Back in the early 2000s, there was a period of about 6 months where I played the Star Wars game Jedi Outcast pretty much exclusively, and with a few of my friends would play match after match of LAN multiplayer. We even added our own skins and voices, and edited the game's files to make the bots act how we wanted them to. I also really liked its sequel, Jedi Academy, but only for its single player. I found its multiplayer maps far less interesting, and didn't like it that I could no longer control how the bots behaved. Stormtroopers with Force powers? No thanks.

About six months ago, I had a bit of a hankering to catch up with Kyle, and tried to play the original Dark Forces and Jedi Outcast again. Unfortunately, I couldn't get either of them to work the way I wanted them to on newer hardware and operating systems.
But with the fairly recent release of Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 on GOG, I got my chance to play the only game in the series that I'd never played before.

There were certainly a few annoying things about the game. For a start, it would not play on my Windows 7 machine. Every time I tried the mouse would lock up and Kyle would get stuck constantly running forward. So I had to install it on an older XP computer, and luckily everything worked this time.

I had some trouble with the movement, which felt awkward. Kyle feels like he's running around on an ice rink. On the many levels where precise jumping is involved this proved a major problem. Jumping from ledge to ledge at times was also hampered if I even so much as brushed anything else in the environment, as I would rebound off of it like a rubber ball and be sent in a completely different direction. I don't remember Outcast being like that, but maybe I'm remembering through rose-tinted glasses.

There were one or two strange bugs or graphics glitches, the biggest of which was when I fought the first Dark Jedi, who actually fell through the floor and vanished. That was interesting.
The main problem I had though was level design. Some of the maps were really annoying to navigate, and I spent far too long finding switches or hidden holes to drop down into. I guess I'm just really out of practise with this kind of game.

Another little issue I had, which was not so much a problem but more of a preference, was that my two favourite Force powers had not been put into the series yet. Not being able to throw my saber at people or push them off of ledges was a bit of a let down.

I also missed the more complex saber duelling of the sequels, but just in general the saber didn't seem all that important in this game except for when fighting the bosses. It was also a bit confusing that the direction of the saber swing was opposite to the direction button you were pressing at the time, not the right way round like in Outcast and Academy.

Concerning the story, I would have liked more of a build up to Kyle being able to use his powers, as there is no explanation about how this is possible at all. He just receives the saber and can suddenly deflect laser bolts and learn Force powers. There should have been at least one level where he is taught some basics, just like there was in both Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy.
And as much as I like Jan, how many times does she get captured? Sheesh.

But nevermind, it's all just me being picky. Overall, I actually enjoyed it, and have been kind of hooked these last few days trying to get through it.
I'll be doing Mysteries Of The Sith next I guess, and I just saw both Outcast and Academy have been released on GOG today...

Late last year I started to play the fun but cheesy game Terraria along with Scoob and JIK. I'd seen footage of this a few times on the net and thought it had some promise, and thanks to GOG (again), we could now try it out for ourselves.
So we booted up the game and made a world, which we called Skum. Of course.

Best explained as a kind-of Minecraft clone, though from a side-scrolling perspective rather than in first person, this somewhat simple looking game is actually quite deep, with massive, randomly generated worlds to explore, things to build, and enemies to battle.

The main aim of the game is to continue to build up your strength and equipment so you can fight the next boss, which in turn usually unlocks some other resource or equipment you can find to help with the next boss. In order to help with this, you can build a base that NPC characters can move into, who then provide you with other resources or services.
Said base building can be slow and frustrating, and at first I had problems creating a layout that the NPCs would navigate properly. But I constantly found myself adding and tweaking over the weeks. I could easily see myself going mental and building something crazy, if I could find the time. Or be bothered.

The combat is very easy and simple, but if there's a lot of enemies on screen it can get a little difficult to follow what's going on, especially in boss fights. It also didn't help that I kept getting weird lag on my machine, during which other players, NPCs and enemies would jump all over the screen as the game caught up, making it hard to hit them or dodge away. I initially thought it was down to me hosting the server at the same time, as my much slower computers that were connecting to me had no such lag. In the end, this weird lag went away when I tweaked some of the video settings. I have no idea why the slower machines were fine, nor do I know which setting fixed it, as I'm not sure what I changed. But it worked.

There were also a bunch of weird bugs that only seemed to show up during multiplayer, which I didn't see when I was playing alone trying to build things or collect things. For example, sometimes we or the enemies would warp through solid walls, or the teleporters wouldn't work. It was annoying.

In one way I spoiled the game a bit by constantly referring to the wiki to see what we needed to collect next, and what we needed to do to face the next boss. However if I didn't do this, it would have taken hours of play to find things and figure things out, and I don't think we would have had the attention span to keep going.

