thepaulhoey

Members
  • Content count

    223
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by thepaulhoey

  1. anyone else excited about Resident Evil 7?

    Turning off Shadow Cache improves things for sure, there's still hitches when loading but it's less frequent and less bad. I'm still having fun and I think I'm getting close enough to the home stretch in it after about 4.5 hours. I've just finished the Greenhouse area, so spoilers for that and just after it.
  2. anyone else excited about Resident Evil 7?

    I'll try to disable the shadow cache option next time I'm playing, thanks for the tip! I'm only(only! hah...) on a 4gb card.
  3. anyone else excited about Resident Evil 7?

    Yeah I have an AMD card.
  4. anyone else excited about Resident Evil 7?

    Yes performance was OK for me until I got to the main house. Hopefully it's something which can be remedied.
  5. anyone else excited about Resident Evil 7?

    I'm about 3.5 hours in and hitting the mid point I think, going by the stats on how many coins and files I have. I like the game, I don't think it's quite as good as a lot of other people do. First up what I do like, the graphics are fantastic in every way. Great design work on the house, incredibly atmospheric lighting and texture work, the subtle reflections and shines on surfaces, it's all just brilliant. Performance is appalling though, and I've seen others online having issues. I'm running an RX 480 and get constant stuttering when entering new areas and turning corners as it loads in data. I can get over it but no matter what settings I use it persists. :/ For the gameplay, the return to puzzles is great and I don't really get anyone saying the puzzles aren't tough enough, were they ever in Resident Evil? They were all mostly item hunts and remembering where something you pick up might be useful and I've found 7 to be no different, I really like just exploring an area and getting something new that sets off that spark of "Oh I can go open that door now and I know that opens up a while new area to me! Maybe I'll get Item X there!". Combat as well I think works well depending on the situation. It's slightly fiddly and the areas are claustrophobic enough that you don't really have enough room to take your time lining up a perfect short so it's often about lining up shots under stress and hoping you get to take them, or luring enemies to a good position to get a good shot at them. I think the fear for me wore off after about 2 hours, I think the game is not at all scary anymore and it actually feels a lot like a modern take on Resident Evil, I definitely wouldn't compare it to something like Outlast or even Alien Isolation. Onto what's putting me off of it, and I'm going to spoiler it just in case. I'm in an area referred to as the old house, so if you're at that point you're safe to read. None of it is totally putting me off the game, I'm enjoying it but some things are making me turn it off and I think with a few tweaks we'd have a real classic. Overall though, I'm enjoying it. About an hour in it totally feels like a Resident Evil game and as threadbare as the story is so far I'm looking forward to seeing how they tie it to the other games. Something I'm hoping now is that Resident Evil 2 is remade in this style, I think that would work really well and make the game feel fresh.
  6. Stardew Valley

    Yeah I'm kinda in the same boat, I'm open to that stuff but nobody stands out and it's not clear what I can gain from interacting with them. Same goes for the various festivals, some of them there's something to win or a main thing to do whereas with others other than getting to see the town done up special for them there's nothing to them. I just walk about and talk to everyone to see if there's something to trigger and if there isn't I head home. That was my first upgrade and I am the same with rainy days. I got the recipe for sprinklers but I don't have the materials for them, so I focused on raising animals as it's a lot less hassle. Over the winter I plan to make some proper fields with sprinklers so I can easily plant a pile of peas or strawberries next Spring and wheat for Summer & Autumn. Also I agree with some of the earlier comments about the Walmart style store in the town, it feels totally tacked on and really heavy handed. Same goes for the intro with the guy working a job he hated in a dull office. Bleugh.
  7. Stardew Valley

