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Post by Sarge on Apr 19, 2024 23:35:47 GMT -5
Did you ever play through the original release of Mass Effect? The RPG-ish version of it? That's where you feel that strong KOTOR DNA. Of course, with ME2/3, they went to suprisingly-polished shooting. Up until then, I'd say that their games, as good as they were, still felt a bit janky, but ME2 had some real technical chops.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 19, 2024 23:58:42 GMT -5
I've beaten the whole trilogy over a few times, heh. I felt ahead of the curve a bit on Mass Effect, at least locally. For whatever reason some of my friends weren't really paying much attention to it before it blew up eventually. Extra odd is how it was a 360 exclusive for a bit and published by Microsoft Games, not EA. The first game being a weirder blend of the older Bioware formula gives it some extra charm. I still think it might be my favorite in ways. It's a more subdued, mysterious sci-fi adventure, when the sequels ramp up the Hollywood in them. They definitely "dumb" down the RPG mechanics in the sequels, yet the gunplay feeling tighter and more kinetic is kind of an upgrade in that way. I beat ME2 on the highest difficulty and it was seriously challenging, that made it more of a tactical shooter and I had to always know what I was doing with the full squad. ME3 feels a even better and more fluid. I have the Legendary Edition on PC now. Whenever I replay the whole saga next time I'm going to do a full FemShep run. I think I've only beaten the first one with her in the past. In retrospect, I honestly find it absurd nowadays that such a massive 100 some hour AAA sci-fi trilogy like this even exists in gaming. So I treasure it. One of the best things to come from the 7th gen.
Funny timing since I was rocking the OST's in my car again a bit lately haha.
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Post by Ex on Apr 20, 2024 1:07:30 GMT -5
I have the Legendary Edition on PC now. Whenever I replay the whole saga next time I'm going to do a full FemShep run. I've got that edition as well on PS4. It's a good high res collection of the trilogy and 99% of the DLC. I just don't appreciate the idiotic censorship this Legendary Edition has. Anyway, interesting you plan to do a FemShep run next time. When I beat the original trilogy on Xbox 360, I used a FemShep who was 100% renegade. Someday I'd like to rebeat the ME trilogy, except play as a 100% paragon MaleShep this time. I think that's what the majority of players did actually.
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Post by Ziggy on Apr 20, 2024 7:56:20 GMT -5
So I was poking around on my 360, browsing my save game data on the HDD. I've noticed that a couple of my save files have an option to copy, but most do not. Does the 360 block the ability to copy game saves to a USB stick? I was thinking I could transfer a few oXbox game saves from my 360 to my oXbox when I get it, but it looks like that's not possible on a stock 360. I would assume I could probably do it with a modded 360, but I really don't have the time or patience to do that right now. I briefly looked into 360 modding when I first got mine, and it didn't look too straight forward. Not the biggest deal. I had a KOTOR save, but at this point I'd rather start over anyway. And I had decent progress in Tony Hawk 2X, so that one is a little annoying, but it'll give me an excuse to replay it I guess.
Speaking about consoles mods though, I understand that it's relatively simple to soft mod the oXbox. I think I will leave mine stock for a little while, but will probably soft mod it before long. The disc drive seems to be a common point of failure on the oXbox, and since it looks like the easiest ways to to the soft mod is to load a hacked save file for a game, I think I'll try and do that sooner rather than later in case my disc drive ever craps out. For all I know, the drive in the console I'm getting might be on the verge of dying.
Does anyone have any recommendations for softmodding? IIRC, it looks like there might be different firmware options. I would actually prefer if I could leave the stock menu/OS aesthetics, and not change the splash screen. I see that some (all?) CFW changes the splash screen and GUI, some looks pretty garish. I pretty much want to leave mine looking stock, but with the added functions of CFW. Is that possible? Alternatively, I've was reading a bit about mod chips. I've read that with a soft mod you have to dump the key to your HDD and then lock an upgraded HDD with that key, but with a mod chip you can just swap drives and not worry about that.
Call of Duty Finest Hour, Call of Duty Big Red One -I played these but fell off, interested to see what you think.
