I've got the power

There's nothing like a week plus power outage to make you want to do a running jump off the pier and cannonball back into video gaming. Let's get to GTA 4 and finish it before GTA 5 comes out - I should have about half a year.

First, some housekeeping. While running all my updates on my long dormant computer, I notice I still have a lot of game shortcuts in my Favorites, for long since finished games. I should really trim those out of there, but not before "packing" each one away. That means following the "saves" and "screenshots" shortcuts, extracting any content, RARing it up, and filing it away in the archives. Then I can uninstall the games.

I can't quite delete the screenshots taken in Steam games, yet, if ever. It leaves big gaping holes in the screenshot window in Steam, as files are not found. What I've been doing is zeroing in on the screenshots that matter, naming and uploading those to Steam's cloud, and deleting the rest from within the Steam screenshot manager. What will happen when I re-install - will those uploaded shots come back down to my machine? I guess I'll find out on the next re-install, which I'm getting due for. In the meanwhile, I can clear the shortcut from my favorites, letting me know I'm done with it.

My Fallout 3 saves are 8 gb - why would I need to keep this. Let's see how it compresses. The compression ratio is about 33%, but that's still a fairly big chunk to file. I'll take a dir snapshot of it, and toss it, saving only the first and last save, and the few administrative files.

what's next

After such a heavy game as System Shock 2, I don't feel like going right into another classic, like Planescape or Thief. I'm still editing my review of SS2, and reading back through the old archives. I guess I'm still digesting it, even if I'm not actively playing it or thinking about it. I guess I want a digestif of sorts, something mindless I can play for a little while, before the next heavy course.

I play some TF2, my perennial fallback game since the 90s, always a good way to kill some time. Maybe I should give Grand Theft Auto 4 another try? I'm trying to remember why I didn't finish it the last time. I think the controls were poor, and overall it felt like a bad console port.

In other projects, I had another gaming blog once, in the early 2000s; I'd still like to bring that forward. I also need to do a more complete audit of all the gaming boxes in the attic. I noticed in my most recent round up, I didn't include Homeworld, and I know I have that upstairs somewhere.

Speaking of boxes, I was all set to throw out my System Shock 2 box, then I checked Ebay and found similar boxes selling for $30 plus. If its the same version as I have, it might just be worth selling. Better someone else have and enjoy it; I'm never going to play it again.

in-between games

I'm in the doldrums between games, a place that is increasingly familiar. I've got some great games in the queue, but I'm still some stuck to the notion that I must hold some great review of all gaming before continuing. Something to do with all the significant games of days past, that I've played or missed, and I have to put them in some order, and say something about each one. This blog was supposed to be about making sure I didn't miss anything great, not get stuck thinking about it.

So let's go to the attic...

My marching orders, arranged bottom to top, somewhat chronologically.

But first, there is a bit of unpleasantness to take care of. I walked away from Diablo 2, about 75% of the way towards my stated goal of completing the game on Hell difficulty. It was getting pointless and painful near the end, and I had to stop. And having stopped, I really don't want to go back to the stressful step-by-step grinding towards the summit. I've got everything I'm going to get out of that game. But before I can move on, there's a dog that needs putting down. More about that later below...

I'm searching the net, looking for some help deciding what to keep or toss, and why. I'm a hoarder with some restraint, and an attic, but it's still too much. I want to be more free of material things, and to value the intangible rewards more than the material they came in (Only knowledge will I save, Take only pictures, etc.). I can't imagine throwing away my Wasteland box, or most of my Infocom stuff, or my early Apple II games, and some of the C64 and Atari stuff that has survived.

I used to have a ton of Atari, Intellivision, and Colecovision equipment and carts, and I lost them. I tried to replace some of it in the 90s, but it didn't work. I'm still somewhat torn about it - and I'm even more annoyed that it bothers me so. I don't want to do that to myself again, yet maybe I'm better off without things I can't use anymore.

I look into sale price as a factor - maybe if my stuff is appreciating in value I can justify keeping it as in investment. A little searching quickly reveals that sealed and mint is where the value is, and I'm just not that level of collector. I use what I buy (well, eventually).

