December 2023 General Discussion Thread

[Frag Maniac]

Turns out I got 3 months of Game Pass bundled with my new RTX 4000 series GPU instead of Alan Wake 2. Apparently those whom buy at Best Buy in store vs online get that instead.

At first I didn't mind, as they have 3 of the games I've been wanting to play, Atomic Heart, Sniper Elite 5, and Dead Space Remake. However I'm finding these games you install from Game Pass are not coded and compiled the same. It's not a problem playing them, it's just that getting ShadowPlay to work with them is not guaranteed and can even cause problems I've found.

For instance sometimes it makes Dead Space Remake hitch badly. I tried to use both Instant Replay and constant record in Sniper Elite 5, but it didn't actually save a file anywhere. This is what others were saying when I searched for it. One person said to assure ShadowPlay (basically GeForce Experience) sees these GP games, you must before launching the game open Nvidia Control Panel, add the game to the Programs list, and click Apply.

This worked for Sniper Elite 5, but Dead Space Remake was already on the Programs list, and had already generated a capture clip. I have a sneaking hunch what might be throwing a monkey wrench into the works, with a big fat MS on it, is that DS Remake is one of the few games that supports Auto HDR. In other words you can just enable that in game, without manually turning on HDR in W11, and the game will launch in HDR. This is ideal because when you exit game, you're no longer in HDR, saving wear and tear on your display.

So I am going to try not using the Auto HDR in game, and instead manually enable it in W11, and if that doesn't smooth things out, try running it with no HDR. That would be a very sad outcome though because Dead Space Remake has some of the best use of HDR I've seen in any game.

As for Atomic Heart, oddly that is the only one of the 3 that just works with ShadowPlay no problem. I wonder if it's because those boys WAY across the pond who made this game don't dance to MS' tune, or at least Windows' unnecessary bells and whistles anyway.

 

[neogunhero]

So I decided to give Cyberpunk another go and ended up glued to my computer for 3 hours. About 30 minutes of that was tinkering around with the settings. I guess my Ryzen 1600X and RTX 2060 are really getting old because with FSR 2.1 on Balanced and nearly all settings on Low I can barely squeak out a constant 60fps. I found FSR Balanced was a tad bit smoother and looked slightly better than DLSS Balanced.

I haven’t played this much since 2020. I started a new character exactly a year ago but only played for about an hour, guess I didn’t want to fuss with settings and performance. I love the new perk/skill/attribute system, takes a bit to understand it but it’s so vast that it really allows for some cool customization. I’m not looking at any builds or anything like that, just going to focus on getting katana and movement skills mostly. I can’t wait until I can double jump again, one of my favorite things to do when I played at launch was exploring the city and climbing skyscrapers.

Speaking of the world, even on low settings this game is gorgeous. The world is so well designed from a cyberpunk aesthetic point of view. This is truly one of the most immersive and believable video game world in my opinion.

Overall I’m glad I picked this game back up, I’m looking forward to play it more. Everything I’ve been playing over the past few weeks hasn’t really stuck with me, and for my to play Cyberpunk for 3 hours straight and wanting more is a personal achievement.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

We have Xfinity too, but our own Modem/router—I assume you've been renting yours from your ISP?

Yeah, we rent our modem. That's why they didn't have any problem sending me another one for free. I used to buy my own, but after having some problems with hardware failing, I decided I'd rather just rent for peace of mind. If something goes wrong, they'll just give me another one. I'm sure buying probably balances out over time, pricewise. But I leaned toward the peace of mind side of things with that.

 

[D10S]

it's winter time in Dying Light 2
looks a bit ridiculous to have green grass growing on the tops and the streets covered in snow, but I like it

the game is ridiculously gpu heavy, with 4K dldsr+dlssP and max RT I'm hitting the 320w power limit even at 880mv undervolt.

 

[Pifanjr]

You're going to have one of those bases surrounded by scores of little boxes full of raw materials and about 10 acres of various plant beds, aren't you?

I do have 4 boxes floating around the escape pod, from before I made my main base, but they're empty now. Everything is now in one of the many wall lockers spread out over two bases. Or maybe three, I build a tiny one sticking out of the water at some point, I should check if I left anything useful in there.

I only just unlocked plant beds though, so I don't have those just yet.

The only mod I used was one to let you have more hot key items along the bottom of the GUI.

