Anyone here play video games?
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Thanks @Alex!
@scarfmace I haven't played BG3 for over a year - I never quite finished a playthrough, my problem is that I want to explore every nook and cranny and see all the possible permutations of my choices as I go, so I had like 5 characters on the go and got burnt out on it.
Yes, it's hard, there's a lot going on mechanically and it can feel like if you aren't min-maxing your character you're falling behind. I'd say the #1 thing to do is try to take advantage of Advantage (the mechanic) whenever you can, as this makes a huge difference to your attacks actually landing.
If you wanted to try and team up, I'd be game. I usually play from around 9:30-10pm in the evenings (UK time) for a couple of hours, work allowing.
@Alex @AdamJ @SKT I'd be well up for some Helldivers 2 if you wanted to try and get an IH squad going as I haven't checked out yesterday's update to the game yet. I have most things unlocked bar the latest two Warbonds they released.
Take the dive...
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@EdH said in Anyone here play video games?:
@Alex @AdamJ @SKT I'd be well up for some Helldivers 2 if you wanted to try and get an IH squad going as I haven't checked out yesterday's update to the game yet. I have most things unlocked bar the latest two Warbonds they released.
Yeah, sounds good. Shoot me your PSN and I will add you this eve
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@EdH said in Anyone here play video games?:
Balatro - Been getting back into this, and thought it was worth mentioning given that it is available on PlayStation Plus this month. Balatro's amazing, easily the standout game of this month's PS+ drop. It's a solitaire card game where you play poker hands to beat a series of increasingly difficult blinds. You get more points for harder poker hands. Complexity is introduced by Jokers - special cards that modify your point-scoring potential if you can play the right hands - and other modifiers that allow you to shape your deck to make your preferred hands more likely to appear. No knowledge of poker is required, it's just a brilliant little game, if you've got PlayStation Plus you have no excuse not to try it this month.
I have done 149/150 stakes now...
Had to reduce my efforts to one game a day to preserve my sanity but Black Deck/Gold Stake is diabolical
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@Alex Shooted my shot.
(Flexed biceps probably the closest thing to the Helldivers salute.) -
@SKT If you need help building your characters, I suggest this guy's YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@Cephalopocalypse/
I found his guides very helpful in building characters that wouldn't just get immediately trounced. He has playlists for each class, party composition, etc. Remember that you can re-spec your class at any point for some gold (and you can pickpocket that gold straight back from the guy in camp that you use to respec, he doesn't give a fuck) if you feel you've made any mistakes in building your character.
How far into the game are you?
Take the dive...
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Expedition 33 is meant to be a masterpiece. But no idea when and if I'll play it.
All about Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and then Ghost of Yōtei (both PS5 exclusives). GTA6 being delayed is fine. Gives me time to plat BotW and TotK on Switch 2.
My back catalogue is a bit daft: Cyberpunk 2077 (I've now started Phantom Liberty). I still dip into Monster Hunter Wilds. Would love to start Black Myth Wukong.
VIDEO GAMES
< something witty TBC here >
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@SKT Oh, then definitely you should study up. Then you can turn the tables on your smartass 14 year old when you bust out an expression like "oh, you should have kept that character where he was because attacking from the shadows would have given you Advantage on that attack roll and you'd probably have been able to take out that summoner two turns earlier".
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@Nick Don't remind me - I want to replay the PS5 versions of Ghost of Tsushima and Death Stranding: Directors Cut before their respective sequels release...
Basically everything on your list I want to play (save for the Zelda games). I also wanted to check out Stellar Blade, which I saw yesterday will have a complete edition releasing in a few months.
There's way too much good shit out to play these days. I wouldn't care if GTA6 never actually comes out. Hell, the whole industry could take a fallow year and I would still be happy.
Take the dive...
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@SKT Oh, sorry, I got my replies muddled between you and @scarfmace!
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@Nick The original Gears of War trilogy is what I'm most looking forward to, personally, as I frigging loved that campaign on my 360 back in the day. It's mad that Xbox is easily the largest publisher on PlayStation now.
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@EdH Console wars was silly. Think Xbox are playing the long game. Cloud gaming. A world with no consoles and sadly no media other than the digital form. Paid subs to play games etc.
They have always been 3rd behind Sony and Nintendo with hardware. Will be interesting to see how things pan out over next 10+ years.
Still, Sony are kings of single player experiences.
< something witty TBC here >
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@Nick I think there'll always be a place for dedicated hardware, in the living room, under the TV. Even the worlds' fastest internet won't ever completely eliminate the comparative lag introduced by sending your controller inputs over the internet and receiving the next image frame back. And some people (like me who spend all day at a PC) don't want to sit at a desk during their downtime.
The same way that Microsoft makes PCs and laptops, but you can also buy laptops and PCs that run Windows made by other suppliers, I think XBox in the next-gen or so could transition to making XBox something that is manufacturer agnostic. Microsoft could still make some, but I think they'll open it up so that other manufacturers could make machines that run the XBox O/S, and Microsoft will take care of optimising those games to run at different frame rates and resolutions behind the scenes, maybe utilising streaming when the device is particularly low-spec.
I think subscriptions are also topping out - XBox Gamepass just isn't growing, which is part of the reason they're bringing things to PlayStation and Nintendo. I don't think the business model works for games in the same way it does for movies and music. I think too many people (still?) value owning a game, which is probably linked to how you need to actively participate in order to utilise them and how they can take hours to play and enjoy. If you're one of the few million people who only ever plays Call of Duty or Fifa until a new one comes out, you'd be a mug to pay for Gamepass or EA's thing when you could buy the game for the cost of a couple of month's subscription. Those services are only really good value for people with a tonne of time to play a lot of different games each month.
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@Nick agreed, I think its daft, but I agree Microsoft is definitely playing the long game, I read the other day, the next move for xbox (whether this happens is a different matter) but Microsoft might be exploring the possibility of integrating Steam games into the Xbox ecosystem, Xbox will just become a "affordable" gaming rig compared to a PC, with adjusted graphics and frame rates etc like @EdH mentioned (steam gaming, adjusted for xbox)
@EdH I don't agree, you say its not growing but they hit 50 million this year (16million more than last year), which is a continuing growth, I think xbox just don't care as much as people think about the "war" ultimately if a "xbox exclusive" sells million copies, in the first few months then dies down, why not sell it to PS for another million copies sold, your only really bottle necking yourself in sales and players if it is online capable.
or maybe im just deluded in that thinking haha
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@JoshC said in Anyone here play video games?:
they hit 50 million this year (16million more than last year), which is a continuing growth
Quite right, I was a little behind in my stats.
My guess it was the CoD effect, and that PC Game Pass is still a screamingly good deal for the right kind of player - they raised the prices for console subscribers last year but left PC Game Pass alone.
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My issue with Game Pass is that I think (for me) it would encourage trying too many games and not finishing them. I feel like when you purchase something, you're committing to it. I know, it's stupid logic. I know 'back in the golden years' we could rent video games from the local video game shop. Actually, I'm so old I remember 'copying' games from one cassette to another (C64 and Spectrum) lol. Kids of today will never understand.