And the hardest boss in the game, Duke Fishron, proved to be a bit too much of a challenge for us with the weapons we'd managed to build ourselves, and he killed us a bunch of times. So we had to (ahem) borrow some items to fight him on a more even footing. Even then, it took three attempts to learn how to beat him and finally take him down. How people solo that guy with crappy equipment I'll never know.

I recently found out there had been a free expansion to Star Trek Online last year that added areas from the Delta Quadrant and raised the level cap from 50 to 60. I hadn't played the game for a good 18 months, so I thought it would be good to re-install and just go through the new missions. I'm kind of wishing I hadn't bothered.

I got a bad feeling when I went to install it as it seemed the game needed a new launcher from Perfect World called Arc. Now I absolutely fucking hate that there are all these pointless launchers like Steam, Origin and Uplay, and I've never used any of them. I was very glad to find in the forums that the old standalone installer still worked. I also really didn't want to use Arc after finding out it installs spyware into your browser. How can they get away with that shit?

Upon logging in I was met with a host of changes, most of which I did not appreciate. For a start, they have completely changed the crafting system in game, and everybody's crafting skill had been set back to 0. I don't disagree with the fact that the old crafting system was shit, but to reset everbody's skill levels is a dick move, especially when I was at max skill level before.
What makes it worse is that they have also removed the old daily exploration missions, which were the missions where most of the crafting materials were gathered. So if I wanted to get my crafting up again I would have to hope to find resources while doing episodes and other dailies. I quickly decided to ignore the new crafting system.

Back when I first started to play STO I don't remember there being any reputation grinds like there are in games such as World Of Warcraft. Maybe there were high level rep grinds that I didn't see, but I don't think so. Fast forward to 18 months ago during my last stint in the game, and a few rep grinds had started to appear, and I think I was first introduced to them in the New Romulus missions. Unsurprisingly, I did my best to ignore them. But now there's a whole list of factions that you have to grind rep with. And yes, I mean it when I say you have to, as due to the changes to the skills and traits system, many skills and traits are unlocked by increasing your standing with those factions.
In an even shadier move, some traits do not unlock unless you have the new tier 6 ships, or upgrade certain tier 5 ships, both of which can only be done by spending real money. Back in the past, the game did not really feel pay-to-win, as the ships you could buy with real money had only tiny advantages over the ships you could get for free. But now, with a whole new tier of vessel and extra unlockable traits, players who pay will surely have a clear advantage over those that do not. And payment in this game is a huge problem.
Look, I get it. The game is free to play, and they need to make money somehow. But just take a look at the prices for the tier 6 ships: they all cost 3000 ZEN. Now ZEN is the game currency you have to buy with real money, and it works out at $1 for 100 ZEN. In America therefore, it would cost $30 to buy a tier 6 ship. In the UK, at current exchange rates, this should work out at around £19.70 for a tier 6 ship. This is fucking expensive on its own, but because Perfect World are a bunch of dicks, we get even more screwed. Because we're in the EU, it only lets us buy ZEN using Euros, not pounds. Also the EU store only allows you to buy ZEN in set amounts, but get this: it does not show you how much ZEN you will receive for each amount of Euros. As it is highly unlikely that 20 Euros would get 3000 ZEN, for me to buy a tier 6 ship I would have to pay 45 Euros which is over £33, which itself is over $50, nearly twice as much as it should be.
I quickly decided I would not be giving this game any money.

In my few days back playing it the very typical STO bugs that used to plague me were still very much evident. Even after all this time they have not fixed the simple things. It just shows you how little the people that work on the game actually care. I had server disconnects, lag and rubber-banding, my ship and some NPCs turned invisible a couple of times, and I even had to re-do missions when they did not give me the option to complete even though I had done all the tasks.

But even all the problems above do not stack up to the enormous problem that has been introduced with the expansion: the clear and obvious lack of content.
I didn't realise the problem was so bad when I first started to play again, as there were a few missions I never did that were new to the game 18 months ago when I last played. So to start things off I went and did all those. Then I had a few missions in another new-ish area called the Solanae Dyson Sphere which I went through as well. So when I got round to starting the Delta Quadrant missions, I had already gone up a level or two.
Warning bells went off when I was near the end of level 53 and the game would not let me pick up the next mission as it required me to be level 54. I had to go and grind dailies and other annoying tasks to get me to the next level. Then it would only let me do the next two missions before telling me I needed to be level 55 to pick up the next one. Those two missions on their own were not even enough to get me half way through level 54, and I did not fancy the grind to the next level as it would have taken me hours if not days. Looking down the list of missions it looked like the grind to get to the next level and be able to pick up the next missions would have gotten worse and worse, so I decided to just forget it and leave the game once more.
What kind of shoddy expansion is it when the new missions themselves are not enough to help you level up? No other MMO would get away with such a dire lack of content. I know World Of Warcraft is huge and has a lot more resources, but in that game each new expansion gave you enough content that you could probably reach the top level twice over. There is just no excuse for STO to be so empty.

