Author: retronoid

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Finished: Thimbleweed Park

So yes. I’ve been to Thimbleweed Park. If you’ve ever played some gems-a-boo of  Ron Gilbert, Garry Winnick and David Fox, this is definitively one game-a-rino for you. This game lets you feel the kinship to Maniac Mansion. A lot of references, gimmicks and puns related to Maniac Mansion and other great Mmucas Flem Games. xD

Dave and Sandy are living in Thimbleweed Park owning a Diner. Bernard’s Cousin works at a Quickie-Pal. So lots and lots of fun with this one.

If I had seen this on kickstarter, I would’ve supported it. So here you’ve got the Mulder and Scully (X-Files) Look-Alikes Agent Ray and Reyes solving the case of a murder that happened in Thimbleweed Park. A foreigner called Boris (probably german) dies in the beginning. And as a fun fact, german author Boris Schneider-Johne (the Translator of many Lucasfilm Games like Monkey Island) translated Thimbleweed Park as his last project. You’re meeting a lot of strange and funny characters that keeps the game lively as it could be.

You can choose an easy or a hard approach to the game, without changing this decision in the game. As somewhat experienced Point’n’Click Adventurer you may have up to 14-15 hours fun with this gem.

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Finished: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

At last. Over 100 hours of gameplay. Could’ve been a lot more. But I’ve finished it. Took me just 7 months. Not much in my calendar. 😀

Horizon Zero Dawn™: Complete Edition

One of the best games I’ve played thus far. I’d rate it higher than Mass Effect. And that’s something in my List. It is just beautifully crafted. Nice views, great places, funny people. And Action. Quite a lot of Action. So what is it about …

You play Aloy. A young outcast from the tribe of the Nora. Raised by another outcast, named Rost, you grew up without parents. After you’ve learned, that if you can win a trial, a ritual hold for young adults – the Matriarchs – leaders of the Nora – allowing the victor the answer to any question. So Aloy begins years of hard training to finally get into this trial (the tutorial features the years from a young girls age up to adulthood). As Aloy you try to solve all the mysteries about why you’ve been outcast. You’ll find out eventually. But there is more…

The setting is our world, in the far future. Some hundred years after the worlds final destruction in 2065. You can visit some lost places. Collect loot and treasures from the ‘Old ones’. Visit the remains of old cities, long taken by nature. What’s left, are huge machines, machines resembling animals, machines your tribe hunts for technical parts. So what is Aloys part in all this? ~highly recommended~ ^^


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Finished: Gwent

So. CDPR did it. They’ve abandoned good old Gwent for Gwent: Homecoming. If you liked the old gwent, it’s hard to get used to the new style. All your cards, all your decks from beta: gone. No thank you playing the beta .. No scraps, no kegs, simply gone. Everything is gone for good:


So since Gwent: Homecoming is the new Gwent I don’t see why I should pay anything more, just to take the risk of losing everything all over again? Well – It won’t happen I guess, but anyway. The gameplay is, let me say ~different~. All cards are “remastered“. Mostly weaker, with other treats.  When I started playing gwent, it was fired up nearly immediately, you could play a round and quit. Or you could simply get some kegs and had fun unpacking them. No hassle.

Unpacking kegs now, is just half the fun of Gwent beta. Or not at all. 🙁

Playing Gwent:H in the beginning it was like story here, story there blah blah and a lot of right clicking to skip all this babbling. CDPR wants to sell Thronebreaker and fit the Gwent style into it. They changed the old 2D Board style to a 3D Board style. Your deck leaders are no cards anymore, they’re 3D animated characters on the side of the board. The 3 rows were reduced to 2 rows. All in all, too much Animation for old computers IMHO. If you’ve never played Gwent, it is quite a neat game. It looks good and you’ve got the witcher world setting. The tutorial is a bit lame, but it explains the game. The gameplay is still okay, but the fun is gone. I’ll try it some more nevertheless..

Thank you CDPR. 🙁

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Using ScummVM on android

You’ve got some old classic games and wondered how or where to play them? Ok. There’s GOG and they’re doing a great job in getting those old jewels back. But what about old games you’ve got somewhere on that old harddisk? Maybe ScummVM is your treat then. (https://www.scummvm.org/)

I’ve installed some old games into a folder on my harddisk and afterwards moved it onto my – via USB plugged in – phone’s SD Card. And yes – you can play some old GOG refurbished games on your phone that way

The Dig – Big Box and Android ScummVM Version

After installing ScummVM on your phone you simply have to chose the folder of the game and get it added to your library.

e.g. /storage/<SD Card>/<Folder>
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Finished: Maniac Mansion

Yep. the old one. Aaand – I finished it on my android phone (thank you ScummVM). I don’t know how often I played this one through, but this is my first time on the phone.

