dabbling_duck

@dabbling_duck@oldbytes.space

Mother of many ducks, vegan, DOS cultist, aberration. She/her.

My wife posts her art here 🡢 https://mastodon.art/@wrnyfyr

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PixelBandits, to VideoGames
@PixelBandits@nerdculture.de avatar

I'll show you mine if you show me yours (mine's in the replies and I really hope you can tell who it's meant to be)

#VideoGames #Gaming #Gamers #RetroGaming

dabbling_duck,

@PixelBandits Raiding tombs must be a little trickier without arms!

vga256, (edited ) to Canada
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

my extended family (not me!) was put under evac notice a few hours ago in the northwest territories of

this photo by julie beaver looks as if someone got a little happy with instagram filters....

... but it is perfectly color-accurate. this is what it looks like in the southern right now, due to dozens of out of control

dabbling_duck,

@vga256 hoping the best for all of you. As an Australian, and one who lives beside a forest reserve, I know exactly all the feelings. :(

dabbling_duck,

@vga256 I have such anxiety every year now for the summer. I live in temperate rainforest, and we normally have a reasonably low fire risk (not nothing, but low.) But I'm already seeing the ominous indications for our summer ahead. Lots of wondering about how I could possibly evacuate the dozens of ducks and chickens under my care. :/

dabbling_duck, to retrogaming

I've owned CyberMage for years, but I never played for long; it has awkward controls and makes a bad first impression. But after installing on a whim and persevering, I'm having genuine fun. So here's a late endorsement: this game's neat. And very weird.

The backstory is supplied in the comic book, with a cheesy vibe that never lets up (look up the game intro if you're curious - really, go on.) Unlike, say, the Crusader games, none of the silliness seems self-aware: the game believes itself to be Super Awesome. There are bikini-clad enemies who shout "Kiss my butt". The big bad is named "NeCrom", and mana is called "mang." The game opens with the "Earthmother" explaining the metaphysics of the magic crystal in your forehead. It's so enthusiastic that it's hard not to be entertained.

But one caveat. While I prefer original versions over source ports or remasters, I wish there was a patch for the draw distance - check out the screenshot to see what I mean!

#RetroGaming #DOSGaming

The introductory comic book. A man valiantly saves the life of a cat-like alien creature thing. So cool!
The back of the box. (Too much text for me to transcribe: I'm sorry.) Effectively a breathless description of how radical and awesome this comic-book like game is.
The game in action. No, I can't see what's in this room either.

dabbling_duck,

@vga256 Well thanks for that act of generous villainy! Now I'll never think of the iconic, well-loved character NeCrom the same way ever again...

...while on the subject, do you have a favourite bad DOS game voice line delivery? Myself I'm very partial to "I am the King!" from the intro to Clouds of Xeen... among other classics from that opening.

dabbling_duck,

@vga256 oh yes. that is a wretchedly powerful contender.

dabbling_duck,

@vga256 Also this puts in close proximity to the infamous Stygian Abyss intro...

jake4480, to Diablo
@jake4480@c.im avatar

Alathra the rogue is now level 12, I'm on the 5th floor of the dungeon - just grabbed Arkaine's Valor!

#Diablo #ArkainesValor #armor #rogue #rogues #PS1 #PSX #emulation #emulated #emulators #arpg #arpgs #PlayStation

dabbling_duck,

@jake4480 Getting geared up for that nasty difficulty spike at Level 9! (Fortunately, rogues are very good at dealing with the Caves...)

jake4480, to Diablo
@jake4480@c.im avatar

Moved the hacked PS1 mini (it has like 80+ games on it now thanks to Autobleem, the most important of them being Diablo) to the living room to start up a new Diablo run. I beat it two years ago in September and I started my run(s) in August 2021. Something about August and fall, I guess. Last time, I tried a sorcerer but struggled til I switched to fighter, which I beat it with. This time, I'm trying a rogue. Never tried rogue before. Should be wild. Time for tons of saving and leaving all my gear on the ground in town! 🤣

dabbling_duck,

@jake4480 The trick with the Sorcerer is just to dump near-everything into mana and max out Mana Shield to become a tank mage/death cannon, which is very meta-gamey and also kinda breaks the game after a certain point (you end up only caring about one resource pool, and you're constantly refilling your inventory with mana potions because they are your everything.) Rogue is IMHO the most fun class because she's the hybrid: her animation speeds are good across the board, allowing her to toe-to-toe and cast spells to a respectable degree, but then her bow attack speed is ridiculous if you go down that conventional route.

Go get those demons!

dabbling_duck,

@jake4480 Sorcerer strategy for the Butcher is the same as the Rogue, you just bring more mana potions and you make very sure you don't get stunlocked before you get behind cover ;) Firebolt still goes through grates!

Speaking of which, don't forget that the rogue can still use those magical projectiles too - don't let that blue orb go to waste. Holy Bolt especially will be very helpful in the early stages!

dabbling_duck,

@jake4480 Go get him! Btw, you can kill Leoric early and efficiently with Holy Bolt, as he takes double damage from it and it makes short work of him ;)

dabbling_duck,

@jake4480 Holy Bolt is unique in that it does double damage to undead - and I think it also works on Diablo himself - and, in multiplayer, actually heals other players when you shoot them (which is very silly but cool.) It pretty reliably drops as a spellbook early on, but another tactic is just to grab a staff of Holy Bolt from Adria and really let Leo have it.

