Video Game Discussion Thread Part 10: Video Games Fucking Suck

[the tourist]

Depends on if you can hold out a few months, and maybe longer since it seems places always sell out fast on new systems. I picked up an xbox one x in November. Came with Jedi Fallen Order. I already had just an xbox one (original release), but I do LAN parties with Halo when we’re not social distancing and I wanted a second box since a couple guys who usually bring their xboxes aren’t super reliable. I think the one x is much faster than the original.

I personally will probably wait until the series x has been out for 6-12 months unless there’s some game release that I can’t pass up in the interim.

 

[cobl04]

I held out, and I'm glad I did. Both the Series X and the Series S now official, both cheaper than I thought they'd be. I'm going to put my birthday money towards the X, I've never owned a state-of-the-art system, as I've always been satisfied just having a Nintendo console. I also couldn't give a fuck about Halo being delayed cos I've got RDR2 to sink my teeth into!

 

[monkeyskin]

Cyberpunk will be pretty sweet on the Series X. Nice one for holding out.

I keep thinking at some point I’ll get a PS5 for the exclusives, but the Switch is all I have time for right now. Pretty psyched for the Mario 3D Collection next week (!), never played Sunshine or Galaxy before. Did you see the Warriors style Breath of the Wild prequel announcement?

And shit, you’re 30? Doesn’t seem that long ago you got like a million dollars at JB for your 21st.

 

[cobl04]

Hahaha! I remember that well. Was a great birthday, much happier now though. A PlayStation has never been a consideration for me because I don't like the controllers, and even looking at the exclusives I don't really feel like I'm missing out too much. Obviously I'd love to give Last of Us a shot, but video games these days are so deep... like you, I also don't really have the time to get stuck into heaps of them. Pumped for that 3D collection, and yes, I'm hugely excited for Hyrule Warriors, I was absolutely not expecting it and to get it in the same art style as BotW... it's a genius move from Nintendo.

 

[monkeyskin]

I’m the opposite, have had a PS1-3 over the years but never got on with the Xbox controllers on Halo nights round my mates house.

Spider-Man, Uncharted, Bloodborne, Horizon Zero Dawn and FF7 Remake all appeal but I don’t have time on the couch for games that long. Ah well

Been a light year for Nintendo but Mario and Zelda bringing the goods at the end. Zelda is going to be a melancholic experience but playing through the Calamity as the Champions will be awesome.

 

[cobl04]

Interesting, as the Xbox layout is more similar to the Switch's? Although I wish the X/Y and A/B buttons were the same. But my mate suggested I'd find Xbox easier to adapt to than PS. Not interested in Spiderman and imagine FF7 will eventually come to Xbox, all the previous FF games have.

I also have fond memories of the Red vs Blue series, and Fable looks really cool.

It's interesting to see Nintendo's shift from Directs every few months to dropping news whenever they like. I prefer Directs as I find them more exciting, but it's definitely keeping their momentum up. I actually played BotW last night for the first time in a while, still the best video game I've ever played.

 

[monkeyskin]

Yeah, the fact that 3D All Stars is getting released just 2 weeks after announcement is wild. We can thank COVID for leading Nintendo towards twitter drops I guess, a lot of their 20/21 plans were probably thrown out of whack.

Did you get the DLC for BotW? I think it had the best boss of the game in the Champions Ballad and The Trial of the Sword was borderline Dark Souls.

Speaking of the C word, how you going in Melbourne?

 

[cobl04]

Yep, I fucking loved Trial of the Sword, it took me forever, but it was so much fun. I actually never got around to the Champions Ballad, so playing that as I take a break from Fire Emblem Three Houses (which is going toe-to-toe with BotW and SM64 as my fav video game ever, it's so good. I've never gotten so much value out of a game as I have with FETH).

Shithouse, and very frustrated at a lack of transparency around the necessity of some measures (for example, all of NSW would currently be in the same lockdown as us right now based on the Vic Govt's roadmap released on Sunday). But it is great to have a roadmap back out, finally providing some certainty. Just hoping that the Andrews Govt will continue to take on board feedback and reassess the necessity of the harsh measures. Yourself?

 

[monkeyskin]

I read that VIC is going to be adopting the NSW method for contact tracing, hopefully that helps bring the daily cases down and you guys can ease out of restrictions quicker. Elimination seems impossible at this point, just look at NZ, but NSW seems stable at mostly single digit cases every day.

We’re doing pretty good, been very fortunate. Love working from home, gets a bit stressful when shit hits the fan with networks and communication, but on the whole it’s something I hope stays post-COVID. My wife is at home too and we get to have lunch out 1-2 times a week, we haven’t done so this much since before our 3 year old was born.

