I play witcher3 again , finished it once when it was new but with all that witcher publicity I started it again 😁 it is nice because after a couple of years I totally forgot most of the stuff ... looking forward to go to DLC areas because surprisingly I remember even less about them even though they got played last as they were getting released ...

I played (and finished) Space Quest 1 EGA. It's interesting to see that at one point adventure games were short and to the point and most of all they didn't make you click through reams of inane dialogue options, or worse, listen to reams of inane dialogue being read by sub-par voice actors.

I feel like I'm approaching the sunset of Wizardry 7. My party are all level 19 and from what I understand, level 20 is a good place to be to start the last parts leading to the endgame. I'm exploring the large forest (The Greater Forest or Myrmideon Forest) to the west of the Isle of Crypts, just building up XP. My guys should all be level 20 by the time I finish exploring this area, so I'll head over to Isle of Crypts next and see about finishing up this puppy. 160 hours of gameplay so far.

I've just finished Mass Effect. I finally (literally 10 years and probably four playthroughs later) bought the DLC for Mass Effect 2 so I'm going to play through that next!

Graviton II... addictive Gravitar clone. In glorious hi-res EGA/VGA! With trippy SFX! Which only work half the time!

Played a little bit of Monkey Island last night on the 10MHz 8088 w/ Adlib. Runs great, sounds amazing.

Pinball Fantasies (Stones 'N Bones) on my 386.

188 hours into Wizardry 7 and I've just beaten the 4th of 6 Gorrors. I'm very close to the end (my guess of 200 hrs awhile back seems to be spot-on). The Gorrors are 6 monsters guarding 6 chests just prior to the events leading to the endgame battles. These are completely optional battles, but the chests contain the most powerful weapons and armor in the game. The loot is random, so the strategy is to defeat the Gorror, save, then open. If you survive the trap AND get what you want, then move on. Otherwise, quit and reload. Using this strategy, I've gotten a very impressive (pretty much maxed out) arsenal of weapons for my party:
Dwarf Lord: Excalibur (2nd best sword in the game) - two-handed
Mook Samurai: Light Sword (best sword in game) - one-handed; and Ymmu's Paw (best secondary weapon a Samurai can wield)
Faerie Ninja: Cane of Corpus (better than Light Sword but only a Faerie Ninja can wield it) - one-handed; and Rod of Sprites (best secondary weapon a Ninja can wield)
Dwarf Valkyrie: Maenad's Lance (best extended weapon a Valkyrie can wield) - two-handed
Felpurr Monk: Zatoichi Bo (best extended weapon a Monk can wield) - two-handed
Elf Bard: Cat o' Nine Tails (best extended weapon a Bard can wield) - one-handed

There are better combinations of weapons available, but they either involve other classes/races then I chose, or involve the back row players knowing the Ninjutsu skill, which allows them to hide and sneak attack. Otherwise, the only way to attack with a weapon from the back row is with an extended weapon (what I went with). All my characters are at level 25.

Getting back to the Gorrors, apparently the final two are nearly impossible to defeat unless you have tons of invisibility potions or everyone has the Ninjutsu skill, or you grind your characters to about level 50. I haven't checked any of those boxes, but I'll still give them a try to see if I have any luck.

clueless1 wrote on 2020-03-14, 16:38:

Getting back to the Gorrors, apparently the final two are nearly impossible to defeat unless you have tons of invisibility potions or everyone has the Ninjutsu skill, or you grind your characters to about level 50. I haven't checked any of those boxes, but I'll still give them a try to see if I have any luck.

That sounds like torture at the mouse and keyboard TBH. Glad you walked me through it in your posts as I am positive I will not be playing it. haha

liqmat wrote on 2020-03-14, 17:23:

clueless1 wrote on 2020-03-14, 16:38:

Getting back to the Gorrors, apparently the final two are nearly impossible to defeat unless you have tons of invisibility potions or everyone has the Ninjutsu skill, or you grind your characters to about level 50. I haven't checked any of those boxes, but I'll still give them a try to see if I have any luck.

