Good point! 🤣

So I wrapped up God of War (2018). All in all I really enjoyed it. After I finally got unrestricted fast travel my enjoyment went up leaps and bounds. I spent some time really adapting to the full repertoire of combos available to you as well. So while my impression of the game at first was that the original probably had tighter, more interesting combat, I might like the second one better after all is said and done. The story really brought it as well. The relationship between Kratos and his son was a great evolution of the character. There are a lot of bits of dialog here and there that flesh out their relationship, but I think how his son gets involved in the combat system, and how well you learn to use those mechanics does a lot to tie the gameplay to their deepening bond. Because you the player are also getting to know his son through the combat mechanics. By the final scripted cutscenes showing them working as a well honed team, it feels right since you got more and more familiar with working Atreus into your own combos.

I had wanted to be really hard on God of War (2018) compared to the original. Then I fired it up again tonight for old times sake and I think I had a serious case of rose tinted glasses. I completely forgot about the awkward segments where you have to balance on narrow walkways. Or all the times you need to push a fragile crate around with enemies attacking, trying to keep it from breaking. Both things the game threw at me in the first 30 minutes. I missed neither of those things what so ever in God of War (2018).

So yeah, I recommend it. Could probably nitpick things here and there that the original did better. But there was plenty that hit me right in the face about the original that the 2018 one did better. Or mercifully omitted. It was nice to play a reboot of something that was overtly shitted up with weird nonsense.

I just replayed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and it was much better than I remembered. So many branching paths and different ways to solve puzzles...

The only downside I found is that you need to have a number pad to get anywhere in the fist fights and the plane sequence. Which, on this machine, I didn't. Oh well.

Planescape: Torment
Things got back nicely on track! Although I did have some more fetch quests to complete, all my work doing side quests, talking to people, and gathering random items up until now paid off, because I mostly had everything I needed. It was just a matter of talking to a few people, solving their fetch quests, and progressing the plot.

I think what had soured me on the game was the Brothel for Slating Intellectual Lusts location. It just brings the experience of exploring the world and following the story to a complete halt with a mandatory chain of fetch quests where you mostly just go back and forth between three locations over and over. What a drag!

Now that I'm done with that section, things have really picked up. I went through a long but interactive (somewhat pretentiously-written) dialog with a major character, and then the game sprung a boss fight on me out of nowhere. It had been so long since I fought a battle in this game, that I was taken by surprise. I also discovered that the interface is really, really poor for combat. It works fine when combat is easy/meaningless, but is a complete mess when you need to get tactical. Anyway, I was able to beat the boss encounter without much of a problem, so now I'm onto the next act of the game.

Grounded
*DRM free for singleplayer

I don't play Early Access so picked this up a couple of months after it was released on PC.

This is a survival game with base building both of which I tend to shy away from unless the games are really good.
Most survival games are too grindy and I hate grind and base building is a waste of time (I only build what is necessary) and yet another grind.

So grounded is a singleplayer or multiplayer game where you are shrunk and placed into a backyard where you need to survive, figure out how and why you were placed here and how to get back.
This game is pretty good but if you didn't play it in Early Access, read guides or play survival games then you'll end up wasting alot of time.
For this game the key is keeping resources for both markers, leantos and roasting spit on you at all times and discovering locations of everything on the map so you aren't wasting time.
Water isn't too much of a concern for most of the map but you should work on getting a crossbow or bow as soon as possible so you can kill aphids for food and shoot water droplets from grass.
You should try to upgrade to level two axes and hammers as quickly as possible since if you don't you'll be wasting time.
Invention management is a PITA so only carry what you need and build storage chests and bases of what you need for parts of the map you are currently working on.
The game is only difficult if you don't have the proper equipment and armor, mutations and are not being aware of your environment.

No game crashes or performance issues with a 7950x and 3080 at 3840x1600. I keep gamma at maximum since I'm too lazy to constantly adjust it in-game and dark is too dark.

Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition
I spent several evenings this past week rolling characters then this morning I gathered my party and ventured forth. It's been a bit of a UI learning curve (I last played an Infinity Engine game 6 years ago), but I'm starting to get comfortable with it now that we've gotten to Kuldahar Pass. Characters are 2nd/3rd level now (except for my fighter/thief, who's still at level 1 as a fighter). Here's my party composition:
Arnellis - Paladin with Long Sword proficiency
Flint - Dwarf Fighter with War Hammer proficiency
Arya - Dwarf Fighter/Thief with Axe proficiency
Ygritte - Elf Archer with Longbow proficiency
Gwenno - Dwarf Cleric with Mace proficiency (wife of Flint)
Nystul - Human Mage not proficient in much yet

For the most part, I stayed on-script for the classes. I'm very traditional, almost never multi-class or use fancy class "kits". Arya and Ygritte are exceptions here. I almost went pure thief for Arya, but decided to try dual-classing her this time. And I was really enthralled with the idea of a specialized Archer, so I went with it (it's a class kit of Ranger).

