What game are you wasting time on?

[Darth Roxor]

I prefer NOLF 2 to 1, but maybe it's because I played the sequel first.

Both are gud gaemz tho, fuck the haters.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Actually, come to think of it, I am quite unsure, as to how exactly Deathkings of Dark Citadel on max difficulty is meant to be completed by a non-Mage (especially if one considers, that not just Ettins respawn in this mission pack, but all the other non-boss enemies as well - which would mean serious mana problems for the other two classes).

Except for the opening stages, I didn't have much trouble with the expansion as a max-difficulty Cleric. It is quite a challenge at the start, but the difficulty drops once you start making progress.

What I'm trying to remember now is how the flechettes acted under each class. The Cleric drops them so they form a gas cloud that serves as a deterrent/AOE weapon, and at least one class lets them bounce along the ground like a grenade before it goes boom...but what about the third?

 

[octavius]

What I'm trying to remember now is how the flechettes acted under each class. The Cleric drops them so they form a gas cloud that serves as a deterrent/AOE weapon, and at least one class lets them bounce along the ground like a grenade before it goes boom...

That's the Fighter. Haven't found much use for them for him.

but what about the third?

I don't recall the details for the Mage, except I didn't find the flechettes useful. But having unlimited ranged attacks kind of removes the incentive to experiment with items, so I may have missed something...

 

[Krivol]

Ok I've finished Stalker CoP.
one of the best FPS I've ever played (well since 3d accelerators happend). Great atmosphere, nice gun physics and awesome world to explore. Maybe it's a bit to short (well, not as short as modern MoH's and CoD's) but still great.

 

[Carrion]

Man, it is pretty strange, loved every single Monolith game but NOLF left me with a bad taste, is NOLF 2 so bad? It looks like it fixed most of the things that made me rage quit NOLF.

NOLF2 is not bad, just not nearly as solid. In some ways it's better, in many ways it's worse, in general it's pretty different.

For one, NOLF2 a considerably slower-paced game. Like I said, the stealth mechanics are more fleshed-out, and you spend considerably more time hiding bodies and searching through file cabinets, which is certainly fine for a spy game. It also has some basic RPG mechanics and character development, which don't add all that much to the game but are pretty nice nonetheless. The gunplay is improved in some ways, and the different weapons stand out more from each other and are a bit more realistic. You finally get a shotgun (with exploding shells, no less), the explosives are much more enjoyable to use, and the traps and non-lethal weapons are a welcome addition that give you a much wider range of options when sneaking. NOLF1 was never really a stealth game, NOLF2 on the other hand takes that aspect much further.

For me, the game has a couple of problems. The first one is the tone, which is all over the place. There are some lengthy missions with some rather serious spy action and bits of the series' trademark humour, and those are by far the best parts of the game. Suddenly the game might shift gears completely, though, and put you in the middle of some completely retarded (although possibly also hilarious) scenario that cannot be treated with even the slightest amount of seriousness. At times the game seems to forget about humour almost entirely, and in the next moment it goes full on into slapstick territory. As a result NOLF2 kind of loses that great 60's spy feel, simply because of a lot of the stuff in it feels out of place or just incompatible with the rest of the content, because NOLF1 was never a parody whereas the sequel quite often is. The characters are generally a lot more over the top (the main villains in NOLF1 were certainly villainous, but they didn't have giant machines that turn people into living cubes, and they only had classic shark tanks instead of giant lava pits), some being nothing more than simple caricatures, and the story simply sucks — for the first half of the game you travel all over the world exploring interchangeable locations that serve little purpose other than just telling you where to go next, and when all of that hard work finally pays off and you get to the heart of H.A.R.M.'s plans, they turn out to be completely retarded (although that particular mission is awesome). A lot of the writing is just as good as in the first game, but it's just used a lot more sparingly, and very little of it went into the actual storyline.

Another problem tied to the first one is the inconsistency. They really wanted to have fifteen missions like in the first game, but about half of those missions consists of just a single level, many of which are total filler that add nothing to the game or its plot. Early on there's a great mission in Siberia (actually I think it's like three or four separate missions, but no matter) where you first spend hours freely moving about the area sabotaging various things, then infiltrate a huge base after nightfall to find some secret documents, and finally make a daring escape where all of your preparations pay off. Another great level makes you assume a fake identity and join H.A.R.M. in an attempt to infiltrate one of their bases, setting up bugs and eavesdropping on conversations to find out more about their plans. That kind of stuff is just great and successfully improves on the formula set by NOLF1. On the other hand there's some total crap like running around the streets collecting wanted posters, or returning to those very same streets (which are visited maybe five or six times in the game) to protect civilians from H.A.R.M.'s attacks even though a superspy like Cate Archer would be more useful anywhere else. In short, there is some filler in its purest form.

