Ensign Nemo wrote on 2022-12-22, 19:08:

Another factor is licensed music. Games with songs that weren't made specifically for the game are often removed from stores because their music rights expired.

That too, good point.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2022-12-22, 19:08:

Jaron wrote on 2022-12-21, 21:43:

Short answer: lawyers, contracts, and lawsuits spoil all the fun and IP law is incredibly complex. With how convoluted making a game can be, it's sometimes a wonder anything gets made at all.

Contracts are complex in who owns the resulting IP, who has rights to continue using said IP, who pays for marketing, and how distribution is handled. Distribution itself can be divided by physical and digital, geographic region vs region, even making multiple digital distribution channels within the same segment. With the many deals, buy-outs, and mergers that happen, it's not uncommon for a given IP to fall into a legal morass that wasn't explicitly covered by the latest contract. The GOG staff has many interviews describing the challenges they sometimes face with a given game and finding out who can authorize a deal to let them carry it. For old and forgotten games, sometimes the devs, publishers, and distributors aren't willing to straighten out the details for fear they'll be sued for stealing IP or breaching contract by one of the other players, so they'll just let it sit in limbo.

Another factor is licensed music. Games with songs that weren't made specifically for the game are often removed from stores because their music rights expired.

I'm curious about this specific game (and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for that matter), not games in general. I don't think Wolfenstein (or ET:QW) has licensed music and I think both were removed when Bethesda/Zenimax bought id. And they are one of the most asshole company when it comes to harassing people over copyright issues. Like once they acted like they own the word "scrolls". I don't think they'd quietly let Activision keep any kind of licenses or rights when they got everything else.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-12-22, 10:44:

Gothic 3 is best experienced on its own, with a healthy distance from the first two games. It does have some nice elements like the exceptional music, but compared to the previous entries in the series, it's pretty underwhelming. Even with the latest community patch applied and all, Gothic 3 simply cannot measure up to its predecessors.

Yes I find it fascinating when a game company has a winning formula and then cocks it up in future installments. I guess there are 100's of factors, and I guess the 'winning formula' thing is subjective. From the studio perspective winning means making money, but from the perspective of the niche G1 and G2 fans, moving the Gothic series in a more mainstream direction was losing, because in the process they did away with challenging combat and a small, intricate world.

I'll be interested to see what this upcoming Gothic 1 remake is like, particularly the combat and all those small details that made the original so great - climbing, hand placed 'scenes' where some poor adventurer kicked the bucket, NPCs kicking you out of their hut, etc.

And yes I'll post my Oblivion mod list when I get home from work. Last day before the Christmas break today so I'll be sneaking off after lunch, as tradition dictates.

badmojo wrote on 2022-12-22, 22:27:

I'll be sneaking off after lunch, as tradition dictates.

Amen to that. 😀

badmojo wrote on 2022-12-22, 10:37:

I've been playing a bit of Oblivion too lately, trying to fill the void after months of working my way through Gothic 1 and 2. I […]
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newtmonkey wrote on 2022-12-20, 04:55:

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

I've been playing a bit of Oblivion too lately, trying to fill the void after months of working my way through Gothic 1 and 2. I tried Gothic 3, which I used to love, but playing it so soon after G1 and G2 really highlights its flaws. Oblivion is another game that I used to really get in to but the world feels so contrived after the Gothics, which always feel so alive and believable.

Oblivion sure does look nice though with a few graphics mods applied. Ranged combat is OK and I quite like interacting with the NPCs and just listening to them chat to each other. They're much better at mentioning things in context than the NPCs in Skyrim I find. The quests are pretty damn dull though generally speaking. Maybe I should just focus on the main quest - I don't think I've ever actually finished Oblivion for all the hours I've spend on it.

20221222125506_1.jpg 20221222205223_1.jpg 20221222153105_1.jpg

looks so familiar to two worlds though its insane to think they could compete with bethesda

badmojo wrote on 2022-12-22, 10:37:

...I quite like interacting with the NPCs and just listening to them chat to each other. They're much better at mentioning things in context than the NPCs in Skyrim I find. The quests are pretty damn dull though generally speaking. Maybe I should just focus on the main quest - I don't think I've ever actually finished Oblivion for all the hours I've spend on it.

I like how the NPCs chat with each other, too. The conversations are ridiculous if you sit there and actually listen to them, but if you are just walking by and catch a bit of the conversation, it's actually pretty immersive.

