2022-2024 Video Games Thread

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

If I'm reading the coverage right, the fact that we only got a 30-second teaser for Elder Scrolls suggests it won't come out until 2020 or so at the earliest.

Bethesda makes great products but their development process is broken.

They said it's only in preproduction so definitely 2020ish.

[BYU 14]

No word on XCom 2 expansion?

[NobodyHere]

I don't think E3 starts properly until tomorrow so we'll see.

[Buccaneer]

I take it as positive news that Elder Scrolls VI is a thing. Can't assume anything these days.

I guess this is as good of a place to ask a long standing question. I built my current PC in 2010 and it is still working very well (e.g., playing modded Skyrim or Enderal on medium-high, Assassin's Creed on high, etc.). But there will come a time where I would need to build a more modern box.

So the question is how to people do this nowadays (do people even do this??). I checked the usual sites, at least the ones that are left, and I don't really see any customization or build-it-from-scratch options. Even NewEgg starts with something that you can only tweak. Help an old guy out, where and how to build a new PC?

[cartman]

NewEgg and Amazon still sell individual components that you can build up yourself completely from scratch.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Rest in peace fallout

The last story was so bad that apparently that they decided to not even bother this time.

Damn you Todd Howard, damn you all to hell

Wait, so there is no single player mode anymore? I'm somewhat cool with a Borderlands style game where you can play alongside someone if you want (which in turn increases the difficulty of opponents). But I don't really want to be on the same map as some random kids who can dedicate 14 hours of their life to the game.

The fun of Fallout was exploring the world, doing the side quests, and so on. The last game went away a bit with the whole "build your camp" crap. Also the map felt like a barren wasteland and not nearly as fun as previous versions.

My guess is they're going the GTA route where the online mode is where the money is at. Most people won't like it but all they need is a base of people who will pump money into add-on packs to upgrade their players, bases, weapons, etc and they'll make bank.

The same bullshit is going on with sports games right now.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by cartman

NewEgg and Amazon still sell individual components that you can build up yourself completely from scratch.

Check out PcPartPicker. It will give you prices for components from different vendors among other things.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by cartman

NewEgg and Amazon still sell individual components that you can build up yourself completely from scratch.

FWIW, if you didn't know already, I think Tom's Hardware is a great resource for DIY

Tom’s Hardware: For The Hardcore PC Enthusiast

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Wait, so there is no single player mode anymore? I'm somewhat cool with a Borderlands style game where you can play alongside someone if you want (which in turn increases the difficulty of opponents). But I don't really want to be on the same map as some random kids who can dedicate 14 hours of their life to the game.

I think I read there will be single player but you should play multi-player.

The implication was the single player experience won't be near as rich.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Edward64

The implication was the single player experience won't be near as rich.

Implied but not stated outright issues include:
Lack of NPCs (total absence?)

multiple players all with a single Quest (i.e. objective) ... so where's the replay?

presumably the end of VATS (coupled with a bad ads, that alone might kill it)

the likely end of the modding community (which IMO kept the IP alive during the looooong dev cycles)

a "settlement system" that appears to be "build, throw it in a suitcase & plop it down next time you load the game" ... yeah, that's immersive alright

likely broken scavving -- either you get 1/12th as much stuff or there's 12x stuff in the universe (based on my belief that it was implied that 12 players was kind of the sweet spot, I'd swear I caught that somewhere)

And that's just off the top of my head now, never mind all the shit I realized in the hours after the presentation

[RainMaker]

Reddit has a great community for building too.

/r/buildapc - Planning on building a computer but need some advice? This is the place to ask!

[Buccaneer]

Thank you all, very helpful. Right now, I am leaning towards customizing a build to ensure compatibility among the tons of choices. My case, power and hard drives are all good, so all I really need is mb, cpu/fan, ram and a gtx.

I'll make my current build last a while longer or until it fails. I really won't need anything until early next decade when Elder Scrolls 6 comes out.

[Scoobz0202]

Might want to consider a new power supply while you are at it. 8 years is getting into territory that I would definitely not want to trust putting brand new, expensive components into.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oh, I didn't realize that Todd Howard outright confirmed bluntly "no NPCs" in the post-presentation chat. Also confirmed that Vats "exists" but there's no time slow element, it sounded very much like a simple aim-assist. Also claimed "100% committed" to mods but "not at launch".

