Vamphaery

Reply to Always on DRM *cough* Sim City *cough* in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

A free game isn't going to entice me into purchasing a game that forces me to be online to play single player and, much more seriously in my opinion, doesn't allow me to save my game locally. That part is even worse to me than the always-online requirement. But I suppose it's a nice gesture for those who already own the game and insist on toughing it out. If the service worked 100% of the time and I could play seamlessly AS IF I was playing locally, I wouldn't mind tha

Reply to Always on DRM *cough* Sim City *cough* in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Wow. EA is now asking its affiliates to CEASE MARKETING for the game, and saying that it will inform them when active marketing should resume. http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/8/4079894/ea-suspends-simcity-marketing-campaigns-asks-affiliates-to-stop "Please stop actively promoting the game." Has this ever happened befor

Reply to Always on DRM *cough* Sim City *cough* in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

General replies to several people since I'm not at my regular PC and quoting is tough at the moment. By "industry" I meant big names like IGN and Kotaku. Both have essentially recommended that people not buy the game at this point. IGN is the largest gaming site on the net (for better or worse, love them or hate them) and is owned by Ziff Davis who own... well... almost everyone else. That said, you're right that a lot of reviewers aren't mentioning these is

Reply to Does PC Gaming have a future? in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I suspect we'll see a gradual merging between the PC and the console, but that they will still remain separate enough to be distinct. PC hardware might become more standardized and modular, and consoles might become more PC-like. (And both will become more tablet like in all likelihood.) Hell, with Microsoft in the mix, we might one day even see single versions of games that can run on both console and PC without having to purchase different versions. Unlikely, but it could happe

Reply to Always on DRM *cough* Sim City *cough* in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I have no doubt that there's a great game hiding behind all of this. But it doesn't excuse the fact that the people who most support these companies - those who preorder - suffer most from things like this. And that seems ass backwards to me. So far at least, the industry at large is being honest and calling them out. This marks a change. Perhaps they've finally gone too far? They're not getting the same free pass that Diablo III largely did. Sites are going so far as

Reply to Always on DRM *cough* Sim City *cough* in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Well I'm back. Firstly, apologies to Heavenfall if I misinterpreted the intent of your post. You have to admit, your wording could easily be construed as taking the entirety of the blame off of the shoulders of the companies pushing these models and placing it on users completely. But as I said in my response, I agree that people supporting such practices are directly responsible for their proliferation as well. Of course the reason that is the case is because the vast majority of

Reply to Always on DRM *cough* Sim City *cough* in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I respect your opinion, but that's the kind of apolgist excuse that empowers them to do things like this. I don't care what the technical and legal reality is. If I pay for something there is a reasonable expectation that it will work. Period. I patently reject any argument to the contrary, and I will never, ever accept any argument to the contrary. Legal =/= right. I do however agree that consumers continually agreeing to buy these games are directly responsible for the proli

Always on DRM *cough* Sim City *cough* in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

You know how the industry keeps labeling people "entitled" whenever they take any issue whatsoever with what it's doing? Well this form of always on DRM that Sim City is using - you know, the reason why many who bought the game can't play it at this moment - is an example of why people take umbrage. Everyone understands that companies have

Reply to Kickstarter: LIMIT THEORY in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Looks very promising and I will be following this game closely. However, when it comes to space combat and trade sims, I've heard all of this before. It seems like a very, very difficult genre to design with depth, freedom, and granularity, while also providing intuitiveness and accessibility. I've played things like the X series, and all the Elite and Freelancer clones. I've even played Battlecruiser, one of the most opaque, insane learning curve games ever made for my money.

Reply to 1920x1080 stretching in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Actually, that pretty much explains/solves my issue. It's only the videos that are stretched. I'm one of those who actually really liked the videos that play for events and so forth though, so it was a minor nuisance. The game runs great otherwise though. Nice to finally have a system I can turn everything up on lol.

Reply to How good is strategy game AI? in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Things like this are why I loathe having dyscalculia. I can comprehend generalities, but complex mathematics is beyond me and likely always will be. I will never be able to fully pin down why a particular example of AI (game or otherwise) is "good" or "bad" in a specific sense, because my brain simply can't comprehend the mathematics underlying it. All I can discuss is my own entirely subjective experience of playing against it. Fascinating subject nonetheless, though.

Reply to 1920x1080 stretching in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Ah, I'll just play in 1400x1050 lol.

