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!