Computer games.

[DualityNSNO]

i'm a hardest-difficulty freak if i can get away with it. Did the entire Half-Life 2 series (with the eps) on Hard...in VR. Amazingly-immersive action-gameplay. Died a thousand times. Took me half-a-year...

I guess i enjoy the feeling of reward when progressing on such difficulties, it feels more realistic, as i'm less of an invincible superman and more like a Tom Cruise character in Edge of Tomorrow (where the many-deaths contribute to learning how to progress).

. I hear i seriously missed out on an ME2 expansion called Lair of the Shadow Broker...got rave reviews from everyone.

Lair was great, especially if you've done the romance option for Liara, who

Spoiler

as you know becomes the new Shadow Broker - it basically lets you help her and the mission is great. In ME3 it's explained as "she just took over with some mercs" or something apparently. If she's your romance option you get to share a few personal talks and moments and you invite her on the Normandy for some private time lol

. I am on the LE and all the DLCs are great, I didn't 100% any of the first 2 games in all honesty - wasn't particularly arsed with all of the things to do and as I said - I'm waiting for BG3 but also don't want to have to finish this if I can be on BG3. Might revisit though, definitely very replayable.
That said, Overlord is absolutely chilling in the most human way possible, considering you fight the Geth for 100% of the mission.

Also the MAKO was horrible in ME1, however somehow topped by the stupid 1HP airboat from ME2 lol

Honestly if you can or want to, bump the difficulty down to skim through the beginning and then go for the DLCs on insanity - you receive all of them pretty much instantly anyway. Also the LE made the game slightly easier because of some of the weapons and armor you receive instantly, but I swerved the overpowered armors anyway because they absolutely ruin the game by being unable to remove helmet and stuff which is just crap lol Style over OP I guess

About hardcore - I can't anymore man. I've done those things back in ages ago but I cba now anymore. I prefer a coherent and well written story, even if I play the almighty-and-too-nice-of-a-person character who always gets his way. As I said I'm doing a paragon run in all games but I'm trying to keep it logical, that's good enough for me lol

Having never played Souls games - it's also why I cba with those by the by. Yeah it's rewarding to beat a boss/level/etc but in general I don't want to spend 9 hours on a single level or fight.

 

[dholliday]

That said, Overlord is absolutely chilling in the most human way possible

i watched the ending of that on a youtube-playthrough...was pretty disturbing. shame i didn't play it.

Also the MAKO was horrible in ME1

i loved it! the sense of exploration was very nice. also ME1's sniper...the pre-LE version had all that jankiness which i kinda enjoyed as slowly it (and i) got better.

however somehow topped by the stupid 1HP airboat from ME2

ME2 had a lot of bloat and bad gameplay choices. that primitive targeting a planet for resources? booooring. at least with the Mako in ME1 we were driving around.

Honestly if you can or want to, bump the difficulty down to skim through the beginning and then go for the DLCs on insanity - you receive all of them pretty much instantly anyway.

i'll never play the ME-trilogy again, or any expansions i missed. i've done it, so can't go back. it's a kind of immersive suspension-of-disbelief technique to more immerse oneself into the experience. Replaying a game makes it less of an experience and more of a...game.

made an exception with Half-Life 2, as this time it was VR.

Speaking of VR, you tried it? You seem like a passionate active gamer. For me - as a part-time but also passionate gamer - VR has been a revelation! can't play flat-screen anymore.

Having never played Souls games - it's also why I cba with those by the by. Yeah it's rewarding to beat a boss/level/etc but in general I don't want to spend 9 hours on a single level or fight.

Not tried any myself...i need a manual save-anywhere/anytime option, not sure if those games have that. i give up games that have save-checkpoints.

but yeah...these days no VR, no party.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Speaking of VR, you tried it? You seem like a passionate active gamer. For me - as a part-time but also passionate gamer - VR has been a revelation! can't play flat-screen anymore.

I am but I've barely tried it. For work reasons we still have one here and I can just up and take it home to test, and I do want to buy one, but I'll get around to it - gotta upgrade my rig and also get a massive TV to play games on too lol so it's those things, then a good VR set or work-related temporary theft.

