SFR Video Gamers Lounge!
- Thread starter DanielOcean
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Sorta fishing-related
I’ll team up with you for some 2v2 anytime.
Never will I ever have any interest in VR gaming. Just not for me.
Different strokes for different folks. I did not like the Dragon Age games and thought Divinity OS was just OK.
No long lore dumps in Avowed and there is a third person mode (but I am playing first person). Best game I've played since Fallout 4. It's not really an open world game, but the maps are huge. I'm a "completionist" in games like this and like to find every secret. There is a fun parkour aspect that rewards getting to out of the way ledges etc.
I'm not interested in VR, but my Xbox X is worth every penny to me. It is far less expensive than trying to keep a gaming computer up to date and I've adapted to the console controls from keyboard and mouse.
Yeah we definitely have different tastes
I've always been way more in the JRPGs. The game loops, storytelling and combat in those styles just tend to work more for me. Not much for the anime art style in most of them, but everything else I love.But my favorite game style still by far are the "Souls-like" style. At some point this year I'll be diving in to the DLC expansions for Elden Ring and Lis of P.
Fun thread. Cool to see so many gamers with varied interests.
It's funny, but at 46 years old the two constant interests in my life are fishing and video games and I've done both about as long.
Spent the bulk of my life as a console guy but in the last couple of years made the deep dive into the PC gaming world and just haven't looked back. Quite honestly I don't understand why anyone would buy a console at this point. Between full fledged gaming PCs, hand helds, and the influx of mini pcs on the market these days, I just don't see any advantage to a console. Console exclusives was always the argument for one console or another, but those are just about completely gone anyway now that you can play just about any of the console games online now through the various services.
I ended up going a bit nuts when I purchased my first PC and ended up with a pretty beefy rig. I was always intimidated by PC gaming just due to all the effort that seemed to be required to get games to run well, or with certain system components or whatever, so I didn't want to start my PC world with something that was already falling behind, so I ended up going pretty high end. Settled on a system built with an I9 1300K Processor, 4090 GPU, 32 gigs DDR 5, 2TB SSD and dual 34" UW monitors. I wanted a system where I could sit down and play any game my hearts desired, and boy does this thing get the job done. Making the switch from controller to mouse and keyboard was quite a learning curve, and I'm still progressing, but once I got semi used to it I much prefer M&K for most games.
I've played, and enjoyed, a million different games in my life but certain genres have always been my fav. RPGS, since I was a kid, have always been at the top of my list. Starting with the original Final Fantasy on NES, I've had a live long love of RPGs. I was a big FF fan up through about 7, and then sorta started losing interest. I'd be hard pressed to pick a single favorite RPG, but Divinity Original Sin 2 would be pretty close to the top. My god I put some hours into that game. Funny enough, I've NEVER beaten it lol. I've played all the way to the end soooooo many times. Trying so many different builds, different choices, but never actually beat it. I do that a lot. When BG3 came out I was beyond stoked, but like Evan it never fully resonated with me for some reason. It's a truly remarkable game by virtually every metric, but something about it just didn't click with me like the DOS series. No doubt a me issue.
I'm also a huge fan of survival games, and am a sucker for survival games centered around zombies. I think State of Decay 2 is my favorite video game of all time. An odd choice I suppose, but there is something about the game play loop there that just sucks me in completely. Ultimately the reason I bought a PC is because of the upcoming release of State of Decay 3. Its slated for release on the newest XBox, or PC. I have had zero interest in purchasing a new Xbox, so it only made sense to start down the PC road in anticipation of that game's eventual release. In the console world there just isn't a ton of these types of games, but on PC there are nearly endless options. Some of my personal favorites are Project Zomboid and 7 Days to Die. Zomboid, IMO, is close to video game perfection. If you can get past the simple graphics, there is so much depth to that game that its damn near overwelming.
