On 8/1/2024 6:44 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Did this month go by faster than the others? It seems like just a few
days ago we were doing the June iteration of this thread. I barely got
in any time to play video games too. How am I supposed to make a list
of games I've played when there's no time to play the games?!?

Not a lot of time for me as I was away for a couple weeks. Still got
some mobile gaming in.

* A Plague Tail: Requiem

The core gameplay revolves around its stealth

I'm out. I think it's more the slow going stealth takes in most games.
It probably wouldn't bother me in a turn based game.

* Mad Max

Fun game, short enough, Yeah there were some repetitive missions I
didn't complete. It felt Max Max enough for me, but more would've been
better.

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

And, yeah, believe it or not, that's it for me this month. Oh well,
August lies ahead of us, so maybe things will pick up on the gaming
front for me.

Anyway, enough about my playlist; what about yours?

What Have You Been Playing... IN JULY 2024?

TDLR;
** Elden Ring DLC
** Brotato (mobile)
*** Earth Defense Force 6

The Verbose:

** Elden Ring DLC

Mostly just more of the same of the base game, If you loved that, you'll
love this. It's just with more new weapons spells etc. some of which
are slightly better, and somewhat more agressive/long attack chain
monsters. Difficulty isn't much if at all more than the base game as
long you seek out and use the DLC leveling items, perhaps even less.

ER is already too big, and I'm well bored of it. I'd love to try
different builds, but the game is too long. I could respec, but prefer
to do new builds organically. I still haven't finished it, but have had
to rely more on looking things up as I've pretty much exhausted all
easily accessed areas. I'm trying to slog through the last bit, but my
heart's definitely not in it anymore.

I still got more Inappropriate Activity Detected starting co-op cropping
up before the last patch which just came out a day or two ago. After
verifying files in Steam it seems to be gone. People are now blaming
the dread "IAD" on the P2P networking matching getting overloaded. It
was at least partially an issue with the cheat detection software too.
I've pretty much stopped doing co-op as I just want it over with.

I did take a short break from the DLC to make a new character to "Play
the Real Way" tm. I started a Vagabond (knight) and was using only
knightly weapons and nothing flashy, magic, or unrealistic for a real
knight to use and no summons (I was using a talisman though) and no
sequence breaking. I got through Margret and all bosses fairly easily
up to that point (other than the dragon which I didn't defeat!) under
leveled as well at 25 (should be 30-40 by M.) It did take a little
longer than my no restriction dex character, but not an awful lot. By
Margret I'd proved to myself I could do it, but I didn't really care for
that sort of play so went back to the character in the DLC.

Part of my boredom with the game may just be I've finally gotten past
the "Git Gud" stage of skill, and it isn't very challenging, but a lot
is just how huge and repetitive it is.


** Brotato (mobile)

So this was a 'bullet heaven' oft cited as similar to and people's
favorite after Vampire Survivors. Well it appears to be only map, which
is pretty boring, and the weapons etc. aren't terribly interesting in comparison either, it seems the SMG is the best weapon which you start accessible with, and the best character - ranger is also one you start
with.

It's also somewhat full of MTX/adds.

From looking up why people liked this game, people said the mobile
version is much worse, as the PC version may not have the MTX,
advancement is much faster as well. It works much better with a
controller and more screen realestate which allows seeing the whole map,
and allows you to dodge better. While that is much more appealing, I
don't really see anything in the game that would bring me back for more.

It at least kept me occupied when I was stuck on the cruise ship with
nothing appealing to do. It was rainy and cold, while a nice change
from the heat here, it meant none of the above deck activities were good
to do. Most of the indoor activities seemed to be more geared to
younger folks that may have been looking for friends/companions, which
didn't appeal. I also caught up on some movies, I saw the new top gun
one, rewatched Princess Bride. I watched some other movies that weren't memorable (since I don't remember them) and some Love Boat episodes.


