PC Gaming ERA | April 2021 - A Hunter is a Hunter, even on PC

[MonthOLDpickle]

Xcom 2 as a game is pretty bad, mostly full of bs mechanics. Playing this with a friend through parsec. So far full cover means nothing so far. Game is buggy af as well. Not even going to talk about hit percentage and how enemies can crit for 10+ from twenty blocks away non flanked. Game hopefully felt like I am back in the late 90/early 2000s.

 

[Metroidvania]

mechanics. Playing this with a friend through parsec. So far full cover means nothing so far. Game is buggy af as well. Not even going to talk about hit percentage and how enemies can crit for 10+ from twenty blocks away non flanked. Game hopefully felt like I am back in the late 90/early 2000s.

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Most enemy plasma weapons (and eventually yours, IIRC), do have a bonus crit chance multiplier, though IIRC starting enemy weapons have decreased base damage to compensate so it won't (always) be a one-shot if you get crit.

Even full cover is definitely rolling the dice, though, yeah - much better to use grenades and other sources of guaranteed damage to get a pod-wipe on your turn, rather than risk return fire.

Certain enemy AI can be 'abused' to fish for certain actions, also.

Regardless, Xcom2 (especially non-WotC with its somewhat restrictive timer options) is IMO much harder in the sense of the 'new mechanic oh shit oh shit oh shit' learning curve, but it definitely gets way easier as you progress up the weapon/armor tiers, and more importantly, higher promotion-tier abilities.

 

[Mark It Zero!]

Regardless, Xcom2 (especially non-WotC with its somewhat restrictive timer options) is IMO much harder in the sense of the 'new mechanic oh shit oh shit oh shit' learning curve, but it definitely gets way easier as you progress up the weapon/armor tiers, and more importantly, higher promotion-tier abilities.

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Yeah, once I got the hang of the mechanics and some upgrades I was stomping most enemies. Cool game, should get War of the Chosen one of these days.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

I am taking about stupid stuff like enemy attacking one of mine that is twenty blocks behind my other dudes. Then you got warlock guy able to spam summons all the way from opposite end of the map.

Just lost a guy on extract from mine control from three stories down and ten blocks over. He was last guy almost out of extract lol.

May lose this game. Suddenly this mission spawned like 9 more dudes. The activity thing has the blocks left. I been blocked on research since I started this run since the start.

Wish every hit we did was a crit that the enemy seems to do constantly. This run so far enemy has crit for 9 turns. Even the regular dudes up to the robot. The chosen as well.

Also what is up with myself not being able to see enemies while they can from same situations. Example. Sniper is three stories up overlooking the area. The enemies are less than 35° and only about 6 blocks. Yet regular enemies can see from 10+ behind walls and stuff. One mission was so bad because the roof of the house was a huge disadvantage it turns out because xcom people are blind af.

 

[Megasoum]

Anybody has experience with games like Empyrion or Space Engineers? I'm kinda curious about a survival building game like one of those but I don't really know what's available on the market.

 

[LilZippa]

I'm back in the PC gaming side. So I'll see you on discord, steam, origin, uplay, gog, epic, or battle.net. Damn there are too many places now

 

[BasilZero]

I'm back in the PC gaming side. So I'll see you on discord, steam, origin, uplay, gog, epic, or battle.net. Damn there are too many places now

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Where you been

 

[XR.]

Snowrunner is getting a Switch release next month, but no word on Steam-release yet. 😞

 

[GiftBot]

Giveaway

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This is a raffle that will expire in 12 hours. The winner will be drawn at random! Any prizes leftover after the deadline will become available on a first-come first-serve basis.

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This raffle has ended. Any remaining prizes can be instantly claimed by entering.

 

[Megasoum]

Snowrunner is getting a Switch release next month, but no word on Steam-release yet. 😞

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I can't even imagine how that game will look or run on the Switch.... Yikes...

Has it been a year since release on EGS? I imagine thats the exclusivity window. They also announced that the last dlc will be coming out soon so I guess it's coming to steam soon.

 

[XR.]

Has it been a year since release on EGS? I imagine thats the exclusivity window. They also announced that the last dlc will be coming out soon so I guess it's coming to steam soon.