Another genre I've spent a lot of time with, though much less in recent years, are first person shooters. I was a big Xbox player when the original COD Modern Warfare game out, and online FPS games really started taking off. I played a ton of MW, MW 2, Black Ops, Black Ops 2, some Battlefield etc. Spent countless hours playing these games with old work friends and had a blast, but eventually I drifted away from most online play. When I got a PC I dipped my toe back into a few FPS games, enjoying them to a degree but nothing too crazy until I discovered Escape From Tarkov. This was my first extraction shooter. My son had been playing it for a few years and talked about it often, but being only a PC game I never had a chance to experience it. I first downloaded this game a little over a year ago, when I was sitting at home feeling sorry for myself while dealing with my captains license. I had an abundance of free time, and my brain was working over time constantly. As cheesy as it sounds, I discovered that game at just the right time. I'm almost ashamed to state how many hours I have put on that game. Just a touch over 3k hours at this point. Not every single one of those hours is in game, as no doubt there was some menu time and such, but holy shit have I played that game a ton. It scratches an itch in me that I never knew I had. That game is so frustrating, so buggy, so janky, so anxiety inducing..... And so much fucking fun. It provides an experience that virtually zero other game can provide. It's completely unique, and insanely brutal. I love it.
Its funny, as I've gotten into the PC gaming world I've had to learn about things like Discord. I had heard of Discord but really had no idea what it was or why I'd use it. As I got into PC gaming my son got me up to speed. Discord, for those who don't know, is the main way people meet and communicate while playing online PC games. You can go into various...." chat rooms" if you will, meet people to play games with, then start something of a phone call with them to communicate while playing games. I was pretty apprehensive at first to really put myself out there as I'm just not much of a social type of person, but Tarkov in particular is better played with teammates so I allowed my son to kinda push me into that world, and soon found myself meeting and playing with some strangers. This eventually lead to something resembling "friendships" with people I've never actually met face to face. It's been a cool experience, and totally new for an old man like myself. One thing that always cracks me up is when I'm playing with someone new and they find out my age they are always so shocked. "Wow! You're playing games at your age?? That's sooooo cool!!". It cracks me up because I'm always like "Dude, my generation is quite literally the OG gaming generation. NES came out when I was like 7 or 8 years old, and prior to that I played Pong, Atari, Commodore 64 etc. I've literally gamed my entire life". But it still shocks people and cracks me up lol
I've gone through phases of my life where I'm mildly embarrassed about my love of gaming, but at some point I just decided I don't give a shit. I'm a proud nerd. Video games are cheap entertainment. (Yeah yeah, my PC wasn't cheap. But if you take a game that you put 3k hours into and break it down per hour, it's pretty damned cheap entertainment!), I'm home and available to my wife when playing, it stimulates my brain and gives me something to focus on which I desperately need at times, and provides fun and relaxation. Thats not something to be embarrassed about.
One last thing..... The absolute best part about my transition into PC gaming has been playing games online with my son. We both play several of the same games, including Tarkov, so we play together often.... Him on his PC at home, me on mine. We often play with a couple of his buddies, or a couple of mutual discord friends, and its been so much fun. It's added a whole new dynamic to our relationship. It drives my wife nuts cause anytime he comes over we end up just dominating any conversation discussing our raids from the previous night lol. But getting to spend this time with my son, both of us as adults, and being able to be a part of his world in a sense is just incredibly valuable to me and worth ten times what I've spent on video games in my life. People that we play with are always super stoked when they find out we are father and son as well. Several times I've been told how jealous someone is, that they wish they could play games with their old man, and let me tell you that makes my heart swell.
It's funny, but at 46 years old the two constant interests in my life are fishing and video games and I've done both about as long.
Spent the bulk of my life as a console guy but in the last couple of years made the deep dive into the PC gaming world and just haven't looked back. Quite honestly I don't understand why anyone would buy a console at this point. Between full fledged gaming PCs, hand helds, and the influx of mini pcs on the market these days, I just don't see any advantage to a console. Console exclusives was always the argument for one console or another, but those are just about completely gone anyway now that you can play just about any of the console games online now through the various services.
I ended up going a bit nuts when I purchased my first PC and ended up with a pretty beefy rig. I was always intimidated by PC gaming just due to all the effort that seemed to be required to get games to run well, or with certain system components or whatever, so I didn't want to start my PC world with something that was already falling behind, so I ended up going pretty high end. Settled on a system built with an I9 1300K Processor, 4090 GPU, 32 gigs DDR 5, 2TB SSD and dual 34" UW monitors. I wanted a system where I could sit down and play any game my hearts desired, and boy does this thing get the job done. Making the switch from controller to mouse and keyboard was quite a learning curve, and I'm still progressing, but once I got semi used to it I much prefer M&K for most games.
