Dexterryu

38 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

Did anyone really think we gonna get something like that?

Mid cycle is being super generous .

I'm just going off of the rhetoric and discussion around the time. MS was being laughed at and Sony lauded for "this is how you show of your new gen". That's all I was saying.

First let me preface this with the fact that I am definitely buying a PS5 (and likely not a Series X because the exclusives will likely be on PC)... 

For all the flack MS got for showing off games that look just like current gen, Sony basically should be getting the same criticism here. A couple of games are must gets for me (Horizon and Spider Man). Athia looked like it had the best graphics. Still none of them came close to the Unreal Engine 5 demo. I think we'll be mid-cycle before we get games like that.

Well... I'm playing RE2 now. I like it, but this inventory system is annoying. I completely forgot about this aspect of the games. Would be much better if things weren't destroyed if you wanted to drop something and make room. 

1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

It's just someone from valve saying that someone (not valve themselves) will probably mod it so people can play it without VR.

They aren't saying this is the way it's meant to be played if said mod is made.

That's fine... I'm just saying that people waiting to play it this way aren't going to think much of the game for those reasons.

15 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

Valve has said that they expect someone to eventually mod the game so that it doesn't require VR. I'm sure that'll dull the experience, but hey, it's something.

I don't think that this would be a good game. It works in VR because it was made for it, but if someone turned it into a standard FPS game I'd say most people would find it far too easy. Part of the challenge in it is actually having to aim your weapon and reload it in real time. This means to fire in any way accurately, you have to be standing still. In a standard FPS, even with large cross-hair bloom this would be a piece of cake.

29 minutes ago, Boyle5150 said:

Why couldn’t the addition of a button press be used to engage the melee response?  Press a button, game knows you want to melee, end then engages tracks your hand motion?  Seems like an easy work around.  

Easy sure, but like I said... it just wouldn't feel right and with as good as everything feels in this game I can see why it's not in the game. I say that because there wouldn't be a sense of contact or connecting when you hit something. That's why Beat Saber/Light Sabers work so well in VR.

1 hour ago, TwinIon said:

After a couple more hours, a few more things strike me:

 

There is a lot of traversal in this game compared to many VR games. Given the density of the environments, it's mostly a good thing. If they hadn't put so much detail into the world and made it so worthwhile to explore, I think this would be a negative, but as it is I think it's mostly positive.

 

While I love that you can interact with everything, the nature of VR does means that you also quickly come up against the limitations. The biggest one ties into a particular frustration of mine in this game, which is the lack of any kind of melee option. I really wish that either you had a crowbar replacement or that you could use items in the environment against enemies to better effect. Especially given how little ammo you get in the game, I really want to find ways to kill things without wasting a shot. So far the only thing that I've been able to kill an enemy with is an exploding barrel. I'm not really asking to be able to kill Combine soldiers with an empty can of sardines, but it would be nice to be able to bludgeon a headcrab with a concrete block.

 

One particular encounter was when I found a pair of manhacks on the other side of a chain link fence. I had a great thought: "I'll yank some heavy objects in the room towards me, smashing the drone in the process!" Unfortunately, that didn't work out very well. First it was just hard to time it so that the baddie was between me and the object I was pulling, but even when I did get something mildly heavy looking (like a Geiger counter or metal drum) to hit the drone, it would wobble a bit, throw the object to the side, and do absolutely no damage that I could see. I haven't tried two handed objects like large crates or barrels, but I don't expect them to do anything.

 

I'm not sure if that is asking too much, or if the nature of VR just makes any intuitive limitation feel more acute. It just feels like a physics based way to dispatch smaller enemies would be a very Half Life thing to be able to do, and I've been saddened that nothing I've tried so far has worked.

I think Melee in general is one of those physics problems that still need figured out. This is true for almost every melee based game I've played (Thrill of the fight, Gorn, Karnage, Blade and Sorcery)... really the only one that's felt right so far is Beat Saber because it wisely uses Light Sabers. Things that have weight and a physicality to them are hard to do in VR right now. Haptics only does so much.

The other thing I'll say is this... the Environments in HLA are so good I find myself moving around my room way more than normal so I could  imagine it wouldn't be long before we  start busting up our controllers trying to crowbar headcrabs.

Just wanted to say thanks again for all of your suggestions. I think this will get me going for a while. At the moment I've got three things going... about 1/2 through my replay of God of War. Just picked up Guacamelee, and will probably blow through Half Life Alyx  in the next day or so (it's so good).

Next I'm gonna look at RE7 and remake of RE2 (any recommended order?), then the Gravity Rush games.

Wishlisted for tracking based on your suggestions:

Sekiro

Vanquish

Wolcen (I've been watching this for a while... heard it's buggy so I'll snag it when it's all patched up).

