The Video Game Thread

[Apollo]

If you enjoy Civilization and you enjoy Game of Thrones then you should try Crusader Kings 3. I've been playing it off and on the last month and it is a lot of fun once you overcome the learning curve. They offer a pretty good tutorial campaign.

[Axel]

I don't know who here has the Epic Games Launcher (like Steam basically), but I've gotten Civ 6, Alien: Isolation, Just Cause 4, Watch Dogs 2, Metro 2033 and Star Wars: Battlefront 2 now for FREE. Among like 30 other games I haven't played yet. It's pretty sweet. Don't even have to do anything. Just log in and claim the game. They alot of smaller, indy dev games for free which I used to love, so I see it as a great value add for having to have another launcher.

I never think to check it but will now

[Joey]

I don't know who here has the Epic Games Launcher (like Steam basically), but I've gotten Civ 6, Alien: Isolation, Just Cause 4, Watch Dogs 2, Metro 2033 and Star Wars: Battlefront 2 now for FREE. Among like 30 other games I haven't played yet. It's pretty sweet. Don't even have to do anything. Just log in and claim the game. They alot of smaller, indy dev games for free which I used to love, so I see it as a great value add for having to have another launcher.

[Joey]

Cyberpunk update: I'm in love. It's so much fun to play. The gun play/combat/stealth/hacking is seamless and incredibly fun to play around with depending on the situation. The cars are awesome. The story is great. RPG elements are DEEP. The city is incredible - find myself just wandering around looking at the scenery all the time. I've created a John Wick-type guy who clears out a room with a silenced pistol .. it's satisfying as fuck.

I get everyones experience has been a little different, but man oh man, I don't want it to end. And that's when you know they've got something good.

[Apollo]

People are even streaming Cyberpunk to a jailbroken Nintendo Switch with what looks like a lot of success.

Here's one via Stadia:

And one via Moonlight (streaming from a PC):

[Apollo]

Hot take: Cyberpunk 2077 is good. Like really good. I've managed about 40 hours into it now, and it's the best first person experience I've had since Fallout. It actually feels alot like a Fallout game. And let's not forget, every Fallout game comes built-in with it's own share of bugs. These games are huge. I for one haven't experienced a single game-breaking bug, and only a handful of minor ones. All-in-all, I've been blown away by the world they've created; it's honestly one of the best open worlds ever created in a game.

I just took the plunge into an Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (never thought I'd adopt a Chromebook but pigs fly I guess) and while I wait for it to arrive I've been fooling around with GeForce Now on my old work laptop. It plays surprisingly well over my wifi and while I'm a fibe customer, I'm only using the HH3000 that Bell gives you. Through GFN you get access to the games you already own on Steam, Epic and GOG. Only snag is that the publisher needs to give Nvidia the 'ok' in order for it to be available in your game list, so not all my steam games are available right now. Cyberpunk 2077 is supported though, so is Mount & Blade Bannerlords and a bunch of other really epic new games best played with a mouse and keyboard. If you're a subscriber of GFN you can run your games on the cloud with RTX turned on (if supported by the game) and apparently Cyberpunk 2077 looks pretty amazing RTX on just at 1080p; I think I might get it next Steam sale after your comments.

This weekend I'm going to test out Steam Link from my old gaming rig to my old work laptop. I could see myself Steam streaming from my old gaming rig to my new Chromebook and running GFN for new games. I think I'm going to get a triband router running WIFI 6 in the spring and at that point cloud gaming should be pretty smooth in my house no matter how many people I have tapping the bandwidth on Netflix, Youtube, Spotify, etc. I might just pass on next gen hardware altogether. I hear Stadia is really good too and it provides 4k visuals if my connection can handle it. Microsoft is coming out with their own streaming service as well, although it looks a lot more expensive than most. Its a pretty interesting time in gaming history. I'm guessing this is the last gen we see hardware leading cloud gaming. Once WIFI6 is adopted on most devices I think cloud gaming takes another step forward.

[Joey]

Hot take: Cyberpunk 2077 is good. Like really good. I've managed about 40 hours into it now, and it's the best first person experience I've had since Fallout. It actually feels alot like a Fallout game. And let's not forget, every Fallout game comes built-in with it's own share of bugs. These games are huge. I for one haven't experienced a single game-breaking bug, and only a handful of minor ones. All-in-all, I've been blown away by the world they've created; it's honestly one of the best open worlds ever created in a game.

[Axel]

It's a shitty policy though and in the long run will be detrimental to the sales of developers who have not built up a strong reputation. I can't count how many games have arrived broken on console, never really fully fixed. Especially on Switch, dear god... Don't buy any third party releases in the first couple weeks on that system... Although Witcher 3 is pretty damn amazing on there when you consider what you're playing in your hands.

This is one of the reason I switched to board games. Haven't been happy with most video games over the years, much higher enjoyment return in board games for me.

[Joey]

It's a shitty policy though and in the long run will be detrimental to the sales of developers who have not built up a strong reputation. I can't count how many games have arrived broken on console, never really fully fixed. Especially on Switch, dear god... Don't buy any third party releases in the first couple weeks on that system... Although Witcher 3 is pretty damn amazing on there when you consider what you're playing in your hands.

Oh I completely agree. Just acknowledging the reality. The game industry is broken. But we will continue to pay money, so nothing will change. Lol

[Apollo]

Exactly. If you look at games like Division, Witcher, Ghost Recon etc, they've all made HUGE bounds since their release. It's the new way for the gaming industry. Put out half baked games, and then wait for feedback to see what you should fix. Lol

It's a shitty policy though and in the long run will be detrimental to the sales of developers who have not built up a strong reputation. I can't count how many games have arrived broken on console, never really fully fixed. Especially on Switch, dear god... Don't buy any third party releases in the first couple weeks on that system... Although Witcher 3 is pretty damn amazing on there when you consider what you're playing in your hands.

[Joey]

I'm waiting on that big patch coming in January and I'll start playing then. I think this game will just get better with time, as the patches continue to roll out.

Exactly. If you look at games like Division, Witcher, Ghost Recon etc, they've all made HUGE bounds since their release. It's the new way for the gaming industry. Put out half baked games, and then wait for feedback to see what you should fix. Lol

[NoPropsneeded]

It's pretty spectacular, not going to lie. Bugs haven't been nearly as bad as they've been made out to be in the media, at least not on PC. Story is deep af so far, really deep RPG mechanics, and combat is super satisfying. Some of the best action I've participated in in a while. Really like some of the mechanics they've introduced, and I feel like I've only scratched the surface.

I'm waiting on that big patch coming in January and I'll start playing then. I think this game will just get better with time, as the patches continue to roll out.

[Joey]

No doubt that for PC, right? I'm guessing the mod community for this one will be wild.

Ya, alot of talk about that right now. The devs didn't release mod tools with launch, but many are speculating that they'll be coming, which would be unreal. I'd really like to get a 3rd person camera for the game. That's really my biggest gripe with the game.

[Joey]

so....first impressions?

It's pretty spectacular, not going to lie. Bugs haven't been nearly as bad as they've been made out to be in the media, at least not on PC. Story is deep af so far, really deep RPG mechanics, and combat is super satisfying. Some of the best action I've participated in in a while. Really like some of the mechanics they've introduced, and I feel like I've only scratched the surface.

[Apollo]

Downloading Cyberpunk 2077. Been waiting for this game for a whiile. Hope it lives up to the hype.

No doubt that for PC, right? I'm guessing the mod community for this one will be wild.