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90's Nostalgia: The Doom Family

The 90's was a great time for PC gaming, at least for me. Oh I got a bit of 90's nostalgia recently thanks to the LGR channel on YouTube, which I found from Jon. I recently found some videos there that I absolutely loved and I've decided to share them and write this post.

Before we got our first Windows PC in '95, my family had a Commodore 128D. I was 16 and so happy to get that Acer PC! I became a "download demon" downloading all kinds of shareware games that I could. At this time, I wasn't new to the BBS scene. Our PC had a much better modem, so I was able to see a BBS in all of it's glory. I even ran one of my own at night for a time. A friend and I used it to play... Read All The 90's was a great time for PC gaming, at least for me. Oh I got a bit of 90's nostalgia recently thanks to the LGR channel on YouTube, which I found from Jon. I recently found some videos there that I absolutely loved and I've decided to share them and write this post.

Before we got our first Windows PC in '95, my family had a Commodore 128D. I was 16 and so happy to get that Acer PC! I became a "download demon" downloading all kinds of shareware games that I could. At this time, I wasn't new to the BBS scene. Our PC had a much better modem, so I was able to see a BBS in all of it's glory. I even ran one of my own at night for a time. A friend and I used it to play Legend of the Red Dragon.

It was about this time that I was introduced to Dune 2, Command & Conquer, and Warcraft I &II, but those would be better suited for another post. At this time, I also was a subscriber to PC Gamer, the cool gaming magazine that sent not only a magazine every month, but also a CD-ROM which contained demos. I remember Final Fantasy VII being among them, though I never played it, I'm not sure why. I did later play it when I was at college years later.

It was around this time, too, that I was introduced to what I'm calling the "Doom family." I don't know which game I first started with, but by release chronologically Wolfenstein 3D was the predecessor of Doom. I recently watched the LGR review of Wolfenstein 3D (https://youtu.be/vy78U9pRLiE). It was great! It reminded me of the sounds and music I remembered from playing it. I also remember trying to play with a keyboard and mouse and getting motion sickness.

Then, came Doom and Doom II (https://youtu.be/pNtHwWVXbDI) along with their expansions. These two (perhaps more so the latter) were at the top of PC gaming. Everyone was playing them and talking about them. The sounds, music, and game play were awesome for the time. There was, of course, plenty of controversy over the game, but maybe that only helped it gain popularity.

Then there was Quake (https://youtu.be/m0XOKSat57Q). It was awesome! I remember one little bit about that was that the shareware version actually contained the entire game. Someone found a way to hack it and unlock it. I think this was fixed later on. The sounds, music, and game play were again awesome. The soundtrack was created in part by Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails. It was also cool to see that piles of ammo for the nail gun had the Nine Inch Nails logo on them. You could actually still play the game while listening to other music, I found out.

Quake II was next and I remember it, too. It was cool and more modern than Quake, although Quake eventually got an OpenGL version that made it much better looking. You can actually now get a copy of the RTX version of Quake II, but you'll need a compatible graphics card if you want to see some decent FPS. While you don't have to have an RTX card, you might not be able to play the game on highest settings and get 60 FPS. I tried it with my GTX 1660 Ti and with some modifications to the settings, I was able to get some decent FPS, maybe in the 40's. I think that's correct, it's been a while since I've tried.

Quake III Arena just didn't bother with a campaign mode, but it was still fun. You could play the game in single player mode against AI bots and still have fun. This, however, is where my memory of the "family" ends, except for 2016's Doom, which was awesome! I've seen a lot about Doom Eternal and I really want to get it. I'm not sure when I will though. Most of the games listed here also received bonus or extra content like expansions or mission packs. There were a lot of levels created by the community for Doom and Doom II. It is now interesting to remember how much modding was going on back in those days. I think perhaps we may take it for granted now.

Some day, maybe soon, I think I'm going to get those games on Steam and try to play them again. Anyway, check out the videos I've included links to here and let me know your thoughts in the comments section. Feel free to share your story and nostalgia with the "Doom family."

So Many Games Coming To Switch In The Latest Nintendo Direct

There were a lot of games announced for Switch in the latest Nintendo direct and I wanted to highlight that 2K games is bringing some essential classics such as The Bioshock Collection, Borderlands Legendary Collection: includes Borderlands, Borderlands 2, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and The XCom 2 Collection to the Switch on May 29th. The good news is these versions will come with a physical game releases but they are so large that they couldn't include everything on the 16 gig game cart.

I love Borderlands and had fun playing it on the PS3 and hopefully the Switch version is faithful to these games. As they don't require the most cutting edge of hardware... Read All

Shelter-in-Place Update: Risk of Rain 2

I'm going to be writing a few posts about games I'd otherwise not be playing but decided to because we're all now to shelter-in-place and you know, fuck it, might as well get to some cool games.

