General Video Game Thread

Sparks · May 31, 2019, 2:37 PM

@Auspice - Headset comfort in general is a lot better this generation; the PSVR's adjustable headband system was so much more comfortable it wasn't even funny, and everyone else learned from that design.

The one thing I feel like they really need to still improve is the pressure most headsets put on the nose due to their weight. The PSVR wins there by putting very little weight on the nose at all, so remains the leader in comfort of the ones I've tried.

(I really want to try the HP Reverb; from what I hear it has the PSVR beat on comfort—and the Index beat on visual quality. If that's the case, it'll be an amazing one to use.)

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 3:07 PM

@Sparks said in General Video Game Thread:

@Auspice - Headset comfort in general is a lot better this generation; the PSVR's adjustable headband system was so much more comfortable it wasn't even funny, and everyone else learned from that design.

The one thing I feel like they really need to still improve is the pressure most headsets put on the nose due to their weight. The PSVR wins there by putting very little weight on the nose at all, so remains the leader in comfort of the ones I've tried.

(I really want to try the HP Reverb; from what I hear it has the PSVR beat on comfort—and the Index beat on visual quality. If that's the case, it'll be an amazing one to use.)

See, I didn't really like the psvr. I put it on briefly and had to tear it right back off. The location it put weight on my head was pretty much insta headache. the Vive seemed to distribute better.

Sparks · May 31, 2019, 3:20 PM

@Auspice - ah! Yeah, the out-of-box setup gave me an absolutely raging migraine after like 60 seconds for some reason, but it's possible to adjust the PSVR's headband in enough ways that I found the right spot for me. And then it became the easiest to wear long term because it didn't have the first-gen Vive or Rift's front-heavy tendency to slide down and press on the nose after half an hour, which also causes a (more minor) headache, at least for me.

But the Vive Pro was, for a long time, a reasonably close second in the comfort game for me; while I didn't get to try the Index for long, the Pro's now been tentatively pushed to third.

I just really want to try the Reverb, because everyone I know who has, regardless of which headset they preferred for comfort previously, now says the Reverb is the most comfortable. With that much unanimity, I really wanna see for myself. (Mind you, this is a sample size of three, so there's a large margin of error here; it's anecdotal evidence at best. Still...)

Ghost · May 31, 2019, 3:56 PM

Man, I played Star Trek Bridge Crew once and loved it; probably a little too much. They let me have the "Captain" role. LOL that was such a bad call to give a RPer like me an authority role. It was like Archer meets full-blown employee review threats and inspirational corporate slogans. So much fun.

I might go the VR rig route but game development hasnt exactly caught up with VR yet, so I'm waiting a little longer to see how it pans out.

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 4:05 PM

@Ghost said in General Video Game Thread:

Man, I played Star Trek Bridge Crew once and loved it; probably a little too much. They let me have the "Captain" role. LOL that was such a bad call to give a RPer like me an authority role. It was like Archer meets full-blown employee review threats and inspirational corporate slogans. So much fun.

I might go the VR rig route but game development hasnt exactly caught up with VR yet, so I'm waiting a little longer to see how it pans out.

So my buddies and I play that sometimes on their streaming nights and that shit gets ridiculous.

I am not a good Captain but I AM good as a pilot.

My most memorable moment was the night I began as a pilot and one of them kept giving me a hard time so we finally switch up the roles and I end up on tactical and he takes up the conn.

...and is just struggling.

Me: NOT SO EASY IS IT?!
Him, small voice: ......no

But yeah, lots of Trek jokes, mockery of each other, etc. abound. I love Bridge Crew. It's up there with my fave thing to play with those guys.

Ghost · May 31, 2019, 4:08 PM

@Auspice Hahaha. I authorized the firing of one torpedo and the dude fired two. It turned into a scolding session that "we are on a FIVE YEAR JOURNEY and only have so many torpedos", and that he would be docked replicator rations until the value of the torpedo was repaid in full. Oh, and that if he went to Federation Human Resources over this as retaliation I'd have Operations airlock him.

Operations Guy: "FUCK YEA, BRO."

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 4:18 PM

@Ghost said in General Video Game Thread:

@Auspice Hahaha. I authorized the firing of one torpedo and the dude fired two. It turned into a scolding session that "we are on a FIVE YEAR JOURNEY and only have so many torpedos", and that he would be docked replicator rations until the value of the torpedo was repaid in full. Oh, and that if he went to Federation Human Resources over this as retaliation I'd have Operations airlock him.

Operations Guy: "FUCK YEA, BRO."

Me as Captain: '...look there is a FIRE at your STATION. WHY ARE YOU NOT TAKING CARE OF THAT?! What sort of SAFETY STANDARDS DID THEY EVEN TEACH YOU?!'

Warma Sheen · Jun 2, 2019, 8:24 AM

@Sparks Thanks for the review. I've never owned a VR system before but I've been waiting to own one since I played a VR game in a mall in Miami in 1993 / 1994. It was nothing like it is today, but it was amazing for me at the time. It was probably the thing that turned me into a nerd more than anything else. I've stayed away from the previous systems because I didn't like the idea of cables and I would have yanked them out of one end or the other.

Also I've never played Beat Saber but everyone raves about it. I don't see the appeal, so I'm excited to be impressed by it.

Auspice · Jun 2, 2019, 2:51 PM

@Warma-Sheen said in General Video Game Thread:

@Sparks Thanks for the review. I've never owned a VR system before but I've been waiting to own one since I played a VR game in a mall in Miami in 1993 / 1994. It was nothing like it is today, but it was amazing for me at the time. It was probably the thing that turned me into a nerd more than anything else. I've stayed away from the previous systems because I didn't like the idea of cables and I would have yanked them out of one end or the other.

