All I know about Sunless Sea is that it came out of Early Access and the text is very small and hard to read if you're watching someone play on a stream
A good stream of this would need the person to take the time to read out the text and stuff in a British accent.
Well, quite.
...
... I might actually do that at some stage. I was going to give Sunless Sea another go anyway, once I'm finally done with DA:I (which is too good to put down and too big to finish quickly). But apparently I'm back at work this weekend, and apparently Pillars of Eternity comes out in 5-6 weeks, so progress may be slow...
For the past decade I've been hearing how amazing Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is. I'm here to tell you that it doesn't hold up so well, and I can usually adapt to pretty much anything.
These checkpoints are horrible. I died after a boss fight and I had to fight him again. In general, the checkpoints are far apart.
Every section seems heavily scripted, with only one real way to get through. Fail, and go 10 minutes back, making the same motions over again by rote.
It's also from the days of really half-assed PC ports. Using a controller? Button prompts will be for the keyboard, or stuff like "Button9" or "POV 0". It has full controller support, except the title screen that says "Press Enter," and boy do they mean it; they'll except nothing else. Color mode options are "8 bit int" or "16 bit float". Are you kidding me? What are terms like "int" and "float" doing in there? Thank god I have a degree in computer programming.
It's said that nothing ages as fast as the state-of-the-art; and as such, I can imagine that game hasn't aged well. For its day, on its original platform (the first Xbox), it really was absolutely breathtaking and a real showcase title for that (IMO) underappreciated console.
Back to the PC, though. I wonder if the controller issue would be fixed in the "remastered" version of Butcher Bay that was in Assault on Dark Athena, since that was 2009 and controller support was more civilised by then, and the original was 2004.
More to the point, why aren't they - or Dark Athena at least - on Steam? Dagnabbit.
That's what I'm playing. I'm surprised it's so rough around the edges.
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DrakeEdgelord TrashBelow the ecliptic plane.Registered Userregular
What's nuts is they developed Butcher Bay multiplatform. It was on the OXBox so the prompts were already in one version.
What's nuts is they developed Butcher Bay multiplatform. It was on the OXBox so the prompts were already in one version.
Shoot Many Robots did the same thing. And the devs apparently said they optimized the PC version for PCs...meaning of course they don't have controller support and according to Steam forums, made it so controllers wouldn't work right with the game due to some game changes they made in the PC version.
I guess they came from a time when PC users wanted to play things like they would on a PC, before controllers became a big deal?
So today I saw Magicmaker on Steam and checked it out. It's pretty badass, you can combine spell elements and create custom spells. The store page says a little over 2 million combinations are possible for your spells, and you use the same system to customize your robe's effects too so it also has that many possible combinations. I've only played an hour and I have 3 spells I'm currently using: my basic one is a laser beam that can pass through walls and siphon mana from enemies, the second spell is a bouncing lightning ball that arcs to enemies and also sets them on fire, and my third is a homing spell with two projectiles and it leeches health from enemies and gives it to me. Nothing like the crazy shit you can see in this trailer though.
edit: wait, the 2 million possible spells is their number from the game's launch. They've added more materials to the game that brings that number up to 3.5 million (you can combine up to 4 things at a time), and they also added a New Game+ mode that makes the game harder but lets you use up to seven slots, which they say means there over 200 trillion possible combinations. I am not good with the maths so someone else will have to verify those numbers. Regardless of what the actual number is, that's a lot of possible spell combinations.
What's nuts is they developed Butcher Bay multiplatform. It was on the OXBox so the prompts were already in one version.
Shoot Many Robots did the same thing. And the devs apparently said they optimized the PC version for PCs...meaning of course they don't have controller support and according to Steam forums, made it so controllers wouldn't work right with the game due to some game changes they made in the PC version.
I guess they came from a time when PC users wanted to play things like they would on a PC, before controllers became a big deal?
Butcher Bay came from the dark times before the Xbox 360 controller (Xinput) became the de facto standard on Windows. Sensible defaults and button prompts were harder because different controllers could label (and map!) buttons and axes differently. The upside of this dark time was that the then-standard Direct Input supported gigantic flight simulator setups with a gazillion buttons and knobs.
I have vague memories of painful controller shenanigans in Advent Rising, Outcast, and Legacy of Kain. Cameras spinning around the character automatically, extra joystick axis not being recognized, having to remap every button, that sort of thing.
TL;DR - My laptop suddenly couldn't find its GPU. After following a suggestion from a support tech that seemingly completely broke the machine, ultimately I fixed it by reseating the GPU. At four in the bloody morning.
Step One in PC Hardware support is "turn it off, then turn it back on again". Unfortunately Step Two is usually "take it apart, stare at it, then put it back together again".
Obviously you got the problem fixed, but did you check to see what the beep code was for?
So... Blackguards is fond of the really bullshit battle setups, isn't it?
That "rescue the baroness" fight can just kiss my rosy red left butt cheek. It took me 5 or 6 reloads to beat that one without the baroness ending up dead.
So today I saw Magicmaker on Steam and checked it out. It's pretty badass, you can combine spell elements and create custom spells. The store page says a little over 2 million combinations are possible for your spells, and you use the same system to customize your robe's effects too so it also has that many possible combinations. I've only played an hour and I have 3 spells I'm currently using: my basic one is a laser beam that can pass through walls and siphon mana from enemies, the second spell is a bouncing lightning ball that arcs to enemies and also sets them on fire, and my third is a homing spell with two projectiles and it leeches health from enemies and gives it to me. Nothing like the crazy shit you can see in this trailer though.
edit: wait, the 2 million possible spells is their number from the game's launch. They've added more materials to the game that brings that number up to 3.5 million (you can combine up to 4 things at a time), and they also added a New Game+ mode that makes the game harder but lets you use up to seven slots, which they say means there over 200 trillion possible combinations. I am not good with the maths so someone else will have to verify those numbers. Regardless of what the actual number is, that's a lot of possible spell combinations.
Can confirm, Magicmaker is awesome. I have an explosive death ray that sets innocent woodland creatures on fire and some dinky bolt that tunnels through walls and chills stuff but hey EXPLOSIVE DEATH RAY.
And I can jump really, really, REALLY high. So that's cool.
Oh, and my robe intercepts incoming projectiles and bad guys with lightning. And shields me with icicles. And makes me run faster.
Wheeeeeee
Scratch that about the dinky bolt, it is now an ice beam and I can also triple jump.
You can still get it on GOG. I think it was actually removed from steam because the tages authentification servers for it went down? I seem to recall it was taken down when one of the incarnations of Atari filed for bankruptcy. So you CAN still get it...just not on steam.
GOG's the next-best place! I might have to do that.
TL;DR - My laptop suddenly couldn't find its GPU. After following a suggestion from a support tech that seemingly completely broke the machine, ultimately I fixed it by reseating the GPU. At four in the bloody morning.
Ugh, I need to open up my laptop soon and see if I can figure out what's wrong with it. It's quite likely the display itself is damaged. It was in my backpack (which has a padded pocket for laptops) when I was traveling home on New Year's Eve via bus. The ride was very bumpy. A few days later I turned it on and noticed everything that should have been black had a snowy look to it with a bit of a red tinge. Everything that should have been white was a sort of light aqua color. And a lot of other colors looked fine. I hooked it up to my TV and everything displayed fine, so there's either a problem with the display or a bad connection somewhere. Not looking forward to finding the issue.
Ugh. Yeah, that doesn't sound hopeful. Unless it's a ribbon connector come loose or something. Best of luck. If it comes to it, I hope you can find either a new panel or (possibly a better option) a deceased example of the same model you can rip the panel out of for as little cash as possible.
@Jazz - I can confirm that I got Riddick on GOG in November for $3 so keep your eyes peeled if you want to pick it up for cheap. I'm pretty sure I've it's a sale staple over there though I have no idea when GOG's next big sale will be.
If there are people here who haven't played Bastion I will actually buy that game (maybe next time it goes on sale) and gift it to people. Some of the best music I've ever heard in a game, and several moments that just took my breath away. Excellent gameplay too.
I might be soulless then, I played Bastion for 0.1 hours and then stopped.
If there are people here who haven't played Bastion I will actually buy that game (maybe next time it goes on sale) and gift it to people. Some of the best music I've ever heard in a game, and several moments that just took my breath away. Excellent gameplay too.
I might be soulless then, I played Bastion for 0.1 hours and then stopped.
@f3rret, the gameplay takes a huge leap forward once you have a few weapon upgrades to play with. It's worth a little more time if you feel like looping back to it. While any given game isn't everyone's cup of tea, it is an amazing, amazing game if it does strike your fancy.
If there are people here who haven't played Bastion I will actually buy that game (maybe next time it goes on sale) and gift it to people. Some of the best music I've ever heard in a game, and several moments that just took my breath away. Excellent gameplay too.
I might be soulless then, I played Bastion for 0.1 hours and then stopped.
@f3rret, the gameplay takes a huge leap forward once you have a few weapon upgrades to play with. It's worth a little more time if you feel like looping back to it. While any given game isn't everyone's cup of tea, it is an amazing, amazing game if it does strike your fancy.
