If he’s like I was and playing on hand me down office PC’s, consider getting a better keyboard/mouse, headphones, a stick of memory or something in that line to improve his experience. Actual pc upgrades are probably a little expensive for your budget, although really nice large monitors can be had for <$150 these days.
While everyone has been talking about Baldur’s Gate 3, I decided to cave in and started a replay of Divinity: Original Sin 2. Well, yea, I got a ten years old PC and a Ps4!
Still, what an excellent game. The easy mode goes well since the battlefields are chaotic, there’s not a single combat that I go through that doesn’t involve 1)Setting everything on fire 2)Shocking a large portion of the characters 3)Poisoning a large portion of the characters 4)Mixing all that because elemental interaction exists (Poison + Fire makes NECROFIRE which is a harsh and often deadly punishment)
But the questing and adventuring still stands out well. This is a game that has a somewhat large map, but unlike most open world fillers its a dense map. Every corner has a named NPC with a little trouble to solve, and there’s no “random cave with nameless mobs” to venture into; Every single place you can go has a little lore, a little story, something important that makes the world feel alive.
Its no surprise Larian has been taking the world by storm lately, and I’m glad this has aged so well so folks can try an original setting whenever the BG3 hype cools down.
I’m playing BG3 right now, and am thinking about giving D:OS2 another shot. I played it around release and got off the first island, but stopped after that. Although, maybe I should wait a bit more, so I don’t get burned out so soon on this type of game.
While everyone has been talking about Baldur’s Gate 3, I decided to cave in and started a replay of Divinity: Original Sin 2. Well, yea, I got a ten years old PC and a Ps4!
I’m sure your PC could run Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2… 😉
Inherited from naval wargaming, where it came about because first rate ships of the line had better armor than second rate etc. so armor class scaled inversely. That meant THAC0 was the best way to figure out what you needed to roll to get a hit.
It’s also not functionally that complicated (your THAC0 minus target AC), just weird and confusing if you try to understand why it works that way.
I can kind of get that, if they kept 1 as the hard cap on AC. But they have 0th rate as the reference point, and then bizarre instances of negative AC. A minus third rate ship reads like a dingier third rate ship, not better than a first class ship.
It would be cool if they added more 5e character creation content (particularly subclasses and feats), as well as potentially other adventures down the road
I remember hearing the older CRPGs served as a platform for modders to add some insane content so I really hope we see a lot of that with Baldurs Gate 3
There were a good couple of spinoffs from the OG like icewind dale. I dont game as much now, and at the rate im going it will take ages to finish BG3 but i’m sure we will see it.
Any game that requires regular playtime is a nope for me now. I switched to games that you can put off easily - games that are playable under a fixed amount of hours and that do not require dedication.
Typically right now i am playing Dark Souls on twitch - I can turn it on, play a bit (even just 30 minutes) then put it down easily.
I also switched to board games - my SO is not into video games but she is into board games so we can enjoy that together. We are playing Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion right now it’s a blast
Prices are often cheaper, albeit often through sites like Fanatical/ Humble
Synergizes with my only subscription, Humble Choice
There is a lot of content missing from games on GOG compared to Steam. Most of it is trivial, but sometimes it is substantial. It has created a rhetoric about GOG customers being treated as second class citizens. Google Sheets
I used to try to buy my games at GOG where there wasn’t a significant financial difference. I liked what they were doing, especially with GOG Galaxy at the time. The pendulum swung back to Steam over time, and now I’m just not buying games any more.
GOG because it’s more convenient and less ableist.
Steam’s colour scheme makes it difficult to read and causes eye strain and headaches for people with astigmatism, like me. The way the light text bleeds into the darkness surrounding it makes it difficult to read anything so I can’t be sure of the price that I’m paying without copy/pasting it into notepad or something. When I made a thread pointing this out years ago, when they disabled the old theme system, Valve’s mods banned me from the forum and deleted my thread.
I sent an email to Epic Games about the same problem in their store and got a response that could be summarized as “Don’t care, go fuck yourself.” so they are not a good option either. I don’t like gambling so I won’t use EA’s virtual casino, and I want to keep the games I buy so Ubisoft’s store is also not an option.
I’ve never had any issues with headaches, have you talked to your doctor about maybe getting a blue light filter added to your prescription? Also, you can pick a different theme for Steam as well. I’m a big fan of Metro.
It’s not blue light. It’s blurriness caused by the white of the text bleeding into the black. Straining my eyes to read it causes headaches. I can use light mode things with no problems.
Steam skins don’t reskin most of the client anymore. I used to use a light skin similar to Metro when Steam still properly supported it.
OK, in that case I would see about getting a new eye doctor, if you can. If they were doing their job right, they should have made sure the prescription you got corrected the astigmatism. My doctor worked with me to get it perfectly right, so I don’t have any issues anymore with small text, including on Steam.
If you or someone else who reads this can’t afford to get glasses, there is help available. If you’re in the US, check out New Eyes, which works with those who can’t afford to have their vision corrected.
I have glasses. This isn’t something that they can correct for me. Glasses don’t fix the shape of your eyes. Maybe this can help explain what it’s like? It’s about conferences but it’s the same for anything with that colour scheme. The smaller the text, the worse it gets.
No, glasses don’t fix the shape of your eye, but they do correct for that uneven shape. I would know, because they’ve corrected my vision and it’s now crystal clear after being blurry from astigmatism for years. It sounds to me like your prescription just isn’t quite right, because you shouldn’t have any issues if they had nailed it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dismissing that you have a problem, and I’m not defending Steam or saying they shouldn’t have more accessible options for those with sight issues. What I’m saying is it really sounds like your glasses aren’t where they need to be, and that’s why you’re having issues. With the tech they use to make lenses these days, you should definitely be able to dial in a prescription to get perfectly clear vision with astigmatism.
