The Last of the Original Video Gamers

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Age of Empires II (2013)

2024.01.15 Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition came out in 2019. Age of Empires II: HD Edition came out in 2013. I'm playing the older one because: * i'll play DE on my next computer, where i can take better advantage of its features * this old computer should be able to handle HD; once i have new computer why waste time on old one * i finished AOE1 DE (which really should have been called HD), should move on to AOE2 HD * completionism: i want to play HD before playing DE * i want to play something 'new' on steam; this technically counts When did I last play AOE2... 10 years ago! https://thelastoftheoriginalvideogamers.blogspot.com/2013/04/age-of-empires-2-now-in-hd.html I used the Gold edition, in a paper box with 2 CDs, because I couldn't find my even older copies. Steam, install, 4.47gb Play. Validating Subscriptions with a counter running. Let it run a minute - what is this doing? Check the box Automatically close. Still running. Search, say try control-c. There was something about agreeing to the Workshop agreement, but it seems to continue anyway. The old Ensemble Studios video, forgot about that, and the old video of the kings playing chess metaphor. At the main screen. It's the medieval town version, not the one with snow. Options; doesn't seem to be much to do. Campaign Menu: Age of Kings, The Conquerors, The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms, The Rise of the Rajas. Starting at the beginning, Age of Kings (from what year?). William Wallace campaign. Leave difficult on Standard. Ah, this voicework again. This is so clunky. Can I zoom? Seems not. I'm already regretting this - maybe I should have waited until DE. 2024.01.16 Getting used to the hotkeys again... I used to know these by memory? I guess it's not like driving a car. I must remember the basics, explore as far and fast as possible. Every second that goes by the enemy is mining YOUR stone and gold, and they must be found and stopped. next campaign: 2: Joan of Arc These old campaigns are nice and all, but they are a bit long and can get tedious. Does completionism mean I need to play them all again now, and again when I get the Definitive Edition? 2024.01.18 2024.01.19 2024.01.20 2024.01.23 Joan campaign #5. I hate scenarios where you micro but don't build, but I hate cheat codes more. The best I can do is use a guide. https://ageofempires.fandom.com/wiki/The_Siege_of_Paris_(Age_of_Empires_II) 2024.01.24 That actually wasn't that hard; could have done without guide, but I appreciate spending less time on it. On to the next one. 2024.01.25 Joan done. 2024.01.26 3: Saladin I do not like how when you hit screenshot the voice audio stops playing. Pathing is ok, but attack move is terrible. Units don't seem to be able to target the enemy as they encounter them, and there's a lot of milling about before any attack happens. 2024.01.27 saladin mission 3, no towers or castles - which is most of my turtle playstyle! but there's a brilliant speed run; can finish in under 10 minutes. i don't even feel bad using it. saladin 4, good but it's getting a little tiresome how clunky this game can be. i find myself missing the smoother gameplay of aoe3 (though not the actual content). I have the Forgotten DLC, but not the next two (Africa, Rajas). Not that it's a problem, and not that it isn't worth the money, but for the price of these 2 old DLC, I could just buy Definitive Edition, which includes them all (and there are even more new ones to buy). I add all the DLC to my Steam wishlist. I think it's a waste of time to keep playing HD, at least until I try DE to compare. Searching for reasons to play HD in a DE world... it seems like there's some nostalgia, but most people are happy to move on. I will find out for myself. 2024.01.29 uninstalled

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

status 2024

2024.01.03 Steam Winter Sale

$2.99 Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (2014)

$3.99 The Sinking City (2021)

$3.99 Halls of Torment (2023)

$4.49 The Division (2016)

$4.59 The Forest (2018)

2024.01.12 GoG

$0.79 Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood (2002)

$2.49 Medal of Honor: Allied Assault War Chest (2004)

$1.99 Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2002)

$1.99 Mirror's Edge (2009)

$0.99 The Companion (2021)

2024.01.15

Lightly playing SC2, JJ, GTA5O. Doing something old/new with AOE2:HD (2013).

2024.01.29

Done with AOE2 HD; will try AOE2 DE before any further time on it.

Back to the regular rotation for now, while thinking of what to play next.

2024.03.09

Playing a lot of SC2 vs AI.

GoG

$ 1.99 Call of Juarez

$ 2.99 Crypt of the NecroDancer

$ 2.49 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

2024.04.06

I think I can finally stop playing SC2 vs AI for now.

