astrionic
@astrionic@beehaw.org
- Comment on PlayStation 6 Priced At $700 Like PS5 Pro? It’s Looking Likely 2 months ago:
Saying the Steam Deck is better value than a PlayStation isn’t really a meaningful statement without further qualification because they are two very different devices. That was kind of the point of my previous comment. If you don’t need any of the handheld features and just want to play on your TV then the PS5 is better value. If you want a handheld a PS5 is obviously completely useless and the Steam Deck is insanely good value.
Also, if you want to play current, demanding games, a €700 PS5 Pro surely is enough. Even a regular PS5 should do for now since the Pro isn’t even out yet. Personally I prefer a more powerful gaming PC, but if you just want to play some of the latest AAA games on your TV you don’t need to spend more than 700€ unless you have other specific requirements.
- Comment on PlayStation 6 Priced At $700 Like PS5 Pro? It’s Looking Likely 2 months ago:
The Steam Deck isn’t really a 1:1 replacement for a home console though, it really depends on your use case. It’s great at what it does, but not everyone is looking for a handheld. And if you’re into more demanding games the Deck also struggles to keep up. I love my Deck but if I had to choose between it and my desktop gaming PC I’d choose the desktop every time. Although it admittedly also was quite a bit more expensive.
- Comment on PoE 2, lets goo 2 months ago:
and if you play without trading the game is still designed to be somewhat doable. Really the only thing you miss out on is trading
I don’t agree with this at all. Even if you don’t want to trade (which only really requires a single premium stash tab anyway) you’ll struggle in the endgame if you don’t have at least a currency, fragment and map tab. I actually think you need even more tabs in SSF (solo self-found) than in trade league. Because you can’t just buy something if you need it you’ll probably want to keep way more items. And with the four default tabs you pretty quickly run out of space (in the endgame).
But yes, for the campaign it’s not really an issue and I would definitely consider that as perfectly playable for free. And by the time you’re done with it you’ll probably know whether you want to buy some tabs and keep playing or not.
For people who do want to buy stash tabs: there’s a sale every three weeks where all tabs are around 20-25% off.
- Comment on PoE 2, lets goo 2 months ago:
PoE2 early access is still months away, so I assume you’re talking about PoE1.
In my opinion it’s definitely worth playing if you’re into that type of game. The monetisation is still very fair in my opinion. It’s perfectly playable for free until you reach the endgame, where you’ll probably want to spend around 30-40€ on stash tabs. But you’ve probably played for at least 20 hours before you even get to that point.
Personally I’m not a huge fan of SSF (solo self-found), it does make the game somewhat harder since parts of the game are not designed around this mode. It’s supposed to be a limitation. If that’s how you want to play and you’re a more casual player then Last Epoch might be the better choice, they have a mode that caters specifically to people who want to play like that (Circle of Fortune). But lots of people play SSF so it’s not like it’s not a viable way to play the game or anything. Playing trade league but only trading for a few things you need (like build defining uniques) is also an option. And in the current league they also introduced an automated currency exchange market which makes trading certain items a lot easier.
I’ve only played the most recent Cycle in Last Epoch so I can’t tell you how the game “now” compares to previous states, but I’ve enjoyed it. The story is a bit convoluted and there’s certainly room for improvement, but I enjoyed the gameplay. Both building your character and the crafting system are way more approachable than in Path of Exile, but still interesting.
Overall I’d probably recommend Last Epoch to a casual player unless you’re drawn to PoE’s more complicated systems or abundance of content, especially in the endgame.
- Comment on Here’s how much Valve pays its staff — and how few people it employs 4 months ago:
You’re thinking of Dota Underlords, which was popular for a short time but then quickly got abandoned. I definitely wouldn’t count it as a success.
- Comment on What games do you think are unfairly snubbed when talking about the best games of all time? 10 months ago:
Yeah, it may not be as popular as Mario or Zelda, but I wouldn’t say it’s “unfairly forgotten”. People who have played the game tend to be pretty vocal about it. And justifiably so, I’ve never had a comparable experience in another game. I wish I could forget about it and play it again.
- Comment on 5+ man group games 10 months ago:
MMORPGs like World of Warcraft or Guild Wars 2 are a great way to play together. With 5 players you can exactly fill a party in both games.
RTS games like Starcraft 2 (which is free now) or Age of Empires could also be fun, but 5 players is a bit awkward because it’s too many for a single team and uneven so you can’t play like a 3v3. But at least in SC2 there’s a 2v2 and a 3v3 ladder so you could always split into two teams or play a free for all. There are also a bunch of cool custom games in the arcade like Ice Baneling Escape or Zealot Hockey you could try.
Very different, but Trackmania is also fun with friends. Not the right choice if you enjoy ramming your friends off the road, but there are probably other games for that too. To set up and play in a club/server you’d need club access which costs like $20 a year, but you can try the game for free first to see if you like it. You can compete for records on a map, play an RPG together (a map style where the focus is on finding the right way instead of just racing) or build tracks for each other.
You could try an ARPG, unfortunately most of them (Diablo, Grim Dawn, Last Epoch) seem to limit parties to 4 players, but Path of Exile allows up to six. And if you’re not serious about the end game you’ll never need to spend any money (if you are it’s like $40 for stash tabs one time and you’re set forever).