The random quests you pick up from NPCs, etc. can indeed be pretty dull , but there are some exceptions; at this point, I just ignore any sidequest that would have me travel to a nearby cave and collect X or kill Y. The main quest and guild quests, however, are a step up from Skyrim IMO.

newtmonkey wrote on 2022-12-23, 02:16:

The random quests you pick up from NPCs, etc. can indeed be pretty dull , but there are some exceptions; at this point, I just ignore any sidequest that would have me travel to a nearby cave and collect X or kill Y. The main quest and guild quests, however, are a step up from Skyrim IMO.

Yes that's a good idea I should do some guild quests, I remember those being pretty good. The quest I'm doing currently is boring me to tears - some old lady wants her stolen painting back 😂

EDIT: I've joined the fighters guild 👍

Here are my notes from my modding adventures, as requested earlier by a couple of folks. I suspect that I enjoy the modding at least as much as the playing!

- enable all DLC […]
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- enable all DLC

- copy in OBSE (script extender)
- OSR (stutter remover) ** note that you might need to alter the ini file for this if combat sounds are broken with the default.

- FOV modifier, defaults to 90, better at 95 so in the console type "set customfov to 95" and save game

- QTP3 Redimized 1.0 Patched-45666-1-0

- copy in zips from 'HD Texture' folder into 'Data' (this is the Oblivion 2020 Retexture Project mod)

- copy in and enable Enhanced Water v2.0 HD.esp

- copy in RAEVWD-20053-1-9-3.7z **need to do each subfolder, one at a time.
- enable the 2 .esp for this mod

- copy contents of Landscape LOD generator 5_15c-40549-5-15 into the Data folder
- run "tes4ll_highres.bat"
- run "tes4ll_normalmaps.bat"
- run "tes4_tes4qlod.bat"

- Loading Area Begone-49109-1-0-1548086503

- No Intro Videos-47255-1-0

- Better Blood v11-24448
- Better Blood Update v12-24448-1-2.7z

- CaptNKILLs NonTiling Texture Mod-4868

- Oblivion Scaling Unclusterfucked

- install Dousing The Flames-3974

- install 'Fewer Random Oblivion gates-3586' - I'm using NoRandomOBGatesEVER.esp currently

- install SlowerDegradation-35760-1-0

- Unofficial Oblivion Patch-5296-3-5-6a

- Unofficial Oblivion DLC Patches-9969-24

- Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch-10739-1-5-9

- EngineBugFixes v2.1-47085-2-1-1545922572

- copy in Trifle 21-44108-2-1.zip

- copy in Enhanced Camera-44337-1-4b.zip

- Natural_Faces
- THEN Facial Textures by Enayla-9534

- install Detailed Terrain - Beta II-15245.omod if you can be bothered, needs vortex. Does make the terrain look nicer

- Install archive invalidator (Installer Version - Recommended-10724) ** do the ini update required for this too

- Install DarNified UI 132 7z Archive-10763.7z. Just copy in the 4 folders, not custom files or docs.

- Make sure all .esps are selected under 'data files' in the launcher

- Install and run LOOT to sort mods

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
I've spent a LOT of time playing this over the past few days. I can't explain why I am enjoying this much more than Skyrim, because the games are really very similar, but I guess I just appreciate the greater variety (towns and quests especially) and mechanical depth (though it's not particularly deep) of Oblivion over Skyrim. Instead of rushing through the game to finish it (like I did with Skyrim), I actually want to explore the towns and solve quests in Oblivion.

---

Anyway, I went through my journal to follow up on some of the quest leads I'd gathered over the hours. There was definitely some trash in there (go to this cave and collect 5 imp galls, go to a lake and collect 12 scales from slaughterfish, etc.), but most of the quests were actually pretty cool. One ended up taking place in a massive dungeon, which turns out to be one of the major DLCs; very cool quest. I really like the Fighter's Guild quest line so far, as it builds up a story in the background as you make your way through the quests, and instead of some epic story it's more about some drama within the guild itself (or with another guild). Of course, I'm not at the end of the Fighter's Guild quest line, and who knows, maybe by the end I turn out to be the chosen one and the only guy who can kill the super demon blah blah blah.

I'm still at character level 1, and plan on staying there for a while. I thought it would get dull since loot and enemy variety scale with your level, but I've actually been pleasantly surprised at how the game plays at this low level. Most loot is of course trash, but every once in a while you'll find something that even scaled to level 1 is a huge upgrade over what you're carrying. I've also encountered plenty of different types of enemies so far, though I suspect I've reached the point now where I won't be seeing any new monsters unless I raise my character level quite a bit.

Finally having some free time during the winter holidays I managed to finish a few games I'd been pecking away at simultaneously.

