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twillight 12-10-2012 07:28 PM

Twillight's playings
 
Yep, the big, ugly, infamous game.

I'm going Postal: playing this gem on Mazochist difficulty!

lvl1 had 2 hard points: getting out of my own garden was almost impossible. Then where the street sturned stood 3 guy with missle-launcher!

lvl2 was hard 'cause it had no supplies, and had to use the shotgun a lot (at close distance it is a must on this difficulty). So it was best going as soon as the requirement was reached. Also good idea to learn to use grenades/molotov coctail.

lvl3 was easiest to go from up to down. Reached 100%. Good to know that the game carries over your weapons/ammo, your armor, and lastly your health if it is above 100%. If your health is below 100, it'll be rised to 100.

lvl4: run in at the beggining to the fenced area, then when things calm down a little start to clean the map from the upper right corner to the lower left.

lvl5: try to rely on holes where the opponents can't pass. This outsmarts the AI.

lvl6: the place is tight, so try to outmanouver the enemy. The requirement is also 95%+.

lvl7: you must outrange the others. Try to use barrels, if one blows up it tosses away others (gives range).

Not sure if it is lvl8 or 9, but The Train is a bloody hard level, 'cause many enemy uses fire against you. And fire burns... The only advice I can give is: try to alway be behind cover, see what you're shooting at, and try to abose gellered shots (there is no time limit, and the ammo in SMG is unlimited, and the ARE dangerous).

The Construction Site: an nterresting level where the movement is limited, but the shooting isn't.
Seems for Mazochist diff. 100 health is the maximum, and I'm getting better as this was like the 3rd lvl where I ended with more then 10 armor.

In "The Getto" I found the last weaponry (auto shotgun).

Finaly finished! The Military Base, the last level is much easier if you played it before, as you'll know: if there is a door, throw a molotov coctail at it then go near - the enemy comes out and gets fried!
Also note: if you see or even suspect a napalmer, use a homing missile!
And at the beggining use rocket for fast clearing the initial enemies.

That's all folks!

twillight 14-10-2012 01:29 PM

Thx for the admins for the change of title.

Here are two titles to mention from this ocassion:

Purizushi:
A nice upgrade of blockout games as you have to distroy a picture (the game is 16+ or something) instead the usual blocks.
It works with mouse, thus the speed was incrised, what isn't that good if you ask me, and it only have 1 picture (with 2 levels and 2 difficulty).


Cartman's Authoriath:
Yes, you play the fat boy from South Park.
This is an excelent "let's spend 5 minutes" game from the platform genre.
It is fast-paced, but not timed, so you can "oh my god, they killed Kenny!"

Feels a little short with only 8 levels, but just give yourself some goal (like only use the SMG, or use always the highest weapon, or the hardest from my favourites: only use weapons with no ammo), and it will give you good replay value.

twillight 14-10-2012 10:18 PM

zombies ate my phone

An ok-looking flash play where I could not figure out how to buy upgrades, and it soon became repetitive.

Also lack any detail why "reject call" in the game.

twillight 15-10-2012 10:47 AM

Smash Franzy 4

Again a blockout game.
It looks very nice.

Well, as long as you ntice only the skin changes between levels. everyone should know a blockout game is about arranging the blocks!

Also if according to the backgroundstory (given in a docu before the very first level) we are aginst the alien, then why I'm battling pygims and ninjas?

From the all-hundred (so much not even fun) levels I found only 1 notable, where ninjas jumped on you from the upper floor when you destroyed the ground objects.


Cult
another disapointment.

For this game you can choose a wild variate of languages.
The story seems also appealing: you are a police-negotiator who wlks in a cult-hostage situation. The militarised cult has the usual toxins, brainwashed members etc., while you only have your negotiation-skill (noone shall be harmed if possible).

The game is a like something made by RPGMaker 2000 or something.

Too bad the movement is too fast.
You loose life for no appearent reason.
You don't really have a clue what to do (I was sent to a guy who I could not find, was sent for an envelope I don't know where to look for, pushed(?) buttons(?) just because they were there).
And the program seems awfully glitchy as it many times freezed. Actually it just lost the controlls, and I had to use the windows-toolbar to click on it again on what it said "Cult is already running", then the controlls got reactivated.

So good idea, bad design. Oh well.

yoga 15-10-2012 05:10 PM

Good for You, dear twillight!

These game directions are very useable.
Sadly, brave is trying to start the latest version of WmotA and SS2 but without success and have no time to try Your list games.

Actually, i am little tired after passing 62 games till now.

Your total games?

Greets from yoga.

twillight 15-10-2012 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 446664)
Good for You, dear twillight!

Your total games?

Greets from yoga.

No idea of total games yoga. probably with all tried at least 500.



Necronomicon (full detailed walkthrough with reasons!)


You hear a knock on your front door. It is Edgar Witcherly. After a disturbing cutscreen he leaves.
As you go back to your room another knock is heared. This time it is Robert Eagleton asking you to pay a visit to your friend visiting just a short while ago, because he acts strange.


For this we have to go to the town. As we are a minor aristocrat thus living further from town we have to ride our motorcycle. That means get your keys. Also some spare coins will serve too.


In the town everyone is... avoiding you. If you've read the newspaper you might see some reason, or maybe Edgar is really acting weirdo. Finaly some old woman leads you to the grocery, what opens the same time. The gorcerer isn't helpful at start, so let's enter the row of his customers and buy a boksz of matchbox. Still not convincing enugh (or he's mere greedy), so let's buy a map too. Now we can at least fast-travel.


He lives in an unconvincing place. Sadly Edgar is not at home. We don't get any more information, so let's visit his father isntead (the opposite way to the town, strange we know the location of the father, but not the son). From him we hear two more person: Gregor Hershow and dr. Owens. One shady person from the past, one from the present.


Let's visit or mimir, the grocery shop's owner. For some coin he directs us to some shady fisherman to hear more about Hershaw. Why we want to know about him? Well, to have some understanding of Edgar of course, as that is one of his obsessions.
The ship-owner informs us he was a prominent person, so let's check the local news' archive.


From the news we get confirmed the Gregor was a prominent person, but the same time we hear fires and missing people.
Also amongst the current news we find report of graverobber. Hm, might something to do with Edgar's archeology-research? Nah, this is current day news. Still...
Anyway, back to the fisherman, who comfirms Hershaw was a shady person and leads to a new contact.


Who of course wves us away. Buy some booze to him and return. It will be a good sailor-tale, but all we get is mumies, and another tall-teller.
During waiting the new man to talk let's try again Edgar – and he's home. Acts... suspicious. Consult Mr. Eagleton, who says Edgar is into … mystical if not occult buisness, even visiting the cemetry.


Also don't forget Mr. Witcherly. Seems Edgar was really into Mr. Hershaw, and kept documents in his room. Let's check those out. Not as much as we hoped, but better then nothing.
At least we can talk with our last contact. Now HE is finaly useful, although looks just as batshit crazy as Edgar acts. But now we start to make connections.


Comes a not really obvious move: go to Edgar's place, and unlock the front door with the new found key.
Here you find the „undeciferible letter” (now we can telll have an official clue, lol), and some paper indicating someone is trying to rise the dead, and even traficating the Elder Ones.
When we try to leave we realise something is without question not well with Edgar, how lucky we know a psychiatrist.
Loot the house, then conspirate some with our guider, just to go and loot the bungalo too.


We arrived to the first puzzle. Let's solve it!
We have 3 discs to roll. One has names and symbols of angels, and we have a book to recognise those symbols and match them to days of the week. We have a letter mentioning a ritual, what must be done when „the Saturn is in trine”. We have a calendar on a trigone is sined, so we'll need Saturday.
The other two rolls have also 7 symbols, so they must also sign the days of the weeks, problem is, how to connect them to Saturday.
If we take a look on the big chart on the wall of the lobby we'll find the pictures of the angels on it too. Under each of them has a symbol. The Angel of Death has a scythe, and under it we have the second sign we need for the treshold. (Don't ask me to match all the smybols of the chart and the code-plate, as I can't though. Fortunatelly the sign we're looking for do matches.)
The third symbol we'll see on the drawning upside down. Behind the cupboard we found a key and an ornated thingy. The thingy has the third symbol.


Descend. When you light the last light you're out of matches. You pull a lever, and you're entrapped. Congratulation, you've reached Disc 2!


Your inventory is emptied, so get the lighter from the dask in the room. Go out and make some light – now you have a lantern. Time to desecrate a corpse, a book and an altar. Beware, that going to the altar to grab the axe is timed (the torch goes out after a few seconds)!
Bash the chest to have a replacement-lantern and the key to the cabinet. There is a book upstairs just as we're breaking privacy.


Congratulation you've reached the Lab. Obvious what to do (light up), less obvious how. Go to the furnace and put in coal as many you can. Click above the furnace (after you closed the grid) and fiddle the levers and the wheel until you succeed (we're not mechanics). Then return to where you came in, find a wheel to run, also look for a fuse-box (it is pixelhunt, as from the darkness you see squat).
Next thing: loot the place! You'll find a syrenge, a key (with an codeplate we're familiar with) and some caol-tabletts.
Here is the frustrating part: you can have only 1 herbs, so investigate further. There is a … talking machine what requests fluid. There is a row of containers and a mixing tank on the other side. There is really no clue to the solution of this, but I ease your work: don't bother the upper row of chemicals, they won't help you.
Injecting the fluid to the brain will give it power to talk. Listen the dialogues. It'll tell Edgard is posessed, and tell you who you'll have to summon up: Eliphas Lévi. Prepare yourself.


The treshold's code will be based on Eliphas Levi. Don't let the markings mislead you to Victor Hugo! So he is a Mars-spirit. According to the description of Spirits of the day he is of Tuesday, and thus Samuel.
The second symbol was on the chart on the wall up in the bungalo.
The third symbol is the astrological symbol of Mars (you can use the internet for this).
Welcome to the Jar Room. Remember who we want to summon. Find the monogram.
Entering the summoning chamber is no problem. Open the drawer, put things in the circle, put the coal and the incense on the pillar, then burn everything.
Next thing to do is grabbing a key what strangely saves us from the police and fullfills the final death requirement of … But I let Levi tell what.


As we have nothing better to do go loot Edgar's house again. It has a new area too.
Then we're in the library. Search the sections mentioned. There'll be a book mentioned „too horrendous”, now that's in the enclosed section.
Mapping the location of the Gate will be equally easy.
For the ancient building use the pyramid you got at the very beggining as map. Your goal is to open the big chasm.
Your goal is to go down. There will be 3 marks of the way. The first is a platform with hieroglyphas: follow the arrow. The second is some „stairs” although ard to tell what it actually is. The third is the end mark: green room with a pedestal. Push hte pedastal, and push all buttons in the same coloumn. This opens a grid. Enter that way, and push the big button, then start to run through the doors matching your set. When you reach through another door will be open what leads to a cutscreen what seems again from a previous version of the storyline.
The big building is actually pathetic, although I'd piss myself if it'd be real.
When in the final labyrinth the rule is: always push the left button.
Foir the final seal either just click on the buttons as fast as possible until you find the right combination, or push this order: 2-3-5-4-2-6-4-7-2-1, or stay there trying to decyphere the otherwise cool puzzle and die by the „bad ending” what is the better made one!

twillight 16-10-2012 02:44 PM

Prisoner of Ice

I've replayed this for the sake of comparsion with Necronomicon, both being based on H.P. lovecraft1s heritage.

The N. is much more nice, but the puzzles... Are for experienced puzzle-solvers (or you can solve them fast by simple trying until succeed).

While PoI has drawback (like almost charicaturistic NPCs), but the gaming-experience is high. I mean except the kattle-puzzle everything can be solved by a regular player who knows something about the adventure games genre. Even the timed tasks are ok and logical.

Giants: citizen kabuto
I found this while I was looking up Gorky17. Stored long time age for lack of requirements.
The graphic is beutiful.
But when I've launched the game the writings were incomprehensible. Tried all kind of settings, then gave up and click "reset default". That strangely worked.
But still no sound. Still loved the graphic.
1st mission objective #X: kill all shrieker, #y: reach the boy fast. Suprise: those buggers respawn. Hey, from ~building! Dang, not just I can pass objects, but some respawn-buiding was placed INSIDE the terrain? How'll I kill the enemy???
Hell with it, run to target. Hey, why I had to run when he is in invulnerable position? And when I reach him "mission accomplished"??? What happened with "kill all bugs"??
Mission 2: "save 4 idiots jumping among piranhas". Wtf? As soon as they reach water are bitten by fishes. Should I ctach them while falling? Wtf, insane difficulty?

Quit gaming :(

yoga 17-10-2012 06:15 AM

500 games?
Wow!!
brave passed 62 games only..
Probably You play day and night non stop?

Congrats, barat twillight..

I feel respect to the experienced sons of Hungary:
You, well respected Hunvagy and Tracker

twillight 17-10-2012 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 446693)
Probably You play day and night non stop?

I play years and years with sometimes months of breakes, or playing only 1 game exclosively for several monthes.


For example I had an ATARI what had maybe 6 games (PacMan, Tennis, one very difficult what I think Abandonia has, Space Invaders, and probably 1-2 more).
For Comodore64 the starter pack (2 disk) had like 120 games, and games were exchanged between users like no tomorrow (they were extremly cheap, and basically no copy protection existed).
For PC demos were a hugh source of gaming-experience, though I don't count these as "games". Still, if I'd count the games I currently own, then number would be between 30-50 (I might count it some day).
Then came the age of Flash Games, most of those last 5 minutes per playthrough?
Then don't forget freeware, shareware and abandoned stuff.


EDIT: Currently trying a playthrough of Gorky 17. The trick is, I try to do it without EVER getting hurt. Fortunatelly I have a proto-version for this (made years ago), but still having hard times. It still will be upgradable, especially as stun should be tried on Grandma... Where I used a napalm-shot instead rifle shot unfortunatelly... Oh well, hope I'll pass anyway.

twillight 22-10-2012 08:59 PM

Teen Agent by Yahtzee

This a classic adventure game but with all the possible nasties what takes away the fun from an adventure game, and in numbers.
The problems are:
- illogical puzzles
- pixelhunt
- timed tasks
- forced solutions (times when to accomplish the task you have 15 things to do it the same way, but only one is accepted)
- "repeat until succeed" method (normally if a certain combination of items not work, you won't force and try it again and again and again, right?)

Fortunatelly the look and nostalgia with the game being short enough makes it ok to play it once (with the walkthrough at hand).

Capo 24-10-2012 01:28 AM

Since you play a lot of oldies why dont make some recordings for Abandonia ? :)

twillight 24-10-2012 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 446844)
Since you play a lot of oldies why dont make some recordings for Abandonia ? :)

You mean those video-playthroughs?

Mainly because I never knew how.

Also I'm a slow palyer who praises S&L.

Lastly comments like "I shoot down those civilians because they'd get in my line of fire otherwise" (for Postal on Mazochist Difficulty you really start to think that way) would sound trange...


Not to mention if I'd upload anything but some basic comment on eg. the Revenge on Trilogy (School, Police and Army) I'd most certainly violate Abandonia's "under 18" policy.

Although the Renge on... games are really something to catch on. Too bad it wa never translated to english from hungarian, but I could make a surgery there the data-files are written in .txt format, lol
They look like the "Spellcasting" series with CGA graphic and basic "choose action" interface...
But as they are about mindless violence, violent sex and some bad jokes - no matter who clever (but basic) the adventure-puzzles in 'em, they are STRICTLY for MATURE audience (although let's be honest: these games work best for 16 year olds).

...on School is fast and excelent (for its goal). If you can suffer dying a few times you'll reach the end.
...on Police concentrates more on violence and less on intercourse. The inventory-system can cause unvolunteered restarts, and the final puzzle is really hard.
...on Army has almost no sex, and violence isn't that personal anymore (aka. you can't kill everyone). The story is on a much larger scale, and the puzzles start to reach frustration-level. But it actually started to grow from "going Postal" thing to real adventure platform (although of course not at all a politically correct one).
Sadly the series got terminated during the very beggining of developement of a fourth episode. Still it is a wildly known and preserved trilogy amongst hungarian gamers, what don't get old by the progress of computer-industry.


PS: Capo, if you tell me how, I will consider your idea.

twillight 28-10-2012 02:04 PM

Commando 2
Inspired maybe by TA's words in the chatbox, although he sure not referred on the flashgame:smile2:
It is a "go from left to right and shoot down things to reach the end of the level" game with some platform-jumping parts.
I found it cool in graphic, the weapon-arsenal and everything, although I disagree with the names of difficulty.
I'd call "easy" to "normal" (especialyy the second half) with a rather hard boss at the end.
"Normal" is "hard", and I confess I can't pass mission 2 of this difficulty. But it is definitly a fun game with clever design.


Sonny 2
Managed to unlock all achievemnts!
For "All Star" I had to win another battle after defeating the Major the third time. I was soo worried it is not included in the offline version, ad soo relieved when it popped up!
For the Legend acheivement I used the Cold Hydraulic build, and for Zone 6-7 the Psychological build.
For this time on the old favourite of mine strenght-poison biological felt sooo lacking in caomparsion...
For Zone 6-7 I grabbed the Psycho as it has the infamous "Shock Coma" combo, what is an instantkill strategy where you overheal the enemy. The combo is basically: high voltage, high voltage, shock coma, shock coma, high voltage, retrorgade. As passive you also need Overdrive. this causes 120% healing what with the last move you revers to damage. To ease your way you may start the combo Traumatizing the opponent to gain a free turn. It is important you get healed (bring Veradux + Roald), and not get hurt by the opponent (so wear vitality-equipment, the 75 vitality armor is a nice start). Also might want to invest a little into speed as High Voltage is not autohit :(
Anyway this makes things joke-easy with the exception of the Twin Guardians, where you again have to respec. But you'll have plenty of coin at this point, so oh well. Reaching lvl 30 is also very easy, as the game is generous with exp when you do train fights in Zone 6.
Against the Twin Guardian you must cause as many stuns as you can (well, at least on the bottom guardian), and that's all (just anote: take a look on Confinment to get more of the idea).

I'm very glad I completed this game. Hope the 3rd installment of the series will come out sooner then later.

twillight 08-11-2012 08:24 PM

Reinstalled Icewind Dale.

Don't have the expansion, neither the second of the series, but I checked the stories, and seems there is a reason why the whole is called a "trilogy".

My team will be:
fighter dwarf 18/80, 17, 19, 10, 10, 10 (for extra saving throws and good tank)
halfling fighter/thief 17, 19, 18, 8, 8, 8 (for extra saving throws, another fighter, and a trap-remover)
gnome illusionist 18, 18, 18, 19, 5, 8 (for extra saving throws and the extra spell slot)
fighter/cleric human 18/81, 18, 18, 3, 18, 8 (for additional melee power and healing, though it hurts that on lvl1 you can't rise porficiencies above 2)
half elf bard 15, 18, 11, 18, 10, 18 (I had a 6th character slot, so I though let's give a punch to dead weight and let it sing songs all along the adventure, while ocasionally tossing spells. I think I rolled good enough stats even to add some melee power if necessary)
half elf druid 17, 18, 16, 4, 18, 15 (originaly I wanned a fighter/druid dualclass, but even this requires insane stats. No wonder there are "very few true neutral characters". I got very fortunate only lacking 1 point from the perfect stat distribution, but this is a wonder still)

PROLOGUE: Eastheaven

Now I know why I didn't play this game since I first installed it. The pictures are boting, the movies are lame, you gain slow exp, you start lvl 1 (it is basically only luck if your character survives lvl 1, not skill by any means), there is very limited source of items what are even randomly generated and the money is scarce, and there is no full-detail-walkthrough.

According to my knowledge to get the best from the start you need:
- a bard (gives extra money - not just by pickpocketing - and exp, and every little helps while you're still lvl 1 and have no equipment)
- a dwarf (gives extra money)
- a thief (pick lock for extra money and later to save health by disarming traps)
- a cleric (else you'll run out of money)
For the later part:
- you may not have more then 1 mage
- paladin should be avoided if not for strickt powergaming
- cleric and druid can mean some extra exp (cleric even infinite exp bug)

twillight 10-11-2012 03:33 PM

Wizardry IV

An ancient game, inspired to play by yoga's current go with the 7th part of the series.

This sequel sound pretty badass being with the evil side and summoning things time to time to your side instead creating a fixed party.

The lack of sparkling graphic does not disturb, although a slower fighting sceen would be welcomed, but still nothing to scare me away.

The bad part is: there is absoltuely no manual. Thus you don't know what worth to summon (in the starting chamber you can't even leave until you summon priests and make them cast a certain spell at random during a rendom encounter, what later will be even hardened that they must do the same at a certain point of the maze as I've read...), there is no info what the different potions do, and I could not equip any equipment I'v found.
Also expecting I'll remember all the spells during fights I find ridiculous (although here alt+tab helps, as OTHER parts of the series has manuals to be found and that has the list of spells and their effects).

So if someone could provide me info on the how&what part I'd be thankful... Until that I made a short recording anyway if Capo is still expecting that.


Fearie Solitare

A solitare game with nice graphic, and a ... storyline ... what makes the thousands playing feel still different.
I has a ton of achievement inculduing "rising" pets on the usualy achievement table, and in the quickplay mode it even notes if you finish a full level (9 hands in a row) with all perfect statuses.

The game is a little longer then to be able to follow the story, but you can replay that ina separate menu, so it is nicely done.

The upgrade items have different usefullness, so it really worth to gather for certain more expensive things then to unlock from cheapest to most expensive.

Capo 10-11-2012 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 447256)
So if someone could provide me info on the how&what part I'd be thankful... Until that I made a short recording anyway if Capo is still expecting that.

That would be great ;)

TotalAnarchy 10-11-2012 07:55 PM

Regarding the manual for Wizardry IV, the Ultimate Wizardry Archives which can be found on replacementdocs.com may contain some useful information.

twillight 10-11-2012 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TotalAnarchy (Post 447262)
Regarding the manual for Wizardry IV, the Ultimate Wizardry Archives which can be found on replacementdocs.com may contain some useful information.

That's the only doc I already found. Tells nothing about anything.
It has the list of spells attached for the firt game's details, and I figured out on my own that equipping might work like "delete item": only that is equippable what will appear on submenu when I hit "e" (= equipp button). Seems nothing I found was equippable.

Still: no info on the summons, what would be crucial. No info on the potions what questions their use. Etc.

EDIT: found full walkthrough here.

EDIT2: got full list of summonables.

Smiling Spectre 12-11-2012 09:33 PM

Just checked Ultimate Wizardry Archives...

1. Well, main doc is first 60 pages or so. First 4 games, according this manual, using exactly the same system, so only flavor and installing info remained.

2. Spells are here, at the end of first part manual. :)

3. Potions are exactly the same as "instant spells". If you have it identified, it will be exactly the same (and you need manual to know what it does with all this SOTA and DEGA abbreviations).

4. You need to identify most of loot to use it (it's in the first manual too :).

No, I didn't play game by myself, but it's look quite logical for me...

twillight 05-12-2012 08:07 PM

Cobra Mission

Replayed this nice somewhat adult game again. Well, it is mostly fighting city-infesting gangs, with occasional chance of nudity-screens.

It is very much like the japaneese hentai-games, except it is made in the USA, and the eroticism isn't necessarily part of the game, but a very-very clever addition instead. Especially considering the age of the game.

The only problem each time I replay it I find it more and more easy. I wish there'd be a difficulty setting.

hunvagy 06-12-2012 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 447684)
Cobra Mission

Replayed this nice somewhat adult game again. Well, it is mostly fighting city-infesting gangs, with occasional chance of nudity-screens.

It is very much like the japaneese hentai-games, except it is made in the USA, and the eroticism isn't necessarily part of the game, but a very-very clever addition instead. Especially considering the age of the game.

The only problem each time I replay it I find it more and more easy. I wish there'd be a difficulty setting.

It is very much like a H-Game, because it is one. It was not made in the US, it's a japanese game. Cobra Mission, Dragon Knight 3 (aka. Knights of Xentar) and a silly fighting game were the only games the company managed to localize before they went belly up.

twillight 06-12-2012 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hunvagy (Post 447698)
It is very much like a H-Game, because it is one. It was not made in the US, it's a japanese game.

Rly not usA? My mistake.

And I said it was an adult game. What I praised is, you CAN AVOID most of the hentai if you want. From all the stuff you only have to meet 2 sceen (plus the ending), what is very generous.

TotalAnarchy 06-12-2012 08:06 PM

Avoid hentai scenes? Nowai!

twillight 19-12-2012 09:36 PM

Meh, after reinstalling the whole system I sorted out what to play with and what not to. Here is what remained (anything else got removed):
- Baldies (I won't give up trying to pass the Pharao Mask level, even if my life depends on it!)
- Fallout 2
- sam&max hit the road (I just want to pass this once more, it was so long ago)
- discworld 1 (I found the - I think - old HotU version what works with ScummVM, has sounds and speech and everything. Current HotU no longer has this, so if Abandonia would like it...)
- g.o.l.e.m. (Ill pass this with all three races/difficulties no doubt)
- Diablo 2 (to have a stupid action game)
- Gorky 17 is still to be reinstalled (I don't now where I've put the disc, it is somewhere in my room though)
- hunted, the demon forge (not reinstalled yet, but I want it. Not sure how much will I play with this, but there it is)
- Siege of Avalon (still waiting to be reinstalled, would be good to know if I have Chapter 6 to work, or still not able)
- Baldur's Gate 2 (I still have to check if I could replace my old savegames, working on poverty run)
- TerraFire (ancient game which for today went shareware status. Managed to have the full version with sound! It is really a cool game)
-----
Heroes of Might and Magic IV is pending
-----
There are some not tell their titles of adult games (eg. DiviDead) to run at least once (i got those five games once, never got to play them though).
-----
Having trouble reinstalling Fallout Tactics. After the patch some "missing file" stupidity comes up, what is nonsense and not happened before. Any suggestion for that would be welcomed.

twillight 21-12-2012 05:03 PM

Aliens busted
A sadly very short flash game, where you have to push down the road enemy cars. It resembles a lot to a C64 game of mine where you got scored for distance reached, maximum speed and passangers hit (that was probably a negative score, but you know the average player. Also policemens did not worth any point as passanger...).

Visitor: Massacre at Camp Happy
This is a horror-genre flash game. The idea behind it is to play through a B-horror movie with the alien flesh-eating beast devouring everything in sight.
While the idea is nice, but the human victims (the goal of each level) are too random to believe the storyboard, what really hurts the experience, and after 2-3 levels makes the game feel repetitive.

The Visitor Return
This is the sequel to the previously mentioned game, and a much better development is you ask me!
Here you play with the same type of alien, but the whole thing is more compound. For a start there is no roaming around, you just have to solve the puzzles on the same screen, each act changing the environment. And during that you grow, and grow.
The puzzles are not easy but doable, and the sights are really gorey, what is definitely an advantage. If you have 5-10 minutes to spare, really worth to check this out!

Red Code Origins
This is a surprisingly well-made survival shooter, I think based on Starship Troopers. It autosaves at each stages, and it don't suffers from "you made it wrong, you die", and neither the even worse "no matter what you do you'll die" designs. Even the lame ending don't ruin your experience with this.
Countless enemies, mindless shooting, and some real time strategy. Thumbs up!

twillight 25-12-2012 05:22 PM

I found my CD-key for Zax the alien hunter!

Imediatelly installed it, and it is as much fun as ever, though you probably don't know this excelent game.
It is a Diablo-clone with sci-fi storyline, pretty much bug-free, totally action-based, and the quests and storyline actually makes sense (unlike Diablo)!
Not to mention the ship's AI is totally like Mother from the first Alien movie: sexy, but totally insentient.

As this game could actually be a hugh competitor to Diablo 1-2, it was sentenced to forgetness, but not for me! I also realised I can not get information about basically the only one item totally optional in the game (a weapon), so I almost imediatelly restarted, this tie on Hard difficulty! Not that I expect any extra, but I'm perfectly skilled to beat Normal without any problem, so go all the way!

Here I'll note all item per mission just to make a guide (the game really don't require a walkthrough).

M1:
- Laser Welder: the starting weapon. Not much to say. Use anything else if you can. On Hard difficulty it is suggested to use this to open vases.
- shield 01: your basic shield
- battery 01: you basic energy-supplier for your weapons which use energy
- medic kit: a consumable what can be created by your ship. Don't make any if you don't have to.
- your ship is also capable to recharge either your weapon or your shield. Don't use this function unless you absolutely have to.

M3:
- you'll find 2 korbo artefact to reactivate the ship's medical station, which function is absolutely free (so use it whenever you have the chance)
- Light Pistol: this oneshots the basic opponents finaly.

M4:
- Plasma Thrower: your first weapon where you have to pre-make the ammo (so no recharge on field). It is good when you have to aim on one thing in the middle of a large crowd. Too bad it can not be reacharged from energy-bulbs.

M5:
- Semi Auto Weapon: the second weapon what uses ammo. It is fast, and has larger impact on single target then the Plasma Thrower, but it can't hit a line of enemy unlike that. The ammo can be found on the field (from red flying robots), so it is suggested not producing any ammo for it unless you absolutely have to. Again good if you want to blow up a transporter's control panel.
- During M5 there is a very hard fight against Azah-Pan. If you play on easy/normal you basic weaponry should be enough to win, but on Hard I needed 2 canister for the Plasma Thrower to disable the last pod before the room's entrance, and 3 more canister plus 2 medic kit to beat Azah Pan and its crew (not to mention several tires).

M6:
- Alien Electric Weapon: an autoaiming weaponry with limited range. You won't miss this as this is a quest item (what will be destroyed when used for that purpose)

M7:
- shield 02: while the first version only provided 75 shield, this gives 200. Cool.
- twin disruptor: this deals at best only slightly more damage then the previous weapon, but at a much faster rate. I dvise you to skip it unless you play on hard, 'cause it is harder to control energy-efficiency.

M8:
- autogun medium: an unmoving support weapon what you can place anywhere, then later pick it up. It is slow, it is vulnerable, so I suggest avoiding it anytime, unless you have a very-very good reason to use it, and plenty of resource to make these.

M9:
-granade launcher: it uses granades as ammo, what can be taken from several enemies, starting with the yellow spiderlike robots. Very self-endangreing, so I suggest you to skip it unless you play on hard mode, where of course you'll need every single type of equipment sooner or later it seems.

M10:
- I found the official secret areas! Two areas connected each other, their names called official "Secret ..." (won't tell the exact names)
- impact cannon: the coolest weapon until now. It don't eats all your energies, it has sufficient firepower AND it launches energy on a rapid scale! Perfect design.

As now comes the "interesting" part, I'll start a new post for size-sake.

twillight 26-12-2012 12:06 AM

Let's start this today:

M10, the three elemental temple area:
- as soon as you arrive you get the chance to produce Battery 03. As always battery enhances the life of your weapons.
- part 1 of a new alien weapon (handle)

---------

Here comes the three temple which order is theoretically independent. I can not confirm that for now, especially after the Temple of Air, but read bellow:

Temple of Air:
- nuclear disruptor: it has high velocity, but on Hard it isn't THAT useful. While it can help you blast through bigger crowds it no longer (unlike on lower difficulties) oneshots the big meanies, what is a definite drawback with its much higher energy-consumption.
- 1 part of new alien weapon (gun tube)
- the trouble what I faced here is when you are out of the temple itself out in the jungle again you can find the Secret Cave of Despair. Here an extra part is unlocked if you have a Moon Key when you enter the cave. The problem is there is no extra Moon Key I could find, thus this means a potentially gamebreaking design.

--------

Temple of Fire:
- full auto gun: an even faster version then the semi auto weapon. Good against crowds, or fast shooting opponents.
- 1 part of the new alien weapon (that part what hits the bullet. firing pin?)
- just to mention in the last section of the temple (where you meet the korbo) there are two places which says you'd need come cross-shaped keys. You can find none though, and I don't see any function for those thingies even if you'd have the items to activate them. Also right at the entrance I see no reason for the restricted platform appart from plain nuisance.
- again for curiosity-sake: at the very enterance there is a computer-treminal what looks like a summoning pod control board on a pedestal. It has no function, and the red portal never gets activated. It can however be destroyed if you lay a Proximity Mine besides it.

--------

Temple of Water:
- 1 part from the alien weapon (the backpart. It is found technically at the Water Temple Areas, but before actually entering the structure)
- 1 part from the alien weapon (scope)
- companion drone (much more advanced then the auto turret. It hovers around you, has actually some armor, and fires bullets rapidly. Don't use them too much though as they cost resource to produce)

----------

M14: missile launcher. As soon as you're offered go backwards to find a teleporting crystal and get it, at least on hard. It is immensely powerful, and the projectile won't bounce around finaly. It uses ammo.

When fighting here Azah-Pan it should evidently be an option to run in, push the lever, then shoot the console to disable his teleport pad, but that is not so. Just dispose this metal demon, and the remaining army won't even hurt you further this time.

--------

M15, Jailbreak: many people had trouble here though what should be done should be evident: stay behind the robots. You can even rescue a korbo here if your are feast, and kill the executioner when it comes back (this does not activate the turrets nor the teleport pads).
Here the game starts to be really hard with all the big flying robots, the granade-throwers (they throw granades out of screen) and the missile robots...
Here is an area called "secret" too in the Snow Brothers area, behind the fence what gets deactivated temporarily for spider bots. And here comes a bug: this can fail. The spider bots don't get out 'cause the fence never gets lowered sometimes. If this happen you lost your chance getting into this area.
More serious problem is, when there are items under little dome-containers what can not be shooted open, instead they have certain conditions to open. If the condition is destroying robots instead turning a valve you might get not able to reach the items, what is gamebreaking. This is solved retrying the puzzle from a save (on hard diff save is a must anyway).

M16:
here thing start to bend to this rule: do not leave any area until you discovered EVERYTHING in it. Like in the map where you are not allowed to use guns (to avoid unnecessary confrontation) when going backward you should hide behind the wall you're told going backward too (not at all obvious)!
Also at a point using 1 mine is "suggested" (I don't think the puzzle can be solved otherwise, and it is efficient to blow up with it the console + the robot + the item-box)

M17:
- shield 03 (gives 350 shield point maximum), what is almost hard to keep filled)
- trispread gun (not look really awesome as it fires 3 bullets spreaded. But it has really high velocity and eats very low energy)

NOTE: from plasma thrower you can have 12 canisters maximum. Not that you'd want that, as at this point it is kinda weak.
From the autogun and the drone you can have 3 each. As you should start to have more ore then you can spend (well, at least if you find your amo on field) you should make these just in case.

M18:
- there is a semi-secret area (it is secret as it can be found by blowing up a container, but not called "secret", but Money and Mayhem), good to try out the trispread gun
- alien electrical weapon enchanced (this is a quest item. If you remember M/'s alien gun, it is that returned. Has low velocity, but autohits in multiply direction, so evidently the crowd-handling weapon from now)

NOTE:
- There was an imprisoned corbo whose fence's other side we had to reach (using valves to course overpressure in tubes or something). This can be reached in this part.


M19:
- Psychic Wave Glove: it is a BAD weapon. It shoots a large chunk of energy causing area damage what spreads for like 2 seconds. Amusing against hugh crowds, but eats way too much energy, and most of the time a suicidal weapon due to its "spreading" effect, what is even armorpiercing.

twillight 03-01-2013 01:05 PM

Alon in the Dark 3

Well, this game is I feel terrible, but once it'd've been good to play through. But still I can't run, so there this game goes what could not decide if it want to have ghosts or mutants, be an AitD game or a Resident Evil game or a Prince of Persia game.

twillight 04-01-2013 08:39 AM

Sam&Max hit the road

This game is too surreal for me. Without a walkthrough thhere is no way I can accomplish it.
Well, after playing Alone in the Dark 1 I realised adventure games is a type of games where you aren't supposed to win without serious meta-knowledge. For example AitD starts with such timed puzzles (two) where you don't have enough time to solve the puzzles if you don't know them before they start to happen!
Not to mention after currently replaying Discworld 1 adventure games seem to have more problematic concepts to their puzzles then just surrealistic associations and timed puzzles (what are especially annoying in textbased games like Hitchikers' Guied to the Galaxy where at the start you have to get the Babel Fish - or you're screwed - from a limited number of tries choosing THE words the program expects - no synonimes accepted -in a very long line of stations for that quest), namely pixelhunting (when items you have to find are very tiny and blend in the background - there was even a game where one of the items was actually exactly 1 pixel large!) and absolute randomness (like after you feel you finished Act2 in Discworld, for some nonsense reason you have to do even more: some impossible to guess actions to actually finish that act).

So when it comes to "easy" adventures like Prisoner of Ice, I find THOSE actually more acceptable, 'cause although PoI also have some seemingly "random puzzle", but at least it does at places where you have only a few choices, and not that kind of insanely large inventory like in the Ultima series where in the first 2 minutes you find so many items like your weight three times in gold.

TotalAnarchy 10-01-2013 03:52 PM

If you're looking for more "easy" to play adventures check out Dracula: The Resurrection. Most adventures are somewhere in the middle. Out of the ones I played, Black Mirror II features some of the most down-to-earth puzzles. Even though I love the Broken Sword or Monkey Island series, they have some obvious headscratching puzzles. Hmm...

twillight 11-01-2013 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TotalAnarchy (Post 448602)
If you're looking for more "easy" to play adventures check out Dracula: The Resurrection. Most adventures are somewhere in the middle. Out of the ones I played, Black Mirror II features some of the most down-to-earth puzzles. Even though I love the Broken Sword or Monkey Island series, they have some obvious headscratching puzzles. Hmm...

Hey, thx!

Too bad none are abandoned, and both works by CD.

twillight 12-01-2013 02:55 PM

One more post to Zax the alien (treasure) hunter due to lenght (and convenience):

There was a fight, the area titled "showdown of Azah-Pan", thus theoreticaly the last fight with that entity, more on this later, anyway it was in M19. For the actual fight the constant 5 power-armoured rocket-bot are just a little bit too much for any sane person, so just stay at the red portal and shoot in blindly hoping to cause the death of the chief-metaldemon to at least stop the reinforcement. That can work, and makes life oh-so-much easier.

M20 is a short area, preluding the final boss, Ohm. Ohm-mani-padme-humm I think. And just to mention the look of Zax is strangly similar to Fallout Tactics. I mean on the robots part. I wonder if there is a real connection.

Now as short M20 is, it is just as dangerous. The second area contains a litle "run from the lava" incident, but appart not killing everything along the way, thus probably suffering not few damage, it is durable. The start is more laughable. First you activate by a terminal 2 gates what releases 2 power-armored-rocket-bot (let's call them armor-bot) AND activates to pod what spawns even more... Fun.
So to at least avoid imminent death, use the Psychic Gun to dispose one of the bots behind one of the fences. I chose the north one. Then you'll have to run blowing up the control panels hidden behind the walls and such, but with quite a lot of saves and not a little luck even on Hard Mode it is at least possible to do.

Now there is an interesting bug. During ~cutscreens not necessarily everything stops (especially not granades). So you might end up completing a puzzle/quest but ending up 0 health, thus ending up as both living AND dead, what is naturally bad. And even if you die for real, it is painful to redo such a hard task!

M21:
- appart assembling another quest item, a new weapon is waiting to be found. In progress.

(to be continued, only 2 more "chapters" estimated)

yoga 13-01-2013 05:36 PM

SoA
 
- Siege of Avalon (still waiting to be reinstalled, would be good to know if I have Chapter 6 to work, or still not able)


Please, dear twillight, give me in a mean time little bit more info about above mentioned game.
Thank You.

How are You?
Still fighting in FO2?

:smugulon:

twillight 13-01-2013 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 448688)
- Siege of Avalon (still waiting to be reinstalled, would be good to know if I have Chapter 6 to work, or still not able)


Please, dear twillight, give me in a mean time little bit more info about above mentioned game.
Thank You.

How are You?
Still fighting in FO2?

:smugulon:


Siege of Avalon is a very Diablo 1-like game. Actually, I wrote the review of it for Abandonia.com: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/29...Chapter+1.html

Fallout 2 is reinstalled, but I have the "too fast worldmap travel" bug, and although I've found a theoretical solution (patch), but I did not try it out yet due to other things to do. So I still not left Arroyo. If I can circumgo the bug I'll write a journal version of my adventures to give it a better worth.

Oh, dang, if I'm already talking about journals and stuff, why not give list of my existing projects:
computergames: I have an ongoing tournament for Diablo 2 with a singlepass hardcore character. The Gorky17 "pass without any wound" playthrough. Siege of Avalon (but maybe I should get this from Gog.com or something to assure I don't have a bugged version as it is quite long if you think on it). Baldur's Gate 2 has probably an ongoing fighter-druid solo playthrough (dang, I don't even remember!) and the solo poverty playthrough (to see how far I can go). G.O.L.E.M.'s last race. Teraafire (minor project as it is kinda arcade-action game). Fallout Tactics deathclaw playthrough IF I can reinstall the game. Fallout 2's "ultimate pass". And the "I won't give up" game: Baldies.

books to read: The Flying Soucer Project quadrology. Justin Cronin's trilogy if he finish to write it. Power of the Cube. Tad William's Otherworld series (pentology?).

there are also a dozen tv-shows to watch too, but I feel the list is kinda fluctuating:smugulon:

Diablo 2
My singlepass character died. Not my failure, neither the character build (berserker), but 'cause AI-collapsing bug. I did happily killing a sole curropted ranger, when the AI got corrupted, and forgot there is my merc to be attacked instead of me, thus turned to me and oneshoted my character (multishot cursed whatever mobleader, the mob was taunted screens away).

Conclusion is, with a very well thought build and experienced playing and with a little luck (or persistance in shoprunning) it is theoretically possible to win D2 in a singlepass game, but due t the tons of bugs the very-very-very hard road becomes technically impossible.

I'll still keep the game for casual-gaming for its mindless killing-sprea, but otherwise I dispise it, and discourage you to play.

yoga 14-01-2013 01:02 PM

The best gamer in Universe-brave of course
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 448690)
Siege of Avalon is a very Diablo 1-like game. Actually, I wrote the review of it for Abandonia.com: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/29...Chapter+1.html

Fallout 2 is reinstalled, but I have the "too fast worldmap travel" bug, and although I've found a theoretical solution (patch), but I did not try it out yet due to other things to do. So I still not left Arroyo. If I can circumgo the bug I'll write a journal version of my adventures to give it a better worth.

Oh, dang, if I'm already talking about journals and stuff, why not give list of my existing projects:
computergames: I have an ongoing tournament for Diablo 2 with a singlepass hardcore character. The Gorky17 "pass without any wound" playthrough. Siege of Avalon (but maybe I should get this from Gog.com or something to assure I don't have a bugged version as it is quite long if you think on it). Baldur's Gate 2 has probably an ongoing fighter-druid solo playthrough (dang, I don't even remember!) and the solo poverty playthrough (to see how far I can go). G.O.L.E.M.'s last race. Teraafire (minor project as it is kinda arcade-action game). Fallout Tactics deathclaw playthrough IF I can reinstall the game. Fallout 2's "ultimate pass". And the "I won't give up" game: Baldies.

books to read: The Flying Soucer Project quadrology. Justin Cronin's trilogy if he finish to write it. Power of the Cube. Tad William's Otherworld series (pentology?).

there are also a dozen tv-shows to watch too, but I feel the list is kinda fluctuating:smugulon:

Diablo 2
My singlepass character died. Not my failure, neither the character build (berserker), but 'cause AI-collapsing bug. I did happily killing a sole curropted ranger, when the AI got corrupted, and forgot there is my merc to be attacked instead of me, thus turned to me and oneshoted my character (multishot cursed whatever mobleader, the mob was taunted screens away).

Conclusion is, with a very well thought build and experienced playing and with a little luck (or persistance in shoprunning) it is theoretically possible to win D2 in a singlepass game, but due t the tons of bugs the very-very-very hard road becomes technically impossible.

I'll still keep the game for casual-gaming for its mindless killing-sprea, but otherwise I dispise it, and discourage you to play.

:whistling:

What?
My good friend stopped by "tons of bugs"!
No more.
I promise You, dear twillight, that after finishing System shock 2 and Wizardry 7, immediately will start D2 and will send You good save file to continue from the problem and difficult place.
Friend in need is friend indeed.

the brave

64 games over

twillight 14-01-2013 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 448701)
:whistling:

What?
My good friend stopped by "tons of bugs"!
No more.
I promise You, dear twillight, that after finishing System shock 2 and Wizardry 7, immediately will start D2 and will send You good save file to continue from the problem and difficult place.
Friend in need is friend indeed.

the brave

64 games over

Please, don't do it dear yoga. I played D2 plenty of times, not to mention I have backup savefiles even for this particular character. I'm simply not interrested continuing this playthrough, or any other (I had/have a double swing barb and an inferno sorc on "try it out" bases, and a ranged enchant sorc for casual gaming experience what once I though will bring all the way to lvl99).

yoga 14-01-2013 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 448702)
Please, don't do it dear yoga. I played D2 plenty of times, not to mention I have backup savefiles even for this particular character. I'm simply not interrested continuing this playthrough, or any other (I had/have a double swing barb and an inferno sorc on "try it out" bases, and a ranged enchant sorc for casual gaming experience what once I though will bring all the way to lvl99).

:doh:
Level 99?
Mama mia..!

Great!

Listen, man, You killed that boss in Doom 2, after up with the lift?
brave never did it.

:hello:

twillight 14-01-2013 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 448704)
:doh:
Level 99?
Mama mia..!

Great!

Listen, man, You killed that boss in Doom 2, after up with the lift?
brave never did it.

:hello:

Oh, back then I even did all level to 100% secrets, and got shapshooter with the single barell shotgun:woot: But it was a long time ago, before I bought Doom 1 in shop and thought I got cheated when at a certain level all my stuff was taken away (later abandonia explained the game was made from chapters and that was how it supposed to happen unfortunatelly, but then I never went back).

Hm, isn't Elder Scrolls Arena using Doom engine, ES:Daggerfall using MM6 engine, ES4 using Fallout 3 engine (upgraded Unreal engine)?

yoga 14-01-2013 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 448705)
Oh, back then I even did all level to 100% secrets, and got shapshooter with the single barell shotgun:woot: But it was a long time ago, before I bought Doom 1 in shop and thought I got cheated when at a certain level all my stuff was taken away (later abandonia explained the game was made from chapters and that was how it supposed to happen unfortunatelly, but then I never went back).

Hm, isn't Elder Scrolls Arena using Doom engine, ES:Daggerfall using MM6 engine, ES4 using Fallout 3 engine (upgraded Unreal engine)?

:OK:
I see You know all game engines?

What about BoK?
:D

twillight 14-01-2013 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 448708)
:OK:
I see You know all game engines?

What about BoK?
:D

What is BoK?


And no, just a couple of famous ones. Not to mention all current game uses Unreal engine, so I'm unable to play them, due to virtual reality sickness.

Dang, there are only 3 type of games... 1 type of games currently in shops if you ask me, only differing in weapons:
- World of Warcraft: big manga-swords with occasional magic. Your character can WALK.
- Fallout 3: the above with guns.
- Prince of Persia Sands of Time: the above, but your character jumps with impossible moves in slow motion.

Ok, as MMO there is Sim City (in 3D again of course), but that's hardly any variety.

TerraFire
Huh, I remember mastering this game back then when I only had the demo, but now I can hardly proceed on Normal!
Ok, this is now the full version, and instead of like 5 levels from the early stages I have all the 27, but come on, the last 2-3 levels (I'm on 21 currently) was really pushing me to my limits. It'll be a wonder if I can finish this.
Until now (thx to saving whenever possible) I only lost life once (and gained it back via a bonus), so I still have some hope.

Smiling Spectre 15-01-2013 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 448711)
Dang, there are only 3 type of games... 1 type of games currently in shops if you ask me, only differing in weapons:

Oh, come on, you are too general. :D I hardly can see how WoW and PoP are "similar" to you, but, oh well, there are much more games on market. Did you ever visited Steam? :) X3, Civilization 5, Magic Crystal, Nancy Drew and Amnesia hardly will fit your description, to name several ones. :)

yoga 15-01-2013 07:50 PM

Angry yoga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 448711)
What is BoK?


And no, just a couple of famous ones. Not to mention all current game uses Unreal engine, so I'm unable to play them, due to virtual reality sickness.

Dang, there are only 3 type of games... 1 type of games currently in shops if you ask me, only differing in weapons:
- World of Warcraft: big manga-swords with occasional magic. Your character can WALK.
- Fallout 3: the above with guns.
- Prince of Persia Sands of Time: the above, but your character jumps with impossible moves in slow motion.

Ok, as MMO there is Sim City (in 3D again of course), but that's hardly any variety.

TerraFire
Huh, I remember mastering this game back then when I only had the demo, but now I can hardly proceed on Normal!
Ok, this is now the full version, and instead of like 5 levels from the early stages I have all the 27, but come on, the last 2-3 levels (I'm on 21 currently) was really pushing me to my limits. It'll be a wonder if I can finish this.
Until now (thx to saving whenever possible) I only lost life once (and gained it back via a bonus), so I still have some hope.


BaK = Betrayal at Krondor
(The best RPG for me.)

:palm:
OFF
So sorry!
Rats!
Can You imagine my misfortune, mates?
Poor, pooooooooooor yoga!

I just received my dream - the new Kindle 4.
I am trembling and starving to start this device with my new BG and Russian e-books (from BG Chitanka and Russian Flibusta sites)
..i just entered my lovely site AB when...
:(((
a new 100-pages project is landing on my deck now!!!
I want to take AK-47 with 10 bullet loaders and .....

Yes, I am crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least 7 days out....

:picard:

twillight 15-01-2013 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 448731)
BaK = Betrayal at Krondor
(The best RPG for me.)

:palm:
OFF
Can You imagine my misfortune, mates?
a new 100-pages project is landing on my deck now!!!

At least 7 days out....

:picard:

We all wish you the best dear yoga.
Until that I'll peek on that Kotor... or what. We won't betray you!


Betrayal at Krondor
Ugh, what to say? I know perfectly well what to say. This was probably a very innovating program of its era. Too bad like many game what was attracting when it came out it just scares away anyone who never played it before. Like the original Heroes of Might and Magic compared to the other parts of the series.
It look ugly - something what is not comfortable, but what you can get accustomed to. But the same time it works slowly and the controls are uncomfortable.

This game is practically has Might and Magic 6's gameplay before the engine actually worked. I mean for example characters in this game take 'steps", 'cause the engine could only handle hexagonals that way. But for a current-day player it is just "laggy".

The character-developement part comes streight from Quest for Glory series. So it is probably good.
Too bad a) you don't know which is your main character b) the intro's background story doesn't make sense (probably 'cause it takes pages of 1, 11 and 111 from its fictional source), c) probably there's no warning on character-changes d) it should be at least mentioned in any review of the game weapons get damaged by time and ammo is not infinite with bows e) the graphic of spells is although very eye-catching imeditally suggest you'll have trouble without a manual.

All in all despite not being a bad game, I don't suggest this to anyone, sry.

twillight 18-01-2013 12:39 PM

The Fifth Disciple

This game is so lol. It was great fun for me, though it is not really a ... it ... Oh, just I tell you.

This is a ... cRPG so to say, as there is character development, and it would be rude to call it an adventure game just for its interface, or action game for its slowness.
Well, it is instead a strategy game if we consider the battle mechanic's similarity to Disciple 2.

The fights are exchanged with adventure-puzzles... technically ... as almost none of the puzzles makes any sense. Fortunately for dedicated people there are only a limited combination of stuff, so theoretically it is possible to pass the game w/o a walkthrough... although beat me why would anyone do it.

The graphic on the other hand is passing. The atmospehere is what brings this on its shoulder. It has a complex background-story (the actual game is pretty streightforward), maybe even too detailed to only have it during cinematics.

It has also the design-failure demanding a lot of abilities on certain levels, namely:
fireball lvl 5, teleport lvl 3, illusion lvl 4, magic shield lvl 2, fastness lvl 2. I also found lvl 5 golem (best summon) and lvl 5 control a must. Other skills provided great benefit were Deathlink and Manadrain.

Oh well, I stop babble about this. To end: this game isn't great. But solid on its own right.

Motherload

And another classy flash game. I always wanned to do it for one go, and finally just found enough time.
Took a marathon 5 hour to beat this mining-game (with an interresting bossfight).
It gives me satisfaction, 'cause its savegame system, what although saves your stats and equipment, but do not saves the map, or the spent time, what gives on one side some annoyance (digging down requires lot of time) and on the other an unfair advantage to those who save after collecting a bloody hugh amount of money.
On the funny side the game has certain bonuses "hidden" on the map which give some instant cash. That's ok as someone always looks for rarity, but consider this: you dig out some dinosaur bones. Ye, right dinosaurs are fossils thus ready to be digged out - but we are on the bloody MARS! Pirate Treasure Chests could be hidden by the little green martians at least XD

twillight 24-01-2013 07:31 PM

Cursed Treasure

This is the flash-version of the Dungeon Keeper. You are the "evil warlord" who stores treasure in his/her fortress, and the "good adventurers" come and try to steal it.

The gameplay was changed to a Tower Defense mechanics.

It is very easy to use, and has more then basic graphic.

The gameplay is good, sadly the concept behind the game ruins the experience. I mean there are no achievements for starter. That was although inserted in the expansion pack (Cursed Treasure Level Pack), but that ... thing suffers from boring maps.
What the original lacks beside the achievement system is the challenge overall. I mean it'd be challenging and tough to think out a strategy IF you wouldn't be able to level up infinitly (at least until maxing out all skills). Dang, that way is what is even encouraged by the developers (from all forums of the game all "do it in lowest level" efficiency comments were removed, and a "max everything playthrough" is provided instead).

Anyway, just to see if you can achieve "Briliant" score for all level it worth trying, although the skill-developement for that seems pretty streightforward. To be able to do the first 5 levels you need maximum pool of mana. For the 6-10 levels you need cheapest + strongest meteor spell. Seems that a highly buffed damage-tower (what means either the last skill from green or red) is also a must (so it'll be red).
For 11th and 13th level you'll have to buy max. freezing + max. fear for blue towers. Without freeze you'll have absolutely no chance winning Briliant score for the "hard" maps.
For the remaining levels it seems you'll need more money and/or cheaper woodcutting spell.
It is rumored the very last boss is only defeatable if you have max. meteor and can supply to with mana from building red towers.
Well, that's my hints for you:max:

twillight 27-01-2013 01:47 PM

Zax the alkien hunter

I'm finaly at the end.

M21:
You can assemble an alien weapon: Heavy Barel. It is the energy-equivalent of the Rocket Launcher. Eats a lot, and pretty self-dangerous, but very effective (oneshots everything but the power armor bots). Fortunately it is almost unavoidable to get.
There is no crystal at the area to bring you back to your ship, so be cautious with your health.

M22:
The final area. Right at the start is a crystal, and a while later is another crystal. Use it to fill up all your weapons, even your shield!

These last areas are especially hard as they contain a lot of narrow areas and only the strongest robots. So each and every pod will be your enemy instead helping you resupply.
On Hard Difficult (remember, I play that currently) some situations are almost unsolvable, so saving every step is recommended. There are "puzzles" meaning if you open a certain door a certain pod will activate and such. This mean more saving and reloading. The map, the pods and number of heavy bots against you means it is a ~puzzle" to choose the right weapon at the right situation (at least in Hard Mode).

Now I go and try to kill the final boss.

EDIT: maximum medical kit: 15
herbal bags you find during the game: 6 (heals less then medic kit)

twillight 31-01-2013 06:35 PM

Gorky17

I will forever preserve this game, and now I've done my old-old dream of the "not a scratch" playthrough! None of my team member EVER suffered any (non-story related) damage.
I played all battles, and hired all characters.

With the new computer some compatibility-issue happend, but I managed to break through that. The new hardware was strong enough to prevent the all-so-famous battle with the succubis crashing the game.

Sadly the only known other bug remained, where if you cause damage with a bomb AND the same time you blew up a barrel (intending to cause even more damage), the game still crashes. Not that this'd matter too much, as it is unnecessary, and only one time the situation can arise.

Anyway, if you read this I repeat: I won the game without any of my party ever got hurt!

twillight 03-02-2013 02:19 PM

Dungeons of Dredmoor

Man, this game'd deserve it's own active topic so much!

It is basically a modern version of Dungeon Hack in the sense it is a totally randomised dungeon-crawling experience.

It has some important differences though.
First: at the start you can't switch too many things. You can only set the difficulty and wether you want to go with the original setting of "until first death", or you allow yourself a reload (I THINK it is a reload, as I did not try that).

This "hardcore" basic setting is really exciting, although sometimes very dangerous, but really adds to the game's tactical aspect, as it works in a turn based system.

The other, and most obvious difference is: there is The Major Villain! You don't meet much background story or lore, but it means heaven and earth.

Not that there wouldn't be a ton of ingame description and joke. There is. Although 99% of the time you don't bother with them. But as the game is quite hugh despite its simplicity, you'll most probably meet with them anyway. For example one of the skill-tree is copied from the original Diablo's first boss: The Butcher.

About skills: the game offers something for everyone, and they're quite balanced. There are overcomplicated skills like Necronomiconomicon, or vampirism (designed from the twilight saga, hey, why else would it have the skill "sparkling", eh?), or the very streightforward weapon skills.

Currently I try my luck with a very simple build:
- mace: originally I tried axes, but I realised I can separate monsters from each other, what is even pretty much advisable. The most easy way to die is to suffer a couple of critical hits in a row. And while swords offer some additional damage, maces can offer some extra distance. After gaining shoplifting I put a point here, as that means a difference of life and death from level 2.
- two weapons: if you ask me the best defense is offense. At least in current day games finding strong defensive equipments (in this case shields) is doubtfull. Oh, and even without a single spent skillpoint it functions well: full damage when you hold two weapons instead using a shield.
- burglary: this gives unlimited lockpicks what mean exp. To be honest I'm not sure what happens if you run out of lockpicks, what is a possible threat in a randomised game. I think you can kick doors open, but I'm not sure about locked chests (what means items). Gaining "five finger discount" skill in this tree right at the start (go down to level 2 as soon as possible 'cause shops are rarer there and the exp is more) means more chance stealing something good from the shops. Also the "ninja vanish" is a pretty awesome escape ability.
- mathemagics: pretty much my only magic skill currently. The main reason I chose this is the initial teleport ability: it places you random location, but it is a teleport (there are some "island" locations), and is a last resort cheap escape skill (it even brings you through walls). The other abilities it offers are also all handy.
- assassination: I chose this mainly for its passive bonuses, as most skills here provide that. Also gives more stunning ability, so it combines very well with maces.
- berserker rage: even more damage without the need of thinking. Also offers a hugh bonus to a magic resistance, what can come in handy at a certain point I'm sure.
- big game hunter: well, this was pretty much a spacefiller skill of choice. It provides some extra exp, some extra hp, tons of hit chance, and even a summoning skill what don't depend on some stupid magic skill

Appart the skill-developement of the game there is another cRPG aspect of it, namely how you get your items.
One choice is to get every coin you get and buy in the local shop's random offers. If anything I sell the traps I picked up here 'cause if I lay it down, unlike other items, they disappear (theoretically "used up" on some out of screen random monster).
The second is to get one or more of the crafting skill. The problem with that is, you need to invest a lot of levelup reward (aka. skillpoint) to rise them to the necessary level. Not to mention you'll have to find the necessary ingredients (I saw sometimes 1 ingredient in a recipe can count more then one time, but possibly it just appears so and not works that way), AND finaly you have to find the recipes for it (the "secret" recipes are much better options). Yes, you can't use some metaknowledge for the best recipes. Currently I'm not into this option, but I see it can be pretty good. And oh yeah, this game offers that many items like in an Ultima game (but the areas are much more compound, so no trouble there).
There is a third option too. There is an item "Lutefisk horadric cube" or what, what you can exchange at Lutefisk altairs for possible items. Here comes the tricky part: the item of course will be random, AND you can't quit without saving. BUT There is an autosave too. So what you should do is to wait until an autosave happens when you're around the statue, THEN go and exchange your sacrifise. If it isn't anything usable save&quit, and reload the autosave to try again.
The last thing here to mention is an enchanting anvil you find like 2 per level. It can give a random attribute to the item you place on it. Can be either good or bad. So play the same trick here again.

Lutefisk is a food what gives 1 hp otherwise. There are all kind of hidden effects for all kinds of items (to be honest magic wands and mushrooms are not even told what they do).

So bottom's up, what one of the three expansions this games offers 15 levels of dungeon crawling, and this time I like it! At every turn watch your health, and don't be afraid to run away! Climb back to a higher level to heal (if you're not a vampire you gain back hp by time), and descend via another stairway if you have to:smugulon:

twillight 03-02-2013 11:36 PM

Just some quick levelguide to the above game:

Level1: pretty streightforward. The real dangers are some unique to this level monsters, like Unfriendly AI. If you have the buglary skill it really worth to try to not find shops until you have the 5-finger discount, I just "stole" an 8* weapon ("stolen" items from store are randomly generated in the inventory unlike from vending machines).
Also: it is possible you get an impossible start where there are too many monsters in the first room. This is independent from your skill choice.

lutefisk tithe: maximum 3 star weapons, or 1 star for anything else. I wish I'd have preserve that crossbow getting damage reduction... But couldn't re-roll it again (and I left the game alone for whatever and the autosave overwrote itself with that time's current item)

subquests of inqonsequentia: the target locations/monsters are always marked on the minimap for the quest's duration

inside the wall: sometimes you can see unroofed areas totally sorrounded by walls. Those are valid location, but only reachable by breaking down walls, or the random teleportation of mathemagics (fat chance...). There MIGHT be an item what is determined by the map-level you are on.

Level 2: the uniqueness here is a "zoo", an area filled with monsters and coloured on the minimap. You have a chance to close its door if you find it too early. Seems if you kill all things from here you get a quest-reward (item).
The other potentially lethal thing is when mumies cast some purple fog effect. It is rare to cast, and placed at random location. If it is combined with a "haywire" effect (critical success for spells) in every turn it damages like 30 hp. Just telling.

lutefisk tithe: maximum 6 star weapons or 3 star anything else (in extreme cases maybe 4)

Level 3: the potential danger here is the size of the local zoo. You simply have to run back and rest while doing nothing, as they are so many you can easily run out of supply and they'll still coming.
The other threat here is also related to the zoo. If a bunch of octopus grouped together it is very hard to dispose them as they all have ranged attack and won't chase you around (instead they are moving random). So you either have to be very patient and wait until 1-2 separates from the mob, or get the Hunter's Lure skill (in case you are without ranged attack).
Oh, and do not stand in goo.

lutefisk tithe: weapons 6 stars (in extreme cases 8), anything else 4 stars (in extreme cases 6)

level 4: No good game is without error. Well, first, this level is nothing exciting finally. Really, quite calm. Bad news is: I saw my first magic golem. What's a magic golem? One of the few monsters (and a trap, so I'll have to pay attentiion) what destroys your equipment! If they get into melee range! No wonder all builds I've found on the net are all spellcaster (= ranged) builds it seems...

lutefisk tithe: weapons: 7 stars, anything else 5 stars
But in the shops I saw an only craftable (so you can't find it laying on the ground or get from lutefisk) 10 star mace... I sooo want it... But it is costy. I have 45K coin... And it demands 75K!

twillight 09-03-2013 09:30 PM

Sinjid
Meh, this part of the "Sinjid" series should have a second part of its title too, as this is the 3rd installment of the series (and probably the final part), made by the famous flash-programmer Krinn.

It is a good game, preserving the feeling of the series, which all three parts had a somewhat different interface, the first being a simply arena-game, the second a little walkaround sorrounding (and just for the hack of it this was called Arena).
This third is a "go from left to right", and is a real realtime action fighting design, like some old Stree Fighter series.

The graphic is nice, and the music-program is a new design implementing random parts mixing. Works ok, although I doubt anyone would care for the actual music here as it works really just a simple background thingy. At least it isn't something you'd automaticly look up how to turn off.

The abilities and their animations are ok. The best thing is, they are distinguishable from each other, what IS a good thing.

There are 4 classes, 1 being premium content. They are quit balanced, what is very surprising. I don't know when I saw last a game where the factions were made balanced in strength and capability.
Shops, money and items are pretty acceptably made too, you don't feel shops are out of reach or demand zounds of grinding in case you have to rely on them, what doesn't occur too many times, but amongst the latest items you always find something worth to add to what you found on field. So it is quit good.

The only problematic thing is 1) the "hidden" chests contain equipment not worthy for each class 2) the priest class what works heavily by focus is both slow because replenishing mana (called focus in game) is not as easy by food as health, and on hard difficulty where I tried out it is very hard to work out a priestly build what actually works (without grinding way above the naturally expected level).

The game won't be a thing we'll remember after years, but is very solid, and a promising prelude to Sonny 3.

twillight 01-04-2013 08:06 PM

I really wanted a "game in constant developement", meaning an MMO.
Of course I have bad taste and suspicion, and also low on money, so there were 3 cryteria:
- no regular payment. I just can't cover that. Also these games have the tendency to go into "new directions" what some - importantly: me - don't like, from what point that money is lost. Not to mention a full version "for all eternity" is usually the same price as eg. WoW for one mere month, so you see my issue.
To tell another example I very much like Adventure Quest, a tectical, turn based game with Mortal combat style battles. now there happened where (probably for higher income) they started to change the balance one day to another for the sake of entirely different builds (what means equipment, training etc.) what ment either literally hundreds of US-dollars or bloody high amount of time (where when you'd just finish they'd again make the balance upside down). So I left that game, although I already had a high level, and they always came up with a good story (of course only in the merit of brazil series or some such, but hey, it was way along serving the purpose and entertainment).
- no download. Spying on me, getting potential viruses and all nasty chances I don't ask for. Sry developer, I'm just not into that, even if you call me a fossil for that.
- attractive look/style of playing.

My greatest hope in the near past was Quest and Goblins. It looked planed a Diablo-like game where you had goblin minions as pets, or summons or something.
The game got canceled though, not that it surprised me the least. A lot of MMOs came out nowdays building your village/empire/sim city - however you want to call that. And although Quest and Goblins at least look the best of 'em, on the level of entertainment it was just another clone, thus destined to fail coming out too late and not giving enough over the others.

I got out of ideas, thus gave a thought after like 4 years, and checked out how is my Artix Entertainment account (they made Adventure Quest, and for a mere 10$ you could get a permanent account and access to plenty of side-projects and so on).
I had no intention doing anything but some ZardWars fights - a side project where you fight specific AdventureQuest monsters without any plot or reason -, and saw they released even more side-games for AQ.
So I said WTH, and checked out Oversoul, what - according to its description - is developed for a slightly mature audience. Well, that worth a 5 minute investigation I thought, and it worthed my time.

The game does not require an Artix-account to play, nor any kind of payment. And it is still in beta-fase, but this project won't be canceled that's for sure (the company is stable, and they made payment-content with strickt engagements). So it is quite early still to "rise amongst the best" fast (what is a plus for me, but checking the concept it isn't that major issue here).

It is (as basically all Artix-games) turn based 1 on 1 battles while wandering maps. Fine for me.

It has some more gory/slightly erotic etc. stuff in it already like Bikini Mail female characters (you all know what I'm talkin' 'bout), or a character called "Blood Fiend" what looks like came from the comic Swamp Thing (looks like a creature of The Rot).

By the way the concept is, you are a disembodied soul, whose "inventory" is made of possessed bodies (of defeated beings). It is promised to later include things from ArchAngels to YogSototh itself!

video

I also try to write some fanfic of it. It was sooo long I last wrote anything:rolleyes:

Smiling Spectre 02-04-2013 02:16 PM

My one and only MMO-favorite is Kingdom of Loathing. It's Pro:

1. Free.
2. Humorous and (sometimes) very thoughtful texts.
3. Not real-time in most senses.
4. Gigatons of items and content that got updated now and again;
and
5. Great people for chat in right clans (actually, chats are half of enjoyment for me here).

Contra:
1. Monotonous. (All battles are typical "hit monster with weapon/spell/skill, wait for round 2" deal. But there are much more than battles, and it can be automated with 3rd party applications).
2. Repeating. (If, for some reason, you'll stick to main quest, it will be very similar now and again. Still slightly different for different paths - and after finishing main you can select another path. Most of content still in "side-zones" though).
3. Crude-drawing. Is simple black-and-white gif art enough for you?

As for me, game (and community) is great to keep me 2,5 years here already. :)

twillight 02-04-2013 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 451346)
My one and only MMO-favorite is Kingdom of Loathing.

Contra:
3. Crude-drawing. Is simple black-and-white gif art enough for you?

As for me, game (and community) is great to keep me 2,5 years here already. :)

I'm afraid because of the quality of graphic it's just a 5-minute-joke for me, but definitely sounds enough fun to the right people :OK: I'm happy to hear about this.


PS: the above mentioned game is a card-based thing. Currently not some direct pokemon-clone, hopefully never will be.

twillight 17-04-2013 05:04 PM

Now I remember why I left Artix Entertainment's games. The employees are total jerk.

twillight 05-05-2013 06:51 PM

I - for any reason - plan to make another journey through Might and Magic 7.

With a though to go party.

My initial idea is this:
Knight / Thief / Ranger / Ninja (=aka. Monk, but I also show I wanna be evil)

Or this'd be too much overlap? No idea, didn't look the charts (yet).


Any suggestions should consider this:
- the best healing in game is Shared Life, so no Paladin
- teleportation spells are overpower, so no sorcerer. MAYBE Town Portal could pass, so Archer as alternative will be considered
- the less protection the better, so no cleric, who is also a good healer
- the game is though and built really around developing 4 different characters, so no knight*4!


Anyone want to make a vote, will be welcomed!

EDIT: oh no, I forgot invisibility. I won't have invisibility, so there goes my archer. And druid.


Oh, ok, I shot out every alternatives. Sry guys!

twillight 07-05-2013 04:47 PM

So, here is my would-be party:

evil (as good would require invisibility, what I won't have)
1) dwarf knight
2) goblin thief
3) ranger
4) goblin monk

I'll only have 3 of the 4 races.

Here are some things to vote:
- knight's weapon: spear or sword? There are better swords in the game, but I think I'll use a shield, being the party's hp-mule, so no sword in the left hand. Spear sounds more protection.
- thief's weapon: double dagger or dagger and sword? With simply double dagger all my choices will spend a mere 60 skillpoints, so I tend towards simply double dagger with all its advantage. Too bad there is no reason using Elfbane...
- ranger's race be elf or human? Elf gets better starting stats, AND can wear elven chainmail. Humans can wear the Mind's eye artifact what boosts inteligence/personality by 15 (possibly better statboost then from the racial bonus), and give spellpoint-regeneration (what I might not need, as I'll probably mostly use my ranger to remove conditions).


Too bad the ninja isn't the same as its good counterpart, else I could go use all four arcomage-reward.


---------

EDIT: Also reinstalled Hunted: the demon's forge (on PC).
First go: The controls still feel awkward, but I remember my useable settings, so it's fine to go with. Did the first part of the tutorial where the two characters are changed by the AI, and got the first puzzle of the eight.
I'll use mainly Caddoc, the melee/barbarian character.
I won't use a walkthrough this time (for the first run I only reached the first building of the first town, so I don't have much experience here).
Despite the frequent autosave I still miss a good old save&load system.
If I manage to beat the game, I'll do a maximalist playthrough with "Old School" difficulty (yay!).

EDIT: Again H:tDF proves some unexplained design for giving you an ingame menu pretty lately (at the end of the "tutorial"-part): the special abilities.
This is - again unfortunately - unexplained, that when you gain some Crytsals to buy abilities from, you can spend the amount for BOTH of your characters separately. Also, there is no "save", just "autosave" in the game, and associated to this freakishness attached you can load back at waypoints if you don't simply "continue". Then ALL abilities (including ones unlocked by achivements, like resurrecting X times, doing Y headshots in a row etc.) at any stage are always given to you, as they are associated to your character, and not the locations.

Ok, this is not just a "little unusual", but maybe a natural thing amongst Playstation-games. The game is originally made for that platform, and THAT version has a regular achievements-section (independent from ingame features).

Uhm, well, just enjoy the story I think. An' get accustmed using the middle-button/roller for control too (I'm not used to a setting where there are 4 functions on the mouse: left click, right click, rolling the middle thingy, and clicking the middle thingy).

twillight 13-05-2013 07:24 PM

I installed Might and Magic 7. This is how you can ruin it under Win7:
1) "Shockwave" is probably not on your system, so let the game install it
2) install the game as usual, and accept the settings the game offers initially
3) set "compatibility mode" to Win98/ME. Without this you'll experience immediate crash.
4) when started New Game set under "Controls" the "Turns" setting to "smooth" instead of 16* or 32*.

Now the game should run as intended.
The only problem I suffer is some sound-infinity blooper, but for this old game I think this is a fair trade. If anyone knows where are sound-settings for the game, I'd still be greatfull.

twillight 16-06-2013 02:25 PM

So many great hopes, so little result - that's me trying to play nowdays.

Where I DID achieve some progress is Tumblebugs.
Simple little game about mostly your reflexes, but needs some skill to get far in it.
Lacking any guide on the net for it, I put here my results, ever growing. I have hopes in my skills, and this is rly just some casual-gaming: 10 minutes here or there.

garden 1.
1-2 sublocation: just be fast and try to aim the bigger packs.
3. getting the all-killiing bonuses is key to get good result.
4. here are 2 holes where the friendly bugs are led. You have to keep reaching them any of those.
5. try to aim the places between two colours.

garden 2.
1. shoot your balls where you see the same colours in the row. Also try to cut holes into the row to aim the covered things.
2. beware the times when the row goes backwards (if you eliminate some balls and the free ends remaining has the same colours the balls ahead roll back). Also watch out for the turnings (try to do some time trial before touching this level).
3. use the catapult/ballista bonus as key element
4. be cautious aiming where the balls go below the surface!
5. same as 1.5

garden 3.
1. here you'll seriously notice that each time you shoot a ball the row is pushed forward!
2. because of the many turnings try to catch the bonuses to ease your life
3. the beggining part of the road is hard to shoot at, and the covered area won't make your life easier. Still, far from impossible, but worth enhanching your skills on this level in the Time Trial mode.
4. the problem is here, the initial row is long. Also don't be kamikaze at places things go below. Bonuses help a lot.
5. the initial row is long, there won't be many big packages to shoot out, and the game isn't generous here (usually) with the bonuses. Learn to use the space to swap place!

Time Trial Mode:
you can try out new levels before you'd actually play them in the ~adventure mode. This is strongly suggested if you wish to pass the whole game sooner or later.
The problem is, the levels here differ from the adventure-setting this way:
- you only get initially the basic colours, gaining purple balls when the timer reaches 20, and oranges when it reach 30.
- the initial speed here is the basic speed from adventure mode 1.1, what gets fastened at a certain time (not sure when).
- bonuses have the same chance for all Time Trial levels, what differ from adventure mode's chances. Also EXTRA letters do not appear.

garden 4.
1. you get one more colour (purple), and the many twists can make hard to reach the bonuses - fortunately they are not that important this time.
2. The field is the same as 1.2, but the extra colour makes things noticably harder. If things get covered, make new plan along the way!
3. not really anything new
4. Now here is the first level I have to mention a strategy: while you can rotate and choose what to shoot from 3 bullets on your back, unnecessary balls can be dismissed if you shoot them to a direction where there are no balls on the road. They'll simply disappear. This is also true if you shoot an obstacle (or the evil black bugs). Now as this level's road is an inward spiral, you can't do this here, what WILL be a problem.
5. this is similar to 3.5, but now it even has 2 holes to protect. Ballista will come real handy. Otherwise the map seems very generous giving only a short initial row and such.

SOME TIPS:
one of the best bonuses are "roll back" bonus. Do NOT confuse this with "roll forward" bonus, what is BADD, unless you aim for a good time (what isn't necessary).
Also do not underestimate colouring bonuses what puff a cloud re-colouring everything the same colour. If you can shoot out the result of this in any way (the superbg can initiate this to happen too for example), you can get multiply bonuses the same time!
If you remove a ball what is in touch with the black bug (and only then!), the black bug will be stunned, giving your precious seconds without pushing the row ahead. Use this to your advantage.

BONUS NOTES:
If you get an all-colour bonus, that gives you 3 all-colour ball.
If you get a comet-bonus (destroys all colour in its way in multiply rows) you get only 1 ball.
For the rest (eg. stop or ballista bonuses) I don't know if the duration is real-time or number of shot based.

garden 5.
1. same field as 2.2
2. same field as 1.4
3. same field as 1.1. With all advancement try to aim the middle of the row, not the tip of it!
4. a level what starts to be hard. Aim to roll back (by the bonus), and when you start to encounter them aim for comets. If you can hit a comet with your comet you can get insanely lot of kills!
5. on this level you'll again feel the problem that the row is just pushed ahead with each shot, so watch out for rollbacks. This is a map where you won't hit things you see, but are actually under the surface, so get accustomed to this level in Time Trial I say.
6. This is a special map (meaning initially you'll get a lot of all-colour balls, and the black bugs do not move), what isn't just that easy. Do not push things further too much, especially not behind the black bug. Start to eliminate the top of the map. Try to reach rollbacks aiming the proper balls. Not easy, but finally a good bonus level.

garden 6.
1. don't let yourself confused by the spots the row goin' underground, and try to reach rollbacks the way you did the previous level (so not by bonus, but by merging loose ends).

twillight 18-06-2013 08:54 PM

Well, instead of listing each level for Tumblebugs I reached a point where general advices worth more. And that means I've reached Garden 8.

So:
Garden 1-4 solely depends on skill. With average skill you'll be able to pass these levels w/o loosing any life.

Garden 5-6: they depend on extreme skill. You must learn for these levels to pass that w/o concentrating on bonuses your lose is encoded. With perfect skill you might be able to pass these without loss of life for sure, but I think even the best can make a wrong move sometimes. So prepare to loose 1 life during these.

Garden 7: Here you'll face the game depends a lot on Real Life Luck. If things don't go the right way, you'll loose, no matter your skill. Be ready to loose up to 5 lives!

Now to tell how to save yourself from DOOM:
when you play a garden, you must pass all levels before being able to play in a different garden.
If you do not continue your current game, you'll be put on the garden-choosing screen with 3 lives. You'll get this result too if you loose all your lives.
You may only quit to the Main Menu if you are playing in a garden.
You may replay any garden you already passed once. This is a way to collect more life!!


On shooting balls:
- concentrate on the farthest part of the row on most maps
- use bonuses. Try to chain-use them. On later levels, where are many colours the re-painter bonuses are TREMENDOUSLY useful colouring (and many times eliminating) large amount of balls.
- only shoot to the end of the row if you must shorten the row imediatelly
- when the black bug appears, stun it constantly during the endgame
- if a ball is very close to the hole and there is a big gap between it and the main part of the row it can help you shooting a ball the same colour as the far-ball to pull back that rogue ball


Wish me luck with the rest of the gardens:3:

twillight 24-06-2013 11:34 PM

Starting with Garden 8 (in Tumblebugs) you'll not want to re-play the levels (at least not in story-mode).

New terrain (shown in Time Trial) you'll get in 8-6, and it is awefull.
Heck, the whoile of Garden 8 is awefull, as all row are initially long, and the +2 colours (purple and orange) really gets in the way.

Your only chance to win is:
- real life luck to get the balls not just 1 of each colour in long lines but many
- real life luck to get many special balls in position you can catch them
- clever use of bonuses
- 1 or 2 missshots at worst
- try to avoid longing the rows too much (so try to shoot at balls only at places what causes balls to disappear)
- for Garden 8 get 15 lives. At first try I passed this garden loosing 7 lives, at second try I lost 14. It is just real life luck, I swear, but with enough tries you must be able to pass.


For Garden 9 you get 3 new levels amongst its 7. So I suggest preparing 20 lives, although less might be enough.
The first new level has very short route until fall, and 2 position to launch from, although you can almost surely shoot to both row from either. Shoot to the middle (where they'll get lost) the balls you can immediately reach something.
The second has lots of twists, and two rows (again). The key is to shoot each ball you get immediately to something with the same colour.
For both of the above you'll also need tons of bonuses, depending on RL luck.

For the third new level you again get 2 holes and rows, and this time the rows cover each others. But there is a place where the row closer gets below ground, thus giving you a big gap to aim the one behind, what means at least this new level shouldn't be too demanding.

EDIT: the only thing with Tumblebugs, that even if it's portable, AND even if you make your HDD unwritable, it still manages t put it's saves on your HDD. This means bringing your saves with you to another computer is problematic.

twillight 01-07-2013 08:47 PM

For Garden 9 actually 10 life is only what's usually lost, at least that's seem the number. Still, gathering spare lives will release you earlier for later, so 20 is still a good number.

Garden 10 is HARD by maps, but there are some good news:
- as startegy try to go for rows of specials. That's the way to win.
A "combo" to keep in mind: if you get any of the "colouring" or so to say "cloud" bonuses AND right then a rolling bonus (even if it rolls forward), you'll effect an even larger amount of balls, especially if the rows turn a lot.
About the cloud-bonuses: the "dot"-like icon eliminates the balls in its could, while the "flower"-like iconed one re-colours the ones in its cloud (to its own colour). This was actually pretty hard to test out:smugulon:
You'll most likely loose a life or two on each map of this garden, but fortunately there's a level (I think the 4th) what is a) an easy map b) all balls in the row contain a letter. So despite the row almost imediatelly filling the path, you have a good chance here to re-fill more then one life, and win without loss.


Garden 11:
it has 8 sublevels, all are insanely fast, although most are versions of earliest levels. The worst exception is what has the map of 8-6, but now has 3 rows.
Because of the speed of the levels no strategy can be followed, just hoping the best and shooting all your balls as fast as you can to the best place you can.
Don't forget you can shoot to nowhere you balls to despise them (on most levels).

One more garden to go, and one map what is unseen yet.
I suggest keeping 25-30 lives for the last go, what shouldn't require too much effort, considering you already accumlated a lot just to be on the safe side.

twillight 06-07-2013 04:40 PM

Sinjid

Krinn's latest flash-game's hard mode I found lately "pretty challenging", what means "how the bleep do I win this", but it is at least not repetitive, and you know/feel the win is just not overlooking the right strategy (what noone seem to use consider normally, heh).

I found a strategy guide for the priest class (your hear me yoga?), so let's make a playthrough trying that.

Area#1:
Well, Meditation is now a big help, actually so much it feel OP. Really, with the simple summoned shadow and the basic missle you're pretty much invincible.
Don't forget of course to shoot from out of screen:sneakrete:
What you'd like if you find is a staff and a helm above what the guide says. Oh, and do not buy anything in town. It isn't needed.

Area#2: pretty much the same as the previous.
To gain more exp I suggest after finding any quest-component to go back to town and start over the area. Gives nice amount of exp.
I also suggest collecting consumables one for each type of buff. Just to be on the safe side.
To reach the Kabuki Mask keep "up" pressed, and fast exchange the left-right directions (when reaching the walls). The last "jump" to the platform with the chest can be reached by Blink easier. The mask is heluva strong despite the "madness" suffix, so wear it.
From the boss I got Izumi's Grip (gloves), a nifty thing giving Int. Do NOT change the blue Bo (staff) you found in this area to anything else!

Area#3: Most things can be killed out of screen, and what comes alone the shadow will keep it up as before. The "madness" lowering of Int does NOT hurt, as your shadow against any single enemy lasts long enough, and you'll be able to cast your missiles until you can Meditate again, what means you can out-focus a healer, what is cool.
Battle#3 is potentially deadly IF you're unexperienced with your skills (most likely at this point). To win first summon a shadow (as distraction), MEditate to gain back focus, wait to gain back Meditation, and shoot a missile to pull out the enemy. Then shoot a Frost Spike to slow the one ahead, and Blink + run to the other side of the screen. This'll pull away the warrior, giving you a big chance to cause serious damage (summon shadow, missile). When the other guy shows up again do the Blink-away trick again as needed. If you get into trouble (most likely after the first Blink) drink your potion.
If you find "Shaman Spellblade" (dropped randomly by shamans) even one outclasses the Spirit Bo I used until that, so it might even worth to repeatedly visit this area for a second one.
Where I say nothing specific here or otherwise it is suggested to not move too much initially on a new screen to avoid finding more enemies, and be able to shoot them out of screen.
Beating the local boss is easy. Jump on the top of the boss-platform, but stay at the edge. Remove Kabuki Helm (you should have Hood of Night for switch), summon a shadow, meditate, wait until you can almost re-cast these, then activate the fight, when you immediately cast another shadow. Keep casting shadows whenever possible, and fire missiles the rest of the night. It don't even last too long.

PS: I don't know where I got "Shadow Walk" (boots), but definitely an advantage with its Swiftness attrib.

twillight 06-07-2013 09:12 PM

Still Sinjid:

Area#4:
you have to carry here 1 crab claw. Your backpack will start to fill up. Keep the rare buffers, and get rid of some food-type to be able to carry more item to sell (there are nifty-looking items in town, but money is scarce at this point, so I did not buy anything). Do NOT buy a mining pick!
Lucky Cat Amlet as long as you'll be able to survive worth wearing, despite Necklace of Wisdom will fall (keep that in store).
On Hard mode do NOT try to step in spikes as that's now instant kill. If an enemy dies on them, try gaining their stuff from the edge of the ground.
Crystals give buffs, what means only 1 from each type can worth its price. So if you find more of them either use it up immediately or throw it away, as they are not useful any more (except rising quality). Gold can be used multiply times, so that's the only one never to throw away.
Again do not listen to the guide, but on me. The initial strategy is to not move, cast a shadow, pull out one enemy with missile, and meditate as needed, then missile everyone from out of sight.

The fight against Lord Dajin is far from undoable, but lasts ages (compared before fights). The trick is to slow him down with Frost spikes, then Blink away and run to the other side of the screen, from where cast missiles when the extra buff is expired from him.
Oh, and to have enough focus, again change the Kabuki Mask!

Area#5:
don't forget to buy an Empty Potion.
This is the area your shadows tend to last shorter then you can re-Meditate yourself, so watch out, but nothing spectacular.
Ryota the Sly (the poison-cloud guy) surprisingly not last long. With shadow to block the poison-projectile, Blink and speed to run away from it, and Meditation to get healed, not to mention Frost Spike to slow him down it is an easy fight.
The good thing here is that you can find some new equipment, the bad is, they came rare and in poor quality (or just the random don't like me). And though the Venom Staff is god (in terms of Def and Int), but I'd keep my old Acidic Blade (damage over time effect, works with spells) and Shaman Spellblade (chance t replenish focus) around. Man, I wish for a bigger stash!
Anyway, in case you find anything good, save the game! Go back where it autosaves for you (because of all things being random and stuff).
Takeshi, the local boss, also known as "slefhealing scum with large area attack" is doable, although lasts finally as a normal boss somewhere else. The trick is to put a shadow on him, run away, then hit him hard with frost spikes, and meditate back your focus. When none is awaiable cast the regular missile for more damage. This cause enough dmaage to counter his regeneration.

Area#6:
For the first fight summon a shadow right away, and use Frost Spike, because the regular missiles are not enough anymore in real combat.
Haddaku the Swift is the first serious fight. You can not allow him to hit you any time, or you'll loose. Cast a shadow, hit him with Frost Spikes, and ALWAYS Blink away and run to the other side whenever you see him. The trick is to find out the timing of Frost Spike, Meditation, and the narrow limit Summon Shadow. Then all is about lasting out.
The fight after that differs from the previous one that you have to run up and down constantly. Meh, no more "did not even seen'em" victory:mischief:
For killing the two mage next you can only dream about separation. You have to run in, cast a Shadow at the middle, then jump around (not Blink!) and recast the shadow and Frost Spikes and most often the regular missile until the mages run out of focus and you finalyy will have the chance to kill them. Ugly, especially as the next fight isn't the slightest easier. The good thing is they can drop Staff of Order, in which case you MUST go back and make a save, it's just that good (60 Int, 34 Def).
For the next fight run in! After pulling out the nearer enemy of course. That leaves you much more space to manouver.
You HAVE TO take the bonus area for the cool Int-boosting stuff. Eat a shadow-potion (makes you invisible), run in to the chests, drink the second to open the chests, then the third to get out. Then go back to save.
Against the boss that Energy Field really do help to cover you (especially along Shadow, what will be here secondary to that). Oh, and again you'll need tons of focus (aka. mana), so swap helm again. Actually, a Nomad Cunning (beats me where I found it, probably in this area) might make you permanently remove the Kabuki Mask.

twillight 16-07-2013 10:23 PM

I tried out this awesome technology called "screen recorder":

Let's play Necronomicon

part two

part 3

part 4

twillight 20-07-2013 03:05 PM

Sinjid part 3

(The Necronomicon playthrough will be updated in the post above.)

Area7, Haruki Residence:

On trinkets: as from the robe we get Lucky buff you want to take up Paku's Glass Doll instead Lucky Charm (which might be preserved in case you want hunting in the last area).

Most fights here start in visible range, but not hard and have the same strategy:
shoot the bad guys with missile to initiate the battle, cast a Shadow as meat-shield, then alternate shadow missile with frost spike, and meditate when avaiable.

I think the 7th battle was the first including something special as both attacker had lots of HP. The key was not let them corner me, teleporting away and running the other side of the screen. Otherwise the same.

For the 8th battle if you don't move too much (shouldn't be hard) you can dispose the remaining two opponent from out of screen.

NOTE: whenever you find a good trinket, look for an autosave (going backwards).

For the 9th battle: DO NOT MOVE for all that is holy! The second opponent should NOT be lured out as he can do insane damage for whatever reason. Instead lure out the first guy with a missile, change to frost spikes for the remaining time, and cast a Shadow when he basically starts to hit your head.
If the first guy dies, the second can be shot out of screen.
You'll find snow Silk Leggings here what is just time to swap for your outdated Leatherhosen. It has Reflex, so you can exchange your gloves too in case you got Mystical Vambraces in this area.

Lord Tetuso, the boss of this area is bad news, though not hard if you know what you're doing. Just annoying, because he can do a one-hit-kill.
To start the battle get to the edge of the starting platform, but do not step down to the Lord's level to initiate the battle. Instead summon a Shadow, then consume some Spring Water. Then initiate the battle, and immediately cast Soul Shatter and right next to it Frost Spike. The strategy from now on is to run far away to gain time, always have a Shadow running to spare you from instant death, and Energy Field on Tetsuo to keep him at bay (and prevent his healing). On the offensive part do the Soul Shatter + Forst Spike combo EXCLUSIVELY.
Oh, and whenever you see his boomerang coming and you have no Shadow up - teleport away, or you'll die.

----

Area 8:
The first who'll mean annoyance is Kazuro, the first half's boss. He is annoyingly strong, and can do a full heal.
Your chance is to do the strong combo of Soul Shatter + Frost Spike, although you can have enough charges to be able to cast TWO Shatter before the Spikes will be more useful (the Shatter loads back way faster).
Summoning Shadow is a necessity, although not a primary objective.
If you manage to whack his HP down, and you see he start casting something long, THEN should you cast Energy Field on his head, what interrupts his casting (lucky us), giving the chance to be able to finish him off (Energy Field both creates a Field where you stand in which if you manage to lure the enemy they'll get frozen, and the same time fully recharges you mana).

The next battle is easy-peasy. Lure out the first one, kill him not moving, then shoot the priest from out of screen.
Exchange your helm to Lunar Shako.

The next one is entirely out of screen victory. Keep in mind you should always check for this.

When you reach it wear Naga Eye. I knw what the walkthrough says, but as long as I can get away with my way, I'll stick to it. I don't get hit that often, and Soul Shatter relies hughly on the amount of focus, so duh.

The 9th battle here is though. Summon a Shadow (else you'll be pulled by some pesky ability to the middle of hurt) and rely on your "strong combo". When you have to run away, cast Energy Field on top of the farther one's head to trap both. Kill one ASAP. Might take a few tries, but doable.

The worst thing of the coming boss is, that there's no save at the beggining of her room.
The strategy should be otherwise: cast Shadow, do "strong combo", run away and heal, and Energy Field her whenever the ability is ready. Manageable.

Area 9 (final):
#1: summon a shadow and keep your distance to not get whacked to death.
#2: easy.
#3: shoot down the worker out of sight, then summon a Shadow, and Energy Field the coming enemy. This'll do it.
#4: cast Energy Field, because while it lasts you'll have infinite mana. Shoot a Shadow Missile to lock the target, then Soul Shatter to oblivion the priest.
#5: another "to hell with it" boss. She has 2 moves (ok, she has a standard attack too, but that doesn't matter):
First is an instant kill Gaze, what can be avoided if you turn your back to her. You can know it is coming if she starts casting something long. If you manage to turn back, you'll suffer a "normal" 4-500 dmg.
Second is a series of poison shots while she is in the air. Your only chance to avoid these shots if you run from one side to the other, preferably staying right under her if possible. A Shadow can draw some shots away from you.
You should start this fight with 2 Soul Shatter and a Frost Spike, then run under her avoiding the poison, then Energy Field her, then cast a Shadow behind her, run forward her, turn around - this time the Energy Field will fade -, shoot him the combo again, then try to stay close to her, and by all meaning keep her on screen to be able to see what she does next. With some luck she'll mostly do the Gaze, while you should stand passive and Meditate when your life drops. If you gain enough charges, shoot Soul Shatter on her! With not a little luck you'll survive until you can Energy Field her again, when she must have adequately low HP, thus that should it be.
To mention: she can drop Emeralds, so if you run out of hope but can beat her, then you can come back if necessary for infinite amount of gems. Good to know, eh?
#6: a strong, but uninteresting fight.
#7: shoot blindly 2 Soul Shatter + 1 Frost Spike. Some Shadow Missile if the "enemy died" popup doesn't appear. Heck, you can even just cast an Energy Field, and Soul Shatter all 3 enemy here to death.
#8: with a single Soul Shatter you can destroy the worker, and with a Shadow + Energy Field combo you can survive the priest's first moment. This is enough to run to the other side and escape. I hate this, but it IS a solution.
#9: start with a strong combo, what hopefully kills the first guy. Do NOT run around from the warrior, but keep him up with Energy Field / Shadow, and pump him strong when your mana charges back.
#10: final boss. No insta-death, so not that staggering. Basically you have to keep your distance to prevent to be stunned, and just Energy Field/blast him. Use Shadow to keep him up more. When he is in the air and summons his minion that's no worry, just be sure you hit the minion, as he himself will be invulnerable (I think it's a bug you keep aim him), and the minion is weak. Killing the minion fast gives you time to rest, as his levitation is set for a given time.
Finally I finished it on Hard Mode too!


(more to come)

twillight 28-07-2013 08:32 PM

Finished Sinjid this time with warrior.

Focused on damage, vitality, defense and strenght.

Build:
Level 2: Iron Discipline 1/2
Level 3: Iron Discipline 2/2
Level 4: Brutal Advantage 1/3
Level 5: Brutal Advantage 2/3
Level 6: Brutal Advantage 3/3
Level 7: Concentrated Brew 1/2
Level 8: Doom Blade 1/3
Level 9: Doom Blade 2/3
Level 10: Doom Blade 3/3
Level 11: Blood Thirst 1/2
Level 12: Blood Thirst 2/2
Level 13: Heavy Armor 1/5
Level 14: Avenger 1/3
Level 15: Avenger 2/3
Level 16: Avenger 3/3
Level 17: Heavy Armor 2/5
Level 18: Heavy Armor 3/5
Level 19: Heavy Armor 4/5
Level 20: Heavy Armor 5/5

Strategy (this is an almost nobrainer build):
- separate the enemy
- run around until your abilities (mostly the basic stunning hit) recharges
- there's a self-buff what can heal. Rely on that at times.
- kill weak enemy ASAP if separation not possible
- leave the last priest alone (just like with the priest)
- food is your friend, especially if they give vitality-boost
- wear "tank" buff armors

twillight 08-08-2013 09:24 PM

Rage of Mages 2

Because The Gamers 3: Hand of Fate comes, as tribute for The Gamer 2: the Dorkness Rising - the best pen&paper-RPG based movie ever made! - I started this old gem with a female lance-specialised warrior character, and this time I'll play it regularly!

The game was designed to play the campaign mode with a mage protagonist (a warrior and another mage will join), so this will be a proper challenge, especially as I took Hard Difficulty!

As I'll need all the advantages I can make, I modified the initial stats to this:
32/39/34/20. This way my damage don't lowers, and for the tradeoff of 20 HP (99 initial HP instead of 120) I got more learning, aka. skillrise. As there're a fixed number of thingies to kill in the game, this feels quite important.

I remember fire resistance will be important because of animals (including dragons) and astral + air resistance because of enemy mages (the group of necromancers).
From the magic elements air is cool for Prismatic Spray, what is a multihit-autohit spell (up to 5 enemies, and is quite strong). Water is for Ice Rain / Poison Cloud, what the AI don't use too much as far as I can remember. Fire has the good old Fireball and Firewall, the enemy constantly blasting you with Fireball, so it'll be important (sadly key thingies will be highly resistant to this). Earth is negligable element, while Astral has healing, lifedrain, shielding and so on buffing.

At the start it is key to be able to do ranged damage for some extra $$$ and to incrise your skills.
Each and every critter has some or more regeneration, so especially on the higher difficulties it is advised to rise your skills by hurting things, then letting them heal (even heal them by yourself). So the first map will probably last ages this time at me, pls be patient.
Most things I managed to kill without real problem, there remain only 3 things: a troll (but don't even try to go against the quest-giver troll, even though trolls are slow as mountains rise, his bats would easily dispose you), an ogre (can be shot from the safety of trees, worth doing), and some turtles.
The problem with turtles is I barely land a hit on them, they have quite good HP against a starter, and as any critter-group, they attack as group, and is very hard to pull away any of them (impossible to separate). I still managed to kill all but one until now, so I'll be able to train my pike-skill (I think I'll have the patience to go 25. Initially I had 20 as tagged skill, and got 2 along the way).
As I'll need strong ranged damage, training the bow on the ogre and the troll will be what'll demand hours and hours of play, but sonner or (likely) later I'll kick their asses. Not the donkeys.

08.09
Pike skill at 22, and because with this a single turtle is trustably damagable, even 23 can be a problem, so that'll be my limit.
Shooting skill is 15, and still miss too much. Training on the ogre currently.

08.10
Pike skill is 25, but then I got out of patience waiting all the time the turtle get healed, so I killed it finally. There must be other turtles somewhere right, if future need will arise?
Shooting is 20. I keep training this. Would be good if I'd finally be able to see the ogre's HP...

08.11
Shooting skill is 30. I think now I'll go and kill the quest-troll as I start to hit more reliably (since skill 17 I started to hit the ogre once in a while, at 22 no longer just once a year).
Also by skill my attack and damage goes up too, what is a good thing.
My HP went up too, what is even better.
EXP-gain is by successful hits, but I think with higher skills you have to land more hits to gain another point in the used skill, so rising all skills to 25 can mean just a little extra HP without the need to find some special enemy to train on. Good enemy to train on is what has high HP and low dmg. To help yourself, preserve very low dmg weapons for this purpose.
Unfortunately it seems you gain knowledge of enemy stats only by killing incrised numbers, and nut just hurting one of the species a lot.
Speed is good to engage the enemy, or to run away from. Engaging only counts for the warriors (being mostly melee), but running away is always useful - if I went into stats I tell you this too.
Sight is important to be able to see and select target, especially for mages, whose attacks gain distance when their skill incrises I assume.
So that's it for today.

08.12
After realising I do an "awesome" one dmg per shot to the troll, I decided to load back and train as much as possible on the ogre.
Man, the longest starting area I've ever done. The dragon at Might and Magic 7 was like this, but that was waaaay faster!

08.18
To show my persistance - and because my net went away for a short time - I rised my shooting by 10 points today (40 in all).
I rly want to kill the ogre here, no excuse, although I just remembered this game (what I think uses the Warcraft 2 engine) only drops items you see the enemy is wearing. And the ogre has a club, what doesn't fit, but whatever.
And why I train so hard? Aside the feeling of perfection when you choose to play on Hard, you must be ready in any game to use the nasty tricks, especially when it gives you free levelups. So be patient, I'll finish with this sooner or later. Because any time I could move to the next area, nothing stands in my way, except this ogre (what can be avoided), and that sidequest to kill the troll.

twillight 20-08-2013 07:16 PM

I found my old Diablo 1 CD, and it was not glitchy (except some beeping during the town music).

Cleared even lvl 4, and wasted all my gold to try punish King Leoric, but I failed with that.
No death until now, but King Leoric will have to w8 until I get some serious equipment.

My Necronomicon and Rage of Mages CD went dirty, and I lack 100% alcohol at home, and the holiday prevents me getting access to it, so I checked what else, and finished Thumblebugs!

The last but one garden (I won't check if I wrote about it already) was just about shooting wild like no tomorrow, all level being extra fast.
The last (12th) garden had instead all levels with an inward spiral (prevents you to spam out unsuable balls), demanded to rely on RL-luck for series of special balls coming (and be avaiable to the balls you can shoot out!), with the last level being a 3 row of balls to dispose of, each covering the other. Fortunately they have pathetic speed, so it was managable after a couple of deaths.
There are 9 freaking sub-levels for the 12th Garden, what is encumbering.
I lost 10 lives on all but the last, and 5 more on the last one. 30 lives I had, and that's probably the life-insurance here.

The end of the game is fraud, just atitle-screen with "Congratulation, To Be Continued". WTH happened?!? I was.

twillight 21-08-2013 04:27 PM

Let's play Necronomicon part 5

part 6

part 7

part 8


Rage of Mages 2

08.21
The Ogre died at Shooting Skill 41. Droped 809 gold, what is even more then the offered reward for the troll (700). Got a dialoge for disposing the "old and toothless" ogre.
I made an archive-save and went troll-hunter. I can not come out of this "arena" I'm in, because Hydun The Second would kill me Big Time. No chance against that lvl 2 troll and its lvl 2 bats (4 of 'em).
I want to KILL the troll as soon as possible, so whenever I have HP filled, I try to improve my Pike skill by melee. It sux at this point, but if I'd reach 30, I'd expect to do damage like no tomorrow. Too bad I dunno how the exp works, let's hope it does not give 1 skill at exact exp, because that'll likely be my Shooting skill, as between regeneration I use my bow to prevent the troll's regeneration (it has incrised regeneration I assume).
Fortunately lvling my bow provided me some extra HP (141 now), and the troll don't hit that large (10-25 in face of the ogre's 30+). And even my bow does some damage now (ca. 3-5 per shot), ca. the same my pike can when it finaly lands a strike.

http://i.imgur.com/N6wrzL4.png

08.22
Shooting: 44
Pike: 27
The skills I tested, and grow independently from each other (so it is not "skill rise to the last hit when lvlup). I bet this'll go on until Shooting will reach at least 50.

08.24
Shooting: 45
Pike: 28

08.25
Shooting: 50
Pike: 31
I feel I start to deal continuous damage (ca. 6 per hit). But if I'm wrong (actually the hit-rate is only ca. 50% with bow), I'll kill the bastard as it took too much of my time already.
Anyway, MY regeneration-rate is 1/second, applied in every 3 seconds (so 3 HP gained back in every 3 seconds if you couldn't follow).
There's also a stat "weight". This is hidden stats of the items, and effects Speed (at least it is told that way), what is derived from Agility (and not Body, what I'd equal with the more common Strenght).

twillight 14-09-2013 05:45 PM

Let's play Necronomicon part 9

RM2:
09.14:
pike: 32, shooting 51

09.15
pike: 36, shooting: 55 (at 220K exp)
According to the damages I suffer the troll's damage-potential is 15-30 (from what my absorption comes down, what is 4). It's absorption is ca. 13. Of course what'd interest me is the bloody amount of HP this earthslide has...
Weight seems only effect the characters by what they wear, and you can potentially carry around infinite amount of item. At least this is indicated that by changing my weapons (bow and pike) causes a change in weight. Related to this the char-sheet says Body (stat) effects the strenght (aka. how much weight you can carry), but there's no feedback to check that claim, thus you can only rely on Speed-change if it'll occur.
The xp you gain is also effected (along number of successful hits) the amount of dmg you cause, you having a bigger stick does worth it:OK:

09.20
pike: 37 shooting: 56

09.21
pike: 40 shooting: 58
If I had to make an estimation, I'd say at 50-75 will I win this battle. Wish I just would need persistance for Baldies too....

twillight 28-09-2013 08:12 PM

Man, I wish I had double me.
According to my final list of "to play with", I have:

11 computer games to finish
5 books to read
7 tv-series to watch
5 movies to see

and 1 life to live.
And life always gets in the way:ouch:

twillight 10-10-2013 06:13 PM

Let's Play Necronomicon part 10

Bubble Witch Saga

Unusually this is a facebook-game.
It is one of the primitive concepts, this time you shoot bubbles to remove bubbles from the screen.
The thing I like(d) is is, it is always innovating during the story-mode, either by intorducing new type of bubbles, or giving out new extras, or for it presenting a story what goes from beginning to the end.
Not an unmissable factor is either, that although it uses random at level-generation, after at worst 10 tries, you'll pass on the adventure-levels.

Beside the adventure mode, where even you have the encouragement for playing a 3-star system, there is also "eternal island" what is an extra area what always gets new levels, and a "daily bonus" level from what you can actually gain some much needed ingame (free) currency. Which can ease your life, and especially make you achieve higher score, but even then is not forced on you to spend (well, 99% of the time not.

Rly, this game is awesome and perfect example for the free-basis games.

UNTIL you reach the seemingly last level of Adventure Mode, the 170th, what is actually only really realistically possible if you got the free, 24 hours renewing "precision" bonus, what shows where actually you'll shoot your balls. Without that I confess lots of levels end you in suffering, but hey, we talk about a free-basis game.
Now the main problem is, even the adventure-mode continues infinite it seems! Afer the original 170 levels, you get another 170 (to "chase the main boss, defeated in your world, to its home and beat it there"), then you "go back home" for another 170 levels - what are currently not all out, and by trend we can bet it'll not stop even there.

I wish after the first 170 lvls of adventure mode the creators would have stop. Ok, the game is a mediocre success, and it is I bet not THAT hard to create a level, even with obvious care, design and EVEN TESTING, but ... It is just so stunning standing at the doorway of victory what just runs away farther when you seem reach it. Feels like being cheated, despite the constant fun the game provided.


EDIT:
AAAND I quit this game at lvl 213, because:
- relies heavily on random chance
- has impossible layout
- the program cheats against you
So as it isn't working even as a time-waster, where no skill or even any luck would help, it'd be madness to try the same thing over and over expecting a different result.

twillight 13-10-2013 09:50 AM

Let's play Necronomicon part 11

Let's play Necronomicon part 12


Let's play Necronomicon part 13

Let's play Necronomicon part 14

Let's play Necronomicon part 15 ("bad" ending)

Let's play Necronomicon part 16 (The End)

twillight 01-11-2013 11:18 PM

Plants vs Zombies 2

I got a tablet, and after that someone remembered me it uses Android, and as the facebook-version wants $$$ from me (some strange way of registration for the game, third party installment), I went and got this game.

While most if not every review complains it is just the same as the first installment just with more type of stuff, it is a new experience if you ask ME.

The differences are astounding:
- the game is much more fast-paced, unlike the 1st with the avaiability of godlike personal interaction, and just the more commonly used "plant food", what exchanged the plant-upgrade system for short term special useage.
- the old upgrade-plants are still in the game, but as self-sufficient plants. there are new plants too, and the uses got changed (eg. from now on any plant can destroy graves, ballistic-plants have specific use on flat surfaces etc.)
- instead of time of day you go around in different times. This means many new levels. To avoid repeativeness all zombi-types have a different look for all worlds. Except the yeti-zombie. And for all good, finally any level can be re-played any time you want.
- unfortunatelly Crazy Dave's shop disappeared, you collect your plants along your trip. The minigames are simply just levels, more often then not just special conditions on a regular level. In itself special conditions and star-grading for the levels is welcomed, but I really miss a separate minigame-folder. Or at least a Zen-Garden. And the Tree of Knowledge with its unlockables.
- the levels seem scripted :sick:

Summery:
Positive:
- new gaming experience, much faster gameplay
- kept the good from the old stuff
Negative:
- no off-story experience
- limited replay-value

twillight 14-12-2013 12:29 PM

First: the playthrough for Diablo 1 of me is canceled. I just decided not loving that game.

Second: Got patched version thx to gog.com, so I can continue my deathclaw-playthrough!

The other playthrough running: Rage of Mages 2 with spear warrior

The other playthrough planned Might and Magic 7 with "worse team"

Other game coming: Aboimnation - the nemesis project

twillight 15-12-2013 01:46 AM

Fallout Tactics: this is no longer Kansas
Because I finally finished the mission.

Arrive - send out the troops - make them eat drugs to bear their weapons while my deathclaw bargains with the ghoul leader was no small task, especially as you're not allowed to save during the supermutant ambush (as you'll do it turn based).

I was with bad luck or what, lost 3 ghouls, but not loaded back, this is not about perfection.

For the north gate my deathclaw was enough, and the rest was the same as always.
After the ambush there was not many chance to fight in melee - maybe if I'd taken Better Criticals instead of Though Hide... We'll not know it.
As there wasn't many chance to throw granades either, my deathclaw was mainly for scouting the enemy. Still useful. Would be more useful if someone in the team had Awareness as usual, but oh well.

Next time going against Gamorrin!

twillight 15-12-2013 02:58 PM

Fallout Tactics: Osceolla

So the Supermutant Threat is disposed of. Pretty much no chance for meleeing, AND the mission is troublesome with the heavily armoured big gunned mutants.
As currently NONE of my personal can naturally use M2 Browning you can imagine the chances. Fortunatelly there are plenty of space for throwing granades as the AI is simply dumb, and don't come out of hiding.

There were some though spots, like the mutant on the bridge amongst the fuel tanks (no, the big ones can not be blowned up) and such, but with some trying it got solved. By rocket launcher.
Against unarmoured mutants the SAW works fine.

For this mission bring all your remaining ammo what gives both penetration and damage, as they will be almost worthless against robots, they not being living. And granades. I used like 150-200 granades for this one.
Hint: to spare munition, if an enemy gets unconscious AND is without support, you should kill them by hand.

Tp blow up the room full of gas-containers I used my sole remaning Molotov Coktail, incinerating myself a lot of times until found the safe distance. Meh.

Also this was the first time I went down on the right side instead of the left to the boss.

The Sniper Nest did nothing to me despite being sunlight, and the two mutants even disappeared after I killed Gamorrin (and retrieved the locket. And the holodisc. And the nuclear briefcase). I have no idea how could anyone kill those two "sniping" without a fully working Browning and luck.

Otherwise my party suffers other ways, like Billy Bob can shoot only once per turn (but then he hits), Babs with her 5 STR can barely carry around anything aside basic equipment, Mandy only now will have anything better than Small Guns (next mission is to gain energy weapons from the reavers), and PipBoy is just PipBoy.
At least all the secondary traits are in order: PipBoy can gamble (gambling away all things from the armory in the bunker is just fun), Babs can steal, Mandy heals, Jax disarms the mines. Mandy can lockpick too if necessary. Oh, and there's no greater view then a deathclaw behind the wheel :sneakrete:

twillight 20-12-2013 11:13 PM

Shadow Man

Got it too from GOG.com, I hope this time my computer will be strong enough the handle the effects.

Anyway: just entered Deadside with 14 Cadeaux.

twillight 21-12-2013 06:04 PM

Fallout tactics: Junktown

Having a sneaker-granadier doesn't seem that big of an advantage here, as most area are open. but seeing where the enemy is to position your team, or eliminating a unit at a very uncomfortable place without seeing each other is a good thing :ouch: Only thing I missed to have a good trap skill to not run into the mine-field, but nothing is perfect.

With energy weapons and clvl 15 on most member my team from now on will be much better, not to mention the next mission will give me Power Armors, giving the ability to use those precious Borwnings.

Another tip for this place: if you have someone to do, you can get good use of Rocket Launcher. If you can single out the remaining enemy at the end, you'll be able to blast them to pieces giving some use this much neglected weapon.


EDIT:
So got my first Power Armor, the Better Criticals perk, and a Power Fist (stolen from Ma Baker). Feeling ready to wreak havoc.
Otherwise the mission could be done with some SAW machine-guns, but mostly with sniper rifles. I mean Laser Rifles. Granade-throwing can be used at certain enemies, but it isn't too much. The highlight for my protagonist was the no need to worry of the hostage's safety (can be thrown a granade, preferably napalm on the guy if you make yourself noticed and thus chase the guy a little away before switching to melee).
Another tip is to bring AP, or even Sabot rockets, as they are great help against those pesky power armors.

twillight 22-12-2013 08:17 AM

Total Annihilation:

#1: march your team to the feet of the mountain, then make a run-for-it with your fastest units while the rest taking the fire.
#2-3: commander marching. To replenish energy dor D-gun build 3-4 solar collector.
#4-5: tower defense with commander marching. 3-5 light laser turret to defend your mines, otherwise that1s it.


Fallout Tactics:

Beaten the robots the first time!
Bringing a garandier sure made thing oh-so-lot safer, even if demanding a large supply of stuff.
Adding this, there're a lot of melee units on this map, so bring in a Pancor Jackhammer with those purple bullets! You'll be able to spam those bullets, as they'll go out of fashion from this point!

NOTE #1: there are still places where you have to outsnipe the robots (meaning you use more snipers then him, so you stay alive).
NOTE #2: flamethrowers do squat to robots. I wonder why that thing is even in the game. Want a challenge? Go with a character using melee weapons (NOT unarmed!), flamethrowers and Granade Launchers! You'll guaranteedly suffer!
NOTE #3: I remembered the Punch Gun before selling it. Ok, the little bugger had no use for me at all, but maybe if I manage to load it with electric bullets... Oh, the phantasy.

Wish me luck against those Scurry Bots!

twillight 22-12-2013 11:19 PM

Fallout Tactics:

The final mission before moving to Bunker Epsilon (the last bunker).
Here it turned out a couple of things:
- Flash Granades do squat to robots. Too bad I not used them up earlier.
- the low-AP granades are BAD. They do almost no damage, and have additional flow. Eg. Flash Granades' stun ability is not 100% and last only deci-seconds. Acid granades have no area-splash. And so on.
- Scurryx Bots (the crab-like ones coming from underground) just ruin your sneaking-experiment. Meh.

There was 100% no chance to fight barehanded, and Better Critical doesn't work if you don't do a critical, what don't happen always even with 10 LK. Have to wait for becoming the Slayer.

At least I have tons of exp now. Unfortunately Advanced Power Armour also only gives 3 STR, so no Browning for Babs still. A little more exp, and she'll get Gain Strenght, so it'll work out.

I used the tank too as always, especially as I start to run low on granades. I just put in Babs with that Pancor Jackhammer (a kind of combat shotgun) with all the purple bullets, and killed all the scurry bots, and even some humanoid bots. The vehicle sure have a think panzer!

Still had some though spots where the only chance was to outsnipe the enemy, but at least Rocket Launcher still gives some mighty use. The most tricky situation was a hangar with sleeping bots, where I just HAD TO use browning.
Oh, and the three sleeping hover-bots got killed by plasma granades. Plasma granades are good stuff.

yoga 23-12-2013 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 458671)
Fallout Tactics:

The final mission before moving to Bunker Epsilon (the last bunker).
Here it turned out a couple of things:
- Flash Granades do squat to robots. Too bad I not used them up earlier.
- the low-AP granades are BAD. They do almost no damage, and have additional flow. Eg. Flash Granades' stun ability is not 100% and last only deci-seconds. Acid granades have no area-splash. And so on.
- Scurryx Bots (the crab-like ones coming from underground) just ruin your sneaking-experiment. Meh.

There was 100% no chance to fight barehanded, and Better Critical doesn't work if you don't do a critical, what don't happen always even with 10 LK. Have to wait for becoming the Slayer.

At least I have tons of exp now. Unfortunately Advanced Power Armour also only gives 3 STR, so no Browning for Babs still. A little more exp, and she'll get Gain Strenght, so it'll work out.

I used the tank too as always, especially as I start to run low on granades. I just put in Babs with that Pancor Jackhammer (a kind of combat shotgun) with all the purple bullets, and killed all the scurry bots, and even some humanoid bots. The vehicle sure have a think panzer!

Still had some though spots where the only chance was to outsnipe the enemy, but at least Rocket Launcher still gives some mighty use. The most tricky situation was a hangar with sleeping bots, where I just HAD TO use browning.
Oh, and the three sleeping hover-bots got killed by plasma granades. Plasma granades are good stuff.

Yes, they are for sure.:smile2:
Maybe You are the best specialist of all Fallouts!
Since You are able to win with simple stone in the hand, respect!
:OK:

twillight 24-12-2013 10:02 AM

If you want a mindless shooter what allows you to kill-kill-kill until your brain leaks out your ear, allows you to use the equipment YOU like, and finaly tops this all with a hard-but-managable boss, try this:
http://armorgames.com/play/15739/madville

twillight 24-12-2013 10:29 PM

Fallout tactics: Canyon City

This mission was surprisingly well-fit to a granadier. Nearly every moment offered a "behind the fence" solution, what made it oh-so-more easier then my usual "snipe them out" approach.

Some tips:
- Flash Granades can be used to move single targets a few step away, what can make them get close enough to another target, saving you some supplies. As granades run RLY low here, you should go for that.
- Plasma granades have a very large radius

The other weapon to be used here is the Rocket Launcher for its single-shot, single-aim, splash damage chance. No need to go big, use the regular explosion rockets.

Also: the towers here remain "hostile/enemy" when turned out. Mleeing them even with a deathclaw (turned off they're harmless) take immense amount of time, but with Power Fist they die soon (regular damage is 1-9, criticals go 20-30).

At two places you need firepower: underground against the melee-bot, and the pacification-bot at the #6 compound.

I was left after this mission like 10 granades (5 napalm which r probably useless, 5 flash, 1 emp, 4 plasma gr), but it absolutely worthed it, AND some extra can be bought in the general store. I also suggest to buy power armor for everyone at this point if you did not started that earlier, and buy the electric rockets. In the next mission you'll need ambush-firepower FOR GROUP, so it'll be useful, unlike in the last mission.

twillight 25-12-2013 10:45 AM

Fallout Tactics: Buena Vista

Man, I hate this mission.
First: I always forget to pack extra dose of ammo unfortunatelly. Luckily this time at least I did put in like 30 extra rockets for my launchers, and it was good.

Meleeing again only used to spare ammo when destroying Power Nods. That lvl 24 is very far away... I start to wonder if I'll ever gain that Slayer perk.

My deathclaw outside only did some exploring, and I hated to rely on browning-ambush (steping out from the corner with 2-3 member holding Brownings), but there was simply no other option, as the robots had sand-bags between us and them, what even prevents rockets hitting them:sick:

Entering the complex was ugly, BUT sneaking helped. First i sent everyone behind the barricade on the platform, switching them to rockets and such. This is to eliminate the sole tower there. Using Brownings would be a waste, as it is single target and further away.
Then sent my DClaw ahead stealthing (125%). This activated the ambush of the robots, but I had enough time to run into cover, while the robots and the rest of my crew went into shooting each others.
Activating the Behemoth relied on D'Claw too, lacking armour and firepower. And I wouldn't go against a Behemoth even with my 270 HP.

For things remaining in cover Rockets are good way, as here they tend to be out of reach for the granadier.

Granades were mostly used to dispose some very-key targets. Hold an emp-granade for the robot at the alarm-console inside, where extra robots are behind a laser-fence. Bringing plasma-granades from the store added to the ones you find in the area makes you able to kill some towers - to mention something on the good side.


On Babs:
I investigated her case, and Advanced Power armor DO give +4 STR, problem is the ghouls' racial maximum being 8. On this not even Way of the Fruit helps (what IS strange, as with Buffout or Mutats - this later for sure - the stats CAN go beyond the racial maximum).
But there's always Weapon Handling and Bracing. I gives a scary thought thata guy with 1 STR can use Brownings with these perks and Power Armor...

On the sidenote: seems (Core)PipBoy seems not to have racial maximum for any stas. The little bugger runs around now with 11 STR thx to Advanced Power Armour.

twillight 25-12-2013 11:23 PM

Fallout tactics: Scott City

The mission has 3 parts:
- the junkyard / internate camp
- the outer buildings
- the central building

I LUV the first part, but dispise the second, lastly find the third mediocre.

For the first part your best bet is to carry all the electric shotgun bullets in a pancor jackhammer, and clean the junkyard with that. For the pacification bot & co you can use granades on the leftmost tower. Against any tower granades are a good way to reach them as soon as possible, and they are voulnerable to any kind of garandes (I used up my incinerate ones).

Unfortunately most part of stage 2 is blasting the heck out of them, meaning with the majority of your people you run in with full power, and just try to blast them to pieces. Interestingly Rockets work. Explosive ones. They can do insane damage.
At some places rockets do NOT work - there you'll need brownings.

The alarm consoles are ridiculously hard challenges.

After Stage 1 there are practically no chance to throw things, stealth, not to mention melee. And even though I ended up as General (and Defender for Wastes-karma), I'm still only lvl 22, and I won't grind on the map.

Ok, in Stage 3 there are 2 places you will want to throw granades: on the stairs in the central building other then which brings you to the body of General Barnaky an emp-granade is the most easiest solution.
And on the very top to kill the robot with the gauss minigun (it likes to kill your troops by wasting YOUR precious ammo).

Meleeing is restricted to destroy the jamming towers and the disabled turrets.

Coming soon: final mission!
Until then: cybersex!

http://i.imgur.com/otZaOiG.png

twillight 26-12-2013 02:32 PM

Shadow Man:
Reached the Prophecy Chamber.

Cadeaux: 23

Movies:
- intro
- talking with Nettie (NPC 1)
- talk with NPC 1 after entering Deadside, but before tlaking with Jauntie (NPC 2)
- talk with NPC 2
- talk with NPC 1&2 after talking with NPC 2
- talk with NPC 1&2 after entering Prophecy Chamber
- talk with NPC 1&2 after consuming first dark spirit

twillight 27-12-2013 11:48 AM

Fallout Tactics: Final Mission

Phase 1:
Granades? Melee? You must be jokin'.
Here the best tactic is, was and will be to put 3 people into the carrier (no more room), give each of 'em Brownings (and rocket launcher for the Behemoth at the end), plus a ton of repair-kit, then just powder the robots.

Phase 2:
Here you'll mostly need 2 weapons:
- Gauss Minigun, because some things hit hard, is far away, AND stand in a group. But this beauty cuts like knife to butter.
- Emp Granades, because they instakills the robots, and there are covers to throw them occasionally.
Of course terminals are handled by the protagonist (ye, it is wise to teach Deathclaws to science. I mean all those aliens in history with their claws, paws and such were able to build and handle high-tech's tiny buttons, so why ot Deathclaws?).

Still, at a point I had to feed a Psycho to one of my personals, so many was the resistance.

Phase 3:
Even though I reached lvl 24, and with it became The Slayer, this phase is so against anything but "open door, kill monster, loot", that it ment nothing.
Granades could be used in the special-brain rooms, at least for the first two. The third room is simply not shaped to make it avaiable.

Well, this is the end of the Calculator. I ended up with positive karma, thus brought peace to the Wasteland.
What will come next? Who knows.
There are still:
- 1 movie to watch
- 2 tv-series to watch
- 4 books to read
- 10 games to played
for the new year.

twillight 31-12-2013 06:52 PM

Rage of Mages 2
12.31
pike: 43 shooting: 61
exp: 400K

The stupid git who came up with the stats for this task. Some game requires persistance, but this is over the limit!


Terrafire:
last two missions

twillight 03-01-2014 05:56 PM

Quest for Glory

One of my 10 remaining games, I started this. I mean the whole of the series.
I just started Day 3, and some things are unfortunatelly UNTOLD in walkthroughs, like:
- if you break into a house, you can't re-enter it another night if you left some thing unsolved (typically the sheriff's safe, what requires high lockpick skill)
- the conversation-time for fairies is limited. Yu only have a certain amount of time before they go, and you'll never have another chance with them
- the conversation with the meeps seems also limited by an undetermined factor. I managed once to left without any of the two items from them AND no chance talking to them again. The second time I got only the spell, and I had to re-talk them to get the fur
This means I had to restart the game once...

Naturally I started as a Thief to go for maximum skills. Seems thief don't get points for fighting the Weapon Master, neither for killing monsters, neither for learning spells. Oh well. At least they get all the quests.

The first (half) day I managed to buy licence, tools, rob the Little Old Lady (aka LOL), conversate everyone in town, carry away the aples and free the fox, even get the ring of the Healer. Hint: do NOT buy food in the inn for Abdulla! Use your provisions, as there's no need for them!
Second day I upped my lockpick to 100, my sneak almost to 100, raked in the Castle, solved Baba Yaga's task, bought the spells in the town, got the Dryad's recipe, robbed the Sheriff's house, got Fairy Dust. Hint: Fairy Dust goes into the Undead Unguent's potion!
From this point there are no timed quest (neither by counter, nor attached to nighttime), so it'll be about me walking around training until my brain falls out.
Note: I have no idea what's the criteria of sleeping in the Stables. I could neither sleep there going there at night (midnight), going there the same way but raking there previously that day. Not that this'd matter, but still.

Capo 04-01-2014 05:37 PM

You dont need a walkthrough for that come on :dislike:

twillight 05-01-2014 11:59 AM

You need if you go for perfection.

Ok, maybe you don't need for qfg1, but the rest of the series is timed, so there.

Hints how to improve your skills:
Stealth: just go verywhere in stealth mode until maxed
Weapon Use: fight in random encounters
Throw: pick up as many rocks as you can and waste them on the Archery Practice
Lockpick: use your lockpick on the Healer's house until skill 51. Then pick your nose until 91. Then go into town during night, and use the skill on the bakery/fish shop 2-3 times then leave the screen. Repeat until maxed.
Vitality: get hurt in battle. Rly.
Dodge: only start to rise when you have HIGH stamina. Find a goblin to battle, and instead killing it, dodge its attack.
Parry: same as Dodge.
Climbing: at the hermit you can rise it to 81. At the town-gate during night you can rise to 88. As I see no other place to improve it further, my bet goes on, it'll have to w8 until the Brigand Fortress.
Magic: ?
Agility: ?
Strength: ?
Luck: ?
Intelligence: ?
flame dart: at Archery Practice
open: I bet on any locked door
detect: my previous notes says best place is in the Kobold's Cave (can be spammed blindly)
calm: ?
trigger: ?
fetch: ?
?(7th spell)?: ?

twillight 21-01-2014 03:50 PM

Strike Force Heroes 2:

just some casual flashgaming for you this one. Pretty well made. It is a platform-jumper, "kill-em-all" game wich got tested before released it seems.

It has 5 distinct classes:
Sniper: very good aim he has, but very low health. That, and the very low ammo-supply not rly fits me, so albeit this was my initial try, I did not like the way it ended up: shoot out all my ammo, die to refill my supplies, again, so changed it to
Juggernaut: not seem much, as it is suggested to go a lot melee. Actually it is good, as it has a lot of HP, armour, and can go mid-range, what is good, as these games don't get designed in big, fullscreen windows.
Mercenary: has the problem of running out of bullets until gets the armor what gives 30% more ammo. Seems it needs to outlevel the opponents as its main weapon is full-auto machinguns, but not entirely bad. The rocket launchers seem terrifying, but did nt try them.
General: a general attrib char, who seems to have the chance to buy even stronger Pump Action Shotguns then the Juggernaut. If you don't like Juggs, go with this. The special skills support the troops (lead by AI), and we all know on higher difficulty the party-AI how unusefull can be.
Engineer: Teh Weak Class. Low dmg, running out of ammo, worthless skills.

There is a shop, what offers stuff related to your level, but at random. The supply is rerolled after doing any battle, so don't worry about randomness.
In the shop there's also a Slot Machine. Beats me what it does.

For Normal Difficulty the Campaign with Jugg requires only one trick: go to range, then jump over the enemy head back&forth. This does the trick when you need a kill.
For Capture Flag do not try to preserve the flags, you have to allow the enemy to capture it, otherwise you get no points. I don't really understand this system, but not goes into frustration, so good so far.
For "carry baggage" avoid the enemy. They usually group at one level - you just run the other platforms in and out as fast as possible. Shoot while running to cause panic.

Challenges can be frustrating with giving out special weapons and skills. You better learn using Killstreak for these - or in these. Random weapons sux most, you need luck to have good weapons and the enemy bad ones.

Good weapons have range, aim and damage.
Bad weapons deal no damage, do elemental damage (what means no damage), don't fire in a streigth line, don't cause damage when hit (granade launchers).
Sheep-launcher deals damage after a short time hitting the enemy, so it is only a #2 choice of weapon. Still very god if you get this in a random-weapon campaign.

Skills:
Engineer:
Repair Bots incrise your HP-regeneration to the skies - now you only need a little space to heal. Problem is, from Hard diff you either get 1hit killed, or not get hurt much.
Efficiency: comes too late to make it useful for gaining the medal.
the other two passive is forgetable.
Killstreak skills:
Battle Turret: no damage, can only be placed where there's no enemy, has duration (every duraion in the game is short). No good.
Combat Drone: I saw it not doing anything. Used it while trying to get the medal of the class. Fortunately the kills you yourself do is also accepted for it.
Tesla Coil: sounds like it can help you. You need it for a medal anyway. Has good duration.
Rocket Sentry: no idea what it does, but a 6 killstreak is VERY long, even for Normal diff.

Merc:
Passives:
No Sweat: for certain challenges it could be useful if you use this class.
Sacrifice: more damage is good. The loss of HP is not significant.
Scavenger: With the ammo-armor I see no real need for it.
Ammo Feed: comes too late for the medal unfortunetely. Sounds solid.
Killstreaks: Surge: bloody lot of damage and many extra HP for its duration. Perfect for gaining the medal.
Surge: no idea, but on high level it either turns you almost immortal, OR proves inadequate.
Rage: insanely boosted dmg. Good.
Death Wizard: I heared there are guns which require no reload. This'd support 'em good. Seems the idea can be comboed with Ammo Feed.

General:
Passives:
Fast Hands: solid starter skill.
Full auto: sounds scary. The ammo-supply can prove a problem though with this. Also not forget you still have to reload.
Transfusion: 25% health per kill in close range. Dunno what's close, or 25% of what, but if it works while jumping over the head of the enemy, then it is nice.
Gunplay: secondary weapons are to avoid. You go for dmg with them too, so almost ensuredly they'll be a sword, and those use no ammo - right?
Killstreaks:
Regen Boost: AI friends either die or live otherwise.
Aim boost: no idea if these skills help you too, but if they do, this is acceptable as minimum.
Critical Boost: no idea how worthy criticals are. Probably not that much.
Morale Boost: all the above with half value. Well, at least it makes them a generally better AI. Still remain AIs.

Sniper:
Passives:
Kill Steal: conditional, so no.
Armor Piercing: well, at least someone will use those special bullets lowering armorpiercing.
Extreme Focus: the skill designed for you.
Overkill: no idea. Either very good, or worthless.
Killstreak:
Battle Scan: extra dmg is always good.
True Stealth: you can get in to grab the luggage, but will you be able to get out after that?
Aim Bot: headshots are good.
Wall Hack: shooting through walls. What's OP if not this?

Juggernaut:
Passives:
Immovable object: more armor is always good, as it means more survival.
Reflective plating: 8% is just not much.
Booby Trap: loosing all armor means you'll die in the next milisecond, so this is risky. I'd try to shoot from some distance instead. Also means after this you'll have to go back, find some more armor-pods, w8 until it spawns, grab it...
Resistance: VERY conditional. Probably the 30% extra armor is better either way.
Killstreaks:
Combustion: well, ok start. More health, AND some extra damage for the time you'll die anyway.
Sub Zero: the more dmg red. sounds good, but this does no dmg The fire rate reduction just doesn't seem that cool.
Static Field: again 30% dmg red, and at least 9 sec. duration. This time not the fire rate but the damage output is lowered. Sounds improvement.
Corrosion: Biggest advantage is the 10 sec duration. Deals dmg, what probably exceeds nerfing effects, as all these skills have very low range.

More later.

twillight 21-01-2014 07:45 PM

Strike Force Heroes 2:
Campaign: Familiar Faces (Hard): to succeed I stood at the top of the map at the transporter ray, and shot who came close. All other option endd in disaster the enemy ganging on me.

Medals:
The End: beating the game on Nromal worth this if you only go for the story and one completion. The level-suggestions for the higher difficulties are no joke standing, so if you don't want to go deeper, this medal is still for you.
Strike Force Hero: beat the last challenge. Opening the challenges on Normal diff is easiest of course. Some challenges are tricky, but I found the last one not that hard.
Maxed: just use one character all the way.
Hardened, Insanity: check the playthrough part
Can't see me: unknown
Compulsive gambler: gambling becomes more costy as you advance in level. But I bet the chance for good stuff incrises as well, so I'll just collect the $ until I can do this at one go. 200K$ after beating all Normal, no grinding on Custom maps.
Entrepeneur: I bet from the Slot Machine you'll get stuff to sell, so this'll w8 too. Otherwise this is again a money-sink.
Rake out the trash: killing 500 enemy is hardly a challenge, and it accumlates easy. Check the classpsec medlas to see this is just no amount.
Classpec medals: Engineer and Merc requires you to go into Killstreak mode and kill stuff under that condition. Takes a while. General just wants you to activate its Killstreak, Sniper just wants you to kill stuff no matter when. Juggernaut requires to get hurt, a lot, so this is another reason to use it as primary.
Samurai: like for most of the classpsec medals this sghould be done in the 3rd map of Campaign Mode on Normal. There the enemy plays easy, your team is passive, the enemy number is high, amking the level perfect for these grinding.
Close Coil: you'll probably accumlate this and the armor/ammo medals anyway during normal play. I not, play the same as for the classpec medals, as there the supplies are easy to come by, and you can control the damages you suffer.
Vegetable guy: shoot all vegetables down from their pult on a map of market (try Normal diff, Campaign mode, Reunion map).
Party time: during the very first mission do NOT smash the console, but go to the map's exit point to unlock. dunno what "unlock ... mode" does, I nowhere see a button, neither changes anything, despite the description.
Game Breaker: with Engineer you have to have Tesla Coil, what means lvl 16 for it. Then go to your normal grinding map (or any other map with Base map - check the top of the writings at map selection), get the necessary amount of kills to activate Killstreak, and activate you ability at the middle of the map. that'll cause a Blue Death on the local computer :)

twillight 22-01-2014 12:47 PM

Strike Force Heroes 2:
The Secret Medals' unlock-thingy is at the Custom Mode. They r fun.

For the last two Campaing mission of Hard I had/have to grind, as they are a lot harder, and lacks team. Ye, the team on the later Hard levels had a nice supportive AI.

To grin I set at Custom Team Deathmatch, 1 vs 5, 100 kills for win. This basically gives me an entire character level (I went 32 to 35 with this against Normal diff opponents).

twillight 22-01-2014 06:49 PM

Strike Force Heroes 2:
Engineer Killstreak Bots:
#1: Disappears if hero dies. Disappears after duration expires. Disappears if shot down. Has low damage. Shoots in straight line. Pretty bad bot.
#2: Follows you around. No idea if it does anything.
#3: Deals damage in a fixed radius. Has considerable HP, and 18 sec duration is pretty long. Deals good damage (against very easy oppoents). Can give you considerable amount of kills if you put it at an enemy spawn-point and you keep killing the enemy at other places. If the enemy wears katana though, they can kill it in no time, but wth.
#4: 6 killstreak is still too much, and it can't even be 5, as engineer don't survive without nanobot healing. Places a turret with homing missiles. Unfortunately the aim does not notice walls, and thus shoots missiles for no use. MIGHT have good damage, but I'm not sure.

Hard chalklenges:
#1: play semi-defensive: stay in the bottom, only going up if you rly run low on life. Do not let people behind you, and shoot anything what moves.
#2: play defensively: put your turret at your team's bag, stay at the bag yourself for top priority. Your team will sooner or later DO capture bags, your job is to prevent enemy capturing yours. Enemy at your half of the field mean less enemy protecting their half, so killing the enemy is NOT priority.
#3: Juggernaut is perfect here, as it has a "no burning" skill, "less splash damage" armor, and good health. Just don't forget to shoot like no tomorrow.
#4: Bring Juggernaut. Bring armor what gives extra melee damage. Don't know if it works, but try the attachment you think would give best boost from what you have. Play coward: at the middle of the top platforms is a "barell" - crouch there until you get full HP and an enemy stands on the top of the "barell". Then jump up, and hit it hard. It'll jump on the farther side of the map (the AI just lub the transporter beam), so run after it and finish it if noone follows. Go back to your position after. Crouch to show smaller target. With luck the AI will even get weapons what can make it commit "suicide": self destructing damage. That can happen by the plasma-beam at the bottom (unlikely), flamethrowers, acid sprayers, or rocket launchers (any version).
#5: Play DEFENSIVELY. Bring weapons to do ONE HIT KILLS, as on this level all the AI does that. Unfortunately your team WON'T mae the job for you. So the strategy for this is to run for the baggage, shoot down/harm anything you pass by, and make every bullet you use count! Then this is all about persistance, as some very precise conditions have to meet: 1) get past the enemy soldier till the bag. This is suggested to be done on the upmost platforms as that is the fastest. Die if you see your team not capable holding the enemy, and use the middle platforms if you see the enemy making a combined ambush. 2) Be able to grab the bag. This means the enemy team is not dieing in that moment, respawning on your head. 3) get back to your base. This requires the enemy focusing on the arriving remains of your own team. If there are none, you won't reach back. To reach back it is suggested to use the bottom platforms, as that gives the most cover, and makes following you a little harder. The nastiest thing here is, that everyone shoots through walls like they're not there. Killstreaks are disables, but you wouldn't be able to use them anyway.
#6: just camp at one of the bottom corners to be safe.
#7: I am not sure for this. It is obvious that more HP and more protection from burning and splash damage helps. This means either the merc, or the juggernaut. The weapon-resolution is either random, or works like the "kill to downgrade your weapon" challenge. If the first, then it is RL chance, if it is the later, you have hope. Tips that will help: 1) avoid blowing up yourself. 2) Never aim downward with the flamethrower, as then you'll burn yourself, commiting suicide, loosing points, probably going backwards on the weapon ladder. 3) Flamethrower is what sux most. You have to get rid of it. Go for a garbage-kill, meaning finding an opponent who just survived a fight with minimal HP, and try to kill THAT. Otherwise this challenge is insanity with all the nifty effects, ka-booms and all.

twillight 23-01-2014 12:56 AM

Strike Force Heroes 2:
Hard Challenge #8: Bring Juggernaut with balanced armor, or maybe General with Automatic Weapons passive skill to avoid the need o constant clicking. You have to capture 2 flags, then just sit waving your weapon until time passes to gather points. There are several problems though: 1) the enemy has a team, while you are alone. This makes holding, or even capturing two flags hard. 2) protecting the middle flag is suicide. 3) you can't reflect flamethrowers, most rockets/granades, and the bullets are not reflected back to your attacker directly, so there is a HUGH Real Life Factor for this. Suggested passive: Reflect bullets. Crouching makes enemy hit you even less.
#9: You have to be agressive. For this you need the RLF for meeting enemies. At many times you simply can't encounter anyone, and those times no matter how pro you feel, you'll loose. The only good news is, that the Point Leader (the only AI which will gather points enough for victory) will lickely kill itself a couple of times with bazookas and more often flamethrowers. That's your chance to gain advantage. As your armor will be shot down fast, I suggest bringing only balanced armor. Might worth trying armor against explosion+elemental damage too. Class is definitely Juggernaut for extended health.
#10: very easy at last. The AI is stupid, don't go after you, just pass a predetermined route. Go the rugged platform, and crouch in the small tunnel on its right. Check the radar. Wheneber you see a red dot on the rugged platform - shoot. If you run out of bullets (you will after a lot of kills) come out and let them kill you to refill your ammo (I don't think there's an ammo-spawn at this map).
#11: most frustrating this mission is. You get points two way: you shoot the burning man, or you kill someone while you yourself burn. In theory the next burning man is, who shoots the burning man. Except when the guy manages to kill itself, then the burning man is random. So you must gain points by kill the burning one, then die by the hand of someone else then the Point Leader, what is bloodly hgard to determine when everyone is doing 1HKO from out of screen.
#14: depends on Real Life Luck. Reroll the level until the enemy has low armor, bad weapon setup, then watch out who is the AI-nominee, and steal kills from it, as well as let the other kill you when you are low on HP, ammo, or such.
#15: you have to gain advantage at the early period, else they'll outshoot you with that sniper rifle and whatnot. I found it most effective if you stand below the bottom left platform and w8 until they jump down from it, or crouch on the upper left platform blindshooting down-right. These r the safest position I found.

Insane:
Campaign:
#1: stupid little gun you have. Don't even think about going melee. the only advantage you can get is health and armor, so bring your best setup for that. Play cooperative defensive: your team won't do your job, but they aren't too bad either, so always try to go in pair with one, using it as meatshield, killing from behind the guy. You're max lvl anyway, so you don't need the kills for yourself.
#5: play defensive. Capture 2 flags by your team, then just sit tight on one as long as possible.
#6: play DEFENSIVE. Your team will do the job sooner or later if they outgun (random weaponry u know) the others, but they sux defending your bag. So push ahead when and how much possible, but remember that your top priority is protecting your base. But if you see them all running away where you can't reach the, - go give it a try and try to steal their luggage!

twillight 26-01-2014 04:32 PM

Strike Force Heroes 2:
Insane:
Team Deathmatches and Capture the Flags missions: Bring a Sniper with a very long range weapon with Laser for maximum onehit kills. The AI will run&jump around, so standing still w8ing them works out for Deahmatches, and holding a flag for your team is again most easy if the enemy don't come close. Of course it also helps that you can reroll the two team until the enmy gets inferior weapons - hopefully to your entire team, but definitely to your sniper rifle.

Campaign:
#7: safest position is the side toward the transporter beam of the barell on the top platforms. Most efficient killing points are on the top of the barells built in the bottom platforms (not the bottom of the map). You yourself have to do a large number of kills here, as your party mostly sux. You need a large does of RLL for this - if the enemy soon gets away by 10 points, you shall reload.

Challenges:
Pacifism: bring a General. It don't have to be maxed, just have the "all weapon is full auto" passive skill. Add the extra regeneration killstreak as that's the only one what does anything now. Conditions have to met to be able to win: the enemy must not have any elemental weapon (eg. flamethrower), nor any blasting weapon (eg. rocket launcher). The Enemy must not be interested in capturing flags (happens 50% of the time). You must spawn at right locations. The strategy is to capture the SIDE flags, and stay on one crouched swinging you weapon until your other flag gets captured. Do NOT try to go for it, also do NOT bother capturing the middle flag (unless you spawn right on top of it). When your other flag gets captured, commit suicide: simply fall along the running gears and die. You have minimal chance if at all to pass the map the other side anyway. The trick is that you have a chance to be spawned on the side-flags. Got it? Keep dying. That's you strategy.
Randomania: Hard and Insane r pretty much the same. TZhere r a whole lot of random factors that have to meet to win this:
- no juggernauts (so you oneshot ko everything)
- have you original weapon when you respawn (probably bug. Use a Sniper)
- not respawning in the middle of the enemies (90% this means not in the middle of the map)
- enemy come into visual/shooting lane (believe me this is a hugh factor here)
- no underpower guns constantly for you, no insanely OP guns for the others
As you can see these are MANY real life factors, you need an awful lot of preservance to reach success for this.

twillight 01-04-2014 10:51 PM

How many games you played?
 
Some people like to ask the above question, so why not tell in titles flashgames I played and ganied title for them even, so htere is proof I played them!

1) Kingdom Rush Frontiers: a sequel to another game which story wasn't great, and was created to revise all the problems with the original, and made it so good, it became evident how you should play it.
Still it was one of the better games on the list.
2) Bubble Tanks Tower Defense: bad game with only one music track and minimal (but quite unique) graphic. The concept is interesting, but the game is made too hard to be enjoyable, and just overall not satisfying. There is an official cheat though (infinite resources), what makes the game a joke, except 2-3 levels, what are more annoying then anything.
3) Building Rush: fast paced casual game with certain achivements which are impossible for bad design.
4) The King's League Odyssei: time based, and that time rolls like no tomorrow, what is annoying as you are not told what to do, so you just get frustrated trying this.
5) Kingdom Rush: Nice graphic tower defense game, but the levels just require so definite setups it lacks any replay-value, what it tries to balance with various difficulty-settings, but that just makes it boring. Good if you like challenges, but otherwise... Its Hero Mode also not worth it.
6) OFFS3T: a puzzle-game. They are too easy always, but this at least tries to give you logical puzzles.
7) Incursion 2: Nice graphic like Kingdom Rush, and much more enjoyable playing. Too bad some level are just too hard, you earn too little cash, you get no info on the stuff from the shop... So it has its flaws. It has some nice challenges though, but as being a Tower Defenmse game, it offers not much replay-value. And the story is more an annoyance than interresting.
8) GemCraft Labyrinth: if you like Tower Defense games, this is one you'll really love. Tons of levels, variable gameplay, short levels - the dream of a casual-gamer.
9) Epic boss Fighter: nowdays topdown shooters are not really made, especially notgood ones. This one soon will make your computer lagging, what is unfortunate, as it is quite ok.
10) Epic Battle Fantasy 4: long time no see an enjoyable anime-adventure game (usually they're made by RPGMaker2000). This one is quite good. Minimal problems are involved, but really a space-filler.
11) Castaway 2: mindless hack&slash. Rly a disappointment for starting a story, what never continues beyond the first area. Ugh.
12) Infectonator 2: Remember the original UFO? It made me remember on that. Here you won't be bothered by stupid invaders, or loosing money, you just start to dominate the world. Oh, did I say you are the evil scientist causing the zombie-apocalypse?
13) Labyrinth: Secrets of Shadowhaven: a platformer, what is ruined by its all-dominating randomania. Bad design for a potentially good game.
14) L.I.F.E.: primitive graphic, DOS-game (or shouldI say C64-area) playstyle, and a very hard final level.
15) TreadmillaSaurus Rex: a lowbudget, lowidea, crappy flashgame, what is further ruined by its all-case randomania.
16) Crystal Story 2: another RPGMAker2000 animegame, but this one is not made well, for you can reach bosses way before you'd be levelled enough to beat them. There is simply not enough things to do in it, or just they don't give enough exp. The controlls aren't the best either. So it is below your expectations.
17) Demons vs Fairyland: another TowerDefense game with graphic for 5-8 years old, and a story with a twist what can cause problem for children of that age.
18) Give Up: a very hard and fastpaced platformer. Even with a walkthrough (more to call playthrough) it is challenging, but if you figure out the hardest moments, it is doable. I suggest this if you want a challenge, and like flash-platformers of action.
19) Cactus McCoy 2: a platformer with logical puzzles, but still the old "jump fast" thingy. I found it too long, and at times too boggling with its puzzles to claim it enjoyable.
20) Jacksmith: you craft weapons, and send you crew against monsters with them. Unfortunatelly you can't replay levels, you aren't told how long you'll travel until the final boss, what happens if you can't beat the boss for the first go, you can't win every fight, and the weapon-parts are not that often, so you always feel you should hold back for artefatcs until it is too late. Well, it DO give you enough stuff to win easily against the boss, but these elements just took away my fun. Still quite unique game, so you might want to give it a try.
21) Papa's Freezeria: in theory the same type of game as the above, but you have no time-limit, and is just a simple "push the button at the right time" game. Pretty good time-waster though.
22) Zombotron 2: Time Machine: a game in which death means nothing what makes it kinda boring. Some levels are not just a little anoying. But you drive here a real monsterous wagon, what is kinda satisying. Look it up on youtube, it'll rly make you smile!
23) Strike Force Heroes 2: jump up-and-down platforms in an arena, shooting the enemy. Various maps with various win-conditions, nice wide arsenal (too bad you won't spend money until you have max-level character), good ingame jokes, worthy achievements. Some levels are too hard / rly on random real life luck, but it is still a very-very good game. Too bad no multiplayer mode.
24) Zombotron 2: this is DIFFERENT from #22. The gameplay is the very same with a smaller vehicle, and I say a little more enjoyable playthrough.
25) Cursed Treasure 2: Just your usual Tower Defense game, what is a typical flash-sequel: better graphic what kinda ruins the playability.
26) Crush the Castle Adventures: an Angry Bird clone if I may say, where you at least see what you shoot at. Has too many levels, and makes levels too hard in hope you buy bonus content, what is understandable, but it also gets noted on the page, what turns this into something dispisable for the average user.
27) Sentry Knight: an excelent "protect your gate" type of game. Fast, adequate graphic (especially if you grown up on DOS- and C64 games), smooth playing.
28) House of Wolves: annoying strategy-game with too frequent enemies, limited resources, encouraged grinding a the start, and lowish graphic.
29) Sequester: a very-very nice logical-platformer. You don't need fast reflexes, but more a Rubic Cube solving mind. I approve it.
30) Bit Battles: this is a funny little game if you get the hint of it (what means choosing the right troop of yours against the bottom - ranged - enemy).
31) Into Space 2: turns out not just a little bit repetitive to gain resources, and some missions seem entirely impossible, but a "run X miles" game what definitely made with effort into variety.
32) Tower of Doom: too short, and the Survival Mode is too boring, but the concept makes it worthy to play it once or twice.
33) Bubble Tanks 3: I found it too easy, than at a levelup I found myself stuck in a certain form for possibly leveling backwards, what is just stupid. Also too long and repetitive.
34) Ragdoll Achievement 2: boring as heck.
35) Batalion Commander: Here I found out some flash-programmer is just ass-lazy to make their game fit automatically to its supposed window. Not too hard "run X miles" game of Vietnam-theme.
36) The Gun Game: mixed levels of reflex and logical puzzles. I had long ago a game like this with just a cowboy poping up randomly on your monitor shooting you after a moment (depending on difficulty-setting), and that was already quite enough of this, but it is rly a nice time-waster. Too bad no unlimited mode or sg.
37) This is the only level 4: an absolutely logic-platformer from the "think out of the box" style. I hate those.
38) KOIM: an itemhunting labyrinth-platformer. Kinda interresting for me, but probably annoying for anyone not growing up in the C64-area.
39) Epic Combo Redux: quite annoying until you find out what you're supposed to do, when it is too easy and fast, what takes away from the enjoyment. Also some of the items can't be figured out for their use. And can e set for unlimited combo. The 100,000,000 combo takes a LOT of time (durin what you are not allowed to touch your computer as it takesa lot of RAM to run).
40) Fire Catcher: made by the guys who made the Zombotron series. This tells all. Maybe this one is even more boring.
41) Diggy: made from that animated cartoon, the play being totally the same as Motherload, just for lower age target. The most annoying thing is, that if you reach the goal (Center of the Earth), the game ends, pretty much cheating away all the nifty stuff you did not found until that, what is just BADD DESIGN.
42) Road of Fury: a well-made shot-em-up.
43) Sushi Cat 2: this form of casual-games I don't rly like, but it was doable in a reasonable time.
44) This is the only Level 3: practically the very same as #37.
45) Chuck the Sheep: one of those "hit the Penguin" games. Resources are sometimes hard to come by, and quests are sometimes hard to made, so it is quite a grinding, but at least you don't have to just buy through yourself to finish all.
46) Burrito Bison Revenge: another "hit the Penguin" with a VERY good concept, what is ruined by the need of constant grinding, no backtracking, and impossible quests (on which you are advised to buy through yourself - not with real money fortunatelly). Quite a shame, as otherwise it could have been enjoyable.
47) Coinbox Hero: again a game what isfrustrating until you figure out what you're supposed to do. Minimalist design.
48) Help the Hero: now THIS is a fun and unique game. Couldusea sequel I say.
49) Railbot: a quite frustrating "jump and run and not hit anything" game.
50) ShellShock Live 2: I too late noticed it is an MMO, but anyway: itis of minimalist graphic, terrible control, and disasterous gameplay. How this can even be an MMO? No idea.
51) Decision 2: an anti-zombie world-domination game. Offers just the right amount of variability and length to be enjoyable.
52) Chibi Knight: this is your typical, enjoyable flash-casual-game.
53) Catapult Madness: an ok, fantasy-themed "hit the penguin"
54) Monster Bark: logic-game for DOS and C64 enjoying people. Nice retro.
55) Batalion Commander 2: a well-made "run X miles" game.
56) Road of the Dead 2: long, repetitive, and causes computer-sickness. the idea was nice though.
57) Deeper Sleep: an ok horror-adventure game. Somewhat on the track of Maniac Mansion, w/o the funnyness.
58) Upgrade Complete 2: acceptable.
59) Insectonator: Zombie Mode: a game to let loose your frustration-caused agression. Well-made.
60) Sinjid: fighting-game what I spoke about here already. Fun.

twillight 21-04-2014 11:23 AM

How many games you played?
 
After making a schedule and a lot of consideration I terminated most of my projects.

This includes even such things like The Ultimate Playthrough of Fallout 2. It really aches, but all things shown to take too much time, so I had to make sacrifices.

-------

What remained is:

computer games:
- Rage of Mages 2, hard difficulty fighter playthrough (invested too much time to terminate, despite the bloody troll not dying yet)
- Shadowman
- G.O.L.E.M. (who'll play through all of it if not me?)
- Total Annihilation (not at all top priority, and after a while I might skip this, but yet it is still on the list)

pet project computer games:
- abomination: the nemesis project (where did I put my german-language CD of it???)
- hunted, the demon forge (good game, good game, but not important for me to watch the ending and more)
- baldies (I refuse to delete this game from this list, even though I have 0 chance to pass the level I'm stuck on!)

tv-series:
- watch the remaining of Star Trek (I will be the only one who saw all the episodes and movies!)
- watch the remaining of Xena

books:
-W.A. Harbinson's "Flying Saucer" quadrology, but I seem to lost the 3rd part of the series, so this is only a theoretical issue currently
- Tad William's Otherland cycle (pnetology?). It is long, and after the first two books it is hopeless they'll translate it to my language, so only avaiable on english, but it has very hard language, so it will be a problem
- Justin Cronin's trilogy: the third part is not even made, so...

dosraider 21-04-2014 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 459932)
................
- watch the remaining of Star Trek (I will be the only one who saw all the episodes and movies!)
.......

Nope, you're dreaming. XD

twillight 22-04-2014 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dosraider (Post 459933)
Nope, you're dreaming. XD

Don't laugh. I alread went through TOS, TAS, TNG (Tier Nan Gorduin is a really famous hungarian character, eh?), DS9, and the first 3 season of Voyager (and the movies, except First Contact, which I stored for later).

And I have my personal notes and logbook on all the episodes to prove it!:drool:

dosraider 22-04-2014 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 459942)
Don't laugh.....

Still laughing, it's about:
Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 459932)
...... (I will be the only one who saw all the episodes and movies!).......

The only one? Dream on.
Me and myself and moi haz seen everything what's to see about Star Trek, and probably a zillion others also.
:woot:

twillight 22-04-2014 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dosraider (Post 459943)
The only one? Dream on.
Me and myself and moi haz seen everything what's to see about Star Trek, and probably a zillion others also.
:woot:

Anyone can say that, but it usually turns out like with a believer (trekies and other core fans are a lot like that): all talk, but nothing to back up. A bit from here, than from there, but missing large chunks, and never from cover to cover.

yoga 23-04-2014 02:11 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 459932)
After making a schedule and a lot of consideration I terminated most of my projects.

This includes even such things like The Ultimate Playthrough of Fallout 2. It really aches, but all things shown to take too much time, so I had to make sacrifices.

-------

What remained is:

computer games:
- Rage of Mages 2, hard difficulty fighter playthrough (invested too much time to terminate, despite the bloody troll not dying yet)
- Shadowman
- G.O.L.E.M. (who'll play through all of it if not me?)
- Total Annihilation (not at all top priority, and after a while I might skip this, but yet it is still on the list)

pet project computer games:
- abomination: the nemesis project (where did I put my german-language CD of it???)
- hunted, the demon forge (good game, good game, but not important for me to watch the ending and more)
- baldies (I refuse to delete this game from this list, even though I have 0 chance to pass the level I'm stuck on!)

tv-series:
- watch the remaining of Star Trek (I will be the only one who saw all the episodes and movies!)
- watch the remaining of Xena

books:
-W.A. Harbinson's "Flying Saucer" quadrology, but I seem to lost the 3rd part of the series, so this is only a theoretical issue currently
- Tad William's Otherland cycle (pnetology?). It is long, and after the first two books it is hopeless they'll translate it to my language, so only avaiable on english, but it has very hard language, so it will be a problem
- Justin Cronin's trilogy: the third part is not even made, so...

:smile2:
Wow!Wow!
You are crazy man!!
So many projects? Do You sleep really?
Mamma mia!!!!!

May i recommend You this writer, pls?

Terry Goodkind
(born in 1948) is an American writer and author of the epic fantasy The Sword of Truth series as well as the contemporary suspense novel The Law of Nines, which has ties to his fantasy series, and The Omen Machine, which is a direct sequel thereof. Before his success as an author, Goodkind worked primarily as a painter, as well as doing carpentry and woodworking. Goodkind is a proponent of Ayn Rand's philosophical approach of Objectivism, with references to Rand's ideas and novels in his works. The Sword of Truth series sold twenty-five million copies worldwide and was translated into more than twenty languages. It was adapted into a television series called Legend of the Seeker; it premiered on November 1, 2008, and ran for two seasons, ending in May 2010.
:max:

twillight 23-04-2014 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 459950)
:smile2:
Wow!Wow!
You are crazy man!!
So many projects? Do You sleep really?
Mamma mia!!!!!

May i recommend You this writer, pls?

Terry Goodkind
(born in 1948) is an American writer and author of the epic fantasy The Sword of Truth series as well as the contemporary suspense novel The Law of Nines, which has ties to his fantasy series, and The Omen Machine, which is a direct sequel thereof. Before his success as an author, Goodkind worked primarily as a painter, as well as doing carpentry and woodworking. Goodkind is a proponent of Ayn Rand's philosophical approach of Objectivism, with references to Rand's ideas and novels in his works. The Sword of Truth series sold twenty-five million copies worldwide and was translated into more than twenty languages. It was adapted into a television series called Legend of the Seeker; it premiered on November 1, 2008, and ran for two seasons, ending in May 2010.
:max:

I've read the first two of the series, but found his style to simplistic, too dross-literature. Also very chauvinist.
The tv-series had much more developed and well-played characters (well, at least from the point where the blond chick joined - maybe second season). I liked the show, too bad it was gone for the strike. I never really liked Stryker in Mortal Kombat either, but always thought he'd been great movie-material.

Minor note on Objectivism: I accept that PART of reality is mind-independent, but I disagree that all of it is, based on phylosophical reasons and biological studies.

twillight 28-04-2014 02:45 PM

Rage of Mages 2
04.28
pike: 46 shooting: 63
exp: 495K

I runned some test, and figured out the actual HP is saved on the enemy, so I don't have to worry that the troll not died because I don't kill it in one go. Now we only have to figure out its regeneration-rate.

Found some cheat-codes which actually worked too. Turned out I could kill the troll in just matter of minutes, in 5K exp. If I should not move away constantly for being hit.
Good thing is, this proves with my equipment and skill I CAN kill the stupid git, it is just the matter of time to realise the trophy

EDIT1:
Rage of Mages 2
04.28
pike: 48
shooting: 65
exp: 600K

This is not hard. This is beyond any limit.

twillight 17-07-2014 01:35 PM

Total Annihilation lvl 6 (against Core):
Got some time and finished the level. The trick was to spit on defense whatever the briefing says, just build a shipyard, resource-production, and kill stuff with the commander (meanwhile making submarines as units) discovering the preset enemy ships by radars.:bleh1:

lvl 7 is annoying: the computer is superior in technology in every sense. They still not have a base, so there is no hope of preemptive strike.

lvl 8: annoying level where you can't have a base (again), and must protect 3 ships constantly: the ranger (the only thing what can kill stuff now, too expensive to replace any time), the commander (puts down radars) and a repair ship to fix the commander.
As you shoot things from out-of-view the level is particularly stupid, as you should preserve a certain object. Guess how you find which.

lvl 9: finaly something quick: you do what the briefing say: build the airport, build the carrier, fly over and capture in peace. Easy-peasy.

lvl 10: again you only need the commander and a repairbot. Did I mention the builder-bot can create missile-towers what I found the only solution against the aircraft-nuisance?

lvl 11: Initially you are weak on metal, so you'll need a bunch of Metal Maker (produces metal from energy). Always go to the weakest of resistance, and where you find something cool (metal, geothermal energy) build a minibase with anti-aircraft towers (missile towers if you forgot). Then repair your commander and send it out to the new direction.

lvl 12: same as the previous, but in a resource-rich world.

lvl 13: annoying level because the enemy is plentyful and you can't reach it on foot. You must as soon as possible make a solid base to counter enemy aircraft. Then as fast as possible you must reach the border at the middle as clearing the enemy units massing there can turn impossible otherwise. Metal production is a problem on the level, and the advanced constructors worth practically nothing aside building advanced construction-sites. You NEED advancad ariport, two of it to produce a massive amount of aircraft (let them be stealthers) to be able to defend a landing-position for your commander on the other side of the border.
Oh, and don't even dream being able to shoot the enemy from safe distance by some big guns. That won't work.

lvl 14: build some solar plant to cover your immediate energy-need, build a couple metal plant to cover your immediate metal-need, then build a bot-plant to make a constructor which makes a geothermal plant so you have more energy then you'll ever need.
Next is toi make some advanced constructors to make some moho mines and make 2-3 advanced air-plant where you make stealthers which'll guard your commander who'll destroy everything.
Oh, as the Zeus is just another enemy unit, don't even dream about capturing it. Not that it'd effect anything.

lvl 15: you only have the commander, and a survivor unit runs in too. The "meteor shower" is just in beta-phase, so aside the initial one it won't happen. IMPORTANT: turn shooting to Hold Fire! Not many enemies, so if you built 4-5 solar plant you'll have enough energy to shoot the D-gun.

twillight 21-07-2014 10:29 AM

Total Annihilation:
lvl 16: Same as before, just initially you have very little metal, but canb uild plenty of geothermal. So you'll needa bunch of stuff to create metal, what means build a sufficient base.
Then build 3-4 adv. airport where you assemble the regular aircraft, what blasts through everything. Make them guard the commander, it makes them more controllable, less voulnerable, and sometimes the commander can blast stuff faster.

lvl 17: you don't have space and energy is insufficient, not to mention metal. So ASAP build solar plants, mines, and advanced airports (2, possible 3 at endgame). It is wise to have 3-5 missile tower too as though the enemy has not much in airforce, but it will send what it has at the beginning.
Forget you ship-armada, it won't work. The enemy has a regiment of warlords, that beats all what cann ot move away. Airplanes can. With a dozen+ plane you can win the entire scenario.
Beware though that you may not destroy the "Silencer" at the middle big island, nor I strongly suspect the atomic power plant.
Hint: the commander when under water is invulnerable. So guarding him is almost sure. But with all the targets around you'll have to hotkey and direct command your airforce!

