chrismeyer6 wrote on 2023-02-11, 23:01:

BetaC wrote on 2023-02-11, 20:15:

I've been going through Guild Wars 1 recently, and it's made me kind of tired of it. Prophecies is not designed to be played mostly solo, especially on a new account.

Me and my wife are going to start GW1 probably this summer. We're currently working on map completion for Central Tyria and getting our Siege Turtles.

Nice. I managed to get full world explore back in the day when it required all WvW maps, and once again fairly recently. I've started using Blish HUD for making it easier, since I've already done a lot of it multiple times.

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-12-21, 20:26:

Halfway through Wolfenstein. The game introduced a some Far Cry style mutant enemies... which die from about 3 MP43 bullets, this game's version of Supersoldat, heavily armored, armed with a particle cannon... and has 3 weak spots you can shoot in bullet time with about 6 bullets from your MP43, some sorcerer soldiers which attacks with plasma balls and shields generic soldiers OR themselves and surgically augmented assassins. The latter two are a little bit more challenging, but the game is still easy and it doesn't feel like it would get any harder. I also picked up some more firepower, the particle cannon, tesla gun and panzershreck and I barely use anything other than the MP43 and the Kar98. If I wouldn't know I'm playing on hard, I'd think I'm playing on easy.

Also, the game being semi-open world don't make much sense. It doesn't add anything to the game, but you have to backtrack some with respawning enemies.

Btw why is this game unobtainable digitally? It was delisted when Bethesda bought id and I heard two rumors. One of them is that the game is in some kind of legal limbo where publishing rights stayed at Activision, which would be weird, because Quake 4 and Doom 3 and its expansion and it's expansion were unaffected. The other is that the game is so bad Bethesda doesn't want it to taint the name of the franchise, which doesn't make sense. And this not a bad, only a bit unremarkable. They also released Wolfenstein Youngblood and that actually did leave a meaty skid mark on the franchise. And if I compare it to Doom 3, it's a lot less faithful to the Doom franchise than Wolfenstein is to the Wolfenstein.

Just realized I forgot to leave a feedback on the second half of the game. Continued to play on Bring 'Em On (Hard) and the difficulty didn't pick up significantly in the latter half. Throughout the game my workhorse weapons remained the MP43 and the Kar98. Same with Veil powers, barely used anything beyond the basic one outside of boss fights. There weren't all that many new enemies introduced after the half way point. I think probably the only one is the cat suit nazi officers who can summon veil zombies so needs to be prioritized. They also seems to have more hit points despite not having any armor.

The game reminded me a lot to Killzone 2 in the sense that it's an overall easy game with a bullshit final boss. I didn't die much and when I did, it was purely because of my own impatience running into a group of nazis with a nearly empty mag and veil meter.

I died to General Zetta once, then mopped the floor with him. I started to suspect there might be a failed attempt of adaptive difficulty in the game. For the bosses, the Geist Queen was an easy one, it really didn't put up a fight. There was a cat suit girl boss on the second to last mission I died to 4 times. She was protected with a barrier and spawned unusually bullet spongy veil zombies. Once her barrier is down, she is no stronger than the common variants. Then there is power-armor veil zombified Hans Grosse with the same veil powers dual wielding machine guns and rocket launchers launchers you have in a 3 stage boss battle at the end. I hated that one.

The hub world structure wasn't as bad as I originally expected, there is not a lot of reason to go back and forth between areas so the respawning enemies are no more than mild annoyance. The gun play is decent, the story works for a Wolfenstein game, the graphics is fine aside that I found Blazko's character design weird. Somehow it gave me the impression his head is oversized.

Over all the game is alright, but it came out in a period of classics from which it couldn't stand out. It definitely doesn't worth the price e-bay sellers demand for it, but it's pretty much the only way to play today (I tried 2 pirate copies from 2 different sources and both had damated .cab files and couldn't install).

I beat the game in a hair above 14 hours (total run time measured by Metropolis Launcher, in-game it was just below 12hrs). Didn't max out the collectibles, but spent some time on exploring the maps. That's about an hour more than the average play time on HLTB, which is fair.

still wading through Oblivion - what a time sink! fun though. Whilst i'm not a 100% 'completionist' i do like to try most missions, especially side missions, and to meet most of the NPCs. Did that in Fallout 3 too.

