Videogames: All Valves on Deck

[Ran]

@Rhom Verify the integrity of the files.on Steam.

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, Ran said:

@Rhom Verify the integrity of the files.on Steam.

Did that too.

[Caligula_K3]

I'm getting close to the end of Act 1 of BG3 (at least, I've done the Underdark route, and now I'm going to go back and do the mountain route to the towers). I don't think I'm qualified yet to say whether it's the BEST RPG EVA. I doubt it ever will be my favourite or close, just because I'm not a fan of turn based combat. I'm playing on storytelling mode; the idea of repeating some of these 20 minute long fights multiple times, as higher difficulties force you to do when you fail, would bounce me off the game hard. But it's really, really fun.

The game is at its best when it makes you feel like you're crafting your own narrative. The best example for me has been (Act 1 spoilers)

Spoiler

Most of the goblin camp sequence. Deceiving my way in, smearing shit on my face to blend in better and having the animals in the camp react to this, rescuing Volo the bard using my bard skills and then having him perform impromptu eye surgery on me, leading to the loss of an eye... All of it was hilarious, but also felt extremely reactive in a way that few RPGs I've played have. It's not about the big choices, but the little choices.

 

But I find the overall narrative weak - frankly, there hasn't really been much of a narrative or real plot yet - and so the game is at its weakest (though still quite fun) when some of that "reactivity" falls to the wayside and you're forced into very lengthy combat against many foes for reasons you barely care about.

Spoiler

For example, killing the three goblin leaders. The game really makes it seem like you'll be able to take them all out without having to fight the entire goblin camp. This is true for one leader, who you can lure back to her room and then assassinate. It's kind of true for another, who you can send off to the druid camp and fight there, albeit with a big army. But to kill the third leader, you ultimately just have to fight, which alerts the whole camp, which leads to a very tedious set of battles.

Again, small complaints for a great game. If the plot picks up once I hit the towers and some of the companions develop in more interesting ways, I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more. But best RPG ever? There can only be one, and it's Kingdoms of Amalur.

Edited April 13 by Caligula_K3

[IlyaP]

Amalur for the win! Love that game.

[Clueless Northman]

On 4/12/2024 at 11:45 PM, Werthead said:

You can complete it substantially faster than 100 hours, but only by ignoring a substantial chunk of the story/characters/events of the game and possibly gimping yourself for the endgame (you can also do this in The Witcher 3, BG1, all three Mass Effect games etc).

Heck, you can do this in Elder Scrolls as well, specially Oblivion and Skyrim in which scaling helps you, more than in Morrowind, and you can complete their main quests quite fast (20 hours maybe?), yet they're very long games (as in 200 hours) if you actually do all the content, all the quests, side-quests, factions.

[Werthead]

7 hours ago, Rhom said:

I've had CyberPunk in my Steam library ever since I bought my Steam Deck, but have never actually played it.  All this talk made me decide to install it on my new PC here at the office and give it a go.

Installed and the Steam Launcher opened a CDP launcher (I hate launchers that launch other launchers btw).  As soon as the game tries to start... it crashes.

What are the specs of your PC?

[Rhom]

12 hours ago, Werthead said:

What are the specs of your PC?

I’ll post them when I’m back at the office tomorrow.  It’s well past the requirements.

I did start it up on my Steam Deck without trouble last night. 

Edited April 14 by Rhom

[Durckad]

If my almost 9-year old potato can run Cyberpunk (and it still looks pretty good, even with the settings turned down), I think almost any computer should be able to.

[Caligula_K3]

Maybe Baldur's Gate 3 really is the best game of all time.

Spoiler

I have become god of the underground fish people, and they worship me by my true name: Mahkloompah.

 

[Arakasi]

Watching Fallout has made me want to play fallout. I guess without a computer unless I want to try an older one on my steam deck or break out an older console my choice has to be fallout four. Iirc I didn’t get that far into it as compared to 1, 2 and Vegas. Is it worth it to play it or should I bust my ps3 out to play 3 or Vegas?

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, Arakasi said:

Watching Fallout has made me want to play fallout. I guess without a computer unless I want to try an older one on my steam deck or break out an older console my choice has to be fallout four. Iirc I didn’t get that far into it as compared to 1, 2 and Vegas. Is it worth it to play it or should I bust my ps3 out to play 3 or Vegas?

I just checked Steam… you can have 3 and NV for a combined total of less than $7.50.

[Arakasi]

2 minutes ago, Rhom said:

I just checked Steam… you can have 3 and NV for a combined total of less than $7.50.