18: stupid little scenario. Just press "select all unit" and horde the enemy.

19: not much. Lacking air-support and heavy tower-defense you only have to supply energy for the Commander, and occasionally build 3-5 missile tower against the very few planes.

20: a clean-up mission. There is no resistance, and you unfortunately don't need the salvage for anything. Just build 5-7 solar panel and hunt down the stuff. They don't even resist 90% of the time.

21: the enemy lacking air units and the terrain makes you able to immediately build a safe base. Don't bother with anything else than aircraft from units. Build at least 2 energy storer. Then when you have enough planes make them guard the commander and start to play hit&run tactics. The D-gun is just devastating.

22: a stupid mission. You need nothing else but aircraft to kill EVERYTHING on shore (don't worry, there is barely any opposition), THEN you even ahve to build a couple of torpedo launchers (plus maybe sonars) to destroy the submarines. DUMB.

23: build a base (again nothing but airport). Build a Fusion Reactor this time (advanced constructors can build it)! You'll have demand of energy for your troops. The Hawks (stealthy fighters) will clear the whole map for you, except - again - submarines. So when all is dead and silent, build a shipyard, then advanced shipyard, then 3-5 advanced submarines. Win.

24: not much. The AI is not playing hostile. Just build a base, nuclear plant ASAP, 3 adv. airport, hawks, and clear the area. Then bring (build a carrier for style bonus) the Commander to the center. That's it.

25: Strange, not what I remembered. Or maybe I mix it with the other campaign.
Anyway, the attack is not coming, so buil 10 solar panel, 10 metal mine, then 1fusion reactor, 2 moho mine (fun fact: "moho" on hungarian means someone who takes more than fair share) and for the end 4+ airport. Nothing surprising here therefor.

twillight 21-08-2014 12:30 PM

Total Annihilation - Against Arm (Core Campaign walkthrough)

1: you get a bunch of troops with no chance to repair. Your goal is to climb up to your Commander (paralyzed, won't be harmed), and this means destroying all enemy. Go upward, and keep your troops in one bunch. Use cover if possible to face only 1 enemy at a time releasing full ammo on that one. Run up ramps as fast as possible, so your shots won't stuck.

2: there are 3 problems on this level: the initial arm arrivals have heavy armor, and/or very fast. So you'll need your Commander to shoot them off. Second: you can not have any repair for your Commander, so best bet is to make a base, clear the outside patrols with your commander, than back off. During this build vehicles in your plant to assault. Third and last problem is the lack of radar. So the last hiding enemy to find is problematic (build scouts and place them systematically, sooner or later they'll find it).

3: Don't mind the attacking Arm, just build like 3 solar panel, than go after them. Walk across the transport-route and destroy the arm units along it. Do not mind any Core unit aside your commander, you can not control them. When you finished in the tunnel build an energy storage, some additional solar panel/mine, and finish the map.

4: I bet you could make an entire army, but just make some basic protection for your energy-supply, and send in the commander to clean the map. Fortunately from now on you have both repair and radar.

5: So, it seems the resource (metal) production will be a problem as advancing, unlike for the other campaign. Here we also start in the middle of the map, AND the enemy has airforce. What we have to destroy.
The aircraft goes down fast for some missile tower, the real annoyance is the source of metal is close to the enemy, which especially likes to ambush your radars. Still not hard.

6: An annoying level because you can't just walk in and win.
At the start Arm has mines all over the hugh map, and will rebuild them constantly, AND will produce a hugh number of fast&cheap units which'll you need the commander to lead against.
So build a basic base and an airport on which build fighters ASAP. Than go out and conquer some territory, aka build your own couple of mines, ever fortifying your new bases with zounds (like 10) missile towers (whatever their name is on this side).
After you have a foothold, send your planes to destroy mines to cut the resources of the enemy (yes, this time this is how it goes). Your planes will be devastated after a while but who cares. Under that time build 3-4 more airports in which start producing a mix of fighters and bombers. None of them are really good, but that's life. You should use them to eliminate the frech mines, plus the enemy constructors, than make them patrol high enough for the entire map preventing the enemy from rebuilding those mines. The map is too hugh to build your own mines there, and probably enemy aircratft or something would cut them down anyway.
When you feel confident enough make your planes assault the enemy, concentrating on the unit-production buildings. If you manage to destroy those buildings, there'll be no more things to build anything for the enemy, so your commander can walk in finally and make you win.

twillight 22-08-2014 11:18 AM

Total Annihilation - Against Arm (Core Campaign walkthrough)

lvl 7: Finaly a totally fast level, but the mission-description is lying. Instead marching in trying to capture moho-mines what is impossible for defensive towers, build your base! You know the drill: solar panels, mines, geothermal plants (hey, they really are useful for Core), energy storage, maybe a metal storage, and the ever-needed missile towers. The towers are important to have in 10, as when you start to move out (bring the commander, do not produce unit wasting time) a bunch of flyers will come to you.
To kill the tower-defense build "plasma towers" or what. They hit hard on targets which don't move from very far away if you have them on radar (lead manually).
Oh, and don't forget to capture at least 1 (moho) mine, as that is objective for now.

lvl 8: This way is the other way around. Noone has too much resources, and the enemy has some hard-hitting stuff against you - but they don't have numbers. So cover your resources FAST, meaning zounds of solar panels and metal makers, with 5+ missile tower for defenses.
Then move ca. the middle of the map where you'll find a geothermal spot - make you second base here. Make an advanced plant here making jammers (I prefer bots).
Then move north again until you find a metal spot. Cover this place with the help of jammers and missile towers, plus like 2 plasma battery, the guns you know from the previous missions. They'll cause harm on the outer defenses and such. Fortunately the Gate is far enough, so you won't have to worry shooting it down. Finally send out the Commander, making first the planes shot down by towers, then eliminating ground defense solo.

lvl 9: Here is why I hate water-levels on Total Annihilation: the concept not work here. You can do barely any "annihilation" here. The ships move slow, they are extremly slow to built, and the shipyard is too strategic to have to make up for the rest of the game.
This is where G.O.L.E.M. can shine in comparsion.

lvl 10: this time you really barely have any space, but at least you have some instant metal in rocks which you should use wisely. First thing first is to cover you resource-need, than air-defense. Yes, this means towers, as you can't have airport here.
Following that you want water-domination. And I mean water, so build 2 shipyard close to the starting island to be able to defend it from planes by towers, and mass-produce submarines.
When you cleared all moving units (including a giant ship called Millennium) is time to make an advanced shipyard (or two, you have the resource and time) where you make 1+ missile ship which'll clear the towers on the islands if your commander build on the accessible islands radar towers.
Than just send a transport-ship to the nothern border.

twillight 22-08-2014 08:53 PM

Total Annihilation - Against Arm (Core Campaign walkthrough)

lvl 11: Your resource-hunger is overwhelming. Put solar panels on your island wherever you can, build metal mines as soon as possible, also the geothermal plant. Than continue the process with zounds of metal makers (transforms energy to metal). This will still not be enough. Oh, and you better make a row of missile towers too just to be sure.
So what you still need is MORE resource, thus build a tidal wave farm on the north side, a shipyard at the south, than an advanced shipyard (shall I mention a water-radar is needed too?), and start to produce both submarines and the giga-ships (warlord). Oh, before you make the warlords, make 2 missile ship there too, they'll be important.
If you made it this far (you should if you don't move from your very shore), you should start launching missiles on targets and prepare for an anti-strike of a ton of "small" ships + submarines. You should be able to clear this if you have 2-3 warlords (submarines comes slightly faster). Be prepared as the AI may start to send some ships to the north circumgoing your troops - prevent this at all cost. Also with this first anti-strike will come some missile-ships from the enemy, so roam after them ASAP.
But don't rush too ahead, else you'll face enemy planes. Heck, it is better to start creating your own fighter-planes purely for anti-airforce as your ships did cost a fortune and you don't want to loose them, and you'll probably be away from your base a little. And those enemy-planes are slightly bigger than basic. Still, 5+ fighter jets should work.
After this mess you should dominate land and air, so there is only the enemy island which your missile-ships should clear from most stuff - anything that moves. Do not hurt what moves, that can be THE Zeus. Send in your Commander fully repaired clearing the remaining structures and bots, and capturing the Zeus which WILL shoot back, so have enough HP.

lvl 12: Hopefully the last water-level.
Yes, it is. The obvious problem is you have like 0 space. But you should realise you have access to very high level of technology, so start with 5 solar panel andmines to cover your basic need (add more when you need), an energy storeage + metal storeage, than a k-bot lab to have builders which can make geothermal plant for you.
When this is made build advanced lab and change all mines to moho mines.
After that your immediate goal is a nuclear reactor. Yes, you'll produce mass amount of energy.
When it stands you need 4 things: shipyard, another nuclear plant, zounds of metal makers, and basic defense, what means like 5 missile tower covering 2 plasma tower (both made by basic construction bots, remember). With these your initially few ships will have a nice support to destroy the arriving enemies (fortunately they aren't many).
When you have a shipyard add advanced shipyards to it, and start producing submarines and warlords like no tomorrow. Some missile ships are also nice.
When you feel confident, start an all-out attack. A troop of 10 warlord will disintegrate practically anything (if they have submarine support, as they can not shoot under water).

twillight 23-08-2014 07:45 AM

Total Annihilation - Against Arm (Core Campaign walkthrough)

lvl 13: This is a joke-mission as long as you set the commander "hold fire", D-gun everything, and keep away from any red dot when transported.

lvl 14: Should be another joke-mission, but the AI is definitely cheating. Ok, I can go with it seeing farther, but c'mon, being hidden from the radar w/o a radar-jammer? Not fair.
Anyway, take your initial group and capture the nearby village. Than repair up your commander, and go to the southwest corner from where destroy everything until the southeast corner. Than go and patch up. Also a good idea if you make like 10-15 new troop, and patch up the remaining originals when you start invading the eastern border, preferably staring with the upper corner. And that's it.

lvl 15: another joke-mission 'case the enemy has no moving units or production. So you build a starting base to cover D-gun's energy-need, and start things to make a fusion reactor. During that your commander go east and capture the Big Bertha. When you have a free adv. bot. you send up to this cannon, and make a big radar. Than the Bertha will have enough energy to continuously fire, and sooner or later you'll destroy the target-building.

lvl 16: this is the definition of Bad Design. Why? Because you have 0 resources, the enemy has very strong units at start, and there are meteorshowers, and for all these you are under constant pressure to build things.
The meteorshower what ruins totally the entire map, especially its random behaviour. It can do 3 things:
- destroy the whole base you assambled at the start, making you absolutely defenseless, without any hope of rebuilding, given there are almost nor resources around (the couple of energy-plants cares noone).
- hurt the wrong enemy units either by activating too many, or by activating too strong units. Especially if those enemies are planes, against which your commander cann ot do anything.
The hugh masses contain missle-units which until there are any other units seeing you shoot devastating projectiles destroying your key structures, missile towers preferred which are your only chance against planes.
Actually the planes are so strong you'll need 2 times 5 missile towers as bare minimum to deal with them.
Some tips:
- save regularly
- start covering your basic needs
- I don't know which is better: to start with an advanced bot lab (as you have a basic bout builder I'd take it as a hint), or a normal bot lab. The difference is, IF you don't get destroyed directly or indirectly by some meteor-shower the advanced construction unit can start to build moho mines which help a lot. Unless they get destroyed in a meteor-shower of course. The regular lab can produce you missile (anti-air) and rocket (both? ground?) units which are cheaper and come faster than towers, not to mention they can manouver and maybe avoid part of meteor showers. No matterwhat you do, you WILL need missile towers, and some units MUST be ahead of them, or they see nothing and will be vaporized before shooting a single shot.
- after this phase you shall try to cover your resource-hunger and build a freakin' nuclear plant. At least that's what I did. The most massive enemy attack will come BEFORE you are able to dedicate yourself to making an atomic plant though. Also send your remaining troops just a little north to destroy the enemy's airport (if your have enough left).
- the enemy is on some stupid platform, so don't send your ground-units there, they'll be vaporized. Instead build airports. I could care less at this point and made 3 advanced airports making the ever-loved "stealth fighters, here named "vamps", but who cares. A horde of 10-15 will disintegrate the remaining enemy.
Bad news: again comes a water-planet.

twillight 23-08-2014 08:47 PM

It was a while ago since I told my gaming plans. These plans become more and more realistic I think:

computer games:
- Total Annihilation : will finish soon
- Shadowman: will start from scratch since the lasttime I played it was on a previous installation.

pet project computer games:
- Hunted, the demon forge
- Paladog (this is a flashgame what I found interesting enough on "hell" difficulty to go back casually)

games I'll likely never finish, but I'll never say I gave 'em up:
- G.O.L.E.M.
- Baldies
- Rage of Mages 2
- Abomination, the Nemesis Project (I can't find the darn CD)

tv-series/films:
-

books:
- W.A. Harbinson's "Flying Saucer" quadrology's last book
- Tad William's Otherland quadrology's last two books
- Justin Cronin's trilogy's last book

twillight 24-08-2014 09:07 AM

Total Annihilation - Against Arm (Core Campaign walkthrough)

lvl 17: I HATE this level.
You are on an island. The island is covered by useless stuff you have to clear off (use D-gun). The northern part of the island will be suffocated by every kind of foolish enemy, so you don't even have one island. The attacks start coming early, so you don't have time to build stuff. Not that you'd have space to build stuff. Aside the incoming ships and tanks which can pass water underwater (so your radar won't show them until too late) AIRFORCE is coming TOO just to complete the picture. :no:
So my bet goes on building only basic structures, airport as the only unit-production on land, and right at the start strategically 3*3 missile towers or somesuch.
I really hate this level.

twillight 02-11-2014 05:46 PM

Google Store games:

Let's talk about Google Store contents a little.

They offer single player games only, and single player oriented MMOs. One can understand this given the technical frame and net-accessibility, but I wouldn't criticise that anyway.

Let's check what there IS, and how they work.

First of all: there are either "free" or "pay for it" programs.
As you can not have any idea what the contents will be, or the program will at all run on your device, no matter it allows you or does not allow you to download, I wouldn't advise to go for a pre-paid stuff. It is simply too risky.

Now the accessibiliyt of the apps depend first line n the seller-typed requirements, which are either true or not.
The second is the WTF factor. You can be prevented from finishing (or starting hopefully) the app by:
- your devise's serial number
- your location
- language of your device
- the programs utter hate against you.

Now if you managed to install the application, these thing can happen:
- the application does not start
- the application starts, but turns out is not suitable for your resources, and will lagg out after a couple of seconds (or just freeze your device)
- turns out the application only runs when it has internet-access, which is nowhere mentioned on the download
- the game will actually work as intended (same for any other kind of applications).

Now let's check the games themselves:
- most of the "free" apps, and many of the pay-to-have ones rely on the pay-to-win basis, aka. you'll get nowhere w/o paying a zounds of money constantly. I just remove these at sight.
- there are some MMO-ones which can be played free, but either payed or free, they simply lack interaction. You go up there 1-2-24 times a day, and do something under 10 seconds, and that's it. One example of this is Dragon Story. Ye, nice interactive screen-saver I assume.
- there are games which are designed properly TO BE A STANDARD GAME. They were not developed to have secondary currencies, that feature is built up later. This makes the ingame-currency practically useless, and albeit does not prevent you from free gaming experience, but if you try that, you'll have to grind as much as to finish DLC-Quest's grinding quest w/o the proper DLC found ingame. Problem is, the pay-to-win aspect from the other point of view simply costs so much real cash, no sane person would/should cough it up. I mean the program that way lasts like 5 minutes, than The End. Notable example is: Garfield PetHospital.
- some games made proper for both parties (reasonable payment, and shorter-than-inifnite grinding), but in that case they like to spam you so much with advertisements along a fast-paced gameplay, they ruin your mood. Notable example is: Swamp Attack.
- the last category's example is Doctor Who Legacy. The game seems perfect in almost all aspect, except for its primitive concept the levels are a bit tediously long, and there seems to be no reason to pay aside some minor extra content for real fans. I mean you can't avoid the leveling-process, and by gaining the sufficient exp you seem to gain the pay-to-win content anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong.
- Of course I won't mention such stupidity as "electronic toilet paper", or "Talking Tom", as I don't see what makes them more than a one-time-joke-for-5-seconds, and that's more than the download demands.:lame:

twillight 11-11-2014 10:35 PM

Phantasmagoria

This game is infamous for two things:
#1: It is known amongst players for mainly about the protagonist looking into all the mirrors brushing her hair. And man, there are mirrors EVERYWHERE.
#2 Originally it took no less than SEVEN CDs. Yes, you heared right. Imagine the box-set. And the frustration when one of the CDs just got corrupted. And in those days that was quit common.

Well, what to tell as review?
The "Day 1" - although I suspect some meddling there - is good and spooky introduction, IF you do a lot of optional stuff, which will be necessary stuff in later chapters. Details change in mirrors, there are some dram-sequences, voices out of nowhere, and unseen ghost-hands grabbing towards you.
The last chapter is actually supposed to be rolled back when you're done with it as a large movie. Creative. And you can die A LOT. Even if you know the sequence. Under gorey circumstances (they are quite well done).
Unfortunately there is only one save per playthrough, but fortunately if you die, you can reload the autosave from the point you were still alive.

A nuisance with the game is, that sometimes it relies on the notorious adventure-game-mode pixel-hunting, even though the objects are quite large, and most are obvious. Still, the telescope-lense and the paper-knife for me were less-than-obvious.

The biggest problem as far as I see is the middle part, where nothing much happens, the tense do not really grow, only the returning features really work (like the drowing ob absint, the fortune-telling machine etc.), and you eventually rely on "let's do that today too lacking any meaningful action" solution, which frotunately do not contain oh-so-many possibilities, if you can filter out the real useless ones (like those pesky haribrushes, face-creams, other womanly stuffs, the toilet, the stone harp, the tv etc.)

But the whole thing is somehow so simple and elegant still like the Dallas, so it got so popular, they made a much better sequel... Well, the Puzzle of Flesh had nothing to do with the original "Roberta Williams' Phantasmagoria" aside 1 actor and the "interactive movie" concept. I personally wouldn't call these two games an "interactive movie", but would name them as "live action adventure games".

PS: This game is perfectly fine for younger audience, like 12-15, the only possibly problematic part is the softcore rape sceen for the 12-13 audience. And not just to them, but also those in their 30s.
The P2: PoF I'd suggest to a somewhat more mature audience, like 15-17, or anyone who likes B-category trash-horrors (most zombie-horror, animal-horror, or anyhorror from the '80s, like Brain Damage, Hellraiser 2, or Blood Gnomes). I LUV this game for its mature contents, like light sex-sceens, the S&M club, and the homosexual relationship between Curtis and Trevor (man, in this game everyone is into the protagonist!). Not to mention its many easter-eggs, like Invaders minigame, Ping Pong minigame. And the zounds of optional things to do. And so on, but let me play it again first, Sam.:ouch:

twillight 16-11-2014 10:41 AM

Phantasmagoria 2, Chapter 1
 
After the original windows version stopped working I got the GoG version. Probably the last investment of my life to entertainment, but this I still wanted.

I always luved P2: Puzzle of Flesh. It is full of side-stories, very life-like, with good story, adventure/scifi elements, and solvable puzzles. Well, there are not that many real puzzles, most of the game is just clicking around formore conversation, but they are always entertaining, the "cheap acting" just giving it the necessary push to make the otherwise casual talks to the quality-level.

And after all those playthroughs it IS the thing for me making it "an interactive movie" where all the nitbits don't just come up, but you find all the pieces, and arrange them in an order that finally makes sense (or at least eliminate as many cases as possible where they don't.

So here is my "final solution" for the first chapter, without spoilers (I mean I won't tell you what happens). Most of the stuffs are optional, or only makes sense from adventure game playing perpective, like collecting a screwdriver just because you can, or entering a room you have nothing to do in because you can AND find new video there.
- examine yourself in mirror
- open drawer, collect all three stuff
- examine mailbox
- use mail on you, Curtis
- pick up x-mass photo
- examine rat
- in the position you see the rat-cage click on Curtis' nose until he farts (such nonsense jokes are easter-eggs, made by ingame animation, not as video play)
- examine book case
- Ctrl Alt click on book on table
- Ctrl Alt on one of the big paintings on the wall
- click 10 times on radio (on screen's right side)
- try to leave your flat
- move the cursor on the mask and type "burp"
- move the cursor on the mask and type "burP"
- enter the living room from the hall until you get a different enterance-video (unfortunately not on the playback list)
- try to look all 4 pictures around the bookcase by switching view back-and-forth, as the 3 on the right activates randomly
- examine couch
- pick up rat
- use rat on couch
- use chocolate on couch
- leave flat (yes, with the rat on you)
- try to enter all doors (usethe key-card to try the glass doors)
- in the storeage-room discover and try to open the small door (no, it does nt lead to John Malcowitch's brain)
- try to use the screwdriver on small door
- use screwdriver*5 than wallet on Curtis in store room
- use key-card to enter the office
- use water tank (Curtis drinks)
- while standing beside the water tank press Alt and click on Curtis' belly
- examine boss' door (actually this makes less sense than could if you'd be able first talk to Trevor)
- enter Tom's cubicle, talk, show wallet, show key card
- enter Jocilyn's cubicle, talk, show sexy post card, show parent photo, show x-mass photo, talk (I found this order tells best there is problem with their relationship)
- enter Curtis' cabinet. This activates the boss' room to open. Enter boss' room, click*3 on weasel (video!), examine plaquett, examine picture on desk, try to open drawer
- enter Bob's cubicle, talk*2, show x-mass photo (this way you develop shaming factor)
- enter Therese, talk, show sexy post card. This activates (or sometime soon it'll be active) a new sequence for the water tank (drink again!).
- enter Curtis' cubicle, sit down
- enter Trevor's cubicle, talk, show sexy post card, show x-mass photo, show photo of parents, show key card (this way you feel their rleation is more real friendship than something casual)
- Curtis' cubicle, examine rat picture, examine notepad (GoG version removed Curtis' oneliner on the picture)
- call Bob, Trevor, Tom, PAW, Jocelyn*2, Therese, Me (GoG removed the oneliners where recipient does not answer)
- use computer (login with oyur account)
- phone Me
- phone Trevor
- talk Trevor
- talk Therese
- enter storeage
- talk Therese
- enter storeage (this is the"moving cables" sceene. All this helps to develop relation to Therese, and shows the growing instability of Curtis)
- enter Curtis' cube, use computer, reply mails, read personel files, try the archives, read files of other personal, log out.
- login either as Jocelyn or Therese (the two are not separrate in the game-engine!). Password: "xxx". Nudity code: "adrienne" (caps-sensitive)
- log back as Curtis, work on the Veniman Document (VD from now)
- phone Trevor
- talk Trevor*3
- talk Max
- talk Trevor
- enter Curtis' cube, reply on mails, log out.
- log in as Trevor. Password: "bellybutton". I never actuallyknow this is "buton" or "button" XD And the "y" is by english-only keyboard, meaning you likely have to type "z". Whatever, it works. Try out all three games.
- Alt-click on wynvade.exe and win a level
- talk Bob
- talk Trevor
- sit back to the computer and solve the puzzle
- talk Bob
- work on VD
- go home,examine mirror (don't ask how this sequence ended up here, maybe Curtis got tired and/or forgot his date)
- go Dreaming Tree
- talk Jocelyn
- talk Max
- talk Jocelyn as long as you can
- use wallet on bill
- press Alt and move the cursor over Jocelyn's tits (this is a really lame easter egg)
- talk :max: Jocelyn

twillight 17-11-2014 01:29 PM

Phantasmagoria 2, chapter 2
 
This chapter is mostly linear despite the many places visited, but has some alternative shots, and a lot of independency in the order. But here comes my solution:

- examine mirror
- turn around to see an unused door. Press Ctrl and click*6 on it, than the same by pressing Alt. this activates the door ina sense, so click it.
- examine mail box
- examine rat
- CTRL + Alt click on book on desk
- use mail on Curtis
- go Wnytech, talk Jocelyn, Trevor, Therese (in this order)
- open office door
- enter boss room
- pick up Post It
- enter office
- wait until spoken to
- wait until spoken to
- examine cubicle
- talk detective
- examine cubicle (alternative: wait until spoken to, but that's like a cenzored version)
- talk Jocelyn
- talk Therese
- talk Therese (alternatively talk to Jocelyn, but that's less moody)
- talk Therese
- examine rat
- examine mirror
- examine book case
- use name card on telephone
- go The Dreaming Tree
- examine menu: examine drinks, examine foods (one liner for food is removed in GoG version, also one liners for "not yet" visitations for map)
- talk Max*2
- go Wyntech
- examine boss door
- enter office*2
- click on Curtis' ear*5
- try enter boss room
- enter Tom's cubicle, call PAW
- enter boss room, click on nostrils of goat while also seeing Carpe Diem plaquette until it bleats
- examine photo on desk
- examine monitor
- open drawer, pick up small key
- enter Bob's cubicle, pick up button
- try enter Curtis' cubicle
- enter storeage, use screwdriver*5 than Post It on Curtis
- open small door with small key (the most unexplaned act in the game if you ask me)
- examine file cabinet
- pick up toolbox until it ends up in your inventory
- go home, open toolbox
- pick up lace and file
- examine toolbox
- use screwdriver on toolbox
- go Doc Harburg
- use lace, than sexy post card, than greeting card on window (this is a video-easter egg, what even works as a semi-disturbing hallucination, heh)
- show x-mass photo
- talk to Doc
- show sexy post card
- show photo of parents
- use lace
- examine snowball
- use lace
- show greeting card
- use button
- show file (these last two might be better in reverse order. I made the order at the psy based on position of charactersin the shots, themes mentioned, reaction level, emotions.)
- go Borderline
- talk bouncer
- show sexy post card
- show greeting card (check names in the inventory to not mix them up)
- try enter The Pit
- talk person at the bar
- examine toilet
- go to the back room
- talk Therese*3
- drink cocktail
- volunteer (alternative: do not do anything, but that's less intense)
- examine piercing

Well, in this chapter there are some creative detailed murder, and some passionate sex. The weak point is the alternative shots. the chapter could have been better with some more complexity instead of those, but hey, things start to happen, unlike in p1:OK:

yoga 17-11-2014 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 460805)
Total Annihilation - Against Arm (Core Campaign walkthrough)

lvl 17: I HATE this level.
You are on an island. The island is covered by useless stuff you have to clear off (use D-gun). The northern part of the island will be suffocated by every kind of foolish enemy, so you don't even have one island. The attacks start coming early, so you don't have time to build stuff. Not that you'd have space to build stuff. Aside the incoming ships and tanks which can pass water underwater (so your radar won't show them until too late) AIRFORCE is coming TOO just to complete the picture. :no:
So my bet goes on building only basic structures, airport as the only unit-production on land, and right at the start strategically 3*3 missile towers or somesuch.
I really hate this level.

:3:
No any atom bomb, dear and brave twillight?
Show them who the boss is!
..and do not forget that brave is ready, armed near around..
just after the corner.
Call me and Finito la commedia...
:smugulon:
Capo is also ready and much more friends...
Stand up and fight!!
:hello:
very silently:
-Do You know that brave finished 32-th level of Doom 2?
Just shot the big bad head, using the lift..

twillight 17-11-2014 11:49 PM

grat youga for beating Doom 2. I did that when it was stardom, today I could not repeat it,as that engine makes me computer-sick.

Also, I think I'll never finish Total Annihilation. It just takes too much effort, and I'm slowly run out of money for lacking a job,and noone responding to my applications. I'd sell my soul to a minimum-wedge work.

yoga 18-11-2014 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 461553)
grat youga for beating Doom 2. I did that when it was stardom, today I could not repeat it,as that engine makes me computer-sick.

Also, I think I'll never finish Total Annihilation. It just takes too much effort, and I'm slowly run out of money for lacking a job,and noone responding to my applications. I'd sell my soul to a minimum-wedge work.

Sad news, amigo.
:(
Still...?
This damned idiot Orban slowly kills the best people in Europe.
You have some friends in London to help You?
Many BG countrymen find good job in England.
The air-ticket is about 20-30 Euro only.
You are educated and nice specialist anyway..
I want to say God bless this good man but know that ....
But my thoughts, my soul are with YOU.
Sometime bad days will end.
Dazed and confused
:palm:

twillight 18-11-2014 04:42 PM

Phantasmagoria 2, Chapter 3
 
Nope, I have no contact in London, it'd be too expensive anyway with all the necessary paper, rent and so on.

But enough of me, let's back to GAMING!

Chapter 3 is mostly about how Curtis deals with the death of his co-worker who he hated. Despite the events actually being fast, this chapter felt way longer than it actually is, for it is that more serious (and lacks zounds of distracting childish easter eggs):

- answer phone (so it won't annoy you)
- examine mailbox
- examine mirror
- Alt Ctrl click on book on table
- while being able to seethe rat-cage click on Curtis' nose until he farts (this is a slightly modified version of the previous)
- examine rat
- examine mail
- go wyntech, enter storeage (guides usually refers this as "Network room", though beats me on what basis), pick up hammer from table
- click on Curtis with screwdriver*5, than with hammer (dunno whythis egg has so many versions)
- examine small door
- re-enter storeage
- enter office
- exit Curtis' cube, examine boss' door
- enter Curtis' cube
- phone Trevor
- phone Curtis
- phone Jocelyn
- phone Therese*2
- phone Bob, examine phone
- talk Jocelyn
- talk Trevor*3
- talk Therese*2
- click*3 on silver statue on There's desk
- talk Jocelyn
- enter Curtis' cube, log in computer
- read/answer mails
- read archive (code: Carpe Diem)
- read memos (codes are on the Post It)
- try working on Alotharia9.doc (one liner is removed in GoG version)
- examine box in Bob's cube
- examine boss' door (the order of action in the office is arranged to build up the emotional tension)
- talk nurse
- examine ball (important to not mess with the belts before this if you want to watch the cutsceen)
- examine belts
- examine rat-woman*2
- examine male patient sitting
- examine female patient sitting
- examine male patient standing*many times
- examine ball
- examine belts (the actions for this segment arranged based on actions, although they are almost nonrelated)
- now you have an alternative: either run away (lame), or wait (better)
- examine mirror
- examine rat*2
- examine book case
- use toolbox on Curtis
- use combination of hammer + screwdriver on toolbox
- pick up letter
- go The Dreaming Tree
- talk Trevor until he leaves
- re-enter The Dreaming Tree (you were force-moved for unknown reason)
- talk Max*2
- go Doc H.
- talk
- show button
- show sexy post card
- show greeting card
- show treshold file
- show letter*2
- show parent photo
- show lace
- show x-mass photo (the converstion with the psychiatrist is arranged based on themes, described events and grammar (really). At this point Curtis is really shown falling apart, the talks start to get loose and vary.)
- go Borderline
- talk with patron at bar
- try enter The Pit
- go home
-talk Therese until chapter finish (SAVE at this point, timed stuff coming)

twillight 18-11-2014 08:35 PM

Ok, I was "lying" about timed stuff (in a sense), but I really hate to land in the middle of a situation w/o a chance to save.

But here is Chapter 4, what is a lot of walking around, almost like someone would like to memorize you all the places before the Big Stuff.
Despite the obvious weakness of this chapter, it turns pretty straight that Curtis is either now mad, or the interdimensional research made some obsessive enemy on Curtis' neck (or both).

- hold the cursor over the detective's butt for 20+ seconds
- talk detective*4
- examine mirror
- examine mail box
- Ctrl Alt click on book on table
- examine rat*3
- examine book case
- examine mail
- call psychiatrist
- go wyntech, enter office (this event makes no sense unfortunatelly, should happen along the next time you visit wyntech:wacko:)
- click Curtis' ear*5
- although I did not mention this, but every day you could drink a limited time from the water tank with the exact same result a the first time. The thing I mention it now is, that you are able too this time, despite:
- try enter the boss' room (the detective calls you away)
- try enter Tom's cube (and the detective kicks you out)
- go The Dreaming Tree
- talk Trevor*4
- re-enter The Dreaming Tree
- talk Max
- go to Doc H.
- use wallet on large diplom (code: batman)
- talk
- examine snowball
- talk
- examine snowball
- talk
- go home
- examine mirror
- examine front door
- talk Jocelyn*2
- pick up hairpin
- go wyntech
- enter storeage
- use screwdriver*5 than hairpin on Curtis
- use hairpin on boss' door (ye, I know)
- try open drawer
- use screwdriver on drawer
- pick up book, pick up paper
- log in computer as Curtis, read mail
- log in computer as PAW (code: Carpe Diem)
- set Curtis' security lvl to max (no info what if you only set 2 out of 3. Code: blacklotus)
- try enter office from boss' room (see, makes no sense the previous visit)
- enter glass door
- use lift
- go in
- examine jacket
- go in
- examine toy
- go in
- examine blanket
- try go in (SAVE)
- examine panel (code: 10958, and you have to enter it FAST)
- try enter Treshold
- use computer (code: rosetta)
- answer questions (there are some variations in the conversations. To check all, follow this guide: 1: why / when or how; 2: yes (jumps to 4) / why / no (logs out); 3: yes; 4: why; 5: (logs out either way, but most sense has „how”)
- go Borderline OR if you want to see a Game Iver use key card on reader (same video, but slightly longer than not setting the code on the door here when entering)
- examine patron at bar
- try enter The Pit
- try use the toilet
- rest the cursor on the door of the toilet and type "whipme"
- talk Therese*2
- examine cocktail
- try enter The Pit
- use greeting card (sexy post card works the same, but this is more sensical, and you can't try both) on bouncer
- use borderline invitation on bouncer
- try enter door
- solve puzzle
- examine rack
- go out to the bar
- re-enter The Pit, examine curtain

Unfortunately this "sex" is almost nonexistant :whops:

twillight 19-11-2014 12:39 AM

Phantasmagoria 2, Chapter 5
 
Oh, what we all waited for! Animated stuff combined with live shots, lots of carnage, aliens, conspiracy, whatnot!

- talk detective
- examine rat
- talk detective
- talk detective OR wait (although the later is a bit nonsensical if u ask me)
- examine mirror*2
- use hammer on mirror
- open nightstand, pick up wallet
- examine mailbox*2
- examine rat*2
- Ctrl Alt on book on table
- call Doc H.
- examine phone (although the next video won't be effected by this...)
- go behind desk
- exit OR hit guard / wait (but why wait for the same stuff to happen?)
- go wyntech
- examine water tank
- examine Tom's computer
- examine Bob's "computer"
- examine Curtis' computer*2
- enter boss' room (beats me how you are able to still roam around ona multikill crime sceen)
- login computer as PAW, read new file, print
- login computer as Curtis, read mail
- enter storeage
- pick up Trevor's key card
- enter basement
- login computer
- type your answers (3 questions, my favourite answers are yes-why-yes, but lot of variability)
- use Tervor's key card on reader
- enter correct glyph
- examine consol
- talk PAW*2
- talk apparition
- examine console
- talk apparition
- examine console OR wait (in which case you die)
- pick up alien slime, 3*alien creature, alien fungus
- combine starfish alien + U-alien = combined alien creature OR combine starfish alien + lightbulb alien to die
- use alien fungus to trap electric alien
- use combined alien on energy barrier
- enter energy pillar
- examine creature
- examine creature OR try to go back in which case you die
for the coming choices only the first allows you to survive:
- pick up syringe, OR pick up scalpel, OR w8
- examine pistol, OR click Jocelyn, OR w8
- pick up card key, OR talk all three zombie (you can pass talking with only any two of them), OR w8
- use card key on lift, OR w8
- use lever, OR hit Therese, OR w8
- talk mother, OR try to leave, OR w8
- examine creature
- examine creature, pick up alien glop
- combine alien glop + alien slime = alien ooze
- use alien ooze on spot below portal
- use electric alien on portal
- solve machine-puzzle. WARNING. Once you start this, you can not do anything else. Also, if you do an incorrect move, the game crashes (yes, even the GoG version). So save each time something new happens.
- choose your ending. Although even if you could blame all stuff on PAW, neither you or Jocelyn have work to go back to. And you might be incompatible. Although you might just plan an alien invasion :sneakrete: Anyway, this game ends here. Might be interesting to find out what would bethe MINIMAL thing to do, and wether that way it still makes sense or not, but I leave that up to you :lame:

EDIT: to get to the "Easter Egg Score Screen" exit your location (just using the map won't work), and click*10 on the partially visible representation of the building on the bottom of the map, closest to the river.

yoga 19-11-2014 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 461572)
Oh, what we all waited for! Animated stuff combined with live shots, lots of carnage, aliens, conspiracy, whatnot!

- talk detective
- examine rat
- talk detective
- talk detective OR wait (although the later is a bit nonsensical if u ask me)
- examine mirror*2
- use hammer on mirror
- open nightstand, pick up wallet
- examine mailbox*2
- examine rat*2
- Ctrl Alt on book on table
- call Doc H.
- examine phone (although the next video won't be effected by this...)
- go behind desk
- exit OR hit guard / wait (but why wait for the same stuff to happen?)
- go wyntech
- examine water tank
- examine Tom's computer
- examine Bob's "computer"
- examine Curtis' computer*2
- enter boss' room (beats me how you are able to still roam around ona multikill crime sceen)
- login computer as PAW, read new file, print
- login computer as Curtis, read mail
- enter storeage
- pick up Trevor's key card
- enter basement
- login computer
- type your answers (3 questions, my favourite answers are yes-why-yes, but lot of variability)
- use Tervor's key card on reader
- enter correct glyph
- examine consol
- talk PAW*2
- talk apparition
- examine console
- talk apparition
- examine console OR wait (in which case you die)
- pick up alien slime, 3*alien creature, alien fungus
- combine starfish alien + U-alien = combined alien creature OR combine starfish alien + lightbulb alien to die
- use alien fungus to trap electric alien
- use combined alien on energy barrier
- enter energy pillar
- examine creature
- examine creature OR try to go back in which case you die
for the coming choices only the first allows you to survive:
- pick up syringe, OR pick up scalpel, OR w8
- examine pistol, OR click Jocelyn, OR w8
- pick up card key, OR talk all three zombie (you can pass talking with only any two of them), OR w8
- use card key on lift, OR w8
- use lever, OR hit Therese, OR w8
- talk mother, OR try to leave, OR w8
- examine creature
- examine creature, pick up alien glop
- combine alien glop + alien slime = alien ooze
- use alien ooze on spot below portal
- use electric alien on portal
- solve machine-puzzle. WARNING. Once you start this, you can not do anything else. Also, if you do an incorrect move, the game crashes (yes, even the GoG version). So save each time something new happens.
- choose your ending. Although even if you could blame all stuff on PAW, neither you or Jocelyn have work to go back to. And you might be incompatible. Although you might just plan an alien invasion :sneakrete: Anyway, this game ends here. Might be interesting to find out what would bethe MINIMAL thing to do, and wether that way it still makes sense or not, but I leave that up to you :lame:

Hmmm.. your help is so detailed
that i think to see that game after RTC.
Do i need very powerful PC?
Have i Yr permission to copy this review for
personal usage, pls?
:3:

twillight 19-11-2014 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 461573)
Hmmm.. your help is so detailed
that i think to see that game after RTC.
Do i need very powerful PC?
Have i Yr permission to copy this review for
personal usage, pls?
:3:

No, yoga, you don't need strong PC. This game was made to run on win'98, and the only version it runs from it is DOS-Box versions.
Legend says there were 2 versions: the dos-version and the win-version, I never saw both, the GoG-version runs pretty solid and is running based on dos-box, but the quality might match the windows version.

Comes to my mind, they solved the juke-box crash bug for Chapter 5, those clever GoG-people. Just to mention.

Phantasmagoria2 was made in mind how Real Actors could incrise the quality of games, but later the technical development shown data can be compressed, but video-files can not (that much). Still, in that age it was a pretty innovative and working idea, I praise Sierra for it.
Come to think of it, from the old companies of the dos-based area (including win'98 OP) my favourite company is Sierra. They had so many PERFECT games...

---

Back to your question:
OF COURSE you may use my guide (if you put it anywhere, pls mention my nick). Feel free to do it! It was made to be used, AND this is the internet for all sake.
Also: I think I perfected all available walkthroughs with this work. I not just added all the official the easter eggs list, but also included all optional stuff, and even tried to organise a schedule where to go in what order to make it the best experience FOR THOSE WHO ALREADY PLAYED IT.
Yep, the game is really not hard to figure out (in most cases, especially if you read the ingame manual what only takes a minute or two), and best played by your own for the first go. I really intended to make the Ultimate Solution.

If you manage to get accross any new stuff, please tell me, and I'll add it to the list of actions (and mention your name). Though I highly doubt that can happen :D

Oh, sources I used while making the walkthough (although I added things too neither source had, at the same time I corrected their mistakes): HarroSIN's walktrough, D. Melanso's walkthrough (special thx for the re-enter the storeage move), and for the easter eggs: Phantasmagoria 2 Overview Memorial Page.

yoga 20-11-2014 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 461578)
No, yoga, you don't need strong PC. This game was made to run on win'98, and the only version it runs from it is DOS-Box versions.
Legend says there were 2 versions: the dos-version and the win-version, I never saw both, the GoG-version runs pretty solid and is running based on dos-box, but the quality might match the windows version.

Comes to my mind, they solved the juke-box crash bug for Chapter 5, those clever GoG-people. Just to mention.

Phantasmagoria2 was made in mind how Real Actors could incrise the quality of games, but later the technical development shown data can be compressed, but video-files can not (that much). Still, in that age it was a pretty innovative and working idea, I praise Sierra for it.
Come to think of it, from the old companies of the dos-based area (including win'98 OP) my favourite company is Sierra. They had so many PERFECT games...

---

Back to your question:
OF COURSE you may use my guide (if you put it anywhere, pls mention my nick). Feel free to do it! It was made to be used, AND this is the internet for all sake.
Also: I think I perfected all available walkthroughs with this work. I not just added all the official the easter eggs list, but also included all optional stuff, and even tried to organise a schedule where to go in what order to make it the best experience FOR THOSE WHO ALREADY PLAYED IT.
Yep, the game is really not hard to figure out (in most cases, especially if you read the ingame manual what only takes a minute or two), and best played by your own for the first go. I really intended to make the Ultimate Solution.

If you manage to get accross any new stuff, please tell me, and I'll add it to the list of actions (and mention your name). Though I highly doubt that can happen :D

Oh, sources I used while making the walkthough (although I added things too neither source had, at the same time I corrected their mistakes): HarroSIN's walktrough, D. Melanso's walkthrough (special thx for the re-enter the storeage move), and for the easter eggs: Phantasmagoria 2 Overview Memorial Page.

One more word:
-I have 2 PC.
First PC is located in a room let say A. It uses Win 7 Pro 32-bit.
Also Win XP Pro is used. This OS is installed with Virtual Box.
For Phantasmagoria 2 i am able to mount Win 98.
Moreover i am ready with Win 8.1 and Win 10.
But i like present W 7.

Second PC is located in my hall.
It uses Win XP Pro and this is my game test PC.
Here i may install Win 98 also.

Both machines are connected in home network by cable through drilled in wall hole. I like to play some games with friend battling in network.:3:
Today i will try to find Phantasmagoria 2.

twillight 21-11-2014 08:55 PM

Shadow Man
 
I pulled out again this game, finally, as The Last Game I Really Want To Play.
Anything else will just be a bonus.

"Not much more" since the last go, although this is a reinstall, and I suspect I "missed" something in Liveside, as I definitely remember fighting there krokodiles and such. Likely the result of going back to the ship and shooting its door open or something... But not sure. Who cares, there'll be time.

But I definitely reached Temple of Life. Man, the squares just before that was a mess to map.

Especially that I have some Undiscovered Passes at this point, two of them to be precise, which way I COULD go. Not to mention those places which are currently being blocked by lava.
This game is geniously made, but you definitely need an attitude to play, for it demands map-drawing (and it is not coming from the Might and Magic 1 era), meticulous note-making, constant re-visiting places... And the whole thing is HUGH.

----------

Found the Bajou (teleporting knife).Will have to figure out how to use it on Liveside though (I suspect that comes lategame).
Also will have to find out how to crack the liveside govis (suspect the same as above).

Got a new movie when unlocked lvl 2Shadow Man.
Unlocked secret "play as duppie".

Found those crocodiles, mapped the area.

Now I have 2 undiscovered passages, and a lvl 2 door to choose from where to go.

-------

New movie when reached the perimeter of the Asylum. Also new talks.

Not to mention I walked all available passes, so I can go this time only one way. Keepingtrack where I am is at times problematic, seems the map ... Just don't fit to what I see, meaning parts connect which should not be able. Or it is just me drawing wrong distances, not matching the actual angle of corridors. Still, I'm not lost, so I'm glad with it.

Got two new stuff too:
- asson, which seems bloody useless (all the magic stuff seems bloody useless given the very limited mana)
- engineer key.

Yep, I'm right in the room where the engineer key was, so I'll be able to go and backtrack all those doors I passed to reach here. Or just go forward at the moment? I think I'll try to reach the next warp point to avoid messy situations, like sniper rifle demons and those two meat-hooker which guarded the engineer key (used the baton and sniper mode too to eliminate them, as you come through the roof into a compound room - what the designers thought?!?).

Oh,and I have 76 cadeaux at the moment.

-------

97 cadeaux! 3 more, and I get more HP!

Also, when coming back from the Cathedral of Pain, I just tried to shoot open the door I skipped until now at the back of Nettie's church. And it worked! Just had to aim the padlock. Will investigate next.

Some nasty tricks the programmers came up with though too: an altair which teleports straight into lava, or a schizm which lands you right in front of (one of) The Boss. Jeez! Ok, the protagonist is technically immortal (if you die you restart from the nearest warp point, like for Planesacpe: Torment), but was this really necessary?
I think it was.
Not that I wouldn't save at every corner :D

I think after that crpyt-door I'll go for the dead-end lvl 3 gate which holds some minor artifact just to lessen the choices I have to keep in mind.
After that I'll aim the Temple of Fire, then all will depend on the found govis. In ideal case I'll be able to go for the Poigne, than Flambeau. A great deal of backtrack each will open, but after gaining these will really be messed up, as reaching the other to fire-immunity tattoos are placed so far..

PS new talk-videos after passing a schizm (use the two-lance one, that has a safe arrival-spot).

twillight 23-11-2014 07:28 PM

Shadow Man
 
Well, those doors turned out less exciting than I thought. Just little rooms, they were.

So I found time to pass the Temple of Fire. Now have to do some backtrack, as lvl 4 is not yet. I remember this was the stage my old computer gave in, so imma happy.
Or was that a temple later? Huh, I'd be surprised if the same lag would dispose me nao.

New movie: after gaining La Luna, Nettie told some new stuff.

Secret: Flame On Mode I gained in the Temple of Fire in the room with the big ramp. Ideally you'd gain this coming back with the Flambeau, but due to design-flaw and gamer-persistence you can just jump to the location's corridor from the other end :shifty:

-----------

Hm, that backtracking rose me to lvl 5, but they were almost always just small rooms and niches. Strange, like inthe middle the game would gain speed, instead building even more humongous mazes. Unlike Might and Magic 6 did :D OH, those EYES!
Also, as got the Poignant, aka. climber claws, the need of backtracking and eliminating markers on my hand-drawn map got really a good idea.

But first of all went to exchange 100 cadeaux to the loa, and I did need the HP at one point, where some vulture-demons spat at me while climbing a tower.
I also have 50 remaining on me at this point. (and I have I think 28 dark souls. No idea why the aquirable cadeaux are not noted ingame)

A moment for that tower: I really don't mind the buttons in this game. They are not just door-openers, but alwaysstraight told what they do. Very good. It is also giving itself when you are supposed to go and find a button, 'cause w/o it u can't progress ;)

Got the Flambeau. Now unlike the other magical stuff this just held in your hand drains your mana. Too bad, it'd've been a really useful secondary item, being a torch.
This also means some more backtrack.

Coming to that, there is a WP, unmarked in walkthroughs, for the Temple of Fire, at the end of the first trial 8on top of the ziggurat).

Also, the secondary stuffs: they are to be kept in mind. They are not for everyday use,and if you have a thingy in both of your hands you won't be able to play Prince of Persia (grabbing walls at the end of a jump), but they give occasional firepower, what can come in handy. The "dagger" (bayou) costs a lot of mana, but is very strong. The "magic wand" (asson) is like a secondary pistol, and serves good against The Sisters or other grouping flying monsters. It also costs only a fraction of a dose of your energy, so you CAN SHOOT a couple of dozen shots before you expire.

Aside from backtracking the possible doorways at this point are: lvl 4, lvl 6, lvl 7, lvl 10, AND we're waiting to summon night on Liveside.

-------

Done with the backtrack, only one way accessible. I feel freaggin' strong, but I think this is partially for the GoG-version - I don't remember the shadowgun charging this fast, or the shadowgates open that fast. Might be doen sg of course with the stronger computer either.

I THINK I am done with 33% of the game, even if I only have like 30/120 dark souls. Who knows, there could be a harvest somewhere instead of the looking around. Oh, one can hope :ouch:

This post starts to grow too big, so add some content to really make it reasonable to open a new one:
- there are two bosses I could visit any time. Of course I did tried them just for the taste, and the army-guy with the machine-gun seem to offer the tactic of hiding behind a pillar, and shooting him between his shots (he periodically shoots a range of ammo, than stops for a second or two and so on).
- the other guy had a pistol, which autohit. I think I'll need the shield-artifact to protect myself while killing it with a weapon. If that works that way. If not, than just shoot the two biggest gun porrible I assume.

On the official map there are superficial markers to help the player. Most of them r obvious (although bets me why the Temple of Life is not marked, and certain things get way more attention on it than they deserve), but what could the purple lines/pathways mean?!?

Finally let me tell you how intelligently this game is designed:
there is this last location I visited. You pass the usual caves, opening chests, disposing the encountered natives (I really like the enemies here are "natives", and not "monsters in dungeon" ), than you reach a hole you'll have to fall down into. Now be clever and DO NOT jump there.
Instead choose sniper-mode, look down, and "kill" (a lot of monsters respawn, so you don't kill by strickt meaning) the immediate threat. Jump down.
Now you are surrounded by walls. there are crates, but climbing crates again WOULD BE BORING. So instead grab the edges of the wall, and climb holding there on top of the(otherwise too high) boxes. They are on a ramp, so the fence/wall is less tall on one side. You climbthe boxes, and jump into the next cage (the map titled Cageways, heh).
There you encounter more hostiles, so run and STRAFE around to avoid their attacks while disposing them.
Ok, so you are in another cage, surrounded by walls. No, you won't again climb walls and boxes. You'll this time climb a rope (handful to be there, but it is not totally unacceptable).
And when you are out, you can continue your travel BY TRAIN :idea:

The bad side though:
- you can only keep down 2 buttons the same time. I could have used 3 occasionally.
- the replay-value.. Aside that the game is humongous, I think there is little of it. Not that most of us would care.
- at the point I am now I start to feel some more background would be good. I mean right at the beginning there were cutscreens of background and lore, than you find books telling you details and all, than you enter the chapels of the Five - but now what I got for long is mostly gathering a bunch of new items, and even those start to run low. I really wouldn't like the second half/remaining part of the game just turn to be a bigger and bigger massacre of monsters trying to kill you.
- the equipment is really designed to fight ONE enemy at a time. That is kinda limiting.

twillight 25-11-2014 01:39 PM

I think a free-roaming game does best when you can "re-play" it for good after all the leveling, equipment-gathering, questing; without actually restarting from scratch.
So, we'll see how being Lord of Deadside works here. Long way ahead, but keep it in mind. The point was, replay-value can mean two different things.

Let's take a look on the ~game mechanics, aka. what you collect and how does that effect you:
- you gather equipment to have stronger weapons and to be able to do stuff, as almost all equipment is only weapon as secondary function.
- you gather cadeauxes to gain higher maximum HP (most reviews forget this feature).
- you gather dark souls to rise your "shadow level", what allows you to enter more areas, and expands your maximum mana, and maximum charge of your basic weapon.
- you collect mana separately.
- you collect med-kits and ammo cartidges (yet to see this later for me though).

New secret:
You'll need the Touch-gad. Port to Asylum: Cageways, drop down at the entrance to the left, and go until you reach the first rooms after the lava. Go right, climb up the boxes, jump to the second plank. Go to its middle, and jump on/through the third plank to gain Trippy Mode.
What'd even look good, if they wouldn't shake the screen.

New movie: talk NPC1 after gaining La Soleil

What else could you remember more that this is a 3D game than an UNDERWATER CITY?

New secret: Invisible man mode: in Asylum playground there is a corridor with 5 prison-cells on it. In one of the two empty you gain it.
I don't like Asylum: Playground. It is vast, it is twisted but straightforward (mostly), and the noises are really disturbing. I mean they are literally maddening, so perfect they are. Giggles slipping into screams, squeaking of puppies transformed into drill-screams... It'snot easy to have an effect on me, but these ARE disturbing.

After passing the WHOLE of the Playrooms, except thelast part which demands Marsher Gad (= walk lava) I possess 118 cadeaux, and 41 dark souls. This means porting for more max. life, than going for the enseigne,and THAN passing forward.
Btw, I really dislikes Playrooms, if nothing else for a battlewhere you just emerge from water, and are attacked before being able to climb out by no less than 5 shooters. You have to know some things to understand the problem: if you are hit when in water/climbing rope you'll submerge/fall down. You can not shoot/aim a target form underwater, but the enemy can shoot you, at least for a limited dive. So this is totally ridiculous. Fortunately for when coming back most passes could be turned into circles meaning they have 2 enterances - but this took a LONG time here.
Heck, after completion I'll even try to install my old scanner and scan my own maps just to show you XD

-----------

After collecting what I mentioned there'll be 3 open routes, two leading to lvl 7 doors, which I cannot open yet, so for the first time I'll not cleansweap all possible flicks, but go straight for the Marsher Gads in the Temple of Prophecy.

What first looks very straightforward, than it throws you zounds of rooms and passes, and you'll be glad to barely pass to the Gad (tattoo) and go on backtracking.

New Secret: in the Temple of Prophecy in the "flambeau maze" (pretty evident when you are there) I gained Play as Nettie. Very deep voice this Nettie has :D

When I collected enough dark souls to be lvl 7 I ported to get the Marteau, and restart the backtrack.
What actually rises a question, and gives some real free-roaming aspect for the moment.

There are still places I can not open lacking the equipment. I wish the "acid pools" would be more distinguishable from "lava pools" on the top of it, as learning the hard way is frustrating (especially when I forget to save, fortunately no lost data until now).

So, the choices come this way:
- I could go for a single dark soul to the Playrooms, but that seems redundant, as right next to it will be another, not to mention a new weapon, but the weapon will require an accumlator, but to gain that I'll first assemble The Eclipse, kill one of the BOSSES... You see my point.
- I could open a new territory and try to go for the last piece of the Eclipse
- I could do some minor backtracking in Asylum: Gateway, but why go there before gaining The Eclypse?
- before you say "than go for that Ecplipse-thingy" I have to consider 1 redundant passages, to walk them for the purpose being there.
- there is again the Asylum: Cageways just for progressing there too for a while (according to the map of the manual that's the way to the final boss after a while)
- there is also the (Asylum:) Lavaducts, what I heared tended to confuse those who played the game having two identical area (?).
- finally I could go again against the Temple of Prophecy to map it correctly.

Man, I really needed to write all this down, else I'd got lost :)

So, finished the redundant passage, got The Eclipse, and licked the Swamp (this is where you gain the first shotgun).

---------

Glitches:
- when reloading, many times a bunch of mana-skulls pop up at random location.
- grids can stuck into each other, as for ALL 3D games. Simply jump to solve it.
- the dogs after The Ritual become hostile from neutral. The glitch here is, the aim tends to forget them, and shoot above them, they being low-height critters.

twillight 26-11-2014 05:34 PM

Shadow Man
 
Ok, so killed the first boss (military guy with machine gun), and there found a machingun for myself.
Yes, the tactic was to hide in cover when he shoots, and shoot him when he don't. Pretty obvious.

Than ported to the PlayRooms, turned out I can't get the heavy machine gun (violator), as it requires 3, and not 1 accumlator. Doing.
Still, got the remaining two darksouls there, including one local bossfight.
This giant monster has some self-guided missile launcher or what, but the projectiles are slow, and most of it will hit the wall if you don't come out from the ventilator duct for the battle.

NOTE: strange, but true, that the official map lacks marking one of the equipments-to-collect.
Also, could use some ingame info how to use those retractors...

Seems I found a bug. While clearing the Temple of Prophecy the last darksoul appeared outside its sigil. It should have been in under the glyph only accessible by the Calabash (yet to find), but it just appeared in mid-air.

As I (finally!) am lvl 8 shadow man, I decided to go for the last Gad (last part of the tattoo). I imagine it won't make me immun to fire despite I'll be able to swim in acid? lava?, I'll still suffer damage I bet from fireballs.
Stil, if I'll have that, and the Calabash, only items to kill the Final Bosses will remain to hunt, and those don't really effect the gameplay, heh. Definitely no more backtrack. That starts to be annoying, although there isn't much to backtrack anymore with all my thoroughness.

Strange, but I still don't have 300th cadeaux. That means more than 200 is still around.

Areas undiscovered at this point:
- Temple of Blood
- Lavaducts
- Undercity
- Gardelle Jail (3 of 5 bosses, 1 down)
- Merdant Street (1 of 5 bosses)
- Dower Street (1 of 5 bosses)
- second half of Asylum: Cageways
- Engine Block
- Legion (End Boss)
All this at worst 20-30% of the whole game (estimation).

--------

Well, things are harder than they look, as the Calabash has the requirement of lvl 9 :(
Also, while the Temple of Blood is relatively simple, it is made on the thought "do it or die". So almost no threat - except constantly being consumed by fire. At least the maze is not confusing. Btw, there is absolutely nothing in the pool where the Gad is, so don't go and check (the room contains a massive battle).

On battles: with this high lvl it is less problematic even against hordes.

standard enemies are:
- dog: annoying, but not much threat being melee.
- "zombies": the first enemies(?) you come across. Being passive until you get close make them look not-so-nasty, but if you're forced to land in the middle of them that's bad, especially that their projectile(?) can not be avoided(?)
- slasher thingy: the second enemy you came across. Massive speed, and can shoot a very slow projectile from far (so it is not that much of a threat). Just strafe them.
- fat person with meathooks as palms: melee guys. After you have like lvl 5, your charged shots will stun them, making them almost negligable. Until then just back when they are coming and strafe when close.
- gunner fat man: single shot slow projectile.
- sisters: keep them in one side while your back is safe. Do not stay too close to any wall, as they projectile bump back. Strafe their projectiles. They are not that bad, and even in hugh number they fall when you reach lvl 7+.
- skinny red guy with SMG: they only burst periodically, and the projectile isn't fast, so strafe. Not much of a threat.
- robodog(?): dunno what they are, but are melee, hit harder than a dog, but has almost no life. Fun.
- chainsaw guy: the only thing good in them is they are melee. Only lvl 8 charged shots seem to start stunning it. Although melee, its weapon has a massive range. You might try backing, but that hardly helps. When gets close strafe, than back off fast, and you might not get hurt.

Hm, another detail missing from the manual's map: where is the soulgate trace from the Engine Room to Mordant Street?

----

Anyway, got the 300th cadeaux, not that I'd need it (well, don't know about it), and preparing to infiltrate the Lavaducts. 16 dark souls until Calabesh.

Glitch: when swimming in acid for no appearant reason sometimes the game pushes me on the surface.

twillight 27-11-2014 02:40 PM

Shadow Man
 
The difficulty of mapping the later levels comes partially that they instead of corridors work with rooms, and especially multilevel design, what is a nightmare to draw.

Than in the Lavaducts if you are not aware that TWO IDENTICAL mixers are working there, you'll easily get lost.

Although I really wanned avoid it, but after licking clean the LavaDucts I still possess insufficient dark souls, so I have to the Cageways.

Ok, so this game is so "nonlinear" as a Super Mario. Ok, I give to it you collect the wacchamacallings in an unfixed, not left-to-right order, but it still is only "free roaming" in the sense of levels, which includes backtracking previous levels. And every stupid last wassit must be collected (ok, technically you could leave out the cadeauxes, but c'mon, you have to look in every cracks, so they come naturally, and the few which don't are still right before your very eyes, so you'll collect them).
Ok, that was just my frustration.

On the good side the last gad DO makes you totally immun to fire - one less thing to worry about.
Noticed this when I went back to the Temple of Fire (I really did not want to start the Engine Room, ok?), there being the only remaining dark souls I somehow couldn't aquire. This time I even looked up a freaggin walkthrough - still no luck. So just started to aimlessly wonder around and kill stuff (as long as you don't port away they remain "dead"), when I missed a jump, and by that discovered an unfamiliar passageway - the rest is history. 96 drak souls on me, I RIGHT NOW go for the Calabash.

--------

With the stuff went blowing things up. Ended up with 103 dark souls and 82 cadeaux (130 is still unfound according to the manual. No idea why they put there 512 cadeaux when you can only use 500. Maybe forthe feeling you don1t have to collect EVERYthing,despite you must?). And yes, in Temple of Prophecy I found 14 souls from the available 13. Don't ask.

New secret: blowing up the sigil next to Nettie's church and entering the tunnel gave Play as a dog. SPOILER I wonder how many other game offers bestiality. SPOILER

--------

The horror-parts of the game:
- the start is like a ghost-story. Grey, lone spirits in a wasteland of eternity you see. Most people does not appreciate ghost stories, as they lackthe adrenailne-factor, but they can be nice.
- around the middle, particularly in the Aslyum-areas they were working with disturbing noises. You don't actually see the torture, but it is still vivid enough.
- in lategame, Asylum: Undercity they started to play peak-a-boo, the classic "monster jumps on you for scare" basic horrorfilm design. And it works too.

Glitch: re-play a movie, your location in your save will be at the front of Jaunty.

http://imgur.com/m71c6qk

----------

Nothing remains but The Five, the Engine Room, and The Evil from Beyond.
Current dark souls: 106
Current cadeaux: 15 (+ 400 exchanged for max. HP)

The second boss, mentioned earlier, likes to run around - but not if you manage to chase him so close he gets melee.Usually melee means higher damage on you, but at this point noone cares: just equip your shield while max-charging your shadowgun.
If for any reason your mana would deplet switchyour second hand to the SMG you got from the other boss defeated earlier, and win.
In the area of this boss you'll find another SMG, the 0.9 SMG (the previous was the MP-909).

------

There is an unexpected place to use the Calabash: a metal door at the third boss schism arrival. OR, and it is neither obvious, you can shoot with anything a schizmata-symbol at the same location. Both lead the same place: an accumlator.

New Secret: Shotgun Head Mode I got in one of the rubber-rooms deep in the insanity ward.

Oh, just to tell, I gave up creating a map for the Jail. This was the point what was too much for me. I still think I got everywhere, as in the end the complex is not that complicated: 3 section of prison (lizard man's schizm arrival, repo guy section, video nasty killer section), than the insanity ward, and I THINK you can only go ahead, only things right in front of you gets open every time you unlock a new section. Ok, I'm not 100% sure, but WHO CARES.

Glitch: if you alt-tab like me can happen that when you switch back to the game the screen remains black. If this happens, alt-tab until you (again) reach the game's icon. That fixes it.

Ah, came to mind: the third boss. But first: the helicopter:
- the helicopter is ... Victim of bad design, as it ended up worse than in theory. It is in the game likely for no other purpose that The Lizard King is not in the section where you arrive through his portal, but in the 4th section (the other two section has two others of The Five). The basic strategy is to CONSTANTLY strafe and fire it, than you can always just be ahead of its autamatic-weapon-fire. But as it is a flying enemy, you can end up get close to the prison wall, under platform of the next level, what can cover you from the fire (at least it did to my surprise).
- The Lizard King himself ... I'll be flat: is a jerk. You start in melee distance with 'im, has no ranged weapon, also lacks muscle-strength. I pulled out double-shotgun (the shotgun is LAME weapon in this game as it turned out), constantly backed away, and fired until he collapsed. Any of The Five must be finished off with the shadowgun, so quickly changed to it then, and finished 'im off. I was disappointed. (PS: nevermind his flashing and changing form, that just marks his loss of hp, that's all)

------

Seems someone made some computergenerated maps. No idea how really they work, I rely on my personal maps, but definitely clearer than a housemade drawing.

twillight 28-11-2014 12:43 PM

Shadow Man - Final
 
Not much remains left:

The Mordant Street, "Home Improvement Killer" is an IDOT. There is no challenge defeating him. He is at the end of a long corridor's corner, so you charge - jump out of the corner - release the shot etc. When he finally reaches you he'll barely have any life left.

Cadeaux: 71
Dark Souls: 109/120 (this is VERY good as there'll be another of The Five (110), and 11 more in The Engine Room (121/120!))

NOTE: I have 4 accumlators, so I could go and get Violator-machingun for More Dakka, but as I did not yet used the SMGs, I'll rip Jack to shreds with those.

London is unusually big compared to the other bosses' places. Compared to? f*me, it is so vast it easily another Cageways, or Playrooms, or Asylum Gateway! And there is (was) no map for it! I felt totally overwhelmed!
What you might want to know either way is, that the whole place is one giant circle, except Jack's place, what is connected it througha way starting with blades rotating vertically, only half in the water.
And you know what's the WORST of the place? Up to now, with the end of this level and clean-sweaping EVERY locations to the bone, you are able to collect 499 cadeauxes. Not 500, not 512 - just the measily 499. Dammit!
*checked again drawing a rough map of the Jail, and no cadeaux missed.

Oh, the fighting strategy: Jack is a nasty enemy. He climbs the walls and gets behind you very fast, so you have no chance shooting him. Then he jumps on the back of you causing damage, just to disappear again. Sounds unfair. And yes,this is finaly a place where you are better off with as much HP you can have.
No, you can't just run into a corner and w8 ur chance - I've tried.
The solution is to run in circles in a U-shaped corridor which leads back to the starting room, and you make full circle by jumping to the water and restarting the same pattern. Somewhere along this run he'll jump down and miss you. He won't climb the walls again until lands a hit on you (or swings a hit. Or takes massive damage. I think.). So run ahead - he is slower than you this way. When gained enough distance to turn around w/o getting hit do it, and double-SMG him while backing. Hopefully he'll gain enough damage to jump away before hit you, and definitely suffer enough damage to die sooner than you.

New Secret: in the (women's) toilet you gain Pea Soup Secret.

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

The Engine Room is actually 4 different level, which gets connected after solving each part separately. Just to erase confusion.
Also, there seems to be no twists for any of the parts, so no rant from me.
Although I yet to see any of the 13 leftover cadeaux. I think I just give up. Definitely won't go through all the areas just for the hope of some forgotten p*** of s***. I am f*** GOD anyway to collect 499 ANYWAY.
YEAH!

(Too late now. Will finish tomorrow.)

-----------

Hopped for the Violator. Left the full magazines for now, they'll held for the End. You can find bullets for this weapon in barells until now. Worth the More Dakka against the Trueforms. For the times I can't sustain the Enseigne (shield). I suxor when it comes to running around u know.

Anyway, the arrival from the Cageways way easy, from London too.
Then I hopped to New York, and kept blasting in frustration the (once already) opened boxes, but here I found a cadeaux. Wtf, I'm happy like noone else. Go for more elife after this. Arrival from here was not smooth, big welcoming comitee.
Arrival from the Jail in itself is not hard, but the unavoidableshot you catch in as part of the movie(!) is not pleasant. Either way, the hardest part of this section is, that you'll face no less than 6 Truforms (monster-minibosses, first fought back in the Playrooms). That means a LOT of resources.
You even have to fight two at once once.

New movie: after you enter into the Engine Rooms from the Cageways side you get the area-move, and than you can go and talk to NPC 2. One might suspect there is a similar movie with NPC 1, but damn me if I go and figure it out.

New Secret: open the lvl10 door. It is lame, but that's all you get. A sketchbook.

What remains is the final fight...
The first part is easy: back off while shooting with fully charged shadowgun.
The second part... Well, the boss flies, and shoots two thing at you: a straight beam, which is too fast to bother with (either misses you or hits you, you can't do anything 'bout it), and a plethora of selfguided missiles which last very long, and you likely won't see when/if they dissipate.
The theory is to run in circles on the upper platforms to miss the projectiles following you while occasionally shooting the big baddy - but I could not figure out how to win exactly.

:headslap::idea::woot:

In case you have trouble beating the Final Boss:
Start the battle from the very beginning, so Legion is just a suited man.
Equip the Violator and the Shadowgun.
Run in, ignore Legion.
There is his big "throne", held on the sides two coloumns. Start shooting the top of the left column (from your point of view). Use the Sniper Mode. You'll notice bleeding. Keep attacking it (no idea wether charged shots or rapid shots required, but definitely keep shooting from the minigun) until it produces "dying effect", I mean those circulating whitish-blue particles. When they fade (from 10 life-unit you should have 4-6 left) switch back to normal and kill Legion, so he transforms. You shall be put in front of it, wherever you had been. Run in and keep shooting it in sniper mode with the shadow gun. It dies almost immediately.

The source of this bug is likely programmer's fault, as the Worm Form likely not rendered during/after the movie, but is present from the start to preserve resources of the computer or something.

twillight 14-12-2014 02:51 PM

Despitemy better judgement played again Little Big Adventure 1 and it still is as terrible it was for the first go.

- it is very slow. I mean your character is too slow compared to the environment. This also suggests you are better off w/o sound; they might be ok, but they soon would kill you by going on your nerves, being more interesting than what's happening on the screen.
- no. despite you are able, you won't run, because
a) the visual range is too small, and there are enemies everywhere, not to mention walls
b) if you try to run up a stair you'll bump like you hit a wall.
- the small "resolution", better said: visuals, again not help as your attack is slow, and has very-very-immense delay between two shots. And you can't even move the camera.
- your attacks are not just suffer from being slow, but are also impossible to aim, given no auto-correction, or any definite hit aside the general direction faced where you'll shoot at. As there are some intense combat-situations, this is a high priority problem. With arms in not being able to turn fast.
- as this game has "intense situations" mentioned, the lack of run-jump is also a hugh problem at times, especially in the Temple of Bu part two where you run from the spiked log. That part alone will takes hours to finish despite it is a 30 second platforming.
- time-consumation again comes from the factor you can only level-save, and certain maps start with an unskippable animation.
- the save is also a nonsense. You can not only just level-save, but your current save always autosave over itself when you enter a new map. And autosaves on any saves you made while being in-game. Let me explain:
assume you load "first.sav" starting in location 1, you play an hour or whatever, and then you save your location as "second.sav" at location 2, then you quit the game at location 3. What will happen is, when you load either first.sav or second.sav, you'll be at location 3.
No to save properly you'll have to archive-save, meaning:
you start a new game (or load, doesn't matter, the game will be stored as first.sav). You go to location 1, and QUIT playing. Now you go to "mess with saves" menu, and COPY first-sav as second. sav. Now you continue playing with second.sav, and have first-sav as archive save at location 1.
Assuming at this point you fail miserably while playing (game over or something), you do NOT reload second.sav, as that is GAME OVER, meaning you can not load it back. Ever. You also not load back first.sav, that'd be suicide.
What you do is, DELETE second.sav, COPY first.sav as second-second.sav, and THAN "continue playing" with this second second.sav.
- ingame mechanics are not better either. You'll always have too few mana, especially until magic level 4. You'll have always to few health at least until magic level 3. You will have 0 chance regenerating you health/mana bar, lackng the resources. You'll have to use clovers for full-recharge, or more like extra lives.
- clovers only work as "extra lives", because if something start to hit you, you are as good as dead. There is simply no "combo breaker", running away, or anything else, you'll just stunned around until you finally drop dead.
- despite the above annoyance, you should still think like you have 1 LESS clover than you actually have on you, as reaching the point you'll start to use them you'll run-bump into walls, hit by singled projectiles and more, loosing substantial amount of HP.
- one oft he most frequent damager is actually "climbing down on ladders", mostly because there is no such thing implemented in the game. You simply fall like nothing is there and hurt yourself reaching ground.
- if you play by yourself, you'll also easily run out of coins, and will spend hours entering/exiting a certain building with a pot at one side pulling whatever the game throws on you from it, hoping it is a single coin. Lacking any other source of coin-replenishment, thisis a problem. Yes, there are some beings which drop nice amount of coins, but they are always quest-object, meaning they disappear for good after the first occasion.

Yes, the graphic is nice, and the story don't have problems (aside that it is from Monkey Island, being a hunt-for-pirate-treasure), but beats me why this got any popularity, or sold successfully. It'd been a good shareware game, but otherwise nah.

But here is a quick tip entering the HQ: start from the tank. It doesn't move if you were not this time at the other end of the map, so don't worry about it. From semi-behind the wall kill the soldier in the trench. Walk in along the trench to the sandbags. Kill the machinegunner.Jump into its place, and kill the rabbidbunny. If you are lategame and you want to press on, jump out when the tower-machingun is on the east (right) side , so you'll be able to run in on the left. Stay there, and be able to see the red elephant. You'll be able to kill it from here with your ball.

At the end, where there is he room with the machine-penguins have one penguin, run in to the elephant, lay down the penguin, let it blow up the 'phant, take the key and open the door with it. Get another penguin, and kill the rabbidbunny with it. Get another penguin, go to the control-station, run ahead, lay down the penguin, and kill the scientist on your floor by whatever means while the rabbidbunny is blown up by the penguin.
That's what the penguin is actually good for.

A QUESTION: on the first island you get out of the asylum, carried out with the trash-truck, than reach the first area of proper play, where the pharmacist is (who has the red syrup). on the southwest corner, top of a walled-in building is a yellow 'phant. If you kill it it drops a key.
As all key is lost when you leave a map (entering a shop also counts), what this key unlocks?

twillight 16-12-2014 08:13 PM

Little Big Adventure 2
 
Man, if this would be ananimation-movie it'd be awesome. This way... It is not so much.
And only the length makes it an actual sellable game, otherwise it should be a freeware.

There happened some improvement since the first game, like you won't beat yourself to death if you try to run,and there IS a way to climb down ladders even if you'd never use it - not that anyone mentions it anywhere either way.
Also, the movie-shots are not lazy-made, so the characters have FACE for example on it.
Again an improvement of the introduction of multiply weapons, too bad you have to experience with what can hit what, they still have the "you don't know where it goes" attitude, and the fights are anyway about outranging the enemy.Oh, and could next time someone tell if a weapon does not feed on mana (laser gun to start with), and will have unlimited ammo, even if you find some ammo separate? (blowgun)

And the length. The game actually isn't that long, and the maps are actually go-straight corridors, just in a confusing design. The confusion if made worst in the first city, where everything is jumbled around (no cross-shaped streets and so on), and the camera-angles are totally weird.
Yes, I know you can manually switch the camera... but that many times worsens the situation further.
Solution could have been: well-designed angles, MOVABLE CAMERA, and/or a regular TPS-view. I really start to think french people just can't get program.

Not that I didn't encounter some enjoyable, good french games. Alone in the Dark 1 was perfectly good in what it did,but there were real good games too: The New Adventures of the Time Machine was a classic (and could have been more successful if you could've used the Time gates properly), Blair With Project volume 1 was totaly working (and could have beena classic if the innovative stuff, like infra-googles would have worked for some use, and the sequels wouldn't ruin it).
LBA2 isn't on that level unfortunately.

And the ending... Totally ruins the experience. The game had already cheap solutions, like only 3 movies for travel when the minimal amount of traveling is 4, but the ending...
Reused parts of other maps, stolen design from Prince of Persia, and a bossfight of Demogorgon from Baldur's Gate(2)... This is just awkward.

A word on the music: it helps tolerating the game, just wish it wouldn't make that screeching noise at times...

Also, they for reasons (sarcasm intended) threw out the levelsave concept, making the clovers to actually provide you just immense amount of HP. Well, in theory at least, as there are not many places you canfind a clover, so you better save a lot. Especially as "you died" even can happen very-very easily. Step in water? Step in lava? Hit anything while hovering? Lava splashed on you? These are just examples what can kill you, no matter what. And as you can't for example judge when you'd reach down trying to jump on that floating tiny thingy in the lavapool... Where for reasons :sarcasm: your jetpack does not work...

Now that's another issue. It SEEMS you can't fall down anymore from edge of the road. Well, not always true (of course only at the most unexpected situations), and this really gets in the way when you finally have the jetpack. Ok, you don't jump into oblivion w/o protection, but you are wearing a jetpack for all sake!

Finally mention missed opportunities: when you get the "jetpack" it is for any reason still the "protopack" from the prequel. Why? Why it never got finished as jetpack? Than it ends up a super-jetpack for :reasons:
And why another planet with again 4 species?
And if you in the first game reached GODLY POWER, how can you level further? How is that every minor mageling starts as lvl5, what is 1 lvl higher than GODLY POWER?

Lastly the very ending: now THAT was anticlimatic. No long-lasting battle, no skill needed, just "activate artifact". And I count that as "positive" for not giving even more problem.

yoga 17-12-2014 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 461833)
Man, if this would be ananimation-movie it'd be awesome. This way... It is not so much.
And only the length makes it an actual sellable game, otherwise it should be a freeware.

There happened some improvement since the first game, like you won't beat yourself to death if you try to run,and there IS a way to climb down ladders even if you'd never use it - not that anyone mentions it anywhere either way.
Also, the movie-shots are not lazy-made, so the characters have FACE for example on it.
Again an improvement of the introduction of multiply weapons, too bad you have to experience with what can hit what, they still have the "you don't know where it goes" attitude, and the fights are anyway about outranging the enemy.Oh, and could next time someone tell if a weapon does not feed on mana (laser gun to start with), and will have unlimited ammo, even if you find some ammo separate? (blowgun)

And the length. The game actually isn't that long, and the maps are actually go-straight corridors, just in a confusing design. The confusion if made worst in the first city, where everything is jumbled around (no cross-shaped streets and so on), and the camera-angles are totally weird.
Yes, I know you can manually switch the camera... but that many times worsens the situation further.
Solution could have been: well-designed angles, MOVABLE CAMERA, and/or a regular TPS-view. I really start to think french people just can't get program.

Not that I didn't encounter some enjoyable, good french games. Alone in the Dark 1 was perfectly good in what it did,but there were real good games too: The New Adventures of the Time Machine was a classic (and could have been more successful if you could've used the Time gates properly), Blair With Project volume 1 was totaly working (and could have beena classic if the innovative stuff, like infra-googles would have worked for some use, and the sequels wouldn't ruin it).
LBA2 isn't on that level unfortunately.

And the ending... Totally ruins the experience. The game had already cheap solutions, like only 3 movies for travel when the minimal amount of traveling is 4, but the ending...
Reused parts of other maps, stolen design from Prince of Persia, and a bossfight of Demogorgon from Baldur's Gate(2)... This is just awkward.

A word on the music: it helps tolerating the game, just wish it wouldn't make that screeching noise at times...

Also, they for reasons (sarcasm intended) threw out the levelsave concept, making the clovers to actually provide you just immense amount of HP. Well, in theory at least, as there are not many places you canfind a clover, so you better save a lot. Especially as "you died" even can happen very-very easily. Step in water? Step in lava? Hit anything while hovering? Lava splashed on you? These are just examples what can kill you, no matter what. And as you can't for example judge when you'd reach down trying to jump on that floating tiny thingy in the lavapool... Where for reasons :sarcasm: your jetpack does not work...

Now that's another issue. It SEEMS you can't fall down anymore from edge of the road. Well, not always true (of course only at the most unexpected situations), and this really gets in the way when you finally have the jetpack. Ok, you don't jump into oblivion w/o protection, but you are wearing a jetpack for all sake!

Finally mention missed opportunities: when you get the "jetpack" it is for any reason still the "protopack" from the prequel. Why? Why it never got finished as jetpack? Than it ends up a super-jetpack for :reasons:
And why another planet with again 4 species?
And if you in the first game reached GODLY POWER, how can you level further? How is that every minor mageling starts as lvl5, what is 1 lvl higher than GODLY POWER?

Lastly the very ending: now THAT was anticlimatic. No long-lasting battle, no skill needed, just "activate artifact". And I count that as "positive" for not giving even more problem.

Yes,
Alone in the Dark 1
is very nice french game.
:3:

twillight 20-12-2014 01:25 PM

WTH? My Rage of Mages 2 no longer works. No idea why.

twillight 22-12-2014 09:09 PM

I might take the effort installing win'98 on a spare HDD... This situation really gets annoying.

Until that, I replayed Monkey Island. All the first 3 I have.

The Secret of Monkey Island was likely the best graphic adventure game ever. Fun, great graphic, not-too-hard-not-too-easy language, comfortable controls,and almost all puzzles were logical.
Well, it wasn't flawless, as those pesky Random Pirates walk the road before you'd be able to fight them, and I suspect you actually don't have to buy the sword from the shop (not that you wouldn't have the gold), and only people lost will find the "hole in the wood" easter egg, not to mention gaining the Red Herring is pixel-hunt, giving the idol to the cannibals is counter-intuitive (those are told to be precious sacred idols you better not mess with), and following the shopkeeper is less than obvious, but that's really a minority report.
Also, there is an Alternative Ending depending wether you sink the Sea Monkey or not (the official ending seems you do sink it), what is a big plus.

Le'Chuck's Revenge... Well, it is full of even-hunt, what is similar to pixel-hunt, but instead of a random pixel you look for a random place to go/ random thing to say what'll trigger the event demanded o roll the story, and the spitting-contest is "doing the same thing and hoping a different result", not to mention finding Walley (or walking Disney Island), who is on the end of a corridor which looks like part of a maze...
And the ending... It seems obvious thisis the game you finally learn "a disturbing truth on your world" - foretold by the Voodoo Lady in the first game. Who approved that?
There is also an "alternate ending", but that's so unlikely to trigger, doubtable anyone ever would gain it. It is also associated with an Easter Egg.
So, you remember hanging with Walley in the dungeon at the end? The Easter Egg part is to let the time expire. You not only "die" there, but switch back to the intro-scene, than continue.
The "alternate ending" comes as the legend told if you did not participate in the Spitting Contest. Beats me why. Or just not gained the Green Drink? More likely.
This'll not actually be an ending per-se, but an infinite loop, where you miss an item. This can happen if you while going for the map-piece in the antique-shop don't gain the money from the spitting contest, instead buy each thing possible from the antique dealer, then go to the three Lazy Pirate, and wax their peg-leg until your eyes fall out, gain 5999 gold (they always give 1 less old than you would need in the actual chapter I assume, as in chapter 1 you'd need 20 gold and you can get 19 from them), sell back some of his own stuff to the antique dealer,and sail the glass-ship by that money.
The problem is, you can gain 5 pieces of eight in 1 minute, making it 300 gold/hour, what means 20 hours constant mindless clicking for the supposed goal, what even the most lifeless zombie wouldn't do.
BUT the game introduced icon-items instead of text-items, and a lot of advanced hand-drawn graphic, while departing from the "talking head" design, so it has its place.

Curse of Monkey Island is a definite hit. Cool graphics, even better animation, crazy ideas like El Pollo Diablo, and excellent choice of character voices.
The game unfortunately got a bit old, and runs now in emulator instead of full-screen, but as this is not dosbox material anymore, we must be glad they made it for summvm.
The game is definitely for a more adult mind. The puzzles are demanding a wider imagination/knowledge - but they do make sense at least.
One issue though: you can easily miss a good chunk of the story if you don't talk enough. You can still do the stuff, but it'll never turn out why you do what you did. Not that serious for those who re-play the game of course...

PS: aquired a CD1 for my long-not-even-looked-on-it 4th part of this series. Will play tomorrow, or something.

twillight 23-12-2014 09:19 PM

Escape from Monkey Island
 
I assume this was the end of it, thrown out the idea of a 5th game.

The controls are clumsy, the graphic... Ok, it is 3D, it was maybe nice enough in its age, AND it did not demand a Voodoo card... but...

It also lacks charm the previous games had. It is just not funny. It is an adventure game definitely, but so general.
Also, even if some puzzles simply insult your intellect for being so primitive, still blocking your way with the issue of controls, many stuff will turn out just totally random shite. Like why sprinkle perfume on the kangaroo? Why is the "solution" of the prohestetics-puzzle on the sewer-cover?

Come to prohestetics, the Abomination of Nature requires these:
- head: 1-2-3
- gut: 2-2-2
- head: 2-1-1
- stomach: 2-3-3
- liver: 1-1-1
- feet: 3-2-2
- butt: 3-3-2

The game also lacks regular-enough cutscenes. And an intriguing story. I mean you just run after Elaine's stuff. No mystical treasure. Even the insult-fights are degraded as you at start know all the insults and answers, collecting which was major feature in the series until now.

Will be an edit after I finish, but don't expect greatness.:sick:

EDIT:
bugs:
- In the prohestetic-shop the skin turned odd-colour, and Guybrush got an eye-cover from the same material: white fabric with yellow-red-blue dots. Lasted until reload.
- after capturing NoNose, if I went back to check his cottage (as just as you arrive you leave it always worth checking) the game/save got corrupted, and Guybrush' walking/running animation got lost, substituted with paddling animation. Solved by reloading save before going back to the house.
- could not heat up the mecha, 'cause when I sucked up the reeds, the game crashed. This actually prevented me from completing the game. Of course it is data-corruption obviously, not the game itself (well, I hope), had to watch the ending on youtube. Not that much interaction remained as it turned out.

Final words: I totally see the satire (and may I say education) in this game, the bothersome part is, this is not going well with Monkey Island. And the controls are bad. And the puzzles are very hard. And the Monkey Kombat learning procedureis ridiculous. The game could've still passed with a better script though, like the scrip of Tales from Monkey Island (developed by another group after Lucasarts practically sold the rights).
I have mixed feelings as the material was really strong. It is just ... NOT MONKEY ISLAND.

twillight 29-12-2014 12:07 PM

Bart vs the space mutants
 
I'm really sorry for this game, as by theory it is very good. I could even forget the uncomfortable controls.

BUT. It is timed, you have very few lives, you die just by touching one of the many obstacles, you can't know where you can jump onto, I have 0 idea how to get (use?) equipment, and the X-ray works only for a given period, not as activate/deactivate.

After 2 minutes of trying, I just gave up.

twillight 29-01-2015 12:05 AM

Siege of Avalon

Nah, I'm out of games for a lifetime (as the only remaining games, namely Baldies and Rage of Mages 2) would only work on win'98, and I odn't find it important enough to reinstall that OP.

Anyway, here is some tips on Siege of Avalon:

General tips:
- talk with everyone, and report everything to everyone as soon as you can.
- Do NOT accumlate reportable stuff, you can miss tps that way.
- Kill everything hostile or neutral for extra tp (but never harm friendly ones! Check another walkthrough if you need help deciding what is what). New stuff spawn after the completion of a chapter, so backtrack areas.
- Shops never gain new stuff. No need to check them at each chapter.
- Old stuff and quests disappear at the start of a new chapter. Be sure you killed and collected everything before triggering the new chapter!
- chapter 4 walkthrough is later in this thread

Fighting:
- if you engage melee, don't try to tactic. Focus damage on one enemy, than go the next and the next until noone attacks you. Start the massacre with the mages and archers, or you'll piss blood.
- ranged fighting has three part: if you are both mages or lame archers, itis outdamaging the other. Second version is that your opponent is melee, than you can gain advantage that the damage only happens at the end of the animation, so you can move away while the enemy is swinging (the enemy is too stupid to do the same, so no worry). Third dis if you have a fully evolved archer (hopefully 100 stealth or close), then you are in GodMode and can kill anything without problem.

Starting a character:
- fighter: the easiest of the classes. Put all initial point into Strength. If you have all 6 chapters you'll swim in training points, but there is no skill rising strength, and the best weapons require 16 strength (in chapter 4 for fighters), 10 for your starting weapon, and 12 for the average weapon found on field. Yes, there is a 10 coordination requirement, but before your first fight you can cover this need by a skill.
Actually if you have all 6 chapters you'll barely need to spend any skill point aside buying each and every skill (including spells, and those are mostly trophies), but you'll still have to accumlate as many as you can gather for the sake of chapter 3.
Fighter has a very basic concept: you tank in the first lane with the heaviest armor you can find. Go for the highest resistance bonuses and highest damage topped with attack bonuses (this means use swords as weapon).
Spells and extra gear is mostly restricted to protection from damage (especially elemental damage). And for the sake of chapter 3, as well as all classes there, you'll need stealth-gear, and a bow.
NPCs should be another fighter and Phelic's Apprentice, who is a healer. Anthology version does not allow you to remove items on the NPCs at fixed parts (at earlier patches they only needed to have there something,what made Dinadon ultragood). Ranged offensive NPCs are DUMB and just slaughter your own party, so don't bother.
This class' weak point is the fight with encumberance, but usually you should be able to wield the best available armors. NOTE: the strength statistic has nothing to do with the encumberance-level!
- scout: this is for the most part the easiest of the classes, as soon as you build it up.
Initially rise mysticism to 5 to be able to cast Shadow spell (+50 stealth) as an early solution. Have 12 strength to be able to use your bow. Rest into stealth, because that is the core of the class.
Stealth is a passive invisibility skill in percentage. If you have 100 stealth, you are invisible until you speak to someone, and then you turn visible for only that person. Still should not try melee though. Oh, and while being unseen, all your hits are instant kills (supposedly).
Bows have the restriction to allow only 30 encumberance (called restriction ingame), but this should not be an issue, as only heavy armors have lots of restriction but they are also noisy, so a scout don't wear them anyway. There are some quests which demand heavy armor (in chapter 3), will report them later.
NPCs: you likely don't want any, or only ranged ones, else you'll easily slaughter them. And they hinder your stealthy way. You still want to recruit everyone for the tp though.
- mage: the most complicated class in terms of equipment if you want the more useful hybrid, who can engage in combat himself too, or you can go the pure-mage way what is also not that simple (and there is the problem of waiting for the managlobe filling back).
The developers seem to had in mind at a point that mages should go for high defense, but that simply does not work. You can instead go for a lot of armor and weapon skill with magic alternating depending on the situation, or can try to have as much mystic skill as you can. If you go for a pure-mage you might try to build your equipment with awfully heavy armor, even skipping restriction-lowering skills,as you won't attack with weapon anyway, and that the only bad side of encumberance is, that your weapon deals less damage each hit (ok, after a while your walking speed would suffer too, but as I said, there is way enough points to buy restriction-lowering skills). This later part is also a reason why Phelic's Apprentice is so popular a choice as NPC.
So depending on your plans initially either rise your stats to be able to lift a sword, or put everything into mysticism to have a lot of starting mana. Mage has the advantage of high manapool, so will be able to start chapter 3 with less stealth if needed (initial stealth for this class is terrible).
NPC-wise this class is flexible. You can regularly cast Shadow on an archer for instant kills, or get Phelic's Apprentice and a melee specialist and do double healing, or whatever you can handle.

Chapter 1-2 gives regular combat, 4 is about stealth (with gear you'll have to have there 100 stealth), 3 is about physical damage in confined space, 5 is magic damage in wide open space (a lot easier than chapter 3). Chapter 6 is the boss-battle.

Training:
Here is how much training points you'll need to buy all available skills and spells per chapter, and also what other stat-requirements arise:
- chapter 1: 33, and scout needs minimum 30 stealth to even have a chance to do 1HKO on ahouls
- chapter 2: 185, and need 15 perception for certain quests
- chapter 3: 70
- chapter 4: 70, and need continuous 100 stealth
- chapter 5: 135
- chapter 6: class-dependent: mage - 135, knight - 60, ranger - 85.
You should gather items to cover your perception/charm requirements as much as possible, so you'll have 3 gears to keep an eye for: regular battlegear, questing gear (perception/charm boost), stealth gear (what you can dispose after chapter 4).

Spells:
- charge: the mage class' starting damage-spell. The to-hit radius is miniscule, and it barely has any damage. So, your typical starting spell.
- fireball: deals heat-damage and some crush damage. Your first real damage-spell. It is das, and you castit way faster with 30-50% mysticism. It has some minor self-guide. Its damage isn't that great though, though an item will upp it to the level of frost in act 5. And resistance are plenty, so that isn't world-saving property still.
- frost: deals cold, and has a good manouverablity. Unfortunately it is slow as heck, and after Act 3 it start to feel lacking.
- shrapnel: meh. Supposedly physical damage, but it stinks.
- flame strike: it has pure heat damage, but better use the book whichdoubles the ffectiveness of fireball for all sake!
- great wolf: phyiscal damage, but not that effective, and costs a ton AND the animation is slow
- great hand: physical damage. Only 1 type, so either it'll be completely resisted, or not at all. Comes too late.
- blizzard: NPC only
- shock: NPC only
- aura of iron: as well as the rest of the proteting-spells it has very limited use because the resistances are logaritmical, ca. 90% being the maximum.
- prot. from lightning/cold fire: see aura of iron
- aura of steel: improved version of aura of iron
- heal: your mana gets back way faster than your life. Simply means you don't have to stand around that much. Can also help some in battles.
- shadow: with some act 5-6 enemy can make you invisible. Duration is heavily dependant on mysticism, so don't try to rely exclusively on it unless you have like 30-50 mysticism (might depend from class).
- hold: potentially game-breaking. It renders the enemy helpess for a duration. Plenty of use if you are a pure mage: you hold the enemy/s, and your party massacre them. The duration with high enough mysticism can be so high you alone can make the kill too either by weapon or by switching spell (unfrtunately there are no hotkeys to swap spells). Mostly useful in act 5.
- mana thief: useless
-forget: absolutely useless
- summon wolf: weak as a kitten. Can be useful to trigger faraway enemy.
- mirror image: costs a ton of mana, has limited effectiveness. Best for mage-warrior hybrid.
- heal all: now you canheal the entire part. Problem is, you rarely need to heal the entire party the same time, costs a ton, heals way less than heal.
- deflect: essential. Makes you immun to spells.

Optimum gear at the end of chapters for each class:
#1:
- warrior: there and back for the first time, a glowing diamond ring, signet of latigid, officier's sword, tower shield, black boots, steel gauntlets, splint kilt (steel kilt if can be found), pants, fine steel kneepads, great helm, leather arm splints, giant's pauldron, fine steel pauldron, steel hauberk, armoring doublet (leather armor if you find, I might have overlooked as these two look identical)
- scout: there and back for the first time, a glowing diamond ring, a spell book, hunting bow, black boots of the shadow, leather gloves&bracers, quiver belt, pants, Elven Leather Breeches, 2*studded coif, leather armor, soft leather vest
- mage: chalice of life (it is a quest item which will be taken from you, but for a god portion of the chapter you may use it, and it is far better for a mage than any other), a glowing diamond ring, a spell book, officier's sword, tower shield, old magic boots, gloves: optional, chest 1-4: optional (giant's pauldron and soft leather vest is good choice), steel kilt (would be too for warrior, I might missed this for him back then, but it is here optional too), pants, fine steel kneepads (or whatever), , fine steel pauldron/pants.
Most things are optional, because you don't get hit. Your fireball can face all the one-on-one enemies.
#2:
- warrior: sacrificial dagger (likely result of coding error, but who cares?), a glowing diamond ring, signet of latigid, officier's sword, tower shield, white steel boots, white steel gauntlets, ahoul leather plate kilt, black pants of the shadows, fine steel greaves, fine great helm, steel bracers, giant's pauldron, heart guardian, chainmail hauberk, scale hauberk
- scout: there and back for the first time, a glowing diamond ring, ring of protection (or/for a time: smoldering ring), elven fine long bow, combat boots, hands of the truth (or black gloves), quiver belt, black pants of the shadows, elven leather breeches, 2*soft leather vest, black studded shoulder pads, open black cloak
- mage: the mage's companion, a glowing diamond ring, sacrificial dagger, mystic claw, tower shield, old magic boots, hands of truth, wizard's bracers, chain coif (helmet from Vasek), heart guardian, soft leather vest (changed to rotting black robes when the lich is disposed,but there is no more enemy after that), giant's paulderon, mystic blackrobe (bought from shop, costs 800$), pants, black pants of the shadows, a troll girdle
#3:
*found a bracers called "shadow cuffs" on a lizardman in F7, atthe top bridge. It is a better-than-listed-below stealth stuff.
- warrior: sacrificial dagger, a glowing diamond ring, (whatever third misc you want as I gave the sign of lathigid to Dinadon for more restriction), fine crafted longsword, tower shield, king tortain's boots, white steel gauntlets, ahoul leather plate kilt, black pants of the shadows, king tortain's plate greaves, white great helm, fine steel arm plates, giant's pauldron, heart guardian, king tortain's chain hauberk, king tortain's cuirass
- scout: there and back for the first time, a glowing diamond ring, ring of protection, elven fine long bow, combat boots, hands of the truth, quiver belt, black pants of the shadows, elven leather breeches, 2*soft leather vest, black studded shoulder pads, open black cloak, fedora of the deceiver
You'll also need 48 stealth.
- mage: the mage's companion, a glowing diamond ring, sacrificial dagger, mystic claw, tower shield, old magic boots, hands of truth, wizard's bracers, helm of reason, rotting black robes, giant's paulderon, mystic blackrobe, a troll girdle, king tortain's chain pants, black pants of the shadows
#4:
start the chapter with this gear, independent from class: magical mask, black leather gloves, pants, black pants of the shadows, quiver of fire (or of ice), elven fine longbow, shadow cuffs
- scout: ring of speed, ring of balance/a map (in Village 15-16 where the enemy don't give XP), ring of shadow, draugdur's bow, combat boots, hands of the truth, quivers of lightning (none has resistance for electricity in the entire game), black pants of the shadows, elven leather breeches, tunic of warmth, tunic (from the houndsmaster's tent!), mail of midnight, open black cloak, magical mask
You'll also need 100 stealth after casting Shadows, or 100 w/o it with all the stealth-gear and training.
- mage: NOTE: my equipment is NOT the optimal, because my base strength became my strength adjusted by currently worn equipment. Keep this in mind.
smoldering ring, a glowing diamond ring, ring of shadows, draugdur's bow, combat boots, hands of truth, shadow cuffs, magical mask, rotting black robes, giant's paulderon, mail of midnight, (hundsman's) tunic, quiver of lightning, elven leather breeches, black pants of the shadows
#5:
- warrior: there is no real chance for upgrading your equipment.
- scout: ring of speed, ring of balance*2, draugdur's bow, combat boots, hands of the undying revenant, quivers of lightning, greaves of extinguishing, limbs of the crawling dead, tunic of warmth, cloak of the frozen dawn, mail of midnight, shadow garment of the wraith, fedora of the deceiver, wizard's bracers
- mage: felious' grimoire, ring of magic, tomb of burning pit/ring of meditation, mystic claw, leviathan's scale shield, scarlet slippers of the sorcerer, scarlet gloves of the sorcerer, wizard's bracers, helm of reason, shadow garment of the wraith, scarlet garment of the sorcerer, scarlet robe of the sorcerer, rbes of the ineffable darkness, skeletal sarong of the specter (belt), greaves of the feaver guard, black pants of the shadows
#6:
everyone should get the magic amulet for finding new apprentice for Phelic.
- warrior: no reason not to wear all pieces of the special gear. Aside that (and the magic amulet) I suggest these: leviathan scale shield, black pants of the shadows, white great helm, troll girdle, the book of elements, and any thrid miscaleanous item you want (ring of balance or ring of greater health suggested).
- scout: ye, ye, you get a new bow with quivers. As long as you have any bow, it doesn't matter whatyou wear if you wear anything at all.
- mage: the same as the previous chapter, with some changes for the boss-fight: 1) get the robe Anthamas made 2) Mithrias actually has some spells that can break through. To prevent this wear some resist-gear: sparkling gloves (electric resistance), book of elements (instead of Fester's tome), and the Magical Amulet the new apprentice of Phelic gives 3) for offensial purpose wear the tomb of burning pit. This combined with the robe Anthamas gives makes you able to literally incinerate entire armies.
NOTE: depending on the patch you might end up with some named items missing from your version. Do your best. I actually make a chart to decide (problematic as the game is sensitive to alttab), might upload it somewhere later. No suggestion includes items bought from shop.

Chapter helps:
#1:
Warrior will have hard time with a two-archergroup in Village 4, the ahoul guarding the locked chest, and the shaman.
Scout has problem with any archer (if they roll sniper hit you're as good as dead, so save regularly) and the shaman (you must hope for a cast shadow -> do 1HKO there).
Mage: just your maximum mana. Only the Ogre because of it will pose real problem, and you'll stand around a lot waiting to be recharged (there is no manapotion, and Borther Curly is so far away you'd gain nothing most of the time visiting him).
#2:
If you have company watch out, as in the latest version unlike in the previous versions mercs don't get autoheal if you click on them and then click another character (the other merc or the protagonist).
Other minor tip: Waynar does not appear until you kill Lydia's body. Make yourself an easier time by going up before his group spawns and kiling some troops. And against the lich you just have to hold on, so no need to attack, or keep the second party-member there (although bigger grouő makes things easier, but it takes so much time to walk around).
Scout: the skills are good investment, so for the first half (until cave 2 or further) you won't have a chance investing into stealth, so you'll have to save regularly. Things get better if you get Wyatt who has 50+ basic stealth, so just cast shadows on him regularly,send him out and let him snipe down everything.
All the gear-choices also relate to what's your plan with Wyatt. I see a chance keeping him on the long term just by pushing his stealth skill through equipment to continuous 100 while the main character will get its stealth from skills and leftover gear. Also, Wyatt's strength is punny, so if you want to give him anything but hunting bow you'll have to provide him the strength-gear instead keeping them for yourself (at least the Smoldering Ring and the Hands of Truth).
Hardest enemy are the lurkers as they tend to notice you no matter what (and you meet them pretty early too), and they are fast too. So don't forget to save between fights.
I kept around Phelic's Apprentice for this, but you're likely better of with some melee NPC, unless it turns out like maging, where friendly projectiles can hurt/kill your own party.
Mage: You mana is good, but your spellcasting is not fast enough yet, sobring some NPCs to the caves. The ideal party is a rogue and a warrior: the rogue can be shadowed (Wyatt) and sent to safe massacre, while the warrior is for tanking (I brought Vasek). There are the big lurkers vs ahouls fights in the caves though where you're better of leaving the party behind, and you circling the enemy.
#3:
The hardest quest in the game is here, as one of the trainings you can get: you have to fight 3 "swords" in a confined space, w/o party (they are not let in). SAVE before trying, and hope only 1 sword activates. Kill it, and activate another sword by casting on it. The warrior is pretty invincible, and the mage should be able to deal fast damage. Yet to try how scout performs.
Also, the last fight is long and trying, no melee merc has any chance (the new melee mercs are pathetic anyway), so recruit Kalevi for this event. He can not wear any items not already on him, but used with caution will turn out a worthy addition. And you can dismiss him after done.
Scout: To beat the swords you need to be undetectable. That ment for me 48 stealth for what the shadow spell gave me 100, which is 2 more than it is supposed to, but I won't complain. Actually, you could easily just rise you stealth to 100 natural, but I like to restrain myself for sparing points by later equipment and skills. Not that it'd be needed, but atleast now we all know how that quest weight.
For the chapter you might want to rely on Wyatt if you don't bump your own stealth to 100 right there. He'll happily snipe down everyone if he has 50+ natural stealth (that's 100 with shadow spell). Your mana should cover the need of the spell with minimal standing around for recharging.
Forget Kalevi. He can't even hold his own weapon, and can only wear as extra misc items, which I only had 1 Smoldering Ring around to bump his strength by 1 while he'd need 2. For the final battle leave behind your pryt, and go alone. The Baron is immortal, and the NPCs just make themselves killed as you can't tank for them.
Mage: for the first part have 50 stealth and cast shadows regularly. This time I went killing everything which I knew not needed from meta-knowledge, so the order was: V1-2-3-4-5-6-10-9-13-14-7-8-11-12-15. Only the scout goes to V16.
#4:
Lacking a sufficient walkthrough you'll have to READ who you should visit, but that's mostly obvious within the keep (except when you come back with the new of the ram, and they say go to the alchemist, but first you have to go to Elzarath!). In the village it is more problematic. What you should do is to talk the first generic-named ahoul until your journal gets updated (their speech is randomly generated). From then on you can kill any generic ahoul you want. Then there are two ahouls which are part of a sidequest: Kellden and Darg. Do not kill them before completing what they want. And do not kill any named ahoul before talking to them. Also, there is the Scoutmaster and Old Ben who I never tried kill as they are "good guys". Btw, Scoutmaster worth XP.
Finally it is pretty easy to miss certain equipments (chests being hidden from eye, item looking the same as generic objects). Be thorough (or consult a guide). Oh, and collect all rings. One ring can rule them all, but you're better off with all of them!
scout: have 100 natural stealth before entering Elazar's tower. That'll make thing easier. Also, in this chapter Wyatt's stealth is incrised to 93. THIS CAN NOT BE INCRISED FURTHER. Do not remove or add any item to him in this chapter which has bonus to stealth, that'll ruin him!
Also, in Frosthelm's dungeon move around cautiously, else the Doomfrosts can harm you. Still, with Phelic's Apprentice Icharus + Wyatt you should be safe even if you go too close and one starts to attack.
In Inferno the Fire elementals are way too agressive. Your stealth will only work like half the time, so save after each and every opponent eliminated. Preferably just get through that place asap. No, fire resistant gear do not help.
#5
Most if not all stuff from the shops goes obsolate at this point, maybe with the exception of golden hauberk/cuirass (less so if you have this anthology version), and two mage-only odities.
The most annoying part in this chapter is at the very beginning: the wraiths in Elazar's tower are immun to physical damage AND can temporarily turn immun to magic too by casting. And the NPCs are far from being clever. So save and fight them one by one.
For the other realms you don't need much preparation. Frosthelm only demands 1 ring of greater protection from cold per charater, and Inferno 2, although there beware of the fire elementals, as somehow no matter your protection they can just mutilate your health. Deal them one-by-one, preferably with boosted frost spell, and always save after each kill. Oh, another annoying thing on them is that they float over inaccessible terrain many time.
Might be a good idea to go to Notsuoh and get the deflect spell early,despite this makes no sense story-wise. Mages don't need this trick that much as they can simply hold all nousance. A party helps too.
#6
I hope you learn Deflect. Heck, there is no reason you should not learn yourself ALL spells from scrolls, as you can't pass them to the mercs.
I hope you do not store anything in the south gate levels, because they will be lost soon.
WARNING. One of the stuff you must aquire (quest) is from a merchant (George), who offers his stuff ONLY ONCE. You should have plenty of money at this point, and your equipment does not change the price (1,000 gold) as it turned out, still, this is cruel.
Also: do NOT fight the enemy when you don't absolutely have to. It is a waste of time.
Lastly: this chapter differs for the classes. You'll get your own class-quest, class-gear, and won't have access to any of the others.
scout: leave the NPCs, you won't need them. Be ABSOLUTLY SURE Mudam gives you the Amulet of the Unseen, else the candelabra won't appear inside the place where the class specific stuffs are, soyou won't be able to get access. Not that it'd have any consequence.
To hold the floor (you'll know when) you should just run around until friends arrive and dispose the enemy.
Final fight, warrior: if you did not spent your training point like I, you should have 500+ point after all training and spells bought (although you should only have used heal, shadow, fireball, frost, deflect). Spend all point to strength for insane melee damage. Cast deflect, and hope your own damage what Mithrias reflects to you (he'll be busy casting spells which all will be deflected) won't kill you before he dies. The whole fight will last for ca. 5 seconds this way, lol.
Final fight, scout: you don't need to fight the ahouls at the yard before Mithrias, just run downward and hit the teleport. As soon as you appear before Mithrias RUN AWAY, cast Shadows, and murder the scum. He really won't notice you this way,and goes down by a sniper shot.
Final fight, mage: total easy. Put on yourself a deflect, then just keep blasting him away with fireball. You don't even need to spend any of your 500 training point.

yoga 05-02-2015 07:34 PM

OFF
 
1 Attachment(s)
SOA
is my future game.
....
OFF

Well, i uninstalled F3 because of many bugs.
FNV is installed and started.
Sadly, file created with PrScr was very big but i re-sized it to show my very first step.
Strange detail:
The voices are English but text is Russian.
No problem for me because i like Russian lang.
(Pls, excuse me dear SS).
I passed F1,F2 and F Tactics.
:3:

twillight 05-02-2015 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 462298)
SOA
is my future game.
....
OFF

Well, i uninstalled F3 because of many bugs.
FNV is installed and started.
Sadly, file created with PrScr was very big but i re-sized it to show my very first step.
Strange detail:
The voices are English but text is Russian.
No problem for me because i like Russian lang.
(Pls, excuse me dear SS).
I passed F1,F2 and F Tactics.
:3:

Lol, remembers me a copy of Evil Dead 3, which spoke english, but had norvegian subtitle burned on it XD
Gogogo with New Vegas, and don't forget to tell us if you ended up with small guns, energy weapons or big guns!

yoga 06-02-2015 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 462299)
Lol, remembers me a copy of Evil Dead 3, which spoke english, but had norvegian subtitle burned on it XD
Gogogo with New Vegas, and don't forget to tell us if you ended up with small guns, energy weapons or big guns!

:whistling:
Ha ha ha,
have to learn Norwegian lang.

twillight 06-02-2015 04:59 PM

Amnesia - forget this series!
 
Tried to install it (was in a magazine). Turned out, it is hardcoded to only work with company X's totally unnecessary videocard Y.

This is just outrageous. Noone needs a videocard nowdays. The computers in the shops are so strong, even the sellers confess you can't use them out even if you try to at full capacity. So adding another accelerator (a video card, which has the power only a fraction of the computer, thus again totally unnecessary, as it simple can't make things work noticeably faster) is just dumb.

You should have amnesia relating the Amnesia-series. Because it is nothing else then pulling money for no conent from your pocket.

Capo 06-02-2015 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 462298)
SOA
is my future game.
....
OFF

Well, i uninstalled F3 because of many bugs.
FNV is installed and started.
Sadly, file created with PrScr was very big but i re-sized it to show my very first step.
Strange detail:
The voices are English but text is Russian.
No problem for me because i like Russian lang.
(Pls, excuse me dear SS).
I passed F1,F2 and F Tactics.
:3:

You ever buy games yoga ?

yoga 06-02-2015 06:50 PM

OFF
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 462304)
You ever buy games yoga ?

Si,si.
Wait a scanned CD photo which i bought when You was still not born.
BTW, are You games seller?
Do You remember some time ago asked me - yoga, why you are so much obsessed with the game Betrayal at Krondor?
As an answer i stop forever discussion about this game after competent opinion of well respected twillight concerning bad graphic of BaK.
May I ask now why You are so much obsessed with above mentioned question?
Thank you.
Grazie.

Capo 07-02-2015 04:54 PM

Cause stealing stuff is not good, guess is not like that is east-europe.

yoga 08-02-2015 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 462314)
Cause stealing stuff is not good, guess is not like that is east-europe.

Thank You for kind words.
But You do not read what i wrote You.
Immediately when return from Sofia to my native town of Asenovgrad ( i have no scanner here)
i will scan and send You my stuff with paid and legal software.
Anyway, may i very politely ask You to stop this discussion,
which is very unpleasantly for me because You accuse me i am pirate.
Yes?

twillight 08-02-2015 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 462305)
Do You remember some time ago asked me - yoga, why you are so much obsessed with the game Betrayal at Krondor?
As an answer i stop forever discussion about this game after competent opinion of well respected twillight concerning bad graphic of BaK.

Oooh, I ruined someone's childhood :blush: Achievement completed!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 462314)
Cause stealing stuff is not good, guess is not like that is east-europe.

Who knows where yoga gets his stuff.
Also, legality of softwares varies from country to country. Let's trust each other that our copies are not warez, k?

yoga 08-02-2015 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 462319)
Oooh, I ruined someone's childhood :blush: Achievement completed!



Who knows where yoga gets his stuff.
Also, legality of softwares varies from country to country. Let's trust each other that our copies are not warez, k?

:smile2:
Dear twillight,
First pls excuse me i soil Yr thread with our
little misunderstanding with my friend Capo,
concerning fundamental question:
Is yoga pirate or not?
Hmmm.. i think this character yoga is not holly angel
but he is not bloody pirate at all.
...
As usually You are very kind.
Still BaK is my childhood love.Bocsánat.

:whistling:

OFF
Before hours i returned to my town.
My first target were my newborn red peppers (chillies).
High - about 25 sm.
Gladly, the are very good.
With foresight i put their plant pots in bigger
vessel, filled with enough water to be feed with water during my absence.
Moreover i supply my chillies with very effective bugs who eat their enemies - plant louses.
I had 13 chillies and only one died. Maybe fatal number is not good idea.
It is very good playing in desert Mohave (Fallout New Texas) to be surrounded by nice greenery and listening traditional Irish songs.
Only 2 passed games to the number 100.
Go, brave!

twillight 08-02-2015 07:58 PM

The funny thing is, Capo did not ruin anything, as I myself was ever-curious how can you lay hands on so many games.
Nao we know.

Grat to the chillies too. I have 3? 5? pots, and I use the harvest as C-vitamin source for the winter. Still have almost half the package thx to no snow around, and that I realised they should be eaten like spirit drank: slowly, very slowly. One cup of snaps should be drank under the same time as a pint beer :ouch:

yoga 09-02-2015 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 462321)
The funny thing is, Capo did not ruin anything, as I myself was ever-curious how can you lay hands on so many games.
Nao we know.

Grat to the chillies too. I have 3? 5? pots, and I use the harvest as C-vitamin source for the winter. Still have almost half the package thx to no snow around, and that I realised they should be eaten like spirit drank: slowly, very slowly. One cup of snaps should be drank under the same time as a pint beer :ouch:

:whistling:
True!
When i eat a small piece of my chillies then my speed is increased from 1 meter/sec. to 50 meter/sec.
Before some time i visited a restaurant in the nice town of Budapest.
I asked the waiter to offer me the very best Hungarian dish.
And he offered me goulash.
But, but it was terrible dish, amigo.
So much chillies in this goulash than Yr humble slave started to cry, tears on my face and all kitchen personnel stared on me and smiled.
You are abs. crazy!
How can You, Hungarians, like so much dish full of chillies?!
.. i am sure that Italians for example do not use chillies at all.
But Yr wine of Tokay is the best in the world.
Bravo!
:perv:
PS:
Have i kill all demolishers around or not?
i visited some private house, steeled all stuff and .... lost all karma!
To reload game and be a good boy?

twillight 09-02-2015 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 462326)
:whistling:
And he offered me goulash.
But, but it was terrible dish, amigo.
So much chillies in this goulash than Yr humble slave started to cry, tears on my face and all kitchen personnel stared on me and smiled.
You are abs. crazy!
How can You, Hungarians, like so much dish full of chillies?!
.. i am sure that Italians for example do not use chillies at all.
But Yr wine of Tokay is the best in the world.
Bravo!
:perv:
PS:
Have i kill all demolishers around or not?
i visited some private house, steeled all stuff and .... lost all karma!
To reload game and be a good boy?

Haha, gulash don't even has chilli in it! Just some regular, 10 times weaker than chilli paprika :ouch:
You'd want spicy food, you should order some at the local asian-fastfood kiosque :suspicious:
Otherwise, people usually complain the fat in hungarian foods (gulash, stuffed paprika, pörkölt, hurka etc.), not its spicyness, lol

NEW VEGAS: as far as I remember you are better off reloading. Bad guys even in the fallout-series don't gain much in return. Best to only attack who attacks you/is quest to kill.

yoga 10-02-2015 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 462329)
Haha, gulash don't even has chilli in it! Just some regular, 10 times weaker than chilli paprika :ouch:
You'd want spicy food, you should order some at the local asian-fastfood kiosque :suspicious:
Otherwise, people usually complain the fat in hungarian foods (gulash, stuffed paprika, pörkölt, hurka etc.), not its spicyness, lol

NEW VEGAS: as far as I remember you are better off reloading. Bad guys even in the fallout-series don't gain much in return. Best to only attack who attacks you/is quest to kill.

Rodger that!
Merci.
:smile2:

twillight 02-04-2015 02:39 PM

Might and Magic 9
 
Ye, I know. This game likely sux. Who cares, I have it, never tried it, but seems to work, so let's give it a try!

And I'll do it completely blind!
Well, after reading the manual. Ok, not the manual what sux, but some source which contain the information the manual should have.

Skills: the new versions are confusing like heck, each skill giving different bonuses based on class, but I'd be damned to look all these and check all the artefacts like for the M6-8. I'll just go by the proficiencies.
Axes gone for good, they never could design a good one anyway. For any reason there came thrown weapons which I could care less. Unarmed is still here which again not attractive for me.
Removing daggers on the other hand seriously limited things. No sword+dagger by expert level, no dagger at all to mage/lich...
Spells got merged: there is no more fire/earth/etc., just "elemental", also only spirit remained from cleric spells. But just to f* u up now learning spells is again confusing as heck, so again i'll just go with what I find along.
There still is the IDmonster, and all the accustomed supplementary skills. Fine for me. Crucial ones are, based on previous installments:repair, perception, id item, disarm. Given that hirelings also got messed up, preparing to develop IDitem.

Classes: initially I'd choose Gladiator, Lich, Assassin and Druid just for sounding cool. Unfortunately druid still sux for being the unarmed fighter instead of a caster, so reconsider by skill-need.
I'll need Priest. For whatever reason this class, despite how I hate it for forcing religion on your throat, has GM repair item. And the last thing you want to is a broken weapon in a big fight, so there you go.
GM Perception is cool, and dodge allows some interesting messing around with Ranger. Why not.
ID item is Mage. Mage is a Priest clone here, and should fok it. I'll spend some gold on ID instead, but still go with a Lich!
Fourth... Skill-wise Assassin would have GM disarm, but than I'd lack the tank making my party fragile. Gladiator sounds so awesome!
Gladiator: spear + shield gm, armsmater + body building gm, disarm m
Assassin: blade can go gm but who wants that. Spear m, shield expert only. Hm, maybe spear + sword combo from MM6.

Races: elf gives accuracy (at the price of endurance), so ranger will of course be elf. Dwarf is the ultimate fighter throwing away magic for more stats (HP). Halforc gains might for speed, so gladiator only.

Good ideas until now:
- simplified character progression. This might prevent you start with 1 HP mages and crap.
- less, but hopefully each-of-them useful spells.

---------

Ok, the intro sux. The graphic is lower than expected even from a wallpaint, the "story" is at best an afterthought, but it is not miserable.
And although the character-portraits are limited, and seems to be attached to the voice, but I don't feel this a problem. Prequels had either terrible draws, or 50 years old pornstar-faces mostly, so I always chose the same faces. Here I feel all choices viable.

The sound-setting is still only applies after you hit ok, making the setting difficult as you don't know what you are doing.

Patch seems a must. I could care less for most features of the official patch, but HP/MP regeneration IS an issue. You'll notice if this is installed as there is a background-music in the main menu, but no version-number is anywhere.

1.3a patch is unofficial and should stricktly be installed after the official patch is applied. I have no idea how you know it was applied.
It is like a usual patch, messes around numbers which had no problem for "rebalancing", and "reinstalling original intention", and fixes invaluable features, like done quests not removed like you couldn't remember anyway.
The parts that can be useful are a quest working properly (because random can generate the reward elsewhere), some locks remaining open (puzzle related?), and certain dungeons can be done not just for the first, uninterrupted go, or prevented to be accessible if planned conditions don't met (aka. opening puzzle not solved).
I decided to install this, but as it is a double-edged sword, and doesn't seem to do anything from the absolutely must have category, you should decided wether you want it or not.
Also worth mention there are some other unofficial patches (1.3, 2.0), but those are lamer than this and not compatible.

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

I made my troops.
Too bad you can't choose ALL the skills in the game, I'd give throwing to my lich-wannabe. Who will be a half-orc from sheer frustration.

Races are totally at imbalance.
First: humans: unless you want a character with absolutely balanced stats, you should not bother.
Second: Elves rock. Their prime stat is accuracy which is always useful to anyone, and the bad-stat is endurance where 3 point won't hurt you that much. If you minimalise the bad-stat and max the prime stat you'll still have 15 extra statpoint to distribute if all other stats are 10. This is 2 more than for any other races. So there is no reason to not havea full-elf party.
Dwarf: the HP-powerhouse. If you want a meatshield, make a dwarf, he1ll start with double HP (40 instead of 20 if endurance is maxed (25 at start), and the others have 7-10 for comparsion).
Half-orc: speed being the bad-stat is already not attractive, and might being the prime stat is at best mediocre. No hugh HP, no repair gm for gladiator... the only really good in them is they still gain some extra stats if you go with the racial stats, and they have the best portrait.

When starting the game did not respond after loading. I alt-tabbed, and it started to work. Lag? Annoying definitely. But it works, so oh-well. Oh,and the character-sheets' portrait are associated to wrong characters.
My party:
http://i.imgur.com/RPGU7na.png

twillight 15-04-2015 04:43 PM

Might and Magic 9 tutorial
 
It is terrible. The first island is EMPTY. Nothing to pick up.
Seems there is no alchemy in the game (relief), no amount of item restriction (relief), no food (relief), no respect (relief. No need to worry for paying gold and killing townguards for bad deeds).
Now you actually have to walk inside houses. I don't know why the old "we talk standing in the door" method did not fit, but whatever. Maybe the goofy looking 3D-monster-people were more important. Also, no hirelings on the street (or in houses). Yet.

I wandered around pushing useless buttons, entering The Secret Cow Level, and got frightened when jumped from very high (into water so no harm done, but swimming seems pointless).

Then came The Attack of the Red Dots!
Seriously, I could not identify what they were at all.

There are though two reasons why I probably won't play this game unfortunately:
- before the gamebreaking feature I confess I got computer-sickness. That's a problem.
- the unavoidable problem though is the loading system. Whenever I load I have to alt+tab to get the screen back from the loading screen. Also, after changing area, the game just froze. If this'll happen every single time I'll enter a dungeon, I'll be forced to give up and watch the cutscenes on youtube or something.

By the way, what crappy storytelling is this? My party asced around about some guy I have no idea who he is. The cutscene also told this:
"After the tremendous losses of the battle of Fondale, noone was eager to go to their death. A few have tried - none have returned."

WHUT? After a lot of people died noone tried to go and die, and those who did try to go there to die have not succeeded because they died?!? WHO SMOKED WHAT?

yoga 17-04-2015 04:19 PM

Just a game
 
Relax, amigo, relax.
:smile2:
Concerning my intention,
very politely will note,
You are wrong.
..and take it easy.
Anyway MM9 is only game and...stupid game..
:OK:

twillight 17-04-2015 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 462787)
Relax, amigo, relax.
:smile2:
Concerning my intention,
very politely will note,
You are wrong.
..and take it easy.
Anyway MM9 is only game and...stupid game..
:OK:

While it might not be obvious to others, I actually like(d) MM9. The changes were enough to produce a next installment, and if the story correct/explains itself later, it might even be good.

It is just obviously rushed. And that loading-problem.:cry:

yoga 17-04-2015 07:47 PM

misery
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 462788)
While it might not be obvious to others, I actually like(d) MM9. The changes were enough to produce a next installment, and if the story correct/explains itself later, it might even be good.

It is just obviously rushed. And that loading-problem.:cry:

---
I am in the second town - Stumford.
We are 5 persons - 2 fighters + 2 initiatives +Forad Darre
Strange - there is no way to know his stats?!
Front line - 2 fighters + Forad Darre
Second line - 2 ladies
Moment status : 1 person - level 4
3 others - level 3
Foral is hiding his stats.
I do not know how to transfer stuff between members,
how to drop down some object.
Rats!!
I have no loading-problem.
Win 7 pro 32-bit
Coeff. = 5.9 from max of 7.9
No bugs till now.
Even game-play.
But..but plot is very poor and graphic is very monotonous..
I think that this game is step back from previous games.
But who is yoga to evaluate the games?
Just humble gamer with 103 passed games only.

twillight 17-04-2015 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 462790)
---
We are 5 persons - 2 fighters + 2 initiatives +Forad Darre
Strange - there is no way to know his stats?!

I do not know how to transfer stuff between members,
how to drop down some object.
Rats!!

I have no loading-problem.
Win 7 pro 32-bit
Coeff. = 5.9 from max of 7.9
No bugs till now.
Even game-play.

No, there is no way to check the hirelings' stats. In contrary I heared they can fight along you, and get hurt? If you notice he died tell us after resurrection of course.

To swap items simply drag&drop the item to portait. I did not try to get rid of anything, even useless junk worth 1 $, so I'd just dump all trash to one character and sell in shop. Unless it turns out here is item-limit. Will investigate when I launch the game again how to drop.

I neither noticed bug, aside I had to say goodbye to Grandpa a second time to gain the two skillbooks at the start (the net warns you you have to talk with everyone about everything, and talk again just in case, so lol).

Grat for no loadscreen-bug!

yoga 18-04-2015 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 462791)
No, there is no way to check the hirelings' stats. In contrary I heared they can fight along you, and get hurt? If you notice he died tell us after resurrection of course.

To swap items simply drag&drop the item to portait. I did not try to get rid of anything, even useless junk worth 1 $, so I'd just dump all trash to one character and sell in shop. Unless it turns out here is item-limit. Will investigate when I launch the game again how to drop.

I neither noticed bug, aside I had to say goodbye to Grandpa a second time to gain the two skillbooks at the start (the net warns you you have to talk with everyone about everything, and talk again just in case, so lol).

Grat for no loadscreen-bug!

Yes, hireling stats are hide.
But after so many battles i may say that this character is immortal. I did not saw any case when he died and resurrected. He is like my partner in FNV - the robot Ed-3, which never die.
I will cont. to observe behaviour of this character and will report if he die and resurrect.
--
Thanks for advice how to transfer stuff.
--
You need money?
Did You jump in the well (located 200 meters before trainer) to find at the very bottom 2 bags with 300-400 bugs?
Do You know that if You left the second town and cont. right You will find soon forest with 10-12 birds. Kill all of them.Every monster will give You 14 bugs.Then cont. to the road. You will find robbers around camp fires.
Battle tactic: Distant bolts, then meet them in direct battle. Do no allow to be enclosed. When some robber bend his hands it is a signal for firing; move left-right to avoid bolt. Again continue. You will find closed fort with 2 strange lizard-like monsters around. Kill both.
After a while robbers and bird-monsters will appeared again.
This way i up my Exp to 7000 points.

yoga 18-04-2015 12:45 PM

On the road again.
 
2 Attachment(s)
Here we are.

yoga 18-04-2015 12:52 PM

3 Attachment(s)
..and 3 more. The fifth hero is anonimous.

Capo 18-04-2015 04:38 PM

Will you make a video ?

yoga 18-04-2015 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 462801)
Will you make a video ?

:smile2:
Will You a----k me?
If No, Yes.
:smile2:

Capo 19-04-2015 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 462803)
:smile2:
Will You a----k me?
If No, Yes.
:smile2:

Only if you want and have time, no problem if you dont do it ;)

yoga 19-04-2015 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 462807)
Only if you want and have time, no problem if you dont do it ;)

:smile2:

yoga 20-04-2015 07:46 AM

Someday someone will be lucky man
 
Pray,
hope
and wait,
Mr. Rickett
.
Maybe today will be Yr happy day.
:smile2::smile2:

twillight 23-05-2015 08:37 PM

DLC Quest
 
You can't have more gold than me:

http://i.imgur.com/3Suyh1a.png

yoga 05-07-2015 05:36 PM

philosophy and yoga
 
Dear twillight,
Would be so kind answer me the next 2 question, slightly philosophical?
Thank You very much:
1-What can change the nature of a man?
2-Why some persons like Yr humble slave believe in God, till others like …;) not?
Again my sincere thanks for Your time and help.
To compensate You let inform You that:
Realization of Fallout 4 will start this October.
One secret for You only:
There will be a dog who will help the hero.

twillight 07-07-2015 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 463314)
Dear twillight,
Would be so kind answer me the next 2 question, slightly philosophical?
Thank You very much:
1-What can change the nature of a man?
2-Why some persons like Yr humble slave believe in God, till others like …;) not?
Again my sincere thanks for Your time and help.

Dunno how it helps, but as you insist...

1) I pretty much agree on what Planescape says. Or nothing.

2) religion is a persisting bronze-age cultural phenomena.
Its persistence comes from a multitude of reasons:
- threatening unbelievers with death
- causing psychological damage to young ones
- segregation from everyone else
- promising to answer The Big Questions
and so on.
Others find enough doubt, realism, self-trust and chance to live outside the cult to no longer fall for the con-mans.

If sy gets offended by the above, I don't care.

yoga 07-07-2015 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 463345)
Dunno how it helps, but as you insist...

1) I pretty much agree on what Planescape says. Or nothing.

2) religion is a persisting bronze-age cultural phenomena.
Its persistence comes from a multitude of reasons:
- threatening unbelievers with death
- causing psychological damage to young ones
- segregation from everyone else
- promising to answer The Big Questions
and so on.
Others find enough doubt, realism, self-trust and chance to live outside the cult to no longer fall for the con-mans.

If sy gets offended by the above, I don't care.

Offended, me?
You do not know me, dear twillight.
Vey sad.
First, i respect You so much to be offended by real Wizard.
Second, i am jester-like person, but trust me good one.
Third, seriosly, i respect everyones right to speak/defend his political/religios believs.

I was really offended first time only when one forum member told me:
- yoga, y"re cheating in that game..
No, no i will never tell You who was. He knows.
And second time when other member told me:
- yoga, y"re real idiot.
Because i did experimet with my security, being without antivirus program about six years. I swear in my mam and dad that during this test period NO one friend, relative or client was virused by me..
Now?
I do have 2 antivirus programs: Stopzilla and Malwarebytes
:smile2:

twillight 07-07-2015 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 463348)
Offended, me?
You do not know me, dear twillight.
:smile2:

No, not you. But this is an open forum-page.

yoga 09-07-2015 05:19 PM

Twillight after his 1000-th game
 
1 Attachment(s)
Pst!!......
Tired and go to sleep.

twillight 30-08-2015 12:36 AM

Fallout Tactics solo though guy guide
 
Decided to do Fallout Tactics again this time with a single SuperMutant protagonist as fighter in though-guy mode (no saving during missions).
Used the game's own editor to fix the SM-char in "races mod" (its only function to allow you play non-human races in the single player campaign).

Starting stats: 9 strength (to carry around Browning) / 6 perception (machineguns don't need more) / 4 endurance (oh well) / 1 charisma (who needs company?) / 6 int (still ca. the same skills as a gifted char with 9 int) / 8 agility (7 minimum for perk, and the extra point helps until bug guns appear) / 6 luck
Traits: Ham Fisted (bonus tag), Fast Shot
Tags: big guns (prime weapon), unarmed (until big guns are available), sneak (bullets hurt), steal (the general has the first available big gun and a small amount of ammo too)
Throwing will also be a skill on the "do not forget" list, although during mission1 it is entirely useless (and will be like that until being able to invest into it heavily).

First mission: the people with shotguns are dangerous, as well as crowds. Healing stuff is plenty and Stitch is with you too. Do not make your company killed: Stitch should stay with you to make inventory-management easy, and Farsight can open some locks until you find spare skillpoints. Mission 3 will have a notoriously "come back later for it" safe anyway, so likely I'll keep her around until that.

---

Arriving back to the bunker lets you save finally. Clvl: 3. With steal 80% you can steal General Barnaky's weapon with one barrel of ammo (for a long time you'll have no more, so just keep it somewhere).

You can go to hunt special encounters, I suggest to do so. Here are the notable ones:
- Brahmin Poker: lots of money. As stealing make people hostile, you won't actually steal outside the bunker as Though Guy, so better be prepared.
- Hermit: aside the junk-items he has an Outdoorsman book.
- Farmer: he has 1 .50 cal DU. Still, ammo is ammo.
- Gas Station: the most important one, gives 1 Endurance
- Trader (actually merchant is in the location but whatever): skillbooks and some plasma granade. The guards have pancor jackhammers to steal (not relevnat for me, but nice).
- Trader (in this location is the merchant, but whatever): rocket launcher (no ammo), 150 5.56 cal, avenger minigun (same as General Barnaky, uses 5.56 ammo)
It is best to do the encounters in twos. Also, you can leave the trader/merchant pair until you gain your first vehicle.
- Brahmin Armour: while this armor transforms a human into an useless brahmin it does not so with the other races. Gaining it is tricky though 'cause the turrets here fire deadly precise high damage at you. To get this as ThoughGuy you either have to save after dealing with every turret (means a trip back to the bunker each time), or arrive here at night, and snake to the dead brahmin after the initial cannon self-destroys.

But time to invest some into sneaking!

----------

Mission 2:
Possibly my least favourite mission for being frustrating. It demands 70% stealth to be effective, so have that - remember though guys can't save during missions.
First run to the bottom right corner and kill the sleeping raider, get the stuff, pass the ditch here, stealth to the allied raider if possible, steal its psycho if you want (at least try, restart if no success), than fight the three guys buzzing around. Beware, do not follow them around mindlessly because they like to run away attracting unwanted attention.
If you don't suffer an unlucky critical continue north - not stealthing. Go until you can speak with the prisoner, switch back to stealth. Cautiously disarm the alarm here, and wait the guard to come around further east to kill it.
Go to the north edge, crouch, pass to the locked building with the sleeping sub-boss raider. Stealth around until you can break the alarm, turn off stealth, lure the walking guards in the middle to you one by one.
HEAL, than go back to the prisoner's house. There is a second guard walking around nearby in a fixed route with a shotgun. Let's hope you don't roll minimum damage and he don't roll a critical - than he'll be down.
Further down there are 2 raiders at the south side of a tent - dispose them. Go in the bottommost tent on the right and punch these guys too (they are sleeping).
Go to the middle tent on the right. Pull out an incindenary granade to kill these two guys fast (sleeping), because AK47 hurts and could kill you otherwise.
Go into the top left tent, and use your second incindenary granade to kill these two sleepers - again an AK47.
Still not allowed to consume any Healing Powder, but heal up (, possibly take a buffout), go back to the start and kill the guards outside the complex. Beware to separate them as much as possible, 'cause two have hunting rifle, and that can damage you. Heal up. Run in to the still and kill the easy targets - still using only your fists. There's an AK47 guy along the destiller, so I hope you brought your avenger minigun! Aim the destiller, and hope the explosion kills primaly the AK47 guy. 1-2 burts should be enough, do not waste bullet! Dispose the remaining opposition here.
Clean the complex. Beware the bottom left tent, there the sleepers are not next to each other, and the further one has an AK47. Possibly try to throw on it your 3 molotov cocktail to kill/soften the situation. After all AK47s are dead, feel free to use Healing Powder.
Lastly, there are two guys sleeping the middle of the complex. The one on the left side has a pistol. If he manages to shoot any, that'll awake all sleeper in the compound. I simply avoided him as long as possible.

As this mission took a large amount of my thin supply I went to the trader/merchant encounters to have stuff. Impact gloves also appeared in the BoS shop, which is one of the few unarmed weapon better than a SuperMutant's bare fist.

--------

Mission 3:
The problem here is, everyone walks around with AK47 and you barely have anything.
Rise your throwing skill to 40+ because for unknown reason at the same distance here and in mission 1 my aim is 33% whil in mission 2 was 70. Bladder.
As a solo supermutant (NOTE: ghouls can buy a ghoul armor from Bazaar Day encunter) you lack everything yet bring TONS of healing stuff, and dare use drugs! Do NOT touch the mines, and if you even suspect someone has AK47 stand far away and let it burst until he runs out of ammo and only shoots single bullets.
Also because lacking HP and granades don't pass walls skip certain enemies! There's no punishment for it, and the minor amount of exp isn't relevant. The guys in the tunnel on the left side and others up on the wall are examples.
The highest risk here is the front gate, where frontal assault IS suicidal, but you STILL have to do it. I suggest going from the right to the guy nearest the gate as he has AK47 and hope your incineration granades will hit. Than run away separating the horde. That's my best advice.
The most dangerous boss (aside the final is Daisy because the three unit there hit hard, so have enough HP (and eat a voodoo), ok? Against Bo you can't do anything aside hoping he won't blow you up with his granades.
For the final boss I say consume the psycho you stole and flash granades after running round the room.

In the bunker gamble away all stuff from the mechanic, and maybe steal some super stimpacks from the random guys around, than move the next bunker where gamble away all equipment from everyone (the guy at the medic never let me succeed, but I could rob him blind except his money), and as Barnaky got refreshment steal his new dose of ammo (no wonder he'll be captured, I stole his ammo, lol).
Get rid of Farsight, there'll be no unfair locks anymore, and if there would, there's always Stitch.

EDIT: Almost forgot: Power Fist is available in the shop. While it consumes ammo - which is easily accessible from a special encounter -, it is the most damaging unarmed weapon still, so buy it. Seems there won't be Big Guns until St. Luis, which is also reason to risk Macomb first for the infinite inventory car. Bring there all your weapons and repair kits!
NOTE: Preoria with a single character is impossible to be done for best result, which hurts both rank and karma. The mission can be completed solo, but all the tribe would be killed, which also means no extra power cell. I won't go that much hardcore now.
Strickt solo play would also strip you from collecting the vehicles, because unlike in F2 there isn't a "vehicle here" sign on the map if you leave a vehicle at a random position. And collecting the loot also takes immense time in comparsion. So just have one extra recruit I say. It doesn't have to do anything aside being a mule, but it is a big relief.
Oh, and clvl 6 now.

twillight 31-08-2015 02:53 PM

Fallout Tactics solo though guy guide
 
Macomb:
It is not exactly hard, but like a rogue-game has occasional death-locations.
Suggested stats: 60% Big Guns, 50% throwing, 70% repair (as the game does not offer until now or made available from random encounters repair books let Stitch repair. You COULD repair yourself, there's enough tools for it, but nah).

Arrive AT DAWN. It is crucial you can be seen!

First stealth along the northern edge to the building on your right to kill two guys and open the first gate. Go out, climb up, and kill the guy on the roof, than RUN down.
Stealth to the Bowling room and wait until you see a silouette, than start the mayhem. Stealth out and go amongst the wrecked cars to lure there the dogs. One will only be able to get to you, so use piston gloves to spare ammo (I don't think you absolutely need this, but hey, it's fun!). If the raiders across the street on the rooftops don't harass yu catch their attention and far enough to not get hurt crouch until all four stop bursting, than run away.
Patch yourself up seriously, than stealth across Bowlarama to the ladder on its other side. Take a voodoo, than climb the ladder. This is a big and serious fight against many enemies, so here are the rules: only approach a raider if your AP-bar is full (even with power fist you need 2-3 hit to kill an enemy). If your AP-bar is not full, just stand around and watch your HP. If ca. half your HP is lost, eat a super stimpack! This is a very important part. All these raiders have AK47 (now only single shot) but one has a shotgun (on the first roof, kill him fast!).
As the drug is in your system do not stop for a moment! Make Stitch drive through the car on the first gate, while you go there too and pack down the loot. Approach the other side of the roof stealthed from the north through the building and climb the ladder. If you despite this are bursted down go to the street and let them shoot until they have ammo to burst. If you came from the middle of the building though, this is unlikely. Run to the first guy for kill (usually he's passive) than the second guy. The third guy will be easy again.
Let the Hungry Raider make his speech and die, open the next gate, get in the car, grabbing molotov coctails in your free hand. Enter a bit so the rocketeer can waste his TWO rockets. Let the granade-man notice you, than drive there as fast as possible in agressive and let the coctails (you have 4, will likely all go) defeat him. Jump out and kill the rest with fist. Take note that the granadier's body can not be looted by a SuperMutant because the walls are too close to each other.
Now comes a very dangerous situation as there are 3 AK47 raider on the left (after the 3rd gate). Make the rightmost waste ammo from far away, than you can't do anything else but jump in. Kill the rightmost guy, eat a super stimpack if you're still alive (good chance). Kill the leftmost guy, than the last.
The next building is owned by a civilian, no need to kill him (BoS needs slaves!). Still run in and loot the fridge.
Go to the big building Avenger minigun in the right hand. Kill the three guy in the hall (no problem) and possibly the civilian on the street (unavoidable, but as he's pathetic, use the piston gloves). The courtroom is a deathtrap walking blocked everywhere, so minigun in hand enter - shoot until guy on the left is dead- some more steps - the guy from the right come running shall be dead - run to the pedestal for the third guy. If you're lucky 3 burst will do it, but DO NOT SPARE HERE. It is a deathtrap!
Around this time your voodoo will expire. If it holds let the citizens from the rootop throw things at you until it lasts, or if not and you're in a hurry jump in the car and camp with it.
Wait until you regain your stats, then pass the next gate (still on foot of course). Kill the immediate raiders on the left, then we'll bother with the mine-field on the right.
Pick up the unarmed mine just to have it, than drive the car on the mines to "disarm" them. Only use one side of the road, so you only have to blow two mines. DO NOT LET THE CAR GET WRECKED, it is (unfortunately) objective to keep it in one piece. The max HP of it is 200, try to fix it near that. Walk on foot towards the next building and camp crouched until the raiders on the rooftop run out of all ammo. Yes, they can't even singleshot, that'd be death itself.

Now comes a most problematic part. Enemy comes from both left and right, they like to run around, and both guy from the east/north/right side house has granades (for any reason usually only one comes out if they start to come out)! While you do have enough HP now to suffer some AK47 burst even, granades are oneshot. I suggest minigunning the throwers right after the rooftop-team runs out of ammo, then clearing the rest the best you can.
After this is solved the second party-member comes useful, because (s)he can attract attention, making it possible for you to enter sneak mode.

After the second set of dogs of this map there are only civilians in the buildings until the gate.
There is also a civil in the building you can climb up to kill and loot the rooftop-raiders, and some are in the cemetery.
You CAN kill the raider standing at the bottom of the rooftop-team's stairs without the civilians taking notice, although it isn't relevant, because these three and the above WILL be attracted to the fights, which stes civilian victims number minimum 5.
If you get spotted by the civilians you CAN run away, hop into the car and drive away fast speed (press shift for extra speed if I'm correct). Coming to the car: with almost no pilot skill you can only drive the car forward. After reading the pilot books until now (2 if I'm correct) I could also go backward. In case anyone actually cares what this skill does.
But comparing my result with others' killing the entire town doesn't seem to make any difference. Not that the civils would have anything good, or deal mighty exp (likely removed quest/condition).

To not die at the very end sneak/run to the south house and start the mayhem from there (otherwise everyone will run onto you what is bad). It is outmost importance to kill the guy on the second floor of the building ASAP because he has granades, although god news is, he starts with puny acid granades.
Finally the rocketman: he has - again - TWO rockets. Do NOT climb to him until he fired TWO times. Also, he has a double barrel shotgun, so be fast after he ran out of rockets!

-------

Preoria:
This mission isn't such a big deal - if you stole the ten-pack antidote from the doc that is.
As mentioned before making the locals live demands a second character. If you go total solo, you'll loose promotion, recruits and quest exp as well as karma. Not that soloing would give you chance for the good ending, but still.
After the first gates on the right there's a crate a Supermutant can not loot being slower then the other races. Another reason to bring company.

EDIT: ok, I confess this wasn't went so smooth I'd like you to think. You can (I did) die several ways:
- being unlucky and get shot by laser turrets
- Roachor dealing out massive damage (it could destroy 50% of my HP undrugged). To be (more) safe eat a voodoo AND a trauma pack, AND hold in hand incineration granades (I had 2) + molotov coctail/other granades in the other hand. Watch out as regular cockroaches can steal hits (so kill the ones in the bottom please).
- with ca. 1:3 chance per try when you deactivate the inside turrets the outside turrets will kill one or more tribesman. This is the most frustrating thing ever (steals mission success) and you can't do anything against it.

NOTE: although the village elder "gambles" I could not win against him.

--------

Special Encounters:
By default they are marked to specific locations. There's a map about it.
Now if you get two encounter any time on the same special-encounter-grid things will be messed up. Some SEG will no longer allow encounters, some will allow up to 4 special encounters. And the encounters themselves don't go around just random: some is fixed to its original location (Bazaar Day), some will be relocated to a fixed new SEG, and some will appear in a fixed sequence. Beats me how they coded this.

--------

Mission 6 (Quincy):
If you did not do so, go for the brahmin armor! Also buy the 1,000 available 5.56 bullet from the Quatermaster (some also found in Preoria, bring those too). You'll need it. And even than you WON'T be able to succeed in most subquest. You have practically zero chance freeing up the brothel, and good chance to mess up each of the optional sidequests too. Crossing fingers.

#1 Freeing the major: arrive at night (between 20.00-00.00). Eat an afterburner gum. Stealth up on the side of the building, get in, break the alarm, kill the boss. Do NOT bother with the ground floor! Do not forget to disable the siren.
#2 The power plant: Have 70% big guns, eat an afterburner gum when you reach the building. Do NOT turn off the light. When you see the patrolling leader sneak out on her, kill her (with the regular power fist), run to the nearby two raiders barely crossing the sandbags and kill both with a single burst from your minigun. Run down, goaorund the sandbags standing between the raiders. Punch them to death. Disarm the Remote Mines (the rest "looks dangerous", and even this is a risk somewhat). W00t, you likely won without 0-1 causality!
#3 Sneak to the central building's north(?) wall. Wait until the patrolling raider turns back, then follow him and break the alarm. Climb the ladder there to avoid attention, and go in the building for cover. Wait until the raider on this level walks away from the alarm, and break it. Do NOT bother with the raider himself. When the raider down goes away descend and wait him, kill him. Wait until the other patrolling raider further south turns away, and "hurry" to disable the alarm. He'll notice you but it's too late for him - kill him after the alarm is broken. Eat an afterburner gum. Climb back on the mentioned ladder to kill the guard, then climb the roof to kill another one.
#4 Sneak to the western side of the brothel. This is why you ate so many drugs. Step in and kill the first raider, then run in the middle to dispose the two melee raider/beastmaster, than kill the one on the left, finally the one at the south window (you can reach it from indoors). Don't forget that there's a (fortunately passive) enemy on the east too. Let's hope some *****s are still breathing, but rly this is the best you can do. NOTE: seems the patrolling enemy can be killed without rising attention (I managed to lure him at the western corner). The pistol-guy behind the bar may duck and lkeave he "ladies" alone, so the major problem is only the two meleer, who focus on you if you get close enough. This way I managed once with a single causality.
#5 Go (sneak) back to central building, climb it, and descend through the stairs inside. Kill the guy at the door, than keep sneaking. The goal is to destroy the alarm inside. The deathclaw is a big challenge, my tip is Big Gun, although you should spare the bullets, as the major mayhem will happen in the ghoul district, for what maybe it'll be wise to wait until ingame-morning if you can afford the real time. Also, there you can get use of the remote-mines you liberated (and the T45 mine you got from Macomb).
Liberate the rest of the building.
#6 Let's free the town's local hero I say. Passing the tunnel is the first thing. Go up, kill the beastlord right there, nevermind the floor just go up. Here your snake automatically deactivates (dammit), so just run in to the leader and punch him to pulp. Run right to the sandbags and lay waste the couple there by minigun just to ensure victory. Deal with the remaining ones as you please because likely the rescue-await runs into safety.
#7 Time to free the ghoul quadrant. You can try setting traps if you want, but it is not mandatory. Talk to Eliot and run camping (standing position) to the entrance. When they are sufficiently close (like passed half the initial distance) hit agressive (oh, yeah, deactivate agressive mode before starting the fight!) and hope noone will cripple you on the arms, eyes or head. The deathclaws WILL reach you and make you fall a couple of times but with your killing speed and the help of the ghouls hopefully you'll be ok. One of the adult deathclaw even ran away from me in fear and had to hunt it down! Switch to power fist and kill the leftover beastmen on the ranch to free the captive ghoul, and voila, this mission is complete too! <--- THIS IS BS! DO NOT TRY IT!
#7 If you were darn lucky until now like me, do NOT WASTE A PERFECT MISSION! Let the remaining enemies to themselves, and GO BACK TO BASE FOR SAVE! You can come back later if you really miss messing with deathclaws for items you won't be able to use anyway (the metal armor mark 2 in the church).

http://i.imgur.com/Uw5TAPG.png

twillight 02-09-2015 05:56 PM

Fallout Tactics solo though guy guide
 
Mardin:
This is a frustratingly hard mission for still not having access to anything basic, slowly running out of doctor kits (I wish during the previous missions not used them to remove bandaged status!), and there are a zillion monsters to fight! I can hardly think what'll await in Springfield...
But first arrive here. That's very-very hard because the welcoming cometee is hugh, and even starts with 2 shotgun-shots in yo' head. You can die even just from that, but than you must minigun down the crew in the way the initial grneadier/s will die for f* sake or you are dead as a kitten. Consuming a super stimpack in the middle of a crowd is also a great achievement, so let's hope you won't need that.
If that's done, you must find the second grenadier which ran away most likely and kill it without drawing attention, as well as the other guy patrolling in the middle with 2 small cockroaches (there's also a scorpion, but that's rly a minor issue).
Third move left on the bottom and let the wasps attack you (their beatmen won't notice you if you do it cautiosly). Oh ye, practically never can you sneaking as everyone will notice you, and they go in groups anyway. The wasps can cause all kind of conditions from crippled leg to winded (which for a bug I suspect sometimes won't go away naturally), blindness, unconscious... And you can't do anything about it.
Let's hope you don't go suxxor, and go back to the beginning else you'll be DEAD. Seriously. Go in the ruined house guarded by puffin-mines (can't even try to disarm, they are "looks dangerous" with 75% traps!). The enemy CAN trigger these mines, so beware. Start to lure out the nearest beastman - a whole PACK will be on your neck! Start with possible grenadiers, than just stay alive. Kill the rest here but do NOT kill the baby-deathclaw if it doesn't attack you!
If fortunate the two guys sleeping in the hut won't wake up, but it's no biggy. Run there in cover, and throw them 2 grenades then finish this fight.
Go towards the cemetary and hope everyone will run at you - if not you'll have to run around like headless chicken amongst graves and other obstacles AFTER you dispose the enemy on the right side where the toxic waste is.
Another "nice" thing with this mission is also that sometimes anyone can shoot through walls...
Back to the collapsed hole to squash bugs. Did I mention this is the last area with poison, so bring all your remaining antidote and use them as coming?
You HAVE TO kill the two baby-deathclaw in the pit after the bugs, but that's unavoidable, else you'll get stuck if major crap happens. They usually don't do worse than winded though, especially if you take a dose of psycho before descending. In a perfect world I'd know how long it takes to finish the mission from start and insist to eat psycho at the arrival, but... But here it is safe enough.
Clear the dungeon focusing always on the shotgun noises, but you should be fine enough. You won't be able to open the deathclaw-cages, but even Mother's help should be enough to win the bossfight. Pack up and leave. Prepare for Springfield.

Notes for bunker Beta: going back after Mardin you find a "Medical Officier" instead of the usual medic-trader. Rob him blind.
Moving to Bunker Gamma let's you rob even more stuff, although Tiduk's and Shauri's initial payment (2K BoS money each) can not be stolen or gambled (Tiduk offers a chance for gamble initially, but it doesn't work).
Dunno what happens if you don't go to Springfield yet this point as that mission is still from General Barnaky. I want to avoid possible bugs, but it'd worth to investigate. We'll see.

--------

Springfield:
Your hair will fall out with this one if you don't have ranged weapon, because this town is built to be a straight out swiping mission. There are constant enemies buzzing, no chance to sneak or even get behind them. So starting even is a miracle, especially that there is a grenadier amongst the welcoming comitee, and practically every enemy likes to run up and down making melee almost impossible, or at least very frustrating. and the car has very low health, so the best you could do with it to drive in (everyone flees) and throw 1 and only 1 grenade then drive out ASAP.
Your goal is to kill enough people to be able to go behind the buildings on the south (the guy behind the sandbags at the corner can be left alive, won't notice you too much, and kill stuff there, going in the houses eliminating threats, than defeating the patrols on the street. I hope you have doctor kits when loosing limbs, grenades for tactical use and some luck!
The three(!) guys behind the initial fence is best to shot 1 burst of minigun (can't really afford more). Beware, because on the upper side two other "raider" resides, and 5 people shooting at you can easily be too much. Ye, 3 will hopefully die in the first second, but...
If you somehow survive, don't be happy: open the first gate! There is a whole ARMY behind it, so do it sneaking, and get cover. Showing yourself will pull out the melees, and hopefully attract more guys close enough to pull out a second wave. Be cautious, as one of the enemy is again grenadier! Actually there's a second two, but he's in the back, so you probably will be able to come up with a strategy or just use the fact he's alone.
Against the guys in the digs use grenades from the right angle (not from the side they lean to).
The next section is a deathrun with high-hitting people running constantly away from you, and that was the point I said it doesn't worth it and went to St. Luise.
After coming back from there this whole thing turned out to be a real bonus mission, me happily exterminating whoever I pleased (as long as I did not go too close I did not suffer lethal damage). I still advise eating a voodoo though for the bossfight. Or a traumapack.

St. Luis: Be this a simple rescue mission: no heroics. Have the fully loaded Avenger Minigun in your hand and drive in full throttle to the mutants ahead. Three dead mutants later hop out and grab a SAW. Now you can hit any mutant you encounter, including the one just a bit behind your back. REPAIR the APC.
Continue to #1 (110% big guns if I may) stopping at the large rock, so not all three will hit you the same time and maybe they'll get closer making easier to hit 'em.
Grab the sniper rifle - even though you can't use it it's loot! REPAIR if you didn't done it by yourself! At this point some repair-books became available, and I had higher repair with them than Stitch, who's still useful for first aid/doctor:mhh: At the start there was another pilot book, and with all the books my skill became 101 with that one, which means the car no longer drifts when stops.
Go towards #2 on the pipmap with full throttle and kill the two mutant behind the sandbags (advise: 120% big guns). Kill the others visible too. REPAIR!
Go in to meat the wired guy. Sneak on your belly, and come out on your front too to avoid getting shot (hopefully. The mutants will crouch and no longer bother you after 1 burst).
Blast up the minefield from safe distance bursts. Actually leaving mines on the west row can be adventageus as they can blow up occasional mutants. Drive to the rock-plateau on the right with 130% big guns (you should be able to afford), and DRIVE OUT IF THINGS GET UGLY! Hopefully you win, but there's a chance the car will blow up unfortunately.
Here comes the annoying part: in the tunnels is a mutant which can blast your mission very easily - I suspect he has browning. Do NOT go close for all sake if he is standing! If he is crouching he isn't an issue, but if he stands... Cross your fingers. And repair!

Jefferson:
I rly don't know why Kansas City is offered. You don't have the equipment to deal with that, doesn't make sense with the story, and you want every ounce of power you can collect before you go there. Solo party can't solve it properly anyway (the mutant ambush demands at least 4 members to deal with it).
There's not much to say about Jefferson. You have your guns, and basically no need for grenades. Use the rocket launcher to spare .50 cal ammo, but be extremely sure nothing blocks the way to the target or you can kill yourself. Destroying Generator#2 disables the towers, which have thick armor so you either brought power fist, or you won't destroy them (not that you'd miss anything). Whenever the only way though to kill an (armored) enemy is close range combat, try your best to snake, and don't spare with the Browning. Better shoot some extra bullets than die!
After this mission I had like 1000 .50 cal, and clvl 14. I'd be much more happy with clvl 15 and Bonus Rate of Fire, but whatever. Can't get 20K exp from random encounters just for this!
NOTE: the chest in the toxic tunnel is inaccessible for supermutants! (space too thin)

*BONUS CONTENT*: Before Jefferson I went back to infiltrate the Supermutant Base in St. Lousie. Here is how it can be done:
- bring these items: 1 buffout (I have 9 strength but need more to carry the stuff), 1 mentat (you NEED aim), 40+ frag grenade, 10 explosive rocket, rocket launcher, SAW + 200 bullet, (brahmin) armor, 2 expanded lockpick, 10 super stimpack, browning + whatever ammo you salvaged (ca. 100-200). These are stricktly to infiltrate the base, NOT for the tunnels!
- required skills: 70% stealth, 80% throwing, 130% big guns.
- kill everyone in the tunnels. Never stand up from crouching, and if you see/know the mutant has armor switch from SAW to rocket launcher.
- sneak in through the back opening. If you are detected you are screwed and have to reload, so stay close to the walls for cover! Lay next to the walled hideout (not bunker) on the north. Eat the mentat. With SAW hit agressive. Wait up to 20 seconds until a mutant arrives and make himself killed.
- with grenade kill the mutant within the hideout. Staying at the very edge of the screen go around the hideout with 33% agressive until you shoot at the mutant in the western bunker. If you clicked between the wall of the hideout and the edge of the map you won't be seen by mutants on the east. Crawl back, and crawl to the west wall of the closest bunker. Switch to the SAW whenever you see the mutant in the western bunker, otherwise throw grenades in the bunker next to you. There are 2 mutants in it. Do NOT go too close to this bunker or you'll die. If you see the top removed that's perfect position. Watch the battle-briefings to watch if both mutants die (the mutant in the western bunker will die too).
- Crawl along the northern wall of the bunker in 66% agressive. This is the hardest part because somehow the mutant not far away in the tunnel can see and shoot you no matter your position. So have the browning at hand, or be extra careful.
- get to the western bunker stealthing. Yes, now you can stealth here. Go inside the bunker, and kill the mutant right next to it with grenades. No idea why, but you can't see him normally, despite he standing at the window...
Get stealthed again, switch to rocket launcher.Go to the windows of the bunker in DEFENSIVE mode. Make sure you see only 1 mutant from the three standing in the open. Hit agressive, and when the animation of the attack starts - DUCK. Crawl back to get into sneak mode again and repeat until all three are dead.
- There is a bunker on the south, and outside it in the tunnel stands another mutant. Kill it from distance.
- Whenever you're pleased now get stealthed and wait until the mutant on the sniper-roof stands up so you can see it. Get close for a good % and hit agressive. Hopefully it dies. It is a grenadier, and there's no way to climb up there for loot.
- There remains 2 mutant in the southern bunker. Crawl to them from outside, and kill them with grenades! <-- LIE! Can't aim to the inside of the bunker! Must crawl near (stealthed), and browning them down! Must hope you'll be faster and/or they miss. They are armored with browning, but this is the only way.
- Loot. there were 5 mutants with brownings, and 2 had DU ammo, 90 each if they did not fire any.
- Be happy, find transcendence!

twillight 04-09-2015 08:55 PM

Fallout Tactics solo though guy guide
 
Kansas City:
Actually this mission is "Gravestone", and "Osceolla" will be Kansas City, but whatever.
What I always hated in this mission is, that you have no time even to speak with the ghoul leader before positioning your units, not to mention the south gate. And the ghouls' AI is total stupid making some of them running into certain death, like the mission wouldn't be hard enough anyway. And it usually comes way too early to make a proper Big Gunner at least. The mutant ambush with a full team works like this: one (the protagonist of course) speaks with the ghoul leader and later joins the south gate, one goes north, one (PipBoy usually for me) goes east, and the rest goes south. When the party starts maybe north will reach position barely, and south is halfway to the gate needing to hurry because there a ghoul just lubs to run out, and the heaviest artillery ever will arrive there (of course .50 cal and some rockets can actually solve it), while south takes most of your time.
Soloing here is determined "bad outcome" because although the mutants never actually enter the town itself, they do happily massacre the defenders at all three gates. Bummer.
It is said 5 ghouls may die, so I'll try this: Switch will actually get a gun or two and defend the north gate (minimal action there), and my supermutant (darn, I'd give something for a supermutant armour!) will deal with south. East will be destroyed, but if there are no more than 5 ghouls, that gives a marginal chance for the good outcome still. Well, it is a theory...

