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Star Wars: Dark Forces (FPS, 1995)

This is undoubtedly the oldest shooter of all my gaming experience in my conscious life overall. When I launched Dark Forces, I got the impression that I had dug up someone's grave — trying a game from twenty years ago was a very bold decision.
The presence of actual levels (rather than single-lane corridors) left an ambiguous impression this time. The "puzzles" in terms of needing to figure out how to solve a certain task (or simply determine what to do) in order to move forward — as in the distant past, caused a pleasant irritation. Overall, a stressful but good element of gameplay.
However, I absolutely did not like rubbing my face into textures. Not at all. There are tons of various buttons and other things on the level walls that aren't always easy to distinguish from real switches, so I very often had to press the activate button on everything in sight. The same can be said about the ugly textures themselves; several times, like an idiot, I ran back and forth for tens of minutes of real time before discovering that I simply hadn't noticed a passage because the walls happened to be as thin as paper and I just didn't see it or something like that.
Level design varied from outright pathetic (sewers) to decent (Arc Hammer), shootouts were cool, the plot is normal (which is what you can expect from such a game). Overall, I liked it more than not.
6/10

Star Wars: Dark Forces 2 (FPS, 1997)
For the most part, it's everything the same as the game above, only better and bigger. The mental work remained, but the texture problem disappeared. My only complaint is that in the first part, enemies looked more stylish (and dark troopers were even eerie), but those are problems of the new engine (early 3D) and not so important.
The main changes besides this:
- The ability to save appeared. In the first part, you couldn't do this and there were no checkpoints either, so it became easier in this regard (casuality level of '97).
- The ability to freely rotate the camera with the mouse: it was a breath of fresh air for me, as in the previous game, I was very stressed by the need to raise and lower the camera using the keyboard.
- Lightsaber combat. This point could also be called "boss battles" — very pathetic, especially when compared to future games in the series.
The live-action cutscenes deserve a separate mention. At first, I laughed a lot at this, as everything seemed staged and ridiculous to me, but later my attitude changed: I liked it and even felt the presence of soul in all of this. And if you think about it more, what kind of cutscenes could there be without this? Static images with moving mouths like in the first part or based on the game engine with ugly triangular models?

Otherwise, I got everything from this game that I could possibly want when I launched it.
7.9/10
Oh yes, one more small addition regarding the characters. Kyle Katarn (the main character of both games) already seemed like a cool guy to me, but his partner Jan Ors in the future game (Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast) remained in the shadow. I mean, how does she figure in there? She gets kidnapped, you save her. And that's it, her participation in the plot ends there. But from the first two, I developed a very pleasant attitude toward her. Both as a character overall and specifically those cozy partner relations where they trust each other with their lives.
A slightly absurd fact: in all three parts, the main character has to save her. I could call this a bad move on the part of the plot writers, but then I made another observation: throughout the game, she herself bailed Kyle out an equal number of times, if not more, it's just that no attention was paid to this because the narrative proceeded from a different angle.

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith (FPS, 1998)
An expansion to the previous game. You would think the gameplay had practically not changed, but at the same time, I finished this game with great reluctance.
Briefly: more lightsaber combat appeared (reminder, implemented absolutely terribly) (previously they were only for bosses), level design became much worse, and the plot is not so much nonexistent as it is frankly bad. And what I mentioned earlier happened: the soulful live-action scenes were replaced by completely pathetic animations on the game engine.
4/10

Blue Estate (Rail shooter, 2014)
First of all, a not very important but interesting observation: as it turns out, rail shooter gameplay is not too different from a modern "traditional" shooter. As for the game itself... The gameplay is simple but not stressful and can quite suffice to kill some minutes without diving deep into the intricacies of Gameplay or plot; well, the stripper is cool and there are a couple of funny moments, but I don't know, what's next? This school-level humor strips me of all my mercy.
3/10

It was high time to create such a topic, great!

Xenonauts (2014, Turn-Based Strategy)
I'm not familiar with the original XCOM, but I played a game from either 2012 or 2013. I liked Xenonauts much more.
This is a rare game where I was genuinely interested in reading the background elements (research results, etc.); in this regard, everything is very well thought out, even though the theme of alien invasion has never appealed to me.
I liked the style, especially the weapons and aircraft.
I completed it, probably on my fifth or sixth try – before that, I lost because I didn't understand some of the game mechanics (like building only one base and then wondering why the budget decreased), and I also played without saving and reloading.
Overall, the atmosphere of the confrontation with aliens is conveyed well, but there were also some drawbacks – minor things like small bugs and some laziness on the part of the developers (TOO FEW RACES; it took me only 20 minutes to add the races I needed, which means that implementing this properly shouldn't have been a problem; and also, the models of men, women, and black people in the game are indistinguishable), and imperfections in the gameplay – towards the end of the game, I simply got tired of the micromanagement on the global map, and the ground missions had become somewhat monotonous – I finished the game more out of obligation.
6.9/10

It's a shame that no one will see this topic in this section, but still...