*** Earth Defense Force 6

It's very similar to EDF 5, which is similar to EDF 4.1. There's enough changes it's still interesting, and there's still slaughtering thousands
of bugs, and getting in mechs etc. The classes seem improved to me,
with Air Raiders getting various attack drones that are very effective.

I mostly bought it to play with my daughter, and she was excited, but
she lost interest after a couple days. If she doesn't regain any
interest soon, I'll start playing it by myself. I'm much more exited
about playing it than finishing ER, but I'm holding off for my daughter.

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

It looks like I may not get a day off for months as I've been added to
doing CloudStrike fixes. Lots of OT perhaps at least, and I can sure
use the money. So I may not get much gaming in for quite awhile.

--
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ø-ø
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Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

Did this month go by faster than the others? It seems like just a few
days ago we were doing the June iteration of this thread. I barely got
in any time to play video games too. How am I supposed to make a list
of games I've played when there's no time to play the games?!?

It didn't seem fast to me.

Anyway, you all know the drill. Play the games, then tell us about
them, in as much or as little detail as you like.

Duo Lingo's Spanish (Yo soy un hormigo.) since I finished its math.
Geez, I forgot so much from both. :( I also played a few other thinking
iOS games like XOXO (got too hard so I gave up and uninstalled it),
Propel, Sapan, etc.

In PC's Windows, I started playing Star Wars: The Old Repubilic since I
never played it before as a SW fan. I kind of like Sony's Galaxies (RIP)
back then like in 2003 when it was free or something.
...
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What Have You Been Playing... IN JULY 2024?

Still Wakes the Deep
Fort Solis

To my mind Fort Solis and Still Wakes the Deep share very positive
qualities: Both have excellent graphics, sound, and voice-acting, along
with unique and detailed locations -- a Mars base in FT, and a drilling platform in SWTD) that provide an atmosphere and sense of immersion that
really pull you in, all in service of a story-based, horror thriller. But
how the two games achieve this couldn't be more different.

SWTD is more active and energetic, both in the pacing, the freewheeling
english isle language usage, and the physical puzzle solving,
well-integrated with the first-person perspective, in an exhilarating, more-or-less never seen before setting -- most players would probably pick
it first. But that is not a knock on Fort Solis, where the devs were going
for a completely different vibe: A moody, oppressive, human drama, in a
highly controlled environment with a closely-knit cast of characters. I
very much wanted to see everything these characters -- and actors -- did,
and explored everywhere to get 100% with all achievements (missed quite a
few with SWTD). In any case, both great games, and both fairly short, ~5
hours for SWTD and ~11 hours for Fort Solis, and both highly recommended!

rms

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Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 13:44 this Thursday (GMT):

Did this month go by faster than the others? It seems like just a few
days ago we were doing the June iteration of this thread. I barely got
in any time to play video games too. How am I supposed to make a list
of games I've played when there's no time to play the games?!?

Anyway, you all know the drill. Play the games, then tell us about
them, in as much or as little detail as you like.

Guess which option I'm going to choose ;-)

[snip]


Well, mostly Stardew Valley. I've been deep in webdev stuff all month..
Though I have just started playing Cave Story for the first time. I can definitely see why it was so big back in the day :D
--
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Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, 01 Aug 2024 19:28:26 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

Did this month go by faster than the others? It seems like just a few
days ago we were doing the June iteration of this thread. I barely got
in any time to play video games too. How am I supposed to make a list
of games I've played when there's no time to play the games?!?

It didn't seem fast to me.

Anyway, you all know the drill. Play the games, then tell us about
them, in as much or as little detail as you like.

Duo Lingo's Spanish (Yo soy un hormigo.) since I finished its math.
Geez, I forgot so much from both. :( I also played a few other thinking
iOS games like XOXO (got too hard so I gave up and uninstalled it),
Propel, Sapan, etc.