I don’t have a gaming pc so I can’t play the old ones on my ps5. (and I own 3 and Vegas on disk anyway)

[Rhom]

1 minute ago, Arakasi said:

I don’t have a gaming pc so I can’t play the old ones on my ps5. (and I own 3 and Vegas on disk anyway)

 Both are listed as “Playable” on Steam Deck which you mentioned…

[Arakasi]

Hmm I guess I could try there. Still gets back to which game should I play. And no not playing 76.

Edit: also found some sort of games I don’t like playing 3d games on it. One it heats up badly and two experience isn’t really build for such a small screen. When it’s something like a smaller scale strategy game or rpg that tends to work better. Heck BG3 was miserable with how it turned it into a frying pan.

Edited April 15 by Arakasi

[Relic]

4 hours ago, Arakasi said:

Hmm I guess I could try there. Still gets back to which game should I play. And no not playing 76.

Edit: also found some sort of games I don’t like playing 3d games on it. One it heats up badly and two experience isn’t really build for such a small screen. When it’s something like a smaller scale strategy game or rpg that tends to work better. Heck BG3 was miserable with how it turned it into a frying pan.

why not turn your steamdeck into a PC? get yourself a docking station and a nice monitor and you're set

[IlyaP]

2 hours ago, Relic said:

why not turn your steamdeck into a PC? get yourself a docking station and a nice monitor and you're set

Could Fallout 1/2 be played on the Steamdeck? (I have no idea, don't own one my self, but this sub-discussion is interesting, and gives me ideas for friends who own Steamdecks.)

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, IlyaP said:

Could Fallout 1/2 be played on the Steamdeck? (I have no idea, don't own one my self, but this sub-discussion is interesting, and gives me ideas for friends who own Steamdecks.)

The original FallOut is listed as Playable on Deck.

The caution notes just mention that there are times that require utilizing the onscreen touch keyboard and some features do not work with the built in controller function and will require the use of the onscreen keyboard.  The positives say that it does utilize Steam Deck controller icons and the default graphics settings work well.

To answer your broader question about whether a game is playable on the Steam Deck, that answer is broadly "Yes."  Its a PC.  Now, it is Linux based PC (that you can dual load Windows onto).  So there is hardly anything that you can't play in one shape or another.

[Relic]

17 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Now, it is Linux based PC (that you can dual load Windows onto).  So there is hardly anything that you can't play in one shape or another.

Which is why ill probably never buy another laptop again. Once my current one dies im just going to get something like the ASUS ROG Ally.

[Werthead]

16 hours ago, Arakasi said:

Watching Fallout has made me want to play fallout. I guess without a computer unless I want to try an older one on my steam deck or break out an older console my choice has to be fallout four. Iirc I didn’t get that far into it as compared to 1, 2 and Vegas. Is it worth it to play it or should I bust my ps3 out to play 3 or Vegas?

Fallout 4 is the most recent single-player game, the best-looking and is due to get a major update on 25 April. It's also the most accessible, although it's also been criticised for being the most dumbed-down, which I'm not too sure about. It's a solid game, very fun, the DLCs are pretty good (even if one of them is primarily aimed at evil players and doesn't have much content for good players), and it has a fair amount of quest reactivity.

Fallout: New Vegas is probably the best game in the series but it's also janky and has the worst opening hour or so in the series. It also tries to be an open-world game but the optimal enjoyment of the game is held by playing it linear and following instructions on where to go next, which gives it a bit of a schizophrenic feeling in the early going. Once you're ~Level 15 or so, that ceases being a problem and you can do what you want. The story is pretty good, the characters fairly memorable, the faction interactions mostly good (in FO4 there's too many factions and they trip over one another a lot more). Obviously graphically a bit dated but hardly hideous.

Fallout 3 was designed to introduce the franchise to new players, so it's probably the most traditional of the three "recent" SP games and has the most traditional Fallout opening (you start and spend a fair bit of time in a vault). It's pretty solid, but it has the stupidest ending of any video game in human history prior to Mass Effect 3, so you need to have the DLC installed (which fixes it). It's the oldest of the three so is looking a bit long in the tooth, but again perfectly playable. As you go back in time the decreasing QOL improvements from the later games may get more irritating (New Vegas has iron sights, survival mode and better crafting; Fallout 4 allows you to loot without having to open a separate screen and has the settlement building mode, which is pretty good, although I strongly recommend having the Vault-Tec and Automatron DLC before tackling that).

I would recommend playing 3 and New Vegas on PC if possible to install some basic QOL mods and the fan-made bug fix packs, and also remove the "piss filters" which can be vaguely irritating on both games.

[IlyaP]

No love for Fallout 1/2, Wert?