geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Apr 11, 2023 15:55:49 GMT
So what you're saying is we need to hear Billy Dee's non-Star Wars stories
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Post by Whizzo on Apr 12, 2023 17:38:55 GMT
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Post by Bill in the rain on Apr 13, 2023 1:35:41 GMT
I was always a big fan of og-Thrawn, despite him basically only being in one book I think. (oh, and Tie Fighter of course!) I hear that the nu-Thrawn stuff has been good (?) As someone who hasn't watched Rebels, I'm a bit worried the show is going to rely too much on knowledge from that. I thought it was a good trailer as I at least have a vague idea of who many of the characters are, but my kids weren't super impressed because they didn't know any of them. (the big Thrawn reveal does rely a lot on knowing who he is). In some ways this show looks like it's going to be the exact opposite of what I said I wanted out of Mandalorian. It's going to be entirely fan-service and lightsabers. Despite that, it does look pretty cool. I guess I'm shallow  |
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Post by 😎 on Apr 13, 2023 1:51:29 GMT
Thrawn was in a ton of things, he’s in nearly all pre-Disney expanded universe novels and comics.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Apr 13, 2023 2:17:00 GMT
Didn't know that. I never read any of the comics, and as far as novels go I mostly only read the Thrawn trilogy, and then the other couple of follow-up books by Zahn that were *kinda* about Thrawn. I was mis-remembering those 5 books as the trilogy, so I kinda thought he died after the first book.. which is totally wrong. But at least I got the 'Heir to the Empire' reference!  |
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Post by Saul1138 on Apr 13, 2023 11:34:22 GMT
The other thing with the old EU, is that most events are related to Thrawn’s actions in the Heir to Empire trilogy. The characters had a lasting impact, sometimes good, occasionally wasted opportunities. Kind of like modern Star Wars.
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Post by Whizzo on Apr 13, 2023 12:27:15 GMT
Thrawn was excellent in Rebels, very glad to see him coming back with Lars in the role again. Him being behind the TIE Defender becoming canon was nice too, he was right that they were a better idea than the Death Stars.
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Post by khanivor on Apr 17, 2023 13:50:42 GMT
Best game expansion ever, that was
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Post by simple on Apr 17, 2023 14:10:26 GMT
Old Grogu is a beautiful idea
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Post by Bill in the rain on Apr 17, 2023 14:19:40 GMT
Best game expansion ever, that was That or Mysteries of the Sith |
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Post by khanivor on Apr 19, 2023 2:43:08 GMT
No. It was definitely Defender of the Empire.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Apr 19, 2023 16:25:45 GMT
Yep.
That or Mysteries of the Sith.
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Post by Whizzo on May 1, 2023 14:28:43 GMT
Wow is right Owen.
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 4, 2023 13:44:06 GMT
Despite thinking I was mostly over Star Wars (again) this week I've found myself:
(a) Replaying Jedi Knight
(b) Playing with lighstabers in Fortnite (May the 4th events sigh)
(c) Reading a Star Wars Legends novel (because it was dirt cheap)
(d) Was supposed to watch The Force Awakens with the brats this evening, but ran out of time so probably tomorrow.
You think you're out and then they pull you back in!
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Post by Vandelay on May 4, 2023 13:57:16 GMT
I picked up the Classic bundle in Steam's May 4th Be With You sale. Have quite a lot of the Star Wars games already on Steam, but seemed to be missing all these.
It includes the X-Wing games. Only one I've actually played before was X-Wing Vs Tie-Fighter and even that I don't think I played too much, as I wasn't online gaming at the time. Would feel wrong playing those without a joystick though, so probably going to end up buying one.
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Blue_Mike
Full Member
Meet Hanako At Embers
Posts: 5,376
Member is Online
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Post by Blue_Mike on May 4, 2023 14:06:24 GMT
The May 4th gift to players in The Old Republic this year is a re-skinned version of the PIXEL cube droid from last year, in a much uglier green colour.