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

No word on XCom 2 expansion?

Doesn't look like it unfortunately, but it looks like one is being worked on from the games Steam depot.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Oh, I didn't realize that Todd Howard outright confirmed bluntly "no NPCs" in the post-presentation chat. Also confirmed that Vats "exists" but there's no time slow element, it sounded very much like a simple aim-assist. Also claimed "100% committed" to mods but "not at launch".

This sucks.

Any chance they have another traditional FO or ES in progress or is all development going into this?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Edward64

This sucks.

Any chance they have another traditional FO or ES in progress or is all development going into this?

We got a 10-15 second fly-in "trailer" for ES6. No date, and that same post-show chat described it as being in pre-production.

I'd think 2021 or 2022, with Starfield coming before it probably in 2020.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

We got a 10-15 second fly-in "trailer" for ES6. No date, and that same post-show chat described it as being in pre-production.

I'd think 2021 or 2022, with Starfield coming before it probably in 2020.

Oh good, so they are not giving up SP.

What's another 3 or 4 years Lots of other good games to play.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Oh good, so they are not giving up SP.

What's another 3 or 4 years Lots of other good games to play.

At my age? It's a LOT lol

And, really, the dearth of interesting enough to play games is at least a small part of my issue with this. Last ... two years(?) give or take, my most played games are probably Fallout 4 (until the Sim Settlements mod got so wonky), Skyrim remaster, and BF1.

[Coffee Warlord]

Jurassic World Evolution is apparently being summarized as a very good mobile game, and a very shallow and dull PC game.

Disappointing. Not surprising, but disappointing. A dino zoo tycoon game woulda been fun.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

A dino zoo tycoon game woulda been fun.

There's still hope

Prehistoric Kingdom on Steam

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

At my age? It's a LOT lol

And, really, the dearth of interesting enough to play games is at least a small part of my issue with this. Last ... two years(?) give or take, my most played games are probably Fallout 4 (until the Sim Settlements mod got so wonky), Skyrim remaster, and BF1.

Have you played Witcher 3 and it's DLC? I'm guessing yes but that game falls in the same category as the one's you mentioned.

[RainMaker]

The whole shift away from single-player is sad. I get that microtransactions are where the money is at, but I loved having those franchises I could come to and get 100+ hours out of on my own.

I'm at an age where I can't dedicate 30 hours a week to remaining competitive online. The games that do have some kind of currency system eventually get riddled with hackers on the PC.

I'm sure the new Fallout will be a huge success. Maybe it doesn't sell as many copies up front, but they'll be able to bring in way more than $60 a sale.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Jurassic World Evolution is apparently being summarized as a very good mobile game, and a very shallow and dull PC game.

Disappointing. Not surprising, but disappointing. A dino zoo tycoon game woulda been fun.

The reviews I read were positive enough that I think I'll give it a go. I love dinosaurs, and I had fun with Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis years ago. The kids liked it when I would knock down all the buildings and let 20 T. rexes loose on our park visitors. If this is a prettier version of that, I'll be satisfied.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Have you played Witcher 3 and it's DLC? I'm guessing yes but that game falls in the same category as the one's you mentioned.

Both me & the kid describe W3 as "quite possibly the best game I've ever played". Unfortunately, for whatever reason(s), it was the most fun game either of us has played.

I truly think it's as well executed as anything I've seen, I just never could get quite ... into it. I probably got, I dunno, 50-60 percent complete maybe?

[Buccaneer]

Detroit: Become Human - 9.75/10 I just watched the whole playthrough on YouTube (theRadBrad) and was completely blown away by what I witnessed. I loved Quantic Dream's Beyond Two Souls and this was their next game. Even though I am not much of a fan of futuristic stuff or robots, the stories, voice acting/mocap, music, graphics, atmosphere, etc. were so superb that it had me hooked and I can't stop thinking about it, even if I couldn't play it. But what really blew me away was discovering how the choices - even early on - can affect the rest of the game/stories, to the point that an alternate choice can give you a whole new storyline - and there are dozens of such choices. Most cinematic, story-driven games are fairly linear (for good reasons) but this is more of a cinematic, choice-driven game.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I just watched the whole playthrough on YouTube (theRadBrad) and was completely blown away by what I witnessed.

