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


Well, we've seen the backside of 2025, and are into a fresh new year.
There's only one thing left to do now, and that's our usual months-end
round-up of games we've played. You all know the drill, so let's hop
right to it.

Hop!



Superbrief
---------------------------------------
* Quake II Enhanced
* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC
* Cyberpunk 2077

Maximum Verbosity
---------------------------------------



* Quake II Enhanced
https://www.gog.com/en/game/quake_ii_quad_damage
I only gave this game the briefest of replays. Mainly, I played the
bonus 'Call of the Machine' add-on that came with the game (it's one
of the things that make the game 'enhanced' over the original), and
that only because it reportedly connected the story-lines of the
original "Quake" and its sequel.

Which it does... but not in any truly satisfying way. The level pack
itself isn't too bad; its conceit is that you are sending soldiers
down (via drop-pod) to collect 'data CDs' from enemy strongholds. Each
module starts you off as a new soldier with no weapons or equipment,
and lasts three or four levels (depending on whether or not there is a
secret level). The maps themselves are noticeably more complex than
the original levels; larger in size, with more complicated geometry
and more 'tricks' that make the world feel slightly more alive than
the 1997's levels. They also utilize the full range of weapons and
enemies from the original game and its two expansion packs, and aren't
afraid to throw twenty+ enemies at you at once. It's amazing what the
Quake engine can do when you know the players aren't limited to 128MB
RAM.

So the levels themselves are fairly fun to play; there's some good
variety and design, and they don't feel unnecessarily punishing. It's
a bit repetitive, having to restart from scratch for each module and
build up your armory each time, but it does keep everything more
balanced. It's just a shame the narrative that connects the game to
the first Quake --the whole reason I played it-- is so weak.
Essentially you fight through the whole quest only to face off against
<ROT13>n pbhcyr bs funzoyref</ROT13> with little context except that
they are 'the creators of the Strogg'. I mean, I know this _is_ Quake,
so story is always secondary, but a /little/ more detail would have
been nice. But no, you encounter your foe, kill it, and get a 'thanks
for playing' end-screen.

Still, it's "Quake II" and that's always been my favorite of the
franchise, so I'm not too disappointed with my brief layover. If you
already own the game, the 'Call of the Machine' level pack isn't
reason enough to re-purchase the game in its 'Enhanced' format, but if
you are in the mood for some "Quake II" blood-letting, the bonus
expansion is a nice addition and you should give it a try.

Even if it disappoints in its raison d'ntre.


* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012580/American_Truck_Simulator__Louisiana/ Yeah, yeah. It's not my fault the developers keep releasing new
expansions. What, like I have a choice about /not/ buying/playing
them? Still, even I have to admit that these constant reviews of what
is -essentially- the same game is tiring. You don't like reading them
and, to be honest, I'm not much a fan of writing them. There's just
nothing new to say! So I'll try to keep it short... or at least as
short as I can (so, you know, only four paragraphs. That's as close to
'short' as I can do ;-).

Anyway...the Louisiana DLC. It's fine. No, scratch that. It's
/good/... but not in any way that stands out from the other well-made
map expansions released by SCS Software. It's not a disappointing
release, that's for sure. But neither does it really excite.

Oh, there are some nice things. The vegetation has been greatly
improved; obviously SCS untied the purse-strings just enough to
finally buy a bunch of new tree and plant assets, and it shows. As
importantly, the density of the trees and bushes has been improved;
everything looks quite lush and jungley. The Louisiana map feels quite
distinct from the other states. It was sometimes hard to tell when you
crossed over from, say, Nebraska into Kansas or from Utah into
Arizona.

Louisiana, though, is different. It's got all the swamps and bayous,
for one thing; this is one wet state! But the roads are darker (fewer
overhead road lights), and the buildings are smaller and with their
own character. You definitely get the impression that this is one of
the poorer states in America.

Beyond that, there's not much to say. Parts of the map do suffer a bit
much from 'flat-itis' (where the world appears unnaturally flat in
order to fit the prefab buildings), and this is one of the smaller
releases; the road network is quite dense, but there's just less
driving to do overall. But overall, I am satisfied. It may not be my
favorite expansion, but it's good and --unlike some other states-- it
feels more like a destination than just something to drive through to
get to more interesting regions.



* Cyberpunk 2077
https://www.gog.com/en/game/cyberpunk_2077
This is such a big game.

Which is both "Cyberpunk's" blessing and its curse. It's amazingly
detailed and beautiful (in a dystopian way) world that even after
driving down the same road a thousand times, I still feel that I'll
suddenly run across something new. But at the same time, the world
itself is also quite shallow; scratch the surface and you won't find
much beneath the facade. NPCs have nothing to say; the buildings are
all empty, and the vast bulk of the side-quests are nothing more than
"go there and shoot somebody" affairs. The game reminds me nothing so
much as "Mafia II", which also had a wonderfully detailed open-world
but used it incredibly poorly. With "Mafia II", I decided the game
would have been better as a bunch of stand-alone levels that /looked/
like they were in a connected world. I'm not so sure that "Cyberpunk
2077" would be improved that way... but neither am I entirely willing
to discount it.

