From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


It's the end of another month, so you know what that means. More
importantly, it's the end of February 2026. Why does that matter?
Because this date marks the 20th anniversary of these monthly threads!
That's right, we've been sharing our gaming play-lists for two decades
now.* Can you imagine that what started back in February 2006 as a way
to escape the endless discussions about whether or not Steam was
purest evil (or not) here in CSIPGA has lasted this long? And while
the format, responses and responders have changed over the years, the
heart of the discussion remains as true as ever. Here's hoping it
continue for another two decades!

Anyway, enough with this self-congratulatory puffery... on to the
games!



Superbrief
---------------------------------------
* Curse of Monkey Island
* The Expanse: A Telltale Series
* Doom: The Dark Ages
* Doom (2016)
* Doom: Eternal



Maximum Verbosity
---------------------------------------

* Curse of Monkey Island https://store.steampowered.com/app/730820/The_Curse_of_Monkey_Island/

It's been a while since I played this game and, honestly, I can't
remember what prompted me to give it another try. I'm not sorry I did
so, though. This third game in the "Monkey Island" series always was
my favorite, and it failed to disappoint me this time once again!

That said, I remember the game being a lot more robust. Partly,
though, this was my fault. The game has two modes: normal and 'extra
puzzles'. I picked the former, thinking it was the regular game, but
it's the super-easy version with at least half the puzzles chopped
out. But by the time I realized that, I was too far into my
play-through to want to restart.

Even so, I remember there being more characters and more conversations
than I got. Obviously my memory was at fault --doubtlessly I was
combining events from the other games in the franchise into my
recollection of this one. It's probably for the best, though. As much
as I enjoyed the goofs and gaffes in this game, my play through was
just the perfect length. Any longer and I think I might have started
to get bored.

While the pixel-art of the first two games will always have a special
place in my heart, I have to admit I rather like the loose animation
style of this third game. It matches the voice-acting far better than
did the tiny sprites of the second game (and much, much better than
the eye-gouging art style of the latest title in the series). The
voice-acting itself was extremely well done. Well, mostly; a few times
the actors seemed a bit bored with their readings and could have used
a second attempt. But it was far, far better than most games of its
era, and still holds up pretty well today.

The gameplay was a bit more mixed. Even in the simple-puzzle mode I
played, at times the only solution was to simply click on things or
combine items willy-nilly. About half the puzzles had semi-logical
solutions (or at least hints enough that you could figure out what
nonsense the developers expected of you), but a few of the puzzles
were inscrutable without random guessing. This is par for the course
with Monkey Island games (and adventure games in general) obviously,
but still I wish there had been a little more sign-posting. Stumbling
upon the solution because I randomly combined objects wasn't very
satisfying.

But on the whole, I got a lot of enjoyment from this game. It's funny, well-produced and --despite Ron Gilbert's disowning of its story from
Monkey Island canon-- it has a well-told narrative with great
characterizations and locations. I don't know what prompted me to
replay this game, but I'm very glad that I did.



* The Expanse: A Telltale Series https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708010/The_Expanse_A_Telltale_Series/

Apparently I'm on an adventure game kick this month. While I'm not
entirely sure what prompted me to play "Curse of Monkey Island", I do
know why I'm playing this game: I started re-watching the TV series.
(Don't ask me what made me want to watch the show again, though ;-)

Although calling "The Expanse" an adventure game is stretching the
definition quite a bit. Even for a Telltale game (you may be familiar
with some of their other games, such as "The Walking Dead" or the
"Tales from Monkey Island" series), "The Expanse" is extremely linear
and lacking in gameplay. Heck, even compared to /walking sims/, "The
Expanse" isn't much of a game. It's mostly a series of
semi-interactive cutscenes where you have a limited ability to pick
the direction of a conversation.

Well, okay; that's not entirely fair. There are some areas where you
can wander about --either onboard your spaceship, or space walking
amidst wrecks-- but there's not a lot of places to actually /go/, and
very little to interact with. Too much of the gameplay is stumbling
upon the few pickups that are scattered about; these items sometimes-but-not-always give you a few new options in conversations,
but often finding them is just up to dumb luck. There are a few action sequences, but these are mostly (extremely slow) quick-time events,
where the only challenge is if the computer will recognize your
key/mouse-click (there's about a 25% chance the game just doesn't
acknowledge it no matter how strenuously you pound on the controller,
a bug that makes these sequences all the more annoying).

Like other Telltale games, there isn't really a way to "fail" the
game. You can die in an occasional action sequence, but you're quickly
revived at the last checkpoint, which makes those bits pretty
pointless. Beyond that, all the effects of any of your few choices are pre-scripted, with the plot pretty heavily railroading you through the narrative and only occasionally diverging to acknowledge some of your
choices. There is no 'optimal' path, so trying to meta-game and find
the 'best' ending is pointless. Really, you just need to relax and
enjoy the show.

Because, really, that's what this 'game' is: it's a show intended more
for you to watch more than play. It's not a bad story (not great, but
passable sci-fi) and I enjoyed mucking about in some of the
nooks'n'crannies of the Expanse universe... but it's a pretty shitty
game. Honestly, I think the overall experience would have been better
if they'd just ripped out all the interactive bits and presented it as
a CGI film. The pretense of giving the player any freedom only for it
not to matter at all annoyed me more than it gave me any enjoyment.

Still, that's sort of par for the course with Telltale games (even if,
as I said, this one leans more towards that extreme than any other of
their titles). I didn't mind immersing myself in another story of The
Expanse. I just wish they'd actually made a game of it, for once.



* Doom: The Dark Ages https://store.steampowered.com/app/3017860/DOOM_The_Dark_Ages/

Well, I finally got around to playing "Doom: The Dark Ages"... and I
can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually find myself missing the push-forward mechanics of the previous two games.

This mechanic, introduced in both "Doom (2016)" and "Doom: Eternal"
stressed fast movement, constantly switching it up between melee and
ranged combat, and the levels were designed to take advantage of this.
There were plentiful jump pads and opportunities to take advantage of
the vertical as you leaped and bounded your way across arenas,
constantly circle-strafing around enemies as you peppered your demonic
foes with bullets. It isn't my usual method of FPS combat and, if
pushed, I'll admit it's not what I prefer (I like hanging back and
sniping from afar). But it gave the Doom reboot games their own
character.

"Doom: The Dark Ages" feels quite different. While you're actually
still quite speedy, it /feels/ like you're driving a truck. There's a significant weight to the character and he feels comparatively clunky
when put against the earlier games. You don't strafe quite as readily
(except through dodge moves) and you're expected to either tank the
damage or (better) use your shield to reflect it back at enemies. It's
not /bad/, mechanically, but it feels completely different to earlier
games.

