Topic: PC Gaming

You know what, after spending most of my weekend with it, I have sorta changed my stance on Cyberpunk 2077. Is everything I said above still true? Yeah. Will it forever be true that CDPR lied, manipulated, oversold and overpromised to trick you into buying their game? Yeah.

But like while I know Silverhand won't approve, I can hold this grudge forever, or just enjoy CP77 for what it is and I chose just to enjoy it. Is it the prime BioWare RPG we all expected based on the marketing? Nah. Is it some evolutionary open world title? Nah. Is it basically a Far Cry game set in a sort of futuristic city? Yep. And I like Far Cry games. Am I sad this game is as shallow as a puddle? Yeah. But I just got over (that aspect, not the scumminess from CDPR) and just started enjoying the game for what is was. Doesn't mean anyone else needs to, of course.

Yeah, it's still a good game, @Pizzamorg .... The hype train had got to such levels it could never have lived up to that of course! I'll probably go back to have another run through it sooner or later to see how it is now

It is still very buggy, there are some bugs in there that were there when I played the launch version. And some new ones - like if you drive really quickly, it just seems like all the traffic despawns and you have to pause and wait for them to load in again (or not, as I do, as the clear roads are great if completely immersion shattering).

But yeah, I have played something like 45 hours total, on this latest playthrough I think I am about 20 hours in and most of that has just been side content. And like honestly the side content isn't bad, the objectives are usually very basic, but there are some interesting characters and lore if you want to discover them and if not, you'll probably get some cool loot.

I played it on launch, @Pizzamorg .... I gather it was rather worse on consoles than PC & I think I was lucky but I had a few crashes, particularly in one area that were annoying! There's certainly a LOT of side-content although most of the best stuff is story related optional quests

@Pizzamorg The hype mainly passed me by on Cyberpunk as I didn't own anything at the time that was actually able to play it. Wasn't until I got a Series S I started seeing some of the bad coverage it was getting at release, but oddly enough it was watching some of that coverage that I actually thought it looked pretty good (bugs and glitches aside). Still haven't picked it up yet, but with the latest upgrade for Series consoles I'll definitely get it sooner rather than later.

It's currently half price on Steam, @dmcc0 .... XBox & PS seem to have it also discounted digitally on their stores here!

Yeah, I believe it is currently half off on every platform!

@BruceCM Thanks - my creaky old non-gaming PC would probably burst into flames if I tried to run anything from the last 10 years I suspect, but I did see it was on sale on Xbox. I suspect it's one of those games that will get an even deeper discount before too long so I may hold off a bit longer. I've spent my gaming budget this month already, so it'll have to wait 'til at least next payday anyway...

Yeah, you would want a decent gaming PC for that option, @dmcc0 .... But I hear from others with the current consoles that it runs well on those! It was more the previous gen it had problems on & I'm sure it has been improved a lot since launch even there

@BruceCM
I have Cyberpunk 2077 on Steam and Series X.

It's fine on Series X, but looks a lot better on Steam due to Raytracing affecting lighting and not just shadows like on console.

It also has DLSS so I tend to run 1440p native with DLSS to 4k, with RT on a medium setting.

But ya, it's fine on either.

Based on tech analysis, it doesn't look like you're getting either true 4K 60 fps or true ray tracing on the Series X/PS5. And I think the Series S is in 1080p 30 with no raytracing option at all? That being said, it isn't like things are much better on PC.

You do have things like DLSS to carry the game on PC and DLSS seems much improved over it's initial implementation on the title, at launch DLSS turned the game into this fuzzy, blurry, smudgy mess. You still do get some of that, but not nearly as bad as it was before. Plus you get full raytracing should you have a PC that can handle that.

But performance will of course vary wildly depending on hardware and while that might sound like an obvious statement, with a game as buggy and seemingly poorly optimised as Cyberpunk, trying to play it on PC might not be worth the faff, if you can get a stable 60fpsish on console around 4kish with maybe some trickery going on in the background (assuming you have a Series X/PS5). If you only have a Series S, it does not seem worth getting on console.

Yeah but if they don't have a pretty powerful PC, they won't have ray-tracing there, either, @JaxonH .... it certainly sounded like theirs was never meant to be that sort of computer

Bethesda is officially retiring it's launcher & moving to Steam .....
https://bethesda.net/en/article/2RXxG1y000NWupPalzLblG/sunset...

@BruceCM Yeah, definitely not that kind of computer. Built to a pretty tight budget many years ago and never with gaming in mind. Fine for indies and stuff around PS3 era mostly - Arkham Origins ran 'ok' for example, but anything newer and it's pretty dire even on lowest settings. I think LEGO Ninjago Movie was running at around 15fps according to Steam and AC Black Flag was unplayable too. I never really buy anything on PC anyway - the stuff I do have is mostly stuff picked up in Humble Bundles or freebies from Epic store etc.

Ugh.

Steamdeck ETA still says "After Q2". Some users set up a data driven estimator tool to predict when you'll get your Deck based on time of order and place in queue. It told me September 30th, the very last day of Q3 lol.

Go figure.

So, I guess it's gonna be a while. But that's OK. Give it 6 months to iron out the kinks and get the majority of games added that can potentially run, let users figure out the tricks needed to get games to run best and conserve as much battery as possible, etc.

I need that Steamdeck though. I NEED it.

Switch has an astronomically packed lineup to the extent I likely won't have time for much else, and yet... I'm greedy. I want more.... More, more, moooore! Give me Horizon ZD on the Deck! Give me Elden Ring on the Deck! Give me Soul Hackers 2 on the Deck! Give me Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (One Vision mod)! I really hope PPSSPP works well, cause Triangle Strategy has me desperate for more SRPG classics.

Can't say I've heard of that mod for Tactics Ogre, @JaxonH .... But I definitely remember the game on my PSP

@BruceCM
It's basically the recommended way to play the game.

It doesn't drastically alter the game into something else, but it does balance the game. Long time fans are keenly aware of all the ways in which the game is unbalanced or where its lacking. This mod on its latest version .985 is heralded as the best yet.

https://thelongestdamnreviews.tumblr.com/post/177117561070/ta...

Awesome, @JaxonH .... I'll hope Triangle Strategy does well enough to generate a series, though! That'd be even better

@BruceCM
So do I.

It's such an amazing and special game. Those two demos blindsided me with how good it is. Way better than Octopath or Bravely Default 2.

And yet, I have a feeling it'll get overlooked because 1) It's a Tactics game, which isn't as popular, and 2) Ppl will likely judge it based on Team Asano's previous two Switch games, 3) Reviews will likely complain about the lengthy dialog and turn ppl away

Yeah, @JaxonH .... Although the reception here has been mostly positive, so I'm hopeful! If SE have realistic expectations, it'll still probably do well enough