It wasn't meant to be flattering :). Yeah, at least New Game+ carries over found collectibles. Anyway, I complain about it however it doesn't affect progress through the game in any way (XP, etc.), so that's cool. I only regret that I missed some optional small talks. Discovering these and boosting Joel's stats to max is what I'm after now.

Gothic 3 + Community Patch 1.74

Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition (GOG version)

Eador Genesis and Darklands

I'm in a situation in GTA: Vice City where I am unsure how to continue the game, ie. where to get more (story) missions. Surely the game didn't end quite yet?

I've bought quite a few properties and many of them brought a couple of missions (after which you really acquire that property, and sometimes start getting money out of it over time). But on top of that, there has usually been missions which don't require buying any properties, but now there are none?

The last mission I finished was to bring that drunkard to hospital after he had blown his arm away (that was after I had committed a successful bank robbery with him and a few buddies). I presume that was a story mission, as I don't think I bought any property for that. I also bought some taxi company near Little Haiti and finished a couple of missions for that, but I don't think those were actual story missions?

My only lead is that I've found yet another property I haven't bought yet, it is in one of those smaller islands, some kind of movie studio I think. But the problem is that I have only $20000, and it costs $60000. So I guess I just have to drive around and wait, in order to get the missing money over time from my other properties that make money? And I am not convinced buying that property gets the main story going once again... or does it?

I tried to speed up money accumulation by doing some taxi driving, but that makes money so slowly that it's not worth it, like $120 for one ride. Whee! And then I've bought some ice cream factory or something apparently, but I have no idea what to do with it. I take one of their trucks and it tells me I should deliver something... but what, and where, and how? I drive around aimlessly, and if I exit the truck, it says mission over with 0 deliveries. Ok...

I guess I should read some walkthrough or GTA VC Wiki.

I'm playing through Trials Evolution in 30 minute chunks, whilst trying to figure out what to play next out of:

1. Company of Heroes 2
2. Metro: Last Light
3. Fall of the Samurai expansion for Shogun 2
4. Shadowrun Returns (considering waiting for a patch since I've heard there are a lot of spelling/grammar mistakes, which would bother me)
5. Blade of Darkness

Freespace. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I found myself surprised by this game. I'm not big on "flying" games (I think I've only ever played three that I found enjoyable enough to finish), but I like this one. It isn't one of my favorite games, but I'm finding it fun. It also does a good job of being complex enough that a skilled player could have a lot of fun, but simple enough that an amateur like me can do pretty well.

But my goodness there are a lot of buttons that do stuff. I don't use anywhere near all of them, but still. I've never played a game with some many buttons assigned something.

Just finished a session on Anachronox. It's light, easy and funny. It gets my award for "game I didn't expect much from but now love".

Still HOMM 3 - Armageddon's Blade. I started tackling the infamous Dragon Slayer campaign yesterday and restarted it once already. This is gonna be a tough one.

Armageddon's Blade is really really tough. But at the same amount of enjoyment it has.

Currently :

Castlevania Symphony of the Night - PS1
Robocop 2 - ZX Spectrum +2A
Curse of the Azure Bonds - C64
Saints Row 3 - PC
The Last of Us - PS3
Spyro the Dragon - PS1
Torchlight 2 - PC
Defiance - PC
Borderlands 2 - PC - Second character play through
Maximo Vs Army of Zin - PS2
Metal Gear Solid - PS1

Once I finish Torchlight 2 going to start playing Sacred 2. I am near the end of Act 3 now on Torchlight 2 and Act 4 is short from what I have read so if I have time may finish it tonight.

Current rotation :

1. Binding of Isaac
2. Braid
3. Super Meat Boy
4. Gemini Rue

Ah, the classic PC space combat "sims"... :)

Nowadays when many games are so gamepad-centric, I do find some of that old stuff of assigning a separate button for any feasible action going a bit overboard sometimes. For instance, I presume no one ever uses the old PC FPS way of selecting weapons by pressing number keys (like 3 for shotgun, 4 for machine gun etc.), but swap weapons either with "next/previous weapon" buttons, or mousewheel. I presume modern FPS games don't use the "number keys for weapons" system anymore at all.

And, for things that are not necessarily so time-critical, maybe even selecting it through menues is fine, instead of a separate button.

I think the worst PC game with complex controls I can recall was either Mechwarrior 2, or Mechwarrior 2: Mercs. I think I used several days experimenting with different kinds of controller options, what would feel most natural for the game. Mouse + keyboard, joystick + keyboard, even joystick + mouse, or all three at the same time... And I had a fancy MS Sidewinder joystick with a rotating stick and lots of buttons.

In the end I think I finished the games with mouse + keyboard, adding the joystick to the mix was just too much, even if it had some advantages.

On topic: I am near the end of GTA: Vice City. I think I have two more story missions to go... if only I could figure out how to trigger them to show up on the map! I had to read some FAQ, and if I understood right, one of the triggers is buying minimum six properties around the city, and finish the missions they may have.

But I am pretty sure I have done that for at least six of them already! And still no pointers to go for extra missions. Some of the "property missions" are quite vague though, e.g. how am I supposed to know I should sell 50 ice creams to pass the mission for the ice cream factory, or in the strip joint just wait in the booth as long as he has spent a certain amount of money, and only then leave the strip booth? I don't think there was any indication for those anywhere.

I even found all the 100 hidden packages, if that matters. And yes I used a walkthrough for that, they are too well hidden in odd places which you can barely reach with a helicopter. At least I now I can infinitely gather bullets for the minigun and sniper rifle, and apparently I am supposed to have a tank and an army helicopter hidden somewhere, if I just could figure out where.

Oh, it's intense. Definitely intense. I just finished the Fairy Dragon mission. Just barely. Man, those Fairy Dragons can reduce a huge army to cinders with their spells. Thank god the for Resurrection spell, that basically saved me from losing. I was getting my ass kicked, as it is.

Ah, well, here's hoping that the Azure dragon mission won't be as annoying.

Borderlands 2, much better than 1st to me or is it because i play in coop with a rl buddy..