From what I have heard, the game:
* Had rather demanding system requirements at the time it came out.
* Does not run well on later hardware than when it came out. (At least until you look far enough ahead for the technology used to be feasibly emulated.)

In other words, the game came out at an awkward point in time.

There's also the problem with the game's lore being incompatible with the lore that had been established earlier in the series. See, for example, the Skull of Mondain in Ultima 9, which, given the events of Ultima 4, probably shouldn't exist anymore at that point.

I've restarted Divinity: Original Sin. I gave it a shot about five years ago, played the hell out of it but never finished the game for some reason. I'm going to fix that this time, so wish me luck.

Besides that, I finished Halo: The Master Chief Collection. My feelings are mixed and inevitably influenced by nostalgia: I played the first two games on the Xbox back when they were new and found myself thinking more highly of those than the rest of the collection. Introduction of Gravemind was something of a point of decline, though. I can't remember much of Halo 3 but was annoyed by how quickly action movie-y it felt at times. Gameplay-wise Halo: ODST was OK, but the graphics felt dated at that point and the characters and dialogue got on my nerves - sometimes it felt forced, but the civilian side story was a nice touch. Halo: Reach was decent enough, but the characters felt like meaningless and shallow caricatures of their roles - for much of the game I forgot that Emile even existed, and I think many cutscene sequences (such as a certain Pelican crash towards the end) would have felt more impactful if they took place while I was in control and watching the events first-person as was the case in e.g. Halo: Combat Evolved (such as, um, a certain Pelican crash towards the end). The Master Chief and Cortana side story of Halo 4 was good enough for me to finish the game, but the gameplay was lackluster (poor enemy design, weak-feeling guns) and the main plot that 343 Industries had come up with was, frankly, absolute garbage that retconned much of the Bungie storyline. So garbage, in fact, that I think I'm done with Halo for now.

I haven't played the last two Halos but just reading about them gives me a sense of tragedy, like 343 inherited this great, well-loved franchise and spent the last decade demolishing it like children who don't how to do anything but break their toys. Their ineptitude is genuinely astonishing.

I do feel a bit bad for the series. Like I said, the introduction of Gravemind (a certain character in Halo 2) felt like something of a tipping point, tugging me quite badly out of the story especially in Halo 3, but I can sort of see and accept why Bungie did it. 343 Industries' efforts come across more as something that fails to comprehend it a significant part of the backstory, grabs onto it anyway, writes extensive fan-fiction about it and it somehow becomes canon from there on.

I checked the Wikipedia entry for Halo: Guardians and Halo 5, and those gave me all the more reason to stay away from the franchise. Oh well. Maybe it's time to replay the Marathon trilogy to cleanse my palate.

My playthrough of Ultima 9: Ascension is going pretty well, albeit I'm proceeding slowly. I have cleansed 3 Shrines of the Virtues (out of 8) in 12 days I'm playing (since 8-2).

Right now? My time is divided between Saints Row the 3rd and Ys: Memories of Celceta.

The former I TRIED to play the remaster on Epic (yeah I know, but free is free) and it froze solid every 20 minutes or so... literally couldnt even get back to my desktop... so Im playing my old standard version without issue. So far, Im loving... outside a few specific missions and the DLCs I stumbled into before I was ready. XD

The latter is from this site and no issues whatever. Just an action RPG Im enjoying so far... though Im still early in it.

Cyberpunk 2077

I was thinking I would play Interstate 76, a game I bought when it was new but my computer back then wasn't up to the new-fangled 3D stuff. I think I waited too long, though, as I absolutely can't get this thing running right on a Windows 11 PC. Installed, uninstalled, and reinstalled numerous times, trying a new "how to get it working great!" guide each time only for none of it to work. At best, I can get it running with high and pretty resolution but the physics refuse to work correctly no matter what, even after I cap the framerate. Even if I was able to get it right, the fact that it's so troublesome should make it a prime candidate for a modern remaster, if only Activision was willing to license it out to a group like Night Dive.

Thinking of re-playing Wizardry 1.

(Also just learned about a game called Silvern Castle, which looks interesting.)

Planning on playing the Darksiders trilogy again.

After having beaten Geneforge 1 remake, which was made by Jeff Vogel on Spiderweb Software, I continue to play Jeff's other games.
I chose Exile - Escape From the Pit. There is a remake of the game (and a remake of the remake too!), which was renamed Avernum Escape From the Pit (and it is on GOG), but I have heard that the original is way better.

Fortunately, we can get the game for free on Jeff's website, but unfortunately, the game can't run with modern Windows. So I installed Windows 3.1(!) on Dosbox and then installed the game, and finally, I can run the game on the environment.

My party is pure fighter x 2, archer thief, priest, and mage x2, although this game has a skill system. I explored the north caverns and then went to the south, and finally entered the castle. So far I've enjoyed the game a lot.

Some years ago, I believe I was able to get the first Exile to run under WINE.

There's also the possibility of seeing of otvdm can run these games.

Also, Spiderweb Software puts out substantial demos of all their games, so you can try before you put down money on the games.

By the way, I believe that in the Exile games, as well as in Avernum 1-3 (not EftP and other later remakes), if a character has 19 luck, the character is 95% likely to survive a fatal blow, which makes it very hard for that character to be killed. (Mentioning this because this is a build that people wouldn't think to try, as so often when there's a Luck stat players just ignore it.)


Still planning on re-playing Wizardry 1 (undecided whether Apple 2 or Sega Saturn version), but have recently learned of a freeware Apple 2 game called Silvern Castle, which looks interesting.

I've been playing 2077 almost non-stop since late November.

Elden Ring on the back burner.

Also, career game, which is, and has been for a couple of years now, Kenshi

Wizardry 1 (Sega Saturn): Got a Priest up from level 1 to level 11 in abount 35 minutes. Could have been faster if I had increased the message speed before that first creeping coin battle. (I wish it were possible to change that setting mid-battle.)

Current playing Three Kingdoms Conussia.
Horrible game - a big letdown after having played Book of Bondmaids. Way too difficult. The catacombs dungeon with its lazy graphics is just a lazy way to stretch out the game. Nothing is intuitive or even makes much sense. Even if the translations were better, the logic just isn't there. Terrible.
I can see the graphics are pretty good though. They had a good artist. Also, the minor key baroque-ish music is a lot better than BoB's music.