Re: "8 Classic Games You Haven't Played (but should)"

On Wed, 29 Jan 2025 23:00:03 GMT, Geeknix
<usenet@apple.geeknix135.net> wrote:

On 2025-01-28, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, 28 Jan 2025 07:02:48 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
"Populous" is a genre of god-game that I think needs to make a
come-back (although I was always more fond of the sequel). There have
been attempts to revitalize the god-game genre, but they always added
too many layers of complexity to the game, and I think that what made
"Populous" so addictive was its simplicity. It was a very hands-off
sort of game, where most of the action took place outside of the
player's control, and you had to swoop in only at critical junctures
to make sure the outcome of a battle went in your favor. "Populous" is
actually one of those games that /benefits/ from its technological
limitations, with its small view-window keeping you focused on just a
tiny part of the world at once. Even just the ability to zoom out to a
more macro-level view of the world works against the game's balance, I
feel.

>
I never played Populous, never understood it, but then again I never
really looked at it or tried. My younger self just thought it was a rip
off of Powermonger without the fighting.
>
I played Powermonger a lot on the Amiga, I sometimes just played the
intro over and over. The music was great to a younger me sitting in a
dark cold bedroom staring at a 14" CRT with small speakers blasting out
the soundtrack, happy days. I also somehow stubbled across some kind of
bug that gave my troops infinite strength, but they looked a little
glitchy.
>
I just tried searching to see if this glitch was a thing. I couldn't
find anything about it. The only bug mentioned was that sometimes the
shepard's looked like they were doing something lewd to their flock!
>
Sorry, but I can't help thinking of Powermonger whenever Populous is
mentioned. Now I'm going to watch the intro on YouTube and maybe look up
Mega-lo-mania also. Thanks for the memory trigger..

Heheh. I was the opposite. "Powermonger", for me, was a rip-off of
"Populous". Although seeing as both games were developed at Bullfrog
(albeit not by the same teams), in either case 'rip-off' is probably
inaccurate.

Peter Molyneux was a fan though. He once said it was "better than
Populous". High praise from the guy who developed "Populous" in the
first place.

Personally, I preferred the older game. "Powermonger" just added on
layers of complexity I felt were unnecessary. Although, again, that
might be because I came across it later. Perhaps had I played
"Powermonger" first, I would have been bitching about how stupidly
simplified they'd made "Populous". ;-P

Can we both agree, though, that "Syndicate" was the better of both
games? ;-)