I Hope All These Sales End Soon

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Steam has its annual Autumn Sale. GOG has its 'Black Friday' sale.
Fanatical and HumbleBundle are doing a "Cyber Monday" thing. And my
wallet's getting thin.

I did finally splurge on getting the digital versions of those Star
Trek games from GOG; I may even play them one of these days. I finally
rounded out my collection of Leisure Suit Larry games (turns out I was
missing one). I added a few DLC to "Mechwarrior 5", and nabbed
"Observation" and the 2021 "Comanche" remake while I was at it. Plus I
tossed in some classic Apogee platformers (that I already owned back
from when I bought them on floppy disk, but now I have them on a
digital service). Plus, one or two or ten more.

But with the holiday season approaching, soon I'll be spending all my
money on gifts for other people, so I wanted something for myself.
Still, it may be I went a bit overboard, but who can blame me? I'm
weak willed and there are so many games!

These sales can't end soon enough.

[Dimensional Traveler]

So the post holiday clearance sales can begin! (That's where the real
bargains are. ;) )

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

[PW]

*--
You are too funny Spalls! I was just thinking the same thing!

I bought A Plage Tale- Requiem, Doom 64, Hyper Demon this week. And
probably others.

Doom 64 is a blast. Good memories. The man that owns my local Radio
Shack and built my last two PCs told me he is playing it.

Where did you buy Leisure Suit Larry from? I had trouble finding
them.

-pw

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 12:03:34 -0700, PW
<iamnotusing...@notinuse.com> wrote:

>I bought A Plage Tale- Requiem, Doom 64, Hyper Demon this week. And
>probably others.

REquiem is still a bit too expensive for my taste, especially since I
was luke-warm on the first game. I enjoyed its medieval setting and
the rat mechanics, but not so much the characters, story and gameplay.
Inevitably I'll add it to the library... but not yet.

>Doom 64 is a blast. Good memories. The man that owns my local Radio
>Shack and built my last two PCs told me he is playing it.

I'm not quite as much a fan of "Doom64" but I agree; it's a great
game. It's much more atmospheric than the original (due to the cruder
controls of the console which were a poor fit to the fast-paced
twitchy gameplay of the source material). It has some impressive tech
too, with colored lighting effects and some impressive transformations
of the levels. I admire it more than I enjoy it, but I still think
that it should be in the library of any Doom fan.

>Where did you buy Leisure Suit Larry from? I had trouble finding
>them.

I think it was this:
https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/leisure-suit-larry-retro-bundle
Get all the LSL games for a buck. Most I already owned - both as
floppy and digital - but I wanted to get them all on Steam.

Honestly, I don't really like Leisure Suit Larry. I purchased the
bundle because I suffer from Gotta-Catch-'Em-All-itis, a serious
disease that causes me to waste my money on things I don't want just
because I like having a complete collection. LSL's shtick was mildly
amusing back in the early 80s (and I rather enjoyed it's 'prove you're
old enough to play thise' puzzles at the start of the games) but the
humor and gameplay got stretched pretty thin over the years and
haven't aged well. But darned if I won't grab any Sierra adventure
game on the market if I can get my hands on 'em. ;-----)

[PW]

>
>Honestly, I don't really like Leisure Suit Larry. I purchased the
>bundle because I suffer from Gotta-Catch-'Em-All-itis, a serious
>disease that causes me to waste my money on things I don't want just
>because I like having a complete collection. LSL's shtick was mildly
>amusing back in the early 80s (and I rather enjoyed it's 'prove you're
>old enough to play thise' puzzles at the start of the games) but the
>humor and gameplay got stretched pretty thin over the years and
>haven't aged well. But darned if I won't grab any Sierra adventure
>game on the market if I can get my hands on 'em. ;-----)
>

*--

I will probably get bored quickly with them but for $1, I don't care!

Thanks Spalls?

Which one should I download of the series to try first?

Oh- I also bought the new Monkey Island but the graphics are killing
it for me, and it is so kiddie like that maybe I won't last long with
it.

