What game are you wasting time on?

[Temenos]

Square-Enix still own all the code and assets to Thief?

Technically speaking it's Eidos who owns it, but SE owns Eidos. Whoever the original programmers at LGS were may have their own copies of the code, but I'm pretty sure they can't legally release it. That's one reason why I suggest people don't buy classic game rereleases on digital platforms, as the money won't end up in the pockets of the creators.

I'm always very impressed with anyone who can make those massive overhaul patches that not only fix bugs, but also add technical improvements to make old games work better on modern systems or even give them entirely new features (e.g. Fallout 2's sfall/Killap's patch, Vampire Bloodlines unofficial patch, TFix for Thief). Being able to do all the stuff they can when they don't have access to the game's source code is amazing to me.

 

[sser]

I really dig The Messenger, but I think it loses steam at about the halfway point. The gimmick doesn't work that well and I feel the 8-bit early levels are vastly superior to what comes later.

Still, I can understand the need for padding for today's audience. I'd just much rather have a sharp focused 4 hour game than a not as tight 10 hour one.

I think I'm in that spot?

Spoiler

I got the hat and the character changed a bit. Was this supposed to be a reference to 16-bit ? If so I completely missed it. I'm currently fighting a snake-dragon boss.

Spoiler

Yep, the 'gotcha' moment in the game is supposed to be the 8-bit/16-bit switch, here framed as time travel. The game also shifts from being a linear platformer to sort of Metroid-like. Later levels also mix up 8-bit and 16-bit sections.

Damn I'm an idiot. All I noticed was I had a hat and my sword-swish noise was sharper

 

[McPlusle]

Desperately trying to love Jagged Alliance 2. The core combat is excellent but this early game is really becoming a slog with its insistence on sticking me with godawful pistols (and an MP5K) against enemies with significantly longer-range weapons (that they don't always drop)

 

[Sigourn]

Resident Evil (1996, PS1). The original U.S. release. It's really enjoyable so far. The voice acting sucks as everyone already knows, but thankfully it is the only bad thing about the game. The tank controls are annoying but I "understand" they are a necessity to keep the gameplay challenging. Even if that means having Jill run like a retard into the corner of a staircase and have a zombie bite her...

 

[sser]

Desperately trying to love Jagged Alliance 2. The core combat is excellent but this early game is really becoming a slog with its insistence on sticking me with godawful pistols (and an MP5K) against enemies with significantly longer-range weapons (that they don't always drop)

Give it time. Have you taken Drassen yet?

 

[Strange Fellow]

Desperately trying to love Jagged Alliance 2. The core combat is excellent but this early game is really becoming a slog with its insistence on sticking me with godawful pistols (and an MP5K) against enemies with significantly longer-range weapons (that they don't always drop)

If you haven't taken Drassen yet, you're barely even in the early game. If you have taken Drassen you should be able to afford a couple more SMGs/rifles at the very least. If range is bothering you so much, attack at night.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Desperately trying to love Jagged Alliance 2. The core combat is excellent but this early game is really becoming a slog with its insistence on sticking me with godawful pistols (and an MP5K) against enemies with significantly longer-range weapons (that they don't always drop)

Give it time. Have you taken Drassen yet?

This is why you go melee. No need to micromanage guns.

 

[RK47]

Just fight at night and abuse break lights.

 

[Dux]

Tried the first nu-Hitman game. I've held off on it for quite some time now, due to the always online DRM bullshit; I was under the impression that this had been scaled back considerably with a patch but I was quite mistaken. The first thing I see upon starting the game is a fucking terms of service thing which basically asked if I was comfortable with the company collecting data and whatnot. I'm not comfortable with that so I declined. A warning came up that I was now limited to offline play - which is fine by me - but eventually I realised that a lot of the game's content had now been blocked off. In a single-player game. That's when I began this inner debate on how to deal with this shit. Should I just accept the terms and go online, in order to access the content I thought I paid for?

