I completed Doom 3 on the Veteran level, and that's good enough for me. I watched a video of a streamer completing it on Nightmare with no quicksaves and that was enough to convince me that I don't even want to try it on Nightmare . I've dabbled with FEAR, but I've only just begun, and it hasn't hooked me.

The Black Mesa version of Blue Shift recently added another level, so I went back to that. I was having some real problem at one point; I kept getting slaughtered by Vortigaunts even though I was blasting them at point blank range with the shotgun? I finally realized that all of that Doom 3 made me forget how the shotgun works in Half-Life games (right mouse=magically becomes a double barrel). Once I remembered that, I was finally able to proceed.

Not sure if I'm allowed to share this here, but for those who want to legally acquire the original Warcraft I and II without DRM, you have the chance to do so until the end of this week.

(And if you decide to take advantage of this, don't forget to use the discount/promo code mentioned at the bottom of the blog.)

Bought just because why not. I really only played Warcraft II way back in the day, but gave up after it became too difficult.

120+ hours in, and all but finished with Baldur's Gate III. I am already planning a second playthrough once Patch 30 drops and adds 12 new subclasses.

Pool of Radiance
I'm about 15 hours in now. My fighters are level 3, F/T is L2/3, Cleric is L4, and Mages are L3. I have cleared all of The Slums except for the Troll/Ogre battle. I must've attempted that battle at least a dozen times so far, including just now, where I got much closer but still lost. I've cleared Kuto's Well including the battle with Norris the Gray. I made a brief stop at Sokal Keep but did not enter. I guess that will be my next stop since I need more EXP and levels to defeat the Trolls and Ogres. Right now my biggest challenge is hauling coin from treasures without encumbering my party. It's still not enough for even one of those 25k gold fine composite long bows from the Silver Shoppe, so I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that. You can't convert coins to gems, and you can't store coins anywhere else. I guess I'll figure it out.

clueless1 wrote on 2024-12-15, 15:39:

Pool of Radiance
I'm about 15 hours in now. My fighters are level 3, F/T is L2/3, Cleric is L4, and Mages are L3. I have cleared all of The Slums except for the Troll/Ogre battle. I must've attempted that battle at least a dozen times so far, including just now, where I got much closer but still lost. I've cleared Kuto's Well including the battle with Norris the Gray. I made a brief stop at Sokal Keep but did not enter. I guess that will be my next stop since I need more EXP and levels to defeat the Trolls and Ogres. Right now my biggest challenge is hauling coin from treasures without encumbering my party. It's still not enough for even one of those 25k gold fine composite long bows from the Silver Shoppe, so I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that. You can't convert coins to gems, and you can't store coins anywhere else. I guess I'll figure it out.

You still playing on the 486 or emulation? Is that VGA screen still holding up?

Still slowly working my way through the end (I think) of Crysis 2. Very little time lately to game.

Bought a new vid card and played some Doom Eternal.
I hate the gameplay, all those coordinated jumps that make you fall to your death are boring and annoying.

I'll probably finish the game for the sake of it but I regret the purchase.

Crysis series are better IMO.

clueless1 wrote on 2024-12-15, 15:39:

Pool of Radiance
I'm about 15 hours in now. My fighters are level 3, F/T is L2/3, Cleric is L4, and Mages are L3. I have cleared all of The Slums except for the Troll/Ogre battle. I must've attempted that battle at least a dozen times so far, including just now, where I got much closer but still lost. I've cleared Kuto's Well including the battle with Norris the Gray. I made a brief stop at Sokal Keep but did not enter. I guess that will be my next stop since I need more EXP and levels to defeat the Trolls and Ogres. Right now my biggest challenge is hauling coin from treasures without encumbering my party. It's still not enough for even one of those 25k gold fine composite long bows from the Silver Shoppe, so I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that. You can't convert coins to gems, and you can't store coins anywhere else. I guess I'll figure it out.

I wouldn't worry too much about coins... you'll end up with more money than you can possibly spend toward the end of the game (outside of those bows there is basically nothing to spend money on). I ended up just carrying enough platinum to train each character, as well as any gems or jewelry from treasures I found. Money is really not important at all in this game, or even in the entire series.

The troll/ogre battle is really tough, so I'd definitely recommend saving it for later. There are some tricks to killing the trolls (more accurately, making sure that they stay dead) that you might want to look up if you don't know already. There are some ways to beat that encounter at a low level, but it's honestly not worth it now unless you really want the challenge imo.

