It's hot. It's damned hot. I know Summer (northern hemisphere edition)
is supposed to be about sunshine and overly warm days, but this is
getting ridiculous. It's no wonder I spent so much of this last month
playing video games rather than going outside and enjoying the good
weather.


The List
---------------------------------------
* Ghostwire: Tokyo (continued from last month)
* Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
* Portal Stories: Mel (new)
* Firewatch (repeat)


The Diatribe
---------------------------------------

* Ghostwire: Tokyo (continued from last month)
The biggest disappointment about "Ghostwire: Tokyo" was how
unsurprising it was. Ten minutes into the game, I had largely sussed
it out: it's a giant open-world game set in a beautifully detailed
Tokyo, with middling combat mechanics and way too much bumbling about
chasing after collectibles. The plot and characters were intriguing,
if overwrought, but followed the standard narrative tropes to a tee.
The only thing that was slightly innovative were the supernatural monstrosities, and even then that was probably only because I lack
familiarity with Japanese mythos.

The thing is, I liked the game... but only in the same way I enjoy
other open-world games of the type. They're a bearable way to pass the
time, usually with pleasing visuals, and a gameplay loop that is just entertaining enough that the grindy, repetitive nature of the campaign
doesn't drive me batty. But I don't /love/ the game, and six months
from now I will probably be hard pressed to remember anything about it
beyond the most superficial details.

And honestly, I don't fault the developers for this failing so much as
the industry as a whole, which insists that every game be saddled with
a giant open world for the players to explore. As beautiful as the ghost-haunted Tokyo of the game was, and as many collectibles as there
were to find, there really was very little to actually DO in the game.
There's only so long you can jump from ledge to ledge looking for
trapped souls, or scouring a building looking for a hidden
collectible, before the experience becomes routine and unexciting...
and "Ghostwire: Tokyo" passed that point long before I reached its
halfway mark. But publishers - and players - turn up their nose at
games if it doesn't promise a massive map with fifty-plus hours of
gameplay... even if that means forty of those hours will be grindingly repetitive. "Ghostwire's" developers were trapped by marketing
expectations and the end result was a game that could have been
awesome but instead was merely mediocre.



* Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
I was hoping for more.

But then perhaps the problem was more with my expectations than an
actual issue with the game. After all, this is "Microsoft Flight
Simulator": it's very name informs you that the program is about
simulating flight. That is the game's focus: recreating every aspect
of flying a plane, from turning on the engine, to navigating by
instruments, talking to ATC, and dealing with the vagaries of the
weather.

But that's not really what I want from the game. My desire to master
the minutiae of magnetos and the arcanities of air traffic control are
slim. My ability to telling apart the difference between the flight characteristics of a Piper Cub and a Lear Jet are minimal. I've no
hope of discerning whether flight model in MS Flight Simulator 2020 is
more advanced than that featured in MSFS 2010, or even MSFS 5.1.
Engine revs, I pull back the stick, I (hopefully) go up; that's about
as much as I can do these days. I don't play these games because I
love realistic flying; I play them because they let me be a virtual
tourist. Flying over Paris, or Seoul, or New York, I love picking out
the sights. Yelling excitedly "I've been there! I know that place!"
whenever I recognize a building or neighborhood I've personally seen
in real life; that's what gives me joy.

And "Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020" is okay at that; it's good
enough that I could visit my childhood haunts and pick out my house,
my school, my playgrounds. I can follow the highways I drove down
hundreds of times on the way to work and identify stores I had passed
with every commute. It's good at that.

It's just not /great/. And from such a tentpole franchise as
Microsoft's Flight Simulator, I was expecting great.

But, again, maybe it's my fault for 'playing the game wrong.' From
10,000 feet, it's awesome. I only start seeing faults when I zoom down
and fly nap-of-the-earth. Then the elevations just aren't right; hills
are too low, buildings and trees too high. There's too many generic
buildings. The bridges are almost all universally awful. The terrain
doesn't change with the months (the northern hemisphere is just as
lushly green in January as it is in July). The water is discouragingly
static. Many of the textures are incredibly low resolution. There are innumerable unfixed artifacts from the satellite imagery. Sure, it's head-and-shoulders better than "MS Flight Sim X"... but that's too be
expected. I had hoped the game would at least match "Google Earth's"
visuals... and it doesn't. It's not even close.

And I guess that's the biggest problem. For what I want - zipping
about at near ground level and gawking at places known and unknown
from tree-top level - GoogleEarth does everything I want, but without
hogging 200GB of hard-disk space. Sure, it doesn't offer me dozens of
planes and realistic weather - or even a day/night cycle or ground
traffic - but at least the terrain elevates and dips more
realistically, and most of the buildings aren't generic structures (I
do miss the buzz of the engine in GoogleEarth). Flight sim aficionados
probably love the realism of the planes, but I'm in it for the
world... and "MS Flight Sim 2020's" world is the decidedly inferior
choice.

