What are you playing?

[FordGT90Concept]

Playing Battletech. It's much slower paced than I expected. Gameplay mechanics wise, it's a lot like X-Com: Enemy Unknown.

 

[Ahhzz]

Playing Battletech. It's much slower paced than I expected. Gameplay mechanics wise, it's a lot like X-Com: Enemy Unknown.

You'll have to keep us updated. I'm looking at that, remembering the "good old days" when I first played it, and also checking out Frostpunk, wondering which, if either, is worth the time

 

[FordGT90Concept]

It's like MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries but tactical instead of shooter. You have upkeep costs, transit fees, etc. to consider too so there's macro (ship) and micro (battlefield) management. I like it but the macro side seems...unbalanced against players. For example: losing an arm on a mech can take 41 days to repair. A pilot getting injured can take 26 days to heal. You have to pay upkeep every 30 days. If you can't afford upkeep, game over.

 

[GoldenX]

Did the first 2 minutes of Final Fantasy XV, looks good, but the combat is still bad if you compare it to Automata.
Made me laugh that at the highest settings it used 7,5GB of my 8GB of RAM, and 2,5GB of my 2GB of VRAM.

 

[Ahhzz]

It's like MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries but tactical instead of shooter. You have upkeep costs, transit fees, etc. to consider too so there's macro (ship) and micro (battlefield) management. I like it but the macro side seems...unbalanced against players. For example: losing an arm on a mech can take 41 days to repair. A pilot getting injured can take 26 days to heal. You have to pay upkeep every 30 days. If you can't afford upkeep, game over.

oooh... that almost sounds like not-fun....

 

[Yukikaze]

Also playing Battletech, and it is bloody brilliant.

It isn't perfect (and thankfully I am not running into any of the technical issues others seem to be getting), but for someone who played the tabletop version for years it just "feels" so right, like they managed to capture the essence of the setting with the music, the cutscenes, the lighting, even the UI.

The combat itself is fun, and the operational layer is interesting, without being overwhelming with too many knobs to turn. Time is your most valuable resource, as Mechwarriors healing, 'Mechs getting damaged, transit times to your next contract, they all conspire to make your life difficult and reduce the number of missions you can do to make ends meet. It isn't an easy game, and you really need to keep reserve 'Mechs (and pilots!) if you want to keep rolling in the C-Bills and staying afloat, but that's half the fun. Losing a 'Mech can be a big deal as a result. I've scrapped 'Mechs before because they were too damaged to repair in a reasonable time frame and refitting equipment can take several in-game days, so you need to balance your wish for having your "perfect" designs with the need to do missions to make money, which is a fun tension to have.

You really feel like you are running a mercenary outfit on a shoestring budget.

I probably have a massive advantage as I know a lot about the 'Mechs by heart, and a lot of the weapons and mechanics are quite true to their tabletop roots, so I am not sure just how easy it is a newcomer to just dive into it, but that said:
It is a great game, and the soundtrack is phenomenal.

I got it off GOG, and they bundle Shadowrun for free with it. I think that is still true for the next day or two. Not too bad for 39.99$.

 

[aoirey17]

Just downloaded Stardew Valley from Steam. Feeling nostalgic with its retro graphic.

 

[EzioAs]

Haven't been writing anything here in quite a while. I've just been playing NBA 2K18 these last 7-9 weeks or so. Just finished the playoffs tonight. Took around 95 hours overall, but that was expected.

Next week, I'll be starting Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Also playing Battletech here. Man it just sucked me right in. Having a blast with it. It can definitely be challenging and has some nuances to it that take a little while to learn, but just like Yukikaze said, it really feels like you are running a mercenary group on a tight budget.

Very fun!!

Coming from MechCommmander I was not sure if I was going to be OK with a turn-based game but so far, it has been a non-issue for me.

Also, for MechCommander fans out there I recommend checking out MechCommander: Darkest Hours.


http://www.nogutsnogalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=4427.0

A bunch of modders made custom campaigns for the original Mechcommander and a modder over at NGNG made a compilation of all of the campaigns integrated together along with lots of bugfixes and updates. Mechcommander is freeware and you can download the iso off the NGNG forum.

