Gamer707b wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2025 3:45 pmYea Shenmue is special. I played both games when they were new on the Dreamcast and was obsessed with them. I remember playing through the first game and just being in complete awe. I didn't want the game to ever finish. I had to get the Shenmue 2 PAL import to play on the Dreamcast when I find out Sega canceled the North American version. Never played anything like those two games when they came out. I don't think they're the kind of games that hold up in modern times though, but like you said, the atmosphere is still impressive. That's cool that you're getting some fun out of them.Lord British wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2025 5:52 pm Finally played through a Shenmue game, Shenmue 2. The QTE shit drove me nuts, but it was worth the trip if for no other reason than the sheer atmosphere of it. The whole thing felt like a dream/nightmare. It's some of the best color I've seen in a game even by today's standards and the music is really good too.
What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
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Lord British
- Posts: 505
- Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2018 12:22 pm
- Location: Chicago
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Afterburner 2 was the incentive lolGamer707b wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2025 3:54 pm Yea Shenmue is special. I played both games when they were new on the Dreamcast and was obsessed with them. I remember playing through the first game and just being in complete awe. I didn't want the game to ever finish. I had to get the Shenmue 2 PAL import to play on the Dreamcast when I find out Sega canceled the North American version. Never played anything like those two games when they came out. I don't think they're the kind of games that hold up in modern times though, but like you said, the atmosphere is still impressive. That's cool that you're getting some fun out of them.
I have a great version on the Saturn, but I like to get what I can on the PS4 if possible
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Starfighter
- Posts: 270
- Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 7:15 pm
- Location: Sweden
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
I'm currently going through the PS2 survival horror games I never ended up beating back then. I just cleared Forbidden Siren 1 & 2 and I'm now playing Project Zero 3 (I've been feeling really weird about only beating the first two, finally I'm rectifying this).
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m.sniffles.esq
- Posts: 1331
- Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2019 5:45 pm
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
I'm still kind of salty my figurines didn't carry over to Shenmue II PAL, I won't lie
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I decided to look at Avowed since I have Gamepass, and they make you install it (rather than being able to play on the cloud). They would often sorta hide the cloud option the first few days of something's release, but the is the first I've seen where they just straight up didn't have that option and made you install it.
It has me a little heated because I pay extra for that cloud shit! Besides, the HD on the XboxS is small as fuck!
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I decided to look at Avowed since I have Gamepass, and they make you install it (rather than being able to play on the cloud). They would often sorta hide the cloud option the first few days of something's release, but the is the first I've seen where they just straight up didn't have that option and made you install it.
It has me a little heated because I pay extra for that cloud shit! Besides, the HD on the XboxS is small as fuck!
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
I totally forgot about that. I thought they did carry over. Now that I think about it, I don't remember. Been too long. Not gonna lie though, talking to you folks about this, brings me back to a warm and fuzzy time.m.sniffles.esq wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2025 10:52 pm I'm still kind of salty my figurines didn't carry over to Shenmue II PAL, I won't lie
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I decided to look at Avowed since I have Gamepass, and they make you install it (rather than being able to play on the cloud). They would often sorta hide the cloud option the first few days of something's release, but the is the first I've seen where they just straight up didn't have that option and made you install it.
It has me a little heated because I pay extra for that cloud shit! Besides, the HD on the XboxS is small as fuck!
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m.sniffles.esq
- Posts: 1331
- Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2019 5:45 pm
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Perhaps people who played the PAL version of the original. But I played the US, and for whatever reason, the VMU files between US and PAL weren't compatible.I totally forgot about that. I thought they did carry over. Now that I think about it, I don't remember.
And of course, there was no way to transfer the save file to the eventual US Xbox version
I 'think' that one of the "backup" versions of Shenmue II has some kind of hack that let you transfer the VMU file, but if such a thing even exists, it did so long after I already accepted my figurines had vaporized.
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
So I picked up a cheapo mini PC (£180.00, Ryzen 5 with Vega 11, 16gb) with nothing more than the intention of revisiting Deus Ex, Thief 1&2, and setting up a few emulators. Deus Ex in particular, as my PC at the time was so old that playing it at a decent frame-rate was almost impossible, so much so that it was the heavily cut PS2 version I ended up loving and beating. Seeing that ran perfectly, I picked up Deus Ex: IW thinking I’d probably hit the limits with it, and found that also ran beautifully, so chanced grabbing a few old 360 faves for a song – Deus Ex: MD, FlatOut: UC, Split/Second etc, and was delighted to find I can run those on full settings without a hitch, GTA IV has a bit of stutter, but still higher res and frames. It’s pretty amazing how fast things move these days.
So this week I’ve done quite a bit of messing around, in between playing bits of:
FlatOut Ultimate Carnage
Still one of the best arcade racers of all-time IMO. Chunky handling, a great damage model, fantastic courses, hell, even the soundtrack is (mostly) great.
Thief 4
Now that time has passed, I can recognise it for what it is – a flawed, more linear and streamlined, but still enjoyable take on a fantastic series. There’s some brilliant level design, and it does the essentials very well indeed. Unfairly maligned at the time, by myself as well I assume, as I never bothered to finish it. The Alysum level was fantastic given that there really wasn’t that much going on in it, and now I’ve been offered the Basso jobs, the city is suddenly a lot more appealing to explore. PS5 load times help greatly on this one – it’s literally seconds to transition between areas, whereas I remember it being a long process on PS4.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Not quite as engrossing as DoS, but still a perfectly decent example of the genre, though the equipment and magic don’t seem half as integral in this one, I’ve barely bothered to Switch anything so far (just up to 4th painting).
GTA: Vice City – Next Gen Edition
Wow. The full original game, transferred into GTA IV’s engine, with all the lighting and physics improvements that entails, but with the original artwork and models. A quite amazing feat that makes a mockery of the Remaster, and again, runs pretty decently on this little thing.
As for what’s next, the queue is stupid big.
So this week I’ve done quite a bit of messing around, in between playing bits of:
FlatOut Ultimate Carnage
Still one of the best arcade racers of all-time IMO. Chunky handling, a great damage model, fantastic courses, hell, even the soundtrack is (mostly) great.
Thief 4
Now that time has passed, I can recognise it for what it is – a flawed, more linear and streamlined, but still enjoyable take on a fantastic series. There’s some brilliant level design, and it does the essentials very well indeed. Unfairly maligned at the time, by myself as well I assume, as I never bothered to finish it. The Alysum level was fantastic given that there really wasn’t that much going on in it, and now I’ve been offered the Basso jobs, the city is suddenly a lot more appealing to explore. PS5 load times help greatly on this one – it’s literally seconds to transition between areas, whereas I remember it being a long process on PS4.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Not quite as engrossing as DoS, but still a perfectly decent example of the genre, though the equipment and magic don’t seem half as integral in this one, I’ve barely bothered to Switch anything so far (just up to 4th painting).
GTA: Vice City – Next Gen Edition
Wow. The full original game, transferred into GTA IV’s engine, with all the lighting and physics improvements that entails, but with the original artwork and models. A quite amazing feat that makes a mockery of the Remaster, and again, runs pretty decently on this little thing.
As for what’s next, the queue is stupid big.
XBL & Switch: mjparker77 / PSN: BellyFullOfHell
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
MechWarrior 2
I was into DOS gaming in the late 80s/ early 90s and I loved Mech Warrior when it came out, in all it's EGA glory. There really wasn't anything else like it at all. The way that your Mechs got specific damage to parts and you could repair them, etc. And the simulation was amazing for the time.
MW2 so far is definitely a graphic update, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the controls. I purchased an old Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick because it really needs something with twist and throttle, plus a bunch of buttons. I have gotten the hang of where things are at this point, but I'm having an awful lot of difficulty with the jerkiness of the aiming controls. Specifically when you twist the torso or look up and down, the sensitivity is way too high. It's so twitchy that I can't finish the weapons training course, and haven't gone onto the main campaign yet.
I think this is going to come down to the way that DOSBox is handling the joystick input, because I can't find anything in the actual game that lets me set sensitivity. Hopefully I'll be able to sort it out, because I'm pretty excited to get my career going.
Re-Volt
I found a copy of this at a library charity shop on Thursday. It's a Windows 98 game, but when I got home, I just put it in my Win 10 machine, and it installed with no issues whatsoever and it plays fine. I was totally shocked. Very fun game and I can recommend it to anyone who likes novel racing sims. Only complaint is that driving on ice is basically impossible.
I was into DOS gaming in the late 80s/ early 90s and I loved Mech Warrior when it came out, in all it's EGA glory. There really wasn't anything else like it at all. The way that your Mechs got specific damage to parts and you could repair them, etc. And the simulation was amazing for the time.
MW2 so far is definitely a graphic update, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the controls. I purchased an old Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick because it really needs something with twist and throttle, plus a bunch of buttons. I have gotten the hang of where things are at this point, but I'm having an awful lot of difficulty with the jerkiness of the aiming controls. Specifically when you twist the torso or look up and down, the sensitivity is way too high. It's so twitchy that I can't finish the weapons training course, and haven't gone onto the main campaign yet.
I think this is going to come down to the way that DOSBox is handling the joystick input, because I can't find anything in the actual game that lets me set sensitivity. Hopefully I'll be able to sort it out, because I'm pretty excited to get my career going.
Re-Volt
I found a copy of this at a library charity shop on Thursday. It's a Windows 98 game, but when I got home, I just put it in my Win 10 machine, and it installed with no issues whatsoever and it plays fine. I was totally shocked. Very fun game and I can recommend it to anyone who likes novel racing sims. Only complaint is that driving on ice is basically impossible.
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
FWIW there is a source port of this game that will let you run it on multiple platforms and at higher resolution, etc.: https://rvgl.org/vol.2 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 22, 2025 4:11 pm Re-Volt
I found a copy of this at a library charity shop on Thursday. It's a Windows 98 game, but when I got home, I just put it in my Win 10 machine, and it installed with no issues whatsoever and it plays fine. I was totally shocked. Very fun game and I can recommend it to anyone who likes novel racing sims. Only complaint is that driving on ice is basically impossible.

