Videogame Discussion Thread

I'm running high, with some ultra settings on a 2060, to give you an idea. Maybe some very slight dips into the 50's but it has been extremely isolated. The game has mirrors you can activate and look into, which do reflections the old way of literally rendering the space and character twice... but that's got no impact on any gameplay whatsoever.

So something at least in the ballpark of a GTX 1080 should do 1080p/60hz with settings pushed pretty far up. 3060 is probably a pretty safe bet, though I'm not sure I'd count on RT performance there. Can't speak on the AMD cards, but I'm sure for basic 1080 their newer midrange ones will do it.

The GTA clone thing has always been silly to me. GTA is a simple game built on staple mechanics. Unless it is a direct copy of nearly everything in a GTA game, calling *any* game a GTA clone is like saying my house is a clone of my neighbor's because they're both made with bricks and have doors, windows, and roofs.

FWIW, the way the open world is done is very GTA-like, but that's about where it stops. The combat, story, progression, etc are pretty different. And the RPG side is actually legit, there's a lot to do. The RP stuff permeates the game. From the beginning you pick one of 3 origins with different aesthetics and general life paths/moral orientations and there is stuff all throughout in your decisions, outfits, and builds that ties in... and it's the forgiving kind where you don't really miss out no matter how you play your character, just different flavors. Mix this with the nitty gritty skill/perk options, you've got an actual f'ing action/RPG. So... not GTA. No way. Don't even get me started on the options you have for stealth, exploration, and sizing up. In terms of action, it REALLY does not play like GTA much at all lol. Maybe the driving and actually getting around...

I think people just like to bitch. I associate that sort of thing with that reddit crowd who just has to know everything and pretend like they're on the bleeding edge, as opposed to another consumer blabbing online. Wannabe art critics who like to argue so much they don't realize when they're actually speaking against art on a fundamental level.

What's one of the first rules of making art? "Learn the rest of the rules so that you can learn to break them." What are the rules of art? Well, they're sort of nebulous groupings of established ideas, styles, and techniques within mediums. Paths you can follow to producing something that people will easily connect with and appreciate. To be a good artist, you first learn to replicate those things until you're churning out carbon copies, so that you can use that understanding and skill to deviate a little and maybe even make some contributions of your own to that whole pool, which other people will then replicate and place alongside whatever they have thought up.

Nobody truly wants a fully original game. Those same people would HATE it... complaining that it's confusing, too hard. "This game did it THAT way and it was much better." I mean... that's a thing, too. What if they do GTA even a little better than GTA? What if they just take those mechanics and that whole vibe and refine them? Is that not an enjoyable game for the vast majority of people who enjoy that? Why shouldn't somebody make that game? Technically, they haven't done anything new, but by doing the old better they would still be elevating the experience to a new level and thus have value as art. It still gives us something we didn't have before! We see this in music all of the time, and nobody complains when somebody comes along and performs a totally established style better.

I have played some truly terrible experimental games man, haha. There's a whole zeitgeist of mechanics and ideas that devs draw on to prop up on their own. Those elements are tools you can use. Arrange them how you like, there's room for experimentation within that. Making it completely original, from scratch, really only hinders things creatively in that sense. To me, that's just art. It's a steady progression of existing ideas getting modulated and built on. Being derivative isn't inherently bad. Frankly I'd rather have some familiarity as a platform, make it solid... so all of the new ideas you want to bring in don't topple on themselves. Art is largely a play on expectations... but the key word there is 'play'. If you just shatter them at every point you leave people perpetually confused. The idea is to deviate enough and choose those points so as to make what you want people to experience stand out more. If everything is new, it's just overwhelming mush for most. Game mechanics, from an artistic perspective, are a means of conveyance. They are not the whole experience any more than the graphical flair, visual design, or story elements are.

 

I'm waiting.

I mean I have my copy, but my 1080ti can't do it justice on my 3xxx by 1440 ultrawide.

Sometime next year I'll pick up the inevitable 3080ti and have a nice time with all the major issues patched out

 

The market is brutal at the moment.
There is tons of scalping on the newer cards and older stuff is holding value due to lack of availability.
Take a look at some benchmarks and your local prices then decide what you can afford from there.

