It's the 1st of September already. I don't know why I'm surprised -
I've been told by very reliable sources that date shows up every year
around this time - but it feels like it snuck up on me.

Good thing I have my list all ready to go ahead of time! ;-)



The List
---------------------------------------
* Aliens: Fireteam Elite (new)
* Project Highrise (new)
* Arcade Paradise (new)
* American Truck Simulator: Oklahoma (new)


The Diatribes
---------------------------------------

* Aliens: Fireteam Elite (new)
I started playing "Fireteam Elite" only with the greatest of
trepidation. Games in the Aliens license are an extremely mixed bag,
and after the extremely good "Aliens: Isolation", the franchise felt
due for a stinker. In this, at least, I was disappointed.

Unusually, I started this game by jumping right into multiplayer. Or
perhaps not so unusually; it is, after all, a co-op shooter. But the
game does have offline play (with bots), and my normal method is to
first play the game solo. But circumstances made it so I had a
fireteam of colleagues at hand, and so we all experienced the game
fresh. I don't think, though, that had I played the game solo first
that it would have greatly affected my impressions of the game.

In terms of production values, "Fireteam" is more than satisfying. It
recreates the dark, chonky space-tech of the first two movies and -
while it's not quite as good as "Alien: Isolation"- it captures the
feel of the franchise quite well. The audio is above average too;
there's nothing really exceptional about it - although the music score
is divisive amongst fans, I rather liked it - but it doesn't do
anything wrong either.

But the gameplay? It's... ehn. Mechanically, it's okay; the gunplay is
good enough, and the various classes add some nice variety to the
game. I preferred the Lancer, just because the SmartGun's
auto-targeting let me lazily point-n-spray my bullets vaguely in the
direction of the monsters and still get a reasonable number of kills
(other classes require a bit more skill). But outside the combat, I
felt the game was lacking.

The pacing was off, for one. The aliens are a constant threat, which,
okay, it's a co-op shooter so sure. But there's no downtime in the
game, and the constant pressure can be exhausting. After two or three
matches, I was ready to call it quits for the day. The gameplay
actively discouraged me from wanting to play it!

The missions themselves lacked variety and spectacle; as good looking
and true-to-the-movies as the maps may have been, there's only so much
darkened spaceship and shadowy alien hives I can take before I started
getting bored. The mission mechanics are all the same too: go to open
arena, push button, fight off a couple waves of enemies, repeat.

But beyond that, there's just the grind. There's a huge number of
weapons and cosmetics you can unlock (none of which require micro
transactions, fortunately) but there's little real advantage to
picking one over the other, and getting them all would require me
replay the small handful of levels more times than the cosmetics were
worth. I certainly had no desire to go through the games the ten or
twelve times it would take to max out each class. I'm sure some
people find that sort of thing fun, but I was getting bored with the
game before I finished my first run through its campaign.

In the end, "Aliens: Fireteam Elite" was an okay game, but it lacked
the depth to keep me invested in it for more than a few hours. The
biggest fans of the franchise will probably love the game to death,
but if all you want is a co-op game, there are better titles that will
occupy you for a much longer time than this one. Sure, if you love
"Aliens", get the game on sale. Otherwise, it's really hard to
recommend it over anything else when the competition is so strong.



* Project Highrise (new)
It may have a different name, but "Project Highrise" is immediately recognizable - especially to retro-gamers - as a modern take on 1994's "SimTower". It might have sharper graphics and a few more build
options, but otherwise it's completely familiar. There are a few
changes to gameplay - there's less fiddling about with elevator
schedules, for one - but it's still all about placing the optimal
configuration of apartments, offices and retail units whilst supplying
them with the services they demand. "Project Highrise" does improve on
the formula somewhat; there are now 'contracts' you can take out with
the city to earn extra cash (essentially semi-random goals like 'build
twenty shops!' that get you a bonus stipend) and random events that
alter construction costs or how much foot-traffic your tower receives.
But at it's heart, it's pure "SimTower."

And, I suppose, if you loved the original game, that's probably music
to your ears. Myself, I found the original too stilted in design, too
limited in features that - even with all the additions "Project
Highrise" offers - the game just isn't very interesting. Too many of
the building requirements feel unrealistic (no building luxury
apartments unless you're tower has a dozen or more shops and
restaurants!) and the spacing of the units is too irregular or large.
Plus, manually striping power, phone, cable TV, gas and water lines to
every unit on every floor becomes amazingly tedious.

I suppose your enjoyment of this game depends on what you expect from
it. A part of me appreciates the game for it being what is:
essentially, a love letter to the original "SimTower". If you just
want to re-experience the 1994 game with nicer visuals, "Project
Highrise" is great. But the gameplay was just too shallow and
monotonous to keep me entertained for long.


* Arcade Paradise (new)
My best memories of video-game arcades are - probably - not the same
as your memories of the arcades. Mine date back to before they became
the haven of the younger set, back when the arcades were often
attached to drinking establishments and the games themselves were
aimed more at young urban professionals than at oily teens. By the
time the arcades had transformed into the darkened lairs of the
adolescent, I had already abandoned the hobby for computers. So I've
never really felt that much nostalgia for the arcade as it is
popularly remembered.

Still, I was willing to give "Arcade Paradise" a chance, because it's
overall framing story looked interesting, and it had a certain visual
flair to it that appealed to me. And in these regards, I wasn't
disappointed. The game beautifully captures the feel of trying to
transform a failing laundrette in the 80s into a hoppin' arcade
palace, machine by machine. Between it's surprisingly realistic
visuals where you do your 'real world' chores, and the retro-visuals
of the arcade remakes, the game looks good. I was really digging the
story too, of a young manager who - with a love of the arcade and a
desire to improve the business despite an obstinate boss - struggles
to prove his acumen. It's just a shame that so much of the game
revolves around, you know, actually playing the arcade games.

Because while the early parts of the game revolve around slowly
earning money - both through the laundrette and arcade machines - to
buy new arcades, place adverts, and generally grow the business
(interspersed with arcade-like takes on daily chores, such as plunging
the WC or tossing the trash into the skip), later parts of the game
demand that you play and master many of those arcade games you've been
buying. And, quite frankly, most of those games just aren't worth
playing. They're cheap reproductions of better-known arcades (albeit
often with some clever skins; Pac-Man gets transformed into a Grand
Theft Auto clone, for instance) that lack the excitement of the
originals they are emulating. Add into this an annoying time-limit and
I'm left with little incentive or desire to keep playing the
arcades... except that if I don't, you can't progress.

All of which meant that, eight or so hours into the game, I lost all
interest in continuing. I admit it; I never finished this one. I
wanted to, and perhaps had the game offered other ways to keep going -
a secondary method to continue without wasting time on the arcade
games themselves - I would have persevered. Maybe had I a more intense
relation to classic arcades, I might have made the effort. But it
didn't, and I didn't, and so - not without some sadness - I walked
away from this game. It's a clever idea, well implemented, but it
demanded a dedication to 8-bit arcades that I just didn't have.


