Fox's Finish February....and beyond

[CrimsonFox]

Now see what it does?

This is after I jumped on it.



That's not bologna. That's my spleen

[CrimsonFox]

Finally arriving on the otherside of this level you are greeted to the following Level Title: Skaarj Generator

As if pinkie pie hasn't been sending enough of those things at me in wave after wave.



She'll cut you. She'll do it.




But look! A nice new arena to fight in...multilevel even. When the level starts and you enter the room a skarrj jumps down at you and IMMEDIATELY starts running up that big ramp in front of you...if you give chase...you'll regret it, for that big green shaft of light in the center will do exactly to you what the previous green lights did.

[CrimsonFox]

Oh look! there he is now, shooting his double fireballs at me.

[CrimsonFox]

This cool room is multileveled. You can run up the afformentioned ramps onto two rings above and jump from there to multiple ramps and platforms in the center.

Around the outside of the room are these portals...they lead to random locations on the top ring. The plethora of badguys will use them too!

[CrimsonFox]

A view from above into the center. That sparkly thing? Yeah you don't want it. The first go of this I followed the skaarj up the ramp and whee fell right into it hehehe

[CrimsonFox]

THIS time, the game is VERY gracious to you. In that previous monster level of Core Mothership, it teases you with like 3 rooms FULL of goodies, ALL behind forcefields that you can't remove.

But this room has TWO, Count-em TWO superhealthpacks like this one on the ramps and platforms. Just sitting there. These up your health by 100. And if your health is ALREADY at the 100 max....it ups it to 200! But if you ever go below 100 again you can't go above it without another superpack.

So yeah...having two of these in this room PLUS a shield belt and other armor in this room is um...worrisome.

[CrimsonFox]

You fight and fight and fight...

Maybe 12 of these guys.

And then...THIS guy.

[CrimsonFox]

I said...



THIS GUY!

Winged demonlord with the rocketlaucher on his arm.

So yeah....pretend it's cthulhu. Run like hell. At this point I had so much ammo and had fun killing him in different ways. The video I put up previous also reminded me of the alternative firing methods. Each gun has a SECOND way to fire it (by using the RIGHT mouse button instead of the left). Each gun fires in a different way...like the rocket launcher...instead of actually firing rockets straight at something....lobs then undetonated in an arc where they bounce along the ground and THEN they explode.

Lotsa fun stuff. This fight in the big portal room with multiple levels...yeah he can just hover around while you hit him from multiple angles. Pretty easy but rewarding. Last time we saw him was in his lair with no where to go but lava which was a ton harder.

[CrimsonFox]

All is over. Poor demonlord!

[CrimsonFox]

At 16 health ...heh.
Just barely won.

So an elevator lift comes down from the center once you kill him and you look up at this.



and inside are 3 green electiricity like filaments that you can shoot.



Pew! Pew! Pew!

[CrimsonFox]

And that's it! whee! I won right?

Oh...huh the elevator lowered... okay yay me! I won!

There's arumbling all around! GO ME I WON!

THe whole thing shakes! There are blue lights around...YAYAYAYAYAYA I WON!





And then the whole structure falls on top of me..

Spoiler

(ouch)

Spoiler

(yay me)

[CrimsonFox]

And then...



All goes white

A new level...called....ILLUMINATION!

Am I in heaven?

um....



nope...still a pancake....and still dead

but oooo pretty light show.

The worst part?

I have to go back and finish the previous level to get back here and do it all over again.

[CrimsonFox]

So here I am incorrectly taking a selfie with the AGAIN dead demonlord.




And here I am getting a closeup of those green filaments inside the ship. A LITTLE too close. That smear is me

selfies are dangerous

[CrimsonFox]

Here is an example of using the altfire method of the flak cannon. Regular method is to shoot shards of metal out of the gun which slice everything in their path. THIS method shoots the whole round forward and it explodes once it HITS something....like this skaarj that is being minced by its impact!

yum!

[CrimsonFox]

Third time's the charm

[CrimsonFox]

And THIS time I get OUT of the ship and move FAR FAR AWAY after blowing up the core!




Pretty darn impressive fireworks. That whole thing is what fell on me.

Yes it reminds me of the end of Portal too

[CrimsonFox]

And then the blue electriicity starts zzzzz-ing everywhere

and blue lights...



Thus leading to the next level...the Darkening...

where we go back through the previous level....but with no electiricty...thus no forecefields....no elevators....and disturbing blue lights...

And m*****f****** spiders



Until next time.


but oooo looking forward to this

[CrimsonFox]

Note if you use the CONTROL and wheel to shrink the font in the browser, you can see all these pics fully and not have to move a slide left and right.