I would agree. You need more than the handful of minutes you spent for it to really open up to the goods. I think it gets good quick, but not in .1 of an hour .
So... Blackguards is fond of the really bullshit battle setups, isn't it?
That "rescue the baroness" fight can just kiss my rosy red left butt cheek. It took me 5 or 6 reloads to beat that one without the baroness ending up dead.
I remember that fight. How did you save the baroness? After about 5 attempts and never even really getting close, I just said "Screw it, let her die." I just figured I didn't have my stats setup properly.
Descendant XSkyrim is my god now.Outpost 31Registered Userregular
@Descendant X Is the loss of your progress related to the Games for Windows Live removal? If it is, you've still got a few days to convert your old save before it's too late.
@Frem Nope. I lost my progress long before GFWL was patched out. No idea why. I'm not too sad about it though, I've started a whole new tank build and I'm having a blast.
Garry: I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!
@Descendant X Is the loss of your progress related to the Games for Windows Live removal? If it is, you've still got a few days to convert your old save before it's too late.
@Frem Nope. I lost my progress long before GFWL was patched out. No idea why. I'm not too sad about it though, I've started a whole new tank build and I'm having a blast.
GFWL ate my saves for two different games before I swore off of it forever. Everytime a game patches GFWL out an angel gets its wings.
So... Blackguards is fond of the really bullshit battle setups, isn't it?
That "rescue the baroness" fight can just kiss my rosy red left butt cheek. It took me 5 or 6 reloads to beat that one without the baroness ending up dead.
I remember that fight. How did you save the baroness? After about 5 attempts and never even really getting close, I just said "Screw it, let her die." I just figured I didn't have my stats setup properly.
My method:
Round 1: My character is a sword-n-board fighter. I had her and the dwarf hang back until the end of the first round. That gave the first set of baddies time to block the way with crates and stand nicely packed behind them. The mage fireballed them (60% chance of success so this took a reload to get right ) which blew up 3 crates and injured the baddies. My 2 melees moved up to just short of the fire left where the crates were.
The bandits obligingly moved forward into the fire and turned into Bandit Flambee. One was quickly dispatched and the dwarf kept the other 2 busy while my fighter ran forward to the open area between bridges (taking fire damage but hey, you do what ya gotta do). The mage moved up to provide support with his wimpier fire spell.
The 3 bandits on bridge 2 moved up toward my character in the open, which was the break we needed - once they're in the open you can go around them across bridge 2, otherwise they form a human wall that is impossible to break through in time.
So at that point, the dwarf killed the last bandit at bridge 1 and then he and the mage kept the 3 guys in the open busy while my character made a break for bridge 2 (losing one round to a damn bear trap) and saved the baroness on round 5. Then we all pummeled the lone archer to death with his own fists.
Short version: don't let the 2nd group of dudes block bridge 2. Draw them out.
So... Blackguards is fond of the really bullshit battle setups, isn't it?
That "rescue the baroness" fight can just kiss my rosy red left butt cheek. It took me 5 or 6 reloads to beat that one without the baroness ending up dead.
I remember that fight. How did you save the baroness? After about 5 attempts and never even really getting close, I just said "Screw it, let her die." I just figured I didn't have my stats setup properly.
My method:
Round 1: My character is a sword-n-board fighter. I had her and the dwarf hang back until the end of the first round. That gave the first set of baddies time to block the way with crates and stand nicely packed behind them. The mage fireballed them (60% chance of success so this took a reload to get right ) which blew up 3 crates and injured the baddies. My 2 melees moved up to just short of the fire left where the crates were.
The bandits obligingly moved forward into the fire and turned into Bandit Flambee. One was quickly dispatched and the dwarf kept the other 2 busy while my fighter ran forward to the open area between bridges (taking fire damage but hey, you do what ya gotta do). The mage moved up to provide support with his wimpier fire spell.
The 3 bandits on bridge 2 moved up toward my character in the open, which was the break we needed - once they're in the open you can go around them across bridge 2, otherwise they form a human wall that is impossible to break through in time.
So at that point, the dwarf killed the last bandit at bridge 1 and then he and the mage kept the 3 guys in the open busy while my character made a break for bridge 2 (losing one round to a damn bear trap) and saved the baroness on round 5. Then we all pummeled the lone archer to death with his own fists.
Short version: don't let the 2nd group of dudes block bridge 2. Draw them out.
Thanks. I've noted it for later. FYI - I passed the Remember Me part you are stuck on.
Sadly, I don't know if I could be much help. I died a couple of times but I really didn't have any trouble with it. The only thing I might suggest which I kind of forgot is that there is a button to climb faster along ledges. Are you remembering to use that? (On a controller it's you hold the right shoulder button while hanging from the ledge to move side to side faster).
