The only single player ones I’ve ever played have been 1 and 7. 1 was…old. The mechanics and everything remind me of Dragon Warrior but I kind of honestly just prefer Dragon Warrior (although I guess that one is also nostalgic because I remember watching my dad play it as a kid).
7 is much more modern but still pretty old at this point. It has a good story and interesting characters. It’s been a while and I don’t remember what the actual gameplay was like but I don’t remember it being turn based.
I’ve also watched my BF play quite a bit of Final Fantasy Tactics and that’s just what it sounds like, a very tactical turn based game. Not for me but some people really like that style of game so that’s something to look into if it appeals to what you’re looking for.
I also played a little bit of Final Fantasy 14 online and it was fun, although not the styles of MMO I personally prefer. But again it’s all personal preference and if you like MMOs you should look it up because you might want to consider that instead of one of the single player games.
Got a bit carried away, but hopefully this is useful to somebody:
The Steam Deck is surprisingly versatile, especially now Valve have released the dock (enabling portable monitors). The most obvious benefits over a gaming laptop (beyond the price) are the smaller form-factor and relative quiet compared to a strong gaming laptop.
The main thing you should ask yourself is what you want to play.If your answer to that looks like “Crusader Kings III, Dota 2, and the latest competitive shooter”, then it might not be the best choice. But in general, you’d be surprised by how many games work great thanks to its extremely versatile input options.
Games that released before controller support on PC was mainstream – such as Oblivion, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Deus Ex, or Baldur’s Gate – typically play fine thanks to its extensive input customisation (including custom radial menus), its dual trackpads and gyroscope, and the community layout system. There are exceptions where you’d want a keyboard and mouse, but not as necessary as you’d expect.
Beyond info on software compatability, ProtonDB also includes Deck-specific reports at the top of each page detailing others’ experiences, such as whether they used a specific community layout or input method, performance under specific conditions (such as limiting power or frames to conserve battery life), and legibility on a smaller display. The wealth of shared controller configs is easily one of the greatest strengths the Deck has.
(And while other, more recent – albeit more expensive – options have stronger performance at higher power settings, the Deck has a strange persistence in outperforming its competitors at low power settings (source).)
Again, it’s mostly down to what you want to play. If you want to play recent releases with all the bells and whistles enablesd, you’d need to pay for a laptop many times the cost of a Deck (desktops less dramatically). Given you’re even considering handheld PCs I’m assuming that’s not your priority. Cyberpunk and the ever-demanding Red Dead Redemption 2 have been in the top 20 most-played games on Deck since Valve started publishing that information, so simply playing them isn’t an issue. (The top 100 games for 2023 by daily active players can be seen at the bottom here.)
To address some specific games and genres: If you’re into MOBAs, League and Dota play fine but you’ll want to be using a keyboard and mouse, while grand strategy games would at least warrant an external display.
If you want to play the latest CoD multiplayer, Valorant, or the upcoming Tarkov Arena, you should probably get a laptop. (You can install Windows on the Deck, but I can’t speak to that firsthand.) The trackpads themselves are viable for FPS games, though a learning experience, but the main issue here is that most developers haven’t enabled the option for their anti-cheat to work on Linux. Hunt: Showdown is a happy exception to this trend.
Almost any singleplayer RPG, FPS, or adventure game can be made to work just fine. Emulation has EmuDeck and can play most older games – assuming general emulator compatibility – up to some PS3 titles (like Demon Souls, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, or the MGS HD Collection) and even a lot of Switch titles. Traditional roguelikes include many among the few 2D/singleplayer titles that don’t simply work out of the box. Yet a substantial number play great (e.g. Jupiter Hell, Tangledeep, Shiren the Wanderer, Caves of Qud); and many others have community layouts already so you don’t have to take the time to set one up yourself. It was learning that Dwarf Fortress played fine on Deck that opened my eyes to just how flexible the chunky little handheld can be.