* American Truck Simulator: Oklahoma (new)
Lacking anything new to say about "American Truck Simulator", what can
I say about the "Oklahoma" expansion?

Well, it's nice. Not very exciting, no. I've been to that state in
real life, but don't really remember anything about it, and this
expansion isn't helping any. It's... ordinary. Dull, but in a good
way. The terrain is much more green than states further west, and that
verdency is /very/ welcome; I'm extremely tired of the drear and dry
deserts and plains that have made up the bulk of the core game's map
so far. The towns are boring to look at, but the driving is pleasant;
The highway system is robust; I'm not constantly being shunted down
narrow, twisting byways. In fact, there are some really nice
straight-aways where you can just zone out as you drive for miles upon
miles. It's the epitome of what American's call 'fly-over' country;
the unexciting bits that nobody really remembers but which help drive
the country forward. So, I guess, a good imitation of the real thing.

It does feel like that developers recognized how unexciting the source
material was, because this expansion features the most 'hidden roads'
of all the maps so far. 'Hidden roads' are little byways that don't
show up on the map until you start driving on them, and are usually inconvenient shortcuts that exist only to showcase some natural
feature or location. They're intended to spice up the exploring, and
not to actually be used while hauling cargo, and were used in
moderation in earlier expansions. But in "Oklahoma", it seems you
can't drive a dozen miles without coming across another hidden road.
I'm not really complaining; like I said, the rest of the map is
lacking in interesting things to see and do, so these are welcome
diversions. It only comes across as excessive when compared to the
other maps.

If it seems as if I'm coming down hard on the map, I apologize. I
rather enjoyed my time driving through "Oklahoma". I don't need every
bit of the game to wow me; the joy of the "Truck Simulator" games is
the Zen of driving down the highway, crossing a continent with a load
of cargo trailing behind you. And at this, "Oklahoma" is more than OK.



---------------------------------------

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me
these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Already? I finally finished Skyrim's main quest on hump day's late
night! I forgot how its keyboard controls since I haven't touched it
since for almost a year. I'm not sure if I will want to play more with
its side quests. Maybe I will go back to Diablo 4.


Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

It's the 1st of September already. I don't know why I'm surprised -
I've been told by very reliable sources that date shows up every year
around this time - but it feels like it snuck up on me.

Good thing I have my list all ready to go ahead of time! ;-)

...

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me
these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

--
"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." --Psalm 25:4-5. Sept. after going out with da old colony (lunch, shop, & get a flu shot) & missing
Disney's chs. b4 da long crazy Labor Day weekend.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Remnant: From the Ashes
Remnant 2 got some good buzz and reviews on its recent release. Not wanting
to buy a new game, I installed the first game (free from Epic some time
back) and played through the campaign. This plays to me like a 3rd-person cover shooter, which rewards aggressive action, quick movement, frantic shooting, switching of weapons and alt-fire powers, against imaginative
enemies which all have their own unique attack styles and weapons, and I
just took to this like butter to bread and enjoyed every minute. The
shooting and movement mechanics are knife-sharp and pleasurable, managing
your various abilities -- 'traits' -- armor and weapon stats, as well as alt-fire cooldown, mentally engaging. The different worlds you visit are interesting and fun to explore, each with unique species of enemies, and the boss fights in each world I found to be great challenges that I looked
forward to meeting. On finishing the campaign I felt a great urge to start again on a harder difficulty, and had to pull myself away from it. Remnant
is a great game!

Quake 2 Remaster
Quake 4
After hearing lots of badmouthing of Q4 lately, I'd thought I'd play through
it again, since last month's nostalgia-kick of playing System Shock 1 along with its recent Remake was successful. However, Q4's opening level
immediately refers to events in Quake 2, so being something of a sequel I decided to run through Q2 Remaster first.

I'm not quite through Quake 2's campaign as yet, I think on the last or next-to-last level. It looks and plays as well as you could hope for
without a full remake, but I admit to feeling, if not outright bored, not
very engaged and mostly going through the motions to say I completed it.
I'm sadly expecting the same to occur with Quake 4 when I get back to it. (Actually, I'd initially started playing Quake 1 RTX before the later games, but felt so bored to tears and dropped it after an hour)

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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* Aliens: Fireteam Elite (new)

I'm one of the rare, oh so rare, players who got good enjoyment out of Colonial Marines, and the same for me with Fireteam Elite. I played the PC Gamepass campaign solo, and especially enjoyed the movie atmosphere, sound effects, and bits of Aliens Universe lore gleaned from the plot and npcs.
Like you, I did find the gameplay starts getting repetitive, but being a fan
of frantic gunplay I enjoyed the entire campaign, just as I have in all the previous AVP games.

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
------------------------------

What I've been playing, well for once I have got something to report.
I've already posted about this so won't bore people with the details
again except to say if you like stealth tactics games then it really is
good and possibly even better that their previous games Shadow Tactics
and Desperados 3. Not because mechanical it's better but the
supernatural pirate theme is just so fun.

World of Tanks
--------------

This is not what I'm playing but instead what I'm not playing. I've
finally realised that it no longer is the game for me. It's a
combination of a downward spiral so as the game changes I get worse at
it and as I get worse I'm less inclined to play and so on. There's also
that over the years the MTX aspects have just become worse and worse so
the gap between the haves and have nots is larger and larger.

Oh well it was fun while it lasted.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 01/09/2023 16:27, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* Arcade Paradise (new)
My best memories of video-game arcades are - probably - not the same
as your memories of the arcades. Mine date back to before they became
the haven of the younger set, back when the arcades were often
attached to drinking establishments and the games themselves were
aimed more at young urban professionals than at oily teens. By the
time the arcades had transformed into the darkened lairs of the
adolescent, I had already abandoned the hobby for computers. So I've
never really felt that much nostalgia for the arcade as it is
popularly remembered.

Arcades in the UK have a somewhat different history as where they really
caught on was seaside towns. The reason for that was the due to gambling
laws it was really only viable to have a pre-video game arcade (slot
machines, whack-a-mole, try and grab the cuddle toy etc.) in seaside
towns as they had special exemptions, because well just because they
did. Obviously when video games came along they were a fit for that
environment and in a few short years a lot of them had appeared. So
where I live now there were three big arcades all in the same street and
you also had the one on the pier.

The clientele, the pier arcades stayed the same with a mixture of teens, families and older women who had come for the bingo. The new arcades
were more based around the late teen to mid twenties age range plus a
smaller number of slightly older people who were there just to play the
slot machines.