I'm getting nothing out of it but marking time.

If I'm going to do that, it might as well be with a new game.

To prevent backsliding, uninstall Battle.net.

2024.05.03

It's a good thing I uninstalled it, because it's tempting to just keep mindlessly playing SC2.

Steam is still updating L4D 1 and 2, TF2, and GTA5 - but can I even play them anymore on my win7 box?

Steam says no to GTA5, but is that actually a rockstargames.com error message?

TF2 (last played 2023.05.29)? Yes, it works, but I'm not really in the mood for it. It should scratch the mindless endless combat checkbox however, and maybe that's enough...

Well for an hour.

Maybe if I just buy some more games I don't play

Steam

$4.99 OneShot (2016)

$5.99 Total War: Shogun 2 (2011)

$3.99 Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019)

$3.99 Mindustry (2019)

$2.49 Star Wars Republic Commando (2005)

$5.99 Yakuza 0 (2018)

2024.05.11 Steam

Classic Marathon came out yesterday, and its free.

They original came out in 1994, and I missed it.

Not sure if this is the right version to play, will look into it later.

There's a Marathon 2 and Infinity, don't know. Easy enough to just wishlist for now.

Sunday, July 30, 2023

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010) [revisit 2023]

2023.07.30

I just finished Starcraft Remastered, so I thought I'd just revisit this quickly. I've played through the 3 acts at least once, and Wings several times; I don't expect to learn much new. But I am enjoying hanging out in Joeyray's.

All too soon we're on the Hyperion.

Now it's time to choose order of missions, upgrades, purchases, etc.

I know after a playthrough or two I had a decent order, but I can't remember it now (and I don't have notes about it).

A look online quickly reveals an order that makes the most sense storywise: "An attempt to create an accurate WoL canon mission order."

I like this; it tries to make the most of the story, and give you the most time with characters that can come and go.

"Wings of Liberty in Chronological Order" also seems to make sense, especially using the newsfeed and Kyla Velassi clues, but the other order seems more balanced. We'll see if I can even tell any difference.

2023.07.31

I'm really enjoying being back in this environment. All the different characters, dialogues, stories, research, etc. - individually some are not great, but it all adds up to a place I like. I still don't know what this is called - an RPG story on top of an RTS?

2023.08.01

Whispers of Doom is great; what with the return of Zeratul and Kerrigan, and learning more about the prophecy etc. - but it's an RPG mission, and those trouble me. My roleplay is to keep everyone alive, so maps like these can take me a while.

2023.08.06

Oops, forgot the necessary thing to do in Media Blitz, and missed Piercing the Shroud. Hate having to reload earlier; can't miss a secret level.

2023.08.13

Playing final level... and done. Nice to see the story again, but probably not worth the time spent. I could have just watched it on Youtube, but it is nice to actually manage the base building, defense and offense, etc. yourself.

Do I want to waste some more time here? Maybe on versus comp maps that have campaign units?

2023.09.08

Trying to play some solo maps. The few I am finding have Error Attribcache_Corrupt_Map.

Under Custom, Melee, search campaign:

Twilight Fortress + campaign units (thinkinchaos)

not bad, but some units and abilities missing. does it matter what game i select? was using Legacy, so maybe

Arid Wastes - Campaign Content (Vacare)

bookmark to find later

set to Legacy of the Void

Create Lobby, change Melee to Co-op VS A.I.,

2 Easy Zerg Any for now, to check out map

Start. already seems better, CC has more options, but rax missing X, also factory no X - can't build tanks. oh good - building Z allows X, can proceed.

Really bad bug - siege tanks won't fire in siege mode. Useless. Too bad; close to what I was looking for.

2023.09.09

Try the Arid Wastes - Campaign Content (Vacare) again, but set to Wings, Create, Co-op VS AI, Medium. Start.

no, sadly, still same bug; rate at 1/5.

Want to try Twilight Fortress + campaign units (thinkinchaos) again, but it doesn't show up in list with various searches.

But if I set Wings to Legacy, then it shows right up. I guess maps are locked to the 3 acts of the game; maybe it doesn't matter what I select.

If I try and start the above map, there isn't even a selector which act to run it with.

Let's start with Wings of Liberty, Newest (because I have to select something?). Search campaign.

