The Gaming Chat Café

[Index]

Coming from someone who hasn't played a bit of PoE but a sh*ton of D4, I'll probably be picking this up. Also had a look at the classes last night, and the Sorceress seems really cool. They get an ascendancy that can manipulate time.

[Jason]

PoE2 is the best time to jump into PoE if you're coming from Diablo 4. PoE2 is basically a complete overhaul of the new player experience and also some mechanics and systems that haven't hurt their depth but at the same time have made it way better for new players. Stuff like sockets being on the skill gems and not gear is a massive one in particular, that was a real nightmare for new players to juggle. Also goal being used to respec and not respec orbs is another too.

 

I'll probably cave and get it on Friday my self cause there's not much else to play over the next few weeks.

[Jason]

 

Been a big weekend for PC gaming (although both are on console too). Two massive launches for two good games.

 

PoE2 had some early issues but they ironed them out and it's been solid, where as MR as far as I've seen has had an utterly flawless launch with instant matchmaking.

[TonyRyodan]

I know, I know, its a meme, but it is exaggerated on purpose to emphasize the annoyance of a problem.

As someone who tends to turn ray tracing off, I want to hear opinions.


(I didn't make it, just took it from facebook)

[Jason]

I mean it's a meme but it's wrong lol. Some of the most beloved games from those days struggled to do 30fps, none of them at 300. Also the draw distance in those days was poopoo and reflections weren't crystal clear and perfect, it's only with raytraced reflections that we're now able to get proper reflections in games really. Before it was sh*tty SSR or tricks, which weren't great for performance and couldn't be used everywhere.

 

The main issue right now overall IMO is image quality cause TAA and upscaling has indeed impacted that by introducing some blurryness, but a lot of those issues stem from FSR which is meh. On PC w/ DLSS I can play on balanced at 1440p, which is about 720p, and it looks great. DLSS quality looks virtually native.

 

Some of the cinematic effects devs use are a bit poo though, Star Wars Outlaws being the best example of going too far there. It didn't just have CA it also had camera lensing so the image was slightly distorted. It looked miles better without that, which you could only turn off via a hack at launch, dunno if they've added it in a patch since.

[44Orca]

The last Virtua Fighter got a PC release (soon January), I am looking very forward to play that one I never did and it looks very simple which I like, doesn't seem to have any cheap high damage mechanics/annoying attacks like other newer fighting games. And I sure hope the upcoming one showed at TheGameAwards doesn't have either, the blocking animations and parries looked very realistic out of any fighting game at the last part of the teaser.

Spoiler

I still am kinda sad that Tekken 8 put way too much unnecessary stuff, it is exhausting playing it at times unlike 7.. the heat/powercrush mechanics are VERY unfair, half the time you don't exactly win/lose by skill at all. Such random mechanics, and so many forced rushdown 50/50 situations should NOT be in a game that takes skill.. It kinda ruined its identity. It was in the name "Tekken", "Iron Fist", yet now they are adding more and more sword wielding characters..?? There's a reason why it got negative reviews and many pros dropped it. I don't get what the tekken team is doing but whatever, I don't bother using those mechanics when I play my side characters, I lose many times but I find it more fun without them, a lot more fun actually winning by skill and that's why I see Virtua Fighter as a potentially better game than it for me when it comes to that, but I will still play Tekken 8 as it has the lounge and it's fun with friends, more "newer features" are not ALL bad.

Anyways, something else, time to continue those Assassin's Creed achievements now that they are on steam, but all got unlocked same time so it looks like I cheated them..but still have many to do (they forget ACIII Remaster/Rogue achievements though, Far Cry games should be next)

I don't see much of a difference that they are on steam now, only that it is easier with shift+tab to keep track of but either way.

I think they should've had an option so we can unlock them again by ourselves, I'd like to replay them again one day..

Edited December 14, 2024 by 44Orca

[Jason]

 

 

"The Blood of Dawnwalker is the first chapter of Rebel Wolves’ brand new role-playing saga — a single-player open-world dark fantasy action-RPG with a strong focus on story and narrative. Developed on Unreal Engine 5 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox."

 

Only a name and logo teaser trailer but the full reveal is early next year but it's believed to involve vampires, which fits with the name. The new studio was founded in 2022 by some ex-CDPR people, so some decent talent behind it.

[Margot Robbed Me]

Grim Dawn is $2.49 on Steam right now during the Winter Sale, for those who like ARPGs.

 

Trying to see what else is on sale. I might finally end up trying Elden Ring.

[Jason]

Haven't seen Steam servers explode this hard for a sale for a while lol

[Margot Robbed Me]

Yeah absolutely nothing is loading for me except for the main page deals. I'm trying to search World War Zs pricing and had to go off a browser. For about $9, that's probably worth picking up too, just to have it instead of on Game Pass. State of Decay 2 is another pickup I'll be buying because of how cheap it is.

[Index]

Thought it was being a bit f*cky. The Steam awards voting page seems like it's alright now lol.

 

As like every year, there's feck all that interests me on sale. I'm not really wanting to spend, tbh, since in Feb there's going to be like two or three chonky releases I want, possibly Spidey 2 in Jan.

 

Although I might grab Metro Exodus for 2 quid for the sake of having it in my library

[Saul Goodman]

This is kinda weird. Driver: SF and NFS Rivals runs in both 720p on the PS3. Driver looks amazing and it looks so close to being 1080p, meanwhile NFS Rivals looks like a PS2 game. Same with the other games, like GTA V.

 

I guess they used some kind of anti aliasing thing, but damn, Driver runs like a dream with those graphics.

[Saul Goodman]

13 hours ago, Saul Goodman said:

This is kinda weird. Driver: SF and NFS Rivals runs in both 720p on the PS3. Driver looks amazing and it looks so close to being 1080p, meanwhile NFS Rivals looks like a PS2 game. Same with the other games, like GTA V.

 

I guess they used some kind of anti aliasing thing, but damn, Driver runs like a dream with those graphics.

I fixed it now. Apparently it was just the aspect ratio not being set properly by my TV, making it zoomed and look more pixelated. Now I can enjoy any game I want on my big ass LG TV

[Index]

Dredge is free on the Epic Games giveaway if anyone's interested. Hopefully there's at least a big AAA game hidden in there that I've not played.

[Cluckin Bell CEO]

14 hours ago, Index said:

Dredge is free on the Epic Games giveaway if anyone's interested. Hopefully there's at least a big AAA game hidden in there that I've not played.

 

GTA V was the biggest free giveaway from Epic Games I think

[Margot Robbed Me]

Nvidia at CES 2025

 

$549 RTX 5070

 

$1999 RTX 5090

 

[Stahli]

The power consumption of the 50th Series is again beyond good and bad. Especially now that AMD is stumbling, they could have taken a step back with TDPs. It would still have been better performance than the 40th series. Crazy development in my opinion.

[Index]

I do like the look of the Founders Edition mind you. It looks pretty sleek, but I'll probably be going AIB for the 5080, which is going to be more pricey, VAT + AIB tax

[Jason]

While the prices aren't perfect (they aren't 1000 series level), they are much better than the 4000 series were at launch.

 

Feature wise they look really good, DLSS improvements for all RTX cards which includes a new way to upscale as they think the old method has reached it's limit (RIP AMD lol), multi frame FG and also Reflex improvements particularly when using a mouse.

 

Performance we'll have to see, the charts from nVidia use DLSS multi FG so they're not really relatable to current hardware. They will certainly be an uplift in perf over their last gen equivalent but outside of the 5090 there doesn't look to be any crazy improvements, I think the hope of the 5080 matching a 4090 in performance sadly didn't turn out to be the case otherwise they'd be screaming it, but then again the 5080 isn't RRPing at £1200 in the UK for the FE.

 

I'll try and get an FE, it's RRP is £975 per nVidia's site so that'd be a dream but they are going to be the most popular versions by far cause of the price, looks and reputation the FE cards have. Hopefully I can get a decent AIB for sub £1.2k at launch at worst, cause the leaked date of the 21st turning out to be wrong isn't great for me, if I'm not able to pick one up at launch it's gonna be rough getting one for the big games out in early Feb.

 

Overall I'm pretty happy with the 5080, I was expecting much worse price wise based on a lot of the store leaks even though I know nVidia prices don't really ever leak, so many started coming out that it did look for a minute that they actually might go for £1.2k RRP for the FE (which would mean £1.3k-£1.4k for AIB) or even higher. The 4090 perf match would've been the chefs kiss but I think it'll make a really good 1440p UW card.

[.Ryan.]

I got done with Rift Apart. First time I’ve finished it and the first game I’ve finished for the year so far.

 

Now I’m switching focus over to Lost Judgment and Dynasty Warriors: Origins when it releases.