Now though the only video arcade left is on pier and video arcade games
just aren't really a thing. What we do have though are dedicated slot
machine places as the government slowly raised the amount that can be
bet, and lost, to turn it from a bit of fun to out-an-out gambling.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, 2 Sep 2023 09:49:16 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

Oooh, a new idea for a thread:
What HAVEN'T You Been Playing in August 2023? ;-)

World of Tanks

This is not what I'm playing but instead what I'm not playing. I've
finally realised that it no longer is the game for me. It's a
combination of a downward spiral so as the game changes I get worse at
it and as I get worse I'm less inclined to play and so on. There's also
that over the years the MTX aspects have just become worse and worse so
the gap between the haves and have nots is larger and larger.

Oh well it was fun while it lasted.

All games have a defined longevity to them. Even the best of games
can't keep us entertained forever. Whether it is because of inneui,
changing tastes, or outside forces, eventually it is time to move on.

If you're lucky, you'll be able to return to the game in five or ten
years and rediscover - if only briefly - what made the game so
enthralling the first time you played it. Other times you return to a
game and wonder why you liked it so much in the first place. And
sometimes, some games never get a second glance after you leave them.

I think that's why I have such a high turn-over in games. I don't like lingering too long with any particular title lest it lose its appeal
too early; the worst thing a game can do is bore me. I'd rather move
on to the next game so that my eventual return will be as much a
delight as the first.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Fri, 1 Sep 2023 14:22:40 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
wrote:

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Remnant: From the Ashes
Remnant 2 got some good buzz and reviews on its recent release. Not wanting >to buy a new game, I installed the first game (free from Epic some time
back) and played through the campaign. This plays to me like a 3rd-person >cover shooter, which rewards aggressive action, quick movement, frantic >shooting, switching of weapons and alt-fire powers, against imaginative >enemies which all have their own unique attack styles and weapons, and I
just took to this like butter to bread and enjoyed every minute. The >shooting and movement mechanics are knife-sharp and pleasurable, managing >your various abilities -- 'traits' -- armor and weapon stats, as well as >alt-fire cooldown, mentally engaging. The different worlds you visit are >interesting and fun to explore, each with unique species of enemies, and the >boss fights in each world I found to be great challenges that I looked >forward to meeting. On finishing the campaign I felt a great urge to start >again on a harder difficulty, and had to pull myself away from it. Remnant >is a great game!

Quake 2 Remaster
Quake 4

I'm not quite through Quake 2's campaign as yet, I think on the last or >next-to-last level. It looks and plays as well as you could hope for
without a full remake, but I admit to feeling, if not outright bored, not >very engaged and mostly going through the motions to say I completed it.
I'm sadly expecting the same to occur with Quake 4 when I get back to it. >(Actually, I'd initially started playing Quake 1 RTX before the later games, >but felt so bored to tears and dropped it after an hour)

As much as I loved "Quake 2" (it's probably my favorite in the
franchise), it is definitely a game of its day. It stands at the
crosspoint between the mazes of "Doom" and the more cinematic design
of "Half-Life". Being not quite one nor the other, it satisfies fans
of neither. Had it commited to one genre, it probably would be
remembered more favorably.

Having said that, I loved "Quake 2's" grungy future, and gross
cyborgized monstrosities; I loved it's 'near-future army vs aliens'
setting. I loved its soundtrack and - for its time - was incredibly
impressed by its visuals and engine (all those moving brushes! So much
color! Transparent windows and water!). It had all the stuff I liked
about the original "Quake" but wrapped in a more cohesive package.

But it's not a game that has held up well. Its visuals have, of
course, become less impressive with every passing year, and not even ray-tracing and AI-upscaled textures can do much to help with that.
The animations of its monsters feel clunky and limited; the level
design artificially limited when compared to the sprawling, detailed
maps of modern games. It's selection of weaponry feels trite and
cliche. It's mechanics (what? no stealth? no headshots?) feel limited.

"Quake 2" doesn't have the manic speed of a modern 'boomer shooter'
but neither has it the depth of a modern FPS. It feels slow and
constrained; it starts to feel tedious, unsurprising, over-long,
drudging. It's a game that stands out only for its historical
relevence rather than its impressive gameplay.

TL;DR: I love the game... but even I get bored by it.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

"rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> writes:

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Remnant: From the Ashes
Remnant 2 got some good buzz and reviews on its recent release. Not
wanting to buy a new game, I installed the first game (free from Epic
some time back) and played through the campaign. This plays to me
like a 3rd-person cover shooter, which rewards aggressive action,
quick movement, frantic shooting, switching of weapons and alt-fire
powers, against imaginative enemies which all have their own unique
attack styles and weapons, and I just took to this like butter to
bread and enjoyed every minute.

Interesting. For me it was a weird "fantasy with guns" mixer and while
that might be my thing, Remnant isn't.

I was a little worried as I got killed in the tutorial and it just
jumped into the game proper. I got on OK with the first enemy type but
the second enemy type already was a kind of teleporting bullet sponge
archer and it took a bunch of tries to get past just two of them... And
after that I ran into a heavy, basically a midboss but I didn't know
that. Should've tried to avoid that guy but when he pretty much one
shotted me I decided enough is enough.

So, too hard and not very interesting so probably not trying again.
I guess my preferred style in shooters would be tank or sniper or melee
but this is kangaroo? Bunny hopping?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Fri, 01 Sep 2023 11:27:24 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me
these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Motherfucking Baldur's Gate 3. With my playstyle, it's a massive time
sink. I walk around talking to every squirrel and ox in the game. I made
a deal with a squirrel that I wouldn't climb his tree, in fact.

I will have 100 hours in this thing and probably only be a third of the
way through the campaign.

Do not treat it like a regular CRPG. You can safely get off the goal
driven murder hobo highway at the first exit. And there are a lot of
exits. It's a "don't play it for the main questline, explore instead"
kinda game like Oblivion.

The difference being that the main questline is also pretty awesome. The
other difference being that BG3 isn't exactly a sandbox. You move in a
mostly linear fashion from setting to setting. But definitely explore
those maps. I had an awesome encounter with harpies because I went off
the trail.

But you have a choice. You can also murder hobo power game it, if that's
your thing. Every fight is epic, requires both strategy and tactics, and
is full of real risk that makes you think on the fly when a character
drops.

It is crack.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, 02 Sep 2023 08:08:35 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Other times you return to a
game and wonder why you liked it so much in the first place.

I had this with the original Baldur's Gate games. I went to replay them
and I was like, holy hell how did I put up with this micromanagement
combat that was far from "real time" because you had to mash the spacebar
every 3 seconds? Followed by, OMG, now I remember all the time I spent
learning to time fireballs and why I completely stopped using lightning
bolt.

And I was like, wtf, how did I tolerate this game at all? My replay
lasted 2 hours.

