OS Neutral What Game You Play'n?

[Queen6]

I don’t mean to be the Site Starfield Curmudgeon 🤔, but since I set it aside and reverted to Skyrim SE, I could not be happier. Starfield felt flat to me, Skyrim feels alive, most of it due to the atmospheric, the music is glorious. And I’m chomping at the bit to return to Fallout 4, and these are games I’ve played though before!

No Man's Sky...

Q-6

 

[pdoherty]

FarCry3

It's a year old, but was on sale over the holidays, so I recently started FarCry3. What a great game! I have loved the open landscapes since the time I first saw it in a game, could it have been the original? See that mountain, climb that mountain, no screen loads required. I play on easy, because I don't think games like this are realistic, being able to take multiple shots and injecting stimulants to heal and keep going, but it's still fun and I like sneak'n through the grass and basically cruising through a game like this without sweating too much. Even on easy I've died a couple of times when I've gotten too complacent and one time attacked by a croc while swimming across a river.

The character animation is good and I love some of them such as the mohawked bad guy and the trip'n Dr Earnhardt are just too good. Definitely for adults, R rated violence, lots of F bombs, violence, and reported nudity, although I have yet to discover that yet.

A little irritated I've got to go find some bird to kill to craft a bigger wallet. I'm leaving lots of lot behind until I can find one.

This trailer does a good job of selling the game: IGN Trailer.

This FarCry3 Wiki may be of help.

The Far Cry games are a lot of fun. I started on PC with the very first one and have finished Far Cry 6 on the Xbox Series X. They're all worth playing.

Nice screenshot.

 

[Huntn]

I still need to buy Fallout 4. Having fun in New Vegas at the moment, though!

It's funny, I spend a bunch of money upgrading my rig, and I'm back to playing games that I can run on my toaster.

Fallout 4 and Skyrim (currently playing Skyrim special edition that includes all the DLC‘s) in my head are the pinnacles of Bethesda game development to date. No they're not perfect, but I found them to be wonderful and a lot of that has to do with environment, story, music, and voice acting. Skyrim sounds like Lord of the Rings and that music teleports me halfway by itself to being immersed in the game.

 

[Huntn]

You're far from the only one!

I feel like Starfield should be the example in the dictionary for 'mediocrity' - it certainly isn't bad, but neither is it good.

Skyrim from day one was an awesome game - truly Bethesda's pinnacle (or at least best since Morrowind which I also love). I've played Skyrim on PC, Switch, and most recently on Steam Deck last year - it just doesn't get old! And maybe I'm biased growing up in the Boston area but I had tons of fun playing and replaying it and checking out Park Street Station where my wife and I met up to head out on our first real date.

Starfield feels like teflon ... I keep playing trying to like it but it is impervious.

For anyone who has yet to play Starfield, once you get past the glitter, the other elements of the game may let you down. It’s like the evolution of CGI going from cartoon to photo realism, but when having a conversation with a character you are teleported back to 90s games and a script of 4 questions and 4 scripted answers, and that’s it. It’s jarring. And the two Starfield companions I spent time with were not my type, complicated by poor conversation skills. If I could only teleport Piper and Kate (F4 companions) into this game world, but to match the environment, they would have to have better conversation skills too.

 

[Huntn]

I really enjoy Skyrim as well, and every couple of years I'll jump back in just to enjoy the atmosphere. Now that Starfield has been released, we can start looking forward to ES6. Can't come soon enough!

Fingers crossed Bethesda doesn’t blow it. 🤔

 

[Huntn]

While I absolutely agree Starfield is average, I do wonder about how our perceptions will change with the passage of time. I remember Fallout 4 (and to a lesser degree Skyrim) both being roundly excoriated when they were released, with that opinion lingering for years. Who knows, once Starfield has a few years of modding behind it, we might think of it more fondly too.

Skyrim factions intense-Storm Cloaks, Imperial Legion, Thalmore, Dragonborn! Fallout 4 factions all are devoted to their causes, very immersive. Starfield in comparison, something seems missing. The UC, a guy standing behind a desk. The Crimson Fleet annoyed me. The Lodge is not the warm, inviting place I pictured before walking though the door. It’s flat and boring. Admittedly it’s no different than people standing around Railroad HQ in F4, but that’s an almost decade old game, that’s my point and I had better conversations with them. They took a ‘58 Corvette and put a 2022 Vette Body on it, but the electronics (social interactions) are still 1958. I admit this could be a personal expectations issue.

