August 2024 PC Gaming General Discussion Thread

[Colif]

Admittedly I am only on the beginner maps, I wanted to learn game before trying the challenges.

Dorf is harder I find. Dorf you make the map, here you just place items on one.
Dorf you have to place things next to other cards to keep going, this you can easily seperate them and only run into problems towards end - This depends on map size too
This game is less about matching the tile to card, and more about setting up mega payoffs from combos. My highest scoring card - Tailor - only pays out big if surrounded by flax fields

there are at least 6 Tailors in this area, everything else is flax or sheep farms which they also profit off. Or tanneries that also profit off the flax/sheep but pay less overall.
Dorf can be frustrating as its about finding the perfect spot for all cards.

 

[Pifanjr]

Next month's challenge: speedrunning Marvel's Midnight Suns

At least I have a lot of experience now.

NO DIALOG SKIPS!

That's the worst three word horror story I've ever read.

Yesterday the subtitles stopped showing up in the middle of a dialogue and it was so painful having to listen to every single word.

Oh look, Sabertooth! What heroes have you been using the most?

Mostly whatever heroes the story missions make me use, then for the mandatory generic missions I was using Wanda and Captain America to fulfill research requirements.

The generic mission I kept having to restart was Hunter, Wanda and Spider-Man, which was part of the reason I was struggling, as none of them have particularly strong attacks.

My favourite hero is currently Ghost Rider. I love pushing enemies into drops, especially ones with ridiculously high health. He can also turn himself into a drop, which heals him and prevents him from being attacked. Plus he has a bunch of attacks that do a ton of damage with an area of effect.

@Pifanjr looks like this week's Epic freebie would be perfect for your daughter.

Thanks, I agree. I claimed it on her account as soon as I saw it in the Free Games thread.

 

[Hveðrungr]

What heroes have you been using the most?

My least-used hero is Deadpool, as his quips and fourth-wall-breaking became too grating.

 

[Colif]

I think I am bored of Terrascape already. Mainly as the first 2 skills you pick are always the same and its only really the last 4 that add variety. There are 12 decks but you can only pick 6

1. Basic Foods - mainly gathering skills, huntsman, and wheat
2. Settlement - it supplies houses, two other decks work off houses, and there is an easy combo with a basic foods item to make farms.
3. Forestry is normally next and then the variety hits. Forestry has a few combos with settlement, but it feels like a dead end. One or two things you get other trees combine but compared to what you can get from others, its nothing
4. Mining is hard to get the merge buildings to work and compared to other deck merge buildings, you can't really spam them.
5. Textiles is the money spinner, flax + tailors = printing money (not literally although in theory could use linen for cash - looks at USD)
6. Fishing has one combo I can't make work, another I do accidentally all the time. Works in combo with trade.
7. Trade is helpful to gather all the resources around map and supply towns. If you don't pick mining you can put storehouses in mountains and get the resources that way.
8. Knowledge just buffs houses, mainly adds schools and libraries. It is at the end of tech tree, often don't get to it since you can only pick 6 decks
9. Workmanship is one I forget a lot but it helps - it buffs mining and forestry to an extent.
10. Community - buffs houses
11. Culture - Adds churches and libraries, and parks... also allows creation of the cathedral.
12. Foodstuff - Buffs basic foods, includes brewery that is buffed by fruit farms, as well as windmills that score points off wheat farms

that isn't order they show in, just from memory with help from a link

I should try the harder maps. If I wanted a challenge I would... last night when I get 71k I didn't actually intend to beat it, was just having fun.

Curious, game is on my spare ssd so why does nvme get heated up to 60c while I play it?

I tried the challenges mode and got to number 8 before I stopped for now. Has to be some trick to one I am on as only get 8 things to put down and need to score 600. I know one combo of the parts gives items back but not enough it seems.

 

[ZedClampet]

Curious, game is on my spare ssd so why does nvme get heated up to 60c while I play it?

Only guessing, but it's probably still using the NVMe to write temporary data that it wants more control over than using ram. Or it could be constantly saving your game and deleting an old save, like after every part you place, or maybe both of those things.

 

[Colif]

I know steam is on C so might be that. I didn't have the ssd when I installed it and not really in a mood to mess around with it now. Maybe on next PC I will put it on the other ssd.