Steam’s colour scheme makes it difficult to read and causes eye strain and headaches for people with astigmatism, like me.
The Steam Store is just a website where a user style such as uso.kkx.one/style/219929 can be applied like any other. Game prices are just black on white using that theme:
The Steam Client itself is largely or perhaps even fully controllable via command line (…valvesoftware.com/…/Command_line_options#Steam) and you can set any color scheme to your terminal as you like:
Steam may not have color schemes for all kinds of visual impairments and that’s a legitimate criticism but Steam has a bag full of aforementioned features for customization, so with a little bit of research (I was curious about that myself, so I spent like 5 to 10 minutes) I found quite easy workarounds. As someone who does not like to be blasted in the face with light themes, I look for similar workarounds all the time.
That works for a browser but I would still need the client to install, uninstall, and manage game settings. Steam skins only work for a few areas of the client. Most of it will still be unreadable.
Still I’m not convinced of Steam OS compared to Windows 11, since I would like to play also Epic games and maybe some emulators
How much time, relatively speaking, do you spend playing multiplayer Epic games? If it’s more than 50%, then yeah, SteamOS may not be for you. But if it’s less than that, then SteamOS would be a better experience, simply because it was built ground-up for gaming. No Windows Defender slowing down your system unexpectedly, no Windows Updates to hijack your system at the most unexpected times, no other bloatware or nonsense services like Bing/copilot crap or ads in Explorer - just pure gaming. These Windows handhelds you speak of are barely optimized for gaming, the most they do is add a launcher and call it a “gaming console” - you still have to put up with various Windows annoyances, which defeats the point of a dedicated gaming console - you want to be able to just pick it up, turn it on and game - no nonsense. One of the cool things about SteamOS is how reliable the sleep/resume is when you’re gaming, which allows you to just pause and game whenever you like. This whole streamlined experience is why people love the Deck.
BTW, SteamOS has no issues running emulators. I can’t think of any popular emulator that runs only on Windows, or runs significantly better on Windows.
the screen of the Steam Deck, apparently of lower res
The lower res is actually better because it’s a small screen. A higher res on a small screen makes things harder to see, plus with a lower res you get more FPS and a better batter life.
very big hazels (to me looks like the first Nintendo Switch).
It may not look good, but it actually makes it more ergonomic and easier to hold. Check any review of the Deck and you’ll see they all praise it’s ergonomics, like this one: www.windowscentral.com/…/steam-deck-review#sectio…
“Despite its undeniable girth, the Steam Deck’s attention to ergonomics makes it an incredibly comfortable device to hold, even during extended gaming sessions”
In fact, read the rest of the article - or any other in-depth review. You’ll find that the Steam Deck is a much more polished experience overall compared to the others, and this is thanks to both it’s hardware and software.
Play Skyrim instead of wow, or something other than an MMO. Most mmos are literally designed to do that to you. Hell most mmos now days won’t reward you unless you play them like that. Don’t play MMOs. Single players are great for just 30 min sessions whenever the hobby gets boring. I recommend Dave the diver.
To add for OP: I’ve found that I can scratch the “play and progress with friends” itch with games like Torchlight II, which doesn’t have the same kind of addiction triggers.
At first it seems like standard bioware multichoice like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, but there is also a time limit for you to make your decision.
This might sound frustrating, and some players hates this system as they wanted time to read and make the right choice, but I think it fits this game perfectly as you’re playing a Secret Agent where time is of the essence and the stakes are high, it really sets the tempo for the game.
Right. The “wait to remain silent” thing can take some getting used to, especially in the sort of game where you feel like your character would have a lot of questions, but I much prefer it to a default choice being made. I recently replayed one of Telltale’s games and I really enjoyed the way I could use silence as a tool. The game was The Wolf Among Us, where you play a detective who interrogates people a lot, and I used the time-honored interrogation technique of just remaining silent to make someone talk more.
Having a blast with coop. They’ve improved systems over divinity. For example, during combat, if you and a teammate have turns next to each other, you can both take your turns at the same time. This really helps combat flow faster. I’d much rather play it coop than solo.
I haven’t been this hooked on a game in a LONG time. It’s amazing.
That sounds nice, i will probably wait for my friend. Too tell you the truth i hoped that people here would say that it’s bad so i could start playing right now, but if it is even better then D:OS2 then i will wait :P
At some point in this millenium, it became ubiquitous in games to ask for a button press before switching to the main menu and it has become a pet peeve off mine.
Fake news. It was common in the previous millenium too
I knew I wasn’t going crazy! That press any key habit is so ingrained because it’s been around since I played my first game on a 286 PC, probably longer.
That’s the thing. I think it is a carry over from that. Back then a lot of games didn’t have a menu or anything, after you hit the button, you were just playing the game.
Like Mario 1 and 3 have just a simple 1 or 2 player select then you are in the game. Some single player games didn’t have anything, they just would go straight to the game after you hit start.
Now there isn’t really a need since nearly every game has a menu for loading saves, starting a new game and such. So they could go, but are just a vestigial part of gaming history at this point.
Games used to take a looong time to load before flash storage, so people would go get a coffee or something while loading. Before main menus, it would just drop you into the game while you were away, potentiality missing something. So they added the “press any key” pause to wait until you’re back.
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