I hope that helps in determining whether the Deck suits your personal needs; if there’s any angle I didn’t cover adequately that you have questions about, please feel free to ask.
Edit: Slight clarification, re: “Almost any singleplayer RPG, FPS, or adventure game” – this year, many multiplatform games have released on PC in a poorly optimised state, and depending on your personal tolerance the Deck may struggle to provide an adequate experience for them. Though it’s hard to give a recommendation in one direction or the other without knowing your budget, as such titles are often found lacking on even the newest consumer desktop hardware (hardware very few laptops can compare directly against, and so many will suffer these issues in a similar manner). A relevant Digital foundry video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oav-pZyA8y4
Thanks for the comprehensive review. When I mention the deck is limited, I’m mostly referring to the ability to play PC Game Pass through Xbox app. I know you can install Windows but it’s likely more tinkering than I would be interested in doing. Also, are there any issues still plaguing the device? After all, the Steam Deck is still a first gen product. I can’t wait to see what they will do in their next iteration.
It’s still buggy as all heck, and requires lots of troubleshooting even in the regular SteamOS mode. If you’ve used linux, especially if you’ve tried to game on it: it’s like that. Even the “verified” steam games often don’t work immediately without at least first fiddling with community controller profiles.
So from what you say I’d 1000% recommend going for the laptop.
Don’t have Game Pass, but I believe the options on Deck are currently to either install Windows and use the Xbox app, or following these instructions to access Xbox Cloud Gaming from SteamOS. (Assume that’s what you meant?)
Do you only plan on playing games available through Game Pass? I know there’s a couple of handheld devices (not really handheld PCs, Switch/Deck-esque with Android and smart phone hardware) that are built specifically for Xbox’s cloud gaming. (Maybe you don’t even know what you intend to play at this stage, and just expect to play whatever’s available without paying more money?)
If you buy a Steam Deck you’d probably eventually end up getting a bunch of things through Steam’s big sales (you’d have money spare to do so, if nothing else). If you buy a strong laptop, you’d have access to the same sales, and you might want to buy more games anyway to justify the relative price. Hard to really guess what use case would suit you without knowing what future you would want to play (or how well future Game Pass would correlate).
Also, are there any issues still plaguing the device?
The only real issue I ever had was some WiFi connectivity problems, but I haven’t experienced those for months now. I genuinely struggle to understand the experience of the other commenter, simply because it’s so far from my own experiences. And if anything I’ve found Steam’s use of Deck-Verified to be pretty conservative at times.
As long as I’ve had the thing there’s been a fairly constant stream of updates and bugfixes.
After all, the Steam Deck is still a first gen product. I can’t wait to see what they will do in their next iteration.
Hah, hard to know when that’ll appear. I’ve been waiting years for a second iteration of the index, and at this point I wish I’d just bought one years ago. Valve aren’t exactly the most transparent company with their ongoing projects.
Do you only plan on playing games available through Game Pass? I know there’s a couple of handheld devices (not really handheld PCs, Switch/Deck-esque with Android and smart phone hardware) that are built specifically for Xbox’s cloud gaming. (Maybe you don’t even know what you intend to play at this stage, and just expect to play whatever’s available without paying more money?)
I play a mixture of both games I’ve bought and games through Game Pass. Xbox cloud gaming isn’t great and I think it works for certain games but latency is a no go for me. One reason I like keeping Game Pass is that I often like to trial games before committing and for only $10/mo, it allows me to do this. Before the service exsited, I can easily waste $30+ buying games that I later learn I don’t really enjoy.
Yeah, that’s a great use for it. I guess I rely on Steam refunds being automatic under 2 hours played, but it’s not quite the same liberty to try things as with Game Pass. Certainly seems like a no-brainer if you have an Xbox (or at least it was even a decision before they decided to make Xbox Live and Game Pass the same thing).