Shanghai Night - Campaign Tech (Orvanick). Interesting in that I had set the initial search to Wings, click this map, it's set to Legacy, but Create Lobby is grayed out because "This map is not allowed for your currently selected expansion level." This means a few things; let's see how it pans out. I really don't wan to use a 12 players map. Set it to Wings, Create - can't set it to vs AI. fail.

set to Heart, Top. search campaign. no.

set to Legacy, Top. search campaign.

(6) Ice Cliffs + Brood War Campaign Units (Blizzard)

what does this even mean. Legacy, Create, Co-op vs AI, fills in 3 players, don't see any way to change that number, but it could be good.

T vs 3Zmedium

I don't see any sign of brood war anything. quit. rating 1/5.

(8) Old Estate with Campaign Units (TheMoonUnit)

Under act selector, can only select Legacy. Create, Co-op fills in 4 AI.

T vs 4Z very easy.

I can build merc compound! Very interesting. Even more interesting, I can use regular buildings to make mercs. Unfortunately some things are still missing - I especially miss flamethrower turrets. I have vultures with mines but they are not reloadable, and I don't have widow mines. Still, it's an interesting mix, and I can see keeping this map in rotation. Especially since it does have some things I didn't even ask for, like bots that don't use up any supply.

This is a good time to restate the goal, because it's not about cheats. What I want is to hold off the Zerg under nearly overwhelming odds, with some extra technology to help me through. That's where turrets and mines and campaign units come in handy. so I can keep dialing up the Zerg difficulty until I can't take it anymore. I'll try some of that with this map, but I can see moving on before too long.

2023.09.11

Custom -> Melee, Wings of Liberty, Top Played...

(12) Wasteland Remnants + Liberty Campaign (Quarts)

trying Melee, 3v3, met and toss vs zerg (my favorite), leave difficiluty on default (Hard), Any Build.

this map looks good at first, i see medics and firebats in the barracks. hopefully there are no bugs. there are vultures, siege can be researched. i can build science vessels. first bug: vultures seem to have 4 mines, but as soon as deployed 2 reach 0.

my teammates mopped up the enemy quickly. i don't think we had all built out our supply, and yet the map got really laggy. is it because the map is too large? filled with doodads? is it my ancient pc, or would that even make a difference if upgraded? worth trying again.

What if I create lobby with Legacy selected? same as above but Zerg set Very Hard. There's the answer in the barracks, as soon as I build X I see no medics. Quit, start again, T+2Ph vs 3Zvh.

I don't understand - why are there no medics again? Strangely, there are upgrades in engineering from the Wings campaign.

Start again as above, Custom... Once again no medics. Why did it work the first time? Quit. Rate 2/5.

I see a Blizzard map that says + Campaign and Coop units, is that true? Wow, there are some crazy units in here. This seems so well done, I wonder if it really is an OEM map. Have I been missing the good stuf all along? The only possible downside so far is that the enemy seems to know how to use all the extra units too. I must check out all Blizzard maps that say campaign units. That was Twisted Vern; bookmarking that.

(8) Sand Canyon + HOTS Custom Map support mod (Blizzard)

Doesn't sound like Blizzard, but let's try. Do I Create Lobby or Create With Mod? try mod. wow, lots of extensions. Campaign and Coop units sounds promising. Is that a mod that can be plugged into any map? If so that could really simplify things.

2023.09.16

The idea of a campaign units plugin that anyone can use, including your AI teammates and opponents, sounds appealing but wasn't the kind of fun I am looking for. There are so many unit types that I can't keep track of anything. I'm not giving up on it yet though, its too promising. I wonder how hard it is to make that extension - could I just use the existing one and make my own by removing some things?

(8) Megaton + Ultimate Campaign Mod (Blizzard)

Create Lobby or Create With Mod? would it be 2 different maps? trying lobby first (Wings selected, if that matters (it doesn't)); harder diff (this is a whole 'nother issue to dial in).

Barracks has medics, good. No turrets. Engineering has a bunch of bunker upgrades; hire Elite units? Yes, can now train War Pigs, but they show up as Sons of Korhal.

Trying Mod, select extension Campaign and Coop units. The extension seems the same, offers every unit and then some.

Why does my protoss ally seemingly have a hero unit, Talis? And how do I get one?