But it was *the* game of its time, and the excitement of realtime combat
in rounds* in D&D and the breathtaking D&D Realms setting and story
overcame its flaws and pixel hunting bullshit.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

*Unfortunately, the 6 second round as implemented in BG's realtime combat carried over to real D&D in 3e (it was seen as more exciting) and broke
the original game design. For instance, the loss of the ability to
properly interrupt mages, which was critical. It was very important to
hit that mage and automatically interrupt his spell with physical damage, before the fireball landed on you, and it made initiative much more
tense. This is what 6 second segments were for. It takes 18 seconds to
throw that fireball, which makes it less powerful. When it takes 6, problematic. If you don't like rounds taking a minute, well, you don't
like the game design.

There are 5 editions now, and they *still* haven't fixed the problems introduced by a 6 second round, and no, the 5e counterspell doesn't cut
it, nor does landing attacks when a mage is concentrating. If you take an
arrow in the face while casting fireball, which is not a concentration
spell, you should not complete the spell. In six second rounds, that's impossible. It was much better in 1e and 2e to hit the mage in the the
first 12 seconds of casting it, while he was fiddling about for 18 of
them (3 segments), and make him lose his spell. Power Word Kill was a
high level spell because you could cast it right on initiative and it
couldn't be interrupted. Now it sucks and shouldn't be part of the game.
The end result is mages are bascially OP, or have options and spells that
are nonsense, and it was never really fixed.**

**And the award for exceptionally longwinded footnote goes to...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

I resumed my D4 game last night! :D


Ant <ant@zimage.comant> wrote:

Already? I finally finished Skyrim's main quest on hump day's late
night! I forgot how its keyboard controls since I haven't touched it
since for almost a year. I'm not sure if I will want to play more with
its side quests. Maybe I will go back to Diablo 4.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

It's the 1st of September already. I don't know why I'm surprised -
I've been told by very reliable sources that date shows up every year around this time - but it feels like it snuck up on me.

Good thing I have my list all ready to go ahead of time! ;-)

...

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me
these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

--
"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." --Psalm 25:4-5. Sept. after going out with da old colony (lunch, shop, & get a flu shot) & missing
Disney's chs. b4 da long crazy Labor Day weekend.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

I guess my preferred style in shooters would be tank or sniper or melee
but this is kangaroo? Bunny hopping?

Plenty of melee in Remnant, and not bunny hopping, but constant dodging
and moving all the time are required for sure.

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

I resumed my D4 game last night! :D

Yay!! :)

rms


Ant <ant@zimage.comant> wrote:

Already? I finally finished Skyrim's main quest on hump day's late
night! I forgot how its keyboard controls since I haven't touched it
since for almost a year. I'm not sure if I will want to play more with
its side quests. Maybe I will go back to Diablo 4.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

It's the 1st of September already. I don't know why I'm surprised -
I've been told by very reliable sources that date shows up every year around this time - but it feels like it snuck up on me.

Good thing I have my list all ready to go ahead of time! ;-)

...

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me
these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

--
"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day
long." --Psalm 25:4-5. Sept. after going out with da old colony (lunch,
shop, & get a flu shot) & missing Disney's chs. b4 da long crazy Labor Day weekend.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, 02 Sep 2023 09:57:12 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Sat, 02 Sep 2023 08:08:35 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Other times you return to a
game and wonder why you liked it so much in the first place.

I had this with the original Baldur's Gate games. I went to replay them
and I was like, holy hell how did I put up with this micromanagement
combat that was far from "real time" because you had to mash the spacebar >every 3 seconds? Followed by, OMG, now I remember all the time I spent >learning to time fireballs and why I completely stopped using lightning
bolt.

And I was like, wtf, how did I tolerate this game at all? My replay
lasted 2 hours.

But it was *the* game of its time, and the excitement of realtime combat
in rounds* in D&D and the breathtaking D&D Realms setting and story
overcame its flaws and pixel hunting bullshit.

The original "Baldurs Gate" had a lot of stuff going for it, but it
wasn't without flaws. But because many of its strengths are no longer
relevant today, it's the flaws we see most clearly.

Most obviously were it's graphics: it's lush, hand-painted backgrounds
were head-and-shoulders above pretty much any RPG of the day, and
certainly far superior to previous D&D games. Remember, when it came
to D&D games, the 'Gold Box' games still hung heavy over the
franchise, and - despite intervening titles such as the "Dark Sun"
series - it was against these that BG1 was often compared. The
difference between the two game's visuals are immense. But today,
"Baldurs Gate 1" is more likely to be compared to modern top-down
CRPGs (or, if they're nice, only to its contemporaries, like "Diablo")
and the difference is less telling.

Similarly, "Baldurs Gate" had a richness to its world that was often
lacking in other games (and certainly in other D&D games). Between its excellent voice-acting, entertaining characters, and the overload of
lore, the setting felt incredibly deep. Games only a few years older
just didn't have the technology to portray such a vibrant world;
certainly not the "Gold Box" games, which relied heavily on printed
"Adventure Journals" to flesh out encounters. "Baldurs Gate" wasn't
the first or only game to do this, but it did it well and it compared
favorably to its contemporaries. But today? It's par for the course,
so "Baldurs Gate" gets no points for what we consider du jour.

Even its combat system was seen as innovative. With real-time strategy
games (and action RPGs like Diablo) all the rage, turn-based was seen
as old-school; dull, slow and of interest only to grognards. BG1's
"turn-based with pause" was seen as an innovative balance between the
two factions; a genius move by clever developers who leveraged the
best of both modes of gameplay! But in the 24 years since it came out,
that formula has been greatly improved (or just abandoned entirely,
accepting that you can create games that cater to specific audiences
rather than trying to please both) and the compromises and
shortcomings of 'turn based with pause' are all we see.


TL;DR: the problem with great games of the past is that they've made
better games after them. ;-)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sun, 03 Sep 2023 09:23:36 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

TL;DR: the problem with great games of the past is that they've made
better games after them. ;-)

The TL;DR is supposed to go atop the wall of text. Not after. ;^)

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 9/3/2023 11:00 AM, Zaghadka wrote:

On Sun, 03 Sep 2023 09:23:36 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

TL;DR: the problem with great games of the past is that they've made
better games after them. ;-)

The TL;DR is supposed to go atop the wall of text. Not after. ;^)

Not in the Spallsiverse.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sun, 3 Sep 2023 13:24:01 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 9/3/2023 11:00 AM, Zaghadka wrote:

On Sun, 03 Sep 2023 09:23:36 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

TL;DR: the problem with great games of the past is that they've made
better games after them. ;-)

The TL;DR is supposed to go atop the wall of text. Not after. ;^)

Not in the Spallsiverse.

But if I did it BEFORE people wouldn't read the wall of text ;-)

(Okay, most people aren't reading it anyway... but that's not the
point!)

Consider it a free service: "What the hell was the fucking point of
that endless morass of words pointlessly arranged together in an
endless diatribe that I was forced to wade through? Oh! I see!")

