Are you playing a new game when it was just released?

[OneMoreFarang]

Over the years and decades I played a couple of PC games. Often I didn't finish them.

Now, since the lockdown, I played for many hours Anno 1800. It's a great game. But sometimes I think it's just too much.

The game was originally released a little over a year ago in April 2019. And at that time it was already huge and complex.

And since then lots of extra DLCs (DownLoadable Content) were released which make the game even bigger and more complex.

 

I bought the game for a special price (original from Ubisoft) with lots of the "new" DLCs and that is how I started my first game. Too complicated!

Then I started it without any of the DLCs and started to work out how to do things right. It takes some time but it's manageable.

I checked lots of websites about it, lots of YouTube videos, etc.

A few days ago a new DLC was released, more options...

 

It seems many players, and especially YouTubers, played that game right from the beginning when it was released.

And when a new DLC was released they knew already the "basic" game and made new videos about the new DLCs.

The early users also reported some bugs. And later updates in the game like statistic pages make it a lot easier to play which are not described by the early users - I am pretty sure these statistics did not exist at the beginning.

 

I am continuing to play it and slowly I get used to the extra DLCs. But I ask myself: Should I have started with this earlier? And in case I want to play a new game should I look for one which was just released or should I just play anything I want even if it's years old.

 

What is your experience? Are you one of the first players of new games? Do you look at tips and tricks videos to learn how to play? Do you play the latest DLCs?

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by OneMoreFarang

[robblok]

I normally buy them later. I recently bought halflife Alyx. Its not too complicated though i am not that far with it yet. I am an occasional player. Do wish it had a bit more shooting bit less puzzles. But the graphics are great. Best in VR so far.

[BigStar]

I might play a game that looks appealing not long after good reviews are published, if they are. Looking now towards Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, robblok said:

I normally buy them later. I recently bought halflife Alyx. Its not too complicated though i am not that far with it yet. I am an occasional player. Do wish it had a bit more shooting bit less puzzles. But the graphics are great. Best in VR so far.

I remember Half-Life 2, I played and enjoyed that a long time ago.

And more recently some drone guy created these things, great idea.

 

[robblok]

The game itself is nice, and VR makes it quite nice too. I was just used to a bit more shooting bit less searching. Still its really nicely made game. 

[Logosone]

I buy them first. Most recently I couldn't wait to play Civilization 6, perhaps one of the most complex games ever made.

 

If you like complex games Civi 6 is worth the money.

[OneMoreFarang]

8 minutes ago, Logosone said:

I buy them first. Most recently I couldn't wait to play Civilization 6, perhaps one of the most complex games ever made.

 

If you like complex games Civi 6 is worth the money.

I played that a couple of years ago and I liked it. But after a while I knew how to win and it got boring.

I liked especially the option to chose the game speed. It could be finished in a couple of hours or maybe a week.

[tgw]

I actually was a beta tester for Anno 1800.

It's by a wide margin not the most complex game I played.

 

In my opinion, the golden age of PC games has passed.

There was a moment in time when the majority of PC owners were nerds, so many PC games were made for that market.

 

Superb games for the times, Sim City, Capitalism II, Diablo, Anno 1602, Panzer General, Alpha Centauri, Civilization, Master of Orion II, Starcraft, etc... After that, creativity seemed to leave the game design world.

 

Most of games today are designed for ADHD schoolboys with a 2 minute attention span.

 

Games such as Anno 1800 are an exception, but their complexity is... like drowning in disorganized UI with big icons and confusing overview. Game designers do that on purpose to make the game seem more complex than it is.

In the past, we had games that were complex and we had user interfaces that were made to provide the player with the best management tools helping to achieve the best results.

Today, they instead confuse the player with impractical interfaces and big icons while skirting the actual design work to improve the game's strategic depth.

 

I am also amazed that AI in strategic games has not become better in 20 years.

 

Let's face it: the majority of today's computer games are just marketing products without a soul.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by tgw

[tgw]

17 minutes ago, Logosone said:

I buy them first. Most recently I couldn't wait to play Civilization 6, perhaps one of the most complex games ever made.

 

If you like complex games Civi 6 is worth the money.

how does it compare to civilization IV ?

[Logosone]

9 minutes ago, tgw said:

how does it compare to civilization IV ?

It actually underlines your point above, I thought Civi 6 was not as good as previous versions.

 

I don't like the fact you don't build your own roads anymore, but traders do, and before you know it other countries have built roads to your cities.

 

I also don't like the overly cumbersome movement in Civi 6 due to terrain penalties like hills etc.

 

Nor do I like that you have to keep track of civic and science progress separately, as well as envoys, it has become a bit too complicated it seems.

 

Still, it helped bridge the recent imprisonment, and to me the Civilization franchise, together with Oddworld, is probably as good as it gets. I don't like 'Last of Us' or 'Resident Evil' type games, nor Final Fantasy or GTA (Though Driver was good).

 

I tend to agree that there are now so many franchises that whilst those are constantly worked on, there is less originality. 

[OneMoreFarang]

12 minutes ago, tgw said:

I actually was a beta tester for Anno 1800.

It's by a wide margin not the most complex game I played.

 

In my opinion, the golden age of PC games has passed.

There was a moment in time when the majority of PC owners were nerds, so many PC games were made for that market.

 

Superb games for the times, Sim City, Capitalism II, Diablo, Anno 1602, Panzer General, Alpha Centauri, Civilization, Master of Orion II, Starcraft, etc... After that, creativity seemed to leave the game design world.

 

Most of games today are designed for ADHD schoolboys with a 2 minute attention span.

 

Games such as Anno 1800 are an exception, but their complexity is... like drowning in disorganized UI with big icons and confusing overview. Game designers do that on purpose to make the game seem more complex than it is.

In the past, we had games that were complex and we had user interfaces that were made to provide the player with the best management tools helping to achieve the best results.

Today, they instead confuse the player with impractical interfaces and big icons while skirting the actual design work to improve the game's strategic depth.

 

I am also amazed that AI in strategic games has not become better in 20 years.

 

Let's face it: the majority of today's computer games are just marketing products without a soul.

Interesting.

Have you played Anno 1800 recently? I only started recently so I don't know how the game looked like a year ago. But it seems the developers added lots of details later on. Some are statistics which help to get a good overview.

It would be interesting to hear from you what you think about the game now, after all these updates.

 

[tgw]

17 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Interesting.

Have you played Anno 1800 recently? I only started recently so I don't know how the game looked like a year ago. But it seems the developers added lots of details later on. Some are statistics which help to get a good overview.

It would be interesting to hear from you what you think about the game now, after all these updates.

 

well... I.. err.. after playing the beta, I didn't buy it ????

[jadee]

I mostly discover games a while after they come out. I rarely buy new and I've only once pre-ordered a game - Call of Duty WW2 - I pre-ordered that in 2017 and it didn't disappoint! So much fun, soon became my favorite game. Sadly after a while the player numbers dropped off. It's currently free on PS4 so that has helped - many new players getting into it, helps the online experience. 
The most recent game I bought was Gorn on PSVR - I was so looking forward to that coming out and bought it as soon as it was released - massive fun! Love it! 

[dodgybros]

iRacing, world of tanks, mafia 2, Russian Fishing 4, Fisher online, have about 50 games available