Hawke64

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/resident-evil-revelations-update-reportedly-adds-drm-to-decade-old-game-breaks-it-then-removes-drm-for-now It is always disappointing to see such customer-hostile actions, but even more so concerning older (and presumably, safe) software.

The legal regulations might catch up, which will make most existing generative AI models effectively illegal due to the copyrighted or personal data used for training. (Generative) AI can improve many aspects of development, such as animations or speech recognition (though, I would prefer just to ditch VA in general), or NPCs behaviour, and it can improve some aspects for independent games and mods (e.g. if the developer is 1 person and can't do some things on their own), but I doubt that it will be used that way. Then again, there are already Ubisoft games that look incredibly similar to each other with all parts created by humans. I know I won't notice the difference if some of it is AI-generated.

I hoped that the development did not restart from zero. It sounds like it did. But the tool is interesting.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crowns-accessibility-options-are-a-neat-deconstruction-of-metroidvania-design I would say that the Eagle Vision was the (temporary) high contrast mode in the previous Ubisoft games. Still, more options are welcome. The Ubisoft DRM is not. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/maplestory-publisher-nexon-fined-record-89-million-for-misleading-loot-box-mechanics I am unsure if the fine is sufficient (doesn't sound like it), but it is something. Banning the loot boxes would be preferable, though.

Played Cult of the Lamb. It is an action-roguelite with management elements. The management elements include raising the titular cult and taking revenge on the gods who demanded you to be sacrificed. The cult requires members, who can be found during expeditions or recruited after boss battles. In turn, these members produce Devotion, which is used to purchase new abilities and unlock new buildings, and require food and housing. The resources can be gathered during the above-mentioned expeditions, the Crusades, or grown at the base. The Crusades include venturing into the randomly arranged rooms, slaughtering the regular foes and the bosses, gathering resources, rescuing potential cult members, and occasionally meeting NPCs. The only negative aspects of the game are the random elements which are rather unpleasant - an unwieldy weapon, such as a hammer, can make a Crusade unsuccessful, and the requirement to sacrifice 3 followers to progress in the post-game. As I understand, it was added after the initial release. The controls are rebindable, 5-button mice supported, no critical bugs have been encountered (some minor issues with building placement). The accessibility options allow to auto-pass the mini-games and stop the time at the camp when the MC is on a Crusade. The graphics and visual style are lovely and expressive, the sound design is not annoying. --- Finished The Outer Worlds and the Peril on Gorgon DLC. While the main game is quite touching and enjoyable, the Peril on Gorgon made the issues more noticeable - there was too much random loot (which, fortunately, was still possible to sort and dispose of easily after obtaining it), and the main NPCs were I think, the game would have benefited from a more thoughtful approach to the enemy and item placement. Still, I am looking forward to Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2.

Unironically, being able to jump and to skip the monologues from the corpses-to-become. Granted, the final boss monologued anyway, but significantly less than usual. And the "inspirational" speech could be skipped by attacking that Flaming Fist. Discovered it only on the last playthrough, but it was satisfying, nonetheless. I would add that the social systems were either partially implemented or broken, e.g. when a Harper guard tries to arrest you for stealing from the Moonrise Towers or a 1XP citizen attempts to prevent you from looting a freshly-killed Steel Watcher. I don't think that the non-combat spells could be used for anything except making the skill checks slightly easier (e.g. Guidance or Friends). Though, I once got a unique dialogue after casting the Ray of Frost cantrip on a companion. Edit to avoid double-posting. Not exactly specific to the game, but I find the auto-upload feature to be rather intrusive and undesirable. Then again, I do not have an Xbox. https://www.pcgamer.com/larian-and-microsoft-working-to-address-annoying-and-uncool-xbox-account-bans-caused-by-the-unfortunate-combination-of-baldurs-gate-3s-notorious-horniness-and-automatic-gameplay-uploads/

Cult of the Lamb

Saints Row (reboot) is free on EGS today. Unfortunately, it also requires 64GB of free space, so not playing it now.

