Zeus: Master of Olympus (base game)

Aaand 6 years later I finally finished Zeus: Master of Olympus
And not even the full package - just the original Zeus and not the 'Poseidon' expansion (but it WAS included the 'Odysseus' adventure hidden away in 'Custom Adventures' that I think a lot of people probably miss) and only at the medium 'Moderate' difficulty too!
So it's like watching a spreadsheet come to life, building temples (this time) is particularly like watching paint dry and combat is, as always woeful and best avoided at all costs - It's a Sierra Citybuilder game, basically!
So why are these games so meditatively addictive? Why is balancing the needs of your citizens, requests and diplomacy from other cities and trying to turn a financial profit so addictive?
Probably not for everyone but sublimely enthralling if your lucky enough to click with it - I prefer it to more traditional building games like Sim City, personally...


Full list: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2019/post292

Warcraft 1: Orcs and Humans. Finished both campaigns, making the sum total of my complete Warcraft 1 playthroughs at least 3, possible 4.
Onto Warcraft 2! where I genuinely still have a campaign to finish for the first time: Beyond the Dark portal.

Operencia: The Stolen Sun (XB1X)

From the people that make pinball games (pretty good ones too) comes a first person grid based RPG with turn based combat. So in recent times it's closest to Might & Magic X in gameplay.

After the short and easy introduction/tutorial level you create a single character. The remaining cast will join you as you complete the story. What you lose by not being able to roll you entire party is made up for by having everyone well voiced and with character- like in the BG games compared to Icewind Dale. The story is directly tied to the characters that join you and the world. It is apparently based upon Hungarian folk tales. It was a good story and not the usual fantasy tropes, especially great that there are no Elves or Dwarves. I hate Elves.

I thought the game was awesome overall. Great voice acting and party banter, that includes you own character. Good mood music. Graphics are a bit like Borderlands, with texture up close that fades away to cell shading into the distance. What I liked best is that the world is crafted, no random loot and no random encounters. This ensures the experience and intended difficulty always matches where you are. It isn't particularly difficult, but it could be if you don't balance out your party members...much like any of these traditional style RPG's. The gameplay is divided between combat, exploration (and searching for secrets- some even needed for progression) and puzzle solving. No aspect outweighs the others due to the absence of random combat encounters.

As mentioned, I loved the game. If there was one single aspect though, that wore out its welcome near the end, it was that some of the puzzles held up the story for a bit too long. I don't enjoy lengthy puzzles in my RPG's and a few here dragged on a bit. One optional puzzle near the end prevents me from finding all the games secrets, simply because I refuse to solve the sliding block jigsaw puzzle thing to get what I need. I hate those types of puzzles. Normally I could look up a step by step walkthrough for that puzzle, but there are none because the game is only a few days old. It's only an optional puzzle anyway.

I feel that this game does for the old M&M style of game what Legend of Grimrock did for the Eye of the Beholder style. You can turn off the radar map and automapping and make it just like old times if you want. ZEN normally makes the Pinball FX series and I guess that's their bread and butter, this game feels more like just a game they really wanted to make. I hope it does well and becomes a series. I played it on Xbox Game Pass, which also works for the Win 10 store as well. Or get it on Epic instead.

Diablo

Played and finished many many times to make my warrior stronger and stronger - now it's level 31 with great armor and equipment.
I love his dungeon crawling style and semi-random generated dungeons all the time

Diablo 2 + LoD
with patch 1.13+PlugY+Enjoy-SP Mod (which makes rare and unique drops more common, like, almost always when you kill the boss).
It's one of these games from my personal category of "love the genre but don't like most important titles from them so much".
Never managed to beat as a Barb until now. Monsters feels more tanky than I remember, and Barb miss a lot more hits than last time with that game.

It was nice experience. Got a truckload of unique items. And managed to collect some full sets. They're mostly garbage tho.

