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[MaxKos]

 
Hi CB and fellow Citybuilders,

Haven't been on in a while, been involved in Multimedia and Digital Photography projects now its full on Winter gaming season again.  I'd forgotton how good this forum site is and it looks to have a new look, CB 's been busy with the feather duster and blown out the cobwebs!

I was browsing around "Game" store the other day and in the bargain bin was "ParaWorld" by  for £1. 98 what the hell, I remember reading an okayish review on Gamespot and they remarked not to everyones taste but good gameplay and stunning/artwork and graphics. 

I was really looking for something to test a new graphics card out and I was amazed, those designers at Sunflowers really understand Physical Geography and Geology and certainly know how to construct truly realistic landscapes and superb animations (BlueByte have similar skills) too.

I know its not truly city building per se but as your little team venture through different worlds they have to build up extensive village encampments with raw materials specialised artisans, temples animal stockades et al like Earth 2160 there is a huge variety of upgrades and inventions to research and with a population cap it pays to think about what your needs will be, once you get your head around dinosaurs being trained as tanks and artillery platforms and a variety of reactive units who fight well without a lot of micromanagement - the game rocks!

Its like a mixture of Spellforce,SettlersHoK with a touch of Myst thrown in for good measure and in the quieter periods I find myself exploring just for the pleasure of looking at these strange worlds beautifully created its a pity it didn't find a wider audience and now with Ubi taking over Sunflowers the fansite and map base has been extinguished, if you come across it give it a whirl if you enjoy RTS with a difference.

PS:-  CB I notice you over on the Settlers6  forum dispensing your pearls of wisdom and see you like HoK if you get the chance pop over to the SiedlerMap. de site and download some of the fan based maps, those resourceful Germans have really utilised the MapEditor and dug out some features not found in game and tweaked the A I and made some stunning SP Missions that play like mini campaigns with lots of twists- they are not translated though so my little rusty German and Babelfish came in handy.

Must go this new system doesn't like being kept on pause for too long.

Regards MaxKos aka Mac


 

[City Builder]

Thanks for the bit of information, I've been looking at Paraworld for a couple months now and keep waiting to see if it will drop in price anymore.  It's developed by the same people that gave us another game recently though my mind is drawing a blank on what game that was.  Was it Anno that was produced by the same folks as paraworld? Yeah I think it was.  I'll keep my eye out now more for it that someone has actually recommended it.

Between Titan Quest and it's expansion pack, Settlers 6, Two Worlds, and Simcity Societies, I feel like a bit of pulled taffy getting pulled one way or the other and never really being able to concentrate on just one of them.  But that's not such a bad thing in my opinion.

[MaxKos]

Hi CB.

Yes I know how you feel, I'm being a bit serendipidity at the moment or is that eclectic.

AD 1701 is by Sunflowers and as I said before Ubi have gobbled them up into their portfolio so the fan sites have gone.

I've being toying with buying  AD1701 for a while now but as I've played AD 1503 and enjoyed it wondered if there was enough new innovation to make it worthwhile as the price is amazingly holding up here at £17. 99 on both Amazon and Play. com but I've read some good things about it so will probably buy it soon.  Another game I'm going to immerse myself in is The Guild 2 but will wait till the New year when they are going to release it and the expansion for £18 as each individually are about £20.

 At the moment I'm having fun with Settlers 6 and in the main like it a lot, though one serious drawback is the - only one storehouse which I find a bit limiting but I'll say more on that in the Settlers 6 section.

Must go - girlfriend says that dinners in the dog again.

Cheers Mac MaxKos

PS Last year thought you were a Brit didn't realise you lived in Palm Springs, could do with some of that sunshine here, I used to live in Portugal and miss it 

[Anguille]

Yes,

Paraworld is an excellent game that did not get the success it deserved...

Cheers

[pad11]

MaxKos...Anno 1701 is one of the best city builders ever made...that's no overstatement, it is a complete game in its original form and amazingly well put together.  The add on will bring a campaign with it, so if you're on the fence on that one, jump off and grab it...you will NOT be disappointed!  It's difficult without being unweildy, challenging but able to be beat and has a wondeful old world flair!

pat!

[MaxKos]

Ok pad 11:- I surrender I'm coming out with my hands up!
 
Seriously though a while back played the demo and liked it but then swung into war phase and it just kept getting shelved but I'll put it on my early Santa list. 

I was reading your thoughts/review on The Witcher and you've sold me on that too, though I didn't need much prodding and The Guild 2.  Damn! - this forum's getting expensive.

Ref - The Witcher when I read the review I liked the sound of it and thought at the time, at last an adult action RPG.  There are far too few adult games out there even fewer with grit and adult humour.  The last one that made me chuckle was SWINE by Stormregion where pigs and rabbits go to war and their comments as they are doing away with each other are straight out of 'Allo 'Allo with howitzer shells and tanks instead of croissants and frankfurters.  Dungeon Keeper 2 was fun as well and sent itself up nicely.

I suppose with all this politically correct garbage being thrown on us the developers are scared stiff of offending any one, (these goody two shoes have all but killed TV comedy and satire) - probably they think of commercial viability not realising there's a huge army of grown up kids out there.

Oh well better go and rechristen my teddybear in case it offends someone OOPs   

Cheers MaxKos

[City Builder]

I've been putting off getting the witcher, I read some bad remarks about it someplace on a forum, but I may re-evaluate that thought when I have to step out today and will be near a store that sells it.  Maybe I'll make an "impulse" buy and pick it up.

[pad11]

Sorry MaxKos!  Man, but there are some GOOD games out there!

Thanks to CB for a heads up on this, but if you're interested in the Witcher, try and get the UK import:

http://www.gogamer.com/viewproduct.htm?productId=23661470&categoryId=65225

The US version (Thanks CB!!) is a dumbed down version of the game...

pat!

[wizaerd]

I have ParaWorld, and it was indeed a good yet overlooked game.  The interface took quite a while to get used to, but all in all it was an enjoyable experience.

I too have Anno 1701 AD and loved it for a short time.  But it became quite tedious rather quickly, trying to set up the trade routes.  Graphics wise, I thought it was beautiful and I played it with all the setting turned up on high.  But it really could use some work on the interface, there just wasn't enough information presented to the user (all this in my opinion, lots of others disagree with me).  Plus there were some things that were an excercise in futility, such as managing trade routes and consumable products.  I had been looking forward to the Addon, but the Sunflowers site is dead, and I no longer know where to go to keep up to date on information regarding this game.

And lastly, due to the enjoyment I was getting from SimCity Societies, I decided to try out City Life World Edition as well.  It has some odd quirks as well (I'm pretty demanding sometimes in UI and navigation), but I felt that every city I ended up experimenting with always turned out the same.  In lots of screenshots you'll notice lots of duplicated buildings just to get the necessary stats.  Not what I'm necessarily looking for ina  City Builder...