Topic: PC Gaming

@Kid_Buu It wouldn't be surprising if real about more recent PS to PC, Xbox's journey to PC gave hints of what to look for if Playstation was to follow a similar route. You had the legacy ports here and there and as time went on it became closer to day 1 Xbox + PC until it eventually happened. Now the only major XB1 1st party game that is purchasable on XB1 but not on PC is Halo 5 and that'll probably be ported to PC sometime after Infinite launches.

@Kid_Buu Demon's Souls I honestly kind of expected. Souls has a massive playerbase on PC so tapping into that would be ideal for Sony even if Demon's Souls specifically has a very PlayStation-centric history

Awesome if all those games are coming to PC, although I assume Forbidden West will be awhile yet ..... Think it was suggested before that the Demon Souls remake would do but I'll be glad if it does! Along with Ghost of Tsushima & Forbidden West, although the latter will probably be quite awhile yet

I think that leak from earlier just kind of lost all its credibility looking at other games listed

How are you going to remaster Chrono Cross before Trigger and make KH4 before KH3.752 Penultimate Chapter Epiprologue Remix -a fragementary walkway-

Deathloop's PC port seems to have some... odd optimisation. I tweaked a few settings like FOV, V-Sync etc but left the default settings which I assumed were auto detected as they were. I played the game and it looked and ran fine, no noticeable frame dips or anything like that. However, when I went into my settings to tweak a few things for my controls, I got a warning that my VRAM has been exceeded. This appears to have no impact on the game and like I say, I was using the settings it defaulted to, so it seems like something must be going wrong in the background with the game eating up way more resources than it really needs.

There is some AMD equivalent of DLSS included, which appears to be able to be used even if you aren't running an AMD card, but this didn't really have much effect on the resource use and made the game look noticeably worse, even when using the quality modes. I would wait for DLSS to be added, if it is going to be added at all.

And I guess if you want raytracing, be prepared to fork out for a 3090, the top end I9 and be willing to play in 30 fps.

@TheFrenchiestFry Chrono Trigger came to PC in 2018 so that's probably recent enough that Square Enix would go straight to Chrono Cross. I'd also guess if real that Square Enix would follow the pattern of the recent FF1-6 remasters and only release a Chrono Cross remaster on PC and mobile.

So it turns out that not only is Deathloop not so great on the optimisation front, it has some nasty bugs. I just missed out on what I am sure are vital rewards because they just didn't spawn or maybe have fallen through the floor. I hope this doesn't break my ability to keep progressing.

PC problems aside though, Deathloop is actually pretty fun. I think the reviews sort of set you up for a little disappointment, because it sets expectations that just can't be matched, but this feels like a roguelike game for people who don't like roguelike games. Retaining many of the core ingredients of those games, while adding in various things to curb either the monotony or frustration those titles usually induce in me.

This isn't just a series of fixed encounters you make incremental progress through, to eventually clear. There are goals, missions and purposes to your actions here, meaning you rarely need to go through an encounter more than once. Or if you must revisit it, there is enough possible variance to make it feel like you aren't just being forced to do the same thing over and over.

I wouldn't say it is perfect though, like some of the reviews make it seem. Some of the hit detection on weapons seems super wonky, the enemy AI is straight awful and it seems like they knew it and to counter balance that, you're both very fragile and enemy detection can be insanely broken. Like, I can stealth kill someone to the side of someone and they don't react but then later in a level I can be "spotted" as I am not crouching and it turns out the enemy is across the space behind multiple objects, so I guess they could see me through walls?

Thankfully as you upgrade Cole this becomes less of an issue and the game is quite forgiving when it comes to you making mistakes.

I am sure if someone wants the punishing grind of a roguelike or a refined, stealth, experience they'll probably be disappointed with this but as someone who doesn't care for either, I have been enjoying going through Deathloop's story, exploring the various spaces (and the way in which they can vary depending on the time of day) and making use of the almost sandbox approach to engagements - albeit with a slightly disappointingly small arsenal of gear.

Hacking turrets and setting traps has definitely been my preferred approach so far. When it explodes into all out chaos, like I say Cole is too fragile and the guns feel too wonky for it to be as fun as it feels like it should be, but maybe with some upgrades I'll just go full guns blazing and have a great time.

Been using VRR via G-sync for about a month now, and I have to say, it’s one of the biggest advancements in video games ever made. It renders framerate fluctuations powerless over the experience. I run Horizon Zero Dawn at 4K 60fps High settings, and because there’s no DLSS, I used to have to turn on Dynamic Resolution to keep the Framerate locked at 60. And that resulted in a much softer image. But now? I just lock resolution and let VRR take care of the rest. It feels like it’s a locked 60 even though, in actuality, it drops to 50 fairly regularly, sometimes even 45. You just never notice with VRR locking your TV refresh rate to the Framerate.

It’s a massive shame SteamDeck won’t have VRR.

