The Video Game Thread

[byufan4ever]

Bought Elden Ring last week, broke my controller in frustration 4 hours in, now have nothing to play. Most riduculously hard game I have every played. Like the look of Dead Island 2 so might get that next.

I was really into Monster Hunter World when it first came out. I have a love/hate relationship with that game. Certain aspects of it I loved. But, my skill level was just not quite up to par for that type of game, and when I was audibly getting angry and it was affecting my mood with my family, I knew that it was time for me to quit. As much praise as Elden Ring has received, I just know that is not it's not a game for me.

Starfield, now. I love me some Fallout and while I never finished Skyrim, it's still a great game. When Starfield goes on sale in a few months, I'll probably pick that up and spend a 100 hours or so on that game.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

BTW, if anyone is into PC gaming or wants to just build a PC for home or work, right now is the best time in the last three years to build a PC. Last week AMD released the 7800 XT which is the only interesting GPU from this generation when looking at price and performance. It's quite a bit faster than the only marginally okay Nvidia GPU right now, the 4070, and it's $100 cheaper. Obviously you don't get Nvidia's productivity and upscaling advantages when you go AMD, but Nvidia hamstrung all of their GPUs this cycle below the 4070. The 7800 XT has 16GB of RAM as opposed to the 12GB in the 4070, but 12GB will likely be fine for awhile for 1440P. The problem is the 12GB may be limiting if you ever go to 4K, but I think these are 1440p cards anyway.

That all being said, the 7800XT and the 4070 have lowered the price on used 3080s with 12GB and the 3080 ti, and both are better cards than either of the new ones, the 3080 ti substantially so. You don't get the latest upscaling, but you get the still really good past gen DLSS which is better than anything from AMD. The 3080 ti is less than the 4070 and the 3080 12 GB, if you can find one (most have 10GB) is less than the 7800 XT.

Additionally, RAM and storage are cheap. Motherboards and power supplies, for some reason, are kind of pricey right now.

[byufan4ever]

BTW, if anyone is into PC gaming or wants to just build a PC for home or work, right now is the best time in the last three years to build a PC. Last week AMD released the 7800 XT which is the only interesting GPU from this generation when looking at price and performance. It's quite a bit faster than the only marginally okay Nvidia GPU right now, the 4070, and it's $100 cheaper. Obviously you don't get Nvidia's productivity and upscaling advantages when you go AMD, but Nvidia hamstrung all of their GPUs this cycle below the 4070. The 7800 XT has 16GB of RAM as opposed to the 12GB in the 4070, but 12GB will likely be fine for awhile for 1440P. The problem is the 12GB may be limiting if you ever go to 4K, but I think these are 1440p cards anyway.

That all being said, the 7800XT and the 4070 have lowered the price on used 3080s with 12GB and the 3080 ti, and both are better cards than either of the new ones, the 3080 ti substantially so. You don't get the latest upscaling, but you get the still really good past gen DLSS which is better than anything from AMD. The 3080 ti is less than the 4070 and the 3080 12 GB, if you can find one (most have 10GB) is less than the 7800 XT.

Additionally, RAM and storage are cheap. Motherboards and power supplies, for some reason, are kind of pricey right now.

My first three GPUs were all AMD and then I went Nivida when I bought a new PC this past March. I get what you're saying and you're not wrong. AMD generally has the best bang for your buck. But, Nividia cards are generally faster and just stronger overall. My 3070 ti is only 8GB, but it's probably faster and more powerful than AMD cards with more memory. I had a Radeon RX 5500 XT and it had 8GB which at it's price seemed like a great deal to me at the time, but it was the worst card that I've ever had.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

My first three GPUs were all AMD and then I went Nivida when I bought a new PC this past March. I get what you're saying and you're not wrong. AMD generally has the best bang for your buck. But, Nividia cards are generally faster and just stronger overall. My 3070 ti is only 8GB, but it's probably faster and more powerful than AMD cards with more memory. I had a Radeon RX 5500 XT and it had 8GB which at it's price seemed like a great deal to me at the time, but it was the worst card that I've ever had.

The problem with 8GB is the GPU has to turn down the textures and sometimes will be throttled with the newest games. I have a 3080 with 10GB, but it also has a sizeable memory bus and slightly faster memory. It's able to outperform a 4070. That said, I noticed that some of the textures in Hogwarts Legacy had to be scaled back when my kids were playing it.

AMD is competitive right now. With the extremely competitive pricing of the 7800 XT, they're employing the Ryzen strategy they used against Intel. Nvidia massively overpriced the 4080 and 4070 ti and moderately overpriced the 4070. Nvidia needed to ship the 4060 with 10GB and the 4060 to with 12 GB and kept them at $300 and $400. They would have been decent products.