We here shall not rest until we have made a drawing-room of your shaft, and if you do not all finally go down to your doom in patent-leather shoes, then you shall not go at all.
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Good to know, although it's running perfectly on Windows 10 with absolutely no intervention. The original version has an in-game resolution of 1920x1200, which is what my current main monitor does.it290 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2025 5:08 pm FWIW there is a source port of this game that will let you run it on multiple platforms and at higher resolution, etc.: https://rvgl.org/
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TransatlanticFoe
- Posts: 1866
- Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 11:06 pm
- Location: UK
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
All these games in my backlog and here I am starting another XCOM 2 playthrough 
Finished up Dragon Age: The Veilguard last week, and had a great time with it - except for one boss fight which was total bullshit. You're put in a small arena with lots of terrain in the way making it hard to dodge, without any of your companions, surrounded by constantly respawning enemies, while the boss bombards you with projectiles.
But the rest of the game? Great fun! Reminded me of Kingdoms of Amalur - bright colours, semi-cartoon presentation, flexible as fuck character speccing, combat a mix of melee/ranged/dodge. Missed the stealth takedowns but headshots made up for it - got a unique bow early on and basically built my character around sniping and bleed damage. Pick off a hard target, wound a bunch of regulars, back off and repeat - devastating.
I can see how the dialogue rubbed people up the wrong way, I don't mind having a non-serious tone (this is a series that had Alastair, Anders and Varric after all) but the modern language is a bit detracting and some of the emotional beats were hamfisted. Nevertheless I mostly enjoyed the companions, though I found Harding and Lucanis, especially given he's possessed mafia hitman, a bit dull. It does suffer a bit from Mass Effect 2-itis, where you're supposed to be stopping a world-ending threat but not before you fanny about making friends and helping them resolve their issues. They do at least link into the main storyline here... most of the time.
Shame EA set it up to fail with unrealistic sales targets, a lack of hype and a bit of dumb culture wars review-bombing. Hard to get too excited for the new Mass Effect now, EA are going to go all in on live service because they're convinced stripping that out is why Veilguard didn't hit its targets