@Pizzamorg
I knew right away Deathloop wasn’t a “10”. Anytime a AAA game releases that is exclusive to PlayStation in some way you can pretty much subtract a point from the aggregate if you want an unbiased estimate. ACG review usually tells it how it is for AAA games.

That said, it still looks awesome. I’ve been holding off digging in further on PC until some patches drop (plus Im just swamped with other games anyways) but what you describe is why I suspect I’ll enjoy it more than other rogue likes, which I’m not typically a fan of.

Yeah I always thought like high refresh rates, VRR, Gsync/FreeSync was a lot of marketing BS but man, when I am not gaming on my monitor, it is pretty rough. I have a better TV now, but at one point I was using a 60 fps TV with no additional tech and man, every game seemed so choppy on it compared to my monitor and I noticed every frame drop. On my PC, a game can suddenly sharply drop like 40 frames and I don't even notice because Gsync on my monitor just smooths everything out and it runs at a really high refresh rate. Just couldn't imagine gaming without it now.

In regards to Deathloop, maybe for the first time ever for me, I am playing a poorly optimised game and don't seem to have it worse than others. My main issue right now is often the game just refuses to open, I just have to keep clicking and eventually it sticks.

But I have had loot drop into the terrain, at least one hard crash and this really weird issue I don't think I've seen in a game before, where the game can't seem to accurately detect my VRAM budget? Sometimes it would tell me I had VRAM to spare and then suddenly I would get a warning that my VRAM was exceeded. This appears to be something wrong with whatever is collating that data, as I never once experienced any noticeable performance degradation during the times when it warned my VRAM was exceeded, so I just ignored it. But it still worries me about what is going here.

And like I say, that in any other world, is a really bad experience but I've read about people who have had dozens of hard crashes, performance degradation, the game running really choppy/poorly etc so people have had it worse than me.

In terms of the game, now I am a bit further in, I am still quite mixed on the game overall. My all time favourite game is BioShock. A fifteen year old game, that used fifteen large levels to make up one cohesive space. Somehow, fifteen years later, we get a space that is divided into four small quarters and a timeloop mechanic to force us to keep visiting the spaces over and over again.

There can be variances to the spaces, but already about 12 hours in, there simply isn't enough. While there is a certain satisfaction to getting map mastery or when you either unlock a new part of a map/discover a new way to traverse through it, given the roguelike elements are so light to the point of being non-existent, it just sorta feels kinda lazy in the end. I barely need to engage with the world at all now, as I know exactly where everything is and the quickest path to each objective on that specific map with the least amount of enemies along the way. Maybe every now and then a unique area will open, but it'll quickly loop back to an area you've been to dozens of times before, so it never really offers a fresh challenge.

Deathloop is effectively a linear game, so why we couldn't just travel through 15 levels to make up Blackreef like BioShock was doing over a decade ago with Rapture, I don't know. The cynical person in me says that they used the timeloop just to scale down the amount of content they actually needed to make for the game.

I feel like I am only as disappointed by this as I am, because Deathloop's systems are surprisingly robust. The trinket system really allows you to focus on how your character will operate in way more specific ways than I could have expected going in. The limited arsenal is kept interesting by the perks the weapons can roll with and the way in which the attachments can add to them. The powers all get upgrades which make them more interesting and focus them in on a specific kind of timescale. And the way all of these synergise together to create uniquely your character, is really satisfying.

There is just nothing to really test and apply this against. Missions will typically have you sneaking into a location, getting some information and then sneaking back out again. The AI is really bad, so other than just deliberately setting off alarms to get yourself in trouble, a well crafted build really hasn't been all that purposeful yet in my experience of playing the game.

i really have to get a new monitor. 1440p, 144hz, freesync is the goal. but i also need a new pc to really get the benefit from the new monitor -.-

Monitors are relatively cheap. I’d go for the PC first, then get the monitor. Or get both at the same time. Pre-builts are my recommendation for anyone who doesn’t want to build. Provided it’s not a mass market model from a budget brand. I went through C.U.K. and was very happy with their craftsmanship. Solid cable management, safe shipping, everything worked without issue.

I prefer playing PC on my LG C1 OLED 4KTV, just like a console. It has VRR support for G-sync and Freesync. Also provides 4K, which many monitors don’t.

I think my monitor cost me just under 500 quid, which is significantly cheaper than even a budget 4K TV but more expensive than say a Nintendo Switch, which I know can be a hard sell for many. For me, the benefits of the monitor far outweigh the costs. I wouldn't say it is vital though, I gamed on my TV for a years (the 60 fps, barebones, TV) and while it ran like ***** compared to my monitor, obviously I didn't know this until I had my monitor, so the TV did the job just fine (assuming you already have a TV).