The reason I mainly play older games is because I tend to treat certain things in black and white. Either I hold to some kind of standard or I don't. When I realised what Hitman was actually about - its core design - and how presumably 80% of every AAA game nowadays is exactly the same, I just didn't want to be a part of it. Enough is enough. I can accept clients such as Steam and GOG Galaxy, simply because they're the platform on which I play games. That's where the line is drawn. It's an online digital library of games. That's the whole point. However, when single-player games start to dictate to me how things are going to be, how much I'm entitled to depending on whether or not I acquiesce with their DRM bullshit, I'll just drop the whole thing and walk away. Based on the training missions I actually completed offline this could've been a memorable gaming experience, but I wash my hands of this shit. If this is modern gaming in a nutshell then fuck it. I took a chance with Hitman because of my love of the older games but I've learnt my lesson. If there is any kind of always-online restriction in a single-player game, I'll just opt out. No matter what game it is.

Who knows? Maybe in five years or so Hitman will appear on GOG (if they haven't sold their souls by then) and I'll be able to experience the full game on my own terms.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Dude, IO sold their souls a long time ago. They sold the shit out of them, so much so that even the Devil didn't want them anymore.

On topic, nuHitman is a great game, but it's totally understandable if you don't want to put up with the always online bullshit. As always, vote with your dollar.

 

[unfairlight]

game is a fucking terms of service thing which basically asked if I was comfortable with the company collecting data and whatnot.

Yes, that is because the game collects player telemetry, Hokkaido in Hitman 2016 was based off of player telemetry in particular. They're forced to show that message because of GDPR.
It's fair to say that you don't like the online stuff (neither do I) but I do think you are missing out on what is the best Hitman game if you skip it completely because of it.

 

[Jacob]

Desperately trying to love Jagged Alliance 2. The core combat is excellent but this early game is really becoming a slog with its insistence on sticking me with godawful pistols (and an MP5K) against enemies with significantly longer-range weapons (that they don't always drop)

Grab the guns early by hiring the high tier guys for a day. Take over Drassen during that day to secure an income.

 

[theSavant]

I played Alien Shooter 2 Reloaded (GOG) again and while I like the game, I've read they cut content and dumbed things down from the original version.

- The original game allegedly had multiplayer and coop mode. They obviously removed it, because it's not there. I can't imagine a reasonable reason why anyone would do that.
- I can never find the weapon "Prototype ET5" (the red pistol). This is the best handgun in the game and a must-have if you want to concentrate on handguns only. I thought I checked every secret... maybe I missed a place, but this thing I can never find.
- Half of the character skills are useless. There is no point in spending skillpoints to "Health", "Intelligence", "Speed". Absolutely no point. The only skills needed are "Accuracy", Strength", and maybe your chosen "Special Ability".

It's like they made a patchwork of various games (Alienshooter Reloaded, Conscription, Vengeance) for GOG and Steam, and thereby accidentally or deliberately cut off features and dumbed it down. I'm not too happy about that. The game is still enjoyable, but this is not nice. Really not.

 

[Max Damage]

Replaying Temple of Elementail Evil with Co8 Temple+, my all-caster party (cleric, druid, wizard x3) is doing great so far. Having Scribe Scroll feat on every caster is pretty sweet, I didn't rest once in Moathouse, killed Lareth at lvl 2 (which bumped me to lvl 3). After surviving the ambush, I cleared Emridy Meadows and Imerid Ruin without any troubles, reached lvl 5 in temple of earth recently. Spells I use the most are Charm Person/Animal, Summon Creature, Enlarge Person, Grease, Glitterdust, Hideous Laughter and Sleep. Charmed bugbears are especially good with Enlarge Person since it helps them land those improved trip attacks better. On a side notice, I learned that large earth elementals have mediocre strength, standart-sized bugbear tripped one without any help. Also, landing Charm Person on barbarians feels so good:

 

[Dux]

These last six months or so I've experienced a kind of malaise as far as my gaming is concerned. It might go back even further. There have been a lot of old games, which I've enjoyed playing but truthfully it's not been a smooth ride all the time. With life in general distracting me, the reality of just sitting down and being totally immersed like in the old days has pretty much all but vanished. Nowadays I tend to sit down with a game for an hour or so before I need to disengage for whatever reason. Restlessness. I had even come to believe that this is how things would be from now on.

Then I decided to play System Shock 2 again. Downloaded the patches, injected some nice Reshade, turned up the sound. Yesterday I played for three hours straight and today I've probably played four hours. The only reason I stopped now is because I have work tomorrow.

"I was cured, all right!"

Looking Glass.

 

[anvi]

There are some good games nowadays.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

There are some good games nowadays.

