It's odd. April is almost always the month when I go out hunting for a
new PC. The last four PCs I've purchased - at least, the last four of
my main gaming PCs - were all purchased in April. Maybe it's a Spring
thing; a season of renewal that inspires me to refresh my hardware. Or
maybe it's just my desperately trying to resist the allure of the
warmer weather and greenery; "no no, stay inside, here's a new
computer". Who knows, but this April - like so many others - is when I
went hardware-hunting.

But I also played games. Not many, but some. Here's my list:

A Summary of the Summaries
---------------------------------------

* Quake II (replay)
* Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe (replay) (?)
* American Truck Simulator (replay)

The Summaries Unsummarized
---------------------------------------

* Quake II (replay)
"Quake II" gets a bad rap. I get it, though; the original "Quake" was
so phenomenal that its sequel couldn't help but be disappointing in
comparison. And while the third game may not have been to everybody's
taste (it wasn't to mine, that's for sure), it took the franchise in a
new direction even as it perfected the mechanics of the arena-shooter.
So of course "Quake II" is seen as the worst of the lot.

(What's that? "Quake IV?" No, we don't talk about that one. Anyway, it
wasn't developed by Id so it doesn't count).

Still, I always enjoyed the second game the most, if only because it
was the one with the strongest narrative. It was a lot more cohesive
than the original "Quake's" wandering level design, and it felt a lot
more grounded; even with all the aliens and space marines, it felt a
lot more /real/.

Too, while purists may grumble about its slower gameplay, this was
also the game that introduced the rail-gun to the genre. Oh man, what
an overpowered beast that gun was, and how much fun was it line up two
or three baddies and snipe all of them with a single shot.

Playing "Quake II" on original hardware - as I am - is a blast.
Listening to the fans loudly whir as the 3DFX logo plays is a purer
nostalgia fix than anything else. And as enigmatically delightful are
the environmental sounds of the original "Quake", it's the soundtrack
of "Quake II" that defined late-90s FPS gaming for me. Not to mention
the 'thunk-thunk. THUNK!' of the Id logo every time the game started
up.

Still, "Quake II" - even when it was new - always left me a little
saddened; it really was the last hurrah of the 3DFX Voodoo series of
video cards. Oh, my Voodoo3 happily ran the game at a silky-smooth
framerate (so long as I was happy playing at 640x480), but it was
becoming increasingly obvious that the chipset was falling behind its
competitors.

I'd never go so far as to call "Quake II" as the greatest PC gaming
ever offered to the world, but nonetheless it remains an extremely
satisfying game to play in every regard.

* Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe (replay) (?)
I quite enjoyed the "Stanley Parable", so it only stands to reason
that I should enjoy the "Ultra Deluxe" version just as much. After
all, it's everything the "The Stanley Parable" is, but more. And I do
like it. It's just as clever, witty, and unpredictable as the
original. I just don't want to play it.

"The Stanley Parable" is a joke. I don't mean that in a bad way. It is
comedy; perhaps the funniest game I've ever played on a computer. Its
extremely dry wit - very British - and maybe not to everyone's liking,
but it suits me just fine. It plays with your expectations, and seems
to have an answer for every move you make. Take the left door, take
the right door, try to go back, just sit and wait... the developers
have a response for every option, and express their delighted
exasperation at your predictability with sarcastic cynicism that can't
help but make you smile.

The problem is, jokes depend on surprise. It's all about setting up
expectations, than suddenly swerving off in another direction. There's
a whole psychology to humor, and "The Stanley Parable" makes full use
of it. But - like all jokes - it all falls apart if you know what's
coming.

And therein is the fault of the game: it doesn't really stand up to
being played more than once. Well, that's not entirely true; the whole
point of the game is to play it and replay it, exploring every
possible option until you've experienced every wry comment and
unanticipated response. So that's exactly what I did, with the
original game. I marched through the colorless corridors, hunting down
every ending the game had to offer, and enjoying every moment of it.

But that leaves me very little to enjoy in "Ultra Deluxe". Oh sure,
there are new gags, new endings... but finding them requires me to
play through all the old content again. And the jokes very quickly
become old; the game becomes tedious. There's no surprise left, no
sense of exploration; I know what I have to do to trigger the gags
even as I know what those gags are going to be.

