Genre: games • computers • role playing • Platform: Pc •

Status: Released • I played this one • I own it!

Genre: games • computers • strategy • Platform: Pc •

Status: Released • I played this one • I own it!

From: http://www.gamingnexus.com/Default.aspx?Section=Article&I=1721

The major impetus behind the gameplay is the presence of multiple non-player covenants moving about the map at break-neck speeds, hungry to rob you of your objectives, and motivated to diminish your wealth and influence. Monetary wealth is a largely closed affair between you and Jorvik’s merchants. Swords get longer, shields grow sturdier, and armor gains more and more metal rings attached. Copper, silver, and gold dropped out in the fields of battle, as well as traded for in the marketplace, work to narrow the gap between you and that next piece of slightly higher-grade equipment.

Most entertaining, however, are the missions handed out by potential recruits. They essentially place their fighting/healing/magic-using resume out on the table, and allow the competing barbarian covenants to win the recruit over. The recruit will make a certain demand—collect X amount of materials, slay Y amount of beasts—that you must fulfill in order to get the recruit onto your payroll. A timer starts counting down, and in case that isn’t enough time-pressure to place on a mission, it’s important to remember that the other NPCs are already out there, scouring the map, snatching up X amount of materials, or slaying Y amount of beasts. Prioritizing recruiting efforts, general quests, and controlling your inventory would be game enough. But Depths of Peril also adds political ingredients to the stew. Negotiating with your fellow barbarians is a fully-realized scenario that takes its cue from Rome: Total War. Money shifts hands, trade routes open and close, equipment is hauled back and forth, all in the name of temporary peace. Because the hands you shake today inevitably become the hands that squeeze your windpipe later. That is, if you don’t manage to ally with the all the remaining covenants, destroy the ones that won’t, and end up with the greatest influence (a measurable stat) by the end game.

All of these gears of war clank noisily together, and the momentum driving Depths of Peril is undeniable. There is a wide-ranging monstrous compendium to tackle across the lands of Aleria. The map is randomly-generated from game to game, and the canvas is squarely-cut between pine forests and badlands, homesteads and dungeons. The flora is slathered over the countryside, rarely taking a breather, and the ground maintains a level plane, which makes for oftentimes unmemorable albeit obscuring scenery.

Otherwise, the combat is visceral with its chunky hammer hits, deep-cutting blade action, and glittery spell effects. The beasts of the land gutter and growl with conviction in their roles, and the soundtrack aims for the bold.

The difficulty level sometimes spills into outright unbalanced scenario

More about Depths of Peril

Genre: games • computers • role playing • Platform: Pc •

Status:

Genre: games • computers • arcade / puzzle • Platform: Pc •

Status: Released •

For any game I have finished or given up on because i am really stuck, there are at least four games I just stopped playing or outright NEVER STARTED!
Sometimes I just stopped playing because there was a newer game, and sometimes because i had a phase without time for games and then didn’t go back to the game (or sometimes couldn’t at the level of skill i had left at and didn’t want to restart).

Anyway, here’s the summary:
New: 3
Actively playing: 6
Finished or nearly finished: 17
Not played enough: 55
Gave up on: 100+

Now for the detailed list:

Read More...

It seems Depths of Peril has been out a while. I checked the demo and bought the game and there is indeed a daggerfall meets dominions feel to the game. I’m totally clueless as to many of the subtleties in the game and still enjoying it hugely!

But anyway, it means I must update my list a bit more - and it seems that when I update it, more and more “big names” slip off the lists and a few more indie titles sneak in… I guess it goes with being upset at finding the “big” titles end up with same-old gameplay (with prettier graphics and a different mood, but still), and finding that the clever mixes and interesting game twists are happening in the independent.

10 (6!) most anticipated games:

Warhammer Online - a really gritty world, and some very clever ideas could make this work very well
Sins of a Solar Empire - could be homeworld all over again. with up to date graphics. Beta reports all seems extremely promising.
Sabotage - thief meets metal gear solid in world war 2. Very little is known but I love the idea
Magic Carpet 3 - hey, I can dream! There are lots of games I would like to see reborn in our day and age, but this is probably the one I think would work the best
Disciples 3 - My favorite turn based game
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

10 Games I am curious about:

Savage 2 - I’m really interested in how that one turns out
Spore (if they pull off the multiple gameplays and manage to make you care, it will be great. If they don’t, it will be too much like one SIM game after another),
Fallout 3,
Starcraft 3,
World in Conflict (some clever ideas),
Sacred 2 (I enjoyed Sacred)…

10 Published games I still want

Eschalon: Book 1 - old style 2D RPG which favors exploration
NWN2:Mask of the Betrayer - I hear it is the best D&D campaign in years and years
Dominions 3 - turn based strategy with a lot of ideas
Silent Hunter 4
Battlestations Midway
Jade Empire
Fable
The Witcher (a dark RPG, nobody’s pulled it off since… Planescape),

From: http://www.gamersinfo.net/index.php?art/id:2040

I tend to read gamers info to find out about lesser known games, but now and then they review a more mainstream game:

“The sweet-spot of The Witcher’s gameplay is in its unique combat styles and the intricate alchemy system. The player, depending on their chosen difficulty, will be required to rely upon both in order to survive against the vast assortment of enemies and monsters he will face in his excursions throughout Vizima, the city and surrounding area in which the game is set. Physical combat is mainly utilized through a choice of swordplay styles, using either steel or silver swords depending on the enemy that is about to kill and/or eat you. Steel is most effective against humans, while silver is the precious metal of choice against monsters. Geralt can actually carry up to four weapons: a steel sword, a silver sword, a short sword (really a dagger, I guess), and a large sword or axe in the fourth slot.”

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