I definitely wouldn't try that in Daggerfall though! I played that once years ago and after a long time in one town and an even longer time trapped in some everlasting dungeon i gave up!

the low population in Oblivion works, it means many NPCs are more 'individual' and interesting to interact with

Diablo II
I was able to complete Act I a few days ago, and am about halfway through Act II now (based on the quest list). I must say that Act II is a huge improvement over Act I, even if the structure is overall very similar. It's just a better looking area overall, and there's a bit more variety in the graphics, enemies, and dungeons. The difficulty has ramped up a bit, but it's mostly a matter of just using the right elemental resistance for each type of enemy.

I used my one respec to redo my skills a bit. I unlocked most of the passive skills (just a single point) because most of them are situationally useful, even at a low level. I have been spending most of my points on Holy Freeze and Resist Cold (for the synergy bonus to Holy Freeze), but did some reading and also ended up putting some points into Zeal, which I use as my standard left-click attack... very powerful skill!

I can't say I like this as much as the first Diablo game, but it's getting better and better the more I play it. I didn't like the wide open "field" areas in Act I, but they make a lot more sense in Act II since you are supposed to be exploring a desert searching for temples, etc. The soundtrack is pretty good, but it's mostly ambient and a bit boring compared with the creepy stuff from the first game.

Yesterday I started Need for Speed Underground, the first on XP. I had to accept that the tool which lets you install the no rubber banding mod doesn't work on XP and I remember this entry has the worst rubber banding in the series. Also had to limit the frame rate. At 100+ fps the controls get way too oversensitive.

It's been over 15 years I played it seriously and never beat it. Back then my approach with racing games was, play enough from the career mode to unlock everything, then go for the quick races. It feels there is a hard limit that you can't get away more than 3-4secs/lap in a race, at the same time distance is meaningless with the violent rubber banding the game has. Just graze a traffic car, not losing speed and maybe even getting through a corner faster and one of them will warp right beside you from 20 seconds behind.

If you can't write a decent racing AI, your game should be easy, not cheating. Losses never feel well deserved and even the wins get a sour aftertaste because they are more of a matter of luck rather than skill.

Well, I tore/pulled a calf muscle while jogging the other day, so I'll probably be posting a lot to this thread over the next week or two!

Diablo II
Right after I got done praising Act II for being a lot more interesting than the first act, the game sent me to what was basically a giant flat field full of enemies. Just the same two enemies, times a thousand. It didn't take too long to get through, and it's not a big deal, but I just thought it was funny. Also funny was that I just got done complaining about the soundtrack, but then I get hit with the awesome harem/palace basement music. Anyway, I completed Act II. There was a massive difficulty increase in the last area, but I got through all right and the boss wasn't much of a problem at all.

Diablo II
Pretty disappointed so far with Act III! It looks ugly, the layout is extremely annoying (basically a long and winding corridor with little sidepaths here and there to dungeons), and the enemies are also a nuisance; lots of tiny, fast things running around. I am also having lots of issues with my mercenaries... they get stuck on stuff constantly, and sometimes just refuse to move at all. Pretty annoying. Oh well, I'll just put 30-45 mins in here and there until I complete it.

However, it is very cool that that Diablo 1 "Dungeon" theme plays in the caves in this act! That's my favorite track from Diablo 1.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-02-17, 14:50:

I am also having lots of issues with my mercenaries... they get stuck on stuff constantly, and sometimes just refuse to move at all. Pretty annoying.

This might be a too new hardware issue. I never had issues with mercs just stopping like that back in the day but when I tried to play the game about 10 years ago with a newer PC it was like that, drove me nuts.

Sombrero wrote on 2023-02-17, 15:09:

This might be a too new hardware issue. I never had issues with mercs just stopping like that back in the day but when I tried to play the game about 10 years ago with a newer PC it was like that, drove me nuts.

That's interesting to hear! It's only become an issue with Act III for me, but part of that might also be due to the cramped layout of the maps in Act III. I also felt like the game was running a bit faster in Act III... I wonder if using an external application to limit the FPS might help. I'll have to give it a try.

[Edit] I tried capping the FPS to 30 (Diablo II runs at 25 fps) with RTSS, and initial results are promising. I played for 30 minutes and never had my hireling get stuck or stop responding. So far so good! Thanks Sombrero for mentioning this.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-02-17, 15:17:

Sombrero wrote on 2023-02-17, 15:09:

This might be a too new hardware issue. I never had issues with mercs just stopping like that back in the day but when I tried to play the game about 10 years ago with a newer PC it was like that, drove me nuts.

That's interesting to hear! It's only become an issue with Act III for me, but part of that might also be due to the cramped layout of the maps in Act III. I also felt like the game was running a bit faster in Act III... I wonder if using an external application to limit the FPS might help. I'll have to give it a try.

