imthesoldier

I never picked this up last year when it originally came out, and I still only own a PS4. Maybe it's high time I get my ass off this horse, and get the Director's Cut.

On 8/19/2021 at 9:03 AM, SaysWho? said:

I have to say, even the load times for Base PS4 are quite good based on that video. <10 sec, especially when I've been used to 30 sec or more on some console games is pretty sweet.

So I guess Quake is now out? I see it's out on Switch, so I would imagine the same applies for all other platforms. 

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/quake-switch/

EDIT: Yup. Available on other platforms!

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP1003-CUSA24593_00-QKRMST0000000000/

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/Quake/9P1Z43KRNQD4#activetab=pivot:overviewtab

I love this topic. Some great selections from everyone!

For me, I think it's got to be Skies of Arcadia.

Even though I've played this over a half-dozen times over the years (and gone through partial playthroughs in-between), just becoming so immersed in the world that is Arcadia, the story, the characters, and simply the overall feel of the game. While there are some gameplay elements that have become a little dated, the game itself is still highly playable today. It's an example of a classic JRPG that does not require a remaster/remake ala FF7R to be playable for the modern era.

On 8/12/2021 at 3:49 PM, BlueAngel said:

That's a possibility.

There's a reason why I tend to cap my games at 30fps. It's not only because of a more consistent frame rate, but the fans on my 770 don't ramp up as much.

On 6/22/2021 at 10:08 AM, chakoo said:

I enjoy the Quake 2 -> Quake 4 universe, I actually think Q4 was better than what people were shitting on back when it came out. Yet with that said I would love for them to go back into the more gothic style of Quake 1 again. 

I’ve only ever played Quake 4, and I enjoyed it for what it was. That should mean the franchise only gets better as I play more of them, correct? 

On 8/13/2021 at 3:10 PM, ManUtdRedDevils said:

Is it unhealthy that I check once a week to see if my shipping date changed from Q1 to Dec?

Only if it interferes with your day to day activities. Otherwise, check away. 
 

I did just check my reservation, and it’s still at Q1 2022 myself, which I’m ok with. Maybe it’ll give me some time to play a bit of my PS4 backlog, so I have a few games on Steam to play for the Deck. 

On 6/15/2021 at 9:18 AM, BlueAngel said:

Stalker 2 minimum requirements

OS: Windows 10

Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X | Intel Core i5-7600K

Memory: 8GB RAM

Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

Storage: 150GB

Additional notes: SSD

 

Stalker 2 recommended specifications

OS: Windows 10

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X | Intel Core i7-9700K

Memory: 16GB RAM

Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8GB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB

Storage: 150GB

Additional notes: SSD

 

So I should expect 30fps maybe at 1080p on low haha.

I think I qualify in the low-spec gamer realm. My GTX 770 might be able to run it at 480p 30fps at super low settings. That is if my PC doesn't burst into flames first.

I'd like for this to be true, but I have doubts.

For one, why use Unreal instead of R*'s own engine? Almost makes me wonder if there's an outside company doing this instead of Rockstar Dundee, provided the rumors are in fact true. Given the rumors say both Switch, and Mobile are part of this release, RAGE is not officially supported by ARM last I recall, so maybe for parity sake, they offload it onto a different engine that is both scalable, and supported by all platforms? Obviously, using the old RenderWare engine would be out of the question, given its age.

If it is an outside studio, and not an in-house remaster like the rumor says, my bet is on Panic Button because...why the hell not?

1 hour ago, BloodyHell said:

Im really sensitive to framerate dips, some people aren't, so maybe thats where we're diverging, but ive never heard anyone defend its framerate.

 

The first game was a masterpiece tho, I love it.

And strangely, a technical marvel on the Nintendo Wii. One little fact I like pointing out is this was made using only 88MB of total system ram. Load times were incredibly short, streaming assets were fast, and the worlds were still incredibly massive for its time. Gaur Plains is a sight to behold, even on the New 3DS, which even a marvel on that I think.