Levels and combat reflect this change. Enemies move slower and don't
clump around you as quickly; their incoming projectiles are larger and
slower (the better so you can get your shield up in time). The levels
are wider, but flatter; there's much less verticality to this game. In
many ways, this game reminded me of "Doom 3" (2004) in how radically
different it felt to its predecessors; that game was also much slower.
Not that I thought "Doom 3" was a bad game... just that it didn't feel
like "Doom".

I wasn't that impressed with the level design or the connecting
narrative either. The former felt too broad and... well, not
repetitive but drawn out. It felt with some of the levels --especially
the larger battle-zones-- that they just kept going and going. Also,
while secret-hunting has been part and parcel of the franchise since
the very first game, it seemed the developers had gone a bit overboard
with it in "Dark Ages"; not only were there just too many things to
look for, but almost all the secrets required some trick to unlock
first. Searching for all the hidden loot really slowed down a game
that was already feeling a bit glacial.

Similarly, while there were some neat ideas in the story (<ROT13>Lbh
trg gb svtug Pguhyuh!!!</ROT13>), the overall pacing and direction
felt a bit aimless; as if the developers just wanted to play around in
a giant metal-fantasy sandbox and then had to reason out after the
fact why you were doing all these things. Of course, story in the Doom
games is always secondary, but given how much of it there was in "Dark
Age", it all felt a bit messy and unfocused.

Like I said, I don't think "Doom: The Dark Ages" is a bad game... but
it's very different from what came before and just didn't seem to have
the same polish and uniqueness. I played it to the end, I mostly
enjoyed, but I can't see myself going back any time soon. Eventually
maybe, but there's just not a lot about the game that makes we want to
play it over any other.



* Doom (2016)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/379720/DOOM/
Having just played the latest game of the Doom reboot trilogy, I just
had to go back and play the first of the new games. Mostly I did so
because I wanted to see how the narratives connected, and to compare
the gameplay and visuals of the two games.

The first difference I noted was the speed; Doomguy 2016 moves with significantly more alacrity and grace than his later variation. It's
not just forward speed; he turns faster too, and most of his actions
--jumping, mantling, etc.-- just feel more snappy. But I'll admit at
least part of it is psychological; "Dark Ages" Doomguy's every
footstep is loud and solid, and when he falls any distance he hits the
ground with a reverberating boom. The Doomguy from the 2016 game is
almost ninja-quiet in comparison, and that lack of impact makes him
feel a lot faster.

The level design is a lot more streamlined in the 2016 game too, to
the point it almost feels railroaded. Each level has five or six gated
combat arenas, with intervening passages connecting them. If you're
quick (and not too focused on secret hunting), you can get through
most levels in fifteen to twenty minutes. Those combat arenas, though,
are wild; most are three or four floors high, with numerous
switch-back passages looping around a center core. The combat demands
you be constantly on the move, and while each arena is fairly
contained, there's a lot of territory to cover. In "Dark Ages", my
combat style was like a tsunami, bearing down on the enemy line and
bringing inevitable death. In "Doom (2016)", I was more of a rabid
badger, striking hard and fast, then dodging away to take a swing at
somebody across the room, then heading back for the kill. In terms of personality and narrative, I like the former more... but the
quicker-paced combat in the 2016 game was more fun.

That said, despite their small size, the levels in 2016 felt a lot
more mazelike. The game could have used some more sign-posting to
indicate where to go next. It didn't help that --because of the
frenetic nature of the fights-- it was easy to get turned around on
yourself and forget which way you'd come in. More than a few times I doubled-back on myself, or got lost trying to figure out where I was
supposed to be going. Too, the game relied a bit too much on
platforming and jumps over instant-death chasms. The jumping wasn't
that difficult... but neither was it fun, and every time I missed a
jump and had to restart from a checkpoint made me wonder why I kept
playing.

The levels themselves, though, were densely detailed. While "Dark Age"
may be technically superior, I think artistically the 2016 game had
more character and work put into the design. On the other hand, it's
story felt a lot shallower (if better paced). Having played the entire
trilogy, I can tell how much work was put into the setting, but the
game itself didn't call much attention to it. In fact, sometimes it
felt a bit nonsensical and it's only now that I've played the later
games that I can see how all the bits fall neatly together. But as a stand-alone product? The narrative is the game's weakest part.

Oh, and I still really dislike the music. It's just too discordant for
my taste.

Overall, I enjoyed my play through. I didn't spend that much time with
the game (just enough to whip through the campaign, without spending
any time hunting for secrets or mastering the various challenge maps),
but that was enough for me. Between this game and "Dark Ages", I think
I prefer the 2016 game more... but it's a close match. The only real
question I have now is... am I going to play "Eternal" or not?



* Doom: Eternal
https://store.steampowered.com/app/782330/DOOM_Eternal/
Yeah, so of course I went ahead and re-played "Doom: Eternal". Having
come so far, how could I not?

Of all of the games of the 'nuDoom' trilogy, I have to say this is my
favorite. I mean, I still hold the original 1990s games in higher
regard (and in general prefer slower-paced first-person shooters
overall) but "Eternal" has a lot going for it too.

As I said, I'm not the biggest fan of the fast-paced 'push-forward'
combat mechanics; my usual style is to hang back and snipe enemies
from afar where they can't hurt me. But that's more a matter of taste
than any deprecation of the game-play. Once you get the hang of it,
the gun-play in "Doom Eternal" is almost balletic. Even if I can't
ever love it, I can admire its elegance. And meanwhile, there's a lot
else about the game that appeals to me.

Mostly I like the way the setting is presented. I've teased nuDoom
about the amount of lore it has (after all, this is a game mostly
about 'angry man shooting demons'; how much story do you really need
beyond that?) but the pace at which it's all offered in this game is
just right. This includes more than the various lore-dumps in the
cutscenes or log files. It's all the environmental storytelling; the
visuals, the level design, the works. "Doom (2016)" felt a bit shallow
in this regard; it left a lot unsaid. "Doom: Dark Ages" went too far
in the other direction, with an increasingly messy backstory that
often got in the way of its own gameplay. But "Doom: Eternal" has just
the right balance. The music is still a bit overbearing at times,
though.

