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Reply 3520 of 5847, by Anaxagoras

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appiah4 wrote on 2019-12-27, 05:30:

Doom (2016). It is the most fun I had with a shooter since Doom (1993). It is also dirt cheap on the Steam sale you should all buy and play it.

I'm playing Doom (2016) too.
A great FPS, much better than Doom 3.

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Reply 3521 of 5847, by newtmonkey

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AD&D Secret of the Silver Blades (DOS)

I completed Curse of the Azure Bonds earlier this year (having brought my winning party over from Pool of Radiance), and suddenly felt like continuing my adventures.

It's basically the same engine, but the structure is a bit different. You start out in a town connected to a well area, and the well area serves as a central hub for the rest of the world. You can unlock portals from this central hub to other areas in the game, but first need to discover both "ends" of each portal through normal exploration. There doesn't seem to be a "world map" (either in the sense of an overhead map you explore square by square ala Pool, or a menu map ala Curse). Instead, all the actual quest locations are found within a mazelike ruins map that is quite massive for a Gold Box game. The in-game map doesn't work in the ruins, but you typically get maps from NPCs as the game goes on (actual maps printed in the included Adventurer's Journal). Even so, I've been mapping the ruins as I go since I like mapping anyway.

It seems less difficult than Curse so far. Part of it is because your characters are pretty high level at this point, but another part of it is that the game doesn't seem as eager as Curse to trap you within areas until you defeat bosses, etc. You are generally free to travel all over the place, though you are gated to some degree by increasingly difficult encounters.

Of course, all that could change later on. Right now, a few hours in, I think I like it more than Curse but less than Pool.

Reply 3522 of 5847, by appiah4

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Silver Blades was my first gold box SSI game. It is pretty railroady and has a rather tedious midgame (the mines section) but a really exciting last act. The final boss battle is pretty damn fun too. I played this game at least half a dozen times. I hope you also have a lot of fun with it.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 3524 of 5847, by Namrok

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So I think I've decided to spin up Jagged Alliance next. I went in mostly blind maybe a year or two ago with a copy I owned on Steam, and got mauled pretty badly and gave up. I mean, I didn't go in totally blind. I did read the manual. But that didn't really give me good guidance on tactics, a good starting roster, etc.

I saw Matt Chat had an episode about Jagged Alliance recently, and after watching that, I was feeling pretty good. So I installed it on my K6-2 today, took over the first northern sector without taking a scratch, quick saved and quit.

Except I apparently quit wrong, and lost my save. Rereading the manual showed me I was supposed to hit ALT-X to quit, which would preserve my quicksave. Abandoning the day, then quitting to DOS loses it. Well, ok, it wasn't much lost effort. Guess I'll be starting over again. But I think I grok the game a bit better this time around than last.

I'll be playing on easy with quicksaving enabled. At least for a first time through. Wish me luck.

Win95/DOS 7.1 - P233 MMX (@2.5 x 100 FSB), Diamond Viper V330 AGP, SB16 CT2800
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Reply 3525 of 5847, by BitWrangler

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All I really want is a decent game, so I thought I picked up the sequel, I put my hand in my pocket and paid for a CD I read the label of as Jagged: Little Pill.... but you oughta know it was just some chick singing... it was ironic really 😉

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 3526 of 5847, by BetaC

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appiah4 wrote on 2021-11-16, 11:31:
BetaC wrote on 2021-11-16, 08:56:

As can be expected given the impending new release, I have been playing through the Halo series again, going through the PC port of the Master Chief Collection.

I can't believe I don't own this yet, if only to play through Halo Reach and 4 (which I haven't played yet..)

If you can pick it up on sale, and have a good hundred gigs available, I can recommend playing this way. Also, Halo 4 is sadly hated by a lot of people, because it wasn’t a great sequel to 3, which couldn’t really have a good sequel given how it ends. If you’re open to it, though, you get an interesting story and a good game that has some great-if-not-quite-classic halo music.

