From Twitch Studio to OBS

Twitch decided to discontinue its streaming app, Twitch Studio. Sounds like I'm in the 4% of people who used it! 

Well, it forced me to upgrade to OBS and stream like the big boys. It's certainly not a bad thing... I'm now satisfied with my current OBS setup. It's a nice improvement compared to Twitch Studio. 

I must have used Twitch Studio for about 6 to 7 months. I think it was a good starting point for my streaming adventures. It's a very limited app, but it's incredibly simple. You're good to go in no time! 

OBS, on the other hand, is way more powerful, but way more complicated. I still have a couple of things to set up, like the Twitch alerts and a proper chat overlay when I stream from a single-monitor system. I'll do it over time, no big deal. 

See you on Twitch!

Num7normalis - Twitch Channel

Memories of Downloading Games in 2000

The year was 2000 - or was it 1999? It was in the good old days of the Internet. When it was still somewhat new and special. Special, in the sense that not everyone had access to it. Unlike today, you had to be clever to find the good stuff. 

Being the teenager I was, I'd spend most of my time downloading game demos from various sites that do not exist anymore. They're just distant memories now. I remember how exciting and endlessly compelling it was to open Netscape Navigator or an old ass version of Internet Explorer, then head to weird sites from which you could download game demos and whatnot. Anything could happen!!

I'm going to share a couple of memories I have of those bygone days. 

First, I was able to trace back one of the best sites I'd download stuff from. It was "Electric Games". Here are 2 screenshots: 

Look at that list, man. Doom, Doom95. Duke Nukem. Holy cow the memories. 

Diablo: The Hell 2 Is the Ultimate Way to Play Diablo 1

I think I might have posted about this several years ago. 

Diablo 1 is a pretty old game that redefined the RPG genre for decades to come. Released in late 1996, most of its systems and features still hold up today. But it does feel dated. 

By default, nowadays, the game's resolution is pretty low and it's in 4:3, so it's stretched out when you play on a widescreen monitor. And it's pixelated. A lot. Add to that the fact that it's a 1996 game, and you'll notice weird user interfaces, like the way you trade with NPCs by scrolling down lists of items without much detail. So weird and outdated. Not user-friendly at all. That's just a small example, here. 

Now, a guy known as Mordor created an extensive, giant mod, that brings Diablo 1 back to today's standards. Again, it's a GIANT mod in active development as we speak. Pretty crazy when you think about it. 

It's amazing. Once you've tried it, you can't go back to old vanilla Diablo 1. I promise. 

Let's check it out. You'll find links to download the mod and everything you need to know at the end of this post. 

Get a Free Copy of Starcraft: Remastered with Twitch Prime

Thought I'd share this, in case you have a Prime Membership on Amazon.

Probably for a short time, maybe a month, you can get a free copy of Starcraft: Remastered (the original Starcraft + Brood War) on Twitch, using your Amazon Prime account.

Just log on to Twitch with your Amazon account that has Prime, to claim it.

Click the URL below to check it out: 
Prime Gaming | StarCraft: Remastered

Originally posted on Paranormalis.

Get a Free Copy of Starcraft: Remastered with Twitch Prime | Paranormalis

Slayers Online MMORPG

I thought about this game last weekend for no reason. It’s like it called to me.

Like a couple of weeks ago when I turned to vBulletin and looked at how they’re doing right now, I figured I’d write a post about it. Welcome to another small trip down memory lane, looking at old shit that used to be cool.

This is an attempt at making this a series about nostalgia and good memories. We’ll see what the future holds.

Ready? Slayers Online is a free French RPG game. It’s got (I think) a solid player base in France, but not much outside of it, as far as I know. I don’t think it’s available in other languages either, so I’m pretty sure it has zero player base in English-speaking countries.

But it’s no big deal because just looking at the graphics will remind you of a couple of similar RPG games you played back in the early 2000s. 100% pure old crappy 2D games. It’s all about nostalgia!

My First Experience at Doom Mapping

Talk about starting the year strong! Mapping for a 1993 game! 

Doom is a game I've been playing on and off for almost 25 years. I used to play the shareware version on an old AMD K6-2 350 mhz as a kid. At some point, a friend gave me a copy of Doom95.exe and I got my hands on Final Doom. What an update! It was now possible to select levels without having to start a new game and resort to cheats!  Nowadays, I have all the official WADs and played them many, many times. 

Doom had something special that no other game had. It still kind of feels that way today, in 2022. Its environments and gameplay are pretty convincing, while still being abstract enough to age well. 

This blog article (part 1 of 3, actually) convinced me to give Doom mapping a try. 

You should make a Doom level, part 1: the basics

I remember reading it last year and the idea stayed with me for a while. 

Keep in mind that the last time I mapped for a game was probably in 2001 or 2002, for Starcraft: Brood War. I made 4 player F4A map I'd play on with friends over a modem connection. It was fun for a while, but according to today's standard, it was crap. 