The Curious Expedition (in development, Roguelike/RPG)
I downloaded it, tried it out, and my impressions are excellent. The game is truly atmospheric; I was completely immersed in the world of exploration. The music and style are perfect. The 4 screenshots in the link give you a pretty complete idea of what it looks like, except that the global map is even smaller. :p
Many small details have been worked out. For example, I'm following the compass to the west, and suddenly it sharply turns to the east. Did I arrive? It seems empty. I took a closer look: "magnetic mountain." Everything is clear. :)
I bought a bunch of colorful, heavy balls in the port and traded them with the natives for a lot of useful things. As it should be. And you can get a few drums for a couple of gorilla paws.

The game is only in the development stage. They will probably add a lot more cool and diverse things. But even now, it can easily draw you into this interesting and fascinating world of adventure for a few days.

P.S. and here is the wiki

Divine Divinity
Ahahaha! Yes! Finally! I finished it in just a year, lol. I remember trying to play it before, but it didn't click then, but now it did. Who knows, maybe in another five or six years I'll play the rest of the games in this world (or maybe I won't play them at all). I listened to the music in some locations and even downloaded it to my phone. Overall, I enjoyed the game; it's quite amusing. I had a good time playing it.

Play only Beyond Divinity from their other games. In Divinity 2, they ruined the atmosphere and many of the fun characters, like the Patriarch. However, there are some successful jokes and amusing references to previous installments. Dragon Commander is just bad, although the setting is decent and there are a couple of funny jokes. But overall, it's like Nationstates Lite, with additional features in the form of a bunch of cardboard princesses to marry + a terrible strategic mode. I haven't played Original Sin, but after the previous failures from the developers, I don't even feel like it.

The title of this thread would have made sense in my childhood, when there was only one computer and I often watched my brother play. In fact, thanks to this, I learned to play various strategy games, etc., otherwise I might have grown up to be a fan of shooters. Although not all games were enjoyable, some still annoy me.

Beyond Divinity

It's buggy, although the Steam version might be better; I'll try playing and completing it sometime. I'll also try Divinity 2; after all, I bought the pack for a reason.

No, the Steam version is also buggy.

In Divinity 2, they ruined the atmosphere and many of the fun characters, like the Patriarch. However, there are some successful jokes and amusing references to previous installments.

But personally, as someone who is not a connoisseur of this universe, I really liked the combat system, it's quite dynamic. And the transformation into a dragon complements it perfectly (although the combat itself in dragon form mainly involves flying in zigzags and occasionally pressing the fireball button, but it's still an unusual idea + adds extra variety).

I haven't played Original Sin, though, but after the previous failures from the developers, I don't even feel like it.

Overall, I liked it. There were some stressful moments: playing as 2-4 characters (and role-playing is important in the game, as it affects the characters' skills) was a bit difficult for me personally; I'm not the type to meticulously read dialogues. Another point: you need to think carefully about the effectiveness of the characters right before starting the game. Some combinations will function terribly later on, and you'll barely make it through even the starting locations, while others, on the contrary, will be incredibly overpowered.
If you choose everything wisely, the battles are good, interesting, with many different effects and interactions between skills. You can venture into higher-level territories and add some challenge (characters receive huge penalties to accuracy against higher-level enemies, so it becomes really difficult, even with what seems like a small difference in levels). And yes, I like turn-based tactical games, to be honest.

But personally, as someone not very familiar with this universe, I really liked the combat there; it's quite dynamic.

In terms of gameplay, it's definitely better than the first two games. However, that's not surprising, considering that DD and BD have very similar gameplay to Diablo.

You can venture into higher-level areas and add some challenge (characters receive huge penalties to accuracy against higher-level enemies, so it becomes really difficult, even with what seems like a small level difference).

MMOs say hello.

And yes, I like turn-based tactical games, to be honest.

Play Blackguards later; it's a good game in that regard.

Try Blackguards later, it's a pretty good game in that regard.

Is there anywhere I can read more information about this game (like a review, or even better, several)? I'm completely disappointed with the so-called "modern gaming industry." :smile05: I no longer want to play anything "blindly"...:smile51:

Try Blackguards later, it's a pretty good game in that regard.

I think I even bought it on some kind of sale, but I haven't gotten around to playing it yet.

Is there anywhere I can read more information about this game (like a review, or even better, several reviews)?

The Steam page or Western websites? Although Steam is a rather unique source.

