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[Wiles]

I haven't played all of Paradox's grand strategy games but the ones I have played have not been terrible or shallow on release. They haven't always been stellar, but I have yet to play one that was bad. To each their own I guess. But yeah, buying them at least a couple of years after release is probably the best way to do it, you get more content for much less money.

[Mephansteras]

Is Stellaris worth it? I've heard it kinda get samey after a few campaigns, yet it looks pretty interesting for me.

It's kinda too bland to make you get back to it once you've seen most of the content. But you're still looking at ~50 hours of playtime before that happens, so it's not the worst way to spend your 16 EUR.

I'll echo this sentiment. It's not nearly as good as it will be after a bunch of DLC, but even as it stands it's a lot of fun and I've more than gotten my money's worth from it.

[n9103]

Endless Space meets that definition for me.
It's a good framework to start with, but it always feels too simplistic for what it is.
And unlike EU or other franchises, they didn't put out a butt-load of DLC for it (but still too many for what should've been core features, imo.)

But this all comes from someone that's firmly in the "DLC should only be cosmetic" camp.
You wanna change features, you make a proper expansion, or you just release a patch, damnit.

[BurnedToast]

Is Stellaris worth it? I've heard it kinda get samey after a few campaigns, yet it looks pretty interesting for me.

Stellaris is a very shallow 4x with a lot of greebles tacked on to give it the illusion of depth. Once you've played through the game once and figure out how it works, you realize how few of the features and options are actually viable and how many are just "for fun" or "for RP" and it loses a lot of it's magic (at least, imo).

I payed $12 for it (humble monthly) and I feel like it was worth that, but I don't feel like it's worth the $30 base price.

So $16 is kind of... probably worth it, but it's stretching it. I wouldn't pay more than that.

Note that I don't have any DLCs, I don't know how much they change things.

[Niveras]

Endless Space meets that definition for me.
It's a good framework to start with, but it always feels too simplistic for what it is.
And unlike EU or other franchises, they didn't put out a butt-load of DLC for it (but still too many for what should've been core features, imo.)

That seems to be the case for every 4X lately.

I wonder if it is a legitimate argument, or if our expectations are increased due to previous games adding features that only came with expansions/DLC, and then expecting new games to have the same or similar content without that added development time.

[E. Albright]

Having picked up Stellaris on the last sale, I'm tempted to say that's not a problem with Stellaris but rather 4x in space; it's hard to make individual planets anything but slightly different columns of stats if you're going to have hundreds of them, so everything becomes bland and samey pretty quickly. 4x on the ground isn't terribly different, but since the stats are on the map rather than in the settlement nodes, it feels a bit less samey.

Still, Stellaris is frankly doing right by the genre*, especially with the extra expansions' doodads, so if it goes on sale again it's probably worth it if you like space 4x.

*It may just be me, but it seems like it quietly took A LOT of cues from the beloathed MOO3 and did a better, not-rushed-to-half-completion implementation of them.

[Toaster]

Do they try to make every planet at least some degree of useful?  It seems like there should be several planets in a galaxy/sector/whatever that are just completely useless for a spacefaring civilization, from a realistic viewpoint.  That at least adds something to exploration, where what you find might just be a dud.

[Wiles]

Do they try to make every planet at least some degree of useful?  It seems like there should be several planets in a galaxy/sector/whatever that are just completely useless for a spacefaring civilization, from a realistic viewpoint.  That at least adds something to exploration, where what you find might just be a dud.

Yes, planets have degrees of usefulness, based on what biome your species prefers. Late game habitable planets are less of an issue since you can terraform a planet, you can buff your habitability tolerance up to the point you can settle almost anything, or you can send synthetics to live there. There are also modifiers, like a planet might be rich in a certain resource, or they might have hazards. There are some kinds of planets that will have events tied in with them. Colonizing does feel a bit bland when you're playing, but it could be worse.

I feel like every space 4x game I've played in the past year has been lacking in one way or another (Stellaris, Endless Space 2, NuMoo). Not to say I haven't enjoyed them, 4x is my favourite genre, but I haven't had a "go to" space game a long time.

[Culise]

Do they try to make every planet at least some degree of useful?  It seems like there should be several planets in a galaxy/sector/whatever that are just completely useless for a spacefaring civilization, from a realistic viewpoint.  That at least adds something to exploration, where what you find might just be a dud.

Setting aside habitable worlds, barren, toxic, frozen, volcanic molten, jovian, and other such worlds are essentially only useful as gravitational anchors for habitats and, if any are discovered, resources that may be extracted for mining, research, or strategic purposes.  Some barren worlds may be terraformed, but most can't. 

[Blaze]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/38400/Fallout_A_Post_Nuclear_Role_Playing_Game/

The original Fallout, the not-FPS one I mean, is free for a short time.

[nenjin]

*yoink*

Thanks for the heads up.

[heydude6]

Maybe this doesn't count since it goes on sale often, but Transistor is on sale for $5.00. I definitely think it's worth that price. It's one of my favourites.

[n9103]

Maybe this doesn't count since it goes on sale often, but Transistor is on sale for $5.00. I definitely think it's worth that price. It's one of my favourites.

Seconded, though I've always wished it was more open to modding/expansion. Game really left me wanting more.

[heydude6]

Maybe this doesn't count since it goes on sale often, but Transistor is on sale for $5.00. I definitely think it's worth that price. It's one of my favourites.

Seconded, though I've always wished it was more open to modding/expansion. Game really left me wanting more.

Same. Transistor occupies the same space in my heart as Gunpoint. Both of them were great games with great stories (especially transistor), but the both could have been so much more if more time and resources were invested into them (I would have loved to have seen more bosses as good as Sybil for example, the other one's were just such disappointments compared to her).


Before I forget though, the thief games are on sale for less than $2.00 right now. Both the classics and the shitty modern ones. If you want to know why you should play thief, let me link you to a video essay explaining why. Buy thief Gold and metal age. Ignore the rest.

[Rolan7]

Ehh...  If you want an argument that isn't distracted by a hatred for modern gaming, Yahtzee has his Zero Punctuation review.

This series will always be *the* stealth series, for me.  Maybe because I played it before Splinter Cell, maybe because it came out a while earlier...
But also the Steampunk, grim-funny environment.  *VERY* Ankh-Morpork, at least to me.

It takes some patience...  Or doesn't.  You can slaughter your way through it, and still enjoy the unique setting.

Personally I recommend Thief 2 and 3 (yes, really).  The beginning of Thief 1 is also great, and so is the end, but the middle has too many zombies and mazes.  They hadn't hit their stride.
With 2 they did.  With 3, they brought it to the modern era.
4 is... modern.  Yet somehow captures some of the charm.