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Reply 3527 of 5847, by clueless1

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Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva

Looks like I'm going to pick up with this game! I've got it loaded up on my DOS PC now and going through it. I've played the first two games of this trilogy -- Blade of Destiny in Sept-Oct of 2017 and Star Trail in March-May of 2019. I've transferred my characters each time, and have my same set of characters for Shadows over Riva. It's taking awhile to refamiliarize myself with the interface and my characters, but I think I'm ready to give it a go. One thing I loved about the first two games was the MT-32 and General MIDI support. This game requires the CD and streams the music from there. It's basically digitized versions of the GM soundtrack, which sounds great, but there's something about it actually playing through the MIDI device vs. streaming off the CD. No support at all for any music other than off the CD. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 3528 of 5847, by subnet_zero

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clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-17, 01:12:

Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva

Looks like I'm going to pick up with this game! I've got it loaded up on my DOS PC now and going through it. I've played the first two games of this trilogy -- Blade of Destiny in Sept-Oct of 2017 and Star Trail in March-May of 2019. I've transferred my characters each time, and have my same set of characters for Shadows over Riva. It's taking awhile to refamiliarize myself with the interface and my characters, but I think I'm ready to give it a go. One thing I loved about the first two games was the MT-32 and General MIDI support. This game requires the CD and streams the music from there. It's basically digitized versions of the GM soundtrack, which sounds great, but there's something about it actually playing through the MIDI device vs. streaming off the CD. No support at all for any music other than off the CD. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

This is a good game. I have fun memories exploring the town and outside in 3D, knocking on every door to speak with the people. I really liked the part with the graveyard, the Field of Boron, it was spooky. The soundtrack is the best.

Reply 3529 of 5847, by RandomStranger

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In the recent months I've only played older games so I thought I'll play something fairly recent. That is Doom Eternal. It's my first time with the game so I opted for Ultra-Violence difficulty and I found it to be more challenging than expected after the last game. Though it's mostly because of the next to zero amount of ammo Doom guy can carry.

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Reply 3530 of 5847, by clueless1

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subnet_zero wrote on 2021-11-17, 16:56:
clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-17, 01:12:

Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva

Looks like I'm going to pick up with this game! I've got it loaded up on my DOS PC now and going through it. I've played the first two games of this trilogy -- Blade of Destiny in Sept-Oct of 2017 and Star Trail in March-May of 2019. I've transferred my characters each time, and have my same set of characters for Shadows over Riva. It's taking awhile to refamiliarize myself with the interface and my characters, but I think I'm ready to give it a go. One thing I loved about the first two games was the MT-32 and General MIDI support. This game requires the CD and streams the music from there. It's basically digitized versions of the GM soundtrack, which sounds great, but there's something about it actually playing through the MIDI device vs. streaming off the CD. No support at all for any music other than off the CD. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

This is a good game. I have fun memories exploring the town and outside in 3D, knocking on every door to speak with the people. I really liked the part with the graveyard, the Field of Boron, it was spooky. The soundtrack is the best.

Thanks for the comments. One thing I love is the built-in Help (accessed by hitting F1). Crazy thing I just discovered. At some point when I was playing either Blade of Destiny or Star Trail, I downloaded a "Strategy Guide" for Shadows over Riva. I have no idea where I found it, but I started trying to search for it on Google again and couldn't come up with it. What this is is a mod that you unzip into the game's DATA directory. What it does is when you hit SHIFT-F1 or ALT-H, uses the same engine as the built-in Help, but adds Maps, items, and a strategy guide/walkthrough!

Attachments

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 3531 of 5847, by subnet_zero

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clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-18, 01:25:
subnet_zero wrote on 2021-11-17, 16:56:
clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-17, 01:12:

Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva

Looks like I'm going to pick up with this game! I've got it loaded up on my DOS PC now and going through it. I've played the first two games of this trilogy -- Blade of Destiny in Sept-Oct of 2017 and Star Trail in March-May of 2019. I've transferred my characters each time, and have my same set of characters for Shadows over Riva. It's taking awhile to refamiliarize myself with the interface and my characters, but I think I'm ready to give it a go. One thing I loved about the first two games was the MT-32 and General MIDI support. This game requires the CD and streams the music from there. It's basically digitized versions of the GM soundtrack, which sounds great, but there's something about it actually playing through the MIDI device vs. streaming off the CD. No support at all for any music other than off the CD. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

This is a good game. I have fun memories exploring the town and outside in 3D, knocking on every door to speak with the people. I really liked the part with the graveyard, the Field of Boron, it was spooky. The soundtrack is the best.

Thanks for the comments. One thing I love is the built-in Help (accessed by hitting F1). Crazy thing I just discovered. At some point when I was playing either Blade of Destiny or Star Trail, I downloaded a "Strategy Guide" for Shadows over Riva. I have no idea where I found it, but I started trying to search for it on Google again and couldn't come up with it. What this is is a mod that you unzip into the game's DATA directory. What it does is when you hit SHIFT-F1 or ALT-H, uses the same engine as the built-in Help, but adds Maps, items, and a strategy guide/walkthrough!