Still, I did enjoy buzzing the towers of Pyongyang, whizzing through
the canals of Hamburg, or gliding down the eastern slope of the
Rockies into Montana. I don't regret the time, money and disk space I
spent on this game.

I just expected more from it.



* Portal Stories: Mel (new)
I didn't know anything about "Portal Stories: Mel" except the most
superficial: it was a spin-off of Valve's acclaimed "Portal" franchise
and it was a fan-project. Beyond that, I'd no idea as to what sort of
game it was. Still, the original "Portal" games had been sublime in
their design, and there are many, many example of Portal fan-art that
are just delightfully well made (I'm particularly fond of Harry101UK's
work, but there's plenty more). So how bad could "Portal Stories: Mel"
be?

Well... not that bad. But not that good. "Amateur" is probably the
best description for it, and your appreciation of the game will depend
on what you liked most about the original games. If you enjoyed the
first two titles for their solid world-design, environmental story
telling, witty writing and excellent voice-acting, then "Portal
Stories" is going to be a gross disappointment. But if it was the
puzzles that kept you playing the originals then you'll have more fun
with this new game.

Because for the former group, "Portal Stories: Mel" is something of a
mess. It has a lot of heart, but not a lot of talent. It's evident
immediately from the start, with an overly long "hey, you're on a
train just like in Half Life!" intro that features none of the
interesting sights or hints to what's coming next. The visuals -
especially in the earlier parts of the game - are extremely
unimpressive, to the point I was seriously wondering if the game was
using the 1999 Gold Engine from the original "Half Life." The
voice-acting is average at best, and the level design isn't very
exciting to look at. It's story is uninteresting, and lacks any of the franchise's trademark humor. Worst of all, it doesn't cover any new
ground; it's a pastiche of old ideas (oh look, you're some schmuck
conned into doing 'tests' for Aperture Science, and now some killer
computer is gunning for you!) taken from the first two games. Frankly,
it's dull.

The puzzles are slightly better, but not much. Some can be quite
difficult, but most of that is due to poor telegraphing of what you're
supposed to do and where you're supposed to go. Other puzzles are made
more difficult by annoyingly precise platforming or just overly
cluttered levels. Few of the puzzles ever resulted in that moment of
epiphany where you suddenly realize the solution; most solutions were accompanied instead by a feeling of exhaustion. There are no new ideas presented either; it's all the same mechanics as in the original
games. If you want /more/ puzzles, "Portal Stories: Mel" will satisfy
you. If you want /good/ puzzles? It's very hit and miss.

I hate ragging on this game, because - after all - it /is/ a
fan-project, and one you can get for free on Steam. And as a first
effort, sure, it's fine, I guess. Congratulations on pulling the thing
together into a coherent whole. But as something worth playing? As
something that can compete for your time against other, better
products (including other free fan-projects)? It may not be a bad
game, but it's just not very good either.




* Firewatch (repeat)
I don't know if you noticed, but it's hot out there. I mean, like,
/really/ hot. Too hot to do all the normal things I enjoy doing in
summer, like heading to the woods and taking a long hike beneath the
trees. So stripped of this usual escape, what's a person to do? Go
hiking virtually, of course. And while I usually rely on "The Hunter:
Call of the Wild" for my sim-nature-walks, this month I wanted
something with a bit more story and direction. Enter "Firewatch".

I really enjoy this game. It is, unfortunately, not a title that has
much longevity or replayability; as a 'walking sim', once you work
your way through the game's story, there's very little new to do or
discover afterwards. Its visuals - a very stylized high-plains Wyoming wilderness - are gorgeous and have a verisimilitude to them - despite
their cartoony appearance - that many games with much more realistic
graphics lack. You can almost feel the heat and grit as you hike
through the dusty canyons and aspen forests. It's one of the reasons I
find the game so appealing, especially trapped inside as I am by the
oppressive weather.

Still, as delightful as the hikes are, the game's real strength is its
story, characters, and dialogue system. The latter is the most
technically impressive, with the game reacting not only to what you
say (or if you choose to remain silent) but also when you say it. The conversations are remarkably lifelike, helped along by some excellent voice-acting. But it was really the story that got me this time. It's
an incredibly human and relatable story, with just enough twists and
scares to keep things interesting and the player guessing throughout.

It's also a very short game, which is both the game's greatest
strength and weakness. It doesn't overstay its welcome, mindlessly
wasting the player's time with pointless grind just because that's
what expected from a game. "Firewatch" is just long enough to tell its
story and allow the player the fantasy of a wilderness adventure. It
leaves you wanting more, even as you are forced to acknowledge that
the game has come to a very conclusive ending (I can only hope the
developers don't fall to the lure of More Money and kludge up an
unnecessary sequel). But I'm sure many gamers are equally disappointed
that the experience doesn't last more than five or six hours tops. As
good as it is, it can be hard to justify the price of admission (the
game is currently retailing for $20 USD) when you can finish it in a
single sitting.

Still, if you do get a chance to play the game, I strongly recommend
it.