[Brian Swartz]

This is definitely among the better thread re-starts I've seen in quite a while .

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

This is definitely among the better thread re-starts I've seen in quite a while .

That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.

I may weep *sniff*

[CrimsonFox]

We interupt this weeping to bring you another game from my list!

I have made a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE breakthru in one of my favorite all-time games...Thief: The Dark Project (now THief: GOld)

So I will switch things over to report on that.

[CrimsonFox]

The Game: Thief: The Dark Project


Background: Origin Story

The Year Was STILL 1997.

Look at the previous page where I told the tale of Unreal. This game came out the same year. Maybe a little before. Or at least that was in my memory. The thing I remember most about this game and what attracted me to it...the first thing at least...was the shape. A TRAPEZOID?!?!?

"But Fox! All games are rectangles! We're very clear on that! Games must be rectangles!"

I know...I know...It's crazy I know.

But it was a trapezoid ...all dark and forboding...had the word DARK right in it.
And THIEF. Dark and THief were two words that I, unless I missed my guess, warmed to. At least in gaming. I looked at the back



Crazy looking monsters? Checkerboard swirl hallways? Fantasy? knights? Swordfighting? AND stealing? I'm in...

But it would take me longer actually to be in.

It was a battle between Unreal and THief really. Which would I buy first. I remember seeing both on the Best Buy shelves...maybe in the Quad Cities.

But I definitely think I bought Unreal first. I think it had the better marketing slogan..."By Gamers, FOR Gamers"

Fancy Schmantzy.

But I don't think it was long before I bought it too. And I definitely remember that the same friends of mine that loved Unreal, Loved Thief as well.


And from the first scene it introduced me to a new kind of immersion that I haven't seen since. It used cut movies scenes within missions and from the first one you knew this was going to be cool. YOu are in a world ...medeival fantasy...different factions, different sects....

But to you, a young scamp on the streets...stealing your way through life, things were about to change....when the person you are stealing from grabs your hand and escorts you to an alley and tells you he is a keeper...and keepers are not easy to be seen when they don't want to be. He invites you to come to his house and he will teach you things....I know that does sound kinda gross...



The first mission is nothing but learning not only which keys to press to do what things....but what weapons to use. You get sword. It slashes left right and overhead. You have a bow. When you press the mouse and hold it down it zooms in to a target. YOu can practice these. YOu can also run, jump climb, hoist yourself up to a higher level, and swim. YOu have a little training ground to do that with....

And that's just it....you can stay at this little place as long as you want, running jumping, fighting, shooting. And really those were just basics...bgefore you actually get into what the hell you were doing in the game....it was inviting you into this world...to BE this character. And you indeed felt like you WERE young Garrett, learning these things....oh yes did I forget something?

Two of the important lessons.

1. Stay in the dark.
2. DOn't make noise

These two things are very important and in fact at the heart of how you play.
This was the birth of the First person Sneaker. After all the Doom and Quake and halflife, etc games that had come before where you are running through dungeons shooting everything that moves. Here was a game where just staying in the shadows....and being quiet and slow....will actually help you...will actually REWARD you.

But again...this intro level did not teach you anything yet.

Level after level you sink into the game.

You start out with a minimovie....with old sayings....and one HELL of a voice actor playing the pivotal role of Garrett...he's smarmy, full of himself, funny, kinda emo...and very sure of himself. And the actor brings all these characteristics to life.

He tells you each level or mission...how it comes to be...who his copntacts are, why he is going after a place....and that's just it. Each level is a mission....a job....a target. A thief's gotta eat. And the first is Lord Bafford's Mansion. A fatcat fatty lord with a magic scepter that will bring you big bucks.

It is actually a pretty long mission considering it is a starter mission. Looking back it is fairly simple and gives you most of the things you'll find in the game.


Firstly it shows you what just hiding around the corner listening to guards talk is like....they do...most of them are bored guards whistling away. Benny the guard in the beginning gives a hilarious monologue telling his friend how he's going to the bear pits to see bears fight. But that's not important for you as you slink through the alleyways...you were told of a back door from the intro and you actulally have a map....I say MAP...but this is another brilliant part of the game.

Every level /mission you receive a map from a contact. But that contact usually just wrote vague notes and areas....Most of the maps are NOT exact.
Some have sketches, important landmarks, really fuzzy maps.

BUt that's more realistic of what you are likely to receive. And once you get inside....you realize...you are in a big mansion. And you can walk around this place however you want. Go where you want. Do what you want. In whatever order you want. ALL you have to do is steal some money and steal the sceptre. How you do it is up to you.

