Wow... free games from Epic. This sure brings me back; it almost feels
like... last week. Wait, has it been that long? How can Epic expect us
to survive seven whole days without an influx of new games?!?

Fortunately, this week we get TWO games:

* Kerbal Space Program
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/kerbal-space-program
The critical darling and prototypical sandbox game. No story, no real
characters, no quests, no goals: just a bunch of parts and a robust
physics engine. Mastering it takes a lot more effort than I'm wont to
give a game of this sort, but even if all you do is slap a bunch of
rockets together and hit "ignition" (before rage-quitting when the
entire stack blows itself to smithereens), that still is worth the
cost of admission. A classic software toy in the style of the
old-school Maxis games, it deserves to be in everybody's library, if
only to make everyone think you're smart enough to understand rocket
science. ;-)

* Shadow Tactics: Blood of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/shadow-tactics-aikos-choice-5678c1
Aiko's Choice is a stand-alone expansion to "Blood Shogun", the
stand-alone expansion to the original "Shadow Tactics"; this rabbit
hole is getting deeper and deeper! It looks to be 'more of the same',
but considering "Shadow Tactics" was a well-received game, this isn't
a bad thing. If you liked the first two installments, then "Aiko's
Choice' will likely please you too.

7 days until the next life-saving injection of free games. Don't wait,
get them now! ;-)

On Thu, 05 Jan 2023 11:02:36 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>
>Wow... free games from Epic. This sure brings me back; it almost feels
>like... last week. Wait, has it been that long? How can Epic expect us
>to survive seven whole days without an influx of new games?!?
>
>Fortunately, this week we get TWO games:
>
>
>* Kerbal Space Program
>https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/kerbal-space-program
>The critical darling and prototypical sandbox game. No story, no real
>characters, no quests, no goals: just a bunch of parts and a robust
>physics engine. Mastering it takes a lot more effort than I'm wont to
>give a game of this sort, but even if all you do is slap a bunch of
>rockets together and hit "ignition" (before rage-quitting when the
>entire stack blows itself to smithereens), that still is worth the
>cost of admission. A classic software toy in the style of the
>old-school Maxis games, it deserves to be in everybody's library, if
>only to make everyone think you're smart enough to understand rocket
>science. ;-)
>
>
>* Shadow Tactics: Blood of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice
>https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/shadow-tactics-aikos-choice-5678c1
>Aiko's Choice is a stand-alone expansion to "Blood Shogun", the
>stand-alone expansion to the original "Shadow Tactics"; this rabbit
>hole is getting deeper and deeper! It looks to be 'more of the same',
>but considering "Shadow Tactics" was a well-received game, this isn't
>a bad thing. If you liked the first two installments, then "Aiko's
>Choice' will likely please you too.
>
>
>7 days until the next life-saving injection of free games. Don't wait,
>get them now! ;-)

These are both better than most of what they gave away over Christmas.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> Wow... free games from Epic. This sure brings me back; it almost feels
> like... last week. Wait, has it been that long? How can Epic expect us
> to survive seven whole days without an influx of new games?!?

> Fortunately, this week we get TWO games:

> * Kerbal Space Program
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/kerbal-space-program
> The critical darling and prototypical sandbox game. No story, no real
> characters, no quests, no goals: just a bunch of parts and a robust
> physics engine. Mastering it takes a lot more effort than I'm wont to
> give a game of this sort, but even if all you do is slap a bunch of
> rockets together and hit "ignition" (before rage-quitting when the
> entire stack blows itself to smithereens), that still is worth the
> cost of admission. A classic software toy in the style of the
> old-school Maxis games, it deserves to be in everybody's library, if
> only to make everyone think you're smart enough to understand rocket
> science. ;-)

I still took it even though I didn't like it during its Steam weekend.

> * Shadow Tactics: Blood of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/shadow-tactics-aikos-choice-5678c1
> Aiko's Choice is a stand-alone expansion to "Blood Shogun", the
> stand-alone expansion to the original "Shadow Tactics"; this rabbit
> hole is getting deeper and deeper! It looks to be 'more of the same',
> but considering "Shadow Tactics" was a well-received game, this isn't
> a bad thing. If you liked the first two installments, then "Aiko's
> Choice' will likely please you too.

Hmm, high ratings. I take!

