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Reply 5061 of 5850, by xcomcmdr

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I completed in a few hours Dom Rusalok (PC - Steam). An indie adventure game with a nicely rendered atmosphere of 90s Russia, some shock horror that goes nowhere, terrible gameplay, simplistic puzzles, frustrating controls. And then it's over.

Meh. 😒

Reply 5062 of 5850, by Dimitris1980

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Yesterday I played and finished Leisure Suit Larry 1 Apple IIGS version via ScummVM, the same game but the enhanced version on original Macintosh computer with Roland MT32 and I started also Police Quest 1 Apple IIGS version via ScummVM.

- Macintosh LC475, Powerbook 540c, Macintosh Performa 6116CD, Power Macintosh G3 Minitower (x2), Imac G3, Powermac G4 MDD, Powermac G5, Imac Mid 2007
- Cyrix 120
- Amiga 500, Amiga 1200
- Atari 1040 STF
- Roland MT32, CM64, CM500, SC55, SC88, Yamaha MU50

Reply 5063 of 5850, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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predator_085 wrote on 2023-05-18, 17:34:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2023-05-18, 17:24:
Sombrero wrote on 2023-05-17, 19:26:

You're going to need that joystick for TIE Fighter, I still remember the pain of dogfighting A-Wings with a TIE Bomber using mouse. Those mouse feet probably got the same amount of travel playing TIE as with six months of normal usage.

You need joystick for any LucasArts' flight sims, even those as old as Their Finest Hour and Battlehawks 1942. I remember trying to play the said game using keyboard: very frustrating, very irresponsive. And that's why I think TFH and BH1942 should be included in the most demanding games of their era. Not CPU demand, but peripheral demand. And I still don't understand why LucasArts' made those games as such, because they're arcade flight sims anyway. Many retro flight sims like F-15 Strike Eagle II, Jetfighter: The Adventure, Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, LHX Attack Chopper, and even the highly realistic F-16 Combat Pilot, are perfectly playable using keyboard.

Would you recommend the other retro flight sims you have mentioned too? I am interested in checking out as many flight games as possible.

I'd heartily recommend Their Finest Hour and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

Their-Finest-Hour-Secret-Weapons-of-the-Luftwaffe.jpg
No, they're not for sale.

The flight model is easy, so it is very accessible to those who are not into flight sim, yet not arcadish as say, Ace Combat or Tom Clancy H.A.W.X. Also, the action is exciting. But the best part is the campaign, which is basically flight sim being wrapped in a strategy game. You decide your own target(s), you choose your own aircraft to perform the mission, and you make your own flight plan (albeit simple). Your success (or failure) in the mission affect the course of the war. For example, if you, as German player, successfully destroy a British radar station in a mission, then the game would assume that other flights (which only happen in the background, are never shown, and are beyond your control) are also successful in destroying other radar stations. Thus, the British detection capability is greatly reduced, and it will be reflected in the subsequent missions, where enemy fighters will be noticeably late in intercepting your aircraft.

Also, if you fly a bomber, you'd find out that AI-controlled gunnery stations are actually effective in destroying enemy fighters. This is unlike, say, Wing Commander Academy, where gunnery stations do absolutely nothing unless you man them yourself.

Battlehawks 1942 has the same exciting action-oriented gameplay, but minus the strategy part. The "campaign" in Battlehawks 1942 is nothing but a series of scripted missions that you can fly in any order, not unlike Chuck Yeager's Air Combat.

I do not, repeat, I do not recommend LHX Attack Chopper. The game is very promising, and its best feature is the ability to steer TOW missile using joystick --not even Gunship 2000 allows that. However, and perhaps due to the game's mission design, every mission requires you to fly in quick, achieve the mission objective as fast as possible, then get the hell out of there as quick as you get in. The mission design feels like an arcade game, where enemies keep popping out of nowhere, especially if you stand still. As such, there is simply no time to enjoy steering your TOW, because doing so will leave yourself vulnerable to threat(s) that suddenly pops out of nowhere. As soon as your TOW hits the target, and your point of view is returned to the cockpit, the next time you know your chopper is already being fired upon by an enemy which was never there on the first place.