So I love the "Stanley Parable" (be it the original or the "Ultra
Deluxe" version) and highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. But I
can't finish it myself. As good as it is, I don't want to play it.

* American Truck Simulator (replay)
Yes, again.

I don't have anything new to say about this game. So instead, here's
my thoughts on what make this already excellent game better; a sort of
"features" wish-list for the next version (or update).

- Better damage modeling would be nice. I'm not just talking about
seeing the dents and dings on my truck (although that would be nice),
but how about tire blow-outs, or brakes that fail while driving down a
mountain? A broken exhaust system causing my truck to spew out
carbon-black soot? Busted taillights to attract the cops? Maybe just
overheating engines?

- I'd like changing seasons too. The landscapes in this game are
beautiful, but it always seems to be high summer. Some variety would
be nice. It could affect gameplay too. Snow in the high mountains (or
dust storms in the desert, or tornadoes in Kansas) might make the
longer route preferable.

- No more inaccessible roads. ATS doesn't model the entire country; it
doesn't even try. And I'm fine with that; the world is expansive
enough. I don't need to be able to drive down each and every road in
smalltown USA. But when there are roads, I'd like to be able to drive
them. No more invisible (or semi-visible) barriers blocking the way;
let them truckers roll, ten-four.

- A more robust business mini-game. Because right now, once you can
afford a second truck (and get an employee to drive it for you), the
entire business management side of things becomes pointless. It
doesn't take long before you start earning so much money that you
never need worry about it again. I have 40+ garages and 200+ drivers,
and am earning tens of millions of virtual dollars each week... and
I've nothing to spend it on, or any real reason to keep earning. Let
me do something with all that cash!

- Speaking of employees, maybe let me SEE some of them on the road?
Because right now, even if I drive by a spot where the map SAYS
they're located, they're not rendered. Why am I bothering to buy my
employees all these beautifully liveried trucks?

- Better weather effects, please. The rain is okay (although I'd love
to see floods, or raised rivers, or even pooling), but how about snow?
Really deep fog? Heat waves or cold snaps which affect engine
performance?

- Better and more varied AI. How about seniors driving twenty miles
below the speed limit? Teenagers whizzing by at 100mph? A sot wobbling
back and forth between lanes on the way back from the pub?
Motorcyclists living dangerously as they split lanes?

- More robust legal penalties. Because running thirty red lights,
getting ten speeding tickets, and hitting fifteen cars in a day
probably should result more in a tiny monetary penalty that I can
afford because earning cash is so ridiculously easy. Give me a reason
to want to obey the law.

Of course, all of the above options should be fully configurable so
people can tweak to their hearts content. And maybe not all of the
ideas would work well. But right now, as fun as "American Truck
Simulator" is, the game feels fairly shallow.

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

And that's my playlist for April. All that's left to do is ask the
usual question:

What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2023?

On Friday and Caturday, I played
https://store.steampowered.com/app/820520/Deceive_Inc/'s free weekend. I
wanted to play more yesterday, but darn colony and e-mail issues. :(

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> It's odd. April is almost always the month when I go out hunting for a
> new PC. The last four PCs I've purchased - at least, the last four of
> my main gaming PCs - were all purchased in April. Maybe it's a Spring
> thing; a season of renewal that inspires me to refresh my hardware. Or
> maybe it's just my desperately trying to resist the allure of the
> warmer weather and greenery; "no no, stay inside, here's a new
> computer". Who knows, but this April - like so many others - is when I
> went hardware-hunting.
....
> What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2023?
--
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Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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>> What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2023?

More 'My Time at Sandrock', maybe a bit of 'Stardew Valley', can't remember.

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

>What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2023?

Portal RTX
Vertigo Remastered
I have not finished either of these, but in Portal have reached the 'behind
the scenes' levels past L19. I did finish this way back when, and recall
some of the final levels to be very frustrating.

