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

Now Gaming: My super awesome minecraft server.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdzP9gQsJsk&feature=youtu.be

Just finished The Sexy Brutale. It's like a Groundhog Day-esque mystery puzzle game. I quite liked the methodical observe-then-act gameplay, and it delivers its story at a slow but intriguing pace. Not a bad game.

100% completion of Hollow Knight yesterday. Been a long time coming. Of course, I've still not got the good ending because the true final boss is a real bastard...

Got Skyrim for the switch.

It's gud.

@Urby: I seem to recall loading up on the blue life charms for that fight, since you rarely get a chance to heal anyway. IIRC.

I tried playing Hollow Knight again, but I bounced off of it. I don't think I can play it again.

I love it. I don't think I could play it again, but what a ride.

I decided to give SPORE another go. It's still an awful example of EA's complete misunderstanding of how to manage a game's development, but I've not played it in years and it was a fiver on Steam for the base game plus all DLC.

I've finally had a chance to play Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004) after... well, I remember seeing it probably around 10 years ago and thinking it looked neat then.
There is... way more Mount & Blade in that thing than I ever would have guessed. Obviously M&B came after Pirates, but I guess I just wasn't expecting the similarities.

Side Meyer's Pirates! is an excellent game. It can really give you a serious M&B vibe even though combat and sieges are much different. Definitely worth playing if you're in a mood for games about sailing, pirates or adventure games.

Side Meyer's Pirates! is so fun, especially all the mini-games like the sword fighting and stuff you do. And its really easy to get into too, very cool.

I've been playing Close Combat Battle of the Bulge (1999) which came up on GOG recently, it takes me back!

Now that Deadfire has an official release date, I have more than doubled my time logged in the original Pillars of Eternity. I'm continuing to really enjoy these isometric RPGs which I would have simply ignored not two years ago. I also played Sven-Coop for the first time in years and now I want to make a map for it. (TWHL competition time anyone?)

Also, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire releases on the day I go back to work after a week off... Like, what the Hell!? That's just mean! I think Obsidian Entertainment are keeping an eye on me since I found the trademarked name for their new secret RPG and now they're being awkward...

SkyNET

For some reason, I decided to play this old masterpiece by Bethesda just because I needed to find a purpose for my DOSBox installation.
And it's better than what I remembered from the demo.

I prefer playing it in 320x240, because it looks more like it should (and runs faster lol).

Loads of Assassin's Creed: Origins.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 (KOTOR2) - It was on sale and I'm continuing my Obsidian Entertainment binge. It's pretty good.

I hope you have the latest version of TSLRCM installed - there's no point to play this game without it. The mod restores most of the content that was cut from the final game.

Also you should try a mod that brings back M4-78, the droid planet, if you haven't. Looks pretty nice judging by the gameplay vids I've seen.

First time trying Sven, Urby?? It's great fun.

Does the SnC server still exist? Any consideration of running Sven on it?

First time trying Sven, Urby?? It's great fun.

Does the SnC server still exist? Any consideration of running Sven on it?

played Sven-Coop for the first time in years. I don't think I could call myself a Half-Life fan without having played Sven Coop before. I think I even played the original back in the late 90s.

I believe the SnC server is still going, somewhere, perhaps.

But if we get a Sven server... I'm gonna wanna map for it... and I've got stuff to do.

The what-now?

Stop making babies and finish your mod

^LMFAO

Into The Breach released today. Made by the same folks as FTL (but easier). A really neat, distilled turn-based strategy game. Mechanics are boiled-down and simplified in such a way that you'll always have a perfect handle on what the situation is, but challenging enough that you'll always have to put some thought into your next move. I like it! Definitely recommended.

(P.S. For the next week or so, FTL comes with it for free if you get it on GOG.)

I've been playing a bit of FTL recently and have been keeping an eye on Into The Breach. I'll wait for a sale, but I'll definitely pick it up at some point.

More Into The Breach! Still really loving it! It's so fantastically balanced. It's almost comparable to chess, with the 8x8 board you can study for a long time trying to find a move that minimizes the damage the enemies can do. The dead-basic mechanics boil down to dealing damage, and pushing units. Enemy actions are telegraphed, and if they are moved, the attack will move with them. The first squad you have is a simple combination of the two, that has each mech starting with an attack that can both damage and push. As you unlock other squads, they become a little more specialized, with squads that rely on setting fire to enemies, or excel in positioning enemies where they'll hit other enemies, and so on. The latter is the squad I'm currently playing through with, and since the mechs do little direct damage, each turn becomes a dance where I must find the right moves to make the enemies do the damage for me. It's so satisfying to make it all work.