[USUC]

Yeah it's pretty awesome. But there are a ton of Mario games you probably haven't played. I think Mario 64 alone is better. Mario Galaxy 1&2 are awesome, and Mario Odyssey is pretty amazing, too. Nintendo just did a Nintendo Direct (a live presentation on YouTube) about their latest game coming out later this year that you will probably be interested in if Super Mario World is your thing.

Pre-ordered this and received it yesterday afternoon. I haven't had much time to play it but my kids love it so far. The Yoshi characters not taking damage is a nice crutch for my little girl as she learns it.

[Commando]

Pre-ordered this and received it yesterday afternoon. I haven't had much time to play it but my kids love it so far. The Yoshi characters not taking damage is a nice crutch for my little girl as she learns it.

This game is insane in a good way. Just a straight-ahead Mario game but so much development went into this. Just fun.

I got this and Spiderman 2 on the PS5. The problem is I am still all the way entrenched in Zelda- going on 5 months now- so I just played them for a few minutes and got back to my 'real' game.

[Commando]

OK I'm getting officially excited. I also notice the name is not NCAA Football like it was before. I wonder if they still needed NCAA permission to do this game-- I am sure they will be paying student athletes (some at least) to use their names and likenesses, which is amazing. We need a bb game w Jimmer now...

*Looks like EA is offering each athlete $600 for their likeness for the game as an NIL payment. Shoot most would do it for free for the clout, but I'm sure there will be some holdouts...

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...il-realignment

[Maximus]

anyone a ff7 fan??

the demo is great!

[Commando]

anyone a ff7 fan??

the demo is great!

I played FFII on the original NES... and then played it again on the Wii when they had the Wii store w NES games in it. I have been reticent to pick up the recent FF games because they just look like... a lot. I did get sucked back into Ghost of Tsushima again, this time on the PS5 and with the additional DLC storyline. I can't get over how much I love this game.

[USUC]

Anybody have any experience buying vintage consoles? My son became infatuated with our old Wii and now he wants to start getting older nintendo consoles. For his birthday in a couple of weeks he wants a GameBoy Advance and a couple of games with it. There is a lot of sketchy listings I've seen. Any advice on reliable vendors?

[Pelado]

Anybody have any experience buying vintage consoles? My son became infatuated with our old Wii and now he wants to start getting older nintendo consoles. For his birthday in a couple of weeks he wants a GameBoy Advance and a couple of games with it. There is a lot of sketchy listings I've seen. Any advice on reliable vendors?

My brother has an ownership interest in a local video game store. They sometimes have older consoles, but I don't know about that one in particular. I can check in with them and see if they have anything in stock and/or where to find stuff.

Edit: What games would your son want to play?

[BigPiney]

Anybody have any experience buying vintage consoles? My son became infatuated with our old Wii and now he wants to start getting older nintendo consoles. For his birthday in a couple of weeks he wants a GameBoy Advance and a couple of games with it. There is a lot of sketchy listings I've seen. Any advice on reliable vendors?

that is a cool idea, but I would probably buy a knockoff from aliexpress and run an emulator.

[USUC]

My brother has an ownership interest in a local video game store. They sometimes have older consoles, but I don't know about that one in particular. I can check in with them and see if they have anything in stock and/or where to find stuff.

Edit: What games would your son want to play?

That would be great. Thank you.

His number one game want is Mario Kart: Super Circuit followed by any of the 4 Super Mario Advance games.

[USUC]

that is a cool idea, but I would probably buy a knockoff from aliexpress and run an emulator.

He very much likes the idea of the real deal. But if I can't find it this may be a great option.

[Pelado]

That would be great. Thank you.

His number one game want is Mario Kart: Super Circuit followed by any of the 4 Super Mario Advance games.

Ok. I talked to my brother and he says their store often has GameBoy Advance consoles in stock, but that there are apparently four different models:

Original GameBoy Advance - he says this one is the best ergonomically, but that the screen doesn't have any lighting. This one can also play GameBoy or GameBoy Color games in addition to GameBoy Advance games, though the cartridges from the older games stick out further than GBA games.

GameBoy Advance SP (frontlit screen) - They redesigned the console and added a frontlit screen. My brother claims this version isn't as ergonomically friendly, but it does include a frontlit screen and can also play the GB and GBC games.

GameBoy Advance SP (backtlit screen) - A later version of the GBA SP had a backlit screen. Same less-ergonomic design and same capacity to play GB and GBC games.

GameBoy Micro - a miniaturized version of the GBA, it's smaller and more ergonomically pleasing. Has the backlit screen but cannot play the GB and GBC games.

I've just enquired with my brother if your son's preferred games lend themselves more to any particular platform. I will return and report once I hear back from him.