Topic: The everything Xbox thread

@ThanosReXXX My Summer Deals post was friendly and useful and have not only Gold but Game Pass and more stuff, it should be a pinned thread for as long as the offers last instead of a post that went one page behind as soon as someone posted their ranking of fighting games, so it doesn't matter if you mention something similar before. I just hope that somebody read it and saved money.

The deals I posted are great, I didn't invent the wheel, I just posted three links for three awesome deals and I have used all of them except Game Pass because it's for users not currently subscribed. It doesn't matter if you are the fastest in NL, things like that are always useful. This is the second time you call me out for posting when all I am doing is trying to help other people. If it was addressed to you I would understand but it's not case. That's why I said if you feel offended by my innocent posts you'd better ignore them.

@Ryu_Niiyama At least in UK at the moment Gold is cheaper on Xbox.com than on

https://www.allkeyshop.com/blog/buy-xbox-live-gold-membership...
prices/

It's £26.50 on Xbox for one year and on there the cheapest is €33.77 (£30.16)

Normally, Xbox.com has more expensive prices for Gold because they have the official pricing, the same I see physical stores using for selling physical codes. However, when Xbox.com has special offers I've never seen better offers elsewhere, and that makes sense because they own Gold.

@ThanosReXXX @Ryu_Niiyama Mario Tennis Aces is broken as a Tennis game, the aim in standard mode is pretty much to KO your opponent by breaking their rackets. Winning the normal tennis way is a side experience but the main experience is pretty much a stock match.

@Grumblevolcano actually i can agree with that addition. Ive said in the aces threads its really a fighting game disguised as tennis!

@Ryu_Niiyama i was thinking more along the lines of being stared down by a magic 8 ball, hylean crest, or Mark if naga

Otoh, want there a seinfeld episode about starerrs, like the one about close talkers? . The whole thing of people staring as they talk is kinda creepy and unnatural. It's a universally instinctually understood act of threat (thus the advice to never EVER make eye contact with a bear (or lion, tiger, etc) .. They WILL accept the challenge immediately. And why small animals (rabbits, etc) will run immediately in eye contact. It's a biological absolute that it's issuing a challenge and assertion of dominance it threat. I've always found it weird that in the us (maybe the west at large?) They try to tell people that it's good business to stare people down like a high noon showdown. Usually the people that do that seem to be either creepy or overbearing jerks (not saying you are, just overall )

There's a reason that asia bows and looks down instead. The opposite extreme. Can humanity ever so anything without going to extremes?

@Ryu_Niiyama I'm not even a fighting snob and I'm siding with your lists over grumbles. Smash just doesn't hold the same appeal to me.... i can accept arms and pokken though. Anything made by the producers if tekken and sc can't be bad (and watching the sc producer decimate the tourney while handicapping himself until the last minute last year at e3 was hysterical)

... Back to figuring out if mvc, doa, tekken, or dbz, bb/gg it mk/injustice is my "main" fg to get into (still can't pick sf. I love it, is classic, heck, I'm best at it. But it's so dry.

@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah, that's a bit of a weird distinction: the free Xbox 360 games are still keepers, just like it always was on the Xbox 360 itself, even if your Xbox Live Gold subscription ends, but for some reason, the free Xbox One games are only "yours" and playable WITH an active Gold subscription. The odd thing is that the game page does mention "you own this game", so perhaps we can sue Microsoft over that, although there will more than likely be some small print somewhere, elaborating on some conditions and so forth. Otherwise, they as a company, would be smart enough to do something about that sentence that says that you DO own the game, once you've "bought" it...

@BlueOcean Man... no offense, but for the umpteenth time: I'm not calling you out on anything. The last couple of comments, I've almost been going out of my way, bending over backwards, to explain to you that I meant no harm in any way, but apparently (and sadly enough) that has fallen on deaf ears...

And yes, your post was useful, but so was mine, seeing as it was mentioning the same, official Xbox offer on the Microsoft page, so it's only logical that there's some confusion on my part about you not seeing that there isn't any difference there.

But what ultimately matters is that we both had the same positive idea to post something that can help save people some money, so forget I ever mentioned that you posted that same Xbox Live Gold offer that I already posted before you...

All joking aside, though, you do have a good point about the official offer in your specific region being cheaper. Even the offer on cdkeys.com doesn't come close when you set the on-site currency to British pounds, so good thing to know for all UK residents that would like to extend/renew their Xbox Live subscription.

