The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Syt]

I played a few turns of the AOW4 tutorial last night. It seems smoother than AOW3 at least. I like the flexibility of creating whatever factions you like and not being tied down by "halflings have to be good", "dwarves have to be clumsy" stereotypes. If you want swift, nimble dwarves who worship nature, or cannibal demon summoning halflings, you can do that. (I went with nimble high elves with nature/order affinity, because I couldn't be bothered to be creative yesterday ) My only wish is for MOAR OPTIONS but I always do that, regardless of game. I'm the kind of guy who likes adding more planet types, more civics, more traits, more events, more anomalies, more planet modifiers, more traditions for Stellaris.

The tutorial messages seem a bit wonky (I think I went into some menus when the game wasn't expecting me to do so yet).

Some people have been experiencing many crashes; I've not had any issues (running on a 3080 and i9-10900 at max details in 4k).

Game plays well so far, but it's not qiute grabbing me yet - to be fair that's likely not the game's fault. I have my eyes fixed on May 11th and the new CK3 DLC, and later this month the Victoria 3 DLC, and kinda look for something to fill the gap till then - which is also why I dove into FM23. (And I only just realized that Stellaris' new DLC comes out on the 9th Seems May is Paradox month now  )

[Tamas]

I have played AoW4 a few hours. It seems like a very well made Heroes of Migh and Magic type of game, almost certainly the best ever of those types of games (except Master of Magic but that one feels like a different category).

But, because of the hype train I expected a more profoundly different experience I guess. It's a very smooth implementation of the old formula yes but it is still the old formula.

Still, I am looking forward spending more time with it.

[Solmyr]

I assume the options will explode once the modding tools are out.

I had one crash so far, in the first turn when I started the game for the first time. Updated my graphics driver and installed the latest Windows updates, and had no crash since. The devs recommend trying the hotfix beta branch on Steam if you are still crashing, but I haven't needed to, so far.

If anyone is up for a MP game sometime, I'm in.

[Tamas]

Options-wise there seem to be plenty, I kinda wish I could randomise world generation options though.

[garbon]

I have played AoW4 a few hours. It seems like a very well made Heroes of Migh and Magic type of game, almost certainly the best ever of those types of games (except Master of Magic but that one feels like a different category).

But, because of the hype train I expected a more profoundly different experience I guess. It's a very smooth implementation of the old formula yes but it is still the old formula.

Still, I am looking forward spending more time with it.

I did see one review (not sure where) that said good game but sacrificed a bit of 4X experience as was too focused on rpg element.

[Tamas]

I have played AoW4 a few hours. It seems like a very well made Heroes of Migh and Magic type of game, almost certainly the best ever of those types of games (except Master of Magic but that one feels like a different category).

But, because of the hype train I expected a more profoundly different experience I guess. It's a very smooth implementation of the old formula yes but it is still the old formula.

Still, I am looking forward spending more time with it.

I did see one review (not sure where) that said good game but sacrificed a bit of 4X experience as was too focused on rpg element.

Maybe but I think that applies to all the HoMM formula games. I do wonder if the surprise hit factor the game (which seems to be emerging) has something to do with many reviewers being too young to have an ingrained experience of these games. Even AoW3 is quite old and for what its worth never really clicked with me, the way this game actually seems to be clicking a bit. (and the way I absolutely loved HoMM2 as a kid).

[Syt]

I mean, my impression is that you can still min/max your stats etc. and while there's story and quest events (like in previous AoW games IIRC), it feels less narratively driven than e.g. Stellaris, and maybe more in line with, say, Old World (minus character interactions, plus hero customization and magic system ... maybe more in line with Master of Magic? Never played that one much, though). YMMV, though.

[Tamas]

I mean, my impression is that you can still min/max your stats etc. and while there's story and quest events (like in previous AoW games IIRC), it feels less narratively driven than e.g. Stellaris, and maybe more in line with, say, Old World (minus character interactions, plus hero customization and magic system ... maybe more in line with Master of Magic? Never played that one much, though). YMMV, though.

 

But yeah out of those, it is closes to MoM.

[Syt]

Never was on the shelf in my town when it was new, and when it came to GOG it seemed a bit too old even for me to get into.

[Syt]

First preview video for Rule the Waves III. Looks like RtW2, I guess. Or RtW1, for that matter.

[grumbler]

First preview video for Rule the Waves III. Looks like RtW2, I guess. Or RtW1, for that matter.

Yeah, I'm going to wait to see if there's anything interesting in the modern stuff before buying.  I'm thinking that the system won't work well for the guided missile/electronics era because of how it treats FOW in the earlier games.

[Syt]

Gave AoW4 another wack. My Elves campaign kinda got bogged down, so I decided to try and see if I start the tutorial map over if it would be a scripted map or randomly generated (I expected it might be a scripted pre-set) - turns out that it is generated.

In my second attempt (only wanted to start and quit), I got quite a few turns in as Astral/Mystic toadkin and was actually enjoying myself.

[Tamas]

Yeah I had a really good time with it last night. Eventually realised I wasn't expanding fast enough in the early game so after some climatic battles and whatnot in what I expect was the mid-game I surrendered which gave me enough points to level up my pantheon to level 2.

Maybe the game just caught me in a rare good time of being "attuned" with fantasy games (I was on quite a bit of Warhammer Total War kick, delved into the lore even) which doesn't happen often, but I am really enjoying it. Best fantasy strategy since MoM and HoMM2 easily.

[Solmyr]

There are some mods on the workshop already btw, including one from the devs that gives you a massive-size map for 12 players, a mod that adds more banner colors, a tome of penguin magic  , and even an overhaul.

[Tamas]

Thanks but I haven't completed a single vanilla game, I not yet have an idea of what I do and don't want to mod.