What game are you wasting time on?

[NecroLord]

Alright, Thief 2 is done.
It has been a while, but I did pretty well. Gotta say that I am not a fan of Soulforge Cathedral. Great atmosphere though, surrounded by Builder's Children, all that metal, shifting cogs and gears and Mechanists turned into cyborgs of sorts by wearing those Servant Masks. Their idle dialogue is really unnerving, with lines such as "Let me go free" or "Please kill me..."
Installing those masks on them and wearing them must be an excruciating experience...
I will do Deadly Shadows eventually, and will probably be very interesting. It has been a long while since I played it and I am not as intimate and familiar with it as I am with Thief 1 and 2.
Thief 2 is a masterpiece. They just don't make them like this anymore.

 

[Taim]

Alright, Thief 2 is done.
It has been a while, but I did pretty well. Gotta say that I am not a fan of Soulforge Cathedral. Great atmosphere though, surrounded by Builder's Children, all that metal, shifting cogs and gears and Mechanists turned into cyborgs of sorts by wearing those Servant Masks. Their idle dialogue is really unnerving, with lines such as "Let me go free" or "Please kill me..."
Installing those masks on them and wearing them must be an excruciating experience...
I will do Deadly Shadows eventually, and will probably be very interesting. It has been a long while since I played it and I am not as intimate and familiar with it as I am with Thief 1 and 2.
Thief 2 is a masterpiece. They just don't make them like this anymore.

Make sure you play with the Sneaky Patch. It's been several years since I've attempted to play through Thief 3 but I imagine its still the de-facto "Unofficial Patch" for the game.

Quick google search shows they are now hosting it on an actual site and it's actually had an update as recently as September - which is crazy.

 

[Abu Antar]

I am almost done with Powerwasher Simulator. I think that I am at the final stage. There are some bonus stages that I might do when I just want to chill.

My other "chill" game is one of the Pixel Puzzle games. I bought no DLCs. I'm doing the packs that come with the game, and also flash puzzles.

I'm very far into 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. I was thinking that it was a lot of mindfuckery going on in the early game, but that has reached unhinged levels as the story unfolds. I stil don't care for the combat, but it's not that hard to power through.

Continuing on my PS360 era games tour, I am playing Murdered: Soul Suspect. I'm not that far in. So far, a by-the-numbers game. There's no real combat. I've seen one ghost that I had to take out with a QTE. It's supposed to be an investigative detective game, but it is very railroaded, and I'm not sure that you can even fail.

I think that I will be able to beat the three beatable games by next weekend.

 

[Kabas]

Still playing Monster train, reached 11th covenant.

I like bounty hunters and i can not lie.
But i am getting a slight burnout from playing only this so i returned to Astrea for a bit.

Finally beat the true final boss and completed a few higher difficulty settings.
It does look prettier but i honestly prefer Monster Train more in terms of gameplay.

 

[Dr1f7]

i think i'm finally just accepting that homm3 warcraft 3 and quake are the only games I want to play for the rest of my life.

every time I think a new game sounds fun I start it up, get to character creation or tutorial or whatever and immediately just feel overwhelmed and sleepy

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

every time I think a new game sounds fun I start it up, get to character creation or tutorial or whatever and immediately just feel overwhelmed and sleepy

Skip the character creation then? Even if you don't like the game much give it at least an hour. You decided to play it for a reason.

I started Technomancer and I remember why I didn't get far into it. The first boss counter attacks you immediately if you hit it's weak spot. I wanted to be a guardian and use the shield but the boss hits you through it. Not sure what I was doing right/wrong but I got through it. Then I had a quest to find a merchant gone missing and it gives me a rough area to talk to NPCs in, but only select NPCs will talk to you there. Annoying to run up to 10 guys and only 3 of them talk to you. In hub quests like that I would rather they put markers over who I can talk to and who I can't to stop me having to run up to background dressing.

 

[Naraya]

every time I think a new game sounds fun I start it up, get to character creation or tutorial or whatever and immediately just feel overwhelmed and sleepy

Skip the character creation then? Even if you don't like the game much give it at least an hour. You decided to play it for a reason.

Even better - skip the game!

