Random Game Thoughts Thread—November 27-December 03

[Brian Boru]

Still early in Far Cry 6, I might figure some of it out soon. Kept pressing the Windows key by mistake when wanting Ctrl or Alt, so had to disable the left-side WinKey—should've done it years ago!

I've been getting keyboard glitches, enough to be annoying but not game breaking—had similar in Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 if I recall correctly, but not sure. All that happens is the game minimizes to Taskbar, where a click gets it back—so not a biggie. This is the first FC game it's happened in, I'm fairly sure, and most other games are fine.

'S' key glitches all the time after 3-4 presses—but WAD never glitch. The others are intermittent, FRC being the culprits—all other keys and modifiers are fine. It might be the driver for my Roccat Isku KB bought March 17, 2016, but driver is latest 1.22 from 2013-12-20.

As the KB is flawless with Win10 and all my other software, and I love it, I won't ditch it for a game glitch. But I am curious if there's some little thing the game devs missed—searching hasn't turned up anything useful. Or of course, some little fix I don't know of.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Still early in Far Cry 6, I might figure some of it out soon. Kept pressing the Windows key by mistake when wanting Ctrl or Alt, so had to disable the left-side WinKey—should've done it years ago!

I've been getting keyboard glitches, enough to be annoying but not game breaking—had similar in Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 if I recall correctly, but not sure. All that happens is the game minimizes to Taskbar, where a click gets it back—so not a biggie. This is the first FC game it's happened in, I'm fairly sure, and most other games are fine.

'S' key glitches all the time after 3-4 presses—but WAD never glitch. The others are intermittent, FRC being the culprits—all other keys and modifiers are fine. It might be the driver for my Roccat Isku KB bought March 17, 2016, but driver is latest 1.22 from 2013-12-20.

As the KB is flawless with Win10 and all my other software, and I love it, I won't ditch it for a game glitch. But I am curious if there's some little thing the game devs missed—searching hasn't turned up anything useful. Or of course, some little fix I don't know of.

Dats a pretty kitty dat cat Brian, but unfortunately I don't think it would fit in my keyboard pullout tray!

I got a mech keyboard recently, and the only time it minimizes games is if I forget to turn on the Windows key lock. I'm also finding with these types of keyboards there are MANY games that can have various problems if you don't have the Windows key locked. They vary from the Start menu popping up over the game (Halo Infinite and many others), my bike suddenly being totally unresponsive to gas and steering (Monster Energy Supercross games), and certain keys not working as you mentioned in varoious games.

So check to make sure you have the Windows key locked, most of these types of keyboards have such a feature.

As for my latest gaming thoughts, I started playing Wolfenstein II again, just to get a break from some of the tougher battles in Doom 2016, which I also started playing a bit before Wolf II. I also had quite a battle last night after finally getting my Surface Laptop Go that I got new on a giveaway not long ago to reconnect to my wireless radio of my Arris modem. Just took a power cycle of the modem, letting it fully reboot, then a power cycle of the laptop.

I also have the laptop updated to W10 22H2 now, but then I got the hairbrained idea of trying to play a game on it, because Windows Update says I can get W11 free soon. This thing has just a i5-1035G1 CPU, and it's so weak it uses a scaled down version of W10, but silly me, I'm wanting to compare W10 22H2 to W11 22H2. I tried installing Tomb Raider Anniversary, since it's an older game I like a lot, and only 4GB. I could install it, but it won't start after setting up the main menu settings.

So later today, I may go back at it and try another game, but it must not impede on my football watching! BTW, did you see the England vs USA World Cup game? I watched the whole thing, save for a bit of the start of the second half when I was making dinner. I was surprised to learn that England has never beaten USA in a World Cup game. It was a rather boring match with no goals scored, and I couldn't help but wonder why they let even World Cup matches come to a draw, vs having a shoot-out to determine the winner.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

My gaming PC is up in my upstairs office, so I don't find myself playing on it nearly as much as I used to. I actually have it powering my arcade machine right now. Because of that, I'm mostly on my Xbox downstairs. But I think I've found a way to stream my PC to my Xbox through my WiFi network and be able to control it through my Xbox downstairs. If I'm successful with that, I'll probably be getting a lot more use out of my PC again.

