Rob Zacny Posted December 18, 2015 Three Moves Ahead 335: Thea: The Awakening Rob, Fraser, guest Tim McDonald, and Troy "I've got fur, let's make hats" Goodfellow talk about Thea in language that makes it seem like they really, really like the game. Yet that's not entirely true. Mostly. Thea was picked by our Patreon backers as the Listener's Choice game for December, now tune in and hear what our conflicted panel has to say. Thea: The Awakening Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ilitarist Posted December 18, 2015 This episode shows you some cool skills of 3MA crew. Usually the most entertaining kind of review is the one that bashes the book/movie/game. E.g. see Zero Punctuation. Yahtzee often likes the games he's talking about but openly admits it's hard making praise funny so he concentrates on bad things. 3MA guys concentrate on the good. They try to find something interesting and thought provoking in most games. When they talk about bad things it's entertaining too but only highlights how they're able to have an interesting discussion about the games they like without turning it into circlejerk (except when it's about EU4). Great episode, interestring discussion. You mentioned Svarog so I guess it's slavic-based game. I guess Withcer made it a trend. Also Slavs love minigame games and emergent storytelling for some reason. Space Rangers 2, Eador, Age of Pirates, Pathologic, King's Bounty. And they've also participated in Crusader Kings, Heroes and Disciples series. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hexgrid Posted December 18, 2015 On 12/18/2015 at 11:47 AM, ilitarist said: E.g. see Zero Punctuation. The "reviewer who hates everything" schtick can be fun, but it's hard to sustain over the long haul; see, for example, Mr. Cranky Rates the Movies. Sooner or later, the schtick takes on a life of its own, and the quality of the reviews start to suffer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gaizokubanou Posted December 18, 2015 Oh ilitarist, you jest so well! On the game and podcast itself, I'm curious as to why game like this would come across as overtly discrete pieces woven together (to this game's detriment since none of the pieces seem to stand all that well alone)... apologies for being pretty broad there but it is a very broad sentiment. Afterall, all games are ton of very simple interactions woven together but very rarely do you see it pointed out. Like another game that had similar reception was Hand of Fate. I suppose any time a more traditional genre mold is altered, the additions and subtractions must seem more jarring than the rest? Hmm... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fraser Posted December 18, 2015 On 12/18/2015 at 4:16 PM, Gaizokubanou said: Oh ilitarist, you jest so well! On the game and podcast itself, I'm curious as to why game like this would come across as overtly discrete pieces woven together (to this game's detriment since none of the pieces seem to stand all that well alone)... apologies for being pretty broad there but it is a very broad sentiment. Afterall, all games are ton of very simple interactions woven together but very rarely do you see it pointed out. Like another game that had similar reception was Hand of Fate. I suppose any time a more traditional genre mold is altered, the additions and subtractions must seem more jarring than the rest? Hmm... It's more overt in Thea because all of these disparate elements are normally given their own game. There are card games, 4X games, RPGs, survival games -- but Thea attempts to make one game out of all of them. While other 4X games might draw from RPGs or other genres, Thea's different because it doesn't have one part that's dominant. It's not a 4X game with extra bits, because the 4X stuff is given no more attention than the other elements. I think it's also worth noting that none of us found this jarring. Indeed, I think one of the reasons that some of us liked it despite its flaws was because it wasn't traditional. The problem was that, on their own, none of the game's pieces really work particularly well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gaizokubanou Posted December 19, 2015 Yeah 'jarring' was probably way too strong since all of you guys did agree that the game was good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
