Elder_Moloch

2023 Report on progress



I played mostly Postal series during 2023 (P2/P3/P4).


Status: Almost finished. Game was fully played many times and I miss only 2 achievements.

About: Continuation of the Postal series on UE4 engine. 1st/3rd person shooter with some parody/comedy elements. Some may like it or not. Has a bit less edgy content than P1/P2 and less polished/has less weapons, than P2, but still provides fun for me in open world.

Pros:

  • Has some plot and humor.
  • Way bigger location based open world to explore, compared to P2. Locations are also way bigger, some are also way different.
  • A lot of pick ups scattered everywhere across town, which can be picked over and over again, since respawn each time game fully re-loaded/player re-entered location.
  • Nice arsenal, including unique weapons (melee and ranged).
  • Nice variativity of items, which have different functionality.
  • Bigger variativity of NPCs in general. Different enemies/enemy groups are present. Bosses. Dismemberment. Infights.
  • A lot of missions through Monday-Friday chapters, same as in P2. Same as in P2 days can be started separately, when unlocked. Duration of missions and variativity of tasks drastically increased.
  • Has infinite sprint, scooters and karts.
  • Pacifist playthrough is way more improved, has few significant effects on gameplay compared to P2 and even has own ending.
  • Has secrets, a lot of mini-missions, few mini-quests, a lot of collectibles all with rewards.
  • Difficulty settings. Some diffuclty settings affect game in advanced ways (NPCs have different weapons or change behavior), same as in P2.
  • Ability to customize your game before starting it.
  • Not very dynamic outside of missions, but that's not a point of a game. Doesn't require much thinking.
  • Not that long to beat and not that long to complete (even though way longer, than Postal 2/3), if to be lucky with 1 achievement and use guide for another one.
  • Unlimited saving system+autosaves and checkpoint saves.
  • Has a lot of different cheats.
  • Improved effects/graphics. Physics for objects is more present. Destructible objects.
  • Has 3 radio stations (rock, talking radio and electronic music). Good free (!) soundtrack (Rock radio OST one).
  • More stabile compared to P2.
  • Achievements. Most achievements aren't problematic to achieve.
  • Some achievements have interesting conditions.
  • Has Cards/Badges.
  • Cheaper with bundles.
  • Addicting time killer for me.

Mixed:

  • Medium/a bit high weight (17+GB), but even a bit low for game sizes.

Cons:

  • Plot and humor are mostly not my cup of tea (toilet and sex related humor and a bit too over the top plot).
  • Open world is a bit too big and empty, even with a lot of pick ups, respawn system for NPCs/items and vehicles.
  • I still like more design for P2 town.
  • Most pick ups are not that valuable (bottles of water etc.). Pick ups for imprortant stuff like weapons may change their places during days a bit too much.
  • Arsenal is less present and unique compared to P2.
  • Some items are poorly present in a game (special ammo for example).
  • NPCs behavior is a bit worse compared to P2 in different aspects. Enemies may appear less in open levels, since they rely on special spawn system.
  • Variativity of NPCs isn't that remarkable as in P2.
  • Some missions are tedious. Maybe game is a bit too long for content it provides, but not sure. Mini-missions mostly kill X targets with X weapon. Mini-quest are barely present.
  • Highest difficulty settings require you to run through levels, since NPCs AI can see with their backs, while being hostile to player and NPCs respawn infinitely on open levels.
  • Ability to customize game turns off achievements.
  • Visual style is kind of miss for me, even though not bad. Physics for NPCs bodies is worse than in P2 (2003 game).
  • Requires good upgraded PC for good performance.
  • A bit less stabile, than P1, but not a big issue.
  • Way more bugs and issues.
  • A bit expensive without discount for me.
  • 1 achievement requires to find 160+ dolls across big map (there is a guide for this, but I tried to find it on my own and failed - didn't find 3).

Misc:

Summary: While I can't recommend this game to everyone, due to concept, potential achievement problems and still prefer P2 more, I find this game interesting and like it more and more with each update, since I see Devs really try to improve it and put a lot of effort in it.


Status: Finished with all 3 endings few times. Edited: got all bugged achievements 20.02.2024, even though used cheese for that. Stats updated.

About: Continuation of the Postal series on Source Engine. 3rd person shooter with some parody/comedy elements. Considered worst in the series, by some, but I would say some may like it or not. Has a bit less edgy content than P1, less polished/has less weapons, than P2 and has lackluster open world, which works only in specific mode after you beat a game, since main part of a game is mission driven.