Watching the kids this morning meant I had some game time before they woke up instead of running off to work so I spent a little time with The Swapper. I'm not even through Act I and I already feel like a horrible person for the way I'm solving these puzzles. I'm not sure if I'm reading too far into it or if this stuff comes up later, but the climbing in particular makes me feel just awful.
Did you edit out the part of your post where you said you had no soul, @Pixelated Pixie?
I mean opinions and all that, but c'mon. The Bastion narrator's voice is so wonderfully fabulous.
I loved it initially, but I loved it even more when I saw a clip of the voice actor and saw how far removed the narrator voice is from his everyday speaking voice. ACTING!
Thanks. I've noted it for later. FYI - I passed the Remember Me part you are stuck on.
Sadly, I don't know if I could be much help. I died a couple of times but I really didn't have any trouble with it. The only thing I might suggest which I kind of forgot is that there is a button to climb faster along ledges. Are you remembering to use that? (On a controller it's you hold the right shoulder button while hanging from the ledge to move side to side faster).
Yeah, sideways wasn't the problem. There's a bit where you have to lower a wall to block bullets and then go up and up the side wall while it's getting blasted apart. At one point you have to wait until dude stops shooting and then jump up over an exposed section to the next ledge. I've watched this in videos, I've read it in walkthroughs, and yet somehow I just can not for the life of me time it right and I keep getting shot down at that point.
Thanks. I've noted it for later. FYI - I passed the Remember Me part you are stuck on.
Sadly, I don't know if I could be much help. I died a couple of times but I really didn't have any trouble with it. The only thing I might suggest which I kind of forgot is that there is a button to climb faster along ledges. Are you remembering to use that? (On a controller it's you hold the right shoulder button while hanging from the ledge to move side to side faster).
Yeah, sideways wasn't the problem. There's a bit where you have to lower a wall to block bullets and then go up and up the side wall while it's getting blasted apart. At one point you have to wait until dude stops shooting and then jump up over an exposed section to the next ledge. I've watched this in videos, I've read it in walkthroughs, and yet somehow I just can not for the life of me time it right and I keep getting shot down at that point.
Next time you try, you could record or stream it and I could maybe help.
Did you edit out the part of your post where you said you had no soul, @Pixelated Pixie?
I mean opinions and all that, but c'mon. The Bastion narrator's voice is so wonderfully fabulous.
I loved it initially, but I loved it even more when I saw a clip of the voice actor and saw how far removed the narrator voice is from his everyday speaking voice. ACTING!
EDIT: Here it is:
i edited out the part where I said the narrator drove me crazy because I didn't mean to post it (damn forum draft auto-save "feature"!). I wrote it and then decided it wasn't post-worthy. The forum software outsmarted me.
hey steam thread. Been a while. Still crazy in here? All this sunless sea. Caught up on the steam battle, looks like some good RPG fun for us steam folks.
Any FNG corriganx ? Looks like I might be alone for a while Friday night, and I would love to get my game on. If we have a small turn out, I made a penny arcade logo map for worms. I think it would be fun.
I think this sounds like a great idea. Worms was super fun, and the FNG turnouts have been pretty weak, so let's just plan on a group for worms. If people show up in force, we can flip to something else.
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Descendant XSkyrim is my god now.Outpost 31Registered Userregular
@Descendant X Is the loss of your progress related to the Games for Windows Live removal? If it is, you've still got a few days to convert your old save before it's too late.
@Frem Nope. I lost my progress long before GFWL was patched out. No idea why. I'm not too sad about it though, I've started a whole new tank build and I'm having a blast.
GFWL ate my saves for two different games before I swore off of it forever. Everytime a game patches GFWL out an angel gets its wings.
Looks like I spoke too soon. This morning I decided to fire up Dark Souls while waiting for the cable tech to arrive to find that it was no longer installed. I reinstalled it, GFWL was reactivated, and now that the dust has settled in getting the beta enabled again my tank that I've spent 19 hours getting to Anor Londo has been replaced by two characters that have a combined playtime of less than an hour. I am fucking pissed.
EDIT: Praise the sun! I searched my computer for the save file and found the right one in a folder that clearly wasn't being checked by the game. Kublai the giant sword guy is back in business, two-shotting Black Knights!
Descendant X on
Garry: I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!
Did you edit out the part of your post where you said you had no soul, @Pixelated Pixie?
I mean opinions and all that, but c'mon. The Bastion narrator's voice is so wonderfully fabulous.
I loved it initially, but I loved it even more when I saw a clip of the voice actor and saw how far removed the narrator voice is from his everyday speaking voice. ACTING!
