predator_085 wrote on 2023-05-08, 11:29:

Thanks for your review of C&C Renegade @Joseph Joestar. I am not surprised by your impressions.

You're welcome! I should say that the first three quarters of the game aren't that bad, just kinda mediocre. It's only during the last couple of levels that things get really messy, with those awful escort missions and terrible level design overall.

As far as I can remember the game had not the best reputation back then and it was not nearly as good as it could have been.

From what I gather, people mostly enjoyed the multiplayer aspect of Renegade, because it had some pretty unique elements. But I only played through the single-player campaign, so I can't really comment on the multiplayer experience.

Yep the multiplayer mode was received well the campaign mode not so much. i am still interested in getting a copy of the game and play it for myself though. It looks interesting despite the flaws.

Continuing my FPS (re)playing spree with a bit of Doom 3. I'm using the original release from 2004, and not the later BFG edition. This is the GOG version, so the game comes fully patched, includes the RoE expansion pack, and is of course DRM-free. To clarify, GOG only offers the BFG edition for sale, but you also get the original release of Doom 3 + RoE as a bonus with that purchase.

I have played this game for a bit when I was younger, but my PC at the time wasn't running it all that well. More importantly, I didn't like that the developers kinda went for a slow, survival vibe, instead of making something fast paced and action packed like the first two games in the series. For those reasons, I never actually finished Doom 3, but I did thoroughly enjoy Doom 2016.

Anyway, it's time to set things right, and finally do a complete Doom 3 playthrough. Using my slightly overpowered WinXP rig, I can easily play this at 1600x1200 with all settings maxed out. Additionally, experiencing the game's masterful sound design in its full EAX4 glory is a real treat. Surprisingly, I noticed that Doom 3 can actually make use of that gimmicky X-RAM on my Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium. This functionality must have been added in one of the later patches, I suppose.

Having just started my playthrough, I'm still getting accustomed to the slower pace of this game. While so do like the darker interior lighting, I'm not a fan of the flashlight/weapon switching. It just feels tedious. The corridors at the start of the game are very narrow and don't allow for a lot of movement or circle strafing. But I knew this wasn't that kind of a Doom game from the start, so I'll soldier on.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-08, 19:10:

Continuing my FPS (re)playing spree with a bit of Doom 3. I'm using the original release from 2004, and not the later BFG editio […]
Show full quote

Continuing my FPS (re)playing spree with a bit of Doom 3. I'm using the original release from 2004, and not the later BFG edition. This is the GOG version, so the game comes fully patched, includes the RoE expansion pack, and is of course DRM-free. To clarify, GOG only offers the BFG edition for sale, but you also get the original release of Doom 3 + RoE as a bonus with that purchase.

I have played this game for a bit when I was younger, but my PC at the time wasn't running it all that well. More importantly, I didn't like that the developers kinda went for a slow, survival vibe, instead of making something fast paced and action packed like the first two games in the series. For those reasons, I never actually finished Doom 3, but I did thoroughly enjoy Doom 2016.

Anyway, it's time to set things right, and finally do a complete Doom 3 playthrough. Using my slightly overpowered WinXP rig, I can easily play this at 1600x1200 with all settings maxed out. Additionally, experiencing the game's masterful sound design in its full EAX4 glory is a real treat. Surprisingly, I noticed that Doom 3 can actually make use of that gimmicky X-RAM on my Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium. This functionality must have been added in one of the later patches, I suppose.

Doom3_X-RAM.jpg

Having just started my playthrough, I'm still getting accustomed to the slower pace of this game. While so do like the darker interior lighting, I'm not a fan of the flashlight/weapon switching. It just feels tedious. The corridors at the start of the game are very narrow and don't allow for a lot of movement or circle strafing. But I knew that this wasn't that kind of a Doom game from the start, so I'll soldier on.

You can give the duct tape mod a shot to always have your flashlight.

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2023-05-08, 19:13:

You can give the duct tape mod a shot to always have your flashlight.

Yup, I'm aware of that. And I might go for it if things get too annoying. I've heard that the developers did away with the flashlight mechanic in the BFG edition anyway.

But for now, I'm trying to play the stock game (no mods) as it was released, with just the official patches applied. We'll see how it goes.

I'm spending MANY MANY hours with Oxygen Not Included.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzYniX_KbV4

It takes a relatively modest computer, but it is cpu intensive the larger the colony gets.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-08, 19:10:

...I didn't like that the developers kinda went for a slow, survival vibe...