But, that is all stuff for your new thread which I know you are going
to try to beat Ant and others in getting it out! :-)

-pw

[Ant]

I'll just wait for the freebies. ;)

--
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever." ???Psalm 136:1 and 26. Dang apppointments, spammers, colony, etc. It's winter again!
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

[Justisaur]

I too couldn't pass up some deep discounts. I bought Slay the Spire ($8.50
it was high on the 100 best games of all time, I think it was PW posted,)
Crysis ($5,) and a bunch of $1.50 games: EDF 4.1 Wingdiver the Shooter,
Technomancer, Populous, Starflight 1 & 2.

I almost bought a bunch of Wing Commander games, but reading through
reviews, I was reminded you really have to have a flightstick which I'm not
quite willing to blow the hundred(s) of dollars on again for old games.

- Justisaur

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 13:11:44 -0700, PW
<iamnotusing...@notinuse.com> wrote:



>I will probably get bored quickly with them but for $1, I don't care!
>Thanks Spalls?

>Which one should I download of the series to try first?

God, that puts me in a spot. My initial reaction is 'none of them',
but if pressed I'd maybe suggest the first one just for it's novelty
and historical value? I mean, it's janky and uses all the worst tropes
of Sierra games (insane logic puzzles, instant deaths that require
save scumming, and archaic visuals and control) but maybe its age (it
was first released in 1988) will make you forgive some of its worst
sins.

But honestly, were it not for their connection to Sierra and its
slightly risque nature, these games would have likely been forgotten
by history, and quite probably not have made it past the first sequel
as a series. They just aren't very good. It's just that in the 80s,
these were some of the most 'adult' games you could buy, and that
alone propelled them to infamy.

>Oh- I also bought the new Monkey Island but the graphics are killing
>it for me, and it is so kiddie like that maybe I won't last long with
>it.

I've not read much about the new Monkey Island game; like yourself the
visuals are a major distraction. I suppose eventually I'll pick it up
- for much the same reason I purchased the Leisure Suit Larry Games, I
gotta catch 'em all! - but, as much as I loved the previous games, I'm
not sure I'll be able to ever play "Return". And that was assuming its
gameplay was at least as good as the originals; you say it is
otherwise, which is very concerning.

Plus, the game seems to have dropped off the map now that it's
actually been released; there were a lot of articles about the game
before it came out, but nobody is talking about it now. That doesn't
bode well either.

[PW]

*--

I am so annoyed by the new vector-style graphics that I may not
continue playing it. I think it has been too long to get a refund
from Steam.

-pw

[PW]

*---

Populous? That takes me back decades. If it is the game that I
remember, did you buy it at Steam? I can't find it.

-pw

[Anssi Saari]

Justisaur <just...@gmail.com> writes:

> I too couldn't pass up some deep discounts. I bought Slay the Spire ($8.50
> it was high on the 100 best games of all time, I think it was PW posted,)
> Crysis ($5,) and a bunch of $1.50 games: EDF 4.1 Wingdiver the Shooter,
> Technomancer, Populous, Starflight 1 & 2.

Wow, Starflight? Starflight 2 was probably my first PC game, in fact I
think I got the game before my first PC. I think I even installed and
played it on a university PC on a cold winter weekend around 1990 or so.

I bought only one game, Deliver Us The Moon. RPS gave a glowing review
of the upcoming sequel (Deliver us Mars) and I thought it sounded
interesting.

[JAB]

I don't really look at sales any more for a few reasons. If it was a
game I wanted to play then why don't I have it already; games sales are
just so common now (and once something is on sale then it's going to be
on sale a lot) that if I do want to eventually play a game then I'm sure
I'll still be able to get it on sale; related to that, is it really a
sale when it's almost the sale price is the norm; and now the biggy, I
was just wasting money by buying games because they were 'bargains' and
then playing them for a couple of hours at most. That also has the knock
on effect of meaning that I got distracted by the new game and ended up
not carrying on with what I was already playing.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 19:08:44 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

You don't really need a joystick for the "Wing Commander" games and -
heretical as the thought might sound to Younger Me* - these days I
find the game actually plays better using the mouse (although there is
a bit of a learning curve getting used to how mouse-flight works that
has to be overcome first). The "Wing Commander" games weren't
particularly sophisticated flight sims, after all. Mostly they just
involved pointing the nose of your ship in the general direction of
the bad guys and clicking 'fire' frantically. A mouse is more than
good enough for that.