Well, I managed to get away with exactly 5 ghoul causalities. I gave Stitch all 3 small guns books (I don't need them. Supermutants can't even hold small guns, and I don't go for sniper) and pumped further the skill to 200%. His weapon was the unique XL70E3 from the St Louis Supermutant Base.
My mutie also decided to get drugged. Literally fly on drugs. Now there are a couple of things with drugs:
- you can NOT take a drug on the fast travel map, travel into a mission and do it, even if the duration should still hold (useful drugs can have days of duration, and I suspect time during missions passes the same speed as real life time).
- taking drugs depend on Endurance, but it is not "EN/X = Y amount of drugs be taken". For example with my basic 4 endurance I could take 1 mutie, 1 buffout (12 Endurance after these), 1 mentat, 1 afterburner and 1 voodoo without falling unconscious being overdosed. On the other hand if I took 2 mutie (13 Endurance), 1 mentat, 1 afterburner and 1 psycho became available. So if you're planning to fly on drugs, save and try out the combination you're into before wasting your time!
- it is possible that independently form Endurance taking a certain amount of the same drug will overdose or even kill you (it is generally told the max afterburner you can take is 2, and that's it).
My weapon of choice was the Browning naturally (during the entirety of the mission I used up almost 500 bullet for it, half the total of my supply), and here is a video that can give you ideas what I did: VIDEO. Note that the guy in that record lost the entire east gate (6 ghouls just from that) and 1 more from the south, while I had 2 alive in the east, and he still got the best ending.
Here are my stats at the beginning and after the end of the mission (seems mutie don't last 10 days, but around the same duration as psycho, both ca. 2 hours real time, not 4 as guides says for Psycho).

http://i.imgur.com/m2P0a2l.png

Mission 12 (Osceola):
This is the mission requires your grenades (frags and maybe incineration), plenty of healing, and rational use of Browning. Grenades will come useful against the east gate, and mutants along the northeastern walls (you CAN throw through grenades). Unfortunately your frags can easily be blocked by the wall or sglt, so you need the healing. But it is still the best option.
Lethal points:
- the east gate can only be freed by browning. You must outshoot the two guards there
- the sniper nest. 90% that your browning will kill them before they can shoot, but I still don't like it at all
- the gas-chamber (obvious, but let's mention)
- Gamorrin. He somehow shoots precisely and hard from his puny gun. Use browning to outdamage him.
PS: I always forget to go back to Roshombo (and let him be killed)

Here is a complete comprehensive list of alternative/additional things to do in every mission for karma/BoS ranks (optional mission briefings not mentioned):
- Brahmin Wood: bonus: don't let any villager die / negative: let villagers die; let Fairsight and Stitch die (in any mission basically all friendly/quest character's death/loss of quest items counts towards the negative)
- Freeport: bonus(?): unlock Ripley's door
- Rock Falls: bonus: get device, free mechanic, free Nanuk
- Macomb: bonus: return the librarian's glasses (actually not for rank, this is a proper sidequest which unfortunately only spares you minor amount of cash)
- Peoria: bonus: no tribal died (depends on real life luck); gain 4th battery (do not have any battery on you when talking the elder after finishing the quest, otherwise you don't get it 'cause bug)
- Quincy: bonus: rescue major's daughter, rescue Warden Felix / trading karma for BoS rank: save ghoul village, rescue Gorgi, save as many "working girl" as possible (might have the requirement of minimal loss).
- Mardin: trade: save mother
- Springfield: -
- St Louis: optional area for .50 DU ammo
- Jefferson: negative: destroy the lab
- Kansas City: 5 (7?) or less ghoul die
- Osceola: bonus: pick up holodisc, Barnaky's letter, Briefcase
- Junction City: bonus: heal the mechanic's father. Also, optional area of the rat-tunnel.
- Great Bend: -
- Cold Water: bonus: save the hostage girl / negative: kill Ma Baker (in 1.0 it even made me negative if I spoke with Don Vinchenzo and didn't check this since then)
- Newton: bonus: have the EMP-prototype when leaving. Optional stuff: repair the tank.
- Canyon City: -
- Buena Vista: -
- Scott City: -
- Cheyenne Mountain: - / Vault 0: a locker with a pulse rifle demands 180% lockpick as "optional area" / Calculator's Lair: the 4 alternative endings (why isn't there a neutral ending?)

twillight 06-09-2015 03:11 PM

Fallout Tactics solo though guy guide
 
Mission 13:

Leave at home the Browning, a superheavy equipment - you won't need it. But bring all lighter equipment (boom-bugs etc. - unfortunately molotov coctails have no use) because this is almost the last opportunity to find them any use. Also bring rocket launcher, it can be a nice help, and using big guns being so cheap (in AP-cost) you can always shoot 1-2 to start the mayhem.
Oh, and before this mission it worth to "hire" Pump who is the only one can "give" you the best supermutant armor. Actually the Brahmin Armour was like a normal Leather Armor MK2, the basic SM-armor is like metal armor MK1 (a bit better on the lategame aspects than Brahmin, but way more heavy), and the spiked mutant armor equals metal armor MK2 (slightly less AC which doesn't really matter at this point but way higher damage tresholds). These are my stats with it (I also have Though Hide racial perk):

http://i.imgur.com/TSao71C.png

Ok, these might be at best around environmental armor MK1 (maybe somewhat inferior even to that), but being a supermutant still has some nice part, and if nothing else, trophy.

The bookcase at the major can not be accessed by supermutants. the mission is very straightforward, the only real danger are the minefield and the getting in to the hacienda where the 5 (6) guard at the front (3 (4)on the balcony, 2 down) can be lethal if you just run in kamikaze.

--------

Coldwater:
It always worth taking ahead, because the equipment it demands is far more expendable than what robots eat.
Bring grenades, rocket launcher, healing stuff, saw, browning - so the whole arsenal for variety. Oh, don't forget you power fist/razor claw because of the hostage sidequest.

As this is again a mostly simple mission in tactic (although the enemy definitely not joking about firepower) I give you my perks of choice:
- for this playthrough (supermutant, though guy, solo) my perks are/will be (in order of picking): steady arm, bonus ranged damage, bonus rate of fire, though hide, bonus ranged damage*2
- if this would be with a party and not though guy, I'd add bonus ranged damage instead of though hide gaining the third rank earlier, and the lvl 24 perk would be entirely optional (but still likely though hide)
- if it'd be solo but not though guy, I'd skip the bonus ranged damage perks, and instead gain Awareness, Silent Running and Loner. Also instead of Though Hide likely choose Psychotic. The order: Awareness, Silent Running, Steady Arm, Bonus Rate of Fire, Psychotic, Loner (or Loner -> Psychotic).
PS: I'm playing w/o Awareness if it wasn't clear. Not knowing the weapons or HP of the enemy adds to the challenge and fun.

EDIT: As Coldwater can turn to be more trouble than it worth, here are some tips:
- rockets and grenades are useless if hey have sandbag as cover
- rockets are very effective against groups patrolling the corridors (lvl 2-4). But don't waste all your rockets, spare at least 1!
- on lvl 3 go to the terrace and eliminate the guy standing on lvl 4's terrace. This way you will be able to sneak farther from the patrolling group on lvl 4 to see their sequence and not get shred accidentally because they at that time bumped and thus groupped right at the door (but outside your senses).
- fear the mines more than the sniper on the roof on lvl 4, but be noted that here the game just likes to make you solo character unconscious (although it usually don't kill it during that).
- when reaching the boss' hideout there are 2 guys behind sandbags. You MUST use browning against them from very far away. With all bonuses (meaning help yourself with mentat) I suggest 175% big guns here, crouch position, 33% agressive.
- stay this way when reaching the door of the powerplant, because the three guy inside the door can easily shred you.
- You can actually kill/damage a merc of the boss from outside. Unfortunately the windows don1t work, but there is an error in the graphic I think.
- from the boss' lackeys the most dangerous is actually the rocketman standing right at the door. Who was that idiot placing it there for all sake?!?He has itchi fingers, so try sneaking it from behind with browning to at least have a chance!

twillight 21-09-2015 09:37 PM

Fallout Tactics solo though guy guide
 
Great Bend:

This mission gave me way more bother than it should, but at least I know the level from inside out:
- at the start just kill every robot stepping out. Watch out for the incoming melee robots (hopefully one gets fried in the electrics), and the fact one shooter is too far to die w/o getting closer. Also, the friendly guy at the arrival CAN get shot by the robots despite being behind solid wall. don't ask, but he died for me once.
- do NOT open the first gate before killing the patrolling 2-robot-squd from behind holed fence-parts. Yes, on this level this feature DO work. Use stealth to wait for them to walk into position.
- the robots are practically immun to anything except .50 cal (Browning) and explosives (forget traps, those are ... self-dangerous). I used up like 950*.50 cal, 100 frag grenades, and all remaining rockets I had. To help your case you might try shooting first from Browning, than switching to SAW IF there is only 1 robot you're facing, it is not a special robot I mention, AND it reached Almost Dead condition (still useful).
- next sneak+crawl to the sandbags next to the gate of the white, two-story building. Crouch up and kill the two robots, than climb down to the central tunnel, pass the small tunnel, and VERY CAUTIOUSLY kill the three security-bot in the white building one-by-one. You can crawl close enough to the third. They are the most f*in' dangerous thing maybe on the map with very-very high damage and perfect accuracy. So don't try to spare on the .50 cal.
- with 1 rocket go to the other building and pull out the load lifters. They are nutty on armour and have a crapload of HP, so learn how to destroy them by grenades from safe distance. You can always run back to the depressed guy's cottage, and the AI seems broken for these load lifters as they soon leave you alone and stick to some fixed pattern... Good for us. Destroy the secu-bots in the building, and sneak in defensive/passive up its stairs. Wait until the two patrolling robot you see from the window get close to each other than start shooting. With 33% agressive, because after the first shot they somehow reduce the hit chance on them by 10%... Don't ask.
- To start the jumkyard blow up with a grenade or two the barricade at the entrance, and walk from turn to turn.
- the woman-on-bed offers gamble but won't let you win and don't have anything really good, but has a good story. Well, better than the other two talking face.
- there is a dead body with loot in the central tunnel.
- the next section is some sniper-rifle robots. Kill them using the available covers.
- the next section is what I hate the most. It is a bunch of load lifters. Bring tons of grenades, and the browning in case you get stuck. Use ultra-caution because their body is unpassable, meaning youcan get blocked from advancing, and that's bad, because this way is your only chance against
- the robot with vindicator minigun in the middle section. Normally that kind should not offer any challenge, but somehow THIS particular a-hole can cut you in half if you are "close enough". Now here "close" - for reason - means half the screen. Very very bad.
- the last load-lifter can be killed by the industrial presser to spare ammo.
The exit will be at this point, not at the insertion point. I think this mission is a cancelled project which secondary objective was left as prime...
And it is helluva boring!

-----------

Mission 16:

The bugged piece of s&@#˘!
First, I long noticed I somehow gained 5 amount of weight (whatever the ingame measure is). I still have this even with empty backpack. Well, I thought minor thing, when I can carry like 300 weight...

Then went on this mission, and found out trying to melee scurry bots (those crab-things) is hopeless. You can theoretically punch one to death (while loosing a crapload of HP), but if it makes you unconscious or simply bump you from your leg YOU CAN'T STAND UP ANYMORE.
If you try to run away (supermutants are still faster than these) THAT IS AUTO KO FOR YOU. Yep, you die.

Ok, my fault, why try hard. But than at the first building where the tank-bot and the hover bots "sleep" (nice trolling, designers!) the way to dispose the tank-bot seemed to run up the stairs at the side and throw grenades. Well, at a certain try I could not throw grenades on the bot without hitting myself too. Uhm...

I was happily browning everything away (there are not THAT many robots - used ca. 500*50 cal -, and scurries if you are cautious and activate from far enough can be disposed with SAW), was about finishing the mission, when I climbed up on a ladder in the junkyard-section with my mutie for a shelves to rob. But I could not climb down. Any way.

At that point I tried everything in frustration, and accidentally opened the character-sheet. Whoa, I said in surprise, why is my AC in negative, marked red? I didn't do no drugs since two missions back!
Removing armor thinking AC isn't that big of an issue at this point it figured I also lost like 10% damage resistance from every treshold.

Infuriated I reloaded and roamed the desert for 6 FREAKIN' MONTHES, and that crap still did not go away.

So I lost all interest in this. Yes it is possible, after all I did it back when there was no gog-version and FT crashed like every second try. Just use browning, rocket launcher, and occasional grenades, do not try to kill everything (only what you must, and what gives .50 cal ammo), and that's it. I'm finished.

twillight 25-09-2015 01:28 PM

How to install Baldur's gate WeiDu
 
Baldur's Gate is effected by Planned Obscolescence, but it STILL can be re-installed if you know how.

As I had to gather the informations from several unconnected places, here is the guide for the know-how of it all. Of course this is for those who have the original CDs, or the 4in1 DVD-pack etc, not the Enchanced Edition,Gog-version or anything which are already fixed, and likely merged the two games and their expansions in one go.

So:
#1 Have the CD/DVD/imagefile (latest in case your CD/DVD got destroyed but you preserved them in electronical format of course) of the games AND their expansions.
#2 Likely the autoruns won't work. At all.
#2a) Don't panic.
#2a I.) Insert BG2 in your drive, and start "Setu.exe". Choose full install. Change the installation's directory to anything but in the Program Files. c:\baldur2 will work.
#2a II.) Insert BG2Tobinyour drive. Start "Setup.exe". Choose full install.
NOTE: BG2 can now be played if you want.
#2a III.) Download the two extra merchants. They are in two area-files which have to be copied in the override directory.
#2a IV) Download the version 26498 patch. Install it.
#2b) Restart your computer. Wait until the boot-menu's screen disappears, and IMMEDIATELY press F8 to start the computer in Safe Mode. Might have to press F8 repeatedly. Restart computer if it started normally.
#2b I.) Insert BG1 in your drive. Start Setup.exe. Choose "custom" install, and tick each boxes. The installer will say you don't have enough space, but that's a false statement. Choose "install anyway". Set the installation directory to not be under Program Files, NEITHER the same as BG2! c:\baldur1 will work.
NOTE: if you only want to play BG1 w/o TotSC you may restart your computer and do so.
#2b II.) Insert BG1 TotSC. Start Setup.exe. Choose "custom" install. Tick each boxes.
NOTE: Likely you won't be able to launch BG1 anymore because "this program only runs under english version of windows", and I read it isn't even indifferent if it is US/UK windows (or the location-setting). Just to mess with you.
#2b III) Pull out the box of the game (let's hope you did not trash it, otherwise you're doomed or something). Find the age-rating ON THE DISC of BG1. NOT TotSC, but the pure game!
- If it says ESRB around a T than you have the US-version.
- If it says ELSPA around a number (eg.15+),than you have the UK-version.
- If the game does not have english language at all (but only german or french) than it is the international version.
#2b IV) Download the appropriate version 5512 patch and install it. On the link it is called "Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast Patches". IMPORTANT: the patch won't happen if you try to apply it outside Safe Mode!
NOTE: BG1 can be played again.
#2b V.) You may restart your computer.
#3 This is optional. If you want to add Baldur's Gate II fix-pack, do it now. I personally hate patches, especially these unofficial fan-made patches which "intend to follow the programmer's intention", but a lot of places mention it, and it has to be done in the correct order if wanted so here you go.
#4 download and install WeiDu. This merges the two games without modifying them to another game like Diablo 2's 1.07 "patch".
#5 you're allowed to uninstall BG1. Its content is now copied under BG2. So you better have enough space for this whole process (ca.10 GB free space at #1)
#6 you may install any mod you wish. Some more common mods are mentioned at Gog.com.

IMPORTANT: although created for the same intent, Weidu is NOTthe same as Trilogy! Trilogy had many criticism for messing with the games too much, not being compatible with enough mods etc. Trilogy is practically a beta compared to Weidu everyone agrees on this.

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

INSTALLING WEIDU:
- choose language of installer
- you can choose to "read" the weidu's readme. If you choose yes, it brings up weidu's homepage, not opens some file on your computer or shows text within the installer. This step is unnecessary though.
- choose install (this installs Weidu)
- confirm BG1's directory.
- I have no idea what is "biff all new resources", but unless you have zounds of mods it says recommended yes.
- the installation starts. Took 10 minutes for me in contrast to the approximated 20-60 minutes. Press enter when the installer finished.

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

Playing with Weidu:
The main menu of BG2 will change so your initial choice is between BG2ToB and other.
Other offers the choice between starting a new BG1 and BG2 game. There is no option for tutorial (so you'll miss its starting exp).

twillight 25-11-2015 09:32 PM

Bionic Chainsaw Pogo Gorilla walkthrough / guide
 
http://i.imgur.com/kj2gNZC.png

Don't mistake me, it is a B-level (flash) game. The graphic could be fine-tuned, and the controls can be messy.
What makes it good is the long-term creativity. While the game becomes substantially harder by time, and a little monotonous doing the same thing over and over, and a lot of the fun is taken away by the fact the items-to-find are not fixed (so don't go for a well-hidden giftbox, no reason to - also don't try to kill every single enemy, no reason either), the bosses and the achievement passing the longer and loner levels is something to look for.
Btw, the last regular level is actually just a big room random enemies (or sequenced?) falling in constantly, and there is a big change,as you can have multiply boosters at the same time unlike on any other level where the new upgrade/downgrade strips away the previous.

I won't go into details how to pass levels, as that is self-evident (if needed there are also arrows pointing the right direction, although the general direction to follow should be evident), I'll give some tips on the BOSSES:

I don't remember the order of them.

- platypus-boss: it is an easy enemy so to say. It farts exploding eggs at you (also hurts if touched). Those can be destroyed by hitting them. It also spits green blobs at you if you're ahead of it - I think you can run below them. The platypus also passes through garage-doors at periods. You can jump on the back of it to pass to its other side.
http://i.imgur.com/K4S51VX.png

- Poison Ivy: some kind of half-female half-plant thingy. It shakes down fruits or digs its tentacles into the ground - the later is semi-dangerous. This boss is medium, because it has very low damage. The parts you should attack is the claws at the end of the tentacles: the bottom ones can be hit in melee, the upper ones needs ranged attack standing below them.

- moth-boss: you can only hit the boss if you first hit all the levers around. there are 4 small and 1 big switch. If all the switches are activated, then you must jump n the big switch. This makes the moth fly aside, get electrocuted, and you can hit its eyes to damage it.

- snowman boss: you don't attack the boss itself for a long time. What you should do is to use the elevators around and destroy the air-conditioners (I think that's they are, though it looks like the sceen from Johnny Mnemonic). The hardest to destroy are the ones in the top corners,and the one right at the head of the boss - if you get close to the boss you get winded away.
The boss has some different attack types, but only one you should care of (the others are too random, just tank them out). The dangerous attack can on the other hand take away 50% of your max HP or so, and is signaled by a dinosaur-roar. When you hear it asap go to the other side of the map.
This boss is hard, but the main problem is its last form. When all the air-conditioners are destroyed it transforms into an ice-demon which if you touch you're onehitted. Very problematic. Do your best - just keep hitting the bastard.

- shark boss: this is an unfair boss. First, it has some normal bouncing projectile attack - just tank it out. Second, it can transform into a megasaw - when this happens there is to possibility. If it happens at your side, jump down and stand in the bottom left corner. If it happens at the other side compared where you stand jump to a platform, else you suffer major damage. Either way when it passed jump down asap and stand in the bottom corner or suffer major damage (90% HP any time the saw hits you). The shark in any case will reappear on the left side of the map.
Now here is the first major problem: the shark loves to change sides causing two problems:
1) it has a whirl-attack. If it happens from the other side of the map then you stand, you should keep pressing the other direction, and you shall escape it unharmed when it stops. The problem is, when it happens at the side you are standing - then it is instant death. Try to last as long as you can and keep dealing damage.
2) the only thing you can damage is at the back of the shark (its cyberbrain).
When you manage to damage the shark for a good portion (like when the snowman makes the final transformation) you'll fall down (after a last unavoidable attack, what CAN be an instantdeath attack). During this phase two things rotate:
- the shark attacks from one side causing instant death if you are hit
- the shark slowly swims in releasing some projectiles which you must tank out. You should again hit the brain on its back. To move around is the tricky part here: left and right is the usual, but going "up" demands the "up" button,not the "jump" button. The up-button otherwise has no use in the entire game!

- mecha bos (final boss):
http://i.imgur.com/6pzmf9c.png

This is actually a multisection-boss. The first is a skull (can damage anywhere). It releases chickens which run around until bu,ping into you when they stop, and blow up after a second. While jumping (do melee attacks) you'll avoid most if not all the damage.
The second is a pterodactilus. You must tank out its damage. The damageable spot is the unarmoured piece of its beak. Keep jumping doing melee.
Third is a poison-section. There is some tongue flashing around - tank it out. Stand near the ~poles and keep doing ranged damage to hit multiple ones at the same time,speeding the process. There are some spider-spawn too occasionally - changing to melee when they are on you kills them before they could do any harm.
Fourth is the cow-level. First destroy the heart moving around, then the cow-head. Don't mind the bees - tank them out.
Fifth is the bear-level. Keep jumping up doing melee - things are like for the first section, only with two targets.
The 5th and final part is grrr. First it bites out half of the platforms, throws out some swordfish, then it did some instant kills which I couldn't avoid,but here is a video about the whole thing. The part you can damage is the glass pilot-dome.

yoga 02-12-2015 10:20 AM

ToB is over.
 
brave is proud to announce ToB is passed.

Wow, it was terrible long battle!

But i do not have idea how to clacify this (these) game(s)?

BG2 as BG2 and

BG2 EE as other game?

Or ToB is add on of BG2?

What do You think, dear Capo and SS?

...
I started solo bard new game ToB, keeping my word.

Before 2 hours.

But i meet one very hard and bad problem:

- There are no new good games for me ahead..
:(
Yes, no games for brave.

I see the my listing and cry.. What to play?

Mortal combat again? Doom 1?

New games are with nice graphis and stupid ideas.

Very fast and main character is as God.!?

twillight 02-12-2015 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 464446)
brave is proud to announce ToB is passed.

Wow, it was terrible long battle!

But i do not have idea how to clacify this (these) game(s)?

BG2 as BG2 and

BG2 EE as other game?

Or ToB is add on of BG2?

...
I started solo bard new game ToB, keeping my word.

Before 2 hours.

But i meet one very hard and bad problem:

- There are no new good games for me ahead..
:(
Yes, no games for brave.

I see the my listing and cry.. What to play?

Mortal combat again? Doom 1?

New games are with nice graphis and stupid ideas.

Very fast and main character is as God.!?

BG 1 was a standalone game, and had the expansion TotSC. TotSC just added some sidequest and rised the exp-limit, but had no influence on the main story.
The second game is BG 2, which has the expansion ToB, which both had a decent addition in playtime AND heavily influenced the story, and added so many features it is nowdays considered a third installment despite not running w/o BG 2, thus making the series a "trilogy", where ToB is "BG 3".

BG EE is reloading/reenactment of the original games (the old saves are even compatible?). Basically the same, but can worth the extra credit.

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

I'm not familiar with all the new games either, but until you figure it out here are some decently long, and high-quality fleshy games which can take a couple of days to pass, and decently challenging:
- Sky Quest is a top-notch side-scrolling shooter, similar to Raptor on abandonia. I found most skills not-as-handy-as-could-be, but hey, it is at least not fixed at the start, and the gameplay is varying and addicting for sure.
- Epic Battle Fantasy 4 is something like the jrpgs, but man, it is fun and complex and simple enough to play. Epic Difficulty is a real challenge, but playing on normal is already satisfying and interesting (especially if you go for all the medals).

yoga 02-12-2015 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 464447)
BG 1 was a standalone game, and had the expansion TotSC. TotSC just added some sidequest and rised the exp-limit, but had no influence on the main story.
The second game is BG 2, which has the expansion ToB, which both had a decent addition in playtime AND heavily influenced the story, and added so many features it is nowdays considered a third installment despite not running w/o BG 2, thus making the series a "trilogy", where ToB is "BG 3".

BG EE is reloading/reenactment of the original games (the old saves are even compatible?). Basically the same, but can worth the extra credit.

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

I'm not familiar with all the new games either, but until you figure it out here are some decently long, and high-quality fleshy games which can take a couple of days to pass, and decently challenging:
- Sky Quest is a top-notch side-scrolling shooter, similar to Raptor on abandonia. I found most skills not-as-handy-as-could-be, but hey, it is at least not fixed at the start, and the gameplay is varying and addicting for sure.
- Epic Battle Fantasy 4 is something like the jrpgs, but man, it is fun and complex and simple enough to play. Epic Difficulty is a real challenge, but playing on normal is already satisfying and interesting (especially if you go for all the medals).

:smile2:
Thank You, dear twillight, thank you.
I know that i may rely on You concerning both games
BG and
Fallout.

Merci for new games offered.
Can You imagine in my despair i climb back to Samurai:vengeance
but does not like.
-to Prince of Persia 3,4,5 - same.

Now i concentrate on my Solo Bard ToB and then will try
Final Fantasy 8 recommended kindly from my friend SmilingSpectre.

grateful yoga

Capo 02-12-2015 08:57 PM

Have you played the gothic series Yoga ?

yoga 03-12-2015 09:21 AM

Nice games?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 464449)
Have you played the gothic series Yoga ?

:lame:

Non ancora.

Perché, amico mio?

(Still no.
Why, amigo?)

:smile2:

twillight 03-12-2015 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoga (Post 464455)
:lame:

Non ancora.

Perché, amico mio?

(Still no.
Why, amigo?)

:smile2:

It was a suggestion if you didn't catch that.
Gemplay vdu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLKoov2ZZQ
wikipedia article on the franchise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_%28series%29

yoga 03-12-2015 05:20 PM

Fun game. Grazie, C(A)PO. Noted
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 464456)
It was a suggestion if you didn't catch that.
Gemplay vdu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLKoov2ZZQ
wikipedia article on the franchise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_%28series%29

:smile2:
OK
OK
Nice video.

But why this mage does not use for example

1. Molotov cocktail

2. AK47

3. Mirror image?

Only fireballs?

He seems to be poor fighter? No spells?

Like idiot he runs up-down before monkey.

Stand up and fight like a man, like brave.

:smile2:

twillight 29-06-2016 08:41 PM

Fallout Tactics solo though guy guide
 
So, I put this back. What a miracle.
The last bunker can be gambled as intended (free for all), the jet bike key does nothing despite the popular rumor about Phil the Nuka Cola Guy.

The missions offer practically no advantage to mix their order, so w/o furtther ado:

Mission #17

You'll pee blood, because the game is cheating against you.
First:you'll need every type of weapons you can use:
- power fist t smash some towers
- rocket launchers because there are plenty of free ammos here for that
- saw minigun + browning because 1 round from the browning damages the crab-bots (scurry bots?) enough that the next round can come from the SAW.
- grenades. Grenades will be used at the #5-6 complex.

First kill everything right north where you arrive. Let's hope they don't instakill you (they are many), and the upmost bot does not notice you so you can get close to it and kill it fast - it has gauss ammo. When the first wave is destroyed get behind the fence so the second guard-bot won't kill you, and the gauss-bot won't wast your ammo.
Go further, kill some crabs. Don't mind the generators, they must be blown up the same time, but there are remote dets and detonator around, so you don't actually need those to be brought (although 2 explosives helps ensuring the kill).
Climb down the ladder, and turn off the agressive setting of your character. Go to the switch. Wait until the mines are found so you will be sure you deactivated the towers here. Use rocket launcher to blow up the tower you see. Two of the three guard posts have entrance from behind - get close to them to see the bots inside and throw grenades at/next to them. Do NOT stand where they can see you. You also CAN'T throw grenades over the walls surrounding them, you must throw through the "gates" of the walls. Problem is the third post, which you can not kill with grenade. Actually the whole kill of it depends on sheer luck.
Also beware the bad texture which can make you see/make you be seen by a pacification-bot inside the front gate. It has short distance, but it likes to be invisible, and is just annoying. Use rockets against it through the texture if you can. Beware, do not stand close to the walls and accidentally blow yourself up!
Do NOT go to the upper floor until the rocket bots on the main streets are eliminated (more on this below). Use the side-entrance in the gorund floor. There is a tank-bot, it is melee- use rockets and run behind cover. Disable agressivity whenever it comes to the door, or you'll cut this entrance. Go down with powerfist on your active slot and punch the tower to death. Go back up and get to the room of generator #5. It has 3 invisible guardbot inside. I'm not actually sure what to do here, they tend to fry my arse. Maybe an electric grenade...
There is another (another two?) room on the upper floor... I adivse using the stairs from outside and try activating the invisibots by rockets or something.

To get to the #2 and #3 firstyou need to kill 2 crab-bots, then shoot down one-by-one some human-bots. Not hard. Avoid the rush to #3 because of the doorframe. Through THAT doorframe you can dispose the rocketbots one by one (the second usually flies in your line of sight and makes itself killed). Every other way you are toast.
To get to #2 there is a ditch with 2 bots. Run to the eastern side of it and kill both the same time. They aren't lethal. Go to the entrance, lay down and switch the switch. Go in and punch the towers to death. Go to the other entrance, run in - 2 crab-bots will be activated.

There are 3 ditches in the south side (and generator #4).
From the side pass the building on the south, kill the human-bot, open the door, run out and kill the two rocket-bots. They usually die the first burst, and never actually killed me.
The generator-house has 2 guardbot, but they are anything but dangerous.
The 3 ditches exist just to f* you with. They have weapons that can tear you shreds even from a distance, and they tend to get the initiative, so make instead a frontal ambush not sparing browning/rocket from an even higher distance. Do NOT try to ambush them close from the north!

The rest of the level is ok, but those *#&@ invisibots are making me maddd.

twillight 14-08-2016 06:51 PM

Dead End Street
 
This flash game is a rare gem.
It lacks practically all originality, but it is has a good progress into being hard while remaining in the realm of possible.
There are almost no bugs (only the laying-too-many-mines bug which shouldn't be an issue in normal play), and it gets good use of its mechanic. I recommend it.

twillight 01-03-2017 07:40 PM

Rage of Mages 2 Hard Mode Mage
 
Thx Gog for win10-compatible version. Made a mage instead of my lost warrior,and took the ogre-killing dialoge:

http://i.imgur.com/pzdOrxs.jpg

At 30 point in water and 22 in earth (bought staff in starting town) gaining more skill proved mostly futile (the troll died before being able to gain another point of skill, so duh).
Btw, later if you have a protection-spell and just let the game turned on, your skill'll go up infinite by time, so duh.

After map1 immediately (no town in-between) comes a second map ca.same size. It has an ogre (at live village), 2 zombies (NE), a crapton of bandits (NW) at locations. With hit&run you CAN kill them or just lead each of them to the local knights guarding the exit.
There's a dead village at the starting location, and if you have only Earth attack you're as good as that as there're some ghosts immun to that element.

Next I can choose 3 quests:
- run for a magic sword (why do it with a mage)
- kill a bunchof bandits (considering the previous ones you better have company, either way it won't give you THAT much gold)
- the quest to have Igles the knight. Sounds the most reasonable, you'll be able to train the whacko asap. The only downside is, you won't be able to kill the local dragon. Not that I'd see any chance fighting it anyway (and being a flying thing knights can't hit it with anything except bows, which suxxor).

twillight 12-05-2017 08:11 PM

Siege of Avalon Chapter 4 Walkthrough
 
Most of my notes on this game are on the 15th page of the thread, but whatever. Here comes how to do this chapter with minor fuss:

You can get 34 stealth in this chapter, 5 less if you are not a scout by starting profession.
You should always stick to the known passes because some codes kick in with a delay, and there are some miss-programming (regular enemies being naturally hostile instead warchef/general/shaman), and wolves are perma-hostile. Of course most of these are avoided if you stealth is natural 100 (aka. you don't need to activate for that the shadow-spell).
If you are powergaming gather the stealth-bonuses first and start killing the enemy only after that. Or just do as you please.

Page Entrowe sends you to Mudam after what you need to report back to him. Mudam sends you to Village 4 to see nagas, V7 to see ahoul training, V10 to see a ram under construction, sends you to Sir Soth who wants back ovoron's satchel, also to Ambassador Johfrit who wants you to rescue Edgard, and to Olon who wants you to bring him a dreamcatcher wand for he sends you to Pell.
Now leave to the Village(s).

V1: speak with random ahouls until your journal gets updated. Not sure if this, or any other update worth XP, but whatever.
V2: -
V3: Old Bensends you to swap Mithras' staff as the scout-initiation. Report back after done for +5 stealth and ring of speed.
V4: Scoutmaster sends you to get the hundsman's tunic (when worn wardogs will be yellow = not hostile), after which you can choose from two quest/training: get "a map" or kill lizardmen. I suggest this order.
V5: -
V6: -
V7: find the training ground. There is an ahoul called Shellen, but has no use aside some special conversation. Won't mention similar ahouls anymore.
V8: -
V9: Shiilazia updates journal. After speaking Kallden you can get some XP from Darg who is in V11. Not sure if this is true if you kil Kallden befroe talking with Darg. Equipment: Draugdur's Bow, map, assassin knife (I never use this)
V10: here is the ram, and the hundsman's tent, inside in chest is his tunic (it has no special name, so don't loose it). When visiting all sites for Mudam you must got to Elzarath instead Mudam (or go to Mudam, then to Elzarath despite none sending you there) then back to Mudam, and NOW you finally can visit Fester for Oil. Equipping the oil is how you supposed to destroy the ram. Note: youcan't destroy the ram with bow. Switch to any melee weapon, or just drop the bow and use your fist.
V11: Darg is here. Mard updates your journal.
V12: lizardmen. Check their corpses, now they have some stuff on them.
V13: Equipment: dreamwalker staff, boots of evasion, ring of shadows
V14: helmet of alertness, mail of midnight, cloak of storms, voreworm skin shoes, 2*ring of balance (this on ahoul archers walking around, gives 10 coordination, 10 HP)
V15: Edgar is here. He joins as a companion, so avoid confrontation while he's with you, and yes,you must walk allthe way this time. In V1 4 ahoul will appear near the bridge to the castle during this. Edgar will vanish as soon you enter the castle. Still have to report to Johfrit this for XP. Yes, this must be done too before Sir Roth makes you able to kill Ovoron. Nug Roth until you get it as quest to kill Ovoron (only available when all other possible things are done in this chapter). Equipment: greaves of extinguishing, scimitar of winds. Ovoron's equipment isn't bad either. His satchel is here too, in a chest.
V16: Mithras' staff is in his tent.

Note: at a point Roth sends you to Mudam, who sends you to Captain Calvaric. CC asks you to offer him to the attention of King Vortigern's head honcho of his army, but this doesn't seem to be available, at least not now. onle the journal's minor notes section is updated with this.

And that's it.

----------

Also, here are the differences between classes, aside the obvious special equipment they get:
- warrior: get some initiation-speech, nothing really more than a "nao you are knight, happy?". The initiation-quests can be done by the other classes, even the items-to-gather can be found.
- scout: you get a unique quest which includes some special equipment to carry around - special mage-related equipment, so you won't use them. The initiation-speech is almost non-existent, but the quest-talk mentiones "you are nao part of the illuminati". The whole quest comes from an otherwise-useless NPC.
- mage: a whole new quest, I mean a side-boss-battle. Almost no initiation-speech. Still the bestof the bunch.
Beware, mage playthroughis bugged, you can't free the Queen's spirit because the chapter--finishing conversation does not activate. This does no effect the play otherwise. Here is the journal-entry if you're curious:

http://i.imgur.com/WmPLBA3.jpg

twillight 16-06-2017 03:59 PM

Falout Tactics Though Guy playthrough
 
You can't blame a man trying. And as I know the armor-bug, I can fix it via the editor.

So, made the character:

http://i.imgur.com/s6xsWvY.jpg

And finished the 1st mission. Shotgun-users must be dealt with standing far letting them waste all their ammo (after the first locked door outside the building; at the "bunker" on the top left; outside the front side of the boss tent. The sleeping gangster also has one, but you know - he's seleeping). Same strategy applies to the boss' tent.

Used items:
- stimpack: 25
- healing powder: 3
- happy pie: 2

http://i.imgur.com/26Jcher.jpg



http://i.imgur.com/TuoLerA.jpg

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

EDIT:
Having some trouble with the Special Encounters:
- you get special encounters only in given hexes
- you can get 2-4 special encounter on a specialhex, but that randomizes their location
- after a while the encounter you'll get is unavoidably Pitch Black, and it's death-sentence until very-late game
- after a while the encounters get randomized, so only get to these encounters, in this order to be effective:
I. from Bunker Alpha go 4 hex down: Brahmin Poker. Grab the money.
II. from I. two hex to the right, 4 down: Hermit. Buy Scout Book. Learn from it.
III. from II. teo hex to the right, 3 down: Brahmin Armor. This is the most dangerous and otherwise problematic encounter. First: only try this during night. Second: do not leave the encounter until you have the brahmin armor, or you risk (make?) the exit grid not working anymore. You heared it right: you go back to your base, save, come back, and you'llnever be able to leave the encounter ever again! Third: have 70% stealth. As soon as you arrive start stealthing. Start walking - and when you getdetected running - towards the nearest turret. If all goes well it self-destruct, maybe hurting you a good portion too. If not, it'll just kill you. Stay there (you can loot it) until the rocket-tower keeps firing (and maybe you hear the brahmin's moo as it dies). Fall back then, and enter stealthing again. Lay down and crawl to the cow's body. If the cow is still alive, you'll die. Get out.
IV. from III go diagonally up-left (not touching the Hermit-grid) 9 hexes, then 1 to the left to find the Farmer. Buy small guns + outdoorsman books, plus 1 piece .50 DU ammo
V. from IV one down, 3 to the left: Gas Station. Buy the Elixir of Life (+1 Endurance).
VI. from V down-left 15 hexes, then 2 down: Merchant. He has 3 kind of book (*2 science, traps, pilot) for starters.
VII.from VI two up, 8 to the right: Trader. 150*5.56 ammo (one more magazine for avanger minigun).
Back to Bunker Alpha to save: 2 up, then straight up-right to Bunker Alpha. During this last course at the 2nd hex keep the upper part to avoid Komodo Man, down at 4th to avoid Deathclaw Liberation, down at 7th to avoid Pitch Black.

http://i.imgur.com/olu7NGj.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/kyJddfx.jpg


-----------

Freeport

Having my guide from before helped :)

Consumed stuff:
- 1 use of doctor's bag by Stitch. Ok, this is just bending the rules - I mean my own rules. See, A's hand got crippled, and while kicking myself through the game would have been a way probably, I just did not wanned to pry that way. And my own skill is negligeable.
- 7 stimpacks. Well, after the Still I just did not need any healing.
- 1 buffout. Roaming the Still was just safer this way. Also, the boss in the locked building had AK47. He went down smoother with the risen stats.
- 2 burst of 5.56 to destroy the Still. Well, even the first round killed the raiders around it, but I can not control things that good in this :P
- 2 incindenary grenade
- 4 molotov cocktail

http://i.imgur.com/0ugHayv.jpg

preparing next mission:
- buying 1 impact gloves

Rock Falls

Wearing the Brahmin Armor this time ment a lot.

Consumed Stuff:
- 14 stimpack
- 5*first aid (by Stitch)
- 2*doctor (by Stitch)
- 1 meat pie
- 1 afterburner gum (at beginning of mission)
- 1 buffout (when entering Daisy's house)
- 1 voodoo (when entering Daisy's room)

http://i.imgur.com/f3zp06P.jpg

twillight 22-06-2017 10:05 AM

Falout Tactics Though Guy playthrough Bunker Beta
 
First, here is the Random Encounter Map: http://i.imgur.com/XBse4Yq.jpg

Macomb:

Consumed stuff:

super stimpack: 2
stimpack: 17
first aid: 2 (by stitch)
voodoo: 1
molotov cocktail: 17 (mostly blowing up barricades - I missed a lot)
acid grenade: 3
repair: 7 (by stitch)
5.56 ammo: 360 (I'm left with 30)
shotgun shells: ca. 20


http://i.imgur.com/DUlySCW.jpg


Preoria:

Do NOT try to overdose turrets with buffout! It won't work!

Consumed stuff
:
super stimpack: 3
stimpack: 2
first aid: 3 (by stitch)
doctor: 4 (by stitch)
afterburner gum: 8 (used on surface turret)
psycho: 3 (used on surface turret)
trauma pack: 1 (at roach-king)
rad-X: 1
bug-on-the-shell: 1
antidote: 12
punch gun (ca. 100), power fist (ca. 15)


http://i.imgur.com/PIoglU1.jpg

Don't ask the age of the char. It came with the altered file, and I did not pay attention to it. It doesn't matter anyway.

Preparing for next mission:
- buying allavailable 5.56 ammo in the bunker
- stealing small energy cells fr5om everyone in the bunker


Quincy:

Tips:
- the alarms outside the town hall seems to do nothing after the main sirenis disabled. This went on my nerves, went to see if the daughter can be saved, and turned out there was no reaction on the inside of the building.
- with 2 causalities in the brothel still got positive comments from the employees there, so I assume that's ok. Well, actually the success might depend on how many are alive WHEN you kill the 3 beastlord within the building, not when the mission ends. Your reward for successfully making it is 400 exp.
- I considered Psychotic as perk. Turned out it only applies to normal damage, and as your armor and natural resistance gives 50% base resistance to that anyway, this perk is pointless. Potentially awesome for a multiplayer match as you don't have to buy an armor this way, but for normal gameplay it is pointless as with your armor and psycho normal dose you'llhave 100% normal damage resistance anyway!
- in the Ghoul Town the attack initiated by your visit, NOT your talk with the leader!

Step-by-step manual:
- arrive at night. Eat an afterburner.
- talk with the NPC, make Stitch run to the factory, you climb the mayor's house stealthed. Step front of the alarm inside blocking the way, appear, kill the stupid leader (power fist), talk with mayor, stealth to the roof, disable siren (1600 exp).
If you later still have enough resources and want to clear the building, climb back this way and start with the baby deathclaws (one can only reach you if you stand on the stairs).
- go to factory. Stealth, go down. Do not disable light. When you see leader patrolling go after her/run when noticed. Kill her with power fist. RUN to just the other side of the sandbags switching minigun on the way (80% big guns here). First burst kills both enemy, run down to the front of the sandbags, punch the enemy to death, also the other. This worth 800 exp. If you disarm the two remote detonator you get another 200 quest exp. Eat an afterburner.
- go to city hall. Kill things in the front at your leasure. It worthstealthing, but the alarms have no consequence actually. Kill the guy at the front, also the patrol with the three dogs on the other side.
- go to the "west" side of the brothel. Watch the patrol starting to walk towards you, and stealth to the door your side. Count until ... 10-14 seconds pass and walk to the nearest enemy, punch it to death. Run in a little, and adjust to the two melee enemy inside. Kill the pistol-one inside, than the patrol outside - if it is at the window, use minigun. Stealth out and kill the passive one on the east. Eat a mentat.
- Stealth inside the city hall on the left crawling, break alarm. Get to inner room, punch the sleepers to death. Stealth-crawl back to the front gate, and from that direction put the beastman between you and the deathclaw (ca. atthe edge of the light). Start minigunning.
- go down to infiltrate the prison. Climb up stealthed, get along the wall so not noticed. When you see the patrol going away go and break the alarm, and step a half step away from the corner. The patrol will make himself punched to death. Go up stealthed, go directly to the boss. If noticed asap run there, kill him,then run to the sandbags minigunning the two there. Switch the minigun to superstimpack and use it on the local hero. Punch the enemy to death in the towers.
- go towards the Ghoul Town. DO NOT ENTER AT ALL COST! I dunno if the mob is teleported outside or what then. Just go around, get to the enemy farm's fance - a little farther, so deathclaws can't reach you at all! Whait until the dogs start running and start the mayhem: minigun everyone down (have 100% big guns). The deathclaws are Death Incarnate otherwise (they shred through your armor like it's not there).
I have no idea wther getting the speech(es) from the ghoul leader have any merrit, but duh. I've finally done this!

Consumed stuff:
- doctor's bag (by Stitch)
- first aid kit (by Stitch)
- stimpack
- superstimpack: 2-3
- afterburner gum: 2
- mentat: 1
- some food in spite of stimpack
- power fist
- avenger minigun (remaining ammo: 10)


http://i.imgur.com/AZc8kVW.jpg

PS: I'm holding my perks. Supermutants gain a perk every four level, so I'll get though hide on lvl 12 and bonus rate of fire at lvl 15.
Actually, I made a list of the "useful" perks to be sure. Man, most of the perks are totally useless in this game for one reason or another.

Good perks:
- supermutants: steady arm, though hide (race-specific toughness perk)
- ghouls: cancerouth growth might occasionally make conditions goaway w/o doctor's bag, making it ok choice for a SOLO ghoul.
- deathclaws: brutish hulk (deathclaws can't wear armor, so ever yHP helps), hide of scars (race-specific toughness perk)
- party: tag! (toadd big guns/energy weapons), mutate! (if they have no trait at all you can give them this way), gain stat (many times they just lack that one point), awareness (not good enough for protagonist, but otherwise very useful), bracing (in case of not enough STR for big guns), weapon handling (incase of not enough STR), action boy (if you can't come up w anything else)
- turn based playing style before patch: flexible
- if playing with a full party: leader, team player
- generally good skills (in order of usefullness): bonus rate of fire, bonus ranged damage, sharpshooter, loner, toughness, more criticals, better criticals, lifegiver
- a pure melee character would probably die soon, but it'd likely demand at least: slayer, silent death, silent running, bonus HtH attack, bonus HtH damage*3, more criticals*3, better criticals - of course this is not possible under normal circumstances, so likely would also include Divine Favour and a ton of wasteland-roaming. Maybe with an edited character could be fun for an hour, but I've learnt through my deathclaw, that nah.


Mardin:

The starting was tough, but managed to lob the CAWSer with molotovs, and from there itwas manageable. Mostly. Keep in mind your superstimpacks.

Consumed stuff:
- rad X: 2
- rad away (could have been prevented by eating radX early)
- stimpack and food
- super stimpack (ca. 3-5)
- first aid (by stitch)
- doctor's bag (by stitch)
- molotov cocktail (1 remaining)
- psycho: 1
- antidote (ca. 5)
- impact gloves
- punch gun (this and impact gloves used primaly lacking resources otherwise)
- power fist (small deathclaws, Emperor Darr, though situations)
- razor claws


http://i.imgur.com/k0ljiue.jpg


Springfield:

twillight 24-06-2017 12:46 PM

Falout Tactics Though Guy playthrough Bunker Gamma
 
St. Louise:

Doing it in 3 passes:
#1: the main quest, and all surface-area. Consumed stuff: first aid (bystitch), repair, avenger minigun (stole General'sammo before leaving), incineration grenade (ca. 5), SAW minigun, rocket launcher (on armored mutants).
Because the mutant with Browning in the northern tunnels was standing, I had to eliminate him, and with that decided to clear everything outside the tunnels. The APC served well as shield.

http://i.imgur.com/SUwC9wt.jpg

#2: clearing the tunnels: Consumed stuff: saw, rocket launcher.
#3: clearing the mutant base (after Springfield, gained lvl 13 here): Consumed Stuff: 1 buffout, 1 mentat, 1 voodoo (could be trauma pack, forgot), saw (2-300 ammo. Can find more during the task), rocket launcher (used up all 8 rockets I had, wish I had more), frag grenade (ca. 20), browning (4 bursts), lockpick + advanced lockpick (there's a locked chest on the bottom left corner along the ooze-tunnel), super stimpack, stimpack


Springfield:

http://i.imgur.com/SUwC9wt.jpg

Jefferson:

After this in the desert had to kill somestuff, because driving 2 cars was problematic.

Consumed stuff:
- stimpack + food
- first aid (by stitch)
- boom bugs (2*3, to destroy generators)
- power fist (ca. 3 full charge, to destroy turrets)
- saw (on unarmored and "almost dead" enemies)
- browning (980 ammo left + 100 uranium)
- rocket launcher (1 rocket left)
- repair kits

http://i.imgur.com/6asPjzW.jpg

Kansas City:

Preparation:
- Just realised I've learnt the Small Guns books. Darn. Would have beenadvantageous to stitch now.
- Stitch will guard the north gate, so giving him something to defend himself. Also will wear environmental armour.
- Will use these drugs at arrival: 2 mutie, 1 mentat, 1 afterburner, 1 psycho to be able to carry around all my stuff.

NOTES:
- sometimes opening a chest or killing a certain enemy gives oddly high amount of exp. Here for example a supermutant gave 7K. Another on the other hand gave 30. I call Bad Programming.
- read through all the battle-logs, and 5 ghoul losses I've counted.
- initially I've tried giving Stitch the XL70E3. With terrible result. Made him a big gunner. Providing character screen on picture.
- put Stitch outside the sandbags to avoid ghoul causalities there.
- do NOT leave the southgate until "objective complete"!

http://i.imgur.com/02ku68u.jpg

Consumed stuff:
- browning (380 bullet left)
- saw (on some unarmored muties)
- rocket launcher: 1 (I had this rocket left over from the previous missions)
- mutie: 2
- mentat: 1
- afterburner: 1
- psycho: 1
- super stimpack
- stimpack

http://i.imgur.com/DAOnT41.jpg

Osceola:

http://i.imgur.com/4WaP8rK.jpg

Consumed stuff:
- SAW
- browning
- rocket launcher (all rockets from previous missions, used against armored mutants)
- grenades (only at the south gate I managed this time. Neither the west or east gate works, nor could drop on the head of the four mutants running up-and-down within the compund's fence :( )
- boom bug (to blow up the gas chamber)
- super stimpack
- stimpack
- foods (I got bored carrying them around)

twillight 25-06-2017 11:08 PM

Falout Tactics Though Guy playthrough Bunker Delta
 
Junction City:

Preparation: hire Pump fora second, and take his armor.
NOTE: there is a bug which seems to be related to leather/metal armor mark II and their mutant wariants (ghoul, spiked supermutant, maybe reaver too). Enviromental and power armor seems uneffected. I'll keep watching my stats, and try prevent the bug (which made me terminate my playthrough last time) by not wearing the spiked armor while entering/leaving any mission.

NOTE: to prevent reavers entering the city not started to collect parts immediatelly. During my fight the enforcers (city guards) ran ahead making themselves killed. This could not be prevented, and has no consequences.

Consumed stuff:
- SAW
- browning (2-3 bursts inside the reaver HQ just to be safe)
- power fist (against the giant rats inside the tunnel)
- super stimpack
- stimpack
- foods
- first aid (from now on I make my own patches)

http://i.imgur.com/e4NWahU.jpg


Coldwater:

TIP: on every level walk around the edge to see if you can "reach" enemy on the next level. If you can - shoot it!
Also, at the final building try positioning at the first window(s). The texture is faulty there, and you can shoot down the boss,and at least 2 of his lackeys! Unfortunatelly not the rocket launcher guy. Man, I hate that!

http://i.imgur.com/f8KwZsk.jpg

Consumed stuff:
- SAW
- rocket launcher (explosive rocket. 1 at each "group patrolling the corridor" encounter, that makes 2)
- browning (at the stairs from lvl 3 to lvl 4, at the sandbags of the last building, against all power armor boss, against the rocketeer)
- grenade: 1+ (at last house' entrance sandbags 'cause the enemy did not stand up, so needed to activate him. Did not react when not hitting him, that's why not simply 1. Oh, from the two the upper one is more dangerous, only he has browning!)
- mentat: 1
- psycho: 1
- first aid
- stimpack
- food
- super stimpack: 2
- lockpick
- doctor's bag: ca. 5 times, by stitch


Great Band:

Hm. After beating this next to Coldwater, I somehow fell back like I never did Coldwater. Seems a bug. Have to do this again. Some other day.

Consumed:
- SAW (occasional killing shot)
- browning
- frag grenade: ca.100
- boom bugs: ca. 10 (to blow up barricades)
- first aid
- stimpack
- food
- lockpick
- doctor's bag (by Stitch)

http://i.imgur.com/8JgYNLQ.jpg


Newton:

Well, robots. Mostly straight out stuff, although there are some dangerous spots,especially if you want to destroy everything, like the 2 robots crouching on that corridor at the #1 building.
Also, as there are scurry bots (the crab-like things): do not try to fight them unarmed, unless there is only 1 remaining, and you already hit it with the browning.
The #2 building canbe conquered without any fight (ok, there's a scurry bot on the roof).
Do NOT climb around with a supermutant in the junkyard!
Do NOT try to grenade those tankbots, they are too fast. Use rocket launcher.

Consumed:
- browning
- rocket (whenever there is clear path between you and the robot, and the reobot is not a rocket-bot)
- power fist
- stimpack
- super stimpack
- lockpick
- first aid
- doctor (by stitch)


http://i.imgur.com/0YDESq0.jpg

twillight 02-07-2017 11:31 AM

Falout Tactics Though Guy playthrough Bunker Epsilon
 
Canyon City:

As far as I can remember this level likes to crash if you leave #5-6 for last, so first clear the robots in the alley near the start, then get to the long underground tunnel - this is doubly important, because for some Strange Coding the turret here becomes active if you descend from above (from the building of #5-6) and can be beaten to death if you arrive from the tunnel.
There are many scurry bots. The level also contains masisve amunt of rocket ammo, but no rocket launcher. Bring one and use it happily.
The problem is the .50 caliber ammo (of browning), as youcan practically find here none of those, so bring a LOT.

Consumed stuff:
- browning: ca. 1200
- rockets: as many times possible (dunno, 50 maybe)
- frag grenade: ca. 100
- flash grenade: 10-20 (used to check if I can hit robots beyond wall - hits for nothing but at least there's no risk killing myself, also is cheap thus affordable. Any other now-useless grenade can replace this, eg. incindenary grenade, molotov coctail)
- power fist: ca. 5*40. Use this to preserve ammo when destroying disabled turrets. All turrets can be disabled (on the turret in the tunnel check above)
- stimpack
- super stimpack
- first aid
- doctor (by stitch, although I could probably afford this now)
- remote detonator: 6*2 (to destroy the power nods. Probably good idea to stand at #2 when you detonate because there only 1 can be placed correctly)
- lockpick


http://i.imgur.com/6N6rU5F.jpg


Buena Vista:

At the start there is a hole in the fence, 2 bots coming through. Deal with that nuisance before anything else.
When you reach the main gate to survive drug up, step in, RUN out, start shooting.
It is extremely important to use the rocket launcher to spare on the browning.
You need to use science! Use up all the science books!

Btw, reached clvl 24. This if I'm correct w/o though guy happens during the very last mission. Still feels forced though.

Preparation:
if you went in the mutant HQ of St. Louise bring the .50 DU ammo! That's your best chance when going through the complex's gate.
Also might be clever to bring sabot rockets because of the behemot-behind-the-fence.

Consumed stuff:
- browning: ca. 1200 ammo (900 left, plus whatever the shop offers) + ca. 75 DU (left enough for 2 bursts)
- rocket launcher: ca. 100, maybe more
- power fist: ca. 200 (to beat power nodes offline)
- mentat: 1
- afterburner: 1
- buffout: 1
- psycho: 1
- stimpack
- super stimpack
- first aid
- (doctor's bag by stitch - I did not actually got hurt this way, but let's mention it)

http://i.imgur.com/6g6QjlI.jpg


Scott City:

This map is friggin HUGH. Takes 3-4 hours to finish. It is alsovery straightforvard. Do not try to use backdoors, sniping positions or other such things. Go full frontal. Oh, and do NO try to shoot the turrets on the roof from the room with the General's body - you'll die 100% of the time that way. Before you ask, the turrets can NOT be disabled.
Also as the map is hugh, better invest into doctor skill to avoid the need to crawl back all the way to stitch.
The footlocker in the hidden room is trapped, but can not be opened by any means.
The house in the junkyard can only be opened by the key from the ghoul prisoner's cell.

NOTE: I think the alarms on the map can cause these prisoners die. If the robots there are killed and the prisoners liberated, it doesn't matter anymore if they activate it. The place with the lock should be avoided though until you destroy the behemoth on the other side of the fence.
EDIT: Nope. The prisoners just get killed randomly. If Sebastian dies only, than none cares. The others worth exp, and likely karma.
On Sebastian: he'll initially talkto you, than you can unlock his cell, and talk with him. If you talk to him the 2nd time after unlocking the cell he'll run ahead and die without achieving anything, Ye, he's totally useless

Behemots have low range, and are slower even than a supermutant, so get back constantly, refuel your AP and use rockets if possible. Also use their hugh size to make them stuck.
Bring your remaining .50 DU to deal with the gauss miniguner.
You'll find some poison stuff here. Use it, or some explosives (can also be found) to kill the merchant and not loose karma.

The most annoying thing are the hoverbots which shoot rockets, from very far, and come in group. So you can't shoot them down, and it is enough if only 1 rocket hits you, and it is blowing up.
So I ate some drugs the last try, maybe they helped, maybe it was just RL-luck.

Consumed stuff:
- mentat: 1
- psycho: 2*1 (first dose ran out)
- buffout: 2*1 (first dose ran out)
- rocket launcher: shall be primary weapon. Bring ALL your ammo! Used ca. 250.
- browning: at tight spots, especially too-close appearing scurry bots, or robots on another level (your rocket can't pass the fence). Use DU against gauss rifle bot (1 burts = 15 ammo. Usually one other thing'll be in the way, make it 2 bursts = 30 ammo. I'm left at this point with 16 DU). Normal ammo used: 300-500.
- stimpack (a LOT. ca. 50)
- super stimpack (5-15)
- ultra stimpack (2-5)
- first aid
- doctor's bag (by me)
- lockpick
- poison: 1 (use explosive if merchant don't die)

As this was the last-but-one mission (no more returning to base), I present you the char-sheet of Stitch. Including kill-count (it is from defending the ghoul-town).

http://i.imgur.com/7YYked2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/i2kBOt8.jpg


Calculator:

Phase #1:
- watch out the health of the vehicle because of mines (do not roam mindlessly)
- kill the two bots in the bunker with electric grenade (1 each)
- kill the pacification bot and the behemoth with rocket launcher. For the behemot climb the rocks first (it can't shoot upward)
- make the 3 hoverbot empty on the vehicle when otherwise safe (at the start of the bridge it'll do)
- progress VERY SLOWLY at the "stone fence" (you'll know). There is a multitude, you want to dispose the gauss-bot for the ammo, and you'll have to switch 33% agressive to dispose the bot launching grenades on the top of the cliff
- bring with you to the next phase: doctor's bags, electric grenades, plasma grenades, .50 ammo, rockets + rocket launcher, lockpick, gauss minigin + gauss ammo

Used stuff:
- electric grenade: 2
- rockets: ca. 30 (use up all non-explosive ammo first to shorten inventory)
- browning: ca. 1500
- first aid
- doctor's bag
- repair kit

Phase #2:
- buy electric grenades and gauss ammo from BoS
- when open door your active slot should be electric grenades. Throw 2, then switch to browning with .50 DU
- when opening doors your active slot has to be gauss minigun
- on the up-down corridor behind the armory is a tank bot. Dispose all robots on the siderooms, and escaping to those kill the tankbot with rockets (3 electric one is in a locked locker there too)
- the room after the armory (but before you can enter the armory is DEATHTRAP. First: load lifters try to die at the door which is #&@! Second, it is full of vindicatorbots, which if roll a negate-armor-critical are #&@. So use the gauss. No, you can't use anything else because of all the miniwalls (with enough enemy killed you can go around and use rockets even - if you get to that point that is).
- there is a locked room at the cryogenic part. DO NOT OPEN IT. It is heavily guarded, and has nothing inside aside a bunch of .50 ammo which you'll get anyway in the first room of the generator quarter!

Consumed stuff:
- food: all (to shorten inventory)
- stimpack
- super stimpack
- ultra stimpack
- rocket (all)
- browning
- gauss minigun
- lockpick
- electric grenade

Phase #3:
- bring 5+3*2 plastic to blow up the brains as minimum. Grenades work too if you have left any. Remote detonator traps do not work. No info on dinamite.

Consumed stuff:
- plastic (see above)
- gauss minigun (ammo left: ca. 300)
- super stimpack
- stimpack
- mutie: 1
- fuision coke: 1

twillight 08-07-2017 02:02 PM

Fallout Tactics - the end
 
Phase #1:

http://i.imgur.com/yQU0dKP.jpg


Phase #3:

proof, basic stats, and inventory:

http://i.imgur.com/YMPVdSx.jpg

character sheet and kill-count:

http://i.imgur.com/yZIjZDW.jpg

the decision is made:

http://i.imgur.com/GDU4Wk7.jpg

twillight 09-07-2017 11:09 AM

Fallou Tactics - solo melee?
 
Obviously the melee build is not viable here - under normal conditions.
It lacks:
- damage
- resistance
- group-handling

But still, I couldn't resist theorycrafting.
Because there would be some advantages:
- no need to pick up almost anything
- the only things you'd need are: a) small energy cells b) healing stuff c) armor
so you could just breeze through the game.

Solo would be optimal, because of the weaknesses, especially those big gunned enemies, who'd just massacre your whole melee party if you'd make one. So that's just stupid.

Anyway, here are all the perks potentially useful for such build:
- action boy (2): 2 AP is 2 AP. Not that meaningful though with all the drugs, and the CTB conditions. Ye, the key for meleeing is abusing the knockdowns and delays, so definitely CTB.
- better criticals: seems essential
- bone head: to lessen the chance you'll have to reload
- bonus hth attack: essential, and makes the action boy unnecessary
- bonus hth damage (3): seems pretty useful / essential
- die hard: seems ok NOTE: this perk is actually bugged - for your favour! Once kicks in, the extra resistance never goes away!
- dodger: marginally useful, but we aim min-maxing
- drunken master: while not essential, can help NOTE: actually this perk does not work at all.
- ghost: while not essential, can help. You'll do missions at night anyway with this because every little bit helps. I mean this character intends to fight guys with rocket launchers and browning. NOTE: actually this perk does not work at all.
- hit the deck: seems essential because of rockets
- lifegiver (2): at least the first rank seems pretty good / essential. More HP means survival
- loner: with all the stats you'd need your skill rate will be low as heck, so it helps immensly
- more criticals (3): either this or slayer. Slayer comes too late, but get back to this in a moment.
- night vision: sounds ok
- quick recovery: sound good
- silent death: slayer makes this redundant. Getting back to this in a moment
- silent running: you'll pass with less stealth. Also will spend less time in the game. Awesome!
- slayer: this is our dream.Getting back in a second.
- stone wall: same as bonehead
- stunt man: like hit the deck, only weaker
- toughness (3): believe me, it is good to have, even if criticals canbypass armor


As only 8 perks would be available in a fair game, my picks would be:
1 - better criticals
2 - bonus hth attack
3-4 - bonus hth damage
5 - hit the deck
6 - lifegiver
7 - loner
8 - slayer

Far from optimal eh? Seems, we should spend ages in the desert, eh?
Well, that's why better pull out the editor and enhance your character.
Unfortunately that thing bugged still, so most perkss show no effect if applied through that, namely:

- action boy
- bonus hth damage
- dodger
- drunken master
- stunt man
- toughness
These have no effect when loading the game, so you'd need to hardcode the bonuses wher possible if you intend to use them. No idea how you could do that though with drunken master os stunt man though.

And here are which are proven working:
- bonus hth attack
- loner
- silent running
- slayer

For all the others I have no idea how to check them (or in the case of the nighttime perks I'm just too lazy to do that), so that's why they are on neither list.

Also, might worth trying to lover the perk rate to 1 to see if you can get perks every single level instead of every 3 levels.

My suggested stats are with gifted and small frame:
S 10
P 2*
E 9**
C 2
I 5
A 10
L 10*
*checking these. If Slayer works independently from luck, than perception shall be risen to 6 for Better Criticals, and another point goes to intelligence.
**will be bumped to 10 by Elixir of Life

Yes, this means pretty crappy skill rate, but you only need stealth and unarmed anyway.
Well, unarmed or melee weapons anyway.

Possible alternative traits:
- kamikaze: while it does SOME damage, when you're fighting the robots, I don't think that counts too much, especially if you wear power fist.
- chem reliant: the aftereffects would still last hours. So nah.
- skilled: naturally, but this even starts feeling cheating somehow. The rest of the modifications for me feel just fun.
- jinxed: I'm not sure of this.
- one hander: a meagre 10% unarmed boost (but no sideffect considering this character)

Unarmed has the advantage that your basic attacks improve by it, and the best weapon for it is power fist.
Melee weapons are somewhat more AP-costly, also no "better melee attack" perk. Also, the best weapon here either ripper which is ca. the same as power fist, or the cattle prod's overcharge which actually feeds on ammo, so would ruin the point of the melee character. Thus I vote unarmed.

the other races:
- deathclaw can't wear armor, period.
- robots don't gain perks, period
- ghouls have the problem of varying min-max of statistics, like 6 AG. Nah.
- supermutants are potentialy devastating (with spiked armor, thoughness*3, thugh hide they'll have 100% normal resistance), but they are slow what is not fun if the enemy like to run around, also don't fit to all places and danger toget stuck permanently.
This leaves humans as the ideal race for this character.

special encounters:
- get to the gas station for elixir of life
- get to the brahmin poker for money
- get to Trader for environmental armor
- get to coppertops for small energy cells
- get to Farmer and Hermit and Merchant for books

twillight 10-07-2017 10:57 PM

Fallout Tactics - melee level guide
 
Brahmin Wood:
Collect the 2 punching daggers. One in each hand in case you suffer broken bones.

Freeport:
Before starting the mission go and buy the Enviromental Armor at the Trader special encounter. With its protection you won't need your stealth skill.

Rock Falls:
Before starting the mission buy 1-2 Impact Gloves. It has better damage, but maybe two is overdoing.
After the mission buy 1 Power Gloves. No need 2, the enemies are not that tough yet, later probably you'll find another, and small energy cells are not everywhere. Yes, you can go to the Coppertops-encounter, but why bother if it isn't a must?

Macomb:
While you don't really need the vehicle to carry stuff (still, for all the kits will come in handy, also for in-between bases), travelling faster in the wastes makes this quest more desirable.

Preoria:
Wearing enviromental armor negates the threat of poison.
For melee weapon specialists here you can find micro sledge and cattle prod.

Quincy:
has deathclaws. Singled out deathclaws can be delt with simply using Power Fist (bring 125+ ammo, 200+ can be bought at base).
To deal with the ghoul town eat drugs (buffout + 2 psycho + voodoo), and make themstuck behind the farm's fence.
Here stealth is a must at points, so bring in mark II leather armor.
Human/ghoul characters are much faster than supermutants, and that's an advantage. Managed to save everyone, 1 causality each location.

Mardin:
Rise your unarmed to 100% (not counting bonuses) to be able to dealwith wasps w/o problem.
Watch out for the occasional mines, because you use Healing Powder and that takes away your perception (harder to spot mines, if at all).
You find Razor Claws here, best no-ammo unarmed weapon.
Against the Emperor switch to Power Fist. Btw, there are ca. 50 small energy cells here on the enemy, so this should not be a problem. Managed to keep ALL small deathclaw in the final confrontation alive.
Bringing a super stimpack or two is an advantage.

NOTE 1: I'm storing my perks here. My initial perks were: bonus HtH attacks, loner, silent running and slayer. From lvl 2 I gain 1 perk each level, and those were until now, in order: die hard (for obvious reasons), stone wall (getting knocked down is annoying and waste of AP, could result in death, especially against deathclaws), hit the deck (protects against grenades, mines and rockets), bone head (because I don't like to reload I made myself resistant to becoming unconscious).
For the future it is only clear I want better criticals at lvl 9 and 1 rank in lifegiver at lvl 12. What causes me headache are the soon-coming supermutants. Probably I'll take stunt man and bonus HtH damage, while solving my resistances with psycho. Not sure.

NOTE 2: While searching for the special encounters previously, decided to check out the Pitch Black again. Turned ut Riddick cansafely alone walk to the exitgrid, and if you guide your team cautiously through the glowing spots, you can accomplish the same, don't even need stealthing. The last bunchare too close and will start to run towards you, but there you'll simply step n the exit grid.
You can only hire Riddick from the next bunker, and I think this time I will just to have a buddy (I also kept Stitch around on "just to be safe" base, but until now I could firstaid, doctor and lockpick myself through everything).

Springfield:
Now wer're talking. The additional speed compared to supermutants, and especially the armor makes this place very much doable. Still picked 1*toughness because of the top row of all-AK-enemies. For the final battle I even consumed a voodoo.
Also pretty much suggesting to look up the Coppertops encounter for small energy cells, because the amount spent here (25-50) I only have 75-100 left, and that's not much.
With supermutants coming the perk stunt man I see advisable along hit the deck.
Choosing any level of thoughness though resets the Die Hard's activated bonus. Do not afraid though, just make yourself beaten by you buddy, and the bonuses come back to you.

St. Louise:
Staying alive is good, so the next perks shallbe thoughness*2 (rising it 3*toughness).

And I did this (before picking toughnesses, and consuming 2*psycho + trauma pack. Man, that bandaged status rly gets in the way!):

http://i.imgur.com/VGuC1a7.jpg

Yep, I'm standing in the middle of the mutant HQ after it got cleaned by just me punching the life out of 'em.

Jefferson:

Some tips on fighting mutants:
- always attack the one in armor with power fist
- try changing target if your opponent gets unconscious (the game is slightly unresponsive unfortunately)
- always attack the one with the machinegun, especially if youknow it is a browning
- if you have to face multiple machinegun opponents at once, try standing between the two, so they'll hurt each other, shortening the time you have tospend with each enemy
- silent running is an absolute must, not because it shortens real life time spent on the game, but because of the delay on respons of actions. You have quite the time to reach the enemy after it detects you, but before it gets shooting
- of course there are always the drugs too, but why waste them?

Kansas City:
Wow, this was easier than I thought:
- at arrival sent Riddick with Cattle Prod, attack mode: overcharge, to the north gate, way out of the fance, to the wrecked car where the SAW-mutant comes in, and just set him agressive to deal with the melee mutants.
- me ate: 1 buffout (seems with drugs maxium stats are 12, this rises AG, EN and ST which are for me basic 10) + 2 psycho.
- because of the tumultuous start I've picked more HtH damage todispose the enemy faster.
- me ran immediatelly to dispose the few mutants at the billboard, then run down. Prime directive do not let any slip up, otherwise start on the left, finish on the right, do not mind the two sniper nest. Fortunately none on the map have brownings, that's what makes it doable.
- then just enter sneak mode, run to the next mutant and keep it on. Time is pressure because the drogs are what keep you alive, but shouldn't be a real problem, as you don't need to loot.
- before the mission you can also getyourself a nice enviromentalarmor mark II.

Osceola:
Added myself Dodger.
You can kill everything here if you concentrate on the occasional browning ones, only don't bother the pairs at the main gates. Only go back there when you cleaned everything but the boss' room - if you kill the boss the still-alive mutants disappear.
Still, be pretty-patched-up when dealing with the mutants on the little bridge before the little building (2 armored and an unarmored mutant there, can kill you w/o enough health).
If you wantto deal with the browning-guard-pairs before entering the boss' room take 2 voodoo which you'd need otherwise too because Gamorrin has some pretty awesome penetration, and do your stuff then.

Junction City:
There are a lot of enemy covering each other, and some (mainly the grenadiers I think) can hurt you. Play strike&retreat. Watch out for the traps.

Cold Water:
Added myself Bonus HtH damage (now have 2 ranks).
At the final level you can't kill the sharpshooters above (no way climbing there), so just suffer them.
For the final go I used a trauma pack for more resistances, and also to heal myself (got bandaged). First kill the rocketman, than the boss, than the ripper guy stalking you (he is actually dangerous, watch your HP).
After the mission you can get yourself a nice and cosy power armor.

Great Bend:
Added myself all Bonus HtH Damage, because of Load Lifters etc.
With this many resistance this really becomes almost pathetic.
Btw, seem the Die Hard's effect is cured by the doctor skill.

Newton:
You find your Advanced Power Armor here. You have to realise stealthing might prevent your encounters with scurry bots, which'll be a sidequest in the mission into the nuclear power plant.
Also, the lack of small energy cells start to be worrying. Ok, I still have 4-500, but for all sake, I'm using Slayer (and against single humanoid bots, or single unconscious-enemy-only I switch to that Wolverine-thingy)! So yep, a stealer mule seems to be a must if you'd try 100% legit. Good new is: you don't need drugs.

Canyon City:
Choosing this for the sole reason no behemot.
The mission was practicaly boring. The only thing noticable is, I'mstarting to run out of smallenergy cells.Sure, I have like 250 left on me, and another 500 appeared on the quartermaster, but that's not many considering a legit playthrough where Slayerdon't spare you a crapload of ammo.

If you'd make an unarmed go, I suggest making a team. The team would be entirely support. One stealer (to lessen the ammo sortage) and one medic (I had problem first aiding myself atthe start) seems advisable. Secondary skills to those two should be: for one big guns keeping in mind Gravestone, and for the other lockpick. Repair don't rly comes into play with this one, and the rest is either negligeable (like barter), or will be covered by books (like trap)

Buena Vista:
Woopsy, ran out of ammo. Seriously. Despite intensively using the Razor Claw on practically everything what was not towerr, or behemoth.
Speaking of behemoth: if it hits you, you're dead. I mean without drugs.
Also, beware for the lasers, they HURT you. Entering the complex is not lethal, but problematic.
At the Deep Pit the load lifters gathered atthe bottom, had to destroy them with electric grenade.
Also used plasma grenades to eliminate the bots behind the fence of the alarm consol. Maybe it'd've been better to let them be alarmed.
Note: after the mission the 500 small energy cells are still for sale at the quartermaster, but after that I can only steal some more from the random BoS NPCs. The shopalso offer Tesla Armor - not exactly practical, because the enemy always have some machingun amongst its ranks.

Scott City:
Ok, so it not impossible to do this, even w/o power fist.
Found out the loss of resistance bug is caused by saving and reloading, and it effects any and all amrors you might wear. So remove your armor before saving. might also be that I changed armor during battle.
Because the bug kicked in late on the map, I got fed up, and next time went straight for the merchan't head. this slightly lessened my ammo-problem, finished the mission with ca. 525 left. On the 3-robot patrol in the junkyard there are a minor amount (75-100, depends how much they can shoot) of small energy cells.
Oh, and there wasn't muchroom for stealthing.

Also, gave a thought how I'd pick the perks for a legit gaming when seeing all my results, and finding the tesla armor in the shop before this mission. That armor is potentially awesome IF you eat drugs. Eat a lot of drugs to give yourself resistances, because the power armor does not really protect you from energy blasts. This is also useful info for the finalmission.
Also because of behemots you'll need slayer, what means an unarmed build must play in though guy mode.

So the perks you should have for an unarmed build in fallout tactics are: #1 slayer, #2 better critical, #3 bonus HtH attack, #4 hit the deck, #5 silent running #6 toughness #7 thoughness #8 toughness #9 die hard #10 lifegiver #11 bonus HtH damage #12 bonus HtH damage #13 bonus HtH damage. Lifegiver can likely be put out, and something else must go too. Thoughness might be exchanged to drugs, and Silent Running might be circumwent.

Final Mission:
Phase #1: 100 small energy cells shorter. Some trouble, but nothing new. The turret at the start w/o robots around remains passive - good.
Phase#2: MUST have tesla armor from a point. Eat healing stuff like a lot. Die Hard HERE AND ONLY HERE is coded right (for f* sake!), and disappears when HP is higher than 20%. -250 small energy cells. Do not try to spare it, the fights are big and serious. Try to chip away the enemy from room to room, crouch behind walls to get time for uing doctor - they realy do cripling criticals here for reasons. Ye,a good doctor skill comes in handy.
Phase#3: wear tesla, and start on the right where some physical attacks come from. Retreat as needed.
But the last room are INSANE. Even with psycho + voodoo, and healing by trauma packs, even the first 2 rooms are siky, not to mention the last one, where you have to dispatch the minigunners ASAP, because they'll penetrate your armor like it isn't there, and eventhan the battle is not won. Oh,and for the last room I just ran out of small energy cells period.

I did it, but even with my extra perks it was more though than any other way.

tienkhoanguyen 20-07-2017 08:03 AM

For what it is worth twilight... looks like cool graphics for the most part! If you spent money to buy it it usually has all the bells and whistles. So you probably love the game.

Mystvan 20-07-2017 06:08 PM

This is a true Walkthrough with graphics. It reminds me of the GameBanshee and GamePressure.com sites (with well polished Polish team) specializing in Walkthroughs for RPG games. :OK:

twillight is very hung(a)ry for games, you know. :drool: :hungry:

twillight 20-07-2017 10:28 PM

Or likeRPGCodex.net.

For some reason I actually like the game, but I got it from GoG for free when they uploaded all three fallouts. I still bashing my head not picking fallout 2 too, or all three at once (all were free).

With all its faults (maybe even a bit FOR its faults) I like to return to it, although the replay value is diminishing visibly each time.
The only thing left is actually doing the thing with a legit melee build. I confess I even started it after my last post.

Here is my character after the first mission (though guy mode included):


http://i.imgur.com/bU0tE7a.jpg


Farsight was removed for next mission, PipBoy is recruited. I only need my party for non-combat purposes (lockpick, steal, medical stuff, mule).


Perks planned:
lvl 3: -
lvl 6: silent running + hit the deck
lvl 9: -
lvl 12: lifegiver + lifegiver
lvl 15: bonus HtH attacks
lvl 18: bonus HtH damage
lvl 21: better criticals
lvl24: slayer
Although maybe more HtH damage might be a better choice instead of silent running and better criticals.


Also, I accept advices on the use of drugs.


Intermission:
Went hunting special encounters. Got the four merchant-one, brahmin poker, and PipBoy. The FoT-worldmap out there gives the locations well at least for though guy mode, where only after 6 encounters they start to randomise.
I usually play solo with supermutant main, and the 6th special is therefor brahmin armor, not PipBoy. Unfortunately muties are slow and their armor-progress is bad, ghouls' stats are problematic, and deathclaw just lacks armor in general http://www.nma-fallout.com/xencustom...s/icon_sad.gif


Oh, I play in CTB, and Normal Difficulty.


http://i.imgur.com/3w2wbHY.jpg


Freeport:
I chose to skip Silent Running and Better Ciriticals this time (which of course makes my 6PE obsolate, but whatever, I might decide later picking that up). If I fail because of that (Silent Running can only be relevant during the supermutants) I'll use archive save. Oh, be sure to only save after removing all armor, because of the bug which can reset your AC and resistance to basic when save&reload.


Had to restart the misision once because one of the raiders ran away and alarmed the whole base, and it was uncomfortable.
Took an Afterburner Gum at the start to prevent that raider running away again.


Stitch patched me up once, and I used an AK47 improvised to blow up the still (because exp). Could have send in PipBoy, but nah.
I remember from my test-run (with a slayer-from-getgo character, check above) that at a point healing becomes scarce with this character, that's why I'm noting. Although there might have been the problem I did all my medicing (and with 60% or less first aid you keep failing and injuring yourself).


http://i.imgur.com/xgsuhtl.jpg


And for Bunker Alfa's last mission Rock falls:


http://i.imgur.com/Jz4K9Yp.jpg


For starter I consumed an Afterburner Gum and a Buffout, and after trimming the sides and storming the main gate (the AK-guys open it! They like to run around either way) took a voodoo too. This is an old combo of mine, and it works.


Ok, had to restart 2 times. For the first go I got unconscious on the top of the fence around the inner bunker, and right after that at the start of the next try got winded and I just couldn't bother.
For the 3rd go I used up like a whole first aid kit (got bandaged), and once even needed doctor.
To unlock the safe Stitch got 40% lockpick plus 2 set of tools.
Stole Tiduk's sister's voodoos by myself, and before moving I made Stitch steal from the elders and scribes all the super stimpacks and small energy cells with 80% steal.

twillight 22-07-2017 10:30 PM

Macomb:
This is semi-well designed map. You can clearly see planned passages barred etc., but there is a main concept: bunch of AK47 raiders groups. This way they are pretty dangerous head-on.
So the basic strategy is to make them (who are on the roof) waste their ammo standing out of effective range. And even without this method the mission takes like 1 hour 20 minutes, so don't try voodoo.
In the second horizontal lane the two group of AK47 (one right after the gate, one inside the building with the switch) are pretty annoying as you can not make them waste out, so just charge in (try to run in during their 2nd burst, so their AP will be low) and use Power Fist on the first 2 enemy.
There are 2 rocketeer on the map, the first one has 3 shells, the second has 2. Hit the Deck works wonders, but still.
"Disable" the minefield with the car (drive on the mines so they blow up), going back and repairing it as needed.
FEAR THE CIVILIANS on the roof. They have insane ability to cause criticals. I had 5 effects on me there, that's why my unarmed went up suddenly (I didn't even had 33% to hit unaimed without that).
When you pass the last gate, take a voodoo. That's much safer. For the first go I died here once for not drugging up. For a second time I died on this map this playthrough at the start for the annoying "you get hurt critical" bug (at times the engine just makes crippling effects on you so regular it's not funny). Fortunately it'll be pretty obvious, and you die anyway fast if you try.
Oh, and if you can't get on the roof with the chest, try the other ladder. This happened to me now first time of all my playthroughs.


Oh, and Macomb is important to take for enough afterburner gum hoarded.


http://i.imgur.com/hsx9ypx.jpg


Preoria:
In Enviromental Armor this mission is way more easy - no poison. Still, Roachor is a threat, so there take a dose of voodoo, and switch to Power Fist (switch back if it gets knocked out).
Oh, overdose-killing the outer turrets requires 3*4 Afterburner Gum - as with the latest patch these turrets like to kill people randomly, this is very much a priority. In case someone does not know this, the turrets can not be overdosed by buffout. Psycho works too, but that's a good drug. No clue on mentat.


http://i.imgur.com/X5kN205.jpg


Quincy:
This city is a hellhole, but actually not unpassable. But you need (at least better off) sneaking. In enviromental armor just in case. 40% sneak will do, maybe even less. Bring power fist with 150 ammo.
So, first get into the major and kill the boss, and only the boss. Deactivate the siren.
Second, get into the powerplant, switch off the lamp, wait until you see the boss walking, run in, kill her, kill the two nearest guy, kill the bottom two (you don't have to pass the sandbags for this) - use power fist to gain best exp, there will only be 1 causality (2 at worst). Disable the remote detonator traps - that worth an extra 200 quest exp.
Third kill all beastmen around the townhall.
Fourth storm the brothel. For this take 2 Afterburner Gum, and sneak to the left side's door, get to the crouching enemy, than finish the two melee ones, than the shooter inside, than the shooter outside. Preferably use power fist. If you're lucky 5 of 7 sexworkers will still be alive when all the beastmen inside die and you gain 400 exp. If you don't succeed here (I tried to kill the patrol outside, got noticed and had everyone killed), you still get 200 quest exp for the liberation.
Fifth sneak in the townhall, sneak-crawl to the alarm and break it. Keep crawling to the backroom, start the killing there with the nearer sleeper on the left. When finished pop a psycho and from the left side run in a moment than run out, so the deathclaw chase you. Use power fist on it.
Get to the prison. Climbing the ladder in sneak mode helps. You don't really have to mind the people on the ground floor, so just run up, start with the boss, than the two behind the sandbags (if they keep laying passive move further - rare situation), than the towers. Kill everything on the ground floor, use power fist on baby deathclaws.
Get to the lane of houses just above the ghoul town, the house you can see through the deatclaw standing there. Deal with the 3 beastlord and the claw. This is actually optional.
Now run towards ghoul city. Do NOT talk with Elliot, instead run to the farm's fence. Kill the dogs. Don't mind the beastmen (unless nothing happens otherwise, but in that case prepare to RUN), get along the fence on your side in front of the farm's main door. The pack of deathclaws are coming. They'll notice you and stuck behind the fence's other side. Use power fist on them, run back a few steps when you need healing. Too bad deathclaws have range of a spear naturally, so again melee weapons don't worth it. As they're behind a fence, grenades likely don't work here either. Prepare for broken limbs.
If you want, you can get back to where the major is/was kept hostage, go down the stairs and kill what's inside at the cost of more use of power fist on baby deathclaws.
Second optional area is the temple. You either try to hit the two deathclaws through the window, or run away luring them to the door of the prison compound where only 1 can face you at a time. Hope you brought super stimpacks (put yourself passive if you get seriously hurt to accumlate AP).
Lastly I strongly advise against trying your luck against the two sneaking deathclaws and their beastlord master. That just smell unnecessary trouble.


http://i.imgur.com/BeWhagg.jpg


Mardin:
The trick for the start is to not move. The enemy will come to you, what means lesser number, what means a chance to survive. Darn the caws-guy and the two grenadiers if you head-on!
Also, the baby deathclaw on the surface will NOT become friendly, so you might as well try to kill it. Beware, his group (it comes with a beastlord and a cockroach) is VERY dangerous.
There's a babyD also in the dungeon which you'll likely kill because it is near an netrance, and would not have much of a chance anyway. But do not mess with the two in the pit.
Use power fist against Darr, the beastman at the babyD's cell-switch, and maybe the baby deathclaws, but try to restrain yourself otherwise. Better die here than for the lack of ammo later.
Also, just because this playthrough is semi-solo (my team did not made a single shot yet) doesn't mean I have to do all by myself. So I let out the Mother, and take advantage of her cubs against Darr's room. My luck:


http://i.imgur.com/E61Ufsb.jpg


So I survived as you can see here (oh yeah, you find the Razor Claw in this one):


http://i.imgur.com/ufYO4s9.jpg


Springfield:
The bane of this character here were mostly enemy in pits. The total annoyance is trying to dispose the one in the sniper nest at the end - can only succeed if that one misses once (not much of a threat, just annoying).
The buggy could give some ideas, but better not use it. Instead after gaining it puff a voodoo or two, and storm the raiders/enforcers/kkk-members there. DO NOT LOOT THE BODIES! If you do you'll run out of the doses of these voodoo(s) when reacing the house with the sniper nest. Actually you could manouvere enough even to the 3rd gate with enough patience, but this way you can prevent some potential disasters - for some reason the program liked to make me unconscious here, and I had enough.
If you did not take any voodoo pop 2 at the last gate (which leads to the radioactive goo area with plenty of AK47 raiders). If you did swallow some, pop 1 more (3 being ideal). Go in through the metal gate here, avoid the hole in the fence on the far side - it is too far away, and mined with efficiency.
If you run out of time of the drugs like I did no fuss - pop a psycho to replace your resistances. At the town hall kill 1-2 AK47 (and maybe there is a melee, kill it so he won't bother you) while passing towards the boss who hits still very hard, than finish the fight (concentrate on the AK47 leftover if some is shooting at you, otherwise choose whoever is visible).


http://i.imgur.com/8BCEEGe.jpg


Next time: supermutants.

twillight 11-08-2017 10:22 PM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
Nope, won't continue what started previously. Lost the cause, got the info from the data already available.

But I managed to pull through not just a human, but a ghoul protagonist on Brahmin Wood, and I'd be damned if I'm not following this dream of mine came true.
Insane is bloody hard by the way. My human is atJefferson, and have serious problems of his with the supermutants which this time really laugh off all the pain. From a SAW at least. They even need 2 rockets to be disposed per mutant, and I have no realidea where to get the ammo.

Even Brahmin Wood is tough nut,'specially under though guy, mainly because you have no HP, only a 3-member squad, and the computer cheats like no tomorrow (your effective PE is only 7, most of the times you must be happy even with 33% hit chance, and the enemy has absolute precision which onehitkills you if they can release a shot).
Here is my ghoul though who made it:

http://i.imgur.com/BnqT01L.jpg

Yep, on Insane the protagonist MUST tag Unarmed, and MUST have a good EN. Ghouls have alsothis problem can't wear leather (or metal) armor making their life even harder (their initial HP is also lower than others).

The mission goes as follows:

http://i.imgur.com/OY3sM97.jpg

Numbers mean the enemies. Way todealwith can be suimmed this way:
- gangbang: run to point blank range (usually whenthey're moving from one place to another- the AI is somewhat slow to react)
- sniping: good old fashioned onto the belly with hunting rifle
- shotgunning: sneaking there or waiting in ambush-position and use shotgun on 'em. Double barrel silverhawk from the point you get those.
- other

So you first shotgun #1 (dog) right after feeding the buffout you got for tagging unarmed by Farsight, than gangbang #2, than #3. Watch out for #4 because you'll snipe it or die. #5 is gangbanged, #6 is burst down by Farsight laying down at the leftside of the potsusing the MP5. Shotgun/MP5 #8, snipe #7 after that.
Shotgun 9-12, then switch to defensive mode make falanx before the tent with the hostages, put Farsight on ther right where she cansee one of the raidersand start shotgunning it switching offensive (he's a very lethal melee raider). Switch to single shot stuff, run in the tent and finishthe other raider.
Wait for #15 come close,and gangbang her, not letting her run into either tent (stand in those directions). Than shotgun #16 who's sneaking. Snipe #17after Farsight consumes the mentatyou found at#16's room.
Shotgun #18, snipe #19, than get around leaving the weakest character laying atthe lamp post. Shotgun #20-21 (runaway with whoever gets hurt and patch yourself by stimpack asap).
Make Farsight eat the voodooyou found before, sneak up the sniper nestand shotgun #22, snipe #24. If #23 runs out shotgun it, if not, shotgun it. Shotgun #25, snipe the gay dog from #26-27, deal with its owner the way you feel ok.

http://i.imgur.com/dabWYmd.jpg

Shotgun#28,and be afraid, be very afraid 'cause you'llhave to deal with#29 who has a shotgun, and likes to run close. Throwing the 2 incindenary greande at it might be a good idea. Also the molotov cocktails. Right at that snipe #30, and deal with #31 whohas a sniper rifle (I usually run in with Farsight and Stitch shotgunning it from behind, but that's just me).

To deal with the boss' house shotgun anyone very-very near to the cover of the entrance, also look for a bug-caused hole on named fence to snipe down the sniper (heal every time you get hit by her,she is most dnagerous!). Snipe down whoever remains and don't come close enough.
Don't forget to hurry, Voodoo has only 30 min. duration.

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

After this let's abuse the special encounters: gone straight to the Brahmin Poker for money, added Stitch (I'll lldump him) Here&Now perk and spent all his skillpoint into barter. Visited the four trading encounter (farmer, hermit, trader, merchant) for books and armor (1 metal, 1 environmental) and 2 dose of mentat. It'll push my CH to 6, and thus can get all the better recruits when I return to the base.
Visited Uprising, and used a dose of Poison on one of the guards there to get a Vindicator minigun and 900 ammo. That crap just eats ammo, but at least it is something.

http://i.imgur.com/EnJ6oyo.jpg

Also went for PipBoy. Not because I'll use him this time, but because his FNFAL is bloody strong weapon. Do not forget Gas Station either for the Elixir of Life.

After returning the base bought 200 shotgun shells before finally getting rid of Stitch and recruiting, with the new team went for Brahmin Armor (which is better than Ghoul Armor Mark II, so I have 3 better-than-basic armor now). Also delt with the Canadian Invasion, because they have an outdoorsman book and Everybody Hates Raymond, I mean random encounters. Actually random encounters are not to be forfeit as they offer a chance for early big guns (SAW is what's important there, and with a couple of dose of drugs like psycho it is possible to be done) and laser rifles (if you can somehow deal with raiders, I think this better wait until have the first car).

http://i.imgur.com/2XQyvfT.jpg

twillight 13-08-2017 10:41 AM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
So, Freeport:

http://i.imgur.com/EzDsXib.jpg

More enemies for sure. There is even one new tactics: sneak and shoot them. This means whatit seems: you sneak to sleepers and shoot them to death while they're sleeping.

There are some AK47-wielding enemies, they are bloody dangerous. As I ran low on RL-luck for a little, I developed a 3-person assault team from Mandy, Rage and Rebecca. Farsight's 4 LK on insane can get in the way you kow, so I used this extra member of my team because I could.

Let me tell you about my team, what jobs they're doing and such:

http://i.imgur.com/6NCYgRn.jpg

Lola (main character): will do Big Guns, but first will have to spend points to do Doctor, because getting crippled can get in the way. My human's Insane Team could tell stories:

http://i.imgur.com/jl96mPl.jpg

Strangely 2 broken legs doesn't mean you can't walk. Sounds painful. Mandy, why didn't you do your job already?

Back to my ghoul's team, where the doctor is me, so I didn't have to wait around a whole mission w/o doctor. Accidents could happen. They did not, but could. So I am The Doctor.

http://i.imgur.com/kVZxosa.jpg

Mandy now will be the reapi(wo)man, because she has many skillpoints, and you'll see that's the only role I don't have a member to do it.
But she can do the First Aid stuff.

Farsight is a bit lacking on the sniping for the moment (will be developed through books mostly on the small guns department unlike for my human's where she even has 2 in educated for more skillpoint so ther transition to energy weapons can be done easier), but does outdoorsman too. Given that with all the books from the special encounters, and her initial tag after Freeport (there is an outdoorsman-book at S1) she reaches 100%+ outdoorsman, she's pretty useful.

Jax has the simple role of Big Guns, and I decided to pull him through the necessary missions until we get the stuff. He's a lot behind initially given 5 IN and only 30% starting taggeds, also only clvl1, but if I can pull it through, she'll be better than PipBoy for the human's team.

Rage on the other hand does useful stuff along shooting: steal stuff. Ok, it is kinda risky, but who else would I use, especially early? Ok, there is ONE character that COULD be developed to perfect thief: Sharon. She has uniquly 8 CH, so give her Gain Charisma and Divine Favour, and pick Bluff Master too, and you have a 10 CH character, what means she'll have 100% success rate not getting caught stealing. but that justsound problematic, and she's not good as warrior if youask me, but hey, why not give her a chance.
Even with 40% chance you can steal minor things, like the small gunns book from Shauri (my theory is that she dies later because of this) right after doing Freeport.
With 60% you'll have a chance stealing Pancor Jackhammers from the Merchant encounter, but more importantly with 80% you cansteal the Avenger Minigun from your general. Also the ammo as you're at it. My theory is, he gets abducted later on for this.
And with like 120% you can steal everything (and without much reload).
Stealing can fasten your advancement by a lot.
He also has Awareness perk, which can help using the right tactics.

Rebecca as I said is an extra, she currently does the lockpicking. That only needs like 40% through hard points though, kits carry over the rest, so Farsight will do the job when Rebecca leaves later.

Where this puts us?
Lola: doctor, big guns
Mandy: first aid, repair
Farsight: outdoorsman, (lockpick)
Rage: steal (+ awareness)
Jax: big guns.
I like my team with 2 big gunner and 4 sniper (single shot ranged, laterstage they use energy weapons).

On Jax: he's certainly good at dealing damage - but nothing else. For Insane that still sounds a helluva good thing though. In contrast PipBoy, my usual choice can't change stance, is a little slower than anyone else when walking/running, and starts at clvl 8 which is a slight hinder when you think about it, but pipBoy can also do gambling. And he can win 100% from anyone. this time I'll justswap him in-and-out of the recruit pool.

Back to Freeport:
When you arrive try shooting down with hunting rifles P1 (patrol #1) which isa dog and a raider. They likely will run far away, but that's no problem. Hopefully thi'sll also lure/stuck near P2, which has 2 raider and a dog. Only the raider with the hunting rifle is dangerous as crap, so if you can deal with 'im right now - do so.
Switch to defensive and sneak-strike S0 (sleeper #0). Sneak-strikes can be done with 2 double barrel shotgun (silvehawk if you forgot), or even safer: 2 burst mode FNFal + 1 burst mode MP5. The MP5 spares some 7.74 ammo for you,but ensures the kill. The Madny/Rage/Rebecca combo can do this way 90% of the mission just doing this.
Now snipe down P3, and start clearing the front from right to left: set your people bursting and make someone (Farsight is a safe bet) shoting once at G1 (guard #1), who is a pair of dangerous melee raider. They'll run into their death. If P2 still exists, finish them off.
Sneak to S1 and shotgun it (remember, you don't actually use shotguns here maybe). Set people at burst, and lure to ambush #1 and #2.
Sneak to the alarm at the far side with Mandy/Rage/Rebecca and enough ammo (can be forgotten at this stage, were ammo is not that frequent). Brake the alarm, and wile P4 is farter away burst S8. He has an AK, so he better not shoots back (the 3-assault-team guarantees this). Now crouch at the corner and wait for P4.
Sneak back and send in Rage and Mandy to the other alarm at the prisoner. Break the alarm, and behind the further miniwall wait P3 to appear with offensive burst weapons. Immediatelly get sneaking again. Sneak out and switch to sniping down P4 who has a shotgun (silverhawk), so prepare to switch to bursting weapons when he runs close.
A somewhatproblematic sneak-kill comes: S2. They are very far from each other, so divide your forces appropriately. You don't want them run away causing mischief.
Sneak (use "formation" from the options menu) next to #8-9 who I almost forgot to mark. They have weak (non-instadeath) weapons, so it is ok. Burst them to death.

Now start the Cleansing: sneak-kill S3 (set your weapons single shot, or position very carefully because there's the Elder), sneak-kill S4, S5, S6 + the guy in front of the tent (he's melee, likes to get up and come in, shuldn't be much of a problem if you use bursting weapons instead of shotguns).
Make a big circle and cautiously go in to deal with S7. In the meantime you'll see near that tent a bunch from P5 walks around, so if you crouch/prone your strike team there, you can easily thin them out. This is a good idea, because at least one has hunting rifle, and they like to run away from you otherwise, which is just frustrating. bursting people is much faster anyway.
Get around the site and snipe down the rest of P5. If you're lucky part of #4-7 will run to you toomaking life easier, if not, try setting up an ambush, luring out them by shooting a snipe-shot on wh you can see. If that's done, pick a female (yes, a female), and send her around to the front walking around the whole camp. The female-part can be helpful because they're thin enough to use the rubbled house next to S6's house to her advantage. Your goal is to run to the opposite side where a small sandbag-wall is. From there babystep out so you can destroy the still (worth 400 exp,and at this point effects not your mission otherwise). Hopefully this'll damage one or both of the raider right next to the thing. Don't worry about the closer one, worry about the farter one who has AK47. If that one is alive, try blasting up the oil drums to damage it as much as possible. He's the last deadly obstacle for the mission.

Well, actually I think there'sthe local boss yet too,at least in my writing. He's #3. He's awake always, and pretty pathetic for any other difficulty. He is quit damaging on Insane though. So set your assault team bursting at his entrance, and with a 4th member snipe him. This'll lure him out and get him killed.

Don't forget to release Ripley the prisoner, and tell the Elder he's free to go now.

http://i.imgur.com/JRyZUPF.jpg

After this if you have to do anything on the wasteland as Farsight can have abpve 100% outdoorsman, you're free to do. Finding the Grimm Brothers can be a good thing, you might want to steal a repairbook from them (don't push your luck unless you play as a robot when stealing the repairkit might be attractive. the science-book is pretty useless though).
People hate the Wasteland because it can be pretty crowded:

http://i.imgur.com/Bqw17PJ.jpg

tienkhoanguyen 13-08-2017 11:57 AM

God, Jesus Christ, is number one!
 
I'm sorry if I derailed your thread by comments. I just wanted to say I read the last post entirely. I know I would want my post not to go ignored. So just letting you know I read it. If you decide to continue posting that is up to you and the mods. However I always try to learn new things. Thank you for being friendly? hehe Seriously you don't have to be friends but being nice helps smooth everything. Thank you... Tank YOU! Sometimes you have exclusive access to something and it is nice that others like myself get to see from time to time. So it is like a share kind of way. Besides I don't play games really. So it is nice and relaxing to see someone get so far in a game!!! Thank you again for sharing your time and a few pictures to go along the way.

I notice your signature and please don't mind me. We might be on opposite states but it is interesting to me to see others that are that different. Otherwise we all be boring.

Thank you again.

twillight 13-08-2017 10:36 PM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by tienkhoanguyen (Post 468638)
I just wanted to say I read the last post entirely.

Thx for reading. Much appreciated.

If you have anything to ask related to the game, me playing, or justsomething of me, feel free to ask. That's why the topic exists.


Until than it comes to Rock Falls:

http://i.imgur.com/OQyRkOu.jpg

The main problem here are (again) AK47s. The enemy practically lacks hunting rifles fortunately at least.
The numbers mean GROUPS of enemies, and I gave a line of duty too.

First go to the right and eliminate a 3-men patrol at #1. Use hunting rifles. One has an AK47 which is potentialy lethal, so circle from far away until you spot a member.
#2 is a patrol who guards a siren. Breaking a siren never gives exp, so don't worry about this too much. If the patrol sounds the alarm 2 sleeper from nearby awakens and joins him - they aren't significant enough to get desperate if the wake up.
#3 are SNEAKING, and has AK47s. So keep your distance, crouch, and snipe them after they reveal themselves. #4 is right next to them, you'll likely fight her the same time. Yes, she has an AK too. Crouch/prone to lessen enemy's aim and rise yours. If you can't find a spot but you know some are still alive (always switch the minimap when in doubt - if you get exp, the enemy is dead) AND want to bother, then swap someone with high HP into the environmental suite, give it an FNFal burst mode, and send in. With witts. And stimpack. If it survives the revealing shot, the rest of the party will terminate the raiders while your grunt gets into cover.

While the map suggests to pass the minefield it is NOT the most efficient way. It is actually on easy-normal for inexperienced players of course, but I don't fall in those categories. So go back to #5 and start laying down and clearing from left to right the enemy at the gate. If you forgot until now, your best shooters (for me Mandy, Rage and Rebecca, Farsight not because I teach her through books, but that's just me this time, she should too) have 100-101% small guns. Due to design-flow you have to clear the gate anyway, else you fail the optional objective(s). After killing what runs to you AND the nearer AK47 (there is one right next to the main gate on both sides), keep babycrawling forward until you see another enemy on the left of your troops. After killing that crawl back, and run a bit circle. You'll meet during that with #6 arrived to the shooting - switch to bursting weapons with most of your troops. Oh, by the way, I used a 4-member strike team for most of the mission. Jax did squat, and Lola had a special purpose.
After #6 is dead keep circling and attack the sandbags and the other AK47 from the back. This way you can snipe them down.
Always watch your HP, and move back/heal the damaged member accordingly. Use the group formation option to have your weaker armored troops covered behind stronger armors.

When the Gate is clear, make a falanx and open it. This is the most safe way to infiltrate. Have everyone agressive burst mode (my 4-person teamhad 2 FNFal and 2 MP5) in case a patrol is just near the Gate. If not, switch to hunting rifles. If you see the enemy getting close, switch your armored FNFal people to burst mode FNFal. If MANY gets close switch weapon with the other two too. Heck, I even stood Jax as a 3rd line with hunting rifle, and he occasionaly released a shot!
Raiders from #7, 8 and even 9 will arrive. If none is in shooting range, babystep forward. Don't go too forward, because #14 has 1 AK47 in its lobby, and you want to snipe it down. To do this switch to defensive, move everyone to be able to see the bugger, and only then switch to offensive.
Next you'll aim to clear #9, #11 and #10. They aren't really separate. In the end maybe/probably even #12 can be involved. Be very cautious, #9 has a boss with a silverhawk double barrel shotgun, there is a sneaker, and a lot of 'em has AK47, especially #12.
#12 guards the engineer, you must even talk to him at least to get the primary objective halfway complete. If you talk to him again he'll walk through #9 and #5, so be sure there's no survivor before doing so.

#13 is a boss who has grenades. He likes to oppen his door, and on lower difficulties likes to blow himself up. Don't risk on Insane though, just make him into shooting range while defensive, make sure everyone will fire, then switch agressive. He will die at spot because the passfinder routine is crappy. Be glad for that this time.
Now open the door of the stables (this sends 2 cows to certain death), and from the side make an agressive falanx with sniper rifles ready to dispose a single patrol on the minefield. I bet he'd blast you to seventh heaven by shooting the mines if you'd try to come that way on Insane.

Now what I did is pull out the Avenger Minigun stolen from the General with the ammo stolen from the General and from the Merchant special encounter, gave Lola the environmental armor, take the voodoo found during this mission (it is in #9 building), use the exp I got until now (I was like lvl 5), rise Doctor to 90%, and the rest into Big Guns (also 90%).
Actually, last time I f*d up and rose Unarmed instead (not entirely a waste, will use it anyway later), so I had to step closer, but whatever. So I went in babystepping to #14 which has 3 AK47. Normally you'd have good (100-120%) small guns, and a bursting AK47, or FNFal if you went hunting special encounters, and you stick to the wall as far as possible from the enemy. I had a minigun though, so I kept close (especially with my lackluster skill, lol). Oh, to be able to use it I ate an Afterburner. A bit risky, given you have to store up 12 Afterburner, and I think only 13 you'll be given until Preoria, but I think I had one extra on top from the Uprising special encounter. Worst case scenario, I'll use some mentat along the afterburners on those towers or something.
You shouldn't use more than 3-4 bursts. 2 bursts should be preserved at bare minimum. If still need shooting give the armor to Mandy who has high EN and send her in with an FNFal. Keep stepping back ASAP when hurt and patch up. The boss (Daisy) usually runs behind the celldoor which she opens - beware to not shoot the prisoner if that happens.
Release the prisoner if safe (maybe worth some karma).
The boss has a key, but that only makes your life easier if you can't lockpick. Lockpicking doesn't give you exp either, so why not make your life easier? Through the minefield you go and open the inner gate.

It is a good idea to position your weakest (<- currently most useless) member at the place you shot down #15 from, because from there you can see the #16 patrol up on the wall. If it is on the farther side (where the gate-switch is), DO NOT GO IN because it'll kill you with AK47. #17 has AK too.
From here there are a couple of alternatives. The basic is to send in a sneaker with FNFal at defensive setting. Get around the building's back, climb the ladder, get as close as you can to #17, then try to kill it before it kills you. That's hard, so try packing any super stimpack you have atyour team on the person, who should be the same delt with Daisy&co, so is voodooed up (gives extra resistance). Me on the other hand trusted Environmental Armor, and my minigun. Fortunately their lack somewhat in the killing department while I was climbing up. When up there is another issue, but my 10 EN, armor and voodoo gave enough HP to get close enough to kill 'em with 1-1 brust, so I shredded #17. After that coruch and walk to the corner of the wall. Stop before getting out. If a bit lucky, #16 will come try to kill you, running in to a burst.
Now I ran out of ammo for the minigun here, and that type of ammo I don't think will arise soon either (of course at the new bunker the General gets a barel of it, but that'll be this gun's final I assume), so sent in someone with decent smallguns skill (actually both Mandy and Rage). From the top of the fence they delt with #18, and #20 who are 3 AK47 at the terrace of #20-22. I hate those.

#21 are some scorpio-wielding henchmen inside the final building, and they can almost do no harm.
#22 is the boss and his 2 personal henchmen. On Insane they get special by breaking you practically with every shot of theirs. The boss simply has an AK. So to make life easier first get around the door on the ground floor (a bit hard, but Rebecca with 2 kits has enough skill to unlock it, don't do that for the moment), and start stepping here-and-there until you stumble into a hole in the texture. Yes, it is a bug, but why not. You'll see the boss, and only the boss through it. If you get hurt just step away and patch up. Use bursting FNFal.

Finaly if you want to check the side door on the outer wall at #12. That is an excellent entry for experienced players on lower difficulties, but on Insane you'd just get yourself killed by running into a bunch of AK47s. Some survivor of #18 might be there, and you can get to the tent up north for some minor loot.

DO NOT BOTHER WITH THE TRENCH at #19!!!! It has 2 AK 47 SNEAKING. If youjustcan't live w/o thatminor exp find some random encounter and pulp some komodo dragon or giant rat or something to pulp with bare hands to not use up ammo or something, ok?

twillight 15-08-2017 11:41 PM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
So, Macomb.

http://i.imgur.com/UXIEeWG.jpg

For this map I marked only the interesting (aka. most dangerous) spots. Otherwise it is safe to assume everywhere lurks some raider with AK47. Some has lesser weapon, but that's rare.

Before starting the mission I suggest to go to the Merchant special encounter and steal like 2 pancor jackhammer, and have at least 200 shotgun ammo (normal variant will do).
Also pack a repair kits, and have a member with 70%+ repair skill. The only book until now is at one of the Grim Brothers (special encounter), and he don't sell it, so you have to steal it if you want it.
Oh, and bring hunting rifle for all your snipers (I have 4). Them having 110%small guns is also advantegous because can shoot at enemy from further away, so they won't burst at you which means less danger to the car, and more ammo to loot.

In my case Lola packed the avenger minigun with its 1 barrel, and the vinidicator minigun too. Ate a buffout to use both. Only relied on 'em at special occasions, otherwise remained passive to spare on ammo.

For most of the mission the whole team remained inside the car set offensive, riding around cautiously.

So, at #1 there is a sneaking shotgunner. Worth driving very close to the building so it reveals and gets murdered.
#2 might or might not be seen from the start, or at all. There IS anenemy on the roof of the building. You can not climb there. I could never kill the bugger because at a point just lays down and never shows up again. Still.
#9 can practically never be killed from the street. You must climb up the roof. Has an AK, so means danger. It is actually at a position you can leave it alive without consequence. I sent in Lola.
#3 is VERY problematic. There's a rocketeer. 99% it misses, 99% only causes some damage but you can drive back (don't try to walk in on foot, only babystep in with the vehicle), the remaining time it kills the car in 1 shot from maximum HP. Can't be done anything against it. Do NOT try to drive in reckless as there is an AK (leastof your problems) and a grenadier too. Best case scenario is, set everyone burst mode (actually seteveryone hunting rifle and after 1st shot swap weapon by fast keys), babystep in, hope the rocket misses (if it hits drive back and repair), drive in fast don't move until everyone is dead.
Lola was active during this.
#10 is 3 AK very close to the road in a group. Try babystep forward with the car everyone set burst. Only move forward if currently all is silent. Repair as needed after driving back to safety.
#4 are some civilians. Normally they aren't a threat, but if you at a point try meleeing them prepare to be crippled. Like a lot.
Right before #6 isa minefield (drive on 1 mine, drive back a little, repair - no more minefield), a bunch of AK are across the street (most on the roof but not all), and at #6 itself thereare grenadiers. Shall I painta picture why they are that dangerous? Drive backward, potentially have people set burt mode.
#7 has another grenadier, can be sniped down from the car, just don't get too close. On foot it'll definitely hurt you (fortuinately it starts with weak acid grenades).
#8 is again a rocketeer. Unless you're sureit fired 2 rockets, just drive out without bothering with it.

For this mission I had Jax driving (he still lacks skills), 2 FNFal, 2 MP 5, and Lola.
Don't forget to loot all the civilians for afterburner gum, you'll need them in Preoria.

It is a good idea to steal green shotgun ammo from the hermit for Preoria and Quincy. For Quincy you'll only need like 4 barrel of jackhammers stored.

Thinking on Preoria pack all kind of weak ammo, like 9mm balls, all kinds of magnum ammo, and a lot of shotgun ammo. Also enoug radX to have 100% resistance, 1 pancor jackhammer, enough buffout so your main character who'll use the jackhammer have 9 EN, environmental armor from the Merchant special encounter (with 9 EN and the armor your main-for-the-mission will be immun to poison), and 1 dose of psycho.

twillight 17-08-2017 11:56 PM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
Preoria is really just a one-person mission. Use single shots with a pancor jackhammer on things, or on those things you can't back away (some scorpion sneak, or otherwise corners you).
With a character of 7 EN swallowa Buffout and you're immun to poison. Still don't get melee as all crittercan cripple you.
There are 2 inconsequential traps, and the mega-cockrach (roachor) hits so hard you better take a psycho and wear the environmental armor.

Seems the patch fixed gaining the 4th battery so you don't have to put the three on the ground before talking with the elder, but the surface turrets randomly kill people even if you do everything right, so just overdose them before going down.

Btw, how did Vault 0 personel ended up here?

http://i.imgur.com/rCe9Tzk.jpg

Quincy is much more "exciting". Here is the map:

http://i.imgur.com/50XeWS4.jpg

Start with #1. Someone with a pancor jackhammer running in next to the alarm will 99% result in success (use the ladders I mean). The 1% is you fail to hit anything in burst mode continuously, thus everyone dies.
Talk with the major, geton the roof, disable the siren. This is crucial.

Go to #2. That involves some risks. You either need to drug up (use psycho), or have armors from the special encounters, and good health, and a bit of luck.
The trick is to send in 2 people with burting jackhammers. Still only use normal ammo. Use the hotkeys to choose members. The one with better armor and more HP shall be sent where the boss stops. The other to the sandbags down. Just set offensive,and it ends fast. I never hit the civilians, have more trouble staying alive, especially with the one I send against the upper enemy.
Also for 200 quest exp disable the REMOTE DET. TRAPS. No need to bother with the plastic. I never use mines anyway. Probably worth karma too.

Now go back to #1 and through the back-window (do not set agressive for this) position and hit agressive, killing the 3 baby deathclaw, and maybe the beatman inside.
Walk around and snipe down the front two with hunting rifles.
Kill the two patrol on the long unmarked street. Make a falanx from pancors (use all four, I also set up my big gunners, Jax had an avenger minigun with 1,000 ammo - sold by BoS, me the vindicator). Send in 1 person and release a single shot to lure the deathclaw (and the beastman). Very fast put this person to the other side of the road, so it won't be killed by the rest of the team (bursting weapons, u know).
From the side of the town hall pick down the patrols at the side of the town hall first, than prepare to attack the front. You must be fast, because I think the patrol inside is responsible to randomly go in and kill the girl. This is marked by #3.

Now comes another dangerous part, because you'll use heavy unfocused firepower. Use ONLY FOUR personel, in as heavy armor as possible, especially one who'll go in the farm.
Make a formation, and send the formation near the fence of the beastman farm. Everyone shall have pancor jackhammers with green ammo, or even big gun. When you won't make yourself dead, send in ONE person (the one in heavy armor, lots of HP) and position between the ghoul and the two beastman. They'll mostly focus on the ghoul who has no armor and pathetic HP, so you definitely don't want to add to his damage. Also might be thatyou might see through the walls where are more beastmen. If you don't run in ASAP the ghoul dies. If your formation sucked you'll die from friendly fire. If you sent your formation bad, you'll be shredded by the deathclaws. At least the fight itself is not long, neither requires much preparation.

If success, go back to the town hall and kill the sleepers (#5).
Pass the tunnel, climb up with ONE person SNEAKing passive, when the raider inside goes away break the alarm, waith offensive until it kills itself, hit sneak immediately again, hit passive, everyone climb up, get in the corner on the ground floor, none sneaking anymore. If yu have an unarmed person send it first place and run up the stairs. Run straight to the boss and the hostage with single shot weaponry. ONE person can have burst and run to the sandbags. This is actaully quit safe if you ask me, I meanI have very high, almost sure success rate.

Now go to #7 the chucrh. Get around, so you shot through the windows the 2 deathclaw. Get the armor (mark 2 metal) inside.

I did the #8, but I had 2 big guns personel (my ate a buffout, Jax an afterburner to be able). Strange thing is, seems in 1.27 no supermutant or reaver/robot encounter randomly (so can't have advanced weaponry right away :sick:). The 2 sneaking deathclaw are VERY DANGEROUS, in any normal circumstances I leave them alone.
Instead get back circling the prison again, and from the left side get behind the brothel. Really, it canbe done, not even need sneaking. Everyone be defensive. Now to go for the bestresult send in the whole team, while switching to one (preferably unarmed with power fist) to be sent next to the bottom windows, and another who's sent next to the counter. This way very likely you'll be targeted instead of the girls. Up tp 2 losses youget 400 exp,and even with all lost you get200 quest exp. If you hit any of the girls you get 0 exp, and I think Babs won't be available either asd recruit. Theory: she's an ex-*****.


http://i.imgur.com/zXOPpn4.jpg

tienkhoanguyen 18-08-2017 02:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 468685)
Preoria is really just a one-person mission. Use single shots with a pancor jackhammer on things, or on those things you can't back away (some scorpion sneak, or otherwise corners you).
With a character of 7 EN swallowa Buffout and you're immun to poison. Still don't get melee as all crittercan cripple you.
There are 2 inconsequential traps, and the mega-cockrach (roachor) hits sohard you better take a buffout and wear the environmental armor.

Seems the patch fixed gaining the 4th battery so you don't have to put the three on the ground before talking with the elder, but the surface turrets randomly kill people even if you do everything right, so just overdose them before going down.

Btw, how did Vault 0 personel ended up here?

http://i.imgur.com/rCe9Tzk.jpg

Quincy is much more "exciting". Here is the map:

http://i.imgur.com/50XeWS4.jpg

Start with #1. Someone with a pancor jackhammer running in next to the alarm will 99% result in success (use the ladders I mean). The 1% is you fail to hit anything in burst mode continuously, thus everyone dies.
Talk with the major, geton the roof, disable the siren. This is crucial.

Go to #2. That involves some risks. You either need to drug up (use psycho), or have armors from the special encounters, and good health, and a bit of luck.
The trick is to send in 2 people with burting jackhammers. Still only use normal ammo. Use the hotkeys to choose members. The one with better armor and more HP shall be sent where the boss stops. The other to the sandbags down. Just set offensive,and it ends fast. I never hit the civilians, have more trouble staying alive, especially with the one I send against the upper enemy.
Also for 200 quest exp disable the REMOTE DET. TRAPS. No need to bother with the plastic. I never use mines anyway. Probably worth karma too.

Now go back to #1 and through the back-window (do not set agressive for this) position and hit agressive, killing the 3 baby deathclaw, and maybe the beatman inside.
Walk around and snipe down the front two with hunting rifles.
Kill the two patrol on the long unmarked street. Make a falanx from pancors (use all four, I also set up my big gunners, Jax had an avenger minigun with 1,000 ammo - sold by BoS, me the vindicator). Send in 1 person and release a single shot to lure the deathclaw (and the beastman). Very fast put this person to the other side of the road, so it won't be killed by the rest of the team (bursting weapons, u know).
From the side of the town hall pick down the patrols at the side of the town hall first, than prepare to attack the front. You must be fast, because I think the patrol inside is responsible to randomly go in and kill the girl. This is marked by #3.

Now comes another dangerous part, because you'll use heavy unfocused firepower. Use ONLY FOUR personel, in as heavy armor as possible, especially one who'll go in the farm.
Make a formation, and send the formation near the fence of the beastman farm. Everyone shall have pancor jackhammers with green ammo, or even big gun. When you won't make yourself dead, send in ONE person (the one in heavy armor, lots of HP) and position between the ghoul and the two beastman. They'll mostly focus on the ghoul who has no armor and pathetic HP, so you definitely don't want to add to his damage. Also might be thatyou might see through the walls where are more beastmen. If you don't run in ASAP the ghoul dies. If your formation sucked you'll die from friendly fire. If you sent your formation bad, you'll be shredded by the deathclaws. At least the fight itself is not long, neither requires much preparation.

If success, go back to the town hall and kill the sleepers (#5).
Pass the tunnel, climb up with ONE person SNEAKing passive, when the raider inside goes away break the alarm, waith offensive until it kills itself, hit sneak immediately again, hit passive, everyone climb up, get in the corner on the ground floor, none sneaking anymore. If yu have an unarmed person send it first place and run up the stairs. Run straight to the boss and the hostage with single shot weaponry. ONE person can have burst and run to the sandbags. This is actaully quit safe if you ask me, I meanI have very high, almost sure success rate.

Now go to #7 the chucrh. Get around, so you shot through the windows the 2 deathclaw. Get the armor (mark 2 metal) inside.

I did the #8, but I had 2 big guns personel (my ate a buffout, Jax an afterburner to be able). Strange thing is, seems in 1.27 no supermutant or reaver/robot encounter randomly (so can't have advanced weaponry right away :sick:). The 2 sneaking deathclaw are VERY DANGEROUS, in any normal circumstances I leave them alone.
Instead get back circling the prison again, and from the left side get behind the brothel. Really, it canbe done, not even need sneaking. Everyone be defensive. Now to go for the bestresult send in the whole team, while switching to one (preferably unarmed with power fist) to be sent next to the bottom windows, and another who's sent next to the counter. This way very likely you'll be targeted instead of the girls. Up tp 2 losses youget 400 exp,and even with all lost you get200 quest exp. If you hit any of the girls you get 0 exp, and I think Babs won't be available either asd recruit. Theory: she's an ex-*****.


http://i.imgur.com/zXOPpn4.jpg

This game reminds me of Guantlet and Bard's Tale I on The Commodore 64. In Guantlet you would get to a place by moving slowing from door to door. However on Bard's Tale I you can teleport with spells to another place. So that is the answer to how did Vault 0 Citizen get there. hehe

twillight 18-08-2017 11:14 PM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by tienkhoanguyen (Post 468686)
This game reminds me of Guantlet and Bard's Tale I on The Commodore 64. In Bard's Tale I you can teleport with spells to another place. So that is the answer to how did Vault 0 Citizen get there. hehe

Can be, can be.

Now in Mardin:

http://i.imgur.com/xyRM3KC.jpg

You start on the surface. Fast make a falanx, because soon the enemy will come there even if you don't attack them. The wasps are a definite problem, as well as the beastman with CAWS (initially he's nearest, and don't come closer, but has distance). The multitude arriving also has one or two grenadiers. I suggest 120%+ weapon skill. Vindicator minigun came in handy.

The next problem is, you can't just thin them out like on other difficulties, as a large battalion will come running if you attack practicaly anyone,and you must survive that. I suggest going in the middle, so the mob will arrive from mostly 1 side instead of from everywhere which just makes life hard. Then follow the route I marked.
At #0 is a baby deathclaw which even if you free the Mother stays hostile, so might as well kill it for the exp. Beware of mines.

Outranging the enemy during this mission is highly rewarding, as they can HURT you.

After a while you must attack the toxic cemetary. Doas you feel, but watch out. At this point along the buffout which made me able to use the vindicator also ate a psycho.
Fortunately in environmental armor Lola was immun to radiation (and also poison), so double teamed with Billy Bob who came in in place of Rebecca. I like him for he can shoot from insane distances. And whatever came close met with my machingun. Whatever aimed at us had to aim Lola who was in heavy armor (and drugged). This is a drug-positive game.
Before you leave to descend get to the fence and attack the wasp-horde from there. They can't fly over (they're technically walking on ground, can step on mines too!), so that's cool.

I suggest going down the bug-exist, the other entrances are way more problematic due to haevy firepower. Ye, you must deal with the deathclaw-pit (2 babies sneaking), but that's life.
When reaching #2 make sure they don't release the switch, although they don't seem to be up to that. Change passive,and avoid hitting the babies. Not sure if this counts for karma or sg, but hey.

At #3 is the Mother, clear the room around her, then open the cage. Not sure what's the factor that activates the deathclaws' mood for fighting, for me this time they practically stood around doing dying. Whatever,. Mother survived, and only that's important. the fight is in #4. Beware, some more beastman might arrive through the other entrance. Do NOt try to leave thatway though, it is mined.
Thought I did some picture, seems not. Too bad.

#5 is some prisoner. I accidentally left home my kits by kicking out Rebecca, but whatever, 40% was way enough to unlock them, and that's the number anyway. Watch out to not release them until the enemy is cleared to the way out.
Actually not sure what's the deal with 'em, maybe they worth karma, maybe not. They don't even make proper dialogue, neither mentioned in the debriefing. I suspect originally you either released them for karma, or let the deathclaw eat them for rank and deathclaw recruits.

Too bad Billy Bob is somewhat bugged. He don't gain perk at clvl 9 as he should for being Fear the Reaper, but gains perk after spending 3 clvls with your party, giving him first perk at clvl 11. Not THAT big of a problem, but really annoying.

Tried to steal from the Uprising special encounter the other guard's 900 ammo, because I've spent a LOT of ammo here, but seems not possible. Darn.

Next time we're going to Springfield. Until then:

http://i.imgur.com/DIFA9B8.jpg

Ye. Despite Billy being Glowing One, he's suffering from radiation. He only has 90% resistance. So 2 Glowing One ghouls would actually kill each other.
Fortunately for the first dose you only loose 1 ST, and Billy has 6 initialy.
Btw, anti-radiation stuff are bloody rare, and I'm not sure if radiation level can be lost or not naturaly like healing cripled limbs. Still, as there are 5 ghoul recruits in the game, someone should make an only-ghoul party, lol.

tienkhoanguyen 19-08-2017 10:15 AM

Cool. Now I know to keep my distance when in another country. hehe

The game is cool to teach you real life possible scenarios. However don't take it too seriously. My religion teaches karma... "Live by the weapons and die by the weapons." So it is a payback type thing. So be at peace and just let the official officers handle the killing. They were trained for that.

Anyways for gaming purposes that is cool. It's up to you if you want to try and finish the game. Feel proud of yourself if you do. I remember finishing Bard's Tale I and I learned a lot from that. It took me a whole 3 months playing morning to night to finish and I had to map everything out by hand by 30 years ago!

By the way nothing in life worth while is easy.

twillight 19-08-2017 05:36 PM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by tienkhoanguyen (Post 468705)
My religion teaches karma... "Live by the weapons and die by the weapons."

So be at peace and just let the official officers handle the killing.

Two thing:
- first, that's not how Karma works. Especially not how it works within the game XD
- second: in the game you are the official officiers.

Now on Springfield:
while it does not provide rank, likely not even karma, it gives a crapload of exp, so it's good. The enemy is many, strong, and have skills,so outranging them is dubious at best, and otherwise you're toast.
So your probably-only chance is to fly on drugs. Get into that environmental armor, take a psycho and a voodoo, have plenty of ammo in your pancor (shotguns pretty much become useless after this mission with minor exception of purple shells on Insane). Preserve like 100 green ammo though for the final building. Because even though you mostly are invunlnerable against normal ammo (not against grenades though), you are not undefeatable:

http://i.imgur.com/CxBUe6K.jpg

Sure, you can walk on both legs broken (sounds painful), but youcan't fight with two broken arms! Neither by being uncoscious...

Springfield is though pretty generous to you, like it at multiple occasions give hugh chuncks of exp just for opening chests:

http://i.imgur.com/gyKASVh.jpg

I used to loot stuff Billy, because he don't carry much permanent stuff,so rarely needs to unload.
Because Voodoo has such a low duration, there's no time for looting during this mission. Yes, Mandy did the whole thing along.

Check out the map:

http://i.imgur.com/PnmGOIa.jpg

#1 has a trapped door. Very minor thing, but why not mention.
At the roof of the house has #2 on it switch defensive, lay down, and crawl at the edge just to see the gas tank. Pretty cruel, but blow it up to dispose some raiders.
To dealwith opening the first gate let them notice you a moment (maybe release 1 burst), then run to the side for cover. Some enemy will come, and a grenadier will be standing in the middle of the gate inside the park waiting to ambush you. Autoburst the incomings, and deal with the grenadier after that.
Inside the market on the tables there are some minor food, and a super stimpack. That almost worth it.
Nothing unsolvable until #5. That entrance is blocked by a hugh mine, so DON'T GO THERE, because you can't dealwith the mine and the AK47 people around who happily burst on the mine too to blow it up with you. Instead follow the arrow opening another gate. Beware, thatat #6 is an AK-guy sneaking. W/o serious resistance you hardcore have to keep distance and not reside around, or you're toast.
#7 has 3 enemy, they are bloody dangerous for easily doing criticals bypassing your armor. So instead running in close for the jackhammer swith to hunting rifle and snipe them down. Heck, the 3rd might not even climb to the sniper nest (that's bloody annying) if you just stick around the wooden personal-gate for sniping. Also, thatbuilding has a dead ghoul in a cell - it is trapped, and this time it is claymore, meaning semi-dangerous.
For #8 you better not rush in to deal with the boss. Better just advance from the edge. But be prepared to rush in in case the AI goes rogue, rushes in and tries to kill the major (happned with me a long time ago, and since then I'm pretty paranoid with this). Oh, don't forget to load in the green ammo for this. Watch out, 'cause if your char runs out of normal ammo and does a full reload, the specialammo will go in, and that's not always welcome. This behaviour also is present with pressing the hotkey R, and that doesn't even need full reload to switch type of ammo.

Ended up with a good 2,000 more 7.74 than I started with, and as the vindicator eats that pretty fast, that's much needed. The good news is, supermutants have zounds of this ammo. The bad news is, supermutants are pretty immun to this ammo. I hate supermutants.

Lastly, here is a "hidden" container, and some moral lesson :max::

http://i.imgur.com/SoTBWw7.jpg

twillight 20-08-2017 08:09 AM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
Well, here in St. Louis comes the real problem ofInsane: enemy resistances combined with POWER. Really, how you apply the accustomed game-strategies when the whole of the game changes? Nohow, that's how.

The problem is, the usual build is about DPS, meaning Damage Per Second. You lower the cost of AP for every shot, send in a squadron, and while the enemy shoots X times you shoot X*Y times, the enemy is dead, you're still alive, you're very happy.
Now on Insane it is much like this: if the enemy shoots even once, you're toast. It is pretty realistic, given they carry around .50 cal weapons, and bloody rockets, and sutff that shoots 1000 bullet per minute, but for f* sake in a war you have more than 6- people, ok?

Well, at least in this mission you can doa Minimalist Approach, meaning focusing only on the mission objective, not massacring everyone, only who you unavoidably have to. Here is the passage to do it.
For #1 checkpoint the marked side is much safer, as a solid rock provides some cover rockets can get stuck into, otherwise it's worse mayhem.

http://i.imgur.com/TanIN1T.jpg

Now to solve the problems of the mission there is the Keep The Distance approach where you mostly reside in the APC, especialy against rocketeers, while if possible you charge in to use burst weapons (pancor jackhammer with purple ammo, miniguns - right after killing the first mutants you get 2 SAW, FNFal are probably the best), watch the HP of the APC, pull back when needed, hope you don't suffer immense criticals, get use of the minefields (the mutants like to blow themselves up - seems it's not their mines after all), and so on.

The other approach is the Drugged Up Version where you still play Coward Sniper against rocketmen, but against anyone else you send in someone with 2 psychoin his/her system, being mostly invulnerable to machineguns. Add a voodoo and the environmental armor (180% resistance is needed I think), and you can even stand .50 DU in the mutant HQ.

Both apprach has advantage/disadvantage. I played mostly for safety, only taking an Afterburner Gum with Lola to use the remaning ammo from the Avenger Minigun. Did not check, but might be totally useless by the way. Still, now or never it was.
Then went on and sniped the heck out of everyone, but did not actually descend to the trenches, and definitely not went to the mutant base. That I'll try coming back.

Now here are the danger spots:

http://i.imgur.com/2EwPJrH.jpg

#1 is a rocketsupermutant who'll climb down. If you follow the route on the first picture it'll either stuck in some rocks, or you might even catch it climbing down the ladder or eliminate even on open field by raw power.
DO NOT APPROACH #6. Thathas double rocketeers, and that's Bad News. None canstand 2 rockets at once. AVOID! It's no "danger", it's "death"!
#5 is where sme SAW-mutants patrol. I tend to underestimate them and charge in, resulting shredded APC which is Game Over, so I give my 2 cents mentioning them.
#2 likes to climb down from their place and charge you from the distance you just pass that bridge. They have numbers on their side, and a rocketeer even, so they are bad news. If you keep your distance they will be stuck on the other side of the river-or-what, and can be sniped at. If you have the skill I mean. It is VERY advnatageous to bring Billy Bob with 125% small guns here, that's where he'll be able jsut-a-bit outshoot the enemy who won't just not be able to hit you from the distance, but won't even waste their ammo, because ammo belongs to you, and they should die thinking otherwise.
Especially those with browning.
To dealwith the browning ones in the trenches equip a rocket launcher, get to the long side of their tranch, shoot, run away, repeat until dead. The one you unavoidaly have to deal with is at #3. In theory it might just lay down, but if it decides to stand up...
This is especialy worrying with #4 being there who has a rocket, and I ould not outshoot it. I decided to kill it anyway, so when it layed down went around within the APC, and from the back I hoped my squad1s constant firing won't let it shoot, or at least won't get the APC destroeyd by one shot. Hey, it worked.

Here is a picture Billy Bob sniping around (from within the APC):

http://i.imgur.com/MFqgTjq.jpg

Yep, here finaly mutated away his Glowing.
And for Jax I gave 2*Lifegiver after Hit the Deck because someone must be able to block rockets and other unavoidable heavy firepower.
Lola on theother hand is planned to deal immense amount of Damage Per Shot (strangely abreviates to DPS too).

twillight 20-08-2017 07:20 PM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
I did something foolish: forgot to pick Weapon Handling, so I might need to redo the whole thing, but that'd be minor issue actualy.
Oh, I infiltrated the mutant HQ in St. Louis. These were my stats:

http://i.imgur.com/AU6u02t.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/bb2Oxo1.jpg

Drugs are the tool of wonder in the game.
But they never make you absolutely invincible, like example shows:

http://i.imgur.com/J2Yad84.jpg

I reloaded of course. AndI have archive save just before picking the perks too.

It worth doing though for some .50 cal and .50 cal DU ammo. the more the marrier.

twillight 23-08-2017 07:32 PM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
Jefferson got managable with more Damage Per Shot, although I might have to replay it if I won't be able to manage Kansas City. Because I forgot I'd need Weapon Handling, and took 3*More Critical instead of 2 times.
Heavy Weapons skill went up to 150%.

For the mission I needed: 1 psycho for the heavy weapon expert in environmental armor, SAW as weapon, 1 sniper (Billy Bob, although he started to frustrate me,because I found a bug related to Reaper Man trait, which causes a crash, namely if you wear armor you candodge the damage, but that results in Unexpected Error, whichcauses crash), 1 medic. That's pretty much it.

Here is the map:

http://i.imgur.com/8HlzubV.jpg

#1 ground floor is heavly trapped. Check EVERYTHING before bothering.
#2-3: both location have one-one isolated mutant with SAW. Canuse the car to prevent damage, although the car can't suffer more than 1 burst, and can only have 2 members inside.
#4 has a flamethrower, the first of its kind. Absolutely useless thing for you, but if they hit you with it, that can easily finish you right there. Keep your distance.
#5 has a rocket launcher. Stand in the little bunker marked "A" and it can't hit you though.
#6 is a minefield, which you likely can't disarm (not w/o spending skillpoints anyway)
#7 is another minefield, but you can disarm the mines on the left creating a passage w/o spending skillpoints. Do it.
#8 has 2 browning-wielding nutthead inside. Fortunately they are more dumb than Max and Alice (twoBoS-recruits), so you can run in, pass their doorframe, than step back, release ONE shot (I mean burst of course), then step out of the frame. Wait 14 seconds and they'll return into position. Rinse&Repeat.
#9 has 2 turret (stationary) and a SAW-mutant, and 3 grenadier who'll charge you when you blow up the generator. That disables the turrets which you better leave alone, at least do not waste buletts on 'em. They have thick armor, barely worth exp, and have only like 100 7.74 ammo which at this point is obsolate.
I suggest you follow the route marked "B" with 2 members (and burst weaponry), destroy the generator, and kill what comes.
There'll still be #10 of the area who unfortunately keeps sneaking, and has dangerous grenades. I suggest ride in on the car, and drive out ASAP, killing the mutie from a distance.
#11 has a rocket launcher, but just like the browningers is stupid and falls for the setp in/step out trick. Put a characteron the side faraway to know where the mutie is.
#12 has a browning, but you can snipe it away from where #11 was. He's too farto cause havoc.
#13 has a browning, and I did not check how to kill it. He's too much on the open for my taste. This also means don't bother trying to use the radioactive tunnel from this side,. It is useless as an entry anyway (suspecting cancelled content).
#14 are a bunch of muties behind a fence. Do NOT attack them, they count as neutral, so you'd loose karma.

Oh, and don't try to drive through the ominuous underpass, it has too low ceiling.

Tip: Do not use rocket launcher here, you don't have ammo, and that might be useful in Kansas City.

Oh, and look where stupid mutant crawled in:
http://i.imgur.com/FyDV4ti.jpg

twillight 24-08-2017 12:04 AM

Fallout Tactics Insane
 
Kansas went down OK after I figured out the sequence.

Zero: gamble away all stuff from the BOS vendor and give everyone Environmental Armor. Had to give Lola a mark 2 variant.

First DO NOT MOVE. Seems until you don't move, nothing happens. Eat a psycho with everyone. Sent Farsight to The Weakest Gate, she had to eat a Voodoo too else got smoldered.
Everyone used jackhammers with special buletts (purpe/green, but also had like 100 normal shell too, and was used up). Lola had SAW + rocket launcher, Jax had Browning.

Second: sent Jax to the Farthes Gate. This is the only way he gets there before the melee mutants get close and start beating the ghouls.
Right there sent Farsight on her way (can't send to location straight. ASAP sent everyone else front of the Middle Gate where mutants already started swarming.
Switched on Farsight, sent her in position (up ahead, so deal with mutants before they even see the ghouls).

Third: after the initial gunning lowers, Jax needed to eat a super stimpack, because of some grenadier (or ultra stimpack, depending on HP).
Using the calmness sent Lola to the posterbehind the fence to dispose the two mutants there. When that's done, sent her back.

Four: Lola kept firing. DANGER: some grenadier arrives in the Middle Gate, and they throw far, and thus potentially dangerous. So Lola switched on rockets.
Also sent Jax a bit further to dispose any remaining opposition there, then sent back ASAP to swith place with Lola.

Five: in the middle the final wave arrives too. Onemutant has a rocket launcher, so sent everyone but Jax back behind the sandbags. Jax has Hit The Deck + 2*Lifegiver, so can stand rockets now.
When the dustsettled, sent Jack to dealwith the two snipers.

Finished the mission with Jax exclusively. Tried to team upwith Lola,but for some reason the program just liked murdering my poor ghoul lady, so dropped the idea.
Used SAW on unarmored mutants, and on armored ones after1 burst from the Browning :OK:

http://i.imgur.com/IpfLNG6.jpg

tienkhoanguyen 24-08-2017 06:40 AM

You mentioned step in step out trick. Don't get too carried away. You just might use that in person and provoke someone who will cause you damage. Playing games can make you more intelligent. However it also can make you end up causing shame by provoking someone to anger.

An example is I played Bard's Tale I all the way until the end. Thank you Jesus Christ that in games it has a save feature and hopefully in person too. Because it turns out that in the end the person who was trying to help you ended up hurting you! After using the save feature to bring myself back to life I won again the master.

You see the save feature in real life is like Jesus Christ! The Holy Bible says those who ask Jesus Christ into their lives are *already* saved# However there are those who ask then deny the Christ and it ends up being like you save your game to a certain point and when you needed the check point the most you erase the last saved point?

Oh one more thing many games are based in real life scenario so you cannot assume just because karma is different in this instance.....

twillight 26-08-2017 10:41 PM

Look u don't know the game, and that map rly demands that strickt pattern. It has nothing to do with personal taste.

I'd also argue that saves would be like that Jesus-character (which religion definitely has nothing to do with karma, 'cause karma is in hinduism/buddhism, and says what you do you get back, and thatreligion has no concept of good and evil), as what does Jesus saves you form? Himself. What does save feature saves you from? Something else.
Not to mention your Jesus went around waving a sword in that fairytale, so I wouldn't wave around this "live by the sword,die by the sword" nonsense.

Either way, I'm quitting playing further. There's no further advancment in power, no real advancment in equipment, and the whole thing is only about wether I'd get a critical which bypasses the armor, does insane damage, and kills my character. That's just stupid. Like Jesus.

tienkhoanguyen 27-08-2017 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 468791)
Look u don't know the game, and that map rly demands that strickt pattern. It has nothing to do with personal taste.

I'd also argue that saves would be like that Jesus-character (which religion definitely has nothing to do with karma, 'cause karma is in hinduism/buddhism, and says what you do you get back, and thatreligion has no concept of good and evil), as what does Jesus saves you form? Himself. What does save feature saves you from? Something else.
Not to mention your Jesus went around waving a sword in that fairytale, so I wouldn't wave around this "live by the sword,die by the sword" nonsense.

Either way, I'm quitting playing further. There's no further advancment in power, no real advancment in equipment, and the whole thing is only about wether I'd get a critical which bypasses the armor, does insane damage, and kills my character. That's just stupid. Like Jesus.

Look..... don't quit. My grandpa Vu Van Thanh told me to persevere. If you quit you will never accomplish something. However there are exceptions. For instance look at short basketball players. They could not dunk a ball in the basket but they can shoot a 3 pointer from time to time half way across the court. So just because you think I'm saying this about Jesus Christ it is a misunderstanding. My dad Nguyen Binh Thuy says be careful of misunderstandings. I like your game playing and I was actually looking for to you finishing the game. My mom Huong Thi Vu says keep trying. You can look at it like this... that is one thing you are better than me at. I might be able to program somewhat however you could get further in the game that you are playing.

I'll give you one example that I quit and disappointed someones close to me! I didn't graduate from college. If it is the last thing I do in life I plan to get me 4-year degree officially from the college of my choice. Hopefully Lafayette College of Engineering will allow me to complete my degree even if it means I am 100 years old# See all through life I've always dropped out of college to do the easy things. I would program unofficially instead of completing my degree and programming officially for a job. I would compete in bodybuilding and win a title for my teen years yet I could not finish highschool! I would get an official copyright instead of selling my software and making a living and bringing a living home and making my family proud. So see..... I drop out of the hard things to do the easy thing and that disappoints my family. So I am always the one who is behind.

I'll tell you what. If you find something worthwhile to finish and be productive in your life like get a spouse and settle down and marry and have kids then I will try to finish my degree before I die! Deal?

twillight 27-08-2017 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tienkhoanguyen (Post 468800)
If you quit you will never accomplish something.

I like your game playing and I was actually looking for to you finishing the game. My mom Huong Thi Vu says keep trying. You can look at it like this... that is one thing you are better than me at. I might be able to program somewhat however you could get further in the game that you are playing.

I'll give you one example that I quit and disappointed someones close to me!

The point is, I accomplished everything. Staying would be atrophy. I DID finish the game, nothing remains in this playthrough but mindless grinding without any gain in the end.

Lastly: I hardly know you one bit pal... And I don't have a patreon-account.

tienkhoanguyen 27-08-2017 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 468804)
The point is, I accomplished everything. Staying would be atrophy. I DID finish the game, nothing remains in this playthrough but mindless grinding without any gain in the end.

Lastly: I hardly know you one bit pal... And I don't have a patreon-account.

No problem. I apologize. It's my fault. I'm from Vietnam and I don't conversation too well. It's hard for me to understand where a person is coming from since I don't know you that well and also you don't know me. So I'm sorry. All done. Thank you for letting me know you finished the games.

Mystvan 28-08-2017 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tienkhoanguyen (Post 468705)
Cool. Now I know to keep my distance when in another country. hehe

The game is cool to teach you real life possible scenarios. However don't take it too seriously. My religion teaches karma... "Live by the weapons and die by the weapons." So it is a payback type thing. So be at peace and just let the official officers handle the killing. They were trained for that.

Anyways for gaming purposes that is cool. It's up to you if you want to try and finish the game. Feel proud of yourself if you do. I remember finishing Bard's Tale I and I learned a lot from that. It took me a whole 3 months playing morning to night to finish and I had to map everything out by hand by 30 years ago!

By the way nothing in life worth while is easy.

Dear Captien Bible... :hero: Be very careful with twilight otherwise he will starve as he is very hung(a)ry for games. twilight may even go into twilight... :doh:

I sincerely am very impressed with the screenshots and texts as a guide for the player during the game. :OK:

I can not even imagine the work, time and dedication that this demands to be done. :omg: :o

tienkhoanguyen 29-08-2017 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 468830)
Dear Captien Bible... :hero: Be very careful with twilight otherwise he will starve as he is very hung(a)ry for games. twilight may even go into twilight... :doh:

I sincerely am very impressed with the screenshots and texts as a guide for the player during the game. :OK:

I can not even imagine the work, time and dedication that this demands to be done. :omg: :o

Ever so helpful Myst! You sure shine bright like the star you are. Thank you for helping me get out of a bunch of jams. I might be banned right now if it were not for you. I owe you and start repaying by saying you are significant; However my friend who is a girl might be competing and telling me that only she deserves that title# hehe So I can't call you significant and that is okay because you are also worthy of praise. The Holy Bible says so. One day I will find my wife and until then I will just live life and be happy.

By the way, I was reading 10 tips to be happy by Pope Francis. I see one of them is be humble like my dad says. He kisses everyone's feet! Just some trivia. Also another tip is to be nice like my mom says. So I guess listening to The Holy Bible and my parents actually works. A third tip is to spend time with family and friends like my two sisters. I will have to work on that one unless you consider www.Abandonia.com my friends.:OK:

twillight 15-09-2017 08:18 PM

Baldur's Gate Trilogy Solo Bard
 
Let's start with BG1. This is actually a backup I make, was not intended to pull this here, as I made another run up until Melissan, can be found HERE.

So:

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

I've seen and even played myself a lot of solo BG "trilogy". Some classic transitions, some newer methods.
The strongest one there is the half-orc barbarian, but any build I tried could be made finishing the game, even as dual/multiclass to buff its weakness.
But bard can not be munchkined. And even has high natural charisma, which is a nuisance.
Still, I rolled pretty high, so at least I have a good start.

So Talulah came to be. Blade, neutral, evil. Shar protect her.

Leaving Candlekeep went smoothly. Thx to save&reload got Chainmail, Longbow, and even Dagger +1.
"Unfortunately" right after Gorion's death Imoen met her demise too by the hand of the belt-fetished ogre. She forgot to run, she forgot to equip melee weapon when the ogre got close...

But when met with a 3rd assassin at the Friendly Arm Inn, the darkness helped me:

https://i.imgur.com/eUrsDOA.jpg

Next reached the Friendly Arm Inn, where - to get a goal - "joined" up with the couple Jaheira and Khalid.
I wonder what their fate will be...

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

Well, those two didn't last long. Just arrived in Beregost, entered the first inn suggested by the welcomer comitee, and there awaited me another assassin. Jaheira thought she can handle the situation, but she was sorly mistaken. Well, as the headhunter seemed to be interested in HER, I felt a bit frustrated until found the bounty notice. Well, maybe if I don't sell their equipment before...
At least those two provided times aganst the fighter for my kill even as a meatshield. Spared me some running up-and-down.

https://i.imgur.com/c4t13Jd.jpg

Got hired by some Silke. Her business looked a bit shady - and was carried out in the darkness -, but whoever whoever pays the money.
[NOTE: seems the quest is either bugged, or have a serious random included. First go when I did not know the strength of the opposition she offered 400 gold. Never at reloads. Then despite I disposed the three my rep did not go down the second time reloading from the quicksave immediate the fight, neither any other time reloading from that. Got the reputation-drop though when reloading from before talking to Garrick and stealing from both he and her.]

[Btw, noticed everyone tries to give you reputation for some reason? Gaining evil abilities are really a problem!]

Did some errands in the area (Miriann's letter, Z's boots, lots of stealing), and by thehelp of a Potion of Defense cleansed the Spider House. Made me clvl 4.

After that wondered around a bit, stumbled upon some hobgoblins with an obviously magical short sword [+2] of it. Required another of the three defense potions, but now that thing is mine. Both also served dealing with some local Cyric-priest. Well, he was instable enough to not even hold up his army of undead, so I don't think anyone lost much. And he attacked first. And he head a large bounty on his head. I just feel a bit lucky my arrows hit so hard preventing his maging. Not that I have anything against priestly magic *looking up-and-around*, only I tend to like survive. [clvl 5]
Also found some talking chicken. Says some kinda minor magling, and I <i class="Italic">know</i> it worth 50 $, only none wishes to buy it. Will have to deliver it later.

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

Well, arriving to Nashkel went more lucky than anyone could hope for. The would-be assassin herdly surprised me, and went down by critical hits (thx Shar).
Slept well in the inn, had a pleasurous nightmare. Felt by thatdivine sign I have to found my presence, so donated at the local church (hey, if my reputation is independent from which church I donate to, it's not my fault).

[Strange fact: BG:EE's donation rate is always cheaper than BG2's, and in average cheaper even than BG1's rate. Weidu is the worst as it uses BG2 rate only, So I've settled for 15 rep, where BG1 and BG2 rate equals out. Not that I could not use the money elsewhere, but in the long term it shouldn't matter.]

[There also seems some bug with Oublek. He never identified my as Greywolf - no free reputation.]

As I felt estalished, before going to the mines tooka look around. Found a talking chicken, Perdue's Sword, Joya's Flamedance Ring, Drizzt's scimitar... I think it's time to visit the Carneval!

https://i.imgur.com/pS9ytxF.jpg

[Removed Nymph Cloack to show starting stats.]

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

Shar sent divine revelation: Oublek is sexist. The world in general is sexist, where a female has no equal opportunity. Like no sloppy drow sex for me. I'll look after some sweet revenge.

Well, I killed a god. That Ursa-bear. That's a start. But had to turn back for need of healing, and if I'd been there went to the Carnival to let out some steam (after a good sleep). But it was for naught. First they tried to thieve me out (my bladic reflexes outmatched that Vitiare), then thought some shopping would be nice, but some mongrel magling was up to something - no idea, said piss off, which for he just killed the shopkeeper, or performer, or whoever she was. Well, that was a shopping discount at least.

Went to the west, always to the west - why? Divine revelation obviously. Found a book of charisma which gave such discount could buy Dagger of Venom, and gloves of dexterity which gave me an idea. Oh, in the meanwhile also killed some random merchant. I found him suspicion approaching me in the middle of nowhere you know. I mean he had acursed scrolls amongst his merchandise. So trying to rob him was entirely self-defense in the grand picture.
These annoying people are everywhere by the way. Seriously, that Sendai-girl was standing around to ask if I hate Amn? Lay down and die they should these miserablke existences. And I can help with that, althugh it's a bit tyring on the long run. I charmed her and sent against her own troop, me poking from behind.

You know what I'm missing? Identification. Wish Firebead have not taken that scroll for himself...
Oh well, let's visit High Hedge for this. My legs ached after collecting all minor improvement (chainmail +1, bracers of archery, boots of the north, resist fire ring, also bought shield amulet). Has to sleep. With all the rumours about basilisks, sirens and mustard jellies going tothe Nashkel Mines feels more attractive.

https://i.imgur.com/fQexEof.jpg

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

Come to think of it, my self-imposed rules:
- Core Difficulty
- except for leveling up (gains maximum HP)
- no sell&buy recharge for wands
- no Fake Talk or similar abuse

The Mines were shorter than I expected. Not that it did not had its own challenge, but I just turned out ... making the good decisions.

[Unfortunate fact: Violet Potion overrides everything, can't pump back the dexterity :( ]

First, met some assassin - who wanned kill some sculpture. He was dying anyway, so no idea why the fuss. Got lucky hitting him with poison twice without any damage back, but than he hit me and that hurt, so went offensive spin just to be sure.

Down in the mines the arrows of the kobolds were annyoing, more so when realised there are traps, so going back the town for healing was not really an option. Still, I feel I avoided some unnoticed [at the exit of lvl 3 managed to find a passage where the 3 traps got avoided, lucky me],

The boss of the evildoers in the mine... presented some problem, although worse were its army arriving at the scene. Good thing was to memorise some Aganazar's Scrocher - they all fell victim to just one.

At the exit though awaited a 4-member assassin group - I went easy on them, and destroyed them with 1 charge of the Wand of Frost I just found. Good thing was to find an Identification Scroll too, because I'm not running around with that spell usualy.

Also good news that stumbled into an ankegh right around there, and finished it without much of a problem, so the way towards Baldur's Gate is now open. First have to deal with the bandits of course, but still.

But the highlight of this trip was to poison the poisoner:

https://i.imgur.com/uMNEwvJ.jpg

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

Went on basilisk-hunting. For it worth 1 casting. Met some sentient ghoul, was helpful against some mage, but more importantly some psycho-adventurers too, as they were 4 and I left my Wand of Frost at home to start with. Sent it (him?) in just to be sure, and when they <b class="Bold"><i class="Italic">did</i></b> attack the mage got paralyzed, then their cleric, then even the knight. Had to focus on the cleric though, she looked breaking free.
The mage as usual was punny, died by a single hit of poison. Against the rest still had a defensive spin to keep me going, still needed 1 healing potion.

At this point the money seems to become a nonissue IF i'm not a big spender. This meansI can get healing any time. But buying everything (like recharging wands) doesn't seem sustainable.

Encountered a drow. Killed it. Naturaly 'cause it attacked me. I'm the victim here ya see?

Visited the area W of High Hedge, but barely anything interesting was there (the free healing was nice though).

https://i.imgur.com/6JkXxDb.jpg

The Firewind Bridge came next. Both duels cost me one offensive spin, but the reward is awesome.
Also note that the ogre mage is a magic duel mostly, I needed all my aganzanar's, magic missles, and even my lightning bolt, as well as my ability or larloch's (clvl 9), AND finish with melee.

Laugh on me, but somewhere I put down (sold?) my chainmail +1. So went to Gullykin and fought for a +2 replacement. It was fun. It's a sad thing Gulleykeep has no shop. On the other hand if they'd have, they'd probably know the meaning of private property, lock away everything, and me would not have need of a shop to sell their stuff. Well, that's life.
Just like that zombie infestation up north.
Btw, the ogre mage here was pathetic in comparsion.

[Hate the ankeghs. Two out of three times they just get criticals. In a row. Each dealing 25+damage. Have. To. Reload.

Also, it's sure I'll never go to Werewolf Island. Have plenty of exp anyway, and it does not provide benefit of items. I mean sure, there's the Chainmail +3 at the end, but I doubt I could cut down all the greater-than-greater werewolves.
Likely won't visit the Mage Island either, as there are only a handful of wands, and I think I can live without them. The whole thing would be anyway using a Protection From Magic scroll and cut my way through.
Lastly the only l00t that worth the fuss in Durlag's aside the Tome is Kiel's Buckler. So eat your pants.]

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

checked out "East of Larwood", released 2 fireball, collected the loot. Why everyone is attacking me? I'm the victim here.

The bandit camp was ok. Picked down the outer guards, and when spotted their leader released another fireball, then plummed by arrows. That guy was slow. Well, it's his fault wearing such heavy armor you know. Did not have yet enough lore to identify that wand [of fire], so removed my armor for more flexibility, used a charge from the Shield Amulet just in case. and went in the big tent. Started Aganzanar the mage, when those ran out offensive spinned the rest (they were Near Dead aside the archer, so it was ok). Funny thing was the mage managed to cast Horror, and it struck me - Shar was on my side that moment.
For the warning of the sacrifice-to-be changed my Boots of Avoidance to Grounding before opening the chest, also drinking 3 potion of healing.
[It is wise to charge ankeghs by the way with of Avoidance on. Until they change to melee they count as ranged attackers in melee, and gain -11 to hit.]

https://i.imgur.com/EpgOfNU.jpg

Went to Ulgoth's Beard for shopping - could have spend all my fortunes on things, but mainly bought Cloak of Displacement. There was a harp too for charming people - but who needs that when Algernon's Cloak does the same, and is renewing every day?
Shame for the price of that Ring of Invisibility though. Not buying it.

[where is Hulrik?]

Getting in to Durlag's Tower is one of the hardest part of it XD Those battle-horrors are somehow immun to arrows (used +2 ones, had 5 from somewhere), have plenty of HP, good AC, and easily hit a bard. So offensive spin it is, AND potion of defense, AND potion of speed. Of course they're immun to poison, and I didn't even try magic. To dispose the two on the bridge already cost me 4 potions, and I was pretty hurt still after.
The of Speed lasted till the complete annihilation of above level 2. Ah the ghasts! They aghast. But don't stop.
The Defense expired after dealing with the ghost on lvl 3. I almost thought I cornered meself with its supreme mirror image, but fortunately it was dumb. Even at the loss of 1 image it recasted right there wasting potential. Still, if it'd've managed to summon that Invisible Stalker, dunno what'd I do. Offensive spin fire arrows won the day, lucky me.
Btw, why is there no healer (no, I don't need stupid priests with their fake magick - let them all be banished form all fantasy for discriminating atheists -, I only need medics) at Durlag's Tower?

Meh, teh sexist world. No flirting by succubi. Oh, cruel fate!
Even worse, she forgot I am a female, thus promised me no pleasures! The nerve!

https://i.imgur.com/K5K4xsm.jpg

[where's the ghost of Ulcaster?]

The Cloakwood Forest's main interest was Forest Part 2 with all the spiders. [Incredible to see if you turn on the "see the rolls" option how much the engine cheats aganst you.] I went a bit on the easy side, and sent 2 fireball and 1 charge of Frost from my wands.
Still, Sword Spiders were nuisance, only in Defensive Spin and under the Ring of Free Action aquired by Five Finger Discount helped against them. Oh, I could have used the Spiders' Bane, especially that I hardly ever manage to poison anything anymore [for some "weird reason", aka. the engine cheats as heck], but I pulled my nose for not making me immun to poison.

[poison is a poorly implemented feature, as you can't spell away from yourself even with the ~instantenous Baalspawn ability.
disease is a poorly implemented feature as 99% I think does nothing, the remaining time it is the same as poison.
stealing is a poorly implemented feature as there is hardly anything to steal, it is instant Game Over when catched, 100% is not failsafe, can regularly steal questrewards and you still have to roll even if the target has no item.]

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

Hm, MAYBE charisma IS your firend. With enough reputation and charisma you can have a nice little bonus on prices, making wands from 5K to 2-3K, which <i class="Italic">lategame</i> MIGHT be sustainable. 'cause at this point money starts flowing in, AND had occasion to try out the blasters.

Cloakwood Mines is not my favourite place. Too many people. I tend to use Wand of Frost and Wand of Fireball to thin them put like Peter Pan. Especially as they mostly have nothing. Except one mage who has 1 scroll of haste (after the lightning trap corridor).
Potion of Absorption (1 dose) is a must. Wand of Sleep (from High Hedge) can also help, this later is especially useful on the 1st level where you risk rep-drop with badly aimed magic.

Don't fall for the false rumour though that the final mage can fall to Stinking Cloud - he won't fall asleep even with a roll of 8 (from 2 reload = 3 casting) he never rolled under.
But I could Magic Missle his arse despite his sanctuary, then Aganzanar which can be used too to eliminate Battle Horrors (turns out they're actually effected by magic).
[Note: seems the BHs pop into existence by some trap or something, also might be related to the mage seeing you. One time I killed the "original two" (sometimes only 1 appears), then decided to cast Improved Invisibilty (seemingly the only useful lvl 4 spell I have - I notoriously don't like to buy spells), Then no BH appeared (almost).]
Good news too you don't need the papers on the guy, it'd take a lot of space. Solo playthroughs' weakness. Especially w/o containers.

https://i.imgur.com/WtGhxOW.jpg

After all that went to the Lighthouse for the tome. The golems hit hard, but not that tough fortunately. Sirens are avoided by 2 potion of invisibility.
Now I call this a day.

PS: wearing Claw of Kazgaroth as clvl 10 is reached (actually I'm clvl 11 at the end of this). I like that thing for this game,and there are no more spiders, so the minus on vs death shouldn't really be an issue at all (and the current cloak helps too).

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

As I'm already clvl 11 (that's +1 thac0 than I should) I decided to blaze through the rest.
First entered BG to buy knock, and if I buy stuff I might as well buy all spells on sale. And a couple of magic items.
Even managed to "steal" from Elmonster:

https://i.imgur.com/zmSqRTN.jpg

Packed my 2 resist Fire potions and the absortions potions and 15 healing potions, bracers of archery, Spiders' Bane and a couple of other stuff, and went back to Durlag. The ring of fire prot was also important. Quaffed resistances, and started to run around (boots of speed) to get the attention of monsters. Then do NOT fight, instead walk on traps! That kills 'em. Sooner or later. There's space to manouver, so rarity is harm. Although seems SOME damage is still dealt. Oh well. Quaff healing when needed.
They'll bee needed as I ran away from fights as much I could. So no fight with doppelgangers or mustard jellies. Still had to fight some Skeleton Warrior with Flesh Golems. Defensive Spin helped a lot (the skeleton lured out solo), still needed an offensive spin (and even a couple of reload). That thing was a monster.

There are overpacked heaps of potions - try to preserve them.

It was nice when potion of speed buffed boots of speed - too bad no longer applies (because game patched). And I wasn't that much into shooting arrows. So instead got the attention of all four dwarf guardian, and led them ~south. That doorway if PACKED with traps, and that is a big help, especially that THEY TOO activate them (other traps have some recharge-delay).

There's another fire resist potion on this level, take it, because the first dose you quaffed at arrival will expire before the levelboss fight.
There's also 2 Dispel Arrow, which are precious commodity.

For lvl 3: no walkthrough mentions this, but there's actually a Master Room to bypass the puzzles, and it's not even far:

https://i.imgur.com/vsaCJNc.jpg

Tips for fighting doppelgangers in the throne room and otherwise: When you pick up the helmet RUN OUT. Babystep back and if you see a dupie hit it with an arrow (prevents mirror image), then GET OUT of sight while it casts haste. Wait 30 seconds and you'll hear the spell fizzling away. That's the time you walk in and start killing it with arrows (retreat as needed, use the safe area to manouver).

When all doors are open go down on the right, if there's a doppelganger run past it, bash the locked door open (remove armor, save here), run in to the left side of the room where the exit is, down the corridor, cast Knock, pick up the buckler from the chest, run back without stop (funny how the "dwarves" run along you), get out of the complex. We're done here.

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

Stole a charming cloak from the magick shop dealer, and a lightning wand from Brevlik. Found a tome of dexterity at the thieves - at the cost of doing a job to them. For payment-before-action stole a wand of paralyzation from the questor. Good thing, because his-halruanship seemed very much powerless without it despite the praise from the leader thief.

Ran into two ... Bleak Cabal? Who knows. But no matter how sympathetic they were, I just stole a wand of fire from the quieter one and stepped down.

Broke into a house, but it was a gnome's (Nadine), so it was ok. Got a necklace of magic missile from the deal.
Also met an assassin. Not the type already familiar with, this one had some other grudge against me. Whatever, they die the same.
But be calm, met the "basic" type of assassins too. Got a book of wisdom out of the bargain.

Got involved in some ... peeping tom business? Thought I'll just rob blind everyone as this-said-that-that-said-this kinda game it was, but in the end hacked down one of the party. Something had to be done, and better fail than sorry. Got a wand of polymorph from it.

You know the joke where the bard goes into this inn, and finds Baldur's Helm? Well, it's funny because it is <i class="Italic">not a joke</i>, got it?

Delt with Scar's quests (Seven Suns and disappearing people), then slept a little, went back to the SS for that pretty chest (wand of magic missles), and knocked up that pretty tower too (tome of intelligence). No mage at the top, 'cause I did freed the nymph before netering the disttrict).

Sat on the Iron Throne, but felt cold, and soaky by blood. Well, not exactly soaky. You see thatblood fried over it by the fireballs. And that potion of firebreath. Magic Missles were just extra. Boots of Speed is awesome.

