Gaizokubanou

Ahh... end game was lot faster in various phases of early access cause of few exploitable strategies... Like, the camp buffs used to last indefinitely so medium and long dungeons were actually easier and faster because you would just pop camp at start and run the entire thing with really buffed party (buffs were better too). I guess in that sense I got to taste the game before it got too drawn out, as you are probably right that it's probably too drawn out as it is.

Yeah, same impression that new stuff just doesn't shake up the game enough to warrant another playthrough (not to mention new game + mode). Still a good game for sure.

Hah, these micro guided missiles will surely shake up tactics but I guess articles are gonna be articles and try to over emphasize for drama.

Yeah, minus the ridiculous animation problems (aka elevator scene and that other infamous death scene) the show was really made by the tone of the latter half more than the first. Manga has a much more extrovert take on the story and even though the big plot details are identical to the TV series + movies, it's soooooo weird and I doubt something like that would have created such a lasting cultural icon. That being said, I would have personally benefited lot more from original pitched version because this got me way too emo. Reading that manga version sure made me feel better even though it's not as impactful as the original.

Impression I got is, it's like Koei's RotTK or Nobunaga games (supply supply supply) but with revolts that tie in with how low your supplies are overall (which is something I was trying to work on damn) and less focus on characters? Is that a fair assessment Rob/Troy?

hmm I can probably get Korean translated version before English translation is done. Might give that a try.

Praetorians have nothing on my 3 gold chevron peasants from Rome TW

Ah. It's mostly just how big (literally, size wise) of a city you can get I suppose? City builders give you tons of stats to keep track of so you can use any one of those as measuring stick. One really simple and fairly universal aspect would be population... but sometimes you are in the mood to get the skyscrapers, big factories, etc. and more modern day focused ones do tackle pollution so low impact could be another measurement. The genre is mostly really sand-boxy so I think the main attraction is more of meeting your own personal benchmark (which have a general direction of getting bigger city but different folks settle for different size). This is excluding Simcity 2013 of course, for the reasons stated in your linked videos. Also Banished is another weird oddity that uses moment to moment gameplay of city builder but... isn't really a sandbox game?

I personally never noticed any sort of 'victory condition' in city builders... except for ANNO's story mode (which is more of lengthy tutorial to teach you each layer of the game per mission) it's always been about just getting bigger for getting big's sake. I'm not sure what you mean when you are pairing off moment to moment gameplay to victory condition because of that... I mean the video you link states the absence of win-lose condition in Sim City as a point of criticism towards the series

I think the initial stark differences between JRPGs (much more focus on linear stat progression) and western RPG isn't purely random but has something to do with Japan's strict ranking system in academia where every students' academic rankings are public ally posted so you would literally have #1 student, #2, etc. all the way to the last one in the school. Bit tangential but it also explains the heavy focus with 'power level' in anime as well. The lines are getting blurrier IMO cause this 'industry' is moving products and talents across the world so we have ppl in rural USA who grew up playing FF series and stuff. Sim City vs Cities Skyline is interesting comparison because Sim City series brought a very archaic view of how cities grow into city builder genre (this is a view that I learned from Rob in one of 3MA episodes) and like citizens go mad if your tax goes over... 10%??? And Cities Skyline isn't so much as European take on this but weirdly traffic focused take on city builder genre cause dev team behind it made series of traffic management games. @Cordeos, give Koei strategy games a shot because I think their character focused history strategy games are definitely 'different' and interesting take on the genre.

Ahh yeah, general absence of knowledge... reminds me about this guy in college telling me how if you try to follow details of this one ancient battle, elephants in it were teleporting all over the place. Also the hoplite, grrr what were the origins of their name? I vaguely recall my mil prof. asking us that question, with me answering "their shield, hoplon" and him saying that it wasn't but I can't remember the answer or if he was even right (I assume so just cause the guy seemed very bright). And the whole spear under-over hand grip reminds me of intense debates in Rome: Total Realism mod forum (Rome TW mod) cause I for one couldn't comprehend how overhand grip is suppose to work in a dense shoving match. So... was I wrong? fite me irl (jk). I mean heck, maybe they all held however they wanted to early on, kinda weird to now think that there was some unified format that ppl knew on weapon handling. Heck just look at guns, you see ppl holding it 'wrong' even today! And haha Gorm I didn't know about that with medieval ship, something similar I know is that nobody knows how the turtle ship was built cause they built one according to a surviving blueprint and thing wouldn't even float?

I tried by genre like a year ago? then got too lazy because it became pointless when I just delete anything I don't play.

I should ask around to see how that works with Korean cause obviously that place has pretty booming digital economy but it also has hard on for learning English (for this kind of reasons) but the English teaching system is also kinda all over the place. Similar wondering with Japanese but don't know anyone from Japan personally. Chinese is such an oddity cause language is just sooo different and complex that I read even getting new font is an incredible task. But yeah, from my experience growing up in Korea this is a thing there and so far the most practical solution (at least there is one there cause the culture places high value on education) seems to be pretty much 'learn it and deal with it' which... sucks but that's how it is :/ Making English 'cleaner' grammatically would help though. Fuck all those weird exceptions.

I love all the talks about production issues. The focus on technical details is very grounded in a way that's is just refreshing.

Wargame series is mostly RTS with some turn based strategy element for single player campaign. Endless Legend is another nifty 4X.

ohh are you talking about the part where And it really highlights how the whole gameplay (playing super glorified super soldier) has weird contrast to its running theme (war is bad). As a weapon 'nut' who absolutely adores any game that let me indulge my weapon fetisism the way MGS4 or Battlefield 3-4 (or ARMA or Wargame) does that would also self-classify myself as generally anti-war side of things, I'll say it's... complicated. This is a subject that often leads me into ranting about why I love Gundam 0080 because how it relates to this inner dilemma but that's so off topic so best I can say is that weapons have this powerful allure as symbols of power that's very easy to indulge as fantasy (why is katana so cool?), but in reality I get that is also great amplifier of suffering so there is bit of odd (at the face value) compartmentalizing going on there.

How so when everyone is specifically bewildered on the absurdity of the first premise?

Since there is a conversation about persuasion and teaching, my 2 most memorable 'turning point' or 'light bulb' moments were following. In law school my criminal law professor Francione (who also taught me about veganism (he was both one of the most passionate AND most patient person I have met in person in regards to all things 'social justice')) said this really simple thing... it was like "ok so yeah, men also have issues with rape in prison and violence but even when men fear such things, it's fear that other men will commit them, right?" It was the simplest framing that just blew my mind. Much more recent is in regard to trigger warning where couple months ago read that analogy that compares trigger warning to spoilers to highlight how stupid it is to be adverse to having trigger warnings. Heck, it might have been Apple Cider who posted that here? Or was it on twitter?

Oh gosh, this brings back memories of being assaulted in the arcades in my youth.

Are there any games that require an explicit comeback mechanic like that?

Only possible defense I have for Laura Kate Dale is some ambiguous mentions by her about what Wreden told her in a private conversation but AFAIK she didn't say anything about what Wreden said so... yeah I think that is like, super dumb to the point that I'm kinda surprised that the article itself wasn't some sort of parody, which AFAIK isn't given her standing firm on that view.

They probably didn't discuss it because with all participants having that mindset comebacks become a non-issue.

Yeah 'jarring' was probably way too strong since all of you guys did agree that the game was good.

All of this sounds like Metal Gear. Can't wait for someone to have a seizure then change voice/personality and just yell "BROTHER!"

Well if it has one then that completely escapes me as I am a cultural traitor who have switched cultures few times in my short life.