April 2025 General Game Discussion

[BeardyHat]

I don't really know. They give you points which you can use in the shop on cosmetics for your account, but not sure if there's anything else you can do with it. Pretty sure you can't trade them, but I could be wrong.

Are people using Steam like social media or something? I think I have a lot of points, I know I've bought random things in the store once or twice, because it seemed like a fun novelty and I have heaps of the points I don't use.

Finally got some decent game time on my new machine. Decided to play Cyberpunk for a bit over an hour and it ran great; couldn't tell you the FPS, as I elected to turn off the FPS counter, since I was just staring it and monitoring it for drops rather than really playing the game. But it was hovering around 50-60FPS, so I'm pretty happy with that. Running it at 1200p, since no way in hell will it run good enough at the native 4k.

Definitely got pretty hot, but I suppose that's not surprising. I'm pretty pleased with the performance and it's nice not to be tethered to my eGPU, while also having better performance than I did with my old Nano with the 6650 XT. Feel like I can finally move my computer about the house again and game wherever, without having to also drag the eGPU along with me.

Tomorrow I should get motivated to take the 6650 XT out of it and put it in my HTPC, in place of the 1070, then put the 1070 in the tower the kids are using to replace the 750 ti in that one. Though that'll require a PSU swap, but that's not much trouble.

At any rate, realized I never listed the specs for this guy. Hopefully Zed won't make fun of me anymore now...

Thinkpad P1 Gen 4
i7-11850H
32Gb RAM
RTX A3000 6Gb (Basically equivalent to a 3060)
1Tb SSD
3840x2400

 

[Zloth]

I don't really know. They give you points which you can use in the shop on cosmetics for your account, but not sure if there's anything else you can do with it. Pretty sure you can't trade them, but I could be wrong.

I don't think you can trade them - at least not directly. What you can get:

• Spruce up your profile with more stuff
• Get little frames around your avatar that show up on your profile and when posting in Steam forums.
• Get more emotes to use in forums, chat, comments.
• There are stickers, some animated, but those are chat only.
• Give awards to other people.

Once you get your profile the way you like it, there's really not much else. The emotes are cheap and often are limited to games you have on Steam, so you won't be able to spend much there even if you want to.

So, points pile up.

 

[ZedClampet]

Are people using Steam like social media or something?

Some appear to be.

***

Goofed around off and on with my new go-to "kill a few minutes" game, Zombieville USA 3D. @neogunhero should really check this out.

I don't play this type of game much, so it probably took me longer than most to reach the final level. Now I'm working on unlocking the last half-dozen weapons, upgrading weapons, and learning/upgrading skills.

It will be interesting to eventually see how long I can last. A big thing is ammo. You can take 4 weapons with you, but they come with a fixed amount of ammo just depending on the weapon. Once that ammo runs out, you need to replace that weapon with one that you find because there are no ammo drops. So no matter what weapons you bring, you eventually end up with all different weapons. Well, except for that time I got too picky and had no weapons at all.

My current strategy is to use my weakest weapon first, since the zombies get harder and harder to kill, and when that weapon runs out, I try to use the next weapon I find, saving the good weapons I brought for when the crap really hits the fan.

My other strategy is that once the zombies start spawning late game zombies that I rarely try to just hold my ground unless there are just too many pick-ups to leave behind.

But that's only when I'm trying to set a new personal best. Right now I'm just trying to kill as many zombies as possible with melee weapons and shotguns so I can unlock the last one of each.

 

[February's Ghost]

After a good while of not gaming (like maybe a week?) I finally jumped back in and resumed Alan Wake 2. Been so long since I last played I decided to start over. I am about where I was when I stopped playing so long ago (Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is now the game that's on hold). Right about 20ish hours in.

I love games with chaos and this game has a good dose of it with its shifting realities and its existential meta. Sam Lake is a bloody genius game designer.

 

[ZedClampet]

Started playing a tycoon game this morning that released last week and didn't have any user reviews yet. Well parts of the game were really rough (for instance, when I won the first scenario the game just zapped me back to the main menu, and I thought it was a soft crash) and there were some bugs. Given that there were no reviews, I figured the dev might have already packed up and left, but I went ahead and wrote a post listing the bugs and making a few suggestions. This was at 6 am. At 9 am the developer pushed out an update that fixed the bugs, and he left me a message saying he was working on the suggestions. I know it won't happen, but I wish his sales would turn around. This is the kind of developer that makes playing these little indie games worthwhile.

