Just to follow up, monitor arrived two days ago and is outstanding. Picture is a clear upgrade from my old monitor. Bigger screen (24.5" vs 23.6") but smaller monitor because the bezels are so tiny. Colors were fine out of the box; all I had to do was drop brightness from 70 to 40. Adjustable stand is great for setting it to the perfect height. I kicked up Windows display settings from 60 Hz to 144.001 Hz and all is well.
I got Grid 2 (racing game circa 2012) up to 90 fps and then Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was pinned at 143 fps (according to HWInfo64+RTSS) without wavering. I choose to believe it was no coincidence that my first try of Geometry Wars running 143 fps shattered my previous personal best by 12%. (360k vs 320k. I suck.)
itch.io has a bundle going on for another couple of day to benefit the World Land Trust. 66 indie games for $5. Mix of titles in there though most lean towards puzzle/experience stuff versus arcade titles. Of particular note is Cloud Gardens, a fairly new post-apocalyptic puzzle game about reclaiming urban ruins with foliage (which also unlocks stuff for a creative mode).
No Steam keys if that matters to you. You direct download DRM-free copies of the games straight from itch. It does add them to a library for future use, of course.
Yes. Except itch’s niche is indie titles, especially smaller efforts (versus GOG’s original specialization of DOS/early Win ports). It’s all DRM free and direct download. There’s an itch app if you want a download client but I think it mainly just shows your titles and grabs them for you; it’s not actually needed to play anything like Steam/Epic/Ubi/etc.
Steam has the Far Cry games on sale for Midweek Madness. I played most of them, and IMO Far Cry 3 ($5.99) is the best “main” game, and Blood Dragon ($4.49), a trippy romp through an over-the-top cheesy 80s action movie fantasy world, may be the most fun game overall in the entire series.
I just picked up Far Cry 5 for $11.99; it’s completely just more of the same, but there’s something very satisfying right now about running around Montana shooting religious redneck nutjobs.
Anyone have a suggestion for a 1st person RPG? An older title is fine (since I have a 10yo computer with a 10yo video card). I got Ultima Underworld for free from GOG, I can probably run something a bit newer…
1st person as I like the immersion. I like building stats and skills. Ideally not too twitchy as my reflexes aren’t the greatest. Not a MMORPG.
Fallout 3 is a bit older than your PC, and is a first person post-apocalyptic RPG. Fallout: New Vegas will probably run, too. Both are excellent. There’s a lot of shooting, but also a “pause time and make a called shot” feature that doesn’t rely on manual dexterity at all.
You could also play the original Fallout and Fallout 2, but they’re not first person.
Skyrim is amazing and I would recommend it entirely. Fallout 3 and New Vegas are also a lot of fun as others have said.
Skyrim is the best of that bunch in my opinion. I think the best way to play is to just wander off and do what you want. It holds up on its 10th anniversary.
I see the original Skyrim has been delisted. Does the 10th Anniversary edition up the system requirements? I know sometimes games grow past their original specs due to patches, enhancements, etc.
Can’t argue with the idea that Skyrim is the go-to faux-Medieval first person RPG though.
I like RPGs and have never played Skyrim, or even seen it I don’t think. I kind of thought it was a space game. Added to my wish list. Is there a new (re)release coming soon? I’ve been looking for something to scratch my old DDO itch, and unfortunately Witcher 3 hasn’t grabbed me so far.
Lately I’ve been having a blast with the Halo 2 campaign, which I can apparently run at a rock steady 144 fps using original graphics. (Does anyone ever use the remastered graphics? Even if I could, they’re so fugly…) Also Tomb Raider (2013), but I only get that up to around 80 fps. Still, it’s pretty damn fun for the $2 I spent on it.
They just released the 10th Anniversary Edition a couple weeks ago. If you like computer RPGs, you should definitely move Skyrim to the top of your wish list. There’s a really good reason it’s still a marketable product after 10 years.
It’s one of those mysteries for me as to whether I’ve got DLC to play (which edition I bought), versus whether they are worth it, I wasted a bunch of cash of Borderlands 3 Season pass 2, to find it was just a bunch of arena fighting games added. And not even good ones.
For the online version, I don’t think I made that clear. It’s free. I think there was added content for the story version this summer too, but I don’t play it so I’m not sure.
I recently learned about the Samsung Odyssey G7 series existing. They’re basically 27" 1440p monitors supporting 240Hz refresh. The interesting part: it is a VA panel.
Seems like that could be the best of everything. You get the excellent image quality of VA but it is fast enough to avoid the artifacts at 144Hz from the previous generation of screens. (VA panels are used in TVs and offer much better contrast than IPS or TN so all the colours pop.)
I know I said 4K@144Hz should be the next monitor to buy, but let’s be real that 4K gaming is a million years away still.
Amusingly, the 32" version is currently cheaper than the 27" on Samsung’s website (it’s on sale, the smaller one is not). Still, it’s probably be a while before I give up my current 1440p screen with hardware G-Sync
I just used some Christmas bonus to grab some new (used) parts to build a new gaming PC.
I have always built my machines ~5 years behind because it’s been all I can afford. Even then, I don’t build to the top of even that standard. This will be the closest I’ve been to up-to-date technology, humble as it still may be.
This weekend I scored an Asus 7170-E mobo, Intel i-7700k 4 core 4.2 Ghz and 16 GB GSkill 2400 Mhz RAM for what I consider to be a steal. Used yes, but it’s from a local computer group on FB that I have come to have trust in. I’ve bought components from sellers there before and they’ve behaved beautifully.
I already have a GTX 1660 6GB that I’ve been using in my current machine. It’s been looking around at the other components and bemoaning the injust world it has been forced to inhabit. It knows it’s not living up to its potential.
Just waiting for some cash to show up for a case and PSU so I can get it rocking everything at 1080…though there are a lot of 1440 monitors cheap now that everyone is trying to go 4k.