SCVs can build outlaw structures, including Joeyray's Bar (i really like the sounds it plays when clicked). Looks like there's a whole alternate lore waiting in the various outlaw units, and they have their own upgrade path in engineering. Mixing RPG with RTS can be interesting, but maybe not on a resource scarce map like this,

2023.10.06

Custom -> Melee, Wings of Liberty, Top Played... checking Extension Mods...

The MrGW mod Campaign and Coop units seems well developed; few others are, still looking.

Trying Ultimate Campaign Mod with a stock Blizzard map.

(4) Backwater Gulch (Blizzard). T+P harder vs 2Z harder. regular resources.

Perdition turrets - finally! And with science vessels too.

Later... I think I lost this one; failed to expand quick enough, teammates died.

2023.10.13

(4) Rich Income Twilight Fortress (DrMurloc) + Campaign and Coop units

Kind of small, trying it. T+Pharder vs 2Zharder. I don't see any campaign anything, quit.

Try again but create with mod, trying Ultimate Campaign Mod.

Intersting way to place the mercs: you have to buy an upgrade in the armory.

Not bad, makes for a quicker game, and the enemy isn't spamming me with every unit ever made. I still want the bigger 3v3 or 4v4 maps, but for smaller games this is good. 5*

2023.10.16

Custom Melee bookmarks

(4) Rich Income Twilight Fortress (DrMurloc)

Map Info, change to WoL, create with mod, Campaign and Coop units.

Heroic Units - never noticed that before, turning it on.

seems to have all the usual noise from "Campaign and Coop units".

It's fun, but there are way too many units, and the AI uses them too.

2023.11.17

Maybe this is not the right location or format. Trying a Google Doc.

note to myself: merge

Google Doc "game Starcraft Custom Melee vs AI 2023-2024"

with

scratch: Starcraft 2 vs AI [https://thelastoftheoriginalvideogamers.blogspot.com/p/scratch-sc2.html]

2024.04.06

That's enough of that. I'm done here (again), for now.

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Team Fortress Classic (1999) and Team Fortress 2 (2007)

2023.04.23
I didn't think to make a TF page because I've been playing it for decades, and it has always been part of the standard rotation. And now that it's not, I can see it again - or, the lack of it.

When Quake multiplayer was a thing, my favorite mods were anything with a grappling hook. It was endless fun to hang from dark spots in the ceiling and ambush unsuspecting enemies. I remember other mods, where you could team play as a heavy, medic, etc. were interesting but they weren't that much fun. Moving the game from Quake to Half-Life, Team Fortress Classic made it work for me, and I spent countless hours on it.

Team Fortress 2 was long rumored, and I think it was somewhat surprising when the Valve Orange Box finally came out. I had no idea what Valve or Steam would become, so I thought nothing of making my Steam name my old gaming clan name, which also reflected my usual class (medic). It could have been worse.

I think I missed the endless grenade spam of TFC at first, but TF2 proved to be the more balanced and fun. Checking my stats now, it seems hard to believe I only have 650+ hours in the game, but this is not the kind of game that you leave sitting idle sometimes racking up the hours.

In the early years it was fun getting new items, but they started creating too many, and it got overwhelming. I think something similar happened with achievements. It's still a fun game, and I'm sure I'll play it again. If I needed the disk space, it would probably be one of the last games to ever get uninstalled.

2023.04.29

Playing just to play, and it's been so long.

Find a game -> Community servers; nice to see the skial servers are still there, and there's at least 5 that are almost full. It's been the same maps for years: payload, 2fort, turbine, dustbowl. Probably a lot of the same players too.

Performance Report

Monday, January 30, 2023

status 2023

2023.01.30

Playing something new/old with AOE1 Definitive Edition. Considering getting AOE2 DE (on sale), but my system is already sluggish with the first DE so there's no rush. AOE3 DE will have to wait even longer.

Looking over Steam and GOG sales there are some good deals, but I just don't feel like it. I have so much in my Steam account already, and boxes of old games to replay, it's hard to justify buying games my old system can't even play.

2023.02.07

That didn't last long - some Steam sales I can't pass by:

$1.49 LYNE

$1.99 Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York (2019)

$3.99 Papers, Please (2013)

$9.99 Call of Duty (2003)

CoD is overpriced, but the price do not seem to get any better over the years (checking stats on isthereanydeal), and it's an action game my current system should be able to handle. And it's something of historical value that I missed playing at the time.