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 4, 2023 14:06:56 GMT
OG X-Wing was great at the time, but very 'sudden death' and was greatly superceded by Tie Fighter.
Tie Fighter Collectors CD-Rom (The gouraud shaded one not the textured re-release) was amazing, and still is of you can handle the age of the engine.
X-Wing Alliance had a so-so story with no actual conclusion, but the engine was much improved.
But if you have X-Wing alliance, what you should probably do is grab the X-Wing and Tie-Fighter remake mods and play those. Especially the Tie Fighter one.
But you're right about needing a joystick. Despite all that work they've put in to recreate the entire Tie Fighter campaign, it seems no-one has made a decent way to play the game with a gamepad. (which *is* possible as things like Elite Dangerous have shown).
I spent ages trying to configure controls to feel decent on a gamepad and never really managed it.
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Post by Vandelay on May 4, 2023 14:32:54 GMT
Thanks. I'm not too bothered about the retro look, so happy to play the originals first. Might well check out the X-Wing Alliance mod at some point though (Alliance is one of the games in the bundle I bought). I was eyeing a joystick back when Squadrons came out. Actually think I did order one, but Flight Sim was also out around that time and there was no stock anywhere, so ended up canceling the order. Was thinking I might get this one, which is a refurb - www.box.co.uk/Thrustmaster-T.Flight-Hotas-X-Gaming-Joy_994922.html (or just get the non refurb one for £12 or so more) Or I could just get one of the Thrustmasters without a separate throttle for £30-40. |
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Post by 😎 on May 4, 2023 15:02:12 GMT
Get yourself a nice Winwing or Virpil hotas, they’re nice and cheap.
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 5, 2023 9:28:07 GMT
Thanks. I'm not too bothered about the retro look, so happy to play the originals first. Might well check out the X-Wing Alliance mod at some point though (Alliance is one of the games in the bundle I bought). I was eyeing a joystick back when Squadrons came out. Actually think I did order one, but Flight Sim was also out around that time and there was no stock anywhere, so ended up canceling the order. Was thinking I might get this one, which is a refurb - www.box.co.uk/Thrustmaster-T.Flight-Hotas-X-Gaming-Joy_994922.html (or just get the non refurb one for £12 or so more) Or I could just get one of the Thrustmasters without a separate throttle for £30-40. Of the two, I'd still probably recommend starting with Tie Fighter rather than X-Wing. |
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Post by Saul1138 on May 5, 2023 9:43:21 GMT
Not sure that makes sense. Tie Fighter is by far the better game, but part of that is getting used to what X-Wing taught you. It really is a choice of two evils from a veteran point of view. In my go to moments, I will skip X-Wing, and always play Tie Fighter. But there are memories associated with the franchise. I was interested in PC gaming, until Ollie turned up with his rig, to convince me consoles weren’t the be all and end all. X-Wing was magnificent. Me, Graham, Jamie, Dave and, to a lesser degree, Steve were fascinated by it.
We all bought our rigs, played the game to death, it was a far cry; no pun intended; from modern gaming. But the social element played a large part in the journey. Of all those lads, Steve was the only one who went to the cinema with me to see the special editions.
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Post by Destria on May 5, 2023 9:48:24 GMT
I can definitely recommend the Tie Fighter Total Conversion mod for X-Wing Alliance ( www.moddb.com/mods/tie-fighter-total-conversion-tftc). It also includes a "Reimagined" campaign, which is an (optional) reworking of the original Tie Fighter campaign (with the expansion missions due "soon"). and is also pretty good. I played through it in VR recently, and it holds up well (helped by the graphics mods that have been added to XWA). Only downside with the VR implementation is that the benefits of being able to look around whilst in any of the TIE ships is somewhat limited when you've only got one forward-facing window. It was a relief to be in the Assault Gunboat for the first time and actually be able to look up and see stuff. |
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Post by Vandelay on May 5, 2023 10:48:35 GMT
Oh, there is a VR mod? I will have to check that out. Squadrons is one of the best VR experiences.
