20131228:
Today Michael came over and while waiting to get Project M working, we tried playing Sin & Punishment.
Regarding Two-Player Mode:
For some strange reason, upon booting up the game, the player two controller would cease to be recognized. Various experiments were done to try to get it recognized and eventually the solution was simply to start the two-player mode.
Gameplay:
For the two-player mode, player one chooses one of two characters to play, Isa Jo or Kachi. In short, the player moves the character around the screen using the analog stick (Nunchuk) and attacks with the Wiimote, pointing the attack cursor (independent of character position) for long ranged attacks (I later learned the classic/GameCube controllers are also valid inputs, but I have yet to try them). Player two only has to worry about firing a basic attack. While this may seem boring, there's so much going on (at least in the two-player mode) that player two is often the one dealing consistent damage to the boss, while player one deals with dodging attacks.
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Wii) (2010)
Relevant Links:
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Wikipedia.org)
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (IGN.com)
Sin & Punishment (Wikipedia.org)
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Thursday, December 26, 2013
The Cave (PC) (2013)
 |
| Character selection. The Knight (offscreen), The Hillbilly (offscreen), The Time Traveler, The Scientist, The Adventure, The Twins, and The Monk. |
20131226:
After breaking the bridge inside the cave, it became apparent that I, the player, would be using exactly three characters inside the cave. It was also at that point that I remembered the game had local co-op. Fundamentally, the main game mechanic involves switching between the three characters to solve puzzles, much like the game mechanic in The Lost Vikings.
 |
| The Knight, The Twins, and The Adventurer plummet after exceeding the weight of the bridge and breaking it. |
Today, I only got as far as navigating to the soda and hot dog machines, which is to say, not that far at all.
General Comments:
It turns out you only bring three of the seven characters (the twins are a single character) into the cave.
 |
| A terrible monster blocks our way. |
[20140104]
20140103:
Today, Josh, Michael, and I got together and played a bit of The Cave. As they haven't played before, I restarted the game from the beginning. Picking first, I chose the Time Traveler. Next, Michael chose the Scientist and Josh chose the Adventurer. While picking characters was a confusing process due to an unfamiliarity with the controls, we eventually got the characters we wanted and entered the cave.
 |
| Claiming a trinket. |
Today, we managed to recover two of the miner's three mine carts. Before saving the game, we were working on figuring out what needs to go into the last mine cart.
The great thing about playing with three people is that three minds are better than one. In particular, each of us had an equal share of solutions to the puzzles we encountered. While we could have certainly solved the puzzles on our own, it would have undoubtedly taken more time. Hooray for teamwork!
 |
| The Adventurer pulls the mine cart as The Scientist lazily stands inside it. |
General Comments:
Spread throughout the cave are details about the different characters you brought into the game. Note, however, that any of the three characters can recover the piece of information.
One complaint we had was the amount of backtracking we had to do to find the mine carts. Spoiler Alert. In hindsight, I think we could have each held a stick of dynamite to avoid the backtracking.
You cannot die in The Cave.
[20140104]
The Cave (PC) (2013)
 |
| I like the game introduction. |
Relevant Links:
The Cave Website
The Cave (PC) (IGN.com)
The Cave (PS3) (IGN.com)
The Cave (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Bastion (PC) (2011)
20120718 Comments:
I must have played the first level to this game at least 4 times by now. The first time I simply played the demo on Steam. The second time, I helped my friend play the demo on someone's Xbox (Xbox Live Arcade). I next played through the first level when I purchased the game. And finally, for the Steam Winter Sale, I had to play the first level again in order to complete an achievement.
On multiple occasions, when trying to move my Steam install, I lost my progress. Thankfully I had played no more than the first level. This happened most recently when I wanted to move my Steam files from my laptop to my PC in Maryland (20120207).
On the bright side, the loss of progress isn't a big deal. I love the narration of the game a lot. Moving about the world was a little difficult with a keyboard, because the game uses an isometric camera. One should have much better luck with a gamepad.
The art is also good, but I am going to repeat myself and emphasize how much I love the narration. It brings so much life to the concept of games and story telling.
I look forward to playing more.
Steam Game Time: 54 minutes
[20190113 Edit]
20130203:
Unknown progress.
20131225:
Due to moving the steam folder around, I've had to play the first level of the game several times now and only once before today did I play one level beyond the first. I've tried reading about the save file location before, but had no luck finding a helpful answer. As of 20131228, I both found a solution and started usingGameSave Manager. See the Save File Locations section below for more information.
In any case, today (20131225) I started the game and, as many times before, played the first level of the game again. Unlike my previous playthroughs, today I played multiple levels. According to Steam, I played for about 3.9 hours, over three times the cumulative time spent with the game before today (1.2 hours).
Overall, losing a save file is a huge discouragement to continuing a game. Now that I think about it, that's the main reason I haven't been playing Orcs Must Die. However, I absolutely love the narration of Bastion and I never minded playing this particular game from the beginning, because it feels like I'm just watching a movie.
The narration in this game is awesome and I believe that's already a good enough reason to play this action RPG. Of course, the game mechanics and upgrade system are solid as well.
I do, however, have two minor dislikes which come to mind. The first minor dislike is the ability to fall off the level by walking off. I personally find this an unnecessary element of realism and/or difficulty. The second minor dislike is how the Kid (player character) keeps landing flat on his face at the entry of every level. Come on now, doesn't he learn how to gracefully land after a couple of tries?
Personal Preferences:
I tried using the Bolt Burst on the repeater but didn't like it compared to the Whirl Wind or Dancing Shot.
General Tips/Comments:
Charge your Breaker Bow and let go immediately as you flash for a Power Shot.
: If you can manage, let go the moment you hear a whoosh sound. No hesitation here. The slightest start to the whoosh and you release the bow for a guaranteed Power Shot.
Press Q to use your special attack. Don't be afraid to use it often, because vials to replenish it are often readily available.
Press R to reload the repeater manually.
Press Shift for shield at the right moment for a counter attack.
Press Space often for extra mobility.
Don't be afraid to just move on, don't need to backtrack to get health, at least in any situation I've encountered thus far.
You can conveniently restart a challenge level by going to the restart level button. Any lower level prizes you have claimed will be recorded.
Gameplay Log:
Breaker Barracks
: The level only lets you use the bow provided to you in the center of the level.
: For first prize, you have to land five Power Shots.
Windbag Ranch
: The key as the tool tip says is to stand where the green ones spawn and kill them right away. Otherwise they run away from you and you'll have to probably waste time throwing the machete at them.
: I made use of the Werewolf
[20131225 Assumed Post Date][20190113 Edit]
20131228:
I played the level Trapper Shingle today.
Gameplay Log:
Trapper Shingle
: I made use of the first repeater upgrade: Double Clip.
: Also crucial is to press shift to have the player character automatically lock onto the targets.
Bastion (PC) (2011)
Relevant Links:
Bastion (Supergiant Games Website)
Bastion (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Bastion Wiki (bastion.wikia.com)
Save File Locations:
The game's save file location is different depending on whether you run the game executable from inside or outside of Steam. However, I would recommend using GameSave Manager instead of backing up save files manually (see the next section, Personal Experience on Saving the Game).
See [1], [2], [3], and [4] below.
[1]
...\steamapps\common\bastion\Content\Saves
: Automatic saved games made on a per level basis.
: Example Contents:
: Save File Location = either [2] or [3].
: Caution! Make sure you store a backup in a different location, there may be a chance that Steam Cloud may not behave the way you want.
: When copying to [3], restart Steam to let it synchronize with Steam Cloud. See also "Personal Experience on Saving the Game" below.
[2]
...Users\[COMPUTERUSERNAME]\Saved Games\Bastion\
: This should be the game's save file location when running the game executable from outside Steam.
[3]
...\Program Files\Steam\userdata\[STEAMUSERID]\107100\remote\
: This folder should contain the save files as Steam Cloud sees them.
: Example Contents:
...\Program Files\Steam\userdata\[STEAMUSERID]\107100\local\
: I suspect the contents of this folder are just local configuration settings like Screen Resolution and Control Configuration.
: Example Contents:
Personal Experience on Saving the Game:
On 20131228, I avoided the issue of backing up my save files altogether by running GameSave Manager. This is something I should have done a long time ago, because manually backing up save files was both risky and time consuming. This was especially true due to number of times I moved my Steam Game installations around (whether between multiple computers or just from one hard drive to the next).
I also realized that creating a new profile in the Bastion menu isn't just for the settings. It's actually the method for creating a new game save. Checking both Profile 1 and Profile 2 (dated 20120209 and 20130203, respectively), I found that they both only went up to the completion of the introductory level ("Now the Kid sees something stranger still. His mind races. Did anyone else survive? Sure enough he finds another. He finds me.")
Simply deleting them isn't an option. Upon starting the game, Steam Cloud replaces them with existing copies in the Cloud.