There's something cold and impersonal about having a library of games online, like in Steam, or in disc images on a hard drive, but that's the present, and the foreseeable future. A digital hoard is acceptable, considering its small physical intrusion into this world.

I will save some, maybe even a designated box into which all must fit. But for now, I can let this one game go. It has no connection to childhood, and maybe that's where the dividing line will fall.

I'll start a disc album to keep the discs. The paper will go in a Ziploc. I'll photograph the boxes up close to get the CD keys. Disc cases, and the paper boxes go in the trash.

I can do this.

Steam sale to the rescue

Feeling kind of trapped in Diablo 2; can't quit, can't stop playing the game.

Suddenly, Steam comes to the rescue with a big summer sale. Left 4 Dead 2 has finally dropped from $19 to $9, and I can justify the purchase. I'm still fixated on getting all my games from the bargain bin.

I'm still trying to clear old inventory in chronological order, but L4D is a mostly mindless action game that can be quickly consumed. Its also a nice break. After this, its back to the 90s.

Diablo 2: 2/3 done

It was fairly smooth sailing to get from Duriel to Baal, though I did spread it across a few weeks. I'm not finding any really cool loot, but I'm getting the hang of my chosen spell combination, and letting the mercenary act as my lightning rod.

I wanted the completion of finishing one more round, this time on Hell difficulty, but not so much anymore. I'll see how it goes. Now that Diablo 3 is out, I should just play that. But, its at full list price and I've gotten really used to shopping in the bargain bin. And Blizzard pricing goes down the slowest of all (though they earned the right).

Let me see where I am on the timeline... looks like next up is Thief or Planescape, but I need a break from dungeon crawling; maybe I'll re-visit the Civilization or Age of Empires series.

suddenly, Portal 2

Portal 2 for sale on Steam, finally under $10!

It must be done.

Got up to about chapter 3 or 4 in no time; sleep required, continue tomorrow.

(days later - I never did come back to Portal. I've temporarily switched to a pair of 1280x1024 monitors while playing Diablo 2, and I don't really want to switch back to my 1920x1200 monitor just yet. Better to just finish D2, then come back later)

avalanche of games; going back down to Hell

I knew I had a lot of games up in the attic, but not this many: over a dozen large plastic boxes, and numerous small bins. Its not quite to hoarding levels, but it is a large waste of space. A lot of it is paper boxes containing a disk or manual and a lot of air. Maybe I'll keep a few boxes for sentimental reasons... I definitely want to keep Wasteland, Fallout, Deus Ex... and maybe some of these collector's editions (not that any has much financial value).

After all that, I just want to play Diablo 2 now. The next Diablo is coming out in little over a month, and I would like to revisit D2 at least one more time. Diablo 3 is going to be full price (around $60) for probably the next year or two, so there's nothing to be gained from waiting, and with Blizzard or Valve games its almost guaranteed to be great.

Going through the archive, it looks my last installs of D2 were in late 2000 and late 2001. I must have been really into this game, because I bought an extra copy of the original and expansion just so I could have a whole bunch of mules to carry stuff. I wonder if that stuff would even carry forward now, so many patches later. I think I'll just start from scratch.

check compass, update map

I recently went to a retro arcade (YesterCades) and it reminded me of a whole bunch of arcade titles to add to the Game List. I verify the dates on Wikipedia and MobyGames, and I can't help but load some up on YouTube, which only prompts the finding of even more games.

I found some recommendations for The Witcher, an RPG, I think, from 2007. I check Steam to see if its available - nice, not only is it available, but they fixed a silly censorship problem. It almost always pays to only play old games. Speaking of old games, Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics are available for six dollars, so I might as well have them in Steam. I was thinking about playing them once more but decided not to, because there's so much new stuff to cover.

Another sale item is the Jedi Knight Collection for $12. I don't think I've played any Star Wars game other than the arcade ones, mostly because movie tie-in games usually rely on their name instead of their quality for sales. I remember seeing the Dark Forces box when it came out and thinking that it was nothing more than a Star Wars mod for Doom. I ignored it, which is probably a shame, because I may have missed out on some interesting characters (Kyle Katarn, Mara Jade). I'll add the series to the game list, and maybe even read about them and watch playthroughs, but I don't think I'll be playing this series. I still plan on playing the Knights of the Old Republic series, though, because I've heard good things.

