What game are you wasting time on?

[Beans00]

there appears to be level scaling.

it's more widespread than you'd think even in older games, oblivion was just the first to make it painfully obvious to the point where it breaks immersion

There was also horrible scaling in Wizardry 8, years before Oblivion. I didn't think it was implemented in DOS era games, though.

Not to beat a dead horse since octavius apparently has me beat with M&M1(never played it). Daggerfall (1996) had fairly blatant level scaling. I don't remember if morrowind did, dont think I played it long enough to find out.


BG2(2000) also had level scaling but not in a way that was so annoying to me, IIRC only specific encounters would change depending on your level. I remember the biggest example was a vampire(I think?) turning into a lich in spellhold if you were above level 10 or 11? I could be completely wrong on the values but I specifically remember there was a level scaled lich encounter in spellhold dungeons.

 

[Arbiter]

I don't remember if morrowind did, dont think I played it long enough to find out.

It had scaling, but somehow it did not feel as bad as Oblivion level scaling.

 

[Average Manatee]

Yeah, level scaling has been in a lot of games. But they tend to make it more fun. Like M&M1 where past a certain level (like 4 or 6?) you suddenly run into hundreds of weak enemies at a time designed for you to fireball them away. BG, Morrowind, and a bunch of others took the approach of actually upgrading the types of enemies you'd find, so the RNG spawner would be more weighted towards liches and vampires and away from common skeletons and zombies if the game wanted to spawn an undead enemy.

Oblivion's sin was that they just took the same enemy and gave it endlessly more HP and damage. Which depending on how well you abused the mindfuck leveling system could mean that common things like bears outscaled the player and became immortal gods of destruction. Same went for Bandits in full glass armor.

 

[Arbiter]

Daggerfall (1996) had fairly blatant level scaling

I tried playing Daggerfall in early 2000s (certainly before Morrowing release) and gave up quickly due to corrupted saves. If the situation any better now? Is Unity version playable?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Daggerfall (1996) had fairly blatant level scaling

I tried playing Daggerfall in early 2000s (certainly before Morrowing release) and gave up quickly due to corrupted saves. If the situation any better now? Is Unity version playable?

Unity version has been stable for a long time now, the reason it's not a 1.0 release yet is because they're just working on polishing it.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I've been playing Phantasmagoria since yesterday. I don't get why this game was so ~*controversial*~ when so far it's just a fanfic of The Shining (just started chapter 4).

Anyway, there are a few things about this game that annoy me, which I like to call the Scratches syndrome. In Scratches, there was a step where you needed to pick up one particular newspaper in a house with newspaper stacks all over the fucking place to then use it for something. Here in fact there is also a newspaper situation. You come across a locked door, the key is in the lock but on the other side. You have a key that doesn't fit but goes into the lock and a newspaper.

You activate your neurons and think hmm maybe if I put the newspaper under das door and then the key in... but nop. You can't put the newspaper under the door and the key doesn't push the other out. Well ok. Later on you get a bent nail (the only bent nail in the entire trashed house) by prying it out with a hammer (the only such tool in the entire house) - das rite, you are supposed to insert the nail inside the lock. But you can't put the newspaper under the door first. In fact, you can do that only after pushing the key out, and the protag just unfolds the paper and goes 'gee i wish i thought of that before :^)'



Oh and to get the hammer you have to go down a dark cellar. You have two matches in your inventory. You can't use them on the trap door or the passage or on whatever and the protag won't use them herself. You also can't pick up any of the hundreds of yuge candles all over the house. So what is the solution?

... you have to use the matches on the protag's head when standing in front of the trap door



apart from that i am enjoying it and adrienne is my waifu

though frankly i wish those fucking FMV games wasted the player's time less because having to watch all those long-ass motion sequences for every fucking thing can sometimes get tiring, especially if fast-forwarding can in some situations completely cancel an action rather than fast-forward it if it's a 2-step one (like opening a book and looking inside for details on the pages)

 

[Arbiter]

I don't get why this game was so ~*controversial*~

 

[Darth Roxor]

really, that's it?

i'd seen that just a moment ago and thought it was silly if anything

 

[Arbiter]

I prefer this Halloween mood simulator:

 

[Caim]

I prefer this Halloween mood simulator:

 

[Alex]

Puzzle description inside

I've been playing Phantasmagoria since yesterday. I don't get why this game was so ~*controversial*~ when so far it's just a fanfic of The Shining (just started chapter 4).

Anyway, there are a few things about this game that annoy me, which I like to call the Scratches syndrome. In Scratches, there was a step where you needed to pick up one particular newspaper in a house with newspaper stacks all over the fucking place to then use it for something. Here in fact there is also a newspaper situation. You come across a locked door, the key is in the lock but on the other side. You have a key that doesn't fit but goes into the lock and a newspaper.

