 |
|
Please, Don't Touch Anything! (PC) by jp (Sep 20th, 2026 at 13:12:20) |
It's weird for me to think/write that the most important "contribution" this game has had for me is how useful/intriguing it's been to show students in experimental games class. The game is strange and quirky and funny and genuinely interesting as a puzzle box style game, especially once you've peeled back a few of its layers and understand how the game's support to work.
Over the years fewer students have heard of it, or played it, which is both good and bad. Good means there's more room for it to be genuinely surprising to them, bad means it's also increasingly more "strange" - I've found that students have a lot less to go on with this game since it is so exploratory in the beginning. Hmm. it would have also made a good addition to the "thinky games" cycle when we did the game design seminar...
Now that I'm at a new place with a new group of students, I wonder how it would go with them?
It's been a while since I've played it - and I don't recall which endings I got or anything like that, but it seems like I did make decent progress since I've only got 5 locked achievements. One if for every ending, the other for ending 25 without unnecesary buttons being pressed. 3 are hidden.
read all entries for this GameLog 
- add a comment 
|
|
Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (NSW) by jp (Sep 20th, 2026 at 12:41:02) |
I'd been playing until I got stuck on a fight - it's a two-parter boss against a soldier guy. The second part is against a sort of zombie/ghoul version of this soldier guy who spews green venom and turns into toxic clouds.
After scouring the map for missing things - found a few new upgrades (not interesting ones at this point) and filled in the map a bit more which was nice - I finally realized that I could buy more than one health potion (up to 10!) and I've come to better appreciate how the magic select menu works. So, I devised a new strategy for the boss fight. I'd get to the 2nd phase and swap out the spell with healing potions and try to use those to stay alive. And it worked! I was down to 3 or so...but still.
Yay!
I'm now in Stage 6. I think this might be the last chapter?
So, I kept on moving through new areas...and went back to older areas too - found a few secret areas as well (null space on the map)...and then I hit what I hope does NOT become a new wall.
Maybe this is the end/last battle? It's basically been - so far - a gauntlet of all the bosses (I think all?) in the game. And, while I don't think they've been scaled in difficulty (meaning some are way easier than when I fought them originally), it is quite tiring.. I did quite well until I got to the boss fight I'd just been stuck on earlier. My hands were cramping up and I just...couldn't.
Thankfully after I forget which boss there are items between them to heal up and such...but still. I think I lost this one from nerves and cramps more than difficulty? Though, I dread to see what happens AFTER this one. Will there be another boss? Sigh. I hope not.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
The Silver Case (PS4) by jp (Sep 20th, 2026 at 12:26:42) |
As I was installing the game I wondered why I had picked it up in the first place. So, I flip the case over and read the back - nothing really stands out until I look down and see "Grasshopper Manufacture".
Ah. Ok.
Grasshopper's oeuvre is interesting in that it's always weird, and strange, and they somehow manage to stay in business which makes it also surprising to me. I think the last game of theirs that I played was "Sun Flower..something..something". A strange DS game that was strange and creepy and I don't think I ever finished. I won't open a separate tab to check my gamelog for that one...but whoever reads this might want to.
Anyways. The game has a really striking visual style - and it's really "noisy" i the visual UI sense. Lots of text coming on, and pictures of the characters in different places on the screen (not always the same place), and words that sort of float around in the background...and little animated effects. It's all very busy, attention grabbing, and just - to me - visually noisy in a way that made me less interested.
Apparently the version I have is a remaster of an older one, so I wonder if the low-res poly graphics (e.g. car driving down an embankment at night) and such are kept in smaller windows because it wouldn't look good today and all the rest of the decorative screen stuff is what's been updated?
Anyways. There was lots of reading. Watching stuff, more reading and very little gameplay...and when the gameplay started it was "fine" (moving around a 3D environment in first-person view, but grid-based, like the old CRPGs Bard's Tale or the dungeons in Ultima and Wizardry). It didn't feel interesting - story least of all - so I finished the first chapter and called it quits.
I just bounced off the writing, the story/context seemed strange but not intriguing...so, time to move on.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Pokémon TCG Pocket (iPd) by jp (Sep 17th, 2026 at 20:24:16) |
Hmm, still "playing" though I would very often forget to "check in" when I first arrived in Rochester. So, for a hot minute, I though I might have been done with it.
The other night I played the card game - demo at a store - and was surprised to learn that the card game is basically a super set of this game. I guess I didn't have a real conception of the difference between them - I thought that the cards were all the same, but they're not! This actually made me a bit less interested in this game, since it really is a watered down version of the regular card game.
I do think it's an interesting approach that I don't know of other examples? Because it really does seem like a subset rather than a "new" or "different" or "variant" version. I wonder if someone's looked closely at them?
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (PC) by jp (Sep 17th, 2026 at 20:19:59) |
I feel bad that I didn't keep on playing this one. At this point all of my handwritten notes and reminders and things I'd figured out are long gone...and this doesn't seem like the kind of game you can just pop back into. I think there's too many things going on. So, I'm just going to call it my loss and close out the game log...
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
|
|
|
GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
for that game. Call it a weblog of game playing activity if you will.
[latest site fixes and updates]
[read more]
|
view feed xml
|
 |
|
2323 registered gamers and 3384 games. 7923 GameLogs with 13434 journal entries. 5112 games are currently being played.
