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The Big VR Thread

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I am looking forward to Ace Combat 7-- always liked the series a lot and VR is an obvious next step.

 

A bit worried that they are putting too much money into it and it won't be fun as a result (grumble grumble)

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Played through Budget Cuts over the last couple days.

 

Budget Cuts Review

Well, this is kind of a mess. But at least it's an interesting mess.

First off, the stealth gameplay is pretty crap. Early on the game arms you with knives and encourages you to throw them at baddies. If you've ever throw anything in VR you'll know it's difficult to do so with any kind of precision. Worse still, if you somehow do manage to hit an alerted robot before they blast a hole in your skull, you're likely to find that they don't go down unless you get a freakin' headshot. In other words it's next to impossible to kill enemies by throwing stuff at them. This, combined with the rough checkpointing which means you might have to replay a hefty chunk of the level when you inevitably fail means you'll likely give up on throwing things in a hurry.

The other option for taking down enemies is getting close enough to simply stab them in the head with a knife, but unfortunately a quirk of the game's teleportation system means that often any knives you have drawn when teleporting will go involutarily flying out of your hands when you teleport. So to pull off a sucessfull stab you'll have to teleport next to an enemy, open you inventory, equip a knife, and then stab him in the head before he puts a hole in YOUR head. It's wonky and unreliable. A much more viable tactic is to simply pop your head around the corner, let a robot spot you, duck back, then wait till they come running around the corner so you can put a knife in their head. Yeah, it's cheesing, but the prospect of having reload the game yet againmeant I often resorted to it. There's also a lot of hunkering down to squeeze into vents, which gets old (and hard on your knees) fast.

So, besides the terrible steath, how's the game? Pretty good! It's very charming, the robots are very funny, and the narrative kept me hooked. There's also some nice puzzles sprinkled throughout, and they fit naturally into the leveldesign. The game's strongest part is probably the final level, which is terrifyingand great. I'm a huge coward when it comes to horror in VR. To it's credit, this level doesn't resort to any jumpscares, it's entirely systems-driven. Despite that I wussed out TWICE before I finally worked up the nerves to go back and finish it on my third attempt, tho I did have to pause and look up a walkthrough to figure out how to beat that part. After that, the game ends very abruptly on a "To be continued...". The end credits are awesome tho. Total playtime: just under 5 hours.

So, yeah, kind of a mess. Not recommending it at full price, but maybe when it's half-off.

 

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Besides that, my VR gaming of late has been a bunch more Beat Saber and, oh yes, American Truck Simulator! A friend got me the New Mexico DLC for my b-day so it was time to get back on the road.

 

 

Cheesy country music is requirement for quality truckin'! :sombrero:

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Just like that, there's 3 new VR headsets just over the horizon. Thoughts.

 

Oculus Quest: 449€ for 64GB version, 549€ for 128GB, ships: May 22

 

I think the Quest might be kind of a BIG DEAL. Self-contained, easy to use device with lots of great games. If any of these devices are going to take VR mainstream, this is the one.

 

Oculus Rift S: 449€, ships: May 22

 

I'm not so sure about this one. A step forward from Rift in some ways, a step back in others. No external sensors means less cables and setup, but it might also mean less accurate tracking, especially when you swing your arms behind your back.

 

Valve Index: 1079€, ships: latest June 28th

 

If Valve are ever gonna release one of those 3 BIG VR TITLES they've been talking about, now would be the time. Not about to shell out of for this one, even though it looks like a decent step forward, but I look forward to seeing what new software comes along with it.

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I had a chance to try a Vive at a friend's house for the first time last night. On the one hand, I was convinced to finally buy Beat Saber for my PSVR. On the other, given the difference in price and tech, I expected a dramatically improved experience to my "console baby" headset. It felt... pretty much the same? In fact, after having now bought and played Beat Saber on my own system as well, I think I actually prefer the Sony set. I expected better tracking, less screen-door, etc etc, but really didn't see it. The only real advantage that it has is that it can see behind me, which the PSVR can't. As long as designers account for that though... I dunno. I got my PSVR with two games for 1/5 the price of a Vive and it feels like 4/5 (at least) of the experience. 

 

Given all of that, I can't imagine being interested in one of the sets that you mentioned any time in the near future. I agree that of all of them the Quest seems like the biggest potential things,  but that storage is so low and the price is still pretty prohibitive. It's out of my budget for sure. I'll be keeping an eye out, but for now I remain very impressed and happy with my PSVR and the experiences it's bringing me.

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Nothing about the recent announcements seems like a reasonable upgrade to me, but there are people I know who have been on the fence for years and one hang-up seems to be removed per new device announced.

I think they are just going to keep plucking away until on of these devices becomes the xmas-present of the year.

 

I've been keeping my eye on 3D180 cameras. A few new ones came recently. I think I'll still wait another decade for some $300 8k 6dof camera, but I'm glad to see more cameras coming out for $450 right now (3d180 5.7k no 3dof).

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On 5/5/2019 at 9:44 PM, miffy495 said:

The only real advantage that it has is that it can see behind me, which the PSVR can't.

 

The biggest advantage of PC VR for me is that it's more open. Bigger game library, free games from itch.io, the chance to make my own VR games, use it for 3D modelling, and of course mod support.

 

In the case of Beat Saber, the custom songs mod has extended the game's longevity HEAPS.

 

 

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I now have a reliable workflow for creating really nice 3D photos for viewing on the GearVR that only cost $3 if you have a GearVR and a computer.

I can make a guide if anyone wants to be able to do this.

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