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

As much fun as I had gaming this month, I really do hope it cools do
outside next month. I really want to do Real World stuff before it
gets dark and cold again. We'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, I just gotta know:

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

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

On 8/1/2023 5:34 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

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

Not much. A lot going on at work and other projects leaving me with
little energy and time for games. Mostly played 'X-Com: UFO Defense'.
The original, accept no substitutes, sequels, remakes or reboots.

A little bit of 'My Time at Sandrock' mucking around with playing the multiplayer beta solo. Yes, that's right, I'm playing multiplayer all
by myself.

--
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)

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

I completed both System Shock 1 (original 'enhanced') and System Shock
Remake this month.

The original I'd played like 10yrs ago -- with the original control scheme
no less! -- the 'enhanced' version is easier to move around in, with
adequate mouse control, so definitely choose that version. I found it a
delight to play: the combination of FPS combat and space horror, puzzle-solving, exploration, and route-finding always kept me engaged and interested. Route-finding is a large part of the gameplay, and an original
dev said in an interview recently (linked in Chatty somewhere, I couldn't
find it) they couldn't decide how to texture the different levels, and wound
up throwing up repeating panels with bright colors. This was a brilliant
move, because you instantly know where you are on the station (and you
become very familiar with every level over the course of the game), without being visually overwhelmed. When I did get lost (there are some maze-like sections in a few spots) I found this walkthrough the most helpful: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1761349780

Another brilliant aspect of the game is that tasks are not listed by bulletpoint in a menu somewhere, but rather communicated via audio messages
or hinted at in emails, so if you forget what you must do, or where a
required object is, you'll be going back through these messages, and
consulting the UI maps or status displays. The effect of this is a real increase in immersion and involvement, and a nice mental challenge. Blocks
to free movement are put up, making reaching a goal take some thought, and often you are redirected as Shodan thwarts one goal, over to another, and
more traversal of the station, which I like.

A nice addition to gameplay complexity is a resident evil-style grid
backpack, and various implants to be switched on and off, like the shield during combat, or the enviro-suit. There's enough of these to please, but I never felt they got out of hand.

Finally I'll call out the soundscape of System Shock, which I just loved.
The various robot, weapon and environmental sounds are simple but very effective. And the soundtrack is mesmerizing and second to none. Here's a
good rendition of it:
https://youtu.be/jyVrRs-PSAw

Now for the recently released Nightdive Remake. I played this right after finishing the original, and put all the difficulties on lowest (I recommend this, unless you *really* like combat -- I felt it was plenty hard enough,
both in the puzzle difficulty, and in cyberspace and realspace combat).
First off, I have to give them kudos for simply completing the project, regardless of how long it took. I encountered nary a single bug, and the graphics and control scheme are good (cyberspace, e.g., is dramatically improved).

I intended to go over all the changes and additions, but instead will stick
to overall impressions. Since my playthrough followed hard on the heels of finishing the original, burn-out is certainly a factor in these. My first is how little I cared about the improved graphics in the end, and indeed found
all the flashing lights a hindrance to route-finding (big exceptions are the improved cyberspace, and I enjoyed the occasional gibbing effects in combat, for example). A newly introduced mechanic, recycling and weapon modpacks I
also have mixed feelings about, as considerable time can be spent clicking
and arranging scrap and locating a recycling station, which distracts from
the basic mission goals of saving the station, in the service of a slightly increased focus on combat. If you do enjoy combat, you'll like the remake.

The one big, and I'll straight out call it a big disappointment, was the
music, or lack of it. All I recall is vague background fill, with a simple repetitive beat that kicked in in combat. And of course the iconic elevator music, which there is no way to mess up, but for the rest I feel there is a hole unfilled. The ending cinematic was even more abrupt than the original, giving the impression they ran out of money. Overall, I say Nightdive did a solid job on this remake. Does it transcend the original work, as you could argue Resident Evil 2 or 4 Remake does? Naw. There's a clarity and
cohesiveness in System Shock 1, that to my mind is a little muddied in the Remake (and I really miss the music), and I'd still recommend the Enhanced Edition original game as a must-play.

rms

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

On Tue, 1 Aug 2023 09:17:24 -0600, "rms" <[email protected]>
wrote:

I completed both System Shock 1 (original 'enhanced') and System Shock
Remake this month.

Thank you for the comparison between the two versions. I haven't
played the remake yet and have no immediate plans to do so, but much
of what you said re-affirms my suspicions from playing its demo. It
feels very much an unnecessary remake and many of its modern additions
- crafting and modding - feel out of place.

The original System Shock was already pretty heavy with its combat - unsurprisingly as it was, in many ways, competing more against games
like "Doom" than traditional RPGs - so it is only to be expected that
the remake emphasizes combat as well. There's very little to do in the
first "System Shock" game beyond killing things. But that is one of
the reasons I always preferred the sequel to the original.

But I definitely recommend the Enhanced edition and I think that -
once I inevitably replay the remake - I'll probably conclude similarly
to you: if you want the 'real' System Shock experience, the "Enhanced
Edition" is the way to go.