And so, for very probably the last time, here are some pictures from my adventures as a Starfleet captain:

Show / hide ship gallery

And for the sake of completion, I've just written bios for my officers that were missing them.

Gaila E'phelyth
Aenar, born in 2383. The quiet and caring Gaila was the clear and obvious candidate when Macan and his crew were looking to recruit a new chief medic. One of the few Aenar to join Starfleet, she was a very fast learner in the healing arts. The skills she has learned at Starfleet complement her telepathic abilities, which help her heal the psychological damage some soldiers can sustain. As a staunch pacifist, she was initially unsure whether she wished to travel on a starship because of the front line action they can see. But she found herself swayed by a personal appeal by Meiden. She has proven to be very easy to talk to and very trustworthy, fitting in well with the rest of the team.
She is the chief medical officer and ship's counselor.

Xenia Koza
Human, born in 2380. The gregarious and more than a little cocky Xenia is the latest addition to Macan's engineering team. A warp core specialist, she has quickly become the person Nine trusts the most to keep the ship moving and at maximum efficiency. She can be headstrong and stubborn sometimes, which would maybe rub people up the wrong way if she was not so friendly and polite. When not on duty, she can usually be found encouraging other crew members to join her on the holodeck for either lounging around on the beach, or partying hard in a very loud club.
She is an engineering officer.

Jeff
Breen, unknown birth date. Very little is known about the very mysterious and private Jeff. Intently focused on stopping his fellow Breen from attacking and imprisoning the Deferi, the warrior asked to travel with Macan's crew as the Arquina travelled through the Orellius sector. At the end of that crisis, he accepted an offer to join the crew, and his abilities and combat prowess have been invaluable in many situations since then. Despite his help and vigilant nature, he never answers questions about his past, or his motivations, leading some among the crew to wonder what he wants or if he is really trustworthy. Most believe he truly wants to help keep the peace and is going about it the only way he is comfortable.
He is a tactical officer.

So maybe this isn't technically a game you can finish, but I recently got done winning the grand finals of an oldish game called FlatOut 2, and that qualifies as a completion in my book.
I originally bought it as it looked like it would be a crazy fun game for LAN multiplayer, and after playing it the last few weeks I think it would certainly have been. However, as we found out, there was one massive flaw in the multiplayer mode: you can not add AI cars. What the hell were they thinking not putting that functionality in there? Even the best car racing game ever made would be a heap of shit if you could only have 2 or 3 cars driving round the track at a time. Such a shame.

Still, I was determined to get my money's worth, especially as I hadn't really played any car racing game since managing to break free of Grand Prix 3's hold on me a few years ago. And got my money's worth I did. Well, it was only £3.

So I decided to drive and smash my way through the single player career, and for the most part enjoyed it. However, there were a lot of things that also really bugged me about the game, the AI in particular:

• AI drivers seemed to correct themselves much faster than I could. After ramming one and spinning them round or off the track, on the next straight they often immediately overtook me again. They seemed to have much faster cars and acceleration, even when I was in the fastest car in the class with all the upgrades. This annoyed the hell out of me.
• This may not be true, but it seemed like the AI drivers often reacted dynamically to my skill. I could put in a crap lap and the AI drivers would remain not too far ahead, but I could then go and drive an awesome lap and they sped up rediculously so they would stay with me or even pull away.
• One thing that is definitely true is that the game didn't work out the results correctly after I'd crossed the finish line. Many times I saw a specific driver cross the line behind me, but when the results were displayed on screen it would have given that place to a different driver. It would also often give faster lap times to the cars down the back, which certainly seemed to make it look like it was just randomizing the results after the player had finished, rather than playing the race out properly.
• The physics on all the debris you could hit was also a bit weird. Very often I would ram through walls of tyres and my car would barely feel it, but holy crap if I hit a cardboard box I would spin or bounce up into the air or some other crazy shit. Sometimes it appeared I had hit something and I would spin or get knocked into the air when I'm sure there had been nothing there. All this debris also seemed to affect me more than the AI drivers, but maybe that was just my perception.

Still, it was quite fun, and the mini-games were bananas. I definitely didn't feel like it was a chore to reach the end of this like I have done with some of the other games I've forced myself through while making this blog.

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On a brain-challenging note, I've recently started looking into making mods for Dawn Of War. I knew this was possible years ago, but all I did back then was make maps, badges and banners. Rather than use Relic's own tools, I've started learning Corsix Mod Studio. It doesn't help that there are hardly any tutorials for modding out there, and no full manual for either Relic's tools or Mod Studio, but I have managed to get a few things worked out.

I originally wanted to make a mod where all races were combined into one "Apocalypse" race, so everyone would have access to everything in the game, but this baffled me. I have instead chosen to apply my own fixes to the races that currently exist, and make the armies slightly bigger. It's proving fun so far.