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

[Herrick]

I am quite hooked on Starfield. I think the game (and it's marketing) makes it very easy for people to be disappointed or dislike it, but there is tons of content that I think is legitimately great.

I haven't paid much attention to any of the preview stuff. How as the game marketed? I assumed it was going to be a typical Bethesda game in space. I'm a fan of almost all of their games.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I didn't pay super close attention to the marketing, but I think it was the typical Todd Howard "You can seamlessly explore over 1000 planets in space" when in actuality it's more like "You can explore very small, repetitive sections of 1000 planets in space... Oh and you have to fast travel everywhere".

Honestly, I think most people kind of saw this coming, especially if you're familiar with Bethesda. I don't think the marketing was that bad. But there will always be people who read through this stuff with their lawyers and then get pissed.

[Herrick]

I didn't pay super close attention to the marketing, but I think it was the typical Todd Howard "You can seamlessly explore over 1000 planets in space" when in actuality it's more like "You can explore very small, repetitive sections of 1000 planets in space... Oh and you have to fast travel everywhere".

Honestly, I think most people kind of saw this coming, especially if you're familiar with Bethesda. I don't think the marketing was that bad. But there will always be people who read through this stuff with their lawyers and then get pissed.

If any of those people were paying attention to No Man's Sky, Anthem, Fallout 76, & Cyberpunk 2077 then it's their fault for falling for the bullshit marketing. I almost never watch those long demo/hype/preview videos...and fuck pre-ordering. I can wait a day or two after the release date for video reviews. I rarely buy games right when they come out regardless. I think Ghost of Tsushima was the last one I bought on release day.

[nobloodyname]

20 years of Steam, then! Although I didn't activate my first game until 15 October 2004. And that was the Half-Life Platinum Pack which was apparently complimentary. Coincidentally, that was also the year I saw DT live for the first time. 17 January, Hammersmith Odeon, and that also happened to be my birthday.

Anyway, I'd be lost without Steam now. And although it was a change at first, it's great not to have game boxes everywhere. I do miss those proper game manuals, though!

[ReaperKK]

Steam is the shit. I can't believe it's been 20 years, I remember downloading HL2 on it. Back then I was sour because I thought "no way digital downloading of games will ever take off"

[nobloodyname]

Yes, and I felt like I wasn't getting something tangible for my money back then! Adapted pretty quickly, though.

[faizoff]

20 years of Steam, then! Although I didn't activate my first game until 15 October 2004. And that was the Half-Life Platinum Pack which was apparently complimentary. Coincidentally, that was also the year I saw DT live for the first time. 17 January, Hammersmith Odeon, and that also happened to be my birthday.

Anyway, I'd be lost without Steam now. And although it was a change at first, it's great not to have game boxes everywhere. I do miss those proper game manuals, though!

I just looked and I had my Steam account created in May 2008. I thought I had created it much earlier, probably did too as I had several accounts in the beginning for whatever reason. I got it for Half Life 2 and I think a  bunch of other mods, they were so much fun. Back when you could play games on a basic $40 video card.

I too was at that DT concert and it was my first one as well! I was in Uni at the time and lived in London. Had a great time waiting to get inside, the crowd was so much fun, kept singing songs with Spirit Carries on being the highlight. People in the line were so cool and friendly. Great setlist too, I remember the Voices UK fan club being there

[Cool Chris]

Logged on to Steam to see when I signed up, not sure where that info is, but got distracted by the red banner at the top that says: Steam will stop running on Windows 7 in 108 days.

Just found it: May 07, 2014. Wonder what my first game was, I honestly have no idea.

[Herrick]

Logged on to Steam to see when I signed up, not sure where that info is, but got distracted by the red banner at the top that says: Steam will stop running on Windows 7 in 108 days.

Just found it: May 07, 2014. Wonder what my first game was, I honestly have no idea.

How do you find your sign up date? I think mine was some time in 2005.

[Cool Chris]

Go to your profile and go to your badges, it will show the number of years you've been signed up. Hover over that and it will give you the exact date.