Gamers Nexus, 1080 Uber:


Gamers Nexus, 1080 High:


This dude does a good job of covering which settings eat the most frames and shows the difference:

 

Thanks @Sqveak and @robot zombie! Yeah I figured this was a bit of a horrible time to buy, was just wondering if I could get away with a full build that tops out at like 40k pesos (around USD 830 but individual components are significantly more expensive here due to VAT). Probably overly optimistic on my part but it's not like I'm in any hurry to get the game or finally retire the laptop.

Also apologies for the brevity, kinda braindead at the moment from work and also behind on some PMs, would normally be happy to respond with multiple pages

 

The game will be there later, in better form, with DLC. And the hardware to run it will be cheaper months from now. 800 bones is definitely pushing it, even here in the US. Even a 2060 is gonna be ~$300. GOOD used 2070's are closer to $500. Used 1080/ti's aren't far off here. And it's not like the thing is CPU-lite, either. I feel for ya man, I know how that is.

The only reason I have a build with ~$2k worth of parts is because I got back into doing commission builds at the start of the Ryzen era. It's pretty much the only way I even build for myself. Makes me money for my upgrades... other times you just sort of wind-up with suitable parts for your own rig. Or maybe snag a good deal on something used that's great for the configurations I know people will buy, by just talking to people online or scoping things out. I keep some of the savings for myself while passing the rest onto them and we both save on our builds. Maybe somebody lists something on a community you're good with... or you put a word out and one of those people comes through.

I'm not doing any of that now, so I'm not even thinking about the shiny new GPUs. Just glad it's looking like my 2060 will carry me through the coming year. Cause yeah... even if you're active in 'the scene' it's still a brutal market right now.

I've never encountered anyone who apologizes for brevity haha. I only *wish* I could shut it down sometimes. I'm not all there, man. Elvis died on the shitter. I'll probably die in the middle of that 15th epic post for the day.

 

If you want a card for CP2077 I’d get one that supports Nvidia’s DLSS. I’d wait though. By the time graphics cards are available the game will be in much better shape anyways.

 

I’ve been playing Cyberpunk 2077 since it came out. I’ve only advanced to level 11, but here are some random thoughts.

The main storyline is interesting. Keanu Reeves’ character, Johnny Silverhand, is a nice addition, and plays a large role.

So far, the game is quite glitchy. I’ve not experienced any crashes or lockups, but I have experienced: audio going out for all NPCs, having my character’s clothes not show up (leaving his junk bouncing about), on screen dialog not going away after leaving the conversations.

Driving experience isn’t as smooth as GTA, but I’m getting the hang of it. I’m not sure if the physics is as entertaining as RDR2, GTA, Fallout, or Skyrim. I’ll need to play those a bit for a refresher.

Loads of side quests that are not too time consuming and offer decent rewards.

Combat is OK. You really have to hit bad guys with a lot of bullets to kill them. I prefer getting in close and using a katana.

I’m running a system based on:
Ryzen 9 3900X
Dual 2070 Super
64GB RAM
Game runs off of SSD

All graphics are maxed, and in spite of gimping my CPU (I put a cap at 3.8 GHz) and my GPU (performance limited by temp hitting 70°C), I pull 35-40 fps - adequate for a RPG (I’d lower quality if this were an online FPS so my fps go up to 60+).

You have to look hard for nudity - there have been a few nude dead bodies, but avoiding joytoys seems to have minimized nudity (for those who are uncomfortable with it).

Language is definitely rated R, lol... lots of F-word. <shrugs>

Night City is beautiful - bigger than I had imagined it when I used to play the pencil/paper version. I haven’t ventured beyond to the badlands yet.

I need to get better at navigation and using fast travel points.

I bought a guide that I’ll take a look at after I’ve bumbled through the initial play through.

That being said, I enjoyed RDR2 a lot better when it first came out (after patches and tweaks made it playable). If RDR2 is a 9.0 in my book, I’d give CP2007 a 8.0. It is a keeper!

 

Looks like CP2077 heat was getting too strong for company.

