The Currently Playing & Random Game Thoughts Thread (24 July to 30 July)

[ZedClampet]

Question: I want to build a futuristic city. Should I try Anno 2070 or Cities Skylines with mods? I've never really played either before.

Well, I said I was abandoning Forza Horizon single-player, but instead of that I started creating charts and graphs to help me set up the cars the way I need them. You can download other people's set-ups, but that isn't as much fun.

Been playing some Forewarned and Total Warhammer 3, which currently finds me as Kislev against the world. I avoided the Empire dragging me into their petty squabbles for a long time, but finally gave in because I was exhausted from telling them "No" every single turn. Now I'm at war with about 14 different factions. I'm at war with all the Chaos and Norsca factions, the Vampire factions, most of the Ogre factions and half of the Empire factions. Many of those factions have already been eliminated, though, so it's not as bad as it sounds, and because of how I have my armies spread, none of them are being overly aggressive. Once I clean this mess up, we'll be in the end stages, and I'll probably declare myself the winner and start over rather than inching my way around the map taking over everything. We've disabled the Chaos Realms campaign, so we don't have any actual winning conditions.

 

[Zloth]

Would X4 stations count like cities? There's no traffic or utilities to worry about, so it might not be what you're after.

View: https://youtu.be/9qqrIWaGUY0


Startopia lets you build something like a city in space. There was some other one, too, that came out more recently that has you building up a city in a space station, but I don't remember the name off hand.

Anyway... I finally bit the bullet and got a newer edition of Universal Engine Unreal Unlocker so I can take better screenshots in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. It's really pretty sad that Square/Enix made such a pathetic screenshot system that only lets you move the camera a few feet from the primary character. Why go to all the trouble of putting a system like that in, then cripple it!? I've seen many games limit the camera and it's always annoying, but this time it was ridiculous!

Once I got that working, I went back through a bunch of old saves and took even more screenshots. I didn't progress the story very far yesterday, even though I played for several hours.

 

[ZedClampet]

Would X4 stations count like cities? There's no traffic or utilities to worry about, so it might not be what you're after.

View: https://youtu.be/9qqrIWaGUY0


Startopia lets you build something like a city in space. There was some other one, too, that came out more recently that has you building up a city in a space station, but I don't remember the name off hand.

Anyway... I finally bit the bullet and got a newer edition of Universal Engine Unreal Unlocker so I can take better screenshots in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. It's really pretty sad that Square/Enix made such a pathetic screenshot system that only lets you move the camera a few feet from the primary character. Why go to all the trouble of putting a system like that in, then cripple it!? I've seen many games limit the camera and it's always annoying, but this time it was ridiculous!

Once I got that working, I went back through a bunch of old saves and took even more screenshots. I didn't progress the story very far yesterday, even though I played for several hours.

Those X4 stations are really cool, but it looks like the sort of thing I'd have to advance pretty far in the game to build, and I was wanting something a bit quicker.

 

[Zloth]

Those X4 stations are really cool, but it looks like the sort of thing I'd have to advance pretty far in the game to build, and I was wanting something a bit quicker.

Mostly true. There is a 'station builder' start for the game that gives you access to every part so you can design any station you like right away. However, it's completely separated from the main game. You won't be able to actually build it and you wouldn't really understand what you were building anyway. It's really there so you can save designs for use in the main game and so you can practice putting stations together. You could also do a 'custom start' to give yourself a ton of money and a builder ship right at the start but, again, you wouldn't really understand what you were building.

 

[Johnway]

I've been trying to cross off a whole load of indie games and i've finally gotten round to playing the return of the obra dinn and yep i'm have a jolly good time pretending to be some sort of paranormal detective / underwriter to investigate what happened to the 60 crew/passengers of the obra dinn.

So far i've solved 15 of them. The challenge is now trying to figure the rest and i think the problem is that game doesn't give enough clues to differentiate them. I really don't want to start randomly guessing names but i don't think i have a choice. i've gone through all the chapters except the bargain and i really want to return without doing most of them.

 

[ZedClampet]

Mostly true. There is a 'station builder' start for the game that gives you access to every part so you can design any station you like right away. However, it's completely separated from the main game. You won't be able to actually build it and you wouldn't really understand what you were building anyway. It's really there so you can save designs for use in the main game and so you can practice putting stations together. You could also do a 'custom start' to give yourself a ton of money and a builder ship right at the start but, again, you wouldn't really understand what you were building.

If it's separated from the main game, that might be okay actually.

 

[ZedClampet]

Foreshadowed: My kids are playing from Nashville while I'm at home in Knoxville. We're using Discord. We're deep in a tomb. An ancient, shapeshifting magi has come to life.

