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[Pex]

Well, This Time Last Year

I know, a stupid name for a topic, but I'm trying to get some attention here I wanted to share with you guys my gaming experience from the last year, or so.

It all started when I asked my wife to get me Assassin's Creed 2 for my birthday last year. She couldn't find it, so she got me a gift voucher instead. Now, for some reasons I didn't get a chance to spend that voucher immediately, so, by the time I decided to buy the game, it was the end of financial year sale, so I ended up with Assassin Creed 2, Majesty 2, Medieval Total War 2 (lots of 2s there) and Mount and Blade. And since then, I also bought Guild 2: Venice and Disciples III Renaissance. So let's start from the beginning.

Assassin's Creed 2: If you liked the first part, you'd love this one. You get same action and gameplay with much more interesting storyline, more weapons, different quests and lot's of side quests in the bargain. I never used to play this type of games before the original Assassin's Creed, but since then I love it. I have yet to play Brotherhood.

Majesty 2 – I never played the original game, although I heard a lot about it. Obviously the fact that you can't directly control your heroes was a great challenge (although Dungeon Keeper 2 had that as well) and I had to admit it was enjoyable. But the game itself… Well, other than controlling bit, the game has nice graphics with cartoonish feeling to it, nice sense of humour (although sometimes it's too much) and quite a few missions, but it's still far from a great game. One thing that should be mentioned here is poor balance. At the beginning of every mission you are so weak that it's a struggle surviving first twenty minutes or so of playing. And it doesn't change depending on the mission's difficulty. There was a mission labelled as 'average difficulty' which I had to restart a few times for this reason. Then, once you get a few tough heroes, sky is your limit and you finish the mission easily. As for indirect control, although adding an extra challenge, it tends to get annoying too, when your weakest heroes go for the toughest mission (even though I put high price to encourage tough heroes) and get themselves wiped out. So, if I was grading it, I would say 5 from 10.

Medieval Total War 2 – well, it's obviously very different than its predecessor. Since I played Rome before, I wasn't surprised by the change in graphics and different gameplay (walking the map instead of moving from one province to another automatically, line of sight, assassins can't jump from one town with a port to any other and army can't invade province on different side of the continent just by having a ship in every square between). Battles on the tactical map didn't change that much, nor did sieges, although the fact that some provinces now have a castle and some a town brings variety. Also, very important difference is commanding structure. Your dynasty has limited number of generals (family or adopted sons, sometimes just captains), unlike in the first part, when any unit you trained could act as if having a general (so you could give title to a captain of peasants if you liked it). Here, you don't have titles to start with, and your generals automatically get a cavalry unit of bodyguards assigned to them. One thing that didn't change, though, is my favourite tactic from the first part – winning by assassination. Train your assassins well, spread them around and bye bye generals, princes and kings. Then bribe remaining forces turned rebel. I remember playing first part, I would wait for Mongols to arrive to the map, kill the Khan (who didn't have any heirs at that time) and then bribe his forces to join me (and depose of the generals that accepted my bribery, since they'll get 'easy to bribe' characteristic then). So, the only thing I don't like about the game is that in the main campaign (without The Kingdoms expansion) you can choose only between England, France, Spain, Holy Roman Empire and Venice. First part had much more choice.

Mount and Blade – now that was a hidden gem for me. Such a great game, superb battle experience, both on the map between two armies and sieges. I accidently found the game since I haven't heard about it before, read the back of it and thought, hmm, this sounds interesting. I was so glad I bought it. I don't know what I liked the most – battles with riding my horse into enemy archers, slashing once right, once left, once right with my sword and three of them ending up dead once I pass. Or those lucky shots when in a full gallop you score a headshot on an enemy lord knocking him flat. Or when I stand on the top of the battlements swinging my sword left and right like a lunatic and repelling enemy besiegers. Tournaments are also heaps of fun, although they should make them more fair so both finalists get the same weapon. It worked sometimes nice for me, to end up with sword and shield against an archer, but sometimes it was other way around. Superb game. The only fault I find is respawning of reinforcements, especially when besieging a castle – defenders forces respawn close to the fight while yours have to come all the way from outside the walls. But it works great when you're the one defending I got Warband expansion since, but I have yet to play it, obviously the main difference is that you can eventually become a King and an additional faction, which both appeal to me.

Guild 2: Venice – I already had a big rent about this game (made a whole topic about it) so I won't repeat myself. Except to say that it sucks big time.

