UCyborg wrote on 2026-09-14, 16:23:

^ So GTA VI's turn comes 2040, give or take. 😀

That year number sounds so surreal.

heh! yes, could be - hoping for an eventual gog like version and some refinement so it runs on whatever passes for modest hardware then! 😀

I cant imagine games in 2040 to be honest, it does seem like a sci fi date, but so did 2025!

ELEX

Finished! The story got much more interesting during the second half, and I was surprised by some of the revelations. From what I gather, there are several possible endings. Since my "coldness" level was very low, I got the one where I defeated the big bad guy and saved everyone, though I did see how it could have gone differently as well. After that, there's a post-game event of sorts, where you can visit all the major NPCs that you interacted with, and see how your choices and actions have affected the world. Pretty cool stuff.

On the flip side, combat remained clunky and mostly unfun until the very end, the leveling system was kinda meh, the world was overly large and the music wasn't as memorable as in the Gothic/Risen games. Still, ELEX was ok-ish for the most part, though it's not my favorite Piranha Bytes game by any means. The story does set up a sequel, but I've heard mixed things about that one, so I'm in no rush to pick it up. Maybe once it goes on a hefty sale.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-09-15, 14:20:

ELEX

Finished! The story got much more interesting during the second half, and I was surprised by some of the revelations. From what I gather, there are several possible endings. Since my "coldness" level was very low, I got the one where I defeated the big bad guy and saved everyone, though I did see how it could have gone differently as well. After that, there's a post-game event of sorts, where you can visit all the major NPCs that you interacted with, and see how your choices and actions have affected the world. Pretty cool stuff.

On the flip side, combat remained clunky and mostly unfun until the very end, the leveling system was kinda meh, the world was overly large and the music wasn't as memorable as in the Gothic/Risen games. Still, ELEX was ok-ish for the most part, though it's not my favorite Piranha Bytes game by any means. The story does set up a sequel, but I've heard mixed things about that one, so I'm in no rush to pick it up. Maybe once it goes on a hefty sale.

I didn't have much issues with the size of the world. Traversal was quick and I liked the verticality.
As for combat, on my playthrough I joined the Clerics who are much more about high-tech ranged weapons.

RandomStranger wrote on 2026-09-15, 15:55:

I didn't have much issues with the size of the world. Traversal was quick and I liked the verticality.
As for combat, on my playthrough I joined the Clerics who are much more about high-tech ranged weapons.

Yeah, I have also heard from other people that ranged combat is a bit better. But I was playing as a melee focused Berserker, using an axe during the vast majority of the run. My point is, compared to the elegant, timing-based melee combat from Gothic 1/2 and Risen 1, swinging the axe around in ELEX felt very clunky and imprecise.

Regarding world size, anything that's larger than Gothic 2 + NOTR starts feeling tedious to me. But that's just my personal preference and entirely subjective. And while the fast-travel in ELEX was convenient, those teleport pads were sometimes easy to miss, especially in snowy areas that you visit later in the game.

RandomStranger wrote on 2026-09-14, 03:50:

Look for it on Ebay. Check listings where you can see the authentication code and try to redeem that on Steam.
If it hasn't been activated yet, which is likely, because the game doesn't require activation and there is no indication on the box that it can be, then you'll get a legal copy on Steam.

Well, that would be like stealing from someone, so I'd rather download a copy from archive.org !

mtest001 wrote on 2026-09-17, 11:27:

RandomStranger wrote on 2026-09-14, 03:50:

Look for it on Ebay. Check listings where you can see the authentication code and try to redeem that on Steam.
If it hasn't been activated yet, which is likely, because the game doesn't require activation and there is no indication on the box that it can be, then you'll get a legal copy on Steam.

Well, that would be like stealing from someone, so I'd rather download a copy from archive.org !

In my view:

1. You can't expect used games not to be activated. It's a bonus if they haven't been, but if you want to buy one specifically to activate on Steam, you should look for a sealed box or at least a listing that doesn't post the install key.
2. The seller shouldn't make the install key public.
3. If I were to buy a game put up for sale like that, I'd still be happy that I have that game in my collection and I can install and play it as is. I wouldn't be disappointed if it's already activated on Steam because I can't reasonably expect that it wasn't.

