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Author Topic: The Boardgame Thread  (Read 585246 times)
Goldenmean
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Reply #2590 on: March 11, 2018, 07:24:38 PM

Yeah, they do, especially with so much that releases in Essen not being available domestically until well into the new year.

Honestly, as much as I think Gloomhaven is a great game and deserves its awards (though Spirit Island is still better), it doesn't actually have all that great a theme. The 7th Continent theme is actually much better represented, despite it being a far far worse game, but contests of this nature always turn more into "The most popular game that happens to have some semblance of theme", not "The most thematic game"
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Reply #2591 on: March 11, 2018, 07:32:45 PM

literally nothing about 7th continent grabbed me on kickstarter - it looked miserable
Teleku
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Reply #2592 on: March 11, 2018, 09:21:39 PM

Really?  Seemed pretty cool to me, so I pitched in on it.

"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants.  He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."
-Stephen Colbert
Goldenmean
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Reply #2593 on: March 11, 2018, 10:11:17 PM

It's an interesting concept, and I backed both editions of the kickstarter, and I don't regret spending money on it, but it's not actually all that great a game. It's essentially a choose your own adventure book, and I think most people don't actually enjoy reading all the same parts of a choose your own adventure book ten times if they keep getting "Sorry, you have died" endings. They just start holding their place with their finger and essentially save-scumming the game. The same holds even more true here, because each scenario can take a dozen hours. They do some things to vary the game from attempt to attempt, but I don't actually feel like it's enough to make going through the same series of puzzles repeatedly interesting on the third iteration.

The exploration parts are neat, and make the thing worth it in my opinion, but the actual "game" part of Gloomhaven or Spirit Island is far, far better.
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Reply #2594 on: March 11, 2018, 10:33:51 PM

That sounds like a game I actually just ordered, except scenarios take like 30 minutes and there's a shitload of permutations, though they probably have a shelf life of 3-4 plays.

T.I.M.E. Stories: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/146508/time-stories

A dozen hours sounds awful, but going through variations on 30 minutes is tolerable.
Teleku
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Reply #2595 on: March 11, 2018, 10:39:10 PM

Fair enough, though with all the expansions, I imagine there is plenty of variance.  The exploration aspect is what attracted me to the game (always been my favorite genre of games), and I know that I'm not going to play it often (or ever at the rate I go  why so serious?) enough for the repeats to be much of an issue.

"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants.  He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."
-Stephen Colbert
Goldenmean
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Reply #2596 on: March 11, 2018, 11:06:30 PM

Note: I am far more prone to boredom than most people. Take all of my tedium comments with a grain of salt.

T.I.M.E. Stories scenarios have a shelf life of 3-4 plays, but they're designed in such a way that unless you're psychic or incredibly lucky, you're going to need to play them probably 3 times in order to beat them. My experience with the four T.I.M.E. Stories scenarios I've played are all

Attempt 1) Oh, this is neat. Wandering around. Finding things out. Solving puzzles. Cool. Oh, hit the time limit. Let's attempt it again.
Attempt 2) Ok, we know we need this item from this room, and this from that room. We know not to take that conversation path, because it's a waste of time. Oh, we went some place new. Ah hah, this must be what we need for that other room. Oh, we're out of time. Ok, well, now we just need to put everything together
And then attempt number 3 is just you rapidly flipping through the decks getting to the pieces you already know you need. You're not discovering anything new. You're not solving much of anything new, and you're not really enjoying what started out as a really atmospheric scenario because you've already played most of it two times. You're just laying out the decks of cards, going to the one place you know you need to go, and then taking out a new deck of cards, and if you're anything like me you're thinking "Why am I constantly fiddling with these different decks of cards? This could just be a computer game and do the tedious work of laying out this room I've already seen three times for me"

It's unfortunate, because your first time through is actually pretty enjoyable, but by the time you actually complete the scenario, your most recent memory is basically just solving the game with an FAQ in your hand. I was happy to see the end of all of the scenarios I played by the time we were done. Also, the scenarios vary wildly in quality.