EDIT: Here it is:
i edited out the part where I said the narrator drove me crazy because I didn't mean to post it (damn forum draft auto-save "feature"!). I wrote it and then decided it wasn't post-worthy*. The forum software outsmarted me.
*would get me run out of town by a pitchfork and torch wielding mob
Transistor though, that was just a mess all over. You can be creative with the gameplay by combining carefully selected chips or you can use something that actually works and spam the hell out of it. The story, if one can even call it that, left me angry at the game.
Story spoilers below:
When the story involves struggling against impossible odds, discovering the truth of how reality is being destroyed piece by piece, and ultimately the protagonist regains not only her memories but also the key to save the world? Do not have her commit suicide just to be together with a talking voice in a sword, negating everything leading up to that point.
Transistor though, that was just a mess all over. You can be creative with the gameplay by combining carefully selected chips or you can use something that actually works and spam the hell out of it. The story, if one can even call it that, left me angry at the game.
Story spoilers below:
When the story involves struggling against impossible odds, discovering the truth of how reality is being destroyed piece by piece, and ultimately the protagonist regains not only her memories but also the key to save the world? Do not have her commit suicide just to be together with a talking voice in a sword, negating everything leading up to that point.
I guess I'm glad the story went completely over my head. I didn't really get it beyond being a Tron/Kill Bill thing.
TL;DR - My laptop suddenly couldn't find its GPU. After following a suggestion from a support tech that seemingly completely broke the machine, ultimately I fixed it by reseating the GPU. At four in the bloody morning.
Step One in PC Hardware support is "turn it off, then turn it back on again". Unfortunately Step Two is usually "take it apart, stare at it, then put it back together again".
Obviously you got the problem fixed, but did you check to see what the beep code was for?
The beep code is for LCD failure. Which wasn't the case, but since that BIOS setting was routing video functions through a card the computer couldn't find, the display didn't fire up and the computer (which presumably was under the impression it still had a GPU, insofar as the Intel) thought that was the problem.
Weirdly, six beeps would've been video card failure. And it didn't do that. Not that I recall, anyway (I admit I may have miscounted beeps in my annoyance, but I'm pretty sure it was eight).
What's nuts is they developed Butcher Bay multiplatform. It was on the OXBox so the prompts were already in one version.
Shoot Many Robots did the same thing. And the devs apparently said they optimized the PC version for PCs...meaning of course they don't have controller support and according to Steam forums, made it so controllers wouldn't work right with the game due to some game changes they made in the PC version.
I guess they came from a time when PC users wanted to play things like they would on a PC, before controllers became a big deal?
You young'uns and your controller-disparaging remarks.
In all seriousness, I have to stand up for controllers as part of computer gaming tradition. (Note the use of the word "computer".) This isn't aimed at you, @cooljammer00 , but is a general rant:
- - - - -
In the days of 8-bit computers, joysticks - even ones that required an external interface in some cases - were extremely commonplace. Certainly in the UK, where the Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum (and, to a lesser extent, the Amstrad CPC) ruled the roost. Every game had a keyboard option, but every gamer with one of those machines used a joystick. The C64 was popular enough in the States, and I'm sure the Apple II was running along those lines, so computer gamers of a certain age know what I'm talking about.
Example pics, spoilered for big:
Moving on to 16-bit computers and early PC gaming (thinking CGA/EGA eras; when the term "IBM compatible" was in general use), joysticks remained just as common on computers like the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST, usually as digital joysticks similar to the 8-bit ones. In fact they were usually compatible; the 9-pin connector was standard and might be best known to most these days as the same one the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive and Master System used. On the PCs, because of their different focus, analog sticks used to be more common. It's worth noting that these computers helped popularise the mouse (usually two-button) outside of the Mac community, and indeed sometimes used them in games too.
After the 16-bit machines faded, PCs as we know them today then became the standard for computer gaming. Joysticks still existed, soundcards (then the exclusive domain of gamers) used to include a 15-pin "joystick port" or "game port", and until the advent of USB it remained the standard. Hell, occasional games even required a controller of some kind (such as, notoriously, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance's flightstick requirement; a "feature" still present in the recent GOG re-releases).
I do wonder if the "KBAM or bust" thing is a holdover from the early days of post-mouselook FPS games and RTS games; both huge genres in the late '90s with burgeoning and competitive multiplayer scenes, that practically defined PC gaming. I'll never criticise anyone for preferring KBAM, including to the point of exclusivity...
But my point is, computer gaming has always had game controllers of some kind, even if not always console-style ones. They're an integral part of it. KBAM-only gaming as we know it is actually a relatively recent development.