 

[Tel Velothi]

i think i'm finally just accepting that homm3 warcraft 3 and quake are the only games I want to play for the rest of my life.

every time I think a new game sounds fun I start it up, get to character creation or tutorial or whatever and immediately just feel overwhelmed and sleepy

I think it's ok to accept that. Games innovation are limited now, it's only that much one can think of. You gained all it was from games it's time to move on.

 

[Zero CHAR]

Finished Killzone: Mercenary, which is an exclusive game for the PlayStation Vita. This is the first game I finish in the year, my objective is to finish at least 10 games this year, last one I finished only two.
I was intrigued at how an FPS would play on a handheld and I wasn't disappointed, I might even replay the game in the future to unlock all the weapons. There's some openness to the levels so you can use stealth too, you even have equipment that reduces the sound you make and multiple silenced weapons, but blasting the enemy with a shotgun is too satisfying.

This was my first Killzone and I liked it, I'm gonna check out the rest of the series in the future, It's a shame that now Guerrilla Games only makes generic 3rd person action games now.

 

[__scribbles__]

I'm currently playing System Shock, original, non-enhanced. I've played the game before, but never past the first level. Some thoughts roughly 2 hours in:

-I like that darkness is an actual factor in exploration and combat. Sometimes enemies are waiting for you in the shadows in certain rooms or hallways. The unpredictability of the enemy placement does a lot towards building tension.

-Resource management is well done. You never really feel like you have enough ammo or medpacks, and some enemies you simply cannot take down without using guns or taking damage. But at the same time, the game is very good at giving you resources in small chunks. You never feel like you're stuck in some unwinnable situation because you used too much ammo, but at the same time a big encounter really could cost a lot of ammo. It's a delicate balance the game strikes brilliantly.

-UI is a mixed bag. On fullscreen mode, it's not so bad but at the same time I really wish that removing the logs/email screen was smoother. There's no way to exit the logs menu directly, you have to bring up another menu and then exit that one to clear the screen. It's not a major flaw, but it annoys me a lot as you're always re-reading logs to refresh your memory on objectives or loot stashes.

-Crawling is a cool feature.

-Audiovisuals have aged well for the most part, barring some crunchy sound effects and the low resolution. The darkness is actually dark, the text is mostly readable, the enemies are clear in what they're supposed to represent. The music is great as well, and the enemies sounds make my heart skip a beat every time.
However, a fairly big issue is with levers - they aren't their own actual objects but rather part of the flat wall texture, which means that they're easy to miss unless you're on the lookout. I once missed a lever that I couldn't see and spent fifteen minutes wandering the level looking for the way to proceed.

-Combat is serviceable. What makes it work is the enemy placement and resource management as the actual act of hitting an enemy isn't very satisfying by itself.

-Level design is good. There's a a good amount of small side areas and hidden rooms to find, the way to progress is usually clear when you don't miss a lever here or there, and the levels do a good job of connecting back into itself with shortcuts.

-I'm a big fan of the Ultima Underworld-like structure, where the objective of the level isn't immediately obvious and you figure out what you have to do as you explore farther into the level. It feels more natural that you don't know what to do immediately on every level, and it forces you to pay attention to logs and notes you find to have an idea of how to progress.

Overall, I'm enjoying the game quite a lot and I definitely see how the game became a classic. Looking forward to playing more of it.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

Finished Killzone: Mercenary, which is an exclusive game for the PlayStation Vita. This is the first game I finish in the year, my objective is to finish at least 10 games this year, last one I finished only two.
I was intrigued at how an FPS would play on a handheld and I wasn't disappointed, I might even replay the game in the future to unlock all the weapons. There's some openness to the levels so you can use stealth too, you even have equipment that reduces the sound you make and multiple silenced weapons, but blasting the enemy with a shotgun is too satisfying.

This was my first Killzone and I liked it, I'm gonna check out the rest of the series in the future, It's a shame that now Guerrilla Games only makes generic 3rd person action games now.

It really needs a port to a better system. It's fun but has frame rate issues all over the place. If you liked it try the PS4 Killzone as it feels very similar. The older games are more generic but still fun FPS.

