Crap, I just tried restarting both Control and RDR II. I had forgotten they are both 3rd person shooters. Maybe I can get used to that style again, but after playing FPS games a lot lately it annoys me to be looking over my character’s shoulder.
IIRC, weren’t there some RDR2 mods for 1st Person? I haven’t played it myself (points to overfull Steam backlog), but I heard there were several mods that addressed that issue, or at least, did so for some portions of the game.
Currently in my “every quest must be done in the capitol” playthrough of Starfield. Which… well, shows classic Bethesda sloppy engineering. Still the creaky creation engine, with animations almost identical to FO4, and because it’s not well optimized, my performance is nearly identical between low - medium - high graphical sessions BECAUSE it’s so CPU heavy, and my CPU is showing it’s age. While the GPU is working up a mild sweat. It’s just… janky, no matter the settings because of the inefficiencies in build.
I can’t help but compare Starfield unfavorably (performance wise) to FO4 on the lower end but more functional, to Cyberpunk 2077 on the clever utilization of both GPU and CPU.
As a note, my system runs CP2077 on “High” settings without a problem on a 29" 2560x1440 monitor.
Ah, I looked it up and there is a native 1st person game view I didn’t know about, and there are mods to improve the 1st person view, since it’s apparently not ideal as it works natively in the game. Thanks! I might give this one more of a try, then. Sometimes it takes a while for me to really get into a game, and I suspect this might be one of those. My older son actually played it a few years ago, and he said it was one of the best story games he ever played.
Sorry to hear about your less than stellar (heh) Starfield experience. It’s sad to hear about Bethesda’s fall from grace. From what you and others have said (I read somewhere ‘the gameplay feels soulless and by-the-numbers, like the game was designed by committee’) I won’t be picking this one up, even if I find it on sale.
Yep, still got my eye on this one! One day when it goes on a Steam sale. Hopefully before 2077. I know it’s been mentioned to be on sale on other gaming platforms, like Epic, but I don’t know how many gaming platforms I want to juggle. Steam takes care of me pretty well, for the most part.
Was poking around for deals on Steam last night. Bioshock 2 and Infinite are dirt cheap, but I played the original Bioshock not too long ago, and I dunno, I never really loved the ‘vibe’ of it and I don’t feel like getting back into that world quite yet. Several of the Far Cry games are cheap, might be a nice change of pace. Or for the exact opposite of a change of pace, I was taking a long look at the first ‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl’. Fighting mutants in an irradiated Russian wasteland…hhhmm, when have I done that before? 
RDR2 does have a 1st person mode, it turns out, and it’s working out for me just fine. I had read online that some find the 1st person view to be too tunnel-vision constricted or something, hence the need for mods that improve it. But I think the view is good, and I like it a lot better than 3rd person mode..
The game itself now, jury’s still out for me. I appreciate the sheer amount of detail the game offers, but there’s just so much to learn, know, and do, it’s feeling too much like work. I’m trying to hold out until I can get past the learning curve phase and hopefully get into a flow with the game.
Hey PL, I’m curious- my son added me to his Steam library since he’s no longer an active gamer, and he has hundreds of games, but many are them are garbage games he got at a heavy discount and not anything I’d want to play. I’ve been hunting through the trash looking for any hidden ‘FPS with a bit of story’ gems.
I have it down to a few, one of them being ‘Wolfenstein: The New Order’ and I remembered you mentioning it ^here^. So I am wondering, what serious issues did you have with it (without spoiling much if you can help it)?
And also, ‘Wolfenstein: The Old Blood’ is available to me. The internet tells me ‘New Order’ is longer, with more story element, whereas ‘Old Blood’ is shorter and more of a simple shooter; so ‘New Order’ is, according to Google, more satisfying story-wise. ‘Old Blood’ looks cool in the Steam store preview, and it’s slightly newer (2015 vs. 2014 for ‘New Order’).
Another dark horse one I’m looking at, if you or anybody else reading this has any experience with it, is ‘Scorn’ a ‘mostly positive’ Steam-rated FPS horror game with graphics that look they were designed by H.R. Giger. It’s a 2022 game, so one of the newest games in his library.