From the website:
"
- 89 missions original campaign merge
- 41 missions expansion campaign merge
- 95 solo missions to play (Solo-Mission-Update Part II available)
- 64 multi-player mission maps pre-installed and activated - start game with gameranger on gameranger.com in order to play multiplayer
- +20 new MechWarriors
- new MixedTech Patch for Solo- and Multiplayer comparing all technologies into logistic purchases (full mechs, warriors, vehicles & equipment) "

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I'm at 277 days in Battletech, have 2.4 million in the bank, and the game is starting to feel grindy. Previous HBS games had the mediocre combat balanced with excellent story. This game does not. Story is sparse. Non-story missions are very generic. Add to it other pet peeves like not being able to lock a target and hover over move spots to check accuracies, the over use of UI animations (pretty the first time, frustrating now), the uselessness of light mechs once medium are available, inability to change armor by 1 (jumps to a number divisible by 5 and then by 5 thereafter), UI complaining about being underweight when you're at 44.98 of 45 tons), and the game has crashed for me once. Also, I disagree with @Yukikaze on the music: it's completely forgettable.

If you're looking for something like X-Com, sure, get it. Overall though, I'd call it mediocre.

 

[Kursah]

Also, for MechCommander fans out there I recommend checking out MechCommander: Darkest Hours.


http://www.nogutsnogalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=4427.0

A bunch of modders made custom campaigns for the original Mechcommander and a modder over at NGNG made a compilation of all of the campaigns integrated together along with lots of bugfixes and updates. Mechcommander is freeware and you can download the iso off the NGNG forum.

From the website:
"
- 89 missions original campaign merge
- 41 missions expansion campaign merge
- 95 solo missions to play (Solo-Mission-Update Part II available)
- 64 multi-player mission maps pre-installed and activated - start game with gameranger on gameranger.com in order to play multiplayer
- +20 new MechWarriors
- new MixedTech Patch for Solo- and Multiplayer comparing all technologies into logistic purchases (full mechs, warriors, vehicles & equipment) "

This is AWESOME, I haven't played MechCommander for so long. I don't have my physical copy any longer. Time see if I can dig up another copy.

I've been playing a lot of Total Annihilation lately, with the community patch/mod. I also keep a second installed copy that has the Escalation mod as well. Has been surprisingly fun to return to that one, and frankly I find myself enjoying Ashes of the Singularity more when I switch gears and play it as well. One would think it'd make me want to play SupCom more, and I tried...but it just didn't keep me as entertained as TA and Ashes are at the moment. Not that I can complain. I've also been playing some of the Zero-K SP campaign as well, I do gotta say that game has come a long ways and is mighty impressive for what it is.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

This is AWESOME, I haven't played MechCommander for so long. I don't have my physical copy any longer. Time see if I can dig up another copy.

I've been playing a lot of Total Annihilation lately, with the community patch/mod. I also keep a second installed copy that has the Escalation mod as well. Has been surprisingly fun to return to that one, and frankly I find myself enjoying Ashes of the Singularity more when I switch gears and play it as well. One would think it'd make me want to play SupCom more, and I tried...but it just didn't keep me as entertained as TA and Ashes are at the moment. Not that I can complain. I've also been playing some of the Zero-K SP campaign as well, I do gotta say that game has come a long ways and is mighty impressive for what it is.

You can get the original Mechcommander Gold iso from No Guts No Galaxy (it's freeware) or download the Darkest Hours mod and that includes the iso as well.

 

[Vayra86]

Shamelessly plugging this

https://store.steampowered.com/app/617480/Tower_of_Time/

Downloading now... got me all warm and fuzzy inside already

 

[Ahhzz]

Shamelessly plugging this

https://store.steampowered.com/app/617480/Tower_of_Time/

Downloading now... got me all warm and fuzzy inside already

looks interesting....

 

[EntropyZ]

I was playing Battlezone: Combat Commander. The remaster looks great and has full ultrawide support with an FOV Slider. Yay.

Then I got into the game and remembered the braindead AI units both in campaign and instant action. You get a squad of 5 tanks and only 2 of them are actually shooting at the enemy craft. It's like they're radar blind.

Most of the craft aren't fast enough to dodge any kind of weapon when trying to use side movement. It's not fun when there's no skill involved in trying to beat AI craft. And best tactics to defeat defensive structures is to either rush with a bunch of units and lose a lot of them in the process or just be a scaredy cat, use mortars or other long range weapons and avoid getting hit altogether.