Ashen (Epic spring sale starts next week).

@Nokt Great list... I've played & finished a lot of those... but will look into those that I haven't.

@DPCyric - CCG is a genre I've tried but just can't get into. Same with 4x games (which is a genre I really want to like, but just never seem to have fun with).

Also... I completely misspoke about Outer Wilds. Misread that for  Outer Worlds. I very much liked Outer Wilds.

Put some more time into this thing now... As far as making it intuitive, man they they make every correct decision in terms of the way you interact with the world. It's by far the most natural feeling game I've played in VR. It's basically equivalent to Beat Saber in terms of being spot on and feeling right, but a far more complex game.

1 hour ago, eggydoo said:

Both recent AssCreed games are cheap right now and play very similar to an action RPG (like Witcher). Not sure if you got to play Odyssey for free during this past weekend.  Also Odyssey is crazy huge and definitely can sink in hours of time on it. 

Edit: Just saw you most likely already played both Asscreeds so....

 

I as well could never finish a Dark Souls game mainly cause the genre stresses me out.  The furthest I ever gotten was the first one.  Sekiro is definitely a different vibe, IMO.  There is less rolling around like Blanka that most of this genre has and it's not as emo death like the others.  The combat/movement in Sekiro is fantastic and it's the first souls type game I played and finished sans the optional ultra hard boss.

I've completed every AC game so far. I enjoyed them even though they get a little too far into the UBI loop for me.

I'll definitely give Sekiro a look.

35 minutes ago, ShreddieMercuryRising said:

Outer Wilds, which has my favorite story in any game I've played.  The mechanics are extremely simple, and it has only one short (10 minutes) tutorial area the start.

I have it through Xbox Game Pass PC... I got about 3/4ths through it and got bored (I had to push myself to even make it that far). I know some people loved it... some not. I was definitely in on the discussion about the game.

1 hour ago, SaysWho? said:

Let's do some more. Let me know again if you have PSVR, or if your VR headset is something else.

• Undertale - So this has bad graphics, admittedly. Probably even worse than most late 80s things. But it's a REALLY sweet game, single-player, a single runthrough is around 5 hours, but there are tons of endings (and not just different endings -- the game does a good job keep track of what endings you've already gotten, so it'll tell you what you missed). It's a bullet-hell game, and there's a certain way you have to play it to get the best ending. However, it's easy to figure out and doesn't require you to do some ultra complicated thing. In fact, if you play it the "easy" way, a boss at the end is going to be the death of you.
• Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition - There's a ton to do after years of content for this. There's also the Arcade Collection which has a bunch of Street Fighter games from different generations, but older gens and all and probably not what you're looking for.
• Until Dawn - This is single-player yet is a lot of fun to play with someone else. Choose-your-own-adventure horror game where you can have everyone live or die or any combination of survivals/deaths. A good 10 hour adventure and one of the best choice games I've played.
• Resogun - Bullet-hell twin-stick shooter. Addictive as hell, has several modes of play (Arcade, Survival, Protector, Commando) and couch co-op. If you like it, Alienation, Matterfall and Nex Machina are also from the same developer and all great single-player experiences (Alienation has multi but you don't need it). Alienation has an actual story, even though it's limited. You're playing strictly for the fun factor.
• Amplitude - Single-player music game where you unlock beats on each track to unlock a song. No story, just single-player music. If you liked FreQuency/Amplitude on PS2, you'll dig this one as well.
• Yakuza 0 - I spent 100 hours on this. It's Japanese but it's not something that'll turn you off. It's got two kinds of missions -- the story missions are typically a serious mob/gangster story, while the side missions are really fucking funny. Also, the Cabaret side game is just as fun as the regular game. Fucking love it and it's in Yakuza Kiwami 2 as well. 0 is a good starting point, though, since it's literally the first story as it is a prequel to Yakuza Kiwami 1.

My VR is Valve Index.

Just now, Pikachu said:

Have you played Hellblade?

Yes... one of my all time  favorites. Played it both regular and in VR.

1 minute ago, SaysWho? said:

 

Ah!

 

Yeah, it got more action-oriented and all that, but 7 and 2 are like the originals only with modern, less rigid controls (no tank controls), item management and pretty straight-forward zombie tropes. And fun as hell.

Gonna add em to my list. Their on sale now so I may as well grab em.

Just now, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Are you like 15 years old. How have you gone this long and never heard of Resident Evil?

I played the original back on my PC back in 1996. After playing Code Veronica on Dreamcast the series just seemed to keep getting weirder.

1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Hey, I'm not perfect. The graphics and story from the trailer definitely have a Japanese vibe.

Prey - Played/Finished it.

Shadow of War -  Played/Finished.