You are given an assortment of tools....lockpicks, a sword, and an array of exciting arrows. NOne of which it went into detail about in the intro. This castle is the perfect place to discover that. Water arrows put out torches from afar to create dark areas. Moss arrows make the ground silent as different surfaces (marble, gravel, brick, stone, metal) are pretty loud when walked upon. Marble and metal are so damn loud. It's like clipclop loud . Loud attracts people. People that want you dead. You are after all breaking into every place you go. And their swords hurt. Try it. YOu won't like it. The guards are skilled at swordfighting and wear armor. They will do a LOT of damage to you. But you will probably need 7-8 swings before killing them. Hence...stay in the dark. Don't alert them.

This is an RPG of sorts...you have hit points. There are 3 levels of difficulty. You have fewer HP at higher difficulty as well as the guards are more sensitive to noise/harder to kill....AND you have more things to accomplish the higher difficulty.

But here is the thing about the guards. It will not end the game to be seen. Guards will hear you. Guards will see you. And when they do, they shout at you. Then they will chase you and try to slice you in half. But guess what...you have legs. You are a lover not a fighter. You can run. YOu can run all through the mansion.... You can lose those sobs. Run around the corner, jump down the stairs, rundown a hall, enter a mystery door, jump into the corner and sink to the ground, hiding...waiting....listening.....hearing them just outside walking down the hall, praying they don't open that door. This is thief. YOu are intruding and have a chance of getting caught. It's really tense and exhialerating. Probably the most tense feeling is not fighting a guard. But when you are trying to open a locked door before a guard comes around a corner and sees you. You can lead a whole congaline of guards through the castle. Granted it's not good to do that as they alert each other.

So how do you deal with guards? You sneak up all quietlike behind them and gentlely bop them unconscious with your blackjack, then carry them craftily into the darkness and leave them there. (after robbing them blind) The immersion of this game sincerely makes you create stories here. Whenever i place someone somewhere I always think about what happens in a few hours when they wake up in this strange new room. Or in a locked closet or something. Or piled up in a cell with 10 other guards.

And as you make your way through level after level...the world notices. The fatcats know who you are and talk about you in their diaries...and you also start attracting the attention of some pretty mean and powerful dudes....The Hammerites. A religious group of monks and priests who wear red and white robes and armor and worship The Builder. And carry VERY large and deadly hammers. Get it? Hammerites? Not so funny when in mission two you have to break one of your contacts out of jail. The Hammerites imprison people just because they want to....taxes and such too. "Sinners". And it's a scary place. And oh yes....it's haunted.

So leads to the next reason I love this game so much. It's one of the best horror games I've ever played. By getting the immersion right...you are aware of yourself and feel like you are in the game. You are also aware of the world aroound you and that people and things in the world are aware of you. That's an excellent place to inject horror. It already has the tenseness and isolation feeling perfect....

Now let's add haunted places and monsters. Yes the mines underneath the Hammerite prison are haunted with zombies and they are really fricking scary.
The design...the noises they make. SImple yet terrifying. And holy water becomes very important. And let's not forget the spiders. I'm not certain what is scarier...trying to move around a zombie that is lying in front of you...or being in the middle of a hammerite prison behind the scenes and just knowing those bruts are EVERYWHERE. It was in this level that I've never felt more rebelious and in need of revenge. And everyone I knock out...I imprison in their own cells and lock the door. Yes...I know they will die in there. I know they will be cramped 12 in. I don't care. These bastards deserve it for what they do to these people. And yes, this meant carrying people from ALL OVER the building into these corridors and cells and then going up and locking them again. This is not something that is needed from the game...it's just something you can do. ANd it is more satisfying than scoring a million points on some other game.

Actually my favorite level is the following one where you are retrieving an artifact from a series of underground tombs full of zombies and worse things...

So there are alternate spooky things and normal things...

The story ever expands through the mission cut scenes...
and diaries and notes you read. You discover how each household is run just from the orders written by the masters to their servants or from one worker to another....or from this cheating lord about how he spends all his money...or what the builders did to each of their sinner prisoners

So this is why this game has always been my favorite.

[CrimsonFox]

Fox, if this game is so great, why haven't you solved it?

Because it is hard for one thing. SOme level are downright tricky. It was definitely from an era where games were harder.

Because a couple of the missions are tedious and confusing to figure out where you are going. And once you are tired of searching for an exit without a proper map for an hour you kinda are bored and want to just kill things.

