OT: Video Game Computers/Gadgets/Gizmos Thread

[jschligs]

Bought and downloaded Diablo 2 Resurrected for Switch last night. Surprisingly, have never played a Diablo game before. Excited to jump in. Any tips for newbies?

[MikeIsGood]

Bought and downloaded Diablo 2 Resurrected for Switch last night. Surprisingly, have never played a Diablo game before. Excited to jump in. Any tips for newbies?

Online for consoles is broken supposedly, so might as well play offline.

Other than that, just enjoy You'll get to reset all your skills and skill points three times for free - once per run-through on each difficulty setting. So I'd suggest just doing your own thing your first time through. Do all the quests your first time, too.

Countess is a great place to farm runes. To know what to do with said runes, check an online guide for best normal rune words.

Only make rune words in white (non-magic) items. Rune order matters - put them in an item in the same order as the rune word says online. You certainly don't have to use rune words, though, to get through Normal difficulty at least.

Fire skills are generally OP in Normal. They start to taper-off in Nightmare, and in Hell are underpowered due to elemental immunities. They're supposedly getting buffed next patch (~02/22).

Pay attention to skill synergies. E.g. the Sorc's Fire Bolt - a prereq for Fireball - will level damage for your Fireball.

[crkone]

From what I've seen Inscryption is a hell of an experience.

[ReasonablySober]

Started up a new Dark Souls save on the Switch just to see if I could do a quick run to the Black Knight's Halberd. Never played with it before. I only had it on the Switch and was very annoyed with the load times I'd gotten accustomed to on the Series X. So I bought it there and holy ****, not really surprisingly it's a very different game. Faster, yea, but they upscaled everything and it looks great.

Haven't played it too much so far, but I did get the Halberd after only a few attempts and yea, it does work. I've been devoting all my souls into strength to get to 32 so I can use a shield. It's made me hilariously squishy, but it's a tradeoff I'll take to one hit some early bosses. But yea, one point away from 32 at the moment and once I'm there it's over for these hoes.

[MikeIsGood]

Checked out the Steam sale, not really expecting to buy anything, but just to see if anything stood out as an especially good deal. What I ended up finding was that there's gonna be a new Cities: Skylines expansion - the first in almost two years - in just a few weeks. So I decided that would be fun to jump back into, picked up a couple expansions I didn't have yet (Campus and Green Living), and am getting lost in it all over again.

The new expansion is Airports, which looks super cool. Sounds like it's basically it's own game-within-a-game, kind of like Industries.

[Sauce Boss]

Does anyone have any suggestions for the Steam sale? I haven't seen anything that has caught my eye, but I'm sure there is some overlooked indie gem or extremely discounted game I'm missing out on. Maybe I walk away from this one empty-handed for once.

[MikeIsGood]

Does anyone have any suggestions for the Steam sale? I haven't seen anything that has caught my eye, but I'm sure there is some overlooked indie gem or extremely discounted game I'm missing out on. Maybe I walk away from this one empty-handed for once.

Everyone seems to say to not look up anything about Inscryption and just to buy it if you're even remotely into deck building games. I'm just remotely into them myself, so 20% off isn't a deep enough discount for me.

Nothing else super stood out to me. I got Cities Skylines expansions just because I already have it and was going to play it again. I do think I saw that Jedi: Fallen Order (played), Metro Exodus (played), and Wasteland 3 (played, though do want to play again sometime soonish) are all at all-time lows.

[Sauce Boss]

Does anyone have any suggestions for the Steam sale? I haven't seen anything that has caught my eye, but I'm sure there is some overlooked indie gem or extremely discounted game I'm missing out on. Maybe I walk away from this one empty-handed for once.

Everyone seems to say to not look up anything about Inscryption and just to buy it if you're even remotely into deck building games. I'm just remotely into them myself, so 20% off isn't a deep enough discount for me.

Nothing else super stood out to me. I got Cities Skylines expansions just because I already have it and was going to play it again. I do think I saw that Jedi: Fallen Order (played), Metro Exodus (played), and Wasteland 3 (played, though do want to play again sometime soonish) are all at all-time lows.