 

[monkeyskin]

Going back to video games, I’d highly recommend considering the financing options available for the Series X. It’s $46/m over 24 months which includes access to Game Pass Ultimate. Long story short is that you’d have access to pretty much every current and upcoming Xbox game if you don’t mind not owning the games outright. Console would be yours after payments are completed, like a phone contract. It’s a fair price too, cheaper than buying outright and subscribing separately. Definitely look into it.

 

[cobl04]

PS5 pricing and release date announced. Seems insane that you have to pay $150 extra just to have a disc drive, but if you don't care about that the digital edition is a good option for people who want something more powerful than the Series S.

I read that VIC is going to be adopting the NSW method for contact tracing, hopefully that helps bring the daily cases down and you guys can ease out of restrictions quicker. Elimination seems impossible at this point, just look at NZ, but NSW seems stable at mostly single digit cases every day.

We’re doing pretty good, been very fortunate. Love working from home, gets a bit stressful when shit hits the fan with networks and communication, but on the whole it’s something I hope stays post-COVID. My wife is at home too and we get to have lunch out 1-2 times a week, we haven’t done so this much since before our 3 year old was born.

28 new cases today, our lowest in a very long time, which is encouraging. Dan Andrews is copping a LOT of heat, and I agree with most of it, but the plan is working. Hopefully restrictions are eased sooner, regional Victoria got released way sooner than expected.

We're moving out of an apartment and into a unit, living by ourselves for the first time, which is going to be awesome, and we'll have natural light... fuck I've missed natural light. I'm glad it's working out for you man

Going back to video games, I’d highly recommend considering the financing options available for the Series X. It’s $46/m over 24 months which includes access to Game Pass Ultimate. Long story short is that you’d have access to pretty much every current and upcoming Xbox game if you don’t mind not owning the games outright. Console would be yours after payments are completed, like a phone contract. It’s a fair price too, cheaper than buying outright and subscribing separately. Definitely look into it.

Yeah I am definitely considering it, particularly as I just became a Telstra customer too, but I have like $630 from my birthday to put towards the X, and I don't know if I necessarily need/want the two subscriptions that come with it. I kinda wanna just buy it, yknow. But, it's super smart from Xbox, and it seems insane to me that it's literally cheaper than an iPhone month-to-month.

 

[LemonMelon]

$100 extra for the disc drive in the States and I'm going with that. I like discs and it saves on HDD space.

 

[cobl04]

I prefer discs too, plus it means I have a way of playing all my DVDs/BluRays.

 

[monkeyskin]

28 new cases today, our lowest in a very long time, which is encouraging. Dan Andrews is copping a LOT of heat, and I agree with most of it, but the plan is working. Hopefully restrictions are eased sooner, regional Victoria got released way sooner than expected.



We're moving out of an apartment and into a unit, living by ourselves for the first time, which is going to be awesome, and we'll have natural light... fuck I've missed natural light. I'm glad it's working out for you man

Great news on your new place, very exciting. I do not miss being in a relationship and still having roommates at all. And very encouraging to see the numbers in Vic continue to drop, hope you all can emerge from lockdown in time for the start of summer.


Re: PS5 disc drive. It’s also a convenient way to get a 4K player, plus games are always cheaper on Amazon or wherever than the online stores. Probably work out cheaper after 10 games and you’ve still got the disc drive.

 

[cobl04]

So if I have a physical version of a game, does it have to download to the console? No right? It runs off the disc? (That's what happens with Nintendo.)

And yeah, I've done sharehousing for the last seven years and I'm definitely ready to move on from it. Really excited to have a space that will be totally our own. One good thing about the pandemic has been that I've spent fuck all money too, so hopefully I'll be able to afford a deposit for a place by 2080.

That Hogwarts game looks exciting, and it's coming to Xbox. Also, please please please FFXVI come to Xbox.

 

[the tourist]

So if I have a physical version of a game, does it have to download to the console? No right? It runs off the disc? (That's what happens with Nintendo.)

And yeah, I've done sharehousing for the last seven years and I'm definitely ready to move on from it. Really excited to have a space that will be totally our own. One good thing about the pandemic has been that I've spent fuck all money too, so hopefully I'll be able to afford a deposit for a place by 2080.

That Hogwarts game looks exciting, and it's coming to Xbox. Also, please please please FFXVI come to Xbox.

With Xbox One, you have to download the game onto your hard drive even when you have the disc. Or at least the games I have discs for did.

