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

[MusicMaker]

I played a few hours of Gran Turismo 7 over the weekend...

...on my new PS5 that arrived 2 days before the game!  Woot!  I used NowInStock.net alerts for a few weeks, and was able to snag one from Walmart at retail price when a member-only sale went up (I bought a 1-month Walmart+ membership about 5 minutes before the sale).  For those wanting a PS5, I highly recommend joining an inventory tracker like that, as otherwise I'd have no idea when/where PS5s were actually available for purchase.  (It's ridiculous that we're a year and a half into this console's launch and they still can't be bought at MSRP conveniently, conventionally, and without major effort/planning/luck...)

Amazingly, on the PS5 I'm still able to play GT7 using my old Logitech Driving Force GT steering wheel from the PS3 days.  I'm using a drivehub adapter and a wired Hori PS4 mini-controller to make it work (apparently a drive hub using the normal Dual Shock 4 controller stops working after 10 minutes or something like that), and this set up is SO much better than having to spend many hundreds of dollars just for a new wheel and pedals (which won't work on my OLD consoles/games).

When I ordered the PS5, I had no PS5 games (just GT7 on the way).  And a ton of PS4 games that I've never finished (or in many cases, even played).  But when you have shiny new "unobtainium" console like the PS5 set up in your living room for the first time, you want to "do stuff" on it.  So, needing something else to play (especially something that doesn't require the wheel to be set up), I digitally upgraded my PS4 Ghost of Tsushima disc to the PS5 Director's Cut.  I've played the first couple hours of that now too.  I would be all over Horizon Forbidden West, except I still have most of Horizon Zero Dawn still to play (I'm probably 10 hours or so into that one), and I'm the type of guy that prefers not to skip ahead to sequels (in fact, I never played Red Dead Redemption 2, because I'm only about halfway through the original Red Dead Redemption on PS3!).  Overwatch has (surprisingly) been far-and-away my main PS4 time sink, and I really wish Blizzard would release a PS5 upgrade for that one (like they did for the latest XBox).

The "problem" now, is I'm outputting through a 2008 AV receiver to a 2009 1080p TV.  Can't enjoy the PS5's power and capabilities with these cinematic games, or GT7's incredible visuals, or my 4K UHD Blu-rays I've been accumulating, etc. until I finally get set up with 4K and HDR.  So, obviously, I'm now trying to explain to the wife how I now *need* a new receiver and 4K TV...

Anyway, GT7 is great so far.  Especially on a brand new PS5. 

[XJDenton]

New PC parts arrived! Except for the case. Darn it.

Also apparently I ordered Windows on DVD, rather than USB, because I live in 2008.

[cramx3]

New PC parts arrived! Except for the case. Darn it.

Also apparently I ordered Windows on DVD, rather than USB, because I live in 2008.

I'm assuming you didn't order an optical drive then for the PC?  I think you can just download windows to a USB and use the key from your DVD copy. 

[XJDenton]

Yeah that's the plan. I didn't order an optical drive; my case doesn't even have space for one.

[Podaar]

Horizon Forbidden West talk - NO STORY SPOILERS. Although, if you don't want to hear about game play, please don't read this.

...........

What I've learned so far that may help others starting out.

1- Primarily stick with the story missions (for the first 10 or so). Your progress in the side missions can be stunted without key items found only in the story.

2- Hunting grounds and training grounds shouldn't be skipped. Very useful techniques/weapons can be practiced/gained through completion and they're relatively short.

3- Whatever your primary weapon/armor is, it's worth your time to farm upgrade materials for them. It makes progress significantly more efficient (hunter bow and armor in my case) even if the upgrade mats are difficult to obtain (green is pretty easy, blue and purple can get tricky but the upgrades are powerful). Check the merchants whenever possible, they might have what you're looking for. It's probably a waste of time upgrading secondary weapons though, unless the mats are easily obtained through normal play).

4- Tough story combat encounters frequently have environmental tools/traps that can make victory much, much easier. Whenever possible, scan the terrain in the combat area for clues.

5- Knocking off components does a lot more damage in general to machines than in HZD, so it's well worth your time to get gud at targeting weak spots. Plus, it's fun and rewarding. 

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Horizon Forbidden West talk - NO STORY SPOILERS. Although, if you don't want to hear about game play, please don't read this.

...........

What I've learned so far that may help others starting out.

1- Primarily stick with the story missions (for the first 10 or so). Your progress in the side missions can be stunted without key items found only in the story.

2- Hunting grounds and training grounds shouldn't be skipped. Very useful techniques/weapons can be practiced/gained through completion and they're relatively short.