It could be using the temp folder, I have no real way to control it though.

Another option is I just change fan speed of all my fans before I start game to better remove heat from pc in game. Generally, at idle, I run them slow so I can't hear any fans. Shame I can't make fan control change its plan based on loading steam. Have to do it manually

nvme is mostly cooled by chassis fans and GPU fans. The second don't help a lot when GPU itself is on 80C playing a game. So there is that as well.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Might start a dedicated thread for games to play with kids at this point. We've been doing Cats Quest 2, Finished up a run of Octodad: Dadliest Catch which was great and the kid loved to bits. Goat Simulator now, which she is obsessed with. We've played 5 hours and Ive seen enough but its all she wants to play.

Cats Quest 2 I mentioned before, its an isometric real time action RPG. You have direct control of a Cat or Dog wielding swords, other melee weapons or different types of magic wands. Attacks and dodge are mapped to the face buttons and the triggers and shoulders are available to map to different special abilities that use mana. Mana is replenished by hitting enemies, and it had basic levelling up and upgrading of weapons through loot and vendors. Its a simple cute way of introducing some basic game staple mechanics to a kid. Shes enjoyed it a lot, little bit of challenge but easy to grind and level to a point where the difficulty isnt a problem.

Grabbed Goat Simulator for €10 . 2 player with controller again, there are 3 flavours of small open world spaces to Goat about in 3rd person. No goals unless you want there to be, there are some collectables and timed challenges dotted about the world and achievements. Mostly its just about trying out the different Goat abilities to see how much chaos and destruction you can cause with the slightly wonky physics engine. Our favourite so far is the Fus Roh Dah ability which sends people and objects flying, sometimes inside of parts of the scenery. A lot of this seems to be the funniest stuff my kid had ever seen. Content warning for some random Satanic imagery of that bothers you, I doubt it does any regulars, but just sayin'. Its not a huge part of the game but theres a couple of things that get weird for a minute. Ive turned off gore in the menu so no idea how graphic it gets with that on. Without its just floppy bodies for comedy effect when you butt people over.

Octodad is also great. Co op has you controlling one arm and one leg each, which makes it challenging in a funny way to try and navigate the space as an Octopus in a 3 piece suit trying to be incognito. Its a narrative based game with levels, somehow an Octopus has fooled everyone into believing its a human, so you have to do stuff like make the kids food and do garden work. Its never explained how they have two normal human kids with their wife. Pretty short, but funny and would have replay value at least for my kid who just wants to play things that make her laugh again and again.

We also play Minecraft a fair bit, she like to put large numbers of animals in random small spaces, and build huge platforms in the sky. If you dont know what Minecraft is, information is available online.

 

[neogunhero]

Still playing lots of DayZ. The server I’m playing on is running Livonia, and there have been some very interesting differences between that map and the OG Chernarus. For one, loot progression gets better as you travel south, not north like in the original map. There are contaminated areas that require gas masks, and I’ve yet to find one so those high loot areas are off limits for now. I also think there are a bit more zombies roaming around on this map. I seem to get swarmed even in rural areas from time to time. Last night I explored an abandoned prison and found a sniper rifle and got 4 full clips. By the way, it’s fully vanilla, but the server owners definitely increased loot respawn time and with barely anyone on the server, loot is very abundant (comparatively to populated servers, not like you’re gonna run into a room full of guns and ammo all the time).

I also didn’t know there are secret hidden bunkers very far south of the map. That’s going to be a goal of mine, go check those out eventually, but I’m so far from there and haven’t been able to find a car yet.

I just passed 300hrs on DayZ since I bought the initial early access release in December 2013. I love this game a ton, can’t believe I haven’t checked out Livonia until just now.

 

[Brian Boru]

why does nvme get heated up to 60c while I play it

Probably fretting because you haven't backed it up yet.

I can't make fan control change its plan based on loading steam. Have to do it manually

If plan change is software commands, write a little BAT file for Steam launch—structure:
1 ramp up fans
2 launch Steam
3 exit Steam
4 ramp down fans

dedicated thread for games to play with kids

Good idea! Could draw ideas from some older ones: wan too tree fore.