Vertigo Remastered is an older VR game, but being made by an ex-valve
employee shows, as it has a distinct Half-Life vibe, and as in that game
your prime mission is to 'escape the facility'. Weapons are detailed, with
reload and alt-fire mechanics, enemies are a mix of robots and Xen-like
aliens, but there is also an environmental puzzle element that adds a nice
added dimension. I'm not done yet, but believe I'm near the end. Quite
decent, not a simple wave shooter either.

rms

On 01/05/2023 15:17, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> * Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe (replay) (?)
> I quite enjoyed the "Stanley Parable", so it only stands to reason
> that I should enjoy the "Ultra Deluxe" version just as much. After
> all, it's everything the "The Stanley Parable" is, but more. And I do
> like it. It's just as clever, witty, and unpredictable as the
> original. I just don't want to play it.
>
> "The Stanley Parable" is a joke. I don't mean that in a bad way. It is
> comedy; perhaps the funniest game I've ever played on a computer. Its
> extremely dry wit - very British - and maybe not to everyone's liking,
> but it suits me just fine. It plays with your expectations, and seems
> to have an answer for every move you make. Take the left door, take
> the right door, try to go back, just sit and wait... the developers
> have a response for every option, and express their delighted
> exasperation at your predictability with sarcastic cynicism that can't
> help but make you smile.
>
> The problem is, jokes depend on surprise. It's all about setting up
> expectations, than suddenly swerving off in another direction. There's
> a whole psychology to humor, and "The Stanley Parable" makes full use
> of it. But - like all jokes - it all falls apart if you know what's
> coming.
>

I kinda disagree with that. Yes there is a part of humour (well unless
you were a writer for Friends where this is going to be the joke was
signposted) that is subverting what you're expecting but I have watched
each episode of Blackadder, Red Dwarf and Father Ted several times. I
know exactly what joke is coming up but I still laugh.

> And therein is the fault of the game: it doesn't really stand up to
> being played more than once. Well, that's not entirely true; the whole
> point of the game is to play it and replay it, exploring every
> possible option until you've experienced every wry comment and
> unanticipated response. So that's exactly what I did, with the
> original game. I marched through the colorless corridors, hunting down
> every ending the game had to offer, and enjoying every moment of it.
>
> But that leaves me very little to enjoy in "Ultra Deluxe". Oh sure,
> there are new gags, new endings... but finding them requires me to
> play through all the old content again. And the jokes very quickly
> become old; the game becomes tedious. There's no surprise left, no
> sense of exploration; I know what I have to do to trigger the gags
> even as I know what those gags are going to be.
>
> So I love the "Stanley Parable" (be it the original or the "Ultra
> Deluxe" version) and highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. But I
> can't finish it myself. As good as it is, I don't want to play it.

My view of the Stanley parable is that it was fun but once you've played
it a few times that fun just wears off and there's not enough of a game
to keep it going. The deluxe edition, I can't believe they were charging
£20 for what was basically take the original and add some more content.
The cynical side of me says they know they have some big fans of the
original and this was just a bit of a cash grab.

On Tue, 2 May 2023 11:40:36 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 01/05/2023 15:17, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>The deluxe edition, I can't believe they were charging
>£20 for what was basically take the original and add some more content.
>The cynical side of me says they know they have some big fans of the
>original and this was just a bit of a cash grab.

We can agree there, at least.
(although I picked it up when it was on, and I think owners of the
original got an added discount to). I only grabbed it because I hoped
a) there had been enough time for me to forget enough about the
original to make it feel 'fresh and new' again, and b) there was
enough significant new content to carry me over any slow spots.
Unfortunately, neither was the case. The first was - arguably - my
fault, but the second it all on the developer.

"Stanley" is a good game; I liked it and freely recommend it to
others. But its lack of replayability hampers it tremendously, and the
"Ultra Deluxe" version in particular just doesn't have enough new
content to make it a worthwhile investment for people who have already
played the original. It really should have been a free upgrade.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

> What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2023?

I continued my travels in GTA: Vice City. Mostly done with the plot
stuff, all that remains is buying a few assets and doing their remaining
missions which triggers the end of the plot. I guess I should let those
assets generate some money before the ending, in case I want to buy up
what little there is to buy. But basically I'm done with it.