If this works, I'll be able to go back and play some more Horizon: Zero Dawn, which is a Sony game, through my Xbox. I think that's awesome if it works.

 

[Zloth]

So later today, I may go back at it and try another game, but it must not impede on my football watching! BTW, did you see the England vs USA World Cup game?

Turns out it's just the men's teams playing. Don't get me wrong, it's great that the men are setting such a fine example for all the boys out there, but my time is limited. Wake me up when the women start playing again.

 

[Brian Boru]

pretty kitty dat cat

Yeah, looks nice, but it's the feel and function that won me over. I used KB & mouse for 30 years before finding the two I've married for life—this KB and the original Logi MX Master, which I liked so much I bought a spare.

make sure you have the Windows key locked, most of these types of keyboards have such a feature.

Yep, my driver has this, and as said, I've already disabled the LeftWinKey, albeit using SharpKeys. I'll try disabling the RWK also, thanks for the tip

did you see the England vs USA World Cup game?

I haven't watched any of it yet—if I hear of an exceptional game, like eg Spain v Portugal from last WC, I'll take a peek. It's the same with hurling, they're probably the two most individually skilled games in the world, but don't hold my interest enough to regularly spend time on.

Rugby is the game I watch, there's so much more variety in the play, and then the strategic approach and match-day tactics are usually interesting to contrast and compare. November has been a feast of good international games, and the club competitions have just restarted, so I can have a game a night for the next 2 weeks just to catch up

why they let even World Cup matches come to a draw

The group stage games are for time to acclimatize and get some time together. As you probably know from sport in general, knockout competitions are a lottery between the better teams, so they want to minimize the danger of a big name—aka money spinner—getting dumped early. Eg this year Argentina, Belgium and Germany would already be gone!

Long-winded way of saying draws are fine until the knockout stage begins in a week.

Wake me up when the women start playing again

Make the most of it, I expect the women's game will be quite competitive by the 30s

 

[Pifanjr]

I've given up on Cultist Simulator. I hit the part where I'd figured out most of the mechanics and the gameplay isn't interesting enough to keep me playing. I haven't actually won a game (well, besides quitting my cult to become a lawyer or marrying into nobility, which are only minor victories), but there's too much of a grind to level stuff up to get near the end game, so I stopped bothering.

I moved on to the next game on my list: Night of the Full Moon. It's another deck-building roguelike, this time with a little red riding hood theme. I'm liking it a lot better than Card Quest or Meteorfall because there's more freedom in building your deck and more mechanics, like passive bonuses, to change how you play. I really like roguelikes you can "break", where you can make some ridiculous build that just dominates, and this is a good game for that. There's just something about drawing your entire deck every turn. Even better when you can also skip the enemy's turn twice in a row.

The game does a pretty good job with the enemy variety though. Even when you've made a really powerful deck, there'll usually be at least one enemy with a deck and/or passive bonus that counters your strategy. For example, on my very first game I made a very lean deck, then encountered an enemy that would steal cards from my deck until I literally couldn't do anything except hit the end turn button.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

My gaming PC is up in my upstairs office, so I don't find myself playing on it nearly as much as I used to. I actually have it powering my arcade machine right now. Because of that, I'm mostly on my Xbox downstairs. But I think I've found a way to stream my PC to my Xbox through my WiFi network and be able to control it through my Xbox downstairs. If I'm successful with that, I'll probably be getting a lot more use out of my PC again.

If this works, I'll be able to go back and play some more Horizon: Zero Dawn, which is a Sony game, through my Xbox. I think that's awesome if it works.

It worked, folks! I was able to successfully use my PC to play HZD through my Xbox. Pretty cool! I also used my downstairs laptop to connect to my PC through Chrome Remote Desktop, so that I could remotely connect my PC to the Xbox. Lol.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Yeah, looks nice, but it's the feel and function that won me over. I used KB & mouse for 30 years before finding the two I've married for life—this KB and the original Logi MX Master, which I liked so much I bought a spare.