[Edit] I tried capping the FPS to 30 (Diablo II runs at 25 fps) with RTSS, and initial results are promising. I played for 30 minutes and never had my hireling get stuck or stop responding. So far so good! Thanks Sombrero for mentioning this.

Nice, it was that easy fix? Never occured to me to try that decade ago, I probably just tried to force the game on one CPU core which didn't help and then angrily stopped playing after the merc went brain dead for the nth time 🤣

Sombrero wrote on 2023-02-17, 18:20:

Nice, it was that easy fix? Never occured to me to try that decade ago, I probably just tried to force the game on one CPU core which didn't help and then angrily stopped playing after the merc went brain dead for the nth time 🤣

Yes, so far so good! I've encountered this with some other games before (Fallout Tactics comes to mind), so your reply got me thinking to try limiting the fps. Like I said, good results so far, so we'll see how it goes.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-02-17, 15:17:

Sombrero wrote on 2023-02-17, 15:09:

This might be a too new hardware issue. I never had issues with mercs just stopping like that back in the day but when I tried to play the game about 10 years ago with a newer PC it was like that, drove me nuts.

That's interesting to hear! It's only become an issue with Act III for me, but part of that might also be due to the cramped layout of the maps in Act III. I also felt like the game was running a bit faster in Act III... I wonder if using an external application to limit the FPS might help. I'll have to give it a try.

[Edit] I tried capping the FPS to 30 (Diablo II runs at 25 fps) with RTSS, and initial results are promising. I played for 30 minutes and never had my hireling get stuck or stop responding. So far so good! Thanks Sombrero for mentioning this.

On a related note, during my playthrough of IWD Enhanced, I popped on my MSI Afterburner to see how much CPU and GPU the game was using and noticed it was locked at 30 fps. I did some digging and found the config file where this was set. I tried setting it to 60 because the animations seemed a bit choppy to me, but at 60, character animations were super smooth but they moved around way too fast. I dropped it to 45 fps and it was way better, but still a little too fast, so I just dropped it back to 30 like the developers set it to begin with.

Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition
I just got to the Temple of the Forgotten God. Roughly 26 hours in. Yes, I am a slow player. My playtimes typically run 25-50% longer than what it says on howlongtobeat.com or Gamefaqs. They rate this game at 50-60 hours and I'm roughly 30% through the game at 26 hours. 🤣.

I've read that there's some pretty impressive random magical items in the first section of this cave, so I've been experimenting with saving and reloading and so far have only gotten mediocre items. Yeah, I'll keep going until I get something good. Maybe something to do with my long playtimes. 🤣.

I'm really enjoying this game and it's story. Apparently the story has been deemed minimal compared to the Baldur's Gate series and other Infinity Engine games, but I can't tell. It seems robust enough for me. Onward!

I thought the writing/story was great in Icewind Dale! It was 100% what I was looking for in a fantasy game.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-02-18, 16:07:

I thought the writing/story was great in Icewind Dale! It was 100% what I was looking for in a fantasy game.

Yeah, I don't get the comments about it being all combat and no story. Or "Baldur's Gate without a storyline." It's actually one of the things that kept me from playing it for a long time. Then after your posts in this thread, I had to give it a shot.

In regards to Wolfenstein (2009), ZeniMax/Bethesda (Microsoft) owns the IP through id Software, but Activision owns the game in it's entirety, both the code and publishing rights, so it will likely never be re-released, unless the pending Microsoft buyout of ActivisionBlizzard goes through, giving Microsoft full control over the game and it's code.

About halfway through Underground (event 53/111) 6.7hrs in. At this point the rubber banding is all over the place. Really track dependent. Either the opponents or at least one of them are right up in my ass the whole race or on certain parts of the track basically stops and gives me a 5s lead, just to be right up in my ass on other parts. I also noticed that the game is very particular about the placement of traffic. It has to be right on my racing line coming out of blind corners or after bumps where I have no chance seeing them. It makes me questioned if the game was ever designed to be played with fully upgraded cars. I don't see the value in using upgrades outside of time trials in the career mode. So far I could also get away with not ricing my car too much.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-02-15, 16:05:

Well, I tore/pulled a calf muscle while jogging the other day, so I'll probably be posting a lot to this thread over the next week or two!

Diablo II
Right after I got done praising Act II for being a lot more interesting than the first act, the game sent me to what was basically a giant flat field full of enemies. Just the same two enemies, times a thousand. It didn't take too long to get through, and it's not a big deal, but I just thought it was funny. Also funny was that I just got done complaining about the soundtrack, but then I get hit with the awesome harem/palace basement music. Anyway, I completed Act II. There was a massive difficulty increase in the last area, but I got through all right and the boss wasn't much of a problem at all.