In Candlekeep Boots of Speed is still awesome. Bring minal equipment: some potion of absorbtion, ring of fire res., potion of fire res., probably 5 healing potions just to be on the safe side, and aring of free action (also can be found down here). 3 knock spell memorized is advisable for the 2 tomes and the scroll of prot. from magic. The basilisks are a nasty surprise (although getting that inv.10ft can help out, or that invisibility potion you find inthe catacombs if you have no other means).

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

Freeing the guy from the grip of the Flaming Fist was solved by releasing a couple of fireballs (from wand). Remainig opposition calmed by sleep (from wand). The leader still stood, but alone not that big of a threat.
Doppelganger-medic delt with straight, although paralysing it was in the deck.

Destroying the assassin couple was more or less cake. Lure the male away and paralyze 'im. Draw Upon Holy Might gives enough thac0 to hit it in thatstate (using Spider's Bane). Switching the Short Sword of Backstabbing.
For the other went close after some healing potion (4), wiated to appear, then offensive spin it to oblivion. Easy. Or could have used Aganzanars' from wands, but that assumes she not invisible.

Ducal Palace preparation: bring wand of paralyze and wand of summoning (cast once in the middle of the group before starting). Drink potion of defense, cast a bunch of defensive spell, drink potion of speed. Use arrows of dispel to lessen the doppelgangers' abilities. Fortunately only 1 duke must stay alive.

Sharevok... seems problematic:

https://i.imgur.com/X5STkhj.jpg

Capo 16-09-2017 05:16 PM

Do Pillars of eternity solo :OK:

twillight 09-12-2017 05:31 PM

The Darkest Dungeon
 
There isn't many games nowdays that worth to bother.
Everything is either some Quake-engine FPS, or console-only, or multiplayer crap overfested by microtransaction. Everything is infested with pre-order, dlcs, and whatnot anyway. There's no story, just transformers-explosions.

So when it got adiscount, I invested into this, which looked like a flash-game which you actually should find and play online...
And it mostly is that, except longer. To be honest, much longer, as each "quest" you take (the basic concept is to make a party in the town, go to dungeoncrawling quest, repeat) takes like 2 hours real time. Somewhatless when you get more familiar with things.
Because as all games nowdays this one lacks manual too, despite desperatly in demand of one.

-----------

There are various buildings in town, which all will be open on "week 5", aka. day 5, aka. after you are returning from the 5th mission. And they mostly don't worth bothering.

There's a building to recruit. Every recruit is free, comes with 4 random abilities from 8 of its class, and every hired goon canbe dismissed without fuss.
The thing you must know though that there are a pletora of classes, every "week" the pool to hire from refreshes entirely random, and you MUST HAVE 4 person to send on a mission no less. If you have less than 4 person available, that's game over, and the game does not tellyou this!
So expand the "weekly" pool to 4 asap, then mostly expand the storage-for-recruits. When you're kinda established, you'll also be able to improve the basic level of the recruits.
Which I have no idea what it does as the game does not tell it. It depends on some kinda XP, which seems to be related maybe the size of the dungeons, and maybe the type of quest you take, but otherwise I have no clue.

The buildings otherwise offer such things as:
- buy random artifact: they are overpriced, and you'll be likely swimming in artifacts either way
- the tavern and the abbey offers lessening stress. The totally do the same, even more all three type of actions inside give the exact same benefits. There's a small chance of something bad to happen when taking the actions, and that in a minor way tends you towards the abbey, but otherwise really not worth to bother.
- there're buildings to improve: weapon, armor, skills of course. They only provide minor adavantage, so don't bother for a looong time.
- there's a graveyard, which only has decorative function.

The basic gameplay is around these factors:
- kinda limited HP, so you need to kill fast, stun the last enemy, and heal back if available
- lots of stress: same as HP: you gain stress as fast as wounds,and your buffer is VERY limited. Given that the dungeons are friggin lasting forever, and most things do 30 stress per hit (your buffer is 100, so good luck), you won't just be able to rely on the town to heal it back. Killing things fast seem to make this factor way less of an annoyance though.
One of the problems with this though is the limited inventory-space. There are a great variety of supplies to bring with you, but the stress-factor and the Diablo-level small inventory makes most of the obsolate, and you'll have to rely on abilities instead. So bring 1 slot of torches, 1 slot of food, and 1 slot of shovels to every mission, and that's seems to be it. Oh, bring treasure chest keys too, and drop them when you run out of space.

Oh, how much is "1 slot"? That depends on what kinda items we're talkin' 'bout.
Torches: maximum 8 per slot
Food: 12
gold: 1750
statue: 6
painting: ?
deeds: ?
shield: ?
shovel: 4
treasure chest key: 4
there are other stuff which you'll likely NOT bring with you: bandage, antivenom, holy water, etc.
Whenfinding various gems consider their worth, and the fact they are way less common than pure gold.

Oh, shield, statue, painting and deeds are currencies in the game. You use them to improve your buildings.

Oh, good to know that any unused consumables are LOST AFTER EACH QUEST. I mean each try of a quest. And quests randomly refresh every "week", aka. returning to town (you can abandone mission any time, which means no reward, only carry back the stuff in your backpack, and you gain stress, because you constantly gain stress even randomly, because the designers thought that's funny or something).

Before I forget every action is set to either leftclick or rightclick, but the game doesn't really teach you what is set to where, and there's no manual to learn it.
The game also feasts on computer memory, so alt+tab will kill your fun.
Actually the game tends to stuck in the memory, so sooner-or-later it'll overflow anyway, demanding a reboot.
To add to this there's a plethora of interactive object, and w/o manual you'd constantly want to alt+tab. Especially as doing the wrong thing will add stress scores, becase the designers thought it's funny, even more they added random abilities to the characters at random to auto-interact with those objects, because if you callyour game"rogue-like" you don't have to worry about game-balance, right?

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

Putting these aside, here're things on the classes:
- Vestal: heals things. It's nota good healer at all, but heared later each hit from the enemy will put you on "death's door" meaning 0 HP, whatmeans the next dmg will kill the character. So lategame this otherwise pretty useless looking crap will be most important, as it canheal the entire party, making them always 2 hit targets (every other healing is one-target ability). Bestposition: 4?
- Plague Doctor: deals out Blight DPS (heared later Blight will be countered with everything being immun though), and can remove DPS from partymembers. Bestposition: 3-4.
- Occultist: its bestability is an unreliable healing which has a pretty high maximum value, what can practically fullheal the target easily. Also can deal out some damage if not needed on healing,and third way can stun or move an enemy from the back to front (the back-enemies usually are ranged and have annoying and strong abilities). Best position: 3, but canwork in 4 and 2 too.
- Man-at-Arms: it candealout some buff and debuff too, but its main use is to take the damage on itself which'd hurt another character. Pretty dumb character if you ask me.
- Leper:
- Jester:
- Houndmaster:
- Highwayman:
- Hellion:
- Grave robber:
- Flagellant:
- Crusader: It is your average dumb paladin. Can't so shite at position 3-4 though. It has some raw physical damage output, and once per battle it cangive you 20 light. Best position: 1-2.
- Bounty Hunter:
- Arbalest:
- Antiquarian:
- Abomination:

twillight 29-12-2017 01:51 PM

There are no more games
 
Current day games are just wasting your time.
They literally exist just to pass time into nothingness. They give you nothing in return. No satisfaction, no story, no nothing.

And there isn't any variety anymore.
You either have some generic FPS with 1HKO rule on you (even the primitive oldschool games gave you 3 lives), or they are literally flash-games which can be found for entirely free only a bit/lot longer which is like expanding a 20 minutes South Park episode to 2.5 hours feature length. They just don't work.
Neither do the infinite-price minute-transaction-based MMOs.

Where is the next Monkey Island, Fallout, Total Annihilation/Kingdoms, or even Gorky 17, G.O.L.E.M., Time Machine, or Maniac Mansion, Worms, Heroes of Might and Magic 2/3, Might and Magic 6, Baldur's Gate, Warcraft, Resident Evil 2 - I don't know, ANYTHING good?

:(

twillight 15-01-2018 08:57 PM

Divine Divinity, Hard difficulty
 
At least, an attempt.

This is Hard diff, so I go the easy way. What's the easy way? Choose a character with useful skills. And go for an easy-to-handle build.
This means I won't bother with mages, and as"survivor" aka. rogue, aka. thief is a weakling (the female variant starts with good skills though), that leaves warrior. And the male one, because that's The Supposed Character. It starts with both the skills you get an extra point in for free just by saving and reloading. Yep.

Now on the skills: there are aplenty, but they fast can be thinned down.
Bolded skills are available from start, other have to be learnt later either bya teacher, ora skillbook, or by achieving proper character-level. There'sa button which shows all skills (except Divine tree) independently from clvl.

#1 Powers of Matter:
- all these skills cost mana, which is pretty bad. Most of them are attack-spells, but I can attack free of cost by weapons, so nah.
- telekinesis is a utility spell here, heard you'll need it on lvl 2, and that's it.
- do NOT use polymorph from these, 'cause instead of duration, the spell is permanent, whatmeans it is gamebreaking.
- Hell Spikes

#2 Powers of Body and Spirit:
- Wizard's Sight is useless
- Bless costs too much
- Restoration: THE healing spell
- Withering Curse: the enemy will resist this, don't even try. Most enemies will have a lot of Spiritual Resistance, soall skill related to that is bad by nature. How bad? Any enemy with less than 50% Spiritual Reistance can be killed on sight with a skill, that's how bad the situation is.
- Aura of Guarding: why not just use Restoration?
- Magical Might: meh
- Spellshield: again, use Restoration whichdoes the same
- Fade from Sight: just quaff a potion instead

#3 Elemental Powers:
- all these are attack-spels, thus useless to us.
- avoid Freeze, it isnot just too strong, can also crash the game if used on bosses. Also aviod the attribute on weapons for the same reason.
- Meteorstrike

#4 Power of Summoning
- these spells are either too weak, or too strong. Also demands specialisation.
- Summon Demonic Aid might kill an important NPC related to the main quest, so avoid
- Life Leech, the only non-summonic skill of the branch is Spiritual Resistence Related (SRR), thus avoid
- Summon Vermin is availble only at the start, and I man, it is infamously weak

#5 Path of the Specialist:
- all skills are ready from the start here, except Shield.
- man, the sword option is just overpowered
- Hammer is SRR
- bow/crossbow are pretty useless, given the screenis small, and the enemy is fast
- shield is ... ok I guess, but chance-related. It is at least not elemental damage

#6 Path of the Ranger:
- Elven Sight is the skill if you get annoyed by the Fog of War. Convenience-skill, but the best from this type.
- True Shot: bugged in all version, does nothing.
- the rest is various arrow-related skill, which is already bad. They are also not boosting your weapon, but replacing its damage. AND they cost mana. So nah.

#7 Path of Warrior's Lore:
- Augment Damage a damage-boost. Nothing fenomenal, but reliable, and very helpful at the start.
- Repair frees youfrom going to the shops and spending too much money. 1 point is enough.
- Stun: SRR, but still ok
- Augment Defense: a good skill to invest
- various (elemental) weapon damages: some extra damage, and even that only by chance. Dump here the remaining points I guess, otherwise not much.

#8 Path ofthe Warrior Gods:
- Enchant Weapon when it comes to play is ooooh-yeah!
- Feign Death: useless
- Boomerang: it is a bad skill. In theory you could make Diablo's throwing amazon with it, but too complicated.
- Shadow Warrior: a summon
- Spiritual Damage: some extra damage, but always works what is a plus.
- Reflect Missiles: bad
- Death Strike: SRR. Doesthe same thing as the Hammer Expertise, but for all weapon.
- Flash Attack: useless

#9: Path of theThief:
- Assassin's Kiss: this is the"Dagger Expertise" skill, but aside a chance to double damage - works on every hit - does not give further bonuses.
- Lockpick: requires consumable lockpick item above the skill level, and randomfactor, and all. And to get lockpicks when you need, is just not that simple. Ye, everyone wants this skill, but it is overly complicated.
- Pickpocket: yes, there are stuff to steal. No, this skill is not needed. It is a bit complicated to use anyway, and itis told you won't really have money-issue - unless you are a mage of course.
- Evade Trap: wouldn't have any use IF there wouldn't be some polymorph traps in the game, and they wouldn't turn you permanently to a rabbit or sg.
- Deadly Gift: you can lay traps with this. Two are garbage, the third is overpowered, and can evencrash the game at certain situations. Avoid.
- Elven Stamina: useless (unless you use the warrior's special skill a lot, which you shouldn't - getting sorrounded is BAD)
- Embrace Shadows: just quaff a potion.
- Poison Weapon: you need to craft potions for this, and recharge when depleted ... I just can't bother with crafting. Has the fame of being a strong skill though.

#10 Path of Lore:
- Identification: costs a lot of money and time, so invest here
- Alchemy: you can craft potions with it. You need 2 points in this to be able to pick up herbs/mushrooms. NEVER mix various size potions - they decreese in quality. Recipes:
health potion: potion + red mushrooms/herbs/cacti
mana potion: blue mushrooms/herbs/cacti
stamina potion: yellow mushrooms/herbs/cacti
poison potion (green): white mushrooms, rotten food, poison barrels, cacti
bright blue potion: temporary for +100 poison and -100 spiritual resistance, out of the Drudanae plant
Red + Blue = White:brings back mana and vitality points
Yellow + Blue = Black: invisbility
Yellow + Red = Orange: boosts strength
Yellow + White = Purple: boosts resistances
- Know Creature: only for casters. You spot the creature, pause the game, look at stats, choose spell... Inconvenient.
- True Sight: useless, especially if you are melee
- Blind: useless before applying 5 points, very-very good after that they say. Costs mana, and isa single-target spell, shich takes away from it in my eyes.
- Skin of Poison: same as Poison Weapon, but works if the hit you instead of you hit them.
- Curse: sounds ok.
- Necroshift: waaay to short duration.

#11 Path of the Talents:
- Traders' Tongue: effects prices. Should be useless.
- Ranger's Sight: use Elven Sight instead. Same, but bigger effect.
- Wisdom: absolutely garbage
- Charm: SRR
- Magic Barrier: c00l
- Aura of Command: way too powerful
- Heaven's Gift: free money, otherwise the skill tellsyou it gives garbage items
- Survivor Instinct: too slow. If you need healing, just teleport to a bed, and sleep.

#12 Path of the Divine:
- this whole tree is quest-related, so no starting skill option here
- translocate: comes too late to have any use
- Divine death: mostly useless
- Spirit Form: 1 point must have because the main quest demands it. Has no other use.
- Scorch: attack spell
- Heaven's Blessing: nice duration and effect
- Divine Eye: useless
- Temporal Storm: tooshort duration, andI heared it shakes the whole screen, making it inconvenient
- Lightning Cascade: attack spell

Crafting recipes of good use:
- beehive + honeyrack = drop of honey
- drop of honey + empty honey jar = statboosts, and 50 mana and HP heal
- two stacks of straw = Haybed. Combine two stacks of straw on the ground to make hay and then use as a bed. Hay can not be moved once it is made

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

Playing through:
#1 you wake in a room. Basic rule of rpgs: get verything that's not nailed down. Actually, just get anything what is food, or has stats. The rest are not even option for sale. Glasses/jars are also option to take, because of alchemy.
#2 you soon find your first NPC, and are in a village. Basic rule of rpgs: always be nice to everyone. Another basic rule of rpgs is: save before touching anything. This time if you don't get told you are a thief, you can take that item (NPC must not look at your direction and/or not be too close, hard because most NPC follow you, and stay atfixed location most of the times).
#3 do not click on beds unless you want a full heal, and time spent. The game is (99% I heared) not time based though.
#4 there'll be an event nearby: an elf gets frozen. Try the door of the mage's house and talk to the elf again. NOW go and visit each empty house in the village - including the elf's. Loot. All house have a key in the village. DO NOT leave the village. Enter well, free the elf
#5
#6 heal the two patient. Do NOT talk to either the dwarf or the lizard before both patient are healed. Do NOT talk with the lizard - he gives a freepoint in restore, but you can reach lvl 6 in the village (in theory, I'm trying right now, ok?), so you should be able to put a point in it yourself, then get the second point from the lizard - else you'd have to wait until clvl 13! But you MUST make the healings before finishing the local dungeon.
#7 if you are that kind of person, still NEVER ATTACK CATS. Cats are good.
#8 thereare 2 ZombieJake Events in the village. Both times the guy gives hugh chuncks of exp. Problem is, he's though in melee. If you have the Restore skill it is way more easy, because you can heal a ton. But at least on the surface he can be chased around by bow, because you can run but he can't. You can get a bow by a second event of the village which you get when going near another house. There a shopkeeper gets threatened, and when you enter you get invited to a room inside. This means the shopkeeper leaves all his stuff ungarded in the first room, so take everything (usualy an armor, shield, bow, and some more stuff).

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

Bow is required, at least for a while, that's obvious. Zombie Jake can be outrunned to start with. Also Skeletal Guardians who likes to oneshot you, and I see not the distance I'd've to walk to be able to stand against them.
Come to think of it, this "that's just too much requirement" is also true for all kinds of equipment. First, you need like 25 in agility to not miss too much. Second, you need like 25 STR to beat normal things w/o too much fuss. Then comes the problem: bows require 30 agility, hammers like 65 STR, axes 30 AGI + 60 STR... And there are zero maces to grab. Not to mention most equipment cmes with 1/1 durability and if they brake you can't fix 'em with slvl 1 repair...
Even a twohanded sword has ridiculous requirement of 40 AGI 65 STR. So don't be surprised if you have to fall back on fighting with brooms. Ye, those count as weapons. No, I did not have to use 'em... yet.

Either way, get 2 points in Identify for convenience sake. The Slasher will be ilvl 4, so that's how you know it you found it. It is a good axe, but not that impressive as you find 4 other axes nearby, and they aren't that much worse, and you CAN use the exp.

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

Character build:
- you want to use the equipment right where you find, put your first points to get 2 Identify. Will report later how common higher tier stuffes are.
- third and fourth point goes into repair (the maximum durability does NOT drop, so 1 is enough for the whole game) and Elven Sight because you use bow, and you need to see where the enemy is. More is not demanded, and probably more than 2 point here is overdoing.

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

Monster fighting:
- skeleton guardians are giant-size skeletons with axe. You can outrun them on a long corridor, or circle around in a room. They can onehit you, so use ranged attacks. Loose interest fast (low visual range), soyou need sight (1 point in Elven Sight = +2 sight does it)
- skeleton conjurer: summons skeletons and skeletal archers. Can onehit you. Use ranged attacks on miniboss versions. I think I founda "normal" quality of it on catacombs lvl 3 in the upper right corner (had low HP, died in melee).
- ghoul: again a walker, which likes to plant spider-traps around. Use ranged attacks. Its traps are annoying: you goclose, it activates and starts running after you, blow up on hit. You can only outrun it from one direction not both.
The ghoul usually loose interest at a point, face a walland stop moving. Abuse that. Usually will have a trap atits corpse, so save before looting.
- archer/caster skeleton boss: finda platform you can circle around. Its projectile will stuck in the platform (test to be sure), but your arrows do not.

twillight 18-01-2018 08:20 PM

Baldur's Gate Trilogy Solo Bard (2)
 
I am different.

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/gpJJaYh.jpg" alt="" />

There was a ... actually I'm not sure who they were. I was pretty sure none down there should be there, so if they're there they have malevolent intentions, so I just started to bombard them with fireballs. And aganzanar's when it came to that (I found a wand of fire with 23 charges for both in my stash!). Roast in pieces.

Tamoko... Left. Hopefully no god will able to tell where she went.

And thus the story ends, and another starts, the same continues:

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/VsFYsei.jpg" alt="" />

The trick is to paralyze the archer on the left (finish with arrow because AC, thac0 and sharevok issue), then make the ogre thief backstab you so he's revealed. He's slow, so can be executed by arrows. Sharevok shall be lured to the bottom left corner and shall be left there. Somehow I put a mage robe where Ring of Invisibility was supposed to go, but a charge from wand of summoning did the trick. Cast prot. from magic scroll and deal with the mage (aganzanar scorcher mainly from wand). Finally pummel Sharevok with arrows. Just realised all the magic missile thingies were useless, what'd've been better some more piercing arrows. And probably potions. and wands of monster summoning. Whatever. Let's fall into the Abyss.

-----------

Awoke. Somewhere. Somehow. Imoen? Imoen is dead. Isn't she? How is she not dead? Why doesn't she go away? She asked shuld she go away, to which I said, "Alright, let's go", but she stayed. Why doesn't she let go? Just like her .. new belt? Doesn't let go either. Shoul <i class="Italic">I</i> let got? I am ... hurt. Why is <i class="Italic">she</i> not hurt? I'm the victim here.

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

There are others here. Minsc? Traveling with him? He says so. That's not happened! Must be an illusion. Must leave behind. He's caged fortunately, so he's weak... No, he's strong, but insane. Let him go. He doesn't quarel.

[Where is Jaheira? Well, I didn't want her Harper Pin anyway this time. Isn't romances strange? You can get a bastard baby from Aerie, and you can only marry Anomen. This of course suggests all partner are sterile. Given that the protagonist creates an offspring, that concludes its not his/her fault. Interesting factis, you CAN have same-sex relations in the original game - if you cheatin the Girdle of Opposite Sex that is. Another funny thing the back-to-nature relation provides you material product, while the one from industrialised background results in tree-hugging.
Wonder what happens in theEE-romances.]

Imoen meeting a bunch of <i class="Italic">goblins</i> ran away? Why? Why now? Where's the sense in that?
Out of sheer frustration destroyed a clay golem. That quaterstaff +1 proved useful against some othygh lazying around - could reach it from the balcony while it could not attack back. (drinking 4 healing potions, and keep drinking. At the durgars before looting only had 3 medium Hpotions left)

There was a cambion imprisoned. Free it? Why? Those are common knowledge always hostile. I don't want MDK, I want freedom!

Got through a portal. These have limited range - but what does this knowledge worth me? Getting from a place where I'm lost to another place where I'm lost - where's the difference?
I'm also running thin of life. When offensive spinning those mephit portals (what kinda id'ot puts those in their lair? Definitely a mad wizard were're dealing with 'ere) ran out of potions entirely, and only had half my strength!
To add to the situation: see, got this Sword of Chaos from that jinn. Says it belong to me. Says what?!? And despite its name it is the most straightforward thing here. This whole thing is <i class="Italic">madness</i>. But whose?
Speaking of madness: some mad escaped clone was here too. Costed me m last Hpotions...
Not to mention: there was this guy, don't remember his name, never told me - saved 'im from a mephit. Did I get any thanks? No, he attacked me. I said: madness this is!
To prevent further damage to me when stumbled into a large group of goblins (and a mephit) used the summoning scroll I found within the complex. Darn, I miss my equipment! Got 2 kobold and an ogre, and they lasted enough to disable a trap on some bridge (well, they're summoned to fight and die. Never gave a though where do they come from, never will), and even to deal with a durgar.
And this kept going on. Like with that <i class="Italic">thing</i> behind the glassed room. When it shaped form, I justwaved: I open the door. When it was open, I attacked it immediately.
Even stranger: I keep trying. Laconically offered to join the attackers near the ... entrance to them, exit to me. Of course they didn't know better and attacked.

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/8YNoJQc.jpg" alt="" />


And you think getting out ended the world going crazy? Imoen was out already, some immense mage-battling happened, and some fanatic mages ported in random dying one after another - then it all ended by Big Bad Boss getting <i class="Italic">BORED?</i>
Whatever. Fine for me. Get lost you all. Just leave me alone!

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

Entered the circus tent. Heared something insane going on in there. That ogre-elf shapeshifter surprised me - well, don't mess with strangers, that's the leston. I don't believe a second it was an illusion by the way. I mean those orcs, those wear illusin. But that halfogre-halfelf? Nah. She and her gnome friend bites the dust.

But these volks have some good inventions too: containers for stuff. Useful gadgets.

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

---------

I was minding my own business when some beggar force-begged me to some guy who really wnted to "help" me. Right. Nothing suspicious. Right, I have no choice. Ahha. Let me steal that funny-looking glasses you have, 'n onward to drinkin'!
At least I hoped so, but some pair of ruffians hit on me. Took two lotions to get rid of 'em.

Do I have "kick me" on my back? Stepping into the tavern just put me into another fight. The brag didn't live to regret it. His friends do. That guy "anomen" too. For the moment. Who is he to judge my way of life? The only court is Life, so you better take what Life gives you, and stop others taking it!
Got some quests I practically learnt nothing about, and to be honest of all this establishment the most exciting part was its serwers. Well, that's a +3 sword to me at least. And alevel.
Above went to free some slaves because I had nothing better to do, and doing <i class="Italic">them</i> favour it was <i class="Italic">them</i>who obviously ment money. Which I needed for a whole bunch of reasons. The beastmaster had a load of 'im, luckily 2 shot of frost from wand solved that problem.

Went for the 5-finger-discount market, and got some spells, and a staff +3. Nothing that'd help my low number of attacks or better my high AC. Didn't even see anything that could help the problem. Yeah, that sword could provide a free Haste spell per day, but how long that'd last? Maybe as long as it took to find the ghost's teddy. Maybe some much-neglected potions?

Stumbled into the ShadowThieves too, started to work for them half-harted. Jelous of the vampires killing those thieves who make you bleed through the nose. Bugging the Harpers sound more fun.

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

Walked around disinterested in any of the quests all the people tested on me. Well, some demanded immediate action, like that Uncle Lester, and making a paladin's life uneasy by forcing an orphan to him did worth the laugh, but in the end took a scroll of prot. form undead, destroyed the lich I found at the city gates (considered leaving the city, but nah,yet),and with the remaining time of the scroll looted some of the tombs in the graveyard. Aside a new level it gave me enough gold to stop worrying about the Cowled Wizards when I want to enter to houses. I mean why people have doors? If they don't want people entering, <i class="Italic">move to a dimension with not magic in it!</i>

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

Continued on working the thieves guilds. Was hard with my lvl 14 (15 after killed the mage).
The kill-the-mage part 1 is about to have enough HP, as most kills will be done by the Fire Mephits.
Part 2 has 2 golems (stone I had), and they are a nuisance. Cast Blur + Improved Invisibility. Start with 1 offensive spin, continue with defensive, hope you survive.
Have a summon ready for part 3, the mage himself. Go up, pause, cast Magic Missile to soften 'im up. Say you are just looking around, so you can cast a 2nd spell - the bigger the summon the better of course. Monster Summon 3 would work nice, or if you found a conjure lesser elemental that's good too. Whe the thing is summoned GO BACK one stairs and wait 30 ticks (watch the pendulum), THEN go back. Voila, his protection-globe disappeared, otherwise things are the same. Cast Aganzanar's Scorcher ASAP, use the summon as distraction. When the scorcher runs out switch to elementalarrows (fire/acid/whatever) to penetrate his stoneskin and prevent casting.
Though work, but after it the quest is a talk-walk. Aside the kill-MaeVar part of course. But as you don't actually have to eliminate the whole guild, I just drank some invisibility-potions to avoid most of the trouble.
The reward was... ironic. 10K gold and a Sword of Backstabbing.

With arrows - sword spiders are exception - hacked my way through spiders under the Graveyard, and a scorcher-from-wand destroyed the spawning-spiders at the entrance of the centre. Inside a single Sunfire delt most of the damage -beware as the priestess there has insane magic resistance and strong spells (but not many). Hacking or elemental arrows will do. Result: spider figurine AND Spell Immunity - can go for the berserker statue. Of course have a diamond (actually 2).
Hint: one bunchof spiders canactually be eliminated by leading them to the first chest and activating its trap - a cloudkill spell.

Remembered there are slaves to conquer ... I mean capture ... I mean liberate. Entering was solved by getting out of the boss' visuals and some Wand of Fear. Then charm the boss, and with him as distraction murder the rest of the slavers.

Remembered the Silver Pantaloons take away some reputation, so went there too. Act 3 starts.

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/WlPm2OQ.jpg" alt="" />

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/wOFxMy5.jpg" alt="" />

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

<b class="Bold">
QUESTION</b>: What'd happen if I'd spend my gold and thus not have the money when showing up for the randevou?

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

So many dead-yet-not-dead people. Xar. Edwin. Khalid. EVERYONE. Viconia*. Well, who cares for a drow to die? One less being threatening meself. Although I bet as they returned once, they'll return yet again. After all, if this is just a dream, and I dream it, as long as I'm not dead, they can eternal lie. Ye, death is a lie. Can death die? Can you murder murder?
I sure could murder that tinbox in the sewers. Nice armor he had. Shinier than 'is brain. The raksasha at least had enough mind to have some goons. Even I can have goons. I have a spider, a berserker warrior, this annoying sword, spell-creatures...

*: Actually, where's Viconia? She somehow did not appear this time.

Talking about spell-creatures: there was that imp... Which summoned an earth elemental... And some kobold tried to take advantage of the fight... I think I'd've lost w/o my beserker.
Patched up, and to calm down went to see how my report to the authorities payed out. Well, one hand the authority managed to kill himslef. At least his comrades coughed up some money.On the other there was absolutly no reward from reporting that unlicenced hag, his hired goons didn't even have anything iteresting on 'rm! Punny unenchanted stuuf was all! What did they think, those are outlawed too? Preparation Zero. And they call themselves adventurers.
Me? I'm prepared. Even wearing that funny-smelling armor found at the Tanner. Not that it has that much use, but looks cool, and does no restrict any of my abilities. That's a plus.

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

Found a Find Familiar scroll. Learnt it, casted it. I learn every single spell I find. Because then they are MINE.
Also finished in a single night Bodhi's first two jobs - the third had no deadline, aside a dead line, so why rush. Didn't even seen the country I'm in. I like new things. And as the 3rd job turned out to bring me the same place as one option form the 2nd would've, I'm glad I chose murder.
Did I mention if it depends on me, that Jan Jansen will rot in prison for good? That murder in a way too.

The umber hulks in the serwer lookd though, thus I invested into bracers AC3. Soon a bit regreted, as gaining illithium and melting it with the mace of disruption did cost a hugh chunk of money. Doubly felt cheated as realised Umber Hulks just die from cloudkill, and that's it. Life is hard. #FirstWorldProblems

I give the Thief Guild they had some pretty decent mages. Or just I did not have good enough saves. I needed to use up some random scrolls (Minor Globe of Inv., Minor Spell Turning) to dealwith them. Healing Potions are ever a good thing too, and they had goons with 'em, so Offensive Spin 'em while they were wasting their time on spells of no effect. On the other hand I'll need to come up something against Hold Person - annoying.
Then I realised I forgot the key, so went to check out Gaelen. Well, better late then never,after all he DID invite me, although BEFORE accepting Bodhi's deal. What an unfair world, can't have everything. It wasa detraction anway, I was only thining them out, 'casue I still had useful spells&stuff at me after the fight with Neb which took more than I expected out of me.
Then I had a weaird dream, where first a demon killed me (huh, it was just a dream, it'd be really inconvinient to be undead), then ... I turned to be an even stronger demon and killed others? What? And smeone calls that power? Power is to have stuff, not ensuring none else has them either!

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/czA2WYf.jpg" alt="" />

But this is even more confusing: "Helm is practical" - he said - "Take this Helm of Glory to further yourself" - he said. To a bard. Right. Nextto do their job had to wait, so I decided to investigate a door I found earlier.
The pirate of the Sea Bounty were more than I expected. I meanmore difficult. Had normalpirate treasure,what at this point... Enough ro say, we're no longer in Baldur's Gate. But what's the worst that can happen? I have to sleep once more before going after Haer Dhalis to get payed?
Anyway, the thieves of Lathander turned out a true insult, so things balanced out, and I went into the conduit. Arrive -> SunFire -> no problem with the welcoming commitee.

I didn't know you can save vs Detect Evil...

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/amQ1c0K.jpg" alt="" />

[As all things in the city contained beholders at this point one way or another, went to out]

In the De'Arnise Keep (yes, it took "ages" to get there Nalia, sweat girl with a mom who almost made marriage proposal to me) trolls were a nuisance. [The place is bugged to the core, the monsters showing up randomly, getting into permanent not-making-attack-roll loop and so on.] Golems were mostly ok [except when they delt 50+ dmg andI had to reload). With Boots of Speed I simply ouran the hulks. The guard captain could not harm my Air Elemental (from that staff), so all went excelent. Entering the throne room at clvl 20. With invisibility potion, so can lure out bosstroll w/o problem. Needs a good amount of buffs (Mirror Image is much adivsed), but is managebale.

----------

Prevented a mugging at the city gate. The guards there are entirely usless 'cause corruption. But why, oh why these merchants never have anything useful? Only +1/+2 equipments. And a coupleof spells. Atleast now I can summon Lesser Fire Elementals too, and my words (can) have power too in a way. But please dearreader don't fall asleap!
Either way it never cease to amuse me, I can sell people their own stuff. Especially if they are some elite sect of Helm guarding the Imprisoned One - whatever that would be. And the profit can be spent on such things as that Potion Bag. Solves issues.
Sadly not all issues. Those things inside the Keep looked too strong, I barely could fetch a book under their nose.

[Where'sNeeber?]

Trademeet is tyring. You go Trademeet. You go Druidic Grove. The spirit trolls can easily suprise you at their mound, so cast offensive spin to deal with them. Stumble into trolls fighting shadow druids. Let the two group weaken [also bring acidic arrows 'cause bug can prevent kiling the trolls either by acid or fire, but not both according to my experience]. Stumble into more shadow druids - they take back from their faces after a cloudkill. Sadly their leader don't stay to die. Then a pair of spore colony can easily overwhelm you with myconids if you don't offensive spin them to blast. (Alternatively try chain lightnings or fireballs.) Fight even more shadow druids. The Flesh Golem holds the two warrior up until you deal with the caster (prevent casting by magic missiles). Go Trademeet. Go Druidic Grove. Buy potions (I think this must be, as when I went with the genie's quest they "smelled" djinns on me and attacked, leaving no chance to buy stuff). Go Trademeet. Go Druidic Grove. Cast Stone Skin + MMM + offensive spin to destroy the raksasha. Go Trademeet. I was no match for the ancients in the crypt, but 3 sunfire wasno match for them. Oh, there's the issue of the skindancers too (you can hold the +1 rep for later in case you need to turn to Slayer). Go Athkatla 'cause theatre. Cast Limited Wish. Go Druidic Grove...

In the meantime took a short visit in Umar Hills - did not like the place. Those shadows annoy me (Hold Person).
Aran Linvail <i class="Italic">also</i> had to have shadows. And somehow shadowfiends can negate sunfire in cases (bug)? Arrows still work. And demons too. That stupid thief brought in an actual demon. Took a look, closed the door. Wait until noises stop. Open door for situation.

There is a fun battle: Tarnor the hatchetman&Co. Bring 2 cloudkill or such, improved invisibility, MMM, stoneskin, some summon(s), wand(s) of lightning, and immunity to electricity. Do the preparation, then go in and cast a cloudkill/incindenary cloud. Back off (preferably wear boots of speed), and shoot lightning form wand to who follows. This is because these wands are bugged, and randomly release number of charges. That's a LOT of damage. If/when they get outof the cloud run through it and cast another. MMM any archer standing in the cloud. Use any summon as meatshield when needed.
It's spectacular!
Mencar Pebblecrusher wasn't that much, but there gained back the used wand of lightning and more, so it's fine, though preventing the thief from escape is always a hassle.
Valygar - what minions he had! Stronger then him! Still, divide and conquer worked, only had to support with defensive spin.

NOTE: my "do I even try to hit?" problemseems to be related wearing the Boots of Speed. With the bard's pathetic 1 attack per round it seems to add too small number of attacks resulting in the problem where sometimes you hit 3 times consequitive, other times not for thirty seconds. Suggestion: remove Boots of Speed when fighting in melee.

-----------

Planar Sphere:
With the body of Valygar I tookup from Valygar (at this point I justaccept things as they come) opened the Sphere he mentioned. It was obvious, as he insisted he can access it alive, the Cowled Wizards insisted they can when he's dead. And I don't need a phantasm who is me backstabbing me, so he was better to be dead.
Inside I shifted, but put together a golem (me?), met a part who was supposed to be long dead and insisted to kill the demon. At least "a" demon. Did so. MMM penetrates all. I must conquere elsewhere as I conquere/d the Sphere. A sphere is a world. I was at the center of this. But it is small, even if it has many wonders making it bigger on the inside. It almost mazes me. But I'm faster!

The journey was an experience though, widened my horizons. Went to the shops and brough marvelous items to wear. Vhailor's Helm, Shield of Valduran amongst others. Onto thee beholders! Those who only watch, reach nothing!

[Liches are dumbly implemented. They havea seqeuencs of spell, and they stick to it. This sequence usually includes Maze, an extremly short distance spell. So if you keep running around, you can arrow them down.
Also, it is urban legend that you can't use prot. form undead against Kangaxx. Sure, it won't start conversation - but is ready toreact you trying to talk with it.
Even if it would be true, bard has a familiar, and I bet it'd work with summons. Simply seeing the familiar/hostile being kicks in the conversation pattern. Figured out as I went to Shangalar under the spell, and it refused to come down the table. Afer weakening it with arrows called out my dust mephit, then immediately put it back. Instant win.
I won't go to the Guarded Compound as that offers nothing to my liking, and don't need the exp.]

Did I mention I destroyed a <i class="Italic">literal</i> god? Ye, Amanuator is no more.

[At this point there's no real reason to detail the Shadow Lord's tale. Greater Mummies were hard to hit and could hit me, cleared the place using mace of disrupt + shield. Only snared at the dragon 'cause boredom.]

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

An overlooked opportunity:

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/beoylvA.jpg" alt="" />

Greater Werewolves are serious problem. I could not actually find a solution aside HLA-traps. Maybe this is where 2-3 point in two-weapon-style + extra-attack-weapon + offensive spin would be the "normal" way to deal.

The ending of the story of Windspear Hills remembers me of a book I once read and said: "This is not a fairytale. The final battle is between the dragon and the evil witchqueen. The good knight died at the beginning in syphilis."
It was a wonder of wonders, just like that wand... Or the play we're making at the Playhouse. First, I rewrote the script (using the notes Zeran's notes), now I rewrote the music too. Ok, here the intent was to <i class="Italic">replicate</i> the notes, but perfect memory is only what youhave on Mechanus. And they said it got better maybe!Could have hire that famous musician, but he was already famous, right? Need to think on the future generation. And if Marcus' talent shows because I gave him a chance to use his already developed skills - canyou imagine how grateful he might be in the future?
#EvilIsGood

On the second level to note things are easier than they look, as the major threats are bound to their own realms. So arrows are foolproof. Hardest fight was maybe the desert trolls, as they came in group. I hate snakes, especially with ability to stun. Summons can help though.
(The chromatic demon costs 3 traps)

WK lvl 3:

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/dLKRUZn.png" alt="" />

room strategy:
- 3003 and 3011 are the starting area, no action here
- 3008: Do NOT make preparations, all buffs will be removed at arrival as with all Dead Magic Zone. Start hacking the weaker demons, so the big one has time to thin things out. If you are evil - and you should be -, you can't get the Purifier.
- 3004: wear Boots of Speed at arrival. Run back to the portal and hope only 1 dmeon follows. Try Ring of Ram(s) if two comes. Use defensive spin. If you come here early, you might wanna try using Staff of Strikings (only loose charges if hit). You also might consider using anti-acid equipment (Shadow Dragon Scale/Corthala Family Armor) for this fight. When the two closes demon is finished, lay down 1-2 traps, and lure the "slayer" on you. Don't forget to kill EVERYTHING in the room.
- 3012: this is a very good reason to be evil alignment. Make pact with them. They call themselves tanari (and by race they are), but they are actually baatezu (lawful evil) by behaviour. The other group in 3013 will fight you no matter what (as you'd expect from a chaotic evil group), and these are one of the hardest battles in the entire game!
- 3009: pretty impossible room with one "wild" solution. First, wear the Sensate Amulet for prot. from evil. Second, wear the Boots of Speed to give you ANYchance to hit something. Third, and this is important, wait for the "gate" wild surge to occure. The arriving demon will finally make sure work on the quazits (it sees the invisible).
- 3005: lay down traps in twos (maximum 7 traps) around the edge and lead them on 'em one-by-one. The highest priority target is the assassin (permanent invisibility, uses assassination HLA). Not getting hurt by whirlwind is actually easy, just run around a second in Boots of Speed. Leave the mage for final, and if you don't suffer held/stun by spell/wild surge, you'll be good. Special abilities work here uneffected.
- 3007: find them one by one. Use defensive spin.
- 3014: buff heavily. This time I used: blur, improved invisibility, draw upon holy might (specialability), resist fear (flute HLA - the flute is better then it looks, as if you use up any of the charges it does not disappear for running out of the charges of a certain type, unlike fire wands), stone skin, 4*mirror image (alternate casting this and offensive spinas they are running out), offensive spin until wraith is dead.
Also: tried using Daystar's ability, with pathetic result. Had to reload.
- 3010: more intelligent design than you'd expect. First: go to the bottom left portal. Be cautious, and "peak" out from them to see ONE of the two glaberzu here, so it starts casting. Both can try summoning either a fire elemental, or an ice salamander six times (not always succeed?). Lure those one-by-one to you. When the spells deplet draw the bosses one at a time. You'll need offensive spin OR improved haste (ring of gaxx(es)) to be able to hurt them more than they hurt you.
- 3013: with a strong(?) computer this shouldn't pose that hard of a problem. The basic idea would be stone skin + MMM + blur + mirror image, wear Amulet of Power + Robe of Vecna, cast 2-3+ death fog while running around, and everyone dies.
There are a fistful of problems though.
First, the demons respawn until you kill their "slayer" boss.
Second, the game just LOVES to crash. Too many death fog? (sometimes even 2 is too many at me) Crash. Enemy casts too many things the same time (they have lightning bolt, aganzanar's scorcher, and some arrows of erinyes)? Crash. You get HIT too often in a second? Crash.
Third: the boss can, and at times do go invisible.
So yeah.
My current solution was to cast wish for double time stop + improved alactricity option, offensive spin + improved haste, and throw all my MMM on the boss,recast MMM, throw it until time stop goes away. Boss is dead. Run arounda little until game-engine stabilises, finish the rest without problem (bone golems never appeared, only had 2 imps, 1 erinyes archer who obviously do not move around, and some cornugon who are slow thus vulnerable).

----------

lvl 4 is perfectly fine, things to watch out:
- anti-paladins hit hard. So focus on them, and don't let more then 1 at the same time. Use Defensive Spin to survive.
- if bunch of illithid + umber hulk gets to you, do offensive spin (or improved haste)
- against the orcs waste your mirror images
- traps against the dragon
- you only want to open the lower and upper left seals, 'cause they are the one giving you potentially useful items. This means you don't need to waste time with the pillars/orbs/monsters room. Use traps to kill the priority-targets. You likely don't want to finish all the monsters from the Great Seal, just survive long enough for pickups and leave through the gate, never come back.
NOTE: Nalmissra costs 1 trap, Ytossi 2, The Huntress 3. Also, this was when I reached clvl 40.

Ca. this was the time too shown the Sorceror's Bane.
<b class="Bold">QUESTION</b>: out of curiosity said we must cancel the premier. I got entered the theatre,at the entrance, then the game stopped rolling. What should happen?
Either way, sold the theatre. Took my money, and even though it was an experience, I no longer need experience. And I have Windspear Hills to retire into. And if all else fails, I still have the deed for the Playhouse... Still, can't help but feel sad for Jenna:

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/V6rxA12.jpg" alt="" />

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

Act 4

Suggested equipment to bring with you: staff of air, staff of fire, balduran's shield. Also,have 2-3 free space inyour inventory for convenience.

With my contact dead, I looked for a way to get the informations. So asked around the local tainted workers, and found a guy to murder. He asked, but never knew why. That's what you get living in Pirate City.
Actually, I considered just to slaughter my way in,for the rejection of the courtesan, but devided she doesn't worth the effort. Still...

The easier solution seemed to work through the cowled wizard. Those annoyed me already.Turned out it'sa trap, so chose the alternative way. Wish I knew... Still, that book offers me True Seeing once per day, freeing up a spell memorisation.

[wish I started with 1 more wis, and 1 less int. That way I would loose another int, and have no problem wearing Valygar's armor] But this is a dream after all...
[Also: with the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialisation the Boots of Speed work correctly, thus no need to be removed during fight. It erven gives you another 0.5 attacks properly, giving the two items 2 attack per round.]

Left Imoen behind. Idon't know anymore whatshe is, if I ever knew her at all. Yes, I DO feel empty, but I'm still me. And I'm sure I should not be Imoen. Not even in my dreams. I must be MORE! For someone who destroyed no less than TWO gods, has to be more!
But what was that transformation took place when facing Bodhi? Was that me? My true self? THAT WEAKLING?
Or was the whole thing just a dream? A dream of a god... A dream of mine? In the world of the shaugains the strong rules. So mus so, only the strongest live, as right off their city-border it's everyone for their own. Well, I can do that. Play the two factions against each other, support the madder one, inducing their self-destruct, saving my land. [Besides, that Wave Halberd will come in handy.]

<b class="Bold">QUESTION</b>: why can the bard learn spells abouve lvl 6?

Act 5

The darkness of the Underworld was not enough to stop me. Maybe the fact how easily the Silver Dragon betrayed those dwarves inspired me through. Now it is dead, as well as some drow conspiratory. And the dwarves. And the kuo toa. And the illithid. And... This darkness is really a void.

[NOTE: the imprisoned mage is hard to kill. At a point it can simply decide he had enough and disappears. Prevent this by setting up traps tofinish the fight before it even starts.]

While I found the drow sity pretty multicultural, there's the question: what they have against healers? Ok, they don't like clerics. Who do. But why they do not have medics around?
Similar flaw was at the pirates: they had no merchants. I see the reason why (lacking private property toa degree), but c'mon!
They still had more in them then the stupid elves. I was NOT who merdered their trust!

[In Suldanesselar keeping alive the elf priest is a challenge. Cast improved haste, wait until you can cast another thing before enter, enter, get to the right raksasha - mage-, whack it to pieces before it cast any/more then one cloud kill. Reload if fail.]

Strange. In Suldanesselarr I got death AND victory. Just like that elf. What is if not proof this is just a dream? And I don't like dying. And I don't like getting pushed around. Why everyone assumed I was after either Imoen, or after Irenicus, or, if they dared to think, for by being a Child of Bhaal? Why can't it be about - me?
And now I'm in the Abyss. Amongst stupid little demons. Could be worse though. Could be better too. Could have looted Irenicus' body - if all this been real. Is it? Or this is all just my dying mind, all this illusion of grandeur?



[What IS interesting for the bard with the rewards of tears are to decide:
- Fear: good option sounds trivial. Aslyerferund Elven Chain is an option to consider thogh, but I'd go for better AC. Otherwise the weapon immunities practicaly have the same effect.
- Greed: factors to consider: Blackrazor is a nice thing if it works in your version, two weapon style. It likely does not effect those that'd really matter though (immunity to lvl-drain? magic resist?). Otherwise the good option is way more profitable.
- Pride: meh, anyone ever took the evil path? Sounds like playing a Fallen paladin/ranger...
- Wrath: in the original game the evil bonus is +2 STR and +1 DEX. Yes, it isn't CHA (prime stat of the class), neither STR (like at Deck of Many Things). The alternative could help you wear Valygar's and Keldorn's armor, but at this point you'll simply have better option than worry about them. Darn, I forgot to go and kill Anomen. I always do that!
- Selfishness: this is the hardest part. The bard's AC is total rubbish, so much so the bonus DO come in handy. The loss of DEX would hurt aplenty for the same reason, and even if negated by some exploit, there is the fact that bard can easily have a lot of magic resist where needed: can have 2 rings of Gaxx, can wear Carsomyr, and there is the Amulet of Seldarine, as well as a couple of other equipment (humanskin armor, Enkidu's plate etc.), so will go around with like 30% MR all the time, thus that extra 10% isn't THAT important, even if you dualwield, which I did not up to this point.

Come to that, here are some proficiency-tips for bard/kits:
- twohanded weapon style: the bard's thac0 is crap, and has low number of attacks, so better if every hit counts. Also helps with the bows (I think).
- quarterstaff: clay golems makes it a must, and there are plenty of good ones. There are ones with instantkill chances to golems and elementals too,and yes, if you are lucky, they work even on elemental princes.
- halberds: believe me, this class is a must have with the Wave Halberd. Efreets are already annoying with the constant respawn, but some salamanders later are really deadly otherwise. There are other good ones in the class too, like Dragon's Breath.
- longbow: these have more dmg/shot than the shortbows. But then it's mostly preference.
- short sword: throughout the whole series it is a solid option.
- twoweapon style: you'll likely put your points into this, on "why not" basis.
other choices are:
- dagger: starting in BG1 is hard, and that parthas very good knives in it.
- hammer: two option here: Crom Faeyr (25 STR, kills golems and trolls), Runehammer (immunity to leveldrain and fear)
- mace: not muchhere, primaly if you'll rely on Mace of Disruption for a period
- axe: axe of the unyielding is a solid choice (bonus AC, vorpal effect), also can free you from bows and their arrow-problem by throwing axes which include a nice one with fire damage (kills trolls)
- scimitars: I'm not familiar with these. I see an extra AC-one (Yamato), and the Scarlet Ninja To. Spectral Brand is a solid (although not great) choice too. I think I'll try this this time.]

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

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/MCLSuXy.jpg" alt="" />

Now I understand this dream of mine. Irenicus is ME. I am the Exile. Or could be. That is what I fight, that is what I refuse.
But what is what I refuse? I become a god - or to not? Which is the monster choice?

[The fight with Irenicus I consider Strange Behaviour from the game. I put 3 traps on the other end of the room in front of the big door, 2 traps to kill one of the 4-armed demon which can stun, and 1 trap to put a red demon near-death. Wear the lowest AC armor. The battle starts, first killing the weakened red, then the other two, than the ... slayer remaining at the big door. This result in the victory-screen for some reason.
Laying down a 7th trap result in Irenicus still living after the four demons die, and the slayer,supposed project image does NOTdisappear when hit with Carsomyr. Also, seems Irenicus never actually go down from Near Death. So in theory you hold your 7th trap, put Irenicus Near Death using offensive spin - andpossible Improved Haste form Ring of Kangaxx -, then finish him with the 7th trap.
Also, I don't like this fight 'cause Irenicus can Maze you.
Other preparations: stone skin + mirror image, possibly Fire Shield Blue. Other than finishing Irenicus this fight is ok.]

...

[At the bhaalspawn-hunter you have time to put down 3-4 traps, so that's easy. The First Challenge is also very much doable, just watc out for the final wave's casters.]

I woke up ... Wherever. Sameplace ornot, there was a Solar. Said I have no choice. I want to strangle her.

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

[Thought having gold-problem. Cespenar works expensive,andI lost like 30K when playing with the Deck of Many Things. Not that it's anything that important, mostly Aslyferund. Well, I HAD problem until I sold all the soldier-weapons of the arrival.
Lastly, the tavern wrench left the inn and refused to talk to me - whatever, I think. Update: she went back after I visited the local mageand worked properly.
Hint: don't forget to aquire Scroll of Improved Haste to create Improved Cloak of Protection incase you need this.
The execution-quest canbe started and abandoned when stealing the shakti-figurine (not that it is any good) and the starfall ore.

Many enemies are weak, and if you got the ability, or whatever-armor you assemble, you canspare time if you do two weapon fighting.

As in the sewers you need to unlock a door requiring giant strength - you don't waste a spell justfor this,do you? - is a reason to carry over Crom Faeyr. I brought through 2 spellcontainer, 1 arrow bag, gem bag, bag of holding.

Gromnir is... Not much. The mage in the sewer has a darn Maze, so wear there resist magic. In the throne room suit for damage, get a stone skin, fire shield blue, and offensive spin. Aim for the mages and when theyare down you can cast mirror image along stone skin. Have your weapon do elementaldamage to bypass stone skin of tha mages.]

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

Yaga Sura:

Master Wraith: try pulling out from the inside what you can. It is a good combination of casters and fighters. I used offensive spin in magic resistant gear, but that's just me.

Marching Mountains: easier than it looks. With a good AC armor you're mostly safe from normal giants (NOT if there are more than 2), so primaly concentrate on elite giants. Also wear Ring of Fire Control while here, and quaff a Potion of Fire Resistance.
You want to kill Imix, so I hope you brought the Wave halberd.

Siege Camp: Place 3-4 traps before the bridge, run in, hit Yaga, run ca. the middle of the bridge, whack yourself out of the spawning group, let's hope the casters with insect plague and such don't hit (that's mostly equals death. Might help to swap in Carsomyr), lure Yaga on the traps.

Challenge 2: make a symulacrum lay down the seven possible traps within. Can be done in 2 groups by distance - that equals 2 dead enemy instant. You can reach -23 AC here (I took the evil reward for Greed by the way), do so. You'll mostly be unhittable (only Tomoko has the thac0 for it, but she should die by the traps at spawning).

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

Abazigail:

- Mr. Son-at-the-arrival 's human form is a joke, his weapon is ineffective. So remove the stalkers, then hit 'im. I mean after you set a bunch of traps at the start. It is important to not destroy the human form by traps, else the game will linger forever.
The dragon form will wing you to your traps. Lure it on 'em and ta-duh.
- when enter the werewyvern is regenerating too fast, no matter whatyoudo. I hope you brought something with vorpal effect (ravager halberd/axe of the unyielding).
- swimming through the first tunnel brings you to some uber-salamander. You're in deep trouble if youdon't have the Wave halberd.
- avoid the eyes by drinking invisibility potion (or use ring of invisibiity, or similar)
- go and get the BMU when you can
- no reason not to let guard dragon live
- you must hit Abazigail's human form w/o traps (pretty straighforward, especially if you have the Scarlet Ninja To, just cast stoneskin, mirror image when needed along offensive spin, also use blur and fire shield blue as buff. Potion of heroism is also good). Then you'll need as many traps you can lay to get rid of the dragon form. Use scorcher ammo to get rid of the salamanders before the fight. Actually the dragon-form has 2 way to kill you: one is cast fear (you might try resis fear from bard flute, if it lasts through the human form), the second its breath which can oneshot even a total-HP bard (I have 167 HP).

Challenge 3:
swap into the BMU, wear negative plane protection from whatever source, and whack the slayer away as fastas possible (offensive spin + improved haste).
Come to think of it: so here I destroyed the Slayer inside me... Maybe this is related to giving a piece of bhaalpower to Sharevok? What "insignificant" part did I gave to him? Maybe - maybe the part that led to Bhaal's demise? That ultimate part of the power - which murders the last opposition: Me?

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

Sendai:

- just attack the huntsman, don't bother with the area.

This picture tells oh-so-more if you've seen some Bud Spencer movie:
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/uOxdQkJ.jpg" alt="" />

- I confess maybe never did the spider passage. Neither now. If I have immunity to weapons, I'll use it.
- Ogremich can't hit -25 AC. Just a hint.
- Sendai takes FOREVER to kill. First: wear the BMU when enter, 'cause you NEED the AC, else Sendai will constantly harass you with Harm (target's HP instantly drops to 1). I hope you have immunity from Tears of Bhaal too... 'cause she has infinite summons at her final stage. Concentrate on HER, but stay at the door, and kill any drow coming from there when you don't see Sendai - this way you can save after every stage.
I'm not sure what's the winning condition at her final stage. She sure teleports and selfheal a lot. Whenever you can, hit her with two weapons (the extra attack the Scarlet Ninja To gives IS really useful). Whenever you can't reach her but can go to her platform, switch to a twohanded weapon. If youcan't get to her (because of summons) you might try to use the BMR with scorcher ammo, or depending her running spells arrows.
It takes forever, but you can win.
Oh, in case you'd try traps, don't try to lay them on the platform south of the entrance - the last statue-form comes alive next to that (at least did to me), and use up the traps.

Challenge 4:
Wear Enkidu's Plate. Or if youdon't have that one, the upped Thieves Hood. Else you'll have a hard time...

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

Balthazar:

B. has a crapload of HP, and is annoying, so:
- SAVE BEFORE entering the building! This is crucial, asa bug can prevent B. to spawn, or something.
- at the entrance lay down SIX traps.
- when the confrontation starts, run back to the traps. IF other monk follows, dispose that before getting to the traps.
- profit.

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/Xe0wfU9.jpg" alt="" />

Challenge 5: killing Bhaal. That's what, the 3rd god I destroy? At the least.

Winning here is not easy, far from it. But I have a sure way to victory:
- memorise Wizard's Eye
- cast Stone Skin
- cast Melf's Minute's Meteor
- sleep
- cast simulacrum (preferably from Vhailor's Helm)
- case Wizard's Eye
- with the help of the Eye make the Simulacrum lay down traps where the Ravager will appear
- finish the deal. The last of the Child of Bhaal dies.

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/RtaBwaK.jpg" alt="" />

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

Stats (w/o equipment):
<div class="Spoiler"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Q6Hwpgm.jpg" alt="" /></div>

Equipment notes:
- boots: Boots of Speed
- gloves: Gloves of Extraordinary Specialisation
- helm: Helm of Balduran. Occasional use of Vhailor/Death helms for charges.
- rings: 2*Ring of Gaxx, one replaced by Ring of Fire Control in Yaga Sura's Lair
- cloak: Montolio's Cloak
- belt: either a STR belt, or the Belt of Inertial Barrier. Mostly depends on your initial STR-stat
- amulet: Amulet of the Master Harper, with occasional swap of Amulet of Seldarine for magic resist, or Amulet of Power for negative plain protection
- armor: Asyflerun is good when you plan on casting. BMU if not. Enkidu's plate where is chance of backstab, or you can't fit with the size of the BMU
- weapon: this time I used Storm Star + Scarlet Ninja To for the majority of time, Carsomyr as swap, Wave Halberd for instant kills, Ravager for vorpal effect against werewyvern, BMR. As main weapon you actually have a lotof flexibility, but you NEED the Wave and you NEED the vorpal effect to deal with the wyvern.
- shield: Shield of Balduran against that Hive Mother (save, because of imprisonment)
- arrows: scorcher ammunition
- quick items: Book of Many Spells, various healing potions, potion of fire resistance, potion of invisibility, potion of heroism
- spells: stone skin, mirror image, spike trap, resist fear, seath spell, Wizard's Eye, MMM

twillight 19-01-2018 10:59 AM

Divine Divinity, Hard difficulty
 
Catacombs lvl 4 was actually normal finaly. Some tips though:
- you can't pass through certain stuff. I mean containers. The monsters can though, so don't try to build a barricade.
- a lot of the game is randomized, even ALL the attributes on unique items (aside what comes from being that item type, like AC). For this you might want to save&reload at certain points. Until this the four tombs on catacombs lvl 3 provided a chance to this as they drop good quality but random item type. Also, on lvl 4 there is a "Shoes of the Scorpion" - most people go for 5 charm slots here and more, I got on 2nd try a +1 sight +1 traders tongue, poison resist (the level has some poison damage).
- look at EVERYTHING. Just because it is broken to dust, doesn't mean itdoes not contain items! (most fresh food, but whatever)

Catacombs lvl 5:
- kill all undead outside the inner complex, else you loose that exp
- here are some locked chests, and seems lockpick WILL fall. That signs you should probably put 1 into lockpick here
- the map is kinda ok, except the floor tiles. Inside them you can find free good l00t, except there are miniboss guardians, and no room to manouver, fo they are a big middlefinger. Still worth hope the boss won't be in the vicinity immediately, so save&reload here for something good. I got amace with 4 charm slot, and 3 in stun, also faster than the usual maces. The stun is actually annoying as dead enemies tend to linger, making you not switch enemy right there :( Well, at least I know how that skill works, and won't invest into it myself.
EDIT: the rooms are: top left: has an archer/caster miniboss aka. bad news but also has a green hammer aka. good quality to grab. Enemies do not follow you to other eras, so you might go for it. The bottom left has a spider of ginormous level and ranged attack but no good stuff. The cellars on the right have a guardian skeleton and a summoner which can summon other summoners too at random, but managable if you save regularly. They drop item too just in case.
EDIT2: the archer/caster can be disposed too, at the price of ca. 30 potions, which sounds a waste as the miniboss don't drop anything of quality. The spider deals oneshot damage for me at this state, so can't even try.
- sleep, pack 2 bread (that amount of food is allowed between resting or something), visit the shopkeer who had the shady visitor + produces drugs, and then hire the zombie npc on catacombs lvl 1 before entering the lvl 5 compex. Also bring all healing/mana potions you have as you won't be able to come up w/o loss of exp. When you leave the complex all remaining enemy inside will die, also the mentioned shopkeeper, and also the zombie hireling (it is an ok company, but has no chance against the archer/caster minibioss or the spider, and also gets instant death if he leaves the underground, not to mention any kill it does is lost exp to you, but there'll be MANY enemy for the final fight, so why not bring him).
EDIT: actualy, the zombie-guy is either useless, or mandatory at the final confrontation, which you'll NOT be able to empty, as it is like Uber Tristram. It isa limited area with all four miniboss in it, and zounds of minions of them. During the speech of cutsceen the zombie-guy got eaten - so either it was useless to bring it, or it got eaten instead of me (not tested)!
- The village has some chests locked, one that requires lvl 2 lockpick (or more. Turned out there isa randomfactor here too?). There are 2 locked chests too in this level. But do NOT have ANY points in lockpick, else you'll loose a free point!

Good to know: chests can not be broken. This means if they are locked, you must lockpick them to open. This is not true for potsand such though, so switch to weapon mode there and crush'em. Before you know the repair skill/have not-broken weapon, this should be done with a spare-weapon ("minion knife") preventing your stronger weapon from breaking.
Weapons loose durability by using them, not when you get hit. So bows must be repaired too, fairly regularly too.

In theory warriors invest in strength and use melee weapons, mages in intelligence and cast spells, while survivors rise their agility thus have a very good chance to hit, which means by intention they are bow-users. this doesn't function all-too-well in the game itself though.

Next thing is, to put the teleport stone to the head-mage as he heals free from now on, and thatdoes not take time. Why is that important? Because there comes a timed quest, that's why! (Timed quests are very rare, this being the only one aside another which must be done in1 day. This has a 10 ingame day limit.)
Leave the village and follow the road. Slowly. Have sound on and if you hear or see anything, wait/search&destroy.
Beware, as at a point, not even too far from the village is a MASS of orcs. Also, 1-2 orc is manageable, 3 already likely results in drinking potions. The warrior's special attack comes in VERY handy during this. After EVERY fight port back to the town and get healed! Mana is not recharged though, so watch out for that.

On the road to the barracks you'll find a mark-line on the road. Save here, then get closer to initiate a cutsceen. The result is, a high level enemy drops the bucket, and with a chance drops a random item. Or ca. 240 gold, or nothing. I said I do deserve an item here, especially as I had slots yet not filled with anything. The first semi-useful stuff was a +40 HP ring, settled for that. Hoped for a sword, but I won't reload just for that who-know-how-many-times.

Passing you'll reach a bridge. You should attack the trolls there (ye, those thingies attacking the soldiers are supposedly trolls) soyou get the exp for them. They are pushover anyway.

What are NOT pushover are the orcs in mobs (approach slowly), the orc drummers (area heal which applies to them too, has no attack if there is no other unit on screen - otherwise they can onehit you!), and Heavy Orcs which are orc minibosses (I seen only 1 but assume there can be more). Oh, the orcs hunt for boars, which hunt for you, so attack the pigs first for the exp, then port for healing as needed.

Anyway, right after the bridge. Go a bit north to bump into a traveling salesman. He isn't really special, but sells 100 AC armors if you need it, and maybe other things to fill upyour slots, so maybe save before and pack up some of your stuff stored in the village. I actually brought there containers from the catacombs to separate the various stuff. If you follow the vendor's instructions you should stumble into a farm. They'll entrust you to kill some trolls (always get the quest for clearing certain area before you comit the massacre else you may fail the quest-exp), also sending you to the barracks you're heading.
They also mention related to the troll-quest some Reginald (who they say in the end givesno reward at all) who is standing with Tom who'llsend you to find some thief, Dorian. He's actualy a good guy and siding him worth 3 reputation point which means cheaper shops when it'll come to that.

When you reach into a village-or-what you'll be approached by a drunk. BEFORE this cutsceen you should dropp all your gold except 10. The guy is a thief. When done go a bit further for the warning of a thief. Great. Now when you'll have levels, abilities, stats and decent equipment come back and be all bloody with the thief. He's high level and worth exp, and any other approach to this otherwise inconsequential ~quest result you keeping all your gold and that's it.

Oh, in the meantime when you teleport back to healing (btw, it is not a fullheal, just a healing spell, so repeat the ask of healing as many times you need that to fill maximum), go to the lizard-guy and ask for his teleportation-waypoint-activating-scroll.

Oh, and don't forget to enter the DrawvenInn - one character gives you 3 free reputation (refuse the gem), and the dwarven activation scroll. Even if you don't need the scroll, the reputation is precious (gives better prices at shops if you have a lot). I went there pretty late in the game, and never evenseen the dwarf!

When you reach the barracks the guy who the loveletter was sent sends you on a quest behind the Cursed Abbey. I cponfused some information, so this was the way I wanted to go, and I still had time. Time is of the essence now, don't forget that. Be cautious while hurrying as going along the Abbey's walls (do NOT enter, yet) the monesters are planted in the ground, and they WILL grow out of it. And yes, at places they could come in groups (do not try that, if you can't avoid use bow).
If you want the full experience do NOT enter the cursed church either (yet), but it worth to visit the farm nearby as it gives a green item with guaranteed charm slots. I got a bloody good one for the first try (5 charms, 20 HP, 10% poison resist).

I went to Verdistis, to the Thief Guild. Here you NEED 1 pickpocket and 1 lockpick to pass the initiation, and for that you get a free point in either evade traps, pickpocket or lockpick. Traps are really not frequent, and you only need 2 pickpocket which means barely any clvl requirement. The most influential skill is lockpick, and AFTER the initiation here you can get another point in it (for the price of 5,000 gold. If you don't want it, you can instead gain 5,000 gold and ca. 25,000 exp, IF your lockpick skill is already 5).
As I realised here I was only lvl 10, I went back to the barracks, to the general, whose behaviour started my whole sidetrack. You know if you enter her eoom w/o completing a work for her, she acts upset. This does not have consequences though.
Watch out, that before talking her first, and asking permission to grab stuff in the barracks, you should not pick up anything, or else.
When talking to her an orc attack will happen, but the attackers are highly overwhelmed. You might mother trying to steal kill-exps, or you can stay and put everything in your pockets. What you can do anyway as long as you have permission for equipment (but you'll get scolded every time you enter her room). The locked chest in her room is lvl 3, or was when I first tried,and I wanted to open it right away, but - oh whatever.

twillight 20-01-2018 08:41 PM

So, with all the shennaningans aside, let's mention there are random people giving cutscenes at times which are nowhere mentioned, neither will be here. This is because they have no effect on anything. One of these is the demon-thingy which appears if you wish to enter or leave Verdistis. Just go with the flow,and give the answers thatmake sense toyou personaly.

Oh, if you are interested: to get enough slvl in lockpick I went Random Monster Hunting. This goes pretty well around the cursed abbey, the planted undead worth ok exp. The wasps, wolves and snakes not so much, but still. Also, watch out what crawls from the gorund, there are proper "zombies", which are the local miniboss-version,aka. they can oneshot you and have zillion HP. So use a bow. Save right before they die, and reload until you find something useful. Know this though, they mostly drop only armor pieces, no jewelry, and they never drop maces or swords (only daggers, staves and axes).
Oh, and the stun skill (slvl 3) does squat in the area on anything, so this marks any skill related to Spirit Resistance aweful.
PS: I got lucky and got an item with +1 lockpick at lvl 12. Still had like 5-6 days left until the quest deadline (contacting the general).

Good news is, in the barracks were a crapload of not-too-stat heavy swords. Twohanded, but armor isn't as important as damage. Could dispose the drunk-thief,and also some ninja. From that later quest learnt all NPC are State Police, and if you grab an item even if they have no business with it they get pissed. So I reloaded and won't try again. Of course stashed the stuff as soon he went away the quest being done.

Here comes an important and pretty convoluted quest: the plague. To start it rolling, speak with Hugh. From him you must go the the Convenient Cave. Then report back to Hugh, and the first part is done. I say let's go and join the thieves guild for 20 extra agility of Infinite Lockpick!
And while there we start the chief police's quest, which will turn out to be the same quest as the starting village's merchant's murderer. The best thing is, these will give a point in the healing skill (not used much nowdays).

In addition: in one of the houses there is a weightless bed. Ye, instant magical sleeping place. But in a world where mages are a different race entirely despite looking human... Ye, that character option is actualy not just class-option but race!

Another feature: time to time sell out your eqipment. Every ingame day the shopkeepers refresh. Why you need to give away your accumlating crap part of equipment? Because you need cash! This world is similar to the Fallout universe: everyone only have minute amount of cash, but you desperatly need hugh heaps of the currency, because of coding-limitation. Couldn't those people just accept laser machineguns for those operations like a regular vendor, please?

Did I say we go vampire-hunting? Well, we don't, that bugger is strong, and can run. Let's see where we can level up. The important thing is, to not be trusted to gather some Coumcil.
Oh, and I was strong enough to dispose the archer/caster miniboss in catacombs lvl 5.

Went to kill the roll king and mostly clearthe area around the starter village. Heavy Orcs shall be shot, drummers avoided, but the troll king is pretty mediocre. The trick is, to concentrate first on the spawned minions (they are not summons, so don't get replaced), then port away, get healed/sleep, go back.

In the Blue Boar Inn got a free point in Traders' Tongue. Good to have, not good enough to invest. What I want is damage and defense, not utility skills.

Had some goals, but one way or another they got barred. The good news is, got to the Shrine of Good and Evil, which is told to work at randomly lowering or upping one of your stats. I reloaded for +5 STR, so now I can wear all the nifty equipment I know about. Actualy could maybe use a ton of constitution - or just a crpload of levels to not die from randomly placed minibosses who can run. Seriously, who designed this? Not that I'm complaining oh-so-much, this is a pretty good Diablo 1.5. A bit dated, but as the game is hugh, and I was always into decifering such games, I'm fine with it.

So, how about joining another guild? Merchants are best! So after seeing Elrath (Siege of Avalon reference?) leaving the poor qurater, I decided why not (because a part of a story is there, although inconsequential otherwise).
After getting the quest to kill maria covered for some cattle-thief, then spoke with maria and decided to switch side here too.
Tried to enter the quaranteen area, but Lain - despite a walkthroughsays so - did not give the key of it. So I had to lockpick. In theory most of the Poor Quater shuld be visited BEFORE joining the thief guild storywise (at least Lain), but I'm sure I'm not reloading just for this minute thing!
As it was nighttime when I came out, and because looking for the entrance spoke with Malachias, went looking for the "disappearing emerald". It is WEST from the old beggar, and nothing indicates it but its radioactive glow. If/Whenyou follow it will be zapped by a mage once, then have to fight 4 goons.

Went to the archer guild for a teleport scroll, and freed the hostages nearby. Clearing the house is an entirely different thing though, as the local miniboss is strong and can run.
My next move will be to try to free some kiddo from a vampire where 2 quests send me (no idea why twoquestor for 1 quest). There it'll be losing stats (1 each), but I gained one more level, so cancompensate.

Things to spend gold on it:
- 2,002 gold for the Silver Set quest
- 2,500 gold needed for Feing Death potion
- 3,000 gold needed for 1 point in Traders' Tongue
- 3,000 gold is Leptine's debt
- 5,000 gold needed for 1 point in Lockpick
- 10,000 gold needed for maximum benefit at Wishing Well
- 30,000 gold to buy a house

shapeshifting statues: no idea what they do, but there is a vendor in Vesteros, I mean Verdistis who sells cat-statues. In the firstarea found a spider statue as a random drop from an orc.

Found 2 graverobber (why you don't loose karma for this kind of activity like in Fallout?) who worked for the necromancer met in catacombs lvl 5. They fled when told their employer is dead, and I grabbed the loot.
Entered the Fort nearby, three Evil shown up, all Fort turned hostile, all Fort turned dead 'cause I killed all. Drank a minor healing potion 'cause I drived myself into situation carelessly. oOtherwise normal healing did the job good enough. I need to upp the healing spell, and I need a crapload more HP by the way.
Oh, reached the vampire, and saved the boy. Here to note,despite popular belief, you don't loose 1 point in STR/AGI/INT, but FIVE point in INT along the 1 point losses of the others. Constitution is not harmed. Of course the vampire is onehitting me (that means 200+ HP dmg from it). So will come back later. These bosses are stupid!
Oh well, let's gain that merchant-membership. And if I was already there, went to the thief guild and got that 5th point in lockpick.
NOTE: I'm either waaaay under/overleveled, or the exp-rewards in the walkthroughs are waaay inadequate.

twillight 24-01-2018 08:37 PM

Baldur's Gate Trilogy Solo Bard (final)
 
Melissan:
Jumped into the BMU, casted sequencer, spell trigger, chain contignency. Because every little bit helps. Everything can be sold with traps, a scroll of simulacrum, a scroll of wish, and plenty of reloads, EXCEPT the first fight ya know.
Bard has trouble hitting anything, and has trouble having proper defenses, and lacks a good amount of firepower. Mirror image will be stripped like right there, but casted it anyway. Stone skin lasts, especialy if Melissan summons badly (beholders have their own difficulty which result in either potiondrinking or death, and one time she had an army of bone golems which could not move getting stucked in her and each other).
Still have the problem of Melissan's own stone skins, and AC, and constant summoning, and high HP.

I used upped Spectral Brand + Scarlet Ninja To for maximum attack = damage.

Before stepping through, drank a potion of invulnerability (her stun can still pass through), potion of 24 giant STR, potion of speed, potion of regeneration (because every bit helps, and it has some turns duration). No idea what got stripped when the battle started.

After one or two useless attempt called out a simulacrum (from Vhailor's helm) to cast Khelben's Wharding Whip. At arrival, meaning I casted it when spawning but Melissan not started to talk (there is a fragment of a second to pause for action). As much as I could added improved haste (kangaxx charges). Never got around checking what overrides what, or they work in comco despite descriptions.
And she went down finaly.

Seal 1 is easy, especialy could use the simulacrum to dispose the prince. After that sent the sim to lay traps while finishing the rest.

Seal 2's only problem is you can't go in in BMU, but any summon (khittix is the smallest of pawns) lures them out.

Seal 3's only solution as far as I can see is to lay down 2*2 traps afar, lure the mariliths on them to die, hope the nymph don't charm you or whatever conditions they can throw at you, then finish the solar. Who is actualy not that much of a problem at all. Especialy if you activate Spectral Brand's +10 thac0 ability while offensive spin is running (the solar is absolutely no threat with -25 AC the BMU provides, but takes forever to hit it too).
Funny thing though, turned out there was (is) a 2nd nypmh-or-what there, but I clicked on the pool before it could react,and the game said it's fine for it, don't worry. So I did not.

--------

And my character's final choice?

Melissan: "No! The bhaalspawn has NOT won! I would die first!"
Solar: "But you can not die. You are defeated, yet you can not die. You will do nothing, and that is your fate, Amelyssan."

Well, it's not much of a choice, is it? Eternal suffering and predestination, or freedom and a mortal life.

---------

Seems though there IS a ~neutral ending. What would fittingly deny from me another intercourse. Just why can't I get laid in this game?

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/55gBGhk.jpg" alt="" />


---------------
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PS: I'm sad that Wizardslayer don't work as its description implies,namely it can use despite telling otherwise:
- helms
- boots
- belts
- gloves
- shields
- protection scrolls

I considered a wizardslayer/druid a remaining challenge,maybe, but without the proper limitations I see no point trying. But if someone would take it as a voluntary challenge, I'd gladly read about it.

twillight 25-01-2018 09:57 PM

Divine Divinity, Hard difficulty
 
A quick note: where you find the spot you were found at the neginning, the text claims how familiar it is. But there is no sword to pick up despite every suggestion.

A second quicky: if you bash a trapped container (barel) the trap goes away.

Found a piece of the Treasure Map (1/4). It was guarded by a LOT of spiders, so warrior special skill is awesome. The cave might have some highlevel head-spider, but that's just a regular spider not a miniboss, so don't worry.
Nearby gamebanshee's map/guide shows a troll king - it does not drop fenomenal, so don't reload (unless you need gold and can sell it).

Also, near the starting village is an orc ambush marked by a road made of pieces of gold. Seems the orc drummer is somewhat weaker there, could kill it after destroying its troops (everything else was oneshot). The way to kill it was to let it attack me (attack from the fron) so it won't drumheal.

So, back on track. Enter Riverdale, I mean Rivertown, and pick up the Black Market quest(s) from Liutenant Robin and Marcus (beware, finishing these quests mean the trap-seller merchant of the game will be gone for good). And get proof on Elrath, as well the healing potions. IMPORTANT to not give the evidence to the questor, else we fail solving the quest of the murder from the beginning of the game!
Oh, and in theory BEFORE you visit Elrath, change words with Commander Ralph who'll mention 3 things (but only 1 is marked as quest): the orc invasion, the plague, and the duke's death (which is suspiciously similar to the GoT event). Do NOT report to ANY success to him though before killing that darn murderous vampire in Versistis!

Now, working forMarcus the way you go to his cart you reach the Drawen Inn. Directly south of it you'll stumble into a one-time seer-merchant who can sell animal-transformation statues: spider, cat and frog I've seen. As this was the first time I saw a frog, I got it (each cost almost 4K gold, so save to ensure you get the statue youwant and pack up from your storage). If youreach that cart befoire gaining the quest from Marcus you loose exp.
Note: Earlier had a problem with some though near Stormfist Castle. With 240 HP instead of 60 they were pushover.
Now in Elarath's house there is a lever-clicking puzzle (annoying), and a "djinn". Seriously. But it's not THAT much of a threat with good equipment, but heal yourself when you get hit, 'cause it can do miniboss-quality hit (120-150 dmg I suspect).
Get the two Cure Plague potions and the letter to Elrath. There is not much in the house otherwise. When you try to leave you'll be kicked out and the house will be permanently locked. Big deal, it should be empty be now. The problem is, right you get out of the borders of the village/town you'll be attacked by 3 enemy - not, it is not at a fixed location, so you can't teleport for healing. Iate the roasted pork to heal back (it heals a ton). Although they should be pushover (at this point).

Minor event: in the Farm section on the northeastern field found an open grave with a corpse at it. When I went looting the obviously-unfinished dig, some snakes attacked me, and there was a key in thepit. No idea what it is good for, I always just pick up every key and if it'll be used up it'll be used up. If not, then not. Actualy, there isa locked chest right there with 100 gold (so no reload).
This was when I went reporting success to Hugh (actualy, you can babystep-report to him everything, like door open - report, talk with bartender - report etc., but I assume there's no reward atevery step, and actualy the final reward is 1,000 BUGGED gold,aka. not good for anything), and curing the plague victims. To heal all 3 victims, you need 2 points in Pickpocket (including items). Strange thing is, despite my weapon has points in extra damage skills AND they DO work, that's not showing up on my skill tab. Maybe thatmeans I can deal pretty extra damage if I invest in those, maybe hard point would override the item, or the higher point override the lesser one. Who knows.

As I currently have a crapload (9) skillpoint, put some in identify monster (later reload to not waste it) and checked that bloody vampire-murderer (and the other which stole stat). Those dang things are lvl 30, have 4,000 HP, and deal200-500 dmg! WTF! And they run, and there isn't any space to manouver anyway.
Btw, to avoid such problems, likely 2 points in Identify Monster would be convenient (shows damage of monster).
Ah, and finaly managed to kill the spider in Catacombs 5, if anyone remembers. Still was a close call, but duh.

Managed to kill 2 orc drummers. they were just past the bridge from the first area. Actualy befoire this was a third, but that barely had any HP. It wasnearthe dwarven village or something. So, one went up and started to fight a guard of the bridge, meaning it did not drum and the guard had infinite HP (also seemingly no dmg now), so I joined inand killed the bugger. The other (nearby) drummer I got behind and either got extremly lucky, or it was at least a bit lower level, so whacking it from behind worked.
Still can't defeat the drummer in the orc camp of the first area where you can go below to the catacombs. Feels stupid. Tried to move it to the bridge, but it always go north.
But another good news: managed to kill the hostages-situation band. There IS an advantage going from the north "suprising" them, as 2 henchmen from the outside do not come in, and the ones inside don't have much space, AND you start right with the head honcho what is a definite advantage.

-----------

Seems at this point there are 2 major point to screw up quests:
- the Corina's summoning is a particularly long chain of events
- the Solve the Murder quest/s which would be failed if got the Gather the Council of Seven.
So all else is free for the taking, of course some minor "get quest before doing quest" thingy.

There is an "ancient battlefield". You touch the stone, skeletons appear in great number. Hope you'rea warrior, 'cause the special skill will make your life infinitely easier. It's just normal catacomb-skeletons and a couple of summners, no real fuss if you have AOE-attack. The stone only activates once.

As the mercs in the cave (they appear inside and block your way out) were a bit though for now - could kill them by using potions though -, instead went todeliver that ancient letter to Mitox. He gave me some explosives, and THAT is told to carry where it supposed to ASAP, 'cause the quest can fail otherwise according to some sources. Better safe then sorry, I went.
Oh, Mitox said something about some "supply tent", but it is either the Fort I already cleared, or not in the game.
Btw, seems this is a good point to start clearing the maps from the orcs. They won't grow stronger, and the only"problematic" (aka. can't melee them) are the giant heavy orcs (giantsize blue beasts). As the game gives less and less exp for monsters every levelyou have, and more and more exp for quests at the same condition, however boring, this is advocated.

With some found gear (another +40 HP, slightly better AC) could finaly destroy the stupid orc drummer at the start. It involved luck, 'cause it could hit too big damage, but it is down, and that's what's most important. It got on my nerves to remember it.

There is a mineshaft in the south. It has some orc, the problematic is the giant one, but there's enough room to manouver around with the bow.

Encountered the "orc spy" - as there's no consequence otherwise killed it for the exp. Looks giant, but it's a simple orc, so less threat, can be done in melee.
Addition to it there's the "secret orc camp". It is not mentioned anywhere, maybe gamebanshee gave it a name because it is a pretty large location and that's it. oh, it is mentioned by some random orc dude also nearby.
Now one thing: do NOT clear the Main Orc Camp, where the well you have to poison is. No idea what it'd do, but better not accidently mess up the game, ok? They SAY you could massacre the camp right now, but that'd look dumb, and asI don't attack neutral thingies (like rats), consider this a bit of roleplay.

Used the wishing well. For +10 STR. Maybe AGI would be better considering all the highlevel enemy, but Istarted to feel STR neglected, so duh. In theory lategame you can get instead 1 clvl which'd mean 5 stat and 1 skillpoint in comparsion, but I don't really can spend all my skillpoints.
Oh, note relating to this: someone somewhere reported poison from two sources (poison weapon +poisonarrow) do not accumlate. No idea on what's if your weapon has elemental skill on it, and you have the same too.
With lvl 21, 75 STR, 70 AGI, and 277 max HP managed to dispose the two assassin in the cave of Marcus (u know what I'm talkin' 'bout) by casting restoration (it's seriously annoying the next point can only be gained free by killing thatvampire...!) and eating 2 dose of food. I thought I'll need minor restoration potions, but not.

With luck I hadthe potential to kill the vampire in the dark cave and get the Boots of the Vampire. Settled for a 270 AC, 15/20 resistances, 5 charmslots variant. I mean that's a crapton of resistance and maximum charm slot. The AC might be mostly irrelevant IF the game aims on bodyparts. So maybe I'll use the 70AC, 15/20 resist, 8 STR, 1 sight distance one. Will see tomorrow.
Oh, before I forget: in the chest with the poison cloud spellbook (the vampire was immun to it) got that unique staff. Not intostaff of course, but it got 2 in Freeze. Well, storing it just to be sure.

From the manual: "the armor values of different items do not add up". Still, if you DO get hit on your toes...
And that high-AC variant was my first. But that "sight really would come in handy. But that STR only means +3 dmg. But there's nothing much else that'd mean DMG.

twillight 28-01-2018 06:45 PM

Broken Sword 2, Divine Divinity continued
 
Seems what I actually wished to play way Broken Sword 1, but this teached me nostalgia might overrate things.
I mean this game has a lot of offenses, like:
- the character says no longer available for talk. Leave and talk with it again to further in the game.
- "combine banana with toaster to summon aliens to desintegrate the locked door to pass"
- mazes
- pixelhunting
- unexplained controls
so I mean all thepossible offenses an adventure-game can dash on you.
And it doesn't help it is actualy a combination of Monkey Island, Prisoner of Ice, with the Big Bad being Skeletor.

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

Back to the bigger project:
- reloaded a couple of times to solve my Vampire Boots dilemma, and realised resistance is not THAT important, given I yet to face elemental attack using foes, with Magic Barrier I can have 25 resist all, and with Heaven's Blessing 40% more, and that's already 65%. Add some charms to the equation and you're covered.
On the other hand charm slots are nice, but as you can't empty them they won't be filled soon. And you don't swap equipment that many times, the uniques are that though anyway. And I need right at the moment HP, and preferably mana too.
So in the end it is between 60 HP/mana + 1 sight + 6 STR vs 20/20/10 resistances 20 HP. I can cover the missing resists later. Actualy the deciding factor was included that +sight, cause how many times you have that, but it really helps when have to fall back to archery, and can relieve skillpoints that way.
Oh, for the record: the time I killed the vamp, it actualy got stuck in the wall(?) and could kill w/o fear of retribution. Good for me...
- went and solved Marcus' quest to be done with that. Also reported both questor the death of the vampire. Marcus'quest unlocks a new area proper, and finaly could learn how many telekinesis I'll need: 1. Oh, and don't forget to save&reload before identifying the sword Pedro drops. It can be incredibly good. Oh, and climb back where you came from do NOT try the other exists.
Lastly: in the sewers there is a Lizard Mage. In melee it hits hard, so bow it down. Will drop a strong (not very nifty, but strong) piece of stuff, might worth check it out.
A hint to make life easier: when entering the sewers babystep in and wait until a though comes out and attacks you. The noise will attrackt the rest of the goons EXCEPT Pedro. Life is good.

I think time for another skill-rating:
powers of matter: hellspike, deadly disc and hellspike are spells (so no idea), energy cage suffers SRR, limb of the dead is useless if you melee, telekinesis is a utility (will see how many points will needed), polymorph is broken (permanent instead of duration), skeletal wall is a summon.
powers of body: wizard's sight is useless, bless has low duration, withering curse has extremly short duration, restoration is the heal spell, aura of guarding and spellshield are useless (use restoration instead), magical might is mediocre, fade from sight is useless utility.
elemental powers: all things here are spells, except freeze which is broken
power of summoning: everything here is either a summon, or a buff for summons, except banish. I think with a strong enough character you cansimply whck things though.
path of the specialist: aside sword there aren't unique ( = guaranteed overpowered) variants, and sword even gives you a free extra point, so duh. Hammers seem especialy suck, and spear/staff although is there are totaly weak. Crossbow is slow, and might still not add the damage frm the skill which'd make them suck, and they are hard to find. Bows, especialy if you find a big one with extra speed and dmg are solid, but the skill only incrises speed and not chance to hit or something so duh. Shield don't play in the game when you have good enough stats for twohanded weapons and their damage.
path of the ranger: elven sight for 1 point helps a ton at the start or if your equipment lacks +sight attrib later too. Depending on your findings and patience you might need another point, or settle for one. The rest of the skills relate to bow specialist, and they suck.
path of the warrior lore: augment damage is weak - I mean considering the stats of the enemy being 4K HP and 500 dmg per hit, there +10 dmg don't do much. Repair is useful, but as maximum duration do not change 1 point is enough. Stun is broken. Augment Defense is actualy helpful. Repel damage is aweful, the elemental damage skills are tecnicaly ok, but the payoff realy comes with alot of point in each given they gain only mediocre damage, and that has activation percentage.
path of the warrior gods: enchant weapon is a good idea. Feign Death, Reflect Missiles and Flash Attack are useless. Boomerang is a joke. Shadow Warrior is actually a spell. Spiritual Damage in theory is ok given it always adds, but no idea how many things become immun to it. Death Strike is definitely SRR.
path of the thief: assassin's kiss is dagger-related and only adds damage. lockpick is a good idea, and I don't think you really want to bother with items if can be avoided, so put hard points (including the free teachings) and have 5 in it. Pickpocket is a utility-skill, and you don't actualy need items but GOLD as that has no weight. Evade trap is useless, just pay attention to have 15+spirit resistance toprevent being polymorphed. Deadly gift is broken (the scorpions have tentimes strength then they are supposed to) and item-dependent. Elven Stamina and Embrace Shadows iare useless. Poison Weapon is item-dependent and there is no source that'd tell you what source gives what strength of poison, sorry.
path of lore: it is a VERY good idea given how rare actual money is in the game (unless you can pay in items).
Alchemy is ... typisch crafting skill, meaning you want to avoid it. Ye, potions are cool, but easier to just buy high quality potions. If you like crafting add 4 points, if you don't you can pass with the 1 point from free teaching soyou combine mana + health potions into restorations (minor restoration heals 50% HP and mana, any bigger gives full heal on both).
Know Creature can be comfortable, and for mages unavoidable. 2 (gives HP and DMG) or 5 point (gives resistances) seems reasonable.
True Sight is useless. Blind is either useless or exploitable (with 5 points you can range-attack anything). Skin of poison is item-dependent and might not work with other source of poison. Curse is way too short. Necroshift is actualy a "hide" skill, and thus useless.
path of the talents: Traders' Tongue and Wisdom are useless (but ok to have on items). Ranger Sight is just a crappy version of Elven Sight. Charm has SRR. Magic Barrier is good.Aura of Command is exploitable, and is not passive. Heaven's Gift is at best questionable. Survivor Instinct is simply useless.
path of the divine: Translocate and Divine Eye are useless. Divine Death has SRR. Spirit Form is utility (1 point will be enough, might come for free). Scorch, Temporal Storm and Lightning Cascade are spells, and TS is even problematic. Heaven's Blessing is good.

Back on track:
- there is a Zombie Jake event in that cemetary. There is actualy no "final fight", you can kill most the undead around. "dark corpse" are one and only, it spits some weak poison, despite its high HP. Around Jake are some more zombies planted - if you care pull them out before turning on J. The major feature here is, after you clear the cemetary aboce you must go below through a grave, then you can not save until Jake is dead. Don't worry, this is normal.
- at this point it became a problem that I ran out of places to kill. Oh well, might as well start doing quests proper I think. Ok, there still are. I could go to the Cursed Abbey, which sounds scary as if I wanna fight the Engineer (Hellraiser reference!) it'd give me 150,000 exp. That's a LOT. The monstahs there aren't that bad on this level, but that giant skeletons are darn though. I pumped my CON to ca. 35 here. In theory if you use the charm-system well you can just buy some high-AC stuff withcharm slots, put there a crapload of HP-charms until you can get the best charms to buff your final equipment, but that's not how players work, lol.
Clearing the upper level started the second to-unlock area. But first went and tried to enter the Stormfist Castle to make things proper. It might not net me anything, but it gave a quest-log,and mentioned the (already done,just not finished) army-quests (fighting the orcs). But there is a way tostill withold the quest-exps, and that's reporting Elrath (almost forgot) to the authority (Commander Ralph). That doesn't give exp, only the invitation what is the key to the key from that dwarf shopkeeper.
The garden is actualy pretty peaceful. And then got 3 minions whenanswered to the statue(s). I said what? But then when killed the local frogs they stopped following me. Dunno if be happy -could sacrifise them to thatvampire as meatshield...

The Crused Abbey's bottom lvl wasn't that hard actualy. First you clean what you already encountered, then enter and roam most of the room. Here found my first entirely random spellbook (wizards' sight), and a chest contained a highlevel axe (maybe item type could differ if not bring cursor over chest while locked? I'm not entirely sure how these things work).
The Engineer canbe sent away by just 1K gold (he's an old ghost, ok?), or you may want to fight it for major exp. LEAVE THE ROOM if you decide so ASAP when the battle ensues. RUN AWAY until nothing follows. Lure them on you slowly (meaning wait themsee you and come, they won't reach you en masse).The Engineer itself have pretty low visuals. The problem is his spell which it cast melee. Fortunately it does not have infinte mana, so save, hit it a couple of times then RUN AWAY, so the spell won't blast you for good. This must be done 2-3 times, then it'll change to life leech. I'm not sure what happens if you have higher resists then me (I had 10-15, you might try add elemental barrier or something), but this way it was manageable. It does not drop good, although possibly can drop strong. Not worth reloading. What DOES worth is the amulet on a shelf. It is pretty random, but something of an upgrade can be pulled out of it.

And yesss! Finished the murderous vampire quest! It took a swap of high AC chest armor (130 AC, 6 AGI), and a certain amount of luck, as it can deal hugh damage at times (like above 500, or two connected 400 dmg hits). If that is avoided soon it'll resort to lifeleech, which can be prevented with high enough spirit resistence (I had 30).

Better safe than sorry, decided to finishall quest which gives invitation to the Castle.
Commander Ralph do NOT give invitation for destroying the orcs (or maybe he only gives 1 invitations, not 3), and the Duke's Death is supposedly solved when you come OUT OF the Castle, so who cares. Still, the army do gives a second invitation when reporting the poisoning the well of the orcs.

Now on the Summoning of Corina:
- first go to Corina and save her, get her quest
- next got to Pierce, who sends you to Antrabert, who sends you to burn Mpenzak's cart. It gives more exp if you don't do it. If you accept the quest though be sure to do it the same day. I say refuse, and wait a day (I was in late afternoon, slept, and the next morning it had happened). Go to Mpenzak, his cart will be on fire, report to the officier there. Go to A's room and get the wine.
- in the meanwhile go to the thieves guild and free Penumbra, then give her her dagger.
- what remain is going to the Dark Forest, but wait with that.

Seems what I was looking for is the OTHER major quest in the city. Some feuding nobles.
It is not that bad: steal the gizmo from Sir Patrick for SirDante, then visit Yarun in the Merchant Guild and chase him through the Assassin Guild (terminate the guild in the meantime I assume). He'll send you to Cyrba whoyou should kill for better exp, then report the circumstances of the duke's death to Commander Ralph to getanother invitation.

twillight 29-01-2018 07:37 PM

Divine Divinity, Hard difficulty
 
So.

Went and cleaned the Verdistis Sewers. To prevent confusion do NOT go to Rivertown, neither the Assassin Guild this time.
One thing to keep in mind such places if you weapon has manadrain ability. It does not suffer SRR unlike spells, and can drain a hefty sum of mana to you, what you can use for healing, making you able to not just fight longer, but pass harder battles.
In the V-Sewer are a lot of fire-casting mages but they have weak attack so special preparation is not needed. Although they can come in hordes, so watch your HP.
The place also has some polymorph trap, so a healthy amount of spirit resistence is a must.
The lizard mages are still a thing (although half of them lack to be miniboss quality), and there are lightning lizards too but aside their horrendous HP they don't really doanything. Oh, and around the assassin guild entrence there are some "rogue" which is the miniboss equialent of the assassins and they shoot fire. I'll come back later for them.

Tip: don't forget to regularly sell your constantly accumlating stuff. You don't need the items what you're not wearing (aside from such exceptions like a +alchemy item, which can entirely remove your need of hard point in that skill, as you can always wait to get back to camp to make your potions if you're like me and don't stop at every step for picking up every stupid herb), gold has no weight, 1 gold always worth 1 gold, and the merchants have limites supply of gold. Rivertown is actualy a good place as its marketplace is close to a porter, and there are many mercs at the same place, one even having like 15K gold per restock what is a LOT.
Uhm, talking about business: it'd have come in handy right when joining the merchants to read their books in the Archive for 1 in traders' tongue. Not that it'd be overly determining, but hey!

Sir Patricks chest only contain gold, and to be honest at this point the random items lost their charms, and I go only for the uniques.
The drop-frequency is actualy ok, the problem is the start is too though. There are no starter quests, both the catacombs and the orcs are waaay problematic to fight them with some wrecked broom. I'm not sure how much it'd help if you'd start killing the households though, and maybe even people (with the poison cloud spell you can).
My other problem is, I'm both too strong and too weak. The "miniboss" things are simply too hard to stand against, but the normal thingies are start-to-be-boring-pushovers. It's ok for the moment I think, but still. Also, I could go and get like THREE more twohanded unique swords. There is no way all would be a stepup, and as each can be gained "free", they are definitely not necessary. Well, I'll get them with good stats for good selling price I think.
NOTE: Ralph do NOT gives a second invitation, so you better not loose the first you aquire.

Went through unconcerned houses, and have to mention Geoff. I have no idea at whatcondition he returns to hisplace, I could teleport up&down nicely. As he had 30K gold on 'im at my first visit now, that was needed.

Didn't mention, but the game around clvl20 stopped giving exp for mundane animals like spiders, rats and so on.

So, went to the Random Lich Cave. Liches are pushover in this game, should visit earlier if you play. It has a unique sword and hammer in it, as well a polymorph spellbook, and some minor treasure, all permanent (I mean appear in all game). While you can not expect much from the loot at this point, still worth paying attention, because Random Stat Incrise CAN happen, and you might get something good along it inattribute. For example I got 86-115 DMG (ca.double the normal amount), some agi+offense (aka. chance to hit) and 5 in lifedrain. While it only has 2 charms, until I'll be able to fill the slots up, this can be an improvement - depending how good the lifedrainworks in comparsion to the manadrain. Of course HP is only good when fighting and mana is a general resource (like to pick locks).

Now see, just in its disttance is ANOTHER unique sword, the Sword of Chaos. And you get nothing bad for using it, despite in theory it is some legendary artifact which has a portion of the Game Boss, and made oncea guy immortal...
Aaand that thing just got better damage (it has very good base damage), 5 charms, and 4 lifedrain. This be funny.

In the Vesteris Inn there is an elf resident. If you pester it enough attacks you. There's no negative consequences. Not even the like of entering Lar's room (dog in the 3 free rep dwarf's roomafter it left) which not just makes that dog angry with you (instant attacking I mean), but all other dogs inthe world. This is similar to whathappens if you attack the cat in the starter village (which you definitly should not, that being saving you, and also an archmage polymorphed or somesuch).
either way, the guy is a pushover once puts himself in a corner thus can't back away anymore.

In Dragrin's house (has a unique gloves) found a lightning spellbook. Just telling. The gloves tend to be pretty "meh" quality considering uniques, so use themas mid-game equipment. If you'll need upgrade, there will be 2 alternatives: the Dragon Set Gloves, and the Snakeskin Gloves in the Graham/Cirgon quest (although that'd better be avoided, given the Dragon Gloves are likely better chance for being good, and as you don't need the item you might as well gain more exp. Althougha couple tenthousand exp won't make a world difference I assume).

I'mn ot sure, but like a while ago won the barfight. I needed the Wishing Well bonus, the Altair of Good and Evil bonus, and be lvl 25, and spend all statpoints. Ok, we're done here, move into the future.

You know, strange thing occured to me. There is a unique polearm, axe, staff, dagger, ton of unique swords, maybe no unique mace? There is unique armors, amulets, rings, boots - but really, only 1 belt? And maybe 1 legplate? There's also only 1 shield, but you mainly don't use them anyway.
Come to think of it, the resistance-skills are really item and pateience dependent. I meanye, I could probably just skill upand beatsense in those rogues in the sewer, but likely the unique stuff will have resistances.
Hey, there are only2, very low quality unique rings? Fortunately I made them spawn with 5 charms...
Heck, jewelry isn't falling like almost never. And when they do, they don1t have quality, some are even cursed!

Onto the castle then!

Inside the teleport píramids are taken,and you're not allowed toleave the place. Wonderful.
From the throneroom to the kitchen: youhave to pick up all stuff spawning WHILE you're making the dirty plates disappear. Some are plates (not highlighted when press Alt), some are pots (can be used as armor and helmet. Really a shame you can't have 5 charmed ones. Would fight theBig Bad in them with a rok. Come to think of it, shame no two weapon fightning).
Gamebanshee don't know about it, but there's Ben on the wall. You must climb up there to see him. He wants a bottle of beer, obtainable inside the castle (of course you did not bring any from outside).
Oh, and there's a 0 weight container within. That sounds useful. Put in stuff, throw the container out of the castle, and voila, loot! (there's also a barrel, as this part will be a bit long even afterleaving the castle you'll be cut form the "open" world).
As you are w/o a healer for a time (aside sleeping, I assume), it might be an idea if you have to bring an itemwith Survivor Instinct, just in case.
The Dragon Shieldseems medium unique, its most advantage being a chance to have up to 4 skills bonus. Not exactly what I'm looking for, but whatever.

The friggin Castle Adventure by the way had no real meaning. They gave me a position I did not want, then stripped of it, AND I still had positive reaction reputation. Seems dumb.
Bythe way, the "ruby amulet" unique is a lame thingy, don't bother reloading.
Don't get excited though, you take a few steps, and you're ported to Iona's dungeon. One of the orcs survive the cat, but even barehanded it is nothing. Yes, all your equipment will be stashed. No, they aren't faraway. Yes, you have to redress and all that. Yes, all the bonus HP/mana will be gone. Onward, for pony!

Well, first find the exit. Place your container there, and clean the place, store all stuff in your chest. Actualy you don't even need that,and canleave any time. Beware of the giant skeletons, although with the shrines they are acceptable.
The other levels have stronger enemies they say, and regularly less shrines.
The leaving to the graveyard was... less then spectacular. There were no en mass charging undeads on me, just the deads got up in their graves and if I went near they attacked. Meh.

Unfortunately the personal telepods are still nowhere (it'd take storming the castle for them), and the only other option is to kill stuff for more power. Meaning in Iona's Dungeon, and the remaining part of the V Sewers.
Actualy, here is an idea: a new base can be settled inside Iola's Dungeon with two shrines nearby for instant healing!
I have no idea what advantage buying a house would mean...

Wait, there's the church too!

Before entering the treasury, visit the prison. This area gamebanshee forgot. It has The Executioner in it who droppeda high quality axe for me, and practicaly nothing else.
Before entering the treasury heal up, because you won't be able to cast any spells inside.
When entering the treasury there'll be a cutsceen, and when you try to leave the first ~room another.
Right in the next room is the Royal Chain which at this point probably too weak to getyour attention.
If the constant amount of traps start to drain you, better drink a minor restoration potion. helath potions at this point would be a waste.
For the Council Chamber: not just there will be a mana and HP shirne, but an armor and helm unique. The enemies are puny ghosts and liches. Parodn, mumies. And the shrines do not work (yet?), but Zandalor can heal you. And while it is hard to pull out good from the items, they still can be a step up, considering there are still (strongerbase) uniques in the game, so the charm slots are not thatrelevant. So if you get something useful-at-the-moment, go with it. Btw, after this I feel is time to switch my boring +1 wisdom puny AC armor to something greater. I mean after I'll finish of with the hanging quests. This armor I have a looong time.
The succubus is best fought in melee. Watch out though, as when she summons a summon you automaticaly switch target to that. More of an annoyance this is than real problem.
Oh,and after dealing with the demon, a unique staff will be available.

Aleroth (the starting village) is "overrun" by orcs now. This means 2 group. 1 near the head-healer's house, 1 on the mainsquare. The boss appear when going near the dwarf's house.
As this "invasion"-thingy seems pretty regular, I probably lost some exp from the disappearance of the random monsters there. Or not.
Btw, found Iona's dungeon too dark, so moved instead to the council hall. The inner chamber's shrines did work. The outers might have beenblocked by the succubus? Have to check when needed.

For the dwarf member first visit the dwarvenhalls, soyou get the beer for that free. Ye, I'm cheap.

Prime directive now the orc member, as that orc campseems pretty behind me.
Man, I'm glad I did not do this earlier! There are MANY orcs, and pulling them out would probably have been a total nuisance.

Ok, so after finishing the quests on the first map (so not in Verdistis, or the Dark forest) time to change that armor and stash away the +wisdom. No, I did not start the Afrasam's borthel chain of events. That's pure exp w/o fight, so can wait.
One of the reasons for this is (aside the strange calculation of exp in the game) are the prices. As discovered Geoff canhave 30-40K gold at once, and it is told a largest charm can cost 100K gold, I think I'llneed the gold. Although it depends on the drop of monsters. Since clvl25 they started todrop with low freqency large charms, but I want largeST. Naturaly.

Strange Storytelling: you only get the Dragon Set Quest AFTER you start gathering the Council, but you can't start gathering the Council until youget the Shield piece of the set...

The Verdistis Sewers' remaining part became acceptable. Not super easy, but manageable.
Let's see now Iona's Dungeon.

twillight 30-01-2018 10:02 PM

Divine Divinity, Hard difficulty
 
Iona's lvl 2 is actualy easier, as it is not just skelies, so the manasteal works (hope you have too), so no worry about shrines. Mostof the times,as there are certain minibosses, and one type (steel lord) can HURT. So save before unlocking doors with levers.
Ok, Steel Guardians hurt too, but there justdon't melee them. But Steel Lords are friggin' summoners. I usualy have to drink a minor restoration per encounter.
Lvl 3 is actualy the very same as above.
lvl 4 has only the boss, but it fights well. Needed 2 minor restoration to win. the unique here has way less AC then the dwarf unique armor, but gains resistances and charm slots much more easily.

So, the Dark Forest, eh?
It might be mostly separated by quests to its own, but that doesn't mean life here would be easy.
First, I'd stick to my rule: if they didn't send you there, don't go there is they'll send you there.
Second: whatever you do, do NOT go near the Sword in the Stone unless you will get rid of it immediately (put it back I mean). It will kill everything in the forest otherwise. So leave this last.
Oh, and it is good I've waited coming here. there is some big spider here (mutated forest spider) whichhas ranged attack and hits hard. The whole thing is very similar to the Catacom's spider miniboss (if you remember).

Activate the teleporter near the Sword in Stone location, then look after the merchants who'll entrust you to enter the Burial Chambers. THIS HAVE NOTHING TO DO with the burialGrounds the elves and dwarves argue upon, so clear it. You'll get the 3rd holy item here too.
Funny thing is, 2 of the holy items are a certain weapon class. Given that swords are commonplace you likely don't want that, and the dagger specialists... Are not too common. This leaves the amulet the keeper. The place by the way is lackluster: small, barely any enemy, all the loot inaccessible.

You'll meet a talking boar. This quest is longer then you'd anticipate. First you need to get to the evil mage's house, then enter the dwarven capital to consult the local priest, who sends you gain a container (the Holy Grail no less!) for its holy water,which you should bring back to the other animals in the evilmage's house, then visit the boar, then get the finalreward (a unique bow) in the elven village.
By the way, as you are there already, get the brooch for Sir Dante's assistant,and get the quest to visit the dwarf relative in the dwarven village.

Nearthe boar is the Alchemist who wants something at the Talking Tree, where Corina sent us too. Pick this quest up. Near that is the Warrior Guild's portal, activate it. Close the Talking Tree from thenorth to find an elven scouting party for fun (has no actual consequence). Enter the Guild and do whatever they offer, and finaly get the Heart of the Dragon quest. Take a note on it and stash it for the moment.
There is an old hermit nearby, who is actualy a friggin' demon. Talk to him so it goes to its cave. I think that's a fight we only want to do later.

Oh, before completly forget: like 2/3rd of the forest is not filled with giant bugs and mutated toads. Oh no. It's filled with improved versions of lizardmen from Verdistis Sewer. And that's the good news. They are walking in HORDES. That's the bad news.
Oh,and avoid the Special Insane Skeleton(s) to melee. They can hit my 600 HP in one hit.

At the Warrior Guild's Instructor I'm not sure based on what you get the bonus. Others say you get Augment Damage, yet others say you get either. I got onlyAugment Defense, which I suspect happens no matter the conversation that it was my higher ability.
The fight is though, and for his defense level at least a bit random based, so heal your mana too before the fight, and save.
Fighting for the cylops eye involves insane skeletons, some summoners,and the boss is a summoner too. So head-first into battle against it, and use the warrior's special attack as long as it takes. Beware, the lastroom is practicaly empty, so don't try to goaround the walls. Just let your stamina fill up.

NOTE: if it wasn't obvious if you have a companion only that is under threat during a cutsceen, you never. This isa memory from that zombie-guy form the very beginning if you ask.

For the Talking Tree: ONLY go there if you have both quest telling you to. You can speak with it for lesser exp, or make it attack you for a bunch of new zombie-type appearing in the ground (must make them plant them out) and shoot slow projectiles at you, which blast up at arrival and damage indiscriminatly (thus can kill the zombies). Either way you can then use the tea barrel on it to destroy it.
Oh, and the stuff which the tree drops are NOT random. It'llalways be: 1 very large spirit resistance charm, 1 large strength charm, 1 beetle statue, 1 spider statue.

Now, I hoped to get the bloody dwarven counciler, but seems he'll only be in his place when 4 other member are found.
So for me that's #1 Zandalor (mage), #2 orc, #3 human (the Black Ring woman was punny after all, even punier than the whole Holy Grail chamber, where you can btw single out the opponents), #4 lizard. Because that leads to buying house in Verdistis, and it made sense in the roleplaying aspect, that's why. Oh,and it turns out we got false information, there be 5 recruits,and the dwarf will only be the 6th.
And if I went Verdistis, thought time to give up some quest items before I'd accidently sell them, so delivered the brooch and stuff for Corina.
So, if we're finishing quests, let's finish the morphed animals too. All things lead to the elven village it seems.

Clearing the forest... Then went in the elven village to get the unique bow. It is awesomly coded. It can only have a setof attributes (agility, charms, offensive, sight, speed, and its damage can go up to 48-139, although 38-129 is only realistic, and can be much lower too).
Now to Verdistis again for a reputation point. I know, I know, but hey, I'mreally preparing to leave,and thatmeans selling stuff,and that means gaining reputation, ok? And those trolls look big on the road.
Ye, doing the stupid romance too.
So, Leptin&Hugh's business is done.
Going to the ElvenBurial Groundsand taking the gloves, blaming whoever is responsible.
Well, some Black Ringer was, and she's though! Firsthace to destroy herdwarves, then she canstun-pushyou, and summon dreadknights, and xast those strong spikes. So basical she's like The Engineer, but with unlimited mana. Did cost me potions (maybe 3 minor restoration and 1 normal restoration -atapoint the game simply refused todrink more minor potion???)

twillight 01-02-2018 07:56 PM

Divine Divinity, Hard difficulty
 
Onto dwarves!
But before that, some minutes on unique items: seems each has a list of attributes to gain from, a general final quality, and a basic-item quality. The basic-item quality is what it says: if the thing is a leather armor, chain armor or plate armor, its AC will be similar to that (or damage. And each can get a bonus to it). The attributes it can have are taken from a set list, aka. not all item can get all attributes. Attribute-quality is either based on the item, or the character's level (I meanI don't know what determines if an itemcanhave +80 in vitality, or only +40 invitality or less). And it also seems to be fact that the overal quality of the item is limited by the sum of allor certain attributes, like if it'll have 300 AC instead of 20 then can't have much other attributes.
This out of the way, and talking your way through the dwarven village, let's hop to the king after the mayor. Here is a neat little trick, which is just coded into here: standing at the throneroom's door throw in the tp-pyramid on you, then use the fixed tp there to get to the other pyramid, and teleport in via your thrown-in pyramid. This way you can avoid your equipment getting jumbled. And don't forget: to get out use your tp-pyramid and get back through the waypoint!
Oh, and as 50K exp is not-much at this point, I went and checked out the Snakeskin Gloves in Verdistis (the Graham/Cirgon quest). Well, that thing is very low in quality.
Oh, as we're in Verdistis, let's get that dragon belt in our disappointment.
Ye, half of the things from now on will be alternating between gaining a unique and doing something else for the change. So into the mines now. We'll still have to do the sacrifice of the holy items (unique), get the dragon helm and armor (both unique), and the armor of lahrian (through the silver armor, which is a unique but as we'll change it aka. re-randomise it we won't care its stats).
Now the Sentry was put there by the bad guys or sg, and relates to a quest(!). But thatquest gives no exp. But there's no loss killing the Sentry. But you can attack the Sentry anyway. So I say give it the password and just whack it after that, attacking the otherwise neutral thingy this time :lame:
Have to mention: sometimes random enemies span inside walls. Don't fuss about it.
But I start to fuss about Big Bads always escaping the final blow!
Either way, this was the strongest member now (glad I came in the right order). He has 2 goons who shall be disposed ASAP, at least with a warrior. Then the guy will cast a crapload of what The Engineer cast (or that other Black Ringer). Hell Spikes they say, but the frig it cast 1 piece, it cast entire crapets of it! Anyway, just keep healing yourself. A lot. As your HP can drain fast, alternate between minor and stronger restoration potions as the situation demands. Do not hesitate to drink a minor if both your stats are around halfway! The battle is lasting for a bit! Better a potion to waste thanthe whole progress of the battle! It is alsofast-paced, so no save during the battle. Eventualy by the way the guy runs out of mana and turns healing himself. Bah, loser.
Don't forget to re-visit the dwarf king. Now you're officialy gathering the Dragon Set, not just as a hobby.
And right after gaining the dwarven counciler hop to the elven lover to finish that gullible romance. Almost. You need a couple of ingame days to pass, that's what we initiate with this by making a forgery at the dwarven jeweler.
Now, hop to Sir Patrick to get the (proto-version) of the dragon breastplate.
Oh, at a time you're at the dwarves report down to Strobur. Although I'm not sure if you gain either exp or gold as it is implicated in the conversation.
Now I went for my holy amulet. Inside if youtouch the tombs each summons up a lich, and breaks the quest, so don't. Also, doing the sacrifice seal the tombs. The amuletis friggin awesome. Properties are highchance for a lot of skills, hugh boosts in stats, and plethora of resistances.
Now get that Heart of the Dragon (and thus the breastplate). Inside the first "miniboss" (it has a name...) is a regular monster, although lightning resistance (50%+) helps. But the fight is entirely avoidable as it has almost no sight, so you can reach the lever it guards. But the Local Boss... It uses Freeze. Ye.You can see why this skill is marked "gamebreaking". Fortunately for the player, the AI don't often use it, so unless it does,you should be safe (with enough fire resistance)
Bringing the armor to the smith does not give instant result, but again have to spend ~an ingame day away. Darn. Ok, only HALF of a day is required! Cool! Oh, NONONONO! Reload, reload, reload! I forgot that blasted Warrior's Guild!

You know what? Let's talk about stats:
Strength: around 110 I could be in the heaviest stuff, AND carry around enugh loot to not get bored
Agility: 85+ and 5 point in weapon expertise makes me hit 90%+. Will tellif later need more.
Intelligence: who needs intelligence? Maybe mages, but mages are stupid.
Constitution: I have like 35 hard points in it, and I don't care to invest. An equipment with 40+ HP is waaay better.

Ok, so here is a tip: during the Imp Counciler you'll do the Bees vs Wasps thing. The difference is, the Bees offer a skillpoint in Aura of Command, while the Wasps offer an armor. Want to bet it is weaker then the one includs beating the strongest monster in the before-wasteland area (all the currently visited/visitable areas), an all-world looting quest, which can only be solved by likely Official Hintbook Information?
So, I say, make the Dragon Armor, but NEVER IDENTIFY it. Instead go and grab the Armor of Lahrian too, and identify them the same time. Whichever turns to be good sooner, is the keeper.

On identifying loot:
- if it is a random loot, it is determined when it falls from the monster
- if it is in a not-locked chest, it is determined when you bring the cursor over the container, or press Alt (so be caustious with Alt+Tab)
- if it is a unique drop, it is determined when you bring the cursor over it (or press Alt)
- if it is in a locked chest, it is determined when you bring the cursor over the item after opening the chest (dunno what pressing Alt would do here)
- if the item spawns inyour inventory, it is determined when you bring the cursor over it
- any identification only gets fixed, if you do something efter the identification. This can be picking up the item, wearing the item, or maybe even simply moving away a bit. don't forget this!

NOTE: never seen an enemy go invisible.

What remains is the Brothel-related quests, pulling out the sword from the stone (death to marriage, or something), and the imp council member. Inthis order I assume.
Would also be fun tosave and check whathappens if you get the loan from Sir P.

I'm clvl 39 melee warrior now.

Went to Leptine's Brothel. You know, thatguy does something wrong. He not only has a general store, which admittedly can be though to lead, but also a brothel to cover the wages? And he still has financial troubles?
Also, interesting side-story happened. I mean from reallife perspective. Firstand foremost, big cudos for Larian-studios for not walking the Baldur's Gate Way for the question of sex. This turned out the way I went down the place for the exp, naturaly. Remember, my characteris a male warrior because a) for Hard it has the most advantage at the start b) by the ingame cinematics, he is the definite protagonist. Despite the manual and such claiming profession/class being Survivor. Either way, as soon as I got down clicked. Ye, right on the male company. And you know this was in the Top 10 male homosexual encounter in videogames for me. And the female hostess is so professionaly presented (makes you buy drinks to spend more money because that's her job etc.), that I didn't even reload to avoid the gay sex!
Back on track: handed down the info to some visitors-in-town.
Then I was looking for the "special treatment"easter egg. They SAY you need to get lay down with someone else first, but that's actualy not true. To get the option first talk with Jacob twice (the conversation interests me if you play with a female prot), then Kherondar. This was also the point I realised there are more comfort-persons tochoose from, not just the twowhose name gets you in the place. Aside that, the Special Treatment does not provide you exp for the action, so lay down with someone else too. Oh,and ST results in you loosing 90% of HP (who cares), and your stamina starts running down (toaround 50%, then it comes back).
So, as it has no consequences, it is one of the few eastereggs of the game, like the Kaa Gent Scroll (it is in the bottom of the Warrior Guild, western side, only visitable once through the tomb there). Aside some manuscripts-of-cameos these are the two major easter eggs,aside that you canse with Wizards' Sight a skateboard-place on the roof of Stromfist Castle.

I have no idea what actualy happens if you take a loan from Sir Patrick. He promises soldiers and evenbounty hunters showing up. Problem is, I slept like 10 times, but only 1 ingame day passed. That's stupid,

The other thing is the Sword in the Stone. It canbe a pretty thingy, if it comes with acceptable damage too. Like, it can have allkinds of drain, deathblow, whatnot. +10 in offense and holymoly. But it is still a twohanded sword, and isn't THAT much improvement if you got a decent Singing Sword/Sword of Chaos.

And a way to kill butterflies: in the Dark Forest,westernsiide along the cliffs, at an entrance of a cave, I think the Stalker's Cave are a bunch of butterflies. They seem to be immun on ElementalHailand Poison Cloud (area damage spells), or I'm just bad at aiming, but there's another chance. The butterflies sense your reputation, so if you grind it low enough (by stealing, killing soldiers appearing to arrest you and similar actions) they should reach "initial reaction: hostile". That's when you should be able to hit them with a weapon.

Lacking anything to do, will numbing my fingers for shopkeepers to reset their shop to be able to sell my stuff.

twillight 03-02-2018 06:33 PM

Mostly sold stuff, then went tospend time to finish the imp quest.
The Thunderplate is really there if you helped the wasps (don't kill any wasp, only kill bees, kill all bees - leave the bee questor the last to kill, only use direct single target attacks - no missiles or area damage!)
But turned out first I need to fixa bug myself via hex-editor. No, I was not who came up with the solution. Search for "Evil Imps Bug" to find what code you have to hack.

Anyway. Inside as I told first come the Bees&Wasps,and you'll also find a lot of Golden Urns. Aside that I like these containers as you can't break them by accident making them good addition to your base wherever you make that, these have special thingies in them. I don't mean items. Here is what you find:
1 - rain? (and in theory hits you with a lightning. Once.)
2 - nothing
3 - teleports you a bit north. Not that you could not go there on foot in 2 seconds.
4 - nothing
5 - you get to the next level (do not open this untilyou just reached a new level)
6 - nothing
7 - can not be opened (yes, you find the key, and still. Probably bug. Probably nothing happens anyway.)
8 - angel of revenge attacks you. Letme mark here, that certain killed things are not listed in the "trophy" section - this is one of them. And Ibet most of the lightning-lizards are not counted either. And a lot of things. Sowhile the intention there was good,and it is nevertheless fun, but not a rleiable source unfortunately.
The items in the jugs seem to be fixed and minor, so don't bother reloading.

Here comes a "slight" "problem". By hitting the gong the exact thing happens like opening the exp-jar. This means I needed exp from somewhere, and fast. From places where no consequence will come from. Thus I just massacred the bees (who I sided with for the quest). But this was not enough. Went and killed the alchemist in the Dark Forest. Then the Archer Guild's leader. Killed the locer's father in the elf village. Then the elves around the firecamp talking. Then the elf bow-vendor. The dwaren halls: the priest, someone called myrthos, siomeone called Ansekhor. Otto in the Necros Garden (first hit him with a poison gas spell, otherwise he's not interactable).
I realy start to run out og NPCs who don't take my karma - pardon, reputation, and the same time also give expm but I stillneed like 100K exp...
Verdistis: Nimras, the wine-merchant, Leptin, Sehrissa, Diennoe, Mpenzak. I've ran out of things to kill with these. Summons don't give exp if you kill them (not targetable, but poisonous cloud can kill them). Oh, and you can't dupe the exp-urn :(
Have to resort to poison cloud. That works like overdosing people with superstimpack in Fallout. So Commander Kratus had to go. The thieves from their guild got eliminated. Hopped back to the warves. Random named dwarfs worthed almost 10K, so the train was on track finaly. When done with this nonsense opened the jar, sold the remaining stuff, packed up,and hit the gond. Ta-dah! I'm a complete psychopath.

NOTE: on the Wasteland at the start the two frinedly orc bugged out like the imps. But as they go their talk done (which is either way inconsequential) I did not go for the fix (also via hexing).

Ok, turned out need to fix the dragon NPC too, so fixed the orcs too.

There is a final orc vendor, whosells stuff considering your reputation, meaning it sellf Very Large charms for 50K gold. Problem is, it never has gold on it. Fortunately things here drop loot,and attimespretty pricey. Still, you better brought money. I have more then 1M. Actualy, given how many charms you'll want, and the stupid vendor rarely has any of the useful ones, I say just dupe your items (put down -1 of the item -> you have a second one).
Resistence is probably useful, I'm not sure. What I'msure though is, the game cancrash if too many things are attacking you, so save regularly and chip them away.
Oh, and if you brought a chest as container (the one opened weight 0) better pick out everything fast and put them in a localbarel or sg, 'cause that thing will glitch out from the game when you open/close it. Darn.

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

Double darn, 'cause I have like 40 charm slots to fill up, but money is an issue for that. As well as reloading like no tomorrow before checking the shop toensure it has vitality charms.
Actualy I got 1 from every charm to duplicate if needed too.
Finding random charms are not really significant.
The Wasteland is big and dumb. First: watch out for 2 units: sand evils (you're pretty safe with 1,200+ HP) and imp chieftain who are #&@! as they hit that hard. Oh, and none heals you, so your only source of healing is restoration spell and sleep - I hope your weapon drains mana from the enemy to sustain yourself. 3-5 should work at that department.

The swamp around the Big Bad Fortress hurts you, the faster you go deeper. I feel here the Survival Instinct should be negating the effect to the point where the swamp is simply instant death. Yes, it is.
Passing it inghostform is cool, they even made you passive ghost form (will-o-whisp) when you hit pause. Reaching the other shore be prepared you'll be swarmed by spectre lords (more a nuisance than a threat) and multiply sand devils at once. Deal with it.

Inside the Evil Place is ... boring. I assume those things deal elemental damage - if they notice you at all.

Demona... I don't think she even hit me. A melee enemy of no significance. But at least I've learned destroying a boss don't make its maze empty, what's good.
Iona... at least she could hit me.
Cornelis... is dumb. He don't even try to freeze like he did before, and despite a source telling should use blind/hellspikes he is straight melee.
Moriendor: by the talking this is the 2nd strongest, so let's see what it can do.
Better, but hardly a challenge. I mean Ihave 2474 atthis point, so hellspikes I canstand if I must. The Blind he casts totally makes everything "invisible" (technicaly a difference, so seeing the invisible doesn1thelp here). He only has 2 gargoyle with it though. When all three was at the same spot, I whirlwinded there, lol. He doesn1t have that many HP either.
Josephina: now this is better. I can see for some build she'd pose a problem though. 'Cause she is constantly invisible because you're blind. So it is area-attack time, which warrior has (bring stamina potions!), and mage has (hellspikes and similar spells), but survivor has not! Oh, and her fortress is not gargoyle-packed. Not thatdeathknight would be a threat at this point, but Death Lords are hugh. Watch your HP. With 2500+ HP of course you should have no real problem.

Lord of Chaos: looks good. I mean the spectacle is good. But I only had to click on it, and got whacked to death. Didn't even need a potion.

twillight 17-02-2018 03:20 PM

Swam Queen
 
Just another flashgame. As armorgames suck nowdays (I suspect the connection speed from their side is low as crap) went to kongragate for this.

A nice little "push the line" game withwitty dialogues at the start of levels.
I wouldn't call these/this strategy, as you just need to find the right unit to anti the enemy forces. But this concept is made well here. The enemy don't get all previously unlocked units, but you do. There always come some special obstacle against you. But these should be hints to you what you should produce over the level.
As I said mostly a single unit type is needed, but at occasion the enemy gets a good combination, so you need to bump out 2 type. Not really a fuss, or changing the basics, as you can relatively mass-produce them on the conveyor belt as 1-3-1-3 (or 1-2-1-2).

Resource management is simple: start to fill your quota of harvesters ASAP. I nvent the units you'll need tostart, but do not produce them yet. For the first levels the enemy won't come until you have maximum miners, then you can A-bomb the early enemy units, THEN you'llhave big units to push back the initial forces.

There is an upgrade-tree, but it should be pretty obvious. Don't neglect the golden upgrades either. Ye, they support the enemy the same time, but it fastens the gameplay, and with you having human mind should give a better advantage then for the AI.

Unless later levels screw up, this is a fine, polished casual game,

twillight 14-03-2018 01:36 PM

worst kit in Baldur's Gate?
 
I mean vanilla game.

barbarian: strongest kit/class in the game, thank you

bard: did a bard. The kits don't differ too much, mostly the bard song which is not determining (I mostly consider solo play. With 6 characters you can have a bard doing nothing but singing and still be perfectly fine), and some minor bonuses to thac0, which you'll only use occasionly, mostly convenience at the start, and can be replaced by just casting Improved Haste or something.
It's bad, but passable. I did, so you can do too.

cleric: Viconia proved it is a heck strong class giving the character gear. All the kits further improves the class, so moving on.

druid: a though crack, but again with enough creativity passable. The kits mostly differ in shapeshifting, which none uses with their witts intact anyway, so Totemic Druid is the friggin strongest, especialy lowlevel.
Shapeshifter is unfortunately bugged, but so is half of the game, so I bet they do can use some armor. And as druids mostly live from their summons, in the end who cares.
Avengers get some pretty bad minus stats, but they were designed for BG2 without ToB, and again druids live through summons so STR and CON minus doesn't have THAT much effect. And they get some useful new abilities.

mage, mage/cleric/thief, sorcerer, wild mage: won't go there. Sure, especialy triple-class they have some sluggish thing running, but definitely not weakest.

monk: sure, it'll have a though start in BG 1. Get over it.

paladin: paladins are like fighters with an attitude. They are good. The kits don't loose anything considerable, but gain a lot. And the strongest kit is actualy Cavalier, because immunity to fear is almost nonexistent in the game from items. Inquisitor is also good, but NOT for its dispel (that's at best a party spell, like bard's song) but for the immunity to charm and hold (two instadeath condition since BG2). Undead Slayer which usualy refered as strongest is actualy WEAKEST of these kit, all undead being puny, negative plane protection being common.

ranger: again a fighter with an attitude.
archer: ranged weapons are fun (especialy in BG 1), and metal armors are not the best. Get yourself a dragon armor (and the BMU) and you'll be fine.
beastmaster: sure, lack of metal weapons is a disadvantage, but then again Quarterstaves are one of the strongest weapon class and they're made of wood.
stalker: sure, this is not Icewind Dale to bother with backstabbing, and armor limitation is though. But not that big of a deal. At least this is somewhat a real negative.

thief: the layer of traps. What's not to like? The kits further flavours this.

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

So until now we only have real disadvantages at:
- beastmaster: no metal weapons
- stalker: maximum studded leather (and whatever fits on you due to malprogramming)
- shapeshifters: due to bad programming its shapeshifting is nonexistent, and cann ot wear armor at all (except when it can)
- avenger: - 4 stat

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

fighter:
- plain fighter is plain, but strong
- kensai: no ranged weapons, no armor, no gauntlets/bracers. We start talking.
- berserker: if it uses its ability it becomes "winded". This means you have to sleep after 1 casting. Stupid ability. But if you don't use it you're still a fighter, got it?
- wizardslayer: "can not use magic equipment, only weapon and armor". For misprograming this actualy only means no rings, belts, gloves and necklace -actualy you can wear one necklace even (amulet of Seldarine).
They can wear above armor and weapon: shield, helm, boots. Can't use any potion except healing pootions and antidote.

-----------

As any class/kit combination further strengthens the character (ye, not the worse negative counts), we must check pure classes/kits:
- druid is pretty ugh
- jester/bard also
- I actualy don't remember how a thief/mage deals with 1st form os Melissan, but if my blade could melee it, it can't be impossible and the rest of the game those classes are good
-shapeshifter can't wear armor
- kensai can't wear gloves and armor
- wizardslayer can't wear gloves and rings and necklace and belt. It neither supposed to be able to wear boots, helms, shields.

So in the end the Weakest Class title goes to either kensai, or wizardslayer, the difference being:
armor vs gloves, rings, belt, ~necklace, (potions). And boots, helms, shields.

If we take what the game allows this is:
-12-20 AC (12 is full plates, usualy with ability, -10 AC the BMU has) vs STR/50%magic dmg red (belts), 3 AC, 10% magic resist, 3 saves (from ring of Gaxx + ring of earth control). And situational drawback from the necklace if the amulet of seldarine do work.
This I feels somewhat balanced. Maybe even kensai has a slight drawback.

Now take into consideration all the other stuff. What if Wizardslayer would work as its description says?
Then it goes:
- shield: doesn't take account, because the second hand canstill be used (twohanded weapons, two weapon style)
- gloves: neither can wear
- armor: 12-20 AC from kensai
- belt: 12-20 AC from kensai vs 50% magic dmg red from wizardslayer
- rings: 9-17 AC from kensai vs 50% magic dmg red, 10% magic res, 3 saves from wizardslayer
- boots: no boots of speed, thus half your strategies go from wizardslayer, also 0.5 attack per round
- helmet: the sole winner is of Balduran here.
8-16 AC from kensai (compared to wizardslayer) vs 50% magic dmg red, 10% magic res, 3 saves, 0.5 attack, 1 thac0 from wizardslayer
- cloak: there aren't many cloak in the games,and aside the obvious Cloak of Balduran for BG 1 they don't worth much. So it is either 1 AC, or 2 saves, or immunity to magic missile from wizardslayer.
- necklace: again not much useful diversity, although at a point thatpoison immunity amulet can help. It'll likely be Amulet of Seldarine,whichmeans 1 save, 10 magic res from wizardslayer

So atthis point is is 10 AC vs 20 magic resistance, 4 saves, 0.5 attack, movement speed, 1 thac0, 50%magic dmg red. Feels we have a winner - or should say looser.

Can we compensate for it?
- Yes, we can, just pick a "shorty" class for resistance bonuses.
Here the kensai will be half-orc, because it gets useful bumps (higher max STR, CON), negligable loss (lower max INT), 0 in sum.
- Wizardslayers have to compromise from what they can get. They need the bump from the constitution shorty bonuses, so they have to choose from either gnome, halfling, or dwarf.
a) gnome is an obvious choicewith negligable changes (INT vs WIS), 0 sum. There is a trick though: they don't get bonuses to death saves.
b) halflings are good. They get all three saves, and even get a bonus on slings. Their problem is a loss of max STR, but that is highly compensated by an extra DEX. Yes, they loose a WIS too, annoying, but that's at least a dumpstat.
c) dwarf: they look ABYSMAL with -2 sum, loss of DEX, loss of TWO CHA which means no best rewards (like +1 dagger to start with) in BG 1. There is a trick though: they can have 19 CON at the start. Why is that important? Because without items providing regeneration you'll either have to sleep a LOT, AND spend a ton on healing (which is less ofa fuss when you realise you won't need many things 'cause you can't use them) if you have a healer nearby at all, or have 20 CON.

Remember, the statbonuses in the trilogy are: stat tomes, machine of lum, deck of many things, final dream (loss), tears of baal (wrath)
STR: 1 + 1 + 1 + 3 = +6
CON: 1 + 1 = +2
DEX: 1 + 1 = +2
INT: 1 + 1 = +2
WIS: 3 + 1 - 1 = +3
CHA: 1 + 1 = +2

When rolling stats, also remember these two items:
In Baldur's Gate 2, you can equip the NPC Keldorn's armor if you have at least 15 strength, 17 constitution, 12 intelligence and 18 charisma.
Valygar's armor in BG2 is usable by with 6 strength, 18 dexterity and 11 wisdom.

With a fighter class we don't have to consider thief bonuses.

EDIT: there's a mayor drawback relating to the issue: wizard slayer's lack of ability to use consumables.
This means no potions of giant STR, no potion of mirror gaze, no potion of heroism/power, no potion of haste, no wand of summoning...

Why those are important? Well, they seriously boost the fighting abilities to start with. And there's - I dunno - the part where you have to save Baldur's Gate's princes (at least one of them), or beat Sharevok.
And given that the major way Sharevok is faced is to summon a thick meatshield from Wand of Summoning, we have a serious problem.

twillight 23-03-2018 09:28 AM

Baldur's Gate: solo Wizard Slayer
 
Surprisingly good at the start. If the miscast saves you from another Magic Missle or sg, that's very noticable, thank you.

Being fighter has an adequate go before Cloakwood, just for its HP. And has plenty of money to throw atchurches for healing, lacking the options to fill slots. Even without playing as the description says.
Me playing as the descrptionsays, aka. literaly no magic items aside weapon and armor (non-magical helmsare good though, as well as non-magical shields, especialy in the Bandit Camp). This mostly prevent me from running away form melee in Boot of Speed anyway.

Potions the WS can use:
- healing potion
- elixir of health
- antidote

Before going to Cloackwood not visited:
- Durlag's Tower
- south of Larswood (4 mages!)
- east of temple (basilisks!)
Areas not finished yet:
- Naskel Mine Exit: a cave has 3 ghasts in it. Even reloading could not avoid being held.
- the archeological dig

Given the many hinderance of WS, I won't rush in the game, and will do every quest, kill every non-random monster I can find. If I can. (the exp cap is removed)

The troubles start at the Bandit Camp, where AoE ability missing shows definite lacking. I had to heal up 3 times at the Friendly Arms Inn to succeed, what is actualy not that bad.

Trouble 2 was in Cloakwood Forest 2, in the cave. Took me 10 healing potions just inside the thing. And crowling back with the body in no armor is no fun either.

I wonder what can be done to save the dukes, or fight Sharevok. No speed potion. No wands. This looks trouble.

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

Progress:
- ice island (TotSC): the first gorup is hard, but manageable if you hit the leader a couple of times to block his casting for start. The ankegh-guy is hard for the ankhegs - lure away the beasts. Had to rely on slep and baalspawn ability to regenerate HP. A lot.
- the 4 mage is even easier. They don't throw fireballs around, and with the miscast you can disable a lot. I dunno the duration of the miscast, but seems long enough (30 seconds at least?)
- for Cloakwood 3 did not mess with the wyverns. Those things hit hard, and poisonous. The babies in CW2 were enough for the moment.
- welcoming comitee at the mine was no problem, as could separate the fighters from the mages.
- mine lvl 2 used the back-passages to not step on the lightning traps.
- wyvern cave empty (these location I long used, they are surprisingly underwhelming)
- the tomb with the 3 ghasts cleared with the help of scroll of prot from undead
- the DoomSayer is dead. It required luck with the throws, clvl 10, and 1 cast of DUHM (and 5 healing potions). Used Longtooth in main hand, dagger of venom in offhand.
- basilisk area cleared. Used Korax to not turn to stone. Killed that neofeminist recruit, 'cause she annoyed me.

Stuff you should not be able to use, but can:
- Claw of Kazgaroth
- Horn of Kazgaroth
- magical helmets
- magical shields
- magical boots

Stuff you should be able to use but can't:
- Marek's antidote

Stuff you can not use (because the game does not let you, not because I say so):
- rings
- amulets
- belts
- gloves/bracers
- wands
- arcane scrolls
- cloaks

Quests you fail because of class*:
- 'cause you can't drink potions and not a thief, Joseph's Greenstone Ring**
- Algernon's Cloak for not being able to steal**
- Brevlik's telescope: the darn containers are locked. Could not bash 'em. ***
- anything to do involving Arkion (his door is locked, could not bash it) ***
(best course of actions: get bodyfor Arkion -> kill Arkion -> bring bloodstone amulet to Nemphre -> kill Nemphre -> bring bloodstone amulet + onyx ring to Ordulinian)
- Niklos and robbery of the OberanEstate: the target house was locked, could not bash it ***
- Larriaz the Sirine (door locked, could not bash) ***
- ogre mage assassination attemt (door locked, could not bash) ***
- anything to do with Ragefast's nymph (Ragefast's door is door locked) <b class="Bold">can't get INT tome</b> ***
(best option: kill Ragefast, bring nymph to rival wizard, free nymph, climb tower and kill rival wizard)
- Jardak's house is locked, couldn't bash ***
- Degrodel's house is also locked (Helm/Cloak of Balduran quest) ***
- Nadin's door is locked, and could not bash open ***
- in the SW district s the house robbed by thieves is locked too ***
- failed to bash open the lock for the evidence in the Merchant League ***
note: at this point no reward from Aldeth, even more if you talk with 'im 'e'll made you arrest. Communicate with the head guard only. When all done, kill Aldeth, then go and kill his borther too.
<b class="Bold">- can't get STR tome in Candlekeep**
- can't get WIS tome in Candlekeep**</b>

* I used a halfling Wizard Slayer with17 STR. Updating the list with 19 STR. Dwarven and gnome wizard slayers can gain 1 more STR.
*** can be done casting Draw Upon Holy Might baalspawn ability
* * no Wizard Slayer can get these


Notable amount of healing potions consumed:
- 10 dose in the Spider's Bane's Cavern (plus antidotes/elixir of healths along the road)
- 10+ dose stopping the coronation/saving the duke
- 12 dose in Iron Throne top level
- 12 dose when reporting finding Helm of Balduran (kill the sorcerer first, then run behind the bed. Also, only has 1 stalker this time)
- 15+ in Degrodel's house. Other conditions: no more than 4 enemy attack you the same time. Attack the helm-guard (invisible skeleton) first, then the doom guard, then deal with the 3 invisible stalker. During the last phase you better off pulling out your second DUHM (yes, despite the casting length). I was clvl 10 this point.

https://i.imgur.com/t2cac5z.jpg

twillight 23-03-2018 09:29 AM

Baldur's Gate: solo Wizard Slayer
 
There are 3 things left in BG1-part:
- the main quest, obviously (saving the duke/s, fighting sharevok are the main plotlines)
- durlag's tower (the tome is obvious, and there's the plate mail +3, remember: every bit helps with this massive solo failure called Wizard Slayer)
- werewolf island

I actualy checked werewolf island, and given a single wolf costs half my HP, I decided to skip it. There's not a single shop on the island, but there's thatGreater Wolfvere and hordes of werewolves in the shipwreck... I don't think Wizard Slayer can do it. Ya tink wizzySs are best, yall go and do it, me not.

Durlag's Tower:
- above levels are ok, but remember, there are plenty of ghasts, so bring Spider's Bane
- I could only find 2 prot. from petrification scroll in the game, andI used them up,so no scimitar +2 for me. I'm into dagger anyway
- the plate +3 is on the 4 dwarf guardian level fortunately. It is an improvement from the Ankegh Plate (finaly), but it is trouble to get it: you practicaly cast a DUHM to fight a single monster, then another to go to sleep to heal back the HP. Remember: healing potions are LIMITED supply, no shop has it in infinite number, so there.
Oh, there's a skeletal warrior where you find the key. That is somehow stronger than the rest, cost me 5 healing potions. The tower by the way is pretty generous with those - I'd put away the big stashes for the final fight or something.
- either way, if you do want to fight the guardians have on you a crapton of potions, be fully healed, and "run" south ASAP and run FAR, so you separate that hasted guy first. The other on the south side is Love, a cleric-or-what, still isn't big of a fuss. My second DUHM still lasted when it died, and managed to sleep (these DUMH-sleeps heal like 50% of my max HP). The cloudkill-guy on the left is weak, only annoying. Fear on the other hand has a crapload of AC, so it's basicaly a "who gets more critical" crap. DUMH is a deciding factor here, heavily weighting for your favour.

This is how I (try to) enter Bhaal's Temple:

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/77U9y7R.jpg" alt="" />

This should be way enough, as I'mway over the exp-limit of BG1.
If still proves impossible, there's still the chance to further abuse the 8million exp limit and moving further in Durlagh's Tower reach clvl 11 (+1 thac0), and gain large shield +2. But as I'm already 2 clvl over where I'm supposed to be, this is very not attractive option.

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

UPDATE:
Ok, so I odn't actualy need to suffer for exp, as after dealing with the goonies, I already reached clvl 11, and I doubt there's enough to get clvl 12.
First pulled out the archer (left side). Annoying. A prot. from fire scroll would have been advisable.
Second heal up, cast DUHM, and pull out Tazok. He hits hard, don't forget to drink potions even during the battle.
Third go along the tombs and cross fingers to not wake any undead. This way I could pull out the mage. Unfortunately you have to suffer 2 of his casting, one of it being turn to stone, so prot. from magic is advisable.
All the goons cost me 25 dose of healing potions.

Let's see if can deal with sharevok...

Btw, you know, I don't get the hate Beastmaster gets as "worst class". That's practicaly a ranger, with extra early summons, restricted to use quarterstaves. And quarterstaves are a good weapon class: in BG1 you can hop and just buy yourself a +3 variant, in BG2 you just buy a +4 variant, get the Instant Invisibility variant, finaly get that of Ram +6 stuff. Sure, won't dualwield (although making one of such runswhere you only wield clubs would be awesome), but hey.
Similar bad reputation lingers (unfixed) Shapeshifter. So, its Greater W form don't get all the benefits. So what. I've yet to see druids to shapeshift anyway (outside pen&paper), so it is just like any other druid. Maybe they are actualy better than pure druid as they can shapeshift right from the start, their "weapon" can't break...
Time to time comes up bard, but even in its worst shape is only a thief without thief abilities...
Druids are also slow (until they get the serious stuff, and finaly Harm).
Now on the other hand WizardSlayer... Sure, is a fighter kit, but taking away the wands realy hurt. And they suffer from taking away equipment too. Ok, maybe not fall on the level in termsof thac0, but still. And they still can't use wands.

The ONLY way I could winagainst Sharevok was to put Prot From Magic on me. A good period remained from the wizard on me, so I tried to abuse the lightning traps. It is very unreliable, but could chunk away a slight portion from Sharevok (they hit 2-3 HP per hit). As he does not regenerate, this worth it, especialy you actualy desperatly need these hits on him.
The protection will run out, and you'll likely be hit by some lightning. Heal it backwith potions, unless you have superhuman sense of time to know when to stop.
The final step (as you can see I had 4 scrolls, only used 2 this time, you might want to use up all four, or more if the game has somewhere) is to walk into the middle of the room, on the big sigil. Lure Sharevok to the middle of the two eyes and the nose (I think those have traps). When going in you might be hit with arrow-traps the scroll does not protect you. Heal that backwith potions. Have 100% HP, this is important!
Now the plan is to run up-and-down the three Skull Trap traps and make those kill the Big Bad. Don't forget to consume even more healing potions (during this "fight" I took another 5, in the end I was left with 5 slot worth potions - did not touch the 10-packs). Don't bother with S, just run and run and run and hope the best.
It CAN be done.
Now when S falls, SAVE. Why? Because you must get out of the sigil, and those physical-damage traps are still there, that's why. Drink some more potions, and try to hurry through the thieves' maze using the protection to negate the magical traps (or just save even more).

https://i.imgur.com/1ThtZnQ.jpg

twillight 23-03-2018 09:29 AM

Baldur's Gate: solo Wizard Slayer
 
Seems I'mgetting tired to not remember DUHM.

Otherwise:
- I just play as the game is supposed to be played. I'm simply not abusing bugs.
- even aside that, I DO USE shields and helmets. Only justthe non-magical ones.
- EVEN aside that, I neither loose too much. Boots of speed is good for 2 things: abusing ranged attack, and uhm-see-ya strategy which is again a kind of exploit, although a minor one. And to be honest, I did try to gimp my overlevelled character. I did put on it the Helm of Balduran, the large shield +1, AND EVEN the Claw of Kazgaroth which is a bloody ring for all sake thus shouldn't be available in the first place. And Sarevok washed the floor with me.

The main lack of WS in BG1 is the lack of wands. It is not terrible without them, even at times does nice things, and face it, none does certain quests aside a onetime completion event (werewolf island, durlagh's tower - seriously).
But face it: the sole working strategy against Sharevok himself is to bury 'im under meatshield and shoot the crap out of 'im. And Wizard Slayer LACKS this one-and-only solution (aside mobbing him with a party, where half your team end up dead of course).

Btw, not using shields aren't that much of a drawback. Sure, I'll miss on the beholder-quests (unless MR works there), but otherwise shield is not in hugh demand.
Helmets aren't a big deal either. Probably. The +1 AC/saves form Balduran is nice, but not the end of the world. Charm protection can come from everywhere. And elemental resist - how about I'll just buy all the protection scrolls this time? Sure, it's not a passive bonus, but oh well!
Lastly the boots: I'm sofed up with Boots of Speed, ok? I'm bored dead with that. And as that only gives walking speed (ok, 0.5 attack as well... Because of bug, I assume - is that fixed in EE?), it doesn't exactly breaking my combat potential. I think.

So the extra lacks are not even that big of a factor. Heck, when I started I thought it'll be balanced against a Kensai. Didn't notice how dependent you are from wands in BG1. And potions. Actualy, the fight against the doppelgangers in the palace was even easier than with a bard (probably thx for the massive amount of HP and fighter thac0,despite a bard drinking like 5 potions there to buff up).

---------

In case I made a miscalculation, pardon me a rant on weapon classes:
- won't mention some, no twohanded for starter, as want two weapon style as trademark (more hit -> more miscast magic stack).Also, something which can give occasional ability offhand like negative plane prot is not woirth point.
- bastard swords:the only interesting one is what makes you immun to poison, so not a long term stuff. EDIT: this sword is unavailable for Wizard Slayer.
- scimitar/wakizashi/ninja to: there's belm/scarlet ninja to for APR, and spectral brand for thac0. But maybe as a fighter I won't need thac0? Simple APR might be fine, but not indisposable, also not that "real" extra ability? Or I just don't hype this weapon class. I hope I won't regret it.Hey,with Greater Whirlwind this should be obsolate anyway.
- short sword: these look more interesting than thought. There is a +APR (kundane), an immunity to hold person (arbane), and avoreen (immun to stun and slow - this is halfling only!). But these are pretty conditional, and piercing dmg, which I already have. Would worth picking this weapon class at the start instead of daggers.
- axes: there is one which adds +1 to wisdom, in case you fancy enough Keldorn's armor. Axe of Unyielding is here too, gives AC and regeneration and vorpal effect - but I used this once with some character, and wasn't that satisfied.
- flails: of earthaven, although that's more barbarian stuff thananyone else's. of ages for slowing.
- long swords: there's an immunity to charm (adjatha), an immunity to fear (dragonslayer), a 10% magic resist (of Balduran), and The Answerer.

Maybe I'll regret this, but I'll go long sword main hand, flails offhand.

twillight 23-03-2018 09:45 AM

Baldur's Gate: solo Wizard Slayer
 
Quests you fail because of class*:
- Limited Wish Adventure
- The Imprisoned Mage
- not a quest, but worth mention: glasses of identification of course does not function, neither the summoning quick items (berserker warrior of the horn of valhalla, efreeti bottle, spider figurine, golem manual and obviously any other), book of infinite spells
**lich in the Gate District
**Kangaxx
**Rogue Stone Doorway
***the Unseeing Eye can only be done BEFORE leaving Athkatla, and ONLY IF the character has Heal Light Wound baalspawn ability.

*Most of these shouldn't matter, as the 8 million exp limit is not diminished if ToB is installed.
**quests behind locks of high STR to bash. These can only be done during the last act, where you can transform to the Slayer, or with high enough level Draw Upon Holy Might casting (baalspawn ability) and enough base strength. DUHM only gives maximum +6 to your stats, which means you need 18+ basic STR on your character. Halflings start with 17 STR, and can't acess the STR Tome, so their only chance is to pass the Chromatic Demon and get the bonus from the Machine of Lum or Deck of Many Things. But if the class description is followed hardcore, then you don't use helms, and you'd need access to Vhailor's Helm's simulacrum to have a chance. Crom Faeyr also works.

After doing fast quests, decided to start Nalia's Keep - but there's the problem of trolls. Ok, the captain there gives somefire arrows, and with fighter thac0 you have no problem using any bow for mercykilling, I'd still feel more comfortable with a melee fire/acid weapon. While the De'Arnise Keep provide one (that flail), didnot felt satisfying enough, so went to Trademeet instead.
Could outsmart Wilfred there with my 10 WIS, but first at arrival got Mrs Cragmore's goons. Thought somehow the random encounter followed me :D They massacred the guards, but who cares.

For the De'Arnise Hold: don't forget that whatever is not on you when you take over the keep (by talking to Nalia) is LOST FOR GOOD wether on the ground or in containers. The best stuff should be enough though. Still, do NOT PICK UP anything you don't take as essential I assume to circumgo this.

For Planar Sphere: I suggest bringing a scrll of fire prot, and if you didn't already, buy Sling ofEverard. Ranged attack is a must at a point, and this damages adamantite golems from safe distance.

For Umar Hills Temple Ruins: kill Mazzy and take her sword. As I found Stun being the bane of the place, it makes a good offhand weapon against liches and the shadow lord.
Also, don't forget you'll (likely) encounter greater mumies, which require +3 weapons to hit,while at this point your main weapon is likely the +2 Adjatha.
Note on Adjatha the drkiner: seems your own magic resist gets in its healing's way.
Note on Flame Tongue: depsite everything telling otherwise it does NOT deal (additional) fire damage.
Note on Dragonsalyer (as I list weapons here): it only regenerates you real time, not in-game time. So don't expect being regenerate by sleeping or traveling.

For the Unseeing Eye:
at clvl 26 managed to pass the beholders here. Adjata sword + of Balduran sword. Cast mirror image from sword. Cast DUHM. Cast speed from sword. Wait 3 tick so when reaching there immediately can cast GWW. Use 5 GWW, aim first the beholders, next the gauth, then anything else. Do NOT try to do anything else but whck until all "beholders" are down!
Also, do not forget this place is full of leveldrain traps and monsters, so stick to Mace of Disruption in the offhand.
Oh, and the lich here is pretty nasty. Seems it has 3 contignency on it, all casting prot from magic weapons. This is annoying. I suggest first running away to avoid its timestop, and not going back until its flame aura dissipates too.

For Shadow Dragon:
- precast DUHM, hardiness, protection from acid, speed. Run to the beast and start whacking. Wear Mace of Disruption + Dragonslayer Sword.
- it should wingflap, and cast protection from magic weapons. You can't do anything with this, and it'll even blind you, thus can't hit it. This time just drink potions (ca. 2 rounds).
- start whacking it with whirlwind. It'll probably wiingflap you again, exausting its wingflap memorizations. Continue with greater whirlwind.
- hope you won't be hit by chaos.
- profit.

Dealing with Firkraag: surprisingly easier. Get Dragonslayer in main hand, whatever offhand. Precast prot from fire, mirror image, haste, hardiness, DUHM, and it's done. Keep the papers and roleplay that you say the dragon killed the landlord, you killed the dragon, so you claim the land.

Some math for helaing:
- selling healing potion does not worth it
- basic healing potions don't heal you enough in battle. Use them in long quests instead.
- healing spells get more costly per HP healed, so stick to the smallest of the spell while at the beginning of the game where you want to buy stuff from shops. Get Heal (the palm icon it has) when you miss 120+ HP though, at that point thatgets cheapest per HP regained.
- as you'll get healed by spells, use DUHM whenever you feel like it, don't wait until sleep unless far from healers.

On Keldorn/Valygararmor: Wizard Slayer can't use them, even if meets the stat requirements.

On the Stronghold: as it has 8 bloody event, each happening ca. 1 per week, you have to spend bloody lot of time somehow. So don't hold back, and hop away selling your stuff, leaving the Shadow Dragon for later and so on.

twillight 23-03-2018 10:20 AM

Disproving a legend: Grond0's Wizard Slayer
 
See, you can write whatever you want. But people do factcheck on your claims at times, and then you get into trouble.

I found this link (oh howI have the beamdogs forum being filled witharrogant trolls, bulklies and cheaters!).
Let's go through the claims,shall we?

- The posts are NOT useful. Saying something like "Progress has been mainly standard - Shoal to get level 3, Beregost tasks level 4, basilisks level 5 & 6." is anything but informative.
And I doubt that amount of exp can come at that point, though basilisks do give hugh exp...Still would welcome DETAILS to measure.
- "He's [the character] just finished in the lighthouse area."- Ye? You weren't even in theNashkel Mines, and already doing the Syrens? Huh!
- And don1t forget this: "basilisks level 5 & 6. To get an extra scroll of magic protection compared to my last wizard slayer attempt Augur also killed Bentan" - the post is obviously entirely fictional,as Protection From Magic scrolls do NOT save you from basilisk gaze. Only Protection From Petrification does.
- "He's just finished in the lighthouse area. Once again there the first group managed to confuse him" - see, syrens don't confuse you. They CHARM you. And if that hits you, that's instant game over. And as this supposed to be a no-reload playthrough... I caught you pants down.
- "Before going to the Nashkel mine Augur bought some full plate." - why? Why not use the Ankegh Plate whatyou find in Nashkel? That's better in every aspect you know (AC of a full plate, weight is almost nothing). I tell you why: the guy never played the game, gathers his information from walkthroughs and wikis!
- Oh, and supposedly this character never drank asingle healing potion. My ass. That's pure and simple: impossible.
- "both of them managed to cast disabling spells despite being hit and Augur had to run off the map to avoid having to save" - that'snot how the game works. For starter, wizard slayer in the UNMODDED game can't cause its classspecific miscast magic with ranged weapons.
- "Augur was successful in pulling the guards away without alerting Hareishan and moved down to Daveorn. He stranded the battle horrors upstairs" - that's not how the game works. Also, doing so is unnecessary, those things can be delt with in melee one-by-one.
- "For once I didn't bother with wisdom. but wanted intelligence as something that could be given up in the dream sequence." - that's again stupid. Even if you have 3 WIS you should sacrifice THAT instead of anything, because WIS is only good if you're have divine magic, while intelligence is precious because of illithids.
- "After picking up the Helm of Balduran Augur attacked the Iron Throne." - I bet he used Claw/Horn of Kazgaroth too.
- " Inside, he triggered the lightning traps and then rested." - problem is, those traps remain there infinite despite being triggered. So what was the point?
- "He took just a couple of shots to dispel Sarevok". While this works, is definitely Abusing Lazy Programing. Sarevok's speed is implemented as infinite length haste is cast upon him, but is definitely intended as being feature, as the haste effect is never shown activated, thus dispeling it is abusing the engine.
-Also, please note we have no idea about the character's level, or equipment at this point.

So the story not just seems fictional, doesn't even give ideas aside how to abuse the engine to beat Sarevok.

BG2 part
:
- "A couple of arrows of explosion found in a random drop" - but exploding arrows are not present as random loot!
- "Augur returned to Athkatla to sell some things a couple of times during that (I'm not allowing him the use of a bag of holding)" - pal, when yoou wrote this you didn't go to Spellhold!
- "Torgal's giant troll companions were also pulled away separately for easy disposal before Ras occupied Torgal" - sorry, but Torgal (De'arnise Keep boss)is further ahead of his troops, thus HE is the one who canbe pulled away!
- "There was another potentially fatal moment when Augur went through the FoD trap (I decided it was better to risk the 5% failure on this than use one of the 2 scrolls of magic protection)." - but the guy ALREADY USED UP against the Trademeet genies!:
"decided to go after the genies at Trademeet. However, despite his green scroll protection, Taquee proved a handful on his own (hitting with every attack) and Augur was forced to make a run for the edge of the map - Taquee's haste allowed him to get one more hit on the way to almost finish Augur off before he could exit. Back in Athkatla he bought the Fortress Shield (offering 2 better AC than the Reflection Shield he already had) and returned to Trademeet. With DUHM he got his AC down to -9 and this time Taquee luck was reversed - failing to hit at all. After another green scroll Augur went inside the tent"
- "he's just been stripped of his Bhaal powers and lost a point of intelligence" - this is just a dumb moment. No melee character chooses to loose intelligence. We loose wisdom.
- " However, although he couldn't get some tokens, he still had enough for the boots protecting against cold and lightning (which was all he wanted anyway)." - but why bother with the tokens? You can friggin buy Boots of Grounding (in theory not allowed, but this character did not bother tostick to the rules) from the Temple District (or Fighter Stronghold!).
- "Lonk died before he could buff " - but why attacked the character at all? Ina no-reload game you wouldn't take any risk. That's why the guy played total boring: cast simulacrum from Vhailor's Helm -> sleep -> repeat. So?
- " Augur moved on to confront Irenicus. An opening GWW with the throwing hammer effectively killed him, but his script kept him going until after Wanev's time stop" - you can't kill the Endboss in the middle of the game, moron! Everyone knows you just step back (after killing your clown) there and don't waste resources! (potentialy heal up by potions)
- "After giving the king the false heart he GWW'd him and his guards before the prince could arrive (level 33 - GWW). It was then the prince's turn before Augur took the rope and descended to the Underdark." - again, why do this in a no-reload game? Why take extra risks? As you have to clear the Prince's cohorts anyway nice and clean, why not just kill the prince?
- "After resting, Augur + simmy used GWWs on the balor threatening the svirfneblin village." - why bother with the balor, again? Just kill the dwarves. They are much easier opponents.
- "He then invaded the beholder nest just far enough to get an elder orb eyestalk." - now this is just moronic. Those things can imprison you. Go against the kuo-toas.
- "He reported to Adalon and she helped clear a path out of the Underdark. That was actually another error as I had intended to kill her and thought she would reappear in her cave. It seems that getting the Human Flesh Armour is no longer possible" - this is just dumbfuck on the square. He's doinga good-alignment character, thus can't use Human Flesh at all. Also plays Wizard Slayer (reportedly clvl 35 at this point), which has NO USE of this piece of equipment! In a no-reload game, wanting to fight a most dengerous enemy. Forno gain. Stupid, stupid, walkthrough-based fanfiction writer, not actual player!
- "Azuredge got another good workout at the vampire guild, although Augur did get drained once and had to use a scroll of restoration." - whathappened with Mace of Disruption +2, one must wonder.
- "With relatively poor AC and very limited regeneration Augur found Suldanesselar rather heavier going than most of my characters. " - strange, but I had no problem at all. Any human-size golems die from Crom Faeyr, raaksashas are mostly casters, you can climb stairs to avoid adamantite/iron golems... AC is not an issue there.
- "Augur got his 40th (and last) level there. Taking GWW gave him a total of 3 hardinesses" - sounds problematic. You're waaay better off with 5 hardiness: 1 for each phase of Melissan, and 1 extra against the Final Seal.
- "At the temple I couldn't resist fighting rather than just putting things on the altar. " - that's a VERY risky move right there. Even with bow specialisation and Boots of Speed (abusing content of course thatis), that place is crowded with enemies.
- "+10 MR (required to get 100% MR now that Human Flesh Armour has gone" - no its not, and would you please stop crying for that overrated armor?
- "+15 HPs (a close decision there, but I decided that having Blackrazor was more important than improved saving throws" - so he used a version where that sword worked. Strange, I thought "
Grond0, good luck with your Wizard Slayer, so far you've been doing fine http://blackstrider.net/Archive_Foru...ault/smile.png Are you using the vanilla version?

Essentially yes, though I've got the Fixpack tweak that allows ranged as well as melee weapons to trigger spell failure." But in the vanilla game Blackrazor's abilities simply don't work!