"The Kid absorbed the game, taking it in like a lake takes in a rainstorm. The Kid quickly surpassed the progress of the Old Man who had got himself distracted by some new shiny tome in his library. As the story played to its completion, he took a moment to gloat about his victory over the Old Man. The Old Man feel asleep that night proud of The Kid, but ashamed at his own backlog and achievements."
Transistor though, that was just a mess all over. You can be creative with the gameplay by combining carefully selected chips or you can use something that actually works and spam the hell out of it. The story, if one can even call it that, left me angry at the game.
Story spoilers below:
When the story involves struggling against impossible odds, discovering the truth of how reality is being destroyed piece by piece, and ultimately the protagonist regains not only her memories but also the key to save the world? Do not have her commit suicide just to be together with a talking voice in a sword, negating everything leading up to that point.
In getting the tools to save the world she realized that it didn't deserve it. Cloudbank was already gone, and the people voted for how to destroy it. The only path Red saw that led to any sort of happiness was to be with the Transistor. I really liked the story, and I though the combat was great. You're right that not every option is great in combat, but there are enough viable strategies that even when my favorite thing got locked out I still had a good way to fight.
Transistor though, that was just a mess all over. You can be creative with the gameplay by combining carefully selected chips or you can use something that actually works and spam the hell out of it. The story, if one can even call it that, left me angry at the game.
Story spoilers below:
When the story involves struggling against impossible odds, discovering the truth of how reality is being destroyed piece by piece, and ultimately the protagonist regains not only her memories but also the key to save the world? Do not have her commit suicide just to be together with a talking voice in a sword, negating everything leading up to that point.
Red was more than just a voice in the Transistor though, it was her lover who was murdered early in the game and that, seemingly, saved her from the same fate at the time. Her entire goal seemed to be getting Breach out of the Transistor to begin with, rather than specifically to save the city, and when she discovered no way to do that, she joins him.
And while she gets the ability to save the city, saving it probably seems pointless to her as all the citizens are gone and are not coming back. As far as I could tell the revived Cloudbank would just be a ghost town.
You can still get it on GOG. I think it was actually removed from steam because the tages authentification servers for it went down? I seem to recall it was taken down when one of the incarnations of Atari filed for bankruptcy. So you CAN still get it...just not on steam.
GOG's the next-best place! I might have to do that.
TL;DR - My laptop suddenly couldn't find its GPU. After following a suggestion from a support tech that seemingly completely broke the machine, ultimately I fixed it by reseating the GPU. At four in the bloody morning.
Ugh, I need to open up my laptop soon and see if I can figure out what's wrong with it. It's quite likely the display itself is damaged. It was in my backpack (which has a padded pocket for laptops) when I was traveling home on New Year's Eve via bus. The ride was very bumpy. A few days later I turned it on and noticed everything that should have been black had a snowy look to it with a bit of a red tinge. Everything that should have been white was a sort of light aqua color. And a lot of other colors looked fine. I hooked it up to my TV and everything displayed fine, so there's either a problem with the display or a bad connection somewhere. Not looking forward to finding the issue.
Ugh. Yeah, that doesn't sound hopeful. Unless it's a ribbon connector come loose or something. Best of luck. If it comes to it, I hope you can find either a new panel or (possibly a better option) a deceased example of the same model you can rip the panel out of for as little cash as possible.
Yeah. I can at least take solace in the fact that it's almost a 5-year old laptop at this point and I don't use it for much. It has a dual-GPU setup like yours. I thought that was cool at first, but then I realized that they stopped making new drivers for it only a few months after I bought it. I can't just install standard drivers on this thing because it won't let me. Not too big of a deal, though.
edit: also, it's not my main gaming PC. It's just nice to have when I go on vacation and stuff like that.
Well now my zee captain is rolling in the echos. Well compared to her lot before. Had a nice enough haul to buy a townhouse, finished filling in my officer positions, wrote up a will. Met another nice lady in town, somehow made a kid with her. They were kind of vague about where the kid came from. I think maybe we took him in or something. Anyway, even after all that I've got 1700 echos burning a hole in my pocket. I need to look into what I'll be able to pass along eventually to decide where to invest. Doing pretty good. Well you know, apart from the nightmares. Those just keep getting stronger and stronger.
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Well, quite.
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... I might actually do that at some stage. I was going to give Sunless Sea another go anyway, once I'm finally done with DA:I (which is too good to put down and too big to finish quickly). But apparently I'm back at work this weekend, and apparently Pillars of Eternity comes out in 5-6 weeks, so progress may be slow...
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That's what I'm playing. I'm surprised it's so rough around the edges.
