<span class="bold">140</span>

I don't really know whether I should count this one as completed or as quit, as I do have beaten its "normal" mode. The thing is that such mode is composed of only 3 levels, which are not that long nor that difficult, and can be completed in little over an hour (or even less, if you're quite good at platforming). But then again, the "extra" mode is nothing else but the same 3 levels flipped horizontally, and without any checkpoint whatsoever: you die, you need to restart the entire level. After a good deal of effort I've been able to beat the first of those levels, but I know for a fact it'd take an insane amount of time (and rage) for me to beat the remaining two. And I'd rather be playing something new, so bye-bye 140!

Not a good week for my patience for ARPGs apparently - quitting Van Helsing 2 for now.

Really like the customization possibilities, but:

1) certain quests if you fail you don't get a 2nd crack at. It's also not always clear when you're failing. In the 3rd round of "tower defense" mini-games I let through 5 monsters out of 500 or so because I was only half paying attention having a conversation and not sweating, and...failed it. Not sure when, since it let me keep killing things to the end.

No chance to repeat.

2) Occasional odd difficulty spikes, even on normal difficulty. Cruising-challenging-cruising-cruising-OMFG. Made more complicated by the fact that you can't grind additional levels, because cleared zones are cleared. And of course if you lost any of the non-repeatable mini-games you're probably behind where you need to be.

It's unfortunate, as I generally like the mechanics and play, but it alternates between stretches that aren't really any challenge at all, and then crazy silly moments where I pop all my CDs and use a potion and still end up dying even kiting away from fire constantly. Repeatedly.

Also seems like certain things are bugged. I used one of my (non-reassignable) trait points for a 20% reduction in damage - but the adjustment doesn't show on the character screen, and, more importantly, it doesn't seem to be impacting incoming damage.

The game seems balanced for Multiplayer, currently going through Final Cut with Zeo and it's fine really.
Spots that are a bit harder but nothing overwhelming.
Being able to revive each other also helps.
(This is on hard as normal was too easy)

It was quite surprising to me as I remembered having a LOT of trouble when playing alone.
Even dying 20+ times on one map.

The Final Cut has an option you can turn on to respawn enemies when you come back to the game.

I wasn't aware aggroing all enemies and bringing them to me even though you're the tank counted as helping.

I did say "puzzling" tactics. I'm sure this action quite puzzled you, no?
There you go.

lol

I went back to messing around with Torchlight 2 (embermage) and it was more fun and a bit more balanced [if clearly not as ambitious]. Perhaps VH2 is better in co-op, IDK. I un-installed it already though. ;) Chewing through backlog one way or another right now!

But...but...you might have a chance to play with your favorite person on the internet!
...if he buys VH2, but until then, you could play with me.

I am close to giving Descent 3 a miss. Too bad since I was always looking forward to playing it, ever since I finished Descent 1-2 loooong time ago.

I'm trying to play D3 in the hardest Insane difficulty, and the game just feels silly. I am still in the very first level, and every enemy encounter is a huge trouble and big nuisance. I think they've really gone overboard with the difficulty level there.

First revelation was that unlike the first two games, I really shouldn't play this game like a "flight sim", using a flightstick + keyboard. The game is so hard that you really need the precision and snappy movement of the mouse, playing it like a FPS game. This evens the odds a bit at least.

Still, it is truly insane. One enemy laser hit does more damage to me than what I get "health" from the shield power ups. What that means basically that I am forced to reload the game (and try again) if I get hit by an enemy even once. I can't afford to be hit by enemies almost at all. I think one laser hit from the early enemies takes like 8 points out of your shields, and a powerup replenishes it by measly 6 points. You do the math. There are not that many of those shield powerups anyway, sometimes you find one lying around, sometimes killing and enemy or shooting a barrel reveals one.

When you fly indoors, you usually have very little or no room to dodge enemy shots, and you constantly get stuck to protrusions on walls etc.

Also, the enemies are very accurate with their shooting, and they do take lead into account, ie. if you merely try to circle-strafe them in open space, it doesn't work, they can still hit you. So gameplay becomes either a game of peek-a-boo where you hope to get some lucky shots at the enemy (they are very good at dodging your shots too), or then I guess you should all the time move very erratically to all directions while shooting at your enemy so that the enemy can't lead the shots. Either way, it is very time consuming and annoying, and lots of reloading of save games (basically if you get hit by an enemy at all, you just can't afford to lose almost any shields in the long run).

I'm hoping though I'd acquire some better weapons that would even the odds more. I already found homing missiles which are a good addition, but unfortunately it takes three such missiles to kill one early enemy, meaning I will constantly run out of them.

