2022-2024 Video Games Thread

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Playing Cold War, in my typical "lucky to have a 1.00 K/D" fashion.

Suddenly, magic. As I find my perfect spot on the Miami map, I'm beasting and feasting on fools. A 12 kill streak, I've got a chopper inbound thanks to a lucky care package roll, I'm listening to rage quitters in chat and ... **CONNECTION HAS BEEN LOST**

#AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH

Games hate me, they really do.

What gun load out are you using right now? I usually never go LMG but I'm really liking the Stoner. I've been meaning to do a deep dive on all the stats, time to kill, etc. I do think i have a pretty good internet connection and a super fast PC so I've been winning a ton of the H2H encounters with the SMG spammers so far.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by stevew

What gun load out are you using right now? I usually never go LMG but I'm really liking the Stoner. I've been meaning to do a deep dive on all the stats, time to kill, etc. I do think i have a pretty good internet connection and a super fast PC so I've been winning a ton of the H2H encounters with the SMG spammers so far.

Heh, I'm an LMG guy first & foremost on any of the COD/MW games gating back to at least MW2.

I'm making myself do my usual methodical leveling of guns across all types (other than sniper) so I'm only at level 3-4 on everything I've unlocked so far right now.

Playing Hardcore FFA (which is my best mode by far still) mostly, the Stoner is a solid beast. My K/D with it is considerably better than with any other weapon, despite all the MP5 enthusiasm that was the norm (before they nerfed it on Wednesday anyway). I think the burst-firing M16 is a little bit o/p in the Marksman category, feels very light to use compared to the previous burst fire marksmen in past edition.

The shotgun in the secondary category are pretty strong too right now, and I rarely play shotguns in past editions.

[stevew]

I wish they would nerf the stimshot a bit. That thing is ridiculous.

[MizzouRah]

Finally grabbed an XSX online from Best Buy this morning at 6:30am when my phone went off with an email that Black Friday was starting. Got lucky for sure and it's an in store pickup next week.

They were releasing both consoles every few minutes.

[Atocep]

Landed a PS5 at Fred Meyer of all places. Got in line at 3am and was 19th. They had 20.

[Flasch186]

Just started getting into VR beyond Iracing and the Walking Dead is a trip.

[BigDPW]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Finally grabbed an XSX online from Best Buy this morning at 6:30am when my phone went off with an email that Black Friday was starting. Got lucky for sure and it's an in store pickup next week.

They were releasing both consoles every few minutes.

Of course today my mom tells me she wants to by my boys a PS5 or XBX for Christmas... I am thankful for the willingness and generosity but I wish I would've known a month or two ago so I could help her get one ordered - or at least before Black Friday... We will see. May be an I owe you situation come Christmas.

If anyone has any tips or suggestions let me know!

[ISiddiqui]

Playing Red Dead Redemption 2 and it’s gorgeous! Though I wish Rockstar would take away the 30fps cap for PS5. Oh well. God of War was fun - finished the main story line and did a bunch of side quests but I have no desire to do the end game other realms stuff (I’m more of a story person). Also PS store had Witcher 3 Complete for $15 so I couldn’t pass that up - but will wait to play it until they release the next gen patch (adding ray tracing, doing 4k 60fps, etc).

Lots of good deals on games, but I’m once again wary of buying too many and then having some get lost in the shuffle and it’s a wasted buy (which is why I canceled my order of Horizon Zero Dawn - and will wait until next year to purchase).

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by BigDPW

If anyone has any tips or suggestions let me know!

Follow Linus Wilson and PS5 Stock Alerts on Twitter, join the PS5 reddit discord and hang out in the PS5-Orders channel, and be prepared for a lot of frustration. Sony's been a disaster with this launch and Microsoft has only been slightly better.

That's my suggestions for a PS5 (obviously). I'm not sure about XBX specifically, but Linus Wilson does cover those drops and the XBX drops are usually mentioned in the PS5 discord as well.

[BigDPW]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Follow Linus Wilson and PS5 Stock Alerts on Twitter, join the PS5 reddit discord and hang out in the PS5-Orders channel, and be prepared for a lot of frustration. Sony's been a disaster with this launch and Microsoft has only been slightly better.

