From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


Another month, another opportunity to gripe about... I mean, discuss
the selection of new games at Humble Choice! Ain't life grand, giving
us all these exciting opportunities? Okay, let's dig into the pile and
see what's wrong with... erm, that is to say, what new thrilling games
we get this month!


#


* Diablo IV (via Battlenet)
https://diablo4.blizzard.com/en-us/
This game needs no introduction of course. Actually, I'm
rather surprised to see such a high-profile title on Humble
Choice. Oh, what's that? Blizzard just released another
paid expansion pack which requires people to own the base
game? Ah, that explains that.


* Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance (via Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1875830/Shin_Megami_Tensei_V_Vengeance/
I can't really judge this game. It's so outside my ordinary
that I know I'm not the one to say whether it's bad or good.
It's definitely not something that appeals to me; JRPGs just
aren't my thing, narratively or mechanically. Those who love
it really seem to think its good though. At least this version
doesn't need EA/Origin running in the background.


* Crysis 3 Remastered (via Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/app/2096610/Crysis_3_Remastered/
Hey, I just play this game a couple months ago! It's... not
great. Its biggest selling point --its visuals-- haven't aged
that well, and its gameplay are examples of the most un-
interesting aspects of late 2000s corridor-shooters. It's a
low-average example of the genre; not terrible, no, but
nothing really exciting either.


* Heroes of Hammerwatch II (via Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/app/619820/Heroes_of_Hammerwatch_II/
A top-down action RPG; a low-effort retro Diablo-clone with
randomly generated levels. It really does nothing to stand
out from anything else in the genre. If you love action-RPGs,
it doesn't do anything blatantly wrong with the formula...
but neither does it do anything new or exciting. It's just...
more.


* Nordhold (via Steam)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3028310/Nordhold/
A colorful and sort of surreal Tower Defense game with
an underlying hex-based grid. I'd get more excited about it
if it wasn't, you know, a tower defense game


* Rogue Waters (via Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1691190/Rogue_Waters/
A top-down, pirate-themed turn-based RPG. It's got
procedurally generated levels and rogue-like mechanics and,
oh god, I'm bored of it already and I haven't even gotten
through the description. The execution seems okay (and its
visuals aren't too bad), although many reviewers do complain
about underlying bugs. But I just can't get excited about
this one at all.


* Cubic Odyssey (via Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/search?term=Cubic+Odyssey%5C
Basically, Minecraft with a sci-fi bent and you aren't
limited to one planet. Otherwise, it's the same old open-
world survival/crafting game, complete with worlds made
of giant cubes. Think "No Man's Sky" except blockier.
It's fine.


* Mini Settlers (via Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/app/2521630/Mini_Settlers/
A /very/ minimalist city-builder, with a strong
emphasis on building up the logistical links. Think
SimCity crossed with Factorio and then run through a
filter that makes everything look like it could run on
Excel. Route resources to your factories so you can
build up your town. Visual theme aside, there's nothing
too novel about this one.



#


Will it surprise anyone to learn that this month's selection on
Humble Choice isn't wowing me? Really, it's all about "Diablo IV"; if
you want that game (and somehow you don't have it yet), this is a
great way to acquire it; it's half the price as what you'd pay at
Blizzard.com, and you get a bunch of other games besides. But if you
aren't a Diablo fan, the rest of the games aren't really worth the
price of entry.

Humble really needs to up their game.





















Oh, hey, was that a pun?!?

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 5/5/2026 11:40 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Another month, another opportunity to gripe about... I mean, discuss

I'd rather gripe.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 00:20 this Wednesday (GMT):

On 5/5/2026 11:40 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Another month, another opportunity to gripe about... I mean, discuss

I'd rather gripe.

"There's only two types of coding languages, the kind people complain
about and the kind nobody uses"
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 5 May 2026 17:20:52 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

On 5/5/2026 11:40 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Another month, another opportunity to gripe about... I mean, discuss

I'd rather gripe.

Well, have you come to the right place!!!! ;-)


I skipped this month's Humble Choice. It's not so much that I don't
really like "Diablo IV" --the genre doesn't excite me, but I wouldn't
mind taking a look at the game-- as I just didn't want to have to
bother with Battle.Net. Or generally deal with Activision (I've
softened a little on the company since the Microsoft purchase and
ex-CEO Kotick's ousting, but I still don't like them very much).

So even at $16USD, the price wasn't attractive to me... and none of
the other games were all that interesting.

Which is an increasing issue with recent Humble Choice selections.
I've said it before: I just don't think the service is worth it
anymore. Years ago I was a big fan, but over the past year or so the
choice of games has become worse even as the price has risen. I like
to poke fun at Amazon Prime Gaming, but between the two services,
Amazon's is the better deal.

Still, at least Humble Choice gives me something to write about on
Usenet once a month. And hey, sometimes it results in free games for quick-witted readers too!




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 5 May 2026 17:20:52 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

On 5/5/2026 11:40 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Another month, another opportunity to gripe about... I mean, discuss

I'd rather gripe.

Well, have you come to the right place!!!! ;-)

I skipped this month's Humble Choice. It's not so much that I don't
really like "Diablo IV" --the genre doesn't excite me, but I wouldn't
mind taking a look at the game-- as I just didn't want to have to
bother with Battle.Net. Or generally deal with Activision (I've
softened a little on the company since the Microsoft purchase and
ex-CEO Kotick's ousting, but I still don't like them very much).

Dude, are you blind? Look at what else is offered on Humble Choice right
now:

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/c-and-net-mega-bundle-2026-packt-books?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_1_layout_type_threes_tile_index_3_c_candnetmegabundle2026packt_bookbundle

Oh right, you can't read, and that's why you didn't mention this.

For a $3 contribution you get $783 worth of C# and .NET resources.

I haven't decided what to do about this yet. I'm not going to jump into
it because a mere $3 seems like I'd be ripping them off pretty bad, so
I'm going to think about for a week, with the time limit being 12 days currently.

It's literally a steal.

Or maybe it's just me. My work involves C# and Python, so maybe that's
why, but C# is better than C++, one of the big standards in video game programming, in my humble opinion. It's a richer and more homogeneous language, even if not quite as fast as C++. In fact, I've heard C++
referred to as an 'abortion.'

C# is very good, so long as Microsoft continues to support it. And it's
on an uptick right now with many adopting it, so that's virtually assured.
--
War in the east
War in the west
War up north
War down south
War War
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 5/6/2026 7:10 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 00:20 this Wednesday (GMT):

On 5/5/2026 11:40 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Another month, another opportunity to gripe about... I mean, discuss

I'd rather gripe.

"There's only two types of coding languages, the kind people complain
about and the kind nobody uses"

And I've used both. (Yes, you can. You try to use one of the kind
nobody uses, find out why nobody uses it and then complain about it
because you have to use it anyways.)
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 6 May 2026 17:50:01 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

You try to use one of the kind
nobody uses, find out why nobody uses it and then complain about it
because you have to use it anyways.)

Oh god, that last bit strikes so true. So many business applications
still use the most archaic backends and it HURTS to support them.



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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 00:50 this Thursday (GMT):

On 5/6/2026 7:10 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 00:20 this Wednesday (GMT):

On 5/5/2026 11:40 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Another month, another opportunity to gripe about... I mean, discuss

I'd rather gripe.

"There's only two types of coding languages, the kind people complain
about and the kind nobody uses"

And I've used both. (Yes, you can. You try to use one of the kind
nobody uses, find out why nobody uses it and then complain about it
because you have to use it anyways.)

So true, I find S-lang and Dreammaker very annoying but I perservere
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
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