I've encountered one type of enemy which doesn't shoot but tries to ram you, and those were easier to manage as long as you have some room to move. Shoot at them when they charge at you, and then sidestep (strafe) just before they hit you. It is mainly those shooting enemies which are the big problem, very hard to hit and they are very accurate hitting you even from great distances.

Of course I could also try to play on a lower difficulty level... but I guess I could just as well enable a godmode cheat and be done with it while I am at it. I don't recall having these kinds of problems with the first two Descent games, and I played them with a freaking flightstick, after all.

If Descent 3 can be considered as a FPS game, then it is truly the hardest FPS game I've ever played. Mind you, I have finished e.g. Far Cry with the highest difficulty, and Serious Sam + Second Encounter games with the second highest difficulty (not the hardest one where the enemies become semi-invisible, I felt that went overboard so I needed to play one step lower). And of course the first two Descent games. Descent 3 difficulty really is... something else.

I've found some Youtube video though someone playing Descent 3 on the Insane difficulty, so apparently it can be done... He fights the early enemies very aggressively, jumping all over a place (obviously trying to avoid hits as much as possible). Too bad because I'd prefer a more cautious approach to fight the enemies one by one, but apparently it is not possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnAIJgddtfI

Rebel Galaxy

I know you could say this about any space game really but after eight hours I feel like I've played the same exact two minutes over and over again.

I leave a station with a story mission, boost out, (which takes forever), dodge events and mineral fields as best I can, (inevitably always getting stuck on something), mine because I'm there or dust a few pirates, start boosting out again, finally get to objective and half the time realize I can't do it because underleveled.

The music that sold me on the whole thing finally wore thin and just irritates me now. I feel like in the end they had a really solid 1/4 of a game and decided to stretch it out to 40 hours. I'm getting Elite Dangerous levels of boredom just waiting to get anywhere.

Rhythm Thief & The Emperor's Treasure

It's not a bad game but it's just a genre that i don't like, i decided to give it a try since it came with the Nintendo bundle but nope, not my thing.



Retro City Rampage DX (3DS)

Yes, it's a repeat on this thread but last time was on PC... I thought that perhaps it was a better fit for a portable device but no, the controls are awkward, especially when driving, the rest of the game doesn't make up for this flaw.

Ok Descent 3 is back to my to-play list. All my complaints above about its difficulty became meaningless after I learned that unlike in Descent 1 and 2, you have unlimited lives in D3 (I was wondering why there isn't any number indicating the your lives/ships left...). So dying doesn't really matter, there will never be game over, at best dying is a slight nuisance because you respawn usually a bit further away (which makes sense though, to respawn in a safe place), head back to the place where you died in order to collect all the powerups and weapons you dropped while dying, and continue fighting.

So if you have some very hard encounter, it kinda makes sense to rush in guns blazing, shoot as many enemies as you can (or cause as much damage to them as you can), die, respawn, rush back in and continue fighting. The enemies don't even respawn (at least I haven't seen so far) so you won't be even fighting the same enemies over and over again.

Interesting... feature, but it does make trying to play carefully and using precaution kinda meaningless.

Resonance
The multiple character mechanic in the game seemed interesting.
The blonde guy was extremely unlikable and after suffering through 2 of his poor decision-making sections, I quit the game. I just couldn't stand playing a 3rd blonde d-bag section.

Spycraft: The Great Game

This one hurt bad, but not for the reasons of poor mechanics or a clunky interface which are the main issues I have with PC games of the era; the mechanics and interface were really quite good and the mechanics were sensible and intuitive. Even blown up on my big ass TV the text and images were surprisingly clear. I still can't get over just how slick the interface was for the time. The story itself was pretty much the usual Tom Clancy affair that dominated the space of airport book spindles back in the nineties. Kitsch but fun and surprisingly well acted.

Those qualities should have made this a nice little gem for me save for the point in the story where the the real life former director of the CIA (William Colby then retired who played himself in the game no less) tells ME not violate the protocols set forth by the Geneva Convention when my character was tasked with interrogating a freelance spy.

This is the man who oversaw the "Phoenix Program" during the Vietnam war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Program

Tell me that is not a crime against humanity.

And here he was telling me not to violate the Geneva Convention.

How dare you

This is the only game I played over this great 21 year old pastime that I ever found to be both morally and ethically abhorrent.

This is actually one of my favorite games from my childhood. With caveats...

We never actually got past the gem puzzle until years later when the planets aligned and Lady Luck's car broke down outside our house. Later on we would learn that the puzzle's solution is not consistent and partially generated. I actually trialed and errored the whole of the fireberry maze and man did it ever suck.