- "+2 strength" - you mean +3 STR? Or you're that dumb for real?
- "Arriving in ToB Augur immediately found a big bonus in that he could equip the Amulet of Seldarine. I'm not sure if that was intended by developers or not, but will wear it anyway - that now gets MR above 100% without the need for equipping a weapon." - agan, is there a realdifference between 99% and 100%? Also, as he was into shields, why not just use the +5% MR shield when fighting spellcasters?
- "In Saradush, Augur didn't bother with any of the side quests, but just arranged a date in the prison with a bunch of vampires (as you do). " - why mess with those?
- "Using Blackrazor on some orcs and orogs got Augur a strength bonus - which allowed him to open the chest with F'lar's scabbard. In the palace, the first group of enemies were easily meleed; a first use of Crom Faeyr" - this guy was realy that forgetful? Or just wrote to get attention? Sure, STR-boost sounds cool from Blackrazor - BUT WHY BOTHER?
- "Augur improved Foebane and rested before coming back for Gromnir." - seriously, what are this guy's proficiencies? I think he had 5 points in bows, axes, hammers, and even a point in twohanded swords? But then later claimed he had no point there... Oh, what do we expect at this point?
- "Improved Foebane got a first workout against some soldiers on the way to Yaga-Shura's home - Augur getting up to 375 HPs there" - WTF? FOUR HUNDRED HPS? Look, I rolled maximum HP at levels, have 1 less CON, but am nowhere to this! This is 100-150 point more than possible (I have 225 max HP at top level)!
- "Moving on to the Fire Giant temple,... Augur just continued on his own - crushing and fire resistance over 100%" - HOW THE NINE HECK? Ok, I assume Fire Dragon Armor 50% + scroll 50%, 50% Roranach's Horn, 50% hardiness... Wait! I remember! I tried this with my barbarian! Turned out BECAUSE OF BAD CODING the giants actualy do piercing damage or shit, so you get hurt big time if you try this! This is what you get when someone writes fanfiction out of a walkthrough instead playing the game!
- "Augur hadn't brought along a normal weapon, so just pummeled the magic golem unconscious with his fists and left it." - yeah, sure.
- " Augur dug the Wave out of his backpack for the first time to use on Imix." - why bother with the fight? Nothing to gain from it!
- "switching to Blackrazor (for the level drain) made a nasty mess of Yaga-Shura" - not to mess with people, but the bosses in ToB, or otherwise are not coming with hardcoded stats/immun to leveldrain?
- "Having had a pretty easy time of it to here I underestimated Ogremoch and approached with no buffs or summons" - says the guy who sends simulacrum aganst goblins. Sure.
- "However, Augur managed to slam a door on him and waited for Blackrazor to regenerate his HPs." - look pal, your HP is regenerate even by CON. And wouldn't a sane person just hop to Pocket Plane for a sleep?
- "Then, with Roranach's Horn, hardiness, stoneskins, Defender of Easthaven and GWWs he" why not add Mirror Image to the equation? Even more safe.
- "After another rest, it was time to confront Sendai. His simmy helped kill the first 3 statues, but then died (largely as a result of banging against fire shields as I foolishly hadn't given him a ranged weapon option)." - who cares? Hop to the Ppocket Plane for a good sleep!
- "Balthazar once more failed to slow an opponent and he recovered from near death by stunning Augur and then healing himself." - and then the player died, because Stun-druration is 60 seconds or something, any attack during it is automatic success, and we're talking about Blathazar "trying" to hit you.
- " However, he was now down to 9 GWWs - and as I was checking that I mis-clicked and he was down to 8!" - oh, the tension! How the fuck did this actualy happen? Misclick my arse.
- "For the final combat with Mel he had earth elementals on his side (having used all the fire ones)" - the sheer impossibility here. You get 1 earth elemental per sleep in case you didn't know.


"and realising that perhaps he could have done with the Girdle of Frost Giant strength in order to make Crom Faeyr"

Capo 24-03-2018 06:06 PM

Try a solo run in Pillars of Eternity!

twillight 25-03-2018 09:27 AM

I don't have 50$ fora game I never even heared of.

twillight 25-03-2018 04:10 PM

Baldur's Gate: solo Wizard Slayer
 
For Watcher's Keep Level 2: bring with you Mazzy's sword. Its prevention of stun works miracle against the snake in the poison room (also consider using a prot from poison scroll), and its prevention of slow is useful in the ice room.

As I can't beat the Chromatic Demon the way I want to, but neither criples me beyond belief if I hold progress here, I move.
Also, as the Stronghold don't provide anything invaluable, and I'm just done with Event 6/8, I'm moving from this too.
Onto the rescue!

The demogorgon statue: ANY summon is good here, so no reason why bring anything else than Ras.

Silver Dragon: I hate this thing. First cast prot from cold and hardiness. Start the battle - you'll be wingpushed away. It can do this whenever feels like.
Has a #&@ attack dealing massive damage (anything between 50-150). When it does it AND wings you away, heal by potions. When going back try summoning Ras, so that'll take the heat next time. Whirlwind it to oblivion.

Stuff you can use, but not supposed to:
- Rod of Resurrection is applicable (has use in a ToB quest). Although you might consider it not magical, but divine.
- Gauntlets of Crushing: you're not a monk, but still.

To defeat the Chromatic Demon:
-assemble the Crom Faeyr
- no need to be proficient with it
- wait until changes to shambling mound form
- have Ras summoned as diversion
- release demon
- profit.
This is how the Chromatic Demon works:
- every time it changes form gets full heal
- it is probably 100% resistant to any elemental damage except its current weakness
- it has 90% resistance to any physical damage type (you can only hurt 1-2 HP per hit)
- it has 0% resistance against current weakness.
Staff of Striking does NOT work here.

Areas you likely won't visit (no gain for pain):
- beholder city
- illithid city
- tavern duels of Ust Natha
- the imprisonment machine of the Underdark
- lvl 5-6 of Watcher's Keep (I got maximum exp even before fighting the Chrmoatic Demon)

Bhaal's Tears:
- Wrath: wisdom and charisma has no use for you
- Greed: sure, Blackrazor is nice - only problem it did not work in the original game, thus not even worth considering
- Pride: you don't need exp anymore
- Fear: immunity is better.
- Selfishness: this is the tricky one. If you play hardcore, thus refuse to touch magic, then go for magic resist. If you are ok with abusing design errors, avoid it like plague and go for the AC. Why? The amulet gives 10% magic resist.With the natural MR of Wizardslayer, plus 5% from Lum's Machine you get 99% natural MR.
If youare ok abusing exploits, don't forget to wear magic boots, magic helmets, and the Claw of Kazgaroth,as well as Gauntlets of Crushing!

The bad side of longsword prophiciency:
- while there are a lot of long swords, and with useful abilities, they also don't realy go above +2 enchantment, what is problematic, given how many things demand +3 stuff to be hit (not to mention even stronger optional things)
- there is no negative plain protectin (leveldrain immunity) from swords, which given we're talking mainly about wizard slayer is a hugh problem. Sure, there's Angurvadal, but that's ATSENDAI'S LAIR, which point you passed EVERY SINGLE leveldraining monster I assume. Who designed this shite?

For ToB:
- I pocketsleep more then I used to with other chars, but who cares?
- in case you're frustreted tohave 99% MR just wear Enkidu's Plate. It is a -2 AC plate with 5% MR, way cooler for many characters than the overhyped Ice Dragon Plate.
- I did not have the WIS this time, so had to kill Spectator (beholder). Fortunately he's returned in ToB either way.
- couldn't bother going for the BMU first, so did Sendai w/o it. The Slave Passage caused some problems, which I solved by releasing at the first 1/3rd Ras, and Spectral Brand at 2/3rd to hold up the crowd.
- oh, and you don'teven have to bother with the Deck of Many Things, as you'll likely wield Angurvadal after its upgrade, which pumps your STR to 22, which means 24 STR with Evil Wrath Tear.

I'm yet to find a belt WS could wear, a second ring,and a cloak. Otherwise lazy coding über alles I think. I put allinfo on available equipment here.

Personal story:
- Ogremoch somehow activated some trap (remember, I play WS, which don't lay traps) and got banished by it?
- somehow True Sendai managed to hold EVERYTHING (including its summons), so died at the 2nd whirlwind. Easiest victory ever.
- I dunno 'bout u, but for me Draconis was a giant middle finger. Here is all I could figure out:
a) cast prot from acid beforehand
b) stand outward,so its transformation-wing-buff will push you to semi-safety
c) as it is primaly a caster (who don't realy care about the miscast debuf, neither the thac0-debuff from Answerer) use the Grandmaster armor for speed (or just use Boots of Speed abusing the coding)
d) cast mirror image afterthe transformation pushed you
e) he somehw can onehit Ras, but not Spectral Brand
f) don't bother with the stalkers (if you're immun to +1/0)
g) use Rod of Reversal when it appears first time,or it managed to recast stone skin or such (check the battle log constantly)
h) when it is close, use whirlwind
i) when it runs away (innate ability invisibility) do NOT runafter,as it'll remain invisible. Instead drink a megapotion.
j) hope for the best.

Smiling Spectre 27-03-2018 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482123)
I don't have 50$ fora game I never even heared of.

It's Kickstarter game from the famous Obsidian (yes, authors of BG1-2, Planescape and Fallout 2). Check on Steam for their games. :)

Speaking about that, SteamDB clearly shown that game is $30 (without DLC though) and can be bought for $15 on sale. :)

Mystvan 27-03-2018 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (not Japo nor Paco) (Post 482122)
Try a solo run in Pillars of Eternity!


Capo :poke: (not Japo :king: nor Paco :paco:) had already mentioned this game previously, in this same thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (not Japo nor Paco) (Post 469008)
Do Pillars of eternity solo :OK:

Well, we could assume twillight is not so hungary :hungry: for that kind of game...

twillight 27-03-2018 07:15 PM

With ALL dlc (aka. the complete game, not some demowith missing features and half the story) costs at the moment 43.47$ without pesky steam-connection to ruin your life consuming all memory of your computer and infesting your life with advertisement on GoG.

I'll finish my other stuff before investing that much. And trust me, I have tons of stuff on my head.

At least I know I'mlearning from all this bullshit Baldur's Gate playthroughs. like the difference between power, preparation and tactics. Barbarian, bard and wizardslayer respectively.

Talking about this, WS made more progress:
- Abazigal is another middle finger. It don't have spammable "there goes 50%+ of your HP" breath attack, but instead it is immun to Answerer, always hasted, AND immun to Flail of Ages' slowing effect.
For preparation cast prot from lightning, hardiness, mirror image, and when transforms hit it with rod of reversal. Still a gambling, but whatever.
Oh, I failed to mention, the blasted dragon's fearbypasses the magic resist, so there. Get the dragonslayer sword offhand for this.

At Balthazar have to mention, I prefer sequenced programming instead of this "if Creature X rolls random and spamms the I Kill Button zounds then you are dead no matterwhat" crap.

The Ravager... Ye, I suspectif it spams its wingpuff, which it has despite not a dragon, you're as good as dead.
Either way, your best chance is to hop into BMU, summon the earth elemental, the air elemental, 3 fire elemental, cast mirror image, hardiness, enter, and as soonas start cast whirlwind to get close asasp and start whacking.
When you start to run out of summons (which only function is to hold back the mordekainen swords) pull out Ras. Somehow this encounter eats Spectral Brand like it had Hp, so don't try that. This means leaving out a whirwind, but whatever.

This leaves Melisandr only. And I did this the hardcore way: no cloak, no belt, no rings (despite you could), no amulets (despite you could), no magical boots (like the nonmagical would do something, lol), no magical helmets, no magical shields.
Although for maxium fun, I'd recomend putting up all magical equipments. It is a trying, but fun kit. OK, most of the time it is weak as a kitten,and you have to rely a lot of metaknowledge and experience, but hey, I DID find this a fun experience.
WS deinifitely sux though. And that's a fact.

Oh, and in case for some strange reason you wanna identify the Sword of Gram, you CAN'T get out through the maingate. But you can leave the area sideways, go to another place, come back, get into the medical facility, and identify it there.
Just so you know.

PS: technicaly WS solo shouldn't be able to do the game. Because in Abazigal's Lair must use Breath Potion. Which is a magicalpotion, what the WS can't use. Fortunately it is enough to have it in the inventory.

twillight 01-04-2018 10:19 AM

Broken Sword 1
 
Better than the 2nd one.
It has a massive playtime, and the puzzles are practicaly always logical.

Too bad the remastered adition did not sharpen the contours of the characters (the background was fine all along), and not made lipsink on the speech-windows.

The biggest flow is though, that as the story goes along, the puzzles/the next action becomes more and more... Just Because We Can, and not integrate, logical move comiing from the story.
Like when at the cathedral, the hints literaly say "yes, the story brought you here, but you should be elsewhere Because Plot Convenience".
Then again at the cathedral when there's the clow-juggler-joungler you obviously have to getdown the sewers. I mean obviously, because there's the serwer lid, and there's literaly no other option else to do anything in the game. But otherwise there's no narrative reason to do it.

The peak of frustration though came in the mausoleum. There's an open window, and a large stick. Obvious thing to do: close the window with the stick.
But the program does not allow this until you futily try to lighten the candle in the room, which obviously gets blowned by the air coming through the open window. I knew that fuckhead. Why did you now allow me to do my stuff, he?

twillight 02-04-2018 08:59 AM

Baldur's Gate Solo Fallen Ranger Beastmaster (1)
 
I have no life, and this is totaly something none ever did, so F you, this is my contribution to humanity.

In Candlekeep summoned familiar.Can't fall there anyway, as if attacking anyone the whole place turn hostile (including Gorion to start with).

Right after leaving Candlekeep there's a guy who will not jump. Killed him.
Then there's a bartender/merchant-fattso - also killed him. The reputation fell to 5, just enough to be fallen. This is independent from starting reputation, so just go for pseudodragon (miniwyvern by the look of it) instead the puny fairy dragon (they're totaly the same except FD has worse stats).

E of Candlkeep, S of Friendly Inn, Friendly Inn cleared.

Death: Silke (blast her lightning bolt)

https://i.imgur.com/wCzRJyd.png

Done areas: S of Beregost, N of Nashkel, NW of Nashkel, Nashkel, High Hedge (the two flesh golem delt with - they are hostile before talking with the mage).
Finaly my reputation reached average - only for this technical reason gender is male.
Primaly using quarterstaff +1.

Danger: flesh golems

https://i.imgur.com/UXTQLvr.png

When felt ready to go to the Bashkel Mines already done mostof the areas. Sadly made no exact notes, but here are the places not visited yet:
- Larswood/Peldwale (related to Bandit Camp), Anything directlynorth from Durlag's Tower (and the tower itself), the Archeological Dig
Last visited the Firewine Bridge. Before that went to Ulgoth Beard, but skipped fighting ankeghs. AC realy bad you know. Just had to follow the seashore. Bought there staff +3, cloak of eyedamage. At least I'm popular now.
Used a mindshield potion when gaining the CON-Tome, and an Oil of Speed when in the area protecting that cow. Also a scroll of prot from undead to clear the Nashkel Mines exit (makes life easier).
Because of low CHA got no Boots of the North, neither prot from magic scroll and reputation when finding the dead cat.

https://i.imgur.com/WQTyHcT.png

Capo 02-04-2018 04:45 PM

Nice avatar :OK:

Mystvan 02-04-2018 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482155)
I have no life, and this is totaly something none ever did, so F you, this is my contribution to humanity.

In Candlekeep summoned familiar.Can't fall there anyway, as if attacking anyone the whole place turn hostile (including Gorion to start with).

Right after leaving Candlekeep there's a guy who will not jump. Killed him.
Then there's a bartender/merchant-fattso - also killed him. The reputation fell to 5, just enough to be fallen. This is independent from starting reputation, so just go for pseudodragon (miniwyvern by the look of it) instead the puny fairy dragon (they're totaly the same except FD has worse stats).

E of Candlkeep, S of Friendly Inn, Friendly Inn cleared.

Death: Silke (blast her lightning bolt)

https://i.imgur.com/wCzRJyd.png

Done areas: S of Beregost, N of Nashkel, NW of Nashkel, Nashkel, High Hedge (the two flesh golem delt with - they are hostile before talking with the mage).
Finaly my reputation reached average - only for this technical reason gender is male.
Primaly using quarterstaff +1.

Danger: flesh golems

https://i.imgur.com/UXTQLvr.png

Norway! :wacko: :tease: If I were not digitally reading the stats of the character, I would swear she would be female and not male! :sick:

In the beginning, when I saw the avatar, I was getting digitally hungary, :drool: but now, with that great disappointment, I am really in spain... :crybaby:

Well, at least there is a person, you know who, :sneakrete: who would not be disappointed, because that Maiden :grandma: loves to change (switch) the gender of users... Why is it? :mhh: :sneakrete: :woot: :hypno2:

twillight 03-04-2018 08:16 PM

Baldur's Gate Solo Fallen Ranger Beastmaster (2)
 
Actualy, the avatar is robotic, thus sexless. Uhm, this turned out pretty weird. Better consult with someone with a degree in genderism.

And the character is practicaly an excuse to use clubs. None use clubs. Given that in the BG1 part without Enchanted Edition there are absolutely zero magical clubs, and trilogy/weidu implemented the BG2 system on the BG1 game, that's pretty understandable.

---------

Danger: when exiting the Nashkel Mines AIM THE LEADER of the bounty hunters! She casts Hold Person, and it'd be useless to drink Invulnerability Potion even! So drink a STR-buff potion and a Potion of Heroism for hits (at least I did), and aim for the casters first!

In the Bandit Camp I got pretty wounded (ca. 50%), and the head honcho outside decided to charge me while I was busy sniping the archers (with boots of avoidance, girdle of piercing and cloak of ulgoth beard you're pretty much invulnerable aside critical hits). So said, WTH and drank a Potion of Heroism. As I still had more than 40% HP, drank a couple oh healing potions and went in the main tent. And won.

Btw, bought all potions from Nashkel, Beregost and the Friendly Arms Inn at this point... I'm running dry. Technicaly I could use the Elixir of Health potions of course...
Btw,yet to find a wand of polymorph, but aside that the only wand seen been able to use is Wand of Sleep.

As I knew from last time they suck, went and killed the red wizards.
In Gulleykin used an oil of fiery burning against the headhunters.
Oh, before I forget: around the 2nd screenshot the familiar became Permanent Resident of the Backpack. It no longer had enough HP to not be oneshotted. Interesting thing is, it can be a good diversion against Flesh Golems with its ridiculously low AC. And it can stand 1 punch, so can use it.
In Cloakwood Forest II used a potion of freedom (had 3, got lucky), a scroll of prot from poison, and inside the cave an oil of fiery burning.
In CWF IV used an antidote. Not because of the wyvern, but for a random spider. The irony!
At the CWMines got lucky and could separate the warriors one-by-one, thus not used potion.
CWM IV: "death" by the mage. To beat the horrors drink a Potion of Frost Giants Strength, a Potion of Invulnerability, and a Potion of Heroism. This was good, but against the mage you still need another Potion of Invulnerability (that Dire Charm is strong), and a Potion of Freedom (I managed to fail against his Hold Person still, and the only Ring of Freedom can only be aquired if you can't steal if you kill that guy in Ulgoth Beard, but that'd make half the town hostile - so need potion, which I did not know, so did not bring, so I reloaded instead of CLUAConsole, or doing a trip back to the town, which I totaly could have).

Up till now bought every single Healing Potions, and never left an area without dealing with all "local issues" (aside the ankeghs). The result is, only 14 healing potions remained on me. (All temples - Gullykin, Nashkel, Beregost, Firendly Arms Inn - sells 20, High Hedge gives 3.)
Any level of a dungeon counts as "another area", so I was allowed to leave if I felt to. This is just a self-imposed rule what made things a bit spicey. Baldur's Gate itself pose no problem related to this (I assume) aside the doppelganger-fights, and has plenty of new shops to restock the supplies.

This shot is after I reported to Vai after the CWM:

https://i.imgur.com/eYeHp9N.png

Following the Lothander quest all areas were made accessible. First did the section E, then NE, then W, N, SE, C, SW, sewers. Because of BUG Aldeth never shown up to open the Merchant League of his, and I got suspicious. Yes, he got "stuck" in CW1. Killed him there, and his brother shown up at least. S.
At the Iron Thron's Big Boss Battle I useda potion of Firebreath (found in the building I think) to kill the casters ASAP because they pose a DANGER of stun/hold you. Rigid Thinking is a joke, I either end up running away in Boots of Speed, or whack them like nothing happens.
Did the basilisk area, then finaly the ankeghs. After that NW, where used a Potion of Defense and Potion of 19 STR to beat the things Degrodel had - effects lasted till giving back the quest, so all was good. Damn, I'm behind shedule for a blackout.
No matter, passed Candlekeep, thatbeing an easy area, of course had to use a Potion of 24 STR to get all the good stuff.

WhyI not show my exact exp is, aside that I just didn't want to remove equipment (hey, ring of freedom was in the Iron Fist!), is the strange fact, that the sheetstill counts Racial Enemy. Does this mean even when fallen, I get these bonuses? I checked with Cavalier, and its resistances go away when falling you know.

https://i.imgur.com/GGPk1m7.png

DANGER: Durlag's Tower, lvl -2: Love casts Dire Charm, and that sux.

Mystvan 05-04-2018 02:00 AM

Well, it is an off topic issue that addresses gender bender or gender change.

I will only mention a few titles, perhaps known to somebody, who were perhaps “pioneers” in their respective forms of entertainment:

• Cartoon: Ranma ½;
• Comics: Ranma ½;
• Games: Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender-Bender;
• VN / BG / EG / HG: XC series.

twillight 05-04-2018 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482161)
Well, it is an off topic issue that addresses gender bender or gender change.

I'm more familiar with the western culture. From there:
- Glen and Glenda (1953, crated by Ed Wood!)
- Boys don't cry (1999)
- Transamerica (2005)
- Big Mouth (season 1, episode 3, 2017)

From asia I can only name two things:
- X Change (1997, and I'm hentai is hentai, sry)
- Sailor Moon (power to Sailor Uranus! Crap, getting the french dub totaly improved this character making the gender ambiguous, especialy as hungarian lacks constantly adding the gender-pronouns. The series started in 1991, but only got here in 1998)

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

Aside that, went further in Durlag's. Don't forget that right after dealing with the throne room on lvl 3, to the right is the Master Control Room, so you don't have to bother with all the puzzles of doors opening and closing, you can simply set all doors open :mischief:

Oh, back on lvl 2 a pro tip: you'll need (at least with this char) antidotes. There is a sixpack in one of the barels at the four dwarf guardian, so run there first.

One of the greatest advantage to have is regeneration, so you don't have to rely on potions anymore, that much. DUHM is precious. But even with your buffed stats you need a potion of speed to conquere the air aspect on you-know-what-level (lvl 4).
Against the Fission Slime the cheapest solution is fire arrows.

To win the chessboard drink a Potion of Invisibility, and a Potion of Absorption, then just walk around until everyone is dead.
BEWARE: if you get on the chessboard, there's no turning back! Well, you know what I mean. Ialso question howcould you come down again if you decide to go out.

In lvl 5 if you brought a scroll ofprot fromacid, cast it. FIRST GO IN THAT AREA, because it has such potions as Antidote, so you'll have stuff to use when fighting the spiders in the room at the start. Why wouldyou fight them? For exp! I have the trilogy merged into one game, so 8 million is the only exp limit!
But as we depend even if only slightly from that scroll (actualy we don't), and the game is very generous at this point with potions, I suggest bottoms up!

To get the Staff of Striking you again need another STR 24 potion. Darn. But it is stylish if you manage to land the finishing blow on the demon knight while it fights its counterpart, and to assure that names staff is perfect, especialy as you thac0 will be great if you do this with name dpotion sill active (use potions of healing to regenerate back the HP lost when opening the chest of the staff).
The Mirror Fiend mirroring you somehow blasted hard to hit in melee, but hurts you like animal, but using bow (+1/fire arrows) finishies it quickly. The Mirror Knight disappears with the original.

https://i.imgur.com/ZR99uEE.png

A note for other times: if you talk to Shandalar BEFORE doing the thieves quest (and killing his daughter), he makes no fuss about it anymore.

In the Iron Throne HQ get to a sideroom until you finish off the ogres. Darn, I miss shorty saves.
Then just because I could and had the resources I thought, I sipped an Oil of Speed and Potion of Heroism, cast DUHM, and stormed the palace. THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME I realised why sometimes the surviving duke/s don't respond: there are the staris which I though doppelgangers might flee when panicing. Actualy BENEATH the stairs is a door, to the royal treasury, which even has its own cinematics!
After this took my time to check if the Flaming Fist is withdrawn, or the porting is just some cheap trick to avoid programming removing them. And they were gone! Ahoy!

On Werewolf Island (I can't believe I'm doing this!) go by babysteps. Always sleepheal to full, follow people from the edge of the fog-of-war and so on.
Things to bring: Potion of Defense (5), Oil of Speed (5, although you find one on the island, in the house of the chieftain if you want), LOTS of healing potions (I had a crapload this point, so no fuss), +3 weapon (yes, that's the quarterstaff for beatmaster), Potion of Heroism/Potion of Power as many you can afford, but as for the others use only 1 slot.
For the bottom level run into a corner, so only limited enemy can reach you.
Second level is tough, but only an of Defense (and maybe healings) needed.
Third deck can almost be called easy, and it has a potion of 23 STR! Perfect, as I don't want to ditch my last 24 STR potion (btw, there are 2 of these on the island, I suggest grabbing at least one, preferably both). But I suggest after buffing do everything quickly and heal up by potions, so you can use the effects lasting to leave the island for good! So let's deal with Mendas!
Where the game will TROLL YOU! Wassisname-he-turns-to is IMMUN TO quarterstaff +3 (unlike his pal)! The ONLY way I found to survive here was, to first cast all crap on me (oil of speed, potion of defense, potion of heroism, DUHM),dispose the other-loupe-garou ASAP, then turn on the Big Bad Wolf - with "The Victor", aka. Energy Ring. You have to run around (to avoid being damaged), and cast regularly from the ring (and its magic resist gets in the way occasionaly). Dunno if it has regeneration or what, but it gives up to the rays (requires quite a lot of charges, so if you found this with few charges recharge it by shop out of necessity - don't forget that their islandlacks both shop and medic institute!).

https://i.imgur.com/wi2qgNs.png

The Archeological Dig ... was somehow way easier then with the previous char. Didn't even sipped a potion,and it went down smoothly.
Now, should I try my luck against the demon of Ulgoth Beard?

https://i.imgur.com/jqDToNM.jpg

Hm, this was easy. Only did this once, so was kinda surprised by the commitee at the gate. Who cares, drank a Ption of Defense for starter, then Potion of Heroism. Some Potion of Healing for flavour, but as I was not sure what comes, and the village has no medical center... Whatever, onward! Got surprised again what the doorguard summoned for help, but whatever. But just to be sure took an Oil of Speed. These again had a crapton of Potion of Heroism. Who cares.
Inside killed all (starting with the mage). Drank a bottle of invisibility, went down. Went to the backand started bowing the cultists. The stars might have been right, but I saw in their light where to aim...
The last being down took a scroll of prot from magic, AND (and it is important) a dose of Potion of Mirrorred Eyes (need another dose because expires). Fast disposed the summoner, then started to run around shooting the demon. The cultists costed me a surprising chunk of arrows (like 70, and I only brought like 25 acid arrow + 80 fire arrow = 105, plus 11 piercing arrows), so I was a bit worried, but somehow I shot it easy. Well, that's why I'm an elf I assume. And it is a demon, and probably the racial enemy (don't go into this!) DOES work. Because sure as heck the spells I can cast despite being fallen!
The pesky dwarf did not give reward - sure, because I'm an elf I assume.

Ah! I can memorise spells, but not cast them!

The fight against Sarevok&Co went ... more smoothly than I thought. He was still the stronger. But I had the Unholy Grail of the Durlags, so muahaha!

https://i.imgur.com/pu1277P.png

Mystvan 06-04-2018 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482013)

On games:
- DiviDead: ye, that old erotic manga-game, which came on CD. Not to this miniscule country here of course, and noone have "adult" section nowdays. Man, I grew up on those hentai games, darn. Given it is a "porno" game there isn't a let's play for it either :( I'd settle for an uncenzored let's play actualy.

Just to warn you that this game has some dialogues without voices. I presume the producers have forgotten this, since there are innumerable dialogues. :wacko: :tease:

And the other games of this Producer also have the story confusing, mysterious, but it does not even come close to the FFVII in which the facts seemed to be conflicting, many unfathomable mysteries (at least 10 years ago when the internet was still developing). :woot: :hypno2:

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482162)
I'm more familiar with the western culture. From there:
- Glen and Glenda (1953, crated by Ed Wood!)
- Boys don't cry (1999)
- Transamerica (2005)
- Big Mouth (season 1, episode 3, 2017)

From asia I can only name two things:
- X Change (1997, and I'm hentai is hentai, sry)
- Sailor Moon (power to Sailor Uranus! Crap, getting the french dub totaly improved this character making the gender ambiguous, especialy as hungarian lacks constantly adding the gender-pronouns. The series started in 1991, but only got here in 1998)

Now, regarding the XC series, you have been able to decipher my codes... :o :omg: Just to remind you that PeaPri has also released spin-off of this series.

Smiling Spectre 06-04-2018 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482164)
Now, regarding the XC series, you have been able to decipher my codes... :o :omg:

Well, I know _only_ X: Change in this vein, and VN went right with it, so nothing too hard for Twillight too, I believe. ;) EG and HC went along too.

But I still puzzled about BG. :)

Mystvan 06-04-2018 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482019)
I was once an active user of the Erotic Games English Official Forum (Eroge or H-games) translated into English (PP, JAST USA). I may be outdated since then... :old:

As far as I know, the people there do not really appreciate this expression “Hentai” (perverted) / H / Ecchi and prefer other terms like Dating-Sim games, Bishoujo (“Pretty Girls”) games, Visual Novels, etc.

If you like games with deeper and more complex content like Divi-Dead, I can point out more similar games and avoid known games, but with very weak, superficial stories. If you are interested, you can contact me via PM. :PM:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 482166)
Well, I know _only_ X: Change in this vein, and VN went right with it, so nothing too hard for Twillight too, I believe. ;) EG and HC went along too.

But I still puzzled about BG. :)

Wow! Cool! I hope some old members of PeaPri BBS (now JAST USA Forums) are members here as well. :OK:

Regarding the term BG, this means Bishoujo Games (“Pretty Girls”).

Now, regarding the term DSG, to the great misery of Neymarla :old: fans, this does not mean Darius Saint-Germain, but Dating-Sim Games. :sucks:

PS: I wonder why Neymarla :old: is so *ahem* *cough* *cough* “popular” in Brazil... :banned:

twillight 06-04-2018 11:08 PM

Baldur's Gate Solo Fallen Ranger Beastmaster (3)
 
I never fully got the difference between ecchi and hentai. I know it's some cultural thing, and stuff...

Either way, as despite the limited equipment supply for Beastmaster seems this will be a bit more interresting then I thought, here is some update:
- got out of ID (lol, just struck this) without sleeping. That's always nice.
- because there are only 2 clubs in SoA,and 1 in Watcher's Keep, I bought the Staff Mace in the Adventurer's Mart. And a simple club, as I had better things to do then bring out what found in the dungeon.
- did the Circus. Nothing much there. But then decided, wth, why not use my potions and do Peblecrusher? So I went in, sipped an oil of speed, put a potion of firebreath on the berserker sword-one, used the flames to destroy the mage and the imp (run behind the bed to do that), charmed the thief both to not run away and meatshield (this was the hardest part), and done.
From their stuff changed Protector the Seond (leather +2) to Hide Armor&Ring of Protection,which for the moment seems better than that Studded Leather +1. The goal is Aeger's Hide, but thatcosts a lot of money.
Either way, the potion lasted until I did the robbers and the duel in the Slums (bought Glasses of Identification too), so so far so good.
Freeing Hendak gave me enough gold to buy Aeger's Hide. Was important to have 2,000 gold left.
Took the potion of Freedom I had, and went into the sewers for Lilarcor. Look, I know I can't use it, but it's exp, and money, and aslong as I can, I'll stick to the clear-all method.
Up to the slaver drank the Potion of 22 STR, because sooner or later I'll sleep, so I didn't need that. With doing everything proper, the P of Freedom held out until the last group of slavers, so that Hold Person was washed off. Nextwas important to kill the human mage, then the fighters starting with the archers, and only then the dwarf mage.

Next time: between-areas and the docks (at least that's the plan)!

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

During working for the Shadow Thieves/Maewar bought Boots of Grounding and Staff of Striking because I could, and were the first items to come across. Also realising Cloak of Non detection don't worth squat if not sneaking but invisible (death: Cowled Wizard), bought the nymph cloak too, even if I end up not using it.

To get the Spider Figurine (of course I'm working for Bodhi again) used a prot from poison scroll, and a Potion of Defense.

As I did not forget to hold back taking the final rewards for the Circus and freeing the slaves, my reputation never suffered.

Practicaly cleaned Amn (killed even Anomen, did not forget) except the sewers and the Bridge. Planis to clean the Bridge, then go to Trademeet first.

Hey, noticed another Staff Mace available in the Talos temple!

Against Valiera&Co used a Potion of Heroism + Oil of Speed. While they lasted added a Potion of Invincibility and disposed Dennis the Menace.While all these lasted delt with the tanner's allies. And because it still had duration, disposed Tarnor in the sewers. Actualy they have some nasty spells, so mark another death for them (I managed in the end lure them thin, and the casters remaining back wasted their ugly spells on the spider figurine). The heroism still could have last if I don't forget trolls die by fire, so had to crawl back for a bow from a slain creature, lol. It didn't matter in the end, all my hits landed. Bah, unlike others he seems to not worth exp? Or just not came the message? Whatever. Let's sell his stuff.

Freeing Haer DHalis from the planar space was... Well, it was rough to start. The key was, to summon the berserker at the left mage to prevent it stun you (also DANGER: it has a finger of death). And an oil of speed + potion of heroism helped too (I suspect backstabbers). Probably some AC-potion would have been more simple, or not, but I'mlazy to buy potions (aside that magic blocking one to get the berserker).

What remains in the city are the liches, some +3 undead in the Unseeing Eye's lair (btw, there again had heavy use of the summons: spider, berserker, air elemental, and still was problematic the cleric group, so count another death), and the illithids behind the windspear hill's key's gate. Oh, and the rogue stone doorway.

https://i.imgur.com/DBBRexf.png

twillight 08-04-2018 11:45 PM

Baldur's Gate Solo Fallen Ranger Beastmaster (4)
 
Haha, joke on me, Amulet of Pow-err does not work on any warrior, not just on fighter. And thatwas the only source which could have protect me from leveldrain. Oh man.
Of course I won't have Ras or that other invincible flying sword either.

I don't think I'll manage.

Cleaning the Shadow Thieves Hideout was left, so done it (obviously), then thought about the liches, but there's some problem with that. Namely the Rogue Stone Doorway. Idealy I'd quaff a Potion of 24 STR and use its duration to dealwith stuff, casting prot from undead along the way (by the way don't cast it until the beholder is down, as the shield don't reflect its dispel-ray), but there's the problem that the mage summons some +3 demon. And my weapons are only +2. And no source of prot. from evil either. I should get the !2 staff from the shop either way, eh?
Ye, that was a good idea. Beastmaster is pay-to-win.
Btw, don't forget to bring Helm of Charm Protection, 'case the Aeger's Hide usualy protects from such crap (confision, charm, chaos etc.), they cast some special spells which bypass that :sick:

Accidently solved the Genie Embargo both ways. Attacked the gaurd outside for the bottle, and when enter clicked right on the boss, which inisiated the all-well conversation before the'd turn hostile, and then poof, they were goner. Nice. Not that I ever use the bottle, but still.

exp I'll not get: did not go for the pockets in the Planar Prison. Will not go kill the noble houses of Trademeet (if you enter their home after giving themantle to the major, they are hostile). Will not go back to destroy amnishsoldiers at the Silver Pantaloon Hostage. Will not (not that I could) fight the cowled wizards arriving for casting magic.

Tested out that the ranger do NOT loose its stronghold for giving booze&guns to youngsters. That was Fake News all along. So the only thing to watch for is to not kill the Shadow Lord before dealing with Irenicus. Because doing the stronghold (finishing all stronghold quest) restores the fallen status. Which I plan to rebalance by doing the Tears the evil way. The alignment shift in theory makes you fallen when transiting to ToB.

Until then, here is a semi-fake picture for you. I just played with the character skins change button combination (then reloaded). If I remember correctly you actualy can't have a statue inslayer form.

https://i.imgur.com/aOeOmZw.png

To kill dragons shop-recharge staff of striking, and greater whiirlwind the beast with simultan simlacrum.

I'm ready to leave Amn due to no other things to do:

https://i.imgur.com/AG05Buu.png

Next time pick it up in the Underdark: did you know adamantite don't count as metal?

Doing the tavern monster duels not justmaxed my exp, but also made more sense why Phaere sends me dealing with the beholder. Buttoo bad now I won't mess with Drizzt. You know what I mean.

https://i.imgur.com/3axyl65.png

Btw,watch out as bothe the adventurer group, and some mad magey from the imprisonment machine has maze/imprisonment.

Right before going down to the Tree/Irenicus went back to do the Stronghold quests.
The first one went smoth, but for the second Delon never shown up, if I spawned him only did the original UmarHill Trouble monologue. Didn't find how to initiate the 2nd quest (it worked when I made the test-run to check the effect of the Idle Hands of Imnesvale), but found the more important 3rd quest's command lines to initiate, and thatwas the important piece:
CluaConsole:SetGlobal("RangerProtector","GLOBAL",3 )
CluaConsole:SetGlobal("UmarPlot","GLOBAL",1)
The result is the Moondog Figurine, and my status restored (not that I want to use it).

https://i.imgur.com/URul1Ux.png

As I sad I'm playing Fallen:

https://i.imgur.com/ef2RuuD.png

Smiling Spectre 09-04-2018 01:21 PM

Sorry for offtop, twillight. Mystvan, I think, it's went too far from theme, so I'll move your reply from here to there.

Mystvan 09-04-2018 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 482178)
Sorry for offtop, twillight. Mystvan, I think, it's went too far from theme, so I'll move your reply from here to there.

Norway! I am sowwy, twillight, if my off-topic posts caused you spain in any way.

I just thought that twillight would be very hungary :hungry: for more information.

I apologize digitally. :kosta: Pwetty pwease? :kitty:



Have a nice Caturday! Meow! :kitty:

twillight 10-04-2018 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482180)
I am sowwy, twillight, if my off-topic posts caused you spain in any way.
Have a nice Caturday! Meow! :kitty:

Oh not at all! I feel the new topic was considered so worthy, they opened its own topic for it!

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

Now on the Selfishness tear. Playing these odd characters truly shows its worth.
Most tears are nobrainers:
- why'd you want +2 CON at Fear? First, make your character roll proper (I much better like set points to distribute because of this), second it only means a couple of HP and even that for warriors only. And if you need regeneration desperatly, why don't you just get an item? Heck, youcould even just murder the owner of the Adventurers' Mart for his ring, as this is the bloody endgame, so you don't go back!
- Greed is a nonissue in the vanilla games, because the Blackrazor simply doesn't work. And even then I bet it don't do squat on the important characters (Irenicus, Melissan, The Five). Even then you probably planned your character proper,and Blackrazor being an item you likely know wether you want it or not at the very beginning, so atleast no dilemma. I mean saving throws are nice, but in the end worst case you just reload.
- Pride: seriously. Exp as reward at this point?
- Wrath: 99% it is a nobrainer. First:CHA. Charisma is a dumpstat,and from this point even in ToB you won't by squat, and/or you'll have infinite money anyway. And there's the Ring of Human Influence.
Second, WIS. Wisdom is again a dumpstat, as its effect on Saving Throws are NOT IMPLEMENTED. So this only effects divine magic users,and you probably know how much melee you do with your character, right?

And finaly there's Selfishness. Sure, for a regular character it is a nobrainer, because the regular character either does not melee (like mage, or backstabbing thieves), or wears the mega-armors and reach bottom AC. And yes, AC does count even in ToB, you'd know this if you'd played with and without it in Sendai's Lair to be particular.
But take a character with serious item restrictions, like barbarian, wizard slayer, beast master and whatnot. Here this becomes a question. Because actualy how much you can rely on the particularly exclusive magic resistence?
Sure, barbarians can, but there is another question: they have very high resistance anyway, so should they go for Absolute Immunity, or settle with Minimal Risk? And the others have no inherent magic resistance, so even dressed up, how much that extra 10% counts? The AC suddenly sounds attractive if you give some thought to it. Especialy as you don't loose stats for it.

Btw, the creativity to "cheat" always astound me. Here people came upwith half a dosen solution to not loose a companion if choosing evil. The still-standing version is Mazing the one, as they figured out the choice is constant, not random. This is just amusing.

Wow, I didn't even had to wait for the transition to ToB! Simply being Selfish tore my class!!!

https://i.imgur.com/p8BJMGr.png

This also cause the Moondog Figurine to not be usable. If it was in your quick item slot it remains usable, but it returns to the backpack unfortunately.

Aquick note on weapons:
- while Gnasher says it does +2 dmg for 4 rounds, I found this very unreliable. It many times do only +2 dmg along the hit-damage, if at all (it seems to be physical damage, so StoneSkin works against it, AND does not count as another hit), and remains only a +2 weapon. So I ended up switching to Bone Club from Brynlaw (buy the +3 club in Saradush!).
- the Unlimited Ammo Fire Crossbow which is sold at the Watcher's Keep is super-poweful in every way, especialy as it though "fires +2 fire arrows" hits as +4 weapon (not upgraded)!

On the fight with Irenicus: beware, as he can cast Maze. Also worth to brin an unenchanted club/quarterstaff (club is easier to use in practice), as the slayer is not immun to normal weapons, so simply switch there if he casts immun to magic weapons.

Notes on armor: somehow red dragon and blue dragon armor are "metal", but shadow and white are "leather". Don't ask.
Also, being Fallen, the ranger-specific Montolio's Cloak is not available. Darn, that's a good item. But still being somewhat-ranger, fighter-specific items, like Helm of the Rock is also not available. Darn!

Now, I have a little gem for you people. I made (not as precise) notes on what was - according to the game - strongest monster I defeated. In order of power until now:
#1 diseased gibberling
#2 dire wolf
#3 ogre
#4 Silke
#5 flesh golem
#6 Kahrk
#7 Davaeron
#8 greater basilisk
#9 demon knight
#10 bone golem (this must be joking)
#11 unseeing eye
#12 Kangaxx, the demi-lich
#13 Firkraag

Saradush:
- no sidequest aside the mage shop helps you, so skip 'em.
- in the mage shop buy the second potion bag, the greenscrolls, and possibly another scroll case. I hope you brought Restoration Scrolls in the dozen, I feel you might need some.
- to bash open the Barrack you need 22 STR (with the +2 STR from wrath tear and some belt this is easy).

Why could I use Scimitar +3? (no prof in it, so no use)

Forest of Mir: I know, this has some fun-factor, but better not get leveldrained. Use up one of those Scroll of Cheese.

Next time: Watcher's Keep! Aside Gromnir's helm in Saradush we only need stuff from this place as equipment.
Sure, there're the two bows which could use the Bowstring of Gond, but they work without it (one cast of Imroved Speed, and even-faster-walking), and you can make an Improved Cloak +2 (found in Soa, scrolls can be bughtin Saradush, also only gained for Improved Speed cast), but aside these only the White Dragon Scale, the Staff of Ram (forGreater Whirlwind) and the Club of Detonation plays. Bowstring of Gond is at Sendai, way beyond the point you use any ranged weaponry.

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

I think I never did this maximum lvl, but came asap. Funny how different the monsters are, and their number incrised (when not plot-related, aka. the elementalrooms on lvl 2 are not changed). Number of statues on lvl 1 doubled, there were giant trolls as random monster instead of shadows...
Good news is, the local shop cures leveldrain as needed.
Against most monsters I'm immun (baal's tear immunity) though, so lol.

Got STR-incrise from Deck of Many Things. Tip: as this charis suseptible to leveldrain, let the succubi transport you, and right there step through the portal to the wraith, which isa leveldrain encounter. Spare with those restoration scrolls.
Otherwise the level was very easy. Serious difficulty drop.
In the end got the Gauntlet and the club. Not bothering with Demogorgon, as the Most powerful Vanquished does not upgrade I think.

Currently in Amethran. Mostly using the Human Flesh armor, but at the giants needed Ice Dragon Armor.

Mystvan 11-04-2018 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482117)
See, you can write whatever you want. But people do factcheck on your claims at times, and then you get into trouble.

I found this link (oh howI have the beamdogs forum being filled witharrogant trolls, bulklies and cheaters!).
Let's go through the claims,shall we?

- The posts are NOT useful. Saying something like "Progress has been mainly standard - Shoal to get level 3, Beregost tasks level 4, basilisks level 5 & 6." is anything but informative.
And I doubt that amount of exp can come at that point, though basilisks do give hugh exp...Still would welcome DETAILS to measure.
- "He's [the character] just finished in the lighthouse area."- Ye? You weren't even in theNashkel Mines, and already doing the Syrens? Huh!

Sorry, overquoting edited

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482184)
What a pity, as Westwood have the chance to overcome the failures. Well, at least Civilization V seems to be good, because my brother liked the game. XCOM series as well.

Now, I am not sure if it would be possible to accomplish the mission in advance. I will explain more clearly: For you to get the Ruby of Truth from the Ruler of amphibian people, you need to eliminate an enemy monster. But what would happen if you had eliminated the monster before by using bows, crossbows? For the monster is trapped by sort of a mud marshy.

You still have the option of getting the Ruby of Truth without a fight. If your Rogue skills level is high enough, you can steal without the Ruler realizing it.

Déjà vu... :mhh: I had seen something like this in the past. I remember that I was an active user in IC Company Forums on the King’s Bounty and Fantasy Wars.

I’ve seen lots of funny posts, but that one was the best.

During missions in Fantasy Wars, events such as cut-scenes and encounter with NPCs happen when something happens or you get to a certain place.

The problem is that players who used cheats to complete the mission ended up not finding a key NPC for future missions. The people posted complaining about bugs and the 1C Company Staff said this is due to not finding this key character.

But I even understand these players who have used cheats, because the missions are very laborious. Not to mention that the same type of unit can evolve differently. What a headache to select new attributes and abilities. :wacko: :tease:

I never finished the game. I really hope I can find the endings of the game on YouTube.

Smiling Spectre 11-04-2018 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482185)
But I even understand these players who have used cheats, because the missions are very laborious. Not to mention that the same type of unit can evolve differently. What a headache to select new attributes and abilities.

Never ever touch Japanese Tactical RPGs, Mystvan. :) I just had to abandon Disgaea, because every single character attributes depends on level, all current equip and trained skills - and there are literally over hundred playable classes.

(But I abandoned it just because heard that Disgaea 2 is essentiall the same, only with different plot... and I am not fond of plot of this game. So why bother, I better get latest installation. :)

Mystvan 11-04-2018 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 482186)
Never ever touch Japanese Tactical RPGs, Mystvan. :) I just had to abandon Disgaea, because every single character attributes depends on level, all current equip and trained skills - and there are literally over hundred playable classes.

(But I abandoned it just because heard that Disgaea 2 is essentiall the same, only with different plot... and I am not fond of plot of this game. So why bother, I better get latest installation. :)

Fortunately, I did not have many opportunities to play J-RPG. I prefer the Western RPG style.

If it is like Japanese comics and cartoons where there is a lot of angry screaming and shouting, quite unlike Japanese phlegm, I am really out of Shounen-like style a la Super Sayajin. :sick:

Western-style games are less emotional, more attractive, and more feasible to me.

And as Grand Micronaut marko River ........ :zip: said, the quality of games, as well as comics, cartoons, movies have fallen, appealing more by the difficulty, dexterity, special effects and beautiful girls. :drool:

Suggestion

twillight 17-04-2018 11:53 AM

Baldur's Gate Solo Fallen Ranger Beastmaster (5)
 
Ok, make a move.

The Second Trial started with invisibility form me (sneak on Tomoko), otherwise just whirlwind.

Draconis: I hate dragons and their breath.

Aaand done. At balthazar the monks don't see the invisible. At MelissanI had onl 3 hardiness, so the first had to go down real fast. Otherwise all were just whacking with Staffof Ram. Against Mariliths used Rod of Reversal. Duringthe 3rd Melissan used (before Final Seal) used Simulacrum for extra whilrwinds. Potions also help, and so does Gargoyle Boots.

twillight 12-06-2018 07:54 AM

Obsidian Entertainment
 
Another issue whyI hesitate about Pillars of Eternity aside its price is, the developer-company, aka. Obsidian Entertainment simply don't do good games.
At least as far as I remember, they did a crapton of open world games, all boring, lacking plot, with bad mechanics, and notoriously (2you wentthe wrong direction, therefor you die "attitude".
I might be mistaken...
But until they give the nice 75% discount, I doubt I'll even consider buying.

Smiling Spectre 19-06-2018 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482402)
Another issue whyI hesitate about Pillars of Eternity aside its price is, the developer-company, aka. Obsidian Entertainment simply don't do good games.

I believe, you mistake them with someone else.

Obsidian core team was the core of Black Isle. I.e. it's them who made Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale.

As Obsidian they made, between others, KOTOR2, NWN2, Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas and South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Are these all bad games for you? I, personally, did't play anything after Black Isle, but this games universally praised by RPG-fans, as far as I know.

twillight 20-06-2018 08:31 PM

I might mix itwith Oblivion, both being department of Bethesda. Which did Elder Scrolls, Morron-Wind, and such?


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


What to do in Discworld, as the game says:
- visit the archcancelor
- get book of (title)
- need imp (from alchemist), staff (from old wizard), dragon breath (ah, mirror. Required looting everything not nailed down, but cathed upon it), "metal container" (frying pan), spring (from barber - this was stupid)
- needed some book, joining the cult in the past, so then find gold objects at them.
I thought the octopus needed to grow, never came to mind it needs love potion (custard). And I thought custard is some pudding (didn't pay attention to the witch, shame on me). Also stumbled in some pixelhunting at the chimney sweep (I knew what to do, but clicked on "fireplace" instead on the fog-and-fireplace-hidden keg).
- Now I'd need to get rid of the dragon, but beats me how. I could look up a walkthrough, but where's the fun in that?


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


Ok, got rid of the dragon, now have to again. Walked around, collecting everything not nailed down, but for what purpose?
Btw, stupid thing is you have to neter the dump-machine to make the with appear on the square.

Similar the no indication of the boogeyman. The conversation says there should be popping bits, but there's none. Still found it, but still.


Come to think of it I know I should silence the dog, but no idea how.
Know have to find the Templke ofOffler but no idea how.
Know should transfer the boogeyman into the Drum's cellar, and to that need to bring light into the cellar, buit no idea how. Lighting the lamp with matches don't work.
At least the "how to build a hero" is a real math-problem, not a guessing-game.
Still, the only sword in the game seems to be the amazon's, and that's not available.
And what about the moustache? No idea.


For this last part the puzzles don't just go from hard to insane, but involves a lot of pixelhunting, tons of random stuff, not to mention Act 4 lacks a clear indicator, and the quest is bugged, you can constantly just resupply yourself from crackers and don't collect the flamables otherwise. Meh.

Smiling Spectre 21-06-2018 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482425)
I might mix itwith Oblivion, both being department of Bethesda. Which did Elder Scrolls, Morron-Wind, and such?

Can be. It's Bethesda indeed, and they specialized on open-world, semi-procedural-generated games. Elder Scrolls are Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim so far. And Elder Scrolls online. And as they bought Fallout license, they made Fallout 3 and 4 nicknamed "Oblivion/Skyrim with guns". :)

Rogue 26-06-2018 01:22 PM

LOL,

And I was thinking this topic was about famous Twillight collection for PC. (Back in 90s, Holland group that put together games/programs for PC on cds and later DVDs)

Nice collection of played games. Today I use Steam to keep track of games I completed. I used to have excel list for emulated and PC games before.

Getting steam achivement is fun, but some of them are quite bad and hard to get.

Smiling Spectre 28-06-2018 09:50 AM

I have first 100 of Twilight collection discs - it was uploaded once on one of sites. ;) Even if CD-part is somewhat damaged.

Rogue 28-06-2018 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 482433)
I have first 100 of Twilight collection discs - it was uploaded once on one of sites. ;) Even if CD-part is somewhat damaged.

They are still available because they are archived. :OK:

There was similar collection from Russia, can't remember name. I know I have ISOs somewhere.

Smiling Spectre 29-06-2018 10:14 AM

Two collections even, but much less in scope. Classic Fond (~60 CDs) and Crazy Collection (~25).

And five metric tons of derivatives that "borrowed" design and often games from two above. :)

Rogue 30-06-2018 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 482435)
Two collections even, but much less in scope. Classic Fond (~60 CDs) and Crazy Collection (~25).

And five metric tons of derivatives that "borrowed" design and often games from two above. :)

Yes, it was Classic Fond.

It is available as well.

Sorry to derail your topic, twillight. Carry on. :OK:

twillight 04-07-2018 11:19 PM

Binding of Isaac
 
You are a lazy person, who wants to do half the work, but double the money?
Ever considered if the endboss would be a common enemy on lvl 1?
Do you want to include "more item" to ensure the player gets something REALY shitty instead of getting more powerful?
You want to be cheered as innovative while being the worst?



Just call your product "rogue like"! That'll teach 'em!

Smiling Spectre 05-07-2018 01:34 PM

You are too harsh. :) While BoI (in it's last incarnation at least) can be quite unfair, in most cases it's still totally playable, solvable and enjoyable. :) Don't use random modifiers, if you want to play for sure (and found what items means in the first place by trial and error). :)

twillight 05-07-2018 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 482447)
You are too harsh. :) While BoI (in it's last incarnation at least) can be quite unfair, in most cases it's still totally playable, solvable and enjoyable. :) Don't use random modifiers, if you want to play for sure (and found what items means in the first place by trial and error). :)


What "random modifiers"?


9 out of 10 times I get small rooms with hordes of enemies, total lack of healing, and to be honest the design of enemies/rooms are entirely lacking, blurring things like "ye,you do stuff, whatever". Entirely lack feeling of progress.
The fact that the random is also present for the story told in the cutseensmakes the whole thing a joke.


You get no description of any of the 1,000 items makes them a big middle-finger, and the item-effect is like not even present. Sure, 1:100 chance for a +1 lifebulb item (for one of the unlocks you need to collect these random shits 7 times in 1 game - good luck with that), but the others are just nothing.
Your weapon does not get improved.
The active items are just plain shit (I saw 1, and only 1 useful stuff, it revealed the map of the level, still no help for fighting).
The consumables are at leas half the times are only cosmetics, and most didn't even made into the game's wiki they are such shit.


So the enemies/rooms don't differ, you don't get stronger, and by conept everything is a pile of shit. Did I miss anything?
If I could at least keep my items, but noooo, that'd be like doing progress! Youget 3 lifebulbs, and you have to pass 13+ times this unfair pile of crap, like the intention was to make Ghosts'n'Goblins 2!

Smiling Spectre 09-07-2018 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482449)
What "random modifiers"?

Um, there are several rooms where you can exchange current items for something random. Terribly random. Not my sort of gamble, but sometimes, when you have extremely sucking equip, it works.

Which version do you play? Because your explanation badly discrepant with what I can see.

Steam has:
Binding of Isaac - original (actually, like, 3rd incarnation of original, with twice rebuilded engine).

BoS: Rebirth. New engine, new "big" rooms, rebalanced items, ton of new stuff.

BoS:R - Afterbirth. Technically, add-on to second one, but it heavily rebalanced game and add many random/special stuff. Not recommended for novices. :)

But any of them not exactly matches your description.

Quote:

9 out of 10 times I get small rooms with hordes of enemies, total lack of healing, and to be honest the design of enemies/rooms are entirely lacking, blurring things like "ye,you do stuff, whatever". Entirely lack feeling of progress.
Um, no. Initially you have quite low amount of enemies, and every level rises difficulty slightly more. Things become really struggling somewhere about L10 and up. And I have terrible reflexes, mind you.

And there are _a lot_ of healing. Red hearts replenish a life, and omnipresent. Blue hearts works like shield, quite common, and limited to 20, I believe. White hearts works like blue, but can "regen" to full red heart, if not damaged for level. Black hearts the same as blue, but "blown" on destroy, damaging everyone around.

One thing, maybe: game intended initially to play from keyboard - one hand for moving, second for firing. Gamepad, added lately, works perfect with it too. Mouse highly NOT recommended. Too hard to fire.
Quote:

The fact that the random is also present for the story told in the cutseensmakes the whole thing a joke.
It's not story. It's "lore", maybe. Story is almost non-existant, if not count intro movie and boss wins. (_Real_ bosses, I mean. At the end of walkthru).
Quote:

You get no description of any of the 1,000 items makes them a big middle-finger, and the item-effect is like not even present.
Umm, no. In-game encyclopedia have short description of every equip item you found. _After_ you wear it, unfortunately. :) Active items are described too, but more cryptic way. Pills are randomized, so no description. Tarot is fixed, but haven't proper description anyway - memorize or write it. Jingamabobs gives the same subtle effect each time, but it's supposed that you'll figure effect by yourself (or check wiki :).

Anyway, you can change everything, except equip, almost anytime, so it's not really too bad.
Quote:

Sure, 1:100 chance for a +1 lifebulb item (for one of the unlocks you need to collect these random shits 7 times in 1 game - good luck with that), but the others are just nothing.
Um, I haven't game in hand (it's at home, and I am at work), but I am positively sure that it is about metric ton of +1 life. And why all this weapons, effects, shields, etc. you treat as "just nothing" is mystery for me.
Quote:

Your weapon does not get improved.
Wrong. You can change weapons quite often. And there are a lot positive (and sometimes negative) modifiers from equip. Try to press Esc during game. It shows attack-damage-speed of character, and I am sure, you'll found how exactly it changes from different equip.
Quote:

The active items are just plain shit (I saw 1, and only 1 useful stuff, it revealed the map of the level, still no help for fighting).
Um, "active" items are right from weapon in original, upper-left corner in Rebirth, they charged for each won room, right? From memory I can remember time-limited hero transformation, free lives, free tarot card, randomized teleportation, bombs... No, I cannot remember _totally_ useless items, even if half of them are niche using, or not very useful due randomization of effect.
Quote:

The consumables are at leas half the times are only cosmetics, and most didn't even made into the game's wiki they are such shit.
Yes, as I remember, consumables falls either in pill category (terribly random, and randomized each game) or tarot (not in wiki). Tarot is very useful, actually - if you know what cards do.
Quote:

So the enemies/rooms don't differ, you don't get stronger, and by conept everything is a pile of shit. Did I miss anything?
Looks like you missed half of this shit. :D

1. Every level has guaranteed 3 special rooms: free upgrade/weapon (beyond locked door though); store where you can buy something for coins; and boss room (another guaranteed upgrade/weapon). So you most probably will rise in power with each level. There is also often (maybe always) hidden room with additional prize, but if you haven't full map upgrade, you can only guess it's position.

2. Bombs broke stones. Some stones (specifically marked) have prizes and chests. Your fire kills fires (unintuitive, I know), and destroys shit - there can be prizes here too. You can try to blow up other things too, and see for effects... ;)
Quote:

Youget 3 lifebulbs,
Actually, if you unlocked different characters, you can get more than 3 lifes... :)
Quote:

and you have to pass 13+ times this unfair pile of crap, like the intention was to make Ghosts'n'Goblins 2!
Um, basically, yes, intention of almost every roguelike is finish the game in one pass. :) And _accumulating_ stuff (that BoI does) actually is step back, to mainstream... :)

Anyway, checking side-by-side original BoI and Rebirth, I think, you'll be happier with Rebirth. It's much more forgiving, and gives you more, right from the start. It have more modifiers too and streamlined the weapon.

twillight 09-07-2018 02:58 PM

Except you live in a misconception-world.


1) BoI is an amateur level proto-version of the complete game. Afterbirth+ is the complete, finished product.


2) I don't know what you played, but there are only 5 stages in story mode, and I guess 1 stage for Greedey mode. There is no "level 10". Especialy that the character does not level up.


2) a) There's also they fact that even at Stage 1 you constantly run into 10enemy headspawn smell rooms, or lirger but full or rocks room with large amount of shooting enemies, or even vortexes. Not fun.


2) b) sry, I can't distinguish "piece of shit", "slightly bigger piece of shit", "burning slightly bigger piece of shit" and "burining slightly biggerpiece of shit wihich spawns a mini-shit when it dies" or "burining slightly biggerpiece of shit wihich spawns a mini-shit which shoots when it dies". They are for my eyes/mind 1 enemy. Even Mortal Kombat had the decency to add different colours to its ninjas.


3) In-game encyclopedia worth shit. It calls things "wassis", "whachamacalling" "thing", "thingy", "stuff" and so on. Not helping.
A REAL Encyclopedia gives ingame functions and stats. This is garbage. It is actualy scary some gamer tries to defend this habbit.


Btw, I've seen no shields. Seen no effect from perma-items, and 2:3 couldn't figure out what effect-items do (probably nothing).


4) Fact is,your weapon does not get improved. You have a chance, through items, to get some effect on your weapon (like twice rapid shooting for half the damage - thankyou oh-so-much you piece of shit for nothing), but it does not get better just because you advance in the game.


5) "I can remember time-limited hero transformation, free lives, free tarot card, randomized teleportation, bombs..."


Fuck your "transformation" (skin change, not even permanent), fuck your useless bomb, either case not seen any from 50 runs. My items made the screen purple, and little hearts floated from the enemy, which otherwise acted the same way, held up a vortex-sign for 0.5 second with no avail, and other entirely useless things, if at all anything.


"Tarot is very useful, actually - if you know what cards do." - but the game does not tell you. Perfect sign of holding a shitty game.


Oh, and fuck your store. Avarage I get 1 coin per stage, differing between 0-3. Items in the shop cost 1 key (always trouble to find any), and at least 5, at worst - as far as I can tell - 25 coins. The entire place is useless, and likely contians some shitty machine I tend to accidently bump into, taking my coins and hearts. Fuck them. Of course they give back nothing. Ever. What did I expect.



"Actually, if you unlocked different characters," - you get even less hearts! I unlocked 2 characters, and they are entirely garbage. All stats are weaker than Isaac, and their "special" is worthless.



roguelike = unfinished piece of shit, avoid like plague


PS: I saw 1,and only 1 "roguelike" which was playable - then they deleted its wiki. That point on it's like playing Super Pitfall, or Milon's Secret Castle. And those are shit.

Smiling Spectre 10-07-2018 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482456)
Except you live in a misconception-world.

Well, I can say the same about you. :D But I played AB, like, half-year ago. I'll try totally fresh run, especially for you, and will tell my experience. I am not prepare to deal with your experience right now, as it harshly different from what I remember. :)

See you later! :)

twillight 10-07-2018 01:02 PM

Discworld 2
 
What makes this game rot, is the obvious factor of unfinished tasks.
Like:
- you get obvious hints you need to iron the ghost
- obviously established you need to make the boots more attractive for The Stench, that's why you get the dumphill, the River Ankh, a pile of corpses and such in the game. But they later decided against D1-lookalike quest.
- to get the honey you were supposed to get more protection, not get rid of the beekeeper
- not to mention the whole 1stAct was supposed to be choosing the difficulty-setting depending on what you do or do not collect (only sticks and mouse-blood, or glitter+stench too)
- in Act 2 certain puzzles lack indication, like getting the imp, or getting the seurajester (at least she's an original idea for the game)
- also I couldn't find certain entire areas, 'cause crappy game design


And why was I carrying around an undead mouse?

twillight 12-07-2018 03:29 PM

Alone in the dark 1, puzzle walkthrough
 
attic:
- push wardrobe before window: told in background story (Emily)
Btw, according to Edward's backstory he was supposed to start with a .38 revolver.
- you'll hear thumping, but the background music ruins this clue. Fortunately you have time when the trapdoor opens to push on it the chest, even when it is "open".
- Emily's backstory tells you about a secret drawer in the piano. This document is quit useless, only creates atmosphere
- there's another book with the story of Medusa, an indian cover, a rifle with 4 ammo, and an empty oil lamp here.


down the stars:
- there's an oil container (to fill the lamp), and a bow here


first room to the left:
- avoid the carpet as it summons a zombie. There's no indicator on this by the way.
- the local key opens a chest which has the old cutsword (don't use this as weapon)


rooms on the right:
- when enter ASAP close the door. This part is ruined by the stupid camera angles and clumsy controls. (face the door's surface to close it)

- when you pick up the vase containing a key you get attacked by a werewolf. 2 shots from the shotgun shuld do it, though the angle makes it a fuss. The key lets you pick up 2 mirrors (where's the medusa now?).
Oh, and there's no indication you have to smash the vase open.



second room on left:
- firstaid kit (+10 health)
- also a clue: there's no water here (obviously you'll need to find it later, because videogame logic)



top of stairs:
- someone confused succubis with medusas. At least it is obvious this is some kinda puzzle,as those things block your way. Unfortunately to the developers this is not some point-and-click adventure game.


next level: go down and get back to avoid the menacing armor while getting the other side. Enter the room:
- avoid the ghost (obviously), get shotgun shells, matchbook, poker (first constant melee weapon). And look, a picture of Uncle Jeremy (who cares)!



go left (avoid the armor like you did with the ghost - realy missed opportunity from the programers to transport via the stairs back&forth), enter 1st door:
- this room only has a book, so skippable in re-plays. But I aim to know all the clues. When you pick it up you get attacked by a werewolf, and man, this fight is frustrating. Not just for the angle, but also for the monster being able to jump through the bed (while I suspect your bullets are blocked by it). This text says there's a pentagram in the library,and a sacrificial dagger. Something with a fireplace? Is this a clue about avoiding the ghost in the previous room? Too bad you want the ammo from there to make the fight here.



2nd door:

- that thingamajig is invincible (nothing tells you by the way), so step in and search the wardrobe (+20 HP). Get out, wait until things settle, then run in for the jug, then run out. you'll probably be bitten once though (-5 HP)



3rd door:
- to be able to do things here you need a lit lamp (dn't forget to switch action to blow it out when you're done)
- there's a heavy statue and a book. This is the first time you face inventory-problem,so before going in put down stuff if you didn't already (empty containers mostly) to be able to pick up the statue.
The statue by the way destroys the armor. Because Videogame Logic.


one stairs down, door on the right:
- another matchbook, a pot of stew, 2 knives

sideroom 1: a key and a box of biscuits (+5 HP)
sideroom 2: when you enter a zombie spawns. This is ruined by too little distance, and sluggish movement (with good programing you could run tosafe distance and shoot from there). Otherwise you find water (finaly), and lamp oil (another 50 dose)



exit on the other side and enter (dining)room:
- run and put pot of stew on table (Videogame Logic)
next room:
- run in and take lighter, then back out
- run in and aim the other door


at the left side of the stairs by the newestkey youcanget to the cellar:
- there's some revolver ammo visible
- if you run to the other side you can free some barrels (do NOT go in, but this explains how youcanget out later), and a book on the shelves next to them (at the wall). You'll be bitten a bit by the (invincible) rats, but that's life.


Left from the front door (if you try to open it is instant death) is another door:
- kill the pirate with sword (no indication that anything else is ineffective. Unless he is told in one book, which talksa badass pirate,and swords are more badass than guns I assume). This is a VERY clunky fight.
- the pirate leaves a key, and there's another book. The key can be used right here, and provides alternate route to the ballroom.


With another way in (and another locked doors still) go to the sideroom with plants:
- search the statue for 3 arrows, then back away from the room.



Get back to the ashtray-room (which had the lighter), and pour water on the ashtray, because Videogame Logic.


Lacking any other option go up one stairs, go left,and open the remaining dor at the end of the corridor.
- cover the painting with the carpet (there is a semi-hint for this in the books telling the owner painted crazy pictures none wanned to see)
- use the bow to destroy the painting shoting arrows at you from the other end of the corridor. This is based on Videogame Logic.

- pick up the record (and a book, which definitely only exists to makea bridge between this game, and Shadow of the Comet)


There IS a door at the end of the corridor, so keep going. This part is realy shitty design.
- there's the False Book, which I don't get. Why does it matter which book you use? How do you know ADDING a book triggers the mechanism in the library? Aside Videogame Logic I mean.
- either way we found the ancient clock. As you can't search it, push it and grab the l00t. The text here gives you warning of Deep Ones,and a vague clue todefeat the library-monster.


library:
- run to find the secret door, open it with the False Book. Grab the l00t.
One book simply says youshould grab the talisman which you of course did, another whatdagger to use to get out.
- to read the Vermiis Mysteriis stand on the insignia, otherwise you die. The text is latin though, so when the game came out you had fatchance getting any use of it: "In the name of invocatoris, thou hast been sanctified if he does not, be careful. The vermis mysteriis is read and release the ball to the line, you have a great black stars Innominandum standards and ...", aka this is pretty useless anyway. Funy thing is, we find some "clue" (if you can call that) about the Heavy Statue, lol. Actualy, ok, it IS a clue,as conquistadors worn plate armor...
By the way you can find a series of books inside the library, but either do it on the sygil, or don't read the Necronomicon Extract, else you get a hugh damage (10 HP I think).


With the new unused key go to the ashtray-roomand open the door:
- l00t (includes record)

- put old sword up to trigger mechanism



Almost forgot the revolver. Pixelhunting is to get it. It mainadvantage is it has no recoil (handy at the first "bat").


I wonder if you can open the main door of the dance room and I just missed it.

twillight 12-07-2018 05:46 PM

Alone in the dark 2
 
Didn't play it, just watched a let's play of it.
Strangely this is more appealing than Syberia, which is likea zounds better graphic and I guess similar style, but somehow, even though I have it, I just realy don't feel to instal and play.


Not that after watching this I'd wanna actualy play AitD2, because it is nonsensicaly stupid at its puzzles, action heavy, and around halfway switches to a 4 years old to murder people. What's this, Hunger Games?
Actualy, the main reason this doesn't appeal to me to play is, it is very-very close to Resident Evil 2, only that had pretty ok controls, a crapton of game modes, and in genera lwas a more decent game.
Darn, I could bring insane short playthroughs with Leon A (only using the handgun, no upgrade, special outfit, infinite ammo implied, only herbs, maximum 3 saves).
I once even did Tofu, but that's way more hardcore than I wanna, so my fav mode was Hunk (same as Tofu, only with guns).

twillight 14-07-2018 03:30 PM

There just might be a pal who can borrow me Pillars of Eternity.


I'm very filled on the to-do list, but if someone gives me some clues what character to start if playing solo, I might re-evaluate my life.

Capo 14-07-2018 04:32 PM

Playing solo at the first run is worst possible idea, anyway i finished it solo with a barbarian, also paladin or wizard are good options

twillight 15-07-2018 06:10 PM

Well, the game does start, so that's news. The Main Menu looks pretty underwhelming though.


Meh, can't play it. Stupid lazy programmers made the thing consume as muchmemory, onlyy GoogleHQ canplay it 'cause they have their own powerplant.


What I can tell though is, it realy is cheap crap.
First, the character creation:
- half the crap is nonsense, and I see no difference between Aristocrat and Mystic to start with. They both get 2 lore, so what's the deal?
- you must roll through NINETY bloody pictures to choose from. No fast, manual chosing, just plain old "lay on the button" crap. Sry, I ment you can't evn do THAT,you have to click all the thousand times each. Why not gimme a selection screen like Mortal Kombat with this many?
Second the Tutorial Mission:
- your caravan gets downed one day from retirement oir what, and you getsome basic info on some soul-sucking stalactites, and some mushroom to make tea from (this basicaly suggest you're an addict), the next thing is you stuck with some annoying chick because you WANT, according to the cravan master some Magic Mushroom, which you actualy DON'T, you'd totaly be wanning go into town, thank you, you even get that in mission briefing.


Then you get control of what looks like a bad Diablo 2 ripoff which even feeds on RAM, then I found 2 bodies, one I could examine, the other I could loot. Which is nonsense.


Otherwise people on the net say play paladin, and have max Perception because otherwise you won't hit nuttin', intelligence is for pussies just like dexterity, and constitution is the dumpstat (basicaly max might and the bottom stat after perception, dump the remaining point into constitution - I got like average DEX too as that gives attack speed).
The obvious cult of paladins is the goody-good-shoes, we all know letting you get abused by NPCs equals more exp and better rewards and more quests. But the easiest way might be the Bleak Cabal which is basicaly "dead people don't cause trouble, hulk smash", so easy to max on devotion.


Btw, I'm totaly fed up with these games always forcing you into some sect or cult to sacrifice babies, or puppies, or baby puppies for one gawd or another. Gimme advantage for being an atheist already! And make clerics a rogue class, not healers.


PS: oh, and the game's basic difficulty is"Easy", not "Normal". That's ALWAYS a bad sign.

Capo 17-07-2018 05:38 PM

:lame:

Smiling Spectre 20-07-2018 12:23 AM

Hey, short walkthru of Binding of Issaac: Afterbirth here. New profile. Second attempt. (First was _extremely_ unsuccessful, I dead in the second room. :D

1. Room one. Start, three exits.
2. Room 2. Lost one heart, got back half-heart as prize.
3. Blasted my only bomb. Got locked chest and slot machine. No keys. :|
4. Got another half-heart.
5. Got nothing. Meh. But there is the chest in the room, only behind stones.
6. Got a key. There is blastable stone here, but no bombs.
7. Treasure room. 5 coins and card generator. (Used it, got 2 of hearts).
3-2. Unlocked the chest. Got a key back and another 2 coins. Used coin on slot machine, got 2 bombs.
6-2. Blasted a rock (accidentally spent both bombs), got another locked chest. Unlocked it, got a key, 3 coins, smiling detonated bomb and 1.5 hearts (not used).
3-3. Used slot machine again (0, 0, half-heart, coin, full heart, 0, coin, bomb).
5-2. Blasted stones for chest. Got bomb, 2 coins and key.
8. Used key for unlocking trader. Map (7 coins) and key (5). Meh. Wasted key.
3-4. Used all 5 coins for slot machine (heart, 0, half-heart, fly, 0). Blown slot machine with last bomb.Got bomb and three coins.
8. Boss. Used 2 of hearts - no effect (I suspect, it adds 2 hearts, but I had full life). Killed him, got another 2 hearts (so about a ten of wasted hearts remained on level. *sigh*). Got "Mom's coin purse" - stupid item that generated about five pills that I am afraid to use. Maybe it does anything else, as it not going away. But I am going to second level. :)

Level 2. I don't want to describe all level. I got Unicorn Stump instead Deck (stupid thing, gives invincibility and +28% speed for about ten seconds. Changed it back to Deck). There are three "trading" rooms here, one trades hearts for money (meh), two are locked. There is also sacrifice room, but I haven't extra hearts yet.

Killed the boss, got "Snack" (+1 max hearts) and 2 half-hearts. Got also Devil, and sacrificed this max heart for something... Ah, it was "Multidimensional baby" - minion that follows every my movement with delay. Useless, as most Devil's deals (but I didn't knew that at the moment of exchange) It doubles my shots, but only if catched with me. Not very useful. :)

Sacrificed 2 life, got one coin. Meh. But, well, I would lose all this hearts anyway.

On the third level I met mini-boss, killed him and got +2 max hearts. Unfortunately, selected wrong way after that ("spiky" door) that hadn't anything useful, but many monsters, and lost almost all life. And next room, with ton of bats, killed me - half-heart is too low for ten bats. :)

Am I need to continue? Game is quite easly on player who don't want to risk (I would be happy and alive if not gambling with devil and spikes). Yes, I didn't get extra weapons, but it was mere 3 levels. Nothing like horrors you described above. :)

twillight 20-07-2018 08:34 AM

Your point is, Spectre?


Either you implicate I'm lying - which I assure you I don't -, or
you got a different experience due to random. In which case your post is irrelevant.


So? I'm lying, or you're useless?
---------------


I reinstalled this piece of garbage, just for you!


1st run: Haunt boss killed me. Otherwise pretty easy. Found some mushroom, saw no effect from it. Also got a tarot-card which spawned a slot-mashine, which did nothing.

2nd run: 1st room had portal in inaccessible area (1 hex free space before thatpile of shit which every second spawns other pile of craps. Obviously, I ended up dead.

3rd run: 1stroom gives double portal, so I loose 1.5 hearts. Gives a pill, which we all know worth squat (seems blue ones refill health). Cast joker during bossfight, end up in what I assume dealing with the devil, dunno what I'm doing, end up with 1 less maximum health,and leaving bloodtrail (estatic otherwise does nothing). Lvll2's item-roomdemands a key, but saw no key in this run yet at all. Get another chance todealwith the devil, so I die because I do. Because this thing appears atrandom, and there's a character to unlock.


Speaking about characters:
- Isaac (basic char) has: 3/2/2
- Eve has 2/2/1. Friggin letdown. No idea what the special abilities would do. And she seems to be some kind of shapeshifter when loosing a heart or something. No idea,the game gives no explanation, clues, or tells anything ingame-terms.
- Apollyon: 2/1/1, aka. evenworse than Eve. Its speci alability is to show up a sign with the picture of a spawning-portalfor 0.1 second. Big fatno help.
- Azazel: -1/2/3. This sounds awesome: you need tocollect 2 hearts before the game starts, because youare already dead,so start is game over? By the looks of it, that's whatthe game tells! Well, the character is a piece of garbage, that's for sure. No attack skill, no life, only those grey hearts which can not be refilled. Wasn't worth unlocking this one eihter.


run 4: 2 entire level w/o any healing. Genious. The 3rd level has 50 locks, but still no key. 3 lvl and 0 keys found. There's alsothis room, which has 2 spawn-portals and some other monsters which shoot at me. And the portals spawn an infinite number of stuff which shoot at me. The only thing not shooting me is some giant thing which block the way,and is immortal. Of course the room gives no healing. And now one of my health is white. Dunno whatthatmeans, but probably no good. I betmy max HPjust got lowered by it, and won't get it back. Ah, so the blue pills NOT give max HP, but are random effect. No idea whatthe white heart did, nothing useful. Some creepo boss shots THREE lasers at me, and my weapon did not get improved since the beginning (aka. not at all).


run 5: lvl 1 boss is not in the boss-room, but onatiny corridor. Of course I die.


run 6: I have a straw, which does nothing. Boss is not even funny anymore. Neither this kind of room: (has 4 spiders + 2 mushrooms shooting at you)


https://i.imgur.com/wcxOdGB.jpg


The boss' room:


https://i.imgur.com/1Bd8R6X.jpg


Of course no healing, neither key, and the level's item is behind locked door.


ruin 7: 1stroom headspawns a circle of flies. Thank you game!
Here is btw the room the bosses supposed to be in:


https://i.imgur.com/vhHF1lP.jpg

And how canI loose with thatmany HP? Easy, because I got some crippling downgrade which tookaway my shotting skill!


ruin 8: activated some tarot,whichfilled the room with bombs,which resulkted in instant death.


ruin 9: ate some pills, the minimapgot cleared. Thx game, that was useful...


ruin 10: now I shoot sperm. Ok...
The next item makes me larger - that's a disadvantage if you don't get it. It makes you able to smash obstacles - but still a disadvantage, 'cause attimes it makes things headspawn on you from under skulls, rocks etc.
Cause of death: as usualgained no healing at all, and with 0.5 heart spawned in a room with a very thin passage, but hex takenby a speeder-maggot, charging me. By the way it is "fun" to note your shots don't cover an entire hex, but maybe 1/2-1/3 of it, somonsters easily pass your shots. Ah, wasn't any passive, active, or tarot/pill items either in this run. At all. You know: who needs upgrades?

twillight 22-07-2018 10:23 AM

Diablo 2
 
Lacking the option of PoE, I digged up this. Not that I'm so excited about it, but whatever, it tends to crawl back.
Funny, but true: still the game with the longest buglist I've ever seen. And despite "patch releases" they don't fix ANY from the list, only do crap like "german language version's grammar improved" or shit.

Either way, this'll be a baba with berserk. Well, in time, as I'll use the respec option, and until that comes around, Bash will be the prime attack skill. WhenI have the mana. Which I usualy lack. Imagine.
I'm in Act 2, going in the snake temple. The merc did not die yet (A1 fire, it was free, so what). It has a bow with cold + poison dmg gems. Didn't find any quality bow, and won't use "extended stash".


For storing some items on the ground I lost a couple of goodies :( Had a good rare baba helmet for warcrying, and a helm for switching the merc to A2. Whatever.
Also, seems I wasted 3 PSkulls in my +2 BO helmet. They don't realy give the expected mana. Should have used Ith rune(s). Oh well, worst case scenario I'll run for a Hel rune or sg.


The merc first died in A3, and because of Cow Level had to buy tp-scrolls the first time.


On weapons:
- started with club
- switched to scepter (it's fast, and deals best early damage, every character ends up with 'em for melee)
- for a short time used a short sword
- switched to bardiche (was slow, but basicaly doubled my damage)
- then came an twohanded axe
- now using a war specter, along Stormshield. Found in Act2 too, first unique. Aside that found Cleglaw's shield 3 times as set, nothing else.
- back to polearms: found a volgue with manaleach. While its speed is less, the dmg is around the same, and allows to use Bash continuously. Its range also helps a bit.
- brandistock: strange name, and in spear category. It has manasteal, and ca. the same dmg as the volgue had, but a category faster. Too bad there are no ias runes. And that gem-shrines can't improve runes, at least in single player. Would switch to hammers.
- that holy fire pala sword
- steeldriver (yeah(


the stupidity of barbarian synergies

Barb is mostly uneffected by this crippling feature, but where it has it, it sucks as usual.
First: the entire Combat Mastery tab has no synergies at all.
Second: from War Cries only the middle tree has synergies. Shout-Battle Orders-Battle Command are a closed circle for some reason, but at least they are all useful (if no other factor is considered). Actualy, Battle Command does so little in itself usualy don't get any hard point in itself, so this actualy is a bad thing.
The main problem on this tree is War Cry. I understand by sinergy you make this a prime attack spell by concept. Whatever. But then, why synergie an AI-disabling ability with AI-modifying abilities? And as it is an AoE-spell, why combine it with a single-target spell? And if WC will be your prime damage spell, why bother with stat-lowering spell? If it'd get extended duration by it, I'd get it, but this why?

The most messed up of course is the Combat Skills tree. Well, the left side don't use the synergie-system either...

Bash gets bonuses from Stun and Concentrate, but both of those skills outshine Bash by several milestones, so why would you use Bash any time after you getaccess to those? Sure, it has more dmg than Stun, but while Stun disables the target, Bash simply has this annoying knockback effect. Concentrate simply puts Bash to shame in any department (AR, dmg, lack of knockback). And for the cost of the same 2 mana. They case is even worse, because this proves you won't use Bash either way if you have Concentration, and if you have, you won't put points into Bash, because how the synergie-system works!
Stun gets bnuses from Bash, Concentrate, and War Cry. The problem is obvious: why War Cry? Why the need of another stun-ability to your already existing stun-ability?
When it cmes to Concentrate, you'll have to realise you'll use either, not both. So, as you must choose,which is the superior skill in the synergie-system, which should make all/prior skill more available, aka. equal to later skills? Well, Stun though disables it target, it lacks the AR to land a hit, compared to Concentrate, which gives youdefense to keep you safe, and that works against all enemy around you, not just the one you hit. So this means you WON'T use Stun, which on top costs a lot more to use than Concentrate.
Concentrate though a nice ability, has its fair share of problems considering synergies, like:
why bother putting point in Bash, when thatonly gives half the bonuses as Battle Orders, which the same time gives me insane advantages by itself (not being anattack spell, and being the strongest melee/party skill in the game). Beserk works thugh, but serves only to slightly lessen the exclusivity of Berserk. Actualy the point it'd count (physical immun monsters) the 1% bonus is so weak, like it wouldn't even exist as magical dmg, could all go into physical, thus the traditional barserk-concentrate pointsink won't change.
talking about pointsink: the amount of skillpoint being limited as such, you won't have point to sink into the Bash-syn anyway, so there that goes.
Lastly, Berserk-syns suck too. You get bonuses from Howl, which is a viable concept I give you that, but why Shout? Berserk disables the defense stat, so why'd you want to sink points into anability which buffs defense which you won't have? At the very least they should have chosen Battle Command (wishing for Battle Orders would be obvious powergaming).

If you are interrested in the bugs-list, here is a good list. On the other hand if you check the patch-notes, you'll see they don't actualy patch ANY of them since 1.13... maybe d.

The list is actualy not complete, missingeg. the asheara-bug, who is an NPC in Act 3, missnamed in the files, so every item it sells is an ilvl 1 item, which can be a problem if you plan on shopping -> crafting form there.

Smiling Spectre 23-07-2018 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482476)
Your point is, Spectre?
...
So? I'm lying, or you're useless?

My point is: as you have dramatically different experience from the same game, you are doing something wrong or miss something. I have no idea what, unfortunately, because nothing in your description indicates this.

And no, it's not random only. Or is _especially_ bad random for you. Because I played only once in last year or so, and got better results than yours. And I consistently got such results in past. I usually cannot win whole game in one run (or twenty, in that matter), but it's normal for me - I am learning, and (when I played) if one time was "up to L7", second most probably will be "up to L8".

Quote:

I reinstalled this piece of garbage, just for you!
Thank you. I am appreciating it.

Well, I'll give some comments, even if I feel that you'll never run this game again. Just in case.

Quote:

spawned a slot-mashine, which did nothing.
Um, every slot-machine does _something_. As I vaguely remember, there is one that collect money (even between runs) and do nothing else until threshold reached, but even it can be blown. And I recommend to do that with every machine - at least those who can give bombs back.

Quote:

2nd run: 1st room had portal in inaccessible area (1 hex free space before thatpile of shit which every second spawns other pile of craps. Obviously, I ended up dead.
Um, can you explain? Portal? Inaccessible area?
Quote:

Gives a pill, which we all know worth squat (seems blue ones refill health).
All pills are random between runs (but consistent in run). I.e. if you found that blue is good - it guaranteed to be good only this run.

Quote:

- Azazel: -1/2/3. This sounds awesome: you need tocollect 2 hearts before the game starts, because youare already dead,so start is game over? By the looks of it, that's whatthe game tells! Well, the character is a piece of garbage, that's for sure. No attack skill, no life, only those grey hearts which can not be refilled. Wasn't worth unlocking this one eihter.
You answered it yourself. :) He hasn't "true" life, only temporary hearts instead. I don't remember - are his hearts blue or black? If later, they will hurt enemies for each heart break (with correspondent animation). Also, he have attack not worse than Isaac (if attack is 2, otherwise it's 1.5 times better).
Quote:

And now one of my health is white. Dunno whatthatmeans, but probably no good. I betmy max HPjust got lowered by it, and won't get it back.
You are teasing, right? :D Actually, white heart is semi-permanent _extra_ heart. It will became permanent, if you'll live to the end of level and not lost it. (If you'll lost _half_ of it, it will regenerate to full white again).

Checked the rest of your runs. Looks quite ordinary, if you don't know what items does (like tarot) and have a little experience in dodging enemy shots. *shrug* But you are suspiciously absent of upgrades/keys/bombs now and again. Huh. I seen such thing once or twice, but not so often, and usually issue self-fixed after first or second boss.

Did you search for chests/treasures? There are quite many money under fires and dung (that can be destroyed with shots) and items can be got from blown slot-machines. There are also _special_ treasure stones that guaranteed to give you something (not necessary useful though) - you'll spot them if you'll look for them. And if you blow stone near chasm - from opposite side - you'll get the one square of bridge over chasm. But all of these are trivial, and you, most probably, found it all by yourself.

So I can only sorry that game appears so much not-fun for you. Maybe, simply "not yours" type. *shrug*

twillight 23-07-2018 03:00 PM

1) NONE knows what the items do, as they are all just random shapeless blobs, and there are a multitude of 'em.


2) portal. You know? fokin' force of nature thing. Spanws infinite number of enemies. Can't get in melee range because of the spawns. Many times can't hit from range 'cause passage is blocked. Some rotating whirlwind-from-above icon.


3) There are no blue hearts. There are only red, grey, and black hearts, black and grey being the exact same as far as I can tell.


4) Azazel actualy has ZERO (red) hearts, and 3 unregeneratable hearts. That-1 is misleading to the merrit you can start the game. Not much else though of course.


5) ye. I usualy did this method:
- look for chest
- grumbled, because have no key, and chest-room's door is locked
- look for boss' room
- die because some stupid mob, and because the item from the chest ruined my already weak attacking skills



6) fires and dung have 1 coin with like 1:10 chance. I'd need 55+ coins in one run to unlock a character, and 15-25 per level to buy stuff in the shop. I usualy die on lvl 3-4 with 3-15 coins.


7) this pile of shit is NOT a game. It is a half-assed product of a shithead, whose only distinction from people like katheleen kennedy that he/they don't call their customers racist-sexist trash.


8) fun fact is, I actualy won exactly 1 time. Of course it doesn't mean I won the game, as every time you win your nose is pushed in a tray of diarreha and says you only did the first X room, there are 13 minus the times you won rooms still unlocked you fokin looser, with winning streak -56.
The way I won was thanks to some fetus which provided a shitload of pills, and they were with a single exception good or neutral effect. If you could, like select what you start with, or have a shop where you can sell your garbage and buy whatever you want, you know, an ingame shop...
But all you have is shitty slot-machines which take away all your money and give nothing back. Fok gambling.


QUESTION: why none discusses Isaac's twin? Or was it a simple sibling? I suspect was a twin. Not sure on the gender department though (possibly female), but I suspect its corpse is ???. And it probably died of cancer. Maybe born dead? Maybe it was never a baby but a tumor, what only turned out to be at the birth?

Smiling Spectre 24-07-2018 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482483)
1) NONE knows what the items do, as they are all just random shapeless blobs, and there are a multitude of 'em.

Wrong. Unlike conventional roguelike, all your items, with one exception, does the same thing each time. This exception is pills - you need to ignore them or gamble, of course. Of course, _you_, as player, don't know what all this items does initially, and presumably it's enticed you to learn it all by experience. It works for me. It seems, it doesn't work for you. Sorry.
Quote:

2) portal. You know? fokin' force of nature thing. Spanws infinite number of enemies. Can't get in melee range because of the spawns. Many times can't hit from range 'cause passage is blocked. Some rotating whirlwind-from-above icon.
Huh. Seems, it's latest addition. I extensively played first part, and moderately - second. Didn't play DLCs at all, because I was quite tired of the game already at the time. There wasn't any portals before. %) Ok, I'll look forward to see it.

Quote:

3) There are no blue hearts. There are only red, grey, and black hearts, black and grey being the exact same as far as I can tell.
Matter of perception. I percept your grey as metallic blue. Same thing, of course.

As I said, they are different in matter of it's removing. Grey are simply shields. Black are explosive shields that hurts enemies each time they broke.
Quote:

4) Azazel actualy has ZERO (red) hearts, and 3 unregeneratable hearts. That-1 is misleading to the merrit you can start the game. Not much else though of course.
I believe, it's really -1 (didn't pay attention though). In matter that first time when you'll add extra hearts, it will be zero for first one, and +1 heart only when you'll get +2. Wild guess though.

Quote:

5) ye. I usualy did this method:
- look for chest
- grumbled, because have no key, and chest-room's door is locked
- look for boss' room
- die because some stupid mob, and because the item from the chest ruined my already weak attacking skills
Um, there are several types of chests: only gold requires keys, all others are not.
Quote:

6) fires and dung have 1 coin with like 1:10 chance. I'd need 55+ coins in one run to unlock a character, and 15-25 per level to buy stuff in the shop. I usualy die on lvl 3-4 with 3-15 coins.
Actually, there are three types of coins, for 1, 5 and 10 gold per coin. While last ones are quite rare, +5 was fairly common for me.
Quote:

7) this pile of shit is NOT a game. It is a half-assed product of a shithead, whose only distinction from people like katheleen kennedy that he/they don't call their customers racist-sexist trash.
As for me, it's quite standard roguelike game, with simpler and more transparent rule than usual though. I used to games where _everything_ you find is random.

I believe, you perceive it wrong. This game intended to entice exploring and research. This sort of games (roguelikes, I mean) assumes that you like diversity, like to explore new things and receive new knowledge. And like to experiment too. If you are not, well, you always can have Wiki open and consult it with every found item - or not play, if it's not fun for you.

If you still want to give this game it's chance, I can add another advice not clearly mentioned: experiment. Blow up everything suspicious, from shopkeepers to unusual stones. There are also secret rooms here and there, discovered by some items or blowing at the possible exit. Check special rooms and unusual traps (sacrifice room come in the mind, with spikes in the center and nothing more). It's expected to die a lot initially, until you learn the rules - and it's expected to be fairly easy then. Well, at least initially. :)
Quote:

QUESTION: why none discusses Isaac's twin? Or was it a simple sibling?
As first game shown, there are _a lot_ of possible siblings. Of course, all maze looks like Hell reference, but I imagine that all human-like abominations in cellars are mutated siblings - or Isaac incarnations from previous worlds. And one or several (I forgot :( friendly siblings too. Seems, Isaac was far from the first affected child of this infernal Mom. :)

twillight 24-07-2018 09:58 AM

1) Wrong. Because it is a halfassed pile of shit on the brim, it is not even "traditional roguelike", aka. roguelike, whereat least it'd tell what the thing does. Come to think of it, in "traditional" roguelikes the game don't tell you shit either about items, which goes back as far as Zelda, or E.T. on atari.
Those where a big bile of shit in themselves, although they had their excuses.
This garbage does not have one.


3) BLUE GREY



4) you can believe it sky-fairies, that won't make it true. I managed to find ONE health-up, and voila, red heart appeared on the character.
Funny howI know more of the game afterplaying for like 3 hours, than you.



5) you deliberatly misunderstand me, don't you? The specific chest-room. Has own icon on minimap.
Anything else is unreliable, thus doesn't play. Btw, the chest-stiuation also proves MANUAlS ARE A MUST. And they must come with the game, even if in the form of a link to a wiki, if they made a pile of shit and the info is not integrated to the game. And when the wiki goes away, the game becomes unplayable. As it happened with Dungeons of dredmor.



6) there might be a quadrillion type of coins, still doesn't help if you can't reliably find them. The game has a serious balance-issue with this, with items cost every level 15-25 coins, while a character-unlock happens at 55 coin, and in a go the player can only find 15 coins or such. It's bullshit.


7) roguelike was half-assed garbage evenat the start, and sank even lower. And people have no self-esteem if they accept this.



8)
Quote:

As first game shown, there are _a lot_ of possible siblings. Of course, all maze looks like Hell reference, but I imagine that all human-like abominations in cellars are mutated siblings - or Isaac incarnations from previous worlds. And one or several (I forgot :( friendly siblings too. Seems, Isaac was far from the first affected child of this.

Not possible. The game is an ever-incrising pile of shit, and obviously grounds itself in metaphores.
Also, considering the intro and the endings, the game does not play in Hell.


The game starts with Mom going slowsly mad, and start abusing Isaac with neglect, lockin, physical abuse. Also the game starts Isaac entering the trapdoor as escapism, not getting killed and get there passively.
And the endings show -after we do the fightings! - stations of Isaac's life. He tries to rebel aganst Mom (various hairstyles, starting with punk), but gets stuck in the chest (symbol of his room/life under Mom) still. Then tries to just survive, but that isn't enough (peanutt-butter). So tries/considers to commit suicide - obviously not succeeding (rope). That's the point he starts to REALY rebel and turn anti-christian (horns made of hanger). But Mom puts him in his place (arm). Than he finds the pills/tries to cook drugs, failing at start (vomitting ending), but later turning an addict (syrenge). He earnes some money (whatever). Next I think is clears the reason why he meets certain themed enemies. There are enemy themes, and eachenemy is randomly spawning, thus they are not fixed, thus they don't represent any concrete thing. There are Mom-related stuff, Mom's friends-sisters related stuff (eg. laser-vaginas), Isaac-related stuff, shit-related things, tumor-rlated things, and strange things like Gemini and fetus-items which just doesn't fit otherwise.

Here the endings start to fall appart telling a consistent story (because the creator is full of shit), so just take the themes: blue thing is ???, but is followed by ...aborted fetus? Then comes the original ending 11: acceptance of Mom's visions what he wanted Isaac to be. Dunnowhatthe pirate signifies, but the female is obvious (seen in the game), the emo-hair references an earlier ending (Isaac rebelling), and the devil-form Mom's murderous fantasy. Isaac then climbs into the chest, accepting he can not escape. In the next ending he sees himself as devilform, accepts is laconicly, and does NOT climb into the chest, thus no longer protects himself, obviously hinting he'll be killed by Mom.


Rebirth added a slimmer of hope, showing Isaac turning total "evil", and going "missing". He likely ranaway from home in this version.
We also see that Mom went crazy because Dad left the family, what is only backstory. Also, the last picture idicates maybe Mom got to his senses after Isaac ran,and their life got fixed

This of course is retconned in Afterbirth(+).


In A+ Isaac is still missing, and we see his bones - this relates to Psycho's ending. We get a lot more dark imigary, and NOw we see Isaac in the afterlife/Hell, alternating also between the realworld's events. He is shown slightering away, turning grey (NOT blue), turnng into a skeleton, while the postnote still claims him missing, THEN we see Isaac walking, thus he's clearly in the afterlife finaly. Because Mom killed Isaac in the very end, dug the body in the cellar, forgot it, and claimed AND believed he's only missing.

twillight 25-07-2018 11:08 PM

These were the games 1 - Pong
 


Ye, that was it. Two line for brackets, and a dot for ball.


Was it good? No.
Was it a game? Yes.


Why people played it? Because this was one of the very first. You did not need some nonexistent, or imaginary friend even, you could play alone and could call it playtime.
Wasn't much, but was a start.

Smiling Spectre 26-07-2018 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482488)
3) BLUE GREY

Just for record: as for me, first is green.

And you are totally free to name this color grey:
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/stea...g?t=1487291293

I still thinks that it's metallic blue. *shrugs* Blame my perception for it. Nothing to argue, I think.
Quote:

7) roguelike was half-assed garbage evenat the start, and sank even lower. And people have no self-esteem if they accept this.
Let's stop here. You are too aggressive, as for me. I don't agree with you, but it seems, it's totally useless conversation from this point and up.

Thank you for your time.

twillight 26-07-2018 09:04 AM

These were the games 2 - Tennis (on atari console)
 
Ye. Proven wrong, the right answer is to run away. Your welcome.
Don't even try to explain your position, just stay at religious parrotting.



-----------





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMocFmcL1a0


https://i.imgur.com/rnaiZrS.jpg

This wasn't much improvement on Pong when you think about it, but damn, despite in idea it is the same game as Pong, it got the massive improvement of YOU being YOU, not some symbolic trash.
Also could go up-down towards the net, not just sideways.
And the best thing: it did not went just for top score! You could WIN! (Actualy that was very easy, lol)



By the way, my version was black&white only.


And yes, while Binding of Isaac is CRAP despite all the technical improvements, this was a GAME.

twillight 26-07-2018 04:34 PM

These were the games 3 -Atomix and Shokoban
 
Simple times these were. Both games were logical puzzles, which ment finite levels. Solving the levels in themselves were the reward. As I said, simpler times, no expectations.


Both games were popular, but I liked Atomix way better.
Why?
Because that gave more leaway, more space to mistakes. With levels advancing the solutions became more complex of corse, aka. the game became harder.


Shokoban had more whatwe could call "game elements". To get to the stages you had to step in an elevator, press the number of the level, and do what you could.
Here I always missed the game did not keep track of what levels you already done, and when all got finished a nice "congratulation!" would have been nice...
And the game was like monocrome: babyblue and babypink.





screenshots

Atomix on the other hand was way more dynamic. And the time-limit was disabled, so we could play it w/o frustration.






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl7UdzqlX2M


This screenshot is from the remake, but couldn't find some higher level shots all the sudden.


https://i.imgur.com/jTIxsVA.png


Of course neither of these games surrendered to your smile.

Smiling Spectre 26-07-2018 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482495)
Ye. Proven wrong, the right answer is to run away. Your welcome.
Don't even try to explain your position, just stay at religious parrotting.

Um, you didn't prove "wrong" anything for me, and stop to blame me in your personal problems, please. Each and every your reply is veiled (or not so veiled) insult, with one and only base: "I, Great Twillight decided so, thus bow to my orders!" It's the bad habit, and actually exactly religious behavior: you assuming, for some reason, that I must take your conclusions on sole basis that _you_ believe in them. And after that you blame me in "religious parrotting". Bah.

I stopped to argue because it's pointless if opponent (you) ignores facts, makes wild speculations and goes to insults if there is no more arguments. This, and only this the reason why I stopped first time. But it seems, you don't understand subtlety and need blunt and apparent arguments. Ok, you got it. Are you happy?

Well, stay dreaming then, I will not continue this discussion further.

twillight 27-07-2018 09:05 AM

These were the games 4 - quartz games
 
Oh dear, now someone goes full passive-agressive, and still lack making an argument!
Look pal, claiming that "you're rubber I'm glue" is NOT an argument. Start coming up answers to the WHY you think a product which lacks level design, difficulty curve, ability for story development, basic informations for the player etc. should even be considered a game, and not just a demo.
Not this "you're racist even though you're not, therefor Luke Skywalker sucks green-slime milk if classic!".
How about that?


In the meantime look at these:





I think this youtube-linking feature is broken, thus as always the link in itself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u5dtBtG9yU


https://i.imgur.com/Nn3ZJVw.jpg


This was a side-branch of gaming, consoles before consoles.
They were VERY primitive in what they offered, because pre-burned icons got filled with fluid to show the animations, so this is NOT ANYTHING like a gameboy was.
You always only fought against the highscore, and almost always only played for 10-15 minutes only. They were after all traveling devices.
Some had double screen, they had various shapes and forms, and the "good" ones in the end everyone settled were the hard ones.
They were probably the first games which demanded the use of the manual, which got lost, and handed down between players oraly.
Oh, and atevery move they beeped. Go left? Beep. Go right? Beep. Action? Beep. It beeped the heck out of you.
And if you rolled over after 1-3 hours the high-score (aka.maximum score it could present), you were the king/queen. And then someone took out the batteries, and the nice 99999 score got nullified, and you had to work your ass off again.

twillight 30-07-2018 04:57 PM

These were the games 5 - asteroids
 
This was a very cheap game, but an improvement, as it wasn't just some ultraprimitive algorithm, but opened the possibilities on something long and complex.



Sure, it was primitive, but you were a SPACESHIP! Sure, it was a 1-screen game, but you could leave the screen and come back on the other side!
You could even warp!
And yes, technicaly you were shooting the same objects, and went for a highscore, but finaly the "enemy" came in different colours, and they always blew into smaller enemies! It really opened the way.


Being primitive also comes with certain advantages:
- easy to understand how to play
- easy to filter out any bugs. Of course "bugs" practicaly never appeared in these game. Sometimes the stuff did not load, but that was it.

twillight 31-07-2018 04:34 PM

These were the games 6 - pac man
 
Good old pacman.



When you think about it, it's not much of a stepup from asteroids. though somehow it looks way better. Maybe because it is not just an empty space, but has definite level design.
You went ahead automaticly, and turned using justick. Will never understand why they left that controller behind.


https://i.imgur.com/DgPIunf.jpg


Either way, your goal was to eat all the dots, and not touch the "ghosts". You could eat the ghosts if you ate one of the flashing dots for a limited time.
The game had gradual progress of difficulty by the dungeon design. Had a set amount of maps (pretty large set), which looped in the end.
The AI was simple, so you could feel the algorythm, and theoreticaly play to infinity (you got bonus life per whatever condition).
Bonus items also appeared: fruits, which worthed extra score.

twillight 02-08-2018 08:10 AM

These were the games 7 - Wizard of Wor
 
In concept very similar to Pac Man, but in many ways a hugh improvement.



First, you didn't automticaly move.
Second, you could play two player. Ths feature though had design problems, namely:
- your shots did harm the other player, making cooperative problematic
- each map had only one "relatively safe spot".
Still made a pretty ok deathmatch areana if you wanned PvP instead of PvE. Then by agreement the winner made itself dead to restart.


The go alwas to eliminate all ~dragon from the screen. They started slow, and by time they sped up. And the timer spawned more enemies gradualy.
The levels' design grew harder and harder every time(aftera while there was just an empty room, no vover). Sure, it looped in the enc, but whatever.


You did gain extra lives at times, but could only have 4 as maximum.
You also could reisde for a while outside the dungeon. That was useful.
I also never had idea what you weapon was. Some kinda laser by the shots, but maybe flamethrower by the backpack-design.


Oh, and for extra, kinda like later the easter eggs, optional minibosses could appear. Ye, they were OPTIONAL.
there was the Pixie and the Wizard itself.
We had no idea if there was a backstory for a game containing lasers, space-dragons, evil pixies and wizards, but we sure thought it had to be awesome.

twillight 02-08-2018 02:39 PM

These were the games 8 - Super Mario on Gameboy
 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oAl94bC5Cs


Back then this was something of a curiosity. Around here anyway. We didn't have anything even remotly close until this time, or fora lot of time after, and only 1 person had it.
It looked like those quartz games, but evidently wasn't.
It had only quartz-graphic aka. black outlines, no colouration, but was not even remotely that pixeled mess like the other games.
By the way pixeled stuff was ok, because you got used to them. more on the issue as advancing.


It had a HUGH level, not even made of screens, continuous gameplay, friggin massively differentiated enemies,and we had no idea what this was, but the future was bright, unlike nowdays, where the future is made of shit.

twillight 03-08-2018 09:02 AM

These were the games 9 - Mission Impossible, Libra
 



Ye, it was somewhat of a platformer. but it had all kinds of gimmicks running, like you could dispose the enemy robots, kill? pick up? loot? the furniture, pick up items and use them when you see fit (consumables), it had a crapton of levels all with their own design (and we strongly suspected the enemy and room combination had a random factor creating easy to insane difficulty).
We saw there was a timer, but didn't know why. We knew we got blobs from furniture, but didn't know why. The game had a minimap. It had each time 2 rooms with a synthetizator, and we didn't know why. We thought the goal was to for all furniture, but we never managed that.
Still, just as a random platformer it was fun, and we knew there must be some ending, and if we'd be dedicated enough, we'd be able to get there.


Dedication was a thing sometimes these ancient games demanded. There was only oh-so-many-things you could insert into a game after all. So the difficulty was to either speed up (like Wizard of Wor), mess with the random to cheat against the player (Tetris), or make it very precise, like Libra.





Libra only had a couple of levels, which of course looped. The "ultimate" part was actualy that plant-vine, which had pixel-tight passage only for a fraction of a second even.
It was fun to find out all the puzzles (thinking on the tower you had to shot down).

twillight 04-08-2018 07:46 AM

These were the games 10 - Maniac Mansion
 
Compared to eg. Monkey Island, this one had the advantage of cross-platform development.





In the video the colours look like the C64 version, but I think the music is somewhat faster.
The PC-version sucked dick in comparsion.





Let's also mention around here PC was far from bein accessible, and in that time sucked dick in comparsion. But the ruskis didn't advance with the hardware, so fuck the space program, wether fake or true, we cared about everyday life, and USSR clearly sucked dick after while.


You should take note that
- we didn't have manual, although here we suspected we'd be better off with that to a margin

- we still played the game, even despite lacking idea on the language. We played with a big-ass dictionary on our laps
- there was no internet, so we had to guess out what each character does for starter. We never managed to develop the pictures, so there went the black guy. Surfer Dude sucked ass, that we noticed. Razor could use a ton of optional stuff, and she had a mahawk, so she was an alltime favourite. Bernard was considered essential. We wished we could swap Dave to Mr. Sunglasses.


Despite its complexity the game had no save, and we definitely wished it had. Oh ye, we did meet the concept of saves mainly through PC (more of that next time). Also, the telescope-puzzle killed us.
First: it was bugged, so half the time it didn't even work.
Second, you only had limited coins to mess with it.
Third: if you turned it the wrong way, that was game over, and you didn't geta tombstone either. And we only suspected this, for the better of the game, else we'd've said it was trash. But as we weren't sure, and could blow up a hamster in a microwave, this game though never solved, was considered badass. And it had graphic, and all kinds of puzzles in it, thus we loved it.

twillight 04-08-2018 07:45 PM

These were the games 11 - Ghostbusters, Civilisations, and Sim City
 
Ghostbusters was a ... that-time-fun movie-based game.





The guy at the link has a different version than I had (which was C64), but mostly the same.
There were some annoying things in this, especialy lacking manual (I had original disc, but they didn't provide the manual). This was problem for the last part of the game, so I never got inside the Zuul-building, did not climb the stairs, and not defeated Ghozer.
You also had to figure out what the items did by yourself, and man, some were essential. Like w/o the googles the friggin ghosts in houses only could be seen through the windows! And it was very advantageous to be able to deal with StayPuffed,as each of its attack costed a ton of money.
And this is where save comes into play. C64 only used ROM, so anything running got lost when you turned off the machine. High scores, stages, whatever. But this game, if you got Game Over, gave you acode, which gave you the collected money, so you could buy the best stuff for the next go.
The problem was, the part to get into the zool-building took like forever, so after a while you gave up ever figuring out the ending.
The game was no shit though. It just demanded a manual.
Btw, there was a trick, that if you put you two guy at a house facing the same direction, on top of each other, the ghost did not move further, so if it was already above the trap, you sure catched it. Way easier this method.


Now Civilisation was a whole new level.





It sure was complex. That attracted literaly everyone. Despite it being a pile of shit.
- you could not save.
- you never had enough resouces to build stuff.
- the AI massively cheated against you.
- the random tended to put you on the smallest island ever, so you were screwed.
- you couldn't tell what natural resources the current hex had, so positioning your city right was impossible. You got reckted by the game here too.
- bloody cavemen were enough to keep order in 300 century cities.
- anything but tyranny sucked.
- diplomacy sucked.
- the game ate ass.
But the game offered concepts never seen, so mention it here.



But there was an all-time shitfestever too: Sim City!
- you had no save
- your starting money was enough only for 1 small house
- there was no goal
- there were no enemies
- there was no score
- you could destroy everything you built in a week under1 minute by pushing one of the "catastrophe" buttons. this mean during the week you never turned off your computer, so it catched fire, or something.

What this piece of grabage was? None ever figured it out. It was worse than Elite, which everywhere got 10 out of 5 star reviews, but 9 times out of 10 refused to even start, and even if it loaded, the only thing it did was shooting lasers in space. And we tried every bloody key-combinations humanly possible.

twillight 05-08-2018 07:41 AM

These were the games 12 - Warcraft
 
So, there was this little game, which actualy got played when the 2nd game got into the store, but none had the computer to play the 2nd, so everybody played the 1st, which got good hearsay by then.





By modern standar this is awfuly slow, and not much at all, but actualy back then it was the shining new age. The graphic back thenwas like nothing to compare with, the story was astonishing, and it SPOKE, and that helped us learning the language. It was funny, used the new icon-system, and you replayed it, because your pal got the rank of DemiGod at the end and you did not, or you got curious if there's a god-rank or not.
It no loingerwas "you and me", you had characters. Elves, orcs, mages, demons, those weakling elementals too just to mention...
And you also had different objectives. You didn't do the same thing over and over, but you had defend, destroy, and protect.
Then it turned by time to the hogwash WoW with its pandas, but who cares.

twillight 05-08-2018 11:37 AM

These were the games 13 - Grand Prix Circuit
 
Ok, almost forgot this.
Sure, it was simple, especialy w/o manual, and convenience reasons everyone played it where you didn't have to switch tyres. So just laps after laps after laps.
And one of the three stables were agreeably shit.






What it did offer though, was the feel of F1. It rly felt genuine the experience.

twillight 05-08-2018 05:04 PM

These were the games 14 - Revenge on School
 
Some genres were never were anything but shit. But even they could have an accident and produce something playworthy. For this instance let's remember the text-advantures.






Despite its title, it was a hungarian game. Someone should port it to english though. Despite it's highly offensive content. It was practicaly the most ancient school-shoter game to be blunt. I was not based on real even though, and is perfectly fine for a bloodthirsty 15 years brain. It was maybe even done by such person.


Textbased games always had the problem of figuring out the most obscure WORD to type in, and that was crap. Despite you doing all things right, with the right intention, if you didn't use THE EXACT phrase the developer had in mind, you got rected. And they didn't shame off from Moon Logic, and timed tasks either (limiting chances of tries and so on). Ye, I'm looking at you Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy!
Not being able to give anything aside text, this genre notoriously relied on nonsensical puzzles too.
Later, like for the Spellcasting series they gave lists of words, from which came SCUMMVM Lucastarts games, but nah. They were overly difficult.


Why I put this game so late? Cause this came very late. And was enjoyable. It actualy birthed 2 sequels - incrising in difficulty, declining in the violence which made this a mindless fun. Because the 1st was such goodness, people played the sequels for completion.


One bad thing though: the swearing is useless, it never gets involved by the story. Like the stamina stat in Diablo 2.

twillight 06-08-2018 10:38 AM

These were the games 15 - Doom 2
 
I had access to Doom1 too, but that was a piece of garbage. It was segmented, and you couldn't carry your stuff to the next segment, so fuck that.





It was the 2nd successful FPS as far as I can tell, and the first which kicked in the genre. The first wave was Wolfenstein. Nowdays everything is FPS, and they are a piece of shit. On the sidenote, they are made using a 3rd game's engine in the core, Quake. Quake was a piece of shit, because a) you tended to die by 1 hit b) the enemy friggin jumped away from your shots, trolling you. Doom had a much better concept if you ask me. Unfortunately Doom seemed kinda limited what the engine could do, because Duke Nukem used that engine, and it sucked, because it was just a cardboard copy of Doom 2. The nudity wasn't much either, as we had kinda good still pictures around for the porn-industry. The swearing was just obnoxious.



Not to mention these games introduced a new thing to humankind: COMPUTER SICKNESS. You could now get sea-sick on dry land! wooo!
Quake had a worse issue in this field too.

twillight 06-08-2018 01:55 PM

Diablo 2 - are there many builds?
 
I'd focus on builds that are not just possible, but feasible. Also, the builds should not be behind a paywall.


Amazon is the proverbial medical horse:
- spearzon is your typical broken build. Its skills don't work with the other skills (Jab/Fend's extra strikes get crossed if dodge/avoid/evade kicks in), and the damage is laughable.
- poison javelin is not feasible with its single element, which is either way broken on the engine-level. And its damage is pathetic.
- the bow ama is borken. Too low damage, the skills even lower it. the synergies are pathetic. Costs way too much mana. The synergies broke it even further, preventing multielement usage. Strafe is suicide because plants to to spot, without HP, and the enemies are fast to run on you. Using Magic Arrow is not entirely impossible, but darn lacking behind.
- lightning java has the problem again being single-element. It can be worked arund - if you have a very deep pocket and ready tospend $$$.
- there's also passivezon, but better not talk about that.
0 build, 1 behind paywall.



Assassin is of the extremes. Either broken massively, or too strong (with problems). Shows very well a serious design-flow in the game's difficulty design.

- martial arts assa is... Well, half the skills are broken, and is too problematic and sluggish.

- shadow skills are useful, but none constitute a build.
- fire traps are suxxxor
- the only feasible assassin skill is the Death Sentry trap, which is so strong it can kill Nihlatak offscreen, failing the quest! The problem is, it is single-element, and relies on corpses to be real effective - which makes the character almost broken against Hell Ancients. There (in solo gameplay) you need some heavy investments in Shadow Master or Warrior for meatshield. Fortunately a shop sells assa spec items - most classes don't have this feature, resulting in imbalance.
1 build.



Necromancer looks cool on the character choice, but...:
-skeletons are "fun", but don't try them online, because it chrashes other people's game.
- skeleton mages are scum of the earth, weakling scums.
- revive was a good skill until they changed the game. Since then, they suck.
- golems suck entirely. To make a feasible golem-centered character you'd need more skillpoints than a god. To add to the fun: a) clay golems won't ever have damage b) blood golem can kill you c) iron golem costs $$$ d) fire golem has worse damage than clay golem!

- curses are useful, but don't constitute a build
- Bone Armor is possible build, if you want a meleemancer. The problem with that is the extremly low HP, slow gameplay, and either punishingly slow gameplay, or cost of $$$.
- poison necro costs $$$
- before the synergie the Poison Dagger necro was possible, albeit curiotsity. Since then it equals to every other poison necro, just you're playing it wrong.
- Bone Spear/Spirit necro are possible.
1 build, 1 behind paywall.



paladin offers a wide variety, most of them will die by Real Life Luck for low HP.
- sacrifice + prayer + cleansing is a fun-build. Its far behind a regular build, but for single player it is ok. Also interesting to put online as utility for group. It is a melee build though, so will likely 1HKO by a strong monster.
- zeal + holy shock is a cheap, but effective melee build. Will likely 1HKO by a strong monster, but there are less threat with its incrised resistance (so glows andlightning enchanteds are not a threat).
- holy fire/freeze are behind a paywall (freeze not?), and are melee builds.
- spirit hammer + concentration was originaly a bug, but they started to call ita feature. It is a ranged build, so it works.
- in theory Vengeance can also be base for a build, but there's a reason why none uses that.
3-4 builds, 2 behind paywall.

barbarian is the face of False Advertising. Although the character choice suggests axes, its the worst weapon class for it.
- concentration is a general all-around solo build
- berserk is mostly only possible online, because the source of mana for it is the Insight runeword
- WarCry is dumb, and behind a paywall
- you last seen a Whirlwind baba before the expansion (too risky, cost of mana is insane, Act 4 is just suicide)

- frenzy is a theoretical build, it is so fast none can control it (that's why you don't see any online)
- throwing is a possible build, but heavily item-dependent, meaning it is online-only

- mostly used online to cast BO on the party,and that's it.

3-4 builds, 2 are online, 1 behind paywall

sorceress is probably the only build who benefitted from the synergie-system, as from almighty all-element went to specialised versions.
- forget any armor-skills,starting with Energy Shield, becaiuse of the ManaBurn Bug.
- meteor is used to farm actbosses, for general PvM Fireball is the choice. Previously you went for Fireball.

- from lightning Static Field is a 1-pont wonder, like teleport, the later being very unfair when it comes to farming. Also, previously you could invest into Thunderstorm, but since expension that's not feasible. If any electric attack spell is used, that's Charged Bolt, and that's single player only for all-clear runs.
- from cold you go for the almighty Frozen Orb,and that's it. It kills everything,and doesn't require synergies.
- both of the nova-spells were dead fish from the start.
- and there's ranged enchantress, but that's behind a paywall.

Dual-triple element builds, 1 behind paywall.



druid was a fun-build when it came out. Sincs the synergie-system it is not a viable class.

- forget the summoning tab, that sucks. The damage is crap, the cost is high, demand in skillpoint is too high, physical damage only, wolves/bear gets rected by cold damage enemies.
- the vines are entirely useless. The life-leech is only good you think you're good, but then you forget to rise your JP, get hit big time, and you die.
- in theory you could make a shockwave bear or something, but it'll be either sluggish, or is behind a paywall.
- theoreticaly you could do a FireClaw druid, but be honest: have you ever seen it in real life? Point proven.
- feral rage is possible, but sluggish
- fury is both behind a paywall (needs ribcracker), and plants you to a spot which is suicidal.
- the fire skills are crap
- hurricane was good before synergies. Since then it suxx.
- there's the tornado-druid, but that's very unreliable, so let's say it is behind a paywall.
2 behind paywall.

So there wasn't ever many builds for D2.

twillight 06-08-2018 05:01 PM

These were the games 16 - Alone in the Dark
 
It was ugly as shit.






And half the puzzles were hamerd by Sierra's method of nonsense, but you could karate the stuff away, so none cared that much.
Sodespite the ugly look, the crappy control, the bogus puzzles, it still warned its name. If for nothing else, you could pass it w/o puzzle-solving, and the puzzles made sense at least when you retroengineered them.


It lacked bugs to be honest, and the controls proved not to be gamebreaking (unlike for AitD 3), and time proved 3D to not just be a waste of time from the developers, so duh, that's likely it got famous.

twillight 07-08-2018 09:29 AM

These were the games 17 - Mortal Kombat 3
 
The first insalment sucked ass. Most of us had to settle for MK2 because we didn't have the hardware for 3.





By any standard back then, it was Outstanding. The wide variety of characters, the casual violence, all the moves, the visuals were all top-notch.
Unfortunately MK3 only worked on a very sepcific hardware.
And all original MK-games suffered in the 2-player department, because it turned out if one player pressed a button, the other player could not use the same attack on its part. Eg. you press low punch, the other player could not dolow punch, or any special move which required low punch within the combination.
And the AI was punishingly hard, no advancement from "I loose" (begginer) to "you die" (any other difficulty).


But at least it wasn't all-bad as Street Fighter 2. Which didn't have a Street Fighter 1 stricktly speaking.

twillight 08-08-2018 08:43 AM

These were the games 18 - Resident Evil 2
 
3D, but not as guly as Alone in the Dark, clunky controls, but if you're not stuck with the asian version you had autoaim which helped immensly.





Face it, if there was a Golden Age for computer games, those were the late-nineties/early-2K.


This game didn't just was a good experience with all the mutants and zombies, and lore-documents, and puzzles-along-the-way (but you only needed the manual for the herb-drugs, maybe not even for that), but everyone knew we were ripping off the company with this sale.
The game came on 2 CDs, which was a good sign of actual content, but also:
- you didn't just got skin-choice of characters, but the whole game actualy got transformed according to that. I think there'd be more efficient way to code this, and this isn't in hugh demand to be honest, the skin-choice is already ok.
- there were a crapton of hidden lore-documents, and fan-service photos (nothing sexual) hidden around, which did worth looting everything
- there were hidden outfits and weapons during playthrough, and they were useful
- the game gave you a "cheat code" of infinite ammo. And it did not punish you for using it.
- there were 3 entire minigames as unlockable. One if you want a fixed path, one if you like randomly generated environment, and one for the hardcore (ToFu).

twillight 08-08-2018 12:50 PM

These were the games 19 - Fallout 2
 
Then there was Fallout 2.





It's not the racist-nacionalist-fascist "kill everything that's not pureblood huiman" Fallout 3-4-76,but the Fallout 1-2.


It is neither the carppy Ultima-Oblivion-Elder Scroll bullshit, but an open world game, which actualy works.
Although letting you finish the game in 30 minutes is maybe overdoing it.
But at least there's no artificial difficulty-wall to prevent you going somewhere (there's SNEAK for all sake to circumgo hard enemies), and the game has an actual story, and isn't just a "let's fool around, the engine is working, duh" crap.
This fucking bullshit is the pinacle of failing being a game:





And Bethesda (and others) has this kind of nonsense for full price, not that garbage-bin-wannabe I just showed you.


Fallout 1 ye, did technicaly exist, but was so SMALL, and had sucha thin time-limit, and rly wasn't that different from F2, that I consider it a very sophisticated demo.


F2 on the other hand had everything. Mindless world-fooling, story-decisions, laying around with everyone, tiolets, more toilets, high-tech factions, aliens (no, I'm not speaking of the specialencounters, I'm talkin' 'bout the main game), animal protecion movement, human rights movement, slavery, fascism, terrorism, boxing, staring in a porn-movie, breaking down clans of the maffia, riding a car around, overdosing people, diggin up graves, digging up people burried alive in graves, and this guy:





Oh, ye, by the way, you, a Shake Spear Villager just repaired an atomic power plant. How more c00l you can do? Maybe serving a top secretdata-disc to a superintelligent mutated rat with the intention of conquering the world? Because you can.

twillight 08-08-2018 05:29 PM

These were the games 20 - Planescape Torment
 



Not a perfect game, I accept. Be honest, nothing can beat Fallout 2 in sum. But it can be beaten in certain aspect.
And by concepts, P:T wins. The Lady of Pain, the modrons, meeting the Letter O embodiment, traveling with a companion who has two portals to elemental planes open inside him and is around thousands of years since - it's just mindblowing.


The problem is, it is a very text-heavy game, and lacks sufficient action.


F2 had some bugs, P:T practicaly had none atleast. And F2's bugs were only theoretical. The main issue there was related to the car, where stupid people touched the car when it spawned in a different location they left it. I say they deserved what they got for that. Aside from that, there were some specialperks youshouldn't click on to see the description else the game crashed - not rly meaningful -, or if you friendly-fired Vic his AI broken down permanently (which could be annoying, as Vic was one of the best companions, but there were enough replacements, or you could just save&reload).

twillight 08-08-2018 09:57 PM

These were the games 21 - Diablo 2
 
The first rogue-like game of major sucess, so early in case, the term wasn't even invented for years to come.





Actualy, this is the story of Blizzard, and the game we actualy talking about is Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction, meaning the basic game with the expansion, and all the patches.


The story started with the firstgame, which looked ass, and was a mediocre, ass-ugly, slow paced dungeon-crawler, which for obvious reasons didn't get much attention.





You couldn't run, everything mashed together, and it was a very slow, be cautious progress, one of the very last "defense is the bestoffense" style game. Ye, the new wave "the glass cannon is the best build" thing wasn't the original style.
The game had another problem: you either could not access to the higher difficulties, or you could not get all the quests.The multiplayer option was also badly coded, so your could transport your character between the two, hack your character very easily (no hex-code was peresent even to hide your stats), and was generaly mediocre,
The game was also heavily marketed for competitive gameplay, so despite the easy customisation of the characters, soon appeared "best build", and I mean exactly 1 or 2 builds, considering skills, stats and equipments, independent from starting class.


Even D2 didn't stirr much water, because initialy it sucked ass just like D1.
The game got released unplayable, so much it got a patch BEFORE RELEASE.
Then there was the issue of trading. The game was heavily marketed to exchange loot between players - but failed to allow that in single player mode, and evenworse, gave no storage-space to contain extra items! And given the amount of collectibles (gems, runes, quest items, jewels, loot, base items for runeword etc.) even the doubled stash-size is still not enough! Far from it!


The next problem was the level-gap between difficulties. The game works this way: the monsters have levels, you have levels, and based on the difference the monsters give certain amount of exp. If you have too many (or too few) levels, the monsters did not give you many exp.
this issue got somewhat cared of by the expansion given new act (Act 5), but that brought new issues with itself...


And there were the ever-incrising list of bugs, the online gameplay, the single player gameplay, the balance issues... So D2 was full of promise, but failed miserably in every way - and it starts to show in Blizzard ever-declining reputation. They don't even come up with new titles anymore to deceive the customers again and again...



Let's take a look on the elements of the game, and see how many fails!
- single player gameplay sucksm because the drop-rates are too low
- multiplayer gameplay sucks, because the drop-rates are still too low. SOME items getaccessible IF you WERE on ladder, but nowdays there aren't any people there anymore, so fuck you. this means the majority of items were behind a paywall. Or were dupes.
Add to this, Blizzard was heavily against "muling", aka. characters existing just to store extra itemsfor future plays, or simply to auction them not-at-the-moment. See where this leads?
- and there were the bots. Blizzard CLAIMED they do everything to get rid of them, but the majority were sold BY BLIZZARD. Spam-bots were the basic issue, filling the WHOLE screenwith their advertisings, leading many players' death. And to prevent squelching them, Blizzzard regularly made you "lost connection".
Example.

- and there was the hardcore gameplay. The prime issue was/is the player killers, because Blizzard was so dumb that if someone declared waragainst you you could not hurt them, but they could hurt you! Fuck yeah! There goes 5 months of legit work on a character.


Now look at gaming features:
- poison damage just worked strange, so you shouldn't rely it too much. It also ruined your character sheet's data. Many things did that.
- any skill which did per frame damage: the engine works counting per hit, so per frame skills resulted in negligable damage.
- fire damage: too many things are immun to it to rely on this element (and with the synergie-system you have to specialize!)
- cold damage: because it slows the target (negligable feature on hell difficulty) the amount of damage from this are many times negligable
- prevent monster heal: why this thing exists, none knows. The reason none knows is, any amount of poison damage does the same, and lasts longer.
- runes: far too infrequent anything above Lem, and the exponential requirement in runes and gems made the rune-upping system a joke.
- runewords: you couldn't know ANY of these w/o a walkthrough,most demand too high runes to be accessible, and the base items fall very infrequent
- set items: finding these are very hard, and cano nly be found on a level only higher then they are useful. You can't upp them either like uniques or rares.
- magical (blue) items: they are simply too weak for lategame.
- rare (yellow) items: there are too many possible attributes to ever find anything useful here. They can cover your resist-needs self-find, but that's it.
- crafted items: need to many stuff to make them work, and result in a very random item, because of the too big attribute-pool. Usualy in 20-50 tries you can end up something semi-useful for a single-player game, but imagine if you'd try that legit. Also, you need to know the recipe for them, which is impossible w/o the official guide.

- skulls: a sepcial type of gems, which are entirely useless. they provide too weak bonuses themselves, not used in any good recipe. One patch for a short period used them for "deadly crafted" recipes, but those were "too strong", aka. customers no longer bought hordes of duped items from Blizzard's spambot, so got removed.
- unique items got too strong and obvious to let any other type of items get intp focus.
- gold is both too frequent and too infrequent to have any use. It doesn't work as ingame currency because too easy to access, but can't use them at vendors either, because those prices are too high (gambling, or even buying stuff from the normal shop-window).
- stamina is an annoyance until lvl 10 maybe, then becomes a non-issue
- certain skills (eg. incrised stamina), or even entire character classes are entirely useless
- exceptional, and especialy elite items are way too infrequent to drop for their own good. Like 10-20%.
- hireling were a problem initialy because you couldn't even resurrect them. And their stats were too low to have any use anyway, so it seemed a blessing to be able to give them items and resurrect them. Ye, until the first corpse-eater in Act 4 ate it with its items permanently destroying it. Because of a bug. Though thatgot fixed, there's still the issue of the AI braking down after a while, neglecting the merc entirely (monsters are supposed to aim that instead of the player first).
- exp and character level: the game was designed to be able to overlevel the monsters in the hand of a weaker player. Then Blizzard said fuck you, we want more of your money, so if you want to be max. level you have to pay $$$, and skip all the playing the same time, welcome at the top of the leaderboard!
So now days you reach like lvl 45-50 on Normal (single player, p8, allclear), lvl 72-75 on nightmare, and lvl 75-80 on hell. And fuck you.
- guest monsters are buggedly strong. They simply don't work as intended. Especialy Nihlatak's snakes. Those rect you in the ass.
- stats: it is a dumb system. This should provide chance for customization, but big no. Mana: 0. Str/Dex: according to equipment, see a guide to learn what you must wear. Vitality: the rest.
- respec: the option was given only in 1.13d. enough said.
- quests: most of them are lies. They are not quests. They don't give you reward, story, sometimes there isn't even anyone to give you the "quest". Let's run through them:

twillight 08-08-2018 09:58 PM

These were the games 21 - Diablo 2 (2)
 
Act 1:

Den of evil:
task: go to some dungeon and kill all monsters
reward: +1 skillpoint, 1 respec, better prices in the town

problem: 0

Sisters' Burial Grounds:
task: go to some place, kill miniboss
reward: free merc if you don't have one. Not even a dead merc. You can't get rid of a merc w/o buying a new one. So this got rected by the option of reviving mercs.
problem: acceptable, but obviously bugged
The Search for Cain:
task: go through some dungeon, get to special place, get special item, bring special item to special place 2, find NPC
reward: free identification for the rest of the game (every difficulty demands this quest), random rare ring

problem: the ring is RANDOM, and not relates to your level, need, or anything.
The Forgotten Tower:
task: go to special place, kill miniboss
reward: small amount of gold
problem: obviously, gold is ignored for obvious reasons, especialy in such small amount. The real reward comes from killing the boss (free semi-ok runes), but that's unrelated to the actual questing. Oh, and you can loose even this pathetic reward, if you keep pressing the "show items on the ground" button when the cloud from the Countess flies to the chest! But technicaly ye, we can call this a quest. Let's be generous this time.
Tools of the Trade:
task: go to dungeon, kill miniboss, get special item
reward: random rare item
problem: it is RANDOM item. That means 99.666 percent itwon't even worth gold! But be generous,and count this in too.
Sisters to the Slaughter:
task: go to dungeon, kill actboss
reward: unlock new act


number of quests in the act: 6 out of 6 (let's be generous. Otherwise 2 out of 6)

------

Act 2 - here start the real problems:
Radament's Lair:
task: go to dungeon, kill miniboss
reward: better prices in the town, +1 skill point
The Horadric Staff:
task: go to Dungeon A, get Special Item A, go to Dungeon B, get Special Item B, go to Dungeon C, get Special Item C, combine Special Item B and C in Special Item A. (special item A is preserved in all difficulties), bring Combined Item to Dungeon D

reward: you keep the Horadric Cube for crafting purposes, and as extra stash size, also obviously in Dungeon D is the Actboss, so unlocks new act
The Tainted Sun:
task: nothing
reward: nothing
problem: this "quest" is "solved" the same time as The Horadric Staff. Has absolutly zero consequence, unavoidable, includes no special items or lore, and although you just removed permanent night from the world, you'll be just sent into a casamate,so fuck that too.
The Arcane Sanctuary:
task: go to dungeon, get clue on how to continue
reward: none

problem: this is a horrendous cheat from the developer. First, you can't avoid this place at all. Second, the info is useless, because in a legit playthrough you'll need the exp, thus you'll visit all fake tombs. This just encourages leeching exp and rushing low level characters. There's also no reward whatsoever.
The Summoner:
task: none. You'd have to kill the bugger anyway.
reward: none
problem: this is the same "quest"as The Arcane Sanctuary pretending to be another quest. It is not. It is not even given by a questor, it just activates itself. You won't even know what's the Summoner until you find it. this is obviously not a quest.
The Seven Tombs:
task: nothing new
reward: nothing new
problem: basicaly this is the same quest as The Horadric Staff, only this only tells the end of that quest. Obviously a developer scam.


Quests in the act: 2 out of 6
--------------
Act 3 - things don't get better
The Golden Bird:
task: kill random unique monster, get special item, talk a lot in town
reward: +20 Hp
problem: you start the act without any quest, and the unique can sometimes be hidden in the fuck away
Blade of the Old Religion:
task: go to wherever, get special item
reward: free merc (if you don't have one, which is pretty unlikely), random rare ring
problem: the merc option obviously nolonger work, and the chance to get anything decent as the item is negligable. But I'll be generous again.
Khalim's Will:
task: go to places, get parts of equipment, cube them
reward: unlock new area
problem: i could use some actual reward here...
Lam Esen's Tome:
task go to place, get special item
reward: +5 stat point (equals 1 clvl in that regard)
The Blackened Temple:
task: nothing new
reward: absolutely nothing
The Guardian:
task: kill actboss
reward: unlock new act


Quests during the Act: 5 out of 6 (I'm VERY generous here, the actual numbers are 2 out of 6)

--------------
Act 4 - the developers obviously gave up
The Fallen Angel:
task: kill miniboss
reward: +2 skill point (equals 2 clvl in that regard)
problem: 0
The Hellforge:
task kill special boss, get to specialplace, use special item
reward: random rune, and high quality gems

problem: RANDOM rune. Only 1. And the highest possible rune is even very low rune. And you could piss on those gems at this point.
Terror's End:
task kill actboss
reward: unlock new act
problem: I rly could use some realreward for these act-boss-killings...


Quests during Act: 3out of 3 out of 6. I mean why don't we get 6 quests, even by name?
-------------
Act 5
Siege on Harrogath:
task: kill miniboss
reward: socketing item
problem: you can't tell how many sockets it'll give you, soyou can't use this to make a runeward base. Also, I'm getting tired of the "kill stuff" tasks.
Rescue on Mount Arreat:
task: resque 3*5 prisoner
reward: ral, ort and tal runes
problem: even on normal difficulty I could piss napalm on these runes by my ghostrider dick. You can easily fail this quest for no reason (have to restart the level and kill all boring stuff again to get the specified locations).
Prison of Ice:
task: rescue NPC
reward: better prices in town, +10resist all, random rare random class specific item
problem: again the random factors for the item. And gold is likely no lomger an issue at this point ever.
Betrayal of Harrogath:
task: kill miniboss
reward: rename item
problem: entirely trophy.purpose reward. But at this point i'mtoo let down to no grab for straws.
Rite of Passage:
task: kill 3 "mini"boss
reward: chunk of exp

problem: these buggers are simply said, too strong for their own good,especialy on Hell diff. And I could do with some REAL reward, thank you.
Eve of Destruction
task: kill actboss

reward: unlocknew difficulty, trophy title
problem: again,could do with some actual reward...



Quests during Act: 6 of 6 if I'm generous. 2 out of 6 if I'm not.



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


There's also the case of the Cow lvl, and Uber Tristram, but those suck hilariously, so fuck you.



Also, this piece of garbage tried to sell itself as "RPG" just for the stat-/skillpoint-system existing, and when that failed miserably they invented the "cRPG" title.
It was and is actualy a "rogue like" game, with:
- randomly generated areas
- randomly generated monsters from pool
- randomly generated items
- the fact you can't actualy get anywhere w/o the official wiki. When that wiki'll be gone, you won't be able to play this pile of crapany more. It is a very real possibility, happened with another rogue-like, Dungeons of Dredmore. One day the official wiki just been gone, and since then it's practial impossibility to play.



twillight 09-08-2018 02:11 PM

These were the games 22 - Silent Hill
 



Actualy, I despised the series for whatever reason. But The Room (3rd game) got even my attention.
If you watch the video you cann otice how much the series was just a Resident Evil ripoff... Still, it managed to be its own thing for a while.
Unfortunately that part declined by later instalments, and they didn't find new audience with their first movie, for what none cared for the 2nd movie, which was a good movie actualy if you forget about the 1st movie, and according to the players, the games. So that didn't earn anything either.


These horror-survival-FPSs were actualy pretty widespread, and pretty close in quality as far as I'm concerned. The 1st Blair Witch Project game for example was pretty ok too, although far from being popular (likely because the movie was a cheap crap). But there were plenty of others too.






Resident Evil survived. The others not so much.

twillight 10-08-2018 10:19 AM

These were the games 23 - Yahtzee and Krin
 



Part of the price of genious level games released was, the decline of effort and new releases, resulting in decline of quality, and what a decline it became!


Then showed up The Independent Developers. Actualy, I should've mention before this post another wave of this, but we'll be back to that.


Yahtzee created a serious of point&click adventure games. With retro-graphic, and still proved successful. He did his stuff, then I dunno, stopped?


The other was Krin, who managed to gather a large group of fans. He was part of the Flash Game Era.





Krin managed to build his fame on the Sonny 2 game, branching back&forth&sideways in time for his various projects.
Then he sorta faded out, because the promised 3rd Sonny game years afteryears of waiting failed to be developed. And after people stopped caring, the 3rd game DID come out, but was put entirely behind a paywall (previously 1 of 4 classes was only like that), and was a reboot instead of continuation, making the games he got his fame from obsolate, which pretty much killed any interest toward the guy.
Combined this with the original platform's (abandonia.com) incrisingly shitty service, straight lying, resulted that the 3rd game is now entirely free, and still none gives a shit.

twillight 10-08-2018 04:17 PM

These were the games 24 - Gorky 17
 
Western Europe doesn't have a game-developing industry as far as my knowledge goes. Nationalism gets in the way, and the germans are too busy cenzoring all games on their own official market, not noticing global tendencies, like Gog and Steam where people simply shit on "no red blood" policy.


The french made some ok adventuring titles even through the 3D area (the Blair Witch Trilogy, Necronomicon, and so on), but the whole thing is pretty meh.


The Eastern part on the other hand is made of such small countries, they simply had to develop semi-internationaly, and if you lived in europe, you met with some of these titles, and they worth mention, apart they are for the most time pretty low quality, full of design-flows and so on.
One game was a pretty gem though, so let's mention Gorky 17. That's like Area 51, but in Poland or soemthing. Pretty much in the USSR area at least.





It had some pretty ok puzzles included, and just Too Much Medikit And Stuff, which means you were pretty inclined NOT to use any for a proper playthrough.
The maximum challange is of course to not be hit at all, and yes, that's possible, I've done it.

Capo 10-08-2018 04:49 PM

Guess you never heard of Cd Project

twillight 10-08-2018 10:14 PM

These were the games 25 - Elasto Mania
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 482570)
Guess you never heard of Cd Project


Not realy.
Did my homework though, and searched for it. They have a single franchise under their name, The Witcher series.
That's not new info to my series, but I bet is a very decent game, like a couple of hundreds of titles.
I'm still glad to mention such a great famed thing from the area. Hungary did maybe some Myst-like tourism-ralted empty-town-lookaround to mention maybe (Myst was crap as fuck, I have the CD, and never played it after 30 min, I slept over the keyboard, awakened by the beeps), and half a handful probably-decent title, like S.W.I.N.E (I hated it, but was NOT crap), Imperium Galactica 2: Alliances, but I try not just to find good games, but point out turning points, or how I remember them, and show "outdated" games do better still than today's craps. Would see others' tale. Maybe their conclusion would be something else.

But hey, I found this, didn't know was hungarian, and in general forgot about it!



This was one of the very first total-obscure-mechanics game, like those "how high you canclimb up" stupid casual dumdums.

twillight 11-08-2018 09:34 AM

These were the games 26 - World of Warcraft
 
One thing Diablo 2 was good for to finaly remove my constant grief for the joystick. That game rly needed a megaton of buttons for control-hotkeys.


Now onto World of Warcraft. It's a piece of junk, and always was. The game-mechanic itself I betis smooth, the problem comes from another side.
Like it is an online-only game, demands an atomic reactor like Maniac Mansion in your house to run at all, and youdon't even own the game, only rent it. Fuck you. The success of it almost collapsed the entire gaming industry by the way, as EVERYONE and their mother made games online-connection only. To make it even worse, that time mostly-stable INTERNET connection was a rarity, at least weekly shutdown FOR THE INTERNET was standard. Online only my arse.





Btw, the song is pre-New 52, the Aquaman-reference is no longer valid.


Btw, I think this spinoff never got anywhere unfortunately:





Oh, and WoW degraded to panda-hugging crap.





Da fok is dat.

twillight 12-08-2018 11:32 AM

These were the games 27 - Clicker Heroes, Candy Crush Saga
 
Both "games" mentioned here ar TOTAL GARBAGE. Not half-assed crap like Binding of Isaac or such, nooo. These are probably the absolute bottom of the barrel which just constitute for a "game" in a sense at all, but they're the absolute garbage.





I can't totaly be mad on Candy Crush though. It's a tetris-like online "game", which sole purpose is to take your money. Form the gazillion levels only the first handful (30-50) can be done, and those already are frustratingly RLL (reallife luck) dependent. It's bullshit.
There's no variation in the levels, aside the random cheats against you more and more, and wants you to pay $$$$$$$$$. The cherry on the top is, there's no payoff either. You go ahead on that child-book-map, and there's no ending, despite the series is at the zounded release. Ye, there is CCS1, 2, 3, zounds. and even the 1st never reach any goal.
To annoy you further, you can't even reach the final level in these craps, because afters pending literaly thousands of dollars to this nonsense, the point you'd be on Level Tom Cruise in Scientology, learning the deepest secrets of Lord Xenu, here you can be sure just add 5000 more levels to fuck with you. Because making those levels is very, very easy, just trust in on the random generator. Finishing the levels on the other hand...


And there's Clicker Heroes.






They call it 'idle gaming". The idea is YOU DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the game, and still win! It even works if you turn off your computer!
But why??? It's just... You know what? Fuck you.

twillight 13-08-2018 03:35 PM

These were the games 28 - just games
 
Of course there were always plent more games. Some good, some bad, some total obscurity.


The Witcher already mentioned, still no personal experience with it:





Then there was Operation Wolf, which could have had its own entry:





Or there was Karnov, avery arcade-like game, the C64 had immensly better graphic than any other version, and it was hard as fuck, and had no idea how to play with all the optionalitems (I had the game from a shop, thank you).





Then there was Firetrap, inwhich you climed a burning building as a firestarter, and up there the FRIGGIN SUN attacked you (the C64 versionhad again way cooler graphic, but this was the only versain found footage from):





Then there was FireBUG too, which looked pretty sophisticated back then, but sucked ass hard it was:





There was this stupid-ass game too, if you manage to beat the Pharao Mask level, I'd welcome the info how:



twillight 14-08-2018 04:51 PM

These were the games 29 - These WERE the games
 
The story at this point pretty much ends. There are no longer good and innovative games made.


There are some titles getting famous from time to time, like the Counter Strike series, or the Assassins' Creed Series which is pretty much a CS-variant with swords instead of guns, or Grand Theft Auto which is CS with cars, or Halo which is CS with laserguns, or the Amnesia franchise which hid behind (like almost all 3D games did back then) behind an Extra Paywall of Video Card which is not required but demanded nontheless, or such halfassed crap like the Binding of Isaac, which could have been a game for a specific audience, but the lack of good games and hearsay made it a boost, and it managed to sell the same game as three different games and a bunch of DLCs. Which is just proves the game is a fraud.


To mention there's an Eastern European company, called Larian Studios, which makes the Divinity franchise, but for all sake, I don't know how they survive, because their games though become in the end pretty decent, they are at the initial release always full of bugs to the point being unplayable, and only by years of after-release development get to the state of being worthy. And every single release they perform the same crap.
Their customer service is top notch though. And they make multi-platform releases, so you CAN play their stuff.






They are in a sense like whoever made Dink Smallwood (I think abandonia has this).





There are also some games which I'd bet are crap, but are so far from my playstlye I'm not actualy sure I even understand them. Like this glass-cannon game, whichis 99% random, that's why I suspect it's actualy trash, but even if it would not be random I'd still not play it and hate it:





A similar, but not random based game, which abhorrent feature is the time limit/limited necessary resources is:





Tells a lot that I wasn't able to find a playthrough, or anything after reaching the first town from this.


There's the Gears of War franchise, butI'm not even sure it was even made for PC, so who knows.


There was Portal, which is CS with gizmo.


Actualy, I once saw a very god snowboarding game... Dunno the title,and was some-console-only, so fuck that.


But what do we have? Sequels of sequels of the same shit.Like the entirely stupid Legend of Zelda franchise, which first actualy-good release was maybe Ocarina of Time?





That's why people still keep as treasure games such as Might and Magic 6+. Though the later installments gradualy failed. 6 was the mostopen, 7 had a way linearly forced story with timed events and the teachers, tunel-areas... And the same time was easier because of badly implemented artifact-system, and the very beatable dragon at the start which provided infinite loot.
And in 8 you were forced to play a troll (race), because you couldn't hire them in reasonable distance, and the first area was bloody hard to survive otherwise.









Oh, and let's mention all the cheap knock-off crappy games, which were all of us' guilty pleasure, because they only costed 1$, so the worth/price ratio made them not to whip ourselves for punishment. Like this piece of crap, which got released at least in Hungary WITH THE FINAL KEY NOT IN THE GAME (fortunately you could put in the level-cheatcode to get around that):





You actualy spent most of the time standing around so your HP/MP refilled. But it had absolutely solvable puzzles, so cool.



Or all the movie-based piece of trash, like Die Hard Trilogy (had 3 parts, each its owngame, and if you didn't have infinite lives you were screwed, maybe even then!):





Especialy the car-chase part was hard as fuck.


What else to say? Oh ye, therewere boardgames, like mahjong, solitare and minesweaper as windows addons, or even all kinds of chess...Archon Ultra was kinda worthy:





Oh, and again don't fall for all the hype of old games, Like Command and Conquer, the original had a mission for the good guys with a laser tower enemy and no air unite, so you were fucked for good. Oh,and no harvester, just1 very big tank (which worth not enough to destroy named tower).
Oh, and remember, this was considered "fun", and "good game so to say":





It was crap and offensive, and we knew it, but didn't have anything else. So I say, if new games do the same shit, call them shit, because they are. And don't even start me with Minecraft. It suffers the Diablo 2 Hostility Design Failure. Remember all those nice, complicated stuff people showed they builded? Fuck those! Join the game, make a fire/explosive, AND BURN THE SHIT DOWN. Ye. Friggin crap. Fuck the players right in the #&@.


There is also the problem of Breaking The Pace. Diablo 2 has this if you pick Barbarian's Find Item. Which is totaly useless, if you rly want that shit get only Find Potion to destroy corpses. It's that bad. But there's a whole game I know of which suffers from it: Abe's Exodus.





This was a very very good platformer, only 1 problem: for the True Ending you have to find more hidden places than your mom, and that should tell something. And there're no signs for them, and they're hideously frequent,and are commonly placed where there's absolutely nosense for 'em. It absolutely gamebreaking trying to find 'em all.


Oh, oh, I wanna show you a game I ragequitted. I got it dunnowhen, and could not play it for friggin many years, because originaly it only played if you plugged in friggin cables ina friggin specific ways, and only if friggin specific hardwares (CD players or shit) were also inyour coputer, and made special shit withspecial analprobes on realalien beings and shit, so Isaid fuck that. But oculdn't find what the actualy game was, because it was some 2nd grade shit, so it wasn't A, but wasn't trash either, so got shit from anyone. Then finaly got a new computer, put it in, played it for two hours or shit, then realised all my efforts for cleaning levels were wasted. Because enemies respawned. Maybe even loot (ammoand stuff), but at that point I just pissed allover that shitty shit which shitted on me. the Devil Inside. Fuck that game.





Cmpare it to Shadow Man, which had its fair share of flaws, but I made it,and was the only game I suffered mapping myself for:





That game told you whatit is, and reached to the expectations. Unlike for example Bad Mojo, which told you whatit is,but never got to the expectations:





I remember getting it from Home of the Underdogs, and after a fair share of frustration by its size, got underwhelmed by it.


Come to think of it, there was yetanother total failure juststruckmy mind: Lure of the Temptress:





It was totaly fine, UNTIL you gota company, and had to divert the attention of the alchemist, send in the company with a specific range of instructions, on a trial of error basis, with a shitton of possibilities. Result: ragequit.


And before I finish for now, Floor 13 is another offender. Sure, you can be part of The Illuminati in this game, but it relies on RL-luck entirely. You canfail ALL cases if the random doesn't like you.





Oh, andI forgot its title, was some freeware game or shareware, whatever the distinction. You played some hacker investigating after dolphins(?),and the basic method of your hacking was Random IP-search On The Whole Internet. Within the game of course, but that still had like thousands of results. Good luck with that.And to note, you could like suddenly jump to a later chapter, because its requirement was to find a specific IP. And as I said there was no restriction, or aim on your searches, just plain random on the whole database. When you realised that, you never tried that shit again.

twillight 15-08-2018 01:38 PM

These were the games 30 - Cat Mario
 
With the market going downhill faster than a falling star, there came the trolling games.





Yep. These games made frustration fun. It's a weird concept, but at times can be satisfying. And yes, I know the video is not english, doesn't matter, mostly it's fuck-fuck-fuck anyway.

twillight 15-08-2018 09:11 PM

Diablo 2 maces comparsion
 
I got several of the best twohanded maxes, both unique and set (Immortal Kingl), so I have to make this comparsion.


Stuff:
- elite upped Steeldriver (found a Pul fully legit for this with my berserk baba, all items also from that character)

- IK Maul
- Windhammer


Any 2H maul with no IAS is dumpster, being too slow. 40% is ok. So while Bonesnap don't even play.
Bloodtree Stump while has probably insane damage, is very very slow, not even a Shael (20% IAS) would elevate it nice, sry.
The Black runeword alsodoes not give speed, and evenhas knockback what is annoying. Most other rws for a berserker demand hrs, so there those go.

If you'd pick Ribcracker (staff) you'd have to sacrifice Weapon Mastery, and AR is a problem untwinked.

Gravel of Pain is not good at all.
Earth Shifter is too slow for a Barbarian.
Steeldriver looks cool. The problem is, from execptional to elite variant (nightmare to hell) the base item does not get the same damage elevation as it got the first time (from normal to exceptional), what makes this, or to be honest any plain-damage item a lackluster.
The IK Maul is nice, and has 2 socket. In comparsion to Windhammer it has slightlly lower dmg, but deal way more to a crapload of enemies (undead and demon 200%, WH only has 50% undead). IK has 20% slower IAS, equal to a shael, which'd take a slot. Idealy I woudn't fill in a shael though, but a -15% req, 20-30% dmg rare jewel, and an Eth rune (-25% def from enemy).
Windhammer also has substantialy (10-15%) more Crushing Blow which is RAW DAMAGE. If I put on a Venomgrip (5% CB), and that 35% CB helm, that like a LOT (90%). In a normal play I'd craft to it a belt and boots Blood Crafted to make it 100%!

twillight 16-08-2018 12:28 PM

These were the games 31 - Five Nights At Freddy's
 
Some games still proved there were at least ideas still to come up with, and although delivered cheap, they at least told what they are and how to play them (unlike Binding of Isaac for example, where the idea is present, but the delivery is shitty).






Of course in this case they skinned this fox to the bones, or even further, but that's another kind of problem. And at the very least later instalments of Freddy's were actualy new games, unlike what Binding of Isaac did.

twillight 18-08-2018 07:47 AM

These were the games 32 - Dark Souls
 
Maybe, just maybe this might be something. Didn't play it, and my bet goes it has hardware requirement in the skies, because of Very Lazy Programming Skills, but aside that, it MIGHT be something. Let's give the benefit of the doubt.



twillight 19-08-2018 07:24 PM

Games I would recommend still - Three Sisters' Story
 
Most games are either not good, or simply interchangable with newer products. But some can be good suggestions for new players for one reason or another.





This is an adult game, but those 99% aim pubertans. This has a good story, alternative endings, and sufferable gameplay. Also opens the gate to these "hentai games" as they were called back then, whatever they euphemised them for now.
This one is also not veryfar-fetched. No ghosts, tentacles, forced intercourse and other potentialy disturbing things.
And nowdays still pictures games aren't common to say the least, so broaden your horizon.

twillight 20-08-2018 11:24 AM

Games I would recommend still - Abomination, the nemesis project
 
It is an isometric game... a wee bit similar to Jagged Alience, but real time, and a bit... cheaper. But at least it does not take forever to pass, especialy you can set the length of the game. As it, like X-com games, give the missions randomly for a pool.
There's some HQ-management, character management, and after a while it gains a strategic element too (you'll have to hold out preserving your facilities while the all-consuming enemy slowly but surly conquers the map, so choosing the missions by location beomes important).


Your characters are all technological superheroes. One can carry a mass amount, another is armoured, a third canshapeshift (the skill is a verybadly implemented camouflage skill, use the guy/gal who can turn invisible instead) and so on.





My only regret is, I lost my german copy. While I don't speak german, the voice-acting is just crazy there. Crazy good. "Die Brut kommt!" (The Brood Comes) should be a tagline, or on T-shirt, or something!
Ya, the backstory is, some world-ending, ancient-demon-alien-worshipping genetic-virus-releasing cult attacks everyone, like the Brotherhood of Nod in Command and Conquer.
It's just fun if you let your mind go with it.


#TotalyUnderrated

twillight 20-08-2018 07:47 PM

Games I would recommend still - Blackthorne
 



It is a puzzle-platformer. To be honest can be VERY annyoing, as your equipment is needed to advance on the levels, and that means no use of bombs just to easy-kill enemies and such. SUPERannyoing.
But it is a very good mix of Prince of Persia and Shokoban, AND you have a gun. It's worth a try still. Back then this was top notch. Very solvable by the way, just needs some trial&error.

twillight 21-08-2018 08:13 AM

Games I would recommend still - Clay Agent
 
Seems the above is just a local title, otherwise it is Agent Gliniarz.






In concept it is similar to Army Men, where your army was made of childhood's plastic soldiers, but their sorrounding remained the real world, so they fought on writing desks and things like that, point is, the items are giant size compared to them, and you could take advantage, like buildinga bridge froma linear, or barricade from a spool of thread and so on.
The claymation is also a unique selling point for this lighthearted aventure game, which never ever gets impossible.
It also has avery acceptable story to its demographic.

Mystvan 21-08-2018 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482572)
Not realy.
Hungary did maybe some Myst-like tourism-ralted empty-town-lookaround to mention maybe (Myst was crap as fuck, I have the CD, and never played it after 30 min, I slept over the keyboard, awakened by the beeps), and half a handful probably-decent title, like S.W.I.N.E (I hated it, but was NOT crap), Imperium Galactica 2: Alliances, but I try not just to find good games, but point out turning points, or how I remember them, and show "outdated" games do better still than today's craps. Would see others' tale. Maybe their conclusion would be something else.

But hey, I found this, didn't know was hungarian, and in general forgot about it!



This was one of the very first total-obscure-mechanics game, like those "how high you canclimb up" stupid casual dumdums.

Ummm... :umm: I guess twillight is not so hungary :drool: :hungry: for Myst-like games... :hihihi:

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482629)
Most games are either not good, or simply interchangable with newer products. But some can be good suggestions for new players for one reason or another.





This is an adult game, but those 99% aim pubertans. This has a good story, alternative endings, and sufferable gameplay. Also opens the gate to these "hentai games" as they were called back then, whatever they euphemised them for now.
This one is also not veryfar-fetched. No ghosts, tentacles, forced intercourse and other potentialy disturbing things.
And nowdays still pictures games aren't common to say the least, so broaden your horizon.

I own the pretty old “JAST USA Memorial Collection” and “Milky House Memorial Collection”.

Well, at least those Collections worked on Windows XP without the need to use any kind of Emulator or Virtual Machine.

I had already finished playing all those old games except “The Season of the Sakura” since its Walkthrough was kind of generic and incomplete. :headslap: :palm:

twillight 21-08-2018 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482641)

I had already finished playing all those old games except “The Season of the Sakura” since its Walkthrough was kind of generic and incomplete. :headslap: :palm:


That's where you have like a dosen schoolgirls to fall in love with, eh?
Most of them only requires to focus on 1 attribute,and you'll get their encounter.
Only a completionist would want to get all the encounters in one game. I once did it, sadly lost the playthrough, because for that you need a massive amount of mapping for when (day +attribute) encounters can happen, and a crapload of replaying days for top-tear-gains in the early days.


It is a good casual onetimer for a 13-16 year though. The fun is mostly how the game reacts to you.

Mystvan 21-08-2018 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482645)
That's where you have like a dosen schoolgirls to fall in love with, eh?
Most of them only requires to focus on 1 attribute,and you'll get their encounter.
Only a completionist would want to get all the encounters in one game. I once did it, sadly lost the playthrough, because for that you need a massive amount of mapping for when (day +attribute) encounters can happen, and a crapload of replaying days for top-tear-gains in the early days.


It is a good casual onetimer for a 13-16 year though. The fun is mostly how the game reacts to you.

Yes, it was a complicated game to complete. I used Walkthrough written by Ben Woodhouse at the time. :wall:

Besides that game, “Three Sisters’ Story” was also a tricky one because depending on the order and the action, the result, or rather, the end of the game was quite unexpected. :headslap: :palm:

At least I managed to complete the game “True Love” with all the finals. :clap: Obviously with use of Walkthrough and Game Editor. :sneakrete:

Now, “Paradise Heights” series, “Love Potion”, “Fatal Relations”, “Amy’s Fantasies”, “Immoral Studies” series would be pretty mediocre ero-games in my opinion (boring and weak plot, storyline, etc.).

twillight 21-08-2018 08:26 PM

Games I would recommend still - DLC quest
 
I'd recommend from your list the Immoral Studies series. They are good for a quicky. Takes like 5-15 minutes to pass, and are pretty immoral.


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


Current game is something that should have been shareware, as it is a satirical game criticizing the money-hungry game-developer industry. At the start you can only go right, so you have to pay for a DLC which allows you to go left. Then you become able to buy the next DLC to jump, and thus advance yet again in the game...
It's kinda short, and retro-graphic, but has 2 endings at least. Oh, and of course zombie-DLC is included too.




twillight 22-08-2018 06:20 PM

Games I would recommend still - Dungeon Keeper
 
But with a grain of salt. Because it is one of those games all promise, low deliver.





It has similar awesome worldmap to the original Warcraft 1, and is a pretty good time-waster on this side, before it'd turn into a non-game.
Its main attraction is all the easter-eggs, half of which you should just read about, like the printer-messages. I mean who has a printer nowdays, and why'd you play the game the printer turned on anyway??
The game also suffers in the gameplay: Keeper is NOT the bes/strongest unit to have,and darn annoying to maintain. Grab a vampire instead. Also, if you completly wall-in, the enemy simply can't break in ever, what is ridiculous. They are few anyway. Lastly, most of the end-levels are about possessing one creature (a vampire), and massacring all the enemy in FPS-mode, completly destroying the RTS-aspect.


But still entertaining enough if you have the nerve, or new to computer games. At least for a onetime playthrough.

twillight 23-08-2018 09:38 AM

Games I would recommend still - Earthsiege 2
 
It is a mecha-simulator, combat-FPS, whatever you want.





You build new mechas, repair existing ones, have a crew up to 3, you only control 1, the others controled by AI, but you can give pretty ok directions what they should do.
The terrains are pretty ok, and the mission-variety is funky: you have destroy mercs, destroy base, recon missions, defend base, capture building and so on, like piloting an aircraft.


The combat can be a bit monotous though.
The most obvious problem is, you yourself have barely any chance shotting down air units. So I advise bring crew whenever possible, and gives them some weak machinegun (those have ammo and range) to deal with them.
The next problem is, the AI isn't very clever, mostly just run towards you, and that's it. The level-design compensates for some of this issue, but could use some improvement. My main tactic is usualy put on 2+ heavy energy weapon (very short range), focus the shield forward, and rush to the enemy. Try to hit the legs, that disables the mechas while preserving raw material. When you run through the enemy, reset the shields 50-50%and turn around, wreacking havok.
Fun little casual game if you ask me, which doesn't realy need more graphics, and the voise-acting is cheesey-inspiring for the mission-birefings.


Ineterstingly the game allows you to fail missions - but I prefer reloads those times.

twillight 23-08-2018 06:34 PM

Games I would recommend still - Enduro Racer
 



What you see on the video is NOT the version I had. I never before looked this title up since the internet, because I had no reason to.
Because my version never ended. It was entirely infinite. No scores counted. The enemies were infinite, and who gave a shit,they were pathetic.
Why I mention it? Because the totaly empty "playtime",if we cancall it that. You could not die, you could not even fall, you justwent, and heared the monotonous white noise of the engine. It was relaxing for me somehow.

twillight 25-08-2018 12:51 PM

Games I would recommend still - Epic Battle Fantasy 4
 
The previous and léater installments are basicaly crap. But this is a nice jrpg.