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Mon, 04 Sep 2023 08:28:43 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sun, 3 Sep 2023 13:24:01 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 9/3/2023 11:00 AM, Zaghadka wrote:

On Sun, 03 Sep 2023 09:23:36 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

TL;DR: the problem with great games of the past is that they've made
better games after them. ;-)

The TL;DR is supposed to go atop the wall of text. Not after. ;^)

Not in the Spallsiverse.

But if I did it BEFORE people wouldn't read the wall of text ;-)

(Okay, most people aren't reading it anyway... but that's not the
point!)

Consider it a free service: "What the hell was the fucking point of
that endless morass of words pointlessly arranged together in an
endless diatribe that I was forced to wade through? Oh! I see!")

Conservative (Chapman): (droning) Well... speaking as the Conservative candidate I just drone on and on and on and on without letting anyone
else get a word in edgeways, until I start foaming at the mouth and
falling over backwards. Ooo-aaahhh. (THUD)

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, 02 Sep 2023 09:30:09 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 01 Sep 2023 11:27:24 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me
these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Motherfucking Baldur's Gate 3. With my playstyle, it's a massive time
sink. I walk around talking to every squirrel and ox in the game. I made
a deal with a squirrel that I wouldn't climb his tree, in fact.

I will have 100 hours in this thing and probably only be a third of the
way through the campaign.

Do not treat it like a regular CRPG. You can safely get off the goal
driven murder hobo highway at the first exit. And there are a lot of
exits. It's a "don't play it for the main questline, explore instead"
kinda game like Oblivion.

The difference being that the main questline is also pretty awesome. The >other difference being that BG3 isn't exactly a sandbox. You move in a
mostly linear fashion from setting to setting. But definitely explore
those maps. I had an awesome encounter with harpies because I went off
the trail.

But you have a choice. You can also murder hobo power game it, if that's
your thing. Every fight is epic, requires both strategy and tactics, and
is full of real risk that makes you think on the fly when a character
drops.

It is crack.

*---

Hehe. What are you playing as Zags? I am just getting started and
died quickly. I forget what I was.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 8:27:30 AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

It's the 1st of September already. I don't know why I'm surprised -
I've been told by very reliable sources that date shows up every year
around this time - but it feels like it snuck up on me.

Good thing I have my list all ready to go ahead of time! ;-)

I do that sometimes. Not this time though.

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me
these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Also a good month.

TL;DR

**** Witcher 3
*** Baldur's Gate 3
*** Nova Drift

LONG:

**** Witcher 3 (return to)
Awesome game, they really made it good this time. I had a bit of a rough start, but after I started to figure combat out after white orchard it started to be pretty fun. A bit too much on the politics stuff, though all the NPC stuff is very good. While I put it down after I finished I do want to return to
play NG+ and make different choices for outcomes. I actually enjoyed
the times I got to play Ciri more than Gerry. Her teleport attacks were fun, and the battles more active. Hmm, maybe I should see if there's a mod
for that.

*** Baldur's Gate 3 (Tactics/Dating Sim/Inventory Hoarding sim)
It's got it's own thread, so I won't get too into it. But I did quit for a whole
day, whereupon I played the game below. I am playing the devil-person barbarian, and enjoying throwing greatswords and other random weapons
at people - I've currently got about 8 +1 greatswords I throw, and some
other random weapons. The game has warts galore, but the charcters
are pretty good though I think a little more dull than PST and BG1, and
a bit repetitive in that each recruitable NPC has their own 'oh no I got screwed over in my backstory' bit. The tactics are good, but slow. I
hate all the items and insane amount of inventory management, the
way you just keep barreling into traps you find.

I think if they hadn't included easy respecs I wouldn't have kept playing.
I find I like fiddling with the character's builds and trying to make them better, and just trying out different options. That's somewhat the
opposite of how I used to feel with rpgs, as I used to play through
fallout 2 with different character builds, and if I could just change them
I wouldn't have played it so much.

I started looking into mods for it, and found one that shows all items
and can be toggled on and off instead of holding the key. There's
a couple camera ones I haven't tried yet. Semi-unfortunately if
you install mods it disables achievements, worth the sacrifice.

*** Nova Drift
I've played it before but felt like I needed a bit of frenetic action break from the slow and clunky play of BG3. It's an evolution of asteroids
only with waves of enemies, with some random powers you can pick
up - that go in ability trees. I beat my old high score by 5x the amount.
I feel this is the best of the asteroid type shooter games I've played.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Mon, 04 Sep 2023 21:38:57 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW
wrote:

On Sat, 02 Sep 2023 09:30:09 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 01 Sep 2023 11:27:24 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me >>>these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Motherfucking Baldur's Gate 3. With my playstyle, it's a massive time
sink. I walk around talking to every squirrel and ox in the game. I made
a deal with a squirrel that I wouldn't climb his tree, in fact.

I will have 100 hours in this thing and probably only be a third of the
way through the campaign.

Do not treat it like a regular CRPG. You can safely get off the goal
driven murder hobo highway at the first exit. And there are a lot of
exits. It's a "don't play it for the main questline, explore instead"
kinda game like Oblivion.

The difference being that the main questline is also pretty awesome. The >>other difference being that BG3 isn't exactly a sandbox. You move in a >>mostly linear fashion from setting to setting. But definitely explore
those maps. I had an awesome encounter with harpies because I went off
the trail.

But you have a choice. You can also murder hobo power game it, if that's >>your thing. Every fight is epic, requires both strategy and tactics, and
is full of real risk that makes you think on the fly when a character >>drops.

It is crack.

*---

Hehe. What are you playing as Zags? I am just getting started and
died quickly. I forget what I was.

I am a dual wielding half wood-elf ranger named Solanar.

I have already pissed off Gale so much that he left me cold.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 05 Sep 2023 09:30:52 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Sep 2023 21:38:57 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW >wrote:

On Sat, 02 Sep 2023 09:30:09 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 01 Sep 2023 11:27:24 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, >>>Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me >>>>these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Motherfucking Baldur's Gate 3. With my playstyle, it's a massive time >>>sink. I walk around talking to every squirrel and ox in the game. I made >>>a deal with a squirrel that I wouldn't climb his tree, in fact.

I will have 100 hours in this thing and probably only be a third of the >>>way through the campaign.

Do not treat it like a regular CRPG. You can safely get off the goal >>>driven murder hobo highway at the first exit. And there are a lot of >>>exits. It's a "don't play it for the main questline, explore instead" >>>kinda game like Oblivion.

The difference being that the main questline is also pretty awesome. The >>>other difference being that BG3 isn't exactly a sandbox. You move in a >>>mostly linear fashion from setting to setting. But definitely explore >>>those maps. I had an awesome encounter with harpies because I went off >>>the trail.