And like Unreal...I put this down and pick it up later, etc. I actually made it to the second to last level at one point....never made it further.

And every new computer I've had I put this game on it and played...

However this one does NOT hold my attention span as MUCH because it is a much slower game. You play at your pace with succinct goals....which do not include killing.

So you do have to be in a less aggressive mood.


Now one thing...years after the original, they rereleased it...with a level editor. Plus THREE levels they pulled from the original game.
The Thieves Guild, The Opera House, and one other I forget.

These levels were actually pretty darn hard and long...maybe that's why.

And my latest attempt had been halted by one of these three.

THe THieves Guild....It is long and hard (That's what she said)

Your goal is to break into a casino and find the secret passage down to the hideouts underground of two warring thieves' guilds. ANd steal something they are fighting over. Aside from ALL of the thieves in the casino, there are a million twisty miles of sewers and places where guards patrol, plus under=grouns entrances to open, guards to get by and two complete hideouts to deal with. Took forever.

[CrimsonFox]

BUT I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The casino part was always fairly straightforward. HOwever the probblem with this whole level is there are so many places with lanterns you cannot put out with water. So sneaking is harder.

And I had done all that. It was the finding my way around underground that was so impossible. THere are so many brick passageways. THen so many sewers. And several large rooms that look alike. And heavily guarded entrances of the guilds themselves. And thieves everywhere.

Plus thieves with bows. THieves with bows hurt...:P
And running fromthem is harder...

Here I'll just post this...watch this to get a taste of how long this thing is...

[CrimsonFox]

Oh yes...the other grea thing about starting this game over is that I finally started downloading all the patches and MODS made by thief fans over the years. Their texture mods are really great. Being a 1997 game the thing it did NOT have going for it was great graphics...but with gameplay like this it was easy to overlook.

SO that has been a great bonus.

[CrimsonFox]

To tell tales of my sortee into the guild...

getting into the guild and wiping out the casino was the easy part really. However as mentioned there is now a combination of light sources. Some torch, some fireplace, some lantern. Only the first two can be extinguished.

Maybe this level was too easy with torches. BUt it's really hard without.

There is a long wall dividing the main floor of the casino. ON either side is a long bar (like a drinking bar). And these bars are patrolled by 2-3 guys. Outside the bars are the casino tables which face watchrooms with 2 guards each. Usually one with a bow. So if any guard sees you, ALL the guard in the place come running. If any patron sees you, they shout out to the guards.

So yes this can be a challenge. But getting into the center is the key. Take out the outside torches behind the bar and you can then position yourself to take out the patrols easily. You can sneak into darker areas and knock out the patrons pretty easily. Getting the watchroom guys takes quite a bit of work especially getting through the doors. I think one area allows you into the hallway behind and from there picking locks and headbashing is easy.

There are then 2 entrances down into the sewers. One through a secret door entered by the roulette table and the other behind one of the guard rooms. Behind that is a series of rooms carved in stone and gravel with small beds and fire lit for hideous living conditions of the thieves. The other way has two guards having a converstaion about a vase that the 2 warring master thieves have stolen and are fighting over....thus begins your quest.

Steal the key from one thief to open the safe from the other.


But this area is full of brick passageways and guarded large rooms with guards everywhere. YOu also have to make your way into rooms that open sewer gates that lead to other areas. So many of the passages look alike or double back to areas you have been. In 3d or 2.5 d or something this would be easier. But 1st person it is maddening. Especially getting past the large room with the pool in the middle but two levels of ramps on the outside where guards patrol and one guy at the head of the room with a bow. There are about 3 areas that look like this.

So getting to Donal HQ and/or Reuben's is tricky...and your map is really not much help at all. Just sketches of things...areas....labels...South basement, lower sewer, upper sewre, north basement, with arrows saying which direction to go for each thief. Granted I did say it was more fun not having exact instructions sometimes...until it becomes monotonous and adds nothing to the game. Perhaps that is why this level was thrown out originally. The lost world level set in like mayan or incan looking burnt city with lava flows....got a similar treatment. It was so empty and confusing and boring...that in the gold release they added more guard ghosts....and also more of these dinosaurs called "burricks"...oh how cute these burricks are. They were first appeared in the Bonehoard underground level. And they spit poison gas at you.

So it is easy to see why I stopped playing this altogether. And frequently consulted with visual walkthrus to determine just where the hell i was supposed to go....the answer of course is always the same....through ONE doorway...and if you miss that ONE doorway...you won't get there.