I saw a brief snippet of the playthrough and knew this didn't belong on my radar after seeing the dishwashing sequence.

These games -- or at least the work of this particular dev -- definitely seems to be an acquired taste.

(The point of my commenting here is noting the vastly different impact playthroughs can have on people)

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Detroit: Become Human - 9.75/10 I just watched the whole playthrough on YouTube (theRadBrad) and was completely blown away by what I witnessed. I loved Quantic Dream's Beyond Two Souls and this was their next game. Even though I am not much of a fan of futuristic stuff or robots, the stories, voice acting/mocap, music, graphics, atmosphere, etc. were so superb that it had me hooked and I can't stop thinking about it, even if I couldn't play it. But what really blew me away was discovering how the choices - even early on - can affect the rest of the game/stories, to the point that an alternate choice can give you a whole new storyline - and there are dozens of such choices. Most cinematic, story-driven games are fairly linear (for good reasons) but this is more of a cinematic, choice-driven game.

I'd personally give it an 8, after initially being super hooked on it. Some parts of it are phenomenal, others not so much. The endings feel a little underwhelming compared to previous games, and the story is the least original the studio's ever put out. I'd have to play Beyond: Two Souls again to see, but right now, Heavy Rain is still on top of my Quantic Dreams ranking list.

Overall, David Cage is one of those developers there's not much middle ground on - either you love his work or you hate it (I'm talking purely about the games themselves - as a person, he's... got some issues, which is why I think he gets hated so much and his games trashed by some people).

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I'd personally give it an 8, after initially being super hooked on it. Some parts of it are phenomenal, others not so much. The endings feel a little underwhelming compared to previous games, and the story is the least original the studio's ever put out. I'd have to play Beyond: Two Souls again to see, but right now, Heavy Rain is still on top of my Quantic Dreams ranking list.

Overall, David Cage is one of those developers there's not much middle ground on - either you love his work or you hate it (I'm talking purely about the games themselves - as a person, he's... got some issues, which is why I think he gets hated so much and his games trashed by some people).

That is very fair, my score reflected being able to watch the playthrough, which afforded me the luxury of fast-forwarding through the more tedious parts (like finding all the clues in a scene). I think if I had played it, my score would the same as your’s.

I wonder, though, if you made even more diiferent choices, whether there would better endings that you had not seen? The ending I saw was the most predictable endings (everyone lived happily ever after) and I felt that was good enough.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I know there was a lot of angst here about the "Fallout '76" announcement, but if there is any truth to the rumors that you can set up a private serve and just play the game with your friends - purely co-operative - this game just skyrocketed up my list.

At this point, the vast majority of my gaming is done co-operatively with friends. It's just so much more enjoyable.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I know there was a lot of angst here about the "Fallout '76" announcement, but if there is any truth to the rumors that you can set up a private serve and just play the game with your friends - purely co-operative - this game just skyrocketed up my list.

At this point, the vast majority of my gaming is done co-operatively with friends. It's just so much more enjoyable.

Here's how Polygon described it (and this jibes with what I heard Fraud Howard say in the interview myself) so I'll just quote them

Bethesda’s Todd Howard has confirmed that you’ll be able to set up your own private games to play the way you’d like, but that ability won’t be available when the game first launches.

This came up, oddly enough, in a conversation about mods.

“We love mods, so we are 100 percent committed to [offering mods] in 76 as well,” Todd Howard said in a conversation with Geoff Keighley. “We will not being able to do that at launch, though. Our goal for launch — this is really new for us — is to have a well-running, robust service, and then some period later, we’re currently still designing what that service looks like, you’ll be able to have your own private world, and be able to mod it and do all of that.”

[Honolulu_Blue]

The "Last Of Us: Part II" game play trailer was amazing. The first one remains one of my favorite games of all time.

The Last of Us Part 2 Gameplay Trailer (4K) - E3 2018 - YouTube

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I don't dislike the game, but after some hours the limitations do feel like they're becoming kind of apparent. It's nowhere near "AAA title" material and a times it feels like those limitations are kind of obvious.