But you have a choice. You can also murder hobo power game it, if that's >>>your thing. Every fight is epic, requires both strategy and tactics, and >>>is full of real risk that makes you think on the fly when a character >>>drops.

It is crack.

*---

Hehe. What are you playing as Zags? I am just getting started and
died quickly. I forget what I was.

I am a dual wielding half wood-elf ranger named Solanar.

I have already pissed off Gale so much that he left me cold.

*---

It would fun if I made that far in the game! I remember what I was
when I got killed early on - thought I would try a Bard instead of my
usual combat/fighter type.

I created a Paladin but think I might want to see what a Cleric is
like since that is the least played in all of the Baldur Gate games
(According to the developer).

Thanks!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Crypt of the Necrodancer. And ss13 (tho there were some server issues)

---------------
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

... void Void(void) { Void() } /* The recursive call of the void */
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

--- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Bottomless Abyss BBS * bbs.bottomlessabyss.net (21:1/172)

On Tue, 05 Sep 2023 19:48:32 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW
wrote:

It would fun if I made that far in the game!

It doesn't take much. Just violate his privacy constantly and then fail
your persuasion check.

Given his "background curse," I thought I was perfectly justified in
using all means necessary to figure out what was up with him.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tuesday, September 5, 2023 at 6:48:35 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 05 Sep 2023 09:30:52 -0500, Zaghadka <zagh...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Sep 2023 21:38:57 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW >wrote:

On Sat, 02 Sep 2023 09:30:09 -0500, Zaghadka <zagh...@hotmail.com> >>wrote:

On Fri, 01 Sep 2023 11:27:24 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, >>>Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me >>>>these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Motherfucking Baldur's Gate 3. With my playstyle, it's a massive time >>>sink. I walk around talking to every squirrel and ox in the game. I made >>>a deal with a squirrel that I wouldn't climb his tree, in fact.

I will have 100 hours in this thing and probably only be a third of the >>>way through the campaign.

Do not treat it like a regular CRPG. You can safely get off the goal >>>driven murder hobo highway at the first exit. And there are a lot of >>>exits. It's a "don't play it for the main questline, explore instead" >>>kinda game like Oblivion.

The difference being that the main questline is also pretty awesome. The >>>other difference being that BG3 isn't exactly a sandbox. You move in a >>>mostly linear fashion from setting to setting. But definitely explore >>>those maps. I had an awesome encounter with harpies because I went off >>>the trail.

But you have a choice. You can also murder hobo power game it, if that's >>>your thing. Every fight is epic, requires both strategy and tactics, and >>>is full of real risk that makes you think on the fly when a character >>>drops.

It is crack.

*---

Hehe. What are you playing as Zags? I am just getting started and
died quickly. I forget what I was.

I am a dual wielding half wood-elf ranger named Solanar.

I have already pissed off Gale so much that he left me cold.

*---

It would fun if I made that far in the game! I remember what I was
when I got killed early on - thought I would try a Bard instead of my
usual combat/fighter type.

I created a Paladin but think I might want to see what a Cleric is
like since that is the least played in all of the Baldur Gate games (According to the developer).

Cleric is good, my cleric is always the first to run out of spells and
the main reason I rest. I like the storm cleric, lots of lightning and thunder, and can wear heavy armor. I respeced Shadowheart to
that, she's the toughest one in my party. I'm not sure about playing
one as a main as I at least would miss out on Shadowheart as a
companion.

My main, Karlach the Barbarian does the most damage, followed by
my Thief Astarion, but both are fairly fragile in comparison. I have experimented with decking out the Barbarian with defensive items
but miss the damage too much.

I like Gale the Wizard, but until I got up to about 6th level and started stacking him up with defensive items he was a damage magnet and
I thought he was named that because a stiff wind blows him over.
He usually doesn't contribute much to a fight as monsters tend to
spread out too much for aoes to be much use and he gets knocked
out so much he spends the majority of fights lying down. He's got
quite a bit of utility though.

I started playing around with Wyll instead, but I don't like him, the hypocrite! and while Warlock builds are supposed to be good, he's
easily the lowest on the totem pole for damage/defense at 6th-7th,
though I may just need to play around with his build. I tried going
full sorcerer instead and the buffs are great that way, but he doesn't
really do much, and the best buffs/debuffs are all concentration,
so he can only do one at a time. I've also been having issues with
the buffs as by the time he goes my Barb & Thief are usually
too far apart to target both. Also my buffs and even summons
disappear most of the time when combat starts, even if I start turn
based mode first, so I can't do it ahead of time.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wed, 6 Sep 2023 09:25:06 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tuesday, September 5, 2023 at 6:48:35?PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 05 Sep 2023 09:30:52 -0500, Zaghadka <zagh...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Sep 2023 21:38:57 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW
wrote:

On Sat, 02 Sep 2023 09:30:09 -0500, Zaghadka <zagh...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 01 Sep 2023 11:27:24 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Four games up, four games down; that's a good month of gaming for me
these days. But how about you?

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Motherfucking Baldur's Gate 3. With my playstyle, it's a massive time
sink. I walk around talking to every squirrel and ox in the game. I made >> >>>a deal with a squirrel that I wouldn't climb his tree, in fact.

I will have 100 hours in this thing and probably only be a third of the >> >>>way through the campaign.

Do not treat it like a regular CRPG. You can safely get off the goal
driven murder hobo highway at the first exit. And there are a lot of
exits. It's a "don't play it for the main questline, explore instead"
kinda game like Oblivion.

The difference being that the main questline is also pretty awesome. The >> >>>other difference being that BG3 isn't exactly a sandbox. You move in a
mostly linear fashion from setting to setting. But definitely explore
those maps. I had an awesome encounter with harpies because I went off
the trail.

But you have a choice. You can also murder hobo power game it, if that's >> >>>your thing. Every fight is epic, requires both strategy and tactics, and >> >>>is full of real risk that makes you think on the fly when a character
drops.

It is crack.

*---

Hehe. What are you playing as Zags? I am just getting started and
died quickly. I forget what I was.

I am a dual wielding half wood-elf ranger named Solanar.

I have already pissed off Gale so much that he left me cold.

*---

It would fun if I made that far in the game! I remember what I was
when I got killed early on - thought I would try a Bard instead of my
usual combat/fighter type.

I created a Paladin but think I might want to see what a Cleric is
like since that is the least played in all of the Baldur Gate games
(According to the developer).

Cleric is good, my cleric is always the first to run out of spells and
the main reason I rest. I like the storm cleric, lots of lightning and >thunder, and can wear heavy armor. I respeced Shadowheart to
that, she's the toughest one in my party. I'm not sure about playing
one as a main as I at least would miss out on Shadowheart as a
companion.

My main, Karlach the Barbarian does the most damage, followed by
my Thief Astarion, but both are fairly fragile in comparison. I have >experimented with decking out the Barbarian with defensive items
but miss the damage too much.