 

[ZedClampet]

All that stuff I said about Zombieland levels and being at the end of the game was wrong.

 

[February's Ghost]

I know it won't happen, but I wish his sales would turn around. This is the kind of developer that makes playing these little indie games worthwhile.

How many great games and devs will we never see because they never cross our paths or we dismiss them as something that looks uninteresting to us?

 

[ZedClampet]

How many great games and devs will we never see because they never cross our paths or we dismiss them as something that looks uninteresting to us?

I'm guessing the number would be both shocking and depressing.

****

I can't use a controller in EuroTruckSim2 and it makes me a little sad. The problem is that the game doesn't let you adjust the sensitivity of the right stick, which is what you use to look around, and the default speed is just too slow. I'm in a huge truck that takes awhile to get going. When I need to look out the side window and then back out the windshield, I need to do it now. The very first time I pulled out of a parking lot, I got hit by a car that wasn't even there when I was looking out the left window, and I don't feel comfortable, with a huge payload, to start driving when I'm looking out the side window if it's going to take that long for me to turn my head to see where I'm going.

 

[Johnway]

Not really looked into the Switch 2 and its specs as i doubt i'll get it (i didn't get the first one), but whats been leaving a lot of people a bad taste in their mouth is the increased price in games on the switch 2. Games at £80 as standard makes it a bit expensive for a game. if it became the norm i suspect that people will be hard pressed to justify buying it. i mean, will children have the pocket money to buy the games and would parents really fork out that price especially with costs of living increasing?

If there are multiple AAA games and then all the MTXs, DLCs on top of that and live services it might be a price that only the adults and absolute die hards will get it on release day. if you're going to push the MTX, DLC, Live service route, a game needs to have a low barrier to entry. You only go for the expensive route for the full package. To be fair, i guess the nintendo games rarely have DLC. Hopefully customers don't get suckered into it or buy more indie games or (worst case scenario), software piracy.

I suppose it gives me an extra reason to save money and look backwards rather then forwards to future releases. As pc gamer i guess i can buy indie games or just wait like i always do. Maybe i can finish more of my backlog or play doom wads or i just switch to doing art during the evenings.

 

[BeardyHat]

Not really looked into the Switch 2 and its specs as i doubt i'll get it (i didn't get the first one), but whats been leaving a lot of people a bad taste in their mouth is the increased price in games on the switch 2. Games at £80 as standard makes it a bit expensive for a game. if it became the norm i suspect that people will be hard pressed to justify buying it. i mean, will children have the pocket money to buy the games and would parents really fork out that price especially with costs of living increasing?

If there are multiple AAA games and then all the MTXs, DLCs on top of that and live services it might be a price that only the adults and absolute die hards will get it on release day. if you're going to push the MTX, DLC, Live service route, a game needs to have a low barrier to entry. You only go for the expensive route for the full package. To be fair, i guess the nintendo games rarely have DLC. Hopefully customers don't get suckered into it or buy more indie games or (worst case scenario), software piracy.

I suppose it gives me an extra reason to save money and look backwards rather then forwards to future releases. As pc gamer i guess i can buy indie games or just wait like i always do. Maybe i can finish more of my backlog or play doom wads or i just switch to doing art during the evenings.

Nintendo now targeting the Man-Child demographic (I guess I must be part of that, given my hobbies) who spend hundreds of dollars on Lego sets.

 

[neogunhero]

Been a little quiet on the gaming front over here. Still playing Schedule 1, but starting to lose interest a bit. I'm decently far in the objectives, right now 5 hours in I have to make a mixed strain that is valued at $60 or higher, and my attempt to mix a more expensive strain with a banana produced one valued at $57, like really? The game is fun but it definitely is rough in some areas, especially the skateboard. It gets caught on everything. Apparently the first content update is supposed to come out this weekend, so I hope that means we will get some pretty regular updates.

The Switch 2 reveal was amazing. Gave me goosebumps so many times throughout. I'd love to get one, but the games are getting really expensive. $80 for digital games, $90 for physical. This is mainly just for first party Nintendo titles though. It's not completely unwarranted though, we have been blessed with 20+ years of AAA games being only $60, with it only recently going to $70. As game budgets continue to grow, it makes sense to charge more, plus an additional $10 for the manufacturing of the physical game case. I'm perfectly fine with games going to this price, but the issue with Nintendo is that it is so rare for them to discount their games, and when they do it's maybe $10-$25 off at the most. Super Mario 3D World that originally came out in 2013 for the Wii U still sits at $60 on the Switch eShop today.