All the mainline games are not interconnected at all, they are pretty much very separate in terms of story / settings / characters. So you can jump into any one of the games. Also, their turn-based systems, aka Active Time Battle, aren’t anything interesting, compared to say Shin Megami Tensei’s Press Turn system. All FF games have very linear / streamlined experience compared to other games, i.e. choices don’t matter much, you don’t choose the stats, equipments are streamlined.
Here’s some overview:
First 6 games were 2D games, the best of those bunches are Final Fantasy 6. Great story, great villain, great music
original FF7 is the one popularized the JRPG genre, and probably broke the base between older 2D fans and newcomers. It has memorable characters, music, story about eco-terrorism. The gameplay revolves around materia system, it’s like logic system where say if you connect Fire magic with All-effect and 2x-effect, you can casts double Fire magic that hits every enemies, etc. FF7 Crisis Core is one of the best FF spinoffs out there, while FF7 Remake is a ‘remake’. It’s advised that you finished the original FF7 before playing those two.
FF8 also broke the base. The game is more romance-centric in some way, but still sci-fi. The gameplay revolves around junction / draw system, where you draw magic from enemies to junction it to your stats.
FF9 is kinda back to original game. It’s more high-fantasy setting, and was released during the end of PS1. It wasn’t as popular as FF7 or FF8, but there are definitely fans. I had hard time getting into it, because the animation is kinda slow, but maybe I should replay the HD version
FFX is very well received, it’s a sci-fi romance story that takes place in south east Asian-like tropical islands. The first FF game on PS2. FFX has a sequel, FFX-2, which is also well received
FF11 is MMO, I don’t play MMO, so I have no idea about it.
FF12 is great, it’s more political than usual FF games, because it’s written by Matsuno, who made Tactics Ogre and FF Tactics. The gameplay is bit weird, bit MMO like.
FF13 was not well received, the only mainline FF game on PS3. It spawned two other games FFX-2 and FFX Lightning Returns. The main complaint about FF13 was that the story was incomprehensible, the game is very linear, and the battle mechanics is very confusing. I think what happened is that
they used tons of opaque in-game terms (Fal’ Cie, La’ Cie), that’s barely explained until very late in the game.
the game also opens up very late, there’s a one large wide region for you to roam around and engage in enemy encounters, but they only give it to you very late in the game
the combat wasn’t explained clearly, the paradigm shift system is actually fun, and a step up from ATB
annoying characters, they focused too much on Hope and Snow. Hope is a whiny child, but he’s a child, so it’s ok. Snow on the other hand, is just an annoying character who likes to talk about himself.
FF14 is another MMO, I don’t touch MMO
FF15 is kind of a mess, it was in development hell. I like the roadtrip story, where you just drive around. The open world is bit sparse and serves mostly for enemy encounters. One of the main issue is that some of the stories are gated behind DLCs. The gameplay is bit more weirder than normal ATBs. I like this game, but not as much as others.
FF16 is great. Devil May Cry combat, very streamlined and nicely paced story, those huge spectacle Asura’s Wrath-esque battles, etc. This game is my current GOTY.
There are other spinoff games, e.g. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, World of Final Fantasy, but they are mostly spinoffs, mostly for fans who want more after playing the mainline.
But there’s one that I want to recommend, and that’s Final Fantasy Tactics. It’s a strategy RPG and it’s amazing. There’s an updated version released on PSP, called Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, which is probably the one you should play.
There are rumor swirling around about FF9 and FF Tactics remakes, but can’t say anything until we see it.
Final Fantasy is a lot like Zelda in that a particular person’s favorite is going to be the one they played when they were 12 years old. Depending on the age of the recommender, you are most likely to get 4, 6, or 7 as an answer.
Steam Deck seems to be a good fit. If you wanna get a gaming laptop, maybe wait until there’s one where you can easily swap out the batteries / components. I’ve seen videos about Framework laptop, and that does sound like a good investment for longer period.
I heard there were issues with ROG Ally, the device gets too hot, and the fan exhaust was near the SD card slot. So it frequently dislodges the SD cards from the slot because of the heat.
