I think that, as with many of life's debates, the different approaches to gaming reflect that which the individual finds important. In that sense, there can be no "wrong way" to play a game.

2022 was a busy year for me, with buying a house and renovating and selling my old one, I haven't done any gaming since December 2021. Still getting my new house organised, but have set up my Win95 PC and started playing Deadlock: Planetary Conquest. Still doing the tutorial but wow it's good to be back!

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote on 2023-01-06, 23:56:

2022 was a busy year for me, with buying a house and renovating and selling my old one, I haven't done any gaming since December 2021. Still getting my new house organised, but have set up my Win95 PC and started playing Deadlock: Planetary Conquest. Still doing the tutorial but wow it's good to be back!

You had the two twins over in Australia renovating your house? 😀

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-01-06, 22:38:

For example it's really a stretch to call Skyrim an RPG, since it has no real RPG system that locks you into the "R" in the RPG. Yet on my first playthrough, I played as an escaped argonian slave from Morrowind, who always helped his own kind, and was very much against everyone hurting his kind and above all, hated the dunmer. That character whenever possible made the choice that benefit dunmers the least and argonians the most regardless of his own benefit, always carried paralysis poisons only so he could get out of a fight against an argonian without killing. That's why he joined the imperials in the civil war, because even though they wanted to kill him out of negligence, the stormcloacks treated argonians poorly in general. That is how one plays a role.

I never get a roleplaying vibe from action RPGs. The action part always supercedes the RPG part. If I'm playing as a ranged character, it just feels like I'm playing an FPS. I usually need something turn based to feel like I'm roleplaying.

Shreddoc wrote on 2023-01-06, 23:33:

I think that, as with many of life's debates, the different approaches to gaming reflect that which the individual finds important. In that sense, there can be no "wrong way" to play a game.

I agree 100%. Still, I think it's worthwhile to take other people's advice on how they recommend playing a game. For example, when I was a kid, I just played all games on easy mode. I never understood the appeal of hard mode until I heard other people talk about why playing on hard mode isn't just more challenging, but actually changes how you approach the game.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-01-07, 03:56:

I never get a roleplaying vibe from action RPGs. The action part always supercedes the RPG part. If I'm playing as a ranged character, it just feels like I'm playing an FPS. I usually need something turn based to feel like I'm roleplaying.

I also think that a true RPG can not be anything other than turn based or at the very least real time with pause (like KOTOR). To truly role play, I think there needs to be that kind of separation between player and player-character.

Wasteland 2
I completed the Highpool area, and it ended up being a lot of fun, so I'm loving this game again!

Highpool starts out pretty lame, with you just encountering gang after gang, but once you clear that section there's some good questing to be done, with lots of opportunities to use skills and solve quests in different ways. I've got each of my characters specializing in his/her own weapon and skillset, and so far it's working out great.

If there's one thing I really miss from Wasteland 1 here, it's that it seemed like you had way more options to use skills and even attributes to get around obstacles. In Wasteland 2, every obstacle is solved with either demolitions (traps), safecracking (safes), lockpicking (mechanical locks), mechanical repair (machines), or electronics (electronic locks). There's really no thinking outside of the box, you just choose whatever skill the game lets you use. Oh well, still better than most RPGs in this aspect.

I'm still annoyed at the writing in this game. It's faux folksy, like they just watched some Larry the Cable Guy special and used that as inspiration for the writing. It's also extremely edgy . The first game didn't have to resort to this kind of stuff even though the setting was just as dark. I miss good writing in games.

XPiratez

I was tired of the vanilla X-Com: UFO Defense after so many years.

This TC mod changes everything.

Yeah, it's not for children (there is a lot of nudity), but the soundtrack, pixel art, gameplay, texts are all new, expanded, unrecognizable, very well made, and very exciting.

I'm lovin' it.

For example, there's a lot of new random events. So many surprises and silly fun ideas, and new mechanics. Granted, it's not for everyone, but it is very weird and the gameplay is addictive once again (after all, it is[/s] X-Com).

It's also huge. One game can take months to complete. And I sense that one playthrough doesn't even scratch the surface. It's also constantly getting new versions. Every time I restart because my version is obsolete. But this time I won't.

appiah4 wrote on 2023-01-03, 14:32:

I've been playing Halo: Reach from Halo: Master Chief Collection on PC. On Legendary difficulty, the mission Long Night of Solace is kicking my ASS. I've played the same space combat bit for 2 hours straight and died about 200 times, and still have not managed to get past the second Covenant wave (Seraphs). It's driving me insane.. I don't wan this to be the first Halo game I failed to complete on Legendary difficulty 🙁

Still playing Halo: Reach from Halo: Master Chief Collection on PC. I finally beat the mission Long Night of Solace on Legendary. It was the toughest mission of the game for me so far..