Medal of Honor Rising Sun -I actually beat this turd via split-screen co-op back in 2007. -No way I would have finished it solo. COD Finest Hour and Big Red One, I never really gave much of a chance. I had the first two COD games on PC at the time. A friend of mine, who had an oXbox, told me that Big Red One was good. So I picked it up for PS2 and wasn't at all impressed. But I probably didn't play more than 30 minutes of it. Being that this was something like 15-20 years ago, I was curious to give them another try. I've been finding that my opinion has changed over the years. I like more things now then I use to, and I give things more of a chance now. And I'm less harsh when it comes to judging things. Particularly, not judging something against something else (like the console version compared to the PC version) but judging it for what it is. That and, these games were between $5-10 shipped so I figured what the hell LOL.
MOH Rising Sun was at the same time a giant let down for me but also a lot of fun. I had so much fun with Frontline, I was very happy to hear a new MOH game was released. I picked up a used copy immediately after learning about it. The single player campaign was such a massive letdown compared to Frontline. It was short and bland. But the online multiplayer was a lot of fun. I had just gotten the network adapter for my PS2, and playing a console game online was still novel at the time. There were a couple of other PS2 games I played online, but IIRC Rising Sun is the one I spent the most time with.
There was this one session of Rising Sun that I will never forget. I was just on fire, kicking ass and taking names. It was a full room, but slowly people were dropping out. It came down to 3 people left. It was a team game, and the other two people beside me were on opposing teams. I didn't have a headset, but you could see on screen that those two people were talking back and forth. They teamed up on me, even though one of them was on my team, but I defeated both of them. The game abruptly ended after that LOL. I think they might have thought I was TOO good, and maybe cheating somehow. Either that or I was dominating too hard and it wasn't fun for anyone else LOL. Either way, it's a happy memory I have with the game.
I explained in the other thread, I only have a copy of Rising Sun because it was sent to me by mistake. I ended up getting it for free. So I figured I'll replay the single player campaign, since I've only played it once and it was so long ago. And if it still sucks, I know it's really short so I wouldn't have wasted too much time.
Yes, thanks! I'll have to comb through those.
Black I just recently played for the first time on PS2. Maybe a year or two ago. I think I mentioned this in the now playing thread. It was fantastic, and felt like it could be a 7th gen game. It wasn't too long of a game, maybe I'll replay it on oXbox at some point. Just a random thought, but I might actually prefer the Xbox controller to the PS controller now. I had a Playstation first, and the controller was basically a SNES controller with joysticks and two more shoulder buttons tacked on. When the Xbox controller came out, even the S remodel, I thought it was stupid. Wacky offset joysticks, and bigger in overall size than the PS controller. But now, after playing with various Xbox controllers for a while, when I go back to a PS controller I feel like it isn't as comfortable.
It's a great console to collect for. The games mostly aren't stupid expensive in the retro market, and are generally easy to find (online at least).
Yes, I think it's great to collect for. I'm actually glad I never cared to explore the Xbox until now. Now I have a new retro console to explore for the first time (sorta). How often do you get to do that? And it's nice that the games are usually pretty cheap. Collecting for retro consoles became too expensive, so it's nice to be able to pick up cheap games again. I really miss being able to get good games in the $5-10 range. That's totally possible for oXbox and 360 right now.
Looks like this is one of the games you can use to softmod with. Maybe I'll pick it up!
That was actually one of the things that I thought was stupid at the time. Stupid Microsoft just made a gimped PC and that resulted in a huge and heavy console. It was bigger and heavier than the PS2 and GCN combined. But now I think it's really cool. I've always had an affinity for hardware, and more now than ever. Like I was saying above, appreciating things for what they are instead of hating on them for what they're not.
Hopefully. I've had games in the past that took me several attempts before it finally clicked with me, so I'm not discouraged.
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Post by Ex on Apr 20, 2024 10:14:21 GMT -5
>COD Finest Hour and Big Red One
I agree they're worth another try. I still have my Xbox copies of these too. One thing I remember about Finest Hour is it was developed by Spark Unlimited, a subcontracted studio that didn't normally develop CoD games. You can kinda tell because of the way the scenario designs were from what I remember. I only put about 2 hours into Finest Hour, and maybe an hour into Big Red One. I stopped playing the latter because I was burnt out on WW2 FPS at the time. I'm sure you remember there was a period of years where way too many WW2 FPS released. That theme was overdone back then. Also, I had previously beaten the original CoD1 and CoD2 on PC. Those initial CoD PC games were much more serious and difficult, compared to the console sequels. I think at the time I considered the console versions inferior as a result, but nowadays that wouldn't bother me.