Me: Wait, are we all three in the same room?

Son: I'm nowhere near you all.

Me: Run!

Me again: He's chasing me. Someone better find the lever to reopen the tomb door.

Me again, probably at least 5 minutes later: FIND THE DAMN LEVER!

Son: Oh, we already did that. We've been at camp watching your camera feed.

 

[Pifanjr]

Question: I want to build a futuristic city. Should I try Anno 2070 or Cities Skylines with mods? I've never really played either before.

That depends on whether you want to focus more on setting up supply lines or managing traffic.

My wife got hooked on Cities Skylines again, so she's been playing a ton. She's now at the point where she's trying to figure out how to incorporate public transportation into her cities. From my own experience and what I see her struggle with, managing traffic is about 80% of the game.

 

[Brian Boru]

build a futuristic city

One I have wishlisted:

Save 40% on Cliff Empire on Steam

After a nuclear war life on the surface became impossible. A 300m thick radioactive fog covered the Earth. We are looking for bold active people to manage the process of restoring life on Earth. Join!

store.steampowered.com

https://www.pcgamer.com/in-this-city-builder-you-restart-civilization-on-a-tiny-plateau-above-a-radioactive-earth/

I played Hero of the Kingdom and am now onto HotK2—there are 5 games in the series so far. I have the first 3 and just picked up the 4th on Steam for $1.50—would've been churlish to refuse such an offer, right? Afaics all 5 games are quite similar, which is just fine by me—altho I did see some comments that 3 is different, with some happy and some unhappy about that.

It's a short chill charming game, a combo of point & click adventure, resource gathering and management, and a bit of lite RPG thrown in. There are demos available, so give 'em a spin to see if it appeals—if it does, should be able to grab 'em all for <$10 in a sale.

 

[Ryzengang]

There's been a pretty substantial hot stretch here, I haven't done a whole lot of gaming on the PC as of late. I have been playing a ton of Slay the Spire on Switch, though. I'm glad I picked it up after not playing it much on PC, otherwise I would have really missed out. This game is really fantastic and it's going to be my go-to handheld game for quite some time.

This isn't video game related exactly, but I've also been making a character for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. This will be my first time ever playing and I'm pretty excited. I've always wanted to give D&D a shot but never had a good opportunity until now. Interestingly, getting more into D&D recently has actually made my views on cRPGs a bit more positive. Still, I think it's rather hard to really translate a TTRPG experience into a video game.

 

[Brian Boru]

I immediately thought there was a sequel to 'Crush the Castle'

For those who followed me down that rabbit hole, an alternative—but not free:

Save 60% on Crush the Castle Legacy Collection on Steam

Crush the Castle Legacy Collection is the triumphant return of the classic Armor Games physics destruction game! Let destruction reign by loading up your trusty trebuchet and showing the enemy castle who’s boss.

store.steampowered.com

There are 3 games—I didn't even know about the 2nd if I recall correctly. It's okay for $10 I guess if you regard it as a solitaire you'll dip into from time to time.

 

[ZedClampet]

Well, I may get irritated at it, but Forza is giving me some good achievements:

 

[Barukanen]

I am currently elbow deep and almost finished Defense Grid 2, just chipping away at some of the remaining achievmets but will have an issue with the Co-op ones I imagine.

It's a pretty solid tower defense game, but sadly I don't see many of them about.. damn you Warcraft III custom games for getting me into TD's!

 

[ZedClampet]

Was excited to try Cities Skylines this morning, but had to abandon it pretty quickly. I just can't read the text. My vision tends to improve later in the day so I'll try it again.

I built some roads and then followed what I could make out of the tutorial and screwed those roads up. Found the bulldozer and deleted the mess, but it wouldn't let me remake the roads to where they would meet at the same elevation. There was always a huge bump in the road that wouldn't be unpassable.

 

[Barukanen]

Was excited to try Cities Skylines this morning, but had to abandon it pretty quickly. I just can't read the text. My vision tends to improve later in the day so I'll try it again.

I built some roads and then followed what I could make out of the tutorial and screwed those roads up. Found the bulldozer and deleted the mess, but it wouldn't let me remake the roads to where they would meet at the same elevation. There was always a huge bump in the road that wouldn't be unpassable.

Oh I did this, got so far and screwed up my bus network 😂 Irritated the hell out of me and I haven't gone back to it since.

Plus I couldn't cope with all the complaints of pollution after I needed to make some new homes near the sewage system. Needs must right?

 

[Frindis]

My nephews visiting, so I have been playing A LOT of Vampire Survivors and some PUBG/Fortnite.

@Ryzengang Slay The Spire is pretty chill, especially since the rounds are so fast and the difficulty (not sure if there are any diff levels though) is juuuuust hard enough to keep you on your toes.

