Video (Gamer) Romeo (Not)

[omorka]

Why do they not make video games for the demographic that includes me?

Probably because there are only six people in it. :(

Blizzard still hasn't released a patch for the weird error between Warcraft III and OS X. Apparently it only happens on some machines, but ours is definitely one of them. Periodically, the screen freezes, although the sound continues. It doesn't do it in the same place each time, either (originally, I thought it did it right before cut scenes, and it does seem more likely to do it then, but it's happened in other places, too). This is making me grumpy.

So, since I couldn't play Warcraft III, I've been trying to finish StarCraft. This is an exercise in frustration as much as fun, though. I like (and am good at) resource management and general strategy, but I suck at real-time combat and single-unit tactics. And the last Zerg level is really nothing but combat. *sigh*

At least there's a backstory. The vast majority of the games out there seems to be variations on Random First-Person Shooter XIV, with little to no worldbuilding or backstory. I wouldn't mind trying to run a roleplaying game in the StarCraft universe. The only shooter I can think of for which I'd even consider the idea is Halo, and, well, that's Bungie.

I really enjoyed Master of Orion II. I want more games like that. Unfortunately, it appears that Masters of Orion III isn't. I wouldn't mind having another shot at StarCon II, but that was never released for Mac, and I'd need a college student to play through the combat for me for the first third of the game, until my tech level gets high enough for me to manage combat without getting myself killed.)

*sigh* I find that I'm playing through individual levels of Majesty without getting much out of them. (It's a swords-and-sorcery sim game, for those who have never heard of it.) That has the resource management, but not the strategy. If I could cross Majesty and Warcraft II, I'd have something pretty close to my perfect game. But no one's going to write that.

Back to working on my GURPS stuff . . .

Comments

[princejvstin.livejournal.com]

MOO III was bad.

Very very very bad.

Majesty was all right, not bad at all.

Let me guess--you are looking for a strategy game that isn't all about combat, perhaps with a story, yes?

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Indeed. And that exists in a legally available format for the Mac. Got any suggestions?

[memeslayer.livejournal.com]

There's been an unfortunate bit of genre shrinkage over the past several years. Many types of games that were once numerous(adventure, strategy, flight-sim) are now almost unheard of. But I'm afraid that "Mac gamers who aren't interested in action, sports, and RPGs" wasn't a very large group even in the good old days.

I suggest downloading a console emulator(SNES9x, say) and trying out some old(er) school gaming. I still think you would like console RPGs, but if that doesn't work there's plenty of other stuff out there.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Spouse has a PS1. Anything you might recommend for that?

[memeslayer.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, only half the good games ever made. :)

eBay is your friend for PS1 games. You can get most of them for about $10. If you want something right this second, Best Buy has cheap games too. The only limiting factor is how much time you're willing to put in, and that will steadily increase as time goes on.

This is only a list of the best games; there are a lot more out there that are worth playing.

RPGs:
Final Fantasy IX makes a good starter RPG.
Final Fantasy VII is generally considered to be the best RPG on the PlayStation.
Xenogears is what I consider to be the best RPG on the PlayStation. :)
Parasite Eve is something of a quasi-action RPG thingy. It's pretty good.

There aren't many strategy games(the aforementioned RPGS probably come closest), but the one that stands out is Final Fantasy Tactics, a turn based strategy game with a plot to go with it.

There's an interesting little genre called Survival Horror. It's not everyone's thing, but if you see a copy of Resident Evil 2 lying around you might give it a try. They're sort of like third person action games with puzzle solving, except the emphasis is more on running(survival) than fighting. Not a lot of reflexes are required. A scarier version is Silent Hill. Survival Horror really came of age on the PS2, but that doesn't concern us right now.

The one side scrolling action game you absolutely must play is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

I don't know much about other genres besides those. I've always mostly bought RPGs, because they have the best money/game ratio.

Hope that helps!

[omorka.livejournal.com]

A FOAF was noodling around on Final Fantasy Tactics once while we were waiting for everyone to show up so we could roleplay. (Not exactly ironic, but mildly amusing.) It looked interesting; I might see if I can dig up a used copy somewhere.