Which isn't to say I find nothing worthy in the game; far from it. The
main quest is engaging, and --while you're railroaded through the main
plot-- the game does give you a good degree of freedom in how you
react to the story. The mechanics --the driving, the shooting, the
sneaking-- are good enough; they never were the driving force that
kept me going, but they never bothered me. It just didn't excite me
either. It didn't help that the game leaned so heavily into
gun-combat, meaning that both stealth and hacking got short shrift
(seriously, there are like 500 guns in this game and only 20 hacking
powers).

I have to admit; I'm not really that big a fan of the cyberpunk genre
either. Especially nowadays, the grim dystopian future it postulates
is looking all too likely. Although I do get a chuckle walking down
the city-streets in the game; everything else might go to hell, but at
least there are sidewalks everywhere. That's a huge improvement over
most US cities (it's so obvious this game was designed by Europeans.
Even the public transit in that dystopia is better than most current
US cities ;-)!

I'm for the first time playing with the 2.0 patch and Phantom Liberty
DLC. The former supposedly revamped the combat, but I'm not really
seeing that much of a change (then again, the combat in the un-patched
game didn't leave much of an impression on me). I guess maybe it's a
little more difficult? Stealth seems to be less useful now? It's hard
to tell. The DLC (at least as much as I've played so far) hasn't
impressed me; the first bit seems an uninteresting and extremely
linear dungeon crawl, and none of the characters introduced have any
of the depth or nuance seen in the main game. But maybe that will
change as I progress through the story.

One thing I actively dislike in this game is a lack of a third-person viewpoint. It seems such an odd lack, given how much effort has been
put into the character design and the innumerable fashion choices. Why
allow players to put all that effort into creating their character and
then hiding it so you can only see it in the inventory screen? I'm
sure there's a mod for this but it irks me that I'd have to resort to
something that should be built into the game.

Otherwise... "Cyberpunk 2077" is fine. It's no "Witcher 3" but it's
got some fancy graphics and I get to go all cyber-ninja on robots. I
don't need much more than that to have fun.



---------------------------------------

Only three games this month, but two of them were fairly long affairs
so I'm satisfied. How about you? Did you get enough gaming in between
all the holiday celebration and parties? Basically, what I am asking
is:

What Have You Been Playing... IN DECEMBER 2025?



--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/1/2026 9:14 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Well, we've seen the backside of 2025, and are into a fresh new year.
There's only one thing left to do now, and that's our usual months-end round-up of games we've played. You all know the drill, so let's hop
right to it.

Hop!

Superbrief
---------------------------------------
* Quake II Enhanced
* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC
* Cyberpunk 2077

Maximum Verbosity
---------------------------------------

* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012580/American_Truck_Simulator__Louisiana/
Yeah, yeah. It's not my fault the developers keep releasing new
expansions. What, like I have a choice about /not/ buying/playing
them? Still, even I have to admit that these constant reviews of what
is -essentially- the same game is tiring. You don't like reading them
and, to be honest, I'm not much a fan of writing them. There's just
nothing new to say! So I'll try to keep it short... or at least as
short as I can (so, you know, only four paragraphs. That's as close to 'short' as I can do ;-).

Anyway...the Louisiana DLC. It's fine. No, scratch that. It's
/good/... but not in any way that stands out from the other well-made
map expansions released by SCS Software. It's not a disappointing
release, that's for sure. But neither does it really excite.

Oh, there are some nice things. The vegetation has been greatly
improved; obviously SCS untied the purse-strings just enough to
finally buy a bunch of new tree and plant assets, and it shows. As importantly, the density of the trees and bushes has been improved; everything looks quite lush and jungley. The Louisiana map feels quite distinct from the other states. It was sometimes hard to tell when you crossed over from, say, Nebraska into Kansas or from Utah into
Arizona.

As someone who has driven across most of the American states IRL, that
last line sounds right. Geologically there _isn't_ a big difference
between Nebraska and Kansas, or Utah and Arizona. :D

Louisiana, though, is different. It's got all the swamps and bayous,
for one thing; this is one wet state! But the roads are darker (fewer overhead road lights), and the buildings are smaller and with their
own character. You definitely get the impression that this is one of
the poorer states in America.

It is.

Beyond that, there's not much to say. Parts of the map do suffer a bit
much from 'flat-itis' (where the world appears unnaturally flat in
order to fit the prefab buildings), and this is one of the smaller
releases; the road network is quite dense, but there's just less
driving to do overall. But overall, I am satisfied. It may not be my
favorite expansion, but it's good and --unlike some other states-- it
feels more like a destination than just something to drive through to
get to more interesting regions.

As for what I played, not all that much. My Time at Sandrock and some
simple solitaire type games.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 17:34 this Thursday (GMT):

On 1/1/2026 9:14 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Well, we've seen the backside of 2025, and are into a fresh new year.
There's only one thing left to do now, and that's our usual months-end
round-up of games we've played. You all know the drill, so let's hop
right to it.

Hop!



Superbrief
---------------------------------------
* Quake II Enhanced
* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC
* Cyberpunk 2077

Maximum Verbosity
---------------------------------------


* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012580/American_Truck_Simulator__Louisiana/
Yeah, yeah. It's not my fault the developers keep releasing new
expansions. What, like I have a choice about /not/ buying/playing
them? Still, even I have to admit that these constant reviews of what
is -essentially- the same game is tiring. You don't like reading them
and, to be honest, I'm not much a fan of writing them. There's just
nothing new to say! So I'll try to keep it short... or at least as
short as I can (so, you know, only four paragraphs. That's as close to
'short' as I can do ;-).