The way I view it if it becomes a new industry norm is that we do not have to buy games day 1 all the time. I myself have done it a ton, even this year buying Pirate Yakuza and Split Fiction day 1, but it was not necessary for me to do at all, I would still enjoy the game long after release date. The issue with myself and a lot of people is getting sucked into all the hype. That is especially true with Nintendo games, and their biggest games always feature some groundbreaking new innovative mechanic, or are just down right fun in the form that is missing from nearly all games today. Nintendo is a different beast when it comes to generating hype around their games. So couple this with $80 price tags, it makes it hard to justify buying the Switch 2. But dammit I really want one, did you see DONKEY KONG??

 

[Pifanjr]

Been a little quiet on the gaming front over here.

Same here. It's now been two weeks since I last played a game. I just haven't had the energy, I've been struggling with insomnia and general tiredness.

The Switch 2 reveal was amazing. Gave me goosebumps so many times throughout. I'd love to get one, but the games are getting really expensive. $80 for digital games, $90 for physical. This is mainly just for first party Nintendo titles though. It's not completely unwarranted though, we have been blessed with 20+ years of AAA games being only $60, with it only recently going to $70. As game budgets continue to grow, it makes sense to charge more, plus an additional $10 for the manufacturing of the physical game case. I'm perfectly fine with games going to this price, but the issue with Nintendo is that it is so rare for them to discount their games, and when they do it's maybe $10-$25 off at the most. Super Mario 3D World that originally came out in 2013 for the Wii U still sits at $60 on the Switch eShop today.

The way I view it if it becomes a new industry norm is that we do not have to buy games day 1 all the time. I myself have done it a ton, even this year buying Pirate Yakuza and Split Fiction day 1, but it was not necessary for me to do at all, I would still enjoy the game long after release date. The issue with myself and a lot of people is getting sucked into all the hype. That is especially true with Nintendo games, and their biggest games always feature some groundbreaking new innovative mechanic, or are just down right fun in the form that is missing from nearly all games today. Nintendo is a different beast when it comes to generating hype around their games. So couple this with $80 price tags, it makes it hard to justify buying the Switch 2. But dammit I really want one, did you see DONKEY KONG??

I think the main problem for new video games is that they compete with all of the old video games that are a lot cheaper. To justify a price increase the new game has to offer more than the old games, but that also means spending more time and money on it and you run into diminishing returns at some point. It doesn't help that indie games have made great leaps in quality while being made with a fraction of the budget and can therefore be sold for a lower price.

Personally, I think the last time I bought a game full price was Assassin's Creed: Black Flag in 2013 and I'm not entirely sure I bought it at full price. On Steam the only game I've bought at full price was Borderlands 2 in 2012, as a pre-order.

I did also buy the Tomb Kings DLC for Total War: Warhammer 2 for full price in 2021, but only because my friends gave me the base game for my birthday after I had already started a Tomb Kings campaign using Family Sharing.

I have hundreds of hours worth of games in my backlog and there are plenty of games I've been wanting to play for years that I could pick up for less than €5-10 on a sale. I doubt I'll ever buy another game at launch unless I win the lottery and can quit my job.

 

[ZedClampet]

Been a little quiet on the gaming front over here. Still playing Schedule 1, but starting to lose interest a bit. I'm decently far in the objectives, right now 5 hours in I have to make a mixed strain that is valued at $60 or higher, and my attempt to mix a more expensive strain with a banana produced one valued at $57, like really? The game is fun but it definitely is rough in some areas, especially the skateboard. It gets caught on everything. Apparently the first content update is supposed to come out this weekend, so I hope that means we will get some pretty regular updates.

The Switch 2 reveal was amazing. Gave me goosebumps so many times throughout. I'd love to get one, but the games are getting really expensive. $80 for digital games, $90 for physical. This is mainly just for first party Nintendo titles though. It's not completely unwarranted though, we have been blessed with 20+ years of AAA games being only $60, with it only recently going to $70. As game budgets continue to grow, it makes sense to charge more, plus an additional $10 for the manufacturing of the physical game case. I'm perfectly fine with games going to this price, but the issue with Nintendo is that it is so rare for them to discount their games, and when they do it's maybe $10-$25 off at the most. Super Mario 3D World that originally came out in 2013 for the Wii U still sits at $60 on the Switch eShop today.

