Tomi on 27/7/2020 at 19:35
Thanks for giving me flashbacks of that other art project of his. :sweat:
Briareos H on 27/7/2020 at 20:25
Speaking of Descent, I should finish Overload. Despite the bland art direction, it's quite fun and I'm enjoying it, especially in VR.
Recommended as a spiritual successor made by the original dev.
Harvester on 27/7/2020 at 21:04
I've finished Descent 1 on medium difficulty (forgot what it was called). But I had to resort to save scumming to do it, but that's not really something I have much of a problem with, so fine with me.
And you guys have made me re-install Quake 1! :mad: ;)
Tomi on 27/7/2020 at 21:20
I finished (
https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149621) Trine 4 (what an awesome game!) and now I'm having fun with
Dirt 4.
I was kind of addicted to
Dirt Rally last year, and after playing that game to death, the transition to Dirt 4 wasn't easy at first. My biggest issue in the beginning were the driving physics and car handling being a bit different, but once I've gotten used to driving in Dirt 4, I think it's just as fun. Dirt Rally may feel a bit more realistic, but Dirt 4 (in the simulation mode) is far from being an arcade racer. Dirt 4 physics are probably a bit more forgiving though, or maybe the tracks are just designed that way, but I think it's better like that - I don't particularly miss those hidden rocks and surprise bumps that send your car flying.
The best thing in this new game, however, is the career mode! You're running your own team and you have to "negotiate" with sponsors and hire mechanics and upgrade your cars and facilities, and even though it's all quite simple, it's much better than having nothing like that, as was the case in Dirt Rally. I now seem to have found the perfect difficulty level too; I'm having a hard time keeping up with the opponents, but I don't lose by much if I have a clean drive, and I occasionally win stages and rallies too. I've decided to limit my restarts to five per rally, even though I wish I was hardcore enough to set it to zero. :D Maybe one day...
I've also got
Dirt Rally 2 lined up and ready to be installed, but I have a feeling there's no going back after that, so I want to get as much joy out of Dirt 4 as possible before that.
henke on 28/7/2020 at 13:14
Remember when I said I wasn't gonna replay Descent? Y'know, just a few posts ago? Remember that? Well, I lied.
Got DXX-Rebirth, dusted off my old CDs, spent a lot of time figuring out the optimal controls for gamepad, and off I was. Playing on Medium, wondering what all the fuss was about difficulty. Then I got to level 6 and those hitscan enemies you mentioned. Holy Jesus. Spent 3 lives just getting through that level, not sure I even dare play further.
Btw, this is the setup I settled on:
Left Stick - throttle, strafe
Right Stick - look
Left/Right Stick Click - roll
L Bumper - Up
L Trigger - Down
R Trigger - Primary weapon
R Bumper - Secondary weapon
D-pad Left/Right Cycle weapons
X - bomb
Y - flare
Works well, except that Left and Right Triggers cancel eachother out meaning you can't fly down and fire at the same time. :p
henke on 28/7/2020 at 15:10
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
The difficulty spiking is probably the worst of any game I've ever played. Level 6 (of 27) is harder than level 25 because it throws the hitscan/homing dudes at you and nothing in the level drops shield boosts.
Ah, just went back and read this, then played the next couple levels of the game. They did indeed feel easier than level 6, tho I did die a couple times on 8 as well.
[video=youtube;D3uz7I9k5P4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3uz7I9k5P4[/video]
I don't really recognize these levels and baddies. Not sure I ever made it this far back in the day. Also I switched my primary/secondary weapon mappings, which made it a lot easier. Of course now I can't fly down and fire my secondary any more but that rarely happens anyway.
Jason Moyer on 28/7/2020 at 23:57
Dying a couple times on the hardest levels probably isn't a big deal, since even on Trainee, where you don't score as many points, I ended up dying a pile of times on the final boss and had something like 42 lives left at the end. I think a strategy some people use is to realize you're about to die and try to find a place where it will be easy to swoop back in and pick up all your gear as fast as possible.
Thirith on 29/7/2020 at 06:54
How well does Descent 3 hold up compared to the first one? I remember playing the demo at the time, but for some reason it didn't click with me. Also, at some point I should check out the VR mode of Overload, once the weather is a bit cooler again, though I wonder how well it'll work for me, as I definitely prefer the slower, less frantic VR experiences.
I finished my first playthrough of Hitman 2's Miami level. It's a stunningly well crafted level; while the style is obviously entirely different, I'd put these guys up there with Arkane's environmental design. I still wish they'd pick a bunch of the best Hitman levels from all the different games and remake them in the current engine (I loved the idea of Blood Money, but I disliked how clunky it was to play), though I guess that might be difficult due to who's got the rights to which of the games.
Anyway, at some point I'll have to replay Miami, because I think I took the most obvious path for both assassinations and there are certainly more interesting (though probably less goofy) ways of getting the job done. For now, though, I've got started on Eliza, a neat, interesting, well made visual novel. It's not a genre I'm particularly familiar with, and it took some adjusting my expectations: I don't mind games having little interactivity, but this definitely offers even less than I expected,* and what interactivity there is hasn't yet felt particularly meaningful, though from what I've heard re: multiple endings, either my decisions matter more than I am aware of or they're going to ramp up the meaningful decisions later on.
*Which is thematically relevant, mind you.
henke on 29/7/2020 at 09:54
Welp, that's the end of my Descent run. Made it to level 12. Also, turns out I was playing on Rookie (Easy), not Medium. I appreciate that the game lets me enter a "cool saying" on the highscore board.
Inline Image:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/if25y271osl8fw2/Descent1_highscore.png?raw=1Should I take a whack at Descent 2 as well? Hmm... :sly:
Briareos H on 29/7/2020 at 12:01
Quote Posted by Thirith
Also, at some point I should check out the VR mode of
Overload, once the weather is a bit cooler again, though I wonder how well it'll work for me, as I definitely prefer the slower, less frantic VR experiences.
I find it quite immersive and was surprised not to experience as much motion sickness as I was expecting. I am not fond of frantic VR experiences either but since this is a seated game, you don't need to physically move all over the place, it's very taxing on your sense of orientation though. I also found the missions to be of a good length for a VR session. The game is far from perfect but this has been one of go-to games for shooting at stuff in VR.
Quote Posted by Thirith
For now, though, I've got started on
Eliza, a neat, interesting, well made visual novel. It's not a genre I'm particularly familiar with, and it took some adjusting my expectations: I don't mind games having little interactivity, but this definitely offers even less than I expected,* and what interactivity there is hasn't yet felt particularly meaningful, though from what I've heard re: multiple endings, either my decisions matter more than I am aware of or they're going to ramp up the meaningful decisions later on.
This more or less matches my experience. I thought that while it had none of the fun that I usually associate with visual novels (my experience being mostly Phoenix Wright-style stuff), the ideas and concepts on AI were interesting and fairly well put together, but even then the overall interactivity was disappointing. Do not expect your decisions to matter much beyond being given a few explicit choices near the end.