I found Act II a mixed bag. Actually same could be said for Act I.

The whole "ploughing a big empty field" (as in, dispatching all the monsters dotted across it) mechanic can drag a bit in this game, once the novelty wears off. It's kept fresh to some extent by the gaining/unlocking of new skills and equipment, though this too can become rote after many hours.

The simple repetitive fun and the very well produced atmosphere of the game are it's strong suits.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-02-17, 14:50:

Diablo II
Pretty disappointed so far with Act III! It looks ugly, the layout is extremely annoying (basically a long and winding corridor with little sidepaths here and there to dungeons), and the enemies are also a nuisance; lots of tiny, fast things running around. I am also having lots of issues with my mercenaries... they get stuck on stuff constantly, and sometimes just refuse to move at all. Pretty annoying. Oh well, I'll just put 30-45 mins in here and there until I complete it.

However, it is very cool that that Diablo 1 "Dungeon" theme plays in the caves in this act! That's my favorite track from Diablo 1.

Act III, super annoying. The town's annoying ('duhhh, I walked up the wrong bridge, again'), the jungle's annoying (don't look now, but I strongly suspect that, after walking a few more steps along the river, a herd of 20 pygmies chaperoned by 2 flame-breathing shamans is about to mob me, for the 159th time...!). The boss is pretty cool.

Act IV is again a mixed bag (<-- general theme). There's a couple of fields to plough, but the later parts of the Act are one of the game's highlights.

Shreddoc wrote on 2023-02-18, 22:20:

Act IV is again a mixed bag (<-- general theme). There's a couple of fields to plough, but the later parts of the Act are one of the game's highlights.

Agreed! It was a nice step up from Act III.

Diablo II
Finished! I have mixed feelings on this one, but enjoyed it. I think Diablo 1 is overall the better game; more challenging, better paced, and a better soundtrack. Having said all that, Diablo II is a great looking and sounding game that plays fine. I prefer it to its clones (or at least those I've completed), and there's a lot to like about Diablo II.

First off, it looks absolutely fantastic; some of the environments just look amazing considering they are constructed from tiles and decorations (like Fallout 1/2) instead of being prerendered "drawings" (like the Infinity Engine games). If you turn the "Perspective" option on in the settings, the game really does give the impression of being 3D/polygonal. It's a seriously impressive effect.

It sounds great, too, though I prefer the music and sound effects from Diablo I. I was pleased to hear both the Tristram theme and Dungeon theme again, though. For the original compositions, the Palace theme from Act II was my favorite.

I do not like "skill tree" character building, but it's not bad here. There really aren't that many skills per class, so it's pretty easy to figure out which skills you want to focus on. I think the game's clones really went overboard with skill trees (look at the GIGANTIC skill tree for Path of Exile, for instance). The game gives you one free respec opportunity pretty early on, if you screw things up.

The wide-open field maps are hit and miss with me. They do make it feel a bit like you are exploring an actual place, but many of them are just boring, flat, drab fields, where you are just running back and forth in strips ("mowing the lawn") to make sure you don't miss anything. These areas make sense in Act II (where you are supposed to be discovering ancient temples buried in a desert), but just felt like filler in the other acts. I feel like Act I and Act III would have been better without any field maps at all; just make it like Diablo I where the dungeon is underneath the encampment/town. This would give the game more variety, since you'd have straight dungeon crawls in Act I/III and then field exploration in Act II/IV.

I found the game to be much easier than Diablo I. I had some difficult situations in D1 where I really thought I was stuck, but some careful maneuvering got me through them. I only started dying in D2 in the very last map, and even then dying is pretty much meaningless since you just lose some gold and respawn in town (with all progress retained).

These are just minor complaints, though. After completing the game I immediately installed the LoD expansion, and was tempted to keep playing. Instead, I'll play something else for now, and come back to D2 later this year.

Most of the cars and upgrades are unlocked and the game have shown everything it has. I found that the handling upgrades worth hit for circuit and sprint races, but the speed and acceleration upgrades don't. The AI will match your car anyway and because of the rubber banding it's best to have as much control as possible. For drag, I had a race against a Supra which was difficult, until I took off every upgrade except for pure top speed and NOS. Weirdly, acceleration upgrades aren't good for drag. Makes getting the shifts right more difficult. For drift, upgrades just don't matter. It's easy to double the score of the AI on any difficulty.