Reply to EA: "all our games" will have microtransactions [retracted] in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

My main concern is this. Like many of you, I've been playing videogames since the early 80s (or earlier in many cases I'm sure.) So I know how companies tend to seize on successful business models and drive them into the dirt. And I also know how the industry can take on an inertia of its own that creates new - not always favorable to the consumer in my opinion at least - standards and practices. So here's the nightmare that goes through my mind. First and foremost

1920x1080 stretching in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

After a new PC build I always redownload and install GC2, what I still consider one of the best 4x games ever made. For the first time I'm running via HDMI directly into my HDTV and it's a very nice experience in Windows 7 I must say. However in 1080p (1920x1080 @ 60Hz) for some reason this particular game is stretched. I searched for "widescreen" and found only one or two posts talking about this, with no resolution that I could find. I&#

Reply to GeForce 7600 is Last of nVidia's AGP Line in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I recently purchased an HD 3850 AGP card. Even on my old single core P4 3.2GHz system it gave me quite a nice performance boost. I can play, for example, Oblivion on high now with 8x anisotrpic filtering and 4xAA. I upgraded from an X850. If you already had an X1950 XT PE or the like though (or even a 7800 GS), you probably wouldn't see much benefit with this card. I fully expect it to be the last AGP card made. I'm building a new system once Nehalem hits. This system, surprisi

Reply to I'm not one who believes PC gaming is dying...HOWEVER... in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

^... which is less guaranteed with the news lately :( (Not to be off topic. Just woke up to see it and it was a bummer.) Back on topic, though: the other thing I love about the PC is that if you study companies' roadmaps, you can get a good idea of what the standard will be for the next few years, and with the right upgrades, can avoid building a whole new system except every few hardware generations. I'm still using my Pentium 4 C system with an AGP slot, and it plays everything I don'

Reply to I'm not one who believes PC gaming is dying...HOWEVER... in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Speaking of which......boutiques are another trend that really bothers me. What happened to large, full service STORES? Is a tiny 15 x 15 foot room with one wall or one shelf for each platform really all the industry can offer me as a customer? Maybe they expect everyone to shop online. I don't know. If games are as popular as they appear to be, why aren't there any major retailers with large floor spaces?Then again, that may be more a sign of the economy than the status of the industry.

Reply to I'm not one who believes PC gaming is dying...HOWEVER... in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Speaking of which... ...boutiques are another trend that really bothers me. What happened to large, full service STORES? Is a tiny 15 x 15 foot room with one wall or one shelf for each platform really all the industry can offer me as a customer? Maybe they expect everyone to shop online. I don't know. If games are as popular as they appear to be, why aren't there any major retailers with large floor spaces? Then again, that may be more a sign of the economy than the status of t

Reply to Poll, Dell or Apple; Custom Build or Factory Made; Windows XP or Windows Vista or Macintosh in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

Custom, Windows XP Pro That's what I have, and it's what I'll get next time too... unless Windows 7 really rocks XP's socks off.

Reply to I'm not one who believes PC gaming is dying...HOWEVER... in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

It just really upsets me that I may have to wait a hardware generation or two for developers to get it into their heads to put out more than 4x and RTS games that don't come with antipiracy solutions that cripple my enjoyment of them. Don't get me wrong. I love 4x and RTS games as much as the next guy; possibly even more. I love my RPGs even more, though. What's the last deep RPG that didn't come with that kind of protection? Oblivion? I loved Oblivion but I've done everything in it. E

I'm not one who believes PC gaming is dying...HOWEVER... in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

After my recent experiences with EA published games containing SecuROM and several conversations with friends, I have come to a conclusion (at least for me personally.) For the longest time I have denied that PC gaming is dying. I refuse to believe it. I still believe than ten years from

Reply to Piracy & PC Gaming in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

Let me tell you something. I just spent two weeks trying to get Mass Effect to run on my PC. I have a well maintained, optimized system. I know how to take care of my computer. I tried every workaround, tweak, trick, and troubleshooting experiment in the book to get that game to run. I easily exceed the recommended system requirements. I was told by EA's Tech Support that I would likely have to await a patch because my video card driver was somehow not liked by the application. You know, my vide

Reply to GalCiv II v1.7 Beta 1 Changelog in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

This is an excellent update. Yet again Stardock delivers lol. I wish every game offered such extensive free updates beyond bug fixes. Would it be possible to incorporate into the event log specific instances in which the player convinces the AI to declare war on another race rather than merely the starts and culminations of wars? I've not yet played a new game this far, so I'm also curious as to whether our ethical alignment choice will be counted in the event log? This is a fa

Reply to Why Stardock and the GalCiv series have earned my trust and patronage in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I'm a bit hesitant to list my very brief list of other "trusted" developers, firstly because they aren't so much "trusted" as they are consistent with my own very personal and subjective standards, and secondly because no matter what company I list someone somewhere is going to take issue with them With that in mind, I should preface this by saying that when I say I trust Stardock, I mean to say

Reply to How radical should expansion packs get? in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

Apart from what we can already anticipate from Twilight of the Arnor (and if these features won't be present as part of the "plus more!" in its description,) the only things I can think of that would make the game even more of a joy to play would be: 1) A greater number of normal and mega events, or a greater frequency for those which are already present. After enough games, these often end up being the moments that vary the challenge or add spice to the galactic pageant. 2) A