Gimli plays videogames

[Gimli]

Well this is a topic where I share or talk about games that I find interesting and worth checking out. Usually these are flash games, demos or standard free games, but occasionally they may be commercial games.

 

So let's being with the last few games.

 

Robokill - Fun top down shooter, like Crimsonland, only less enemies. It's room based, with a tinge of RPG in the form of leveling. You can change weapons and some equipment too. It's made in Flash, but it doesn't look like most Flash games, it actually looks very, very nice (for a flash game). Despite having less enemies, it's still tense and difficult at some points. You need to keep moving and in some cases use cover, too. It's a demo version, but it includes something like half the game.

 

Hoshi saga - Puzzle game. The objective in each level is to get the star, but for each level it's a different method. Some are quite easy, some are not.

There's also Hoshi Saga 2 and 3, but I haven't checked them out yet.

 

Gemcraft - Tower defense game. Very good, with lots of interesting features. It's not easy, though.

 

Thief: The Dark Project demo - yep, I missed out on this one. Oh boy what a mistake. I haven't had this much fun for quite a while. Took me a bit to figure out the controls and get going, but once I did it was an exciting, tense game, with a lot of thought put into it. Got through it without killing anyone.

 

Story (or what I got from it) - your objective is to loot a temple, but things get tricky right off the bat. You start in the shop of a man named Farkus and while you're looking around trying to figure out the controls, Farkus gets an unwanted present through the window in the form of an arrow to his body... what the heck? That's something you don't see every day. Garrett (that would be you) hears two voices commenting that they killed him (you), so he suggests that he should trail them, but make sure he doesn't get caught. Picking up a flame arrow from the table in Farkus' you begin following them carefully until you eventually see them entering a huge mansion belonging to a man named Ramirez - apparently another criminal. Your objective now becomes showing Ramirez who's the real criminal mastermind - by being extremely cocky and... stealing a purse from his belt. Difficult? Oh yes! But it's a worthy challenge and stealth is your advantage.

Closing in on the main entrance there's guards there on patrol, talking about something, so I proceeded to look around and see if I can find an alternate entrance. No dice, so I returned back ready to either sneak past them or kill them if I'm forced to.* To my surprise they were gone. There were three directions I could go to, so I picked one of the courtyards and promptly got spotted by a guard on a wall. I quickly moved into the shadows where he couldn't see me so he went down from the wall to find me. But I'm not stupid, so I ran away before he could get me. I got to some water in the courtyard and after looking around a bit I noticed a ladder. And as you know, if you find a ladder, you're going in the right direction. Opposite to the tower I was in now, there was a steep tiled roof with a balcony right next to it. Good opportunity to get into the mansion unseen. Inside was a library which was sadly well lit, so going in was a risk. Having no other choice I went inside trying not to make too much noise, being deep inside "enemy territory". And the risk suddenly went up a notch when I heard a man and a woman talking on the other side of one of the doors. The woman made a sarcastic comment on Ramirez always counting his money in the basement. Duly noted, but being afraid they would enter the library any moment now I frantically searched for some shadows until I came upon some stairs. This area above the library with a wide hole in the middle of it was a perfect spot to spy on those two should they come into the library. But something else caught my eye at that moment. There was a makeshift office in the end of the floor, with a big painting which was what caught my eye in the first place. Like in many other places in the mansion, there was a letter here discussing the criminal activities of Ramirez, and if I got things right, half of this corrupted town, including the guards.

One of your side tasks on this mission is to loot the mansion now that the temple is out of the question and collect at least 1000 gold. The candles with the gold support looked like a good start.

Now that it seemed like no one would be going to the library, I carefully opened the door where I eavesdropped on the man and the woman, entering another well lit area. I couldn't hear anyone walking, but there were doors nearby and hopefully there were more shadows there. I continued walking through this square forming hallway, occasionally visiting nearby rooms, and "relieving" the inhabitants of unnecessary luxuries. Luckily, only one guard was on patrol here, so I wasn't in any grave danger. In one of the rooms I visited, I found a locked chest. Nothing out of the ordinary, as there were more of them in the other rooms, all of them happily waiting for my trusty lockpicks.** But inside was a basement key. Next stop... the basement... which was surprisingly empty. Which was good. And shadowy. Which was good. And consisted of narrow corridors. Which was bad. But there were lots of alcoves on the sides. Which was good.

Luckily, there was only one guard again, whistling away to some tune I couldn't recognize. Nor anyone else I presume. Moving quickly in order to seize this opportunity, I finally got to a room with an open door. Jackpot! Inside was "a man counting his gold".

