGN ahead of the release of third quarter financial results, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick acknowledged that Civilization 7 had received some negative reviews from press and players, namechecking Eurogamer’s 2/5 review, but insisted that the “legacy Civ audience” will come around the more they play, and called Civilization 7’s early performance “very encouraging.”

“The Metacritic reviews are at 81, which is really solid,” Zelnick said. “We have more than 20 press reviews with a score over 90. We have some negative outliers as well, including a 40 from Eurogamer.

“We think that as people play the game longer, the sentiment improves because with every launch of a new Civ, the team pushes the envelope a little bit and our legacy Civ audience is a little bit nervous about what they initially see and then they realize, wow, this is actually really incredible, and they dive in

 

[CalciumAnimal]

I liked XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within. XCOM 2 was not what I wanted, the whole guerilla warfare aspect was not enjoyable. I also did not care for "Oh its a sequel to XCOM, except you lost at the tutorial and most of the first game was VR by aliens fucking your brain sideways."

there are a million arguments out there for better "losing points" and even more arguments about how the game being a alien controlled simulation does not make sense with the Mek's and Psionics. I think Xcom2 was fine but that was the stupidest reveal I've ever seen.

you won you did the big victory celebration and then everything started to backslide. funding was cut world powers slowly pulled out people started playing politics instead of focusing on the looming threat people returned to being petty divided crooks. finally resulting in the commander being ousted

and then the second wave hit harder then the first wave turns out what we just barely fought off was just a test of our forces without the commander to run things what was once X-com falls apart aliens easily takeover (as shown in 2)

Meanwhile in a secret hangar the engines of a new X-Com project start the commander grins to himself as he speaks over the internal comms. "Ladies and gentlemen welcome to The Resistance"

and while I'm writing fanfic take a timemachine and steal from Chimera squad and get playable aliens

 

[PleaseCheckYourReceipts]

We are at the point where another "Cities Skylines" situation can happen in the gaming industry:

A rogue studio with/without publisher backing could make a successor to Civ IV with modern tech - Old World seems to fill the void more than fine for enthusiasts, and Mandalore/Hooded Horse is publishing Endless Legend 2, Age of Wonders 4 is the only good Paradox game in recent memory (while their closer Civ clone Millenium fell to the wayside), so we may see a cultural shift to one of the above paving the way toward the future.

Heaven forbid Firaxis meet the competition head-on, and excel where they have otherwise failed time and time again. Even XCOM is dead in the water, no news on XCOM 3, but Xenonauts seems to be eating its lunch just fine. If they don't get their act together, it's entirely possible Firaxis could be shuttered within the next decade.

I get the feeling XCOM 3 got screwed up by COVID. Because by all accounts the game sold really well. But, geez, was it really a 2016 release? Okay, so XCOM3 then.

I liked XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within. XCOM 2 was not what I wanted, the whole guerilla warfare aspect was not enjoyable. I also did not care for "Oh its a sequel to XCOM, except you lost at the tutorial and most of the first game was VR by aliens fucking your brain sideways."

The 2012 a counter-insurgency game; 2016 was an insurgency game. It makes sense from what they were up to, and I did enjoy the game. I think it probably need 2-3 more tile sets, though. But it really doesn't look like we're getting another any time soon.

I wonder how much Civ7 was affected by the woman placed in charge of Firaxis last year.


2K today announced that industry veteran and Firaxis Games Chief Operating Officer, Heather Hazen, has been promoted to Studio Head, ushering in a new era of development at the legendary interactive entertainment studio behind Sid Meier's Civilization, XCOM, and the recently-released and critically-acclaimed Marvel's Midnight Suns.

As Studio Head, Hazen will manage Firaxis Games' development teams and lead its mission to build the best strategy games on the planet. With 22 years of experience in gaming and entertainment, Hazen joined Firaxis Games in 2020 as the studio's Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Firaxis Games, she was an Executive Producer on Fortnite at Epic Games, as well as Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled while at PopCap Games. Hazen's promotion comes as longtime Firaxis Studio Head, Steve Martin, will be leaving the studio after more than 25 years with the organization.