Solution:
20240127 Snapshot:
Steam Game Time: 8.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 8h 17m (Playnite)
Last Played: 20231229
I must have played the first level to this game at least 4 times by now. The first time I simply played the demo on Steam. The second time, I helped my friend play the demo on someone's Xbox (Xbox Live Arcade). I next played through the first level when I purchased the game. And finally, for the Steam Winter Sale, I had to play the first level again in order to complete an achievement.
 |
| The Kid charges the Breaker's Bow. |
On multiple occasions, when trying to move my Steam install, I lost my progress. Thankfully I had played no more than the first level. This happened most recently when I wanted to move my Steam files from my laptop to my PC in Maryland (20120207).
On the bright side, the loss of progress isn't a big deal. I love the narration of the game a lot. Moving about the world was a little difficult with a keyboard, because the game uses an isometric camera. One should have much better luck with a gamepad.
The art is also good, but I am going to repeat myself and emphasize how much I love the narration. It brings so much life to the concept of games and story telling.
I look forward to playing more.
Steam Game Time: 54 minutes
 |
| The Arsenal |
[20190113 Edit]
20130203:
Unknown progress.
20131225:
Due to moving the steam folder around, I've had to play the first level of the game several times now and only once before today did I play one level beyond the first. I've tried reading about the save file location before, but had no luck finding a helpful answer. As of 20131228, I both found a solution and started usingGameSave Manager. See the Save File Locations section below for more information.
In any case, today (20131225) I started the game and, as many times before, played the first level of the game again. Unlike my previous playthroughs, today I played multiple levels. According to Steam, I played for about 3.9 hours, over three times the cumulative time spent with the game before today (1.2 hours).
Overall, losing a save file is a huge discouragement to continuing a game. Now that I think about it, that's the main reason I haven't been playing Orcs Must Die. However, I absolutely love the narration of Bastion and I never minded playing this particular game from the beginning, because it feels like I'm just watching a movie.
 |
| The Kid (player character) swings the Cael Hammer. |
The narration in this game is awesome and I believe that's already a good enough reason to play this action RPG. Of course, the game mechanics and upgrade system are solid as well.
I do, however, have two minor dislikes which come to mind. The first minor dislike is the ability to fall off the level by walking off. I personally find this an unnecessary element of realism and/or difficulty. The second minor dislike is how the Kid (player character) keeps landing flat on his face at the entry of every level. Come on now, doesn't he learn how to gracefully land after a couple of tries?
Personal Preferences:
I tried using the Bolt Burst on the repeater but didn't like it compared to the Whirl Wind or Dancing Shot.
General Tips/Comments:
Charge your Breaker Bow and let go immediately as you flash for a Power Shot.
: If you can manage, let go the moment you hear a whoosh sound. No hesitation here. The slightest start to the whoosh and you release the bow for a guaranteed Power Shot.
Press Q to use your special attack. Don't be afraid to use it often, because vials to replenish it are often readily available.
Press R to reload the repeater manually.
 |
| The Kid with the War Machete. |
Press Shift for shield at the right moment for a counter attack.
Press Space often for extra mobility.
Don't be afraid to just move on, don't need to backtrack to get health, at least in any situation I've encountered thus far.
You can conveniently restart a challenge level by going to the restart level button. Any lower level prizes you have claimed will be recorded.
Gameplay Log:
Breaker Barracks
: The level only lets you use the bow provided to you in the center of the level.
: For first prize, you have to land five Power Shots.
Windbag Ranch
: The key as the tool tip says is to stand where the green ones spawn and kill them right away. Otherwise they run away from you and you'll have to probably waste time throwing the machete at them.
: I made use of the Werewolf
[20131225 Assumed Post Date][20190113 Edit]
20131228:
I played the level Trapper Shingle today.
 |
| The Distillery. |
Gameplay Log:
Trapper Shingle
: I made use of the first repeater upgrade: Double Clip.
: Also crucial is to press shift to have the player character automatically lock onto the targets.
Bastion (PC) (2011)
Relevant Links:
Bastion (Supergiant Games Website)
Bastion (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Bastion Wiki (bastion.wikia.com)
Save File Locations:
The game's save file location is different depending on whether you run the game executable from inside or outside of Steam. However, I would recommend using GameSave Manager instead of backing up save files manually (see the next section, Personal Experience on Saving the Game).
See [1], [2], [3], and [4] below.
 |
| Proving Grounds: Trapper Shingle |
[1]
...\steamapps\common\bastion\Content\Saves
: Automatic saved games made on a per level basis.
: Example Contents:
[HOSTNAME1]-PC_ProtoIntro01a: "To use any of them, rename the file to 'Profile1.sav' and copy it to your save game location." (source)
[HOSTNAME1]-PC_ProtoIntro01b
[HOSTNAME1]-PC_ProtoTown03
[HOSTNAME2]-PC_Challenge01
[HOSTNAME2]-PC_Challenge03
[HOSTNAME2]-PC_Crossroads01
[HOSTNAME2]-PC_Falling01
[HOSTNAME2]-PC_Holdout01
[HOSTNAME2]-PC_ProtoIntro01a
[HOSTNAME2]-PC_ProtoIntro01b
[HOSTNAME2]-PC_ProtoTown03
: Save File Location = either [2] or [3].
: Caution! Make sure you store a backup in a different location, there may be a chance that Steam Cloud may not behave the way you want.
: When copying to [3], restart Steam to let it synchronize with Steam Cloud. See also "Personal Experience on Saving the Game" below.
 |
| The Forge |
[2]
...Users\[COMPUTERUSERNAME]\Saved Games\Bastion\
: This should be the game's save file location when running the game executable from outside Steam.
[3]
...\Program Files\Steam\userdata\[STEAMUSERID]\107100\remote\
: This folder should contain the save files as Steam Cloud sees them.
: Example Contents:
profile1.sav (20120209 12:18AM)[4]
profile2.keyctrls (20130203 11:59PM)
profile2.mousectrls (20130203 11:59PM)
profile2.sav (20130203 11:59PM)
profile3.keyctrls (20131225 6:43PM)
profile3.mousectrls (20131225 6:43PM)
profile3.sav (20131225 8:25PM)
...\Program Files\Steam\userdata\[STEAMUSERID]\107100\local\
: I suspect the contents of this folder are just local configuration settings like Screen Resolution and Control Configuration.
: Example Contents:
activeProfile (20131225 6:42PM): I opened the "activeProfile" file with Notepad and it simply says "*Profile3," where * is some unknown character. Indeed I am currently using Profile 3 among the possible configuration settings. The timestamps also match the moment I switched from using Profile 2 to Profile 3.
Profile1.profile (20111231 8:55PM)
Profile2.profile (20131225 6:41PM)
Profile3.profile (20131225 8:25PM)
 |
| Level Select |
Personal Experience on Saving the Game:
On 20131228, I avoided the issue of backing up my save files altogether by running GameSave Manager. This is something I should have done a long time ago, because manually backing up save files was both risky and time consuming. This was especially true due to number of times I moved my Steam Game installations around (whether between multiple computers or just from one hard drive to the next).
I also realized that creating a new profile in the Bastion menu isn't just for the settings. It's actually the method for creating a new game save. Checking both Profile 1 and Profile 2 (dated 20120209 and 20130203, respectively), I found that they both only went up to the completion of the introductory level ("Now the Kid sees something stranger still. His mind races. Did anyone else survive? Sure enough he finds another. He finds me.")
Simply deleting them isn't an option. Upon starting the game, Steam Cloud replaces them with existing copies in the Cloud.
Solution:
1) Exit Steam.
2) Copy out the files I wanted to keep. In this case "profile3.keyctrls", "profile3.mousectrls", and "profile3.sav".
3) Corrupt the files in "Steam\userdata\[STEAMUSERID]\107100\remote":
: Proceed with caution.4) Delete remotecashe.vdf in "Steam\userdata\[STEAMUSERID]\107100\"
: Run command prompt.
: Type "powershell", enter.
: Type "clc C:\Program` Files` `(x86`)\Steam\userdata\[STEAMUSERID]\107100\remote\*", enter.
5) Start Steam. Start Bastion. The sync conflict dialog appears.
6) Delete all the corrupted files and then put the files I wanted to keep back.
7) Return to the sync conflict dialog and click "Upload to the Steam Cloud".
(source)
 |
| The Kid, Zulf, Zia, and Rucks. |
20240127 Snapshot:
Steam Game Time: 8.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 8h 17m (Playnite)
Last Played: 20231229
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
The Ball (PC) (2010)
The Ball (PC) (2010)
Relevant Links:
The Ball Website
The Ball (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
20131224:
Today I played through the first level (Pehua) and it was a decent introduction to the game. In the level I learned that I can pull the ball from any distance, but the ball will only attempt to take a straight path towards me. I also learned that (at least with the first level) I could never ever lose the ball. Thus, if it looks trap, then its really not.
Time Taken 33:21
Monsters Killed 0
Monkeys Killed 0
Secrets Found 2 of 4
Times Killed 0
Overall, I enjoyed the game's visuals. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy interacting with the ball. In particular, I found it strange that the ball can only be pulled, but not pushed, only hammered. It was, however, good that the developers added the ability to make the ball transparent (default key: Q; automatically happens when pulling the ball and it is touching the character).