>MOH Rising Sun
Funny story about you dominating those dudes. All I really remember about this half-assed MoH, was how the melee attack was instantly lethal and easy to do. So the guy I co-op beat this game with, we just ran through it melee-ing all the enemies to death, hardly using our guns.
>I'll have to comb through those
If you want to play a fun and unique FPS, definitely get Urban Chaos: Riot Response. It uses a police shield system that adds fun tactics to the affair. It was developed by Rocksteady, the company that went on to make all the super popular Batman games in the 7th gen. That one, Far Cry Instincts, and Black I'd say were the funnest FPS I've played on oXbox thus far. And yeah man Black is friggin' awesome. I kept my copy so I could replay it someday. Only beat it that one time via the Xbox version.
>appreciating things for what they are instead of hating on them for what they're not
Sage wisdom indeed.
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Post by Ziggy on Apr 20, 2024 10:51:01 GMT -5
I ended up purchasing a mod chip already. I found an OpenXenium on eBay that has PrometheOS already installed. It seemed like a good price at $32 and the OpenXenium doesn't seem to be available at a whole lot of places right now, so I decided to nab it. It seems easy enough to softmod and flash the BIOS in the Xbox but the mod chip seems like it can be a good tool to have in the future. So I can always take it out and use it to mod or repair another Xbox. I also like that with the modchip you can apparently just throw another HDD in the console and it'll format, you don't have to worry about keys or anything. And what I really like about the OpenXenium is that you have the option to boot a different BIOS. So I can still boot the console as if it were stock.
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Post by Ziggy on Apr 26, 2024 18:35:27 GMT -5
The Dreamcast 2 Xbox has arrived, and without any issues!
The seller actually did a great job packaging the console for shipping. The last time I bought a console off eBay, an Xbox 360, the seller just threw it loose in a box, and that includes a disc only game LOL. So I was a little worried, especially after all of the not-so-good luck I've been having.
But yeah, the seller of my oXbox had all individual items wrapped in bubble wrap, including a few layers around all sides of the console itself. Hopefully I'm on a good streak now, or at least this will cancel out the bad streak I had. I ordered a few more games, and decided to get a few that weren't especially cheap, so I was a little concerned after the recent mishaps. Conker Live and Reloaded was double boxed, which is always nice to see when you spend a bit of money on a game. Fable was cheap, but the seller not only had a few layers around it, he also put a bit of bubble wrap inside so the disc didn't get knocked loose and rattle around inside during shipping. That is also nice to see.
Anyway, here's some pics of my Xbox!
It came with that Halo 2 skin on it. It's kinda neat, like a piece of gaming history. Like when you see those stickers on NES controllers. It seemed almost not right to remove the Halo 2 skin, but I just don't like it so it had to go LOL.
Luckily there were no nasty surprises underneath it. One little ding that looks way worse in the pic. The camera pics up everything. The scratches on that little glossy part aren't nearly as bad in person. And also it's covered in lint because I had just wiped it, and that all shows up crystal clear in the pic.
Naturally, after a quick power-on test I just had to open it! There were a few specific things I wanted to check. The seller stated that the drive belt was replaced, the clock cap was removed (they are known to leak), and the thermal compound was replaced. This seems like a stand up seller, but I wanted to check anyway. I didn't bother to check the belt, but the clock cap was indeed removed and I did see a little bit of dried thermal compound rattling around inside so I didn't bother pulling the heatsinks (I probably will down the line though). I also wanted to check to see what revision it is, and since it has the fan on the GPU it's a 1.0 console. I needed to confirm that for some parts I want to eventually order. And probably most importantly, I wanted to check the solder joints on the AC input. On the earliest revisions of the Xbox, those solder joints are known to break and cause arcing which has caused Xboxes to go on fire. Microsoft provided power chords with arc fault protection (AFCI) before they revised the power supply.
The clock cap was removed, but it looks like it leaked a little and the electrolyte juice wasn't cleaned off the PCB (or at least, it wasn't cleaned nearly well enough) Since it is corrosive, I cleaned it off right away. I'll eventually give the motherboard a better cleaning because I think I want to replace all of the electrolytic caps. I'll probably do that before installing the mod chip. But that's why I wanted to figure out which revision it is, so I can order parts like the cap kit. Also, these damn fans are so very annoying. There's 3D printed brackets out there that lets you use modern quiet fans, and I will definitely be replacing them. It didn't bother back then, but sixth gen console fans are so very annoying to me today.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 26, 2024 19:07:44 GMT -5
Yeah, I really need to open mine up to check those iffy capacitors and for any leaks. Just been lazy. And I keep thinking if my unit is like 20 years old now, it's gotta be okay...? But maybe mine is the one that extra needs a double check. lol
The Halo 2 sticker is neat but the edges pealing a bit would have annoyed me. Looks better without it now.
