Sounds bland? Somewhat. It’s more the fact that I started playing them with the kid and the wife for the first time effectively. The kid got a Minecraft account when it was three days old, both the wife and I played it heavily during the (horrible/stressful) pregnancy as she got sick from other games for some reason. Now playing it together was fucking wholesome and easily one of the most memorable experiences. We now run a small private server for us and some friends and it is an absolutely fantastic bonding experience - even more so as I can easily join when I am on one of my rather frequent business trips.
Civ6 is a bit similar experience wise but it also started a absolute transformation in the kid - it has read all (literally ALL) the childrens and adolescent history books in our rather well equipped local library and we now have to very carefully have to choose which adult books are appropriate - and therefore are learning a lot about history we never figured we would need to read about. (Scythian history? Really,kiddo?)
If anyone out there has never played Minecraft with a group you have got to give it a shot. Exploring and building together is really so much fun, it can’t be understated!
Usually I get a few friends to play on a realm or something but they always lose interest after a couple weeks. I just joined a more regular playgroup with a well maintained server, though, and it’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had in Minecraft.
That’s easy for me, the Snowrunner Year 1 expansion pack. Specifically Lake Kola and Imandra, when coaxing a heavily laden truck through the deep snow, day slides to night and the northern lights come out. A borderline spiritual experience because to get there you have to have got through things that seemed impossible.
Ah yes, IIRC they’re quick, light, but lack the sort of pulling power one would want in mud … kinda hard to find that outside of a full-blown motorbike!
I find it has more than enough power and torque than I’d ever need. The problem is there is no rear tire. It runs on two front tires so you don’t get a thick knobby tire at the back to spin you out of deep mud.
I went overboard after and bought super aggressive off-road tires for when these wear too far down 🤓
Truly depends on how I ride it. For mostly on road travel at 60-80 km/h I’ll get about 40km range but if I drive it off-road with hills I can get about 3.5 hours of runtime and 60+km.
These are all estimates as I’ve never ridden it long enough to fully drain it from 100% to 0.
Ya these things are quite highly variable so claims will be all over the place.
They’re way more expensive but very worth it. Zero maintenance (except for brakes when I’m not using regen and tires) and just normal chain degreasing/lubing you’d do on any bike.
It is the cost that’s holding me back now, I paid €2700 for my 2021 Tango a year ago and it has an expected lifespan of about 10 years at my current rate / style of use. There are other factors, but that’s the main one … I figure it will be the last petrol bike I buy.
The marketing for it is dire, it’s basically a slow, lightweight, farm bike that can get pretty much anywhere off road, which is ideal for where I live
Oh whoa that’s a very interesting looking bike. Looks like a mix between dirtbike, scooter, and older Yamaha cruiser bike with that headlight. I dig it!
It cruises at about 80km/h and on road the range is about 300km (I get 2.5L/100km but my other half gets 2.2L/100km because she doesn’t ride as agressively).
The original version was made as a cheap farm bike for Spain, but the new facelifted version is … a cheap farm bike in a new hat, lol
Snowrunner for me too. I nearly gave up in frustration at the beginning though, as the trucks are near useless at getting through any mud or water. But the stunning physics and landscapes etc kept me going. Once you have your bearings and get a decent truck, the whole experience changes.
I remember the first time I cried because of the events of a video game.
Final Fantasy 7. Aerith’s death scene.
Up to that point, you’re given several romance options between her and Tifa and I basically friend-zoned Tifa and was pursuing Aerith. So when Sephiroth murders her out of nowhere, it was like he really murdered my girlfriend. FWIW, the game came out when I was 12 and I was probably 13 or 14 when I actually got to own a copy and play through the whole thing.
The most latest game, tho, that hits hard is Cyberpunk 2077. The overall main plot is just a mashup of cyberpunk films like Johnny Mnemonic, Strange Days, 6th Day, 5th Element, Dredd, etc; but the side stories with the main characters are where the real beauty lies. Shit had me choked up like every time there was a lengthy bit of dialogue. The reason your character is dying might be goofy, but the way they portray someone who knows they are going to die is pretty fucking good. And the unique thing is that it’s you. Your own character, not some other character you’re just meant to empathize with.
I have major issues with this game’s battling system. The original game’s combat is pretty complex but it is well balanced with 6 different stats, types, abilities, etc. Pokemon go simplifies it into type advantages and a number (CP). CP is more affected by atk than def and hp. This (amongst other things) trivializes def and hp stats.