 

I’m going to put my Series X on a bit of a hiatus as I literally can’t be bothered with it. I hoped by resubbing to Gamepass it might’ve given me a boost and it did for a little while, but then it’s the same old same old.

 

Not even Indy was enough. Meh. I’ll just buy it when it comes to PS5. I’ll enjoy it more especially if it utilises the duelsense.

[LongHairedFreakyGuy]

13 hours ago, .Ryan. said:

I got done with Rift Apart. First time I’ve finished it and the first game I’ve finished for the year so far.

 

Said it before, but genuinely the most enjoyable PS5 game I've played to this day, and I think the 3rd game I ever got the platinum for. Such a great looking game too. 

 

13 hours ago, .Ryan. said:

I’m going to put my Series X on a bit of a hiatus as I literally can’t be bothered with it. I hoped by resubbing to Gamepass it might’ve given me a boost and it did for a little while, but then it’s the same old same old

 

Gutted about how little I use my Series X, to say how much I wanted one when I saw the line up of games that were exclusively coming to it. Forced myself to buy Hogwarts Legacy on it just so I actually had a game for my Series X, but apart from that and the odd game I play here and there, it gets nowhere near the same time my PS5 and Switch does. Hopefully 2025 makes me want to actually play it. 

[Saul Goodman]

What do you guys think about Dark Souls 2? I just started playing it on my old PS3. So far, I find it hard to survive because I keep on getting a lot of damage and I only have a few life gems (I think that's what it's called). I'm having fun though, this is the first souls like game that I have ever played

 

I was thinking of buying a cheap PC so I can make bigger programming projects and play some games like Minecraft Java, Watch_Dogs 2, NFS Heat, GTA V and probably The Crew 2, at least at the lowest settings. I found one online and it will cost me 97 dollars. Good deal or no

 

[Jason]

That's an awful PC, you can buy tablets for the same price with a lot more power than that.

 

If you want something that can play games you're probably gonna need to pay at least a few hundred even for an older second hand PC. You'd also be better buying something that doesn't include a monitor and keyboard/mouse etc, PC cheap bundles with those will mean everything is just terrible.

[Moonshine Wagon Fan]

I'm looking forward to playing Sniper Elite: Resistance and shooting my enemies in the balls.

[Saul Goodman]

18 minutes ago, Moonshine Wagon Fan said:

I'm looking forward to playing Sniper Elite: Resistance and shooting my enemies in the balls.

 

Good lord!

 

I haven't played any of the Sniper Elite games. I only saw it when Summit1g was playing it on Twitch. I might check this out soon

[Jason]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1340990/Rise_of_the_Ronin/

 

Nice, been waiting for this one to drop on PC, and it's not at full price too which is a bonus.

 

Though it's probably gonna have to wait a bit before I pick it up lmao. The first half of this year is absolutely bonkers on PC.

[LongHairedFreakyGuy]

11 hours ago, Jason said:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1340990/Rise_of_the_Ronin/

 

Nice, been waiting for this one to drop on PC, and it's not at full price too which is a bonus.

 

Though it's probably gonna have to wait a bit before I pick it up lmao. The first half of this year is absolutely bonkers on PC.

 

Just actually started giving this game a proper playthrough after putting it off for some months, and it's not actually that bad, but not as great as I believe it was supposed to be either. Can be pretty tough at times, but the combat is somewhat decent - it's more complex than the likes of GoT. Speaking of, for me personally it's like a PS3 version of Tsushima too, mainly in terms of the graphics. Overall though I've been having fun on it. 

 

In other PC related news, I'll be definitely giving The Sims 1 and 2 a whirl when they arrive on PC later this week, supposedly.

[Jason]

Yea I've heard it's more of a 7/10 than a 8 or 9, but it sounds like a fun cookie cutter open world to have some fun with. I'm not a Nioh/Souls player at all so I'm usually apprehensive about touching games with that sort of combat but I know RoR has difficulty options including an easy difficulty, which I might very well play on tbh.

[Margot Robbed Me]

Nioh 2 isn't too bad if you're doing co-op. I actually love it for that, since there aren't that many co-op campaign games nowadays.

 

I didn't know that Rise of the Ronin game existed at all, but probably something I'll pick up because of the people behind it.

[Saul Goodman]

@Jason about the bundle PC I shared a week ago, I can just upgrade it later, right? Because right now I need a desktop for coding and stuff, and I can just start off with some lighter games that are good enough in terms of performance with decent graphics

 

Or should I just build a budget desktop instead of buying a bundled one. What do you think