Finished up Dragon Age: The Veilguard last week, and had a great time with it - except for one boss fight which was total bullshit. You're put in a small arena with lots of terrain in the way making it hard to dodge, without any of your companions, surrounded by constantly respawning enemies, while the boss bombards you with projectiles.
But the rest of the game? Great fun! Reminded me of Kingdoms of Amalur - bright colours, semi-cartoon presentation, flexible as fuck character speccing, combat a mix of melee/ranged/dodge. Missed the stealth takedowns but headshots made up for it - got a unique bow early on and basically built my character around sniping and bleed damage. Pick off a hard target, wound a bunch of regulars, back off and repeat - devastating.
I can see how the dialogue rubbed people up the wrong way, I don't mind having a non-serious tone (this is a series that had Alastair, Anders and Varric after all) but the modern language is a bit detracting and some of the emotional beats were hamfisted. Nevertheless I mostly enjoyed the companions, though I found Harding and Lucanis, especially given he's possessed mafia hitman, a bit dull. It does suffer a bit from Mass Effect 2-itis, where you're supposed to be stopping a world-ending threat but not before you fanny about making friends and helping them resolve their issues. They do at least link into the main storyline here... most of the time.
Shame EA set it up to fail with unrealistic sales targets, a lack of hype and a bit of dumb culture wars review-bombing. Hard to get too excited for the new Mass Effect now, EA are going to go all in on live service because they're convinced stripping that out is why Veilguard didn't hit its targets