(Am I the only person who LIKED the original's cyberspace levels? ;-)

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

On Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:09:26 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:

(Am I the only person who LIKED the original's cyberspace levels? ;-)

I did not like them either, so maybe Spalls. :)

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

On Tue, 1 Aug 2023 09:17:24 -0600, "rms" <[email protected]>
wrote:

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

I completed both System Shock 1 (original 'enhanced') and System Shock
Remake this month.

Thank you for the comparison. I think I am going to do as you have
done and play them both back to back at some point.

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

I played nothing on my PC since it was too hot, and I was busy and
unmotivated. Not even D4 and Skyrim. Wait, I did try to play a free
weekend Steam game over the weekend: MELTY BLOOD: TYPE LUMINA. However,
its keyboard and mouse inputs were annoying. I couldn't even pass the
first startup prompt as shown in https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3012429990.
Someone told me to try J key which worked, but configure the keys was a
pain too. I said frak, thumb down, and uninstall this game. Waste of
time! I don't use dang game controllers. I prefer old school clicky
keyboards and mouses. Get off my lawn.


Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:

It's hot. It's damned hot. I know Summer (northern hemisphere edition)
is supposed to be about sunshine and overly warm days, but this is
getting ridiculous. It's no wonder I spent so much of this last month
playing video games rather than going outside and enjoying the good
weather.
Still, I did enjoy buzzing the towers of Pyongyang, whizzing through
the canals of Hamburg, or gliding down the eastern slope of the
Rockies into Montana. I don't regret the time, money and disk space I
spent on this game.

...

As much fun as I had gaming this month, I really do hope it cools do
outside next month. I really want to do Real World stuff before it
gets dark and cold again. We'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, I just gotta know:

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

--
"To all who received [the Word, that is Jesus Christ], to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God ??? children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." --John 1:12-13. 2
much Zs (3 total naps (0.25h nap+1h.+2h)+<5h overnite=>8h total yesterday) & this morning (4.25h) after doing yardworks outside in da heat & humid on a mostly cloudy day). Slow Tues.?
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 Tuesday, August 1, 2023 at 7:43:23 AM UTC-7, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 8/1/2023 5:34 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

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

Not much. A lot going on at work and other projects leaving me with
little energy and time for games. Mostly played 'X-Com: UFO Defense'.
The original, accept no substitutes, sequels, remakes or reboots.

A little bit of 'My Time at Sandrock' mucking around with playing the multiplayer beta solo. Yes, that's right, I'm playing multiplayer all
by myself.

It's amazing how much time I and others spend doing multiplayer solo.
I think about 80-90% of FO76 when I played was that.

- Justisaur

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

On Tuesday, August 1, 2023 at 5:35:01 AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

It's hot. It's damned hot. I know Summer (northern hemisphere edition)
is supposed to be about sunshine and overly warm days, but this is
getting ridiculous. It's no wonder I spent so much of this last month playing video games rather than going outside and enjoying the good
weather.

I on the other hand haven't been playing much. Too busy at work and
don't want to sit on the computer after. Also I have a pool and kids
who want to use it. I'm wondering what happened now though, it's down
in the low 60's at night, and that means the pool's getting close to too
cool to use, not only that it's been cloudy and grey off and on including today.

I still got a good bit in, and it's been an extremely good month with two amazing Indy games.

The List
---------------------------------------
* Ghostwire: Tokyo (continued from last month)
* Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
* Portal Stories: Mel (new)
* Firewatch (repeat)

Blech, nothing there interests me in the slightest. I still read the whole diatribe anyway. :)

* Portal Stories: Mel (new)
If you enjoyed the
first two titles for their solid world-design, environmental story
telling, witty writing and excellent voice-acting, then "Portal
Stories" is going to be a gross disappointment.

Novel gameplay with the whole portal bit too, but yeah all that
is better than the puzzles and the gameplay is no longer novel.

But if it was the
puzzles that kept you playing the originals then you'll have more fun
with this new game.

Nope. Noping out.

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

Short and Sweet:

PC
*** Lovecraft's Untold Stories
* Nosferatu: Wrath of Malichai
** Kingdom Two Crowns
***** Ring Runners: Flight of the Sages
***** Wandersong
**** Star Wars Rogue Squadron 3d
0 Helltaker

iPhone
*** What the Car!
*** Cel to Singularity
**** Tenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Splintered Fate

----

My Diatribe:

*** Lovecraft's Untold Stories
An indy 8-bit 'roguelike,' where you look for clues, fight cultists and Lovecraftian horrors, and try not to go insane or die. I only played
it about an hour, but I rather liked it. It definitely deserved more
time from me.

* Nosferatu: Wrath of Malichai
A roguelike first person vampire game. I played it briefly, it seemed
like it had a lot of promise. I liked the monsters and atmosphere, but
the game play was a bit opaque, and even the basic monsters were
extremely deadly. Can't recommend.

