Now Gaming: ... Created 14 years ago2010-12-11 02:04:50 UTC by AJ

I've played that game but didn't finish it. The visuals are breath taking.

Rhythm Paradise Megamix (US: Rhythm Heaven Megamix) for the 3DS.

Simple and stylish, and gets nicely challenging midway/later in the game.

@Jessie: Same here! I love the Rhythm Heaven games.

This is the first one I've encountered, let alone played. Pretty good! Some really engaging minigames in there. The Remixes are damn fun.

Battlefield 1! Yes! Another Battlefield game. In my opinion the best one in a long time. There's something very satisfying about it.

I'll post some screenies down the line.

I'm also playing through Dying Light. I've owned it for a while but only recently started blast through it in Co-op with Archie and Mish (Scotch and Coffee has adopted another one...)

Probably gonna be a video of this one day in the future.

Last but not least, I grabbed Final Fantasy 7 on Steam. It's quite nice to experience it again in 1080p at 60FPS (the 3d elements at least)

Picked up Battlefield 1 yesterday. (Well, when I say 'picked up' I mean "would have picked up on the 25th, but they were out of stock so I got it digitally")

Lots of fun, though it's a bit solitary not having anyone to play with. Urby, it's a damn shame latency is still a thing that exists in large quantities, because it would be an honor serving with you otherwise!

You haven't seen me play, clearly. It's anything but an honour to have me on your team.

Sank a couple of hours into Overwatch again last night. It's a shame not having anyone to play it with... (Other SnC guys have decided they don't like it)

Got a couple of unlocks with the current Halloween theme.

Junkenstein's Monster (never play the hero though)This skin for Ana who has now become my third most played. AwesomeI love Blizzard for their seasonal cosmetics. I wonder what Christmas will deliver.

I decided to go in and have a look at what the "special edition" of Skyrim offers. (I didn't buy it but I have it for some reason.) Also chose to take some directly comparable screenshots from it and its original to see the difference. (Both at highest settings.) Results:

Original:Special Edition:Notes:

• I'll say that even as someone who was playing Skyrim a lot more recently than most, I can't say the new one was appreciably better looking. Side by side, it's a little more obvious, but playing it?... It looks like Skyrim.
• The special edition has some... strange depth-of-field stuff going on. It makes things look blurry at times they seem like they should not be. It was distracting, which is not good.
• Got some rll bad framerates going during a section of that intro, which I can't say the original had. I haven't played beyond this screenshot, so I can't say if that's a frequent occurrence or not.
• Again, didn't play beyond here, but from what I saw of the intro, in all other regards, it's the exact same game you'd be playing.

Anyway, that's my piece. I'm no huge fan of Skyrim in general, so take it as you will. If you had the choice though, I think I'd recommend the original.

I decided to go in and have a look at what the "special edition" of Skyrim offers. (I didn't buy it but I have it for some reason.)

If you own the original with all DLC you get the special edition for free. I got it as well, and I'm using it as an excuse to replay it. I love Skyrim.

The screenshot you are using for the comparison is a bad example. It shows the increased draw distance and improved filtering, but the enhancements are the least obvious during a clear day.

Dawn, dusk, snow storms, rain and fog are all massively improved. There is also a lot of subtle changes such as improved water shaders, a lot more detail on the ground (plantlife and stones and stuff), and performance is generally a lot smoother. The original game frequently drops to 30FPS or less for me, but the special edition has been a solid 60FPS for me in my first 5 hours.

I'm not saying it doesn't have problems. It's about as stable as it ever was (Drunk, obese pensioner on a unicycle). Hell, there are bugs present that were ironed out in the original within the first year.

increased draw distance

Sorry, I only see decreased draw distance hidden behind fog! That's a thirty year old trick.

Instead of replaying Skyrim-with-three-extra-bushes perhaps you should play The Witcher 3 instead

You're almost certainly right. That's been in my library without proper attention for far too long...

Warning: if you play The Witcher 3 you may get sucked into a 150 hour supermassive fun hole.

Yeah, I've got Witcher 3. It's alright.

I prefer customisation though. I don't really connect with Geralt at all.

Hitman.

It's way more fun than I had unconsciously attached to the Hitman name before playing one.

Which one?

The newest one.

I have to pick that up now that the full season is out. Keep hearing great things, which is super surprising after Absolution.

Bump!

I recently played through Blade of Agony, a mod for Doom 2 that creates a whole new Wolfenstein story with many new features. I was looking forward to this one for a while, but unfortunately it has a bunch of rather annoying design choices that let it down. I walked away from this one a lot less positive than when I started. It is a pretty great looking game for the most part, though. It has a really unusual case of inconsistency where instead of the odd low quality texture or model, you find ones that look far too detailed compared to the rest of the game. Very odd. It's also super classy.And now I've started playing the new Hitman, which is pretty effin' fantastic so far. It sucks that it's got always-online DRM though, I've already been booted from the game once. It's solo play, dagnammit.

