Tag Archives: Fantasy
GrogHeads Reviews Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition
Can the update & enhancement bring the game up to modern standards? ~
Avery Abernethy, 30 June 2018
Baldur’s Gate was originally released in December 1998. It was a tremendous financial success selling more than a million copies worldwide. It was also a critical success earning a GameRankings score of 92%. I bought the game when it was first released and later the expansion Tales of the Sword Coast. I ended up replaying the game many times.
Minsc also has many memorable dialogue options including “Butt-Kicking for Goodness.”
An Enhanced Edition of Baldur’s Gate was released in January of 2013 on Steam and www.gog.com. The Original edition of Baldur’s Gate was removed from the market. Baldur’s Gate has one of the most memorable characters in computer RPG history, Minsc the Ranger with his companion Boo the hamster. Minsc obtained Boo after a severe head injury, thinks Boo talks to him, and that Boo is a “space hamster.” Minsc also has many memorable dialogue options including “Butt-Kicking for Goodness.”
Sword & Sorcery: Immortal Souls – First Look!
Another new box-full-o’-minis in an oversize tabletop dungeon crawl ~
Michael Eckenfels, 21 March 2017
There’s about sixteen billion board games now dealing with dungeon crawls and sporting cool minis, or enough to choke a bag of holding – whichever reference you get first.
I’ve since realized I was expecting an RPG experience
I hadn’t heard of Sword & Sorcery before (go figure). According to BGG’s page, this game “is an epic -fantasy cooperative board game in which 1-5 players fight together against the forces of evil, which are controlled by the game itself.”
This last bit was enough to intrigue me. I’d had a momentary flirtation with the D&D games; specifically with Castle Ravenloft, which I played, and Temple of Elemental Evil, which I have yet to play. These D&D games struck me as too simplistic, but I’ve since realized I was expecting an RPG experience, and was disappointed because of it. I need to revisit those games with a different outlook on what to expect.
This one, though, seemed pretty cool for a variety of reasons. Not only the “1-5 player” aspect of it, which is admittedly a huge selling point for me (I like running multiple players in cooperative games), but also because this game has a lot of Galaxy Defenders (another game) in it. And it should, because Gremlin Productions created both of these games.
There’s also the 8.3 rating on BGG, which is impressive in and of itself, as well as the 95 (!) videos covering it, as well as over twelve hundred threads in the BGG page for it. Not bad for a game that was just released in 2017.
For a final reason, the minis are cool as hell, as you will see momentarily.
What’s Gus Playing? Total War: Warhammer, Part 3
Danger Dwarf™ deals dastardly damage ~
Lloyd Sabin, 26 February 2018
…the next moment I have really angered some ancient gods who I did not side with and they are slicing me up like some kind of Norse turkey
Well it did not turn out very well. How did this happen? One moment I am on top of the Old World, slashing and burning like a great Nordic-based monster should be, the next moment I have really angered some ancient gods who I did not side with and they are slicing me up like some kind of Norse turkey, Chaos style.
I really gave it my all and once I had some foggy idea of what I was doing, Total War: Warhammer became a quite the digital fantasy party…everything I could have ever asked in a fantasy strategy game. The images below show my descent in to defeat and disaster from the heights of warmongering.
Enjoy them. I will be back to this game and soon…I’ll probably play as the more conventional Empire of Karl Franz next. Honestly almost every faction is looking good now that I have learned the basics…of this one faction.
What’s Gus Playing? Total War: Warhammer, Part 2
Our fun-size fantasy foreman fights further forward ~
Lloyd Sabin, 19 February 2018
This series is not really intended to be an After Action Report (AAR) but for right now, I suppose it is. Continuing through my first Total War: Warhammer I campaign as the Norsca, I’ve continued to explore the Old World, kill my enemies, level up and generally have a grand old time. I introduced then ins and outs of a Warhammer campaign last week for anyone unfamiliar. This week’s entry will continue to track my progress. After an embarrassing and very short false start, my campaign kicked in to high gear in earnest. You can check it out in the below screen shots.
When I developed this massive mammoth unit, I was psyched. Just one of them are capable of turning the tide of most battles. At some points, I was able to possess more than one, which led to great fun on the battlefield (for me).
What’s Gus Playing? Total War: Warhammer I
Our speed-bump-sized sovereign of steel speaks of swords and spells ~
Lloyd Sabin, 12 February 2018
The Norsca are close to a Viking type faction in real history, they inhabit the freezing cold northern wastes of the Warhammer Old World, they are evil, and they can align with Chaos in the end game, if the player survives. I can dig them.
Those who know me from the forums have a decent idea of my resolve (or lack thereof) in purchasing games. With most releases, I try to hold out as long as I can for a sale. And then there are games whose mere announcement drives me to pre-order…which I frown upon in general, try to minimize most of the time, and occasionally fail at doing. Some pre-orders are still made…I’ve pre-ordered Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Thrones of Britannia (A Total War Saga), and Vampyr….all of which will find their way in to this column eventually. OK…so maybe my pre-order resolve needs some work. But it does lead to more interesting and varied games for me to feature here!
Total War: Warhammer I was a rare case for me. I am only a casual Warhammer fan – I have never painted any of the minis and the books I find depressing in larger doses. I am just about finished with Dan Abnett’s Thunder & Steel omnibus and although I have liked some WH40K books by Abnett, I found Thunder & Steel to be quite the slog most of the time.
So with that in mind I actually held off on buying Total War: Warhammer I. Even after initial glowing professional and user reviews, the game just struck me as too fantastical, too wacky/fruity. That is, until the Norsca were announced.
