The video game thread.

MayDay10

I have tried to give Elden Ring another go.  It was just too hard in the beginning and I had nowhere to go.  All I was doing was farming XP against enemies near those gates, then trying to see if I was strong enough yet to beat some boss in a nearby cave (unsuccessfully).

Its strictly my policy to avoid this in open-world games, but Im following a youtube tutorial at least to get my feet running and learn the mechanics of the game.  It seems we are sprinting around so far grabbing useful items.  Once we get to a point where I am able to sustain life, I might go off on my own.

I pre-ordered "The Quarry" for Friday.  Seems like a cool game/concept.

In other video game news, I all but resigned myself to buying a new XBox (whatever the new one is called) once Starfield is released.  I dont play many video games these years, but Bethesda games are always at the top of my list.

tempo_n_groove

Jumb0 said:

MayDay10 said:

Got my (free) PS5... well my kid's PS5.

I tried Elden Ring last night.  Was pretty overwhelmed and didnt know what to do, so I turned it off.  

I was the same way...and still am to some degree, but I have been following this guy's walkthroughs and it's made it much more enjoyable than trying to figure everything out myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN7YFKHOR9Y

Watched this and there is a whole lot of "I recommend doing this later" going on, lol.

nautical_disaster

Oh man I didn't know this thread existed! Finished Elden Ring a few weeks ago, probably the hardest game i've ever played.

mca47

MayDay10 said:

I have tried to give Elden Ring another go.  It was just too hard in the beginning and I had nowhere to go.  All I was doing was farming XP against enemies near those gates, then trying to see if I was strong enough yet to beat some boss in a nearby cave (unsuccessfully).

Its strictly my policy to avoid this in open-world games, but Im following a youtube tutorial at least to get my feet running and learn the mechanics of the game.  It seems we are sprinting around so far grabbing useful items.  Once we get to a point where I am able to sustain life, I might go off on my own.

I pre-ordered "The Quarry" for Friday.  Seems like a cool game/concept.

In other video game news, I all but resigned myself to buying a new XBox (whatever the new one is called) once Starfield is released.  I dont play many video games these years, but Bethesda games are always at the top of my list.

Keep at it.  I had a tough time in the beginning too.  My timing was waaaaay off and the controls took some time to get used to (I had just come off of playing Horizon Forbidden West).  Get your mount (given at the grace site before Stormveil Castle) and go explore.  Keep in mind, you don't have to fight everything.  The mount can take you places where you can fly past enemies.  Open up as much of the map as you can (you can see indicators where the map sites are if you look closely at the fogged areas).  
The biggest thing I would suggest is to use cooperators.  Almost all bosses and mini-bosses have co-op sites next to them.  You can usually summon two players to help you, and it helps A LOT!  You can see what they do, how they attack and approach enemies and it'll progress you faster.  I'm level ~113 or so in the Mountain Tops of the Giants.  I've gone back to assist others in the Capital from time to time.  Not only is it helping them progress, but it's also leveling me up.  That and the Capital is a heavy area for invaders, so when the pop up we can team up to cut those fuckers down.
Can't tell you how many hours I'm in, and I'm still discovering things I missed early on.  Non-spoiler example:  When I beat Redayn....that meteor that flies over meant something.  I didn't find out what that was until 30-40 more levels and I stumbled upon it.  
I'm also 100% NOT using tutorials on the web/YouTube.  I want to grind this out the old school way.  
This game is a fn blast!!

If anyone wants to team up, hit me up on PSN.  My name is the same as here "mca47"

Ten Backspaced Riot Actors

I just came here to say that the Ps5 controller is something special

MayDay10

mca47 said:

MayDay10 said:

I have tried to give Elden Ring another go.  It was just too hard in the beginning and I had nowhere to go.  All I was doing was farming XP against enemies near those gates, then trying to see if I was strong enough yet to beat some boss in a nearby cave (unsuccessfully).

Its strictly my policy to avoid this in open-world games, but Im following a youtube tutorial at least to get my feet running and learn the mechanics of the game.  It seems we are sprinting around so far grabbing useful items.  Once we get to a point where I am able to sustain life, I might go off on my own.

I pre-ordered "The Quarry" for Friday.  Seems like a cool game/concept.

In other video game news, I all but resigned myself to buying a new XBox (whatever the new one is called) once Starfield is released.  I dont play many video games these years, but Bethesda games are always at the top of my list.

