What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

I downloaded Frotz in my phone and played a bit of Zork. I forgot how big it was, so after a while I decided to commit suicide because it's amusing when games do that.

For some reason, I want to try out some text adventures. I might regret it, but so far it seems fun.

Nice! Just a few weeks ago I got snowed in and ended up playing Lurking Horror all afternoon (best text adventure ever made IMO)

Motorik wrote: Nice! Just a few weeks ago I got snowed in and ended up playing Lurking Horror all afternoon (best text adventure ever made IMO)

Woha, when I wrote that post the only answer I expected was Barney yelling "WHAT YEAR IS IT?" like he did when I played Klax, not having someone talk about he's also playing text adventures.

I haven't played any text adventures beyond Zork itself, which I've only played for historical purporses and in no serious capacity so I started to research some old text adventures to see which ones I like. So far, I think I'm going to start with Enchanter, which I'm attracted to because of its theme. I'm told it's easier than average and much better than the amateurish Zork, but I wonder if I should start with Wishbringer instead.

What I wonder is, how long are these games in practice? 20 hours each to beat?

• HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is good.
• LEATHER GODDESSES OF PHOBOS is fun, but needs scratch n sniff, I think.
• NORD & BERT is very clever, if obtuse at times.
• PLANETFALL/STATIONFALL
• I was fond of BEYOND ZORK, too.

Obligatory:

I saw him perform that live in 2008 at PAX.

Erik Twice wrote:

Motorik wrote: Nice! Just a few weeks ago I got snowed in and ended up playing Lurking Horror all afternoon (best text adventure ever made IMO)

Woha, when I wrote that post the only answer I expected was Barney yelling "WHAT YEAR IS IT?" like he did when I played Klax, not having someone talk about he's also playing text adventures.

I haven't played any text adventures beyond Zork itself, which I've only played for historical purporses and in no serious capacity so I started to research some old text adventures to see which ones I like. So far, I think I'm going to start with Enchanter, which I'm attracted to because of its theme. I'm told it's easier than average and much better than the amateurish Zork, but I wonder if I should start with Wishbringer instead.

What I wonder is, how long are these games in practice? 20 hours each to beat?

I second Jeb's suggestion of the two Planetfall games. Lurking Horror is essential; it's alternately really spooky and really funny, and it's probably the only good Lovecraftian video game aside from Eternal Darkness. I'd also put in a good word for Deadline and, in particular, Bureaucracy. The latter is written by Douglas Adams and the puzzles are frequently throw-shit-around-your-room maddening, but the frustration is kind of the meta point of the whole game. It definitely shares a thematic space with the more satirical elements of Terry Gilliam's Brazil (with a dash of the Illuminatus Trilogy), so if you like that movie you'll appreciate a lot of the ironic humor in Bureaucracy.

I'd say between 10-15 hours for most of the Infocom games I've played, and that only applies on the first playthrough.

Also, this site is essential: ( gallery.guetech.org/greybox.html ) as it contains scans of all of the "feelies" from each game which are needed to solve some puzzles.

www.ifarchive.org/ is a great resource if you're interested in more than the old commercial text adventures.

I ordered an Oculus Rift which arrived yesterday. I kind of knew going in that it was going to be problematic, but the whole VR thing has been bugging me for years and it became one of those things where I just had to see for myself.

It's amazing, and also pretty terrible.

I may have a faulty unit, or it may be some usb 3.0/power related witchcraft but the display can disconnect if you even t ouch it. The visuals are like sitting really close to an old CRT television, but the immersive capability of the stereoscopic display and the head tracking sensor is powerful. It was an experience for me, to just sit in the Oculus VR home, doing nothing but looking around, and the passive demos are fun (such as the t-rex in the hallway).

I tried a couple of games in VR mode after getting Steam VR set up:
Dirt Rally, which confirmed my fears of rapid onset motion sickness, though it looked excellent inside the car. I might need to look for some angle of view settings to mess with, which might help.
Elite Dangerous, which (accepting the resolution is not great) was amazing. Just looking around the cockpit with HUDs popping up according to where you're looking was a lot of fun. I mined a bit of an asteroid while flying around it. Maybe space combat will be nauseating, but I don't do any of that.

My PC technically does not meet the minimum standard (old i5, though the video card is new) but I had no real problems with performance in the games. I have another USB 3.0 PCI card coming which I'll see if that improves some aspects.

I can in no way recommend this product, but it feels like living in the future when using it.

I agree. It's amazing, but not $800 amazing.

$600, I didn't get the touch controllers but not $600 amazing either.

Those touch controllers look slick.

i'm JUST about to start playing through Resident Evil 4 again. I must be getting close to my 10th playthrough at this point.

i HATE that Ken's copy is still shrink-wrapped and unplayed.

I'm looking forward to checking out the beta of For Honor this weekend. If it gives me even a shred of the feel I got playing MP in Rune, I'll snag it. A while back there was talk of Kickstarting Rune 2, but they never did it.

Black Barney wrote: i'm JUST about to start playing through Resident Evil 4 again. I must be getting close to my 10th playthrough at this point.

i HATE that Ken's copy is still shrink-wrapped and unplayed.

I shall now attempt to summon Ken B., so that he might enumerate the number of games he holds in shrink wrapped servitude and that we may shame him for his transgressions:

*makes circle of unpainted AT plastic minis and man-scented candles*

*walks exterior of circle, while plays in the background.*

*Seated in circle, invoke the summoning chant*

FART JOKES
WRASSLIN'
SLACK LINING PRINCETON GRADS
WACKIN' OFF BOOKS
BLANK THREADS
BY THE POWER OF ULAIRE ENQUEA AND BLUE MANA I COMPEL YOU

I couldn't resist and bought Nioh, which I can't wait to try tonight.

Which probably means that I might not finish Watch Dogs 2 and debunk Barney's criticisms. I still can say that I liked my time with it way more than with any post Vice City GTAs, but it suffers from the same "actions with no consequences" syndrome of all open world games, which I find tiresome and childish.

^would like to try Nioh, as a big Soulsbourne fan. Report back how it is.