Video Games

Pretty sure all stories in open world games are linear. Even Skyrim is point to point if you're just playing the story.

I spent literal days in RDR just hunting and picking flowers, killing trail robbers and hucksters, lassoing and dragging people who looked at me funny until they died. Hog tie some dude and leave him in the mountains. Tie up a lass and toss her on the train tracks (and then along came Jones). A vast majority of my time was off the trail.

Question: seems a huge percentage of clips and pics I've seen have all had 2'+ of snow in them. Is snow that prominent, or are that many people really that much in awe of shrinking horse balls? When I think "southern border", a blizzard isn't really what comes to mind.

Quote: Face

Pretty sure all stories in open world games are linear. Even Skyrim is point to point if you're just playing the story.

I spent literal days in RDR just hunting and picking flowers, killing trail robbers and hucksters, lassoing and dragging people who looked at me funny until they died. Hog tie some dude and leave him in the mountains. Tie up a lass and toss her on the train tracks (and then along came Jones). A vast majority of my time was off the trail.

Question: seems a huge percentage of clips and pics I've seen have all had 2'+ of snow in them. Is snow that prominent, or are that many people really that much in awe of shrinking horse balls? When I think "southern border", a blizzard isn't really what comes to mind.

The 1st 2 hours are very linear taking place in the Mountains in the deep snow winter. Its the 1st chapter. No open world yet. It sets up the overall story.
After 2 hours, 2nd chapter starts and your group sets up camp in typical Western open fields, forest, canyons, town area and the world is now open to explore with no snow.
A ton of cut scenes in the game. Its like 1/2 video game, 1/2 movie with lots and lots of cut scenes.
I'm enjoying it more as the game mechanics are becoming more familiar.
I've collected a bounty, collected debts for my groups loan shark, murdered rival gang members, looted bodies, played no limit texas holdem, hunted deer with bow and arrow.
Currently got ahold of a treasure map and following that path right now

Ah, so it starts just like GTA. A bunch of forced, can't-possiblay-stray gameplay to set up the story and force a controller tutorial, then sort of dumps you into the open world portion. That's acceptable (tho annoying)

Forgot about treasure hunting. Yup, did a lot of that, too. Clearing gangs, collecting bounties, and lots and lots of backroom BJ. Pretty easy to count a single deck =) Then lose it all at poker and go on a 10 day massacre eradicating coyotes to replenish your bankroll. Such a good game =)

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch
What a game
I generally stay away from fast multiple mashing buttons fighting games
but
This got such good reviews, I bought it
What a fun fighting game. A lot of strategy which I like.
Tons of unique characters with different fighting styles and weapons
A huge variety of platforms to fight on
This game rocks

Metro Exodus on Xbox one
Wow, what a game
Its from developers in the Ukraine
First person shooter
The set up, the nuclear war between Russian and the USA is over
Russian soldiers are finally emerging from the underground metro system after surviving there years after the war avoiding radiation
The Russian countryside is devastated as you make your way East
You have limited ammo so you have to smartly choose your fights and often it is best to try to avoid all the wild animals roaming devastated Russia
A really great FPS. I am impressed

Civ VI is on sale, I reckon to draw attention to the newest expansion. Just got the main title plus 7 more DLC for $35 after tax. That's like 80% off.

2k hours into Civ V and could easily play 2k more. This was the easiest purchase ever. Just hope it's as good.

And as I looked around at all the AAA games I skipped, I decided it was time to treat yo'self. My penchant for beta / early access indies was taxing my outdated GTX 660, so I upgraded. GTX 1070. Sweet mother of god...



When detail is such that you can see individual waves breaking at Angels20, and UV cracks in the canopy glass, all while getting ~60FPS...

12yr old me would be losing his mind right now. I started on LHX Attack Chopper and could not get over the realism...



I damn near s#$% a chicken when we finally got a PC and I got a copy of Jane's. This was gaming on a whole 'nuther level. I might as well BE THERE, as it could not get any better than this. I mean, you could see the gear go up and down!



What I'm doing today I can't even understand. The art in some of these games positively beggars belief...