This is a true Lucasfilm classic. First released in 1987 it is already 30 years old now! You can get it on GOG.com if you don’t already own it.

The introduction screen (Kids: Dave, Syd, Michael, Wendy, Bernard, Razor and Jeff)

The story is all about Dave and his friends (you can choose up to two more companions on this Quest), trying to rescue Dave’s girl Sandy from the clutches of evil Dr. Fred. Dr. Fred himself, got possessed by an alien meteor, you additionally have to get rid of. (You can see it falling onto his ground in the intro sequence). For my playthrough I chose egghead Bernard Bernoulli, and Razor (screenshot), the cool leadsinger of her band Razor and the Scummets. If Razor wasn’t captured by Nurse Edna, she made herself the strongest character in the game and destroyed some lighting to get hidden keys. Bernard was nerding around, but got the Ham Radio online. So if you ever wanted to meet Purple and Green, get some Nachos and Cola (Jaw*: this is unhealthy!), put on the 80s John Hughes Vibe playlist on YT (or any other synthpop 80s playlist) and get going xD …

Razor got captured …

*Jaw: Just a warning

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Finished: Undertale ~Floweys Vengeance~


and you thought ~this is the end~ but it nevertheless started right through it all again. After all these hard fights, you’ll really get kicked. If you’re like me on the path of a peaceful struggle without violence then it could be easier for you, but it still was hard ~

So I had to run through all these places, talking to many of them monsters AGAIN ~NOW~ trying to get to know the story of Alphys. I’d say some 2 hours more to play until you fight ASGORE again. Then for the good of it.

BUT! ~ I did it. I stayed determined and I’ve finished the game.

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Stay determined.

Well… I did a lot of things. I really tried hard to escape all those attacks. I will win eventually – You’ll see.. cuz I’m determined!

In the meantime I strolled through the caves of the Underworld, met friends, had cooking parties, talked a lot, bought stuff (mostly Crab Apples) and enjoyed snail races. And of course touched those squeaky mushrooms.

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Finished: Red Strings Club

Well, at least the for the first time. Whoa. That game was quite entertaining. It even turned out totally unexpected. Have you ever played a game and you knew how it would end? Bummer.

Give Red Strings Club a try if you’re in Cyberpunk dystopian stuff. It’s a really short story (about 4-5 hours), but it’s replayable. And thats something today. Isn’t it? Ok. Guess you’re right. Beat me ….

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Someone’s approaching the bar!

In a world ruled by corporations and technology “Supercontinent” is one of the most important. It produces neural implants that can enhance or alter human conscience. Two friends, Donovan and Brandeis discover a secret, that a missing android Type Akara-184 holds. This Akara Unit just came to Donovan and his bar – “the Red Strings Club” – because it was hacked by a hacking group called PROXYMA at Supercontinent itself.

Now it is up to the player to discover the secret behind Supercontinents plan to manipulate their sold human implants. The story begins with a falling Brandeis. Seemingly from a high building. It all starts ~ with the end. Or so it seems.

The beginning captures me right away, with its athmosphere (raining of course), the melodic intriguing soundtrack – And if you’ve read William Gibsons “Neuromancer” or played “Shadowrun”, or have seen “Blade Runner” it’ll get you too.  All of these seem to be the muse of cyberspace. Like Case in Neuromancer, Brandeis is a cyberspace hacker discovering  Supercontinent’s plot from the secret Akara Unit ..

Now they hide Akara-184 as a Chobits-like doorman welcoming customers at Donovans bar …

Let me give you some screens:

 

More human than human is our motto (Dr. Eldon Tyrell)

Blade Runner – 1984

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It breaks my heart …

… all too often. But, all the way after meeting PAPYRUS and his comic brother sans (one of the greatest font puns!), after fighting UNDYNE and making friends with some other monsters, I still think about how to entwine and curdle up Muffet, the cute spider monster lady.

Up until now I like Aaron. Our flex duels are awesome, amazing and historical! And the Mettaton Game Shows. “Amazing” (insert nosy voice here)!

I mostly failed my first assumption of the soundtrack. Sometimes it is quite a soothing pianoplay, then 8bit-MIDI followed e.g. by an addacio of 8bit warfare in fights. Another time its a beautiful athmospheric synthesized sound. I like especially the squeaking mushrooms. It is so much fun to turn them off and on (squeak, squeak) 😀

Well ~ Gotta go, lie around with my friend Nabstablook … ^^

Some more screenshots for you: