Video Game News and Miscellany

Any players disappointed by D4? Give Last Epoch a try. It's in beta, but full release is February 21st.



Also including Zizaran's video on why you should play Last Epoch.

 

Dave

Staff member
I like the game but at some point the time jumping gets a bit confusing. I’ve been playing it pretty much (I think) since its release.
 
Yeah, they pulled inspiration from Chronotrigger, so the story pulls a lot from that. I love the time theme myself and can't wait to see where the story goes.
 
I like the game but at some point the time jumping gets a bit confusing. I’ve been playing it pretty much (I think) since its release.
If you haven't played in a while, I suggest trying it again. Every update improves the game immensely. I have 6k hours playing it and can honestly say it is the most player friendly ARPG out right now and only looking to get better with time and more.content added.
 

Dave

Staff member
Any idea on system requirements?


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
WindowsSteamOS + Linux
MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS *: Windows 7
Processor: Intel Core i5 2500 or AMD FX-4350
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia GTX 660ti or AMD R9 270 with 3+ GB of VRAM
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 20 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD strongly recommended

RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5 6500 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia GTX 1060 or AMD RX 480 with 4+ GB of VRAM
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 20 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD strongly recommended
* Starting January 1st, 2024, the Steam Client will only support Windows 10 and later versions.
 
Hold on, apparently my GTX760 does have 3GB of RAM. So I actually *do* meet the minimum requirements....According to Userbenchmark my graphics card is a whopping 3% faster than what they're saying is minimum! Whoohoo!
Hmm, I'll have to think about it.
My PC is now coming up on 10 years old, and the fact that I can still play most modern games is actually telling in and of itself - imagine trying to play a 2005 game on a 1995 PC. Still, I'm not sure if "barely meets the minimum requirements" will give me a very good game experience.

I keep waiting for a time when @PatrThom says "if you want to upgrade your PC, this is the perfect time! There's a glut of items that's future-proof, easily available, affordable and gives great value for money! Go go go!" but somehow that never happens :p
 
Hold on, apparently my GTX760 does have 3GB of RAM. So I actually *do* meet the minimum requirements.
The 660Ti and 760 are essentially the same card. They are both based on the same GPU chip, but while the 660Ti has more cores, the 760 has a much faster/wider bus. The end result is that they perform pretty much the same.
As for upgrading, the market is still a little too "no clear winner" for my taste when it comes to long-term viability. Take the opportunity to sock away some Eurofrancs every month while you wait for the dust to settle.

--Patrick
 
Massive layoffs at Microsoft removed huge numbers of employees from community and customer service roles, including "almost all" of World of Warcraft's Game Masters.

That is a huge pile of shit lobbed at high speed at a fast spinning fan.
I dunno. I work at an undisclosed large American company and we're laying off staff all over the place but especially in customer facing roles.
Seems that as bad as customer experience was, short term profit mongers... Er, management, has determined that based on the numbers, customers don't actually leave in large enough numbers for them to care.
Small customers leave, but the loss doesn't offset the gains from less people in those roles.
This leads to ever higher turnover in those roles as they become more toxic (Paging @ThatNickGuy) but that's not easily measured in numbers, and HR has really cemented the idea that humans are just resources. Support quality, shmupport shmuality.
This may be incredibly damaging in the long run, but... Who are customers going to turn to? In many cases there's no actual competition or they're just as bad.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
This may be incredibly damaging in the long run, but... Who are customers going to turn to? In many cases there's no actual competition or they're just as bad.
I was mainly thinking from a user experience standpoint for people trying to play WOW. It may not harm Blizzard's long term profits, and there may not be any good alternative for players to migrate to, but it absolutely will make playing WOW worse.
 
An hour and a half documentary on Monkey Island? Yes please!

I've yet to play Return of Monkey Island, but I want to. But I'm also trying not to buy games much these days.

 
Two more days. If you aren't convinced yet on just how much this game improves with each patch, check out the first three minutes of this video.



The patch notes for this update was something like 40+ pages.
 

Dave

Staff member
The only thing that sucks is I have tonight & tomorrow night off to play. And they take the game down tomorrow morning at 11 am until Wednesday at 11 am. So I can play tonight and that's it. Not even offline play tomorrow since it's not true offline until launch day. Sadness.
 
Yeah, they need to get the servers ready. 1.0 launch is going to be insane, and I wouldn't be surprised to see 100,000+ concurrent players on Wednesday. I think this launch is going to live up to expectations and considering this dev group, I really hope it goes well. The game is already great, this is just going to make it even better.
 

Dave

Staff member
This game is absolutely great and I already like it more than I ever did...DIABLO 2 & 3! You heard me. I said it. I think it's the best ARPG ever made and that includes PoE. PoE2 is going to have a lot to live up to.
 