[Herrick]

Go to your profile and go to your badges, it will show the number of years you've been signed up. Hover over that and it will give you the exact date.

Thanks, mang. September 15 2005. I was a wee young herrick at 24.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I made my Steam account way back on January 8th, 2005

[cramx3]

Member since July 10, 2008.

I guess that coincides when I built my first PC after college living back at my parents basement.

[Herrick]

Member since July 10, 2008.

I guess that coincides when I built my first PC after college living back at my parents basement.

I had to have a co-worker build mine but it was nice to have a desktop PC for PC games after going almost 2 years without one.

[XJDenton]

November 19th 2004, 3 days after HL2 was released.

[Herrick]

November 19th 2004, 3 days after HL2 was released.

Was Steam required for Half Life 2? I do not remember.

[faizoff]

November 19th 2004, 3 days after HL2 was released.

Was Steam required for Half Life 2? I do not remember.

I'm quite sure that was the introduction of steam and it was bundled together that way.

[XJDenton]

Yep. HL2 and VtM:Bloodlines were the first two games to require it. Big controversy at the time.

[Herrick]

Yep. HL2 and VtM:Bloodlines were the first two games to require it. Big controversy at the time.

I didn't know Bloodlines was even a Steam game back then.

[XJDenton]

Yeah it was the first third party source engine game.

[Herrick]

Yeah it was the first third party source engine game.

For some reason, I didn't play that game until 2008 or so. I liked and beat Redemption but I didn't know about Bloodlines when it came out. Strange 

[ReaperKK]

Oh yea, that brings me back

[cramx3]

Got like 7 hours of Starfield gameplay in over the last few days. 

Definitely a Bethesda game.  I feel like knowing how this plays out really helped me get through a few of these early missions as I just felt like I already knew what to do.

Game definitely struggles to perform well on my PC.  It does however still look pretty good. 

Honestly had a blast.  There's just so much to do and while it's very similar to Fallout/Skyrim, it feels enough of its own.  I guess it also helps that it's been what, 5 years since I last played Fallout?

I created a super ugly old lady looking character and picked the option to start the game where I can visit my parents.  My mom looks just as ugly with the same facial features!  I was dying when I saw this, sadly, I didn't record video of my gameplay but I did take a few pictures so I was able to share it: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8juFw1s/

Now I just need to deal with that feeling that all I want to do is play the game, and yet, I need to deal with the rest of life.

[Samsara]

Has anyone played Baldur's Gate 3 for PS5? If so, worth it if you're a long time BG fan?

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

has anyone heard the BG3 on Switch rumor? i hope it's true

[El Barto]

Got like 7 hours of Starfield gameplay in over the last few days. 

Definitely a Bethesda game.  I feel like knowing how this plays out really helped me get through a few of these early missions as I just felt like I already knew what to do.

Game definitely struggles to perform well on my PC.  It does however still look pretty good. 

Honestly had a blast.  There's just so much to do and while it's very similar to Fallout/Skyrim, it feels enough of its own.  I guess it also helps that it's been what, 5 years since I last played Fallout?

I created a super ugly old lady looking character and picked the option to start the game where I can visit my parents.  My mom looks just as ugly with the same facial features!  I was dying when I saw this, sadly, I didn't record video of my gameplay but I did take a few pictures so I was able to share it: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8juFw1s/

Now I just need to deal with that feeling that all I want to do is play the game, and yet, I need to deal with the rest of life.

You playing in 4k or something? I recall you built a monster gaming machine a while back.

[cramx3]

Got like 7 hours of Starfield gameplay in over the last few days. 

Definitely a Bethesda game.  I feel like knowing how this plays out really helped me get through a few of these early missions as I just felt like I already knew what to do.

Game definitely struggles to perform well on my PC.  It does however still look pretty good. 

Honestly had a blast.  There's just so much to do and while it's very similar to Fallout/Skyrim, it feels enough of its own.  I guess it also helps that it's been what, 5 years since I last played Fallout?

I created a super ugly old lady looking character and picked the option to start the game where I can visit my parents.  My mom looks just as ugly with the same facial features!  I was dying when I saw this, sadly, I didn't record video of my gameplay but I did take a few pictures so I was able to share it: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8juFw1s/

Now I just need to deal with that feeling that all I want to do is play the game, and yet, I need to deal with the rest of life.

You playing in 4k or something? I recall you built a monster gaming machine a while back.

I have a 2k monitor.  3070 card, but my AMD (forget the model) CPU is my bottle neck.  I don't think that matters too much though, the game just doesn't perform well for high FPS.  My understanding is the same for much higher end specs than what I have. It's not the end of the world, just wish it were a bit smoother even when I set all everything to low quality.

[El Barto]

Got like 7 hours of Starfield gameplay in over the last few days. 

Definitely a Bethesda game.  I feel like knowing how this plays out really helped me get through a few of these early missions as I just felt like I already knew what to do.

Game definitely struggles to perform well on my PC.  It does however still look pretty good. 

Honestly had a blast.  There's just so much to do and while it's very similar to Fallout/Skyrim, it feels enough of its own.  I guess it also helps that it's been what, 5 years since I last played Fallout?

I created a super ugly old lady looking character and picked the option to start the game where I can visit my parents.  My mom looks just as ugly with the same facial features!  I was dying when I saw this, sadly, I didn't record video of my gameplay but I did take a few pictures so I was able to share it: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8juFw1s/

Now I just need to deal with that feeling that all I want to do is play the game, and yet, I need to deal with the rest of life.

You playing in 4k or something? I recall you built a monster gaming machine a while back.

I have a 2k monitor.  3070 card, but my AMD (forget the model) CPU is my bottle neck.  I don't think that matters too much though, the game just doesn't perform well for high FPS.  My understanding is the same for much higher end specs than what I have. It's not the end of the world, just wish it were a bit smoother even when I set all everything to low quality.

Does DLSS help? I understand there's a mod to enable it now. I'm kinda curious as I'll be installing it before too terribly long. That said, I'll be playing at a quarter of your resolution, so it probably won't be an issue.

[cramx3]

I saw there was a mod for it (it's not in the base game still), but I read it doesn't change much at all. 

Funny enough, my brother's PC which is specced below the minimum values can still play it.  So I guess that's a positive.  It's really just not optimized for high end PCs at the moment.  It's OK, it still looks pretty good, it's just noticeable that I'm not getting high FPS. 

[El Barto]

I saw there was a mod for it (it's not in the base game still), but I read it doesn't change much at all. 

Funny enough, my brother's PC which is specced below the minimum values can still play it.  So I guess that's a positive.  It's really just not optimized for high end PCs at the moment.  It's OK, it still looks pretty good, it's just noticeable that I'm not getting high FPS.

What constitutes high FPS for you? I know it's locked at 60, which is common for Beth (and fine by me). For my part anything above 30 is A-OK, so long as it's steady. I don't notice lower frame rates, but I notice fluctuations immediately, regardless of the FPS. If it would work I'd hard lock mine to 30 just for that stability, but frame locking Beth games causes all sorts of irrational behaviour out of the Creation engine.

[cramx3]

I saw there was a mod for it (it's not in the base game still), but I read it doesn't change much at all. 

Funny enough, my brother's PC which is specced below the minimum values can still play it.  So I guess that's a positive.  It's really just not optimized for high end PCs at the moment.  It's OK, it still looks pretty good, it's just noticeable that I'm not getting high FPS.

What constitutes high FPS for you? I know it's locked at 60, which is common for Beth (and fine by me). For my part anything above 30 is A-OK, so long as it's steady. I don't notice lower frame rates, but I notice fluctuations immediately, regardless of the FPS. If it would work I'd hard lock mine to 30 just for that stability, but frame locking Beth games causes all sorts of irrational behaviour out of the Creation engine.