> 7 days until the next life-saving injection of free games. Don't wait,
> get them now! ;-)

Thanks. :)
--
"But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head." --Psalm 3:3. So many eye glasses & old 3.5" disks discovered in the nest on slammy humpy day! :O
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
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( )

On 1/5/2023 8:02 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> Wow... free games from Epic. This sure brings me back; it almost feels
> like... last week. Wait, has it been that long? How can Epic expect us
> to survive seven whole days without an influx of new games?!?
>
> Fortunately, this week we get TWO games:
>
>
> * Kerbal Space Program
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/kerbal-space-program
> The critical darling and prototypical sandbox game. No story, no real
> characters, no quests, no goals: just a bunch of parts and a robust
> physics engine. Mastering it takes a lot more effort than I'm wont to
> give a game of this sort, but even if all you do is slap a bunch of
> rockets together and hit "ignition" (before rage-quitting when the
> entire stack blows itself to smithereens), that still is worth the
> cost of admission. A classic software toy in the style of the
> old-school Maxis games, it deserves to be in everybody's library, if
> only to make everyone think you're smart enough to understand rocket
> science. ;-)
>
I got this from an earlier give-away and was really looking forward to
playing it but the interface defeated me. Mostly because one has to
plot _precise_ orbits and transfers from place to place in real time
while your ship is moving. I couldn't find any way to PAUSE the frikkin
game while having to fiddle with a finicky plot your orbital mechanics
on the fly by hand for missions that historically were pre-calculated on
the ground before launch or (later) could BE calculated by on-board
equipment in seconds. So I never even completed the tutorial. Just way
too frustrating for me and I haven't returned to it I'm sorry to say.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

>Fortunately, this week we get TWO games:

Got 'em! Thanks Spalls!

rms

On 05/01/2023 16:02, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> * Shadow Tactics: Blood of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/shadow-tactics-aikos-choice-5678c1
> Aiko's Choice is a stand-alone expansion to "Blood Shogun", the
> stand-alone expansion to the original "Shadow Tactics"; this rabbit
> hole is getting deeper and deeper! It looks to be 'more of the same',
> but considering "Shadow Tactics" was a well-received game, this isn't
> a bad thing. If you liked the first two installments, then "Aiko's
> Choice' will likely please you too.

To get the picky bit out of the way, Blades of the Shogun. Now onwards.
I loved the original so getting this one was a bit of a no brainer even
though it didn't include the improvements to the engine made for
Desperados III. I think as I've said before it's probably not the best
place to start with the game as it kinda assumes you've played the
original so there's a lot less hand holding to start with and it's more
of a case of being thrown in at the deep end.

The way you 'crack' each level does take a bit of getting used to but
once you understand that enemies are interlocked with their view cones
and you have to slowly pick them apart it becomes really enjoyable
especially if you use shadow mode to have multiple characters to perform
an action at the same time.

Oh and the original spends most of its time on deep sale at Steam so
worth a look at.

On Thursday, January 5, 2023 at 1:06:49 PM UTC-8, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> On 1/5/2023 8:02 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> >
> > Wow... free games from Epic. This sure brings me back; it almost feels
> > like... last week. Wait, has it been that long? How can Epic expect us
> > to survive seven whole days without an influx of new games?!?
> >
> > Fortunately, this week we get TWO games:
> >
> >
> > * Kerbal Space Program
> > https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/kerbal-space-program
> > The critical darling and prototypical sandbox game. No story, no real
> > characters, no quests, no goals: just a bunch of parts and a robust
> > physics engine. Mastering it takes a lot more effort than I'm wont to
> > give a game of this sort, but even if all you do is slap a bunch of
> > rockets together and hit "ignition" (before rage-quitting when the
> > entire stack blows itself to smithereens), that still is worth the
> > cost of admission. A classic software toy in the style of the
> > old-school Maxis games, it deserves to be in everybody's library, if
> > only to make everyone think you're smart enough to understand rocket
> > science. ;-)
> >
> I got this from an earlier give-away and was really looking forward to
> playing it but the interface defeated me. Mostly because one has to
> plot _precise_ orbits and transfers from place to place in real time
> while your ship is moving. I couldn't find any way to PAUSE the frikkin
> game while having to fiddle with a finicky plot your orbital mechanics
> on the fly by hand for missions that historically were pre-calculated on
> the ground before launch or (later) could BE calculated by on-board
> equipment in seconds. So I never even completed the tutorial. Just way
> too frustrating for me and I haven't returned to it I'm sorry to say.

I did pick it up even though I had it on GoG already, redundancy.

I think I completed the tutorial, but it didn't help a lot. I'm pretty sure
there was a pause, but since I played it more than a year ago I'm not sure.

Very frustrating and very fiddly.

From my played in month...

** & 1/2 Kerbal Space Program - I normally don't give half stars, but I couldn't
in good conscience give 2 stars, nor 3. This one is like running NASA, designing
spacecraft and flying the space craft you make. It seems like it's fairly good
but after hours of frustration and restarting I feel like watching a very long
tutorial on Youtube is required due to all the difficulty, which I was not in the
mood for. There are tutorials in the game, but they don't seem to get you beyond
the very beginning. I did manage a couple successful flights, but never even
reached (orbit.) Rocket science and administration is HARD!

- Justisaur