System Shock Remake

Now 15.5 hours in and simply loving it. I can't remember every detail of the original, but this game *FEELS* just like I remember feeling when I first played SS in 1994. Incredible remake. I was mad about them messing with the soundtrack earlier, but now that I've played longer, I can really appreciate it. The music still has hints of the OG, but it's been toned down to match the creepy, lonely feel of wandering an abandoned space station with only monsters to possibly run into. It actually enhances the mood of the game. Such a beautiful, well-performing game too, beyond being super fun!

Having recently played through Doom 3 and Prey, I figured I'd complete the trifecta of games which use that engine with Quake 4. I have played this back in the day, but I don't think I've ever finished the single player campaign. Time to pick up the slack.

For this playthrough, I'm using the GOG version with most of the autoexec.cfg tweaks from the PC Gaming Wiki applied. It runs pretty smoothly on my WinXP rig at Ultra details in 1600x1200 with 8xAF and 2xAA. Of course, EAX 5 is enabled as well, and it's put to good use. The most prominent example is when a grenade goes off near you. This causes your character to lose some of his hearing for a while, making all the sounds appear distant and muffled. It has a very cinematic feel to it.

Visually, this game seems like a graphically updated version of Quake 2, and retains much of its atmosphere. It's nice to see some of the old enemies rendered in the new engine. The gameplay is somewhat different though. In the prequel, you were fairly independent and had the freedom to navigate levels as you liked. In contrast, Quake 4 feels a bit more scripted and linear, at least so far.

The squad based combat is the big new element, and surprisingly, the behavior of the computer controlled allies is pretty decent. They do their own thing and usually don't get in your way. In fact, they are pretty helpful sometimes, especially the medics and engineers who can restore your health and armor. There's also plenty of action in Quake 4, compared to Doom 3 and Prey, which makes it very enjoyable in my book.

Lord help me I started playing Fortnight. Friend showed me a new fox skin they added in the store the other day and I think she was desperate for people to play with since she offered to buy it for me. And I am not immune to propaganda cute furry girls.
Turns out I'm a lot better at this game than I expected to be, and zero-build is actually pretty fun. Also played a few squad games with a couple friends and those are pretty great honestly. Though multiple other friends have seen me playing it in my Discord status and sent me a "You've messed with the natural order!" gif and yeah this is one game that I never in my wildest dreams imagined I'd take up.
I will still be calling it "Fortnight" however because I don't care what Tim Epic tells me the game's title is, that's how you spell the damn word!

Pictured: the first win (most of the time I'm getting like, #4-#12 or so)

clueless1 wrote on 2023-06-18, 10:49:

System Shock Remake

Now 15.5 hours in and simply loving it. I can't remember every detail of the original, but this game *FEELS* just like I remember feeling when I first played SS in 1994. Incredible remake. I was mad about them messing with the soundtrack earlier, but now that I've played longer, I can really appreciate it. The music still has hints of the OG, but it's been toned down to match the creepy, lonely feel of wandering an abandoned space station with only monsters to possibly run into. It actually enhances the mood of the game. Such a beautiful, well-performing game too, beyond being super fun!

I need a new PC in order to be able to play it, I'm a fan of the series, been waiting for it since before the Kickstarter ended (which was eons ago). I can't be more hyped up !

xcomcmdr wrote on 2023-06-18, 13:01:

clueless1 wrote on 2023-06-18, 10:49:

System Shock Remake

Now 15.5 hours in and simply loving it. I can't remember every detail of the original, but this game *FEELS* just like I remember feeling when I first played SS in 1994. Incredible remake. I was mad about them messing with the soundtrack earlier, but now that I've played longer, I can really appreciate it. The music still has hints of the OG, but it's been toned down to match the creepy, lonely feel of wandering an abandoned space station with only monsters to possibly run into. It actually enhances the mood of the game. Such a beautiful, well-performing game too, beyond being super fun!

I need a new PC in order to be able to play it, I'm a fan of the series, been waiting for it since before the Kickstarter ended (which was eons ago). I can't be more hyped up !

It plays surprisingly well on modest hardware. I've got everything maxed out on 1080p and it's a solid 60 fps vsync. System is an i7-4790 / RTX2060.

Made some more progress in Quake 4. After the protagonist goes through a certain change, you do get to play solo for quite a bit. During those levels, the game does become a bit more reminiscent of Quake 2, which is nice.

The sections where you drive tanks and mechs were kinda interesting, but the controls felt a bit too clunky, especially for the mech. On the plus side, EAX 5 was used to great extent there. When I was dodging missiles inside a hover tank, it felt like they were really hitting the ground around me. The explosions sounded very realistic and the sound positioning was perfectly executed. The reverb when the heavy mech was marching through the tunnels was nicely handled as well.