Anyway...the Louisiana DLC. It's fine. No, scratch that. It's
/good/... but not in any way that stands out from the other well-made
map expansions released by SCS Software. It's not a disappointing
release, that's for sure. But neither does it really excite.

Oh, there are some nice things. The vegetation has been greatly
improved; obviously SCS untied the purse-strings just enough to
finally buy a bunch of new tree and plant assets, and it shows. As
importantly, the density of the trees and bushes has been improved;
everything looks quite lush and jungley. The Louisiana map feels quite
distinct from the other states. It was sometimes hard to tell when you
crossed over from, say, Nebraska into Kansas or from Utah into
Arizona.

As someone who has driven across most of the American states IRL, that
last line sounds right. Geologically there _isn't_ a big difference
between Nebraska and Kansas, or Utah and Arizona. :D

Wow, that's pretty cool! For your job, or just for fun?

Louisiana, though, is different. It's got all the swamps and bayous,
for one thing; this is one wet state! But the roads are darker (fewer
overhead road lights), and the buildings are smaller and with their
own character. You definitely get the impression that this is one of
the poorer states in America.

It is.

that sucks :(

Beyond that, there's not much to say. Parts of the map do suffer a bit
much from 'flat-itis' (where the world appears unnaturally flat in
order to fit the prefab buildings), and this is one of the smaller
releases; the road network is quite dense, but there's just less
driving to do overall. But overall, I am satisfied. It may not be my
favorite expansion, but it's good and --unlike some other states-- it
feels more like a destination than just something to drive through to
get to more interesting regions.

What states?

As for what I played, not all that much. My Time at Sandrock and some simple solitaire type games.

Solitare is always a fun time. It's my most played game on my 3DS, at
least.
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/2/2026 5:30 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 17:34 this Thursday (GMT):

On 1/1/2026 9:14 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012580/American_Truck_Simulator__Louisiana/
Yeah, yeah. It's not my fault the developers keep releasing new
expansions. What, like I have a choice about /not/ buying/playing
them? Still, even I have to admit that these constant reviews of what
is -essentially- the same game is tiring. You don't like reading them
and, to be honest, I'm not much a fan of writing them. There's just
nothing new to say! So I'll try to keep it short... or at least as
short as I can (so, you know, only four paragraphs. That's as close to
'short' as I can do ;-).

Anyway...the Louisiana DLC. It's fine. No, scratch that. It's
/good/... but not in any way that stands out from the other well-made
map expansions released by SCS Software. It's not a disappointing
release, that's for sure. But neither does it really excite.

Oh, there are some nice things. The vegetation has been greatly
improved; obviously SCS untied the purse-strings just enough to
finally buy a bunch of new tree and plant assets, and it shows. As
importantly, the density of the trees and bushes has been improved;
everything looks quite lush and jungley. The Louisiana map feels quite
distinct from the other states. It was sometimes hard to tell when you
crossed over from, say, Nebraska into Kansas or from Utah into
Arizona.

As someone who has driven across most of the American states IRL, that
last line sounds right. Geologically there _isn't_ a big difference
between Nebraska and Kansas, or Utah and Arizona. :D

Wow, that's pretty cool! For your job, or just for fun?

The latter. I once took a road trip with the goal of driving thru all
48 of the contiguous states. But Katrina had other ideas.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 15:37 this Friday (GMT):

On 1/2/2026 5:30 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 17:34 this Thursday (GMT): >>> On 1/1/2026 9:14 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012580/American_Truck_Simulator__Louisiana/
Yeah, yeah. It's not my fault the developers keep releasing new
expansions. What, like I have a choice about /not/ buying/playing
them? Still, even I have to admit that these constant reviews of what
is -essentially- the same game is tiring. You don't like reading them
and, to be honest, I'm not much a fan of writing them. There's just
nothing new to say! So I'll try to keep it short... or at least as
short as I can (so, you know, only four paragraphs. That's as close to >>>> 'short' as I can do ;-).

Anyway...the Louisiana DLC. It's fine. No, scratch that. It's
/good/... but not in any way that stands out from the other well-made
map expansions released by SCS Software. It's not a disappointing
release, that's for sure. But neither does it really excite.

Oh, there are some nice things. The vegetation has been greatly
improved; obviously SCS untied the purse-strings just enough to
finally buy a bunch of new tree and plant assets, and it shows. As
importantly, the density of the trees and bushes has been improved;
everything looks quite lush and jungley. The Louisiana map feels quite >>>> distinct from the other states. It was sometimes hard to tell when you >>>> crossed over from, say, Nebraska into Kansas or from Utah into
Arizona.

As someone who has driven across most of the American states IRL, that
last line sounds right. Geologically there _isn't_ a big difference
between Nebraska and Kansas, or Utah and Arizona. :D

Wow, that's pretty cool! For your job, or just for fun?

The latter. I once took a road trip with the goal of driving thru all
48 of the contiguous states. But Katrina had other ideas.