I like the gameplay more too. The push-forward combat feels a lot more
polished than in the 2016 game; everything feels a lot more balanced
(with the sole exception of the marauder, which is a bit too much of a
'trick boss' that can only be injured on very specific frames, which
feels completely off-track with the rest of the game's design). I may
also be the only person who played "Eternal" that actually liked the inter-combat platforming and exploration. It added (in my opinion) a
nice balance to the frenetic fights; a chance to cool down that made
the combat all the more exciting once it began anew.

Is "Doom: Eternal" the bestest and greatest of the Doom games, or
first-person shooters? No, I won't claim that... but if you have to
play any of the nuDoom series, I still say this one is the best.

(And before you ask, no, I'm not going to go back and play the earlier
games next. Or am I? No, no I am not.)


---------------------------------------

Alright, that's how I spent my 20th February since these threads
began. How about you? What games have you been playing (and how long
ago since you started posting about them here?) Basically, we wanna
know:

What Have You Been Playing... IN FEBRUARY 2026?









----
* give or take. There have been a few interruptions over the years.
Then again, the idea behind this thread existed before 2006; it just
wasn't a regular thing. So it probably all evens out, and I've no
qualms about saying that we've done this thing 240 times ;-)
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

* The Expanse: A Telltale Series https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708010/The_Expanse_A_Telltale_Series/

Ehh, I had no idea this exists. I'm not a big fan of Telltale but I am a
fan of the Expanse so I guess it's worth a play. What do you know, it's
even on sale.

* Doom (2016)
Overall, I enjoyed my play through. I didn't spend that much time with
the game (just enough to whip through the campaign, without spending
any time hunting for secrets or mastering the various challenge maps),
but that was enough for me. Between this game and "Dark Ages", I think
I prefer the 2016 game more... but it's a close match. The only real
question I have now is... am I going to play "Eternal" or not?

Oh, I did like the 2016 Doom. I remember the System Shock 2 nod with the
early pistol and the hectic set piece fights and the even more hectic
challenge levels for some bonuses. It's really too bad there's no new
game+ to go at it again with all the upgrades, would've been fun. I
didn't get all those upgrades during my play-through and then did them afterwards which was kind of pointless. I remember one was really tough,
lots of hard charging melee enemies and you with just a grenade
launcher. And some kind of time limit too?

What Have You Been Playing... IN FEBRUARY 2026?

* Mission Critical

Old adventure fave from ~30 years ago. I'm actually fairly sure I played
this in the summer of 1998. I had moved and boxes were everywhere but
the computer was up and running and this was new and way better than
unpacking.

* Starfield

Just barely got started. Or I guess I finished the intro when I reached Constellation HQ. I don't really know what to think about it yet. Seems
solid so far.

* Outer Worlds

Finally finished this or was it January already. Annoyingly Fallout-like
(maybe it should be called Fallout Lite?) but somehow it just lacks
Fallout's je ne sais quoi and left me nonplussed. Don't feel like doing
the DLCs which I have and there were some team member missions I
could've finished but just don't feel the need. I rather like the main
theme music though.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

What Have You Been Playing... IN FEBRUARY 2026?

Started Return of the Obra Dinn, got the first three bodies identified, then started reading & movie-watching projects again, and set it aside. Did read & watch a cartload of books & movies, but now the pendulum is swinging and I want to return to gaming in March!

rms

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

It's the end of another month, so you know what that means.

I picked up Dust: An Elysian Tale again from the top. This time around I caught the directive: We are traveling east. It helps a LOT to know
which direction to go when there's east west and up and down.
--
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His
disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or
his
parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus,
“but this happened so that the works of God might be
displayed in him.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sun, 01 Mar 2026 23:00:16 +0200, Anssi Saari <[email protected]> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

* The Expanse: A Telltale Series
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708010/The_Expanse_A_Telltale_Series/

Ehh, I had no idea this exists. I'm not a big fan of Telltale but I am a
fan of the Expanse so I guess it's worth a play. What do you know, it's
even on sale.

Just go into it with lowered expectations. It's not much of a game and
its only passable fiction. Getting it on sale is highly recommended,
and even then only for fans of the franchise.

But keeping all that in mind, it's not that bad. Being able to walk
around the spaceship sets is sort of neat, and there are some trippy
sections. I didn't hate my time with the game, after all. I just
wished it could have been more than it was.

* Starfield
Just barely got started. Or I guess I finished the intro when I reached >Constellation HQ. I don't really know what to think about it yet. Seems
solid so far.

I really need to get this game one of these days. I've hesistated so
far because:
a) it's still going for (mostly) full price, and I'm not
paying that
b) I am so burned out on open-world games that suck up all
my time
c) I'm not that excited about Bethesda's quantity-over-quality
design used in this game. Having hundreds (or even dozens)
of worlds means nothing to me if they're all procedurally
generated with mostly nothing to do on any of them

I figure I'll get and play the game eventually... but I'm in no rush
to do so.

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

[Starfield]

I really need to get this game one of these days. I've hesistated so
far because:
a) it's still going for (mostly) full price, and I'm not
paying that

Yeah, what's up with that? I was hoping it'd drop below $30 or 30 euros
but no. But this was 36 euros and change so I figured it was close
enough.

c) I'm not that excited about Bethesda's quantity-over-quality
design used in this game. Having hundreds (or even dozens)
of worlds means nothing to me if they're all procedurally
generated with mostly nothing to do on any of them

Yes, hence the discounted buy. Hoping for a better story than Fallouts
but in fact, if it's more about the journey and the side missions that
have the interesting stuff, then that's good too.

Then again, I can't say I'm too keen on combing the desert in
Borderlands 4. As they too went to open world, it's now a few gazillion
icons on the map and not much interest in those.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:08:46 +0200, Anssi Saari <[email protected]> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

[Starfield]

I really need to get this game one of these days. I've hesistated so
far because:
a) it's still going for (mostly) full price, and I'm not
paying that

Yeah, what's up with that? I was hoping it'd drop below $30 or 30 euros
but no. But this was 36 euros and change so I figured it was close
enough.

It's not just Starfield and Bethesda games. It's industry wide. It
used to be that games past a certain age hit the bargain bin; the game
would be full price for a year; discounted in its second year, at
least half-off by year five, and past that you'd be able to pick up
the games for a fiver. This was originally a practicality. When games
sold on (physical) store shelves, you needed a way to move old stock
to make room for the new stuff. The best way to do that was to
discount the older games.

But with digital sales, shelf-space is essentially infinite, so the
need to discount is --largely-- a relic. Old games can remain in-store
for as long as you like; there's no rush to disappear them to make
space. So why not keep the games at full price for as long as you can?
The only reason they discount them at all is because people expect
older titles to be less expensive... and (increasingly) this idea is
being forgotten. There's a whole generation of gamers who will never
have bought a game in a brick-n-mortar store, and will have never
known the glory of the old-game bargain bin.

