Topic: PC Gaming

I feel like most things are better than 2K2020 as that game was ***** broken lol.

I can see 2K22 splitting the fanbase a lot, some will - and I'd argue in some regards, rightly - be somewhat disappointed with what 2k22 offers, since they took time away and delivered a game which still lacks a lot of things that were in previous titles and hasn't really innovated on anything it has chosen to include.

However, I am a firm believer that innovation isn't always good, change for the sake of change is usually always misguided. If it works, sometimes it is best to leave it alone. That is probably more difficult to argue when the game feels like it is basically like 20 years old lol but there are some who will enjoy this just for what it is, and I don't think that is wrong necessarily.

However, I think there will be others who out of principle will say they should have taken even more time away and I don't really disagree with these people either.

Well, I hadn't played any WWE before the 2020 1, so I wouldn't compare it to any others, @Pizzamorg .... Hearing mostly good things about this latest one, though, so far!

I guess I just want to make sure that I am setting people's expectations right, if there is any chance I influence anyone into a purchase. Despite my reputation on here, as long as a game is fun, I have a pretty high tolerance for things. By conventional metrics 2K22 is a less than great game, but it is fun, so I feel like it really offsets it's own not so good parts.

And I think a certain amount of expectation still works in the games favour, like the game is surprisingly content rich and lacking in the kind of predatory, cynical, monetisation one might expect. You can literally spend all day in the customisation if you wanted and while there are some DLC packs, the sheer volume of stuff you have means you'll never need to go there if you want and it is never pushed in your face. Maybe that is a low bar, but it is the bar we have.

And like I say, the granular difficulty options are ***** huge, too. Like literally anyone with the smallest amount of interest in this will probably have fun with it, because rather than having some edgelord director deciding for you what equates as a challenge, here you have the freedom to make it as challenging or easy as you want in ways that are specifically tailored for you as a player. This is why the initially somewhat clunky, somewhat convoluted control scheme, makes sense. It exists between arcade and simulation, because it needs to meet different functions depending how you tune the game for yourself. Just an absolute gold standard.

Yeah, I'm not a serious wrestling fan to be too concerned about who they've got in or anything like that, @Pizzamorg .... By the time I got the 1 I have, they'd addressed the worst issues it launched with &, as it was so discounted, I got the 'ultimate' version, with all the dlc! I certainly won't be getting this until it's got a good discount, either but the people that are playing it in my other forum say it's pretty good, so that's encouraging

The Azeron Cyborg

It's arrived...

Spent a day setting it up, using the included tool to customize it to my hand perfectly (adjusted distance away of each tower, angle between towers, tilt of towers, put a restrictor ring on the analog to minimize required movement range, calibrated analog, mapped keyboard keys to the keypads for all keys my mouse doesn't already do with buttons, etc), then spent a day playing Gears 5 with it.

And oh ya. This thing is every bit as good as I'd hoped. It's so ergonomic and incredibly fast and easy to perform in game actions now without worrying about a keyboard.

It also stores 2 profiles on board so you don't need the software running. I made them identical except Profile#1 uses Xbox360 analog, while Profile#2 uses 8-direction WASD keyboard mapped to analog. That way if a game supports true analog and mouse simultaneously, I can use Xbox360 analog, and if not, or if it causes button prompts to flicker back and forth, I just use the 8 direction, which honestly feels almost just as good. It's the action of using an analog that makes the difference, versus using 3 fingers on 4 keys.

Muah! Highly recommend. It may look odd, but this thing is designed ground up for gaming unlike the 100-year-old typewriter design.

@JaxonH It's a little off topic but that is an absolutely sick gaming room. Blurred out, yes, but it appears very well organised, and with lots of steelbooks to boot. I'm super jealous of the Xenoblade vinyl!

I am really happy to say Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is my game of the year so far. I was kinda worried we'd have another Outriders on our hands, but TTW really hits. I haven't even made it to end game yet, either.

It is funny because Borderlands sorta started the modern wave of looter shooters, but yet there is still nothing quite like a Borderlands game. As all other looters throttle the player at every turn in the name of some abstract "balance", Borderlands games actively encourage you to push against them as hard as you can, to see if you can make it break. I think a looter should always be about investing time into your character to feel overpowered by the end, but really only Borderlands allows you to actually do that.

I won't argue it is a perfect game - it is very much built on a Borderlands 3 foundation, so if you didn't like that game, you probably won't like this. I will say, I do feel like I liked Borderlands 3 more than most based on the common narratives I see online, but even I am a little tired of the antiquated map and UI.

The map is a little less frustrating to use than it was in Borderlands 3 as spaces aren't being designed around vehicles this time, but it is still ***** horrible by all other metrics. And if anything I think the UI seems worse than I remember. Like you are showered in loot, given these wall of stats and not even a base foundation of knowledge to be able to translate the information you are given. I will often get loot which looks like a clear upgrade until I use it and for some reason it is worse and I never get to understand why.

I will also say, it is certainly more than just a reskin of Borderlands 3, for sure, but if someone told me this was an expansion for Borderlands 3 that late in development they decided to expand this into a full game, I would believe them.

