badmojo wrote on 2023-10-23, 11:45:

I've been having some fun with Two Worlds, the "Oblivion killer" from 2007. I did enjoy this game back in the day but it took so […]
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I've been having some fun with Two Worlds, the "Oblivion killer" from 2007. I did enjoy this game back in the day but it took some effort to remember why - it makes a terrible first impression. It looks great but the engine is awful - masses of pop-in and it still grinds along at under 60FPS in towns with turned shadows on.

It also does itself a disservice with the terrible dialog and voice acting - I can't decide whether this silliness is intentional or not but it's actually quite endearing after a while. "Say hello to death", etc.

Anyway, all of that aside there's a lot to like. Exploration is fun, combat is OK, loot is great, and some of the quests are vaguely interesting. I'm playing the PC version which has native 360 controller support (after a registry hack to enable it), and that works really well.

It tries to do a lot of things and sometimes it succeeds, sometimes not, but overall it errs on the side of lightweight fun over in-depth RPG.

TW.jpg TW1.jpg

I remember playing Oblivion and getting bored of it, so I picked up Two worlds, for xbox 360. I loved it. The voice acting was atrocious and the animations were a bit wierd, but I had a great time with the game itself. I didnt finish it because they released an update that wasnt compatible iwth your save game so to use it you had to start over. I have the collectors edition for PC and will have to install that some time soon.

Law212 wrote on 2023-10-23, 12:54:

I remember playing Oblivion and getting bored of it, so I picked up Two worlds, for xbox 360. I loved it. The voice acting was atrocious and the animations were a bit wierd, but I had a great time with the game itself. I didnt finish it because they released an update that wasnt compatible iwth your save game so to use it you had to start over. I have the collectors edition for PC and will have to install that some time soon.

i played Oblivion lots, played it 'blind' so just exploring and so on. its great but ultimately i had done almost all side quests and ascended the guilds and just on the cusp of following up the main story i sort of became a little tired of it!

still, it will be revisited. and i'd never heard of two worlds! looks interesting but supposedly buggy and less 'complete'

Alien campaign in Aliens vs. Predator 2 done and thus is the entire game.

Before I started it I noted I had practically no memories of it, unlike with the other two. And me being me, a person who remembers weirdly specific things about videogames from decades past while not always remembering his own damn address when he needs to write it down somewhere, that tends to only mean I didn't find it very engaging even back then.

And sure enough it didn't blow my socks off. But I did remember how the campaign starts, as a facehugger that needs to first scrurry around in the shadows looking for a suitable host and then burst out of the chest cavity of the unlucky sob as a chestburster, which was funny. Then some more hiding until you grow up into a fully grown alien that rip and tears everything for the rest of the campaign.

And it isn't as fun as you might expect, in fact it gets pretty old quickly. At least it did for me. You have just three different ways to attack, claws that do what you would expect, tail whip that might stun the target if it doesn't die from it and a leap attack you can use from a distance that shreds the target instantly but leaves no body. Which can be a problem, you heal by biting the head off. Also clawing the bodies heal a bit but the head is the primary "medikit".

That doesn't leave much for gameplay variety. Also nobody has tought the xenomorphs to read, so no reading notes like with the other two. You just run around killing everything as fast as you can, like the predator you die easily when shot at but unlike the predator you have to get close to the enemy. Which isn't always easy, while you can and often need to run on walls and ceilings the game engine doesn't handle that amazingly, I got REALLY confused at times where I was and which direction I was looking. It's great to run into a invisible tumble dryer as the direction you were looking suddenly turned 529 degrees at random direction while trying to make your way to the marines shooting at you.

I'd rate the entire game like this:

- Marine: Very fun and atmospheric, the more you like the movie Aliens the more I'd recommend it. Worth getting the game for this alone
- Predator: Pretty mediocre, the tools ol' preddy has seem fun at first but the gameplay starts to get a bit tedious before long
- Alien: The shortest campaign for a reason, doesn't have much going for it. 80% rip and tear, 5% wondering what direction are you looking at and 15% trying to figure where the hell are you supposed to go

I finished 'Blue Shift.' Now, I'm finally putting this 7900XTX to work playing 'Shadow of the Tomb Raider.' It's (one of) the reason(s) I bought this card; the 2080 Ti it replaced couldn't play this game solidly above 100fps with everything turned up to 11 (less raytracing, which I don't care about in the slightest). 144fps is no problem, now.

