I thought Descent ran much slower on lower-end 486s than other 3d games of the time, so much that low detail settings don't actually help. I'd probably peg it under Quake in performance optimization, despite using the FPU a lot less. Maybe Descent could've benefit from having a surfacecache.

Now imagine beating that engine into thinking it's an RPG...... actually on second thought don't

leileilol wrote:

I thought Descent ran much slower on lower-end 486s than other 3d games of the time, so much that low detail settings don't actually help. I'd probably peg it under Quake in performance optimization, despite using the FPU a lot less. Maybe Descent could've benefit from having a surfacecache.

I mean't relatively. ALL other DOS games attempting to pull off the graphical complexity of Descent's levels run worse than Descent.

On a Pentium, Quake and Descent are fairly evenly matched, but Quake's necessity of a good FPU makes it run really badly on 486s. :P

leileilol wrote:

Now imagine beating that engine into thinking it's an RPG...... actually on second thought don't

Just to affirm, yes, I am aware of which game you're talking about... >_>;;;

leileilol wrote:

Gemini000 wrote:

it's just too random for me and I don't like it when my game music has lyrics in it. x_x;

especially if the lyrics states "you're fucking retarded". what's that doing in a planetary mining simulation

I couldn't, and still can't hear any actual words in that song. The bit at the start just sounds like unintelligible radio chatter.

It is one of the weaker tracks in the game though, I'll admit.

SquallStrife wrote:

I couldn't

It's the last "words" heard. In the original 1996 release a spazzy whistly part starts after it which makes sense with the "retarded" lyric (later nerfed out in rereleases)

not only it's suprising to hear in a T game, but how there was no negative buzz from advocate groups for the mentally handicapped, probably because it wasn't clear enough. Double GettingCrapPastTheRadar for sure.

Just caught the first of season three. Glad to see you're back and in fine form, Gemini! Great game to start with, too. Liking the new intro and stats overlays, and cool that your ADG watermark is less "intrusive" this time.

̶ ̶U̶n̶i̶c̶o̶d̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶n̶!̶ ̶

lazygamereviews wrote:

Glad to see you're back and in fine form, Gemini!

Actually, I got sick mere hours after getting the episode up. ^_^;

I had the strangest feeling I was going to get sick at roughly that time too, so I preemptively started my Vitamin-C routine that I usually follow when I get sick. As a result, whatever I've got isn't hitting me too hard and so long as it doesn't get any worse I should be able to get my next episode out on time. :)

aqrit wrote:

̶ ̶U̶n̶i̶c̶o̶d̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶n̶!̶ ̶

Why am I not surprised this exists? :P

leileilol wrote:

It's the last "words" heard. In the original 1996 release a spazzy whistly part starts after it which makes sense with the "retarded" lyric (later nerfed out in rereleases)

Wow.

I listened to that section about 10 times and finally got it.

That's, uh, nifty, I guess. I'm not surprised at all that the ratings panel and others missed it, I missed it and I've owned the game since launch day and played it zillions of times.

But you know, now that I've heard it, and know about it, I can't un-hear it. Funny what knowledge does to your perception of things! 😀

I haven't ever really played Descent II, but from what I've heard of the music it's absolutely amazing. It just happens to be that I'm on a major Skinny Puppy kick right now too. 🤣

Canadian industrial FTW! 😁

Ancient DOS Games Episode 102 - Xenophage is online!

...and I'm barely awake. Good night. ^_^;

Hmm. Pacman theme in the credits there? Does that play behind the Xac-man thing?

SquallStrife wrote:

Hmm. Pacman theme in the credits there? Does that play behind the Xac-man thing?

Yes. ;)

Just watched your Xenophage review. Man, that game looks lulzy. 🤣 I went through a phase when I was younger where I would play all of these terrible cash-in 90's fighting games, and I'm surprised I didn't give it a try back then. 😜

I used to play a demo of that game when I was a kid and thought it was awesome. I haven't played it since and I know everyone's been bashing it. I know I'm going to love its awfulness 😜

"Feels more like a high school programming project than an actual game sold at retail" is a fantastic way to sum up Xenophage. By no means the worst game of all time, but easily the worst of Apogee and one of the worst PC-exclusive fighters. Happy to have my boxed copy, as it's a strange collectible indeed.

Great job with the review and keeping objective throughout!

lazygamereviews wrote:

"Feels more like a high school programming project than an actual game sold at retail" is a fantastic way to sum up Xenophage. By no means the worst game of all time, but easily the worst of Apogee and one of the worst PC-exclusive fighters. Happy to have my boxed copy, as it's a strange collectible indeed.

Great job with the review and keeping objective throughout!

Thanks! Having done plenty of programming in high-school, and knowing what kind of other projects students will put together if they have even a little skill, I actually made that statement based on personal experience.

I found that high-school programming projects tended to fall into one of three categories:

1. I'm gonna make the biggest game ever with all these features that will blow everyone else's game out of the water! Oh wait, I'm only 10% done and the project's due today... :(

2. This game is gonna have a lot of graphics to showcase my talents! What do you mean you can't play it for more than 10 seconds? Look at those graphics! D:

3. This game plays really well and I got it done in time! But... no one wants to play it... Stupid lack of graphical skillz... :/

My stuff fell into the third category. ^_^;

I bought a copy of Xenophage in 2011. It was listed on Amazon as PC CD Jewel Case for $4.95. To my surprise it included the box.

I don't feel the "high school" gist of Xenophage - I thought the game was nicely coded, and even had decent art (ohhhhh I went there). It's just a badly designed fighter by industry professionals, and shockingly there are worse games. Rise of the Robots should be a chilling reminder.

You should try the other fighting games of 1994-95 that aren't One Must Fall or Mortal Kombat ports. And of course Time Slaughter.

Also, this is the worst PC exclusive fighter. And then there's also those Sento and Creep Clash games which are some early 3d fighters that used early Renderware even...

leileilol wrote:

It's just a badly designed fighter by industry professionals, and shockingly there are worse games. Rise of the Robots should be a chilling reminder.

Heck, even the PC version of Street Fighter II isn't even very good.

SquallStrife wrote:

Heck, even the PC version of Street Fighter II isn't even very good.

That kinda explains why they also bundled it with the PC versions of Mega Man and Mega Man 3... >_>;;;