I understand re: ME replay tbh. If you've done it all you're not going back just for some DLC or some other thing you can watch without the need to spend countless hours. more

And about the MAKO - I liked it, the mechanic is great, but it drives/controls like ass. I honestly preferred the planet scanning (I know I'm a minority lol ) and the scene cut and "teleport" when Shep has to go a short distance somewhere, instead of walking/driving there and having to fight like 10 dudes along the way for some reason. I get it why it was like that in the first game - world wasn't as expansive, but it was a good call imho about the 2nd game, as they instead focused on the more detailed design of things. Maybe a combination of both somehow would've suited more people, but it's one of the things they got right in my opinion.

 

[dholliday]

I am but I've barely tried it. For work reasons we still have one here and I can just up and take it home to test, and I do want to buy one, but I'll get around to it - gotta upgrade my rig and also get a massive TV to play games on too lol so it's those things, then a good VR set or work-related temporary theft.

which headset has work got? and what graphic card & cpu you got?

i use a humble Quest 2: native for sports like boxing & table tennis, and also the brilliantly-converted Resident Evil 4 (completed it last year).

per WLAN then playing Steam VR games wirelessly. my rtx-3060ti + ryzen 5600x is fine, but i do have to dial down the advanced-graphic settings as for Quest 2 the game needs to effectively run at 4k at 90fps. jerkiness, dropped frames etc kill the immersion and cause dizzyness. i tend to look out for decent mods of older games...at the moment undecided which is gonna be my next main game, there's a lot of chaff out there in VR-land so quite a lot of time is trying out games only to dump them after an hour.

but once a good one gets you...holy moly...greatest gaming experience ever (and i go way back to the Atari console/C64-era of gaming). it's basically a realisation of the dream we all have had: to physically be in the game.

 

[Rita_Poon]

I'm much to frightened to give alien isolation a run, but I reckon with age it must be VR ready, and worth a go as the follow up is due end of this year. Also worth doing the bioshocks, as back to rapture is again out end of this year. Worth being familiar just for those two titles. and so far as I've read HL Alyx is the VR go to.

 

[DualityNSNO]

which headset has work got? and what graphic card & cpu you got?

i use a humble Quest 2: native for sports like boxing & table tennis, and also the brilliantly-converted Resident Evil 4 (completed it last year).

per WLAN then playing Steam VR games wirelessly. my rtx-3060ti + ryzen 5600x is fine, but i do have to dial down the advanced-graphic settings as for Quest 2 the game needs to effectively run at 4k at 90fps. jerkiness, dropped frames etc kill the immersion and cause dizzyness. i tend to look out for decent mods of older games...at the moment undecided which is gonna be my next main game, there's a lot of chaff out there in VR-land so quite a lot of time is trying out games only to dump them after an hour.

but once a good one gets you...holy moly...greatest gaming experience ever (and i go way back to the Atari console/C64-era of gaming). it's basically a realisation of the dream we all have had: to physically be in the game.

Quest 2 as well I believe. Don't wanna go search for it now to check but I'm 99% sure tbh. My setup is ancient though, it was never high end to begin with and was supposed to be a kind of temporary build back in 2016 or so but things worked differently, I didn't have the money (or my PC with me) for a long time, so life got in the way of it sadly.

Played stupid VR games on a friend's PC/setup when we built it for her circa Cyberpunk's release for a bit, not my thing then but time changes people lol I can see the appeal and hope by the time I get one the games/tech is more advanced as well...

 

[dholliday]

Quest 2 as well I believe. Don't wanna go search for it now to check but I'm 99% sure tbh. My setup is ancient though, it was never high end to begin with and was supposed to be a kind of temporary build back in 2016 or so but things worked differently, I didn't have the money (or my PC with me) for a long time, so life got in the way of it sadly.

Played stupid VR games on a friend's PC/setup when we built it for her circa Cyberpunk's release for a bit, not my thing then but time changes people lol I can see the appeal and hope by the time I get one the games/tech is more advanced as well...

Resi Evil 4 native on the Quest 2 will do for now (no PC required). They did an outstanding job upscaling it while keeping things smooth at unbroken 90fps. All on a Snapdragon!