GTA V

Played a bit more it seems odd switching character in the middle of some action but it works. Overall it's good but not really as, not sure what the wards are, "narratively engaging" or compelling like earlier games, but its still fun enough and still has the bite of satire. One thing i noticed though - i'm less interested in cars, too many types of them maybe, also lots of radio stations, it'll take a longer time to "learn" them the way you learned in earlier games

Just finished Doom 3 (BFG Edition, yeah I know...).

It's hard for me to understand how I skipped this game back then, considering that I was a huge fan of the first two. I found the experience really enjoyable. The sound design is truly fantastic. A few critics though, mainly the "corridor" feel and lack of freedom in the exploration, monsters spawning behind your back all the time, and spending 90% of your time with the shotgun because that's the most effective weapon in closed quarter. Overall it's a very good game. I'm continuing with the expansions now.

The numbers, Mason. What do they mean? Where are they broadcast from?

Dragovich. Kravchenko. Steiner. All must die.

Yikes! I just realised - Call of Duty: Black Ops - mission Executive order; right at the beginning, there's a snake that goes past you and it seems a hiss can be heard.

I don't remember noticing it in a way that it would click: "Hey, there's a snake there.".

Must have been sleepwalking through life as usual.

Lately I play the following games on Atari 1040STF

1. The Secret of Monkey Island
2. Loom
3. Future Wars
4. Fascination
5. Cruise for a Corpse
6. Barbarian (aka Death Sword)
7. Maniac Mansion
8. Zak McKrackent

I recently learned that an unofficial Windows port of Bloodborne is in the works, so I gave it a try. There seem to be a few of these floating around, so I just downloaded one that I've seen being used on YouTube. To be clear, that's just a launcher, and no actual game files are included. But if you have a physical disc of Bloodborne and a jailbroken PS4, it's very easy to create a backup copy, which the launcher can then use.

Initial impressions: performance is better compared to running the game via ShadPS4 emulator. But there's still a lot of shader compilation stutter when you first visit an area. Since this is a native port, hopefully, the devs can add a shader pre-compilation setting at some point. Right now, the game's own V-Sync solution has some frame pacing issues, so I used Nvidia's driver V-Sync override and frame rate cap, which smoothed things out. What I found most interesting is that this port can use DLSS/FSR for anti aliasing, which greatly improves image quality. Specifically, I've been using DLAA, as it makes Bloodborne look super crisp. And no, I don't mean that dumb DLSS 5 AI slop filter, just plain old DLAA.

Anyway, I just did a brief test run of the first level, and the results were pretty impressive. Considering how early in development this port is, things can only get better in the future. Kudos to the community for picking up the mantle after Sony denied us an official port, or even a PS5 upgrade patch.

I don't really play games much these days sadly but when I do I keep chipping away at 'The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos', which is a free total conversion mod of Gothic II. Gothic is my favourite game series and this is now my favorite game of the series - it's just fantastic. Wonderful level design and tweaks on the Gothic engine and formula, and there's so much amazing content. The quests are interesting and the overall story fits in with the existing world of Myrtana really nicely.

There's a 2.0 version of the mod coming out at some stage, or so the story goes. Maybe I'll be finished v1.0 by the time it does but either way I'll definitely be playing through it all again one day, it's just so good.

Gateway to the Savage Frontier
It feels good to be playing another game in the legendary Gold Box series! Unfortunately, it's pretty mediocre so far. It's very linear so far with absolutely no exploration, and the early plot just has you going by boat from one town to the next. Most of the Gold Box games are also pretty or very linear, but they tend to have interesting settings or hooks. Gateway has a strangely cartoony art style with jokey writing, but the plot is very generic so far. It feels especially dull compared with the Gold Box game I completed previously, the moody and intriguing Champions of Krynn.

It's a Gold Box game, though, and, just like pizza, even a mediocre one is pretty good.

Blasphemous
An extremely edgy exploration-based platformer, this plays like a Castlevania game mixed with some Dark Souls mechanics. It looks great with some fantastic animation, and plays like a dream. It's less linear than similar games, since you can tackle the main boss areas in any order. You do unlock more abilities to get around, but these are usually used just to open up shortcuts or to find power ups. An excellent example of its genre, so far.

Assassin's Creed Origins
Outside of the graphics and how easy it is play, there's not a whole lot that's good about this. It's your typical Ubisoft open-world slop, where you have five different types of missions repeated 10,000 times, and you are never at any risk of losing any progress ever (or, in most cases, even getting a game over). 15 hours in, I feel completely invincible.

