xcomcmdr wrote on 2023-12-16, 14:19:

Was it the original or the recently modded 32X Doom ROM ?

og 94

Septerra Core
This is one I never played back in the day, though I recall seeing it in ads and on store shelves. I remember at the time dismissing it as some kind of fake Japanese RPG, perhaps some kind of crass attempt to sell a game to the FF7 fans, so I never really gave it the time of day.

Well, it was there sitting in my Steam library (no doubt purchased years ago in some bundle) and I decided to give it a shot. I came away pleasantly surprised! It is sort of a combination of a PSX-era JRPG with a point-and-click adventure, taking place in a cool post-apocalypse sort of world. It controls like your typical computer RPG from the time (click to walk/run and interact with stuff), but also has redundant keyboard commands; you could probably map the keyboard to a controller pretty easily. Unlike JRPGs, conversations use a keyword system, though instead of selecting keywords you actually select little "key images" representing topics. It's a cool touch.

Combat is turn-based, though based a timer that continues to run unless you select a character. Combat seems to take place only at fixed locations in maps, and you can usually see the enemy before battle, so that you could avoid or escape if you don't want to fight. Each character can wait for his/her attack meter to charge up to three levels, with each level doing more damage. It's simple, but not bad so far.

In order to get this game working properly on Windows 10, I had to use this:
https://github.com/M-HT/SR/releases/tag/septerra_v1.04.0.7
This is a drop-in file you run instead of the game's normal .exe, and it works great. It even adds some very helpful (optional) tweaks, such as doubling the resolution of the video files to match the in-game resolution, running the game in a window, and even setting the default movement speed to run instead of walk. It also has an option to fix stuttering if using a high-DPI mouse. Highly recommended!

So far, so good!

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-12-17, 17:15:

Septerra Core This is one I never played back in the day, though I recall seeing it in ads and on store shelves. I remember at […]
Show full quote

Septerra Core
This is one I never played back in the day, though I recall seeing it in ads and on store shelves. I remember at the time dismissing it as some kind of fake Japanese RPG, perhaps some kind of crass attempt to sell a game to the FF7 fans, so I never really gave it the time of day.

Well, it was there sitting in my Steam library (no doubt purchased years ago in some bundle) and I decided to give it a shot. I came away pleasantly surprised! It is sort of a combination of a PSX-era JRPG with a point-and-click adventure, taking place in a cool post-apocalypse sort of world. It controls like your typical computer RPG from the time (click to walk/run and interact with stuff), but also has redundant keyboard commands; you could probably map the keyboard to a controller pretty easily. Unlike JRPGs, conversations use a keyword system, though instead of selecting keywords you actually select little "key images" representing topics. It's a cool touch.

Combat is turn-based, though based a timer that continues to run unless you select a character. Combat seems to take place only at fixed locations in maps, and you can usually see the enemy before battle, so that you could avoid or escape if you don't want to fight. Each character can wait for his/her attack meter to charge up to three levels, with each level doing more damage. It's simple, but not bad so far.

In order to get this game working properly on Windows 10, I had to use this:
https://github.com/M-HT/SR/releases/tag/septerra_v1.04.0.7
This is a drop-in file you run instead of the game's normal .exe, and it works great. It even adds some very helpful (optional) tweaks, such as doubling the resolution of the video files to match the in-game resolution, running the game in a window, and even setting the default movement speed to run instead of walk. It also has an option to fix stuttering if using a high-DPI mouse. Highly recommended!

So far, so good!

Nice, thanks for the info. I'd never heard of this one, but will check it out.

I just completed Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession (link: Re: List the PC games that you have beaten) and was pleasantly impressed with it. I'm seriously considering Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra next. I'm in the character creation screen now and love watching the dice bouncing around over and over. 😉 The graphics and sound, despite being 3 years older than Ravenloft, feel cleaner, and higher quality. Even using FM the music combines well with the sound effects.

I did play MM3 when it came out, though I never finished it. I remember getting quite a ways in, though. I'm guessing I didn't finish it because something new came out before I finished it and I wanted to play that more than finish MM3. 🤷 Based on release dates in relation to MM3, I'd say probably WC2, Ultima Underworld, or U7: TBG.

Done with the NOD campaign of C&C 2: Tiberian Sun. Not really sure about this, but it seemed like there were more missions where you aren't allowed to build stuff this time around. Getting through most of these felt very tedious.

Surprisingly, despite NOD's weaker units, their campaign wasn't that different from the GDI one in terms of difficulty. It just took a bit longer to get the numbers required to overwhelm the enemy. The upside is that NOD has some pretty cool tech.

Anyway, I'll leave the Firestorm expansion for some other time. I feel like I've spent all of my "RTS stamina" on the base game and its overly long campaigns. That said, it was still pretty nice to revisit this. As it turns out, I was more nostalgic for the FMVs than for the actual gameplay, but it was a fairly enjoyable experience overall.

clueless1 wrote on 2023-12-17, 19:50:

I just completed Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession (link: Re: List the PC games that you have beaten) and was pleasantly impressed with it. I'm seriously considering Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra next. I'm in the character creation screen now and love watching the dice bouncing around over and over. 😉 The graphics and sound, despite being 3 years older than Ravenloft, feel cleaner, and higher quality. Even using FM the music combines well with the sound effects.

I did play MM3 when it came out, though I never finished it. I remember getting quite a ways in, though. I'm guessing I didn't finish it because something new came out before I finished it and I wanted to play that more than finish MM3. 🤷 Based on release dates in relation to MM3, I'd say probably WC2, Ultima Underworld, or U7: TBG.

Congratulations! I enjoyed reading your thoughts on Ravenloft.
I hope you'll continue with M&MIII. I never completed that one, but I did get quite far (and plan to complete it perhaps in 2024).

I am continuing on Rise of the Tomb Raider, fighting with Lara against the Trinity at the Gulag. I am kinda annoyed by the fact that the survivor trilogy portrays Lara as a killer/assassin, like in Assassins Creed or whatever. Lara is originally a tomb raider. Most of my missions in Rise involves killing a lot of ppl and animals. Some ppl told me that Shadow of the Tomb Raider is better, but I am not that sure...

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-12-18, 05:14:

I hope you'll continue with M&MIII. I never completed that one, but I did get quite far (and plan to complete it perhaps in 2024).

I generally don't have time during the week to play, but I spent a couple of short sessions with character creation this week. Apparently, there is only ONE male human portrait available when rolling your own, who happens to be dark-skinned. Weird. Generally, male humans have the most portrait options in these old games. And rolling/creating is one of my favorite parts of RPGs. And a light-skinned male human Paladin is my primary character of choice for such games. 🤣 For some reason, this is really bugging me. I will get over it. 😀

clueless1 wrote on 2023-12-21, 12:29:

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-12-18, 05:14:

I hope you'll continue with M&MIII. I never completed that one, but I did get quite far (and plan to complete it perhaps in 2024).

I generally don't have time during the week to play, but I spent a couple of short sessions with character creation this week. Apparently, there is only ONE male human portrait available when rolling your own, who happens to be dark-skinned. Weird. Generally, male humans have the most portrait options in these old games. And rolling/creating is one of my favorite parts of RPGs. And a light-skinned male human Paladin is my primary character of choice for such games. 🤣 For some reason, this is really bugging me. I will get over it. 😀

Weird, I just watched a YT playthrough of character creation, and there is a 2nd human male portrait in the video that I'm not seeing in my game. Specifically, this one:

I'm going to do some experimenting to see if I can get that portrait to show up somehow.

This week has been all about Tyrian 2000, Christmas Detected!

Championship Manager 3 and 00/01. Managing brazilian super squad Vasco da Gama from late 90's.
My old tactic from 20 years ago is still unbeatable.

clueless1 wrote on 2023-12-21, 22:59:

Weird, I just watched a YT playthrough of character creation, and there is a 2nd human male portrait in the video that I'm not s […]
Show full quote

clueless1 wrote on 2023-12-21, 12:29:

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-12-18, 05:14:

I hope you'll continue with M&MIII. I never completed that one, but I did get quite far (and plan to complete it perhaps in 2024).

I generally don't have time during the week to play, but I spent a couple of short sessions with character creation this week. Apparently, there is only ONE male human portrait available when rolling your own, who happens to be dark-skinned. Weird. Generally, male humans have the most portrait options in these old games. And rolling/creating is one of my favorite parts of RPGs. And a light-skinned male human Paladin is my primary character of choice for such games. 🤣 For some reason, this is really bugging me. I will get over it. 😀

Weird, I just watched a YT playthrough of character creation, and there is a 2nd human male portrait in the video that I'm not seeing in my game. Specifically, this one:
mm3-1.png
I'm going to do some experimenting to see if I can get that portrait to show up somehow.

Mystery solved! Apparently each portrait can only be used once in a game. If the pre-made party is deleted, then their portraits become available to use on custom made characters. If the pre-made party is left intact, then their portraits are unavailable to use when creating your own characters.

clueless1 wrote on 2023-12-22, 11:03:

clueless1 wrote on 2023-12-21, 22:59:

Weird, I just watched a YT playthrough of character creation, and there is a 2nd human male portrait in the video that I'm not s […]
Show full quote

clueless1 wrote on 2023-12-21, 12:29:

I generally don't have time during the week to play, but I spent a couple of short sessions with character creation this week. Apparently, there is only ONE male human portrait available when rolling your own, who happens to be dark-skinned. Weird. Generally, male humans have the most portrait options in these old games. And rolling/creating is one of my favorite parts of RPGs. And a light-skinned male human Paladin is my primary character of choice for such games. 🤣 For some reason, this is really bugging me. I will get over it. 😀

Weird, I just watched a YT playthrough of character creation, and there is a 2nd human male portrait in the video that I'm not seeing in my game. Specifically, this one:
mm3-1.png
I'm going to do some experimenting to see if I can get that portrait to show up somehow.

Mystery solved! Apparently each portrait can only be used once in a game. If the pre-made party is deleted, then their portraits become available to use on custom made characters. If the pre-made party is left intact, then their portraits are unavailable to use when creating your own characters.

That is such a weird thing to do..

I remember owning a copy of M&M III back in the day. I had bought it after I saw M&M IV and V on a friend's computer. I remember being very disillusioned by how primitive it looked and sounded in comparison (particulary to M&M V which had a speech pack for its cutscenes..) I ended up selling it off after playing it for maybe a dozen hours at max and thinking I'd rather re-play Eye of the Beholder II instead..

All these years later, I realize it is regarded as a classic and want to try my hand at it again. I actually want to play M&M 3 through 8.. I own them all on GOG. I just don't have time 🙁

appiah4 wrote on 2023-12-22, 11:22:

That is such a weird thing to do.. […]
Show full quote

clueless1 wrote on 2023-12-22, 11:03:

clueless1 wrote on 2023-12-21, 22:59:

Weird, I just watched a YT playthrough of character creation, and there is a 2nd human male portrait in the video that I'm not seeing in my game. Specifically, this one:
mm3-1.png
I'm going to do some experimenting to see if I can get that portrait to show up somehow.

Mystery solved! Apparently each portrait can only be used once in a game. If the pre-made party is deleted, then their portraits become available to use on custom made characters. If the pre-made party is left intact, then their portraits are unavailable to use when creating your own characters.

That is such a weird thing to do..

I remember owning a copy of M&M III back in the day. I had bought it after I saw M&M IV and V on a friend's computer. I remember being very disillusioned by how primitive it looked and sounded in comparison (particulary to M&M V which had a speech pack for its cutscenes..) I ended up selling it off after playing it for maybe a dozen hours at max and thinking I'd rather re-play Eye of the Beholder II instead..

All these years later, I realize it is regarded as a classic and want to try my hand at it again. I actually want to play M&M 3 through 8.. I own them all on GOG. I just don't have time 🙁

If you have no timeline expectations, give it a go. It usually takes me several months to finish a game like this, but I'm in no hurry and usually don't have more than one game going at a time. I beat MM4 about 6 years ago. It's been long enough now that I feel like I can play MM3 without being "spoiled" by the updates in MM4. It's like playing a standalone game with no reference or comparison.

had to restart my Rise of the Tomb Raider save game - I lost it in a backup trivial work. bummer!

All ok anyway, I just have to kill some Trinity bastards and a bear, before I get back to the Gulag phase... (sighs)

Started playing the first Assassin's Creed

Judging by comments, I expected it to be more "clunky" regarding gameplay mechanics, but I'm actually not having such problems; on the contrary, I am enjoying it so far.

Only problem I had is the controller support, but it can be sorted out pretty easily.

I've bought the Assassin's Creeds until Revelations on Steam for few euros: they were one of the most talked games by classmates during high school; by that time, I wasn't interested in them, but now I have the curiosity to try them out.

If I like them, I will continue with the next installments.

I also resumed my Unreal campaign: I think I'm almost at the end.

I'm playing Might & Magic 1 Secret of The Inner Sanctum on a Turbo XT machine with EGA graphics.

It's tough on me as I was introduced to the series on MM3 when it came out, then MM6. This put a high bar of expectations, so MM1 is now a big struggle, but I want to go through it still because the story line is very cool.

My main complaint is of course lack of the auto-map. My second complaint is that you start extremely weak. And I thought MM3's starting party was very weak. So I'm just grinding in Sorpigal right now before I can even get down to the cave under.
This makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong? Or is this really how the design intention was? Because IMO, I would understand that you need to overcome all enemies in the first town before moving on, but here I have to do that over and over and over. The game is very shy with gold and items, so things are progressing very slowly.
If one of your characters die, you'll waste a lot of time to get gold to revive him during the beginning.

I know there are automapping tools and such, but I want the original experience to learn how the design of the series changed with time.

wbahnassi wrote on 2023-12-25, 06:23:

I'm playing Might & Magic 1 Secret of The Inner Sanctum on a Turbo XT machine with EGA graphics. It's tough on me as I was int […]
Show full quote

I'm playing Might & Magic 1 Secret of The Inner Sanctum on a Turbo XT machine with EGA graphics.

It's tough on me as I was introduced to the series on MM3 when it came out, then MM6. This put a high bar of expectations, so MM1 is now a big struggle, but I want to go through it still because the story line is very cool.

My main complaint is of course lack of the auto-map. My second complaint is that you start extremely weak. And I thought MM3's starting party was very weak. So I'm just grinding in Sorpigal right now before I can even get down to the cave under.
This makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong? Or is this really how the design intention was? Because IMO, I would understand that you need to overcome all enemies in the first town before moving on, but here I have to do that over and over and over. The game is very shy with gold and items, so things are progressing very slowly.
If one of your characters die, you'll waste a lot of time to get gold to revive him during the beginning.

I know there are automapping tools and such, but I want the original experience to learn how the design of the series changed with time.

The beginning of M&M is a bit tough due to how weak you start off, but it gets a lot better once you get past that initial hump. At first you should probably run back to the Inn to save after every successful fight, and maybe even consider reloading if any characters die since gold is so tight at the beginning. Your priority for spending gold should be equipping your front line with better equipment, and leveling up your spellcasters so that they get access to better spells. You can almost always safely rest, so you shouldn't worry too much about conserving spell points. There's a low-level spell that gives you a slight armor boost (Leatherskin?), and that's REALLY helpful early on.

Also, you probably know about this, but a lot of people miss it: you need to search after every battle to find treasure chests dropped by enemies.

One thing to note is that this isn't the kind of game where you will always be able to get through a cave or dungeon all in one go. It's a good idea to play very conservatively at first, especially in the dungeons and wilderness areas; map a bit, win a couple of battles, and then run back to the Inn to save your progress.

When I played through the game a few years ago, I didn't really have to grind. Once I had fully mapped the starting town (every square mapped), I was roughly powerful enough to start (carefully) exploring the dungeon beneath the town. From there, you can teleport to another town and follow the quest line, or start exploring outdoors a bit.

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-12-25, 09:13:

The beginning of M&M is a bit tough due to how weak you start off, but it gets a lot better once you get past that initial hump. […]
Show full quote

The beginning of M&M is a bit tough due to how weak you start off, but it gets a lot better once you get past that initial hump. At first you should probably run back to the Inn to save after every successful fight, and maybe even consider reloading if any characters die since gold is so tight at the beginning. Your priority for spending gold should be equipping your front line with better equipment, and leveling up your spellcasters so that they get access to better spells. You can almost always safely rest, so you shouldn't worry too much about conserving spell points. There's a low-level spell that gives you a slight armor boost (Leatherskin?), and that's REALLY helpful early on.

Also, you probably know about this, but a lot of people miss it: you need to search after every battle to find treasure chests dropped by enemies.

One thing to note is that this isn't the kind of game where you will always be able to get through a cave or dungeon all in one go. It's a good idea to play very conservatively at first, especially in the dungeons and wilderness areas; map a bit, win a couple of battles, and then run back to the Inn to save your progress.

When I played through the game a few years ago, I didn't really have to grind. Once I had fully mapped the starting town (every square mapped), I was roughly powerful enough to start (carefully) exploring the dungeon beneath the town. From there, you can teleport to another town and follow the quest line, or start exploring outdoors a bit.

Thanks for the tips and confirming the game's rough start. I'm grinding at the jail of Sorpigal. Break into it, fight a mild fight, take the hidden enterance into the dark back tunnel, face a tough fight, and if I survive, I run back to the Inn and save. Upgraded a few weapons and it's already starting to get better. But those dang sprite enemies are a "curse" 😉

wbahnassi wrote on 2023-12-25, 10:07:

newtmonkey wrote on 2023-12-25, 09:13:

The beginning of M&M is a bit tough due to how weak you start off, but it gets a lot better once you get past that initial hump. […]
Show full quote

The beginning of M&M is a bit tough due to how weak you start off, but it gets a lot better once you get past that initial hump. At first you should probably run back to the Inn to save after every successful fight, and maybe even consider reloading if any characters die since gold is so tight at the beginning. Your priority for spending gold should be equipping your front line with better equipment, and leveling up your spellcasters so that they get access to better spells. You can almost always safely rest, so you shouldn't worry too much about conserving spell points. There's a low-level spell that gives you a slight armor boost (Leatherskin?), and that's REALLY helpful early on.

Also, you probably know about this, but a lot of people miss it: you need to search after every battle to find treasure chests dropped by enemies.

One thing to note is that this isn't the kind of game where you will always be able to get through a cave or dungeon all in one go. It's a good idea to play very conservatively at first, especially in the dungeons and wilderness areas; map a bit, win a couple of battles, and then run back to the Inn to save your progress.

When I played through the game a few years ago, I didn't really have to grind. Once I had fully mapped the starting town (every square mapped), I was roughly powerful enough to start (carefully) exploring the dungeon beneath the town. From there, you can teleport to another town and follow the quest line, or start exploring outdoors a bit.

Thanks for the tips and confirming the game's rough start. I'm grinding at the jail of Sorpigal. Break into it, fight a mild fight, take the hidden enterance into the dark back tunnel, face a tough fight, and if I survive, I run back to the Inn and save. Upgraded a few weapons and it's already starting to get better. But those dang sprite enemies are a "curse" 😉

You've got the right man guiding you, @wbahnassi. @newtmonkey is my MM hero. 🤣.

Speaking of which:

Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra

I'm about 4 hours in on this game, not counting character rolling. I played this (but didn't finish it) when it came out, and 6 years ago I played and beat MM4. So the interface is still somewhat familiar. I love how much you can play the entire game without touching the mouse, yet if your hand is on the mouse, you can still do the same things with it. Reminds me a lot of Wizardry 6 and 7 (and MM4) in that regard.

So far my characters have cleared Fountainhead, most of Hidden Valley, and started exploring The Temple of Moo and Fountainhead Cavern.

I LOVE the banking system in these games. After I finish an exploration session, I immediately head to the bank and deposit most of my gold and gems. I'm a big fan of compound interest in RPGs. 😉

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
I finally completed the game! This is one of those games that I've tried over and over to get into ever since it was released on the XBOX. In fact, I got an XBOX specifically to play this game, though I never got very far into it back then. I think three things prevented me from getting anywhere in this game until recently: the interface/controls, the starting area, and the combat.

First, the interface is just awful. The game was clearly designed to be played with a controller in hand in the living room, and then awkwardly ported to keyboard and mouse (strangely, with controller support completely missing). I was able to put up with it, but it never felt comfortable; it is possible to give each character orders during combat, but it's a bizarre system involving pressing space to pause combat and then pressing TAB to switch to the next character and give an order.

Second, the starting area is very boring, and also very long. You run around a bunch of very similar looking and long hallways, picking up quests... which often involve crossing these many maps back and forth over and over. You then go to what is basically a boring sewer.

Third, combat is mostly brainless and easy, but there's so much of it. Having said that, this is only a minor problem for me because it serves the dual purposes of breaking up the exploration and dialog, and making you feel like a badass Jedi warrior. Besides, this isn't a game you play for the combat... it's to explore the worlds, interact with the characters, and soak in the Star Wars atmosphere.

However, it's worth pushing through all that, because the game becomes quite fascinating and addictive once you get through the first area and are allowed to explore the galaxy. There are several planets on which you can land, and there's a good variety of environments and some very interesting quests, with a good mix of combat and dialog. You also start picking up more companions, and it's fun to try them all out.

I ended up really enjoying this, even though I really don't care about Star Wars! It still looks decent today, with some great vistas as you explore the various planets.