UCyborg wrote on 2026-09-14, 16:23:

^ So GTA VI's turn comes 2040, give or take. 😀

That year number sounds so surreal.

heh! yes, could be - hoping for an eventual gog like version and some refinement so it runs on whatever passes for modest hardware then! 😀

I cant imagine games in 2040 to be honest, it does seem like a sci fi date, but so did 2025!

ELEX

Finished! The story got much more interesting during the second half, and I was surprised by some of the revelations. From what I gather, there are several possible endings. Since my "coldness" level was very low, I got the one where I defeated the big bad guy and saved everyone, though I did see how it could have gone differently as well. After that, there's a post-game event of sorts, where you can visit all the major NPCs that you interacted with, and see how your choices and actions have affected the world. Pretty cool stuff.

On the flip side, combat remained clunky and mostly unfun until the very end, the leveling system was kinda meh, the world was overly large and the music wasn't as memorable as in the Gothic/Risen games. Still, ELEX was ok-ish for the most part, though it's not my favorite Piranha Bytes game by any means. The story does set up a sequel, but I've heard mixed things about that one, so I'm in no rush to pick it up. Maybe once it goes on a hefty sale.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-09-15, 14:20:

ELEX

Finished! The story got much more interesting during the second half, and I was surprised by some of the revelations. From what I gather, there are several possible endings. Since my "coldness" level was very low, I got the one where I defeated the big bad guy and saved everyone, though I did see how it could have gone differently as well. After that, there's a post-game event of sorts, where you can visit all the major NPCs that you interacted with, and see how your choices and actions have affected the world. Pretty cool stuff.

On the flip side, combat remained clunky and mostly unfun until the very end, the leveling system was kinda meh, the world was overly large and the music wasn't as memorable as in the Gothic/Risen games. Still, ELEX was ok-ish for the most part, though it's not my favorite Piranha Bytes game by any means. The story does set up a sequel, but I've heard mixed things about that one, so I'm in no rush to pick it up. Maybe once it goes on a hefty sale.

I didn't have much issues with the size of the world. Traversal was quick and I liked the verticality.
As for combat, on my playthrough I joined the Clerics who are much more about high-tech ranged weapons.

RandomStranger wrote on 2026-09-15, 15:55:

I didn't have much issues with the size of the world. Traversal was quick and I liked the verticality.
As for combat, on my playthrough I joined the Clerics who are much more about high-tech ranged weapons.

Yeah, I have also heard from other people that ranged combat is a bit better. But I was playing as a melee focused Berserker, using an axe during the vast majority of the run. My point is, compared to the elegant, timing-based melee combat from Gothic 1/2 and Risen 1, swinging the axe around in ELEX felt very clunky and imprecise.

Regarding world size, anything that's larger than Gothic 2 + NOTR starts feeling tedious to me. But that's just my personal preference and entirely subjective. And while the fast-travel in ELEX was convenient, those teleport pads were sometimes easy to miss, especially in snowy areas that you visit later in the game.

RandomStranger wrote on 2026-09-14, 03:50:

Look for it on Ebay. Check listings where you can see the authentication code and try to redeem that on Steam.
If it hasn't been activated yet, which is likely, because the game doesn't require activation and there is no indication on the box that it can be, then you'll get a legal copy on Steam.

Well, that would be like stealing from someone, so I'd rather download a copy from archive.org !

mtest001 wrote on 2026-09-17, 11:27:

RandomStranger wrote on 2026-09-14, 03:50:

Look for it on Ebay. Check listings where you can see the authentication code and try to redeem that on Steam.
If it hasn't been activated yet, which is likely, because the game doesn't require activation and there is no indication on the box that it can be, then you'll get a legal copy on Steam.

Well, that would be like stealing from someone, so I'd rather download a copy from archive.org !

In my view:

1. You can't expect used games not to be activated. It's a bonus if they haven't been, but if you want to buy one specifically to activate on Steam, you should look for a sealed box or at least a listing that doesn't post the install key.
2. The seller shouldn't make the install key public.
3. If I were to buy a game put up for sale like that, I'd still be happy that I have that game in my collection and I can install and play it as is. I wouldn't be disappointed if it's already activated on Steam because I can't reasonably expect that it wasn't.

GTA V

Played a bit more it seems odd switching character in the middle of some action but it works. Overall it's good but not really as, not sure what the wards are, "narratively engaging" or compelling like earlier games, but its still fun enough and still has the bite of satire. One thing i noticed though - i'm less interested in cars, too many types of them maybe, also lots of radio stations, it'll take a longer time to "learn" them the way you learned in earlier games

Just finished Doom 3 (BFG Edition, yeah I know...).

It's hard for me to understand how I skipped this game back then, considering that I was a huge fan of the first two. I found the experience really enjoyable. The sound design is truly fantastic. A few critics though, mainly the "corridor" feel and lack of freedom in the exploration, monsters spawning behind your back all the time, and spending 90% of your time with the shotgun because that's the most effective weapon in closed quarter. Overall it's a very good game. I'm continuing with the expansions now.

The numbers, Mason. What do they mean? Where are they broadcast from?

Dragovich. Kravchenko. Steiner. All must die.

Yikes! I just realised - Call of Duty: Black Ops - mission Executive order; right at the beginning, there's a snake that goes past you and it seems a hiss can be heard.

I don't remember noticing it in a way that it would click: "Hey, there's a snake there.".

Must have been sleepwalking through life as usual.

Lately I play the following games on Atari 1040STF

1. The Secret of Monkey Island
2. Loom
3. Future Wars
4. Fascination
5. Cruise for a Corpse
6. Barbarian (aka Death Sword)
7. Maniac Mansion
8. Zak McKrackent

The Sims 4! I keep telling myself i’ll play something else but somehow i always end up back there 🤣

I recently learned that an unofficial Windows port of Bloodborne is in the works, so I gave it a try. There seem to be a few of these floating around, so I just downloaded one that I've seen being used on YouTube. To be clear, that's just a launcher, and no actual game files are included. But if you have a physical disc of Bloodborne and a jailbroken PS4, it's very easy to create a backup copy, which the launcher can then use.

Initial impressions: performance is better compared to running the game via ShadPS4 emulator. But there's still a lot of shader compilation stutter when you first visit an area. Since this is a native port, hopefully, the devs can add a shader pre-compilation setting at some point. Right now, the game's own V-Sync solution has some frame pacing issues, so I used Nvidia's driver V-Sync override and frame rate cap, which smoothed things out. What I found most interesting is that this port can use DLSS/FSR for anti aliasing, which greatly improves image quality. Specifically, I've been using DLAA, as it makes Bloodborne look super crisp. And no, I don't mean that dumb DLSS 5 AI slop filter, just plain old DLAA.

Anyway, I just did a brief test run of the first level, and the results were pretty impressive. Considering how early in development this port is, things can only get better in the future. Kudos to the community for picking up the mantle after Sony denied us an official port, or even a PS5 upgrade patch.

I don't really play games much these days sadly but when I do I keep chipping away at 'The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos', which is a free total conversion mod of Gothic II. Gothic is my favourite game series and this is now my favorite game of the series - it's just fantastic. Wonderful level design and tweaks on the Gothic engine and formula, and there's so much amazing content. The quests are interesting and the overall story fits in with the existing world of Myrtana really nicely.

There's a 2.0 version of the mod coming out at some stage, or so the story goes. Maybe I'll be finished v1.0 by the time it does but either way I'll definitely be playing through it all again one day, it's just so good.