General Gaming Thread

[Bobfoc]

I tend to feel that way about a lot of old point-and-click adventures. When people say something along the lines of "It's awesome! You spend hours upon hours clicking every pixel and trying every combination of items before you make progress! You also have to restart the whole game if you forgot to pick up the lost bollock of Basildon two hours in too! Old school!" I know it's not for me.

[Meacon Keaton]

Is there a particular monitor I would need for an HP Omen gaming PC? Or could I put it with pretty much any HP monitor? I don't know anything when it comes to buying a computer that doesn't come with all the parts. 

[MDK]

16 minutes ago, Meacon said:

Is there a particular monitor I would need for an HP Omen gaming PC? Or could I put it with pretty much any HP monitor? I don't know anything when it comes to buying a computer that doesn't come with all the parts. 

I use two TV's as my monitors.

[Meacon Keaton]

1 minute ago, MDK said:

I use two TV's as my monitors.

Does that create any form of lag?

[MDK]

2 minutes ago, Meacon said:

Does that create any form of lag?

I'm no expert but I haven't noticed anything. Both are HDMI. To be fair one TV is really shite but I use it as my main screen and it looks sharp compared to when I use it as a normal TV. And the other one is a lot bigger and I just use it to watch films or whatever, occasionally to play games but I feel like I am too close to it.

In short; No noticeable lag for me.

[apsham]

A lot of TVs have a gaming input that actually impacts things related to lag, etc.

[Drock007]

What are your guy's favorite Video games that came out in the 90's? Or even the best games? I am looking at games that came out in that period that I haven't played that i should go back in play

[Schlitzbrille]

7 hours ago, Meacon said:

Is there a particular monitor I would need for an HP Omen gaming PC? Or could I put it with pretty much any HP monitor? I don't know anything when it comes to buying a computer that doesn't come with all the parts. 

TL;DR of this post: Really depends on the graphics card, brand is less important than resolution and aspect ratio.

There's two major aspect ratios in the PC monitor world nowdays- 16:9 (regular widescreen) and 21:9 (ultra-widescreen). Both have their pros and cons, ultra-widescreen needing more graphics card power because of the added pixels but also pretty popular.

Resolution? Four major ones: 1080p (full HD), 1440p, 1600p, 2160p (4K). Each step up requires more power to keep framerates reaaonable.

I'm going out on a limb here and guessing yours is configured with a GTX 1060 graphics card. In that case, I'd personally use your pick of 1080p 16:9 monitor.

 

As for TV's? Completely doable too, some variances already detailed.

[OctoberRaven]

10 hours ago, Drock007 said:

What are your guy's favorite Video games that came out in the 90's? Or even the best games? I am looking at games that came out in that period that I haven't played that i should go back in play

For the 90s, that's easy. Final Fantasy 6, Mega Man X1, Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

[JasonM]

6 hours ago, Doctor Bigfoot said:

TL;DR of this post: Really depends on the graphics card, brand is less important than resolution and aspect ratio.

There's two major aspect ratios in the PC monitor world nowdays- 16:9 (regular widescreen) and 21:9 (ultra-widescreen). Both have their pros and cons, ultra-widescreen needing more graphics card power because of the added pixels but also pretty popular.

Resolution? Four major ones: 1080p (full HD), 1440p, 1600p, 2160p (4K). Each step up requires more power to keep framerates reaaonable.

I'm going out on a limb here and guessing yours is configured with a GTX 1060 graphics card. In that case, I'd personally use your pick of 1080p 16:9 monitor.

 

As for TV's? Completely doable too, some variances already detailed.

You've forget a pretty important aspect of getting a monitor. That is IPS Vs. TN panel, which can make a big difference in colour depth, blur (or lack thereof), and general sharpness of the image you're getting.

If you can, take preference over IPS always whenever you're able to. The difference in general picture quality and colour warmth is worth it, and prices are often close to equal to monitors with TN panels.

@Meacon, just to be sure he also gets this message

Edited July 1, 2017 by Jasonmufc

[Skummy]

On ‎30‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 20:55, Bobfoc said:

I tend to feel that way about a lot of old point-and-click adventures. When people say something along the lines of "It's awesome! You spend hours upon hours clicking every pixel and trying every combination of items before you make progress! You also have to restart the whole game if you forgot to pick up the lost bollock of Basildon two hours in too! Old school!" I know it's not for me.

I love a point and click, but even at the time, nothing frustrated me more than the "click every pixel" thing. I'm a huge fan of the first Gabriel Knight game, but it's biggest flaw is in not making it clear which objects can and can't be interacted with, so I'd spend hours trying to figure out a clue, not knowing that I have to flick a power switch I assumed was just scenery.

Similarly, the game has failed if it ever ends up spending too long in "combine every item". A good point and click adventure should be like a cryptic crossword clue - not always immediately intuitive, but makes perfect sense the moment you figure it out. If the game makes you think, "now why the fuck would I have thought to do that?" it's not a good point and click. I'd say the vast majority of LucasArts/Lucasfilm Games titles never fell into that trap.

Same goes for having to restart if you fail to pick up an item or solve a puzzle at the right time; the great innovation of LucasArts was realising that the games don't need "death", or any kind of "fail" option, they can be just as enjoyable, and just as challenging without the risk of literal failure.