Disciples III Renaissance – to start with, this is the first game I ever played in the Disciples series so I have no predecessor to compare it with. However, I believe the series were often compared with HoM&M ones, so I'll do the same and go for HoM&M V. Like Heroes V, Disciples III improved graphics, going to full 3D map with very nice graphics, which are more enhanced with change of seasons (each turn is a different season, with the total of four seasons, of course ). You again have cities where you build different structures that allow you to recruit different types of units, but unlike Heroes, here you do it only in your capital city and that works for other ones as well. Saying that, number of structures (and units) is very limited, but at the same time, in disciples you don't lead an army, but a group. Depending on your hero's leadership, you can have several members in your group, and they are single creatures (for example a squire, or an archer, or an apprentice wizard), not stacks. You can have more than one squire, for example, but they will each take one of your leadership slots. With experience, your units progress, either to different class (if you have available building in your Capital) or just gain levels and more hit points or cause more damage. Your heroes actively participate in the fights (which are turn based on a tactical map) and with gaining levels they get three points to allocate on their stats and two to get special abilities. Unlike heroes again, magic is cast on world map, both offensive and beneficial (healing or bonuses), while in the battles, you can use runes or potions, which you can create (runes only), find or buy. As for resources, there are only two material – gold and stone and three different 'mana' things to collect. You don't capture resources production facilities by tagging them like in Heroes. Instead, you tag some kind of nodes and then every turn, land you control spreads from those nodes and once production facility is on the land you control, you get bonuses from it. All in all, very interesting game, but not without faults. The main one is lack of anything resembling a marketplace from Heroes. With already mentioned very limited building part of the game (only several buildings in a single city) you'll be finishing the game with next to nothing gold (which you spend on items and units, not just buildings) and heaps of useless stone. Another thing (though this might change when I play more), is very disorganised enemy factions. They seem to send random armies that appear from the edge of the map (not from cities so far) and attack first thing they come upon (usually a node which is protected by a guardian). They go against impossible odds and I yet have to lose a battle against them.

So that was my previous year gaming wise. Oh, I also played quite a few abandonware games on my dosbox (Colonization, Setlers 2 Gold, Masters of Magic, …) but you already know everything about them.

[jamotide]

Such a nicely written post deserves better feedback than me right before going to sleep,but here it goes:

Majesty 2 sounds just like Majesty 1 from what you describe, I played that one last year,and loved it, but its short repetitive mission based gameplay makes it an interlude to real games.

The Guild venice...I love the guild, but as I hinted on in your other thread, Venice is like the Master of Orion 3 of the series.

Disciples 3...I only played Disciples 2 as everyone said its so great and the best of the series, but I found it pretty dull, the combat is very simple, it just feels like a very limited version of great games like Master of Magic,Heroes and all its followers.

Colonization, Settlers 2 Gold, Masters of Magic: Awesome, you should play those every year!

The other games I can't comment on, but maybe you should start a game blog.

[Scatty]

I've heard a bit about Mount and Blade, those who discovered it were praising it all around, eventhough it's not as well known as other commercial games, being developed only by a turkish couple (two people), or so I've read. I've also seen it here at the local Game Stop, maybe I should get it too after all, seeing as it seems to be so well made.
Assassin's Creed 2 wouldn't need any comment I'm sure, that one is pretty famous. As famous as Thief (Dark Project) back at the end of 90's and pretty similar in gameplay to it, too. Unfortunately both games in the series are a bit too demanding for my notebook, but they're something to try out for the future.

[Pex]

Originally Posted by jamotide

Such a nicely written post deserves better feedback than me right before going to sleep,but here it goes:

Lol thanks.

The other games I can't comment on, but maybe you should start a game blog.

I'm too lazy for a blog I get inspiration from time to time to write something more, but to do it regularly... mayby for a first few weeks But it would've been fun

Btw, wanna add here that Disciples III has heaps of bugs. I'll have to look for a patch and hope it's not one of those that makes your saved games unusable. It's really annoying how they publish games with so many bugs and then fix it with patches. Like even Mount & Blade, which I praised so much had like 500Mb big patch to download - you used to get whole games of that size not so long ago.

[Pex]

Ok, I know this is sort of necroposting, but since I started the topic and the title suggests that I intend to update it once a year, I think it should be ok. Pretty much, I want to share with you the games I played in the last year or so, give you a quick review and my opinion of why you should or shouldn't play them. If I get too inspired and find time to do it, I might write a bigger review in separate topic. So, in no particular order:

Assassin's Creed Revelations - I'm actually currently playing this one. What can I say, it's great. The whole series are fantastic. If I had to choose the best game series ever for me, it would be these games. Looking at the whole series, the way the game improved from AC I to AC II and now between AC II and Revelations it's just impressive. I particularly love mini games/challenges that happen occasionally that have nothing to do with assassinations - such a nice distraction. No matter what is your favourite game genre, you should try these games. I'm looking forward to AC III, which is coming out soon, but I'll wait a few months for the price to go down.