Add that to the general increase in game prices overall, and the
concept of 'old/failed games for a fiver' becomes increasingly
unlikely.

Me, I'm just hoping "Starfield" shows up on Prime Gaming or
HumbleChoice or something. No way I'm paying the MSRP for that
stinker. ;-)




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 3/1/2026 9:23 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* Curse of Monkey Island

This might have been my first and only monkey island. I don't remember
which it was I played, I just remember enjoying the insult fights
whichever that was. Not a fan of puzzle games so never bought any
others even though I enjoyed whichever it was I played. I really should
get around to trying these in order at some point.

* Doom: The Dark Ages https://store.steampowered.com/app/3017860/DOOM_The_Dark_Ages/
"Doom: The Dark Ages" feels quite different. While you're actually
still quite speedy, it /feels/ like you're driving a truck. There's a significant weight to the character and he feels comparatively clunky
when put against the earlier games. You don't strafe quite as readily
(except through dodge moves) and you're expected to either tank the
damage or (better) use your shield to reflect it back at enemies. It's
not /bad/, mechanically, but it feels completely different to earlier
games.

Hmm, this sounds like something I'd enjoy more than doom eternal. I
might eventually have to give this a try.

* Doom: Eternal
https://store.steampowered.com/app/782330/DOOM_Eternal/

I was hopeless at it and couldn't beat the first boss. I chalk that up
to my son wanted it on PS5 for some unfathomable reason, but controllers
are horrible for FPS, and refuse to try again on PS5. Since my
experience was so bad, I won't buy it on PC either, so I'll only get it
if it shows up free somehow. It's been a very long time since I've
really enjoyed an FPS anyhow (if ever,) and never were they something I
went out of my way to play.

---------------------------------------

Alright, that's how I spent my 20th February since these threads
began. How about you? What games have you been playing (and how long
ago since you started posting about them here?) Basically, we wanna
know:

What Have You Been Playing... IN FEBRUARY 2026?

TL;DR:

***** Dark Souls III
*** Dark Souls II

***** Dark Souls III
I finished my 'dragonslayer' run. No summons, no damage spells.

I beat Sister Friede the first DLC main boss, it took me a whopping 105
tries. I had to watch multiple videos and do lots of research, part of
why it took so long is I refused to do so at first and went probably 50
of those attempts before looking her up. I never really felt like
beating her was out of reach either which delayed me looking up stuff.
One thing I actually had to sort of figure out on my own. Her third
phase starts with a jump-explosion, while none of the videos mentioned
it, if you don't lock off while dodging this you'll turn around and go
right in her explosion and be 1 hit from death. Also you really need to
not lock on in phase 2 because of having to fight her and her father,
and you need to know when to get away from him when she starts shooting
frost at you. Again camera is key here, and souls camera is garbage. I
found putting camera speed up to max while on controller helped a lot
though.

I really don't like when games give you a mechanic that's supposed to
make it so you have a way to mitigate limitations of the media,
controller aiming and bad camera angles, then makes it a detriment. Unfortunately all the bosses I don't like and have trouble with have
this issue. I've been able to learn to work with it, but it feels too
meta. The worst one for this was Cursed Chalice Amygdala which I could
only defeat by constantly locking on and unlocking through the whole
fight.

Twin Demons/Prince fight felt fairly easy after this, only 15 tries, and
in souls games I count anything under 20 easy. In the past with summons
it's taken me about 50, same as Gael.

Halflight I fought offline as usual and beat on my first try. Trying to
beat him only him is garbage and practically RNG as it just depends if
you get someone who can PVP well or not playing the boss. I was going
through on my old pyromancer later on NG++ and decided to try online, I
got trounced the first couple times, summoned up help and the person
summoned as the boss must've been AFK, and didn't even move while we
beat them, which felt very anti-climactic.

Gael was next, most people's favorite of the game, and the final DLCs
final boss. He took a respectable 34 tries. He felt much more fair
than Friede, there's still some zooming around messing with camera, but
with camera speed at max it didn't really cause me any trouble. I did
one lookup for how to fight him - well really I looked at the rather
short video from the most helpful one I watched for Friede's creator.

(Friede video:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOLaGHAPyGQ&t=2s
For some reason she called her video cheese, but she doesn't cheese the
boss. All I can think is more people look up how to cheese the bosses,
so it's marketing.

I'd left Midir for last having such a hard time with the dragon and only beaten him once before in a rediculous fluke (posted about it here
before so won't get into that.) I again watched the girl's video on how
to fight him, and found it was fairly intuitive and only took me 22
tries. I noted that unlike the last scores of times before this
attempt, I never felt like I was getting ptsd from the fight, and was relatively calm (still heart pounding a bit, but nothing like beofore)
and wasn't intimidated. I feel like this is my greatest feat in all my
souls play. Then it was over.

I had joined the DS3 discord again and it was fairly active, at least
half the time I could find some to join or see if anyone wanted to join
me. I did a bunch of co-op from that. I mostly used my old pyromancer,
which was around level 200 on NG+ for joining in, some of the people
there were on a quest to get to some absurd NG+ cycle, a couple were on
NG+9 I joined. There were also people trying to do things like go to
the DLCs at level 37, which I found far harder to help, one was a newbie following some really bad walkthrough. I tried to educate them, and
there was some drama over that, one of the people there telling me to
shut up and play the game in less kind words. I ended up dropping off
due to that.

Someone had suggested that facetanking the game - legitimately without twinking was impossible, so I set out to prove them wrong I made a
bunch of videos, initially I found it not too hard, though it was more
like 80% facetanking, and I got through all the bosses but when I had to
get through Dancer I found it very very hard. My point was to be that
it wasn't really any harder than doing it with dodge-rolling, but that'd
been disproven, so I stopped there. Here's the collection of facetanking
I bothered to upload:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPhUx5R1kU&list=PLsc1aeR4hnOsDkBD82QbO4d-vbKJTr4GX

There's another guy who did all the bosses facetanking, but he was
heavily twinked and overleveled.