Dave

Staff member
Now that is high praise indeed. My interest is quite piqued now.
So let's see what this game has:

  1. Multiple classes that turn into mastery classes, each with their own skill trees (looks kinda like the trees from Titan Quest). Oh, and even if you take a specific mastery you can still take skills from the other mastery skill trees, you just won't get the mastery passive.
  2. Skills. did I mention skills? Each class has 17 skills you can mix & match however you want. And up to five of those skills can be specialized and they have a skill tree all their own. You want your big hitter skill to cost less mana? It's probably somewhere on the skill tree. So you could have several characters of the same class & mastery and STILL have vastly different playstyles. I know that having 5 specialty skills with their own skill trees sound daunting, but it's really set up in a simple and easy to understand way that is not difficult at all.
  3. Respec? You want to respec? Okay. Go right ahead. You can respec almost anything, with I think the sole exception being what mastery you pick. You can swap out skills from your specialties, respec them to your heart's content. You might lose a level of skill but you make it up quickly.
  4. Crafting. A really interesting crafting mechanic that lets you break down magical items to gain affixes that you can use to enchant other items. Up to two prefixes and two suffixes can be added so even a normal item can be upgraded to legendary, although you'd have to get REALLY REALLY lucky to make it that far. Each item has a Forging Potential. Each move you make removes a random amount of that potential. Once your item hits 0 forging potential you're done. Nothing more can be changed. Some runes can be added to have a 25% chance to not use forging potential. Stuff like that. And there's a HUGE list of powers you can add! Now, most of it is random so it's still going to take a bit of a grind to get exactly what you want, but it's a really neat mechanic.
  5. Loot filter. HOLY FORKING SHIRT! Yes, a very nice loot filter that's even better than Grim Dawn's. And you don't have to use a third party program like you do PoE.
  6. Endgame content. There are THREE endgame things to do. You can do the Monoliths (see Diablo 3 Rifts), the Arena (not a pvp arena), and they are introducing a new one tomorrow that I know almost nothing about.
  7. Great multiplayer, although right now transitions between areas are kinda slow. Each person has their own loot so you don't have to worry about goblins vacuuming up every piece of gear around you.
I'm probably forgetting some stuff it has but think of everything good from the other ARPGs, throw in some other new stuff, and mix it all together. You can really tell this was made by gamers who love ARPGs.
 
#3 is correct, you can easily respec everything but Masteries. But because of the LP system leveling alts gets way easier.

LE has the best loot filter of any game I have played, and you can edit it in game.

They created a faction system for people eho want to trade vs those who want to target farm their loot. This was so innovative it influenced the development of Path of Exile 2.
 
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I'm sold all the way, my only concern is me pc's ability to run it, being just barely over minimum requirements. Still, might pick it up after launch rush is over
 
It looks like controller support will be added for the launch and an offline mode. I may need to pick this up for my work trip :)
It currently has partial.controller support, but 1.0 will have full controller support, which my hands and wrists appreciate!

I'm sold all the way, my only concern is me pc's ability to run it, being just barely over minimum requirements. Still, might pick it up after launch rush is over
Absolutely! I believe if tou can't get it to work, you can always have it refunded.

Easily my favorite.game, and only 700 less hours played than PoE for me (5200 hours for LE).
 
Oh, did we mention it has for online modes cycles (think leagues for Diablo/PoE), Legacy (where league characters go after the cycle ends), and a true offline mode at 1.0 (tomorrow!).
 

Dave

Staff member
BEWARE about offline characters! There's a mode that used to be called Solo Challenge. The text (at least during early access) says that you share your stash. You do not, in fact, share your stash. I had HUNDREDS of thousands of gold tied up in stash tabs (you can have like 100 of them) all color coded and set up for ease of use. I have 75+ levels of my main just filling it up so I could help new characters level. Nope. I had to change his mode and lost everything to share a stash. I know it's my fault to not look into it more before I did it, but the tool tip specifically stated you could share between characters in that mode.
 
I like Diablo, but the videos for this game are all darkness and special effects chaos and I just really couldn't find it in me to be interested.
By the same token, by the time Diablo (later levels, later sequels) becomes whole screens of enemy waves, i just grow weary of it.

I remember the secret cow level back in the day. It was a fun diversion. But I don't want every level to be that.
 
I like Diablo, but the videos for this game are all darkness and special effects chaos and I just really couldn't find it in me to be interested.
By the same token, by the time Diablo (later levels, later sequels) becomes whole screens of enemy waves, i just grow weary of it.

I remember the secret cow level back in the day. It was a fun diversion. But I don't want every level to be that.
I'd suggest watching someone start the game if you have any interest. The mob density isn't nearly that bad, and it certainly isn't Path of Exile levels. But then, ARPG's might not be something you like, and that's ok.
 
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