Recent reviews by ZenFury

Ara: History Untold has compelled me to play 1 more turn many times, lol.

** This review is after me only playing 10 hours so forgive me if I am grossly incorrect. I just think it's a travesty to see so many negative reviews so quickly. So, I thought I'd share my 2 cents even if it's in haste.

As a Civ fan having played over 4,000 hours of Civ V and Civ VI combined I thought I'd give this game a shot while I wait for the next Civ.

While far from perfect and refined it offers some new ideas that I really like such as the city building design system. City improvements need resources, which you then can turn into other resources and/or amenities which can either enhance certain aspects of your city improvements or be used in other cool ways. ARA's "crafting system" is a great enhancement for planning.

Watching battles is pointless and inaccurate. The battle progress and results stats are nice though. But, opting to watch a battle play out needs much improvement. I can understand though why it's not up to par because it isn't that important when compared to other facets of the game. I imagine this facet will be phased out, this game isn't Total War.

Battle formation options are a step up from Civ VI. More formations with different perks and restrictions, which is cool.

The graphics are great at all zoom levels, but that isn't as important IMO, more like the icing on the cake. Beauty is only skin deep they say.

The tech tree is very plan and thus offers less planning, diversity, and strategy IMO. Basically you can research any tech you want in your current ERA, or BOX I would say. It feels very boxed in that you can't pursue tech's outside of your current era regardless if that's your desire or not. You're literally boxed in.

Diplomacy seems promising but so far I'd say average. Close to on par with Civ VI perhaps but Civ V's diplomacy system is much better, IMO.

Paragons in ARA is pretty cool. Think of them as great people that can be utilized many different ways. Not just a one time bonus or perk. Paragons are an improvement over Civ's great people IMO because they are so diverse and can be used in different ways.

Map creation needs to be improved and a better definition given to each option. For now though since the game is so new it's not a big deal, but hopefully this will happen.

In such a beautiful world it's missing Natural Wonders, a nice touch that any world would Naturally have! Right??

I'll revise this review as I gain more play time, I just wanted to make this quick review to point out that while imperfect, ARA is very promising too!

It's hard to be a perfectionist while also held to deadlines. Nothing is ever perfect, but this release seems to be very smooth. I've had no issues with glitches or crashes, etc. Granted I haven't reached the end game yet, but I'm playing with the max Civ's on the biggest map size to see how the endgame reacts and performs.

If you're a Civ fan give it a shot. You've got what 2 hours to decide if you want a refund? Granted this game is on the more expensive side but by the time I had to think if I wanted a refund or not 6 hours had already passed and I still wanted to play 1 more turn.....

Been playing OOTP for a LONGGG time. This release so far is great.
A more polished version of the previous like usual BUT, they've added more options for player development, more refined stats, and a clearer explanation for the Catcher position. Like framing, blocking, etc. I like that clearer definition because there is so much that revolves around your catcher.

No idea if the development changes in the game will have a clearly recognizable change in the actual game but I like how we can now specify what we want to improve in a player or not.

I've noticed a couple bugs here and there but they've been pretty good at patching things up. As of now the only bug I have is when you need to make a decision when running and trying to advance the game hickups, you make your decision, then you don't get to see it play out.

Been playing OOTP Baseball for years.
Over the years they do make improvements to the core game year over year.
Lately the graphics seem to have come a log ways and the way the algo's work keep the game engaging and challenging.

I took on the challenge of taking over the Reds in 2022 and we won the Division. In 2023 we won the World Series! 2024 for me is just starting so we'll see how it goes.

There isn't many options for this type of a baseball game so fans of this type already know about OOTP and their products and how great they are.

If you're a new comer give it a try, I'm sure you'll love it!

So far this has been quite an enjoyable game. Not quite as complex as Stellaris but still enjoyable with many of the same qualities.

Granted I've only played 15 hours so far, but that is my opinion as of now.

Having logged over 2,000 hours playing Civ V http://steamproxy.com/id/ZenFury/ I'm enjoying Civ VI and it's changes!

I was very sceptical after how Civ V started off at release as well as Beyond Earth.
However I've been pleasantly surprised at how polished Civ VI is right off the bat. Imagine how it will evolve with Mods, Patches, and Expansions!

PROS

* Fun and new ideas
* Polished (No Crashes yet)
* Mod Support

CONS

* Map doesn't show very well if a resource is being harvested.

Bottom Line

* If you're a Civ fan or searching for a 4X game give it a shot.

IF you're itching for a new space 4x, a big time fan of the Moo series, and/or are willing to accept this an early access game so there is some risk involved I'd say go for it!

As of right now only encountered a couple bugs, ZERO crashes.

Very resource efficient (I multitask, alt/tab very frequently, the game was smooth!), and that's with maxed out visual and 8x AA. Graphics look good/great (GTX 970).

Finished one game so for, it was very easy and dragged on towards the end. BUT, that's because many things are not yet implemented so I'm very hopeful the game will progress on what is a solid beginning.