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Been playing a lot of this the past week, the openmw version (which is an open source re-implementation of the game engine to run better on modern systems, with more modern visual tweaks while still being the same old ass game). It's a game I've a ton of half hearted attempts at getting into but this is more of a proper attempt, primarily cause I figured out how to install openmw on steam deck and get save syncing working between it and pc using something called syncthing. If people are interested there's guides out there to get openmw working on deck, you want that, you don't want vanilla cause it won't run as good or play as well. I did try to see if there was a thread to bump but seems there isn't, so I mean the effort was made there. Maybe it exists but I can't find it 🤷‍♂️ Anyway, it's cool. It's very interactive in the way Bethesda games usually are but moreso in some ways and less so in others if you compare it to their modern output. Everything is dice-rolley as fuck. Even casting a spell can fail if you aren't properly learned in its school of thought, even if you have the spell 'learned'. Getting around doing quests means following actual directions relative to specific cities and locations on the map, one quest in particular is given to you as a series of sermons from a church which follows the teachings of 'Vivec', who is like Morrowind's JC figure, telling you to go to specific locations like caves beneath vivec city or a big wall made out of the remains of deceased dark elves and give offerings. You have to figure that shit out yourself, it's up to you, and it's a cool approach which demands you actually spend time reading books of lore and listening to what people say to even know what the hell a 'ghostgate' even is or why you probably shouldn't press beyond it cause it's a bit shit on the other side. Anyway, this will be the time I beat Morrowind. The really wordy bits where you spend ages reading actual novella length backstories of a Dark Elf queen and demigods tearing things apart and putting them back together are pretty well suited to deck gaming, tho in general the whole game is tbh. It's got an immersive sim quality to the way you can figure out some stuff, like it doesn't have a fast travel system, not really, so getting from Pelegiad to Balmora is a bit of a pain but there are some workarounds like this involving alteration and special potions There's others which require you to invest a bit of time into the game's systems, like being able to use telekinesis to open booby-trapped doors from across the room, or use the same skill to pickpocket someone really far away without having to take risks out in the open. Right now my khajit is a neophyte in a lot of this stuff and all his potions have the fun secondary effect of causing temporary status decreases, so a little bit of poison to go along with the buff, but my more recent potions have less of that in it. It's clunky and difficult but a lot of the quests and skills force you to invest the time to interrogate the RPG clockwork which allows you to do lots of interesting stuff, while at the same time improving your understanding of the world itself and its history. It's not quite botw cause you don't have a physics engine but finding different interactions is still a lot more interesting here than in Oblivion imo which while it had tons of physics interactions they did not improve the gameplay which was mostly just action based. I never played enough Skyrim to really have an informed take on it but I didn't get into it in any of my attempts (X360, PC and PCVR). Besides Morrowind it is probably my biggest gaming blindspot, but unlike Morrowind I'm not as likely to address it I think cause I kinda know what it is but MW still has lots of fun unknown stuff for me cause even now it feels pretty unique and worth playing, even 20 years on Quest wise it's being mostly ascending to apprentice-hood in the thieves guild and mages guild, at the same time as trying to decide which of the three houses suits me best (decided Hlallu cause they about money) and deciding if I want to do a fighter's guild quest where someone is asking me to kill fellow guild mates, if there's any consequences to it or whatever. All my stats are heavily speech and money focused, which is a probably weird way to play the game. But the way you are supposed to do things anyway is cram points in your misc skills to get the most level ups rather than just focus on your base 10 stats. So figuring out the mysteries of conjuration, illusion, alteration and mysticism is what I'm into, too magicka starved to go into the deep end of some higher level magicks or destruction tho