Dude, yeah that 360 boxing looks AWFUL! I'd be pissed. lol, looks like a full 3-4 inches worth to just bounce around in.
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Post by Ex on Apr 26, 2024 20:16:03 GMT -5
The Xbox has arrived, and without any issues! No issues I'm assuming it booted OK. That's great to read. The console itself looks in good condition given its age. Yeah I would have taken that skin off too. And yeah the Xbox being Microsoft's first console, there are some hardware design issues with it. Rookie mistakes, but they learned better with the 360... oh wait. RRoD! Thankfully post first gen-360 Microsoft finally got it together. As far as making hardware that lasts and doesn't self-destruct at least. >sixth gen console fans are so very annoying to me today Agreed the oXbox is one loud old horse. Can't blame you for wanting quieter modern fans. Looking forward to see what you think of some of those oXbox games. Especially the FPS ones.
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Post by Ziggy on Apr 27, 2024 7:00:34 GMT -5
Yeah, I really need to open mine up to check those iffy capacitors and for any leaks. Just been lazy. And I keep thinking if my unit is like 20 years old now, it's gotta be okay...? But maybe mine is the one that extra needs a double check. lol I highly suggest cracking it open and checking ASAP.
The takeaways are: ALL Xbox revisions have a "clock cap" that is known to leak. If you have a 1.0-1.4 revision, it is almost certainly already leaking. Some 1.4 and all 1.6 revision boards have a cap that is less likely to leak, but you should still remove it. 1.0-1.4 you can just remove and not replace it if you wish, but 1.6 requires it to be replaced or bypassed else the console will throw an error code. Apparently some other caps are known to leak, so it's worth giving a good visual inspection. Check for bulging tops and residue on the PCB. Clean any residue immediately, as it will corrode parts and eat traces!
There was a single sheet of air pillow over all of that, but that didn't stop everything from jostling around during shipping. I was pretty pissed because this is the glossy type 360 Slim, and we all know how shitty that type of surface looks when scratched. All of the parts were free to scratch the hell out of it during shipping, including the heavy ass power brick. And the loose disc in the middle of that was just laughable. There was a single air pillow on the top, but nothing else, so the console was at the bottom of the box with only a thin layer of cardboard. So every time that box was plopped down, basically the console itself was plopped down. Luckily this 360 hasn't given me any issues. I was still pretty pissed though. Also the controller that it came with had some issues. I couldn't get it to work at first. Turned out the battery back had some alkaline battery corrosion on the terminals, I had to get it cleaned up before it would work.
No issues I'm assuming it booted OK. That's great to read. The console itself looks in good condition given its age. Yeah I would have taken that skin off too. Yep, it boots great. And I did a quick test with a few games now, the disc drive seems to read the disc just fine. The only thing, the seller stated that the disc drive belt was replaced (they are prone to failure). Sometimes when I press the eject button, the drive makes noises but doesn't eject. I read on console5 that generic drive belts can cause this issue. So when I get around to ordering a cap kit, I'm also going to order a new drive belt. They claim that theirs is and exact match.
But yeah, I'm happy with the condition. It could use a little cleaning, particularly in the grill/slot things, but overall it looks great. And I'm glad the skin came off really easily, and left no residue or anything like that.
The 1.0 Xbox is probably the worst because of the GPU fan, but these days I think all 6th gen console fan are terrible. Is it that I've just gotten so use to modern quiet fans? Or is it that these 6th gen console fans are aging, and maybe louder then they once were? Either way, I've been slowly replacing them. I've already replaced the fan in my DC, and I have a kit to replace the fan in my GCN. The PS2 I still have to get something for, and that fan kicks up in RPMs when you use the HDD. And yeah, the Xbox will definitely get replacement fans ASAP. Someone told me that you can unplug the GPU fan and the temperature isn't really affected so much (this makes sense since Microsoft themselves ditched the fan and went with a redesigned heatsink). But for aging hardware, I think it's best to run the chips as cool as possible.
Same here! I'll definitely be sure to post my thoughts as I play the games.
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