Deponia – I finished the entire trilogy, folks. For various reasons, not all at once, but I did.
This lively, fun quest immediately won me over with its artwork and top-notch humor. However, I was somewhat reluctant to play each new installment. After Deponia 1, I thought, well, it's unlikely that the second one will be as captivating. Are there any opportunities left for new jokes and plot twists? I had similar thoughts about parts 2 and 3. And you know what? Each subsequent part surprised me even more than the previous one! There were moments so unexpected, interesting, and incredible, sad and funny, that the impressions were truly fantastic.
10/10, no question about it.

Metal Gear Solid (1999)
A game from the well-known (though probably not to everyone) tactical espionage games series "Metal Gear". I missed the first two games — Metal Gear (1987) and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990); at first, I couldn't find where to download them, and now that I know where to download their remakes, I don't feel much desire to do so. Fortunately, for newfags, the Metal Gear Solid menu offers the opportunity to read a brief summary of the plot of the first two parts. So, to the game itself.
So, here I am, launching the game to familiarize myself with the plot of this great series (I can't just watch videos on YouTube like some degenerate) and what do we see, hahaha, well, wow, look at those graphics)))) The characters have only one pixel for a mouth, so they speak simply by jerking their heads back and forth to depict mouth movement—a rather telling fact. However, I was very quickly surprised by how, despite such wretched graphics, the game delivers, I'll be honest, a level of cinematic quality comparable to something like Mass Effect. And even faster, I was surprised that it is actually quite interesting to play. An interesting fact caught my eye immediately — for every 15 minutes of gameplay, there are strictly 15 minutes of cutscenes. Cutscenes here are implemented not only with this magnificent graphics engine, but also through conversations in the "Codec", that very thing where conversations, I swear, can take up to a third of the entire game if you just feel like chatting extra with NPCs, and not just for the plot. The picture in these conversations is quite good, and full animation is present.

The girl slyly evades the question of how she managed to hide a valuable item during a search
Okay, now I'll try to highlight the features of the game:
1) You play for 15 minutes, you watch for 15 minutes
2) There is no division into missions. At the beginning of the game, you are given a task — to infiltrate a certain place and achieve a certain goal. Throughout the game, you travel through this location and perform tasks dictated to you by the plot.
3) Boss fights. Firstly, I had already forgotten what those were. Secondly, one of the reviews states that every boss fight is unique — and damn, it really is. In something like Deus Ex, one fight differs from another in nothing but the scenery — here, each boss requires their own tactic and, as a rule, their own weapon. Moreover, there are sometimes non-obvious ways to defeat them.
4) Clunky controls. In subsequent parts of the series (and I've only reached MGS 3 so far), they will become even more clunky. Such is Kojima's vision.
5) The plot resembles a ball of yarn that unravels faster as it nears the end. For the first two-thirds of the game, we are only teased with hints that everything is more tangled than it seems. Then, the plot begins to develop at a frightening speed. Strangely enough, it's cool. I spent two weeks on the first two-thirds, playing with long breaks. I finished the last part in two consecutive evenings — that's how much it gripped me. The same can be said about plot development in other games of the series that I've played.
6) War is hell.
7) And then, suddenly after the previous point, all the bosses look like anime characters. Judge for yourself: a cowboy, a cyborg-ninja, a guy nicknamed "The Mantis" with a characteristic suit and psionic abilities, a giant Eskimo, a deliberately sexy sniper, a guy from yaoi fanfics. For some, this completely kills the previous point and turns the game into a circus. Unexpectedly for myself, that didn't happen to me.
8) A very loose attitude toward the fourth wall. Characters, right in the middle of a Codec briefing, openly talk about the controls. A separate NPC gives tips exclusively to the gamer — to play well-rested, not on a full stomach (so as not to run to the bathroom during a cutscene), etc.
Basically, that's all for the features. I'll also mention in passing that in the game for the PlayStation 1, which was released in 1999, the hero can be found by footprints left behind (for example, outside, or if he soaked his feet somewhere indoors), whereas in games released in 2008, there is no such thing. That's how it goes.
Overall, I liked the game. I probably should have said something else, but I forgot. I don't know how to give numerical ratings, so I won't.
Oh yes, I almost forgot. There's also a completely botched ending, which, apparently, will also have to be expected from other games in the series. I'll explain: it turns out that the main character is infected with a deadly artificial virus. It's unclear how this virus works — by a trigger or by time. When he asks the doctor this question, she vaguely replies: "Live and enjoy life...", and our hero, without any further questions, rides off into the sunset, where, as he says himself, he will enjoy life. On the other hand, after the credits, you can listen to extremely interesting conversations that provide a great setup for a sequel. Perhaps this is some genius commercial decision — to make the ending seem finished, but at the same time give a subtle hint of a sequel, so that regardless of whether there is a continuation or not, it looks like it was intended that way. In short:
K O J I M A I S A G E N I U S
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