Is this game for me?

[hardy_conrad]

I'm just about done the last game I bought so starting to ponder getting something new. I've seen some vtubers play this and it looks pretty good! Can't say I've been playing a ton of these sorts of games recently mind you, probably the closest I got to the genre was Frostpunk since that was on sale a while back. Did like that game however, even if it seemed to rely a bit much on surprise events forcing the player to restart and prepare for them.

I guess maybe one thing I worry about is if it's too open ended? Like going waaay back to the old Sim City days, it was fun at first but the lack of objectives made it wear out its welcome pretty quickly. Based on what I've seen that isn't really the case with Tropico 6 however, but thought I should ask.

Basically I'm just curious about the thoughts of folks who've been playing it for a while, pros and cons and that kind of thing. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[t.jacobs]

1) I have mostly played the sandbox game mode. You can set goals here like "reach modern age" or "have XXX money on your account" as a goal but that's it. Building your island is fun but also a bit repetitive, if you essentially follow the same strategy again and again (see point 2). Also the randomly generated maps are not so different from each other. You can however also play the campaign which leads you through a lot of different scenearios. I haven't done this so far, because I don't like taking over existing settlements so much.

2) I think much of the fun is being a dictator and being cruel to your population. Unfortunately I am a too nice guy and therefore always go for happy people, which in the end forces me to follow the same path over and over again (I know, my fault, but at least I get elected with 97% of the votes every time and all factions love me!). This usually leads to a tight financial situation, which often requires building the same things in the same order. However, there might be a lot more possibilities to supress people, rig elections, get barely away in rebellions and swim in money. This is just not my cup of tea.

3) There are a few issues that become annoying after a while. For example, when there is a rebellion or attack, the solders are often in their home and have to get to their workplace first to defend the island. This means that 1 or 2 watch towers always get destroyed, before the cavallery arrives. And why tanks insist to toddle slowly on footpaths and sidewalks to their goal is also a mystery. The sarcastic comments of your counselor, faction leaders and the different ambassadors also are fun at first but become quite repetitive, once you have heard them ten times.

To sum it up, I would recommend the game in a sale, if you plan to a few maps and then give it a break again. But it isn't a game that can alone keep you busy for a year.

[hardy_conrad]

Hmm, fair analysis. I'm actually okay with games that are a bit on the boring side so long as there's some kind of goal down the road. Like I'd play Rimworld with research speed set to 1 percent and just relax. Games that a person can chill out to are not the worst thing in the world. Likewise saving a bit of money by grabbing something on sale, that never goes wrong.

[Kunovega]

If you play sandbox you're going to be mostly bored. It's an unlimited make your own rules literal sandbox where you have no real goal or purpose.

Play the missions, they all have storylines and challenges. The base game is 15 missions that should take a few hours each and then the DLC all add at least 1 more mission (the larger ones add a few with connected mini campaigns)

[hardy_conrad]

Yeah mission oriented gameplay sounds good. Thanks.