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Yeah, it has been a year on 28th, so one would think they would announce both at the same time.

 

[xGrizzly]

Diablo 3 is the easiest to get into because you just unlock skills that you can exchange back and forth, instead of "building" a character through skill trees. So in Grim Dawn, you need to look up what skill trees are available and which two you want to combine. It's not hard or complicated. You just need to sit down a bit and think about what character you want to build. The great thing about Grim Dawn (and its unofficial prequel Titan Quest) is the ability to build almost every character you can think of by combining classes.

So, in the end, it depends more on what you prefer in games. Flashy combat that almost feels like an action game with easy, but also somewhat shallow level progression > Diablo 3. Deeper mechanics with a bit slower gameplay > Grim Dawn. Don't get me wrong here, there is still a lot of room to create your own character in Diablo 3 and build variety. But it just never felt like "building" character, more like unlocking skills and pick whatever you like when you feel like it. I didn't like that system at all and I also think the looting in Diablo 3 was never that fun compared to Grim Dawn (or Diablo 2).

Diablo 2 Resurrected is certainly the most "classic" of those three. It has the slowest gameplay and might even feel a bit archaic or limited if you already played Torchlight 2 (which is also pretty fast past and fluid). It's still a great game IMHO. I like it more than Diablo 3. It's somewhere in the middle between Diablo 3 and Grim Dawn regarding complexity. There are skill trees, but they are fixed for each class so that you can't mix everything. This makes it certainly more newbie-friendly than Grim Dawn but still gives you quite some room over how to create your character and it still feels like creating your own thing instead of just unlocking skills on order.

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Thanks for the write up. Sounds like Grim Dawn is the way to go post-TL2, I'll try the Diablo 3 starter edition for free if my curiosity continues.

 

[Kilbane65]

Soon...

 

[LilZippa]

Where you been

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Ps4 for quite a while. Just built a pc in the last year and started playing on PC again.

 

[Zoon]

Damn, got a reply from Amazon and apparently the 3060ti I'd ordered will not be re-stocked (likely end of production). There goes any last hope of getting a GPU in 2021.

 

[Chackan]

-If you like your fantasy grim and dark with a touch of Lovecraftian influence, then yes. The world of Grim Dawn is a brutal one and leans more towards low fantasy (e.g., Conan) than high fantasy (e.g., Lord of the Rings). I like low fantasy, so GD's story and sidequests were compelling enough for me to want to finish up the base game and expansions. There are also plenty of lore entries to collect that help flesh out the backstory of the world and its characters.

As I'd mentioned, one of the cool things about Grim Dawn is that there's also a modding community behind it. You can find a variety of mods up on Nexus Mods. They vary from quality of life, graphics improvements, entirely new classes and skills, and so on. Quality varies, and I'd also recommend playing the full game first at least once to become familiar with it.

Of the mods currently available, one of the best is the Reign of Terror mod that remakes Diablo 2 in GD's engine. All of D2's classes are available, and you can combine them with any of the existing GD character classes to make your own hybrid D2/GD character if you want. If that interests you, note that this mod does require that you own the DLC.

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I do enjoy both high fantasy and low/dark fantasy (new term), so it's good for me!

Also, holy shit, all of D2? That is kind of insane for a mod lol

Edit: Should've asked before, how is the end game? Is it a type of "finish the story, finish the game" type of thing?

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

I do enjoy both high fantasy and low/dark fantasy (new term), so it's good for me!

Also, holy shit, all of D2? That is kind of insane for a mod lol

Edit: Should've asked before, how is the end game? Is it a type of "finish the story, finish the game" type of thing?

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The game has a story mode that you can finish and loads of side quests to follow. There is also a faction system where you can do bounties for several factions in the game world to raise your standing with them. The Malmouth DLC starts after the main game, while you can start the Forbidden Gods DLC right after you've finished the first act of the main game.

Then there are the usual things like higher difficulties, veteran and hardcore modes and there are several challenge dungeons with increasingly difficult enemies. The Crucible DLC adds an arena where you fight waves of enemies . So quite some stuff to try/do. And when you run out of stuff you can always start a new character to try out all those other nice skills and combinations :)

 

[Santini]

I do enjoy both high fantasy and low/dark fantasy (new term), so it's good for me!

