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 Matt Swain wrote:
I know I'm gonna catch hell for this so I'm breaking out my asbestos gloves, but I'm replaying mass effect 2 now, and i'm amazed at how much better the gameplay in mass effect Andromeda was.

(Jumps into ceramite layered bunker, dogs hatch and awaits the flamestorm of outrage from andromeda haters.)

In terms of the gameplay the Mass Effect Games have only got better with each installment, I think.

ME1 was very clunky with the cover system (it was easy to accidentally leave cover when you were trying to move along a wall, for example) and you felt very sluggish when moving, especially when trying to turn while sprinting. All of your action choices during dialogue and cutscenes were carried out using the dialogue wheel system.

ME2 fixed the cover system with you able to lock yourself to cover (the Gears of War system), the gunplay was greatly improved (though ammo was too limited, I think, which made some weapons annoying to use) though it also lost the weapon modification, armor sets could be chosen piece by piece with each piece having its own bonuses, the power combo system made its first appearance though limited to biotics (detonating Warp), they introduced the paragon/renegade interrupts in dialogue and cutscenes.

ME3 kept the ME2 cover system but fine tuned it to feel more smooth and flowing with the rest of the movement ( I think it brought in more ways of traversing and transitioning out of cover?) and also brought in the dodge rolls, making you feel much more agile in combat. The weapon modification system was brought back, which was great, and the weapon upgrade system was introduced so guns had levels like in the first game. The number of guns was also drastically increased over ME2 and each gun had its own quirks and pros and cons, which meant you effectively had way more guns than in ME1 where every gun functioned the same as others in its class, just with different damage, heat, accuracy values. The Power Combos were greatly expanded, no longer limited to detonating a single biotic power but now able to prime and detonate powers from all of the classes with their own effects for doing so. The paragon/renegade system was also tweaked with the introduction of the reputation mechanic, which fixed the issue from ME2 of having to mostly play straight Paragon/Renegade or else you would not have enough points for dialogue choices later, so now you could play however you wanted without needing to worry that it would mean you were locked out of choices later.

Yeah, the basic running and gunning in andromeda (and in all mass effect games, really) was just kind of an improvement. And I did like that the random junk you did on the side in andromeda was much less of a BLATANT time-waster than the activities you had to do on the side in 2 and 3.

But man alive that did not make up at all for how little I cared about the story or characters in andromeda.

Back to old gold territory, how about some good old garbage? I just recently uncovered Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (it was like a dollar on gog) and spent the better part of 3 hours cackling at it.

It is a star wars age of empires..I think 2? reskin, made in the very very early days of licensed games, where lucasfilm just gave EVERYTHING, EVERY sound effect EVERY voice line from star wars to this game studio to haphazardly staple on to age of empires.

"Hey gang, every faction has to have knights - what kind of animal do you figure a super battle droid would ride around on?"

"We need more factions....I dunno...naboo? Yeah, that sounds about right, the factions everyone remembers from Star Wars, the clones, separatists, rebels, imperials, wookies, gungans, trade federation, and...naboo."

"What's a rebel alliance worker? Probably an army of R2 units right?"

"The four resources of star wars: Carbon, Food....um....Crystals....and...different crystals."

Not gonna read through every page but is anybody nostalgic for red alert 2. Man I wish I could play it again but I'm not sure where to find it at this point.

the_scotsman wrote:
Back to old gold territory, how about some good old garbage? I just recently uncovered Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (it was like a dollar on gog) and spent the better part of 3 hours cackling at it.

It is a star wars age of empires..I think 2? reskin, made in the very very early days of licensed games, where lucasfilm just gave EVERYTHING, EVERY sound effect EVERY voice line from star wars to this game studio to haphazardly staple on to age of empires.

OMG I totally forgot about that game. But yeah it played like a re-skin of Age of Empires 2, but it was just so much damn fun. There were a bunch of different Star Wars strategy games released during the early 00's and not many were good honestly. I remember being super excited for Force Commander, but when I actually got a chance to play the demo I was super disappointed. While I can deal with less than stellar graphics the camera angles made the game almost unplayable as I couldn't see anything!

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
Not gonna read through every page but is anybody nostalgic for red alert 2. Man I wish I could play it again but I'm not sure where to find it at this point.

It's on Origin as part of the collected set of games
https://www.origin.com/gbr/en-us/store/command-and-conquer/command-and-conquer-the-ultimate-collection

Which basically gives you everything from Command and Conquer to Tiberium 4 and everything inbetween, even the FPS Renegade.

Note its not the new remastered games, just the regular and any updates they've had. The remastered CnC 1 and Red Alert 1 are a totally separate thing.

RE2 was okay, but I still think CnC3 is the best of the Command and Conquer series and spinoffs.

That said, I'm pondering busting out the Ultima and Wizardry games...

I've been playing DROD recently, It's had expansions and sequels since 1996, but it's still the same fundamental puzzle game.

King Dugan's Dungeon is the first puzzle set, but Gunthro and the Epic Blunder is also a decent entry point.

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
Not gonna read through every page but is anybody nostalgic for red alert 2. Man I wish I could play it again but I'm not sure where to find it at this point.

Yea RA2 was my favourite of the series. I still have the CDs to play it but has to be nearly 10 years since I broke them out!

I really loved all the campaigns but that Soviet space mission on Yuri's Revenge is really hard

Red alert 2 was so delightfully insane. Didn't it have attack dolphins, lightning tanks, and a bunch of bald psychic lenin cosplayers running around?

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Red alert 2 was so delightfully insane. Didn't it have attack dolphins, lightning tanks, and a bunch of bald psychic lenin cosplayers running around?

Haha yea exactly, attack octopusses, death blimps, teleporting harvesters, huge tanks which can run over other tanks, brain tanks... the list goes on!

Great thread with a lot of games I like never played, but should check out. And games I want to play again. Problem is, my to-do list keeps expanding.......

I'm currently playing Zelda on the SNES. Definately a classic.
Other classics for the PC:

- Day of the Tentacle
- Carmageddon
- Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines

I’ve recently had a blast with a mod I absolutely love. The fall from heaven mod for civilization 4. It’s such a cozy and good time, I highly recommend it to anyone that’s into 4X. It’s a fantasy overhaul for civilization making it into a cool and fairly original fantazy setting.

Not sure how old is gold, but recently replayed some Republic Commando. Such a fun FPS, shame there was never a sequel which was heavily leaned towards in the end.