Gothic 3 Forsaken Gods - I picked up this game on the end of financial year sale. Not sure how to describe it, an action game with some elements of RPG. Probably trying to do something similar to Elder Scrolls series, maybe more action orientated. It is fun, but not a great game. The biggest disappointment is AI. If you have a group of enemies, you sneak up to them and only closest one(s) would attack you, while the rest will remain where they are, which gives you opportunity to single them out and defeat one by one. But if you shoot an arrow at any of them, they all turn to attack. And all enemies behave the same, whether animals or goblins or orcs or bandits. Another thing, you walk into blacksmith's shop, steal stuff from shelves and then sell it back to him.

Dungeons - the game is attempt to do something similar to Dungeon Keeper series, but not exactly the same. The way you get creatures here is by capturing or building creature nodes, rather than building rooms to attract them, like in DK. These nodes also give you ownership of the certain area in a radius with the node in the centre (depending on creatures, the radius varies). And your goal is to attract the heroes, make them happy and then kill them and therefore harvest their energy which you use for spells, building nodes, etc. But the main difference between this game and DK series is that you as a dungeon lord are no longer a hand that manipulates all, but an active participant (as a creature) in the fights. You can advance levels, improve stats, learn new spells, etc and if you die the game is over. All in all good game, though I have to admit I only played a few opening missions - so definitely not as addictive as DK series.

Fantasy Wars - an unofficial remake of Fantasy General and a great game. If you liked FG, you'll love this one. It has almost the same gameplay, but much better graphics, plot, units, maps. I strongly recommend it to the turn based hex map strategy game fans.

King's Bounty - Armored Princess - another remake of an old game, I believe also unofficial. A lovely game with nice coloured graphics, interesting plot and heaps of quests. For those that didn't play the original, it's like a spiritual predecessor of HoM&M series. You lead stacks of creatures accross the map and fight enemies - either just groups of other creatures (often same ones that you can include in your army) or groups again, but led by enemy heroes. You also sail between different islands, which usually have different creatures living on them. You solve quests given to you by people you meet and collect rewards (bounties) for them, with an ultimate quest in the background of the story. You advance levels, which gives you access to spels and increase of stats - and those stats reflect on your creatures' performance. There's so many different creatures that you can control, so you can develop fighting style that suits you the best. You can also cast spells and you have a pet dragon that can help you in the fights. You also collect magic items that are similar to those in HoM&M series. In spite this variety, the game is fairly linear, because you need to get experience and access to stronger creatures on one island, before you can move to a harder ones. Still, I recommend it. Oh, and the best improvement for original game is that you can take as many contracts as you want.

Might and Magic - Heroes VI - I already wrote a separate topic on this game. I have to admit that I didn't play it much since - it kept crashing due to my graphic card not being strong enough (although I replaced it recently) and my internet connection breaking, making me lose progress since the last saved game, which in spite auto save every turn keeps being frustrating when it happens after you win tough battle. But in general very good game that deserves to be part of the series. Just get good graphic card and good internet connection.

There are also several games that I bought on various sales in the last year, but still didn't get a chance to play them. Wife and I had a baby in February and that boy now takes a fair chunk of my free time. Those of you with kids will know what I'm talking about, those without, trust me - it is taking me almost 3 hours to finish this post with all interruptions. So, I just thought to list those games here and maybe get your opinion of them.

The Guild - Complete Collections - since a few people told me that Venice was not the best representative of the series, I thought to check it out myself when I saw this compilation and it was a very good price.

A Game of Thrones Genesis - I'm a big fan of the books (loved the TV series too), which is a main reason why I bought this one. No idea what to expect.

Real Warfare II - Northern Crusade - When I saw this one I thought it was something similar to Mount & Blade. I was in a hurry and it was really cheap, so I bought it. Turns out it's more like Total War: Medieval II game, which is still good. But not high on my priority to play it. If you played it, I'll appreciate your comments.

Baldur's Gate Box Set - I played original BG before and BGII Shadows of Amn, but never finished them. I hope to get the chance to play them all again, beginning to the end, and this time it will be without having to change discs every five minutes!

Jagged Alliance Compilation - well, you probably all know these - finding both games and both expansion packs for $9 was Christmas coming in July. I played them all back in the day, but lost my copies since. Looking forward to play them again.

So, that's it. Until next year or if I get a chance or play something I can't wait to share with you guys

[Smiling Spectre]

Originally Posted by Pex

Gothic 3 Forsaken GodsProbably trying to do something similar to Elder Scrolls series, maybe more action orientated.

