Replaying Super Mario 64 on the Wii U.

Collected 50 stars so far.

I should be finishing up Breath of the Wild, but I had a sudden urge to replay this game.

I'm having a blast with <span class="bold">Party Hard</span>. I enjoy it more than i expected - it's like getting away with murder. :D

Nothing to be proud of, but I'm exploring space station playing Duke Nukem 3D and I've just realized (after all these years) that L.A. Meltdown episode is not the whole story. And when we played DN as a kids we haven't even finished this one, AFAIR.

Arx Fatalis. I was going through one of those times in which I couldn't find a game that clicked. I tried several different games (including System Shock, which I did not find at all enjoyable), but I just couldn't find anything to keep my attention. While looking through my GOG collection, I kept coming back to Arx Fatalis, which I have played and completed before. Figuring that, worst case, I would play an hour or so and move on, I downloaded it and gave it a try.

And I'm having a blast. It's as awkward and weird as I remember, but it doesn't suffer for it. My skill and attribute point distribution is... unfocused, but I'm doing well for myself. I remembered to invest a bit more in magic stuff this time around, and it seems to be working. At level six, I am currently able to kill Ylsides (the toughest enemies in the game) with one spell and one powered up melee attack.

Of course, I am unsure if I will be able to finish the game. I inadvertently wound up in the dwarven area and crafted two mithril swords, only remembering later (as in, after I had already overwritten any saves from that area) that to progress to the end, you have to craft a mithril sword with something else mixed in. However, since there is only enough mithril in the game to craft two swords, I won't have enough to do that.

Here's hoping I remembered incorrectly.

I am unfortunately unable to enjoy games at the moment, since all of my time is spend on studying for the finals or catching the daily dose of Seinfeld. However, when I am able to catch a moment - even if the time is scarce - then I play Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or read the forums. Oh, and I plan to play Undertale for the first time after the finals.

Just played the first chapter of the Phantom Dust remaster for Windows 10. Leaving aside how shitty the Windows Store and the UWP format is, I don't think the game is very good.

It definitely feels like a game from the early 2000s. Tiny arenas, clunky gameplay, lots of overlong cutscenes yet the story still comes off as nonsense.

It also has that early 3D gaming feeling of "We don't really know what works so we'll try whatever" that resulted in so many unique games during that time. Here they go with an action game formula with close range melee skills, long range projectile skills and defensive parry/block skills, all depleting an energy meter that slowly recharges over time, which sounds fine, but a lot of the skills are single use only and you are supposed to run around the arena and keep picking them up, there is no default attack, projectile or block that works without depleting the meter, and the recharge time isn't fast enough to make up for it. Add to that how slowly the projectile skills move, the weird arcs they make leading you to miss your shots, and what I assume was once an impressive terrain destruction physics engine that makes sure if there is even a pixel standing in the path of your projectile it will completely block all of it just to show you that lamp post falling down, the battles can be pretty slow, and I never felt fully in control of all my actions.

I decided to uninstall it after all.

By all means though, the game is free on the Windows Store, if you have a history with the game or any interest in it and don't mind giving the Windows Store a shot, you can try the game out for free and draw your own conclusions.

The GOG game I am playing right now is System Shock 2. Haven't got that far, looking for the second charging station. I wish it would give you more time to react to gun turrets. Not that they would be venerable to attack, just more warning somehow so you don't go for something and get mowed down and then have to reload. So many reloads.

Just finished playing the first Dead Space.

Admittedly, I screwed up and played the third one first a few years ago. The third one was a decent action game, but terrible at horror. The original felt much more like survival horror. It did not constantly scare me like other horror games might, but it did keep me on edge. Between the moments of quiet tension and the loud sequences of battle, it felt like a good mix between action and exploration. Plus some of the late game sequences involving hallucinations really got to me, particularly the one right near the end of chapter 11. The combat was fun and satisfying, the world was really immersive, the story was pretty engrossing in the end, and the pacing was pitch perfect. Since the game has the classic unlockable items for a second playthrough, I can not wait to play through it again.

That is a great map. Ivory is made by the same guy and it is very good too. I also highly recommend playing the Rubicon Rumble Pack.

Just out of curiosity: Did you play this on PC or console? If you did play on PC, were you affected by the port's notorious mouse issues? I ask because my enjoyment of the PC version was seriously hampered by the messed up mouse controls, which was a shame because I quite enjoyed it when I originally played it on the XBox 360.

Also, if you ever get the chance, I would recommend the second game, which is my personal favorite. It did increase the action and decrease the horror (much less so than the third game, which, I should point out, I also enjoyed), but it does have some good, creepy moments. One particular enemy type never ceases to make me jump in the early parts of the game.

As for myself, it looks like I will have to give up on Arx Fatalis, though not for the reason I originally thought. Turns out there was an extra step to making the sword, but the step is separate from the forging process. No problems there. My issue came right before the final boss. Apparently, those Akbaa stones that can be found are plot-important (as in, they are needed to access the final boss room). Being in the old-school vein of video games, however, you are never told these are important. Granted, I did try to hang on to the ones I found, but when i needed room for other items (which I did know were important for progress), I, at some point and in some location, got rid of one of the Akbaa stones.

I haven't the foggiest idea where it is, and I can't progress unless I have it.

For me to progress (because, in old school fashion, only five stones exist in the entire game, and all five are needed to progress), I would need to scour every inch of the game world, because there are dozens--nay, scores--of locations in which I could have run out of inventory space and dropped the stone, and to be honest, I just don't care that much.

Oh well. Looks like it's back to Risk of Rain until I find another game to play.

I played Dead Space on the Xbox One (backwards compatibility and everything). So I did not have to deal with any mouse issues. It sounds like that would ruin the game, though.

And thanks for the further recommendation for Dead Space 2. I'm trying to look for it, and definitely plan on buying it in the near future. I've heard very little about the events in the game itself, only that it is still really atmospheric. So I'll be going in with the same (limited) knowledge as I did the first game, which I won't complain about.

Thanks for the suggestions, will try Ivory, Rubicon stutters considerably (potato pc). Still, between Doom wads and Thief FMs this has been a welcome change of pace.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2

Struggling with the damn controls. I cannot seem to use the keyboard and mouse at the same time.

Splatoon

I'm closing in on 1000 hours played. Sad but true.