Vice City still manages to amuse but also annoy. There was this mission
where I was supposed to bust someone out of police custody. Things went
a little weirdly, I accidentally left the escapee behind so he was just
standing outside the police station while I sped off to respray the
getaway car. So after that everything was nice and quiet and all I had
to do was drive the guy to his place. Fine, but I fumbled the car in the
drink and drowned. Sigh. Oh well, third or fourth time was the charm.

Anyways, I think I'll be moving on to San Andreas next. Although I
remember the last time I played, the beginning is pretty annoying. The
early missions for your gang are just bad. There's a group of them where
you're supposed to get guns and ammo for your gang but despite
successful completions, there's no guns or ammo or money to be had as a
reward. I guess they're kind of an extended tutorial and showing off
what the game can do but still.

----

I also played my old favorite, Borderlands 3, a little. It has bothered
the completionist in me a little that I've only finished two
playthroughs with one character. OTOH, I'm not sure I like it that much
any more. My Zane character felt overpowered and while it's cackling fun
to watch people's heads just explode with one shot, it gets boring after
a while. And the thought of going through most of a second playthrough
with three characters seems a little daunting.

Also some character guides may be permanently lost with the Gearbox
forum shutdown. I haven't really looked but at least the guide I used in
my Moze playthrough was on the forum and now it's gone. Although I think
my characters are mostly done by now and it doesn't really matter much
any more where I put my skill points.

----

Re books, as JAB mentioned Philip K. Dick, I checked if I could find
something in the local library system. And what do you know, "we can
remember it for you wholesale and other stories" was waiting for me. No
surprise since the book was published in 1987.

I think I like my sciffy a little more optimistic and happy but still,
decent reads. I think I've read the titular story before since it seemed
familiar, everything else is new to me. Too bad "Minority Report" is not
included. "Adjustment Team" is but I haven't seen the corresponding
movie from 2011.

On 2023-05-01, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
> * Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe (replay) (?)

Added to wishlist, thanks for the pointer.

> What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2023?

Well April finally saw the family finish:

* Curse of Monkey Island
* Return to Monkey Island

Curse of Monkey Island
----------------------

I didn't particularly like the graphic style and the puzzles seemed on a
whole new level of complex and obtuse. Thank god for walk-through. I
found this version of the MI series the hardest to drop and pickup a few
days later. The number of running puzzles and status was confusing,
sometimes taking 10 or 15 mins just to get back into it.

Was generally a fun game doing a good job sticking to the style and
humour of previous games in the series.

Return to Monkey Island
-----------------------

This was a LOT easier than any previous version of MI. Being developed
much more recently, was it 2021/2, it has a lot more mechanics to help
the player on the journey. Being a lot easier to pickup and continue
were you left off.

Things like ToDo lists and built in hints, just reading the hint
question would remind you what you need to do without having to click on
the hint answer. But the answers come in different levels so you can
keep asking until it almost tells you what to do.

This meant a less frustrating time and more just enjoying the game and
getting around.

For May
-------

Not sure what's on our list for this month, perhaps:

* Thimbleweed Park
* Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis
* Disco Elysium
* Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

First impression from the kids:

Thimbleweed, boring no voice acting have to read! Indiana, old but
looks promising, quite funny. Disco, what so much talking, shutup
already, but why did he lose his memory, we're hooked on the story.
Yooka, we want to try an easy platformer with a controller to get into
the genre, looks cute.

RenMas

--
Don't be afraid of the deep...
--[ bbs.bottomlessabyss.net | https | telnet=2023 ]--
--[ /query geeknix on libera.chat | tilde.chat ]--

On 2023-05-02, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
> signposted) that is subverting what you're expecting but I have watched
> each episode of Blackadder, Red Dwarf and Father Ted several times. I
> know exactly what joke is coming up but I still laugh.

Excellent choice of shows, have you seen:

* "The Young Ones"
* "Only Fools and Horses"
* "The Mighty Boosh"
* "The League of Gentlemen"

I'm guessing, yes, but just in case.

