Gaming Thread!

A friend has been trying to beat the scalpers and got a PS5 for my kid at his mom's. Just found out she got an X for me today. As someone who regularly gets in on day one stuff this has been a long wait.
 
A friend has been trying to beat the scalpers and got a PS5 for my kid at his mom's. Just found out she got an X for me today. As someone who regularly gets in on day one stuff this has been a long wait.

I banned myself from games for two years now. New kid. Figure I wouldn't have much time. Was right. Now that the kid is getting close to being able to enjoy games, been looking at PS 5's mostly to play Fifa ultimate team (I miss FUT Champions Weekends), but seriously can't find any consoles. Supply chain issues are insane.
 
Man, next year is going to be amazing for games.

Just Dying Light 2, Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring, and Forspoken in the first few months, with the new God of War later on … then the two awesome looking DC games at some point!

Cannot wait for these! Makes up for this year, which didn’t have many standouts.
 
Microsoft just bought ACTIVISION / Blizzard for …

68 BILLION

Honestly the only game this really effects for me is Diablo IV. Glad I have an XBX for that. Don’t really care about Overwatch or CoD.

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Oh wild, two of my best friends when I worked in movie VFX one went on to Blizzard and the other to MS to work on Halo. They can be reunited :D I assume it would be a few release cycles before any of the big 3 went exclusive but that's game changing.

I put the new Xbox in my music room and got a 4k monitor so I've largely been playing that lately since nobody has to fight for the TV. Mostly been playing Riders Republic but I should be catching up on last years big releases over the next month.

Is Cyberpunk playable on the consoles yet? I put that on the gamefly q.
 
Oh wild, two of my best friends when I worked in movie VFX one went on to Blizzard and the other to MS to work on Halo. They can be reunited :D I assume it would be a few release cycles before any of the big 3 went exclusive but that's game changing.

I put the new Xbox in my music room and got a 4k monitor so I've largely been playing that lately since nobody has to fight for the TV. Mostly been playing Riders Republic but I should be catching up on last years big releases over the next month.

Is Cyberpunk playable on the consoles yet? I put that on the gamefly q.

Ya, Cyberpunk works well on next-get consoles. I only played like an hour after picking it up for $8 on Black Friday, but I’m still holding out until they drop the true next-Gen update which is ALLEGEDLY coming this year at some point.

Riders Republic is really good. I loved Steep and they took that and built up. I know a lot of people dunk on Ubisoft, but I love nearly all their stuff.
 
Pokémon Legends Arceus is a blast, and I can’t wait to see them build off this foundation.

After nearly 30 years, Pokemon has evolved.
 
Pokémon Legends Arceus is a blast, and I can’t wait to see them build off this foundation.

After nearly 30 years, Pokemon has evolved.
This is the most fun I’ve had playing Pokémon in at least a decade and I kinda actually liked Sword and Shield.

I’ve had to stop myself from thinking about playing it while I work which is probably the first time that’s happened with a Pokémon game.
 
This is the most fun I’ve had playing Pokémon in at least a decade and I kinda actually liked Sword and Shield.

I’ve had to stop myself from thinking about playing it while I work which is probably the first time that’s happened with a Pokémon game.

SwSh was ruined by its leveling system. The ultra boosted EXP share not being able to be optioned off was such a bizarre design choice. It made everything way too easy. I actually like grinding in old-school Pokémon and that took it away.

Meanwhile in this one, after trying for the last two hours I managed to flip my horribly disappointing Decidueye for a Typhlosion. I’m pretty happy but would probably prefer Samurott.
 
I just spent way too much money on an internal 2TB HD for my PS5. Saw Horizon is going to be over 100GB and knew it was time to stop shuffling things around and take the plunge.
 
Beat Arceus last night. It’s a little rough around the edges, but I’m so hyped about the future of this series. Such a great building block. The traditional 8 badges then elite four won’t cut it anymore.

The reviews are coming out for Horizon Forbidden West, they’re great, and I’m HYPE. Didn’t think I would be. This Friday!

Elden Ring in two weeks. Even more HYPE for this one!

Dying Light 2 meanwhile is a little disappointing. Not loving it, unfortunately.
 
Don't know why I thought DL2 was a Game Pass game, didn't interest me the least but I thought I would play it if it was.

I'm mostly playing Far Cry 6 right now but I have the latest COD and RE: Village from Game Fly. I played the latter for an hour and am somewhat reminded why I never got into those games and just watched my bff at Uni play through one summer when he was crashing my couch. But I WANT to like it.