[moontyger.livejournal.com]

I don't know; I never cared much for Final Fantasy games in general. Honestly, I am not much for console RPGs at all, because I don't like most of the conventions of the genre. First off, they are incredibly linear. Secondly, I hate minigames. And thirdly, I hate the fact that you need to play the game with a strategy guide, as it is far too easy to mess it up and be several hours in and have to start over because you can't successfully finish from where you are.

I generally enjoy survival horror games, although often they are just too hard for me. Not being a console gamer, I frequently find I have to get someone else to do a lot of the fighting for me as games are made for people who have played these games for years. Of course, survival horror as a genre did not start on the PS1; it started with Alone in the Dark (still a great game). That said, Silent Hill is worth checking out, although I found combat too hard for me... Pretty much the same for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night . If you had a Gamecube, I'd recommend Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem . Great game!

Of course, I am not sure we like the same things in computer games at all, so YMMV with all of this.

[memeslayer.livejournal.com]

The first two things you mentioned are definitely characteristics of console RPGs(although I think the second is pretty minor), but I'm not sure what you're talking about with the third. I haven't found an RPG that you can render unwinnable. If you have trouble, just level up your characters some.

Survival horror is generally too hard for me, too, so I usually turn to walkthroughs for help. www.gamefaqs.com is our friend, although I'm depressingly weak-willed when it comes to resisting the urge to run for help. I figured the puzzle solving aspect of survival horror might do something for omorka.

Gamer geekage....

[cifarelli]

Are you playing starcraft or broodwars? Both have good game play. The difference is where starcraft has good plot, Broodwars has one of the best plots I've seen for a game. But I'm also very partial to the Zerg which may be a factor.

FPS games with actual plot and immersion are few, but Half-life is generally considered the benchmark for a FPS that actually has a story arc to follow.

Played MOO III for a about a month. Some interesting and even good ideas... but poor and spotty implementation. I in theory liked the idea of Macro instead of micro managing. MOOII late games could bog down to a crawl with telling each and every planet what to do this turn. But MOO III kinda set your decisions at a more abstract high level, and then wasn't very transparent about how the planet AIs were trying to carry out your general orders. Also some bad and annoying bugs to start out with like PD weapons not firing and AI buidling *way* too many troop transports.

Have you looked at any of the more recent turn based fantasy stratagey games? I will confess to being ignorant if Mac versions exist, so feel free to flamethrower me if I'm recommending games that you can't play anyways. But can recommend the Age of Wonders II and Disciples II games. Age of Wonder actually play very much like the old classic master of magic. Disciples II is sorta half RPGish in that your unit stacks are a hero with a very small number (max of 5) of other units and the hero and other units all upgrade and gain levels. Disciples II also has great art in my opinion. I will confess to not playing turn based games as much as I used to cause of the slower pace of play and less time on my hands.

Re: Gamer geekage....

[memeslayer.livejournal.com]

Speaking of turn-based fantasy, weren't the Heroes of Might and Magic games released for Mac?

Re: Gamer geekage....

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Indeed they were, at least up to the third one. Is that a recommendation?

Re: Gamer geekage....

[memeslayer.livejournal.com]

Sure is.

Re: Gamer geekage....

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Heh. I never actually got to play Master of Magic. (Pity; it looked interesting.) The Age of Wonders games, similarly, do not appear to ever have been ported for Mac. The first one might be sufficiently old I could get it to run under VirtualPC, but I hesitate to inflict that sort of pain and agony on my faithful little lime-green companion here.

I haven't finished the original StarCraft, and I was under the impression that there wasn't any point to playing Brood Wars until I'd finished the original game . . . or that, at the very least, it would spoiler the end of the original game. If that's not true, I'll see if I can order it.

Re: Gamer geekage....

[moontyger.livejournal.com]

I managed to run Master of Magic fairly recently on an emulator, so you could try that.

I still like nethack

[binaryathena.livejournal.com]

and other rogue like games for turn based combat

for rpg with resource planning, I'm surprisingly found of the browser based, online, multiple player Faith by Dragon Claw Studios. I'm bored with the games of clicking, and I don't like FPS at all

are there Mac versions of Civilization or Pharoah?

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm commenting to my own post, but - anyone ever played King of Dragon Pass? It's a strategy game with Celtic fantasy elements that actually was released for Mac. Granted, it's a little old, but I already admitted I was still playing MoO II. If anyone here played and liked it, I might try hunting it down.