empire of sin

Grim.Reaper · December 01, 2020, 07:26:59 PM

Interesting quick spin in the game....got to play some of the combat. Literally I am standing right next to the enemy with machine guns and shotguns, basically pointed directly at them. A number of times I miss my shot, other times when I connect it takes 2-3 hits to take the person down. Seems a tad unreasonable with those weapons and my position......it's not like they are wearing the latest body armor:)

Not a great intro...but I will push ahead at some point but that was enough for tonight...

Gusington · December 01, 2020, 07:59:02 PM

Do it for us!

ArizonaTank · December 01, 2020, 11:53:46 PM

About 2 hours in and the game is growing on me and I am having fun.

Clearly the game is meant for the XCOM audience and that is a good thing in my book.

Nice clean UI, deep features. Layout is intuitive...like XCOM. Good atmosphere...although I would have liked a little more "realism"...and while they were at it...the music... It tries for that 1920s feel...but is just slightly off. Since much of the real music in now old enough to be in the public domain...it would have been nice for them to use the real thing... The characters have a bit of a cartoony over-the-top feel...kind of like CIV VI. I would have liked to see them be more gritty and menacing...but that is just me.

Game is not perfect... Some of the fight stuff seems a little off, but not too distracting for me anyway. It's true, it takes about 3 - 4 pistol shots to take the average enemy down...bosses much more. Sometimes some head scratching moments with line-of-sight and to hit percentages. But overall not much different from XCOM.

I was not a fan of the "sit-down" negotiation mechanic (used when you want to talk and not fight with the AI bosses) at first...but once I started to get closer to the RPG element...I kind of like it.

I am having fun in the early game and happy with the purchase so far. It may get "samey" mid-game, but we shall see. Sure, there is an exploit that allows you to just walk in and blow each of the AI bosses away. But its a solo-game against the AI...so nobody is forcing me to use the nuke button. Solo-games are as much about the journey as the destination.

Too early to give a yea or nay, except to say that if you loved XCOM, this is probably a safe purchase.

Grim.Reaper · December 02, 2020, 07:00:14 AM

Quote from: ArizonaTank on December 01, 2020, 11:53:46 PM

Game is not perfect... Some of the fight stuff seems a little off, but not too distracting for me anyway. It's true, it takes about 3 - 4 pistol shots to take the average enemy down...bosses much more. Sometimes some head scratching moments with line-of-sight and to hit percentages. But overall not much different from XCOM.

I am not far enough in to comment about the non-fight mechanics so hopefully things turn out better than the reviews imply. No doubt the fight mechanics are very xcom-like but not sure it is working in the gangster days vs a futuristic setting. Fighting in the future and against aliens, your imagination can stretch to think they have more advanced protection and possibly tougher body consumption to absorb more damage. But back in the old days where there was limited protection, I think its a little less believable. And its not just a matter of taking 2-3 shots to kill off the enemy, its the positioning that makes it even more head scratching. My person is right next to the person with a shotgun, machine gun, or pistol and yet I either miss or do little damage. I could completely understand if my person was further away but that wasn't the case. Maybe further into the game those things change a bit, I guess we'll see.

In any event, I truly do hope it turns out to be a great game as I like this kind of game so keeping my fingers crossed...

W8taminute · December 02, 2020, 09:20:46 AM

How is the empire management portion of the game? Is it deeply satisfying? I can't help but compare to the 1999 title 'Gangsters: Organized Crime'.

Gusington · December 02, 2020, 11:45:39 AM

There have been a few earlier mentions of Omerta too...not positive ones, IIRC.

ArizonaTank · December 03, 2020, 09:38:46 AM

Quote from: Gusington on December 02, 2020, 11:45:39 AM
There have been a few earlier mentions of Omerta too...not positive ones, IIRC.

Omerta left me cold for some reason, it never clicked with me and I don't know why.

Gusington · December 03, 2020, 09:50:54 AM

^Yeah that's the general impression I get from most guys who have played it.

ArizonaTank · December 03, 2020, 10:22:09 AM

Quote from: W8taminute on December 02, 2020, 09:20:46 AM
How is the empire management portion of the game? Is it deeply satisfying? I can't help but compare to the 1999 title 'Gangsters: Organized Crime'.

If comparing to Gangsters, many of the same elements are there in EoS. Clearly they took inspiration from "Gangsters" (still alive and well on GOG BTW). Although EoS is "lighter" than Gangsters. This may be partially because the interface in EoS is much better and intuitive. But in some cases, EoS is just lighter. For example, in EoS hiring thugs can be done from a screen where you choose and hire from a bunch of available choices...thugs also start to hang out in your establishments (you get a message like...hey boss there is a strange guy hanging out at the bar...). Where as in Gangsters, I believe you had to send one of your henchman out to a place where thugs hang out to see which ones you could catch.

In EoS you are given a layout of Chicago and you carve out your operations by taking and buying buildings. From there you can set up breweries, speakeasys, brothels or casinos. From there you can improve them with security, ambience, word of mouth advertising etc. You pretty quickly start to run into the police and other gangs. The AI seems to be proactive in reaching out...in my game the gangster next door keeps asking to trade. I haven't played long enough to see what a "war" looks like, or how far I can go with the police.

One disappointing aspect is that automobiles seem to play only a minor role...just a selection box on a menu when you want to go somewhere quickly.

I still haven't played enough to see how EoS works with multi-tasking. One of the great strengths of Gangsters as I recall was that your thugs were semi-independent if you needed them to be. You could assign them tasks...and check up on them later. I haven't gotten to that point yet in EoS, so don't know how it compares. But I suspect you don't have as many choices in EoS.

As to the deeply satisfying part...well I am waiting to see. My initial reaction to gameplay is good, but still early days.

Gusington · December 03, 2020, 02:13:28 PM

I bought Mafia Remastered a while back just to drive around the city in the cars they offer. Can't wait!

fran · December 03, 2020, 02:28:18 PM

A speakeasy too far?

Gusington · December 03, 2020, 02:30:20 PM

:-[

W8taminute · December 03, 2020, 05:42:05 PM

Picked the game up last night and spent some time with it. So far I agree with ArizonaTank's assessment.

Old TImer · December 03, 2020, 06:43:54 PM

Just getting into it but so far I sorta like it.

The strategic layer which I'm just getting the hang of is superior, I think, to Gangsters.
As for the tactical combat, so far I'm wishing it were a bit MORE like Omerta. Omerta
just seemed more "realistic" in the tactical fights. EoS seems a bit cartoony in the
tactical fights. But I kinda liked Omerta so there is that......

W8taminute · December 04, 2020, 08:46:40 AM

Quote from: gregb41352 on December 03, 2020, 06:43:54 PM
Just getting into it but so far I sorta like it.

The strategic layer which I'm just getting the hang of is superior, I think, to Gangsters.
As for the tactical combat, so far I'm wishing it were a bit MORE like Omerta. Omerta
just seemed more "realistic" in the tactical fights. EoS seems a bit cartoony in the
tactical fights. But I kinda liked Omerta so there is that......

Hi. Yes I think the strategic layer is superior to Gangsters in that it is a lot easier to see the overall big picture. The strategy layer in this game is deep in ways Gangsters was not. But I would say Empire of Sin is as satisfying to me as Gangsters was on the strategic layer.

As for combat I can't really comment on the comparison to Omerta as I have not played that game but so far I'm ok with how it is handled in Empire of Sin. I was a bit scared that combat in EoS would be like XCOM in that the player would miss every shot they took even if the enemy was right next to them and your guy had a A+ rating for marksmanship. Thankfully that is not the case here.