Video Game Thread 2.0

[Art Vandelay]

Recently grabbed Lethis - Path of Progress. If you've ever played an Impressions city builder, it's basically that with a steampunk theme to it. It's a bit on the easy side, but other than that I'm absolutely loving it.

[Vinroke]

Humble Bundle had Dreamfall Chapters. insta-buy for me. Been years since I played either Dreamfall or The Longest Journey though, so I'm kinda lost :s

[Askold]

Someone mentioned Baldur's Gate 2 so I had to reinstall it. Trying to play a cleric now but I am wondering if there is a way to make fighter playable in the game since all the online guides tell me not to try and I remember having problems with enemies while using a fighter (but I would really want to have the De'Arnise keep stronghold.) Swashbuckler-Rogue is also an option, I remember having fun with it and the thieves guild is also fun to control.

[Svata]

Skald-Bard all the way.

[IanC]

Diablo 2 just had an update to run on new Operating Systems (Windows 7, 8 and 10, all Intel OS X versions). Thats support, 16 years after release and its still getting updated!

When it came out it was Windows 98 and Mac OS 8.5, both of which were completely different OSs at a base level.

[Ironchew]

Diablo 2 just had an update to run on new Operating Systems (Windows 7, 8 and 10, all Intel OS X versions). Thats support, 16 years after release and its still getting updated!

When it came out it was Windows 98 and Mac OS 8.5, both of which were completely different OSs at a base level.

If only it were Free as in Freedom, the community would've ported it to newer platforms for them.

[Dakota Bob]

Mr. Stallman, is that you?

[RavynousHunter]

Re...acquired Temple of Elemental Evil yesterday, and tacked on the Circle of Eight stuff.  I forgot just how god damned brutal this game can be, sometimes.  Sending a lobster the size of a god damned truck after a level 2 party just is NOT fair in the slightest.  Especially when that party is just a cleric, fighter, and soon-to-be rogue/wizard.  Though, I'll admit, its fun playing neutral evil.  Thinking of leading the local priest into believing he's converted me as I amass enough power to kill him.  Training off random encounters, taking everything I see for myself, and leading the Khan siblings to becoming the greatest force of evil in the Flanness.  Then, I'll kick a god's ass just for kicks.

[Svata]

I really need to finish that game

[IanC]

Picked up Driveclub for cheap the other day. After downloading nearly 18GBs worth of updates (over a year and a halfs worth) all i can say is wow, its fucking awesome! Its also really, really pretty. I mean super pretty. Good eye candy is what im saying.

And i like the challenges it throws at you during the race, like a section marked out for "best average speed" or "keep on the racing line" and it matches you up with someone near your skill level so you can try to beat them. Always gives you something to aim for, even if your are just having a quick blast of a course, not playing through the actual Tours. Of which there are tons, due to plenty of DLC.

[RavynousHunter]

I really need to finish that game

Just be careful, the game really has a hard-on for sending things after you that are way, WAY out of your league.  Also, evil clerics kick ass at level 4 and above, since they can command undead.  Guess what you get a lot of when you camp out at the training grounds Emridy Meadows?  Skeleton Gnolls, and in mass numbers.  Few things make for better cannon fodder.

[Askold]

Game designer who worked on many Lucasarts classics and kept copies of all the design notes is now putting all of it online:

http://wilmunder.com/Arics_World/Games.html

Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Maniac Mansion, The Dig, Indy Iron Phoenix, the list goes on.   I worked on all of these and had a suspicion that someday there would be interest in how these games were made.  Years ago I visited the LucasArts facility in the San Francisco Presidio and brought along two grocery bags of design documents.  I asked if they had an archivist and I was told that since I had kept these safe for over two decades, it was best if I just kept them together.  I have met with the archivist at Stanford and these documents will either end up there or at a museum dedicated to preserving game design.  Until then, I plan to release a few documents every month, and I am currently looking at using GitHub for archiving the SCUMM source code.

I know it's just design notes but THIS IS INTERESTING GAMING HISTORY!

[Sleepy]

That's pretty awesome, actually. There's a ton of classic LucasArts games that would be interesting to read about.

[Askold]

The original plot for Monkey Island had the player raid ships on sea, engage other ships in strategic combat (they were undecided about sword fighting) and sell the loot to get supplies. Also there would have been an exp system. And the final battle against undead pirate ship would have been fought with silver cannonballs.

[RavynousHunter]

Seriously, what the fuck is it with Temple of Elemental Evil and sending water snakes, koapacinths, and fucking sea hags after me every other time I get a random encounter while resting?  I get the whole difficulty thing, but these bastards have to be at a CR at least 5 levels above my god damned party!  I barely survive when they send just a single sea hag (with coterie, of course) after me, much less upwards of THREE AT ONCE.  This DM isn't so much sadistic as he is fucking stupid.  But, that's fine by me.  I'll get strong enough to wipe them all out!  After all, that's why I'm training in the first place.