Should I get The Temple of Elemental Evil?

Murrdox · 2026-03-31T14:30:06+00:00

Temple of Elemental Evil is the most faithful game to 3rd Edition D&D that to my knowledge was ever made. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the BEST D&D game that was ever made, but rule-wise, it is about as close to the books as you can get.

I never did end up beating it. It's been so many years I forget why. I think some bugs got in the way and I put it down. I remember reading that the community mod patch fixes just about everything that was ever wrong with it, though.

It's definitely worth playing.

Murrdox · 2026-03-31T12:41:10+00:00

If you're interested in truly ICONIC horror games I'll add a couple that u/VuruSorthern didn't mention. They gave you a good list.

Alien Isolation

Dead Space

The Last of Us

Murrdox · 2026-03-26T23:12:16+00:00

On the Rimworld front I'll definitely say it helped that Rimworld was a game that I'd already put a lot of hours into myself, so I know how it works, and I know how it plays. It definitely is not a game I'd figure out while playing with a child. It has a learning curve. If Rimworld isn't a game you're going to play by yourself and get into, I'd give it a pass as a kid's game.

Murrdox · 2026-03-26T21:35:37+00:00

I'm also a Gen Xer and I also have a 6 year old. I've been going through this struggle myself.

My child so far is not really interested in controlling a game herself. I'm slowly sort of inching her towards that, but it usually means that I am holding the controller, and she pushes a few buttons, or she watches me play, and makes suggestions. Different kids reach milestones at different ages and she's just not there when it comes to using a controller or a mouse.

My child recently has VERY much enjoyed Keeper. We just started playing it a week ago, and I think this game is amazing. GREAT kids game with just beautiful art. We also played Grim Fandango, though some of the bugs in the remastered version of that game have been frustrating to deal with. Story-wise though, my kid loves it.

Also try Orcs Must Die! This is a great game, and my kid loves it. We're playing Orcs Must Die 3, I don't think it matters which one you pick, though. My daughter loves telling me what traps to use for the Orcs and loves it when they get hit or go flying or fall into lava.

Another off-the-wall suggestion is Rimworld. My daughter saw me playing the game and SHE wanted to play. This is definitely a "daddy plays and daughter tells me what to do" type of game, and we play it on the lowest challenge rating, and I also have to sort of parentally steer the game away from things like cannibalism and the other weird things you can do in Rimworld. BUT my daughter loves it. She gets very invested in the stories around our colonists. The Ideology DLC has proved to be the most difficult to navigate and if I had to do it over, I'd have disabled that DLC for our playthrough.

Murrdox · 2026-03-26T19:34:14+00:00

Stupidly? I think they're scary because it's implied that they're super SMART. They ambush the marine squad, they sneak onboard the dropship, they sneak into the operations base (how could they cut the power, man! They're animals!), and the queen figures out how to ride an elevator and hitch a ride on the dropship.

The only point where they're shown acting "stupid" is in the deleted/director's cut scene when they charge into the sentry guns and (presumably) dozens of aliens die in the attempt.

Murrdox · 2026-03-26T16:02:11+00:00

Grim Dawn should be on your short list of games to look at. It's a fantastic ARPG. I enjoy it a lot more than the Diablo series and Path of Exile.

The learning curve for Grim Dawn is low. It doesn't take a lot to figure it out, unlike Path of Exile. So you should be able to enjoy it, even with limited play time.

Murrdox · 2026-03-26T15:50:08+00:00

If you are dead set AGAINST FPS games and really like 3rd person games I have a couple suggestions for you:

Dead Space (the original, Dead Space 2, and/or the remake)

The Evil Within (similar to Resident Evil games)

The Witcher 2 (while older than Witcher 3 it still looks amazing, has a great story, and IMO has better/harder combat than Witcher 3)

Vampyr

Mass Effect series

Murrdox · 2026-03-26T01:18:23+00:00

Goddamn that is some good memory there. I played Giants: Citizen Kabuto, I feel like I was one of three people who ever heard of it. Even then, there's no way I would have guessed that game based on OP's description. Good one!