There is also the question of 4K but this is a more complicated than it might appear. Higher resolution would seem like it is always better, but the performance cost between 1440p and 4k can be significant, especially on games released in the last couple of years. So unless you have a modern, top of the range PC, you might not be playing a lot of games in 4K if you want the best performance you can out of the game, so you might be able to save yourself money by getting a 1440p monitor instead. Especially as monitors are generally much smaller than TVs, like it doesn't make as much of a difference because you are sat like directly in front of it, but you're still not going to see as much of a difference as you might expect between 1440p and 4K if your monitor is around 30 inches, even sat close to it. But it will be priced like it is the difference between the sun and moon.

With my set up, I use my 1440p, Gsync 144 hz monitor for shooters and competitive games, where every drop of performance matters. It is about half the size of my TV, but I am sat directly in front of it, so it doesn't make any different. However, I tend to throw turn based, tactics or story based single player games over to my TV. There I can play in 4K and if the game sits under 60fps, it doesn't really affect anything.

In terms of prebuilts, they can be a real mixed bag from my experience. I used a company called Overclockers a few years ago, they gave me a high specced machine (for the time) but it never ran particularly well, not the level of performance the specs should give me. I ended up taking that thing apart and putting it back together again, replacing a bunch of parts, as they had clearly cut a lot of corners to get the costs down on the more expensive parts. You get what you pay for.

I eventually replaced that prebuilt PC with a new one from a different company, this has been a significantly better experience than the first time. There were still some oddities with some of the build choices, but I could fix those myself. Maybe it would be better if I just entirely built it myself... but I can't be arsed.

I would highly recommend though you avoid going prebuilt from an actual company, like HP, or Dell or whoever is still going around. Those sorts of prebuilts are usually overpriced and just awful.

I'm not overly fond of prebuilts. Their design often seems driven by what the manufacturers have an overstock of rather than matching components of appropriate specifications together, and they'll quite often underperform badly compared to systems you could build yourself at similar prices because of that.

Also, be especially wary of the major manufacturers like Dell, HP and Lenovo, as they'll frequently use proprietary components that make upgrades much harder because you're locked into their ecosystems.

That said, if you've neither the time nor inclination to build your own PC they're an option. Just do your homework first to avoid any truly unpleasant surprises. Most manufacturers will give you a parts list, and that'll give you a good idea as to the upgrade potential and any likely bottlenecks.

The main problem with buying any PC at the moment though is the GPU shortage. There's a particularly large premium on anything that's capable of 4K or higher refresh rates. In many ways you'd be better off buying something with integrated graphics or an entry level card and looking to upgrade next year, when prices might have returned to normality. Then again, people were saying that last year and we're not exactly back there yet.

Yeah, if you want to build it yourself - research is your best friend. That might sound like an obvious point, but the actual craft of PC building is basically lego so it isn't hard. What makes it difficult is that not every kind of PC part will talk to another, so you have to know what parts will play nice, how to balance your parts, how to properly arrange/install your parts etc You can't just toss a bunch of random ***** into a box. That is why I tend to just buy a prebuilt and use that as a foundation, because at least I know the core works. Then slowly build upon it over time.

If you're in the UK & you don't want to just buy a PC already made from wherever, there's PC Specialist ..... That way you get the advantages you would get with building it yourself except they do it, so you still get the usual kind of guarantee! Which specifically lets you upgrade if you like, with only the obvious clause to cover if that caused problems they wouldn't cover those

Decided to buy the Destroy All Humans! remake while it's on sale.

It's a game I've been interested in ever since it's original release though I never got around to getting it until now, and I figured for $10 it was worth getting for a rainy day/lull in releases.

Meanwhile, in Tales of Arise I've just arrived at the obligatory section where you lose access to your main healer for a bit, so that should be fun, lol.

Not sure what the patch did but I went from no hard crashes in DEATHLOOP in almost 15 hours, to getting two hard crashes practically back to back.

@BruceCM
Ya, that’s how C.U.K. is. You custom order your PC. They have some stock choices to choose from as a baseline, then you choose which options you’d like upgraded for higher cost. I went for the best GPU out at the time (2080 ti), best motherboard, best PSU, largest SSD they offered, but went with 32GB RAM (64 just didn’t seem worth it, plus they sent me higher MHz ram than I paid for which was awesome), went for the best CPU at the time (i9 9900k), paid for the 240mm water pump CPU cooler, no auxiliary mechanical HDD, no Windows activation.

Everything is hand assembled by a single master builder.

When it comes to mass market prebuilts such as Dell, Alienware, HP, etc. Those are cheap components, cheaply made, poor cable management, they run hot, and I don’t trust them. Not to say there aren’t deals to be had, but personally I won’t touch them. Unless you really need a deal and are willing to compromise on the parts included in the build, it’s not worth it. Better to custom “build” your own picking and choosing the components you want, and skipping on the ones you don’t want. That money that would’ve gone towards features and components you don’t care about could be better put towards upgrades in other areas that you do care about (such as getting a 2TB NVMe for your OS).

Nothing more powerful than a desktop PC custom built by yourself or a custom PC builder. They rock and I’ve had a few of them. However, a gaming PC laptop can give you a great gaming experience at Starbucks - and there is lots to be said for that too.