2014 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[MarcosLoura]

I think I messed up in Crusader Kings II by not marrying my kids off to other people inside of Ireland, because most of the Weak Claims I could press are way too far off to be remotely useful or possible. On the other hand it would have been tremendously helpful closer to home. Not sure a lot of the other local lords would go along with it anyway, though.

 

This is a strange game in that there can be immense chunks of time where absolutely NOTHING happens, and yet it's still totally engrossing.

Not amused by the lack of updates/thread.

[Death From Above]

 

I think I messed up in Crusader Kings II by not marrying my kids off to other people inside of Ireland, because most of the Weak Claims I could press are way too far off to be remotely useful or possible. On the other hand it would have been tremendously helpful closer to home. Not sure a lot of the other local lords would go along with it anyway, though.

 

This is a strange game in that there can be immense chunks of time where absolutely NOTHING happens, and yet it's still totally engrossing.

Not amused by the lack of updates/thread.

 

 

My Steam Review:

 

FIRST GAME, REVIEW OF EVENTS IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE 12TH CENTURY:

My father died to typhoid and then my grandfather, who was king, died so now I'm the Petty King of Tara in a fractured Ireland. That's how the law works, kids. I'm the boss.

My greedy great uncle, who held about half the land, decided to revolt. I successfully put him in prison and stripped him of his land and titles. He complained about the conditions so I threw him in solitary confinement and he died.

Every single person that was part of my father's, my uncle's, and my grandfather's court hates my guts, as do their kids, and they're plotting to kill me.

While all this ♥♥♥♥ is going on, The Pope called the start of the first Crusade. I went into Palestine and helped the king of England. We killed a bunch of Muslims that had the nerve to live near Jerusalem. I was acclaimed as a true Crusader and members of the Catholic church think I'm a great guy. It was a good vacation from my crazy relatives but sadly I couldn't stay with the stupid climate of rebellion back home. Would have liked to finish the job what with the killing, sieging, looting, and all that. Oh yeah, and the reclaiming holy sites, that's cool too.

Then I had to go home to remind my rebellious relatives who is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ king of Ireland and who are the greedy usurpers. Whether I actually live long enough to marry the 15 year-old princess I'm currently betrothed to and have never met is entirely doubtful.

If I die the whole damn thing gets inherrited by my 14 year-old half-brother. He doesn't like me either since on top of all that other stuff if I die he gets to be the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ king of Ireland.

OVERALL REVIEW: 10/10 It's better to burn out than to fade away. Would imprison my uncle again.

 

 

Despite being very hated at first (all that shit with my uncle got me a lot of Tyrant hatred), this king (my third ruler of the dynasty) has actually prospered. This guy inherited through Primogenatore at 18 when his father had died before the old king (his grandfather). He's about 40 now so about a 20 year reign and I've just succeeded in uniting all of Ireland underneath me before I finally went to bed last night. Once I got big enough the last few counties were willing to just accept vassalization which saved me a decade of war. I want more crown authority but I can only bump it once per lifetime, so the next king will be bumping it up to medium which I think looks good.

 

My king has 7 kids. Six daughters and one son. Good thing I have Agnatic-Cognatic succession. I kept a couple daughters close to home with Matrilineal Marriage, and married the others off to a couple of kings and really powerful people. We will see if that's more help or hindrance in the end. I also made my half-brother a duke, and married my half-sister to the King of Portugal. I have a lot of friends in high places right now, but that also means they can be calling in favors like "please help me against Muslim Spain".

 

Not sure what my next goal should be. In this playthrough Scotland has basically been in constant chaos and might make a good target. Have to admit I'm half tempted to try for Brittany in northwest France though. I think I'm really getting a hang of it now, but I'm sure there are other surprises like how you'd better look closely at whose claims you are pressing if you go to war. Feudalism is complicated.

[Zimbra]

 

 

I think I messed up in Crusader Kings II by not marrying my kids off to other people inside of Ireland, because most of the Weak Claims I could press are way too far off to be remotely useful or possible. On the other hand it would have been tremendously helpful closer to home. Not sure a lot of the other local lords would go along with it anyway, though.

 

This is a strange game in that there can be immense chunks of time where absolutely NOTHING happens, and yet it's still totally engrossing.

Not amused by the lack of updates/thread.

 

 

My Steam Review:

 

FIRST GAME, REVIEW OF EVENTS IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE 12TH CENTURY:

My father died to typhoid and then my grandfather, who was king, died so now I'm the Petty King of Tara in a fractured Ireland. That's how the law works, kids. I'm the boss.

My greedy great uncle, who held about half the land, decided to revolt. I successfully put him in prison and stripped him of his land and titles. He complained about the conditions so I threw him in solitary confinement and he died.