I've played, and enjoyed, a million different games in my life but certain genres have always been my fav. RPGS, since I was a kid, have always been at the top of my list. Starting with the original Final Fantasy on NES, I've had a live long love of RPGs. I was a big FF fan up through about 7, and then sorta started losing interest. I'd be hard pressed to pick a single favorite RPG, but Divinity Original Sin 2 would be pretty close to the top. My god I put some hours into that game. Funny enough, I've NEVER beaten it lol. I've played all the way to the end soooooo many times. Trying so many different builds, different choices, but never actually beat it. I do that a lot. When BG3 came out I was beyond stoked, but like Evan it never fully resonated with me for some reason. It's a truly remarkable game by virtually every metric, but something about it just didn't click with me like the DOS series. No doubt a me issue.
I'm also a huge fan of survival games, and am a sucker for survival games centered around zombies. I think State of Decay 2 is my favorite video game of all time. An odd choice I suppose, but there is something about the game play loop there that just sucks me in completely. Ultimately the reason I bought a PC is because of the upcoming release of State of Decay 3. Its slated for release on the newest XBox, or PC. I have had zero interest in purchasing a new Xbox, so it only made sense to start down the PC road in anticipation of that game's eventual release. In the console world there just isn't a ton of these types of games, but on PC there are nearly endless options. Some of my personal favorites are Project Zomboid and 7 Days to Die. Zomboid, IMO, is close to video game perfection. If you can get past the simple graphics, there is so much depth to that game that its damn near overwelming.
Another genre I've spent a lot of time with, though much less in recent years, are first person shooters. I was a big Xbox player when the original COD Modern Warfare game out, and online FPS games really started taking off. I played a ton of MW, MW 2, Black Ops, Black Ops 2, some Battlefield etc. Spent countless hours playing these games with old work friends and had a blast, but eventually I drifted away from most online play. When I got a PC I dipped my toe back into a few FPS games, enjoying them to a degree but nothing too crazy until I discovered Escape From Tarkov. This was my first extraction shooter. My son had been playing it for a few years and talked about it often, but being only a PC game I never had a chance to experience it. I first downloaded this game a little over a year ago, when I was sitting at home feeling sorry for myself while dealing with my captains license. I had an abundance of free time, and my brain was working over time constantly. As cheesy as it sounds, I discovered that game at just the right time. I'm almost ashamed to state how many hours I have put on that game. Just a touch over 3k hours at this point. Not every single one of those hours is in game, as no doubt there was some menu time and such, but holy shit have I played that game a ton. It scratches an itch in me that I never knew I had. That game is so frustrating, so buggy, so janky, so anxiety inducing..... And so much fucking fun. It provides an experience that virtually zero other game can provide. It's completely unique, and insanely brutal. I love it.
Its funny, as I've gotten into the PC gaming world I've had to learn about things like Discord. I had heard of Discord but really had no idea what it was or why I'd use it. As I got into PC gaming my son got me up to speed. Discord, for those who don't know, is the main way people meet and communicate while playing online PC games. You can go into various...." chat rooms" if you will, meet people to play games with, then start something of a phone call with them to communicate while playing games. I was pretty apprehensive at first to really put myself out there as I'm just not much of a social type of person, but Tarkov in particular is better played with teammates so I allowed my son to kinda push me into that world, and soon found myself meeting and playing with some strangers. This eventually lead to something resembling "friendships" with people I've never actually met face to face. It's been a cool experience, and totally new for an old man like myself. One thing that always cracks me up is when I'm playing with someone new and they find out my age they are always so shocked. "Wow! You're playing games at your age?? That's sooooo cool!!". It cracks me up because I'm always like "Dude, my generation is quite literally the OG gaming generation. NES came out when I was like 7 or 8 years old, and prior to that I played Pong, Atari, Commodore 64 etc. I've literally gamed my entire life". But it still shocks people and cracks me up lol
I've gone through phases of my life where I'm mildly embarrassed about my love of gaming, but at some point I just decided I don't give a shit. I'm a proud nerd. Video games are cheap entertainment. (Yeah yeah, my PC wasn't cheap. But if you take a game that you put 3k hours into and break it down per hour, it's pretty damned cheap entertainment!), I'm home and available to my wife when playing, it stimulates my brain and gives me something to focus on which I desperately need at times, and provides fun and relaxation. Thats not something to be embarrassed about.