Goat Simulator … its all she wants to play

Of course she does, it reminds her of Dad!

If you dont know what Minecraft is

Welcome to Earth.

 

[Frindis]

Gameinformer has closed: https://www.gameinformer.com/. I didn't visit it much as I did not like the format, but still strange to see it gone since it has been there for a long time.

 

[Pifanjr]

My least-used hero is Deadpool, as his quips and fourth-wall-breaking became too grating.

I don't have the DLC, so I've been spared.

Might start a dedicated thread for games to play with kids at this point.

I typically don't post here about the games I play with my kid, so a dedicated thread for kid-friendly games might be nice.

We also play Minecraft a fair bit, she like to put large numbers of animals in random small spaces, and build huge platforms in the sky. If you dont know what Minecraft is, information is available online.

My kid and I started making 8-bit, 2D sculptures and then redoing each other's sculptures in different colours.

 

[Zloth]

The generic mission I kept having to restart was Hunter, Wanda and Spider-Man, which was part of the reason I was struggling, as none of them have particularly strong attacks.

Wanda, yeah, not very strong attacks. Spiderman, though? Doesn't he do particularly nasty damage with environment do-dads? (Checks screenshots/vids) Yeah, Opportunist! TWIP, too. Hunter was... well, Hunter has more cards than any other hero, being the star of the show, so s/he can be all sorts of things.

I remember liking Counter a lot. Getting hit doesn't hurt so bad when you return fire immediately after. It isn't just one counter-strike, either. Whoever has it counter-strikes every attack for a turn!

My least-used hero is Deadpool, as his quips and fourth-wall-breaking became too grating.

I just didn't like his power-up system, having to get KO's without getting hit. Morbius didn't get much play-time, either. He seemed OK, it's just that there are so many others I want to bring.

I ended up getting ultimate powers for Blade, Marvel, Nico, Strange, Hulk, Iron Man, Magik, and Storm. I might have gotten Cpt. America's. I vaguely remember getting it and then not liking the power much, so I didn't use it, but maybe I just never got it.

I did enjoy getting those ultimates a lot! They were fun puzzles!

 

[Pifanjr]

Wanda, yeah, not very strong attacks. Spiderman, though? Doesn't he do particularly nasty damage with environment do-dads? (Checks screenshots/vids) Yeah, Opportunist! TWIP, too. Hunter was... well, Hunter has more cards than any other hero, being the star of the show, so s/he can be all sorts of things.

Both Spiderman and Wanda are dependent on enemy positioning to do a lot of damage. Whereas Ghost Rider can just open a drop for free and with a bit of luck KO an enemy with 1000+ health in a single action and Iron Man can do 5 attacks of 100+ damage each with a bit of luck drawing the right cards.

I did eventually win in large part because of a combo of Hunter's Deadly Ground and Wanda's Detonate.

I remember liking Counter a lot. Getting hit doesn't hurt so bad when you return fire immediately after. It isn't just one counter-strike, either. Whoever has it counter-strikes every attack for a turn!

Only if they survive (most characters go down in 3 hits) and don't get dazed/stunned. I don't have anyone who built their deck around counter because of that.

There are some characters that are better at surviving, but they still get dazed/stunned. I think I struggled in my mission with Spiderman, Wanda and Hunter in part because they're all pretty squishy, especially since resist doesn't do anything against bosses.

I ended up getting ultimate powers for Blade, Marvel, Nico, Strange, Hulk, Iron Man, Magik, and Storm. I might have gotten Cpt. America's. I vaguely remember getting it and then not liking the power much, so I didn't use it, but maybe I just never got it.

I did enjoy getting those ultimates a lot! They were fun puzzles!

I just unlocked my first ultimate, for Magik. It seems very useful, especially because I have a modded Limbo Portal card that gives Counter as well.

 

[DXCHASE]

Gameinformer has closed: https://www.gameinformer.com/. I didn't visit it much as I did not like the format, but still strange to see it gone since it has been there for a long time.

Yea i read this, i have a good stack of them from a chunk of years i had subscribed to them. The artwork was always killer.


One of my oldest wishlist games is finally...getting closer to a release date? The latest THQ event showcased the upcoming Gothic 1 Remake and looks to hit some nostalgic feels, but im ready for whatever jank itll have.