I went to DOnal's HQ first and cleared it out. The place is actually well to do and pretty, with soft (quiet ) rugs and stained glass and golden banisters and marble bathtub....and I always feel obligated to jump straight into the bathwater in my dirty clothes just so the fatcats have to waste all that water.

IT's funny that I always find a bottle of wine and /or candlesticks right by the tub. Both are goods worth something.

Of course I missed a guard or two that ended up chasing me. I was kind of sloppy in this area...as well as when I finally got to reuben's. Probably because I was impatient to finish. I used quiet a few healing potions indeed as they hit me a LOT. Reuben's place is mostly stonemade and he keeps a lot of cells locked. SOme had storage, some had bones of people...one had a gigantics fricking spider....which ran out and immediately attacked me again and again....damnit the cheek and snarkiness of these designers. THey got me.

But I potioned up again and got the key. Getting back to Donal's was an equal farce as I AGAIN lost my way. Kept going back through the SAME guards again and again and ending back at ruebens. Finally i took the right underground sewer passed the white dead spider then the Y then the other dead spider and since I cleared out the whole place earlier it was all I need was to bounce on the bed a couple times, steal the vase and head for one of the outdoor areas to win.

And this was all on normal. I figured I needed normal for this level. Expert won't let you kill anyone and only gives you 10 hit points...

I needed 20 for this plus I wanted to kill people....and kill I did. The most frequent targets were Reubens guards who would all follow me through the sewers into one of the big rooms. IT was a matter of climbing a ladder and shooting them from above, then chasing them when they run away. Then they fall when I meet them later with one sword swipe.


Next level: The Sword....one of the best and trippiest created in the first game. A Mad lord creates a torsyturvy fun house with upsidedown rooms and hallways, a cavern of space, a sword hanging in the middle of a chamber which you have to steal. It's quite cool. And gets back to basic thieving.

I think this is the first encounter with scissorhands monster.

[CrimsonFox]

This thread kinda stopped because I found it a lot of pressure not only to play the games but track what I'm doing and take interesting pictures about it. But now I've got a completely new obsession: ACHIEVEMENTS!

So I'll track that now until I get bored with it! DOing great so far...

To be Clear...Steam has achievments in game for doing various things. Some games have achievements just for playing bits of the game and give you a LOT of them. Some have planned things that are VERY hard to get. And others make fun of achievements...

This will not only chronicle getting achievements but finishing games 100% (according to Steam) which means complete the game + get all the achievements.

Anyway let's go...

[CrimsonFox]

Let's start with The Stanley Parable.

A game I got back in 2013 under peer pressure for way more than I should have.

It clearly made fun of achievements, giving you one simply for restarting the game after exciting.

Another had you touch door 430 5 times....but if you do so the announcer is disatisfied in how easy that was so he leads you on a scavenger hunt of tasks throughout the game only to finish back at the same door where he finally gives in and gives you the achievement.

But these last two were hard ones...

The first...

BEAT THE GAME in under 4 minutes and 22 seconds....SPEED RUN!



Here was the beginning of my attempt...



It was also the beginning of a SECOND acheiemvent. The hardest one....Play the whole game for an entire Tuesday....that's 24 hours of gametime...

[CrimsonFox]

So I planned to start the game at around 11:50 PM....monday.

But I forgot and took a long shower...

And...

It was 12:15 when I remembered. So I set my clock back...to 11:55.

And started the game and played it for a bit.

Then tried the Speed run several times, failing....

Then I did risky thing number 1...I alt-tabbed.

I read other people talking about commitment run....and they all did the same thing. THey turned on the game and left it on screen the whole time.

I alt-tabbed.

I watched movies and such and read up on the speed run. And found one movie that had him scaling chairs and falling over the side of a railing to land on the rising catwalk below to save time.

Never knew that.

Any case I left the game for awhile staying in here:

[CrimsonFox]

I did TRY the chair method

There are two spots in the Mind Control facility with chairs that lead to a table and you can walk the railing and fall below. Otherwise you just push the button and wait for the railing to rise.

I couldn't figure out how to get on the first one so I just waited. The second one I pushed the button and got on the table, then fell off into darkness. At this point my game was over. There is no way out of the bottom of the room.

Thus risky thing #2: I restarted by hitting escape then "BEGIN THE GAME AGAIN". This actually is fine but I was worried. You can start the speed run at any time by doing this. It is also fine for commitment because you aren't actually exiting the game. NEVER exit the game.

I did do something else to assure my coming runs...I changed the mouse sensitivity to almost maximum. That way it was easier for me to go up the stairwell to the boss's office.

