Dawn of Discovery / Anno 1404

[Erkki]

Man, this game is addictive. I almost wish I hadn't bought it. Just completed a 12 h session.

[Erkki]

This game is really good, but I suspect it'll last only for a short while. I've already played more than 30 hours, maybe 40. Played 6 missions on the campaign mode (was beaten on the 6th, decided to try other modes before continuing) and two easy difficulty scenarios (I probably play slower than the average strategy gamer)

A lot of the game is analogous to inventory Tetris: I'm trying to conserve the limited land available so I try to place each individual field of a farm optimally. I don't like that part very much. At least you can destroy/recreate buildings at no cost so if you make a mistake it'll be relatively easy to undo.

In my first scenario, I tried to create a visually appealing city, with wide cider avenues, cobblestone roads etc., but in the next one I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to that because its just better to conserve space as much as possible.

[Roderick]

The Anno series has always been really appealing. Nice to hear the newest one doesn't disappoint.

[Erkki]

I haven't actually played the previous ones. Generally don't play strategy games much at all, unless there seems something really unique/interesting about it.

I've been playing this a lot. Still building the city for the second scenario (4000 noblemen, need 1000 more then it's done). I'm finding I have to move production lines to other islands as I build more houses. The problem is that certain plants can only be cultivated on some really small islands with little space. It's getting harder and harder to satisfy the needs of the population. I guess that's how it's supposed to be near the end of a single game, but I wish this inventory tetris with placing fields didn't exist because it's making the game play a lot slower than necessary.

Also, the game doesn't show as much numbers/stats as I would like. Some summarizing stats screens would have been nice. As it is, I have to monitor all these different places to keep things efficient. I ended up always keeping the browser open while playing with a document about the production/consumption rates of various buildings. I read on some forum that some people even go as far as breaking roads to keep the carts moving as efficiently as possible.

[Grippage]

I've been playing this a lot lately, and at it's core it's a brilliant city builder game for a number of reasons.

It's main problem is that setting up trade routes is too simplified, and it's arguably the most important aspect of this game (no global resources except for gold, every island has its own stockpile). I could go into depth, but as an example, you can't order your ships to fill up 100% at docks, or skip destinations automatically when they are fully loaded (and have no cargo to pick up).

That said, it's highly likely that you will find the overall game experience worthwhile, and maybe the trade route system won't bother you at all. I have an inkling that once I have made a sustainable empire with all buildings unlocked I will consider the game beat, so not much replayability. That said, it'll take you many hours to achieve it, so the $ per minute ratio is good.

It's currently on sale at Direct2Drive for $25 which is a good/reasonable price.

[Grippage]

It's stupid/lame that games are advertised as having multiplayer when in reality you can only

"track achievements, climb leaderboards and challenge others online"

[strangelingo]

This game is really good, but I suspect it'll last only for a short while.

I think that all Anno games are like that. This summer, right before 1404 came out, I've had four-day marathon of previous installment in the series, Anno 1701 and it was enough to get fed up with it and not play it since. It's mechanics provide a good sense of progression but they don't really allow too much replayability in terms of offering you new challenges. It's more of Sim City than Age of Empires, methinks.

But hey, you've just made me reinstall it ;]

[Erkki]

Hmm... this DLC looks like an interesting addition:

http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/anno-1404-venice-dlc

But I'd probably play just one or two scenarios and then not touch it ever again. I might get it anyway.

[dibs]

I went to buy this on steam, and while it is listed, it can't be purchased. :/

[Justin Leego]

Steam pulled it because of patching issues. Anno 1404 Gold (ie. plus Venice) is a few dollars cheap on Green Man Gaming at the moment - but then maybe GMG's Capsule client is why you wanted the Steam version instead?

 

I ended up getting hold of it on disc and patching manually..