 

[Queen6]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Shadow of Chernobyl - Xray engine - modified graphics - 95% of where I want it to be.
Shadow of Chernobyl - OGSR engine - modified graphics - Still WIP some major bugs to resolve.
Radiophobia - Just good out the gate

Alien Isolation - Modified Alien A.I. (more realistic to the original film) & 2K A.I. upscaled textures
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Directors Cut with original lighting & golden tint restored
DUSK HD on PC, DUSK on the Mac. Pity no HD version for the Mac, but DUSK SDK is in development
Oulast - Still scary as ever
Total Chaos - Now natively on the Mac, thx to latest GZDoom engine

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, currently playing and looking to spruce up this epic RPG as there's plenty assets online. Have a vanilla install upscaled to 4K to play with as a starter, after all "Where's the fun without complications?"

Q-6

 

[Queen6]

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines

While complications abound, getting there;

1080p snips of 4K tga files. HD graphics, models & HQ audio, no change to gameplay.

If only had the skills, VTMB-2 would be looking like this in 2024...

With improved gameplay, yet remaining authentic to the original game & lore of VTMB...

All credit to the artist...

Q-6

 

[Queen6]

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - 2024

4K .tga files snipped at 1080p

Went back to zero with the pure vanilla game and rebuilt it. Is now in a playable state, looks great but what a mixture of 2K & 4K assets and editing of code to get it to run in a stable state. Will be a long run, as need to play through the game take notes and replace any substandard textures. Will have to either source acceptable textures, employ Advanced A.I. to upscale the original or break out the brushes

So far VTMB is running really well, just been around the Santa Monica hub. Game is stable with constant FPS (locked at 65 FPS for technical reasons), looking a lot better than stock with as little deviation from the original look & feel of the game as possible...

Q-6

 

[Queen6]

Stock game - 2004 with Unofficial Patch 11.5

Mod game - 2024 with Unofficial Patch 11.5

Q-6

 

[Huntn]

Stock game - 2004 with Unofficial Patch 11.5
View attachment 2350864

Mod game - 2024 with Unofficial Patch 11.5
View attachment 2350865

Q-6

Not to be argumentative or aggravating, but the differences here, at least in the screenshots are negligible, aren’t they to you? The most difference I see is by the light on the wall to the side and above the car. I see a splurge of texture there in the modded version as compared to the vanilla UP version.

 

[Queen6]

Not to be argumentative or aggravating, but the differences here, at least in the screenshots are negligible, aren’t they to you? The most difference I see is by the light on the wall to the side and above the car. I see a splurge of texture there in the modded version as compared to the vanilla UP version.

Not to be argumentative or aggravating, but the differences here, at least in the screenshots are negligible, aren’t they to you? The most difference I see is by the light on the wall to the side and above the car. I see a splurge of texture there in the modded version as compared to the vanilla UP version.

No, one is 1080p, one is 4K if you cant see the difference there are bigger issues at hand. The first image is blurry/softer, pixelated, lacks definition & depth of field. The second image is stock textures upscaled to 4K by advanced A.I. While far from perfect, when the game is played at 1080p or 1440p is a significant improvement on stock...

2004 stock with UP 11.5

2024 modified with UP 11.5 and the human touch

The objective is not to radically change the look and tone of VTMB, more to refresh the game to take advantage of modern hardware. Will the mod go public? Right now no as it's far too complex, maybe in time once completed and simplified.

As with all, time has to pass and the pieces need to fall in place...

Doom 3

Like you've never seen or played before, plays impeccably at 4k on the PC, and can run natively on Apple Silicon...

Alien Isolation

2X upscaled textures, A.I. reworked to be as close to the Alien in the original film as is possible. Results in a deeply immersive and utterly terrifying experience...