Keep at it.  I had a tough time in the beginning too.  My timing was waaaaay off and the controls took some time to get used to (I had just come off of playing Horizon Forbidden West).  Get your mount (given at the grace site before Stormveil Castle) and go explore.  Keep in mind, you don't have to fight everything.  The mount can take you places where you can fly past enemies.  Open up as much of the map as you can (you can see indicators where the map sites are if you look closely at the fogged areas).  
The biggest thing I would suggest is to use cooperators.  Almost all bosses and mini-bosses have co-op sites next to them.  You can usually summon two players to help you, and it helps A LOT!  You can see what they do, how they attack and approach enemies and it'll progress you faster.  I'm level ~113 or so in the Mountain Tops of the Giants.  I've gone back to assist others in the Capital from time to time.  Not only is it helping them progress, but it's also leveling me up.  That and the Capital is a heavy area for invaders, so when the pop up we can team up to cut those fuckers down.
Can't tell you how many hours I'm in, and I'm still discovering things I missed early on.  Non-spoiler example:  When I beat Redayn....that meteor that flies over meant something.  I didn't find out what that was until 30-40 more levels and I stumbled upon it.  
I'm also 100% NOT using tutorials on the web/YouTube.  I want to grind this out the old school way.  
This game is a fn blast!!

I respect the fact that they dont hold your hand at all... but at this age, I just dont have time to figure something of this scope out.  I tried, but everything, including character dialog, mythos, and item names are all so abstract.  I have maybe an hour to play after the kids go to bed, and I havent played anything for about 2 years.  I also don't want to sit there and read all those tutorial/tips for every single screen and thing that happens.  

I just couldn't figure out what to do and why.  I had to research to find out I needed to touch that grace by the gate to even begin the leveling-up process.  I would just get my ass kicked.  I also didn't explore because I had no idea how to use the horse/steed.  I also was under the assumption that as in typical games, the further you wander from the starting point, the more brutal the environment and enemies become.  I was just trying to bust a couple dungeons nearby to the start and getting walloped.  

It was either put the game down forever (hadnt touched it in weeks), or have someone hold my hand in a youtube tutorial.  So I am following this one guy who seems to just basically run around and gather a lot of items in the beginning.  I'll probably follow through when he really starts to actually hit dungeons and game objectives and go off on my own.  



I completed 100% of witcher, Skyrim, Fallouts, etc with no help... but this seemed to be a bit much.

mca47

MayDay10 said:

mca47 said:

MayDay10 said:

I have tried to give Elden Ring another go.  It was just too hard in the beginning and I had nowhere to go.  All I was doing was farming XP against enemies near those gates, then trying to see if I was strong enough yet to beat some boss in a nearby cave (unsuccessfully).

Its strictly my policy to avoid this in open-world games, but Im following a youtube tutorial at least to get my feet running and learn the mechanics of the game.  It seems we are sprinting around so far grabbing useful items.  Once we get to a point where I am able to sustain life, I might go off on my own.

I pre-ordered "The Quarry" for Friday.  Seems like a cool game/concept.

In other video game news, I all but resigned myself to buying a new XBox (whatever the new one is called) once Starfield is released.  I dont play many video games these years, but Bethesda games are always at the top of my list.

Keep at it.  I had a tough time in the beginning too.  My timing was waaaaay off and the controls took some time to get used to (I had just come off of playing Horizon Forbidden West).  Get your mount (given at the grace site before Stormveil Castle) and go explore.  Keep in mind, you don't have to fight everything.  The mount can take you places where you can fly past enemies.  Open up as much of the map as you can (you can see indicators where the map sites are if you look closely at the fogged areas).  
The biggest thing I would suggest is to use cooperators.  Almost all bosses and mini-bosses have co-op sites next to them.  You can usually summon two players to help you, and it helps A LOT!  You can see what they do, how they attack and approach enemies and it'll progress you faster.  I'm level ~113 or so in the Mountain Tops of the Giants.  I've gone back to assist others in the Capital from time to time.  Not only is it helping them progress, but it's also leveling me up.  That and the Capital is a heavy area for invaders, so when the pop up we can team up to cut those fuckers down.
Can't tell you how many hours I'm in, and I'm still discovering things I missed early on.  Non-spoiler example:  When I beat Redayn....that meteor that flies over meant something.  I didn't find out what that was until 30-40 more levels and I stumbled upon it.  
I'm also 100% NOT using tutorials on the web/YouTube.  I want to grind this out the old school way.  
This game is a fn blast!!

