Recent reviews by CasRa

So granted I haven't played in a while, but started trying competitive mode, and there were leavers, griefers, and one probable hacker. Over two matches. Why bother if this is the level of player?

IS Game GOOD YES?

Game is good. Good, good, and did I mention good? More fun with some mods.

So I am a HUGE fan of Bloons TD6, I hadn't really seen this, stumbled on it, started playing and realized how much I hate pay to win, micro-gotcha transactions. If you haven't the patience and will power, this is a suck your wallet dry game. If you DO have that patience, it will be a lot of losing to people with easy win, which is just make enough money fast enough to drop the zombie bloons on you and you lose. It's really lame.

There are elements I do like here about this game. There is the foundation for something to enjoy. However, here are the reasons it fails for me:
1. You cannot zoom out to "see the big picture" so you are always scrolling around, be it your camp or the world.
2. Resources. There are parts you need for end game that really, you cannot make yourself.
3. Never seems enough in terms of resources, you're ALWAYS shy something, and I've put it on EASY mode just to see if I couldn't figure out the key to the game, and it still went sideways for no reason mid-game. What's that, you have 2 working lumber yards, oh sorry you're all out of wood can't make anything! It's just... dumb.
4. The world map, as stated above, you cannot zoom out, so you cannot really see it all to understand what's going on, lots of scrolling around constantly.
5. Nutrition! What's that, you have 4 big farms, 2 ranches and 2 cook houses, sorry but some of your people cannot figure out how to eat.
The list could go on here, but the TL:DR is bad mechanics that I think the devs though would be "challenging fun" are just, irritating at this point.

I wanted to really love this game, but the more I delve into it, the more annoyed I am getting at just astoundingly bad design baked into the game.

Was enjoying this game. Until I got about 500 turns into the game. Put some train stations in and while still using wind to move my ships, the game started screaming at me to use "renewable resources". Excuse me what? I barely reached into the modern era and you're playing stupidity about "GLOBULL Warming"? Vehicle for propaganda and fearporn. Also the game was 90 something turns to end at Endless turns? What? Stupid stupid stupid.

IS this a "bad" game? No
Is there value here? Yes
Let's look at the good, the bad and the inexcusable.
The good:
An RPG Looter shooter with fun mechanics and for me, a compelling story that I truly am looking forward too. I love the choices in skills and equipment, I'm having fun with that!

The bad:
If you play at world tier, you have to group, which means stopping to smell the roses is out. You get railroaded into moving on, can't stop to talk to NPC's, or take a moment to figure out what's next. It's follow the next guy or get booted. Internet is also, very hit or miss. I've had multiple CTD grouped with people. I had to lower graphics (I have a 1080Ti) and set it in DX11 to get solid performance. Meh.

The inexcusable:
NO FORM OF COMMS ASIDE FREAKING EMOTES REALLY?
I can't type, I can't talk, I can't coordinate with people. In a game where such team work would be amazing, you are denied it. It was funny, last night I was grouped with just a random person, and we organically developed a "Go to point of interest and strafe back and forth shooting at the collectable" communication system. That was "interesting" and annoying.

Until they implement at the VERY LEAST a type chat channel for PC-PC play, or figure out comms or someway for people to communicate so we can get on a discord... hell even just allowing a discord link would be nice. Something... I cannot recommend this game at all.

It's a solid game, keeps me amused.

Are you looking for a space empire simulator that rewards you for galactic control? Are you hoping to field large fleets and challenge the powers of the galaxy for dominance? Do you enjoy finding new planets to raise your empires flag on and expand your influence? Do you enjoy working at making sure you have a well balanced economy that grows with you and makes sense?

If your answer is yes to the above, Stellaris is not for you. After 100 hours, numerous restarts and years of gaming experience applied later, I realize this game is not for me. I like research new tech, seeing big fleets and building out my empire. This game punishes you for such. Without fail I'd hit about the 60-75 year mark, and watch as my energy production, mining and other resources tanked into the dirt.

After the umpteenth time of trying to figure out "What the hell am I doing wrong?" I realized the truth, with help from youtube, reddit and a few other resources I finally broke down and went and viewed. Stellaris is not a space empire sim, it's a MicroManagement master course in frustration. For some people, that's the way they want to play, and for those that have time, patience and OCD to make their empires work, I applaud you.

I am not that player. I started playing strategy games when my teacher in Comp Science picked up some copies of this crazy new game, "Sid Myers Civilization" and I've been hooked on such ever since. That might also be my problem is I'm getting too old to adapt? Perhaps. I will grant that, however as of today, I've uninstalled and will move on. I thank the Paradox team, 106 hours on a 30 dollar investment is decent ROI for entertainment, so thank you. But I cannot recommend your game, it just isn't, in the end, fun.

The game isn't "bad" but the stupid "global warming" crap makes the end game annoying. I can't remember the last time I went past 1950. It's absurdist, takes hysterical claims to an extreme... Sea Levels don't rise that fast, no matter how much warming there is, so you waste time and resources preventing stupid "Look we're WOKE" mechanics. Dumb, dumb dumb. The AI is still stupid, flawed and broken. What's that, you built a city withing 15 tiles of theirs, they yell at you, they then build a city RIGHT NEXT TO YOURS and when you say something it's "Oh, I didn't see you there.." They start a war with you, and you start winning they demand peace and if you don't do peace the rest of the AI hates you. If you start losing they keep taking an the other AI don't give darn.

Just dumb. Also hate the spying mechanic, "Oh you have a level 5 spy in your capitol? Great but that factor is 2 squares away so it's not protected!" Just dumb.