Q-6

 

[txa1265]

Not to be argumentative or aggravating, but the differences here, at least in the screenshots are negligible, aren’t they to you? The most difference I see is by the light on the wall to the side and above the car. I see a splurge of texture there in the modded version as compared to the vanilla UP version.

Agreed ... and the images of Jeanette didn't help me either.

I guess I can continue to be good playing the vanilla game

 

[Huntn]

No, one is 1080p, one is 4K if you cant see the difference there are bigger issues at hand. The first image is blurry/softer, pixelated, lacks definition & depth of field. The second image is stock textures upscaled to 4K by advanced A.I. While far from perfect, when the game is played at 1080p or 1440p is a significant improvement on stock...

2004 stock with UP 11.5
View attachment 2351045

2024 modified with UP 11.5 and the human touch
View attachment 2351046
The objective is not to radically change the look and tone of VTMB, more to refresh the game to take advantage of modern hardware. Will the mod go public? Right now no as it's far too complex, maybe in time once completed and simplified.

As with all, time has to pass and the pieces need to fall in place...

Doom 3
View attachment 2351048
Like you've never seen or played before, plays impeccably at 4k on the PC, and can run natively on Apple Silicon...

Alien Isolation
View attachment 2351052
2X upscaled textures, A.I. reworked to be as close to the Alien in the original film as is possible. Results in a deeply immersive and utterly terrifying experience...

Q-6

The difference might be if I was looking at these images on my monitor, instead of my tablet. But even in game, on my large monitor, the difference between the UP version and the 2Gb texture version is negligible (to me). My vision is pretty good, corrected to 20-20 near vision, but there is also possibly that I’m not as focused on subtle differences as you are?

I will acknowledge when I first looked at the 4GB textures, I saw a significant difference in background textures, had the crash to desktop issue (based I presume on game engine limits), switched to the 2GB textures, but now when I jump back and forth between them and the 70MB UP textures, I’m no longer seeing the significant difference. I made comparative screen shots which I forwarded to you, a close up of Damsel. Of the 2 Jeanettes above, I prefer the top one in your post, but this may have to do with as small a thing as the difference in eye makeup and a slightly more rounded appearance in the bottom image.

But what I need to do is make side by side comparison of a background texture instead. Will report back…

 

[olavsu1]

My best find... Subnautica. It's addictive. Errors are also foundable. glass roofs do not allow daylight to pass through if the glass roof extends above the water surface.
Marine marks could also be present. Either as DLC

 

[Huntn]

My best find... Subnautica. It's addictive. Errors are also foundable. glass roofs do not allow daylight to pass through if the glass roof extends above the water surface.
Marine marks could also be present. Either as DLC

I played and enjoyed this (original game) for quite a while It was during early release and what I ran into were updates that forced you to start over, or you would not have access to new areas. That’s when I started using the in-game consol to give me stuff, to get me back to where I was… 😳

 

[olavsu1]

Subnautica (and Below Zero) got me into practicing nautical charting. If your location and the zero of the map are on graph paper, then all important things are easy to find.
otherwise it's like groping in the dark.

 

[Queen6]

Terminator: Resistance

Have no idea why this game got such poor critical reviews, yet is well regarded by the players. While is not the best FPS Terminator Resistance isn't a bad one either by any means. Teyon listened, provided updates improving on the gameplay, additional modes and a decent DLC. Really is what most fans wanted to see as a 3rd film in the franchise, unfortunately we got something different...

Slave Zero X: Episode Enyo

Set in the world of Slave Zero X - a prequel to the 1999 Dreamcast and PC cult classic Slave Zero. Free to play as a Quake mod or with the source port of your choice. If this is your style of play no reasons to hold back as this is a very polished & playable game in the genre...

Q-6

 

[Ursadorable]

Playing the heck out of Last Epoch right now. Shame Diablo 4 turned into a dumpster fire with it's bad seasonal gameplay mechanics.

 

[txa1265]

Picked up the newly released 'Star Wars Dark Forces Remastered' and am playing on Steam Deck ... it looks and plays fantastic! Even better than expected based on the trailer. Anyone who played the Mac & PC versions on release knows how much better the 'Mac Enhanced' version was (until it was the victim of one of Apple's CPU/OS transitions) ... I replay at least every other year and this is the first time I haven't complained about 'the good old days'.

