Happy weekend everybody. I finished a playthrough of XCOM 2 and now have started a new playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3, as “The Dark Urge”. Hope everyone’s summer has been going well

  • Comp4 [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    Total War: PHARAOH DYNASTIES. It’s good, folks. I don’t want to hype it up too much, but I’m pretty stoked for it. It has a lot of cool systems, some of which are pretty different from other total wars, like the resource system. From a technical standpoint, it runs buttery smooth, with large battles hitting over 100 FPS.

    Plus I consider the Bronze Age just a super underused setting. I legit think this could become a top 3 historical total war for me.

    • Inui [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      4 months ago

      Big Total War fan? I’d be interested to know how it compares to Warhammer 3 and 3K. I played a ton of Warhammer 2, Shogun 2, and Attila but kind of fell off when they killed 3K early (rip my baby) and started milking the WH3 DLC super hard.

      • Comp4 [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        4 months ago

        I would say im a big Total War fan. My favorite historical Total War game is Attila, though the only thing I disliked about Attila was the performance.

        Now, the truth is, I don’t want to recommend Pharaoh Dynasties just (YET) because I’ve only played it for a couple of hours. However, everything I’ve seen, heard, and read so far looks amazing. Keep in mind the game is very infantry-focused, but the infantry feels quite varied. Battles seem more fluid to me than in Total Warhammer, and movement and positioning feel more important. While Warhammers combat offers a wider range of options, Pharaoh feels deeper—like how rain can create mud that slows down troops. There are loads of weather and terrain interactions, and characters can die in combat or from old age.

        Pharaoh also has a lot more systems and mechanics than Rome 2 or Shogun. You actually have to trade extensively with other factions to get the most out of the resource system. It’s also the most adaptable Total War game to date, with tons of pre-game options such as Ironman mode, the rate at which years pass, and lethality settings. In my opinion, Pharaoh is also harder than Total Warhammer 3 (and I’ve played Warhammer 3 on Legendary from time to time).

        Take some of these observations with a grain of salt but I think Creative Assembly really cooked with Pharaoh Dynasties.

        I will make a thread about Pharaoh Dynasties after I played it for one or two full campaigns.

        If you have any questions feel free to ask

        • Inui [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          4 months ago

          That all sounds great. 3K was my favorite because of the setting (it was really surreal to see Three Kingdoms memes on the English speaking internet), but Attila is a close second because of things like the family trees. The slow pace and more stuff happening outside of battles made it more personal. I like Warhammer a lot too, but like, I’m not gonna empathize with my orc warboss. I couldn’t care less if he dies on an emotional level. So having stuff like trade and diplomacy be important, which it was in 3K also, is a huge benefit. I’ve been hearing the positive buzz about it too but was skeptical because of how CA has been these last few years and because of how Pharaoh was received on launch, so I’ll probably look into Pharaoh as my gateway before they launch 3K2 (eventually… )