The Backlog Check-in Vol. 211: 1/15/22: Rainbow Six Extraction Edition

[crimson_tide]

I was talked out of a Series S purchase this weekend. That money will now go to more weight plates . The main thing that sold me off the Xbox was I play mainly Japanese games, that controller, very very little I would actually play that's on Game Pass, a complete lack of interest in MS exclusives and the lack of time I would have for the thing anyway. So weights won. While I lack Xbox experience, the texting I did with my best friend who owns an Xbox got me to not bother. And that was maybe 5 texts over 10 minutes. Do with that as you will...

I might actually beat P5 Strikers today and start my top...I dunno...maybe, MAYBE 10? Likely 5...but with a lot of random ass categories because I started a lot I didn't actually get to...hell, I didn't even get back to the games that were on my list to get back to last year, we'll see what happen this year...anyway, I will kick it off this weekend. I hope. Maybe. Possibly. We'll see .

I am also going to make my final PSN Holiday Sale purchase, added Alwa's Awakening after Phase mentioned it and I watched the trailer, thanks! Still shooting to keep it under $100 this year and I am doing pretty good !

[canedaddy]

I was talked out of a Series S purchase this weekend. That money will now go to more weight plates . The main thing that sold me off the Xbox was I play mainly Japanese games, that controller, very very little I would actually play that's on Game Pass, a complete lack of interest in MS exclusives and the lack of time I would have for the thing anyway. So weights won. While I lack Xbox experience, the texting I did with my best friend who owns an Xbox got me to not bother. And that was maybe 5 texts over 10 minutes. Do with that as you will...

Thanks. I have doubts about the controller too... and my gaming time is pretty limited.

[Phaseknox]

I played some more Alchemist Adventure, and I understand the whole potion thing better now. When you discover the elemental stones in the game, it gives you preset potions that you can use unlimitedly for attacks and solving puzzles. I’ve discovered all of the elemental stones, and have gotten all of the preset potions. Now I can access places that I couldn’t earlier in the game.

But the game has been more of a puzzle game than an action adventure one. You do some environment exploring and enemy fighting, but a good portion of the game is figuring out puzzles using your different elemental potions. While the puzzles have been fairly clever and creative, in games like this I prefer the focus to be on adventuring and fighting and not on puzzle solving. I like occasional puzzles to solve, but I don’t like them to be the primary focus like they have been in this game. I’m going to stick with it for now since I’m still enjoying my time with it, but if puzzles continue to be the primary focus then I may quit playing since puzzle focused games aren’t really my thing.

I finished up Fell Seal. I'd say it's the best FF Tactics ripoff in a long time. Check it out if you're a fan.

I have it, and I’m going to play it when I’m in the mood for a SRPG.

I could use some advice from any of you who have experience with XBOX. I noticed the Series X is readily available now and it fits in the budget of my fantasy football winnings. Should I do it?

The obvious plus is I've never played a single Xbox exclusive in my life and I believe all of them are playable on this machine. Not to mention games coming in the future like Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI.

The obvious minus is I'm not sure there are enough exclusives to make it worthwhile. Besides the obvious Halo/Gears, you have what... Fables? Blue Dragon?

Help a brother out.

Considering the current lack of PS5 exclusives, getting an Xbox Series X might be a good idea since all future Bethesda games will most likely be exclusive to it. Also, Game Pass seems really good especially for someone like you who hasn’t played any Xbox games before. There’s exclusives like Blue Dragon, Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga, Fable, Forza Horizon, Gears of War, Halo, Infinite Undiscovery, Kameo, Lost Odyssey, Magna Carta 2, Perfect Dark Zero, State of Decay, Tenchu Z and The Witcher II to name a few. By the way, I actually like the Xbox controller more than the DualShock myself. Perhaps you won’t, but it’s a good controller IMO.

[isthatallyougot]

I could use some advice from any of you who have experience with XBOX. I noticed the Series X is readily available now and it fits in the budget of my fantasy football winnings. Should I do it?

The obvious plus is I've never played a single Xbox exclusive in my life and I believe all of them are playable on this machine. Not to mention games coming in the future like Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI.

The obvious minus is I'm not sure there are enough exclusives to make it worthwhile. Besides the obvious Halo/Gears, you have what... Fables? Blue Dragon?

Help a brother out.

My nephew has a series S and loves it, but he's only 14 - an entirely different demographic. I think it's a cool machine, especially for the price, but it's not for me. I'll play the Bethesda games, and any others that would be on Xbox, on PC, if I'm interested. But I think the cost to value ratio is pretty good, but if you end up getting a PS5 down the road, would you regret it? I guess it just depends on how many exclusives warrant the purchase of a console/device, and that can be a hard question to answer for games that aren't even out yet.