That's a pretty expensive mouse for no DPI adjust, so it wouldn't work for me, as it's obviously not made for gaming. I also feel the thumb wheel being freewheeling with no ratchet option like the top scroll wheel has is a bit strange. Some have reported it's a nuisance because it can cause accidental horizontal scrolling.

 

[Zloth]

So you use that adjustment, @Frag Maniac? I almost never do, personally. My only real use-case is when I'm trying to crop a screenshot very precisely.

 

[Brian Boru]

expensive mouse for no DPI adjust

Both were around $50-60 on sale, so not too bad. DPI ranges between 400 and 1,600 which is more than enough for me. I tried 2,000 and 4,000 on other mice before, and it didn't work for me—I'm comfy around 800, which coincidentally seems to be regarded as the best for precision in shooters, which suits my general stealth style preference.

thumb wheel being freewheeling

I have that set to Back-Forward—I do a lot of browsing for work and leisure, so that's its most productive setting for me. On rare occasions I accidentally clip it when using the 2 buttons just behind it, so I would prefer extra spacing there—but no biggie.

That said, I agree—I would prefer if it was ratcheted.

 

[Frag Maniac]

So you use that adjustment, @Frag Maniac? I almost never do, personally. My only real use-case is when I'm trying to crop a screenshot very precisely.

I was referring to the on the fly DPI adjustment many gaming mice have, which allows you to adjust mouse sensitivity while in game. It's very handy for adjusting between iron sights, sniper scopes, and turret shooting. Or did you mean horizontal scroll? I thought you meant DPI because I mentioned I prefer gaming mice, which typically don't have horizontal scroll.

 

[Frindis]

Been playing the demo of Project: Gorgon and it has been a pleasant journey from starter island to the first village you set foot in. What I like most about the game so far is that you don't really know much about anything. Instead of having breadcrumbs/exclamation marks thrown all around you, dumbing down the game, this game seems to be focusing more on having you as the player find out what to do. You get a quest, but you'll get little to no information on what to do or where to go. That is also why the quest "Cheer up Riger" is still not completed. I could not find a way to cheer up that guy, even emotes did not work. I'll have to come back to the starter island another time.

I like the way you have to explore and in that sense, it feels a lot like Morrowind. Not only feel, but it also looks a bit like it from time to time. There are even big mushrooms! I just found out how to get my first pet and have found a secret passage into a small dungeon where there is a BIG spider. I'm currently wearing parts of a spider outfit. Looks kind of cool, though my tail looks like shait. I hope I will be able to change how my character looks in the future since I was a bit fast in with the character customization. Another thing I really enjoy in this game is that you can not only set a mark on the map with a note to it, but you also get your own notepad that you can use to write down codes/riddles and whatnot.

Here is a screenshot of how it looks in-game not long after arriving at the first town:

 

[Zloth]

I was referring to the on the fly DPI adjustment many gaming mice have, which allows you to adjust mouse sensitivity while in game. It's very handy for adjusting between iron sights, sniper scopes, and turret shooting.

That's what I meant! The buttons/whatever to make the mouse have higher/lower DPI so you can gain accuracy, but you need to move the mouse more to do it. I need to think about that option more when I need to get accurate!

@Frindis - oh, that's a tail! I thought you were making a fashion statement about ties. A pity... I kind of agreed with the statement...

 

[Frag Maniac]

...but you need to move the mouse more to do it.

Depends what mouse you're using and where the DPI adjust buttons are. My Logi G402 has them placed aside the left edge of the LMB, so it doesn't cause my mouse to move because I can still use my thumb and pinky to firmly grip the mouse while using them. The Default DPI button, granted, is a thumb button, but I can still use the middle of my thumb to grip the mouse, then flick the tip of my thumb inward to activate it. So I suppose it also depends on the size of your hand and how it fits your mouse. I suppose as well it's really just a matter of thinking about steadying the mouse as you grip it when you click those DPI adjust buttons. Keep in mind though it's not something meant to be done WHILE shooting, just in between shots or more likely in between types of firearms.