But when it came to weapon specializations, I went way off-script compared to normal. I usually stick with long swords for all classes that can use them, but this time I felt like trying some of the "lesser" weapons where it made sense. For example, I associate maces with clerics and axes/war hammers with Dwarf fighters. Having a good time so far and enjoying the story, dialog and cutscenes.

Bioshock 2

I started this several nights ago, but haven't played a 2nd session yet. Got busy with character rolling. I may throw a session in this afternoon if I can pull away from IWD:EE.

If you do not take at least 2 Wizards in Icewind Dale you will not have a good time in late game..

clueless1 wrote on 2023-01-29, 20:15:

Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition
...Having a good time so far and enjoying the story, dialog and cutscenes.

I'm looking forward to hearing how this goes! I typically don't replay RPGs, but I am actually looking forward to replaying this one... maybe next year. I completed the original version already, so I'll probably play the EE next and use some of the crazy classes.

I used a dwarf fighter/thief too, and she ended up being a real VIP throughout the game.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-01-30, 15:53:

clueless1 wrote on 2023-01-29, 20:15:

Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition
...Having a good time so far and enjoying the story, dialog and cutscenes.

I'm looking forward to hearing how this goes! I typically don't replay RPGs, but I am actually looking forward to replaying this one... maybe next year. I completed the original version already, so I'll probably play the EE next and use some of the crazy classes.

I used a dwarf fighter/thief too, and she ended up being a real VIP throughout the game.

I don't either. The exceptions were older games I played when they were current and replayed 20+ years later: System Shock, Ultima VII, Ultima Underworld, and Wizardry 8. A current RPG that I seriously want to replay is Kingdom Come Deliverance. Such a good game IMO.

I've had to take some involuntary time off from gaming while my family and I moved interstate, but I'm back playing 'The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos'. There's a decent quest log available and the first 10 hours or so were so memorable that I've had no problem picking it up again. I've done everything I can in the first town and have found my way to a nearby vineyard, which looked great but there wasn't much to do there yet. The plot is gently funneling me to the city, and my attempts to blaze a trail into the wilds have been thwarted by mobs well above my ability, so I've accepted my fate and headed to the big smoke. It looks massive but I'll be interested to see how many quests are waiting for me there, once I work out how to get in.

badmojo wrote on 2023-01-31, 07:25:

I've had to take some involuntary time off from gaming while my family and I moved interstate, but I'm back playing 'The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos'. There's a decent quest log available and the first 10 hours or so were so memorable that I've had no problem picking it up again. I've done everything I can in the first town and have found my way to a nearby vineyard, which looked great but there wasn't much to do there yet. The plot is gently funneling me to the city, and my attempts to blaze a trail into the wilds have been thwarted by mobs well above my ability, so I've accepted my fate and headed to the big smoke. It looks massive but I'll be interested to see how many quests are waiting for me there, once I work out how to get in.

"Desire to play Gothic intensifies..."

For me it's like that ancient deus ex motivational poster about reinstalling the game every time someone mentions it.

clueless1 wrote on 2023-01-31, 00:04:

A current RPG that I seriously want to replay is Kingdom Come Deliverance. Such a good game IMO.

I need to give this one a try again. It seemed interesting, but I got annoyed early on with the fist fighting. Now that I've gone through Skyrim and Oblivion, I might also be more in the mood now for a single character first-person action RPG.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-01-31, 12:33:

clueless1 wrote on 2023-01-31, 00:04:

A current RPG that I seriously want to replay is Kingdom Come Deliverance. Such a good game IMO.

I need to give this one a try again. It seemed interesting, but I got annoyed early on with the fist fighting. Now that I've gone through Skyrim and Oblivion, I might also be more in the mood now for a single character first-person action RPG.

I remember that being a little annoying, and also the section where you first jump on a horse to escape and also have to rescue the woman who's being raped by soldiers. Once you get past that, it gets way better. The story, the realism with exploring the world, and learning the bow mechanics were highlights for me. Once I got decent with the bow, it was such a feeling of accomplishment to take down an enemy from a distance. Combat was never my favorite part of the game, but once I got decent enough it became a lot more satisfying. At least it's not a button mashfest. There's actual strategy involved and (unfortunately for me) some eye-hand coordination. I still load my last save every once in awhile and wander the forests and countryside because it feels like I'm actually doing that. There's a theme song from an old TV show called 'The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams' that begins:

"Deep inside the forest is a door into another land..."

that really conveys the feeling of exploring the KCD world.

Song if anyone's interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9fzHBJU1Oo

Planescape: Torment
I must thank iraito and Sombrero for their posts defending this game, because once I pushed through the fetch-quest chain toward the end of the of the main Sigil chapter, I am really enjoying this game again. In hindsight, that annoying section took up only 2-3 hours of the 28 hours I've put into this game so far, and only that last hour of that 2-3 hour section was REALLY annoying.