On 6/13/2021 at 8:33 PM, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

This can't be right. Normally these kinds of ambitious titles have downgraded graphics as they get near launch.

EDIT: That said, we have plenty of time before launch, so there's always a chance.

I've played XBC, and XCX. XBC is only 2nd to Skies of Arcadia as my all-time GOAT, and I still want to play XC2 at some point. XCX deserves a Switch port, plus some UI, and minor gameplay tweaks.

I welcome another XC if that is what Monolith Soft have in fact been working on besides BOTW2 w/ Nintendo.

SSD being swappable is all but a guarantee, same with the battery when that gets old and worn. We already know the Ram is "on-board" which I believe is code for soldered, which wouldn't surprise me. Same with the APU. Almost guaranteed to be soldered to the mobo.

Upgradability will be limited for a system like this, which in my mind goes without saying. That said, it'll be more upgradable than an Apple product. Heyoo!

1 minute ago, stepee said:

 

MAD LAD

And yet, he's a Good Guy Greg by linking all these articles for us folks who are interested in it.

"I don't care about this, but I know you guys do, so here you go."

My body is ready.

On 7/28/2021 at 4:43 PM, legend said:

 

He's slowly accepting the mantle.

 

That, or he's preparing himself to become Drachma from Skies of Arcadia:

(I look forward to play Skies of Arcadia Legends via Dolphin on the Deck.)

Emulators, even Nintendo-based ones, are not going anywhere. They do not use any of the original assets, or hardware that make up the platforms the games played on. Hence, emulation. The program is merely "guessing" (if that's the correct word) what the hardware would've been like, and that is also why you generally need a much more powerful system to play games via an emulator versus original hardware.

Legally speaking, Nintendo can't do shit, and they know it. And I believe the same applies to any of their games that are reverse engineered ala Mario 64. None of the original assets were used to create it, so it's a unique and bespoke game created from the ground up. It may look like Mario 64, play like Mario 64, and even sound like Mario 64. But look at the code, and it's not Mario 64 from Nintendo. I believe that's how you can skirt the law, but someone else can correct me if that's not quite accurate.

1 minute ago, silentbob said:

Now people have the conveniences of playing a game that could scare the crap out of them on the crapper themselves. Numb/fallen asleep static feeling legs for everyone 

That sounds like quite the efficient arrangement.

1 hour ago, GameDadGrant said:

Oh, I just remembered that the Dead Space games are on Steam, right? I never played those but I heard good things about them.

Aye. They are. And that reminds me, I still have yet to play Alien: Isolation. Might be a good test for the Deck with my noise-cancelling headphones.

EDIT: Oh crap. I also have The Evil Within.

Playing Serious Sam: The First Encounter in part because it's the 20th Anniversary of the franchise this year. Feels like reuniting with an old friend to be honest.

Yeah, the power draw, or lack thereof is really something for the kind of power this is projected to have.

on a similar note, Valve continues to update the page for the Tech Specs of the Steam Deck, this time confirming a 128-bit Bus for the LPDDR5 ram.

https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech

According to what others were saying, that's 88GB/s of total Bandwidth. Very respectable for a device like this. Not on the level of Xbox Series, or PS5, but given the type of system we're dealing with, that's good to hear.

On 7/17/2021 at 2:17 PM, crispy4000 said:

I don’t know if you’re referring to Zelda, but both SS and BotW do this in different ways and it’s among the best parts in both games, IMO.  So to me, it depends how it’s done.  Without a puzzle component or a way to gradually build your arsenal back, it’s pretty terrible.

For BOTW, I believe you're referring to Eventide Island, in which case I wholeheartedly agree with you. That was honestly one of the best parts of the game, and presented a unique challenge that forced you to strategize in order to beat it. I remember how I learned you could attack enemies with a metal object using your magnetic ability. It was one of those eureka moments. Harp on weapon durability, but the physics, and A.I. system are really good in BOTW, and Eventide really showed that aspect of it.