Deus Ex 1 and 2 are available for $5. I'll take them both even though Deus Ex 2 was an abomination. Then I see Thief 3: Deadly Shadows for $10; I don't even know if I have it already in the attic. I think I have at least one or two Thief titles, and I know I'm going to play them soon. Time to draw down the ladder...

how to say goodbye

Why am I playing all these old games, with their obsolete UI's and crappy graphics, when there are tons of good and recent games that I haven't even played yet? So I can say goodbye to them. I want to take a brief walk down memory lane with these old games, to remind myself of what has come before, and record it. I want to remember what I liked or didn't, what moved me, and what I want. Maybe that's the whole point of this blog - to figure out why I am gaming when I could be doing something else with all this time.

I also want to deepen my overall knowledge and appreciation of video games, by finding gaps in my experience and filling them in. Even if that means I have to watch a playthrough and read others notes about it, at least I can have some idea of what I missed. And having reviewed the game, myself or by proxy, I want to put it firmly behind me. There are so many games lingering in boxes or in the archives that I think I might just play again, and I would like to let them go, or find justification for keeping them in rotation. I'll never have the time to play all the good games; this is a step towards not missing the best.

X-COM UFO Defense

The intro was fun; made me nostalgia for C64 days. There was no manual to be seen, either in Steam or in game. Surprisingly, the game just seems to work. I didn't even try Windows XP emulation (in Windows 7); it ran in DOS box, and everything seemed to work fine.

The game feels like System Shock in a lot of ways, but mostly in that whole let's throw in everything but the kitchen sink kind of way. It's got a big strategic map like Civilization, its got base management micro (like the Sim games of the time), and its got tactical squad action like... itself; I think they or Jagged Alliance (same year) invented it.

I should really like this kind of game. It's got depth, planning, and no need for fast twitch muscle or fast visual processing on my part. And unlike System Shock, I can actually use the user-interface without an instant headache. But X-COM just doesn't grab me. I tried Fallout Tactics and Baldur's Gate when those came out, and it all seems like play-by-mail gaming without story or personality.

I want to like this, but I just don't feel it. I'll do a little more reading on the topic; maybe I can find something to interest me.

Reading xcomufo.com, found YouTube videos from ziocody, starting with "XCOM UFO:1 Setup". Interesting to watch an experienced player's perspective. Watching playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL17959DA725DA9756

"XCOM UFO: UFO-1 Medium Scout"

This reminds me of how I used to play Civilization and especially Civilization 2, with tons of tactics tweaking and save game management. I wonder if I would even find those sort of games fun anymore.

"XCOM UFO: UFO-6 Large Scout 1/2"

This is somewhat interesting. I think its worth learning more about this game, but I don't think I want to climb the learning curve.

"XCOM UFO: UFO-6 Large Scout 2/2"

Another thing this playthrough reminds me of, that I haven't thought of or done in a long time, is constantly re-rolling to get good starting stats. I also understand now his save game management - he's got two different tracks of save game, one for the overall, and one for just the current battle. Really good idea, have to remember that next time I'm juggling save games. I usually just save in a linear fashion, cache my saves and delete, and keep going. This might be more efficient. What to call this technique? Maybe tactical saves versus strategic saves.

"XCOM UFO: UFO-13 Terror Ship 1/2"

Nice, its in 1080 so I can watch it full screen.

"XCOM UFO: UFO-13 Terror Ship 2/2"

720 now, but its OK. The action is getting more frenetic, but also repetitive.

OK, that was a good look into advanced gameplay. Doesn't seem to be much depth of character or story. Not that I'm expecting a whole lot, but for supposedly one of the best games ever, I expect some.

Now what - looks like there's several more playthroughs. I've gotten a good look at the mechanics of the game, maybe I can find something of its personality.