Abe's Oddysee and Exodus were two of my favourite games on the PSOne. Then they announced the next game in the series of five (technically the second game canonically, but I digress). Excitement ?... Which they [Oddworld Inhabitants] would be releasing on the then fledgling Xbox, not the upcoming PS 2? Being 16/17 in 2001. I wasn't going to buy a new console, one I didn't even like the look of, for a single game I like. So Munch's Oddysee and later Strangers Wrath, passed me by. Ironically, they and Rare later realised, the grass isn't always greener... So now I randomly found it in on Switch in 2020. With my recent Dark Souls run now complete, I got stuck in. The first thing that hits you is that in the leap to 3D, a few fundamentals have been changed. There is a collect-a-thon element to it now. Whereas before that element was your fellow slaves, through completing various puzzles and death traps. That is still in this, but now we have green sponge things too. The fact they shrink down to little circles upon being collected, brings Pac-Man's pills to mind. The other thing of note is the mechanics and level design are very early 2000's 3D. The camera is horrid. Although you can manually adjust it via the right stick, it is slow as molasses and cumbersome. The levels themselves are also mostly barren. The opening area with Abe, for example, has a few places you can reach. Little out of the way nooks, you wouldn't necessarily see. These contain... nothing. No secrets, just empty terrain. Only about 3-5 levels in, and the game is very linear. The original two games were bursting with secrets. Mostly hidden away areas containing more Mudokins to free. These puzzles also often being a significant hike in the difficulty. So far there is none of that. The other fundamental that has changed is the controls. There are a lot of controls within the Oddworld series. Some for standard platforming, others are the command options, unique to this series. Now on the PSOne, they were attributed to the four face buttons and changed by holding down a shoulder button. Here and I'm not sure if this has been altered for the re-release, the shoulder buttons serve very little use. There are instead multiple commands given to the same button. By pressing or holding the button. It has taken a bit of getting used to. It doesn't help when the jumping is a bit floaty and that is the same for both characters. There is also a life bar now. Previous games had the trial and error approach of one hit, one kill. So in that respect I suppose it makes the game more forgiving? The only problem is that bar is both invisible and very hard to even gauge. At the moment, I'm glad I didn't go out of my way to get this back in the day and apprehensive about the rest of it. On the plus side, the aesthetic is still classic Oddworld and the heavily letterboxed cutscenes are still full of the original charm. I'm just surprised to get such a middle of the road impression right out of the gate. Haven't had that since Ultimate Alliance 3. I really hope this picks up though. I can forgive a lot of the shortcomings from the era it was made if the end product is still solid.?

So the last of the XBox games is this. Havn't played it before. It has a reputation for being good. Its like being with your dad at a nightclub, trying so hard to be cool and street. The music is either annoying or good, which can be summed up by the bad Bis "Sugar Sugar Candy Pop etc etc etc" The levels are either a doddle or bizarre with no real pointers as to where to go and the controls are overtly simplistic. Oh well. Its PS2 games after this. Whats the point in spending time programming pedestrian's to run out of the way when there's no punishment or reward for hitting one? Still, it looks nice.

Couldn’t find a thread for these so I made a new one. I played a little over an hour of the first game, just as far as exploring Dobuita a little. Of course this is Japan in the 80s, so thirty years before the Japan I’ve experienced, but still so little has changed. Visually from the streets, the houses, the parks...this is what Japan is like. And the young children in the game that meet Ryo speak exactly like Japanese children do now. The scene with the girl and the kitten next to the shrine was very touching. So far so good! Playing the game on PC by the way, connected to my tv and using a wired controller. Resolution is 1920x1080 or something along those lines.

I'm such a noob at times. I've never played more than a few minutes of Doom 3 before as it just past me by. No idea why I never got it at the time: I had an Xbox, I was quite into shooters at the time and I like monsters. Can't really figure out why I wasn't there. Maybe it was because it had some negative reception, I dunno. Anyway, I'm playing it now and I'm quite surprised how much I'm enjoying it. All it is is a ghost train with monsters you shoot at and it overuses the 'spawn enemies behind you' trick a bit to often as I've learned to pretty much always check my 6 (maybe that's the point?) but I've3 been yelping and laughing my way through, always being slightly lost, so it's not like it isn't fun. Though I do wish the weapons had more kick to them, like I just wish it felt a bit better killing things. On this collection Doom and Doom 2 are also there, and I've also never played Doom... I got Doom 2 on sale on XBLA and played it a bit. I actually really enjoyed my brief time with it and I'm liking Doom even more. That's a game that's still fun to play. The movement feels like you're coasting and sometimes there are loads of enemies and weaving about while shooting that hellishly satisfying shotgun is some top gaming. I think that's what annoys about Doom 3 a little; I wish the shooting felt as good as that. So yeah, it's 2013 and I think I may have just properly discovered Doom. Dunno if you've heard but it's good.

I know at least me and Chin are dying for a sequel to this, without giving anything away, the ending makes you go "Aaaaaaargghhh! Tell me more!" Not in a bad way, just that the story has only just begun, shame it didn't sell that well. I bone this game and I fell in love with the whole atmosphere, it's great just wandering round looking at stuff. It's very much a Zelda clone but when it's done this well with a pretty good and fairly original storyline (plus, female lead, pretty but not Lara Croft phwoar, etc and non-violent too) you have to tip your hat. For some reason the story and setting reminded me of the first Oddworld game. I need to play this again, but haven't been able to since I completed it as I lent it to a mate (that I don't see often) along with the Twin Snakes.