Currently working my way through:

Main PC: Serious Sam 4, Flight Simulator (2020), Prey (2017)
Super P3: Armed & Dangerous, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, NFS Underground 2
Win98: Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Thief: The Dark Project
486/DOS: Realms of Chaos, Albion
Xbox: Spider-Man 2

Started Gothic2 recently, and I kinda regret having installed the Night of the Raven expansion. While the new locations and story are nice, the add-on throws the original game balance completely out of whack.

The early levels are now way too tedious, with almost every enemy (especially the humanoid ones) having 5-10 times the health compared to the non-expansion game. Also, most enemies now one-shot you if they manage to land a single hit, despite your character wearing the best available armor.

This limits your exploration options and pretty much forces you to go to the expansion area early on, in order to get that uber-weapon which can deal damage even if an enemy blocks your attack. Once you get it, your power increases drastically and the game becomes too easy.

It sucks that most digital stores now integrate the NOTR expansion by default and don't even give you the option to play the classic version of Gothic2. I heard that there are fan-made patches which can remedy this to some degree, but I'm already too far into the game to use them now. Maybe next time.

clueless1 wrote on 2020-10-04, 17:23:

-Might & Magic III won't play music when set to MT-32 and Sound Blaster. If I set it to MT-32 only, music works great but sound effects are sparse and poorly emulated by the MT-32. If I set to SB only, everything sounds good, music is still nice, just not as good as MT-32. edit: MM3 is also speed-sensitive, ideally to average 386 speeds. Will be playable at up to slow 486 speeds.

I ran into this issue myself, but have it working with "Roland & Blaster" with both speech (intro) and music (MT-32) working.

I am honestly not 100% sure what I did to fix this, but do note that (at least in my case) MM3 sets the sound card's LINE IN volume to 0 when it starts. I had to plug my MT-32 directly into my speakers (and later, a dedicated mixer) to get over this. It might only do this when using the "Roland & Blaster" setting, but I can't remember for sure.

I remember having a hell of a time getting music to work with the GOG release of MM3 copied over to my DOS PC. I ended up having to find an ISO of the "Might and Magic Trilogy" (3/4/5 with 4 and 5 as separate games) and installed it from there.

newtmonkey wrote on 2020-10-07, 07:33:

I ran into this issue myself, but have it working with "Roland & Blaster" with both speech (intro) and music (MT-32) working. […]
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clueless1 wrote on 2020-10-04, 17:23:

-Might & Magic III won't play music when set to MT-32 and Sound Blaster. If I set it to MT-32 only, music works great but sound effects are sparse and poorly emulated by the MT-32. If I set to SB only, everything sounds good, music is still nice, just not as good as MT-32. edit: MM3 is also speed-sensitive, ideally to average 386 speeds. Will be playable at up to slow 486 speeds.

I ran into this issue myself, but have it working with "Roland & Blaster" with both speech (intro) and music (MT-32) working.

I am honestly not 100% sure what I did to fix this, but do note that (at least in my case) MM3 sets the sound card's LINE IN to 0 when it starts. I had to plug my MT-32 directly into my speakers (and later, a dedicated mixer) to get over this. It might only do this when using the "Roland & Blaster" setting, but I can't remember for sure.

I remember having a hell of a time getting music to work with the GOG released of MM3 copied over to my DOS PC. I ended up having to find an ISO of the "Might and Magic Trilogy" (3/4/5 with 4 and 5 as separate games) and installed it from there.

Thanks, newtmonkey. Good info, as I am using the GOG version.

Ding'd 90/80 FO/SU yesterday 😁

Wing Commander
Slowly making my way through this game whenever I feel like playing a mission or two. At first I thought I might just play it almost like a roguelike and just see how far I get without reloading, etc. However, although I do enjoy this game, I don't think I enjoy it enough to play through multiple times... so I decided to instead just stick to the winning track. I'm six missions in, which puts me a good ways in.

There's a lot to like on the surface. It looks and sounds fantastic and it's cool getting to know all the other characters. The branching mission paths are also very cool, and I like that it lets you lose some missions and still make progress in the game.

However, I find the game to be perhaps overly simple. It seems like you basically have just a three mission types (dogfight, navigate asteroid/mine fields, escort/protect), and other than flying around in more powerful ships fighting against harder enemies, it seems like you've experienced all the game has to offer in just a few missions. I'm thankful for the autopilot function available between nav points, but using it also just makes the game feel even more like an arcade game where you are just blasting waves of aliens.