A New Era Begins at Firaxis Games

2K today announced that industry veteran and Firaxis Games Chief Operating Officer, Heather Hazen, has been promoted to Studio Head, ushering in a new era of development at the legendary interactive entertainment studio behind Sid Meier's Civilization, XCOM, and the recently-released and...

www.techpowerup.com

Take-Two Boss Says 'Legacy' Civilization Audience Will Eventually Come Around on Civilization 7 Amid 'Mixed' Steam User Reviews - IGN

Civilization 7 is out, and while the game has launched to a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, the boss of parent company Take-Two believes hardcore fans of the series will eventually come to love it.

www.ign.com

https://archive.is/bUnrh

https://archive.is/EFGSI

Topkek from the CEO.

In an interview with IGN ahead of the release of third quarter financial results, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick acknowledged that Civilization 7 had received some negative reviews from press and players, namechecking Eurogamer’s 2/5 review, but insisted that the “legacy Civ audience” will come around the more they play, and called Civilization 7’s early performance “very encouraging.”

“The Metacritic reviews are at 81, which is really solid,” Zelnick said. “We have more than 20 press reviews with a score over 90. We have some negative outliers as well, including a 40 from Eurogamer.

“We think that as people play the game longer, the sentiment improves because with every launch of a new Civ, the team pushes the envelope a little bit and our legacy Civ audience is a little bit nervous about what they initially see and then they realize, wow, this is actually really incredible, and they dive in

Can go either way. A Woman as a producer can do great work, especially if she's been used to being the "house mom" at a studio for a while.

As for Take2's CEO, he's probably not wrong. I'm going to wait to see for a bit. My impression is they've got a lot of data on where people stop playing each game they start, and I think they've tried to design a way in which you can get to end game without a player snowballing either way. I wonder if Competitive Play has something of an effect on that. It's been in development long enough that being an Esport could easily have been a core part of the original design.

there are a million arguments out there for better "losing points" and even more arguments about how the game being a alien controlled simulation does not make sense with the Mek's and Psionics. I think Xcom2 was fine but that was the stupidest reveal I've ever seen.

you won you did the big victory celebration and then everything started to backslide. funding was cut world powers slowly pulled out people started playing politics instead of focusing on the looming threat people returned to being petty divided crooks. finally resulting in the commander being ousted

and then the second wave hit harder then the first wave turns out what we just barely fought off was just a test of our forces without the commander to run things what was once X-com falls apart aliens easily takeover (as shown in 2)

Meanwhile in a secret hangar the engines of a new X-Com project start the commander grins to himself as he speaks over the internal comms. "Ladies and gentlemen welcome to The Resistance"

and while I'm writing fanfic take a timemachine and steal from Chimera squad and get playable aliens

I bought Chimera squad a while ago. It seems okay. But I realize I've never actually played it.

 

[CalciumAnimal]

I get the feeling XCOM 3 got screwed up by COVID. Because by all accounts the game sold really well. But, geez, was it really a 2016 release? Okay, so XCOM3 then.



The 2012 a counter-insurgency game; 2016 was an insurgency game. It makes sense from what they were up to, and I did enjoy the game. I think it probably need 2-3 more tile sets, though. But it really doesn't look like we're getting another any time soon.




Can go either way. A Woman as a producer can do great work, especially if she's been used to being the "house mom" at a studio for a while.

As for Take2's CEO, he's probably not wrong. I'm going to wait to see for a bit. My impression is they've got a lot of data on where people stop playing each game they start, and I think they've tried to design a way in which you can get to end game without a player snowballing either way. I wonder if Competitive Play has something of an effect on that. It's been in development long enough that being an Esport could easily have been a core part of the original design.