Still playing it? Keeping your interest?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Still playing it? Keeping your interest?

Haven't touched it in over a week. Neither has the kid. We're both around in-game Day 9 or Day 10 I believe. And we both, I think, have similar reasons that we're in no rush to go back:

-- The repetitive gameplay

-- The lack of sense of progress, each time you kill a heart the next one is a little more difficult. Yippie. It starts to feel like you're on rails with boss battles

-- The lack of explanation / exposition. You really don't know wth is going on, which is fine IF you feel like you're making progress towards figuring it out. Little sense of that for either of us so far

-- The lack of clarity about how the other zones work. You know there's an option to enter one of the other maps ... but there's no clue whether that's worthwhile / meaningful. And I mean none. Would it be starting over on a new map for no purpose? Would it progress the story / provide different challenges? Your guess is as good as ours.

-- The cost/benefit of the difficulty. Granted, I'm not the best shooter in the world but I think it's fair to say this is reasonably difficult (at least in the early game). Problem is, that difficulty doesn't feel like it has enough payoff to warrant suffering through it.

I believe we'll both eventually either recharge enough or simply get bored enough to dive back in at some point. But in terms of feeling any urgency to do so, there's none here.

[Edward64]

Thanks for the update.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

The "Last Of Us: Part II" game play trailer was amazing. The first one remains one of my favorite games of all time.

The Last of Us Part 2 Gameplay Trailer (4K) - E3 2018 - YouTube

Really enjoyed the first one too. Looks good!

[JonInMiddleGA]

If anyone ever comes up with a more convoluted forum setup than Paradox, warn me ahead of time so that I don't even try to buy from them.

Good GOD.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If anyone ever comes up with a more convoluted forum setup than Paradox, warn me ahead of time so that I don't even try to buy from them.

Good GOD.

Hmmm, never checked them out.

FWIW, I use the reddit forums for Stellaris and CK2.

[Edward64]

I guess I was all hung up on Fallout 76 but there will be an Elder Scrolls 6. Before you get too excited, its a long way off.

https://www.pcgamer.com/what-we-want...ame=0&ns_fee=0

The Elder Scrolls 6 is happening! We don't know when, and in fact it might be quite a long time before the game is far along enough to give us a proper trailer. Still there are a few details out there that have allowed us to speculate about the RPG's setting, and the mountains in the announcement sure are pretty.

Until we know more, we'll simply have to speculate about the improvements Bethesda might be planning. Will it be a bigger world? Probably. Will it have swords and sorcery in it? Almost certainly. We'd like more than that, though, as ever.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Hmmm, never checked them out.

FWIW, I use the reddit forums for Stellaris and CK2.

In this case the problem was needing a user-created file that might allow me to run HOI3 on a Win10 laptop.

Aaaaand the link was only available on the official forums

[Dantooine98]

The N. Sane Trilogy (first three games) is now available on other platforms other than PlayStation, you can now get in for Nintendo Switch, PC or Xbox One.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Haven't touched it in over a week. Neither has the kid. We're both around in-game Day 9 or Day 10 I believe. And we both, I think, have similar reasons that we're in no rush to go back:

-- The repetitive gameplay

-- The lack of sense of progress, each time you kill a heart the next one is a little more difficult. Yippie. It starts to feel like you're on rails with boss battles

-- The lack of explanation / exposition. You really don't know wth is going on, which is fine IF you feel like you're making progress towards figuring it out. Little sense of that for either of us so far

-- The lack of clarity about how the other zones work. You know there's an option to enter one of the other maps ... but there's no clue whether that's worthwhile / meaningful. And I mean none. Would it be starting over on a new map for no purpose? Would it progress the story / provide different challenges? Your guess is as good as ours.

-- The cost/benefit of the difficulty. Granted, I'm not the best shooter in the world but I think it's fair to say this is reasonably difficult (at least in the early game). Problem is, that difficulty doesn't feel like it has enough payoff to warrant suffering through it.

I believe we'll both eventually either recharge enough or simply get bored enough to dive back in at some point. But in terms of feeling any urgency to do so, there's none here.

Some DLC news below.