Having said that, it can be very thrilling to land after a tough mission with half of your ship malfunctioning due to damage!

Pool of Radiance
Made some good progress exploring the wilderness area. I got stuck on some tough battles against waves of enemies in a cave, so put that mission aside and did a couple other missions. My cleric and two magic-users have been at their maximum levels now for some time, which sucks I guess. My other characters (two fighters and a fighter/thief) are close to leveling up, but I don't think there's enough game left for them to reach max level.

As of right now, I've got a couple optional (?) quests left and what I think is the first part of the final quest. I plan to finish this game this month, and then focus on Might & Magic II most likely.

I just played for the first time the Secret of Monkey Island and finished in one day. It was great! I played the ultimate talkie version using general midi via my sc-88. I noticed the 2nd game ultimate talkey does not have GM support, but I just learned today I can put the SC-88 into a "CM-64" mode which I am hoping will allow me to have a somewhat accurate mt-32 experience. I am also playing Star Trek 25th anniversary and so far am very impressed and today I will switch from sound blaster midi and try the CM-64 mode *crossing fingers*

utahraptor wrote on 2020-10-07, 17:33:

I just played for the first time the Secret of Monkey Island and finished in one day. It was great!

I played the ultimate talkie version using general midi via my sc-88. I noticed the 2nd game ultimate talkey does not have GM support, but I just learned today I can put the SC-88 into a "CM-64" mode which I am hoping will allow me to have a somewhat accurate mt-32 experience. I am also playing Star Trek 25th anniversary and so far am very impressed and today I will switch from sound blaster midi and try the CM-64 mode *crossing fingers*

I too played SoMI for the first time not too long ago and really enjoyed it! From what I recall, both Monkey Island games just use the standard MT-32 instruments, so "CM-64" mode should work fine on your SC-88. Enjoy!

newtmonkey wrote on 2020-10-07, 11:49:

Wing Commander Slowly making my way through this game whenever I feel like playing a mission or two. At first I thought I might […]
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Wing Commander
Slowly making my way through this game whenever I feel like playing a mission or two. At first I thought I might just play it almost like a roguelike and just see how far I get without reloading, etc. However, although I do enjoy this game, I don't think I enjoy it enough to play through multiple times... so I decided to instead just stick to the winning track. I'm six missions in, which puts me a good ways in.

There's a lot to like on the surface. It looks and sounds fantastic and it's cool getting to know all the other characters. The branching mission paths are also very cool, and I like that it lets you lose some missions and still make progress in the game.

However, I find the game to be perhaps overly simple. It seems like you basically have just a three mission types (dogfight, navigate asteroid/mine fields, escort/protect), and other than flying around in more powerful ships fighting against harder enemies, it seems like you've experienced all the game has to offer in just a few missions. I'm thankful for the autopilot function available between nav points, but using it also just makes the game feel even more like an arcade game where you are just blasting waves of aliens.

Having said that, it can be very thrilling to land after a tough mission with half of your ship malfunctioning due to damage!

One of my favorites. The extreme speed sensitivity were my biggest gripe with I and to a lesser extent, II. There was never a perfect speed. If it played well with a few ships on-screen, it would get choppy during bigger battles. Speed it up to smooth on the bigger battles and it would be too fast with only a few ships. But for me, it was a combination of the story, characters and music that made these games so fun. Still one of my best gaming experiences to date. WC3 may be the best of them but WC1/2 hold a special place in my heart.

newtmonkey wrote on 2020-10-07, 23:06:

utahraptor wrote on 2020-10-07, 17:33:

I just played for the first time the Secret of Monkey Island and finished in one day. It was great!

I played the ultimate talkie version using general midi via my sc-88. I noticed the 2nd game ultimate talkey does not have GM support, but I just learned today I can put the SC-88 into a "CM-64" mode which I am hoping will allow me to have a somewhat accurate mt-32 experience. I am also playing Star Trek 25th anniversary and so far am very impressed and today I will switch from sound blaster midi and try the CM-64 mode *crossing fingers*

I too played SoMI for the first time not too long ago and really enjoyed it! From what I recall, both Monkey Island games just use the standard MT-32 instruments, so "CM-64" mode should work fine on your SC-88. Enjoy!

