I got started on Oxenfree. I wasn't sure what to expect, but thought it was more of a point 'n click than the Telltale style pick your response type narrative adventure it turned out to be. It's still pretty interesting, though..

The Outer Worlds
I completed this yesterday morning, and was shocked at how short the game is. It took me just over 26 hours to do absolutely every quest I could find, including the companion quests for the characters I wasn't using. That doesn't include the DLCs, though, since I don't have them.

I ended up enjoying this. As a shooter, it feels better than any of the first-person perspective Fallout games. As an RPG, it's nowhere near as good as New Vegas, but much better than Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. The environments are small but fun to explore, and quests have multiple solutions (though most of the time this is merely a choice between shooting or talking your way through). I was relieved to find that there was only one of those typical open-world quests where you have to go around killing a bunch of monsters to collect their materials.

It has a very basic crafting/upgrade system. This stuff usually bores me to tears, but it was simple yet rewarding enough for me to get into it. You can attach mods to equipment to add new functionality, and can also upgrade equipment stats just by spending currency. There's a very simple system of strengths and weaknesses, with humans and creatures weak to plasma, robots weak to electricity, and heavily armored enemies weak to acid, so it's beneficial to maintain a small collection of weapons, each with a different damage type.

Although the game plays fine and looks pretty good, it really suffers when it comes to dialogue and writing. The concept is fun: in the future, governments have been replaced by massive corporations. It's a great setup that could very dark if played straight, or very interesting if played as satire... but The Outer Worlds simply makes it a big joke. Situations and characters are almost always "quirky" and dialogue consists mainly of a bunch of a cringeworthy jokes and lame one liners. It makes it impossible to get immersed in the world and story; if the writers couldn't take the setting seriously, how can the player?

Still, I found the exploration to be enjoyable enough to keep me going even through the worst of the goofy dialogue and characters, and will eventually play the sequel.

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-11-16, 04:48:

The Outer Worlds I completed this yesterday morning, and was shocked at how short the game is. It took me just over 26 hours to […]
Show full quote

The Outer Worlds
I completed this yesterday morning, and was shocked at how short the game is. It took me just over 26 hours to do absolutely every quest I could find, including the companion quests for the characters I wasn't using. That doesn't include the DLCs, though, since I don't have them.

I ended up enjoying this. As a shooter, it feels better than any of the first-person perspective Fallout games. As an RPG, it's nowhere near as good as New Vegas, but much better than Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. The environments are small but fun to explore, and quests have multiple solutions (though most of the time this is merely a choice between shooting or talking your way through). I was relieved to find that there was only one of those typical open-world quests where you have to go around killing a bunch of monsters to collect their materials.

It has a very basic crafting/upgrade system. This stuff usually bores me to tears, but it was simple yet rewarding enough for me to get into it. You can attach mods to equipment to add new functionality, and can also upgrade equipment stats just by spending currency. There's a very simple system of strengths and weaknesses, with humans and creatures weak to plasma, robots weak to electricity, and heavily armored enemies weak to acid, so it's beneficial to maintain a small collection of weapons, each with a different damage type.

Although the game plays fine and looks pretty good, it really suffers when it comes to dialogue and writing. The concept is fun: in the future, governments have been replaced by massive corporations. It's a great setup that could very dark if played straight, or very interesting if played as satire... but The Outer Worlds simply makes it a big joke. Situations and characters are almost always "quirky" and dialogue consists mainly of a bunch of a cringeworthy jokes and lame one liners. It makes it impossible to get immersed in the world and story; if the writers couldn't take the setting seriously, how can the player?

Still, I found the exploration to be enjoyable enough to keep me going even through the worst of the goofy dialogue and characters, and will eventually play the sequel.

Glad you liked it, I did too. I found it to be a more story centric version of Borderlands. From your description of Outer Worlds it sounds like you might not have played Borderlands, pretty similar but with more WoW style quests you don't like mixed in. You might give it a try though especially if you play it coop with a friend or friends.

badmojo wrote on 2013-05-31, 02:19:

Next up for me is Tomb Raider (the first one). This was inspired by a good review in CGW which I read recently, and vetz' excellent thread on Voodoo2 DOS glide compatibility. I'll be playing on a P166MMX + Creative 3D blaster, so have downloaded the relevant patch and will give it a go shortly.

I have played original Tomb Raider with Rage Pro, but ATi 3DCIF API needs Win95 or newer W9x.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3qFSOKyyCU&t=903s

marxveix wrote on 2025-11-17, 09:33:

I have played original Tomb Raider with Rage Pro, but ATi 3DCIF API needs Win95 or newer W9x.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3qFSOKyyCU&t=903s

A while back, I tried playing Tomb Raider on a Rage XL. While the frame rate and image quality were excellent, the CIF version of the game seems to crash on that card when fighting certain enemies.

