Rome II

[Martok]

Something else too:  When someone here doesn't like a game, they usually don't waste time haranguing it.  In fact, they can even acknowledge its good points, and/or why others *do* like said game (even if/when they don't agree).  You don't see that at the other place very often. 

[MengJiao]

Something else too:  When someone here doesn't like a game, they usually don't waste time haranguing it.  In fact, they can even acknowledge its good points, and/or why others *do* like said game (even if/when they don't agree).  You don't see that at the other place very often.

  Having a lot to say about a game you don't like seems like an odd mental state.  First: did you play the game a lot?  Why, if you didn't like it?
And if you didn't play it much, then you don't really have much to say.  In my case there are some exceptions -- games that I had to stop playing because they were too immersive and took too much time.  But I guess that's not all that negative.  Okay Espana 1936 -- horrible game -- why did I play it for weeks?  I guess I had too much hope for it.  But there you see -- the odd mental state of being too hopeful about a particular game.

[Sir Slash]

I joined Grogs because when Skyrim first came out, I wanted honest opinion about how good the game was. After Oblivion I expected the worst and opinion here was at first somewhat negative but then went to a very positive opinion of the game and I must say the most accurate one too. All in a respectful and knowledgeable way. And ahead of any other site. I know the Grogs here cannot be bought, bribed, or intimated by any game or game company and that's why I always look here first. And for the discussions about Boobs.

[Gusington]

I can be easily bribed with bewbays.

[Con]

I can be easily bribed with bewbays.

Here is a nice shot of some bouillabaisse

[MengJiao]

I joined Grogs because when Skyrim first came out, I wanted honest opinion about how good the game was. After Oblivion I expected the worst and opinion here was at first somewhat negative but then went to a very positive opinion of the game and I must say the most accurate one too. All in a respectful and knowledgeable way. And ahead of any other site. I know the Grogs here cannot be bought, bribed, or intimated by any game or game company and that's why I always look here first. And for the discussions about Boobs.

  I joined later -- the summer of 2012 -- Apparently I was doing roughly what I do now:

I did as planned in DCCB: redeployed the Soviet 6th Army, did a fighting withdrawal from the Kerch Peninsula, sank an Italian S-Boat off Roumania, bombarded the stuffing out of the Luftwaffe around the Sea of Azov, broke through north of Kharkov, destroyed most of the 23rd PZ up there as well as 2 Hungarian Divisions and Two German divisions.  Of course, since it is May 1942, STAVKA isn't firing on all cylinders so I might not even take Kharkov before the Germans punch a hole somewhere and I have to go defensive.  Right now STAVKA rates the battle as rather a low-prestige level 7 offensive and I was lucky to get 100 extra fighters out of them before my Political Points went so low that I can barely replace bad Army Commanders with mediocre Army Commanders.

Meanwhile, Fontenoy turned up and I'll post about that in the Wargames section

[Sir Slash]

Do these Bewbays have to be Carthaginian?

[Nefaro]

I can be easily bribed with bewbays.

One in the hand, or two in the bush??  Or otherwise known as...

[Con]

[Gusington]

Consider me now sufficiently bribed. Except for my Carthaginian needs.

[Con]

God bless the internet because this image pops up when you type Carthaginian Boobies

[Gusington]

^HA you win.

[Grim.Reaper]

I know maybe not popular, but I see the original Rome total war collection is only $3.25 at Gamersgate on sale....might pick up to complete my collection that is not on CDs (I own on CDs):)

http://www.gamersgate.com/DDB-ROMETWC/rome-total-war-collection

[Bletchley_Geek]

  Having a lot to say about a game you don't like seems like an odd mental state.  First: did you play the game a lot?  Why, if you didn't like it?
And if you didn't play it much, then you don't really have much to say.  In my case there are some exceptions -- games that I had to stop playing because they were too immersive and took too much time.  But I guess that's not all that negative.  Okay Espana 1936 -- horrible game -- why did I play it for weeks?  I guess I had too much hope for it.  But there you see -- the odd mental state of being too hopeful about a particular game.

I did have a lot of hopes for it as well, and I loved the chrome there - as I could relate emotionally to the events depicted and the units on the map. But at the end of the day, the only good thing about it was the chrome: the game just didn't feel at all like the Spanish civil war, a protracted, mostly static struggle punctuated by a few major pitched battles and offensives, and where diplomacy and rear area politics & propaganda won the war. I just think AGEOD's engine just wasn't suited for that kind of warfare. That, and also the technical issues that rendered the game unplayable after a few turns.

As to why at all to comment about a game you dislike, I do so when I see something posted regarding mechanics, user interface or AI which goes against the grain of any recollections I have of the experience. Some recent studies on on-line commerce found out that people tend to avoid products that mostly have very good reviews, and any bad reviews are actively trolled by others, but tend to prefer those products where reviews (or user comments, or whatever) are mostly good, and 'negative' reviews or comments are written in a thoughtful, polite manner and are factual. I try to be the last three things whenever I make a negative comment.

Grogheads is a very nice forum since it is actively "policed" to keep people civil - hence I am not surprised to see myself coming here to check what's cool and what's cold :)

[Bletchley_Geek]

And going back on-topic: I agree with MengJiao and Martok that Rome II is a far superior game to the original. Rome I was one of the last games I bought in a box from a brick & mortar store, and oh boy!, it was indeed quite broken in many ways. The smacktalk about Rome II falls into many of the biases this guy here discusses in the context of football punditry

http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2014/06/cognitive-biases-in-football-punditry.html

and probably apply to pretty much any human activity :)