 

[Brian Boru]

Alrighty then…

A startup called Joipaw is serious about making video games for dogs

Dogs play with their snouts on a saliva-resistant touch screen.

www.axios.com

Boomer and Chorizo say "Woof"

 

[mainer]

Continuing to mod Fallout New Vegas. I'm past the downloading stage and now into the gradual installation process, making sure that each mod's requirements are installed first, and that there are no conflicts with other mods. Occasionally going in-games at points to check that everything works with no immediate CTDs. It's a slow process, at least for me. I hope to have all mods installed and the load order stable by this weekend.

Last night I installed The Witcher 3 in anticipation of the Next-Gen update releasing on 12/14. Normally, I turn my PC off every night, but since this was about a 50 GB download, I installed it overnight. I wonder how big the update will be? I'd guess it would have to be at least about 20 GB with all the advanced graphics.

If you haven't seen it yet, here is The Witcher 3 Nex-Gen Update release trailer:

View: https://youtu.be/nBT2SP21f3Q


It looks pretty amazing to me, and I know that I'll postpone all other projects & games once it releases. I'm also excited that it has a photo-mode feature, which I'm sure will consume even more of my time.

but it's the feel and function that won me over. I used KB & mouse for 30 years before finding the two I've married for life—this KB and the original Logi MX Master, which I liked so much I bought a spare.

I know what you mean, I've only used KB&M for PC gaming since the early 1980s (sometimes KB only), and I've gone through several keyboards & mice until I found just the right combination for comfort and playing. It's such a personal choice, and while yours/mine/our choices may never make a "best of" list or have the fastest DPI available, they're what we enjoy using. I've been using a Corsair K95 Platinum and Rat 8 combination for years and have no need or desire to change. I also bought a "spare" Rat 8 because I love them so much, and they are often difficult to find available.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

https://www.pcgamer.com/marvels-midnight-suns-review/

PCG Midnight Suns review is up, not sure how I feel about the whole social simulator side being so much a part of the game. I was quite excited for a new spin on Xcom with Marvel characters before, but I think it'll have to be on a pretty good discount before I get it now. Pretty neutral on Marvel in general, I was more in it for the tactics than watching a movie with Tony Stark to make him my friend.

I'm playing Battle Brothers mostly still. I did dip into Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children a bit and enjoyed the tutorial part, combat seems a lot of fun. Last night I tried to play it and had a couple of CTD's though, have to play around and disable a few apps, but dont have the energy or time to mess around right now when I just want to play something.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Since I finished Requiem, I started up The Rise of the Tomb Raider today. I've never played that one all the way through, so I might play that and then Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I loved the first one of the newest trilogy, but never got around to the others.

 

[Brian Boru]

Rat 8

I had a RAT 6 for a couple of years, until the left click went to the happy left clicking ground in the sky. Super cool, but I didn't make use of its functions beyond the setup fiddling. Like the variable DPI Frag mentioned, such niceties are wasted on my inner Philistine

The Far Cry 6 interface is still dopey, even tho they fixed the worst part of previous ones—the multi-use E key for looting and weapon swapping. "How did they fix that?" you gasp in awe. "Well, it's like this…" I avoid eye contact, shuffle feet a bit…

They got rid of weapon swapping! Yep, enemies don't drop weapons anymore. Oh, did I mention you now loot by just running over bodies, no click required? Now if that isn't the sooper-dooperest of all double fixes, what is? But thank you Ubi, much appreciated Now if I can get mods to work, and grab the one for run over resources to collect—there are wagon loads of those lying around, clicking gets old somewhere soon after the 1,000th one

Anyway, back to Dopey. The Skill system is a big pain. Gone are the trees of previous games, where you could see the lot in mostly one screen, laid out in tabular form. Now they're tied to 'gear'—articles of clothing you acquire by playing… you know, Hunter's Hat and Sprinter's Shoe sort of thing.

Okay, but… well maybe it's me, but I spent my time scrolling thru multi screens of icons looking for the item which helps a particular job—was it in vests, or headgear, or handwear, or… or… But I solved it! "Screw this" I said loftily, "I'm wearing these from now on, don't need the help anyway"—so there, take that, game!

 

[Zloth]

Boomer and Chorizo say "Woof"

Wait, dogs get treats and all I get is an "achievement" on my profile? How is this fair!?