3- Whatever your primary weapon/armor is, it's worth your time to farm upgrade materials for them. It makes progress significantly more efficient (hunter bow and armor in my case) even if the upgrade mats are difficult to obtain (green is pretty easy, blue and purple can get tricky but the upgrades are powerful). Check the merchants whenever possible, they might have what you're looking for. It's probably a waste of time upgrading secondary weapons though, unless the mats are easily obtained through normal play).

4- Tough story combat encounters frequently have environmental tools/traps that can make victory much, much easier. Whenever possible, scan the terrain in the combat area for clues.

5- Knocking off components does a lot more damage in general to machines than in HZD, so it's well worth your time to get gud at targeting weak spots. Plus, it's fun and rewarding. 

Good tips!

I'm just hoping it doesn't take as long for Forbidden West to come to PC as Zero Dawn did. I want to play it.....and I don't want to buy a PS5. Plus I just don't care to play games on console anymore.

[Melphina]

PS5 arriving on the 16th. Only had to sell two limbs and sign a pact with the devil to afford it...

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

PS5 arriving on the 16th. Only had to sell two limbs and sign a pact with the devil to afford it...

Should have just challenged to devil to a rock off.

[Melphina]

PS5 arriving on the 16th. Only had to sell two limbs and sign a pact with the devil to afford it...

Should have just challenged to devil to a rock off.

Might have been cheaper. $850!!

[Podaar]

In the U.S. Gamestop is having an in store stock on Friday, March 11th for PS5. If any of you are thinking of picking one up, you may wish to check your local Gamestop. Oh, and if you go, be sure to where those hospital shoe cover nappy thingies...Gamestop floors are always sticky for some reason.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Horizon Forbidden West talk - NO STORY SPOILERS. Although, if you don't want to hear about game play, please don't read this.

...........

What I've learned so far that may help others starting out.

1- Primarily stick with the story missions (for the first 10 or so). Your progress in the side missions can be stunted without key items found only in the story.

2- Hunting grounds and training grounds shouldn't be skipped. Very useful techniques/weapons can be practiced/gained through completion and they're relatively short.

3- Whatever your primary weapon/armor is, it's worth your time to farm upgrade materials for them. It makes progress significantly more efficient (hunter bow and armor in my case) even if the upgrade mats are difficult to obtain (green is pretty easy, blue and purple can get tricky but the upgrades are powerful). Check the merchants whenever possible, they might have what you're looking for. It's probably a waste of time upgrading secondary weapons though, unless the mats are easily obtained through normal play).

4- Tough story combat encounters frequently have environmental tools/traps that can make victory much, much easier. Whenever possible, scan the terrain in the combat area for clues.

5- Knocking off components does a lot more damage in general to machines than in HZD, so it's well worth your time to get gud at targeting weak spots. Plus, it's fun and rewarding. 

Uh oh... I am doing so much in the game that I decided something had to go, so I chose hunting grounds and training grounds.

Hopefully the sheer amount of content I'm doing will make up for missing that stuff. I'm really taking my time with the game and loving every minute of it. I can't find a single aspect that I would describe as low quality, which is a very rare thing these days. Almost every NPC looks awesome, few side quests seem generic, there is so much detail in the menus... You can tell that Guerrila really went the extra mile and put so much love and care into everything.

[Podaar]

PS5 arriving on the 16th. Only had to sell two limbs and sign a pact with the devil to afford it...

You'll probably, at some point, want to upgrade your copy of Ghost of Tsushima to the director's cut, and play the Iki Island expansion (if you haven't already). It's glorious at 60 fps. Oh, and the game is pretty damned slick at transfering your saved games from the PS4 so you can play the expansion in new game + and avoid having to replay the original if you don't want to.

[Podaar]

Uh oh... I am doing so much in the game that I decided something had to go, so I chose hunting grounds and training grounds.

Hopefully the sheer amount of content I'm doing will make up for missing that stuff. I'm really taking my time with the game and loving every minute of it. I can't find a single aspect that I would describe as low quality, which is a very rare thing these days. Almost every NPC looks awesome, few side quests seem generic, there is so much detail in the menus... You can tell that Guerrila really went the extra mile and put so much love and care into everything.

Yeah, there are a ton of side quests in the no-man's lands that I'm looking forward to going back doing...soon. Only have one special tool left to acquire.

The side quests I have done, have all been top notch.

[ErHaO]

itch.io has another huge indie games bundle for charity (Ukraine): https://itch.io/b/1316/bundle-for-ukraine

If have a PC and like indie games, this is a great bundle.

[Melphina]

PS5 arriving on the 16th. Only had to sell two limbs and sign a pact with the devil to afford it...