Also you HAVE to run through the game at LEAST twice and type in the boss's secret code before the narrator finishes. By the third time, the narrator gets annoyed and fed up and just opens the secret door for you.

So the next run I wasn't even trying that hard and failed to get up on the first table, I got up on the second table but couldn't fall over. I guess there was a place where I needed to go on the rail I couldn't find, but I fell off left onto the platform anyway. The catwalk was in view by then so I just waited for it and ran normally. The rest was cake. Just waited for the minute and a half narration while the garage door opens at the end....and....





Freedom!
Achievement complete!

[CrimsonFox]

But that still leaves COmmitment....

I was absoutely expecting to have to do multiple tries but I was bored still and...

Risky move #3 (perhaps the biggest one) - I started up other steam games and played them while Stanley parable was running. Even took pictures and got other achievements in other games.

After 24ish hours I came back and played a few more times for old time's sake when I came to the amusing narration about THIS Serious fern:



I stared intensely at this fernivorous plant....and ten minutes later...the little blip and icon appeared. I had done it. The 24 hours on a Tuesday Achievement was mine.

COMMITMENT! (which is what I fear is what I should do to myself now)

[CrimsonFox]

And....100% of the game...my second one. I do not know what game #1 was...

[CrimsonFox]

Fooling around in one of the first games I ever got on Steam...and won!
: Portal

There is an achievement that I think was created years after the game was made (I think). Steam didn't always have achievements so I think it was created once that happened. It's about the radio. There is a radio hidden somewhere on EVERY level. You have to:

1) Find the radio
2) GET the radio
3) Take the radio to SOMEWHERE in the level where the light will turn from red to GREEN.

At that time you will be told "Transmission Received" and the achievement will update. You must do this 26 times.

And apparently it's a big metapuzzle as well. That each transmission can be listened to and deciphered as another puzzle.

Some of them are tricky just to get the darn radio.


As of now I have 12 / 26 including this one!

[CrimsonFox]

On Feb 4 at 11:07 AM I created a portal above and below and fell through for about 6 minutes...



To get the Terminal Velocity Achievement...Fall 30,000 feet.

[CrimsonFox]

A couple hours ago I placed a portal on the wall and one on the floor turned around, jumped in and after about 30 seconds....




Got the Long Jump Achievement.

[CrimsonFox]

Last week on Long Live The Queen, I, the 14 year old Princess just turned queen because the death of my mother, kissed a nine year old, drown, had a duchess assassinated, and got run through with a sword getting acheievments for all. Now...I challenged someone to a duel at a party for me...and he proceeded to shishkabob me.

But got the achievement anyway. Such is the life of Royalty (I so love this game...you put points into classes to take and you can choose any of like 18 but get penalties and bonuses based on your current mood and current cute outfit you wear. So...the goal is to make it to the throne with your head still attached to its neck and there are LOTS of ways to die.

This is one of many of semi casual games that have LOTS of achievements.

Which leads me to explain my Steam categories for the process of getting achievements...

1) Achievement Hunt - These are games which I will be currently seeking specific achievements or whatever achievements I have left. These games usually have been fully played or at least partially played but going after the achievements will help me finish things.

2) Casual Games - Lots Available. Like Long Live The Queen there is an achievement for everything. Oftentimes with these games the game concept is simple, often storybased or else just pure casual game and for everything you do you get an achievement.

3) Yuk - Time to Make the Doughnuts. Games I hate/dislike and probably won't be playing much at all. Maybe I'll pop one in just to get achievements as the game/theme/gameplay just doesn't do it for me. They are not necessarily bad games persay all the time...they just turned me off for one reason or another. TOmb Raider and Bioshock Infinite are even in here.

4) Gotta Start Somewhere. Games I haven't even started yet altho I've installed some of them. Can't wait to begin.

5) Good ones...Getting there...
These games haven't made it into other categories yet as I haven't totally assessed them but I did enjoy what I've played so far yet haven't really looked at the achievement needs. And usually I haven't gotten far enough to worry about those.

6) NO ACHIEVEMENTS - These are usually old games whose companies are defunct and therefore the game went into steam yet no one is around to make achievements. Some really awesome games are in this category. And I haven't finished these games either

7) WORK COMPLETE - Games that I've completed AND gotten every achievement. This currently contains a meager 3 games.

[CrimsonFox]

The newest addition to category 7 COMPLETE Games...

Thomas was Alone

A clever little puzzle game, on the easy side...which is fine with me.

It has a similar narrator to Stanley Parable. Very conservative British.
I really think both games got narrators who "sounded like Stephen Merchant" based on the success of his Portal 2 character.