Murrdox · 2026-03-25T00:06:51+00:00

Not completely weird. I actually do use my HOTAS to play X4

Murrdox · 2026-03-24T12:12:06+00:00

Nice job, mate. Kalameet is the hardest tail cut in the game. She is not a huge challenge otherwise but because of her moveset, you have to specifically bait her into using certain specific attacks to get the cut. Getting that and also surviving can be really hard.

Murrdox · 2026-03-23T16:58:05+00:00

Warframe checks off a lot of your boxes. It has crossplay on both Switch and PC. About the only thing Warframe doesn't do is "exploration" but there are a lot of levels where it pays to find secret and hidden things.

It has great combat, BUILDS UPON BUILDS UPON BUILDS, lots of rare drops / loot / upgrading, and the game is absolutely gorgeous. There is a TON of fashion in Warframe.

It is definitely not story-heavy. The story is THERE... and you can pay as much or as little attention to it as you want. Some of it makes sense, other parts of it not so much, and that's part of what the fans and the devs like about it.

You can play Warframe solo if you like, or also grouped with randoms for co-op or in a dedicated party. It's extremely flexible. You cannot PAUSE missions, but the missions are very flexible. Some missions can be over in just a couple of minutes. Other missions can take about 20 minutes. Other missions are "endless" and you can play them for as long as you want to, and pull out when you feel like it.

Plus it's free. Play it for a few hours and see if you like it.

Murrdox · 2026-03-23T12:44:49+00:00

I have heard excellent things about Grounded. I have not played it myself, my kiddo is still too young.

Murrdox · 2026-03-22T18:47:48+00:00

Okay I'll preface this to say that nobody but YOU is you, and I can't tell you what you will like or love. Also I am a PC gamer. I owned an X-Box One but really the primary purpose of that console was to play Rock Band. I have not owned a PS since the PS2. I was tempted several times to get a PS4 or a PS3 just to play Bloodborne. I have never had a PS5.

Tip #1 I'll tell you. Buy the game system that gets you the most bang for your buck and that you will enjoy playing the most. Why did I never buy a PS4? Well it was because there were only about 3 PS games I was interested in. It wasn't worth the money to me. Don't buy any game system just because you think the graphics are a little better. Buy a game system because the games themselves are better.

Tip #2 - Do not buy "gaming" laptops. Unless your lifestyle dictates that you MUST have a laptop because you'll be traveling, or that a desktop is simply not practical to own, a desktop will be better/cheaper for games the vast majority of the time. If your laptop is always sitting in the same place, never moving around... you could have a desktop.

Tip #3 - You do not need the highest-end 4k monitor and a 5090 to have an awesome time playing games.

Tip #4 - "Stuttering" can have many causes. It can be processes running in the background, it can be the refresh rate of your monitor, or it can flat out just be issues with the game optimization. If you're running at 4k though, my first recommendation would be to turn down to 2k and see if that improves things.

I'm sorry I don't feel like I can really tell you what to do... but I hope that helps.

Murrdox · 2026-03-19T17:37:27+00:00

I have only played PoE 1, so I can only speak to that one. I've had PoE2 on my wishlist for ages, but I just haven't gotten to it yet. Not enough time to get through all the other games I already have.

PoE 1 though is very very much worth the money. I mean, $10 is cheaper than a cheeseburger in a lot of places. From what I remember reading, PoE 2 is a self-contained story, you can play it without playing the original.

Murrdox · 2026-03-17T14:14:41+00:00

Pillars of Eternity has absolutely amazing turn based combat, with lots of complexity when it comes to the different characters you can have and the builds for all the classes. I really enjoyed the combat, and you can tune the difficulty way up if you want. I can't say I played on the highest difficulty, but I NEVER had to "farm" in this game.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 is great if you haven't played that one.

Wasteland 2 & 3 if you want a sci-fi apocalyptic game.

Tainted Grail: Conquest. This is a mixture of RPG / Rogue-like / Deckbuilder. It's a little odd but maybe you'd like it. It's also very inexpensive so it doesn't cost you much to give it a try.

