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[Lengo]

I done good. I spent all of $19.99 for Rome Total War + it's expansion, Barbarian Invasions. This is a highly rated game. It gotten scores of 9+ from all game review sites, and even as high as 9.5. For $19.99, I figgered what a bargain! By waiting a few years, I saved probably $60. But it turns out that I've wasted $19.99. This game, like all others, is just a waste of time, and it is totally tedious!

Where is the fun? Rome Total War is an exercise in tedium. Much like Civ Meier's Civilization IV, you take parcels of land, develop and defend them, and capture other territories from AI players. There is no laughter. There is no fun factor. It's an immense problem to solve, and getting to the end involves no joy at all. It's a pastime, and nothing more, just like all other games -- RTS, FPS, Role Players, etc.. Civ City Rome, Caesar, The Settlers: Rise of an Empire, Children of the Nile.... you name it... all lack a fun factor. They're just interesting problems, though most of them are all the same problem with slight variations. There's nothing really new and exciting. They're all variations on a theme, and it appears that the theme that common to all of them is tedium.

Now, I didn't install Gamespy for online play. I gave up on online play years ago. Why? 'Cause all the online players suffer. Most people aren't having any fun, and usually what manifests itself in these games is more misery -- poor sportsmanship and bad attitudes. People aren't starting out having fun. They're looking to make a bad thing better. It's more 'misery loves company' than anything else. There's no laughter. There's no whee or whoopee, and if there is any, its usually met with 'what are you, a poor sport?'.  And many take the game way too seriously. They just gotta win. Without winning, they have no fun at all. They wanna climb the ladder and get to the top, but only one person gets that position, and even he is left asking himself 'was it worth it?' and 'what else could I have done with all those hours?' Hey! Try day or overnight trading on the stock market. You might end up with money enough to take a nice vacation!

Games with high reviewer scores are scored on graphics, user interface, music, and sound.  Very few are scrored on game theory. There is nothing new! There are only slight variations on solving the basic problem, and each basic problem is one of the genres -- RTS (real time war machines -- there's something worth learning), FPS (jumping, leaping, and playing soldier, which kids used to do outdoors and at least get a little exercise), RPG (running around, collecting things and incvreasing your status). Hey, try collecting stamps or coins -- when you're done, you'll have something tangible and most likely valuable, unlike the junk you collect in a game, which is worthless!

I've had it! I'm done with computer games. No matter how technically excellent a game may be, there are very very few that actually have a fun factor built into them, and none of them offer up tangible rewards. Most are frustrating due to the level of tedium you have to put up with, or frustrating because they do little more than the game that sits beside it on the store shelf, or frustrating because they are broken, and don't work right. They're all the same. There's no real, tangible reward, and they all amount to just passing away the time.  I'm all for passing the time away. I got way too much on my hands. But I wanna have fun doing it, and in the end, I want something to show for it. "Top of the ladder in Medal of Honor" just doesn't fit on a résume, and conquering all of Europe in Rome Total War isn't gonna win me any respect from anybody I know.

Rome Total War -- 9.5. That 9.5 is the level of tedium. It isn't the level of fun. I have more fun carving a bar of soap into a cigar store indian, and in the end, at least I can wash with it. I need another game like I need a hole in the head. I have plenty of those too -- the proof lies in the number of computer games I have on my shelf!

[crowebird]

its all strategy... im sorry you dont like the game but I love it!
And honestly the game is alot of fun.. there is so much to do from managing your cities and taking your armies against others and actully playing the battles out on the map, which is fun, visually pleasing and a good startegy can help you win the battle even if you are outnumbered...
which is what I think is the great thing about the game, it brings in variety, you got map conquest, which is trun based, but when it comes time to actully battle, you can play the battle out real time...
you have to consider what to upgrade, and buy, or how to structure your armies and consider who will make good allies or trading partners.

I have moved on from Rome: Total War to Medieval II:Total War + its expansion and the game is great!  Visuals are better with many improvements... I like all the new civs... including fighting in the americas, and hotseat campaign is sweet with a friend...

I guess its all taste, but I love this series.

As far as variations go, there is so much out there that its hard to vary from somthing somewhat to another... you could say that goes for all things, everything ever written is just a variation of homers illiad or the odyssey. Any story you read can find roots in those two stories... so whats the point of reading anything else when its already been written thousands of years prior.

I guess its a matter of appericiating what the game has achieved and understanding its uniquness and also that it is probably going to have ties to another game.