There were also these small blocks in the game that couldn't be picked up, only hit. Hitting them to where I wanted them to go was a bigger dissatisfaction than the inability to push the ball.
Gameplay Log:
The voice acting and narration sounded good.
I walked towards the monkey and it screeched, giving me quite a scare.
So far the game is fun due to the unique game mechanic. However, as far as first impressions go, it isn't nearly as fun as Portal (2007).
 |
| Oh no! The ball's been caught by a magnet! |
Relevant Links:
The Ball Website
The Ball (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
20131224:
Today I played through the first level (Pehua) and it was a decent introduction to the game. In the level I learned that I can pull the ball from any distance, but the ball will only attempt to take a straight path towards me. I also learned that (at least with the first level) I could never ever lose the ball. Thus, if it looks trap, then its really not.
 |
| Press Q to see temporarily see through the ball. |
Time Taken 33:21
Monsters Killed 0
Monkeys Killed 0
Secrets Found 2 of 4
Times Killed 0
Overall, I enjoyed the game's visuals. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy interacting with the ball. In particular, I found it strange that the ball can only be pulled, but not pushed, only hammered. It was, however, good that the developers added the ability to make the ball transparent (default key: Q; automatically happens when pulling the ball and it is touching the character).
There were also these small blocks in the game that couldn't be picked up, only hit. Hitting them to where I wanted them to go was a bigger dissatisfaction than the inability to push the ball.
Gameplay Log:
The voice acting and narration sounded good.
I walked towards the monkey and it screeched, giving me quite a scare.
So far the game is fun due to the unique game mechanic. However, as far as first impressions go, it isn't nearly as fun as Portal (2007).
 |
| Achievements (20131224). |
Monday, November 18, 2013
Scribblenauts Unlimited (PC) (2012)
 |
| Capital City Firehouse |
20131118:
Today I gave myself a small break and the game I decided to sit down and play was Scribblenauts Unlimited. While this was my first time playing any game in the Scribblenauts series, I have seen my friends play the original Scribblenauts (NDS) (2009) on the Nintendo DS.
 |
| Capital City |
Having looked forward to playing Scribblenauts for quite some time, I may have set my expectations too high and felt slightly disappointed by the game's simplicity. Though to be fair, I only played about an hour of the game and I would have to admit that the game was still fun.
20140102:
The majority of tasks I encountered can be accomplished with straightforward answers.
 |
| St. Asterisk |
However, what makes the game fun is the animation and endless opportunities the player has at his/her disposal for interacting with the Scribblenaut world.
Overall, Scribblenauts Unlimited is a fun puzzle game and its difficulty is perfect for a casual gaming experience.
Instant Comments:
What!?! I gave him a tuxedo but he put on something else.
 |
| The Under Line |
20140106:
Today I played for an additional half hour for a total of over two hours of game time.
When I had stopped playing, I had almost completed the entirety of the first two areas. I was unable to figure out the toxic waste in Capital City Runoff and the Minotaur in Full Stop Diner. [Edit: I also neglected to notice the stork in St. Asterisk.]
 |
| Hyphen Heights |
20140118:
Today I played a little bit more. First, by luck and experimentation, I managed to take care of the toxic waste in Capital City Runoff. While a solution is a solution, the one I stumbled upon wouldn't have been practical in real life.
Second, upon realizing I had misread the problem, I was able to solve the Minotaur in Full Stop Diner.
 |
| World Map |
20190812 Snapshot:
Steam Game Time: 3.6 hours (cumulative game time) / 3h 38m (Playnite)
Last Played: 20140118
20240501:
Today I revisited Scribblenauts Unlimited and it was easy to pick up from where I started. In short, the flow of the game consists of the following:
1) Click on characters to see what they need
2) Create new objects or modify objects with adjectives or give an item to Maxwell to use on an object
As I played, I learned some useful actions:
1) Click on the Maxwell icon in the upper left to recenter on Maxwell
2) Click on the star icon in the upper left to see all persons that still need help
3) Sometimes helping one person will block another person. In order to help the other person, go the menu (Esc), and push on "Reset"
While the game was charming, the game is generally too easy with the occasional difficult puzzle. On top of this imbalance of difficulty, the game moves by slowly due to the frequency of transitions between parts of the game. For a puzzle game that is easy, I feel I would fly through it faster than the pace which Scribblenauts Unlimited allows. With that being said, I feel like I'm playing the game more to complete it, but the fun of the game lies in the open-ended nature of the game (there are solutions that work outside of the obvious ones). Overall, it's a solid game, but for me hindered by the pace. I'd give it a 4.0 out of 5.
Rating: 4.0/5
Steam Game Time: 6.5 hours (cumulative game time) / 2.9 hours (session game time)
20241102:
After playing Divekick, I tried playing this game with Ben. I always controlled the player character but I was constantly taking Ben's suggestions and occasionally having him spell out simple words. We cleared three levels together.
Steam Game Time: 7.8 hours (cumulative game time) / 75 minutes (session game time)
Scribblenauts Unlimited (PC) (2012)
 |
| Maxwell and his sister Lily |
Relevant Links:
Scribblenauts Unlimited (Scribblenauts Website)
Scribblenauts Unlimited (Wikipedia.org)
Scribblenauts Unlimited - PC (IGN.com) Scribblenauts (Wikipedia.org)
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Organ Trail: Director's Cut (Android) (2012)
20130818:
As far as the screenshot record shows, it looks like I played the game for the first time today (20130818). By the way, this is the Android version of Organ Trail: Director's Cut.*
Using a feature that comes with the game, I tweeted the following in-game events:
1307 Chris drops some money into the seat cushions. It's gone forever.
1620 Steph was holding the map upside down. You go an hour out of the way.
1659 You wait an hour while Josh vomits in the bushes.
1734 Tim saved Michael.
1738 Here lies Tim - One pixel away. - -
1837 Kevin gets bored and starts making a really annoying noise.
*On 20140201 I played the PC version and the two versions were similar. Check out that post for some of the minor differences.
20130819:
Today I continued playing more Organ Trail and managed to beat the campaign. I tweeted the following in-game events:
0829 Kevin is dicking with 1 tire and accidentally ruins it.
0856 Tim missed the shot.
0858 Arash walks off to take a piss and comes back with a bite wound.
_2850 Distance Traveled: 5700
__500 Healthy party members: 1
__800 Incapped party members: 2
__300 Infected party members: 1
__345 Station wagon condition: 69%
____6 Fuel: 1.5
____9 Scrap: 18
___34 Medkits: 17
____2 Bullets: 123
___46 Food: 1158 oz
___14 Money: $69
__250 Baby
__618 Time Taken: 319 hours
___x2 Difficulty rating: Normal
11674 Total Score
20130920:
Today I play for just a little bit. I only tweeted the following:
1647 Harry has a fever #OrganTrail
Organ Trail: Director's Cut (Android) (2012)
Relevant Links:
Organ Trail (The Men Who Wear Many Hats Website)
Organ Trail (Wikipedia.org)
Organ Trail: Director's Cut (iOS) (Metacritic.com)
My post on Organ Trail: Director's Cut (PC) (2012).
As far as the screenshot record shows, it looks like I played the game for the first time today (20130818). By the way, this is the Android version of Organ Trail: Director's Cut.*
Using a feature that comes with the game, I tweeted the following in-game events:
1307 Chris drops some money into the seat cushions. It's gone forever.
1620 Steph was holding the map upside down. You go an hour out of the way.
1659 You wait an hour while Josh vomits in the bushes.
1734 Tim saved Michael.
1738 Here lies Tim - One pixel away. - -
1837 Kevin gets bored and starts making a really annoying noise.
*On 20140201 I played the PC version and the two versions were similar. Check out that post for some of the minor differences.
20130819:
Today I continued playing more Organ Trail and managed to beat the campaign. I tweeted the following in-game events:
0829 Kevin is dicking with 1 tire and accidentally ruins it.
0856 Tim missed the shot.
0858 Arash walks off to take a piss and comes back with a bite wound.
_2850 Distance Traveled: 5700
__500 Healthy party members: 1
__800 Incapped party members: 2
__300 Infected party members: 1
__345 Station wagon condition: 69%
____6 Fuel: 1.5
____9 Scrap: 18
___34 Medkits: 17
____2 Bullets: 123
___46 Food: 1158 oz
___14 Money: $69
__250 Baby
__618 Time Taken: 319 hours
___x2 Difficulty rating: Normal
11674 Total Score
20130920:
Today I play for just a little bit. I only tweeted the following:
1647 Harry has a fever #OrganTrail
Organ Trail: Director's Cut (Android) (2012)
Relevant Links:
Organ Trail (The Men Who Wear Many Hats Website)
Organ Trail (Wikipedia.org)
Organ Trail: Director's Cut (iOS) (Metacritic.com)
My post on Organ Trail: Director's Cut (PC) (2012).
Monday, July 29, 2013
Tomb Raider (PC) (1996)
20130728:
Wow. This game is so old. I can understand why it was all the rage back when it was released, but I can't say that I enjoy the gaming experience.