I've also been playing some XCOM: Enemy Within. I don't know why I avoided these games for so long. I think I thought they were bound to be a shitty reboot of a title I'd greatly enjoyed in the past (which has happened a little too often, I'm sure you'll agree). Turns out they strip out all the unnecessary clutter of those old games and leaves a streamlined, enjoyable experience. I should do a TWHL squad run on ironman mode at some point...

Xcom and Xcom 2 are goddamn masterpieces. Permadeath gives everything such weight. I actually stopped playing Xcom 2 for weeks because I knew I'd fucked up and wouldn't be able to save one of my OG characters.

Will definitely pick up Into the Breach on your recommendation

ION MAIDEN...3D Realms published title made using the build engine from Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior and Blood! I AM FULLY ERECT!!

I should do a TWHL squad run on ironman mode at some point...

FULLY I said, Jessie! FULLY!

I actually have pictures of me playing Duke Nukem on my Pentium 2 computer when I was about 8 or 9. I'm curious to try this one too :D.

I AM FULLY ERECT!!

Erect yourself somewhere else man, there are kids in here!

Ion Maiden is the real bloody deal, it feels like some lost Build game just got unearthed. The increased engine limits make for some impressively large, complex maps and the sprite work is insanely good.

I can't wait for the full campaign.

Good guy 3D Realms

ION MAIDEN pre-ordered and the preview campaign is downloaded. Really psyched to get home and play it. Kids are going to bed at 6pm tonight, regardless of how tired or hungry they claim to be.

They can dream about food.

Update: Oh yeah... It's gooood.

I like Medal of Honor and Counter- Strike

After the steaming poo that was Fallout 4, I've found myself drawn back to Skyrim. I'm currently playing through it with two characters.

Urb'ii is my Khajiit thief. He cares not for the Empire or the Stormcloaks and simply doesn't have time for politics. He spends his days stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. OK, that's bullshit. He steals from literally everyone and murders any witnesses. He's just... the absolute worst cat.Then there's Katarina who is all about Skyrim. She is a Nord warrior who firmly believes that the Empire needs to go, assaulting any of their patrols single handed and without a second thought. On the other hand, she's very handy with a forge and tends to craft all of her armour and weapons herself. Given her rebellious nature, she conceals her face most of the time, except when she is out of her armour in the cities.

I tried picking Skyrim back up. It won't quit crashing.

So I went back to Call of Chernobyl instead.

Can honestly say I've never had a single crash in Skyrim Special Edition. It actually runs better than the original steam release for me.

Damnit Urby, I swore off Skyrim after the 10th playthrough.
...Installing OG Skyrim.

I also fired up Fallout 4 again. There's an ongoing debate with Archie about it being a better game than Skyrim. Personally, I disagree. Skyrim lets me play as a number of different characters with differing play styles. The passive thief, the deadly assassin, the honourable warrior, etc. Fallout 4 you play as the Soul Survivor and you shoot people with guns... That's pretty much it.

Playing through it on Survival difficulty, with some mods to get rid of the terrible sleep-to-save bollocks. It's challenging, but so far isn't really changing my mind.

I love Fallout, but Fallout 4 does not deliver. It's still a great game, but probably my least favourite release from Bethesda Game Studios.

As a fan of the Fallout series, I really disliked Fallout 4.

It simplified the game, took out the roleplaying, had a crap story, and the enemies all felt like bullet sponges.

Graphics were quite nice, though.

I do wonder what part of the creation process led them to think people would want less roleplaying in their Role Playing Game.

Yep just dumbing down. Not every homeboy could talk their way out of New Reno alive in F2.

Mind you, I never played F4 but it seemed like a real departure from 3 and NV, and those games were depature enough from 1 and 2

New Vegas is still my number one Fallout game. The originals are brilliantly written but damn are they clunky and awkward to play these days.

I'll still play Fallout 4, but I will continue to the prefer older games and Skyrim.

To be fair to Bethesda, the core gameplay loop vis a vis combat was excellent. It's just that they removed any non-combat options from the game. If the next Fallout game plays exactly like Fallout 4 but has the 4-option dialog limit removed and more attention given to writing and quest design so players can make some actual choices, I'll be happy. If it brings back skills and skill checks, I'll be ecstatic.

Of course there are other improvements that can be made, like making enemies overall weaker and just adding a couple more per encounter to compensate so they're not sponges, replace Survival Difficulty with a NV-style Hardcore Mode (plus the disease system 4 had), implement backpacks and other wearable pouches since those have been mods people have put in every Bethesda game as far back as I can remember...
Oh, and if they're gonna re-use the settlement system, doing a Sim-Settlements style "settlers can actually do stuff on their own" option would be appreciated, as well as making settlements actually have some depth and benefit besides "You have now completed Radiant Quest #623, now go do #624 wherein you walk halfway across the map to shoot 3 dudes in another settlement. Also you will be timed."