I should get that one. I decided not to look at mods to avoid spoilers, but it's really obnoxious switching tools around on the hot key bar.

Oh, and BACK UP YOUR SAVES from time to time! My machine decided to crash mid-save and corrupted it. If I hadn't been backing up, I would have had to start completely over. It's really unlikely that you'll get a crash like that but, if you hit the jackpot.... ouch.

I hope I remember to, but I'm also worried that if I lose an entire session worth of progress I might not have the patience to do it all over again anyway.

Maybe I should check for a mod that makes a backup save automatically.

I’ll also throw out an off the wall recommendation, Hocus Pocus Doom. It’s a total conversation like Pirate Doom with unique weapons and textures. It’s very lighthearted as far as Doom goes, with its bright colors and silly style. It’s like Doom for kids but that’s why it was so interesting to me. You play as a wizard with an electric spell and need to collect all the jewels in each level, all of which are very bright, colorful, and evokes classic wizard imagery like huge mushrooms and gorgeous green groves. I had a lot more fun with Hocus Pocus than I expected to, I think the fact that it’s so different from all other Doom mods is exactly the reason why I played it so much.

The weapons and textures aren't really unique, they're copied from the Hocus Pocus DOS game, one of the first games I played.

 

[ZedClampet]

I do have 4 boxes floating around the escape pod, from before I made my main base, but they're empty now. Everything is now in one of the many wall lockers spread out over two bases. Or maybe three, I build a tiny one sticking out of the water at some point, I should check if I left anything useful in there.

I only just unlocked plant beds though, so I don't have those just yet.



I should get that one. I decided not to look at mods to avoid spoilers, but it's really obnoxious switching tools around on the hot key bar.



I hope I remember to, but I'm also worried that if I lose an entire session worth of progress I might not have the patience to do it all over again anyway.

Maybe I should check for a mod that makes a backup save automatically.



The weapons and textures aren't really unique, they're copied from the Hocus Pocus DOS game, one of the first games I played.

How are you powering your Subnautica bases? There are a couple of ways that are clearly the best, but I'm not sure how far you've gotten, what you've unlocked, and whether or not you would consider them spoilers. But if you have solar panels on every square inch of your roofs, you should know that it gets much better.

 

[Pifanjr]

How are you powering your Subnautica bases? There are a couple of ways that are clearly the best, but I'm not sure how far you've gotten, what you've unlocked, and whether or not you would consider them spoilers. But if you have solar panels on every square inch of your roofs, you should know that it gets much better.

So far just solar panels and only two on a base. I unlocked the bioreactor a while ago, but only unlocked the multipurpose room fairly recently and I decided to check out some other radio signals before building out my base in case I unlocked something else I want.

I did upgrade and build everything I unlocked pretty much as soon as I unlocked them, but then I ran into the issue that I spend a bunch of time and resources making 3 Lightweight High Capacity Tanks, but then found the blueprint for an Ultra High Capacity Tank, which only accepts a regular high capacity tank as an ingredient.

So now I want to check the other radio signals before building anything else. Except maybe the stasis rifle, as it would be nice to have a defence against predators other than running away and chucking small fish as a distraction.

 

[ZedClampet]

So far just solar panels and only two on a base. I unlocked the bioreactor a while ago, but only unlocked the multipurpose room fairly recently and I decided to check out some other radio signals before building out my base in case I unlocked something else I want.

I did upgrade and build everything I unlocked pretty much as soon as I unlocked them, but then I ran into the issue that I spend a bunch of time and resources making 3 Lightweight High Capacity Tanks, but then found the blueprint for an Ultra High Capacity Tank, which only accepts a regular high capacity tank as an ingredient.

So now I want to check the other radio signals before building anything else. Except maybe the stasis rifle, as it would be nice to have a defence against predators other than running away and chucking small fish as a distraction.

Ah, you're still just getting started, then. Lots of good stuff ahead of you.

 

[D10S]

Turns out I got 3 months of Game Pass bundled with my new RTX 4000 series GPU instead of Alan Wake 2. Apparently those whom buy at Best Buy in store vs online get that instead.

At first I didn't mind, as they have 3 of the games I've been wanting to play, Atomic Heart, Sniper Elite 5, and Dead Space Remake. However I'm finding these games you install from Game Pass are not coded and compiled the same. It's not a problem playing them, it's just that getting ShadowPlay to work with them is not guaranteed and can even cause problems I've found.

