Diablo

Despite having played my fair share of Diablo 2 and Diablo clones over the years, the one I had never played extensively was the original Diablo (never got past that damn butcher). After I tracked down one old disc (no Hellfire, though, that sucker is bloody expensive!) and after some heavy usage of the Kill Explorer fix, I was able to run and finish the game. Was that trip to the past worth it? Of course it was! But how does it feel in comparison to the games it inspired? As much as I enjoyed it (a lot!), I will say that it feels dated. Your character is slow, which can make it difficult to properly hit and run (a must if you are not the warrior), which doesn't help when you are attacked by gangs of ranged enemies before you even get to see them. There is no overworld to get a better feel of the Diablo world; just the town of Tristram along with the labyrinth (the dungeons of the game). Quests are few (but, interestingly, randomly chosen in each playthrough), there are no abilities (only spells which are randomly-dropped) and constantly clicking to attack, as opposed to just holding the left click, can be a pain for your index finger.

Despite the above, Diablo still has a great ace in its sleeve; the labyrinth itself. Randomly-generated in each playthrough, very dark and moody, it's a dangerous and evil place, where a wrong step can ensure your swift death and the deeper you go, the more twisted and evil the labyrinth starts to become. Contributing to the labyrinth's atmosphere, are the monsters, who initially appear as shadows when they are away from you, only for their twisted features to become more visible the closer they are. The very nice (but albeit limited) soundtrack further enhances the atmosphere and so do the voices of the monsters, whether it is their attack grunts or their death screams. Especially their death screams, as defeating the evil monsters is always satisfying, especially those ranged bastards which can attack you before you even see them (though, interestingly, you can also damage them even when you can't see them! I like it when a game is fair that way. :D)

All in all, I liked Diablo, despite its rough edges and I'm now very curious to revisit Diablo 2 and try out some of the other Diablo clones as a result. But first things first, let's not forget to properly update the list.

I just finished Without Within.

It's a very short visual novel with a story that is sometimes a bit funny.
The drawings aren't that bad and the music stays in the background, being neither good nor bad.

There's really only one reason to play it: It's free.


Here's my list.

What is the reverse of this thread? I'm trying to find that thread of games you stopped playing or something like that

Here you go :-)
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_quit_in_2015

That's it, thank you! :)

I just finished a second game today. Faerie Solitaire.

I got it on Steam a few years ago when it was free but only played it a bit.
Now I gave it another try and found a game that's easy and repetive but quite fun and has a surprisingly good story. Sadly the story has a buy-Farie-Solitair-2-ending.
The biggest plus point of this game is that it's very relaxing. It's a great game to play before bed, after work or after playing Dark Souls (damn the Catacombs).


Here's my list.

Finished Pokemon Blue early this morning with probably the worst team I've ever used. Started on Yellow and traded over all the R/B exclusives for the "complete the PokeDex" run. Still having fun, but I'll definitely need to move on to something else after this.

Jisei

I'm not a big fan of murder mystery stories and neither that much into visual novels, but I still enjoyed it because of its comparatively high production values, great art and music and solid writing. I also liked that it was a bit more interactive than I expect the average visual novel to be; not that many choices regarding the story, but it does a nice job in giving the player the feeling to actually do something, by simulating the basics of an adventure game (move between rooms and choose who to talk with or what to examine next). Not much else to say about it, it probably won't stick in my memory for long, but it was a pleasant diversion for an hour or so.

Syberia 2

Not a bad game, bit far-fetched at times.

Did install Penumbra earlier, but the controls....

Going to try System shock 2

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

One of the best games in recent years.

Warhammer 40K: Soulstorm (Dark Eldar run.)

One of the two new factions included for the game, but in the end it ultimately played the same as everything else.

Seemed to run into more instances of the AI being broken, objects getting stuck on top of each other, things like that.
Maybe this is more prone to errors since it was new material, and I doubt new material in an overall rush job gets the best of quality testing.

Oh well. On to the next. 4 down. 5 to go.

include me

Stick of Truth and Max Payne 3

The Island Castaway

Pretty good game actually, even though it's rather simple and casual. Most of the time you'll be repeating the same actions: picking up respawning fruits and herbs, planting vegetables, finishing, hunting, cooking etc. but there is some charm in those chores. Trade is simple too - sell finished products, buy basic resources and upgrade your equipment. There are a lot of NPCs on the island and they will be giving you some "quests" but again - it's very simple like talk with person A, gather resource B and bring it to me. As you fulfill those objectives you trigger some special events that push the story forward so everything revolves around you anyway. The story is not great but interesting nonetheless. You can't die in this game, if your energy goes down you have blackout, lose a few of your items and you wake up again. I can recommend it to anyone who wants to play a well done casual game.


Full list

Magicka

I have finally beaten the vanilla adventure mode playing co-op with a friend. The story is kind of stupid, but the game mechanics are very creative. There seems to be an endless number of combinations each of them resulting with a different spell (which also means different spell graphics, different amount of damage. And this is exactly what makes the game unique and fun to play co-op. For instance, you can use water spells on a creature whereby your friends casts lightning which ends up with a combined devastating spell. The music is very good and the graphics are OKish. Also, some spell combinations are so powerful that it makes most creatures a joke. The worst thing about the game is the annoying bugs and a good number of crushes you will experience which will really piss you off. At the end, it is worth a playthrough just for the innovative spell mechanics. I would only recommend playing co-op though. As a single player, the game would not be enjoyable.

damien score: 6.5/10

List of all games finished in the last years with best and worst games played in each year

Resident Evil 6

The game was totally horrible. Nothing but QTEs, bugs and super bad level design. Gone are the days when RE series was good.