"Yogscast: X-Com: UFO Defence Part 1 - They all look like Guile"

These guys are enthusiastic, but unlistenable. Next.

"Let's Play X-com: UFO Defense (Part 1)"

I guess I'll pass on this one too.

"Let's Play X-Com UFO Defense Part 1 - The start!"

OK, enough videos. I'll just read about it from here.

http://www.xcomufo.com/

This is where I found the technical videos, so far the only videos I could sit through.

Lots of interesting text, especially what seems to be the complete UFOPedia lifted from the game.

Checking mobygames.com... they got the story idea from a tv show from 1970! Reading all of the reviews, all glowing, some crazily so. I guess that's what I sound like when raving about Wasteland, or Deus Ex.

I see the appeal of X-COM, and I understand why this is a game for the ages. But so was the first Civilization, and I really don't want to play that again, especially when I have Civs 3, 4, and 5 to try. I've gotten spoiled by modern UIs - graphics and sound too, somewhat - but mostly the UIs. Soon I may not be able to play games from the 1990s at all. Back to the to-do list to see what's next.

game list

Where to now? What am I doing? I found value in writing a to-do list recently, so I'll make a master to-do list, and make it a fixed page here. I don't really want to have to go through a list like its some sort of chore to play all these games, but it can help guide me, and make sure I'm not missing anything.

While assembling the list, I went to MobyGames and listed Windows games by MobyRank, only to find Cave Story beating out all the Half-Life games, all the Grand Theft Auto games, everything. I read about the game, supposedly an indy side-scroller that's special, so I tried it. Maybe its special, but nothing about its physics or culture seems like something I can relate to. In any case, its a twitch game, and not something I can really play. I read the wiki page, and its surprisingly complex.

I also read this game inspired Braid, which I tried briefly, and found visually and musically impressive. Unfortunately I saw some spoilers, but that story seems really compelling. If I have to try and play a twitch game, I'd rather try that.

I want something to play now. Something with loud action, easy to get into, and known good. Left 4 Dead is on sale for $4.99, that should work. Having some trouble setting up graphics, kind of spoiled by auto-config. Everything feels slow and chunky, hopefully I get used to it. Finally figured out how to get 1920x1200, screen is blank.

To-Do List

My to-do list, in chronological release order:

1994 System Shock (finish watching playthrough)

1998 Thief (if possible find 1999 Thief Gold; if unplayable find a playthrough)

1999 System Shock 2 (play or watch playthrough)

1999 Planescape: Torment

2000 Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption (maybe)

2001 Arcanum

2001 Civilization 3 (can get the Complete edition on Steam)

2002 Elder Scrolls 3 (or maybe just skip and go to next in series)

2003 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

2004 Doom 3 (just for sake of completion)

2004 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

2004 Grand Theft Auto 3 San Andreas (100% complete?)

2005 Civilization 4 (get the 2009 Complete edition; not on Steam yet)

2005 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2

2006 Elder Scrolls 4 (maybe start here, skip 3)

2007 Bioshock

2007 Mass Effect

2008 Grand Theft Auto 4

2010 Civilization 5

2010 Fallout New Vegas (buy original release with gift card, but get the GOTYE rollup of DLCs later)

2010 Mass Effect 2

2011 Elder Scrolls 5 (after playing 4 and/or 3, by this time, I might as well wait for the GOTYE)

2011 Deus Ex 3 DLCs - maybe get now, maybe wait for a GOTYE rollup

note: GOTYE = Game of the Year Edition. GOTYE releases fit with the way I game perfectly. I like to play games that are at least a year old. By that point all the patches and add-ons have come out, and I can just buy one big rollup of the whole experience. This way I don't have to beta test buggy products. I also don't have to pay full freight for every money extracting add-on. Also by this point in the product's life, all the game faqs have been written, and questions answered.

I do miss out on the sense of wonder and community that builds up around a new product, and I have to avoid spoilers like crazy, but I think its a fair trade-off. I have so many good games in queue that I can easily distract myself while waiting. Sometimes I have to make an exception, though, like for Deus Ex 3 or Half-Life 2, and get them on or close to the day of release.