Ultimate Videogame Topic 3: The Next Generation

[zoraster]

Been almost 6 years, but it's time for a new PC. My i5-2500k sure lasted a while though. Hope this new i5-7600k lasts as long. Figure I'll do the same thing with this as I've done with my previous two PCs: buy a good but not top of the line GPU (1070 in this case) and then replace it 2-3 years in.

Funny enough, the thing I'm possibly most excited about is something I could have just bought for this PC: upping it to 16GB of RAM (probably to 32GB eventually). I actually tried to add 8GB to my current 8GB but one of the RAM sticks didn't work and I kind of just said screw it after I returned them.

[Gammagooey]

Spent all my free time yesterday and today playing Pyre and finished it. Some pretty minor spoilers below.

Spoiler: Pyre

I played it for 12 hours and still don't feel actually good at the game. a large part of that is because you tend to free the characters you get good at and then figure out how to make the team work without them, but it feels pretty hard to switch between characters effectively (though I do think it's got a very high skill cap if you take into account what types of enemies you're facing before the rite and what talismans/characters to use against them and I didn't do that quite enough)

There's a minor theme of accepting failures that I like a lot - it encourages you to not save-scum/restart each rite by not having any losses stop the story from progressing and having some enemy teams that aren't straight baddies, and every member of your party + the enemy teams have little interlocking epilogues at the end of the game based on what happened to everyone and they were pretty excellent.

It also dragged some midgame, the gameplay didn't feel like it changed that much with different characters until lategame since 2-3 of them tend to fit a size 'type' and I personally tended to fill previous spots with similar teammates, and the story gets a lot sparser since it has to fit around you having kept/lost any combination of teammates.

There's definitely a lot of interesting, likeable characters that you want to learn more about, even your enemies, but it seems kind of caught between wanting to go deeper into them and both not being able to completely get around the variety of ways the player's path through the game can go and not wanting to drag the player through going against the same team too many times since the gameplay can feel repetitive if you don't change your team composition often.
It does have a very high skill ceiling and I'll probably start a new save file to see some of the stuff I missed, but I wouldn't recommend it over Bastion or Transistor unless you either really want to play some magic wasteland basketball instead of killing things or want to completely embrace the 'struggling through failure is always an option' motif they have through the game and never/almost never restart a rite and struggle on with the characters you're trying to save. I still definitely think it's worth the $20 personally but take that as you will.

[hiplop]

just bought it! will give update tomorrow. I WISH it was on switch

[zoraster]

before I recycle my old PC, does anyone have any interest in my old MSI Radeon HD 7870? It's a bit old in the tooth now, but it still functions well.

[Iprobablysuck]

Yay I got an Expansion Pak now I can play DK64!

Oh wait my controllers are garbage

*first world retro gamer problems

[Vi]

Yay I got an Expansion Pak now I can play DK64!

Even back then I had a hard time finding an Expansion Pak, so gj.

[Zachrulez]

I think I had an expansion pak back in the day. It seems absurd to require that to play any N64 games but I'm sure Nintendo got away with it because Nintendo.

[Zachrulez]

So I made a poor life decision. Instead of going for a well-rounded collection of games during the most recent Steam Sale, I picked up Witcher 3, and then later went, "Wait, apparently, the first two games have backstory relevant to the third! I should get those as well when they're only $4 together!" I also decided I should actually play the copy of Dragon Age I've had for years. Unfortunately, after trying DA and the first Witcher, I came to a few conclusions: 1) Dragon Age and Witcher are extremely similar games, 2) although I enjoy them, there's only so much Western D&D-style RPG I can play before it feels like a slog (particularly with my motion sickness issues), and 3) there's no way I'll ever have the time to finish all four games unless I never do anything productive again.

So I'd like advice: which game of the four should I become invested in and waste the next 80 hours of my life on? Or should I play like a couple of hours of the Witcher prequels just to get a general idea before the third? I care most about the fun factor; a good story is also a plus.

I ran into the same trap with the Witcher series and it's basically led to me finishing none of the games in the series because the 1st is kind of a major sticking/stopping point for me. So I'm in the situation where I've only actually completed Dragon Age Origins.

I'd say Witcher 3 if you're looking for the best possible game to play. If you're feeling completionist about that and don't want to play 3 before the other 2. Dragon Age Origins would probably be the easiest one to pick up because it's both a good game, and is 1st in it's order in the Dragon Age series.

[Felissan]

I think I had an expansion pak back in the day. It seems absurd to require that to play any N64 games but I'm sure Nintendo got away with it because Nintendo.

I'm pretty sure it was bundled with the games that required it. Of course, that doesn't help when buying it now.

[Zachrulez]

Donkey Kong 64 definitely was bundled with it... but I have not found anything on the net stating the same to be true for Majora's Mask (Which also requires it.)

[Vi]

I think I had an expansion pak back in the day. It seems absurd to require that to play any N64 games but I'm sure Nintendo got away with it because Nintendo.

Counterpoint: DK64 was an absurd game that's known for having too much

stuff

and not enough good programming.

[Iprobablysuck]

DK64 needed the Expansion Pak pretty much because of the absurd amounts of shit you need to collect

[Zachrulez]

I've personally never played DK64 nor have I beaten Majora's Mask...

I think I ended up with an expansion pak in my original N64 because my cousin talked me into buying it. So funny enough I never ran into the whole issue of trying to play Majora's Mask without it but I easily could have.

[Papa Zito]

They're both excellent games and still worth playing.

[Zachrulez]

I could never really figure out/understand Majora's mask.

[Hiraki]

Majora's Mask is a must play. It's one of the truest unintentional hits.

[Parama]

I tried playing majora's mask 3ds but found it kinda dull and stopped playing in the third area

[Errantparabola]

found out they are making a risk of rain 2.
incredibly excited at this development!

[inte]

found out they are making a risk of rain 2.
incredibly excited at this development!

good shit for alerting me to this

[kuribo]

OMG YOU GUYS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF NIGHT TRAP COMES OUT TOMORROW

[zoraster]

last chance before I recycle it all:

MSI AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB
2x 4GB Sticks of Dance Dance Revolution 3 - 1600 RAM

[PJ.]

Is that better than a 750ti? Does it have legacy bios or a hybrid switch?

[hiplop]

i would extend my hand for jess' computer if i wasnt so far away

[zoraster]

Is that better than a 750ti? Does it have legacy bios or a hybrid switch?

Roughly the same tier, I think. If you're not having problems with the 750ti I wouldn't switch

[zoraster]

i would extend my hand for jess' computer if i wasnt so far away

what do you mean?