 

As for Crash Bandicoot, I feel it's aged pretty well. Playing the remaster, it doesn't feel like a new game, it's still very much of its time, but it's aged far better than a lot of 3D platformers of the time. I don't think anyone really got the 3D platformer genre right until Super Mario Galaxy came along, but Crash manages it far better than its contemporaries - largely by sticking with fairly linear routes and static camera, as it's dodgy camera mechanics that ruin most games in the genre, or mistimed jumps when you're just slightly unaligned with the platform you're trying to jump on.

[JasonM]

So with the steam sale, I got my hands on the steam edition of Tennis Elbow 2013 after having played an extensive 'demo' in the past. Upped the difficulty above kiddy mode with a mere 'pro-4' (which isn't even over half the difficulty), and i'm getting reamed left right and center.

Culminating in this 50 minute tennis match in a futures tournaments first round QUALIFIER where I lost 4-6, 7-6, 4-6.

Despite all the frustration of feeling hopelessly outclassed and somehow hanging on, I damn well enjoyed that wasted hour!

[Bobfoc]

9 minutes ago, Jasonmufc said:

So with the steam sale, I got my hands on the steam edition of Tennis Elbow 2013 after having played an extensive 'demo' in the past. Upped the difficulty above kiddy mode with a mere 'pro-4' (which isn't even over half the difficulty), and i'm getting reamed left right and center.

Culminating in this 50 minute tennis match in a futures tournaments first round QUALIFIER where I lost 4-6, 7-6, 4-6.

Despite all the frustration of feeling hopelessly outclassed and somehow hanging on, I damn well enjoyed that wasted hour!

I wasn't aware of the game before you mentioned it here, so I looked it up. In doing so, I found that there's another game called Tennis Elbow Manager, which sounds right up my street. Have you played that? If so, is it any good?

[Ruki]

Guys. Prey. Play it!

 

It's got a nice Bioshock in space feeling. The aliens are scary, the upgrades are cool, and the story thus far is pretty cool. Plus, you can turn yourself into a part alien to get some new powers (I refuse. Staying 100% human!)

[JasonM]

12 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

I wasn't aware of the game before you mentioned it here, so I looked it up. In doing so, I found that there's another game called Tennis Elbow Manager, which sounds right up my street. Have you played that? If so, is it any good?

I've never played the manager version of the game, first thing I should do is check the managames forums and make sure the database mods also work on Manager because it makes the game quite a lot better in look and feel.

It has good ratings on steam (out of 11 reviews, lol.), so i'd say check it out now that it's 50% off. I personally am a manager-game fanatic, but I haven't felt 'drawn' to TEM myself.

[Bobfoc]

4 hours ago, Jasonmufc said:

I've never played the manager version of the game, first thing I should do is check the managames forums and make sure the database mods also work on Manager because it makes the game quite a lot better in look and feel.

It has good ratings on steam (out of 11 reviews, lol.), so i'd say check it out now that it's 50% off. I personally am a manager-game fanatic, but I haven't felt 'drawn' to TEM myself.

The person who makes the game seems to be a decent person who keeps in contact with the players. I'm not sure about the mods, but there's a double pack with both games, so I might pick that up anyway.

[JasonM]

17 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

The person who makes the game seems to be a decent person who keeps in contact with the players. I'm not sure about the mods, but there's a double pack with both games, so I might pick that up anyway.

The best mod to get for the ATP is the Maxou mod. It adds faces, animations and other improvements like better looking courts.

Again, unsure whether they work on Manager, but its worth a look because the mod supports all eras of tennis. So you can start in the 70s if you wanted to.

[JasonM]

Well, after getting whooped two consecutive matches in a row (6/0, 6/0) (6/2, 6/0) I finally regained my mojo a bit in the first round of the Panama Futures qualification.

I won 7/6(4), 6/5 in a stupidly tough qualifier match.

Holy fucking shit, my thumb is so sore after this beast of a game. It took 49 minutes (1'58 simulated) to get through this game, and honestly with the amount of double faults I did I didn't even deserve to be in that match. It was infuriating too, since my player's so fucking inconsistent he faults on a safety shot and that cost me games. Still pulled out, mostly through tenacity and luck.

The toughest part of the early game is that you're easily the worst guy in the entire qualifying draw, even on the futures tournaments. There are one or two guys that are possibly worse skill wise, but you're really a shit player starting out. No power, no consistency, poor precision, and no tool set of drop shots to make it tricky. Unless you really go extremely one dimensional like only dumping points into your forehand, which the pro-5 AI easily abuses by forcing you to your backhand and towards the net.

Still, this game continues to be a great challenge.

EDIT: And maybe I should create a seperate thread for this, or a 'general sports game thread' or something...

Edited July 8, 2017 by Jasonmufc

[Draevyn]

For those of you who are not trophy hunters, do you guys replay your games? I feel like there are always games that I need to beat and since my time for video games is so little, I don't feel like I'll end up playing many of the games that I have more than once...even if I do enjoy them.

 

[Bobfoc]

I replay games if they're reasonably short and I like the story. I'm not likely to play through a 100-hour RPG twice.