Dude, I am *there*!

Wherever there is. Will, since you'll be the one with the Switch, I suggest we go to somewhere convenient to you (obviously). But I don't know where that would be.

I am game for anywhere in the Portland metro area that would be a good environment for a meetup. I don't go to a lot of bars, so I don't have any ideas off the top of my head.

I'm partial to the Original Taco House. They host Hearthstone meetups/contests there, so they would likely be cool with us playing the Switch there. And the tacos are good :)

Mmm tacos. I am down for that place.

Yep let's do it there, I love that place.

The event has been updated with The Original Taco House.

Reason #65 on why you shouldn't eat my games while at the Taco House: http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/03/02/nintendo-switch-cartridges-taste-terrible

Can you please come up with a list of the previous 64 reasons? :D

Switch!! https://www.instagram.com/p/BRMl7x-lI4L/

Sweet! My son is playing Breath of the Wild on the Wii U right now.

Is your son enjoying it GregoPeck?

Yeah, he's pretty excited about it. We have the Wolf Link and regular Link Amiibos, so now he has Wolf Link in his game. Are you enjoying the Switch?

Yeah, the switch has been cool so far! I have noticed some slowdown in Zelda, but I was expecting that based on reviews. It is nice to be able to play on my tv, or around my house.

Vinny turns 13 this month, so I told him this is an early birthday present. He didn't know about the Wolf Link Amiibo feature.

Slowdown docked or undocked?

It was while docked. Haven't played in much undocked at this point.

Framerate issues while docked? That sounds bad. Maybe they will have a patch for that. I'm interested in the differences between the two versions. Vinny started playing on the TV, but he's since move to playing on the game pad. I'm looking forward to playing it, but I'm not sure when I will get to it.

Yeah, they were at the start of the great plateau when rotating the camera.

Interesting video on docked vs undocked zelda here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpqaTdflkNU

I found a video showing the Wii U and Switch versions of the game. I think the difference is difficult to see, maybe I just don't have the eyes for it. https://youtu.be/eUSKTp_uvHQ

The resolution is the most obvious difference. For me, 1080p to 1440p is sometimes hard to distinguish but that jump from 720p to 900p between the WiiU and Switch is a nice boost.

I have found out that I suck at hunting.

Boogie2998 had a pretty good review of the Switch. Apparently he is a bit too negative for Nintendo though, so his review is of a Switch he bought himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYmu_liF2wM

Odd. I don't consider Boogie that negative but Francis is

Speaking of Boogie, his funeral for the WiiU is pretty good. Not the usual amount of funny but it has a good payoff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2PcAsMTBzg

Heh. I saw that and thought it was fun too.

So Adam and I were talking and thinking of seeing Logan after the meetup. If you want to come see the film let us know, it looks kickass and should get an award for best use of a Johnny Cash cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Div0iP65aZo

It is good.

I agree with Will_Ball.

I propose we go to Regal Cinemas Division Street 13, there are showtimes for Logan at 9:00pm and 10:00pm, after we're done with the Switch and tacos :)

Tomorrow is the day! Is everybody on this list going to make it? Is anybody going to bring any guests?

I will definitely be there :)

Yep. I may have one other person join us depending on if he can make it in time.

My brother is going to join us as well :)

To save everyone from tasting my carts tonight, I just tasted mine, and they don't taste good.

Biggest disappointment of the year.

Can't have a group kart tasting tonight.

Sometimes life just hits you with a gut punch that smarts a bit more than the others.

I'm still going to try and sneak a lick

> I'm still going to try and sneak a lick

http://i.imgur.com/QQeZcZL.gif

I will be keeping an eye on you Adam.

It was good seeing you Jon & Adam! We should do this again some time!

Yeah, we should. Thanks for bringing the Switch Will!

So what did you all think about the Switch? Did playing around with it convince you to get one or are you going to wait or pass on it? I'm going to wait for now. I did see something about a new Smash Bros. game for the Switch...

It was great hanging out, thank you Will!

I don't know when, but I'd say there's a 90% chance I get a Switch now. It was amazing!

> So what did you all think about the Switch?

It's a cool system. Feels good in the hand it's much larger than I thought it would be, which I like. It feels like a proper tablet and the touch is just as responsive as everything else i've used (iPad, whatever else). The only thing I didn't love was the Switch Operating System. It was fine, but it wasn't as fun or even as useful as the Wii, Wii U or 3DS. It launches games just fine but it's missing any kind of "Nintendo charm." That said, it gets out of the way and isn't busy, which is a nice bonus.

