My son has been insisting that I get into the Five Nights at Freddy's series. He's been fascinated by it for some time, and learned a lot about how the game works and what the techniques are, but is afraid to play it himself. So I got the first game, and after reading about the techniques and strategies, beat all of it, including the 20/20/20/20 mode, mostly with him watching. He is still afraid to play it on his own, 🤣.

Yes, I deprived myself of the fun and challenge of figuring out the behavior of the animatronics myself, but ain't nobody got time for that. Just executing the strategies also takes a little bit of skill and patience. Will probably carry the same approach into the sequels.

dr_st wrote on 2023-11-01, 21:49:

My son has been insisting that I get into the Five Nights at Freddy's series. He's been fascinated by it for some time, and learned a lot about how the game works and what the techniques are, but is afraid to play it himself. So I got the first game, and after reading about the techniques and strategies, beat all of it, including the 20/20/20/20 mode, mostly with him watching. He is still afraid to play it on his own, 🤣.

Yes, I deprived myself of the fun and challenge of figuring out the behavior of the animatronics myself, but ain't nobody got time for that. Just executing the strategies also takes a little bit of skill and patience. Will probably carry the same approach into the sequels.

This is an interesting game for me. I recognize that it's really well made, but absolutely hated it. I found the gameplay extremely stressful-far more than any other strategy or survival horror game. I can't think of any game that stressed me out like this one, even if the player is fairly helpless like in Amnesia the Dark Descent.

Full Throttle on Win 95

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-11-02, 04:05:

This is an interesting game for me. I recognize that it's really well made, but absolutely hated it. I found the gameplay extremely stressful-far more than any other strategy or survival horror game. I can't think of any game that stressed me out like this one, even if the player is fairly helpless like in Amnesia the Dark Descent.

I don't normally play survival horror games. I tend to soak in the atmosphere, which means I am quite susceptible to being scared/nervous. I guess this is the goal, but I don't like it. Not for long stretches of time. I decided that FNaF is OK, simply because of how short it is. Of course, once the game has been dissected, jump scares are not as surprising anymore, and not as scary.

Trying to understand how such a simple, low-budget game became a huge hit and a franchise, I think it simply hit the nail on a combination of a few features. Horror and humor work well together. You are genuinely stressed and spooked, but in the back of your head can't take it seriously. It's also not the type of graphical, gory horror, where the fear factor is often secondary to the grossness factor.

The interface is extremely simple to operate, but there is a lot of depth to the game. Each animatronic works in a different way, and you are only given very subtle hints about it, so the only way to figure it out is trial and error. The game also gives you a grace period where during the early nights only some of them are active, so you have the opportunity to learn their modus operandi, before new enemies are introduced. You must combine all the tools at your disposal, because no single tool will protect you from everyone. You must play a game of resource management and optimization, and there is also a factor of luck involved, which keeps you on your toes even after you find the optimal strategy.

Truly a masterpiece, albeit with virtually no replay value after you beat it. It's good that there are sequels.

The last couple of sessions I found some new companions. Falk a cleric looking guy, Ray an outlaw, I think they tried to go to a lovable rouge type, but I still just want to kill him and Caja, a former berserker. I also reached Lvl 11. I can finally afford to pick fights, though my skill levels are still fairly low and I still didn't join any factions. Getting a shield was a really huge power boost. I can take 2-3 heavy hits even from stronger enemies and do meaningful damage. Though I don't like the game's focus on melee fight. I mean even human enemies, they have a gun yet if they have a way to get into melee range they will put away their guns try. I finished Falk's companion quests expecting him to get a power boost and I don't think he did, but his disposition to me was reset to neutral, probably because I likened him to the albs.

Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession

I just spent a LOT of time looking for a special scroll that I needed for a sidequest. It was supposed to be in Lower Level 1 of The Old Church, along with two other scrolls that I did find. I had completely cleared this level (opened all doors, killed all monsters) and backtracked through it twice looking for it. I then went through my inventory, including all bags and chests and couldn't find it. I was super perplexed. So I moved on to the next section of the game.

These three scrolls were needed to cure an NPC of lycanthropy. It was a sidequest, so I almost moved on. Then I decided to go back to The Old Church and scour the level one more time. Lo and behold, it was sitting on the floor right where it was supposed to be. Either I overlooked it multiple times, or it somehow reset its location when I left the level and came back. Doh!

So I was able to complete that quest: kill the albino werewolf, then cast these three special scrolls in succession on the poor NPC. I was rewarded with a key to his home in Barovia which is supposed to contain the loot of all his victims. He is going to spend the remainder of his life atoning for his murders by helping the families of his victims. I would think that part of his atonement would be to return the loot to the victims' families, but I'll take it! This ended up being a fun sidequest.