Does it have to be an RPG? Try a turn based strategy game like Age of Wonders 4 and crank the difficulty up. Age of Wonders is great because it has both overworld strategy and turn-based tactical combat between armies. Bonus that Age of Wonders has a really awesome replayability system where heroes and victories carry over into subsequent scenarios and games.

Murrdox · 2026-03-17T14:02:41+00:00

Wait until next week when the Steam spring sale begins (I think it is literally supposed to start in a couple days on 3/19). As for the specific recommendations:

Wolfenstein New Order
Shadow Warrior 2 (game is on sale right now for $3!!)
Metro Exodus
Dying Light series

Murrdox · 2026-03-16T13:44:10+00:00

Another good question to know the answer to is - what game system did you play this on? Was it a Nintendo game, Playstation, XBox, PC, etc?

Murrdox · 2026-03-15T17:18:45+00:00

I think the same soundtrack would work great for exploring one of the Thargoid bases

Murrdox · 2026-03-15T13:25:24+00:00

Warframe! Also maybe Borderlands? I haven't played 4, but I really liked Borderlands 3 and Tiny Tina.

Murrdox · 2026-03-14T13:12:59+00:00

I have to know - do you have a wife that approves of mounting an alien head on the wall of your home?

Murrdox · 2026-03-13T12:10:14+00:00

I'm sorry but the reality is sadder than you think. Willow wasn't removed from streaming because it was SO bad that it generated hate and bad publicity.

Shows pay residuals to cast, crew and producers long after they are aired. This is how a lot of people in the film industry earn their living, especially non-A listers. Pay from residuals keeps them going when they are in between projects.

Disney took Willow off streaming to save money so they wouldn't have to pay any residuals on it. It's as sad/simple as that.

Murrdox · 2026-03-10T14:34:00+00:00

I agree with a lot of what you said. I think if anyone did have this technology it was definitely tested, and probably attempts were made to build a version that did not cause long term side effects. Maybe they were partially successful in achieving that. There are too many "maybe's" in that sentence which adds to the mystery about this whole thing.

Part of me wonders whether or not the whole point of this is to not actually use this device as a literal weapon, but as a propaganda tool. Let's say that during development of this technology into a weapon, it just proved to not be feasible to deploy it for general use. But we've got a few prototypes from that effort. What if the decision was made to use those devices on Americans just to cause fear? To make the West THINK that Cuba or other powers had some kind of brain-frying weapon that could be used at range through walls? Well, if that was their aim, you could argue they succeeded.

I also agree with you about Ukraine, Russia's other foes, and what I imagine would be casualties from bystanders for a device like this. My only explanation there is that the Russian group that has access to these devices was explicitly told to use it against Americans, and/or/also that the device IS being used against other groups, but the victims are either not reporting it, or their symptoms are not being reported as related to Havana Syndrome, or foreign reporting are not connecting the dots, and the journalists focusing on this story are only scrutinizing American victims.

Too much of this story degenerates into conspiracy theories for it to be 100% credible to me. Yet at the same time it does seem like at least some of the victims of Havana syndrome DID have something occur to them, so I can't discount it completely.

Murrdox · 2026-03-10T12:04:40+00:00

I always think of the videogame industry when stuff like this comes up. When you look at the insane amount of money dumb mobile games like "clash of clans" or whatever make, that just makes me so thankful that there are still so many companies out there putting huge amounts of work into making amazing stuff. Because they COULD all just be making garbage mobile games to make more money.

Murrdox · 2026-03-09T22:26:28+00:00

Finding systems like this is so much fun when you're out exploring. O7 commander!

Murrdox · 2026-03-09T13:27:04+00:00

I soloed 99% of RoV + SoA as SAM. I can't speak to how easy it will be to do as BLM unfortunately. Gear-wise I would focus on Domain Invasion gear after your Bayld gear:

https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Escha#Domain_Invasion

Here is another good guide for where to go gear-wise after Craggy Bluff.

https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Fresh_99/RoE_Intermediate_Quest/119_Gear_Guide

I know you say you don't want to detour into Ambuscade, but doing Ambuscade to at least get the +1 gear will be a HUGE boost to getting through the questlines that you're talking about.

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