It's really hard to play D2 without respec skills option from PlugY and bigger stash. Still laugh at its size from original D2 D:

Drakan - Order of Flame
Played with community patch that makes it playable on modern system. Still had some minor quirks but that's ok.
Pretty cool action game, it's so '90 it felt like sitting in front of old TV box (and not my LCD computer display) watching another episode of Xena or other adventure tv series.

Combat is ehhh after beating Severance - BoD every year but servicable. Weapons durability is not a problem, there is a plenty of replacements on your path. There is some reward for exploring every corner of the map. Blocking attacks is pointless and dodging is almost useless thanks to Rynn's hitboxes being bigger than her ingame model.
Dragon sections are nice but his model have collision issues. Flying through the open gates is gamble and few moments, when you had to crawl through narrow tunnels, are nightmare to navigate.

Oh and for some reason character voices were really quiet. I missed a lot of banters between Rhynn and Arokh :<
Heard that game was really picky when it comes to sound cards but even 20 years later?

Like Summoner games - sequel was released on consoles, which was weird. Also - they dropped cliffhanger in OoF and left for separate story in sequel named Ancient Gates. I don't get it.

Citizens of Earth (PS4)

This is a turn-based 2D RPG-lite comedy game.

You play as the Vice-President of Earth, but you don’t do any fighting yourself! Instead you recruit citizens from around town to do it for you. Enemies have different strengths and weaknesses, and you need to pick the right citizens (who also have their own strengths and weaknesses) for the task at hand, you can only use three at a time. The special abilities of the citizens are very appropriate to their professions, and there are a large variety.

In addition to the main story, these citizens will also give you side quests to accomplish.

The main flaw of this game is the repetitive nature, but there is such a large variety of citizens that I found switching them up occasionally helped a lot because they do feel very different from one another. The story, citizens, and enemies are all humorously written. The game is also quite easy (on Normal difficulty), but the problem with higher difficulties is that the combats take even longer, making the game even more repetitive as you fight the same opponents over and over again (each area usually only has about 2-3 different enemy types). The game can be a bit grindy to level-up all the different citizens, although that’s not strictly necessary because the first three citizens you recruit make a well-balanced team. The game provides a “VR Arena” where you can custom-make your own battles so the grinding goes much more quickly and easily :).

Overall it took me about 40 hours to complete the game, that’s for completing all the main and side missions, and recruiting and levelling up all the citizens until all their abilities are unlocked.