That's my suggestions for a PS5 (obviously). I'm not sure about XBX specifically, but Linus Wilson does cover those drops and the XBX drops are usually mentioned in the PS5 discord as well.

Thanks!

[MizzouRah]

Well I was supposed to pick my XSX today at Best Buy but now it's "delayed" and says it will cancel if it hasn't arrived by Dec 5th.

This is one crazy console release.. I've read where some people eventually picked them up from Best Buy and some where they cancel the order.

I guess if I haven't received an update by Dec 4th I'll call customer service and see if I can extend it so it's not automatically cancelled.

[MizzouRah]

Picked up the XSX and transferred my games via external SSD HD, which was simple and quite fast. I can use the external HD for non-XSX enhanced games since it's not the same speed as the internal SSD.

A few games like Borderlands 3, AC Valhalla and WD Legion had XSX downloads so it will be interesting to see the differences. I was in and playing Madden 21 in just a few minutes... excited to see the upgrade on Friday.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Picked up the XSX

Whew.

Seriously.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Fortnite season end event was ... strange?

Mixed reviews best I can tell, I'm in the "well that was ... anticlimactic" camp.

I figure midnight eastern (when the new season arrives & we get the rest of the story) will tell the tale for reaction.

Cool to get a bit of a new AC/DC song licensed for the event, NOT cool that YouTube warned streamers that they couldn't prevent an automatic copyright claim from occurring if they didn't mute. That system is SO f'n broken.

[Thomkal]

I don't play the game, but I do watch the events because its fun to see what happens and where its going next. The streamer I watched was commenting on how he was happy to see that everyone could participate in the event (at the end when fighting Galactcus) To me Iron Man seemed pretty chill about reality about to end/ Would have liked more tension

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'm way late to the party on this one, but the Android version of Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is an incredibly good port.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

I don't play the game, but I do watch the events because its fun to see what happens and where its going next. The streamer I watched was commenting on how he was happy to see that everyone could participate in the event (at the end when fighting Galactcus) To me Iron Man seemed pretty chill about reality about to end/ Would have liked more tension

Not being into the whole modern Marvel universe thing, I was kinda thrown off by them basically scripting Iron Man as though he were Deadpool. My kid tells me that's basically his new gimmick for the recent flicks but today felt to me too far over the top for his dialog.

And I'm SUCH a noob to the game, my perspective is kinda warped. This was only my 2nd season ending event so I have no real history to go by beyond what I've caught watching the kid play over the years. I'm poor with the lore, barely know enough to follow a lot of the core storyline stuff.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Whew.

Seriously.

Reminded me of cabbage patch kids.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Not being into the whole modern Marvel universe thing, I was kinda thrown off by them basically scripting Iron Man as though he were Deadpool. My kid tells me that's basically his new gimmick for the recent flicks but today felt to me too far over the top for his dialog.

And I'm SUCH a noob to the game, my perspective is kinda warped. This was only my 2nd season ending event so I have no real history to go by beyond what I've caught watching the kid play over the years. I'm poor with the lore, barely know enough to follow a lot of the core storyline stuff.

Yeah its what turns me off from the majority of Marvel movies. They go out of their way to insert comedy in what should be their darkest moment.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Atocep

It's more assassin's creed with a bit less focus on being stealthy and more on Viking raids and combat.

The world is huge and interesting although the early game story pacing is weird. Some things happen with little explanation and it jumps around a little. Once you leave Norway things pick up and the story gets better and the pacing seems better.

I don't think the setting is as good as Odyssey or Origins but that may just be me. It's a very good game (assuming you enjoy the AC series) that a lot of reviewers are saying is either the best or among the best AC games. I'm not ready to say it's better than Odyssey yet. I'm just getting into the Settlement stuff and raiding England so I'm still fairly early in the game though.

Yeah, so I think I might be done for now with this one about halfway (???) through. It's not a bad game, but it's insanely long, each area is basically a variation of "go here, do these 3 quests and fight a big bad" and it just doesn't feel like an AC game when it's basically impossible to stealth anything for very long. The settlement stuff does nothing for me, I don't like that the skill tree is basically just a giant mash up of adding attributes to the same areas and I don't like any of the "cutaway" sequences either.