For instance sometimes it makes Dead Space Remake hitch badly. I tried to use both Instant Replay and constant record in Sniper Elite 5, but it didn't actually save a file anywhere. This is what others were saying when I searched for it. One person said to assure ShadowPlay (basically GeForce Experience) sees these GP games, you must before launching the game open Nvidia Control Panel, add the game to the Programs list, and click Apply.

This worked for Sniper Elite 5, but Dead Space Remake was already on the Programs list, and had already generated a capture clip. I have a sneaking hunch what might be throwing a monkey wrench into the works, with a big fat MS on it, is that DS Remake is one of the few games that supports Auto HDR. In other words you can just enable that in game, without manually turning on HDR in W11, and the game will launch in HDR. This is ideal because when you exit game, you're no longer in HDR, saving wear and tear on your display.

So I am going to try not using the Auto HDR in game, and instead manually enable it in W11, and if that doesn't smooth things out, try running it with no HDR. That would be a very sad outcome though because Dead Space Remake has some of the best use of HDR I've seen in any game.

As for Atomic Heart, oddly that is the only one of the 3 that just works with ShadowPlay no problem. I wonder if it's because those boys WAY across the pond who made this game don't dance to MS' tune, or at least Windows' unnecessary bells and whistles anyway.

yup, aw2 bundle ended a few weeks ago.
the game pass is awesome too tho, let's you explore games you might never be interested in buying.
that was how I fell in love with turn based strategies and games that have animal protagonists, I got mutant road to eden for free on epic.

 

[Zloth]

Any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated!

That's kind of the equivalent of saying "I think I would like to start reading, what's a good book to read?" There are so many kinds of stories out there, and so many kinds of RPGs giving you various levels of control. I'm guessing that you'll want something more action oriented, but it's pretty hard to tell.

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE on Steam

Cloud Strife, an ex-SOLDIER operative, descends on the mako-powered city of Midgar. The world of the timeless classic FINAL FANTASY VII is reborn, using cutting-edge graphics technology, a new battle system and an additional adventure featuring Yuffie Kisaragi.

store.steampowered.com

Great story, great combat, and the "materia" system lets you change how your characters advance if you don't like how something is turning out.

Yakuza 0 on Steam

SEGA’s legendary Japanese series finally comes to PC. Fight like hell through Tokyo and Osaka as junior yakuza Kiryu and Majima. Take a front row seat to 1980s life in Japan in an experience unlike anything else in video gaming, with uncapped framerates and 4K resolutions. A legend is born.

store.steampowered.com

Excellent, serious main story. Lots of excellent, crazy side stories. Quite a bit lower production values than FF7 Remake, but it's cheaper, too. It might be even cheaper yet to simply get 0, 1, and 2 as a bundle.

There are a bunch of "Action with RPG Elements" games now that might fit, too:

STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™ on Steam

A galaxy-spanning adventure awaits in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a 3rd person action-adventure title from Respawn. An abandoned Padawan must complete his training, develop new powerful Force abilities, and master the art of the lightsaber - all while staying one step ahead of the Empire.

store.steampowered.com

Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition on Steam

Experience Aloy’s legendary quest to unravel the mysteries of a future Earth ruled by Machines. Use devastating tactical attacks against your prey and explore a majestic open world in this award-winning action RPG!

store.steampowered.com

Save 85% on Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ on Steam

Experience an epic open-world brought to life by the award-winning Nemesis System. Forge a new Ring of Power, conquer Fortresses in massive battles and dominate Mordor with your personal orc army in Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™.

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

For the past two years, I've delved deeply into the immersive world of Cricket 19, where every match felt like a dynamic journey through the realm of cricketing excellence. Among the plethora of exhilarating encounters, the Test Match Ashes held a special place in my heart. The intensity, the pressure, and the sheer authenticity of the Ashes series made it a gripping experience, resonating with the true essence of this historic rivalry.
However, as much as I've cherished my time on the cricket field, I find myself drawn to new horizons in gaming. RPGs beckon with their captivating storytelling, character development, and expansive worlds. I'm eager to explore this new genre and step into uncharted territories. I'm on the lookout for recommendations and suggestions for intriguing RPG games that could captivate me in the same way Cricket 19 did. Any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated!

There are different types of RPG's. @Zloth is recommending JRPGs, which are very popular. These are simply RPG's made in Japan.

