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ValorianEndymion

User review which I have written for Undernauts - https://t.co/MZgBTfZnj1 #review #gamereview

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ValorianEndymion's GOTY 2021 Extended Cut

Like I said in the GOTY list, there was a change for me maybe to write a more extended version of that list, and here it is, in fact more that an extended cut, I decided to add a particular omission, which will be the first entry here:

Dwarf Fortress

While writing the first 2021 GOTY list, I end forgetting a rather small game, which I forget to put, there, because, 2021, was the year which at last figured how to play Dwarf Fortress.

Now you may hear a lot about DF begin this impossible to learn game, but this is very far from the truth, while it is complex it is not impossible, I feel is that what might be an ideal way to learn it is instead of trying to do everything all at once, is instead to do in small parts, once you got the basic loop of functions, just go to the wiki and check any doubt a particular moment.

There is a video which for me was the ideal start —

I really recommend checking this one out, because, while this wasn’t my first time trying to get in DF, this video did the trick for me. From it, I grasped the basic and could either figure out the rest or just checked the wiki for details.

Once I grasped the essentials, I was off — My first proper Fortress ended quite short due I not really figured the whole thing about dwarfs need for drink and the winter coming. The second and third ended due to a werebeast attacking, in both cases some dwarfs were bitten and later become werebeasts themselves, causing a spiral in chaos.

There were more several tries, with some running fairly smooth, other ending in disasters, such when I forget to lock a door and a Forgotten Beast sneaked all the way from the caves to the fortress. There was also my first Goblin Siege, which I manage to win… sort of… like I win, yes, but let’s say a lot of dwarfs died that day.

Other time I had a fortress, where I managed to build a proper water cistern, but somehow two dwarfs end fighting and one of them throws or forced the other to enter the cistern causing him to die and later dwarfs become horrified as they notice blood in the water…

Then there was one fortress, where everything as running really smooth, I had tons of visitors, but one day, everything goes downhill, as one visitor throws a tantrum, causing a fist fight with another visitor, numerous people inside the tavern tried to report it, but end causing a jam, during which somehow the fist fight escalates even further. Soon, everybody is fighting everybody. When it finished, there were tons of Dwarfs dead all around, well almost everybody in the fortress was dead…

Now you might realize, this which I just described is all disasters, that in any other case would never happen in other games, however, in DF…

LOSING IS FUN.

WELCOME TO DWARF FORTRESS.

Super Robot Wars 30

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Getting this game in English in a worldwide release was a huge surprise in every level, maybe not that much, since maybe Bandai tested the waters with the release of SD Gundam G Generations Crossrays, slightly before. Anyway, part of me hope that mean that possibly Idolmaster Starlit Stage might be release in the west, since it is also a Bandai franchise, and come on, it is already on steam, just region locked (So close but so far).

But back on track, SRW 30 is a tactical rpg, featuring a cast of lots and lots of characters from many franchises, which I can only imagine the nightmare was to get all the licenses.

While in the tactical level, the challenge isn’t great and maps are often simple, SRW real charm lies in both the attack animations and the character banter, from seeing characters from completely different origins reacting to one another, then making actual bonds and even having some deep conversations. Also, the game is a very good way to introduce you to shows you might not be heard about, at least for me, it was this game which introduced me to Getter Robo, because when I heard Ryoma´s theme, from Shin Getter Robo, Yuusou (Heroism) during his first attack animation, I knew I what to figure what kind of show it was.

Mount & Blade: Bannerlord

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Mount & Blade is a unique game, but I need to make draw some comparisons, it would be with some older games such as Defender of the Crown (86), Pirates!(87), Sword of the Samurai (89), Darklands (92). The reason is that M&B (from the original version, to Warband to now Bannerlord) is games feature several systems together in a living world. You can be a merchant, trading and making profit, a mercenary or vassal or even make your own kingdom, there is a lot to do.

The main attraction is the massive battles and sieges you can find yourself in, and here is where I think the developers stuck gold, because while sometimes, games which try for authenticity focus on making the input of the command feel realistic, which often result in the said input becoming annoying to do, in M&B, the inputs are simple and fluid, but some special attention is given to mounted combat, which still simple and fluid, they made in a way where being on a horse feel very different from on foot, because while mounted you can hit a lot harder, move much faster.

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Meaning also that there is no other game where losing the horse feel like a really dangerous thing, to the point, that M&B can quickly turn in to “Richard III Simulator”, where you scream your kingdom for a horse, specially when your horse is killed, and you are away from friends, surrounded by enemies. Oh, also due to the focus on mount combat, this game makes horse archers feel really dangerous, specially if your force is the most on foot or your horses are slower, since you cannot catch up.

