DracoNihil wrote on 2022-08-22, 04:00:

Zup wrote on 2022-08-21, 21:32:

There is a funny thing about it... it has never been released on Steam, but if you redeem your CD key on Steam you obtain the Half-Life Platinum Pack (Half-Life 1, plus both expansions, Team Fortress Classic, Ricochet and some other things).

Huh, I actually own Platnium Pack, and redeemed one of the CD keys on Steam successfully. Didn't think Gunman Chronicles CD keys would redeem the same thing.

You should also get "Day of Defeat" with that too, if I'm not mistaken?

I believe there's some rights issue with Gunman Chronicles on Steam (the dev studio no longer exists) so Valve gives you a bunch of other games as compensation. I remember reading something about that after I found a copy at a thrift store.

Just finished the third mission in Sniper Elite 4. I'm LOVING this game. Most enemies can be taken out at long range, and the better you camouflage yourself, the more successful you are. There's also a neat sound masking feature. If planes are flying by, you can take your shots when they are making the most noise and your shots won't be heard. Or if you come across a generator, you can kick it, causing it to misfire and be very noisy. Shots taken around that area are less likely to be heard, thus keeping yourself hidden while doing sniping damage. The missions are several notches more realistic than any game in the Wolfenstein series, yet it still retains a lot of Wolfenstein flavor, due to you being an American fighting Nazis in WWII. The entire campaign takes place in Italy, so the scenery is gorgeous and the maps are really well thought out. Some of the best maps I've ever played in.

Hoping to finish this game in the next few weeks so I can move on to a DOS RPG. It will probably be Ultima VI. By then I hope to get my MT-32 running properly for the full early 90s 486 experience!

Wolfenstein 3D
I completed Episode 1 the other night, on the second to highest difficulty level. It was fun start to finish, and the good old trick of sticking to a wall and following it to the end solved every maze. I had a lot of fun replaying this and eventually want to play through the second episode, but will take a break and play something else.

Try something new and play Pył.

4D Sports Boxing. Fought the Champ, lost twice, got angry, deleted it. I'll never understand blocking in that game, or why half of my commands never register. Still love it, though.

Last night I did some research on character creation on Ultima 6 and ended up creating my Avatar, defeating the gargoyles that followed us through the gate, and talking briefly with Lord British. Spent about 30 minutes playing and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'll probably play a little more tonight, though I'm already in the middle of Sniper Elite 4. I might just play them in tandem, rather than wait to complete one to start the other.

My Avatar ended up with starting stats of:
STR: 19
DEX: 20
INT: 23

Focusing on magic as I remember none of the other NPCs ever getting really powerful with magic.

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-25, 22:30:

Last night I did some research on character creation on Ultima 6 and ended up creating my Avatar, defeating the gargoyles that followed us through the gate, and talking briefly with Lord British. Spent about 30 minutes playing and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I'm glad you picked this, as it's a nostalgic favorite of mine and it will be interesting to follow your posts and thoughts. Did you get your MT-32 working? I think I actually prefer OPL for this one, personally.

newtmonkey wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:04:

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-25, 22:30:

Last night I did some research on character creation on Ultima 6 and ended up creating my Avatar, defeating the gargoyles that followed us through the gate, and talking briefly with Lord British. Spent about 30 minutes playing and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I'm glad you picked this, as it's a nostalgic favorite of mine and it will be interesting to follow your posts and thoughts. Did you get your MT-32 working? I think I actually prefer OPL for this one, personally.

I have not gotten the MT-32 working yet. The PCB looks good (at least the topside) so I'm suspecting the cable, MIDIMAN interface card, or the PSU. Just haven't had time to look into it deeper. What's going on is it is playing wrong instruments or missing instruments. So it plays music, just sounds really off.

I'm really interested in U6 because it's the only Ultima I have not played. It was released when I was still on the Apple IIe, and by the time I got my first PC, Ultima 7 had come out so I skipped straight to it. I'd played U1-5 on the Apple (though I only ever finished U2, U3, and U4).

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:09:

newtmonkey wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:04:

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-25, 22:30:

Last night I did some research on character creation on Ultima 6 and ended up creating my Avatar, defeating the gargoyles that followed us through the gate, and talking briefly with Lord British. Spent about 30 minutes playing and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I'm glad you picked this, as it's a nostalgic favorite of mine and it will be interesting to follow your posts and thoughts. Did you get your MT-32 working? I think I actually prefer OPL for this one, personally.

I have not gotten the MT-32 working yet. The PCB looks good (at least the topside) so I'm suspecting the cable, MIDIMAN interface card, or the PSU. Just haven't had time to look into it deeper. What's going on is it is playing wrong instruments or missing instruments. So it plays music, just sounds really off.

While holding MASTER VOLUME, press RHYTHM PART. Press PART 1

Shagittarius wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:27:

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:09:

newtmonkey wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:04:

I'm glad you picked this, as it's a nostalgic favorite of mine and it will be interesting to follow your posts and thoughts. Did you get your MT-32 working? I think I actually prefer OPL for this one, personally.

I have not gotten the MT-32 working yet. The PCB looks good (at least the topside) so I'm suspecting the cable, MIDIMAN interface card, or the PSU. Just haven't had time to look into it deeper. What's going on is it is playing wrong instruments or missing instruments. So it plays music, just sounds really off.

While holding MASTER VOLUME, press RHYTHM PART. Press PART 1

Thanks. I'll try that out. Is that some sort of reset?

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:32:

Shagittarius wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:27:

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:09:

I have not gotten the MT-32 working yet. The PCB looks good (at least the topside) so I'm suspecting the cable, MIDIMAN interface card, or the PSU. Just haven't had time to look into it deeper. What's going on is it is playing wrong instruments or missing instruments. So it plays music, just sounds really off.

While holding MASTER VOLUME, press RHYTHM PART. Press PART 1

Thanks. I'll try that out. Is that some sort of reset?

Yep should reset everything to factory settings. It will ask you to confirm.

Shagittarius wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:33:

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:32:

Shagittarius wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:27:

While holding MASTER VOLUME, press RHYTHM PART. Press PART 1

Thanks. I'll try that out. Is that some sort of reset?

Yep should reset everything to factory settings. It will ask you to confirm.

Thanks, I have it apart and bits are at work, so it'll probably be this weekend before I get to try that.

In the meantime, let's just go all out if we're playing Ultima VI:

A few years back we went to a gaming convention in Oklahoma and I bought this boxed copy. The box is not in good condition, but it came with the map, moonstone, Compendium, reference guide, and 3.5" floppies. What better time to crack it open?

Ultima looks great on that little CRT and that game box doesn’t look bad at all. Now you just need a Rubik’s Cube, some soda cans, a bag of chips and other various ‘I’ve been gaming til the sun comes up’ paraphernalia in the photo for time period authenticity. 😎

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-26, 01:52:

Thanks, I have it apart and bits are at work, so it'll probably be this weekend before I get to try that. […]
Show full quote

Thanks, I have it apart and bits are at work, so it'll probably be this weekend before I get to try that.

In the meantime, let's just go all out if we're playing Ultima VI:
ultima6.jpeg
A few years back we went to a gaming convention in Oklahoma and I bought this boxed copy. The box is not in good condition, but it came with the map, moonstone, Compendium, reference guide, and 3.5" floppies. What better time to crack it open?

Love the map on the wall, that's a nice touch for the photo (and convenient for reference while playing!). I wish I could find more complete big box games around; I've come across maybe a half-dozen total at thrift stores over the years. Just not something you see around here, it seems.

Shagittarius wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:33:

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:32:

Shagittarius wrote on 2022-08-25, 23:27:

While holding MASTER VOLUME, press RHYTHM PART. Press PART 1

Thanks. I'll try that out. Is that some sort of reset?

Yep should reset everything to factory settings. It will ask you to confirm.

Turns out I didn't have to do the reset, but I will file that away for future reference. The issue was (and I've done this before!) switching back and forth between MT-32 and GM, I had forgotten to change the MPU-401 address in the sound card away from 330. Doh! I'd actually cleaned the contacts on the MIDMAN ISA card, verified my solder was holding up on the homemade cable, did a visual of the MIDIMAN and the inside of the MT-32, and check the MT-32 PSU was still outputting proper volts and amps.

That's what happens when you use a system sporadically. You forget the silly things you have to do to make everything work together. 😀

I play Cue Club, it's a fun but a bit forgotten game..

On a whim decided to play the DOS version of Super Street Fighter II. While not as nice-looking and sounding as the Turbo version, it has its upsides, such as smaller sprites (and larger play field as a result), and the bonus stages which were removed from SSF2T.

Playing on a keyboard without properly arranged Ins/Home/PgUp/Del/End/PgDn block, I nonetheless managed to beat the game on medium difficulty, using Ken, and only hard punch/kicks (including special moves), losing just a handful of rounds and only one match (to M. Bison, whom I beat on the second attempt). Thanks to the larger playing field, it's really easy to keep the CPU opponents at bay with strings of cheap Hadoukens, so I even got quite a few 'Perfect' rounds. 😁

Ultima VI: The False Prophet
I'm still in Britain, exploring and talking to everyone, gaining clues. There's certainly a lot to do in the opening section! I've spent almost 4 hours playing and still haven't left Britain for Cove...🤣.

I'm definitely using online help for this, particularly town maps to make finding shops and remembering where they are easier. The music has been a highlight, but the interface is taking some getting used to. I've pretty much memorized most of the hotkeys by now, but still have to refer to the Reference Guide every once in awhile. I still have not cast a spell or had a combat yet (outside of the opening battle with the Gargoyles). More things to look forward to!

I'm still playing Sniper Elite 4 as well. Jumping back and forth between the two. Of course, it will make both games go slower but it's nice to have a change of pace when one game starts to get to be too much.

Just finished Halo CE Anniversary on the Master Chief Collection (PC).

Played a lot of Halo back then on the Xbox360 but, because I have The Master Chief Collection on PC, mainly for the multiplayer, I decided to replay it, in chronological order.

For now, I completed Halo Reach and CE, so I'm gonna play Halo 2: Anniversary (never played the Anniversary before because I never had an Xbox One).

The Master Chief Collection is ok, I like the fact it runs at 60FPS, but it has some bugs: for example, if an NPC is speaking and I'm not looking at him/her, the audio becomes barely audible.
It's really strange and it affects every game on the collection.
Don't know if I'm the only one having it 😕

Nox Archaist
I went and cleared the Orc Cave. There was a tough battle at the end which seemed way too difficult for my current party, but it ended up being a bit of a "puzzle" battle. Once I figured it out, it was not very difficult at all. I ended up getting a lot of gold and some nice items there, and also found out something interesting about the game: treasure chest are random and they are regenerated whenever you enter a dungeon. You could probably really abuse this, but I'll avoid doing that.

My next goal is to sell some of the items I've found, upgrade the armor on my front line characters, buy a boat, and start exploring the rest of the world. Like I mentioned before, I want to replace my "paladin" (fighter/mage) character with a pure mage, and (unless I am missing something) there is only one mage character to recruit on the first island.

Avadon
I'm something like 20 hours into this, and while I don't like it, I'd like to complete it. I decided to leave it installed and just put 20-30 minutes into it at a time as I have time. What makes this both very playable but also boring, is the fact that it's ridiculously easy. You heal in between combats, so you are never in any danger. It's almost not even worth playing, but it's sort of perfect for those times when I want to veg out and listen to music or whatever, but also want to play a game.

Quake
I decided to install this on my dedicated MSDOS PC. I have it on Steam, and that version is fine, but something felt off about it... movement felt a bit weird, and the higher resolution imo makes the game look worse than it should. I actually still have my original CD bought back in the day, so I installed the game and played it a bit.

I really liked this game back in the day, and I like it even more now. A great followup to DOOM, with a fantastic soundtrack. Like DOOM, it's got its own unique feel that takes a bit to get used to, but once you do it just feels perfect. Its also got a great selection of weapons, very unique enemies, and some spectacular level design.