That’s right, I had forgotten the name of that game but you could build that up with upgrades through the game. Pretty fun game, may need to run through again!
I used to love that Palace and was psyched when I finally got it completely decked out.
I was pretty fond of my base in AC 2. I completely agree that building a good base in video games is terrific. After all, who doesn’t like a good fort!
lordkosc, you’re a man after my own heart. This is generally my favorite side part of games too.
One of my recent favorites is Far Cry Primal. I was surprised at how this little village came up from out of nothing, and turned into a thriving village for your people. No shops or anything like that, but it becomes a quest hub, and a place to rest. I also love that I help grow the village by gathering resources during regular game play.
I am surprised Primal has anything like that, in Far Cry 4, you could update your family home a bit, but only the 2 get high guys and a Sherpa guy outside appeared. It was a very weak attempt at world building.
I think Don’t Starve might be in the ballpark too. You definitely upgrade your base as you go and return to it often before you, you know, die.
This describes Skyrim’s Hearthfire rather perfectly, but I assume you’ve played it.
State of Decay is pretty decent for the base building. Have to gather building supplies, have to make tough choices since you only have limited spots, can improve the performance of certain rooms by assigning certain people to them (a good cook assigned to the kitchen, for example)
Not sure if this counts, but there is a mod for Skyrim called Legacy of the Dragonborn. It is a museum in Solitude where it provides a place to display all of the unique items found throughout Skyrim, including a library for the books, nature displays for animals (crafted with animal ingredients) an armory decked out with manniquins, and displays for all the regular items found. Quite a nice mod, and I really enjoy trying to build up that museum and having/finding more items to display.
This is my favorite of the recent ones. Man, I really need to dig back in and finish this now.
Also, Pillars of Eternity has you rebuilding an ancient keep and exploring its depths as you add on structures as a very important B-plot during the main game.
I was a backer of Pillars, haven’t touched it yet, but its getting moved up to the near top of my “to play” list.
Love this thread so much, as this is far and away my favorite mechanic in games, and sometimes its so under-publicized. Thanks to this thread, my Steam wish list is growing!
As a side note, but this is also one of my favorite things to implement in tabletop gaming. e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/4soihw/has_anyone_runplayed_a_campaign_where_the_players/
For instance, my players in the homebrew scifi-comedy game I run called Spaceward, Ho! have been slowly improving their ship–an old racing vessel renamed from the Silver Bullet to the Savage Heart–over the course of the campaign as they make friends and enemies across the galaxy.
Most recently, after aiding an enormous, planet-sized sapient plant repair itself to the point it could begin budding new offspring again, the crew gained a new ship-part from this “Seed-Mother.” The medical officer, Bliss, had been such a help despite her limited facilities aboard the Savage Heart that the Seed Mother game her a Lab-Seed, which, if planted in an unused room, will eventually grow into a full-scale bio-lab. Meanwhile, the captain was given a Regrowth Matrix, a specialized tech used by the plant species’ ships to repair themselves mid-battle. If the wrap-up their current quest arc successfully, they’re on lock to receive a pair of nigh-indestructible HyperDrills to attach to the ship’s external Battle-Arms (shamelessly stolen from Outlaw Star).
Sorry for tangent, but like @lordkosc and @triggercut, I actually really like this mechanic a lot, so incorporating it into my non-digital gaming has become a real passion of mine :)
Incidentally, we had a similar discussion a while back about a similar topic, may help with decision making. Reminded me that AC3 let you build an entire town for yourself, pretty much.
Edit: whoops, looks like the copy grabbed my post from the thread, but the whole thing is worth a look.
Ah a thread from 2013, search failed me!
One of the best older games with this mechanic was the original Guild game. It’s still there in the Guild 2 implementations, but those games are so cluttered with poor gameplay decisions that it’s hard to recommend them.
Still, I’m holding out hope that Guild 3 in 2017 is a sleeper hit.
One of my all time favorite things in games! I still fondly remember the player housing and player cities in Star Wars:Galaxies. I still don’t think that game has been beat in that category yet. But any game where I can upgrade a base or build a spot of my own is a huge bonus for me. I’ve been putting off Pillars of Eternity until it was all said and done, but now that I know it has a base and a questline to go with it, I’m bumping it up the list.
Dragon Age Inquisition sort of filled this need for me.
Divinity: Original Sin has what you’re talking about.