I respect the fact that they dont hold your hand at all... but at this age, I just dont have time to figure something of this scope out.  I tried, but everything, including character dialog, mythos, and item names are all so abstract.  I have maybe an hour to play after the kids go to bed, and I havent played anything for about 2 years.  I also don't want to sit there and read all those tutorial/tips for every single screen and thing that happens.  

I just couldn't figure out what to do and why.  I had to research to find out I needed to touch that grace by the gate to even begin the leveling-up process.  I would just get my ass kicked.  I also didn't explore because I had no idea how to use the horse/steed.  I also was under the assumption that as in typical games, the further you wander from the starting point, the more brutal the environment and enemies become.  I was just trying to bust a couple dungeons nearby to the start and getting walloped.  

It was either put the game down forever (hadnt touched it in weeks), or have someone hold my hand in a youtube tutorial.  So I am following this one guy who seems to just basically run around and gather a lot of items in the beginning.  I'll probably follow through when he really starts to actually hit dungeons and game objectives and go off on my own.  



I completed 100% of witcher, Skyrim, Fallouts, etc with no help... but this seemed to be a bit much.

I would say the first 5-10 hours I was was fn clueless.  Nothing made sense.  And I am a Souls veteran...having played all of them before...and I still was clueless.  I will say, Elden Ring....believe it or not....is actually much more digestible and straightforward than the Souls games.  Those leave you with nothing.  ER at least nudges you in the right direction (Ex: Grace site directional sparkles).  The Souls games are far more linear, as they aren't open world, but ER actually does a good job at showing you a general direction.  That direction is also the general "flow"/progression where it gets harder and harder.  
Another tip, if you pick up an item, go into the inventory and read what it does.  It's pretty straightforward in that regard.

Jason P

Two (2!) official strategy guides are up for pre-order for Elden Ring.  The first is due out in July and is a walk-thru and the second focuses on weapons, enemies, etc.

I prefer (good) books over the internet, mainly because books don't start auto-playing videos in the middle of a page or take me to an erectile dysfunction website because I tried to turn the page.  That said, the previous strategy guides for the Dark Souls series were not as helpful because the maps where hard to understand ... I found a website where someone put together basic maps in maybe Excel which were easier to understand ... hopefully they don't use the same format.

MayDay10

Played an hour of the quarry.


It's great if you like horror movies. Making seemingly insignificant decisions early that butterfly into the gradual breakdown into the slasher film part of the story.
I like it so far. It's relaxed and easy. Lots of cutscenes which is usually points off for me, but it was up front that this is basically an interactive movie.

The worst parts are when you have to control a character and explore. They walk slow and the controls to move are clumsy and worse yet the camera angle/perspective changes frequently.

Paying 60 bux for it? I dunno, maybe not worth it. Probably a great game to rent from video factory for a weekend

cp3iverson

Just started The Quarry as well.  Huge fan of 80s horror films and so far we’re having fun.  Lol.   

tempo_n_groove

This Elden Ring game is one of those games listening to everyone describe it as "How the hell did you figure THAT out on your own" games.

It sounds like one that unless you had insider info you aren't putting this shit together, lol.

Is that about right?

nautical_disaster

tempo_n_groove said:

This Elden Ring game is one of those games listening to everyone describe it as "How the hell did you figure THAT out on your own" games.

It sounds like one that unless you had insider info you aren't putting this shit together, lol.

Is that about right?

I hadn't played the other games in that franchise, so it was quite a learning curve in terms of the difficulty level. Normally I don't use guides, but it felt necessary in terms of sprucing up your character against some crazy bosses. Normally I would welcome the challenge, like in my fav game Witcher 3, but some of these dudes in elden ring are not fair haha. If you're really patient you could piece together lots of lore info, but I just don't have the time to dedicate that kind of in-depth study. 

MayDay10

tempo_n_groove said:

This Elden Ring game is one of those games listening to everyone describe it as "How the hell did you figure THAT out on your own" games.

It sounds like one that unless you had insider info you aren't putting this shit together, lol.

Is that about right?