The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos:

I enjoyed this one. Its a turn based rpg. Kind of on the light side. There isn't randomized loot but there is a bunch of loot you may or may not find/drop. I found there to be some laughs mainly about character class and races from a D&D perspective. The combat for me was mostly challenging for a good portion of the game having to use every ability and charging group abilities to make it through most encounters until I hit a certain point, then it got a lot easier, hell I didn't mind that, I felt like I built a successful party, and there were still some more challenging encounters later, just not all of them. Thumbs up.

Lego Builders Journey:

This was light and enjoyable. Its a puzzle game that consists of understanding the special mechanics on each screen and using lego bricks to build a path to the exit point. Its nice, in that the mechanics aren't laid out for you, and some experimentation is sometimes required to figure out how to proceed. Even has ray tracing , so it looks pretty nice too. Thumbs up.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands:

Essentially Borderlands in a D&D style fantasy universe, with Tiny Tina as dungeon master. It has a fun meta storyline and there are lots of potential laughs in here, some hit for me some didn't. There's also some call backs to 80s properties that might take an older individual to understand, but that probably wouldn't take away from the enjoyment even if you are young. I found I rarely changed weapons in this game. I found what worked for me and stuck with it until I found an obvious improvement. That doesn't stop the game from raining potential guns on you, and if you are unable to just ignore most of the loot, you're probably going to be spending a lot of time comparing stats and trying different guns out, which I don't recommend as the best way to play. There is also a never ending after game where you fight through encounters gambling with difficulty levels but I bounced off that as the crazy loot wasn't my favorite part of the game and more loot hunting without the fun story turned me off. Altogether though , Thumbs up.

Portal RTX:

It's Portal but with RTX. It's the Citizen Cain of video games, the very best. If you haven't played it why aren't you doing it right now? Since everyone knows the game I'll just talk about the video settings. I played will all RTX options maxed out with DLSS 3 and frame generation enabled. It worked really well always maintaining the 90FPS frame limit I had set up and looked beautiful. I had wondered if I would have a harder time going through this game again but even without remembering solutions I breezed through it, some things you just don't forget. Thumbs Up.

Book of Demons:

This is a Diablo style action RPG card builder. Instead of items, cards, and items to upgrade cards are dropped, then you build you gear from the available cards in the deck. Its actually a really interesting way of making it less of a random affair with loot drops being for the right build or not, removing some of that randomness for construction instead. The graphics are functional and stylized, I didn't enjoy or dislike them really, they served their purpose. Don't expect a realistic depiction of moving, it's real time, but its a bouncy step type movement, so if your looking for realism, this isn't your bag. I barely died in this game but I like to think it was for my superior deck building, which is why I think the game is successful with what it sets out to do. Find your playstyle, build the best gear (deck) to support that and slog through some dungeons. Fun, Thumbs Up.

Gears 5:

Currently playing this one right now, I think I'm just about up to Chapter 3. The game is fun, its a gears game except it has a sort of successful open world layout. There are side quests on the open world map that deliver special items for abilities and companions. You can ignore these but the special rewards are definitely helpful. Difficulty is all over the map. I don't think I died for nearly all the first 2 chapters until the end where I am now and there are some difficult encounters taking me several replay attempts to complete. Enjoying this one.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
I've been spending a lot of time playing this over the last week. I finally completed the Fighter's Guild questline. There were some really cool quests in there, but of course there were also a few lame "go in this cave and kill 5 ogres" quests. I also liked the storyline that developed as you make progress in the guild. Low key stuff, and becoming the guildmaster at the end made sense.

The more I play this at low level, the more it feels like the game was meant to be played like this. At level 1 with the best equipment I can find naturally, no single regular enemy is a threat... but against two or three enemies, it can get difficult. Skill progression also just makes more sense this way, with you slowly getting better at everything you do while the rest of the game stays the same around you. I know from playing on the 360 that the game is totally playable normally, but it just kills the immersion (and the entire "RPG" feel imo) to have the entire world leveling up to catch up with you.

Having said that, now that I've cleared the FG questline and got some very nice equipment, I need to decide whether I want to just play the whole game at level 1, or level up to keep things fresh. My understanding of the game is that it basically stops scaling at level 15, but I also don't want bandits running around in high level armor (it just seems stupid to me). If I do decide to level up, I'll probably do it in spurts; for example, level up to 5 now that I've mastered the Fighter's Guild, master another guild while making progress in the main quest, and then level up to 10 to complete the game.

Battle net's current 67% discount on Diablo II:Resurrected + Diablo III finally made it worth getting, for me. Both games for about $20, until early January I think. Or D2R alone for about $15.