> Did playing around with it convince you to get one or are you going to wait or pass on it? I'm going to wait for now.

I'd say it make me want to pick one up a bit less. Don't get me wrong, the Switch is great and i'm going to get one I just don't think i'm as interested as I was. Zelda Breath of the Wild is good but it didn't blow my mind out my ass like I thought it would. It's a survival Zelda game that is quite difficult and it doesn't hold your hand but it isn't a mind boggling revelation at least it wasn't in the 10-15 minutes I played it. It was fun though and I am looking forward to when I can play it and I bet it opens up a ton.

In the end it seems the Switch is the actual delivery of what Nintendo wanted to do with the Wii U. True portable next level games in a really solid form factor. Looks like tons of Indie games are jumping on the Switch, which should be great for it. But again, it's not a must have for me anymore but I hope we have another meetup and I get to play it again.

We really should have played 1 2 Switch to see the uniqueness of the Switch.

Also, the starter area of Zelda is a pretty lousy advertisement for the game. My first day playing it was somewhat disappointing, but it's been pretty great since then. I've found my first "dungeon" of the game and rage quitted last night at the boss, but I'm looking forward to getting back at it lol

Next meet up, 1 2 Switch. :)

What did you guys think of Logan? We just saw it last night and loved it.

@Travis I was going to ask that question! I probably won't see it until I can rent it.

2017's Feel Good Movie of the Year!

But really, it was a great movie. I probably won't watch it again, as I was pretty depressed by it. Between Logan and Deadpool, I like seeing comic book movies branching out and doing things differently.

I watched Manchester By The Sea and Logan on the same day. 😐

I'm glad you're still with us!

(So we can play on your Switch)

I didn't get depressed by it, probably because of all the people talking about how depressing it was. I was prepared! But yeah it wasn't a feel-good movie.

I specifically avoided all review/commentary on it so I was going in blind. I knew it was going to be violent, but that was it lol

I'm completely blind about it, except for what I've read here. I think I saw a trailer for it. I have no idea what happens (except something obviously depressing). It surprises me that Logan/Wolverine had another movie, in a way. However, he really is the star of the X-Men (other than Xavier). He's definitely one of my favorite comic book characters.

You can sign up and try to win a Switch. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-switch-giveaway/1100-6448812/

11pm EST?! Why are they streaming this so late? And on a Thursday, no less?

It'll be interesting to see the price. I'm expecting around $300. A list of launch games would be nice, as long as they actually launch with the system, and not in the "launch window," which could be months later.

Have they shown anything on whether the controller has a headphone jack? That's another thing that I feel like they must have.

It will cost 10 million Nintendo coins. Better start saving up with SMR and Miitomo.

It looks like Zelda: Breath of the Wild is coming to North America and Japan with the launch of the Switch! Months ago it was reported to be delayed until June or this year's holiday season. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-coming-in-march-alongside/1100-6446647/

I'm still not sure whether to just get the new Zelda game for the Wii U, since I already own that system, or get it with a Switch. I'd like to see or know the difference in the game on both systems with the assumption that the Switch version will be better, at least performance wise. I am interested in knowing more about the Switch and games that will be coming out for it. Other than Zelda, I am interested in what I found to be a possibility of a Pokemon Sun and Moon game called Star (or Stars?).

Looks like the Switch will be powered over USB C so no more proprietary Nintendo cables!

http://m.ign.com/articles/2017/01/05/6-nintendo-switch-accessories-announced-by-hyperkin

No power adapter for you Jon!

Price and release date leak? The price seems about right for what I've seen of "leaks" or guesses (around $245). Somehow the date seems perfect. Have I known 3/17 for a while and for how long? I'm not sure.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-switch-release-date-and-price-leaked-poss/1100-6446696/

But will Nintendo make enough of them to keep up with demand?

> But will Nintendo make enough of them to keep up with demand?

Hahahahahaha, no. I mean if the Wii & NES Classic are the model then no. You can get one eventually and that might be OK for me. I bet if you pre-order you could get one but i'm not sure I want to get one launch day. I've never got a system that way before.