It ended up not working. I initialized the SC-88 to CM-64 mode and the then launched the game in Roland mt-32 mode and it sounded terrible. I am thankful the ultimate talkie version features a GM mode. I hope some day the ultimate talkie for the sequel also does. I will have to play it in SB mode.

utahraptor wrote on 2020-10-08, 00:26:

It ended up not working.

I initialized the SC-88 to CM-64 mode and the then launched the game in Roland mt-32 mode and it sounded terrible. I am thankful the ultimate talkie version features a GM mode. I hope some day the ultimate talkie for the sequel also does. I will have to play it in SB mode.

Argh, that sucks. I guess SoMI2 uses custom patches then. 🙁

Munt emulates CM-32L/LAPC-I and MT-32

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-10-07, 05:43:

Started Gothic2 recently, and I kinda regret having installed the Night of the Raven expansion. While the new locations and story are nice, the add-on throws the original game balance completely out of whack.

Agreed! And yes like you say there's an option to start the game without the expansion via a mod but the save games are incompatible so you gotta start again.

I think the Wing Commander series actually became good with 3. Despite the fanfare for the first two (to be honest I was an Amiga guy back in those days so my perspective may be wrong) I find them to be pretty boring..

I had played Dark Force 2 Jedi Knight not long ago and then found out there was an expansion for it - Jedi Knight - Mysteries of the Sith.

You play as Kyle Katarn for a bit and then switch roles and play as Mara Jade. I like that it assumes you've played DF2:JK already so you get some starting jedi powers and a lightsaber right away. The graphics engine is tweaked/updated to compete with Q2 i assume, mainly the addition of dynamic lighting (which looks great!). I'm about half way through and really enjoying the level layouts and puzzles. A few new guns/variants which spice things up.

I still havent given the Dark Forces original DOS game a decent run yet. Then maybe do Jedi Outcast again when I'm done.

Quake2 hadn't come out when Jedi Knight was released. JK was more pursuing a Quake-like appearance (especially with the particle system), but it also had the 1st gen 3d accelerators in mind so it stayed away from any blended effects - the screen tint tricks were modulated vertex colors on all, for example. The colored lighting was more Build-ish at first, but then made improvements on that in Mysteries of the sith. For the time, it was the early DirectX 5 killer app (using Direct3D, DirectSound and DirectPlay)

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2020-10-04, 15:47:

https://i.postimg.cc/Qd75W2G0/Majesty-001.jpg […]
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For some unknown reason I just cannot un-like this game.

I can. I have never played it.

Pool of Radiance
I finished exploring the wilderness, at least to the extent I intend to do so. It's quite massive and there seem to be random (?) events scattered about but at this point in the game the experience and gold I get through combat is pretty much worthless, so it's not really worth my time. Therefore, I decided to just finish up the side quests handed out at the town hall. I had just a few quests left, two of which were very short.

The last side quest was the Kobold Caves, which was a major pain. It was full of traps and your party suffers from from combat penalties throughout due to slippery floors and low ceilings, . At the end of the mission you're faced with three pretty tough battles one after another, but can thankfully rest and save after you finally achieve victory. You then fight one more battle to complete the quest, but since you are fully rested it's probably the easiest battle in the whole area 🤣.

All that's left as far as I can tell is the final assault on the enemy fortress. The only thing that concerns me at this point is that I only have one healer in my party, which means my major source of healing is five very weak healing spells in between rests. I do have some healing potions, and I've saved basically all the various potions, scrolls, wands, etc. I've found throughout the game, so I'm hoping I won't have too hard a time finishing this.

Pillars of Eternity
I am still continuing crossing off Act II Tasks on my Journal, a good deal of which are in Defiance Bay. In the meanwhile, Is stumbled across the main story quest The Man Who Waits which was particularly simple to resolve. I also finished Aloth's companion quest, which was also kind of anti-climactic. It seems getting derailed from the main story via side quests kind of deluded my interest in the game a bit, but now there is an imminent attack on my stronghold by Leaden Key members, so I need to go home and defend against that. Then I will go back to Defiance Bay and resolve the remaining Quest/Tasks there. I am Level 7 now and my characters have kind of come into their own. I do kind of regret going for a dual wileding crit Paladin for my main character, though..