2023.02.27 Steam

$1.99 The Hex (2018)

$5.99 XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012)

2023.03.12 Steam

$1.99 Milo and the Magpies (2021)

$7.99 The Sherlock Holmes Collection (2008-2009)

$1.99 Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles (2012)

$1.49 Paradise Lost (2021)

$0.49 Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk (2020)

$1.99 INSIDE (2016)

2023.04.12

$3.49 Bloons TD 6 (2018)

$3.74 Jade Empire: Special Edition

$3.74 Alone in the Dark Anthology (1993...)

$3.99 Alice: Madness Returns (2011)

$4.99 Medal of Honor (2010)

2023.04.13

In between games. Time to consider and give time to the regulars; the games I've been playing for years along with whatever the current game is: GTA5, TF2, June's Journey.

2023.04.29

Made myself play some TF2, just to keep up with that. Why is L4D 1 and 2 still installed? Play a round of each.

2023.05.08 GoG

$1.97 Empire Earth Gold Edition

$1.49 Tropico Reloaded

$1.74 Total Annihilation: Commander Pack

$0.59 Desert Law

2023.05.16 Steam, really good Bioware Mega Collection:

$4.49 Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition

$4.79 Dragon Age Inquisition

$4.79 Mass Effect: Andromeda Deluxe Edition

$14.99 Mass Effect Legendary Edition

$7.49 Dragon Age II: Ultimate Edition

46% Bundle discount, total $19.73

$1.99 Mirror's Edge Catalyst

$4.49 Max Payne Bundle (1 & 2)

$3.74 Hearts of Iron 2 - Complete

$2.99 Command & Conquer™ Remastered Collection

$2.49 Crusader Kings Complete

$2.49 Hearts of Iron III

$0.97 Just Cause

$1.49 Just Cause 2

$2.99 Just Cause 3

all that for $43.37

2023.05.25 GoG

$2.99 Beyond Good & Evil

$1.49 AER - Memories of Old

General rule: if it's on my wishlist, and under $4, just buy it.

If it's on sale for like 85% off, maybe still get if under $10, especially if it's older, and/or unlikely to go much lower.

Some very old games are seemingly locked at unwarranted high prices like $20, $30, etc. and are almost never on sale.

2023.06.10 GoG

sale on Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 Enhanced; already have on steam, but these give access to the originals, and I'll want to try those

$ 2.99 Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

$ 2.39 Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition

Weird, I can't add those to my cart and keep shopping. It starts a new cart.

Next cart:

$ 3.74 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin + Reborn

$ 1.99 Star Control I & II

Steam

$1.49 AER Memories of Old

$3.74 SLUDGE LIFE

$3.99 Star Control I and II

$4.49 The Talos Principle

$3.99 Wallpaper Engine

2023.06.10

Looking through the blog - what ever happened to Starcraft Remastered?

2023.06.11

OK, so I'm playing that now.

2023.06.12 GoG

$2.39 Master of Orion 1+2

$1.49 Imperialism

$1.49 Anvil of Dawn

$0.99 The Fall

$1.99 Apsulov: End of Gods

$0.59 Mainframe Defenders

$0.97 Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

2023.06.17 It's good to have an RTS back in the back - so good, I think I should always have one in the rotation.

2023.06.26 GoG

$1.64 Arx Fatalis

$1.64 DOOM 64

2.49 FTL: Advanced Edition

1.99 Hotline Miami

2.99 Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

3.74 Jade Empire: Special Edition

1.99 Metro 2033 Redux

2.99 Primordia

3.99 Quake

1.99 Quake II

3.99 Star Wars Battlefront (Classic, 2004)

2.09 Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga

1.49 Starflight 1+2

1.99 STASIS: Deluxe Edition

3.99 The Longest Journey

1.69 Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space

2023.06.29

$9.99 Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition

A little out of my usual price range, but I don't think this set will get much cheaper before my next computer.

2023.06.30 GoG

free Beholder 2

2023.07.03

I prefer having everything on Steam, and GoG is good too, but reluctantly Battle.net has to be in the mix. There's just not other way to get their games.

I thought I was done with Diablo 2, but Diablo II: Resurrected exists, and D2 was so great that I have to at least try it, and there's a huge sale now. Each of these are 67% off.

