JayCeeBee64
Ever tried GOG.com? Games there are DRM-free, and while they do have a client, you do not have to install it (I never did). Just go to your account page, select a game from your list and download the installer. They offer both new and old games.

alexanrs wrote:

JayCeeBee64
Ever tried GOG.com? Games there are DRM-free, and while they do have a client, you do not have to install it (I never did). Just go to your account page, select a game from your list and download the installer. They offer both new and old games.

I do have a GOG.com account (since August of last year). I've purchased a number of old games, but looking at the 2005 and newer listings didn't have anything that jumped out at me until I saw this game, SOMA, in October. As luck would have it, an old HS friend I recently reconnected with bought it and is currently playing it; what he's told me so far seems very encouraging. I plan to go to his apartment this weekend to give the game a try; if I like what I see, then I'll give myself an early Christmas gift 😊

I've never played Half Life 2.

I haven't finished many games since about the late 90s. By then my completion ratio was in a steep decline. I still play them but usually don't commit to them enough to finish them.
I was much more prone to finish games when I was a kid playing on consoles. The games were simpler, I had a limited library available, no internet, and I had nothing much more to do than homework and video games.
Every once in a while I can still get into a game that I play straight through, but it's the exception rather than the rule.

dosquest wrote:

I hate to admit it but I have never played Doom or Doom II (or any of the counterpart re-releases) to completion. The only Doom game I have finished would be Doom3. Do any of you have any deep, dark, games that you have never played til completion?

I never owned the full version of DOOM, though with all the GOG stuff I've accumulated I might have it in there somewhere, I don't honestly know.
I had DOOM2, and I played legit up to the last level, but I never understood how you're supposed to beat it. I even looked in the level editor and it still didn't make sense what they had in mind. Eventually I used the 'noclip' cheat since I didn't know what else to do. So it wasn't legit, but I didn't really care. I was ready to be done and messing with WADs was more fun anyway.

I don't have a GOG account and I don't intend to get one because I already own all the good, old games I care about.

So, I believe that because a lot of games have gone to open-world/sandbox type that it is harder to finish. Less intuitive, no GO HERE FOR NEXT LEVEL. Its like "Oh...kill this guy, get this, buy this, talk to him...then come back after doing this on this before this." plus side quests. I either get distracted or bored. Speaking of GTA, GTA IV was the only GTA game I have even gotten close to completion. I just get distracted by the open world type stuff. Oh, though I am working on finishing Postal 2.
*******Spoiler********

Shoot Romero's head.
Ahem.

Furthermore, I would like to clarify on the Doom/Doom II issue. Those who know me outside of Vogons, or have taken a peek at my profile will know that I was nowhere sentient in 1993, or nowhere apt enough to use a computer in 1995. So, how could I of played Doom/Doom II with such fond retro memories? Well, in about 2006/2007 I went to a local bookshop that also happened to have a CD-ROM section. Well, I poked around for a little bit then came accross Doom/Doom II/Ultimate Doom/Final Doom/Quake for $0.50 each. Well, I looked at the back cover of Doom II and was instantly drawn it. The cover art which was designed in 1995 still did its very job in 2007: convince a young kid to buy it through awesome gore filled screen shots and awesome description. So, I purchased the games and went home. Put them into my (at the time) brand new computer. Hit start on Doom95 and was actually scared at first. The MIDI music was frightening to an eleven year old kid, no wonder. So I pushed on, started the first level and was instantly sucked in. Though when I went to play Doom and the other Doom released I was met with the "this is a 16-bit application and cannot run on your version of Windows." message, which at that point I set out to find a solution to this cryptic message. I came across DOSBox. Downloaded version 0.72 which had just been released and learned the ins and outs of playing with DOS games. Then I upgraded to 0.73 and 0.74 and so on. The rest really is history. I learned to love retro games and computers and slowly began my collection of retro systems to tinker with and play on. /RANTOVER
Edit: Slight sanfu. Apparently the jewel case for the GT-Interactive release of Doom II CD-ROM didn't feature any awesome game screenshots.

It's nice to meet someone who became a fan of retro games / systems, without having been introduced to them when they were originally released. I find that most people can't appreciate "retro" stuff that was already "old" by the time they got to the "scene". For example, I myself have no special place in my heart for stuff of the 80s, because I first started using a computer in the 90s. So, in a way, you're awesome. 😀

Personally I respect all eras of tech. My favorite being 90s. 80s micro computing and personal computers also interest me but the 90s hold a special place in my heart. Not only personally but emotionally.

I consider myself an RPG player, but I've never played an Ultima or a Wizardry game. Although I do own a few of them, have never gotten around to them.

dr_st wrote:

For example, I myself have no special place in my heart for stuff of the 80s, because I first started using a computer in the 90s. So, in a way, you're awesome. 😀

Says the guy with a 1984 game for an avatar.

Touché. 😀

The Witcher

I never liked Homeworld norte Auge of Empires

I love "open world" gameplay. That's something I was fascinated with in the Ultima series, especially Ultimas 6 and 7. It was a glaring contrast against console RPGs of those days. However, it's true that those type of games are also harder to "beat", because you have other things to do and finishing the main plot of the game doesn't feel as much like a compelling objective.
In fact, Ultima 7 is the only Ultima I finished - and it took a deliberate effort to wrap that up. I came close in Ultima 1, where I was nearly finished but didn't actually kill the final boss. In the other Ultimas, I never got close.
I like RPGs but it's rare for me to finish them.

dosquest wrote:

*******Spoiler********
[..]
Ahem.

Yeah, but I couldn't figure out how you're supposed to legitimately get there. Noclip seemed to be the only way.
The lesson I learned from DOOM 2 is that while you might be able to fight your way guns blazing to the lowest depths of hell, in the end you will always lose.

Here you go shamino, the last level in Doom 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7xXGdMjC90

That's how it's done without cheats 😉

shamino wrote:

Yeah, but I couldn't figure out how you're supposed to legitimately get there. Noclip seemed to be the only way.
The lesson I learned from DOOM 2 is that while you might be able to fight your way guns blazing to the lowest depths of hell, in the end you will always lose.

If I remember correctly, there was a lift that ascend you at the almost same level with the head that you supposed to blast. The thing was, ii was going up a little bit more than necessary, so you need to shoot the target with your rocket launcher just a bit before the lift goes all the way up. And it took several shots (only by rocket launcher) to do the job.

That was pretty much the only puzzle in the game. It doesn't help that you have to solve this puzzle while being assaulted by ever increasing hordes of monsters, but it does feel like a fitting end to the game. On lower difficulty settings there were invulnerability spheres around to make it easier.

It takes 3 rockets to do it, which normally means 3 trips up the elevator. But good players can often get a rocket into the gap while falling off the elevator too, which means you can do it in 2. I am not sure if I remember anyone every doing it in a single trip. Maybe two fast very accurate shots can get into the gap one after the other during the same ride up.

JayCeeBee64 wrote:

Here you go shamino, the last level in Doom 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7xXGdMjC90

That's how it's done without cheats 😉

Ok, what I don't get is why he didn't just blast off four rockets at the same time. Why the shoot and jump down then go back up? There is no reload wait with the RPG, or any weapon in Doom as a matter of fact. Just go *blam**blam**blam**blam* and there, you're done. "To win the game you must kill me, John Romero."

You have to shoot the rocket at a very precise spot - a bit before the elevator reaches the top. If you stand at the top of the elevator and shoot - it will miss.

With modern source ports that allow freelook (changing the view angle up and down) it is possible to stand at the top and aim directly into the gap, thus taking all the difficulty away from this level.