Primarily purchased so I can relive my 2000's single player Diablo II fun, in a new polished way. And there's not much to say about it. It's the same fun game, but with modern graphics + whatever. If you liked it then, you'll probably like it now; or the opposite. It's still lighthearted exploring of maps, thwacking things (lot and lots of thwacking things), and collecting loot.

The soundtrack is still amazing. Best dungeon musics ever.

But, My poor mouse buttons.

I've been playing through Black Mesa all morning.

It's been ages since I've played Half-life 1 and it's been a ton of fun.

Fallout 1

Downloaded for free from the Epic Games Store.

Really fun, with a great atmosphere and story but a lot more difficult and confusing than Fallout 3 and New Vegas 😁

Had to watch this video to learn just how to play and then I had to search where the f*ck is the water chip cause the time was running out 😅

Playing it on my Pentium II PC.

Strife - Quest for Sigil.
Nice story, with colored graphics, voice narated and dialogs. Has jump button and a lot of weapons.
Very interesting game.

b0by007 wrote on 2022-12-26, 21:36:

Strife - Quest for Sigil.
Nice story, with colored graphics, voice narated and dialogs. Has jump button and a lot of weapons.
Very interesting game.

Strife is fun but I think the shareware episode was the best part of the whole game.

Strife is great, loved graphics and audio and setting and story. But yeah I didn't love the later levels, which turn into a maze-like grind. There was a point that I was convinced I'd finished the game but it just kept going, so I gave up in the end.

I'll go back and re-play the first 3/4 one day though for sure.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
I hit a snag in my level 1 playthrough, as one of the storyline quests requires getting a daedric artifact, and praying at the shrine requires you to be at least level 2. I checked to see if there was any way around this, and there is, but it requires metagame knowledge, so I decided to just have my character cast a few spells and level up. Since I had earned so many skill increases in blade, heavy armor, athletics, and block, I was able to get +5 bonuses in my core attributes (STR, END, and AGI).

After completing that quest, I went around closing the Oblivion Gates near each of the towns. I have read that a lot of people find the gates to be annoying, but they seem to be pretty cool dungeons so far with unique gimmicks (definitely the best dungeons in the game so far). I am assuming the complaints are mostly with the random gates that spawn.

I am pretty certain I could rush through and complete this game in a few days, but I'll probably take my time with it and finish this in early 2023.

Titan Quest (w/ Immortal Throne expansion)
It's alright. I'm playing the original release (not AE). I think I'm a bit burnt out with Diablo clones, having completed Diablo, Grim Dawn, and Torchlight II over the last few months. I'll probably put this aside and revisit it next year.

I just wasn't getting into Oblivion like I have in the past. RPGs are a thing of the spirit I find and I'm still thinking about the Gothics, so I decided to give 'The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos' a more serious try. This is a free total conversion mod for Gothic II, available on both GOG and Steam.

I'd fired it up on release but it didn't grab me - it had some issues initially from memory. There is no English voice acting but there are English subtitles, with a serviceable translation. Some of the nuance is being lost in the translation though I feel, the writing is a bit robotic. The quality of it otherwise though seems to be outstanding. There are several refinements to the Gothic II formula - cooking, cutting up trees for weapon making materials, etc. There are masses of NPCs with things to say so far, not just the handful of named characters and then copy/paste NPCs everywhere else.

And the level design is beautiful - as lovingly crafted as any Gothic level to date. The music is also great - it's a mix of G1 / G2 and G3. I saw it stated somewhere that this is the Gothic 3 we should have gotten - not sure about that yet but it's a great start, I shall venture onward and report back.

Was testing my old CH Combat Stick F16 and now I'm can't stop playing Mech Warrior 2.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Another day, another Oblivion gate down. I'm impressed with the variety you get with these (or at least the ones that pop up around each town). In one, you have to explore smaller towers to unlock massive gates protecting the main tower. In another, you're going from tower to tower, extending bridges from one to another until you get to the main tower. In yet another, you make a slow approach circling around the main tower by traveling underground.

I decided for now to just stay at level 2. There's still some challenge (especially when enemies gang up on you), and the feeling of getting slowly more powerful is there. There's a decent variety of monsters and equipment, and getting some nice enchanted equipment at the end of a quest can be quite rewarding.

Titan Quest
I decided to give this another shot, and started over. My first character was an archer, and it was extremely tedious to play due to how slow and weak bows are during the early game. This time, I'm using spear & shield, and it's a lot more interesting imo. I'm playing the original version, and it still looks quite good today. It's MUCH more difficult than either Torchlight II or Grim Dawn on the default difficulty setting, so far.