 

[cobl04]

From what I can tell... and tell me if I'm off the mark here monkeyskin (what's your actual name??! you don't have to reveal that lol)...

Xbox Series X All Access thru Telstra = $1,104 over 24 months
Xbox Series X if I buy it outright = $1,117
$749 upfront
$1 for the first month of Games Pass Ultimate (which includes Live Gold, the Console only option doesn't seem to include Live Gold)
$15.95/month for the next 23 months

 

[monkeyskin]

Yeah the financing actually works out a tad cheaper than buying separately. Interest free and everything. Very competitive.

And all disc based games since PS4 / XB1 need to be installed before playing, the systems just can’t read from the disc fast enough to play them. Not sure about the Wii U. Cartridges don’t have this issue, plug in and play (and maybe download a quick update).

 

[LemonMelon]

Oh yeah, I was wrong. I've been playing Switch so long I forgot discs don't save space.

Still buying the disc drive to have a 4k player.

 

[gump]

$100 extra for the disc drive in the States and I'm going with that. I like discs and it saves on HDD space.

Plus, cheaper games.

I'm getting to an age where I'm now debating whether I should even get a new videogame. My PS4 playing has decreased significantly since becoming a parent, and with less time available overall I am not sure if I can justify it.

 

[cobl04]

My Series X has arrived

 

[monkeyskin]

Right after you guys come out of lockdown

Happy days though, what are you playing?

 

[cobl04]

Haha yeah. I'm glad I waited though and didn't go for the One X.

RDR2. I've been waiting forever to play it, my old housemate had it on PS4 but it didn't feel like "my" thing, if that makes sense? His system, his game, and I don't like the PS4 controllers.

I've also downloaded a bunch of games from Game Pass including Perfect Dark

 

[monkeyskin]

Nice. RDR on the PS3 is an all timer for me, my sister in law played through the new one twice on the PS4. Enjoy!

And enjoy your freedom too, 11 straight days of 0 cases is outstanding. Must have been a never ending winter but hopefully you and all of us in Australia can have a good summer.

 

[cobl04]

Fingers crossed. And thank you. It's been fucking awful. I really like Andrews and think his Govt has done a wonderful job for this state, but they put us in the position. So there's conflicting feelings of fuck you for putting us in this spot, but also deep, deep gratitude for getting us to where we now are, where we've had 12 consecutive days of 0 new cases.

Feels like the country has forgotten about climate change thanks to COVID unfortunately, so hopefully we can make up for lost time and lost ground. Really hot down here past few days, and we've got a huge storm sweeping in, and it feels like bushfire season ended and then we just got ratfucked by COVID, so another bushfire season like last year's will be demoralising. Fingers crossed.

 

[cobl04]

So a few days into my Xbox Series X so far. The console is great, it blends right in. Quick Resume is phenomenal, although this is the first time in my life that I feel like I'm being dissuaded away from buying physical; I picked up Valhalla yesterday and not being able to Quick Resume between it and RDR2 because I need to change discs is pretty annoying. I will still likely buy physical, but there really is very little point anymore, hey.

I am about an hour into Valhalla, and I feel like I'm way more engaged in it than I am with Red Dead so far. I had that ~feeling~ of "oh I love this" pretty quickly into Valhalla, climbing up a mountain, with such attention to detail in the graphics and the music really kicking ass. Whereas I'm about three hours into Red Dead and I don't yet have that ~feeling~, which I'm a bit bummed about.

 

[LemonMelon]

Meanwhile, in the land of the previous gen, I'm playing Undertale for the first time and am having a blast.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I just played Far Cry 5.

That game is a heaping pile of shit right until the end, where it manages to get the worst ending in the history of video games.

 

[cobl04]

I'm gonna dive into that series with 6 I think, fresh with Gioncarlo Esposito

Also need to get COD, but I'm not sure I want Cold War. WWII appeals to me more. Does it matter which COD you have to play online?

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I chose the worst one to join in on, it sounds.

RegardingCOD, I know historically it mattered. All the MW series were produced by Infinity Ward, and they’re superior to Treyarch through and through. Different feel to the game. But that was a long time ago - drama ensued around MW3 and the studio got shaken up big time and a third studio was brought in (Sledgehammer).

In general I still don’t trust that I’ll ever want to play any Treyarch COD games online ever since Black Ops, not that I play at all anymore.

Treyarch are shameless at lazy development. One of those developers who use infinite AI spawn as the only way to make level design because they’re too lazy to strategically lay out a finite number of enemies, forcing you to play rambo style.