Microtransactions and mods
Tobold
by Tobold
2d ago
Dragon's Dogma 2, an otherwise decent action RPG, caused a lot of negative reactions by having "DLC" in the Steam shop that are essentially microtransactions. You can buy a currency, or items like fast travel stones or resurrection items for cash. While most of the things you could buy for real money were also available in game, these microtransactions for a single-player game weren't popular. So there was much rejoicing on the news that modders had found a way to give out these cash shop items for free. I wasn't feeling the joy. In fact, I am kind of worried. I like mods. There have been num ..read more
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An evolution in brands and IP
Tobold
by Tobold
3d ago
Imagine you are a huge fan of Baldur's Gate 3. It is 2028, and you see two new games advertised: A game called Baldur's Gate 4, licensed by Hasbro to a new game developing studio you don't know, and a game with a completely new name, made by Larian Studios. Which one do you buy? This scenario has been getting more likely after Larian announced they wouldn't do DLCs for BG3 or a BG4 game. But one has to do a little bit of reading between the lines here. Big companies in the general business of entertainment, whether that is movies or games or something else, put a lot of emphasis on intellectu ..read more
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Not a "fan" fan
Tobold
by Tobold
5d ago
I have already written a bit about Millennia, and I will certainly write more after the game releases and I can play the full version. I am very much looking forward to playing this, as the complex economic system is something I was missing in other 4X games. So you could say that I am a fan of Millennia. But I hesitate to use the term, as there is a connotation to "fan" that I don't subscribe to. Buying a computer game usually requires a bit of money, and playing it requires some time. That is an investment. In some "fans" of a game, the money/time investment leads to a sort of emotional inv ..read more
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Pre-launch game tips on Millennia
Tobold
by Tobold
6d ago
I find myself in the curious situation to already know a lot of details about a game that hasn't even released yet. Millennia will come out Tuesday, but I have already played the demo repeatedly, and watched many hours of streamers playing on YouTube and Twitch. Some of those content creators were well prepared and rather good at the game, allowing me to learn things. Others just tried to play blind, which then made me realize where the pitfalls for the average player might be. So I thought I write this post with some advice for people who would like to start playing Tuesday, but don't have as ..read more
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Influenced by Paradox
Tobold
by Tobold
1w ago
The typical games of Paradox Interactive are not for everybody. They are typically (grand) strategy games, and usually rather deep, which makes them not easily accessible for the casual gamer. There are probably a lot of people out there who tried one of these games, but ended up scratching their head, not having fun, and ultimately giving up on it. There are some which are a bit more accessible, like Age of Wonders 4, and some which are a bit less so, like Europa Universalis 4 (which therefore I haven't played yet). But I wouldn't be surprised, nor would I judge anyone, if a number of my read ..read more
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Grand strategy toys
Tobold
by Tobold
2w ago
Strategy games have some fundamental game design rules to make them work: For example they should be balanced, so that the winner isn't already determined by choosing the starting side. And while some randomness can spice things up, in general the player should be able to make decisions that predictably move the game in his desired direction, albeit against obstacles in the way. I started to play Victoria 3 again, having heard good things about the latest patch 1.6, but all my previous games were problematic: Victoria 3 simply doesn't conform to the above basic game design rules. It is obvious ..read more
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D&D and the state of my tabletop gaming
Tobold
by Tobold
2w ago
Jean-François commented that he would like to see more D&D posts from me. Bad news: I am not currently playing Dungeons & Dragons anymore. A few years ago I had two groups: One fell apart during the pandemic and never recovered, the other moved from playing around a table to a virtual tabletop software called Roll20. Unfortunately the second group last year also fell apart, due to players not having the time anymore. And I haven't found a new group yet. I used to be part of a roleplaying club, but I moved and now live hours away from there, so that isn't a viable method to get back int ..read more
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The electric car experience
Tobold
by Tobold
2w ago
My wife bought a fully electric car, and I wanted to write about our experience with it. Due to differences in national and regional conditions and regulations, not all of our experiences are relevant to other people. There are still a lot of first-world problems here that one might consider trivial in the global context. But there are also a bunch of more fundamental issues behind all this, which then translate to problems with the path towards general electric mobility as a significant piece of the puzzle towards climate neutrality. The first issue here is price. A fully electric car is mor ..read more
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Paradox spring offensive
Tobold
by Tobold
3w ago
It is easy to believe, albeit fanciful, that a company that mainly makes grand strategy titles does have some grand strategy in mind with their marketing and game releases. At least for Paradox Interactive it currently feels as if they are in the middle of launching a spring offensive. Between February 27 and March 6 new DLC with accompanying large patches are released for Age of Wonders 4 (Primal Fury), Crusader Kings 3 (Legends of the Dead), and Victoria 3 (Sphere of Influence). Where does one find the time? I am currently playing the Primal Fury DLC for Age of Wonders 4, having bought the ..read more
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Is there an advantage to be large in the video game business?
Tobold
by Tobold
3w ago
In October 2023 a small board game company released a card game called Forest Shuffle (or "Mischwald" in German). This turned out to be a rather good game, and thus became rather popular. As a consequence, I can't buy an English language copy anywhere, and the original German language version is likewise sold out. Small company means small production runs, and even if the game is a hit, it takes quite a while to produce another batch. Even if an initial print run sells out fast, it doesn't make the small company directly rich, and so probably even a second print run will be limited in siz ..read more
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