Funtime Friday: Madness
Like this? (No Votes Yet)According to the mob, the definition of madness is repeating the same thing over and over but expecting a different result each time. By that regard, one would expect many people that work on the helpdesk in your typical office environment would be certifiable – “Have you restarted the computer, are the cables plugged in” and so on.
But I digress. It’s just that the frustration you get sometimes when dealing with IT on the night shift – they’re tired and want sleep like everybody else – has been similar to something else that can only be politely described as labouring through.
I miss nebula. We need more nebula in our gaming lives.
When my housemate has been charitable enough to choke our internet connection with his repeated uploading and downloading (he’s a photographer, so it can’t be helped) I’ve taken to the Wing Commander Saga to relieve my frustration.
That was the plan, anyway, until I quickly realised that the fan-made remake of Origin’s glorious space opera was actually just as good at inducing rage as say, Counter-Strike or even, I shudder to mention, MOBA games.
It’s not entirely the developers fault; they’re working within the limitations of the Freespace 2 engine, and while it’s performed admirably so far, it lacks some of the more modern touches one would expect. The support for mice isn’t as good as Freelancer, while the inability to skip cut-scenes and voices makes for an incredibly frustrating experience considering how goddamned difficult the game actually is.
The difficulty should be expected I suppose: after all, that’s what the fans wanted, especially in light of how easy games can be these days. But I’m still struggling to complete a tutorial escort mission: without the support of my AI wingmen, the support ship I’m trying to save melts like butter and I cop a torrent of abuse for failing my primary mission.
There hasn’t been a lot of classic space operas over the years: the X3 and Evochron series comes to mind, with the latter probably being the best sequel to Freelancer in spirit as any, but that still doesn’t really prepare you for how punishing Wing Commander can be given the fact that you’re stepping back in time in regards to the control scheme.
If I’m feeling a little more masochistic this weekend, I might give the Wing Commander Saga another roll, although it’s worth pointing out that I’m having better luck playing the original Wing Commander than I am with the remake. Go figure.
What’s your weekend shaping up to be like?
I’m hoping to play more Stellar Impact, with ‘hoping’ being the key here. There’s just not enough players on this so finding a match is tough. And if I do find one, I’m getting kicked out because of my low level.
Maybe I’ll just watch all of Community again.
I upgraded my PC this week so I’ll probably go through my Steam list and try every game on ‘High’ graphics settings.