Dear Ramirez, let me introduce you to my blunt melee friend - the Blackjack. Crouching down, I slowly move in closer, then get up, run up to Ramirez and yell: "Say hello to my little friend!" (not really) Oops, it seems he knocked you off your feet - literally! Now to hide the unconscious body before anyone comes in. Now lets take a look around... plenty of gold here, I'll borrow it from you Ramirez. You don't mind, do you?... I'll take your silence as a yes. Oh, I see you have arrows with some interesting tips. And I just ran out of my fire dousing water arrows. Ooh, flash bombs, too. Heeey, what does this big button with Ramirez's R logo do? Ding dong rang the bell... complete silence. Whew, I should be more careful. Ohhh, a nice chest, very posh looking. But this one is impervious to my lockpicks. But Ramirez has a key. More documents of his criminal activities inside. Uh-oh, someone's coming, probably one of the guards... Oh, it's just a servant. I think he could be kabonged as well. At least now I know what the big button did.*** There's another fancy chest here, but I'm out of keys. Should have been more thorough in inspecting the mansion. Oh well, let's snatch the purse and get out of here.

 

I feel guilty for "borrowing" the possessions without asking first, but at least it went without any casualties, and I have a feeling I barely scratched the surface of this man's wealth. And nobody got hurt... except Ramirez and his servant. Bah, a headache at the most, hardly worth noting. On the other hand, he'll soon realize Garrett is very much still alive, and has just pulled an incredible stunt right in front of his nose putting him to shame and getting away with it, too. I have a feeling I've just made the lives of his guards worse. Not that they were good in the first place. Nevermind them, he'll probably set his "dogs" loose on me. Still it was very well worth it. I just wish I could see the look on his face when he wakes up and remembers the last thing he saw before going in for some "winter sleep". But somehow I still value this pathetic life of mine...

 

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*It's interesting that an optional objective is to get through without killing anyone.

 

**This reminds me of a true story about a Croatian locksmith. Apparently he once visited an old lady, remnant of an old aristocrat family, who had a very interesting password on her lock. It had something to do with pussy-cats... well, less with cats and more with... yeeees.

 

*** From the teachings of Kakashi sensei: "If the trap is obvious, don't fall for it."

 

 

 

I think it's clear which of these games I liked the most.

[FullAuto]

Did you play it or inject it?

 

You do seem quite enthusiastic about it...

[Gimli]

The Lost Vik... Snowmen - I don't think I need to say much more than that. It's fun, too.

 

Oh yes, played the demo of Thief 2 in the mean time. Good, but not as fun to me. Worth playing, though.

[Bomb Bloke]

Heh, that's not bad. Mind you, I loved the Vikings games...

 

I haven't played Thief 1/2, though I've cleared 3. I thing I disliked was that although you got all these different types of loot, only two of them were even half worth holding onto... Everything else served no other purpose then to sell.

[NKF]

I've only played the first Thief, and even then most of the treasure you collect isn't really worth much as you progress from mission to mission. I guess it's one of those 'it's the obtaining that is the treasure rather than the value of the treasure' things.

 

You might want to track down a fun but ridiculous game called Sticksoldiers. Brilliant platformer with state of the art 2d stickmen graphics, in glorious black and white. Tons of weapons and other gadgets like jetpacks you can use to battle the insane AI opponents. Very minimalist game that proves that graphics ain't everything.

 

My copy is a bit old, so all the links I had no longer work. But a quick google search reveals:

https://www.andrewrussellstudios.com/wsu/

 

Heck, there's a Wikipedia page on Stick Soldiers!

 

Also check out Progress Quest. It's ... well it's such an amazing game that it doesn't even need me to play! Be sure to read the info page on that website at the very least.

 

- NKF

[Gimli]

If you do not like Iji, you are not my friend. As good, if not better than Cave Story. Not only that, but you can also play as a pacifist and not kill those you don't have to. Didn't try that yet, because I have to beat the game in the non pacifist mode first. It has a decent story, too.

 

Been replaying Red Alert. Why is it that the good guys in Westwood's games always have sucky characters? As far as gameplay goes, I find the SP kind of less interesting than Tiberian Dawn. It seems too easy compared to it, although it may have to do with me playing the Soviets on Normal. I'm going with Hard for the Allies, I think I'm halfway through now.

It's not a big deal though, it's still a very good game.

[Knan]

Ooh. Thanks for the tip. Iji is really, really nice for an old-school gamer.

[Gimli]

Sector 8 is awesome. I won't spoil it, though.

[Gimli]

I just finished my first playthrough of Iji... let's just say it ties Star Control 2 for second best story in a videogame (Planescape: Torment is first). Can't wait to try the pacifist run.

Definitely the best game I have played this year. I doubt anything will surpass it.