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-11-03, 07:11:

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The last couple of sessions I found some new companions. Falk a cleric looking guy, Ray an outlaw, I think they tried to go to a lovable rouge type, but I still just want to kill him and Caja, a former berserker. I also reached Lvl 11. I can finally afford to pick fights, though my skill levels are still fairly low and I still didn't join any factions. Getting a shield was a really huge power boost. I can take 2-3 heavy hits even from stronger enemies and do meaningful damage. Though I don't like the game's focus on melee fight. I mean even human enemies, they have a gun yet if they have a way to get into melee range they will put away their guns try. I finished Falk's companion quests expecting him to get a power boost and I don't think he did, but his disposition to me was reset to neutral, probably because I likened him to the albs.

In both Elex and Elex II firearms are really mid to late game items, yes you can find some early-ish on, but odds are that you don't have anywhere near enough points in the relevant skill trees to use them (and if you do, you are almost certainly going to be lacking in virtually every other skill to the point where you will find it pretty difficult to do anything!).

I do have a soft spot for both games. Elex II in particular is all round pretty decent once you breathe in the janky atmosphere and immerse yourself in it!

megatron-uk wrote on 2023-11-04, 17:55:

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-11-03, 07:11:

https://i.ibb.co/4YMby69/Steam-Community.png […]
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The last couple of sessions I found some new companions. Falk a cleric looking guy, Ray an outlaw, I think they tried to go to a lovable rouge type, but I still just want to kill him and Caja, a former berserker. I also reached Lvl 11. I can finally afford to pick fights, though my skill levels are still fairly low and I still didn't join any factions. Getting a shield was a really huge power boost. I can take 2-3 heavy hits even from stronger enemies and do meaningful damage. Though I don't like the game's focus on melee fight. I mean even human enemies, they have a gun yet if they have a way to get into melee range they will put away their guns try. I finished Falk's companion quests expecting him to get a power boost and I don't think he did, but his disposition to me was reset to neutral, probably because I likened him to the albs.

In both Elex and Elex II firearms are really mid to late game items, yes you can find some early-ish on, but odds are that you don't have anywhere near enough points in the relevant skill trees to use them (and if you do, you are almost certainly going to be lacking in virtually every other skill to the point where you will find it pretty difficult to do anything!).

I do have a soft spot for both games. Elex II in particular is all round pretty decent once you breathe in the janky atmosphere and immerse yourself in it!

To be frank everything that does more than around 30 damage feels like at least mid-game weapons. But what I really meant that human enemies even if they have high level ranged weapons rush to get into melee range if they have a path. Especially Fighting Colossi (Colossuses?). Those have powerful fast firing plasma weapons and they more likely to fire at you while they approach, but still just rush into melee range which makes them much easier to deal with early game. And despite having complaints about the game, I enjoy it a lot more than any of the recent AAA action RPGs.

Demetrio wrote on 2023-10-09, 13:29:

In the meantime, I started Red Dead Redemption 2.
I heard it's the Rockstar game with the most attention to details, so I think I'll enjoy it (as I enjoyed the GTA games).
As you can see from the screenshot, for now I just completed the tutorials.

I've almost finished RDR2: I had really a lot of fun playing it, so I would say that, in my opinion, it's the best game Rockstar has ever produced.
I was never bored when playing: other than the attention to details, the breathtaking settings (best landscapes I've ever saw in a game), the atmosphere, the activities to do, I was impressed by the story and the well-written characters (apart for a few who I didn't like), with Arthur Morgan being a great protagonist.

Demetrio wrote on 2023-09-25, 12:36:

Started playing Unreal (1998). […]
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Started playing Unreal (1998).

I'm enjoying it: really good level design, graphics and overall fun and challenging, mostly on enemy combat.

I'm playing it on a P2 400MHz and a 3Dfx Voodoo2, 640x480 resolution: runs ok, with frame drops on big areas or when a lot of things/particles are on screen.

Only bad thing: it crashes when I access the Advanced Settings menu (tried to apply a patch but then the game would crash on start 😅).

Almost finished Unreal (1998) too, but I interrupted my playthrough for RDR2. After finishing the latter, I'll start again where I left off.

I played a bit of Rise of the Tomb Raider today. Still trying to escape the Gulag. The survivor trilogy is indeed more focused on combat and shooting fights rather than deciphering and breaking tombs, like the old Lara Croft used to do. I don't know if I like it; mixed feelings about that.

