If only that was what he was saying. He doesn’t care whether they’re dependent on servers. The vast majority of physical games sold today are already nothing more than an entitlement and some of the game files, with the rest being downloaded after you insert the disc. He’s only concerned with Gamestop getting their cut, both in new game sales and especially in their bread-and-butter trade-in market.
Anyone who wants AC Mirage and Nightingale? Anyone who supports disrupting the duopoly that, driven by corporate greed, has effectively priced the “budget card” out of existence over the last decade? Those 2 are just off the top of my head.
If I was in the market for a GPU, I’d probably buy Intel Battlemage on principle. At least then I can criticize the current state of the GPU industry without being hypocritical.
Curious to hear what settings you were using? Because after this steam deck fanatic kept harping about how it was a perfect experience from start to finish if you have the right settings, I went back and tried it on my Deck. In act 3, in a sparsely populated area of the city, I was hovering in the low 20s with frequent dips into the teens. With everything set to low (except textures on mediu) and all the visual flourishes like god rays, bloom, etc disabled. FSR couldn’t even improve things.
Lmao. Mate, I was an early adopter of the steam deck. I appreciate it for what it is, and I acknowledge its limitations. Meanwhile, you live in a fantasy where those limitations don’t exist and you’re unable to even acknowledge basic, objective facts. It’s fine that you love your steam deck but Jesus Christ, go touch some grass. Get outside your bubble for a second.
Agreed. It’s a lack of publisher support that has created the issues with Linux gaming. To some extent I understand, given the minute market share Linux has historically possessed, but ultimately it’s just corporate greed. Valve is serving as a force for change, though; not altruistically, but a force nonetheless. Once Linux has a large enough install base, publishers will go where there’s money to be made, whatever anti-cheat concessions they have to make.
The only reason the S is iffy here is because of couch co-op, which is already virtually extinct in the AAA space. The S is fine for what it is. But I also wouldn’t buy one at MSRP. I own 2 Series S consoles, but I paid $350 new for both and got a free headset with one of them. At $200, which is what it will likely be selling for again this black friday, it’s a steal. It’s twice as powerful as the Deck and it can properly utilize game pass.
Feel free to elaborate on how the Deck is convenient to someone that isn’t interested in playing on a tiny, washed-out 800p display with sub-2 hour battery life while playing BG3, and how playing on a TV is less fuss with the Steam Deck than the Xbox. Quick resume is a completely different topic that would be irrelevant, even if the Xbox didn’t already have the exact same feature.
Then when you factor in the value you get from being able to play modern games comfortably while traveling
Worthless to someone that only wants to play at home on their TV, or isn’t tethered to an outlet. It seems you’re wholly incapable of comprehending that there are people with different use-cases and priorities than your own, and for those people the Steam Deck is a vastly inferior and costlier option. Buying the device that best meets their needs doesn’t make them a fool. It’s astounding that you don’t get this.
Yeah, this person is so deluded in their steam deck zealotry that they’ve lost touch with reality. In one comment they argue the steam deck’s value is in its Linux OS and ability to emulate Switch games, then in the next they argue that the thing is “much more convenient and no fuss”. The only convenience is in the portability. If you aren’t interested in sacrificing power for portability, that offers zero value. As for emulation, arguing that is no fuss would be laughable. Even native steam games can be iffy, requiring troubleshooting like swapping proton versions and entering launch commands. There’s a reason ProtonDB exists, and the Xbox doesn’t need something comparable.
The Steam Deck is great for what it is, but the only console it compares (and is vastly superior) to is the Switch.
And if a person doesn’t care about the steam library, linux operating system or emulation? If they just want to play BG3 and other modern games on their couch, running natively on their machine in a convenient, no-fuss manner? Will you admit that, for that person, the Steam Deck is a terrible option and they’d be far better served, both financially and visually, by buying an Xbox Series S, even at MSRP?
And what exactly do you consider “a great experience”? Because in act 2, with the game looking as shit as it possibly can, it still struggles to stay above 20FPS. I haven’t bothered trying act 3 on Deck, but act 3 is even more resource-intensive than act 2 so I can’t imagine it fares any better. “A great experience” is admittedly subjective, so I can’t say you haven’t had what you consider to be a great experience on Deck, but vaguely describing it as “a great experience” is negligent at best and outright disingenuous at worst. My act 2 experience on Deck was abysmal, and I think most opinions on that level of performance would agree.
For those that don’t care about Linux, or portability, or the steam deck being a PC, and just want to play BG3 on their TV for as cheap as possible, the Series S is by far the best option. That the game will also look and run significantly better than it does on steam deck is icing on the cake.
$100, plus the cost of the mandatory microSD or SSD you’ll need to add to even install the game on Deck, plus the $50 discount for the Series S if you have a modicum of patience. The difference is more like $175-200, and last year the Series S was $100 off for Black Friday. Assuming the game is targeting holiday 2023 for Xbox, you could potentially grab the Series S + BG3 for under $300.
It’s only able to hold a relatively stable 30fps in act 1. As soon as you hit act 2 it struggles to escape the teens, even on low settings. It was so bad that I had to abandon playing on Deck and move to my PC.