Also I've never played Beat Saber but everyone raves about it. I don't see the appeal, so I'm excited to be impressed by it.

I've felt the same since around the same time except it was a game at Disney World! I still have rather vivid memories of it.

Thenomain · Jun 2, 2019, 6:09 PM

@Warma-Sheen said in General Video Game Thread:

@Sparks Thanks for the review. I've never owned a VR system before but I've been waiting to own one since I played a VR game in a mall in Miami in 1993 / 1994.

How many times did you picked up by that pterodactyl? That thing was terrible and so sssslllooooowwwwww.

Auspice · Jun 5, 2019, 2:12 AM

So I wanted to come back and say this about Dauntless:

As someone whose ADD limits what she can play (a lot of games have long matches wherein it's hard for me to stay put and focus on just the one thing the whole time), the brief matches before going back to town are pretty much perfect.

Go kill a behemoth. Go to town. Craft or turn in quests or whatever. Then I can get up or alt tab or do whatever my brain demands.

Part of why I stopped playing League was match time went from averaging 30 minutes to an hour. The better you do in games like PUBG, the longer you're stuck focusing (or trying to focus) on just one thing.

The fact that I know as soon as I sign up for a mission it's going to be super quick? Is great. The fact that it also means my rando team, if they're duds, won't be around long? Also great.

I also think the comparisons to Fortnite are silly. I mean I guess they come from the fact that you can pay real money to customize your character and that Forkknife is the most recent game to have a more cartoony look to the design, but visually I got a more WoW feel than anything. Gameplay wise it's not like Fortnite at all.

Jennkryst · Jun 5, 2019, 3:28 AM

Steam has Subnautica on sale, with proceeds going to plastic cleanup something or other, and I'm over here like.

Bills bad. Bills steal monies. Boo bills. Boo.

Sparks · Jun 5, 2019, 5:27 PM

A whole bunch of Pokémon Sword and Shield / Gen 8 reveals today! A couple of new Gen 8 Pokémon revealed! The legendaries for the Galar region revealed! Dynamax (giant) Pokémon! Multiplayer cooperative battles, where you can meet up with your friends and battle together instead of as opponents!

flails around madly

Gameplay reveal trailer, as well as the general game information page with new information and a longer version of the above gameplay trailer.

flails around more

(Look, there's a special place in my heart for games falling into the "RPG I can carry in my bag and play in short bursts throughout the day, but could also play for hours on a plane" category; the Pokémon games have long dominated that particular spot, though admittedly the Fire Emblem games also often wander into that bucket.)

Auspice · Jun 5, 2019, 5:30 PM

@Sparks said in General Video Game Thread:

A whole bunch of Pokémon Sword and Shield / Gen 8 reveals today! A couple of new Gen 8 Pokémon revealed! The legendaries for the Galar region revealed! Dynamax (giant) Pokémon! Multiplayer cooperative battles, where you can meet up with your friends and battle together instead of as opponents!

flails around madly

Gameplay reveal trailer, as well as the general game information page with new information and a longer version of the above gameplay trailer.

flails around more

(Look, there's a special place in my heart for games falling into the "RPG I can carry in my bag and play in short bursts throughout the day, but could also play for hours on a plane" category; the Pokémon games have long dominated that particular spot, though admittedly the Fire Emblem games also often wander into that bucket.)

Some of the leaks for the new Pokemon have had me excite.

Tempest · Jun 5, 2019, 5:42 PM

I haven't played a pokemon game since like...the days of the gameboy advance, but I have to be honest, this looks pretty fun.

Is this the first pokemon game (rpg/mainstream series, not including the off-shoot games) with 3d models or have I just not been paying attention? The art style of the pokemon is super cute.

Sparks · Jun 5, 2019, 5:58 PM

@Tempest said in General Video Game Thread:

Is this the first pokemon game (rpg/mainstream series, not including the off-shoot games) with 3d models or have I just not been paying attention? The art style of the pokemon is super cute.

The games have used 3D models since Gen 6, when they made the jump to 3DS. Which is also where trainer customization (i.e., chargen, clothing you can buy and wear, etc.) was introduced.

But in Gen 6 (X/Y, Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby), the character on the overworld map was a cartoonish little chibi version of your trainer and you only saw the normal-proportion 3D one in battles and cut-scenes. Gen 7 (Sun/Moon and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon) changed it up so the overworld stuff is the same scale; your trainer is not a squashed little cartoon when wandering the world any longer.

ETA: And yes, I'm excited. Honestly, this looks like a good year for the Switch; I'm getting the first Switch installments of two of my favorite portable game series, since we're getting both Sword/Shield in November and Fire Emblem: Three Houses next month.

Auspice · Jun 5, 2019, 6:01 PM

@Sparks

I need this job I'm interviewing for on Friday so that I can afford a damn Switch by November!

Deleted · Jun 5, 2019, 6:09 PM

@Auspice You're getting a Switch? I got one last week myself! (Mainly for Dragon Quest Builder 2, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Super Mario Maker 2)

Auspice · Jun 5, 2019, 6:11 PM

@Admiral said in General Video Game Thread:

@Auspice You're getting a Switch? I got one last week myself! (Mainly for Dragon Quest Builder 2, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Super Mario Maker 2)

I've been wanting one for a whiiiiiile (got the PS4 first since I've been wanting it longer / it was cheaper during Black Friday than the Switch), but I'd really like to get one by November for new Pokemon.

I just gotta get a new jerb first. Current income won't allow it.

Deleted · Jun 5, 2019, 6:12 PM

@Auspice I couldn't afford the one I bought, but I bought it anyways. And got Octopath Traveler on it, too. Which is pretty good.