I'm itching to get this even with your commentaries. It may not be as repayable as other games but it'll hopefully give me 30 hours of fun for the $30.

Microsoft revealed today that, after surpassing three million players, Undead Labs has released the Independence Pack DLC, which costs $4.99 includes new weapons, vehicles, supplies, and fireworks.
:
In addition to the Independence Pack, Undead Labs is also deploying Update 2.0, which adds 20 new missions, close to 10 new weapons, and a rare books trader. The update content is available separately from the Independence Pack for free to all players.

Looking ahead, Microsoft also announced that another DLC pack called Daybreak will arrive in September. Daybreak includes puts players in the shoes of a "well-equipped" Red Talon soldier in a new horde-like mode that challenges players to complete the objective of protecting a fortified position against waves of zombies.

[Edward64]

Finally bought SOD2 for the PC. I love the genre and figure it'll give me at least $30 worth of entertainment.

I've not been able to find a control to prevent the character POV from "jumping" around as much. Is there one?

[Edward64]

This sounds interesting.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...-date-trailer/

Paizo’s pen and paper RPG Pathfinder may not be Dungeons & Dragons, but it’s as close as you can get to it while still being legally distinct, which makes it perfect source material for a Baldur’s Gate-esque old school RPG. Successfully Kickstarted a year ago, Pathfinder: Kingmaker now has a release date – September 25th – and a very fancy new trailer below to accompany the announcement.

While the heart of Pathfinder: Kingmaker is your usual adventuring material – go forth, kick arses, take names, hoard loot – it does promise some interesting twists in its larger structure. You’ve got your own town to manage, build stuff in and (presumably) tax until it bleeds, because adventuring doesn’t come cheap. The trailer also features some truly over-the-top gore effects that remind me vaguely of enemies exploding into very ’90s clouds of gibs in early Infinity Engine games.
:
Pathfinder: Kingmaker will be launching on September 25th for £35/€40/$40 on Steam.

[Edward64]

Some news on Starfield and ES6

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/be.../1100-6461088/

Bethesda has announced it has acquired Escalation Games, the Dallas-based studio that contributed to the development of Skyrim VR, Fallout VR, and Skyrim Switch. It will know be known as Bethesda Dallas, as confirmed by during QuakeCon 2018. Bethesda Dallas is currently working on Fallout 76, The Elder Scrolls: Blades, and the company's brand new property, Starfield.

Sadly, those eager to hear more about Starfield, which is an ambitious sci-fi role-playing game, were left wanting, as there was no further discussion about the game. This doesn't come as a surprise, as Bethesda was very coy about it when it debuted at E3 2018. Producer Todd Howard previously said that Starfield has been in development for years, and it's a game that Bethesda feels uniquely positioned to pull off.

We don't expect to see or hear about Starfield for a while, as both Howard and Bethesda's marketing boss Pete Hines asked fans to be patient. "We've been talking about it for a decade, we started putting things on paper five, six years ago, and active development was from when we finished Fallout 4, so two and a half, three years," Howard said. "Everyone should be very patient [for Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6]. It's gonna take a while for what we have in mind to come out."

[Edward64]

Beta game video of Pathfinder. Looks promising.

Let's Play Pathfinder: Kingmaker (Beta) - Ep. 01 - YouTube

[Coffee Warlord]

This might need its own post. My 4 year old *so* wants to play Minecraft (she watches her brother). Anyone know of any simpler Minecraft-esque games out there? A cursory googling didn't really show anything.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

This might need its own post. My 4 year old *so* wants to play Minecraft (she watches her brother). Anyone know of any simpler Minecraft-esque games out there? A cursory googling didn't really show anything.

fwiw, here's a 2014 article that kinda goes along this line of questioning.

Most of the games mentioned are more for ages 6+ but I'm thinking maybe it could at least give you some sort of jumping off point?

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

This might need its own post. My 4 year old *so* wants to play Minecraft (she watches her brother). Anyone know of any simpler Minecraft-esque games out there? A cursory googling didn't really show anything.

Terraria is 2D, but probably not any simpler nor as exciting as Minecraft to her.

[Atocep]

If you're a fan of Papers, Please then I strongly recommend taking a look at Not Tonight.