But some far I described Mount & Blade as whole, but what about Bannelord? So far, I am really enjoying, the main concept is a sort of prequel to Warband, where you have the Caldrian Empire falling in a sort “Crisis of the Third Century”, splitting in several parts, while new power emerge around it. So you have this dynamic between, an imperial power clinging to its last glory, powerful new kingdoms emerging around it. You can see this not only in gameplay, but in the attention to detail for the architecture of each faction, to its weapons and armor.

Total War: Troy

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While during release, was a bit unfocused game, unsure if wishes to goes in historical or fantasy way be means of going in the middle, where most fantastical elements were given logical explanations, such instead of centaurs you have nomads on horseback and so on. With the Mythos dlc, which at least put it in the fantasy genre, Troy maybe find it footing.

But even before this, Troy is excellent Total War, from its performance, like seriously, Troy loads really fast in comparison to Warhammer II, to amazing maps and unit visuals.

In fact, strange as it to say, the Mythos expansion, while add a lot of features, I find that playing the historical mode, is also very fun, even if the mode is very simple.

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Humankind

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This might be the longest part of this blog, at first I thought to separate and write a review, however, with the new DLC and maybe patches coming on, I maybe write a review or a long blog post later, but for now here is my thought on Humankind.

Like I said in my GOTY list, Humankind most immediate comparison is oblivious to Civilization, however, I think that due to the heavy emphasis on player expression a through a lot of systems, the closer comparison would be to Call to Power. The reason, is that Call to Power, tried different approach to “civs”, there, you just pick up a name, there were no exclusive units, no special abilities, the problem is that this mean the game felt very dry and lacked a personality, making every run feel like the same run.

In Humankind, instead of choosing a fixed “civ”, you have a rather fluid system, where at each period, you can change and adapt. These have both good and possibly a bad sides, in one hand you have much more flexibility, in the other however, the world feel lack a sense of identity or better saying a sense of constancy, well that also would not be very accurate either, because in Humankind the constant element isn’t the “civ” but rather the avatar. Still, it does not work very well…

While you can create your own avatar, you can only have one at the time, which is a bit strange, as you might wish to have a different avatar for different plays.

On the visual aspect, the Humankind avatars are slightly less cartoonish than the ones in Civilization, but the customization options are a bit limited, while your clothes does change as you change from Civ to Civ, in the end game everybody got boring business suits. That said, you can customize some traces for your avatar, which will affect how it will behave if other people use it, you can even download other peoples avatars.

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Another major difference, is the less emphasis on fixed victory conditions, instead Humankind uses a system of “stars” and “points”, you gain “stars” by doing activities, such as research, combat and so on, get enough of them, and you can advance change your civ or keep using the same one and each civ, depending on it focus gain star from certain stuff more easily (like a military civ gain military stars way easier). Now combined with this, you have points, which measure your fame, which like the star you gain as you play and by the end the one with most points win.

This mean that while in Civilization you might feel a strong pressure to be on a certain curve and style of play (from beginning to end), from which if you fall out is hard to recover, and that might let the playing session feeling as wasted, in Humankind, you have a more flexible way, as you can tech up when using s tech based civ, goes in war while in a militaristic one and on, which mean you can sometimes get back on track if you fall behind.

Now the final victory condition s while is more subtle, is still there as often where either you hit 600 turns or someone reaches the Industrial Age, suddenly the game blow the horns telling that time is up. This isn't like a Paradox game, where while there is a score is so unimportant that no one really cares (serious, many people with tons of hours might not even see that end screen) and does not mean much, if anything Paradox games are like the saying “is more about the journey that the destination”, this mean that there is less of the pressure to be optimal and more on self-expression.

Moving from this, let's talk a bit about conflicts:

Sometimes conflict in Humankind (and maybe not limited to it, but to the genre of civ style of 4x) frequently appear to come too soon, where you are largely unprepared or too late, where either you have so much power it does not matter. Which is a shame, because the main concept in Humankind is the idea of conflicts being decided by how can lower the other war exhaustion bar first. Meaning, you can win conflicts in rather decisive ways and then enforce peace. Battles themselves are a lot of fun and can get pretty massive as enough armies are around, and sieges can be a blast.

On the part of building and administration, Humankind is way more a successor to Amplitude previous work, Endless Legend, where you have the map divided in provinces, which can either have a city or maybe annexed to one. Meaning, that the actual size of your empire, is often quite small, often between one and four or five cities, with several provinces annexed to each one. Improvements, are either build direct in to the cities or around in the provinces, and on this part, Humankind shines, because building, expending your cities is almost zen like, because on both the visual and mechanical aspects, it very fun to see it happening.

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