~~$39.99~~ $13.19 Diablo II: Resurrected

comes with nothing

~~$49.99~~ $16.49 Diablo Prime Evil Upgrade

adds D3, Reaper of Souls, Rise of the Necromancer, pet + wings

~~$59.99~~ $19.79 Diablo Prime Evil Collection

same as above

I already have D3, Reaper, and Rise, so... I'll just get D2:R

Warcraft III: Reforged is half off; $14.99 for Standard Edition. Worth it? It's been a while, but I don't remember WC3 that fondly, though I remember playing as the undead was cool. And that solo RPG after the main story was nice... last thing I remember was something about a panda.

(didn't get it - the community hates it)

2023.07.12 Steam summer sale

Wolf Pack:

$1.99 Return to Castle Wolfenstein

$1.49 Wolfenstein 3D

N/A Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

Valve Complete Pack (already have 17 of 22 items)

$0.99 Counter-Strike: Condition Zero

$0.99 Day of Defeat: Source

free Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

$1.49 Payday The Heist

might as well take the extras

$0.39 Payday The Heist Soundtrack

$0.99 Payday The Heist: Wolfpack DLC

$1.59 Half-Life: Alyx - Final Hours

$1.64 DOOM 64

$1.69 Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space

$1.74 Tropico Reloaded

$2.49 Endless Space - Definitive Edition

$2.49 Please, Don’t Touch Anything

$3.39 Stasis - Deluxe Edition

$2.99 Outlast

$2.99 Harvester

$4.04 Jazzpunk: Director's Cut Complete Edition

$7.49 Watch_Dogs Complete

$4.49 Technobabylon

$0.89 Technobabylon Soundtrack

$4.99 Victoria II

2023.07.28

Done with Starcraft Remastered. Uninstalled, archived.

Now what, SC2 Wings of Liberty again? It might be interesting to compare.

Updating...

2023.07.30

OK, so I'm playing this, for now: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010) [revisit 2023].

2023.07.30 Steam

$19.79 Red Dead Redemption 2 (2019)

$4.99 Black Mesa (2020)

2023.09.01 GoG

$ 2.49 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

$ 2.49 Heroes of Might and Magic 2: Gold

$ 2.49 Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete

$ 1.49 Cossacks Anthology

$ 1.49 Albion

$ 5.99 UnderRail

$ 2.99 FAR: Lone Sails

$ 2.49 Cossacks II Anthology

$ 1.49 Beholder

2023.09.04 Steam

$3.29 Stronghold HD

$3.49 Stronghold Crusader HD

$4.99 Rise of Nations: Extended Edition

2023.10.06 Steam

$3.49 Vampire Survivors

$1.99 Dracula: Love Kills

$3.99 Supreme Commander Gold Edition

2023.10.12 GoG

$2.49 Anno 1602 A.D.

$2.49 World in Conflict: Complete Edition

$2.99 XCOM 2

2023.11.01

$0.90 Californium

$2.99 The Evil Within

$3.99 The Void

$4.49 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

2023.11.10 GoG

$6.69 Blade Runner (1997)
this is rarely on sale, and even though the cd is in the attic, i might as well have it handy

2023.11.27 Steam

$3.99 Gothic Universe Edition (Gothic 1 (2001), Gothic II: Gold Edition (2005), Gothic 3 (2009))

$2.99 Prey (2017)

$3.99 DOOM (2016)

$3.99 Firewatch (2016)

Friday, January 20, 2023

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (2018)

2023.01.20
Reading through the old entries I come across my last play of Age of Empires II. I had just played AOE1, and declared myself done with it. At the time (2013.04.13) AOE2 HD had just come out, so I decide to replay AOE2 Gold (its just the core game and expansions). Looks like I soon thereafter finished Age of Empires II : Age of Kings and Age of Empires II: The Conquerors.

At some point since I have purchased "Age of Empires II 2013" in Steam, and when you click on it you can see "HD Edition". There are two expansions I haven't bought. How long ago did I buy this... nothing in the blog... check history: Feb 15, 2021. So not that long ago.

Wait a sec... AEO DE came out in 2018... and AOE2 HD came out in 2013 - which do I play first? I thought I was going to play AOE2 HD (2013) briefly, and then get AOE2 DE (2019) which is now on sale. What a mess. If I had just kept up with the AOE series, I could be playing AOE4 (2021) now (not really; it's still list price).