In defense of the game itself, I am using a game controller and the emulator which Steam uses to run the game crashes whenever I switch windows. This bug wouldn't be a problem if I simply avoid switching windows, but it becomes an inconvenience.
[20130729]
20130729:
Despite having to start over, today I decided to give the game another go.
Every animal attacked me. Bats, wolves, etc. Perhaps a player can make a no-kill run, but I'd suggest to anybody who hasn't played before to just kill everything in sight. Perhaps the introduction suggests this as the natural course of action because Lara is seen shooting some animals in self-defense during the cut scene.
When I finished the first level, the game reported the number of kills made, pickups found, secrets discovered, and level completion time.
I don't remember, but I suspect this was the reason the game crashed the second time yesterday: accidentally hitting the Windows key. My suspicion is built upon the fact that I purposely did not alt+tab after encountering the crash the first time.
After completing the second level of the game, City of Vilcabamba, I went to Lara's Home to go through part of the tutorial. I would have gone through more, but the game sped up and became unplayable. In any case, I got far enough in the tutorial to learn some tidbits: First, when walking (hold down the shift key), Lara will not fall off the edge. This can be used to get right onto the edge of a platform for a more comfortable running start. Second, when running towards the edge of the platform, and then pressing the alt key, Lara will automatically jump when she gets to the edge of the platform.
Steam Game Time: 107 minutes (total game time)
Thoughts:
Pro:
+ Great gameplay
Neutral:
~ Classic; experience where it all started
Con:
- Might be too old for modern play; consider instead the remake Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tomb Raider (PC) (1996)
Relevant Links:
Tomb Raider (1996 video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Tomb Raider I (Steam Store Page)
Wow. This game is so old. I can understand why it was all the rage back when it was released, but I can't say that I enjoy the gaming experience.
In defense of the game itself, I am using a game controller and the emulator which Steam uses to run the game crashes whenever I switch windows. This bug wouldn't be a problem if I simply avoid switching windows, but it becomes an inconvenience.
[20130729]
20130729:
Despite having to start over, today I decided to give the game another go.
Every animal attacked me. Bats, wolves, etc. Perhaps a player can make a no-kill run, but I'd suggest to anybody who hasn't played before to just kill everything in sight. Perhaps the introduction suggests this as the natural course of action because Lara is seen shooting some animals in self-defense during the cut scene.
When I finished the first level, the game reported the number of kills made, pickups found, secrets discovered, and level completion time.
I don't remember, but I suspect this was the reason the game crashed the second time yesterday: accidentally hitting the Windows key. My suspicion is built upon the fact that I purposely did not alt+tab after encountering the crash the first time.
After completing the second level of the game, City of Vilcabamba, I went to Lara's Home to go through part of the tutorial. I would have gone through more, but the game sped up and became unplayable. In any case, I got far enough in the tutorial to learn some tidbits: First, when walking (hold down the shift key), Lara will not fall off the edge. This can be used to get right onto the edge of a platform for a more comfortable running start. Second, when running towards the edge of the platform, and then pressing the alt key, Lara will automatically jump when she gets to the edge of the platform.
Steam Game Time: 107 minutes (total game time)
Thoughts:
Pro:
+ Great gameplay
Neutral:
~ Classic; experience where it all started
Con:
- Might be too old for modern play; consider instead the remake Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tomb Raider (PC) (1996)
Relevant Links:
Tomb Raider (1996 video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Tomb Raider I (Steam Store Page)
Friday, July 12, 2013
Hector: Badge of Carnage (PC) (2011)
Overview: In this point-and-click adventure, you are Hector, a police detective.
Episode 1: We Negotiate with Terrorists Initially, you are stuck in your cell and have to figure out how to get out. The story which follows primarily deals with satisfying the demands of a terrorist: fix the clock tower, shut down the porn shop, and supply the man running the information booth with whatever he desires.
Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice ~Yet to play.~
Episode 3: Beyond Reasonable Doom ~Yet to play.~
20130712:
Ha. This game was quite humorous.
Tip: Double-click for most things. In particular, sometimes to evolve an item, you double-click it.
The game took under 3.3 hrs to play, and that was with trying to hear as much dialogue as I could manage to hear. I estimate a speed run would take about forty-five minutes, give or take fifteen minutes.
To test this, I decided to do an impromptu speed run. Note that this speed run required clicking through dialogue and cut scenes whenever possible. Even with several mistakes, the game took me thirty-three minutes to complete. A planned speed run with knowledge of perfect dialogue trees would probably take under twenty minutes.
Faux Speed Run Mistakes:
Clicking to another area when I should have directly used the map. Imagine 5 or so seconds times 10 is one or two minutes.
You don't need to get the ticket stub and you don't need to get the brochure. While I didn't get the brochure, I did get the ticket stub.
Note that I also lost time trying to click on the heroin addict too early in the story. Though maybe I wasn't clicking correctly, I believe it is an event-activated click. I also went into the bathroom stall two or three times instead of one, because of accidentally clicking the stall instead of the exit.
I lost a lot of time on the meeting to get the 25K.
Directly asking for the pants from the guy in the station.
Faux Speed Run Successes:
Asking for the clock person's war stories.
Not ever really talking to the guy in the porn store.
Getting the jar of money before leaving the hostage area.
[20130713][20181108 Edit]
Thoughts:
As of 20181108, I don't remember enough about this game to fill out this section.
Summary:
As of 20181108, I don't remember enough about this game to fill out this section. However, I vaguely remember that I enjoyed the game to the point of desiring to play Episode 2 (and Episode 3), but I never got around to it and now there is little-to-no desire to play the second part of the story.
Hector: Badge of Carnage (PC) (2011)
Relevant Links:
Hector: Badge of Carnage (Wikipedia.org)
Hector: Badge of Carnage - Episode 1: We Negotiate With Terrorists (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Hector: Badge of Carnage (Steam Store Page)
Episode 1: We Negotiate with Terrorists Initially, you are stuck in your cell and have to figure out how to get out. The story which follows primarily deals with satisfying the demands of a terrorist: fix the clock tower, shut down the porn shop, and supply the man running the information booth with whatever he desires.
 |
| Hector starts off in a jail cell. He's also missing pants. |
Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice ~Yet to play.~
Episode 3: Beyond Reasonable Doom ~Yet to play.~
20130712:
Ha. This game was quite humorous.
Tip: Double-click for most things. In particular, sometimes to evolve an item, you double-click it.
The game took under 3.3 hrs to play, and that was with trying to hear as much dialogue as I could manage to hear. I estimate a speed run would take about forty-five minutes, give or take fifteen minutes.
 |
| You'll need to visit the porn shop. |
To test this, I decided to do an impromptu speed run. Note that this speed run required clicking through dialogue and cut scenes whenever possible. Even with several mistakes, the game took me thirty-three minutes to complete. A planned speed run with knowledge of perfect dialogue trees would probably take under twenty minutes.
Faux Speed Run Mistakes:
Clicking to another area when I should have directly used the map. Imagine 5 or so seconds times 10 is one or two minutes.
You don't need to get the ticket stub and you don't need to get the brochure. While I didn't get the brochure, I did get the ticket stub.
Note that I also lost time trying to click on the heroin addict too early in the story. Though maybe I wasn't clicking correctly, I believe it is an event-activated click. I also went into the bathroom stall two or three times instead of one, because of accidentally clicking the stall instead of the exit.
I lost a lot of time on the meeting to get the 25K.
Directly asking for the pants from the guy in the station.
 |
| The game pokes fun at Microsoft: the computer is slow because it's running Windows 95. |
Faux Speed Run Successes:
Asking for the clock person's war stories.
Not ever really talking to the guy in the porn store.
Getting the jar of money before leaving the hostage area.
[20130713][20181108 Edit]
Thoughts:
As of 20181108, I don't remember enough about this game to fill out this section.
Summary:
As of 20181108, I don't remember enough about this game to fill out this section. However, I vaguely remember that I enjoyed the game to the point of desiring to play Episode 2 (and Episode 3), but I never got around to it and now there is little-to-no desire to play the second part of the story.
Hector: Badge of Carnage (PC) (2011)
Relevant Links:
Hector: Badge of Carnage (Wikipedia.org)
Hector: Badge of Carnage - Episode 1: We Negotiate With Terrorists (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Hector: Badge of Carnage (Steam Store Page)
Monday, July 8, 2013
Beyond Good & Evil (PC) (2003)
Beyond Good & Evil (PC) (2003)
Relevant Links:
Beyond Good and Evil (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
20130708:
So I actually own this game for the Nintendo GameCube, but I never got around to playing more than just the introduction (probably twenty minutes of gameplay). I later acquired this version during the Steam Summer Sale 2012, but I didn't touch it until today.
Settings:
Booting up the game, I set my screen to be smaller (24" 16:9) than its full size (27" 16:9). This made the game look sharper. However, I was still having problems with the video flickering and the audio lagging behind the video. After changing some options, I was able to go back to using the full size of my screen and have it look better than when I first loaded the game at full size.
I'm not sure which changes solved the problems, but I loaded the SettingsApplication.exe file located in "...\steamapps\common\Beyond Good and Evil\," changed the sound card from primary sound driver to speakers (ASUS xonar DGX audio device), kept the water detail high, and moved the shadow quality back down to low (the original setting).