** Kingdom Two Crowns
A roguelike sidescroller kingdom sim / tower game. I had played the
original which I think was a freebie on Epic, and enjoyed it a little.
So I thought I'd give the sequel a try. While it was somewhat
improved, it didn't feel enough to me. I certainly got a lot further,
I got to where I could see I was close to winning, but I just didn't
have the desire to finish it at that point and was done with it. I was somewhat annoyed that choices on what you spent your gems on were
persistant, and there aren't anywhere near enough gems to buy
everything, so if you screwed up with spending them, you were stuck
unless you created a new game with none of your 'roguelike' gains. If
you liked the first you may like this one, but the improvements just
weren't enough to make it feel much like a new game. It did add local multiplayer, but I didn't play it with anyone.

***** Ring Runners: Flight of the Sages
Amazing! Strong recommend if you like anything in the genere. This is
a full fledged game, top down space combat game with a crazy weird
funny story. Other than being top down 2d and text communication it
feels on part with epic space games like wing commander 3. It feels
like elements of both star control 3 and asteroids too, in a good way.
I've read the campaign is about 30 hours, I'm near finishing it at 111
though. There's mini games and scenarios you can earn plex (money) for
the campaign which probably took me awhile, and it's reasonably hard.

About a third of the campaign you get pre-configured ships to do
missions with, but the rest you can choose your own hull and loadout,
but you need money to buy both. I've only got a few of the advanced
hulls, and probably don't have any of them completed for build outs. I
could easily play 2x what I have so far even after the campaign is
completed. There's 5 different archetypes of hulls and they play very differently.

As for difficulty I had some missions take me half a dozen or more
tries, but most I probably finished in two, that's on normal, there is
an easy mode, and I think 4 harder modes, but I always seem to do
poorly on anything beyond normal.

Controls are fairly customizable, it defaults to turning the ship
instead of where you point, but I changed that to where you point about halfway through the game. I mostly played with joystick, but mouse
seems to work better on some scenarios. It also uses 'newtonion'
physics which makes it a bit weird - and you move much like asteroids
in that regard, but there is 'space breaks' so you can come to a stop
if you wish.

There's also online and local multiplayer, though I haven't delved into
them yet, you can play the campaign local multiplayer I've read.

I'm amazed that this is a 2 man game from around 10 years ago, and is
only $4 on Gog! I'd probably pay 5 times that knowing what it is now.
I don't remember purchasing it, but I must've on one of the sales. Get
it now!

***** Wandersong
Indy side scrolling platforming puzzle singing game. Yeah that sounds
like it could be horrible and 2 and a half of that out of three are
things I usually hate, but it was quite the opposite. The story hit me
in the feels, which is pretty unusual. I really enjoy the peaceful protagonist bard character. I only encountered 1 puzzle that gave me
any trouble, which I'm a bit miffed aobut because I had focused on the
first clues I got in the area, but those were for a later area, and the
clues to get past that area were at the very end and looked kind of
like the UI pointers, I did look it up. There was only one platforming
point that gave me trouble as well and I had to look it up, it wasn't
obvious to me what to do there, and it didn't seem to fit with how the
rest of the platforming went. The song bits were extremely forgiving,
and I'm not sure if you could fail them unless you were a toddler or
missing 3 or more fingers. The game and story do feel a bit childish
at points, but they also have a lot of concepts and seriously sad and
dusty bits. Strong recommend for anyone.

**** Star Wars Rogue Squadron 3d (Continued from last month)
I'll briefly mention this, as the last time I played was the first.
I'm not quite sure what happened. I was having so much difficulty, and
looked up how to get through one really hard mission which suggested
some hidden upgrades, it still took me some time after I got those on
that mission, but after that I blew through the remaining missions
quickly. Loved the game, sad it was so short. I didn't have the heart
to go back and go through them again at higher difficulty though.

0 Helltaker - I think this was a freebie, seemed very 'my first game' I couldn't get through the first level puzzle and didn't care to bother
looking it up figuring if I couldn't get through the first one, it's
just going to get worse. Yes I usually give games I didn't like a *, but
this one really was trash and I wish I'd got my time (*not*) playing it back.

Mobile Games:
*** What the Car!
A weird puzzle driver where you're a barely sentient car who was worked
on by a bear replacing your wheels for legs and stuff. The novelty is
cool but wears off after a bit. Free on Apple Arcade, which my wife
got with something else she subbed to (Apple Music perhaps.)

*** Cel to Singularity
I had played this on the PC, but it's infinitely more suited to
mobile. It's an idle clicker game, but it goes through evolution and
you get to evolve dinosaurs and kill them off with asteroids and the
like. Somewhat fun time waster.

**** Tenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Splintered Fate
This is a TMNT version of Hades. An indy rogelike dungeoneer. I play
it on a phone, and it feels like it's more suited to a larger screen
and controller, so would probably be much better on a tablet (and wish
it would come to PC where it seems like it should be, I suppose I could
see if it's available on bluestacks.) It says you can use a bluetooth controller, but I've not tried that, the controlls are a little finiky
and it seems I need better control than the onscreen controls give. It doesn't seem anywhere near as complex as Hades nor have quite the
interactions and story that Hades does, but I'm not sure that's
necessarily a bad thing. If you liked Hades, and don't hate TMNT
(never mind the movies, it's much better done in the game,) and have a
tablet (and preferably a controller) it's a strong recommmend. Free
with Apple Arcade.

---

What I'm thinking of playing next:

I'm not sure how much longer RR:FotS will keep me, so I'm thinking
of what to play next.

I'm mildy interested in going back to Witcher 3, but I have serialitis
and feel like I have to give 2 another go first, which I don't want to
do.

There's also Death Stranding, but I somehow feel like I saw all of
it I want to see and it's just going to get grindy. Maybe not. *shrug*

Random stuff I bought or got for free or on a sale. There's always
that, and I've been having some pretty good luck with it this month.

I'm also interested in ER & CP2077 DLCs when they come out and
will probably buy near day 1.

What are you looking forward to play?

- Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
Hi I'm Justisaur and I'm an MMORPGcoholic!
I'm 2 years and 10 months since my last MMORPG (City of Heroes.)

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On Tue, 1 Aug 2023 16:44:22 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<[email protected]> wrote:

* Nosferatu: Wrath of Malichai
A roguelike first person vampire game. I played it briefly, it seemed
like it had a lot of promise. I liked the monsters and atmosphere, but
the game play was a bit opaque, and even the basic monsters were
extremely deadly. Can't recommend.

Wow, this is an oldie. I remember playing this one back in the early
2000s. It was one of the first FPS games to use procedurally generated
levels, which sounded really exciting until I started playing it. Then
the limitations of procedural generation reared their heads, and the
dull, repetitive level design killed my interest in the game pretty
quickly.

Beyond that, the sepia-toned visuals (complete with old-timey film
crackling) were a literal eyesore, and the bullet-sponge enemies made
the game a slog. I admired the game in concept... and I guess I still
do, a bit, considering the game was developed in 2003. It was very
forward thinking for the time. But the actual execution was poor and
although I've occassionally returned to the game, I have never managed
to finish it more than once. And were it a new game today, I don't
think I would even have completed it the first time.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Tue, 01 Aug 2023 22:26:28 +0000, [email protected] (Ant) wrote:

Someone told me to try J key which worked, but configure the keys was a
pain too. I said frak, thumb down, and uninstall this game. Waste of
time! I don't use dang game controllers. I prefer old school clicky
keyboards and mouses. Get off my lawn.

I occasionally use a gamepad. I find them to be the best controller
type for games that are heavily menu driven. The last time I tried a
game pad was in Wizardry 6.

Now admittedly, I only did it to see if I could get a game pad working
through the DosBox keymapper in a game that never supported that
controller type and it worked just fine. But I ended up finding the
gamepad at least as good as the keyboard and far better then the mouse controls.

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

On 8/2/2023 8:03 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 1 Aug 2023 16:44:22 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<[email protected]> wrote:

* Nosferatu: Wrath of Malichai
A roguelike first person vampire game. I played it briefly, it seemed
like it had a lot of promise. I liked the monsters and atmosphere, but
the game play was a bit opaque, and even the basic monsters were
extremely deadly. Can't recommend.

Wow, this is an oldie. I remember playing this one back in the early
2000s. It was one of the first FPS games to use procedurally generated levels, which sounded really exciting until I started playing it. Then
the limitations of procedural generation reared their heads, and the
dull, repetitive level design killed my interest in the game pretty
quickly.

Beyond that, the sepia-toned visuals (complete with old-timey film
crackling) were a literal eyesore, and the bullet-sponge enemies made
the game a slog. I admired the game in concept... and I guess I still
do, a bit, considering the game was developed in 2003. It was very
forward thinking for the time. But the actual execution was poor and
although I've occassionally returned to the game, I have never managed
to finish it more than once. And were it a new game today, I don't
think I would even have completed it the first time.

BG3 EA since 2021; been playing since Early Access that goes away
tomorrow. Game should be awesome from what I've seen. been watching play
on Twitch.

Over 200 hrs playing time with a multitude of characters and different
combos. Am really looking forward to the release tomorrow at 11AM.

D.

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***** Ring Runners: Flight of the Sages
Amazing! Strong recommend if you like anything in the genre. This is

$0.50 on GoG right now ($1 on steam). Good review, I'll go ahead and buy it!

I've started Remnant: From the Ashes (the first game), which is becoming
very enjoyable. If you like 3rd person shooters this is pretty darn good

rms

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On Wednesday, August 2, 2023 at 8:03:01 AM UTC-7, rms wrote:

***** Ring Runners: Flight of the Sages
Amazing! Strong recommend if you like anything in the genre. This is

$0.50 on GoG right now ($1 on steam). Good review, I'll go ahead and buy
it!

