The only one that really sticks out is Starfield. Most other games I played I knew what I was getting into. For some reason Starfield surprised me, probably because it was on Gamepass (so effectively free) and because I trusted Bethesda. Oh well.
Considering the number of great games this year, that’s not too bad.
Maybe it’s just me getting older, but since Skyrim, Bethesda games have failed to capture that magic for me. They’ve been leaning on the creation engine for too long, to the point that so many of the features, not the least of which being the goddamn shouts, are all carbon copies of one another, the base building is literally just a fucking resource sink, the gunplay sucks and the enemies are all bullet sponges unless you dip into late game planets and filch a late game gun, the jobs are 90% basic bitch fetch quests, and the core gameplay loop of “go place --> grab shit --> sell shit” has not evolved since Morrowind.
I stop playing games when they start feeling like a second job, and for me that point in Starfield was about three hours in when I was trying to complete survey data for the homesteading program and I was wandering around this deserted planet, looking for samples of flora and fauna, and I scoot back from my desk as I realize, for 20 minutes, I have done absolutely nothing meaningful or engaging. The closest I’ve come is, I’ve pointed a scanner at a bunch of procedurally generated animals hoping they don’t land a hit on me because they’re too spongy for me to kill, so I can fill a meter, so that when I’m done filling meters I can go back to BDG and tell him this place is suitable for people to live. That’s not fun. It barely qualifies as gameplay, and it is an aggressive waste of time.
Make sure your games are on a SSD, this isn’t optional anymore; modern games often rely on loading assets as they are needed and if they fail to do that it could appear to stutter, among other issues. This is particularly important for UE games.
Additionally that smearing effect you mentioned could be FSR loading low resolution textures. Try tweaking your settings related to it.
Confirm, that your AMD drivers are up to date. Also If your ram supports XMP or a equivalent feature enable it to benefit from your ram. This is often overlooked.
Enable “Above 4G Decoding”. Consult your motherboard manual for details on how to do that.
Additionally if your game offers a choice between directX or Vulkan.
Choose Vulkan, if you experience problems try the DirectX options.
Yeah I wasn’t ready to swap out my whole motherboard and got a 5800x3d. A little on the pricier side still (~$320), but many games really love that extra large cache. Should hopefully keep me going for quite a while before having to upgrade sockets. There’s cheaper options than that that would still be a good upgrade, a 5700x is about $170. A couple games recently like baldurs gate 3 have been very cpu intensive.
Yuppp it's a monster gaming CPU still, I love what AMD did with the longer-term socket support. I recently got a 7800X3D, it should last a long time, but having the piece of mind that in a few years I could just drop another AM5 CPU in if I needed or wanted to is great.
Weird, the K4’s latest bios supports Vermeer, but perhaps not the X3D CPUs? But if so, even a 5600 would be an acceptable and pretty cheap upgrade over a 2600.
All running on SSD, but I aim to run at 1440p and more than 60fps. RE4 looked better than most games and had buttery smooth performance, really important for the ‘speedrun’ type trophies
I don’t think hours played/price is a good metric. Often games can be way more expensive that only last 10-20 hours yet give better gameplay and enjoyment.
Yup I think of some games as fidget spinners, they’re just zoneout games that fill time… then there are games with amazing stories, mechanics, characters, graphics etc that provide real, if shorter experiences.
The exploration and physics IS the game. You kinda do the objectives along the way.
It really helps that you follow the road though and turning off the UI. I dont think this is for you though of you got frustrated by the weather. The old man teaches you to cook and make a fire.
Sounds like you’re still at the Great plateau which is just the tutorial area of the game basically. You can watch a few videos on YouTube to find the easy way to get past it. The weapon breaking mechanic is really annoying at first but eventually you’ll realize that they did it so that you can enjoy all the variety of weapons in the game without having a hundred things in your stash. Exploration is one of the most enjoyable parts of this game so try to look around for the old man and he will help you.
This. I also remember being overwhelmed at the Great plateau, but I’m hindsight, it’s just a simple tutorial…
It just kind of sucks because there isn’t really any guidance. The key is to talk to the old man and read the book in his hut.
At the risk of almost spoiling it… they are trying to teach you the cooking mechanism, which is quite important in the game, but has quite a learning curve.
Once you get out of the great plateau, then the game really starts and boy is it big. Just enjoy the scenery and don’t get too focussed on quickly completing it.
I kind of regret rushing the game the first play through.
Eventually I played through it multiple times. It’s really, really good. But it does take a lot of time!
Played 8 hours last night so this is a very early impression. I love clutter looters and didn’t expect much else from Bethesda’s Fallout/Scrolls main studio. The Bethesda crafted areas are excellent if you are looking for what I call a Fallout / Elder Scrolls clutter looter. Lots of stuff to loot, the FPS combat is much better than Fallout 4 or 76. Don’t expect a space sim like SC or NMS this is a Bethesda Fallout/Scrolls style game with a bunch of additional systems on top of it.
First person combat
I’ve played both SC and NMS. While exploring a station in Starfield I thought to myself… this is what SC should have been for their foot exploration. The derelict stations in NMS are rather static environments and never cared for them much. What surprised me about the Starfield AI is they will “flee” or “flank” by running past you at times. I’ve lost track of enemies at times because of this and have had to go hunting for them.
Ship travel
There is fast travel. If you are looking for a space flight sim this is not for you. I don’t have an issue with fast travel as I get no thrills from traveling in space 1:1. There is simulation and there is stupid… SC leans a bit too heavy into the latter. Don’t expect 1:1 space travel in Starfield, it isn’t made for that.
