It was always tough soloing a controller in the low levels, but higher level controllers got much better after the first few issues. For a while, Fire/Kin controller was the fastest demolisher out there. I had an Illusion/Rad controller for a while that my friends got tired of seeing because they were left with nothing to do.
Ain’t that the truth? Playing a Force Field or Storm defender in the early days was not a good way to endear yourself to pick-up groups. Of course, once you found some players with a clue then you could just steamroll things behind the bubbles or high winds.
Oblivion level-scaling is silly and makes combat and exploration a lot less interesting than in Piranha Bytes games.
Ultima II is a very simple game with annoying and worthless dungeons/towers that you’re best off completely annoying.
FreeSpace 2 would have benefited from a larger budget and lengthier production time in order to include the planned additional story details on the Shivans.
Morrowind is the most interesting setting for the Elder Scrolls games, but its world would greatly benefit from the NPC schedules of Oblivion/Skyrim/Ultima/Gothic/Risen and other scripted/dynamic changes to avoid feeling like a wax museum.
CK2’s interface is a mess, but it wouldn’t be the same game without cramming all those suboptimal roleplaying options in.
EU4 is too focused on growing the size of the nation without much of the conflict that came with it, but that’s what players vocally wanted, so… It also started cramming in a few too many half-baked ideas. It also crams a couple of too important changes in old DLC.
They’re the reason I became interested in history so long after high-school failed to do so, so I’ll always love them.
Dominion is dry and themeless, but it’s so satisfying when you make up a good strategy. When you don’t play enough and end up fumbling around, though, it feels like a waste of time.
For a second I thought you were talking about the computer games series Dominion_s_, which is the exact opposite and would have earned you the wrath of Bruce!
On the board game front I’ve made no bones about the fact my two favorite boardgames are X-wing and Railways of the World. Each, however, has some issues.
Railways comes with the Eastern US map which I consider to be the weakest of the lot. It is a map where there are only a handful of viable routes, the major lines are randomly available from card draws (as opposed to being listed and always available in the expansion maps, an objectively better way for such important features), and a player who is not aware of the important metros can find themselves stuck when they learn their Jacksonville to Charlotte route that seemed like a good idea has rendered them hopelessly out of the game as someone is running roughshod through a Chicago to New York link. It is a map that ostensibly goes to 6, but with more than 4 people you are 100% guaranteed that one person will be effectively eliminated about 1/2-2/3 of the way through.
The expansion maps are objectively better, and there is at least one map that is perfect for any player count.
X-wing has the titular ship as almost unplayable in the competitive scene. The T-70 fares a little better, especially with Poe, but the only time I’ve ever seen Luke Skywalker in his trusty T-65 is when I did when I first got into the game, or at a themed event like my Trench run game. TIE fighters fared better, mostly as a cheap filler. However, ironically, you are more likely to see a Rebel TIE fighter than an Imperial one. Hell, I’m more likely to fly a rebel one than imperial one.
Generally the OT ships that are the most iconic generally are not competitive. Largely because of design evolution and the introduction of new mechanics that have rendered these ships too limited. Ships without repositioning either need to be dead cheap, carry ordinance, or have a boat load of health. A-wings aren’t cheap enough for their threat, X-wings lose on all three, B-wings too dial limited and squishier today than when released, interceptors way too expensive for their vulnerability to bombs and ordinance. Y-wings are doing ok, and the Falcon is still a beast. Vader in his Advanced is just a notch below top tier (completely tournament viable, but slightly weaker than Kylo Ren for maneuver reasons). But otherwise the OT movie ships struggle.
Still love the game. Still play those ships, just not as often. However I do love playing in the league and busting out an overpriced and underpowered bomber at 35 points with no ordinance, then proceeding to table my opponent with it. Just because it’s not ‘competitive’ doesn’t mean I can’t kick your ass with it. In fact I get no small amount of joy from taking underpowered and underperforming ships and beating ‘meta’ lists with them. Doesn’t mean those ships aren’t better, just that I’m really good at wringing every bit out of jank.
I love lovelove DCS and il2 sturmovik and I think they are poster children for VR but I wish they were more accessible to the general gaming public. Easier entry, easier setup, easier gameplay along the hardcore stuff (so not instead of!)
Also, and this goes especially for DCS, I wish it was more of a game instead of just a toy.
I agree. There is a very fine balance between sim and game and the best of them straddle that line well. When they dip too far into counting the number of rivets and exact recreation of overly obtuse systems … it feels like you’re going to work, not relaxing with a game.