I would certainly recommend this game if you enjoy turn-based comedy RPGs and don’t mind a little grinding.

~~~~~

I thought I mentioned these other two games earlier, but I can’t find it if I did so (I completed the first one a couple months ago, and the second just recently):

Overcooked (PS4)
Overcooked 2 (PS4)

These games are frantic co-op games where you work together to complete restaurant orders by fetching, preparing, cooking, and serving food in kitchens which move and contain all sorts of other hazards. These games are not really the type I’d choose to play on my own, but my wife wanted me to play with her so of course I would not refuse. We completed all the levels together, with help from our son occasionally when we needed a third chef because we were having a hard time getting all three stars which just two chefs.

Both games are essentially the same, #2 adds the ability to throw items, as well as new recipes and new locations and hazards of course.

They are very fun games to play couch co-op, I ended up enjoying them a lot more than I thought I would!

Joining the ranks of people completing Diablo 1 this week (thanks to Doc's generosity).

I had beaten it back in the day, and it was probably the first game I ever did multiplayer in with friends. Bit wistful to only play SP now, but that's where life is.

I beat the game on my 6th character this go round (lvl 24 warrior)- I restarted each class once, ultimately intending to beat it on the sorceror, but ultimately giving in and just plowing through on the warrior. As PaterAlf notes, the warrior is relatively easy, and you can cheese in a few places if you carry a cheap healing staff by running away and healing up before returning to the fray.

The downside of the warrior is the number of mobs that just run away, annoyingly. Ultimately I started carrying a bow around, but between a healing staff and a bow, there goes most of your inventory space.

It does have some RNG (non-quest drops, altars) that give it moderate replayability, though also mean that a particular playthrough might be hampered by drops and altars that don't really do much - or might even harm you. My warrior maxed out DEX fairly early, because I found a zillion mysterious altars, and every time it boosted DEX (and dinged STR/MAG/VIT).

The games pluses still shine: vocals, most of the audio, atmosphere, RNG
Minuses: Movement speed, lots of wasted time meandering around town, small inventory (for anyone who is a packrat), RNG

For $10, definitely still worth picking up and spending some time with despite its age and limitations.

A Short Hike

The Humble Monthly Original of April, and so far these exclusives have been mostly unremarkable or somewhat creative but not enough to be considered a full fledged game. A Short Hike is a very short one as well (~1 hour, maybe a little more if you try to 100% it or just want to linger a bit longer), but to me it felt complete and very polished. In fact, I liked it so much that in my book it might not only be the best Humble Original I've played but surprisingly, maybe also the most enjoyable game of the April bundle (YMMV, of course).

It's a collectathon kind of game with a small open world (island) to explore, the graphics are low res looking and pixel-y but quite beautiful and cute in their own way, the soundtrack is really good, and there's also a bit of simple but sweet story-telling going on. I don't want to compare it to Night in the Woods, as it's nowhere near that complexity and seriousness, and that comparison would definitely invite disappointment, but I still felt reminded of it occasionally; maybe because it's also about cartoony looking animals who are really just people dealing with actual people problems like growing up, self-esteem etc. (except that people can't fly like the bird protagonist in A Short Hike). But this just a small and very unintrusive part of the game, it's mostly about exploration, jumping, climbing, gliding, finding treasure, shortcuts and upgrades and trying to reach the top of the highest mountain. It's non-violent and a very family friendly game fit for younger children as well (sadly, the text is English only).

I never found that damn watch though, I guess that's the ultimate challenge in the game (or maybe the internet thieves DID find it first). ;)

DISTRAINT: Deluxe Edition I got it a few months ago for free here on GOG. This game is really short (I do not mind) with great atmosphere mainly due to fantastic sounds and also colour effects. Unfortunately I did not enjoy this game for two reasons. Firstly usually not everything is black or white and this game literally tells you what YOU should think… Secondly this game is since the beginning to end only negative... Why should somebody play this game? If you have too great mood and you want feel bad… No, I cannot recommend it!

Grim Dawn - Ashes of Malmouth

The first story-driven of Grim Dawn. Bought it at the release of the new one, Forgotten Gods, and I haven't been disappointed. More story, more loot, more enemies, more everything. Ashes of Malmouth promises... and delivers! I've you're a fan of the Diablo-like genre, Grim Dawn is a must play!

So far in 2019: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2019/post24

Went back and played Civ IV thinking I'd just do a quick palate cleanser, and it sucked up an entire weekend just beating the game once.

Certainly some setting (animations) weren't optimized for speed, but, and perhaps it was just having gotten so used to the mechanics of Civ V, Civ IV felt like it required a lot more attention/tactics. I'd played it a ton back when it came out, but playing it again, it really took some getting used to.

