So, what're you playing?

[Surlyboi]

Have you played Tarkov? How does it compare to that? I have 400 hours in Escape from Tarkov and even though I am one of the worst players in the world, it's some of the best fun in gaming I had in recent years. Every engagement was worth a radicalthon.

Played Tarkov. The stakes on this seem a little lower in DMV but the douche factor is probably higher because there's less on the line in the long run.

Ran around a corner on a looting run last night, saw a dude wandering in an oil refinery barracks. Threw a knife at him thinking it was an AI mook and miss. Dude turns and says, "Oh shit" in proximity chat. Live player. He tosses a flashbang as I duck out of sight. Next thing I hear is him, "fuck, I can't see!"

I pipe up in prox, "Yo, I missed you with a knife, you blinded yourself. Howbout we both take our L's and slink off in opposite directions?"

"Yeah man, sounds good to me."

We both probably lived that day.

[Falconeer]

I love this stuff.

[Sky]

Do you mean, not able to zoom in even closer?  You can zoom in the new version by pressing the +/- buttons in the top left next to the map window (or by pressing [] on the keyboard I think).

I'm aware of the controls  Just not sure why they stopped the zoom where they did.

Also, I've tried various 'fixes' but nothing fixes the scaling issues at 4k. Can't see the cursor, can't play very well. It's like 3 pixels high, 10' away.

[Sky]

Apologies for the photo, screenshots weren't capturing the cursor. This is with windows at 1080p and the game settings configured for 1080p. Cursor stays tiny. At 10' away where I sit, it's nigh invisible and maddening to find during gameplay (I've played maybe 15 minutes, the other 75ish minutes have been trying to solve the cursor issue).


I'm kinda pissed because I've seen several people mention this issue and get inadequate help, or mostly just get dismissed "it's fine for me". Hate to return the game, but I'm almost out of the 2 hour window at this point.

[Cyrrex]

Bought all the recent Resident Evil games while on sale (2,3 7 and 8), and I know few or none of you care…but damn that shit is scary in VR.  I wonder if I will be able to actually play through much of it. 

[Falconeer]

Oh I care, and I'd love to have the guts to play it in VR. But I really don't. Must be awesome though.

Do they all work well and are satisfying in VR? I still see it as a technology that disappoints you more than it wows you, but I can't wait for when that humb will be crossed (or for when I will cross it).

[Samwise]

few or none of you care

I think at this point more people in this thread have (or want) VR setups than don't, but there are one or two people who are very loud about how much they don't care.   

[Sky]

Only reason I don't is that I'm hesitant to buy tech that's almost 4 years old now. Likely will preorder the Index 2 or whatever they'll call it.

I forgot I had RE7 from a sale or promo. While the most chilling thing about it is the character models (the biggest scare thus far was the girlfriend's 'healthy/happy' video from the beginning of the game), I love the atmosphere RE can put together. Would enjoy the VR version for sure.

[Cyrrex]

Oh I care, and I'd love to have the guts to play it in VR. But I really don't. Must be awesome though.

Do they all work well and are satisfying in VR? I still see it as a technology that disappoints you more than it wows you, but I can't wait for when that humb will be crossed (or for when I will cross it).

I have said a few times before that it is modded versions of existing 2D games that make the best VR games.  Only exception is Alyx, which is bottom-up VR masterpiece.  And there are a few other really good pure VR titles, but whatever.

So yes, it works.  The button mapping is a bit of a chore (on Vive controllers, I have a broken Index controller so cannot use them), there is room for improvement there.  But otherwise it works really well once you get all the graphical settings right.  RE2 is the one I am 4 or 5 hours into, and despite sorta remembering some of the jump scares, I just got fucking jumped by that skinless crawly thing and it scared the living piss out of me.  I have to take breaks to calm the fuck down.

I have a feeling 7 is going to be worse, I have never played it.  I just played the intro part to make sure it was working, and it was already freaking me out despite meeting zero bad guys.