It's a shame as Odyssey is probably one of my favorite games of the last 5-10 years, but then I wasn't able to get into the one afterwards either, so maybe it's not AC it's me?

With Phoenix Point and soon Cyberpunk fighting for my gaming attention in the next month, we'll see if I ever got back to it.

[Neon_Chaos]

I would recommend you to not give up on the game. I finished Valhalla through and through.

The story blew me away. Sure the individual regional arcs range from meh to good... but the overarching story, and how it ties the medieval Viking story, the Asgard dreams, the Isu, and modern day story all together.... just blew me away. They put the story pretty much back on track, with a solid direction for future games.

I dare say it's up there with Black Flag for me.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Pre-ordered Cyberpunk at Will's request.

It's already pre-loaded.

He has extremely high hopes, mine are MUCH more subdued (actually, mine border on non-existent as I've felt like it was a disaster in the making from the first time I saw preview cinematics eons ago)

We'll see which of us is correct, though the early comments from reviewers seem to suggest the state upon release will be closer to my guess than his. The day one patch, I believe, is going to be critical to the initial reception.

[Ghost Econ]

Got PGA 2K21 on Stadia for $0.80. it's actually fairly smooth and enjoyable, tho the graphics are pathetic.

I'm intrigued by the whole remote gaming thing, although I don't have time to play. I subscribe to xbox ultimate cause it's cheap. Madden plays ok with a controller on my phone. PS Now plays fairly well on my Surface tablet.

I could see myself foregoing the next round of consoles if PS Now and Xbox ultimate stay mildly cheap and just stream the games from their servers.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Pre-ordered Cyberpunk at Will's request.

It's already pre-loaded.

He has extremely high hopes, mine are MUCH more subdued (actually, mine border on non-existent as I've felt like it was a disaster in the making from the first time I saw preview cinematics eons ago)

We'll see which of us is correct, though the early comments from reviewers seem to suggest the state upon release will be closer to my guess than his. The day one patch, I believe, is going to be critical to the initial reception.

I feel that you may be looking at it from different viewpoints. A game being a buggy mess on release may still be enjoyable to play - look at CD Projekt's previous game, Witcher 3.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Pre-ordered Cyberpunk at Will's request.

It's already pre-loaded.

He has extremely high hopes, mine are MUCH more subdued (actually, mine border on non-existent as I've felt like it was a disaster in the making from the first time I saw preview cinematics eons ago)

We'll see which of us is correct, though the early comments from reviewers seem to suggest the state upon release will be closer to my guess than his. The day one patch, I believe, is going to be critical to the initial reception.

And you can play it on GeForceNow.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

And you can play it on GeForceNow.

I'll stick to console on that one. I can't fathom -- literally -- how anyone plays a shooter (or related) on PC.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

And you can play it on GeForceNow.

That does remind me, however ... my HOI 4 has been largely stable with GeForce Now.

I wish the sensitivity for idle disconnection was a little more forgiving, I can't stop long enough to fix a sandwich or take a bathroom break with any sidetrack without being shut down but otherwise it's been pretty incident-free across about 20 hours of gameplay.

I still haven't really stress tested my connection during daytime hours with it yet but off-peak at least has been solid.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I feel that you may be looking at it from different viewpoints. A game being a buggy mess on release may still be enjoyable to play - look at CD Projekt's previous game, Witcher 3.

Fair reference point, though it bears noting that I describe W3 as "the best designed game in history that I could never be arsed to finish".

And aside from Bethesda's two core properties, I can't say that I've ever come away satisfied from any bug-riddled game.

I'd have been fine with waiting 6-12 months on this one, if not longer but he locked in on it (it releases tomorrow, his last final of the semester is Friday, so it's sort of his focus for celebratory relief I think)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Semi-idle generic gaming thought, prompted by the latest BlackOps and the delay in their season pass content.

I've felt very little need to play the game -- despite the presence of the tried & true Nuketown 24/7 -- during the delay. I'm about halfway to my first prestige (with the prestige system kinda broken thus far anyway) and figure I'll play it for the grind during season 1 since I have enough credits carried over from previous iterations for it to cost me nothing.