Eternal: Cold Hunt

Eternal Card Game just released a new set last week, Cold Hunt!!

Eternal: Cold Hunt

They also released an Expedition Vault. They basically give out 4x copies of over a hundred cards, that represent a foundation of classic cards from all the previous sets. Many of them very good. That's a HUGE starter pack for new players, it's a new thing. It makes the game the most accessible to new players it has ever been.

Eternal is one of the most free to play game right now. It's easy to earn a decent collection really fast. Last month's a guy on Reddit reached Masters in ranked mode on his 1st month, without spending a dime. Very impressive! 

Legends of Runeterra

Just registered to get early access to the new upcoming League of Legends CCG, Legends of Runeterra. It looks pretty nice from what I can see, with its hybrid take kind of between Magic The Gathering and Hearthstone.

Riot already gave details regarding the game's economy and it's very F2P friendly. The game's most powerful card won't be your credit card! That's cool too.

They couldn't wish for better timing to announce such a game. Just look at the state of Hearthstone and Blizzard Entertainment right now, in light of the blitzchung PR disaster. What a train wreck.

Will Riot succeed where Valve failed? Will this be the Hearthstone-killer?

To be continued...

Konami Puzzle Collection

I've been having some fun recently with this little game: Konami Puzzle Collection.

It's a collection of roughly 500 sprite puzzles related to all the Konami franchises.

Check it out in the Play Store:
Konami Puzzle Collection - Play Store

Why I'm Retiring From Factorio

Factorio, what a game! Some people say it's like crack, but I've never tried crack so I can't tell. After playing less than 50 hours, I decided some time ago it was enough of that crazy addicting game.  That being said, Factorio is one of the most creative and fun games I've ever played. If you thought Minecraft was addicting, think again...

It's like a drug...

Factorio is the most addictive game I've ever played. The "One last thing..." factor is brutal here. There's always one little detail, one little thing you can optimise to make things run smoother, then another little one... Oh and that one too... Then it's 1AM and you're working tomorrow. Oops!

Factorio is the only game that has ever kept me awake at night. Not because I'd play all night long... But because I couldn't stop thinking about it. I'd literally close my eyes in bed and see conveyor belts. I'd fall asleep thinking of belts. I'd wake up thinking of belts.

Too long, never ends...

Starting a new game will require you several hours of fooling around, until you get your factory to somewhat work on its own. The early game phase is pretty long and pretty repetitive from one game to another.

Then you get builder robots. Automated defenses. Automated trains. Sleep deprivation. Depression. ...Oh wait, kinda went off track here. Pun intended.

Worse than that, even when you're done and launched the satellite, it's not over. I already hear you saying "Oh, why bother start a new game when I can optimize my current one and launch X rockets / Y minutes!". Screw that!

And don't get me started on nuclear power, I didn't even have the courage to fiddle with it!

I wish Factorio a long life, but it'll be without me.

Mobile Legends: Adventure

After playing AFK Arena for about a week, I stumbled upon Mobile Legends: Adventure and figured I'd post a short review of that game too. It's mostly the same game as AFK Arena, but way more polished. Everything is perfectly streamlined for an optimal experience. All your daily tasks are relevant and make sense, the UI is super easy to use and has you racing through all the menus you have to work with seamlessly.

I like how it's easy to manage your heroes and keep them fully upgraded and geared-up at all times. They're all easily recognizable and don't all look the same.

The battles can be accelerated quite a bit, so things go fast. At all times you're able to see which heroes do what and fix your lineup accordingly. Secret tip: It seems the battle goes even faster if you disable high-frequency mode in the options. 

The drop rates are very good. It's easy to acquire heroes, useful gear and all the different currencies found in the game. Each single battle will give you something. The grind is pretty soft, I think it's a bit more F2P-friendly than AFK Arena.

The relevant game modes are all present. The tower, the arena, the labyrinth, the time portal. It's so much fun, I wish there were even more modes. Apparently a new one is coming in an upcoming update. Let's wait and see.

All in all, I prefer MLA to AFK Arena. It feels more polished and seems to be a better, more generous and more balanced game. It's my favorite hero collector / idle game yet. Nothing feels redundant or pointless. It's fun.

Check it out for yourself:
Mobile Legends: Adventure - Google Play Store

AFK Arena

Discovered this game entirely by accident while browsing the Google Play Store. It's pretty cool and very F2P friendly.

The combat can be automated and made faster after only a short time. After a few days, I hit several super high level bosses that took me several days to beat. Pretty challenging, but not too grindy yet.

All in all, you get all the interesting Gacha elements that type of games usually provides you with. The tower, the arena, the tavern, the labyrinth, etc. All those elements integrate well with one another and do not feel needlessly grindy. It's always fun to receive those rewards and combine things together to enhanced them. :)

The game could use a few QOL improvements IMHO.

For instance, why dispatch heroes manually for the tavern bounties? Mobile Legend: Adventures does that automatically for you. The same goes for the library, why dispatch each single hero manually?

