It's a well crafted story, as always. I have got some backlog to read and comment on though. Soon!
- 1
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
I'm doing my best. But after the current calm before the storm comes the biggest infantry battle of the Narrative. I'm a bit worried about writing that well.
- 1
Forlorn Hope
Sorry about the delay! My vacation was nice, though... Anyway, I owe you an HoI Review. Let's get right to it, shall we?
This is an AAR about Germany under the Nazis. Despite that, it manages to avoid... how problematic that is. It begins with them in a much worse position than they were in OTL... and the authAAR (playAAR?) somehow manages to salvage the situation, bringing them back to glory. It was played with the Endsieg mod, which I'm not actually familiar with but seems to be a mod designed to make playing the Nazis much harder. The author explains the situation well enough (in the story and in comments) that the readAAR can still understand what's going on.
This is a gameplay-style AAR, but the characters still exist in the background. They aren't really that important, though. I think that Hitler's incapacitated (although I'm not sure how). There were definitely references to Admiral Donitz, although, again, it doesn't actually matter.
The gameplay here is superb. Despite the whole "the entire world is at war with you" issue at the beginning of the AAR, Rolexovsky manages to do really well. Even though the number of Germany's enemies only increases as time passes, he still manages to fight off all of Europe reasonably successfully (except the Soviets. The Soviets are only contained). Indeed, he eventually manages to pull off a successful Operation Sealion, despite the inherent implausibility of that idea! Also, as of the most recent updates, they have made a great advancement that will probably aid in beating back the Soviets...
Despite the fact that, a) it's a gameplay AAR (which I normally don't love), and b) it's about the literal Nazis, this is still entertaining enough to get my recommendation. Some of that might be the comedy of how utterly stupid the AI is and how the playAAR manages to take advantage of that. I will admit to being amused. Another part is probably that, well, it's a gameplay AAR, so I don't need to deal with constant references to how much the characters in the country that the AAR's following are terrible human beings.
This is an AAR about Germany under the Nazis. Despite that, it manages to avoid... how problematic that is. It begins with them in a much worse position than they were in OTL... and the authAAR (playAAR?) somehow manages to salvage the situation, bringing them back to glory. It was played with the Endsieg mod, which I'm not actually familiar with but seems to be a mod designed to make playing the Nazis much harder. The author explains the situation well enough (in the story and in comments) that the readAAR can still understand what's going on.
This is a gameplay-style AAR, but the characters still exist in the background. They aren't really that important, though. I think that Hitler's incapacitated (although I'm not sure how). There were definitely references to Admiral Donitz, although, again, it doesn't actually matter.
The gameplay here is superb. Despite the whole "the entire world is at war with you" issue at the beginning of the AAR, Rolexovsky manages to do really well. Even though the number of Germany's enemies only increases as time passes, he still manages to fight off all of Europe reasonably successfully (except the Soviets. The Soviets are only contained). Indeed, he eventually manages to pull off a successful Operation Sealion, despite the inherent implausibility of that idea! Also, as of the most recent updates, they have made a great advancement that will probably aid in beating back the Soviets...
Despite the fact that, a) it's a gameplay AAR (which I normally don't love), and b) it's about the literal Nazis, this is still entertaining enough to get my recommendation. Some of that might be the comedy of how utterly stupid the AI is and how the playAAR manages to take advantage of that. I will admit to being amused. Another part is probably that, well, it's a gameplay AAR, so I don't need to deal with constant references to how much the characters in the country that the AAR's following are terrible human beings.
Last edited:
- 3
- 2
Japan during the Victoria period does have such amazing possibilities... and Eurasia's style is great.
Thanks for reading!
You're welcome! It's a good AAR!
Yep, Life 2.0 is still as enjoyable as ever - and ever expanding. I think the aforementioned battle was handled fine, but I also think that writAARs are mostly their own worst critics.
Also, a note to anyone reading that: the threadmarks no longer cover the entire story, which is now divided by arc in a Table of Contents in the second post. I think this works great, but it can make accessing specific parts of the tale harder (speaking from experience with other AARs that link from ToCs - the links aren't always perfect, which is by no means the fault of the authAARs - I think it's a software issue).
- 2
The threadmarks do cover it still - I'm still going back through and threadmarking all the posts and sorting them to appear in the right order. I'll be maintaining both systems going forwards.
- 1
Thank you kindly for the mention! I would just like to add a little something: the game used isn't HOI4, but Darkest Hour, a HOI2 spinoff. I am also using no mods but the vanilla 1.5.2 version, which is possible as DH offers a wide range of start dates, the last of which is Endsieg starting on the 16th December 1944. Hitler also isn't incapacitated in any game-changing way, I just spun the story in a sort of a silly direction by having him suffer a stroke to explain the utter change in the direction the country suddenly took as opposed to previously pretty ideologically colored strategic calls. Anyway, you did encompass it well!