I should also note that I made the mistake of increasing the refresh rate from 60 Hz to 120 Hz. After playing for a while, I felt dizzy and had a headache. When I realized the increased refresh rate was the cause of the problem, I reduced it back to 60 Hz.
Some Thoughts:
While the graphics aren't as stunning as the latest adventure games on the market, the game's visuals are enjoyable. Moreover, with overall game structure similar to The Legend of Zelda series (Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker), I find myself focusing more on the game's story and fun over its visuals.
With the premise that you need to make money, one game mechanic I enjoy is using the picture camera to take photos of different species for the Science Center. On the other hand, if i recall correctly, navigation of the world map in Beyond Good & Evil (by hovercraft) was difficult compared to navigation of the world map in Wind Waker (by boat).
Length of Gameplay:
According to the screenshots I took, I played the game for a total of 72 minutes (9:31 PM to 10:43 PM).
Steam: You've Played 84 minutes; Last Played 20130708.
[20131222]
 |
| Jade (protagonist) swings her jō at an enemy. |
Relevant Links:
Beyond Good and Evil (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
20130708:
So I actually own this game for the Nintendo GameCube, but I never got around to playing more than just the introduction (probably twenty minutes of gameplay). I later acquired this version during the Steam Summer Sale 2012, but I didn't touch it until today.
 |
| The aliens have captured Jade. |
Settings:
Booting up the game, I set my screen to be smaller (24" 16:9) than its full size (27" 16:9). This made the game look sharper. However, I was still having problems with the video flickering and the audio lagging behind the video. After changing some options, I was able to go back to using the full size of my screen and have it look better than when I first loaded the game at full size.
I'm not sure which changes solved the problems, but I loaded the SettingsApplication.exe file located in "...\steamapps\common\Beyond Good and Evil\," changed the sound card from primary sound driver to speakers (ASUS xonar DGX audio device), kept the water detail high, and moved the shadow quality back down to low (the original setting).
 |
| Chasing an enemy via hovercraft. |
I should also note that I made the mistake of increasing the refresh rate from 60 Hz to 120 Hz. After playing for a while, I felt dizzy and had a headache. When I realized the increased refresh rate was the cause of the problem, I reduced it back to 60 Hz.
Some Thoughts:
While the graphics aren't as stunning as the latest adventure games on the market, the game's visuals are enjoyable. Moreover, with overall game structure similar to The Legend of Zelda series (Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker), I find myself focusing more on the game's story and fun over its visuals.
 |
| Taking pictures to earn a living. |
With the premise that you need to make money, one game mechanic I enjoy is using the picture camera to take photos of different species for the Science Center. On the other hand, if i recall correctly, navigation of the world map in Beyond Good & Evil (by hovercraft) was difficult compared to navigation of the world map in Wind Waker (by boat).
Length of Gameplay:
According to the screenshots I took, I played the game for a total of 72 minutes (9:31 PM to 10:43 PM).
Steam: You've Played 84 minutes; Last Played 20130708.
 |
| Jade and Pey'j. |
[20131222]
Friday, February 8, 2013
DOOM (PC) (1993)
Overview: A 1993 first-person shooter.
20130208:*
I played DOOM for the first time today. Joining me was my friend Chris.
Gameplay Log:
We played the first episode, "Knee-Deep in the Dead," E1M1 to E1M8.
After we completed E1M8, the server sent us back to E1M1. I then switched the level to E1M9. [20191218: Apparently E1M9 is a secret level which is accessed from another level: E1M3. Furthermore, completing the level will take the player to E1M4]
We continued with the second episode, "The Shores of Hell." However, we only played E2M1 to E2M3.
A more detailed server log can be found near the bottom of this post with some minor edits.
*I have a set of screenshots which match up with the server log ("you go into a portal and fight the monsters but then it cuts out") but the server log is dated 20130108 and the screenshots are dated 20130208. Between the two, I decided to trust the date of the screenshots. [20191218: In my blog post for Doom II, I mention that it is the first time I ever played a game in the Doom series. It must be the case that the log date of 20130108 is incorrect.]
[20191218]
20130811:
It's been a while since Chris and I played DOOM. We decided to play from the beginning at a harder difficulty.
Setup: Setup port forwarding. Create a custom server (difficulty set to Ultra-Violence). Join the server.
Gameplay Log:
We played "Knee-Deep in the Dead," E1M1 to E1M8.
A more detailed server log can be found near the bottom of this post with some minor edits.
20130907:
Today Chris and I continued playing more DOOM.
Gameplay Log:
We played "The Shores of Hell," E2M1 to E2M8.
After we completed E2M8, the server sent us back to E2M1. I then switched the level to E2M9. [20191218: Apparently E2M9 is a secret level which is accessed from another level: E2M5.]
After we completed E2M9, the server sent us to E2M6 and we were surprised. [20191218: This is suppose to happen.]
We played the first half of the third episode, "Inferno," E3M1 to E3M4. I was feeling tired during E3M4, but played until we completed it.
A more detailed player log can be found near the bottom of this post with some minor edits. Note that a player log also records item pick ups. However, I have scrubbed that information from the log.
20131012:
Chris and I played DOOM. We wanted to pick up from where we left off last time, but we were disadvantaged by not having any ammo. As such, we tried to enable cheats in order to get some ammo. Unfortunately, we could not get it to work. The following was repeated under various conditions:
Gameplay Log:
We started playing E3M4 and then eventually we switched to E3M5.
We tried to get the cheat working and eventually just kept playing.
We played E3M5 to E3M8. [20191218: The player log doesn't indicate if we beat E3M8]
A more detailed player log can be found near the bottom of this post with some minor edits. Note that a player log also records item pick ups. However, I have scrubbed that information from the log.
DOOM (PC) (1993)
Relevant Links:
Doom Wiki
Doom (1993 video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Ultimate DOOM (Steam Store Page)
Server Log:
Server Log:
Player Log:
Player Log:
20130208:*
I played DOOM for the first time today. Joining me was my friend Chris.
 |
| Baron of Hell (E1M8) |
Gameplay Log:
We played the first episode, "Knee-Deep in the Dead," E1M1 to E1M8.
After we completed E1M8, the server sent us back to E1M1. I then switched the level to E1M9. [20191218: Apparently E1M9 is a secret level which is accessed from another level: E1M3. Furthermore, completing the level will take the player to E1M4]
We continued with the second episode, "The Shores of Hell." However, we only played E2M1 to E2M3.
A more detailed server log can be found near the bottom of this post with some minor edits.
*I have a set of screenshots which match up with the server log ("you go into a portal and fight the monsters but then it cuts out") but the server log is dated 20130108 and the screenshots are dated 20130208. Between the two, I decided to trust the date of the screenshots. [20191218: In my blog post for Doom II, I mention that it is the first time I ever played a game in the Doom series. It must be the case that the log date of 20130108 is incorrect.]
 |
| My friend Chris |
[20191218]
20130811:
It's been a while since Chris and I played DOOM. We decided to play from the beginning at a harder difficulty.
Setup: Setup port forwarding. Create a custom server (difficulty set to Ultra-Violence). Join the server.
Gameplay Log:
We played "Knee-Deep in the Dead," E1M1 to E1M8.
A more detailed server log can be found near the bottom of this post with some minor edits.
20130907:
Today Chris and I continued playing more DOOM.
 |
| Cacodemon. |
Gameplay Log:
We played "The Shores of Hell," E2M1 to E2M8.
After we completed E2M8, the server sent us back to E2M1. I then switched the level to E2M9. [20191218: Apparently E2M9 is a secret level which is accessed from another level: E2M5.]
After we completed E2M9, the server sent us to E2M6 and we were surprised. [20191218: This is suppose to happen.]
We played the first half of the third episode, "Inferno," E3M1 to E3M4. I was feeling tired during E3M4, but played until we completed it.
A more detailed player log can be found near the bottom of this post with some minor edits. Note that a player log also records item pick ups. However, I have scrubbed that information from the log.
 |
| Dead Zombieman. |
20131012:
Chris and I played DOOM. We wanted to pick up from where we left off last time, but we were disadvantaged by not having any ammo. As such, we tried to enable cheats in order to get some ammo. Unfortunately, we could not get it to work. The following was repeated under various conditions:
[00:02:00] ]idfa
[00:02:00] sv_cheats must be true to enable this command.
[00:02:04] ]sv_cheats 1
[00:02:04] sv_cheats will be changed for next game.
Gameplay Log:
We started playing E3M4 and then eventually we switched to E3M5.
We tried to get the cheat working and eventually just kept playing.
We played E3M5 to E3M8. [20191218: The player log doesn't indicate if we beat E3M8]
 |
| Chaingun |
A more detailed player log can be found near the bottom of this post with some minor edits. Note that a player log also records item pick ups. However, I have scrubbed that information from the log.