Ooh damn! That hits must buy even if it's not your thing. It seems generally well liked and reviewed too (some complaints about the asteroids like movement, but I'm fairly used to it.)

I've started Remnant: From the Ashes (the first game), which is becoming very enjoyable. If you like 3rd person shooters this is pretty darn good

It looks mildly interesting. Graphics look a bit Borderlands without the cell shading, IOW not great. I added to my wishlist and may pick it up at a later, cheaper date.

- Justisaur

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It looks mildly interesting. Graphics look a bit Borderlands without the >cell
shading, IOW not great. I added to my wishlist and may pick it up at a >later,
cheaper date.

It was an Epic freebie, you might already have it!

rms

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Mike S. <[email protected]> wrote:

On Tue, 01 Aug 2023 22:26:28 +0000, [email protected] (Ant) wrote:

Someone told me to try J key which worked, but configure the keys was a >pain too. I said frak, thumb down, and uninstall this game. Waste of
time! I don't use dang game controllers. I prefer old school clicky >keyboards and mouses. Get off my lawn.

I occasionally use a gamepad. I find them to be the best controller
type for games that are heavily menu driven. The last time I tried a
game pad was in Wizardry 6.

Now admittedly, I only did it to see if I could get a game pad working through the DosBox keymapper in a game that never supported that
controller type and it worked just fine. But I ended up finding the
gamepad at least as good as the keyboard and far better then the mouse controls.

For me, I have disabilities so I can't hold those controllers in mid air. I like big keyboards and mouses since I don't have to hold them.
--
"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture said, streams of living water will flow from within him.'" --John 7:37-38. Meh
2 that local concert, but Taylor Swift fever is spreading.
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 01/08/2023 13:34, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* Firewatch (repeat)
I don't know if you noticed, but it's hot out there. I mean, like,
/really/ hot. Too hot to do all the normal things I enjoy doing in
summer, like heading to the woods and taking a long hike beneath the
trees. So stripped of this usual escape, what's a person to do? Go
hiking virtually, of course. And while I usually rely on "The Hunter:
Call of the Wild" for my sim-nature-walks, this month I wanted
something with a bit more story and direction. Enter "Firewatch".

Hot out there, in the UK we've just had one of the wettest Julys on
record. Anyway moving on. I've played it twice and I very much enjoyed
it. The story is good (there is a part where it seems quite out place
though) but it's the conversations you have over the radio with the only
NPC that I think make it a stand-out. They really do make you feel your
having a dialogue with a real person.

The length yes, I think another hour would have been ideal without
straying into, can we just get this over with now territory.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 8/2/2023 11:16 PM, Ant wrote:

Mike S. <[email protected]> wrote:

On Tue, 01 Aug 2023 22:26:28 +0000, [email protected] (Ant) wrote:

Someone told me to try J key which worked, but configure the keys was a
pain too. I said frak, thumb down, and uninstall this game. Waste of
time! I don't use dang game controllers. I prefer old school clicky
keyboards and mouses. Get off my lawn.

I occasionally use a gamepad. I find them to be the best controller
type for games that are heavily menu driven. The last time I tried a
game pad was in Wizardry 6.

Now admittedly, I only did it to see if I could get a game pad working
through the DosBox keymapper in a game that never supported that
controller type and it worked just fine. But I ended up finding the
gamepad at least as good as the keyboard and far better then the mouse
controls.

For me, I have disabilities so I can't hold those controllers in mid air. I like big keyboards and mouses since I don't have to hold them.

I thought ants ate their crippled. :P

--
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)

Dimensional Traveler <[email protected]> wrote:

On 8/2/2023 11:16 PM, Ant wrote:

Mike S. <[email protected]> wrote:

On Tue, 01 Aug 2023 22:26:28 +0000, [email protected] (Ant) wrote:

Someone told me to try J key which worked, but configure the keys was a >>> pain too. I said frak, thumb down, and uninstall this game. Waste of
time! I don't use dang game controllers. I prefer old school clicky
keyboards and mouses. Get off my lawn.

I occasionally use a gamepad. I find them to be the best controller
type for games that are heavily menu driven. The last time I tried a
game pad was in Wizardry 6.

Now admittedly, I only did it to see if I could get a game pad working
through the DosBox keymapper in a game that never supported that
controller type and it worked just fine. But I ended up finding the
gamepad at least as good as the keyboard and far better then the mouse
controls.

For me, I have disabilities so I can't hold those controllers in mid air. I like big keyboards and mouses since I don't have to hold them.

I thought ants ate their crippled. :P

Nope.
--
"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture said, streams of living water will flow from within him.'" --John 7:37-38. ST:
SNW S2 E9 was amusing.
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)

"rms" <[email protected]> writes:

***** Ring Runners: Flight of the Sages
Amazing! Strong recommend if you like anything in the genre. This is

$0.50 on GoG right now ($1 on steam). Good review, I'll go ahead
and buy it!