Oh, that's very handy to have. Could it be this guide mentioned here? https://www.gog.com/forum/realms_of_ark ... tegy_guide
It is still downloadable via the achive.org URL, I also attached it here.

There is also a speedrun on this title: https://www.speedrun.com/realms_of_arkania_sh … va/run/yjgqolgy

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  • Filename
    sor.zip
    File size
    3.17 MiB
    Downloads
    38 downloads
    File comment
    Realms of Arkania - Official Riva strategy guide
    File license
    Public domain

Reply 3532 of 5847, by Almoststew1990

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I am trying to play Medal of Honour VR but it is 171GB so I guess I'll be playing it 7h from now (which works out nicely as hopefully I'll have finished work by then). At least I don't have a usage cap on my Internet connection...

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Reply 3533 of 5847, by clueless1

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subnet_zero wrote on 2021-11-18, 09:02:
clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-18, 01:25:
subnet_zero wrote on 2021-11-17, 16:56:

This is a good game. I have fun memories exploring the town and outside in 3D, knocking on every door to speak with the people. I really liked the part with the graveyard, the Field of Boron, it was spooky. The soundtrack is the best.

Thanks for the comments. One thing I love is the built-in Help (accessed by hitting F1). Crazy thing I just discovered. At some point when I was playing either Blade of Destiny or Star Trail, I downloaded a "Strategy Guide" for Shadows over Riva. I have no idea where I found it, but I started trying to search for it on Google again and couldn't come up with it. What this is is a mod that you unzip into the game's DATA directory. What it does is when you hit SHIFT-F1 or ALT-H, uses the same engine as the built-in Help, but adds Maps, items, and a strategy guide/walkthrough!

Oh, that's very handy to have. Could it be this guide mentioned here? https://www.gog.com/forum/realms_of_ark ... tegy_guide
It is still downloadable via the achive.org URL, I also attached it here.

That's it. That must be where I came across it...GOG forums. Thanks!

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 3534 of 5847, by Namrok

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Man, Jagged Alliance just keeps frustrating me to death with UI and saving/restore issues.

The latest was I lost 90 minutes of progress because, with me on the edge of the map, trying to flee back to safety, I hit the wrong button and instead of travelling ended my turn. Turns out that was the very last turn I had for the day. I wanted to just quick restore and hit the right button, but nope, end of the day wiped out my quick save. While my mercs fled enemy territory and acceptable number were shot and killed.

So I guess I'm playing that entire god damned day over again. Mother fucker.

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Reply 3535 of 5847, by newtmonkey

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clueless1 wrote on 2021-11-17, 01:12:

Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva

I'm glad you went with this one! I had Star Trail back in the day but never got anywhere in it, but I plan to eventually play through all three games (plus Realms of Adventure [aka Arkania "0" 😉]. It will be interesting to read your thoughts as you play this one.

Reply 3536 of 5847, by clueless1

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Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva

Here are my initial impressions of this game after about 4 hours. I have completed the first two games of this trilogy (Blade of Destiny and Star Trail), but it's been several years, so I'm having to reacquaint myself with the UI and quirks. It also should be noted that this is one of those rare RPG series where you can transfer your party over from beginning to end. So my party today was created in September of 2017 when I started BoD.
-This is a very difficult game to get into. What I mean is, documentation leaves a lot for the player to figure out on their own. There are numerous items that have no documented use, but sometimes end up being useful if you can figure it out on your own (or with the help of someone else on the internet). The GOG Forum page for the Realms of Arkania series has quite a few gems hidden there. Look for Pinkerton's Blade of Destiny Reference Guide (lots of weapon/armor/herb/magic item details that apply to all 3 games) and the Riva Strategy Guide (a mod that you install to the DOS game that expands the in-game help to include maps, hints and full-on answers).
-Lots of resource management required. Limited item slots on characters mean you need to choose wisely what your players carry. If you come across lots of loot, chances are you will have to make multiple trips to the nearest merchant to sell it all off. Or just leave the least valuable items behind...
-Players get tired, weapons and armor wear out and break, food and water rations take up inventory slots. But the cool thing is the game makes things like camping, foraging for food, and sharpening/repairing weapons and armor immersive and entertaining. And the soundtrack is top notch throughout, which adds a whole level of sensory immersion.
-The combat is turn-based and isometric and is mostly unchanged from Blade of Destiny. Graphically, it is the weakest part of the game, but that makes it no less fun. It's just visually jarring the first few times you enter combat and see a major downgrade in graphics compared to the rest of the game.
-Visually, walking around the city and dungeons looks amazing for a DOS game. About on par with Daggerfall or Ultima Underworld 2. You can go full-screen, but then you must depend on memorizing keyboard shortcuts to navigate the menus. The game runs well full-screen on my P200. Occasional hints of choppiness, but overall a smooth experience. However, on a system this fast, text windows scroll by too fast during combat. You must set "Text Display" and maybe even "Combat Speed" to "Slow" in the game options to compensate. The game requires 450KB conventional and 6MB EMS or XMS, but I had some weird mouse glitching when using EMS, so I switched to XMS and it's been smooth sailing. I believe the readme mentions using "NOEMS" switch, that might be just as good.
-Animations and Illustrations can use SVGA if your system is capable. Artwork is gorgeous. The in-game help and strategy guide can also be in SVGA.
-I'm playing the GOG version, which has the BIN/CUE files included, so I used that to burn a game CD which I installed from and play off of. This game only has support for music played from the CD. No FM, MT32 or GM support.

I've found I've spent most of my first 4 hours re-learning the UI, going through inventory items and figuring out what they do, and buying/selling (mostly selling). My imported party was loaded with a rare herb called Atmon, which is very expensive. If you do this prior to exporting your Star Trail party, this can set your party up with enough ducats (in-game currency) to not have to worry about scrounging for money. I think I did this intentionally at the end of Star Trail, but it's been awhile so I don't remember for sure.

EDIT: As I have my first several combats in the dungeon below the cemetery, I've noticed that this game has a graphical dichotomy that is nearly unresolvable. The combat engine is from the original Blade of Destiny, thus requiring low processing power, leaving it speed sensitive. The first person movement engine requires high processing power. This means if your cpu is fast enough for the first person movement to run smoothly, it's too fast for combat IF you want to control your characters and read the text results of your attacks. The game tries to accommodate this scenario by having a Text Display speed option, but even on the slowest setting, text flashes by too fast to read during combat. I tried using SETMUL to disable Branch Prediction and V Pipeline on my POD200MMX. This slows it down to about P120 speeds, which does help, but not enough. I'm guessing a P90 would be the best CPU to run this game on. Of course, I've read reviews that say the combat sucks in this game and to just set it up for Computer Combat. I don't agree, but I can see how people would not like the combat. It's pretty old-school turn-based and does have some movement limitations. For example, melee combat does not work in diagonal directions, while missile combat (bows) does. Just a heads up to those planning on playing this game.

Last edited by clueless1 on 2021-11-21, 15:57. Edited 1 time in total.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 3537 of 5847, by Dimitris1980

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Some days before i completed for the first time ever Heart of China. Both on Mac and PC. Mac version has very nice fonts, lot better than dos version. But dos version has great music with Roland MT32. Today i played Doom 2 on PC with Roland Sound Canvas SC55. Then i played Simon the Sorcerer 2 floppy pc with Roland Sound Canvas and finally Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis floppy version with Roland CM64. Yesterday i played Doom 2 on my Mac with Roland Sound Canvas SC88 for music and also Prisoner of Ice on Mac.

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- Amiga 500, Amiga 1200
- Atari 1040 STF
- Roland MT32, CM64, CM500, SC55, SC88, Yamaha MU50

Reply 3538 of 5847, by DracoNihil

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Well, I have the native Linux version of UT2004 running on this extremely modern distro. So, I guess I'm playing more of this again.

Wish I had some people to play "Alien Swarm" with, because the UT2004 mod is better than the "Standalone Source engine remake" that you can get on Steam.

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Reply 3539 of 5847, by henryVK

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Namrok wrote on 2021-11-19, 02:38:

Man, Jagged Alliance just keeps frustrating me to death with UI and saving/restore issues.

The latest was I lost 90 minutes of progress because, with me on the edge of the map, trying to flee back to safety, I hit the wrong button and instead of travelling ended my turn. Turns out that was the very last turn I had for the day. I wanted to just quick restore and hit the right button, but nope, end of the day wiped out my quick save. While my mercs fled enemy territory and acceptable number were shot and killed.

So I guess I'm playing that entire god damned day over again. Mother fucker.

I've never gotten much out of the JA meta game and thus found the mission disk "Deadly Games" to be much more enjoyable.