Civ 5

OK, so not doing bulletstorm and haven't posted in forever, but no one reads this anyway so who cares.
Civ 5 I've found to be a fantastic game, partially because I've loved every Civ game ever made, and also because this one is a great new take on the series. Here's why.

1. Ranged attacks. This doesn't seem like too big of a deal at first, but when you change ranged attacks from being simply a trait exclusive to artillery units is a huge change and it's for the better. Ranged units aren't just guys you stack the hell out of your cities with, they're the most important units in the game now as they can dish out damage without taking any in return. When you can combine that with other factors like mounted archers you end up with great new interesting takes on combat. You can hit and run, harass, or have a mobile artillery group that's protected by tougher units up front to allow for swift and less costly dismantling of opposing cities and units.

2. Cities, they no longer have a specific health meter, which was really a useless meter that has simply been factored into food as it should have been. More importantly however, you can only have one unit in a city at one time. This changes the game a LOT, but you don't lose that Civ feel to running empires. Forts now have a purpose instead of just taking up improvement space, and Cities can bombard and deal damage when attacked. Basically, now you're fighting the city and not 500 archers that end up with so many bonuses they can kill tanks. It also makes wars much more tactical affairs in that you have to maneuver your units through terrain and pay a lot more attention to previously unimportant combat bonuses. Wars don't just happen around cities anymore, they're fought over forts and valuable areas of land as much as for control of actual cities.

3. The last reason (Though there are many more really) is the hexagonal grid. It works flawlessly. I don't really know why I like it so much more, but it just works. Units seem more maneuverable, cities seem to expand more naturally, surrounding things takes less of a unit advantage, and it just makes the game flow more naturally. Don't ask me how because I can't really tell you, but just play it, it's great.

Well that's all for now, I'll rant on Amnesia: The Dark Descent and why I think it's so awesome next time. A horror game that has you shitting your pants and engrossed in story the first run through and then whets your appetite for speed runs? I think so.

Elder Scrolls 5/Bulletstorm

Hey, and welcome to my blog that no one will read where I ramble about video games and other nerdy nonsense. I'm KP, so let's talk about games.

Firstly, so far this new Elder Scrolls is looking like it's going to blow any other rpg out of the water. Now there are numerous reasons this is the case that have been listed on places like IGN and gameinformer, but I want to take it a little step further. The thing here that is going to make this game far and above the best sandbox game ever is this. Your actions actually matter.

That's right, every decision changes the game world in a variety of different ways, but this claim has been made before. Look at all the games that emphasize choice and having things change due to your choices. What are they all actually talking about? Story. These "decisions" while a great element are usually in the vein of good, neutral, or bad and the only thing they change are what guys you buy your shit from and a few dialogue differences later on. Even the best rpg we've seen so far with choice at the center, The Witcher, while a great effort is nothing compared.

In The Witcher, you make a choice between two options, and that leads to differences in your missions and alignments between the major groups of the game. ES5 however takes out the idea of choice all together, it's not even a question of one thing or the other. Take for example, a town. Now in another game, if you run around killing all the people in the town what happens? The guards chase you, sometimes people respawn but sometimes they don't. Still, you exterminate this town and that's it, done deal.

Not in ES5 my friends. Say you take out a large mining town, one up in the mountains that supplies high quality metal for various blacksmiths. Well now guess what, since you did that, if you can still even find weapons made from the materials mined from that town, they're going to be a hell of a lot more expensive than they were before. Also, any towns that sold food to them are going to be poorer, they have to lower their prices to sell their food thus making them spend less money elsewhere. The taverns and other merchants have to raise their prices to stay in business which leads to a whole other mess of complications and intricacies.

Now another example, lets say you kill a group of bandits harassing a country road. Well now the towns on that road will be more prosperous. Houses will improve, prices will be better, I mean people will LOOK HEALTHIER because they're getting enough food again. The level of depth to this world far outstrips anything previously imagined and looks to be the most immersive rpg ever made. And oh yeah, they're dragons now. Completely unscripted encounters with dragons. The holidays can't come soon enough.

Also I never talked about bulletstorm, I'll get to it next time.