Videogames: All Valves on Deck

[ASOIAFrelatedusername]

3 hours ago, Werthead said:

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.

Linking the popular Viva New Vegas guide and one for Tale of Two Wastelands, which basically puts FO3 in FNV's engine, adds some of NV's features, and combines the two into one game.

https://vivanewvegas.moddinglinked.com/index.html

https://thebestoftimes.moddinglinked.com/

Edited April 15 by ASOIAFrelatedusername

[Arakasi]

Yeah I don’t have a home pc for playing so that’s out of the question. My only machine here is my work PC. Don’t think I want to put a competitors game on that.

Anyway right now FO4 crashes on my ps5. I could just go install it on my ps4 but it looks like next week they’re coming out with a PS5 version so I might just wait for that.

[Rhom]

On 4/13/2024 at 7:33 PM, Werthead said:

What are the specs of your PC?

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core Processor  3.40 GHz
32 GB RAM
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

[Werthead]

2 hours ago, Rhom said:

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core Processor  3.40 GHz
32 GB RAM
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

Huh, that should have no problem with CP77 in the slightest.

Weird. Uninstall and reinstall, check all graphics drivers are up to date?

22 hours ago, IlyaP said:

No love for Fallout 1/2, Wert?

Functionally unplayable today, I would say. They have not aged well, at all.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

No matter the specs, you’ll get game breaking bugs in CP2077 regardlesss.

[IlyaP]

9 hours ago, Werthead said:

Functionally unplayable today, I would say. They have not aged well, at all.

It...works out of the box as far as I know, and even just installing the Fallout Fixt patch will resolve any existing problems?

[polishgenius]

Sweet. The first Steamworld Heist rocked. Steamworld in general is low-key one of the best franchises going. 

 

 

Also there isn't an English trailer separated out from today's Indie Direct announcement but Europa is getting a demo today, which I will definitely be trying out. Game releases in August.

 

 

[Fez]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

Sweet. The first Steamworld Heist rocked. Steamworld in general is low-key one of the best franchises going. 

 

Hope this does well for them. Steamworld Build was a flop and led to the publisher "putting on hold" a game called Steamworld Headhunter. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/thunderful-says-steamworld-build-underperformed-reveals-it-s-looking-to-sell-headup 

[Werthead]

10 hours ago, IlyaP said:

It...works out of the box as far as I know, and even just installing the Fallout Fixt patch will resolve any existing problems?

I think it's just UI, reactivity and graphics. It's slow and stodgy by modern turn-based standards. Even Wasteland 2, hardly the smoothest of experiences, puts Fallout to shame.

[horangi]

Noting Wert's last comment on Fallout and leaping back a couple pages into the 'Best RPG of All Time' debate, I think that its best to bound it a little by release date ranges or sub-categories that aren't predominantly linked to technological development.  There seems to be a tendency to artificially give a handicap to older, ground-breaking games when, as I see it, things like graphics, sound, UI, QoL improvements should be just as important in determining 'the best of genre' lists.  As a result, its not just recency bias that would lend a skew towards more 'recent' games, but the onward march of progress in gaming technology which objectively improves in fits and starts with time.  Is Fallout: NV better than Fallout 4?  Debatable since the advances in graphics/UI/combat mechanics may be able to compete against the differences in quality of the setting and writing.  But is anyone going to say Fallout 1 is better than Fallout 4 if both were released today?  You can argue Civ V is better than Civ VI due to preferences in mechanics, but Civ VI is objectively better than Civ 1.  Diablo I vs IV.  Warcraft I vs Startcraft II. etc.  Basically, outside of a narrow category like 'retro style metroidvania' etc. or for the most die hard grognards, there shouldn't be many candidates for 'best of category' older than say 15-20 years (with those older ones being like Morrowind maintaining momentum due to their ability to be modded into more modern games).  BG3 is a candidate for best of CRPG today, but I doubt that will be the case in 20 years, whereas, by then, Planescape: Torment will be a museum relic, played only by post-docs trying to understand 1980's American culture, (if we aren't there already).  Or in other words, I know naught which will be the best RPG tomorrow, but the all time best RPG will be Fallout: Live Edition. 

ETA:  After all I just said, I just built a new computer after my daughter spilled a cup of water and ended her desktop, thus 'forcing' me to giver her my previous one and suffering through having the latest tech.  Going from a RTX 2060 and equivalently specced computer to a 4070 Super-based computer has, to me, been the smallest jump in appreciable gaming quality since I've been building computers (generally about once every 4-5 years).  Cyberpunk looks a little better, I guess, but not really anything that has blown me away like going from Quake to Unreal in 97/98 with a dedicated gfx card.  Some of the 'best of' games of the last decade may be able to hold off competition longer I would think in terms of graphics. 

Edited April 17 by horangi

[Impmk2]

Just took the plunge and ordered a 32:9 (5,120 x 1,440) 49" OLED monitor to replace my current 34" 1440p UW (+2 1080p) setup. I do really like the 21:9 UW aspect ratio over the traditional 16:9, so interested to see how this goes. Expecting pretty bad game support out of the box!

Was on sale, and as I have a university email address I was able to get a staff discount which made the price too good. Was considering the 57" (7,680 x 2,160) which is essentially 2 4k VA panels stuck together, but I can't justify the cost, doubt even the 4090 could run it, and I really want to see what OLED is like for gaming.

