Tag: Opinion

There are a couple of things I want to get out of the way first. One, shout out to my friend @codyaparis for picking this up for me. I wouldn’t have been able to get this one without him. Second, this is in no way a full or even partial review. This is just my initial impressions after the first three or four hours for the people that may be on the fence about picking it up.

I have played my fair share of Paradox games and grand strategy games, I am by no means an expert but I have some experience. Enough experience to say while not the easiest one, this isn’t a bad place to start. The combat is easy enough to learn but deep enough that you will need to think before you act or build your army. I loved that unlike Victoria 2 if I took over an entire country I could simply take the whole thing rather than the original piece I wanted. There is a punishment for this tho. Do this too much and the countries around you will get pissed. It is a nice balance.

The tutorial was nice as well, better than most of the other paradox games in areas, in other areas tho it could have used some work. It has you build ships but it doesn’t do a very good job of telling you how to get on them. It works similar to other games so it wasn’t too big of a deal but there are other areas where they simply don’t explain things. Don’t worry tho, the Paradox community will happily help you out. I am writing this the day of release and there are already how-to videos, and I have watched them all week.

I will have a better review probably in a week or two, but as of now the game is fun and has very few problems and looks pretty damn good. If you are on the fence and have played other titles, the first few hours have convinced me it was worth the wait. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

We have all seen it, maybe some of us even participated in it. Not in the joking “git gud” to your friends sort of way when they died 27 times 12 minutes into Dark Souls either. You know the type I am talking about, the type that snaps over the idea of Elite Dangerous getting some features that make the game more approachable for newcomers or that will openly bash and complain over people using docking computers. Don’t get this confused with people that have the legitimate argument that all games aren’t made for everyone and you should improve your skills, not dummy down the games.

For example, I suck at puzzle games and first-person shooters aren’t exactly my strong suit. The answer for me was to not play puzzle games much and to practice at shooters I enjoy playing. Dark Souls type games simply require more practice than most games but demanding an easy mode would change the entire concept of the game. This isn’t the same as complaining over things that don’t do this.

Flight assists in most flight games don’t change the fundamentals of the game and for me, this is the key difference between attempting to be a gatekeeper in gaming or not wanting the fundamentals of a game changed. Is what you are asking for going to change the fundamentals of the game as a whole and does it even have anything to do with you? This is really the key point in all this if it isn’t something you are forced to use and doesn’t do anything to the gameplay for you personally, why bash others or complain? Sure I don’t think Dark Souls type games need an easy mode, I just won’t use it. Worse, bashing others that may want it (and not in a friendly banter way) doesn’t do anything besides make all gamers look bad. We already have enough problems with the media claiming games are making people violent school shooters.

So let’s focus on improving how we personally play or helping our friends get better and stop making the industry and fans, in general, look like jackasses by trying to make sure only people we feel are worthy play our games. Don’t get me wrong, by all means, joke around and bust balls, but we don’t need gatekeepers. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.