 

[Colif]

Gamestop only exist still because they became a meme stock in 2020.
They probably can't afford to print the magazine any more. Ever since websites existed, the need to get the magazine has faded. Hard to compete with sites that can update articles instantly compared to one in print. Even harder to compete against Youtube videos that can show what you writing about.

I don't remember last magazine I bought. I thought about it earlier... hard to find a newsagent these days. Before the internet it was sheer luck to find any Gaming magazines here. Now I doubt I could. Might have some from long ago in the box my PC sits on... not sure what is in it. Not sure I ever got Game Informer. I know I had some Edge.

 

[Johnway]

bah hita wall in both Dark souls 3 and path of exile. The latter i'm too burnt out playing. Honestly the rightous fire build isn't working out and i know i'm sort of giving up less then 2 weeks into the season, but its just feels like a chore playing it.

Dark souls 3 the twin princes are proving more tricky then i thought. Don't get me wrong, I've come mighty close to defeating them, maybe a bit of luck or a slash or 2 would have ended it. i did do some grinding to get my SL to a point i can just crush them. I think i have the stats ok, its just having the skill and luck to beat them. i might cheat again and just get a summon to distract them whilst i cut them down, but we are making painful progress. Perhaps a bit more grinding, but really the levelling is neglectable as its only a couple points here and there.

 

[Brian Boru]

I don't remember last magazine I bought

I'm fairly sure my last one was the PCG with Civ V on its cover—article print was too small for me to read, so I said 'Okay, that's me and print media done'.

 

[Zloth]

I'm still getting PC Gamer! There was a great article on the Far Cry games just recently. Normally, they end up on the website after a few months.

 

[Colif]

article print was too small for me to read, so I said 'Okay, that's me and print media done'.

i don't try to read anything apart from my monitor as I live in a blurry world. Long distance is fine but anything up close needs glasses. Not quite as stage I need them everywhere yet so I have one pair for PC use and one for reading. PC glasses set at a longer range than reading as PC monitor isn't that close.

Telephone books are impossible now, they have shrunk text to point I would take photo of the page to read it. I have to that already with some instructions.

Yesterday was bad, everything was blurry all day. With or without glasses on. I can't get replacement glasses for about 6 months so hope it doesn't keep happening. It is better today... at least, so far.

Only really needed glasses in the last 10 years. I was fine before that point. While doing a Library Diploma I suddenly worked out I couldn't read one of the books as words were blurry. That was first time I ever noticed. I was fine using a monitor still. Had to use PDF for rest of that unit to read materials.

 

[ZedClampet]

Speaking of vision, we've started playing Enshrouded again. There are these deadly places called The Shroud where you have to go sometimes, and you can only stay in for a few minutes before you die, and I can't see anything in there. They are easy to get into. but nearly impossible to get out of--especially for me since I can't see a darn thing in there. It's like walking through an extremely thick fog.

 

[BeardyHat]

Gamestop only exist still because they became a meme stock in 2020.
They probably can't afford to print the magazine any more. Ever since websites existed, the need to get the magazine has faded. Hard to compete with sites that can update articles instantly compared to one in print. Even harder to compete against Youtube videos that can show what you writing about.

I don't remember last magazine I bought. I thought about it earlier... hard to find a newsagent these days. Before the internet it was sheer luck to find any Gaming magazines here. Now I doubt I could. Might have some from long ago in the box my PC sits on... not sure what is in it. Not sure I ever got Game Informer. I know I had some Edge.

I still buy them D:

I'm subscribed to both Retro Gamer and Wargames: Soldiers & Strategy. Admittedly, I don't read them often and have several issues sitting on my shelf that have gone unread, but I periodically go through, read a whole bunch and try to make it through several of them before they sit on the shelf again.

Makes me feel like my Dad, who buys magazines but never reads them. I ought to cancel my subscriptions, but they are enjoyable to read and my kids like to flip through them; I do wish Retro Gamer had more PC game coverage, but oh well. I do see a lot in there that I'm unfamiliar with.

bah hita wall in both Dark souls 3 and path of exile. The latter i'm too burnt out playing. Honestly the rightous fire build isn't working out and i know i'm sort of giving up less then 2 weeks into the season, but its just feels like a chore playing it.

