Cuarto de Mayo? Geez; I'm always a day late and a dollar short!!! I've been celebrating it on the 5th every year!!!

After all this time, I've finally beaten the first Fallout!

To put it succinctly, I had generally positive but mixed emotions about the game. There were some annoying or even infuriating aspects of it. First of all, the game is pretty obtuse. There is a lot of trial and error in figuring out how to go about some quests (relatively few that they are) and figuring out what your character is capable of doing at their level. It is quite easy to run into something that is too tough and will kill you. The game is pretty unforgiving in that regard. I understand not wanting to hand-hold the played, and that's great. I'm all for that. But giving little or absolutely no direction is just cumbersome. Also, even though I'm not a fan of turn-based in general, simply being turn-based wasn't the problem. If you run into a big group of enemies, it takes FOREVER to cycle through their turns, especially when they slowly walk around on the battlefield. The AI of your companions (luckily, you can actually have as many companions as you want in Fallout 1) is also incredibly dumb a lot of the time.

Then, I got mostly bad ending slides when I don't see how I should've. I had high karma, did all the stuff I needed to for each place to get good endings, and I'm pretty sure my version of Fallout is the patched one that removes time limits (minus getting the water chip at the beginning) before super mutants run roughshod over the remains of southern California. In the original version of Fallout, you had to finish the main missions within a certain amount of days, an amount that I can't understand how anybody could make, to prevent the super mutant invasion of each main location in the game. They released a patched version that removed the time limits (but capped gameplay at 13 in-game years) sometime soon after the game came out, although when it happened I'm not sure.

That being said, I really did like the game.

The atmosphere and tone is absolutely on-point, far better than the newer Fallouts (and from what I hear, much better than Fallout 2 as well). It feels very bleak and instills a great deal of despair, just like that kind of post-apocalyptic world should. The story is also well-told and intriguing, with lots of background info to flesh out the world as well. I also appreciate how often you can solve a quest in multiple ways, and not necessarily just good vs. bad. There is a certain big boss (not THE big boss, mind you) in the Mariposa Military Base that seemed impossible for me to beat, but fortunately there was another way of blowing the place to kingdom come that didn't even require you to face that boss, The Lieutenant of the Master's Army of super mutants. The progression of your character and your understanding of the game is also incredibly rewarding. I felt so triumphant reaching landmarks like leveling up (particularly when you get to pick a perk after every 3 levels) and completing big objectives. I felt accomplished beating this game much more than in Fallout 3/NV/4--much as I loved those games and felt accomplished beating them--as a result of (and sometimes in spite of) the above.

Since I think the time limits on the mutant invasion are ridiculous and I believe I have (or should have) the patched version of the game that removes them, I choose to believe I got all of the good endings. What a journey. I don't think I'd ever play the game again, but it was a very unique experience. Plus it was cool to see and play through the game that started it all, much like TESI: Arena did for The Elder Scrolls. I suppose I'll get to Fallout 2 soon, but how soon I'm not sure. I figured out late how to take screenshots, so I have some I will post in the Fallout Screenshot Thread later.

This post has been edited by RaderOfTheLostArk: May 4 2020, 08:22 PM

Lol not late! It’s May the 4th Be With You Day! It’s become a bit of a pop culture holiday celebrating all things Star Wars and it’s on May the 4th because of the pun (May the 4th be with you ). On this day every year, GOG (and I think Steam also) runs a sale on Star Wars video games.
Cinco de Mayo is still alive and well though! Will be observing that tomorrow by ordering lunch takeout from one of our local Mexican restaurants!

Congrats on beating the game like a red-haired stepchild. I never did finish Fallout 1 or 2.

But why should a post apocalyptic setting be bleak? I mean, most of the human race is dead. You don't have to go to work. You can stay up as late as you want. You can eat ice cream all day. All you have to do is kill a few people. Sounds like wins all the way around!

Oh, now I like the 4th after this!!!! (and I still get to celebrate the 5th with my friends, too!)


https://rutgersthemedium.files.wordpress.co...0/squirrel2.jpg


https://i.rmbl.ws/s8/1/9/W/E/Q/9WEQa.qR4e-s...are-life....jpg








This post has been edited by mALX: May 4 2020, 10:03 PM

That’s the spirit!

Cinco de Mayo is also my mother's birthday.

I've decided to finally go back and play Fallout 3 again. I've been having the urge to for some time and now I finally caved. I'm sure Mirocu will be proud. Luckily, there isn't much in my backlog left that I want to play, so it doesn't feel too much like I'm pushing any of that stuff back.

My new character is Emilia and I've got some pics up in the Fallout Screenshot Thread.

This post has been edited by RaderOfTheLostArk: May 10 2020, 05:32 PM

I pulled out Morrowind. I'm gonna pay dearly for this transgression.

I launched Mashinky three days ago, just a quick check to see if updates made since I stopped playing just over two years ago fixed a few troublesome quirks. That was my intent. One thing led to another and I've played almost constantly from waking in the morning until bedtime...a bedtime some hours later than is my norm. What I'm mostly doing is finding (way too many) low income earning trains and making adjustments to fix that. Mostly passenger trains, but also some oil well to refinery to factory chains. Some production chains still baffle me, creating iron bars from iron ore and coal being the worst. I keep getting resource ratios wrong, so that plants are always running out of one or the other of the two resources, bringing production to a trickle. Be that as it may, the game's a decent pastime. Don't know how long I'll stick with it.

I'm playing Diet No Man's Sky aka Starlink on the XB1X.

I've been playing the FF7 remake. They added soooooo much stuff to it. And it seems some plot pieces have been adjusted. I find it kinda funny that literally every cat Cloud crosses seems to hate him.