I like Gale the Wizard, but until I got up to about 6th level and started >stacking him up with defensive items he was a damage magnet and
I thought he was named that because a stiff wind blows him over.
He usually doesn't contribute much to a fight as monsters tend to
spread out too much for aoes to be much use and he gets knocked
out so much he spends the majority of fights lying down. He's got
quite a bit of utility though.

I started playing around with Wyll instead, but I don't like him, the >hypocrite! and while Warlock builds are supposed to be good, he's
easily the lowest on the totem pole for damage/defense at 6th-7th,
though I may just need to play around with his build. I tried going
full sorcerer instead and the buffs are great that way, but he doesn't
really do much, and the best buffs/debuffs are all concentration,
so he can only do one at a time. I've also been having issues with
the buffs as by the time he goes my Barb & Thief are usually
too far apart to target both. Also my buffs and even summons
disappear most of the time when combat starts, even if I start turn
based mode first, so I can't do it ahead of time.

- Justisaur

*---

I think I am going to skip Cleric because of your points about running
out of spells and Shadowheart already being a Cleric.

I don't know how this game works yet, and when the stock characters
appear but there seems to be one of each.

Not sure what I should play.

I, of course, I already on my way to doing as much web research as
with Elden Ring :-)

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 9/2/23 07:08, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Other times you return to a
game and wonder why you liked it so much in the first place. And
sometimes, some games never get a second glance after you leave them.

I keep getting burned out on games after like a month, and can't stand
to play them again.

--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thu, 07 Sep 2023 20:20:17 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW
wrote:

I don't know how this game works yet, and when the stock characters
appear but there seems to be one of each.

Yes. Almost immediately you get a rogue, a wizard, and a cleric. Look a
litte harder and you get the fighter. So yeah, it starts with the classic
four core classes. The rogue is an arcane trickster, but that's a core
path in 5e, not a prestige class.

The others I have found are a warlock and a barbarian. So extra fighter, witchier spellcaster.

Beware killing off content. You have plenty of opportunities to do so.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

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candycanearter07 <no@thanks.net> wrote:

On 9/2/23 07:08, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Other times you return to a
game and wonder why you liked it so much in the first place. And
sometimes, some games never get a second glance after you leave them.

I keep getting burned out on games after like a month, and can't stand
to play them again.

Ha, I hate grinding games. I barely have time to play. :( That is why I
like quick games.

--
"Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others." --1 Corinthians 10:24. Dang old bodies, sprinklers, humans, companies, colony, etc.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
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On Fri, 08 Sep 2023 09:09:20 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Thu, 07 Sep 2023 20:20:17 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW >wrote:

I don't know how this game works yet, and when the stock characters
appear but there seems to be one of each.

Yes. Almost immediately you get a rogue, a wizard, and a cleric. Look a
litte harder and you get the fighter. So yeah, it starts with the classic >four core classes. The rogue is an arcane trickster, but that's a core
path in 5e, not a prestige class.

The others I have found are a warlock and a barbarian. So extra fighter, >witchier spellcaster.

Beware killing off content. You have plenty of opportunities to do so.

*--

Thanks Zags (my dentist's last name is Zagadinski so that is what I
call he and his wife :-))

Does it really matter what I start off with and if duplicate one of
them? I just started it so I can start over.

After your response, I guess I should move BG3 posts to the other
thread.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 9/8/23 14:19, Ant wrote:

candycanearter07 <no@thanks.net> wrote:

I keep getting burned out on games after like a month, and can't stand
to play them again.

Ha, I hate grinding games. I barely have time to play. :( That is why I
like quick games.

Same, the only ones I really got into were Cookie Clicker, Universal Paperclips, and progressbar95
--
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

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What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Crypt of the Necrodancer. And ss13 (tho there were some server issues)

ss13 is this game? https://spacestation13.com/ hadn't heard of this before, looks interesting! I recall CotN's developer (I think it was mostly just one guy) talking of how exhausting it was to make, on another forum.

rms

---------------
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

... void Void(void) { Void() } /* The recursive call of the void */
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 9/8/23 20:12, rms wrote:

What Have You Been Playing... IN AUGUST 2023?

Crypt of the Necrodancer. And ss13 (tho there were some server issues)

  ss13 is this game?  https://spacestation13.com/  hadn't heard of this before, looks interesting!

It's an obscuuree cult following game that was built on top of an
atomospheric sim in a now dead engine. It's pretty much an
overcomplicated sandbox of space betrayal under a cannonically awful
company that has so many enemies theres an entire page on the wiki. I
will say, if you do play it, that each server can be WILDLY different,
and most are open source. Some stuff that was removed from one server
can be alive and well (cloning), some jobs are outright removed
(assistant split into department specific interns), and there are about
3 different ui frameworks with various use across all the servers (tGUI,
mostly used by tg, NanoUI, and raw html). Also because of the oss nature
of the game, the same items can work differently across servers or
removed entirely, and some stuff gets ported between servers. Pretty
much, each server is its own variation of the game and its great.

The main servers are:
TG - The most """"modern"""" server, it pioneered tGUI and is one of the
few servers actually attempting to standardize their sprites. Its also
one of the more disliked ones, because of the headmin and owner
allegedly being bad people, constant complaints about removing fun
things for "balance" (like hardsuits, cloning, nerfing a ton of items
like the BoH needing an anomaly core and splitting the famous emag into
two seperate items (tho the emag is kinda ridiculous in how much it can
do so i do kinda agree with it but), and also the terrible, terrible,
terriblee traitor system so like in almost every other server the
traitor has 2-3 objectives like killing someone, stealing a certain
item, or sabotaging certain things but tg had the brilliant idea to
force you to complete smaller objectives over the game to get rep and in
the original iteration of it you could straight up greentext (win) with
0 traiterous activity besides the annoying slip spray paint and posters,
so they had to half-revert it and give you 3 objectives like other
servers but you had to complete objectives to get rep to buy any of the
good items and its just eugh)
Servers - TG has 3 servers, low-rp sybil (main one, 50+ pop), low-rp
bagil (secondary, 10-30 pop, the one i mained), and manuel high-rp (50+
pop, never really got into it)

Beestation - Fork of TG, it's mostly the same besides the admins are
somehow worse. Doesn't have as many of the tGUIisms or newer sprites,
its one of the more plain ones
Servers - 2, main has 20-60, acacia (alt) has 1-15

Yogstation - No, it's not related to Yogscast. Yog is supposedly the
most beginner friendly server (self assigned), but I don't like it as
much. Notably, its one of the only servers I've played that keeps the in
game radio scripting language, making it more unique.
Servers - 1, 60+

Goonstation - Notable for being one of the only main servers that isn't
open source, giving it more leeway to hide things in the code. Goon is
very different from the other servers gameplay and graphics-wise, having
almost all original sprites and lots of unique mechanics (sprinting,
space pods, actual working fake dos systems) and a completely different
ui. Don't like it as much
Servers - don't remember - 60+

VG - This server attempts to recreate the pre-ssethtide (basically
eternal september event) servers. How well it does it is arguable, but
it is pretty enjoyable for getting a break from all the tGUI stuff and
terrible tg additions). The server is known for having..colorful
language, so be warned. :)
Servers - 1, 2-40

Others - There are also lots of alternative servers that don't follow
the gameplay loop of the main ones, such as Shiptest or the 15 billion
fallout servers.