Funny, this sounds like a loose list of stuff I was considering. I also ended up watching a video on the latest Last Epoch patch because you've hyped it up. The druid changes they made look pretty wild and a lot of fun. I put it on my wishlist since it's looking like it's coming along quite nicely and I enjoy a good ARPG; could maybe splurge on it since it's not on a deep sale.

[MikeIsGood]

Does anyone have any suggestions for the Steam sale? I haven't seen anything that has caught my eye, but I'm sure there is some overlooked indie gem or extremely discounted game I'm missing out on. Maybe I walk away from this one empty-handed for once.

Everyone seems to say to not look up anything about Inscryption and just to buy it if you're even remotely into deck building games. I'm just remotely into them myself, so 20% off isn't a deep enough discount for me.

Nothing else super stood out to me. I got Cities Skylines expansions just because I already have it and was going to play it again. I do think I saw that Jedi: Fallen Order (played), Metro Exodus (played), and Wasteland 3 (played, though do want to play again sometime soonish) are all at all-time lows.

Funny, this sounds like a loose list of stuff I was considering. I also ended up watching a video on the latest Last Epoch patch because you've hyped it up. The druid changes they made look pretty wild and a lot of fun. I put it on my wishlist since it's looking like it's coming along quite nicely and I enjoy a good ARPG; could maybe splurge on it since it's not on a deep sale.

I'm not sure it'll ever be a deep sale, truthfully. It's going to be a live-service game without P2W MTX, so they've stated the base game is intended to be a primary source of revenue for them. But you never know! As far as we currently know, the price isn't expected to go up once it's out of EA, so it's not like you're in a big rush.

I haven't played the new shifter skills yet, but I am playing Primalist (shifter's main class) for the first time and it's outstanding. I'm playing with a new skill, Upheavel, which is a callback to an old PoE skill, Sunder, that is long since dead. And it's so much fun.

This isn't my build, but it's essentially it - same skills, but different selections and gear. The point is the playstyle and skills used. I think I got about 60h in before taking a break for Cities, but will definitely be going back to this character and likely others too.

Watch on YouTube

[ReasonablySober]

Started up a new Dark Souls save on the Switch just to see if I could do a quick run to the Black Knight's Halberd. Never played with it before. I only had it on the Switch and was very annoyed with the load times I'd gotten accustomed to on the Series X. So I bought it there and holy ****, not really surprisingly it's a very different game. Faster, yea, but they upscaled everything and it looks great.

Haven't played it too much so far, but I did get the Halberd after only a few attempts and yea, it does work. I've been devoting all my souls into strength to get to 32 so I can use a shield. It's made me hilariously squishy, but it's a tradeoff I'll take to one hit some early bosses. But yea, one point away from 32 at the moment and once I'm there it's over for these hoes.

My order of the SoulsBorne series was

Kinda playing Dark Souls
Bloodborne
Dark Souls 3
Dark Souls 2
Kinda playing Dark Souls
All of the Soulsborne-likes
Demon's Souls

and now I think I'm ready to say Dark Souls, the original, is the greatest game ever, I think? I now see what critics of the later games talked about in terms of level design. Holy **** ****, I can't even believe what I'm playing in terms of how the world all connects together. It's just mind blowing.

I like the boss battles a lot more in DSIII and Bloodborne, and the difficulty is on another level in Nioh, but MY GOD, I can't wrap my head around what it was like to come up with the original DS world.

[ACGB]

I think I'm getting addicted to Teamfight Tactics right now. I always end up playing these types of slow paced competitive games until i get burned out and move on to another one. Hearthstone, Magic the gathering, HS battlegrounds. Now it's TFT.

[Chapter29]

Hello all, hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

I am a big video game and tech toy kind of guy.

I got three cool toys for this Xmas.

Got some fairly entry level ebikes for the wife and I.

For me ...https://wingbikes.com/products/wing-freedom-fatty-2 This thing is some serious fun (just took it out in the snow ) and a Black Friday deal made it sort of inexpensive.

Also took a stab at some basic VR - Got an Oculus 2. This thing is fun. I didn't expect it to be this much fun and my wife loves it (weird as she hates video games). I have been reluctant to try VR as it seemingly hasn't really taken off. Now after playing with this, I may have to add one of these VR units to my main PC in the future for some real horsepower.

The third.....as some may recall I am also a car guy. I just finally purchased my new motor for my STI after 3 years lobbying and saving. 1000hp IAG long block and all the goodies that go with it. 3 month's to get everything.....I cannot wait.

Happy Holiday's and Go Bucks!

[jschligs]

Hello all, hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

I am a big video game and tech toy kind of guy.

I got three cool toys for this Xmas.

Got some fairly entry level ebikes for the wife and I.

For me ...https://wingbikes.com/products/wing-freedom-fatty-2 This thing is some serious fun (just took it out in the snow ) and a Black Friday deal made it sort of inexpensive.

Also took a stab at some basic VR - Got an Oculus 2. This thing is fun. I didn't expect it to be this much fun and my wife loves it (weird as she hates video games). I have been reluctant to try VR as it seemingly hasn't really taken off. Now after playing with this, I may have to add one of these VR units to my main PC in the future for some real horsepower.

The third.....as some may recall I am also a car guy. I just finally purchased my new motor for my STI after 3 years lobbying and saving. 1000hp IAG long block and all the goodies that go with it. 3 month's to get everything.....I cannot wait.

Happy Holiday's and Go Bucks!

That’s a dang good Christmas! I’ve struggled with getting a VR for two reasons:

1. I want to make sure there is enough games to play and it isn’t gimmicky.
2. I don’t want to buy anything owned by Facebook.

How much did the whole set up cost? I’m probably going to jump soon.

[Chapter29]

Hello all, hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

I am a big video game and tech toy kind of guy.

I got three cool toys for this Xmas.

Got some fairly entry level ebikes for the wife and I.

For me ...https://wingbikes.com/products/wing-freedom-fatty-2 This thing is some serious fun (just took it out in the snow ) and a Black Friday deal made it sort of inexpensive.

Also took a stab at some basic VR - Got an Oculus 2. This thing is fun. I didn't expect it to be this much fun and my wife loves it (weird as she hates video games). I have been reluctant to try VR as it seemingly hasn't really taken off. Now after playing with this, I may have to add one of these VR units to my main PC in the future for some real horsepower.

The third.....as some may recall I am also a car guy. I just finally purchased my new motor for my STI after 3 years lobbying and saving. 1000hp IAG long block and all the goodies that go with it. 3 month's to get everything.....I cannot wait.

Happy Holiday's and Go Bucks!

That’s a dang good Christmas! I’ve struggled with getting a VR for two reasons:

1. I want to make sure there is enough games to play and it isn’t gimmicky.
2. I don’t want to buy anything owned by Facebook.

How much did the whole set up cost? I’m probably going to jump soon.

Yep and sadly Oculus is FB. I am not a FB fan at all.

A bit gimmicky for sure…but pretty dang cool too. The Oculus I believe is 300 and 400 for the 2 options. It’s a standalone system that it appears you can connect to a PC.

In looking briefly at this vs the more expensive PC setups, lack of content and gimmicky certainly are the concerns. But also you gain image quality and more sensors which is really needed imo to make these VR things more realistic. For example they have 360 VR YouTube. Super cool but the image quality just isn’t quite there yet with the Oculus. Also you really do need the room sensors and such to make it more usable and less gimmicky. Chicken vs Egg for me and the reason I have held out till now to even try it.

Also note that you need a serious gaming rig to drive the high end VR systems.

[jschligs]

Hello all, hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

I am a big video game and tech toy kind of guy.

I got three cool toys for this Xmas.

Got some fairly entry level ebikes for the wife and I.

For me ...https://wingbikes.com/products/wing-freedom-fatty-2 This thing is some serious fun (just took it out in the snow ) and a Black Friday deal made it sort of inexpensive.

Also took a stab at some basic VR - Got an Oculus 2. This thing is fun. I didn't expect it to be this much fun and my wife loves it (weird as she hates video games). I have been reluctant to try VR as it seemingly hasn't really taken off. Now after playing with this, I may have to add one of these VR units to my main PC in the future for some real horsepower.