In PC's Windows, I started playing Star Wars: The Old Repubilic since I >never played it before as a SW fan. I kind of like Sony's Galaxies (RIP) >back then like in 2003 when it was free or something.
...

SW:TOR and SW:Galaxy are such different experiences though.

(although SW:Galaxy went through so many revisions where they
radically updated the gameplay that maybe isn't true with the later
versions? I only tried it when it was fairly new).

I preferred SW:TOR, but that's because it's possible to play the game
solo. It's not a very /good/ solo game, but it was fun to go through
the story, revisit some familiar locals, and whack at things with a
laser sword.

Ah, I am still in the beginning on the dark side (it's fun to be evil!).
I loved Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, Jedi Academy, X-Wings, TIE Fighters,
X-Wing Alliance, etc. I haven't played more for weeks and still in the tutorial! Geez, this game is huge too. :(

You could play SW:Galaxy solo too, of course, but... why? It was a
game very much designed around the community; if you didn't interact
with the MMO aspects of the game, there really was very little to do.
The quests and stories were dull and generic. TOR was an epic quest,
but its multiplayer aspects were mostly about gathering loot in
dungeon-runs. Galaxy was about 'living' in the Star Wars universe.

It was OK. Thanks goodness it was a free week/trial/whatever back then
for me.

Not saying the one was better than the other (although, as mentioned,
I always preferred the game with the stronger narrative) but they're
such different games that if you're going into SW:TOR remembering
SW:Galaxy, you should temper your expectations. ;-)

Maybe SW:TOR is better for me. I want actions!
--
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On Thu, 01 Aug 2024 09:44:59 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote in <1i3naj90mqqakd2jekrig0iflu0tpusmbc@4ax.com>:

Did this month go by faster than the others? It seems like just a few
days ago we were doing the June iteration of this thread. I barely got
in any time to play video games too. How am I supposed to make a list of games I've played when there's no time to play the games?!?

Anyway, you all know the drill. Play the games, then tell us about them,
in as much or as little detail as you like.

Guess which option I'm going to choose ;-)

I couldn't have guessed. ;)

The first half of the month, we were traveling. Once we got back, I was
eager to grab my stick and throttle and fly some Elite Dangerous Odyssey.
Then I replaced my 27" monitor with a 42" ROG Asus 4K 132Hz monitor.
Took off in my Cobra and hot-dogged around the carrier a little,
which made me a little dizzy!

(I'm running it at 60Hz right now, since to access the higher refresh
rates one has to go into the "overclock" menu. I tend not to overclock anything, so have been screwing up my courage to "go for it".)

Also played some Borderlands 3. I think it's a little lighter on
the loot than Borderlands 2, at least when it comes to loot chests.
Also have found myself trying to progress the story in a level 16
area with a level 14 character. Been trying to find areas that I
can play to level up before proceeding, but haven't found much
yet. I do like the fact that you end up traveling to multiple
planets -- and once you've opened up a planet, you can fast
travel between them.

Meanwhile, I've installed Fort Solis on recommendation from a poster
in this very 'froup. Haven't started it yet. I guess that will
be one of my August entries, as well as a return to Starfield.

Currently running Linux 6.11.0-rc1 with the NVIDIA 560.28.03
"open" driver...curious to see if Starfield will run properly
with these drivers, as there was an earlier NVIDIA driver
that caused the game to hang in certain spots. (This was
also a problem with the same driver version on Windows.)
I've been using ge-proton-9-10 for games nowadays.

Finally, I should note that one doesn't have to run the latest
Linux kernel to enjoy gaming on Linux -- I just like to test
kernels by using them. (I'm dumb that way.)

--
-Scott System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti
OS: Linux 6.11.0-rc1 Release: Mint 21.3 Mem: 258G

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On 2024-08-19, H1M3M <wipnoah@gmail.com> wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

What Have You Been Playing... IN JULY 2024?

It's been a messy month. Lots of games played, but most of them dropped.