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To Far Away Times
- Posts: 2060
- Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 12:42 am
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
TransatlanticFoe wrote: ↑Wed Feb 26, 2025 9:49 pm Finished up Dragon Age: The Veilguard last week, and had a great time with it - except for one boss fight which was total bullshit. You're put in a small arena with lots of terrain in the way making it hard to dodge, without any of your companions, surrounded by constantly respawning enemies, while the boss bombards you with projectiles.
But the rest of the game? Great fun! Reminded me of Kingdoms of Amalur - bright colours, semi-cartoon presentation, flexible as fuck character speccing, combat a mix of melee/ranged/dodge. Missed the stealth takedowns but headshots made up for it - got a unique bow early on and basically built my character around sniping and bleed damage. Pick off a hard target, wound a bunch of regulars, back off and repeat - devastating.
I can see how the dialogue rubbed people up the wrong way, I don't mind having a non-serious tone (this is a series that had Alastair, Anders and Varric after all) but the modern language is a bit detracting and some of the emotional beats were hamfisted.
Veilguard is game that has it's priorities all wrong, imo.
I'd play a Bioware game with bad gameplay if the writing is great. I mean, that's what Dragon Age: Origins is and everyone loves that game. But I wouldn't trade better game play for okay writing. That's a recipe for a game with no special sauce. That's just Assassin's Creed or whatever AAA game is popular at the moment.
The modern, quippy and sarcastic dialog irked me in Veilguard. I want high fantasy, with wizards, and dragons and shit. Instead we got Marvel with chain mail.
The game is so by the numbers and designed by committee that it has zero edge. It's like they've tried to take the artistic merit out in favor of mass market appeal. It's the Nickleback to Dragon Age: Origin's Nirvana.
I thought it was decent, but the game should have been so much more. And it really comes down to poor direction while losing it's own identity.
---
Speaking of Bioware...
I finished up Mass Effect 3 last night.
I enjoyed this one. I know the ending was much maligned for it's brevity and lack of choices, but I liked it and the sequence that leads up to it. Overall, there's less choice and the writing isn't as good as Mass Effect 2, but I thought of the whole game as a 30 hour ending tying up the loose ends from the previous games, so it didn't really feel rushed to me.
My favorite moment of the game was a fucking hilarious dialog with Grunt telling his side of the story regarding an escape from the hospital.
After having a relatively successful suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, losing only one companion, Mass Effect 3 ended up being a bloodbath, lol. I ended up losing a bunch of my favorite characters. Apparently, all of them can be saved if you make the right choices. Some of those choices even come from prior games!

Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
I don't think Bioware are capable of making a game with even decent writing. They have been trying for decades now, and it's always the same quippy jank.To Far Away Times wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 3:12 am I'd play a Bioware game with bad gameplay if the writing is great.
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
There is also that Sonic RPG that Biowaste made for DS that has interesting music.
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
I very much enjoyed the first Baldur's Gate game, and I also KOTOR. I guess I can't really attest to the quality of the writing in KOTOR, it having been now almost 25 years ago, but I definitely had a lot of fun playing it, and I did honestly think the writing was fun and good in BG1. It had a feeling very close to playing an actually TTRPG to me.
Mass Effect was garbage though. I had some fun running around in the game and exploring the levels, but I never got into the story of the game at all, and it really pissed me off that you have to play the game in a very specific way to get the good ending because how the hell can you know that on your first playthrough, and who would be masochistic enough to play it a second time?
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Starfighter
- Posts: 270
- Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 7:15 pm
- Location: Sweden
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Me and my girlfriend started playing Stardew Valley this week for the first time and it's stressing me out. The days are shorter than my attention span.
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Daytime Waitress
- Posts: 232
- Joined: Fri May 17, 2024 12:07 pm
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Easier said than done, but try not to stress too much about it.Starfighter wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 6:30 pm Me and my girlfriend started playing Stardew Valley this week for the first time and it's stressing me out. The days are shorter than my attention span.
One of the (many) things that SDV does oh so very well is coalescing around the player's own approach on any given run.
If you want to coast on vibes and just get to know the townsfolk, you're not going to be financially beaten down too much.
If you want to treat it as Time Management Simulator 20XX and CAPITALISM, HO! your way to 100% completion, you won't necessarily lose your entire virtual social life.
And in truth most players will probably tend towards the middle of those two extremes.
But I understand where you're coming from: when you initially start, clearing the land, tilling the soil, and making livestock or crop investments with your meagre income, sweating on every dollar and minute of the day, it can be tough to see - to comprehend, even - anything less stressful. And yet as you progress and your funds grow, you're gonna have more to do more - and you'll find so many time management shortcuts that you will eventually be pissing away entire evenings down the pub!
Unless the person you're playing co-op with has a diametrically opposed playstyle, in which case you're shit out of luck lmao.
Coordination and communication are massive in this one: even things as simple as deciding what you're gonna do before bedtime each night can make a big difference in how much you accomplish the next morning and thus the whole day.
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Correct opinion discovered!vol.2 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 4:10 pmI very much enjoyed the first Baldur's Gate game, and I also KOTOR. I guess I can't really attest to the quality of the writing in KOTOR, it having been now almost 25 years ago, but I definitely had a lot of fun playing it, and I did honestly think the writing was fun and good in BG1. It had a feeling very close to playing an actually TTRPG to me.
Yes, the early Bioware games were indeed fun. Icewind Dale is pretty primitive in structure but it's also worth a play if you enjoyed the first BG. You can make a full custom party in Icewind Dale and go on a series of linear dungeon dives. It's fun!
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Starfighter
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- Location: Sweden
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Exactly! We have decided to take the approach "let it take years and years, no worries" but early on it really does what it can to make it feel like we're constantly missing deadlines. Wanted to talk to Robin? She's having a day off, sorry. Oh, walking to the blacksmith instead? Sorry, you just missed opening hours. Okay so down the mines you go, eh? Well it's time to go to bed so stop that and hurry back home. I think these things will be more effortless when the town's schedules are second nature to the player, but in the beginning (we're still on year one on our first ever game) it's really scattered.Daytime Waitress wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 2:17 amBut I understand where you're coming from: when you initially start, clearing the land, tilling the soil, and making livestock or crop investments with your meagre income, sweating on every dollar and minute of the day, it can be tough to see - to comprehend, even - anything less stressful.
Perhaps, but an entire evening is ~5 minutes and time doesn't pause during dialogue in multiplayer so the regular visit at the pub usually involves running up to the nearest NPC, exhaust the dialogue as fast as possible, forgetting everything they just said because we're in a hurry, giving someone a gift they don't appreciate and run home, sometimes falling asleep in the corn field waking up the next day with 1000g less... It's uncanny how similar to real life this game is.Daytime Waitress wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 2:17 amAnd yet as you progress and your funds grow, you're gonna have more to do more - and you'll find so many time management shortcuts that you will eventually be pissing away entire evenings down the pub!

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Daytime Waitress
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Yeah, it's just like any other kind of system mastery - you'll get a feel for things the longer you play.Starfighter wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 10:47 pm I think these things will be more effortless when the town's schedules are second nature to the player, but in the beginning (we're still on year one on our first ever game) it's really scattered.
Townsfolk likes and dislikes are definitely a big part of that, and I'd recommend just feeling it out and avoiding the wiki on the first run through.
Store opening times are another, smaller aspect - but even after a couple of years you absolutely will have times where you head out and just plain forget that that fat sow Marnie doesn't open the godsdamned feedstore on Xdays and you just pissed a half hour away waddling ALL THE WAY down there

