I've watched some videos of Gothic II and it's definitely impressive. It's another one of those games on the list that I ought to play sometime.

I was playing Rocket League on a relative's Switch recently, and decided to buy it for PC. It finished downloading and installing yesterday.
I'm amused to realize that I can now play newer games on Linux than I can with WIndows (I still use and prefer XP).
[edit: I'm also kind of bewildered by the "minimum" system requirements, which my linux box falls well short of. The game runs fine with my Core2 Duo E8400 and a GT430. Thanks only to youtube videos for showing how it actually runs on low spec hardware - the publisher apparently doesn't have a clue.]

Like many modern games, I find that half of my difficulty in Rocket League comes from figuring out the numerous controls and having the correct reflex to push the right button at the right time.
I've never really liked using modern Playstation/XBox-style thumbstick controllers, but that's clearly what the game expects you to have.
Since the default control scheme is totally wacky compared to the few other modern console driving games I've played, I did the modern gaming ritual of spending half an hour fiddling with changing them.
I think I now have a control scheme I can use semi-intuitively, but I still think the practical "analog" value of thumbsticks is dubious. They tend to just be on/off switches with a long throw.

I'd really like to try to get this game running on a Sega Genesis 6-button (really has 8 buttons) controller. But nobody designs modern games with the control options to make that convenient (they want a discrete button for everything, no combos). And it doesn't look like I can save multiple controller profiles.. so that's quite a deterrent against changing anything. Anyway, that's a battle for another day. For now I'm using a typical modern-style controller.

Getting a little better at the game, not getting frustrated at my own erroneous inputs quite as often.

I have come to a realization that I will never be competitive in Quake II. I truly suck at this game. Not that being good at it in 2018 matters much, but at least I know my limitations if it was the late 1990s. Hard to believe it's 21 years old now.

^^ I did the then-very-new competitive LAN party circuit around the east coast right when Quake II got huge. It wasn't my "main" game (that was Descent I/II), but I played it, along with everything else that somebody might want to set up a match of. In 1998 I did alright; I was probably in the top 500 players in the world, although there weren't any unified rankings at the time. In 1999 I got my ass handed to me and it was getting obvious you needed to specialize in one game in order to compete at the big events by then. By 2000 the Q2 scene had gotten so insanely competitive that the people still playing it were unbelievably good and there was basically no chance of any casual gamer even getting one kill in a match. Everyone else had moved onto Team Fortress ("Classic".)

I only did a couple big events in 2000; the Descent games (I+II and III by then) weren't really getting played anymore, and while I was decent at UT99, the new blood had moved in and were better than I could have been. I was 19. 😜

Fun times!

We should get some retro online MP matches going around here. I still play UT99/04 (botmatch) a fair bit, but I haven't fired up Q2 in years and bet I thoroughly suck at it.

xjas wrote:

^^ I did the then-very-new competitive LAN party circuit around the east coast right when Quake II got huge. It wasn't my "main" […]
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^^ I did the then-very-new competitive LAN party circuit around the east coast right when Quake II got huge. It wasn't my "main" game (that was Descent I/II), but I played it, along with everything else that somebody might want to set up a match of. In 1998 I did alright; I was probably in the top 500 players in the world, although there weren't any unified rankings at the time. In 1999 I got my ass handed to me and it was getting obvious you needed to specialize in one game in order to compete at the big events by then. By 2000 the Q2 scene had gotten so insanely competitive that the people still playing it were unbelievably good and there was basically no chance of any casual gamer even getting one kill in a match. Everyone else had moved onto Team Fortress ("Classic".)

I only did a couple big events in 2000; the Descent games (I+II and III by then) weren't really getting played anymore, and while I was decent at UT99, the new blood had moved in and were better than I could have been. I was 19. 😜

Fun times!

We should get some retro online MP matches going around here. I still play UT99/04 (botmatch) a fair bit, but I haven't fired up Q2 in years and bet I thoroughly suck at it.

My favorite is still UT2003.

QuakeWorld was the first and only competitive FPS that actually grabbed me all the way up to encountering C-S Beta 5.

While my circle of friends did play C-S almost exclusively, starting from Beta 1.2 (cs_wpndepot!!), I never played any FPSes online, except for Western Quake which was later released as Smokin' Guns. I loved that game so freakin' much and just thinking about it makes me want to play it right now.

I've recently started playing Legend of Kyrandia again and on my PS4 pro I'm playing through Rhondo of Blood which is part of the new Castlevania Requiem.

xjas wrote:

We should get some retro online MP matches going around here.

I'm able to host UT99, Unreal 1 (I primarily do Unreal 1 more, it's infact the only game I make mods and maps for anyways), Descent 1&2, and UT2004.

Though I really don't like playing deathmatch because I am very, overly conscious about making others upset because of how long I've played the games for to the point I'm apparently "too good" for the game.

DracoNihil wrote:

xjas wrote:

We should get some retro online MP matches going around here.

I'm able to host UT99, Unreal 1 (I primarily do Unreal 1 more, it's infact the only game I make mods and maps for anyways), Descent 1&2, and UT2004.

Though I really don't like playing deathmatch because I am very, overly conscious about making others upset because of how long I've played the games for to the point I'm apparently "too good" for the game.

L0L, see my previous comment about getting my ass handed to me at competitive tournament events. Won't be any different from my previous experience with these games. 😜 Could always do some UT2004 Invasion or Domination rather than free-for-all.

What do you need to do to host D1 & D2 games these days? I played a lot on Kali back in the day (IPX emulation over TCP/IP.) I imagine Rebirth has some more modern online MP stuff implimented (server browsing? etc.) but I've never tried to mess with it. I have a stash of unreleased maps (both mine & others') from the game's heyday too.

You just need DXX-ReBirth, that does UDP and works virtually the same as it did with IPX.

I haven't kept up to date with recent developments but I feel for multiplayer purposes the latest git release is most likely the best option.

Just finished Anvil of Dawn, still playing F.E.A.R (over halfway through). I think my next RPG will be Stonekeep. 😁

Due to massive renovations at the place of my current residence, I was left without access to my classic machines for the last few weeks. So I finally decided to try Brutal Doom. After settling for Zandronum port (GZDoom was running on this i3+gf940 laptop like.. well, pretty much like Doom on a 386) I started turning off all the "annoyances" such as vertical mouselook, highres, certain visual effects, new weapons, etc until I was left with the original Doom + some extra gore. At this point I decided I can't stand the pixels on the LCD and bailed out. Suffice to say, the experience was underwhelming.

You can argue that I hit my limit for 2018 with this game with 2 complete walkthroughs. But I believe that some things are better to be left as is. Often it is nigh impossible to successfully augment their primordial charm without killing it.

But gosh it was fun to watch it on Youtube.

I just finished two horror-themed adventure games:

"Prisoner of Ice" and "Veil of Darkness"

The best thing one can say about both is that they are fairly short, so that their shortcomings do not carry as much weight as they would have in a longer game. However, they also both make you wish they had been handled by a more competent developer like Sierra, LucasArts or Revolution Software.

POI starts out strong, with an opening reminiscent of "The Thing" or Lovecraft's nautical stories. The crew of a British submarine has taken up a mysterious crate, containing the titular Prisoner – a monstrosity from out of this world – which is threatening to unthaw and attack the crew. Plenty of ideas (which, annoyingly, include time travel) and atmosphere, however, the ideas and concepts are never fleshed out and the atmosphere peters out by the second level. None of the characters ever acquire any depths at all, and while many of the backgrounds are nicely drawn, the prerendered character animations look stiff and the textures artificial.

Veil of Darkness is a game that makes you wonder why you aren't just playing Quest for Glory IV instead. An evil vampire has taken hold over an inaccessible valley in the Carpathians and it is up to the hero to save the day. While there are some nice touches, and some of the atmosphere is gothic enough, everything feels shallow and superficial. It's like a who-is-who of "movie monsters", from Wolfman, to evil books, to Dracula, but ultimately inconsequential. The inventory management is a pain and the combat and buff system feel extremely tacked-on.