Thats fun! What happened with Katrina?
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/2/2026 4:26 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 15:37 this Friday (GMT):

On 1/2/2026 5:30 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 17:34 this Thursday (GMT):

On 1/1/2026 9:14 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012580/American_Truck_Simulator__Louisiana/
Yeah, yeah. It's not my fault the developers keep releasing new
expansions. What, like I have a choice about /not/ buying/playing
them? Still, even I have to admit that these constant reviews of what >>>>> is -essentially- the same game is tiring. You don't like reading them >>>>> and, to be honest, I'm not much a fan of writing them. There's just
nothing new to say! So I'll try to keep it short... or at least as
short as I can (so, you know, only four paragraphs. That's as close to >>>>> 'short' as I can do ;-).

Anyway...the Louisiana DLC. It's fine. No, scratch that. It's
/good/... but not in any way that stands out from the other well-made >>>>> map expansions released by SCS Software. It's not a disappointing
release, that's for sure. But neither does it really excite.

Oh, there are some nice things. The vegetation has been greatly
improved; obviously SCS untied the purse-strings just enough to
finally buy a bunch of new tree and plant assets, and it shows. As
importantly, the density of the trees and bushes has been improved;
everything looks quite lush and jungley. The Louisiana map feels quite >>>>> distinct from the other states. It was sometimes hard to tell when you >>>>> crossed over from, say, Nebraska into Kansas or from Utah into
Arizona.

As someone who has driven across most of the American states IRL, that >>>> last line sounds right. Geologically there _isn't_ a big difference
between Nebraska and Kansas, or Utah and Arizona. :D

Wow, that's pretty cool! For your job, or just for fun?

The latter. I once took a road trip with the goal of driving thru all
48 of the contiguous states. But Katrina had other ideas.

Thats fun! What happened with Katrina?

She sank New Orleans.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Uh, wrong newsgroup? Or forgot to CC? :P


Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

Well, we've seen the backside of 2025, and are into a fresh new year.
There's only one thing left to do now, and that's our usual months-end round-up of games we've played. You all know the drill, so let's hop
right to it.

Hop!

Superbrief
---------------------------------------
* Quake II Enhanced
* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC
* Cyberpunk 2077

Maximum Verbosity
---------------------------------------

* Quake II Enhanced
https://www.gog.com/en/game/quake_ii_quad_damage
I only gave this game the briefest of replays. Mainly, I played the
bonus 'Call of the Machine' add-on that came with the game (it's one
of the things that make the game 'enhanced' over the original), and
that only because it reportedly connected the story-lines of the
original "Quake" and its sequel.

Which it does... but not in any truly satisfying way. The level pack
itself isn't too bad; its conceit is that you are sending soldiers
down (via drop-pod) to collect 'data CDs' from enemy strongholds. Each
module starts you off as a new soldier with no weapons or equipment,
and lasts three or four levels (depending on whether or not there is a
secret level). The maps themselves are noticeably more complex than
the original levels; larger in size, with more complicated geometry
and more 'tricks' that make the world feel slightly more alive than
the 1997's levels. They also utilize the full range of weapons and
enemies from the original game and its two expansion packs, and aren't
afraid to throw twenty+ enemies at you at once. It's amazing what the
Quake engine can do when you know the players aren't limited to 128MB
RAM.

So the levels themselves are fairly fun to play; there's some good
variety and design, and they don't feel unnecessarily punishing. It's
a bit repetitive, having to restart from scratch for each module and
build up your armory each time, but it does keep everything more
balanced. It's just a shame the narrative that connects the game to
the first Quake --the whole reason I played it-- is so weak.
Essentially you fight through the whole quest only to face off against <ROT13>n pbhcyr bs funzoyref</ROT13> with little context except that
they are 'the creators of the Strogg'. I mean, I know this _is_ Quake,
so story is always secondary, but a /little/ more detail would have
been nice. But no, you encounter your foe, kill it, and get a 'thanks
for playing' end-screen.

Still, it's "Quake II" and that's always been my favorite of the
franchise, so I'm not too disappointed with my brief layover. If you
already own the game, the 'Call of the Machine' level pack isn't
reason enough to re-purchase the game in its 'Enhanced' format, but if
you are in the mood for some "Quake II" blood-letting, the bonus
expansion is a nice addition and you should give it a try.

Even if it disappoints in its raison d'ntre.

* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012580/American_Truck_Simulator__Louisiana/
Yeah, yeah. It's not my fault the developers keep releasing new
expansions. What, like I have a choice about /not/ buying/playing
them? Still, even I have to admit that these constant reviews of what
is -essentially- the same game is tiring. You don't like reading them
and, to be honest, I'm not much a fan of writing them. There's just
nothing new to say! So I'll try to keep it short... or at least as
short as I can (so, you know, only four paragraphs. That's as close to 'short' as I can do ;-).

Anyway...the Louisiana DLC. It's fine. No, scratch that. It's
/good/... but not in any way that stands out from the other well-made
map expansions released by SCS Software. It's not a disappointing
release, that's for sure. But neither does it really excite.

