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Post by Ex on Oct 22, 2021 0:22:20 GMT -5
Anyways, I still have a few games I want to check out: - Gorky 17 (1999) You may like Gorky 17. My copy of the game is called Odium, but it's the physical disc. You might like CyberMage or BioForge. I heartily recommend Heretic II (1998) to you as well. It's been about 20 years since I beat it, but I remember enjoying the game very much. It's a third person shooter that uses the Quake 2 engine. Heretic II for me was a blast and seems like everybody forgets it exists. As an aside, a Quake 3 engine third person shooter I recommend; Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2. I bet you (and anayo) would like that one as well. Though it's a 2000 release. I had a blast with it as well. As far as Hexen goes, I've played it and its sequel long ago. Didn't stick with either, but they seemed very much in the vein of Heretic. I remember being really impressed with the spellbook weapon animations in Hexen II, it uses the Quake engine in some impressive ways. For years Raven was quite good at taking id's engines and making them sing in ways id never did. If any of you ever bother to play through Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force you'll see what I mean. - Sarge - If you manage to stick with Heretic I'll be very interested in your opinion of it. I enjoyed the first level the other day, then died immediately on the second level. I was using a keyboard though, maybe gamepad is the ticket.
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Post by Xeogred on Oct 22, 2021 9:27:36 GMT -5
Those 2000's Star Trek shooters always do look pretty cool.
I didn't know Heretic II was abandonware, huh. Sounds like it might be tricky to get working on Win10 (same with CyberMage), but maybe I'll look into it today.
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Post by Ex on Oct 22, 2021 10:25:51 GMT -5
Great Star Trek FPS: Good Star Trek FPS: Bad Star Trek FPS: I sent you some links for H2 and CM.
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Post by Ex on Oct 22, 2021 10:34:16 GMT -5
Also some screenshots from CyberMage: Very '90s yo.
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Post by anayo on Oct 24, 2021 14:21:12 GMT -5
2c) Warcraft II: Beyond The Dark Portal (human campaign) 26) The Operative: No One Lives Forever 27) Star Wars Rogue Squadron 3D 28a) Warcraft III (Human Campaign) 29) Descent 30) Quake Mission Pack No. 1 Scourge of Armagon 31) Moto Racer 32) Sin 33) Dungeon Keeper 34) Half Life Blue Shift 35) Quake Mission Pack No. 2 Dissolution of Eternity
Detailed thoughts and impressions coming soon.
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Post by Ex on Oct 25, 2021 0:51:24 GMT -5
See this scepter? Do not shoot it or you are screwed.
Eh.
I made it chapter 6 tonight it RotH. Well this game consistently impresses and disappoints me. But the balance swayed too hard to the latter this evening. I got stuck tonight and had to use a walkthrough (a very rare event for me). Thankfully I did that, because in reading how to get unstuck, I discovered a weapon I recently found (the scepter above) is not meant to be used as a weapon. Even though you can use it as a weapon. See, if you use it as a weapon and deplete its non-replenishable ammo, you will not be able to finish the game later. There is no warning concerning this matter whatsoever. Guess who already shot the weapon a bunch?
Perhaps you can see how design such as this irritates me. With six hours invested already, I do not wish to start over. RotH is a long game, there's 14 more chapters left, and here I've already run into a situation where I've screwed myself over without warning. This makes me wonder how many other situations may create non-winnable gotchas with no warning. Normally that wouldn't be a huge concern, but considering RotH is 12 hours long IF you use a walkthrough the whole time, I'm perturbed now. And this was after just finishing a huge pitch dark maze full of respawning gargoyles. Another thing this game does, is spawn monsters behind you with no warning, often. Monsters are silent when they move, so you'll just get attacked out of nowhere as such. That gets old. So does rooms full of endlessly respawning monsters.
Ultimately I've determined RotH is a very mixed bag. On one hand, it's kinda "haunted house System Shock" with an impressively interactive engine, above average graphics for 1996, strange plot, good FMVs, varied locales, genuinely creepy atmosphere, and considerable intricacy. On the other hand, the difficulty is super unbalanced to the point of being sadistic, the combat is just boring, progression is often unintuitive, level designs are consistently annoyingly maze-like, and puzzle design can be punitive. As one example, there was an item I missed tucked into an alcove in a basement full of alcoves, in a room full of respawning skeletons. When I realized I needed that item, I had to backtrack a very long way to reach that room, then find the item, while being wailed on constantly and barely escaped alive. Trust me when I say, the item being where it sat was completely arbitrary and nonsensical with no hints as to its location.