    I was gifted this over Christmas and finally got around to playing it over the weekend. I wound up playing for about 9 hours yesterday, it's incredibly difficult to stop. There's always a reason to just play the next day, a crop will be ready, I'll have the money for a barn, oh there's a festival on! I've just started my first winter and wow it looks harsh out there, glad I invested in animals and filled my silo! My farm is still tiny compared to the space that I have so I can see myself losing a lot of time to it. It's not perfect and there's a pile of tiny quirks that get to me(planting seeds, watering, hoe-ing can all be very bizarre with the square you do the action on) and the game generally does a bad job of explaining anything to you. Had myself and my flatmate not played the Harvest Moon games over the years I'd be very lost at times. I'm glad that I seem to be able to get by just fine without interacting with the village much, that was never something that interested me in the Harvest Moon games and this is the same. I just want to build a nice farm! I'm really happy that the game is easy going with how you play and the pace at which you play.
  8. DISHONORED 2: MISS HONORED

    Mild spoilers about enemies:
  9. Modest Tech: The NX Generation (Nintendo Switch)

    Yeah I'm taking everything in that article with a bucket of salt, considering some of it is definitely incorrect.
  10. Modest Tech: The NX Generation (Nintendo Switch)

    Amazon.de have the console at €330(£280 in the UK) and Zelda at €70.
  11. Modest Tech: The NX Generation (Nintendo Switch)

    I'm going to see how it performs over its first year before considering buying it. Zelda is the only launch title I'm interested in and I'll be able to get it on WiiU, otherwise it's a tad on the pricey side and Mario Odyssey is the only other game that has me interested right now. Mario Kart and Splatoon look fine but pretty much the same as the WiiU versions. The cost of the Pro Controller and other peripherals is absurd, I wonder if the WiiU Pro Controller will work with it?
  12. AGDQ 2017

    Yes, that's exactly how I feel. I was watching the Super Mario Sunshine race this morning and the glitches they use are interesting because it's usually to get into a level early or get a Shine without finishing a fetch quest. Also they often require some really cool platforming to make happen. The runs where they're using a glitch to skip every level are just incredibly dull to me. I get that there's skill in making the glitch happen, but when I see essentially the same glitch over and over and a guy carefully walking to the exit in near infinite black I tune out quick.
  13. AGDQ 2017

    I've been tuning in when I can. Saw some of the DOOM run yesterday but it was very heavy on getting an out of bounds glitch then carefully walking to the exit which wasn't really that interesting to watch after the third level. Waiting on some of those Mario races to be uploaded now.
  14. DISHONORED 2: MISS HONORED

    When I realised this I just went and did the level anyway.
  15. The Big FPS Playthrough MISSION COMPLETE

    Jedi Knight 2 is really annoying! I'm ok with the guns, got used to them after a bit but the level design is just nonsense. I feel like I'm just running around pressing buttons to see what door it opens and hope there's a switch for another door in that room. I'm only on the first level but I was at the part where the bridge tunnel thing explodes the second time, I back pedaled a bit and fell to my doom because I guess the bit behind me fell as well? Oh well, I'll just load and wait it hasn't made a save since I got to the facility? Esc -> Exit. I loved this game when it was released and the combat is still fun but the level design is just plain annoying.
  16. AGDQ 2017

    I just hope there isn't too many massive glitch runs, some of them are really rather boring. I think there was a Dishonored(or maybe Bioshock) one last time I was looking forward to, but most levels used a glitch to go out of bounds then walk to the exit.
  17. The Big FPS Playthrough MISSION COMPLETE

    Bah, it's back up to €20 on Steam. I bought AA for you because I feel it's a landmark FPS, as is CoD. They both set the bar for the trend of cinematic FPS campaigns which came off of them. So they're important points in the history of the genre. It's interesting replaying AA because it's definitely more of a Half-Life style FPS in that the levels are quite open and you're free to move around them, by the time we get to COD they've started to go into the more scripted more directed campaign. Then unfortunately by the time we get to MW3 if you took one step wrong at times you'd get a game over screen.
  18. AGDQ 2017

    Disappointed there'll be no Mario Maker race this year, the previous two were big highlights for me. Looking forward to new Doom for sure, TASBot and any of the races.
  19. The Big FPS Playthrough MISSION COMPLETE