My experience as someone who owns a HP Omen gaming laptop:
Not as portable and convenient as you may think. It weighs about 5 pounds, like a bag of potatoes. It uses a lot of power and needs to be plugged in if you want to play for longer than 45 minutes. The charger consists of a heavy cable a power block. I can however move it from the Study to the Living room if I wish to.
It boots up extremely quickly. I can go from power off to playing a game in about 5 minutes. I can exit a game and leave the power turned on, and then reopen the game and start playing within a minute.
It has a 2080 super graphics card which means I can play any game I want. I have never had any performance issues even playing games like Elden Ring on max settings.
It was expensive. Seriously look into refurbished options if possible. I got mine refurbished, works like brand new and have had no problems over the past 4 or so years. I saved about £3k doing this if I remember correctly.
The ability to pick something up easily, make some progress, pause it, and resume quickly at the next available window appears the best way to go.
Then you want the steam deck. This thing is powerful enough to run elden ring at a pretty stable 30 FPS, sometimes even up to 60, while being portable enough to fit in a backpack. I take it with me on business trips and it’s perfect for flying, bussing, wherever, with the caveat that you want it plugged in more often than not - the battery life is a little on the low side for those high-impact games.
Me personally, my go-to console at this point is the Steam Deck for its sheer versatility. I’ve got a dock with an 8Bitdo Ultimate Pro connected so it’s more or less plug and play. Since building my first PC in high school, I have a huge Steam library. EmuDeck is also amazing so with the exception of a Series X somehow running emulators, the Steam Deck is the best console for emulation.
I’ve had an Xbox One S as my 4K blu-ray player and have been digging the backwards compatibility, though there’s not enough OG Xbox support. I’m more than likely going to mod an OG Xbox with the Stellar chip/HD mod. I’ve considered a Series X, but unless it can replace my Nvidia Shield TV as an entertainment box, I’ll probably stick to my Onse S. I’ve also considered a PS5, but their games are coming to PC, albeit delayed, so I don’t really feel the need to pick one up.
The PS3 is a special beast as those games are seemingly trapped on the console unless ported (RIP Beenox Spider-Man games). When modded you have the ability to software emulate PS2 games (not as good at the launch PS3 but those things won’t last), but for me my TV still has a component connection so my cheat is having a PS2.
Nintendo has one of the most beloved library of games, but the Switch does not support much of said library unfortunately. The Wii U on the other hand had better compatibility especially if you modded in GameCube support which runs natively on the console.
Wii (which naturally includes Gamecube) Switch (with its N64, SNES, and NES emulation) XBox 360 Steam Deck (Steam and all other Pc games, including emulators)
Since the Steam Deck is a PC and a console, I think there’s definitely an argument to call a PC is a console, so long as it’s designed like one. If not the Steam Deck, then a small form factor PC running something like ChimeraOS. Windows is just too cumbersome to use anywhere other than sitting at a desk, and even then I hate it so much.
I have hear not great things about the ROG Ally and its support from Asus. From my experience, the Steam Deck truly is the most pick up and play solution for PC gaming. Add in the best input options of any console (people complain about the trackpads making the Deck too big, but those people clearly haven’t used them) and I think it beats out a gaming laptop as a gaming device. If you’re proficient at minor disassembly and formatting an internal drive, you can pick up the base Steam Deck for $399 and then buy a 1TB-2TB drive for less than what the 512GB model would cost. Alternatively you can buy a 1TB if you don’t want to open the device up.
You can also just add a 512 or 1tb microsd card. Surprisingly the performance of the card hasn’t made a huge difference for me when playing games off of it
The SD card speeds are great. The only thing you need to keep in mind is when you’re doing something that requires managing file paths and isn’t designed specifically for the Steam Deck. I ran into some headaches figuring out how to install the Vortex Mod Manager and get it fully functional for modding Skyrim on my Steam Deck’s SD card. I’m sure things have improved since then, but for people new to Linux it can be a slight hurdle if they choose to go outside the scope of typical Deck stuff.
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