 

[DualityNSNO]

Resi Evil 4 native on the Quest 2 will do for now (no PC required). They did an outstanding job upscaling it while keeping things smooth at unbroken 90fps. All on a Snapdragon!

Quite possibly one of my least favourite franchises lol but I'm willing to try if it's good, we'll see.

 

[Baines' left foot]

Got a wee tax rebate so I’ve been thinking about a GPU upgrade again. A 4070ti has caught me eye. It’d be glorious, but it’s £800 and I can’t justify that at all.

One option is the standard 4070 for £620, which is between the 3080 and 3080ti performance wise. The sensible choice would be a 3080 10gb or 12gb, but ‘new’ prices are still stupid, so it’d have to be used. CEX offer a 2 year warranty which is hard to ignore, and prices are similar to eBay.

There doesn’t seem to be any stand out options, but if I get the 3080 12gb I want it would work out approx. £230 for the upgrade, once I’ve sold my 3070. I think that’s worth it, but only just.

Thanks for reading my blog. I’m such a frame hungry [Poor language removed]. Never thought I’d end up like this.

 

[Clarky cat]

Got a wee tax rebate so I’ve been thinking about a GPU upgrade again. A 4070ti has caught me eye. It’d be glorious, but it’s £800 and I can’t justify that at all.

One option is the standard 4070 for £620, which is between the 3080 and 3080ti performance wise. The sensible choice would be a 3080 10gb or 12gb, but ‘new’ prices are still stupid, so it’d have to be used. CEX offer a 2 year warranty which is hard to ignore, and prices are similar to eBay.

There doesn’t seem to be any stand out options, but if I get the 3080 12gb I want it would work out approx. £230 for the upgrade, once I’ve sold my 3070. I think that’s worth it, but only just.

Thanks for reading my blog. I’m such a frame hungry [Poor language removed]. Never thought I’d end up like this.

 

[dholliday]

.

I'm much to frightened to give alien isolation a run, but I reckon with age it must be VR ready, and worth a go as the follow up is due end of this year. Also worth doing the bioshocks, as back to rapture is again out end of this year. Worth being familiar just for those two titles. and so far as I've read HL Alyx is the VR go to.

missed this earlier among the wall-of-texts between me & Duals lol

Do you VR, Rita?

Oh yes, Half-Life: Alyx is still today the go-to title for high-end action-adventure VR. And it approaches the famous cliffhanger-ending of HL2:Ep2 in a novel way.

But the more one gets into VR-gaming, the more too-safe the Alyx game is (dumb-slow 'sign-posting' enemy-Ai, no real boss fights, no sprint, no proper jump). First RE4 on the Quest, then the HL2-VR mods on Steam blow away HL:Alyx in terms of challenging action-packed gameplay. As these are the exact same games as the classic mid-00's originals...but in VR!

I'm still surprised that hardly anyone from the gamer-masses is all over this sort of thing. It's surely a dream come true for gamers to be in the game, physically aiming, turning, ducking etc. It hasn't just revolutionised the very idea of gaming to me, it's genuinely made me a more energetic fitter bloke. All that standing & moving around does good stuff to the body, makes sleep better too. Better than sitting or lying down for hours, for sure.

I guess most gamers can't be arsed with the hassle and just wanna chill with a game for a bit. Then there's the nausea-factor, and cost. All understandable, but yous are seriously missing out on a revolution. A revolution that might not entirely happen now, as it seems the VR gamer-market isn't budging from its niche status, with most top titles being announced not bothering with VR-modes (latest God of War, Final Fantasy etc). Steam VR users number only around 2% of total active monthly users, and PSVR2 sales have been relatively modest. Even the Quest 2 (most-sold VR-Headset ever with 20m+) has a problem with retaining users as many gather dust due to the huge amount of uninspiring shovelware the Quest Online Store offers.

Portable small-screen gaming, like the Steam Deck or Switch, is vastly more popular than VR-gaming.

Ah well...it is what it is.