According to PC Gamer, the two best RPG's from recent years are Disco Elysium and Baldurs Gate 3. These are what are known as CRPGs, the kind of complex RPGs that used to only be found on computers.

Then you have Action RPGs like Elden Ring, which is a western type RPG actually made by a Japanese developer. But it has essentially no story-telling, which you mentioned being one of the things you are interested in.

My recommendation is an oldie but goodie, Fallout New Vegas by Obsidian. Great story telling. Lots of action. The RPG advancement is top notch, too. It is currently $2.49 on Steam.

 

[Zloth]

The first two are JRPGs, the other three aren't.

New Vegas was great fun. It would also be a good introduction to modding - you don't NEED to mod it, either, so you can start messing with that stuff whenever you feel comfortable with it. However, the game is mighty old at this point.

So I decided to give Cyberpunk another go and ended up glued to my computer for 3 hours. About 30 minutes of that was tinkering around with the settings.

I only messed with those a little. I like how you can have that special pathfinding raytracing do-dad just kick in when you're taking screenshots!

I should get that one. I decided not to look at mods to avoid spoilers, but it's really obnoxious switching tools around on the hot key bar.

I used this one: https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/14

However, it looks like that no longer works - or at least the mod manager you are supposed to use to install it no longer works. You probably want to use something like this: https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/984

I would only back up saves every 10 hours or so. It's rare to have a problem, plus this game is such that you can catch up to where you were WAY faster than normal. Most of the important stuff is in your own head. When you know (roughly) where to go and what you'll find there, you can zip through it quickly.

 

[ZedClampet]

The first two are JRPGs, the other three aren't.

Sorry, I have a really bad habit of not even looking at links people provide as if they aren't a part of the post. Not sure why I do that.

 

[D10S]

For the past two years, I've delved deeply into the immersive world of Cricket 19, where every match felt like a dynamic journey through the realm of cricketing excellence. Among the plethora of exhilarating encounters, the Test Match Ashes held a special place in my heart. The intensity, the pressure, and the sheer authenticity of the Ashes series made it a gripping experience, resonating with the true essence of this historic rivalry.
However, as much as I've cherished my time on the cricket field, I find myself drawn to new horizons in gaming. RPGs beckon with their captivating storytelling, character development, and expansive worlds. I'm eager to explore this new genre and step into uncharted territories. I'm on the lookout for recommendations and suggestions for intriguing RPG games that could captivate me in the same way Cricket 19 did. Any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated!

witcher 3 + expansions are a safe bet.

 

[ZedClampet]

The biggest barrier to me playing games with stories is that I don't want to stop listening to the radio shows that I'm streaming. I really want to start Alan Wake 2, but I really want to listen to local sports talk more. They are perfect for playing something like Weed Shop 3 or Ranch Simulator, but not so perfect in any game where there's a lot of dialogue. But hey, it's only from 6 am to 7 pm, so I can play at night. Of course, we have one station that's 24 hours local sports, but I don't like the hosts on those shows. They are incredibly obnoxious.

 

[Frag Maniac]

After taking a look at the sales going on right now on EA Play, Epic Games Store, and Steam, I may not get much more time out of my free 3 months of Game Pass. I've so far got Dead Space Remake, Jedi Survivor (both EA), The Callisto Protocol (Epic), Atomic Heart and Sniper Elite 5 (Steam) on my list.

The reason for the urgency of course is all 3 sales end early January. The first two I'm happy with the base editions, but TCP, Atomic Heart, and SE5 all have (and will have) some story DLC I'm interested in, which brings the total to $177 before tax. Still though, averaging $35 a game is not bad for pretty recent releases, especially considering I'm getting story DLC on 3 of the 5.

Ideally I'd like to put Avatar Frontiers of Pandora on the list too, but it's $70. What's really annoying about Ubi is they'll let places like Target and Best Buy sell the console versions for $50, but you can only get the PC version direct from them for full price!

 

[neogunhero]

… $35 a game is not bad for pretty recent releases…

A bit unrelated, but I was very surprised to see Mortal Kombat 1 on sale for $35, that game just came out 3 months ago. I knew it had some issues at launch but it seems mostly fine now? On the other hand MK games have tons of DLC so that could be a big reason too, major discount on the base games leaves money in the wallet for DLC.

 

[Frag Maniac]

...seems mostly fine now?

Not sure, I suck at fighter games so I don't play them.