I can't wait to play FF7R. Be interesting to see how they handle the rest of the story. I know Square's going to backpedal and keep somewhat closer to the original but I think they might take some liberties to keep it fresh somewhat.

Against my better judgement, to the limited extent I have a better judgement, I shelled out an extra $11US for a 3-month Trainz '1st Class Ticket', which allows unlimited downloads from their Download Station at bearable speeds. (Without a Ticket, downloads are limited to dial-up speed. Seriously.) Since then, I've downloaded quite a few steam locos, either Tanks or small tender locos. Being Trainz, the process could be more intuitive. For instance, I didn't at first realize that most locos have multiple files that are their own separate downloads. Anyway, I spent almost the entirety of today's game-time auditioning some of those locos. What's more, I did so using the game's 'realistic' mode rather than 'simple' mode. I'm getting better at it, but still tend to over or undershoot stops. I'm not yet skilled enough with 'realistic' controls to attempt an evaluated session.

I also dowloaded a free-of-charge player-made route with session. (In this case, the session is a right-along rather than a drive.) Very nice, with more attention-to-detail than the majority of my paid-for, official routes.

In other news, my DFU avatar completed a dungeon crawl. If I decide to elaborate on his misadventures, I'll do so in the appropriate sub-forum.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: May 25 2020, 06:52 PM

Other than a little DFU, I've spent my gaming time in TRS19, doing a mixture of two things. First, I've been auditioning a bunch of downloaded free steam loco / tender mods. A good many didn't pass muster. I spent parts of the day yesterday learning how to safely remove those. I've removed 25 so far, with another few to consider. The rejected locos are prolly fine for those who drive in third-person. Me, I like first-person in-the-cab driving. (Or hanging out the cab's side window.)

Second, I'm continuing to learn how to drive a steam train in 'realistic mode'. Getting better at it too. Stopping a train when and where I want it continues to be the hardest part of basic driving. There are also things I don't yet understand, like what to do when the loco starts hissing. I'm not even quite sure what it means when that happens. I 'think' it might have something to do with boiler pressure or water-to-coal ratio?

Here's an image of the game UI in 'realistic' mode.

The segmented line stretching across screen bottom is no different than in 'simple' mode. It measures distance, shows gradients/slope, denotes upcoming speed limits and signal settings. To its right are rectangles showing loco system conditions, only some of which I understand the use of. Above that is a display of the train's current speed and current track limit. To the right of that are the actual controls. Leftmost is the 'cutoff'. Next to that is the 'regulator'. These two control speed / acceleration. Next is the 'train break'. After that, a locomotive break, for when a loco isn't pulling cars (such as during shunting). Next up, the 'coal feed' slider. I don't normal touch that, preferring to add coal bit by bit manually (via spacebar). Last is the water injector slide. I do use this. Above those are special function buttons, such as coupling/uncoupling, applying sand and so on.

Functions controlled by sliders can instead be manipulated by adjusting a loco's physical controls via mouse cursor. I tend to use physical controls when a train starts from a stop, then switch to sliders, so I can lean out the side window. (In some locos it's possible to reach physical controls while at the window, depending on which window you lean out of.)

Your adventures with the trains remind me of my own endeavours flying an Apache in Longbow 2, although this train game looks way better. Not surprising though as Longbow 2 is donkey's years old now

Lol.

I get to reinstall games myself this week. New computer means new game installs. World of Warcraft and Skyrim, go go!

I seem to recall that being fairly popular in its day. I believe the only flight-related games I ever owned were Red Baron and Their Finest Hour (WWII Battle of Britain). Never got good at either of them.

As for TRS2019, today has been a total failure. I overshot almost every stop, often significantly.

Just auditioned an LNER L2 class loco by a normally solid modder, one of my favorites. The outcome was rather 'interesting'. It's a dark olive-greenish loco. It looks fine in the various 'third person' modes (chase, cinematic, roaming camera). In cab mode, it looks fine in the various in-cab positions and when leaning out the left window. However, when I lean out the right window the loco suddenly becomes red (and doesn't produce smoke)! I'm not even sure it's an L2 any more. Soon as I move to any other position it's normal again. I've decided to keep in on the roster for now. Speaking of which, I've shortened the roster by some thirty steam loco mods now.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jun 13 2020, 09:15 PM

In TRS2019 I continue to learn to drive steam locomotives in 'realistic mode'. The more I practice the more I realize I don't know. I can generally drive between (and stop at) stations with little problem other than occasionally over- or undershooting a station platform. Despite that, I'm not driving trains correctly. RL steam loco drivers, seen at YouTube, do a lot more with the cutoff lever/wheel, while I rely on the Regulator for almost all speed adjustments (that don't require enabling the Brake) once the loco reasonably up to speed. I suspect this might be while locos tend to hiss at me during prolonged drives. I 'think' I'm allowing the boiler pressure to rise too high, but don't know how to lower it once that happens. (Or how to keep it from happening.)

Yesterday I realized I'd not yet attempted to 'shunt' in 'realistic mode'. Set up a super simple practice session, where my loco had to back and couple with an already assembled set of passenger coaches. No setting turnouts or anything complex. Boy did I blow it, time and time again. Once my loco somehow totally lost boiler pressure, and ceased to function. I have no earthly idea how I did that!

My Daggerfall Unity avatar has been on a number of adventures, documented in the appropriate sub-forum / thread.

Finished Uncharted 4 today. While I had not been a fan of platformers, these games have made me rethink that a bit. The graphics in 4 especially were quite amazing, but they did not sacrifice gameplay or story to make that happen. Granted, the stories are linear- but even so... good writing and voice acting. Of course, the same studio is responsible for "The Last of Us," so the writing and ... compassion... for their characters are apparently a focus.