Pros:

  • Has some plot and humor.
  • Nicely build and looking town.
  • Nice arsenal, including unique weapons (ranged and melee).
  • Big variativity of NPCs in general. Different enemies/enemy groups are present. Bosses. Dismemberment. Infights.
  • Enough missions.
  • Has sprint and segways.
  • Sort of dynamic (but not always and dynamic isn't great), but that's not point of a game. Requires some thinking for pacifist/other niche achievements.
  • Unlimited saving system+autosaves. Chapter and path selection, when unlocked.
  • Has some cheats.
  • Relatively short.
  • Improved effects/graphics and physics compared to P2.
  • Good free (!) Soundtrack.
  • Fine performance (though heard some people had issues). Relatively low requirements.
  • Surprisingly not a lot of bugs.
  • Cheap, especially during discounts.
  • Achievements. Some achievements have interesting conditions.

Mixed:

  • No Workshop, no Cards/Badges.
  • Relatively low weight (even though 13+GB are high for such game).

Cons:

  • Town is partly accessible only in free roam mode, which is accessible after beating a game. Buildings in most cases aren't accessible. Rare pick ups. No days changes. Game is mission driven.
  • Plot and humor are kinda not my cup of tea, but I wouldn't call them bad.
  • Weapons work poorly, especially melee one.
  • No items. HP restores automatically after some time.
  • NPCs have poor dialogues variativity.
  • Missions are quite repetitive and are "deal with X amount of NPCs", "escort NPC to a place" type of missions.
  • Segways are meh and not that needed. Sprint is very limited. Can't jump apart over specific objects, but can take cover instead.
  • No dfifficulty settings. Can be a bit hard with pacifist run. No cheat menu or customization.
  • Physics may be a tiny bit buggy.
  • Quite often crashes/freezes for me in some places, which may even force to restart from previous non-corrupted save.
  • Enough achievements are still bugged and require cheese/cheating to get them.
  • Unskippable credits.

Summary: Kinda mediocre game, which was recently a bit improved, but still require quite a bit of polishing, which may even not happen due to original Dev team not exist anymore. I can't recommend this game to everyone, due to concept, issues with achievements and still prefer P2 more, but you can try it, if you interested in Postal series and don't mind relatively short game with specific plot/humor.



I played a bit of CS:GO, checked CS: 2 and tested Postal 2 a lot for my guides. Probably played a little bit of something else, but I don't remember what exactly.

2022 Report on progress



Got some progress with Don't Starve and Total War: Warhammer. Don't Starve adventure mode was finished with cheat, since I didn't want anymore hardcore survival and just wanted to get through and unlock characters (don't know, if would try to get through legitimately). Total War: Warhammer first campaign for vampires was finished legitimately - 8 races still left.


Status: Adventure Mode was finished (with cheats). Didn't play Hamlet and there are 2 characters left to unlock.

About: Single player rougue like survival game with cozy atmosphere and optional hardcore survival.

Pros:

  • Has sort of Story Mode.
  • Has some plot.
  • Good selection of items, weapons (melee and ranged) and structures to craft.
  • World settings are very diverse. You can make tiny world with nothing or huge one with everything. Caves with 3 layers as good additon.
  • Quite a lot of different enemies and neutural creatures with different behaviors. Bosses. Infights.
  • Enough unlockable characters with unique traits.
  • Progression system.
  • Has rougue like mechanics and survival elements.
  • Relatively dynamic (depends from world settings and randomness). May require a lot of thinking/tactical planning (depends from same factors).
  • Autosaving progress, whenever you exit and during day.
  • Has some sort of cheats.
  • Basically infinite, apart from story mode, which is probably relatively short.
  • Good and addicting time killer.
  • Pleasant cartoonish visuals.
  • Good sountrack and interesting decision to make characters voices be the instruments (base game OST).
  • Stability and only minor bugs/niche crash.
  • 3 DLCs, which add even more content. 2 are new worlds and 1 is expansion for base game. 1 of 2 new worlds can be set to be an expansion for base game.
  • Has Steam Workshop with many mods, which improve game even further.
  • Quite low weight, even with all DLCs.
  • Cheap, especially during sales or/and with bundle.
  • Has Cards/Badges.

Cons:

  • Require mods or wiki or even both to keep track of some stuff, like days, meals etc., if you don't have great memory.
  • May be quite repetitive and starts to lose survival part, when upgrading bases a lot after time.
  • May be hard for new players, if to select standard world or unfriendly world settings.
  • Saving system is quite restricted and require mod to unlock way more slots.
  • Some may not like simplistic graphics.
  • Reign of Giants DLC is kinda required for full experience of base game, since it has 2 more seasons (Spring and Summer).