I dunno - the time management in SDV always just felt so much less punitive than in Harvest Moon Back to Nature (which was the last in the "genre" I played back in the early-2000's) and there were so many other little quality of life updates that I could always roll with the inconveniences - definitely less instances of "one errant button press irreparably trashing an expensive item" here, anyway.
Do hope this isn't coming off as me telling a depressed man to just be happy - the game puts a tonne of little clocks on everything you do and it is stressful.
I just enjoy the game a bunch and hoped you'd get the same amount of enjoyment out of it, and the nearest I could get was to let you know that it ain't all stress all the time

Spoiler
Just most of the time.
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Seems like I can only easily buy the Special Edition at this point. It's getting sort of mixed opinions, some people think they left out some important stuff from the original game.
I guess I don't care too much about that, and it's running on the BG2 engine which is almost indistinguishably old to me compared to the BG1 engine anyway, so the graphic update probably won't bother me.
What do you think about it?
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
The engine change totally fucks up the game balance of BG1EE and IWDEE. That may or may not be a dealbreaker, just be aware that it's really not the same game as the original. If you buy the EEs through GOG you get the original versions as well.
I don't know of anything significant cut from IWDEE. More importantly it doesn't have any Beamdog original content added to it, which is an incontrovertible positive.
I don't know of anything significant cut from IWDEE. More importantly it doesn't have any Beamdog original content added to it, which is an incontrovertible positive.
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Yep. Just keep in mind that Lethe is right when they say all the Enhanced Edition games are running on the BG2 engine. Classes, races, weapons... Everything is BG2 Engine. Icewind Dale does have some unique spells that are not in BG1 and BG2 EE. There is a mod that adds them to BGEE called Icewind Daleification IIRC.Lethe wrote: ↑Sun Mar 09, 2025 8:45 am The engine change totally fucks up the game balance of BG1EE and IWDEE. That may or may not be a dealbreaker, just be aware that it's really not the same game as the original. If you buy the EEs through GOG you get the original versions as well.
I don't know of anything significant cut from IWDEE. More importantly it doesn't have any Beamdog original content added to it, which is an incontrovertible positive.
Icewind Dale encounter and dungeon design is somewhat different from BG. I was messing around in Icewind Dale EE just a couple days ago and noticed how much more oppressive and overwhelming enemy packs could get.
Beamdog's Original Content Do Not Steal is complete bilge, as you say. Like you, I don't know of any Beamdog content that was added for the EE. EE has the Heart of Winter expansion IIRC but that's an older DLC... Again, I think. I'm not an expert on Icewind Dale like I am BG1 and 2 EE.
Dominance +5
After a long-standing intent, I pulled the trigger on...

(a.k.a. The weird russian bug car game.)
Gameplay Trailer
Tonal Trailer
If you're into weird old PC titles that present a completely off-the-wall concept and execute it earnestly, this is the stuff
how weird, you ask?
Gameplay-wise, it's a halfway house between top-down racer / car combat game and a classical russian misery simulator - a series of open-ended world maps, each with their own rules and ecosystem, various independent agents with the same capabilities as the player, an economy to grasp and ultimately manipulate, and quest-giving NPCs who (for the most part) treat you like dirt.
Here's a brief example of a patched-and-enhanced version (the 3dgame branch on steam) which runs at 60FPS (up from 20,) renders its voxel world in full 3D (as opposed to flat perspective trickery,) and has all of the once-expensive terrain deformation / persistent world features enabled, as well as an enhanced model pack available via modding.
Returning to the core loop for further example, the first world's major seasonal objective: The 'Eleection' (or 'Eleerection' depending on your choice of localization
) involves receiving a gribbly MacGuffin from the northernmost city of Incubator, and racing it wildly down to Podish - the southernmost enclave - while attempting to avoid the rolling Looney Tunes death ball that emerges when several competing vangers share an objective.
If familiar with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and its variants, or other simulationist games, you'll be relatively at home - take jobs to earn resources and improve your reputation, root out secret stashes, claw your way up an equipment ladder, and gradually become a dominant force within each environment after figuring out its subtleties.
Though here, there's an interesting structure at play; the early game 'poverty phase' is about tentatively exploring a hostile world that can and will fuck with you incessantly, teaching you the rules of each biome via object lesson.
The mid-game comes once you have your head above water, opening up higher-stakes tasks and encouraging the player to further dig in their foothold and establish inter-world trade routes - but be tentative, as losing it all by rushing ahead is easier than you might think!
Finally, the end-game delivers on the hanging carrot of the game's mystery, tasking the player with striking out to hazardous secret worlds, collecting strange artefacts with stranger game-changing powers, and ultimately figuring out what the sinister Boullion of Spawn is all about.
On the whole, I thoroughly recommend it. Chances are it's not for everyone, as it's super weird, possessed of moderate Slav Jank, and has a middling amount of grind while learning the game.
Indeed, with a bit of secret systemic knowledge and fixed-spawn RNG luck, one can even achieve KYUKYOKU VANGER status before the end of the first in-game day 
So it's very rewarding, an excellent time
cracking arrange soundtrack and music videos, too!