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 5, 2023 13:19:21 GMT
Basically you want this one:
SVGA Graphics and full talkie
or this one: XW:Alliance TC Mod
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Post by Vandelay on May 9, 2023 22:07:57 GMT
Played a little X-Wing and it is ok. Feels good just flying around shooting things. The missions are a pain though and it is often unclear what is going on and whether you've already failed the mission or not. Glad I played a bit of it, but probably isn't one I'm that fussed in playing all of (it is huge too).
Moved onto TIE Fighter and it really is a massive improvement. Missions are structured much more clearly here and I don't feel like I'm having to hope the AI doesn't mess up. It's the stuff going on around the flying missions that really elevates it though. The basic mission briefings are handled much better, letting you chat to the officer and ask advice if you fail the mission. Then the clocked figure appeared and I had whole other path opened up to me. So very, very cool and brilliantly plays into that feeling of being the bad guy.
Don't know why I never played this game as a kid, but I really should have.
I'm playing the Collectors' CD-ROM edition. I understand the Windows version has nicer graphics, but lacks the iMuse music, replacing it with a generic Star Wars soundtrack that doesn't react to what is going on. I'm willing to trade off the nicer graphics for the improved music. Only downside is it doesn't appear to allow me to use my throttle and there doesn't seem to be anyway to set buttons on the joystick. All I can do is fly and shoot. Anyway to workaround that, besides just using a Joy2Key type of program?
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Post by Whizzo on May 9, 2023 22:43:48 GMT
TIE Fighter will continue to be my answer to "what's the best Star Wars video game?" It took what was good about X-Wing and improved on it by leaps and bounds.
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 10, 2023 2:09:44 GMT
Moved onto TIE Fighter and it really is a massive improvement. Then the clocked figure appeared and I had whole other path opened up to me. So very, very cool and brilliantly plays into that feeling of being the bad guy. Told you so.  You aren't a bad guy, you're bringing order to the Galaxy. The iMuse version is definitely the way to go. It adds so much immersion/tension. I'm afraid I don't know the current situation with joysticks. It was released back in the days before USB and I have conflicting memories of playing it on a basic 2 button joystick and playing it on a Thrustmaster with a few more buttons. I can't remember if it even supports analogue throttles. I suspect it might need something like JoyToKey. It definitely has a lot of keys that you need, so playing with one hand on the keyboard is probably essential anyway. Mainly targeting, energy management, but others can be important too. I endlessly go back and forward on whether Tie Fighter or Jedi Knight is the best Star Wars game, as they're both great. |
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zephro
Junior Member
Posts: 3,009
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Post by zephro on May 10, 2023 11:33:19 GMT
Have they really not modded in good gamepad support? Last time I checked it was also a problem with the Freespace 2 community as the attitude was basically "get a stick noob". While I played all these in the 90s with a stick I'm not spending £££ and trying to find somewhere in my tiny flat to store the fucker, just for a couple of retro blasts.
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Post by 😎 on May 10, 2023 13:49:12 GMT
Pro tip, use a DOSBox variant with MUNT built in for mt32 soundtrack goodness.
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 10, 2023 14:33:10 GMT
Have they really not modded in good gamepad support? Last time I checked it was also a problem with the Freespace 2 community as the attitude was basically "get a stick noob". While I played all these in the 90s with a stick I'm not spending £££ and trying to find somewhere in my tiny flat to store the fucker, just for a couple of retro blasts. Last I checked. 
Freespace 2 I checked a few years ago, so it may have changed. X-Wing Alliance I checked a few months ago when the Tie Fighter mod came out.
I'm in the same position as you. I'm quite aware that they'll be better with a proper stick, but it's just not on the cards.
They can technically be played with a gamepad, it's just really fiddly and not a fun experience, and several games like Elite Dangerous, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, Squadrons (i guess?) and House of the Dying Son (i think) have shown that it can be done.
Really, other than thumbstick suitable calibration, the main thing you need is to be able to use combinations of buttons to allow you to map multiple controls to the gamepad.
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