More stats
|
 |
|
Age of Empires II: Conquerors Expansion (PC) by jat247 |
| Best RTS of all time. I recommend this to anyone who loves RTS games. |
|
most recent entry: Tuesday 29 March, 2011
|
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion – Tuesday, March 15th (Games One and Two)
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion is a single and multiplayer RTS game published by Microsoft on August 24th, 2000.
= Game Play =
You choose a civilization and control a kingdom and all of its corresponding resources (wood, food, gold, stone, and your population limit in this case). You typically strive to advance through four ages; the Dark Age, Feudal Age, Castle Age, and lastly the Imperial Age. Each age of advancement unlocks more technologies in your civilizations technology tree which, for a price, can be researched. You control villagers that do all the collection of resources and create buildings, as well as any military units you choose to create. There are a variety of buildings that can be created. Town Centers allow you to create more villagers, while houses increase the population limit (the max limit is typically 200, but can be changed as a game setting). There are also military buildings like the Barracks and Archery Range for creating military units and doing corresponding military unit research and upgrades/enhancements. In fact, most buildings have research tied to them. For instance the mill has research tied to it to increase the productivity of food collection, universities include various technological advancement research, and castles provide protection and a place to safely house a king inside depending on the win conditions that were set for the game. When I play I change settings to where I always start off in the Dark Ages with fog of war on, with the minimal amount of resources and only a Town Center and a few villagers. I set the win conditions to Conquest mode. You have to destroy all enemy units as well as all enemy buildings that are capable of creating new units. There are several win conditions that can be set however. You can choose to destroy the enemy king as one option. As a second option you can choose to build a Wonder which require a ton of resources to build and keep it from being destroyed for a certain period of time. As a third option you can choose to have a time limit, and by the end of that time whoever has the highest score wins (which is determined by many factors, a couple being the amount of resources collected and units/buildings created etc.). The last win option you can choose to capture all the relics on the map (which are randomly scattered around the map) and hold them for a period of time in a monastery you have created.
There are two main modes of gameplay; one is strictly single player while the other can be either single player or multiplayer. There are Campaigns that you can play (strictly single player, the tutorial teaching you how to play is also campaign style) and there are Random Map games. The Campaigns start a player out with a story from ancient history (Like William Wallace and how he defied the British, and his defeat at Falkirk), and then the player must set out to complete goals that are laid out for them that follow the story. Random Map games can be single player with you fighting against NPC(s) or multiplayer over LAN or GameSpy Arcade (Unfortunately Zone.com no longer hosts a server as of June 2006). Random Map games allow a player to choose a ton of options like teams sizes and team difficulties (5 levels of difficulty if an NPC is chosen), as well as win conditions, general starting resource amounts, max population size, and what map is chosen and how big it is etc. For team matches, you can also choose the option Diplomacy where teams aren’t locked but you can forge and break alliances with players in the game. This is great because it’s always fun to play mind games with players and backstab a player or two when the benefits for you are right! You can even choose to have a Death Match where the resources are (almost) exhaustless and you can start a full-fledged war from the very start of the game. I personally almost always choose the Regicide type of game where you start out with almost no resources and build your kingdom custom from the ground up. I never got into the King of the Hill (control the middle of the map for a time period) or Wonder Race (first person to build a Wonder wins) game types.
= Audio & Graphics =
Microsoft was able to choose soundtracks for the background music that somehow never seemed to get old no matter how long matches lasted, or how many games you played back to back. Their music selection was impeccable. Their sound effects were decent, like for arrows being fired, or catapults damaging a castle or other building. They had sound effects for units when they were damaged, or wolves that were randomly placed on the map with the purpose of killing your villagers if you weren’t careful. The graphics were decent for the game when it was released. They don’t match up to the graphics now of course (the gold on the maps kind of look like lumps of messed up butter), but even so I’m so distracted having a blast playing that the graphics are more than adequate for the job. You basically have an isometric bird’s eye view of the map. Additionally you have a mini map in the corner which is crucial to help you navigate and keep track of unit movement on the map more easily.
= Analysis =
This RTS game really captured my attention and held it until they brought down the game’s online server at Zone.com in June of 2006. There were so many different kinds of strategies to play by, all dependent on the many customizable options within the game, and the many different technology trees each different civilization offered. I was always absorbed with how best to balance my strategies and tactics amongst not only my own team, but against the enemy team as well. With proper planning and strategy no defense was impenetrable, just as no attack was impossible to repel. The combinations players came up with and utilized in game matches were unending even after so many years of playing. Playing this game again brought back many fond memories of amazing adrenaline rushing fights to the bitter end; no game was the same as the next!
= Final Thoughts =
I absolute LOVE Age of Empires II: Conquerors Expansion! If not THE best RTS game I’ve ever played, it’s one of them. I got the game as soon as it came out! I would definitely recommend it for lovers of RTS games. It’s a great way to let loose with friends online, and guarantees many hours of action packed fun. Speaking of time, for anyone that does decide to play it, here’s some advice. Try not to spend too much time trying to research everything. Research what you need. While it’s great if you can research almost everything, I’ve found you have to be especially careful with your time management. Resources do run out on the map in this game if the match ends up being too drawn out. When you collect that wood you needed so much of, the trees do disappear once they’ve been used; if you’re not careful and don’t win quickly enough then eventually you’ll run out of trees!
[read this GameLog]
|
|
|