DOOM (PC) (1993)
Relevant Links:
Doom Wiki
Doom (1993 video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Ultimate DOOM (Steam Store Page)
Server Log:
Server Log:
Player Log:
Player Log:
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Path of Exile (PC) (2013)
Summary:
Path of Exile is a free-to-play online action RPG. Starting with a couple items and skills, defeat enemies in order to level up and find loot. Using a bartering system for goods, you can trade your loot to in-game merchants or with other players.
Going deeper into some gameplay mechanics, weapons and equipment have slots for gems that can be found, collected via quests, or bought. These gems provide various abilities and stats, so weapons and equipment with more slots are more valuable.
In addition to the item system, Path of Exile also implements a huge skill tree system. While each possible class (there are seven* to choose from) starts at a different place in the tree, a player can spend his/her skill points however he/she wishes.
More specifically, there are three attributes in Path of Exile: strength, dexterity, and intelligence. Three of the classes start at the core of an attribute: Marauder (str), Ranger (dex), and Witch (int). Three of the classes start in between these attributes: Duelist (str/dex), Shadow (dex/int), and Templar (int/str). The last class is in the center: Scion (str/dex/int).
*If I remember correctly there were only six when I was playing in 2013.
Recommendation:
I really enjoyed the time I spent playing Path of Exile. For a game that's free-to-play (and not pay-to-win), Path of Exile has excellent graphics, a rewarding loot system, and well-designed, complex skill tree.
While there may be some input lag (at least back when I was trying the game), I still definitely enjoyed the combat.
Overall, I would definitely recommend the game to others. Honestly, the only reason I stopped playing was I just didn't have the time to play it.
20130206:
The first character I create is a Marauder. Using my screenshot record, I created him around 2:30AM ET and (possibly) play with him until about 4:00AM ET.
[20150502]
20130208:
The second character I create is a Ranger. Again using my screenshot record, I created her at around 11:00PM ET and (possibly) play with her until about 20130209 1:45AM ET. It also seems that I was playing for a little bit with my friend Matt (he was also playing a Ranger).
[20150502]
20130209: (Afternoon)
The third character I create is a Witch. Again using my screenshot record, I created her at around 11:45AM ET and I am almost definite that I spent time playing as her from 11:45AM ET to 12:00PM ET and from 1:47PM ET to 4:34PM ET, with the last screenshot showing her entering Prisoner's Gate (level 11 monsters).
[20150502]
20130209: (Evening)
The fourth character I create is a Templar - at around 7:15PM ET. However, while I created him today, there are no screenshot records of playing him until 11:15PM ET the next day. However, the first such screenshot has him in The Upper Submerged Passage (level 6 monsters). In other words, I most likely played with him today for at least an hour.
[20150502]
20130210:
As mentioned above, there are screenshots showing game time on my Templar character from 11:15PM ET to 20130211 1:33AM ET. The last screenshot shows the character talking to Captain Fairgraves in The Ship Graveyard (level 12 monsters, past Prisoner's Gate).
[20150502]
20130218:
Screenshots suggest I played on my Witch character for at least an hour.
[20150502]
20130224:
There is a screenshot of my Witch character.
[20150502]
20130303:
The last of the screenshots suggest at least another hour of game time on my Witch character.
[20150502]
20150502:
Today I created a new character (because it's been so long that I wanted to play from the beginning with a new character) at 1:15PM PT. I decided to create a Shadow class character and called him Naissuag (backwards for Gaussian). I played until 9:30PM PT - occasionally idling to look at various Path of Exile resources. Personally I plan to use this Shadow Skill Tree as a guideline. It comes from this Shadow Build.
As I played, I made some option changes:
Always Highlight: checked.
Always Show Socket: checked.
Join Global Chat: unchecked.
Join Trade Chat: unchecked.
Things I Began to Remember:
Use flasks, as they will refill as you are in combat. They do not empty completely either, so don't be afraid to use them.
Stash is shared across all characters in your account.
Most areas have a waypoint to quickly travel from one area to another.
It's important to check the enemy's resistances.
Learning to Trade:
Normal item with quality at 20% (Armour, Weapon, Flask, Map, Skill Gem)
Item quality of the same type (Armour, Weapon, Flask, Map, Skill Gem) that adds up to 40%
There are various ring/amulet recipes, so pick up all rings and amulets.
Flasks can be combined. Life+Mana=Hybrid, X Flask x 3 = X Flask of Next Size (e.g. three Small Life Flasks will combine to make one Medium Life Flask). Take the lowest item level of all components.
Combining rarities of the same base item type (normal, magic, rare) (save the unidentified ones, see next line)
Combining rarities of the same base item type, if the magic and rare items are unidentified, then you get two Orbs of Augmentation instead of one.
Useful Links:
Exchange Rates for the Default League
Vender Recipe System (Path of Exile Wiki)
Noperative's Beginner's Guide to Path of Exile
Summary of My Characters:*
*All the characters are Standard League.
[20200822 Edit]
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Good voice work (in most - if not all - situations, you can scroll all the way down through the text and leave, but the voice over will continue).
+ Good graphics (environment, water, player model) and story.
+ Well-designed map
+ Free to play and not pay to win.
+ Easy to join a party (look on the noticeboards).
+ Can pay for cosmetic changes.
+ The armor worn is directly reflected on the character model.
+ There are many resources available online such as a skill tree planner and player builds.
Neutral:
~ Stash tabs are reasonably priced (wait for the Stash Tab Bundle or Premium Stash Tab Bundle to go on sale)
Minor Con:
- The way that the passive skill tree is designed, a new player who doesn't use a guide can easily find him/herself "wasting" points which can only be reallocated with re-specification points obtained through quests and crafting. Players must either be careful from the start with respect to the skill tree or simply create a new character after learning from their first character.
Cons:
- Trading system (recipes) takes time to learn.
- Cosmetic changes cost a lot.
[20150502]
20191115 Comment:
Steam says that I last played 20171006 and there are some screenshots on this date for the game as well. I don't however know how much time I spent playing the game on that day. However, I will infer (at least) 8 hours 16 minutes of gameplay occurred on 20150502 via screenshots which appear to fully span the game session. Further assuming that I only played Path of Exile through Steam on 20150502 and 20171006, then it would follow that I played on 20171006 for (at most) 2 hours 26 minutes.
Steam Game Time: 10.7 hours (total game time)
20200322 to 20200614:
I played the Delirium Standard challenge league. My detailed notes for the league have been moved to a separate post: Path of Exile - Delirium.
20200619 to 20200914:
I played the Harvest Standard challenge league. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Harvest.
20200918 to 20210111:
I played the Heist Standard challenge league. During this time I also played a little during the Mayhem event. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Heist.
20201207 Comment:
At one point I deleted all my old standard characters except for Uoylliki. Their names (time played and level) are as follows: Otwencaas (1:41:46; 5), Nibornairam (3:52:05; 10), Gniogteg (5:09:46; 13), and Naissuag (8:31:54; 13). Around the same time I also deleted characters which I made in a (failed) attempt to farm Oni-Garoshi: Deezire (6:19:09; 8), Janepa (5:01:22; 8), Falilia (2:58:52; 7), Geegeedabadgee (1:12:40; 6), and ZZeennaa (1:35:07; 7).
Summary of My Characters:
*Age from approximately 20201207 3 PM Pacific.
20210327 Comment:
Today I deleted Suzeelee, ZoeZana, Sharkla, BFBB_ALPHA, and BFBB_BETA. In addition, the following table is an addendum to my list of characters above.
Summary of New Characters:
*Age from approximately 20210327 12 AM Pacific.
20210115 to 20210412:
I played the Ritual Standard challenge league. My detailed posts can be found here: Path of Exile - Ritual. By the end of Ritual, Benderdondat had 11 days 7 hours 53 minutes played (Joallabee remained as above).
20210417 to 20210718:
I played the Ultimatum Standard challenge league. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Ultimatum.
20210802 Comment:
Today I deleted AprilMayJune. In addition, the following table is an addendum to my list of characters above. For reference, Joalla is 317 days old (237 days since Table 1) and Benderdondat is 198 days old (128 days since Table 2).
Summary of New Characters:
*Age from approximately 20210802 3:45 AM Pacific.
20210802 to 20211015:
I played the Expedition Standard challenge league. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Expedition.
Summary of New Characters:
In addition to the two characters above, I made a ranger during Expedition as practice for Scourge Arrow - leveling with toxic rain, a shadow in Standard as practice for Essence Drain Contagion - leveling with orb of storms and stormblast mines, and a witch in SSF Standard as practice for Bane with Essence Drain. They were deleted on 20220401.
*Age from approximately 20210926 9:50 AM Pacific.
20211022 to 20211205:
I played the Scourge Standard challenge league, but I stopped partway through and switched to Standard. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Scourge.
Summary of New Characters:
*Age from approximately 20220401 5:40 PM Pacific.
20211205 to 20220204:
I stopped playing Scourge league and spent some time in Standard. I mostly used my Vortex + Cold Snap character (originating from Ultimatum) and I mostly tried to burn through various prophecies, which were being eliminated from the game on release of 3.17.
20220409 Comment:
The current league is Archnemesis and I've been playing it but I'm thinking about calling it for other games and activities in life. As such, I felt like I would recap on my experience across the leagues.