You'll probably, at some point, want to upgrade your copy of Ghost of Tsushima to the director's cut, and play the Iki Island expansion (if you haven't already). It's glorious at 60 fps. Oh, and the game is pretty damned slick at transfering your saved games from the PS4 so you can play the expansion in new game + and avoid having to replay the original if you don't want to.

Awesome. Yeah, I need to remember to upgrade not only Ghost of Tsushima but Spider-man. So on my to-buy list is Elden Ring 'cause why not, yolo etc. (instead of getting it on PC), Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-man upgraded versions, Spider-man: Miles Morales, uh... I'll get Final Fantasy 16 when that comes out. Maybe Death Stranding if it's super cheap somewhere.

[Dublagent66]

Uh oh... I am doing so much in the game that I decided something had to go, so I chose hunting grounds and training grounds.

Hopefully the sheer amount of content I'm doing will make up for missing that stuff. I'm really taking my time with the game and loving every minute of it. I can't find a single aspect that I would describe as low quality, which is a very rare thing these days. Almost every NPC looks awesome, few side quests seem generic, there is so much detail in the menus... You can tell that Guerrila really went the extra mile and put so much love and care into everything.

Yeah, there are a ton of side quests in the no-man's lands that I'm looking forward to going back doing...soon. Only have one special tool left to acquire.

The side quests I have done, have all been top notch.

Yeah, HFW is awesome.  I was totally submerged in it until GT7 was released last Friday.  Been playing that heavily ever since, but will be revisiting HFW very soon. 

[Dublagent66]

This is a really great review of HFW.  There really are no spoilers, but if you haven't played yet and want to discover some of the things he talks about on your own, I suggest waiting to see the review.

https://youtu.be/6R1vQyiWJ8c

[XJDenton]

New PC is assembled and seems to work. 2 slight hitches:

1. AOI lacked the correct mounts for LGA1700. So on stock cooler for now.
2. K95 keyboard works perfectly. Apart from the space bar. Fffffffffffffff-----

[cramx3]

After years of contemplation, I finally saw a sale on a Nintendo Switch and bought one 

[ReaperKK]

After years of contemplation, I finally saw a sale on a Nintendo Switch and bought one 

Awesome! Did you get the OLED model?

[cramx3]

After years of contemplation, I finally saw a sale on a Nintendo Switch and bought one 

Awesome! Did you get the OLED model?

No, it's the base original red/blue joy con model.  Which is fine, I just didn't want the lite model because I want to be able to hook it up to the TV.  My gf and I like playing together and she had been bringing over her sisters when we play, this will make life a bit easier and then I can play when I travel.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Man Elden Ring has captured me firmly. I had my first encouter with Margit the other day, she taught me some valuable lessons on humility. 

Holy shit do the devs know how to spot your weakness in boss fights, it's like the AI know when you try to find it's weakness in a boss and then counterattack you to oblivion.

I felt so secure in the game world riding my horse so I thought I could take on one of the early bosses called Tree-Sentinel. Well I found out his swings are so wide you can't run away fast enough even on your horse. 

[soupytwist]

Man Elden Ring has captured me firmly. I had my first encouter with Margit the other day, she taught me some valuable lessons on humility. 

Holy shit do the devs know how to spot your weakness in boss fights, it's like the AI know when you try to find it's weakness in a boss and then counterattack you to oblivion.

I felt so secure in the game world riding my horse so I thought I could take on one of the early bosses called Tree-Sentinel. Well I found out his swings are so wide you can't run away fast enough even on your horse. 

Been playing on and off for a couple of weeks.  Took down Margit quite early on, but haven't really ventured into the castle - been spending my time levelling up on beginner area, beaten most of the lesser bosses found in the small dungeons - but seriously fuck Runebear!

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

So in the Roundtable Hold, there's a lower area you can jump down. Have you been there? I see all kinds of messages to not do it which makes it intriguing.

[Podaar]

More Horizon Forbidden West talk:

The last couple of days, I've ignored some my own advice and been going back and clearing some of the older side quests now that I have most of the special tools (still have one to acquire). It's been great fun, and very interesting how well some of these quests have been given such care and detail. The voice acting and dialog is top notch and way better than in HZD. It never feels like a waste of time, and some of the rewards are very helpful as well.

I guess my only complaint with the game is some of the platforming requires a bit too much precision button pushing. The climbing mechanic is better in this game, but maybe a bit too loose? If that makes sense. Aloy has a frustrating tendency to miss hand holds right in front of her at the very top of a difficult climb. There's been way too much of having to rerun a sequence of challenging moves. Now I'm willing to accept that I'm just not a good platform gamer, but I've literally had both success and failure with the exact same move sets.