One last thing..... The absolute best part about my transition into PC gaming has been playing games online with my son. We both play several of the same games, including Tarkov, so we play together often.... Him on his PC at home, me on mine. We often play with a couple of his buddies, or a couple of mutual discord friends, and its been so much fun. It's added a whole new dynamic to our relationship. It drives my wife nuts cause anytime he comes over we end up just dominating any conversation discussing our raids from the previous night lol. But getting to spend this time with my son, both of us as adults, and being able to be a part of his world in a sense is just incredibly valuable to me and worth ten times what I've spent on video games in my life. People that we play with are always super stoked when they find out we are father and son as well. Several times I've been told how jealous someone is, that they wish they could play games with their old man, and let me tell you that makes my heart swell.
Yeah we definitely have different tastes
But my favorite game style still by far are the "Souls-like" style. At some point this year I'll be diving in to the DLC expansions for Elden Ring and Lis of P.
I always avoided Souls like games for many years. I was never super into overly "difficult" stuff when I was younger, so never saw the appeal. Then Elden Ring released, and holy shit did I enjoy that game. That lead me to picking up Bloodbourne and giving that a go, and that game is simply incredible. I tried Sekiro at some point prior to Elden Ring, and god damn that game was difficult and I ended up not giving it much of a chance. Now that I've embraced this style of game more I really should go back and give it another chance.
I've been super interested in Avowed for quite a while now, but I'm hesitant to pull the trigger. Something about the reviews just puts me on edge. I'm sure I'll give it a try at one point though. On paper that game has a lot that I should enjoy.
Anyone spent any time with Kingdom Come Deliverance 2? I've only a few hours in it so far, and while I can't say it's fully grabbed ahold of me yet, it is an incredibly unique game that offers an experience unlike anything else I can recall playing.
Same with me. I started with Bloodborne, though. That single game totally flipped my gaming hobby on its head. One of the most satisfying game loops I've ever experienced. I then went on to play Dark Souls 1, 2 & 3, Elden Ring, and several attempts at Sekiro, but like you, Sekiro didn't work for me. Took waaaaaaay too quick of reflexes that I don't have. I can get quite a ways into it as I'm really good with the parrying, but the Mikiri Counter moves and stuff were far beyond my reflex ability.
Give Lies of P a shot if you get around to it. So, so good. First real game in that genre that I think is as good or better than the games made by FROMSOFT (Dark Souls).
Edit: I tried Kingdom Come Deliverance 1, and didn't really click with me. Way too "realistic" in its combat. I want over-the-top sword play and explodey magic stuff. Not stealth and realistic reactions from enemies.
I ended up picking one of these up for my wife for Xmas. She has always been the hardest person to shop for. She never spends money on herself, and really doesn't have much in the way of hobbies. Her Xmas list often ends up reading like a Walmart shopping list, just random needs. Anyway, this year after much deliberation I picked her up one of the 1 TB Oled Steamdecks. She has played a lot of games in the past, but all older stuff. Super Nintendo, N64, Mario that sort of thing. The Steamdeck was a bit of a gamble, she's not a very techy person, and easily gets overwelmed and frustrated learning new things like that, but I decided to go for it. Best decision I could have made. Our son got her a Steam gift card, and I got her all setup and ran her through everything. She was apprehensive at first, but I kept working with her and she figured out how to download games. She found a couple platformers she was enjoying, and I was happy enough with the purchase. But then she discovered Stardew Valley, and things took off. Now she plays that stupid game every evening, sitting in her recliner with the cat just having a ball. Its super cool seeing her get into something like that, but more than that watching her get into something that I also enjoy is just awesome. I have zero interest in Stardew Valley, but it's so cool that my wife now discusses video games with me!