--
Don't be afraid of the deep...
--[ bbs.bottomlessabyss.net | https | telnet=2023 ]--
--[ /query geeknix on libera.chat | tilde.chat ]--

Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> wrote:
>Re books, as JAB mentioned Philip K. Dick, I checked if I could find
>something in the local library system. And what do you know, "we can
>remember it for you wholesale and other stories" was waiting for me. No
>surprise since the book was published in 1987.
>
>I think I like my sciffy a little more optimistic and happy but still,
>decent reads. I think I've read the titular story before since it seemed
>familiar, everything else is new to me. Too bad "Minority Report" is not
>included. "Adjustment Team" is but I haven't seen the corresponding
>movie from 2011.

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale was adaptped in to the move Total
Recall (!990) and its remake Total Recall (2012) so that may be why it
seemed familiar.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

On 02/05/2023 14:00, Geeknix wrote:
> On 2023-05-02, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>> signposted) that is subverting what you're expecting but I have watched
>> each episode of Blackadder, Red Dwarf and Father Ted several times. I
>> know exactly what joke is coming up but I still laugh.
>
> Excellent choice of shows, have you seen:
>
> * "The Young Ones"
I remember sitting in my parents kitchen watching it on the portable TV.
It was pretty revolutionary to me and pretty revolutionary for TV not
just for the content but also as it wasn't dominated by the
'footlights'. I do occasionally re-watch episodes but it does show its age.

> * "Only Fools and Horses"
I used to like it but looking back on it I think it has some really
laugh-out-loud scenes, which are very much classic TV, but I also find
quite a bit of it falls somewhat flat.

> * "The Mighty Boosh"
Tried to watch it many years ago but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe
I should try it again.

> * "The League of Gentlemen"
That's a show I wanted to like and really tried to like but, I it just
felt it was trying to hard to be different. One I do like though is
Inside Number 9.

On Monday, May 1, 2023 at 7:17:39 AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2023?

*** Crysis
**** Void Scrappers
** Sector Six
? Everspace 2
** Dink Smallwood
* Stargunner
**** Elden Ring

Quite a bit more than I realized.

*** Crysis. Great Sci-Fi FPS. It's just about perfect for what it
is. My current rig handled it fine on highest settings, and it's still
about as good on visuals as anthing released today. I don't really
have much to say about it though, it's almost forgettable, in fact I
did forget and only remembered because I checked my gog played games.
It felt like it was rushed at the end, that you should've gone back to
the island.

**** Void Scrappers - Vampire Survivors in 2d top down space combat.
It's shorter and more accessible than Vamp S, I was left wanting more.
Well worth the $3 or $4 if you like that type of game.

** Sector Six - this is a fairly complicated side scroller 'roguelike'
space shooter with building your ship from modules. I didn't play it
long as it seemed a bit grindy and too complicated to get into to begin
with. I'm not that fond of side scrollers, r-type is one of the few
exceptions that I probably don't care for much anymore.

? Everpace 2 - I didn't play it long because I felt the Elden Ring call
and had to go back to playing it. What I did get through seemed more
relaxed and more story based than the original. There doesn't seem to
be the semi time limit of more and more waves of the original. It also
had a lot more and longer cutscenes than I remember, not something I
really appreciate. The voice acting is fine at least. I intend to go
back to it first after my ER addiction wanes again.

** Dink Smallwood - An old somewhat silly fantasy top down game on
gog. It felt very familiar, I might have played it some time in the
ancient past. I got a bit into it, and don't actually remember why I
stopped playing it. Maybe just too old and too familiar with not quite
as interesting gameplay as newer games.

* Stargunner - another old game, I thought it might be similar to star
control 2, but no, it was closer to Star Control 1, and not even really
that fun, again it was side scroller, more similar to r-type than
Sector Six was. Missions only, and only 5 that I could see, which I
presume you're supposed to play over and over to upgrade your ship,
only unlike Everspace, no persistance, so when you die you must start
over from scratch, only without the add another coin option of r-type,
and seemed to be harder to boot, with real bad graphics. Can't
recommend this one at all.