Things start getting more involved when you have to worry about
crashing into the ground - you'll want a joystick for those sort of
games - but Wing Commander? Don't worry about it.


Meanwhile, there's a sale on Larian RPGs on GOG. Just in case you want
to complete your collection by having all of their titles in your
library. Not that would appeal to me, of course. I'm not that sort, no
sir. I'm definitely not off to make another purchase, nope, not me.
Self-control, that's my watchword...


==============================
* although maybe Younger Me might not have been so offended after all.
If I recall, I finished the original "Wing Commander" game using a
combination of mouse and keyboard controls. The first game of the
franchise that I clearly remember using a joystick for was "Privateer"
(I might have used one in "Wing Commander II" or "Academy" but, if so,
I've no memory of it).

[Justisaur]

On Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 5:57:34 PM UTC-8, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 13:11:44 -0700, PW
> <iamnotusing...@notinuse.com> wrote:
>
> >I will probably get bored quickly with them but for $1, I don't care!
> >Thanks Spalls?
>
> >Which one should I download of the series to try first?
> God, that puts me in a spot. My initial reaction is 'none of them',
> but if pressed I'd maybe suggest the first one just for it's novelty
> and historical value? I mean, it's janky and uses all the worst tropes
> of Sierra games (insane logic puzzles, instant deaths that require
> save scumming, and archaic visuals and control) but maybe its age (it
> was first released in 1988) will make you forgive some of its worst
> sins.
>
> But honestly, were it not for their connection to Sierra and its
> slightly risque nature, these games would have likely been forgotten
> by history, and quite probably not have made it past the first sequel
> as a series. They just aren't very good. It's just that in the 80s,
> these were some of the most 'adult' games you could buy, and that
> alone propelled them to infamy.

I remember playing the original LSL at a friend's briefly, it bored to tears
quickly as most such adventure games do.

- Justisaur

[Justisaur]

I think I remember that the flightstick which I had bought specifically
to play them was miles better than kb + mouse which I found too difficult.
I do have a nice xbox 1 controller, but I'm not sure how well or even if
they'll handle that.

Maybe I'll try buying one and see how it goes, if it's still on sale cheap.

- Justisaur

[Ant]

Justisaur <just...@gmail.com> wrote:
...

> I remember playing the original LSL at a friend's briefly, it bored to tears
> quickly as most such adventure games do.

Ditto. I did enjoy Star Trek's 25th Anniversary and Judgment Rite, but
only its space combat parts. The adventure bored me! ;)
--
Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." ???John 6:35. Where R my new reports, answers, $, etc.? So slammy these days. :(

[Ross Ridge]

Justisaur <just...@gmail.com> wrote:
>I think I remember that the flightstick which I had bought specifically
>to play them was miles better than kb + mouse which I found too difficult.
>I do have a nice xbox 1 controller, but I'm not sure how well or even if
>they'll handle that.

My recollation is that while Wing Commander is playable with keyboard
and mouse, it's much easier with a joystick. I don't remember for sure
I was able to beat the game with keyboard and mouse, but even if I did
I wouldn't recommend playing it that way.

I'd also recommend playing the game with a soundcard. The first time
I played I didn't have one, and there was one escort mission where I
was having a lot trouble completing. The problem was that a ship I
was supposed to be defending kept getting blown up while I was engaged
dogfighting a group of enemies. Someone on Usenet pointed out that you
could hear when the ship you're supposed to be defending got attacked,
so you knew then you should break off and go back and save it.

That's when I came to the realization that space-sim games like Wing
Commander and X-Wing make a lot more sense if you assume there's some
sort of non-breathable atmosphere in space.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

[Justisaur]

lol, yeah, phlogiston. The SW universe it's supposedly "a sensor system that
creates three-dimensional sound inside the cockpit or bridge matching the
external movement of other vessels, as a form of multimodal interface." or
as I'd like to say auditory radar - which seems like a fairly good idea actually.