 

[anvi]

As much as I loved System Shock in the olden days, I would rather play Arma3 now. The new ish Hitman is fun and there is a new one. I spent a lot of time on Factorio/Fortresscraft/Rimworld/The Forest. Atlas Reactor is fun. DoS2 on my second play through. Age of Wonders 3 is uber. And when some more patches happen I've got Pathfinder and Bards Tale. Subnautica looks good too but I'm waiting for expansion. Could be worse. Gaming in 2007 or so was /wrist.

Also got a lot on my wishlist I need to look up: Slay the Spire, Space Hulk Tactics, From The Depths, Human Resource Machine, Rise to Ruins, etc. X4 if it gets patched/modded enough.

 

[Swigen]

Bought Ace Combat 7 but I haven’t played it yet ‘cause I’m stuck up Mary Skelter’s ass at the moment.

 

[McPlusle]

Update on JA2: now that my team is outfitted with guns that don't blow I'm seeing more and more why this game is still regarded by many as the turn-based tactics gold standard. The good guns feel really satisfying, especially when used by a skilled shooter. And being able to lure enemies into Lynx's sights in the dead of night is some of the most fun I've had in any game with turn-based combat. It's excellent. (Except for that bitch with the mortar)

The squad tactics genre doesn't get any better than this, does it?

 

[blessedCoffee]

Re-playing Persona 5, for the third time, on PS4 (4th playthrough).

Strangely, I never felt an interest in dating the thief who most people seem to like, Sae's sister. And I found her "social link" to be uninteresting, too much focus on the life of her school friend.
So far, I've dated Tae Takemi, Chihaya Mifuni, Haru Okumura, and lastly Futaba Sakura. Tae & Futaba were easily the best, their "social links" were always fun to do, even after multiple playthroughs, and both characters had a nice development (not that I think it's a requirement, that's not the case, but it's always interesting to see a character changing, when it's done properly).

I wish I had an option of skipping some animations, during battles.
I don't want to always have to watch the characters jumping, and hitting their enemies, whenever I do an "All-out Attack", for example.
Another thing I don't want to watch, is my characters getting hit by a big paper fan (funny, in the first 6 times), to have different ailments cured.

If Persona 5 R is going to be the "ultimate" version of the game, I hope they add a few quality of life features.
They already have some great things, like the pause button allowing you to skip dialogues, so I don't think it's an unrealistic wish.

 

[No Great Name]

Finished Wizardry I a few days ago for those who don't follow the Wizardry thread. I had a blast playing it even if the RNG was almost never in my favor (I permanently lost 6 level 11 mages).

A friend of mine suggested that I should play Goldeneye 007 next so now for something completely different.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Playing Farcry 4 and enjoying it, although (and I realise this is kind of a weird thing to say) it's almost like there are too many side activities. If you're trying to get something specific done, you'll constantly run into random events on the way there.

Apart from that, shitloads of sudoku on my phone and Euro Truck Sim 2 when I'm watching things on the second monitor

 

[sser]

Update on JA2: now that my team is outfitted with guns that don't blow I'm seeing more and more why this game is still regarded by many as the turn-based tactics gold standard. The good guns feel really satisfying, especially when used by a skilled shooter. And being able to lure enemies into Lynx's sights in the dead of night is some of the most fun I've had in any game with turn-based combat. It's excellent. (Except for that bitch with the mortar)

The squad tactics genre doesn't get any better than this, does it?

Pretty much peaked there. The Silent Storm engine is the best, but wasn't used to its fullest so the potential was never met.

Now we get square tiles and 2ap. Tiles and 2ap. Tiles and 2ap. Tiles and 2ap as far as the eye can see. Tiles and 2ap.

 

[octavius]

Completed the final HoMM 3: Armageddon's Blade campaign: Foolhardy Waywardness.

A rather tedious campaign, that tried and fails miserably at humour.
The final map had an interesting premise: stay alive for four months while being attacked from all sides. (Un)fortunately I had learnt the Fly spell, so it was easy to just pick of the 800,000 gold in front of a Quest Gate, fly behind it and capture the poorly defended but well built up (even a Grail) Castle, and just sit it out.

Overall a good expansion pack, with some nice imporvements to the formula, like the Quest Guards and the campaign editor. I hope some good campaigns were made.