Also dumped spotify over the artist royalty issue (not the other one) and am trying out Deezer since it is one of the few on Xbox. So far it's ok. Can only listen to the Rider's Republic and Forza soundtracks for so long.
 
Add another one to the to-do pile; Cyberpunk2077’s next-Gen update finally dropped today. Grabbed it for 9$ Back on Black Friday with the plan to wait for this update. Probably well worth it now.



Oof, the braindance missions are painful.
 
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Is Elden Ring like one of them totally impossible games?

I finished Far Cry 6 which was too easy. I have a few games in the queue but new releases got me hyped. Really I should be doing something more productive though.
 
Is Elden Ring like one of them totally impossible games?

I finished Far Cry 6 which was too easy. I have a few games in the queue but new releases got me hyped. Really I should be doing something more productive though.

Yeah, it’s traditional FromSoft of Dark Souls / Bloodborne / Sekiro fame.

Going on reviews it seems just as difficult as ever but the open world seems to make things far more accessible though. No longer is an impossible boss simply brick wall. You get stuck, and you can just pivot off and go do other stuff until you get more levels, better gear, better at the game. Easier co-op too, with the co-op summon item being easily craftable instead of a semi-rare item you’d hate to waste.



 
Pokémon 9th Gen announced, Scarlet and Violet. Announcement trailer makes me think it’s traditional city-to-city, 8 gym, elite four … except in the style of Pokémon Arceus! That sounds like something incredible.

Due out late this year.

Seems like a rush of Pokémon though, probably could have spaced out D/P remakes (didn’t play, no interest), Arceus, and this new one out over the span of a year.



And Elden Ring is incredible.
 
I got a few Souls likes on Game Pass but haven't had the chance to play just before I decide on Elden Ring.

Really irritated that WWE 2k22 is upcharging the current gen titles with no real additional content after 2k20 no way in hell am I touching a pre-order.
 
The commercials for WWE2K22 are so shockingly bad. The graphics are hideous! I thought their year away was supposed to bring them to the NEXT GEN but they’re out looking like the same old-Gen garbage they’ve been putting out for years now.
 
The commercials for WWE2K22 are so shockingly bad. The graphics are hideous! I thought their year away was supposed to bring them to the NEXT GEN but they’re out looking like the same old-Gen garbage they’ve been putting out for years now.
My kid is going to be bummed but I will probably hold out for AEW's game.
 
So anyways I gave in and bought Elden Ring. Once I got out of the castle I attacked the white mask guy for calling me maidenless and after dying a few times I killed him.

Was this bad?

Also, at some point since I had just started I didn't get my runes back. I'm still not exactly sure I understand this element.

Should I continue or restart?
 
I’m not sure what else that guy does the rest of the game. I haven’t run into him again some 20 hours in. I’d guess you’re good to go without too much difference. I’d try to spare people that aren’t hostile in the future though! Lol

As for lost runes: when you die they get dropped at that spot. You can go back and get them, but if you die again they disappear. Not a big deal that early in the game if you lost some.
 
I’d try to spare people that aren’t hostile in the future though! Lol
He called me maidenless and had a bad attitude.

As for the death, I guess I'm unclear what runes I even have? Am I missing something when it comes to looting the training baddies or anything else? Is it more like XP that you gain just for killing them. I don't seem to have collected any items at that point so I'm totally unclear what I lost.
 
He called me maidenless and had a bad attitude.

As for the death, I guess I'm unclear what runes I even have? Am I missing something when it comes to looting the training baddies or anything else? Is it more like XP that you gain just for killing them. I don't seem to have collected any items at that point so I'm totally unclear what I lost.

Every enemy killed gives you runes automatically. It’s basically EXP to spend on leveling up your attributes (strength/dex/INT/etc) at Sites of Grace. (The number you have shows in the bottom right)

When you die once the runes on you are dropped where you’re killed (indicated on the compass) and shows as a glowing little tree when you see them in the overworld. If you get to them before you die again you get your runes back to spend … if you die again before you grab them they go away forever.
 
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Every enemy killed gives you runes automatically. It’s basically EXP to spend on leveling up your attributes (strength/dex/INT/etc) at Sites of Grace. (The number you have shows in the bottom right)

When you die once the runes on you are dropped where you’re killed (indicated on the compass) and shows as a glowing little tree when you see them in the overworld. If you get to them before you die again you get your runes back to spend … if you die again before you grab them they go away forever.
oh ... so the sites of grace are where you level up? which option do I choose? why isn't that explained better in the starting castle?