It looked like a compilation of official trailers with some commentary. Still, I am looking forward to the game, whenever it is ready.

It was formatted with Rufus initially (tried both FAT and NTFS). The issue seems to be with the recovery partitions, which were not formatted, though I am unsure why they were interfering with booting the USB drive. Installing Windows at the moment, so I hope it has been resolved.

Vampyr Chapter 4, boss battle Chapter 5 Some random vampire in the sewers, because there was no boss battle in this part of the city yet. Found a police officer, but was unable to report anyone, except a dead vampire and a still-alive vampire hunter. The only way to deal with the murderous civilians was to bite them lethally. And the game seems to suggest doing just that. Somehow disappointed that the MC's father's watch is technically junk. Could not help the NPC - the vampire mind-controlling her was not in the game and just killing her would have messed up my run. Chapter 6 Was bitten. The mini-boss was nameless, but the door I needed to access was not interactive while he was not sufficiently dead. The final boss. Epilogue

Finished Vampyr. It is mostly fine, though, there are issues. In Chapter 5 (out of 6), I found a police officer, but was unable to report the previously-met serial killer, gang leaders, the child abuser, or the poisoner. The only way to anyhow prevent them from causing harm to random people was to lethally bite them, which would result in a worse ending. From what I've read (haven't tried myself), killing or not killing civilians is the only way of interaction with them - quests do give XP, but the NPC's state does not seem to change, while, for example, if the serial killer is killed, his mother adopts the homeless orphan. Additionally, as mentioned, slaughtering the nameless vampire hunters was perfectly fine and did not affect the endings or the MC's appearance (again, haven't tried myself, but the more civilians are eaten, the redder the MC's eyes become). In terms of combat, while most of the regular opponents were possible to interrupt with normal attacks (thus, just hitting them until the stamina ran out was a viable strategy), it only partially worked with the bosses, though the later ones resisted the interruptions with normal attacks (the abilities mostly worked). The targeting was somehow odd - sometimes, the opponents could glide several meters forward while also changing directions mid-swing, sometimes, the attacks worked like they would in Dark Souls. On a positive note, I quite liked the second form of the final boss, easy may it be, - the boss was impossible to bite (so, no healing in combat) or interrupt, but the boss' damage was low and attacks clearly telegraphed, so it was defeated on the first attempt (the first stage took several, because I counted on being able to stagger the boss and did not notice how much damage the stacking poison clouds were doing). The ending was funny, partially, because the information told by the NPCs was presented in a diary found 2 minutes before the dialogue. I also found the best sword (by accidentally seeing it mentioned on the forums and having the collectible required to solve the puzzle leading to it) and water for the plant at the MC's office (that one I almost missed). I did not rest after the Chapter 5 boss battle, because I was worried that the districts' condition might worsen and did not have enough XP to level up. Another thing I noticed is that one of the Irish NPCs was using the American date format for his diary, mm/dd/yy, instead of dd/mm/yy. Overall, while Vampyr was not anyhow close to VtMB, it was playable. Considering that I still have the manual saves created via Windows Explorer, I might try to see what happens if more people are bitten.

Thank you for your reply. Was going to say that I know what I'm doing (the BSc Computer Science degree kind of suggests that, old may it be), but I've never had this issue with any new PC or VM (the exact same Windows 10 USB worked on them). Anything of value was backed up already, so I will try to unallocate the partitions from one of the drives on the weekend. Not sure, if it affects the USB drive not being recognised as bootable (so no the "Which type of installation do you want?" question, the PC just tries to start Win 7 and fails), but it might. The USB port is working, otherwise, Linux Mint wouldn't be able to interact with the USB drive, so I assume that the issue is with HDDs. Shouldn't be BIOS (no UEFI), but can't confirm nor inclined to touch any firmware.

