Anybody else playing this one?
Personally, I love it. It involves role playing a character that creates a thriving business in a medieval city starting in 1400. By building and running various types of businesses (the joinery/carpenter, the blacksmith, the perfumer, the churchman, the robber, the town guard, the innkeeper, etc) you make money and advance in society.
The game is fully 3D, but interestingly, you don't have the option of wandering the town in first person mode. Or 3rd person mode. In fact, your character is only visible in certain cut scenes. The graphics are ok, the character models are terrible...straight from the Thief school. Everybody is a blocky looking taffer. The women have madonna pointy boobs. No big whoop though.
The game also has an interesting "round based" design. Each "round" is made up of one pseudo-realtime day that takes place in alternating season/years.
So for instance, the first round is Spring 1400.
Round two is Summer 1401.
Round three is Autumn 1402.
Round four is Winter 1403.
Round five is Spring 1404.
etc
The game even features a weak sort of RTS combat mode!
If you like economic games or medieval games or weak RTS games, this is the title for you!
That sounds like the Caesar series.Originally Posted by SpoofyChop
That does sound interesting. When was it released? I do not think I have seen it EB.
Surely you will notice, but you have assured yourself as the only one playing the game with our choice of answers.
Yeah...I noticed that nobody was replying, so I decided to jazz it up with a poll that would confirm the obvious (that nobody but me is playing this) but that would confirm in in an interactive way that would generate excitement around this otherwise "decidedly non-fantastic" thread.
As far as "where to buy" goes, I did get it at EB, and it was one of two copies that our EB recieved, and the other one had already been purchased.
Here it is at amazon and eb.
So is the combat as lame as some of the Caesar series?
You did get this one dumbass to respond and now look, a second time. You need to be a self help or motivational speaker.
I've had my eye on it for a little while now. Once I can afford it, Europa 1400 and Robin Hood are the next games in line. As you get further into it, let us know how it develops and whether it sustains your interest.
What in-game occupation are you pursuing, and what makes that occupation interesting to play?
Sorry about that Tyjenks...I forgot to answer your question about the weak RTS elements.
I played Ceaser III extensively, but I ALWAYS played it in the non combat mode or whatever. I had heard that the combat was super bad so I avoided it.
Let me briefly describe the combat in E14k:TG.
Well, the combat in Europa is NOTHING LIKE THIS. It involves three or four clicks at most, nobody runs, and it's hard to control the camera. But the blood effects are ok.It was a lovely morning...the air was heavy with the sounds of the babbling brook and the singing birds. As my men and I slowly progressed down the rutted dirt road, we kept our eyes peeled for trouble. Sometimes, even the most idyllic settings give way to dangerous encounters with only a moments notice!
Suddenly, four men burst from the underbrush! "Give us your goods! In return, we may spare your lives...if you're lucky!" I quickly assessed the situation. We four men were hardy souls, and our swords were sharp. The bandits looked bedraggled, but there was ahunger in their eyes...for booty and blood.
Should we drop our goods and run? What would the master joiner say if we returned to the sawmill with no horse, no cart, and no supplies? Nay, courage beckoned! "Stand fast lads, and show these louts their reward!"
At the same moment, four glistening swords sprang from their scabbards! The cry went up, and we charged the ruffians! Immediately one of the bandits fell, bleeding from a gaping wound in his shoulder. I paused only to kick him as I slashed mightily at the leader. His weak parry did not deter, and within a few more seconds, the three remaining louts were hard pressed and looking to retreat.
Suddenly, one of them broke free and ran for the hill. The other two scum quickly followed, leaving their fallen comrade to suffer in the dirt. I kicked him again on the way back to the cart. We continued on sure in the knowledge that our courage would be well rewarded by the master.
Ditto on Caesar III.
I guess from your liking of the game, the weak combat was not enough to turn you off.
The combat seems more like an afterthought so far. Apparently you can play as a robber, in which case I guess it becomes your main activity.
I would probably have made this a turn based combat system instead of the RTS style. If it were turn based and you could actually equip your caravan guards with different weapons etc, then it would add another dimension to the gameplay. All it really adds here is a slight (though weak) diversion.
I thought it looked interesting, but the little JoWood label has me kinda worried. Still, this is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about when I say that developers need to try some more creative role-playing ideas...
Don't suppose there's a demo? It sounds interesting.
And I do agree that Caesar III's combat model was atrocious...And they haven't improved it hardly at all with following iterations. Caesar II's combat was decent (barely), but after that it all went downhill.
I agree with those who avoid it at all costs.
But it was a great, great game. To this day, it's probably my favorite city-builder from impressions, and is one of my favorite games of that style, at all. (Maybe second to Tropico.)
Thanks for the heads up... looked interesting enough that I ordered a copy.
I looked around and couldn't find a demo - that's pretty much a no sale to me. Maybe they'll get a demo out in a month or two.
Not that I've actually played Patrician II since I picked it up and installed it.
This games publsihed by Jo Wood. They published Arx Fatalis. You should try it if you think it might be good, the game... not the publisher. You can't buy a publisher unless you're really rich...you see?
etc
I loved that game...for about a month. I'm sure there's still plenty that I haven't seen, and I really enjoy the game, but...Well, I dunno. I guess other games came along, like they always do.Not that I've actually played Patrician II since I picked it up and installed it.