Oh, there are some nice things. The vegetation has been greatly
improved; obviously SCS untied the purse-strings just enough to
finally buy a bunch of new tree and plant assets, and it shows. As importantly, the density of the trees and bushes has been improved; everything looks quite lush and jungley. The Louisiana map feels quite distinct from the other states. It was sometimes hard to tell when you crossed over from, say, Nebraska into Kansas or from Utah into
Arizona.

Louisiana, though, is different. It's got all the swamps and bayous,
for one thing; this is one wet state! But the roads are darker (fewer overhead road lights), and the buildings are smaller and with their
own character. You definitely get the impression that this is one of
the poorer states in America.

Beyond that, there's not much to say. Parts of the map do suffer a bit
much from 'flat-itis' (where the world appears unnaturally flat in
order to fit the prefab buildings), and this is one of the smaller
releases; the road network is quite dense, but there's just less
driving to do overall. But overall, I am satisfied. It may not be my
favorite expansion, but it's good and --unlike some other states-- it
feels more like a destination than just something to drive through to
get to more interesting regions.

* Cyberpunk 2077
https://www.gog.com/en/game/cyberpunk_2077
This is such a big game.

Which is both "Cyberpunk's" blessing and its curse. It's amazingly
detailed and beautiful (in a dystopian way) world that even after
driving down the same road a thousand times, I still feel that I'll
suddenly run across something new. But at the same time, the world
itself is also quite shallow; scratch the surface and you won't find
much beneath the facade. NPCs have nothing to say; the buildings are
all empty, and the vast bulk of the side-quests are nothing more than
"go there and shoot somebody" affairs. The game reminds me nothing so
much as "Mafia II", which also had a wonderfully detailed open-world
but used it incredibly poorly. With "Mafia II", I decided the game
would have been better as a bunch of stand-alone levels that /looked/
like they were in a connected world. I'm not so sure that "Cyberpunk
2077" would be improved that way... but neither am I entirely willing
to discount it.

Which isn't to say I find nothing worthy in the game; far from it. The
main quest is engaging, and --while you're railroaded through the main
plot-- the game does give you a good degree of freedom in how you
react to the story. The mechanics --the driving, the shooting, the
sneaking-- are good enough; they never were the driving force that
kept me going, but they never bothered me. It just didn't excite me
either. It didn't help that the game leaned so heavily into
gun-combat, meaning that both stealth and hacking got short shrift (seriously, there are like 500 guns in this game and only 20 hacking
powers).

I have to admit; I'm not really that big a fan of the cyberpunk genre
either. Especially nowadays, the grim dystopian future it postulates
is looking all too likely. Although I do get a chuckle walking down
the city-streets in the game; everything else might go to hell, but at
least there are sidewalks everywhere. That's a huge improvement over
most US cities (it's so obvious this game was designed by Europeans.
Even the public transit in that dystopia is better than most current
US cities ;-)!

I'm for the first time playing with the 2.0 patch and Phantom Liberty
DLC. The former supposedly revamped the combat, but I'm not really
seeing that much of a change (then again, the combat in the un-patched
game didn't leave much of an impression on me). I guess maybe it's a
little more difficult? Stealth seems to be less useful now? It's hard
to tell. The DLC (at least as much as I've played so far) hasn't
impressed me; the first bit seems an uninteresting and extremely
linear dungeon crawl, and none of the characters introduced have any
of the depth or nuance seen in the main game. But maybe that will
change as I progress through the story.

One thing I actively dislike in this game is a lack of a third-person viewpoint. It seems such an odd lack, given how much effort has been
put into the character design and the innumerable fashion choices. Why
allow players to put all that effort into creating their character and
then hiding it so you can only see it in the inventory screen? I'm
sure there's a mod for this but it irks me that I'd have to resort to something that should be built into the game.

Otherwise... "Cyberpunk 2077" is fine. It's no "Witcher 3" but it's
got some fancy graphics and I get to go all cyber-ninja on robots. I
don't need much more than that to have fun.

---------------------------------------

Only three games this month, but two of them were fairly long affairs
so I'm satisfied. How about you? Did you get enough gaming in between
all the holiday celebration and parties? Basically, what I am asking
is:

What Have You Been Playing... IN DECEMBER 2025?

--
"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." --Psalms 90:12. Slammy 1st Fri. of 26.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 01:47:31 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

Uh, wrong newsgroup? Or forgot to CC? :P

Are you implying that I might accidentally post to the wrong
newsgroup? Does that seem like something _I_ would do? ;-)

Ehn. csipg.RPG needs some love too. Let its activity-stats tick
upwards for once.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/3/2026 5:31 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 01:47:31 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

Uh, wrong newsgroup? Or forgot to CC? :P

Are you implying that I might accidentally post to the wrong
newsgroup? Does that seem like something _I_ would do? ;-)

Ehn. csipg.RPG needs some love too. Let its activity-stats tick
upwards for once.

we should be talking more about rpgs here, but everything just seems to
focus on action titles.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Verily, in article <jg9dlk1auflg8b9a7gthoajhhs19t5gru4@4ax.com>, did spallshurgenson@gmail.com deliver unto us this message:

Well, we've seen the backside of 2025, and are into a fresh new year.
There's only one thing left to do now, and that's our usual months-end round-up of games we've played. You all know the drill, so let's hop
right to it.

Hop!

