The Shrine

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>1) Skies of Arcadia Legends - In short it's an RPG which takes place in a massive world with several different countries, each contolling their respective towns. The theme is the Age of Exploration only with floating continents and airships. This game, visually, is arguably the most pleasing to the eye of any game currently available; granted, its graphics quality is possibly among the lowest of all gamecube titles (as it only runs about 1/5-1/10 the amount of ploygons that most games runs). This game is an extended version of the Dreamcast version, it has improved visuals, improved gameplay, and a lot of extra's added in. The original Skies of Arcadia was instantly one of my favorite games of all time, and I am quite happy to play an improvement.

2) Master of Orion 2 - I just got the game for a couple of bucks to test play (to get ahold of what Master of Orion 3 was going to be all about). I have only played a few hours, and so far I am quite dissapointed (after all the praise this game has received from some people). In essense you begin on a planet and allocate resources, expand technology, and then grow accross a map that spans one screen. I have done some battleing with my fleets, but it just didn't strike me as interesting. I will play a bit more before having a full opinion on this title. In comparrison, it doesn't seam to be nearly as complex or interesting as the civilization series, the battles don't interest me (yet).

3) Sid Meier's Civilization III: Play the World - I am still very dissapointed with this title, the multiplayer capabilities do not interest me at all. In essense Civilization is a game where you begin as a wandering nomadic tribe, build your first city, and then an army, and eventually grow through the ancient age, the middle ages, the Industrial age, and the Modern age. You can fight massive wars, and secure resources. There are several paths to victory which include conquering the world, being elected leader of the world, becoming the cultural center of the world, etc... (for civ players) Currently I am playing the Vikings on a huge random map, I spent the first few turns expanding and building up marketplaces, barracks, and libraries in every city. I used the republic government, and got myself to #4 in the world, I lost 5 cities to France's superior culture, luckily they were beyond my corruption range and I had not invested much into them, so they were expendable. I also played isolationist once I had Middle Ages tech, other civs got ahead of me in certain area's where as I had the most advanced military tech. Once I had invention I just began pouring out Viking Beserks, and then I began trading China for techs, once I had almost recovered I betrayed China and declared war on them (getting all my cash back). I quickly defeated them, and they surrendered, I took even more techs from them, and then betrayed them again finishing off their civilization. I spent the rest of my time building up my land while France expanded her power by conquering half of Russia. In the end though, France had lost much in that war and I had conquered far more land, I had moved ahead of Egypt, France, and Russia to become the #1 civ in the world, France moved from 1st to 3rd. Currently rebuilding to take on France, only now we're into the Industrial age, I am ahead of everyone techwise. The plan is to get my tanks, and then convert to communism and conquer France and Russia (my two closest neighbors) =)

Also playing Splinter Cell (great game) and Final Fantasy 9, but I've kind of put them off lately, so I won't talk about them now.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>Just Vice City and a tiny bit of Prime. Too poor and busy to play anything else. Plus, you can't find Suikoden 3 for sale in Halifax.</div>

<div style='font: ; text-align: left; '>Ice Wind Dale 2: This is an extremely fun game. Uses 3rd Edition DnD rules, real time combat system, and full character customization. I even stuck my boyfriend's portrait into my wizard character, heh. He dies alot. Heheh. Oh, but I've been distracted by...

Final Fantasy 9: I got to the 3rd disk like a year ago or something, and then let the game collect dust and be a coaster. But I picked it back up a few days ago and haven't stopped since. I'm at disk 4, i think about to take on the final bad guy or whatever.

I started on Europa Universalis but dismissed it after a few hours. Now I don't get much computer time because of a game called Celtic Kings. grrrr...

My opinions on The Seeker's Games

Skies of Arcadia: Have no idea.

Master of Orion 2: MOO2 is the shit! Um, we'll i guess its one of those games you either think totally sucks, or you get obsessively addicted. I like making your own ships, that is alot of fun. It's a bit too easy though. I don't recall playing Moo3 but now that you mention it, i think its on my list.

Civ3: It would be okay except for the fact every turn i take my computer takes 30 minutes to process it. And Ghandi scowling and sayin "Prepare for genocide" doesn't seem quite right.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Final Fantasy Tactics, Castlevania:HoD, and I'm trying to download Quake 3, so that I can play Weapons Factory Arena.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Currently, MW4 Mercs online is taking up a stupid amount of time. Also playing Socom and the Getaway.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>V-Rally 3. Unexpectadly a very good rally racing game.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Metroid Prime, when I can. Very satisfying experience. I also have a FF7 replay I haven't touched for a few months.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt Arial, Tahoma, Geneva; text-align: left; '>Not playing too much... just a little Unreal Tournament 2003 once in a while.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>It's a flaw in the game from a rushed development, I believe, it shouldn't require that much power to run a civ game. Civilization II worked great on 486 processors, but Civilization III even strugles on PIII's. Unfortuanetly for the vast majority of users, only a 100X100 map or smaller works, yet the game was built to be more enjoyable on a larger map (plus all the people who work on the scenario's seam to like using 256X256 sized maps. If they're that much into the game, you're gonna bet they have top of the line hardware). I usually play the game on my newest computer which is a 2.40GHz (not sure if that's P3 or P4). Unfortuanetly for me, I find it much more comfortable to use my old 433 (which I've had for like 4 years now. It has all my stuff on it, but I don't want to transfer anything over to my other computer because this one also has a TON of problems with it too =P).