The third.....as some may recall I am also a car guy. I just finally purchased my new motor for my STI after 3 years lobbying and saving. 1000hp IAG long block and all the goodies that go with it. 3 month's to get everything.....I cannot wait.

Happy Holiday's and Go Bucks!

That’s a dang good Christmas! I’ve struggled with getting a VR for two reasons:

1. I want to make sure there is enough games to play and it isn’t gimmicky.
2. I don’t want to buy anything owned by Facebook.

How much did the whole set up cost? I’m probably going to jump soon.

Yep and sadly Oculus is FB. I am not a FB fan at all.

A bit gimmicky for sure…but pretty dang cool too. The Oculus I believe is 300 and 400 for the 2 options. It’s a standalone system that it appears you can connect to a PC.

In looking briefly at this vs the more expensive PC setups, lack of content and gimmicky certainly are the concerns. But also you gain image quality and more sensors which is really needed imo to make these VR things more realistic. For example they have 360 VR YouTube. Super cool but the image quality just isn’t quite there yet with the Oculus. Also you really do need the room sensors and such to make it more usable and less gimmicky. Chicken vs Egg for me and the reason I have held out till now to even try it.

Also note that you need a serious gaming rig to drive the high end VR systems.

I've always had my eye on some, I prefer the PC driven ones. Thinking if I did take the plunge I'd go with the Valve Index Kit. My gaming PC should be able to handle most anything I would assume (3080Ti, 5800x). Now I just need to do some more research and probably not pull the trigger because I'm awful at that part.

[StickeeFingaz]

I think I'm getting addicted to Teamfight Tactics right now. I always end up playing these types of slow paced competitive games until i get burned out and move on to another one. Hearthstone, Magic the gathering, HS battlegrounds. Now it's TFT.

I got hooked on TFT earlier this year, knew some builds that I liked and had fun with. Stopped playing and then a new season started, came back and felt overwhelmed with entirely new characters & classes and haven't touched it since.

[Sauce Boss]

I've been meaning to pick up some open ear headphones for a while now and finally grabbed a pair. The Philips Fidelio X2HRs are on sale on Amazon for ~$125, costing me about $25 out of pocket after using gift cards from the holidays and Amazon credit. I'm hoping they are a good pickup, they are a more "fun" pair of headphones than more technical sets at the beginner end of the audiophile spectrum. The fact that I can drive it without dropping $200+ on a starter AMP/DAC combo makes it more palatable, considering I'm mostly wearing them for playing games on my PC. Maybe I'll make that audiophile dip someday when my house is more fixed up and I can splurge on the gear for it.

[MikeIsGood]

I've been working on my current city in C:S now for about 25 hours, and I absolutely love it. The DLC I got were all excellent additions; the game feels much more complete. And I think, along with a painstaking amount of time (lovingly) stressing over traffic patterns, they've helped make this my best and most successful city. Got a ways to go, but feeling really good about it.

[ReasonablySober]

Just read about Wildermyth on a year-end list and now I'm desperate to check it out.

If someone wanted a quick and dirty explanation of Wildermyth, I’d tell them that it’s XCOM for fantasy nerds. The main difference is that it goes a lot harder on personal narratives for each of the individual characters than I would expect. See, Wildermyth is mostly procedurally generated. You can randomize your characters’ appearance, gender, sexuality, and background. Their personal arcs are defined by random life-altering events, but the writers have authored so much loving detail that I sometimes forget that my characters are determined by a cold and unfeeling dice roll.

These dice-roll people are real to me. That’s all that really matters, isn’t it?

[jschligs]

I've been working on my current city in C:S now for about 25 hours, and I absolutely love it. The DLC I got were all excellent additions; the game feels much more complete. And I think, along with a painstaking amount of time (lovingly) stressing over traffic patterns, they've helped make this my best and most successful city. Got a ways to go, but feeling really good about it.

I love Cities, but never got the DLC. My biggest city (which honestly wasn't that great) got to the point where the traffic was so bad and congested that nothing would work. I added buses, subway, underground roads, literally every possibility. Eventually gave up and haven't ever gotten a city close to that size. I need to revisit that game. One of my favorites.