I was quite excited for a new spin on Xcom with Marvel characters before...

They've been pretty explicit that it isn't going to be like XCOM. The preview in June even called it an anti-XCOM! It looks pretty fun to me, but I'm in no rush to get it.

All that social interaction is going to make modding in other heroes really hard, though, beyond simply replacing the model of an existing character with another.

I loved the first one of the newest trilogy, but never got around to the others.

The second one is good stuff. The third game's story provided several face-palm moments, but the gameplay was fun.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

They've been pretty explicit that it isn't going to be like XCOM. The preview in June even called it an anti-XCOM! It looks pretty fun to me, but I'm in no rush to get it.

All that social interaction is going to make modding in other heroes really hard, though, beyond simply replacing the model of an existing character with another.

I wasn't expecting it to just be XCom with superheroes, I heard something about a card system that sounded really interesting as someone who liked Slay the Spire a lot and obviously super powers would work completely differently to guns. A good story and interesting choices and interactions is a huge bonus, but for this type of game maybe not if its more than half the game as I hear it is. I've heard someone on a podcast who liked similar games to me say the combat is relatively simplistic if you dont really care about the Fire Emblem 3 Houses stuff.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering the IP involved. I read some Spiderman comics as a young kid, loved the Xmen cartoon series, and I quite liked some of the MCU movies later on, so I'm not in the bullseye of the target market for this. I do really like tactics games though so I'm not all that far out from the middle.

Reviews are strong, I might love it but not worth a punt at 60 USD for me from what I gather so far.

 

[Colif]

Peruses the guide - https://www.pcgamer.com/the-pc-gamer-2022-holiday-gift-guide/

This is a trick Feature. Its actually an anti list. If your PC is on here, its not the best PC of 2022

The best gaming PC in 2021

Make one of the best gaming PCs the center of your universe.

www.pcgamer.com

As its not going to show home made PC and no way a Pre made is better than something some people can make. Some boutique makers maybe, but not these ones.

oh look, another anti list - https://www.pcgamer.com/best-gaming-chairs/

I guess this be useful at night or in a night club - https://www.pcgamer.com/i-rgbd-my-toilet-and-you-should-too/

 

[Frindis]

I guess this be useful at night or in a night club - https://www.pcgamer.com/i-rgbd-my-toilet-and-you-should-too/

Amazing! Now the turd does not have to look just brown/black. To make it even more wholesome and fun you could close your eyes while taking the dump and try guessing the color. "look honey, it's PURPLE now!" Obviously, you have to turn on the toilet music and play this song while nature calls:

 

[Colif]

technicolour yawns actually have more color now

 

[Pifanjr]

I've played a bunch more of Night of the Full Moon and it's been fun playing around with the different classes with their different approaches and seeing what enemies they struggle against.

For example, I had a built that relied on playing a lot of cards to set up powerful attacks and on equipment which gives a chance to dodge attacks to stay alive. The end boss however had a passive ability where you take 1 damage for every card you play, which is how I ended up like this:

Luckily that passive ability stopped doing damage when I was at 1 health and I was able to kill the boss that turn.


I've also played a bit more of XCOM 2. I defeated the second faction, though I was almost convinced I wouldn't win the last mission, especially when one of my guys died pretty quickly into the last encounter with a ton of enemies left. The rest managed to survive with a lot of luck.

The stress of thinking I might have to do the entire mission over again made me switch back to normal difficulty, as I really did not enjoy doing the same mission 4 times in a row the other day. However, on normal the game is too easy to be engaging.

So today I decided to play some Total War: Warhammer 2 instead. I started a Mortal Empires campaign as Khatep and it's been a struggle. I killed the nearby Dark Elf factions but got my first and second settlement razed by Beastmen. I killed a second Dark Elf faction but then Naggarond declared war and took one of my settlements. I took it back and advanced on them, but then another Dark Elf faction joined the war and took another settlement from me.

I only have two armies so far and too much land to defend, so I'm afraid I'll be losing as many settlements as I can take for a bit until my third army slot unlocks, which will take about a dozen more turns or so. It doesn't help that I'm poor and can't afford to built garrisons.