A PC, 10-14 y/o, had Windows 7. After some time, Linux Mint was installed (not dual boot). Now, when I try to install Windows 10 from a USB, the PC attempts to launch Windows 7 and throws an error. The PC does not boot from the USB, but sees it after starting Linux Mint. The force boot options are Windows Boot Manager, Linux Mint, and the empty DVD drive. The USB is not among them. I've looked through the files on the OS drive and there are Windows-related folders, though I am unsure if they can affect anything. How can I perform a clean Windows 10 installation, wiping everything on the PC?

Vampyr A boss. No background or lore, just another vampire hunter standing in a warehouse, which I needed to cross, and seeing through the invisibility spell. There were two respawning mobs, who were possible to stun and bite, while the biting animation granted invulnerability. That is to say, the MC is biting a random foe while standing in fire is depicted on the image. It was a rescue side quest, where I needed to kill a vampire 11 levels above me who could 1-shoot me (on the screenshot). I could not rest and level up, because it would have failed the quest, nor could I kill the opponent (it was possible theoretically, I just could not do so). So I lured the lvl 27 vampire to the area with the vampire hunters. The vampire's AI switched to returning to his area, so he did not attack, while the vampire hunter just kept hitting him. "Choices". Chapter 3 spoilers

What I do like about Vampyr is the atmosphere and visual style, voice acting and facial animations (much better than Larian's), and the MC being generally nice and unintentionally funny. About a half of the game is spent asking people random questions about their lives and occasionally about quests. The cast is reasonably interesting and diverse, and surprisingly willing to talk about their love lives and childhood traumas to a random guy at night. Technically, the information gained increases the amount of XP from the NPC should the player decide to eat them, but doing so (eating them) also damages the District's health and blocks the good ending. On the negative side, only killing the civilians, including serial killers and gang leaders, has undesirable consequences. Slaughtering legions upon legions of vampire hunters is fine. Also, it is not possible to partially drink a civilian and let them be on their merry way, while insta-killing a vampire hunter by biting is not possible either*. Additionally, only some information leads to quests. So, you can't report the above-mentioned serial killer to the police or fix a patient's arm or encourage some criminal to become a law-abiding accountant. Still, overall, it is an enormous improvement over the developer's previous game, Remember Me, where because of the MC’s unavoidable actions, an assassin blew up a hospital and the MC herself caused a flood in several parts of the city. I can't quite recall if the MC was an antihero or not. If compared to other developers, the combat and controls are significantly better than in The Witcher 3, and the MC does not get stuck in book stacks nor suffers from falling damage. *The XP gains from a civilian range from 500 to 5000, while a vampire hunter, even if he was repeatedly stunned and bitten, yields 5. Which is weird logically - the hunters seem healthy enough, but it does make sense from the gameplay perspective, as eating the civilians is supposed to be tempting. While it is not the best game ever made, if you like action-adventures with light RPG elements, it might be an enjoyable experience. It is also on sale at the moment (80% discount). Edit. Forgot to mention, the only unique boss so far is the Vampire Boss #3. The rest started to appear throughout the city.

Vampyr. Due to the spoiler nature of the boss of Chapter 3, I shall refer to them as Vampire Boss #3. So, the battle started easily enough, with the boss hitting slowly and me counter-attacking. Occasionally, the boss was throwing up blood and spawning 3 delayed AoE areas, centred on the MC, while still attacking. At 70% HP, the boss ate the human who was sitting in the middle of the arena and regained their full health. The AoE attack pattern and length kept changing during the battle, ending with covering most of the arena in uneven patches, while the boss' normal attack speed increasing. Somehow, putting XP into the biting damage helped. On another note, the area design has become irritating - too many corridors, too inconsistent rules for movement. Why can I teleport only to some ledges from some angles, but not the others that look the same? Why can't I interact with gates in combat? On a funny note, the aggro resets when the MC enters a non-combat area, i.e. the foes just turn around and return to their previous positions.