**** Elden Ring - What more can I say? A lot apperently, I'm not sure
it will be of much interest to those that haven't played though. I'll
divide this in two sections, for those who haven't played following
immediately, and later for those who have.

- For those who haven't:

I had stopped last time as I got stuck on the halig tree, but I had
thoughts of how to get past it I wanted to try, so I went back to try,
it worked, and I finished my str/faith run fairly easily after that. I
started str/arc but was finding it way too easy with the bloodhound
fang, and the bloodhound fang was more dex than str, I'm starting to
get gud with the game at last I guess. So I went back to my newbhelper
build for more challenge, which is locked to Level 11 and +3/+1 weapons
(for those not familiar the game is balanced to finish at around level
125-150 and +25/+10 weapons so that's severely underleveled), so that I
can be summoned and help people at the beginning of the game.

I'm really enjoying the puzzle aspect of figuring out what works in
each case of enemies. For instance I've always had trouble getting
past the fire spewing sitting tree/gargoyle things in deeproot on the
roots before, but figured out you can snipe them freely with a bow with
the arrow's reach talisman from somewhere their breath doesn't reach.

I've so far gotten a bit more than halfway through the game which
surprises me. I've hit some hard spots I gave up on and don't really
plan to go back to unless I'm near finishing the game, as the bosses
don't have anything I really need/want, and moved on elsewhere.

- For the people who've played it:

That's the crucible knight in the limwood jail, rot dragon, and the
tripple rot crystalians boss. For the big bosses I've defeated
Godrick, Rennalla & Radahn (first time because of the summons.) I'll
also mention Twin Gargoyles as I had to resort to slam bolder wall
climbing and sniping/mist cheese to defeat them, which is actually the
hardest fight I've had that I succeeded at, mostly because they're
immune or reisistant to almost everything, hit really hard and fast and
there's two of them, they've given me a lot of trouble on most of my
characters except my astrologer as they aren't immune or very resistant
to magic. On the big boss fights I use serpent arrows/bow combo to
poison them, then rot breath to rot them, then ice breath, and volcano
pots to roast them when they freeze, or after I'm out of mana. As long
as the host doesn't managed to get themselves killed (and me either,
which is pretty rare now) all that will take down Margit/Godrick fairly
quickly.

My weapon staples are the morning star with sacred blade and a no skill
shield for catacombs with skeletons or imps, or turtle shield (+end
regen) and great stars two-handed with with whatever ash I'm feeling
at the moment, it currently has golden land which is a PBOE with a
bunch of sniping holy bolts (used it a lot on my str/fai build) and
claymore for dealing with stormveil banished knights, as its default
ash lion's claw flattens them, when I'm summoned there. I usually have
the faith talisman and the physical scarseal on. When I'm doing my own
progress I have Godrick's rune on and a rune arc active for the +5 to
all stats most of the time. I rely on the crystalian summon as much as
I can as while they don't do tons of damage and aren't great at taking
agro, they're extremely tanky taking single digits of damage until they
get stance broken and become vulnerable. I found warming stones will
heal your summons and have done that when able when not in a boss
fight. I use volcano pots a lot as they're infinitely craftible (well
up to 300 as they require 2 volcano stones which have a limit of 600)
after you don't have agro, and can hold and use up to 15 in a fight,
and they don't use mana. It's somewhat of a pain to farm the stones
for it when I'm running low though. I like to keep a few lightning
pots too, as some things are immune to fire, they're a bit harder to
farm for though (mostly just the mushrooms which are used for most
pots) so I use nd them more sparingly.

I want to mention I hate to be summoned to Stormveil for the run
through as hosts rarely follow me , and choose to follow another summon
that doesn't know what they're doing or insist on going where they
want, and again don't know what they're doing (So far I've only about 3
times out of hundreds that knew Stormveil better than me, but I learned
from them so now I'm on equal footing.) I'm tempted to change my
character's name from Nubelper (newbie helper) to FOLLOW ME! We also
get immediately invaded mostly by people twinking far worse than I,
that probably just had another account or a friend duping and drop
everything, and a win against them is rare meaning we don't make much
if any progress, and when we do, it's probably the longest run you can
make in the game with co-op summons. Yes I could just nope out with
the finger severer when summoned, but that would be against the point
of the character.