I've mostly been playing sims, chiefly Caesar IV, but I did find time
for a little Dragonsphere. I think it was free a while back, since I
don't remember buying it, but it's a nice old-fashioned puzzle RPG.

I used to hurl myself at difficult puzzles for as long as it took,
feeling triumph when I finally conquered. These days, I'm older and
happy to check a walkthrough when it gets hard.
--
Trustworthy words are not pretty;
Pretty words are not trustworthy.

-Lao-Tzu spoke those pretty words.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 01:47:31 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

Uh, wrong newsgroup? Or forgot to CC? :P

Are you implying that I might accidentally post to the wrong
newsgroup? Does that seem like something _I_ would do? ;-)

Ehn. csipg.RPG needs some love too. Let its activity-stats tick
upwards for once.

You could had CCed. ;)
--
"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age..." --Titus 2:11-12. Ant says no incorrectly. :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Gottfried Neuner <kyonshi@wilderland.ovh> wrote:

On 1/3/2026 5:31 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 01:47:31 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

Uh, wrong newsgroup? Or forgot to CC? :P

Are you implying that I might accidentally post to the wrong
newsgroup? Does that seem like something _I_ would do? ;-)

Ehn. csipg.RPG needs some love too. Let its activity-stats tick
upwards for once.

we should be talking more about rpgs here, but everything just seems to focus on action titles.

And comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategy, etc. :P
--
"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age..." --Titus 2:11-12. Ant says no incorrectly. :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 13:02:53 -0500, The True Melissa
<thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:

I've mostly been playing sims, chiefly Caesar IV, but I did find time
for a little Dragonsphere. I think it was free a while back, since I
don't remember buying it, but it's a nice old-fashioned puzzle RPG.

Dragonsphere was given away at some point. It is a point and click
adventure game put out by Microprose. It uses the same engine as Rex
Nebular and Return of the Phantom.

I used to hurl myself at difficult puzzles for as long as it took,
feeling triumph when I finally conquered. These days, I'm older and
happy to check a walkthrough when it gets hard.

Same here.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/3/2026 12:55 PM, Gottfried Neuner wrote:

On 1/3/2026 5:31 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 01:47:31 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

Uh, wrong newsgroup? Or forgot to CC? :P

Are you implying that I might accidentally post to the wrong
newsgroup? Does that seem like something _I_ would do? ;-)

Ehn. csipg.RPG needs some love too. Let its activity-stats tick
upwards for once.

we should be talking more about rpgs here, but everything just seems to focus on action titles.

Everything's blending together. Most of the more current RPGs have
'action' A lot of the Action has RPG elements.
--
-Justisaur

|+-|+
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
-|-4'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 01:25 this Saturday (GMT):

On 1/2/2026 4:26 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 15:37 this Friday (GMT): >>> On 1/2/2026 5:30 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 17:34 this Thursday (GMT):

On 1/1/2026 9:14 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

* American Truck Simulator: Louisiana DLC
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012580/American_Truck_Simulator__Louisiana/
Yeah, yeah. It's not my fault the developers keep releasing new
expansions. What, like I have a choice about /not/ buying/playing
them? Still, even I have to admit that these constant reviews of what >>>>>> is -essentially- the same game is tiring. You don't like reading them >>>>>> and, to be honest, I'm not much a fan of writing them. There's just >>>>>> nothing new to say! So I'll try to keep it short... or at least as >>>>>> short as I can (so, you know, only four paragraphs. That's as close to >>>>>> 'short' as I can do ;-).

Anyway...the Louisiana DLC. It's fine. No, scratch that. It's
/good/... but not in any way that stands out from the other well-made >>>>>> map expansions released by SCS Software. It's not a disappointing
release, that's for sure. But neither does it really excite.

Oh, there are some nice things. The vegetation has been greatly
improved; obviously SCS untied the purse-strings just enough to
finally buy a bunch of new tree and plant assets, and it shows. As >>>>>> importantly, the density of the trees and bushes has been improved; >>>>>> everything looks quite lush and jungley. The Louisiana map feels quite >>>>>> distinct from the other states. It was sometimes hard to tell when you >>>>>> crossed over from, say, Nebraska into Kansas or from Utah into
Arizona.

As someone who has driven across most of the American states IRL, that >>>>> last line sounds right. Geologically there _isn't_ a big difference >>>>> between Nebraska and Kansas, or Utah and Arizona. :D

Wow, that's pretty cool! For your job, or just for fun?

The latter. I once took a road trip with the goal of driving thru all
48 of the contiguous states. But Katrina had other ideas.

Thats fun! What happened with Katrina?

She sank New Orleans.

Oh, thats not good :(
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote at 19:01 this Sunday (GMT):

On 1/3/2026 12:55 PM, Gottfried Neuner wrote:

On 1/3/2026 5:31 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 01:47:31 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

Uh, wrong newsgroup? Or forgot to CC? :P

Are you implying that I might accidentally post to the wrong
newsgroup? Does that seem like something _I_ would do? ;-)

Ehn. csipg.RPG needs some love too. Let its activity-stats tick
upwards for once.

we should be talking more about rpgs here, but everything just seems to
focus on action titles.

Everything's blending together. Most of the more current RPGs have
'action' A lot of the Action has RPG elements.

