newtmonkey wrote on 2025-08-05, 14:39:

Wizardry VI This time around I'm using a very nice automap mod (last time I was manually mapping using the Grid Cartographer app […]
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Wizardry VI
This time around I'm using a very nice automap mod (last time I was manually mapping using the Grid Cartographer application), but it's not easy even with an automap. All it does it trace your steps, so it's up to you mark up squares, leave notes, and figure out where to go; in such a massive game, simply figuring out where you need to go is quite a challenge.

I'm deep into the mines and loving it. I actually made it past this part last time I played the game (several years ago), but I didn't appreciate it for what it is back then. At that time I found the mines to be confusing and annoying; now, they are a joy. There have been many times that I've got totally lost, but I don't care. I just randomly wander around, slowly getting stronger with each fight, until I find some area I've never explored, or until I get some key or item that opens up a new path. It helps that the combat is so satisfying; even when it's not particularly difficult, it's still a blast to optimize how you approach each fight.

What a game! Simply dropping in for 5-10 minutes is a blast and feels worthwhile. This is something that RPGs with fixed encounters don't get; even if you "waste your time" getting lost and fighting a few battles in a game like this, you're still making progress because your characters are getting a little bit stronger.

I don't remember how I handled the mapping when I played it. I think I played in real DOS and just had online maps or the Cluebook maps of each level up on my main PC (which is right next to my DOS PC).

What characters did you build? Are you planning on multi-classing any of them?

I totally agree on the combat. It's so fun!

Wait til you get to Wiz7 and 8. 😀 7 is an improvement in every way, and 8 is an improvement in every way over 7. At least from my memory. When I finish a game, I give it a score from 0-100. I typically won't even finish a game if its score is <70. In fact, the lowest scores on my list are 70 for a couple of games (Eric the Unready and Shadowcaster). Wiz6 scored 88. Wiz7 scored 92. And Wiz8 scored 95. The only other games I've given a 95 to are System Shock 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and System Shock Remake. The score is entirely based on how much fun I had.

clueless1 wrote on 2025-08-05, 22:17:

I don't remember how I handled the mapping when I played it. I think I played in real DOS and just had online maps or the Clueb […]
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I don't remember how I handled the mapping when I played it. I think I played in real DOS and just had online maps or the Cluebook maps of each level up on my main PC (which is right next to my DOS PC).

What characters did you build? Are you planning on multi-classing any of them?

I totally agree on the combat. It's so fun!

Wait til you get to Wiz7 and 8. 😀 7 is an improvement in every way, and 8 is an improvement in every way over 7. At least from my memory. When I finish a game, I give it a score from 0-100. I typically won't even finish a game if its score is <70. In fact, the lowest scores on my list are 70 for a couple of games (Eric the Unready and Shadowcaster). Wiz6 scored 88. Wiz7 scored 92. And Wiz8 scored 95. The only other games I've given a 95 to are System Shock 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and System Shock Remake. The score is entirely based on how much fun I had.

This is my party:
Lizardman Fighter
Felpurr Samurai
Dwarf Valkyrie
Fairy Bard
Rawulf Priest
Elf Mage

I'm not sure if I'm going to do any multiclassing in this game, because this party is working out very nicely! I have read that the amount of experience required to go from level 10 to 11 is massive (the same amount required to bring a character from level 1 to 10), so I'm considering switching the fighter to a lord and the bard to a ninja if I have the stats for it.

Tomb Raider 2013, currently 12% completed.

Just because a few years ago I bought the Survivor Trilogy on Steam with a 75% discount (Too good to pass) and now I regret because I have to play them before uninstalling them to play other games (ie. Star Wars X-Wing Alliance, Star Wars Battlefront II) or free more storage to add more rFactor 2 mods...

Quick question, is there any story reason to do the Firewalker and Overlord DLC missions in Mass Effect 2?

They involve driving around that floating vehicle and I'm not too fond on that. Think I'd rather skip both of those unless there are story consequences in ME3.

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-08-06, 02:19:

This is my party: Lizardman Fighter Felpurr Samurai Dwarf Valkyrie Fairy Bard Rawulf Priest Elf Mage […]
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clueless1 wrote on 2025-08-05, 22:17:

I don't remember how I handled the mapping when I played it. I think I played in real DOS and just had online maps or the Clueb […]
Show full quote

I don't remember how I handled the mapping when I played it. I think I played in real DOS and just had online maps or the Cluebook maps of each level up on my main PC (which is right next to my DOS PC).

What characters did you build? Are you planning on multi-classing any of them?

I totally agree on the combat. It's so fun!

Wait til you get to Wiz7 and 8. 😀 7 is an improvement in every way, and 8 is an improvement in every way over 7. At least from my memory. When I finish a game, I give it a score from 0-100. I typically won't even finish a game if its score is <70. In fact, the lowest scores on my list are 70 for a couple of games (Eric the Unready and Shadowcaster). Wiz6 scored 88. Wiz7 scored 92. And Wiz8 scored 95. The only other games I've given a 95 to are System Shock 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and System Shock Remake. The score is entirely based on how much fun I had.

This is my party:
Lizardman Fighter
Felpurr Samurai
Dwarf Valkyrie
Fairy Bard
Rawulf Priest
Elf Mage

I'm not sure if I'm going to do any multiclassing in this game, because this party is working out very nicely! I have read that the amount of experience required to go from level 10 to 11 is massive (the same amount required to bring a character from level 1 to 10), so I'm considering switching the fighter to a lord and the bard to a ninja if I have the stats for it.

Yeah, I remember that jump from 10-11. Going from 11-12 is at least as brutal. I started with a Lord and Ninja, so I didn't need to do an class-changing there. I also started with a Samurai, Valkyrie, and Bard. My last character was a Monk. IIRC, the only class-changing I did was Bard->Ranger. There was the best bow in the game that I wanted and only a Ranger could use it, but I wanted the Bard's debuffing to start the game with and I had already settled on the rest of my party.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-08-06, 09:32:

Quick question, is there any story reason to do the Firewalker and Overlord DLC missions in Mass Effect 2?

Well, it turns out once you start the Overlord DLC, you can't leave the planet until you finish it. So I had to complete it, since I overwrote my older saves. Didn't realize there would be driving/platforming segments, since the mission didn't start out that way. But thankfully, they were pretty short. The only thing that annoyed me was that the devs (for some unfathomable reason) chose to constantly blast that VI static/gibberish at 300% of the normal volume, so I basically played through the entire mission on mute.

Anyway, I decided to skip the Firewalker DLC, since it seems to be entirely comprised of driving/platforming levels. If I wanted that kind of gameplay, I'd fire up Super Mario instead.

Overlord has story consequences in ME3.

Firewalker doesn't and I don't care for it.

Finished Mass Effect 2. Despite my earlier misgivings regarding some of the gameplay changes, as a whole package, I actually found ME2 to be a slightly better game than ME1.

The side content was much improved, as you guys said. Even those minor locations that pop up as anomalies while you're scanning a planet for minerals were reasonably well developed. Combat got a lot better later on, after some skill leveling and research upgrades. And the fully developed Soldier class ability makes you feel like Max Payne, with cool bullet time effects and all. It's also nice that you get to learn a special skill from one of your teammates, which can complement your class, if you choose it wisely.

The ending was suitably epic. Somehow, my max Paragon Shepard managed to keep everyone on the main squad alive throughout the entire ordeal. I'm guessing that all of them being loyal and the ship being fully upgraded had something to do with that too. Also, the bullet time power made things much easier. Whenever that lead bug thing took control of one of its minions, I'd just stop time and headshot it to death before it could do anything major. Good times. Looking forward to seeing how things will develop in ME3, although I'm very much aware that the ending of that game is considered to be a low point of the series.

Some final thoughts on the DLCs. Like I said before, Firewalker was unappealing to me, as it consisted solely of driving and platforming. Overlord was fine, except for the vehicle sections, since they were the same as in Firewalker, just shorter. Arrival had some of the toughest fights in ME2, and definitively felt like it should be post-game content. I played it right before going to the final battle, and it still made sense narratively. Lair of the Shadow Broker was the best of the bunch. The devs made Liara into a more interesting character, and the story impact would likely have been even greater had I chosen her instead of Ashley as Shepard's love interest in ME1. As for the item DLCs, I did end up using the Kestrel Armor and the Arc Projector most of the time.

Played this 15 years ago, my memory is hazy but I remember enjoying it. Played a bit of mass effect 3 trial edition but was turned off and stopped playing it. Also couldn't use my charater creation/save game from ME1through to 2 and then 3 because I had played ME1 and ME3 trial version whereas ME2 was via steam.
Tempting to get ME legendary edition which is currently showing up as £5 on steam atm but turned off by the EA/origin 3rd party bs

And finally, on to Mass Effect 3. I had no problems importing my ME2 character, and he even continued at level 30, right where we left off previously. Most of his skills transferred over correctly as well. The presentation in this game feels more cinematic than before, and the graphics are even better. Performance seems ok so far, thought perhaps not quite as smooth as in ME2.

Unfortunately, very early in the game, I encountered a show stopping bug. On Mars, when you fight that cyborg woman, the game shifts to a semi-cinematic sequence where you're supposed to finish her off with several shots from your pistol. However, I had switched the default pistol with one from some DLC item pack, since it seemed more powerful. Turns out that particular pistol uses the "charge up" mechanic, which made it impossible to fire off multiple shots during that sequence.

After getting a "game over" screen several times in a row, I googled this, and it seems to be a common issue which remained unfixed to this day. The only solution is to load an earlier save near one of those special lockers which allow you to change your weapons. Thankfully, I had not overwritten my older saves, so I could do that, but I still lost about 20 minutes of progress. From what I've read, some people even had to restart the entire mission to get past this. Not a great first impression from ME3 so far.

gmaverick2k wrote on 2025-08-07, 17:32:

Tempting to get ME legendary edition which is currently showing up as £5 on steam atm but turned off by the EA/origin 3rd party bs

I think someone mentioned earlier in this thread that the PS4 version of the Legendary Edition can be fully installed from the disc, and doesn't need an internet connection.

SKALD:Against the Black Priory

My progress has been glacially slow with this one due to RL getting in the way but I'm having a lovely time with it. NPC motivations ring true and the dialog works well for the setting. The story is also quite engaging and I think about it when I'm not playing - I've made a few decisions that I regretted, so I'm looking forward to another play through one day and righting some wrongs.

Party members don't say much but that's fine by me. I'm still growing quite fond of them and because leveling them up and equipping them isn't too complicated, I enjoy that aspect of this game where I haven't in others. It's satisfying to see my pixelated little friends master new skills and contribute to the success of the team.

I haven't played it (just long enough to verify it works since I'm not a ME fan) but if you want Mass Effect Legendary without the DRM you can use the Origin unwrapper on ME1 and ME2. You'll need to use the FLT crack on ME3.

For additional languages you can use "Mass Effect LE Custom Launcher for Unlocking All Language Options" which replaces the original "MassEffectLauncher.exe".

More early impressions from Mass Effect 3. It looks like many things that you did (or didn't do) in the previous two games matter here, which is awesome. For example, seeing Jack being happy as a teacher at the academy was heartwarming. Same for having Shepard correctly answer the square root question of that autistic kid that he saved in Overlord. And of course, Mordin passing up on seashell collecting in order to cure the Krogans was bittersweet. If you know, you know. Some really good payoffs here.

As I've mentioned before, the voice acting in all three Mass Effect games is really strong. But in ME3, they really went all out. I've heard some excellent performances from the cast here, and I'm only a few hours in. Anderson, Hackett and the old/new squad members are the highlights of course, but the supporting characters are fairly good as well.

On the negative side, the quest journal was definitively better in ME2. It listed all the steps that were necessary to finish a quest, showing the ones that you already completed and the ones still pending. But in ME3, it's just a single, vague description of what needs to be done. That's a pretty big downgrade. Also, I encountered a second bugged quest, the one with the Hanar Diplomat on the Citadel. Googling it confirmed that it's another known issue that never got fixed.

Anyway, the story sure hits hard in this one, and as events unfold, I imagine it will get even more intense.

Abiotic Factor

Imagine Half-Life and Minecraft having a lovechild. Escaping the underground lab requires you to scavenge materials from the facility or alien worlds, then craft materials and grow food to survive. It seems simple but it's a very intricate game with lots of hidden lore to discover. Hell, you even have to keep track of your bladder and find a toilet in time. All this with a pleasing late 90s aesthetic but on the modern Unreal engine.

I haven't been excited for a game in a long time but this is awesome.

Hezus wrote on 2025-08-09, 10:06:

All this with a pleasing late 90s aesthetic but on the modern Unreal engine.

I've been very hesitant about games made on UE4 and UE5 because of stability and optimization problems. But, I've been watching ZeroXDiamond streaming it and his PC hardware is very aged so I guess at some point I need to someday get this game and see if it'll even work on my Intel NUC.

Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
What a game!

I love the difficulty curve; every time you get to a new area, it feels like the random encounters are overwhelmingly powerful... but once you learn the strengths and weaknesses of each enemy (and gain a level or two while exploring), it becomes much more manageable. The key to playing this one is that combat is much more like the Might & Magic series than the previous Wizardry games -- you can rest pretty safely most of the time, so instead of carefully conserving resources, you're better off casting your most powerful spells whenever you encounter a new enemy.

The combat in this game is really exceptional. If you have a good mix of hybrid classes in your party (really not difficult to roll from the beginning), you will have so many options in each and every battle.

I keep mentioning this every time I post about this game, but I have to do it again. The atmosphere and writing in this game are out of this world. Even though the same gray bricks are used for every single floor, wall, and ceiling texture in this game, I long ago stopped caring about it. In my mind, my party of adventurers explored a deserted castle figuring out the mystery of a decadent royal family, climbed down into the winding passages of a mine, ascended a massive mountain fighting boulder-hurling giants along the way, climbed an ancient pyramid to interact with a lost civilization and kill what they worshipped as a god, and are now exploring the river of the dead. Designer/programmer D.W. Bradley's prose is entrancing even when it's goofy; even when he misuses words, it's somehow charming and adds to the atmosphere.

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-08-09, 14:18:

Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge What a game! […]
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Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
What a game!

I love the difficulty curve; every time you get to a new area, it feels like the random encounters are overwhelmingly powerful... but once you learn the strengths and weaknesses of each enemy (and gain a level or two while exploring), it becomes much more manageable. The key to playing this one is that combat is much more like the Might & Magic series than the previous Wizardry games -- you can rest pretty safely most of the time, so instead of carefully conserving resources, you're better off casting your most powerful spells whenever you encounter a new enemy.

The combat in this game is really exceptional. If you have a good mix of hybrid classes in your party (really not difficult to roll from the beginning), you will have so many options in each and every battle.

I keep mentioning this every time I post about this game, but I have to do it again. The atmosphere and writing in this game are out of this world. Even though the same gray bricks are used for every single floor, wall, and ceiling texture in this game, I long ago stopped caring about it. In my mind, my party of adventurers explored a deserted castle figuring out the mystery of a decadent royal family, climbed down into the winding passages of a mine, ascended a massive mountain fighting boulder-hurling giants along the way, climbed an ancient pyramid to interact with a lost civilization and kill what they worshipped as a god, and are now exploring the river of the dead. Designer/programmer D.W. Bradley's prose is entrancing even when it's goofy; even when he misuses words, it's somehow charming and adds to the atmosphere.

Heck yeah! I'm reliving this game through your posts. BTW, I re-read through some of my old posts, and I realized I never class-changed my Bard to a Ranger. I made her an Elf Bard so that she could use the Elven Bow and I think I didn't pick that weapon up til Wizardry 8. So I planned her choice of weapon in 8 while rolling her in 6. 😀

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

I got to Kuttenberg, which is easily the largest city in either KCD game. It's so impressive when you enter and walk through it. The sound effects are handled really well too. You hear a constant murmur of indistinct conversation from thousands of residents. But if you approach two NPCs having a conversation, you can still listen to their individual conversation. However, you can see that the developers needed to make some compromises in such a huge environment. Whereas in the rest of the game world, you could approach and converse with most NPCs, in Kuttenberg, you can't have a conversation with most residents. This was surprisingly disappointing for me because it messed up the typical immersion you feel. It makes me want to explore less and just get on with the main quest. Yeah, I'm starting to feel a little burn out on this series. It only took about 300 hours. 200ish in KCD1 and 100ish in KCD2 so far. Coincidentally, that's about how many hours I sunk into Wizardry 6-8.

On PC, I always use tons of mods for ME3. Most notably for the journal system. With all those mods and the LE improvments (and a complete overhaul mod for the ending 😁 ) it goes from good to great.

xcomcmdr wrote on 2025-08-10, 05:38:

On PC, I always use tons of mods for ME3. Most notably for the journal system. With all those mods and the LE improvments (and a complete overhaul mod for the ending 😁 ) it goes from good to great.

Yeah, it does feel like ME3 needed a bit more QA time. I imagine mods on the PC addressed some of the issues that I've been seeing on the Xbox 360.

For example, I barely finished the Citadel DLC, since it kept crashing on me. Googling revealed that this too was a known issue, but thankfully, reinstalling the DLC seemed to fix it. On the plus side, that content was hilarious! Pure fan service at its best. They even poked fun at Shepard's trademark "I should go." line. 😀 Also, someone on the dev team was likely a fan of the "Ocean's Eleven" movies.

Back to Kuttenburg in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Here is a video of someone's first entrance into the city. No talking, just experiencing the city as if you were playing. I cut to 30 seconds in to avoid non-city stuff.
https://youtu.be/skP3ymhQXOw?t=30

And here is a video called "Kingdom Come Deliverance II VS Reality | Graphics Comparison | Analista De Bits" where you can see the real Kuttenburg compared to the in-game one. Pretty fascinating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd32aw9TaYA