OT: Video Game Computers/Gadgets/Gizmos Thread

[ClassicJack]

I just decided I want a Switch and they are apparently still harder to get than a PS5? I somehow ended up with 2 PS5's after participating in the f*ckery last year but I'm not doing that sh*t again for a gaming system.

[Sauce Boss]

I just decided I want a Switch and they are apparently still harder to get than a PS5? I somehow ended up with 2 PS5's after participating in the f*ckery last year but I'm not doing that sh*t again for a gaming system.

Silicon shortage and supply chain woes have kept it this way for consoles and graphics cards since March 2020. If you really want one, you might need to play the game as this could be an issue still for most of 2022.

[ReasonablySober]

Watch on YouTube

Just arrived on Game Pass, and it's a wonderful time suck. Feels extremely deep.

I can't really overstate how addictive this game was last night. I had a two to three hour session while watching sports on second screen initially, and then a new game that lasted almost four hours. Day off today, but I had to force myself to go to sleep around 2:30. Same deal tonight. Gonna second screen the Bucks and put a cap on playing this game, likely much earlier.

But it's really good.

[Sauce Boss]

Happy Thanksgiving to all the video game lovers on our little forum. I hope you ate well, found some good deals (lots of sales on Steam), and maybe enjoyed a holiday game or two (I definitely squeezed some Halo in this morning)!

[jschligs]

Happy Thanksgiving to all the video game lovers on our little forum. I hope you ate well, found some good deals (lots of sales on Steam), and maybe enjoyed a holiday game or two (I definitely squeezed some Halo in this morning)!

My daughter is finally taking longer naps (up to 2 hours now) and so I finally get to game again during the day. 2 matches from being ranked, I'm really enjoying Halo Infinite.

[ReginaldDwight]

Whats everyone been gaming lately, anyone play any AOE4? Been playing some Forza and Halo of course. Halo just feels odd playing for longer periods of times with the playlists how they are.

[ReasonablySober]

Whats everyone been gaming lately, anyone play any AOE4? Been playing some Forza and Halo of course. Halo just feels odd playing for longer periods of times with the playlists how they are.

Before We Leave has rented some space in my brain this week. I haven't looked up anything, but that might change since I can't get off the second planet in four attempts.

Other than that I installed Halo and I'm enjoying quick bursts of bot based multiplayer.

[Sauce Boss]

Whats everyone been gaming lately, anyone play any AOE4? Been playing some Forza and Halo of course. Halo just feels odd playing for longer periods of times with the playlists how they are.

Deep Rock Galactic, Guilty Gear Strive, and Halo Infinite is my current rotation.

[MikeIsGood]

Family has left, and I'm sitting down to watch the game(s - Zaga/Duke) for the night, so thought I'd come with a Demon's Souls update.

Played ~2.5h this afternoon/eve, I think, and finished 1-1. I'm not sure how much of my read of the game is correct from this one stage, considering I knew it reasonably well - unintentionally - from watching some reviews/what to know videos earlier this week. All that said, I rolled a Royal and am liking it so far, though will say that I enjoy the combination of fighting both ranged with magic and melee. I'm not sure if that's a viable build or not, so plan to do some high-level, non-spoiler-y research this eve.

I died twice in 1-1 (and a couple times in Nexus, lol) - once was an accidental roll over a ledge, and once to the boss. There were a couple dicey moments when I was ambushed, but managed to stay alive otherwise. I feel like I cheesed the boss a little bit, sort of unintentionally. I used all my fire bombs on my first attempt, and didn't realize - which I guess makes sense - that I don't get those back when I get my body, until after I got my body. So then - not wanting to risk losing my souls by going back to farm - I basically just ran around for 10 minutes waiting for my MP to charge, breaking the shields, then pummeling him/roll out/repeat.

I'm not sure now if I should level up, how to level up my char, if I should upgrade gear, buy gear, etc. I leveled up a bit, but then reserved all of the souls I got from looting/items ("Warrior's soul" etc) til I figured that out.

Early returns are great. The level design was exceptional, it was fun to find secrets/open up shortcuts/etc., character build seems fun once I get it figured out. We'll see how I do without a preview of what I'm supposed to do - hoping I don't have to have my hand held, but we'll see. 100% open to any tips from you guys.