Not sure if that happens on Rage II cards as well, as I don't own any of those.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-11-17, 09:41:

marxveix wrote on 2025-11-17, 09:33:

I have played original Tomb Raider with Rage Pro, but ATi 3DCIF API needs Win95 or newer W9x.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3qFSOKyyCU&t=903s

A while back, I tried playing Tomb Raider on a Rage XL. While the frame rate and image quality were excellent, the CIF version of the game seems to crash on that card when fighting certain enemies.

Not sure if that happens on Rage II cards as well, as I don't own any of those.

Have not played it to the end, could you send savegame where it happens, that i can try it quicker?
I have read in this forum that somebody have played ati cif version to the end, i try to find that post.
RagePro has small edge @ CIF compability vs Rage XL AGP, but both are good cards for old pc builds.

Rage2 are slower, i do not recommend those over Rage3.

marxveix wrote on 2025-11-17, 14:17:

Have not played it to the end, could you send savegame where it happens, that i can try it quicker?

Don't have one, but you can use the level skip cheat to quickly get to The Great Pyramid (level 15). Killing the big boss enemy who appears right at the start of that level causes the aforementioned crash.

The cheats for the PC version of Tomb Raider are listed on its GameFAQs page.

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-11-16, 04:48:

The Outer Worlds
I completed this yesterday morning, and was shocked at how short the game is. It took me just over 26 hours to do absolutely every quest I could find, including the companion quests for the characters I wasn't using. That doesn't include the DLCs, though, since I don't have them.

that's quite short i suppose, but also i guess 2 hours on 13 separate days isn't that short... Is it very open world? I.e. can you just go around doing all kinds of things for ages before even taking up a quest?

Shagittarius wrote on 2025-11-16, 20:53:

Glad you liked it, I did too. I found it to be a more story centric version of Borderlands. From your description of Outer Worlds it sounds like you might not have played Borderlands, pretty similar but with more WoW style quests you don't like mixed in. You might give it a try though especially if you play it coop with a friend or friends.

I actually do have the Borderlands games in my Steam library and, although I got pretty far into the first one, the humor and WoW-style quests ended up turning me off from the game. I do plan on completing the first one some day, though.

gerry wrote on 2025-11-17, 18:05:

that's quite short i suppose, but also i guess 2 hours on 13 separate days isn't that short... Is it very open world? I.e. can you just go around doing all kinds of things for ages before even taking up a quest?

It's much closer to Knights of the Old Republic than something like Skyrim. There is plenty of optional stuff to do, but I did everything I could find in the game and it was over in 26 hours. The main quest itself probably takes 10-15 hours.

I bought the game Turbo Overkill from Trigger Happy Interactive and Apogee Software when it released, but never had time to finish it. So, I just decided to do that. If you love 90's and early 2000's style shooters, what the kids call "boomer shooters", then you'll likely enjoy this. In modern terms, it kinda feels like Doom Eternal in it's gameplay, with very heavy vibes from games like System Shock, Quake, Rise of the Triad, and other games of that nature.

Clair Obscur: Expedtion 33 -> playing this lately.

My GeForce GTX 5090 purchase never felt more justified. In 4K (OLED), this game is gorgeous !

The story is set out to be very sad, from start to finish.

I've played Lost Odyssey... I can manage!

It's always exciting to finish a game, because that means it's time to go through my library, install a bunch of games, and figure out what to play next:

Avadon 2: The Corruption
I completed the first game years ago, and didn't love it. Still, it was okay to play while doing other stuff in the background (listening to music or podcasts), so I finished it and was sort of looking forward to the sequels.

I gave it a few hours, but this game is just boring. It's more of the same, and the first game already felt way too long. There are three games in this series, and I cannot imagine spending 120 hours with these stripped down RPG mechanics, dull setting, and boring characters. Maybe I just have to be in the mood for this.

Deus Ex
Believe it or not, although I've had a copy of this since the day it was released, I've never finished it (or even got very far into it). I've just arrived at the Hell's Kitchen area, and it's amazing so far. I like how each area feels like a little sandbox, with multiple ways through and tons of stuff to find. I'll definitely keep playing this.

Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk
This is a turn-based dungeon crawler (like Wizardry, etc.). Normally I have zero interest in this heavily anime-style game, but I'm willing to put up with a lot for a dungeon crawler. The story and dialogue are absolutely terrible, but it's actually a cool spin on the crawler formula. You have five positions in your party and, although you start out with a single character in each position, you eventually are able to add multiple characters to each position, forming five little squads. The dungeon design is also quite good, with lots of shortcuts to unlock and even a fun ability to break certain walls. Not bad so far!

Path of Exile
I've been slowly working my way through this game for many years now. It's a cool twist on the Diablo II formula, but it's just way too big considering you basically just do the same thing over and over the whole game. There are 10 Acts to get through, and each Act has been taking 5-10 hours for me to clear (though I suspect that you could zoom through the areas and really cut that time down). It's a fun game to put a couple of hours into here and there.

Wasteland 2
I got addicted to this a year or two ago, but stopped playing for some reason... and I decided that I'd like to finish this one by the end of the year. It's a cool game, sort of like a mix of the original Wasteland and Fallout. Much like Path of Exile, though, it suffers for being a bit too long and somewhat repetitive.

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-11-21, 11:24:

It's always exciting to finish a game, because that means it's time to go through my library, install a bunch of games, and figure out what to play next

I've been going through this enjoyable process recently too, trying to recreate the joy I got from playing SKALD:Against the Black Priory. Thanks to GOG sales and their excellent refund policy I've tried countless RPGs - some overwhelmed me, some underwhelmed, but quite a few have made it on the list for closer inspection - Roadwarden, Arcanum, Fates of Ort, Moonring, UnderRail, Lords of Xulima, etc.

But for now I'm attempting to get serious about Eschalon Book I, which was recommended here a couple of times. Initially I must admit I was turned off by the 800x600 graphics. Yes it can be played full screen but it looks pretty ugly when scaled (the best was Nvidia's 'aspect ratio' mode). ReShade filters (CRT / scanline) helped but it still wasn't particularly easy on the eyeballs. But then I discovered IntegerScaler_64bit.exe - this can be used via a BAT file to automatically integer scale a windowed application and it looks great. There are still black bars all around but my 27" 2K monitor still displays the game larger than it would be on my retro machine's 17" CRT (this was my other option but 60Hz CRT also hurts).

Now that I can stand to look at it I'm having great fun with this game. I was struggling with my usual bow / ranger character because I couldn't afford arrows and you can't obviously hold a torch with a bow, which results in a significant penalty in the dark. So I've just restarted with a sword swinging rogue, which seems to be easier going. I'm loving the attention to detail and the depth of the mechanics. The storytelling seems good quality - no cringy dialogs - and the combat is OK. Exploration is a big thing for me and poking around has been very rewarding so far. All told I'm getting a real 'Gothic' vibe - believable setting and characters, very weak starting character who dies a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing where the story takes me.

BAT file for using IntegerScaler_64bit.exe:

1@echo off
2
3cd "C:\Games\Eschalon - Book I"
4start ./IntegerScaler_64bit.exe -clipcursor
5start ./"Eschalon Book I.exe"
6
7end

You also need to put a file called 'auto.txt' in the same dir as IntegerScaler_64bit with the path to the game .exe in it.

(It looks a lot nicer than this in real life, the compression on this forum sucks. IntegerScaler leaves it looking very sharp and colourful)

badmojo wrote on 2025-11-22, 00:52:

But for now I'm attempting to get serious about Eschalon Book I, which was recommended here a couple of times.

I'm glad you're giving it a go. It's been many years since I played this trilogy (Book 1 in 2017/2018, Book 2 in 2019, Book 3 in 2021), but I still have fond memories of this game and series. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I did.

I'm still plugging away at KCD2, and really enjoying it, I just don't have as much time as I used to. I'm averaging only about 2 hours per week of gaming anymore.

xcomcmdr wrote on 2025-11-20, 21:53:

Clair Obscur: Expedtion 33 -> playing this lately. […]
Show full quote

Clair Obscur: Expedtion 33 -> playing this lately.

My GeForce GTX 5090 purchase never felt more justified. In 4K (OLED), this game is gorgeous !

The story is set out to be very sad, from start to finish.

I've played Lost Odyssey... I can manage!

this game looks amazing and has some very high ratings for story, voice, music and art, it might be a future classic

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-11-21, 11:24:

Deus Ex
Believe it or not, although I've had a copy of this since the day it was released, I've never finished it (or even got very far into it). I've just arrived at the Hell's Kitchen area, and it's amazing so far. I like how each area feels like a little sandbox, with multiple ways through and tons of stuff to find. I'll definitely keep playing this.

