Hmm, I think that’s a later version than what I tried. Makes sense though since that was one of the most “finished” of the old versions, I believe. Sounds good.

No worries, it’s not your fault - I simply found the tracks in the second half of the game to be weaker than the early ones. If anything I’m the opposite and tend to be way more critical about stuff that gets hyped up by everyone while trying to keep an open mind about things others complain about.

I remember surfing from one of the trailers, I think, I just hoped there’d be at least a short sequence on the ship and that surfing itself would be a part of the game (I expected a cutscene honestly). As good as these games are there are still some parts that feel a bit rough and unplanned. Oh well, it’s not a huge issue.

The fact these games hold up as well as they do is a testament to their quality. There’s plenty of even newer titles which can’t boast about similar results.

Also, I’m a bit “specific” (well… weird) in terms of what does or doesn’t gel with me and I often tend to prefer less popular or worse options. Going back to hugely successful titles can be a rather unique experience for me - every game is a surprise in that way, I guess.

Eh, I survived retail A-life I can survive an imperfect one in a mod if it means no fanfic additions. They might be interesting for later playthroughs but I’d rather play something closer to the original vision. Actually, did they specify which version they’re basing this on? Oblivion Lost had quite a few changes during development if I recall correctly, I’m curious which was the chosen one.

Anyway, as long as older versions are available it’s fine. At least they aren’t trying to justify those new changes as “lore accurate” and push them on everyone like a certain Skyrim modder who shall not be named, right? Please say yes.

Ohh, that’s some important info. Appreciate the warning.

Yeah, I spent WAY TOO MUCH time with Crysis (both playing and modding) so I’m familiar with the CPU issue. Can’t predict everything, unfortunately.

Good to know about the Oblivion Lost remake - I did play one of the leaked beta builds before so seeing a more finalised version of what could’ve been should make for an interesting experience. I have a lot to look forward to, thanks!

Yeah, you certainly did. It’s not a huge issue honestly - difficulty was high? That sucks but I simply lowered it, whatever.
My main problem, which isn’t even a real problem, has to do with the atmosphere. Playing MCC made me realise that I simply prefer the (early?) book and Reach approach of subdued, bittersweet and somewhat tragic tone over the “action hero saves the day” of the mainline games. That’s just personal preference though.

Overall, my issues with the game aren’t with its quality, it’s more of a “me” thing.

I have no doubt multiplayer, whether co-op or versus, would be a good fun, it’s just not something I can comment on. I have no one to play with in co-op and I don’t really care about PvP any more. Gameplay does feel like it would work great in that environment and the nostalgia factor can not be understated - I also have plenty of games that might not be my favourites (or the best at what they do) but my memories with them leave me with a soft spot that doesn’t care about objective facts.

It was an engaging experience and that’s exactly what I hoped for when starting MCC for the first time.

Sounds exciting, especially the multithreading part since CPU has always been my main bottleneck. Hopefully it’ll make it in by the time I decide to give it a shot. Not gonna lie, while I was hopeful about Stalker modding in the early days I didn’t expect it to go this far. It’s a nice surprise.

I only heard a little bit of Anomaly in the past but I’m glad it got to such point now. Looks like I’ll have plenty to play with once I get back to it.

Does Anomaly use the updated open source version of the engine or is it running on the game one?

Anomaly? Never tried it. The only big Stalker mod I played was Call of Chernobyl, other than that I dabbed with small balancing mods, gear additions etc.

Besides, all of my Stalker modding experience happened 5 or so years ago, I’m sure things changed quite a bit since then.

There’s a reason why heavily moddable games tend to bring comments like “yeah, so I played the game for 3 hours and spent 20 modding it” - the latter can be just as fun as the game itself.

I’d be curious about more of your thoughts about Anomaly as you continue your playthrough. While I’m not planning to jump back into Stalker any time soon, I’m always on the lookout for what to do when I do so more info could be useful. No pressure though!

I’d still like to have that option but it’s completely understandable.

