Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread - Page 247

On August 07 2025 00:04 WombaT wrote:

Very strange timing if they did it for any other reasons than financial.

Having a co-op mode even if it’s not polished as much as FG are aiming for at least gives us something to stick around and play with our buddies or whatever once the campaign is done.

Right now, I don’t have the time to go hardcore 1v1 to my satisfaction, especially with a game that keeps getting big core changes.

So I’m kinda left with just the campaign as a hook. I know some of my buddies are in a similar boat, but if we could all return for this release in some facet, and have even some rudimentary Co-Op to play together as we check the game out. It would make dipping the toes in again much more social as well, which would be nice

If it’s just the campaign that’s really on the table, well what’s it competing with? A lot of great campaigns, especially if you as a gamer are happy to play stuff that’s decades old.

Myself, I’m a Warhammer 40K nut, and an RTS nut. I somehow have avoided the middle of that Venn Diagram in the Dawn of War games, but there’s a DoW remaster dropping in like a week. A setting I already love, full campaigns with multiple factions I love, or love to hate, and it’s a game that is highly rated as a very good RTS in its own right anyway.

AoE has its fun pseudo-history, and Age of Mythology has that plus gods, and anyway with Game Pass can dip in at no extra cost.

SC2, I’ve unfinished business with trying to beat all the missions on brutal, and I haven’t played Nova’s one yet. I also believe there’s some very highly-regarded fan campaigns there.

For me it’s the flipside of people repeating ‘most RTS players only play the campaign’ ad nauseam. I mean, yes, true but the flipside of that is, you’re competing with a shitload of other campaigns. Also the people endlessly repeating that talking point from the Giant Grant Games vid tend to completely gloss over some of his other takeaways, namely the real titans in terms of high player count and retention had mapmaking and other custom tools. Be it fully fledged voice acted campaigns, or a zealot hockey (or obviously well, DoTA)

This is something Stormgate should have, which is a big plus point, their problem is seemingly that when it’s ready, the enthusiasm will have completely died off.

I think Stormgate needed a niche, and it’s never really found it. People may disagree on what that niche is, but you need one. A few candidates
1. Be the new 1v1 game of choice
2. Have the best Co-Op mode. Take what obviously worked in SC2 and run with that ball.
3. Be the rare RTS where team modes are the best, most balanced form of the game and don’t have some kind of problem. In Blizz style games, I’ve had a good time but I find 1v1 balance issues just get exacerbated in team modes. Something like BAR is fun, but it’s not especially dynamic, you have to play a very specialised, limited role

In terms of numbers, 2 and 3 are probably the better option, but even if they absolutely nailed the option with the smallest potential audience, they’d be doing a lot better than now.

Which is basically like a decent thru mediocre product in every single area. It doesn’t excel in anything.

By want of a crude analogy, I’d, at least for a while date some chick who’s a 9/10 looking lass, who’s got a 9 for emotional volatility. Or someone who’s 6/10 looking but hits 9s and 10s in various personality traits. There’s at least some hooks there, some areas of excellence.

If someone is just aggressively 6 or at best 7 across the board, that’s not exactly enticing. Depending on how you’re wired, you can min/max to your tastes, or, alternatively, hold out for the people who are less uneven, but a 7 or an 8 across the board.

Frost Giant as yet haven’t delivered either a min/max product that excels in a few niches, nor tried to do a bit of everything and do it better, or at least as good as much of their competition