What are you playing? Options

[Lena Wolf]

Thanks for the alert, Kane! I might add that among the older games Witcher 2 is on offer as well, and that one comes with the REDKit which is the thing for making mods... Also Dragon Age Origins is on sale and has "tools" included, although they don't specify which tools. (Witcher 3 is also on offer but my PC is only about half as strong as the minimum requirement, the same problem as with Skyrim SE.)

Oh, and Morrowind and Oblivion not listed among the RPGs? So look through the other offer categories too.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Dec 23 2021, 02:24 PM

[Acadian]

Thanks, Kane! Would love to hear impressions from anyone who's played Horizon Zero Dawn.

My GoG $3 purchase of BGII EE runs perfectly and have gotten a good foothold back in the game. My extensive notes and guides from years ago are invaluable. It is fun to have an alternative game (to ESO) that requires no interwebz to play of perhaps during some of the longer ESO maintenance times.

[Lena Wolf]

Thanks, Kane! Would love to hear impressions from anyone who's played Horizon Zero Dawn.

It's a big game with a big world, but you need to like technology-based games for it, and I mean technology going beyond bows and arrows.

[Dark Reaper]

I've only been playing Azur Lane (mobile) and Animal Crossing (Switch). I haven't even touched my Xbox Series S or PC games since like EVER!

[Decrepit]

I surprised myself this morning by successfully completing a Train Simulator standard scenario. My driving wasn't always as elegant as it might be, thanks to my right hand being in a brace. (Plus, I hadn't driven the scenario's driver locomotive, an LNER J50, in quite some time.)

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jan 2 2022, 04:24 PM

[Acadian]

Buffy and I are actually splitting our time now between ESO and Baldur's Gate II Enhanced Edition.

[SubRosa]

Happy Balduring! I still have not finished that game.

[Dark Reaper]

Playing FNAF Security Breach on my PC. Beautiful game and pretty fun too!

[Kane]

Well, I meant to start Horizon Zero Dawn over the holiday but Stardew Valley sucked me back in instead. Also got a new Switch and Animal Crossing, so once could say I've taken a stark departure from what I usually play.

[treydog]

Near the end of Far Cry 6 and waiting for the "Oh- you only THOUGHT you were fighting on the side of Good ending to slap me in the face." Okay, I don't KNOW that is what will happen, but... just a feeling.

So, to switch things up completely, I have started Disco Elysium. Um... it rather defies simple description, but it is definitely compelling, once I got the PS4 control setup figured out. If anyone is considering this one, let me know, and I will provide a detailed first impression.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Near the end of Far Cry 6 and waiting for the "Oh- you only THOUGHT you were fighting on the side of Good ending to slap me in the face." Okay, I don't KNOW that is what will happen, but... just a feeling.

So, to switch things up completely, I have started Disco Elysium. Um... it rather defies simple description, but it is definitely compelling, once I got the PS4 control setup figured out. If anyone is considering this one, let me know, and I will provide a detailed first impression.

Please do!

[Acadian]

Buffy is now passing between ESO and Baldur's Gate II Enhanced Edition pretty seamlessly. In BGII she has found herself as the scout/archer for a group of five.

The group is led by a monk searching for his lost childhood friend.
Constantly by the monk is his knight protectress.
A sultry fighter dual classed to thief deals with traps/locks, and packs some good combat power.
Buffy is an archer ranger scout who is also handy with magical staves when needed.
Rounding out the group is a fighter dual classed to mage who thinks very highly of his own magical prowess.

[Decrepit]

With my right hand doing better, I've resumed playing Train Simulator every now and again. Here's a couple of screen captures from recent drives:

1) A LSWR class T9 (in BR plumage) hauls passengers on the Purbeck Line, a freeware third-party route.

2) A NER P2 / LNER J26 delivers girders along Weardale & Teesdale Railway Network.

The NER P2/P3 / LNER J26/J27 is my first TS locomotive acquisition in some time. I almost didn't buy it due to cost. (When British pounds to US dollars conversion rate is factored it, plus the addition 8.5% my state wants in tax, it ran me close to $24.) What finally swayed me is that part of the cost goes to an NER preservation society, and lit being the first Caledonia Works loco to upgrade from SimNation Locomotion v1.4 to v1.5 scripting.

3) A GCR class 8K (in its later LNER days) delivering fish on North Lincolnshire freeware third-party route.

