Shagittarius wrote on 2022-02-01, 16:34:

The blur anti-aliasing causes bothers me way more than the jaggies. Back in the day though the blur wasn't as obvious because we all had CRTs. Now though, no matter how high or what form of anti-aliasing you use, it looks like someone has smeared vasaline on your LCD.

Yeah, it's always a trade off.

I tried 16xAA first, but that made the game way too blurry. Dropping down to 8xAA seems to be the sweet spot for Freelancer. It's enough to get rid of the jaggies while keeping the game looking reasonably sharp.

Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl

Finally finished this game. I started on 1/1/22 and finished on 2/1/22. 😀 Took a total of 34 hours. I have to admit, starting at The Secret Lab, I used WeMod to turn on unlimited health because it just got TOO HARD. And I'm glad I did because as I got through that level and proceeded through the 15 teleporting devices, it got even harder. Without cheating, I'm certain I would've abandoned this fine game. It's a little on the long side for a FPS, and not my preference, but in the end it was worth the experience. I wonder how Call of Pripyat compares? Is it equally difficult? As long as SoC?

Now I need to decide on a next game. As mentioned earlier, I'm leaning towards EOB2 or Avernum: Escape from the Pit. Terminator: Resistance will be my next FPS, after whichever RPG I decide on is done.

clueless1 wrote on 2022-02-02, 02:17:

Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl

Finally finished this game. I started on 1/1/22 and finished on 2/1/22. 😀 Took a total of 34 hours. [...] It's a little on the long side for a FPS, and not my preference, but in the end it was worth the experience. I wonder how Call of Pripyat compares? Is it equally difficult? As long as SoC?

Now I need to decide on a next game. As mentioned earlier, I'm leaning towards EOB2 or Avernum: Escape from the Pit. Terminator: Resistance will be my next FPS, after whichever RPG I decide on is done.

You probably took your time. For me an average playthrough is around 23hrs. Call of Pripyat is longer, around 30-35hrs for me and a lot less janky, but it's still unmistakeably an Eastern-European game. Also, combat is more challenging, but not unfair, just don't run around like a headless chicken. For me Shadow of Charnobyl was easy.

I remember finding Call of Pripyat far more enjoyable to play solely because bandits weren't automatically hostile to you and you could stay neutral with them, so instead of waging constant war against them you could take in and enjoy the atmosphere of the Zone far better.

Though I did play both at launch, which was no problem with CoP but SoC in the other hand... I still remember one instance where bandit patrols kept spawning in endlessly, just as I had killed the previous patrol a new one spawned in right next to me over and over.

I tried playing the original STALKER twice and stopped at around the 2 hours mark both times, the game was not immersive enough to withstand the masochism it required for me, personally.. I h ad the same issue with The Witcher 1 as well - absolutely ass gameplay for a very unimmersive experience. It seems to be something common with eastern european developers..

That reminds me - I never bothered picking up and playing The Witcher III because I didn't get into the first two. But recently I heard the third part is not in any way connected to the first two.. Actually it is the only one that really takes place in the novel universe so it is mostly enjoyable as a game of its own? Any comments on this?

appiah4 wrote on 2022-02-02, 08:29:

That reminds me - I never bothered picking up and playing The Witcher III because I didn't get into the first two. But recently I heard the third part is not in any way connected to the first two.. Actually it is the only one that really takes place in the novel universe so it is mostly enjoyable as a game of its own? Any comments on this?

Yeah no real need to play the first two, though they do introduce some characters to you if you haven't read the books and couple new ones you'll meet in the third game. But the thing is that the characters, dialogue and the quests with them are what the game excels at, and they might leave you a bit cold if you don't know them from before. Though many have played only the third game without reading the books or playing the earlier games and clearly have liked the game, but I genuinely do think you'll get more out of the game especially if you have read the books.

Otherwise the game has some issues that you might not be too fond of or find outright infuriating. It's an open world game with billions of points of intrests that are pointless waste of time, the combat system has the most annoying autotarget I've ever seen (why in the *"^#! hell does it at times decide to swap to an enemy that isn't even close enough to hit instead of the nearly dead one right in front of you), who ever coded the AI for your horse should probably find another line of work because sheesh, the inventory sucks butt (enjoy finding the potion/oil you want from there) and so on.

I really like the game overall, when I played it the first time it honestly at times felt like the best game ever (being familiar with the books and the earlier games) but jesus does it frustrate me at times. Yet here I am currently playing for the third time, it's a love and hate relationship.

Sounds like a lot of the clunky interface shit from the first two have carried of to the third.. I hope at least the combat is a lot less infuriating? The combat in the first game was the worst swordplay implementation that I ever played to be honest..

appiah4 wrote on 2022-02-02, 08:29:

I tried playing the original STALKER twice and stopped at around the 2 hours mark both times, the game was not immersive enough to withstand the masochism it required for me, personally.. I h ad the same issue with The Witcher 1 as well - absolutely ass gameplay for a very unimmersive experience. It seems to be something common with eastern european developers..

That reminds me - I never bothered picking up and playing The Witcher III because I didn't get into the first two. But recently I heard the third part is not in any way connected to the first two.. Actually it is the only one that really takes place in the novel universe so it is mostly enjoyable as a game of its own? Any comments on this?