In terms of pure hours at day 86 (which is a roughly a common number of days I've spent for each league), Delirium takes the lead. This is in part due to the number of characters I ran, the amount of time I wasted, and a everything else that may be associated to playing the game for essentially the first time. Second is Ultimatum, which surpassed Ritual at around Day 59. I personally really liked the simplicity of Ultimatum, but disliked the lack of encounters with the league boss. As mentioned, third place is Ritual, which is interesting, because I don't remember being so interested in the league mechanic. In particular, I rarely used the blood-filled vessels. Fourth and fifth are Heist and Harvest, respectively, with Heist surpassing Harvest at Day 81! Despite it's place at fourth, I enjoyed the league's theme and continued to enjoy it's inclusion in the subsequent leagues. Next is Archnemesis which is still in progress at day 41, and would need at least 60 hours to advance beyond Harvest. Falling behind is Expedition, which has less hours in it's conclusion at Day 80 (148 hours) than Archnemesis currently has at Day 31 (153 hours). Expedition is actually a profitable mechanic, but I personally have yet to run a logbook. Finally, pulling up the rear is Scourge whose hours ended at Day 41 with just 104 hours.
Putting hours aside, I like certain mechanics more than others. In general, I like not having to backtrack, not having to read a lot, and simpler choices. That's why Ultimatum tops the chart:
20220204 to 20220510:
I played the Archnemesis Standard challenge league. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Archnemesis.
Summary of New Characters:
*Age from approximately 20220401 5:40 PM Pacific.
**I made characters throughout 20220402, 20220408, 20220409, 20220410, and 20220411.
Path of Exile (PC) (2013)
Relevant Links:
Path of Exile Website
Path of Exile (Wikipedia.org)
Path of Exile (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Path of Exile Wiki
Path of Exile is a free-to-play online action RPG. Starting with a couple items and skills, defeat enemies in order to level up and find loot. Using a bartering system for goods, you can trade your loot to in-game merchants or with other players.
 |
| The Maurader |
Going deeper into some gameplay mechanics, weapons and equipment have slots for gems that can be found, collected via quests, or bought. These gems provide various abilities and stats, so weapons and equipment with more slots are more valuable.
In addition to the item system, Path of Exile also implements a huge skill tree system. While each possible class (there are seven* to choose from) starts at a different place in the tree, a player can spend his/her skill points however he/she wishes.
More specifically, there are three attributes in Path of Exile: strength, dexterity, and intelligence. Three of the classes start at the core of an attribute: Marauder (str), Ranger (dex), and Witch (int). Three of the classes start in between these attributes: Duelist (str/dex), Shadow (dex/int), and Templar (int/str). The last class is in the center: Scion (str/dex/int).
 |
| The Witch - admiring the view |
*If I remember correctly there were only six when I was playing in 2013.
Recommendation:
I really enjoyed the time I spent playing Path of Exile. For a game that's free-to-play (and not pay-to-win), Path of Exile has excellent graphics, a rewarding loot system, and well-designed, complex skill tree.
While there may be some input lag (at least back when I was trying the game), I still definitely enjoyed the combat.
Overall, I would definitely recommend the game to others. Honestly, the only reason I stopped playing was I just didn't have the time to play it.
 |
| The Witch - attacking a necromancer |
20130206:
The first character I create is a Marauder. Using my screenshot record, I created him around 2:30AM ET and (possibly) play with him until about 4:00AM ET.
[20150502]
20130208:
The second character I create is a Ranger. Again using my screenshot record, I created her at around 11:00PM ET and (possibly) play with her until about 20130209 1:45AM ET. It also seems that I was playing for a little bit with my friend Matt (he was also playing a Ranger).
[20150502]
 |
| The Templar |
20130209: (Afternoon)
The third character I create is a Witch. Again using my screenshot record, I created her at around 11:45AM ET and I am almost definite that I spent time playing as her from 11:45AM ET to 12:00PM ET and from 1:47PM ET to 4:34PM ET, with the last screenshot showing her entering Prisoner's Gate (level 11 monsters).
[20150502]
20130209: (Evening)
The fourth character I create is a Templar - at around 7:15PM ET. However, while I created him today, there are no screenshot records of playing him until 11:15PM ET the next day. However, the first such screenshot has him in The Upper Submerged Passage (level 6 monsters). In other words, I most likely played with him today for at least an hour.
[20150502]
 |
| The Ranger |
20130210:
As mentioned above, there are screenshots showing game time on my Templar character from 11:15PM ET to 20130211 1:33AM ET. The last screenshot shows the character talking to Captain Fairgraves in The Ship Graveyard (level 12 monsters, past Prisoner's Gate).
[20150502]
20130218:
Screenshots suggest I played on my Witch character for at least an hour.
[20150502]
20130224:
There is a screenshot of my Witch character.
 |
| The Witch - standing on a bunch of corpses |
[20150502]
20130303:
The last of the screenshots suggest at least another hour of game time on my Witch character.
[20150502]
20150502:
Today I created a new character (because it's been so long that I wanted to play from the beginning with a new character) at 1:15PM PT. I decided to create a Shadow class character and called him Naissuag (backwards for Gaussian). I played until 9:30PM PT - occasionally idling to look at various Path of Exile resources. Personally I plan to use this Shadow Skill Tree as a guideline. It comes from this Shadow Build.
 |
| Passive Skill Tree - zoomed in |
As I played, I made some option changes:
Always Highlight: checked.
Always Show Socket: checked.
Join Global Chat: unchecked.
Join Trade Chat: unchecked.
Things I Began to Remember:
Use flasks, as they will refill as you are in combat. They do not empty completely either, so don't be afraid to use them.
Stash is shared across all characters in your account.
Most areas have a waypoint to quickly travel from one area to another.
It's important to check the enemy's resistances.
 |
| The Shadow - talking to Nessa, an NPC |
Learning to Trade:
Normal item with quality at 20% (Armour, Weapon, Flask, Map, Skill Gem)
Item quality of the same type (Armour, Weapon, Flask, Map, Skill Gem) that adds up to 40%
There are various ring/amulet recipes, so pick up all rings and amulets.
Flasks can be combined. Life+Mana=Hybrid, X Flask x 3 = X Flask of Next Size (e.g. three Small Life Flasks will combine to make one Medium Life Flask). Take the lowest item level of all components.
Combining rarities of the same base item type (normal, magic, rare) (save the unidentified ones, see next line)
Combining rarities of the same base item type, if the magic and rare items are unidentified, then you get two Orbs of Augmentation instead of one.
Useful Links:
Exchange Rates for the Default League
Vender Recipe System (Path of Exile Wiki)
Noperative's Beginner's Guide to Path of Exile
 |
| The Shadow - using a bunch of fire traps (against a necromancer) |
Summary of My Characters:*
| Level | Class | Name | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Maurader | Otwencaas | Reverse of "(I)saac Newto(n)" |
| 10 | Ranger | Nibornairam | Reverse of "Marian Robin" (Maid Marian + Robin Hood) |
| 16 | Witch | Uoylliki | Reverse of "I kill you" |
| 13 | Templar | Gniogteg | Reverse of "Get Going" |
| 13 | Shadow | Naissuag | Reverse of "Gaussian" |
*All the characters are Standard League.
[20200822 Edit]
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Good voice work (in most - if not all - situations, you can scroll all the way down through the text and leave, but the voice over will continue).
+ Good graphics (environment, water, player model) and story.
+ Well-designed map
+ Free to play and not pay to win.
+ Easy to join a party (look on the noticeboards).
+ Can pay for cosmetic changes.
+ The armor worn is directly reflected on the character model.
+ There are many resources available online such as a skill tree planner and player builds.
 |
| Passive Skill Tree - zoomed out |
Neutral:
~ Stash tabs are reasonably priced (wait for the Stash Tab Bundle or Premium Stash Tab Bundle to go on sale)
Minor Con:
- The way that the passive skill tree is designed, a new player who doesn't use a guide can easily find him/herself "wasting" points which can only be reallocated with re-specification points obtained through quests and crafting. Players must either be careful from the start with respect to the skill tree or simply create a new character after learning from their first character.
Cons:
- Trading system (recipes) takes time to learn.
- Cosmetic changes cost a lot.
[20150502]
20191115 Comment:
Steam says that I last played 20171006 and there are some screenshots on this date for the game as well. I don't however know how much time I spent playing the game on that day. However, I will infer (at least) 8 hours 16 minutes of gameplay occurred on 20150502 via screenshots which appear to fully span the game session. Further assuming that I only played Path of Exile through Steam on 20150502 and 20171006, then it would follow that I played on 20171006 for (at most) 2 hours 26 minutes.
 |
| Selling some inventory. |
Steam Game Time: 10.7 hours (total game time)
20200322 to 20200614:
I played the Delirium Standard challenge league. My detailed notes for the league have been moved to a separate post: Path of Exile - Delirium.
20200619 to 20200914:
I played the Harvest Standard challenge league. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Harvest.
20200918 to 20210111:
I played the Heist Standard challenge league. During this time I also played a little during the Mayhem event. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Heist.