I have tried invading to help people out, basically by taking up the
invader slot/time and not fighting, but I usually get killed
immedately, and it's not very fun just wandering around watching or
leading them.

- Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On Wed, 3 May 2023 15:47:15 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Monday, May 1, 2023 at 7:17:39?AM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
>> What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2023?
>
>
>*** Crysis
>**** Void Scrappers
>** Sector Six
>? Everspace 2
>** Dink Smallwood
>* Stargunner
>**** Elden Ring
>
>Quite a bit more than I realized.
>
>*** Crysis. Great Sci-Fi FPS. It's just about perfect for what it
>is. My current rig handled it fine on highest settings, and it's still
>about as good on visuals as anthing released today. I don't really
>have much to say about it though, it's almost forgettable, in fact I
>did forget and only remembered because I checked my gog played games.
>It felt like it was rushed at the end, that you should've gone back to
>the island.

AFAIK, "Crysis" - at least the original version - isn't really all
that good a testbed for benchmarking modern PCs, since it doesn't do
multi-threading all that well. Thus, modern multi-core CPUs don't
provide as much benefit as you'd expect. Still, it's a 16-year old
game at this point, so even low-end laptops can run it, and anything
mid-end or better should get decent performance out of it.

That said, "Crysis" will be one of the first games I install on my new
PC. It may not be an optimal benchmark, but "can it run Crysis" is
still the default test for any PC as far as I'm concerned. Plus it's a
very pretty game (even though I'm far more impressed by its physics
engine these days than the fidelity of its visuals; bending foliage
and being able to shatter tree trunks with a machine gun should be the
default for every game by now).

>* Stargunner - another old game, I thought it might be similar to star
>control 2, but no, it was closer to Star Control 1, and not even really
>that fun, again it was side scroller, more similar to r-type than
>Sector Six was. Missions only, and only 5 that I could see, which I
>presume you're supposed to play over and over to upgrade your ship,
>only unlike Everspace, no persistance, so when you die you must start
>over from scratch, only without the add another coin option of r-type,
>and seemed to be harder to boot, with real bad graphics. Can't
>recommend this one at all.

Blech; I remember that game. Calling "Stargunner" similar to "Star
Control" really sells short the latter game (and gives "Stargunner"
way too much credit). "Stargunner" was, even for its, time, a pretty
poor side-scrolling shoot-em-up (shoot-em-right?); one of Apogee's
many attempts at the genre. They had other shooters that were far
better, even if the core mechanics were the same: try "Raptor: Call of
the Shadows" or even "Major Stryker". But "Stargunner" is better left
forgotten.

>I'm really enjoying the puzzle aspect of figuring out what works in
>each case of enemies. For instance I've always had trouble getting
>past the fire spewing sitting tree/gargoyle things in deeproot on the

They pause between breaths, so I just timed those and ran up behind them.

>you can snipe them freely with a bow with
>the arrow's reach talisman

This was reliable method to farm the giant crow in the morgoth's temple
area (I forget the name now)

>That's the crucible knight in the limwood jail, rot dragon, and the
>tripple rot crystalians boss.

I recall a 'rot dragon' in the haligtree area, where you fight with
melania's sister, and for that I stayed on a root far away and sniped with
arrows. These others I don't recall.

>On the big boss fights I use serpent arrows/bow combo to
>poison them, then rot breath to rot them, then ice breath, and volcano
>pots to roast them when they freeze, or after I'm out of mana.

I recall the 'godkiller duo' in crumbling azula (fat and slim), on which
using sleep pots on one of them really help with the fight.

> I use volcano pots a lot as they're infinitely craftible

I rarely used pots, finding them slow to aim and fire, you only got to
carry a few, and switching between such consumables was awkward for me.

Neat idea to never level up for coop fun!

rms

Well this is going to be easy, absolutely nothing although I have found
another online Call of Cthulhu group to play in and I finished the book
The Thursday Murder Club. It's a light hearted murder mystery where the
murder club are a bunch of people in a retirement home who investigate
cold cases until a murder happens on their doorstep.

