Subscribed/Scaled, mixed with occasionally keeping an eye on Local/New (as I’m on a small instance).

I never ever touch /all.

Unbelievable game for its age, it looks bonkers good for a 2005 release with some really impressive particle effects and particularly distortion effects. Shockwaves from explosions and slow motion bullet traces look phenomenal still and really smooth, clean and sharp.

Gunplay is great and holds its own against most modern releases, with literally every weapon barring the oddly anemic assault rifle feeling amazing to use. The combination of extremely intentional level design and the insane-for-its-time AI makes every fight fun and different.

If you haven’t played it yet it’s regularly sold on GOG for like a dollar and I consider it a must-play. Make sure to grab the Echo Patch and dont forget to play the Extraction Point expansion too, which is included in the GOG edition and is phenomenal - perhaps even better than the base game.

I really loved FFTA. Is it your first time playing it?

STALKER: Anomaly. Finally finished up my modlist, landed on a grand total of about 430, so now it’s time to playtest and see if it actually works without crashing and feels good and balanced to play. Just started a Mercenary playthrough yesterday and so far so good. Managed to clear out the bandits at the vehicle station in Cordon as is custom but the real test will be the first handful of missions over in Meadow. I’ve been wanting to do a Merc playthrough for a while but the start is rough in this modlist setup as you can’t get Fanatic as a free companion and you don’t get to start with a shotgun. At least starting off as neutral with the loners means you can start out in Cordon. It’s going to be rough until I get a working gas mask, dosimeter, detector and repair the first shotgun I find.

All in all though it feels great to be back in the Zone.

We need a remaster of that absolute classic.

Shame it’s just the original Splinter Cell. I’ve been wanting Chaos Theory on GOG for years. Also would love an actual PC port of the OG Xbox version of Double Agent, but I know that’s dreamland copium. It’s an awesome game and easily the better version but trapped in the Xbox ecosystem.

Yeah I was pretty upset about Larian for that one. One of the best and most nuanced characters in BG2 reduced to a brainless cartoon caricature. Same goes for

Putting my final touches into my STALKER: Anomaly modlist and creating the last couple of compatibility patches. I think I’ll end up at 400 mods which is a nice round number. Hope I’ll get to start my playthrough this weekend.

Will also try to get through another chapter of Alan Wake 2, I was on a replay of it when I got derailed but I do want to finish it and finally start the DLCs.

Had this on my watch list for a long time and every new video it keeps looking better. I’m still of two minds about the black-and-white - I get the idea and it works for the theme but I can’t decide if it’s worth it or if I miss the detail color would add. But at the same time maybe it would make it too bright and cheerful for the setting and story?

Still looks super cool and I’m looking forward to playing it.

Anytime! One thing I appreciate in Jade Empire is that they attempted to do something different with the good/evil dichotomy. It doesn’t always come off properly and it’s often constrained by the nature of the game (you can’t really opt out of the main quest for example) but I appreciate the attempt. Instead of just good/evil they try to make it a “Good Samaritan versus Hardcore Darwinian” dilemma based on opposing philosophies that aren’t necessarily good or evil.

I just hope someone takes Nintendo to court over that latest bogus patent so it can get thrown out.

If you ever decide it’s time to jump on New Vegas, the Viva New Vegas modlist has Wabbajack support now I believe. So you should be able to install the most stable and baseline recommended modlist with just a couple of clicks.

Caveat is I have not played NG2 on Master Ninja because I already hate myself enough, I don’t need more misery . Apart from some single chapter challenge stuff I guess. But I have never felt like pulling off UTs was significantly challenging compared to relying on combos and OTs. You’re moving around so much anyway that an on-landing UT is often easy to pull off as long as you have 2 essences in the air.

What I find most fun in NG2 combat is using all the combos from the move list of the various weapons, and using OTs strategically for i-frames. But UT spam just seems so much more efficient and easy.

Maybe Master Ninja is significantly different, I don’t know.

Oh there’s more than just on DeviantArt, fan games like Pokémon Uranium are full of fakemons that can rival anything Nintendo is putting out.

I’m sure it will happen at some point as I’ve mentally had it on my to-do list for quite some time. But… it might take a year or two. My backlog is extensive.

Thanks, I’ll definitely save this for some day in the future!

I also tend to enjoy the process of setting up your own custom modlist, but after being deep in that rabbit hole before with Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout: New Vegas, Baldur’s Gate 2 and STALKER (all 4 games + Anomaly) I don’t know if I have it in me to learn the ins and outs of another mod landscape 😅

Mapocolops is one of the best Let’s Players out there. Always engages with the story and tries to pay attention, likes reading everything and getting immersed, very genuine while still managing to be very entertaining in an authentic way instead of contrived and faked. Also regularly plays retro games, which is very refreshing and sets him apart a bit.

Do you have any large and complete modpacks to recommend? I don’t know that I have it in me to learn the lay of the land from scratch.

Also, have you used the Mantella mod any? It’s actually a similar mod that got me back into STALKER Anomaly. Really fun immersive use of AI for roleplaying and forming attachment to your companions.

This year in particular has been absolutely insane. I’ve played more releases the same year they launched this year than any in recent memory and still feel like I’ve missed out.