Anyway this game is really fun. You move shapes of different sizes around like a platformer...each one has a different attribute and ability. All jump, some higher than others. And there are little squares about when you get them you get the achievement. I finished the game...but missed 5 out of...20 or so.

So getting them was actually pretty easy since finishing the game I could start on any level.

Had to play through some bits though. THe tricky one was the level where you start out falling and just have to keep falling and avoid these spikes that will kill you. An achievement is tucked away to the right under one of these spike platforms. So...

This was the last one...



An underwater one. And with that I 100% completed the game.

[CrimsonFox]

Updated List of Completes
1 - Undertale - I finished this twice...once half saving/halfkilling people and fought the xerox monster then fought the king many times finally restarting...then I did the supernice ending. There are NO achievements in this game and the dev seems to like to troll and keep people from replaying his games.
2 - Doki Doki Literature Club - Oh man what a long strange trip that was. No achievements in it and finished it. And you should too!
3 - I don't know what the 1st game I beat 100% and not sure how to find out.
4 - The Stanley Parable. Originally I played this way way back when it came out and only did a few endings. A couple years ago I started fresh and got a lot more of the endings. Now I've finished those funny achievements.
(100% COmplete game #2)
5 - Thomas Was Alone. You witnessed it!

[CrimsonFox]

Now it's time to look at what started this whole achievement hunt!

In the early 2000s there was a game called Serious Sam.

It was basically a next generation of Doom. Take a beefed up beefcake, give him lots of guns and throw endless hordes of monsters at him. But this was actually 3D (not 2 1/2 D) and the graphics were really good.
Plus multiplayer the hell out of it!

It boosted the best Multi I've ever seen still. It had the deathmatch with maps and stuff yadayadayada. But where it shined was the coop. YOu could coop the whole game with as many people as you wanted. And the difficulty could be set to increase with more people to keep it challenging. So fun. Such Chaos! So wonderful. Plus secrets galore!

And with all this comes....achievements!
And an HD version!

So I've been playing the game and going back and was told about an achievement....one that involved playing it on Coop mode on SERIOUS mode (highest difficulty) playing it through the whole way. I joined 4 others in this task and had a blast. We all succeeded. In getting That achievement plus one to beat the game in Co-OP Hippee mode (which changes blood into flowers and pumpkins)

Ever since then various members of this group have joined forces for other Serious Sam Achievements both coop and Deathmatch...and there are a LOT of Deathmatch onesSome absolutely insane.

So I've made a bunch more steam friends all in pursuit of achieving achievement in this and others...


And here is what I"ve done so far...

Achievement / What it is / When I got it
Serious Beginner / Complete any level in single player / July 2014
Game Master / Complete the Game / January 20 - Got this during the Serious coop run. Never finished it before I guess.
Serious Run / Beat the "Estimated Time" on every level / Feb 1 - The latest achievment I got. I thought it would be hard, not knowing WHAT times I had to beat, so I put the game on easy mode and just ran through as fast as I could. Some levels let you skip things. Others shut the door until you kill all monsters in that room. I beat most levels by 15 minutes at least.
Cannon Expert / Pierce 10 enemies with a single cannon ball / Jan 21 - Gotten on the last level where an endless barrage of Kleer Sleketons charge out of the side of a building and line up for you in a nice line as they charge. Then it's a matter of bowling!
Perfect Kill / Kill all enemies in the karnak level / Jan 23 - The first big solo one I got, required many tries and LOTS of reading and watching videos. Most enemies spawn and they don't spawn until you step on the right places...so it took a bunch of tries and knowing how many monsters are supposed to be in each room
Look, it's a secret / Find 50 secret areas in the game / With a secrets list it was quite fun. Beat it by level 6 I think
Co-op Beginner / Beat any level in co-op / Jan 16 - Don't even remember
Coop Hippy / Complete the Pyramid Level (the last one) in hippy mode / Jan 20 - During the MAJOR RUN!
Serious Co-op / Beat the entirte game in coop serious mode / Jan 20
Rocket Jumper / Perform 100 Rocket Jumps / A Rocket Jump is a thing where you jump while blasting a rocket almost straight down. The force propels you up and onto or over walls. It really opens up the game actually as you can do whole levels on walls where the monsters can't reach you. About 5 of us were doing this at once. Was so fun.
Look Ma, I won! / Win a Deathmatch / Mar 13, 2017 - Was probably some random guy
Deathmatch Veteran / Complete 100 Deathmatches / Jan 22 - During the height of our sharing kills day
Deathmatch Duelist / Win 25 1 on 1 DMs / Jan 21 - Made a good friend in one of the Serious coop people. We've been doing this ever since.
Untouchable / Win at least 4 player Deathmatch by reaching frag limit of at least 25 without dying / Jan 23
Fragger / Frag a total of 100 players / Jan 21
Desperate Fragger / Frag 25 players with a knife while having no more than 10 health left / Mar 13, 2017 - I vaguely remember doing this with some other guy in the past doing the exact same setup
Butcher / Frag 100 players with a knife / Jan 22
Swordsman / Frag 100 players in a knife-to-knife fight / Jan 22
Backstabber / Frag 100 players with a knife from behind / Jan 22
Grudge / Frag the same player 5 times in a row in at least a 4 player DM / Jan 23
Nemesis / Frag the same player 10 times during a single round in a 4+ player DM / Mar 13, 2017
Frag Combo / Perform 4 frags with each being no more than 10 seconds apart from the prev frag in 4+ DM / Jan 23
Royal Frag Combo / Frag all players in a single frag combo / Jan 23
Swimming instructor / Drown an enemy / Feb 24, 2017