Playing Tomb Raider 1 for the first time on my XP rig using Glidos. The controls are basically making this an exercise in frustration at least for me anyways. Waiting on a more "modern" iteration coming in the mail: Tomb Raider Anniversary.

buckeye wrote:

Playing Tomb Raider 1 for the first time on my XP rig using Glidos. The controls are basically making this an exercise in frustration at least for me anyways. Waiting on a more "modern" iteration coming in the mail: Tomb Raider Anniversary.

Oh boy... well you can say Anniversary has more modern controls, but at least in the original game if you messed up a jump you could only blame yourself, while in Anniversary Lara sometimes jumps where the hell she feels like. It's not a bad game but it did ultimately drive me nuts.

buckeye wrote:

Playing Tomb Raider 1 for the first time on my XP rig using Glidos. The controls are basically making this an exercise in frustration at least for me anyways. Waiting on a more "modern" iteration coming in the mail: Tomb Raider Anniversary.

It’s not just you, I played it well after release and without nostalgia goggles the wonky early 3D controls were a bridge too far. Great game in a lot of ways though, really nice level design, etc.

I'm quite enjoying Tomb Raider: Legend (same engine / controls as Anniversary); have been slowly 100%ing it on my original Xbox over the last few months. Was going to try out Anniversary next.

In Legend, I found the way the control scheme changes orientation when the camera shifts to be a bit awkward, but I got used to it. They tried to ape the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy's movement mechanics but didn't quite get them as polished. Lara will also happily walk off cliffs or ledges (to her death) that the Prince wouldn't.

And yes, I would play the hell out of a time-travelling Prince/Tomb Raider crossover based on the Legend or SOT engine. I think that's the dorkiest thing I've posted on here in a while.

I’m still deeply engrossed in the world of Gothic II – not a single crash with the modernised version I’m playing, the installation process of which I described a few posts back. One thing that has really stood out this time is the sound design and music score – all environments are brought to life by little details that would have taken serious commitment to implement. Wind whistling through high towers, bells tolling around the monastery, unseen critters scratching in dark corners of the forest.

Even with the base game it takes an age to progress but grinding through the beautiful and varied environments to gain XP is kept interesting by the varied monsters and the constant threat of running into a foe who will two hit kill you. I tend towards completionism so have found myself doing several laps of the different areas as I get strong enough to handle the next level beast or bandit. It’s very satisfying to take down a mob that previously forced you to turn and flee in terror like a babe in the woods.

badmojo wrote:

buckeye wrote:

Playing Tomb Raider 1 for the first time on my XP rig using Glidos. The controls are basically making this an exercise in frustration at least for me anyways. Waiting on a more "modern" iteration coming in the mail: Tomb Raider Anniversary.

It’s not just you, I played it well after release and without nostalgia goggles the wonky early 3D controls were a bridge too far. Great game in a lot of ways though, really nice level design, etc.

To be fair, if you learn the keyboard controls it plays very well.
You just have to take your time, it was never meant to be a fast paced game.

tannerstevo wrote:

To be fair, if you learn the keyboard controls it plays very well.
You just have to take your time, it was never meant to be a fast paced game.

Fair enough - I think I was using the keyboard though, on a P166MMX + Voodoo2 for what it's worth. This is what I wrote about it at the time (from the 2nd page of this thread):

What isn’t fun are the controls, and in the end that’s what stopped me playing. They’re logical enough and well set-out, but the camera gets stuck often, particularly in tight tunnels etc. Combat became a drag because for the most part I found myself fighting the controls more than the monsters. Again, particularly in tight spots, unfriendly critters like bats and wolves jammed themselves right up against you, and Lara – sensibly – refused to shoot at a bat which had wrapped itself around her face. So that left rolling or jumping out of the way, which was often thwarted with an “oomph” as Lara bounced off a nearby wall and ended up back where she started.