Nexxen wrote on 2024-12-16, 00:42:

Bought a new vid card and played some Doom Eternal. I hate the gameplay, all those coordinated jumps that make you fall to your […]
Show full quote

Bought a new vid card and played some Doom Eternal.
I hate the gameplay, all those coordinated jumps that make you fall to your death are boring and annoying.

I'll probably finish the game for the sake of it but I regret the purchase.

Crysis series are better IMO.

I loved Doom 2016, but hated Doom Eternal fiercely. I would rather replay Doom 2016 a dozen times than finish Doom Eternal..

liqmat wrote on 2024-12-16, 00:04:

clueless1 wrote on 2024-12-15, 15:39:

Pool of Radiance
I'm about 15 hours in now. My fighters are level 3, F/T is L2/3, Cleric is L4, and Mages are L3. I have cleared all of The Slums except for the Troll/Ogre battle. I must've attempted that battle at least a dozen times so far, including just now, where I got much closer but still lost. I've cleared Kuto's Well including the battle with Norris the Gray. I made a brief stop at Sokal Keep but did not enter. I guess that will be my next stop since I need more EXP and levels to defeat the Trolls and Ogres. Right now my biggest challenge is hauling coin from treasures without encumbering my party. It's still not enough for even one of those 25k gold fine composite long bows from the Silver Shoppe, so I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that. You can't convert coins to gems, and you can't store coins anywhere else. I guess I'll figure it out.

You still playing on the 486 or emulation? Is that VGA screen still holding up?

Still slowly working my way through the end (I think) of Crysis 2. Very little time lately to game.

This particular game is being played through Gold Box Companion. I want the QoL features. 😀

The 486 is doing well, waiting for me to play my next game on it. The monitor is still not doing great, though. I'm having an old friend try to fix it, but he hasn't had time to work on it. In the meantime, I've got a spare monitor in its place.

I know what you mean about not having time. My playtime is down to about 2-3 hours per week. Makes finishing any game really hard! I get most of my gaming in on holidays. I guess I need more of those. 😉

newtmonkey wrote on 2024-12-16, 02:56:

clueless1 wrote on 2024-12-15, 15:39:

Pool of Radiance
I'm about 15 hours in now. My fighters are level 3, F/T is L2/3, Cleric is L4, and Mages are L3. I have cleared all of The Slums except for the Troll/Ogre battle. I must've attempted that battle at least a dozen times so far, including just now, where I got much closer but still lost. I've cleared Kuto's Well including the battle with Norris the Gray. I made a brief stop at Sokal Keep but did not enter. I guess that will be my next stop since I need more EXP and levels to defeat the Trolls and Ogres. Right now my biggest challenge is hauling coin from treasures without encumbering my party. It's still not enough for even one of those 25k gold fine composite long bows from the Silver Shoppe, so I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that. You can't convert coins to gems, and you can't store coins anywhere else. I guess I'll figure it out.

I wouldn't worry too much about coins... you'll end up with more money than you can possibly spend toward the end of the game (outside of those bows there is basically nothing to spend money on). I ended up just carrying enough platinum to train each character, as well as any gems or jewelry from treasures I found. Money is really not important at all in this game, or even in the entire series.

The troll/ogre battle is really tough, so I'd definitely recommend saving it for later. There are some tricks to killing the trolls (more accurately, making sure that they stay dead) that you might want to look up if you don't know already. There are some ways to beat that encounter at a low level, but it's honestly not worth it now unless you really want the challenge imo.

Good to know, on both counts! Thank you!

After bouncing around between a lot of games, I found myself settling on Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.

I guess for starters, I haven't played this game in 18 years. But even then, I'm kind of shocked how little I remember. I remember the beginning up to about the Leviathan going kaboom. After that I remembered exactly zilch until Draklor Laboratory (which I haven't gotten to yet on this playthrough, but I'm close), and then I remember some other tomb or ruins, and then a final battle. Maybe that's not bad, but it's funny to me the whole middle of the game is a directionless blur that didn't seem to contribute greatly to the overall story. Even playing it now, I can kind of see why I completely forgot about it. There just isn't much that's memorable or meaningful.

