Video Game Thread v. Series Xbox One X Series Switch S 5

[ErHaO]

I wonder how cutting edge Crysis 4 will be, since that is kind of what people are expecting no? What has Crytek been doing over the last decade or so?

I only ever played the OG Far Cry by them when I got my first somewhat legit gaming PC in 2005, good times. I want to play the recent Crysis remasters, but I am waiting until they hit EA play (which is included in gamepass). I think I will like these games.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

There's no way they will push it like Crysis 1 since it would kinda be an economic failure these days to have half of your playerbase not being able to run the game without 9 fps. I can just imagine the shitstorm when people find out their precious gpu can't handle it, no one has patience these days.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I wonder how cutting edge Crysis 4 will be, since that is kind of what people are expecting no? What has Crytek been doing over the last decade or so?

I only ever played the OG Far Cry by them when I got my first somewhat legit gaming PC in 2005, good times. I want to play the recent Crysis remasters, but I am waiting until they hit EA play (which is included in gamepass). I think I will like these games.

Crytek has mostly been developing their CryEngine further in recent years, since it's used in a lot of games these days. They also released a game called Hunt: Showdown, which was in development for several years.

[ReaperKK]

There is a great youtube video describing why modern PC's still struggle with Crysis, the tl;dr if I remember right was that Crysis was designed to utilize as much single core processing power on a cpu as possible (in addition to other fancy rendering techniques). The thought that the time was the chips were going to keep getting higher clock rates but instead the engineering went the route of developing multi-core tech.

Here is a good article: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2018-why-crysis-still-melts-the-fastest-gaming-pcs-10-years-later

But Crysis also hails from an era where the future of CPU technology was heading in a very different direction than Crytek may have originally envisaged. It is multi-core aware to a certain extent - gaming workloads can be seen across four threads - but the expectation for PC computing, especially from Intel with its Netburst architecture, was that the real increase in speed in computing would happen from massive increases in clock speed, with the expectations of anything up to 8GHz Pentiums in the future. It never happened, of course, and that's the key reason why it is impossible to run Crysis at 60fps, even on a Core i7 8700K overclocked to 5GHz. At its nadir in the Ascension stage (sensibly removed from the console versions), the fastest gaming CPU money can buy struggles to move beyond the mid-30s.

[Phoenix87x]

Been playing Ocarina of time on Switch for the first time in like 20 years. Still just as good and man I forgot how much I love this game.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Been playing Ocarina of time on Switch for the first time in like 20 years. Still just as good and man I forgot how much I love this game.

OoT is one of my top 5 favorite games of all time! Such a classic. I played the crap out of that game when it first came out on N64.

[Cool Chris]

At the time it might have been my favorite game, certainly on the "Mt Rushmore." I know there is a Randomizer for it, but I don't know it nearly well enough and I haven't played it in many years to give it a try.

[TAC]

Been playing Ocarina of time on Switch for the first time in like 20 years. Still just as good and man I forgot how much I love this game.

OoT is one of my top 5 favorite games of all time! Such a classic. I played the crap out of that game when it first came out on N64.

My stepson played it a lot when he was a kid. I used to love to watch him. The music was mesmerizing.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Been playing Ocarina of time on Switch for the first time in like 20 years. Still just as good and man I forgot how much I love this game.

OoT is one of my top 5 favorite games of all time! Such a classic. I played the crap out of that game when it first came out on N64.

My stepson played it a lot when he was a kid. I used to love to watch him. The music was mesmerizing.

The soundtrack for that game is one of the best ever.

[ErHaO]

Finished Psychonauts 2, great game. I do wish there was a bit more puzzling like in the original, but I get why they made a more streamlined game that kind of plays out like a good animation film./series. 8.5/10 for me.

My pride did not let me leave Halo Infinite alone, so I returned and finished it. The core gameplay is excellent, but the bullet sponges and insta deaths are annoying as hell and dragging the experience down. Also, the story feels like 1/2 of a game and the ending is super open. I am not expecting The Witcher 3 or Red Dead 2 in terms of long epic  closed plots, but the modern standard of AAA games is way above this, especially open world titles. That said, running around and freeing bases on the Halo Infinite is fantastic and I enjoyed the atmosphere. So ultimately I'd say it is a 7/10.



