What are you playing this weekend/these days?


League of Angels II, a browser/flash RPG game... I won't tell the site because is already spammed around every site of the internet... I avoided it for a lot of time just because of the previous reason... but 2 days ago I clicket it for mistake... and I'm still playing it...

It's a Free2Play, but I will never pay, and anyway there's still a lot of things to do, it's pretty well made for a browser game, and it also has it's downloadable client, that I use because it is mainly just a stand alone flashplayer.
 
Ultima VII - Serpent Isle : More Ultima VII goodness, but much more linear this time. Still fun, still quite distinct from many RPG. You can (and are even encouraged to) max out your stats quite early in the game, and in any case dying is not a problem at all (in many cases you even respawn directly where you died). I just wish the game allowed for different ways to solve problems, with such an interactive world it's a shame that you don't get to actually use most of it. I guess I didn't feel that way in the Black Gate because the non-linear nature made it feel more open to experimenting, goofing off and baking bread.
 
Ultima VII - Serpent Isle : More Ultima VII goodness, but much more linear this time. Still fun, still quite distinct from many RPG. You can (and are even encouraged to) max out your stats quite early in the game, and in any case dying is not a problem at all (in many cases you even respawn directly where you died). I just wish the game allowed for different ways to solve problems, with such an interactive world it's a shame that you don't get to actually use most of it. I guess I didn't feel that way in the Black Gate because the non-linear nature made it feel more open to experimenting, goofing off and baking bread.
When I was a kid, I actually was a little overwhelmed by the openness of The Black Gate, so I was quite happy that Serpents Isle was more straight forward. While playing it again some years ago, I had the same experience as you.

Took the tiny hype the Bioshock Remastered Collection created, as a reason to replay Bioshock (unfortunately the only part of the series that can be obtained DRM-free) and damn, the atmosphere and the writing is truly awesome, such a shame the rest of the game isn't able to keep that level, the gameplay is quite uninteresting and the "end-boss-fight" is straight out boring and totally unnecessary. I can't even wrap my head around that fact that its even there, it makes no sense from a narrative point of view. I wonder whether someone said: "there isn't enough fighting in the end, people like to shoot things, there needs to be some silly bum bum at the end" during the last phase of the games production.
 
I’m playing Super Metroid [1] on my RetroPi these days. I never played Super Metroid before and I’m quite impressed by this game.
Especially the soundtrack of this game is very appealing.

I already ordered a Super Nintendo controller. Till now I only own a XBox-Controller. The SNES buttons are not really comfortably reachable on this controller.

However, the game is awesome!

Smetroidbox.jpg


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Metroid
 
^ That game is still on my todo list.

Not really playing seriously, but have just got a Game Boy emulator up and running on my new (old) Alphasmart Dana Wireless I received yesterday. Still have to load up a Spectrum emulator, install some interactive fiction, some rogue games... and get Python 1.5 running on it.

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hmm... that looks more like a portable keyboard with a small display to know what you are writing. How is the keyboard for typing? That backside is awesome, I thought it was old tech... but wow...
 
hmm... that looks more like a portable keyboard with a small display to know what you are writing. How is the keyboard for typing? That backside is awesome, I thought it was old tech... but wow...

Keyboard is excellent. One of the best I've used.
The device is well made and has a nice heft to it. To save me waxing lyrical on the positives of the Dana, read this well laid out review:
(It covers pretty much everything)
http://www.pencomputing.com/palm/Pen47/dana.html

There are 2 versions. I have the Wireless version which:
Wiki quote:
added built-in Wi-Fi connectivity for internet use & interaction with other Danas, doubled the RAM capacity from 8 MiB to 16 MiB, doubled flash ROM from 4 MiB to 8 MiB, and added SDIO support to the SD card slots.
/Wiki quote
(Wi-Fi also allows wireless printing, but haven't tried that yet)

It has a 33Mhz Dragonball VZ Processor, runs Palm OS 4, and thus can run pretty much any software compatible with Palm OS 4... Hence the GB emulator and Python which I have gotten running successfully :p

Other notable things I have done:
I have taken apart and rebuilt the included rechargeable battery pack... It was old and the 1600mah batteries didn't hold a charge very well. Old tech before LSD NIMH batteries came out.
I have used 2300mah LSD NIMH's which has made a massive improvement on the battery life even if the Dana and it's old battery pack were brand new... It's too soon to be definitive, but I would expect somewhere between 40 and 50 hours constant use with the backlight on... As I only need the backlight in poor light condition, who knows how long this thing will last... (Another person who has done this hack has reported 56.5 hours)

I connected to the WIFI hotspot of my smartphone and used the Dana to browse the internet... It was... interesting. I wouldn't recommend it, but curious being able to do so on such a device. I have some IRC palm software I have yet to try out.

The SD cards are hot swappable, which is nice... but are limited to 1GB capacity only... but when dealing with palm software and storing text files (This device was meant to be used as a low power portable digital typewriter), that is a huge amount of space.

I've just tested and YES!! I can use this like any USB attached computer keyboard... Typing this with the Dana right now. :D

So... it is essentially the *Ultimate* keyboard. Big Grin (Only lacks keyboard backlighting :()

And I paid $19 for it. *Even Bigger Grin*:D
 
After a long time of not really playing any games... I decided to install Spore (+ Creepy&Cute, Galactic Adventures, Better Spore gameply Mod, + Dark Injection Mod) onto my Surface Pro 2...

