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Lengo
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« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2011, 07:12:55 AM » |
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Well...... um..... I dunno how to advise you. I've played many of the City Builders, and there is nothing like what you describe.
Every game, whether it's a city builder or not, is a simplified model of the mechanics of the real world. Role Players are for people who like to adventure and collect an inventory. Shooters are kill or be killed, but the player never has to fear being permanently put out of the game. However, these provide an adrenaline rush. City Builders must be simplified because there is no way to include all that is necessary to model the real world with all it's pitfalls, traps, and swindles. It simply cannot be done!
I think the best question for you is what are you looking for, and what are you willing to sacrifice in a game? Do you want a long, time consuming game? What kind of 'personality' are you looking for? A serious minded one, or a fun, friendly one? Fun and friendly appeals to me more, but also does complexity over simplicity (except for the user interface). Having lots to manage is appealing to me, and yes, like you, I'm never fully satisfied. Every game has it's shortcomings. Perhaps the best advice I can offer is don't expect too much. Get a number of games and take what they have to offer. Play one for a while, then another. Soon, you'll learn which appeals to you the most. These will be your 'keepers'. Shelve them, and fire 'em up when you want 'this quality' or 'that quality'. A good library is essential to keep you entertained. Build that library. Keep it. Draw from it when you feel like playing this way or that. Sell the ones that totally disappoint you. Keep the ones that give you a fair amount of satisfaction. But realize that none will be totally fulfilling. Nothing is in the real world, and nothing is in computer gaming. There is no such thing as a perfect game.
New and latest is not always better than old and dated. 3D graphics don't make for a better game. A better game relies on a good model, not icing on the cake. Some older games provide better models than the new ones! More sophisticated can be frustratingly laborious. More simplified will likely be less fulfilling, but they might be more fun. And the user interface is all so important! Look for games that allow you to get things done easily with as few mouse clicks and menus as possible. Also, look for games that have tons of complexity. The more complexity, the better the model. Building in a user interface that makes the complexities easy to manage takes a lot of talent. Developers are NOT here to make masterpieces! They are here to make money. They are not going to spend the time it takes to make it as good as possible. Adequate is what they shoot for. Adequate makes them more money.
Civ 4 is one of the best turn based games. Medieval total war is a good turn based game. Civ City Rome is a real time game that has tons of entertainment built in, but it is more a toy than a game. It is too easy to be called a real game. The original Tropico is a good real time game. Tropico 3 is more polished, but it's more simplified. Both present different ways to meet the challenges. Roller Coaster Tycoon is an entertaining game, but it is less a game and more a toy. It is more a pastime, but it is fun nevertheless. 1701 a.d. has plenty of challenges, but the biggest challenge is sitting long enough to complete a game -- there is too much to accomplish, and it drags on and on. Children of the Nile is good in short doses, but it seems to always play the same, and the challenge is dealing with surprises. This game, and others like it, present you with surprises along the road to success, and it's difficult to prepare for them. You'll find yourself playing the same mission again so that you get prepared for the surprises.
No game is perfect, but some are better than the others. What matters is 1. what appeals to you, and 2. what you are willing to tolerate that the game lacks. So, the best advise I can give you is buy old ones on the cheap. Try these. They may or may not satisfy, but you'll spend less on older games, and a few will be satisfying. Also, buy new games, but only after enough time has passed so that you can read reviews written by users, not professional game reviewers. The end users are more likely to tell you the truth. The professionals have a conflict of interest, and also spend only a limited amount of time playing before they review it. The conflict of interest they have is that they want the publisher to keep sending them free games to review, so they glow about this or that, and refuse to say 'but this part sucks big time'. They moderate themselves because they want the titles coming. Without games to review, their magazine will fail to make a profit, so they gotta keep the publisher happy. So, read end user's reviews. Try to figure out 1. How old and educated is the player who reviewed it, and 2. How realistic is the review, whether it is positive or negative. This is a challenge! Both the magazine and the end user can lead you to spend money foolishly. Many end user reviews have built-in complex models of expectations. Many people are unrealistic.
So, wrapping it all up, you want to build a library so that you can satisfy a particular want at a given time. No game is going to be perfect. Building this library can be frustrating, but it's at least fun to learn how to play a game, even if it turns out to be a clunker. The challenge lies in finding the ones that satisfy YOU the most. You can't rely on others to describe a game, but you can get an overall idea whether it's worth purchasing or not. And it will take some time to build a library of keepers, but getting there, is just like a game! There's pitfalls and swindles. There are complex questions. To get the real lowdown on one, takes experience and wisdom. But you will end up with a library to draw from. It is this library that is most important. No game will be completely satisfying. It takes a number of them to do this.
Here's my short list of keepers:
Tropico Mucho Macho edition
Tropico 3
Civ City Rome (more a toy than a challenge)
Medieval Total War, but only for the turn based side
Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Stronghold Crusaders (more an RTS, but fun, and a game is not too time consuming
Command and Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour (RTS with a few elements of city building, and has exciting explosions and a real challenge when played on the hardest difficulty setting
1701 a.d., but this game takes HOURS to complete and the game is very predictable.
These are my picks. Other people will list theirs. The games that are found in multiple lists are your best bet, but not one is going to be fully satisfying. It's the library that counts. Build a good library, and you'll be a happy gamer.
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