Since Steam Winter Sale has started, has anyone played Cloud Meadow? I can see that it has erotic content, the question is it any good as a party-based RPG? That is to say, there are few titles I find both interesting, discounted, and possible to run (so no Lies of P or Tunic). Definitely getting Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood, though. Edit. Got Dread Delusion instead. Somehow reminds of Morrowind. Also sold 62 cards from the Steam inventory. No idea why they are still so popular, but can't complain in the context. Ghostwire: Tokyo is free on EGS today. Judging by the system requirements, I will not be able to run it on my main PC, though the storage space seems reasonable (26GB). Could try later, I guess. Is it at any point necessary to bite the civilians? XP-wise, the amount from the ones I can mesmerise (level 2) is too low and the vampire hunters and zombies have been sufficient so far.

The Outer Worlds Also got a reptile dog after the quest, though not a combat companion. Vampyr No idea why the citizens had more blood than werewolves and could not be bitten only partially. The werewolves could. Most opponents will return to their locations if kited too far and can be bitten repeatedly.

Vampyr. A functional action-adventure in the fantasy/historical setting, London 1918. The protagonist is a medical researcher and practitioner, who recently returned from war, was turned into a vampire, accidentally killed his sister, and trying to find the vampire who bit him. The controls are rebindable, though the consoles-first approach can be felt and the Tab key cannot be rebound (so I've been randomly opening the map while trying to lock on targets; additionally, the mouse movement is used to switch between them, thus, I do not use lock-on if there is more than one foe). Overall, the combat is functional - a bit float-y Souls-like with Blood instead of mana (can be drunk from humans and zombies; haven't seen anything too undead or mechanical to bite yet) and no free jumping (possible to get on some predetermined balconies). The developers seem to find implementing an adequate saving system to be too challenging, so manual saving is done through Windows Explorer after touching the crafting stations or travelling (on foot) between areas. I still cannot figure out if combat brings XP (there is a small delay between the kill and XP gain), the bosses so far have been the regular opponents with larger health bars. The District Stability system justifies that the MC is a doctor, so he can craft meds and distribute them, thus keeping non-combat areas standing. As I understand, the NPCs are possible to kill (somehow - can't draw weapons in the non-combat areas) and it affects the ending. The graphics, sound, and writing seem to be fine. I am somehow fond of the developer, got the game on EGS, and it required only 14.2GB of storage space, thus, I am satisfied with the experience.

Faster development cycle, less pressure from the shareholders, more artistic freedom, I suppose. The last Mass Effect was released in 2017 and the next Bioware sci-fi game does not have a release date yet. Looks like camera is zooming on his head/changing the FOV while he is being strangled to emphasise that Sarevok is Evil-aligned and killing a now-defenceless guard? So, Sarevok gets a face-obscuring helmet with horns, while the guard's face and emotions are shown. "Some days, only a narrative-heavy game will hit the spot, and this one packs a wallop. It's as gripping as any soap opera, and as well-tuned as a prestige-TV screenplay. Bravissimo -- for making us feel things!" I somehow struggle to picture any of these having much story depth, but the Souls-like probably makes people feel things and throw gamepads. Larian's game, though, made me feel "Whoa, I can jump!" and "Whoa, I can throw the bosses into chasms instead of listening to them monologing", so that's something. Is the dating sim any good?

The slightly-animated scenes looked better than the original 3D models (rewatched the EE intro on YouTube), while also more affordable. I suppose, the audio could have been edited as well, but it was fine overall.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/earthraiser/earthraiser-total-liberation An adventure (?) game about animal rights. Seems interesting enough. It has been funded and 45 hours to go.

https://www.humblebundle.com/games/happy-holidays-with-gog-rpgs A GOG bundle from HumbleBundle. I already own most of the games on different platforms, including GOG, but it is nice to see a DRM-free bundle.

The Pathless. 4 bosses defeated. The game is very beautiful and the movement system has a good balance of fluid and responsive with the ability to move faster with some physical feedback (shooting talismans for speed boosts and stamina recovery). Which reminded me of training Acrobatics in Morrowind during travels by tapping the Space bar. Edit. Steam crashes every second time when I try to view and upload my screenshots. Can't quite recall after which update it started to happen.