unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

I don't "like" indie games. I like decent games.

AoE4 is being developed by Relic Entertainment with I guess oversight from Microsoft's World's Edge. I don't know if it's good or bad, but it's definitely on my radar. Verdict: probably not an indie game.

Project Zomboid started really small and is currently a collection of very small teams. It's a better "zombie survival experience" imo than a lot of AAA managed to do, even before mods. Verdict: about as indie as it gets without being one guy in a garage.

You were talking up that other game's realistic zombie stuff, and then said you wouldn't touch Zomboid because you were laying off the zombie stuff afterward? The real reason I guess is you can't look past multimedia presentation. I get it though, Rimworld is by all reports from friends, who like the same stuff I do, an amazing experience. Very rough to look at though. I actually have a copy but haven't played yet.

Zomboid hits a lot of right buttons. Sense of doom, increasing necessity for nomadic behavior. Customize most every aspect. Virus infectivity/transmission, zombie behaviors/capabilities, do items respawn or not, when the power shuts off, when the water shuts off, food decay, and more. It's not always glamorous, unless your character somehow enjoys carrying dead zombies to the funeral pyre. Rotting bodies don't make the best company.

You are on the way back from a trip to the burnt-out supermarket you were able to salvage some canned food from. It's the middle of the night (you should have cut it short earlier), in a pea-soup fog. The last zombie you hit knocked out the remaining headlight on your car, so you are slowly navigating back home mostly by feeling out the bumps of the zombies you previously ran over along your usual route.

You just begin to drift off the side of the road, and bump into a tree before you can correct. The engine dies. Great, it just started to rain too. So that's it until you can repair, swap parts, or find another ride. With some sense of urgency (noise attracts zombies), you leave most of your haul and the comfort of the heater behind, and set off down the road with the flickering, yellowed light of your dying flashlight for company.

The seasons are shifting and you're cold, tired, hungry, and depressed. Your bandages, shoes and clothes are filthy, but you have plenty of spares at the farmhouse if you can find your way there. Your civilized life as a history teacher and moderator of a porn subreddit didn't do much to prepare you for the things to come. You cut your hands on glass while fleeing a corner store. You're not sure if you patched yourself up right, and the dull pain won't subside. Your thoughts darkly wander while chewing on a hard aspirin. Ammunition is getting scarce, a mixed blessing because shots clue the horde into your location. Hopefully you'll remember to save your last round. There is always that option, and you are not about to let yourself become one of those things.

The barking of a dog in the distance brings your mind back to the task at hand: make it to the farmhouse you boarded up and sealed. You can barely feel your legs, and hope you'll have enough energy left to climb the sheet you left hanging out of the second floor, make your way downstairs, and start a modest fire. You can hear the faint noises of what might be undead shuffling around out of sight in the bushes. Hopefully, your walking dead edition baseball bat that your dad bought you before this all went down will be able to handle any stragglers before it too breaks.

You stop to straighten your tacticool backpack for what feels like the thousandth time. The canned food is bulky and the thing doesn't do a good job of distributing the weight. The tomato soup is wreaking havoc on your lower back.

A chill runs down your spine as a helicopter, the first one in weeks, flies past overhead parallel to the road. You are all too aware that this attracts wandering packs of zombies, and no doubt a bunch are headed your way now. You have no choice but to fuck off into the tree line and take your chances finding your way back in the bush. If you survive the night, maybe you can go see if they were flushed out of the neighborhood they were loitering in earlier. You have the short rest of your bleak life to look forward to.

At least the rain is letting up.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
Holy shit did you write that yourself?
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I just can't play a game that looks like it could run on Windows 95.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

That little short story is basically distilled Zomboid. There's not a lot of embellishment.

Anyway, fair enough. Though there's probably not a Win 95 rig that could have easily handled all the zombies and variables here, even if it weren't for the minimum requirements:

Memory: 4 GB
Graphics Card: ATI FireGL V7350
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9705
File Size: Unknown
OS: Vista, 7, 10
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
Funny that Win 10 can barely run on those requirements. I had a fresh install of Win 10 on a PC with 4 GB RAM and it was nearly maxed out just at desktop.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire
AoE4 has potential. I'm not sure about it yet. Only played one game. Can see lots of different RTS games in it.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
The most important question: would you rather play AoE2 or 4?
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

You're a little inconsistent on this stuff. What would your argument be for remaining in AoE2? Could it possibly be … the gameplay? Even though AoE4 is a graphical upgrade?
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
https://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/you_got_me_breaking_bad.gif
I am already invested in AoE2 and how it works. I hate having to learn new controls, mechanics, meta. If I am going to sit in front of something and waste my life away, at least it should look pretty.

Your Zombie game can't afford to add a graphic designer to the team? Maybe drop Vista and Win 7 support for some better graphics.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

Even though AoE4 is a graphical upgrade?
Graphics are about the #1 thing people complain about with aoe4

I have a desire to play aoe4 beta so thats something.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
What about the graphics do people complain about? Blink your answer in Morse code if you must.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire
This is just from screens and trailers. They aren't very detailed.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
Not the worst thing in the world. High graphic gaming is not worth it. Especially something with 9999 units.

Does the gameplay make up for the graphical shortcoming?
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire
I enjoy it. More than aoe2, probably not. Unit cap is 200 though.
Less factions so they are more unique.

I'll probably buy it but hesitate to tell others to. To me it does feel like a progression of the series but some don't like that.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
Less factions is good. Less than AoE2 + Conquerors? Less than original AoE2? I haven't learned to play a single one of those new factions in AoE2 HD or remastered or whatever.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire
There's 8. So similar to aoe3 numbers.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I guess I will try it sometime.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Old graphics bad. Macbeth stick to new graphics. Macbeth still play much old game.

Most of what you've written here I think values the type of gameplay you like over graphics. RDR2 has good graphics but you got bored playing it. Your Zomboid hate is a meme.

AoE4 could have better graphics, yes, but it isn't sprite, is it?
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I bought your Zombie game. You must now watch the Resort movie I linked in return. I expect a detailed review.

Also what the hell is this? I haven't seen a loading thing like this since Doom II
https://i.imgur.com/PKjzwcu.png
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
Also stop bullying me.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Wow, I didn't actually think you'd buy it. I was keeping up the running gag. How about I watch Resort if you write me a (Resort-themed) short story? Fair's fair.

Protip: inventory management is largely backpack management. Shit in your arms or any other pocket is going to be more awkward than in backpacks and various bags. If you want a map on one of your three monitors, https://map.projectzomboid.com.

e: haha, the info dump loading screen startled me too. other games do the same stuff, it's just all covered up by other nonsense.
e2:

tips -
* create bags with tools and consumables for various tasks. ammo bag, first aid bag, item repair supplies and tool/carpentry bag, automotive tool bag, farming kit, fishing kit. much easier to leave on a seat of your car what you don't need to carry on a looting run, or to quickly grab what you need and get out of a house near too much zombie activity.
* when you find generators, drop them off by the lots of various gas stations, so you're ready to power the pumps when the electricity goes out. you probably won't have found all the gas cans available on the map before then.
* git gud.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2021-08-13 02:47:29)

RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire
Pretty sure I'm gonna get AoE4. Preorder even, it can't get much worse than it is now plus free aoe2 xp.. it's got some big flaws that need to be ironed out but I enjoyed my 10-15 hrs of the beta.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Never admit to it in most gaming forums. You'll be run out on a rail. Pre-ordering is for lepers.
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire
I didn't think I'd preorder it but being able to play alphas/betas helps. I was able to play what I'd normally play and it's no DoW3.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

I think your reasons are valid. You anticipate enjoying the full release, and it has the AoE2 expansion.

For me, I don't play much AoE2 anymore so the bonus would basically just be filling out a digital collection. I miss pre-order incentives that came with physical merch. Now it's a lot of "pre-order and get this exclusive skin. By the way we'll sell the game 50% off three months later."

Board footer

Privacy Policy - © 2024 Jeff Minard