That said, it is an almost 30 year old game and they're charging $30 for it.

 

[Queen6]

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin

Finally released if into Boomer Shooters well worth a look. I've had Wrath on early access for an age, while early days looking like was very much well worth the wait If into Quake you'll likely be into this one too...

Also thx to Mac Source Ports as can play the game natively on 64 Bit Intel & M series Mac's 👍

Q-6

 

[bousozoku]

I'm too bored to stick with just one game at a time.

I bought The Forgotten City the other day since it was cheap and on my wish list. However, today, I've played Unreal Tournament 2004, Black Clover M, Sword Chronicles Awaken, Asphalt 9, Seven Knights 2, Grand Cross: Age of Titans, Tower of God: New World and Honkai: Star Rail.

I'm making progress on all of them, except for UT2004, which is my go-to game for tension relief.

 

[Plutonius]

I was in the mood for some very old war-games so I tried running Panzer General 95 and Allied General 95 under Parallels.

They both ran well under Windows 11 ARM after changing some compatibility settings.

 

[Queen6]

I'm too bored to stick with just one game at a time.

I bought The Forgotten City the other day since it was cheap and on my wish list. However, today, I've played Unreal Tournament 2004, Black Clover M, Sword Chronicles Awaken, Asphalt 9, Seven Knights 2, Grand Cross: Age of Titans, Tower of God: New World and Honkai: Star Rail.

I'm making progress on all of them, except for UT2004, which is my go-to game for tension relief.

I tend to jump across multiple games unless I get locked into a game that I find is deeply compelling. I also have my all time favourites which will never go away. Then there's the modding scene which opens so many more doors in the gaming space...

Of recent;

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Radiophobia 3 (full mod game)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl on modified Xray engine and latest OGSR engine (self built mod games, OGSR still need to fully grasp)
• Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines (WIP mod, currently a Blackhole due to the game engines limitations. Paused for thought & direction, then go at it again)
• Outlast (PC & M1 Mac)
• Terminator Resistance
• QUAKE & QUAKE II enhanced 👍👍
• Enyo and Slave Zero X (Quake add-on game). Yeah you should, is very good.
• WRATH: Aeon of Ruin (PC & macOS) If your into QUAKE, WRATH is a must play, you will be tested...👍👍
• Alien Isolation (built mod game) looking strong with improved graphics. A more imersive & deeply terrifying experience as the Alien is now very close in nature to original 1979 film
• Homeworld (PC & M1 Mac)
• Doom 3 (PC & M1 Mac, full mod game, that easily exceeds the original retail without effecting gameplay)
• Total Chaos (full mod game PC & mac OS)
• Kingpin Live of Crime (modified, HD actors in place, upscaled gameworld WIP)

Q-6

 

[bousozoku]

I tend to jump across multiple games unless I get locked into a game that I find is deeply compelling. I also have my all time favourites which will never go away. Then there's the modding scene which opens so many more doors in the gaming space...

Of recent;

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Radiophobia 3 (full mod game)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl on modified Xray engine and latest OGSR engine (self built mod games, OGSR still need to fully grasp)
• Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines (WIP mod, currently a Blackhole due to the game engines limitations. Paused for thought & direction, then go at it again)
• Outlast (PC & M1 Mac)
• Terminator Resistance
• QUAKE & QUAKE II enhanced 👍👍
• Enyo and Slave Zero X (Quake add-on game). Yeah you should, is very good.
• WRATH: Aeon of Ruin (PC & macOS) If your into QUAKE, WRATH is a must play, you will be tested...👍👍
• Alien Isolation (built mod game) looking strong with improved graphics. A more imersive & deeply terrifying experience as the Alien is now very close in nature to original 1979 film
• Homeworld (PC & M1 Mac)
• Doom 3 (PC & M1 Mac, full mod game, that easily exceeds the original retail without effecting gameplay)
• Total Chaos (full mod game PC & mac OS)
• Kingpin Live of Crime (modified, HD actors in place, upscaled gameworld WIP)

Q-6

That's quite a list.

I've looked at some of the games and just didn't care at some point, but I wasn't looking at the mods available.