Bruninho wrote on 2023-11-06, 03:57:

I played a bit of Rise of the Tomb Raider today. Still trying to escape the Gulag. The survivor trilogy is indeed more focused o […]
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I played a bit of Rise of the Tomb Raider today. Still trying to escape the Gulag. The survivor trilogy is indeed more focused on combat and shooting fights rather than deciphering and breaking tombs, like the old Lara Croft used to do. I don't know if I like it; mixed feelings about that.

It will go back to tomb raiding in "Shadow." I'm presently 50% through the game and combat has been minimal.

Meatball wrote on 2023-11-06, 04:27:

Bruninho wrote on 2023-11-06, 03:57:

I played a bit of Rise of the Tomb Raider today. Still trying to escape the Gulag. The survivor trilogy is indeed more focused o […]
Show full quote

I played a bit of Rise of the Tomb Raider today. Still trying to escape the Gulag. The survivor trilogy is indeed more focused on combat and shooting fights rather than deciphering and breaking tombs, like the old Lara Croft used to do. I don't know if I like it; mixed feelings about that.

It will go back to tomb raiding in "Shadow." I'm presently 50% through the game and combat has been minimal.

NICE! Thanks. I didnt even get past 25% in "Rise". I have been playing it in homeopathic doses 🤣 thanks to my job and other desired games to play.

How do I make a small thumbnail, like Demetrio did, so I dont keep posting gigantic screenshots of a game?

Bruninho wrote on 2023-11-06, 05:26:

How do I make a small thumbnail, like Demetrio did, so I dont keep posting gigantic screenshots of a game?

I believe it's just having the image as an attachment and inserting said attachment as an image.

Bruninho wrote on 2023-11-06, 05:26:

How do I make a small thumbnail, like Demetrio did, so I dont keep posting gigantic screenshots of a game?

You need to upload the image as Attachment.
You can also use the Inline action to put it anywhere in the post and not just at the bottom.

Attachments have a file size limit (5MB IIRC), so in case the image is heavier, you have to use image hosting services, like you did in your post.

Thanks!

So, I've been 1000% engrossed in The Talos Principle 2. Probably the best puzzle game I played since the first Talos Principle. Not that I'm a huge puzzle game fan who's played them all either though. I tried Manifold Garden and it lost me. Same with QUBE or Antichamber.

I've seen some people complain that the end game puzzles aren't as brain bending as the first game, that often required you to do some bonkers shit with pieces from multiple puzzles scattered far and wide across a level. I haven't gotten that far in 2 yet, but in the first game I only sporadically found those puzzles fun. Just took a bit too much kismet spread out over too much time completing a level for my taste.

I'm about halfway through, and I highly recommend it if you are a fan of the genre.

Namrok wrote on 2023-11-07, 14:55:

So, I've been 1000% engrossed in The Talos Principle 2. Probably the best puzzle game I played since the first Talos Principle. Not that I'm a huge puzzle game fan who's played them all either though. I tried Manifold Garden and it lost me. Same with QUBE or Antichamber.

I've seen some people complain that the end game puzzles aren't as brain bending as the first game, that often required you to do some bonkers shit with pieces from multiple puzzles scattered far and wide across a level. I haven't gotten that far in 2 yet, but in the first game I only sporadically found those puzzles fun. Just took a bit too much kismet spread out over too much time completing a level for my taste.

I'm about halfway through, and I highly recommend it if you are a fan of the genre.

I love The Talos Principle based on philosophies about robots, androids, and ai taking over after humanity is extinct. its such a sad semblance that we havent been able to get out of our human bodies and into something that can last longer than 80-100 years on average. The music the religious aspect of the game, couple with the tetrahedrons make for a complex story. I was hawking on croteam not to make a sequel since TTP 1 is a great game in its own right. now that we have a sequel the first one isnt so special anymore.

Testing some games on M1 Max Mac Studio before I even try a G29 steering wheel on it.

Automobilista 2 through Game Porting Toolkit, and Assetto Corsa through Windows 11 ARM64 Parallels Desktop VM.

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
I completed the base game earlier this year and was going to save the expansion for next year... but it felt weird to not complete the entire game in the same year 🤣.

Anyway, I started playing LoD. So far, I'm not sure that I like it. It looks great (I'm still impressed with the "Perspective Mode," which makes this 2D game look convincingly 3D) but the soundtrack so far is even more boring than the soundtrack of the base game. I get what they were going for, but this kind of high fantasy soundtrack just does not work with Diablo II imo.

The first couple of areas so far combine the worst of Act I (massive but empty spaces) and Act III (tons of tiny, fast enemies that constantly run away from you requiring you to chase them down). I've also not found any equipment upgrades whatsoever at around (I'm guessing) 25% into the expansion, which seems nuts; in fact, mostly everything I find is just standard equipment (not even magic!). Really strange.