I do wonder why that difference is there, though. Must be a tax/VAT thing, because over here, the Microsoft offer, although good, is still more expensive than what I paid for on cdkeys:
The EURO price is €37.99 vs €39.99 on Microsoft's official Xbox page, and in dollars, that price is the same, but the pound price on cdkeys is £ 35.99, which translates to €40.31 or $47.29...

Good thing that there's this great summer deal on Microsoft's own site, then. But other than that offer, it does seem like the UK isn't the most beneficial region to be in for getting the lowest prices in standard situations, so definitely a get 'em while their hot kinda thing, otherwise it's back to being on the short end of the stick again...

@Grumblevolcano Aha.. haven't got a Switch, so haven't played it yet, but it does kind of make it sound like it is a broken mess, or at least broken in some areas. And here I thought they had improved upon the previous outing...

@NEStalgia Not a sienfield fan and was a bit too young to care during its hey day so I won't get the reference I'm afraid. However I'm not certain why one would view direct eye contact in itself as a challenge.. I can't stand when people do the "stare at your nose or in between your eyes or at your eyebrows" thing. There is a difference between staring and actively and intently participating in a conversation with someone. Just as intent and Ki are easily read through the eyes (a bit of my Aikido conditioning coming through there)

LOL---ok ok, yeah I do admit when I wear the customs I love the baffled reactions, but to be honest that is likely the only time I don't try to maintain eye contact as I only wear them when out and about (I would never be so unprofessional as to wear one at work or in a social setting) and I find it hilarious how nosy people are. THAT's when people stare, mind you. But at the same time it is a fact that I'm comfortable as an amputee and as an adult woman, as opposed to when I first lost my eye as a child and I detested direct eye contact. My parents are direct folks and my mom kinda jostled that out of me asap. (caring woman, but little sympathy for weakness due to poor self esteem- which is funny as I'm an assertive introvert now...?)

Sheesh you have me thinking about a new design now. Perhaps one for my alma mater?

Also from a vanity stand point, I was fortunate that aging, surgery and the fact that I have freckles across the bridge of my nose and cheeks have hidden the majority of the damage. With my glasses, nobody notices (a fact that took me years to realize because I notice it thus I thought everybody else did, but you can tell if someone is looking at something that is off about you.) and since its never impacted my dating (wait I take that back I had one woman dump me when she found out...but I get it...not everybody is comfortable with that...you have the right to veto dating partners) I don't tend to avert my gaze.

Eyes are the window to the soul and all that. Besides I find that physical proof that someone is interested in what I'm saying, that there is a connection being made, invigorating. I feel bad for those that view it as intimidating when someone has an open gaze rather than a hostile one. Sounds like an inability to read body language and low self esteem. I'm too old (lol) and have been through too much for both.

HEY! I'm not a fighting snob! ... I'm not mean about my preference for traditional, deep game mechanics...ok fine but I'm not mean about it.

@ThanosReXXX Perhaps licensing has something to do with it? I'm reaching here. I can't imagine any game publisher being happy that their games are being given away...and I have no clue how the publishers get paid to allow MS to give away non MS games anyway.

@Ryu_Niiyama well it's hard not to get stuck gawking at a pathetic. The terrible balance of rudeness and natural reaction. You don't WANT to notice such things, but you can't not. Id be the worst at desperately looking everywhere else... Not by choice. 仕方がない！

The starting thing.... Still bugs me. Always has and will. I'm actually excellent at reading people. Maybe that's the problem. I rarely like what i see, where others see only the surface. And it's assertive. I hate assertive. Passionately. i value humility. Not very compatible with modern American society, but it's just who i am. I feel like i was supposed to have been born in Japan..... "Humble yourself before others; raise others above yourself"" and all that.... It's pretty much me. Except business culture is stifling there even more than here....

Still if you're going with a new design, brand logos including schools seems so meh. Bad enough our clothing is a walking billboards. Turning eyes into then is too blade runner for me.

I'm actually settling into dbfz quite nicely.... It may easily become my favorite, which i didn't expect. Xenoverse 2 was so boring i gave up in the tutorial. and i know nothing about dbz...

Plus moves are bb and presumably gg related so that's a plus.

I'm dreaming of x1 cross play with switch.... It could happen!