I wonder though, how much impact the Season Pass model (MW, Fortnite,etc style) has on gaming hours. I haven't enjoyed the actual game play of basically any shooter in years, I play almost entirely for the level grinding. It's another form of cookie-clicker for me almost, if you follow my meaning.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Fair reference point, though it bears noting that I describe W3 as "the best designed game in history that I could never be arsed to finish".

And aside from Bethesda's two core properties, I can't say that I've ever come away satisfied from any bug-riddled game.

I'd have been fine with waiting 6-12 months on this one, if not longer but he locked in on it (it releases tomorrow, his last final of the semester is Friday, so it's sort of his focus for celebratory relief I think)

It's one of the most hyped releases in a loooong while (esp since this is the next game from CDP after W3), so he's not the only one. I'm personally waiting for the next-gen patch.. but that may come out in Christmas 2021, if not later.

[Thomkal]

CohhCarnage has started a Let's play of Cyberpunk 2077, and the game devs created an NPC that looks a lot like him in the game for him to find.

[RainMaker]

Has anyone tried Cyberpunk on an original PS4? I'll get a PS5 at some point, but I'd like to play the game over the holidays. Not a graphics snob so some blurriness is fine as long as it isn't locking up and stuff.

I would also throw my hat in the "I'd rather the company take an extra 6 months to iron things out before releasing the game".

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I would also throw my hat in the "I'd rather the company take an extra 6 months to iron things out before releasing the game".

It's already been massively delayed. It was joke that they wouldn't make tomorrow either.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The intial tweets are using words like "UNrelease this shit" a lot.

I think the naked character bug might be somewhat less of an issue if characters weren't also the wrong gender lol

[RainMaker]

Guess I will wait till I have a PS5.

Imagine defending this. Cyberpunk 2077 is a terrible game. Base PS4 footage. pic.twitter.com/uHTmMACi3R

— Michael Does Life (@MichaelDoesLife) December 9, 2020

[JPhillips]

Release shit with great potential and fix it later has been the Paradox business model for the past several releases.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

I would recommend you to not give up on the game. I finished Valhalla through and through.

The story blew me away. Sure the individual regional arcs range from meh to good... but the overarching story, and how it ties the medieval Viking story, the Asgard dreams, the Isu, and modern day story all together.... just blew me away. They put the story pretty much back on track, with a solid direction for future games.

I dare say it's up there with Black Flag for me.

Yeah, horses for courses I guess. I think the Valhalla cutaway stuff is dumb and the story feels like it could be any of the last 6 or 7 games. I can't even remember what the overarching storyline is supposed to be any more other than the sarcastic British guy is still around.

The game just isn't engaging to me and doesn't feel like AC. Just feels grindy and lots of same old same old, whereas the combat and other things to do in Odyssey stayed enjoyable and fresh all the way through the 50 or 60 hour mark for me.

[bhlloy]

The ironic thing about Cyberpunk is it seems to have still got great reviews from the big players (who seem to acknowledge it's full of bugs but still worth a 4/5 or a 90+) -, has sold about as well as expectations and their stocks still tanked.

I don't know if the takeaway there is that the games review industry is a joke and probably shouldn't be taken remotely seriously, or that expectations for a game that has had warning signs around it for a while were seriously out of whack... probably both?

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

The ironic thing about Cyberpunk is it seems to have still got great reviews from the big players (who seem to acknowledge it's full of bugs but still worth a 4/5 or a 90+) -, has sold about as well as expectations and their stocks still tanked.

I don't know if the takeaway there is that the games review industry is a joke and probably shouldn't be taken remotely seriously, or that expectations for a game that has had warning signs around it for a while were seriously out of whack... probably both?

I dunno. From the Twitch streamers I follow, and granted they have decent PC setups, they are playing and raving about it (esp how intricate the world is). It seems that if you have a PC or next gen consoles you'll definitely get bugs, and some crashes here and there, but they won't be game breaking.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Definitely do NOT buy the game right now if you're playing on XB1.

It looks like they broke into the house & smeared the TV screen with vaseline before loading. Kid reports no major bugs so far, my question is "how would you know?"