@ZedClampet Hmm, maybe the Sim City series. Been a while since I played it, but I believe you can make futuristic buildings or at least futuristic-looking buildings in it.

 

[FreezerBurn]

A lot of Euro Truck Sim 2... I'm not proud of it.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

It takes me like a year to play one game. I'm still chipping away at Halo: Infinite. I'm making good progress, though.

 

[Brian Boru]

It takes me like a year to play one game

Oh well then, you're a natural for the Anno series!

 

[ZedClampet]

Played a couple hours of Raft. Bought it during early access and bounced off of it, but it sounded like they had added a ton of things, and the full release was not long ago, so I tried it again and really enjoyed it.

Also, I was working my way through what has to be a 10 to 20 hour tutorial for Stationeers (I'm very serious about this. I've got 6.5 hours in it already) and noticed there was an update this morning, so I went back in to continue the ridiculous tutorial, but the update broke it. I left a bug report, but I'm doubting that it will be fixed any time soon. They don't seem overly on top of things. What this means is that I will probably forget everything and have to start what we've already established is a ridiculous tutorial all over again.

 

[ZedClampet]

@ZedClampet Hmm, maybe the Sim City series. Been a while since I played it, but I believe you can make futuristic buildings or at least futuristic-looking buildings in it.

You all are being very helpful, but I should have mentioned above that I already own Cities Skyline and Anno 2070, so I was really just picking between those two, although I've added a few city builders to my wishlist thanks to you all.

 

[Zloth]

Wow @ZedClampet! A 0.1% achievement?? The rarest I have is 0.4%!

 

[ZedClampet]

I am currently elbow deep and almost finished Defense Grid 2, just chipping away at some of the remaining achievmets but will have an issue with the Co-op ones I imagine.

It's a pretty solid tower defense game, but sadly I don't see many of them about.. damn you Warcraft III custom games for getting me into TD's!

There are so many different types of Tower Defense games that it would feel pointless to recommend one, but my first was a free-to-play TD called Grub Guardian, and it completely hooked me. I think I only spent about $5 on it.

Here's a handful that have come out on Steam this month:

Tep The Destroyer TD on Steam

TEP the destroyer is a single player tower defense game where you will face alien monsters and ships in ground and space battles! Your strategy will decide the fate of your people in a sci-fi environment of varying difficulties!

store.steampowered.com

Defend The Bits TD on Steam

An awesome 3D tower defence game created to give you days and days of the most fun TD game in town. Defend from hordes of Blocks with your mighty BIT heroes! armed with bows, axes, cannons and even frying pans.

store.steampowered.com

Save 60% on Cursed Treasure 2 Ultimate Edition - Tower Defense on Steam

Why be good when you can be... bad? Cursed Treasure 2 is a classic tower-defense game, remastered and carefully re-balanced. Build towers of powerful orcs, demons, and undead, and master powerful spells, to protect your precious hoard from all manner of no-good do-gooders.

store.steampowered.com

Save 20% on PolyCore Defense on Steam

PolyCore Defense is a tower defense game where you have to raise your defenses in order to defend your core. Build unique turrets, upgrade them with special effects and use abilities to survive waves of enemies that are trying to destroy your core!

store.steampowered.com

Save 55% on Shapebreaker - Tower Defense Deckbuilder on Steam

A fusion of tower defense games and roguelike deckbuilders. Use your cards to build towers and to upgrade them in unique ways. Gain rewards to customize your deck, defense and playstyle. Break the shapes before they break you!

store.steampowered.com

Of course, they could all be terrible. I haven't tried them.

Wow @ZedClampet! A 0.1% achievement?? The rarest I have is 0.4%!

I'm guessing that's as low as it goes. Took a screen shot just in case it starts going up.

 

[Brian Boru]

Stationeers

That looks like a serious time suck, with lots of breaking between now and release—did you see Quarko's review?

Tower Defense

@Kovanen I've only played ~30 TD games, almost all for less than 5 hours before ditching. The only one I finished, replayed, and loved was the original Plants v Zombies—great charm, humor and quite a challenge later on. Also has excellent extras I can't recall, other than that you could keep playing them forever—I remember tagging it as 'best value game ever'.

 

[ZedClampet]

That looks like a serious time suck, with lots of breaking between now and release—did you see Quarko's review?

i've never heard of Quarko, but I knew what I was getting into. I can't even begin to guess how many early access games I've played. If it breaks and I have to put it on the back burner for awhile (or forever) that's just part of the process. I can't remember the exact number off the top of my head, but I've got at least 3 early access games that have been officially abandoned. But, remember, I love demos. I can have a lot of fun in unfinished messes.