Even something as recent as Borderlands screwed this up. I'm having bad luck with supposed "full controller support" lately!
Shoot Many Robots did the same thing. And the devs apparently said they optimized the PC version for PCs...meaning of course they don't have controller support and according to Steam forums, made it so controllers wouldn't work right with the game due to some game changes they made in the PC version.
I guess they came from a time when PC users wanted to play things like they would on a PC, before controllers became a big deal?
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Butcher Bay came from the dark times before the Xbox 360 controller (Xinput) became the de facto standard on Windows. Sensible defaults and button prompts were harder because different controllers could label (and map!) buttons and axes differently. The upside of this dark time was that the then-standard Direct Input supported gigantic flight simulator setups with a gazillion buttons and knobs.
I have vague memories of painful controller shenanigans in Advent Rising, Outcast, and Legacy of Kain. Cameras spinning around the character automatically, extra joystick axis not being recognized, having to remap every button, that sort of thing.
Obviously you got the problem fixed, but did you check to see what the beep code was for?
I'm... sorry everyone that I gifted it to.
STEAM: Quical
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That "rescue the baroness" fight can just kiss my rosy red left butt cheek. It took me 5 or 6 reloads to beat that one without the baroness ending up dead.
Can confirm, Magicmaker is awesome. I have an explosive death ray that sets innocent woodland creatures on fire and some dinky bolt that tunnels through walls and chills stuff but hey EXPLOSIVE DEATH RAY.
And I can jump really, really, REALLY high. So that's cool.
Oh, and my robe intercepts incoming projectiles and bad guys with lightning. And shields me with icicles. And makes me run faster.
Wheeeeeee
Scratch that about the dinky bolt, it is now an ice beam and I can also triple jump.
@Jazz - I can confirm that I got Riddick on GOG in November for $3 so keep your eyes peeled if you want to pick it up for cheap. I'm pretty sure I've it's a sale staple over there though I have no idea when GOG's next big sale will be.
SteamID: edgruberman GOG Galaxy: EdGruberman
I might be soulless then, I played Bastion for 0.1 hours and then stopped.
@f3rret, the gameplay takes a huge leap forward once you have a few weapon upgrades to play with. It's worth a little more time if you feel like looping back to it. While any given game isn't everyone's cup of tea, it is an amazing, amazing game if it does strike your fancy.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I would agree. You need more than the handful of minutes you spent for it to really open up to the goods. I think it gets good quick, but not in .1 of an hour
I remember that fight. How did you save the baroness? After about 5 attempts and never even really getting close, I just said "Screw it, let her die." I just figured I didn't have my stats setup properly.
SteamID: edgruberman GOG Galaxy: EdGruberman
@Frem Nope. I lost my progress long before GFWL was patched out. No idea why. I'm not too sad about it though, I've started a whole new tank build and I'm having a blast.
GFWL ate my saves for two different games before I swore off of it forever. Everytime a game patches GFWL out an angel gets its wings.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
My method:
The bandits obligingly moved forward into the fire and turned into Bandit Flambee. One was quickly dispatched and the dwarf kept the other 2 busy while my fighter ran forward to the open area between bridges (taking fire damage but hey, you do what ya gotta do). The mage moved up to provide support with his wimpier fire spell.
The 3 bandits on bridge 2 moved up toward my character in the open, which was the break we needed - once they're in the open you can go around them across bridge 2, otherwise they form a human wall that is impossible to break through in time.
So at that point, the dwarf killed the last bandit at bridge 1 and then he and the mage kept the 3 guys in the open busy while my character made a break for bridge 2 (losing one round to a damn bear trap) and saved the baroness on round 5. Then we all pummeled the lone archer to death with his own fists.
Short version: don't let the 2nd group of dudes block bridge 2. Draw them out.
Thanks. I've noted it for later. FYI - I passed the Remember Me part you are stuck on.
SteamID: edgruberman GOG Galaxy: EdGruberman
I loved it initially, but I loved it even more when I saw a clip of the voice actor and saw how far removed the narrator voice is from his everyday speaking voice. ACTING!
EDIT: Here it is:
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Yeah, sideways wasn't the problem. There's a bit where you have to lower a wall to block bullets and then go up and up the side wall while it's getting blasted apart. At one point you have to wait until dude stops shooting and then jump up over an exposed section to the next ledge. I've watched this in videos, I've read it in walkthroughs, and yet somehow I just can not for the life of me time it right and I keep getting shot down at that point.
Next time you try, you could record or stream it and I could maybe help.
SteamID: edgruberman GOG Galaxy: EdGruberman
i edited out the part where I said the narrator drove me crazy because I didn't mean to post it (damn forum draft auto-save "feature"!). I wrote it and then decided it wasn't post-worthy. The forum software outsmarted me.
