Not a game but some of the stories here remind me of the time I discovered I could draw stuff on the screen with Omicron Basic on my Atari ST and I painstakingly entered every square by hand dozens of times to make squares move across the screen…until days later I discovered the magic of the for loop. I must have been maybe 10 or so at the time.
Ogre Battle on the SNES is the original auto-battler. I would really recommend Ogre Battle 64 though, not only is it one of the very few RPGs on the system but it’s got really unique gameplay. It’s got its flaws but I’m such a sucker for the character designs and job/class system that it’s still my favorite game to this day.
I didn’t realize metal gear rising had a block/parry mechanic. The tutorial talks about countering enemy blows with your own barrage of attacks so I figured I just had to stagger them and steal health regularly. Monsoon is the first fight with no minions to heal off of, so I got stuck and finally checked online.
Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines. Dated, needs mods to run, but the fact that there’s still a community patch being made for it after all this time says a lot. Haven’t really heard much about it since the sequel crashed and burned, which is sad because no game has really given me the same atmospheric vibes. It was (is?) really special
Nothing really captures the atmosphere of a good WoD game quite like bloodlines. The combat is, let’s face it, pretty dogshit, but the writing, worldbuilding, and especially the voice talent and direction are some of the best out there to this day. The game just oozes charisma and flavor, and the pacing of the main quest juxtaposed with the black comedy of so many of the side characters’ goings-on makes it the kind of experience that just pulls you in.
I know Bloodlines 2 will eventually release, likely sometime in the next 2-3 years because paradox just began to spin up their socials again, but even if it weren’t stuck deep in Devhell I get the feeling it just won’t have the same punch B1 did. Granted, B1 was just as rocky on its own day 1 and it didn’t pick up the cult following until well after release, and with the help of a dedicated, loving community that tore it down and rebuilt it from the ground up. We can only hope that community love is still here and willing to make B2 the best game it can be. Time will tell.
Saving this post because it’s right up my alley so now I have many new games to check out. Project Zomboid is still going strong for us, but here are some others that our group has enjoyed:
Heave Ho: super crude 2D graphics, but absolutely hilarious gameplay
The Ascent: beautiful cyberpunk-themed isometric shooter
Broforce: very entertaining pixel-art 2D platformer/shooter - we played this through to the end, which is rare for us
Overcooked: very entertaining 3D game, not sure what I would even call the genre - a “work” game?
Unrailed: similar to uncooked, but a different kind of “work”
For some reason sequels are extra eager to walk into this trap, thinking the energy field and the virus are what made the original so compelling, so this time let’s have the story revolve around 3 energy fields and 8 viruses.
Side note, but this perfectly describes why I liked the first John Wick, where the world of the assassins is an interesting background element, and hated the sequels which are exclusively about the assassins and their weird rules and traditions
I beat the original dark souls without realizing there were different weight thresholds for rolling. I fat rolled the entire game. Also didn’t realize boosting vigor was important for hp. I did 99% strength/stamina and only as much dex as required to weild my weapons.
I think it’s great that you’ve fostered a discussion where no one’s really angry, but there’s definitely confusion. I have a rough idea as to what you’re referring to, but without concrete examples of games, this seems more like a well-intended but uninformed rant that needed more time in the oven.
bin.pol.social
Najstarsze