Genres in general feel way more fluid nowadays, I think
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 05:10:05 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote at 19:01 this Sunday (GMT):

Everything's blending together. Most of the more current RPGs have
'action' A lot of the Action has RPG elements.

Genres in general feel way more fluid nowadays, I think

Genre-fluidity? Man, even video-game genres are going woke now! ;-)

[No, I don't know what 'woke' means either.]

I admit, there is a part of me that wishes games stuck more to fixed
genres. Mostly, though, that's the part of me that makes spreadsheets
and wants to know what category to type into the 'genre' box of my
makeshift database of games. The part that actually /plays/ the games,
though, doesn't care as much.

But genres are such artificial categorizations anyway, and even from
the start, many games didn't neatly pigeonhole into a specific one. I
think one of the earliest games that made me realize this was Maxis' long-forgotten 1992 game, "Rome: Pathway to Power". Was it a political simulation? A tactical wargame? An adventure? An RPG? Visually, it
looked similar to their city-builder games. It was a bit of all of
those and this lack of focus annoyed me, even though --had I just
played the game and accepted it for what it was-- I probably would
have enjoyed it.

[That's not to say "Rome" was the first mixed-genre game I
played; it was just the first one where I realized it
didn't neatly fit into one genre.]

Even when the current hierarchy of newsgroups was being created
(csipg.action, csipg.adventure, csipg.strategy, etc.), this
uncertainty was a major argument against splitting the group. There
were so many ways to interpret which game fit where... and some people
got quite vocal about it. "Take your damn Wing Commander post out of csipg.flight-sim; that's an action game" said some, while at the same
time others said, "Take your damn "Wing Commander" post out of
csipg.action; it's a flight-sim!" Even _DOOM_, what we now consider a quintessential action game, was considered by some to be more
simulation than arcade, and not appropriate for this newsgroup.
(By some, anyway. On the whole, most people here welcomed Doom. It was
just too popular /not/ to talk about). But it gives you an idea of how controversial genres could be.

These days, almost every game has such a mixture of genres that
pigeonholing them is all but impossible. They pick and choose from
idea used by dozens or hundreds of other games, and mix-and-match
those ideas to create something new. Very few games are single-genre
anymore. And that's not a bad thing.

Even if it does make my spreadsheet a bit of a mess. ;-)




--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/9/2026 9:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 05:10:05 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote at 19:01 this Sunday (GMT):

Everything's blending together. Most of the more current RPGs have
'action' A lot of the Action has RPG elements.

Genres in general feel way more fluid nowadays, I think

Genre-fluidity? Man, even video-game genres are going woke now! ;-)

[No, I don't know what 'woke' means either.]

I admit, there is a part of me that wishes games stuck more to fixed
genres. Mostly, though, that's the part of me that makes spreadsheets
and wants to know what category to type into the 'genre' box of my
makeshift database of games. The part that actually /plays/ the games, though, doesn't care as much.

But genres are such artificial categorizations anyway, and even from
the start, many games didn't neatly pigeonhole into a specific one. I
think one of the earliest games that made me realize this was Maxis' long-forgotten 1992 game, "Rome: Pathway to Power". Was it a political simulation? A tactical wargame? An adventure? An RPG? Visually, it
looked similar to their city-builder games. It was a bit of all of
those and this lack of focus annoyed me, even though --had I just
played the game and accepted it for what it was-- I probably would
have enjoyed it.

[That's not to say "Rome" was the first mixed-genre game I
played; it was just the first one where I realized it
didn't neatly fit into one genre.]

Even when the current hierarchy of newsgroups was being created (csipg.action, csipg.adventure, csipg.strategy, etc.), this
uncertainty was a major argument against splitting the group. There
were so many ways to interpret which game fit where... and some people
got quite vocal about it. "Take your damn Wing Commander post out of csipg.flight-sim; that's an action game" said some, while at the same
time others said, "Take your damn "Wing Commander" post out of
csipg.action; it's a flight-sim!" Even _DOOM_, what we now consider a quintessential action game, was considered by some to be more
simulation than arcade, and not appropriate for this newsgroup.
(By some, anyway. On the whole, most people here welcomed Doom. It was
just too popular /not/ to talk about). But it gives you an idea of how controversial genres could be.

These days, almost every game has such a mixture of genres that
pigeonholing them is all but impossible. They pick and choose from
idea used by dozens or hundreds of other games, and mix-and-match
those ideas to create something new. Very few games are single-genre
anymore. And that's not a bad thing.

Even if it does make my spreadsheet a bit of a mess. ;-)

The Easy fix is just have more than one "Genre" slot for each game....
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 17:30:59 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 1/9/2026 9:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Even if it does make my spreadsheet a bit of a mess. ;-)

The Easy fix is just have more than one "Genre" slot for each game....

Hah! I'm way ahead of you! I have THREE cells for genre in the
spreadsheet! That's why I am Master of the Excel!!!!1!! ;-)


If we were to sub-divide c.s.i.p.games again today (pretending the
traffic was high enough to support it, of course ;-), I wonder if we'd
go with the same genre/categories or use new ones.

Some still make sense; I think there's still enough separation for
things like *.flight-sim or *.sports.

