Comments on: In Praise Of: Pharaoh

By: Peter S

Peter S — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 16:55:01 +0000

Haven’t gotten around to playing this yet but I just saw that a remaster of it has been released. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts about that one as well if/when you try it so that I know which version I should be going for.

By: archerhombre

archerhombre — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 14:23:55 +0000

That is an astute observation! In the past, I never used shrines, but now I use them all the time. Thank you so much for sharing that. Shrines are so much cheaper, smaller, more cost-effective, etc. And they don’t take up valuable workforce labor! I never have upset deities in the game now that I just slap shrines in all the small spots , e.g., behind architect posts and firehouses, and next to natural obstacles.

By: Drinking with Skeletons

Drinking with Skeletons — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 16:08:17 +0000

I have two issues with Anno:

1) I don’t like the military element. Not because I’m strictly against it in principle, but just because doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the systems

2) It just doesn’t provide enough information about your supply chains. I don’t mind the island setup at all, but I find it much harder to manage because I never know exactly how well I’m doing until protests derail all my progress.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 23:42:35 +0000

I blame Supreme Commander, honestly. It was a mediocre game, but Strategic Zoom was so good that everything started using it, which meant that everything had icons, which meant that sooner or later readability would start to be sacrificed because “if they don’t know what it is there’s an icon right there, look”. Readability is one thing I won’t criticise Firaxis for (their UI design, on the other hand…), but Total War *definitely* has a big problem with this that’s even come through in the latest Warhammer game.

And I don’t think mainstream has ruined videogames directly, but I do think that the middle has been squeezed out of the market. The studios who are best equipped to find a historical niche like Impressions did and sit in it for a while have all been bought up by bigger publishers; I’d really struggle to name an AA-level studio (think Obsidian or inXile) that hasn’t featured as part of an acquisition headline in the last three years, and I think that’s going to lead to even less variety in the long-term.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 23:24:26 +0000

The Anno games are okay, but I’ve never liked the whole island gameplay aspect of it — just let me build one big city, dammit! The City Builder games do unfortunately also have some light RTS elements; they’re not obnoxious, but they are so simple that I wonder why they’re in the game.

Thanks for the Grand Ages: Rome recommendation – I’ll put it on my list of games to maybe look into in the future, although I’ve got two more Impressions games to play first!

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 23:18:38 +0000

I don’t disagree that the yearly release cadence hurt them a little bit — how much can you really iterate when you only have 12 months to make a game? I’ll have to actually play Zeus and Emperor to see if the housing strats transfer across, though; I’ll be disappointed if I can lift and drop what I’ve learned on my Pharaoh playthrough with no adjustment.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 23:13:27 +0000

Yes, there’s a fair bit of subtle humour in both the writing and the voice acting for the various citizens that did make me smile.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 23:12:10 +0000

Ahhhh, I just assumed that temples were better and only put in shrines in the tiny one-space blocks where I couldn’t put anything else. If they’re that powerful then you’re right, I should have been building a lot more.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 23:07:48 +0000

Zero problems running the base game, but you need a special fanpatched widescreen .exe if you want it at modern resolutions. This was harder to find that I would have liked, however a bit of googling turned up a helpful post on the Steam forums pointed me towards a resizer .exe that did the trick: https://steamcommunity.com/app/564530/discussions/0/154643795212940044/?ctp=4#c3186861366075430613

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 23:00:11 +0000

Dipping back into Pharaoh for the first time in several years without having played any other city builders recently has really whetted my appetite, and I know that Zeus has a pretty good reputation (if not as good as Pharaoh’s). I do like Greek mythology and am very interested in a game which does more with the religion side than the treatment in Caesar and Pharaoh, so if I don’t go with Nebuchenezzar I might try and get over myself and play a few missions of Zeus instead.