I'm like most of you guys here. There's not much exclusive Xbox content that really interests me, historically speaking anyway.

[crimson_tide]

Credits rolled on Persona 5 Strikers!!! Like, it was good...but too much. Everything was too much. They needed an editor. Desperately. But it was still worth it. Also, Life Will Change is get to be my track of the year again! It will get a better write-up in my game of the year thread.

Played: P5S, Lego Marvel Superheroes 2

Beat: P5S, Lego Marvel Superheroes 2

This week:... Lego DC Supervillains and something fun

Good weekend of gaming, beat 2 games! I will have another small Phase like digital haul soon .

[Phaseknox]

I stopped playing Alchemist Adventure because I reached yet another big area that was nothing but puzzle solving. The game starts off with a good balance of exploration, combat and puzzle solving, but then basically becomes nothing but puzzle solving. It had the potential to be a really good fantasy action adventure game, but they decided to make it more of a puzzle game which isn’t really my thing.

I started playing a retro style point-and-click adventure game called Anna’s Quest, and it’s hitting the spot right now since I haven’t played one in a long time. It’s reminiscent of the classics with cartoonish hand drawn art, and lots of things to look at, interact with and collect in the environments to solve the puzzles needed to progress. It’s humorous, and has good voice acting.

[canedaddy]

Phase and izzy, thanks for your input. Lots to consider here. I also wonder how this will factor in:



I suppose if I could figure out how to get my PC connected to my TV it would be a much better solution overall, but I wouldn't know where/how to begin. Is my PC strong enough to play the games I'd want to play? What controllers work with what games and how do you set them up? Do you have to make various adjustments every time you play something? All wayyyy beyond my comprehension.

[crimson_tide]

Bruh, Microsoft isn't playing the same game as Sony at this point. We need to stop comparing them. Just like Nintendo gets to fun around out here doing whatever, the same needs to go for Sony.

And yet somehow, this news STILL does nothing to make me want an Xbox or Game Pass. Now when they buy Bandai Namco, Sega, Square, Capcom, etc...then shut up and take my money Microsoft. Especially Sega and Bandai Namco. I would have no choice .

[canedaddy]

The only Activision/Blizzard IPs that move me are Diablo and Tony Hawk. But man, throw that onto the pile with Bethesda, Double Fine, Ninja Theory... plus the fact that the Series S plays every Xbox game ever... they can make a case for my $299.

I'm going to make a list of every Xbox game past, present and future that I think I'd play. That will tell the tale.

[isthatallyougot]

I suppose if I could figure out how to get my PC connected to my TV it would be a much better solution overall, but I wouldn't know where/how to begin. Is my PC strong enough to play the games I'd want to play? What controllers work with what games and how do you set them up? Do you have to make various adjustments every time you play something? All wayyyy beyond my comprehension.

That's the best option for me. I've been PC gaming from the couch for a long time now, and I'm no tech wizard, by any stretch. I rely upon knowledge from others when it comes to most things tech-related, but I manage to figure out what I need to know. (I've been primarily a Linux user for years, and again, I'm far from a tech-head.) I'm sure you could game from the couch on PC as well. It's not too tough to set things up. You can use so many controllers. I've been using a 360 pad for a long while. I don't like playing with KB&M at all, with a few exceptions like P&C adventures, for example. And if there are any titles that don't have adequate native controller support, I use a Steam app called Controller Companion that lets me rebind any input however I like. It's great. I think it was only $3. Overall, it's mostly plug and play, just like a console, once you get everything set up. I won't say there are *never* any issues that need sorting out, but again, the knowledge to fix most anything is out there. Mostly, it's a problem-free thing in my experience though.

The one issue that may affect you - or anyone looking to get into PC gaming for current stuff is the price of PC components right now, particularly GPUs. (All that crypto mining has wrecked the market. I've heard estimates that prices may normalize in the middle of next year, but who knows.) But you don't have to have bleeding edge tech to play games on the same level as Series X or PS5. I'm still rocking an older GPU (RX 480) and things still look fantastic. But cost to value ratio is certainly better with consoles (or even pre-built PCs) right now, and you can't argue with the overall simplicity/no hassle aspect, for the most part.

Personally, I don't think I'd ever want to go back to primarily console gaming. I like consoles still, but with so many exclusives making their way to PC sooner or later (and my huge Steam backlog), I'm happy on PC. I still haven't even gotten any of my consoles out of storage, although I want to do that for some PS3 (and other machine) gaming sooner or later.