You activate your neurons and think hmm maybe if I put the newspaper under das door and then the key in... but nop. You can't put the newspaper under the door and the key doesn't push the other out. Well ok. Later on you get a bent nail (the only bent nail in the entire trashed house) by prying it out with a hammer (the only such tool in the entire house) - das rite, you are supposed to insert the nail inside the lock. But you can't put the newspaper under the door first. In fact, you can do that only after pushing the key out, and the protag just unfolds the paper and goes 'gee i wish i thought of that before :^)'



Oh and to get the hammer you have to go down a dark cellar. You have two matches in your inventory. You can't use them on the trap door or the passage or on whatever and the protag won't use them herself. You also can't pick up any of the hundreds of yuge candles all over the house. So what is the solution?

... you have to use the matches on the protag's head when standing in front of the trap door



apart from that i am enjoying it and adrienne is my waifu

though frankly i wish those fucking FMV games wasted the player's time less because having to watch all those long-ass motion sequences for every fucking thing can sometimes get tiring, especially if fast-forwarding can in some situations completely cancel an action rather than fast-forward it if it's a 2-step one (like opening a book and looking inside for details on the pages)

TSDR (Too spoiley, didn't read).

 

[GhostCow]

I've been playing Phantasmagoria since yesterday. I don't get why this game was so ~*controversial*~ when so far it's just a fanfic of The Shining (just started chapter 4).

This scene at 7:54 fucked me up really bad as a middle schooler. I'd guess it was because of shit like this

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Daggerfall (1996) had fairly blatant level scaling

I tried playing Daggerfall in early 2000s (certainly before Morrowing release) and gave up quickly due to corrupted saves. If the situation any better now? Is Unity version playable?

Daggerfall was perfectly playable at that time; you just needed to install the patches, including the fan-made patch, and avoid a certain bug that triggered a permanent graphical glitch. Also, keep backup saves just in case.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

avoid a certain bug that triggered a permanent graphical glitch

perfectly playable

These aren't quite compatible. Playable, sure.

 

[adddeed]

Just started Arx Fatalis for the first time. Pretty atmospheric and sounds good with EAX on.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

though frankly i wish those fucking FMV games wasted the player's time less because having to watch all those long-ass motion sequences for every fucking thing can sometimes get tiring, especially if fast-forwarding can in some situations completely cancel an action rather than fast-forward it if it's a 2-step one (like opening a book and looking inside for details on the pages)

Not saying its necessarily good, but there's a definite sense with those that they packed it to the brim with that stuff because they thought it was cool. "Hey, look at how much animation we can have!" I believe a selling point with that game in particular was how long they spent filming everything.

really, that's it?

i'd seen that just a moment ago and thought it was silly if anything

Remember, while rape is controversial now, back then it just wasn't mentioned in the English-speaking world in games. This was also in living memory of when the DOS port of J.B. Harold - Murder Club came out, and Dragon magazine, in their infinite wisdom, shit their pants over how one character had an unsolved rape in her backstory and was a bit salty about it. It wouldn't matter if they played kazoo music and balloons popped out, the very depiction of the act itself was that shocking.

 

[Darth Roxor]

All this time I thought Phantasmagoria was strangely casual, and I was waiting with great trepidation for patented Sierra adventure game bullshit to finally rear its ugly head and whack me in the skull with an ice pick. It did.

If you forget to do a certain thing in the second last chapter (and you don't end that chapter voluntarily), you set yourself up for a much harder final chapter. Even better, reaching the final chapter's endgame sequence WIPES your save game (and there is ONLY ONE SAVE SLOT) so you can't prepare yourself better for it.

After this you are left having to constantly redo a long-ass FMV sequence with multiple choices (most of which lead to bad ends in this situation) until you get it right, while the rewind function for the redo is bugged to hell and back, and randomly takes away items from you or puts you in places you haven't even been to.

What the fuck.

Good that I could watch the ending on youtube. Because it was also disappointing enough that if I had to actually go through those FMV hoops to reach it, I'd probably get angry.

 

[SerratedBiz]

avoid a certain bug that triggered a permanent graphical glitch

perfectly playable

These aren't quite compatible. Playable, sure.

It's perfectly fine to use perfectly in that way, as it does not necessarily mean perfect.

Look it up on a dictionary if you want.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

This scene at 7:54 fucked me up really bad as a middle schooler. I'd guess it was because of shit like this

Good grief. Something about classic gore that special effects have never been able to replicate.

Actually, it was controversial because of the "rape" scene at the start of chapter 4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_uLlij9dzc

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Look it up on a dictionary if you want.

k

in a manner or way that could not be better.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Look it up on a dictionary if you want.

k

in a manner or way that could not be better.

Or:

used for emphasis, especially in order to assert something that has been challenged or doubted

Did you read past the first line or was the dictionary too novel a tool for you?

 

[PulsatingBrain]

It's a poor use of the word. "playable" by itself is far more fitting.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

Tried to grab the cat to myself, whole station got mad

 

[Grauken]

Wizardry 7. Took a lot of time to roll a party consisting mostly of prestige classes.

First disappointment - there appears to be level scaling.

There's no level scaling in Wiz 7

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Wizardry 7. Took a lot of time to roll a party consisting mostly of prestige classes.

First disappointment - there appears to be level scaling.

There's no level scaling in Wiz 7

you are fake news