At this point Return to Drangelic was starting within a week so I moved
over to


*** Dark Souls II
I decided to make a hexer to try to get through the DLCs with. The playthrough has been going fine, no bosses so far have been particularly difficult. I almost quit when I got to the gutter, which is my most
hated zone in this game due to being dark, with death drop-offs and drop
traps and jumps through the dark through it, and being very confusing.
Also the last couple times through I tried to light all 50 torches
because there's a very valuable curse immunity hood you can get from an
NPC invader. One of those times I hadn't succeeded and went through it
over and over trying to fine the presumably last torch to light, and
never did, the other I succeeded, but I died right after or with the NPC
and thus the item disappeared with my death before I could get it. This
time I found a rather short video of how to light all of them and
followed it, and made a save backup before lighting the last in case I
had a repeat. It went very smooth. I did see one item I couldn't
figure out how to get to, but checked a list of the valuable items and
got everything of consequence.

Co-op was fairly active in the early sections of the game, but has
dropped off a bit, as usual more people wanting to summon than available
to be summoned, so while I got summoned quite a bit, finding to people
to summon was very slow, and I just did without at about half the
bosses. Fortunately there's a lot of NPC summons, which is one thing I appreciate over following games.

Unfortunately the discord is pretty dead, only a few people posting at
all and as far as I can tell no one actually got anyone to help or vice
versa being on at different times, and the horrible soul memory
limitation making it difficult for people to actually help each other.
DS3 was such a great improvement from that.

Overall I'm only semi into this playthrough, DS2 feels like it's got the
same issue a lot of souls-likes have which it doesn't feel very
replayable, there's only really one build of much value, with only one
or two weapons for a few others. I don't think I'll be coming back to
it ever again after this event is over. I'm not sure I'm going to even
bother to finish this playthrough. Perhaps if they ever decide to
remake it.
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
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* Doom: The Dark Ages

Hmm, this sounds like something I'd enjoy more than doom eternal. I might >eventually have to give this a try.

I can see starting this also after Obra Dinn, as it's on gamepass. Also they just announced a big DLC: https://wccftech.com/doom-the-dark-ages-dlc-huge-basically-a-sequel/

* Doom: Eternal

I was hopeless at it and couldn't beat the first boss. I chalk that up

It grows on you, as you slowly adapt to the pace, and no doubt you've
heard that after DE, D2016 feels slow and pedestrian.

***** Dark Souls III
*** Dark Souls II

More good DS journals, thanks! I'll watch that boss video

rms

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On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 06:44:26 -0800, Justisaur <[email protected]>
said this thing:

On 3/1/2026 9:23 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* Curse of Monkey Island

This might have been my first and only monkey island. I don't remember >which it was I played, I just remember enjoying the insult fights
whichever that was. Not a fan of puzzle games so never bought any
others even though I enjoyed whichever it was I played. I really should
get around to trying these in order at some point.

Alas, insult fighting was a series staple from the start of the
franchise, so that doesn't narrow it down much. ;-)

While there are numerous differences, the easiest way to remember
"Curse" is by its visuals; it used a very cartoony style for its
visuals, looking like something drawn by Disney. The first two games
used a more traditional sprite-based style (think of any Sierra
adventure game), and the fourth game ("Escape from Monkey Island")
transitioned to harsh-angled 3D models.

* Doom: The Dark Ages
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3017860/DOOM_The_Dark_Ages/
"Doom: The Dark Ages" feels quite different. While you're actually
still quite speedy, it /feels/ like you're driving a truck. There's a
significant weight to the character and he feels comparatively clunky
when put against the earlier games. You don't strafe quite as readily
(except through dodge moves) and you're expected to either tank the
damage or (better) use your shield to reflect it back at enemies. It's
not /bad/, mechanically, but it feels completely different to earlier
games.

Hmm, this sounds like something I'd enjoy more than doom eternal. I
might eventually have to give this a try.

I wouldn't discourage it. It does require you to master the block, as
bouncing back incoming attacks is a major component of the combat. It
just feels very different than the first two nu-Doom games. And, like
I said, the larger levels often overstayed their welcome. Especially
the big 'battlefield' set-pieces, where you had to run back and forth
to various waypoints to fight off incoming waves. It got really
repetitive. The game felt better (I thought) when it embraced its more
linear nature.


But give it a try. If Eternal wasn't your thing, "Dark Ages" may be
different enough to spark your interest.

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On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 08:15:46 -0700, "rms" <[email protected]> said this
thing:

***** Dark Souls III
*** Dark Souls II

More good DS journals, thanks! I'll watch that boss video

The 'Souls franchise is just one I wish I could engage with. I've
banged my head against a few of them, and their gameplay just never
gripped me enough to care enough to finish them. It was less the
combat than the level design. I know it's purposeful part of the
challenge, but falling (or getting pushed) off those narrow paths or
not having easy room to move around just sapped all the fun out of the experience for me.


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It grows on you, as you slowly adapt to the pace, and no doubt you've heard that after DE, D2016 feels slow and pedestrian.

And I suspect that some time spent adapting to the speed of DE would benefit your DS skills

rms

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On 3/4/2026 7:55 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 08:15:46 -0700, "rms" <[email protected]> said this
thing:

***** Dark Souls III
*** Dark Souls II

More good DS journals, thanks! I'll watch that boss video

The 'Souls franchise is just one I wish I could engage with. I've
banged my head against a few of them, and their gameplay just never
gripped me enough to care enough to finish them. It was less the
combat than the level design. I know it's purposeful part of the
challenge, but falling (or getting pushed) off those narrow paths or
not having easy room to move around just sapped all the fun out of the experience for me.

Least annoying level design is definitely DS3, that might be why I like
it best. There's a few spots like that, but relatively few and
generally much shorter, and I can't think of any I truly hate. There's
a couple of them that can just be skipped if you don't want whatever
treasure is in them. The poison swamp is probably my least favorite,
but it's from the confusing swamp, thick areas that slow you down (can
be overcome easily by using quickstep on a dagger or thrall axe) and
poison buildup (play a pyro or cleric and you get a spell to get rid of it.)

A lot of people who love the early games love the *ahem* 'interesting' interconnected level design. I mostly just want to fight stuff, and not
die from gravity especially. I hear some of the soulslikes have gone a
bit far in the other direction where you just fight bosses, and don't
really have any exploration or fights with mobs.
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
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\\
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On 3/4/2026 8:00 AM, rms wrote:

  It grows on you, as you slowly adapt to the pace, and no doubt
you've heard that after DE, D2016 feels slow and pedestrian.

Same can be said of souls. Though early games are slower paced, and the
pace starts picking up at Bloodborne and gets more frenetic through
Nightrein - way too frenetic for me, even ER pushes it past what I like
in many bits.