I like the weapon selection being a mix of Quake 1 and Quake 2. The Nail Gun and Lightning Gun make their triumphant return, and the Hyperblaster is as good as it's ever been. The action remained steady throughout the vast majority of my current playthrough, and I have yet to encounter a single puzzle. Good times!

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-06-19, 16:16:

Made some more progress in Quake 4. After the protagonist goes through a certain change, you do get to play solo for quite a bit. During those levels, the game does become a bit more reminiscent of Quake 2, which is nice.

The sections where you drive tanks and mechs were kinda interesting, but the controls felt a bit too clunky, especially for the mech. On the plus side, EAX 5 was used to great extent there. When I was dodging missiles inside a hover tank, it felt like they were really hitting the ground around me. The explosions sounded very realistic and the sound positioning was perfectly executed. The reverb when the heavy mech was marching through the tunnels was nicely handled as well.

I like the weapon selection being a mix of Quake 1 and Quake 2. The Nail Gun and Lightning Gun make their triumphant return, and the Hyperblaster is as good as it's ever been. The action remained steady throughout the vast majority of my current playthrough, and I have yet to encounter a single puzzle. Good times!

I've never been able to successfully commit to Quake 4. It just feels too much like someone saw that parody video about "If Doom were made today", and thought it was a great idea. Took Quake 2, which IMHO might have been the pinnacle of a very ludic heavy FPS design, and tried to turn it into Call of Duty cause that's what the kids were into in those days.

It reminds me of my loathing for Jak 2 in how it took the charm of Jak & Daxter, and completely jettisoned it in favor of the short lived trend of angsty protagonist, GTA style free roaming, Ratchet & Clank style shooting, some Tony Hawk skateboarding, RE4 style quick time events, etc, etc. It's a game almost entirely of the Top 10 list of it's time, soullessly chasing an extremely short lived zeitgeist.

Quake 4 doesn't quite capture my hate as much as Jak 2 does. But I can't help but despise how much it jettisoned what was best about Quake 2 in favor of what was mediocre about Call of Duty.

Namrok wrote on 2023-06-19, 16:25:

But I can't help but despise how much it jettisoned what was best about Quake 2 in favor of what was mediocre about Call of Duty.

Yup, the influence of CoD and other popular shooters of the time is evident in Quake 4. But if you stick with it past the initial third of the game, it gets a bit closer to Quake 2.

It's not a great game, but it is a decent one. So far, I'm enjoying it more than Doom 3 and Prey.

I decided to take a break from Devil's Whiskey on my modern PC and play something on my good old DOS PC. It did not start ausipicously, as it wouldn't even start up! I could hear the fans, but nothing on the screen and no POST beep (not even an error). Not a good sign. I turned it off, and decided to start troubleshooting by removing the CompactFlash card... but then the PC booted up to the BIOS without a problem. I reinserted the card and all was good! Phew!

Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos
I've already tried completing this a few times, but always get bored/annoyed either at the Urbish Mines or the White Tower. I decided that it is time to just get this one over with. There's a lot I like about it, though it's mostly superficial stuff. But what awesome superficial stuff it is; Westwood was truly a master of VGA artwork and Roland synth music at this time.

However, I have major issues with this game. First, it's primarily mouse-based with hardly any keyboard shortcuts, which is annoying. Second is the awful inventory "hot bar"; combined with the mouse-based interface, it makes taking a tactical approach to combat more trouble than it's worth. Third is the boring but tedious combat, with enemies constantly respawning.

Having said all that, I somehow got addicted last night and ended up playing for four hours over a couple of sessions. I last left off in Opinwood Forest, and managed to clear the Swamps, the Urbish Mines, and the surrounding forest areas. I know what's coming up, since my last attempt ended at the White Tower, but hopefully I get force myself to get through that.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-06-20, 03:58:

I know what's coming up, since my last attempt ended at the White Tower, but hopefully I get force myself to get through that.

Remember the hint I gave you (it was you right?)

Don't use up the Vaelan's Cube on the force barrier next to the entrance to the White Tower. Instead take the cube with you in the tower, it makes the upper levels a breeze compared to the utter horror of not having it.

I too have trouble enjoying the game these days thanks to the respawning enemies, I didn't mind it back then but it's one of my pet peeves now.

Sombrero wrote on 2023-06-20, 04:14:

Remember the hint I gave you (it was you right?)

Don't use up the Vaelan's Cube on the force barrier next to the entrance to the White Tower. Instead take the cube with you in the tower, it makes the upper levels a breeze compared to the utter horror of not having it.

I too have trouble enjoying the game these days thanks to the respawning enemies, I didn't mind it back then but it's one of my pet peeves now.

I remember 😀 And, yes, it was me. I briefly considered just relying on the emerald swords, since there's no way I would have figured out to use the cube without hints, but I don't think I like the game enough to struggle with that haha.