I also think the sequel lacks some of the creativity of the first game. You've got a bunch of gadgets, but they usually just have a single use and are not nearly as clever as in the first game. The only exception is a particular utility launcher (which was still in the middle of development in NOLF1), which probably is the single most useful thing in the series, but is just not all that interesting as a gadget as it's basically just a gun that fires a number of different darts. Gone are also the elaborate briefings and debriefings of the first game, and instead you just get some very short cutscenes that tell you the bare minimum if even that before sending you on your way. At times NOLF2 just doesn't feel all that genuinely excited about the setting and the spy theme anymore, as seen by the more obvious parody elements and the errant tone.

It's definitely still a good game overall. The worst parts are pretty bad, but the best parts are quite simply excellent and for the most part make up for the shitty stuff. If you want to play a spy shooter, I'd recommend both NOLF games over anything else.

I've found NOLF1 3/5, but ragequit NOLF2 due to infinite respawn of enemies.

They only respawn if you set off the alarm. It's actually intended as a mechanic you can make use of, like setting up traps and then sounding the alarm to lure a couple of guards to their doom if you're low on ammo, for instance.

 

[SirSingAlot]

stupid Path of Exile is fcking formatting my brain, but I CANT STOP.

well, thx to MediantSamuel i will do a healthy break enjoying Kingdom Rush Frontiers

 

[Darth Roxor]

GREEDY KAPITALIST SPY STOLE MY WEAPON

damn now i feel like playing the nolfs (nolves?) again

 

[Sodafish]

Ok I've finished Stalker CoP.
one of the best FPS I've ever played (well since 3d accelerators happend). Great atmosphere, nice gun physics and awesome world to explore. Maybe it's a bit to short (well, not as short as modern MoH's and CoD's) but still great.

Play SoC if you haven't already.

 

[TC Jr]

Tried Divinity Original Sin: EE but just can't seem to get into it, combat and all that is good and I actually want to try different builds but actually playing the game, running around, it just feels like a chore. The setting seems quite generic and the writing is abysmal, tries to be quirky, a lot of the dialogue is meaningless, nothing the PC can do really just ask for more info about shit in the world you don't care about.

The tone is too "fun" and there's supposed to be a threat but you're talking to characters who try to squeeze a pun into every conversation. I got past the first area and have no desire to continue as I'm just not invested in the plot and the combat itself while fine just feels like a pain in the arse with not much else interesting going on.

 

[Krivol]

Ok I've finished Stalker CoP.
one of the best FPS I've ever played (well since 3d accelerators happend). Great atmosphere, nice gun physics and awesome world to explore. Maybe it's a bit to short (well, not as short as modern MoH's and CoD's) but still great.

Play SoC if you haven't already.

I will. I only have Clear Sky but tried it some time ago and it didn't clicked. Maybe now will be better?

 

[Soulcucker]

I will. I only have Clear Sky but tried it some time ago and it didn't clicked. Maybe now will be better?

As much as people shit on Clear Sky it does get much better once you get out of the swamps and past the military base.

Spoiler

Take the north entrance to Cordon

Also don't bother too much with the generated faction missions as they wont stop. I never did try any of the mods for Clear Sky, but given how active the community is there probably are mods that do a good job of patching up the game.

 

[titus]

Balrum, the only worthwhile RPG at this time.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Balrum, the only worthwhile RPG at this time.

I heard it was shit. Please do elaborate, sir.

 

[titus]

Balrum, the only worthwhile RPG at this time.

I heard it was shit. Please do elaborate, sir.

Bad: Abilities cooldown, simple combat, magic is pretty weak.
Good: Exploration, crafting, art, some quests are pretty interesting, c&c, doesn't hold your hand.
Meh: Story and the survival stuff(food, water and tiredness).

Watch some youtube Let's play to get an idea.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I revisited an old classic today, was only gonna check if I could get it up and running on modern systems - then suddenly 6 hours had zoomed by while I had sunk headlong into Civilization 2 (Multiplayer Gold Edition).

It's been about 18 years since I last played it, and I was amazed to find I hadn't lost my touch. Picked my usual possé (The Vikings) and proceeded to rape, plunder and conquer everything in my path. Expansion was slow at first as I was finding way too many Advanced Tribes so my cities were strewn about, but once I found other civilizations things picked up. The Sioux took care of the English, but I've taken care of the Romans and the Japanese, and am about to deal the final blow to the Russians. The Sioux are testing my borders, while the Spanish have built a decently sized empire on a cluster of islands and are mostly keeping to themsleves. The Chinese still elude me, but once I regroup my forces and find where they're coming from they're done for.