Like I say, for me, this isn't really a problem but if people felt like Wonderlands wasn't a meaningful step forward for the franchise, I wouldn't necessarily say those concerns are invalid here. Like most of the changes are just smoke and mirrors and window dressing, the moment to moment is pretty much identical to Borderlands 3 for good or for bad. You might think with like the addition of spells, or new gear types etc, it will open up new mechanics or loops, but fundamentally it really doesn't.

Again, not a problem for me but I think worth keeping in mind if you still exist in the nostalgia universe where you think Borderlands 2 is the height of the franchise, I am not sure Wonderlands will change your mind if Borderlands 3 didn't. But if you loved B3 then there is almost no reason why you wouldn't love this.

Oh and on the topic of looters, looks like Division 2 is finally getting new content, a PTS drops today in fact!

@TheJGG
Wow, you have a seriously sharp eye!

Here's the full spread

There still seems to be some room left on some shelves, @JaxonH .... Are those likely to fill up, since it all seems to be organised by system?

@BruceCM
Yup. Switch shelf will eventually fill up by end of gen. Same for amiibo shelf which has room for the ones still coming. Same for Fire Emblem shelf which has room for the coming Marth and Ike statues, and the Xenoblade figures have a space next to the DxM collector edition for the coming Melia figure. But the PS/Xbox shelf, Idk what I'm doing with that. I sold off all most my PS4/X1 games and went full digital after buying 2 PS5 games. So that'll likely stay as is, and just use the space for random tat I don't have room for elsewhere.

Yeah, I'm sure you'll get plenty more Switch games, @JaxonH .... It's the others that I did wonder about! Potentially, I suppose, you'd always want to allow for the possibility of something coming to those consoles where you can't resist the Special/ Limited/ Collector's Edition, though
I don't remember seeing that Bayonetta edition on sale over here, BTW but it looks awesome

@BruceCM
Japan import, that came with Bayonetta 1/2 steelbook case and a physical copy of Bayonetta 1. I've got a lot of imports like that (Daemon X Machina CE from Europe, Astral Chain CE from Europe, Xenoblade CE from Australia, over 3 dozen physical Switch releases from Asia, Japan and Europe, etc).

I kinda regret buying that Horizon Forbidden West CE. It's too big. I'm so tired of these AAA games coming with collector editions so large you need a crane and harness to hoist it into your room, and no shelf is big enough for it. I think that'll be the last one I order for a non-Switch system (until the next Monster Hunter releases, then everything I said goes out the window 😀)

Heh, they are cool to look at, @JaxonH .... Did I hear that HFW Collector's Edition didn't actually have the game on a disc? But 2 nice statues, right?

@BruceCM
Wouldn't surprise me. I didn't open it yet since I don't have room for the box and the statue(s). And I already own the game digitally.

But ya, love having a collection. But once it gets to a certain size it's a constant struggle to manage space. I own every amiibo made (barring cards and cereal) and would love to have all of them displayed, but there just isn't room. Had to box up most Animal Crossing and Mario series amiibo, as well as most Splatoon amiibo that weren't the 10 most recent (Squid Boy, Squid Girl, Octoling Boy, Octoling Girl, Squid, Octopus, Callie, Marie and the 2 other news girls, can't remember their names)

Oh, lol, @JaxonH .... Pretty sure it's a digital code for the game, perhaps so that owners of the PS5 without a disc drive can get it as well!
So, you could have saved buying it digitally separately. Perhaps get yourself a bigger place to fill?

@BruceCM
I bought it a few weeks after the game released and already had the game at that point. Think I was planning to sell the code on eBay, but then never opened it.

No bigger room- I hate moving! I've moved enough to last a lifetime. No more. I don't have a single move left in me.

Oh, OK, @JaxonH .... That's the balance, then! I'm sure the statues for HFW look great, though Problem is there's so many collectibles for plenty of games & at least iirc that collector's edition was reasonably priced, not like some I have seen advertised
Where even the pretty hard core fans of whichever series in my forums say they think it's too expensive & so on

@BruceCM
Oh my gosh, there's some outrageously priced CE's. I like the $80-100 ones with a steelbook, art book and smaller box.

I try to only focus on CEs for games I really like (Valkyria Chronicles 4 on Switch, Astral Chain, Daemon X Machina, Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, MH Rise, MH Stories 2, Fire Emblem TH, Metroid Dread, Xenoblade 1 and 2, SMTV, Bayonetta 1/2, Trails of Cold Steel 3/4, Ys VIII/IX, etc) but even then they add up real quick.

And I got sucked into the Atelier CE's- since I own every one on Switch I feel compelled to get the next one, which has a new entry every year. So every year it's a new Atelier CE, cause I can't have all of them except one. That just wouldn't do. No. That wouldn't do at all.

Yeah, that's similar to most in my other forum, @JaxonH .... None of them gets every limited or special edition, etc! I've gone blank on some of the ridiculous CEs I've seen but they were certainly a lot more than £100 or so

I have no intention of playing it (since I'm strictly a console gamer), but I am keen to watch a Lets Play for Dune: Spice Wars. Made by French developer Shiro Games, whose last game I had played was Northgard. I enjoyed that game, so as a Dune fan I have high hopes for this.