Now playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider and it is the dumbest game I have played in years. The suspension of disbelief in this game is second to absolutely nothing (films/games/novels). What happened to the combat/action? I feel like I am 3/4ths into the game and there has not been a single combat encounter that makes use of it's gameplay mechanics. It all takes place in flat areas with a couple of enemies sprinkled around (sometimes just a single enemy?). No climbing, swinging around etc. I don't think there has been an encounter that took me more than two minutes, minus a scripted section with weird people/monsters. Okay, so the game focuses on puzzles and exploration. But there has not been a single puzzle that required me to actually think. Most of them consist of finding two or three things you can interact with and activating them in order. Exploration consists of running/climbing towards a marker. 4/10 thus far, I can't believe how much of a downgrade this is over the first game and even second game that I already found a downgrade.

[ReaperKK]

I don't know why but I always thought the Psychonauts franchise was on PS. I just realized I can get it on PC on gamepass so I'm definitely going to give it a shot once I finish Spiritfarer.

I honestly haven't played the single played of Halo Infinite at all, I'm pretty much the only one of my group of friends who is still playing multiplayer. I was trying to play through the original Halo games but the gameplay is a real slog to get through after spending so much time with Infinite.

Did you like Tomb Raider 2013? I just played that last year and as ridiculous as the game was it was a lot of fun to play through. I have the other two games but I haven't had a chance to play through them.

[Sacul]

Replaying Portal 2 because why not. It's been 10 years, damn.

[XeRocks81]

Finished Psychonauts 2, great game. I do wish there was a bit more puzzling like in the original, but I get why they made a more streamlined game that kind of plays out like a good animation film./series. 8.5/10 for me.

My pride did not let me leave Halo Infinite alone, so I returned and finished it. The core gameplay is excellent, but the bullet sponges and insta deaths are annoying as hell and dragging the experience down. Also, the story feels like 1/2 of a game and the ending is super open. I am not expecting The Witcher 3 or Red Dead 2 in terms of long epic  closed plots, but the modern standard of AAA games is way above this, especially open world titles. That said, running around and freeing bases on the Halo Infinite is fantastic and I enjoyed the atmosphere. So ultimately I'd say it is a 7/10.



Now playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider and it is the dumbest game I have played in years. The suspension of disbelief in this game is second to absolutely nothing (films/games/novels). What happened to the combat/action? I feel like I am 3/4ths into the game and there has not been a single combat encounter that makes use of it's gameplay mechanics. It all takes place in flat areas with a couple of enemies sprinkled around (sometimes just a single enemy?). No climbing, swinging around etc. I don't think there has been an encounter that took me more than two minutes, minus a scripted section with weird people/monsters. Okay, so the game focuses on puzzles and exploration. But there has not been a single puzzle that required me to actually think. Most of them consist of finding two or three things you can interact with and activating them in order. Exploration consists of running/climbing towards a marker. 4/10 thus far, I can't believe how much of a downgrade this is over the first game and even second game that I already found a downgrade.

I actually thought the second game (rise) was an improvement on the first and is my
favourite of the three.  I agree Shadow was kind of disappointing.

[ErHaO]

I don't know why but I always thought the Psychonauts franchise was on PS. I just realized I can get it on PC on gamepass so I'm definitely going to give it a shot once I finish Spiritfarer.

I honestly haven't played the single played of Halo Infinite at all, I'm pretty much the only one of my group of friends who is still playing multiplayer. I was trying to play through the original Halo games but the gameplay is a real slog to get through after spending so much time with Infinite.

Did you like Tomb Raider 2013? I just played that last year and as ridiculous as the game was it was a lot of fun to play through. I have the other two games but I haven't had a chance to play through them.

I love 013, finished it three times over the years (og version at launch and later Definitive). Rise is a fun game still, not hating on that game by any means. I just think Shadow is bad on all fronts but the audio and visuals.

Finished Psychonauts 2, great game. I do wish there was a bit more puzzling like in the original, but I get why they made a more streamlined game that kind of plays out like a good animation film./series. 8.5/10 for me.

My pride did not let me leave Halo Infinite alone, so I returned and finished it. The core gameplay is excellent, but the bullet sponges and insta deaths are annoying as hell and dragging the experience down. Also, the story feels like 1/2 of a game and the ending is super open. I am not expecting The Witcher 3 or Red Dead 2 in terms of long epic  closed plots, but the modern standard of AAA games is way above this, especially open world titles. That said, running around and freeing bases on the Halo Infinite is fantastic and I enjoyed the atmosphere. So ultimately I'd say it is a 7/10.



