What games are you playing now?

So I went ahead and upgraded to windows 10. And the improvement in Rise of the Tomb Raider is beyond my wildest expectations! It is buttery smooth using directx 12 now, everything is on high and I think I can go even higher. I'm so excited. It breathes some new life in my gaming pc. Frankly, I don't know why this isn't talked about more.

Of course, rise of the tomb raider might be the ideal example as it is cpu bound. + I have an older i5 cpu so I was decently bound I guess, and maybe also important is that I have an ati gpu which presumedly are more designed for async stuff and off-loading the cpu than nvidia. They also proposed the vulkan API for that reason, it's a bit of a pity for them that directx 12 (partially) copied them and now vulkan is pretty useless.

For all the windows 10 haters, just install it. It is GREAT.

Edit: walking through the Soviet installation brings tears to my eyes. So fluid and beautiful.

I'll keep playing Chapter 5 in Kingmaker on the 6th when the Wildcards DLC comes out. Currently wrapping up my first ever Fallout run, near the end of the game I think. Once I finish Kingmaker up I'm planning a big Arcanum run. Thinking I'll go as a neutral/neutral evil character, first time ever playing an evil character and seems like it has lots of interesting possibilities. Gunslinger maybe with a little magic/neutral aptitude.

Once April comes I'll start a fresh new run of Kingmaker as a Tiefling something-or-other with all the DLC installed.

Playing Eye of the Beholder II with the ASE map (no cheating, just fog of war map use). The map makes gameplay more enjoyable and makes more sense (at least one of the dungeon dwellers has enough brain to draw a map of their route as they adventure deep down, maze like dungeons!).

Keeping with my current JRPG kick, I started Breath of Fire 1 (GBA port). So far, it's very easy but it's fun. A few (thousand) too many tedious random combats though. Like many early JRPGs, you can barely walk two steps without finding some blobs of slime or other members of congress attacking you.

Originally Posted by azraelck
Keeping with my current JRPG kick, I started Breath of Fire 1 (GBA port). So far, it's very easy but it's fun. A few (thousand) too many tedious random combats though. Like many early JRPGs, you can barely walk two steps without finding some blobs of slime or other members of congress attacking you.

I remember BoF. I played and finished it on the SNES. It was one of the few RPGs from Capcom. I recall it being pretty good, but that's when I was a lot younger and actually liked most JRPGs.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I remember BoF. I played and finished it on the SNES. It was one of the few RPGs from Capcom. I recall it being pretty good, but that's when I was a lot younger and actually liked most JRPGs.

The odd thing is when I was younger I ignored most JRPGs and only played Western style games (Wizardry, M&M, etc…) As I get older, I've been going back and hitting games I skipped, which has been fun.

BoF is pretty good so far, just a bit easy, and too many combats. Though the volume of combats may be why it's easy; it's pushing my levels up high enough to stomp everything. But tediously frequent random combats seem to be a staple of JRPGs.

At present, it's more MGL action! (Mame Gaming League)

Magic Sword (Capcom 1990) - the predecessor to King of Dragons, one of my ol' favourites from my teens.
Gravitar (Atari 1982)
Exerion (Jaleco 1983)
@JDR13
Speaking of arcade goodness, I'd be curious to know what R-Type Dimensions Ex is like when you get the chance to play. If only better PC versions of the early Raiden series could become available in a similar package as well.

But I'm also slowly dipping back into RPGs again with Avernum 3. I should post a more detailed report on my progress soon.

Breath of Fire is one of the many old series that I keep hoping will show up on great old games or steam. I'd love to play them all again, but I don't want to play them on some teeny tiny machine.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Breath of Fire is one of the many old series that I keep hoping will show up on great old games or steam. I'd love to play them all again, but I don't want to play them on some teeny tiny machine.

I'm emulating it if that counts. I doubt I could stand playing it on the GBA directly anymore. Too tiny of a screen for too long a period of time.

Vampyr and just started but enjoying it more than I expected.

I'm just messing about in VR. Tried some Skyrim, been enjoying Google Earth VR, Ocean Rift, Nature Treks and a few others. Still waiting on the Kingmaker DLC to drop so I can return to my Chapter 5 playthrough, and I probably mentioned this but once I'm done with Kingmaker it's on to an epic Arcanum Let's Play. Should be fun.