I could hop in a Black Shark and land in Wiz's driveway, and it'd be there. Blows my mind sometimes. How can we have come so far so fast?

I remember my 1st flight simulator on the old commodore 64
I was amazed. The graphics were so basic but the physics of flying was right there
The graphics have come a long long way.
The realism is incredible
Currently going a bit old school on the game I'm playing now
Saints Row the third. Came out about 8 years ago
They just ported this game over to the Switch so I can play this anywhere like on the can.
Its a Grand Theft auto clone but way over the top. A lot of fun running around the open world city creating mayhem

My first flight simulator was on the Timex Sinclair 1000. Block character graphics of, say, a runway, and only the runway, on an empty black background. Took like an hour to load off of an audio tape. Disappointing, but at the same time, a little impressive with what you could do with a personal computer at the time.

I had the flight simulator for the C64 as well. Very good. Again, for the early 1980's.

Some of my favorite games in the 90's were combat flight simulators - aces over Europe, aces over the Pacific, that sort of thing.

The last Microsoft flight simulator ("Microsoft Flight”) had really good graphics, sky, terrain.

But it keeps improving. Those game shots from Face are pretty amazing.

My laptop has a 1080ti graphics card in it. I was playing "Elite Dangerous" but haven't played that since June. I am worried that the next time I want a major game, it'll be obsolete.

I played all of the civ games, too. The last one I bought, maybe it was civ 5, I played 3 or 4 games and put it away. Same with the latest SimCity - I tried to like it, but it was frustrating and I didn't think it was as good as it's predecessor.

Quote: Dalex64

The last Microsoft flight simulator ("Microsoft Flight”) had really good graphics, sky, terrain.

Assuming you're talking THE Microsoft Flight Sim, then it'd be cheaper to buy a plane =)

Quote: Dalex

But it keeps improving. Those game shots from Face are pretty amazing.

My laptop has a 1080ti graphics card in it. I was playing "Elite Dangerous" but haven't played that since June. I am worried that the next time I want a major game, it'll be obsolete.

I played all of the civ games, too. The last one I bought, maybe it was civ 5, I played 3 or 4 games and put it away. Same with the latest SimCity - I tried to like it, but it was frustrating and I didn't think it was as good as it's predecessor.

The game those shots came from is, believe it or not, free to play. You get Caucasus map, an Su-25T, a number of missions and a full campaign free of charge. 48-player multiplayer free of subscription. And ability to join up and fly with other planes without having to first own them. The game is modular based, you only pay for what you want. Low-fi modules are cheap (~$20) and have all the weapons, damage, physics, etc, as the hi-fi modules, but they don't have the intricacy. Start up is done by key command, the cockpit is just a picture, it's a bit simplified. The hi-fi mods run the price of a full game (~$50) but are the real deal. Clickable cockpits, start up procedures, the lot. Many of the hot threads that address questions about how to do this or that are ones that are answered by actual fighter pilots of that plane or by those who reference actual combat flight manuals, as all the workings are identical. It's a bit mental, and deserving of the title "sim".

Digital Combat Simulator it's called. WWII to present, a number of helis, even a mod that lets you control all the ground units. A must have for any combat sim fan.

And if by "latest Sim City" you mean simply "Sim City", as in the one released by EA around 2013 that was a disaster due to DRM, terrible servers, and severely reduced acreage, then I have a treat for you. Cities: Skylines is everything SC was supposed to be. It almost feels a rip off on how similar they are, but Skylines is the one who done it right. I won't waste me breath because I could go on and on, but check it out. If you like what you see, then no worries about getting hoodwinked again. It's the real deal.

Yeah, one of my co-workers is way into DCS, including buying the latest and greatest.

And again yes, THE MsFs that wanted money for everything but a small chunk of Earth at Hawaii and hardly a plane to speak of,

And he's the 2013 disaster of a SimCity. Even aside from the DRM and the server capacity issues, it just wasn't a good game.

I have had my eye on Skylines for quite a while now.

It is hard to go back to some of those old games now, that used to be great, that I got a lot of enjoyment out of, but the graphics, nowadays, are disappointing. The original Baldur's Gate was 640x480.