[ReginaldDwight]

Whats everyone been gaming lately, anyone play any AOE4? Been playing some Forza and Halo of course. Halo just feels odd playing for longer periods of times with the playlists how they are.

Before We Leave has rented some space in my brain this week. I haven't looked up anything, but that might change since I can't get off the second planet in four attempts.

Other than that I installed Halo and I'm enjoying quick bursts of bot based multiplayer.

I dove in and just got to my third planet on my first playthrough, only gripe is the trading gets pretty tedious with even two planets going.

[WRau1]

My daughter's birthday is coming up in January and she asked for a gaming laptop. Not going to lie, I'm pretty excited.

[TJ_Ford_11]

My daughter's birthday is coming up in January and she asked for a gaming laptop. Not going to lie, I'm pretty excited.

Lucky dad. PC gaming is where it’s at.

[ReasonablySober]

My daughter's birthday is coming up in January and she asked for a gaming laptop. Not going to lie, I'm pretty excited.

No daughters here, but on Thanksgiving the first thing my seven year old and five year old nieces, and three year old nephew wanted to show me when I came over was them facing off against the twin dragons in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Warmed my heart.

[MikeIsGood]

Day 2 DS update:

Did some research last night and found that mage/melee is viable, especially with the Crescent Falchion +1 in 4-1 that scales damage off of Magic. Excellent! I'll just go...die to the same skeleton for about 45 minutes. Google tips, throw my controller a couple times, etc. Started to think I regretted going magic, as it was absolutely impossible to play efficiently with it against the 4-1 skellies. But, my skill parrying and in melee in general definitely improved. After about 2 hours, I did finally get it...but **** if I tried to go against the black skellie - just got the sword and peaced-out.

I feel like I struggled a more reasonable amount going back to 2-1. Aside from some general learning/deaths, my struggle really was with how to deal with the fat officers. Even with magic, I struggled especially with the first one you're supposed to meet - in a narrow passage where the wolves come from. He was tough, and I felt like I cheesed him just ducking out from behind the wall, and rolling to escape his fireball.

I opened up the gate in 2-1 a couple rooms later, then went back to Nexus to level and quit for the day. Feeling good again, but am definitely wondering about my character. I wish I had a bow, and am wondering if I maybe should have gone with like thief or whatever to do dex sword/bow instead of melee mage. I'll probably change my mind again 25 times when magic is really useful, then 25 more times back when magic is not useful

[ReasonablySober]

Day 2 DS update:

Did some research last night and found that mage/melee is viable, especially with the Crescent Falchion +1 in 4-1 that scales damage off of Magic. Excellent! I'll just go...die to the same skeleton for about 45 minutes. Google tips, throw my controller a couple times, etc. Started to think I regretted going magic, as it was absolutely impossible to play efficiently with it against the 4-1 skellies. But, my skill parrying and in melee in general definitely improved. After about 2 hours, I did finally get it...but **** if I tried to go against the black skellie - just got the sword and peaced-out.

I feel like I struggled a more reasonable amount going back to 2-1. Aside from some general learning/deaths, my struggle really was with how to deal with the fat officers. Even with magic, I struggled especially with the first one you're supposed to meet - in a narrow passage where the wolves come from. He was tough, and I felt like I cheesed him just ducking out from behind the wall, and rolling to escape his fireball.

I opened up the gate in 2-1 a couple rooms later, then went back to Nexus to level and quit for the day. Feeling good again, but am definitely wondering about my character. I wish I had a bow, and am wondering if I maybe should have gone with like thief or whatever to do dex sword/bow instead of melee mage. I'll probably change my mind again 25 times when magic is really useful, then 25 more times back when magic is not useful

The 2-1 boss can be cheesed with a bow and around 30-40 arrows, so definitely pick one up. As for the fat officers, on your first play through their drops won't matter, so feel free to just do what you can to run by or avoid them. In the late game there's a side quest where you need to be wearing a Fat Officers set, so come back and kill those bastards when you're more leveled up.

