Final Verdict

Most of these are old games, with a few exceptions. Wizardry 8 C&C: Red Alert. Also played a lot of Dune and Dune II back in the day. Heretic. Hexen. Duke Nukem 3D. X-Com, both the original trilogy and XCOM 2. Heroes of Might & Magic III. Distant Worlds. Fallout 1 & 2. Total War: Medieval II. Total War: Warhammer II. Project Zomboid. There's quite a few others, but I don't want this to get too long. The vast majority of them are strategy/turn based or 4x space games. Some of the ones above I haven't played in awhile. This is mostly down to having little time to revisit them over the last few years. I've just about managed to make time for Doom this year. That should be changing soon and with any luck I'll have plenty of free time later in the year. I hope.

Well, shows you have integrity by coming forward but I wouldn't worry about it too much. We all do silly things we sometimes regret later, I'm no exception. Although in my case I often do it without realising. I'm a little absent-minded sometimes. Anyway I would have to be a drama queen to make an issue out of this, especially since I know the history/reason behind it. I have respect for the fact you laid it all out here when you could have continued the masquerade. There isn't many who would do that knowing full well the risks involved. Just look at it as removing a burden. You were always pleasant to me as Blocky so as far as I'm concerned no harm done, you're the same person to me as you were before. Not to pump your ego but if anything I probably have more respect for you now than before. Like I said there isn't many who would do this, all things considered. 100% agree on the 40k vid. Been out of the loop on that stuff for years, but that was a treat to watch. I think I got a little over-excited in that thread though but eh, we're all children at heart. Also yep, that mohawk imp is very memorable. I recognised it straight away even after 5 years and from only seeing it 2 or 3 times. I hope you keep it. In any case, take it easy Kyka. I'll see you around the forums and once again, welcome back!

Already lost my eye earlier in the year, I can tell you it isn't as bad as people think it is. After all, you do have a spare. What generally happens is your field of view takes a hit. Funny enough it actually depends on the bridge of your nose as to how much of it you'll lose. In my case I lost about 30-35% of my vision cone. The brain adapts surprisingly fast, it's already becoming hard for me to remember what it was like to see with both eyes and I only lost my left eye back in march. Oh and if you're curious: dreams are not effected by the loss of an eye. Then again, I suppose the same would hold true if you lost a limb so perhaps it's not that surprising. Losing both eyes and suffering blindness is another matter, I think that would scare anyone.

Wasps freak me out, they send me into a blind panic. Every time one gets into my room I flail around like a wet fairy and then beat a hasty retreat without even attempting to fight it. I've had one or two GF's who were less than impressed by me fleeing the room because of a single Wasp. Shame be damned, they can fight it if they want because I'm getting the hell out of there if I catch sight of one in the room. In other words don't ask me for backup on this matter, I'll be gone before the words even form in your mind. Only an empty space and a slight gust of air will remain where I once stood. Honestly, I think I have a phobia thanks to being almost stung to death as a boy. When I was 5 years old I foolishly stuck a hosepipe into a wasp nest. Everything was going well with my childlike experiment and I turned the water on. That should have been the end of it. If I had any sense I would have observed from a safe distance, unfortunately as a 5 year old boy I had no sense at all. Rubbing my hands together like an evil mastermind from a saturday morning cartoon I just had to investigate my handy work. That was the fatal error in my plan. Suffice to say they were not happy when they emerged. The entire nest attacked me and I was stung so many times that the doctor gave up counting. I was in hospital for almost a week. I'm fairly sure that's where the terror began. Either way, I'm in no hurry to confront this phobia lol. I'm half joking here. I really don't like them and I will leave the room post-haste if I see one, but only to find something to obliterate it with. You see over the years I have managed to convince myself that I will need to get back into that room at some point, so luckily the rational part of my brain takes over in order to make the area safe again. It's that or face the shame knowing that I'm a grown man who's been exiled from his bedroom by a single tiny insect. Come to think of it they are the only thing that I'm legitimately afraid of. I've actually been in several life threatening situations before and I never panicked or was even afraid (autopilot kicked in), but these tiny insects terrify me. Edit: high-five @leejacksonaudio. People are unaware of just how terrifying these little buggers truly are. Stay strong against this menace, I'm with you. Just so long as it doesn't require my physical presence around Wasps... but I'll be with you in spirit!

Wait, you were Blocky all along? Well, I never saw that one coming. Especially since I have had a few chats with you. Thanks for showing me that 40k fan movie earlier in the month by the way, I really enjoyed it. I admit I'm going to miss that flashing skull key picture. Despite my join date I have been around a lot longer as a lurker so I remember your profile picture (and the name) from way back in 2016'ish. Kind of hard to forget that mohawk imp. In any case, welcome back Kyka.

So many legends have passed away over the last few years. There is no denying the man had some serious talent. RIP Joey.