[Acadian]

Decrepit, glad to hear your hand is doing a little better.

[Dark Reaper]

Rainbow Six Extract on PC and Xbox Series S.

[Decrepit]

Launched Mashinky for the first time in forever this morning. I've got quite a project ahead, applying all sorts of changes to correct purely placed signals, as well as having way too many unneeded signals almost every junction. I've too many avoidable turns in the track, each of which slows trains down. I've too many unneeded changes in track bed height than can be corrected. Some passenger stations don't have money-earning restaurants attached. Some locomotive need to be upgraded, but not updated as plan to remain within the steam era. Some passenger trains need more coaches. And so on.

The one downside in this morning's session was that the game launches info windows so that their exit X's abut the Exit Game X. Me being me, I hit the wrong X as often as not. Still, I enjoyed myself.

[Decrepit]

Mashinky has somewhat revived my atrophied gaming interest. I've played it a lot these past few days. I do mean a lot, as in probably more than is good for me. Day before yesterday, for instance, I launched the game right after breakfast, played fairly constantly until lunch, played much of the afternoon, then returned after supper and played until somewhere between 2230-2245, which is a good three hours after I normally retire to the sofa to read until falling asleep. I didn't play nearly so strenuously yesterday, but definitely devoted more hours to Mashinky than is my norm.

What do I do there that eats up so much time? Mostly I repair damage to 'signaling' caused by changes to the game during my super-long absence, re-lay track to remove unnecessary changes in elevation and curves, change to better-suited locomotives on numerous routes, replace multiple short trains with one long train where that makes sense, add 'upgrades' to selective towns, and just basically fine-tune the map. I've a long way to go, but am now far enough along to see results, as in better profit margins on a number of routes.

Yesterday I installed a mod that adds beer making / distribution. I've not yet monkeyed with it, and am not sure I will. The map is already so crammed full of railroad routes that I don't know that I can squeeze another industry in. Time will tell.

On the Train Simulator front, I did nothing but purchase and install a newly released dirt-cheap set of LNWR railway carriages.

[Decrepit]

Yeesh, I'm playing Mashinky beyond common sense. From just after breakfast to Lunch, then much of the afternoon, and from after supper until bedtime. I'm getting in next to no reading, and surprisingly little YouTube.

I'm on a mission to 'update' my zillion railroad passenger routes so that they again collect and deliver passenger and all stop. They used to do so. But the game's become more sophisticated during my long absence. We can no longer simply connect one station to another and expect satisfactory business, as was once the case. I still don't understand exactly how we 'know' which connections are good, but do know that too many of mine aren't. I'm still earning an overall profit each game-year, but no long make money hand over fist. The task is Herculean. I don't expect to reach anything approaching total success on my current map. Far too many train lines for that. But I can at least whittle away at it until I grow bored and go on another sabbatical.

[Dark Reaper]

Well guess who had $70.00 to burn?

[Decrepit]

What the bloody heck?!?!?

Spent much of my afternoon putzing around with Mashinky, straightening unnecessarily curved tracks, adding extra station platforms to lessen congestion, and so on. Decided to end the session with a few passenger train rides, either in-the-cab or floating above. I began to notice a 'strange' thing. The several trains I rode weren't boarding or offload passengers at any stop. Now, thanks to updates during my long Mashinky sabbatical, passenger trains don't make a rake in the greenbacks they once did. Sometimes they neither offload nor board at individual stations. But to not do so during an entire multi-station run? That's not happened before.

I started looking around. Not a single passenger train now carries passengers! They still cost me in fuel they consume, but make no income whatsoever. For instance, one train has been bringing in just one 1k in money tokens a game-year, minus roughly 18 tokens in fuel cost. Then the year prior to when I noticed the SNAFU, it earned no tokens, still costing me 18 tokens in fuel. That must have set back my finances a pretty penny, considering the wealth of passenger trains on the map, all earning nothing but burning fuel token. Thankfully, freight train seem not affected, earning as usual.

My hope is that exiting and relaunching the game, which I'll do after supper, will set things to normal. If that fails, I'll validate files via Steam, and hope for the best.

ADDENDUM:
A ray of hope. The game received an update today. It kicked in during my afternoon session. One other person has reported train passengers not boarding. He also reported 'ghost train', which i too noticed but didn't bother to mention earlier. The developer is already working on a fix.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Feb 7 2022, 01:03 AM