I bought Chimera squad a while ago. It seems okay. But I realize I've never actually played it.

if i had to sell you on it the character writing is where the games strength is. Surprising since most X-Com games don't really have characters.

 

[Punished Anime Discusser]

if i had to sell you on it the character writing is where the games strength is. Surprising since most X-Com games don't really have characters.

I thought the breach & clearing mechanics were pretty fun but other than that very "Why'd you make this?"-tier game.

 

[CalciumAnimal]

I thought the breach & clearing mechanics were pretty fun but other than that very "Why'd you make this?"-tier game.

Good point I chalked it up to "normal turn based squad gameplay" but it definitely is a bit more unique then that. probably why games like tactical breech wizards exist now

 

[Smelliest007]

Lol, lmao. even.

 

[CalciumAnimal]

psure modern age is AFTER the atomic age. so either the name is stupid and misleading or this is nothing.

also this is not the first civ game to add tech with later DLC especially made up tech or theoretical stuff. (usually related to the space age race)

 

[God's Strongest Dragoon]

[archive]

 

[Smelliest007]

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII VR announced for Quest 3

Publisher 2K and developer Firaxis Games have announced virtual reality strategy game Sid Meier’s Civilization VII VR for Quest 3. It will launch this spring.

www.gematsu.com

Why?

 

[God's Strongest Dragoon]

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII VR announced for Quest 3

Publisher 2K and developer Firaxis Games have announced virtual reality strategy game Sid Meier’s Civilization VII VR for Quest 3. It will launch this spring.

www.gematsu.com

Why?

Because it costs a minimal amount of resources to make a UI, utilize the VR controls, and create the room the player is in and the table the map is presented on. Then they can sell it separately for full price and if only 20,000 of the VRfags buy it to further justify their VR headset ownership, that's an easy +$1.4 million. VR games are in a shitty spot where no one wants to make a full fledged game just in VR because there's not enough people that will buy it to justify the budget, hence why a lot of VR games are so short or repetitive. However a studio can throw a few hundred thousand at converting an existing game into VR form, then they can make some money off the small side project. Just bring in like 3-5 contracted devs that specialize in VR to add that shit in near the end of your game development when you know your game is going to sell a gajillion copies anyways and boom, easy return for the publisher.

 

[Helkar]

I liked XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within. XCOM 2 was not what I wanted, the whole guerilla warfare aspect was not enjoyable. I also did not care for "Oh its a sequel to XCOM, except you lost at the tutorial and most of the first game was VR by aliens fucking your brain sideways."

I actually loved XCOM2, especially with a fuckton of mods installed, sure the justification for the premise was kinda retarded, but eh, i could live with that. It's a real shame XCOM3 never happened.

@Abomination so you're saying you would recommend Old World to someone whose favorite game of Civ series is civ5?

 

[Abomination]

I actually loved XCOM2, especially with a fuckton of mods installed, sure the justification for the premise was kinda retarded, but eh, i could live with that. It's a real shame XCOM3 never happened.

@Abomination so you're saying you would recommend Old World to someone whose favorite game of Civ series is civ5?

Yeah, I'd say I recommend it if you're wanting to try something a little different, but familiar enough to easily learn it. Like anything, your mile may vary, so you may not enjoy it as much as I do, but I have a lot of fun with it. There are still things Civ 5 does much better, but there are also differences that I like in Old World and make it a little more interesting in some aspects. Obviously, the biggest example of this is the addition of Crusader Kings style of a system of rulers, heirs, events, and things of that nature to make it more interesting and give your empire a more unique feel than just a portrait. These kinds of events help make more sense of certain aspects like diplomacy rather than just feeling a little more random at times.