So it turns out Realms of the Haunting is the very definition of a "hot mess". For everything brilliant it does, there's equal asinine aggravation. For every cool idea, there's some sloppy punch in the nuts out of nowhere. Now, if I had owned RotH when it first released, I surely would have enjoyed it more. As a 17 year old in 1996, RotH would have been far more engaging and propelling. I would have had the patience for its bullshit. Nowadays RotH's more of an intriguing curiosity piece with painfully jagged edges. The people I see praise this game online, I think do so out of rosy nostalgia. Because playing RotH blind in 2021 is a rough experience. I really wanted to like this game enough to finish it, but given I'm 1/4th of the way through and now screwed, having to restart due to ridiculous game design is a nope.
Thus, at six hours invested I'm walking away from RotH. I don't regret playing this game. RotH is technically impressive for 1996, it's rather unique, and even awe inspiring at times (given its age mind). But on the "fun factor" aspect, yeah RotH ain't so hot there. Now RotH may be more fun for someone like Xeogred or anayo. Maybe they'd find Realms of the Haunting to be retro-charming and worth their time. So don't let my disparagement discourage your own curiosity if you are so inclined. For myself, RotH was an interesting diversion, but I'm moving on now.
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Post by Ex on Oct 28, 2021 21:58:39 GMT -5
Title: Pray for DeathPlatform: MS-DOS Region release played: USA Year of release: 1996 Developer: Light Shock Software s.n.c. Publisher: Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Inc. Graphics: 4/5 Audio: 3/5 Challenge: 4/5 Fun factor: 3/5 Quick Thoughts: If you combined the mechanics of Mortal Kombat with the graphic tech of Killer Instinct, you'd have something like Pray for Death. This is a horror themed fighting game, that unabashedly rips off Mortal Kombat, while utilizing prerendered CG sprites (vogue tech in the mid-'90s). Pray for Death pits 10 dead warriors from across time and space in an otherworldly competition lead by Death itself (spoiler: Death's the final boss). There are gruesome finishing moves (and comedic finishers), a dark theme with blood galore, and even Cthulhu is a playable character. Although Pray for Death openly wears its influences, it is a competent student exhibiting impressive graphics and sharp control on a platform which lacked many exclusive fighters at the time. +I can't believe it's not Mortal Kombat! +Strong CG graphics, animation, and special effects for DOS 1996. +The final boss is about as final as you can get. +The water reflection effect is especially impressive. +The splash-screen trash talk is amusing. -No originality whatsoever. -They straight up stole Liu Kang. -Only 5 credits max sucka. -Joystick support is flaky. -AI can be cheap on higher difficulty levels.
Ex's time to beat: 25 minutes
Ex's rating: 7/10
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That's gonna wrap it up for me and this super popular theme. Here's what I played...
Beat: Pray for Death (1996) 25 minutes | 7/10
Roberta Williams' Phantasmagoria (1996) 5 hours 50 minutes | 6/10
Played: Realms of the Haunting (1997) 6 hours | 6.5/10 Waxworks (1992) 1 hours | ?/10
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Post by Xeogred on Oct 29, 2021 9:11:17 GMT -5
That's gonna wrap it up for me and this super popular theme. I failed everyone.
I devoted all my gaming time to DQ8 the last week or two, but yeah oh well. This was at least another baby step to chip away at my GOG library and I sampled some stuff. Descent was really good until the hitscanners and I fell off pretty hard then.
Old PC gaming is clearly a mood thing for me... a rare mood at that. I think this month sums up why I'm not great at planning out my gaming and kind of just go with my gut instead.
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Post by Ex on Oct 29, 2021 9:36:23 GMT -5
I thought it was an interesting theme, and it got me to play some old games I may never have otherwise. That is the point of Club Retro. That said, seems like most Club Retro members weren't into this theme at all. Anyway, toei just sent me his theme for next month, so on to make that thread now.
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Post by Sarge on Oct 29, 2021 13:32:56 GMT -5
I have played a few things (Heretic, Monkey Island 2, Descent, Flight of the Amazon Queen), I just haven't had the will to finish anything. Hopefully I'll pop out of this lull soon. (Netflix has to stop releasing shows I want to watch, haha.)
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