I love this game! I had forgotten how much I love this game... I remember fantasising about being able to play Spore on the go years ago... but back then my desktop could only run it on low to medium settings..

My Surface Pro runs it flawlessly on maximum settings... It is a dream come true! Playing it again, I struggle to think of any game I've ever enjoyed more... its almost a spiritual experience.
The mods make quite a difference. I cannot connect to the Spore servers (either they are down, or my account is no longer functioning), so I have to find other people's creations manually by browsing the sporepedia online... as well as finding all my old creations (I had lost them when that desktop died).

I must say, this game was made for people like me... I've evolved a 'Glade Metamouse' to space stage... and I'm completely in love with it.... It looks amazing, and moves perfectly! The tribal interactions were hilarious to watch... especially when I found a nest of one of my old creations and domesticated one of them!

I would love to share my new creations with you guys, but you will need at least Spore, Creepy&Cute, Galactic Adventures, patched to 1.6 (bot parts), and Dark Injection mod installed correctly to view and use my creations properly.

Metamice taking over the galaxy? Why wait when you can make it happen now at your convenience.

... perhaps this is what normal people feel when they fall in love. ..

I was never interested in SPORE, and at the time I've seen many complaints about the game, but all the actual talks about No Man's Sky failure were always integrated with "how SPORE was better" in a way or another... and my curiosity raised while looking at the complete collection...

So, It's actually a cool game, very relaxing, really beautiful to explore, and even if the gameplay is visibly limited (mainly because it's subdivided in little games, and not a huge single one) and maybe a little repetitive, it's outstanding the work around the creatures themselves, how the components integrates well and how much freedom you have in your creations !! Also it gives a real feeling of an alive world, with interactions and all.

I'm not playing online (it could be overkill for me), just the things I'm seeing in this play session are a lot for me, and I suppose I will not proceed after finishing the evolution process (maybe just another play as an aggressive race).

This game is giving me the same relaxed feel and curiosity I had with other old games with alien worlds:
- Giants: Citizen Kabuto
- Sacrifice
- Evolva

It didn't happened again with more recent games :(
 
I suppose I will not proceed after finishing the evolution process (maybe just another play as an aggressive race).

Space stage is by far the most complete part of the game... everything else is just the build up.

At the end of the day - the appeal to Spore is all about one's own creativity and style. Like playing with legos... it's a medium through which you can create props and play out your own imagination...

If you have the complete collection... I guess that means you have Galactic Adventures?

Spore Galactic Adventures and it's scope for creativity is what inspired Microsoft to create Project Spark...

But I have some news for you... the included adventures are pretty dry and dull... you will need to acquire community made adventures to really experience what GA has to offer... also, if you are only playing with the default creations... then you are really missing out... there are some AMAZING creations out there... creatures you will not believe are possible to make with the Spore engine... some truly mind-blowing things.

THAT's what Spore was... you're exploring space and you see... what!!??? WHAT is that? OMG!!! Who made that thing? How did they...? Then you go and have a look at what else they've made...
.... then you are so inspired you try your hand making something similar....
... sometime later, you realize you're an addict... can't stop making PRETTY MONSTERS!!!!!

If you are offline, or have no account, or the servers are down... you can always download creations straight from the web-based Sporepedia
http://www.spore.com/sporepedia

Just right-click the picture of any creation and download the .png ... then you can either find your creations folder (usually in your documents folder) on your hard drive and drop them in there, or you can run Spore in windowed mode and drag-drop them all straight into your Sporepedia.

Getting GA Adventures is a little more tricky. You will need Chrome installed, and you will need to download and install the extension described here:

Here it is:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40354246/sporepediaDownloader2.crx

put all the files in a folder. Then, in chrome under extensions, turn on developer mode and then 'load unpacked extension' - navigate to the folder and there you should have it.

The little icon at the top right will turn green when you are in a valid part of the sporepedia and you just click it and it will batch-download every included creation in the adventure you are looking at.
I suggest you set this up to download to a specific folder, and create another folder with the name of the adventure you are viewing. When the download is complete (it will be quick), move all the files from the download folder into the named folder... then repeat the process for the next adventure you are interested in.

Then you can drag-drop those adventure files into your Sporepedia the same way you do stand alone creations.

You will need to keep that extension folder handy, as you may have to reinstall it every time you use Chrome.

There are a bewildering number of adventures out there... a huge amount of them not worth your time... so this is a good place to start:

http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=ssc-500453354296

This is a pretty good collection of some of the best adventures you will find.

Have fun!
 
@FaeMinx , thanks, I though that Galactic Adventures was just a tutorial and skipped it, but in the end I'm more a "mission based" gamer than a free roamer, even if big/open worlds are always great to play in... and anyway the only thing that catch me in the creation process is just the placement of "useful" attributes, everything else is left default/not used, even the color XD


EDIT: WTF !! SPORE at the last stage has everithing that was present in Frontier 2: Elite !! Plus missions on foots on planet surfaces !! I'm really impressed O_O
This game is really HUGE !!
 
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Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma (PS Vita because the cutscenes look better on it than on the 3DS) and another run of Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness. And some Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls when I'm not in the mood for puzzles and dialogues :D My Vita is super busy at the moment! :)
 
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