 

[BLOBERT]

Tried Streets of Rage 4 with my Mega Drive-style controller, using the "legacy mode" where buttons are pressed simultaneously for star move, back attack and throw item. I had to look up the Streets of Rage 2 controls to remember where the buttons are supposed to be mapped. Like the feel of it. Tempted to play through it again.

SOR2 is a great game. So is 4.

I really didn't think I liked beat 'em ups, they all felt repetitive and I'd always burn out on them after Stage 2 of any beat 'em up. SOR2 is a different story entirely. I'm glad I gave it a chance.

I beat it this last year, proudly, then I tried another playthrough on hard and have repeatedly gotten my ass kicked. I'll go without dying until the baseball field where the two fat boys will waddle and flamebreath me out of nearly all of my lives.

BRO PLAY THE JAP VERSION OF SOR3, BARE KNUCKLE 3 I THINK

EASIER THAN SOR 3

 

[Rahdulan]

Finished Killzone: Mercenary, which is an exclusive game for the PlayStation Vita. This is the first game I finish in the year, my objective is to finish at least 10 games this year, last one I finished only two.
I was intrigued at how an FPS would play on a handheld and I wasn't disappointed, I might even replay the game in the future to unlock all the weapons. There's some openness to the levels so you can use stealth too, you even have equipment that reduces the sound you make and multiple silenced weapons, but blasting the enemy with a shotgun is too satisfying.

This was my first Killzone and I liked it, I'm gonna check out the rest of the series in the future, It's a shame that now Guerrilla Games only makes generic 3rd person action games now.

It also had a really good multiplayer scene at the time. To this day I'm kinda amazed a portable can pump out a game looking like that, but aiming to be home to "portable AAA" was one of Vita's failings in the first place.

 

[flyingjohn]

So after dealing with Warcraft 3 version hell:
-You want the most mod friendly lightweight classic version? Go here:
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/wc3-download-archive-1-00-1-31-1-beta-demo.326836/
Get 1.21 installer and then patch to 1.26a.
-You want the classic version that has some memory bugs but has a chance of running modern mods:
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/wc3-download-archive-1-00-1-31-1-beta-demo.326836/
Get 1.21 installer and then patch to 1.27b.
-You want a modern version that doesn't break stuff:
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/wc3-download-archive-1-00-1-31-1-beta-demo.326836/
Get the 1.30.4 game files
-You want to CONSUME:
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/wc3-download-archive-1-00-1-31-1-beta-demo.326836/
Get the 1.31.1 game files and the fixes here:
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/patch-1-31-1-backup-files.322083/

NOT PIRACY BECAUSE YOU NEED CD KEYS.

 

[Renfri]

Done with Sacred 1.

First campaign was decent despite horrible respawns that weren't consistent either. Sometimes new mobs appear if you do tiny 180. Areas were cool, decent mob variey (fuck roots/runaways), okay loot, few quests were nice. Unfortunately quality took dive in second campaign. Even more mobs that root and runaway than in first campaign, some even teleport around even to places you cant reach, unless run back alot. Areas are more corridors instead of more open, so if you turn wrong way, you need to run back alot and enjoy respawns.

I can recommend trying first campaign, if you want to know what first Sacred is all about, you get good enough idea.

About ending:
Last boss was also meh. Boss keeps running away, also it kept using large aoe than often just one shots you. At least you respawn close to it without reseting the fight. When I changed into my poor range dps, boss almost used no skills.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

I started Zill O'll infinite and I'm getting serious input delay. Does it emulate badly or is the actual game like that? I was really looking forward to playing it but the input delay feels like I'm playing on a cloud service and spoiling the experience.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

Done with Sacred 1.

First campaign was decent despite horrible respawns that weren't consistent either. Sometimes new mobs appear if you do tiny 180. Areas were cool, decent mob variey (fuck roots/runaways), okay loot, few quests were nice. Unfortunately quality took dive in second campaign. Even more mobs that root and runaway than in first campaign, some even teleport around even to places you cant reach, unless run back alot. Areas are more corridors instead of more open, so if you turn wrong way, you need to run back alot and enjoy respawns.

I can recommend trying first campaign, if you want to know what first Sacred is all about, you get good enough idea.

