Would you believe, I was briefly reduced to a 386, in 1999.
It was better than having no computer, but not by much.
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Wouldnāt run half life I take it?
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Definitely, my first PC was an old IBM PS/2 that I bought from the restaurant where I worked for Ā£10 when they finally upgraded. It was a 486 with a separate math coprocessor and a tape drive! This was also 1999. I played Elite Frontier a lot because it was the only game I could find for DOS
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Haha. Fallout 2 apparently ran on DOS, though Iām not sure how enjoyable that would have been on a 5mb harddrive.
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āRanā is a strong word for the first couple of Fallouts. Fallout 3 was my first exposure to the series so I checked out the first two, probably ten years after they were released.
After the first ten crashes, I downloaded a fan-made patch that fixed about 7,000 known bugs. They made the patch because the devs had stopped supporting the game years ago.
The patch brought the number of bugs down from āBSOD every ten minutesā to āgame-breaking hard crash every half an hour.ā
I donāt miss PC gamingā¦
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Tabletop:
I have local gaming group that is about 10 years old now. We play twice a month on Sundays and a mostly the same group places twice a month on Tuesday evenings (for less time).
Sundays are Blades in the Dark and Dungeons and Dragons, Fifth Edition right now. We tend to do longer term campaigns on alternating sessions.
Tuesdays are pick up games, usually games that are one to four sessions, focused on indie āstory games.ā Right now, weāre playing Soth.
Computers:
I have a PS4 and play a lot of Destiny with my Buddhist-themed Destiny clan, Namaslay. I just bought Helldivers and Horizon Zero Dawn.
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Any Nintendo Switch owners here? Finally got mine yesterday and I canāt decide if Iām excited or not. I donāt have any games yet, and obviously Zelda is on my list. I was hoping to be able to pick up a used copy at this point, but that doesnāt seem worth it (most Iāve seen are still selling for $50+). Also, I was hoping to have a game to play with my son (3.7 years old) but I donāt see a lot of titles that appeal to kids (1-2 switch?). Iām really hoping they have a virtual console soon, since Iām sure there are a lot of games Iāve missed since I owned my last Wii so many years ago, and Iāve never owned a DS.
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I own a Switch.
My daughter is 4 and 5/6ths.
My recommendations:
##The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
There is so much to do in this game. My daughter was quite intent on finding out who the old man near the beginning is.
Her: Whatās his name?
Me: I donāt know, he hasnāt told me yet.
Her (the next day): Has he told you his name yet?
##Snipperclips
She likes the puzzle solving aspects and the cute characters. Most of all she just likes cutting.
Her: Iām gonna cut you!
##Puyo Puyo Tetris
She hasnāt really gotten into this one yet, but she likes the brightly colored characters.
##Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
She really likes this one. There are options you can turn on or off for steering, accelerating, and tilt controls. This means that she doesnāt have to focus on the controls too much, but sheāll stay mainly on the track. It doesnāt result in a win very often, but she doesnāt feel left out either. Battle mode is fun too since there are teams for some of the sub-modes so she can focus on whose team is winning.
In general the Joy-Cons are a good size for small hands, and donāt have a ton of controls to deal with.
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Great recommendations - thanks!
I just started Zelda today, and Iām not sure my son will have the patience for it (actually, Iām not sure I will either). Mario Kart looks good, though Iāve never been a fan. Maybe that will change playing with my son 
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I just finished Zelda over the weekend. It was pretty damn good. The attention to detail is just incredible. But I did not think it worthy of some of the overenthusiastic praise from some reviewers. Also I played it on my Wii U as I donāt have a Switch but itās really not that much different.
With that done Iām now spending all my gaming time with the wonderful Persona 5.
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Still playing Skyrim. When I got to the point of being able to snipe anything in the game with two shots from stealth, I decided to visit the local Hogwarts. Hey! Leveling again!
Thinking about getting Witcher.
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company of heroes 2. American Campaign,
Itās theoretically Real Time Stategy, but I ride the Pause key.
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My first PC was in '97, a Pentium 90 I overclocked to 100MHz and painted black (case, monitor, keyboard), and upgraded to 32MB of RAM, IIRC. I used it to groove on fractals and live in Quake. The evil ex pinched it.
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I knew Iād done too much Quake when I was walking round this building in the dark -
and heard a sort of snuffling growl just round the corner, immediately assumed this:
and after the adrenalin spike had worn off a little, turned the corner and found this:
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I owned some laptops in college, but my first Big Boy PC was in '95 and it was a Pentium (P75?). I remember having a friend visit me for the weekend and we spent the whole time playing Myst. Mech Warrior was another favorite from that time - I even had the sidewinder joystick! Ah, good timesā¦
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Aaaahhhh Myst. I was an intern at a design office when it came out, and myself and one of the other interns would stay late every night (and through lunch) playing it. I have fond memories of plowing through that beautiful game.
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That thing was sweet. I had a couple over the years, but half the time the damn driver was out to lunch. Wouldnāt bloody notice when you plugged the thing in.
But when it was working, it transformed the experience - Descent was way more fun, as was an arcadey fighter pilot game I had (I think it was called Fighter Pilot), and since it was my only analog input, it rocked the driving games as well (particularly when it was possible to assign the twist axis to steering). It was also bloody great for FPSs that didnāt use too many buttons.
But damn, that fucken driver.
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Just today I was out walking my dog when I heard a noise that sounded straight out of a horror movie; I turned to see a guy with three pugs, who all wanted a piece of my dog.
On topic:
Games I am trying not to spend too much time on because I gots homework: Stardew Valley and Hatoful Boyfriend.
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I have to say, I spent a few hours in Hyrule this week and I am hooked. Thereās so much to love about Zelda BoTW. I might not make it all the way through, but so far Iām loving it.
Slightly different question for the group, especially those who have kids; how do you feel about retro gaming? Is playing early, canonical games a requirement for appreciating newer games? Should I force my son to play SNES before he gets to play Switch?
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