Comments on: So Anyway, Dawn of Discovery Looks Intricate

By: GregP

GregP — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:23:58 +0000

The names of the games in the series do have a logic to it – it’s not just that the numbers add up to 9, but rather that each game is separated from the rest by 99 years.

By: Alienstout

Alienstout — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:34:48 +0000

Amazon has this shipping on June 23rd here in the States.

By: Vinraith

Vinraith — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:25:49 +0000

It’s a city-builder, it doesn’t really lend itself to MP anyway. You spend 95% of a the game playing by yourself whether there are other humans present or not, since other players aren’t a central preoccupation of the game mechanics.

Frankly, if they were looking for something to cut in 1404, they could have done a LOT worse IMO.

By: realcals

realcals — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:20:07 +0000

so what is the multiplayer like in 1701, given there is no mp in this sequel?

By: DSX

DSX — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:50:41 +0000

This is a superb game, US customers could get the DE version since it’s release online (gamersgate etc), which had an English language option in the install. Not sure why the delay/rename.

By: Railick

Railick — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:35 +0000

how about Anno 9 , a game about building a city in the year 9, that’d be F@#$@# AWESOME!

By: goodgimp

goodgimp — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:16:20 +0000

No, all the dates always add up to 9, so 1806 would not work :)

1305 on the other hand… possibly!

By: Pod

Pod — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:18:10 +0000

It hink Anno _NEEDS_ to be rebranded. It has the stupidesty sequel naming system ever — they just randomly assign dates.

1602->1503->1701->1404. What next, 1305? 1806?!

“ANNO 1″
“ANNO 2: Anno Domini”
“Anno 3: Anno Tronimi”
“Anno 4: More Anno”.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:33:50 +0000

I’m another American who loved 1701. Marketing was practically non-existent here, I think I had to actively search to find a copy, but I loved it.

For those wondering if it’s worth a go, I’d say a hearty “yes!”, as long as your expectation is more like Sim City than Age of Empires. Combat just barely exists, but the city building is excellent.

The premise is that by providing them with gradually more “civilized” goods and services (say alcohol, nearby church, jewelry) your citizens gradually upgrade themselves from pioneers, to settlers, eventually to aristocrats. At each step up, they become more dense and produce more income, but the things you needed to promote them are now necessary just to keep them satisfied. If you lose your shipment of ale, everyone starts to riot.

By: Carra

Carra — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:55:29 +0000

Ah, anno 1602 is one of my alltime favorite games. But both sequels didn’t seem to add a lot. I hope this game will add some novelties, the culture does look interesting. And maybe a decent combat system. Or maybe no combat system.

And the anno series are some of the best city building games. One of their best features is the need to colonize multiple islands to develop your main city. Whales for lamp oil live in the cold north, spices are made in the warm south. So you need to settle multiple islands and start trading routes.

By: Plopsworth

Plopsworth — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:50:18 +0000

Serondal:

I’ll just repost my contribution from the forum where someone was asking whether it was worth $15.

“+ 1

Not bad at all for that price, especially as it apparently comes with the Sunken Dragon expansion-pack that adds a more traditional linear campaign and some more fun stuff.
One of those stress-relieving (mostly) games, not stress-inducing.
* Very pretty. Filled with charming little details, beautiful water effects and natural disasters.
* Pretty good voice-work, especially for an originally German game (except for trading vessel ahoy!). Soundtrack isn’t bad either.
* In general, fine production-values across the board.
Crucially: significant other-friendly (or at least mine likes it).

The one minus I can think of is the combat, but that’s very similar to the Caesar-series, as it’s more about the numbers and amassing concentrated firepower than flanking, terrain or line-of-battle tactics.

That doesn’t matter so much as in general it’s not so much about the combat either. Like Tropico/Caesar/Settlers, it’s more about competing for resources, setting up lines of production for finished goods, optimising settlement layout, completing tasks and satisfying the ever-increasing demands of your tax-payers/populace.”

By: Serondal

Serondal — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:13:41 +0000

I’ve never even heard of ANNO before O.o how could I have missed this I normally love these types of games.

Actaully looking at the box art for Anno 1701 I think I did see his and thought to myself “wtf does anno mean? moving on . . ”

How does Anno compare to other city building series? I think the last one I played was The Guild II or some game called Civlizaiton : Rome or something like that O.o The Guild II is actually more of a medevil life simulator though so . . I dunno. I’ve read nothing but bad reviews about city buildings games lately The new Simcity spin off and Casevar IV were suposed to be pretty bad.

Mainly right now I play Patrician a lot :P