Now playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider and it is the dumbest game I have played in years. The suspension of disbelief in this game is second to absolutely nothing (films/games/novels). What happened to the combat/action? I feel like I am 3/4ths into the game and there has not been a single combat encounter that makes use of it's gameplay mechanics. It all takes place in flat areas with a couple of enemies sprinkled around (sometimes just a single enemy?). No climbing, swinging around etc. I don't think there has been an encounter that took me more than two minutes, minus a scripted section with weird people/monsters. Okay, so the game focuses on puzzles and exploration. But there has not been a single puzzle that required me to actually think. Most of them consist of finding two or three things you can interact with and activating them in order. Exploration consists of running/climbing towards a marker. 4/10 thus far, I can't believe how much of a downgrade this is over the first game and even second game that I already found a downgrade.

I actually thought the second game (rise) was an improvement on the first and is my
favourite of the three.  I agree Shadow was kind of disappointing.

I think mainly the plot of Rise held it back and I personally found the locations to be mostly a bit dull. The first of the reboot series was this nice gritty Uncharted with Metroid-esque design and progression. I also played Uncharted Lost Legacy right before Rise, which did not help. The differences in graphics/gameplay/animations weren't very flattering for Rise to be honest. But Rise did have a lot of nice combat scenarios and a nice balance of gameplay. I overall found Rise to be a very enjoyable game, just not up there.

I am a big fan of the modern Deus Ex games and I enjoy the new Tomb Raider approach, but man am I dissapointed with Shadow. I am hearing good things about Guardians of the Galaxy, so hopefully I will enjoy that.

[Sacul]

Replaying Portal 2 because why not. It's been 10 years, damn.

Such a great game, but I'm taking a break from it to finally play Yakuza Kiwami. Loved Yakuza 0, and this is quite fun so far.

[XeRocks81]

one of the reasons Shadow Of The Tomb raider is disappointing is they did have a kernel of a good idea in characterization for Lara, to make her kind of shitty person and way too obsessed to the detriment of her few remaining friends like Jonah etc.  but they didn'T follow through enough with it.

[Revenge319]

Replaying Portal 2 because why not. It's been 10 years, damn.

Portal 1 and 2 are really great games. It's hard for me to decide which of the two I like better.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Replaying Portal 2 because why not. It's been 10 years, damn.

Portal 1 and 2 are really great games. It's hard for me to decide which of the two I like better.

If you haven't already you should try Portal Reloaded. I thought that was an excellent upgrade to the gameplay.

[Revenge319]

Replaying Portal 2 because why not. It's been 10 years, damn.

Portal 1 and 2 are really great games. It's hard for me to decide which of the two I like better.

If you haven't already you should try Portal Reloaded. I thought that was an excellent upgrade to the gameplay.

I tried out Portal Reloaded, but I couldn't get into it. It's a cool idea, but it got too complicated for me.

[ErHaO]

one of the reasons Shadow Of The Tomb raider is disappointing is they did have a kernel of a good idea in characterization for Lara, to make her kind of shitty person and way too obsessed to the detriment of her few remaining friends like Jonah etc.  but they didn'T follow through enough with it.

That would have been interesting, but indeed they throw it out of the window after about 1 hour. But honestly looking at the dialouge in this game, I don't think that direction would have salvaged it in any way. Uncharted 4 in my opinion did a great job with the treasure hunting obsession theme.

I thought Rise had very bad writing as well, but there cutscenes amounted to like 2 hours of a 14 hour game, the rest was a nice gaming experience. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is almost 1/3 cutscenes (4 out of 12 hours). If you are going that direction, you gotta make sure the writing is up to the task.
 

[Phoenix87x]

Some guy is recreating Ocarina of Time in Unreal 5


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV02k6DiWs0

[ErHaO]

I got Crash 4 for very cheap and I am loving it. This game is full of charm. A lot of variety in levels and gameplay mechanics. And the gameplay is overall very tight. It is kind of like a merger between Mario 3d World and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze. The game is quite hard (and I suck), but thankfully I don't really care about 100% levels.

I really hope microsoft saves this studio from the CoD support fate Activision had in mind for them.

Some guy is recreating Ocarina of Time in Unreal 5


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV02k6DiWs0

A bit more stylised and it would be perfect. But impressive for sure.

[ReaperKK]

Some guy is recreating Ocarina of Time in Unreal 5


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV02k6DiWs0

That's awesome! It's always a bummer we never see the light of day with these recreations.

[Herrick]

Is he really trying to recreate the whole game?

