Uh-oh, my SE/30 is doing that creepy thing where it hops off my desk the night before Halloween, parks in some random location, and then just sits there chiming in the dark until I beat Uninvited. So I guess I'll be playing Uninvited today.

F.E.A.R.

clueless1 wrote on 2021-10-30, 13:48:

This is why I'm continuing to play Kingdom Come Deliverance 50 hours after I beat the game. giant boots.png giant skull.png ches […]
Show full quote

This is why I'm continuing to play Kingdom Come Deliverance 50 hours after I beat the game.
giant boots.png
giant skull.png
chest in middle of nowhere.png

Just exploring large forests, looking for treasure and weird stuff now. I do feel like I'm nearing the end of my journey, though. Over 200 hours so far sunk into this game...

Edit: oh, wow! Is this a new forum feature? Downgrade uploaded images to 256 colors? 🤣.

so this isn't the window 3.1 version?

gerry wrote on 2021-11-01, 08:48:

clueless1 wrote on 2021-10-30, 13:48:

This is why I'm continuing to play Kingdom Come Deliverance 50 hours after I beat the game. giant boots.png giant skull.png ches […]
Show full quote

This is why I'm continuing to play Kingdom Come Deliverance 50 hours after I beat the game.
giant boots.png
giant skull.png
chest in middle of nowhere.png

Just exploring large forests, looking for treasure and weird stuff now. I do feel like I'm nearing the end of my journey, though. Over 200 hours so far sunk into this game...

Edit: oh, wow! Is this a new forum feature? Downgrade uploaded images to 256 colors? 🤣.

so this isn't the window 3.1 version?

I had a tough choice to make: 640x480 with millions of colors, 800x600 with thousands of colors, or 1024x768 with 256 colors. I'm a sucker for hi res.

clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-01, 10:03:

gerry wrote on 2021-11-01, 08:48:

clueless1 wrote on 2021-10-30, 13:48:

This is why I'm continuing to play Kingdom Come Deliverance 50 hours after I beat the game. giant boots.png giant skull.png ches […]
Show full quote

This is why I'm continuing to play Kingdom Come Deliverance 50 hours after I beat the game.
giant boots.png
giant skull.png
chest in middle of nowhere.png

Just exploring large forests, looking for treasure and weird stuff now. I do feel like I'm nearing the end of my journey, though. Over 200 hours so far sunk into this game...

Edit: oh, wow! Is this a new forum feature? Downgrade uploaded images to 256 colors? 🤣.

so this isn't the window 3.1 version?

I had a tough choice to make: 640x480 with millions of colors, 800x600 with thousands of colors, or 1024x768 with 256 colors. I'm a sucker for hi res.

No jagged edges > bunch of unnecessary colors.

Real men game at 320x200

Bloom (DooM & Blood crossover). Final release published on Halloween on moddb. Fun so far.

Deadly Premonition, while using DPfix to extract some textures and use the neural net Real-ESRGAN to upscale them. It works for some textures well, for other not, but it is a lot of work and fun. No further plans with this, just want to see what this neural-net can do. It's also interesting to see how little some of the original textures are and then someone decided to use them on an large object in game.
https://github.com/xinntao/Real-ESRGAN

ding

I finished the last DLC with Sir Hans Capon last night (where you help him seduce "the love of his life"), then started the conversation with him that triggers the endgame screen. Done. I'm walking away. I can do this. (KCD was so good that I'm struggling with walking away...🤣). All told, I sunk 216 hours into Kingdom Come Deliverance. It took 158 hours to beat the main quest line and I spent the last 58 hours doing side quests, DLCs and just roaming the forests exploring for treasures and interesting sites.

I started Metro: Last Light Redux to get my mind on something else. Only got about 30 minutes in, I haven't left the metro yet, still going to the surface with the female sniper that escorts you.

Still on Thief 2, I think I'm about half way through. Had a lot of fun with the missions so far. Highlights include the bank job and blackmailing the sheriff.

The mechanical opponents are nowhere near as bad as the zombies from the first game. You still need to spend limited resources to get rid of them, but it's much more straightforward now. One or two water arrows deactivate them, as long as you aim for the rear.

Also, there are now guards wearing helmets which prevent them from being knocked out using the blackjack. This means that limited, non-lethal weapons such as gas mines need to be used for them. On the plus side, I appreciate that the levels seem to be less labyrinthine than in the first game.

clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-02, 11:36:

I'm walking away. I can do this.

Be strong! I hope there's a sequel in the works.

I just finished a book about the development of Diablo and I confess I've never played it - it just never sounded like my cup of tea. I grabbed the GOG version and have it installed on my XP machine so that I can finally check it out.

badmojo wrote on 2021-11-02, 20:18:

I just finished a book about the development of Diablo and I confess I've never played it - it just never sounded like my cup of tea. I grabbed the GOG version and have it installed on my XP machine so that I can finally check it out.

Protip: don't use a mouse you like and want to last as long as possible.

Clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick...

badmojo wrote on 2021-11-02, 20:18:

clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-02, 11:36:

I'm walking away. I can do this.

Be strong! I hope there's a sequel in the works.

I just finished a book about the development of Diablo and I confess I've never played it - it just never sounded like my cup of tea. I grabbed the GOG version and have it installed on my XP machine so that I can finally check it out.

Thanks. One step at a time...

I have to say, I 100% agree with your initial assessment of Diablo. Never played it, never seemed like my type of game. Being a hardcore, turn-based-loving RPGer, it struck me as trying to arcadify the genre. Of course, I could be completely wrong, as I've never given it a legit shot.

Condemned 2 😀

clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-02, 22:19:

Being a hardcore, turn-based-loving RPGer, it struck me as trying to arcadify the genre.

In large part it succeeded and became symbolic of it's own (modern) sub-style. Certainly Diablo 2/LOD.

On the other hand, it only builds (a lot!) upon the basic first-principles mechanic of "hack-and-slash with fantasy characters", which the likes of Gauntlet already introduced way back in 1985. Diablo is not the creator of that mechanic, by a long shot.

I think there is room for all different styles of game/role playing game, and that each type does not need to detract from the other. I know I have had a lot of fun over the decades with role-playing titles from different extremes.

You know, I actually prefer Diablo to Diablo 2 and all the successors. My recollection of it's history is that it was essentially a lighter version of Rogue, including being turn based and all. Then they switched to real time, and added multiplayer.

Personally, I greatly prefer the single player experience of Diablo. You couldn't grind. Your opportunities to min max were limited. You mostly tried to make the best of whatever you found for 16 levels. And the game was not anywhere near as loot rich as it's successors. It was a much tighter resource economy, and a much more meaningfully randomized world. Totally different side quests, random shrines that might mess with you stats, etc.

Naturally, the multiplayer quest for the best loot in the game, versus the more survival oriented single player experience, caught on. And everything since has been all about loot-splotions.

What I'm getting at is, if you hate every ARPG since Diablo II because they are mindless click fests, trying to hack your dopamine glands with meaningless random digital trinkets falling out of a bloody slot machine... well, personally I think Diablo is different. Especially offline.

You know... another thing I liked better about Diablo? There were no "character builds" in the sense that every ARPG after D2 had them. No skill trees what so ever. Just whatever you invested your stat points into, although you could always buy potions for more. And whatever spells you got lucky enough to find along the way. Those were the only relatively sticky parts of a character. It totally lacked the frustration of realizing the character you spent 200 hours slowly building had a totally unviable build, forcing you to start from scratch because skill points can't be undone. Thus driving most people to just copy builds off a wiki instead of playing the game themselves. Because dead ends after that much time invested fucking suck.

matze79 wrote on 2021-11-02, 22:25:

Condemned 2 😀

It was a huge letdown after the first game..

Namrok wrote on 2021-11-03, 01:53:

You know, I actually prefer Diablo to Diablo 2 and all the successors. My recollection of it's history is that it was essential […]
Show full quote

You know, I actually prefer Diablo to Diablo 2 and all the successors. My recollection of it's history is that it was essentially a lighter version of Rogue, including being turn based and all. Then they switched to real time, and added multiplayer.

Personally, I greatly prefer the single player experience of Diablo. You couldn't grind. Your opportunities to min max were limited. You mostly tried to make the best of whatever you found for 16 levels. And the game was not anywhere near as loot rich as it's successors. It was a much tighter resource economy, and a much more meaningfully randomized world. Totally different side quests, random shrines that might mess with you stats, etc.

Naturally, the multiplayer quest for the best loot in the game, versus the more survival oriented single player experience, caught on. And everything since has been all about loot-splotions.

What I'm getting at is, if you hate every ARPG since Diablo II because they are mindless click fests, trying to hack your dopamine glands with meaningless random digital trinkets falling out of a bloody slot machine... well, personally I think Diablo is different. Especially offline.

You know... another thing I liked better about Diablo? There were no "character builds" in the sense that every ARPG after D2 had them. No skill trees what so ever. Just whatever you invested your stat points into, although you could always buy potions for more. And whatever spells you got lucky enough to find along the way. Those were the only relatively sticky parts of a character. It totally lacked the frustration of realizing the character you spent 200 hours slowly building had a totally unviable build, forcing you to start from scratch because skill points can't be undone. Thus driving most people to just copy builds off a wiki instead of playing the game themselves. Because dead ends after that much time invested fucking suck.

I prefer the overall experience of Diablo 2 but this is all true, Diablo 1 was a very tight and very focused experience - and to be honest I played it to completion with all 3 charactes even though I only played Diablo 2 once to completion with an Amazon and nothing else..

It is tempting to try out the new version of Diablo 2 but somehow I balk at the price, it would need to be more like 50% for a recycled game. Perhaps it will come down in time, or else I will find a pot of gold, one or both these things can happen. 😁