Also, not entirely sure what you mean by permutations, but there's basically no permutations in T.I.M.E. Stories. At least the first several scenarios are identical every time you play. Once you have solved a scenario there is *0* reason to do it again. 7th Continent is actually much better in this regard, because there are several variations of many of the tiles, so the game does change a bit each time you play.
Goldenmean
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Reply #2597 on: March 11, 2018, 11:16:29 PM

Fair enough, though with all the expansions, I imagine there is plenty of variance.  The exploration aspect is what attracted me to the game (always been my favorite genre of games), and I know that I'm not going to play it often (or ever at the rate I go  why so serious?) enough for the repeats to be much of an issue.

You'll probably like it. I mean, honestly, *I* like it, or I wouldn't have backed the second edition/new expansion stuff. It really does do exploration very well, and it's far less "on rails" than T.I.M.E. Stories is. The game's at its best when you're just randomly poking around the world, and stumbling across interesting things that aren't necessarily even related to the scenario you're playing. I just wish it had a better failure case. Getting most of the way through a curse and then failing close to the end makes it really hard to motivate to start the whole thing over again. Maybe the best way to approach it is just to cycle to a different curse every time instead of trying one until you beat it.
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Reply #2598 on: March 11, 2018, 11:33:47 PM

Note: I am far more prone to boredom than most people. Take all of my tedium comments with a grain of salt.

T.I.M.E. Stories scenarios have a shelf life of 3-4 plays, but they're designed in such a way that unless you're psychic or incredibly lucky, you're going to need to play them probably 3 times in order to beat them. My experience with the four T.I.M.E. Stories scenarios I've played are all

Attempt 1) Oh, this is neat. Wandering around. Finding things out. Solving puzzles. Cool. Oh, hit the time limit. Let's attempt it again.
Attempt 2) Ok, we know we need this item from this room, and this from that room. We know not to take that conversation path, because it's a waste of time. Oh, we went some place new. Ah hah, this must be what we need for that other room. Oh, we're out of time. Ok, well, now we just need to put everything together
And then attempt number 3 is just you rapidly flipping through the decks getting to the pieces you already know you need. You're not discovering anything new. You're not solving much of anything new, and you're not really enjoying what started out as a really atmospheric scenario because you've already played most of it two times. You're just laying out the decks of cards, going to the one place you know you need to go, and then taking out a new deck of cards, and if you're anything like me you're thinking "Why am I constantly fiddling with these different decks of cards? This could just be a computer game and do the tedious work of laying out this room I've already seen three times for me"

It's unfortunate, because your first time through is actually pretty enjoyable, but by the time you actually complete the scenario, your most recent memory is basically just solving the game with an FAQ in your hand. I was happy to see the end of all of the scenarios I played by the time we were done. Also, the scenarios vary wildly in quality.

Also, not entirely sure what you mean by permutations, but there's basically no permutations in T.I.M.E. Stories. At least the first several scenarios are identical every time you play. Once you have solved a scenario there is *0* reason to do it again. 7th Continent is actually much better in this regard, because there are several variations of many of the tiles, so the game does change a bit each time you play.
I meant permutations on the part of player choices effecting the game. There's a finite number of choices, but it's well-written enough that it's not completely crushing having to go through it more than once.

And no, once solved there's no reason to play again. I did not mean to imply that if I did.
Sky
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Reply #2599 on: March 12, 2018, 06:59:11 AM

I guess I should open up Gloomhaven and give it a whirl before summer project steal all my time and space.
eldaec
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Reply #2600 on: March 12, 2018, 07:24:51 AM

literally nothing about 7th continent grabbed me on kickstarter - it looked miserable

It looked to me like a less fun format for a choose your own adventure book.

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eldaec
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Reply #2601 on: March 12, 2018, 07:31:43 AM

Re TIME stories, I've not tried it but what puts me off is that if I'm going to play a one-off puzzle I'd rather play an EXIT game or an Unlock deck or a Sherlock mystery.

TIME looks like a lot reading and fiddling and potential rework when I'd rather just solve the puzzle.

Whether that is fair I have no idea.

The once-and-done thing doesn't bother me at all - given the number of unplayed games I own. I think I'd be much more interested if it went further was designed around 'one attempt only - you win or you lose'.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2018, 07:33:55 AM by eldaec »

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"Hyperbole is a cancer" - Lakov Sanite
Goldenmean
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Reply #2602 on: March 12, 2018, 12:32:28 PM

TIME looks like a lot reading and fiddling and potential rework when I'd rather just solve the puzzle.