@Grumblevolcano It can't break your racket if you don't swing at the power shots.... But yeah, Mario tennis has never been a tennis game, and punch out had never been a boxing game. Aces is a decent fighter with odd mechanics though

I'll stick with dbfz, bb, gg, mvc, Injustice and doa though... Your list is still meh except arms and pokken (I'll accept those over ki though!)

Heck, sushi striker is almost more fighter than puzzle game.

@NEStalgia Adventure mode forces you to be better at blocking so unless you get endlessly stuck in the reflection room level or just skip Adventure mode after you get the option to go to the main menu there comes a point when it works out better to try and block.

Anyone play valkyria revolution? It's on the sale, reviews are mixed and an arpg vslkyria sounds wired, but ahead of a new real valkyria, is 6 tempting...

Bullet storm looks old school fun, too.

@Grumblevolcano for adventure, sure. For vs, blocking tends to be a hindrance by draining your energy gauge you could use offensively... At least before they rebalance it, anyway...

@Ryu_Niiyama Well, licensing and/or a fee could be the answer in the case of games, but I was talking about Xbox Live subscriptions specifically. All the prices I mentioned are for a 12 month Xbox Live Gold subscription. The euro and dollar prices are comparable, most of the time, but normally, the pound prices are often more expensive, save for the current summer deal, so that is what made me wonder where that price difference for that specific item came from.
EDIT:
Never mind, got my wires crossed. You were of course talking about the free Games with Gold thing. My bad...

@Ryu_Niiyama "not a fighting snob"

"Smash is a party brawler"
-Ryu_Niiyama, Fighting Snob

(I agree though . Actually the smash community is so toxic, defensive, and obsessive, overall it ruins my impression of the game. I've never seen anything like that bunch anywhere in gaming except maybe cod. It's so weird, a Nintendo game is not where i would expect that kind of crowd to form at all. I have no explanation. Nor why it's such a huge ratings draw for evo it dominates other more serious fighters

Dbfz still seems to be a huge win for me. Doa/Injustice/tekken are tied in number two for now before trying bbctb anyway. I don't want to like tekken but end up grinning when i try it. Trouble with it is, story mode is overbaked, arcade mode is cool but worth worse gfx for some reason (built for low end arcade hardware?) And the ai is trash while the netcode is also trash, so tekken7 really only seens to work well if you're playing local vs. i think that's what's holding it back for me. I love the puppet controls which seems to work even better than dbfz controls for me. Also i didn't realize until now that tekken has the same in the round side step and environment breakthroughs as doa Wich makes them somewhat similar though. (Those arcade mode gfx tho....)

@ThanosReXXX haven't forgotten you either...1st place in another horizon race! Plus, like, 5th in Forza 7. I turned in the more sim like controls in 7... But i left in the assist to keep traction the same in all surfaces...... Otherwise I'd slide out like crazy in the grass .. So I'm kinda cheating

Btw, for both games, what camera do you use? Cockpit or Chase?

@NEStalgia I'd say Pokemon is very close in toxicity if not equivalent. Especially since Pokemon Go became a success and Pokemon Let's Go was confirmed to be using Pokemon Go mechanics.

@Grumblevolcano hah, not much to disagree with there! Though that's a newer, maybe temporary? Phenomenon with the whole go/let's go thing. Smash community has been a waste dump for ages.

I still don't get why Nintendo games of all things would pick up some of the worst communities. I kind of associate that with xbox though i think most of the toxic crowd from the 360 days are the ones that jumped ship to ps4 really. So the 360 dude Bros are now the ponies. X1 seems more adult now. But what the heck happened to Nintendo with smash and Pokemon?! Makes the 360 dude Bros seem tame

Guys my birthday is in 2 months and I am considering getting a Xbox One X or PS4 Pro but I have some question for people like you who have experience with those consoles especially the Xbox One.

I know they use BluRay media. So it is extremely important to me when I buy a physical game to be able to play the game from the media I just bought. The questions are:

1. Are there games that are on multiple discs and require disc swapping between the disc of one game like on the previous generation?

2. Are there games that require mandatory download just to play them even if they are bought on physical media? I ask if there is the same idiocy as Wolfenstein 2 on the Switch.

My general concern is if I need internet connection to start/play games that are normally played offline/single player.

