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I've gotten tired of these superficial kinds of games and find myself returning to / relearning such heavyweights as Elite Dangerous and Eve Online. The learnin

I've gotten tired of these superficial kinds of games and find myself returning to / relearning such heavyweights as Elite Dangerous and Eve Online. The learning curve especially on the latter is stellar but as a way of really really chilling out they are both amazing. I've probably always enjoyed the learning part the most. Having said that I'm guilty of having way more titles in my Steam library (most probably still far deeper than what the article regards) than I'll ever play. There's a certain addictive element, combined with the optimism of having the time to do them all. (I prefer to read HN or watch Netflix if I need chill time on the mobile, and keep it free of games, even though my S10+ is just about the latest and greatest.)

teh_klev 8y ago
> returning to / relearning such heavyweights as Elite Dangerous and Eve Online I just moved house and finally dug out my thrustmaster for a bit of E:D action, though I do find it a wee bit "grindy". I've also been toying with re-activating my paid-for Eve accounts and seeking out my old corp. The problem with Eve though is that it becomes all consuming. One minute it's 6pm on a Friday evening, in a flash it's suddenly 9am on a Sunday morning.
- exelius 8y ago
  With E:D, the grind is the journey. It gets a lot more fun once you get into the mid-game ships tho.
- ethbro 8y ago
  Eve stops being fun when you start having to carry a corp pager.
  - chii 8y ago
    Or it starts getting fun when you have to carry a corp pager! No other game can pull you in this way, where geo is important because you live in a timezone opposite to the defender's, and thus can prep and ambush for when the target's prime-time comes online.
- mcv 8y ago
  E:D grindy? I got to Dangerous or Deadly on the original Elite. That's grindy. But we loved it anyway because there was nothing like it. I did play Eve around the time of the Beta and for a while after release. Set it to train a skill while I was sleeping, set it to another skill in the morning, and then played a couple of hours when I got home from work. Then I realised I already had a job.
Retric 8y ago
Odd, I found Eve to be extremely shallow gameplay. For example combat is only nominally 3D as guns fire in all directions equally well turning any fight between two ships into a 2d slug match. Large scale combat is mostly about calling out targets than positioning etc. Extreme grinding combined with permanent ship loss hide a multitude of sins. But, spend some time fighting in relatively cheap ships and the game becomes boring.
- c0nfused 8y ago
  I think the actual gunplay part of Eve combat is pretty abstract. For me the joy comes from the prep and risk. With out belaboring the point, I view combat as a sort of test of the fit of my ship and the tactics I am employing. Did I match the strengths I anticipated against the weaknesses I expected? Combat is short and brutal and best done with major risk. The game is designed so that there is no clear "best" anything and for me that's where the depth is.
noxToken 8y ago
Two things here: I also find myself going back to these heavier games time after time. I always convinced myself that casual games allow for quick picking up and putting down just in case something comes up. But at the end, I find myself getting tired or bored. I recently picked up Street Fighter 5 and borrowed an arcade stick from a friend who played competitively. Very easy game to get into with movesets that aren't complicated and short matches, but it's a tough game to master when you factor in combos, frame data, reading opponents, learning character match ups, etc. I also think the massive Steam library is a symptom of the console market. If you're primarily a console player, your games are almost always $60USD. You might be able to grab a title that's $40 on release, but that's rare. PC players are used to discounts and smaller titles. Sometimes it's really steep discounts like 20% off + all DLC only 6 months after release. I think PC players (myself included) are willing to bite the bullet by spending $30 on a full title that we may play since we are so conditioned on the value of a launch title being $60. Rocket League is a prime example. If Rocket League had been a console only release in 2012, I'm certain it would have cost $60. However, it was released for $20(?) to PC and PS4 by a smaller company.
deleted 8y ago
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teh_klev 8y ago

> returning to / relearning such heavyweights as Elite Dangerous and Eve Online I just moved house and finally dug out my thrustmaster for a bit of E:D action, though I do find it a wee bit "grindy". I've also been toying with re-activating my paid-for Eve accounts and seeking out my old corp. The problem with Eve though is that it becomes all consuming. One minute it's 6pm on a Friday evening, in a flash it's suddenly 9am on a Sunday morning.

exelius 8y ago
With E:D, the grind is the journey. It gets a lot more fun once you get into the mid-game ships tho.
ethbro 8y ago
Eve stops being fun when you start having to carry a corp pager.
- chii 8y ago
  Or it starts getting fun when you have to carry a corp pager! No other game can pull you in this way, where geo is important because you live in a timezone opposite to the defender's, and thus can prep and ambush for when the target's prime-time comes online.
mcv 8y ago
E:D grindy? I got to Dangerous or Deadly on the original Elite. That's grindy. But we loved it anyway because there was nothing like it. I did play Eve around the time of the Beta and for a while after release. Set it to train a skill while I was sleeping, set it to another skill in the morning, and then played a couple of hours when I got home from work. Then I realised I already had a job.

Retric 8y ago

Odd, I found Eve to be extremely shallow gameplay. For example combat is only nominally 3D as guns fire in all directions equally well turning any fight between two ships into a 2d slug match. Large scale combat is mostly about calling out targets than positioning etc. Extreme grinding combined with permanent ship loss hide a multitude of sins. But, spend some time fighting in relatively cheap ships and the game becomes boring.

c0nfused 8y ago
I think the actual gunplay part of Eve combat is pretty abstract. For me the joy comes from the prep and risk. With out belaboring the point, I view combat as a sort of test of the fit of my ship and the tactics I am employing. Did I match the strengths I anticipated against the weaknesses I expected? Combat is short and brutal and best done with major risk. The game is designed so that there is no clear "best" anything and for me that's where the depth is.

noxToken 8y ago

Two things here: I also find myself going back to these heavier games time after time. I always convinced myself that casual games allow for quick picking up and putting down just in case something comes up. But at the end, I find myself getting tired or bored. I recently picked up Street Fighter 5 and borrowed an arcade stick from a friend who played competitively. Very easy game to get into with movesets that aren't complicated and short matches, but it's a tough game to master when you factor in combos, frame data, reading opponents, learning character match ups, etc. I also think the massive Steam library is a symptom of the console market. If you're primarily a console player, your games are almost always $60USD. You might be able to grab a title that's $40 on release, but that's rare. PC players are used to discounts and smaller titles. Sometimes it's really steep discounts like 20% off + all DLC only 6 months after release. I think PC players (myself included) are willing to bite the bullet by spending $30 on a full title that we may play since we are so conditioned on the value of a launch title being $60. Rocket League is a prime example. If Rocket League had been a console only release in 2012, I'm certain it would have cost $60. However, it was released for $20(?) to PC and PS4 by a smaller company.

deleted 8y ago

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