Freespace 2 was fantastic - haven't played it in years (maybe never again); haven't been a really good game like freespace in years (last one which came before was xwing); the good old days of great games.
Last game you finished, tell us about it
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TheRealFluent
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Just started Outward. I picked that over Greedfall because Steam had a better Sale deal. They both seemed kinda the same. But in spite of purpleblob's middling review, it looks like a game I want to play.
More middling games till Cyberpunk. Yippeeeeeeeeee
More middling games till Cyberpunk. Yippeeeeeeeeee
lackblogger
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@Dajjer; , as mentioned earlier, I purchased a couple of the games you recommended about 6 months back'ish and completed them over the Christmas break:
Nightmares From the Deep: Cursed Heart (2012), a by-the-books six hour Hidden Object Adventure Game hybrid. It was ok, slightly above average. Though saying that I really can't remember much about it and I only played it a few days ago. Lots of talking skeletons, a bit light and easy on the hidden object puzzles and nothing very interesting in the regular puzzle arena, but nicely paced flow and relatively interesting story. 7/10
and:
The Tiny Bang Story (2011), a five hour alternative take on the Hidden Object Adventure Game. Instead of regular HO games, this game hides numerous repeated objects all over the game-world, such as hunt for 10 cogs or 24 jigsaw pieces while also providing more regular puzzles here and there.
A much more interesting game than the first, one where atmosphere shines like a beacon while the plot is still a mystery even after completion. It's just so damn charming. It loses quite a few points for the rotation puzzle though, not only the worst puzzle of the game but the worst puzzle I've played for years. Which is a big shame as other than that there wasn't much to complain about and much to laud. One of my favourite games of the year. Not very replayable though, unfortunately. 8/10
Also completed another Nancy Drew Adventure Game:
Nancy Drew: The Curse of Blackmoor Manor (2004), and this one has been one of my favourites so far in this long running 32 game series, of which I've so far played about ten or a dozen of them.
You're locked in an old mansion and have to solve a myriad of elaborate puzzles to solve the mystery of the day, from basic jigsaws puzzles to utterly bewilderingly winding secret passages that would make even a hardened Dungeon-mazer feel thoroughly disorientated. It's certainly the nearest Nancy Drew has come to being a Dungeon Crawler experience, that's for sure.
I had a whale of a time. Utterly stumped on occasion, but each time, just as I was about to reach for a walkthrough I held back the urge and pressed on regardless which, to my delight, proved each time that I was right to prevent myself, as completing a ND game on Senior Detective without a walkthrough is probably one of the most satisfying experiences one can have in the gaming world.
Many YouTube let's plays of these games take about four hours to complete, though this is usually on Junior Detective mode and with lots of escaping to walkthroughs to prevent their video becoming 'boring'. However, rest assured, I took a very comfortable fourteen hours completing this game and it felt like just a couple of hours. 9/10
And so ends my 2019 gaming. Here's looking at 2020!
Nightmares From the Deep: Cursed Heart (2012), a by-the-books six hour Hidden Object Adventure Game hybrid. It was ok, slightly above average. Though saying that I really can't remember much about it and I only played it a few days ago. Lots of talking skeletons, a bit light and easy on the hidden object puzzles and nothing very interesting in the regular puzzle arena, but nicely paced flow and relatively interesting story. 7/10
and:
The Tiny Bang Story (2011), a five hour alternative take on the Hidden Object Adventure Game. Instead of regular HO games, this game hides numerous repeated objects all over the game-world, such as hunt for 10 cogs or 24 jigsaw pieces while also providing more regular puzzles here and there.
A much more interesting game than the first, one where atmosphere shines like a beacon while the plot is still a mystery even after completion. It's just so damn charming. It loses quite a few points for the rotation puzzle though, not only the worst puzzle of the game but the worst puzzle I've played for years. Which is a big shame as other than that there wasn't much to complain about and much to laud. One of my favourite games of the year. Not very replayable though, unfortunately. 8/10
Also completed another Nancy Drew Adventure Game:
Nancy Drew: The Curse of Blackmoor Manor (2004), and this one has been one of my favourites so far in this long running 32 game series, of which I've so far played about ten or a dozen of them.
You're locked in an old mansion and have to solve a myriad of elaborate puzzles to solve the mystery of the day, from basic jigsaws puzzles to utterly bewilderingly winding secret passages that would make even a hardened Dungeon-mazer feel thoroughly disorientated. It's certainly the nearest Nancy Drew has come to being a Dungeon Crawler experience, that's for sure.
I had a whale of a time. Utterly stumped on occasion, but each time, just as I was about to reach for a walkthrough I held back the urge and pressed on regardless which, to my delight, proved each time that I was right to prevent myself, as completing a ND game on Senior Detective without a walkthrough is probably one of the most satisfying experiences one can have in the gaming world.