One game I've had my eye on for quite some time is Risk of Rain 2 as I __really__ enjoyed the original game on PC. That said, with a kid and a developer day job sitting yet again at a desk on a PC for fun isn't always a super hot idea so playing games on the Switch is much more appealing. I've considered picking up Risk of Rain 2 on the Switch and wasn't sure because it's a third person shooter and had doubts how well that might work out on a controller(I prefer a keyboard and... Read All

Hungry Goriya Takes A Long Look Up at Sim Tower

A few years ago some friends and I returned to SimTown after finding a copy and had a blast playing it. Somehow it ran just fine on the modern Windows at the time and even though it wasn't perfect it I had a lot of fun playing it. The best part of SimTown is that it doesn't get bogged down with complex simulations and lets you build your tower as you want, with minimal direction. One downside of letting the player do something in a way that isn't optimal is that it is possibly frustrating but that's not always a bad way to learn.

I quite enjoyed this SimTower review by Hungry Goriya and recommend you all check it out. I don't quite look at the negatives in the same... Read All

Get Five Free Games On Steam For A Limited Time

It looks like Square-Enix is giving out Tomb Raider for a limited time. Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is also being offered. Hurry, the offer ends on 3/23/20! Follow the links below to get your copy on Steam.

https://store.na.square-enix-games.com/en_US/product/604614/tomb-raider-steam
https://store.na.square-enix-games.com/en_US/product/604617/lara-croft-and-the-temple-of-osiris-steam

*Update* I just watched a video from one of my YouTube subscriptions which mentions these two games along with three others. Check out the video, which contain links to the games in the video's description. I've embedded the video in this post.

*Newer Update* I found a huge list of... Read All

Tale of the White Wyvern: Upcoming Holiday and Season Info

Hello citizens of Wyrmdoor!

If you're like me, it's felt weird this month to only have one game of Tale of the White Wyvern to play instead of two since Season 1 ended. Well, we have some great news: Season 2 starts up in just a few days, April 1!

Titled The Plot Quickens, this season will be fast. Very fast. The focus is on getting through Wyvern kills much faster than normal with increased experience gain and gold find. But with great power comes great responsibility: the rapid pace of the game means that if you die in the forest, you could get passed over in the standings much more quickly. I'm going to be on the edge of my seat watching the leaderboards for this... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/20/2020 at 07:29am

Holy carp, I'm selling fish for about 2 million gold! 💰

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/20/2020 at 02:30pm

🎉

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/21/2020 at 07:03pm

If you lose a fight to a fish, do you lose your gold on hand, too? I think so, but I don't want to test it to find out.

adahn Super Member wrote on 03/21/2020 at 07:39pm

> If you lose a fight to a fish, do you lose your gold on hand, too? I think so, but I don't want to test it to find out.

I did not. I did lose the fish I had caught though.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/21/2020 at 08:50pm

>I did not. I did lose the fish I had caught though.

It's been a while since I lost to a fish. I remembered that you lose all fish on hand and all remaining attempts to catch a fish. I just couldn't remember if you lost gold, too. Thanks for the reply! I've realized not to keep more than one fish on hand, so that I don't potentially lose any. I've also just been immediately depositing the gold I get from selling fish, just in case.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/21/2020 at 10:39pm

> If you lose a fight to a fish, do you lose your gold on hand, too?

Nope.

We added some instructions for what should happen, if you see something otherwise let us know.

https://thewhitewyvern.com/game/1/instructions

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/21/2020 at 11:10pm

>We added some instructions for what should happen, if you see something otherwise let us know.

https://thewhitewyvern.com/game/1/instructions

Awesome! I should have thought to look there. Thanks! You guys have done a wonderful and thorough job! You should be very proud of yourselves!

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/22/2020 at 07:13pm

I told Travis that I think Wyvern is the coolest thing we've ever done. He agrees. 🤣

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/25/2020 at 07:52am

>I told Travis that I think Wyvern is the coolest thing we've ever done. He agrees. 🤣

And here I thought the coolest thing you've ever done was introducing me to Terraria and Cheerful Ghost.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/28/2020 at 07:09pm

So, total kudos for the fishing addition! I don't normally use my skill points, unless I'm fighting the wyvern. But, sometimes I run into a fish that makes me use them, which is a good thing. Fishing also gives me a lot more gems, which is great, because I want as many as possible so I can buy skill points, those are a high priority when fighting the wyvern. Fishing helps you get other bonuses, which is cool, too, though I don't usually use them. I do like being able to sell fish, which helps me buy better gear, including a fishing rod. So yeah, thanks for adding this into the game! I think you've done a fantastic job!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/02/2020 at 03:56am

Thanks Greg! The bonuses were meant as a way to make PVP a bit more enticing and certain scenarios and from my recent spate of murdering others in game, seems to have worked!