So, this is sort of my guilty pleasure or junk food game. Whenever I feel like exploring ancient Egypt while effortlessly and hilariously taking out guard after guard, it's a fun 10-15 minutes. A decent game to to play while watching some documentaries or listening to a podcast.

newtmonkey wrote on 2026-10-10, 05:22:

Blasphemous
An extremely edgy exploration-based platformer, this plays like a Castlevania game mixed with some Dark Souls mechanics. It looks great with some fantastic animation, and plays like a dream. It's less linear than similar games, since you can tackle the main boss areas in any order. You do unlock more abilities to get around, but these are usually used just to open up shortcuts or to find power ups. An excellent example of its genre, so far.

Thanks for the reminder, I remember enjoying Blaspemous a way back and liking it. Must have another go some time!

At the moment I am on Diablo (single player), tried to start it a year or two ago having never actually played the original before but found time this last few weeks. Never realised how much was in the first game.

Then after seeing another thread on here, last night I wasted a few hours trying to compile Devilution using mingw32 on Windows 11 before giving up and then finding there's a version called DevilutionX that has a downloadable executable that works on W11. It's kind of ok, but all those quality-of-life changes are a bit too much for my taste (end up fiddling with settings instead of playing) so I went back to the original. If only someone could make the graphics look better on a non-CRT screen!

I may however have a another go with Devilution mainly to see whether the Barbarian and Bard classes add anything. It's interesting to see what original developers thought about, but often it's easy to see why these abandoned ideas were just that.

I played some UFO: Enemy Unknown.
Wiped out at beginner level like I am a rookie. I used to play it at max level and win.
Guess that I forgot how to play after 32 years... 🤣

I have to make go a little faster, Dosbox presets are sluggish.
Fortunately dosbox can be set pretty easily.

Gateway to the Savage Frontier
I completed this yesterday. I enjoyed it overall, but it does suffer from poor encounter design; you end up fighting the same enemies (in fact, mostly the same groups of enemies) over and over. It also suffers from a bizarre power curve. It's a major struggle for the first 2-3 hours just to earn enough gold to level up a single character, but then the game starts showering you with treasure until the end.

Still, it was pretty fun. The maps have some unique gimmicks that make them memorable--for example, one map has the quest item you need to collect moved into the fortress as time goes on, with the encounters becoming increasingly difficult the deeper into the fortress you go.

Of course, I imported my winning party into the sequel, Treasures of the Savage Frontier. Unlike most of the games in the Gold Box series, the game actually carries over most of your overpowered magic equipment when you transfer your party. I wonder if the game was actually balanced for this or not.

Persona 5 Royal

I first played Persona 5 back when the original version came out on the PS4. To this day, it remains one of my favorite JRPGs of all time. Now, I'm slowly replaying it using the PC release. It works with both Xbox and PlayStation controllers, but I opted for the latter since I'm so used to its button glyphs here. No advanced haptics or adaptive trigger support as far as I can tell, but standard vibration works fine.

What kinda disappointed me was that even this PC release of Persona 5 Royal has very crappy anti aliasing by default. It's the one thing I had hoped was improved from the console version, but nope. I even tried running the game in 4K, and then downsampling that to 1080p, but it didn't help much. Fortunately, the Luma mod adds DLSS and FSR support, which completely fixes this problem. At long last, this game looks clean on my setup, thanks to DLAA. No jaggies and no annoying shimmering during movement. And it still runs great in 1080p at 60 FPS on my lowly RTX 3060.

Anyway, while I do like this game a lot, I still prefer the original (non-Royal) release. The developers went a bit overboard with adding new content, which can easily overwhelm new players. Some of it feels needlessly tacked on, like the grappling hook and the dart/pool mini-games. Worst of all, the Royal version on PC comes with all the DLCs included, which means you get a bunch of overpowered personas right from the start. I opted not to use those in this playthrough, since they would trivialize the gameplay. Would have been nice if a menu option was included to disable the non-cosmetic DLC stuff. I'll happily take the additional party member costumes, as well as the bonus music tracks, but not the gameplay wrecking personas and items.

duke nukem kickass edition (eduke32) in win10
blitzing through it with 'dnstuff' and jetpack

gmaverick2k wrote on Yesterday, 18:46:

duke nukem kickass edition (eduke32) in win10
blitzing through it with 'dnstuff' and jetpack

Ah, the memories. Time for me to play through DN3D coop with a friend, I guess.