I also think I really don't like the changes made to the gambit system and license board. The gambit systems is fully unlocked out the gate, versus the original game where it was carefully balanced such that you couldn't completely automate your characters. You'd get a spell, and lack the gambits to automate it for a while. This had the effect of letting you automate things as soon as they got tedious, but still forcing you to stay engaged and make decisions with your new toys. Well, all that's gone. Everything can be fully automated ASAP. I guess this was in response to fan complaints, but fuck the fans.

The license board is now split up into jobs which each have access to a subset of it. This annoys me less than the change to the gambit system, but I really enjoyed the flexibility of the original license board, even if it made all the characters "the same". It let you have your warriors dabble in some low end magic in case of emergencies, or have your magic users grab a few HP buffs if they needed them. I know you could just grind the fuck out of it and have every character do everything, but psychos break every game. Don't let them ruin it for the rest of us!

I do appreciate the fast forward button in The Zodiac Age though. I don't recall the original having one, and it definitely makes traversing lower level areas or grinding much less painful. Honestly, even when I'm in new level appropriate areas I never turn it off, because I never have to make decisions anymore anyways due to the changes in the gambit system.

I'm far enough in that I'm not going to restart with my original copy of the PS2 version, but I do kind of wish I had just stuck with that version instead. But maybe that's just me. I haven't seen anyone else ever defend it over The Zodiac Age.

Finished playing Warcraft 2 a couple weeks ago (both human and orc campaigns but not the expansion), that left me in the mood for some Warcraft 1 so I started playing it and just finished both campaigns today.
Its a very primitive game, but I have a lot of nostalgia for it…the music, the VGA graphics, the more “serious” tone compared to its sequel makes it a very enjoyable game if you put yourself in the mindset of that time.
Both races are almost 100% identical, but humans are the most fun to play because they have units that can heal, plus their archers have a bit more range than the orc spearmen.
Playing against human CPU becomes a pain once they start healing their units and using that annoying invisibility spell. That makes the orc campaign a bit more frustrating to play in my opinion.
I also enjoy not having to worry about naval units and transporting troops through water, never been a fan of naval units in any RTS.

Nexxen wrote on 2024-12-16, 00:42:

Bought a new vid card and played some Doom Eternal.
I hate the gameplay, all those coordinated jumps that make you fall to your death are boring and annoying.

I'll probably finish the game for the sake of it but I regret the purchase.

I had the same reaction to Doom Eternal. I enjoyed Doom 2016, it had some flashes that make it feel like old-school Doom.

But Doom Eternal... with all the additional parkour crap they added, it felt like it was trying to be a first-person Tomb Raider or something.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-12-27, 03:09:

Nexxen wrote on 2024-12-16, 00:42:

Bought a new vid card and played some Doom Eternal.
I hate the gameplay, all those coordinated jumps that make you fall to your death are boring and annoying.

I'll probably finish the game for the sake of it but I regret the purchase.

I had the same reaction to Doom Eternal. I enjoyed Doom 2016, it had some flashes that make it feel like old-school Doom.

But Doom Eternal... with all the additional parkour crap they added, it felt like it was trying to be a first-person Tomb Raider or something.

I think they wanted to cross a few ideas. IDK, TR was a specific era's genre that was fun to play (and frustrating).

Yesterday I finished the game. I played just to see the ending.
I finally got how to play the jump and dash and fall and die and reload 5 times in a row "ting" (yes, some irish guy possessed my mouth - if only you could have heard the swearing 🤣).

It's boring as hell. Brawl, parkour, brawl, parkour. Mothership. Upgrades, brawl, parkour....

Cleaning Varta demolished boards is funnier.

I have to admit that graphics and other stuff are stunning. Technically I think it's a good job.

My 2 cents, others enjoyed it like crazy.

gaffa2002 wrote on 2024-12-27, 00:57:

Finished playing Warcraft 2 a couple weeks ago (both human and orc campaigns but not the expansion), that left me in the mood fo […]
Show full quote

Finished playing Warcraft 2 a couple weeks ago (both human and orc campaigns but not the expansion), that left me in the mood for some Warcraft 1 so I started playing it and just finished both campaigns today...
Its a very primitive game, but I have a lot of nostalgia for it…the music, the VGA graphics, the more “serious” tone compared to its sequel makes it a very enjoyable game if you put yourself in the mindset of that time.
Both races are almost 100% identical, but humans are the most fun to play because they have units that can heal, plus their archers have a bit more range than the orc spearmen.
Playing against human CPU becomes a pain once they start healing their units and using that annoying invisibility spell. That makes the orc campaign a bit more frustrating to play in my opinion.
I also enjoy not having to worry about naval units and transporting troops through water, never been a fan of naval units in any RTS.