Also, holy shit, all of D2? That is kind of insane for a mod lol

Edit: Should've asked before, how is the end game? Is it a type of "finish the story, finish the game" type of thing?

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There's plenty, and finishing the story is just one thing you can do! Mr.Deadshot gave a good overview.

Here's a YT video which goes over endgame if you want some visuals to go along with what was described.

 

[Uzzy]

Umurangi Generation merch, sweet.

 

[BrunOz]

any idea when is the next BIG Steam sale?

 

[spineduke]

any idea when is the next BIG Steam sale?

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Steam Sale Countdown | When is the next Steam Sale

Find out when the next Steam Sale will start with this beautiful countdown timer.

www.whenisthenextsteamsale.com

 

[cyba89]

any idea when is the next BIG Steam sale?

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Golden Week sale should be in two days.

 

[-Le Monde-]

Biomutant looks really good. Game sneaked up on me.

Damn, got a reply from Amazon and apparently the 3060ti I'd ordered will not be re-stocked (likely end of production). There goes any last hope of getting a GPU in 2021.

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-____-
Have we heard anything from Nvidia/AMD about increased production?

 

[CreepingFear]

In about a week I will have 9 days off. I think I'm going to connect my 9900k/RTX 3080 PC to my 75 inch TV and finally play RDR2 in 4k!.

 

[Rhaknar]

Xcom 2 as a game is pretty bad

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[empo]

randomly browsing the ea app I noticed that biomutant will be on ea play pro, that really lowers the reviews/word of mouth needed for me to hop in

 

[bmdubya]

I bought Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate when it was half off the other day. Started playing the story mode last night, and it's so bonkers and crazy that I am sort of into it? It's got a '90s bad action movie vibe to it that I really dig. The fighting is pretty good; I'm not huge into fighting games, but I've got experience with quite a bit of them. I think I still prefer the feel of Street Fighter V more, but MK11 is fun enough to play. I'm really happy with the purchase; I think it's gonna be a good "after work" game where I just wanna zone out and do a tower run or something.

randomly browsing the ea app I noticed that biomutant will be on ea play pro, that really lowers the reviews/word of mouth needed for me to hop in

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I noticed that as well! I'll definitely be playing the game that way.

 

[Lashley]

GOG has had big growth

Check these facts and numbers about GOG

Check these facts and numbers about GOG

www.gog.com

I bought Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate when it was half off the other day. Started playing the story mode last night, and it's so bonkers and crazy that I am sort of into it? It's got a '90s bad action movie vibe to it that I really dig. The fighting is pretty good; I'm not huge into fighting games, but I've got experience with quite a bit of them. I think I still prefer the feel of Street Fighter V more, but MK11 is fun enough to play. I'm really happy with the purchase; I think it's gonna be a good "after work" game where I just wanna zone out and do a tower run or something.

I noticed that as well! I'll definitely be playing the game that way.

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The MK11 story is fun af

 

[Zoon]

-____-
Have we heard anything from Nvidia/AMD about increased production?

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Nope, everything seems to be maxed out and IIRC it's gonna take about 2 years for new fabs to start production. Though, I imagine things might get a bit better once more people start getting their hands on GPUs even at these slow rates.

 

[Morten88]

This game looks pretty cool!

 

[Igniz12]

I am taking about stupid stuff like enemy attacking one of mine that is twenty blocks behind my other dudes. Then you got warlock guy able to spam summons all the way from opposite end of the map.

Just lost a guy on extract from mine control from three stories down and ten blocks over. He was last guy almost out of extract lol.

May lose this game. Suddenly this mission spawned like 9 more dudes. The activity thing has the blocks left. I been blocked on research since I started this run since the start.

Wish every hit we did was a crit that the enemy seems to do constantly. This run so far enemy has crit for 9 turns. Even the regular dudes up to the robot. The chosen as well.

Also what is up with myself not being able to see enemies while they can from same situations. Example. Sniper is three stories up overlooking the area. The enemies are less than 35° and only about 6 blocks. Yet regular enemies can see from 10+ behind walls and stuff. One mission was so bad because the roof of the house was a huge disadvantage it turns out because xcom people are blind af.