The way I view it if it becomes a new industry norm is that we do not have to buy games day 1 all the time. I myself have done it a ton, even this year buying Pirate Yakuza and Split Fiction day 1, but it was not necessary for me to do at all, I would still enjoy the game long after release date. The issue with myself and a lot of people is getting sucked into all the hype. That is especially true with Nintendo games, and their biggest games always feature some groundbreaking new innovative mechanic, or are just down right fun in the form that is missing from nearly all games today. Nintendo is a different beast when it comes to generating hype around their games. So couple this with $80 price tags, it makes it hard to justify buying the Switch 2. But dammit I really want one, did you see DONKEY KONG??

We haven't had 20 plus years of $60 games. We've had 20 years of games pulling more and more content from the main game and selling it as DLC. Nintendo and Sony games may be an exception, but the greed from western developers has led us to the anger gamers currently feel towards AAA companies.

Personally, I'm not interested in the Switch this time around. The first one was very uncomfortable to use, and all the Nintendo first party games are for children, and they are priced as though they were made of gold and never go on sale. I'm not playing that game. There's just nothing there for me.

 

[BeardyHat]

Actually kind of getting into Cyberpunk. Maybe that's just because I can finally play it the way I want to: on a computer (that is, not on Steam Deck) and on my couch. I'm making good progress, though with my frequent breaks from the game, I can't really remember what's supposed to be happening in the story.

Also, I'm trying to convince myself I don't need a 2Tb drive for this computer. I have the money for it, but I can simply install one of the few things I'm not going to play right now if I desperately needed the space. But I'm feeling the threat of FOMO, in the case that drives go up in price here soon.

 

[ZedClampet]

Actually kind of getting into Cyberpunk. Maybe that's just because I can finally play it the way I want to: on a computer (that is, not on Steam Deck) and on my couch. I'm making good progress, though with my frequent breaks from the game, I can't really remember what's supposed to be happening in the story.

Also, I'm trying to convince myself I don't need a 2Tb drive for this computer. I have the money for it, but I can simply install one of the few things I'm not going to play right now if I desperately needed the space. But I'm feeling the threat of FOMO, in the case that drives go up in price here soon.

I can't have all the strain of gaming and AI (especially AI) on a single drive, so I'm ordering a second one to divide up the work.

 

[BeardyHat]

I can't have all the strain of gaming and AI (especially AI) on a single drive, so I'm ordering a second one to divide up the work.

I'm not nearly (or at all) productive on the computer, so mine is exclusively for gaming. But now that I have a laptop that can run some newer games, they certainly take up a lot more space.

I'm tempted. That FOMO getting to me.

But I could use that money for Kingdom Come 2 instead...

 

[February's Ghost]

I have 4 drives. The OS drive. The gaming drive. The "productivity" drive (all my creative software is on that one), and my junk drive for miscellaneous crap. The junk drive is a rather old HDD.

Needless to say the productivity drive doesn't get much use.

 

[Colif]

Also, I'm trying to convince myself I don't need a 2Tb drive for this computer. I have the money for it, but I can simply install one of the few things I'm not going to play right now if I desperately needed the space.

Did you mean to say uninstall as your sentence makes no sense otherwise. Drive prices could increase, the 4tb SSD I have now would cost almost double what I paid for it now. Only reason I want two nvme in next PC is because I was going to do it in current and then weakened and bought a hdd instead. Perhaps if I had got 2 nvme I wouldn't have bought a 4tb ssd later.

I can't have all the strain of gaming and AI (especially AI) on a single drive, so I'm ordering a second one to divide up the work.

Unless AI is constantly writing to the drive, I don't see a lot of strain there really. But having two drives have advantages though. I would put all your windows library locations on the second one, especially Documents. But thats just a habit I have.

 

[Pifanjr]

I don't know if Sunderfolk can replace tabletop RPGs, but its smartphone controls feel like a great alternative if your DM's too exhausted to run a campaign

It's not pen and paper, but it's pretty damn good.

www.pcgamer.com

This doesn't seem like an alternative to a TTRPG to me, it's more like a board game similar to Gloomhaven. And as far as I'm aware, Gloomhaven did pretty well, so I can imagine there's a decent market for another game like it.