Those are most of the easy ones. Or easi-ISH.

What remains is much much harder and I don't think I'll be getting a lot more.
There are a couple that just require a LOT of frags in deathmatch altho I don't know if I have the patience.
The rest of the solo ones require playing on serious mode by yourself in various places and might be way too hard for me.

ANyway....those are the achievements...I'll finish with pictures!

[CrimsonFox]

I will commence with pictures as soon as Steam fixes their picture server. :P

[CrimsonFox]

Games and their achievements from this week

Hell Girls - A Casual Game...looks like another gem matching game but instead of switching gems you line up matching gems connect the dots style, the more you get the higher level book it turns into. And then connecting books does more damage to monsters. ANd you can increase stats and things. Every battle you win you get an achievement as well as every scroll you buy, and every level of the three characters you increase. So avalanche of achievements

and it's all gorgeous anime....



Feb 4: Fire Level 3, Lightnighg Level 3, 3 Goddess of Victories (for battles)
Feb 5: Fashionaista 2 (for finding an outfit), Goddess of Victory 11 12
Feb 6: Goddess of Victory 13 14, Master of COllection 1 2 3
Feb 8: Goddess of Victory 15 16, Master of COllection 4 5 6
Feb 9: Master Ice Level 3 4, Goddess of Victory 17 18

[CrimsonFox]

Picked up this Limbo achievement on Feb 8

Alone in the Dark!

[CrimsonFox]

3 Portal Achievements:
Terminal Velocity for falling 30,000 feet
Long Jump for Jumping 300 feet
and Cupcake (or whatever) for completing 2 advanced Achievements

[CrimsonFox]

Haunt the House - A VERY casual game where you play a cute ghost and fly into a house or train or whatever and possess all the items in it and accessing various levels of haunting. VERY casual. Cute and the fun is seeing how each item gives a scare. A little tedious to try and "WIN" each level tho.

Got 3 this week.



Feelin' Blue for haunting the leftmost picture in the mansion to its max
Finders Keepers for possessing every item in the Mansions
Through the Spooking Glass for accessing every level of haunting every item in the Mansion

[CrimsonFox]

Eldritch - A cool spooky game based off Minecraft engine. Perfect engine for the creepiness really. You do Cthulhu things chased by cthulians


Got the Well Read Achievement for reading every book

[CrimsonFox]

Faerie Solitaire Remastered is a game given to everyone that owned Faerie Solitaire

IT's basically one specific game of solitaire (cards) with a storyline, special locked cards, and eggs and resources you can find to grow cute pets. As casual as casual a game can be. Pleasant graphics, images on the cards, and cut scene storyline. Tons of achievements



As I begin the game again I got:

Super Combo
QuickDraw
Perfect
Hatching
Hexionist
Perfectionist
and
Stage I Complete

[CrimsonFox]

Final game to report is NEKOPARA Vol. 0

I got achievments for playing in Chinese and Japanese.

[CrimsonFox]

Oh eayh I completed the EGYPT achimnt in Glass Masquerade, another Casual game of putting together stained glass windows.

[CrimsonFox]

Perhaps I shall give these casual games a rest or at least won't play so many of them at once so that I don't have to report so much

[CrimsonFox]

Hell GIrls - Goddess of Victory 19
Lightning girl seems to be the best of all of them. Maybe it's a coincidence.
I attacked monsters at the water temple. Then I attacked giants and demons and got stomped right at the end.
My mouse is acting up tho. This game requires drag and drop and that's where my mouse is flaking.