Currently playing through Black Mesa, HL 1 remake. Thoroughly enjoying it. Have the original installed on my Pentium 3 system but the remake is just so much better I think. Played the original back in the day and remember being blown away by its graphics and story line. The remake makes it possible to relieve that I guess, and all in 1440p!

Finished Quake 4. It was a mostly fun ride, with lots of action and very few unenjoyable segments. I liked the callbacks to Quake 2, especially the section when you descend through the atmosphere in a pod, just like the protagonist of that game. It's clear that the developers were fans of the prequel and wanted to create a similar experience. I don't think they were entirely successful, but I'll give them props for trying.

Anyway, the pacing slowed down just before the end boss fight. You'd expect the action to ramp up before the big showdown, but instead, the devs did the opposite by forcing you to crawl over some pipes inside a computer nexus for like 15 minutes. That was lame.

The final battle surprised me a bit with the three phases, but I had stocked up enough Dark Matter and Hyperblaster ammo that it was easy pickings. Honestly, I liked the previous fight with the tower guardian boss more than that. The last cutscene was also kinda unsatisfying. Were they setting up an expansion pack or a sequel that never materialized? Weird way to end things.

I'm still deep in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and the shine is starting to come off.

The Ubisoftitis that Breath of the Wild managed to dodge has crept back into the world. People complained about the korok seeds, and how many their were in the first one. It never bothered me because of how few it took to fully upgrade your inventory. There were so many so that no matter how you wondered through the world, it would be easy to get those upgrades. I doubt the devs ever intended most people to collect all of them. But you know how gamers are.

Well, TotK clearly kicked that up a notch. There are still Korok seeds. Also someone wants you to explore all the wells. Also, someone wants you to collect all these gems you find in caves. And I haven't even hit all the towns yet, and I'm almost fearful of what other global collectible quests I may stumble into.

The quests seem more numerous, which is good. They also seem far more explicit which is bad. The Breath of the Wild quests always felt like interesting riddles that I felt clever for figuring out. A lot of Tears of the Kingdom quest are just too "Go exactly here, do exactly this". More than I remember that being the case in BotW.

The further I get in the story, I'm not sure what to make of it. Breath of the Wild tantalized me with all the Zelda Timeline shenanigans, and it hinted a lot at all of them. I think the official line is that it's so far in the future, it's at the end of all three timelines. Because why not.

Or my theory that Hyrule Warriors, and it's story about Zelda universes colliding, being canon is true.

That aside, Tears of the Kingdom seems to have decided "Naw, forget all that." And so without those hints, clues and references to past games, the world feels all the shallower and more gamey amusement parkish. The verisimilitude of a world with a deep and storied history is broken to a degree.

kiacadp wrote on 2023-06-20, 07:25:

Currently playing through Black Mesa, HL 1 remake. Thoroughly enjoying it. Have the original installed on my Pentium 3 system but the remake is just so much better I think. Played the original back in the day and remember being blown away by its graphics and story line. The remake makes it possible to relieve that I guess, and all in 1440p!

Yeah, Black Mesa is great.

I can't believe a fans dev team (Crowbar Collective) was able to create such a great remake, 10x better than what most AAA companies would have done.

I also think that it is the best looking Source game, which is even more impressive because it is an almost 20 years old engine 😄

Thank God HL-Source was a thing 🙂

Demetrio wrote on 2023-06-20, 17:38:

Yeah, Black Mesa is great. […]
Show full quote

kiacadp wrote on 2023-06-20, 07:25:

Currently playing through Black Mesa, HL 1 remake. Thoroughly enjoying it. Have the original installed on my Pentium 3 system but the remake is just so much better I think. Played the original back in the day and remember being blown away by its graphics and story line. The remake makes it possible to relieve that I guess, and all in 1440p!

Yeah, Black Mesa is great.

I can't believe a fans dev team (Crowbar Collective) was able to create such a great remake, 10x better than what most AAA companies would have done.

I also think that it is the best looking Source game, which is even more impressive because it is an almost 20 years old engine 😄

Thank God HL-Source was a thing 🙂

You wouldn't think it's fan made mod , for sure. Goes to show you what actual dedication for a game can do hey. The game's worth every cent as you can tell they've put a lot of effort into it. Love it how they even have Windows 2000 (?) running on their computers there, blue screens and all 😄

Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos
I played this lot over the last couple of days, and got through the White Tower, Yvel City, Catwalk Caves, and "Dungeon." That leaves me at Scotia's castle, so I guess I'm nearing the end of the game.

