General Videogame Thread
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SebastianBlue
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I think it is the fact that the strengths of Skyrim out of the gate are actually seemingly Starfield’s weaknesses to start…
But my desperation for “Escape to Fallout in Spaaaaaaaaace!” has gotten the better of me and I’ll likely pop for the premium upgrade and play it tonight.
Stuuuuuu
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Has anyone got an Amiga Mini? If so, what do you think of it?
wolviedinho
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After reading the reviews on here I have taken the plunge and its currently downloading. Huge file tho and the pc is upstairs so it takes longer to downloadunfortunately. Maybe need to look into how I can download it faster. Anyway, Skyrim is one of my favs. If it’s anywhere near as good then I can’t wait.
Checked the specs and I should be able to run it on high end settings.
Must of missed the hype around this game.
HolisticJim
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ultimateharold
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Powerline adapters, will never go back to wifi after getting some. They transmit the internet through your house mains. So one plug near router plugged in, then another near PC that then plugs into the ethernet port on the computer. Can pick em up cheap enough.
Scottyboi
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Only if you can get it cheap enough, I got 12 months gold for 28 quid, but I didn't really shop around.
Mr Kobayashi
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£29.99 on CD keys for Xbox gold. I bought it 39.99 when I last topped up.
@HolisticJim
Make sure to buy one at a time to reduce the risk it doesn't work. CD Keys are pretty good at refunding if you have bought something that doesn't work with your account.
( I once bought a shark card that was actually a premium edition of GTA V on Xbox one, didn't work and got the refund).
You'll also get some credits back @1% of purchase value so you can use them for money off the next card.
Top up first and then activate the ultimate upgrade.
SebastianBlue
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That’s been the general consensus from reviews.
I did 3 hours last night and literally *just* arrived at the first major city after the trademark Bethesda character origin/opening sequence. Levelled up once. Liking it so far—they’ve obviously taken all of the Fallout 4 and 76 criticism to heart in the improvements they have made to the Creation engine and combat. But definitely see what people were saying about the menus and inventory management being quite poor; that’s the biggest learning/frustration curve for me. Really happy they went back to New Vegas style dialog, rather than the simplified Fallout 4 system, as it really gives each interaction with NPCs much more engaging (and based on reviews, they are more meaningful, as well).
Looking forward to jumping back in today.
Interested to hear about everyone’s build.
Here’s mine, in a spoiler hide box just in case people don’t want to see some of the possible options before playing:
Background: Cyber Runner
Traits: Alien DNA, Kid Stuff, Raised Enlightened
Levelling Strat: going for a sort of cyber ninja character, so focus on stealth, hacking, long guns and melee, and assassin-supporting skills.
Traits: Alien DNA, Kid Stuff, Raised Enlightened
Levelling Strat: going for a sort of cyber ninja character, so focus on stealth, hacking, long guns and melee, and assassin-supporting skills.
DenisLawBackHeel74
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Currently lvl 6, didn’t like the first couple of hours, thought the graphics and npc build a bit dated, also no adequate display adjustment…everything is a bit grey and washed out. I’ve done my best adjusting my projector settings but it’s still washed out.
im beginning to get into the combat, I’ve levelled up the pistol and jet pack and it’s marginally better….still feels a bit clunky….a lot of load screens which Is poor imo.
SebastianBlue
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Yeah, it is a slog the first 10-15 hours apparently. That has been almost a universal qualifier from all reviews. It was like that with Skyrim, as well, to be fair. Sometimes I think they do it on purpose to conjure a sort of modified ‘IKEA effect’.
And I agree about the display settings. I searched around for in game brightness and constrast settings because on my high end ultrawide monitor that I’ve already done pro calibration on it looked washed out from that very first scene, but none exist. I may just end up setting up a custom display profile on the monitor itself to compensate, but it is quite poor they did not allow adjustment in game.
They’ve improved the Creation engine substantially, but I agree the graphics and character models look dated compared to recent game releases. That said, I am fortunately able to run it on Ultra with FSR2 (ridiculous that Bethesda signed that exclusive deal with AMD, though, which means no DLSS support until a modder makes it possible) and that makes a big difference. I think most it is based on still using their in-house engine and the fact the game has been in-development for 8 years; I think the latter point explains a lot of instances of “I feel like [insert recent game] does [insert specific game system, graphics element, or mechanic] better”. If it had come out 3 years ago it would have felt far more fresh and impressive. Time waits for no one, not even Tom Howard’s passion project. I reckon they’ll eventually have to ditch the Creation engine in order to substantially reduce development cycle times to remain competitive… but that is a massive undertaking given the sheer complexity of their world building and quest systems. Rebuilding those on something like Unreal 5 is a monumental challenge.
I think, like with Skyrim before the big quality of life mods were built, the best way to describe the menus and inventory management is clunky, as you say. And, as I said in my review round up, the way they have decided to do space travel is disappointing (at times it feels like how an actuary would design a game); cutscenes and loading screens—essentially reducing it to a very fancy excel spreadsheet—doesn’t inspire the awe of exploring the universe.
Hopefully that will be improve with time, as well.
But I do think there are great elements in it that probably take a bit to come out, and I am enjoying the return to more complex dialog and consequence structures.
I will reserve full judgement until I have 20 or so hours in.
I will say it definitely feels like a Bethesda ROG (for better or worse).
Learning curve is a little steep but it's rewarded like something I've never seen. I'm 7 hours in and done none of the main story. Side quests are like games within games. It's huge.
Also slight thing about the display. We have two TVs in our house. I have a bog standard 4k TV and the wife has a top of the range LG for gaming. The difference is night and day with Starfield. It looks immense on the LG and washed out and muddy on mine
SebastianBlue
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I have a 34” 21:9 Ultrawide FHD HDR 100HZ Vsync monitor with pro colour calibration and it still looked washed out until I reduced the Film Grain Intensity to 0.70 and created a custom profile on the monitor itself to adjust brightness and contrast. Worked wonders. Just a bit of a bother to switch it back to the main profile when I exit the game.
Blue Maverick
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Just got to Atlantis, it seems vast, I wish you could land on the planet like you do in No Mans Sky that would be better than just clicking a button, not sure what to make of it just yet.