The highlight of my gaming last night was taking down an Apex Thunderjaw by cheesing him with the new spike thrower I got as a reward for one of the side quests. I kept a large rock butte between us and would kite him around until he peaked out, and then nailing him in a weak spot with the spike. I felt like Jerry taking out Tom. 

[Dublagent66]

More Horizon Forbidden West talk:

The last couple of days, I've ignored some my own advice and been going back and clearing some of the older side quests now that I have most of the special tools (still have one to acquire). It's been great fun, and very interesting how well some of these quests have been given such care and detail. The voice acting and dialog is top notch and way better than in HZD. It never feels like a waste of time, and some of the rewards are very helpful as well.

I guess my only complaint with the game is some of the platforming requires a bit too much precision button pushing. The climbing mechanic is better in this game, but maybe a bit too loose? If that makes sense. Aloy has a frustrating tendency to miss hand holds right in front of her at the very top of a difficult climb. There's been way too much of having to rerun a sequence of challenging moves. Now I'm willing to accept that I'm just not a good platform gamer, but I've literally had both success and failure with the exact same move sets.

The highlight of my gaming last night was taking down an Apex Thunderjaw by cheesing him with the new spike thrower I got as a reward for one of the side quests. I kept a large rock butte between us and would kite him around until he peaked out, and then nailing him in a weak spot with the spike. I felt like Jerry taking out Tom. 

I've given HFW a rest over the past week due to GT7, but plan on getting right back to it!  I agree with your complaint about the platforming.  It is quite clunky at times and feels like it gets stuck.  A little annoying but I wouldn't call it a major bug.

[soupytwist]

So in the Roundtable Hold, there's a lower area you can jump down. Have you been there? I see all kinds of messages to not do it which makes it intriguing.

Yeah.  You get to fight an NPC invader, it wasn't a overly tough fight to win.  If I recall correctly you get some sort of multiplayer item as your prize.

[Nel]

Chrono Trigger turned 27 yesterday, so I bought the Steam version (it's half off and they put in a widescreen mode). Spent a few hours playing it, still think the DS version is the definitive imo, but it's still one of the best games ever made. Aged like fine wine, and that soundtrack is still one of the best.

[XJDenton]

120 Hz gaming is soooo smooth.

[ErHaO]

Man Elden Ring has captured me firmly. I had my first encouter with Margit the other day, she taught me some valuable lessons on humility. 

Holy shit do the devs know how to spot your weakness in boss fights, it's like the AI know when you try to find it's weakness in a boss and then counterattack you to oblivion.

I felt so secure in the game world riding my horse so I thought I could take on one of the early bosses called Tree-Sentinel. Well I found out his swings are so wide you can't run away fast enough even on your horse. 

Here is was thinking "man this game is actually pretty easy", but then I stumbled upon that very boss. I am fairly overlevelled and he still got me a bunch of times. But the part that follows is kicking my ass too, the castle feels like classic Dark Souls. Fuck those goddamn knights with storm attacks. I did another castle before it and steamrolled that without dying (the one with a boss called Leonine at the end), so I was getting a bit overconfident.

[Melphina]

Chrono Trigger turned 27 yesterday, so I bought the Steam version (it's half off and they put in a widescreen mode). Spent a few hours playing it, still think the DS version is the definitive imo, but it's still one of the best games ever made. Aged like fine wine, and that soundtrack is still one of the best.

I remember when they first launched it it was an utter disgrace. Have they fixed it and made it less ugly? I would love to check out the new wide visuals.

[Nel]

Chrono Trigger turned 27 yesterday, so I bought the Steam version (it's half off and they put in a widescreen mode). Spent a few hours playing it, still think the DS version is the definitive imo, but it's still one of the best games ever made. Aged like fine wine, and that soundtrack is still one of the best.

I remember when they first launched it it was an utter disgrace. Have they fixed it and made it less ugly? I would love to check out the new wide visuals.

The crappy "remastered/smooth" graphics like they did with Final Fantasy's mobile ports? I didn't even try it. There's a pixel "original" graphics option that I immediately set it to. Looked largely the way I remember it.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Just purchased a Switch Oled model, should be arriving Tuesday.

This will be the first Nintendo console I've purchased since the original Wii...

[Phoenix87x]

Been playing F-Zero X on Switch online and loving it. Its so fast and frantic

[Herrick]

I finished Elex and have started Elex 2. This is my third eurojank RPG experience after The Technomancer & Elex. I really don't know what's gotten into Herrick lately    I'm actually looking forward to playing when I get home from work tonight.