- 1
- 1
My bad. Misunderstood your post there. The threadmarks are mostly fine if you only have one plotline/type of post, admittedly, but I think the problem here is that you like to add more detail - which I like, mind, but can get annoying if someone wants to skip that. Honestly wish the threadmarks accounted for that, but they don't, sadly.
You're welcome! And, whoops, that's my bad. Fixed. I consider Darkest Hour to be a HoI game since it's in the HoI subforum, but the HoI4 thing was an outright mistake. Sorry!
The Endsieg thing explains a lot. Thanks for the clarification.
- 2
Definetly. The full title is literally "Darkest Hour - A Hearts of Iron Game", most call it simply DH. It was made mostly by modders who didn't like the direction of the game with
Not surprisingly the still most active part of the DH-Forum is the modding section.
And yes, the AAR Forlorn Hope by Rolexovsky is worthwhile. The "Endsieg" scenario is by far the most difficult DH has to offer, even experienced players shy away from it. No wonder, it features the "Third Reich" in its dire and hopeless situation of December 1944. We can not only watch an expert player but the AAR is also well written with lots of images for illustration.
Last edited:
- 1
Wait what? HoI4 was under devellopment and it was known of that early? Wouldn't it be HoI3?
- 1
- 1
The Life and Death of Fugandolu Characters
And now, on to my Other category...
The fact that I dislike the small amount of Imperator AARs isn't really news. I think that Imperator: Rome is a great game with a lot of storytelling possibilities, despite it's... less than stellar launch. Part of that may be that Antiquity is one of my favorite historical periods (and Rome was what got me into history in the first place). With all of that in mind, this is an Imperator AAR, although it takes place in the far eastern portions of the map, which I am not as familiar with.
The style of this AAR is decently laconic. Despite that, the characters covered in the AAR have their own distinct personalities and relationships with one another. Indeed, the different characters influence one another and are occasionally tied together (especially by familial ties). Each character has their own ambitions and goals, and we get to watch them either fail or succeed - and I have opinions about certain courses of action that should be taken from an in-universe perspective...
If you're just reading for gameplay, this probably isn't the AAR for you. The gameplay is included in the AAR, but the focus on specific characters in a country instead of the country itself can obscure what happened, as that is only covered in passing. The gameplay isn't ignored, it just isn't the focus.
I do heavily recommend this AAR. The style is something that I haven't really seen before, as it is not a pure narrative (there doesn't seem to be much of a coherent plot) but it does focus on characters. The author benefits from the great character interactions that occur in Imperator, which help clarify why characters act the way they do. The one thing is that it hasn't been updated in a while, which is annoying - it was updated within the past month, though, so I'm holding out hope that it isn't dead (and maybe more comments will encourage the author to continue more swiftly...).
The fact that I dislike the small amount of Imperator AARs isn't really news. I think that Imperator: Rome is a great game with a lot of storytelling possibilities, despite it's... less than stellar launch. Part of that may be that Antiquity is one of my favorite historical periods (and Rome was what got me into history in the first place). With all of that in mind, this is an Imperator AAR, although it takes place in the far eastern portions of the map, which I am not as familiar with.
The style of this AAR is decently laconic. Despite that, the characters covered in the AAR have their own distinct personalities and relationships with one another. Indeed, the different characters influence one another and are occasionally tied together (especially by familial ties). Each character has their own ambitions and goals, and we get to watch them either fail or succeed - and I have opinions about certain courses of action that should be taken from an in-universe perspective...
If you're just reading for gameplay, this probably isn't the AAR for you. The gameplay is included in the AAR, but the focus on specific characters in a country instead of the country itself can obscure what happened, as that is only covered in passing. The gameplay isn't ignored, it just isn't the focus.
I do heavily recommend this AAR. The style is something that I haven't really seen before, as it is not a pure narrative (there doesn't seem to be much of a coherent plot) but it does focus on characters. The author benefits from the great character interactions that occur in Imperator, which help clarify why characters act the way they do. The one thing is that it hasn't been updated in a while, which is annoying - it was updated within the past month, though, so I'm holding out hope that it isn't dead (and maybe more comments will encourage the author to continue more swiftly...).
- 3
- 2
This background is interesting. I do like the AAR a lot, but now I'm curious: was there any specific mod that DH was based on? I kind of thought there was...