- The Binding of Isaac Rebirth: Afterbirth
Got the expansion during the Steam summer sale. Funny how I played 4
hours of this game back in 2014, and 10 years later I went hard on it
with the Steam Deck. 7 completes duns so far, 4 to go in order to unlock
the true final boss.

- Monument Valley 2
First one made me consider that mobile gaming could be good, but the
sequel has been a severe disappointment.

- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Dark souls before dark souls. This game can be as infuriating as it can
be addictive. First time I have to use "run ahead" in Retroarch to lower
the latency so that the combat and jumping over cliffs is fair on a
modern TV with input lag

- Quake Remastered
Can't have a lanparty without Quake. Halfway through Scourge of Armaggon
(The first expansion)

- Pacific Drive
A lot more complex than I was expecting. My summer car + S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
= even more complex survival. I expected a simpler game with a lot of
story that happens on a station wagon. Having to craft, repair, ruins
things for me.

- Quake Live
I never understood how Quake 3 and live look like absolute trash when
Quake I was so good. Those textures and models... it's like, C'mon,
Half-Life was out already.

- Half-Life source.
Test playthrough to see how the Optiplex can handle "old" games with its built-in Intel HD630 graphics, since next year I won't be bringing the
gaming PC to the lanparty. The verdict: It's going to need a low profile
GPU.

Not much, but I have started playing the excellent Mjolnir addon for
Quake.

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It's been a messy month. Lots of games played, but most of them dropped.

Nice selection of titles!!

rms

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H1M3M <wipnoah@gmail.com> wrote at 07:26 this Monday (GMT):

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

What Have You Been Playing... IN JULY 2024?

It's been a messy month. Lots of games played, but most of them dropped.

- The Binding of Isaac Rebirth: Afterbirth
Got the expansion during the Steam summer sale. Funny how I played 4
hours of this game back in 2014, and 10 years later I went hard on it
with the Steam Deck. 7 completes duns so far, 4 to go in order to unlock
the true final boss.

- Monument Valley 2
First one made me consider that mobile gaming could be good, but the
sequel has been a severe disappointment.

God, both MV games are so nostalgic to me.. I remember adoring them and
the whole thing of having two main characters blew my mind

- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Dark souls before dark souls. This game can be as infuriating as it can
be addictive. First time I have to use "run ahead" in Retroarch to lower
the latency so that the combat and jumping over cliffs is fair on a
modern TV with input lag

At least it's not Zelda CDi

- Quake Remastered
Can't have a lanparty without Quake. Halfway through Scourge of Armaggon
(The first expansion)

- Pacific Drive
A lot more complex than I was expecting. My summer car + S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
= even more complex survival. I expected a simpler game with a lot of
story that happens on a station wagon. Having to craft, repair, ruins
things for me.

- Quake Live
I never understood how Quake 3 and live look like absolute trash when
Quake I was so good. Those textures and models... it's like, C'mon,
Half-Life was out already.

- Half-Life source.
Test playthrough to see how the Optiplex can handle "old" games with its built-in Intel HD630 graphics, since next year I won't be bringing the
gaming PC to the lanparty. The verdict: It's going to need a low profile
GPU.

HL-S was very very broken from what I've heard.

Anyways, I've played almost nothing this month bc college.
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker (3DS) and TF2
--
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H1M3M <wipnoah@gmail.com> wrote at 10:04 this Wednesday (GMT):

candycanearter07 wrote:

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker (3DS) and TF2

Interesting. I have been playing Captain Toad, but on August, and on
Switch, since the analog rubber cap on my New 3DS is loose and there are
no spares. While I had no issues with the game on 3DS, on Switch the
console is too long to hold it comfortable with one hand while using the other for the touch screen. The only way it plays well on Switch is on
TV mode emulating the wiimote.

Oh yeah, I forgot they remade it for the Switch. I lost my stylus years
ago, but thankfully a closed pen works too. My (new xl) 3ds still lives!
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