Try earlier ones. There are arguing, if Gothic 2 is better (because of bigger areas and more content), or it's Gothic 1 (because it's more RPG-ish, logical, and less superhero-like), but both groups agrees that G3 is a piece of sh.t. Also, I was recommended first Risen, made by former Piranha workers. They said, it's no way on Gothic 1-2 level, but much better than G3!

Dungeons - the game is attempt to do something similar to Dungeon Keeper series, but not exactly the same.

Hmm. Need to check it, thank you!

Fantasy Wars - an unofficial remake of Fantasy General and a great game. If you liked FG, you'll love this one. It has almost the same gameplay, but much better graphics, plot, units, maps. I strongly recommend it to the turn based hex map strategy game fans.

There is more than one of Fantasy Wars around. I think, they made, like, 3 or 4 games on that concepts and world. Also, the same guys made quite official sequel to Majesty (Majesty 2, obviously ), and used this franchise to make unofficial sequel of Master of Magic - Warlock - Master of the Arcane that is. Recommended.

King's Bounty - Armored Princess - another remake of an old game, I believe also unofficial.

It's official, actually. But it's add-on you are speaking of. There is also King's Bounty - The Legend. But as you seen Princess, it will be "more of the same", I suppose.

Also, looking of your list, it gave me some ideas... Last two quoted games are Russian, and I can take several more from my memory. Check Star Rangers 2 - Reloaded, it's like turn-based Elite for me. And Star Wolves are nice hybrid of spaceship simulation, RTS and RPG.

[TotalAnarchy]

I've played the first three Gothics, and I can honestly say that a patched Gothic 3 is a hidden gem. It may not have a real story and the quests are way too standard when compared to Gothic 1-2, but in my opinion it surpasses the first two in terms of world (it's vast and fun to explore), atmosphere (the graphics are impressive and the music gives a kind of idyllic feel) and freedom. It's probably also the most realistic out of the three, since awesome equipment is hard to find.

I haven't played the expansion or the fourth game in the series, however.

[Pex]

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre

Try earlier ones. There are arguing, if Gothic 2 is better (because of bigger areas and more content), or it's Gothic 1 (because it's more RPG-ish, logical, and less superhero-like), but both groups agrees that G3 is a piece of sh.t. Also, I was recommended first Risen, made by former Piranha workers. They said, it's no way on Gothic 1-2 level, but much better than G3!

Might give them a go at some point.

To be honest, when I was buying the game, I expected something similar to the old Blade of Darkness, so pretty much action based game but with cool things like combo hits and a decent story and a few puzzles to solve. So perhaps that's one of the reasons why I didn't enjoy it too much

There is more than one of Fantasy Wars around. I think, they made, like, 3 or 4 games on that concepts and world. Also, the same guys made quite official sequel to Majesty (Majesty 2, obviously ), and used this franchise to make unofficial sequel of Master of Magic - Warlock - Master of the Arcane that is. Recommended.

I know there is Elven Wars, didn't hear of the others. My problem is that I don't use Steam at all and not much on-line shopping either, so if I don't see it in the shop I don't get it.

I played Majesty 2 (if you look at my first post in this thread you'll see it ) and I wasn't impressed.

Also, looking of your list, it gave me some ideas... Last two quoted games are Russian, and I can take several more from my memory. Check Star Rangers 2 - Reloaded, it's like turn-based Elite for me. And Star Wolves are nice hybrid of spaceship simulation, RTS and RPG.

Now that you mentioned it, I haven't I played space based SF game in ages. Might give one of these a go, especially if I see them on sale

@TotalAnarchy

I've played the first three Gothics, and I can honestly say that a patched Gothic 3 is a hidden gem. It may not have a real story and the quests are way too standard when compared to Gothic 1-2, but in my opinion it surpasses the first two in terms of world (it's vast and fun to explore), atmosphere (the graphics are impressive and the music gives a kind of idyllic feel) and freedom. It's probably also the most realistic out of the three, since awesome equipment is hard to find.

Oh, I agree that awesome equipment is hard to find

And it indeed has impressive graphics and nice music. I guess it's just not what I expected and there are things that bother me. One that comes to mind that I didn't mention is limited options in dialogues and most of the time possibilities to add a twist to a mission. Like the one where Innkeeper is accused of conspiracy by his wife. I knew she was framing him, but only way to finish the mission was to kill him.

[Scatty]

Well Gothic 3 alone is quite good once patched with the Community Patch 1.74 (1.75 is out but has some newly produced issues and bugs so I don't recommend it). The addon Forsaken Gods is reputedly worse than Gothic III standalone, I know I'm never going to play it so don't know for sure how much worse. But the first two games in the series are great indeed, pretty much legendary amongst the German player community.