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Divinity: Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition Review

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Review

Recommended

Tactical turn based RPG

Choose from six different characters or create your own for story mode

QOL inventory management, optional multiplayer, Razer Chroma support

At some point in the last year or more, I became aware of Divinity: Original Sin 2. It was released in 2017, but I’m not sure I was really aware of it then. I think I found out about it while searching desperately for something to play. This game seemed to be pretty popular and I finally decided to get it. I know at least one of my friends was playing it. I’ve only played the Definitive Edition, so that is what I will be referencing here. I’ve also not yet finished the game, it’s a long... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/23/2020 at 05:22am

I’ve heard so many great things. Think I might pick it up on Switch at some point.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/23/2020 at 09:13am

I've restarted my game again. I sold something I shouldn't have, I'm sure. As I mentioned, there are six characters and you can only have a party of four, so it might be interesting to play it again with the the other two. Oh and I've even thought of more good things to say about it that I left out here. I think it's pretty good when there's a lot to write about.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/23/2020 at 04:59pm

I remember playing Final Fantasy III for the first time and losing Shadow and not choosing the Atma weapon. It killed me but I don’t make those mistakes anymore 🤣

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/23/2020 at 05:19pm

It's the process of learning about game and even though there's repetition, it's still fun, otherwise I wouldn't do it. I didn't have to restart my game multiple times, but I chose to. I really like what I've learned about it and what I've come up with such as which skills to level on my characters. This time around, I've made it a bit easier on myself, I think, because I learned. Learning is or can be fun and doing it with or for a video game makes things more interesting and fun.

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Hearthstone Will Add A New Playable Class in Upcoming Ashes of Outland Expansion

Hearthstone has been the Queen of digital card games for quite some time and to keep the game stable, to-date they haven't added any new base playable classes. They aim to change that in the upcoming Ashes of Outland Expansion in that it will add the Demon Hunter class.

"Demon Hunters brandish the power of fel, while crushing their opponents with colossal demon allies. They have access to cards with the Outcast keyword, which become more powerful when played from the left or right-most position of your hand—including the turn they’re drawn.

The Demon Hunter is a permanent, full-fledged class that will be supported across all future Hearthstone expansions. The Demon... Read All

Half-Life: Alyx Interview

As Half-Life: Alyx nears launch Valve has been doing press about it and found this half hour interview with Gabe and Robin to be really compelling. They talk about Alyx, the Campo Santo acquisition and brain interfaces. If you dig Valve and like hearing Gabe talk about it, clickity clack that video play button above.

"In a rare half-hour conversation, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell talks about the studio's past with Half-Life, the surprising answer to what his favorite Half-Life game is, mistakes that Valve has made, what keeps a man worth billions of dollars coming to work every day, how he spends his days, what the next decade looks like for Valve (hint: it involves a... Read All

LGR: "Doom Eternal Has To Be One of the Best Shooters I've Played Period."

Some early media reviews are coming in for Doom Eternal and they look great. I wanted to share one from one of my favorite YouTube channels LGR. LGR has a nice chill style and mixes top notch capture footage (seriously the game looks incredible in his video) and it running on his wide ASUS monitor.

One of the first things I noticed is that in Doom Eternal the starting weapon is the shotgun which is a great. The pistol in Doom 2016 was fine, but Doom Eternal looks to start you out with Doom's signature weapon which is as it should be.

If you are getting Doom Eternal soon let me know and what you think of the game once you play it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/18/2020 at 05:43am

Wow, the shotgun was my favorite weapon in Doom (2016). This is very tempting, I'm "on the fence" about it. From what I've seen, all reviews so far are definitely positive!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/18/2020 at 02:34pm

Same here. I have so many games already but this looks like a game I’ll play... at some point?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/18/2020 at 06:19pm

Yeah. I'm already playing something and don't really want to stop. Maybe it'll be cheaper in the Steam Summer Sale. Maybe I've gotten spoiled by sales and now realize I don't always have to pay $60 for a game. Although, every time I watch something (like the video you posted) about this game, I really feel like getting it. I also have multiple other games on my wish list.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/18/2020 at 06:39pm

If you don’t need to play a game at launch waiting is always a great idea. Borderlands 3 is pretty cheap on Steam now and will only get cheaper over time with a ton more content.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/18/2020 at 09:34pm

Yeah, I was really tempted to get Borderlands 3. It came to Steam at a 50% discount, which was very hard to resist.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/19/2020 at 04:33am

Yep, that's the one.

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