Very good music, good graphic, the usual turn-based pokemon/finaly fantasy-system, tons of reasonable loot.
There are only 2 flaws: one: making a solid party. That probably will involve some respec (because inexperience with the game), what can seriously drain your gold resource, second: on the highest difficult the enemies gain cheap instant kill attacks, what is just annoying.
It has some optional bosses and badges though, so it's absolutely fine.

twillight 25-08-2018 07:34 PM

Games I would recommend still - The Great Giana Sisters
 



Tired from Super Mario? Guhrl Powah fan? Time to try The Great Giana Sisters!
The franchise is even living today, and their games are not bad at all!





I bet it is about the hair.
Btw, I ran past the final boss, never killed it, thought that's not possible.

twillight 26-08-2018 03:59 PM

Games I would recommend still - Hostages
 
This game has multiply stages.





The goel is to dispose terrorist invading an embassy. And save the hostages if you can. I think you only got game over if you lostyour team, the time ran out, or ALL the hostages died (by your hand).


First you picked each member, and tried to reach the marked hiding spots, while avoiding the reflectors of terrorist snipers. This part is very very cool, you realy could do stunts with the limited resources.
Second you could adjust the starting position of your team on an upside-downminimap. This marked where your snipers start.
Thenyou used your snipers to pick down terrorists through the windows of the three sides of the embassy.
Then you lowered one of your strike team to infiltrate the building. If you entered a room with an evil person, you died. If you lost all three soldier, you lost.
Then came the indoor clearing of rooms,which was a bit clunky, and dangerous, so you better picked as many from outsiude by the snipers as you could.


And that's it.

twillight 27-08-2018 08:20 AM

Games I would recommend still - Jagged Alliance 2
 
For this the engine got perfected.





It still had some unfortunate flaws, like some hirelings regularly forgot the action you signed them for, literaly saying "I forgot. I forgot again.", most probably encountering this at the beginning, whereyoudon't have the money for the crew youwant, so you work with everybody. The militia-guy who throws knives is effected. This leads to that you barely if ever use knives, because most units specialize in guns, or training militia to defend sectors of towns.


I say switch on the sci-fi elements (alien bugs come at a point, which provide a gloo to advance your armor beyond maximum), and the "many many guns" option is fun too.


But man, this game takes FOREVER to finish.


There was an "expansion" (Unfinished Business), which more was a sequel, which threw out most of the gameplay elements, and its start was hardcore hard (on normal setting!) even if you brought in your old crew. Imagine your chances with a fresh one.

twillight 29-08-2018 01:29 PM

Games I would recommend still - Loom
 



An experimental Lucastarts game. Perfectly fine to a point, as your options are limited, and although a lot of times you need Fairy Tale Logic, the puzzles are all solvable.
What kills the game is the ending, where you face a limited try, limited time series of events, where the save&load system's problems become very very obvious. This still isn't much of a problem, as it is a Simon Says game, but on the highest difficulty you get no visual clues, so that's game over for anyone not being able to properly play a real instument (and no, not drum, dummy).

twillight 30-08-2018 07:37 AM

Games I would recommend still - Lost Vikings 2
 



It is an action-puzzle solving game. Some controls are clunky, and probably they made similar fresher games, but I don't know those.
the characters are recognisable, though the story pretty much equals with a facebook-game.
Unfortunately my copy halfway missed an item, and I thought just i'm missing something, so never finished it. Still fond of the memories.
I was not impressed with the 1st installment though, because how it differs from this. That doesn't mean it'd be bad for you too.
The worst part the developers never had The Vision, so it never grew to a franchise.

twillight 31-08-2018 07:29 AM

Games I would recommend still -Motherload
 



You get a drill, a minor backstory and at times new story-elements, but otherwise you dig to reach deeper, to the core of the planet.
And it is fun!


NOTE: it IS possible to beat the final possible level. The possible nuber of items on you is actualy infinite, you cankeep score on 'em manualy. If you mine enough, and buy enough amount of stuff, the fact that the later levels exponentialy rise the prices thus by time makes you unable to buy more items can be circumnavigated.
This is a challenge!

twillight 31-08-2018 04:25 PM

Games I would recommend still -Neuromancer
 



The game is based on the most famous (but not best!) William Gibbson novel, and for the hardcore ones, it follows that pretty close. Fortunately you don't have to do that, as one part is very annoying (on the space station you constantly loose life outside the matrix, and your in/out of matrix HP are the same, so it is a pretty big problem). fortunately the game comes with an official, ingame-feature inside hack, which allows you to bypass matrix-zone bonduaries.
You absolutely CAN finish this game w/o a walkthrough, which of course can make things more convenient (the biggest help is the clue on which skill effects which AI).
It can make your scratch your head at times, but that's the fun, as it does not rely on moon-logic, or has limited interactions so you won't feel forever lost. Especialy if you don't bother much with the space station mentioned above. You still must visit it for some program upgrades, but no need to enter the lifesucking area.
This is as close to old fashioned games I'd allow myself considering the general experience (graphic, gameplay, design).
There isn't much to replay for though.

twillight 01-09-2018 08:57 AM

Games I would recommend still -the new adventures of the time machine
 
This is a french game.





French games are not as polished as USA-games, but are pretty decent adventure games, with solvable puzzles, and at least two endings.
Ok, "solvable" means something different for Necronomicon. A third french game was the Blair Witch trilogy if I'm not mistaken.


This/These games have a noticably different idea when it comes to the story, or gaming, so if you give it a try it broadens your horizon. It's nothing weird or incomprehensible, but like sushi compared to sausage: the taste and culinari is noticably different.


The Time Machine has a solid balance between resources. Aside the usual one-time puzzle-items there are your skill-related stuff, namely: sandballs (heals HP), herbs (heals partial HP), black salt (heals MP), hourglasses (unlocks more maximum MP), spells. Some of the items can be traded for others on the list, sosometimes you must decide to get a new spell, or have more maximum mana, or be able to heal more. This is fine for the whole game, but where it can realy count, is the ending. There's the regular ending, and the S-rank ending u know. AndI do mean "S" rank,as it's hard to achieve.

twillight 01-09-2018 02:04 PM

Diablo 2
 
I slowly reach Act 4 with myx barbarian. Up till now played under p8, which is highly advisable to lower to p1 in the latest 2 acts. Act4 "only" has the "gloam bug" where gloams can deal insane damage due to bad coding (which is multiplied in higher player number), and Act 5 has its own problems of guest monsters, gloams, nihlatak's snakes, magic immun frenzy taurs (other monesters for other characters of course).
And the exp just stopps coming. Got a single clvl in Act 3, and even that went beyond my highest single which was clvl 87 after beating Bhaal, and cow king, under the same conditions as this character. So definitely there are more monsters under the latest patch.

twillight 01-09-2018 11:28 PM

Games I would recommend still - Paladog
 



I feel this is one of the better android games. It's a lot actualy like those old quarz games to be honest...
You start from the left, and your goal is to destroy the cave on the right, while overcoming incoming obstacles (monsters). You have various upgradable attributes, and every couple of levels are a kind of minigame of certain variety to psice things up.
There's also a second protagonist (in the full version), Darkdog, which plays a more active role, while the basic Paladog mainly lives from summoned woodland creatures.
It has some basic, facebook-game level backstory, but enough to make the game satisfying.
There's also a minor difference between the full/android release, and the PC release in terms of cutsceens.


It even had a very high quality promo-film, but the 2nd game only went to the asian market.








Overall it is a pretty solid experience.

twillight 03-09-2018 08:39 AM

Games I would recommend still -Phantasmagoria 2
 



Ye, they did at least one good live action videogame. Well, action is overrated, it was an adventure-game. And finaly not a "sit on sofa simulator" like Phantasmagoria 1, which had nothing to do with this one (aside being at the same company).
The game hasa good balance between mundane everyday tasks, and character's-life-infesting weirdness. And a milde, bit kinky nudity.
The puzzles are just hard enough to make yu experiment with the environment, resulting in finding bitty crazy elements which releave you from frustration. So it never gets boring.
And if you do get bored, the game has minigames hidden as eastereggs on the office-computers.


I totaly love you go from your appartment to the office, to a restaurant, to a BDSM-club, flirting with an openly gay character - and all that is just you mundane life, nothing special. The special starts when you find the door of John Malkovich, and the super-hightech secret project of your company doing in secret.

twillight 03-09-2018 07:52 PM

Games I would recommend still -Postal
 



Yes, this game was infamous. And as usualy the infamous games, pretty crappy in actuality.
The game, especialy the start,and pretty much anywhere on higher difficulties is insanely hard, to the point it becomes boring "shoot 'em offscreen" crap.
Still, if you never met with these kind of "highly offensive" games, goand try it. See what the fuss is about. It is all the leftist-rightist shouting factory, and if they just could take the hint of not giving a crap to what'd otherwise sink under its own weight, the world would be a better place.

twillight 04-09-2018 10:19 AM

Games I would recommend still -Prince of Persia
 



It is still a very good basic platformer, with optional parts, and puzzle elements. 'Nuff said!

twillight 04-09-2018 07:24 PM

Games I would recommend still -Quest for Glory (VGA)
 



Just to get the feeling of oldschool adventure-games with crpg elements/puzzles/whatever.
It wortha shot. Unfortunately the later installments are time-restricted, which pretty much killed this game for me, especialy how clunky the controls are in QfG2. And a bad design-choice too for a "discover this world for your pleasure" setup game.
But the 1st one still delivers the experience.

twillight 05-09-2018 09:28 AM

Games I would recommend still -Requiem, Avenging Angel
 



I don't necessarily avoid FPSs, though they do cause me comuter sickness most of the times.
This only hada mild effect on me, but more importantly, it has a pretty good story, and the ability-set is verrry nice.
You don't just go around with your arsenal from Doom, but you also gain supernatural abilities too, some useful in, some out of fighting. Some of these are: possessing an enemy (good for reconing too, as your spirit leaves your body, the transition is not instant), activating a temporal invincibility, or jumping/flying. You can also send locusts to eat the soldiers' face which spares you ammo and so on. Mana regenerates, ammo must be found.


What also makes this unique is how hard encounters can be. It's practicaly hopeless to try a hardcore run, aka. trying to never die. No. Here you'll reload until you manage to pass certain points. Which are many times certain spots guarded by heavy opposition, but sometimes simply your resources will run very thin.


There are a nice variety of areas too. In the beginning you as-peacfully-as-possible has to roam the streets finding some conact, then get into the sewers, then into the rebels' base (which is in a skyscraper hotel), then some high-tech lab, then a spaceport with very open areas, then inside a spaceship... Not to mention at times an underground-trainstation tunnel-web, or Hell itsels.


I say it is a hidden gem for FPS-fans.

twillight 05-09-2018 09:00 PM

Games I would recommend still -Strike Force Heroes 2
 



It's a flashgame. Quit big actualy, but neither level is long.
the basic is, you get a team, and try to kill all enemy, capture the flag, or grab the mcguffin and carry it home while preventing the enemy doing the same.
The level designs are mostly good, and there are 4 character type (2 mostly useless, 2 very good) to level up, and improve the inventory.
It has quite a good amount and designed badges from easy to hardcore difficulty to grab them.
There is one or two levels with insane reliance of random AND hardcore skill, but at least nothing is impossible.
Though the teammates are usualy a nuisance, and you'd be better off without them.


So it'd been better a bit more chiselled, but still a recommendable experience by a long shot.


I start to run out of the abc though.

twillight 06-09-2018 09:51 AM

Games I would recommend still -Swamp Attack
 



It is an android game. Because those exist too.
And it's entirely free.
Sure, there is the possibility of micro-transaction, but you never have to. It takes a while to upgrade yourself to be able to beat all the levels, especialy on the harder difficulty, but sure, it is possible, and isn't a chore. Also it is a convenience issue if you want to play whenever you want, and not wait until the energy bars fill up.

In addition it has several minigame-playmodes to spice things up and offer you stuff to do if you are full. My favourite is, where it rains weapons. You can't use your regular storage those times, but you finaly can reliably use such things as the A-bomb, which clears the screen, but you can only pack 1. On the "it rains guns" levels you can get 3-5 of those, what is hilarious.
It is a very well designed game, 5/5.

twillight 06-09-2018 07:32 PM

Games I would recommend still -Warlords epic conflict
 



This game is not epic.
Not even good, only mediocre.
But it is a solid flashgame, can be played casual, has an ok grinding-progression, and a pretty solid introduction to the "push the line" genre.
You coulddo much worse.


And I'm almost out of suggestions. 2 more entries, and that's it.

twillight 07-09-2018 08:07 AM

Games I would recommend still -Zax, the alien hunter
 



It is "Diablo with guns". Actualy, there are a crapton of puzzle elements to make a clear distinction.
You are some freelance dude, crashlanding on a planet with precious minerals to smuggle, while there's a robot infestation ... probably from ancient times ... But that ship-AI is darn sexy.


It is a solid game, you probably did not played yet. If you find it, it can be a good bargain, and can last for a good chunk of hours.


Note though, that the final battle is .. problematic, because it involves a megaton of spawning enemies. I'm not evensure you can beat it on the highest difficulty. Until that, or on normal/easy diff it is absolutely ok, but on hard... Still, the AI is still sexy. You can feel like the Nostromo's crew in Alien fel to Mother, only this one is more like Space Hunter's android than a mother-figure.

twillight 08-09-2018 03:19 PM

Final Fantasy is not a franchise
 
Face it. There's no continuity between the games. The only constant is the mechnaics. What is totaly the same as ANY jRPG. So any game made by the RPG-Maker, is a jrpg, therefor is a Final Fantasy.
Because nothing says otherwise aside the stample, and I could care less for a company logo.

twillight 09-09-2018 01:06 PM

pokemon franchise doesn't exist
 
Face it, there you gather unrecognisable blobs by walking every hex of the map, doing countless random encounters, and they say there's a story too.
But what if I say you can play such game from the abandonedware library, with way better graphic, immensly recognisable stuffs, and with a clear start-to-finish setup?


So let's play Cobra Mission! See? there's even a pun in the title!





Sure, there's the problem of hardware-made noises, so it's laud bleeps,which can't be silenced by a headphone, but hey, pokemon still costs top$$$, while this one is FREE for the moment, and even if like GoG would collect it, would still be mega cheaper.
Otherwise, it's practicaly the exact same experience. Aside that your characters don't implant CDs to their head.

twillight 02-10-2018 09:04 AM

Pokemon Red
 
Managed to find the emulated ROM ofr PC, so I make a check on this dying franchise.
Yes, I seriously think it is dying.
Well, I hope the anime is getting to an end, as people started to takenote how similar the pokegames are, and through that call the whole of Nintendo lazy - you can guess where that can lead to.
The company might be large, but face it, they failed to come up with a new masquot after Super Mario, and Pikachu for like 20 years, or more.With some good kick from XBox, and whatever other console-companies out there, they realy can make Nintendo disappear from the leading market.


So. The game runs. That's a plus. I have no idea what I'm doing, only know the buttons to smash. Not all seems to have a function though. Who cares.
I have no walkthrough, or whatever either, I'll just go in blind. I hope.
I didn't live in a cave though, so chose squirtle as starter. And beaten Assfart's bulbasaur! Oh yeah, I did it.
Managed to download a potion at home, and met another character who gave me yet another. no idea what it does, but I have it, so duh.
and that's where I am now. The "quartz game graphic" is ridiculous, and turns out Peta's minigame totaly used the same mechanics, so all the better for me.
I hope the game'll have some kinda tutorial though... I have no idea about moves, and effectiveness. Also no idea how and when pokemons get healed, which seems like important, as I ended up with my battle with 1 HP (4 after leveling up), and there is no pokemon centar (hospital) to heal my mon...
Ye, it was totaly fun: you pick your biological weapon, the other kid gets the one supposedly stronger, likely KO your pocket-godzilla, and there's no place to heal the bugger. Ye, I feel totaly safe in that Tall Grass now.


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


Meh, it turned into a bad grinding-game.
To start with, for a good portion you don't have access to pokeballs.
Money is also scares, so don't even think about investing into supplies, just let your mons faint if the get some condition (at this point: poison), and go back to the pokecenter.
The main problem though is the scarcity of things to do. It really ISa quartz-game, but instead of pushing some button to "do fight" you have to mindelessly run up-and-down on a tiny patch of grass. Because in every direction you bump into hugh level-obstacles, and there's nothing to do but random-encounter-hunting.
The grinding is even worse that not your entire team gain exp, but you have to painfully bring out all mons each and every time one by one. That's some serious bullshit.
You're also cut from anything mildly interesting/useful by the first Gym, because if you try to pass by, the game grabs you by the ear, and throws you at it.


At its time it at least was better than the ocmpetition I assume, and was way more playable then like Zelda, but today...


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


Wuh, leveld up a bit mindlessly, and figured out all pokemon used share the exp from the fight, IF they don't "faint". This happens after every time you beat an opposing pokemon, NOT at the end of each battle with a trainer, like.
Brock, the first gym-leader only had 2 pokemon. I had 6. Didn't even needed to use my squirtle.
Currently going through some caves. Disappointed that Team Rocket didn't attack me until now. I expected Jessie and James. Either way, I like the cave, as I constantly get attacked. I duncare if those are just zubats, at least something is happening.

Also, seems if you overlevel your pokemons you can get screwed, as it seems you might not be able to catch new ones, as those are weak as a fig tree before Jesus.

Finding items is easy, as all look like pokeballs on the ground. They are not hidden like for Cobra Mission, which is somewhat a bummer.


My team currently is: squirtle, because it is the starter, and very few types are available. And most of them are bad. I catched everything possible until now I think, simply because there's nothing else to do. Ah, and squirtle is immun to sleep.

Second is my nidoman. Male nidoran. Immun to poison, and generaly seem to be able to hit the enemy (unlike weedle).
There's a pidgey too, because it makes the enemy miss with its special attack. That's handy.
I bought the magicarp, and put it in the first place, so I can remove it before the first move, and it gains exp. Ye, sure, the 500$ hurts, not that I'd buy things, though would be good to know how to make real money. It'll evolve into gyarados, and I want that ASAP.
Got a geodude for its high resistance or something, and I'm sure I have a 6th mon too, beats me what. I concentrate on nidoman and magicarp mostly, so duh.

twillight 05-10-2018 08:23 AM

Pokemon Red - How to get out of Cerulean City?
 
Wasn't only my problem, so hope people can find this.


But first: there are many unnecessary texts in the game, and they come out sooo slowly, you start clicking to fasten the process, justto end up restarting a conversation. That's bad. Just like you have to click azillion times to end a turn. Why doesn't that just roll until your choice of action happens?


Then there's the problem of the Cerulean Gym itself. One: I give the developers, the lvl 30 limit seems absolutely fine, as I'm not even close to that, given how much exp is demanded for it. My problem though, why the liimit then at all? And what's my limit without the Cerulean Gym?
Two: I have no idea within the game what TMs are, and the game does not tell me. Neither tells me what are the conditions to "evolve" my pokemons, so turned out I could upp my nidoman with an item -and while I could catch adabra, grow it to kadabra, it was futuile effort, as I can not make it abrakadabra without trading, so there goes my full pokedex I assume.
The source I know the above is, 'case that stupid Artificial Rival I named Assfart traditionaly, keeps jumpscaring me, and it pulled out some psycyc mon, and had good levels, and whatnot, and I forgot to save like a long time, so had to do something about it.


The major problem with the gym is though, that every pokemon you can have there is a piece of crap. the gym only uses 2 mons, and they are incredily strong watermons, especialy the second one. There nothing helps but brute force, and you simply don't have any good move. From this I deduce the best starter is the otherwise weakes grass crap (as those are almost immun to water).
Lacking that I saw my options are:
- get a gyarados ASAP by mindless grinding in some nearby grasspatch (did this with the 500$ magicarp)
- overlevel my squirtle
- catch the only grass mon available, and overlevel that, a radish. It'd take like forever
- give that physical medium punch to my squirtle, but I dunno what moves it get later, so I went against that, still, seems a valid option


The even more annoying part is, after this you get a gazillion human fighting you, providing a hugh chucnk of exp, but they are blocked by this town.


To get out you must fill THREE conditions:
#1: win the gym
#2 get to Bill, and use the teleporter on him

#3 HAVE ENOUGH SPACE IN YOUR BACKPACK to receive an item from Bill. THEN the police-guarded house gets unblocked.


This latest took me a while to figure out, but in the end managed to remember this is an old piece of gaming, so that's why Bill got into inifinite loop with his conversation.


Btw, advice: do NOT buy any specialitems, they are useless, and fill in your backpack. Only buy pokeballs.


PS: after getting out the city, I got my very own 1 Million DollarWorth bycicle. That alone did worth all the effort this game required.



twillight 07-10-2018 03:57 PM

Pokemon Red -Who to give HMs?
 
The game, turns out, tells you what's the NAME of HMs and TMs, if you click on them. Does not tell though what they do. Also don't tell you can't just teach it to whatever you want.

The game also just mentiones there is type effectiveness - what are the types, and their relations does not.

The good thing of HMs is, they are not onetime items, so unless you dispose them, you should be fine.

Another thing to watch out for, is that you have to own 10 pokemon. This includes every pokevolution form ever at your possession. Trading with ingame characters can help.

You need (optional) 30 pokemon at the end of Viridian City, where the big ship is/was. I'm not sure how useful if at all that thingy you get is, especialy with manual activation, and only like 2 hex radius. Maybe 1.
You also can get a boost later on if you horde 50 "pokemons". Assuming this scenario: you get a pokemon, pokevolve it, pokevolve it again, then trade it to another pokemon. This nets you 4 pokemon where you only had 1 at any time on you. So it's not impossible. Given that many thingy only needs a lvl20 or below, it worth collecting everything untilyou gain that fifty, and dump exp on them to grow.

I'm still waiting though a reliable source of pokevolution stones. Not that I'm in a hurry, or a need at all, but on principle.

But all the elements make me form my group naturaly, and that's a good thing.
I have since long time a rattata which is a source of power, although normal attack only I think. There's my gyarados, which could use some levels for elemental attacks, but still strong. Squirtle I regret is not bulbasaur, but works - either way it'd demand lvl 36 for its second pokevo, what is a ton. Not as bad as gloom, which would not just demand a pokestone, but lvl 56 for the best moves if Bulbapedia is correct. That's what cuts for me. To use Flash had to insert Drozee, a psychic mon which I hate, but whatever, seems can work. Would change it to Abrakadabra if a source is available. And there's my trusted nidoman, which resist poison and electric attacks, and is still strong. We'll see how it turns out later.


Here is how to win on the slotmachines: I found you can win "big", exactly 0-2 times (might be random), each win-streak gains netto ca. 500 coins on each slot machines. I only pushed the action button, sospent 3 dime every time.
To find the right machine play a machine 3 times in a row, and if you have at least 1 win, play 1-3 more times. If you get a seond win, play further. You'll notice if this is a "hot" machine,as ypou'll keep winning over and over.
Basicaly 3 loss in a streak means it is NOT a "hot" machine, or the "hot" machine cooled down.
I'm not sure what resets the machines though. Might be walking out of the door and returning. Save&reload seems to not effect the room, or I just turned unlucky those times. It is also entirely feasible that the machines reset by a timer, or by rolls, or something like that. Sometimes they DO switch to "hot"-mode, that's for sure.

Mystvan 07-10-2018 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482745)
Face it, there you gather unrecognisable blobs by walking every hex of the map, doing countless random encounters, and they say there's a story too.
But what if I say you can play such game from the abandonedware library, with way better graphic, immensly recognisable stuffs, and with a clear start-to-finish setup?


So let's play Cobra Mission! See? there's even a pun in the title!





Sure, there's the problem of hardware-made noises, so it's laud bleeps,which can't be silenced by a headphone, but hey, pokemon still costs top$$$, while this one is FREE for the moment, and even if like GoG would collect it, would still be mega cheaper.
Otherwise, it's practicaly the exact same experience. Aside that your characters don't implant CDs to their head.

Wow! Cobra Mission and Knights of Xentar... :mhh: Good bye, Megatech... :byesad:

:umm: By the way, it is Pokemon or Poke-man :poke2: (Bonk! Bonk!)!? :mhh:

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482743)

Face it. There's no continuity between the games. The only constant is the mechnaics. What is totaly the same as ANY jRPG. So any game made by the RPG-Maker, is a jrpg, therefor is a Final Fantasy.
Because nothing says otherwise aside the stample, and I could care less for a company logo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482745)

Face it, there you gather unrecognisable blobs by walking every hex of the map, doing countless random encounters, and they say there's a story too.
But what if I say you can play such game from the abandonedware library, with way better graphic, immensly recognisable stuffs, and with a clear start-to-finish setup?


So let's play Cobra Mission! See? there's even a pun in the title!





Sure, there's the problem of hardware-made noises, so it's laud bleeps,which can't be silenced by a headphone, but hey, pokemon still costs top$$$, while this one is FREE for the moment, and even if like GoG would collect it, would still be mega cheaper.
Otherwise, it's practicaly the exact same experience. Aside that your characters don't implant CDs to their head.

Well, I believe that the only thing in common in these FF games would be the existence of the Chocobos besides the “turn based battles” mentioned by you...

I stated in one of the posts that FFVIII contained many very childish jokes involving the little girl named Ellone, Laguna and that eccentric scientist! :headslap: :palm:

Well, I think Grand Emperor Japodeis :king: (not Capo :poke: nor Paco :paco:!) deleted my post, but since I was very busy with Dropbox, I forgot to mention that just like Cobra Mission, Brave Soul also uses Chibi or Super Deformed (SD) characters. Only in Computer Graphics (CG) it would show the characters with “normal appearance”.

To be quite frank, I’ve never been much of a fan of the Pokemon or Digimon series , except for the Dark Masters (Machinedramon / Mugendramon and MetalSeadramon) who were really cool and powerful! :max:

twillight 08-10-2018 08:58 AM

Pokemon Red -Only fishing Magikarp
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482870)
To be quite frank, I’ve never been much of a fan of the Pokemon or Digimon series , except for the Dark Masters (Machinedramon / Mugendramon and MetalSeadramon) who were really cool and powerful! :max:

We agree on this.
From Digimon I only liked X-Wars.
From Pokemon maybe the Diamon&Pearl (to the swines) was a good period. don't ask how I know this later one, but I assure you, I'm not watching it every week-or-what 20+years straight. If anything, I'm an antifan of Pokemon to be honest.

I thought the pokegames are inaccessible to PC, and horrible nonetheless. Well, it's not perfect, but once I'll pass it. Not collecting all critters, just beat every NPC. And I'll do it (almost) without outsource help. Unless I getstuck, because then I declare it shit, and thus my point proven.

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

EDIT: The "only catching makicarp" problem is cause by using the Old Rod. Use the Super Rod to catch anything else (for some reason got that before Good Rod, which is obviously inferior).

Some problems:
- the storage space for items are friggin limited. But access to items is limited too. Infinite money would help, but that doesn't exist.
- a megaton of pokemon are still not available to catch. Dunno who deisgned this.
- I thought thing go fine and balanbced, then went to the "poison" gym. Which has psychic mons. That's the most anoying type, as there's no protection against them, so their hits hurt. Ghost pokemons are not an option,as their attack animation is long, and even seisure-inducing.
- facing absolutely unexpectedly a +10 lvl such mon doesn't help either.

- I checked out this dragonair, because it sucked. It sucks in every form, especialy in its basic shape which has no damaging attack. It has moves only with bad %-to-hit, and very limited amount of PP (number you canuse that attack). I though, based on the anime it's cool. It's not. Problem is, there's nothing to use otherwise.
- everything is problematic to level up at this midgame. Everything is lvl 30, and they stagnate until like lvl 50, which is a looong way, and even the buffed exp from enemy people don't realy help. The lvl 100 is just absolutely unreachable.
- the enemy people don't actualy give THAT much exp if you consider, and you realy have to work for it still. People start to throw at you 4-5 pokemonat once, and that just takes forver, especialy them all being poison type, which is not what you'd want to face, as poison kills you just by walking around. Given there's no infinite money, you're pretty much screwed doing long trips to the pokecenter.
- for like forever I carry around stuff I'd make Jurassic Park pokemons out. Literaly like since after the 3rd town. And only in the last-but-one town the items canbe used. That's ridiculous.

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

Almost abandoned this. They had the nerve to put a gigantic, multilayer dungeon, in the midle of nowhere, I mean large pool of water what means you get attacked randomly every few steps like in the dungeons, WITH a whole-dungeon-puzzle.
Good luck mapping the place, while you fall down in holes, get away by the automatic, and generaly suck ass, while literaly every friggin step you get attacked by a random encounter.
But found a map (NOT on Bulbapedia, that sucks ass if you try to find the direction which way to go), deciphered it. And duh, done.
Also have the problem of friggin many items. I'll just trash 'em, you just see.

the worst thing that bother me in this: the lack of things to do. There are no sidequests, subquests, miniquest. You just go agead and grind yourself through all this shit.
And they have the nerve to release the same game FIVE TIMES: first two "alternate version", which barely differ if at all, and a "full version" like a year later. THEN another year later they make the expanded versions. And they dare to call this "pokemon multiverse". My ass.
And the later releases differ in... what exactly? You get a horde of new skins, some additional features - but there's still no story, just this "gotta catch'em all" attitude. How is this ever a thing?


EDIT: on Cinabar Island's Mansion had to use an Escape Rope. That's a teleportation device which brings you to the nearest town. I went through a doorway, which might have been a glitch, ended up in a locked room with no switch (all doors inside work by switches). If I hadn't found one inside, I'd've just lost 2-3 hours "progress".
Btw, there are "walkthroughs" around for the game, with such ridiculous statements like at this point your mons should be lvl 50+. Fuck that. I have no problem with my lvl 32-42 team. Average they're maybe lvl 35. Or I'm that fokin pro, lol. The most ridiculous thing is still, there are no maps of the area, only semi-scematics. Nothing like I'm used to.

twillight 10-10-2018 10:57 AM

Pokemon Red -Saffron City badge?
 
Ye. Seems I missed a WHOLE CITY because of Vague Nintendo Clues, and Background Item Turned Functional. Friggin geniouses.


Also got doubly sure, the "fandom" of pokemon are lazy as fuck. Just like Nintendo. As the games are clones of each other, seems none of the players bother to mention the differences between the versions, so it took me literaly half an hour to figure out in the original red version you Granny Tea DOES NOT EXIST, instead you have to climb the same town's (town west of Saffron City) multifloor store, so on the top you can get drink instead to give it to the guard.
The same place you get the drink also has some NPC who for another drink gives you Ice Beam, which I heared is useful.

the neglect shows again with the Silph Co building. It'snot a hard thing, as you easily canget to the main stairs. Still, not listing all the teleporters, whil listing everything else,shows a very deformed mentality.

For this I made my "HM slave", because no mon of me could learn Fly. Gave it to pidgey. That looks a good 3 stage pokemon, but does nothing special, so that's why I don't have it premanent

I also missed the Power Plant, will have to backtrack for it.
UPDATE: did it. The place isn't the problem, althugh I suggest if you find an orb-mon, just run away to not face self-destruct. The real nuisance is the lenegdarymon, which said (unlike for articuno): "you missed with the pokeball". Da fok.
Seems it has ultra low chance to work on zapdos, so fok you. Well, there's a way to improve your chances: make the bugger sleep. Hope you grown a mon high enough to be able, and has enough lvl to make it to an attack...
This is realy just Frustrating Game Design.


----------


So, did all the things outside Victory Road/The Indigo League.
Instead of frtiggin presenting the event, the games throws youa dungeon-puzzle. Fok this crap.
Btw, Assfart's mons grew close to lvl 50. Most of the suxxor, but for me the gyarados, and above else the alakazam presented a problem. Against gyarados I could send in my gloom, made it sleep, then club it to death, but Alakazam is bad. There's no resistance against it is one thing. My psy-mon is underdeveloped, that's another. But this "Ican regenerate full health" thing is bullshit, and they even thrown ointo it that enemy trainers for a while started to use items. Yes, even friggin Heall All Damage potions too. So at this point the game loose all meaning. Just load on those potions yourself.


PS: If you ever need More Money, get yourself a Meowth, make it learn Payday, and punch in random battles.


PPS: Worry that your Meowth is low level? Stash it in the Daycare. Why there is only 1 Daycare in the entire friggin game, beats me. Once it is in there just bike around fora couple of minutes, and you'll have your mon lvl 100 in no time. Who needs battling, eh? This makes the whole GAME pointless.



PPPS: never, ever make your team learn ANY Hm-move. Why? Because you can't rmeove them.

Mystvan 10-10-2018 11:20 PM

In my humble opinion, the entire Pokémon Universe, in its most varied modalities (comics, cartoon, games, etc.), has no sense of existence... :wacko: :tease:

Unfortunately, Pokémon, Digimon, Dragon Ball, and Saint Seiya (see ya in Hell, Seiya!!! :mischief:) were transmitted to exhaustion on Brazilian Television... :sick: :hypno2:

There was an acquaintance of mine in another Forums, PeaPri BBS, who, noticing that I was an authentic Mysterious Poke-man :poke2: Bonk! Bonk!, created a GIF as a “tribute” to me, :blush: with the “infamous” pun to show Misty wearing a bra... :sneakrete: :hungry: :drool:

Mystvan 11-10-2018 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482892)
In my humble opinion, the entire Pokémon Universe, in its most varied modalities (comics, cartoon, games, etc.), has no sense of existence... :wacko: :tease:

Unfortunately, Pokémon, Digimon, Dragon Ball, and Saint Seiya (see ya in Hell, Seiya!!! :mischief:) were transmitted to exhaustion on Brazilian Television... :sick: :hypno2:

There was an acquaintance of mine in another Forums, PeaPri BBS, who, noticing that I was an authentic Mysterious Poke-man :poke2: Bonk! Bonk!, created a GIF as a “tribute” to me, :blush: with the “infamous” pun to show Misty wearing a bra... :sneakrete: :hungry: :drool:

I made an unbelievable mistake. :palm:

Since there is a Silver Saint, a man named Misty, I thought the villain was also called Misty. :headslap:

But in the Pokemon World, Misty is TrAsh’s redheaded female friend. In fact, my acquaintance made a “little” pun with my username, but also using the image of James wearing a bra. I do not know why he (James) used such underwear, but never mind.

twillight 12-10-2018 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482894)
I made an unbelievable mistake. :palm:

Since there is a Silver Saint, a man named Misty, I thought the villain was also called Misty. :headslap:

But in the Pokemon World, Misty is TrAsh’s redheaded female friend. In fact, my acquaintance made a “little” pun with my username, but also using the image of James wearing a bra. I do not know why he (James) used such underwear, but never mind.


First of: Misty if NOT Ash's friend. She onlyfollowed the guy around because he trashed her bike.


Second: in the Team Rocket Trio it is Jessie who wears the pants, and Meowth is the brain. Thus there's nothing strange about James' crossdressing.
To be honest, pokemon is NOT for kids. That show has sexual assault, attemted murder, sexualising 10 years olds, destroying private property, self-righteousness - and that's only by the "good" side.


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


Friggin last dungeon was annoying. Not enough that it is in the middle of nowhere, already annoying to get to, but literaly every 2 hex you get attacked by a random monster, which is only lvl 26, so fok you, you won't gain much exp of it.
The puzzles are also inconvenient, not to mention its pieces reset when you leave the current level (similar to the use of cut), making it extremly annoying.
And it is long, so prepare to walk in-and-out of it a couple of times.
Not to mention here is a legendarymon, which says "you missed it with the pokeball", which is already sheer annoyance, but it is also immun to sleep, so your best bet is to paralise it, as it also seems not catching poison.


My time until now: 37:24, which is kinda good for me considering all the deadtime I left it AFK.
lvls:
- lvl 51 dragonair
- lvl 40 gloom
- lvl 43 nidoman
- lvl 41 gyarados
- lvl 39 hypno
- lvl 44 blastois.
It feels cheating, but nothing seems to prevent me using the legendarymons against the Elite Four.


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


Forget my team,here is whatsequence you have to follow EXACTLY for the "final battle". As you are not allowed to move out aftereach enemy,and you cannot run during fights.
You'll need the following, unless you mindlessly leveled up who-knows-what:
- moltres
- zapdos (lvl 51, eat it a rare candy)

- articuno (lvl 51, eat it a rare candy)

- gyarados with hydro pump

- 2 other pokemon


1.:
- zapdos casts 3*1 thunder
- moltres casts fire spin until jynx dies. It is a multihit attack,and has a chance of failure, and critical hit plays an important place here, so you'll need revives and similar because moltres candie. If you have something better (with strong one hit fire attack), use that instead. It takes at least 2 casting from moltres,depending onwhat happens can be more.
- cast thundershick against lapras, and revive if you get critical hitted. Use thunder to finish the fight. This sequence prevents the trainer to heal lapras witha potion,so you spare on your thunder.


2.
- heal zapdos before entering the fights. Put gyarados to first place. Kill the onyxes with hydro pump. After this trainer feed it a max ether if you ran out of uses before you use this mon again.

- kil theother three by zapdos' drill peck


3.
- this one is kinda trouble. Only has one pokemon-weakness: golbat can be wiped by zapdos' one thunder. As the enemy is faster, and confuse your mon, let's hope that's enough, otherwise youmight need another ether here to replenish its PPs.
- for the others use whatever you have, but try not to use zapdos, or gyarados, or articuno. That leaves you with 3 against 5.
HINT: she uses an arbok, which is good target of physical attacks. It alsocanpoisonyou mon/s, so bring a status healing potion.


4.
- put zapdos to the first place
- against 2-5 use articuno. 4*1 ice beam will do.


5.

- put zapdos first place, as he starts with pidgeot
- nextis alakazam. Kill it ASAP, but try to preserve zapdos and gyarados from its grip. The AI is stupid fortunately. Try disabling moves too if you can.
- here comes a ryhorn. Kill it with water. My lvl 52 draginair shot first,and 1HKOd it with surf.
- as I started with squirtle nextwas gyarados. zapdos uses 1 thunder again.
- next was arcanine. Any water mon is good against it, so I could use either gyarados, or dragonair
- last was venosaur. I still had my moltres, so this was ridiculously easy.


Btw, if you have infinite time, or use a bug, or something, you might just give ANY of your mons infinite powerups. Another design flaw in the game.


Oh, and thatyou can go and catch Mewtwo? Ye, sure. You go there and throw the Master Ball to it. What a letdown.

Mystvan 16-10-2018 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 482896)

First of: Misty if NOT Ash's friend. She onlyfollowed the guy around because he trashed her bike.


Second: in the Team Rocket Trio it is Jessie who wears the pants, and Meowth is the brain. Thus there's nothing strange about James' crossdressing.
To be honest, pokemon is NOT for kids. That show has sexual assault, attemted murder, sexualising 10 years olds, destroying private property, self-righteousness - and that's only by the "good" side.

You said everything!

Those characteristics mentioned by you would be some of the reasons I left to watch cartoons and read Japanese comics. Unfortunately, Shounen atill shows those features and more (cliches, rage of MC generating Super Power, etc.)... :headslap: :palm:

We know well that the old American cartoons are not so innocent either, but they have not come to that.

In addition to American (old) and Korean comics (Webtoons) have characters who behave more spontaneously and naturally, without such mannerisms as tsundere and the like. And unfortunately the same features of the Japanese comics could also be said to the Japanese cartoons. :sick:

Mystvan 17-10-2018 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 482924)

You said everything!

Those characteristics mentioned by you would be some of the reasons I left to watch cartoons and read Japanese comics. Unfortunately, Shounen atill shows those features and more (cliches, rage of MC generating Super Power, etc.)... :headslap: :palm:

We know well that the old American cartoons are not so innocent either, but they have not come to that.

In addition to American (old) and Korean comics (Webtoons) have characters who behave more spontaneously and naturally, without such mannerisms as tsundere and the like. And unfortunately the same features of the Japanese comics could also be said to the Japanese cartoons. :sick:

Whops. I am forgetting to mention certain details. Maybe it is the rush or the fact that I am getting older... :old:

I forgot to mention that the adaptations from Japanese comics to cartoons do not have the same quality. And maybe the genres Seinen, Josei and Slice of Life still maintain the quality that we expected of them.

It would be basically the Shounen Action :sucks: (the Shounen Mystery depending on the title could be interesting) and Shoujo Romance :palm: that maintains a low quality standard of story, plot, consistency, reasonableness, etc., below the expected minimum quality.

It is just my humble opinion...

twillight 18-10-2018 08:49 AM

Naruto and Bleach were definitely the same worse in manga than in anime format.


And n, I wasn't bothered by Naruto's anime-fillers. Theywere mostly good. Mostly even better than the actual story. But the consistency of the story simply fell appart, and I was bothered that none ever realy died. With the Pain-Saga the series mostly died. Gotan acceptable ending, but...

twillight 07-11-2018 06:10 PM

Diablo 2 - bow enchantress
 
My bow enchantress ISa bow enchantress, meaning primaly uses bow, not Frozen Orb for instance.


The aim is Demon Machine. This is a twinked themed build, meaning you need to import items to the character, but half of the fun is building up the character yourself.

Fortunately the russians have full catalogue of uniques, that's why I even started.


So, let's see my progress:
- spend the first SP ti Firebolt and get rid of the staff for a better weapon. You won't have the mana to keep up the firebolt, so high level higher cost is even worse. Use throwing knives when you find them. They are not a long term weapon, but better than your firebolt.
- keep pumping your Warmth. This'll give you some mana to sustain your pathetic slvl 1 firebolt, and is your prime synergy (aside Fire Mastery). While firebolt will be pretty useless soon, it'll relieve you using ammo, so use it when you can. Switch to Fireball when lvl 12. It'll consume ton of mana, but will finish mobs fast.
- don't forget to add 1-1 points to pre-skills, and One Point Wonders, which are: teleport (key skill), Static (it is good to have).
- your main skill will be Enchant, and you'll rely on Hydra for additional support. Hydra is not just good damage, but also semi-passive, and can check behind doors for enemies, which is kinda important with your pathetic HP.
- about stats: first add yourself 5 STR, so you can wear all starter armour. Then pump 25, then 35 your VIT asap to survive what comes. You'll need a blast many HP obviously, but you'll need a blast many STR too much later. Dexterity will likely be enough as items require. You'll use Buriza against fire immuns.
- around lvl 8, which happens n Cold Plains, throwing daggers will start lacking. You'll need to switch javelins whenever you can. Also keep an eye out for any decent bow.
- at clvl 15 you'll want Ravenclaw immediately. This pretty much takes away the need of DEX with its blastings, and in theory you're good for Normal diff.
- you'll want a cold rogue as merc first, then an Act 2 merc.

Mystvan 08-11-2018 09:28 PM

Yes, I remember the Diablo series... I was pretty addicted years ago...

Spoilers!

twillight 09-11-2018 04:53 PM

Harvester
 
1 Attachment(s)
I once liked Diablo 2 with LoD. After a while someone challenged me to a D1 run, and I easily passed. He couldn't believe. But that game is friggin slow, nothing to fear there.
Then I went multiplayed D2, and learnt to hate it for everyone killing me, everything being overpriced, and getting to the end w/o effort.
I also saw the "classic" version (how the game was like pre-expansion),and it was uttercrap.
I also realised D2 is utter mess of bugs.
And then came the Orange Runes patch. Thatwas revolting, and no new patch arrived, despite promised.
Instead they came out with D3, which proved me the Tyrael was behind everything, and wants to kill everyone. Also, people hated it, being a buggy mess, and the real money equipments.
Now they also released Mobile Diablo, also no plan for any continuation of the franchise.
In the meantime took a look at Bliizard's other products and related policies, and now I HATE Blizzard, and don't want nothing from them. And I'm darnwell will use that russiansite with all the unique items for single player!

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

Enough of the rant. Because the game Harvester is a bloody good adventure game. It's weird as heck also. I'm not even sure if the storyboard makes any sense, but somehow it satisfied me.

At the start you wake up, with total amnesia. You tell this to everyone, and they all answer with "Good joke, you always were a prankster!"
For like very first you meet ... with mom? Who has ina crab your baby sister. So they say. Who eats a spider. Which'll have consequences later...
Then you meat the paperboy. Sry, that was an injoke. Not the paperboy part. The paperboy brings away the newspaper. Every day. And you better deliver, and not piss him of. Maybe good to point out, you can attack anyone anytime in this game. If you attack Paperboy, he pulls out a gun and shoots you. Repeatedly. Until you are dead.
You also better save regularly. Like when you casualy speak with the local militia, they might jokingly ask, if there's any reason not to shoot you. If you jokingly reply no, he'll shoot you,and accidently start nuclear holocaust.

Otherwise the game is very close to Stephen King's Needful Things. You go around, commit innocent pranks for a hoody guy asking... Then you either harvest, or will be harvested!

Sure, the controls for the fights are clunky, but just manage that. Worth it. Very strange game with very strange humour.

"Well, it wasa natural death. None can live without a spinal cord, and that's fact!" - investigation, Harvester Style.


Attachment 2498

Mystvan 09-11-2018 07:44 PM

Well, to be honest, as I was heavily using the Save Games Editor, I probably was not so affected by the game bugs... I just had to edit DB1 and DB2 save games... :whistling: :sneakrete:

Regarding DB3, my brother and I played on PS3. The game was not as difficult as it was in DB2, but it had many annoying “innovations” and “surprises” such as the random results of the blacksmith’s weapons, the need to collect magical papers or runes (I do not even remember the usefulness of such items), the very uninteresting (boring!) “side quests”, random changes of maps already explored (Lost in WebSpace :sos:), etc.

Oh, and not to mention that Blizzard was very ruthless even in the very small or subtle changes of the characters so that the user was invited to withdraw permanently (banned) and through the back door... There would be something icy than Blizzard? Not even the blizzard would be so icy and cold that Blizzard itself... Absolute Zero! :cold:

I think there are far better RPG games than the old and tired Diablo franchise. :old: I was even interested in the background stories of the game, but that was not enough to make the Diablo franchise sequels better...

BTW, I bought it, but then I was not even interested in playing the expansion of Diablo 3... Ugh! Waste of money... :yawn:

twillight 19-11-2018 10:43 PM

Fallout 2
 
Let's see what the GOG-version can do. So I started today a gifted/small frame 3/8/5/9/8/9/6 character I intend to level to 99, and do EVERYTHNG possible. Tags: speech, energy weapons, lockpick. I should have had steal instead of energy weapons probably, but I won't redo the whole temple thing for that.

Naturaly killed everything in the Temple of Trials, as well as deactivated all traps. This easily gave me my first levelup.
Stealing the temple key is the best option, as it nets you the same exp as speech, and also the item.
I barely have any weight capacity, but grabbed as much as possible, especialy the shovel. Also tricked Minoc to give a third spear. Somethow asking for the flint has some random factor, but whatever. Reload beats all.
Fixed the well, asked a buff for my unarmed skill (55% now), cleaned the garden - got healed after it -, rescued Nagor's dog, killed all gecko in the area and grabbed the available plants. Oh, also got the stuff from Elder.

I thought it'd be funny to do a throw-only character, with 1 INT to max all other stats, but nah. Still, sounds like a challenge. But could pick up 3 plant spike, and as they weight nothing, they are a keeper.

Got the direction to Klamath, so went there. I always arrive there at the start of the night...

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

Klamath
- went with Thor, but helped the Duntons, just to rescue Thor. Helping the Duntons is otherwise not possible! Don't forget tosteal a spiked knuckled form the Duntons.
- gave meat jerkey to dog
- properly refueled the still for 65$ (had random factor. The other pass gives 100 more exp, put you loose 30 karma in comparsion,andI bet negatively effects town reputation too). The random factor might be effected by town reputation/karma (that's why give meat to the dog first). As this is easier to do alone (sneaking through the geckos for quick exp), didn't get Sulik before finishing this.
- stole outdoorsman book from child (trapper town district)
- got key to rat area (drop key from dog to get a second key) and cleaned it (raat gking, fuel regulator)
- not getting the unarmed+melee because unarmed can be learnt aplenty first in San Francisco, and given karma is cheap to gain (or loose to an extent), I'll withold for challenge sake

Toxic Caves:
- rescued Smiley
- started to grow extra toe

Time to go to the Den:
- delt with the loan to Fred. I always give him 150/charge him only 50 to ensure the best result.
- unfortunately Derek only speaks with me during daytime (6-18 hours), and I arrived 10 minute too late, and the book doesn't appear until that. But Icheck, he'll speak.
- none can stand my speech skill, so I got into the church.
- delivered meal to Smiley from Mom.
- asked permission from Metzger, and freed Vic. With my zero STR, all hands are a help.
- read both small guns magazines I found, this made me pass midnight, so went and burried BOTH Anna's.
- found out Becky's still. Suggested she become the new supplier.
- helped Tyler against Lara. This provides better exp, and a special conversation option in Modoc. If you help Lara you get no exp, only 300$ more, and your karma will be too high.
- rolled to daytime and got the book from Derek
- scrapped (another) 1000$ and had free sex. Don't ask.
- as I had a dose of Jet, went back to Arroyo for the melee training. At the monent I'm thinking how I could get to SF ASAP, get the unarmed training from The Dragon, then lower my karma to -250 and get training from Lo Pan (I can only lower it at the moment to +86 by digging all graves - Den, Gologtha, Redding - and making Jo in Modoc to cut his finger off).

Next stop is Modoc, no doubt about that.

NOTE: By a second look, I could have taken 2 from charisma, and put it into endurance, as the only thing that demands 10 CHA is an otherwise nonfunctioning perk (Cult of Personality), which you can even get, AND then get the improved implants. No need to worry about companions, as youcanadd +1 to the pool by the Magnetic Personality perk.
Also in theory you COULD just go, dig graves right leaving Arroyo, get -250 karma, get to San Fran for the evil unarmed traing - but this sounds stupid, you could with the same effort grab the Enhanced Power Armor if you're at that, eh? Btw, this is the same reason I don't like Modoc. That thing is in the way, you're supposed to just stumble into it - but where's the fun in that? You could just do the Navarro trip with the same effort, basicaly. Oh, man.

twillight 02-12-2018 09:44 PM

Bio Menace
 
mission 1, level 1: the main problem is getting used to the controls,as this is one of those games where up and jump use two buttons for any weird reasons. Tip: if you run out of ammo no worry,you have Infinite Ammo Basic Gun too.

level 2: this level is hardcore a bit. First problem is, the screen move old school, aka. when you reach the edge, not dinamic. Second: there are enemies shooting atyou bouncing projectiles, and it inclued some random factor, so they are VERY annoying. Some stuff also blocks your shots, just to make your life harder.
The key is to get to the top of the first tree, as somewhere there is a Temporal Invincibility item.
I also should look up some manual as those landmines are totaly useless, it'd be useful to switch to the grandes.
Tip: behind a tree jumping from the ground is a dose of super ammo. It can help, but as there's only 20, so it's very limited.
Note: there are some enemies jumping around meele,so keep your eyes open.

level 3: there are a crapton of items to collect, so you'll need a couple of goes. The colour code I have no idea where is, but the solution is 35241. I'm not sure about the Jumping Rockets, I feel you should be able to run close then duck to avoid them... But grenades or super ammo can destroy them too. The super ammo is better, as there was a rocket at the end I could not eliminate by grenades. Those green slugs also are not effected by Infinite Ammo, only super ammo and grenades.

level 4: the explosives are very limited, so pay attention if you go for max. score.

level 5: this is an enjoyably heavy level. There's also a secret level thingy above the rotating spiked rod. I found out the colour-coding solution: there'sa tiny box with the colour - only problem they are not distinct enough for me in such small size. Also: the maximum amount of lives is 9, so if you loose a couple, don't worry. Especialy as there's only level-saves.
The secret level had a megaton of extra lives.

6th has some falling platforms leading to some alternate route, but I could not manage that. Pro Tip though: although you die in water,m there are temporary platforms in the water under the skulls. Easier start thatway.

7th: it's a gauntlet, meaning there are respawning enemies and crap. Do NOT try to walk into blown up tanks, they case damage/instant death.

There are 2 bosses. For the skeleton aim for the head and try to dodge the hands. They hit you when they fall, but also just by flying aorund.
The final boss of this mission has a door you can teleport to a platform through and throw grenades, avoid its fire... Still not cakewalk, but very much ok. Thi introduces the next mission.
Unfortunately youcannot carry over levels your equipment,at least not in the GoG-version. Also you can not have more than 4 HP-bar. But the maximum lives seem to overflow, so that balances out. Also, as you can't carry over equipment, justsave and reload every level for a full heal :)

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

Huah! Mission 2 is definitely harder. It starts with a tree-level what is annoying, although there are fewer platforms at least. When reached the ant level with wooden houses I got lost a lot, and for a looong time the start of the level is Infinite Pit With Temporary Platforms,aka. you have to reload if you fail anywhere, and it is easy to fail.
There's also boss, absolutely impossible to not loose a life or two, so get used to saving your progress. I wonder if I save ata waypoint that'd be saved or not. Should try.

There was a robot-boss. It's dumb. Just jump on the platforms, and when it is far jump lower and shoot. It helps that you can move the screen to see more with the pageup/down buttons.
On the level after that was a curiosity. Some beam transforms you to a slug. It CAN attack, despite how it feels. Try to mimic the AI-version's attack: jump in the air before striking for more effectiveness.
Then there's this "empty" level. Suspicious, eh? Don't leave after you put the crystal in its place but go back to the beginning. The secret level will make you loose a life, but will give back 4, so it's ok.


Need more life? Find a level which has "extra life" item, get it, save, reload, and you start with the extra life on you AND in the container again!


Note: seems the difference between difficult settings is the maximum HP-bar only. So as I play on Normal, 4 HP is correct.


The final level of Mission 2 is excelent. Isn't insenly hard, but makes you use all kinds of proper tactics, like duck&cover, move-the-screen-just-a-bit, hit&run, and even a well-places invincibility potion. Tip: the tanks at the start take 2 grenade (and sometimes a bit of ammo).
The final enemy is a bit tough, but there's a moveable block which gives you a safe place if you don't know where the boss is (because like falling down). The boss is not effected by the "target out of range" feature, so will follow you wherewere you are on the level, which is kinda amusing feat.

twillight 04-12-2018 02:32 PM

Wow, mission 3 is hard! If you do this on anything other than Beginner, all respect! I challenge you: do it on hard! I bet you won't be able to finish the first level!


There was a level (fourth?) with a gazillion robots flyin in a pattern. Friggin annoying as touching them was instant death, even if you were in the state of iinvulnerability by a hit from a regular enemy. Hint: don't walk the ground level when you don't have to.
After that came a miniboss, some robotank. It was interesting. You get a hint how to start at the previous level from the hostage, so go and pick up the stuff. Then onward with brute force!
The level after was boring. Youcan't make two steps without spikes, or those small, shooting snakes not attacking you, what makes progress tedious, thus boring.
The next level after that is hard, because of Invulnerable Enemies and Limited Supplies. Some enemies here can be only hurt by plasma (that single shot weapon), or grenades, and you probably won't be able to dispose all of them. At the start do a trip to the top shooting everything with normal ammo (you can grab the machinegun, it uses the base Infinite Ammo only no pause between shots). When that's done go back, and grab the plasma charge. Now start to eliminate the slugs you encounter, this'llmake your life much easier. Hold onto your grenades. On the other side of the map you'll start to encounter some etheral-goblins - that's where you have to learn ASAP how to grenade them down. They are fast, and come in groups, so they are very inconvenient.
There'll be some remaining slugs, especialy on the right ends - don't bother them, jump through, or wait grabbing a ladder until they pass.

The NEXT level has no healing, but fortunately the enemy is limited. There are pink caterpilars (basic enemy), those grey runners, some bots shooting but not moving, some mining carts (fast knee-high thingies), and a crapton of rockets.
To survive use the grenades only to remove any rockets standing by. Use your gun to eliminate all other threat. Don't bother with the left side, no key item there. If you have some HP left you can go for loot there too of course.
To get out you have to jump on that reactore core, then jump to the edge of the map. That was annoying.

Ah, done it! On the last level I learnt those pesky instant-death robots CAN be destroyed! Or just the programmers realised how unfair they made this. I almost did it first go w/o destroying them, but the last ring towards the exit was crap.

The final boss suffers the same problem as the caterpillars on their level: you CAN stand in a safespot and shoot from there. As this thing is ranged, you'll still use up a couple of lives, but whatever. Easy-peasy, old fashioned style!

-----------

Hard mode is even harder!
You pretty fast should just try to get over most level instead of a fullclear. You start with 4 HP (after save&reload), but you can only regenerate to 2. Enemy has double HP. Explosives and ammo only come in half packages.
Against the skeleton boss good to know thatyou can go around until you start shooting, so grab the stuff outside, then go and grab the gun on in the throne room, then climb up and get the minibot, which only lasts until you get hit, so make the best of it.
Start on the laft platform, and start shooting when it goes up. Don't forget to throw grenades when you can hit it with 'em. Jump and grab the ladder when the hands get close. Otherwise good luck, I lost 3 lives here.

Second you need help with is The Gauntlet, or whatever the name of the level is. It is where jets throw exploiding miniature bots at you, and there are 2 tanks on the way,and a lot of stompers.
Frist back to thelift to get some mines. They are only good against the stompers, and those jump around at random, but whatever. Then get the restof the stuff. Using your 4 HP run in, lay down 2 mines so the stompers kill tehmselves and not follow, and SHOOT the tank until it is dead. Let's hope it won't shoot you too many times, no minibots fall on you, neither will the ground under your feet burn... Ye, this is pretty much random and thus frustrating. Get to the waypoint ASAP, do your best against the stompers,and runaway the minibots (in theory you can run under a stomper, but only if it jumps high and does not turn back).
Run ahead like madman, and when you see the 2nd tank or something, start unloading allyour stuff (any remaining bullet, and grenades). Let's hope it blows up before you die. After that run past the minibots to the end. Beware, there's a stomper at the very end. If you beat that, wait until the occasional minibot self-destructs, and run to the portal (after freeing the hostage of course).

EDIT: The Queen Bee is bloody impossible. You have no ammo, it spawns infinite minions what are too tough on hard diff, you can't even reach all supply... So I just pressed "cat" for infinite ammo. Repeatedly.
But the Act2 final boss is easy. First grab the ammo under, then finish off the tanks with your remaining lives. Use grenades primaly. After that grab the invulnerability potion, and run through everything, hop the top, get to the endboss recruiting the minibot along the way,and just shoot it standing on the barrels.

twillight 11-12-2018 09:31 AM

Bio Menace Hard, Mission 3
 
Turns out you CAN do lvl 1 - the trick is you must be so hardcore to know about the secret stash. It's right above the last waypoint, contains an invulnerability potion, so you can run through the corridor of death.
lvl 2's key is to not explore. Use the grandes to remove uncomfortable mines, and be aware that everywhere turrets are layed, DUCK (and cover). When it comes to the stationary guard bots always check how far you can go w/o getting hit, and if you can see a blip of 'em, kill 'em. Note that you must wait the entire blowup animation or it'll remain there throwing bombs until that happens. Preserve your HP, because on the top floor you'll have to face one full frontal.
For lvl 3 you must do an S-route. That my hint.
For lvl 4 again do not eyplore, stick to finding the key. Do not use any speacial ammo until you absolutely have to.
Against the Goliath start with a jump to the switch, then go and gather supply. From the end of the top floor you can destroy a tank through an unmoving platform, just slosly drop on it grenades. I had 4 left when its delayed explosion animation kicked in. Then go back to the moving platform, and when you see the goliath run to the bottom of the stairs, duck and start shooting. Then immediately jump back to the top of the floor, because the normal tank is coming and that is the safe spot against that.


lvl "Mutant Attack" is bloody timewaster, because you have to wait. A lot. The green lizard-instects block your shots, which is annoying, the green slugs are even more so. Still, wherever you can leave the slugs alone, your resources are limited. Use only mines against them.
Beware of the spider-balls as they jump and like to jump one floor down mobbing on you. A horde is especialy dangerous with their hard-HP -> use autofire if you can. Main enemies are snakes though. You'll fast learn whatyou must do, there's only 1 place I try to give advice. You must be friggin lucky this to work. There is a smallish platform with 2 snakes with 2 moving platforms at it. You should in theory wait until they are on the right side (both of them), then jump to the left and put down 2 mines, not on each other. If you die, oh well, more important to kill the buggers. If you're done, try to get out by the platforms.
There are also places with large amount of monsters. Let's hope all visible ones get out on one side of the screen, then cautiously hop down and start to go the other way clearing your pass, so if you definitely have to you'llhave space to fall back to. Otherwise do NOT try to open every door and pick up everything and kill everything, this level is too dangerous.
Not to mention the next one where bloody cyborgs come against you. The fun in thatis, they shoot, you can't jump or duck their shots, and they appear in the middle of nowhere. Sure, fun. So you better have some lives to loose for that (I currently have 7).


The remaining levels are simply boring. Thereare plenty of waiting for the right time, or simply grinding down the enemy HP.
The finalboss is similarly frustrating, as you only have a chance if the conversation is triggered. But that's only possible the first time you load the save after starting the game. I'm neither entirely sure of its pattern, but the basic is to keep your distance, so you can jump when it crawls down - otherwise just crawl yourself. The random enemies are frustrating enough along, but the boss itself has a pretty large range (maybe all across the level), so you have to keep it on screen, what is stupid. Also there are mines.
Either way, I'm officialy done with this.

twillight 01-01-2019 10:48 AM

Baldur's Gate Solo Kensai Part 1
 
Not sure if I'll bother, but couldn't resist making the character.
The funny thing with it is, you are practicaly cut from the shops, as their prime use was to provide armor and bow/other missile weapons.
Btw, not sure why throwing knives and axes are not count as missile weapons. I don't think I'd use them.

And while kensai/mage (mage with a couple of pips in weaponuseage, but loosing the ability to wear robes, which hurt in BG2/ToB) or better kensai/thief (which doesn't sound that much better than swashbuckler, but whatever, it is a big cheat with Use Any Item and traps either way), I'll stick with pure kensai. I'd actualy do a thief/kensai with points in detect traps, but this is not possible of course.

Btw, the "kai" ability work 1 min IN GAME, so it's not that useful as it sounds.

To make this useful anyway, here is some tips:
- I always do Evil alignment for its benefits. As the shop turned out off-limits (can't even wear helmet, not sure why. Should only armors be banned) scrapped all gold (to loot one of the containers in the inn attacked - but not killed! - its owner in the room to make it go away, avoiding the police), and bought 1 reputation. So with my minmaxed character (WIS 3, CON/STR 19, DEX/CHA18, INT 9 - so I can use wands) had enough reaction to get the +1 dagger. I'd like to specialise primaly in daggers for this one. After the rep-gain did Phydia's quest and the witzard's quest too (the others have stat-independent rewards)

- as had only like 29 gold left, left Candlekeep.
- of course fighting the Ogre With Belts is out of option for the moment.
- used Kai to dispose the assassin at the Inn. I think the "hardest enemy" goes by exp-value of killed thing.
- in the Fedelpost Inn's 1stfloor all siderooms are off-limits except the middle on the left. 2nd floor is free-for-all, except the toom of the noble.
- I started with 1 point in long swords for slashing damage, 1 in onehanded weapons for its benefits, and the remaining 2 in daggers.

In Beregost:
- open containers are free to loot
- inside the Inns commoners don't alert the guards if you loot locked chests (Algernon on the other hand does, but he also walks around, so just wait)
- there's a trapped chest in a house with 2 woman on the ground floor,and a child on the upper
- if the guards yet to appear when you leave the scene, you're free to go. Even if they're summoned if you never return, your reputation is unharmed
- in Kagain's shop the bin right next to him is forbidden (you can of course run for it)
- there's an open chest at the right block with the smith, but it is empty, and you can run for it to avoid problems
- with 19 STR there's only 1 chest you can not bash open (neither the expensive gem in Candlekeep), still you can get a handful of money.

Your prime objective at this point is,after reaching clvl 3, to scrap enough money to buy the poisoned dagger, what is hilariously strong. You'll also spend money constantly on healing. The best source of coins for now is the diamond-in-nook, the ring of wizardy-in-nook, and the +1 ring from Mirianne. Also, finishing any quest independt from traveling time is a good source of income (I usualy don't like traveling days just to pass down a quest).

There's a +1 longsword at the smith (bash the chest open at night), but as slashing damage is demanded in BG1, Iwouldn't sell it until you find a replacement just to avoid trouble.
But you might also try to kill Basilus. He's usualy "for later", but with this character being fast (lower attack speed, with dagger you definitely attack first) you have the advantage against solo spellcasters. Beware though against the hobgoblin group the same place - your lack of armor makes them very dangerous to your health, so this time they are the ones who have to wait.


Nashkel:

- the peasants houses are supposedly off-limits, with the exception of the norther house's farherst chest. You stillcan run away of course.
- STR 19 does not bash open one of the chest in the miner's wife's house.

twillight 01-01-2019 03:34 PM

Blair Witch Project Volume 1
 
I found this adventure game. Sure, it has some shot-em-up part, but I could never bother for that, but even with the advanced puzzles it never was unfair (no pixel-hunting, sierra-logic, or any some such).
Watching a playthrough just doesn't feel the same thugh.

twillight 07-01-2019 02:35 PM

Baldur's Gate Solo Pure Kensai Part 2
 
- in Nashkel Carnival the tent with the potion merchant is off-limits for loot (can flee), and one chest is stronger than 19 STR.
- on the sidenote, Kensai HAS armor in a sense. They gain as class-ability -2 AC, what is equal with wearing Leather Armor, without any damage type weaknesses.
- finally managed to kill Zergal. Needed clvl 6, or clvl 5 + minor healing (baalspawn ability) to not die.
- before finishing the Nashkel Mines clean up everything you can, especialy that particular area. As paralyzing enemies (ghouls, crawlers) are your bane for the no armor penalty, avoid them like plague. Protection from Undead scrolls are your friend in great need.
- the assassin-group at the exit of the mine has two annoying mage, so better being a potion of invulnerability (with some luck you can get away without it though, clvl 7). The potion of 21 STR found at Mulahey can also help. Oh, and better not forget to buy the Shield Amulet in the Carnival. I bet I'll even need to shop-recharge it at times.
- found the info that Teven (Larswood, 1500x2200) and Raiken (Peldwale, 4200, 500) do not appearif you don't immediately fight the Nashkel Mine Exit ambush group. Also true for the North of Beregost area bandits (their leader runs away before dying no matter what).
-at this point (tome of CHA used, exactly 20 reputation) decided to buy the Kazgaroth-items (and the sleep wand, and a couple of protection spells), then "get" Algernon's cloak. The reputation will come back eventualy, and the main shopping is done with this.
-against the group of red wizards a potion of magic blocking served perfect. Too bad such useful supplies are so rare. Have to think. Hulk weant smash.
- Teven has good ranged support, so that's a charge of shield amulet.
- Ba'ruk has annoying ranged support: a charge of Kazgaroth amu suggested.
- in the tome of CON a potion of mind focusing as usual. The use of kai was enough to dispose the golems, although a potion of defense sounds obvious.
- be on the surface in Ulcaster only during daytime to avoid ghouls. A potion of stone form was enough for me to dispose the undead special skeleton warrior on the surface, and helped during the first half of the dungeon.

- the "protect the cow" quest did not appear
- the hobgoblins in Ulcaster had no boots


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In the Bandit Camp used a charge of shield amulet when it came to the boss outside sorrounded by archers. The guy can be lured away, the archers don't like to move, but the charge last very long, so long I could loot everything and still lasted when entered the boss tent, where used a potion of firebreath (with 19 STR you can even find 2 in the camp, there are 3 chests though which did not unlock yet). This killed the melee troops. The mage feared me, but I had enough HP (before entering drank 3 healing potions to make use of the shield-charge), still, a Kazgaroth-charge I used to prevent his spells after. And that was it.


Maybe worth mentioning at this point the following areas are not cleared:
- the basilisk area
- Gullykin + dungeon
- the ankegh area, and anything north from it

- the archeological site (doomsayer) quest is not taken
- the Cloakwood Forest and Baldur's Gate obviously
- the TotSC areas


Currently being clvl 8, planning to reach clvl 9 before leaving BG1.


- it's stupid thing I only found it out now, but in the ankegh-area get to the ranger, get the "kill ankeghs" quest, kill the nearest ankegh (more if unfortunate), then immediately report back. You don't have to kill any more for the quest to be "done". Too bad this doesn't prevent random ankeghs spawning.

- in Tenya's house is a locked chest (unbashable with 19 STR I mean)
- the zombie-infested farm also has a locked chest
- same for the halfling village in Gullykin
- in the Firewine Dungeon (or Ruins) went in close to the mage (after defeating the ogre mage), and let it kill itself, and the two nearest smash-monsters (ogrillions, maybe golems). Same place was so crowded with fire arrow kobolds, a shield charge went in it. Against the assassination-group a charge of Kazgaroth was used because of their mage.


- crap, made a mistake. First: that sword-in-thechest at Beregost's smith is a bastard sword. Second: should have invest 1 point in bastard swords instead of long swords for the +3 weapon advantage (not that I'd happily go to Werewolf Island, that is).


- in CWF1 the chest is locked
- in CWF2 against the miniboss used apotion of stone form to avoid being eaten, 2 potion of fiery burning to decimate the spiders, and an antidote. Always have an antidote with you with this character.
- CWF3 only has like 2 baby wyvern, so they won't kill you, even if you didn't prepare. Still a good warning
- went back to buy that prot. from petrification scroll at the Carnival and go for basilisk hunting. Actualy, only want the new girdle, but if I'm there... You actualy only need to use Korax here. Make a circle down, as in the southeast (even marked on some maps) are a group of basilisks. Then make a big circle avoiding the adventurers, and aim to the Mutaman. Keep Korax out of it, let the mage charge you. Right there are 2 basilisks, and in the northwest corner 2 more. Around this time will Korax run out of HP, if not, then time, so if not dead, slash him down before turns hostile. Another hint for the adventurers: their wizard is pretty useless, the cleric is the dangerous one.

- for CFW4 useda potion of stone form. The extra thac0 this characterhas, rly goes a long way. And to be honest, have to tell, noticed half the monsters only work in gorups, as they can only hit you with like natural20 independent from AC.
- at CFM3 used up another shield charge, because who wants to enter to a room with full of soldiers unprotected. Not me, that's for sure. With boots of speed,yada-yada-yada passed ALL rooms now, and while some chests were locked, founda dose of potion of mirroring, and maybe even a prot from undead scroll? Can be a cursed thing, have to identify. Would be supercoll though.
- fortunately only 1 battle horror got activated on CFM4. As inside the mine found an 50% MR potion, used that to avoid being fried by the boss-mage.
- went to do the Doomsayer, and a potion of defense definitely helped, also drank a potion of heroism just to be sure although might not have been absolutely needed. No prot from undead proved to be necessary.

Mystvan 07-01-2019 09:34 PM

One good thing is that GOG.com has made Enhanced Editions available for both the Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale series. :OK:

twillight 08-01-2019 09:58 PM

Baldur's Gate Solo Pure Kensai Part 3
 
- in Ulgoth's Beard the rule is, if they see you, better not touch it. There's also a locked chest at Mendas, and in the inn.
- buy the cloak of displacement, it'll help against the ankeghs on the ice island. So you don't have to swap in the boots of avoidance, and you even get +0.5 attack (making it 3) from the boots of speed. Oh, and if you go there, bring a prot from magic scroll, because that's always how I do it.
- against the 4 mages in BG-W 2 charges from that energy ring solved them.

You know, the "sections" of the game really does feel. There's a definite "re-planning" halt after reaching the Friendly Arm Inn, then when you try to do delay to go to the Cloakwood Forest (darn lot of travel), then when you reach Baldur's Gate.
In BG I especialy hate the timed quests: the geas/being poisoned crap, the rob-the-museum quest for starters. And don't even start with the chain-quests (the mages conquest, the stolen nymph, anything involving the umberlee temple etc.). And there's the Helm/Cloak of Balduran what is just bloody hard...
At least at this pointI can finaly wear the Claw of Kazgaroth as all the poisoning enemies (spiders, wyverns) are done. It's mostly melee, or damaging spells from now on. Of course could check out Durlag's Tower if I wanna... I wonder if I could beat that demon... Probably not, atlkeast would have to use some throwing daggers toi get rid of the cultists...

My problem with the Enchanced Edition is, their additional content, I mean expansions. Siege of Dragonspear, and whatever more they added. They add stuff where it does not belong. More exp and item between BG1 and BG2? What for? The strength/difficulty-curve is already built for the story, so it makes things too easy. Probably.

Back to the playthourgh:
- Sphene Gems are a rarity. Found none outside BG. The Umberlee head priestess had one on her (killed during the gease/poison quest). In theory the seer refers to the gemfrom the basilisk, so it is in theory a quest item, not a gem. Whatever.
- aganst the mob at Gorpel Hind had to use a potion of speed (kill order: cleric, mage, archers, melee). While that lasted ran against the ogre mage assassins with some charges from the Energy Ring. That worked.
- for looting around the city of BG is a nightmare. What container you may or should not touch is entirely random, so it's mostly falls back to whatever you open, prepare to run away through an entrance to prevent the soldiers showing up. Boots of spees recomended for this.
- I'm mostly done with the place, only the helm of balduran, the Iron Throne, and the Other Merchant League Infestation remains. Here is a tip: if you realy want to try to open every single chest in the city of BG, first solve ALL possible quests (18 STR from a potion should bash open every building for the very least), then quaff that 25 STR Violet Potion from the Nashkel Carneval, and makea run for it. Even if a section would take 1 ingame hour, you'll have 24 ingame hours to spend. And as every bitchy section has chests unbashable with 19 STR, this is sure the place to use that thingy.
- against the sewer-ogra mage's crawlers of course a dose of potion of freedom was required. These things realy come in small quantity.
-a potion of defense made life easy at Degrodel. This still lasted, so went to the Iron Fist, where in the first round disrupted things with a fireball potion (whatever the proper name), then continued with an aganzanar's scorcher potion.
- time to go to Candlekeep. Items to bring there: put down Claw of Kazgaroth somewhere if you have 20 natural CON, so sleep-heal is possible. 1 dose of Storm Giant STR potion. 1 dose potion of mirrored eyes. The antidote potion you got during the Lathander's Geas quest. Ring of Free Action.


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So, done everything till theDucalPalace, for the Longtooth dagger. Then went to Durlag's Tower.
- getting in was no problem. And inside can sleep-heal.
- I actualy have 4 more prot. from undead scroll (2 used until now making it 6 in the game), so using one to avoid the ghasts. I'm not sure why I even bothering - ah yeah, the tome. The scroll lasted through the upper levels, and the first bottom level.

- note: battle horrors do not count as undead! (and half the supposed monsters tend to not appear occasionaly, what is good if they're ghasts)
- at this point I realised I odn't want to go TOO deep, or I'll have to figure out how to deal with the cult and the demon back in the city. Lol on me. I also don't remember what weapons I could use against the biggest-meanest werewolves.
- against the dwarven guardians (level -2) drank a potion of defense (just to be sure) and a potion of heroism (because I had plenty). Drank also some healing potions to be sure of it, and to preserve the 3 oversized pack of healing potions.
- what would be good to have, are items on the 5th floor: flametongue and the Cloak of Shield
- ah. Now I know youdon't have to bother with the ghasts, and the teleport at level -3. Now I know where the other connecting passage is. If you want to bother the ghasts,a scroll of prot from undead is reasonable though. Or you canpass with a potion of fire res (or wearing the ring, or casting greenscroll) as there are fireball traps on the ground and enough space to manouver.
- level -4 is a nuisance. If you want to clear it, here is what you'll need:
a) a charge of shield amulet to dealwith the skeleton archers
b) greater ghouls are not holding you, and the "sirens"around Bala's Axe do not charm you
c) in the air room a potion of defense is highly advisable. The fire room contains fire, obviously. To deal with the slime you need some fire damage potion. Strange fact: it dies from cold too. cold = negative fire dmg? Might be a bug, so be sure to use fire damage on it when near dead.
d) on the chessboard you need a potion of invisibility, and a potion of absorption.
*for the cold room took a shield amu charge along casting the special abilities (this was one of the rare cases where Kai is ok, but mostly talking draw upon holy might). Also some healing potions (I hada 5-pack on my belt). The air was left latest, took a potion of speed for that.

twillight 11-01-2019 11:25 AM

Baldur's Gate Solo Pure Kensai Part 4
 
1 Attachment(s)
Decided to do the whole of Durlag anyway. After all, it shouldn't effect the werewolf-quest. And I don't remember how to get out from lvl -4.

At the spiders a prot from poison is best, also a potion of defense if possible.
A potion of storm giant STR (24 STR, potn07) is in demand to get the items at least moderatly useful (flametongue, staff of striking). While it lasts you should open the cloak of the shield's chest too. I wouldn't bother with the green rooms loots with this one, and it seems the crypt crawlers do not hold you (they do, I just forgot about my Ring of Freedom), so that's cool.

The problem with the Demon Knight is, it casts stupid spells. So use that mirror. But before that, drink a potion of defense, potion of heroism because of the mirror fiend. Also drink an oil of speed when possible. And healing potions when needed. If youstill have, a potion of 23 STR can also serve good.

Aside this, I checked what happens if you report Aldeth in this chapter. Well, you get arrested, you do not get exp reward, AND he disappears from the game. Crap.

Oh, either way, I want to nominate the vendor at Durlag's Tower the Most Useless Vendor In The Game title.

Went and delt with Sharevok's coronation. The usual consumables were taken: 23 STR potion, oil of speed, potion of defense, potion of heroism.

In Ulgoth's Beard immediately used a Shield Amulet charge (1 charge remains) to avoid instant death, then also an oilof speed when I saw I'm being punished. These lasted until killed every cultist outside Aec'letec's summoning chamber. The time includes buying and drinking healing potions. Figured I won't need them anyway, the running charges are better option. Funny, that I almost never used with this char healing potions. They are too minimal when HP-loss occurs.
Oh, for the cultist on the inside also quaffed a potion of heroism, because that head mage is annoying.

Decided to try Aec'letec. Preparation: prot from magic, 23 STR potion, potion of heroism, oil of speed. Use aganzanar scorcher potion on head cultist. Potion of mirrored eyes keep running. Run around killing cultists. Replenish expiring potion(s), drink healing potions for max HP. Use Kai and bash the demon. Run around for healing between kai-charges. (weapons: main hand: Longtooth, offhand: Poison Dagger)

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Prepare to Werewolf Island: bring all kinds ofbuffing potion, and a +3 weapon (that +3 quarterstaff looks welcoming, or maybe the staff of striking can work out, although later might find a +4 vs werewolf dagger which would be even better. If you learnt bastard swords instead of long ones, bring the +3 vs shapeshifters one).
A potion of power if you still have 2+ is a good idea. Also do not forget the Energy Ring as a last resort.
Also bring a Potion of Clarity if you want to mess with the sirens. (only found 3 of these in the game, and one was a bug-respawn in Candlekeep. the other was sold in BG's mage shop)

When entering the ship drinka potion for 0 AC (of defense, or invulnerability), and a potion of heroism. Get the 24 STR potion here.
For the seocnd deck cast Draw Upon Holy Might too. Get the Werebane dagger (if that's your proficiency too). Kai is a perfectly good ability here.

Deck 3 is a bit easier, so just kill stuff as long as it lasts.
Deck 4 is the main fight... As you can move to that doorway and make them attack you one-by-one, it's not that hard.
By the way,here realy shows how strong the Kensai's to-hit bonus is. Just murders everything.
Don't forget to AC0 yourself when fighting Mendas. There were a couple of good potions in the werewolf tunnel if you ran low.

On prophiciencies: of course your choice will be determined whatpart of the trilogy you are playing. Assuming the whole of it, speaking endgame, a twohanded weapon style canbe attractive. With the inherent bonus on weapon speed, these too go to almost nothing, AND you get 10% critical chance instead of 5%. Twohanded options also dealmassive damage per hit, and with greater whirlwind you'll dish out 10 attack per round either way.
I used 3 dagger (easily compeptitive for "best" weapon class in BG1 part, 1 single weapon style (critical hit chance and AC helps early game), 2 two weaponstyle (just pumped to 3), 1 long sword (because you always find a longsword, and it helped against oozes, especialy early-midgame).
Planning on maxing daggers (because why not), maxing flails (because I'm not entirely mad, and don't want to get stuck. So Falil ofAges + Defender of Easthaven is my powergaming optiion), and 2 point still remains to spend. With the Kensai's massive bonuses this can be spent however I want, like hammers (to kill golems, or just dish out massive electric damage on things like the chromatic demon), short swords (Kundane gives +1 attack per round to the main hand!), or just whatever.

Had to position right to prevent Sharevok's goons dispelling my preparation, also to get lucky and Tazok not bash my head, but yes, it's done.

Attachment 2502


Oh, before I forget: list of "strongestmonsters defeated":
rat Shank wolf Tarnesh hugh spider Silke Bassilus flesh golem revenant Kahrk greater basilisk demon knight

and common items as questitems:
aside the trivial boks-for-the-mage there's only the sphene gem, an angel skin ring, and a history of the unicorn run

twillight 12-01-2019 08:21 AM

Diablo 2 - bow enchantress
 
I just don't care anymore. I'm not even sure why. I always wanted to do this character. And for years, for like a decade I was a dedicated player.
Now it's all dust on the window sill.
It's a bit sad it doesn't even makes me sad. :lame:



Something similar is with Fallout 2. There the problem is, it lacks flowing action. And the continuous problems with the franchise do not help either. The tale is still good... But I know everything by heart. It's like a book you read over and over, and you're reading it so fast, you're 3 pages forward to where it is open :(

twillight 12-01-2019 12:01 PM

Baldur's Gate Solo Pure Kensai Part 5
 
Let's start with a race/alignment related to items list:

- the only race-specific item is a dwarven throwing hammer

weapons
scimitar: one of Drizzt's is for non-evils only. Like anyone uses these.
twohanded sword: Carsomyr is only for non-evil (but who plays fallen paladin?), Soul Reaver is for non-good
axe: Azuredge is good only
dagger: Neb's Nasty Cutter is for evils
(there's some "holy sword of tyr" in BG:EE for goods if anybody cares)

armors
- leather: Human Flesh is for evil (only the upped version, the basic is for all)
- just to mention, females though "can compete in the Forgotten Realms' world", have no situation aside Anomen's romance to do something a male can't, while males have extra quests and free stuff.


other

- Mala's Soulstone: helmet, not for good.



timed quests in BG2
- The Mournful Paladin and the Little Girl is daytime only
- Wellyn the Halfling Ghost Child and his Teddy bear has both daytime and nighttime parts
- Buried Alive has a nighttime optional part (silver pantaloons!)
- Renal Bloodscalp, the Shadow Thief can only be done in Act2 BG2 if you side with Bodhi. Not just this, but the first part of Mae Var's quests can only be done during nighttime if you can not steal.
- Nevin's Not-so-dead Uncle Lester only happens during daytime
- the Tanner quest has a sidequest with Mrs Cragmoon. First,she can only be found during daytime, so if you plan on reporting him the Tanner, hold it until reporting this. Then you'll get a timed even after like 6 ingame days.
- there's another timed even at the city gate (5 days after first visit atemporary shopkeeper appears)
- oh, and just for completion, there's the promenade black market merchant every night.
- the Sir Sarles quest also includes a daytime element (the ore merchant only appears then)
- why I keep bumping into these... Jan Jansen can only be freed from prison during daytime.
- oh, and I think Bodhi only accepts/gives quests during nighttime (if you side her, which is the more profitable solution)
- and there's - if protagonist is not cleric - the Another Mission For TheTemple, which happens during night (it's a long thing until you reach here, so no fuss)


The Burried Alive is the quest that makes you loose some reputation, so do it ASAP. And it even gives you (if you're killing the criminals) the Boots of Avoidance, which takes care of the archer enemies.
Decided to do the Orog Random Encounter - had to drink a healing potion (obviously not the basic one).
Doing the killing for the harpers required an oil of speed, but didn't mind, because it helped during the Mae Var killing too (those pesky stone golems - my only weapon to hit them at this point was the short sword from the first random encounter). Against the mage himself timing was the essence: first buff with draw upon holy might and switch to a nonenchanted dagger for starter (dunno if prot from magic weapons prevents you to hit stone skin or not), then when he goes invisible use a charge of horn of kazgaroth to avoid his death and disintegration spell. And while the speed expired, but the defense lasted, disposed the pirates of the inn.
Running the timed quests mentioned above (darn, the visit to Watcher's Keep for that potion bag has to wait), and when have time, concentrating on killing Neb (picking up the mace of disruption will help) for his dagger. It sounds awesome killing things with tiny daggers.


NOTE: Neb's Nasty Cutter is bugged. Because it is a "charged" item, with 0 charges it stops working (can't attack with it). So it's worse than it looks. Of course I could just buy a +2 dagger in a shop, or something.


The next thing to make you stronger is the Vloak of Sewers (+1 AC). Every little bit counts.
I think I'll tank up on potions, and do Nalia's Keep for the stronghold and stuff. There's a dagger +2 amongst other things.
Another thing to keep in mind is the Firkraag dungeon. Not for the dragon, not even the dragonslayer stuff, but the mask, which everyone should be able to wear, and protects against critical hits, so a helmet to be worn.
Oh, and if you don't mind reloading, buy an 50% MR potion from the sewer-merchant, and get the berserker horn!


Using the berserker horn, and a potion of stone form,and an oil of speed, destroyed M. Peblecrusgher's branch. Simply because the MR-potion still lasted. Because THOSE lasted killed Anarg&Co, and Valeria's companion too.


As Neb's Dagger is bugged, there's this option for a (second) +2 dagger. Sure, it's a throwing one, but just do not throw it ever I say. For that the mercenaries of riatvain shall be massacred, but as this character can't cast limited wish, there's no dilemma. Naturaly for this you'll want to lower your AC to 0.

twillight 15-01-2019 06:47 PM

Baldur's Gate Solo Pure Kensai Part 6
 
1 Attachment(s)
Tip: always keep on you 5-10 healing potions with a Kensai. Theyare aplenty anyway.

Had to realise the Boomerang Dagger is missile weapon, so no dualwield with it. I'm VERY tempted to just cheat in a +2 dagger.
Whatever. Drank a potion of invulnerability and an oil of speed, and killed the Boomerang Dagger party. Because the potions lasted, went for the Spider Figurine. There just to avoid complications used a prot from poison scroll, and a potion of firebreath.At this point realised I'll need to buy a Sword of Flame to be able to kill trolls (Nalia's Keep has some bad design on it, as not all kits can use bows, eh?).
Because I thought the effects still lasted, disposed Tranor the Hatchetman in the sewers. The effects ran out right when I arrived there, but thought whatever.

There seem to be 4 possible daggers for me at this point: a +2 dagger in the De'Arnise Keep, another in the Planar Spehere (sounds problematic), another at the Dryad Queen at the Firkraag Dungeon (needs force-kill they say, no idea for effect on reputation), and a +3 dagger when rescuing Haer Dhalis in that pocket dimension (again sounds trouble).

QUESTION: why did the illithids set up the Lilarcor-quest?

Hoped to Windspear Hills and killed the dryad queen. They never turn hostile, so you need to hit fast and hard to succed. Cast od draw upon holy might + oil of speed. And with that running, I said what the heck, and went for my helmet. Yes, Kensai can wear that mask.
Then went to Nalia, and to be honest it's just life-saving to wear the Defender of Easthaven, so duh.
At rescuing Haer Dhalis troupe used a horn of kazgarot charge to avoid the left mage's death spell.

Funny thing: never realised the beholders can't see what's invisible. This is good thing, because this character's only chance against them is the cloak in the shaugain city. Darn, I so hoped I don't have to bother with that this time!
The thing is, to solve the Unseeing Eye quest the ONLY chance for this character is, to use a bhaalspawn-ability on the demon-in-the-temple.
The Guarded Compound was though, at least the upper floor. Shield amu charge + draw upon holy might + kai + greater whirlwind. Go up on the right, start with aiming on the mage, then ASAP kill the katana guy (don't wait for the mage to die!), hop to the farther magling and kill it, then finish the first mage with elemental magic (flail of ages for me). The other two are strong, but very slow, so just run around healing up as needed.

equipments I worn:
- boots of avoidance / boots of speed
- dagger +1 -> dagger +2 -> pixie prick (never makes anyone sleep, but it's the strongest dagger for now) / dagger (to bypass prot from magic weapon) / flail of ages (if enemy has stoneskin)
- offhand: defender of easthaven / mace of disruption +2 / arbane sword / stiletto of demarches (to keep with the dagger-theme)
- girdle of bluntness -> belt of inertial barrier
- cloak of the sewer -> cloak of reflection
- mask of king strohm III -> pale green ioun stone (Kensai can wear ioun stones!)
- necklace of form stability -> 5% MR amu
- prot +1 ring -> prot +2 ring
- fire res ring -> ring of gaxx
- gauntlets of crushing (so kensai CAN use some bracers!)

dragon killing: potion of defense (or similar effect) + resist potion/scroll + oil of speed + potion of heroism + draw upon holy might + hardiness + greater whirlwind + kai + dragonslayer longsword in offhand.

underdark and other tales: kensai can wear the gauntlets of crushing,and even canuse drow crossbows. The real treat though is to do the aboleth's quest to gain a +4 dagger. It doesn't do much, doesn't doanything aside damage, but the +3's sleeping power isn't gigantic either. Also, the +2's dagger's hold (stun?) simply doesn't seem to work at all, so I just put that away now.
I can't bother to do the illithid city for 10% more fire res,so fok it.
And I'm just not into killing these days, so no fight with the silver dragon. Dang, I'd be curious if you have to have the flesh armor at you when you want it to be upgraded. After all, they don't askfor it when they send you for the blood...

At Bodhi her group of vampire dominated(?) me, what I don't remember from any other playthrough. Potion of Clarity, darn it. Only have 6 more.
Funny thing happened though. Thought I'll go through their big gate abnd go up where I usualy do in the cemetary. Though luck, allentrance disappeared. But some glowing red skeleton warrior wanned to mess with me? Strange.


Attachment 2503

twillight 18-01-2019 07:49 PM

Baldur's Gate Solo Pure Kensai Part 7
 
1 Attachment(s)
In the Rogue Stone Doorway the vampire again messes with you, so probably use a potion of invulnerability. Not that you'd need the place for anything.

Attachment 2505

For Baal's Tears get +3 STR, immun to weapons, saving throws, whatever the black dragon gives for talking it, and the only dubious choice is the selfishness. But with the already crappy AC loosinga DEX I think would further ruin the situation, so I went evil. I mean the MR on this character isn't great either way. 25% now, would be 35% with the tear, and wielding the BG2-sword of balduran would give another +10%, but that's it.

EDIT:
Against Irenicus dran a Potion of Power, and Potion of Invulnerability, then started whirlwinding him away. When he casts his second mislead (along some mantle which makes him untouchable) is the time to turn to Slayer Form to avoid being imprisoned.I think this was the intended story (SlayerIrenicus vs Slayer Protagonist), only this was the first time I used this option.To gain back the reps, do some of the optional stuff at the start, like resurrecting that guy, helping the elves or the dwarves...

Hardest Monsters in BG2:
demon knight (from BG1) adamantite golem unseeing eye Kangaxx, the demi-lich Firkraag Bodhi
I think Irenicus and Gromnir only give quest exp, that's why. Gromnir is also bugged. At least he and his cohorts posed no problem.

Entering Marching Mountains: a shield amulet charge, hardiness, kai before entering, then whirlwinding everyone.
For the rest inside drink a potion of fire res, and use hit&run tactics. You'll still need Extra Healing Potions, but whatever.
Against the shambling mounds of Nyalee the longsword specialization proved useful, as they are only voulnerable to slashing damage (and two type of elemental damage, according to Flail of Ages +4). They are immun to piercing and blunt damage.


LAST EDIT FOR THIS:
Get the BMU, and you'll have -23 AC. At Sendai herself though, just use a shield amu charge.
There are some annoying parts left, like fighting mindlyers (INT-drain), Draconis/Abazigail (80 dmg breath weapon spam), Ravager (stun spam), against what no character can do squat anyway. At least Kensai kills everything fast. I mean realy fast.
I don't evencare to finish Melissan, because what's the gain there? I KNOW I can beat her, with ease, there's no challenge.


So, bard is the worst class, monk and kensai have problems at certain stages, other characters (like druid, cleric, thief) have certain problems but just get over it, and spam cheesy abilities like no tomorrow.
I'm done with this.

twillight 19-01-2019 10:05 PM

Ugh, my gaming library is sooo full, I don't think I'll be able
 
I just looked through all the games I have in my library as "should play it finaly", and darn, they are many.

1 - full throttle
2 - soma
3 - deathtrap dungeon
4 - divinity, original sin
5 - divinity, dragon commander
6 - cayne
7 - get medieval
8 - abomination, the nemesis project (if it works)
9 - warcraft 3 (I might entirely passon this one)
10 - my current BG2:ToB kensai run. Btw, I artificialy nulled my exp, so I'll be able to see "strongest monster defeated" proper. It doesn't seem to straight corellate to monster level, and Idoubt it is exp. I mean I'm at fighting Irenicus, and Bodhi is the strongest monster defeated, beyond Firkraag, who is already beyond Kangaxx...

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

EDIT:
Ok, so Cayne and Soma are games to those who have time and patience to discover a world of lore, but if you want - you know - progress, doing stuff, these are not for you.
So hereby I skip for now. Maybe forever. Especialy on Soma what is a terribly depressing game, and I don't need that, especialy at the moment.
And Warcraft 3... To be honest the whole franchise just... lost its charm in time for me, I realized.
I'll likely drop any future attempt to Fallout 2 (I planed to do a full playthrough, anda thrower playthrough), Fallout Tactics (deathclaw solo), tides of numera/planescape torment, Abomination: the nemesis project (I wanned to make a wikia for it), Rage of Mages 2 (hard warrior playthrough), because these games take forever.

Let's see what I still consider to be on the list:
1. sanitarium
2. full throttle
3. distraint
4. deathtrap dungeon (but I might just settle for a let's play series)
5. the divinity franchise
6. get medieval

EDIT: yesss, Deathtrap Dungeon looks a bloody cool Doom-engine based game. But when was Doom popular? Riiight.
And it doesn't even has a story. It is a standard dungeon-crawler, with the individual levels/dungeons having their own story-cards. Nice to know this game, but is even more outdated than the gamebooks.
I fear I'll have a nervous breakdown.

EDIT: Distraint is a depressing short story about a weird circle of life (I mean greed). It feels very empty, certain elements mean nothing, lead to nowhere, things are out of place, or just simply unconstituted.
Two of the control-keys were never used.
The third day where you have to make the junkie move is very weird,and the mechanics are annoying (you have to smoke mushroom-drug to pass boarded doors in hard-to-map labyrinth,and the trips are timed...).

All in all, it's a waste.


EDIT: Sanitarium

There's probably an audience for this... Maybe... The meteor-alien-plant thingy overtook children-town is even interesting... But this isa moody game, nothing funny, the puzzles soon fall to those unsolvable algorythm-puzzles, and moon logic,and pixel hunting.

The game is also infested with clunky mechanics, like walk long distances slowly, and first you have to click on stuff to be able to interact with them with your cursor what looks all the same until you clicked on the right things.
There's also some hectic storytelling, meaning one part of the story canbe reached only certain part played, but you'd need those infos earlier because narratively you passed that point it talks about/wants you to interact with...

And what is with people making these hopeless, decaying world games? Real life sucks already, why bring it into our games too??
Full Throttle has the same depression-problem.

twillight 27-01-2019 09:05 AM

Get Medieval
 
They say this game is like "The Gauntlet", whatever that was, only better graphic, and a bare minimum story at last.

You can choose from 4 characters, each has 3 lives, or each player has 3 lives. I didn't investigated this.

Resources:
- gold seems to just keep score, but maybe there's some characterlevel? At least the game at times say "level".
- gold keys need for chests
- bronze and silver keys open doors
- HP is actualy a timer, and bumpin into monsters take away hugh chuncks of it, so try to avoid that (character speed helps)
- scrolls are a screen-kill-bomb (first symbol at the key-bar, some shiney arrow marks it)
- skeleton key is on timer, so first kill everything, onlypick it up then, after that run through everything to open all gates
- hearts in blue containers give 100 HP
- hearts in green ocntainers give ? HP
- hearts in red containers give the most HP (I think 500)
- the Mask of Evil makes monsters runaway. Ranged monsters do not attack. In melee distance still not good for your health.

stats:
- there's movement speed what is noticable
- weapon speed is even atbasic is very fast, so never mind that
- weapon strength is... I have no idea where it counts. Maybe on structures (monster generators)
- the maximum stats are 5 (attack, defense), and those are reached pretty early. Did not see walking speed upgrade :(

other noticables:
- gates which must be triggered from a distance probably open in skeleton key areas
- I found a hidden warp-spot on lvl 2's first skeleton-key room
- the barbarian is voiced by Arnold Schwarzenegger (no idea if this is licenced, or just put there)
- there is some vampire-looking thing (extra fast, black cloaked enemy). Must be killed ASAP, else it nulls your stats. This gets gamebreakingly annoying with all the other enemies and obstacles around.
- chests and stuff will be destroyed by shooting them, so be cautious

The game has fun, but 40 levels sound very very too much, at least judging from how hard it becomes in dungeon 8-9. There not just the enemies are hoarding, and most of them are ranged, but you'll also need to solve the levels by trial and error (what opoens which door, so you don't loose unnecessary HP), and those levels become HUGH, dungeon 9 even relying on teleports to make it bigger. I wonder what is an outro-cinematic, but I don't think I have it in me to beat this. Well, at least not on the basic difficult, what is Hard. But I bet that's requirement to unlock the über-difficulty. Why do I care though???


What? there isn't even an outro??

twillight 27-01-2019 02:23 PM

Get Medieval maps
 
difficulties:
- easy: HP doesn't deplet by time, monsters hit 50 HP
- normal: you loose HP by time
- hard: monsters hit 100 HP
- torture dungeon: ?

dungeon 1:
go from left to right.
enemies: spider (standard melee), bat (fast, can get over cretain obstacles, annoying), wererat (standard melee = SM)
Torture Chamber Tip: get used to the faster timer. Also watch out for monster-generators.
Warp Spot: in the NEern room of the map.

dungeon 2:
new enemies: spider (SM)
There is a skeleton key in achest in the SW corner of a room (you'll know it). These things are timed, so cleaneverything first, then hurry up. Run down,you'll likely step on the trigger stones which'll release a bunch of spiders, so be prepared to use a scroll. Run to unlock the other door too, and you might still have time to unlock the chests in the previously locked room which said "this door can only be opened from a distance" what means from a certain point of the dungeon (usualy stepping on a trigger-stone).
Don't forget to go back to where the spiders were released from, 'cause that has a warp-spot.
Torture Chamber Tip: acept thatyou can'tdo everything now.

dungeon 3:
I think this was where I started to run out of golden keys regularly, so use them sparingly, or something.
new enemy: lizard-people (ranged attacker (RA)
the warp-spot is above the bat-filled trap-room (don't step on the stones here, or almost guaranteed a large HP-loss, or a scroll-use). Or I could say at the edge of the map east of the exit.
The key to unlock the "from distance" room is to go right at the start, open the golden key gate, and step on the triggerstone under the generator.
The skeleton key inside its room seems a mere decoration with no real purpose (though makes you ableopen chests inside without spending gold keys of course).
Torture Chamber Tip: get used to avoiding chests.

dungeon 4:
there is a hub, and 4 side-dungeon. You only have to do the farthest (start going north) if you don't trust yourself.
the skeleton key is in the nearest (go east from start). It leads to a tp, where the idea is to use the skeleton keys of each golden key gate to unlock the chests inside. If youare curious, the skeleton keys open the farther doors from the other side, but there's barely any timer on them, so tough luck.
Torture Chamber Tip: learn the patter, and remember where and how much resources are left.
Warp spot: in the skeleton key maze go the other passage, and enter the seemingly blind alleys. The 2nd unlocks a door in the warp zone, the 3rd is the warp spot.
Hint: there's definitely a golden key shortage here.

dungeon 5: spider boss. First eliminate the monster generators. The boss is big, and shoots at regular intervals.
Oh, it has a dungeon too, where you have to go where it allows you. A lot of enemy are ranged. Also, beware that when you open the brass key door the final gate's side has 1-1 thief.
To use the Skeleton Key first go right, then down (both times only turn when the passage ends).
Note: if you collect all keys and open every chest, you'll be able to unlock all chests, but only 1 in the boss' arena.
Torture Chamber Tip: you must LEARN the level. Some polish youtuber did a let's play, including opening as many chests as possible - hint: on this level chests are useless. Blow them up. There's only 1 good next to a ratman-generator, gives 500 HP, and it is crucial. Also, some situations can only be solved by using scrolls. Accept it, and hunt for scrolls!
Warp spot: on the north side of the first gate in the east section. Has an aura of death powerup in the chest (has no effect on generators or bosses).
Note on barbarian: this character is bloody slow, barely can reach the skeleton key treasury.

dungeon 6:
I suggest be caustious, as I tend to run out of HP here.
Utilise the Mask of Evil fully (there is on on the north corridor, and one in the south (SE from the lizardman generator - use the remaining timer to eliminate the ratmen in the traproom for a miniroom of streage), do not stop picking up items for its durations.
Do the EAST corridor with the bronze key. This gives you a Mask of Evil, with which you should do the south corridor of no-key-gate. Step on the LEFT triggerstone in the trap-sideroms-room, then go to the just unlocked south miniroom. Pick up the Mask of evil (also step on the triggerstone there) and unlock the SOUTH silver gate key.
NOTE: if you go the east passage instead of sdouth you'll unlock the exist for the other silver key corridor. There's also in the final room's traproom-segment's south the warp-spot, but it isn't very important (has a scroll, but not much else, also no idea what opens the gate inside it).
If you die, your stats will be nulled, and that's bad.
New enemy: some kinda ranged unit. Looks like a bit like mouse? goblin?

dungeon 7:
if you can avoid it, do not touch chests, because they likely contan thieves, and that's not good. I suggest a reload if you get nulled. Shooting chests means the thief (and later curse) pops out anyway, and have to be killed. A strategy if you intend to open chests (they regulary have 500 HP) is, when you touch it, run back (obviously only works with knightess/elf) so you'll have time to react. he skeleton keys are there to let you open chests w/o using your resources (golden keys).
new enemy: thief
Torture Dungeon Tip: there are very few chests with HP, so it is easier to blindly go ahead shooting the generators as they are in alternating sequence. In the end I tend to run VERY low on HP, so used like 5 scrolls before the exit-room.

dungeon 8:
very annoying. First open the two melee rooms by going close. Pick up the golden keys. Leave through north. Ranged enemies do not discriminate, meaning you can make them eliminate a large portion of themselves for you. The HP is in the northern chest.
Second you should only step on the south and west tiles, those are safest. You only have to step on the south tile. The HP is in the west chest.
The exit from the third room is to the east. Use a scroll I say if you step on a trigger. The NW chest has HP, no idea on the rest.
Forth: use the SW tile to open south.
Torture Dungeon Tip: remember you have scrolls, also, get used to do the bare minimum.

dungeon 9:
this dungeon uses bloody many teleports. The way to exist (and there is no battle!): S, E, W, E, E, W, W (East leads stright to the exit, while west to 10 chests. 1 has a thief. Has good supplies. No key needed if running a skeleton key charge). The chest nearest to the tp has a thief (NOTE: thieves always drop a weapon/armor/OR SCROLL when defeated)

dungeon10:
pretty straightforward. Used the eastern teleporter at the end, which brought me to an ogre boss's treasure cove (general rule is, the other brings you straight to the boss). Here the two slower heroes will have trouble, being slower than the boss. The others should eliminate the generators first.
To get to the skeleton key hoard, go west as much as you can, and follow the diagonal passages when there is one. When in doubt, go down.
KEY POINTS: the first chest to the south has a Mask of Terror. Directly north of it isa scroll.
There's a room with not open area but ocnstant corridor. South of the 2nd twist is another Mask of Evil. Run, as the exit is near.

dungeon 11:
new enemies: liches? they go invisible(?) regularly. Also some knights (SM).
new item: curse of reversal (switches directional controls, making chests something to avoid at all costs). The effectis temporary, ca.30 seconds. Makes fighting very hard.
At the end there is a badly placed Skeleton Key,, so tough luck. Otherwise the place is pretty straightforward.
TIPS:
- In every room you practicaly have to destroy everything as you'll need a bronze and silver key to progress.
- in the 2nd room aim N when entering to destroya lich-factory, then aim the NW corner for another lich-generator, and the warp-point. Watch out, the SW chest has a thief.
- for the 3rdroom again aim NW. The coner has a lich-generator, but that's not the main point (actualy it is, it has the current silver key). The chest east of it has a Mask of Evil! Not that it'd save the world or something, but enough to go for the bronze key (in the middle). BEWARE as the easter side is cut off from the rest of the room by a wall, you have to pass to the gate going west, the following the north wall! Probably worth casting a scroll before the last bronze key gate, though can't shake the feeling you should be ableto use the Mask to get theskeleton key, and still last enough to open the skeleton key gate though.

dungeon 12:
The northern passage at the start has a bronze key... But the bottom one lets you forward. To be most effective open the eastern chest in the bronze key corridore before picking up the key, and RUN!
Second time the third from above lets you pass. (there are 5 passages,so it's the 3rd from below too) There's also a silver key (can be seen from the right, so get it from the 3rd hub). No need to fight (but they are melee anyway).
For the third again choose the bottom one (and run). The liches not just go invisible, during that time they are incorporeal.
With the skeleton key (in the middle, at the exit) choose south. You can open both, but north is a red herring. This dungeon will replenish your HP, so that's good news.

dungeon 13:
The second row from the top first teleporter leads you out. The other exist looks more profitable, but dunno which tp leads there. It worth trying to clean this place because you can get a megaton of scrolls. The other tp that leads out is in the SE corner, and has 500 HP in it.
Torture Dungeon Tip: you won't be able to clean the place.

dungeon14:
Straightforward.
TIP: there's a warp point NE from the exit. Also, the chests along the corridors are worthless, but at the end of the corridors the two chests will have 500 HP, and 2 times Mask of Evil.

dungeon 15:
you must trigger things by stepping the right stone. As there are too many, and the action is heavy, I won't go into which you need, but it seems you have to step one of the RIGHT room's tile on the north for the outer door, and the LEFT room's one for the inner of the middle section, which unlocks the exit. No idea what's the difference between the two portal there. I used the left one, which put me to 4 chests and a boss. It is a giant black knight. Nothing special.
With the skeleton key go up and right, or right and up. this time I had way enough on the timer.
PRO TIP: start from the right, as there's a Mask in a chest nearby, and the left room is a nuisance.
Also, the middle section has a speed-booster, which can be used to just run through the room.

dungeon 16:
At the first choice go right for the silver key.
Next choice go RIGHT, because in the 1st room in the south is a Ghost powerup. The problem with this strategy is, there is no silver key in this side, soyou must pick up the bronze key from here too, get back to the other side, keep running to the west sideroom (after eliminating the generators), there the triggerstone unlocks the room you need (and releases a bunch of nagas, so prepare to cast a scroll).
Next go right. On the hub-corridor the chest north of the knight-spawner is a Mask. Use it to run in on the north where the keys will be, and to get out asap.
Next left to keep to the algorythm (barely any enemy here).
new enemy: bat mark II, naga (RU)

dungeon 17:
the bottom teleport does nothing, the upper opens the bottom left cell. The northwestern stone opens the door to continue.
in the second hub-room you need to aim the norteastern room. I'm not sure the rooms here open by what factor. The chest next to the exit of the room has a ghost-powerup, but as powerups cancels each other out, get the skeleton key before touching this!
I don't think those skeleton keys here actualy do anything relevant.
The last door to pass is in the middle of east. But this time it needs a silver key. It is not far to NW from the SE corner (NW of the tp). TIP: just west of the entrance in chest is a Ghost powerup.
--
99 is the maximum amount from any type of items. HP max is 999.
This level sounds crap. You have to find the right room to go further, but you'll only be able to go further if you find the right way on skeleton key timer it seems. And 2-3 times in a row that. I think for the first I went right and up, and right and up and when that didn't work down for the second. The third had the exit, not stupid skeleton key.
Torture Dungeon Tip: stay on the edge, don't bother.

dungeon 18:
use the 2nd tp from the right, and get to the top along the west wall (stick to it).

dungeon 19:
the skeleton keys here are only cruel jokes. Get to the top on either side, then get around to the other to grab the keys. The center of the north lets you pass. Rinse and repeat.
Torture Dungeon Tip: You'll need to use up like 4 scrolls per room, 2 on each side to get to the keys. Hope for the best.

dungeon 20:
A brass key is in the center north, a ghost powerup is center south. NW brass gate has a silver key. Use the silver key on NE gate. Use the SE porter after that to get to the lich boss. Annoying for the electric traps. Oh, and the lich boss kills you instantly if it hits you in melee. As it tends to go invisible isn't it fun?
With the skeleton key go right, up, right, down, right, down, right.
Torture Dungeon Tips: first go and get the Ghost, then eliminate the bat-generators on both sides whil gaining the brass key.
In the NW brass corridor in one of a corner in the SE is a Mask, so don't blast the chest! It'll take you along distance.
Unfortunately HP is scarce, so not finished this yet.
SOLUTION: when starting the level, step EAST, and shoot the knight, and a bit behind it the naga. Then move SE, and when in position eliminate the bat-spawner.
Get to the south edge, and cast a scroll (unless youare total pro), and shoot the lich-spawner, unlock the chest, pick up the 300 HP, pick up the Ghost, go NW, shoot the bat-spawner, get back to the middle, go to the north edge, bump the chest, destroy the naga-spawner, GET THE BRONZE KEY (under the naga-spawner), pick up the scroll from the chest, pick up the 300 HP if needed (probably do). Go to the NE door, enter the tp.
Keep running until the Ghostlasts, then be a bit more carefully, but it still worth running.
Go semi-cautious until you can get the Mask, then star running again. Don't mind ANY spawner until you get to the north-going corridor, where RUN IN to destroy all spawner, AND KEEP going forward to the south. ELIMINATE EVERYTHING. The Mask should expire when everything is down in this part. You have to go on a thin corridor for a triggerstone. There's also a 300 HP chest along the way.
Ok, leave this area via the unlocked tp. Kill everything that rushes towards you, and run tothe NE gate. You tp to another room.
Run in a bit east todestroy the lich-spawner, then come back the west,so south to destroy a naga-spawner. Your goal is not to rush asap to the SE corner, avoid fight if possible.
Congratulation, you are at the boss.
NOTE: use scrolls whenever you feel necessary! This is a HARD dungeon!

twillight 28-01-2019 07:51 PM

Get Medieval maps (2)
 
1 Attachment(s)
dungeon 21:
straightforward. The optional side-rooms have bloody strong powerups.
on note of some items:
- "player is now amongst the dead" makes monsters indifferent to player unless melee range (ghost cloth)
- there's a curse which makes you only be able to fight in melee range
- there's hermes' boots/helmet which gives you superspeed

dungeon 22:
go to the right edge of the map, then down.
Turture Dungeon Tip: in the first room go SE, aim the naga-generator, then unlock the nearby chest for a Mask. Run to the east w/o stopping,you caneven reach the edge. Start going south cautiously, and eventualy (maybe 2nd room) you'll find a God Mode.
I have 39 scrolls now (TDdiff).

dungeon 23:
This dungeon is too long and deadly. Lost several lives, and you just can feel the lack of good defense stat what makes you die again, and again...
And to make things worse, there's a new curse which - hard to say otherwise - kills you plain and square. In theory you could maybe stop it by drinking a HP-consumable, but fat chance.
And the armor/weapon resources are scarce, you'd need a ton to grind these stats back, AND HP is never in chests...
SOLUTION: don't EVER step on traps unless you have to. ALWAYS visit the siderooms for special invincibility powerups. This means no shooting chests there (and preferably no touching chests at all otherwise).
First go west if you need HP, otherwise go south. In a sideroom (west) you'll get a "god mode powerup". Go south, then when that's blocked go west, then through the narrow corridor. You just have enough time to destroy everything here (hard mode). When in the room with two enemy filled room on the side step on the SOUTH triggerstone to get further.
Next there'll be a west sideroom (has an 500 HP chest and a 300 HP container, so worth the time) to a bronze key locked room. Do NOT shoot the chest in the northern room, thathas a "mask of evil" powerup. Reaching the next room step on the NORTH triggerstone!
Next you need a VERY PRECISE set of actions. When you get the Mask of Evil get to the next corridor. SHOOT the to chest at their start and DO NOT TOUCH the skeleton key. the nothern chest contains CURSE so be prepared and shoot it, or you'll be doomed. Next go up on the diagonal corridor preferably w/o touching any trigger stone (if you do either use the timer to thin them out, or use a scroll - I have more than 80 at this point!). Eliminate all monsters when reached the top on the corridor heading east until it turns north. Backtrack for the skeleton key, and run like heck to use it on the door at the end of the east-going corridor just mentioned. It'll have 500 HP and a ghost powerup. If you touched the skeleton key by accident, RUN, hope for the best, and definitely don't mind using up a scroll to get here!
Go up on north the corridor, and step on the WEST triggerstone.
Follow the corridor the a hub. Open the WEST gate. The skeleton key you'll see only opens a 500 HP room which also has a speed artifact - not that useful in these narrow spaces, so if you loose the key, don't mind too much, though prepare to use a handful of scrolls when your HP goes low. Actualy, try running in, usinga scroll to get rid of the enemy, you'll get it back. That sounds effective.
You'll reach a room full of black knights. The room's trigger will be slightly AFTER the room. I hate it. Use the north triggerstone to pass w/o opening this trap.
You get back to the starting hub with this. Go NORTH, run in (I think all traps release the traprooms), and use a scroll. Destroy the building, then open the chest for a godly-powerup. Don't panick and open the next chest too for 500 HP. STEP on the triggerstones on the diagonal corridor, it's a trick otherwise to loose some of your timer.
You'll reach the end of an east-going corridor which'll turn south. The chest in that corner provides a ghost powerup. Do not squander it.
You'll reach a skeleton key again - this is definitely an absolute waste of time, skip it. No powerup, not even HP in the room, so the key is a trap!
The next triggerstone to a south sideroom is again a trap - the room only contains enemies. Choose the narrow corridor instead.
This brings us back to the second hub-room. Go east to the exit (you collected 3 silver key by now to be able to leave in case you must know).
HINT: do NOTpick up HPs at the hubs ifyou can spare them when you reach there first!
NOTE: the dungeon is generous with scrolls if you paya bit of attention, so despite generously using them here, still have 38 of it.

dungeon 24:
this is infested with thieves to start with. The exit is on the north. To pass it you need 3 silver keys: 1 is in the NW corner, 1 in the SE, and 1 in NE. The best way to do this is to systematicaly extreminate everything going west to east, south to north. Use the many gates to your tactical advantage. There are a lot of HP laying around, so if you can avoid, don't touch the chests, and definitely don't mind them destroyed. Many have thieves in them, at least 2 has a "can only attack in melee" curse, and at least one "drink a HP consumable or die in 5 seconds" curse. Unlocking chests this way if you must: go backward - shoot if needed.
But if you finaly get robbed, because you 99% will, I say fok it. Ye, that was 80 scrolls or so, but... Crap, I could have just used those to dispose the thieves, right? Well, maybe not, as some disappear form screen VERY quickly, giving no chance.
We'll see how this mess turns out :( Wait a minute: the thieves take all your scrolls with them, so that's not an option, UNLESS you use the scroll BEFORE it touch you (hope you have trigger-fingers)!
Torture Dungeon Tip: go SE, NE, NW. Don't bother with the resources, although likely on the bottom you'll figure out some scroll-chests. Keep in mind freed HP, backtrack them as needed. Reaching NW is hard. The exit has 2*300 HP.

dungeon 25:
I'm afraid you have to kill everything here. The goal is to collect 4 silver keys, but the place is mega-hugh, and there are not even cool items to rely on.
Use the upper teleporter to leave this area to the naga boss.
With the skeleton key go left and down, and at the end NW follow the corridor.
SOLUTION: start from the south gate after killing everything in the hub and opening the two golden gate. Check the side-rooms in order. You'll find eventualy 2 silver key before you reach a tp which brings you to the other half of the map for the other two.
The golden-key-gates opened 4 rooms, they are in pair on each side. If you came as I suggested, the first you encounter will have an invincibility powerup, the ther a curse.
You probably will end up unlocking chests even by accident, or in hope for scrolls, and to be honest the thieves are killing me a lot here. Also, if you started from south when you enter the tp, in the right chest on the other side is a God Mode.
The naga boss is terrific by the way. The electirc traps are very bad news, the spwaner-buildings must be delt with ASAP, and that's very luck-based. The boss itself is a hugh problem with its ranged attack and plent of HP.
NOTE: curses now last 30 sec. Dunno if this depends on progress, or difficulty (I remember as medium diff had 15 sec timer for them). Powerups last 30 sec, except skeleton keys which have their own individual timer.
Torture Dungeon Difficulty Note: you'll have to rely on scrolls many times. Have to repeat this.
Torture Dungeon Difficulty Trick against the boss: do NO leave the treasury, but be aware that the boss can shoot through walls. Fortunately it has a pattern, shoots regularly. So stay behind the edge of the wall, not letting it passing the corner (using its size to your advantage), shooting just along the edge on it, while regularly moving aside - staying behind the wall - slowly chipping away its health. Don't forget the naga-generators willstill exist, and under production!
With the Skeleton Key: firstchance go north, second chance go all the way south. Follow that corridor, and you'll find a crossroad, follow the NW passage. There.
Scroll note: I still linger around 40.

dungeon 26:
start from SW.
new ~enemy: oozes. They don't hurt you, but slow you if stepped on. Move around in a pattern. Also some demon knights (MU).
The place is ginormous, and I suspect you have to know exactly which chest contains what, what is just absurd of course, but still looks that way.
SOLUTION: don't waste your keys on the chests. First go west, and when reached the edge go east, then around the room. The SE corner has an 500HP in the small room, and a scroll outside. Preferably don't bother with the chests having thieves and curses in them.
Go throughthe SW gate, the only one openable at the moment. At the end of the corridor before it bends is an 500 HP consumable, so pull out the enemy there until you don't have the chest onscreen to preserve it.
As you go south there'll be a chest with a god-mode temporary. Follow the corridor, and where it bends will be 500 HP in a chest.
The next north curve's east side will have a scroll in chest.
You get back to the hub,and the close room with the demon knights will contain a bare 500 HP in one of the chests. Step on the trigger-stone of course. NE is now open.
There's nothing to mention until you reach a tp, where is 500 HP and ascroll,so don't blast the chests.
On the other side of the tp use a scroll, and open the northern chest for a ghost powerup. Go north, open the northern chest for a scroll. You'll use it anyway in the eastern big room, which by the way leads back to the hub. Also, in the SW corner of it is 500 HP, and at its entrance's south has a Mask of Evil.
In the room south of this is a warp-point. Leave it until necessary.
To get further, use the middle north gate, unlocked by bronze key. Don't mind the side-rooms, go to the end. Unlock that room by a trigger-stone (it has only melee enemies). In the NW chest is500 HP, the middle has a scroll. Pick up the bronze key.
Go backwards on the northside, and you'll reach a ghoul-room opened. The left chest in it has 500 HP. The room west of this will also be opened, has demon knights in it, but has no useful resources.
Go back until the other bronze key door (leads west). It'll be shorter. Before you get in here, actualy, go to the warp-spot, and unlock a chest for a kill-in-radius powerup (both chests there has one if you're interrested), heh. Grab the silver key. Enter the tp, grab any healing you have left (if you have none, open the chest west of the tp for 500 HP), and finish the dungeon.

dungeon 27:
I'll be honest. I don't think these levels are possible above normal diff, because even if you don't die of thievery or some curses, can just barely keep the HP against the ranged, vanishing enemies. And they are a LOT, trust me.
SOLUTION: start going left. The demon knight spawner in the SW is our goal. Next to it is 500 HP. Step on the triggerstone.
Go north. If instead going further go a bit more east, there's a Mask of Evil in a chest. Leave that for later, and go in north, casting a scroll where the 300 HP is on the triggerstone (same where the brass key is). You'll have to trigger it for later. Eliminate the enemy here (ranged mixed) with a scroll. Before triggering the gates however, go south to unlock the brass gate, and trigger the stone there too. NOTE in this section are two mini-room with 2 chests, 3 keys. Each room has 500 HP. The brass-gate room also has 500 HP (in the south, so no worry).
The brass gate's stone opened a gate on the NW in the previous area. Go there with the Mask of Evil (it has a low duration or something, that's why).
North of that room beside a knight-spawner is a chest with a scroll.
East from there is the Silver Key Gate, and SE of it is a ghost temporary, but don't take it. Take instead the god mode temp north of the eastern miniroom (see above). With that go to the east side, and get a silver key. Hop in the tp, grab the other silver key, hop back, and go to the Silver Gate Key. NOW pick up the ghost temp.
Beyond the Silver Gate on the left siderom is 500 HP (south chest).
The following corridor is horrendous, so do your best. You'll reach a Very Dangerous Room, the middle of it has a chest with a god-mode temp. Its NE has 500 HP.
In the middle of the next room is a trigger-stone which unlocks the exit. Just go straight for it. (Currently I have ca. 15 scrolls, would be good to have way more, but I don't dare.)

dungeon 28:
There is a section with smaller square rooms in a row. The NW one you need most. Otherwise follow the passage.
Warp Spot: directly west from the start, has half a dozen scrolls, and a nopt timered Magna Scroll (scrolls destroy buildings too).
Useful chests: the one at the first tp. NE in the silver gate's hub has 500 HP, SW hasa scroll. N in the SW room of the Silver Key Room-hub. Next room is NE, then NW (Torture Dungeon Diff Tip: use a scroll to empty the room - remember, Magna Scroll removes generators too), so you ensure the 300 HP consumable is not lost). SE room, before the corridor bends, north side. At the end of that corridor, on the south, next to a generator is one with a scroll (if not told otherwise, the chests have 500 HP). In the next room's west side a god-mode.
Go to the east side next room, at the end of the corridor, in the middle is a ghost temp. North room there has the silver key, and in the NW chest a scroll.
Go east now to a new silver key gate. In the 2nd alcove on the north is a speed artifact (crap, don't take it, I forgot boosters don't mix!), and 500 HP.
There'll be a choice of corridors leading east. Choose the bottom one, because I know the chest right after the first generator has a ghost temp (beware, do not blast it!), and before the corridor bends, there's 500 HP.
In the next room there's another 500 HP, and a God Mode.
Next room's NE corner has 500 HP, under an attack, and under THAT a scroll. Then enter the tp, cast the scroll (not, if your God Mode is still running), enter the following tp, and finish the dungeon. Beware, the exit-room has 2 demon-knight in it!

dungeon 29:
at the end, the last silver key door there'll be a hugh rom full of enemies. Get fast along the bottom and open the chests to find a temp invincibility powerup
SOLUTION: start with stepping on any trigger-stone, so you have to fight less enemies. At the end of the S-shaped corridor (basicaly the starting room) the last two chests has 500 HP.
At the top of the next labyrinth, right south of the third spawner-building is a scroll. Go down the 2nd passage to get further. At the end of the labyrinth is 500 HP, also on the next part's beginning is a Mask of Evil.
You'll reach a closed door (north), it'll have 2 siderooms. While getting further is north through the bronze key gate, these shouldn't be ignored, because the east's south chests have 500 HP and a God Mode, and the west's north has 500 HP and a Ghost Mode.
The next room has 2 Golden Key Gate, both have 500HP. You have to do the eastern part for 2 silver key.
Then go west until you reach the 2nd Silver Key Gate. The room's south has 500HP and a scroll. The room on the other side is messy, so that's where you get the ghost powerup in its south.
NOTE: the oozes likely handled as other temporaries, so speed artifacts are nulled while effected.
Wasted a lot of scrolls here :( 37 remains.

dungeon 30:
if you get thieved/die, reload. There's a good chance for both.
Take the bottom tp out for extra resources. The boss is a demonlord (ranged, fading thing).
At the end with the skeleton key stay on the left and go down.
CHESTS: when it second goes south a chest has HP. Shoot easily froma distance all other chests, they are likely a problem. Next when it goes east at the end has a God Mode.
Next you'll reach a Dangerous Room heading north. The chest between the generators has 500 HP. This room by the way is just one annoying place with nothing but enemies in it.
The next room has two rows of chests, all useless except the 2nd of NW (Mask).
Next room is west, 2nd of NW has 500HP. Middle has Ghost (if you run for it, you can clean the first's room from generators while it lasts, and using a scroll right after that makes it a safe spot).
In the labyrinth go north, then the first chance east, then stay on that side and go north.
In the first room the chest in the east contains a thief.
Second room's east has a curse.
The third room's NE will have 500 HP, sry, rly there isn't more. So especialy on TortureDungeon Diff, keep in mind casting scrolls. East has a speed powerup.
On the last room (entrance from east)'s start is 500HP, although likely will squander it. The NW chest is deadly curse. The SW chest is a Ghost.
Found the boss easier for no electric traps, only oozes. Thugh the bad news is, you must fight it, no Trick of Smaug.
NOTE: wasted 2-3 scrolls here, still have 24.
Scrolls for Turture Dungeon go left: 27 (no scrolls in the skeleton key treasury!)

twillight 01-02-2019 10:21 AM

Get Medieval maps (3)
 
3 Attachment(s)
dungeon 31:
long as hack, but there are permanent powerups? I sawa speed anda magna scroll booster w/o timer.
To get to the speed start going east, than north, than Idunno, but going north you'll see a corridor with 2 chests and 300HP at the end, and that's there. Tha Magna Scroll is on a similar place, but way further, on a southward corridor,m at the NW corner of the dungeon, and is camouflaged as a normal scroll. The perma-boost disappeared when entering the next dungeon, so the speed artifact is definitely better. To know, in case you get lost like I did, the exit is in the NE.

dungeon 32:
bloody hard, because lack of ANY manouverability. There's a precise where-to-stand but that'd be hard to describe, easy to show, but I can't screenrecord. Important to know what chest has what because of HP.
SOLUTION: run in the middle, and cast a scroll,step some further and another (not if enemy not spawned). Unlock the chest east of the demon knight generator for a God Mode.
Go north two row, and under a generator (stay in the middle) you'll find the Silver Key. Leave the dungeon going north. The chest directly at the middle of the gate has a scroll.

dungeon 33:
you have to gather 4 silver keys by destroying monster generators. Ye, this sucks, especialy in your weakened state. Especialy as most chests do not contain HP, and even at least one contains a death curse, while HP on the open is not frequent either.
The necessary chests are: SE corner, blue generator NW from the corner.
At the east side, a bit more north, under a demon knight generator.
Under a demon knight generator in the NW corner.
Under an orc axe-thrower generator which you can reach going just a bit SW from the exit.
There's SOMEWHERE a God Mode, and a Ghost if you bump into it, get best use! Destroy every demon knight spawner, and any other spawner you come accross! If you find the Circle of Death, START OPENING CHESTS as it protects you from thieves and curses! Seems it also eliminate enemy projectiles - but does not protect you from headspawning (do not stand on a generator), neither from lightning traps, so watch out.
And hope the best. At the exit the NW chest has a scroll, the NE 500 HP.
Hint: try to be systematic, and "learn" at least for the beginning where the generators are. Do not blast the chests, try your best to store up resources by them, but only touch them when you have to. The best route is to clean the SW corner, then go to the SE corner, but don't necessarily stick to the wall, but seek and destroy for generators. There are some easy-to-remember 500 HP chests, REMEMBER THEM. Also, do NOt try to destroy the whole map going left to tight, right to left! STAY on the edge of the map! From theSE go NE, then NW (specificaly for the key, so if you find an invulnerability and can beeline, DO THAT and beeline to the exit!).

dungeon 34:
the same as the previous, but you start in the middle, and the resources are better, and I found no curses.
SOLUTION: first destroy the generators and eliminate their immediate spawns. Then go south, and get to an edge, like west. Then go east, and methodicly eliminate all generators. Once the bottom row is finished you'll only have to watch one direction (north), and can open all chests. Yes, there is at least one death curse. There'sa God Mode too, when you find it, you won (concentrate on the remaining generators).
Torture Dungeon Diff Notes: this thing is bloody hard, I especialy hate the fading blue lizardpeople, the spiders, everyone with ranged attack, the electrical traps, the curses... I hate everything here. First Try to establish yourself on the spot moving closer to ONE generator of the four initial, then start to move to the SE corner where is the warp spot, which contains 2 Circle of Death. It's pretty lame, but better than nothing, so I suggest move with the first west, then return and go north with the other. Always watch the timer, and use a scroll if you're sorrounded.

dungeon 35:
this dungeon is infinite and i hate it.
I suggest go towards the left, you'll finaly get to that which leads to the boss's store-room.
The boss is some friggin ogre (axe-throwing orc), ranged, very active, very big, and there are oozes to slow you down... Maybe just squishing it w/o running around would be best. Not sure.
No idea with the skeleton key.
SOLUTION: At the start in the chest is 500 HP if needed. At the first chance go left. In the west you'll see a double corridor, choose the northern one. Watch out, do not destroy the chest in the end, it has a God Mode.
Go out of the room where you came from, go south, and follow the edge of the map to the north. It'll make an L-turn to north: in the corner will be a chest when it bends back to east, and nearby a demon knight generator. That chest has a Mask of Evil.
Stick to the left edge of the map, and get to the tp. Note: at the corner before the last corridor is a chest with a scroll. The exist also spawns 2 demon knight, but remember, the boss's room has some HP.
The skeleton key pass: first chance go NE, then south. There'll be a corridor E, but continue S. The next chance go E. Next N, and stick to that direction.
TORTURE DUNGEON SOLUTION: run in and shoot the twoarriving demon knight, then eliminate the lizard-generator. Go in and destroy the spider-spawner, then deal with the demon knight and their generator. Aside the above mentioned 500 HP chest blast all chests, they are dangerous. To get in the west-leading gate open the door, wait until the electirc trap disables, castascroll, run in, blast the generator.
You're close to the GodMode (go west), no worry. Be cautious to not blast the chest (even for the price of a scroll)! With it get back, downabit, then west. You'll reach a room with demon knights, and two chersts next to each other in a suspicious manner. One has a Ghost, pick it up. Run, run, run to catch the Mask of Evil (described above). Keep running to the exit. For the last demon knight generator cast a scroll, believe me, getting rid of the minions is the key.
Lastly, beware of the two spawning from the exit: stay in the middle to avoid destorying the HPs, and shoot.
Torture Dungeon Scroll Situation: still has 30.

dungeon 36:
the goal is to get 2 silver key, both passages have 1.
the SW tp leads to the exit (needs the 2 silver key), the NE to some HP.
SOLUTION: start south. One of the chests'll have a Mask, but first clean the way to the next room. Pick it up and enter.
New Enemy: dragons.
You need the bronze key from the middle. I suggest just rush in with the Mask, there's plenty of HP for later, and I hate the room (lacks manouverability).
The SE corner of the room has a Ghost, keep it to when you leave, so you can eliminate the generators on the corridor with ease. Why care? The second from west (end of corridor, back to the hub) has another Ghost, so you can safely clean the next corridor. Unfortunately the booster on that corridor is simply a speeder, what is useless. Well, in theory you could run in, cast a scroll, and hope to rush-destroy all the generators... Sounds reckless. It is, but it can work. The other option is to bother with the room's very inconvenient layout.
scrolls at me: 41
Torture Dungeon Notes: beeline between powerups once you started the sequence. With the 2nd Ghost DO NOT STOP TO PICK UP THE SPEEDER, instead go in to the dragons' room, and start eliminating the generators. Use scrolls to remove the enemy when the timer runs out. This is your only chance.
Some more notes here: there's a Magna Scroll on the corridor leading to the 2nd key, sounds fun if you can allow to waste some scrolls. But also canhelp if you backtrack. Not just for HP, but around the central dragon generator there is a Circle of Death, if you didn't destroy it of course.
Torture Dungeon Scroll Situation: 27 left.

dungeon 37:
the NW tp leads to the exit, requires silver keys from the other tps (they also have HP refills), but those can only be gained by triggering some doors, so start wondering around where you are.
Start going right, go until you get close to a chest/see the enemy, cast a scroll. Open the chest, and you found a scroll temporary which makes your scrolls destroy buildings. Try to get the best of this as the place is very annoying, and the enemy is ranged. I suspect the other rooms have the same feature, but can't bother, too complicated there. Just stick to one side for those.
The south room has melee monsters, thus the easiest. The north has dragons, and that's somehow feels harder. The west has ranged orcs, and they are overwhelming. Chunk them out, and retreat to patch up as needed.
SOLUTION:
West: go in, cast a scroll, run further SW, the 2nd chest is what you need: a ghost. It has enough time to clean 2 rooms. Also, right in front of the entrance is a Mask. Preserve that for now.
Next shall be south. Activate the triggerstone, then go a bit east to a chest, which has God Mode.
Next go East. Trigger the stone,and go for the Mask of Evil.
Next go North, activate the triggerstone and get out. Enter all the tps, the NW has the exit, so leave it last.
Every room open the chests along the triggerstone as there are scrolls. Never open the chests in the tp-rooms as they have armor/weapon, thus useless.

dungeon 38:
very annoying one. Chose these: right, left, left, right, right, left. This latest is super annoying, I got hurt most of the times (but worth being patient). There are only fire-oozes on this level (don't try the other way, that's for noobs to suck).

dungeon 39:
similar to the previous, so it's annoying to map.
Melee stuff is easier, so open only those doors, and choose: SE, SE, NE, NW. Shoot the chest right north of you (has a thief in it, murder it - or try to avoid touching the chest at all). To two chest on the north has all the HP you can need in them.
Pro Tip: first open the current gate, then shot the generator, THEN cast a scroll.
Torture Chamber Difficulty Status: 28 scrolls, 950+ HP, max stats, 10 souls (whatever that is).

dungeon 40:
before each room you get resources. Hope you still have keys for chests.
first room is filled with ranged orcs restricted to the walls, so get along one side slowly amushing each. Stick to the west side for the silver key.
second room has eletric plates, but only melee fading monsters (suspect they start from the alcoves too), so don't panic.
third has dragons - if still has scrolls, why not waste them.
go through the silver gate's tp for the resource-chamber of the boss. Elimininate the generators, then finish the game. Beware, if the bos hits you, it has the same effect as stepping on a lava-ooze!
Actualy, if you have like 40 scrolls, you can use them to eliminate all threats. Very convenient, especialy in the 2nd room with the invisible enemies.
Smaug has no sequence. Its behaviour is, if you are right in front of it, it spits a fireball. To be able to hit is you must be ALMOST in front of it, only a little sideways. It'll continue flying towards you, but won't correct its direction, unless out of screen. Sadly there isn't many HP in its room, and the twospeed-artifact in the northernside-chests are barely any help (and a bit dangerous with the lava-oozes around).
TRICK against Smaug: lure it on one side at the north, then run in to the other. Smaug will be stuck in the treasury (only available if you used the Silver Gate Key), and you can kill it with zero risk!

Attachment 2508

Hm, there IS an outro movie before the list of crew, but can't see anything because of coding. Oh well.
Btw, Torture Chamber Diff is unlocked:
for finishing the game not just Torture Chamber Difficulty isunlocked, but you can now choose at which dungeon you want to start you adventure.
TChD diff is the same as Hard diff (monsters cause 100 HP with no stat upgrade), only the HP-timer is like three times faster.
EDIT: also seems monster/generators have incrised HP, and the generators not just spawn stuff, but they do it continuously, so I think the whole thing is entirely impossible on this difficulty in the long run. And that length is not long. I did the first two dungeons, but...

EDIT:
Hard mode won:

Attachment 2509

EDIT: Torture Chamber Dungeon Difficulty won (Smaug Trick):


Attachment 2510

twillight 09-02-2019 01:35 PM

Get Medieval Barbarian (Beginner)
 
Barbarian being extremly slow, is very voulnerable to thieves. Best strategy here is to get back a bit from every chest, and cast a scroll if one appears. The scrolls on begginer - unless this game totaly not suits your style - are expandable.

On begginner the enemies are few,and the generators are slow producing, many times I simply walk over crowds w/o pushing the attack button.

Dungeon 6 has no golden keys, but the skeleton keys are more than enough.
the warp spot is at the start.


As all the levels on begginer are cakewalk to me (unlike to the polish woman), tried some of the cheat-codes, namely skipping to the next level (mpthewolf), and only did the maps with the bosses.
The later stages were harder, but again on begginner maps are chokeful with resources (namely HP).
rthe barbarian's only strategy is to stand and outdamage the enemy, and it works, with the exception of Smaug, where the Smaug Trick is advisable, but even there can only be pulled off by picking up one of the speedboosters (else it is too close and can circumgo the wall).
The generators at the bosses thus őéay no factor, or in case of Smaug will be slaughtered in melee.


Oh, and if anyone needs sources, here is the polish playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0hj...7CE913D33D4C1A


If someone manages to make the outro watchable, don't be lazy to show me! (the text for it is in the cast&crew list, the intro can be seen on youtube)

twillight 24-02-2019 02:26 PM

Tesla vs Lovecraft
 
Your pretty usualy terrible freemium game sold in shops.


It'sno that bad on the starting difficulty, but right when you try out the next one you face the unbalanced, untested state it actualy is.


The problem is, you don't get stronger by progress in the game, you don't get stronger by the game's shop, and the game heavily relies on random, which just ruins the experience.


You CAN get a stronger - if you get a shitton of ingame currency, what you can get by infinite grinding... Heared the patch helps a bit (places fixed stuff on maps, gives your STILL RANDOM first weapon sooner - TO A RANDOM PLACE so good luck picking it up), maybe a lot, but nah.
The DLC gives even more useless random stuff to the game, so avoid it like plague if you even play the game (it could have been a good game, but in its current state it's miserable).

twillight 25-02-2019 07:16 PM

Abomination, the Nemesis Project
 
Crap. I dunno if it is some new compatibility, or my spare widescreen monitor, but it doesn't start. Crap.


I'd even play this with the english dub at this point.


It is about a group of cyber-psy-soldiers fighting some alien-mutant epidemic.
You have twice the allowed manpower (8 person, 4 available for every mission) of this supersoldiers. Actualy, they are mostly twice the same, and you should not use the crappy versions.
You have Pyro who is just invaluable as can damage without ammo at periods any monster onscreen, including through walls.
There's the Strong Guy, whatever the name, he can carry equipment for you. If I'm correct he's invincible too (I mean resistant to damage, what means a shitton of extra HP in practice).
There's a medic guy.
And there's Mr. Invisible. Sometimes useful. His alternate version copies the monsters with the same effect, but the enemies are slow, he can't copy the giant monsters, and thus the skill has no duration, he's the only one I totaly avoid.
There's some explosive specialist who I don't care either, those more I don't remember.


The game has a hugh amount of variety for missions (capture the flag, kill all monsters, defend vehicle, defend scientist, hold on for X minutes, place special equipment, disable timed bomb, eliminate all sign of infestation and more), and has a badass atmosphere through mission briefings, cutscenes, and the monsters.


It was a totaly c00l game, I won't give up the hope GoG will one day resurrect it. If they add the german dub optional, I'd even give it 20 bucks for the copy. 15 for english only.

twillight 01-03-2019 07:12 PM

Dvinity series (Larian Studios)
 
Some problem occured...

The company underestimated the hardware-demand of their game for Dvinity: Dragon Commander, and my Win7 system (what is pretty strong in the 32 bit department) can not handle it. At least not when it comes to the actual combat. That's unfortunate.

I'm also in the complaint phase for Divinity: Original Sin (Enhanced Edition), because GoG made that seemingly 64 bit only, and forgot to tell aboutit. There's a vague hint that they can manualy change things somehow to 32 bit system... Awkward.

So I had to fall back on reading the story on the wiki, at least for Draogn Commander, and it seems they for the majority retconned the lore from Divine Divinity. No world-created-by-god-of-chaos, heck, maybe not even Seven Gods ever existed.
Of course no "original healer"-or-who ever mentioned again who gave the Helaers their powers, or created that magic-force-dome for the world the Healers draw their power from...
And I suspect the archmage/healer machinating in Divine Divinity got changed by name for Dragon Commander - at least the two look suspiciously similar, with suspiciously similar powers, significance, meddling, blurred origin and more...

Still a good series, and by the look of it Dragon Commander would bean ok-plus game after you decipher how to actualy play it... But I'd welcome some more consistent lore.


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


Divinity: Original Sin
After some trouble with Enhanced Edition being 64 bit, the original edition being 32 bit, my system being 32 bit, managed to instal the game.
The character creation ... caused some problems as almost no walkthrough exists, and not even the manual contains any of the usual info, like what the skills are, what they do...
And the wikia is not prarticularly arranged either. More problems, that the differences between the two versions (original and enhanced) are not particularly listed. I thought it's only that with the original version you can't dual-wield, but no, skills/spells are either renamed or added, as could not find Regeneration...


Still, managed to make a physical attacker, and a semi-useful mage (has summon spider, some magic attack, and a healing spell), will use only 2 NPC, one being the crafter/blacksmith/barter/identifier, so the Utility Guy.


Crap, NOTE TO MYSELF: pick thePet Talk (speak with animals) perk when it'll be possible!


The good news is, the game in theory plays. Will look into the whole thing later.

Smiling Spectre 04-03-2019 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 483400)
not even the manual contains any of the usual info, like what the skills are, what they do...

Um, didn't they explained right in game, during selecting it? (I forgot, it was too long ago...)
Quote:

And the wikia is not prarticularly arranged either. More problems, that the differences between the two versions (original and enhanced) are not particularly listed. I thought it's only that with the original version you can't dual-wield, but no, skills/spells are either renamed or added, as could not find Regeneration...
Actually, you will get access to the Pocket Plane somewhere in the first third of the game - and it will allow you to re-arrange your skills/attributes as you want, as I remember. There are no fixed classes here for main heroes, only presets.

twillight 04-03-2019 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 483402)
Um, didn't they explained right in game, during selecting it? (I forgot, it was too long ago...)

Actually, you will get access to the Pocket Plane somewhere in the first third of the game - and it will allow you to re-arrange your skills/attributes as you want, as I remember. There are no fixed classes here for main heroes, only presets.


No, unlike in the previous instalments, they didn't. And even previously you could only see the first unlocked tear.


Also, while the classes are not fixed (what is true, like for all the parts of the franchise), I read you loose all learnt spells etc., what is less than desirable.
And to be honest my style of gaming relies heavily on meta knowledge :p

Smiling Spectre 05-03-2019 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 483403)
Also, while the classes are not fixed (what is true, like for all the parts of the franchise), I read you loose all learnt spells etc., what is less than desirable.

Ah, really. I forgot. (They removed this bit in DOS2, BTW). But it's spells only, I believe. And spells are only money. And you will not have shortage of money in second part of the game. ;)

twillight 10-03-2019 08:49 AM

Lol, accidentaly removed Diablo 2 from my comp. Solves thatissue.


Triedto install Diablo: Hellfire, but it had some weird bug where it wanned more free space on the virtual drive - another thing I won't touch ever again I assume.
Diablo was a stupid game anyway, and Blizzard obviously only picked itup afterall those years because of their many losses.

Mystvan 11-03-2019 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 483414)

Lol, accidentaly removed Diablo 2 from my comp. Solves thatissue.


Triedto install Diablo: Hellfire, but it had some weird bug where it wanned more free space on the virtual drive - another thing I won't touch ever again I assume.
Diablo was a stupid game anyway, and Blizzard obviously only picked itup afterall those years because of their many losses.

To tell the truth, I do not believe / think you missed much of anything by “accidentally” removing Diablo from your Desktop...

It will save you from many bugs and waste of time. However, I suspect that my words and opinions are biased and not “valid” since I am a former fan of the Diablo series... *shrug* :dunno:

Smiling Spectre 12-03-2019 08:38 AM

Install now Path of Exile and waste a lot of time again. Mua-ha-ha.

twillight 12-03-2019 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 483417)
To tell the truth, I do not believe / think you missed much of anything by “accidentally” removing Diablo from your Desktop...

It will save you from many bugs and waste of time. However, I suspect that my words and opinions are biased and not “valid” since I am a former fan of the Diablo series... *shrug* :dunno:


I don't think either. Itjust felt so comfortable knowing I could without fuss, in an instant pull them out again.
They are not just buggy, but primaly BORING as heck.


Unfortunately, Path of Exile I bet can not run on my system.


I'll at a time do a blind run with Divinity Original Sin I, but not sure when.
Aside these, I don't rly have any games in my library to play. Sure, would be nice to nkow the story of G.O.L.E.M. (last race/difficulty remained unplayed), and sure Bladies (for which I lost my saves, and I think even the CD) would be nice to play, although I know that's hopeless (stuck forever on Pharao Mask level).


I'll just read ancient Superman comics for a while I think.
And maybe rewatch Bionaic Woman (2007).
Oh, and I should progress with Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I did the 0, 1, 2 parts, but there are still 3700+ pages left...

Smiling Spectre 14-03-2019 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 483421)
Unfortunately, Path of Exile I bet can not run on my system.

Well, this reply was for Mystvan mostly, but if you really intended to - try it. It's quite merciful to resources. At least it freezes on my system _orders_ less than D:OS2, and never grab so much processor times since new (3.0) build.

Drawback here is that it "starts playing" long before all textures loaded (easily detected by heavily working HDD and missing pictures in the inventory), so while it "works", actually it needs another minute or two to chew all data. But after that it quite light-loaded and responsive for all session. And it's info for a common SATA, not a solid drive.

Oh, and it's always online, if it matters for you, so sometimes can be unstable. Very rarely though.

Mystvan 14-03-2019 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 483420)

Install now Path of Exile and waste a lot of time again. Mua-ha-ha.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 483425)

Well, this reply was for Mystvan mostly, but if you really intended to - try it. It's quite merciful to resources. At least it freezes on my system _orders_ less than D:OS2, and never grab so much processor times since new (3.0) build.

Drawback here is that it "starts playing" long before all textures loaded (easily detected by heavily working HDD and missing pictures in the inventory), so while it "works", actually it needs another minute or two to chew all data. But after that it quite light-loaded and responsive for all session. And it's info for a common SATA, not a solid drive.

Oh, and it's always online, if it matters for you, so sometimes can be unstable. Very rarely though.

Ugh !!! Looks like a Nightmare! :sick: I appreciate your suggestion, but no thanks! :whops: :ouch:

I think the game should be renamed to Path to Hell. Or maybe the name is correct because it would be Path to Exile because the player / gamer would not have much patience and the game would literally be for Exile (uninstall) or Trash Can / Recycle Bin... :horse: :toilet:

Smiling Spectre 15-03-2019 12:47 PM

Well, it whole orders more involving than Diablo II for me. And you said you are fan of D2! Heretic! :P

Actually, it's easily can be finished in 2-3 weeks, on pace 1-2 hours per day, if you want the plot part only. But suit yourself, of course. :)

Mystvan 15-03-2019 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 483421)

I'll at a time do a blind run with Divinity Original Sin I, but not sure when.
Aside these, I don't rly have any games in my library to play. Sure, would be nice to nkow the story of G.O.L.E.M. (last race/difficulty remained unplayed), and sure Bladies (for which I lost my saves, and I think even the CD) would be nice to play, although I know that's hopeless (stuck forever on Pharao Mask level).

Well, it is very unfortunate that some developers are so childish and stupid to develop games, phases, puzzles humanly difficult to solve. Is this fun and encourages you to continue playing such game? :wall: :hairpull: :headslap: :palm:

The last puzzle of Legend of Kyrandia II, before the end of the game, the last 02 puzzles of the Machinarium, some puzzles in Adventure game such as Syberia II, etc. are “complex” without Walkthrough.

Although, some gamers disagree with me, I am clearly in favor of using any means of circumventing these annoyances so that you do not get stuck in a phase. :wall:

It would be a lot of frustration, waste of money and waste of time when you can not finish a game. Well, that would be my personal opinion. *shrug*

Ugh... I managed to solve the damn Puzzle in Forest of Solitude (Chocobo Forest), a Side Quest in FFVIII, because I bought $$$$$ the “blessed” Walkthrough / Guide published by Brady Games years ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 483435)

Well, it whole orders more involving than Diablo II for me. And you said you are fan of D2! Heretic! :P

Actually, it's easily can be finished in 2-3 weeks, on pace 1-2 hours per day, if you want the plot part only. But suit yourself, of course. :)

Yes, I’ve been a fan of Diablo and Diablo II, but there are better RPG games... ;) :OK: I hated it when you can not save the game when your character is in a place and needs to restart and face all those monsters again in Diablo II. :sick:

If at least the Diablo II save system was like Diablo’s (save where, when you stopped playing it) or save after a Check Point, it would be smarter and fairer in my opinion. :idea: Well, matter of opinion and personal taste. *shrug*

twillight 16-03-2019 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 483438)

It would be a lot of frustration, waste of money and waste of time when you can not finish a game. Well, that would be my personal opinion. *shrug*


Well, I'm not sure what u refer here exactly, but let me share my 5 cents.
I rely (heavily) on walkthroughs because:
- most games (like 90-99%) which have quest-system rely on two things: a) high enough level from quests b) quests which conflict with each other if you don't do them in the right order, so Quest A cancels Quest B easily. This is obviously donetoforce you to buy "official guides" and crap, even in the Age Of Internet. It's dumb, but it exists.
Many times grinding is not even possible as substitute.

- I am a bad gamer. Or at least not good. Idefintely lkack the skills to win a first person shooter multiplayer game, or any other game built on the first Quake's method. Thus I have to rely on tried methods. Sure, I adapt the guides to my own liking, but I definitely need support. So the games for me transform into some kinda interactive novels instead of the intended games.
Which is in a way bad, but on the other hand I don't realy mind.


Now none of the games I mentioned fall into this category.
Baldies almost surely has nothing special when you beat the last level. Sure, as I consider myself a pro in that game that's kinda bad news, but to be honest, that game has like 3 strategies for a hundred level, so who realy cares?
And for G.O.L.E.M. I'd need a crapload of times to do the last difficulty, but that game rly has like 1 startegy for all the levels (only with minor variation in units), and in theory the three stories are probably intended to be independent... But I felt excitement to interwave them. But it's darn repetitve in all respect, so I just drifted away years ago.


the last game I tried to solve w/o walkthrough was Maniac Mansion, but it was complex, I didn't rly speak english, it was looong (timed events and crap), no idea of the use of characters, and it even had bugs and unsolvable turn of events (getting captured too soon, turning the telescope the wrong way etc.).
I had to solve games like Warcraft 1, or Total Annihilation kingdoms myself, but even Heroes of Might and Magic 3 I only went relying on myself until a beastmaster level which took me literaly monthes to solve (I got into a twofront war, transporting my entire army all across the map every stupid turn).
Then I realised Fog of War is a stupid thing, and I only have like 10 fingers, and my reaction time isn't that great (for normal life it is perfectly fine, I'm just not to the point of jet-pilot), and I notoriously avoid using extra programs (clickbots, maphacks, etc), which all culminates to falling back on abandonedware :ph34r:

Mystvan 17-03-2019 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 483435)

Well, it whole orders more involving than Diablo II for me. And you said you are fan of D2! Heretic! :P

Actually, it's easily can be finished in 2-3 weeks, on pace 1-2 hours per day, if you want the plot part only. But suit yourself, of course. :)

Hmmm... :mhh: I think I would not even have to play Baldies to get baldie... :hairpull: :tease: Just playing this “blessed” game... :whops: :wacko:

I was a fan of the Diablo series because the story, the Characters interested me a lot. I kept reading the background of the Characters (NPCs), Religious Orders, Angels, Demons, etc. on The Arreat Summit years ago.

But after Blizzard’s bad joke of transforming the Diablo into a Shounen character (Diablo III and Expansion), I was very disappointed. It was really a waste of money and time for me.

twillight’s Post


I think I have “normal” (??) abilities, but I do not have the patience to keep repeating the same thing, phase, etc. several times. For me, it would be pure waste of time and nothing practical.

I would use Cheats such as Walkthrough, Cheat Codes, Savegame Editors, Trainers, as I have more interest in Plot, Storyline, Characters, Music, etc. than showing Dexterity, Expertise.

Smiling Spectre 19-03-2019 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystvan (Post 483438)
The last puzzle of Legend of Kyrandia II, before the end of the game, the last 02 puzzles of the Machinarium, some puzzles in Adventure game such as Syberia II, etc. are “complex” without Walkthrough.

Although, some gamers disagree with me

You knew. :P
Quote:

Yes, I’ve been a fan of Diablo and Diablo II, but there are better RPG games... ;)
It depends on what do you name "better". :) While there _are_ better games in different areas, Diablo established and D2 improved "standard" of what can be named now "Diablo-like RPG". I.e. main goal is the character and his loot. Monsters and even plot only secondary to it. And in this area not much RPG can overrun Diablo 2. PoE - can, easily.
Quote:

:OK: I hated it when you can not save the game when your character is in a place and needs to restart and face all those monsters again in Diablo II. :sick:
Then no, you will not enjoy PoE, unfortunately. Monster respawn is the core gameplay (how could you get all this loot otherwise?), so cannot be removed.

...But all of them are quite weak monsters...
Quote:

I was a fan of the Diablo series because the story, the Characters interested me a lot. I kept reading the background of the Characters (NPCs), Religious Orders, Angels, Demons, etc. on
Then you still _can_ enjoy PoE. There are _a lot_ of such info, as integrated into plot, as presenting in item lore, at NPC, etc. Again: stick to plot only to avoid too much frustration. :)

Mystvan 19-03-2019 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 483443)

You knew. :P

It depends on what do you name "better". :) While there _are_ better games in different areas, Diablo established and D2 improved "standard" of what can be named now "Diablo-like RPG". I.e. main goal is the character and his loot. Monsters and even plot only secondary to it. And in this area not much RPG can overrun Diablo 2. PoE - can, easily.

Then no, you will not enjoy PoE, unfortunately. Monster respawn is the core gameplay (how could you get all this loot otherwise?), so cannot be removed.

...But all of them are quite weak monsters...

Then you still _can_ enjoy PoE. There are _a lot_ of such info, as integrated into plot, as presenting in item lore, at NPC, etc. Again: stick to plot only to avoid too much frustration. :)

Hmmm ... Yes, I remember that twillight mentioned the term “hack-’n-slash”, typical in Diablo series in which the MC (Main Character) needs to eliminate the monsters, loot treasure and items, and the respawn of monsters allows enrichment and increase of MC’s level and skills.

However, the Drakensang series, although focusing heavily on the plot / storyline, side quests, also allows the respawn of monsters except for bosses that have been defeated and related cut-scenes. :OK:

I do not remember if the Dragon Age series had these characteristics as well. I almost completely forgot the details of when I played (at the time I was not feeling well years ago :sick:)... And another thing, EA had made an Official Savegame Editor available to anyone who wants to use and cheat... Although some things do not work well as increase the affection of your companions for MC... Well, it can’t be helped... *shrug*

Well, I already played not using cheats when playing Action, Platform, Strategy and Simulators, but I preferred the method easier, faster and more practical now.

Ugh! :sick: I increased the levels and abilities of the Characters in the game named Brave Soul by playing for several hours :smugulon: :roll: (without using cheats except at the beginning of the game as the Editor or Trainer increased the level only partially) and added unavailable information (about Items) in Guides and Walkthroughs available at that time.

twillight 29-03-2019 08:10 AM

Swamp Attack (again)
 
I always wondered how such a perfectly Free To Play game can exist.
You can win everything (if you pass some frustrating early grinding) without paying anything, and it is fun, and nice, and even the play-limiting charges last a long time (especialy considering battery charges).
Mentioning battery: it doesn't drain it like a hungry vampire, and if it deplets, you don't loose your progress, or your entire game (Plants vs Zombies 2 had such problem...).


The problem of the game is, it can not be extended indefinitely, because it doesn't rely exclusively on random and consumables (stuff you pay for), and most of the updates always were just putting more armor on the attackers.



But the latest update rly started to turn things into True 'Free' To Play, aka. Pay To Win.
The newly introduced Challenge Levels are damn annoying, the newest consumable is way too rare to find normaly, and doesn't even help in agood portion of those levels.
The newest shop-items depend on the Challenge Levels where you can not use them, and I'm not even convinced of their usefulness.


Not to mention the storyline was thin already, but these cutsy new animal enemies are making it paperthin. It can be they are the result of the ufos and the mad scientist's combined effort, but I'd need something substantial for this aside the bosses, pls.

twillight 05-04-2019 09:13 AM

Paladog (meat using Darkdog playthrough) 1
 
This idea is dumb, so I like the challenge.
I pick the unit-strenghtening abilities instead of the obvious mana-centered build, because why not. Will give a full list later.
Also, will max the units before stepping further each time. This will be a bit convoluted as Darkdog has a lot of spells cast from food, but whatever.

Until clvl 12 I could max the chicken totem, and 10 point in Warry (it stuns the enemy in range at the moment for period).
Had to exp/itemhunt up for lvl 18 to clvl 16,and used in sum +5 food amulets, and a Flame Blade. Thor's Hammer ate too much mana, the Ice Sword didn't do enough damage.
NOTE: because Warcry is crappy, started to invest into Boar, when finished the level, had it on slvl 9.

At lvl 22 I had to rush and unlock the Whale to make my totems permanent. It's realy a problem the Boar can only have as much attack as the chickens, and the next two units are not attack unit, but a healer totem, and an instant spell. And the warcry is a lot useless. So I'll have to strech a bit as needed I think.Currently have 10 in Boar already as they can work as meat shield for a small time, while the chickens are ranged.

At lvl 2/11 could win wild combination what I have, but couldn't win by 3 star because of the hawaiian stone heads. This means I'll have to unlock and use the Blade skill already... The problem is for this, have to get an expanded food pool, which I got not amongst the options until now during clvl 24 (each lvlup gives you 3 random choice from the whole pool). So I'll have to go back lvling.

For lvl 2/11 needed chickens, lvl 1 Whale, lvl 9 Summon Blade.

2/18 done with 19 Warcry, 16 Boar, 10 Blade. (Equipment: +3 flame sword, +13 food)

3/6 was another wall. Had to unlock Earth Totem, and have 17 in Summon Blade (and luck) to succeed. Note for this: have 200 max food, whatis kinda important for buffer. base swordis +6, flame sword is +5. +16 food from jewelry.
Aside this my major strategy for this build is to put down zounds of chicken ASAP, support themwith 1-2 whale, and stand back. Works on ranged enemy levels too, only have to stand a bit further, so the enemy comes out of the cave and can be hit.

3/13 caused a lot of problem, but gave the advantage to buff up my skills.SummonBlade got maxed, Chicken, Warcry, Boar was already, Whale is 13, Earth Totem (Bull from now on) is 14.
This is one of the sucker-levels,wherethe time-limit for 3 stars are shortened.

For 3/19 I was worried lacking any real power on Darkdog itself. Despite this, I tried, and got ok until Isaw the end line. There I just panicked and started smashing buttons: summon allchicken, and some boar - the boar managed to very very slow the trojan horse, while Iswinged mindlessly behind the cover of a Bull. Also used Blade to eliminate threats. Darn, I'll never look back to this.

For 4/2 had to grind up again. Blade is maxed, whale 15 and bull are 18.

Crap. 4/5 seems beyond my attack capability. Will have to unlock Eagle.
When done whale was maxed, bull 19, fire eagle is 6. Btw, eagle DOES get healed by whale, only it has almost no HP (like third of chicken), so it is very voulnerable. And Idon't care it for the enemy being invincible. In a crowd chickens are invincible too.

To slow down the next trojan horse used boar, for damage used eagle. It requires to catch the rythm, but solvable. Don't mind the giant skeleton boss minion, let it pass. +19 food, +9 flame sword.

The fok? With 3:54 level 4/11 is still only 2 star worth! That's ridiculous!
And I don't even know how I achieved this. Seems I found two major problems with the units: the whales do not add up, and the eagle somehow gets hurt when stepping out of protection, and the whale only enough to keep its HP not dropping, but they can not regenerate them.
Well, taken some risks, all maxed, eagle 16, +25 food, managed to pass it for 3 stars.
NOTE: turns out the whales are just really shitty healers when it comes to the eagle. Have to keep 2 running simultenously to heal them proper. Seems they do add up after all.

For 5-13 had to start using the dragon totem. The spear skeletons are just too advanced. Not that it ment any trouble, eagle being already maxed out, and had some leftover gold for the purpose.
I wonder if I'll atall need the last skill with this one.

For 5-17 I needed lvl 8dragon totem. Or I was friggin lucky not needing more, or even the last skill. Those spammed footbal-zombies, and ghost-paladogs are friggin annoying.

5-22: had to lvl 15 dragon totem. No more was needed to finish the game.

twillight 12-04-2019 09:27 AM

Might and Magic VII - challenge build
 
1 Attachment(s)
So, because why not, I planned the ultimate challenge setup. Well, unless you want to duplicate classes in your group, in what case I meh you. Go ahead and do a full monk party using only unarmed combat!

So, this party would consist:
- knight, thief, monk, ranger. Prime factor was to eliminate all the super-cheesey spells, like invisibility, and town portal. Ranger still provides Water Walk, so could be changed to Paladin, but that's a good healer, strong fighter, and would mess with the balance of the party. Also, it has Protection From Magic, which means immunity to all conditions, so I'd just go with Ranger.
- evil party, because if I'm correct, good-doers at some quest has to use invisibility to avoid combat, and that'd be a nuisance.
- to spare need of skillpoints, and because the Loot The Emerald Island Dragon Trick, hire a scholar (ID item), and an alchemist (repair item).