The technique I recall using most in Warcraft 1 is deploying several lines of troops around choke points so that the opposition cannot get past. This works well if there are bridges, but if there are not, then the invisible units indeed become a big nuisance, because you have to keep a sizable force defending your base(s) as well, or else they sneak by and wreak havoc.

dr_st wrote on 2024-12-27, 11:28:

The technique I recall using most in Warcraft 1 is deploying several lines of troops around choke points so that the opposition cannot get past. This works well if there are bridges, but if there are not, then the invisible units indeed become a big nuisance, because you have to keep a sizable force defending your base(s) as well, or else they sneak by and wreak havoc.

Indeed, but the feeling of having some knight pop up in the middle of your town is always there as the CPU seems to be always waiting for an opening, and they always go for the peons.
This guy made a video where he finished the game without losing a single unit (crazy, I know, specially with the Orc campaign, and without using summoning):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKg8NTLgcGU
He had to get to the point of covering the bridges with farms to prevent the invisible bastards from getting in 😁.

Nexxen wrote on 2024-12-16, 00:42:

Bought a new vid card and played some Doom Eternal. I hate the gameplay, all those coordinated jumps that make you fall to your […]
Show full quote

Bought a new vid card and played some Doom Eternal.
I hate the gameplay, all those coordinated jumps that make you fall to your death are boring and annoying.

I'll probably finish the game for the sake of it but I regret the purchase.

Crysis series are better IMO.

Just to add my 2 cents: I also agree that Doom Eternal is not as good as Doom 2016. Doom Eternal in my opinion has too many mechanics, and you need to use every single one of them to survive in the game. You can punch, you can do that hook thing, you have the flamethrower thing, you have the grenade thing, you have the finisher mechanics, dashing, double jumping, weapon add ons, add on upgrades ... there is simply too much stuff that makes the game controls more complex than a flight simulator. To be fair I started enjoying it more after learning the many mechanics. Problem is that If I ever come back to playing it at some point, I'll have to remember all that crap again while in Doom 2016 I can easily come back to and enjoy it even years later.
Not to mention the story... Doom Eternal felt a bit cringe to me because of the obsession of every character on reinforcing how badass you are, the amount of people sucking you up through the whole game gets really annoying.

Played through Portal for the first time in my life. Took a few hours over 2 evenings to finish the main campaign, it's really on the short side of a game, although some puzzles in the later levels are tricky. The platforming aspects can be a bit annoying, as platforming always sucked in the Half-Life engine, but you get used to it.

I think I will give the advanced puzzles and challenges a try.

gaffa2002 wrote on 2024-12-27, 14:44:

Just to add my 2 cents: I also agree that Doom Eternal is not as good as Doom 2016. Doom Eternal in my opinion has too many mechanics, and you need to use every single one of them to survive in the game. You can punch, you can do that hook thing, you have the flamethrower thing, you have the grenade thing, you have the finisher mechanics, dashing, double jumping, weapon add ons, add on upgrades ... there is simply too much stuff that makes the game controls more complex than a flight simulator. To be fair I started enjoying it more after learning the many mechanics. Problem is that If I ever come back to playing it at some point, I'll have to remember all that crap again while in Doom 2016 I can easily come back to and enjoy it even years later.
Not to mention the story... Doom Eternal felt a bit cringe to me because of the obsession of every character on reinforcing how badass you are, the amount of people sucking you up through the whole game gets really annoying.

You wrapped it up pretty well.

dr_st wrote on 2024-12-28, 20:54:

Played through Portal for the first time in my life. Took a few hours over 2 evenings to finish the main campaign, it's really on the short side of a game, although some puzzles in the later levels are tricky. The platforming aspects can be a bit annoying, as platforming always sucked in the Half-Life engine, but you get used to it.

I think I will give the advanced puzzles and challenges a try.

Portal 2 isn't bad.
Portal Mel and Portal Revolutions are enjoyable. And free. They both need P2 to launch.

There's lots of levels and mini campaigns for P2.