Dexterryu

I can't really share anything on Luna since it is still in preview and heavily subject to NDA. That said, I would look at our autoscaling capabilities for an idea. As for the Movie industry... I think it depends on how they model it. For example Netflix/Amazon/Hulu have been very successful making movies exclusive to their platforms. I personally prefer it that way in that in many ways it's a better experience since I have a nice OLED and sound system. I realize not everyone is that fortunate but as commodities continue to improve the value proposition of going to the theatre is less and less. That said... the big blockbusters with cool special effects I do like the big-screen. In that regard I think Sony has the sweet spot in that they release their AAA games to be purchased and maybe a year or so down the road the end up on their subscription service.

I might be able to offer some unique perspective on this working as an engineer at AWS. People thought this couldn't be done in the mid-2000's with video streaming but with a lower barrier since 1080p was considered top end at that point. Video streaming was able to grow up with the improved bandwidth and technology in TVs. As of now, what I think is that it is coming, but not there yet. This is mostly due to the very high bar set by modern hardware (both Consoles and PC). That said, we're getting to the point where improvements in fidelity are coming as much from better API's and engines as they are from brute forcing with better/faster hardware. That's a big deal from a sense of cloud gaming. However, it is also somewhat centralized to main data centers. This is why some people have a good experience and some not. However, edge computing and CDNs are going to improve this massively over time. Get good GPUs at the edge and much of the latency issues will go away or become far less noticeable. My suspicion is that sometime prior to the next hardware revision that it will be viable. Looking at PS/Xbox, etc... the are already getting people used to the subscription model. That's where I think it will end up.

First question... Guard Counter is just when you're holding block and they hit right? If so how do you Guard counter without running out of Stamina. Yes, I have a Brass Shield. I'll have to look for that Ash of War if that will help to block those bastards.

Some questions and thoughts on the game from a From Software/Souls newb. First, thank you to those that responded and nudged me towards the game. I'm really enjoying it. Thoughts: The game for me is at it's best in the open world. I love how the map works and find the SoG and respawn system works. I like how the world is so interesting with stuff to see and do and that most of it can be found by looking critically at the map. So far I've taken down several world bosses (both the horsemen bosses, the dragon, several of the mini-dungeons, and Margit. Quests: I like that they are there and how they don't automatically put an icon on your map leading you exactly to the spot. However, some sort of a log to let you know that there is something to do in X area would probably be a good Quality of Life improvement. Stormveil Castle: I've headed here as my next step and am reminded why I've avoided Souls games for the most part so far. I don't mind the tough encounters but I do mind having 5-10 minutes of replaying an area over and over again to get back to those really aggravating Banished Knights. I've died to those things more times than any of the bosses (probably combined). The bosses, you respawn close can quickly re-engage to learn how they fight and devise a strategy. They seem to continually attack me without breaking and have long enough range it's tough to get distance to heal. So if anyone has any tips for these asshole's I'd love to hear it (playing Vagabond, mostly with a Dex/Str build and using a +2 Bloodhounds fang ATM). The ones I've taken down so far I basically get them with a backstab, bloodhounds finesse, then a jump attack. However when I have to face them head on they almost always take me out because of their combination of range and frequent combos make it difficult to hit then retreat. For what it's worth, I have similar struggles with other "elite" type shield/spear enemies. So any tips on those I'd love to hear.

I'm OK with that. I love long games. I just don't love replaying the same parts of long games over and over again. Kind of like the pre-boss unskippable cut scenes.

I've got a question for you guy's. I'm on the fence on buying this game. Like some, I am not a fan of the soulslike games. I want to be, but I haven't been so far. That said, I have enjoyed the bits of them that I've played. I enjoy the challenge and the difficulty. Where the games turn me off is that I have limited time to play and find that they don't have a great respect for my time. I'm fine with a tough section of a game and dying to it over and over. Where I disliked them was that they'd force me to re-run long lengths of the game just to get back to the boss or encounter that killed me. Many of the reviews on Elden Ring seem to indicate that this isn't so much of an issue since it's much easier to get around and/or leave an encounter that you're struggling with and then come back to it later with different gear/approach? The game looks really interesting and I'm tempted to jump in once I finish Forbidden West.

Most of my friends (and myself) got theirs by doing the Playstation direct route. Just sign in with multiple browsers and also multiple private/incognito browsers. The each get different sessions and "tickets" to order. Took me like 3 tries.

I have a few... some that have already been mentioned... TLOU & TLOU 2, God of War, Hades, TitanFall 2. A few others for me: FrostPunk Beat Saber Dishonored Ori I'd put Witcher 3 here, but it had a few bugs and was a challenge to get it to run great when it first released.

While I enjoyed both games, I preferred Valhalla. That said, I felt that both games overstayed their welcome just a little bit. By that I don't mean that the games were too long (I like a long game) but I mean that there wasn't much difference in the missions/combat through the game. IE... the first raid is pretty much the same as the last raid, the first siege is very similar to the last siege.

It would be great if you didn't have to buy a bunch of DLC for all of the manufacturers. I considered it for my latest build just to make sure I had a good feel for the parts & components all fitting in my case (Sliger Cerberus), but Sliger wasn't on it.

So all I can say is I'm never buying from Newegg again. Great sight for researching products. Horrible customer service. Here's the situation so far. First they forced a bundle on me and then wouldn't let me return the extra item (an AMD motherboard) and saying I have to return the whole bundle, even though they are separate products. Then my shipment arrives multiple days late and the package is beat to heck. I had to fight with them to return it and after hours on the phone they finally are allowing me to refund the order. Amazon has spoiled us with their customer service.