MOO3, it's not out yet. MOO2, I just haven't given it a chance yet, it may or may not be a game I enjoy, currently I am not enjoying it.

Icewind Dale 2, I don't know a thing about it other than it's made in Canada =P

Final Fantasy 9, if you were ever a fan of Final Fantasy 1, or Final Fantasy 5, this game should be in a familiar world.

Skies of Arcadia, this is as good as Console RPG's get. Graphically it's top of the line for Dreamcast, but it wasn't as popular as it should have been (probably due to the format), this is one of those games whose popularity should be up with Final Fantasy and Baldurs Gate. Mostly everyone I know who has played has thoroughly enjoyed it, a lot of people's favorite characters from an RPG are in this game. All in all, if you enjoyed Chrono Trigger, you will very likely enjoy this game, mainly because the characters are similar and the atmosphere of the game is similar. Chrono Cross (The Chrono Trigger sequel) lacked the atmosphere and the characters, but had the gameplay style. Though I do warn you, if you play Skies of Arcadia, you won't enjoy Chrono Trigger nearly as much as you once did before.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>As of now, absolutely nadda, zip, and zilch. Unless you count emulators, then I've been playing Punch-Out a bit between classes, good times. :)</div>

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>DDR, Guilty Gear XX : Midnight Carnival, Contra Shattered Soldier, Beatmania IIDX 5th style, and some random PC games</div>

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Animal Crack, Castlevania: HoD, and Final Fantasy 3j.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Final Fantasy 9, Kingdom Hearts, Pinball of the Dead, Metroid Fusion. Not an overly huge amount of the GBA games, though</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Got a used copy of Socom finally. Haven't had a chance to try it yet. Now I need to find that damned broadband adaptor</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Guilty Gear! Yeah!</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Just started Skies of Arcadia Legends and that's about it until Zelda is released. I'm probably going to get a GBA:SP though too.</div>

<div style='font: bold 12pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Ratchet & Clank...fun game...</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Whoah, i forgot about AC, I almost forget about that one because I'm always playing it though I usually only go in every few days now unless something special is happening.</div>

<div style='font: ; text-align: left; '>Not much, just some arcade shooters (Guwange, Dodonpachi, ESP Ra De) to pass time when I'm bored.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt Arial, Tahoma, Geneva; text-align: left; '>As cool as Guilty Gear is, I could never learn half of the stuff in it! I come from the Ryu school of button mashing and projectile spammage.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Dragonrealms and a touch of Shadowbane beta when the lag's not horrendous.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>MUDding daily at Stormgate with Baldarov!</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>It doesn't matter what school you come from, Guilty Gear is just a weird game.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Fun multiplayer game? Tell me more</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Yeah, but it's worth learning just for the art and characters alone.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>War of Genesis 3 (Korean PC RPG) and Neverwinter Nights</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>So you can use the microphone to talk to your own AI troops in Single player or is it only for multi?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>Download zMUD and go to stormgate.dyndns.org, port: 2345 and you shall see, indeed</div>

<div style='font: 11pt Dominion; text-align: left; '>and as for Civ3 vs MOO2...good god man! The battles in Civ3 are the worst unless you count Alpha Centauri (only ever 1v1 battles and higher tech always wins)-- at least MOO2 let you control the battles which really gave it a flair. Wait till you have armada's of 20+ battleships and doomstars...THEN it gets fun :)

Aside from that they are very different games in respect to what they were going for even if they both are 4X games. MOO3 will surpass them all.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt Dominion; text-align: left; '>ohh...and I'm currently hooked on SimCity 4, C&C Generals, and try to play Asheron's Call 2 even though I'm in the lvl 36-40 rut</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Suikoden III, now that I'm done moving. I really should get my FF wheel set up again and play more GT3, too.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>it does work for single player but you have to be VERY clear. just use the O button. Oh, and kill that stupid fuck of a partner at the beginning of EVERY mission. Dumb guy is always getting me killed.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Animal Crack is no longer a game to me, it's a habit. Thus I find your reference to it apt.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>MOO is far more tactical but no where near as strategic as Civ. So yes they are very different games, and I souldn't be comparing them, it's just that so many people have in the past. I do, however, enjoy strategy much more than tactical style gameplay. I think I could grow to enjoy MOO2 and I enjoy it enough that I will get part III. If you couldn't control the battles in MOO, then the game doesn't really have anything much to it aside from technology. I like the battles in Civilization III quite a bit (fortifying borders, mountain ranges, etc...), but civilization III can be played relatively well without even engaging in war, focusing on trade is a great way to go about things. I have altered the rules of civilization III to suit my enjoyment (such as changing corruption and waste around so it is relatively even in every city instead of non-existant in central cities and uncontrollable in far off cities. Reducing war weariness also worked wonders. Increasing the movement values of roads and units, so for instance, an infantry unit can move 4 squares on grasslands, but only 1 through mountains.) that is one major feature about civilization III that puts it ahead of all the rest, it is highly customizable.

