I picked up Fallen Enchantress when it was on sale. The main problem I have with the game is it’s not Eador, which is unfair to FE itself but such is life. It’s not bad, and has some interesting systems, but the whole thing does not come together as well as Eador does, and while it has depth, much of it feels like depth for the sake of saying its deep.
It’s also strangely missing a campaign of any kind. Right now all I can play is randomly generated maps against the AI. The game also has zero multiplayer, which again does not compare favorably to Eador (Genesis has hotseat, and Broken World should have full-scale internet play).
I can’t say I’d recommend it unless you are dying for a turn-based strategy title, but then again for $5 it’s not going to set you back all that much either. Plus I generally like Stardock (the devs), so supporting them is a nice plus.
Moving on, the SimCity fiasco is hilarious on many levels. The most obvious is how horribly EA is mismanaging the entire thing, from shipping a crappy game to making things difficult on the fools who bought it; if it could have been handled poorly, EA made sure to do exactly that.
On the other hand, if you bought SimCity, you are to blame as well for supporting this kind of crap. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s Diablo 3 all over again; people talking about how they are fed up, all while bending over and taking it from EA or Blizzard. The wallet vote is far more important than spamming the Amazon review section or writing an angry post about the game after you paid up, but so many continue to fail to realize it.
A hilarity of a certain someone complaining that SimCity is now too ‘accessible’ made my day. “But it sold a million copies!”
Reading the various opinion pieces about Kickstarter of late has been interesting. I still think overall Kickstarter is good for core gamers, because certainly EA and Blizzard aren’t going to cater to us. On the other hand, it’s not 100% foolproof and we will see stuff like Garrott asking for a million because hey, why not. We’ll see titles not make it, titles deliver something completely different than expected, and everything in-between. But at the end of the day, if Kickstarter is responsible for even one enjoyable game that would not have been made without it, it’s a success IMO.
Finally, while it’s still under NDA, Darkfall: Unholy War is shaping up nicely. We’ve had some fun times in the latest beta round, and a system Aventurine recently introduced might replace EVE for the best character progression system in an MMO. The amount of core problems with DF that it fixes is nothing short of genius, and the kind of gameplay it encourages and rewards is something the entire genre has been seeking but getting wrong since the early days.
Hardcore Casual 
Can’t wait for some release details for Darkfall. I’ll be ready to give it a go!
I guess I should read about that new system so I can understand it while I may or may not be playing?
And in 2015, Unholy Wars will finally officially release. In 2016, Tasos will actually tell somebody.
Nothing EA does surprises me anymore. SimCity is yet another nail in the coffin of disasters this company has released.
Kudos to the boneheads who keep buying their crap and encouraging EA to continue to milk the market with mediocre games.
I don’t know about SimCity. I’ve been following a thread of people playing on MMO Champion (http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1272985-Megathread-SimCity-5/page41), and it sounds genuinely fun and interesting, the way the cities interact with and rely on each other.
I find it very perturbing the amount of Simcity bashing going on out there by people who haven’t even played the game. You call those of us who bought it “boneheads” and “fools” and yet you speak out your ass because you haven’t really experienced it. You’re just spreading a bunch of disenchantment that started with another game altogether. Tell you what, don’t buy it, but by all means STFU if you haven’t actually played it. I bought it on Friday. It was a pain to install on my desktop. Sometime between start and finish and before I got around to installing it on my laptop, they patched it. The laptop installation went without a hitch. I have gotten into the servers every single time I’ve tried. I have gotten no delays or servers unavailable messages. My cities are equally accessible on the desktop or the laptop. IMO, the game is superior to Simcity IV by a long shot. It isn’t exactly like running a real city but it is fun – which cannot be said for real urban management. And as for the always connected to the Internet thing, so what? You have to be connected full time to play Eve Online. What’s the difference? Why put up with something from one game but not another? Because you go into Eve Online expecting it or because it offends your sensibilities to do it for a game like Simcity? Regardless, stop bashing something you really don’t know anything about just because you disagree with the way it was done. And no, I don’t like the always on Internet requirement for Simcity, but that’s the world we live in. Accept it or find another hobby. But by all means, stop talking about things with which you have no credibility.
If this was an isolated incident then fair comment. But EA has a proven track record of screwing the customer time and again. They will not learn until people start voting with their wallets.
are you angry, brother?
So you’d say the smaller city size, the inability to save and try things out, and the now-disabled features around the always-online aspect were all solid additions?
Or are you trying to say that without playing the game, one can’t have an opinion about those design decisions? That a single-player game being unplayable due to the servers being overloaded is not something one can mention without paying EA $60?
I feel the same way Mabrick. I murder people in real life, and so many people speak out against my hobby without ever trying it. They tell me that taking another’s life for my enjoyment is unacceptable, but I always tell them “Accept it or find another hobby” Imagine my joy when I saw that you defend your hobby with that exact quote. I feel like you’re a brother to me now. I even enjoy playing Simcity online too. Maybe you share my other avocation as well.
(p.s. This post is a piece of satire–in real life, I don’t actually play simcity: online.)
Has the new skill system solved the afk skill up system though? I totally agree its better to have a pool of skill points to spend as you wish, but how exactly are they gained? Will be interesting to read what a “meaningful” action is in DF. Can you explain the system in more detail or is that NDA breaking?
I think it’s safe to say without breaking NDA is that “meaningful” includes only actions you would expect people to do. As opposed to things you would do for the sole purpose of leveling a skill (like attacking and healing your own mount).
I’ll also say that the new progression system completely eliminates the benefit people may have gained from afk-macro’ing and such.
Thanks – sounded good from the press release!
Its Fallen Enchantress I believe, and it does actually have a single player campaign
I knew I got the name wrong as I was writing it, thanks.
And how do you access the campaign?
I too am one of those boneheads who bought the game. While I agree with you on the screwed up start and the unnecessary (and frankly greatly lacking) online/multiplayer part, I happen to enjoy the actual city building a lot. The game is true to the spirit of the franchise, nicely done and offers many customisations with expandable services (like police station etc). I would like some more details (like exact power/water consumption on buildings) but overall in its core it is a very nice game.
If like the franchise and can look past the shortcomings regarding all the online stuff, I guarantee you will enjoy it.
On Darkfall – I don’t know if I share your enthusiasm for calling it “nothing short of genius” because I can think of at least one AAA MMO in particular (WAR, cough) that offered something similar. I think what is unique is perhaps the degree to which the took said system (i.e. virtually all character progression).
Wait what, how was WARs normal XP gaining anything like the prowess system?
I was thinking more along the lines of Renown Points than XP (and more specifically, what these are used to purchase). And don’t forget the Book of Knowledge (feats, cough, cough).
Not exactly the same, but also not exactly “genius” revolutionary ideas either. There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
All that said, overall I like the new system and I do think it’s unique in how it encompasses virtually all character progression.