Diablo is funny in that 90% of enemies will give you no trouble as you go, and all the strategy goes into dealing with that vicious last 10%. It can make it feel like you're running into a series of roadblocks when really the game is just inconsistent about when you need to swap from "kill 'em all" tactics to "time for devious tricks!"

dabbling_duck,

@jake4480 (oh, and it goes without saying that the Caves and Hell are definitely where it tips more into the devious tricks side of things! if you can get access to the Golem spell before Hell, it is very nice to have a tank)

dabbling_duck,

@jake4480 "Abandon your foolish quest. All that awaits you is the wrath of my Master. You are too late to save the child. Now you will join him... in Hell."

25 years later and I still literally hear this quote, word for word, in my head. He's definitely on par with Diablo as far as the game's encounters go.

...now you have me wanting to break out my Diablo disc again...!

dabbling_duck,

@jake4480 My Diablo discs are also a fun memory of the time I used their big boxes (I had two copies) as emergency bedding for two ducklings. I really didn't think about the whole "collector's value" thing at the time, but there's something very wholesome about their fate. I feel like that's the truest way to defeat the Lord of Terror - with happy warm ducklings.

dabbling_duck, to random

After a week of playing, I think I'm on a Dungeon Hack run that will clear the game: a human cleric with a ridiculous -5 AC (artifact chain mail, an Ioun Stone of Protection, and Bracers of Protection +2), permanent Improved Invisibility from a magic ring, and two Staves of Striking +3 that she's dual-wielding because clerics can do that here for some reason. She's just effortlessly cleared a labyrinth of Slithermorphs - the point in the game where my previous character, a mage, slowed down badly (she ran out of food a few levels later.)

Clerics overall are pretty broken, with the best protective spells (including the only reliable defense against level drain), free ranged offense with double Spiritual Hammers, and the ability to both create food and heal - which means that, unlike other classes, you don't have to balance resources. Not a surprise though: clerics are often "tank mages" in these older AD&D games.

Anyway, this is just a long way for me to say that Dungeon Hack is cool.

dabbling_duck,

@ThreeOhFour The Summoning is so good. I always get a little bit obsessed whenever I play it, even though it's very tough and requires a lot of patience (you can definitely play for dozens of hours, end up in a no-win situation, and be forced to restart.) It was unlucky to come out in 1992 when it had so much prominent tech-pushing competition, although RPG diehards and specifically RPG-friendly reviewers took well to it at the time.

dabbling_duck,

@ThreeOhFour I honestly think SSI were a powerhouse in the early 90s: not only developing one of the all-time great RPGs (Dark Sun: Shattered Lands), but publishing quality third-party games like Stronghold, Dark Legions, and the aforementioned The Summoning. They were definitely no worse than Sierra for putting out a mix of inspired classics and creaky followups!

dabbling_duck,

@ThreeOhFour Dark Sun was at least popular enough to get a spin-off MMO (Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands), which I never got to play and forever ever will be curious about. I was obsessed with both Shattered Lands and Wake of the Ravager as a kid... for all the reasons you might expect (open-ended gameplay, fun tactical combat, weird enemies, plot twists & betrayals & memorable NPCs), but also because it was just so cool and... well... forgive me for this, but sexy. It was sexy! Even as a youngster, I could tell that games like Dark Savant or Ultima VII were a little bit pompous, a little bit over-earnest, and Arena and Daggerfall were just plain sleazy. But Dark Sun was gritty and nonchalant and populated with shaven-headed muscular women, which without elaborating too much was also very significant for my young development ahem

dabbling_duck,

@vga256 @ThreeOhFour Oh goodness. It's funny because "bugridden murderfest" at least suits Athas as a setting, whereas quiet, medieval Sosaria was absolutely not the place you expected to find hordes of halberd-wielding horseriding mages casting Corp Por across the lands.

dabbling_duck,

@vga256 @ThreeOhFour I actually found my Al-Qadim disk the other day! I considered playing it, but then told myself: if you just keep searching until you find your Entomorph disk, then you can play that instead

dabbling_duck,

@vga256 @ThreeOhFour I lost my box! I just have my manual and disk :( It's a shame because the box art is very fun (he's so scared about his new mantis arm!)

dabbling_duck,

@ThreeOhFour @vga256 This all peaks in Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance, which has no peer among other SSI games for its sheer "what am I even playing" mood

dabbling_duck,

@ThreeOhFour @vga256 you know, I have to correct myself - I double-checked and Birthright is an AD&D Sierra game! It just feels exactly like an SSI game!

dabbling_duck,

@ThreeOhFour @vga256 It's a turn-based but also real-time strategy wargame RPG that runs on the Doom 2 engine and is really, truly, one of those rare games that can be fairly called "unique." I used to see screenshots for it on The Realm trial account inserts in late 90s Sierra games, and even in those carefully staged promo shots, it looked like something utterly incomprehensible.

It's worth trying to find footage on YouTube of the combat... it is hilarious. Beyond words.

dabbling_duck,

@ThreeOhFour @vga256 I think this here is my favourite Birthright promo picture. It's like the monster is saying "Hey, hey, I'm just an innocent goblin bone-spider, I don't want any trouble!"

it also says a lot about my corrupted soul that I still can't help but find this aesthetic appealing

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