If they don't either fix the visuals or offers refunds within the next 24 hours, I suspect the class action suits will hit the news by Mon.

[JonInMiddleGA]

fwiw, if you did make the mistake of early buying on the older consoles, visuals seem to improve somewhat overall if you go into graphics settings & basically turn off all the advanced stuff. ( a couple things have less impact than others, ymmv)

That removes some of the blur, at the expense of setting the overall visual back to around 2012-2013 (the game looks a lot like Sleeping Dogs at that point, if you remember that title)

[MizzouRah]

Isn't there a huge day 1 patch?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I dunno. From the Twitch streamers I follow, and granted they have decent PC setups, they are playing and raving about it (esp how intricate the world is). It seems that if you have a PC or next gen consoles you'll definitely get bugs, and some crashes here and there, but they won't be game breaking.

I played on PC last night and I'm loving it. The world is incredible, looks amazing, and the dialogue is really well written. CD Projekt does a better job than anyone at making worlds that feel alive.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Yeah, horses for courses I guess. I think the Valhalla cutaway stuff is dumb and the story feels like it could be any of the last 6 or 7 games. I can't even remember what the overarching storyline is supposed to be any more other than the sarcastic British guy is still around.

The game just isn't engaging to me and doesn't feel like AC. Just feels grindy and lots of same old same old, whereas the combat and other things to do in Odyssey stayed enjoyable and fresh all the way through the 50 or 60 hour mark for me.

The story doesn't really start to take off until you're probably 1/2 to 2/3 through.

I agree that it's mostly the same repetitive stuff, which gets old when you're talking about one of the biggest gaming worlds I've played. Some of the regions are fun and interesting while others you just try to power through as quickly as possible.

The combat is fun but doesn't hold up for the 70-80 hours to finish the game outside of the bosses, zealot fights, ect. That combined with the repetitive quests is what makes it difficult to push through to the end. By the time the story starts to take off I was getting tired of both the quest structure and general gameplay. The way equipment is done doesn't really help. There's not much excitement in finding new gear since the set you start with can be upgraded well enough to easily finish the game and may be your best option depending on how you spec'd out your character.

England looks fantastic. Like Odyssey and Origins, it's interesting to see how they use historical characters. The gameplay is good even if it doesn't hold up for 70-80 hours. Eivor is one of the best main characters they've made imo and his development over the story is reason to finish the game for me.

Overall, I think it's definitely a good game. I still prefer Odyssey, but I'll put I over Origins.

[ISiddiqui]

Re: Cyberpunk 2077 PC vs. console (well PS4/Pro). It really IS a significant difference - look at these two videos from Digital Foundry. It looks amazing on PC, but definitely not on PS4/Pro. A tale of two different games almost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZp8fXLXgqg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5pHpQqhmR4

[ISiddiqui]

So FIFA 21 was less than $30 on sale. For that price, I figured why not. Especially since it has a next gen update for no additional cost. I realized that it has been a while since I played FIFA and, currently, I'm really bad at it.

Oh, and CDPR is offering refunds to people for Cyberpunk 2077. I'm thinking that since they are having such bad PR for PS4/Pro, XboxOne era, maybe they should just offer a sale on the game to sway PR...

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

So FIFA 21 was less than $30 on sale. For that price, I figured why not. Especially since it has a next gen update for no additional cost. I realized that it has been a while since I played FIFA and, currently, I'm really bad at it.

I grabbed it today too for $30.


My daughter is tickled that the XSX plays her 360 games and the load times are basically non-existent. She used to be able to get a quick drink while the game loads up. She's been using those old controllers and now has a new XSX controller that's a bit smaller and fits her hands better.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sony has pulled Cyberpunk from their digital store TFN and is starting the process for refunding customers who bought through them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

How to know that a new COD/MW is out?

The usage of the phrase "dropshottin' little bitch" skyrockets.

"Halo jumpin' muthafucker" sees an increase but not as extreme

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Sony has pulled Cyberpunk from their digital store TFN and is starting the process for refunding customers who bought through them.

Wow. Not that I was ever considering Cyberpunk to begin with, but I'll happily stick with Creeper World 4 TYVM.