appiah4 wrote on 2023-01-07, 16:06:

appiah4 wrote on 2023-01-03, 14:32:

I've been playing Halo: Reach from Halo: Master Chief Collection on PC. On Legendary difficulty, the mission Long Night of Solace is kicking my ASS. I've played the same space combat bit for 2 hours straight and died about 200 times, and still have not managed to get past the second Covenant wave (Seraphs). It's driving me insane.. I don't wan this to be the first Halo game I failed to complete on Legendary difficulty 🙁

Still playing Halo: Reach from Halo: Master Chief Collection on PC. I finally beat the mission Long Night of Solace on Legendary. It was the toughest mission of the game for me so far..

Congrats! Must've been quite the accomplishment based on your previous post!

As for me, I finally finished the first episode of The Bard's Tale Trilogy Remastered. Just tying up some loose ends, leveling up my characters, and going through their loot, then I will transfer them to get ready for episode 2. Will not start that right away, though.

Speaking (earlier) of non-RPGs...

I had about a week of fun with single-player Diablo 2 Resurrected, having finally bought it during the Christmas 67%-off sale, and I feel I got my money's worth (no more, no less).

The nostalgia was cool, the updated graphics were nice. But ultimately, the repeated grind through the same 4-5 Acts (depending upon whether or not the Expansion is played) is the same thing. The same Gauntlet-like obliteration of mobs via ability-spamming, in order to collect loot. The same annoying need to spend 5%+ of your gaming time organising your inventory, due to it being tiny, and the raining down of items being constant and sustained for the entire game.

On the plus side, the atmosphere, aesthetics, sound design, music, and arcade-y fun are all fantastic, and don't-get-me-wrong,-fun-was-had, but, as with the original game, now that I've had my fill, I doubt I'll be spending any more time on it going forward. Memories successfully refreshed, I'm happy. Blizzard did a good job, though I'm glad I never succumbed to paying their full price, and waited a couple of years for a big sale instead.

Will probably also try Diablo III sometime (for the first time), as I picked that up for a tiny price during the sale too. It will be interesting to finally see for myself how it turned out.

Now that I finished part 1 of Bard's Tale Remastered, I'm back on Tomb Raider (2013) to try to complete it. It's a great story and entertaining, but I'm really not a fan of the platforming aspects. The story and exploration are what's keeping me going. I'm near the end of the Chasm Monastery section, which I guess puts me about halfway through. Having played 8 hours already, this should make the game about 16-20 hours long when all is said and done.

appiah4 wrote on 2023-01-03, 14:32:

I've been playing Halo: Reach from Halo: Master Chief Collection on PC. On Legendary difficulty, the mission Long Night of Solace is kicking my ASS. I've played the same space combat bit for 2 hours straight and died about 200 times, and still have not managed to get past the second Covenant wave (Seraphs). It's driving me insane.. I don't wan this to be the first Halo game I failed to complete on Legendary difficulty 🙁

I've also been playing Halo MCC. A friend of mine got it a few months ago and I've been wanting to play the entire Halo campaigns with him in coop. Though now that I finally got him, he isn't in the mood atm due to IRL problems he has so that will have to wait.
I did play through Halo Reach for the first time. I'm currently playing Halo 1 (on hard but probably gonna switch to normal for a more cinematic lore-like playthrough since the only Halo games I ever played thus far are Halo 1 and 2).

Still I'd prefer to play through the entire list of campaigns in some kind of marathon with someone at some point. Don't really care at what difficulty once I've played through all of them once.

Tetrium wrote on 2023-01-08, 16:57:

I've also been playing Halo MCC. A friend of mine got it a few months ago and I've been wanting to play the entire Halo campaign […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2023-01-03, 14:32:

I've been playing Halo: Reach from Halo: Master Chief Collection on PC. On Legendary difficulty, the mission Long Night of Solace is kicking my ASS. I've played the same space combat bit for 2 hours straight and died about 200 times, and still have not managed to get past the second Covenant wave (Seraphs). It's driving me insane.. I don't wan this to be the first Halo game I failed to complete on Legendary difficulty 🙁

I've also been playing Halo MCC. A friend of mine got it a few months ago and I've been wanting to play the entire Halo campaigns with him in coop. Though now that I finally got him, he isn't in the mood atm due to IRL problems he has so that will have to wait.
I did play through Halo Reach for the first time. I'm currently playing Halo 1 (on hard but probably gonna switch to normal for a more cinematic lore-like playthrough since the only Halo games I ever played thus far are Halo 1 and 2).

Still I'd prefer to play through the entire list of campaigns in some kind of marathon with someone at some point. Don't really care at what difficulty once I've played through all of them once.