30 FPS kind of sucks for me since I'm use to ~90 when I play COD. 30 seems to be where I'm landing here.  It's certainly playable and fine, just noticeable. Like if I just stand still, the world looks incredible, once the I start moving, we get 30 fps and it looks jittery at times.  I think by hour 7 I didn't even notice, but my eyes struggled a bit adjusting to the lower FPS. It's possible my settings need further adjustment, but by everything I've seen, it's just not a high performing game right now.  I'm not trying to shit on it, I think this is well known for Bethesda, I recall Fallout 4 not being optimal either.  I just think there's a lot of room for improvement here, but it doesn't change how I feel about the actual game, which I'm loving. 

Also, there's SO many things the game doesn't show you (like that you can focus your laser cutter to mine much quicker) that I'm learning from tiktoks.  The depth of the game is incredible. I did see there was a mod for removing the limit on your ship building so some people have these incredible custom space ships.  I'd love to build something like that.  I haven't even bothered with ship building yet, I'm OK with the starter ship for now.

[XJDenton]

30 is tolerable for PvE games. Anything competitive is a pain in the arse at that frame rate.

[XJDenton]

Has anyone played Baldur's Gate 3 for PS5? If so, worth it if you're a long time BG fan?

If you are a BG fan, or a fan of RPGs in general, definitely.

[El Barto]

I saw there was a mod for it (it's not in the base game still), but I read it doesn't change much at all. 

Funny enough, my brother's PC which is specced below the minimum values can still play it.  So I guess that's a positive.  It's really just not optimized for high end PCs at the moment.  It's OK, it still looks pretty good, it's just noticeable that I'm not getting high FPS.

What constitutes high FPS for you? I know it's locked at 60, which is common for Beth (and fine by me). For my part anything above 30 is A-OK, so long as it's steady. I don't notice lower frame rates, but I notice fluctuations immediately, regardless of the FPS. If it would work I'd hard lock mine to 30 just for that stability, but frame locking Beth games causes all sorts of irrational behaviour out of the Creation engine.

30 FPS kind of sucks for me since I'm use to ~90 when I play COD. 30 seems to be where I'm landing here.  It's certainly playable and fine, just noticeable. Like if I just stand still, the world looks incredible, once the I start moving, we get 30 fps and it looks jittery at times.  I think by hour 7 I didn't even notice, but my eyes struggled a bit adjusting to the lower FPS. It's possible my settings need further adjustment, but by everything I've seen, it's just not a high performing game right now.  I'm not trying to shit on it, I think this is well known for Bethesda, I recall Fallout 4 not being optimal either.  I just think there's a lot of room for improvement here, but it doesn't change how I feel about the actual game, which I'm loving. 

Also, there's SO many things the game doesn't show you (like that you can focus your laser cutter to mine much quicker) that I'm learning from tiktoks.  The depth of the game is incredible. I did see there was a mod for removing the limit on your ship building so some people have these incredible custom space ships.  I'd love to build something like that.  I haven't even bothered with ship building yet, I'm OK with the starter ship for now.

Just curiosity, but if you set it to play at 1080 instead of the 2160 would you notice that more than the slow FPS? I guess for me I'm old school enough that 1080 at 30+ is fine by me. I got started in this when Doom2 was released, and you were immersed in glorious 320x200 resolution @10 FPS (and it really was immersive as hell).

[cramx3]

Well that's kind of the issue, it seems a lot of these setting don't change much at all for FPS I also don't really want to play on 1080 when I have a PC built for 1440.  But like I said, it's just an adjustment, last night I played and I hardly noticed the frame rate being a problem as I approach 10 hours of gameplay so my eyes have adjusted. 

My tiktok feed is now like 90% Starfield tips and tricks.  I'm not complaining, but damn, there's just so many things in the game and I don't really feel like doing what everyone says to do to "max XP" or "get the best gun/spacecraft for free".  What I get coming to me will be strictly based on how I decide to play the game.  There's just way too much for me to care about the "best gun" when I can craft it if I really wanted it or maybe I'll just obtain it naturally. (apparantly loot is randomized, so we all may kill the same person but get a different gun off the body).

I should also add that I put the difficulty on very easy.  There's so much to do in this game that worrying about ammo/med packs is not part of the gameplay loop I'm too interested in.