Neptune's Pride is a great game, but ends up being a complete mind <expletive> - the slow burn angst of hoping your ships get there at the right time and you've avoided being backstabbed by an 'ally'!
Thats why ive opted to stay away from that particular one. I'm enjoying the single player of Jupiter's Folly as well, although i think the AI is kinda brainless and easy to beat given so much time to think about a strategy (one nest of aliens that were extreamly powerful and right next to my mine never attacked me the whole game).
I wouldn't try Neptune's Pride either - it sounds just a little too cutthroat for me. With SurgeonFish's recommendation I have started a game of Blight, though. It's my first try at one of these multiplayer strategy games and I like the idea that I don't have to worry about getting my resources plundered minutes after the newbie protection wears off.
I heard an interesting radio discussion this morning about SuperBetter (www.superbetter.us), a game that aims to help and speed recovery for people struggling with health challenges. (Listen at: http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/sep/30/gaming-back-health/) What really struck me is how the creator, Jane McGonigal, talks about tapping into what games do best: creating positive emotions and developing closer social contacts. And isn't that why we really love games, new and old? Certainly I've seen the positive effect of taking my father to play euchre at the senior center Friday afternoons. It's really neat to think that even in games not specifically designed around being healthy, good play and good communities are so greatly beneficial. Often when people talk about the positive influence of games, I hear a slight self-deprecation added to genuinely inspiring stories. (e.g. the sports star who says "I know I play a game for a living...." and goes on to say how someone with an "important" profession has thanked that star for the experience of watching the team.) Game players need to take their good deeds more seriously!
Cardinal Quest, which looks like an old-school top down hack and slash, is free today only using a special promo code, tweeted here. I haven't tried it yet, but it seemed like it might be up y'all's alley. I'll probably download it myself after work. I've also been wasting a lot of time recently on The Binding of Isaac. I won't link it here because the art style is a little... unappealing, but it's pretty solid Zelda-esque Roguelike fun. You should be able to snag it easily enough from Steam, and it's only $5!
I got Cardinal Quest yesterday, and it looks like a pretty fun little roguelike title. Can't beat the price, either.
Yeah, Isaac sounds like a fun game from what they said on RPS about it. I'm just a bit too squeamish to try it out though.
It's a damn shame, really, because I'd otherwise whole-heartedly recommend it to anybody who is even remotely interested in the style of gameplay it's offering. It's just that, well... some people aren't quite as desensitized as I appear to be to things like power-ups that string coat hangers through your character's head, or dungeon shops staffed by corpses hanging from nooses.
Speaking of games: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/10/03/cardinal-quest/ This is free for a short period, it's a roguelike
Its... different. I can definitely tell some people will find it abnormally creepy and depressing. Its a very hard game though and you wouldn't think it just by playing the first few levels, but some of the images and scenery just... *shudder*
Ah, would this be a good time to bring up the horror of All Of Our Friends Are Dead? Or Au Sable? Or would it be, in fact, a bad time to link them? I'm very glad that I started following the independent gaming "scene." The things people can do when they're not just rehashing "whatever sold units the last time" is astounding. I'm also glad how, some years ago, computers finally advanced enough that quality storytelling was possible beyond the typical quests to save the Princess. Real emotional reactions engendered by events on-screen? My goodness! In my nigh-unto-continuous startlement at the narrative possibilities, I keep being impressed by horror, an idea that was basically never accomplished in earlier gaming. "Woo, somebody programmed a few exploding heads. It's like I'm supposed to laugh instead of be horrified." Well, today's games have a lot more thought put in to the whole experience; and independent developers have a lot more room to try weird ideas which may or may not hit the sweet spot. Hence, I just linked two games designed to be like nightmares. And where the creator said "Alright, people, this is what happens when you let an artist make a videogame."
Indie gaming scene is quite interesting I agree. Recently been researching Rogue-likes. Here's another recent one getting attention: http://www.roguetemple.com/2011/01/15/tome4/ The above is a review so you get an idea. I've not tried it yet (just downloaded). But looks minimally worth one's skim