One last thing about Civilization. It's a fun game to play with two people, not as opponents, but having two people work on the same ciivilization, give idea's to each other, advice, etc... Warcraft III and Starcraft are also both good for this as well, and any simulation game like Sim City, and Sim Tower, (Sim Tower was the best!).

MOO would DEFINETLY work far better as a multiplayer game than Civilization (going on my experiences from CTP and Gold, since I couldn't get Civ3 to work well, and I'm generally not interested in playing against people online). Though I haven't explored some of the many interesting options of civilization III.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Eh...I prefer Dragonrealms. It's not free, but the depth is fucking nuts.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>That's a good way of looking at things. I play AC and Utopia regularilly, but they aren't games anymore, they're addictions =P</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>And Ion Pulse Cannons are always as cheap.

Megabattles in MOO2 degenerate very quickly even if not using cheesy tactics because it's too easy to just focus all your fire on a single target. Typically captains die on the first 2 turns or so and then it's just a technology slugfest. If you don't want to go with cheese you inevitably end up with megabattles where both sides have Stellar Converters and at this point it's simply the side with more HP will win.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt Dominion; text-align: left; '>Civ3 battles are a step up from Alpha Centuari's...and that's like saying 2 week old milk is better than 5 week old</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>The thing about MOO2 space combat is that it is possible to build a ship that is literally impossible to destroy (unless you have a Special Olympian command it).</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>You have a tendency to break down battle systems into the most effective (and often unintended) strategies. I'm curious how you'd design a battle system.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>The cheesiest one would be the infinite turn Phasing Cloak + Time Warp Facility which I actually didn't know about until I read it online.

The Ion Pulse Cannon trick can be observed easily by watching the way computer plays.

Ships in the end game simply have too much evasion and HP to be taken down by conventional weapons. Put Loknar with Interphased Drive ships with Inertial Nullifier while cloaked cannot be hit by just about any weapon in the game unless tractor beamed or being targetted by the never miss weapons. Even when you decloak the chance of getting hit is still very slim by all weapons. Even ECCM Sensor equipped missiles can't easily hit 200%+ missile evade ships with Lightning Fields, and beam weapons have virtually no chance of hitting a 300%+ beam defense ship consider the highest to hit you can get to is 225% and that's with Moleculartronic Computer + Battle Scanner + racial advantage. I don't particularly try to design ships to break the game but when you fight yourself and realize that ships with 10 Plasma Cannons can only do something like 50 damage to an aforementioned ship, you have to make your ships in an abusive way otherwise the battles will never end.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>As an informal experiment, I opened my Algorithms textbook to random pages, and as I expected, they made more sense than the entirety of your post.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Pop'n Music 7 at home, DDR EX (8th Mix) at the arcade. Sense a theme eh? ^^;</div>

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>Bah, anything that isn't free isn't worth playing - and that goes for EVERYTHING...EVER : )</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>What are you talking about? Civilization III is a turn based strategy simulation, the battles are perfect.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Every one of the major exploits/weaknesses of the game has been known about a few weeks after the game was out, often due to necessity because the computer is very good at using the same abuses as well.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>MOO2 does not support simultaneous turns even though it really should since it makes no difference who's going first except the person going last gets to see the fleet movement of everyone else (within scanning range). Battles are rarely about strategy as opposed to ship designs. Most weapons do not do enough damage and the ones that do (like Plasma Cannons) does too much. But if you play without those weapons then a ship with Shield Capacitors + Automated Repair System is virtually indestuctible.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Similar problems happened in Starcraft with strategies. Though I'll admit that there were points in the game's evolution where there were a few good strategies that could be used. I remember a certain map (lost something) where everyone always used the same strategy, if it was not used, then loss was almost certain if someone did use the strategy.

Alpha Centauri had the development of units feature, though there were many options, there really was only one best way to go about things, and if someone was taking advantage of that, then they were certain to win.

I haven't really got too much into the MOO2 ship battles, but then again, I haven't had many problems with them. I usually just build a lot of very cheap ships and hook them up with missles, and just let them clean out everything. Some battles I lose a lot of them, but it matters very little. I haven't really explored defensive and evasive techs as much as I should have, but then again, I'm brand new to the game, and also winning so far =P

I suppose I should look for a strategy to defeat the Guardian.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>I was making a general comment which was intended as a compliment - it was not saying "Well I be you can't do better.". You have this tendency; I'm curious to see if you could come up with a battle system that avoids cheap tactics.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt Dominion; text-align: left; '>The battles? hah, no. It's better than AC in the sense that it lets multiple units fight at once; besides that it's pretty much the same</div>