Lucky for you you can actually do that if you search around in the menus. they even give you xbox achievements for completing the playlists.

BetaC wrote on 2023-01-08, 18:11:

Tetrium wrote on 2023-01-08, 16:57:

I've also been playing Halo MCC. A friend of mine got it a few months ago and I've been wanting to play the entire Halo campaign […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2023-01-03, 14:32:

I've been playing Halo: Reach from Halo: Master Chief Collection on PC. On Legendary difficulty, the mission Long Night of Solace is kicking my ASS. I've played the same space combat bit for 2 hours straight and died about 200 times, and still have not managed to get past the second Covenant wave (Seraphs). It's driving me insane.. I don't wan this to be the first Halo game I failed to complete on Legendary difficulty 🙁

I've also been playing Halo MCC. A friend of mine got it a few months ago and I've been wanting to play the entire Halo campaigns with him in coop. Though now that I finally got him, he isn't in the mood atm due to IRL problems he has so that will have to wait.
I did play through Halo Reach for the first time. I'm currently playing Halo 1 (on hard but probably gonna switch to normal for a more cinematic lore-like playthrough since the only Halo games I ever played thus far are Halo 1 and 2).

Still I'd prefer to play through the entire list of campaigns in some kind of marathon with someone at some point. Don't really care at what difficulty once I've played through all of them once.

Lucky for you you can actually do that if you search around in the menus. they even give you xbox achievements for completing the playlists.

I have no idea. I haven't really bothered to look around the menus much tbh.
I actually watched this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fElUNYerY0w (geforce2gts promo halo 2, putting this here in case the link ever breaks) and I'm actually contemplating building a system around such a card, just to give halo 1 a try on it 😜
I'm not sure I have that exact card though (I suspect I do), but it will be a project for this summer at the earliest, if I decide to do so.

A Plague Tale : Innocence

This is an Action Puzzle game with minor stealth mechanics. The majority of the game 85% is spent learning all the weapons and strategies slowly like a walkthrough, once you are set free in more open arenas it becomes less puzzle and more action game. The story is entertaining, though obvious. There is a tacked on upgrade and resources system which I didn't feel like made any real difference to my ease of playing, and the inventory selection while standard is cumbersome. That said, I really liked the rat system in the game and the final boss was a lot of fun. I will probably check out the squeekuel and hope that some of the more obnoxious elements were refined and that the gameplay is more complete from the start of the game. Thumbs Up.

I dusted off my Oculus Quest and picked up Superhot for it. Pretty fun experience, but not quite as good as the regular experience imo because you're stationary in the VR version.

For the retrogamers, you might be interested in trying out some of the old ID games and Half Life in VR. 12 year old me would be amazed to play Wolfenstein as if you were actually in the game. The only downside is that I can only play it in small increments before I feel nauseated. Apparently, that goes away for most people.

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-01-06, 22:38:

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-01-06, 20:05:

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-01-06, 11:33:

Awesome! That's how all first time experiences should be. No faq, no guide, no mods.

For RPGs or strategy games, I always look up a few guides first. I understand why people like going in blind, but my backlog is so huge that I don't want to end up with a bad build that makes me start over. I just think of guides like bootcamp. Soldiers don't go to war untrained, so I just look at it like that. Also, I try to use a hybrid of different builds or strategies from different guides. Makes me feel like it's more personalized that way.

I think that spoils the first experience. That makes it feel like you/I replay someone else's playthrough rather than our own.

yes to a point its true, following optimised mission order, character builds etc is limiting the range of experience to some extent

i've done that before, an advantage is avoiding the "cannot do z because i didn't do x and y" scenarios which have you backtracking etc, but it saps some of the feel of being in a world

in Oblivion i played a bit more, got used to the way of the game now (i played fallout 3 before, its very similar) but still wont 'save and try' or consult 'best' mission order etc. I chose a nord and just accepting defaults given by the game for simplicity and wandered around avoiding the main quest for now and meanwhile joined the fighters guild (free beds at night!) and did some missions for them plus spent a bit of time around Anvil and followed up some local missions too. i'm saving up for a house! There's lots of things i have no idea about - horses, what to do with plants that can be collected, spellcasting and so on - It's probably very sub-optimal and my gear is probably way less than it 'ought' to be but it's all fun and it 'feels' a bit like what might happen to a new person in the realm.

I know this is not technically gaming, but I've gotten on a gpu tuning kick. I happen to be using Tomb Raider (2013) as part of my test suite. 😀

So far I've gotten my RTX 2060 KO to run at 1905Mhz stable with only 0.85v. This basically turns the card from a 160W TDP to a 110W TDP without losing any performance. Card runs cooler, quieter and puts less stress on the PSU. Zero performance loss. I'll take that please!