Random video game news... renewed!

[LadyCrimson]

10 hours ago, Sven_ said:

RTX 3060/12GB

According to this guy, you chose wisely. The vid's not about Indy, but asking "more powah, more vram?"  3060/12 seems to beat 4060/8 in that regard. Not just in fps but in "movement/pacing smoothness". It's not that one cannot use 8gb still, but that on these types of games, it's going to mean lower settings, less smooth, sometimes a lot less fps, if the vram isn't enough. 8gb vs 12+gb really just depends on what kind of games one plays. If you're interested at all in some now or future AAA sorts of games tho, and getting something new/upgrading, better get 12gb min. 16 would be better if buying new/can afford.

Edit: not relevant to 1080 perhaps, but at my DLSS-4k/Low Textures, I had upped a lot of other settings to High/it kept 60ish for a while, but when I hit the Vatican area my FPS plummeted and I had to put them back to Medium. eg, global illumination, shadows, some others. I don't think the vram went much higher (maybe .5gb) but the fps seriously tanked at High vs. Medium's lol.

 

Edited December 11 by LadyCrimson

[LadyCrimson]

Oh, afterthought - I would guess one reason Indy game is so "optimized" (outside of game engine and dev skill/choices maybe) is the areas are generally small/tightly designed. Sure some look more vista heavy, and there's room to roam/explore, but it's no open world, is all. And ofc, not much environment interactivity.

RT-GI based games that are seriously open world/no loading screens et - I shudder to think what one would need there. probably 24v vram minimum, but who knows.

Edited December 11 by LadyCrimson

[Sven_]

5 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Oh, afterthought - I would guess one reason Indy game is so "optimized" (outside of game engine and dev skill/choices maybe) is the areas are generally small/tightly designed. Sure some look more vista heavy, and there's room to roam/explore, but it's no open world, is all. And ofc, not much environment interactivity.

Oh yeah, lots of comparisons with Dishonored (and even Thief...) already out there in terms of maps / hub areas. Completely triggers me #fanboy.  Do you guys still have a retail release of the game in shops (PC)? Seems weird, as I still have all the Arkane games boxed. Have Bethesda stopped doing that?

The RTX 3060/12 is naturally already on the lower end. Plus, in spring the market for sure changes (Battlemage to hit next week with 12GB, new AMD+ Nvidia GPUs). But I looked at what games actually still come out in 2025, and I figured I go with it. I'm fine with 1080p/med details. Outside of Avowed, Stalker 2, Kingdom Come II and Indy, nothing blockbuster gaming interests me much for now. Maybe Arkane's Blade. If Fallen Aces were already finished (there's a beefy first episode), that'd probably be my GOTY, indie and AA is eating good. Can still sell the card and upgrade for something better eventually.

Btw, Arc B580 is said to have performance a cut above the RTX 4060, which combined with 12GB and the 249$ MSRP may make it actually a decent pick. In Germany the first models are listed 320 Euro and up though, and at that price point, it would compete with RX 7600 XT (16GB), RX 6750XT/12GB (what's left of it in shops), so it may not be a complete no-brainer now to jump Arc on a budget all of a sudden. But reviews are out today, we'll see.  

 

 

Edited December 12 by Sven_

[MrBrown]

Looks like they got more money behind it now. Maybe it's easier to get funding after BG3?  
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/

[Zoraptor]

Some eastern european indie have released a trailer for their upcoming RPG. Guess it might be of some interest?

(Ciri --> meh. Though it being Witcher 4 always made that choice more likely)

[Malcador]

Suitably grimdark

 

Also, CDPR gone woke!!111

Edited Friday at 02:25 AM by Malcador

[Malcador]

This will mean the first game will be on a big sale, hopefully

[Azdeus]

2 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Some eastern european indie have released a trailer for their upcoming RPG. Guess it might be of some interest?

(Ciri --> meh. Though it being Witcher 4 always made that choice more likely)

I would've been interested if it wasn't for them switching to Unreal engine, Stalker 2 was all UE I could handle, **** that ****. **** TAA.

[HoonDing]

But Ciri is Empress.

[Lexx]

Ciri was the most meh part for me in Witcher (books and game). So for now I'm meh about it.

Edited Friday at 06:47 AM by Lexx

[BruceVC]

5 hours ago, Malcador said:

Suitably grimdark

 

Also, CDPR gone woke!!

No, woke influence is real in games  but  W4 isnt an example that

Ciri was always an established character and part of the broader narrative 

I generally prefer to play a male character in any RPG because its what I identify with but Im happy with the themes in this latest trailer and playing Ciri is not a big deal 

 

 

[bugarup]

Obligatory note to self to finish Witcher 2 so that I can finally play 3 because there's almost 4. If only gameplay weren't so...so  

Here's hoping I won't need any more expensive dentistry any time because I'll really want a nice desktop for, like, year 2026 or 7, when all this stuff goes on sale. 