On Fri, 5 May 2023 19:18:39 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>Well this is going to be easy, absolutely nothing although I have found
>another online Call of Cthulhu group to play in and I finished the book
>The Thursday Murder Club. It's a light hearted murder mystery where the
>murder club are a bunch of people in a retirement home who investigate
>cold cases until a murder happens on their doorstep.

Is that the the plot of the tabletop game or the book?

If the former, the murderer was Cthulhu. Because it's always Cthulhu.
Even if he says otherwise. But don't try to solve it. Let sleeping
gods lie.

On Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 2:12:01 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:
> >I'm really enjoying the puzzle aspect of figuring out what works in
> >each case of enemies. For instance I've always had trouble getting
> >past the fire spewing sitting tree/gargoyle things in deeproot on the
> They pause between breaths, so I just timed those and ran up behind them.

I try that, but the 3 on the one tower almost always get me. *embarrassed*

> >you can snipe them freely with a bow with
> >the arrow's reach talisman
> This was reliable method to farm the giant crow in the morgoth's temple
> area (I forget the name now)

I just call that the lake of blood, yeah that's a common farming strat, that
or killing all the frog guys in the area, a little harder, but more fun.

> >That's the crucible knight in the limwood jail, rot dragon, and the
> >tripple rot crystalians boss.
> I recall a 'rot dragon' in the haligtree area, where you fight with
> melania's sister, and for that I stayed on a root far away and sniped with
> arrows. These others I don't recall.

Ekzekes is the rot dragon I was talking about, he's outside the dragon
temple in Calid. You can snipe him, but he eventually lets out a cloud of
rot that seems to cover half of Calid. You get all of one dragon heart
for killing him. I was eventually able to get him at high level with
high upgraded weapons, but that's not an option with this character.

> >On the big boss fights I use serpent arrows/bow combo to
> >poison them, then rot breath to rot them, then ice breath, and volcano
> >pots to roast them when they freeze, or after I'm out of mana.
> I recall the 'godkiller duo' in crumbling azula (fat and slim), on which
> using sleep pots on one of them really help with the fight.

Yeah, that one's almost a requirement. I did manage to take the 1 noble
in Volcano Manor this weekend, just a combination of summoning banished
knight Engvall, being a bit more careful and letting him grab agro, and tossing
rot breath and black flame at the noble until dead.

> > I use volcano pots a lot as they're infinitely craftible
> I rarely used pots, finding them slow to aim and fire, you only got to
> carry a few, and switching between such consumables was awkward for me.

I wasn't much for them on my other builds except holy pots against death
birds, but it's like having a couple extra bars of FP on this one, actually more
going stormveil as you can craft them again and again each time you're out of
combat as long as you have the materials. I do so low of damage I need
everything I can get. Handy backup on a normal character too, you only really
need 1 type for any particular place. The farming is somewhat annoying
though.

On this character I was using a lot of lightning pots at volcano manor as the
man-serpents are immune to fire, and those are pretty good too. I was using
poison pots early on, but the serpent bow/arrows are much more reliable at
getting poison off.

I've got a ton of other consumables I've used, but I rarely use them, I should
probably take most of them off my bar. The kukris are really useful though
as the bleed build up and extreme range and accuracy for a throwing knife
help a lot with pulling mobs and even killing some. You can only carry 30
though, so I still use them pretty sparingly. Gravity stone fans are nice to have
against numbers of mobs as they have a pretty big area they hit.

> Neat idea to never level up for coop fun!

It's a combination of fun and frustrating. I'm getting a bit too powerful for
co-op at the lower level bosses, I killed the assassin boss in one of the
crypts before the host could even damage it. Even Margit and Godrick go
down regularly as long as the host doesn't bite it and I don't make too many
mistakes, though I'm about 10-20 levels low for them, so it's a bit harder.

I actually managed to help some other RL1 host take out Renalla the other
day too.

I'm dying a lot on my progress now, even most no-account bosses on a
regular run are giving me a lot of trouble, and just getting through
normal mobs to get to them is taking me many many tries.

- Justisaur