Meatball wrote on 2023-10-24, 23:21:

I finished 'Blue Shift.' Now, I'm finally putting this 7900XTX to work playing 'Shadow of the Tomb Raider.' It's (one of) the reason(s) I bought this card; the 2080 Ti it replaced couldn't play this game solidly above 100fps with everything turned up to 11 (less raytracing, which I don't care about in the slightest). 144fps is no problem, now.

I played Shadow on a 1080Ti with everything turned up (no raytracing, obviously) and it played great. I have no idea what my framerate was, but I don't usually check framerate unless I'm having issues.

Also, those three Tomb Raider games are some of the best games I've played in the last 20 years. I highly recommend everyone play through them.

Meatball wrote on 2023-10-24, 23:21:

I finished 'Blue Shift.'

whilst HL an d OF are obviously "better" than Blueshift i still really like it, the satisfying successful escape and the sense of being 'ordinary' within the whole black mesa incident made for a great alternative view of events

gerry wrote on 2023-10-25, 09:06:

Meatball wrote on 2023-10-24, 23:21:

I finished 'Blue Shift.'

whilst HL an d OF are obviously "better" than Blueshift i still really like it, the satisfying successful escape and the sense of being 'ordinary' within the whole black mesa incident made for a great alternative view of events

I liked all three a lot. We have a St. Bernard, and his name is 'Barney.' What a great everyman name.

However, I didn't buy the everyman setting for 'Blue Shift.' All the ordinary security NPCs were snuffed out in short order throughout the game. Only the best from each group made it out alive, be it scientists, military, or security. It just goes to show the suit doesn't make the man.

The only disappointment I had with 'Blue Shift' was not enough of G-Man. I only saw him once. Plus, given the ending of Opposing Force, G-Man doesn't realize some personnel made it out of Black Mesa alive before he blew it up to smithereens. (I thought it was very droll defusing the bomb with Shephard, only to witness G-Man re-arming the darn thing a few moments later.)

Pillars of Eternity
I think finally completing BG1 and Icewind Dale is what really made this game click for me. I don't love real-time with pause combat, but it's handled quite well here. The game provides all the information you'd need to know in the combat log (and by hovering the cursor over enemies), and it will even bring up a little pop-up telling you more information if you hover over certain terms. It also has lots of auto-pause options, and even an option that automatically puts the game into slow motion whenever combat starts.

There's a "mega dungeon" akin to Durlag's Tower in BG1 and Dragon's Eye from Icewind Dale. It's nowhere near as good as those masterpiece dungeons, but it's alright. I've been exploring a few floors in between doing other stuff, and just got to level 11.

I also got to what I think is near the end of Act III, so I decided to head off to the White March (the DLC area). It's very reminiscent of Icewind Dale (it's in the snow after all), and although it's no ID, it's a cool (hehe) area to explore and a step up from some of the more dull areas you explore in the main campaign of PoE.

Steam reports that I've put 32 hours into the game over the last two weeks, which is absolutely insane for me. It's been some time since I've been so addicted to a game like this.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-10-25, 14:59:

Pillars of Eternity I think finally completing BG1 and Icewind Dale is what really made this game click for me. I don't love re […]
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Pillars of Eternity
I think finally completing BG1 and Icewind Dale is what really made this game click for me. I don't love real-time with pause combat, but it's handled quite well here. The game provides all the information you'd need to know in the combat log (and by hovering the cursor over enemies), and it will even bring up a little pop-up telling you more information if you hover over certain terms. It also has lots of auto-pause options, and even an option that automatically puts the game into slow motion whenever combat starts.

There's a "mega dungeon" akin to Durlag's Tower in BG1 and Dragon's Eye from Icewind Dale. It's nowhere near as good as those masterpiece dungeons, but it's alright. I've been exploring a few floors in between doing other stuff, and just got to level 11.

I also got to what I think is near the end of Act III, so I decided to head off to the White March (the DLC area). It's very reminiscent of Icewind Dale (it's in the snow after all), and although it's no ID, it's a cool (hehe) area to explore and a step up from some of the more dull areas you explore in the main campaign of PoE.

Steam reports that I've put 32 hours into the game over the last two weeks, which is absolutely insane for me. It's been some time since I've been so addicted to a game like this.