- 1
Unless I'm mistaken, there was initially a map mod with some rebalancing, which later morphed into a separate game as a part of the (now regrettably closed) program of engine licensing by paradox.
- 1
Thank you for the review! I plan to update the story and I will have in mind your review to try improve the AAR.
Your own AAR on Epirus and others are a source of inspiration to move from a gameplay AAR to a more character focused and story driven exercise. I lack the literature profeciency but I enjoy playing I:R as you do (the fact that I am playing two I:R MP campaigns two days a week is not helping me advance with the AAR).
Last edited:
- 1
- 1
Slowly getting back to being in the community myself now things have become more stable for me. Reading your reviews and they’re all nicely written and balanced/researched. I look forward to any more than you end up doing ^^
- 2
- 1
Blood, Gold, and Hellfire: An EU4 Anbennar AAR
Alright, it's now EU4 time, so we're covering something new.
I'm going to start with a bit of necessary background here. Anbennar is a mod for EU4 that covers a fantasy setting as the medieval period ends. It has a lot of fantasy races and magic and all that good stuff. This AAR is from the perspective of one of the "evil" races, the gnolls, who... kind of worship demons (hence, hellfire). Even so, it's fascinating because this species isn't just full of card-carrying villains who eat babies for fun. Instead, there are many realistic divides and perspectives, many of which we get to see.
The narrative itself is rather interesting, which is probably partially derived from the interesting events of the mod. Even so, the AAR manages to be a fascinating tale of people who reject the influence of "civilizing" people, instead choosing to remain true to their own culture. Indeed, the original protagonists were devout pirates, and this is reflected in the great power that both the cult (to demons, mind) and the fleet have in the state that is created. The struggle between those two factions occupies a lot of the early narrative, which is also good. That conflict isn't the only cause of internal disagreement, mind.
As for the gameplay... Sybot seems to be doing very well. Mykx has certainly come a long way from the pirate kingdom of exiles that it began as, as it now rules over much of the planet. It can make its will known on multiple continents. Additionally, the gameplay events are incorporated into the overall storyline, which is excellent.
I can definitely recommend this AAR, even if you've never played Anbennar (because, you know, I've never played Anbennar). It offers many perspectives of events, and the sections at the beginning of each chapter have a different (and very varied) POV from people from all walks of life (and more than one fantasy race, naturally). It is also cross posted on another forum where you can vote for potential courses of action for Mykx to take, if you're interested in that.
I'm going to start with a bit of necessary background here. Anbennar is a mod for EU4 that covers a fantasy setting as the medieval period ends. It has a lot of fantasy races and magic and all that good stuff. This AAR is from the perspective of one of the "evil" races, the gnolls, who... kind of worship demons (hence, hellfire). Even so, it's fascinating because this species isn't just full of card-carrying villains who eat babies for fun. Instead, there are many realistic divides and perspectives, many of which we get to see.
The narrative itself is rather interesting, which is probably partially derived from the interesting events of the mod. Even so, the AAR manages to be a fascinating tale of people who reject the influence of "civilizing" people, instead choosing to remain true to their own culture. Indeed, the original protagonists were devout pirates, and this is reflected in the great power that both the cult (to demons, mind) and the fleet have in the state that is created. The struggle between those two factions occupies a lot of the early narrative, which is also good. That conflict isn't the only cause of internal disagreement, mind.
As for the gameplay... Sybot seems to be doing very well. Mykx has certainly come a long way from the pirate kingdom of exiles that it began as, as it now rules over much of the planet. It can make its will known on multiple continents. Additionally, the gameplay events are incorporated into the overall storyline, which is excellent.
I can definitely recommend this AAR, even if you've never played Anbennar (because, you know, I've never played Anbennar). It offers many perspectives of events, and the sections at the beginning of each chapter have a different (and very varied) POV from people from all walks of life (and more than one fantasy race, naturally). It is also cross posted on another forum where you can vote for potential courses of action for Mykx to take, if you're interested in that.
- 2
- 1
- 1
Thank you for the review! I'm glad that you enjoy this look into a society of monsters.
Keeping the story closely tied to events in the gameplay is pretty essential to how I write AARs, I think, as it means that I don't have to be dissonant between story events and my personal gameplay. I have to give great credit to the creators of Anbennar here as well for producing such a vibrant world with so many unique events and mechanics to work with when crafting a narrative. There have been a couple of Dev Diaries recently going into the mod for those more interested.
Keeping the story closely tied to events in the gameplay is pretty essential to how I write AARs, I think, as it means that I don't have to be dissonant between story events and my personal gameplay. I have to give great credit to the creators of Anbennar here as well for producing such a vibrant world with so many unique events and mechanics to work with when crafting a narrative. There have been a couple of Dev Diaries recently going into the mod for those more interested.