Let's just get AOE1 out of the way. I don't think my system is up for getting all the graphics out of it, but it will hopefully be enough. And I'm already done with AOE1 and want to move on to AOE2 so this shouldn't take too long. Maybe get some steam achievements (and knock an unplayed Steam game off the list at the same time), see for myself what's new, and move on to AOE2 HD (and much later, AOE2 DE).

Of course, I've already watched Spirit Of The Law's review on AOE1 DE [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhLYP-gcaiI ]. I know it's mostly the same game, but with AI and UI additions from later AOEs (but not all/enough of them).

Game installed. 12 GB! Uh oh... this game requires Windows 10? Let's see what happens when we hit play... startup video, nice... main UI screen. If it's going to stop me, it really should have stopped me by now. To let me get this far and halt would be just mean. Checking Options, Settings: already set to 1920x1200, Zoom is set to X2, Eye Candy is set to Medium (let's try High). OK. Popup from Windows: Xbox sign in - dismiss. Single Player, Campaigns, Official, Tutorial Campaign: Ascent of Egypt. OK. Music has been OK so far, but now I'm hearing the voice over. I see what the reviews are talking about - not a great addition. Maybe it gets better. Read the history, Play. It works! It just works. Guess it's been fixed some time in the past 4 years.

Playing for a while, sudden crash when I went to save. Hope this isn't a trend; must save more often. Try and do that get another crash. This could be a problem. Restart.

Start campaign again, save immediately, ok. A few seconds later save, right arrow to unselect name, crash. This time instead of right arrow, just type a letter,, but there wasn't anything selected. Just type the letter b and it was ok. I can live with using letters. Loads ok, for now.

2023.01.21

Saving by just typing letters then a number, no crashes. Do a right arrow, crashes. Weird bug.

2023.01.22

As crude as AOE1 still is (compared to later ones) it still draws me in, and the time flies by.

When I go to saved games all my old saves are there. I've deleted them before and still they come back. Looking in the file folder, the creation dates are all from just now when I started the program.

Finished Egyptian tutorial; moving on to Greek.

I'm starting to get the hang of it again. Assigning different task groups to numbers, and switching between them without looking at the keyboard. Getting into the rhythm of building, defense, and attack. Also coming back are the annoyances at the quirks of this game - especially pathing. Units wander all over the place, even when I set them not to. I'm already looking forward to AOE2; I think the pathing is much better.

2023.01.23

Saved games reappearing getting annoying. Search... trying easiest thing first: disable Steam Cloud save. That's it.

2023.01.31

Starting to get a little bored at the lack of sophistication that I know is coming up in AOE2. The lack of map triggers and in game story makes most maps feel like the same old grind. It still pulls me in, and the hours pass quickly, but I'm really starting to look forward to the next game. After this I don't think I'm coming back this way again.

2023.02.06

I don't remember the Yamato civ from old AOE. It's nice to have something new... wait a minute, despite the new building art, they build Scythe Chariots, Phalanxes and Centurions? They didn't add new techs, but repurposed an old civ, and didn't even change the names?

Naval battles are exhausting. Units don't really do what you want, and get stuck on everything.

2023.02.17

Slowing down now, but still slowly working through the campaigns. Some scenarios are bugged or just strangely designed. I give each one a few tries, often too many, but if I get stuck I feel no shame in looking up some hints.

2023.03.05

This game is frustrating. Some levels are too easy, some are way too hard - mostly because of the AI. Pathing is a nightmare, especially on levels like Crossing the Alps where you are in lots of confined spaces. Looking forward to just finishing this.

2023.03.16

Done with Campaigns. A lot of long slogs getting through, but that's partially my fault. I like long wars of attrition where I waste the enemies' gold and stone using my trash units (costing only wood and food). Sometimes it seemed the only way to win. Some campaigns were too hard, some too easy, and some just foiled by strange AI.

Next up, I see a way to Get Custom Campaigns online, and I can also try Custom Game against the comp.