Sniping pilots, base building and hovering fast around mountains were the only things that were fun to do. None of the gameplay seems to have been touched, most of the fixes of BZ2 Unofficial Patch seemed to have crossed over to BZCC. Though I'm not entirely sure, I haven't made an in-depth comparison between the two, campaign is exactly the same as vanilla.

I know you can get mods to make the game more interesting, but Steam Workshop won't work for me and there's no other way to get mods for that version of the game. AFAIK old mods and addons from BZ2 won't work. So forget playing something like Fleshstorm 2.

I liked those dual-cannon linked tanks or warriors you could get with some Recycler variants.

I would play some multi-player matches, but most of them don't host for noobs, any-time I get into a game I get constantly sniped out the hovercraft. That's the whole match sometimes, just sniping each other.

I'd rather play Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries right now, but it's not out yet. I always wished MekTek finished their MW4:Mercs project, they canned it and went to develop Heavy Gear or something. More mechs, directional jumpjets, mouse controlled target/crosshair like in MW3, all of that gone. There was a public beta version but it was short lived, and there are 0 links to a patch that contains the files. So it's been vaporware since they released the video on YT showing all the features they could have had, nobody took over the project and I think the MechWarrior IP holders wanted them to stop hosting the files for the MW4:Mercs free release. You can still find links on the internet to places that host the game though.

Personally, I've burnt out on real-time strategy games, I've been playing them for a long time, they get either stale too quickly because of the repetitive nature or too complex with a lot of micro-management. A lot of genres have been just, not fun. I'm missing out on a lot on great indie games, but I just feel like they might be too short or have weak story/gameplay to justify buying them. I don't want to invest time into something that's just meh, I don't get a lot of free time when out of work these days, so I'm trying to make the most of it. And I seem to be bad at managing that. (I literally bought a game that I'm going to stop playing after a week. a.k.a BZCC, because I had high hopes for it)

 

[Tatty_Two]

You can get the original Mechcommander Gold iso from No Guts No Galaxy (it's freeware) or download the Darkest Hours mod and that includes the iso as well.

Will they run on Windows 10? I have resurrected a couple of my very old games but whatever compatibility mode I try in 10 they are borked.

 

[ShurikN]

INSIDE

Loved Limbo, and currently loving this as well.
Best gameplay aspect is that there are, beside movement, only 2 controls, jump and action. And all additional difficulty is made with smart puzzles.

Also don't know why, but the game reminds me of an old PS1 hidden gem, Heart of Darkness

Btw, the game is on an 50% discount on steam atm.

 

[Vayra86]

OMG Tower of Time is one helluva concept and impression thus far. Sleeper hit material

I'll update this post with some screens later... in brief:
- In your younger days you discover this tower, the world is post-cataclysm and living conditions are dire. You believe the tower holds the key to restoring the world.
- During adulthood you venture back into the tower and lead a group of soldiers into its depths (yes, depths, you'll see)

Game mechanics: exploration through beautiful scenery, contains many environment based puzzles and probably a whole lot I haven't seen yet - you meet enemies, they walk towards you slowly and you enter an instanced battlefield.

Battlefields contain several waves of enemies. Combat is realtime with pause/slow-mo options, and it basically presents a beautiful mix of a Starcraft-like micro game with an itemization/stat based progression system on top. Skill trees are customizable much like Dragon Age (choose A or B per skill tier to specialize) has it, except goes a lot deeper and really enables different party setups. Some skills like a wall of stone can be 'hand drawn' to determine area of effect. The party uses trinity (tank/healer/dps) and a threat system and the battles offer new challenges such as enemies that constantly drain health, have aura's, etc. Positioning is key, timing is key, party management is key. You can really control the battle and you really do have to, to win.

During exploration mode you can return to the city which has several buildings that can be upgraded to improve the party and its equipment, quite similar to Darkest Dungeon without being a self-chastising exercise.

So far I'm incredibly impressed. From the narrator voice and delivery of the story to the atmosphere in this odd 'tower'... I might not sleep tonight

It looks nice too

 

[phanbuey]

OMG Tower of Time is one helluva concept and impression thus far. Sleeper hit material

I'll update this post with some screens later... in brief:
- In your younger days you discover this tower, the world is post-cataclysm and living conditions are dire. You believe the tower holds the key to restoring the world.
- During adulthood you venture back into the tower and lead a group of soldiers into its depths (yes, depths, you'll see)

Game mechanics: exploration through beautiful scenery, contains many environment based puzzles and probably a whole lot I haven't seen yet - you meet enemies, they walk towards you slowly and you enter an instanced battlefield.