As for the Deck itself, thats one amazing piece of equipment! The damn thing just works, and works well. I went with the Steamdeck specifically due to the Steam OS and reports of how simple it was to use, and thats certainly the truth. So simple my wife figured it out in no time. She won't be downloading any huge, demanding triple A games, but for what she plays it runs everything damn smoothly and is just a joy to use. Sadly I haven't got to use it a ton. I had told her that if she didn't like it it was no big deal, as I'd defintely make use of it, but alas I'll have to pick up one of my own if I'm ever gonna spend any quality time with it lol
Yeah I got a SteamDeck for our teenage son shortly after they released a couple years ago. Went ahead and got myself that nice OLED one last year. I get a LOT of mileage out of that thing. I split my gaming time between that and the PS5 and have a good backlog of games on each. One cool thing about the deck is you can get a dock for it and actually use it like a console - hooks into the TV with HDMI, can sync with an Xbox or PS5 controller, and just play like it were any other console. But mostly I use it on its own.
DanielOcean
Fart! : )
I have so much PC parts we can build you a gaming PC. My price is you have to play call of duty with me.I have an old XBox 360 and a ton of games.. an old PSP and a Raspberry Pi I need to setup.. i will eventually get a new system or just use my Samsung laptop or my phone..
And to answer you question.. yes, I am that AWESOME! REALLY I AM! YOU ARE ALL LUCKY TO KNOW ME!
That one has been on my radar since release. It's not one that instantly calls to me, but the reviews have all been good enough to make me think I should give it a shot at some point.
Understandable. That sort of thing isn't for everyone. I think that may be part of why I haven't fully gotten into it yet. On the flip side, I find myself getting quickly burned out on the usual video game stuff, so something far more realistic and unique is refreshing to me from time to time. I didn't play the first game, but by all accounts it was janky as hell and the sequel greatly improves on all aspects. That said, I've also read that if you weren't super into the first one, there isn't anyting so new in the second one that its likely to change that.
Yeah I actually ordered a dock as well when I ordered her Steamdeck for this very reason. I figured she might enjoy just playing it on the TV. So far though she hasn't used it. I kinda thought the unit itself might be uncomfortable to play for extended periods, but that just doesn't seem to be the case.
Last season I ended up bringing my whole PC down to Westport. I was glad I did, as it gave me something to do in my downtime, but I'm giving serious thought to just picking up a Steamdeck for myself and bringing that instead this season.
Yeah, for some reason, I just like my gaming experiences to be outlandish. About the closest I get to any kind of realism are driving sims. I love Gran Turismo games and always have. I put a sesh in with Gran Turismo 7 quite often. It may be "realistic," but not like I'll ever be blasting through the Nurburgring in a McClaren any time soon IRL.
Fair enough! I've often enjoyed driving games, but honestly haven't played them a ton in quite a few years. I always used to enjoy GT, Forza etc, but its been many years. Might have to give one a shot on PC one of these days. I enjoy checking out pics of other peoples gaming setups and am always impressed with the vehicle/flight control setups people have for that style of game.
For me I think I am drawn to games with lots of depth more than anything. I think for me video games gives my brain something to focus on. If I don't have anything right up front to focus on, my brain tends to just spiral until it settles on something. Often times that something it settles on isn't necessarily a good thing, and causes more harm than good. A video game with a lot of depth provides my brain something to dig into and prevents it from going down other roads. I think this is why I enjoy RPGs so much, especially ones with deep character progression and mechanics. I think I can ultimately get into just about any genre of game if it provides enough depth. Stuff that is too simple, or too easy just loses me very quickly these days.
Yup, right there with you. I consider my videogaming hobby to be a healthy outlet for me. Many people sit down and watch TV or movies. I can't do that. There's not enough stimulation for my brain. I am otherwise always running around doing something: At the gym working out or coaching classes, going on a run, working my full time job, working on my boat, building stuff around my house, or if the time of year is right, fishing, etc etc. Videogames are the one place I can physically relax, but keep my brain engaged. But keeps me from burning out on being actually productive.
Ill take you up on that and throw in a bottle of whiskey young man! I've already got a monitor to use or my 32" smart tv!