I think the Withcer 1 was fine. The combat was different than what we are used to, but not bad. I prefer that over later entries. The problem with STALKER however that the starting weapons are crap and on first time playthrough you don't know where to find the better early game gear. Like there is a hidden Merc Suit in the starting village.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-02-02, 09:00:

Sounds like a lot of the clunky interface shit from the first two have carried of to the third.. I hope at least the combat is a lot less infuriating? The combat in the first game was the worst swordplay implementation that I ever played to be honest..

In my opinion The Witcher 2 has the worst swordplay implementation ever, that I've seen at least. Completely weightless, imagine somersaulting constantly while waving a feather 😁 The system in the first game isn't very actiony for sure but I found it passable, at least it didn't annoy me to no end.

The Witcher 3 has easily the best combat of the trilogy, but like I said the autotargetting can be incredibly annoying. There you are fighting a group of enemies, attempting to hit the enemy right in front of you when the autotarget suddenly decides to swap to an enemy that isn't even close enough to be hit, causing you to jump towards that enemy striking at nothing and leaving you open for the other enemies around you. This isn't much of a problem unless you play on the hardest difficulty like me, it's just annoying. I play on the hardest because once you get in the combat system it becomes way too easy in my opinion, but on the hardest it's really fun to get your ass handed to you just because the autotarget screwed you.

Witcher 1 I quite enjoyed. Witcher 2 made me rage quit so hard I never went back. Witcher 3 is up there with my favourite games - the open world is fantastic.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-02-02, 08:29:

I tried playing the original STALKER twice and stopped at around the 2 hours mark both times, the game was not immersive enough to withstand the masochism it required for me, personally..

I actually quite enjoyed the immersion of SoC. I am of Russian descent, and can speak and read rather poorly (raised in the US by two Russian immigrant parents), so I found it fun to pause to try and read some of the in-game Russian signs, or get a chuckle when I understood some NPC banter around a campfire. The graphical immersion was really good too for the most part. It felt like a desolate, nuclearly radiated area. The only thing I wasn't convinced of was the mutant creatures and the whole anomaly concept. I didn't even bother to use any anomalies until about 75% into the game.

My FPS skill is rather poor, so I play most games on the easiest skill setting. I found SoC too difficult in a few sections on the easiest skill setting. I got through 95% of the game without cheating, but did need unlimited health to get through the last level and endgame. So for me, the immersion wasn't an issue, but the difficulty and length was. Then there are others who are way better than I am that find this game easy. 😀

I wonder how Witcher 3 compares with Zelda BOTW, in that they are both critically-acclaimed, big open-worldy things with basic RPG themes. I've only played the latter, which was pretty awesome. Witcher has more adult themes obviously. That doesn't sway me, as I don't play games for their "adultness". But could be interesting.

Anybody remember quake slide ?
My latest retro play !

Never knew Quake Slide existed. 😮 I had played some Quake Rally, but the mechanics were too clumsy.

X86 wrote on 2022-02-03, 03:39:

slide1bsp.jpg
Anybody remember quake slide ?
My latest retro play !

Huh. Never heard of it. To make it even more real world, replace the gun with a GoPro stick. 🤣

Red Alert 2

Still having a lot of fun with Freelancer.

Once the game opened up a bit, I happily started ignoring the main plot and began searching for the most lucrative trade routes. After finding one, I paid off most of the hostile factions which operate in that area until they became neutral and no longer wanted to shoot me on sight. Once that was taken care off, I bought the largest available freighter and started ferrying high profit goods like diamonds in order to maximize my income. Good times!

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-02-05, 11:39:

Still having a lot of fun with Freelancer.

Freelancer is such a hit & miss game, the scripted storyline missions are about the only "fun" I can have out of the game. When you finish the story and the entire universe is unlocked, there's not a lot of "Special things" to experience other than just being able to go anywhere, do anything.

Do you have "Jason's Freelancer Patch"? It fixes a lot of mistakes left in the game, especially with certain areas not showing up in the local star map.

DracoNihil wrote on 2022-02-05, 11:52:

Freelancer is such a hit & miss game, the scripted storyline missions are about the only "fun" I can have out of the game. When you finish the story and the entire universe is unlocked, there's not a lot of "Special things" to experience other than just being able to go anywhere, do anything.

Yeah, that's how I remember it as well. I don't really intend to continue playing after finishing the main story though. I reckon with a few million credits in the bank, the main character would simply retire.

Do you have "Jason's Freelancer Patch"? It fixes a lot of mistakes left in the game, especially with certain areas not showing up in the local star map.

Nope, I'm playing the stock game with just the official 1.1 patch applied. I generally avoid fan made patches (for any game) unless they are absolutely necessary for getting a game to run on a modern OS. But I rarely encounter such issues now, due to having multiple retro rigs.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-02-05, 12:15:

Nope, I'm playing the stock game with just the official 1.1 patch applied. I generally avoid fan made patches (for any game) unless they are absolutely necessary for getting a game to run on a modern OS. But I rarely encounter such issues now, due to having multiple retro rigs.

All the patch does is fix a lot of typos in the definition files, and fill in missing information in various spots. It also enables the ability to bank your ship left and right, you can turn the "auto levelling" off.

But other than that, no it's not strictly necessary to run the game on modern hardware. I just think it's worth using simply because of all the typos and errors causing various stuff to show up as "Unknown Object" or be invisible on the star map despite having a description show up on mouse-over.