[crowebird]

if you want to try somthing different seach for Eets or Gish, both cheap games and fun or maybe go for a different series... have you tried the half life series? amazingly fun games with one of the greatest story lines that keeps you guessing and wanting more... and now with all the side stuff they are adding in, such as portals, which is a fun standalone game (even though short) but it connects with the seires so much and keeps you locked into the series trying to figure out the answers.

[Lengo]

No thanks. I'm done with games. They're no longer satisfying.

[MaxBeta]

   That's a very good breakdown on how games have not progressed in content variations widely enough to hold the entire realm of hopeful players eager and interested.
As individuals looking for entertainment it has to work..or else.  (My sister doesn't play any ""boxed" games..but she can spend an entire evening playing Spider Solitaire..never ever has said she's tired of the game.. and for me ..one session with it drives me nuts.)  So it comes down to how our endurance and tolerance..to either take what games offer..or find something that we can assign accolades to producing what satisfies our expectations.

I've played so many games..that ..after spending time with them, left something to be desired.  I continually buy they next one..kind of like having a box of chocolates..and looking for that ONE chocolate that you like best (mine's caramel creme) ..  I guess that's why we go into a feeding frenzy when yet another New game is released.. we all hope it will hold that magical entertainment potion.  Sadly like, Lengo has pointed out..we get a boat load of the same old same old game mechanics.  Which in turn makes most of us hopeless optimists ..that the NEXT one will change...to something exclusively earth-shattering to play.   

Those of us who do have (ample) time.. you have to do what you like to do..it can't be anything else or it won't be right.. period.   

Hope you DO find what makes your time exceptionally GOOD for you Lengo.   

[Sandra]

Everyones different, I love playing my games, I only buy the games I know I'll play and that doesn't include war games or FPS, I like the strategy games I like the Tombraider games, I like the Indiana Jones games, and I love scrabble, (although I haven't played that for a long while, too busy with my other games )
My favourite game though, is "The Sims" Sims 1 Sims 2 and very nearly Sims 3, that will keep me going a awhile yet, of course I get bored after a couple of weeks playing the same game, I just play another one, and move back and forth like that, yesterday I was playing "Zeus Master of Olympus" the week before that "Pharoah", I still get fun out of my games, and there's always the next EP for "The Sims" to look forward to. also Imperial Rome(GotRE 2) is coming out soon along with the Anno 1701 addon. 
I need a new computer

[Lengo]

Spin the Bottle sounds like fun to me.   Anyone up for a game of that?   

[Robin]

Kinda hard to play online .  .  . 

You could try chess via message board .  .  . 

[MaxKos]

 
Hello Lengo, hope your well

I see your going through a gaming blue period, it happens to me quite frequently.  I still haven't got the right incentitve to start The Guild 2 and X3 Reunion yet I'm not in the mood for all that depth and commitment yet.  I never really got into Rome Total War I think its something to do with manoeuvring large blocks of troops into rigid formations and the campaign left me cold.  One day I'll get Medieval Total War 2  because I enjoy the historical medieval period more and the squads are more flexible.

If you want some fun and a laugh try SWINE by Stormregion it was made available for download free, its a parody of the French and Germans in the Second World War with rabbits and pigs taking their parts each side has more than 800 different sayings and are extremely funny and don't take themselves seriously as they lob shells at each other from their tanks etc, its beautifully crafted and worth getting.  Another one is Dungeon Keeper 2 its a type of City Builder underground dungeon fashion and has a lot of quirkiness and mad behaviour.

I recently got Besieger and enjoyed playing the RTS siege and strike game, pathfinding a bit of a chore but the beautiful scenery is worth it. 

A great find today was The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle Earth 2 and its expansion The Rise of the Witch King, I looked at it a year ago but it was too expensive but the local Game store has them on offer 2 for £25 and on installing the first I'm impressed, great artwork/graphics, good interface and most importantly the programmers have got the code right I'm beginning to expect Company of Heroes standard squad movement with all games now, were the squads react defensively or offensively on their own accord and we should expect this now as a given in 2008 and any less should be rejected.  Because in the main the designers/programmers haven't advanced with the same degree as the great strides made in the graphics department.   

Hope your gaming appetite returns in the near future

Bon Apetit

Maxkos     

[Lengo]

Hello Lengo, hope your well

.....

If you want some fun and a laugh try SWINE by Stormregion it was made available for download free, its a parody of the French and Germans in the Second World War with rabbits and pigs taking their parts each side has more than 800 different sayings and are extremely funny and don't take themselves seriously as they lob shells at each other from their tanks etc, its beautifully crafted and worth getting.  .....
.....

Hope your gaming appetite returns in the near future

Bon Apetit

Maxkos     

Now, that sounds promisiing.  I'll look for that.  Thanks for the tip and kind wishes.