Even on the 'Warlord' setting, the first war I had, against a civ I was otherwise dominating, was game over because I'd forgotten about the 'stack of death' and me with my dozen or so powerful but scattered units was suddenly overwhelmed by his stack of 30 cavalry and 6 catapults.

In Civ V, defense is a lot easier because of city defenses and the lack of stacking. In Civ IV, if you want to actually defend against the invading hordes, it helps to have built some units, and perhaps choose your city locations with movement / mutual defense in mind rather than just optimizing resources (and still not ending up with any coal to build railroads despite owning 35% of the map).

Oops. Anyway, still a truly great classic that left me a bit humbled scratching and clawing to a Warlord "Dan Quayle" victory.

Rise of the Triad: Dark War - 2/5

When you're releasing an FPS a few months after Doom II using an old engine, you gotta do something to stand out. And RotT definitely stand outs. Sadly, it's not always for the best. It feels like they wrote out a list of novel ideas, but then they forgot to edit that list.

It's things like the novel but poorly-balanced weapon system, the often frustrating level design with far too much of an emphasis on traps, certain 'powerups' that just exist to annoy you, etc...

However, it's (as far as I can tell) the first FPS to feature a female protagonist, and also perhaps the first FPS to have multiple protagonists.

I would only really recommend it if you're specifically interested in the history of FPSs, or, if like me, you have a weird obsession with 2.5D shooters.

crackdown 3. not the greatest but certainly better than whatever ubi, ea and activision has been shitting out.

Vampyr (XB1X)

Recently added to Xbox Game Pass. This game is by the same people as Life is Strange, which really is strange as it's an RPG. Though it's a very dialogue and story heavy RPG.

It ran well overall, though I've heard that it can have some performance issues on base consoles and some bugs on PC. For me tit ran really well and not a single bug or problem. Of course it's a Vampire story, so the game takes place entirely at night, but the streets of London are really moody with the lighting and fog. At first glance it looks like an open world RPG, but it isn't. It's map is really a spiderweb of interconnected alleys with shortcuts you can open. The map isn't huge, hence no fast travel.

As already mentioned this one flies on its story, mood and atmosphere. It's quite exceptional in that regard actually. It combines parts of history, vampire lore and an overall apocalyptic event that you need to prevent- as a recently made vampire doctor. During the story you can fast track your powers by taking the blood of citizens, or go it the harder way and resist murder and only kill in self defence or to kill beasts beyond saving. I did play the game without killing citizens and it wasn't that hard really. I believe it is the best ending out of a possible three, but I could have that wrong.

Why some may not like the game is the mechanics. Combat is only average. It's a stamina bar, dodge system like Dark Souls, but with out any great depth. Plus there seem to be a few balance problems...like how powerful my fully upgraded shotgun was...it made mince meet of the final boss, who needs vampire powers? Still it isn't terrible and the story and dialogue are the real focus here, the combat does the job.

The main issue is a feeling of detachment between a lot of the story and the general gameplay. You can play a benevolent vampire trying to do the best you can to spare life. Yet on the way to the next destination you will slaughter 20 vampire hunters without issue. Lets face it though, lots of games have this problem.

So excellent mood, story, voice work, music and dark atmosphere. Average combat with some mismatch between story and actual game play. I actually really liked it, the story drove me on...which is unusual for me since I value game mechanics very highly in RPG's as a rule. But this one was one I'll remember for a while. Another game I'd never have tried if it didn't turn up on Game Pass.

Finished Sleepings Dogs: Definitive Edition on PS4 yesterday. It's really a very good game and I enjoyed my time with it. It's a welcome change to play a "GTA clone" with a focus on melee combat, in particular martial arts. But as much as I enjoyed the game, it's also not groundbreaking or too memorable in any way. Not one part of it stands out on its own, e.g. combat is good but not mindblowing, driving is okay at best as is the mission design. And the plot is rather mature and well-written but also almost mundane and lacks particularly recognisable or likeable characters (something e.g. the Yakuza series excels at). An interesting touch is that the protagonist, Wei Shen, is in fact an undercover cop (something I did not know but that is revealed during the intro) which is used for some interesting stuff and adds tension to the story but also creates a bit of a dissonance since, with the game being a typical sandbox game, you will inevitably kill dozens or even hundreds of civilians just by speeding through the city.

Anyway, as I said, I had a very good time with it. The plot was still interesting to follow, the setting and location are exotic and combat was really fun. It's one of the more engaging sandbox games I've played and it didn't feel like it overstays its welcome which is something I appreciate.