Here is some of that Dying Light footage I mentioned. Starring yours truly, TWHL's own Archie and Ant, and a couple other peeps. Scoots who some of you may remember from the last couple of Counter-Strike events, and special new friend Mish.

Remember that Space Station 13 game I was talking about awhile ago?

Well, right now it is getting FUCKED. Most of the time there's no more than 200 people in total playing the game, but now famous Youtube man made a video on it and it is getting swarmed by tons of people.

Started playing the original Deus Ex... It's pretty damn ugly, and clunky as hell, but in a charming, late 90s kind of way.

I dare say I'm enjoying it.

Despite only having played it this year, I have to say the original Deus Ex is one of my favourite games of all time. And this is after having abandoned my first attempted playthrough after the first level due to the clunkiness.
There's just so much life to the world, despite all the technical limitations of the time.

Also, played Blade of Agony because I thought it looked interesting from Strider's post. Really liked the core gameplay, (aside from the near-total usefulness of the kick and how short the stamina bar was) but there were a few bits that were not well designed or telegraphed at all. (I'm looking at you, rock traps, bridge bombs, entrance to the paris catacombs, and large portions of the bonus level!) And this is ignoring the few bits of Duke-like lack of class, 70% of which I think Strider showed in his post.
They made some really neat workarounds to engine limitations, though, and there's a lot of destructible/interactive props and the like scattered about - plus who doesn't enjoy shooting Nazis? Hopefully the next episode of the mod comes out relatively soon and has the kinks ironed out.

Also hopefully it has more levels where you get the Sten. I love that sprite.

Also been replaying Fallout 4 with some mods, hoping to fix the experience a bit - unfortunately, mods can only do so much without a complete overhaul - Dialog options and quest outcomes are of course still severely limited, and despite installing various weapon mods, homemade pipe guns are still the most common thing out there, even in pre-war caches where they have no business being.
But I have a Chinese Assault Rifle, and a BAR, and the .45 and 9mm Pistols from New Vegas, (1911 and Browning Hi-Power) so at least my arsenal is more in line with what I expected from previous experience when I bought the game.
Sure wish more 9mm ammo would spawn, though. I've gotten like, 70, tops in my entire playthrough.

And then there's ironic stuff like this:

Started playing the original Deus Ex... It's pretty damn ugly, and clunky as hell, but in a charming, late 90s kind of way.

I dare say I'm enjoying it.

I might have already said it, but it turns out I always forget what I say, and I like to talk anyway, so:
I always found very hard or even impossible to play the first Deus Ex. I wasn't even brave enough to finish the first mission. I felt completely indifferent to its universe, probably because of its crude graphics and clunky gameplay, and as a result playing it was extremely boring. First time I got stuck, I simply stopped playing it.
But then, I played HR, and I have to say, it's a wonderful intro to the world of Deus Ex. HR is far from being a perfect game, yet it knows how to tell its story, has far more convicing grahpics and offer a compelling atmosphere, the same kind of atmosphere as the one in Deus Ex. After finishing HR, Deus Ex GOTY suddenly became an excellent game in its own rights I could play and enjoy. I could understand its theme, its atmosphere, and interpret its crude graphics. For example, when I was in a tunnel in Deux Ex, instead of a few horrible grey blocks I would see a similar tunnel as the ones I saw in HR. So I really advise HR if you haven't played Deus Ex.

Always good to see more people enjoying Deus Ex!

JeffMOD: You pretty much listed all the issues I had with Blade of Agony. The 1.5 second stamina bar is probably the worst, they'd be better off dropping it and boosting your overall speed. That bonus level too... started off so well then quickly became my least favourite mission. Some severe conveyance issues in the maps too, and I've played my share of huge, labyrinthine Doom maps.

But I'm feeling more positive about it in hindsight. It's such an insane technical achievement, the levels, weapons and enemies are mostly good fun. And yeah, the Sten rocked.

OMFG hell yes!This game works!

Which one is it?

Looks like the first one, the Berlin mission. The first part of that level, where you meet a number of undercover contacts, is one of the funniest things ever put in a game.

No One Lives Forever <3

NOLF. Now there's a game series I never even tried out. Might have to look into that some day.

Definitely do. NOLF is awesome.

I've heard nothing but good things about No One Lives Forever, and will probably never get to play it unless I learn to torrent stuff because the companies that might own the rights are too pigheaded to check and sell them to someone who will actually distribute it.

It is indeed No One Lives Forever, one of my favorite games ever.

You can download a copy of NOLF and NOLF 2 here: NOLF Revival

I don't consider this illegal software spreading or piracy as this game can't be bought anymore and no one know who actually owns the rights of both games which is why there hasn't been any sort of a digital re-release of both games.