Also, the way heroes are sorted in the Heroes screen doesn't consider regular heroes VS heroes improved through the Resonating Crystal. Because of that, you find yourself switching to the next hero in order to level it up, only to notice it's a blessed hero from the resonating crystal. Level up current Hero. Next Hero, can't level that one up. Next hero, oh, same thing. Next, oh, I can level that one up. Next... When you think about it, AFK Arena isn't the only game with that issue...

AFK Arena is a lot of fun and will keep you entertained a few minutes every day. That's what an AFK game is for isn't it? It does everything it has to and it does it right.

You can install the game from the Play Store:
AFK Arena - Google Play Store

Lemmings Game on Android

Found this game by accident on the Google Play store. It's pretty cool!

Lemmings | Google Play

Have fun!

What Playing Hearthstone Often Feels Like

When it comes to playing Hearthstone, the grind can become pretty intense sometimes. Especially when you consider how cheap the reward system is when you're playing for free. Here's a quote I found on Reddit that sums it up very well:

It (Hearthstone) felt like a I had a job and my payment was .1 packs/3 wins.

Yup, that's pretty accurate.

How Most People Feel About Artifact

As of March 2019, Artifact is kind of a no man's land, with its player counts dropping under 300 now and then. You read it well, under 300.

A recent post on Reddit sums up pretty well how a lot of people feel about the game right now:

I’m still here, I liked the game and wanted it to succeed, but at this point watching its descent into total, complete, undeniable failure is far more entertaining than the game ever was.

Amen.

Riven Part II

Riven is one of the best and most captivating games I played in a very long time. It guides you (often in a very cryptic way) through amazing quests in weird environments. It makes you think and wonder what to do next and how to do it. The second part of my play-through was in line with my experience of the first part. It was still cryptic and still very fascinating. 

The way the game forces you to choose how the story is going to end is compelling and it makes things unpredictable and exciting to someone, like me, who’s new to Riven. 

Don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything here. 

If you liked the first Myst, give Riven a try, you’ll have a great time. 

eXplorminate: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

A lot of 4X strategy games released in the past couple of years had some major shortcomings at release... Why?

Fellow 4X gamer Oliver "Mezmorki" Kiley from Explorminate shares what kind of issues have been plaguing most 4X strategy titles released in the past 5 years.  He pretty much hits the nail right on the head for the most part.

Here's a quick teaser before you dive into the whole article.

With the release of Endless Space 2 (ES2), a wave in the space 4X ocean has crested. The “Big 4” space 4X games –  Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars (MoO:CTS), Galactic Civilizations III (GalCiv3), Stellaris and ES2 – have all landed within the past year along with major expansions for GalCiv3 and Stellaris amidst a host of other titles.

And yet I can’t help but feel let down by the collective state of 4X gaming – specifically the prolific bugs and unrefined mechanical systems – especially considering that the above games were released by major, established developers. What began as an era of unprecedented promise and excitement has given way to the malaise of an after party hangover.

Example #1: Development of MoO:CTS appears to have stalled shortly after release with the game failing to have a lasting appeal among the core 4X audience. Will we get any additional content? Probably not. Example #2: GalCiv3 was a buggy mess that under-delivered compared to the highly touted and respected Galactic Civilizations II. Example #3: Stellaris, the innovative darling has just recently, at the one-year mark started to feel polished – but it too has been plagued by bugs and mechanical systems that remain lackluster. Example # 4: ES2 was released as an unpolished beta – and despite the preview build being solid, the release version was riddled with new bugs and plenty of balance issues remain.

So what happened? 

Read the full article on eXplorminate: All That Glitters Is Not Gold - eXplorminate

FreeOrion v0.4.7

The folks over at freeorion.org released a new stable a few days ago. I gave it a quick try tonight in order to see if it’s more stable and optimized than v0.4.6 and it definitely is. v0.4.6 felt sluggish during some games and turn processing was slow most of the time, even in a small galaxy. This one feels all right and seems to be properly optimized. 

Project Space Sector

Project Space Sector is a spiritual successor to Master of Orion 2, the turn-based space 4X strategy game from the 90’s that we love so much. This will be a faithful successor, that is true in spirit to the series. With all the complexity and depth of a big and complex 4X game.

You can follow the team’s progress here:
Space Sector | Everything about Space and Sci-Fi Strategy Games.

I’ve been following this blog for years. The folks behind both the blog and the game know what they’re doing, so the result should be very interesting. I hope they’ll be able to give an estimated release date in the next few months.

To be continued…

Riven: More Cryptic Than I Expected

Last year, I enjoyed a great timeless classic: Myst. This time, I decided to go ahead and play Riven, The Sequel to Myst. I knew, among other things, that Riven is considered the hardest episode in the Myst series, but I had no idea how that would translate in the game.

As I expected, Riven is an amazing game. Cryptic, but amazing.