I don’t remember it being quite that hard! Mind you, one race is considerably harder than the other. I just can’t remember which. :) I do remember a lot of running away, long-range attacks, quick save, camping and healing.

(Here’s that let’s play of Don’t Sink. If you watch it, let me know what you think in the other thread.)

“I chose… poorly” I guess: I sided with the flooating brains because they looked like spellcasters. Turns out the other… things were just as well.
I managed to clear the dungeon. Thank goodness, it was quite small, and it didn’t have many enemies, but I must have reloaded 50 times. Long-range is quite deadly against those foes who bombard you with fireballs and acid arrows, so I also had to resort to a technique I never liked to use in the Dungeon Master clones: the sidestepping. It made all the difference, and I managed to make it to the castle… where I was greeted by more and more… ghosts…

nooooo

The emerald blade feel so puny against those… Aaah!

I ended up really digging this. The beginning of the game is one of the best starts I’ve ever experienced. I just love the way they setup the events and the characters and the place where you begin.

Ah yes, the castle. I hope you picked up that cube that destroys the ghosts instantly? :)

The only other thing I remember about that castle is… well this is quite important, and not really a spoiler, but it’s possible to meet the final boss before you’ve dealt with the king. That’s not recommended. Seriously, there won’t be a NOOOOOOOOO gif epic enough.

I hope next weekend is better than this:

  • Trials Rising’s 4th track was bugged and I couldn’t progress any further
  • Insurgency Sandstorm dipped into ~30 FPS when there was lots of action going on (before the last patch it stayed in the 60+ fps range)
  • Blackout didn’t run too well, and I didn’t like the gameplay. I guess I only like CoD these days when the gameplay matches the game mode (small and fast), which is why I prefer Ironsight (since you don’t have to pay the yearly $60 tax + another $45-60 for content updates)

But at least the Forza Horizon 4 demo ran well. I didn’t play it much though, because there’s no progression save and I know I’m going to play it anyway when the full game is released.

Not getting that cube was one of the many mistakes of my playthrough.
I have the strong impression the castle is just the layout of a work-in-progress: delving empty rooms after empty rooms, I encountered only two puzzles over the three floors. Chests are filled with tons of gold which have virtually zero use. The last floor was even devoid of foes. Most switches are huge departure from the fun nature of the game, triggering booby traps or unleashing monsters onto you — tricks easily bypassed by saving and reloading every switch I hit.
At least, it meant I could breeze through it. I was a bit aimless untill I looked up and found I should use the figurines I had collected to play some light games on the King’s coffin. Job done. Now Let’s try to use the keys I assembled during the last half of the game! Oh, they don’t seem to be needed anymore. Oh well, let’s use that elixir I cooked… Wait. No cure in inventory. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember ever seeing the cure I distilled in it.
Well, that’s one huge oversight on my part, worth an epic “doh!”.
So, as I have no idea where to look for it, I decide to take on Scotia anyway.

Ultimate sight:
01%20PM

Let’s call that the bad ending!

Nevertheless, I really liked the game. The puzzle were mostly easy enough for a fool like me to get around them, and the atmosphere and esthetics were wonderful.
The game was very accessible, and could be played mostly from the keyboard (numeric pad to move around with a very modern movement layout, F1-F2-F3 to fight).
Excepting for the crazy combat frenzy in the tower’s top level and in the town, and the obviously unfinished last dungeon, it was a very absorbing game. I just wished I could have seen a congratulation screen! DOH DOH DOH!

So, I played Dragon Quest XI mostly. Also played a bit of Persona 5 after a good while. So JRPG weekend mostly. ;)

Glad you saw it through to the end, and enjoyed it overall. It holds up remarkably well I think. I should probably give the (very different) sequel a go at some point, but probably not for a while.

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I was planning to play some The Bard’s Tale IV as well, but I’m waiting for a couple of performance patches on that one.

I"m playing a bit of Destiny 2, some Dragon Quest XI, and… Pokemon Ultra Sun on the 3DS.

Well, if I manage to beat a certain tyrant boss that’s proving too difficult for my underleveled hero, lots of Dragon Quest XI. I also plan to play as much CrossCode as I can muster, because the game is awesome.

4 cases to go in:
1

I am only 34% into this:
2

Still have a few hospitals left to open in:
2

Oktoberfest!
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Star Control: Origins
Bard’s Tale IV
Probably some form of rts

I’m going to be playing the new Star Control.

I bought it before Stardock sued the original creators. On the one hand, if I didn’t already own it, I probably wouldn’t have bought it. But on the other hand, oh my god, I’m playing a new Star Control game! Do you know how long I have dreamed of this?

Back in the day, I used to walk into Babbages every time I was at any mall in America, and ask them when Star Control 3 would come out. For years I did this. And then one day, it was out! True, the game was a bit of a disappointment in the end, but for several glorious days I was living the dream! A new Star Control game!

And now I’m living the dream again.

Star Control: Origins, if it ever finishes downloading.
NMS as usual.

That sounds like a risky proposition, like tasting two different coffees one right after the other!

I intend to finally properly jump into Krondor, now that I’ve done the whole lot of reading about the lore (I read that the local Gandalf is a Pug, best setting ever!!).

Also some more door kicking with fellow @Chappers, I am hoping.

My current favorite game: Not Committing to Anything While Waiting for Valkyria Chronicles 4.

Might mess around a bit with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon just because it’s currently installed. Finishing that for once could be worth attempting.

I will be practicing swordswomanship in anticipation of AC: Odyssey on Oct 5! (I may have to find a galley)

In the meantime Dairy Queen XI! (and no more gambling)

A few hours in, having played a little past quarter to three last night… Krondor is amazing. The interface, for one, is out of this world. It’s a bit slow in its response time, but one of the most intuitive I can think of. The fightings, even that early in the game, have been both engaging in some of the tough fights (I pulled a move I’m not likely to forget any time soon in one of those trapped battles!), and relaxing in others with a very reliable auto-battle. Even better: there are quite a few flags for various things you do, and other parties react to what you have done, as simple as acknowledging you visiting some place. This is incredibly immersive, and something I much prefer to the more modern “wide array of options with little acknowledgement” of modern games.
Speaking of the atmosphere, oh my, that atmosphere. The writing is a joy to read. Besides events, there are a lot descriptions. The characters, even side ones occasionnally met, have all been memorable.
I had a bit of an issue navigating the 3D world at first — it is probably the part of the game that aged the most, with the terrible props — but now I am getting very comfortable with it. There is no in-game map per se, but simply making a rough sketch of where the places of interests are seems to be enough: you can navigate then the in-game world thanks to quite an extended field of view. Speaking of navigation, adding a “follow route” option is utterly brilliant: fast travel, without the lame fade to black of fast travel!
I’ll shut up before talking about all the part of the game I find smart. Again, what an amazing game, and it blows my mind it was released as early as 1993.

Those are everywhere! I have solved three so far, and feel incredibly clever (even though I go through and write the letters on paper).