This is directly taken from the Microsoft site:
"Installing games from disc
When you insert a game disc, the console checks to see whether the game is already installed. If it isn’t, you’re prompted to install the game.
Note You may also be prompted to download an update to the game before you can play it."

I don't like this crap.

Thanks in advance AGAIN!

@Zuljaras Every game requires an install for both Xbox One and PS4. There's no way around it. I don't think, however, that there are games on multiple discs, so that part is fine.

______

Got all 160 stars on Blizzard Mountain, and am now just finishing off the championships to call it complete. Then I'll hop onto Hot Wheels. Discount or no discount, I want to complete as much of Horizon 3 as possible before 4 comes out. However, there's a number of things that still need doing in the main game as well, so it should keep me busy for another two months.

If not, there's always going back to Horizon 2 and THAT challenge of completion.

@Zuljaras yes there are games that requires mandatory downloads on both x1 and ps4. In fact, la noire on switch didn't just ship that way in switch.... It shipped that way on all platforms. The publishers are into forcing things to be download only, and sadly it's not a hardware limitation but business initiatives from publishers forcing that. In fact 2/3 if that game could run without the download, while on other platforms the download was truly required.

Switch is pretty good with most games being playable from cards. Ps4 and xbox have some games that (mostly) run with just the install from the disc, but many need patches from 5-40gb. I feel like ps4 is probably a little more disc friendly with more compressed patches (4-40gb) where x1 tends to have mor15-60 gb patches. Otoh x1 has friendlier features for backing up data you've downloaded.

The big thing if avoiding downloads is stay away from x1x. X1s and ps4 slim will have smaller downloads. Ps4 pro gets a bit larger but not excessively. X1x is a major bandwidth hog, easily adding 40gb or larger patches just for the 4k textures. X1x really wants to be always online.

@Zuljaras fwiw, ps4 and x1 are almost mirror images in terms of downloads and updates though. The minor details are different and one may have a little more friendliness in one area it another but overall they're mostly the same...a game that requires a patch on one requires it on both.... So that aspect unfortunately it's a problem no matter which machine you pick... (Switch fares best still with limited bandwidth)

@NEStalgia What camera I use? Chase, obviously...
I would only ever use cockpit, if I had a steering wheel, but that's WAY down on the list of priorities now.
And chase is also more handy for being able to see more of the track, so I don't exclusively use it for Forza games, but for ALL race games I play.

@Zuljaras installing games is simply part of the deal nowadays, for ALL consoles, so there's no way around that. I would say that if you want your graphics to be the best of the best that a console can get, buy the Xbox One X, but like @NEStalgia said, it has some REALLY big downloads here and there, for the 4K texture packs.

BUT.... what mr. @NEStalgia forgot to mention, is that you can switch that option off, in the settings, so if you don't have a 4K TV, or you simply couldn't care less about these 4K textures being added to games that, even without those textures, will already look and run better on the Xbox One X, then that is something that you can do.

PS4 Pro doesn't even come close, but where it does stay ahead, is in size of game catalog and online offers, but again, if that doesn't interest you, and you don't want to be online all the time, then I would still recommend getting an Xbox One X.

And that media player that's inside the box, is also the best that you can get on any console, so that's another BIG plus.

Oh, quite a few games can be played offline, but it is handy to have an online connection for updates, even the smaller ones, like patches and so on. And of course, for playing with friends in other regions/countries.

The ultimate XB1 game is installing updates

Is anyone playing State of Decay 2? Can you explain how much of the bad review scores came from the high numbers of bugs with the game?

Looking through a lot of user reviews, that seemed to be the main issue.

So how much have the patches fixed that? It got only a 68 on metacritic at launch. So is it now a 78 due to bug fixes? Or something like that?

@NEStalgia @ThanosReXXX @DarthNocturnal
This is quite sad. I like the option for 4k graphics and I like that it is not mandatory.
So is there a warning on the box somewhere that you are required a download in order to play? Like the switch sticker of shame?
If there is some indication of that I could see what games are ok to be played oit of the box.

This is taken right from the PS4 forums:
"All disk games will play without an internet connection for offline campaign in this day and age there's often a day one update for bug fixes or additional content that couldn't fit on the disk which is usually multiplayer.

Uncharted 4 for example on release could be played without an internet connection,however the single player more or less maxed out the capacity of a Blu-Ray disk so a day one 5GB update was required to play the multiplayer."