2023.03.17

Checking Steam achievements... 50%. I like achievements that draw you into aspects of the game that you might have missed. Like building 21 centurions and seeing what they can do - something I might not have otherwise even tried. Training 500 axemen... ok, that's an experiment in sending in waves of trash units, or just having played long enough. Looking at the rest of the list, some of it just seems like drudgery. Build 500 heavy catapults? I thought I used them a lot to get through the campaigns, but I've only built 30. Of course I could just play easy custom campaigns and spam them out, but what is the value of that? Do I need to get to 100%

I don't think I can even hit 100% in this game. Kill 20 heros? How? My counter is at 5/20 going through the campaigns, where am I supposed to find more... no, no I don't want to play the campaigns again. Kill a medusa? Was that something I missed in the campaigns? Let's look it up... there are a bunch of home made scenarios that let you roll up a bunch of achievements at once, including this one. That seems like cheating. In a regular game, building a lot of one unit just to get the achievement also feels like a bit of a cheat, but just a bit.

You can create your own scenario and easily put a medusa (or heroes) on there, and get a quick win. Is that actually the point of the achievement? To make you use the scenario editor, even for a moment? After some searching, I can't find any 'natural' way to do this. Not that most of these achievements are natural.

There are only a few achievements I still want, like Atlas (explore whole map), Archimedes (research every tech), Pegasus, and maybe a few others. I want to try a few more games against the comp anyway, so I'll combine the two and hopefully be done with this game.

Custom Game. Starting with Minoan. Cheaper ships and farms. Composite bowman range +2.

No horse archers, no heavy cav, no chariots or elephants, full storage pit upgrades, no guard tower, full market upgrades, full gov upgrades, poor temple, good navy.

4 (Minoan + 3 random) vs 4 (random), Random Map, Highland, Large (4 Players), Pop 50, Diff Standard

My build order is terrible, because I am constantly being told I need new houses. And 16 minutes to go from Stone to Tool age; sloppy.

This one really dragged out. I feel like late game I didn't have much in the way of powerful units. My allies spent a lot of time bunched up behind my towers instead of doing something.

Let's try that again, but my whole team is Minoan; curious to see how they play. Change map to Coastal. I am not liking coastal at all; exploration is even more difficult. Speaking of which - where in my build order am I supposed to explore? It's always a mad scramble in the beginning trying to find the berries so I can get started. Even then, I still need to quickly place a granary or storage pit, and some houses, and it's nice to place those in a defensive position. The best I can do is struggle through with minimal villager exploration until I start aging up, then crank out a few axe guys to do the exploring.

2023.03.19

My teammates can't seem to stay in their base; they are building in my camp, and even the enemy is taking wood from right outside farms. Not doing coastal again.

That wasn't fun. I got placed right up front, so I'm taking the hit for 3 of my teammates, and my slow build was no match. I've had enough of this map.

4 Minoan v 4 Random, Inland, 50.

It is tiring (but fun) to try and balance economy and military, but the behavior and pathing in this game are trying. I set all units to defensive, but they still like to wander far away. Priest (healers) can literally wander to the other side of the map.

One of the worst bugs is that if you group up units that are far apart, and then order them to move, they act like a unit that is as large is the group is far apart. You have to manually order units to converge on a spot.

When a catapult / juggernaut takes out a building, it immediately moves forward, putting it in harms way (as I'm likely edging into an enemy base). If you are operating siege weapons, and turn your attention away for more than a few seconds, when you come back half your units will be dead.

Non-siege units on defensive wander at random even worse, but at least they're cheaper. If you are fighting multiple fronts, the under attack horn will be sounding constantly, and it's easy to forget which battle needs more attention at the moment. A lot of herding cats in this game.

2023.03.20

Finished that round.

Got Archimedes but didn't get Atlas. I can't find a single black square on the map. Do I have to do it myself, without allied sight researched?

Also got Minoan Compies - time to switch civs.

I've had enough archers for a while. It's a good time to try for the no archers achievement. I'm not even going to build an archery range.

Inland is probably a good map for me, even though I don't like it. No other player seems to take advantage of having water, leaving all the fish for me, and letting me run loose with floating ballistae that don't require gold (triremes) and being able to rapidly put stone throwers (juggernauts) almost anywhere on the map quickly. It also limits entrance to my base to only a few directions, which I can readily defend with walls and towers. Maybe its because it bends the AI so much it breaks?

Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, 50.

Quick game. I was in a corner, nice and safe, until I notice an enemy placed right next to me. I had to go on the offensive before they did, and quickly took them out. My teammates also got aggressive, and game over.

2023.03.22

I only built 43 / 789 Shang wall segments, let's try it again (I thought I was going to avoid grinding for achievements - I was wrong). Also going for no archer achievement.