Misc:

  • No achievements.

Summary: Quite interesting game for me, which I heavily recommend for those, who like cartoonish/survival/rougue like games.


Status: Only 1 campaign finally finished, but there are some achievements for this campaign still. A lot of others (around 8) still needs to be finished.

About: I'm not big expert on strategy games or Warhammer Fantasy lore, but this game is a perfect mix of both for me. You can play as one of 9 or so factions with their own sub-faction leaders. Select your style (neutural/aggressive), if campaign allows it and take over your enemies, befriend your potential allies, vasalize those you can. Buildng and movement on a map is turned-based strategy and fights on the battlefields are in real time.

Pros:

  • Has some plot, which intoduces player to Warhammer Fantasy universe.
  • A lot of content: factions, sub-factions, units (melee and ranged), building upgrades, character upgrades, gear elements for characters, magic scools, abilities and tons of stats as part of it. Gore with dismemberment/death animations.
  • A lot of options, possibilities, how campaign could be continued. A lot of random elements.
  • Engaging interesting AI, which has tendencies for different (sub-)factions, but still could surprise.
  • Engaging gameplay both for map and battlefield, where you slowly build you Empire by taking over the world directly or when possible, through allies.
  • Random mini tasks with rewards.
  • Quite big map.
  • Very dynamic during battlefield part (I even used slowing time/pause to react to AI). Very tactical/strategical based and requires a lot of thinking.
  • Difficulty settings. Separate difficulty options for map and battlefield.
  • Non-restricted saving system during map gameplay. No saves during battlefield gameplay, but that's not that needed. Autosaves.
  • Can be quite long. Probably very long for completionist.
  • Good and addictive time killer.
  • Good graphics with detailed models. Quite cool models for fantasy elements/structures/creatures.
  • Pleasant and fitting soundtrack (Vampire Counts OST).
  • Requires medium PC. Decent performance (depending on settings selected).
  • Stability and no noticeable bugs were encountered.
  • A lot of additional DLCs with more content.
  • Has Steam Workshop with many mods, which can expand content even further.
  • Achievements. Most achievements are Single Player related. Most related to natural progression with taking over the world.
  • Has Cards/Badges.

Mixed:

  • No cheats or other bonuses, but this can easily be compensated with Workshop.

Cons:

  • Could be frustrating sometimes due to how some gameplay aspects work. May force you to reload previous saves to get better results in some situations.
  • Taking via allies is always worse, than taking on your own, except for those cases, when you can't take territories due to restrictions for your faction, which ally can take.
  • A bit hard to learn even on Easy/Easy and even harder to master, especially in case of real-time battles. May require some research.
  • SSD is a must, if you don't want to wait for 10+ minutes to load into a game, battlefield and back to map each time. Don't recommend to turn everything to max on medium PC.
  • Requires a lot of space on HDD/SSD (minimum 38GB, but probably way more).
  • Become a bit more expensive with time (don't know current price, though). A lot of DLCs to buy - more expensive include full factions and cheaper additional, usually needed, units for 4 base factions. DLCs required to 100% achievements.
  • Gore DLC is paid one.
  • Some achievements are too grindy or require niche stuff. Some are Multiplayer related and require people to finish.

Summary: Very solid strategy game, which returned my love to strategies (even though I didn't try any others so far). Definitely recommend, if you into stategy/turn-based/real-time based games, like Total War series and like fantasy, especially Warhammer Fantasy. Great implementation of these aspects, in my opinion. Partly recommended only because strategy is quite niche genre.
P.S. Vampires beloved. <3



Slow progress - still progress.

  • ARK: Survival Evolved

    539.6 Hours playtime

    9 of 32 Achievements

    Hunted for Explorer Notes and Animal Dossiers. 60% were done.

  • Don't Starve

    176.8 Hours playtime

    No Achievements

    Finished story mode, but 2 characters still left to unlock.

Zelrune

Congratulations on your assassinations!! ᓚᘏᗢ
Wait, you can 100% CS:GO?!?!? That feels illegal!!! So many hours into the Postal games, that’s really awesome!!
Any games you are looking forward to playing in February?

Elder_Moloch

Hello, Zelrune! Nice to meet you!
Thank you! I unfortunately rarely play new games, but for now have some desire to play a bit more.
Hehe.) Yeah, last achievement with 5000 Rounds in Armrace took very long. And when I finally got it - next year CS: 2 deletes all my achievements. Yikes.
Yeah, I like Postal games. I even do QA testing for Postal 4.
I plan to play some, but currently thinking, which should they be. I plan to post about it within these days.