Many YouTube let's plays of these games take about four hours to complete, though this is usually on Junior Detective mode and with lots of escaping to walkthroughs to prevent their video becoming 'boring'. However, rest assured, I took a very comfortable fourteen hours completing this game and it felt like just a couple of hours. 9/10
And so ends my 2019 gaming. Here's looking at 2020!
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@lackblogger; , ok I will give Nancy Drew a try. When I was a tyke one of my friends was addicted to reading and he loved Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. He was so addicted to Hardy Boys he brought in a book for show and tell (3rd grade) and got us all hooked for a couple weeks.
As far as Nancy Drew, give me 3 essential games for the series (if you can). Outward looks like it will be kinda fun for a bit and the Witcher TV series has me wanting to at least play that game for a bit. So . . . whenever I am fully into an RPG I like to mix up my play time with some HOGs and with Nancy Drew at number 32, it looks like I missed something with those games. Thanks for the heads up.
As far as Nancy Drew, give me 3 essential games for the series (if you can). Outward looks like it will be kinda fun for a bit and the Witcher TV series has me wanting to at least play that game for a bit. So . . . whenever I am fully into an RPG I like to mix up my play time with some HOGs and with Nancy Drew at number 32, it looks like I missed something with those games. Thanks for the heads up.
lackblogger
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Recommending specific Nancy Drews is going to be very difficult as it's amazing how much each game is different to the last while at the very same time being comfortably similar.
And while The Curse of Blackmoor Manor is by far my favourite now, I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a 1st try of the series as knowledge of the more routine Nancy'isms helps a lot in overcoming the huge difficulty curve.
I'd say a good fun and slightly lighter starter would be The Phantom of Venice, a bright and colourful game with some really funny characters and some very jovial puzzles (like having Nancy dance in a catwoman-like cat-suit to your beats in a rhythm game). I used a walkthrough once for one thing in that game and regretted it, big 'doh' moment for me.
Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon was a good one as well that might make for a good starter. It has that Orient Express-like atmosphere and mostly manageable puzzles.
The Haunting of Caste Malloy was another good one that would make for a good starter and would be ideal for a one-game preparation before playing Blackmoor Manor as it is also set in a haunted house theme, just a lot less maze-like.
And you can't go too wrong with starting at the beginning with the very first game, Secrets Can Kill (now remastered version), it does a very good job of familiarising you with all of the Nancy'isms of gameplay. The setting is a bit dull compared to most of the others though, and as such could give a false first impression of the fantastic setting and puzzle variety the series offers.
And while The Curse of Blackmoor Manor is by far my favourite now, I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a 1st try of the series as knowledge of the more routine Nancy'isms helps a lot in overcoming the huge difficulty curve.
I'd say a good fun and slightly lighter starter would be The Phantom of Venice, a bright and colourful game with some really funny characters and some very jovial puzzles (like having Nancy dance in a catwoman-like cat-suit to your beats in a rhythm game). I used a walkthrough once for one thing in that game and regretted it, big 'doh' moment for me.
Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon was a good one as well that might make for a good starter. It has that Orient Express-like atmosphere and mostly manageable puzzles.
The Haunting of Caste Malloy was another good one that would make for a good starter and would be ideal for a one-game preparation before playing Blackmoor Manor as it is also set in a haunted house theme, just a lot less maze-like.
And you can't go too wrong with starting at the beginning with the very first game, Secrets Can Kill (now remastered version), it does a very good job of familiarising you with all of the Nancy'isms of gameplay. The setting is a bit dull compared to most of the others though, and as such could give a false first impression of the fantastic setting and puzzle variety the series offers.
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I said three because I just knew you would give me five.
Hey, my top 10 RPG list of all time has 16 games on it. So there's that . . . anywhoze thanks, I been watching a lot of Netflix etc lately and its time to get back to RPG gaming where I have some small control over outcome.
Dragon's dogma: Dark Arisen. I lied. I could not stop after finishing the base game and I just completed the Bitterblack Isle DLC. Twice (for the awakened Daimon). I had a lot of fun with exploring the dungeons and combat (best part of the game). After 87 hours according to steam (hmm, game says 69 hours) I'm definitely done with it now.
I slayed 6000 enemies together with Patty!
Dark Arisen does have some things in common with the souls games: the world building through atmosphere, the combat difficulty (not so much near the end as enemies dont scale), and grinding for better weapons and experience. It is the respawning enemies (and grinding that goes along with it) that is the worst. However, I must say I would look forward to a DDA 2 which improves upon these things.