Battlefields contain several waves of enemies. Combat is realtime with pause/slow-mo options, and it basically presents a beautiful mix of a Starcraft-like micro game with an itemization/stat based progression system on top. Skill trees are customizable much like Dragon Age (choose A or B per skill tier to specialize) has it, except goes a lot deeper and really enables different party setups. Some skills like a wall of stone can be 'hand drawn' to determine area of effect. The party uses trinity (tank/healer/dps) and a threat system and the battles offer new challenges such as enemies that constantly drain health, have aura's, etc. Positioning is key, timing is key, party management is key. You can really control the battle and you really do have to, to win.

During exploration mode you can return to the city which has several buildings that can be upgraded to improve the party and its equipment, quite similar to Darkest Dungeon without being a self-chastising exercise.

So far I'm incredibly impressed. From the narrator voice and delivery of the story to the atmosphere in this odd 'tower'... I might not sleep tonight

It looks nice tooView attachment 100286

View attachment 100285

This looks awesome... definitely going to check this out

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Will they run on Windows 10? I have resurrected a couple of my very old games but whatever compatibility mode I try in 10 they are borked.

Yup! They run on Win10. I have not personally done it, but there are plenty who do. Sean Lang (Phil) does his Ironman playthroughs on youtube on Win10.

Instructions:

Written Instructions:
http://forums.mechcommander.co.uk/topic/9048592/1/

 

[Estaric]

Currently in between jobs so I've had a alot of time to game, so I've replayed all of the Mass effect games except Andromeda due to some performance issues. I also beat Divinity at long last. Trying to play through dragon age Inquisition but not very fast.

 

[phanbuey]

Currently in between jobs so I've had a alot of time to game, so I've replayed all of the Mass effect games except Andromeda due to some performance issues. I also beat Divinity at long last. Trying to play through dragon age Inquisition but not very fast.

Dragon Age inquisition was too painful to finish. I stopped having fun after about 2 hours.

 

[Kursah]

I was playing Battlezone: Combat Commander. The remaster looks great and has full ultrawide support with an FOV Slider. Yay.

I've been eager but holding off to buy BZCC. Looks like I'll keep waiting. I have had fun with BZ98R though, but that one has its faults as well and I don't really do much multiplayer-wise anymore. I'm also busy with work, kids, wife, etc. So I understand your frustration when your limited time feels wasted on a game that feels unfinished, still a beta or bugged. I was also feeling burned out on some games and just trying to find something that when I do have time to sit down and play it, I can have some genuine fun and feel it was worth my time. Not many new games accomplish that for me in the small amount of time I have.

I'm still playing plenty of Total Annihilation with 3.9.02, with and without the Escalation Mod. Damn good game still to this day, and plays great in Win 10 at 1080. The only issues I have is that I want to tweak the controls to be more modernized, and you can't minimize or alt-tab out without the game going blank on you, forcing you to close it and start it back up. Frankly for a game from 1997 that isn't a remaster/redux, I'm still impressed and content.

I'm also still playing plenty of Ashes of the Singularity Escalation, going back through the campaigns and having quite a bit of fun doing it. Also doing skirmishes against the AI and seeing how they react to different strategies. I know high level players say the AI is only okay in Ashes, but I find it refreshingly challenging and surprising at times. Overall this is a fun RTS for me to play, it isn't the most exciting and has some areas where it feels more generic, but recent balance adjustments have kept gameplay engaging and fun for me.

Last but not least, been playing SupCom2 with my youngest son again. We still call it a rematch (even if we're not facing off against each other) after almost 5 years. This is still a fun and more casual approach to large scale RTS gameplay in a digestible level that fits my time needs and allows me to do some strategic gameplay that isn't too dumbed down. Not saying SupCom2 is complex, but there's also RTS games with much less than it has to offer. Many scoff at this game, but frankly it is still fun to play, especially with my kid, we take on some AI and have a blast (literally and figuratively) with it!

 

[Vayra86]

Battles in Tower of Time

Spawn rates of new waves are fixed, so if you don't kill fast enough, you get overwhelmed...

 

[Estaric]

Dragon Age inquisition was too painful to finish. I stopped having fun after about 2 hours.

i agree its getting to the point where i dont really wanna play it, i may just do a re run of a dwarven nobel on origins