1 hour ago, TwinIon said:

It makes sense for Valve to send out dev kits. They're not that expensive, and the difference between a native game and a poorly optimized one can be huge. Even though it is just a PC, I'm sure Valve wants this to be more of a typical handheld console like experience. You're not going to get that without at least some effort from the devs.

 

If you have to tweak settings in every other game you play on this thing, it's going to drive away a lot of customers. You're certainly not going to pick up a lot of the Switch crowd.

Agreed. I was talking with another buddy of mine on Discord, and he and I both agreed that in order for this to be successful, it has to be a pick up and go system where the end user doesn't have to change any settings to get games to work. I want to say this is why I've been hearing good things about SteamOS 3.0 in regards to its use with Proton, and adding compatibility for windows games on a Linux system.

And based on what I read on the Steam subreddit, Linux prefers AMD vs. Intel/nVidia in terms of ease of use, and performance, so that also might come into play.

The end result for this should be you don't have to install windows to play games, even though you certainly can. You should be able to boot the system up with its default OS, select a game, and get straight into it. I have no problems with tinkering, but for the vast majority of users, it needs to be pick up and play.

Like you said, a more console-like experience is what we're after.

9 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

I'd say that it's pretty much standard PC hardware, but it is still running non-standard software by default. I doesn't seem like getting a game working on ProtonDB is a big deal, but a lot of devs won't do it.

 

ProtonDB.com says that even their gold rating requires some tweaks, and only their platinum and native rated games run perfectly out of the box. 42% of the steam top 100 will run well out of the box, with 52% running well after tweaks. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a native Proton game will run better than the same game on the same specs on Windows. So somewhere between 20%-30% of games right now will run better with Steam OS. Nearly half of games will probably run better or will only be playable on Windows, and everything in between will depend on the game.

 

So If we're talking about how games will run on the Steam Deck using Steam OS, I'd argue that the bar for devs to have the game run well is higher than "just another PC configuration." If you're including running the game under Windows, then it's basically just another PC config.

And yet, based on that Steamworks video I posted earlier, Valve are supplying dev kits for folks. So I'm wondering if their plan is to get developers to have their games work natively via SteamOS on this, and/or have a proper compatibility layer with Proton (Did Valve have dev kits for their Steam Machines back in the day?). That, and maybe have specific graphic profiles for optimal performance, and fidelity.

Valve appears to be taking this whole thing quite seriously if they're supplying dev kits for what is a full-blown Computer in handheld form. At least, that's my take on this. I will be actively checking on updates from Valve as the Deck gets closer to launch.

14 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

It’s using a standard Van Gogh APU, which will be available in other devices before the deck ships.

I think you're right actually: https://wccftech.com/amd-van-gogh-apus-bring-power-of-rdna-2-in-ultra-low-power-ryzen-notebooks/

2 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

It's got a custom APU (I think)-- which requires AMD support in drivers.  Are there any other PCs that are using a Zen2/RDNA2 APU?

It's difficult to nail down exactly because it doesn't appear to exist in that format for consumer desktops/laptops. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_2

The chip is custom in that while it's using a Zen 2 CPU, it's using an RDNA2 GPU like you said, and instead of LPDDR4, it's using LPDDR5 memory (no APU uses that currently). So, it may be based on a Ryzen 3 4000 series APU, but its GPU is much more powerful than what a standard GPU would have for an APU of that design. Not to mention it has Ray-Tracing support, so it's appears to be a mesh-mash of different elements. It could also be based on a Ryzen 7 4980U, but with half the cores and threads disabled/eliminated, and the GPU adding Ray-Tracing.

I don't know off hand what AMD APU even has Ray-Tracing support yet. I'm more inclined to believe AMD took the Xbox Series S APU, and trimmed it down for use in the Steam Deck. Would cut down on the R&D to create such a chip, while not starting from scratch either.