Really glad to hear you are enjoying it, your experience so far mirrors mine. The megadungeon has a very difficult end boss.. Without spoiling much I'll just say I got TPK'ed about 20 times before I killed it, and that time I managed it I had only one party member standing with about 10 HP.

appiah4 wrote on 2023-10-25, 18:29:

Really glad to hear you are enjoying it, your experience so far mirrors mine. The megadungeon has a very difficult end boss.. Without spoiling much I'll just say I got TPK'ed about 20 times before I killed it, and that time I managed it I had only one party member standing with about 10 HP.

Thanks! I still like it. 😀

---

I finished up The White March Part I, then went and did all the bounties, and finally completed the megadungeon (Endless Paths). It seemed possible to talk your way out of fighting the master of the Endless Paths (and the guardian before her), but I either chose the wrong options or didn't have the right stats, so I ended up having to fight both.

The master was a tough fight, but I did manage to win it on my first try (playing on normal). Things were actually not looking good at first as she starts with a breath attack that does massive damage and ended up killing my wizard; I was able to heal everyone and bring him back to life, and from then on the battle was pretty manageable, though it took a lot of micromanagement. I did have one close call after getting the master down to two pips of health, when she took my priest out... but luckily my priest had a robe equipped that automatically raises the wearer once per encounter.

One thing I really appreciate about this game is how much information it gives you. Defeating the master was just a matter of paying attention to the combat log and her resistances, and casting buffs and debuffs to slowly turn the battle in my favor. It felt great taking her down, especially because I didn't really expect to defeat her (my plan was to give it a shot just to see what it was like, and then save the fight for later).

Now it's on to The White March Part II!

Well done!

PoE 2 ia also great, finish this and just move onto that

Got into the mood of some eurojank. Barely dipped my feet into the game. Looks interesting, but at the same time appears to be a not-a-real-RPG. We'll see how much it opens up later. Only met one faction properly until now, but I don't think I'll be overly loyal to the berserkers, though the other two factions might be just as extreme as them.

I'm a fan of Piranha Bytes games in general and have played a bit of ELEX, but it never really grabbed me. I noticed the other day that there's a mod to mute or turn down several of the annoying environment sounds so that's a win - if you find the constant sniffing of NPCs getting to you, then try this!

https://www.nexusmods.com/elex/mods/99

Pillars of Eternity
Completed! I became totally addicted to this game over the last couple of weeks. Steam reports 88 hours, but that includes several failed attempts over the years. The current attempt took just under 53 hours, and I did pretty much everything I could find, including the 15-level Endless Paths megadungeon, both parts of the White March expansion, all of the bounties, and even all of the optional dragon encounters. I hardly ever play a game so thoroughly, so it's fair to say I enjoyed the game!

I decided straight away this attempt that I would not use the companions, but instead would rush to the first inn available and create a custom party. I used:

• Fighter
• Paladin
• Barbarian
• Rogue
• Wizard
• Priest

This was a really great party to play, and I had a lot of fun learning how each character plays. One thing I really like about this game is that there aren't really any "dump" stats; instead, each attribute does something different and useful. For example, Might affects damage (for both weapons and spells) while Intellect affects range... so you could make a high Might Wizard that does more damage to a smaller area, or a high Intellect Wizard that does less damage over a wider range. This is true for all the classes, basically, so it gives you a lot of flexibility in how you create your characters.

Another thing I really appreciate is how transparent the game is. It has probably the best combat log I've ever seen in a game. It provides a ton of information, and you can even drill down further for more details by hovering the cursor over certain terms or results. You can also hover the cursor over any enemy on the screen to get a full breakdown of its defenses and immunities. This means that the game is very fair (at least on Normal), and never just throws some ridiculously powerful encounter at you where you need to go through trial and error to solve it. Instead, the more challenging encounters feel quite tactical as you meticulously strip away enemy defenses and bolster your own, slowly turning the tide of battle.

The story ended up being quite interesting, but I felt that the game went about it backwards. It starts you out in a scenario that has basically absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the game, and then starts throwing visions completely void of context at you, all before you even arrive at the first town in the game. It's there that you learn about the "hollowborn" crisis (where children are being born alive and healthy but seemingly without souls and unable to do anything on their own), and the game starts getting interesting. Even then, the game continues to sideline the far more interesting hollowborn stuff in favor of more visions and flowery prose.
It would have been better to keep things grounded for a while to ease you into the game, and then start introducing the supernatural "chosen one" stuff... kind of like Baldur's Gate, which got it right imo.