(a.k.a. The weird russian bug car game.)
Gameplay Trailer
Tonal Trailer
If you're into weird old PC titles that present a completely off-the-wall concept and execute it earnestly, this is the stuff

Breaching existential philosophy within the first 10 minutes kind of weird.

Here's a brief example of a patched-and-enhanced version (the 3dgame branch on steam) which runs at 60FPS (up from 20,) renders its voxel world in full 3D (as opposed to flat perspective trickery,) and has all of the once-expensive terrain deformation / persistent world features enabled, as well as an enhanced model pack available via modding.
Returning to the core loop for further example, the first world's major seasonal objective: The 'Eleection' (or 'Eleerection' depending on your choice of localization


There's no time to explain. Take this nasty thing and GO!

Though here, there's an interesting structure at play; the early game 'poverty phase' is about tentatively exploring a hostile world that can and will fuck with you incessantly, teaching you the rules of each biome via object lesson.
The mid-game comes once you have your head above water, opening up higher-stakes tasks and encouraging the player to further dig in their foothold and establish inter-world trade routes - but be tentative, as losing it all by rushing ahead is easier than you might think!
Spoiler
Upon the first visit to the second and third major worlds, talking to most NPCs will result in a stripping of the player's assets before they can enter the new economy, leaving them with a godawful little buggy and the smallest stipend of cash.
This can be quite the humiliating kick in the nuts if you've invested enough time to upgrade your mechos into a heavily-armed cargo hauler!
However, it can be avoided with canny play - stick around the previous world for a while instead of rushing straight in, and the inhabitants might just tell you how to avoid it
as such, I consider it a bold piece of design, rather than outright fuckery.
This can be quite the humiliating kick in the nuts if you've invested enough time to upgrade your mechos into a heavily-armed cargo hauler!
However, it can be avoided with canny play - stick around the previous world for a while instead of rushing straight in, and the inhabitants might just tell you how to avoid it

Did I mention this is a post-post-humanity game?

On the other hand, a pushy player can counterstop the money system within a couple of hours.
Certain stashes throughout the world are gated on the player's Luck stat, and contain special grenade-like weapons that can either paralyze, shrink, or take over a rival mechos.
Usually you have to grind finicky quests to increase luck, but a certain item can be excavated (as in literally dug out with the mouse pointer) from the dialogue interface in Podish - the escave where you begin the game. It appears randomly, but can be farmed by either restart-scumming, or repeatedly leaving and re-entering.
When held, this item grants a +50 Luck bonus - just enough to open the special stashes. Coincidentally, it also angers the resident of the escave, causing him to dispatch a pair of dangerous hunter-killer vangers to chase you down and retrieve it.
So, you swipe the item, beeline for the secret stashes and hope one of them spawns an Incarnator; this is the grenade that allows you to steal a mechos. Equip it, turn around, and toss it at one of the hunter-killers. Presto - you just traded up to the most expensive regular mechos in the game.
Make sure to kill your old vehicle and retrieve the +50 Luck item, then return to Podish, hand it back to repair your friendship with Leepky (or don't, he's a dick) then buy back the Oxidize Monk starter mechos. Presto, some 140000 in profit, and the incarnator is still in your inventory, so you can repeat the process at will and establish a shockingly effective one-man grand theft auto ring.
What's more, the questgivers will immediately recognize your heaving wealth, and fast-track you to the second world posthaste
You might even be able to skip straight to endgame this way, if you know how to avoid getting reset.
Usually you have to grind finicky quests to increase luck, but a certain item can be excavated (as in literally dug out with the mouse pointer) from the dialogue interface in Podish - the escave where you begin the game. It appears randomly, but can be farmed by either restart-scumming, or repeatedly leaving and re-entering.
When held, this item grants a +50 Luck bonus - just enough to open the special stashes. Coincidentally, it also angers the resident of the escave, causing him to dispatch a pair of dangerous hunter-killer vangers to chase you down and retrieve it.
So, you swipe the item, beeline for the secret stashes and hope one of them spawns an Incarnator; this is the grenade that allows you to steal a mechos. Equip it, turn around, and toss it at one of the hunter-killers. Presto - you just traded up to the most expensive regular mechos in the game.
Make sure to kill your old vehicle and retrieve the +50 Luck item, then return to Podish, hand it back to repair your friendship with Leepky (or don't, he's a dick) then buy back the Oxidize Monk starter mechos. Presto, some 140000 in profit, and the incarnator is still in your inventory, so you can repeat the process at will and establish a shockingly effective one-man grand theft auto ring.
What's more, the questgivers will immediately recognize your heaving wealth, and fast-track you to the second world posthaste

You might even be able to skip straight to endgame this way, if you know how to avoid getting reset.

So it's very rewarding, an excellent time

-
Blackfielding
- Posts: 44
- Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:15 pm
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
I recently replayed Gears 2 and Road to Ruin and I agree. It tried to do some interesting things with semi-stealth segments but I feel it was a bit too repetitive and didn't really fit with the tone of what happened storywise prior to that segment. So I can understand why they decided to cut it. I haven't played Aftermath (and Judgment in general), but planning to catch up later this year.Honorable warriors, sharpen your blades for crypto casino glory! Choose games with noble RTP—baccarat at 98.9% is a katana slicing the house edge to ribbons. Hone your skills; betting banker wins 45.8% of clashes. Bonuses are your sacred scrolls—some dojos offer 300% deposit buffs to fuel your campaign. Visit https://mgacasino.ltd for a wise sensei’s guide to prime rewards—it’s a lantern on the path to riches! Wager with discipline, 2% of your war chest per strike, to endure any battle. Crash games test your spirit—cash out at 1.8x for a 55% victory rate, as the ancestors whisper. With focus and a warrior’s heart, your crypto hoard will rise like cherry blossoms in spring! Bow to fortune, then charge forth, for every spin is a duel won with honor. May your Bitcoin multiply like stars over Mount Fuji, noble samurai—victory awaits in the dojo of chance!
Last edited by Blackfielding on Wed Apr 02, 2025 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Dominance +5
Lander wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 11:39 amIndeed, with a bit of secret systemic knowledge and fixed-spawn RNG luck, one can even achieve KYUKYOKU VANGER status before the end of the first in-game day

It's the mower with firepower never seen before!

光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Spent the day playing Xenoblade X.
This will certainly be my last day playing it.
This will certainly be my last day playing it.
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Daytime Waitress
- Posts: 232
- Joined: Fri May 17, 2024 12:07 pm
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
Is that a "I can't extract any more from this" kind of last day, or a "done with its shit" last day?
As for me, I recently came into possession of a Bloodborne console (which can apparently be used for other things?).
Swagger in with some kind of Elden Ring and Dark Souls experience, but promptly get my sculpted Gothic-Victorian arsecheeks handed to me.
Scrounging for heals, weapon at breaking point because I'm facetanking Mega Wendigo like a chud.
Pack in the threaded cane playthrough and restart with the cleavah.
Beastie boy down within fifteen minutes.
Amazing what confidence from horizontal attacks and sheer fucking indignation can achieve.
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
One of hard action's great friends to the end, the auld chopper.Daytime Waitress wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 9:40 amAmazing what confidence from horizontal attacks and sheer fucking indignation can achieve.



Last edited by BIL on Mon Mar 24, 2025 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?
That's the stuffDaytime Waitress wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 9:40 am Pack in the threaded cane playthrough and restart with the cleavah.
Beastie boy down within fifteen minutes.
Amazing what confidence from horizontal attacks and sheer fucking indignation can achieve.

Though perhaps hold on upgrading the saw until you've rummaged around a bit. There are all sorts of interesting things lying around in Yharny