20201207 Comment:
At one point I deleted all my old standard characters except for Uoylliki. Their names (time played and level) are as follows: Otwencaas (1:41:46; 5), Nibornairam (3:52:05; 10), Gniogteg (5:09:46; 13), and Naissuag (8:31:54; 13). Around the same time I also deleted characters which I made in a (failed) attempt to farm Oni-Garoshi: Deezire (6:19:09; 8), Janepa (5:01:22; 8), Falilia (2:58:52; 7), Geegeedabadgee (1:12:40; 6), and ZZeennaa (1:35:07; 7).
 |
| Joalla - Scourge Arrow Pathfinder |
Summary of My Characters:
| Age* | Played | Level | Class | Name | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2858 days | 11 hours 1 minute | 18 | Witch | Uoylliki | |
| 259 days | 2 days 7 hours | 71 | Elementalist | Topawla | Delirium main #1; Arc |
| 258 days | 7 hours 2 minutes | 36 | Hierophant | Eroster | Delirium side; Ancestral Warchief |
| 256 days | 7 days 5 hours | 90 | Ascendant | Adaben | Delirium main #2; Slayer/Raider + Cyclone + Oni-Goroshi |
| 241 days | 1 hour 24 minutes | 12 | Witch | Suzeelee | Delirium side #2 |
| 219 days | 8 days 15 hours | 96 | Slayer | Triagano | Delirium main #3; Cyclone |
| 171.9 days | 1 hour 54 minutes | 13 | Witch | ZoeZana | SSF Hardcore; practice for Arc |
| 171.1 days | 10 days 7 hours | 93 | Necromancer | Denaba | Harvest main; Arc + Archmage + Righteous Fire |
| 142 days | 3 hours 36 minutes | 28 | Witch | Sharkla | Harvest side; Minions |
| 80 days | 9 days 4 hours | 96 | Pathfinder | Joalla | Heist main; Scourge Arrow + Divine Flesh |
| 3 days | 7 hours 19 minutes | 50 | Pathfinder | AprilMayJune | Mayhem main; for Scourge Arrow |
*Age from approximately 20201207 3 PM Pacific.
 |
| Benderdondat - Bladefall Blade Blast Assassin |
20210327 Comment:
Today I deleted Suzeelee, ZoeZana, Sharkla, BFBB_ALPHA, and BFBB_BETA. In addition, the following table is an addendum to my list of characters above.
Summary of New Characters:
| Age* | Played | Level | Class | Name | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 days | 3 hours 46 minutes | 18 | Shadow | BFBB_ALPHA | SSF Standard; practice for Bladefall + Blade Blast |
| 71 days | 3 hours 43 minutes | 17 | Shadow | BFBB_BETA | Standard; practice for Bladefall + Blade Blast |
| 70 days | 10 days 5 hours | 94 | Assassin | Benderdondat | Ritual main; Bladefall + Blade Blast (Physical) |
| 44 days | 1 days 17 hours | 85 | Pathfinder | Joallabee | Ritual side; Scourge Arrow |
*Age from approximately 20210327 12 AM Pacific.
20210115 to 20210412:
I played the Ritual Standard challenge league. My detailed posts can be found here: Path of Exile - Ritual. By the end of Ritual, Benderdondat had 11 days 7 hours 53 minutes played (Joallabee remained as above).
20210417 to 20210718:
I played the Ultimatum Standard challenge league. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Ultimatum.
 |
| Vortexada - Vortex Cold Snap Occultist |
20210802 Comment:
Today I deleted AprilMayJune. In addition, the following table is an addendum to my list of characters above. For reference, Joalla is 317 days old (237 days since Table 1) and Benderdondat is 198 days old (128 days since Table 2).
Summary of New Characters:
| Age* | Played | Level | Class | Name | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 106 days | 14 days 3 hours | 97 | Occultist | Vortexada | Ultimatum main; Vortex + Cold Snap |
| 55 days | 1 days 9 hours | 87 | Raider | Benderdondatbee | Ultimatum side; Bladefall + Blade Blast (Lightning) |
*Age from approximately 20210802 3:45 AM Pacific.
20210802 to 20211015:
I played the Expedition Standard challenge league. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Expedition.
Summary of New Characters:
| Age* | Played | Level | Class | Name | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 days | 3 days 3 hours | 90 | Necromancer | Somunada | Expedition main #1; Summoner |
| 21 days | 2 days 14 hours | 90 | Gladiator | Specshielthrowada | Expedition main #2; Spectral Shield Throw |
 |
| Specshielthrowada - Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator |
In addition to the two characters above, I made a ranger during Expedition as practice for Scourge Arrow - leveling with toxic rain, a shadow in Standard as practice for Essence Drain Contagion - leveling with orb of storms and stormblast mines, and a witch in SSF Standard as practice for Bane with Essence Drain. They were deleted on 20220401.
*Age from approximately 20210926 9:50 AM Pacific.
20211022 to 20211205:
I played the Scourge Standard challenge league, but I stopped partway through and switched to Standard. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Scourge.
Summary of New Characters:
| Age* | Played | Level | Class | Name | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 161 days | 3 days 6 hours | 91 | Occultist | Banebenadada | Scourge main #1; Bane + Essence Drain |
| 146 days | 1 days 2 hours | 83 | Champion | Niarcixota | Scourge main #2; Toxic Rain |
*Age from approximately 20220401 5:40 PM Pacific.
20211205 to 20220204:
I stopped playing Scourge league and spent some time in Standard. I mostly used my Vortex + Cold Snap character (originating from Ultimatum) and I mostly tried to burn through various prophecies, which were being eliminated from the game on release of 3.17.
20220409 Comment:
The current league is Archnemesis and I've been playing it but I'm thinking about calling it for other games and activities in life. As such, I felt like I would recap on my experience across the leagues.
In terms of pure hours at day 86 (which is a roughly a common number of days I've spent for each league), Delirium takes the lead. This is in part due to the number of characters I ran, the amount of time I wasted, and a everything else that may be associated to playing the game for essentially the first time. Second is Ultimatum, which surpassed Ritual at around Day 59. I personally really liked the simplicity of Ultimatum, but disliked the lack of encounters with the league boss. As mentioned, third place is Ritual, which is interesting, because I don't remember being so interested in the league mechanic. In particular, I rarely used the blood-filled vessels. Fourth and fifth are Heist and Harvest, respectively, with Heist surpassing Harvest at Day 81! Despite it's place at fourth, I enjoyed the league's theme and continued to enjoy it's inclusion in the subsequent leagues. Next is Archnemesis which is still in progress at day 41, and would need at least 60 hours to advance beyond Harvest. Falling behind is Expedition, which has less hours in it's conclusion at Day 80 (148 hours) than Archnemesis currently has at Day 31 (153 hours). Expedition is actually a profitable mechanic, but I personally have yet to run a logbook. Finally, pulling up the rear is Scourge whose hours ended at Day 41 with just 104 hours.
Putting hours aside, I like certain mechanics more than others. In general, I like not having to backtrack, not having to read a lot, and simpler choices. That's why Ultimatum tops the chart:
| League | Theme | Backtrack? | Read a lot? | Deters flow? | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultimatum | Okay | No | No | No | This was such a simple mechanic, and I think that made it pure fun. |
| Heist | Great | No | No | No | While I love Heist, I don't like how picking up the final item always triggers the alarm. |
| Delirium | Okay | Usually | No | No | The mechanic benefits from certain maps |
| Ritual | Okay | No | Medium | No | The mechanic lacked transparency regarding the reroll and blood-filled vessels. |
| Harvest | Good | No | Yes | Yes | The original implementation is different from how Harvest exists now. Both have their pros and cons. Original Harvest was good because the user can invest in keeping mods. |
| Expedition | Great | No | Yes | Somewhat | I hate having to read the Remnant Mods and subsequently planning out a suboptimal set of exposives. |
| Archnemesis | Okay | No | Little | Somewhat | Lack of inventory space and limited to using four per map. |
| Scourge | Good | Built in | No | No | The mechanic just didn't seem as useful as it could have been |
20220204 to 20220510:
I played the Archnemesis Standard challenge league. My detailed notes can be found here: Path of Exile - Archnemesis.
Summary of New Characters:
| Age* | Played | Level | Class | Name | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 days | 0 days 4 hours | 30 | Witch | Ameliarca | Archnemesis main #1; Arc; deleted on 20220401 |
| 55 days | 14 days 23 hours | 97 | Elementalist | Amexplada | Archnemesis main #2; Explosive Arrow |
| 0** days | max: 7 hours | max: 23 | Witch or Duelist | Explosada[A to S] | Archnemesis Gauntlet; Splitting Steel / Shattering Steel (for Explosive Arrow); deleted on or before 20220817 |
*Age from approximately 20220401 5:40 PM Pacific.
**I made characters throughout 20220402, 20220408, 20220409, 20220410, and 20220411.
Path of Exile (PC) (2013)
 |
| The Witch - getting started. |
Relevant Links:
Path of Exile Website
Path of Exile (Wikipedia.org)
Path of Exile (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Path of Exile Wiki