DOSBox-2021-02-13-20-50-11-75.jpg
Despite being able to do this, I really can't recommend this otherwise excellent game.

Too bad, if only LHX's gameplay is designed to be "slow" and methodical like that of Gunship 2000, then the ability to manually steer your TOW will be great. Alas, that's not the case. Great feature, wrong game.

For jet sims, I would recommend F-16 Combat Pilot, Flight of the Intruder, and Jetfighter: The Adventure. They have reasonably complex avionics, but not as frustratingly complex as modern games like, say, Flanker 2.0. Also, both F-16 Combat Pilot and Flight of the Intruder has dynamic campaign and strategic wrapper not unlike that in Their Finest Hour, although the strategic element in F-16 Combat Pilot is much simpler, while in Flight of the Intruder you can sit back and watch your AI-controlled aircraft flying the mission. A bit of warning: landing in F-16 Combat Pilot is very difficult, and even today I'm still unable to land the damn thing.

F-15 Strike Eagle II is a "safe choice". Pretty good gameplay, but nothing exceptional. That was me, by the way, flying a mission in Libya with veteran difficulty.

If you don't mind more complex games, better play Gunship 2000. It also have dynamic campaign, although it doesn't have the strategic wrapper like that in Their Finest Hour or Flight of the Intruder. I would recommend a full HOTAS setup to play it, though.

Gunship-2000-Official-Strategy-Guide-front.jpg
Gunship 2000: The Official Strategy Guide by Bob Guerra is not only a great hint book, but also a captivating story on its own.

Chuck Yeager's Air Combat is a great fun, although it doesn't have dynamic campaign. It plays similarly to later Brent Iverson's flight sims like Jane's ATF, US Navy Fighters, and Jane's Fighters Anthology.

Chuck-Yeager-s-Air-Combat-self-printed-manual.jpg
I decided to print my own Chuck Yeager's Air Combat manual. Sure, the original is also ring-bound, but its covers are not laminated.

In any case, if you're into space sim, I highly suggest you to try Star Rangers. Just try it! You won't be disappointed.

In any case, I've eventually cheated enough to beat the impossibly unfair X-Wing historical mission. Alright, I basically made all enemy fighters impotent using the ship editor. But much to my surprise, this attempt unfolds exactly like the failed attempt.

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Finally!

  1. In this successful attempt, the Y-Wings successfully disable the freighter WIGGINS, but so did they in the failed attempt.
  2. In this successful attempt, Calamaris in both freighter WIGGINS and container XI have been successfully rescued, but so had they in the failed attempt.
  3. In this successful attempt, all other freighters and containers (which do not contain the Calamari) have been destroyed, but so had they been in the failed attempt.

Yet, in the failed attempt, the Y-Wings were said to fail their objectives (despite they successfully disabled the freighter WIGGINS), while in the successful attempt, the Y-Wings are somehow successful.

I really don't know how this game works.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 5064 of 5850, by clueless1

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@Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

Did you ever play Top Gun: Fire at Will? I remember enjoying it back in the day, but it seems like it didn't get great reviews.

I'm getting close to finishing Bioshock 2 Remastered. I'm 20 hours in and have just gotten to Inner Persephone, which I believe is the final section of the game. It's getting better as I approach the end, but still a bit of a letdown for me personally. The entire concept of a massively complex undersea city built in the 1950s is so hard to believe that it's always in the back of my mind every time I see a new level of technology. "Yeah, right." is something I find myself muttering often. It's harder to suspend disbelief in this game then something like System Shock, which takes place in the future, in outer space, an entirely believable concept. Maybe I'm just weird that way.

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 5065 of 5850, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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clueless1 wrote on 2023-05-21, 14:23:

@Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

Did you ever play Top Gun: Fire at Will?

Is the Pope Catholic? 😉

Top-Gun-Fire-At-Will.jpg
One of the most exciting games I've ever played.

clueless1 wrote on 2023-05-21, 14:23:

I remember enjoying it back in the day, but it seems like it didn't get great reviews.

I never finished it though. There was a great hard disk disaster back then that kept me from finishing many games including Top Gun: Fire At Will, Outlaws, Jane's ATF, TIE Fighter, System Shock... 😣

In any case, I think I understand the reason behind the ho-hum reviews. First, TG:FAW is a story-driven game with lots of FMVs, which may invite negative prejudices against the game. Also, the acting isn't that good. Second, movie purists may balk at the game's plot deviation. For example, why is it Tom Jardian, instead of Mike Metcalf, who becomes the instructor at Miramar? (Hint: because apparently Spectrum Holobyte can't afford both Tom Skerritt and James Tolkan to star in the game.) Also, the Danger Zone theme song was a cover version instead of the original Kenny Loggins', which seems like a cheap move.

But how about the gameplay? Pretty exciting, I say. However, remember that the game was launched in the era of US Navy Fighters and Jane's ATF, which are tough competitors. And I have to admit that I enjoyed ATF more than I did Top Gun.

clueless1 wrote on 2023-05-21, 14:23:

I'm getting close to finishing Bioshock 2 Remastered. I'm 20 hours in and have just gotten to Inner Persephone, which I believe is the final section of the game. It's getting better as I approach the end, but still a bit of a letdown for me personally. The entire concept of a massively complex undersea city built in the 1950s is so hard to believe that it's always in the back of my mind every time I see a new level of technology. "Yeah, right." is something I find myself muttering often. It's harder to suspend disbelief in this game then something like System Shock, which takes place in the future, in outer space, an entirely believable concept. Maybe I'm just weird that way.

Bioshock always reminds me of a Clive Cussler novel, a Dirk Pitt adventure, but I can't remember the title.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 5066 of 5850, by Minutemanqvs

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Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe is such an amazing game, I spent hours and hours and hours playing it as a kid!

Searching a Nexgen Nx586 with FPU, PM me if you have one. I have some Athlon MP systems and cookies.

Reply 5067 of 5850, by predator_085

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@Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman Thanks a lot for your recommendations.

I new to the flight sim genre but in general I would not mind trying out more complex games. So gunship 2000 might be a game for me.

Reply 5068 of 5850, by appiah4

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I really think Jane's USAF and AH-64D Longbow are the most accessible yet fulfilling flight sims ever.. You then graduate to Jane's F-15 & F/A-18 and Longbow 2 from those. Then, Falcon 4.0.

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

Reply 5069 of 5850, by predator_085

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appiah4 wrote on 2023-05-22, 07:56:

I really think Jane's USAF and AH-64D Longbow are the most accessible yet fulfilling flight sims ever.. You then graduate to Jane's F-15 & F/A-18 and Longbow 2 from those. Then, Falcon 4.0.

Thanks for the advice. It sounds good to move from the bottom to the top with the sim games. Falcon 4.0 is a game I always wanted to play. But due to the lack of a Joystick and the high complexity the game is supposed to have I never considered playing it. But this could change at one point in the future. As soon as I have joystick and my retro rig is completed I will start playing other flight sims first but at one point I want to try out something as complex as the Falcon game.

Reply 5070 of 5850, by Minutemanqvs

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In the same genre as Falcon 3/4 (this thing was hugely modded) there is also F/A-18 Korea.

Searching a Nexgen Nx586 with FPU, PM me if you have one. I have some Athlon MP systems and cookies.

Reply 5071 of 5850, by predator_085

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Minutemanqvs wrote on 2023-05-22, 14:51:

In the same genre as Falcon 3/4 (this thing was hugely modded) there is also F/A-18 Korea.

Thanks for the info. This game looks nice as well. I am going to checkt it out.

Reply 5072 of 5850, by Joseph_Joestar

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Just played through the Doom 2: No Rest for the Living expansion for the first time. I originally tried running this from within Doom 3: BFG Edition (it's a part of that bundle) but I encountered some screen tearing and I didn't like the soundfont that was used for music playback. Instead, I grabbed the WAD file and searched for a source port. Being unfamiliar with these, I first tried GZDoom which seemed to be the most recommended one. But that just wasn't a good fit for someone like me, who usually plays the vanilla game on real hardware.

The movement physics in GZDoom felt too "floaty" and there were other graphical and audio changes which I didn't like. Especially that intrusive "A secret is revealed!" message accompanied by a loud, annoying sound. I then tried Chocolate Doom, but the audio kept cutting out randomly. Finally, I settled on Crispy Doom. This one worked fine, and behaved pretty much like the vanilla game, which is what I wanted.

There are only 9 levels in this expansion, but they are well made, with some cleverly hidden secrets. The new maps are chock-full of enemies, but you almost always have plenty of space to circle strafe and dodge, which makes the fights very enjoyable. So far, this is my favorite official Doom 1 & 2 expansion. For comparison, the level design quality is leagues above Ultimate Doom's fourth episode. Heck, I even liked it better than Romero's Sigil episode (not strictly official, but you know). Anyhow, I can highly recommend No Rest for the Living to all fans of the classic Doom games.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 5073 of 5850, by Sombrero

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Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-24, 09:38:

There are only 9 levels in this expansion, but they are well made, with some cleverly hidden secrets. The new maps are chock-full of enemies, but you almost always have plenty of space to circle strafe and dodge, which makes the fights very enjoyable. So far, this is my favorite official Doom 1 & 2 expansion. For comparison, the level design quality is leagues above Ultimate Doom's fourth episode. Heck, I even liked it better than Romero's Sigil episode (not strictly official, but you know). Anyhow, I can highly recommend No Rest for the Living to all fans of the classic Doom games.

Well damn, sounds exactly like my bag of tea. Grabbed the WAD so I can check it out at some point.

Been playing Need For Speed: High Stakes career mode. Nearly done, just couple circuits left before unlocking the last event. This game is such a mixed bag for me, objectively it's better than NFS3 but subjectively I just enjoy NFS3 more. Rocketing like a maniac through Lost Canyons with Jaguar XJR-15 in NFS3 is pretty much peak Need for Speed for me.

Meanwhile in NFS4's otherwise good career mode you get to enjoy those @#*&$%! winter tracks with weather turned on. Need For Speed my ass, more like Need For Friction Tyres: Racing Trunk Full of Priceless Porcelain and Live Babies on Black Ice. Sliding around with a bathtub most definitely isn't peak NFS for me. Though after finishing the circuit with two of those tracks 8 laps each made me feel like I probably could start a successful piano career next, goddamn Beethowen ain't got shit on me after that.

Reply 5074 of 5850, by Joseph_Joestar

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Sombrero wrote on 2023-05-24, 17:50:

Well damn, sounds exactly like my bag of tea. Grabbed the WAD so I can check it out at some point.

I think you'll enjoy it. The best thing is, although No Rest for the Living throws dozens of enemies at you at once, it never feels unfair or cheap. And you're always given plenty of ammo too. Gotta say, it was refreshing to play something like that, coming off of Doom 3, which was pretty much the complete opposite.

Meanwhile in NFS4's otherwise good career mode you get to enjoy those @#*&$%! winter tracks with weather turned on. Need For Speed my ass, more like Need For Friction Tyres: Racing Trunk Full of Priceless Porcelain and Live Babies on Black Ice. Sliding around with a bathtub most definitely isn't peak NFS for me. Though after finishing the circuit with two of those tracks 8 laps each made me feel like I probably could start a successful piano career next, goddamn Beethowen ain't got shit on me after that.

Heh, playing racing games with a keyboard can be quite a challenge sometimes. I never used a steering wheel peripheral, but I have come to appreciate PlayStation-style gamepads with dual analog sticks. Makes me wonder if my Logitech RumblePad 2 would work with NFS games from the Win9x era.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 5075 of 5850, by Demetrio

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Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-10, 11:20:
Finished Star Wars: Dark Forces. Overall a really fun experience, apart from some maze-like sections and the disappointing final […]
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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 😁

3KukGhV.jpg

Completed Half-Life (for the umpteenth time 😁).

Now I'm tackling Half-Life: Opposing Force, which I played years ago.

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Reply 5076 of 5850, by gerry

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Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-25, 10:49:
Demetrio wrote on 2023-05-10, 11:20:
Finished Star Wars: Dark Forces. Overall a really fun experience, apart from some maze-like sections and the disappointing final […]
Show full quote

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 😁

3KukGhV.jpg

Completed Half-Life (for the umpteenth time 😁).

Now I'm tackling Half-Life: Opposing Force, which I played years ago.

i enjoyed opposing force, but i enjoyed all of them, blueshift too

i remember the weapons were more impressive somehow, heavy duty

haven't played for years, i might have to again! 😀

Reply 5077 of 5850, by Sombrero

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Need For Speed: High Stakes done. Got a bit concerned when the very first race of Tournament of Champions was a winter themed track with weather on and one of the opponents went full IDDQD and disappeared into the horizon. Fun to race against opponents who don't have to obey the same rules of physics as you do, guy blasted away like a train on tracks while I was slipping everywhere like a greased pig on soapy floor. Ended up third in the end after getting myself flipped over.

Luckily there wasn't as obvious shenanigans during the rest of the tournament and won the rest except Route Adonf where the IDKFA guy went full ape, again with weather on. Though this time it would have been possible to actually win had I just practiced the track a bit with rain enabled.

The opponent AI pulls some rather questionable moves sometimes. There was one circuit late in the career where you returned back to B-class cars and in one race one opponent behind me suddenly went super saiyan and flew past at mach five, like a bullet train on tracks. Won by like 20 seconds or something. Could have shot me with a homing missile as it was passing, wouldn't have been any less fair than that stunt. I guess the game just decided to stir up the scores a bit 🤣

Reply 5078 of 5850, by Joseph_Joestar

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Having had my fill of FPS games recently, I'm in the mood for some RPG fun, so I guess it's time to replay VTM: Bloodlines. I was originally using the retail CD version + latest official patch 1.2, and with Wesp5's Unofficial Patch 11.3 applied on top of that. However, the latter seemed to disable EAX effects, so I chose not to use it for now, aside from the inherent engine fixes. Thankfully, the Unofficial Patch has a separate launcher, so it's easy to enable/disable it as needed.

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This time, I went with a Malkavian character, which can result in some pretty funny dialog choices. Occasionally, some of the more insightful responses even contain minor spoilers, so I wouldn't recommend this clan to someone who's playing the game for the first time. It's a blast on any subsequent runs though.

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Anyway, Bloodlines looks pretty sweet at 1600x1200 with some AA and AF on top. This kinda amuses me, since I used to have huge performance issues with this game back in the day. But this time, I'm running it on an overpowered WinXP rig at a locked 60 FPS, and that should make this playthrough go much smoother.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 5079 of 5850, by Sombrero

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Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-05-25, 15:45:

Anyway, Bloodlines looks pretty sweet at 1600x1200 with some AA and AF on top. This kinda amuses me, since I used to have huge performance issues with this game back in the day. But this time, I'm running it on an overpowered WinXP rig at a locked 60 FPS, and that should make this playthrough go much smoother.

I distinctively remember having to completely disable page file and create a new one every single time I quit playing Bloodlines, otherwise the game would crash without exception the next time I played it. Evidently the page file kept getting corrupted, I guess it wasn't happy with 1GB of RAM and did awful things to my hdd.

Great game though, especially as a Malkavian. Where else you can have a conversation with a street sign?