About ending:
Last boss was also meh. Boss keeps running away, also it kept using large aoe than often just one shots you. At least you respawn close to it without reseting the fight. When I changed into my poor range dps, boss almost used no skills.

Were there any tricks you needed to do to run this acceptably? I installed it recently (windows 11) and the framerate tanked whenever I would zoom out. It was irksome enough for me to give up. I saw there were a lot of mods out that add widescreen and I think helped performance, but there were also mechanical changes and I just wanted to play the game with vanilla balancing.

I had some fun playing Sacred 2 in the recent past, jankiness aside.

 

[Renfri]

Done with Sacred 1.

First campaign was decent despite horrible respawns that weren't consistent either. Sometimes new mobs appear if you do tiny 180. Areas were cool, decent mob variey (fuck roots/runaways), okay loot, few quests were nice. Unfortunately quality took dive in second campaign. Even more mobs that root and runaway than in first campaign, some even teleport around even to places you cant reach, unless run back alot. Areas are more corridors instead of more open, so if you turn wrong way, you need to run back alot and enjoy respawns.

I can recommend trying first campaign, if you want to know what first Sacred is all about, you get good enough idea.

About ending:
Last boss was also meh. Boss keeps running away, also it kept using large aoe than often just one shots you. At least you respawn close to it without reseting the fight. When I changed into my poor range dps, boss almost used no skills.

Were there any tricks you needed to do to run this acceptably? I installed it recently (windows 11) and the framerate tanked whenever I would zoom out. It was irksome enough for me to give up. I saw there were a lot of mods out that add widescreen and I think helped performance, but there were also mechanical changes and I just wanted to play the game with vanilla balancing.

I had some fun playing Sacred 2 in the recent past, jankiness aside.

I have windows 11 aswell. I ran game in windows xp compatibility mode and used integrated graphics instead of designated, but framerate wasnt great when fully zoomed out, but I rarely used that cos it felt way too zoomed out for my taste. Sometimes framerate would drop even when not fully zoomed out, but I just accepted that this silly old game wouldn't be smoothest ride. Game crashed perhaps 5 times overall and all of them were during latter half of first campaign, but not sure why.

E: I didn't use Scared Reborn HD mod.

 

[octavius]

Playing Diablo 2 again, and trying some new builds.
Checking some Diablo 2 videos and build guides, it looks like I'm the only Diablo 2 player who doesn't start with the Enigma runeword.
And it's like original D2 went into some cyber memory hole, 'cause every search result is about D2 Resurrected.

 

[jackofshadows]

Playing Diablo 2 again

What happened to the idea of playing games in chronological order or something?

 

[octavius]

Playing Diablo 2 again

What happened to the idea of playing games in chronological order or something?

It's still on, but has slowed down now that I've reached 2002 and the decline starts.
In addition, after 5-10 years I feel the urge to replay my favourites.
So my play list is not set in stone.

 

[Fink]

Expeditions: Conquistador.



A good, but very rage inducing game. Constantly being ambushed while my best fighters are out of action, and/or peppered with the natives' poison fucking darts.

 

[NorwegianWolf]

Returned to Core Keeper. Mining and crafting grind. Defeated 3 bosses so far.

 

[Avonaeon]

I completed Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, which was a nice welcome after Task Force Dagger. It doesn't feel lazy and they actually tried with this one. It gets a little samey quick though, as it's just Somalia, but some of the mission get pretty tense when you're running around in shanty towns. The expansion Team Sabre is hard as nails even on easy and I'm having trouble completing it, but there's a bit more variety.

 

[NecroLord]

I completed Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, which was a nice welcome after Task Force Dagger. It doesn't feel lazy and they actually tried with this one. It gets a little samey quick though, as it's just Somalia, but some of the mission get pretty tense when you're running around in shanty towns. The expansion Team Sabre is hard as nails even on easy and I'm having trouble completing it, but there's a bit more variety.

Ah, Team Sabre...
How was that last mission like?
RPG projectiles flying everywhere.
That level is a fucking nightmare...
There's also that level in Colombia where you have to protect some former cartel members or something from hordes of guerillas. You can snipe from that tower, but still a friggin hard as nails level.
Still, I liked both Black Hawk Down and Sabre.