 

[Frag Maniac]

yup, aw2 bundle ended a few weeks ago.
the game pass is awesome too tho, let's you explore games you might never be interested in buying.
that was how I fell in love with turn based strategies and games that have animal protagonists, I got mutant road to eden for free on epic.

For me it wasn't about when it ended, as I bought the GPU within the required window on 11/27. I still get an odd feeling the people I spoke to at BB on the phone pulled a bait and switch on me though.

 

[Brian Boru]

looks a bit ridiculous to have green grass growing on the tops and the streets covered in snow

That works for me—high places got the sun, low places didn't. Looks great anyway

Subnautica

Okay okay, you lot have talked me into installing it. I've had it on Epic for a long time, but never tried it—probably due to the Survival Horror tag. Will you guys hold my flipper if when I get scared?

Human Resource Machine

Got this from Epic a couple of days ago, was on wishlist. Fired it up for 30 minutes. It's different and funny, but probably quite repetitive—so I don't expect it to hold my interest beyond fire it up for 30-60 minutes every so often until I complete or drop it.

Oh yeah, I should be able to hang with it that long. So far it's all programming or ITTT logic style puzzles where you drag commands onto the 'job maker' board. So "Get all the mail from the Inbox and put every second item in the Outbox" kind of thing. Go for it, show AI you got some chops too!

 

[ZedClampet]

Okay okay, you lot have talked me into installing it. I've had it on Epic for a long time, but never tried it—probably due to the Survival Horror tag. Will you guys hold my flipper if when I get scared?

Some people may find it scary, but it's definitely not a horror game, and if it were, it still wouldn't be survival horror. There are a couple of unnerving situations and some gigantic monsters (which you don't fight, you avoid), but I didn't think the game was scary at all.

*****

Medieval Dynasty is a good game, but they made some terrible achievements. For example...

Why would I want to do either of those? First of all, there's nothing in the whole game worth stealing, anyway. As for the winter one, there's no way to increase your tolerance to the level where your character wouldn't have to just sit by a fire the whole time. I'm at max tolerance, and I have to put on Winter clothes and carry a torch to keep from dying if I'm outside and stand practically on top of the fire when I'm inside.

 

[Zloth]

probably due to the Survival Horror tag.

It's the most pure "exploration" game I've ever seen. The survival stuff just acts as the gatekeeper. Making flippers lets you swim down deeper and back up again without drowning, so you can get some different kinds of rocks. The different kinds of rocks let you build a little portable propeller thing, so you can get further away from your ship without running out of water. That lets you find some other materials that you use to help you get deeper, and so on. It's all about getting to new, interesting areas.

Will you guys hold my flipper if when I get scared?

But of course! (Zloth grabs Brian's feet and starts humming a little tune.)

 

[D10S]

Yeah, subnautica is purely about finding and collecting stuff to unveil more stuff to find and collect.

 

[Colif]

Yeah, subnautica is purely about finding and collecting stuff to unveil more stuff to find and collect.

There are lots of those games... WOW being a big one. Its been an endless grind for better stuff now for 16 years, and people keep going back for more.

That is the aim of almost every game I play... you just need to know when to get off the treadmill.

 

[Pifanjr]

Okay okay, you lot have talked me into installing it. I've had it on Epic for a long time, but never tried it—probably due to the Survival Horror tag. Will you guys hold my flipper if when I get scared?

Even with my mild thalassophobia it isn't very scary. It can get pretty tense because it's impossible to be aware of all of your surroundings all the time, but most predators ignore you if you keep some distance or you just swim by quickly. And so far they don't do that much damage yet and give you plenty of time to swim away after an attack.

Human Resource Machine

Got this from Epic a couple of days ago, was on wishlist. Fired it up for 30 minutes. It's different and funny, but probably quite repetitive—so I don't expect it to hold my interest beyond fire it up for 30-60 minutes every so often until I complete or drop it.

Oh yeah, I should be able to hang with it that long. So far it's all programming or ITTT logic style puzzles where you drag commands onto the 'job maker' board. So "Get all the mail from the Inbox and put every second item in the Outbox" kind of thing. Go for it, show AI you got some chops too!

In my opinion, all these games that say they are "like programming" are really just logic puzzles. The main problem is that the difficulty mostly comes from limiting the tools you have available, whereas the fun part of programming is that you have a thousand tools and a thousand ways to solve any problem.