Yes same here, it looked great but it wasn't DOOM and I lost interest quickly. I did play through the original release a couple of years ago though and really enjoyed it now that I'm a little more slow and deliberate myself. I must admit that I caved and used the duct tape mod pretty quickly; that torch thing was just too contrived and annoying.

My game play time has gone way down. I'm still on games I started in January: Icewind Dale and Bioshock 2 (both Enhanced editions). I'm 56 hours in on IWD (just got to Wyrm's Tooth) and 16 hours in on Bioshock 2 (in Fontaine Futuristics). Getting close on both. Having fun, but at a very slow pace. Not that crazy about Bioshock 2. For some reason, it's just not gripping me, seems pretty much like the first game (other than who you play as). I was also doing some beta testing for System Shock Remake, but have petered out on that. Waiting for the final release so I can really enjoy it. The beta is really good. My main complaint is the change in music. Original soundtrack is mostly gone. It's been "reimagined" in a way I don't prefer. I may just pull the soundtrack up on YouTube and play it in the background when I play the final release. Unless they relent and add the original soundtrack to the final release. I heard they may add it as a post-release patch. We'll see.

predator_085 wrote on 2023-05-05, 11:46:

I think a game with a not-annoying escort mission has not been invented yet. They are always annoying even today.

Escort missions where the person you're escorting is armed and well programmed (i.e they can actually shoot the enemy, they don't run into your bullets, and they are actually aware of their surroundings and it's hazards) can be very enjoyable. But since that person is armed, then it's arguably not a real escort mission, I suppose. But games like Timesplitters 2, Timesplitters: Future Perfect and (which is really Timesplitters 3), Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, do these escort-ish type missions very well.

I suppose escort missions where that person is unarmed, but smart enough to hang back, from danger, or who is smart enough to "Wait here" and "Follow me", whenever you tell them to might be OK, but offhand I can't remember escort missions like these (except for the Half-Life games, of course, if you choose to move the friendly NPCs from place to place, then the NPCs will obey your orders, provided they don't actually witness actual danger, in which case they will do their own thing.

But yes, escort missions have traditionally had you moving a clueless, unarmed person who had no situational awareness, seemingly no desire to survive`, and who would saunter blindly across an open area in the middle of a fire-fight, and just as readily put their own head directly in you line of fire. And I can't remember one of those missions that was actually fun.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-08, 19:24:

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2023-05-08, 19:13:

You can give the duct tape mod a shot to always have your flashlight.

Yup, I'm aware of that. And I might go for it if things get too annoying. I've heard that the developers did away with the flashlight mechanic in the BFG edition anyway.

But for now, I'm trying to play the stock game (no mods) as it was released, with just the official patches applied. We'll see how it goes.

I never really felt it to be necessary. The game is dark, but rarely that dark, so on all my playthroughs, I think I've beaten it 3 or 4 times, I just "respected the developers vision".

Kerr Avon wrote on 2023-05-08, 23:23:

Escort missions where the person you're escorting is armed and well programmed (i.e they can actually shoot the enemy, they don' […]
Show full quote

predator_085 wrote on 2023-05-05, 11:46:

I think a game with a not-annoying escort mission has not been invented yet. They are always annoying even today.

Escort missions where the person you're escorting is armed and well programmed (i.e they can actually shoot the enemy, they don't run into your bullets, and they are actually aware of their surroundings and it's hazards) can be very enjoyable. But since that person is armed, then it's arguably not a real escort mission, I suppose. But games like Timesplitters 2, Timesplitters: Future Perfect and (which is really Timesplitters 3), Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, do these escort-ish type missions very well.

I suppose escort missions where that person is unarmed, but smart enough to hang back, from danger, or who is smart enough to "Wait here" and "Follow me", whenever you tell them to might be OK, but offhand I can't remember escort missions like these (except for the Half-Life games, of course, if you choose to move the friendly NPCs from place to place, then the NPCs will obey your orders, provided they don't actually witness actual danger, in which case they will do their own thing.

But yes, escort missions have traditionally had you moving a clueless, unarmed person who had no situational awareness, seemingly no desire to survive`, and who would saunter blindly across an open area in the middle of a fire-fight, and just as readily put their own head directly in you line of fire. And I can't remember one of those missions that was actually fun.

I also think with proper AI some escort missions could be fun . But in most games the Ai of the characters to escort is not very well made. So this type of missions are not funny at al. Especially when they run in the enemy fire frequently.

The only escort mission for another NPC that was alright was the part of MGS 3 where you have to escort EVA. Dragging her along the whole time because she was to injured to walk by herself was very annoying but at least she took care of some of the enemies approaching.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-08, 19:10:

Having just started my playthrough, I'm still getting accustomed to the slower pace of this game. While so do like the darker interior lighting, I'm not a fan of the flashlight/weapon switching. It just feels tedious. The corridors at the start of the game are very narrow and don't allow for a lot of movement or circle strafing. But I knew this wasn't that kind of a Doom game from the start, so I'll soldier on.

The flashlight switching is something a lot of people complained about, yes, but (especially if you pay close attention to the level design) the game is very much built around it. It's a constant tradeoff whether you want the visibility or a weapon at any given moment, forcing you to make that decision every second of the game. So I've honestly never cared for the BFG edition, or even the "duct tape" mod that predated it, since while removing this dynamic makes the game more convenient it also ends up making it a lot less tense, and at least in my mind, less fun.
But then I've always been a defender of Doom 3, even long before it was vindicated by the passage of time.

Still playing Doom 3 and enjoying its excellent soundstage. It really shines on a surround speaker setup, where you can pretty much determine an enemy's location by sound alone. The ambient audio is also awesome and very ominous. But I'm too keen some of the weapon sounds. A couple of them feel kinda "weak" especially the shotgun and chaingun. Heck, even the original Doom had weapons which sounded more powerful than that.

The dynamic lighting system in this game is top notch. It can create some very tense moments when used to its full extent. The damaged lights swinging from the ceiling and casting moving shadows look superb. However, the color palette is a bit too muted, and every enemy that I've encountered so far seems to come in some shade of gray. Imps, zombies, those crawling two headed things and even the pinky demons look very drab. Not a huge fan of this overly saturated aesthetic.

Speaking of imps, the scenes where they lunge at you after opening a door are getting overused. It was kinda cool the first couple of times, but after experiencing this repeatedly, I now simply sigh and roll my eyes. Enemy behavior overall is not too bright, but the cramped corridors and dark areas give them enough of an advantage to make up for that.

What I did like was finding audio logs and emails from residents of the base. It reminded me of System Shock, in a good way. Anyway, I think I've come to terms that this plays very differently from the classic Doom games, and I'm starting to appreciate it for what it is. Not a bad game per se, but it's just not a great Doom experience, at least for my tastes.

NovaCN wrote on 2023-05-09, 12:18:

The flashlight switching is something a lot of people complained about, yes, but (especially if you pay close attention to the level design) the game is very much built around it.

Yup, I see the design intent behind it, but I still don't like it. Personal preference I suppose.

That said, I didn't feel the need to install the duct tape mod as of yet, so there's that. I just find the whole flashlight vs. weapon switching mechanic tedious and unrealistic.

It is personal preference for sure. I played the BFG Edition of Doom 3 first on consoles before I could try out the original PC version (my pc was back then not up to the task to run Doom 3 properly during launch) and I enjoyed the original cocnept with the flash light more. It was more atmospheric. It just felt more scary with is a great stuff for a horror shooter like Doom 3 is.

But I can understand that many people do not like it. From a pure gameplay perspective it could be seen as very annoying.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-09, 13:43:

Speaking of imps, the scenes where they lunge at you after opening a door are getting overused. It was kinda cool the first couple of times, but after experiencing this repeatedly, I now simply sigh and roll my eyes.

Oof, didn't remember that. I've got this memory of always having to look behind you at every encounter because the game constantly spawned something back there, does that really happen that often? Wasn't a huge fan of that.

KotOR is on its way to join Neverwinter Nights on my short list of games I used to enjoy but don't anymore. I always thought the beginning was dull but I used to enjoy the rest of the game, now I find that too equally boring. I might still try to finish it, even though I'm not exactly playing it for fun I'm still getting some odd satisfaction out of it, like watching a silly movie you used to like just to see it again after a very long time.

I don't think I'll move on to KotOR 2 after this like I planned, one of the biggest reasons why KotOR is not grabbing me is how boring and uninteresting the levels are to plod along and I found the sequels levels dull even back then. Add in the mountain of other issues that game has, better to move on to something else.

Sombrero wrote on 2023-05-09, 14:57:

Oof, didn't remember that. I've got this memory of always having to look behind you at every encounter because the game constantly spawned something back there, does that really happen that often? Wasn't a huge fan of that.

I think I'm maybe half way through the game, and I had it happen around 10 times or so. And most of that was during the last couple of levels. The worst part is that this seems to be completely unavoidable i.e. you always take damage after opening a door and getting lunged at, regardless of how you react.

KotOR is on its way to join Neverwinter Nights on my short list of games I used to enjoy but don't anymore. I always thought the beginning was dull but I used to enjoy the rest of the game, now I find that too equally boring. I might still try to finish it, even though I'm not exactly playing it for fun I'm still getting some odd satisfaction out of it, like watching a silly movie you used to like just to see it again after a very long time.

The mid section of KOTOR where you visit those four planets is what I always liked the best. The beginning of the game is boring without Jedi powers, and drags on for way too long. Similarly, the end "dungeon" is just fighting hordes and hordes of enemies while descending deeper into the the space station. Thankfully, a full Jedi party makes going through the game a breeze, especially if they are dual-wielding lightsabers.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-09, 15:56:

Sombrero wrote on 2023-05-09, 14:57:

Oof, didn't remember that. I've got this memory of always having to look behind you at every encounter because the game constantly spawned something back there, does that really happen that often? Wasn't a huge fan of that.

I think I'm maybe half way through the game, and I had it happen around 10 times or so. And most of that was during the last couple of levels. The worst part is that this seems to be completely unavoidable i.e. you always take damage after opening a door and getting lunged at, regardless of how you react.

I meant how often do enemies spawn behind you? I remember that irritating me to no end but I was just wondering is this something that has turned worse in my mind during the years than how it actually was.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-09, 15:56:

The mid section of KOTOR where you visit those four planets is what I always liked the best. The beginning of the game is boring without Jedi powers, and drags on for way too long. Similarly, the end "dungeon" is just fighting hordes and hordes of enemies while descending deeper into the the space station. Thankfully, a full Jedi party makes going through the game a breeze, especially if they are dual-wielding lightsabers.

Yeah, that's excatly what I mean by after the beginning, the part when you get do the four planets. It's just not grabbing me, the levels are dull, the dialog and the writing in general tend to make me sigh little too often and whoever designed pazaak should be forced to play russian roulette with a gun that has five bullets instead of one, see how he likes that kind of RNG.

Sombrero wrote on 2023-05-09, 16:24:

I meant how often do enemies spawn behind you? I remember that irritating me to no end but I was just wondering is this something that has turned worse in my mind during the years than how it actually was.

That happens pretty often as well, but I'm not bothered by it because I can usually avoid getting damaged. Using surround speakers helps, and I still have some of my old competitive FPS reflexes as well. 😀 On the other hand, the imp door lunge seems to be an auto hit.

Yeah, that's excatly what I mean by after the beginning, the part when you get do the four planets. It's just not grabbing me, the levels are dull, the dialog and the writing in general tend to make me sigh little too often and whoever designed pazaak should be forced to play russian roulette with a gun that has five bullets instead of one, see how he likes that kind of RNG.

Yeah, the Pazaak RNG can be a bitch, but it becomes much easier to win when you start getting those +/- cards that can be flipped as needed.

Demetrio wrote on 2023-04-02, 07:14:

Got out of the first level and continuing to play. I'm finding it really fun 🙂 […]
Show full quote

Demetrio wrote on 2023-03-22, 08:18:

Took advantage of Steam spring sales. […]
Show full quote

Took advantage of Steam spring sales.

Bought Star Wars: Dark Forces at 1,74€

I was never a fan of the series, but I loved the games: used to play a lot of Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2005) with my friends 🥲

When I discovered this DOOM clone Star Wars themed game, I wanted to buy the original CD release, to play it on my Pentium MMX build, but then on Steam they discounted it so much that I preferred to buy it digital and move the game files to the retro PC.

Did a test today: it plays and feels great 🙂

And just like any DOOM like game, I got lost (at the first level 😅)

Got out of the first level and continuing to play.
I'm finding it really fun 🙂

During my walkthrough, I discovered how to activate functionalities such as the flashlight, and how to crouch 😁

I'm also liking the plot videos, pretty rare for a mid '90s shooter.

The only minor complain is the difficulty: I find it too easy at medium, but I played the first parts so maybe difficulty will increase as I progress.

I was also impressed by the fact that the keys are bound for the WASD schema, and the mouse feel is really good for 1995: don't know if it is some predefined setting for the Steam version.

Finished Star Wars: Dark Forces.
Overall a really fun experience, apart from some maze-like sections and the disappointing final boss.
I also tought the game would be longer.

In the meanwhile, I installed the pre-steam CD Half-Life on my Pentium II build, for testing purposes, but I ended up playing until the tentacle boss 😁