I am noticing three differences between this edition and the "standard" edition I used to play. First I get casualty reports if I lose units, a nice touch. Second, the CD tracks that play are taken from the Fantastic Scenarios add-on disc (meaning some very inappropriate post-apocalyptic music getting played for no reason) and lastly the MGE has a critical bug in the AI - it's aggresive as fuck, a truce is them catching a breath of air, while a peace treaty is just them regrouping for another assault. (Haven't had a chance to test alliances yet.)

But with this being 20-year old code running on obsolete software, there are some problems. You need the Indeo codecs to play all the videos, and on my system they all ran a little choppy and with audio distortion. Worse than that, the audio tracks on the CD also start getting choppy after a bit, but both of these may be fixed with some tinkering with the Compatibility Mode in Windows.

But it was worth it. Listening to the advisors on the High Council bickering is one of the game's hidden joys. Makes it all worthwhile.

 

[octavius]

I'd be playing lots more of Civ 2 myself, but as with most TBS games, the poor AI ruins the fun in the long run...
Had to use VirtualBox and Windows 98 to run it myself.

 

[Grim Monk]

Finished "Eradicator" on hardest difficulty:
Played as Eleena (Cat-girl Mercenary).

Positives
"Build Engine" like feel.
Secrets & Secret Levels (1 per episode)
15 weapons (including different types of "Drones" you can control).
Power-ups


Negatives
Its limited to VGA only graphics.
This results in levels/enemies that visually compare really unfavorably with the the Build Engine games.
You can tell what stuff is, but it all slightly blurry/unclear in irritating way.

Levels are are all themed as space base/factory/lab environments which can get a bit monotone.

"3 distinct characters let you triple the hours of gameplay" is a exaggeration.
The only difference is some weapons being reskinned plus each has a unique intro level.
After the intro the rest of levels are the same.
(Also they have slightly different speed/damage/health stats, but I could hardly feel the difference.)


Conclusion
Its a fairly decent "Build Style" FPS marred by couple of flaws.




I also came across an article by the Dev about the making of the game.
Link:
http://talonbrave.info/?cat=10
Backup:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160328094527/http://talonbrave.info/?cat=10

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Age of Decadence doing 1st playthrough.

Spoiler

Big Ordu fight was a bit tricky with hybrid mercenary. Required some patience and few hundred re-loads (also nets, lots of nets), but now I've done it.
Feels good men.

 

[octavius]

Completed Hexen as Fighter. Not as fun as Mage or Cleric, but I appreciated the level design more on my third playthrough.
Fourth weapon eats mana like crazy so I hardly used it, second weapon was melee only so didn't use much, so most of the fighting was done with the third weapon which disposed of flying/ranged enemies at a reasonable cost.
The only thing that was easier with the Fighter was disposing of the water/swamp monsters; just wave the second weapon like a madman.

Will play Deathkings as Mage or Cleric when that game is next on my play list.

 

[Jaesun]

Naked Ninja's cyberpunk card game System Crash. I like it <3

Though I keep loosing some missions, and doing a mission takes off 1 day of your goal. Fuck.

 

[Ivan]

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Wow, what an adventure, what a world! I loved exploring the landscape, unearthing every little story I could from all of the NPCs, learning about the history of the land, the movers. One of my favorite moments in the entire game was a result of pure worldbuilding (meeting Maximillian). Combat is shit, traversing large maps is shit, but the questing, the writing, the sense of place, Arcanum was masterful and I really hope Obsidian is letting Cain/Boyarsky go crazy on another CRPG. I went with a good guy with high CH to see every dialogue option I could.

 

[Krivol]

I have to rest from Stalker (but Clear Sky is installed and waiting) so I started some capaign in Luis Guzmans's Open General.

This game is great, even if not very complicated and realistic (like 90% damaged ship has full speed, artillery fire destroing whole regiment in few hours etc).

I am using this version (polish site, but just press download and download two first files from the list).

http://opengeneral.pl/opengen.html

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I have been playing System Shock Enhanced on and off, and now recently have been playing the Metroid Prime trilogy again. (still an awesome series, such a shame that the next Metroid game will be a portable console spin off)

Really curious how No Man's Sky will turn out to be but I am afraid it will be one of those open ended games that really becomes a chore after a while like a few others I have been playing.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Really curious how No Man's Sky will turn out to be but I am afraid it will be one of those open ended games that really becomes a chore after a while like a few others I have been playing.

Dare to check the official Codex thread?

(Warning! Shilling ahead.)

 

[DwarvenFood]

Really curious how No Man's Sky will turn out to be but I am afraid it will be one of those open ended games that really becomes a chore after a while like a few others I have been playing.

Dare to check the official Codex thread?

(Warning! Shilling ahead.)

For shame, Makabb , you have joined the ranks of gaudaost and Celerity.