Fallout 4 really did have the issue of "go here and shoot the things" compared to the number of times combat could be avoided in New Vegas.

I really hope they revert their RPG changes and keep the combat improvements. At least Todd Howard admitted to BGS screwing the pooch with the dialogue system. Hopefully we won't see that particular issue again.

Also, they're going to need to do a lot more work on their RNG elements if I'm ever going to enjoy legendary enemies/loot and radiant quests.

oh my god fallout 4 was such a disappointing snoozefest. Since I saw the E3 footage I was giddy as hell with excitement, come release day... still haven't even got halfway through the main story yet. Suffered from Borderland's "but if the guns are totally customizable we only need like 3 right?". That, and the settlement system which I literally could not give a shit about apart from being forced to use it at certain parts of the game.. the game really seemed like "let's just take popular F3 mods and make them part of the game, without really thinking about it too much". I still think F3 and NV are superior in almost all ways.

I've downloaded a couple of mods for Fallout 4 over the weekend. One of them was called Start Me Up - Alternate Start which is an absolute God send. I can finally make my own character. Nate and Nora both died in Vault 111 after Shaun was taken, but I don't have to give a shit about any of that! Each character have their own main quest and I'm actually excited to get through them.

Walter is a former wasteland doctor who has recently abandoned his craft and turned his attention towards robotics. His goal is to build a robot army and find a way into working for The InstituteTomahawk is a former Pack member recently exiled from Nuka World. She is out for revenge, planning to terrorise the Commonwealth and becoming much stronger, before returning to Nuka World and taking over.

How comprehensive is SMU? Does it change stuff like the dialog when entering Diamond City, or interactions with follower characters, stuff like that, to totally scrub the main quest, or does it just defer the main quest until you go to Vault 111?
If it's the former I should give it a shot.
EDIT: Was looking at it on Nexus and found you by happenstance. Small World.

I've not gotten too far into it. Walter went straight to Vault 111 and the main quest has you find a hollowtape recording of Shaun's kidnapping. You're then tasked with reporting it.

I've only spoken to Codsworth regarding the main quest so far. The conversation largely plays out the same, though your character's responses are all different. Codsworth has you confused for his previous owner, which your character puts down to a malfunction from 200 years with no servicing and so on.

Tomahawk is going to avoid Sanctuary and Vault 111 completely. Will be interesting to see if they've covered all possibilities when she get's to Diamond City. I highly doubt it, but for now it's the best option and it's working a treat.

• - - - - - - - - -

Aaand HOLY CRAP, it gets a pass! I got to Diamond City with Tomahawk having completely missed Vault 111 and any mention of Shaun. When asked by a number of people what brought me to Diamond city, I could either keep it to myself, say I was just passing through or say that I was looking to do some trading. Well played, mod.

Speaking of Diamond City, it's a good way to get a new look if you're considering say... terrorising the Commonwealth.She's proving to be a real fun character to play as. I didn't realise stealth would be so amusing. I heard two raiders talking about a settler who did a Micheal Winslow routine to trick them into thinking he had grenades and a machine gun, before pretending to ride away on a motorcycle.

Shortly after, she thwarted a would be ambush by entering through a locked door and quietly dispatched the whole crew of raiders with just a combat knife. Really quite satisfying!

I recently got back into Rhythm Heaven Megamix (which is still a fantastic game, by the way), and it made me want to go back and check out the games that preceded it. So I've just played through Rhythm Tengoku (with an English translation since it wasn't released outside of Japan; the game is simple enough that I probably didn't need it, but it doesn't hurt) and am now on Rhythm Heaven, which is kind of a pain on an emulator due to its emphasis on the touchscreen of the DS. I'm considering just going and buying a real copy of all of these games since it just so happens I have exactly the right consoles and handhelds for me to be able to play them all...

I love the Rhythm Heaven games, don't forget about the Wii game which plays quite well on the Dolphin emulator. I also really enjoy the Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents series on the DS, but they are full song games akin to guitar hero rather than rhythm based minigames.

I feel like if this is going to take me anywhere, it's going to lead me to try some of the Warioware games. I understand they (most of them?) are developed by the same people as Rhythm Heaven, but I've seen very little of them.

It still wasn't the fastest solution.

Oh yeah, Opus Magnum is great, by the way.

I've been playing some classic Half-Life mods.

They good.