Edited April 21 by Impmk2

[IlyaP]

The first gameplay footage for Riven 3D has dropped and I am very excited.

 

[Argonath Diver]

I was thrilled to buy Myst 3D and play on my Oculus 2. Just gorgeous. My parents bought me the original to play on my mom's Macintosh all those years ago. They probably should have seen major warning flags when I filled a few dozen pages of notes and scribbles for the remainder of Christmas break and certainly applied myself more to a game than I ever had in school to that point. 

Alas that's the failing of Myst 3D - half the experience for my puzzle-focused brain; I couldn't keep taking off the clumsy headset to peek at a notepad. 

That said I'll definitely buy Riven 3D as well and surely will play it through my 6950gt and a long USB cable. I did the same with HL Alyx, though I can only game with the Rift 2 for maybe 45 minutes at a time before I have to give my eyes and sweaty forehead a break. The Rift 2 is just too heavy for gaming to me though I adore it as a stationary setting to stream my movies via Skybox app.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

Anyone else felt like jumping back into TW ‘Shogun 2 after watching Shogun ? Still the best TW game I’ve ever played! Also on my 3rd play through of BG3, the Urge to always play this game haunts my mind forever ! 

Edited April 25 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[Corvinus85]

I completed the main story in Horizon Forbidden West and now I've started the Burning Shores DLC story. I'm 63 hours in the game. At one point I got bored with all the side quests and just shot for finishing the main story. I found the last act of the main story less challenging than in HZD.

Spoiler

While the Zeniths were technically extremely powerful, the Specter drones felt less challenging to deal with compared to war machines that HADES unleashed in the first game. Or maybe it's just that the game devs gave Aloy a more powerful array of weapons in this game. I took down Erik with little effort and only against Tilda I had to come up with all kinds of combinations and use some potions.

I did like how they setup up the premise for the 3rd game. I'm curious what the game's title will be.

And once again RIP Lance Reddick. Considering his character was going to stick around for another game, it hits hard. Not sure what they would do about the character's visage with a new actor, since he was modeled after Reddick. If they remodel, I hope that at least they keep the baldness with the wires attached to the scalp.

 

[Werthead]

4 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

I completed the main story in Horizon Forbidden West and now I've started the Burning Shores DLC story. I'm 63 hours in the game. At one point I got bored with all the side quests and just shot for finishing the main story. I found the last act of the main story less challenging than in HZD.

  Reveal hidden contents

While the Zeniths were technically extremely powerful, the Specter drones felt less challenging to deal with compared to war machines that HADES unleashed in the first game. Or maybe it's just that the game devs gave Aloy a more powerful array of weapons in this game. I took down Erik with little effort and only against Tilda I had to come up with all kinds of combinations and use some potions.

I did like how they setup up the premise for the 3rd game. I'm curious what the game's title will be.

And once again RIP Lance Reddick. Considering his character was going to stick around for another game, it hits hard. Not sure what they would do about the character's visage with a new actor, since he was modeled after Reddick. If they remodel, I hope that at least they keep the baldness with the wires attached to the scalp.

 

Sounds similar, I was about 70 hours in when I cut across to Burning Shores. I finished the main storyline, all side-quests and did most (but not all) of the salvage quests. I found all the collectables (I think), every camp fire etc.

Yes, the problem of how to replace Lance is real. In the Remedyverse they replaced him with David Harewood, which worked well but was more acceptable because it wasn't quite the same character in Alan Wake II versus Quantum Break (as Remedy don't own QB, so they had to rename the characters who came across even when they kept the actor the same).

Replacing the voice I don't think is an issue, replacing the character model is more debateable.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

Bit the bullet and bought Persona 5 Royal as it was on sale for 20 bucks in my region. My first persona and third JRPG after Pokémon and Fire Emblem. Hope it’s good !

[Rhom]

10 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Bit the bullet and bought Persona 5 Royal as it was on sale for 20 bucks in my region. My first persona and third JRPG after Pokémon and Fire Emblem. Hope it’s good !

I've honestly never played a single Pokemon game... Is it a JRPG?

(Guess that harkens back to our "What is a RPG?" question from a few days back.   )

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, Rhom said:

I've honestly never played a single Pokemon game... Is it a JRPG?

 

 

Well, it's an RPG made in Japan, so in the literal sense, sure. 

But in terms of JRPG being used as a genre marker (which I know is contentious in some areas anyway, but I feel like generally people know what is meant by it- especially in older games), it probably isn't a lot closer to Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest than it is to Baldur's Gate or whatever, no. It's really its own thing, and is a subgenre-defining game in its own right.

 

To be fair though like, Fire Emblem is also not a JRPG in that sense and I'm not sure Persona (which I've not played) is either (though I've heard it said that the series is getting closer to it as it moves along). Heck, might be the right move for someone not into them to approach JRPGs via the gentle road. 

[Werthead]

I've never played them (working toy retail Christmas 1999, during the first Pokecraze, was my personal Vietnam) but they're a bit more like monster-trainers, aren't they? A small genre but there are other examples. Maybe not a trillion miles away from Heroes of Might & Magic but 1-v-1 rather than assembling a whole rumble squad of monsters to kick the shit out of one another.