Every single person that was part of my father's, my uncle's, and my grandfather's court hates my guts, as do their kids, and they're plotting to kill me.

While all this ♥♥♥♥ is going on, The Pope called the start of the first Crusade. I went into Palestine and helped the king of England. We killed a bunch of Muslims that had the nerve to live near Jerusalem. I was acclaimed as a true Crusader and members of the Catholic church think I'm a great guy. It was a good vacation from my crazy relatives but sadly I couldn't stay with the stupid climate of rebellion back home. Would have liked to finish the job what with the killing, sieging, looting, and all that. Oh yeah, and the reclaiming holy sites, that's cool too.

Then I had to go home to remind my rebellious relatives who is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ king of Ireland and who are the greedy usurpers. Whether I actually live long enough to marry the 15 year-old princess I'm currently betrothed to and have never met is entirely doubtful.

If I die the whole damn thing gets inherrited by my 14 year-old half-brother. He doesn't like me either since on top of all that other stuff if I die he gets to be the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ king of Ireland.

OVERALL REVIEW: 10/10 It's better to burn out than to fade away. Would imprison my uncle again.

 

 

Despite being very hated at first (all that shit with my uncle got me a lot of Tyrant hatred), this king (my third ruler of the dynasty) has actually prospered. This guy inherited through Primogenatore at 18 when his father had died before the old king (his grandfather). He's about 40 now so about a 20 year reign and I've just succeeded in uniting all of Ireland underneath me before I finally went to bed last night. Once I got big enough the last few counties were willing to just accept vassalization which saved me a decade of war. I want more crown authority but I can only bump it once per lifetime, so the next king will be bumping it up to medium which I think looks good.

 

My king has 7 kids. Six daughters and one son. Good thing I have Agnatic-Cognatic succession. I kept a couple daughters close to home with Matrilineal Marriage, and married the others off to a couple of kings and really powerful people. We will see if that's more help or hindrance in the end. I also made my half-brother a duke, and married my half-sister to the King of Portugal. I have a lot of friends in high places right now, but that also means they can be calling in favors like "please help me against Muslim Spain".

 

Not sure what my next goal should be. In this playthrough Scotland has basically been in constant chaos and might make a good target. Have to admit I'm half tempted to try for Brittany in northwest France though. I think I'm really getting a hang of it now, but I'm sure there are other surprises like how you'd better look closely at whose claims you are pressing if you go to war. Feudalism is complicated.

 

 

A few thoughts on what you might do next:

 

I think your next step should be to brute force your way to king of Ireland; you want the increased demense size and prestige bonus from being a king as quickly as possible.  It also helps you arrange more favorable marriages.  Fabricate claims on your neighbors (preferably single, independent counties) until you control 51% of them.  Once you actually create the title most of the remaining counties will accept offers of vassalization.  The ones that don't can get invaded.  Once you're king, the goal is to have as few direct vassals as possible so hand out duchies to relatives that like you that don't have the 'Ambitious' trait.  Then transfer all the counties under that duchy to them.  As you're doing this you should be building up your retinue as large as possible.  This is a good time to consolidate your power: improve your castles; weed out plots, factions, and disloyal subjects; have a few kids.

 

There are a couple of directions you can go now.  Creating the Empire of Brittannia is a nice long-term goal to work towards.  If Scotland is still in disarray you can try to peel off a southern duchy or two to give yourself a foothold.  But if they get their shit together you'll have an ugly war on your hands.  Wales is usually a nice soft target, and it gives you a nice foothold next to England so you can start peeling counties away from them when they inevitably have a civil war.  Brittany is always tempting, but since it's a de jure part of France the king will have an automatic causus belli on you, and that isn't a war you're going to win at this point.  I'd recommend staying off the mainland until you have a bit more power.

 

I've hardly played anything but Diablo 3 and Spelunky in weeks. I did play Proteus, which was wicked cool, but is only kinda sorta a game.  I've also been going through 30 years of Wrestlemania in 2k14 bit by bit.  Most of my gaming time has been taken up by D&D, which is fine by me.

[Raziel]

Beware trying to unite Spain starting in 1200.  That shit is FUCKING HARD!  Especially if you can't get the Pope to declare Crusades for you because every time you peel a county away from the Moors, they come right back.  Getting your succession set right is a pain in the ass as well.

[Death From Above]

Yeah I know Spain would be a bitch. It's the main reason I'm tempted to get the Sword of Islam DLC; the history of Christian vs. Muslim Spain is one of the more interesting side stories of the middle ages to me.

[Big Fresh]

Riolu is a fucking dick. "Oh, I'm not happy enough to evolve yet!" Fuck you!

[Raziel]

Because PS+ has them on Super Sale and I got the 3rd last month free, do I want to drop $10 on the first two Dead Space games?

[Andrew POE!]