Played a bit of for the king to try the new deep scenario they added. Was a lot of fun for a couple of days - now a quick 1/2 run of king bounty and then for the very first time I will play fallout NV which i hear sucks but will try it anyway.

Originally Posted by Pessimeister
@JDR13
Speaking of arcade goodness, I'd be curious to know what R-Type Dimensions Ex is like when you get the chance to play. If only better PC versions of the early Raiden series could become available in a similar package as well.

I played for a bit this morning, and I'm quite happy with it. Pleasantly surprised in fact. For the price, I would have been happy if it was just the perfect arcade ports tbh, but the extra features are pretty cool.

I didn't think I'd like the 3D mode, but it actually looks significantly better than the original imo. It spruces up the visuals while staying completely true to the original art style, and you can switch between the modes on the fly. They even added co-op as well.

If I had to nitpick, I'd say it's too bad they didn't include one more R-type title. I'd have liked to see R-Type Leo which was the third and final arcade game and has never been ported to any other platform.

It's absolutely worth getting if you were ever a fan of the series.

Nice, thanks for the report mate. I might pick it up myself as I'm definitely an R-type fan and a fan of older sh'mups in general. I've still got the original on C64. I also like to listen to various remixes of Chris Huelsbeck's great soundtrack for the game which is excellent and quite memorable.

Interestingly, I got to have a few credits on R-type Leo in Brisbane when I was there a few weeks ago for the Kong Off tournament. Very fun cruisey game to play; arguably a little more accessible than the first two in some ways but still challenging. I only got to level 3 or something, scoring 270,000 on the one credit but I was happy with that.

Originally Posted by Pessimeister
I also like to listen to various remixes of Chris Huelsbeck's great soundtrack for the game which is excellent and quite memorable.

Another reason to get it. The 3D mode has a remixed soundtrack to go with it that's quite good.

Currently playing Civilization VI on Switch.
Again, it is amazing, how well playable these 100+ hour time-sinker, hardcore games on this platform.

I sincerely hope that, despite the recent Microsoft deal, Obsidian is still on track to push Pillars of Eternity to Switch - who knows? I may even like it!

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Breath of Fire is one of the many old series that I keep hoping will show up on great old games or steam. I'd love to play them all again, but I don't want to play them on some teeny tiny machine.

If you happen to have a SNES Mini (you may buy one on the cheap nowadays), some hmmm… not quite legal modding will let you play these babies on your 100 inch monster TV.

Also, I highly recommend playing Breath of Fire on PS2 / PCSX2 emulation.
Absolutely different than the previous BoFs, but still one of the best tactical RPGs out there, EVER (yes, I've said it).

Honestly, I think I'm pretty much done with consoles now, and I don't put emulators or stuff like that on my computer, heck, I barely tolerate steam on my system! I'll just keep hoping that someone ports them to great old games or steam at some point, and if that ever happens, I'll reward them with cash!

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I'll just keep hoping that someone ports them to great old games or steam at some point

Keep hoping…
Porting certain old console games to PC is pretty much unlikely, because:
- most companies think that PC is the lesser platform in terms of revenue, so why bother,
- the original game tangled into a very messy legal issue, preventing the port to a new platform (e.g games with licensed content)
- the owner of the game has Other Plans in the Near Future where the port may not fit in well (e.g. unannounced re-release / remaster / reboot / etc)
- the owner of the game shifts business focus, and a port seems unimportant to them (e.g. Konami)
- the owner of the game feels this particular game is unimportant compared to other great games in their catalogue (e.g. Sega)

So the only saving grace would be some unofficial indie effort, but there are risks here as well:
- the port is totally illegal, and the owner submits a cease and desist notice (e.g. Nintendo)
- the developer is too enthusiastic, and the port contains "extra features", that enrage purists
- the developer is inadequate, and the port is botched: too slow, controls not right, graphics not right, etc

You've forgot two most important reasons why not:
- old console games are retarded and not fun shovelware, would be ridiculed on PC
- a rare title was okay, but Sony owns the game and there is no business interest to unlock it from exclusivity as it's used to sell ancient hardware in new plastic for crapload of $