Patrician II was one of last year's best-kept secrets, though, I think.
On the poll:
I'm really curious as to whether or not there's any rhyme or reason as to who picked which "no" in the poll. It's got nearly a 50/50 split, which I suppose makes sense, but I think there's a psychological study that could be done there. :-)
I picked the no that was behind at the time... root for the underdog, that's me.
I picked "No.", because the absence of the "." in the other choice makes it seem like there may be more going on. Kind of like "No, but I might get it next week". I have no intention to play this game because a) it's not Metroid and 2) I've already played Animal Crossing, so my quota of Games Where You Do Boring Shit And Call It A Game is filled for a while.
Patrician II is a well-crafted, solid program that was clearly the result of a ton of thought and effort, but there was something about the gameplay that didn't quite grab me... I dunno, maybe I need to give it a serious go in a more "European" state of mind or something. I can tell there's a hell of a game in there, but after several tries I haven't been able to wade deep enough into the tedium to find it.
You know, I realized this morning that Europa 14k seems like a continuation of the story of Darklands.
For those of you who never heard of Darklands or played it, it was an RPG from the early nineties that featured a party of four heroes roaming around Germany in 1400 fighting bandits, robber knights, wolves, witches, demons, the Templars, and finally Baphomet.
It had three modes:
1) Travel around the world map
2) Fight stuff
3) Head into town to rest, heal up, learn stuff, and buy stuff.
Interestingly, the town interface was completely menu driven. That's right. It was all menus. And it worked really well too!
Anyway, Europa seems to me to be what I imagine the heroes of Darklands would do once they defeated Baphomet. They'd retire, start a business, get married, have kids, and generally take it easy (or as easy as was possible before the invention of TV and video games.)
In a wierd sort of way, the interface in Europa is actually a kind of 3D menu system. It also feels a lot like Darklands to me in a certain way.
Incidentally, does anybody else know of any other cool Medieval trading or economic games that might be coming soon?
The top games I've played in the last year or so from this genre are:
1) Patrician II
2) Europa 14K
3) Stronghold (sans combat)
I don't understand why people get bothered by publishers. Developers I get. If you played a bad game by a certain developer, you should be wary...but publishers? I just don't get that. They don't make the games. Now some publishers might rush some games, which is bad, but they dont do that with every game, I wouldn't think. If they did, avoid them. But a lot of people avoid games because they played one or two they didn't like under that publisher. I don't understand that. I almost never check the publisher. I bet I couldn't name more than 4 different publishing companies, and I definitely wouldn't know who published my favorite games (for the most part).
I've already lost more time to this game than I would have expected. The fact that you can continue playing the game through your heirs after you die puts a "just one more lifetime" spin on the old turn games.
The best parts are when it imitates life in frustrating and amusing ways. A guy you voted into office for a quid pro quo moves on before he can do you any favors. Unhappy employees talk back to you when you give them a new task. For a while I had a strategy of courting rich old widows right before they died for their inheritance but the biddies kept dying before I could get them to the altar.
Also, an expansion that deals with some of the irritating issues is coming (hopefully in English eventually). http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.p...&threadid=8546
combine this game with darklands... would have one of the coolest games ever made! an in depth economy with an indepth crpg game.
etc
IGN gave it a decent review. "A flawed classc" it is called. The plot thickens. Now if I could only locate a copy.
I believe it even received an Editor's Choice award. He says the graphics, manual, bad coding in parts, and some poor design choices hold it back. Is that about right Spoofy?
I agree that there are some poor design choices, and the graphics are certainly not anything to write home about, although they're serviceable. The manual is actually increibly 84 (small) pages long, and has considerable detail, but it's very difficult to comb through to find out where to perform a certain action.
For instance, there's a shield at the top left of the screen, and your name is next to it. Both of these are clickable, and perform important functions, but I didn't find out until I'd been playing for several hours.
There's definitely some room for improvement, but I wouldn't go so far as to call the game frustrating the way the IGN review does. There are some annoyances, but I don't believe they rise to the level of frustration.
I think you can by it from Chips'n'bits or EBGames.
I looked today at Babbage's/Gamestop and CompUSA. No luck. The mall was too damn crowded.
Because some publishers simply have an affinity for publishing games that suck.
Alright damn it. I hate waiting on Amazon and EB online for games once I order them. Even though I realize if I had ordered the thing when Spoofy brought it up, I would have it by now that is beside the point.
Wife's at work so I am loading up the kid and searching near and far for this one throughout Birmingham and surrounding areas.
You may be saying, "why don't you just call?" Well the times I have called, the 'employees' that answer have many times said, "Huh?, wha?" when I ask about an obscure game (Moonbase Commander for one) and then I go to the store and there it is on the shelf.
Wish me luck :!:
I ordered a copy and it came... but then I decided to give it to a nephew as a gift, so now I'm waiting all over again. :roll:
But I can't be bothered to run around to all the game stores in Austin... too much work for the low probability of success.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote