Completed Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars.

Quite enjoyable adventure game. The historical plot is interesting, the game is pleasing to play and the music is very nice. Apparently was performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra according to the end credits. Too bad it's pretty low quality.

Little too disney-esque for my liking though, pretty cartoony characters with very hammy fake accents. Humor left me cold too. There are also moments where you can get yourself killed, they weren't too bad overall but one of them was rather tedious as you have to click through some dialog and watch some unskippable animations every time you fail and need to try again. I definitely prefer the LucasArts approach with unkillable protagonists. Rubber tree!

So pretty alright all in all. Besides the previously mentioned things and the kinda weak last stretch of the game I had a good time with it.

That's it for my adventure bender for this summer though, still have a bunch I want to revisit so I'll probably continue next summer.

Sombrero wrote on 2025-08-15, 14:31:

That's it for my adventure bender for this summer though, still have a bunch I want to revisit so I'll probably continue next summer.

Broken Sword sounds interesting. Back in the day, I was never much into adventure games. I think I only ever completed Simon the Sorcerer 2. I did try a few others as well, but I quickly lost interest. Now that I'm older, I can appreciate the genre a bit more, so maybe I'll give some of these a second chance.

Anyway, during the summer heat wave, I can't be bothered with playing anything that requires sitting at the computer for extended time periods. So only console games (or PC titles with controller support) work for me until the heatwave subsides.

Completed Tomb Raider 2013 and already started Rise of the Tomb Raider.

I need to finish Rise and Shadow to make room to get Star Wars Battlefront II, Star Wars Squadrons and X-Wing Alliance installed and running here...

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-08-15, 15:39:

Broken Sword sounds interesting. Back in the day, I was never much into adventure games. I think I only ever completed Simon the Sorcerer 2. I did try a few others as well, but I quickly lost interest. Now that I'm older, I can appreciate the genre a bit more, so maybe I'll give some of these a second chance.

Yeah, even the best of them require you to enjoy puzzle solving, have patience and occasionally willingness to bang your head against a wall, definitely not for everyone and especially younger folk. And that's with the best of them, I love the genre but I still would rather go clean a public toilet than play, say, King's Quest 1 or 2 without a guide in hand. You won't believe the utter bullshit those have!

I'm not sure would I recommend BS1 as a first stepping stone though, while I find BS1&2 rather pleasant the puzzles do tend to be a somewhat overdesigned and/or suffer from moon logic.

Anyway, during the summer heat wave, I can't be bothered with playing anything that requires sitting at the computer for extended time periods. So only console games (or PC titles with controller support) work for me until the heatwave subsides.

Precisely why I save adventure games, city builders and such slow, easy to hop on and off relaxing games for summers. Especially this summer, it hit 30°C inside my apartment during the worst of it.. a new record I hope won't get broken anytime soon 🤪

I've finished SKALD : Against the Black Priory. I haven't finished a game in years but this one really struck a chord. I wasn't super keen on the ending but ending's are hard to do - I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this developer.

One of the many things I appreciated was the small world and focussed story. There were sidequests but only a handful and they didn't branch on and on, they were generally just a little diversion that filled out the world a bit. I'll be playing more of these small scale RPGs going forwards, starting with Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown, which was recommended in this very thread.

badmojo wrote on 2025-08-17, 03:55:

I've finished SKALD : Against the Black Priory. I haven't finished a game in years but this one really struck a chord. I wasn't super keen on the ending but ending's are hard to do - I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this developer.

One of the many things I appreciated was the small world and focussed story. There were sidequests but only a handful and they didn't branch on and on, they were generally just a little diversion that filled out the world a bit. I'll be playing more of these small scale RPGs going forwards, starting with Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown, which was recommended in this very thread.

Nice! I've been looking for more short RPGs too. SKALD is on my wishlist, as is the Amberland series. From what I have played, I can recommend Eschalon Books 1-3. The first is free, so it's a great way to see if you want to buy the next two (they frequently get marked down on GOG sales). There's also Legend of Grimrock if you can tolerate the real-time combat which does require some twitch skill. I loved the game and finished it despite not being crazy about the combat. And it's a 20-30 hour long game.

Wizardry VII
After completing Wizardry VI (awesome) I had originally planned to take a break and play some other RPG... but the Wizardry addiction struggle is real, and just like when I couldn't stop myself from playing Wiz 1-3&5 several years back, here I am several hours into Wizardry VII.

So far, it's awesome. It's basically Wizardry VI with much nicer graphics and sound (including a great and atmospheric Roland MT-32 soundtrack that only plays in specific situations), a somewhat more serious story, and a bunch of interesting new mechanics... all in a giant open world.

I imported my winning Wizardry VI party, and after seeing that hardly any of my super weapons carried over, I have to admit that I looked up how it works, and then redid the import process to ensure that I got those weapons!

The only issue I have with this game is that the controls are somehow even worse than in Wizardry VI (a step down from the previous games in the series). You have to choose between mouse or keyboard, and choosing one completely disables the other. I tried using keyboard only for a while, but anything outside of combat becomes unbelievably unwieldly. In contrast, mouse control is definitely better for inventory management, but a major pain during combat. It's bizarre that they do not just allow you to use both!

Otherwise, it's even better than I was expecting. There is an interesting reputation and faction system (in an RPG from 1992!), combat is just as good if not better than the previous game, and the area design is excellent. Dungeon delving in this game is fantastic. In between the detailed graphics, atmospheric sound, and fun trap disarming system, you really feel like an adventurer exploring old crypts.

I must also praise how the game provides you with a lot of direction without outright telling you where to go (and without quest markers). There is a main road that runs between all the towns, and it's easy to find the road with just a little bit of exploration immediately after starting the game. You seem pretty safe from encounters on the road, so it's just a matter of choosing a direction and seeing what's at the end.

What a game!

I finished Dead Island 2.
I don't really like it, still preferring the first edition + riptide.

I'd give it a 6/10 with the occasional 4/10.
The story is what kills it for me, not really there.

newtmonkey wrote on 2025-08-17, 12:05:

Wizardry VII After completing Wizardry VI (awesome) I had originally planned to take a break and play some other RPG... but the […]
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Wizardry VII
After completing Wizardry VI (awesome) I had originally planned to take a break and play some other RPG... but the Wizardry addiction struggle is real, and just like when I couldn't stop myself from playing Wiz 1-3&5 several years back, here I am several hours into Wizardry VII.

So far, it's awesome. It's basically Wizardry VI with much nicer graphics and sound (including a great and atmospheric Roland MT-32 soundtrack that only plays in specific situations), a somewhat more serious story, and a bunch of interesting new mechanics... all in a giant open world.

I imported my winning Wizardry VI party, and after seeing that hardly any of my super weapons carried over, I have to admit that I looked up how it works, and then redid the import process to ensure that I got those weapons!

The only issue I have with this game is that the controls are somehow even worse than in Wizardry VI (a step down from the previous games in the series). You have to choose between mouse or keyboard, and choosing one completely disables the other. I tried using keyboard only for a while, but anything outside of combat becomes unbelievably unwieldly. In contrast, mouse control is definitely better for inventory management, but a major pain during combat. It's bizarre that they do not just allow you to use both!

Otherwise, it's even better than I was expecting. There is an interesting reputation and faction system (in an RPG from 1992!), combat is just as good if not better than the previous game, and the area design is excellent. Dungeon delving in this game is fantastic. In between the detailed graphics, atmospheric sound, and fun trap disarming system, you really feel like an adventurer exploring old crypts.

I must also praise how the game provides you with a lot of direction without outright telling you where to go (and without quest markers). There is a main road that runs between all the towns, and it's easy to find the road with just a little bit of exploration immediately after starting the game. You seem pretty safe from encounters on the road, so it's just a matter of choosing a direction and seeing what's at the end.

What a game!

I'm assuming you're playing the DOS version and not Gold?

clueless1 wrote on 2025-08-17, 14:49:

I'm assuming you're playing the DOS version and not Gold?

Of course!

Kingdom Come Deliverance II

Just a quick note. I was working on a main quest, which involved retrieving a body from the shit pile in the pig trough. I did, and got one of the best bows in the game off of the corpse. But the guys in the quest started harassing me to give them the bow or pay them for it. So I refused and they started to attack me. I took off running out of the village. While I was running, I ran past a bandit that was looting someone he'd killed. I turned around after I ran past him, and saw the guys attacking me ended up in a fight with the bandit. He was a skilled swordsman and ended up killing them all, then came after me. It was a challenge, but with Mutt's help nipping at his heels, I got some undefended hits on him and took him down. Problem solved! And we did it outside of the village, so my reputation should be unharmed. Haha.

Wizardry VII
I'm just under 10 hours into this game and am still having a blast! I'm still completely lost and just exploring the massive world and slowly piecing things together. I've been using the Cosmic Editor app as an automap, which is quite nice. It only gives you as much information as the in-game map, but you can keep it open in a separate window while you play (similar to how Wizardry Gold handles it, I think). I've been slowly increasing my fighter's mapping skill, because increasing it apparently adds more detail to your map. At my current level, it just draws squares (no walls, stairs, doors, etc.), so I might have to manually draw some of the indoor areas until the automap becomes more useful. Still, as is it works just fine to keep track of your location while exploring.

Combat became much easier once I gained a single level, and I've read that it's because imported characters function as level 1 characters until they level up once. It definitely seems like that's the case.