Because PS+ has them on Super Sale and I got the 3rd last month free, do I want to drop $10 on the first two Dead Space games?

 

The first one, yes. The second one, I don't know. It's a bit more action-y (Aliens to Dead Space's Alien) and the Platinum for it will be very difficult.

[Craig H]

Dead Space 2 is awesome. 1 and 2 are really fantastic and 3 is a complete piece of shit. 2 also has one of the most intense video game moments ever about mid way through.

[BurningBeard]

I played the Dead Space demo way back when and it soured me on the game. Was that not a good representation of it? I might pick them up on PSN too

[BrianS81177]

So I just finished Season 2 of The Walking Dead. I thought Lee's death at the end of season one was a tough pill to swallow, but god damn do they put a dagger through your heart this time (no matter which ending you choose)

[Salads]

From what I hear Dead Space 1 and 2 are like Alien and Aliens (both great, the second one more action based) but there the analogy falls apart because the third was rubbish and the spin-off (Extraction) was amazing.

 

Hilariously I attempted to play the first one while in the middle of being treated for anxiety. I stopped when I realised how frequently the game liked to go BOO.

[Tabe]

Because we're a year into next-gen (current gen?), I finally got around to reading The Xbox 360 Uncloaked by Dean Takahashi.  Takahashi is a reporter in California who wrote the definitive history of the Xbox (Opening the Xbox), which was an excellent look at the making of that machine.  Here he returns with his followup, covering the 360.  This time around Takahashi is a lot less successful.  The first quarter or third of the book is basically a rehash of his first book, recapping the first Xbox.  And then we get detail on tons (and tons and tons and tons and tons) of people involved in the making of the 360.  If anything, the vast amount of detail in some areas hurts the book.  It's like Takahashi is trying to impress you with his level research or something.  The book picks up with the last third, however, as the Xbox team races toward the launch.  Lots of great stuff in that section.  And then...we're done.  The book was completed not long after the release of the 360 so there's not much here beyond the initial launch window.  Nothing on the PS3's launch, the 360's miracle run to the top of the console charts for awhile - or the Wii at all.  Another year of writing would have helped a lot.  Still, having said all that, this is THE book to go to for a history of the 360.  And for that, it's worth picking up.  7/10.

[Big Fresh]

Wartortle finally evolved into Blastoise. This is one of the proudest moments of my life.

[Raziel]

So Mirror's Edge...

 

I want to scream at whoever mapped out those horrible, unresponsive controls.  Who the hell makes the shoulder/trigger the jump/duck??? ON THE SAME FUCKING SIDE AS THE CONTROL STICK TOO!!!!

 

And the melee system blows.

 

 

Since I actually spent money on it, I'll circle back, but its on to Dead Space.

[Zimbra]

This is delightful: some of the GamerGate people put together a crowdfunding campaign.  They were asking for $35k to hire a lawyer to do "discovery" to try to root out "corruption" in game journalism.  Unfortunately these brave anti-corruption crusaders failed to disclose that the lawyer they retained is the fiancee of one of the organizers of the campaign.  They can't even fucking grift right.

[Big Fresh]

What the fuck is GamerGate?

[Zimbra]

What the fuck is GamerGate?

 

Mostly reddit and 4chan harassing ladies.

[Big Fresh]

Few things are more irritating than gamers on a message board.... I mean.... Other than us.

[Death From Above]

This place is so calm compared to most.

 

I mean, the Steam forum is a real adventure through the realms of humanity you know?

 

MY HARDWARE'S NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THIS GAME WHY DID THE DEVELOPERS ABANDON THIS GAME HALF DONE

[Zimbra]

I think the only reasons this forum is as decent as it is is that we skew a bit older than most, and no one here really gives enough of shit about video games to argue about them.  Dedicated gaming forums are all a goddamned Boschian nightmare.

[Death From Above]

I once got flamed to the point I left on the gamefaq's forum when I suggested I had enjoyed Goldeneye's single player mode more than Halo's.

 

Them's were the days.

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

So my kids are getting to the stage where they are getting pretty decent at games so they are stepping up and trying to take on the legend that is Dad.

 

I downloaded Street Fighter Alpha 2 on the Wii U and my son thinks he can beat me when I take Sagat.  I hit him with the Tiger Uppercut so many times he'll need to do a rethink on that.

 

I tell him and his younger brother the same thing on that Godzilla Xbox game we still play.  NOBODY beats me as Gigan. 

[Death From Above]

Picking Sagat is like the cheat your kid doesn't realize is a cheat until one day it finally will dawn on him why dad always picks Sagat.

[Big Fresh]

I tell him and his younger brother the same thing on that Godzilla Xbox game we still play. NOBODY beats me as Gigan.

Holy shit, I loved those games. I wish they still made them.