Only reason I don't is that I'm hesitant to buy tech that's almost 4 years old now. Likely will preorder the Index 2 or whatever they'll call it.

I get it, but with this mindset you will always be waiting.  Modern GPUs have only just barely caught up with the Index, and that is only if you have the beefy stuff.  Next gen is not right around the corner, computers are not powerful enough.

[Sky]

Found a workaround for the mouse pointer in DF, need to use windows accessibility to make the cursor comically HUGE and then it shows up as normal in the game. Still doesn't fix the difficulty in seeing what's going on because it won't zoom in to the same levels I'm seeing on streamer's gameplay. I didn't even know the stockpiles had icons for contents until I was watching a stream, heck I didn't even know it was a sign, just looks like a tiny folder tab with a couple colored pixels on it.

Still, I hold out hope that some day it may be fixed. I can at least play it now. A good torture would be making someone navigate a 4k computer with a 4 pixel cursor.

[Zetor]

I've been playing Tactics Ogre Reborn, and it's really good. Normally I'm not a fan of the re-re-remake trend (hi bethesda), but this is easily the best version of the game. Classes feel balanced, XP and loot grinding is removed, combat feels crunchy and challenging. There's also voice acting, which is a bit hit and miss, but I vastly prefer it to Triangle Strategy f'rex. The only weak point is the kind of 'eh' UX with keyboard+mouse, but that's why the Steam Deck exists.  

Finished the main story of TO:Reborn yesterday... steam says total time played 96 hours including some side content, but no postgame (CODA/WORLD and POTD both sound like 100-hour projects on their own). It also held my attention for most of those 96 hours* unlike Triangle Strategy where I checked out around the first third. Shoutouts to the voice actors of the various bad guys especially, they did a pretty good job of scenery-chewing.

Overall the gameplay of the remake holds up -- I'd say the biggest advantage it has over the SNES/PSX/PSP versions is a greater (and more fair) challenge by removing most of the broken stuff and *especially* removing mandatory grinding. In fact, it swings the other way, with the level/gear scaling stuff they have in place, none of the combats can be trivialized just by grinding (that said, some endgame abilities and items do make things a fair bit easier). Switching classes and characters is also painless, there were always enough XP crests around to just insta-level someone up to cap if need be. I really liked the 'bonus objective' mechanic too, it added a lot of variance to otherwise samey fights, and the 'nobody in the party must get KOd even once' objectives were especially brutal during the fights against some baddies at the end of CH3 and near the end of CH4. So yeah, overall I'd recommend this for any TO afficionados.

* The one exception was the optional quest for the 6 shrines: each was a 6-level dungeon, and they just felt really drawn out. First one was fine, in the second one I was like 'yeah ok I get the concept, you could've just condensed each of these shrines into 2 maps' and I basically brainlessly autopiloted my way through them until the final level (they're not trivial enough to use AI to autobattle through them, sadly). The last level with the guardian was always a good time, though.

[Samwise]

Played "Stories Untold" recently and while it's not as good as Inscryption, that's the comparison that came to mind most readily, in terms of having a horror meta-narrative behind a retro game facade.  It's about two hours to play through all four "chapters".  Worth checking out IMO, and I think playing through in a single sitting is ideal because small details in earlier chapters get referenced in later ones.

My wife and I got Switches and a few game codes as a Christmas gift from my brother so that'll be next on the list.  Good timing since it's rainy out and we both have the week off.   

[Samwise]

few or none of you care

I think at this point more people in this thread have (or want) VR setups than don't, but there are one or two people who are very loud about how much they don't care.   

You'd think that people wouldn't be so eager to prove me right, and yet!    Splitting the VR chatter off into the VR thread.

[Xuri]

Got a Steam Deck for xmas, so I've started going through my Steam backlog (again). So far, played through Mark of the Ninja 1.5 times (new game+), a third of the way through Ori and the Blind Forest, and just installed Assassin's Creed Unity in a misguided attempt to "catch up" on the series (that attempt won't last long, it never does).