Anyway, even the story ends up being quite good, so I'm just nitpicking. Overall, a fine spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, and an excellent RPG on its own!

I'm glad you liked it, I liked it very much also. I still need to take a look at its sequel (PoE 2), the setting is very different. It was highly praised at the time.

Thanks! I was surprised I liked it so much, because I really disliked it the first few times I tried playing it. I'll definitely give the sequel a try next year!

Got some more hours into the game. Mostly explored the map, found the Otlaw base. Looks like the only viable way for leveling is questing because killing stuff don't give much xp. It's been a while since I felt this weak in a game. I'm still with a rusty axe and the basic bow with the lowest tier armor. Aside of the starting area, I can't even damage people and creatures who can one-hit me from max health. It also appears that I should level up to pass skill checks for more optimal outcomes in dialogs, meanwhile even early quests throw at you tough enemies. Or I do something wrong.

But there are also some genuinely annoying things. Barely any NPC gives you detailed info about your quests and in-universe clues about things are rare. The general store in Goliet has no store sign, the tavern at least has two beer mugs above the front door which is extra annoying when NPCs start threatening you with their weapons drawn if you trespass to see if something just a generic residential building or a trader or whatever. Outside the wilderness it's a little bit better, once you're familiar with the area, there are landmarks to help you find your way to places outside of quests. And then there is the quest log. Very bare bones with almost no useful info. The game is completely designed around the compass and objective markers which I prefer to turn off because chasing objective markers take you out of the world.

Continuing the Ion Fury extension, Ion Fury: AfterShock

It finally introduced vehicular combat after a few levels. The whole level advertised it, so I add to experience it. After two hours (I take it slow, and discovered a few secrets), I finally get to it. It is very responsive and powerful. With it, no enemies are a problem any more.

And I get to keep it on the next level ! Onwards...

This was an eventful session. Explored the map a bit more, reached Level 6, found the an unaffiliated town, got myself a house, found the alb separatists, got abducted by the clerics and dragged the opposite corner of the map, got myself my first permanent meatshield follower, an alb guy. He doesn't do much damage, but can tank a lot. I think now I can finally take on combat focused missions to level up before the dialog focused ones. I'd also like to finally upgrade the starting gear (the basic hunting bow, rusty axe, berserker worker armor, hunter pants and helmet and some jewelry), though I lack the stats for anything that would be a quality upgrade.

Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession
I finally completed the Caverns West of Barovia. It was a huge map and actually pretty fun to explore. In the end, I got the Church Vestibule Key, which I'll use at my next stop. I had two NPCs join my party of two for the Caverns: Vladislav and Irmgarde. Both disappeared without a word when we exited the Caverns, so I went back to Barovia, found Fhalken, who briefly joined me earlier, and had him rejoin. He's a pretty solid fighter. There's another NPC in Barovia, a fighter/mage/thief named Velika, but she was annoying and I'm trying to build up my party faster and a 4th member will divide the EXP four ways instead of three. So, I passed on asking her to rejoin.

I can't get over how bad the voice acting is in this game, but in a way it lends charm to the game. Takes me back to the early 90s when any voice acting was so OMG that it didn't matter if it was the producer's cousin doing it for free.

I'm actually quite liking the graphics in this game. Very creative colors and sprites that keep the eyes engaged. Frames can get a little chunky on my 486/66, but overall the performance is fine. The GM music is pretty cool in that early 90s way. Each map has its own song that plays over and over, but it gets broken up by trips to the inventory screen and overhead map, which have their own jingles. Then when you visit the next new place, you get a brand new song to listen to over and over.

So far I've sunk 15 hours into this game. Again, I'm not a fan of real-time combat, but so far it's working for me. I don't cast a ton of spells because it's just too hard to get them off quickly in the midst of battle, but I did find a magical throwing knife fairly early on that my mage/cleric has been spamming like nuts. It's perfect for when you get some zombies stuck in a corridor. Just step back and fling it repeatedly. The other thing I like is how easy it is to find places to rest. Time doesn't seem to have any effect on the game and there's no hunger or thirst, so you can rest in 8-12 hour chunks to replenish spells and HP as often as you want. Yeah, these are all things that could be critical points for people who like to complain, but I'm thoroughly enjoying this. It'd been two years since I last played a DOS RPG, and I'm loving being back on the platform. BTW, that last game I played was Realms of Arkania III, which was a gem. This game is not at that level, but still good enough that I'll enjoy playing it to the end.