    Yeah AA and RTCW both released quite close to one another(RTCW a few months before I believe) and RTCW was the better looking game but AA was the more fun game. I remember magzines at the time sort of putting them up against one another since they're both WW2 shooters but there's really very little comparison. What difficulty level are you playing on? From what I remember you're quite far into it. I know the level you're talking about, and it is a bit of a pain alright. I don't remember it well enough to give you any advice though.
  20. The Big FPS Playthrough MISSION COMPLETE

    I played RTCW a few years ago and it's fun for a while but gets tired quick. Even on release the points you make were valid so it's not a case of aging badly so much as it is a case of it was never a fantastic game. When are you starting allied Assault? I think I'll play that along with you.
  21. Quantum Break coming to PC

    I had this gifted to me for Christmas and I want to like it more than I can, but the design is just so bad at times and I don't understand it at all. The main problem for me is the checkpoints. At one point I had to complete a button mashing sequence to move a bookshelf and then walk through a few rooms about 5 times because that's the checkpoint for the fight that starts after you do those simple bits that you can't possibly die at. Why have the checkpoint there!? It's not the only time I've had this happen, another one had me repeat a(admittedly brief) cutscene every time I hit the checkpoint but I just don't understand why you'd choose to have a player replay sections where you can't due to get back to the one they can die at. The other issue is that the combat has terrible feedback for numerous reasons. The chief one for me is that it's difficult to tell where enemies are, they blend too well into the scenery and it makes picking them out at a distance not easy. Another is that enemies seem to soak up a lot of bullets, a pet hate of mine already but sometimes it seems like they have regenerating health as well with the amount of bullets they take while they move between cover. Then there's telling that you're getting hit, I find it's one of those games where death comes fast because you had no idea you were in danger. I've been darting about just find and then suddenly I drop dead and it often seems to be because the effects from my powers are drawn over the effects from taking damage so I don't notice that I'm getting hit. Speaking of the powers, they're fun, they're fine I guess but they're so simple. I can time warp to dodge getting hit, I can set up a shield to block bullets and I can freeze time in a small spot. Like I said they're all fine but when you compare them to something like Dishonored, they're rather mundane and don't really take advantage of the time mechanic at all. I'd rather if my time dodge ability was something where time froze and I picked a spot to go to. I wish my time freeze mechanic was something other than a way to fill an enemy with bullets so he dies faster. I wish the bullet shield was more than a rather dull shield. For game that's about time travel and controlling the flow of time it really doesn't explore it very much as a game mechanic. Even the puzzles which use it resort to a press Y to make a thing be in a state so you can jump on/pass by it most of the time. I think the graphics and art are incredible and the story so far is interesting and the TV show parts surprisingly work, but the gameplay is just so frustrating and pedestrian. I'll carry on with it but I'm seeing now why this never made a big splash.
  22. DISHONORED 2: MISS HONORED

    That was one of two parts I had to turn the markers back on for as there's a specific body you have to go to.
  23. I've only played about 90 minutes so far, I like it. Looks very pretty and as mentioned a lot of the small improvements make it more enjoyable to play. My only issue so far is that it's incredibly slow to get going.
  24. DISHONORED 2: MISS HONORED

    I'm about halfway through Mission 5 now. The two things that are bugging are that when I'm holding a guard if he gets shot or stabbed by another guard it counts as a kill. Kind of a annoying, but when it happens in a chaotic encounter it's rather cool as the other guards seem to curse over their fuck up. The other issue is that there's been a few instances where an objective is not at all clear and I need to pop on objective markers briefly. Had it on a mission where I had to interact with a specific corpse in a level and now I have to go to a room overlooking an area and there's a few of them so it's rather tough to tell where to go sometimes. Otherwise having a blast, getting the odd massive frame rate drop that makes the mouse movement really weird but not enough to be annoying. Really enjoying that I'm still working out new ways to deal with situations.
  25. DISHONORED 2: MISS HONORED

    It is.