To give an example where Civ 5 is still better, Civ 5 has more unique victory conditions. Old World has 5 victory conditions with 3 of them tied to points (most points after 200 turns, reaching a certain amount of points first, or having twice as many points as the other nations while having at least half of the required points). Another is the classic conquest victory. And the last is a pretty interesting one where you have to complete 10 ambitions, which are basically like quests that you can randomly choose as the game progresses. They are tied to your current leader, and if that leader dies before completing them, the heir has 20 turns to complete them before the ambition fails and you take a small penalty. That victory condition is pretty fun, but as a whole, Civ 5 definitely has a better selection of conditions to chase after.

So yeah, if you like Civ 5, you'll definitely find a lot of familiarity in Old World while also being greeted with some interesting additions. There are some changes you may or may not like from Civ 5. All in all, I think it's a great game, and I have a lot of fun with it when I decide to start up a new game. It's not perfect, but it's definitely a good game that's been getting better with new updates and DLCs.

Also, the game is made by Soren Johnson, who was the lead designer of Civ 4, and his company, so that definitely helped in making it feel pretty familiar.

 

[God's Strongest Dragoon]

The obsession retards have with triple support in Marvel Rivals is so fucking insufferable. Retards keep picking comps that have zero fucking kill potential yet are dumbfounded that the enemy team's solo tank is just casually walking through our team with no fear of death. I blame Eternity rank streamers crying nonstop about triple support being broken but not explaining why it works, so retards copy it and don't understand why it's strong.

 

[ValkyrieAce]

If they’re not at least using Mantis they’re retarded since she’s basically DPS and can pick up some slack.

 

[Smelliest007]

Yeah, I'd say I recommend it if you're wanting to try something a little different, but familiar enough to easily learn it. Like anything, your mile may vary, so you may not enjoy it as much as I do, but I have a lot of fun with it. There are still things Civ 5 does much better, but there are also differences that I like in Old World and make it a little more interesting in some aspects. Obviously, the biggest example of this is the addition of Crusader Kings style of a system of rulers, heirs, events, and things of that nature to make it more interesting and give your empire a more unique feel than just a portrait. These kinds of events help make more sense of certain aspects like diplomacy rather than just feeling a little more random at times.

To give an example where Civ 5 is still better, Civ 5 has more unique victory conditions. Old World has 5 victory conditions with 3 of them tied to points (most points after 200 turns, reaching a certain amount of points first, or having twice as many points as the other nations while having at least half of the required points). Another is the classic conquest victory. And the last is a pretty interesting one where you have to complete 10 ambitions, which are basically like quests that you can randomly choose as the game progresses. They are tied to your current leader, and if that leader dies before completing them, the heir has 20 turns to complete them before the ambition fails and you take a small penalty. That victory condition is pretty fun, but as a whole, Civ 5 definitely has a better selection of conditions to chase after.

So yeah, if you like Civ 5, you'll definitely find a lot of familiarity in Old World while also being greeted with some interesting additions. There are some changes you may or may not like from Civ 5. All in all, I think it's a great game, and I have a lot of fun with it when I decide to start up a new game. It's not perfect, but it's definitely a good game that's been getting better with new updates and DLCs.

Also, the game is made by Soren Johnson, who was the lead designer of Civ 4, and his company, so that definitely helped in making it feel pretty familiar.

I feel like Old World would have been less shot in the foot in terms of initial engagement if they didn't go timed Epic exclusive. Flew under the radar for alot of Civ players.

 

[Punished Anime Discusser]

The obsession retards have with triple support in Marvel Rivals is so fucking insufferable. Retards keep picking comps that have zero fucking kill potential yet are dumbfounded that the enemy team's solo tank is just casually walking through our team with no fear of death. I blame Eternity rank streamers crying nonstop about triple support being broken but not explaining why it works, so retards copy it and don't understand why it's strong.

At least Mahvel isn't in the 3 tank 3 healer total fun death meta yet.

 

[CalciumAnimal]

i was shouting it from the rooftops. stop treating this shit like overwatch it's not.

most of the "high tier players" are overwatch retards trying to make it overwatch.

i blame blizzard.

 

[thhrang]