[tydett]

I love magic builds in DS and you're on the right track. Just finished getting the platinum with just a Crescent Falchion +5 used as my weapon the entire game (and some busted ass spells). The biggest hints I can give you are to try and learn patterns on enemies- you're coming up on 2-2, which has, I think, probably the hardest boss in the game, and so learning when you can attack is important; realizing that its not a bad thing to get 1-2 hits before waiting for another opening - sometimes overstaying your welcome for one more hit is more punishing than the time you'd save killing the boss quicker; trying to abuse invincible frames (advanced) - when you roll, you get milliseconds of invincibility, so if you can roll through attacks, you can keep up the assault without retreating; and trying to learn from each death - losing souls isn't so important, because there's always more, but if you can try to take something away from each death, you can become better quicker. Finally, don't forget that you don't need to fight everything you come across. Sometimes, you just need to run past things and they'll leave you alone. Far better for focusing on what you actually need to do to progress.

[MikeIsGood]

Day 2 DS update:

Did some research last night and found that mage/melee is viable, especially with the Crescent Falchion +1 in 4-1 that scales damage off of Magic. Excellent! I'll just go...die to the same skeleton for about 45 minutes. Google tips, throw my controller a couple times, etc. Started to think I regretted going magic, as it was absolutely impossible to play efficiently with it against the 4-1 skellies. But, my skill parrying and in melee in general definitely improved. After about 2 hours, I did finally get it...but **** if I tried to go against the black skellie - just got the sword and peaced-out.

I feel like I struggled a more reasonable amount going back to 2-1. Aside from some general learning/deaths, my struggle really was with how to deal with the fat officers. Even with magic, I struggled especially with the first one you're supposed to meet - in a narrow passage where the wolves come from. He was tough, and I felt like I cheesed him just ducking out from behind the wall, and rolling to escape his fireball.

I opened up the gate in 2-1 a couple rooms later, then went back to Nexus to level and quit for the day. Feeling good again, but am definitely wondering about my character. I wish I had a bow, and am wondering if I maybe should have gone with like thief or whatever to do dex sword/bow instead of melee mage. I'll probably change my mind again 25 times when magic is really useful, then 25 more times back when magic is not useful

The 2-1 boss can be cheesed with a bow and around 30-40 arrows, so definitely pick one up. As for the fat officers, on your first play through their drops won't matter, so feel free to just do what you can to run by or avoid them. In the late game there's a side quest where you need to be wearing a Fat Officers set, so come back and kill those bastards when you're more leveled up.

I died a couple times, but got by the 2-1 boss pretty ok. I looked up some strategies and they worked well. I would love to have a bow though, still - is there a good place to buy or loot one?

There are a couple fat officers in 2-1 I didn't seem to be able to run by, but I managed to take them down ok. And I've got 2 pieces of their armor now, too. I need that to get the mage with the ridiculous spells, right? Do I not need to do that until late game? Good to know if so.

I love magic builds in DS and you're on the right track. Just finished getting the platinum with just a Crescent Falchion +5 used as my weapon the entire game (and some busted ass spells). The biggest hints I can give you are to try and learn patterns on enemies- you're coming up on 2-2, which has, I think, probably the hardest boss in the game, and so learning when you can attack is important; realizing that its not a bad thing to get 1-2 hits before waiting for another opening - sometimes overstaying your welcome for one more hit is more punishing than the time you'd save killing the boss quicker; trying to abuse invincible frames (advanced) - when you roll, you get milliseconds of invincibility, so if you can roll through attacks, you can keep up the assault without retreating; and trying to learn from each death - losing souls isn't so important, because there's always more, but if you can try to take something away from each death, you can become better quicker. Finally, don't forget that you don't need to fight everything you come across. Sometimes, you just need to run past things and they'll leave you alone. Far better for focusing on what you actually need to do to progress.

Thanks for the tips guys! I had been going through each of the -1s first before going back to the -2s. Do you guys recommend that, or something else? Like should I move on to 1-2 and 2-2?

One more question, too. I've been having some analysis paralysis trying to figure out how to spend my souls. After 2-1, I have ~6500 and a bunch of the non-boss itemized souls, too. Should I level up? Buy more spells? Is it worth buying a faith spell (e.g. Heal)? I've gone through greens quite fast.

[ReasonablySober]

Day 2 DS update:

Did some research last night and found that mage/melee is viable, especially with the Crescent Falchion +1 in 4-1 that scales damage off of Magic. Excellent! I'll just go...die to the same skeleton for about 45 minutes. Google tips, throw my controller a couple times, etc. Started to think I regretted going magic, as it was absolutely impossible to play efficiently with it against the 4-1 skellies. But, my skill parrying and in melee in general definitely improved. After about 2 hours, I did finally get it...but **** if I tried to go against the black skellie - just got the sword and peaced-out.