After hours of having absolutely no combat, I just got through a section that was almost nonstop combat. The combat in this game is really not very good. It's impossible to tell what is going on; unlike BG or ID, there's no combat log, and spell effects aren't even shown on your characters. On top of that, because the characters are larger on average in this compared with BG/ID, once melee combat starts it's just a massive clump of characters in the middle of the screen. I don't even have a single character that uses ranged weapons (do they even exist in this game?), so it's just melee and magic.

Even so, it was a nice change of pace to have some battles for a change. More importantly (for this game anyway), the writing and plot got back on track. I'm back to learning about the world and its characters, which is what is really interesting about this game. The dialog has also recovered; the conversation with Ravel was really pretentious and honestly pretty dumb, and I was worried that the rest of the game would be going in this direction... thankfully that didn't happen!

So, I really like this game again. It's too bad they never developed a Dark Sun game using the BG/ID/PT engine!

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-02-02, 16:40:

Planescape: Torment
I must thank iraito and Sombrero for their posts defending this game, because once I pushed through the fetch-quest chain toward the end of the of the main Sigil chapter, I am really enjoying this game again. In hindsight, that annoying section took up only 2-3 hours of the 28 hours I've put into this game so far, and only that last hour of that 2-3 hour section was REALLY annoying.

No problem! I'm just glad there are still people who are playing the game for the first time and find the game enjoyable. The game was very niche even back in late 90s and the less than well made parts of it haven't gotten any better in the meantime.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-02-02, 16:40:

After hours of having absolutely no combat, I just got through a section that was almost nonstop combat. The combat in this game is really not very good. It's impossible to tell what is going on; unlike BG or ID, there's no combat log, and spell effects aren't even shown on your characters. On top of that, because the characters are larger on average in this compared with BG/ID, once melee combat starts it's just a massive clump of characters in the middle of the screen. I don't even have a single character that uses ranged weapons (do they even exist in this game?), so it's just melee and magic.

Yeah the combat is crap. I've never played Ultima 7 but from what I've seen the combat seems similar to that; a big mess with little control. Just use healing items as needed and wait till the enemies have been mowed down, that's about it.

There is one companion that uses crossbows but you've missed him if you didn't find him. The area you find him is my least favorite place in the whole game so it's not all bad. The game is like that, first time players without a walkthrough will miss a lot of stuff. Other than that there aren't any ranged weapons that I can remember.

Icewind Dale

Now that I'm getting some combat in, I'm remembering what I didn't like about the real-time with pause system. It seems difficult to keep characters from charging forward into the area of effect of a spell/bomb, etc. Is there a trick to keep characters put until you're ready to let them charge forward? It seems I have to constantly pause and give them a safe direction because once they hit that mark, they turn around and start charging in again. I've already damaged my party once with an oil flask meant to hit the enemy charging toward my party, but my guys charged forward directly into the blast radius despite my attempts to keep them back.

clueless1 wrote on 2023-02-03, 01:50:

Icewind Dale

Now that I'm getting some combat in, I'm remembering what I didn't like about the real-time with pause system. It seems difficult to keep characters from charging forward into the area of effect of a spell/bomb, etc. Is there a trick to keep characters put until you're ready to let them charge forward? It seems I have to constantly pause and give them a safe direction because once they hit that mark, they turn around and start charging in again. I've already damaged my party once with an oil flask meant to hit the enemy charging toward my party, but my guys charged forward directly into the blast radius despite my attempts to keep them back.

IIRC I just turned off auto-movement entirely and controlled every single movement/action of every character. That way you can basically get back normal turn based combat - pause, queue actions, unpause, enjoy the gore, rinse and repeat.

I agree with kolderman. I turned party AI off and left it off the entire game. Making use of the autopause options helps a lot too.

Begun playing Turok 2, remastered version. I never finished playing the original when it was first released, and now I remember why:

The levels are too big, too monotonous, and there’s too many switches to activate, thus contributing to boredom and a feeling of lack of progress. I’m probably 1/3 way through level two, but it feels like I should be on level 20 by now.

I just picked up a tranquilizer gun. What?

I’m going to see if I can power through the game, but I don’t like my odds.

Planescape: Torment
Still enjoying this, but the pacing of this game is totally nuts! It seemed like I spent hours going through all the (mostly dialog-based) content in The Brothel for Slating Intellectual Lusts, just going back and forth between two or three locations... and now in a couple hours of playing I've blasted through 3-4 locations.

I'm not really complaining, though, because it's been a nice change of pace. The combat is still a mess, but I've sort of settled on a default "tactic" I use each time, and it seems to work. It's very weird, though, to be 30 hours into a D&D game, and still have my fighters with positive AC values and getting hit so often in battle. I probably should have done more shopping for rings, etc. back when I was in Sigil. Not a big deal though!

I must praise the graphics and sound/music in this game. This is one good looking game, and I am just playing the original version unmodded from GOG. The backgrounds are very attractive, and the animation of the characters is really great. The music is brooding and atmospheric, and plays a big part in establishing the atmosphere of the game.

Anyway, the story feels like it's coming to a close, so I don't think I'll have much of an issue completing this by the end of the month.