  And I suspect that some time spent adapting to the speed of DE would benefit your DS skills

I assume the other way for me too, so gives me some hope with it.
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
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\\
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On 3/3/2026 7:08 AM, Anssi Saari wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

[Starfield]

I really need to get this game one of these days. I've hesistated so
far because:
a) it's still going for (mostly) full price, and I'm not
paying that

Yeah, what's up with that? I was hoping it'd drop below $30 or 30 euros
but no. But this was 36 euros and change so I figured it was close
enough.

c) I'm not that excited about Bethesda's quantity-over-quality
design used in this game. Having hundreds (or even dozens)
of worlds means nothing to me if they're all procedurally
generated with mostly nothing to do on any of them

Yes, hence the discounted buy. Hoping for a better story than Fallouts
but in fact, if it's more about the journey and the side missions that
have the interesting stuff, then that's good too.

This was my main gripe, there was very little I ran across that was very interesting. Fallout '76 has more interesting stuff in it. Of course I didn't complete Starfield, but it felt like it was made by corporate committee.

The other issue was the ridiculously frequent and long loads I had.

Of course to Spalls, that's why I played it on gamepass. Saved myself
full price. I can't see myself ever buying it, but I'll give it a full
go if it's ever free, and I'm still alive then, or I get gamepass for a
month to try something else and still have time. Too much free stuff to
try, though I find myself being much more picky than I used to be, and abandoning games that just aren't quite great before I finish them.

Then again, I can't say I'm too keen on combing the desert in
Borderlands 4. As they too went to open world, it's now a few gazillion
icons on the map and not much interest in those.

Sadly I've no interest in BL4 BL just feels like it was beaten to death.
I'm sure I'll give it a try eventually either on deep discount,
gamepass, or if it's given away free, but I'm not rushing out for it.
--
-Justisaur

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On 3/3/2026 8:45 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:08:46 +0200, Anssi Saari <[email protected]> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

Me, I'm just hoping "Starfield" shows up on Prime Gaming or
HumbleChoice or something. No way I'm paying the MSRP for that
stinker. ;-)

Yes, I've noticed that too, but I do notice that even 20 years ago some
games which were very popular kept their prices up. Neverwinter Nights
for instance was at near full price forever.

Dark Souls series was on deep discount frequently for quite a bit before
ER, but after that became so popular sales have been few and far between
and at most half off.
--
-Justisaur

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On 3/1/2026 1:00 PM, Anssi Saari wrote:

* Outer Worlds

Finally finished this or was it January already. Annoyingly Fallout-like (maybe it should be called Fallout Lite?) but somehow it just lacks
Fallout's je ne sais quoi and left me nonplussed. Don't feel like doing
the DLCs which I have and there were some team member missions I
could've finished but just don't feel the need. I rather like the main
theme music though.

I loved Outer Worlds, thought it was better than FO NV & possibly 4.
But for some reason I haven't gotten excited about playing the DLCs and
still haven't, and I'm not excited about the sequel either. *shrug*
maybe just my gaming preferences have changed.
--
-Justisaur

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\\
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On 3/1/2026 4:38 PM, rms wrote:

Return of the Obra Dinn

Hmm, adventure solved by using logic, could this be an adventure game I
would actually like?
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
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¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
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On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 11:13:23 -0800, Justisaur <[email protected]>
said this thing:

On 3/4/2026 7:55 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 08:15:46 -0700, "rms" <[email protected]> said this
thing:

***** Dark Souls III
*** Dark Souls II

More good DS journals, thanks! I'll watch that boss video

The 'Souls franchise is just one I wish I could engage with. I've
banged my head against a few of them, and their gameplay just never
gripped me enough to care enough to finish them. It was less the
combat than the level design. I know it's purposeful part of the
challenge, but falling (or getting pushed) off those narrow paths or
not having easy room to move around just sapped all the fun out of the
experience for me.

Least annoying level design is definitely DS3, that might be why I like
it best.

Heh. The one game I haven't gotten around to playing yet. But I hate
jumping into the middle of the series (I never finished DS2), and it
doesn't help that "Dark Souls 3" still goes for full price. Nor am I
the biggest fan of the 'git gud' gameplay; I don't hate it, but it
isn't the sort of thing I actively seek out (especially games which
rely heavily on timing attacks and blocks. I got no rhythm, damnit!
;-)

So, improved as DS3 may be, I don't think I'll be playing it any time
soon. Maybe one day... but in the meantime I've plenty of other games
more suited to my taste waiting in the wings for their moment to
shine.


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Primarily 3 games (not including some shit games I've tried and
refunded)...

1) Battlefield 6.. probably not of interest to this NG, but one of
the better PC gaming experiences. Not perfect, but true to the
franchise, and in some ways makes up for sins of the past.

2) Red Dead Redemption (original game remaster).. It went on sale and
I bought it. For me, it's immediate good time but kind of more of
same from the good time I had with RDR2. I expected the graphics to
be a put-off based on videos I'd seen.. graphics aren't as good as
RDR2 overall, and there's no online mode which was the real fun in
RDR2, but for single player gameplay you really can't go wrong here as
long as you don't pay full price for it. I actually noticed elements
in the game design that reminded me a bit of the "golden age" of
gaming, which is worth reflecting on given what modern titles have
mostly become.

3) Resident Evil 4 (the 2019 version).. For a PC game it's got kind
of a weirdly slow pace, but I like it overall and would recommend
buying it on sale. I tried a couple of RE games in the past and
didn't gel with them, but this one I kinda enjoy. This was another
cheapo bargain bin purchase, but worth it.


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Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote at 17:23 this Sunday (GMT):

It's the end of another month, so you know what that means. More
importantly, it's the end of February 2026. Why does that matter?
Because this date marks the 20th anniversary of these monthly threads!
That's right, we've been sharing our gaming play-lists for two decades
now.* Can you imagine that what started back in February 2006 as a way
to escape the endless discussions about whether or not Steam was
purest evil (or not) here in CSIPGA has lasted this long? And while
the format, responses and responders have changed over the years, the
heart of the discussion remains as true as ever. Here's hoping it
continue for another two decades!

Anyway, enough with this self-congratulatory puffery... on to the
games!

Superbrief
---------------------------------------
* Curse of Monkey Island
* The Expanse: A Telltale Series
* Doom: The Dark Ages
* Doom (2016)
* Doom: Eternal

Maximum Verbosity
---------------------------------------

* Curse of Monkey Island https://store.steampowered.com/app/730820/The_Curse_of_Monkey_Island/

It's been a while since I played this game and, honestly, I can't
remember what prompted me to give it another try. I'm not sorry I did
so, though. This third game in the "Monkey Island" series always was
my favorite, and it failed to disappoint me this time once again!