I don’t think I had this issue with H1 (or at least not to such extent) so I didn’t even think of it until now but I finally realised why I’m leaning towards remastered soundtrack as much as I do - original is more muted/less audible for some reason. I’m not sure if it’s the compression of old audio files or something else but when switching between both versions, original just doesn’t pop up as much. I might have to play around with sound levels.

Thanks for making me think about it, it actually made me stop to figure it out.

Speaking of cut scenes, I was a bit bummed there was no option to switch art styles during those (the in-engine ones at least). It would be just as, if not more, interesting comparison (depending on how much they changed) so I was really curious about that but alas.

I think the new versions of atmospheric tracks are pretty decent alternatives. Better? I can’t say I compared them this way but I’d say… a bit different and fitting with the new visuals for the most part. Dunno about the licensed stuff as my only experience with classic releases was playing the first game a few years ago.

I did find a few spots over all the games I played so far where I felt like the music was lacking a bit but I’m not sure if that’s just a normal experience or something exclusive to MCC/updated versions of the games. It wasn’t something that affected my enjoyment too much so I just moved on and focused on the good.

I still have 2.5 games ahead of me so I probably won’t be doing a full playthrough of H1 but I might take a look. It does sound promising and a bit more involved than I expected to be honest. Thanks again for letting me know!

I heard about the dynamic lighting situation but completely forgot about it until now, thanks for the reminder!

I didn’t dive into Halo modding yet so I wasn’t aware of rebalance patches, makes sense. This is my first playthrough of the series (sans 1 and Spartan Assault) so I wanted to play them vanilla anyway but I’ll keep that in mind if I ever decide to play them again.

Halo 2: Anniversary
The further into the series I get, the less enjoyable my Heroic playthrough becomes. I’m currently doing the first halo mission as the Arbiter and the amount of shotgun-totting floodlings who can one-shot me while running and jumping around like they’re on speed is… tiring, to say the least. I actually ended up taking a break for a few days for the first time since I started playing MCC due to this very level. Hopefully I’ll be able to start fresh once I’m back.

Other than that I still like the game - not as much as Reach but it’s fun for the most part. Gameplay has a nice mix of on-foot and vehicle combat, levels are pretty varied (both visually and in terms of design). New weapons are alright, can’t say I like them more than anything I used in other games.
I’m still not sure how I feel about the story, will have to wait until I’m done before I decide on that.

I mentioned it before but boy do I appreciate the presentation when using remastered graphics. All the colour, details and updated art style make the locations look appropriately sci-fi, otherworldly (when needed) and just overall beautiful and pleasant to look at. It’s a fantastic upgrade, one that hits even harder if you play like me - constantly switching between the two versions.

I’ve got another small but annoying problem to mention this week: why does my flashlight turns off randomly? Sometimes it’s after a few seconds, other times when moving between the rooms. Either way, it’s making it pretty much useless. Why? What possible reason could you have for that? It’s not like I’m running out of battery or anything, just let me use it when I want to.

One thing I’ve noticed while playing the Master Chief Collection is that each game I play sounds quieter than the last. Reach > CE > 2 > ODST - every change of game required me to pump up the volume to get thing were I want them to be. Not a huge issue but certainly a weird one.

Also, and this might sound like a hot take, so far Halo 1, 2 and ODST all had certain segments that felt way too long for what they had to offer. As fun as these games are, these segments did little to help keep me engaged and slowly strengthen the feeling of exhaustion whenever they happen. I’m still planning to go through the rest of the MCC but I hope they’ll won’t become too common going forward.

I dunno - is this because I’m playing on Heroic? Does it extend combat encounters or cause any similar changes to the levels? Am I “reaping the fruit of my hubris” or are the games just like that?

This probably sounds more negative than I’m feeling about it so don’t take this criticism too seriously. It’s annoying, sure, but not in an experience ruining way so far.

I love this game. It’s janky, mechanically simple and could really use a polish pass or two to take care of plethora of technical issues it has but, despite all this, it manages to tell an engaging story with nothing but environments and background detail. It’s absolutely worth a try for anyone willing to engage with concepts rather than needing the newest and shiniest in everything they play.

I’m in the camp of “interesting but flawed” > “polished and boring” and this title fits perfectly in the first category. It was definitely a nice surprise.