Originally posted by Icemania:

Originally posted by Gwydion:

Hey Guys, I wrote the review so I'll stand up for it. In the end, my feeling is that the problems with Stellaris don't overwhelm what makes it good. It's still a fun game. I can still lose hours playing it. In the end, if someone asked me for a 4X reco, I'd still offer Stellaris without reservation.

Personally I agree, at least with mods. My comment wasn't really about that. Your views and the comments in the article were quite valid. It was more that reading the article I was not at all expecting a recommended at the end, on balance it reads like a consider i.e. the actual article and the recommended were not internally consistent, IMO.

That's a totally fair critique. I swear it makes sense in my head, but it may not be coming through on the page.

Honestly, describing the appeal of Stellaris as "role playing" for me is a bit limiting and artificial. As Mr. Kill points out, there are plenty of other 4X games that you can do this with.

For me, Stellaris is an infinite SciFi story generator. A game like Endless Space 2, which I do like quite a bit, limits me to the stories of the races that already exist (yes you can create your own race in ES2, but whatever I make always feels like a lesser, faded copy of what's already there). In games like ES2 and Civ, everything feels the same after a while. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just different than what Stellaris offers.

I encounter new scenarios in almost every game I play with Stellaris. Something happens that was unexpected or unique. 200 hours in that's saying something. It captures the feeling of open possibility that no other Space 4X does for me. With my full time job, my kid, etc. I find it very hard to get sucked into that "one more turn" feeling with games. I'm almost always pulled out of it by the nagging worry that I ought to be doing something else. That doesn't happen with Stellaris. I look up and see 8 hours have passed and all I think is, OK, just another hour.

I'm not enough of a designer to explain the mechanics of how it was accomplished. Stellaris just feels limitless to me. When I play a game, I'm less interested in optimal play or "winning." I just want to be transported to another world and Stellaris does that for me.

Anyway, I don't think this really answers your question. But I've rambled enough for one post.

To be clear - and Oliver knows this - my reco and my review have nothing to do with commercial success. Just my own personal experience with the game. I could not care less, from a review perspective, if a game sells 1 copy or 1 million.

Originally posted by Anguille:

Originally posted by Gwydion:

Caution/avoid is... wow. I don't know, man. Maybe I've got my blinders on, but I can't see how Stellaris would get that rating. If you said "Consider" I'd say that makes sense and I totally see the argument for that. For a Caution/Avoid the game would need to be broken to the point of unplayable and that just isn't the case in my experience.

I've seen my share of reviews of 4x games i enjoyed a lot more than Stellaris where they got that rating from you guys.

That's fair. We all have different opinions/perspectives. A review can only encapsulate my personal experience. I can't really "defend" that beyond saying I still really enjoy the game.

I'd be curious which games you liked that we did not. Again, not to argue it, but just because I like to know such things.

Originally posted by AK_Icebear:

Agreed. For me the game is a cautious/avoid, for many of the reasons mentioned in the body of the article. Not sure how recommend was reached.

Caution/avoid is... wow. I don't know, man. Maybe I've got my blinders on, but I can't see how Stellaris would get that rating. If you said "Consider" I'd say that makes sense and I totally see the argument for that. For a Caution/Avoid the game would need to be broken to the point of unplayable and that just isn't the case in my experience.

Hey Guys, I wrote the review so I'll stand up for it. In the end, my feeling is that the problems with Stellaris don't overwhelm what makes it good. It's still a fun game. I can still lose hours playing it. In the end, if someone asked me for a 4X reco, I'd still offer Stellaris without reservation.

That said, there was a good amount of internal debate about the rating and the end result was not unanimous. We'll talk more about it on the podcast, for certain, in the hopes that it provides better context for the review.

Originally posted by The 4Xplorer:

In case anyone cares about what I think of Civ 6 at this point: https://the4xplorer.net/2019/02/21/civilization-vi-2019-complete-review/

Seconded. This is a really nice review. Thanks for sharing it!

Originally posted by CustodianV131:

Originally posted by Gwydion:

The next installment of our Civ expansion series is up!

https://explorminate.net/2019/01/28/whats-the-story-with-civilization-vi-an-exposition/

-Catherine wants war! (Actual war not shown)- Nice!

Thanks Custodian! I always try to bring some humor in my work. Glad you enjoyed it.

The next installment of our Civ expansion series is up!

https://explorminate.net/2019/01/28/whats-the-story-with-civilization-vi-an-exposition/

Hi Kill,

It's been a looooong time since I flew StarCon 1, but I remember the controls being tighter/more responsive/more fun in the originals. That's probably through the lens of nostalgia, though.