Doom Eternal - Tried it (loved Doom 2016), but all of the glory kill camera losses made me dizzy so I refunded it.

Guacamelee - Just bought and downloaded for Steam. $1 on G2A.

Gravity Rush - I'll check it out. - Edit - Gonna try it out as soon as I finish my replay of GOW

Resident Evil - I'll give them a look again. I kinda wrote them off due to them being weird Japanese titles.

22 minutes ago, Pikachu said:

Have you played Dishonored?

Both, and loved them.

10 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

I just beat Hollow Knight last month.  Fantastic game!  As is Ori 2 from what I’d imagine.  Guacamelee is another of my favs.

Plenty more good 2D stuff out there.  It’s a saturated genre right now.

Totally forgot Guacamelee... I played through most of the first one (I can't remember if I finished it or left off). Haven't played 2 though. I'll  snag that one. That said, I could not get into Hollow Knight.

Just now, crispy4000 said:

Got a Switch by chance?  Noticed no Nintendo games in that list either.

No switch... I had one, played Mario and Zelda, then sold it.

1 minute ago, SaysWho? said:

Gravity Rush Remastered is fun, is Japanese but not an emo-fest, and isn't complicated to play. You can always go to GR2 if you like the first (gameplay is improved but half the side missions are bad, be warned). Still, just flying around in those worlds is really cool, and finding crystals doesn't sound amazing on paper, but it is with the flight in the game.

 

Are you looking for games that are a combination of all of that? Most Metroidvanias aren't big AAA games with big stories, and while Dead Cells has old-school graphics, FUCK, that was one of the most fun ones I've played, and I usually am not a fan of roguelikes. Give me a little more info and I'll help you some more, friend!

Combination of, no... That's just not really realistic. As for Metroidvanias, I've played most of the good ones... Dead Cells, Sundered (my favorite), Ori, Bloodstained. 

9 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

All the AAA games you listed are from Western publishers.  Maybe there’s some Japanese games and publishers you’ve missed out on?  Not everything is a Platinum game.

 

It might better to give a list of some of the games you do own but haven’t played, so we have a reference point, and you don’t have to spend extra money right now.

 

A semi-random suggestion: Metroid Prime.  3D/FPS Metroidvanias are incredibly rare. But it still holds up as one of the best, if not the epitome of the Metroidvania genre as a whole.  Still looks pretty good too visually, and is 60fps.

Don't have a system to play Metroid Prime on, otherwise I'd give it a go. As for other Japanese games... I've tried most of the AAA types and just can't get into them... Final Fantasy, MGS (though Phantom pain was decent), Tales  of *,  Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts, Resident Evil, Dark Souls. I've tried them all. Not sure what it is... but they just don't click for me.

As for saving $$ and/or games I have, but haven't played. I pretty much have played everything that I own. I've gotten much better about not over-buying games I won't get to during steam sales. I appreciate you looking out for my wallet, but I'm still working (from home, since I work for AWS) so I'm not super concerned about saving a few bucks.

1 minute ago, Hurricane Game said:

Dark Souls 1-3, Bloodborne, and Sekiro come to mind. You can easily spend 100's of hours playing these and they are probably pretty cheap to boot.

The only one on that list I haven't tried is Sekiro. The rest... I couldn't get into due to lack of story and my dislike for having to repeatedly go through the same levels before getting back to boss fights.

First off, thanks for reading. Second I realize that my request for recommendations is going to highlight that I've both probably played a lot of your recommendations and am pretty darn picky.

I'm looking for some good single player games that:

A) Have a good story / interesting characters (with voice, I hate reading walls of text - ex: Pillars of Eternity)

B) Aren't janky

C) Aren't  80s era pixel graphics (I grew up playing these, don't want to go back)

D) Aren't so complicated that they need 10 tutorial levels (I'm looking at you Age of Wonders: Planetfall)

E) Are relatively current (at least PS3/Xbox 360 era).

F) Aren't weird over the top Japanese emo-fests (Devil May Cry, Bayonetta)

I'm a fan of most genre's(RPG, TPS, FPS, Action, side scrollers, metroidvanias). 

I've played most of the top AAA games since the late 90s... so that's all of your Baldurs gates, Divinity, Mass Effects, Dragon Age, God of War, Witcher, Uncharted, TLOU, Horizon, Halo, Elder Scrolls, Assasins creed, Far Cry, etc...).

Some recent favorites have been FrostPunk, Kingdom Come, Ori and the *, and Plague: An  innocence tale.

Thanks in advance

Jackbox Party Packs are great. Only 1 person needs the game and you can stream it easily via twitch or discord (to a private group). Quiplash and Murder Mystery Trivia are both favorites of my friends.

Just a little ways in, and I'm really enjoying the game. Runs perfectly smooth on my PC and is damn pretty with perfect controls.