Skills:
knight: spear, sword, plate, bow, merchant, learning, body building, arms master. Skillpoints in demand: 288 (more, if you don't hire alchemist)
thief: dagger, sword, leather, bow, merchant, learning, body building, arms master, disarm trap, alchemy. Skillpoints in demand: 279 (more, and less effective if not hire a scholar)
monk: unarmed, dodging, bow, learning, body building, arms master, spirit, mind, body. Skillpoints in demand: 270 + staff gm (dualwields with unarmed -don't ask)
ranger: axe, shield, chain, bow, merchant, learning, body building, arms master, perception, meditation, fire, water, air, earth, ID monster (Ik now it's a dump-skill). Skillpoints in demand: 261

Artifacts and relics:
knight: gibbet, puck, yoruba
thief: hareck's leather, old nick, corsair (this is why the character learns swords, otherwise go with two daggers)
monk: hand of the master, ania's selving
ranger: governor's armor, ghoulsbane (or amuck. Not sure which is twohanded), ulysses, kelebrim
~class independent: hermes' sandals, seven league boots, forge gauntlets (dwarf only, quest reward), lady's escort (female only), hero's belt (male only), cloak of the sheep (quest reward), twilight cloak (maybe), the perfect bow (quest reward, likely you're better off with a random magic bow)
Too bad of course there's that 13 artifact limit.


Attachment 2511

From the possible skills Emerald Island does not teach bow, or chain mail. Neither spear or staff, but those're twohanded option, which I don't need with this party. And while armor skills come with their respective basic item, I just love merchant to get ASAP.
Also remember: the dragonflies respawn, the things in the dungeon do not, so start the mayhem there. The next thing is to get merchant to everyone, hire a Scholar, buy membership of the magic guilds. One of the wells heals you - if you run out of charges, go to the training center and trian ONE character ONCE. If/When you have to money, learn armor skills. When you have no other remaining option left, go and defeat and loot the dragon, then buy all possible skills, spells and whatnot to finaly leave the island.
I don't get the wand from the competitor, because I did in my first game, and found it useless and annoying.



I might not be able to play this game though, as I feel I get computer sickness (aversion of sea-sickness)

twillight 19-04-2019 11:12 AM

Might and Magic series party composition
 
1: the common agreement is, get 1 from everything, sex and race don't come to play, for the first 3 places put the melee fighters.
I don't like the sound of this game because the way of healing is by resting, and that has a random encounter chance, what practicaly means your party is executed.
Also, casting using gems sounds stupid.



2: I heared a lot of pre-plannig is demanded, because thereare things only men or women can hit... Sounds too much fuss.
Has a random time travel element (random is always bad), gem-casting... Not attractive by modern standards.


3: there appear skills, and sounds like resting is mostly fixed? Still heared start with the pre-made party like all the previous installments, because the game at the beginning is harsh, and because all the random numbers it is hard to create characters manualy.
Still uses the stupid gem-casting system.


4/5 (World of Xeen): this finaly looks like how they all should.
The race-advantages seem obvious, and judging the class descriptions there is a normal and an advanced version for all slots. Like Barbarian is an advananced but more restricted (aka. specialized) version of knight, rangers are modified druids, etc. Though I wouldn't pick ninja, because the only way to max out on thievery is using a Robber. Obviously for the same reason keep sorcerer/cleric in any party if you don't go for challenges.


6: there are ... not that many differences between the classes. Also, you gain a heckaton of spell points, and the spells are rock hard, so schoose paladin over knight.
Cleric and sorcerer in any group are obvious choice, and with metaknowledge and pre-planning you'll get light AND dark magic for them. Better for the most part make each specialize in one realm of those two though (make a chart of skill point which should invest in which).
Because of skill point limitations and strenght of the light/dark spells druid infinitely sucks, while Archer is an ok support character.
the mostcommon Challenge Party Build is knight/knight/knight/knight, because of the lack of spells entirely. Some tend to do a "let 3 character die" run, but I find that stupid beyond measure.
Advantage ofthe game is, it is hugh, and feels epic.



8: ye, as this one is way easier to make the case than 7. The problem is twofold, aside the generaly poor design (what is mostly because rushed production). One: you start with 1 character, and have to pick the rest later, some of which are available very far in the game (especialy troll. you just get trolled by that). Two: you start in a heavily attacked area with constant, infinitely respawning, not weakling enemies, while firestormis even hailing on you. That sounds like you need a character with though skin and musclues RIGHT NOW. So start with troll, or you're most probably dead before taking three steps.

Also, the dragon while not a starter race (there are no classes anymore for some reason) is friggin overpowered with its no-mana AoE-attack and stuff.

The game is not entirely a waste, but is very straightforward, not fitting in the open world design of the series.



7: this has the most variations when it comes to party building.
The game itself is fun, but has SOME flaws. There is the problem of gaining Town Portal as bare minimum is very far in the story, because of a difficulty peak, what feels unusual after MM6. Then there is the Invisibility spell, what is while necessary, and narratively connected, just feels cheap. Then there is the first maybe third of the game where you'll face a ton of timed events, what just gets in the way constantly.
The preset party is probably the strongest, partly because spells are changed since MM6, so not that useful, and apaldins don't gain that much HP either. So a combination of cleric with knight is awesome, because the spell Shared Life is very overpower.
Sorcerer is again a powerhouse when it is not unconsious, and thief is like a glass cannon. Shields are no longer the best choice either, so dualwield for it and knight is advisable. Stealing is stupid though, not just because there's no indication of the chances, and always being a chance to get caught, but for the fact that MM7 shops don't have good stuff to sell unlike some MM6 shops. Also, that dragon is very much defeatable at the start,and you can loot it through your nose, and believe me, players do.
There is also the problem of advancing your skills, because the teachers are many times are behind difficulty peaks. So while certain classes seem viable alternatives on paper, like monks with their unarmed combat, they are a though choice to make because of that.
Archer pretty much don't have an advantage inany field, and Ranger is only there if you realy sruggle in the early phases.
And druid is just bad with all its lame promotionquests, bad weapon choice (youwant to give dagger to the thief, not the druid), lack of dark/light magic... Still ONCE picking it along the dark path is fun, for the dragon familiar. It does nothing (appears as an extra hireling if I recall correctly), but it's cool.

twillight 20-05-2019 11:47 AM

Thought I'll give another chance to pokemon trying a later installment - the latest I found was Diamon. Then I found out it got rmeoved, or otherwise unaccessible.


Well, I tried Nintendo, I tried. But I can't make myself to like your products.

twillight 23-05-2019 03:51 PM

Pokemon Gold
 
1 Attachment(s)
Ok, so I found a later instalment, had to settle for this.

Man, this game is terrible. Not because it is bad, although it IS bad with its serious design flaws, but terrible because this is THE EXACT SAME GAME to the point of dialogues as the Red/Blue/Yellow versions. There is only 1 pokemon game, and many versions of it.

You want to build your own team? Fuck you, says the game, because you have very limited options.
The game is also very linear,youcan't just go around.
You also desperatly need meta-knowledge because of all the limitations.
There's no infinite money either, which for all random based games should be a must. Given that the items disappear after 1 use, this is again a crappy design.

Also, while this is supposedly a gen 2 game, two third you encounter early are gen1 pocket monsters. WHY?
The options for the crew is limited further by the available skills. I mean, why is it so hard to understand I want eg. an earth type with EARTH move?
There's also the vastly unfinished quest of the unowns.

The graphics is also the same as red/blue/green/yellow, only given some very ugly colouration.

Oh, and I didn't mention: there's a day-night cycle now! Ye, limit the accessibility of the already thin options further! That'll show 'em!

----------

Other problems here are:
- the game is way too simple, no backtrack, no fun
- some special moves are demanded very soon, so you either put in an HM-slave, or make the sacrifice. I use as starter chicorita, so I can do the sacrifice, lucky me (did not plan for this)

- there are some stupid local contest - on certain gamedays. I could care less keepinga tab on those
- there's a guy who makes free pokeballs. I have no idea what type of raw material does what, and I even forgot about the guy because it uses the daynight cycle toproduce the result, what is just stupid.
- half the game is actualy post-game. You heared right: you win the champion league, and you have an equal amount of game to play still. That's stupid. Well, betterthan going in some cave, and throwing the masterball on MU2...

With all the double-types, and limitations,and crap, I have no idea how good my team is. I currently use 4 pokemon, and carry a 5th in case of disaster: bayleef, machoke, graveler, pidgeot. I'll need an HM-slave to learn surf, because w/o the red gyarados the progress is blocked, and for that surf is demanded. That's stupid. And my surfer would be Sneazel, what is a gen 2 pokemon, but is in the post-game only, in the gen1 territory! That's just stupid.
My 5th pokemon will actualy be jynx, and the 6th against the elite4 likely after all the above crap the legendary mon. If I don't quit sooner of course.

Oh, the game notoriously strips you from your money too, and the ghost-gym just lubs to make all your pokemon sleep, then murder them. That's very stupid.

----------

So, the game is not even consequent. Not all items are one-times. The exp-share is continuous. But is an item which must be held. And it is also bugged, because it does not share exp if you only used 1 pokemon in the battel - then it multiplies the exp be 1.5. Genious. Oh,and itdoes not share exp for the whole group unlike gen1 games. No, it only shares between the fighter(s) and the holder!
Btw, found out umbreon is a thing here, so fok sneasel. But creating an umbreon is a pain in the arse.

Training my eevee diverted my attention, so my pidgey(ot) remained semi-low. Had to spice things up, and make it lvl 29 to beat the fighting gym on that island. Could have used just the stupid gyarados, but don't wanna. I'll probably suck, because that gyarados is overpovered again.


And that fokin' "friendship"-system is ultimately borken. Unless you get a friendship-ball, which I doubt appears in this game - ok, does, but fuck knows, and gaining it from all the acorns would mean a week or more doing nothing -you have just no chance. And if you are working with a shitty bought-in-the-shop pokemon, like eevee, then you're screwed for good to walk up-and-down for hours, doing nothing.
Ye, in theory you could go and level up your mon, but that'll ruin the gainable abilities, so fuck Nintendo.

-----------

As far as I can see the main problemwith these "games", is:
- there is no difficulty, only grinding
- 90-99% of the game you meet pathetic, negligable enemies who don't even count as filler
- sometimes you meet enemies the same level as all the other enemies, but they are 10 times tougher in every aspect than the others. And it's not about type advantage, or other bullshit, because you still have that by the charts
- oh yeah, these games heavily rely on serious amount of meta-knowlegde
- but the games don't come with a manual
- the games do not give you ANY informations about what to do. I mean how to win. I mean the stupid Elite Four and other final enemies. Given that the grinding is heavy, most of the exp comes from trainers you can't re-battle (where the average fight gives you 100 exp, a trainer-fight gives you 2,000 per pokemon!), it is realy shitty thing.

Comparsion of Red/etc. vs Gold/etc. Red has way more things to discover, and however annoying you do meet the rival at significant points, and crap.
On the other hand, Gold might have more reasonable puzzles.

Crap in Gold: one location of the transition houses (the bug garden's) takes away your bike. It's way better than Red/etc. which does this at each building of course, still, this is an oversight.
The Ice Path cave does not demand Flash. Another oversight.
Thias fokin' piece of shite gives you a lvl 20 ice stuff where your team is lvl 40, and the ice is the demanded type for the local gym. Just fok off game.
There's way too few EXP in the game, and let's mention you constantly have to use surf,and other crappy HM-moves, so likely can't go by full party mostof the times. Yes, there's anHM-remover NPC in the game, but itisn't as big a help as you can't just store your abilities in a pool, theyare a now-or-never offer at lvlups.
Oh man, Johto doesn't even has its own League. The League is again in Kanto. How lame. It is also fokin far away from anything, and there's nothing to grind you up aside pathetic lvl 10 wild mons, which feels like when South Park went WoW. So fok you game.

Yet another problem is, the game is highly luck-based, but w/o any pay-to-win variation even. Tostart with the legendaries, you either capture them as the first move (or have a fast pokemon which can make it sleep, and succeeds with it too, because those never hit 100%), or they are gone for good.
Then there's the fokin champion league. Every fight is practicaly a 1HKO match, and is randomised, and the things have such moves wich contradict all preparation - making the whole thing entirely luck-based.
Given the waypoint-system, distances, the number of fights and so on, your chance to win legit any of these game is negligable, maybe 2%, or less. Unless you seriously overlevel of course.


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


Well, with a lvl 40 (as average) team, beat it:


Attachment 2513


The team when going in, and when leaving:
graveler: lvl 38/39, magnitude, rock throw, rollout, strength

umbreon, the Dark Lord: 41/45, quick attack, tail whip, faint attack, bite

meganium: 41/41, cut, flash, razor leaf, body slam

jynx: 40/41, lick (removed atlevelup for body slam), lovely kiss (was absolutely vital to beat houndoom and charizard, very cheap move), powder snow, ice punch

pidgeott: 40/41, wing attack, fly, sand attack, quick attack (this is a good finisher in desperate situations)

machoke: 41/42, rock smash, leer, seismic toss, karate chop


Status moves in this game aside sleep are not worth it. From the enemy the confusion effect was used,and that's annoying. Some burn also happened, almost negligable. Poison happens too, but way less than in the first games, so that's almost ok.



Aside the mons items used in the final challenge: a lot of healing potions and superpotions. Actualy all that I found in the game. Around halfway found a nice mapping what was not that much needed, but helped find the hidden items (which I mostly did not use). With 1-2 superpotion (50 HP) exception allwere used before the last fight.
Had to revive twice: that Foretress obviously blew up, and the gengar made a "we both die" curse. My HP not being way too high, did not use max heal/hyper potions to replenish those, only normal potions.


To be honest, I'm somewhat proud.


But the post-game... I looked it up a Let'splay, and it is completly empty, like the Dargon Cave, that other cave, the Unown quests... These all feel unfinished.
The post-game only has empty streets, another set of gym-battles, and a final fight against the previous game's protagonist, who has stupidly high (ca. lvl 80) crew, so fok that I say. Sure, even w/ the empty streets that's a challenge for the grind-baring dedicetd people, but could have been for everyone if they'd give enough exp there. Also, the majority of the pokemons are not found in the story-mode (although if you want some stuff from the Victory Road you can grab them as soon as you have surf, but nah).

twillight 26-05-2019 08:02 PM

As there is only 1 pokemon game, I don't want to invest in them any more, but I can check out some reviews how the series changed.
And I do mean the game series.
The anime has nothing to do with the games' canon, or progress, or mostly anything.

So, there was red/green/yellow/blue/pikachu/eeevee/firered/leafgreen. It was a grindfest, but the idea was good considering the technical limitations, it even delivered for its time, I think. The definitive version is Red. Despite obviously Red starting with a picachu after all, the yellow version's protagonist is Yellow, k?

Gold/silver/crystal/heartgold/soulsilver added a daynight-cycle, threw out the overcomplicated and struggling puzzles, modified the pokemon pool, gave a real postgame (throwing a pokeball on a mon in gen 1 was a joke), unfortunately took away a lot of happening for the sake of time-related events. They also threw out the "cath 'em all" slogan, here you don't gain enough EXP to lvl up and lead through all form-changes your mons, and there are no quests to encourage you to, trading pokemon with NPCs also lacking. Although I preplanned to not catch the stupid mons to be honest. The definitive edition seems Crystal, purely for the full pool, as the story does not differ, and Suicune was made part of the story there.

Ruby/sapphire/platinum/omegaruby/alphasapphire I heared threw out the time-related jizz fortunately, and integrated both version of evil team. I feel this was a good idea, making the experience of the split games athand of the player (at least on paper, no idea how it went in real). They threw away the continuity with gen1-2, so it is a reboot so to say. The pool got mixed of course, won't mention this any more. The definitive edition is emerald story-wise, sounds a bit letdown they changed the champion's character for that though.
Here they also added some more stupid randomization of stats (I never looked at the stats), and ... pokemon food? I never give my team any consumables if I can avoid, so limiting my options there doesn't help your case. The double fights just give even more real life luck factor, so big nah.
The post-game sounds fun.

Diamond/pearl/platinum: the definitive version is platinum? Well, the start was in gen 1-2 that "10 years Ash Katchum", and gen 3 "you saved me, here is a bioweapon, go fight terrorists", here found a mixed balance.
Sadly the double battles are still there. The strangest thing seems how the base motive for the enemy boss is changed from the games to the anime series.
The graphic is definitely updated.
The worst thing related sounds this gen games being slow. Slow walking, slow animations, slow story... Oh,and don't forgettocatch a beaver forHM-purposes they all say. Crap, it even has the real-time crap back :(

Black/white/black2/white2 - sounds a bit greedy, eh? Not just 1 merged version, but new versions of the originals? Can I take this as a sign of degradation? the franchise loosing its steam, hm?
The Enemy Team is not a shady organisation anymore. the gym-leaders have civil jobs too.
No optional areas, linear progress, to much story?

X/Y: too easy? still restricts on the main appeal, mega evolution forms?

Sun/moon: does not let you play. Feels like that Gorky17-look game with HoMM design, which had every turn every character blurped some randomness you had to click away to getdone with the turn...

...

pikachu/eevee: instant remote access to all cathced pokemon? new special hardware device restrictions to be able to play the game? Another gen1 remake? Leave me alone.

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

Yes, Black/White/black2/white2 were definitely cashgrabs. They tried to sell part 1-2 based purely on the story. Don't make me laugh.
There was also no improvement on the hardware. Seems every"generation" also ment a new console - except for this four. Lazy, lazy Nintendo.
So, I just found out b2/w2 are gen 5.5? b/w/b2/w2 are either not a new gen given no new console, or b2/w2 a completely new gen given their story is not identical to the original games...
b2/w2 seemed to even want to get rid of the "become a pokemon champion" theprotagonist simply fighting the local team of problem, showing no intention competing the traditional way according to bulbapedia.


PS: the b/w game(s) are the last existing on roms, and the next "two" generations exist on a new 3d-console,which of course no actualy 3d, but are using 3d textures. Well, Doom could do that, hack, even Wolfenstein could do that.
And to be honest, I'm nota fan of this 3D, makes seizing up the map pretty hard, and given the puzzle-mechanics you WANT to be able to see as much of the map as you can.

twillight 27-05-2019 09:47 AM

even more pokemon
 
Just in case you want to know what moves are in demand for these games:

red/etc.:
1. cut (decent physical attack)
2. fly (this is fast travel)
3. surf (decent water attack)
4. strength (decent physical attack)
5. flash (decent chance to not get hit attack)

gold/etc.:
1. cut
2. fly
3. surf
4. strength
5. flash (in this game it never worked for me)
6. whirlpool (i think only for puzzles on water)
7. waterfall (i think only for puzzles on water)
8. rock smash (this is TM, ok rock move I think)
+1: some NPC said headbutt (I think regular fighting move) can be used to fish from trees. Did not try.
I suggest using a water HM-slave with surf + whirlpool + waterfall.

twillight 27-05-2019 06:06 PM

pokemon emerald
 
Ok, I'm weak.

To make this run I needed yet another emulator. It lacks the ability of instant save, multiple save slots etc., so gives a "real pokemon experience" . Darn them. The one used for the gold lacks memory to run it stable unfortunately, but might use that for the League, as it can run...

So for Red used: VisualBoyAdvance Emulator 1.80-beta 3
For Gold used: GBE+ 1.2
For Emerald used: No$GBA 2.8d (crashes if you press B-button, can't properly create fog-effect, so looking for a substitute). UPDATE: 2.9d seems to have the same problem.

The graphic is updated to the level of Baldies, though the size of the game got noticeably bigger.

No real idea about my team. Seems there are no given away pokemons anymore, and the charts just didn't help (unless I want the exact same group as before).

You can't name your rival, and the basic story is: here is a bioweapon, now go and play outside, amongst murderous beasts!
It will be a weird experience if you chose female as your gender, and named yourself Pussy. Things like "now I understand why my dad has en eye for you", or "I bet you have easy way with all the pokemons" get weird second meaning.

The game feels now less of a handheld quartz-game than some jrpg, without the rpg part of course.
The real problem here is, you don't get quests, so when the story and fighting parts follow each other, they don't feel intervowen. Needs better pacing next time. Also, the intro sectionat the beggining is the most annoying thing since a long time.

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

walkthrough:
- start with sceptile. It is an ok pokemon, and grass isn't common around while water is. And fire sucks.
- get yourself a Ralts if you are lucky, or have the patience. It is psychic, so by definition is a good pokemon.
- get yourself a lotad too, and level it in random encounters to lvl 14. It'll be your prime HM-slave, not even needed to upp it to its final form. Give it when it comes Surf, Waterfall, Dive, and one more from strength/flash/rock smash. Make it rock smash Don't be too hasty giving it moves though, I have no idea when HM-remove will be available. Wouldn't want to waste such a good slave.
- get yourself a slakoth as third. With lotad -> lombre learning surf, flash, waterfall, dive and slakoth learning cut, strength, rock smash, you only need to teach fly to your permanent team, what is the Fast Travel function, soyou want it on you!
- try to avoid two trainers noticing you, because double battles are problematic.
- don't explore too much, the exp-share (doubles the exp as usual) is near
- passing the 2nd city get yourself a nincada. It'll serve as slave for a while, as it can learn cut (not mandatory for now), and flash (first demanded HM).
- on the way delivering the letter, in the cave capture yourself an aron. It is a good pokemon for fighting.
- after delivering the letter, GO BACK TO PETALTOWN for the exp-share! Now you can backtrack if you want cutting trees.
- the electric gym is a problem. The mons are too tough, and deal hugh damage. Oh,and don't even hope to outlevel the buggers. If gen2 (Gold/etc) had EXP-problems, this gen has even more. I have a lvl 22/20/20 team, and there's nothing else to do!
Ah, I see what's the problem: THE STARTER YOU'D'VE NEEDED IS MUDKIP. Fuck this shit.
NOTE: managed tofind the quicksave feature, so fuckyou Nintendo. With that could avoid the fucking shockwave where it was cruical, and the fucking random factors,and the fucking criticals. Made the voltorb selfdestruct as first move, then got rid of the 2nd enemy, then for the last two my strategy was to send out my sceptile screeching and fainting, then with enough weakened my mudshot could eliminate the enemies. That ment revive on sceptile to be able to do its stuff on manectric. There some Soda Pop for healing was necessary too.
What you actualy would need here is a bloody ground type. Big news: there are only fokin' two up to this point: mudkip, or nincada. If nincada evolves, you getfokin' screwed, just tellin'. And it doesn't get any ground move which you're looking for to cause any damage until lvl 31, and believe me, manectric can hurt you hard with its quickattack whatis normal type damage! And no, there is no TM (teachable move) in the game in ground element, so you're fucked in the arse without lube.
There might be SOMETHING though. An easter egg. Fok it, I go and check it out.
SUPERNOTE: Seriously, I sometimes wonder if people played these games. So, what I did was lvl up my nincada to 20, which made my aron to almost lvl 30 (during the gym-battle it became 30). Took like 1-2 hour grinding, but it did worth it. What is important here is you get Sedinja, the 1 HP pokemon.

Coorection: ok, there's Geodude. There are maybe halfa dozen gen1 mon reappearing, I just couldn't care for those.


Here is how the gym-battle goes:
#1 Voltorb: it has rollout, and can blow up. I had a lvl 20 Sableye to hold it up, but it actualy doesn't matter. If it gets hurt, especialy if it got healed by a potion, bring in aron because it'll selfdestrruct, and that hurts ca. everyone but aron. The problemhere it can do rollout, what is super effective on Sedinja.
#2 it's a midle-diff thingy which you are not allowed to touch. This later part is the problem, because if you touch it'll paralyze you,what you don't want. Aron can deal with it pretty good with mudshot. Will likely get healed by a potion, but it realy isn't the hard part.
#3 this is a magnemite. Start here with sceptile. If you chose torchic, that's your fault. If you have the mud-thingy, this whole conversation never comes up, move along. Do as many screech as you can. Let sceptile faint, or if aron has enough HP (heal in sceptile's turns)/you have ton of supplies, just switch pokemon. Simplest thing is to let sceptile faint, especialy if your team is around lvl20. Then mudshot the bugger. It hits hard, and has some nasty tricks, but you should be able to defeat it after the screeches.
Do NOT bring in Sedinja yet, because it has a tendency to counfuse yourt units, and that's lethal.
#4 this is where you bring in Sedinja. Manectric can't do squat against your bug-husk-mon. And despite nincada had 2 HM on it, the remaining 2 slots were good enough: screech and bug-fury.

For the fire gym they told all kinds of strategies - mine was simple. Lvl 35 aron's 2nd form headbutt first. Has enough HP to survive the first overheat, just patch up via potion or something when that happens. This gym again has thatbuggy fog-effect, but that's why maps on the net are for.

Until now the puzzles practicaly missing with the exception of the annoying mach-bike feature. The rival is mostly missing, actualy every character seem to do its own stuff just like you. It is a bit boring, but I get the concept. Also seem to have some daddy-issue.Btw,daddy isa cheater. His linoon knows a lvl 53 move...
His mons are no problem though, only slaking which has immense amount of HP. So I sent out Sableye to leer to the point of fainting, then brought back aron. That mon practicaly carried me throw all the game until now!
My crew is at lvl 20 or below, except the main three. Gardevoir reached its final form, aron and sceptile are working on that.

NOTE: if you need some reasoned grinding,don't forget that the first two lute might be ok to have. Justdon't use repel. Never use repel.

pros:
- no day/night cycle harassment to the player

cons:
- the AI just luves to abuse superstrong items, like healing its mons from 1 HP to max, just because it can.
- the extra content, like making that kid laugh, fishing feebas, and other crap are waaay to random to have any interrest aside the most hardcore.
- super low chance to capture pokemons. There are 3-5% capture chance, meaning 1:20 ball average for those!
- not registering all the pestering NPCs is impossible. Deleting their annyoing calls is impossible. Good news though: they don't call that often as in gen2.

neutral:
- seems I can't get the poison status. But life isn't easier, as instead regularly get paralyzed.

twillight 30-05-2019 11:12 PM

pokemon emerald #2
 
Ok, who the heck is Steven?
There's the neighbour-guy who is kinda a rival, but more of a friend, and there's Wally (Monkey Island TM) who is a kinda mentored greenear. No idea about Steven.

With the Good Rod went and catched a Whailemer. A lvl 20 had both watergun and rollout what I looked for in case I'll use this mon. I have to start thinking of expanding my team, as my three sure start to all reach their evolution levels.
I catched quite a lotos interresting looking pokemon, just to be on the safe side, but I have no idea. There start to be too many stats. Previously it was enough to know the type, and a correction with double type, now the stats seem a bit important, and moves working with the team, and "nature", and all kinds of crappy minute detail, what'd madden an accountant even. The whole thing falls back to overleveling and button-smashing.

Oh, another excuse for grinding, though this'd've been best for the beggining: found only ONE trade-mon-NPC whowants a ralts for some negligable stuff. Still, if you need an excuse for grinding abit, there's that.

BIG CON:fishing was turned into a minigame. Finding a spot where you could actualy catch anything was a though call already, but now it is a blink-or-miss minigame, for what you have to press a series of buttons to start with. Also, betterrods don't necessarily make better options, as they can change the pool, cutting you from what you want. And the superrod comes way too late. The old rod still stinks though.

weird thing: the mimic-circle group is made by bug-users. In a place w/o any bug appearing...

annoying thing: certain parts of the game can only be reached by a specific type of bike. Given they are far away from the shop, and you can't fly until the endgame, walkthroughs should mention which to use when.
Until now the mach bike was needed in Dewford Town, and for/at the Mirage Tower. The acro bike only cames to play in route 119. No, you don't need special bike on Mt. Chimney.
These are all optional areas, but still.

Team Aqua is seriously stupid. I'd care for my business, but they blocked the way. From ONE direction. Not the way I'm coming from. And they don't let me pass. They are too stupid to win.

Btw, I swear for this game Ispent more time with charts than with the game itself. I start to come to the conclusion what I need is the "doubl" effectiveness chart, which tell what attack type is good against what being, then choose skills and units according to that. The type-comparsion charts only good to tell the type immunities.

Oh: decided that my remaining units will be: flygon (because it is immun to electric attacks, and can fly), sableye (because its immunities), and regice (because the ice department is lackluster).

After you get the Surf, you should go to the Flying Gym (#6), but before that goand surf through to Dewford Town with your weaker pokemons (maybe after you collect the first three flutes: blue, yellow and red as the enemy lvl is lower there). That provides good exp. My trapinch evolved there, so can learn fly.

GEN 2 MONS IN THE GAME:
- marill
- wobuffet
There are a couple of others, but only in the endgame, so who cares.
But there's a surprising amount (like two dozen) gen 1 mon too in the game. They arenot too relevant in encounters, but yes, they exist.

Beware, that if you want a cacleon, their number is limited (I think, because they are puzzle). So catch the first you come across. No idea why'd you want any unless filling the pokedex though.

Wow, there's a chance for a Master Ball every day. 1:100,000, but there is.
Fuck pokemon. #PokemonsR4Food

Now Mossdeep City: until now the puzzles were perfect. Hard, but not annoying. But this shitty island is in the middle of literaly nowhere. No border-rocks, no swimmer sign the way. Just who designed this??
Oh, fok whoever made the psy-gym double battle. I fortunately chose the right team to deal with this shite...
And the ALL Dive-area is covered with the bugged fog-effect, so I won't get those items.

TIP TO HELP DIVING WITH EMULATOR: dive down first, then immediately dive up. This makes you see the screen as intended. Immense help to get inside Team Aqua's hideout.

Tips on storing items:
The storage-system is weird at best. The main point is, you want to keep every item that has a special inventory place on you (like berry, TM/HM) because those places never fill up.
Second: you want every type of items in one big pile. So those you find multiply copies (potions etc.) you want to keep on yourself).

To get the the three Regi-mon: first fish yourself on route 129 while surfing a lvl 39- whailmer. I catched a lvl 38. Run away any encounter, don't want the grinding. Train this to lvl 40 to create a wailord. That'll need minimal grinding. Your other chance is same place, surfing, but thatonly has 1% chance for the right ... not-fish.

Get in route 124, and dive in the middle of west in the 1-hex spot. That place is filled with see-weed, aka. grass underwater, so you'll encounter wild pokemons. Relicamp is there. Let wailmer grind up here while hunting (if it runs out of moves, just give it the exp-shere which is no longer bigged in this game, aka. gives no extra exp).
Do the rest by the walkthrough on the net.

Capturing the legendaries (at least the regice) is even worse than a regular low catch-rate pokemon. 0.3% catch rate, no repeat chance w/o reloading, self destruct/flee possibility is just plain trollish. Even if you pull out 40 rounds and use aTimer Ball like I did, and the thing is at 1 HP, your chance's like 1:100, maybe.
TECHNICALY you could also go against Rayquaza at this point. It is lvl 70 though, so fok you hopes. Actualy, it is not that bad, if you have some ice-attack (Regice suffice), and some screech to lower its defences (my sceptile has it). Lower its HP,and wait until it puts itself in sleep. Yes, it can regenerate by sleeping. This is good for us now, because this gives immense bonuses to the catch-rate. And either way, it has double catch% than Regice.
PS: didn't went for the other regis, as they don't interrest me, but the other time don't want to waste them either, but can't bother catching them by reloading a lot.

Oh, aside the whole list of HMs, which are 8 in numbers, and all of it demanded at some point,you also need Dig as a 9th if you do the sidequests too.

The Victory Road is longer than anyone would imagine.

The last gym also has a trick in its purse: you MUST have surf on your party to get in. Stupidity on square.

My team when entering to the Elite Four: 50/50/50/49 (sceptile)/44 (don't realy care, because Sableye's prime purpose is to be immun and thus be safe -> important because of the ghost elite -> need lvl 50. Do NOT teach it shockwave TM 'cause its crappy stats! Teach that to gardevoir, so you have bigger puffer to avoid those stupid restoration potions). And if all else fails, I'll reload and swap in Rayquaza (lvl 70).
Also: grass is a pretty bad choice here as Milotic has too much HP AND knows ice attack, and wailord knows fokin hard ice attack! Obviously you were supposed to start with Mudkip, and bring electric pokemon in the team, and likely absol as your dark unit.
You absolutely need Ice Beam as an attack, and regice is a good user of it. Against Glaile you better have some steel move, so aron is a solid choice still. You need a psychic mon against tentacruel, and Gardevoir is a solid choice, which can do electric special attacks (buy the TM), and can make things sleep as last resort (60%, and can wake the next turn, but whatever, that's why saves are for). Kingdra is a big F U, try something that has some resistances at least against this overleveld piece of shit.


Ye, that's about the game.
For post-game you can overlevel in the Victory Road, and there's the Trick House's irrelevant last trick(s).
As single-player you can do the Battle Frontier (that was a good part of the anime), can get the other fossil (not instantenous, so counts as a bit of valid exp-grinding, can get all the remaining legendaries (any regis and rayquaza you didn't care, also groudon/kyogre), can beat up Steven yet again (who the heck is he?), can get a claydoland win every contest if you so much care, and that's it realisticly speaking.


PS: just to mess you with one more time, entering the Champion's room automaticaly starts the battle.

twillight 05-06-2019 07:53 PM

Pokemon Platinum, or the death of a franchise
 
The interface is a definite improvement, don't mind me. Now you don't have to hassle to know what your TM/HMs do because every instance the game is telling you. The character cards are comfy. In the menus you still can't jump from top to bottom, but whatever. The graphic is definitely improved.


Then come the problems.


The Current Evil Group is just like the previous: wants to destroy the world, because they are stupid. The fact that the writing is inconsistent doesn't help.
There is no other character in the game. Ok, there's a rival, and that annoying champion-woman-or-who, but their appearance is very irregular.
The intro sequence is darn annoying, every half second interrupting you with a cutscene.
The majority of the game has nothing to happen in it. The whole thing feels empty, not just because it is empty without any event, but because the maps became quite simple. No need for backtracking, you don't have to memorize stuff, just go ahead in those hugh fokin places (so use a premade map, else you'll grow beared, women too).


There are too many environment-interacting moves, and you never know which you'll need, what leads to metagaming. Especialy because even w/o Flash you can actualy see a bit of sorrounding here.


And I dunno, but till the first/first two Gyms got insane amount of exp, like to be lvl 20-25. After that the 3rd felt like I stopped, only got two/three lvl 28-30 mon.


Oh, and I'm still not sure about my party. First is, the guides don't prepare against psychic mons, and they somehow mostly missing? Fire mons also missing. Electric mons seems punny mostly,although midgame a couple appeared, but hardly the threat as before.


To be honest for the first 2 gyms you could go with chimchar, and that's it. For the next 2 you can use Rotom, which feels a lot like Sableye, but with more powerful moves, but it seems to cover what I'm missing from the guieds, so it seems a keeper.
On the other hand the selection is thin, but also the exp isn't that great when I compare to the opponents' level - I can barely keep above them only using like 3 mons. Planned more, but I practicaly dumped them not finding any use for them, while struggling finding exp to pull them to my main(s)' level.


And I think I have a hunch why the games' quality decline despite the obvious improvement on the technical side.
First: what are the pokemons? "Charizard" stuck in my head as it is "a dragon". Pidgey stucked because it is a bird. And so on. But what are these new mons? Just shiney shapes. I can point at them, but otherwise they are just "things".
Second: too much online-multiplayer-area-restricted content. There are the contests, gazillion items, dozens of pokemons, optional areas (Platinum has an entire second map under its WORLDMAP!), events, who-knows-what features, pokemon-food-mixing, special items, whatever - I either can't access, more often don't even care! I'd get them if they'd be available, but this way they just deminish the experience because they are there, but I (the player) don't even care!

Third: the game's mechanics became too complex. There are pokemon types, move-types, natures, abilities, hidden abilities, breeding, egg moves, EV, friendship, move set, TM options, HM options, move removal, competitive gaming, post-game content, various randomizations, player ID-number related stuff, loaction-related stuff, day-, hour-, week related contents, importing between generations and versions, double types, stats, genders, held items, consumables, permanent statboosts, hit chances, feeding, clothes,other accesories...
It becomes overwhelming just to list them. The players can noloinger reverse-engineer the effectiveness of stuff, and programing/coming up with the rules is even harder! So I wouldn't expect the company be able to create a refined game, and if they would be able, it would be for naught, because the users couldn't solve their puzzles! So the whole thing becomes "button mashing", thus becomes easy for anyone who pays half attention - just like how the fans of the games reacted. The games became simpler by becoming too complicated.

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


For platinum you can just see they almost threw out the concept of "create your own team" by the look of it. Here this:
- the obvious best starter is Chimchar (fire/fighting variant). This beats the first 2 gym, and the majority of the game anyway.
- use only this mon, and your level will just be good to beat everything in your way, and neither your type will cause any problem (aside some rare water attack, where you'll have to back to the PC, because pokemon is pc, and the selfdestructing geodudes - none complained for this move ever?). Then you bump into Rotom. Which is immediately lvl 20, and will beat the 3rd and 4th gym, and is just a great addition in every sense.
- then you'll get the chance in platinum only for a gabite -> garchomp, a "semi-legendary" dragon type. And yes, it is a great type and hugh strength again to your party. You know what you're missing still? A grass-type. And with just 4 mon you practicaly could beat the game in theory. For this you get an eevee, and super-soon compared to all other options to it, you can change it to Leafeon. Only problem: there are no physical grass moves for it, but you see the tendency.
- you even get a free flying type to move around: togepi -> togekiss.
- you still have one more place in the team, and you guess what, you get a FRIGGIN LEGENDARY to fill the role. Sure, you get it late, at lvl 1 - likely you'd've get it a couple of lvl higher originaly -, but it is a FREE LEGENDARY.


So, very interresting design we have here.

twillight 07-06-2019 10:43 PM

Pokemon Black and White 1-2s
 
No, I'm not done with platinum. But looked up some reviews as I do make progress. Just to get a second opinion.


Based on the reviewshere is how to chpoose which version:
- white 1-2 has tripple combats (3 mon fights simultanously). This sounds ridiculous, completly destorying the concept of type advantage, and gives you to the mercy of the AI.

- black 1-2 has rotation combat. It's the same problem as with white, because your mons randomly facing the enemy. Ye,sure, fokin' "great" idea. Maybe this appeals to competitive players if they don't exist just on paper... But everyone else will foked in the arse I say.
- the usual version-differences are there, and I couldn't give less fok
- actualy, there is the issue of friggin version-unique mons. White just has more appealing designs.
- also, if I remember correctly, White wasd the anime-compatible movie too.
- B/W 2 has a shitton of old gen mons. I could give less fok of those at this point. Give the people the old mons LATE in these games (if we can call them that), so they don't actualy use them, k?
- the map. B/W are linearin design - 1/2 is even worse.
- 2s give free legendaries to your hands and crap, suggesting to me it makes not just the passage linear, but unify the used units (why would you throw away your legendary über monsters?)


So if I'd ever touch one, that'd be white.

twillight 09-06-2019 10:05 PM

Pokemon Platinum #2 - beautiful madness
 
There is this part with Giratina. That's the local Satan if you care. In the anime the whole mon was meaningless crap, in the game it is pretty ingenious backstory.
But the part to get there ... Look, it is realy beautiful. Seriously. If you only had to pass it, in a "straight" line, it would have been a fond memory.
But nah, Nintendo created a giant puzzle out of this gigantic, monstrous 3D structure. Just what were they thinking?? "Pokemon games are for young kids" my arse! I'd do ZakMcKraken TWICE than this!


----------


I'll be honest. I don't care, and will never care for the post-game content for these products.
The issue here is, the Pokemon League in here IS POST GAME CONTENT. Once you deal with Giratina (I managed to oneshot it w/o a critical for thefirst time, lol, second time used a lvl 15 beaver to catch it, double lol) the game give you the champion-celebration, and says "by the way you can still do crap). But i don't wanna. there's an entire Gym even I didn't visit, the road to Pal Park, trying to swim to the post-game islands - and I don't wanna. Because they feel, look, smell like post-game content.

twillight 10-06-2019 01:49 PM

Pokemon White #1
 
With the disappointment Platinum caused (from marketing viewpoint making the Elites semi-post-endgame is a good clickbait move to make people play the definitely-post-endgame content), I might give this a try.

Thought I'll this time choose whatever looks cool. Well, every time I checked those (digimmon-dragon, trash-heap pokemon, fetus-pokemon, robot "pokemon", 'I am cool" bug pokemon, modron) it wiki said: You Suck, Try Again.

Also turned out, White has some extra forest with previous gen mons, while Black has the more appealing more trainer fights. Well, fok this, I'll grind in the grass if I have to,but I'll stick with white,because... Well, I better not finish that sentence. Btw, PC stands for Pokemon Center, k?

Let's see... Filter out event mons, version exclusives, trade evolutions, the flying polarbear, post game mons, cartridge-specials, osawoth, possibly scraggy...
They also told smugleaf is shit, and oshawot is just coloured shit, so I'm considering dumping my starter here, because I didn't do that until now. And if I released a mon in Platinum, I can do this here!

Hm, maybe the fantasy about not catching a single pkemon, onlyworking with the starter, and gift pokemons, and forced legendaries? Looking at Larvesta: gained: late, at lvl 1. Evolves: lvl 59 (your max lvl is usualy lvl 50 w/o grinding). So no.
I keep bumping into walls...
Ah, also have to exclude any Feebas-like pokemon (only appears at1%, on Tuesday, if you stand on your head, with your tongue out, your hair painted green).

Wait. Gift pokemons? What are THOSE?
Nah, never mind them. Not enough, partialy post-game content (or unusaly incredibly weak).

Lastly for now: most even semi-interresting mons marked are "comes late", so...

-----------

They made things related to real life SEASONS. That's out of this world.
The EXP-system looks seriously nerfed. Ok, new mons cancatch up, but what's with my high lvl mons?

We'll see how it works out, but I planned this team: archeopterix, darumaka (this is some asian demon-thing), a flying mole, some dog which I could live without, but I needed SOMETHING to work with, some worm which evolves into an even bigger worm, and the ice-cone mon because it looks stupid enough. For the game the designseems fitting, for anything else not. It looks pretty weak btw, but why should I care?

Seems there are no running shoes, and the vibrating elements rly make me nauseous. We'll see ifI can tolerate that.
UPDATE: there are running shoes, only come a town later. Btw, these towns are boring, nothing is in them. And you're heavily fistcuffed to only advance as the programmers allowed you with very artificial boundries...


Either way, I stored my starter after finding a good dog-mon which never sleeps and has impish nature wich only hurts its totaly unused stat (special attack), so while not optimal, I said ok, let's go pikachu - ye, like I'd do such thing.


So, in the 2nd Gym things are though. The Leader's first mon is already evolved (I keep mine from it, going for Gige Impact for the luls), and the 2nd hits 100+ with each hit, 210 in the first round, and it is fast meaning it moves first... Unless you're even more overlevelled than me.
I have a lvl 17 flying mole and a lvl 24 puppy at this point, as well the free monkey (darn, I should have started with Smugleaf, so I'd have the Blue Monkey, which is an excellent HM-slave!),which was also needed to faint during the Gym Leader. Ye, my startegy isn't very nice to my mons, giving some credit to Team Plasma, Pokemon's PETA. Of course ca. allgames starts with "don't go into the grass or you'll be shredded to bits by pokemon", so ye, very much like PETA this organisation.
Oh btw, if you want to Grind With A Purpose, hunt for the 5% fighter-mon.


Seems one of the creators had in mind to encourage the player to use recoil damage moves, slow mons, and low% hits. The other made every damage HURT, so things didn't work out in the new direction - stick to the Old Reliable.


After puppy and mole (this needs lvl15 for Metal Claw to have a half-decent attack) got myself a poisonous worm with poison on touch attribute. That's funky. And it's not half bad form the point it gets poison tail.


That bridge though, and the following city... Darn, that was creative. I'd welcome such things in my games on PC.


The game is VERY easy, and feels small, the progress only being slowed down a lot by advancing little and the need to crawlback for healing. Seriously, first you get TWO starters, AND you are strongly encouraged to capture at least 1 mor mon, so you have 2 mon to be sacrificed in the gym like I did. Or you can pick up the strongly suggested fighting types in the vicinity.
The first gym is based on your capturing that mentioned extra mon, because it is type-opposite gym compared your starter, but they are punny otherwise.
The 3rd gym is a bug gym with a bug-filled forest right before it. I dun wanna brag or something,because I did not plan it that way, but if you catch the poisonous worm, you'll be pretty much invincible at lvl 20 (capture is lvl15 or so). So the tools necessary are given to you on a silver plate!
And yes, I checked: the next gym is electric, and the thin selection of mons contain like 3-4 gorund type to make you immun against them. You get your ca. single fire type in the game (there's too a starter, a crappy elemental monkey, a not-third-phase-mole crap, and some ghost coming very late), but it won't be able to hit nuttin' until lvl 35 (comes at lvl 18), so put the Exp-share on it, and move forward. Oh, and don't take the Zen Mode variant, because those are crappy. You had to either halve you HP for the game with it, whatis a BAD idea, or do a physical/special mixed attacker, but with only 4 move, and the stats being exclusive to the forms, it just sounds cery hindering.

twillight 13-06-2019 10:54 AM

Pokemon White #2
 
I wondered what should be the mascot of the franchise based on what is appearing constantly in every game?

First, as in gen1 games later generations did not exist, any further candidate got eliminated.

Second, I eliminated all version-exclusives.
Third checked a Very Common Pokemon: Magikarp. It appears naturaly in every single major core game, so if a mon appears inany generation only by trading in from previous generation games, or a distribution-event, it is eliminated.


This still left a surprising amount of mons:
- jigglypuff, wigglytuff
- zubat, golbat
- horsea, seadra
- goldeen, seaking
- magikarp, gyarados
It is weird all of these are 2 step mons, but it is nice not all of them are water mons.
Now howto go further.
Well, aside the Major Core Games, bulbapedia lists other core games for whatever reason.
magikarp/gyarados does not appear in Colosseum and XD. Let's see how the others do.
goldeen does the same.
horsea ditto.
zubat appears in XD!

Thus, we have a winner. Who need pikachu when u have zubat?

----

I LOVE the Gym in Driftveil. What a showoff! Easy but effective puzzle! That's how it should be.

Thereare some weird monster-level issues, but overal this part is good. But changing the clock to winter, which according to Nintendo/Japan lasts October-December, just to get a table of chocolate, which must not be consumed but instead used to revive some special pokemon half a country away... Now that's Sierra level bullshit. I'm not sure if this is a curse-phrase or a compliment though.

-----------

Let's make a quick rundown on the series:
- gen1 was a very ambitious puzzle-game with a very strong collector-aspect. It was totaly buggy, but whatever.
- gen2 was a glorified expansion-pack. Mechanicaly it is the most obvious and clear game, as you literaly only have to tick the type-chart, and you're good to go. The "catch'em all" aspect was barely present.
- gen3 was a reboot. But despite being reboot, and its own problems (missing types, whatever), it was at least bug-free.
- gen4 was riddled with HM-hoarding, difficulty-issues, the pacing was horrible, the puzzles overcomplicated, but I can see an audience for such thing.
- gen5 is... Well, it creates continuity with the gen 1-2 games, so that's a plus. Has some very interresting design-choices visualy. The puzzles are mostly simple, unfortunately the backtracking almost disappeared. And to be honest, it looks bringing a 6 crew is needles, slows down the gameplay to frustration-level, and the choice of mons is a "bit" lackluster. But it seems going with only 1 mon is totaly dinamic experience. I started this as side-project, just to spice up the monotony, but I totaly abandoned my original crew (still have the savefile of course). The game, playing this way, feels ... small in some aspect. The catch-em-allaspect is totaly for the hardcores only, and even the teambuilding seems to disappear... Strange evolution of the franchise.


---------


It seems there's a Location Randomizer concerning items and trainers, so that gives the feel of exploration even if you have a premade map - which you obviously can't follow to the letter because of that. As a side-effect you'll have to make a mon learn Flash for exactly 1 (optional) location.
The HMs are a problem in this game though, given what you must learn to get everything, and in what distribution the mons can learn. Because in many instances you need a separate mon just to learn one friggin HM.
These are the useful HMs:
- cut (a lot of optional items, and a part of the story, probably mandatory)

- fly (fast travel, you want this as you can now just fly to the League if you visited it!)
- surf (an optional double-area, another optional area, and some other minor things)
- strength (some optional items, creating shortcuts, maybe mandatory?)
- dive (post game thing, no idea if it leads to anything interresting)
- dig (very convenient to leave some dungeons)
- flash (makes an optional area realistic to discover)
- waterfall (in Lostlorn Forest you can get 1 Rare Candy with it, and that's it before post-game, where it has 2 other location to use)


You know, by this I thought I compound how you should HM-slave. But that's a wee bit problematic, because if we exclude version exclusives, starters and starter based mons, as well as other choice-exclusive thing (eg. fossil mons), and we take account of accessibility, we end up with Basculin as our Waterfall-user, whatis stupid, because to get it you already must know surf... And you probably want to use Cut earlier, but whatever I think. At least it can (also) learn Dive.
But it goes well with Watchog, total early mon, which can do Cut, Strength, and Flash.
What we still need is a Surfer, which hopefully can also Fly. The perfect candidate is Ducklett. It's easy to get, there's no other mon appearing at its location which location is inevitable, and I think it comes at the right time.


The Elite Four here is very pathetic. No overlevelled pokemon (lvl 50-55-60), and they don't even have sixpacks!


Oh: White is the definite version as W2/B2 are just glorified expansions, and Black has some pathetic battle for this final fight with only 1 mon. That's stupid. Make the full battle against 6! On top of it, that Zoroark is a funny surprise.

twillight 15-06-2019 07:06 PM

Pokemon theories
 
Meh. I totaly steamrolled that gen 5 game, now what's next. I even did the majority of single player postgame, because the first bit contained a sentence telling "hey, this is the 2nd Sage (the Evil Team's leader) of the 7, let's go further and gotta catch 'em all!"
Of course this turned out bullshit, and with like 3-4 places still to go to (all had the same lvl enemies), and some stupid extra fights-per-day (rematching the Elite Four and crap, not much stronger by the way) I stopped. Still got to lvl 90.


But u know, there was a Weird Moment in the game. The story is basicaly thatyour Mom kicks you out to see the world and choose a profession, u know,medieval style, even make the local Professor (u know, like in Dr. Strangelove) give u a biological weapon, which works by cybernetic implants (hidden machines, technica lmachines) and shit.
Then u come across these PETA-advocates, who secretly want to Take Over The World, and this case intervines with your Journey. Here comes the Weird Part.
When you save the world, and beat the Champion, which'd make you the regional champion, but take notice it never does FOR THE PLAYER in the games, so you go home, and you have Double Mom Syndrome? Nah, that Other Mom is some interpol-agent. Oh, and your mom's name is actualy Mom. Ye, sure.
Then you get kicked out of the house to collectdata of all the possible biological weapons in the friggin1 world, or something, never to return I assume they assume.



Well, I say, this Weird Moment has connection to an other Weird Moment in Emerald (and its proto-version). That game starts with a truck bringing out furniture to where your character supposedly just moved. Ye, because kids are transported amongst the luggage. Sure, you got transported - FROM THE ANDROID FACTORY.


This is the point where the anime and the games intertwine. Remeber Ash Ketchup? We know the Pokeversum has some highly advanced tehcnology. They have cloning machines, matrix simulators, mechas... Yes, they have matrix. That was in the anime about Porygon, and in another instance a guy built a Mirage Machine or shit. Also, in the games when you get to the poke-centers the method of healing your biological weapons is not by medicine, but by RESTING. Nurse Joy can make them an 8 hour sleep IN SECONDS. Obviously matrix.
On cloning, we know clones age. Because we see the Nurse Joys growing up.
But what about the robots? Ye, robots don't age. That's why Ash Ketcham never ages.
And that's why Red never talks. But this is an interresting topic, because we know, Red is "silent", while later protagonists DO SPEAK. The protagonists' ability to speak is advancing within the franchise. Obviously by upgrades on the technology.


From this point such things like when in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum the same inetrpolice mentioned above do squat, and even send the protagonist to what'd definitely be his job, including taking MORTAL DANGER understandable: the protagonist is not a child, but a highly advanced android. A terminator. Becaue the Pokemon War, mentioned in Red by the Electric Gym Leader never ended, only went to a Cold War.
This War is led by the actual governmental figures - the Professors. that's why we never actualy see any government, because they hide themselves in plain sight. They work together when they must, but their prime goal is actualy World Domination. The anime prefectly depicts that the most advanced of them is Professor Oak, who was the first to send a Protagonist to a journey outside its own region. Maybe he even invented the whole Protagonist Project. We never see the other two rival who supposedly got 10 just like Gary and Ash for some Weird Coincident, because there never were another two. In the game Red/BLue/Yellow there isn't even a third one at all!


And that's why Red went and just stood on that mountaintop. Lacking further instructions, the Protagonist stopped functioning. In Gold/Silver/Crystal he/it is literaly dethroned by the new generation model (as the peak of the post-game).


Now I'ma bit sad I can't have access to the later games, because the games strenghtened my theory about Ash being a robot, the professors being evil manipulators, and so on. I mean, what's the deal with the Ultra Beasts? Pokemon isn't about pokemons anymore? Or there is further connection to the Conspiracy?

twillight 17-06-2019 01:56 PM

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red/Blue (and Time/Darkness)
 
I tried to hunt down one of these games, and first had to face, Red is only available for the gen which has terrible emulators. Fotunately the same game Blue is available for the DS-console as well as Time/Darkness.


Time/Darkness asit turned out very similar to Red/Blue, but it has a certain lack of spark from it. It is a perfectly fine game, don't mind me, might even be more chiselled in some aspects, primalythe gameplay, but overal, it is justa good kids'-game. No problem there, but I just know better.


Because Red/Blue is better. It is very-very-very good storytelling. The jokes hit, the awkward moments are perfect, there's the emotinal tone, there isn't form the start a "save the world"-scenario, it is chiselled from the story-telling aspect to the point like there's a "dojo", aka. practice battles. No items, just mindless grinding in the middle of the town. The NPC tells you, "All the participants are volunteers. All they expect in return is, when they need, you go into the rescue". You know, 'cause the titleis "rescue team", and your role is a member (leader/subleader) of a rescue-team!


Gameplay-wise there are some not-so-good things though, like the dungeon-crawling gets old after not long, especialy as there's no difficulty-change between the levels.The backpack-limit is annoying as heck. I think there's some bugged fights, like Zapdos could fry my mudkip with electricity once, ot the Rock-dojo's "pinecone" just don't want to get hurt by water (it in theory should suffer 4*dmg from it), and the Water-dojo is just way too strong.
The "buy habitat" feature is also just to ruin your life, and the recruit method, and recruit-usage is just tedious and doesn't rly work. For me at least. Like you can have, dunno, 386 recruits, but they don't level with you unless you bring them to missions too? That's just stupid.


But if you can tolerate the bit dull mechanics, it definitely worth a go, as it is nice, and rly tells the story excellent.

twillight 22-06-2019 06:58 AM

pokemon XY
 
'Course not played it, but found some videos about it, and later games (youtube 's offers once proved semi-useful).


Seems sy at the company looked out first time the office's window, and saw "hm, facebook games!" and started to transform the pokemon franchise into a portable facebook-games, because that requires barely any work, and can mean tons of money.


On the other hand I feel (and the fanbase seems to agree to a decree) that this is the same move as Diablo: Immortal (or that Command&Conquer mobile). Bringing a franchise to an oversimplified platform is bad for business.
For all sake, Pokemon in its core is a classic retro PUZZLE GAME. If you take that away, you remove your fanbase, aka. lead away your customers.


So, Pokemon is sinking, With the stable fan-made ROMs the console exclusivity disappears. I dunno what's the solution, but a renewal is begging to happen, else the whole thing can easily collapse.
Pokemon Go became a succes because of accessibility, not because of content. But with a franchise progressing, the customers expect content. Sure, you can milk your franchise dry like with the Saw movies, but think for a moment!

twillight 27-06-2019 11:05 PM

The Legend of Zelda
 
This game isn't THAT bad, but would be even better if it'd stop trolling you.

1) READ THE MANUAL. They give you the map of Dungeon 1-2, the majority of the overworld map, order of Dungeon 1-4. So that's cool.
2) They even direct you to the 5th Dungeon,and give hints finding Dungeon 7-9!
3) the ladder is horrendously implemented though.
4) the boomerang is useful, although I'm sure it does not stun certain enemies when returning. This is I think compensated by that it eliminates smaller things(small bats, small oozes).
6) most overwolrd enemies do not respawn until you enter a Dungeon, buy something from a shop or respawn. Thx for the unlimited Continue.
7) unfortunately the fish-thingies in the waters respawn instantly leaving and re-entering the screen. As well as a lot of Dungeon-creatures.
8) the manual straight out lies about defeating fish-thingies with the basic sword.
9) the 4th dungeon is trolling. You need max HP to pass the dragon, but the respawning hordes of bats, the traps in that dark room etc. ... I'd quit if the emulator hadn't have proper save!
10) for the 5th dungeon know this: you can use up all but 1 bomb in the two blue-knight room. You'll get after that a 12 bomb replenish!
11) knights are tedious. You can only hit them with the sword, and not from the front. That's hard, and mostly mean do it w/o any damage. Very sad the bow can not be used here either.
12) I thought can use the raft manualy. No, it is fully automatic.
13) the triceratops are badly designed. Ok, when you first meet them, youonly have 2 items to choose from, so that's not bad. But you mustfeed them 2 bombs? How am I supposed to figure that out? If it'd be 1 bomb, it'd be almost clever, this way it is BAD.
14) I'd need reliable source of bombs and helaing. Especialy healing in Dungeons. And for the 5th dungeon, where 1 room demands 6 bombs out of 8, some replenish would be welcomed u know.
15) as long as you don't care for the extra supplies, don't worry about finding hidden rooms. The Dungeons tell you where ALL rooms are when oyu pick up the current map. If you can't reach a room - THEN start blasting.
16) you don't get damaged by the bomb
17) when you mess with statues (obviously for hidden stuff), never touch them from below! That causes damage. Also, there's an 50% chance it'll be superfast, so prepare with boomerang.
18) use save when gambling to make sure you win! (the game originaly had save feature too!)
19) in the cemetaries the tombstones generate infinite amount of ghosts (1 per touch). This is to fuck with the player, who has to find the quest-related tombstone amongst the gazillion bad ones. GOOD NEWS: the extra ghosts summoned by touching,disappear when you leave/reenter!
20) hint with those thingies in Dungeon 6: they shoot where they see. They don't follow you. So just stand aside to a safe spot. (If it'd be this easy in every room...)

-----------

21) Someone messed it up when it cames to which old man tells you what tree to burn down for Dungeon 8, and I dunno who. The one near the ocean gives instead the letter to one of the old woman.
22) while the clues and red herrings are abit misleading for finding the last dungeon, it is ok.
23) you can only have ONE potion, darn.
24) things to use the arrow on: bunnies, crab boss, ganon
25) the magic wand "shoots swords". Or arrows, but for free. Sadly it doesn't work on knights, nor on wizards (the crateures shooting the same effect as the basic wand)
26) the upped wand just combines the candle-effect with the wand-effect. Still useless on knights.
27) would things please not be immun to damage? Also, if you perish, could you please get a FULL REFILL, not just 3 hearts out of 12+?
28) "food" (meat? bait?) is a ONE USE item. I mean you use it, you have to walk all the way back to buy another. Justdon't bother, as this is also a one-time quest item, and the bait-function doesn't work on everything (meaning: on nothing you want it to).
29) flame, including your own flame from candles or the upped wand CAN HURT YOU
30) there's such thing as 1/4 heart loss. It won't show up initialy, but if you get twice that damage, you'll loose 0.5 heart. With -0.5 heart you're a cripple who can't shoot swords, that's why this is important.


Btw, yes, I did the game w/o any help ... aside the manual of course ... Until Dungeon 7, maybe 6. And even there I only did that because of the HP-situation. Next time just give a full refill, Nintendo, ok?
Because progressing, leaving, crawlinf through half the map for a Fairy Fountain (should be called Lake), crawling back on the stumps the remaining of my legs after all this walking, is just killing the pace!


Oh, and Heart Containers are the thing, so when you raft to that island with the old man trying to scam you with a potion instead- laugh in his face!


Btw, the game is sexist. You can shoot the Old Men, but not the Old Women? Outrage!


For the final dungeon - which by the narrative has nothing to do with Level 1-8, which are created by Zelda(!), instead this is the hideout/fortress of Gannon - obviously using a premade map. And doesn't even try doing it in one go.
Instead first going to get the Red Ring for miniscule damage.
Second, going for the Silver Arrow.
Interrestingly, you don't even need to find the map here, as you suddenly gain automap! Why wasn't this implemented previously, I dunno.
Btw, I feel the clue about the Silver Arrow is more nice on paper than in execution...


Weird thing: even if you pick up a clock, daleks still go underground/rise!


Lastly, here is how to go in the 9th Dungeon:
1st: take the A-stairs, then head to the B-stairs (gains red ring)

2nd: take the A-stairs (from the initial area you can't get out otherwise), then C-stairs, E-stairs, F-stairs (gains silver arrow)
3rd: start with A, C, G, H. There's no alternative from the starting room, as B3's (from left and top)door does not open from this direction. From the end of C go to room left to E, but do not go down, instead go north one room, then left (still safe), then run straight ahead through the next room which has wizards. You'll end up in a room full of wizards you'll have to dispose to make the stairs appear. When you come up through those, run and blast a hole on the western wall - the room beyond is again considered safe (no ranged enemies, aka. wizards).
The stairs there'll bring you to a fly (annoying as depends on RL-luck, and this time you likely have to melee, but otherwise easy), than it's only the main boss! DO NOT drink a potion before entering the room, as I have no idea what's the factor to make the giant pig appear, and you'll get hurt a lot while waiting for a chance to hit!

twillight 29-06-2019 08:54 AM

Zelda 2
 
Now THIS game is horseshit.


1) The backstory in the manual says Link is now 16. the ingame text says 16 years of peace passed (since the 1st game).
2) The manual says every town teaches at least 1 magic. Gives a map with 2 towns. 2nd town has no teacher at all, including swordmasters.
3) Why rename ruppies to "point"/"exp"? They have the same function,and not all enemies, especialy not the bigger ones give you this resource.
4) making it easy to perish, and those times taking away all ruppies? That's horseshit. Also, some enemy takes away your ruppies - sorry: give negative exp (when you get hit)! Just fok off, game.

I'll use premade maps for this reason.
5) "no enemy enemy encounter". Now that's horseshit. Also, what's with the flying fireballs/turds?
6) WHAT ARE THE CONTROLS?
7) "some npcs invite you in their house". Ye, if you can figure out the constantly moving clones, some do. The door is not left open though, and you have like 1 second to enter!
8) only I'm bothered by you can't check your adventure sheet?

9) those side-quests are bullshit, starting with the "find the mirror" one. Later dungeons will be horseshit too: passable walls, and all kinds of similar Sierra-puzzles. Also, citizens in town randomly turning to monsters? Bullshit.
10) the magic-system is horseshit too. The need select every time before casting, and that the playing-screen don't give you how much MP you have, only that mana-line...
11) the first boss... I was always weak in fighting-games, and that part is like that, without the bullshit "smash button rapid attack" street fighter 2 move.
12) the townfolk's "cryptic messages" are just boring.


+1) I have a question for the end: now, that Original Zelda is awakened, what'll happen to Current Zelda? Or Hyrule? Or a this?

twillight 29-06-2019 11:53 PM

Zelda series: A link to the past
 
I bet they are just fucking with you at this point. Only read the manual and watched the intro, but this much is obvious.


1) after you perish, you only get 50% HP. Because fuck reality.
2) there are a shitload of new functions now, so good luck.
3) better pull out a guid, because I bet everything is in hidden spots, because fuck you.
4) you think at least you can buy potions? Nah, that'd be rational. Bring in not just your ruppies, but also bring your own cup, I mean bottle!
5) I tried to read some roadmark-board, but instead our hero pulled it out. Tried to put it down, but he trashed it. Oh, man.
6) did I mention you DO NOT play as Link here? Sure, the guy looks like that guy, but this one is a different person, and his name is not mentioned, thus likely his name is NOT Link!
Also, no idea which Zelda is here.
7) the lamp/torch system/casting is really messy. I see what's the idea behind it, but that doesn't make me happy. I'd be more glad if there'd be able programming, and each torch-place would enlighten only a certain area, not the whole area temporarily.
8) the game is ... too easy? A lot of resources are there, and they respawn, most of them. That makes healing too easy?
9) u know what killed Sonic for me? That if you try to run, you'll be massacred. Here there's this when you hold down the use weapon button, and start to go forward (you can't change direction while doing this). This is mostly to cut down insane amount of bushes in hope of a secret. You don't rly care about ruppies and such because of the gambling house gives you free 200$ every time you enter the house. But two other things canhappen: a) a pokemon (i mean enemy, like a fully armoured knight) jumps at you b) you discover a planted LANDMINE. The fok?
10) the worm-boss is almost entirely luck-based, and the Dark Wolrd is tedious and too high difficulty-jump.

The game of course not without some good ideas, like pushing enemies into pits, or some of the sorroundings turning out to be (harmless) animals makes you feel the place. But it's not good to play more than 1-2 hours at a time.
I also feel cheated that using the Book of M... thebook of the ancients you don't learn lore. You read whatyou have to do, and that's it. Lame.


My biggest complaint is, the overworld feel small, the dungeons feel extra large, and the otherworld is too tough and crowded. Shouldn't everyone be trees anyway?

twillight 01-07-2019 12:38 PM

Zelda: Link's awakening -> Majora's Mask
 
So, this is direct continuation of the previously released game. And finaly gives name to the hero: Link.
The platform is some gameboy, so it looks relatively small, what is good news I think.
the goal of the game is to commit holocaust to an entire culture, and that's why u r the hero. Yay!
And your reward is - to starve to death in the middle of the ocean! That was pretty grimm.

To add a bit, here's how the timeline stands at this point. No additional info made up by me, and all ingame/inmanual info is included:
the 4 games are in 2 pairs, 2-2 being direct sequels of each others. The question is though, which Zelda is present in the prequels: the Original Zelda, or a later Zelda. We have no idea. Likely the later, so I call her Zelda Y at this point.

PS: the ending is ripoff from Monkey Island 3, but as mentioned it creates a completly different feeling because how it is set up.

EDIT: Contradiction time!
So, The Adventure of Link said the Original Zelda's father had the Triforce, and put the three Triangles at three locations. Also, from that point on were every female descendant-princess named Zelda.
The problem is, in every game the princess (in many if not all games also descendant of the sages) is called Zelda.
But if the Triforce was broken to its pieces at the Original Zelda's time, then how did Ganon aquire the Triforce unshattered?

Opinion on continuity and the official timeline:
The first two games' continuity is dubious in the series, but the rest seems solid. Ocarina of Time's key moment is though that Gnaon CAN leave the Shadow Realm, and during the endfight, before he is sealed away finaly, does transform into his demon-pig form. So the whole time-split explanation is obviously made by someone not familiar with the actual games, or intentionaly neglected hugh chuncks of them.
Otherwise there IS a reason for the Three Timeline. The 2nd and 3rd you know is when Link wins. One is the timeline of Link, who travelled back in time, and the 3rd is for everyone else in the created alternate timeline of the future.
Those who complaint forget thatthere was ANOTHER time travel in the game, namely when Link traveled into the future to be able to use the Master Sword. The use of the Master Sword is by the way indicator Ocarine happens before Link to the Past. So there mustbe a timeline where Link is taken out of time, so there's no Link to prevent Ganon doing whatever he wants. As I said the problem with this is, that Link must fight Ganon to G be transformed into Demonpig.


Seems these games came in pairs, as Majora's Mask is continuation of Ocarina of Time.
The game has practicaly no relevance on the lore, as it plays inyet another world along the Light and Dark realms. No explanation how Link Z got there, probably just got lost in some woods.

twillight 01-07-2019 09:22 PM

Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons
 
This is a weird combo. The "true ending" seems to indicate it is the same story in two different alternate versions.
And if you check the solo playthroughs, you see while both game happen in some alternate realities, Ages also includes time travel!
Obviously these games can't happen on one single timeline. So this is either a split - or a merge!

Four Swords
Another independent adventure. The series rly started to show degradation at this point.

Wind Waker
Finaly back on track. At this point of the series The Hero of Time not appearing could happen for 2 reasons: one is the later official view that beacuse of time travel and alternative timeline. But it could have been (or is, if the office again don't know what they're talking about) that Link of Ocarina didn't appear, because was in that alternate reality hunting Majora's Mask.
Well, until you consider the world got flodded immediately after Ganon appeared yet again, so to fit it on an unshattered timeline, you'd have to dry the world after this adventure, which is pretty unlikely.
Also, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are direct continuation of this timeline, and otherwise pretty inconsequential for the series.

Four Swords Adventure
This piece of #&@ doesn't even have a backstory in the manual.
Inside the game our best clue is, that Ganon is in the Dark World, and there's a Shrine of the Four Sword which was built in the Four Sword game.
It starts to be very boring that Ganon is always resurrected, and even without any explanation how.

Skyward Sword
CONTRADICTION: Skyward Sword says the Master Sword was created that time. The problem is, the 3rd game said the Master Sword was created during the Imprisoning War, against Ganon!
Also remains the question what happened with the flying country.

The Minish Cap seems to be a prequel and the story of the creation of the Four Sword. Fine for me.
The problem is, the sole connection of the Vaati-story to the main story is a onetime appearance of Ganon, so placing the story is a bit problematic. Ganon being constantlybanished, imprisoned, resurrected, and maybe even reborn makes the clarification of this question a big fuss.

Twilight Princess seems well done to come on the Majora's Mask timline, but I can't tell if there's a possibe continuity for Four Swords Adventures w/o playing that game, what I won't do.


-----------


At this point I have the following continuities (Season/Ages has the same number 7 at me):


1 -> 2
11 -> 8 -> 10 with possible connection to other continuities
15
7 with undeterminated possible connections. My hypothesis at this point that it merges the time-split, so is wrongly placed on the official timeline.

5 -> 6 -> 12
5 -> 9 -> 13 -> 14
5 -> 3 -> 4


uninvestigated: 16, 17, 18

twillight 02-07-2019 02:22 PM

SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgameh
 
This is a good game.
Not great, you don't want to play it in one session, but a look is nice, the gameplay is smooth, it works on my computer (so you don't need gamer-pc), the amount of dialogue is toleratable and needed to make the otherwise slightly repetitive fights toleratable.


Also, the puns and humour is ctachable like flu even while clicking away the dialogue,and that the big shiny knight-robot is a she, made me smile.
Overal, a good, solid game.
Can't say anything about the prices, as living in a backwater country everything is too expensive for us, but by the look of it I say the price can be around right.

twillight 22-09-2019 12:23 PM

Deponia
 
I'm doing it w/o any walkthrough.
It a perfectly fine adventure game (which likes to crash every 5 minutes, but whatever), which can mostly be solved by paying attention, and using videogame-logic. For example if they say the toothbrush got alive because of goo, dirt and neglect, it can be lured by bait. That's "obvious".

I just did the espresso, and so far only had a couple of "try everything" inventory puzzles (namely ballons with hook), and even less moon-logic. It helped that I made notes, most of the stuff made sense by adventure game standards, thus could eliminate most stuff, so the trial-and-error method got thinned to a small pool.

So far so good.


Aaand the game defeated itself at the pidgeon-puzzle. I don't just not like the puzzle there (I completly suck at those kind of puzzles), but it never got to me to mess with the cats, especialy that way. The achievements along this puzzle just make everything even worse. And there's no clue what to do. If the poster behind the post-bot was intended to be a clue - well, they fucked that up big time.

Mystvan 29-09-2019 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 484177)

I'm doing it w/o any walkthrough.
It a perfectly fine adventure game (which likes to crash every 5 minutes, but whatever), which can mostly be solved by paying attention, and using videogame-logic. For example if they say the toothbrush got alive because of goo, dirt and neglect, it can be lured by bait. That's "obvious".

I just did the espresso, and so far only had a couple of "try everything" inventory puzzles (namely ballons with hook), and even less moon-logic. It helped that I made notes, most of the stuff made sense by adventure game standards, thus could eliminate most stuff, so the trial-and-error method got thinned to a small pool.

So far so good.


Aaand the game defeated itself at the pidgeon-puzzle. I don't just not like the puzzle there (I completly suck at those kind of puzzles), but it never got to me to mess with the cats, especialy that way. The achievements along this puzzle just make everything even worse. And there's no clue what to do. If the poster behind the post-bot was intended to be a clue - well, they fucked that up big time.

I missed your posts a bit. :( Deponia... I purchased several games from Deponia (on GOG.com, GamersGate.com), but theyt ended up being just Collection for me... *shrug*

twillight 14-10-2019 06:46 PM

giving away Pillars of Eternity 2 - Deadfire: Obsidian Edition cupon
 
it gives 65% off the price, and is available for 40 more hours.
in case anyone wants that. Oh, the code is for GoG.com

twillight 19-10-2019 11:03 AM

Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded
 
Let's see this game:

extra skills:
most of their purpose is destroyed them being single chois thingies, but whatever, right?
- self treatment, aka. regeneration: obviously your basic lifehack skill. You are beginner, or like to not loose at all cost? Pick this skill, and stand around healing between waves. Obviously the strongest skill in the game.
- vampire: I have no idea how this works, but most probably regeneration when doing damage. Seems the weaker cousin of the above skill.
- night vision: eliminates a semi-key feature of the game, aka. the constant darkness. You shouldn't need this with all the flashlights, and even night-vision googles. But if you don't want the regeneration, but still want an obvious advantage, pick this.
- economist, aka. more money: why would you want more money? You have to buy item (weapon) a single time in the game to be honest, maybe another for the very late game. On the other hand I doubt the money would be enough to always repair your stuff (I mean armor, drone, medikit supply. Weapons don't get damaged, and there are way too much ammo).

Talking about weapons: pistols suck - unless you preserve the cigarettes from mission 2 to the start of mission 4 and not sell them for a crappy +1-15 one attribute implant at the start of mission 3. Even the best implant even worth less then the midgame-pistol you get (worth 1000-1500 less gold than the pistol).
Oh, a crappy design choice: wondering in the HQ counts as part of the coming mission, so selling stuff is tedious. The good side is, if you underpack supplies, as the only save you have is restart mission, you'llalways be able to buy additional stuff. Still tedious.

Talking about implants: many of them give boost to your intelligence, what's only purpose is to wear implants, so it's a self-defeating attribute.

- analyst, aka. more exp. I think it doubles the amount you earn. Usualy the extra exp only means 1-2 extra levels in the end, so who realy cares? Still mean SOME advantage I assume...
- observer: gives more money? maybe highlight the secret rooms? Who knows, who cares.
- hypnotizer: the enemy comes closer. Why on earth would you want that??? They come close easy enough anyway.
- boxer: you can roll fighting barehanded. Any character can push the "0" button, but this can also roll with the mouse's gear. This is the ONLY stat that rises the fist-damage! STR does NOT incrise fistfighting's effectiveness! The monsters damage, number, speed, maid-lategame capability to shoot projectiles, and the fact you get in late missions infinite ammo gatlings, mostly defeats its purpose, but if you want a challenge in this game, you might give it a try.

stats:
- health: more max. HP. When investing in it, the actual HP rises (and falls!) too
- strength: more max. ammo. Usualy SMG-mags and shotgun-shells are aplenty, so either you can sell even when using these weapons, or rise STR to carry all. Also rises HP, I think by half like health directly.
- speed: walking speed gets faster. Pretty irrelevant.
- accuracy: I'mnot sure about this, as you aim too manualy. Maybe 50 in it is a good invetment if you use guns. Does not effect Boxer.
- intelligence: in theory some implants have requirements in this. I never seen that happening.

character creation analysis:
- you can start the game w/o spending your 3 bonus point by doiuble clicking the start-button! Each bonus-point either means 10 stat-point in 1 stat, or 1,000$.
- 1st male: has the least amount of statpoints (91), low money (ca.500 like mostmales), starts with pistol. He can still be a choice if you go Boxer, as he has 64 in strenght + health, but more in STR than HP though.
- 2nd male is a crappier version of the 1st male, only starts with a shotgun. It's not much of an advantage, especialy as shotguns have low shooting frequency, and you find similar shotguns soon enough. Avoid.
- 3rd male has the most statpoints (98), fopcus being on HP, while all the other stats are 10-15 which makes it a balanced jack-of-all-trades character, so it is a good pick for Boxer if you worry thatlater on you'll have to use guns eventualy. Also starts with the most amount of cash any male starts with (1100). Starts with a rifle AND a grenade launcher (slow, but at least hits on impact).
- 4th male has very strong Boxer-capability with 65 pont in HP + STR, plus another 8 STR from starting implant (which also means like 500-750 cash when sold).
- 1st female invested in implat-wearing, but I never actualy seen any demand of intelligence, and implants are expensive, and doesn't help that much. Her scores are a weak boxer's (57 in sum, but from those 15 is implant, so actualy only 42). Starts with 1500 cash.
- 2nd female is equaly crappy as the 1st, but starts with infinite ammo pistol (who cares, after the 1stmission you'll get the flare pistol anyway),and has 3500$, the most on any character. Also wears some leather armor.
- 3rd female has 43 in aiming, making her friggin obvious choice for any gun-user. Also has a leather armor. "Only" starts with 1000 cash.
- 4th female has balanced (15-20) all stats, 1500$, and a metal armor. Unless armors are über (they aren't), skip her too.
SUMMARY: the best choice for the regular gamer is the 3rd female. Males are only candidates for Boxer.

missions:
Here is a link to all(?) Secret Rooms.

- mission 1 is very easy. Only late-mission you face a single group of enemies, and there are healing supplies on the walls, each healing 20.
Monsters can randomly drop healing, or ammo or cash. They never srop other equipment (armor, weapon, drone etc.)
SW secret: found a shotgun
IMPORTANT NOTE: before entering the complex through the E secret, BLOW UP THE GATE WITH THE DYNAMITE, else you don't gain exp!
If you entered through the E secret room (in which I found an implant), don't forget to go outside to the inner court for loot (where I found another implant, and a pistol).


- mission 2 is easy. There will be monsters from the beginning starting here finaly. My advice is to never wear armor, as there are healing posts, which heal you to the max infinite times whenever you get hurt.
Starting here come some big-ass bipedal lizards (you'll know when you see), and they have a crapload of HP, aka. can't be onepunched with 55 in Boxer. I'm doing a boxer and will report the situation. My boxer does wear the armors unfortunately, because the game doesn't explain shit, and there are no guides in mind of this (everyone use guns). If I'll have to start over, as I'm not sure grinding is possible, I'll miss my flare-gun. The game randomly gives you weapons from its pool, what is an annoyance, and one of these is an infinite ammo flare gun, which canbe used as free flashlights, so it is pretty fun.
Ah, a gun is DEMANDED even for a boxer, to "open" crates, because some are exploding for no reason!
NOTE: I (meaning the above linked guid) miss a secret in this mission, only shows 16 of 17! NOTE 2: Ok, there it is. Where there are 3 actual room secret-room, there's also a destroyable wall as a 4th secret-room.
Details: found the flare-pistol in the base, also a basic flashlight (as looted this box a couple of times already, I think this item is fixed).
In Secret 4 (check link) is anarmor, and an implant. Agan, I think these items are actualy fixed.
Secret 6 has one of those +100 HPs.
Somewhere along found the mini-uzi, and another (way better/efficient) machinegun.
Secret 9 has another +100 HP.
Well, just loot everything, ok? I'll tell if something actualy significant is found/happens.
If Boxer, get +100 HP when joining the soldiers to be able to fight in the front row.
And when going for the exit-terminalat the end, get another, because it'll be a BIG fight. When you see the crew standing around DO NOT APPROACH, because when you do, the doors will close (for the fight).
Secret 11 has a third +100 HP, so if you did all right, you can leave by picking it up.

- mission 3 is still easy. There are medical posts too, and a note: do not enter the secret rooms unless you expect a big fight, because some have +100 HP which can go over the maximum. So best kept them for Big Obvious Ambushes.
Secret 10 has a leather armor.
Secret 5 has +100 HP - get it before trying to enter the mayor's office (two soldier will be standing there to cover you).
HQ: radar becomes available (not useful), night googles (best flashlight?) becomes available.


NOTE ON A BUG: the "secret room" mechanic is not thought through, as you CAN pass through WALLS, forcing you to restart missions occasionaly. Better stick to the secrets-guide above, eh?


- mission 4: aaand here is where the fun stops. The enemy starts to shoot, in hordes, thus you must abandon punching them. Nah.

twillight 20-10-2019 09:31 AM

Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded, Impossible Difficulty
 
Perk: Economist, because I think money will be important for advancing the weapons faster, and possible repairing armors. Obviously using guns. Made stat-count on the female characters, and Fem3 won by 105 statpoints, and a heavy investment in accuracy.
Impossible diff. has a very high price on aiming. Shotgun still works for obvious reasons.

Mission 1: Still boring with mostly no enemies. The enemies have a ton of HP, the pistol almost worth squat.
I think I'll need ASAP 25 STR, 25 HP, 50-60 aim, then max. economist or something to get the most out of it.

Mission 2:
HQ:
best pistol (the game lists "best weapon" with the most DPS): colt .45
best shotgun: slibert DM5
best SMG: HKMP5
best explosive: fly-2
best special weapon: laser pistol s50
best armor: metal II
supply: small medikit, radar, flaslight II (invest this - night google are too weak (produces a very weak emergency red light only), and flashlight III (which you can find very late btw) I found too bright)

Mission 3:
HQ:
best pistol: bittler G2
best shotgun: -
best SMG: steyr AUG
best explosive: RG-6 (a very bad weapon as the grenades do not expload on impact but on a timer)
best special weapon: GP53 laser rifle (laser weapons are better than flamethrowers if you ask me, as they have range, and don't burn ammo)
best armor: metal III
supply: small drone
Invest into: small flamethrower - without this you won't have a sliver of chance! Also, likely good idea to improve your SMG too to the best available.

twillight 20-10-2019 03:45 PM

Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded, Impossible Difficulty
 
Mission 4:
HQ:
best pistol: beretta L5
best shotgun: -
best SMG: AKM
best explosive: -
best special weapon: -
best armor: combat armor
supply: night vision googles (it sux), medkit
Invest into: radar

The mission sucks, because SMG-ammo is scarce (and its dmg is lacking), my shotgun sucks, the enemy is ranged and comes in hordes, AND on top of it there are no items or healing!
Prime weapon should be the pistol you just got for the cigarette (precise, hits hard), and the shotgun. I'll explain this below.
There's actualy a trick which can result even a Boxer be able to do this level: lure everything (especialy hugh mobs) to a stair. The fish-aliens can't shoot you when standing on dry land, but you can hit them (you have to stand close, so be cautious psitioning).
Also, be paranoid. If you think it moved, it probably did, so shoot it. The radar is ok to find bigger hordes, but you won't be able to spot moving single enemies, still worth the investment I assume.
Worth noting you can actualy leave the area and go back to HQ. This is good, because atthe commander there isa healing post. abuse it. There's another in the 2nd sewer-room.
Nowon the shotgun: you are outnumbered and outgunned. Some situation can be solved using the stairs, and by luring away minor groups, but thatwon't always be enough.
Oh, come to think of it: stuff seemingly random can blow up, especialy when entering the 2nd sewer-room - try to avoid that blasting any barrel you spot, and keeping your distance.
Oh, and don't trust to corridors, the isometric view hides half of them, so they are bloody dangerous (serious design-flow).
So, back on using the shotgun: when massive land-dwelling hordes appear, you can hide behind the other side of the fences. Maybe because hitboxes are not thatwell programmed, you can actualy shoot the monsters through the otherwise wall-like fences. This is especialy importans when opening the walves!

On bonuses: there's a single +100 HP - won't matter too much unfortunately.
Also, one of the secret rooms, only available after solving the mission, has a combat armor for you.

mission 5:
HQ:
best pistol: sig-sauer sig-pro
best shotgun: silbert DM50 (not sure when it appeared in shop)
best SMG: volcano G2000
best explosive: SL-1 (I think I had one on my other character, and it's slow and sucks)
best special weapon: G200 ion rifle
best armor: combat armor II
supply: big drone
Invest into: slibert DM50 (this is still "cheap", in the 20K$ category, but has the punch to repell the initial horde - exit the room during reload-time,and don't forget to heal!)

The mission starts in the HQ as usual, and the scientist gives you a random implant with 10-20 to two stat. Make this count, so prepare for reload. HP is excelent, STR is good, ACC is fine, speed might be acceptable if the other stat is awesome and you are bored, while intelligence is entirely useless.
My stats at this point, including this 19 HP 18 STR implant: 49/38/25/45/10/40. Preparing to bump economy to a lot.

I think you shouldn't wear your armor 100% of the time, spare it for big battles, and abuse the free healing in the HQ instead.
The 1st secret has a grenade launcher (it sucks, remove from the weapon slots).

BUG: you'll get control over unlimited ammo gatlings. The bug is, when you use them, your flaslight turns off.

The sad thing is, this isn't even a hard level. But as usual there are frustrating things. Like whenyou leave the initialarea and reach the turret, you no longer can go out, like to pick up the Secret Rooms with the end of the mission, or you got so used to spacebaraway the uninspired talks you can easily end the mission before looting the final secret room.

BTW: the radar is very useful here.

Mission 6:
best pistol: GLK-P5
best shotgun: jackhammer
best SMG: disembowel
best explosive: vampir
best special weapon: plasma desintegrator
best armor: power armor
supply: mega medikit
Invest into: jackhammer (despite its lot of missfires - lessened by crowds being hugh - it is very strong and not too expensive)


Very though mission. Remove healing kits from the fast item slot (it means it takes effect automaticaly), and remove your armor. Heal in the HQ. Do this until you reach the teleporter room, where put your stuff on. Destroy the teleporters, then use the SOUTH teleporter. That room is smaller. DESTROY THE COMPUTERS TOO besides just blowing that stuff up with the dynamite. If you get hurt, the teleporter-room hasa healing post.

At the north room you'll probably be zeroed on the armor, so go to the nearby store-room for another (weaker, but whatever) armor. Again destroy the computers. Let's hope you don't run out of time.

twillight 22-10-2019 10:05 PM

Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded, Impossible Difficulty
 
Mission 7:

At the end of Mission 6 you could re-enter the HQ for shopping, but nah. Mostly, because you get an unlimited ammo gatling vehicle for the next one anyway.
Btw, the "1st secret room" (check link several posts before) is right where you turn down to the 2nd secret room! How much I've been looking for this!

Mission 8:

best pistol: - (all pistols got unlocked)
best shotgun: -(you find a double shotgun, which is a powerful weapon for any other difficulty)
best SMG: -(but you find an AKM here)
best explosive: -
best special weapon: -
best armor: -
supply: -
Invest into: mega medikit

Yet again you have the Plot Armor Car. So whatever.
This level is a lazy afterthought with zero secret rooms, but it has a shop. Just found out that supplies are limited to appear, so buy the ultra medikits asap. Or maybe not, nothing is explained, and maybe they accumlate in the shop.
NOTE: they likely accumlate. This mission is long as F, and midway you have to change from the infinite gun military car to an unarmed police vehicle, and youbetter get used to raming things, because there are half a dozen rocket-launcher/plasma-gun supermonsters to be rammed down!

Also, at one point you find a new set of combat armor, soyou don't have to worry that much about your old armors.
Also, soon into the next mission there'll be another shop, so if we need anything, we'll get access to it, until then the Jackhammer should be enough.

About stats: Economist special skill is pumped to 65, and that by the look of this source should be enough. I have no intention getting rid of all my weapons and stuff like he does though,and I'm not that reckless.
Incomparsion he has 40K$, me 137.6K, we both have the jackhammer, he has 1 extra life, me 5, ha has a disembowel while I have a crapload of items on me though he has a serious implant while I only a medium quality.
The game says I missed some monsters again - no idea what causes this, nothing moved on the map.

Mission 9:

Invest into: Vampire, mega-medikit, power armor

This is a long-ass mission similar to the previous missions, except this time you have no car. There is a shopand a healing post at the beggining. Spare your armor until you get out of the first complex. There first go ~north, wearing some leftover armor to remove some ranged monnsters. Go to where the road forks, then turn back. If you go ~south (Oor west if you prefer), you'll encounter a missle-mage-monster, but your reward is a free-of-dollar homing missile, which will be necessary later. Or will prove too weak, and will have to buy some expensive shite.
Whenyou delt with this street, when entering the building do NOT shoot the boxes!!! They contain two +100 HP buff, and you want to preserve those!!!!!

And aside this being a long-ass mission, it'll also drop on you teleporters, and just fok those shite.

TIP: if you have an implant with HP +ACC make that your combat implant. STR helps looting on the other hand.

twillight 23-10-2019 03:14 PM

Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded, Impossible Difficulty
 
Mission 10:

Rightclicking an equipment in your inventory will swap it for the current one.
Btw, this is another Walk To the Edge of the Earth mission :sick:

TIP: try to remember where extra ammo is, what kinda ammo is there, and try not to blast immediately every crate as they potentialy have +50 HP. Those do not overflow, but are your only source of realhelaing on this mission.

In one of the secrets you'll find a Combat Armor II. But while you should always be inarmor during this mission, you should still have plenty from the last Combat Armor, and the Power Armor too (this is our bestarmor currently, wear it last!).
Along the armor will be a free best-pistol-in-the-game too.

Mission 11:

best pistol: - (all pistols got unlocked, shop does NOT sell the tradable Mission 4 Prototype Pistol!)
best shotgun: Craft SP 200 (all shotguns unlocked. Shop does NOT sell Double Shotgun!)
best SMG: volcano
best explosive: -
best special weapon: -
best armor: -
supply: -
Invest into: mega medikit


Always wear armor and medikit. This is because until you filled the main objective, there is no healing. The mission isn't terrible though aside some half-hidden corridor, and the fact you see more of the screen horizontaly than verticaly, so use only the smallest medikits you found.


Current stats:
HP: 33 (base, +30 implant)
STR: 20 (base, +20 implant. This is way enough to carry around ammo, but in the nextmission the shop rolled a 50+, and that's definitely more thananyone would need)
Speed: 25
Special Perk, Economist: 66
ACC: 56, currently pumping it to 100


Mission 12:


best pistol: - (all pistols got unlocked, shop does NOT sell the tradable Mission 4 Prototype Pistol!)
best shotgun: - (all shotguns unlocked. Shop does NOT sell Double Shotgun!)
best SMG: -
best explosive: "Rain"
best special weapon: plasma minnigun (the shop DO sell the freezer, but I think do not sell PR-1500, which was available to be picked up in Mission 11)
best armor: -
supply: -
Invest into: mega medikit, plasma gatling




On implants in shop: determined when starting the mission. Restarting mission does not change them. Replaying previous mission might change them, but who'll take the effort for a reroll?
Either way, a 3 stat boost 80+ per stat implant is arund 80-100K $, if you care.


Reloading trick: changing weapon, then immediately changing back (using the mouse's roller is a miracle) reloads your weapon. Can be useful for slow reload weapons.


Notable items: you'll get a Flashlight III.


NOTE: whenever possible, let the drones get ahead of you, especialy when the lights are out (googles supposed to work, but my version definitely has them permanently disabled). On one corridor a BUNCH of mega-monsters reside, so you need cover. And while youwon't hit by your own blasts (so rocket launchers are 100% safe), I"m not sure about the bots, so energy weapons are pointed on.

twillight 23-10-2019 06:59 PM

Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded, Impossible Difficulty
 
Mission 13:

best pistol: - (all pistols got unlocked, shop does NOT sell the tradable Mission 4 Prototype Pistol!)
best shotgun: Craft SP 200 (all shotguns unlocked. Shop does NOT sell Double Shotgun!)
best SMG: volcano GP5500 (I think no improvement, but only noticed therearetwo volcanos)
best explosive: -
best special weapon: G5000 ion cannon (all specials unlocked, PR-1500 isNOT sold in shop)
best armor: advanced power armor (all armor unlocked)
supply: - (all supplies unlocked a long time ago)
Invest into: mega medikit, possibly advanced power armor, possibly 3-stat implant

No healing, tons of enemy, only a CombatArmor II is found, so buy that power armor. The advanced might be way too expensive to what it can do, so you might settle for the enhanced power armor, but whatever. Ammo for pistol starts todeplet, and isn't regularon this level anyway.
There are NO telepods though, no matter how that fells like sometimes.

There comes a free BT-13 SMG too, which is a definite improvement over AKM.

Mission 14:

No shop. But you get a tank, which is practicaly the game letting you trying out the ion cannon. But it kicks down all mobs, and let's you run over the mega-monsters, so it's fine. Also, gazillions of exp here.

Mission 15:

best pistol: - (all pistols got unlocked, shop does NOT sell the tradeable Mission 4 Prototype Pistol!)
best shotgun: Craft SP 200 (all shotguns unlocked. Shop does NOT sell Double Shotgun!)
best SMG: atom (all unlocked)
best explosive: NTRO-40 S1 (all unlocked)
best special weapon: - (all specials unlocked, PR-1500 is NOT sold in shop)
best armor: - (all armor unlocked)
supply: - (all supplies unlocked)
Invest into: mega medikit, possibly advanced power armor, possibly 3-stat implant, the N(I)TRO rocket launcher, the plasma gatling (if youdid npot buy earlier).

NOTE: grenades and rockets ARE different type of ammo, just like fuel and batteries. You need a matching weapon to be able to see the ammo type (and sell the ones you do not use).


The monsters come from teleporters, so keep pushing when you suspect you reached one. Expect mega-monsters regularly (only rocket-ones with exception of a pair).


Mission 16:

twillight 26-10-2019 11:31 AM

Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded, Boxer, Easy Difficulty
 
The AI is noticably dumber, and hits less. Any maybe your hitbox is wider too?

Done Mission 4 with Male 4 character. HP is key, especialy at the start, and abuse of healing posts.
Breather enemies are a problem, they eat your HP fast. I lost all my small medikits and my leather armor during misison 4. Thought getting out of the sewer control will be the most trouble, but getting in was more of a problem because of breathers.

EDIT: Done with the first car-level. Using the atuo-turrets is highly advisable with this build. The self-destruct stage was interresting, but you CAN punch down those rocket-monsters eventualy.
Stats for this build are mainly useless: INTis useless here anyway, ACC only helps weapons, STR is only to carry ammo (not even all items, but simply ammo, and those are not that expensive to make you invest in it!). Speed is moderatly useful, but you'll never have to sprint, there are many monsters, so there'll be things to punch. HP is mandatory, but it can be risen via implants, so go that path. Spend all your levelup-statpoints into your special skill for faster tearing down of the bigger things.

EDIT: didn't mention, but it is ok to keep the laser-rifle to safely and fastly blow up those greenmine-blobs.

Mission 10:

Forgot to buy the power armor, and I was down to my last armor, so it was though, and ate up a lot of medikit, but I think I did fine.

Btw, I forgot my ownadvice,and didn't finish the freezer-gun,shame on me. On my impossible diff playthrough I forgot to destroy all eggs during the final mission. I Don't rly care as long as I'm passing.

Tactic: againstlarge ranged corwdes, head-first is a good tactic,although try tostrafe a bit until you get to the edge of the mob. It'd be funny if I could win this.

Mission 11:

If you run out of armor, buy the latest model, and repair if necessary.
NOTE: when you'll have access to the highest tier armor, BUY those pieces, because in the very last mission (16, ok, technicaly it is the last-but-one) you won't be able to repair.

Also buy medium medikits. Otherwise it is funny to scramble through hordes of enemies w/o stopping because youhave to eliminate the ranged ones :)

In Secret Room#2 is a +100 HPwhich you'll likely need for #3 as it is filled with nasties.
Don't forget to use the healing post wen you're ready to leave.

Mission 12:

In the southern portion, between the 2nd and 3rd data-spot is a medi-post.

NOTE: Combat Armor is where your armor deplets faster than your life (that's a good thing).
NOTE: the AI's pathfinder routine is dumb, so bigger monsters can get stuck behind doors/corridors. Use this toyour advantage.
NOTE: when going toe-to-toe against mega-mons, try going around them. They seems to fire less frequently (and if you manage to get behind them, they don't shoot at all).

Mission 15:

This is where you fly from one telepod to the next. Problem is, each telepod has a rocket-monster ot two, or more. With htis epxerience I say buy not just big medicits whenever possible (they do NOTaccumlate), but along them also the medium medikits too.

NOTE: leveling up also gives a full heal, just so you know.


Mission 16:


So, with this done, the game could actualy be ended. But let's try the alien boss.
Although I think the creators mixed up the endings. Whatever.

twillight 30-10-2019 05:38 PM

+5% codes for GoG
 
I'm not sure if I canjust pass them away, but we might try.


The +5% is above what they discount at the moment.


Games are (crap, I have to recall these from memory?):
- hollow knight
- blasphemous
- grim dawn
- and probably 2-3 more.


I don't care for these (ok, I'd care for Blasphemous, but I have no 64 bit system), so if youneed them, until nov. 4. I think this sale goes. Throw a PM or post here if u r interrested, and I'll check whatt he actual games are,and give you the code in PM.

twillight 01-12-2019 07:54 PM

Currently doing a poverty run in Baldur'sGate 1-2-ToB (details on GoG's forum, basicaly I play a sorcerer), then I have some stuff stored, namely:

- Alone in the Dark: A new nightmare (yes, I still run only a win 7, 32 bit system, and with GoG's black friday I said, wynaught)
- Noctropolis (looks hilariously bad)
- Grim Fandango (never played, sounded badly programmed, maybe the remater helped it)
- Obscuritas (I don't even know why I have this, maybe it was super-cheap, and made an emotional purchase)
- Dragonfire: The Well of Souls (hope it works)
- Crypt Killer (hope it works, and gives some fun)
- The House of the Dead (hope it works, the only roller-shooter I played was Die Hard Trilogy's 2nd act, and I'm curious why this game got so famous - btw, I liked the Uwe Boll movie, and its sequel too)

EDIT: I'm doing some progress with Baldur'sGate 1(+TotSC)-2-ToB poverty, sorcerer. You can read it here:
https://www.gog.com/forum/baldurs_ga...erty_run/page1
The important thing is the starting stats, where intelligence is dumpstat, and strength is more important then you'd think (some quest items are heavy, and yes, some story-relateditems toohave some weight),and as I do use limited wish, and wishseems to be a demand against Amelyssan, wisdom needs to be high too (though you get bonuses there).
Alignment is good to get a useful familiar (chaotic neutral is a nice thief/explorer),and that's kinda super-important with no gear on you, though mostly helps avoiding a great number of reloads.
As my game is merging all the "trilogy", exp-caps do not exist for me, so I might have some extra spells for the BG1 part.

Here is the spell list I found kinda demanded for such a play:

slvl 1:
1) find familiar (very convenient if it can stealth-explore)
2) identify (to use the Tome of stats, but you can pick whatever you want)
3) magic missile (essential)
4) prot. from evil (against summoned demons mostly)
5) prot. from petrification (it removes some important random rolls, especialy in BG1with all the basilisks,some being unavoidable)

slvl 2:
1) knock (locks are annoying, and I'm not entirely sure there are no story-related locked doors, especialy before Slayer Form what gives 25 STR whatis otherwise demanded in ToB fora story-related door)
2) melf's acidic arrow (justto have some more damage spell, if you feel like it you can pick something else)
3) mirror image (sometimes very very convenient, I strongly suggest this)
4) prot. from fear (very annoying if you don't have this)
5) ?

slvl3:
1) ghost armor (convenient early on, you might exchange it, but I hardly see a better alternative)
2) melf's minute meteors (essential)
3) skull trap (traps are overpowered at situations)
4) ?
5) ?

slvl 4:
1) improved invisibility (most mages won't even do anything if you have this,alsohelps against archers, avoiding fights etc.)
2) stone skin (essential)
3) spider spawn (cheap, effective summons, I love them)
4) ? (maybe minor sequencer for added casting number)
5) ? (maybe olulike's sphere, if it works on you, and doesn't prevent casting - unfortunately even yourself do a saving throw, most assuredly preventing the effect)

slvl 5:
1) sunfire (perfect offensive spell, though fire)
2) spell immunity (this can help imensly in certain situations. It can for starter win your fight against Sharevok in BG1, and later can protect from imprisonment/maze/charm from all kinds of sources)
3) ? (maybe cloudkill is a good idea)
4) ? (maybe protection from electricity - very convenient to have, unlocks the bottom level of Durlag's Tower if you want that, makes you avoid likely reload in the air room in Watcher's Keep, protects in thin trapped corridors, low level...)
5) ?

slvl 6:
1) death spell (convenient)
2) true sight (again convenient)
3) prot. from magic weapons (it is convenient and enough at times)
4) ? (maybe pierce magic)
5) ?


slvl 7:
1) limited wish (it is convenient, and has certain potentials)
2) mordekainen's sword (pretty good summon, although morea defensive thing than offensive)
3) sequencer (maybe. Added casting always good?)
4) ? (prismatic spray maybe, for the ToB drow tunnels?)
5) ? (maybe Khelben's wharding whip against infinite defensive buff enemies)


slvl 8:
1) ? (maybe pierce magic)
2) ? (maybe spell trigger for extra casting)
3) ? (maybe abi dhalzim for extra area damage,casting from cover of fog-of-war)
4) ? (maybe simulacrum)

slvl 9:
1) wish (because Amelissan pretty much demanded for the 1% chance for resetting HP and spells)
2) chain contignency for emergency casting if enemies ambush you at entering, also potentialy extra firepower (beware, that "when enemy sighted is NOT instantaneous when entering an area!)
3) ?
4) ?

twillight 21-12-2019 09:53 AM

Baldur's Gate 1-2-ToB Poverty Run notes
 
Things got darn difficult for this one, need to sort my notes. So:


- you totaly can throw away that basic quarterstaff.
- the main issue is causing damage. So you'll use Magic Missle a lot, and even unarmed fighting. If youthrew away thatquarterstaff, you'll need Magic Missle as a finishing move!
- there aren't many damage spells, and the other problem is the casting speed.
- the damage magic progression is something like this: magic missile, mel'f acidic arrow as supplementary spell (because of FireTrolls in ToB it is even unavoidable), Melf's minute meteors, summon planetar. And that's pretty much it.

- energy blades are fine, with the exception they don't bypass magic resistance. I still needed them against Darconis, but probably that wasn't optimal.
- being a sorcerer/ess ganing enough spell slot, I mean number of casting is a nuisance.
- because prime source of damage is weapon-dependent, you better have high dexterity and strength
- strenght is desperatly needed to carry around stuff, and possibly to bash locks
- stealth (from familiar in my case) helps immensly in BG1
- you can circumgo saving throws various ways, mostly sending out summons.
- mordekainen's sword is mostly a defensive summon, and a good one
- spiders are cheap summon still
- there are many spells, but useful spells are a rarity
- there are always quests around with easier opponents.
- removing the exp-cap (I mean having only the 8 mill cap) is convenient
- skull traps are higly unreliable,and are magic damage,and somehow can hurt mordekainen's sword
- improved invisibility can break most fights against casters
- there are plenty enough gold quest rewards, no need to pick up any
- doing a poverty run is extremly straightforward, no option for diversity in whatyou are doing, so do this only if you start get bored by the game anyway
- the mind shield from deckof many things is NOT permanent
- poverty run shown how perfectly measured the stat bonuses in the not-EE edition were.
- the mainattraction of the game is the fixed variety it offers. Partymembers, gadgets and abilities allwait to be collected. All of them are fixed, at fixed places, and they come in great quantities.
- magic golems can only be hurt with nonenchanted WEAPONS? Nonenchanted DAMAGE is not enough? You can avoid these either way,and you only meet them 2 times.
- the Death Spell is very convenient, and I mean strong, but usualy you just do raw damage obviously instead
- might be interresting to do a holy caster based run. I don't think I have enough in me for that though. Wonder what the key factors there would be, but obviously such never-used spells like holy hammer, and its counterparts will come into play
- I have no idea why certain enemies gostraight for the protagonist (maybe they'd be ok with party members?)
- Updated spell list:
lvl 1: 1) find familiar 2) magic missile 3) (identify) 4) prot from evil 5) prot from petrification
lvl 2: 1) knock2) melf's acidic arrow 3) mirror image 4) resist fear 5) (blur)
lvl 3: 1) ghost armor 2) melf's minute meteors 3) skull trap 4) - 5) -
lvl 4: 1) improved invisibility 2) stone skin 3)spider spawn 4) - 5) -
lvl 5: 1) spell immunity 2) (prot from electricity) 3) sunfire 4) (cloudkill) 5) -
lvl 6: 1) death spell 2) prot. from magic weapons 3) true sight 4) improved haste 5) (true sight
lvl 7: 1) mordekainen's sword 2) limited wish 3) (khelben's warding whip) 4) - 5) -
lvl 8: 1) pierce shield 2) abi dhalzim's 3) (simulacrum) 4) -
lvl 9: 1) chain contignency X) dragon's breath X) summon planetar 2) wish 3) time stop 4) improved alactricity
- don't realy have any idea for the current run against Abazigail, the Ravager, Amelyssan, and I'm not sure about Balthazar either (maybe he can be occupied by mordekainen).

twillight 21-12-2019 12:16 PM

BG 1-2-Tob poverty theorycrafting non-mages
 
1) Monk, fighter, ranger, barbarian, paladin, bard, thief etc. rely way too heavily on company and/or items to be effective.
Yes, I think even monks are a no-go. Prove me otherwise. But monks lack the meat shields casters have, and I hold the belief based on evidence, they'd perish against things like Sharevok and other final bosses. I repeat: if you wanna debate this, do it in practice.


2) dualclass seems out of question, while multiclass might not. The main problem is, without items the bonuses extra classes can provide, are not that many. Extra points inweapon use? As summoned weapons don't use specifications, not worth a darn. Bonus AC? Sure,would be good to addition of armor, but poverty don't wear armor (aside the armor of faith, and necromantic armors of course).
Worthy additions might be ranger in the vanilla game for druidic spells (also stealth), and thief for various thief skills.


3) kits sounds as always the pure class way. But because of the circumstances their usefulnes changes.
Like priest of Lathender pretty much becomes useless, and priest of Thalos offers little. Helm on the other hand provides an easy solution to an obvious problem, namely the lack of enchanted attack source (holy hammer at best only rises to +3).
For druid, I'd probablypick Shapeshifter,as divine casters are slow casters anyway, so no direct battle spells I assume.



4) cleric alignment is better to not be evil, but given the very few (maybe only the first Forestof Tyr encounter) undeads in ToB, this playsno effect in the choice ofTears.


5) there's no bending the rules to get the Tomes with a divine caster.


6) druid dis/advantages:
- greater elemental summoning HLA
- slower and less variety in spells
- the extra useful-looking spells are: call lightning (outdoor only), summon insects, iron skins



7) cleric advantages:
- can multiclass, can pick race

- the extra useful-looking spells are: draw upon holy might (bashing locks, sleep-regeneration), spiritual hammer (that's +3 instead of the druid's +1, maybe +2 if shapeshifter form), animate dead (not that great, but comes sooner than animal summoning, which sucks either way right?), glyph of warding (it's not great, but still a trap), free action, restoration (devas can't do this!), false dawn (I know it is slow, so you need a meatshield to use, but still), gate (not a fan, but it exists)
- turn undead


8) cleric/mage won't be disucussed by me, asI think they are weak due to extremly slow leveling, and are mages anyway. One note though: evil alighment characters can create themselves an army of vampires through combining turn undead and limited wish.


9) only gnome and half-orc can be cleric/thief. Gnmes get -1 on wisdom what is bad (can compensate only in Watcher's Keep), but gain shorty-saves - but only to wands and spells. Half-orcs gain +2 max stat, but with Draw Upon Holy Might with minmaxed stats, that'll only mean +1 thac0 and +2 dmg,whilepoverty tries to avoid close combat.
Let's do proper math: 18 start (for gnome), +2 from Tear of Bhaal (evil path, vanilla game), +1 Machine of Lum +4 Draw Upon Holy Might => screw half-orcs by stat. Their advantage though is clear in mid-game for access to (more?) lvl 7 spells naturaly (info related to this is confusing, the restrictions might be eliminated by installing vanilla ToB, and in the enhanced edition of any kind).


10) cleric/thief still gains all the divine HLAs, so it's a pure bonus to multiclass.

twillight 22-12-2019 09:20 AM

Alone in the Dark 4
 
I thought if I still use a 32 bit win 7 system, I might as well play this till it lasts.
Well, my initial impressions are mixed.


First, why people talk so rushed?
Second, why is there no save, only stupid Resident Evil Ink Ribbons?
Third, how should I know where to save if I'mfacing fake scares all the time?
Fourth: this is one of those weird french games with awkward controls,and weird camera angles.
Fifth: the game does no tolerate alt+tab.


All this points to picking up a walkthrough. It is realy a shame, because the game looks fantastic. But it gets crippled by the saving system. Gimme a map at least with all the bosses, or something.
Especialy as the previous games are notorious about their puzzles.

twillight 30-12-2019 11:36 AM

Were all games like this? - Alone in the Dark 4
 
Without Alt+Tab I have to rely solely on the game. And that doesn't work here either.


Can't save whenever I want. And there are no waypoints. Why can't I just save as a normal person?


I can't see jack shit. There's no minimap, radar, the camera angles are weird, the area is HUGH, things pop out of nowhere, there are no clues whatdto do, and what there is is misleading.
I'll tell the whole story.


So I picked Carnby, because having a gun seemed easy mode for this. Starting the two characters at entirely different places was a very good idea considering replay-value.
The intro is... Long. And despite more than one scene, you skip the whole. At least it is skippable.
You start facing A DEAD END. Why? Who cares. Let's move on.
Is that a passage, or just bad level design? The answer is: YES. Ugh. There's some door that demands some code - my bet goes I'll have to return at the point I long forgot about it.
Whatever, move on. What are the controls? Who knows! Does my flashlight have infinite battery? It does! Then why can I switch it off? And why can I aim it? Pretty badly? Sure I confuse this aiming with the gun's...
Ah, girl radios to me. Why can I activate the radio by myself, manualy too? This leads to button-confusion, to the point even when I finaly learn the buttons, because the cutsceens don't have the wide screen feature implemented, I again think I messed up, and start to fiddle around, just to figure out I did nothing wrong. But the game teached me I did. This leads confusion, confusion leads to frustration, frustration leads to game abandoned.


I keep going still. Cutsceen says some dogs will attack me. Then cutsceen shows nah, some monster ate the dogs! So the dogs must be my friend, right?
Whatever the case, I WON'T go where the monster went, it looks scary. And I can't save. So, can I go another way? Yes, I can. Let's check out.
Wow, weren't these two dogs eaten just yet? Mustbe two other dogs? I sure have to shoot them! What? Not? These dogs are definitely friendly.
I pick up some ammo, and medikit, nothing to do but following the beastie. Well, maybe the unleashed dogs delt with it. There's a long stairs, so I'll definitely go up via cutsceen., Nah, that's for pussies. VERY slowly Carnby starts to emo up there. Where's the run button?
I get up there. I immediately get confused by the leveldesign. Why I dun have minimap? Why are dogs assaulting me? Is that dog hurting me, or stuck in the wall?
I shoot them down and move on. I have no idea what am I doing, but sure doing it. Radio alert. Did I misspress button again? Who cares, this time girly tells some clues. "Living shadows"? Well, justaround the corner I saw a transparent beastie, which after a time disappeared. I used some bullet on it, and didn't seem to get hurt... So maybe they are foreshadowing ghosts. Note to myself: do NOT shoot transparent beasties, they go away anyway, and can't be harmed.
Turning just the next corridor, a portal opens, transparent beasty comes through. Crap, it attacks me! I have noidea where I am, so try shooting? Hey, it got hurt! How much ammo it needs to deal with it? I meanduring the cutseen the girl shot twice, maybe thrice and obviously got away. Why doesn't THIS die, or what? Whatever, I shoot. Health-meter? Check, it's still blue. Beastie got up? How? Until now dogs (and this beastie) got stunlocked by being shot! What?! Life meter got red? What, I'm dead?


Just fok off, game.

twillight 01-01-2020 08:35 PM

Cthulhu saves christmass
 
This is a fun game. With appropriate tutorial, and intuitive gameplay.


Whatit lacks is achievements/unlocks, like finishing the game at set difficulty, or using X item. Also would have been nice to give the item stats on the city screen (after every mission you visit the city for 4? 5? items).
The obvious walkthrough will have to concentrate on the possible items.
The game is frecsh though, so no item list for now. Actualy seems you do not need a list of items if you don't go above insane difficulty, which is probably supposed to be the normal mode.


Otherwise the game has the big advantage of very clever writing, good graphics, nice faces (being a JRPG,you know),and decent animation, nice colouring... I could use a skip talk option of course.


The biggestcomplaint comes around early midgame, where you realise, the random fights are more mandatory,there are no fixed-location fights aside the bosses unfortunately, so the whole thing feels very gimmicky. But it's relatively cheap (10$), and came in a boundle, so I feel I don't realy have the right to complain for anything.
The replay value will demand that item guide though.


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


Other games I still have and canplay later, which I did not play ever yet:
- Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition (also titled Kult: Heretic Kingdoms, a Diablo-clone with interresting background)
- Dex (let's hope it works)
- Noctropolis (it sounds so-bad-it's-good, and was very cheap)
- Obscuritas (how bad can a puzzle-game be?)
- Toonstruck (some oldschool adventure game, we'll seewhat I can do with it)
- Grim Fandango remastered (can be a cmplete disaster, or can turn out to be fun, who knows)


And unless I upgrade my computer (not likely if I can avoid), that'll be it.
I'd like to play beyond Beyond Divinity with that franchise, and there's an arcade shooter (why can't you get good shot'em'ups nowdays?), and there's Postal 2 too, and Tower of Time looks attractive for a trial, but I simnply lack the hardware. And I don't rly get the need of more and more energy-consuming hardwares either to be honest. Friggin Space Invaders, the same game now demands 64 bit system with graphic card - just why?

twillight 04-01-2020 06:26 AM

The House of the Dead
 
When i found this, though ye, why not.


I was prepared the graphic glitching, and all kinds of nonsense - what I was NOT prepared for was the not infinite continue.
I mean, this is an arcade game. It was designed to screw you over for more coins.
Obviously I lost. And with that, lost interrest.

twillight 04-01-2020 05:57 PM

Kult: Heretic Kindoms, aka. Heretic Kindoms: The Inquisition, aka. ...
 
aka. Heretic Kult Kingdoms, according to the title screen.

It IS a Diablo-like game, with unusual control: rightclick to attack, and the enemies like to move, but unlike for Diablo you can't fix on the enemy... Also, you seemingly can't change the position of quick items, and it seems the quick item slots are simply the backpack slots...
And I'm not sure where if at all you can sell (and buy) equipment...
And the ability-systemis weird. With level up you gain probably 100 points, what is stupid, because 1 point in any skill costs you 100 point. Sowhy not gain 1 point? Even counting that you can pick up "essence" of defeated enemies (which might or might not disappear by time),which give you 10 point, and hex-point give you 50. Or something like that. The hex-points are realy just redisigned bonus-pickups.
Seems you gain, more precisly unlock new abilities by maybe wearing equipment with that attribute? Or maybe it is enough to find such item,and have it in the backpack.

At the start you pick 2 such skill/alignment/whateverthenameis, but seems you actualy have all six, but these two supposed to be active? But I didn't see any active when started.
The choosing of elemental affiliation also plays no role, probably that's why you gain no intel wth is happening there, you just get some minor weapon with that attribute.

So, the important thing is, to collect these skill-like things like pokemons by simply wearing items for a given time. Yay.

It looks ok, even decent, the control is ok, and generaly no complaint. Will refresh by advancing.

EDIT1: Well, in the 2nd area I got pegged with a barbate wooden dildo, and nobody likes that. Some enemy came and perma-paralysed me. I think I'll have to use ranged shit, but I didn't wanna!

Seems using a spare ranged weapon (bow or focus) currently is enough, but it's still forshadowing bad stuff coming.

Another problem is, you want like a B in you weapon of choice (ranged for bow, melee for traditional stuff, magic for focus). You start with a bow and melee weapons, but you won't find a focus until this second area (fourth, technicaly). Well, maybe in the previous, where you free the villagers (one of the giant bugs threw a mandibule).
Another problem is, you realy don't want slow weapons. Because they are incredibly slow. Unfortunately some skills cano nly be unlocked by those. And the armor! You find your first light armor, which is only half as good as being without it (because of a skill, which you WILL use for the moment).
And as everything makes you slower (armor, shield, weapon), you realy want Speed as your secondary stat.

Oh, there's no shop, so bugger.
You can also only rest in the village, I assume. I heared you must click on the fireplace, but that'll only work at best until you free the villagers. Then you can buy rest for 10 gold per occasion, what is totaly hindering. Rumour is, when you manage to find 1,000 gold (shekel to be honest, because this world is jewish, and try to prevent the return of G-d, because they are the Synagouge of S... - better not finish this thought), you can buy your very own house.

Ah, Attunments (misspelled Atonement?) work this way, by the look of it:
- if you find an item which has "0-0%" in its description, it has a yet-unlearnt attunment (skill) on it. You must wear it to learn this skill. But not just wear, there might be another condition to rise the percentage on it. When the percentage reaches 100% the inscription will change to the learnt ability.
The other condition might be using a certain element (this means your weapon musthave that element), or being in the Dreamworld.At the start the dagger(s) will have this later condition.
- the Dreamworld ability is actualy in demand, and you want it. The reason why is, you don't just spend a certain time in the Dreamworld, then ejected form it, then aftera while able to return and so on. The way it works is, there's some hidden charge-bar, which tells how much time you can spend there at maximum. The problem is obvious: returning to Dreamworld will make you spend there only seconds unless you spend some time in the real world, but you can't know how well youare recharged for the task. So having this ability is not just Easy Mode, but actualy mandatory, or you'll suffer from frustration.
Thus my suggestion is, start with Dreamworld and Serendipity (aka. find better items).

The game does not allow Alt+Tab, what is a minor inconvenience, but being what it is, it's not a serious problem.

NOTE on Bear Meat quest: the innkeeper will buy EVERY dose of meat from you, 50$/dose. So it's good to pick up any pork meat you find. This generates a good amount of income, for me was like 200 bucks from the Forest Guardian area. You CAN murder the pig right in the village too, and according to the official walkthrough that only changes the tone of the villagers and nothing else, so it's doable, but at least not do this the first time (you have to click twice trying to "speak" - mor elike interact then with it, then it turns hostile and can be attacked).

EDIT2:
- there's a shop (first?) in the Whatever Valley. If you manage to fill his store, just get out of the conversation (hit I, the inventory button), and some stuff will vanish. Mage staves have good price (multiple hundreds).
Actualy, there's an earlier shop I just found,right nextto "your" hour. It has the localsmith. I bought a boots there which I didn't find elsewhere, and it was cheap.
- you'll possible need 300K+ gold just to unlock certain abilities (one tree). So you'll need that shop.
- heavy armor just might work, but seriously use only normal weapons. Fastweapons are substantialy weaker.
- here are the atunements I'd avoid: those active with ranged weapons (there are only a few bows in the game), those which cast spells (these typicaly cast some spell periodicaly, and I prefer constant bonuses, though technicaly a ranged character of hit&run seems possible), those which active with two handed weapon, those active with no shield.
- the official walkthrough (what GOG gives as extra) has at least one mistake, namely the Rope Ladder is NOT in a chest, but you can buy from the vendor-smith in the village.
- never forget to backtrack eacharea in the Dreamworld.
- from a skill-tree only 1 can be active at a time. This means obviously, choose the highest numbered one.
- bags work by rightclicking on them in the backpack. They provide more space.
- after a while, like around you go out of the War Camp, unlocking all the items properties even on normal becomes a fuss. And believe me, starting the game on normalwas no small thing either. As unfortunately the areas are not big, and the enemies somewhatlack in number, the replay-value is not high. There's definitely the chance you want to play on hardest, but for that you'll want to know a lot about the items and item-progression, so you can focus on just the right atunments to unlock and use. For the moment lightning (air) sounds a safe element: good damage, fast/normal weapons. For armour, your guess is as good as mine, but deifnitely not without it. I think a fast weapon (fortunately thi midgame there's a fast air mace) with heavy armor might do the trick. Of course there's the option to change items' element... But that sounds a wee bit comlicated for now, especialy if it is not a weapon (obviously you'd want to change a non-weapon's element to change the requirement of unlocking).
Another thing about Air is, the Thunderblade ability. Yu can unlock this very early, and gives 50% extra damage. That's a lot.

Smiling Spectre 10-01-2020 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 484445)
This is a fun game. With appropriate tutorial, and intuitive gameplay.

Just if you missed it - it's the second part of Cthulhu Saves the World.

twillight 10-01-2020 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 484498)
Just if you missed it - it's the second part of Cthulhu Saves the World.


I think it is a prequel. 2nd game released, 1st on timeline. They makea reference to CStW at the begginning.

twillight 25-01-2020 10:41 AM

Heretic Kindoms: The Inquisition
 
I got lost in the lore by the constant namedropping, and references, so restarted startingon top difficulty. Not that it makes too much difference, at least after you get out of the first area.


Btw, anyone knows why shields have no weight, but still slows you down, thus rises the question why weight is even shown on anything?

burbigo1 25-01-2020 01:08 PM

I don't know why is slows down a lot

twillight 28-01-2020 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burbigo1 (Post 484549)
I don't know why is slows down a lot


I experienced no slowdowns, and I'm playing through chapter 1-3 the third time (melee build turned out insufficient on nightmare diff).


Try to disable settings maybe? Smaller resolution? I also don't use the windowed mode.



What system do you use? I have a win7 32 bit machine with integral videocard (aka. none). Pretty ancient by current standards...
Also using the GoG version. When loading the game it seems to feed on a bunch of memory, but as soon as I get the title screen, I'm fine.

bafanamusic 29-01-2020 11:23 PM

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twillight 30-01-2020 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burbigo1 (Post 484549)
I don't know why is slows down a lot

Actualy, found 1 slowdown. When you switch element (aka. weapon), the game ... lags? freezes? Seems no part of the game moves, so it's mostly ok, and the thing is not constant if you do it a couple of times.

Hope this helps.


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


EDIT: actualy, the pacing does slow down a ton. Compensating the lack of pure gaming length, you get loredumps,especialy when you arrive to the capital. The lore you get also contains a lot of repetition, so you have to filter out the new data and insert it to your previous knowledge.
This actualy creates a curious wayof mapping-need, where you map instead ofa physical maze a maze of information. And thatcanbe overwhelming too.


It doesn't help either that by Act 4 (practicaly quests hubbed in the capital) the tasks have requirements to pick them up and such, so it's no longer the simple "talk with everybody to not miss anything", instead goes the usual "talkeveryone in the supposed order".
It doesn't help either, that the official walkthrough contains misleadingand self-contradicting informations on accessibility of quests/tasks.

twillight 15-02-2020 11:46 AM

Revenant
 
I thought, even if it's mostly bad, it has such a cheap price, I'll get it.


Seems it was a hugh mistake.


One thing is,the controls are clunky, like in Little Big Adventure. And the screen has small resolution (you barely can see anything, the characters etc. are too big).


My real problem is, I can't even finish the tutorial. Seriously. I went to Master Roshi Or Who, the Special Move Teacher. Helocked the door behind me, and I'm stuck now. Permanently. He's probablydoing all kinds of weird anime stuff to my character I bet.


Anyone knows how to progress? I tried opening the door, tried talking to him, and whacked with the firsts pecial move the dummy more times I care to count.
What do I miss?

twillight 15-03-2020 08:29 AM

1 Attachment(s)
After all the not-great to piss-poor experience with game, I went back the Baldur's Gate, and started a second Solo Poverty playthrough.

I made the first with a Sorcerer/ess, who is currently residing befor Abazigail. What means like 3 more battles, butI'm just doubting it, and got bored - you know the feeling.

This one is a Medic/Thief. Yes, I'm starting the movement of removing racism and biggotry from RPG again. Sue me. Point is, I'm kinda enjoying this character. With a ton of stat-requirement and min-maxing my chances, s/he has 3 charisma, so it is interresting to see what NPCs even if their life depends on it won't hire an ugly hero. The other fun thing is to use all the unused spells, like Barkskin, Shillelagh (which I still can't write down w/o looking up the spelling) etc.

The Solo Poverty Challenge by the way can only be taken a very selected few character.
Obvioulsy no character who is not a caster can do it. And the caster must be a pure caster to get access spells asap, and in large quantity. The only exception from this might seem to be the monk, although with its piss-poor conditions that'd likely fall back to South Park-style WoW-exping, exp-cap obviously removed (set to 8,000,000 of ToB). Its problem is Spellhold, where you MUST cause some ranged damage to get rid of goblins on pillars, and monk has no such ability, not even from HLAs.
And thieves' only real and above all lethal power is laying traps, what is not possible in every situation.

This leaves Sorcerer/ess, Medics, and Tree-huggers.

Hippis though get the short end of the stick with their spell-selection from the three. They have poor casting conditions (Call Lightning only works outside), sluggish casting speed, terrible stat-requirement (charisma as not-dump-stat?!? Good luck rolling.), questionable spell-advancement (they get their first summon/meatshield/attack power at 7,500 exp when Medics get at3,000!), and they can't multiclass. Their only advantage can be the Summon Elemental Prince HLA, but you have to reach there first.

Now Medics have the issue on theother hand, that they don't realy have a progress in High Levels. Not many abilities, no repeatable selection. They are also slow casters, and the class' biggest advantage, namely items that can buff them to outshadow pure fighters-without-whirlwind does not play in Poverty (aka. no use of any items). So it seems the ideal setup is running a Medic/Thief. I find 19 STR very useful for combat and bashing doors (and other locks), so I go with Half Orc, though for Shorty Saves you might choose Gnome, like this guy did:



And on GoG's board someone pointed out a technicality. Mages in theory can start each section of the BG-trilogy separately. This means they can pre-pick a lot of spells, thus might not have to rely on scrolls to have a partitura.
Well, none tried that, and without looking up what this selection can be, I simply mention it.
But might turn out like Sorceress, which is far away from being overpovered w/o Robe of Vecna and Amulet of Power (aka. the items which lessen casting speed), and have to have a very specific set of spells to succeeed:

Latest spell list:

lvl 1: 1) find familiar 2) magic missile 3) (identify) 4) prot from evil 5) prot from petrification
lvl 2: 1) knock 2) melf's acidic arrow 3) mirror image 4) resist fear 5) (blur)
lvl 3: 1) ghost armor 2) melf's minute meteors 3) skull trap 4) - 5) -
lvl 4: 1) improved invisibility 2) stone skin 3) spider spawn 4) - 5) -
lvl 5: 1) spell immunity 2) (prot from electricity) 3) sunfire 4) (cloudkill) 5) -
lvl 6: 1) death spell 2) prot. from magic weapons 3) true sight 4) improved haste 5) (true sight)
lvl 7: 1) mordekainen's sword 2) limited wish 3) (khelben's warding whip) 4) - 5) -
lvl 8: 1) pierce shield 2) abi dhalzim's 3) (simulacrum) 4) -
lvl 9: 1) chain contignency X) dragon's breath X) summon planetar 2) wish 3) time stop 4) improved alactricity

In brackets are spells I did use, or consider a good choice for later but actualy could (have) live(d) without it to that point, so can be changed. "-" means on that slvl I did not use any more spells from the selection, so can be inserted any from the tier. As this is/was a prototype character, Shadowkeeper was used to prevent me from the need of constant re-starting. Medics and Druids don't have this problem as they get access to all spells of their levels.

An additional note: I considered quest rewards as quest items, and tomes/manuals to be unanounced quests, and their use for quest purpose to consume them. It might be a bit of a stretch, but I thought that was ok, and as a price I included Identify to my spell-selection, so there.
My Medic/Thief does not use this ~exploit.

And before I forget, here is the Basilisk Area of BG1, so you don't have to waste time exploring. Blue means random monsters (gnolls and such), purple is the adventurer-group, grey are the basilisks (including Mutamin's group).


Attachment 2531

twillight 11-04-2020 08:08 PM

Baldur's Gate 1-2-ToB Poverty Run notes
 
Well, I pushed my Sorcerer/ess to Abazigail. Have no real interrest trying to push through the last couple of fights, I simply do not believe in this character, my joy gotkilled.


Also started a Monk. It was ok until the Save The Princes part I think, then realised,Sarevok will simply murder me unless I push the exp to lvl 20 to become immun to normal weapons. THEN I realised Monks can not pass Spellhold lacking ranged damage, thus I abandoned the character.


Then there's my latest Cleric/Thief. I don'trly mind the cleric part here, as I just pretend it is a Thief-kit. Either way prefer to call it Medic when I have to.
It lacks raw head-front power, but it's realy a new experience because of it. It lacks casting speed, so it falls back to the never-before used summoned gear (weapons, armor), summoned things (types I never used before as they are weaker than Planetar), and buffs. And Hidein Shadows/Sanctuary.
Yes, a lot of fights simply got skipped for lacking the power, or more often speed to deal with it. Fortunately solo characters are never short on exp.
I'd say, by the look of it, C/T is what's made for Poverty runs IF you consider Throne of Bhaal, and it is pretty solid for BG1 to. TheBG2part won't offer that much difference, might even be underwhelming for not being able to do the usual things, but for BG1 I recommend trying it for its uniqueness.
And wish me luck for ToB.

twillight 13-04-2020 02:40 PM

Tried to look up some mobile-games because why not, and:
- there is no arcade shooter category
- can't find Diablo Immortal! Not that I wanned to have anything with it, I justhad mobile device in my hand, and though look up how it goes for Blizzard. Seems not good.

twillight 14-04-2020 04:15 PM

some mobile games
 
1) Can you escape the 100 rooms - 50 rooms: this is some bullshit find item / point&click combination game, which just doesn't work. Theclunky, unintuitive controls are one thing. But imagine this: right in the first room there is an electrical padlock. There are 9 buttons on it. There are NO clues what you have to type in, how long the sequence is, howmany sequence you need to type in... You actualy have to GUESS like halfadozen combinations, which range from 7 to whatever button pushed.
This is just crap.

2) Shooter. Yes, that's the title. It's your generic arcade shot'em-up. That was one thing I was looking for. The problem is, like with many other mobile games of this kind, that itlags I assume. The plane does not follow your finger fast enough, and even slips from under it. That's just bullshit.
Then for this take into account that the powerups don't make you stronger in the normal sense, they make you BIGGER. Now that's bullshit in these bullet-hell games.

3) Exiled Kingdoms: this is an honestly pretty good RPG. I'm notsurehow RPG it is of course, but you get NPCs, timered skills, skillpoints, quests, areas...
Here is where my problems begin. In a PC-game you have pretty good hardware when it comes to that. On moblie your memory is VERY limited, andI assume very static, the world is not dinamicly created, meaning the whole area -wether you see it or not - is rendered.
Then the graphic: a bit lackluster, like PC decades ago had this quality.
So I think mobile is just not the platform for these kinds of games, especialy considering mobile devices feed on energy, you can't play 24/7.

4) Fallout Shelter: man, I need a manual. The texts are too many, go away too fast, things happen too frequently to read the instructions, and some darn forsight would be welcomed, like I built - as instructed - 4-6 rooms or so, only THEN the game told me, it'd be a good idea to build the rooms expandable. Thank you game.

5) Dark Sword: your average beat-em-up game, like Golden Axe, only simpler but with more abilities. It looks ok.
UPDATE: this is heavily currency-based, and to top it of, aside the highly overpriced shop, it doesn't play the adverts for the by the way miniscule free stuff. So my hopes are diminished. We'll see how far I get. I bet not far.
UPDATE: Well, this thing is crap. You don't get extra moves daily, or other regular intervals. Maybe monthly? So it's uninstall.

6) Swat And Zombies 2: obviously based upon Plants vs Zombies, and is obviously built as a money-thinker, but if I can figure out the monetary system, this might just be fine.

kunleben 17-04-2020 03:04 PM

Games
 
Me i don't really fancy adventure games... i prefer Pes or FIFA!

twillight 17-04-2020 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kunleben (Post 484823)
Me i don't really fancy adventure games... i prefer Pes or FIFA!


I've never managed to figure out group-sports-games. And they obviously cheat a LOT. Sorry.

DrWho42 18-04-2020 11:31 PM

i'm fond of fancy adventure games personally

twillight 24-04-2020 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrWho42 (Post 484829)
i'm fond of fancy adventure games personally


Ok, I'll pull out my adventure games from the pantry.


Let's mention that Im currently updating a gamebook which I was never satisfied with (for really bad editing).

twillight 02-05-2020 03:15 PM

Pillars of Eternity
 
As GoG gave a special discount in email, while the game was not even on sale (usualy it is +5% in comparsion of the sale-price), I took it. And with 32 bit really running thin, I'll have to upgrade to 64 bit, and then I'll maybe be able to play this.
It is the definitive edition by the way, so good for me. This might turn out to be my next classic-level game finaly.

twillight 05-05-2020 07:20 PM

Grim Fandango (Remastered)
 
GF is literaly ancient now. I have no idea about videocard-requirements and such utter &#@, but it not evenstarting is &@#.


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

Otherwise I think during the weekend I'll finish Kult:Heretic Kingdoms:Inquisitor, and these games wait on my backlog to atleastbe installed:


- toonstruck
- obscuritas
- noctropolis
- cosmic star heroism
- dex
- whispers of a machine
- mary skelter
- mable&the wood
- book of demons

twillight 08-05-2020 06:59 PM

Myst
 
In case someone is fan of this series, GoG is giving away 60% discount through email-cupon.


I have no idea why anyone would want them, since I've played with one and switched it off permanently (still have the CD though), but if in the next24 hours you manage to contact me for this, I'll give youmy cupon-code, or however it works.

twillight 09-05-2020 09:09 AM

Mable & The Wood
 
Well, it is a platformer. Indie-hard one. Not hardcore, but hard


What annoys me in it though is the currency-mechanic. You loose it too easily, and you realy have to be hardcore to have any. For me, it's a partof the game like it wouldn't exist. And that's bad.

twillight 09-05-2020 02:42 PM

Neon Chrome
 
It's a shooter, where you see yourself semi-above.


The problem is, itisvery generic, and totaly dark.


There are 30 levels to grind through. With enough cash you can permaboost your stats (HP, DMG, crit, whatever), then you start with a weapon and a skill that lasts until you stop progressing.
That means the game will turn to be veeery long if you want to reach the final level.


But the worst thing is the overal darkness. You can'tsee the walls, you can't distinguish "thin wall" from normal wall, and I even found a room you had to blast through a bunch of practice-dummies in super-short time. Practicaly impossible.


It'd be ok, I assume, on the basic level, but not finding your way becuase you can't see squat is not fun.

twillight 10-05-2020 06:25 AM

Dungeons&Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara
 
I love this Golden Axe Heritage game.
I have no idea how to fight the bosses in this neither, I never had, but against the generic goons I got better, and that's something.
Not to mention, I don't see much competition in the Beat 'Em Up genre. And this still gave everything it could fit in it, and that's awesome!

twillight 10-05-2020 08:40 AM

Obscuritas
 
Aaand the disappointment continues.

This'd be an FPS adventure game what I'd like, similar to Blair Witch Project Volume 1 Rustin Parr and other franch titles.

The problem is, the developer got waaay to lazy with their programming, and thus their product demand unreasonable hardware.

Not to mention, it'd be time to either get rid of the videocards as hardware, or standardize them. The current system is ridiculous.
1: the two major companies products (NVidia and GeForce) are not compatible on a very deep level as I've heared. Like their cards don't work with processors, RAM etc. compatible with the other company, or only on a shitty level. That's absolutely unaccaptable.
2: what does it mean XYZ card or better? Is there an officiallist somewhere? Does other hardware count, like a current day PC could work with the game of the original Thief for example?They definitely avoid numbering them to make things user-friendly...
3: bringing up the original Thief has another point. Like that game could run acceptably on that-day, non-videocard comuters BUT it was actualy coded to not do that. Modern day example would be the Amnesia-franchise. The games are hard-coded to NOT work properly on computers without the videocard. Like Thief worked fine - but gave negative pictures. Amnesia simply cut off the video output. This is violation of decent business ethics!

I seriously say it placed very good pressure on the industry when computers had limitations. They had to program stuff to make themaccessible, and not just shrug it off saying you can go to the store and build a computer as big as ENIAC was to run their shitty coded product!!!


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


So, what do I have left?


To finish:

- kult:heretic kingdoms:inquisition
- Baldur's Gate trilogy: Sorcerer, poverty run
To play through:
- Chronicles of Mystara
- Baldur's Gate trilogy: Shapeshifter
To try out:
- Toonstruck
- Noctropolis
- Cosmic Star Heroin
- Whispers of a Machine
- Mary Skelter: Nightmares
- Book of Demons
- The Quest
WHEN I get a hardware upgrade try again:
- Divine Divinity Dragon Commander, Original Sin 1-2, Divinity 2
- of Orcs and Men (I mean I didn't try this, but by the look ofit, it is 64 bit, resource heavy)
- Tower of Time (I hope this was a GoG giveaway)
- Obscuritas
- Pillars of Eternity
- Grim Fandango
IF these titles become available again:
- Abomination: the nemesis project
- Blair Witch Project Volume 1 Rustin Parr
if I'll have absolutely nothing to do:
- DEX
- Torment: tides of Numeria
- Rage of Mages 2
I wonder if:

I've lost my saves for these, and maybe even their CDs, and they probably don't worth it, but you never know, so let's mention:
- Baldies, windows version
- G.O.L.E.M. Never got around to play through the third race/hardest difficulty.

twillight 16-05-2020 01:52 PM

Toonstruck
 
Well, this thing works on Adventuregame Logic, but I wouldn't say it is Moon Logic. This means it can sometimes feel easy if you get the references, and obstructionly hard if you do not.

I also yet to learn how to use the telephone.

Sometimes you can do things justbecause you see the solution, and sometimes information will not be useful (likethe music boy making the king sleep), but I foundit attractive that trying to combine unfitting things can give you subtle hints - some of which won't do a singlegood thing nevertheless.

I'll try to do this w/o relying on walkthrough, but I'll use them if I get stuck.

What is a shame though, that the remake does not have the outlines of objects cleared out, they are in their original fuzzy way, whatis completly fine for the partialy live action cutscenes, but c'mon, the rest would have been updated!

twillight 16-05-2020 01:56 PM

Noctropolis
 
This game is trash. Unfortunately not the kind of trash as Harvester, or whatever that puzzle-platformer-adventuregame its title now avoids me was.


Has a very clunky interface, and nothing that much weird is happening, what'd be the demand for a trash game. And the promo-pictures promises this misleadingly.


But as it was 1 buck or less, it's ok for that price.

twillight 20-05-2020 09:45 PM

Deathtrap Dungeon (PC game)
 
I thought for nostalgia-sake I'll pick this upfor sales-price.
But it's really bad. The controls are unaccatably bad, the dungeon-design has nothing to do with the originals, the character-names are simply insulting, nomonsters orNPCs from the world of Titan show up... Also, the intro-movie does not play.

And my computer-sickness from FPS-games still arrised with full power, so it'll stay where it is as trophy.

twillight 23-05-2020 06:58 PM

Pokemon Red with only a Hitmonchan
 
It's just a silly thing to do, and well, thiskindof challenge exists, wand was done with almost all types (if you count double types, and all variants of the same game, meaning Red, Blue, Yellow, Leaf Green and Ruby Red).
So it is very likely that practicaly all solo mon is viable in one way or another, INCLUDING magikarp (of a special release).

Here are the let's plays:
- normal type (rattata): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHdqpqy9VbU
- poison/flying (zubat): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_0WQaz7Jms
- rock/ground (onix) (FR): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95IRkr7auuc
- psychic (abra): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R1oD6bau4g
- bug (weedle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwC83pFtk60 (there's a paras run too somewhere)
- ghost/poison (ghastly): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWQMVm2agZc
- water (magikarp): this was actualy not done, but theorycrafted. The REGULAR magicarp can't win the game itself, but the UNIVERSITY magicarp in theory CAN. The difference is, UMK gets Dragon Rage on it. Only 20 legit ever existed, but with randomizers left-and-right obviously you can make your own.
Anyways, here is with squirtle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx83SUgD9Rk
- electric (pikachu): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5i5p83PT5w
- fire (charmander): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70Uq4Waa_k4
- grass/poison (bulbasaur): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDqKt1-Xwd8
+1: missingno: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mrmfb1mGWI
+2: ditto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeWxEbl2kWQ

What this list lacks is 3 types:
- dragon (only dratini and its evos)
- ice (various)
- fighting

Strangely none did a fighting type. Dragon and Ice are in theory pretty strong, way stronger than the others, so my vote went on fighting. It likely can do anyway.
The selection for this is: mankey, machop (which can only max evo by tradin, so forget it), hitmonlee, hitmonchan.
Now what I want in a solo character in this game, is variety. And personaly I won't mind 100% hit chances.
Mankey/Primape is very limited, has only normal and fighting moves simply by existing, adding poison and electricity, maybe rock by TM. Not amusing.
Hitmonlee is generaly cosidered the better option over ...chan, but that's likely ina party. It can only do normal, fighting and by TM poison damage, and that sucks.
Hitmonchan on the other hand gets 3 elemental attacks. What I aftera while noticed only at lvl 30-40, but oh well. Doubles this problem, that its basic attacks only has 85% accuracy, and is one of those bullshit multiple attacks doing 2-5 hits randomly. But I can switch that to something else, so whatever.

Solo plays also have the problem of lack of PP (number of attacks can be done without resting), so gaining new abilities a lot later is again crappy news, but whatever. If allelse fails, there will be potions, though I'll try to not use any items during battle.

Oh, in case you wonder, there are special programs exclusively to switch the preset starters to something of your liking, so no problem there.

Now the first thing was to start the game. No problem, you don't have the type-disadvantage, so you win against the Rival.
Then the Rival appears again, that's better left for a bit later, as he'll have abit of levels under him, and we don't pick up reinforcements. But he's a pushover after Brock.
Brock needsa bit of grinding, but at clvl 16-17 can be done (if the random is not against you too much), just get rid of the Agility PPs,so when you run out of the punches you asap can start strougle. For some weird reason against geodude I constantly missed punches, but against onix I did reliably 4-5 hits per PP, and the onix missed me with bind almost all the time.
Note: grind in the forest, that gives the highest possible level ofenemies, and many can't even hurt back, not that it'd count.

On Road 3 catch a Spearow. Why? Because we'll need HM-slaves, and I'll want only 2 of them: Farfetched and Slowpoke. FF can be traded for a Spearow, and can learn Fly and Cut. SP can learn Surf, Flash and Strength. Heck, it can even do Dig if needed! Perfect.

Oh, all legendaries will be beaten for exp of course.

During the tunnel you'll get Mega Punch TM. Use it up for more (andmore efficient) PPs.


Hmpf. Forgot you have to catch 10 mon for one of the HMs (flash). We'll see, but sure you can find 2 Great Ball as "hidden item". One of them is actualynot that hidden, as an NPC hints you on it, so that's more of a puzzle/miniquest-reward one.
And there's a regular ball as visible item.
And of course the starter comeswith its own ball.

And that's it. You have to buy the rest one way or another (thinking on the Safari Zone). I dunno when Flash comes to theplay for the moment...

twillight 21-06-2020 02:38 PM

Pillars of Eternity
 
So, with a brand new, 64 bit computer, I pulled this out.


So far I got it again that the fights did not become faster. I'll dedicate to solo as challenged (forgot who you were, could check back on the forum), but up to this point party is forced on me.
And I'm not sure exp does come form killing things. Not that'd prevent me, but whatever.


I checked the manual, for what it worth, but nothing's there aside some point what's during character creation, so I'm playing blindly.
I'll even roleplay, and will see how things turn out. For the moment I'm Benevolent.
The character is a fighter, because those don't rely on party-skills and tedious magic. It also has the advantage compared to a barbarian that it regenerates Endurance as passive, what is an advantage if planning solo.
Race is Godlike - what else. Firey one to compensate for the loss of helmets.
Didn't drop my abilities under 10, neither went minmaxing race/class, so I have some bonus on might, constitution, and that last stat is maxed to defend against magic (I hope I got it right).
Aside that, picked Explorer from the pirate-area, because that made a good backstory with the sub/race. Turned out what's in my head, matched the fire-diety's description too, so I'm good until this.


What I'm not good though is, the program lying to me. The fighter-chick left my party, despite sleeping was the option to keep everyone in the party, and moving on was to leave behind sooner-or-later the guy.
I'm actualy fine how things are, I'm better off with a thief-help than with another warrior. Still, the program lying always hurts.
AND another lucky/twisted turn of events is, the fighter-chick stole our water. The water though is a quest-item, so fuck you. Lucky me only rested at the exit, so I got the loot (a cloak), so fuck you game.

Capo 21-06-2020 02:57 PM

Going solo in the first run is a bad idea

twillight 21-06-2020 05:13 PM

It's actualy not.


I failed to do levelup (ye, me and my worries. That stupid thief kicked the bucket), so checked the wiki for it, and seen on the screen, if you advance solo, you get stronger recruits.
So at least you should try to advance solo as long as possible.


Also, maybe did not mention, but I play on the offered settings, what is EASY. That should work for a while.



My worry is, monsters do now respawn maybe, so the loot, and everything might be limited. What a bugger.

Capo 22-06-2020 05:07 PM

Playing solo at easy and using recruits makes zero sense, doing so you just lose all the quest and dialogues of the companions for nothing

twillight 24-06-2020 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 484970)
Playing solo at easy and using recruits makes zero sense, doing so you just lose all the quest and dialogues of the companions for nothing


recruits = companions, non?


Also, I play blindly. I have no idea what I miss on.
Either way, I can always go back and pick everyone up if I have to.

twillight 29-06-2020 09:02 PM

Anger Force: Reloaded
 
It's a top-down bullet-hell shot'em-up.
It lacks story, and stuff, and I'm not sure about some details (how to do individual upgrades instead of general, how the characters remain different with all the buffs), but it's fine, you can spend 5 minutes casualy playing letting out some steam.


So if you don't need story, just some traditional arcade shoot-em-up, I can suggest this.
If you got used to having a story, and things having meaning, then though you should give it a pass.


But for me, I like these games, and this is a decent one, and it came with a discunt even, so I like it. Won't go super deep with it, but it's good to have something to be able to fall back when you just want to do something but have no idea what actualy.

twillight 18-07-2020 04:55 PM

Grim Fandango
 
Ok, so the Remaster demands an unsubstantiated hardware, and there are a couple of visual glitches, and the character runs instead of screen-teleports.

My main issue is though, I have zero idea what to do.
I know my main goal is to get some prime client, that's fine.
I also know I'd somehow start fire at the festivel. I have no means though.
I should probably hack the pipe delivery, but can't get through its door, or other way reach the handle, which camera spot was just a lucky pixel-hunt for me.

I dunno why I have a deck of cards, why I have access to infinite baloon-animals (or how to blow an unused baloon), what to do with the sacrifical bread (I suspect it could be used to attract the birds on the boss' level, but no means how or why - also no idea what these mean in the real world, so no clue from there either), probably should find a way to climb to the roof of the working building but no idea how.

The game also has obvious stolen elements from Day of the Tentacle, and Discworld Noir.


I don't see the appeal, and I don't think the game is good. I think Lucastarts payed heavy money, and lent on its existing remaining fame to spread this rumor for better longterm sales.

Smiling Spectre 20-07-2020 10:33 AM

Game is very good as for me.

And initially it had "tractor" controls, where you must go with left/right for turn and forward for movement. I think, you still can enable this in settings.

Just as many games with the same scheme, since Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil, hero usually "spot" the things, turning the head to them, if they are close enough. Very helpful with pixel hunting.

I think, standard double click worked for exits there... But maybe it must be enabled in the settings? (Or I simply forgot, and it's really only running).

Bread is for the roof. But I forgot what other items do, unfortunately. Did you try windows?

twillight 26-07-2020 07:26 PM

Dark Quest 1&2
 
Ye, these are practicaly mobile-games. With that out of the way, let's look at them!


The 2nd is by the look a prequel, and got a handful of upgrades from the first, which was so simple, it lacked replay-value because of that. But it was also pretty nice, and handy, without bugs (after a while).


The second looks like a dumbed down version of Darkest Dungeon, who knows what Sanity does in this one, and as I couldn't figure out DD, I stick with DQ.
Unfortunately it has some features which doesn't work as intended, like:
- you can any time quit the dungeon, and re-play it without consequences, hoarding resources. how it SHOULD work is, the resources should not respawn.
- you should be able to re-play after conpletion any dungeons - with incrised difficulty. This doesn't work for the 1st dungeon.
- you should enter the new dungeon (even if it's the same - you know what I mean) with the HP you got out of the last one, unless you pay in the Tavern. Instead, you start fully healed every time.
- you can softlock yourself if you either loose in the first dungeon, or if you loose all your party in Hardcore. A proper Game Over screen would have been welcomed.
- the ingame texts are "not perfect" so to say.



That's pretty much all the problems of the game, aside that, they are pretty good combo if you ask me, especialyfor retro-gamers, for 50% discount (around 5$).
And I live in a poor country, where 30-60$ full price games are unimaginable aside the select few.


On GoG I made a handy guide, finished with DQ1, expanding on DQ2. I always get frustrated if I have to choose my party blindly.

I WANT MANUALS!

twillight 01-08-2020 02:59 PM

Iratus: Lord of the Dead
 
I've noticed this game'll just get it's Diablo 2's expansion, meaning the True Ending is Behind Paywall.
At least it won't change the whole game to something unrecognisable for the fans of the original (like for Diablo 2 the "1.07 patch", or the patch for Fallout: Tactics etc. - this doesn't mean theye were bad patches, just that they were game-altering patches).


Now this game would be in need of a demo, so you don't have to pay full price in a crowded market. Because superficialy yes, there's the Evil Necromancer gimmick, but what are its distinguishing factors compared to other party-building, minion-managing games?


--


Well, as far as I can see, this is waaay better than Darkes Dungeon, the most famous in the genre today.


For DD I had a lot of management-problems, like everytrhing cost too much, the resources vary too much, minions can be made unfit to battle further by too many factors, units change place too frequently while they defiitely created taking a certain place (thus gets annihilated too easily), abilities are too stiuational - in general I've found the game too confusing and way too slow for my taste (or anyone sane in particular).


Iratus on the other hand handles this whole thing pretty well if you ask me.
Your team's most determining factor is not confusing place-swapping, buffing bullshit, but primaly wether you wanna do physical damage, or cause insanity (insanity kills people too, although less reliable to a minor degree, but it definitely a working solution).
I'm not sure though if insanity is the way to go, or not. At a random bubble it was implied, physical damage makes you harvest less body-parts, but this might not be true. (Yes, we'd need a manual.)


Aside that, yes, there are buildings to make, abilities to learn, and all the usual stuff.


My only question is though, what happens, if you loose a couple of times, or even once?
YOUR team can only suffer physical harm, so that's a good thing. The problem is obviously healing. You'll obviously carry around a primary, and a temporary team, and while one gets healed, the other continues.
But what happens if you loose a unit, or even a whole party? What if both parties get seriously injured?


DD had the solution to keep your ability and town progress, and just hire a new crew, and start at an earlier phase. Yes, it hurt, but you didn't loose the whole game because of the loss.
Here in Iratus you can't go back grinding. So I have no real idea what happens then.
If you have the answer, please fill me up. I'll ask around on other platforms too.

twillight 03-09-2020 09:12 AM

Book of Demons
 
This is an excelent re-imagining of Diablo 1, and the production company has nothing to do with Blizzard the Greedy.

So, it's a clickfest by nature, though more casual, as the protagonist can only move around on fixed pathes - which Works well with the enemy difficulty.
So if you want a Diablo-clone (at least the first one, though this has good walk/run speed instead of the crawling of the original), I'df say, try it.

But here comes my problem.
In theory, this game is part of a 7 game series, which run under the umbrella-program (meaning you choose your actualy game from the main menu).
The pre-payed, bargain-price option is unfortunately restricted to Steam.
My question is: why? Other services don't deserve the same treatment? Other sites' customers don't deserve the same price, fair, chance, equal treatment? Why should I pay, considering inflation, 500$ for something others pay 140$?
Why is Steam so racist of a site?
Even worse, the description of the offer of the company does NOT say, the offer is Steam-exclusive, but "platforms, Steam is present on", eg. PC. So that's like a legal issue even.

So the thing ends up as a mixed bag :sick: And not for the fault of the game.

Smiling Spectre 04-09-2020 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 485140)
The pre-payed, bargain-price option is unfortunately restricted to Steam.
...
Why should I pay, considering inflation, 500$ for something others pay 140$?
Why is Steam so racist of a site?

Um, but you can also buy it on Steam, no? There are a games, available on Origin or Ubistore only. There are games, restricted to one console only (they usually even boasts them as "exclusives"). There are games, available on Epic, and Epic only (they even _pay_ for this exclusivity, and don't think that they do something bad). What's wrong with Steam then? Why it is "racist", when others are not?

(Also, I believe, it's hardly _Steam_ decision after all. I think, it's better to direct your anger on the game authors - and maybe they will respond, who knows).

twillight 07-09-2020 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Spectre (Post 485142)
Um, but you can also buy it on Steam, no? There are a games, available on Origin or Ubistore only. There are games, restricted to one console only (they usually even boasts them as "exclusives"). There are games, available on Epic, and Epic only (they even _pay_ for this exclusivity, and don't think that they do something bad). What's wrong with Steam then? Why it is "racist", when others are not?

(Also, I believe, it's hardly _Steam_ decision after all. I think, it's better to direct your anger on the game authors - and maybe they will respond, who knows).

Well, in order:

#1 it is not exclusive. That's the issue. If the thing would be exclusive to Steam, I'd be fine with it. It isn't. Book of Demons and Whatever Else Coming is on 4-5 service provider.
I could even accept SOME price-differences (because of contractual reasons), but not this lot.

#2 the problem with Steam is many. Aside they being "need internet connection to play", their customer-side program is obnoxious, and consumes a ton of resources of your computer. But the main problem is, they seems to pay to ruin other servicers.

One major problem is, they achieved they get everything sooner. Usualy a week, but many times even a month earlier, sometimes HALF A YEAR sooner. AND there's no spoiler restriction there ASIDE like a week when the program first appear on their site. So they recognise spoiler, but don't respect the players (of other sites).

Second, Steam many times get exclusive PARTS of programs. Yes, I mean full DLCs, or their old names: expansions. Yes, even free ones. Why can't every customer get access to these contents? This is again NOT exclusivity, because the core program is available elsewhere. And these things are not cosmetic, to even suggest to provide servicer-unique alternative.

Third, this price-gap I've mentioned. It can NOT be the developer's idea, at least by what they let us know. If someone wants crowdfunding, their goal is, to get it from the widest possible range. Only a fool would restrict themselves to a single servicer, UNLESS the site gives them a hugh amount of money to do so.
That's just common sense.

So, all the little things added up, and now I'm seriously fed up with Steam. Especialy people mindlessly telling me "why not buy it on Steam TOO". Just fuck you, people.

Smiling Spectre 08-09-2020 08:18 PM

Huh. Thank you then.

twillight 16-09-2020 01:11 PM

Monster Train
 
Well, finaly something I like.

This is a computer card game, similar to the "original" MAgic the Gathering/Tragic the Gardening.
I never had the chance before dwelving into collecctible cardgames, so I welcomed this one.

This also places your units in an environment (a magical train which makes its own trail), and not just cards on a paste, so doubly good.

What it lacks, is building your deck, because every time you start with the starter deck (of a faction, which has two champion, aka. two starter deck), but oh well. During game you collect crads and things randomised. So consider this, and prepare to loose a lot in this "roguelike", but I'm fine, the replayability is way higher for me this way. There's no ultimate deck and ultimate strategy to WIN the game once and for all.

It is also fást-paced, a full go takes 1-3 hours (depending on your care, thinking effort, experience). Compare this to Darkest Dungeon where a single fight takes this long!

It also a ton of unlocks/achievements to inspire you to move out of your comfort zone, and do more stuff.

And it loooks fine.

Could use a bit more story and lore, but I'm even fine with its satanist state, because it is smooth, nice, bug-free, and enjoyable.

twillight 12-10-2020 02:37 PM

Baldur's Gate EE (1-2-ToB, TBP 1-2?)
 
Well, there's nothing enhanced on the Enhanced Edition, I assure you.

This time my character is a shapeshiter, and it is a good character for low level. We'll see how it Works higher.

Oh, The Black Pit 1 is suprisingly survicable, too bad it has anything to do with Beamdog.

twillight 17-10-2020 08:29 PM

Looking through my GOG-library
 
Quit a library I hoarded, many obviously giveaways, and most if not all the rest came from bundles. I don't think I ever spent more than 20-25$ a game, and by average only 10$.


Let's invoke some numbers.



- In the library I have 4 extras-package.
- I have 58 games I have no intention to ever pull out. In very rare cases again (Deponia, Toonstruck, Alone in the Dark 4, Heretic Kingdoms: Inquisiton, Darkest Dungeon for example), in most cases ever (there are some heavy hitters here too, like The Witcher 1-2 for example).
- there are 19 games that would be nice to switch on just to look if I like them, but they are realy not a priority, despite some titles I payed good money for (eg. parts of the Divinity series, or Tides of Numenera).
- there are 9 games with the tag "interrested, definitely launch some time in the future". These have a wide range from Worms 2 to Underrail to The House in Fata Morgana, or Castlevania 1.
- and there are 7 games I'll definitely, without doubt play with in the future. Either because they look very attractive, or because I want the worth of my money. These are:
a) Pillars of Eternity
b) Batman, the enemy within
c) Delores: a thimbleweed park mini-adventure (I think this was a giveaway)
d) Monster Train (this is just good)
e) Children of Morta (for this I bought Divinity 2, and the other reason for the buy was the charity-purpose DLC, so as I've spent an amount I felt, I'm definitely playing it)
f) Silent Hill 4: The Room (this was the only part of the series I got interrested in, and its pitch was so good I still remember it)
g) Star Trek 25th anniversary edition: it might turn out trash, but c'mon, maybe it's good. Worst case scennario, I'll watch a Let's play.
h) Werewolf: The Apocalyps: Heart of the Forest. I've played Vampire the Masquarade P&P, and I'm into gamebooks. The look is great. I'm definitely interrested, and will look it up. I just have sooo many things to do... It's great to have a job though. I prefer the first world problem of too many games than no money to pay my rent.


And I have an extra category: games that I put aside to pull out any time when I'm into a specific genre.
- Bio Menace is a retro-style quick platformer.
- Flight of the Amazon Queen is an old, but solvable point&click adventure game. Sure, I have
- the Monkey Island series (even 4-5) on my list, but they are more for the laugh than for the őuzzles.
- Stargunner is I think never played, but it is a left-to-right going shooter.
- Anger Force Reloaded is a bottom-to-top shooter.
- DEX is some mushy game by genre, so I never got into it, but it's a nice game, so who knows.
- Postal 1 is a top-down shooter of extreme violence for its 8-bit glory.
- Book of Demons is a Diablo-clone. I wish it were more complete with the other games fused into it... C'mon developers, have mercy on GoG!

- Baldur's gate (1-2-ToB) is an all time standing
- War Wind is very unlikely, but if I'll ever feel the need of a Warcraft 1-2-clone...
- Blasphemous is a Blackthorne clone. I didn't get too far in it, then the expansion came out, and I had all kind of emotional issues related to this... Still, it's not a forgettable game, and Blathorne is definitely a stlye I like time to time.

<div>- Broken Sword 1-2 are classics, so I'll not burry them, no matter how unlikely to pull them out again.<span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;font-style:normal;" data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;The House in Fata Morgana&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:513,&quot;3&quot;:{&quo t;1&quot;:0},&quot;12&quot;:0}">

twillight 22-10-2020 12:35 PM

The Wandering Village
 
This game is barely in developement yet, but the concept of it struck me, it is so perfect of a metaphor for the Earth, enviroment, humanity, and all that.

It is a sim-city-like game (ok, will be), with the usual stuff (explore, research, advance), but the gimmick is, your city is on the back of a giant animal, so you can't just build whatever you want, you must co-exist with your "planet".
Which moves, so you don't have to release disasters manualy, heh, it wonders into them.

It comes primaly on PC, and though it focuses on Steam in its campaign, it doesn't seem Steam-exclusive, so if you find the idea as good as me, check out Kickstarter.

Here is the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UZz7S75Xbs

twillight 25-10-2020 06:42 PM

Bastion
 
This looks superficialy as some casual flashgame.
But it is actualy a very good kill-em-all.
The pacing, the structure of levels, the optional goals (achievements, extra difficulty options) is excellent.


While the majority of such games drown in uniformity of weapons (aside the flashing and colour they are indistinguishable), uniformity of strategy (stand and shoot, slowly back away while shooting, shooot from out of range), or uniformity of waves (more, bigger enemies), this one always has something in its sleeves.


It even has some sandbox-feature, as while the core part of the game is do-it-once (with Game+ mode fortunately), there is at least one optional area for grinding both EXP and $$$, so it falls on you what you find suitable.
Heck, there's even the option to not pick up the equipment. I find that very curious, as unpicked items do not show up at your HQ, the areas are not re-playable, but you neither get achievement for it.
Should ask the developers maybe.

Capo 26-10-2020 04:33 PM

Really doubt they will answer to you about a game 9 years old XD

twillight 13-11-2020 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 485320)
Really doubt they will answer to you about a game 9 years old XD


Hey, Hope only dies in season 3 out of 6!

twillight 10-01-2021 01:10 PM

Cat Quest 1
 
Aside that this would have been a flash-game (where you'd not move freely on the world map probably), this is an excellent game, especialy with the discount GoG gave it on (it was enough to consider CQ2 too along it, because after a quick try, the game proved fun).


You don't get the random-generated nonsense called "rogulelike", you get a proper game designed heartfully for your money here.
The dungeon-designs are realy working. Placement of monsters, placement of treasures, traps, hidden loot, dynamics, positions are all considered when the game was made.
The only thing you could argue here is all dungeons are "clear'em all" tasks, but with their design its a realy minor issue.
You also can clear dungeons thrice: once for clearing the monsters, second to grab all chests (hidden ones can be a task of their own, but the system is well-introduced), then maybe third time later a quest will send you in to clear the place again.


