| Screwtape |
Posted on 21-09-23, 13:39 in Games You Played Today REVENGEANCE
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 Post: #441 of 443 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 884 days Last view: 81 days |
Recently I've been playing Avernum: Escape From The Pit, a 2012 remake of 2000's Avernum, which was itself a remake of 1995's Exile I: Escape From The Pit. It's an isometric turn-based RPG with a party of four randomly(?) generated characters, so it's a little bit like Ultima, a little bit like Rogue, and a bit like Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment — except that unlike those last two, it's *not* trying to shoehorn a turn-based tabletop ruleset into a real-time combat system, so it's actually comprehensible and fun. It also reminds me a bit of Morrowind, since although it doesn't have the amazing worldbuilding and fantastic architecture (Spiderweb Games is just one guy working in a basement), after the initial tutorial dungeon it gives you a couple of quests as suggestions, but mostly sets you free to explore the overworld as you see fit, including wandering into places where the monsters will one-shot your party. A few hours in, I managed to sneak into a back-entrance to the Ruined Tower of the Nephilim, and was doing OK against the rank-and-file monsters but the bosses were ruining me. So I fled, explored and found some new towns, did some job-board quests, levelled up a bit, and when I went back I had more potent spells, smarter tactics, and tougher gear, and I emerged victorious.That might not *sound* amazing, but it didn't feel like grinding at all; I still had (and still have) a huge mass of unexplored territory and quests beckoning me to all quarters of the map. Probably the worst aspect of the game is the graphics. Despite being vastly better than the games it's a remake of (see the screenshots linked above), sometimes it's hard to see exactly what's going on. Partially that's because it's all 2D pixel art that can't be scaled up, partially that's because it's not drawn to make important things (items, buttons, interact-able objects) distinctive and recognisable (see Transport Tycoon or Diablo), and that is because Spiderweb Games is just one guy working in a basement so I can't complain too hard. But I have been squinting at the screen. The second most annoying thing about the game is there doesn't appear to be a way to take notes on the map. The game is very good about quest markers (at least when an NPC tells you a location), and there's a button to bookmark any random page of dialog even if it's not actually a quest, but occasionally you'll find a patch of ground that gives you a message like "Gee, if your Cave Lore skill were high enough, you might find something here!" and it would be nice to be able to mark *those* on the map alongside actual quests. Those two quibbles aside, I'm having a great time so far and I'm looking forward to playing more. The ending of the words is ALMSIVI. |
| Screwtape |
Posted on 21-11-16, 06:46 in What are the Blocking and Flush checkboxes in higan?
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Post: #442 of 443 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 884 days Last view: 81 days |
Yep, that's correct. The ending of the words is ALMSIVI. |
| Screwtape |
Posted on 21-11-16, 07:04 in Launch Higan in fullscreen mode
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Post: #443 of 443 Since: 10-30-18 Last post: 884 days Last view: 81 days |
If you have mapped a key to the "Toggle Fullscreen" action, it should be pretty easy to make AutoHotKey automatically press it once the higan window appears. higan does not support this feature natively, and probably never will. The ending of the words is ALMSIVI. |