That said, I remember the game being a lot more robust. Partly,
though, this was my fault. The game has two modes: normal and 'extra puzzles'. I picked the former, thinking it was the regular game, but
it's the super-easy version with at least half the puzzles chopped
out. But by the time I realized that, I was too far into my
play-through to want to restart.

Even so, I remember there being more characters and more conversations
than I got. Obviously my memory was at fault --doubtlessly I was
combining events from the other games in the franchise into my
recollection of this one. It's probably for the best, though. As much
as I enjoyed the goofs and gaffes in this game, my play through was
just the perfect length. Any longer and I think I might have started
to get bored.

While the pixel-art of the first two games will always have a special
place in my heart, I have to admit I rather like the loose animation
style of this third game. It matches the voice-acting far better than
did the tiny sprites of the second game (and much, much better than
the eye-gouging art style of the latest title in the series). The voice-acting itself was extremely well done. Well, mostly; a few times
the actors seemed a bit bored with their readings and could have used
a second attempt. But it was far, far better than most games of its
era, and still holds up pretty well today.

The gameplay was a bit more mixed. Even in the simple-puzzle mode I
played, at times the only solution was to simply click on things or
combine items willy-nilly. About half the puzzles had semi-logical
solutions (or at least hints enough that you could figure out what
nonsense the developers expected of you), but a few of the puzzles
were inscrutable without random guessing. This is par for the course
with Monkey Island games (and adventure games in general) obviously,
but still I wish there had been a little more sign-posting. Stumbling
upon the solution because I randomly combined objects wasn't very
satisfying.

But on the whole, I got a lot of enjoyment from this game. It's funny, well-produced and --despite Ron Gilbert's disowning of its story from
Monkey Island canon-- it has a well-told narrative with great characterizations and locations. I don't know what prompted me to
replay this game, but I'm very glad that I did.

* The Expanse: A Telltale Series https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708010/The_Expanse_A_Telltale_Series/

Apparently I'm on an adventure game kick this month. While I'm not
entirely sure what prompted me to play "Curse of Monkey Island", I do
know why I'm playing this game: I started re-watching the TV series.
(Don't ask me what made me want to watch the show again, though ;-)

Although calling "The Expanse" an adventure game is stretching the
definition quite a bit. Even for a Telltale game (you may be familiar
with some of their other games, such as "The Walking Dead" or the
"Tales from Monkey Island" series), "The Expanse" is extremely linear
and lacking in gameplay. Heck, even compared to /walking sims/, "The
Expanse" isn't much of a game. It's mostly a series of
semi-interactive cutscenes where you have a limited ability to pick
the direction of a conversation.

Well, okay; that's not entirely fair. There are some areas where you
can wander about --either onboard your spaceship, or space walking
amidst wrecks-- but there's not a lot of places to actually /go/, and
very little to interact with. Too much of the gameplay is stumbling
upon the few pickups that are scattered about; these items sometimes-but-not-always give you a few new options in conversations,
but often finding them is just up to dumb luck. There are a few action sequences, but these are mostly (extremely slow) quick-time events,
where the only challenge is if the computer will recognize your key/mouse-click (there's about a 25% chance the game just doesn't
acknowledge it no matter how strenuously you pound on the controller,
a bug that makes these sequences all the more annoying).

Like other Telltale games, there isn't really a way to "fail" the
game. You can die in an occasional action sequence, but you're quickly revived at the last checkpoint, which makes those bits pretty
pointless. Beyond that, all the effects of any of your few choices are pre-scripted, with the plot pretty heavily railroading you through the narrative and only occasionally diverging to acknowledge some of your choices. There is no 'optimal' path, so trying to meta-game and find
the 'best' ending is pointless. Really, you just need to relax and
enjoy the show.

Because, really, that's what this 'game' is: it's a show intended more
for you to watch more than play. It's not a bad story (not great, but passable sci-fi) and I enjoyed mucking about in some of the
nooks'n'crannies of the Expanse universe... but it's a pretty shitty
game. Honestly, I think the overall experience would have been better
if they'd just ripped out all the interactive bits and presented it as
a CGI film. The pretense of giving the player any freedom only for it
not to matter at all annoyed me more than it gave me any enjoyment.

Still, that's sort of par for the course with Telltale games (even if,
as I said, this one leans more towards that extreme than any other of
their titles). I didn't mind immersing myself in another story of The Expanse. I just wish they'd actually made a game of it, for once.

* Doom: The Dark Ages https://store.steampowered.com/app/3017860/DOOM_The_Dark_Ages/

Well, I finally got around to playing "Doom: The Dark Ages"... and I
can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually find myself missing the push-forward mechanics of the previous two games.

This mechanic, introduced in both "Doom (2016)" and "Doom: Eternal"
stressed fast movement, constantly switching it up between melee and
ranged combat, and the levels were designed to take advantage of this.
There were plentiful jump pads and opportunities to take advantage of
the vertical as you leaped and bounded your way across arenas,
constantly circle-strafing around enemies as you peppered your demonic
foes with bullets. It isn't my usual method of FPS combat and, if
pushed, I'll admit it's not what I prefer (I like hanging back and
sniping from afar). But it gave the Doom reboot games their own
character.

"Doom: The Dark Ages" feels quite different. While you're actually
still quite speedy, it /feels/ like you're driving a truck. There's a significant weight to the character and he feels comparatively clunky
when put against the earlier games. You don't strafe quite as readily
(except through dodge moves) and you're expected to either tank the
damage or (better) use your shield to reflect it back at enemies. It's
not /bad/, mechanically, but it feels completely different to earlier
games.

Levels and combat reflect this change. Enemies move slower and don't
clump around you as quickly; their incoming projectiles are larger and
slower (the better so you can get your shield up in time). The levels
are wider, but flatter; there's much less verticality to this game. In
many ways, this game reminded me of "Doom 3" (2004) in how radically different it felt to its predecessors; that game was also much slower.
Not that I thought "Doom 3" was a bad game... just that it didn't feel
like "Doom".

I wasn't that impressed with the level design or the connecting
narrative either. The former felt too broad and... well, not
repetitive but drawn out. It felt with some of the levels --especially
the larger battle-zones-- that they just kept going and going. Also,
while secret-hunting has been part and parcel of the franchise since
the very first game, it seemed the developers had gone a bit overboard
with it in "Dark Ages"; not only were there just too many things to
look for, but almost all the secrets required some trick to unlock
first. Searching for all the hidden loot really slowed down a game
that was already feeling a bit glacial.