This is a classic and seems an evermore relevant depiction of dystopic future/present (despite some small features that now seem out of place - like the presence of newspapers!). I love the open areas - hell's kitchen, hong kong, paris - interacting with normal folk, picking up on the state of things, the beliefs and feelings of the people, the ground level reality of poverty, disease, fear, oppression and misinformation. i could have spent hours in those areas, always wanted more and the game became too "normal" once within the necessary final stages, where the player is inside the facilities of those in power. If it were made today, and made well, it would feature more nuanced political alliances between corps, govt, academia and other elites (complete with double crossing), a host of AI related influences and a rich 'social media' of misinformation, manipulation, sowing of division. And more cities, more buildings, more NPCs, more interaction - at least for me, i'd want that!

gerry wrote on 2025-11-24, 10:53:

this game looks amazing and has some very high ratings for story, voice, music and art, it might be a future classic […]
Show full quote

xcomcmdr wrote on 2025-11-20, 21:53:

Clair Obscur: Expedtion 33 -> playing this lately. […]
Show full quote

Clair Obscur: Expedtion 33 -> playing this lately.

My GeForce GTX 5090 purchase never felt more justified. In 4K (OLED), this game is gorgeous !

The story is set out to be very sad, from start to finish.

I've played Lost Odyssey... I can manage!

this game looks amazing and has some very high ratings for story, voice, music and art, it might be a future classic

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-11-21, 11:24:

Deus Ex
Believe it or not, although I've had a copy of this since the day it was released, I've never finished it (or even got very far into it). I've just arrived at the Hell's Kitchen area, and it's amazing so far. I like how each area feels like a little sandbox, with multiple ways through and tons of stuff to find. I'll definitely keep playing this.

This is a classic and seems an evermore relevant depiction of dystopic future/present (despite some small features that now seem out of place - like the presence of newspapers!). I love the open areas - hell's kitchen, hong kong, paris - interacting with normal folk, picking up on the state of things, the beliefs and feelings of the people, the ground level reality of poverty, disease, fear, oppression and misinformation. i could have spent hours in those areas, always wanted more and the game became too "normal" once within the necessary final stages, where the player is inside the facilities of those in power. If it were made today, and made well, it would feature more nuanced political alliances between corps, govt, academia and other elites (complete with double crossing), a host of AI related influences and a rich 'social media' of misinformation, manipulation, sowing of division. And more cities, more buildings, more NPCs, more interaction - at least for me, i'd want that!

almost like its an interactive audiobook

Currently playing Dark Souls 2. I got the "DX9 bundle" on Steam, which (I think) includes the original version of the game and all of its DLC. I'm only a few of hours in, so here are some first impressions.

The controls feel "floaty" for lack of a better word, and don't seem to be as precise as in DS1. I also had to turn off all the "helpful" lock on assists. For some reason, those were enabled by default, which made me nauseous due to the way this "assist" jerks the camera around. I never used lock on in DS1, but this game seems to really want me to. No thanks.

There are more bonfires around, but you only get one healing flask at the start, and need to use other, non-replenishable consumables when that runs out. Feels kinda weird. On the plus side, fast travel between bonfires is unlocked right from the get go, which is nice. Oddly, weapons seem to degrade much faster in this game, and their overall durability seems to have been lowered. I hope this doesn't turn into a micro management thing, where you need to constantly swap weapons, because I really disliked that in Doom Eternal.

Anyway, I just beat the first boss, that stone giant thing. Movement still feels weird with these new controls, but I managed somehow. Got a bunch of souls as a reward, so I upgraded my weapon a bit, and put some points into that adaptability stat, which supposedly improves dodging. I hope this works out, because it still feels kinda clunky, and I'm not sure if it's due to the altered controls or something else. Lastly, despite all of the little differences, Dark Souls 2 still mostly plays like its predecessor, which is good. Maybe I just need more time to get used to the changes.

Pillars of Eternity.

I bought this on GOG when it first came out, but really didn't play much of it at the time.

Started it again a couple of weeks ago and decided to take a break from my usual Paladin-approach in crpg's. This time I've approached it as an offensive Spellcaster... started off very squishy and fragile, but on eventually recruiting a full party of adventurers and getting a few levels (about lvl 7 currently) he is now dealing huge damage. Focussing on aoe attacks and having picked up some gear that gives free spells as well as some of the skills that give additional uses per level he is now churning out waves and waves of damage between rests.

Artwork is beautiful, as it always was, and I'm finally getting a little deeper into the story.

Love it.

Up after that is PoE II.

megatron-uk wrote on Yesterday, 18:15:

Pillars of Eternity.

I have this in my library but am holding off trying it until the turn based patch is released.