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I'd say the fact that you're letting enemies get a shot off is probably the main reason you're having a hard time. Enemies in Xcom 2 dont have a lot going for them, but what they have is killing potential. Any shot that the enemy gets to take must be considered a shot that can kill so thats why its crucial you deal with enemies as soon as you activate them or the bodies are gonna start pilling up for you.

Unfortunately in the early game thats pretty much every enemy except the Sectoid. Because the Sectoid tends to go for psy attacks as its first offensive move you can ignore it and focus on other targets. So lets say you activate a pod with 2 troopers and a Sectoid; go for the troopers first then deal with the Sectoid with your remaining units or even let him do his thing then have a full squad to take him down next turn. If he mind controls one of your units, use a flash bang on it and it will break the hold if you must. Killing him will break the hold too so its preferable to do that instead.

A lot of Xcom 2 is identifying the main threats and making sure you deal with them asap and then either mitigating the damage that any surviving enemy units can do or knowing when an enemy will most likely not do an attack as its first action and can be ignored. Enemies like the Sectoid, Specter and Codex will blow their first turn doing weird stuff instead of trying to kill your units and so you can safely ignore them and focus on the other more dangerous enemies around.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Yet why is it attacking a full hp soldier that is 20 blocks away and not the 3 hp solider that is 4? I only have 5 dudes where they have 6 to 10. I can't put a dent in their plans of not shooting me. Tho it doesn't help that I got a bunch of negative traits or w/e you call those events that happen 3 missions in at the start that basically double research costs and such.

Also doesn't explain how the sniper couldn't see anybody from edge of roof over looking the enemies that are technically only 5 blocks away (3 stories up and 2 or 3 blocks not in cover)..

I am seeing how long I can go. I finally had some mission go with no deaths but the activity has 3 boxes left lol

 

[eonden]

This game looks pretty cool!

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That looks hella cool

 

[SuikerBrood]

Made a thread about it.

Let's Build a Zoo is a zoo builder with 300 thousand different types of animals releasing this Summer! News | ResetEra

 

[Metroidvania]

Tho it doesn't help that I got a bunch of negative traits or w/e you call those events that happen 3 missions in at the start that basically double research costs and such.

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I'm assuming you mean the monthly advent/resistance missions? You can pick and choose which of the 'negative' traits you will prevent each month (and occasionally unlock a mission to counter a second), though to be fair I don't personally ever recall getting back-to-back research slowing ones.

Getting more scientists will help time and resource-wise (though engineers are IMO much more worth it for excavation and building speeds - picking up scientists early definitely helps, but IMO the diminishing returns on additional scientists hurts their viability beyond acquiring once in a while as a freebie from a VIP mission or what have you).

Also doesn't explain how the sniper couldn't see anybody from edge of roof over looking the enemies that are technically only 5 blocks away (3 stories up and 2 or 3 blocks not in cover)..

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Squadsight does require LOS, and LOS can be....unintuitive (read:buggy) in Xcom EW/2, especially with regards to verticality.

I've definitely had similar situations in which I can clearly 'see' the enemy, but my sniper somehow can't.

edit:

I only have 5 dudes where they have 6 to 10.

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Barring story missions where you can't help it, being careful to only activate 1, maybe 2 pods at a time is key - it's counter-intuitive due to the mission timers (which in and of themselves are a response to overwatch crawl in Xcom EU/EW), but you can't go rushing ahead with 'yellow' movement without being really sure it's not going to activate a new pod.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

I've definitely had similar situations in which I can clearly 'see' the enemy, but my sniper somehow can't.

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was a really bad mission early on as I lost a reaper and two other dudes. Only two left. Mission had three big mutant guys (not the blob giant) and a giant robot plus 5 smaller dudes..No matter where I moved that sniper..no LOS even though the enemies weren't in cover and hidden.

 

[RazieltheShifter]

Hopefully, GOG revenue increase in 2020 would lead them to consider using Steam's regional pricing.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Hopefully, GOG revenue increase in 2020 would lead them to consider using Steam's regional pricing.