But *.action, *.adventure, *.rpg and (to some degegree) *.strategy
have become so intertwined that it's hard to delineate between a lot
of games.

I guess it's a good thing that traffic is so low in all the groups
that so we're desperate for ANYTHING to talk about that we don't care
if a game is appropriate to the newsgroup or not. ;-)













--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/10/2026 7:58 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 17:30:59 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 1/9/2026 9:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Even if it does make my spreadsheet a bit of a mess. ;-)

The Easy fix is just have more than one "Genre" slot for each game....

Hah! I'm way ahead of you! I have THREE cells for genre in the
spreadsheet! That's why I am Master of the Excel!!!!1!! ;-)

Only three?
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 10:58:21 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

Hah! I'm way ahead of you! I have THREE cells for genre in the
spreadsheet! That's why I am Master of the Excel!!!!1!! ;-)

I have a database of all the reviews, previews and hints in my
magazines. Right down to issue and page number. It sounded like a good
idea to do it at the time when the internet was not a major thing for
me and I thought magazines would just go on forever. I can bring up
any game's review or hints any time I want. As of this post, I have
used that database I made over 20+ years ago, only a few times. I
mentioned in other threads here that magazines were important to me
back in the day and that stupid database I made is proof of it.

Anyway, like your spreadsheets, my database also includes a genre
category. And like you, I had to decide what to do when a game fits
into more than one. I tended to just call that game by the genre it
most fit in. When I couldn't decide, I settled on just calling it
'Various'.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/8/2026 2:10 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 01:25 this Saturday (GMT):

On 1/2/2026 4:26 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Thats fun! What happened with Katrina?

She sank New Orleans.

Oh, thats not good :(

To be fair, the Tragically Hip new what was up way before
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 17:30:59 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 1/9/2026 9:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Even if it does make my spreadsheet a bit of a mess. ;-)

The Easy fix is just have more than one "Genre" slot for each game....

Hah! I'm way ahead of you! I have THREE cells for genre in the
spreadsheet! That's why I am Master of the Excel!!!!1!! ;-)

So you're saying you are Excel-lent?

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 14:42:30 -0500, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 10:58:21 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson ><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

Hah! I'm way ahead of you! I have THREE cells for genre in the
spreadsheet! That's why I am Master of the Excel!!!!1!! ;-)

I have a database of all the reviews, previews and hints in my
magazines. Right down to issue and page number. It sounded like a good
idea to do it at the time when the internet was not a major thing for
me and I thought magazines would just go on forever. I can bring up
any game's review or hints any time I want. As of this post, I have
used that database I made over 20+ years ago, only a few times. I
mentioned in other threads here that magazines were important to me
back in the day and that stupid database I made is proof of it.

Heh. Back in the day I did something similar. In the 90s/early 2000s
when magazine 'cover disks' were common, I maintained a list of
patch-files that were included on the disks. The idea being that, were
I to install a game, I could easily find the necessary patches for
that game without having to search multiple disks, or scouring the
Internet and tediously downloading the files (back when data trickled
down the phone lines at 5kbps!).

But, like your spreadsheet, it was something rarely used in practice.
Partly because it just wasn't all that much more convenient; having to
open the spreadsheet first, find the necessary file, dig out the
specified CD-ROM, navigate the file structure, copy the patch to the hard-drive... it was arguably /faster/ than downloading the patch, but
not really any /easier/.

And with the advent of places like https://www.patches-scrolls.de/
(and later auto-patching software, either built into the game itself
or through services like Steam), and faster bandwidth, the whole thing
became unnecessary. I stopped updating the file, and eventually
chucked the majority of my cover-disk collection, ending the
experiment.

Man, I haven't thought about that file in... well, it's likely been
decades. I wonder if I still have it archived somewhere...?





--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/11/2026 5:55 AM, Xocyll wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 17:30:59 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 1/9/2026 9:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Even if it does make my spreadsheet a bit of a mess. ;-)

The Easy fix is just have more than one "Genre" slot for each game....

Hah! I'm way ahead of you! I have THREE cells for genre in the
spreadsheet! That's why I am Master of the Excel!!!!1!! ;-)

So you're saying you are Excel-lent?

Oooo, good one.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 16:46 this Sunday (GMT):

On 1/11/2026 5:55 AM, Xocyll wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 17:30:59 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 1/9/2026 9:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Even if it does make my spreadsheet a bit of a mess. ;-)

The Easy fix is just have more than one "Genre" slot for each game....

Hah! I'm way ahead of you! I have THREE cells for genre in the
spreadsheet! That's why I am Master of the Excel!!!!1!! ;-)

So you're saying you are Excel-lent?

Oooo, good one.

Will you be here all night?
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

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

On 1/13/2026 6:00 AM, candycanearter07 wrote:

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 16:46 this Sunday (GMT):

On 1/11/2026 5:55 AM, Xocyll wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 17:30:59 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 1/9/2026 9:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Even if it does make my spreadsheet a bit of a mess. ;-)

The Easy fix is just have more than one "Genre" slot for each game.... >>>>

Hah! I'm way ahead of you! I have THREE cells for genre in the
spreadsheet! That's why I am Master of the Excel!!!!1!! ;-)

So you're saying you are Excel-lent?

Oooo, good one.

Will you be here all night?

No.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2