Whether that is fair I have no idea.

It is, and it's the fundamental flaw of the game, or at least the early scenarios. It's possible they start mixing things up in the ones I haven't played, but the early TIME Stories scenarios are all basically just puzzles that are almost impossible to beat the first time unless you happen to luck into all the right choices. Some of the puzzles and writing are decent, and there's sort of an overarching plot that plays out between scenarios that I'm kind of curious about, but the fact that the game has repetition baked into it for no particularly good reason is just an odd design choice.
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Reply #2603 on: March 12, 2018, 03:12:48 PM

tbf I only bought it because Funagain had it all for like 65% off.

I would not pay full price for it.
jgsugden
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Reply #2604 on: March 12, 2018, 03:49:47 PM

If you solve it on the first run through, you're missing the mechanics of the game.  The questions is how few runs through the game you need to solve it...

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
Goldenmean
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Reply #2605 on: March 12, 2018, 04:40:24 PM

If you solve it on the first run through, you're missing the mechanics of the game.  The questions is how few runs through the game you need to solve it...

If the core mechanic of your game is going to be "Do task foo repeatedly until you get it right" then task foo had better be entertaining every time you do it.

Fighting a raid boss is entertaining (for a while at least), and even after it stops being entertaining, you get a wash of happy little accomplishment neurochemical rewards that everything finally came together.

Solving a puzzle is entertaining.

Laying out a tableau of cards and then turning over the one that you know has the item you need because of the puzzle you solved two iterations through the loop ago, and then taking a little token and laying out another tableau of cards to get another key for a puzzle you solved one iteration ago is *not* interesting, and you don't feel rewarded because you didn't do anything particularly difficult, you just finally jumped through all the necessary hoops quickly enough.

Time Stories is half neat puzzle game, and half pointless exercise in tedium. On the balance, it's still a decent game (I'm pretty sure I still own everything for it, and I've recommended it to people who are less easily bored than myself), but its central conceit doesn't do it any favors. There's a reason you only see the complete version of a few loops in Groundhog Day or other time loop media. If they'd really wanted to run with the time loop premise they should have just given you the ability to rewind state instead of forcing you to start over all the time. In other words, it should have been a video game.
Azazel
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Reply #2606 on: March 16, 2018, 01:13:38 AM

I'm going to come by the shop first to look at his stuff, and if it does look good, test him on the starting survivors first to see if he fucks them up.

Why do you say it looks like shit painting?  Most of the shots look pretty pro level to me.  Mind you, I'm well aware its hard to judge his work from photos and it could be shit in reality.  But so far seems like a good prospect.

It looks perfectly fine, especially for the asking price. The shit Sky is talking about would cost you hundreds per model, not tens. You're looking to get a boardgame painted, not a piece of art for your mantelpiece.

Also, "professionally painted" just means that someone makes money off doing it. There are plenty of places that grind the mill for far lower quality than that.


Looks fine to me, and I guess you get what you pay for.

He's not paying enough to get actual professional painting done by people who win awards and shit - just wants competently-painted minis, without having to dump so much money or (more valuable at this point) time into doing it himself.

They may not be perfect god-tier paint jobs...but they look good enough.

At ten bucks a figure, he's getting a good deal. 3rd world economies at work. Painting other people's shit isn't a fucking charity.

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Teleku
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Reply #2607 on: March 16, 2018, 02:03:43 AM

Yeah, I went and checked his shop out.  Nice stuff, but obvious more basic level and not top tier.  Still, I'm planning on playing with a lot of this stuff, and blowing a ton of money on the individual survivor models that will be handled a lot seems silly.  I'm reaching out to others, and may send the bigger monster models to some of the real good guys in Bangkok (if they would respond to me at a rate faster than once every 3 days).

So, I gave him my four prologue survivors, and paid about $12 per model to assemble them and paint at a higher level.  Sent me a picture of one he's almost done with, just touching up.  Certainly not to the level of Sky's, but I'm pretty happy with it even from the shitty camera phone shot.