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Regional pricing has pretty much vanished for my region...

:'(

 

[Igniz12]

Yet why is it attacking a full hp soldier that is 20 blocks away and not the 3 hp solider that is 4? I only have 5 dudes where they have 6 to 10. I can't put a dent in their plans of not shooting me. Tho it doesn't help that I got a bunch of negative traits or w/e you call those events that happen 3 missions in at the start that basically double research costs and such.

Also doesn't explain how the sniper couldn't see anybody from edge of roof over looking the enemies that are technically only 5 blocks away (3 stories up and 2 or 3 blocks not in cover)..

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If you're outnumbered then you're over extending your movement, in the early parts of a mission use grenades to blow up enemy cover instead of trying to go for flanking maneuvers. I usually carry at least 4 nades at a minimum regardless of total squad size.

Never make forward movement into the fog of war unless you have enough units to take on a pod.

Always be in high cover.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

If you're outnumbered then you're over extending your movement, in the early parts of a mission use grenades to blow up enemy cover instead of trying to go for flanking maneuvers. I usually carry at least 4 nades at a minimum regardless of total squad size.

Never make forward movement into the fog of war unless you have enough units to take on a pod.

Always be in high cover.

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Yeah that mission I never left the insertion point. It was also the higher ground. With mostly full cover. The smaller enemies, even that templar like once, never got in range for grenades unless I wanted to expose myself. The big dudes all of them bum rushed lol.

Made it through with only two survivors. The small ones finally came up after the big dudes went down.

 

[Madjoki]

(There's two sales before this: Golden Week (April), Open World (May))

 

[Madjoki]

Darksiders Genesis finally.

 

[FoneBone]

nice, i missed Metro Exodus when it was on Game Pass (though i think the system I had at the time would've struggled to run it anyway). this'll be the first one in a while i haven't skipped

 

[Merv]

Newegg shuffle is getting worse. They are only doing combos with the GPUs. I decided a GPU PSU combo might not be bad since I inly have a 650watt PSU. The combo PSU has two stars. 60% 1 star for high failure rate. Like wtf.

Guessing I can just return the PSU or remove it in the cart?

 

[RazieltheShifter]

Regional pricing has pretty much vanished for my region...

:'(

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Yeah, I feel you. Only thing that keeping me still excited for new games is Steam's regional pricing. Even that is starting to dwindle for AAA games, thanks to the 'fair adjusments' from the major publishers. I feel like this is their humble way of saying we as consumers from 3rd world countries should just suck it up.

 

[SapientWolf]

Newegg shuffle is getting worse. They are only doing combos with the GPUs. I decided a GPU PSU combo might not be bad since I inly have a 650watt PSU. The combo PSU has two stars. 60% 1 star for high failure rate. Like wtf.

Guessing I can just return the PSU or remove it in the cart?

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You'd have to return both.

 

[Merv]

You'd have to return both.

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That's some bullshit.

 

[flyinj]

Ok this has been driving me crazy for YEARS

Whenever I pick an option to change in the Nvidia control panel, it takes about 2-3 seconds to update and allow me to actually change the option. Then after I change the option, it takes another 2-4 seconds for the the "apply" button to appear. Then after hitting "apply", it takes 6-10 seconds for the change to apply... locking my computer from doing anything else.

Is this normal? Is there any way to speed this up? Can I change options like Vsync (which is pretty much the #1 thing I am constantly changing) outside of the Nvidia control panel?

 

[CommodoreKong]

Newegg shuffle is getting worse. They are only doing combos with the GPUs. I decided a GPU PSU combo might not be bad since I inly have a 650watt PSU. The combo PSU has two stars. 60% 1 star for high failure rate. Like wtf.

Guessing I can just return the PSU or remove it in the cart?

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Sounds like they're getting rid of a shitty product that's sitting in their warehouse.

 

[kurahador]

Newegg shuffle is getting worse. They are only doing combos with the GPUs. I decided a GPU PSU combo might not be bad since I inly have a 650watt PSU. The combo PSU has two stars. 60% 1 star for high failure rate. Like wtf.

Guessing I can just return the PSU or remove it in the cart?

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What PSU is that? Thermaltake with the RGB?