The game's controls are notoriously hard to get used to, so do check
your chosen servers' New Player Guide for help.

I recall CotN's developer (I think it was

mostly just one guy) talking of how exhausting it was to make, on
another forum.

As a semi former game dev, yea

rms

---------------
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

... void Void(void) { Void() } /* The recursive call of the void */
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

--
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Fri, 08 Sep 2023 16:45:57 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW
wrote:

On Fri, 08 Sep 2023 09:09:20 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Thu, 07 Sep 2023 20:20:17 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW >>wrote:

I don't know how this game works yet, and when the stock characters >>>appear but there seems to be one of each.

Yes. Almost immediately you get a rogue, a wizard, and a cleric. Look a >>litte harder and you get the fighter. So yeah, it starts with the classic >>four core classes. The rogue is an arcane trickster, but that's a core
path in 5e, not a prestige class.

The others I have found are a warlock and a barbarian. So extra fighter, >>witchier spellcaster.

Beware killing off content. You have plenty of opportunities to do so.

*--

Thanks Zags (my dentist's last name is Zagadinski so that is what I
call he and his wife :-))

Does it really matter what I start off with and if duplicate one of
them? I just started it so I can start over.

It does not. They give you all the support characters you need, and if
you don't like them and their backstories, there are hirelings as well.

And, if all else fails and you're unhappy with something, you can
completely respec your character as something else from level 1 to
wherever you've advanced to in the game.

I'm playing a ranger on the verge of 4th level. I could go back and give
him four levels of sorcerer instead and now I'm a sorcerer.

One thing that might make you want to restart is you can start off as an "origin character," which is basically starting off as one of the
characters that you'll meet in the game. So you can meet Gale the Wizard,
or start playing as Gale the Wizard. I don't know if you get to play your
own backstory quest as if you had met him though. So if that intrigues
you, start over and choose an origin character.

In the new thread... what did you choose to start out as?

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Friday, September 8, 2023 at 3:46:01 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Fri, 08 Sep 2023 09:09:20 -0500, Zaghadka <zagh...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Thu, 07 Sep 2023 20:20:17 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW >wrote:

I don't know how this game works yet, and when the stock characters >>appear but there seems to be one of each.

Yes. Almost immediately you get a rogue, a wizard, and a cleric. Look a >litte harder and you get the fighter. So yeah, it starts with the classic >four core classes. The rogue is an arcane trickster, but that's a core >path in 5e, not a prestige class.

The others I have found are a warlock and a barbarian. So extra fighter, >witchier spellcaster.

Beware killing off content. You have plenty of opportunities to do so.

*--

Thanks Zags (my dentist's last name is Zagadinski so that is what I
call he and his wife :-))

Does it really matter what I start off with and if duplicate one of
them? I just started it so I can start over.

In my opinion not much. The only real reason you might not want to
play one of the 'origin' characters is that means one less person in
your camp. I enjoy playing the barbarian as main, but I've severe
alt-itis and screwed up a lot with her and quit the game, came back
and started another one.

I think having a high charisma character might be a good idea as
there's an awful lot of talking with various speech checks, but I did
o.k. at that with the barbarian who doesn't have any except intimidation.
You can also have one of the companions talk instead, but that seemed
weird to me.

I've read you get better prices with high Cha, but I haven't checked.

I think Wyll the Warlock is the only origin character with good charisma. Other charisma classes are Sorcerer, Bard and Paladin. Warlock
is probably the easiest of those to make a build and play with as you
mostly just spam eldritch blast and have a few other spells. Bard has
the most skills though if that's important to you.

Half-Orc Fighter - going Champion at level 3 is probably the easiest
to play for combat and supposedly very good.

After your response, I guess I should move BG3 posts to the other
thread.

Yeah... thread drift. Or maybe make a new one as I don't know where
I'd tack on more in that one.

- Justisaur

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On Fri, 8 Sep 2023 18:40:36 -0500, candycanearter07 <no@thanks.net>
wrote:

On 9/8/23 14:19, Ant wrote:

candycanearter07 <no@thanks.net> wrote:

I keep getting burned out on games after like a month, and can't stand
to play them again.

Ha, I hate grinding games. I barely have time to play. :( That is why I
like quick games.

Same, the only ones I really got into were Cookie Clicker, Universal >Paperclips, and progressbar95

"Universal Paperclips" was fun, largely because the gameplay
transformed several times during the experience, it had an actual
ending, and it didn't last /that/ long (it's possible to finish the
game in a single, albeit long, sitting). "Cookie Clicker" drove me
away just because it went on and on and on...

Progressbar95 at least had all its variations of different GUIs.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 08 Sep 2023 22:07:39 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 08 Sep 2023 16:45:57 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW >wrote:

On Fri, 08 Sep 2023 09:09:20 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Thu, 07 Sep 2023 20:20:17 -0600, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW >>>wrote:

I don't know how this game works yet, and when the stock characters >>>>appear but there seems to be one of each.

Yes. Almost immediately you get a rogue, a wizard, and a cleric. Look a >>>litte harder and you get the fighter. So yeah, it starts with the classic >>>four core classes. The rogue is an arcane trickster, but that's a core >>>path in 5e, not a prestige class.

The others I have found are a warlock and a barbarian. So extra fighter, >>>witchier spellcaster.

Beware killing off content. You have plenty of opportunities to do so.

*--

Thanks Zags (my dentist's last name is Zagadinski so that is what I
call he and his wife :-))

Does it really matter what I start off with and if duplicate one of
them? I just started it so I can start over.

It does not. They give you all the support characters you need, and if
you don't like them and their backstories, there are hirelings as well.

And, if all else fails and you're unhappy with something, you can
completely respec your character as something else from level 1 to
wherever you've advanced to in the game.

I'm playing a ranger on the verge of 4th level. I could go back and give
him four levels of sorcerer instead and now I'm a sorcerer.

One thing that might make you want to restart is you can start off as an >"origin character," which is basically starting off as one of the
characters that you'll meet in the game. So you can meet Gale the Wizard,
or start playing as Gale the Wizard. I don't know if you get to play your
own backstory quest as if you had met him though. So if that intrigues
you, start over and choose an origin character.

In the new thread... what did you choose to start out as?

*--

Da Bard. Thought I would try something different than my usual
barbarian, fighter, etc....

Didn't last long :-)

-pw

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