And Cyberpunk 2077 is on Steam sale for $18 until August 10. Got my eye on that 
Ohhhh boy… Hmmm.
Last first then: Get Cyberpunk 2077, and the DLC Phantom liberty. Great game in it’s current form, great story (including the DLC), endless Fallout style bits of stories behind every corner and terminals (“shards”) to wonder about. You can get fully involved in all the sub-quests and stories and get around to the main storyline whenever you want despite the built in urgency of the main story, just like F4.
…
Wolfenstein: The New Order. First, the good, as I said in the quoted section, it’s a fine linear shooter, with strong story elements. The gunplay is fine, the sneaking under developed though, and the skill system is deeply flawed - you can invest a lot of effort in certain builds but they become failures because, like prior Wolfenstein games, you get stripped of gear and equipment at various points, rendering builds needing them useless. And if you don’t do lots of extra exploration to find the powerups and relics, the game difficulty can get out of balance by mid-to-endgame.
The reasons I only finished it out of hate was because of a critical story issue. I can’t give details without massive spoilers, but let’s just say, the main story arguably gives Hitler justification for what he has done. And even that’s spoilerish.
Otherwise, it’s got a LOT of “I want to shoot the MC myself because he’s dumb as a box of rocks”, some very telegraphed story moments, and (not alone in this as an adventure game) while purporting for some more “gritty” elements there are plot holes you can drive a truck through.
One example from very early in the game, but still a spoiler:
Main character is in a coma for 14 years, granted with above average care, but still is able to move and fight killing trained soldiers as if he were Captain America.
So treat it as a classic Wolfenstein action game and try to ignore where the story elements make no sense, or make things so very, very worse.
Or just play Cyberpunk and come back to Wolfenstein when you’re really bored for some reason. 
Thanks once again PL! This all sounds great, but…I have to admit one thing I’m concerned about with CP2077-- the driving.
I could not get the hang of the driving in GTA V right from the get-go-- in the early quest where the two guys steal matching Ferraris or Lambos, and I’m supposed to follow the other guy, I was all over the place, and repeatedly failed. Since the game has ‘Auto’ in the very name, I eventually gave up trying. Probably my most embarrassing gaming bail / failure.
Maybe this is because I’m using keyboard controls? I got an XBox controller for my PC, but stopped trying to use it since shooting mechanics with it are way worse than keyboard and mouse. But maybe driving is better with the controller? I don’t want to have to switch back and forth, though.
I googled and it looks like a lot of people have complained about the poor driving mechanics in CP2077, though it sounds like they fixed those issues to some extent since initial release.
So, how’s the driving mechanics in your opinion? And just how much driving is there in CP2077? Please give me the straight dope, PL-- you’ve never steered me wrong 
Flattery will get you… pretty damn far.
Okay, the driving is… meh. Though I also play with keyboard and mouse, not a controller, which apparently helps.
The good news is there is ONE quest line (not major, but interesting) that requires driving/racing, and a couple of side hustles where you jack cars for big eddies. Maybe a few other small segments quest where you have to follow a vehicle semi-closely.
If you just want to get from place to place there are fast travel locations and a new auto-drive feature that drives you where you want to go in your own vehicle. In general I find that if I’m running around to get to place to place, one of the many motorcycles are the easiest to use and get around other traffic.
So, outside a few edge cases driving is a +1, not really needed. If you’re doing a netrunner or hybrid build, you can also use those abilities to slam on the brakes or otherwise interfere with other drivers.
But most of the time you don’t need combat driving, far from it. In the racing game, you’re the driver with an NPC being a gunner. Other moments you’re leaning out window and shooting or operating a turret. Sure you can fire your one handed weapons at enemies while driving or riding a bike, or buy armed vehicles, but it’s not a big deal.
So, I believe you’ll have few to no problems the few times you do have to fight in and around vehicles.
The big-eddie car-jacking repeatable quest and a few other ones are totally optional, and aren’t too hard to do even for me with keyboard and mouse and aging reflexes, so I think you’ll be fine.
Sounds workable, thanks! I think that seals the deal for me to get the Ultimate Edition before the Aug. 10 sale deadline.