- 1
The Stormbreakers Series by Macavity116
My apologies about missing the review for last week. To make up for it, here's a review that was probably long awaited.
The Stormbreakers Series (After Everything and its remastered edition, Faith in Chaos, DosiAARs, The Stormbreakers, The Legend of Whetu Kealoha, On The Crossroads of Past and Future, My Father's War, All My Sins Remembered, The Last Heroes) by @Macavity116
This series is one of my favorite series (and probably my favorite set of AARs), but it's also very long - like over a million words long. It also includes the first AAR I ever actively commented on (Faith in Chaos). Anyway, the series is a Stellaris AAR that incorporates many elements of Homeworld and XCom. I think there are bits and pieces of other games, but I didn't notice them while reading. Despite this, you can just read it on its own - I know nothing about any of those games besides Stellaris and still understand the AAR. The series itself follows multiple generations on both Earth and Partoga. Partoga is the author's original planet with its own vast and fascinating history and mysteries.
It's definitely a narrative AAR series. Its heroes change depending on the AAR, but the villain always remains the same - Paradox, who is a time traveler in pursuit of the "Perfect Future". The situation is slightly more complicated than simple Well-Intentioned Extremism, but her origin story is All Our Sins Remembered. There are many other villains in the series, but she's the most important one. Psionic powers are a mainstay (SPOILER="Spoilers!"] Until they're destroyed by Jericho in the 116th Cycle[/SPOILER]). The AAR tells a fascinating tale of magic, of war, of desperation, and, most of all, of dreams - especially ones of peace. Many characters are forced to make hard choices in less than ideal circumstances.
The gameplay is less than obvious. It definitely exists - and there are screenshots that prove this - but the main point of them is to complement the story. Word of God claims that extensive messing with the console was involved when there was gameplay at all. If you want a straight account of a game, this isn't the AAR series for you.
On the other hand, if you want an interesting story with compelling characters and a plot that keeps you guessing, this is definitely the story for you (assuming you don't read my occasional spoilers in the comments). It has everything anyone could ask for in a Science Fantasy tale - magic, FTL travel, interstellar warfare, compelling villains (especially Paradox, who is still my favorite character in all of fiction... and her story is so horrifically tragic), and even time travel.
A/N: And After Everything's remastered edition is still updating...
The Stormbreakers Series (After Everything and its remastered edition, Faith in Chaos, DosiAARs, The Stormbreakers, The Legend of Whetu Kealoha, On The Crossroads of Past and Future, My Father's War, All My Sins Remembered, The Last Heroes) by @Macavity116
This series is one of my favorite series (and probably my favorite set of AARs), but it's also very long - like over a million words long. It also includes the first AAR I ever actively commented on (Faith in Chaos). Anyway, the series is a Stellaris AAR that incorporates many elements of Homeworld and XCom. I think there are bits and pieces of other games, but I didn't notice them while reading. Despite this, you can just read it on its own - I know nothing about any of those games besides Stellaris and still understand the AAR. The series itself follows multiple generations on both Earth and Partoga. Partoga is the author's original planet with its own vast and fascinating history and mysteries.
It's definitely a narrative AAR series. Its heroes change depending on the AAR, but the villain always remains the same - Paradox, who is a time traveler in pursuit of the "Perfect Future". The situation is slightly more complicated than simple Well-Intentioned Extremism, but her origin story is All Our Sins Remembered. There are many other villains in the series, but she's the most important one. Psionic powers are a mainstay (SPOILER="Spoilers!"] Until they're destroyed by Jericho in the 116th Cycle[/SPOILER]). The AAR tells a fascinating tale of magic, of war, of desperation, and, most of all, of dreams - especially ones of peace. Many characters are forced to make hard choices in less than ideal circumstances.
The gameplay is less than obvious. It definitely exists - and there are screenshots that prove this - but the main point of them is to complement the story. Word of God claims that extensive messing with the console was involved when there was gameplay at all. If you want a straight account of a game, this isn't the AAR series for you.
On the other hand, if you want an interesting story with compelling characters and a plot that keeps you guessing, this is definitely the story for you (assuming you don't read my occasional spoilers in the comments). It has everything anyone could ask for in a Science Fantasy tale - magic, FTL travel, interstellar warfare, compelling villains (especially Paradox, who is still my favorite character in all of fiction... and her story is so horrifically tragic), and even time travel.
A/N: And After Everything's remastered edition is still updating...
- 2
- 1
- 1