This really resonate with my experience in pretty much all strategy-oriented game sub-genres(besides tbt, I also had affairs with 4xs, roguelikes and ccgs). I used to enjoy the long burn, but now I found most of their play to be rote, with only small doses of tasty gameplay here and there. As of late, I've found so called broughlikes(Cinco Paus, 868-HACK...), to be the last bastion of strategy videogames for me, alas those are too far apart from one another. I often try new quirky looking indie(or aaa, or iii, or, at this point, like whatever..) turn-based strategy games and while plenty have interesting ideas, very rarely I found one to keep playing for long.
My specific problem with Wargroove (and Advanced Wars) is that I didn't feel any ownership over the characters. The characters don't gain levels, I can't change their skills or weapons. there's no growth, it felt more like a puzzle to solve, rather than a challenge to overcome. A thin difference to some, but it's important to me.
I'm surprised there's no mention of the Fire Emblem series, it seems like they'd be right up your alley. Is it a series you haven't explored yet, or were you not fond of your experiences with them?
Ugh, you caught me. I was trying to pick a small number of games so that the post didn't grow to an egregious length. I've played a few Fire Emblems and enjoyed them...somewhat. I liked the focus on individual characters (you and are I aligned there!) but didn't love the permanent death consequence. I also didn't enjoy the "more serious" tone. I think that's why I gravitated more towards Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It gave me character progression, character focus, but was more playful and less punitive.
This really resonate with my experience in pretty much all strategy-oriented game sub-genres(besides tbt, I also had affairs with 4xs, roguelikes and ccgs). I used to enjoy the long burn, but now I found most of their play to be rote, with only small doses of tasty gameplay here and there. As of late, I've found so called broughlikes(Cinco Paus, 868-HACK...), to be the last bastion of strategy videogames for me, alas those are too far apart from one another. I often try new quirky looking indie(or aaa, or iii, or, at this point, like whatever..) turn-based strategy games and while plenty have interesting ideas, very rarely I found one to keep playing for long.
Great post!
My specific problem with Wargroove (and Advanced Wars) is that I didn't feel any ownership over the characters. The characters don't gain levels, I can't change their skills or weapons. there's no growth, it felt more like a puzzle to solve, rather than a challenge to overcome. A thin difference to some, but it's important to me.
I'm surprised there's no mention of the Fire Emblem series, it seems like they'd be right up your alley. Is it a series you haven't explored yet, or were you not fond of your experiences with them?
Ugh, you caught me. I was trying to pick a small number of games so that the post didn't grow to an egregious length. I've played a few Fire Emblems and enjoyed them...somewhat. I liked the focus on individual characters (you and are I aligned there!) but didn't love the permanent death consequence. I also didn't enjoy the "more serious" tone. I think that's why I gravitated more towards Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It gave me character progression, character focus, but was more playful and less punitive.