I was hopeful that they would rework this with pvp but they didn’t. Instead they tried to copy the Smogon tiers (the different leagues) but somehow made the original combat which requires a lot of strategy to a dumb tap fast to win combat.
I used to play Pokemon Go a lot till covid and I kept hoping for better updates and new mechanics (I even theorized how they could translate the turn based combat to real time) but it seemwd they didn’t want to make it anymore than what it was so I quit.
Things like C&C. If you know current ones, let me know. I didn’t really research anymore. Most of what I’ve seen in the past had some random new spin on it.
Friend of mine just released Terrytorial Disputes. Not exactly C&C, but heavily inspired with a mix of tower defense. It’s got a free demo if you want to check it out
I realize this is getting hyper-specific, but party-based dungeon crawlers that are true 3d and not grid-oriented. Really, the only example aside from Wizardry 8 (that I’m scared to try because it looks like way too much effort and investment for a not-great return) is the Might and Magic series circa Win95, and specifically 6, 7, and 8, all built off the same, almost pseudo-3D engine. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something very satisfying for me in that gameplay loop of clearing out dungeons via potshots and backpedaling, selling the loot to level and train your party, and moving on to the next one. The push and pull of skirting groups of enemies so they don’t take swipes at you when they get too close, the thrill of picking up fireball from the advanced magic shop and just nuking low-level mooks, the ecstasy of learning town portal and Lloyd’s beacon and never having to think about travel again.
I think part of the reason these games don’t really get made anymore is that they were always kind of a weird middle ground between first person Action-Adventure-RPGs and top down party-based TTRPG engines, and those genres are fully expressed today by a number of games.
Kind of - the customization options run a little deeper in M&M. You could pick up 6, 7, and 8 for less than $30 on GOG. $10 at most for the pack that includes 1-6, and I’d say of those three, 6 offers the best experience.
Un-skippable cutscenes or tutorials. This really hampers replayability of missions/quests, or even entire games in general.
Artificially limited customization in order to sell more via micro-transactions.
Time-gated features. I hate it when games require a certain amount of in-game time before some things are unlocked.
Pay-to-win in multiplayer games. Preventing or limiting progression with ability to bypass it with a purchase is just gross. If you want to go F2P, do it all the way. I’m fine with for-purchase cosmetics, but getting a leg up on fellow players if you can afford it is just bad.
Love:
Don’t have anything specific. Anything that sucks me into the game.
The junction system in Final Fantasy VIII. The magic system is based on the amount of spells you have left in an inventory and you can also equip them to your character’s stats. If you don’t take the time to acquaint yourself with the system your stats will take a dive because you’re casting spells like in a more traditional game. The upside to this is if you hoard enough spells and equip them to the right stats you can be unstoppable since early game.
I really love Anno for this, 1800 is the only one I have played and I think it’s an amazing game. The base game on its own has tons of content already but the dlc’s add whole new regions and lots of supply chians to the game. It’s a bit of a crossover between a city builder and a supply chain simulator, where the majority of the game is based on providing the needs for your residents. It’s on sale very often, including the dlc’s.
If you were to get it, I recommend getting the dlc’s, maybe after a playthrough of the base game. If you wanna know what dlc’s to get, you can check out these videos:
I would consider them a few different genres, but they are easily my favourite types of games these days. I cateogrize them in my steam list as below.
-Colony Builders: Games about building well, a colony, often from little to nothing. Often lots of You vs Environment friction, with the natural world. Tends to have a bit more focus on the individuals that comprise the colony. Examples: Rimworld (my favourite game of all time), Dwarf Fortress, Oxygen Not Included, Stranded Alien Dawn, Space Haven.
-City Builders: A bit broader in scope than a colony builder, working more on the macro level. Friction is often economic, sometimes adjusted with the natural world. Cities Skylines is kind of the prime exampe of this, but also games like Timberborn or Anno.
-Automation: Games about building a factory that…builds things automatically. Challenge tends to be logistical complexity but some games do feature combat as well. Factorio, Dyson Sphere Program (my personal favourite), Satisfactory, and Captain of Industry are the Four Horsemen of this genre to me. Techtonica is very early still but seems to have some promise as well.
For many of these games, there is a whole world of content to explore if you are interested in mods. Rimworld players regularly run hundreds of mods, my current game has about 350. Factorio has extensive overhaul mods that can take literally thousands of hours to finish in some cases (Py’s). Satisfactory has a surprisingly robust mod scene for an early access game too.
I see a pattern of games mentioned here! What do you call games like theme hospital? I’d love to skim a few recommendations for these kind of games that let you hire different employees to run parts of your business.
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