I say just grab yourself a copy and play it, it's good.

What do you think about sheep?

Overwatch is fun, yo.

I should post this in the Just Finished Gaming thread but since its last reply goes back to July 2015 I'll just use this one.
So yeah, Making Divided is a great game! I had quite low expectations for it at the beginning since the story sounded very weak but it turned out it actually could be the best game I've ever played!
So please buy it and write a positive review. The only reason why the game got a mixed reviews is because of the Illuminati trying to discredit a game that threatens them (here is a joke 50% of MD players must have made).
Gameplay is increadibly fun, although in rare occasions it can be a bit repetitive or basic.
The story is weak: a collective of hackers who don't know how to spell words correctly is created out of nowhere and threatens the illuminati, there's too much a focus on augs, etc.
However, it's incredibly well narrated. The atmosphere is compelling, the level design is incredibly beautiful, you've got a whole magnificient city to explore, prostitu... I mean prosthetics, the universe is really compelling and you're often entertained and surpised by unforeseen development and plot twists.

@Jessie: Awesome POTGs I need to play more Overwatch

Very much enjoyed Firewatch. It's a story focused walking simulator, so avoid it if you like action and adventure. I was drawn in by the art style and the amazing voice acting and I've even sat down and done a play through with my wife as well.

I also tried out the original Shadow Warrior from 3DRealms and got my ass utterly handed to me... I likely would have rocked it about 20 years ago... but I'm an old man now.

I've recorded some more, but YouTube is refusing to let me upload them for an ambiguous reason Nevermind, got it going. Some low effort pulls here. link and link

Since I'm here though, been playing Rhythm Paradise Megamix again (still great!), Overwatch (I should stop!), Dark Souls (should probably move on to the others in the series sometime!) and Hitman (still great!). I've been thinking about getting Steamworld Heist for the 3DS lately, but I haven't been pushed over the brink yet. (Anyone played it?) Also grabbed Nom Nom Galaxy because it looks alright, yet to try it though. That said, I am compelled to punch myself anytime I say that name. I also was convinced by certain sources to grab Solitairica so I have something to do when my phone is all that is available. So far? Probably worth the 6 bucks or so. Lastly, I went and downloaded Construct 2 with plans to tinker around with the idea of making a little something myself...

I played the original Deus Ex when it first came out, and I made it all the way to Hong Kong. It was quite enjoyable, but work got really busy (I was a pediatric resident, working 80-100 hours a week at the time).

I never made it all the way through NOLF2. The infinite spawning system in Siberia really pissed me off. Once I killed someone, I expect him to be dead. Otherwise, the stealth gameplay and story were both top notch.

I've really been getting into Arma 3, game's great fun to play with friends and has an excellent modding community.When it comes to war games, I think this one beats out Battlefield by FAR. This game actually attempts to give a fairly realistic depiction of how firefights work, so a lot of the time spent in a firefight is locating enemies and finding a way to advance on them without being spotted. It only takes a couple shots to go down, and the helicopters fly like a flight simulator.

All in all, great fun game.

It's a moot point. I don't think Battlefield is meant to be realistic in any way shape or form...

I've not played a single ARMA game that doesn't just feel dreadfully clunky

When they make an ARMA game on an engine that doesn't suck I'll play the hell out of it. Same with DayZ. They just feel horrendous, and such a disconnect between player inputs, game response and world clipping is useless for a game that purports to be all about realism and immersion. It sort of takes me out of the experience when I clip through every doorframe I encounter and basically float over ground obstacles.

Battlefield is an entirely different genre - the comparison is pointless.

I don't think it is an entirely pointless comparison. Battlefield's large selling point is its large-scale warfare, an idea which Arma 3 simply takes into a different direction.

It's a bit clunky, yeah, but so is Deus Ex, the original Fallout 1 & 2, Space Station, etc.; once you get sucked into it, it won't matter.

Have to agree with ArmA being incredibly cumbersome.
There is nothing 'realistic' about a drunk-simulator where every action, including aiming your weapon is met with intentional delay on top of any software/hardware delay. It's simply not fun to play a game that handicaps the good players so that the bad players can feel better about themselves.

America's Army 3 was great but the netcode is horrible.

Overwatch is still fun, yo.

It sure is.

Right, that does it. I'm playing some Overwatch this weekend!

It's been quite a while since I wanted to replay some Overwatch but never got the time until now. What about a TWHL Overwatch party ? ^^

I decided to install Far Cry 2 again, hoping that somebody figured out how to enable cheats in it. Nobody seems to have found any so i took a stab at it myself. I found that cheats do exist in the engine but are disabled in a manner that i cannot find.

The one thing i found was that the command line parameter -zombieai disables most AI behavior. Seems that only scripted AI are still active.

I suppose one could somehow interface with the engine using its map editor hooks, but then Punkbuster will ban you. Another game that falls victim to overly protective systems.