I'm well aware. Someone I've known for a very long time is a paranoid schizophrenic and gaming is his primary release mechanism for it. He's mentioned on several occasions that it really helps him so I know it works. Another thing that helps him is being treated like a human being. A little understanding goes a long way. Either way, if it helps then game on I say.

For therapy: To stop the voices and paranoia from overwhelming me. It also serves as a way to release my violent tendencies and bottled up rage from my traumatic childhood. It's quite therapeutic. I'm kidding of course. Honestly, I have been playing Doom since 1994 but never really thought about it this way. It helps with stress I suppose? All I know is it's highly addictive and you enter at your own risk. I mean it's kept me entertained for almost 3 decades so it must be good for something.

This is a great idea RD and will also serve as a handy reference for me. I haven't got around to playing many Wads this year as I've been getting side-tracked a lot by life. This thread will definitely help me catch up once I have more free time, although I did manage to get through Heartland and URE 2020. Aside from a replay of Requiem that's about all I have managed for 2021 so far. My backlog of maps/wads is getting ridiculous. There's never enough time.

For a moment there I thought this was a new version/sequel to the Doom RPG mod (often used in conjunction with RL Arsenal). I remember sinking a few hours into that about 10 years ago or something. Looks interesting, I have a few roguelikes in my steam library and I'm a fan of isometric games so I might check this out at some point. I'll probably wait for full release though, my steam backlog is almost as large as my Doom maps backlog folder.

Tech base, corrupted tech base and hell maps. I also like space stations, ruins, outdoors and a few others. It depends how they're done. Anything unusual or unique will generally make me happy and entice me to try it out. But the big one is probably atmosphere. @Omniarch already went into detail on that with in his excellent and well constructed post earlier. Since I largely agree with him on that section and would only echo what he already said I'll keep this short and leave it there. Suffice to say I'm a big fan of atmosphere.

And so we come full circle. After a wild and punishing excursion into the unknown, the great one has returned and all is well in the world. Let us erect a totem in his honour. Just winding you up @DOOMTIME and apparently @Doomtime2. Welcome back, both of you.

You're actually in serious trouble. I've been playing Doom since 93' and I still can't stop (I've been stuck on this island for almost 3 decades, ffs send help). It might seem great now, but just give it a while and see what happens when you try to break up with it. Seriously though, the community and Wads/maps really help to keep it rolling. Other than a single long hiatus (2010-2019) I have been bashing away at it since it came out. I do take the occasional break though, but it's never for long. Real life is the only thing that causes me to take a break for any longer than 1 or 2 months. I'm not saying everyone will stick with it for that long, but it does have a serious yank to it and it will pull you back in again and again. I heartily suggest sampling every aspect of Doom, from vanilla to GzDoom stuff. I go back and forth between them, although I do tend to have a soft spot for classic style maps and Wads. Variety is the spice of life and all that. Enjoy!

Interesting. As I said it's been quite a few years since I was into 40k and great shame falls on me for mistaking them for Grey Knights, any 40k fan should know them by default. Their helmet design seemed similar so I assumed it was down to the CGI take on them which can sometimes be a little different to the actual design. Grey Knights tend to focus on demonic eradication and influence, there is a separate order for dealing with aliens (or 'Xenos' as they're called in the 40k universe). In any case I appreciate the detailed explanation Blocky. While I'm a little rusty on the lore and I haven't been part of the scene for many years I still find it fascinating. 40k lore has been crafted over 30+ years, so it's quite intricate. I'm not sure how much revision it has went through over the last decade or so, that is why I may be a little off centre on some things. To be honest I was more into Warhammer Fantasy, but I also collected 40k miniatures, Codex books etc. Here's some trivia if you're interested: GW itself was founded in 1975 by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, both of which used to write Fighting Fantasy novels (something else I was into as a kid). It went largely unknown until the 80's when Warhammer fantasy came out and later 40k (I remember when 40k had squats, basically dwarves and hobbits). GW also created some great board games such as Hero Quest around this period. During this time GW was very productive. They both sold their stocks and left in the early 90's. Jackson went on to found Lionhead studios with Peter Molyneux, but I'm not sure what happened to Livingstone after that. I could always google for info, but I never got around to that. I'm going by memory alone on this trivia stuff. GW was still run according to their original wish/work ethic as far as I know, right up until around 1999 to 2002. After that it seems the suits started getting their hands in and it slowly became more greedy and corporate. The hobbyist part began take a back seat and maximising profits took front and centre. Understandable since it is a business, but they lost a lot along the way. It's worth pointing out however that this happened over many years, it was a very slow and gradual change. It wasn't until the financial crisis that it took a big step forward in that direction. Last I heard their bringing back Warhammer fantasy so perhaps change is in the air. I'm probably being too optimistic there, but we'll see. Either way, I wish Pedersen the best of luck. He clearly has talent and I hope GW don't squander it.

Loved the playthrough of Clippy's map. Hot start indeed, but something I'd like to take for a spin at some point. I'm definitely tossing that one into my map folder. Looking forward to the next one @Orcsbreath, great stuff!