Recent reviews by ImaGe

I recommend buying and playing this game if you can catch it on sale. It's a SIMS meets colony survival with war elements. It has a slow pace and a building difficulty which can appeal to casual players and min/max players like myself. I find myself thinking about how to redo buildings and plans to rework efficiency. Also you get attached to your settlers watching over them. When they die it can be maddening.

If your having trouble with the warfare, remember traps are you friend. Archers on protected roof tops are epic.

This game requires that you pay attention to and invest in your settlers. The higher a skill level in a trade the better products you can create. It requires that you worry about the "mood" of your settlers as well as defense, food and other practical problems.

I don't post reviews very often. I do however often read reviews so it's my time to give back. :) I'm the worst when it comes to choosing and playing games. If you take a look at my steam library it's ridiculous the amount of games I buy and then barely play.

I like this game. I've played this game a lot. It has a subtle difficulty that I really enjoy. It's not fast paced and truthfully there are other colony sim games that do parts of this game better. But yet, here I am really liking this game.

For DEV(s): (If you read these)
-Could you stop or give a option to stop the screen snap to arriving traders? It's crazy interrupting.
-What about the introduction of a ambassador job? That way the traders just walk to that person and a trade dialogue opens automatically? (If the ambassador job is assigned?) I only ask, because I do the same thing everyone else does. I find the highest speech craft person (which never changes) and send them to the trader every time. It's a bit tedious after trader number 11, to perform the same action over and over again.
-Introduction of a mint and gold as a currency? Or automatic selling/buying options for trading? Just curious.
-Then have bandits/enemies run for the gold. They arrive to destroy a smelter or kilm doesn't make tons of sense to me. *I've traveled many days to raid a neighboring settlement. I shall destroy this pile of stones.*
-When colonist trap themselves it's pretty frustrating. I do admit sometimes it's a challenge to unstick them which can be fun. But digging themselves stuck, it's just goofy behavior? Was wondering if they could do a pathing check and if they don't have one be teleported to a bed or something after a minute.
-Ability to tell colonist to not go outside in the event of an extreme weather event?
-I would love to see a romance/love/breeding mechanic that produces children with skills or skill talents related to their parents.
-Would love to see the ability to have kids. :)
-Any chance "tree farms" can have an auto harvest mechanic like other plants? (can be switched on or off) it's a little tedious to keep checking your trees for maturity.

I've read some of the other intended changes and I can't wait to see them go into production.

TLDR:
If your a super hardcore space simulation fan then my review is a waste of your time, I'm talking to everyone else that falls into my "generael gamer bucket."

Thoughts:

This game is not meant to be played by casual gamers. It's not meant to be played by even what I would consider your middle of the road gamers. It's meant for the hard core space simulation crowd, I can respect that. I've been fan of the X-3 series for years, (well, except for their latest disaster). But come on, hard on purpose? There is just no reason for it.

This game is not meant to jump in and play. It's fundementally designed to discourage this time of game play. Hours must be spent understanding aspects of the game before they can be used. Hours must be spent repeating the same manual boring tasks over and over again. Almost no player engagement. It's like playing a game that isn't really designed to be played. It would be hiliarious if it wasn't so sad.

I get so frustrated by simulation games that fall into the fallacy of thinking they must be difficult. "It's a space game! It's got to be hard to do simple things because, you know space!"

-The player has to manually dock every time! "Because space!"
-The player can't find missions at even starting space stations! "Because space!"
-The player can't jump to hyperframe because he doesn't meet one of five creteria!" "Because space!"
-The player has to time his drop out of FTL or he'll blow past his target and spin around in circles like a moron trying to find it. "Because space!"

Wait a minute, I have a space craft that can plot a jump route across hundreds of systems and travel faster then light. But it can't drop me out of FTL when I get to the system I want at the right speed and distance? I think you should have let the guy building the navigation program have a couple of extra days so he could add a "stop here" subroutine. Like adding brakes to a car, it seems like a fundemental function you make sure you have before you roll it out. Otherwise you'd just have your averages joes running stop lights, driving off bridges or running over the family dog. It's a simple jump in my opinion from running over the family dog to flying inverted and backwards into a sun. No brakes, are you serious?!?!

Also, playing with a friend of mind was almost impossible. Most of the time we didn't even show up in the same instances. After a couple of searches we both switched to open game play and still only were in each other's instances a few times. Frustrating and again time wasting.

The game is visually beautiful. Love and detail went into the design of the cockpits, stations and systems. I can see that love and attention to detail. I only wish that kind of attention was put into the game play and the mechanics, it's a game after all it's mean to be fun, to be enjoyed!

What do I think?

Tedious, boring and needlessly complicated. But above all a general waste of time.

If your a super hardcore space simulation this game may be for you. I can see the appeal and I can appreciate what they were trying to go for.

Everyone else? Pass this one up and play Space Engineers or Starmade or something else, ANYTING ELSE. So many great space games that are actually fun to play and engage the player.

Skyrim is an excellent game all around! If you consider yourself a "gamer" be it dedicated hardcore or extremely casual your honestly depriving yourself without this title.

Combat - Check!
Magic - Check!
Character Progression - Check!
Vibrant and Beautiful - Check!
Crafting - Check!
Infinite Quests - Check!
Compelling Story Lines - Check!
Replay-ability - Check!
Hundreds of hours of unique game play - Check!
Drinking - Check!

Con -
This game is single player only. (If it had a solid multi-player function I'd never really play anything else.)
The inventory system is a little tedious and could have been done a bit better.
This game can have a high earning curve.
Unforgiving with mistakes made in character progression. (Be extra sure and extra careful when selecting skills!)