 

[Martin Alvito]

I'm aware of a big part of the ending(s) but it's entirely different playing them yourself. I'll give my opinion sometime next week before Baldurs Gate 3 releases and takes over my life lol

Opinion so far is very, very positive. Jumping from ME1 to ME2 though - gameplay decisions completely baffle me, despite the fact they're lauded. In no real order but:
- Even though it's explained in-universe the addition of clips of ammo was unnecessary imo, even if it's not a huge negative, more a neutral point;
- Adding a vault mechanic that's utter jank to use and unclear was pointless;
- Pistols of all things having next to no ammo even fully upgraded was weird;
- Some of the choices/answers/dialogues being half-fleshed out or somewhat unclear or not what I'd want - I'm doing full paragon run(s) and in some cases other than the obvious blue paragon option the clearly obvious good the rest are ambiguous or not what I'd want. Sometimes it's "PARAGON/RENEGADE" on one side and on the other it's "Maybe/Maybe/Asshole-ish NO", why? I'm aware that's a personal nitpick though.
- My biggest actual pet peeve - in the first game the enemies felt killable within reason on normal. Get armor/shield down and organics die/burn rather quick when headshotted or from a stronger weapon; for robots - the special ammo (both fire and anti-robot had a full party bonus to them) or the abilities help massively; WHY in the name of anything add bullet sponge enemies? Who at Bioware decided that's a good idea? You go into a new area and the enemies are great, environment is amazing, but you gotta do a small-ish boss who has regenerating shield/barrier every 20% life (basically plot armour so you don't go too fast through it) just to stagger the gameplay. Many points where I can point these things happening, but spoilers and all. Hate it.

That said, I'd replay many times or go back to it - brilliant games both 1 and 2, hopefully 3 lives up to it. So far any negative I've had has many, many more positives in reality.

The big changes in ME2 were twofold. One, Insanity became a legitimate challenge, rather than "juggle all the enemies with biotics over and over, then tediously whittle them down while helpless." Two, the cover mechanics and AI both improved markedly. You can still chew through enemies on the higher difficulties, but a substantial understanding of the mechanics, enemies and appropriate squad members to counter those enemies is required. Insanity is not designed for a first playthrough, unless you don't mind dying as you learn by trial and error like it's an Infocom game. If all else fails, take an Engineer and exploit the fact that the AI is a complete moron about Combat Drones. It's slow going, but it works.

ME3 impressed me more than it did on the first go-round, when I played the Legendary Edition about six months ago. It does an excellent job of capturing the civilian costs of war. There are flaws, and the ending is still terrible, but a lot of the long-term Citadel NPC plotlines are brilliantly written. As far as DLC goes, I had the pre-order stuff and Lair of the Shadow Broker for ME2, and didn't find that the rest added all that much. The Omega and Citadel DLCs for ME3 are both strong additions to the base game, and it was nice to finally play them.

 

[Dylan]

Got a wee tax rebate so I’ve been thinking about a GPU upgrade again. A 4070ti has caught me eye. It’d be glorious, but it’s £800 and I can’t justify that at all.

One option is the standard 4070 for £620, which is between the 3080 and 3080ti performance wise. The sensible choice would be a 3080 10gb or 12gb, but ‘new’ prices are still stupid, so it’d have to be used. CEX offer a 2 year warranty which is hard to ignore, and prices are similar to eBay.

There doesn’t seem to be any stand out options, but if I get the 3080 12gb I want it would work out approx. £230 for the upgrade, once I’ve sold my 3070. I think that’s worth it, but only just.

Thanks for reading my blog. I’m such a frame hungry [Poor language removed]. Never thought I’d end up like this.

The entire RTX 4000 series is AWFUL value for money. Just skip this generation.

Just stick with your 3070 (or whatever it was you got)

 

[longers]

I'm much to frightened to give alien isolation a run

It stops being scary after you die the first couple of times tbh. Great idea and concept but once you lose the fear factor it's a bit meh imo

 

[longers]

The entire RTX 4000 series is AWFUL value for money.

I agree but it has the magic frame generation technology along with DLSS3, im considering getting one purely for MSFS although part of me is hoping that the 2024 version will be amazingly optimised relative to the current version.