[ReaperKK]

Usually when these pop up it's almost always no, it's usually a vertical slice and then nintendo sends a cease and desist and that's the end of that.

[Herrick]

Usually when these pop up it's almost always no, it's usually a vertical slice and then nintendo sends a cease and desist and that's the end of that.

I thought so. It looks like a lot of work for something that will eventually get shut down. But what's the point of recreating a few sections of the game?

[XJDenton]

Challenge? A way to learn to program or use the engine? Fun?

I finished the main game of God of War. Good game!

[Dublagent66]

Yeah, GoW was awesome even though I never completed all the side quests.  Really diving back into Destiny 2.  Trying to complete as much of season 15 as possible before The Witch Queen releases in 3 weeks.  That's gonna be sweet!

[XJDenton]

I debating if I want to bother completing the Valkyrie fights and the trials. Too many other games to play...

[Revenge319]

I recently finished my second playthrough of Xenoblade 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country, and I'm close to getting 100% completion on it. Every time I play this or the main game of Xenoblade 2, my love and appreciation for the whole thing continues to grow deeper.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

After seeing that concert with Danish Radio Orchestra playing the whole skyrim OST I had such an urge to play the game again. I booted up ELO which I had played about 40mins before or something and i'm not sure what it is but man does the game look ugly and having so many players running around with animals and shit just brings me out of the immersion.
Installed Skyrim instead and while that game is older with the Special Edition and the enhanced graphics it looks pretty good. I started a new game from scratch and it's lovely visiting all the towns and areas again and building your character. 

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

After seeing that concert with Danish Radio Orchestra playing the whole skyrim OST I had such an urge to play the game again. I booted up ELO which I had played about 40mins before or something and i'm not sure what it is but man does the game look ugly and having so many players running around with animals and shit just brings me out of the immersion.
Installed Skyrim instead and while that game is older with the Special Edition and the enhanced graphics it looks pretty good. I started a new game from scratch and it's lovely visiting all the towns and areas again and building your character. 

I've also been playing through Skyrim again, using the Living Skyrim modlist. It can still look beautiful at times.

[Herrick]

After seeing that concert with Danish Radio Orchestra playing the whole skyrim OST I had such an urge to play the game again. I booted up ELO which I had played about 40mins before or something and i'm not sure what it is but man does the game look ugly and having so many players running around with animals and shit just brings me out of the immersion.
Installed Skyrim instead and while that game is older with the Special Edition and the enhanced graphics it looks pretty good. I started a new game from scratch and it's lovely visiting all the towns and areas again and building your character. 

I've also been playing through Skyrim again, using the Living Skyrim modlist. It can still look beautiful at times.

That modlist sounds cool but holy shit...257 gigs?!

Puppies on Acid what are your PC specs and how does Living Skyrim run?

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

After seeing that concert with Danish Radio Orchestra playing the whole skyrim OST I had such an urge to play the game again. I booted up ELO which I had played about 40mins before or something and i'm not sure what it is but man does the game look ugly and having so many players running around with animals and shit just brings me out of the immersion.
Installed Skyrim instead and while that game is older with the Special Edition and the enhanced graphics it looks pretty good. I started a new game from scratch and it's lovely visiting all the towns and areas again and building your character. 

I've also been playing through Skyrim again, using the Living Skyrim modlist. It can still look beautiful at times.

That modlist sounds cool but holy shit...257 gigs?!

Puppies on Acid what are your PC specs and how does Living Skyrim run?

I think it only comes out to about 200gigs, but yeah....a lot of mods.

[Herrick]

After seeing that concert with Danish Radio Orchestra playing the whole skyrim OST I had such an urge to play the game again. I booted up ELO which I had played about 40mins before or something and i'm not sure what it is but man does the game look ugly and having so many players running around with animals and shit just brings me out of the immersion.
Installed Skyrim instead and while that game is older with the Special Edition and the enhanced graphics it looks pretty good. I started a new game from scratch and it's lovely visiting all the towns and areas again and building your character. 

I've also been playing through Skyrim again, using the Living Skyrim modlist. It can still look beautiful at times.

That modlist sounds cool but holy shit...257 gigs?!

Puppies on Acid what are your PC specs and how does Living Skyrim run?

I think it only comes out to about 200gigs, but yeah....a lot of mods.

For the past few months I have been thinking about getting a bigger hard drive as my main one is only 500 gigs. This modlist may make me buy that bigger hard drive soon.