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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

Despite all my complaints, this is a competent game, and not entirely without merit. It just feels lost in time, existing in a place where every notable shooter for four years in either direction had better answers to the design questions it asks. (13/?)

Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

Also can we stop it with platforming sequences in first person shooters? Or at least not unless you've specifically designed your game for that, rather than just noting that it's technically possible within your engine? (Plus the console control mapping makes these particularly awful.) (12/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

While we're here, can I *beg* developers to NOT put artificial player heartbeat sounds in games. Yes, they're effective. Yes, they can let you use the audio as part of the UI. But they have a physical effect on me when they speed up that feels unsafe. This issue stopped me playing Amnesia. (11/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

This is absolutely a game of constant jumpscares. Enemies love to spawn behind you, or jump out at you from point blank. I can't decide if that's a good iteration on Doom, or a bad one. The horror themes in the original games felt more like heavy metal than something actually frightening. (10/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

One thing I do like is the sound design - best experienced with headphones. Careful listening is really the only way to tell where enemies are before they're damaging you, and it's a game where you can genuinely pinpoint and ambush enemies using only your ears. (9/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

Doom 3 came out two years before Gears of War, so this is obviously not a cover-focused shooter. Gunfights often involve duking it out in open hallways. To some extent that feels true to Doom, but on the other hand the game rarely gives you the space to effectively strafe. (8/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

There is no sense of juggling ammo reserves against the comparative strengths of your enemies to pick a weapon that is effective and efficient for each new situation, unlike Doom 1&2 or really any competent shooter. Just run that machine gun until you get the chain gun, etc. (7/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

The BFG Edition rebalance means that you're rarely short of ammunition. You can mostly run your best weapon at its highest rate of fire 100% of the time, which is boring - but also good, because using anything less than your best gun feels like failure mode. The shotgun is almost worthless. (6/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

The Doom 1&2 enemies are iconic - the imp, the cacodemon, the lost soul - but given a higher resolution and true 3D, Doom 3 just reduces them to brown-grey blobs. The design here is generic, not iconic. Nothing provokes visual awe, or even recognition. (5/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

It's notable for not learning the lessons that Half-Life was already a masterclass in. There's no real arenas (at least so far) - just cramped corridors and square rooms. The game refuses to open up, or give you a spectacle. It's just one industrial storeroom or dingy lab after another. (4/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

Doom 3 is fascinating in that it's so clearly a game trying to catch the Doom franchise up to Half-Life, and yet it came out in the same year as Half-Life 2, which was already evolving this genre to somewhere else again. Its science-gone-wrong doesn't evoke Black Mesa so much as just copy it. (3/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 5h

I'm currently somewhere between 20 and 33% of the way through the base game. Just finished Alpha Labs 4 and defeated the first Vagary (the drider things). I don't honestly know if I'll finish the game - it's not awful, but it consistently fails to delight. (2/?)

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 6h

I'm playing Doom 3 (2004) on the PS5. This release is based on the 2012 "BFG Edition", so it includes both expansions, remastered graphics, and changes the flashlight to be shoulder-mounted (usable with weapons) rather than its own weapon, and balance changes intended to make it easier. (1/?)

Doom Guy confronts a Demon (yes, that's what this enemy is called, as distinct from the other lowercase d demons) in the early levels of Doom 3 (2004).

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 12h

FWIW if you want to start playing Genshin Impact you may as well use my invitation code: GB97ZB0XHN.

hoyo.link/8NJvYlbe4?m_...

Take part in the Genshin Impact Miliastra Wonderland 'Starbound Oath' event to earn Primogems, Manekin outfits, and other rewards.

Take part in this event for Miliastra Wonderland Manekin outfits, Primogems, and even a chance to win Amazon Gift Cards and other great rewards!

hoyo.link

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 22h

FROGS TOGETHER STRONG.

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 1d

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

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Reposted by Greg T

Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · 1d

Estimates find no evidence of automated FOI applications www.themandarin.com.au/300643-attor...

Estimates find no evidence of automated FOI applications

The Attorney-General's Department was unable to present evidence of the malicious and automated FOI requests alleged by the government.

www.themandarin.com.au

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 1d

Genshin Impact just being casually gorgeous still. The exploration part of the gameplay works so well because wherever you go it just looks stunning.

Screenshot of Genshin Impact, showing Neuvillette gliding through the air from eastern Sumeru towards the Chasm area of Liyue. The viewer can see an impressive draw distance and a gradation of scenery from lush green towards craggy brown and grey.

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Reposted by Greg T

CAMERON WILSON @cameronwilson.bsky.social · 1d

With 2 months until the teen social media bans kicks in, teens are already inventing — and sharing — ways to get around the ban.

They're making TikToks teaching each other to how to say their accounts are run by their parents, or to find alternative platforms
www.crikey.com.au/20...

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 1d

Oh yeah, I wouldn't trade something like Sinners or It Follows for it, but there was just a period there where it was just inevitably exhausting to watch horror.

Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 1d

I'm really enjoying this renaissance of "fun horror" (particularly exemplified by these particular directors) after a couple of decades of "big themes" and stuff intended to traumatise the audience.

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 1d

Already discovered, but as someone who works from home with no boss or manager I need to have a certain amount of discipline about "actually getting dressed" each day. :-)

Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 1d

Coming directly from Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail, it's amazing and uncomfortable to contrast Tom Hanks' effortlessly safe vibe with his child co-stars against Tom Cruise's feverish wide-eyed mania. Leaving this man alone with her kid is one Zellweger's many terrible calls in this film.

Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 1d

Gooding Jr has, of course, been subsequently outed as a rapey piece of shit, but it's easy enough to see why he scored the Best Supporting Oscar for this role.

To the best of my knowledge Bonnie Hunt is still excellent.

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 2d

Film #97 for 2025 is Jerry Maguire (1996). As a romcom it doesn't work: Cruise looks like an alien wearing a skinsuit, he's nothing but red flags, and despite theoretically wanting to be a more ethical agent he never demonstrates that in any way. But Cuba Gooding Jr and Bonnie Hunt save the day.

Tom Cruise yells 'Show me the money' in the titular role from "Jerry Maguire" (1996).

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Greg T @gregt314.bsky.social · 2d

Sorry about that. :-(

But to emphasise - the game had an enjoyable and enthusiastic core! I would try another game by you. And also you were dealing with a thing in our session that was partially beyond your control that I'd be happy to chat about privately.

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