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[Sergius]

Oh yeah THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Now y'all got me hooked again on Paradise Island.

[Sowelu]

I can find my Paradise Island disc, but not my Tropico one

Probably for the best--I have work tomorrow after all...

[SirHoneyBadger]

Hopefully, Pop Top'll take the opportunity to re-release it in stores, whenever Tropico 3 comes out.

We can even hope with an update? It'd be nice if it came with the CD, too.

Not that I have a whole lot of faith in Pop Top Games, at this point.

[Puck]

There is only one thing I hated about tropico: you couldnt turn most buildings. But this is just a little aesthetical problem, it doesnt matter at all. But I would have liked it, to be able to build the cities more... beautiful.

What I really really loved about tropico, is the friggin "need weighting" system.

I cannot remember a single game in the whole genre that did this before tropico (if you can name one, I'd be happy to learn about it). I mean, yeah, "sims" tried something with weighted needs, but they failed miserably, iirc they just managed to implement different "short term life goals", but every friggin sim would get hungry/lonely/bored at the same rate (assuming you provide the same means of taking care of those needs). Ever since SimCity, those gameworlds were filled by myriads of simulated human beings who all were exactly the same. Maybe you'd have simulated children, without any proper needs at all, but in the end, samey samey blimey.

Tropico did something to this mechanic that made the game feel real. You cannot just plan your town and expect it to work. There will be problems, there will be inefficient design and there is not one darn thing you can do about it, other than just try your best... or lock up the contras 

I mean, just think about it... its a very simple addition. You just put a multiplier in front of the 8(?) "need variables" and there you go. The whole game just got a lot better. I dont know how they calculate that multiplier, maybe its mighty complicated. because heritage and whatnot gets factored in, I never paid that much attention to that.

So... tropico not only had

.) great soundtrack
.) great voiceacting
.) a LOT of humour in EVERYTHING it did
.) not the best but very nice and atmospheric graphics
.) a great idea
.) a nice price

but also something that was mighty innovative.

No wonder Tropico is one if my all time favourites.

[Sowelu]

The "need" variables were partly determined by NPCs' intelligence and education and job, and partly random.  Some people are more religious than others, some people value liberty more than others.  Educated people, specifically, are very fond of liberty.  Wealthy people start weighting their house very high...  It's almost a Maslow kind of thing.  But yes, it's a great system indeed.  And it really makes you think about things like "I don't have much liberty on my island so I can't risk educating people too much".

[Puck]

Yeah, I knew it made sense and wasnt totally random, but I never knew if the families had an influence on it. IE, if worker families were more likely to breed worker children, or if they would raise just as many white-collar-crime-banker-types as the well paid cigar munchers.

[Sowelu]

Huh.  Dunno.

...Looks like Tropico 3 bumped the tech level up a little bit.  No more dirt roads everywhere, now there's real roads, and cars!  Interesting.  Higher-population islands.  Hmmm.  I don't know how I feel about that, but progress marches on!

[Yanlin]

I can't wait till TVtropes gets ahold of a copy.

[Servant Corps]

Question: Will the two Cold-War Superpowers remain? Or will there be multiple superpowers you have to please: European Union, United States, China, India, Kuwait...

[Sowelu]

From the previews and stuff I've seen, it's still Cold War.  I'm guessing you just have a -bigger- island, now, instead of a tiny little piddly one.

[SirHoneyBadger]

That would seem to make sense, that you'd get a larger island.

I kind of doubt there'll be more than "just" the US/Russia in the game, as superpowers. However, it'd be very interesting to see corporate, religious, criminal, and lesser political powers (Brazil, Mexico, possibly even Cuba itself? Possibly Europeans-the French, Dutch, Spanish, etc-that the island used to be a colony of?)take an interest in the island.

I'm hoping more people will post to the Forums--I know we have good ideas, but it does next to nothing to post them here.

[Sowelu]

Uh, the game is scheduled for release in like three months :x Summer 2009, they said on their forums, and they said it this month too.  Ideas aren't going to help much at this point.  They've basically got two months of testing/QA, if they're smart, and then a month of going gold and fussing over the shipping and stuff.

[Gunner-Chan]

I just got a copy of this and the expansion, looks like it would make a fun LP with players as advisers. Maybe I could do that on the new VN board.

[SirHoneyBadger]

Uh, the game is scheduled for release in like three months :x Summer 2009, they said on their forums, and they said it this month too.  Ideas aren't going to help much at this point.  They've basically got two months of testing/QA, if they're smart, and then a month of going gold and fussing over the shipping and stuff.

Ehhhh...I have my doubts there. Release-dates are notoriously fickle things, and just because a game "goes gold" doesn't mean there isn't a lot of room for expansion (or Expansions, for that matter-that's where a lot of money is often made, infact.).

Aside from that, new ideas show interest in the game, and the more interest shown, the better chance for the company to support it well.

[Yanlin]

I still want my El Residente expansion pack.