Similarly, while there were some neat ideas in the story (<ROT13>Lbh
trg gb svtug Pguhyuh!!!</ROT13>), the overall pacing and direction
felt a bit aimless; as if the developers just wanted to play around in
a giant metal-fantasy sandbox and then had to reason out after the
fact why you were doing all these things. Of course, story in the Doom
games is always secondary, but given how much of it there was in "Dark
Age", it all felt a bit messy and unfocused.

Like I said, I don't think "Doom: The Dark Ages" is a bad game... but
it's very different from what came before and just didn't seem to have
the same polish and uniqueness. I played it to the end, I mostly
enjoyed, but I can't see myself going back any time soon. Eventually
maybe, but there's just not a lot about the game that makes we want to
play it over any other.

* Doom (2016)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/379720/DOOM/
Having just played the latest game of the Doom reboot trilogy, I just
had to go back and play the first of the new games. Mostly I did so
because I wanted to see how the narratives connected, and to compare
the gameplay and visuals of the two games.

The first difference I noted was the speed; Doomguy 2016 moves with significantly more alacrity and grace than his later variation. It's
not just forward speed; he turns faster too, and most of his actions --jumping, mantling, etc.-- just feel more snappy. But I'll admit at
least part of it is psychological; "Dark Ages" Doomguy's every
footstep is loud and solid, and when he falls any distance he hits the
ground with a reverberating boom. The Doomguy from the 2016 game is
almost ninja-quiet in comparison, and that lack of impact makes him
feel a lot faster.

The level design is a lot more streamlined in the 2016 game too, to
the point it almost feels railroaded. Each level has five or six gated
combat arenas, with intervening passages connecting them. If you're
quick (and not too focused on secret hunting), you can get through
most levels in fifteen to twenty minutes. Those combat arenas, though,
are wild; most are three or four floors high, with numerous
switch-back passages looping around a center core. The combat demands
you be constantly on the move, and while each arena is fairly
contained, there's a lot of territory to cover. In "Dark Ages", my
combat style was like a tsunami, bearing down on the enemy line and
bringing inevitable death. In "Doom (2016)", I was more of a rabid
badger, striking hard and fast, then dodging away to take a swing at
somebody across the room, then heading back for the kill. In terms of personality and narrative, I like the former more... but the
quicker-paced combat in the 2016 game was more fun.

That said, despite their small size, the levels in 2016 felt a lot
more mazelike. The game could have used some more sign-posting to
indicate where to go next. It didn't help that --because of the
frenetic nature of the fights-- it was easy to get turned around on
yourself and forget which way you'd come in. More than a few times I doubled-back on myself, or got lost trying to figure out where I was
supposed to be going. Too, the game relied a bit too much on
platforming and jumps over instant-death chasms. The jumping wasn't
that difficult... but neither was it fun, and every time I missed a
jump and had to restart from a checkpoint made me wonder why I kept
playing.

The levels themselves, though, were densely detailed. While "Dark Age"
may be technically superior, I think artistically the 2016 game had
more character and work put into the design. On the other hand, it's
story felt a lot shallower (if better paced). Having played the entire trilogy, I can tell how much work was put into the setting, but the
game itself didn't call much attention to it. In fact, sometimes it
felt a bit nonsensical and it's only now that I've played the later
games that I can see how all the bits fall neatly together. But as a stand-alone product? The narrative is the game's weakest part.

Oh, and I still really dislike the music. It's just too discordant for
my taste.

Overall, I enjoyed my play through. I didn't spend that much time with
the game (just enough to whip through the campaign, without spending
any time hunting for secrets or mastering the various challenge maps),
but that was enough for me. Between this game and "Dark Ages", I think
I prefer the 2016 game more... but it's a close match. The only real
question I have now is... am I going to play "Eternal" or not?

* Doom: Eternal
https://store.steampowered.com/app/782330/DOOM_Eternal/
Yeah, so of course I went ahead and re-played "Doom: Eternal". Having
come so far, how could I not?

Of all of the games of the 'nuDoom' trilogy, I have to say this is my favorite. I mean, I still hold the original 1990s games in higher
regard (and in general prefer slower-paced first-person shooters
overall) but "Eternal" has a lot going for it too.

As I said, I'm not the biggest fan of the fast-paced 'push-forward'
combat mechanics; my usual style is to hang back and snipe enemies
from afar where they can't hurt me. But that's more a matter of taste
than any deprecation of the game-play. Once you get the hang of it,
the gun-play in "Doom Eternal" is almost balletic. Even if I can't
ever love it, I can admire its elegance. And meanwhile, there's a lot
else about the game that appeals to me.

Mostly I like the way the setting is presented. I've teased nuDoom
about the amount of lore it has (after all, this is a game mostly
about 'angry man shooting demons'; how much story do you really need
beyond that?) but the pace at which it's all offered in this game is
just right. This includes more than the various lore-dumps in the
cutscenes or log files. It's all the environmental storytelling; the
visuals, the level design, the works. "Doom (2016)" felt a bit shallow
in this regard; it left a lot unsaid. "Doom: Dark Ages" went too far
in the other direction, with an increasingly messy backstory that
often got in the way of its own gameplay. But "Doom: Eternal" has just
the right balance. The music is still a bit overbearing at times,
though.

I like the gameplay more too. The push-forward combat feels a lot more polished than in the 2016 game; everything feels a lot more balanced
(with the sole exception of the marauder, which is a bit too much of a
'trick boss' that can only be injured on very specific frames, which
feels completely off-track with the rest of the game's design). I may
also be the only person who played "Eternal" that actually liked the inter-combat platforming and exploration. It added (in my opinion) a
nice balance to the frenetic fights; a chance to cool down that made
the combat all the more exciting once it began anew.

Is "Doom: Eternal" the bestest and greatest of the Doom games, or first-person shooters? No, I won't claim that... but if you have to
play any of the nuDoom series, I still say this one is the best.

(And before you ask, no, I'm not going to go back and play the earlier
games next. Or am I? No, no I am not.)

---------------------------------------

Alright, that's how I spent my 20th February since these threads
began. How about you? What games have you been playing (and how long
ago since you started posting about them here?) Basically, we wanna
know:

What Have You Been Playing... IN FEBRUARY 2026?

----
* give or take. There have been a few interruptions over the years.
Then again, the idea behind this thread existed before 2006; it just
wasn't a regular thing. So it probably all evens out, and I've no
qualms about saying that we've done this thing 240 times ;-)

Pretty much just Balatro, Febuary and most likely the next couple months
are going to be a lot of stress and pain
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
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