The White Tower was very easy with Vaelan's cube, but is probably close to impossible without it. What a mess this area is. The game provides no hint whatsover to use the cube in the White Tower (in fact, a clue early on in the game leads you astray, indicating that the cube is used to drain energy from LIVING foes). Even worse, what player would hang on to the weak emerald blades, just in case? I think most players, playing blind, threw the otherwise useless emerald blades away to clear up inventory space, used the cube the instant they found the gate, and were therefore forced to drop the game with no way to clear the White Tower.

Yvel City had a cool event where you have to single-handedly hold off an invasion; but even this is a mess. It goes on forever and you have no indication that you are actually making progress, so after killing my 50th orc or whatever, I was wondering if I was supposed to go find a specific enemy on the map or something. Luckily, shortly after that, whatever triggers the end of the invasion triggered, and it was over (still plenty of enemies roaming around of course...)

Catwalk Caves was fine, though quite annoying to navigate due to all the one-way secret doors, requiring you to constantly circle the entire (large) map just to get anywhere.

"Dungeon" is clearly filler, and came completely out of nowhere. Two alien races warring in the basement of a castle, and you have to kill one or the other to proceed. Huh? Why? This was really dull, as you just explore a really dull dungeon and wipe out every single enemy. I went with the Xeobs, and found the Knowles to be extremely annoying to fight; they have this earthquake attack that knocks everyone's health down to 50% and also forces everyone to drop their weapons. This is just dumb. You obviously can't defeat these monsters with your bare hands, so the only choice is to tediously pick your weapons up one by one and equip them again. It's just there to waste your time.

---

Anyway, I hope to finish this by the end of the week. I'm hoping Scotia's castle will be more interesting; it would be a shame if the game ended on a string of bad dungeons.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-06-22, 03:23:

The White Tower was very easy with Vaelan's cube, but is probably close to impossible without it. What a mess this area is. The game provides no hint whatsover to use the cube in the White Tower (in fact, a clue early on in the game leads you astray, indicating that the cube is used to drain energy from LIVING foes). Even worse, what player would hang on to the weak emerald blades, just in case? I think most players, playing blind, threw the otherwise useless emerald blades away to clear up inventory space, used the cube the instant they found the gate, and were therefore forced to drop the game with no way to clear the White Tower.

The tower is really bad without the cube but not close to impossible. I did it without the cube back then as must have nearly everyone else, I mean the barrier is right there next to the tower so why wouldn't you use the cube on it right away like the game had already tought you to do. IIRC I camped at the stairs and ran a way constantly downstairs to heal up and go back up again. It sucked but was doable. I found out about the cube trick just a few years ago.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-06-22, 03:23:

"Dungeon" is clearly filler, and came completely out of nowhere. Two alien races warring in the basement of a castle, and you have to kill one or the other to proceed. Huh? Why? This was really dull, as you just explore a really dull dungeon and wipe out every single enemy. I went with the Xeobs, and found the Knowles to be extremely annoying to fight; they have this earthquake attack that does knocks everyone's health down to 50% and also forces everyone to drop their weapons. This is just dumb. You obviously can't defeat these monsters with your bare hands, so the only choice is to tediously pick your weapons up one by one and equip them again. It's just there to waste your time.

Yep, I remember even reviewers at the time noted it as boring filler.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-06-22, 03:23:

Anyway, I hope to finish this by the end of the week. I'm hoping Scotia's castle will be more interesting; it would be a shame if the game ended on a string of bad dungeons.

Well, it's better than the previously mentioned dungeon but not amazing, I remember it being kinda frustrating. The latter parts of the game aren't that great unfortunately, also something the reviewers noted. It can be a fun game during the best parts of it (as long you can tolerate enemy spawning) but it's also a game you tend to walk away with a "thank god it's over" feeling once it's done.

After finishing Zelda, and falling back into then out of the Crusader Kings III hole, I've drifted back to Guild Wars 2. I've been wanting to get back in to TIE Fighter, as I finished X-Wing a year and a half ago, but Something about longform missions is just not jelling with me right now.

Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos
Finally completed, and

Sombrero wrote on 2023-06-22, 04:09:

"thank god it's over"

I'm happy to report that the game ended on a somewhat high note, as Scotia's Castle was a pretty decent dungeon... probably the second best area in the game behind the Urbish Mines (definitely where the game peaked imo).

There's some fun to be had with the game, especially up to the halfway point or so, and the graphics and music are so good that's it's worth pressing on just to see what's next. However, the last 30% or so is full of what seems to be rushed content, with lots of large but mostly empty dungeons. They compensate for that by filling them with extremely tedious monsters that permanently destroy armor, or cause earthquakes that make you drop all your weapons.

Honestly, I don't think I enjoyed combat at all in this game; there just isn't much that can be done with such a simple system, with only three characters in the party and just a handful of spells. It really needed more spells, or potion-mixing, or something to make it a bit more tactical imo. Gaining levels doesn't really make you feel any stronger, since the enemies just get more and more powerful as the game goes on.