I think this sounds like a great idea. Worms was super fun, and the FNG turnouts have been pretty weak, so let's just plan on a group for worms. If people show up in force, we can flip to something else.
Looks like I spoke too soon. This morning I decided to fire up Dark Souls while waiting for the cable tech to arrive to find that it was no longer installed. I reinstalled it, GFWL was reactivated, and now that the dust has settled in getting the beta enabled again my tank that I've spent 19 hours getting to Anor Londo has been replaced by two characters that have a combined playtime of less than an hour. I am fucking pissed.
EDIT: Praise the sun! I searched my computer for the save file and found the right one in a folder that clearly wasn't being checked by the game. Kublai the giant sword guy is back in business, two-shotting Black Knights!
*would get me run out of town by a pitchfork and torch wielding mob
Steam ID: Good Life
Transistor though, that was just a mess all over. You can be creative with the gameplay by combining carefully selected chips or you can use something that actually works and spam the hell out of it. The story, if one can even call it that, left me angry at the game.
Story spoilers below:
I guess I'm glad the story went completely over my head. I didn't really get it beyond being a Tron/Kill Bill thing.
Steam ID: Good Life
The beep code is for LCD failure. Which wasn't the case, but since that BIOS setting was routing video functions through a card the computer couldn't find, the display didn't fire up and the computer (which presumably was under the impression it still had a GPU, insofar as the Intel) thought that was the problem.
Weirdly, six beeps would've been video card failure. And it didn't do that. Not that I recall, anyway (I admit I may have miscounted beeps in my annoyance, but I'm pretty sure it was eight).
You young'uns and your controller-disparaging remarks.
In all seriousness, I have to stand up for controllers as part of computer gaming tradition. (Note the use of the word "computer".) This isn't aimed at you, @cooljammer00 , but is a general rant:
- - - - -
In the days of 8-bit computers, joysticks - even ones that required an external interface in some cases - were extremely commonplace. Certainly in the UK, where the Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum (and, to a lesser extent, the Amstrad CPC) ruled the roost. Every game had a keyboard option, but every gamer with one of those machines used a joystick. The C64 was popular enough in the States, and I'm sure the Apple II was running along those lines, so computer gamers of a certain age know what I'm talking about.
Example pics, spoilered for big:
Moving on to 16-bit computers and early PC gaming (thinking CGA/EGA eras; when the term "IBM compatible" was in general use), joysticks remained just as common on computers like the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST, usually as digital joysticks similar to the 8-bit ones. In fact they were usually compatible; the 9-pin connector was standard and might be best known to most these days as the same one the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive and Master System used. On the PCs, because of their different focus, analog sticks used to be more common. It's worth noting that these computers helped popularise the mouse (usually two-button) outside of the Mac community, and indeed sometimes used them in games too.
After the 16-bit machines faded, PCs as we know them today then became the standard for computer gaming. Joysticks still existed, soundcards (then the exclusive domain of gamers) used to include a 15-pin "joystick port" or "game port", and until the advent of USB it remained the standard. Hell, occasional games even required a controller of some kind (such as, notoriously, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance's flightstick requirement; a "feature" still present in the recent GOG re-releases).
I do wonder if the "KBAM or bust" thing is a holdover from the early days of post-mouselook FPS games and RTS games; both huge genres in the late '90s with burgeoning and competitive multiplayer scenes, that practically defined PC gaming. I'll never criticise anyone for preferring KBAM, including to the point of exclusivity...
But my point is, computer gaming has always had game controllers of some kind, even if not always console-style ones. They're an integral part of it. KBAM-only gaming as we know it is actually a relatively recent development.
*phew*
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"The Kid absorbed the game, taking it in like a lake takes in a rainstorm. The Kid quickly surpassed the progress of the Old Man who had got himself distracted by some new shiny tome in his library. As the story played to its completion, he took a moment to gloat about his victory over the Old Man. The Old Man feel asleep that night proud of The Kid, but ashamed at his own backlog and achievements."
And while she gets the ability to save the city, saving it probably seems pointless to her as all the citizens are gone and are not coming back. As far as I could tell the revived Cloudbank would just be a ghost town.
Yeah. I can at least take solace in the fact that it's almost a 5-year old laptop at this point and I don't use it for much. It has a dual-GPU setup like yours. I thought that was cool at first, but then I realized that they stopped making new drivers for it only a few months after I bought it. I can't just install standard drivers on this thing because it won't let me. Not too big of a deal, though.
edit: also, it's not my main gaming PC. It's just nice to have when I go on vacation and stuff like that.
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