That sounds like torture at the mouse and keyboard TBH. Glad you walked me through it in your posts as I am positive I will not be playing it. haha

Ha! Two things: The Gorrors are optional (think of them as a bonus challenge) and the challenge is fun. I liken it to Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! on the NES. The later level fighters seem impossible til you figure out the specific strategy. Then it quickly moves from frustrating to satisfying.

I've been exploring "Super Castlevania IV" for the SNES deeper than ever, thanks to emulators and savestates. I don't know if I'll manage to finish the game, but I can't be that far from the ending right now.

Nice work @Clueless - does all the effort you’ve put in maxing out your party pay off when you import them into the next game in the series? Or do they all get amnesia and lose most of their skills?

Dusk

Mindless but fun. Gives off a Quake vibe but with more interesting levels and some interactivity.

badmojo wrote on 2020-03-14, 20:12:

Nice work @Clueless - does all the effort you’ve put in maxing out your party pay off when you import them into the next game in the series? Or do they all get amnesia and lose most of their skills?

There's some pretty elaborate transfer rules that some people figured out:
http://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/recovered/flam … strykes_w8.html
Basically, most of your stats get divided by 5 and most of the best weapons and armor sadly will not transfer. Characters import with enough XP to level up to 5. So it does pay to get those stats maxed out. They do a better job of not allowing an overpowered party to transfer over, but still reward you for playing through the series.

clueless1 wrote on 2020-03-14, 16:38:

Getting back to the Gorrors, apparently the final two are nearly impossible to defeat unless you have tons of invisibility potions or everyone has the Ninjutsu skill, or you grind your characters to about level 50. I haven't checked any of those boxes, but I'll still give them a try to see if I have any luck.

Okay, so I spent about 90 minutes on the easier of these last two Gorrors. I came close a couple of times, but no dice. I did figure out a good strategy*, but I think my party's resistances aren't strong enough, which requires more levels. I think if I come back when my party is ~level 30, I might have better luck. Moving on with the plot.

*Fiend of 9 Worlds has a Vorpal Blade that does 99 HP damage plus high level poison. He focuses more on those who directly attack him, so the strategy is to pummel him with:
-Armormelt to increase his armor class
-Cloud damaging spells (Toxic Vapors, Poison Gas, Firestorm) which aren't seen as an attack from a player because the damage occurs over multiple rounds from indirect attack. Hence, he won't focus on the player who cast the spell
-Create Life which summons a high-hit point distraction to focus his attacks away from the party

and buff the party up with tons of Haste and Bless spells to increase our initiative and to-hit ratings.

My problem is he still eventually connects with the Vorpal Blade, which forces my party to focus away from the above spells to Cure Poison and Heal. Eventually, someone dies. With higher level characters, they will resist the attacks and poison more effectively, giving them more time and opportunity to wear him down.

Hey clueless, any chance we could get together for a friendly game of whatever? I thought it was pretty neat that first time.

DracoNihil wrote on 2020-03-15, 14:58:

Hey clueless, any chance we could get together for a friendly game of whatever? I thought it was pretty neat that first time.

Yeah, probably after I finish Wizardry 7. My gaming is pretty limited, usually early mornings (5am to 8am) on the weekends. And when I'm in the middle of a game, I'm pretty selfish about guarding that time. 😀

I'm usually up around that time. Just let me know whenever and good luck with Wizardry 7.

I guess I should also mention I've been off and on playing the expansion pack to FS1 called "Silent Threat", and it's honestly kinda mediocre. I still want to finish it so I can better understand FreeSpace 2's time period.

DracoNihil wrote on 2020-03-15, 23:34:

I'm usually up around that time. Just let me know whenever and good luck with Wizardry 7.

I guess I should also mention I've been off and on playing the expansion pack to FS1 called "Silent Threat", and it's honestly kinda mediocre. I still want to finish it so I can better understand FreeSpace 2's time period.

Freespace 2 starts out really weird if you haven't played out Silent Threat but otherwise it is really the only mediocre part of an amazing series of games. Playing Freespace 2 on my Pentium II 300 + Voodoo 2 was a magical experience at the time.

Finished up Black Mesa.
Xen is still mostly bad, however the first hour or so when you're exploring the abandoned research sites is still quite fun.