« Last Edit: March 16, 2018, 02:20:34 AM by Teleku »

"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants.  He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."
-Stephen Colbert
jgsugden
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Reply #2608 on: March 16, 2018, 02:52:02 PM

I get the idea of paying someone to professionally paint your role playing figure that you use for a favored character that will be on a game table for 300 or so hours... but paying $12 per figure for 50 or 100 figures for a board game?  Wow. 

If you enjoy paining, it adds a fun layer to your game play.  However, I can't imagine spending that much just for the aesthetics of a game.

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
Goldenmean
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Reply #2609 on: March 16, 2018, 03:09:15 PM

I get the idea of paying someone to professionally paint your role playing figure that you use for a favored character that will be on a game table for 300 or so hours... but paying $12 per figure for 50 or 100 figures for a board game?  Wow. 

Except you've got your numbers wrong in the case of Kingdom Death. Kingdom Death is a lifestyle game, and has hundreds of hours worth of content if you like it, and if you don't want to customize armor kits, you only need like ten figures for the base game. Dropping some money to get the monster figures for Kingdom Death painted makes a lot of sense, because you're going to see each of those a looooooot. If you want to have each possible variation of survivor armor kit assembled and painted up? Yeah, that could theoretically cost you.

I mean, I wouldn't do it, but I'm the sort of person who would be perfectly happy if all of my games used cardboard tokens instead of miniatures. I get why people without painting skills might want to splash the white lion monster they're going to fight dozens of times up though.
Sky
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Reply #2610 on: March 16, 2018, 09:00:55 PM

I've been proxying in painted stuff, since I'm not really painting minis these days. Zombicide, Reaper, Hasslefree, I don't give a shit :) I even name the characters by the proxy mini. Anval Thricedamned is my Butcher, I haven't even assembled the plastic one.

I should do more assembly, I actually enjoy assembling the KD plastic, I like the way it bonds with plastic glue.

Anyway, yeah I'm a paint snob. Doesn't mean you shouldn't have your game the way you want it and enjoy the hell out of it. Just like, my opinion, man. Have fun is the important thing.
Goldenmean
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Reply #2611 on: March 16, 2018, 09:30:38 PM

Assembling the Kingdom Death miniatures really is incredibly satisfying. Not so much the humans (and human sized nemeses), but the big beasts are like all of the best parts of model building nostalgia. Except with a lot more penises.
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Reply #2612 on: March 18, 2018, 10:11:13 AM

I get the idea of paying someone to professionally paint your role playing figure that you use for a favored character that will be on a game table for 300 or so hours... but paying $12 per figure for 50 or 100 figures for a board game?  Wow. 

If you enjoy paining, it adds a fun layer to your game play.  However, I can't imagine spending that much just for the aesthetics of a game.
The amount of money I have spent on KD.......

This is a drop in the bucket extra.

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schild
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Reply #2613 on: March 18, 2018, 10:27:09 AM

$12 per figure on KD would actually not move the needle on the overall cost of the goddamn thing.
jgsugden
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Reply #2614 on: March 18, 2018, 02:21:24 PM

$500+ isn't a drop in the hat...but, yeah, if you can afford KDM, you can likely afford to paint it.

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
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Reply #2615 on: March 18, 2018, 02:28:57 PM

$500+ isn't a drop in the hat...but, yeah, if you can afford KDM, you can likely afford to paint it.

That's the whole thing right, KDM is a $2,000 fucking board game.

Because let's not pretend just buying the base set is an option.

Edit: Speaking of, I have 31lbs of expansions coming in Tuesday. :O
Sky
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Reply #2616 on: March 18, 2018, 03:14:05 PM

I bought the full expansion suite the first time around...the delivery is...impressive.

Enough to question the sanity of someone who has all the current content buying all the new expansion content, really.
eldaec
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Reply #2617 on: March 25, 2018, 04:51:32 AM

I get the idea of paying someone to professionally paint your role playing figure that you use for a favored character that will be on a game table for 300 or so hours... but paying $12 per figure for 50 or 100 figures for a board game?  Wow. 

Except you've got your numbers wrong in the case of Kingdom Death. Kingdom Death is a lifestyle game, and has hundreds of hours worth of content if you like it, and if you don't want to customize armor kits, you only need like ten figures for the base game. Dropping some money to get the monster figures for Kingdom Death painted makes a lot of sense, because you're going to see each of those a looooooot. If you want to have each possible variation of survivor armor kit assembled and painted up? Yeah, that could theoretically cost you.