The game introduces its features, world and difficulty very intuitively. The white arrow pointing to your next objective looked annyoingly in-yo-face at first, but it works, especialy as you realise, quests lead you to the next area to visit, next quest to pick up by difficulty.


The core main quest can be steamrolled through in 40-45 minutes if you are very good at what you are doing and have gear (Furry Armored), but if you exp/gear up, it takes 8 to 10 hours depending of your choice in difficulty.


Because it has an additional mode "Mew Game" where you can set additional properties: no exp, no gear, only 9 lives, stronger monsters, and keep all gear + equipment.
For these you can unlock an extra gear, the Old Masters Set, and for hardcore players you can get them repeatedly for maximum effect (ilvl 99), and you'll be able to use them if you contine a New(+) game, which is not to be confused with the Mew Game (I should try Mew Game too to check if you get the gear there too if you continue playing like in Fallout).


And all this builds up to introduce you to hardcore gaming, where you never get hit (or only very few times), as for the 3rd part of the Old Masters Set (you play as a cat, who could be the Old Masters?) you realy have to play attention with no gear (or no exp, depending on what you prefer, but no gear is safer, and has open limits) and only 9 lives.
The stronger monsters part is not that influencing, it's even welcomed, monsters on the overworld giving you plentyful exp.
Obviously you get badges to try out all modes.


Oh, and I spell it out for the minmaxers: the protagonist is a half-cat/half-dragon being (it's a cool story bro, discover yourself), so you have no excuse not to play this :shifty:

twillight 30-01-2021 07:04 PM

Monkey Island 5 (GoG): I wish I had this game before, because it actualy looks fun. Ok, not at the quality of the first three games, but way above Escape...
The problem: the game's speed is connected to the CPU-speed, what means on modern computers the game is sickeningly fast. It's not unplayable like the original Fallout 2's realse's world-map traveling, but it caused me unfomfort.


Alien Earth (GoG): You wander around, crafting stuff (weapons and puzzle solution), and has a generaly attractive B-movie wibe.
The problem: you have no real idea what you are doing, the respawn-mechanics are unclear, certain things seem obvious to do but you can't (taking a lit lamp), other things are moon logic (for giving the bunny to the mad man is no clue), there's no keyboard layout/controls menu. Also, if you hit the wrong button, the game will freeze. Allegedly you can save the game at beds, but who knows. The game also will freeze if you ever try to change window, so just don't. Also have no idea how to quit properly. The freeze only went away from me by pressing ctrl+alt+del and signing out.


Cat Quest 2: very similar to Cat Quest 1, but the story is weaker, I don't feel why or how I am part of the story I mean. While for the first game you had a clear motivation, in the second installment people TELL you things are bad, but the game does NOT SHOW it to be that way, and to be honest for this the protagonist duo seem to be murder hobos.
Noticable change in mechanics is, you get 2 character (practicaly double HP for single players), and mana is gained by time, not by meleeing enemies. Unfortunately all clothes seem to fit on both characters, and yet to find out how they differ by abilities. (I'm at an early stage with this.)

twillight 14-03-2021 05:33 PM

Cayne
 
It's one of the free games on GoG, and is a point&click adventure-game.


It has a clunky learning curve, ti. nothing is explained what the controls are.
Also, the first room's puzzles are TIMED EVENTS, and that never comes into play later, is unusual in the genre, thus makes you probably quit before leaving the first room.


The puzzles are at best moon-logic, or maybe require specilasized knowledge, like the photo-development puzzle in Shadow of the Comet, which can only be solved if you know how to develop analog photos in a lab.
There are also a lot of red herrings, or unused props.



Then the story. the story on paper is fine, though a bursting animation would have been more adequate. The details which realy fails this one. Story-pieces just left behind and in nonsense.
Never turns out how you got in the facility, what was the conract that put you there, what's your complaint, why was the crew all fucking each other, how they developed that religion-business, who is Cayne, wassis deal, where did "Samantha" come from, why is everyone a perv...

Capo 15-03-2021 06:07 PM

Cayne is the prequel of Stasis, thats why you dont get the story

twillight 30-03-2021 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 485838)
Cayne is the prequel of Stasis, thats why you dont get the story


Lame excuse.

twillight 24-05-2021 02:13 PM

Just some quick notes on games I regretted buying
 
Book of Demons: This is actualy a very very nice game which I very very liked - until I found out the pre-order option, which says it is for all, but is actualy just for Steam, and as that has a ridiculously low price, I obviouslyrefuse to pay more just for playing on GoG, so I just abandoned the whole thing for unethical business-practice.


Tonight we riot: it is boring. You should get immersion to some anti-capitalist, pro-communist feeling, but the game simply has no content to provide you. It's mindless point&click, and you don't even get proper controls over your team. And it is ridiculously hard to figure out what the levels expect you to do to get those pesky buffs (extra items). And to pick the item you want is a pin too.


Jagged Aliance Rage: it should have lernt from Fallout Tactics and make turn-based actions optional. Or at least do UFO-style, and only force you to turn-based when the enemy can see you.
Otherwise I like the look of it, and the character designs.
Too bad it feeds on memory, and on top of it I tried to plug in a controller, and it not just did not work, but I could not revert back to mouse wither, so fuck this.


Cayne: it's semi-ok point&click adventure/horror game, but beats me what actualy happens in it. And I won't buy some other game just to learn that.


Contra: this game just fucks you in the ass. The enemy spawns inside the screen taking away reation-time. And it tend to respawn. And has a good chunk of randomizer on 'em. And there is not infinite continue. So ye, I see why this was hard, and I say it is not good.


Castlevania 1: this game is boring. And frustrating. The frustrating part is simply the medusa-heads. Just take those out of the game. Oh, than it isn't ven hard anymore? Well, not my business.


Warhammer: Chaosbane: look, I know this isn't supposed to be the greatest thing ever. I just wanned some Diablo-clone not involved Blizzard. I double-chacked, and I have the requirements for it. It lags. Pure and simple, it is insufferable. Sure, if I had some nifty high-end videocard, it'd be good, but this is just next level bullshit.


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


I did not regret this, but...


Anvil of Dawn
Well, now I could play it. Turns out, the black female is the character to go. The stats are just great. Either way, the problem is, with the GoG-version I could not backtrack to check the other passage after the branching-part, and the game is simply not that interresting - and after a point is very boring becuase you just cakewalk it.
It's not a bad game if you can tolerate the combat-system, but it doesn't offer much aside that combat system, which is: cast a spell, stand around 10 minutes to regain mana, go to the next enemy.
And magic is still was faster and effective than melee, because in melee you'll hit air too many times, and your damage will just remain in the D10, D12 range, while your spells will do 100 reliably.

twillight 25-05-2021 02:25 PM

Pokemon Red with only a Hitmonchan
 
So, I've reinstalled the game on my neu computer, and created the same character.
Player: Johny C.
Hitmonchan: HitMeHard
Rival: Jackash


Reached Cerulean City at clvl 25, and done the place without problem.


I also decided to run a solo Jynx, the old blackface... sorry, prupleface character if you are uncomfortable the japanese culture.
The protagonist will be Cheapskate, because won't buy anything if possible. The rival will be Protege.

twillight 11-06-2021 08:46 PM

I almost bought some games..
 
...but fortunately noticed they don't have win 10 support!
So ye, sure, GoG does sell titles like Sacred, Arcanum and such - BUT what's the use of it if they don't run under win10?


With this effort I could buy Might and Magic 9, which is an unfinishedly released game, but that as bare minimum would work... After you install like a million fan-made patch... Still.


Not that I have much time to play though, as all my free time is consumed reading (the pretty horrible) Wheel of Time books.


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


Aside these, I'll mention 4 games on my "to be played" list:


- Bastion: this is a fun hack&slash, somewhat-platforming game, nice graphic, good story, good music. Why I don't play it too much? There is this design-flow that you can not-pick-up items, like and especialy weapons.
Ad if you don't pick them up, you can't go back to try it again.
But there's no achievement or something to leave them behind. So what's the point of this whole situation if not design-flow?


- Dark Quest 2: I'd play the heck out of this, one problem though: you can re-play the tutorial-level. Ad infinitum. When you do, EVERYTHING respawns. Not just the consumables to keep you alive, not just the enemy (so the level has a point), but the extra skillpoints too!
It should actualy work like every time you replay, the monsters get tougher. But if you simply cancel the quest you jump back to the beggining, WITH all the loots (including skillpoints, money, all what you bought on the money at the hub etc.), and then ... just where's the challenge?


-Book of Demons: I love this game to be honest. Problem? THere'll be a bunch of continuation, and extras, and it's dirt-cheap for Steam, AND they said the package is for ALL PLATFORMS. GoG is a platform too, but somehow the only platform actualy is Steam this piece of garbage pplies.
So I boycot the game.


- Monster Train: Despite too many times failing to the random, I'd play this... If I'd manage to find a stable job, get married, have children. Perfect casual satisfaction. But aside that it does not have some world-shaking grand story or anything, so...


Next time: more games from my TBP list!

Capo 12-06-2021 05:05 PM

In Bastion you can pick up weapons :headslap:

twillight 14-06-2021 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 486195)
In Bastion you can pick up weapons :headslap:


But you don't have to.
And if you do, you no longer can.
That is an issue that should have been adressed, with all the minigames (with rewards) relying on grabbing said weapons.


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


Let's include then some more games from my TBP-list:


- Mary Skelters: it's some dungeon-crawling thingy, that genre combined with japanese games, aka tons of tons of dialogues. Dialogues without iintroduction.
Look, the game is nice, and is probably good to play, but I'd realy need to be teached how to play the foker, and the tons of talk just gets in my way, especialy if I have to do romance-stuff.
I have this up, passed the tutorial, but I'm considering uninstalling it, and reinstalling it maybe never, because I just wanned to open door, kill monster, grab loot.


- The house of fata morgana: with Wheel of Time on my hand, this "interactive novel" is very down on my list.


- Worms 2: Ye, it's a bit complicated to start, whatever. My problem is the same when I've played the CD version: I just stop at one point, not getting enough feedback of achievement. Maybe if I shouldn't start from the menu every single level, or some cutscene, or literaly anything more inclusive, I'd play the heck out of it.


- Children of Morta: Let's fiish this post on an upbeat tone. I love this game, though its difficulty-curve is nonsense. To start the thing is already an achievement itself, as you get characters both too slowly and too fast at the start, then developing them to any half-decent level is a torture.
Then there is your usual shitty feature: bonus exp/gold skills. So that halts your development again.
Then you want your very first character to "max" level (I mean skill-unlocking max requirement level), and that'll take a whiel... But is pretty much inevitable as that gives the absolute best thing in the game for every one of your characters: regeneration. Ye, this makes things a stand-around-simulator from the '90s, but believe me, you'll need that, especialy if you play on Hard (or as I plan on Insane) difficulty.
THEN there is yet another halt, the part the monsters hostage Mary, an NPC. There all normal levels are cut off, and with that all development aside exp is cut off too, as the special rescue-level has no resources. So never ever finish the first level of the second town, or you'll be screwed!


Still, if you get past the restrictive parts, this game is a very godd hack&slash with interresting character-abilities and powerups, and a fun world.
Town 3 could be better - and with the released new mode it actualy is with more enemies added to the few act 3 randos, making that city alive too.


So while there are some desig-flaws, and the start of the game is a slog, it's really starts to be fun if you get past that, worth your efforts.
It'd totaly deserve some good articles about it to hype it up - but you know, journalists don't have time or effort to reach past the pesky part, that's why you don't design the beggining of the game this way.

twillight 20-06-2021 07:58 PM

Now, let's make a last "on my TBP list" post.


Like there is Warhammer: Chaosbane. Look, I don't get Warhammer, especialy not WH40K, and I think their games are shit by screenshots.
I thought this will be a Diablo-clone, checked the requirements, and I surly hit the minimum, according to (some) lists, even the optimum. Well, it lags like Lionheart, so fuck this whole shit. And fuck GoG.


Same thing with Batman: the enemy within (from the Telltale series).


Then there is Postal 2, because you have to experience famous games, which by the way 99% of the time turn out to be shit.


And I should check ut Torment: Numa-numa-ai, or whatever its name was. I never got to instal the bugger. Not sure why, then it got bad reputation, couldn't access the (overpriced) novels...


Then there are those two giant RPGs, Underrail and Pillars of Eternity 1.
Underrail looks bland, and a bit complicated, and fuck you for checking me for nooks, Baldur's Gate 1 style. Just so you know, originaly you had no item-highlight option.
And PoE? I got through some tutorial-section way-beck-when, but it is missing the hook for me. Sure, the game looks ok, but where is the Enclave blasting unarmed vault-dwellers and their children? If I want to play a pig-farmer, I'll pick Dink Smallwood, thank you!
Btw, Dink S. had terrible monetary system if you wanned to use bows. I've beaten the entire game TWICE and still could not afford the best bow, that's how ridiculous its price.


So I'm realy like: gimme blasted pokemon, those were the games, we had FUN. Nowdays? Here is a quest: pay me XXX$ real money, or fok off! So depressing.
They even anounced Windows 11. BUT WHY?!?

twillight 25-07-2021 02:15 PM

Doodle Champion Island Games
 
Woah, Google really made a "minigam"! Crap, it is a full realease game!
I suggest to immerse in it, do the trophy-tasks before doing the seven main minigame. The tasks create immersion, and even unlock different difficulties of the minigames.
Unfortunately there aren't unlockables for all areas, like the rugby game I found none, but for the table-tennis, and guitar hero ("syncronized swimming" in the game) had easy, normal and hard diffs. Marathon had normal and hard, so 2 diff there. Won't spoil the rest.


The best part of course are the clips of occasions. Too bad after collecting all the trophies there is no option to sail away and restart the game, so yu'll be stuck with 1 team, though I bet all 4 team basically have the same HQ.

twillight 25-08-2021 05:25 PM

Thought about playing BG again, on Legacy of Bhaal difficulty, with "what could be the official narrative" concept, as obviously that difficulty is not for solo.
Looked after what LoB actualy is, went through the hirelings, and decided against it.


Still got the narrative though.


So we know, we start alone, Imoen put on your neck at the start (tip: if you really want to be pure solo, kill Imoen in Candlekeep with 1 hit, immediately run to Gorion and talk yourself out of the castle. Perfect. She worth 20 exp, no rep-consequence).


We also know who ended up with the hero finishing BG1 and starting BG2: Imoen (of course), Jehaira with Khalid, Minsc and Dynaheir.


When starting the game (BG1) thus we instantly have Imoen, and in the same area is Xar and Montaron, or something. Definitely a mage and a thief, but the names are too similar (Xan vs Xar and so on). You NEED them, not as for party, but as meatshield. You go to the Friendly Arm Inn as Gorion instructed, to pick up Jaheria (obiously the official love-interrest for BG2) and Khalid. Problem is getting into the inn. Why is it a problem? Assassination-attempt. How is it a problem? You need at least 19 HP on a character to survive a magic missile this bounty hunter casts. The casting is too fast to interrupt, will definitely stay alive long enough to cast it with the mirror images (and fear), and it shoots 3 missiles, each can do 6 DMG apiece. So we can assume a character-death here.


Now we can find certain characters here-and-there, but they were obviously designed as extra companions just for a quest, like the dwarf looking for his caravan, or whoever is at the lighthouse lookng for a tome. So I don't care for those too much.


The next important station is Nashkel, where Jaheira and Khalid is heading. There we meet Edwin and Minsc, both going for Dynaheir. Hire both, rescue Dynaheir, kill Edwin.


There are a couple of other characters we know about, like Montaron's mage died in BG1 and stuff. And we have a list of characters we know stayed alive, so don't be too quickhanded.

But the point is, we actualy filled out quota for characters, so that's it for now. Moving on to BG2.


In BG 2 there is one single character we definitely must accept, and that is Yoshimo.
That leaves one free space in the party still. Well, technicaly two, as we know.


On the sidenote, we know that geneticaly the protagonist is half-god (no-race) half mother-side, this means half-elf never should have been an option.
Also, orignaly the mother of the protagonist when summoned by the solar was definitely human, and even EE extended this only to dwarf, halfling and elf, and not to gnome or orc. Female orcs again still do not exist in either version by skin and portrait.

twillight 09-09-2021 03:42 PM

Pillars of Eternity
 
Why is there no detailed guide for this?
Why can't you whenever spread your skillpoints?
Why can't you make popups disappear by rightclick?


So many questions.


A problem with the game is the lack of character motivation. Take the Big Three on contrary:
- Fallout 1 had the water-crisis.. Fallout 2 had a clear goal: get a GECK, or eventualy your village will die out. Fallout Tactics sent you eliminating some raiders, which led to the discovery of a new menace, and the story opened up like a flower.
- Baldur's Gate 1 had the motivation of immediate threat. Sure, aside that the protagonist lacked its own motivation, but the contacts gave their motivation to you, and you filled with urge grasped to straws at that point, so their motivation became your motivation. BG2 offered a CHOICE of motivations: get revenge on Irenicus, rescue your half-sister Imoen, or simply accept the situation and work with the shadow thieves lacking any other options.
- Planescape put you into such a weird situation you were happy to jump to conclusions and follow the instructions tattooed on your back!


But Pillars of Eternity give a character whose goal is to settle down, and be a farmer, or what. Point is the character wants anything but adventures.
So you start with a caravan, which stops at a very dangerous place, literaly only a couple of hours away from its goal, to look after WATER for you suffering some illness? Where's the logic and motivation in there?
Situation worsens when you throw away the waterflask you just aquired. Genious. Now do we need water or not? How is water such a commodity anyway?
Whatever, situation worsens: you are put to an open-map world. Which railroads you to your next destination, as the open world map is not open. Uhm.
Ye, you spot some cultists, but remember: it's not your buisness. They die immediately anyway. Pfff.
Then you get to your village. It's a shitty place, but whatever. You can not examine the corpse the game points at, but fortunately I decided to sleep here. No idea otherwise how the main story would have continued on.


Oh, here comes another problem: the lack of source of money! I want to spend my money, but that's somehow is not an option, given there is no source of income for tha game. Not that I can see anyway.
I'd need a reliable source of money, lockpicks, grappling hooks...


Even the order of areas related to quests do not make sense. There's a quest to find some midwife/witch/potion maker. And there's a quest to unlock the blacksmith-shop for trade (I assume). And there's the continuation of the main quest (which is another midwife, how lame). Obviously you'd like to get access the shop, but that's on the way towards the main quest!


Also, why none told me I'll need 4 athletics and 4 mechanics ASAP? Ok, 3 mechnaics if I'm ready to spend lockpicks. Too bad I have no idea how to replenish my lockpicks. Or how to sell my stuff!


Aside that, I was happy beating that bear in that cave without any real problem.


Oh, and it would have beenn ice if the destination-areas would have appeared on the map when the quests were given. Especialy as there are unrelated inaccessible locations on the map for some reason anyway.
The lack of lore-section in the manual doesn't help the situation either.

Capo 12-09-2021 03:18 PM

Ahaha you posts are always funny XD

-I think you completely missed the story of the game, are you skipping the dialogues?

-You want to be rich at the start of the game? Is never like that, you will have no money problems going ahead with the game

-You dont need any specific ability to progress into the game

-The map is quite simple: to unlock an area for fast travel you have to actually walk there. Big shock!

twillight 13-09-2021 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capo (Post 486306)
Ahaha you posts are always funny XD

-I think you completely missed the story of the game, are you skipping the dialogues?

-You want to be rich at the start of the game? Is never like that, you will have no money problems going ahead with the game

-You dont need any specific ability to progress into the game

-The map is quite simple: to unlock an area for fast travel you have to actually walk there. Big shock!


- No, I've not skipped the dialogue. YOU on the other hand likely did.


- I want services affordable. And I'm not just not rich, I don't see where riches will come from.


- you DO need specific abilities to unlock certain areas of the game. I'm a completionist.


- the map SHOULD be simple, but it does not service the player. Why are there places I've never even heared of? (And as told, i've checked the manual if there's a lore-section or something, and there isn't.) Why are places I know of (sent to) not on the map? And why I have to check all exits from a location to have all locations next to the current one get unlocked (stupid Baldur's Gate mechanic?
And given this looks like an open-world game, why the worldmap doesn't work as in a Fallout? I press a destination, and I don't have to unlock jack shit! Crap, this isn't even Might and Magic, where you had a clearly full map to walk across in any direction. Here the limit of walking is arbitrary. Why the heck can't I go west? Or north? Or west when out of the imploding cave?


+ come to think of it, when will the game start, when will I get out of the Tutorial Area? Bloody Stronghold has its own menu-button from the start, but there's no spoon, I mean stronghold. If the button would not be there it'd be fine, but this...

twillight 08-11-2021 06:39 PM

I would literaly cry if I coul
 
I had the demo, but there was no way me figuring out on what disc it was, and never seen it resurface anything, and no matter how hard I searched Neon Green/Blue Zombie Adventure Game, no luck. It burned in my mind who knows how long, because even the barely-any-length demo, I thought it was funny, and just the puzzles an adventure-game would need.

twillight 09-11-2021 12:57 PM

Ancient Enemy
 
Well, this is Solitaire.
It is a bit... Unchiselled, if you ask me. It feels... a bit too easy to win, given they gave it stakes, a story for frame and everything. And it is not simply that, it is more of the problem you can get too high combos too easily, while you must get them to get top score, and the same time ther simply isn't enough card on the field, AND I think they are static, so what the shop offers to buy can easily be optimalised what to buy, AND maybe it's just me, but I get waaay too many resources to buy stuff from the shop.


On the other hand, solitaire is a good game, this offers two versions of it (clear the field and defeat enemies), and it has enoughn uances to make you think (power-gathering to buy stuff from the shop, creating combos, unlocking stuff on the fields, activating your cards etc.).


I'd like to see though where defense is equal to offense, but it is not, despite skill-tree existing for it. The "problem" of cours eis the "win the stage for 3 stars" system, which is measured by turns spent, and every turn spend on the defense is one turn not defeating the opponent :sick:
But that's really a minor thing, and this is an improvement on solitaire, so pretty good casual game. And it tends to be discounted to like half price, which definitely worth it.


On the sidenote, a limitation on the Wyr.cards would be required, because you CAN stuck up on them, indefinitely, on any difficulty, and that's... That's instant win whenever you want.
It's not THAT serious though, I spend them regularly to get top-score. Still accumlated like 7 the same time, but average I run like 5 mid-game. Early game it was perfectly balanced to make you consider wether they worth the investment. But at some point I truly got overflown a bit with these, so I've spent.


Oh, be careful on the consumables (meaning Gear-cards). You can easily pick such that cause damage the enemy is immun to. Ye, that factor is actualy very good here, the resists, and the magic/phyiscal damage they can cause. Trains you to pay attention. Like a good solitaire should.



It has its sister-game, Shadowhand, where some pirate-girl does girly-stuff or something. It looks a bit more complex (marginaly, it is still solitaire), but heared the random is pretty though there on the later levels (aka. unfair as F).

twillight 18-04-2022 11:19 AM

Might and Magic 1-2-3-4-5
 
Oh, man, what a disappointment.


Well, not that much for the first. This time it was at least obeying the key-commands. My problem was not just the lack of a map, which I knew is coming, but the entire lack of clues how big the areas are.


And we are talking about after reading the manual.


the game also lacks any clue where the heck are you on the map, so though luck makring everything on paper.


I know, I know, I could just look up an extrernal source and learn the maps are 15*15, but what's the fun in that? I wanned to enjoy the genuine, original, pre-internet experience.


So 2 is out of the picture with this too, giving no actual improvement to the gameplay, and 3 is a soft reboot anyway.


I had hopes for 3. It looked fine. Sure, the controls were clunky, but oh, well. Then I've turned around, entered the door, and noticed I have to empty slots for characters. Oook... And those character-types are not in my gorup, and everyone is to hire...
Oh, ye, almost forgot, my first disappointment was that I had no chance for a carater creation. Or the very least party-creation. I mean before starting the friggin' game.
Then I've done the mistake of moving to an open direction. This game turned out WORSE than the first two! It's horribly disorienting, even with the map!
Then some goblin on my screen I thought is a decoration started waving. Obviously marking a hidden room or something. Took a while to figure out how to handle that, but why even put in the feature if you will just tell me it's a "hidden" room?
Anyway, 2 rat jumped on me ANY MASSACRED HALF MY TROOPS. Genious. At least my HEALER was alive. So I thought, time for a healing spell! but the game thought nah, it'll be fine.
Unfortunately for the game, my "robber" was down too, and was required to open the found chest. So I've slept. Opened the chest. Took the stuff in it. No idea what some whistle would have done. Moved a bit around. My robber was down again. Didn't even meet an enemy. No healing option. No place to buy food. Xeen is the exact same game just bigger. F you, Might and Magic. :cry:

Smiling Spectre 20-04-2022 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twillight (Post 486440)
And we are talking about after reading the manual.


the game also lacks any clue where the heck are you on the map, so though luck makring everything on paper.

It seems, you read manual not so thoroughfully as you thought.

You need Sorcerer's L1 spell. "Location". As description says, "In general, this spell is the key to successfull mapping".

It not stop the game being too boring and unfair (I gave up after second found city that was too high level for me, and several hours of mapping the mountains that gave me basically nothing). Maybe it requires several hundreds of hours invested, but I didn't found the game too interesting for that.

Quote:

Then I've done the mistake of moving to an open direction. This game turned out WORSE than the first two! It's horribly disorienting, even with the map!
Well, it's not so very disorienting, after you suited to it, actually... but map is highly recommended to any meaningful exploration. And I don't mean auto-map, of course.
Quote:

Then some goblin on my screen I thought is a decoration started waving. Obviously marking a hidden room or something. Took a while to figure out how to handle that, but why even put in the feature if you will just tell me it's a "hidden" room?
Because it's a feature of your character(s). Not every character is able to find the secret door, and, if I remember right, not always from the first try.
Quote:

Anyway, 2 rat jumped on me ANY MASSACRED HALF MY TROOPS.
Did you buy weapon/armor before? I don't remember what can be the problem here, but definitely I hadn't such problems when I played (fifteen years ago though).
Quote:

Genious. At least my HEALER was alive. So I thought, time for a healing spell! but the game thought nah, it'll be fine.
Umm... Why? I believe, "First Aid" is available practically everywhere (and manual says something along this way too).
Quote:

Xeen is the exact same game just bigger. F you, Might and Magic. :cry:
You gave up to early. :) I finished this game between my first crawlers in early 00s, mostly because of lack of the manuals and good understanding of English that made most of such games impossible for me, unlike M&M3. So, I believe, it must be somewhere around "semi-casual" difficulty. Unlike M&M1 (hardcore) and M&M2 (impossible without manual).

Hmm, actually, it brings up to the fact that I never played M&M2 meaningfully... Maybe worth to give it a chance now! :)

zirkoni 25-04-2022 07:33 PM

You should try using WhereAreWe:

https://www.eskimo.com/~edv/lockscroll/WhereAreWe/


Really makes playing the games much easier and more enjoyable IMO.

twillight 30-04-2022 10:34 AM

@SS

1) unless my sorc has that spell from the getgo (which he doesn't, I think), that won't help.


2) that's kinda obvious, but I refuse to get accustomed to sub-par, highly outdated features. One: no modern player would do so, two: I'm not very motivated on my part.


3) that was obvious, but it is a very clunky way. The good way was MM6-7-8, where the secret door was highlighted by red. There is a reason secret doors are used to be marked by cracks in the wall. You need to hint to the player (so they can find them), but you shall not make it obvious, otherwise it is not secret door.


4) I didn't even met a shop. Either way, unless those armor give HP instead of AC, it wouldn't help. The rats simply 1HKO certain classes.


5) well, with meta-knowledge I probably would know that. But the point was to enter without meta-knowledge, and play it as a game, not as following a set of instructions.
Computer-games too long were allowed to be nothing else but hint-line scams.


I gave up "early", because these games do not worth the effort today.


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


@zirkoni


That's genious. I store the link for some later time. Hugh thank you.


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


Unrelated: currently playing Swords and Souls: Neverseen. It is one of those flashgames which now pretend to not be flashgame, so to acess it I use the Netflix-method, whatever.
Point is, it has a minimal story-or-whatever, enough to fuel a playthrough. This is NOT a game you wish to replay. There isn't much reason anyway, unless you want to ocncentrate on one of the melee weapons exclusively.
The whole thing looks on papre repetitive, and technicaly it is, but if you focus on getting the badges during every level of training, you'll have only a couple of training-sessions before completion. Sure, those will be hours upon hours long sessions, but still limited number of sessions, what is ok.
The gaming-balance and economy-balance is of a flashgame, some achievements (juggler, especialy) are practical impossibility - no surprise, we are talking about an Armorgames product.
But it is a good reflex-training, I give you that.

twillight 03-05-2022 01:56 PM

Galador
 
Oh, man. There was a thing I did not remember from the demo. That either had no sound, or I just forgot the whole thing, or the 1% chance it was english.
Ye, sure, the full game surely has english subtitles, but not audio. Instead, the whole thing is polish. There should be ooption to chnage the audio, but GoG, in its infinite wisdom, did not tell us how to do that.


So I've tried, at least lowered the force of the sound, but it'll be a quarter or more year until I get in the mood again. :lame:

twillight 12-05-2022 03:43 PM

Tin Man's The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
 
Finaly some good game.
Yes, this is again another edition of TWoFM of the Fighting Fantasy series, BUT this time actual care went into the project.
The map got a massive overhaul, adding new stuff, a lot of timed event, and nifty graphic only computers can add instead of paper.


On the second note, it worth mentioning, this is still a gamebook, meaning you better make your own map (the ones on the net are seriously lacking, and while you can see pretty far away in the game, believe me, you better start ot make notes).
It's not that bad though like some Wizardry, or MM 1-2 without that automapping patch, but as you'll basicaly walk this place over and over and over, in a rogue-like fashion, you want to be as prepared as possible, and you WILL roam the Mountain quite some while, as you are given quite a bunch of characters, around a dozen, and that's just the story mode.


And darn, those characters worth it. They come with their own backstory - and personal quests! So this time prepare to NOT fight Zagor if you don't want to, because you do not arrive with that intention, and that's a relief, a big one!
The characters also not just come with their own agenda and attack abilities, but also personality! It was a nice suprise when the second character, who basicaly have the same skills as the first on the row simply refused to hide at the start because "this is the early, thus easy portion" of the game! And while this creates a distinct persona from your own, it actualy introduces roleplaying in a good way, an aspect FF was created for in the very beginning.
Knowing the map from the first palythrough not being able to break cvharacter created excitement for me, because I had to consider how the character will behave when facing certain situations I knew is coming. Like sure, in that room is a nifty item, or a handful of gold coins - but if I have to fight for it instead of being sneaky, that's a risk. Or I had to consider entering otherwise unappealing rooms because you can actualy make conversations (sometimes) with the residents of Firetop, and you want the information.


I've mentioned roguelike. This time the adventure catched early-AD&D-level feeling, meaning you have only a limited number of HP you have to manage. The characters being pre-made also forces you to strategies, consider to open a door you don't know what's behind it, or pick a fight you know from previous goes it is behind the door or not.
Pre-generated characters also prevent the 12/24/12 character-fatigue, and the varying combat-abilities help preventing the combat become monotous.


This is a great game, especialy in a world where reaction-shooter rule the market. You need to stop, think, strategize, recognise paterns, make probability-calculations.


Oh, and to spice things up, there are the achievements. Even the individual character quest ensured you'll discover the majority of the secrets of the Warlock's residents, but trying to figure out which character's quest allign the best with certain achievements creates an all new level of immersion.


All in all, I love it. Now let's hope I win this round.

twillight 13-05-2022 01:25 PM

Tunic (first impression)
 
Well, this doesn't start well.


One: you arrive without any goal, explanation, or anything nearbuy. Literaly not even anything that moves. Hugh mistake. If you put at least an enemy I must fight/avoid, I'm at the very least moved.
And don't start me that Zelda-comparison, there some hockey wizard shown up, and gave a goal. You had no idea where to execute that, but you did have a goal. The manual also told you your goal, and there was the intro-video that gave you at least vague ideas what oyu are up to.


Two: the lack of manual. Ok, start button-smashing for menu. Great! We do have a manual! Pressing F1... And nothing happens! Fok off, game.
Reading the store-page what'_s the fuss, seems you have to collect the manual. Fok off, game.


Ok, found a stick. MY idea: use it on that door I found. Ok, then not, it's just my basic weapon. Look, game, from the enemies I've found in the vicinity, you're not some Dark Souls. You are Little Big Adventure. You are a barely controllable, semi-boring piece of crap.


Yes. Isometric. Look, that worked for turn-based games, but otherwise it is not for PC-gamers. It needs a controller, a bloody joystick.


Also, game, why don't let me read stuff on the markings? And when I finaly find one, marking "Town", why can't I just walk there? I definitely need healing! Oh, wassis? An altair? HUGH mistake. One: I dunno if I can use it repeatedly. Two: I despise religion. I don't wanna play a religious character.
Then again, maybe not everything is lost... Why do I have a stamina-bar? It's not used for anything. Also, why don't I have a mana-bar? If I can have an unused stamina-bar, why not a mana-bar?


On the unreadable markings, and half the manual being unreadable gibberish, let's mention at the start you game let me wonder into some forest. Why you started I thoought they are spikes, and would hurt, but ok, they are pines. Now, this is obviously some open-world exploration game. Fine. Then why isn't in that explorable area ANYTHING to be discovered? Why the unreadable markings? Why are you actively DISCOURAGE me from exploring?


Ok, moving forward still. There's a branching path. Ok, let's investigate the Giant Golden Door, because obviously it won't let me through. And it did! And I cann ot go back! Damn you game, I want to go back exploring! Ok, only way out is forward... Maybe this will be the promised town? No. This'll be some stupid gimmicky place. Ok, whatever. Oh, no. No, no, no, no. There's my mother, and I have to free her. Total breaking of immersion. I already decided I'm a heartless, personalityless adventurer who is in this just for the money. Questions areise in hundreds. How did I not know it? How did I forget? How did I end up on the shore? Penyless? Whatever, I'm out where I was.
Let's go the other way. Oh, it's a dead end. Now what. Oh, I found a second item! Let's put it on a hotkey. Why can't I put it on a hotkey? Ok, whatever, the only place to go now is that door. Yes, it was a key. But this also means then, I can only have 3 items the same time? In an open-world exploration? No way!
Look, shiney! Hey, that's the town! How do I get down there... The game even teases me with a friggin telescope. Why even is that a feature at all, when there are 4 friggin buttons to look in directions? Who knows.


What I do know is, I'm not interrested in what this game offers. Especialy that it doesn't even offer me an AUTOMAP? Free-roaming open world exploration without an automap? You must be joking. You obviously have a hugh world here, there's no way I'll just mark things on paper like for The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, which has a very concised map, which you'll walk over and over and over.
Skip. Or look up a review on what is going on in this, because it is a confusing mess.

twillight 23-05-2022 09:49 AM

Space Hack
 
People compared this to Diablo 1, it is not.
In many aspect it is Diablo 1.5, but there are no skills to start with the differences.

The good part is: the controls are kinda smooth. Sure, I don't like the adjustable camera feature, and the game is kinda low budget, but it doesn't cause user-fatigue by trying to use it.
And there is a run-button! Sure, your stamina stinks rock bottom, but when you think about it, this is how Diablo 2 should have implemented stamina. Kinda. There's some problem with the stat-distribution you see, but more on that later.

There is an intro-video, what calls a Black Hole a Black Mist, but whatever. If you want to see it, watch it on youtube, or set the game to XP Pack 3.
No, you cnan ot re-watch the movie whenever you feel like, you must quit and re-start the game. But given this is some polish-or-what product, this isn't that much of a surprise, and the thing kinda gets in the way sooner or later. Just you better know, the ending-cinematic has the same requirement too.

Otherwise you go out, and shoot bugs. Very much like Starship Troopers in its concept.
The atmosphere is good with its foggy trees in the first area, then it changes to some forest-with-river in the 2nd, and metal corridors in the 3rd. In theory there are 15 areas, biodomes if you like. Filled with the same enemies (always adding to the variety), but whatever.

The concept was to have 1 resource in the game which functions as currency and ammo the same time, and while this is not just in rumour and reviews, but also in the manual - it is a complete lie. The ammo is some kind of item that gets dropped regularly. I don't see it in any of the shops, and kinda accumlates up, not seeing how it'd run out just by shooting enemies.

Oh, what else to shoot? There are alien eggs, at least the program calls it that, but more like insect nymphs. They function as crates, and can be punched open just by your fist.
Btw, don't stand around too much not wielding any kind of weapon. With a weapon, the character will do some flipping of it when "bored". Without weapon, the character gorunts. Ye, annoying noise is done.

Now in theory there are 4 kinds of charactertypes in the game?
One uses high-tech gizmos - forget it, there are no high-tech gizmo that cause damage. That leaves us with 3 charactertypes.
One uses melee weapon, one ... crafted ranged weapons (bows, slingshots and other stuff), and there are the energy weapons.

Now we've reached the problematic part of the game's design.
Ranged "traditional" weapons simply don't do enough damage. At least not in the range you can easily acess. There are later stuff that shoots razors? Saws? Whatever. I bet it is super-slow.
Why I think those are slow? One: phantastic damage. Two: melee axes. Yes, it turns out the different type of melee weapons have a hidden attribute: speed. Axes are slow. The others seem fine, and given the pathetic range of any ranged weapons, melee actualy doesn't seem that bad. Until you see some higher end melee stuff in the shop, which requires an unfathomable amount of statpoints to use. And you won't jump through levels, AND you can't grind up in previous areas by enemies respawning when oyu quit the game. Here the enemy never respawns.
Then there are the energy weapons. The major advantage of these is, they do not erode. They have no durability-stat. Also, while the manual says their energy-consumption is a stat - it is not, this is another lie/scrapped concept. They are pretty reliable otherwise - the worrying thing is, the higher tier weapons of these kinds don't really have much to offer on their damage by the looks of it. And they demand a kinda hardcore investment in the science/technology (whatever it is called in english) stat.

This investment in the science-stat is also in demand to use the high-tech gizmos, that give secondary ... abilities. There is your basic "teleport to the city and back" stuff. That can be used by anyone. It also only costs half the price of a health-pack to recharge (at least the 1-charge variant).

The Automathic Doc is just another dose of health-pack, but instead taking backpack-space, it is taking high-tech-gizmo-slot. Oh, and the more the charges of a gizmo, the higher the stat-requirement.
There is the "hologram" which works as Diablo's Decoy, or Battle Hologram that is like Valkyrie.
there is invisibility, Diablo's Fear (Flash), Diablo's Teleport (the sorc-ability), a mind-control thingy (like that paladin-thing), an identify-scroll, a freeze-enemy, and a bullet-time effect.


Stat-requirements of gizmos:
teleport: 20
autodoc: 35
flash (makes enemy run away, effect is turned off by the enemy being shot? Pointless then.): 35

hologram: 38 (2 charges!)


More on the energy weapons: this relates to the resistances, which you have 3, and can only be upped through items. You'd desperately need these, but you won't get them. Theíy also heavily influence what items you are wearing, preventing you from getting the ever so slim upgrades - or just bash head on.
On the sidenote, this game just might be one of those games which expects you to just stand around infinitely to get healed - because you won't have to resources otherwise to do so, that's for sure.
So, the problem of resistance sis - the enemy have them too! And the damage type of course. But there is no way to cycle through your weapons, adjusting the circumstances - even if you could figure out what has what resistances/damage type! Which you don't! This sucks hardcore.


EDIT:
- so, MAYBE your currency is your ammo, but if it is, it still works this way:
a) your maximum ammo depends on your Science stat
b) blue pods will refill your ammo (pods are rare though). Red pods recharge your HP by the way.

c) if your ammo reaches 0 IN THE CURRENT CLIP, you can buy a new clip for 100 currency.


I'm also curious of this 15 biosphere thing. I've cound some waypoint-teleporters actualy, and they can bring me to the A, B and C biospheres at the moment. But I've been through many more other areas, that do not have qaypoint-teleporters. And this game seems LOOONG already. Getting to the O-biosphere might take ... a while.


Note on energy weapons: definitely stick to your three kinds of weapons. It SEEMS the types are more efficient in areas, but we'll see that. If you don't hurt a flickering (I bet those are energy shields) enemy noticably, definitely change weapon (I hope you saved regularly). This doesn't always help though, some enemies are simply bulett-sponges, for the moment I'm thinking on those giant thingies towering over you like some Empire Walkers from Return of the Jedi.


EDIT 2: You definitely need to specialize. At the end of Biodome E there is the Queen's Nest, obviously holding the (a?) queen monester. As expected, it is a damage-sponge. So if you are using energy weapons, there is a plasma cannon which requires 119 science skill (at this point you could have 130-140 point in science if you spent ALL your points into it), which packs a punch.
There is some things to note here: plasma weapons for this level are useless aside this moment. The other two type is mandatory. This plasma-cannon, which look like a rotating gatling gun from Predator packs a punch - but feeds on your ammo. Whatever, it worth using here, as it does the most damage per shot, and you want this fight to end today, if possible.
I don't even have much idea how a melee character would work here - would definitely need a hugh damage weapon and very thick armor, because the Queen hits very hard.


EDIT 3: The placing in the backpack is good, but there are other annoyances, like loot falling from the enemy can easily fall "of the bridge".
And you better collect all the stuff, because The Good Stuff costs 15,000 $ or more.
On the sidenote, a questor just gave me an item that has so many charges (12), it requires 210 science. Now that's something I won't use. Especialy that it is energy shield, and that's the stupidest thing ever. One: you have to specialize, so you won't have statpoints to spare. Two: it is practicaly Energy Shield from Diablo (except this is glitchless). Three: it consumes energy like not other, so not even energy weapon specialists will use this item.
The best High Tech Items are: 1) teleport to base 2) auto doc 3) identify item. the remaining two lots are whatever, in theory you could use something like battle hologram, but that eats energy too, but at that point whatever. Btw, you can use hotkeys to switch between these items. Too bad the keyboard layout is all over the place.
On the sidenote, seen a 179 science req. energy weapon. Cool :(
A new feature: there appeared some energy gates. You can pass them harmless, but energy shots definitely not pass it. Fortunately neither does enemy shots, nor the enemies themselves. Melee can't be abused, the monsters don't come THAT close. But I wonder if bow and such projectiles can pass this...
Oh, found a nem implant at the shop. It costs 15K. It swapped two of my stats. Why would anyone want this is beyond me, but it exits.
Another note on a new enemy. I'm at the Blood Swamp. It is a white-armor ranged thingy. Hits VERY hard. And the AI tends to go mad with its shooting. I hate those, because you better try toe-to-toe and hope interrupting its animation will prevent it firing. That method is entirely lotery.
Implants help though, and as implants drop so rare, your only reliable source for anything useful is shop-running. For this it's not enough to leave the base itself, you need to leave the area. This means using the teleport of the base. I invested into a +45 life (costs 7,5K), and a 14% allresist implant (costs 15K+, there are 3 resistances, so triple that number).
Weird thing is, armors very rarely come with any extra ability, especialy low-req stuff, so that's annoying. Isn't a problem - yet.

twillight 02-06-2022 03:07 PM

Space Hack (continue)
 
region / character level (all monsters eliminated)
------------------
Base: 1
Killer Mountain: 5 (name of area translated from hungarian)
NOTE: melee works better until now. Not surprising. But take heed to do have a teleport item before you even start map 2, because otherwise you'll suffer. And yes, weapons, just like in Diablo, go crap just by using them, so you'll need to visit the base regularly.
TIP: when meleeing, try approaching the enemy in an angle, so it miss you.
PRO TIP: if you need a better reward than random (for whatever reason you are sparing on cash), first: the questor will tell you what type of item you will get. Two: DO NOT TOUCH THE QUEST ITEM before saving! Four: pick up the quest item, and TELEPORT TO THE BASE ASAP and finish the quest. Check the quest reward, if you don't like it, reload. WARNING: if you do anything else with your inventory, that can lead to a bug the quest cann ot be solved anymore, and that can be gamebreaking! I could go into specifics, but what's the point.
NOTE: dunno how all the equipment type works, but for armour I've seen some "heavy armour", which can give you 20% all resist, a nice bonus on armor, but costs 130 STR. I've seen light armor, mid-level armor, battle armor, and this heavy armor thingy.
For energy weapons there are a) pistols (lowest ammo consumption, fast trigger animation, maximum 13 dmg (and that's a stretch, more like 10-12) b) guns: trigger animation is like machineguns. Ammo consumption: medium. Sometimes ammo you see going all over hurts other enemies (never alien egg/larva) c) cannons. They are practicaly big shotguns. Ammo concumption: high, but around the Hidden Hospital with ca. 150 in science, you should be able to use these over the other stuff. You WANT to use them to progress faster.
When I've reached the Hidden Hospital (biodome H, aka. #7 - oh, man, this game is looong) a third tier of implants became available (both as quest reward, and just appearing in the shop), the Super implants. I've got a 27% allresist one, and that's massive (30% must be possible at least). Also seen a 50% sole reist implant too, in case anyone cares (I don't really) These are bloody rare though, and cost 30K.
Tunnel of Fear: 7.
Lances are an ok upgrade. The weapon-speed did not noticably change, you loose the shield but gain a massive dmg-boost. I don't sell the shield for now though.
Path of Entropy: 9
Platforms with ranged enemies already became a pain. Always carry with you 3+ stimpacks.

twillight 02-01-2023 07:21 PM

Some gaming
 
Considered installing Arcanum, but by the reviews it is proceduraly generated fetchquests upon fetchquests, so why bother.


Tried installing Nox, I even got to the character "creation" (you can only adjust cosmetics), but did not let me past that screen. So gave up.


Played Bladur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Also tried the second one, but that is obviously a very weak addition, so skip that.
It's... fine. One of those big-character 3D daiblo-clones. So not too action-heavy, and feels... Polish.
It's an ok game though, but has some very problematic balance issue.


One: the wizard is waaay too powerful. Ye, sure, there are immunities, on very little amount of creatures, who cares. It's Forzen Orb everything, and Fireball the Final Boss. You don't need to use tricks and stuff. Early game it is either magic missle, or that other spell. You'll have way too many skillpoints anyway. And yur skill-order, if you care, depends on what order you buy your first points in spells, so it won't couse real trouble for you.
Even on hard difficulty this character is way too overpowered.


Archer is ... Well, the problem is obvious when you play: you get bow a bit into the story, and especialy on hard difficulty, that'll be problem. Otherwise it's kinda the same as the wizard.


Warrior is what's in real trouble. Sure, has a healthy amount of HP and all, but there are certain enemies which oneshot you anyway, and takes forever to be delt with because os their amount of exp.
In those cases you must run around for hours, trying to abuse the pathfinding routine to hit the enemy from behind. A nightmare. And boring. Its special skills are also kinda lackluster.


The game mode you get Drizzt as character is way too hard in the PC-version, but you can circumwent that problem pausing the game, and switching character from the set-for-the-mode character to one of your save files. That makes the thing ridivulously easy of course.


Once again started playing Baldur's Gate EE 1-2-ToB, this is the second time I reached to Amelyssan with poverty socrerer - this means I don't use any item during my playthrough. Managed to determine what spells are absolutely necessary for such restrictions. Here is the list by level:


symbols: "*": necessary "#" recommended "&" optional


slvl 1
* familiar (Cat is the best stealther, or consider Imp for its Polymoprh Self)
* Magic Missile (you need to do damage after all)
# Protection from Evil (summoned dmeons are very problematic)
& Identify (mostly for RPG reasons to identify and use the Tomes in BG1, identified items also mean more gold)
5th
slvl2
* Mirror Image (your first true defensive spell, and you have slots to afford it, no questions asked)

* Web (it'll help immensly at the Dukes)
# Knock (you absolutely need this to get the Tomes, and especialy in BG2 a lot of quests can not be completed without)
# Resist Fear (also rmeoves fear, if you Planetar fails its check, not to mention easy accomplishment for that Tear of Baal)
# Melf's Acidic Arrow (you better have this to deal with Desert Trolls, but those are only optional in WK lvl 2, and can be abandoned easily at Yaga Shura's Lair)
slvl 3
* Melf's Minute Meteors (it scales well, last until used up, and will be your prime damag source for BG1)
* Skull Trap (in EE it doesn't even have problem with casting range)
*(!) Invisibility 10' radius (against Sarevok in BG1 you'll need a source of invisibility. This is the easiest solution, but if you pick this, you'll also have to pick Spider Spawn (or loose a familiar))
4th
5th
slvl 4
*(!) Polymorph Self (this spell is needed against Sarevok in BG1. You won't have to learn this if your alignment is Lawful Evil, aka. imp is your familiar)
*(!) Spider Spawn (definitely a great spell, but you only need to pick it in BG1 if you picked Invisibility 10' radius. Might be entirely optional in BG2)
* Improved Invisibility (this is a spell-redundancy if you have Invisibility 10' radius, but even then I recommend it, as it combines Shield with Invisibility. Potential source for invisibility in BG1)
* Stone Skin (you want to pick this up in BG2 as soon as possible. You won't be able to afford it in BG1)
5th: my suggestion is either Minor Spell Sequencer (which you might end up not using at all), or Greater Malison if that ifts your style/can effect Amelyssan.
slvl 5
* Sunfire (yes, it's that good damage spell. You'll stop eventualy using it though)
* Protection from electricity (must have against Abazigail)
* Protection from acid (must have against Draconis)
# Animate Dead (you might get without this, but it's a gamechanger agaoinst spellcasters, strongly recommended)
# Cloudkill (it's a convenient spell to have for a while, but you'll stop using it once you get Abi Dhalzim. Without this you might have to give up, or seriously delay time-denedent quests, like Mae'Var's guild, but that's affordable)
? Spell Immunity (someone said, it might be a must against Amelyssan. Will have to test this)
slvl 6
* Death Spell (it's not just way to convenient to pass on, but without this, saving Phaere will be a strong headache)
* Protection from magic weapons (you'll need this aganst The Ravager)
* Improved Haste (the 3rd Pocket Challange demands this)

# True Sight (the Planetar sees the invisible, still, nice to have this running)
& Protection from magic energy (you are too tired to think? Cast this, and turn into the Slayer! It'll kill everything up to Dorn Il Khan, maybe even useful against Sendai! Definitely not against Draconis/Abazigail and after, but until...)
slvl 7
*Mordekainen's Sword (an almost invulnerable summon is must have)
#(!) Spell Sequencer (you'll definitely need this if you don't use Simulacrum to help you out against The Ravager)
# Limited Wish (it's nice for roleplaying, gives extra exp through various means, and provides 2 other spell: Negative Plane Protection and Minor Globe of Invulnerability - neither are absolute must, but nice to have the option)
# khelben's warding whip (I think I only used this once, against Sendai's Final Form until now. I might be mistaken, and not used it at all)
& Stone to Flesh (roleplaying spell for certain quests. If you don't want this, switch it to Project Image (it's barely interresting under EE as far as I can tell))

slvl 8
* Piercing Shield (you'll need this to be able to do anything against Blathazar/The Ravager/Amelyssan)
* Abi Dhalzim's Horrid Whilting

# Simularcum (it's fine if you can handle the micromanagment)
4th (I suggest Spell Trigger)
slvl 9
* Time Stop (against Yaga Sura, Draconis, and more, you'll be glad to have this)
* Chain Contignency (this is a very strong option to have. Absolutely needed in optional areas like WK Compass Level, also against such mandatory opponents as The Ravager)
* Wish (to recharge at Amelyssan)
4th

hellonwood40 20-01-2023 07:29 AM

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twillight 02-02-2023 10:07 AM

Crossroad
 
This is one of those action-jRPG stuffs, fortunately this is real time combat instead of turn based.


I've played ... let's say the tutorial secont as demo, which probably gives a good idea how everything works.
Though it is annoying how much tutorial there is: there is the game's tutorial, which puts you on max-level or something, and makes it pretty obvious what the plot will be, along pretty much showing melee being that stronger option.
Following that you are turned lvl 1, and are forced to use ranged damage. Annoying as heck, but ok...
Following THAT turns out this is a Matrix, so you have to do the ingmae MMO's tutorial, where you fight the endboss, as you do. I laready hate the pacing.
Following THAT comes Day 1 in the game, which turns out to be a couple-hours long tutorial, where you experience basic questing, town structure, party control (you get a free party-member, that is controlled by an AI, meaning it is just extra firepower), shopping, crafting, exploring...
Yes, too many tutorials.


Speaking about the exploring, I personaly had trouble judging terrain-elevation, so had to hit up a walkthrough how to reach certain chests. Bugger.
And of course what you find is better than what you can buy (it's a comlpicated barter-system, which is pretty much crafting), so again the problem arise, that spending resources on crafting / buying stuff is a waste of time.


Now before you run away, I have to tell you, this is a very solid-looking game. Sure,it has too much playtime that feels like tutorial, and could use better shading to show elevation player-friendly, but the mechanics, the interface, the story is good, and while I could use more action between the tlaking-cards, this is not on the obnoxious level like most "japaneese" games.


As it is at 50% discount on GoG (the DLC of unknown content 33%, but that's sufficiently cheaper anyway), I think it worth your 10 bucks.

twillight 17-02-2023 02:26 PM

V.O.T.E.R. Golem
 
Found it, and made it work. You only need to switch compatibility mode (under right click -> properties) to Win98/ME, and it works!

This is a real-time strategy game with WATER LEVELS ONLY, haha. I love it. So bad it's good.
I don't think the lore got finished, as the manual starts with technology, switches on the magic-users, but the game itself says the post-apocalyptic state was caused by meteors. Take your pick I say and move on.
Do NOT alt-tab this, it'll stop working until you shut down the game!

The game has 3 race: unchanged humans, biologicaly evolved mutants, and technologicaly advanced humans (technicaly the are mutants, whose mutation is high IQ).
Don't get too excited, these are the three DIFFICULTY LEVELS.
So start with the Clans, aka. unaltered humans. Not that there's any big difference between the two besides what is the main raw material, and that the mutants have a very slim HP-regeneration on its units (no on the buildings though).

Clan, lvl 1: build 4 mines.
Mission briefing:
"Greatings, your highness! I am chancelor Gnaron, representative of your honourable father in the Council of the Clans. The king has sent me to congratulate for completing your education. He also told me to give you the first official orders. Scouts have reported to the Council on raw materials in the northern areas, a region that up until now has been neutral territory. We need these resources to build a powerful fleet to fight the awful Gens and the cybernetic Cytex. Build four mines in the northern areas to exploit the raw materials there. Be cautious, because you may encounter hostile activities: they might be interrested in the same area. Take care of yourself and good luck for your first mission!
Building (and repairing) is intantenous, and the defense-capability of any building is immense, so caputring one for you or the enemy will be a hassle.
You CAN'T build a HQ in this tutorial-mission.
Oh, ye, tutorial: it will move your surcor and units automaticaly, and wait for you to click for some reason. Than without any warning, in the middle of a fight it'll stop doing it, and you should take over. Hope you got suprised. Fortunately you don't need your fighting units yet.
The controls are: left click is to select something, right click is to move, or bring up a menu.

Clan, mission 2: capture the Gen city
Briefing: Welcome, Prince! I'm glad to see that you have returned successfully from your first mission, but I have bad news. Our enemy has succeeded in intruding into the palace of your honoured father to steal our secret war plans. The spy Cho-Jin has been arrested, but he had already forwarded the plans to the enemy. Thanks to Lagus (he is the Good Wizard in the backstory, sentenced to immortality by the sect of Chaos) we have learned from Cho-Jin which harbour the plans have been sent to, but time is short. Bring back the plans as fast as possible, commander! You are our only hope!
NOTE: so technicaly we are Star Wars' Empire, lol.
The enemy is directly south of you, and the map is very small. Every level starts with a zerg-rush for mining locations, fortunately the enemy is slow yet. It'll still capture/start with the south-western mines, but don't mind those. Your goal is to capture the CITY, and that's it.
Good news is, none can re-build half-destroyed fortifications, so at first just shoot out ONE of its turrets - if it is completly destroxed, there's nothing it can do about it. To capture a city, you must send in a builder-shiőp I guess, just so you know.
Buildings in the cities are (if you build them):
- town hall: this improves the daily materials you get (this day-by-day progress only plays part until you build up your city, and yes, it is annoying), and will be needed to unlock more advanced buildings. Prime directive.
- garden, fountain: they do nothing aside eating your resources, but they are requirement for some buildings to buld.
- forts: yes, you need this
- shipyard: this builds your units. Only on advanced stages you'll be able to create 4 unit simultaneously. There's an icon to make it build continuously.
- workshop: most of the times you won't need this, but you can scrap your units for materials (bad idea), or repair surviving ships for the next assault.
- engineer: here you develop technolgies, meaninig units. What you want with the Clan is flying units, as those can attack EVERYTHING: ships, submarines, air units.
- wizards: you can develop spells. "Mostly Useless".
- market: you can exchange your resources to other resources.
- guild: if there's a trading post on the map, you must build trading ships, build this, put your materials on your trading ships, move them to the trading post, move the trading ships back to your city. The exchange-rate and variety will make this process a must.

About the autosave: it save every ingame day, or something, so do not rely on it!

Clan, misson 3: "get 500 raw material form the Guild"
Briefing: Well done, Commander! With your help we are now in the position to build a powerful fleet, which will drive the Gens once and for all from our territories. But because of the continuing attacks by the Gens, we are suffering from an increasing shortage of supplies and the situation is becoming more and more catastrophic. Fortunately there is a new settlement of the powerful Merchant Guild in the Blue Water region. Your father orders you to strenghten our position in this area, and start trading with this guild. We need 500 units of any of the raw materials to build our war fleet. Good luck, my prince!
Note: to trade with the Merchant Guild, you must build a guild office in your harbour. Further, you have to research design of merchant ships, and build one. To get offers from the Guild, left-click on the Guild-office to go to the trading screen. In the upper part of the screen offers from the Guild will be shown, costs at the top / profit at the bottom that can be cycled through with the right and left cursor keys. Bellow you can select the single piers. A merchant ship waiting at the pier can be loaded by clicking on it, and then confirming. To accept the deal, you only need to sail the ship out of the harbour. By right-clicking with the mouse on the Merchant Guild, you can always find out which kind and how many raw materials have been traded.
This tutorial-level will obviously introduce the Trading Posts (I'd be interrested in the ingame lore what faction this is), but I have no idea if just one of your stacks have to hit the 500 value, or bring in 500 material summed. I suspect you need to trade for one certain type of material from the bottom row of the materials listed, eg. paper or water-flasks, but this is mostly guessing.
Just so you know, there are no automatic segments in this.
The enemy is not very active, so you do not need warships. Still, if you find the time...
The mining locations, if you want any (I had none) are at the corners of the map.
If you sail directly south, you can build a second city. The enemy might send there a builder too, capturing YOUR city if it has no fortifications yet, but if you enter the location when THEY have no fortification yet, you get the city PLUS their construction-ship.
An unmentioned feature in this are the blueprint-eagle-islands. If any unit of yours manages to touch them, you get a free invention, don't even need to lower inventions to have. There's one just a bit to the southwest of your starting city, and one more way south of that. Neither are really needed, but you know.

Clan, mission 4: capture all Gen city! (from now on we'll go to the basics of RTS, I see)
Briefing: Greetings, my Prince! Congratulation on your successful operation on the Blue Water region. But once again I have some with very bad news. Thanks to their disgusting magical powers, the mutant Gens have succeeded in breaking into the King's palace and kidnapped Gunner the first! the King is still alive, but as soon as they transport him into their headquarters, they will have us in their grip. I cannot command you, but I implore you to rescue your father! Good luck, Commander!
Note: Use your abilities and win your first battle after this tutorial!
There is an eagle-island far to the souteast, you'll not get that. There are 3 cities, and they spam units on you, so position troops to the key narrow positions between islands and play for safety until you accumlate some numbers. You'll need 2-3 construction ships to repair stuff and cpature things. Once you have enough units, start destroying stuff. Watch out so your constructor has enough seconds from the day to capture the building.
Start mixing in submarines on the base that's more unit per hex. Oh, and you can stop visiting the merchants, you'll be able to rely on passive resources.
If you manage to capture the nearest city, the enemy will start to run out of units!
Problem is, the mission briefing lies, oyu have to destroy EVERY SINGLE UNIT on the map, not just capture each enemy city, and the map is so big, on the minimap the last surviving "hostile" unit will not be visible. Grrr.

Clan, mission 5 (first mission not marked as tutorial): "Repulse the Gens"
Briefing: Welcome, Commander! It hurts to tell you, the cowardly Gens have killed your honoured father and the king of our clan. May you have the strength to take revenge for his death! But now we must take action. Listen to me, Commander: the cursed Gens have conquered one of our outposts, and they started plundering our outer colonies! We must stop them. I entrusted you with my fleet, my Prince. You have to hurry. If the mutants start destroying the outpost there won't be much to get back.
If you go south, you'll be able to capture 3 mines. I'd check what if you go west first, you might be able to capture the mine there first (then come back and capture the mines you'd capture anyway).
The enemy doesn't make much effort, but does have attacking flyers occasionaly. Force-attack them with your troops to lessen their factor.
TIP: when you capture a city, you might want NOT to build a fort to it, so you can capture the AI's builders. This is cheap, but whatever!
Note: do not stop trading with the merchs until you captrue the other city (there's only one on the southeast), else you'll run low on material (you basicaly only need the first three: gold, tools and wood, the others are just things to exchange for).
Btw, if it was not clear, you only need 1 wizard school, and 1 engineer (though engineer is requirement for the repair-building, so you might end up with more).

Clan, mission 6: War! Kill all hostile Gens! (All Gens will be hostile)
Briefing: The attack was a great success, my commander! It was a real pleasure to see the Gens fleeing cowardly. The war council has asked me to ensure you of their full support. There should be no obstacles chasing the enemy's forces. But we should start quickly annihilating the Gens before the mutants are scattered around and hard to find. The council has sent you another fleet for your command, that should set you in the position to exterminate the backward Gens. Good luck, Commander!
This map is relatively small, and has no trading post. the enemy city is on the northwest. I think your job is to eliminate all units - because I had enemy mines around when the victory board came up.
Btw, start going northwest for a mine, then move towards the southwest corner capturing 3 mines, this'll maximise your income. Do NOtá spend resources fastening research, but use your trading facility inside the city to cover your needs. Build the usual war-baloons.

Clan, mission 7: Trapped! Stay alive for 50 days.
Briefing: It was a trap, commander! The Gens have concentrated a big fleet in this area, and they are eager to kill you, and to destroy your fleet. To top it all, the Cytex have become aware of you, and their forces are closing up quickly. Try to survive as long as possible, as I have sent reinforcements. But I am afraid they won't make it at the right time. I will pray for you.
Because the AI is not very good, technicaly speaking this is a very easy mission: just manouver one of your airship to a corner of the map, and they'll never find you!
On the other hand, let's do it properly: build a city at the starting location, and start capturing mines, as many as possible to delay the enemy. they are all around the equator of the map, so it's a smooth sail. Do NOT try to defend the mines, it is hopless and needless. Position your troops instead at your city, where start developing the town hall, the workshop, and invent the flying corsairs (your attack baloons), because those are the least susceptible to damage. Then just camp there, bringing out your construction ship to fix the towers of the city, and if possible collect the wreckage of the ship sunk.
NOTE: if you didn't notice until now, if you are within the city as the player, the time does not move, so allocating cargo, deciding what to build is not problematic.
NOTE there is a merchan post on the map - you won't be able to use it.
Lastly: technicaly speaking, the enemy will run out of forces around Day 40, lol. Just look at the charts at the end how many ships each party had at the victory (50 days passed). This is the first time too when the Cytex shows up, but they are simply another enemy city, so whatever.

Clan, mission 8: New technologies: find the eagle rocks.
Briefing: Commander! I am glad to see you alive. We all feared that you were lying on the bottom of the sea. It seems the Council underestimated your strategic abilities. But the fights during the last weeks have proven, that we need more advanced technologies to come off a winner in this war. The mighty Lagus has ordered me to give you the coordinates of the region where some eagle rocks might be located. These rocks are hidingplaces of time-honoured magicians. We might find some scrolls and writings in their catacombs helping us to win against our enemies. I wish you good luck, Commander!
Seems this Lagus-fellow is really into Pureblood Humans. Also nice we get an explanation on the eagle-islands.
For this mission you won't be able to build anything, but touch 4? Or maybe just the last Eagle Island - the first 3 will give extra units, the last has the condition "Victory" written on it. Unfortunately, airbaloons can't touvh these things.
The first island is directly north, then go N-NW, then NE, then to the NW corner. but you might as well not give a darn to anything but the last island, because all you get are 2 basic ships from each island, no innovation, and you are definitely not able to fight through the enemy lines. What you should do instead is start sailing, and never stop. Turn off the AI-button even. Keep pushing to the islands. The islands can not be touched by fliers or submarines, but can be touched by any regular ship, you don't need to preserve your construction ship. And no, it's hopeless trying to repair units during battle. One: the AI will always move away your constructoor from enemy fire, but if you turn it off, your troops need to make fire manualy. Also, trying to repair troops under each other is a nightmare, does not work out as it should. Btw, what really messes up this mission are the enemy submarines, which are hard to target at (your normal ships can't hit them), and they have quit an amount of HP, so just fok em.

Clan, mission 9: Secrets: Sail to the shipyard on V-island!
Briefing: You have been usccessful again, Commander! These new technologies should help us fight back our enemies on the battlefield. Good job, but now to something completely different. The great Lagus has informed us, that once there have been a weapon of mass-destruction, called Golem. It changed Earth into what it is now. It had been created by the unscrupulous magican Debagh, and after its one and only activation, it has been taken apart. If we succeed in rebuilding a smaller version of this machine, we had the right weapon to finally defeat our enemies. Lagus knows, that this would save the lives of a lot of men, and thus he transmitted us the coordinates of a shipyard, where part of the Golem's contruction had taken place. Find this shipyard and bring us the blueprints, Commander. But be cautious: as well as Gens and Cytex are operating in the same area.
Note: dunno who this Debagh. I though he's the ancient Chaos-wizard, but that was Woogonnis.
On this map the Gen and the Cytex are against each other, not that it'd matter too much, or would be noticeable during the forst could tendays. The city-to-capture is just a screen east from the very center of the map, and is heavily fortified, so don't get hopes.
You'll be able to capture 3 mines: start going a bit norteast, then go a bit northwest from your city, then go a couple screen east. All the others are lost cause, though there are eg. 4 more mines to the north, but there are simply too many enemies. Also, the eastern mine will be crucial, as a ton of enemy will arrive to it. You'll need to upgrade it soon to 2nd level of fortress to be able to repell the enemy, and it'll likely still require a ton of repairs, so make another constructor just in case.
I see no merchant guild. (Built a scout ship and sent it around using reload to test the waters.)
You'll do a heluva lot of micromanaging with this one, try not to miss any day in your city. The "port" it wants as requirement is done from the worldmap, not from the city.
Did I tell you there's a cycle-button in the shipyard which makes production of ships continuous? Also, there is a straight arrow there, which puts all ship on the water in front of your city instead of filling your harbour.
Well, when you start to have a SMALL army, the AI will start to hit you wave after wave. There'll be a LOT of micramanaging. Sell everything for wood what is not tool or gold!
For inventions, you'll get way bigger blueprints than you previously had, and I mean a lot of it. The goal is to develop the latest airship and submarine, and set production 1 and 1 (not enough material for more).
Oh, what to build: make every building max level! They actualy produce a very tiny sum of material, but on the long term, and even on the medium termit'll profit out, and you are resource-hungry.
tbh, I suspect the Gens get units by spawning from thin air, so while my startegy was to clean the west side of the map from them, they returned, and captured my northern mines. I was either allowing them to do so, or progress with the level. The goal is to capture the Gen City, or whatever, but it is just a victory-object without forifications. Problem is, it is on an island, you can ONLY approach from the north, where a (the?) Gen city resides - they again, I'm at this point convinced the Gen ships are not coming from there, but from thin air. Whatever, capture it for convenience-sake and on principle, then ride in the victory-condition wih your constructor.
Not on units: these 2nd grade units are no longer omni. The ships and subs still only attack ships and subs, the airship stop attacking subs, so only attacks air units and ships. Actualy, there is an "Air Fortress" unit, which exclusively attacks air units! It is a pretty terrible bargain, but I cani magine in rosource-depraved environment where there are lots of enemy flyers, it can be useful. but mostly skip it.

twillight 18-02-2023 07:36 PM

Clan, mission 10: Espionage: destroy all enemy units and conquere all ports (aka. destroy everything)
Briefings: Welcome, Commander! Our enemies have beaten us to it. It seems as if they also knew from Golem by spying, and they spare no effort to keep our engineers and constructors off the work by attacking them as often as possible. But it is vital to finish Golem, because the Gens are outnumbering us, and Cytex technology is far more improved than ours. Beat of the enemies and conquere their ports!
You'll start with a fully built lvl 2 city, with a mine you can see on its west. Also send one of your sailship to the west in line of your city, 'cause there's a free blueprint (eagle island).
From the mine go southeast, and capture a mine south of the eagle island, then come back west, and directly south of your city is another mine. Go southwest from there for another, and right north of it in the neighbouring island is another. Then sail to the northwestern corner, where is one more. That's about the mines.
While doing this, manuvre your troops southest from your ity to be able to control the passage to the merchant post. Build 3-4 merchant ship for this, and prepare to repair them regularly.
If you find the resources, why not develop what the engineers can offer.
If you manage to do all this, you'll rule over like half of the map, and that's a good start if you ask me. Unfortuinately I don't see bigger aircraft to develop, what feel will be a problem, but what do I know, maybe those will appear when the engineers do more research, or just more days pass.
The enemy is not very active, and you get truly zillions from the merchant post, and these new units can even hurt fortifications from out of range.
Also, the briefing LIES, you only need to capture all buildings, even maybe only all cities (there are 2, at the south border and in the SE corner). The statistics at the end shown surviving enemy units.

Clan, mission 11: Revenge: destroy everything
Briefing: Greetings, Commander! Bad news: our enemies have driven us into a corner. They are trying everything to distract us from building Golem. We have suffered hugh losses in countless attacks. We can not take this any longer! The War Council has ordered our best Commander, You, to start destroying enemy's ports, allowing our engineers to finish Golem.
You start with a nicy city, and an adequare army, but no inventions.
You'll immediately see a mine, capture it ASAP. To the same direction (E-NE) is another mine. East of it is another. Be fast, this is a "gold rush" - though you WON'T be able to capture this third mine before the enemy does. Also: be overprotective of your airforce, the enemy has also a supply of it, and when sent atacking, these things are very woulnerable, so make them as a second group, and leave them always behind the front line! Also for you to know, in your harbour you have some ships for the ready, one is a merchant ship just in case, one is a scout ship (they are fast, has some chance reaching a deep-seated eagle island before being shot), and 2 war-baloons too! They are lowest level, but every little bit counts. South of that is an eagle-island with "galleon" in it (a type of normal ship, so mostly pointless). Bring your troops for this capturing, the enemy has forces all over, and might build mines before you do.
The southeastern quadrant of the map looks empty, don't bother.
To north form your city, around halfway of the map is another mine, but the AI starts with it, so it's up to you if you attempt it.
The enemy starts with 2 city in the northwestern quadrant, and one on the east.
There is Merchant Guild at the very center of the map. You'll obviously not be able to use it for quit some time (until you capture the eastern city).
There're also 2 more eagle island, but you'll not be abe to use the one in the nothwestern quadrant (unless you don't bother with the U-241 submarine, capture the east, than smuggle through a ship to it). There's also an island on the northeast, with the best baloon, but to slide a ship there... We'll see.
With your troops constantly pressure to the eastern city of the enemy, capturing first the mines mentioned above, then settle down with your remaining troops, and send out that scout to capture the technologies. Don't forget to research technologies on lowest cost during the campaign aking building your buildings, just in case. But yes, it is very much possible to get the best sub from the eagle island crowning the first phase of this campaign. Then just start building war zeppelins and U-241 until you can capture everything. From the eastern city, trading is easy, though still unnecessary.
Ah, a button-command: P is pausing the game, so you can roll the map where you want it without using up time.

Clan, mission 12, Golem: sail into the middle of the volcano
Briefing: Welcome, my Prince! You have been very successful. The War Council is more than satisfied with your results. So they will entrust you with the next critical mission. Our engineers need a specific object, called Crystal Focus. It can transfer the magic energy of magicians into Golem to make use of their enormous power. But the focus is considered lost. Only, the wise Lagus suspects where it would be. He is thinking of a region full of lava. Lagus' power will protect you from the heat, and he will enable your divers to take in the focus. Sail fast, because our intelligence suspects hostile activities in this sector!
I have 0 idea what exactly you are supposed to do here, or what the loose condition is. You get a group of ships on a small map, half of them are useleff in fight, but as there's nothing to be discovered nor built, let them be meatshield.
What oyu definitely should do is to sail to the middle of the map - and just stand there? I have no idea. If you go in, and then leave the place, you definitely get a failed condition. I thought this is some time-limit, but it's not. I also tried placing my remaining airhips over the four islands in hope it helps - I'm not sure. and yes, definitely just hope you won't loose your air-support, because the enemy definitely has some. For starter, just move a bit, don't get in the offensiv,e let the enemy come to you, because then oyu have the range-advanateg. Can't say more.

Clan, mission 13, New Technologie II: destroy everything
Briefing: It's a pleasure meating you again, Commander! You are returning as successful as usual, my Prince! Our scientists have done a good job, and the new technologies are ready to use. We need you to test these new units on the battlefield...
This one is hard to explain w/o showing the uncovered map. You start with barely anything, the enemy has, or asap will have 4 cities. Your place to build a city is on your west. There are a couple of mines around you can capture too, but these are not the main point of the map and your supposed strategy.
One of the major point is, to your east is the merchant guild, and you are in pretty good position to use it. Given your lack of mines, this'll be a point. South of that is the city the enemy will use to trade, just so you know. If you don't force a confrontation about it, you'll probably be able to trade pretty ok.
The other thing is, there care 3 high-level eagle island. It's pretty hard to tell how to manouvre through the emey lines to get them. Because how the AI expands, I'd first go south from the city-place, and a bit west. The blueprint will be around the quarter of the map from its bottom. Then sail east with your scouting ship, heading a bit south for another blueprint. Then sail NE until you circle around that enemy city and mines, then head north, and lean a bit back to west. The 3rd blueprint is east from the merchant guild.
If you manage to build these advanced troops w/o the resources used to engineer stuff all the way up, you should be good, I assume. Of course capturing the enemy city at the center of the map would be most welcomed.
---
Pushing hard, I've managed to first capture the mine you can see at the start, then build the city, then capture 4 more mines at the start of day 6. The same time the scout-ship discovered the two south eagle island, and I realised how close the northern one is to that mine, so sent the builder to get it. That is the honey-spot, as while the unit U-515 costs a ton of resources, includiong coal - a new resource compared to what we used until now, which was wood -, it worth every ounce of resourced, as it is humongous, and can hit anything (air, water, underwater).
You COULD build your troops from the other two blueprints, which compplement each other, but while you'd have 2 troop doing that, they'd cost more than the single hugh submarine, and covering all your needs is not just convenient, but at the start of a map is essential. But to each their own I assume.
You also have to build engineers building to invent merchant ships, which'll be essential I assume. I mean the AI has 4 cities, and 20 mines (21 if you don't hurry like I did).
WARNING! The mega-submarines seems to be bugged, and either never hitted aircraft, or stopped after a while. You MUST build baloons yourself too! (you don't need many though)

Clan 14, We are hitting back: conquere all sulphur mines and the Gens' harbour, and destroy all Gens! (aka. destroy everything)
Briefing: Welcome, Commander! Thanks to the new technologies, this has been a big success! Now it is time to hit back. Our spies are reporting of an alliance of Gens and Cytex. We can not accept this; sail with your fleet to the Gen sector, and cut off their reinforcements. Conquer their sulfur mines, so that they can not pay their tributes to the superior Cytex. If possible, try to scatter their fleet and conquer their harbours! Hurry up, or our enemies will send reinforcments that will outnumber your troops. Good luck!
I suspect untis will spawn out of nothing periodicly for tha AI. There is no trading guild, and only a handful of mine to capture on the north, big nothing in the midle third of the map, 1 enemy city in each southern corner. There are 3 eagle islands, 1 sub, 1 ship, 1 baloon, but they won't be easy to capture given their position, and that the enemy is patroling the centre of the map, but then again, if you know where they are, you can try.
When I'm done with this race I'll upload the maps somewhere, and give link.
Anyway, you want to build the sub exclusively, as that hits everything, and has way better stats than the others. The ship also able to hit all, and costs noticabely less in a resource, but it is a ship, and has like half the stats of the sub. The baloon can't hit subs, so it is out (unless the info on the unit-screen is false, but whatever).
What oyu want to build in your city is the market. Do not research anything, just expand the market as soon as you can for the best trade-rate, and start building those subs asap.
In the meanwhile, it seems the Gens and the Cytex actauyl are against each other, so all the better for us.
If you loose your scou-ship, who cares, ok? Let it be lost. I picked up the western blueprint with a constructor ship anyway. Oh, yeah, probably a good idea to make an extra of those just to be safe.
Also, when you start to reach Market lvl 3, the enemy will start to attack your periferial mines instead trying to reach your city, so you'll have to micromanage your troops. A good idea probably to move the small army you start with towards the west, and use your new subs to cover the rest: you'll need 2-3 on the west because of the distance in one group to protect the mines there, then start to accumlate your main force in front of your city.
On the positive side the AI is active in the endgame, so you don't have to worry about hunting down the sole remaining unit on the map.
NOTE: yes, the unit-info lies, and the subs won't attack baloons, so you'll have to build some baloons, but only do that after you have 4-5 subs, which are a considerable force in themselves, and will be able to covered by fortifications of the mines for a long while.

Clan, mission 15, superior enemies: seek and destroy everything
Briefing: Welcome, Commander! The Cytex and the Gens have recovered quickly from your mighty intervention. Our intelligence reports, that our enemies are in possession of superior technologies. Even worse are reports of invasion into all our territories. We are being attacked on all frontlines by many enemies. The most disturbing reports say that both Gens and Cytex seem to be working on a Golem themselves. They must have solved the problem of the missing Crystal Focus. We need your help, Commander! Save our harbours and allies, and come back alive, my Prince!
Well, there are a couple of mines around which I won't explain here, seriously, a drawing is much simpler, but the main thing is, you start with a kinda low production, but almost maxed city (no advanced unit developed, and at least on the first day the engineers don't have anything to research), but more importantly your first thing to do is to send your constructor staight south to found another city! Mines are nice, but cities are awesome!
After buffing your second town (or just some time passing) there will appear some stuff to be engineered, but to be honest, I'm way too busy enlarging the cities and dumping out the ships (sub + baloon) I do not have to research.
PS: as suspected, the newly developed bigger units were not yet in production when the map already got cleaned.
Worth knowing, oyu can onloy research new technology (or spell)in a city that has high enough building for it, despite all research-facility will show all researchable technology. Also, you can only research 1 technology the same time, even if all conditions are met to research two at the same time.

Clan, mission 16, The Golem: eliminate all enemies to be able to fire The Golem! (aka. destroy everything)
Briefing: Everything seems well again! Our scientists have completed the Golem. Now we need to get (the) powerful Lagus to the Golem, and give him enough time to transfer his power to the death-machine. The War Council and our spies are expecting massive resistance from our enemies, but you will surely defeat the mutant Gens and the machine-like Cytex. Remember: if you succeed in stopping the enemies, and if the Golem is able to eliminate all Gens and Cytex, we will need a new Emperor for the United Clans. Being the son of the late king Gunnar the first, you are of course predestined for this position, my Prince! Defeat our enemies, and become KING! We wish you the very best.
Your starting position is at a very bad place, right halfway where the other two armies will marsh. One is in the northwestern corner, the other in the southeat.
The map is ca. diagonaly mirrorred, so there is another city-place around the center of the map, and there are 1-1 city place in the NE and SW corner.
The initial problem is, the AI starts with some insane skirmish, so I suggest send the (a) constructor to the NE to make a new city. Also, put all your starting combat units inside your harbour in hope of saving them, hoping the enemy will sail not noticing you. The city would worth keeping, as it is the best city-type, and has all buildings built to alkmost max level. Too bad you can't capture enemy buildings when you capture their cities, only the units they strand at the harbour at that time.
Just to mention, there are 2 eagle islands on this map, both providing extra units if you can reach them. It's not impossible... one is near the NE city-place, for the other go south until the border, and then west a little.
First send your 2 constructor (yes, you initialy have 2) to the city-places, and when they reach that, make them grab the extra units from the eagle islands. Do NOT bother fortifying your mines, only even try if you see enemy constructors. Also, right at the start send you scout ship to a bit west, there is a THIRD eagle island with a third small army! Now you can hold your position during the initial phase. Also build an extra constructor, so you can re-inforce your city's fotrifications (you can't replace it just because ONe of the turrets is destroyed. They have to destroy both to do so).
With your quit massive army, I suggest to try to eliminate one of the enemy cities. It's a bit crazy idea, but if you succeed, you practicly won.

twillight 26-02-2023 06:54 PM

V.O.T.E.R. Golem
 
Gen, mission 1, The conflict: escort the Blood Shark to the base in 20 days
Briefing: When Debagh gave the blueprints of the Golem to Borghal, the legitimate leader of the Gens, his brother, Gracznogh tried to hinder him. Three months ago Gracznogh let someone steal the blueprints, and made the engineers who were in charge of building the Golem his confidantes. Since then the unity of the Gens has evaporated, because many commanders-in-chief and fleet-captains have switched to the side of the traitor.
Borghal was extremly upset. Despite all his efforts, including the threat of brutal force, he could not win back his old confidantes. The only solution, Borghal says, is to eliminate Gracznogh in order to unite the Gens again. As his closest confidante Vorghal has chosen you to help him to do this. He has given you a small fleet, and sent you to the Sea of Smurgh, that is been occupied by the followers of Gracznogh. Your mission is to cross the enemy's lines, and reach a friendly base in the northeast with the prototype of a Blood Shark. You will get new troops there to continue the fight against Gracznogh. Good luck, you will need it.
You don't need to worry about the time-limit, worry instead about the lack of firepower. So just stick to the border of the map. You need to bring the big, obvious ship to the port, which the enemy won't capture by the way, so don't bother.

Gen, mission 2, teaching a lesson: build a new fortification, and eliminate all the enemies and conquere their city! (aka. destroy everything)
Briefing: When you arrive at the base, all your troops are together again. With these reinforcements you have to fight against the superiority of the enemy Gens in sector 23. Borghal demands you build a fortification in Sector 23 to start the production of war ships. It is extremly important to put the fast-sailing units of Grecznogh's fleet out of action, so that we can overtake the enemy's harbour. To do so, you first need to destroy the city's defence-walls, and to conquere the harbour with a Watus Constructus. One of Gracznoogh's confidants, Smirghol, the mayor, is in the base. Arrest him! We can put Gracznogh under pressure in order to unite the Gens again for the fight against the United Clans and the Cytex!
I feel a wee bit of broken english slipped through in the briefing. Also, the Gens notoriously name everything "Watus". Remember: their regeneration worth like nothing.
You should do scouting with your dragonflies, as the map is small and giving directions to all the mines... But note this: you are resource-poor, it is essential to get the NE sulphur mine. Actualy, start going west until you hit a mine, than aim the NE corner, and along the way you'll find another mine too. And there is yet one more to the west and just a bit to the south from the NE mine. further west from there is a merchant guild - quit far, but maybe worth trying to utilize it. Still be your first job to build the market, and intensvely buy sulphur, which you use instead of wood now.
Also, the units are quit the same attack and statwise, so you know what you are after (the air-unit that can shoot).
Because of your resource-stravation you should know, you need 10 sulphur in stroe to build a mine, and need 10 more to build fortifications on 'em. So it's quit problematic.
Also because of your lack of raw material, I'd go for the healer building - costs less than making new units, and you'll definitely have to hold out for a while.
Oh, news: you only have 1 autosave, and it does not care what race you are playing, keep that in mind.
Also: archive dot org has a copy that windows don't like that much, but has all the movies. The movies can be seen from the "replay intro" menu, and all of them for the race you play unlock when you win the last map of the campaign of the current race, so definitely make an archive-save. The movies will not stay unlocked, you have to end those maps every time you want to watch the movies. Uncomfortable, but it works.
Note: the dragonflies suck, they don't keep distance. Base your power on submarines instead, with some flier support.

Gen, mission 3, Taking over: eliminate the enemies, conquere their city, and all resources within 70 days!
Briefing: By arresting Smirghol you have completed a coup! The connection between Gracznogh and the northeast territories has been cut. Borghal is satisfied with your work. It's time to eliminate the traitor. Gracznogh's fortress is far west of Sector 27. This area is extremly important to Borghal, as the resources in these waters are needed for the production and develpoment of the enemy's fleet. Eliminate Gracznogh, and secure the waters by conquering all mines, and fortifying them with walls. Hurry - and bring Gracznogh's head with you. This should be sufficient to win back the disloyal Gens to our cause.
It seems the key to this map is a secure access to the merchant guild in the middle, so going for the mines which you can see is begginers' mistake. Telling where the mines are are naturaly too comlicated, will uploed the map somewhere. Well, ok, so let's go west, and a bit south. Then SE until you get 2 mines. Then come back, and capture 3-4 mines around your city. The enemy will still have a heckload of mines, and 70 days is anything, but, but do what you can. With intensive trading it should be ok. I mean this is early 2nd difficulty, how though can it be, right?
Though you start with no research, only sucker, lowest level ships, not even merch ships, plus you are kinda resource-starved at the start, so you can't even build forts to all your mines. So constantly watch over the map - and don't mind flying scout units, only war units and constructors. Building a second constructor will help you capturing more mines, starving the enemy sooner. And given the small size of the map, and your supply-and research-proble in light of the time-restriction, you want to do as little fighting as possible.
This mission teaches to trade for trading sake, then trade your goods at the market if the Guild does not supply you with what you actualy want.
NOTE: the game literaly asks you to capture all mining-sites, EVEN if the AI did not capture it, until that the game will not end. The mine in the exact SE corner is hard to notice.

Gen, mission 4, the lost blueprints: find the lost blueprints in one of the eagle-rocks!
Briefing: Gracznogh is dead, the betrayal is nullified, and the advisers of the traitor are out of action! Now we can concentrate on what is really important: the Golem. One of our captain has found blueprints of a new warship in Gracznogh's fortress. It is an enchanced model of the Watus Atakus that is supposed to become a death-delivering war-unit through its complicated mutations. But you are still missing some important details to build this Watus Imposus, as your engineers call it. The missing blueprints are said to be hidden in one of the rocks, where the eagles nest on the Archepilago of the Kings. Find them, and we will have an effective weapon against the enemies. But watch for the cytex ships: we are not the only ones who know of the existence of these blueprints.
This is a quicky if you want it. I don't think the enemy hase a base, there are no mines, and the eagle islands are all marked as "already visited" despite don't, so your task actualy is to find that exact one. It is in the middle. Of course it is protected by a large group of enemies, but your scout ship is capable enough to slip through and touch it - and that fulfills the mission objective!

Gen, mission 5, the metamorphosis: destroy all enemy unit and city! (aka. destroy everything)
Briefing: After disvovering the blueprints in the Archepilago of the Kings, your engineers have started constructing the Watus Imposus, and now there is an opportunity to test these units in a battle for the first time. The Cytex have build a base at the border of our territories. This is unacceptable. Borghal has ordered you to drive our enemies from our territory, so that our shamans can continue transforming our land. The changes of the earth's surface will enable us to control the power of the earth. The Cytex are interrupting this work, and must be eliminated, so that we can continue the metamorphosis.
Surprisingly, this is another very quick one. You get a pretty large army (that watus imposus isn't very imposing by the way, it is just another ship), head on NW, to the center of the map, where the enemy city is. thatŰ's the single object on the map aside a moderate amount of enemy ship. Capture it, and just as it happens, you get another bunch of troops, so you are really kinda invincible, even if you just started to explore the map in whatever direction, and attack what comes in sight manualy.

Gen, mission 6, Atlantis: destroy all enemy units and capture their city! (aka. destroy everything - well, mabye not the mines?)
Briefing: That should be a lesson to the Cytex! Reports from our spies say, that the United Clans have discovered important parts of the Golem in the sunken city of Atlantis, and that they already started recovering it. Borghal orders you to conquere the Clan's base, and to drive the enemies out. As soon as the waters around Atlantis are free, engineers can start collecting the parts of the Golem. Remember that this mission has the highest priority, and you must be successful.
The good thing is, for this and the previous mission the connection/overlap with the United Clan missions is pretty clear. Sadly, I fail to see the Gens winning anything, they don't even seem building their own Golem, just trying to go after the fact.
This is an interresting map, though I hate the fact you don't start cwith a city, don't even see a place to build a city. the AI though is programmed in the way to not capture any city if you don't do it for a long while, so cudos for that. The fog of war removed though the map ofers 3 possible scenarios for you: capture the mines you see, and hold the north portion of the map, or try to cut the map by capturing most mines, or go straight just for the cities, which there are 3 city-places, plus the enemy city on the border, in the middle of the south. Capturing the city straight to west is a "good idea", as that is next to the Merchant Guild.
There are also 3 eagle islands, each containing 3 advanced airships, so right at the begginning you want to send a ship S-SW, one to the SW corner, and one W-NW.
Important thing is, you start with TWO constructors, so if you manage to not overspend the budget, you'll steamroll this map. Things will be of course more complicated, because the AI reacts to what you are doing, so no "capture all cities", but you'll still be able to capture most things, thus gain hugh advantage over the enemy if you know the map.
The map has a flaw though: while you have clear air-superiority, and economic dominance, you have nothing to deal with submarines. So it's a lot of standing around developing technology (the 2nd submarine is already fine, can attack fortifications from out of range, change the production as you develop new ones) and producing units.

twillight 03-03-2023 03:33 PM

Gen, mission 7, revenge: Defend your city, and eliminate all UC (United Clan) and Cytex units! (aka. destroy everything)
Briefing: We have recovered parts of the Golem, and driven out of the Cytex. Borghal is very satisfied with you. Your engineers have begun examining the parts. In the meantime more components of the Golem's have been finished. Reconstruction has already started. We now have time, but we need to see wether the Cytex will be hungry for revenge or not. Some of our scouts say single Cytex ships have been sighted close to our capital, but they should not be a threat. For the last two weeks the construction of the Golem continued - until yesterday! Our scouts sounded the alarm upon realising a hugh fleet of the United Clans is approaching our capital. But our main forces are still in Cytex's territory: Grimbhar is not ready for such a hugh attack. Our posts in Sector 22 and 23 have already been conquered, and the fleet of the Clans is too strong for our fortifications. Borghal commands you to go directly to Grimbhar, and protect this city at all costs. Should Grimbhar fall, everything will be lost. Hold out, until reinforcements arrive from the north. You must succeed!
NOTE: can't not notice we barely get anything of what the Cytex is doing.
This is an interresting mission, but potentialy very frustrating. You start with a fully buolt lvl 2 city, WITH all the research done too! AND you have every mine on the map!
But the enemy has zounds of units, while you only have a single, only somewhat capable army. And you are able to see an enemy city? Woah, why not attack that! At least that was my reastion, you on the other hand might decide to sit tight - there is a promised reinforcement after all (there won't be in reality), and you have resource-superiority. Probably. Unless the AI has more cities. Point is, if you only buy lvl 1 fortifications to only those mines that get enemy in their visual range, and you build 2 contructor asap (one to support your army, one to repair your city's fortifications - it'll likely be destroyed once, but rebuilding it while frustrating might work out better). Given how strong fortifications are, this will be enough to decimate the enemy to a more tolerable level. And if you manage to capture the city, that'll obviously help even more.
the last stage is you build scout ships like crazy to find the last surviving unit.

Gen, mission 8, the Crystal Focus: defend the centre of the volcano for 20 days!
Briefing: Grimbhar has been saved, but only because reinforcements arrived on time. Borghal is very upset about your carelessness. It has been your fault that the people of Grimbhar have been exposed to danger at all. How could you withdraw the troops from Sector 22 and 23 - the United Clans have simply overrun them. This will have consequences for you: Borghal sends you personally to the north to the former pole waters to search for the Crystal Focus. Our engineers report, that the Crystal Focus is a kind of lens that has sunk to the floor of the ocean near to the North Pole when the first Golem exploded. This lense is indispensable for the new Golem. According to the maps the lens must lie somewhere beneath the surface in the centre of a volcano. It will take time for the mutant divers to search the crater. To secure the crater for 20 days, Borghal has set a prototype of the Verderber under your command. This may resist your enemies even if they largely outnumber you. Be successful - or the Borghal will change your future dramaticaly!
This is a small mission on the map with the 4 island I had barely idea what to do with the United Clan. Now you just stand there for 20 days. Do you actualy do something? Yes, you can. When a unit of yours gets eliminated, pull aside you remaining troops, so they don't block each other standing on each other - you have a repair ship! That's what you can do. Pull your troops to a 3*3 grid, and repair what gets damaged (and isn't instantly destroyed).

Gen, mission 9, storming Armorata: eliminate the main port of the UC!
Briefing: Your mutant divers have searched the whole area, but have not found anything. According to your spies, the Crystal Focus is on its way to Armorata. Armotara (no, I did no did a typo with this one, the original text did), an impregnable fortress, is the centre of human power. You are in Borghal's bad books. To prove your loyalty, you should get hold of the lens as soon as possible. If you get the Crystal Focus back, and make Armorata fall, this should convince Borghal to trust you again. The message of Lagus' death should calm him. This might be the only chance to escape death. It's on your shoulders to prove your abilities. A defeat would be the end of you.
You start with a lvl 2 city, you can immediately can upp to lvl 3. You also get a small army, but it's only enough to secure a mine's place until the constructor can get there and build a fortification on it. There are also 2 eagle-island with extra units hiding in them - obviously you want those asap.
The AI is fast to capture any and all mines on the map, and they are not exactly close to your HQ - the AI is in the better position now. There's a Guild around too in the NW corner - very far from you, again the enemy seems in a much better position. You still might want to secure the route there, so my guess is to start going N at the start (with the constructor - send the other troops NE), capture the mine, go NE to get more troops, SE for a second mine. E of this is the second island, NE another mine which'll probably be captured already by the AI, and S-SE another mine for you. And as the AI is usualy too lazy for such things, I'd try to get the mine still on the south side, at the eastern border, ca. 20% from the south border. Then just play the map you feel like. They have only 1 town, so if you can even cut them from the Guild capturing a mine on the east side of the Guild and upping its fortifications as possible, you shouldn't have too much problem, as we all know the AI will just throw its waves after waves at you until you'll outpower it with your troops sticking together.
Note: if you develop lvl 3 engineers (i mean Matsers here), you'll be able to develop even more advanced units, and those ships can attack everything. Sounds fun.
Interresting fact, the healing-factor of the units come in handy, you can send your contructor looking for mines. Not that you actualy need any, this mission is done suprisingly fast.

Gen, mission 10, The pursuit: Conquer the base of the Cytex!
Briefing: You did it: Armorata has been totaly destroyed! The United Clans are scattered, and the admirals of the human fleet have fled in all directions. Lagus, up to now as invincible, killed by your hand laughed out his dying breaths: "You fool, the Cytex managed to reproduce the Crystal Focus! They are close to completing the Golem, and my admirals are on their way to help them secure the area. Borghal will lose!"
Prevent - at all costs - the Cytex inserting the Crystal Focus into their Golem on time. Destroy the base of the Cytex, and bring Borghal their blueprints. Be prepared for a hugh number of Clan ships, but above all, you must WIN!
You start with no town, and only a small platoon. There is a mine right next to your city-place, one in the SW corner, you can probably capture 2 saling directly north, but the majority of the mines of this middle-sized map are all ion the centre, and the AI DO/WILL have them. So sit back, and start inventing.
Oh, before you ask: there is no Guild here. And if it was not obvious: start building a 2nd contrucor asap to send out to the other direction. It's beneficial either way, as with two you can repair each other along army-units.
Actualy, build 4 constructor for each mines (3 miones + your main force), and slowly fortificate your mines to repell the enemy. Do not despair if one of your mines fall though, the AI will rarely have constructor to actualy capture it, so it's still good to bleed it out, out anyway, you only have to focus on its city. You'll win before developing the "last" technology. Maybe worth noting, but I think new tech becomes available by time, so rushiing research at all cost is not a good choice.

Gen, mission 11, the ambush: conquere the city of Cytex!
Briefing: Too late! The Cytex have moved the blueprints to a safe place. It is said that they have withdrawn to Sector 48 to complete their Golem. In the former waters of the United Clans they are preparing their final strike against us. By possessing all blueprints, the Cytex will be able to complete the mighty Golem. THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN! Take all units under your command in this area, and lead them to battle. Destroy their production harbour in the southwest at all costs, or everything will be lost!
NOTE: it might worth noticing, nothing says the UC actualy managed to activate their Golem, or if it would have any part in their victory, accorfding to their settng. And the Gens seem more occupied preventing anyone accessing theGolem than building their own.
The enemy actualy has TWO cities, so I assume conquere both.
There is 1 mine to the east - make a 2nd constructor to capture it while you send your ship to the west, where you'll first find two mines, than an Eagle Island with a hefty invention, and south of the that 2 more mines, if the AI is not faster.
South of your city (at this point with lvl 1 structures) is the Guild. South from its western corner is another Eagle Island, to which you probably should send your scout-ship to find, as it gives a ocuple more advanced units - but if you want to own them, you better hurry, the AI has troops all over the map.
The enemy cities are SW and SE from the Guild.
There is an extra mine NE from your city, so your 2nd constructor will have something to be occupied for a few days.
Btw, those extra units are super strong. I've practicaly not needed anything else but repair-support for them to win in less than 25 ingame days, what is super fast, especialy that that invention takes 7 days to create. So I assume this map was created you not knowing the map in mind? Actualy, given how the everything works, what's the point of these mage-units - if not for the potential multiplayer party. But people would probably just zerg those.

Gen, mission 12, the final battle: Eliminate the Cytex and their Golem
Briefing: Borghal has mercy on you. You have managed to destroy the production buildings of the Cytex. Further, all missing parts of the Golem are now in our possession. The Cytex have done a good job. Our engineers say, that the weapons should be ready in two months, and there will be nothing to keep us from ruling the world. They have gathered all their troops in Sector 51 to build a new production. If you succeed in defeat them one last time, we will have succeeded. We will then have the opportunity to rule the world. Make us immortal!
The map is a long belt, aka. it is thin, you being on one en, them being on the other. I bet it's all kinds of interresting stuff, but I was in the moode, so I decided to kick the table, took my starting troops, and just pushed all the way to the other end, because why not. When I realised this is a valid strategy, I started to develop my city, which fortunately I did found, just to be safe.
An addition to this .. approach: send the scout ship to the north, around halfway of the map. There is a single Eagle Island, which'll provide a hefty group.

twillight 05-03-2023 09:36 PM

V.O.T.E.R. Golem
 
Cytex, mission 1, raw material shortage: conquere all mines within 70 days!
Briefing: Our computers have confirmed that the degenerated Gens and the cursed United Clans are trying to recover the old blueprints from Debagh! Your mission, drone, is to ensure that we will have sufficient resources for the coming battles! Scans are showing that already some enemy units have entered the target area, and even more reinforcements are on their way. You will have 70 days to conquere and fortify all mines!
Wow. This IS hard. There are a lot of mines, and while the map is not big, that poses a problem, especialy that the AI captures a lot asap. You have 2 choice initialy: go east or west. To the east are coal mines, what your race needs. To the west are other mines (sulphur, wood, etc.). I started to the east, but who knows. You are also resource-poor, so it might not even be possible to capture all the mines initialy.
There is also the problem the enemy starts with baloons, while you don't. So it's either being annoyed as F and rely on mines to cover that need, or engineer your zeppelins. What will cost a lot both in resources and time. Time, you have precious little of. And before you ask: no, you don't have either the time or resources to produce a second constructor. And even if you had, then you would not have resources to capture and fortify the mines. Ye, that's a hassle too.
There are 15 mines on the map, so it'll be a busy task. Note, that those bloody slow white square units are able to withstand shots from the enemy (if you are lucky, approach with caution etc.), so producing those, escorted by repair ships might be a solution.
Drop all that, and start attacking the enemy mines with your starting troops. I'm dead serious. Put the white squares in front, and hide just behind them the other two, inferior ships for extra attack power, and manouvre your contructor where it's needed, and grind down the resistence. This approach allows you to develop technology without interruption, and I mean zeppelins of course.
I won at day 60. The order of capturing the mines is best approached in an anti-clockwise fashion. A lot of darn canals are obstacle.
It is also fortunate you don't have to capture them city, it's at very bad position for that.
PS: zeppelins are excellent support-units, but are terrible for assault, so build some of those white squares mostly, and if you find the resources to develop some submarines, switch on those in production.

Cytex, mission 2, the first offensive: Eliminate all Gen units! (aka. destroy everything, lol)
Good job, drone! Now that we have secured the production of our battle units, it is time to take the offensive. The degenerated Gens and the United Clans have signed a truce, and will not be on high alert!Your primary aim is to obtain a strategic advantage for us against the Gens. Eliminate the Gens, and don't show any mercy, drone!
Despite this being a small map, we have 2 enemy cities, but one from each race? And turly, you only have to eliminate the Gens, none cares about the other faction here! That's a nice surprise. Also, you likely noticed you get white squares to start with, so that's a relief, you can immediately start conquering. But be cautious and build fortifications, the AI will do a Hail Mary when you capture the Gen city (I had one mine of them left).
And for starting the map: found the city, then capture the mine you see at the start. there is a second to the west of your city, you have a scout ship, shouldn't be any problem finding it.

Cytex, mission 3, survive: survive 50 days!
Briefing: You have successfully driven out the Gens from the target sector, drone! Our technicians report that by conquering the Gen harbour, we have also obtained some important parts of the Golem. Well done! But this information has been placed into the hands of the United Clans, and now they have sent their armada to get these parts back! Sadly our fleet is too far away to help you in time. You are on your own at first. Defend the parts until reinforcements arrive. We expect you to survive 50 days.
To make your life easy, capture the mine you see asap, then head west (and a bit south) - there's another city-place! Don't be afraid the enemy will capture it, it can't keep it, because it needs 2 days to build fortifications for it, and that'd need cover, and it does not have that.
Also, start building an extra constructor, so you can repair your fortifications as needed in both city.
Then the AI will dump on you massive waves. You COULD eventualy win, so close is a Guild, but in 50 days, that won't happen. So you might as well rush engineering, and set your production line to build 2 of the biggest submarine and 1 airship (they suck, but they are better than nothing against anamey baloons). then just camp at your starting city - the other won't be attacked, so if you are a nerd, you can build an extra army there, which can go and start conquering.

Cytex, mission 4, eagle rocks: eliminate all units, and destroy all buildings! (aka. destroy everything)
Briefing: It's good to meet you alive, drone! Our engineers have started building the Golem, and they are proceeding quickly. The computers have calculated the new coordinates for your next mission. The target area is of enermous starategic importance for us, as we will be able to reach and attack voulnerable outposts of the Gens and the cursed United Clans. But there is also one important disadvantage: you can not make use of a safe harbour to plan your actions. But there are also some eagle rocks, where once powerful magicians studied their mysterious arts. First visit those places before attacking our enemies! Perhaps you will find some help to hit our deadly enemies.
I find it weird this race gets a "destroy everything" objective at its Eagle Islands mission. My expectations are subverted. And yes, this mission is a cruel joke, as you have zero idea where the islands are, and there are 3 enemy cities waiting for you. Plus the mines if you care.
I started to send my scouts north and south. There was nothing on the south, but bumped into 2 mines and a city on the north. As the AI was not in a hurry, I captured both mines. Turns out there is a city too in the middle, and in the SE corner. For a cruel joke, one of the eagle islands is NNE from your starting position / SSE from the NWern city. Very easy to miss if you don't know the map. The other one is right N of the SEern city, so you'll deifnitely find that, and though you barely get anything from it, they must be enough to capture that city.
The AI is either very passive, or don't get the usual extra units over you, so it's fun.

Cytex, mission 5, fight against the Gens: eliminate all units and buildings! (aka. destroy everything - unless again the UC exists here too, but you don't have to conquere THEM)
Briefing: Very well, drone! While our fleets are forming again, you must fight the degenerate Gens to give us much-needed time. We are receiving parts of the Golem from all frontiers, and we need all energy to speed up the construction. Drive all Gens out of the target sector, drone, and teach them what dreadful enemies we are.
I feel a bit racism towards the Gens here, but at least this faction seems to be interrested in the Golem, and knows what they are doing. I wonder where are we compared to the other two campaign though.
This is an extra larfe map with no funny business. The enemy has 2 cities, you cna have 1, and if you are quick enough, can have 2 mines: one right south of the city-place, the other NE from your starting position.
Around the middle of the map are 4 mines an a city. On the top are 3 mines and a city. That's it. The middle-city has some extra units (nothing big though), so don't try to be too quick.
The mission is very hard, as the AI is very active, and has much more resources, so save often, and do a lot of micromanagement. Your first problem will be its air superiority, but only after you realise, it has lvl 2 buildings too, so you won't be able to outreach its fortifications. and one thing that your units have a massive HP, but repairing them is a hassle. Also, you aren't exactly rich in resources. So you can't even research what you want, and will have to compromise. You'll need some air-support asap, but only buy 1 zeppelin, and wait until you can afford 2 of those stupid tripple-baloons, because those is positioned somewhere, will have a giant range. That at least will clear the sky, but next the AI will throw at you zounds of HUGH ships, I dunno how they can afford them, but they do.
But if you play your cards right, you'll be able to capture the 2 mines in the centre of the map. That's not as much as I'd hope, but ya know. Also: never start just attacking anything. The AI is setting up ambushes, so first lure those accumlated units out. Always.
At this point I'm not sure which city to go for. Sure, the eastern one is right here, but sorrounded by islands, and another mine. The other is far away, but maybe a bit more accessible.
Went for the eastern one, and needed to build 3+biggest airship, because those are just that much advanced. Then it was just time.

Cytex, mission 06, Lagus: eliminate all units and buildings, and find the(?) Lagus
Briefing: You havebeen successful as expected, drone. Our working drones are reporting, that the magician Lagusis helping the United Clans to build the Golem. It is time to slow our competitors down! You need to fine Lagus in the target sector, and arrest him, drone. Let him live, as long as he can be helpful to us, otherwise eliminate him!
.

twillight 19-03-2023 08:16 PM

Pokemon Red with only a Hitmonchan
 
It was a while ago when I hit this up, but now I'm done with Safrone City and all that.

Hitmanchan is lvl 61.

I've lost once, because I forgot to save frequently enough, and couldn't bother, especialy when relaised, the statboost items don't work, because leveling, or somthing. Almost funny, this.
Also, I've "cheated" a little bit, as the ghastlys kept confusing me, so when they were slower, I did swap in the farfetched to make the effect go. This is little enough, only a couple of random fights worth exp lost, and never in the next round swapped hitmon back, so I think it's fine.
against the Psy Gym everything stood on Mega Punch hitting the boss' mons.


Doing Fuchsia City and its Safari Zone (if you have the location of the items, you CAN grab all in one go!) Hitmonchan reached lvl 70.



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

More stuff:
NOTE: the assistants of the prof count every pokemon you owned, so if you capture something, and trade it for something else, that worth TWO pokemon.

Pokemon count:
1 - you start with a pokemon
2 - on Route 4 you get a Great Ball (capture a fearow)
3 - on the SS.Anne you find a Great Ball (use it in Celadon city to capture a slowpoke - excellent HM-slave)
4 - trade fearow (wild capture) for a farfetched (good HM-slave)
5 - in Celadon City you find an Evee
6 - in the Safron City Fighter Gym you can choose between a Hitmonchan and a Hitmonlee
7 - at Sylph Co you get a Lapras
8 - from the Mt. Moon fossils either an omanyte or a kabuto
9 - in Pewter City form Old Amber a pterodactyl
10 -

you get 5 pokeball if you did not buy any, nor catched any pokemon until you beat your rival on Route 22.
in the safari zone you get 30 balls... So if you just need those extra mons for the HM, it's perfect, I think. Though that costs money if I'm correct.
on Route 4 you can buy a magikarp for 500$

on Seafoam Island you find an Ultraball
on Route 23 you find an Ultra Ball
on Victory Road you find an Ultra Ball
And of course if you have to, you can just buy some pokemon from the casino.
in the Cerulean Cave you find an Ultra Ball


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


Make slowpoke learn Dig, because of the whataver-Mansion. I could not come out of it without an escape rope (or dying). Not sure where i had one, I was lucky. Dig out of combat is to get out of dungeons instantly, thus a very good thing to have on your HM-slave.
And as I'm pretty high level (lvl 75 before the Cinnebar Gym, and did not hunt for the legendary birds yet), I'm considering skipping the legendary birds after all. Because, you know.

twillight 22-03-2023 08:00 PM

Pokemon Red with only a Magikarp
 
Some pro-player said it is impossible, so I looked it up, and actualy isn't. I mean if the mon has enough craft to win the game with just tackle, then it should be even more possible, if you solve magikarp to be able to harm ghost types.
there's 2 method to achieve this goal: import a magicarp from Gen 2, OR have a University Magikarp, what is an event-pokemon.

But how do you get these?
Well, transfering pokemon between emulators seems a hard call, at least harder than using the cheatcodes, so I went with the university pokemon version.

I'm using a VisualBoyAdvance Emulator ver.1.8.0-beta 3, whatever that means. I find it great for the black&white .gb Gen 1 games.
First, let's solve to start with the pokemon we want. The Game Shark version of starter cheat is unstable, so use the Game Genie version. Immediately disable the cheat after the character picked up the ball, definitely after the stats are shown, and absolutely before the Rival picks up his one. Vongratulation, you have a stable, bugless your-choice starter.
The hard part comes now, it took me a while to figure it out, and it'll irrevocable ruin your active save (the last oyu used) if you mess it up.
As Game Genie has no move-code, we have to rely on the Game Shark code. Fortunately the move-swap code works with currently unused slots too, so I've set it as move 2 (magikarp starts with only 1 move: splash).
The code ONLY effects YOUR pokemon, and only the starter, so it's fine. It is also stable, so if you don't mind that the cheat is running actively and you can't turn it off, then you have no other task with this. If you on the other hand WANT ot disable the code, read further.

NOTE: you get the move with 0 PP, meaning you'll have to sleep/get healed before you can actualy use it, so you'll fail the tutorial-fight in the lab (with an unaltered magikarp, you'd fail it anyway, though I miss the money, as Pokemon Red somehow missing a core element: you can't capture MEowth in the game, the money-creating pokemon).

So, find a battle. You'll still be able to run from it, or fight it, don't worry. Select "Fight", then push "Select" (this is a gameboy button, not an ingame label!), and swap the move you added to you pokemon with another move.. In this case, swap Dragon Rage with Splash. NOW DISABLE THE CHEAT, and to be on the safe side, use the skill(s). Finish the battle one way or another, and check your pokemon. If all is fine, you have your moves in the new order. Eevn if you glitched it, the PPs will be in order.
On the other hand if you messed it up, your added move will be doubled, and your other move lost. This can be funny, 40 Dragon Rage on your magikarp IS funny, but c'mon.


This is how you capture a 4% (more like 2%, but whatever) mon in the Safari zone: go to the right sector, and find the mon. Save. Throw a ball on it until it runs away. Reload, and throw a rock at it. If it runs away, reload. If not, save, and try the ball, but don't expect to finish. When it runs away again, reload, and throw a 2nd rock at it. If it does not run away, save. Throw balls at it until you capture it.


Btw, as Magikarp doesn't get moves, and isn't particularly strong anyway, you'll have to play backtracking a lot, especialy for 2 instances: one is the Grass type gym boss, and the second is the Rival at the Silph Co. Now these two hurt like heck, so you'll have to come back way overlevelled, or, especialy for the Rival, bring items to heal and stuff.

twillight 06-04-2023 10:57 AM

Nintendo Emulators
 
For GB - that's pokemon gen 1 games - THIS rocks. Sure, it's monochrome and stuff, but that's how these games were released. Absolutely perfect.



For GBA - that's like pokemon gen 2-3 -, most of the emulators either don't even run the programs, or distort the sound on peak level. THIS is what I found the best of the bunch.


For NDS - pokemon gen 5 - use THIS. Again, if you pick something else, you'll face sound-distortion. If you are lucky. If you are not - agn, won't even start.

twillight 10-04-2023 01:41 PM

Pokemon 1, 3, 4, X
 
Red: I've done all the grinding, so with the 12 rare candy, I can be lvl 100 niversity Magikarp. Went on the shopping sprea, got rid of the Splash PPs, everything ready for the Elite Four + Rival Final. The first 2 Elite Foure will be easy, the most problematic will be the 3rd, for it has all those ghosts, and those can only be hurt by dragon rage - no critical, no X-item boost.

Platinum: I dislike this game, awefuly paced. Doing it with a solo hippo, struck wall 3 times already, at the 2nd I decided to not evolve as long as possible. there are 14 Rare Candies (at least) that help, the 14th being locked behind collecting all the Unown. Fortunately the game is very generous with pokeballs, so my 4 HM-slave, all the trade-pokemons the 28 unown and more are perfectly feasable for free.
So the problem with this is the lack of trainers to battle (Gen 1 had twice-thrice the amount per area), the aweful roadblocks that railroads you, and the ginormous difficulty-spikes. With this pokemon specificaly the grass type gym (lvl 35 - twice the level that is required for like any solo mon in the gen 1 games for the 2nd gym), the water type gym (lvl 61+, I don't know what this gym is: the apprentices are pathetic, don't even have water types, but sea-birds, and thenthe boss has grandiose stat pokemons), and no, not the ice type gym, you get plenty enough exp until there, and you can support yourself with a handful variety of held items. the problem is Cyrus, right before Giratina. That's like a lvl 85+ challenge, and that's way more than is sohuld be, even then heavily luck-based if my suspicion is correct. the only good thing is, thanks to the Rare Candies and the new, clear EV-system, you know you won't get hindered if you eat the candies after grinding to a not-that--high level, what'll still take forever of course. point is, why isn't an elevator at this fight that'd bring you back to the exit to gather more exp if needed? Darn!

Emerald: with the disappointment platinum was, I am curious how this game was. Gen 2 had disgusting graphics, so none cares for that, but I see no Latios/Latias playthrough for this on youtube, so another reason to boggle down with this.

X: I found a working copy of this, so we'll see why this is such a neglected part of the core series.

----------

One compaint of mine, at least definitely for Emerald is, if you want to do EV-training with your starter, you are pretty F-ed up. Well, you can find decently HP, Attack, Speed, even Defense EVs, crap, even Special Defense has a place with 20% chance to appear, but you'll be shredded by a hedgehog if you need SpecialAttack.
I'm like 4 paged in the walkthrough (friggin hidden items! - actualy, I don't even bother with them this time, so why I even use a walkthrough), and there's 2 places to fins SAtk, one with 4% chance (that's more like 1%), the other 10%, and that's just not enough.
Emerald also suffers form the fact, to get your optimal HM-slaves, you need to level them up a bit, to lvl 14 and 16, unlike other games where you just capture the beasts, and all is fine and dandy.

-----------

Some criticism:
- Gen 1: sure, it's kinda buggy, like Fallout 2 without its patch (that patch ruins everything), but you can work around that, like for Fallout 2 without its patch (that patch makes everything worse).
Its faulty mechanics is a list too: the Hidden Item system is entirely garbage, its multilevel puzzles are a chore, there's no telling what is where, you can't catch 'em all, you can't just come up with your own group you like (without insane level of grinding), and the Elite Four is a massive trollblock for most parties.
Still, it has its charm, and the maps are small enough to make backtracking manageable. The game is also mostly open-world within its route-system.
- Gen 2: sure, it's in colour now, but it's darn ugly! It's also still a buggy mess.
Can't tell much about its Pkegear (no fresh memories about it), but the apricorns are truly the origin of the abhorrent berry-system. This "1 thingy per day" is ridiulous.
The god news is, Speed no longer effects critical rate, and there is no one unified Special stat.
The breeding-system is on the other hand furiously bad for me. Maybe it targeted competitive gamers?
- Gen 3 is pretty bad. It pushes you to be constantly overlevelled, and especialy for special attackers, just wastes your time. And it's not just the new eV-system, but for example there is the pokeflutes, non-consumable niceys, which makes you walk a lot in Tall Grass, aka. encountering pokemon, and that'll make you oneshot all of them, and that accumlates to even more levels.
Plus while you get to pretty high levels, the ... no, no story, but the game just does not advancing, and there's kinda nothing to do. Doesn't help either there are no maps with all the items, especialy hidden items on them, so I'm currently skipping those. In the other games there are stuff happening, but here it seems they focused on the Battle tents, and those were a horrible idea. Random battles with random conditions, where moves are executed randomly. Talk about gambling integrated...
There is also no Town Map. Just WHY? (EDIT: ok, there is the map in the pokenav - which I seen no reason to use, and only checked for misclicking)
Also, the pokenav's constant calling, combined the lack of ability to delete the useless trainers is absolutely infuriating feature.
The abilities/natzres/held items/etc. make the game way to complex for a proper design, resulting in the later (gen 5+( generation just being way too easy.
there are double-battles, and even the promise of tripple-battles. Annoying, because there is a promise by design you can still just do solo battles, but that option is soon taken away, and you have to do obligatory double battles. And no tripple battle is possible, depsite the clear intention.
Lastly, the contests: pure uselessness.
There's also the problem you can't run inside buildings (next gen fixed this).
Lacking feature: why don't you get some reward, any reward for getting the best rate on the cycling road?
My main complaint will be, there's rly nothing happening, and the Fly, aka. Fast Travel option is not useful anymore at the point you gain it. Not as useful as it is in any other game up to gen 6, which I've not played yet. This game is VERY linear. And before I forget again: there's nothing that pushes you to catch pokemon. In all the other games I know of, you gain stuff for doing so, but here - nothing.
What annoys me to no end, and for that this will never be a good game, is the limited inventory space.
Bonus: the champion is Wallace. Your "Second Rival" is Wally. There was an obvious rewamp here, and was just executed lazly.
- Gen 4: the puzzles are all too easy, and Giratina's puzzle is way too hard. The power-spikes are pretty harsh. Not enough population.
The good news is, the Hidden Item finding hits the bare minimum.
The poketch is a fine addition - until you accumlate an infinite number of apps, which you can not delete. Ever. there are also massive chunk of multiplayer-only parts everywhere, and that just anoys me to no end.
While this gen fixed running, it destroyed using bikes. They are too sensitive, becoming a nuisance.
- Gen 5: Lackluster story, way too easy, you still can't capture the cool pokemons early. There's neither a game+ mode after completion where you can start the game with whatever you want. Would be a clear improvement.
Again massive amount of multiplayer content - without the customisations that'd improve that experience.
And seasons? Seasonal changes? Season-exclusives? You went too far, GameFreak.
The company also doubled down on double-battles with triple-battles, and the even more complicated rotation-battles.
The good news is, finaly TMs are not one-time-only.
"HM"s no longer requiring badges to use outside of battle doesn't interrest me much, but that was pacing-opportunity, so that's not good in the end.
- Gen 6: why is "Sky Battles" a thing? People did nt use flying type enough, or what? Also, the item-finder is horrible in this one. But otherwise, it's surprisingly good until now, though the pacing seems odd, as gyms are few and far between, and good pokemons are also rare. This volume heavily suffers from the Cutsiemon Syndrome.
- Gen 7: ?
- Gen 8: ?
- Gen 9: terrestralysing changes your pokemon's type - of course for the "small prize" of microtransaction.

twillight 19-04-2023 08:39 PM

Pokemon Red with event-Magikarp, conclusion
 
If you have Dragon Rage, you'll just burn yourself to Vicotry Road eventualy, with enough leveling up. And yes, Magikapr is a terrible pokemon, will need plenty of levels, and items over that, so don't be lazy, and fight every single trainer along your way, and be patient to not spend that money until the very end, when you absolutely have to.
Well, it'd be fun to run a Bubble Magikarp once just for comparison-sake, a much less famous event-pokemon than University Magikarp, and it was released for Gen2, but it can be transfered backward. Point is, if Magikarp can reach Pokemon Tower just with Tackle and Strougle, there is no reason why adding Bubble to the list of moves would not work.


The main trouble is grass attacks against the poor thing, so if you do not have Tackle, unlike I had, because who payed attention that UniKarp came at lvl 15, without knowing Tackle, thus never learning the move, you'll need defensive items to consume. There's a run with Proper UniKarp on Yellow version, but the tuber was one of the impatient people who spent his money on stuff along the way, instead of spending all at the very end, but the point stands.


It was an interresting thing to do, and as said, barely anything would have changed if I did not have Tackle, so I'm fine in my book.

twillight 21-04-2023 09:01 AM

Pokemon Emerald with Latios, conclusion
 
This gave an overall view on this whole game. I dunno the pacing of its unfnished predexessor-versions, but this one seems to be adjusted to beat Steven exclusively.
As always, I was beating every trainer in the game for exp and cash, with a single pokemon, this time Latios, and it was not a very pleasant experience.
Latios starts with a psychic attack only, and not a good one in that, so you're stuck until lvl 20 to grind up on lvl 2-3 wild pokemons. Kinda good news, that Speed + Special Attack IV-s come at ca. 20% together (SATK is only 4%, in comparison). I still did some HP-training too, just to keep my sanity, and I did not regret it tbh.
Passing that obstacle went back to EV-training, this time on Abras, that's 10% Special Attack training. To not go mad, in the end I again included some HP-training. Again, wasn't the worst idea, maybe.
Now at this point I finaly could do some stuff for a while, until reaching the flute-meister, of course you want those flutes, that'll be like 2,000 steps in the "tall" grass (there is a taller(?) grass, lol, which is actualy tall), so to keep my sanity, I was shotting down pokemons there too.
Anyway, I kept being like 2 times the level compared to anything that cmae across, this includes trainers. It was like the Elite Four that jumped 10 level, but they didn't even come close to my level.
Then Steven jumped 20 more levels, pretty much was the same level as me, and he has 2 very very buff pokemon: the Metagross, and the even worse Cradily. I don't know how they are that massive/spongy, but they are. I had to exchange ALL my moveset to adjust to these, and eat all the Rare Canied I found to beat the buggers. If it was not enough, I was thinking to reload right after the Elite Four, and keep Recover, which is a massive healing with plenty of charges, but fortunately it was not needed. One thing was pretty sure: I wasn't into another grind.
----
If Gen1 is A-tear (it has so many bugs it can't be A-tear, than this one is C-tear, B-tear going to Platinum. That's a B+ game. Black#White is maybe D+, too easy, but otherwise not many problems, but being bland is not a favourable trait.

twillight 21-04-2023 01:49 PM

Pokemon, HM-slaves
 
The optimal (meaning the least amount of pokemon) to have ALL the useful out-of-battle movesets (so this includes HMs, Dig, Teleport, what have you):
- Red: Slowbro + Farfetched (you don't need teleporting much in this one, the maps are adequately small, and Dig brings you close enough to the local hospital)
- Gen 2: ???
- Emerald: Seedot + Marill + anything that can fly + Abra/Ralts (Abra is a hard-to-cath option, but you have to level up Ralts if you go that route). I'm not entirely sure yet wether you need that teleport in this one yet. Extremly rare move in Emerald, it is.
- Platinum: Bidoof + Bibarel + Starly + Abra (teleport is helluva good in this one)
- X: You have a couple of options, the base can be collected pretty soon. Catch a Ralts for Flash and Teleport, and depending on what you want, you likely want it to be male, and evolve it all the way up, so it can learn Cut and Strength in addition, though this is not obligatory.
Also before the first gym you can catch a bidoof, what you'll upp to bibarel, and that can learn all kinds of stuff. It'll definitely be the one learning Surf and Waterfall, but you still need something that flies, and can learn at least 2 more move above that (and is available soon, and not post-game).
This thins down the list to 2 candidate: hawlucha, and aerodactyl. Pick any, and adjust your bibarel (and Ralts) accordingly. In the end you'll carry around 3 HM-slaves.

twillight 22-04-2023 12:25 PM

Pokemon's Guide To Super Training
 
This feature is introduced/exists in X/Y, and is a super cool idea, but it has some mayor flaws the otherwise quite tlakey game does not tell you, and you need to know:
- when you first turn on the feature HAVE A COMPLETLY USELSSS POKEMON AT YOUR FIRST SLOT. This is because the game'll force you to gain 4 Defense EV twice. Completly ridiculous.
- after that fiasco, you will be able to roll your pokemons within the app on its starter screen, where the punching bag is.
- you can hit the punching bag on the starting screen, but this achieves absolutely nothing. You need to activate a special punching bag.
-there are 2 kinds of special punching bags: one that gives you EV for a certain stat, and those that makes the trianings easier.
-the amount of special punching bags you can have in store, is LIMITED. The game only tells you this when your backpack is already full, and thus you loose the won bag.
- after the first 2 mandatory defense-training you can choose the stat you want to upgrade.

- the game will always tell you the rules of the chosen training, no matter how many times you already done it.
- yes, it was a genious idea to make the aim-circle green on a green background.
- you need to use the roller-skating buttons to move aorund in these minigames.
- you'll need to use another button above the rollerskating buttons for the Protect-function.
- yes, you need to use the mouse during these minigames too.
- yes, the initial settings of the keyboard in Citra makes absolutely zero sense.
- you only get EV-boost and punching bags if you beat one of the trainings.
- there are 3 levels of trainings, and to unlock the higher ... difficulty trainings, you have to beat ALL the various trainings first. This means have a useless pokemon ON A HIGH LEVEL to unlock these #&@,
- It seems you need the level of the pokemon you use influences the difficulty here, and the HP and Defense trainings are absolutely ridiculous.
- fortunately, unlocking the higher trainings is not just for the used pockemon, but for the player, so all pokemon you own, or will own, will be able to use all the trainings.
- Currently not sure when you can unlock the Super Secret Training levels. Either you just have to max yourself out, or again, beat all lvl 3 trainings.

twillight 08-05-2023 01:06 PM

All core pokemon games summary
 
This'll be the final post from me in the topic. Just quick summary of each generation.

Gen 1: pokemon Blue is the better version just for providing access to Meowth, which can generate you more money that's in the game in otherwise fixed amount.
Yes, Gen 1 is a "buggy mess", but it's neither game-breaking, nor immersion-breaking. The pacing is good, the puzzles are challanging but not impossible all htings considered (though you really have to work for the last bird on Victory Road), and is compact enough to not outstay its welcome. The backtrack helps the immersion.

Gen 2: you either have to settle with gutt-wrenching ugly, or for an incomplete version here. I say, avoid this generation.

Gen 3: I have o idea how the original releases work, but in Emerald you are constantly twice the level of the enemy, making the only challanging fight the post-game Steven. That's not good. Also, the game is a railroad, no diversion from the One True Path. Boring as heck, especialy grinding for the flutes.

Gen 4: the time you are allowed to backtrack is, when all the items you constantly saw no longer worth your time and effort. The pacing is also hirrble, switching between oneshotting everything to bumping into difficulty-spike and thus grinding-sessions. the Distortion World is also BS: potentialy softlocking the player in a VERY challanging puzzle, good luck solving it without a guide.

Gen 5: this one is simply boring. Any pokemon remotly interresting is way bexond the starting area, and this was actualy the first game I actualy won (later I went back and finished the Elite Four for the other games too), this time using only a single pokemon (Herdier). The plot is nonsense, N is absolute nonsense, there's no flavour in the game - it's boring. That's kinda worse than being bad. The only good thing is the updated visuals.
EDIT: also do not forget HALF OF THE GAME is locked behind post-game. That amount of story and content is NOT post-game, but proper game, and that's inexcuseable.


Gen 6: I should go into explanation why I think the story is great, the pacing is great, and the game is generaly the best pokemon can offer. It's not flawless though, the game(s) definitely would have benefited from a 3rd release. And is "way too easy", meaning the enemies are not too challanging considering, so either use a weak (low base stat) pokemon, or do not use the Battle Chateau AT ALL. Also: you definitely not need Mega Evolution. Possibly.

Gen 7: Look. there's a large difference by the look of it between the difficulty of the original and the Ultra versions. I don1t know the original release, neither will touch them. But darn, the Ultras are HARD. Some tips if you want to try any of it:
- do EV-training as soon as you got the pokemon you want! Do NOT rely on exp.share, it'll ruin your day, because it not just transfers exp, but also EV, and that can BREAK you pokemon. Imagine giving pyhsical attack EVs to special attackers.
- do NOT feed your pokemon with beans! At least for a long while. You'll want them for the pokePilago, where you can plant the berries you need! (I never used them, but better safe than sorry)
- you have to catch 75-90 pokemon to be able to fully build the PokePilago! So start catching them early! (I don't like the spring-section fully built on the Pilago, and you don't actualy need it for anything, so I don't need the 90 pokemon)
- the RotomDex is annoying as heck, but there are some useful gains from it: Roto Bargain cuts prices in shops (not just pokemarts, but also clothes, the TM-shop etc., though not restaurants or BB-shops) from extraorbitant to simply too expensive. RotoCatch helps you capture that elusive pokemon. If you are a breeder, you might like RotoHatch, though it's way to rare in my case. RotoStealth is a free repell, if you are fed up. Roto HP and PP are equialent of their shop-items, only free, in case you use items. The rest is inarguably useless.
In the Ultra versions you also gain (allegedly) the power to use Z-power twice in battle, and that's something to be considered for now.
- you WANT high, or at least moderate affection-rating on your pokemon, because while they are like 5% chance modifiers, that CAN help you out. Well, this is mostly only if you do a solo playthrough I assume. Or if you keep UltraNekrozma in mind. That thing is infamous for a reason.
- the game has so high-level challanges, it is hard, and poses tactical problems along just grinding levels. Which you'll need to do anyway.
----
Otherwise, naratively, and by pacing these games are trash. It's not fun playing them. The cutscenes are a chore, the endgame is padding, the miniquests are unsatisfying most of the times, and have pretty demanding requirements at times for barely any reward. Some are funny though.

Gen 8: "Optional" and barely existing trainers, bring, glitch-filled, unsatisfying.

Gen 9: There is 2 good thing in this: the story in paper, so worth comprised walkthrough on youtube, where it's only 20-60 minute or such. And this terrestrialization-gimmick could last.
Everything else is trash though. There are no scripted events, absolutely no trainers (imagine playing Baldur's Gate with no scripted events, just random kobolds spawning), it's crashing left-and-right, bugs and glitches everywhere. Defnitely do not play, do not buy.

twillight 28-10-2023 07:01 PM

Torchlight II
 
Finaly a worthy Diablo 2 clone.
Well, the aesthetics are more like World of Warcraft, or whatever, so more modern, I don't mind that, it's a mostly random generated maps, mountain of monsters and loot. Just what I was after. Suck it, Warhammer!

There are only 4 classes, but that's fine. The skill-system is a bit unusual, but you get used to it. Weird, that you can only have 2 active skills, which do NOT get to the numbered skillslots, which are mixed with consumable-slots. Those places can be filled with spells learnt from scrolls. Well, there are good passive skills anyway.

You also get a pet. While they offer nothing special, I'd uggest avoiding the jumping crab thing as it's movement is sub-par, the panda seems more passive than the others, and the dragon-chicken blends in with the enemy. The alpakka is great though. But your pick.
On the note: the pets seem invulnerable, so who knows what those statbuffs and resistances do to them from their equipment - those bonuses definitely not buff you. Maybe they come to play when they are transformed by eating fish.
You should do fishing, not because transforming the animals is so great, but because you might find equipment. Oh, to successfully fish, wait until the glow entirely fades away, leaving only the brown circle.

So, how are the classes?
The Engineer is Diablo's big hammer barbarian. Technicaly it could use other stuff (like cannons), but that option is clearly effective. The big advantage here is the healing bot. It is immortal like the pets, and sticks around until you sap map by teleporting. Just walking on the field will not banish it just because you entered an area with name.

The Berserker is another melee character. It gains healing by stealing health when hitting the enemy, so a bit more problematic. Also, whatever class you use, wear some +lot HP equipment, that'll help.
The mage is Diablo 2's mage. Distant spellcaster and whatnot. I think I saw a skill that might be able to heal or whatever, but definitely not its strong point. Note: its wands ARE ranged weapons themselves, though you probably will use skills with this one. Obstacles in the way, and elevation difference WILL be a problem though.
The Outcast, or whatever uses either two pistols (low range), or shotguns (they are devastating, at least during the early game). Something feels fishy though, as the third tab os skills are about glaives and such throwing weapons, which indicates this got a last minute redesign which was half-finished to avoid copyright claims - seems this was an amazon-clone.

Skill resets exists, but you can only re-do the last 3 points you spent (or would that completely remove that skill?), which gets more costly by progress.

I also have like no idea how to farm exp and gold in the game, as it seems the monsters do not respawn. Maybe they do if you perish?
I'd welcome a manual.

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

Beware, when you hit "sell all" on the pet's inventory (wether in the town at the shop, or sending the creature to sell your stuff, teleporting to twon is a rare occasion, and entirely unavailabhle when in a boss-arena), it sells EVERYTHING. Not just the tab you had open, but ALL tabs, meaning your fishes too to start with.

When you at the brink of going to Act 2 (meaning a new hub city), you'll be ca. lvl 23. So you can plan ahead. I'm trying to do a hardcore run on casual diff with a dual pistol outlander. It's not easy.

Btw, collecting sets while fun and possible, Ghastly and such low level stuff will become soon obsolate even if you manage to collect them, so keep that in mind.

Also, seems while the game was planned you only visit each area once, eventualy monsters in dungeons do respawn, probably for some memory-issue. They don't seem to scale in level though, but still. If you are out of ideas, especialy if you are doing hardcore, that's an option.
I was checking for more robot parts. I should also check if the guardians throw at you quest rewards. I'm not entirely sure about that one.

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

So, got to Act 3. What I think now?
Well, I have almost no idea about the story, but I wanned whacking monsters, and I do that. With hardcore tagged in, after playing what turned out like half of Act 1 with all 4 characters, Casual is the right difficulty to try that.
1HKO is a threat like in the genre, but the game is not obnoxcious like the Diablo-frnachise with it, so you learn what to do: hoard items with +HP on them, then add elemental resists and "armor" (seems the same as elemental resists, only for physical damage). Also rise your dmg to the roof as you can, but surviving is first for me.

Seems the pet COULD die, but it levelscales and whatnot, so that's not that big of a threat, and I bet it'd just respawn after the same time as goig to the town. There seems to be 2 permanent changes somewhat attractive: the spider and whatever, I guess ok to go for it on higher difficulty or something.

There are a ton of features to empty your stash, try those, eventualy in the town itself you'll get enchanters, socketers, mercs who destroy your item to get out the socketed stuff, or destroy the socketed stuff and preserve the item, or even make higher quality items, and the shops even sell set pieces occasionaly... I should figure out their refres rate maybe.
In act 3 they even sold a spell, and those are funky if you find the right ones, like healing. Healing is cool. Or summonning. Make your pet summon you an army of minions to help you out!
You'll need healing, ton of it, but for Casual the game is generous with potions, fortunately, because from the 2nd half of Act 2 you'll chuck them, the bosses starting to become ridiculously spongy, and hoard-spawner stuff become a thing, so crowd damage would be pretty welcomed... Btw, I don't find big badda cannons, so I'd skip that build no matter what. Twohanded melee seems ok though. No idea on mages stuff.
the game makes things more interresting from 2nd hald of act2 with traps and mechanics built into the floor, and the phase gates are always interresting gimmick to behold (only the first 3 is "defeat things fast").

Skill requirement goes through the roof, meaning you won't be able to pick a new skill level just because you gained a level, resulting in accumlating skill points, darn, whatever. The gear you find though will eventualy lead you to spend your statpoints, so there1s that, unlocking nice high level equipment to use is great (and necessary).

So, yeah, if you don't want innovation and hours upon hours cinematics, just hack&slashing monsters, this is seemingly perfect.


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


Note: do not entirely believe the level-requirement of dungeons. Like the nether-realm portals are always easy. There is a dungeon on the other hand filled with robots, and giant mechanical traps built into the floor, which is super hard. bosses which keep summonning infinite hordes are the thoughest, while giant strong but mostly solo bosses are way easier. For one of the dragons though, I think it was Vortex, the hard part is the "first statge", where hordes rush to you, and the dragon is not even targetable, but keeps on bombarding you with fire damage, which hits insane.
Coming to elemental damage, I'm playing on casual, and 3-4K HP is necessary, as well as 50-100 in all elemental resistances. You want poison resist 100 to manage the damage over time (you'll use potions to mitigate it), and 100 electric resists as when that type becomes an issue, it immediately hits hard. You can get away with only 50 cold resists though, and fire too until the late Act 3, where suddeny you'll crave for fire resists, I've put up 200 and still had to look for what I am doing. ON CASUAL DIFFICULTY.
Act 4 is just a single dungeon, very much like Diablo 1: one boss at the halfway point, and the final boss at the very end (this time some Cthulhu-monster). You'll reach this ca. lvl 50-51, not counting the Three Sisters quest, which I'd leave last, because you'll have to fight 3 boss monsters (not champion, but boss!) the same time, and that does not sound funny. I'd risk you might want to grind for levels, or advanace some in Act 4 before trying your luck there, especialy on higher difficulties.

twillight 05-02-2024 09:35 AM

Simon the Sorcerer
 
The overlay (buttons, control etc.) is clunky, but that was expected.
What was not expected is that every bloody screen has an unmutable, loud, bonoxious, repeated, never-ending NOISE coming from the environment, wether it is ducks, or the blacksmith hammering, or whatever.


I'm glad i only played a demo, and not bought it.

twillight 09-02-2024 01:26 PM

Various
 
- Cave Story's Secret Santa: this was some GoG-giveaway. It was actualy fun. Go around, do some puzzles, not too long, not too tireing, has some cheesy story.
- Dark Quest 2: DQ1 was pretty good, and 2 offered the right kind of improvements. The problem is, you can re-do quests, and I mean the tutorial, which'll give you multiple extra skillpoints. You should acculate these by progressing through the game, but this bug gives you infinite loop. Otherwise the whole thing is too simplistic to bother.
- The Darkside Detective + A fumble in the dark: technicaly speaking these are 2 separate games, but I'd suggest get them both for the full experience. The difficulty incirises slowly through the double pack accordingly. It's the begginer's adventure game so to say, so if you constantly get bogged down in adventure game puzzles, but still like the genre in idea, or you are just want to show adventure games to a youngling and still have them succeed eventualy, this is a strong recommendation.
- Keep in Mind (remastered): well, this is one of those garbage-bin trash games, and while this one at least has like no trouble with its controls, it's still one of those "who thought this crap will sell" games. Still worth checking its let1s play on u2b.
- Tonight we riot: incredibly basic, potentialy too hard, not enough apeal

twillight 24-02-2024 11:32 AM

Alternate DiMansion Diary
 
Ak ind of acventure-game, without point&click. You are just roaming around with an action-button.
Don't worry about the items, you'll use them automaticaly, there is no separate button for messing with them.


You can speed up your walking with SHIFT.


After you realise like the first puzzle, and that no, the only key you found until that does NOT unlock the sole locked there you found uuntil that, things will turn easy.
With amateur graphc, short runtime, and a very underwhelming ending, I think back in the days it would have been shareware.


PS: the mirror-labyrinth has no clue for it, despite the cakes-with-candles(?) could have been obvious markers. So it is old-school tedium, but a bit better than Zak McCraken, as you get plenty of visual clues for mapping the place.
To not waste more time than you have to: there's only 1 item in there, don't look for more.

twillight 24-02-2024 12:58 PM

Elvira 1-2
 
Oh, man.
First: despite its age and old-style clunky interface, this WOULD be an acceptable game to complete.
Two things stands in its way:


One: you start without a hub, no access to Elvira and her spellcrafting. Genious. Also no map. Ridiculous. Yu have no idea where to go at the start, and every junction there is an enemy, and no sign where you'll find the hub you desperately need.


Two: this game works on consumables. I always have to ask since Maniac Mansion: WHY? At least make them respawn!
If you have mana, or whatever, you should be able to refill it whenever the player wants it. Either by standing around (boring), or going back to the hub (tp pls), or the bare minimum of respawning consumables.
Sure, you can have limited consumables if this is a survival-game, but then the player must have a very good idea what they are doing. Here you do not.
And this is not Maniac Mansion, which worked on very limited number of rooms.


You could probably beat it eventualy, but I feel things would just fall back to save-scumming, and I don't rly see the replay value.

twillight 24-02-2024 02:13 PM

Hell Pie (demo)
 
Some kinda superisingly generic looking 3D platformer, where you direct the camera with your mouse, what is probably not the worst idea I've seen, but definitely not a common thing I've encountered. If you are fine with that, try it, though I have to also warn you, this somehow wants as much memory as a warhammer-game, aka. a lot. You'll be able to downgrade the graphic from "epic" level after half an hour strougle with the lag, but still.

I thought this'll be something like Little Divil, but as told, the demo at least is suprisingly bland.

twillight 24-02-2024 02:39 PM

2 games for the hardcore: Butcher, and Sunblaze
 
Butcher is a 2D-platformer Doom clone. Sounds weird? Whatever. The "Normal" fiddiculty is "hard mode", and for a reason. This game is for hardcore jumping-around enemies and giant chainsaws.
It reminds me of a flashgame, what had much better graphic, and less of this modern arena-shooter feeling, but whatever.
There is an "easy" mode, what substantialy buffs the player, but the whole design of it is totaly disheartening, so if you are not "hardcore" from the start, you don't want to play this through, because the game successfully ridicules you on such level it would just feel shameful.


Sunblaze is ... Well, cutsy-looking 2D plaformer. The problem is, it starts hard, and has more level just in "Chapter 1" than your regular platformer in its entire length. During which nothing happens, so I get the feeling like for Atomix: sure, I see I'm progressing, but this is a marathon, while I just wanna have fun.
And I don't even know where the save function is.
And there are way not enough stroy-chit-chat happenning.
If you are good in these Hollow Knight randomised survival modern stuff, you'll likely like this, as it's not even roguelike randomized level but progressing through a fixed set of settings, but I got bored/tired after what was in a let's play 5 minutes, and that was only halfway of "chapter 1", what is supposed to be the tutorial.
If I had nothing else, or there'd be a pretty good reward waiting, I'd maybe attempt a playthrough, but this way I'm dropping out.

twillight 24-02-2024 04:07 PM

Alder's Blood prologue
 
Alder's Blood is some Darkest Dungeon knockoff, some high-mortality roguelike high-stratfluctuation thing I just never got used to.


The Prologue, which is like a demo-chapter is a 1 character fixed story, probabléy mainly teaching the mechanics of a hunt itself, or stealthing, or whatever.
Problem is, the whole thing falls back to try-until-succeed, because despite you trying your best doing what the game/tutorial tells you to do, the game will screw you over and over and over with hidden enemies, unexpected mechanics, so the whole thing is just irritating.


No wonder I stopped claiming GoG's giveaways. You are better off paying for something you maybe will like than picking up these "lucky bags", which 99% turn out not worth your investment.

twillight 24-02-2024 05:21 PM

Lovecraft's Untold Stories
 
This says on its page is a rogue-like, but it surprisingly lacks enemies.
What it also lacks, as usual, to tell what equipment is worth carrying around. So if you seriously want to bother, find a guide or something, because eventualy, you'll run out of equipment.


90% of the rooms for me were empty on the first floor (or what), found no new character.
The special moves make the controls a problem, or at least will on the later stages, because I just shotgunned everything not really bothering.


That the first floor's boss was Cthulhu itels was a letdown.


The game has some nasty trick, namely: the spikes in the floor which make you bleeding make walking around the map a hassle.
The boss-room started in a very narrow corridor for me, so it could do some cheap potshot on me.
Lastly, there was a room with enemies, so instant instinct made me shoot. Well, in the damage area was an explosive barrel that killed me. I had an ankh to not loose my game, but that's a rare thing, and either way, it's a rogue-like, so you should know about this.


Mys problem is, it's not very interresting. As it is a rogue-like the lore-pieces are like Binding of Isaac: worth nothing; and the enemies being scarce does not help either.


So I say the game is mid. If you know what items will be needed to collect, and are ready to sink in your time, it's not a bad experience, I just can play something more exciting.

twillight 24-02-2024 09:24 PM

Powers in the basement
 
I thought this will be a short, flimsy free, nostalgiabait adventure-game.
How I was mistaken.


For the like half of the game it was fine. I could solve things with a bit of trial and error, though I suspected the game is trolling me in one puzzle, so despite things being logical it was suspicious the dev are just trolling, but I could pass it for 1 such puzzle, ok? I mean finding woof for making fire with magnifying glass in the only place it even hints the possibility, making everything prepared, just not need the firewood there at all in the end - a simple bit of semi-obvious trolling, right?


Then there was that repeated-action puzzle, and that part where you have to dismantle your ingenious crafted device - now that's some Sierra-level crap.


But what I'll never forgive, is the animal-food ingerdient measuring.
The labels on the sacks? Irrelevant. The label at the hamster-wheel? Irrelevant. Recipes in the cooking-books? Irrelevant. As far as I can tell, you just have to pull the numbers out of your arse.


F this game.

twillight 24-02-2024 10:14 PM

The Killing Game Show
 
This was an oldschool walk around shooter for Amiga, Sega Genesis and such.
So I thought, a simple game from simpler times, what can go wrong.
Well, what COULD go wrong is: the lack of direction where you are supposed to be heading.


You see, the levels have a time-limit by some rising - obviously lethal - waterlevel. So you obviously try to go up.


But you can't just jump on the platforms above you, oh no.
Yiou need to find the spots that let you upward either by placing the platforms very close at level, or by some weird 90 degree angle platforms you just walk like it's nothing surprising.
The bad part is, many times you got like 5 screens in a direction, and the only way to go that way - is down!


So I ssume you should "learn the level", in what is a fast-paced envirnomnent, and that's where I say no.


Kontra, and Castlevania were obvious coin-eaters, but this - this is somehow even worse.

twillight 02-03-2024 01:37 PM

Galador
 
Poland made an adventure-game. Classic Point&Click style.
There is an action-selection bar, but it's not inconvenient, and that you only get 1-2 puzzles the same time, and are limited to 9 items by design (meaning you simply can't get more, so your inventory won't be flooded with useless red herrings) is an advantage.
Otherwise you clearly see they knew some western games, like Discworld, or Broken Sword and such.
Unfortunately they also knew Sierra's game-design, so you have all the hated tropes of adventure games: pixel-hunting, necessary to repeat actions without warning, quicktime events, moon-logic - they even manage to lead you in one quest, then leave you hang around with no clues that you must do this other puzzle to catch up with this so you can solve the dragon task...


But all in all, everything in this game is familiar adventure game design, so I rate it 4 out of 5, with a warning.


PS: it's an annoying feture that your inventory pops up if you bring the cursor to the top of the screen. And yes, that's how you access it.


PPS: I waited 20+ years to play this game, and I like the world, the style, the humor - I just don't like the puzzles.

twillight 02-03-2024 06:42 PM

PC Games need standardisaion
 
Or I dunno, but this became absolutely ridiculous.
You start a game - and turns out it is incompatible with your hardware.
What even is this?
And no, you can NOT know this BEFORE trying the software out.
And I'm fed up with this.


Another issue is: where to get controllers for PC? I bought once, brought back to the shop the same day because it was incompatible. Not sure if with the system, or the particular game... I don't even care about it anymore. I refuse trying to play controller-based games, because controllers are inaccessible, and there is this compatibility-issue.
Seriously.
Not to mention, I'm small, and everything is designed for 6 feet / 180 cm males. It's a miracle if I find a controller that fits my hands.
So just no.
and what was that? The production-company said their controllers regularly break during transport to the shops selling them? Like a third of their controllers won't work because of their transportation to the shop? What are these made of? Nintendo Switch controllers?
I had enough of this nonsense.


One of the controller-based games I've just tried out was Steam World Dig 2 or whatever, it started the character going from left to right. For unexplained reasons a chasm opened, and now we are diggin down. Why? there's no explanation. Don't ask questions. Just consume product. And be excited for new product.
I'm fed up with this nonsense.

twillight 10-03-2024 11:28 PM

Adventure games - Discworld
 
I'm beating my backlog at a pretty good speed, and while doing it I decided I want to re-play some of the adventure-game titles along, as there are some new games I want to play which are adventure-games too, and I'll try to beat them without a walktrough.

So my first game was Discworld (1995), and it went not so good. I got stuck despite already played the game 2-3 times through 23 times despite my best efforts.
The reasons were pixelhunting, not trying enough random items, or just the game lacking any clues provided what I am supposed to do.

On the plus side this game has a pretty good pacing, cute graphic, good gumour, and does not want to literaly kill you.

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

Some of the titles I'll never revisit:
- Zak McKracken: even just the memory of the maze-puzzle makes me not even starting it.
- "classic Sierra Titles": eg. Leisure Suit Larry. I remember trying that one, and it was horrible experience. Branching pathes, one true path, nonsense scoring...
- any text-based adventure: Hitchehiker's Guide to the Galaxy with its Babel Fish Puzzle took my will ever touching anything like that ever again
- Maniac Mansion: sure, the character-based branching of the story is fun on paper, but in practice just annoyance. And especialy in its original for - without saving - has plenty of deathtraps built in, so big no from me.
- Tormentum, Dark Seed, and company: these are nonsense. I'm not interrested anymore. Very style over substance, and horrid gameplay.
- Deponia, Toonstruck, Full Throtle: these games are middle of the road execution with pretty frustrating puzzles. I just can't be bothered to touch them again, even WITH a walkthrough. Without that, they'd be nightmarish

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

There are a coule titles that get honourable mentions, because they can be played through without too much problem w/o a walkthrough even for the first time:
- Phamtasmagoria 2: this was an FMV-game, and eventualy, with some trial&error, you'll be able to pass it. Great stuff, plenty of spooky thing happenning.
- The Darkside Detecive + A Fumble in the Dark: these are in reality one game, one story. You start with very easy mini-adventures, and you progress pretty far tbh, but without the insanity-inducing adventure-game tropes ever killing your mood (because they don1t show up). Pretty cool experience. If you want someone to have feeling of success while playing adventure game, this is the perfect game for them. Seriously: if you only play 1 adventure game, pick these.
- Pikuniku: more of a platformer combined with adventure game storyline and mechanics, which is seemingly designed for 5-yearsers, but do rpovide challange for grownups even with its minigames mostly. I recently played it through, and fully recommend it, it's lighthearted fun, very refreshing.

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

the titles I plan on playing:

prisoner of ice

day of the tentacle

galador

broken sword 1-2

monkey island 1-5(-6?)

dscworld noir

the night of the rabbit

grim fandango

flight of the amazon queen

twillight 11-03-2024 01:15 PM

Prisoner of Ice
 
Pixelhunting during timed events in a game where the graphic does everything to hide the items from you.


And from certain events (finding the man in the box, finding the file of Parker) you expect more (like being able to read the file, report the body to someone).


There are also a couple of "try every item until succeed" puzzles, but given the limited number of items, it's ok.


Oh, and don't rely on the autosave. It is very obvious the game has this function, but it doesn't happen where you'd really want (meaning right before every quicktime event), so do manual saves.


I still like the atmosphere though. The music, the story, the cutscene graphics elevates this. Solid 4/5.

twillight 11-03-2024 08:08 PM

Day of the Tentacle
 
Not the hardest game per se, but shouldn't be your first either, because the puzzles, stuff to do and humour is a bit on the abstract side already.
I mean knifing the toy-clown? And that's not the only such thing to commit.


Then there are the "real knowledge tests". It's not Shadow of the Comet, which demands you knowing in real life how to develop photos with chemicals in a lab - because the game is not telling you that. No idea why they did not include a book about photography in the library there...
Here you need to make vinnegar from wine by time-travel. Not the most obscure knowledge, but neither is everyday street-stuff.


Finaly i had problem with making Fred sign that bloody contract, because all the sudden the player is expected to go through a very specific line of conversation. Not the depth of Galador, but c'mon!

twillight 12-03-2024 10:25 AM

Galador
 
Ugh. Quicktime events, pixel-hunt, quicktime-event-pixelhunt to the brim, missing clues, deliberately trollin the player not giving them the necessary clue to continue, or just utter random guessing (those 4-liners are a nightmare).


There's also a puzzle where you should use the key item/action not on the target you think - rmeinds me of Prisoners of Ice, tzhat one.


There's also a part where repeated same action is needed, Because Why Not.


There are also unnecessarily complicated puzzles, including inventory-puzzles.


So this is a hardcore game, not the shareware thing it looks like to be from its first location.
I still think this is far from the worst, but definitely the gatekeeper to hardcore adventure games.

twillight 13-03-2024 12:20 PM

Broken Sword 1
 
This game is front-loaded with difficulty. Logic puzzles, and all that. If you are not good solving the rubik's Cube, or that pesky "here is a jumble of symbols, here is the alphabet, go and solve this", you'll be toast.


But that aside, only a couple of puzzles are very challanging. A lot of times it helps you are confined to a certain area, so don't get confused.


I accidently solve the goat-puzzle by clicking the doorway by instinct, than clicking the only other thing on the screen, so dunno what to say about that, but we do get some other unfair puzzles, like the "find the Bible passages" puzzle where the letters do not allign verticaly so you don't look for it, and even when you do the puzzle breakes its own rules, and the double-coloumn all the sudden is not part of the puzzle anymore.
Also, the priest cleans the chalice literaly forever. And despite your character insists you should lok around INSIDE the church, you shouldn't.
But while inside, it took me forever to look through the statue's scroll, and I'm not sure what achueved that in the end.


The good thing is, the interavtive parts (items to pick up, elements to mess with) are all highlighted in an obvious way very much like Day of the Tentacles, and on top of it there's not even word-choice puzzle here, it either works or not.
Tbh, with oh-so-many conversations, this game is a bit boring even.


I'd rate it "easy" after you pass the "tutorial level" Darkside Detective. Easy for an adventure game I mean.
Seems to be rules of adventure games:
- talk with everyone about everything
- try everything on everything
- do it again if you ran out of options. Maybe something changed or an option got activated.
- there will be a puzzle with Unusual Mechanic. In every single adventuregame.
- there'll be also a strange goldberg-machine you have no reason to boggle down with, but is actualy mandatory. I mean what was that with the cat, the ring and the ball? It's so random!

twillight 13-03-2024 09:58 PM

Broken Sword 2
 
Oh, man. I had to describe this one with one word, it's tedious.
You rly don't get much more than the prvious, but the logiuc-puzzles are mostly missing, and replaced with tedious manual labour.


The game is shorter, but does not feel that much shorter, actualy it still feels longer than the first one.


And yes, you can get stuck on unreasonable puzzles. It's one thing when you stuck in a situation your character has no actual reason to bother with the place - thinking of the priest-hermit, but when it comes to getting into the museum while the goldberg-machine's parts are obvious (give fish to cat, use ball to crash don marker, steal plans, get in), the actual execution is nonsense. I don't think any human would come to that conclusion.
Even worse is when you walk into the jungle on Skull Island. The film-crew is horrendous, but not the worst part. Thought the "maze" will be that one, but nah, it's a straight line (and I even stack the reed into the hole! I'm proud). The problem is, there's no indicator when you achieve something, so the player constantly questions if should try more, or what.
Seriously, you put down the tesodolite, then for no appearant reason go back, fight the boar and put on the marker. Than use the teodolite when there's no indication that a new unique mechanique just got implemented to move the bugger around, then there's no indication a new pathway just got unlocked. WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE? This part is just pure bad design if you ask me.

twillight 15-03-2024 04:02 PM

The Secret of Monkey Island
 
Oh, pal.
Don't start with this one, although most of the conent is solveable with some experience. Even the occasional quicktime events.
I wonder if the troll would eat you though...


Anyway, there are some dialogue-options that'd warant some replayability, but on the other hand there are some points that can yout your adventure short.
Before that though, I will complain for the placement of the sword-trainer. I'd switch his location with Meathook, so the flow of the story does not get an abrupt halt.
Now the first real problem is getting that fish. The solution: repeated action.
Repeated action gets real horrible though with Monkey Island's monkey. 5 bananas for no reason. There's no marker that that's enough. No indication what to do with it now.
I could complain about the cannibals, but with some adventure-game instinct you'll realise you just have to try everything on them to get through with them, so I don't.
But I complain for the monkey.


Herman's cannon's location could also have had a better marker. Definitely in the Remastered version, I just played for the first time. Aside for the voices, it's inferior to the classic interface and graphic.

twillight 16-03-2024 02:17 PM

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
 
By time progressing, I grew kinda appreciativ to this game, though I'll probably never like it either.
But tbh the ending makes sense, especialy if you binged the two games, and the puzzles' difficulty is kinda perfect.
With a couple of exceptions.


the spit-contest is very hard to figure out with wind, and the drink being necessary component for the otherwise trivial event.
and the elevator at the end for some reason did not close the first time I tried it? I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for that.
come to think of it, the code to win prize on the fortune wheel is another thing i just brute-forve it via save-scamm every time.


Now the real problems are two:
- the monkey. Why any of that part of the puzzle happens is beyond me. Sure, it makes sense when you have the solution, but otherwise... Nonsense.
- and LeChuck's piece of clothing. Now THAT goes against everything adventure-game. There's just no way a player would not just pick up that coin and move on. That you are pressured with that random quicktime event is horrendous too. That room absolutely needed LeChuck only showing up there if you put the coin into the machine! And react to the bloody coin! I once threw the coin into the coke-maton during the brief pause after he enters the room, and that has no effect! I call BS.


PS: there's also a new adventure-game trope in this one which wasn't in the previous titles listed here: the scummbag protagonist. You deliberately have to do nasty things, to which only the killing the rubber clown in Day of the Tentacles come close if anything. Here you steal a blind man's glasses, and saw off a pegleg of a disabled person. Not even close to the Deponia-series, but still something you have to account for.
Darn, I hate deponia for it's protagonist's attitude to the world!

twillight 17-03-2024 09:04 AM

The Curse of Monkey Island (MI3)
 
You know, this is what I would consider adventure game standard should be.
Sure, the interface is pretty straightforward, very similar to Day of the Tentacles Remastered (but this one doesn't offer you the action you shall use), and the puzzles are far from easy, but that's what adventuregame-players wish for, right? Wonky, makes you think lateraly hard puzzles, but not to the point of moon-logic.
So making the guy chew on jawbreaker to make his gold tooth fall out, put it in a gum, inhale helium and thus make it flow through the window is a pretty good puzzle if you ask me. Not obvious for the normal mind, but you can figure out if you've played some adventure-games already I'd say.


And it has good graphic, a clever storyline, connections to the previous installments and so on.
I do wonder what would have been the original idea for MI3, but pretty much guaranteed it'd've been a financial bomb, unlike this one everybody adores.

twillight 18-03-2024 11:54 AM

Escape from Monkey Island (MI 4)
 
Oooh. I hate this one. I didn't remember how tedious this was. And hard. I remembered it felt empty, and was about lawyers, and paperwork, but all the combinations of this three factor just makes it insufferable.


And it gets worse by progress!
First there is such nonsense you have to win 3 times in a row AGAINST THE RANDOM to hire the navigator. Ok, brute force it with save-scamming.
Then there is the prohestetic shop, and its code-decyphering... Those always manage to be tedious. I'd just buy a puzzle-magazine if I would want that nonsense!
Than quicktime-events which require ultimate precision in a clunky controllled game take over, and finaly Monkey Kombat (yes, it is some Mortal Kombat reference). And it's not funny. Just pure tediousness. The tediousness start with the boulder-puzzle about the bronze hat. Just nah. Too much.


Btw, have to re-play the first game to figure out WTH was that with the Journey of the Sea Monkey. What dd the game say, who was the other guy with "Herman"? I don't remember everything. Which rmeinds me, Escape... is full of puzzles where the clues get only once, in a conversation, where there is no pause, and the clue is just some throwaway line.
It's nonsense. Too much. Watch a playthrough on youtube if you need to know what happens in this one, it just does not worth your energy. This game is an energy-vampire.

twillight 25-03-2024 10:20 PM

Grim Fandango
 
I knew from first hand experience this is not the game it was hyped to, still a disappointment.


For the first half of this thing the lack of a map is a real issue for the player, as they don't have the knowledge of their character, what stinks. The worse thing is, the game is trolling you, teasing with a solution, while executing another. Still, this part is survivable if you make some notes what your goals are.
Then comes the pixelhunting, quicktime events, and straight out BS. And the incosistent lore, like it's a big deal skellyies don't drown because no lungs - but then how are they smoking? This gets a real problem when you get in HL's casino, and the game straight out tells you, Manny won't change clothes, because the previous set stinks. Because you walked through the sewers this makes sense. What does NOT makes sense, that you have to go back to the sewers. And the new cloth somehow won't get stinky. My arse. This is just bad design.
For the puzzles the really bad designs start with opening the door to Meche. There is just no way anyone guessed it out without a walkthrough. And the puzzle-design rly gets worse from there. Puzzles for puzzles sake, Sierra-style. And that method killed Sierra when it because so obvious it hit everyone on the nose in Roberta Williams' Phantasmagoria. It was bad there, it is bad when Lucasarts did it too.


The whole story could have been a great animated movie. But as a game - it's annyoing, frustrating, disappointing, tedious, and overal not fun to play. I'm sorry, but that's how I feel about this mess.


Lastly: where are the people from this thing? Very Escape from Monkey Island syndrome.


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