I think so.  I feel like you really need to invest some time and attention to get off the ground without help.  



Also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHZOTFMyMyM

Jason P

I decided to try MLB The Show 22 on ... The Nintendo Switch!   It is on sale and since I have it on GamePass on xbox for the last few years I thought having a on the go option might be nice.  But the Switch is not very powerful by any means so this is a $40 gamble.  Quick impressions of The Show on Nintendo (Sony's first Nintendo title ever!) ....

The Good

* You can link to an existing account!  No grinding to get a good team as I have access to my xbox team (i would not have bought if this option didn't exist).

* It is a complete game.  All modes and options that exist that are on xbox are present on the Switch

* No frame rate drops in hitting, pitching and fielding (cut scenes are pretty bad though).  Stays at or above 30 FPS while getting into mid 40's in fielding

* Gameplay is solid.  No hiccups to disrupt play.  To me, this is much more important than graphics.

* Handheld mode looks decent if you are not expecting sharp graphics

* Menus move quick.  Load times are decent.

* Now I can take my habit on the road

The Bad

* Now I can take my habit on the road

* Graphics are PS3 quality.  But it looks like they did try to optimize for the Switch rather then a lazy port.  It won't win any visual awards.  If you can accept the lower visual quality, then you will probably enjoy the game. 

* Font is tiny in handheld mode

* Joy-Con sticks are sensitive and touchy compared to Sony/MS sticks, but usable. 

* Docked mode looks a little better, but if you want to play this game on a TV and only are getting one version, get one for a PS4 / PS5 or Xbox.  Seriously.

tempo_n_groove

I'd like to update everyone on my Mariokart 8 progress.

Did not know that different drivers, cars, wheels and such had different ratings...  After a little research I ditched Yoshi and came up with a whole new driver and rig.  I had to relearn the drifting part as I went through a few different options until I found my sweet spot.

I can now compete with the onine kiddos.  Some of them have a few things I do not yet but I'll get there.  The blond gal on a motorbike seems to be the best for quite a few of the courses or that Zelda character too.

a5pj

Still picking away at Farcry 6 - game is huge, but great

dankind

tempo_n_groove said:

I'd like to update everyone on my Mariokart 8 progress.

Did not know that different drivers, cars, wheels and such had different ratings...  After a little research I ditched Yoshi and came up with a whole new driver and rig.  I had to relearn the drifting part as I went through a few different options until I found my sweet spot.

I can now compete with the onine kiddos.  Some of them have a few things I do not yet but I'll get there.  The blond gal on a motorbike seems to be the best for quite a few of the courses or that Zelda character too.

So not yet ready to take on the Swede?

tempo_n_groove

dankind said:

tempo_n_groove said:

I'd like to update everyone on my Mariokart 8 progress.

Did not know that different drivers, cars, wheels and such had different ratings...  After a little research I ditched Yoshi and came up with a whole new driver and rig.  I had to relearn the drifting part as I went through a few different options until I found my sweet spot.

I can now compete with the onine kiddos.  Some of them have a few things I do not yet but I'll get there.  The blond gal on a motorbike seems to be the best for quite a few of the courses or that Zelda character too.

So not yet ready to take on the Swede?

I'd give er a go.  Whenever I'm first in the beginning that ends come third lap. I am guaranteed two red turtles and or a boomerang up my ass and then I'm 5th...

Jason P

Finally got a PS5 after almost two years.  To be fair, I hadn't really tried after the initial pre-order debacle.   I heard that Target was doing stock drops in the mornings for local stores.  So I went to Target's online site this morning when I woke, put in my zip code, and the three Targets in my area didn't have any ... I checked again around 8:30 am and one store had four PS5 units available for store pick-up only.  Ordered online and went after work to pick it up.  Success!!

Jason P

Interesting that Sony has decided to soak players for another $10 each for upgrading a game you already own for the PS4 ... Xbox doesn't do that.  In fact, Xbox just upgrades the game automatically to be optimized for the system you are playing it on so you don't even need to worry.

The controller feels nice.  Games seem to download at a decent speed after years of the PS4 snail pace... nope, still slow as molasses ...  I thought GT7 downloaded in 20 minutes but it was just so you could start the game and do one simple race ... still 3 hours left on an LAN direct to fiber!!   WTF, Sony??  Guess I won't be playing until the weekend.