What Are You Playing?

[cailano]

On 2/24/2024 at 2:20 AM, TheFred said:

Yeah, I am often sceptical about "old school" games... often that's just nostalgia talking. I've seen people trying to push a version of Commander (a Magic variant) with only old cards, and so far as I can tell it's just worse (back then, a lot of good options and interesting options didn't exist, and in the very early days they hadn't even figured out the concept of game balance at all). It's the same with D&D, people used to say "oh I hate all these splatbooks that are feeding the munchkins!" but early/Core 3.5 was terribly balanced, and a lot of the things people decree from 3e (like multiclassing) are vast improvements on 2e.

It just depends on what you want. I was never a fan of 3E multi-classing as it too often led to “builds” and video-gamey optimization. I like the 2E version better but the game that really nailed it was Castles and Crusades. In that you choose a base class and then either all the features of a second class or a “half-class” with a reduced set of features. It sounds complicated but it’s not. What you’re effectively doing is creating your own class and they kept the whole system simple. Everyone only gets one class, it’s just that they have a kit for making one unique to your character.

[TheFred]

The difficulty with multiclassing is tuning it appropriately... too often 3e multiclassing is too weak, and sometimes it's too strong. 2e's though just makes basically no sense. I like the idea of being able to change my career once in a while rather than being born into a caste that I can never leave.

[cailano]

4 hours ago, TheFred said:

The difficulty with multiclassing is tuning it appropriately... too often 3e multiclassing is too weak, and sometimes it's too strong. 2e's though just makes basically no sense. I like the idea of being able to change my career once in a while rather than being born into a caste that I can never leave.

Fair enough. It's all subjective anyway.

[Excior]

17 minutes ago, cailano said:

Fair enough. It's all subjective anyway.

I think it's worth saying in AD&D and 2nd Ed

Only demi humans could multi class

Humans could only dual class

[TheFred]

Right, and dual-classing was the most nonsensical bit. Regular multiclassing actually worked on the whole kinda well, though I still prefer being able to, like, learn and adapt as you go on.

[cailano]

I apologize for my part in derailing this thread.
 

To bring it back around, a game I broke out the other day to play with my seven-year-old daughter was One Deck Dungeon. I love that little game. It costs less than $20 and comes in a box small enough to fit in the glove compartment of your car, or to toss in with your clothes in a suitcase if you’re traveling, It’s a simple game but very fun and very replayable. It even has a campaign mode for character progression.

Something my daughter liked is that all the characters in the game are women. I’d never thought about it much but she commented on it right away.

But yeah, One Deck Dungeon. Entertaining casual game and good for training future RPG players.

[Raistlinmc]

Not a TTRPG, but very much a strategy game and RPG in its own right, Unicorn Overlord could very much be my 2024 game of the year. I started playing it on Sunday and I am hopelessly hooked. It's like someone took everything I loved about the old Ogre Battle games from the SNES and N64, reworked it in a modern way, added voice acting, and tossed out most of the tedious stuff that I probably forgot about while reminiscing through rose-colored glasses.

Seriously, if you like video game SRPGs at all, you've gotta play this sucker. It's that good.

[GreyJaeger]

Been playing Millenia, and recently reviewed it on Steam.

 

There is a good game somewhere in Millenia. It has quite a few good concepts. The multiple currencies (Warfare, Wealth, Engineering, etc) is compelling. However, the Barbarian spam is horrendous. You need multiple armies to keep the barbarians in check, all of which costs Wealth. Oh, you do not have resources that helps you generate Wealth, Oh Well! Too Bad! The Barbarians do not go after the AI's towns, yet I have lost games because a wave of Barbs knock out my city, even when guarded. "Well, you should have built defenses!" True, but the AI should have to build defenses as well. But they do not have to. Have not seen an AI civ get knocked out by Barbs. They will attack an AI's troops, but only if they can not reach your troops. Barbs are basically another civ that is primarily focused on the player.

Some other issues..
Many of the resources are weak.
Gross imbalances between National Spirits. Some are simply way stronger.
Difficulty in gaining some currencies, primarily Engineering and Diplomacy, see National Spirits.
The game tries to force you to be militaristic, since AI civs will forward settle you hard, especially since they do not have to deal with the Barbs like the player does.

As I said, the game has great potential. I simply do not recommend the game in its current state. As the game gets refined, I will be more than happy to change my review.

[Melkar]

I've got to admit, I'm struggling with a lot of modern games (BG3 excepted) in that they just don't scratch the sort of itch I'm looking for anymore. I've gone back to old classics like the original Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights and, even before those times, Ultima Underworld. I miss those old first person party-based dungeon crawlers in the Might and Magic style that used to be quite common back in the early PC DOS days, but there's very few of them being released now and little chance of the genre ever making a comeback.

[TheFred]

I've got my copy of BG/Tales of the Sword Coast sat here in my spare room, and I'm thinking at some point I'll plug in the external CD drive and install it. I might try Trilogy, but I also want to give GemRB another whirl as it looks like it's come on a long way since last time I checked it out.

[rorytheromulan]

Getting ready for the sequel.

Edited Tuesday at 04:46 AM by rorytheromulan (see edit history)

[AFreebornManoftheUSA]

On 4/20/2024 at 4:25 AM, Melkar said:

I've got to admit, I'm struggling with a lot of modern games (BG3 excepted) in that they just don't scratch the sort of itch I'm looking for anymore. I've gone back to old classics like the original Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights and, even before those times, Ultima Underworld. I miss those old first person party-based dungeon crawlers in the Might and Magic style that used to be quite common back in the early PC DOS days, but there's very few of them being released now and little chance of the genre ever making a comeback.

You might to check out Skald: Against the Black Priory, an upcoming Steam game that draws a lot of inspiration from Ultima and the Gold Box games. I played the demo and it was pretty good. It gets released at the end of May.

[Suzuki Stumpy]

12 hours ago, AFreebornManoftheUSA said:

You might to check out Skald: Against the Black Priory, an upcoming Steam game that draws a lot of inspiration from Ultima and the Gold Box games. I played the demo and it was pretty good. It gets released at the end of May.

Ooh. Just taken a look at that and instawishlisted it. Great recommendation.

[Vladim]

On 4/20/2024 at 5:25 PM, Melkar said:

I've got to admit, I'm struggling with a lot of modern games (BG3 excepted) in that they just don't scratch the sort of itch I'm looking for anymore. I've gone back to old classics like the original Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights and, even before those times, Ultima Underworld. I miss those old first person party-based dungeon crawlers in the Might and Magic style that used to be quite common back in the early PC DOS days, but there's very few of them being released now and little chance of the genre ever making a comeback.

I've heard good things about Roadwarden.

[Suzuki Stumpy]

15 minutes ago, Vladim said:

I've heard good things about Roadwarden.

Yep. It's definitely worth checking out