 

Heard rumors this launch was shareholder pressure. Half believe it, myself.

Huuuge year to drop a game like this. Almost a decade in the development hole (d-hole, if you will.) But beyond that, it is prime time to drop such a big, massively costly project. Year of the console, AND new gpus. Fall season. It pretty much had to be now. This chance only comes once every several years and it is BIG. Even spring/summer next year is a sales death sentence. And by next year those consoles are established and the competition is much stiffer. Next fall will bring more mature titles, ready to go on those consoles. And youre not getting that massive new console title bump.

Probably pretty serious over there. Feel bad. I believe CDPR themselves love the project and it has been thier child for some time. How bad do future sales prospects have to be to drop this super hyped game now, in this state? Wouldnt have done it if they had a choice.

People defended the crunching, but to me that said everything about how the launch would be.

Somebody made too many promises to the wrong people, an' I ain't talkin bout the gamers, choom.

 

I don't think spring would be a death sentence at all. This is one of those games that would sell no matter when it released. I mean didn't they have like 8million preorders? I doubt that would have changed, especially now when nobody can find a GPU or a next gen console.

I'm sure you're right about shareholder pressure but their leadership seemed arrogant because they're the "darling" of the industry and im sure that played a part as well in the decision making. The initial reaction from the gaming community wasn't as bad as I expected, but I think it's catching up with them now. I think it would have been much worse if this game had been released by EA or some other major publisher

 

This is a pretty good point (I had to look up Nvidia DLSS— thanks for the direction!), and I suppose that worst case scenario if the need to migrate becomes so urgent I just get a build that uses integrated graphics and then, when the game's in better shape and finances allow, tack on a proper GPU.

Grazie!

 

I haven’t tried it myself as I don’t own an RTX card but it’s supposed to be revolutionary stuff with games that support it. Allows you to render at a much lower resolution, which would be perfect for a demanding game like CP2077. Hopefully some day I’ll be able to get a 3080 and try it out. Its major drawback is that not every game supports it.

Regarding CP2077, the devs and their toxic fanbase have soured the game for me. I’ll probably pick it up at some point but for now I’m happy playing other games. I’ve been enjoying most of the ps5 launch games.

 

I've only gotten 2 visual glitches and 1 mission bug that required me to load a previous save. Other than that everything runs smoothly, with RT at a minimum and nothing in ultra and 2 of the more demanding options in medium (2080).

As, I usually do, everything I am seeing/experiencing is new too me and this is exactly why I stop seeing/reading about a game a few weeks after it's firat announced. Many people have already forgotten the huge difference that it makes knowing just "enough" about a game. It's a totally different experience.

 

Might be relevant for those of you on AMD:

 

I've had several crashes with 1.04 bit pretty stable, with more fps, with my 2600, Nós wirh 1.05.

 

Heads up if your like me and do a lot of crafting in these types of games:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...mount-of-items-to-avoid-corrupting-save-files

I'm getting Skyrim Ps3 flashbacks here. Cyberpunk really needed another 6-12 months of development time.

 

So my GF got Cyberpunk for me for Christmas and I couldn't help myself. The game gets choked pretty bad on my computer (i5-4690, GTX1070), with medium settings the best I can get 30+ frames on at a slightly reduced resolution (I have an ultrawide). I am trying not to play too far, as I really want to wait til I can grab a 3 series RTX next year when they come available again, so I am doing basic tutorial stuff and wandering around.

The scale of the city blows my mind. So far out of the forced car rides, I have preferred to jog around and soak it all in. I swap over to ultra settings to slowly look around and close dialogues to get max fidelity, but I can't move around at 20fps.

My main disappointment so far is the fact that I can't buy street food. So many vendors, but can only buy from a few restaurants. And then, I can only buy Nuka Cola, booze, and meat in a jar. WTF. At least let me get some bao or noodles. Also kind of disappointed I can't take the clothes of people I kill. So used to looting everything and leaving a pile of bodies in their underwear. Some dope jackets just laying on the street now.

 

Yes they bombed. Tons of vending machines but hardly any street vendors. They really need to rethink that in the future.