I've started Remnant: From the Ashes (the first game), which is
becoming very enjoyable. If you like 3rd person shooters this is
pretty darn good

I think I got this as the Epic freebie and even installed it. Thanks for
the reminder, after shuffling around on Citadel station I could do with
some action.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Wed, 2 Aug 2023 09:02:54 -0600, "rms" <[email protected]>
wrote:

I've started Remnant: From the Ashes (the first game), which is becoming
very enjoyable. If you like 3rd person shooters this is pretty darn good

When I saw news of Remnant II, it reminded me that I already owned
Remnant: From the Ashes (either free or very cheap, I don't remember),
but never got around to loading it up and trying it.

So I did install it, started playing it, and really liked it up until
the point I realized it was never designed to be played solo. The
bosses require so many attempts to take down in single player mode
that it was just more of a time commitment than I'm willing to give
repetitive loops.

While I generally prefer competitive multiplayer games to single
player ones, playing co-op with random strangers isn't typically my
thing. I'm fine to play against random strangers, or play on a team
with random strangers against another team of random strangers, but
playing against the computer with a random stranger usually seems
annoying. I used to enjoy co-op games when I was into clan gaming and
would regularly play with the same group of guys around my age -- but
that's a very different experience than playing in an environment
where a 12 year old can join.

From what I can tell, Remnant II is also meant to be a co-op game, but
I've seen conflicting information on whether the difficulty level in
single player is worse than the first game. So for that reason I'll
probably wait until I can get it free or very cheap to find out.

Shame about the single player though... the combat was a lot of fun.

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So I did install it, started playing it, and really liked it up until
the point I realized it was never designed to be played solo.

I just completed the game last night, on solo, and had a blast. It does initially seem very difficult and frustrating, but as with dark souls or similar games that confusion fades quickly as you learn enemy attack
patterns and acquire power-ups. The shooting and movement are extremely
good and precise, and you soon acquire weapon mods & consumables that for instance add burning status effects to your shots, or quicken movement
speed. Smash all the breakables in levels for supplies, and explore! It's
a very good game and I was sorely tempted to 'reroll' (as NG+ is called
here) and run through again on a higher difficulty (but I won't, too large a backlog). Give Femnant From the Ashes a try again!

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Sat, 12 Aug 2023 08:21:17 -0600, "rms"
<[email protected]> wrote:

So I did install it, started playing it, and really liked it up until
the point I realized it was never designed to be played solo.

I just completed the game last night, on solo, and had a blast. It does
initially seem very difficult and frustrating, but as with dark souls or >similar games that confusion fades quickly as you learn enemy attack
patterns and acquire power-ups. The shooting and movement are extremely
good and precise, and you soon acquire weapon mods & consumables that for >instance add burning status effects to your shots, or quicken movement
speed. Smash all the breakables in levels for supplies, and explore! It's
a very good game and I was sorely tempted to 'reroll' (as NG+ is called
here) and run through again on a higher difficulty (but I won't, too large a >backlog). Give Femnant From the Ashes a try again!

rms

Maybe one of these days. But I think that it is a "souls-like" thing
when, in order to defeat a boss, you have to do more than 3-4 attempts
in order to figure out what it really takes to defeat them, and while
I don't mind a challenge, and still have all my "shooter skills" (i.e
I can still go into online competitive twitch shooters and finish at
the top of the boards consistently round after round), I increasingly
have less of a tolerance for all things repetitive, thus not a huge
fan of souls-like games.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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"rms" <[email protected]> writes:

Now for the recently released Nightdive Remake. I played this right
after finishing the original, and put all the difficulties on lowest
(I recommend this, unless you *really* like combat -- I felt it was
plenty hard enough, both in the puzzle difficulty, and in cyberspace
and realspace combat). First off, I have to give them kudos for simply completing the project, regardless of how long it took. I encountered
nary a single bug, and the graphics and control scheme are good
(cyberspace, e.g., is dramatically improved).

I've also started this. I haven't really played the original much, tried
a couple of times but I just couldn't get into it.

So far I've made it out of the starter medical deck to research after
some hours of playtime. I did run into a couple of issues, in fact first
time I tried, the first puzzle seemed unsolvable. And this was the tile junction box, i.e. "guide orange stuff to a terminal" kind.

A restart fixed that but it's more than a little worrying. The first
other kind ("jumper wire") puzzle wasn't unsolvable expect there was a
stupid light above the panel which made it impossible to read the gauge
you're supposed to get to a specific level. Finally I found out setting brightness to minimum in the game's settings was the way to get the
glare down so I could barely make out the gauge.

I set combat difficulty to easy since I don't really care for the horror-survival "you have a gun and two bullets" type of gameplay. But
easy seemed almost munchkin on medical deck, once I found some guns,
that is. I do like that it rewards head shots for extra damage. Even
bonking mutants on the head with a pipe makes them go down with one
bonk.

Anyways, I don't know, it seems like a very long slog, one deck down,
nine-ish to go? And I already played for three or four hours.

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