 

[Sven_]

6 hours ago, Malcador said:

Suitably grimdark

 

Also, CDPR gone woke!!111

STRONK WIMMIN DETECTED.

I'm also worried about Indy as apparently there is a female going to address me without PRIOR ADMITTANCE!!!!1

Edited Friday at 08:26 AM by Sven_

[bugarup]

But seriously, what's with all this incel rennaissance? Nobody gave a sh†t Shepard could be a woman, Lara Croft's a woman, all party based RPGs let you play as a woman or even full party of them since forever, why NOW it's a problem? 

[Lexx]

Because people are retarded.

But also because Witcher = Geralt. I want to play as some burly, stoic, old man. That would be nice.
Don't really care about female character in Witcher 4, it's just that I'm really meh about Ciri.

[BruceVC]

30 minutes ago, bugarup said:

But seriously, what's with all this incel rennaissance? Nobody gave a sh†t Shepard could be a woman, Lara Croft's a woman, all party based RPGs let you play as a woman or even full party of them since forever, why NOW it's a problem? 

It shouldn't be a  problem if there is a choice around gender or if the characters gender\race  is accurate around lore or history

But an example of where  woke becomes a problem is where suddenly " inclusivity " actually excludes straight men in different ways like in Romance arcs in Bioware games. 

So if you take KC:D 2 and they changed the historical reality of a King to a Queen that would be a problem and deserve criticism 

It doesnt make you incel if you have these issues with these things but incel groups do  get involved and they can negatively influence the reason for the criticism of woke. And thats an unfortunate and inaccurate  association for me because I reject incel ideology 

Another example of this is Cleopatra the Netflix series and Prey. The former was an obvious example of revisionist  history and wokeness but Prey wasnt 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BruceVC]

9 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Because people are retarded.

But also because Witcher = Geralt. I want to play as some burly, stoic, old man. That would be nice.
Don't really care about female character in Witcher 4, it's just that I'm really meh about Ciri.

Yes this is part of it but its also understandable because Geralt is such an iconic and famous  character

But Ciri is also part of the narrative like I mentioned so its not a problem

Im just going to miss my threesomes with Vampiresses  

 

[Humanoid]

Don't mind the approach personally. I know a fair few people wanted a new, fully customisable player character, but a more customisable character carries with it a greater expectation of more roleplaying freedom. That's not really CDPR's schtick. I don't mind nearly as much when Geralt's options for dealing with a given situation are limited to what's in character for him, but put V in that same situation and I'm significantly more disappointed at having the follow the same rails.

[Zoraptor]

You might not Bruce. Ciri is at least technically bisexual.

1 hour ago, bugarup said:

But seriously, what's with all this incel rennaissance? Nobody gave a sh†t Shepard could be a woman, Lara Croft's a woman, all party based RPGs let you play as a woman or even full party of them since forever, why NOW it's a problem? 

It's mostly people taking the mickey out of those who object to playing the 'wrong' sex etc.

Most of the people objecting to Ciri aren't doing it because she has ovaries. Ciri is a ludicrous choice for a protagonist canonically, and was quite possibly the least interesting character in the entirety of W3. Albeit W3 had an exceptionally strong cast of characters, with maybe two other misses though for different reasons than being uninteresting*. I'd be a lot happier if it were Triss or Phillipa if they aren't going to have character creation. It's kind of a perfect storm: Ciri should be massively overpowered, she isn't very interesting and they managed to, for once, write an almost perfect ending for a protagonist which there's a decent chance they're going to retroactively mess up now.

*Witcher 3 spoiler

Spoiler

BRoche and Dijkstra for anyone wondering. Both were 90% great, but their plot imploded embarrassingly at the end due to the elf plot being cut. Which of course can lead to Dijkstra, immensely competent and careful, deciding to try fighting Geralt because Iorweth wasn't there to do it

 

Edited Friday at 09:47 AM by Zoraptor

[BruceVC]

4 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

You might not Bruce. Ciri is at least technically bisexual.

 

Im fine with that, as long as its accurate to the Witcher lore

 

Isabella from DA was bisexual and she was my favourite Romance arc 

[bugarup]

5 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

You might not Bruce. Ciri is at least technically bisexual.

It's mostly people taking the mickey out of those who object to playing the 'wrong' sex etc.