Ship combat
Again this is not a space flight sim. Most recently coming off Everspace 2 I do miss the strafing controls and pedal usage, but that game is star fighter like combat. Starfield does have a ship editor and seems to be more about load out than fighter style combat. Think a bit more like Expanse style combat. I don’t have much time in this area of the game so I can’t say a whole lot more about it.
Initial impression
I love Bethesda clutter looters and this one is in space. Going to eat up the Bethesda crafted clutter looter areas. The 1,000 worlds will likely function as a massive canvas for future mods.
It took me about 14 hours in to reveal a major game mechanic that Bethesda didn’t even mention. it’s wild how big this game is I did some goofing around and side stuff but not that much.
There are strafing controls, but I think you have to have at least one rank in Piloting the game calls it thrusters. Hold space to enable strafing controls (on controller it’s hold RB and then use the left stick to strafe up, down, left and right. I don’t know exactly how it works on M+KB.)
Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Edwin Evans-Thirlwell - Unscored
A short, sparky and colourful 2D PICO-8 blaster about a space captain fighting fascist robots.
This one is a parody/joke about someone who put a game on itch titled Starfield. Kind of shitty for RPS to allow. Especially since it’s directly connected on OpenCritic to Starfield the Bethesda game.
It’d be extremely unethical to score it. It’s still pretty bad to have added it to the 2023 Starfield opencritic page. A few reviewers no longer score their reviews because score in general is not a great way to recommend something. A blurb on recommendation is ideal. Like “If you are okay with X, Y, Z and are a fan of the genre then you might like Starfield.” Unscored reviews are becoming more common because of that.
Eh, it’s more that fun should be restricted to your own website. Not an aggregator website meant to show facts at a glance. Thus you are potentially ruining the factual glance.
I find grids helpful when I’m the game master, because they simplify the job of fairly resolving distance and AoE mechanics, and speed the game along. Also in big strategy games, because they allow me to plan ahead on a map with many (often stacked) units without unfair surprises.
I’m enjoying the gridless approach here, though. The computer handles the geometry crunching, there aren’t too many actors for me to keep track of, and the freedom of movement lets me play with tactics that would be impossible on a grid.
Worth noting: I don’t think D&D has ever required a grid, so it might be inaccurate to say this game has gotten rid of it.
Fair enough. I started with 3.5 and the PHB does have a section on the battle grid, though of course it’s never listed as a requirement, only an aid. I think there are certain times the grid really helps the strategy, both in tabletop and video game scenarios. Something as simple as ‘I want to block this doorway’. With the grid, it’s very obvious which squares need to be occupied. With a GM at the table I suppose you could just say ‘I block the doorway’. But, at least so far, every time I’ve tried to block a doorway in BG3 (limited play time, granted), they’ve just moved right past me, making me look rather foolish, and usually leading to my early demise.
I’ve played more BG3 now, and maybe I’m an idiot, but I can’t figure out how to block anything. E.g. I’ll stand at the top of a ladder to block enemies from climbing up, but they’ll happily climb up and walk right through me. Or standing on a narrow beam, and somehow they go to stand next to me on the narrow side to push me off? What am I missing? How are you able to block any space?
Ahoy, matey! If ye be lookin’ to improve the seedin’ of yer torrents, I’ve got a few tips that’ll make yer digital treasure spread faster than a sailor’s rumor in a tavern. First off, make sure ye be havin’ a proper port open on yer ship – aye, that’s the port-forwardin’ business. Next, check if yer ship’s crew, I mean, yer torrent client, be allowed through the firewall. Ye don’t want no scallywag blockin’ yer signal.
Now, here be the trick to gettin’ more swashbucklers to join yer crew – keep that torrent active, savvy? No need to be a lazy landlubber and abandon ship as soon as ye finish downloadin’. The more ye be sharin’, the more likely others’ll join the ranks.
And let’s not forget about those trackers, the navigational stars of yer torrentin’ voyage. Find yerself some trackers with plenty of hearties on ‘em, and add ‘em to yer torrent – that’ll give ye more chances to connect with fellow buccaneers sailin’ the same waters.
Last but not least, be mindful of yer upload rate, matey. Don’t be a hog, sharin’ is carin’ in the high seas of torrentin’. Set yer upload rate to a fair share, and ye’ll be well on yer way to becomin’ a respected seeder in the pirate bay. Arrr, happy torrentin’ and smooth sailin’, ye digital pirate! 🏴☠️
Shooting out of a cannon with the wings hat and flying around in Mario 64 was such a pure fun experience for my kid brain. The switch in music and just soaring around a 3d level was really something special at the time.
It’s not perfect or anything, but it feels like a release with very pure intentions and people seem to resonate with that. No micro transactions, no lootboxes, no DRM (not even Steam’s is implemented), no release day DLC, fast hotfixing, and maybe with the promise of classic expansion packs. The sort of practices that people want to encourage, packaged with a formidable and generally well put together game.
When bigger, more corporate dev studios come out and give it free marketing by saying how unrealistic it is to make games like it… that’s free, excellent publicity.
It’s also bright and colourful and slightly cartoonish in a way that, say, Pillars of Eternity wasn’t. I wonder if this makes it feel slightly more mainstream, slightly more ‘fun’, and a bit less like a stodgy old CRPG from yesterday (and to be clear, I loved PoE the way I loved BG and BG2).
It’s also got enough wild shit in it to grab a few headlines that way.
Yeah, it feels a bit less grimy doom and gloom, despite the narrative and themes. Being fully voice acted, and well, helps to no end with what can otherwise turn in to a wall of text reading slog.
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