- Justisaur

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Tue, 6 Dec 2022 23:56:22 -0000 (UTC), rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:

>Justisaur <just...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I'd also recommend playing the game with a soundcard. The first time
>I played I didn't have one, and there was one escort mission where I
>was having a lot trouble completing. The problem was that a ship I
>was supposed to be defending kept getting blown up while I was engaged
>dogfighting a group of enemies. Someone on Usenet pointed out that you
>could hear when the ship you're supposed to be defending got attacked,
>so you knew then you should break off and go back and save it.

"Wing Commander" - and its sequel even more so - were /the/ selling
point for a lot of sound-cards in the early 90s. Pretty much every
hardware vendor featured those games as the reason to buy one of their
cards. It wasn't so much that other, earlier games didn't utilize
sound-cards (the Roland MT-32 soundtracks in Sierra games were
awesome!), but the cinematic approach of the Wing Commander games made
a sound card such an integral part of the experience that I couldn't
imagine playing the game without one. ("Wing Commander II" - with its
voice-acting - made a digitized sound card equally essential).

It's been a long long time, but I think I bought my first sound-card
largely to enjoy the game. If I recall, it was a MediaVision
Thunderboard, which was a cheaper knock-off of the original Creative
Labs SoundBlaster. That in turn was soon replaced with a 'proper'
SoundBlaster Pro, for the reasons mentioned above.

Back in the early 90s, soundcard upgrades were sort of like GPU
upgrades were ten years later: an easy way to significantly improve
your gameplaying experience. As I went through maybe a dozen GPUs in
the 2000s, I did similarly with soundcards in the previous decade. Oh,
the joy of seeing how many cards you could get to share the same IRQ
and DMA settings ;-)

Nowadays I - like most people - just use the onboard sound chips
embedded into the motherboard. It's not the same. ;-(

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Tue, 6 Dec 2022 18:50:32 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

>lol, yeah, phlogiston. The SW universe it's supposedly "a sensor system that
>creates three-dimensional sound inside the cockpit or bridge matching the
>external movement of other vessels, as a form of multimodal interface." or
>as I'd like to say auditory radar - which seems like a fairly good idea actually.

I mean, I love Star Wars, but...

In a universe with magical space wizards who fight each other at close
range wielding laser swords, while space ships zoom by travelling
faster than light and laser guns shoot 'blaster bolts' that can be
seen visibly moving across the screen, while the galactic army tromps
by on gigantic, easily-tipped-over robot donkeys, the fact that the
(winged!) space fighters make noise as they whoosh by is perhaps the
least important complaint on my list ;-)

I don't bother trying to explain any of it beyond, "hey that looks
cool". Trying to do so ends up with stuff like midichlorians.

[Mr Rob]

On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 11:47:06 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Steam has its annual Autumn Sale. GOG has its 'Black Friday' sale.
>Fanatical and HumbleBundle are doing a "Cyber Monday" thing. And my
>wallet's getting thin.

[...]

>But with the holiday season approaching, soon I'll be spending all my
>money on gifts for other people, so I wanted something for myself.
>Still, it may be I went a bit overboard, but who can blame me? I'm
>weak willed and there are so many games!
>
>These sales can't end soon enough.

I recently worked out that to play all of my un played or unfinished
PC base games only, based on an average of 8 hour long games, I would
need to play for 8 hours per day for 7 years solid to finish just
those games. Then there is DLC,s and the PS3 & PS4 games, the Xbox 360
and Xbox 1 games, Gamecube, Wii, Switch games after that.

This year I will get a VR set (probably the Meta 2) and a PS5 for
Christmas. More games to buy and probably never finish, or possibly
not ever touch.

As I approach (very) early retirement I will have plenty of time on my
hands. But I also have a huge collection of books to get through, both
physical and Kindle varieties, plus a backlog of Netflix films and
Amazon Prime films to watch.

Plus I fish a lot and enjoy live football matches.

I have come to realise that many of those books will probably be
unread, games will be left un played because both types of media will
continue to grow faster than I consume earlier purchases.

I will certainly enjoy trying to get through it all though. The
anticipation is equally as enjoyable as the act of consuming for me.

--
Rob