It was the first time I used some kind of reshade mod (ENB, http://enbdev.com/) to tweak the graphics. It worked quite well and mostly improved the lighting.
I slayed 6000 enemies together with Patty!
Dark Arisen does have some things in common with the souls games: the world building through atmosphere, the combat difficulty (not so much near the end as enemies dont scale), and grinding for better weapons and experience. It is the respawning enemies (and grinding that goes along with it) that is the worst. However, I must say I would look forward to a DDA 2 which improves upon these things.
It was the first time I used some kind of reshade mod (ENB, http://enbdev.com/) to tweak the graphics. It worked quite well and mostly improved the lighting.
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Outward:
A survival RPG
Got this game on sale for 15 bucks. For me, not worth it. This is a deep discount game that you should get in a bundle. 5-9 bucks Why???????
Autosaving is the only saving. This game saves like a Hidden Object Game. The game ONLY saves when you leave the game. It is debatable whether auto save or save portals is better. Both are awful.
Additionally, when you get beat in combat you teleport away with a loss of some goodies and health. But you are alive.
And finally, the automap is just a map of your location. Sometimes. Sometimes the map is just game flash card... ie nothing.
In the opening quest I was given 5 days to do something. When I went back to my home 2 night cycles later the lady said I was late. The game clock said I took 11 days.
The RPG pool is vast nowadays, so no need to endure a game. Bye, bye 15 bucks, I hardly knew thee.
A survival RPG
Got this game on sale for 15 bucks. For me, not worth it. This is a deep discount game that you should get in a bundle. 5-9 bucks Why???????
Autosaving is the only saving. This game saves like a Hidden Object Game. The game ONLY saves when you leave the game. It is debatable whether auto save or save portals is better. Both are awful.
Additionally, when you get beat in combat you teleport away with a loss of some goodies and health. But you are alive.
And finally, the automap is just a map of your location. Sometimes. Sometimes the map is just game flash card... ie nothing.
In the opening quest I was given 5 days to do something. When I went back to my home 2 night cycles later the lady said I was late. The game clock said I took 11 days.
The RPG pool is vast nowadays, so no need to endure a game. Bye, bye 15 bucks, I hardly knew thee.
Carnifex
SasqWatch
Just knowing that the only way to save the game is to close and exit will be enough to keep me from buying it, so thanks for the information. I'd heard plenty of good comments on Outward but I have a serious peeve about not being able to save exactly when and where I choose to do so.
Steam so nice.
I put in 112 minutes and had the game for 5 days (Outward). I asked for a refund and three hours later my money was mine again.
Hello 15 dollars, I think we know each other. . .
I put in 112 minutes and had the game for 5 days (Outward). I asked for a refund and three hours later my money was mine again.
Hello 15 dollars, I think we know each other. . .
lackblogger
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The administrator had probably played it and empathised with your pain 
Heh, I shouldn't be mean, but, well, 2019 was The Year of Derivation after all, I think most games last year will have be catching people in unexpected ways.
Heh, I shouldn't be mean, but, well, 2019 was The Year of Derivation after all, I think most games last year will have be catching people in unexpected ways.
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txa1265
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I have played that whole series as well - and agree, pretty good but not overly memorable. There are other series in the HOPA (hidden object puzzle adventure) genre that better captured my imagination - Letters from Nowhere is one that comes to mind.
Just finished Star War Knights of the Old Republic ... again. I have always loved this game, and honestly feel it has aged pretty well. Through the years I have played pretty much every build ... but this time I returned ‘home’ - 2/18 Scoundrel/Consular Male, 100% Light Side.
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JackOfOwls
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Black Mesa with the new Xen Chapter. Good shit except for the new Xen chapter. Never completed the original Half-Life and it seems from what I've seen that even the original's last chapter that takes place on an alien world where all those troublesome critters originate from felt out of place and was a jarringly tedious experience. Maybe Xen is just a bad idea no matter how much you update it and make it look pretty. All I know is that Black Mesa Xen was easily the worst chapter of the game for me. Otherwise liked BM a lot.
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Is the last chapter complete or still in beta ? Hum. Answering my own question - looking at steam update seems to still be in beta with more refinements to come in 2020.
JackOfOwls
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I noticed performance issues in Xen though I tend to play at higher than recommended video settings for my card. Yeah, I think they're working hard to optimize and perhaps refine a few things. I don't really like the Xen chapter though. Too many repetitive puzzles and not enough variety. There are some absolutely astonishingly high quality things about Black Mesa that are AAA caliber, however. It just needs editing of certain areas or levels, imo. More is not always better.
Anyone know how I access the CP here so I can change my avatar? I've been away a while and Kim is a bit passe these days
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Forums -> User CP -> Edit Avatar