I feel like I struggled a more reasonable amount going back to 2-1. Aside from some general learning/deaths, my struggle really was with how to deal with the fat officers. Even with magic, I struggled especially with the first one you're supposed to meet - in a narrow passage where the wolves come from. He was tough, and I felt like I cheesed him just ducking out from behind the wall, and rolling to escape his fireball.

I opened up the gate in 2-1 a couple rooms later, then went back to Nexus to level and quit for the day. Feeling good again, but am definitely wondering about my character. I wish I had a bow, and am wondering if I maybe should have gone with like thief or whatever to do dex sword/bow instead of melee mage. I'll probably change my mind again 25 times when magic is really useful, then 25 more times back when magic is not useful

The 2-1 boss can be cheesed with a bow and around 30-40 arrows, so definitely pick one up. As for the fat officers, on your first play through their drops won't matter, so feel free to just do what you can to run by or avoid them. In the late game there's a side quest where you need to be wearing a Fat Officers set, so come back and kill those bastards when you're more leveled up.

I died a couple times, but got by the 2-1 boss pretty ok. I looked up some strategies and they worked well. I would love to have a bow though, still - is there a good place to buy or loot one?

There are a couple fat officers in 2-1 I didn't seem to be able to run by, but I managed to take them down ok. And I've got 2 pieces of their armor now, too. I need that to get the mage with the ridiculous spells, right? Do I not need to do that until late game? Good to know if so.

I love magic builds in DS and you're on the right track. Just finished getting the platinum with just a Crescent Falchion +5 used as my weapon the entire game (and some busted ass spells). The biggest hints I can give you are to try and learn patterns on enemies- you're coming up on 2-2, which has, I think, probably the hardest boss in the game, and so learning when you can attack is important; realizing that its not a bad thing to get 1-2 hits before waiting for another opening - sometimes overstaying your welcome for one more hit is more punishing than the time you'd save killing the boss quicker; trying to abuse invincible frames (advanced) - when you roll, you get milliseconds of invincibility, so if you can roll through attacks, you can keep up the assault without retreating; and trying to learn from each death - losing souls isn't so important, because there's always more, but if you can try to take something away from each death, you can become better quicker. Finally, don't forget that you don't need to fight everything you come across. Sometimes, you just need to run past things and they'll leave you alone. Far better for focusing on what you actually need to do to progress.

Thanks for the tips guys! I had been going through each of the -1s first before going back to the -2s. Do you guys recommend that, or something else? Like should I move on to 1-2 and 2-2?

One more question, too. I've been having some analysis paralysis trying to figure out how to spend my souls. After 2-1, I have ~6500 and a bunch of the non-boss itemized souls, too. Should I level up? Buy more spells? Is it worth buying a faith spell (e.g. Heal)? I've gone through greens quite fast.

This seems to be the consensus progression path:

Gates of Boletaria (1 - 1)
The Lord's Path (1 - 2)
Smithing Grounds (2 - 1)
Prison of Hope (3 - 1)
Island's Edge (4 - 1)
Depraved Chasm (5 - 1)
The Tunnel City (2 - 2)
Underground Temple (2 - 3)
Upper Latria (3 - 2)
The Ritual Path (4 - 2)
Inner Ward (1 - 3)
Swamp of Sorrow (5 - 2)
The Ivory Tower (3 - 3)
Altar of Storms (4 - 3)
Rotting Haven (5 - 3)
The King's Tower (1 - 4)

I like to finish 4-1 as quickly as I can, and you can skip most of it:

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

You don't have to fight the enemy right before the boss either. Just sprint past him.

But once you have 4-2 unlocked, you have one of the best souls farming spots in the early to mid-game.

Watch on YouTube

Usually I have an upgraded bow and can kill that enemy in two shots.

[Sauce Boss]

I've been in the mood for a good RPG and Mike talking about Demon's Souls is making me, once again, think about playing Dark Souls. Does anyone have starter tips for the remastered version?

[crkone]

I've been in the mood for a good RPG and Mike talking about Demon's Souls is making me, once again, think about playing Dark Souls. Does anyone have starter tips for the remastered version?

Getting the Black Knight sword in Undead Burg makes the game pretty easy. You have to get lucky with the drop tho.