Dark souls 3 the twin princes are proving more tricky then i thought. Don't get me wrong, I've come mighty close to defeating them, maybe a bit of luck or a slash or 2 would have ended it. i did do some grinding to get my SL to a point i can just crush them. I think i have the stats ok, its just having the skill and luck to beat them. i might cheat again and just get a summon to distract them whilst i cut them down, but we are making painful progress. Perhaps a bit more grinding, but really the levelling is neglectable as its only a couple points here and there.

I've picked-up Diablo 2 recently. I'm not big on ARPGS, but damned if Diablo 2 doesn't feel amazing to play on a handheld with a controller and I think the pace is perfection. Too many modern ARPGs (haven't played PoE in ages, so can't comment) shower you with loot to the point that much of it is pointless and not really worth looking at. Grim Dawn does this and much as I enjoy that game and have put 50-hours into it, seeing showers of colors laying around me at the end of a battle and having endless inventory space means I need to sort through a bunch of garbage that all looks similar.

I like in Diablo 2, most stuff is just basic Blue and it's not constantly dropping, so when you see that yellow on the ground, you get excited because you've got something special. Plus I like the balancing act of keeping your inventory clear or picking a bunch of stuff and trying to extend your time out in the field before you return to camp to sell and repair.

Also, summoning isn't cheating! Actually, I'd say it's essential depending on your build in many cases and if you're ramming your head against the wall and your only option is to grind to eek a little bit more power out, it's pretty essential to summon. Better to summon and break through to kill a boss than bore yourself to tears and become frustrated by grinding.

 

[BeardyHat]

I'm going to attempt to Minecraft on my Deck. There's a launcher for Bedrock edition in the Discovery store, though it only works with the Android version, so I picked that up for $6.99 this morning on Google Play and am hoping to be able to run a server on my...server and play with my kids via my Steam Deck. Apparently the Android version is always one version behind, so we'll see if it works. I'm not going to mention it to my kids yet, so I don't get their hopes up that Dad is going to play with them, only to have them dashed if it doesn't work.

I did need to open a new Microsoft account. One of the more frustrating things about Microsoft owning Mojang, as well as just the nature of our digital age is that I need multiple accounts just to play one stupid game. I'm now using my account for one kid to play, my wife's Microsoft account so the other can also play and now I have a third so I can play with the both of them.

Also frustrating is the fact that Microsoft refuses to put in split screen multiplayer to the PC version of Bedrock. It's on all console versions, but for some reason they put the kabosh on it for PC.

 

[Pifanjr]

I'm going to attempt to Minecraft on my Deck. There's a launcher for Bedrock edition in the Discovery store, though it only works with the Android version, so I picked that up for $6.99 this morning on Google Play and am hoping to be able to run a server on my...server and play with my kids via my Steam Deck. Apparently the Android version is always one version behind, so we'll see if it works. I'm not going to mention it to my kids yet, so I don't get their hopes up that Dad is going to play with them, only to have them dashed if it doesn't work.

I did need to open a new Microsoft account. One of the more frustrating things about Microsoft owning Mojang, as well as just the nature of our digital age is that I need multiple accounts just to play one stupid game. I'm now using my account for one kid to play, my wife's Microsoft account so the other can also play and now I have a third so I can play with the both of them.

Also frustrating is the fact that Microsoft refuses to put in split screen multiplayer to the PC version of Bedrock. It's on all console versions, but for some reason they put the kabosh on it for PC.

I play Minecraft with my kid, with her on my Android phone and me on PC, so it should work. We also both play using my Microsoft account, no need to make multiple accounts.

 

[BeardyHat]

I play Minecraft with my kid, with her on my Android phone and me on PC, so it should work. We also both play using my Microsoft account, no need to make multiple accounts.

Good to know, thanks. Though I've already made a new account! Oh well, I'll try using my existing and maybe end-up using that other account later. Or maybe just use an unsecure password so it's easier to type on my Deck...

 

[Zloth]

My Horizons: Forbidden West playtime is now well past my total playtime for Horizons: Zero Dawn, and I'm not even done with the main game yet. In fact, there are some quests I've got that are set to "on hold" because they require that I fly!

I really want to fly in this game!