Most of the people objecting to Ciri aren't doing it because she has ovaries. Ciri is a ludicrous choice for a protagonist canonically, and was quite possibly the least interesting character in the entirety of W3. Albeit W3 had an exceptionally strong cast of characters, with maybe two other misses though for different reasons than being uninteresting*. I'd be a lot happier if it were Triss or Phillipa if they aren't going to have character creation. It's kind of a perfect storm: Ciri should be massively overpowered, she isn't very interesting and they managed to, for once, write an almost perfect ending for a protagonist which there's a decent chance they're going to retroactively mess up now.

*Witcher 3 spoiler

 

I was more about recent-ish general atmosphere regarding woman characters, because it seems there's now a vocal minority of baboons who start howling and throwing sh†t whenever there's a woman in a game who does something, anything else than boob jiggle physic. Maybe my youtube algorithm is broken and thinks that whenever I mute yet another "WOMEN BAD" offer it means I want a different flavor. I wish it was the case, but I suspect it ain't. 

Not wanting Ciri for a protag I agree is nothing special, for a large number of people it's just that they want their Geralt back just like they wanted their Shepard, Warden Commander or any other Charname back. People growing attached to things is the most normal thing ever. 

[BruceVC]

17 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

You might not Bruce. Ciri is at least technically bisexual.

It's mostly people taking the mickey out of those who object to playing the 'wrong' sex etc.

Most of the people objecting to Ciri aren't doing it because she has ovaries. Ciri is a ludicrous choice for a protagonist canonically, and was quite possibly the least interesting character in the entirety of W3. Albeit W3 had an exceptionally strong cast of characters, with maybe two other misses though for different reasons than being uninteresting*. I'd be a lot happier if it were Triss or Phillipa if they aren't going to have character creation. It's kind of a perfect storm: Ciri should be massively overpowered, she isn't very interesting and they managed to, for once, write an almost perfect ending for a protagonist which there's a decent chance they're going to retroactively mess up now.

*Witcher 3 spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

BRoche and Dijkstra for anyone wondering. Both were 90% great, but their plot imploded embarrassingly at the end due to the elf plot being cut. Which of course can lead to Dijkstra, immensely competent and careful, deciding to try fighting Geralt because Iorweth wasn't there to do it

 

Also another criticism towards Ciri is she has taken  the Witcher mutation process and now she is a Witcher 

And she is too old to survive because only children take the Trial of the Grasses?

I dont know enough about Witcher lore to know if this is accurate?

 

[Wormerine]

9 hours ago, MrBrown said:

Looks like they got more money behind it now. Maybe it's easier to get funding after BG3?  
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/

Now that’s a real surprise and for me the best reveal of the Game Awards. Solasta was delightful and this looks like it has bigger budget to work with. Hopefully it will help fleshing out combat further, and make narrative a bit less of the afterthought. I am very happy they are sticking with the Ip - I thought that in many ways they struck gold with the first game (creative gold that is).

[Sarex]

I need to go back and play the Solasta expansion. Happy that they found success.

[Zoraptor]

59 minutes ago, bugarup said:

I was more about recent-ish general atmosphere regarding woman characters, because it seems there's now a vocal minority of baboons who start howling and throwing sh†t whenever there's a woman in a game who does something, anything else than boob jiggle physic. Maybe my youtube algorithm is broken and thinks that whenever I mute yet another "WOMEN BAD" offer it means I want a different flavor. I wish it was the case, but I suspect it ain't.

The aim of youtube (or facebook/ other sm) isn't to give you content you like, it's to drive engagement which is a rather different thing. It may not work on you personally, but it works in general and on a lot of people, and outrage bait drives engagement massively which results in the vicious circle of more of it being made.

As for the complaints themselves... there isn't much point dealing with the fringe ends on either side. In general though, there are few complaints about well written characters. People don't complain about Princess Leia in SW, or Sarah Connor in Terminator; or playing femshep or Lara Croft or Cassandra from AC: Odyssey. Indeed, they tend to get complaints from the other side ('designed for male gaze' or whatever).

As for what the more reasonable people tend to complain about, well,  I can only really use the same example I did last time something similar came up. Basically no one complains about Omar Little from The Wire being gay. Because he's a well written character with realistic (or at least having verisimilitude/ consistency enough that you can easily forgive the very occasional bit of dramatic license) motives and behaviour who happens to be gay as well. Then you compare him with someone who did get a lot of flack for being gay: Anthony Rapp's character from ST: Discovery. I watched four seasons of that ending only months ago and I cannot remember his character's name, as his only character trait was... being gay and an engineer. His husband's only trait: gay doctor. They're extremely easy to dislike as characters as a result. It's not really a result of them being gay, it's a result of that being all that they are. If it's youtube or facebook that tends to be a bit too subtle a distinction.

 

Edited Friday at 11:03 AM by Zoraptor