Btw, if anyone has any suggestions for games worth it to play on the Steam Deck, I'm all ears.

[Sky]

Lots of stuff plays well on the deck, old and new. Jump in and have fun with exploring your backlog. I've played stuff like Freedom Force, GTA IV, even Madden 22 works well on it. Only game I won't install so far is PGA golf, don't want to beat up my right stick due to their swing mechanic. NMS runs great, and lately I've been playing Elden Ring on it. Dead Cells is great ofc. I want to look into more twin stick shooter type stuff, I got a couple dozen more hours out of How to Survive 2, which is a lot of fun on the deck.

[Trippy]

Top 20 games played on Steam Deck in Nov 2022:

https://twitter.com/OnDeck/status/1598422797826813955

Most things that have native controller support work well on it. Some games that require a mouse can be played on it, either by thumbstick or touchpad, but are very awkward.

Games that have lots of text to read, small text, small UI elements, etc. can be hard to play because of the screen size.

The Steam store has a dedicated page for Verified Steam Deck games (the on-device Store page defaults to this as well): https://store.steampowered.com/greatondeck/

However lots of games that are just "Playable" work great too. Many of those only require you to use the pop-up keyboard to name your character or something but then afterwards only need thumbsticks and buttons. E.g. Monster Hunter Rise, which is one of November's top played games is only rated as "Playable" because of the character naming thing, but otherwise runs and controls perfectly, which is unsurprising given it's Switch origins.

Also if you want to play emulated games you'll want Emu Deck: https://www.emudeck.com/

We also have a dedicated Steam Deck topic: http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=26284.0

Edit: added list for the lazy

[schild]

Standardized hardware that isn't controlled by Apple produces the best shit. Emudeck looks unbelievable.

[lamaros]

Pathfinder finally seemed cheap enough to give a go.

The writing is bad and the class system is as incomprehensible as ever, but I'm giving it a go still and not hating it.

[Sky]

Rasix, unless you're in an online league that requires it, you should return Madden 23 and get 22. I might even recommend 21. 23 removed the pre-snap read, where you could see the +/- matchups for spd/route/release for each receiver to easily find mismatches. 22 changed franchise, which was bad before but got a v1 shitty redesign.

I went over my return window before they stopped updating the weekly game matchups that were pretty much the reason I bought 23. I think they updated again in week 10, no idea if they continued after that.

EA sucks so bad.

[Zetor]

Just finished Chained Echoes, a pretty damn good indie Chrono Trigger / Xenogears-esque JRPG -- actually it feels like a love letter to all the 16-bit jrpgs of the era while also avoiding easy nostalgiabait things. The design of the combat system is one of the best I've ever seen in a jrpg (srpgs excluded, obv), and the game has a pretty high level of polish, it's very player-friendly / has good QOL (e.g. hp/mana auto-refills between fights, enemies are visible / avoidable in the world like CT, movement and combat is snappy and fast, etc)*. This is normally not my genre, but I was pretty engrossed, even to the point of doing all the achievements. It's also decently long -- I did a completionist run and it took ~60 hours, basically consuming all my free time since mid-december.  It doesn't beat Elden Ring for my 2022 GOTY, but it's definitely up there...

Oh yeah, the game also has mechs. At one point in the game, the party gets into a mech fight with a tank. At another point in time, two party members get into a nerdfight about whether katanas or greatswords are better. Use this information as you will.  

* Even more impressive considering that the game is a one-man project: all the design / coding / world / story / art was made by some crazy German, though he got some people to do music, localization, and a few pieces of art. Speaking of the music, the OST is legit as well (link -- in particular, 'The Rainy City of Tormund' and the final boss theme 'Those Who Resist Destiny' stuck with me).

edit: I think it's on gamepass as well, if that matters

[eldaec]

So spider-man remastered is fun.

Remember like 15 years ago when you all posted about how much fun just swinging around in console Spider-Man games was? Well you were right.

[Rasix]

Rasix, unless you're in an online league that requires it, you should return Madden 23 and get 22. I might even recommend 21. 23 removed the pre-snap read, where you could see the +/- matchups for spd/route/release for each receiver to easily find mismatches. 22 changed franchise, which was bad before but got a v1 shitty redesign.

I went over my return window before they stopped updating the weekly game matchups that were pretty much the reason I bought 23. I think they updated again in week 10, no idea if they continued after that.

EA sucks so bad.

If you see a sports game being played on my Steam account, it's 100% my son playing. I've given up on sports game and haven't bought one for myself in years. He likes the simplicity of my username, so we haven't bothered setting up a family account. Funny enough, he bought it to play with his best friend, but didn't even know what "line of scrimmage" meant before playing it.

Mostly just playing Marvel Snap on my phone and the PoE league. League is not friendly to slower/time restricted/people-who-suck-at-dodging, but the base game is solid at the moment. 32 maps before dying to a final boss who one shots you before you can figure out what's even happening is no bueno. Sanctum runs happen too infrequently, but it doesn't look like they're bothering to adjust it. Ohh well, solid idea, scuffed execution.

 

[Mosesandstick]

I'm playing a lot of Marvel Snap too. I'm finding it great if I don't take it too seriously and play intermittently, though I don't actually like the snap mechanic.

[Sky]

I'm glad I waited until Elden Ring to really get into the soulzzz stuff. The open world format definitely feels right, at least until I can't eventually overlevel everything  Ironically I'm much more effective when playing it as I usually do open world stuff (just wandering around to whatever draws my attention and exploring the map's nooks) than when I try to actually be productive and make progress on something intentionally. I've been trying not to spoil too much, mostly just the initial Limgrave west stuff to get oriented with how the game handles progress and systems it doesn't like to tell you much about.

And then 40 hours in (I just stepped onto the Weeping Peninsula for the 1st time last night heh) my controller, not quite a year old, decides to give up the ghost on the left stick. Now, I'm not superstitious but it happened just after I rolled and almost broke my left toe again. so at the least the irony of having issues with my movement stick are not lost on me. Apparently 10 months is what I get out of a controller. Hope the Steam Deck doesn't give me issues in that timeframe! I won't even load PGA21 on it because of the swing stick mechanic...

Also snagged Midnight Suns on sale at GMG for 40sih% off. It's a decent light game that complements Elden Ring well. Main issue is that it doesn't seem to respect your time very much, lots of very long passages between spots I can save, but I haven't tested the limits of that yet. Elden Ring is surprisingly great about respecting time (reload back in without resetting an area), even if it has a shitty pause "feature" (map>menu explanation). Just let me pause my goddamned single player game.

[Sky]

The male voice actor in Midnight Suns is throwing me off. Don't get me wrong, he's great...but I can't shake hearing him as Yusuke from Persona 5.

Normally not the worst thing, but given the limited character creation options filled with some really subpar hairdos (so edgy), I was happy to stumble upon an amazing RP option: they have Prince's hair from Purple Rain. Gave him the right face structure/tone and can't stop chuckling at the idea of the Chosen One being Prince.

Except the voice is really, really wrong in that context. Kinda wish it was more of a silent protag, would've made sense for my very niche RP thing here 

[Phildo]

Have they announced when the first DLC will actually release for Midnight Suns?  I'd like to give it a go, but not if there's going to be new content available in a month or two.

[Velorath]

Have they announced when the first DLC will actually release for Midnight Suns?  I'd like to give it a go, but not if there's going to be new content available in a month or two.

Twitter account suggested that Deadpool will be coming in a month.

[Sky]

Iirc, there are 4 character-based DLCs (Deadpool, Venom, Morbius, and Storm). No idea the schedule, but you'll be waiting a while for them all to release. Maybe by end of year? Not sure how ambitious but they say missions and stuff. Hopefully they are integrated into the full game, it seems like a ton of work to add in new characters to this weird game without them feeling tacked on as an afterthought.

I've been enjoying the game, though for some reason I kinda suck at it. But it is a very weird mishmash of stuff. I like the battle parts ok, though maps are pretty rudimentary. The friend sim stuff is ok, but thematically weird (and annoyingly trying hard to be young, so I just go with whatever I think one or my zoomer coworkers would say in that situation and it's the 'right' answer...). The busybody layer seems very Marvel Avengers, which I'm not sure is a good thing overall.

I think Marvel needs to start their own game studio at this point. We've had a couple glimmers of good stuff but it still feels very pre-MCU in quality. Both this and Avengers are good titles that needed a strong hand at the wheel to keep from getting killed by the development process. At least I can mostly get costumes in this one, Avengers was a pile of shit when it came to handing out costumes. Anyway, less of the 'daily activity' type busywork is needed for both games. I know people seem to enjoy that, but it's shitty gaming.

[Rendakor]

You're unlikely to see less dailies any time soon; it doesn't look like the Live Service model of gaming is going anywhere in the near future.

[Velorath]

Midnight Suns isn't dailies in that sense. It's stuff you do in a game day, not a real life day. You can grind through it if you want or you can bypass a lot of it if you just want to do missions. You won't build up friendship with teammates as quickly if you just ignore it completely but you do still get friendship points each time you complete a mission (if you have Hunter in the group) with the team members you bring.

As far as the DLC goes, I get the impression that they'll release the characters a month or two apart from each other. Each character is supposed to have 3 missions associated with them. I don't know that the content is going to make a major difference to a playthrough of the game so it might not be worth waiting on, especially since the game is 41% off on GMG right now. I bought into it because the Midnight Sons were my jam during their short-lived time in the comics back in the '90s, so I'll go through again after the DLC hits, but I think for most people the base game is probably enough.

[Count Nerfedalot]

Daily missions (or repetitive quests in any form) is the cheapest form of content out there that keeps people actively playing. Possibly not quite the worst form, but it has to be close. So that is what we will get.  Why would a company waste resources and risk profit margins by giving us any better when we keep throwing money at them for the cheap stuff?

[Tebonas]

Well, its padding you can ignore, but since the missions are the most fun the game offers, why should you?

If you concentrate of the story critical stuff alone I wager you would get about 40 to 50 hours out of it, Personally I maxed out all Friendship meters and all decks other than the last hero you get, and got to 115 hours (I'll do the last hero with the DLC heroes). But most of that was running around and collecting crafting items I never needed.

But you will get enough bang for your bucks either way, so this is definitely not one of those games that are nothing but padding.  This is a spiritual successor of the Xcom games, where the story missions were only there to the you into the game and the real fun were the missions and the new builds you tried out for your soldiers.

[Samwise]

My wife and I got Switches and a few game codes as a Christmas gift from my brother so that'll be next on the list.  Good timing since it's rainy out and we both have the week off.  

Stardew Valley has completely taken over our household.  Send help.

[Reg]

Dailies of any kind irritate and bore me. Any company depending on them to retain people like me will be disappointed.

[Velorath]

Again, just to clarify, in Midnight Suns they're not dailies (in other words its not a "you can log in once a day and do this activity"). There's stuff you can do at your home base during the day prior to doing a mission (either a story mission or just the random side missions that generate). Then after the mission there's stuff you can do at the home base at night. If you want to maximize everything as fast as possible there's certain things you're going to do every single in-game day. It can be a bit tedious but it's worth noting that you can continue playing your character after the story, either through random post-game missions, or through new game+ so you don't have to try to rush to max everything out before the end. Also worth noting that from what I hear NG+ carries over your friendship levels, and I think cosmetic unlocks and such, but does not carry over your cards, so keep that in mind if you're trying to build perfect decks with modded, upgraded cards and everything.