I mean, I wouldn't do it, but I'm the sort of person who would be perfectly happy if all of my games used cardboard tokens instead of miniatures. I get why people without painting skills might want to splash the white lion monster they're going to fight dozens of times up though.

Also, in the case of KDM I'm not sure why you'd want to get into it if not to admire the miniatures. Depending on what you're looking for it seems there is always a better option, unless a big part of what you want is ridiculous miniatures, and in that case I can't think of anything that fits the bill better. Not just because the miniatures are so ridiculous - but also because the game is so focussed around the monsters. And if that is why you're here, why wouldn't you want to make them even more ridiculous.

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Riggswolfe
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Reply #2618 on: March 27, 2018, 10:23:59 AM

I've been watching some Youtube playthroughs of KD:M and I'm half tempted to set some money aside and try to pick it up this summer. This game just looks so damned amazing to play if you can get into the spirit of it. "So, I've been nurturing this survivor for the last 6 'years' and he just died to a random event. Huh. Alright, I name survivor number 6 and put his old gear on her. Ready to go hunt an Antelope that might eat us with his belly mouth?"

"We live in a country, where John Lennon takes six bullets in the chest, Yoko Ono was standing right next to him and not one fucking bullet! Explain that to me! Explain that to me, God! Explain it to me, God!" - Denis Leary summing up my feelings about the nature of the universe.
Sky
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Reply #2619 on: March 27, 2018, 11:53:05 AM

If you embrace the brutality of it, there are a tong of narratives that come out of gameplay in addition to the story events. It helps a lot of you get into it and characterize the survivors, but they're all going to die, so it's that whole 'here is the story of how you died' kind of things. It's more about keeping the settlement alive. But yeah, I love it an need to keep the game running, it works best for me when I leave it set up and can return to it easily, but my house is too small for that.

I love my insane murderous war leader who is married to our thoughtful, introspective community leader in the current settlement.

I've got to get way better at learning to game the system, because I get slaughtered in actual gameplay, it's mostly me just enjoying the emergent stuff.

Thinking of selling my resin copy of the game minis, though. Since I have two full sets of plastic...
jgsugden
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Reply #2620 on: March 27, 2018, 03:12:26 PM

I'm going to wait for the inevitable $10 App version I can play on my tablet...

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
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Reply #2621 on: March 28, 2018, 11:08:14 PM

Yo. Checking out for my copy of CO2: Second Chance on this giochix horseshit and it's offering me the following games:

Container (10th Anniversary Jumbo Edition)
The Gallerist (hilarious, as I struggled to find it)
Lisboa
Vinhos
Virus
Historia
Gladiatori

Anyone played these? Are any of them good (besides Gallerist)? Looks like the discount is about 25% on them. Lisboa is the highest rated by a mile (it's also like 115€ all in.


I'm gonna skip checking out til I get some answers.
lamaros
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Reply #2622 on: March 29, 2018, 04:31:31 AM

Yo. Checking out for my copy of CO2: Second Chance on this giochix horseshit and it's offering me the following games:

Container (10th Anniversary Jumbo Edition)
The Gallerist (hilarious, as I struggled to find it)
Lisboa
Vinhos
Virus
Historia
Gladiatori

Anyone played these? Are any of them good (besides Gallerist)? Looks like the discount is about 25% on them. Lisboa is the highest rated by a mile (it's also like 115€ all in.


I'm gonna skip checking out til I get some answers.

Container is a curious game with some fans, but it's one for those who like economic games (that is, games about a player driven economy).

The Jumbo edition looks crap and to be made by fuckwits, but the game is otherwise OOP (but not hard to PNP).
eldaec
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Reply #2623 on: March 29, 2018, 07:52:13 AM

People I know who like Gallerist CO2 etc seem to like Vinhos. I've not had a chance to play it. 

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Soln
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Reply #2624 on: March 29, 2018, 08:19:00 AM

Thanks for the tip, I didn't know they had Container on offer.  Stupid rare on eBay, designer is dead, yadda yadda.

Lisboa and Gallerist seem good.  Container is a well esteemed economic sim.
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