My opinion may be colored a bit by that place you go after you get the herbs and drink. It's not a large map, but it takes forever to traverse. I took that quest fairly early on and when I was still trying to hit all of the POIs on the map and spent way to much time climbing around for those in that map... 30 of them for 5 Power... I felt pretty ripped off for the reward vs time spent.

I agree. While verticality is a cool concept, I find it annoying and Ubi games of late have been kind bad with making areas unrealistically mountainous. Towards the end, if something required a climb I ignored it unless it was necessary to advance... but like I said, this issue has sort of plagued all of their recent games. Odyssey had this issue, Ghost Recon, Immortals, heck even FC5 had it. Really the only Ubi game I don't recall being annoyed by climbing lately is Division. Don't get me wrong, I like that I can climb and I like all of these games. I just don't want to spend 30% of my in game time slowly climbing with a weird ass camera angle to get to my objectives.

The one I'm very close on is the Hybrid FTW 3080, which I prefer over the one that I got. So I'd potentially swap that out for the FTW Ultra I got last night. Either way, I'll help ya if I can.

I'll keep my EVGA notifies open for you. Based on the community spreadsheet that they run I should be getting very close. If I get my notification to order soon I'll reach out to you via a PM.

Same, it took me a few days. I think I got through last night due to the stock drop of so many cards/bundles hitting all at once. That said, I almost ordered a second one for a friend but decided against it because I didn't want the hassle of trying to sell an add random part I didn't want/need.

This discord has been fast and accurate. I scored an EVGA 3080 FTW Ultra last night thanks to it. Discord DISCORD.COM Discord is the easiest way to communicate over voice, video, and text. Chat, hang out, and stay close with your friends and communities. Speaking of which I have an extra and brand new, unopened ASRock Phantom Gaming B550 PG VELOCITA AM4 AMD B550 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard that I would sell below retail if anyone is interested.

Finished the game last night. Clocked in at 80 hours. Did all of the main quests, hunted all of the order, and most of the wealth markers. Overall, a very good game, though it overstays its welcome quite a bit in that the raids, castle sieges, and combat all start to get a bit stale. Some of the quests at the higher levels start to feel like the game length is being padded by sending you on long trips away from fast travel points which got annoying. Started to get tired of the same puzzles over and over again (find the oil jar to blow up the wall or find the obtuse way to enter a building). I still got annoyed by some of the power/level gating of some of the quests and zones, which is a concept I think needs to just go away in games period. Those are my gripes. I know it may sound as if I'm knocking the game, but it has a very good main story and interesting characters. Major improvements there when compared to Origins/Odyssey but also still a ways to go to get to classic Bioware/CDPR levels. Definitely trending in the right direction. On to Immortals while I hold out for a 3080 so I can play Cyberpunk with all the stuff turned on/up.

Ghost of Tsushima Remnant: From the Ashes Batman Arkham series Hellblade Jedi: Fallen Order

Question for everyone. I just finished Anyhow... once done I got another quest to go to

I don't think so. There are some quests that have a recommended "power" and you'll get 1-2 shot by enemies.

Decided to do Ubisoft Connect + to play this game at little risk, plus get the DLC for Odyssey that I never played (and also Immortals next month). I'm very glad I did. The game feels much tighter and self restrained, especially for an UBI game, in terms of not just giving the player a bunch of mostly inconsequential crap to do. Compared to Odyssey, I also like the characters much more so far too. They seem to actually have relationships with each other and less like various generic caricatures. This is especially true of Eivor, who seems to have a realistic disposition in light her childhood. Compared to Kasandra (who I liked) just seem to cheery and chill. I'm still in the prologue so my impression is very very early still but the starting area and quests are just much tighter/better written and less generic.

Thank you. This is very very helpful. Sidequests contained to the immediate area are really good to hear. That was the other thing I hated about Odyssey is that they tended to send you all over the map to track something down... even with the fast travel system it was annoying. Definitely going to get this one now.

Questions about this game, if anyone has the time and is inclined... I'm debating on getting this game now or waiting a bit until it goes on sale. I'm a long time AC player... and I want to ask how much is it like Odyssey and in which ways? I have a love/hate with that game. I really liked the characters, world, and combat but I really disliked the quest system and how it seemed to punish you for wanting to progress in the main story in favor of the myriad of mostly shitty side quests with it's level/level scaling system. In many ways both issues seemed built around padding the game length or encouraging me to buy "Time Savers" like XP boosters. Things that drove me nuts with the quest system in AC Odyssey were the stuff like this: The Medusa & Minotaur quests... I was really enjoying enjoying hunting them down and in both cases I was helping an NPC that took me RIGHT TO THE FREAKING DOOR to both and then they both sprang up a 3 pronged mundane sidequest to go get the key. The main story, I enjoyed quite a bit too but was frustrated by how difficult the game made it to progress by throwing up silly blockers or jumping 4-6 levels between chapters so just when you start getting into the plot you have to take a break from it and grind some sidequests. Don't get my wrong, I like sidequests, especially when they are meaningful or add some character to the world (Witcher 3 does this really well). Anyhow... how much & how different are Odyssey and Valhalla in this way? Thanks again for reading and your recommendations.

I have a feeling they are going to trickle in over the next month up to the holiday so if you're quick you might be able to snag one.