Launch day used to be a rad time to get consoles. Now I just shudder at the thought of the constant patching and upgrading that will happen within the first week/month of launch these days.

Yeah, the ability to patch after the fact is a great advancement but it also seems to have lead to less complete releases. It may not be causal, but I'm with you. I want to wait.

I will get it at launch day if possible. I will do a CG Switch tour where I will bring it to all your houses to try out. :)

I'm holding you to that Will!

Two days!

Any last minute predictions?

I was thinking that Miitomo would come standard with each Switch.

That would not be surprising. It might actually get people to use it!

My last minute prediction: It will be revealed that Nintendo Switch, and components, are made entirely from recycled Starbucks cups, and, when powered on, will give off a slight aroma of roasted coffee beans. Starbucks will sue, take claim of the new system, and ramp up production. Not only will they turn every Starbucks retail shop into a low-key, hipster version of Dave & Buster's, but they will also finally have a way to mold children into future coffee drinkers by making the constant aroma of coffee a thing of nostalgia.

What was Nintendo, having lost all rights to their entire catalog of IPs, and even their very name, finds their senior officers wading in the shallows of Lake Biwa for seven days, weeping, wondering what went wrong, ashamed of not seeing this coming. On the eighth day, the floor of the lake opened up, and an object was released, floating to the surface where it stayed anchored like an ancient buoy. It will be Susumu Tanaka who finds the object and brings it to the attention of the remaining officers. From the secrets within this seed they will grow into a new company, and they will be called Matakondo (which, in it's Japanese translates to "maybe next time").

Fast forward ten years: War. The Matakondo Corporation's immediate success riles Starbucks into a foamed frenzy. The Internet explodes with hate campaigns against Matakondo, and for three weeks they take the beating. At the end of the third week, not coincidentally, at Matakondo's E3 event, they announce their new project, something they have been slowly working on over the last 10 years. Matakondo will announce that they will start making coffee. This coffee, which will be available to the world in November of that year... all of it will be brewed from a single bean. An ancient Japanese coffee bean, which had been kept secret even by the Dutch, unearthed by the salt of the tears shed that day, long ago, in Lake Biwa. Everyone will drink the coffee, Starbucks will cede with awe and humility, and there will be global peace for a thousand years.

A subscription service to their back catalog! Hopefully a better friends list. Friend codes suck.

Will it have 3D for 3DS games?

scrypt, /r/writingprompts needs you.

> Everyone will drink the coffee, Starbucks will cede with awe and humility, and there will be global peace for a thousand years.

That would be great even if Nintendo loses all of it's IP.

@Travis, I've had WP bookmarked for a while, but have never really taken the dive to see what it's all about. Might be a good time to do that!

Boogie2988 has some interesting commentary on the Switch the night before the conference and wraps up the rumors. It appears some of the rumors are the Switch will lock in at 720p 60FPS which seems like a reasonable choice given the hardware of the system. It's not cutting edge 4K but I imagine later Switch revisions will get graphical upgrades.

Boogie also wants Nintendo to allow streaming and not take the revenue. I think that's a pretty good idea and I hope Nintendo chills out it's streaming policy too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlo27GPCfE8

Shovel Knight & Shovel Knight Treasure Trove is coming to the Switch:

http://yachtclubgames.com/2017/01/switch-up/

I'm waiting for Shovel Knight to release on my toaster at this point. It's everywhere!

Just so everyone is ready, the link for the Nintendo live stream event is below. I'll also put it on the main page before it happens so you can go there to watch it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuC4YLLkqME

My sources, which are really reliable (they aren't in my head, I swear), say that the Switch will have a snow cone maker feature!

> will have a snow cone maker feature!

I just changed my mind. Pre-ordering this.

50 second countdown! Woot!

3/3/17 $300

The one thing I don't like is the bottom thumbstick on the right Joy-Con. It looks like it would get in the way of the 4 buttons above it.

Yep, the part Joy-con does look a bit cramped.

The system looks much more technically sophisticated than I anticipated. It makes sense, though, looking at the evolution of Nintendo's console (including hand held). I mean, it can do a lot more than I anticipated. One little Joy-Con can do so very much!

Skyrim confirmed! No mention of release date.

Zelda launching the same day as the Switch (3/3/17)! Woot!

No snow cone maker!!!!

@Will_Ball, yeah but you can pretend the Joy-Con is a glass and you can tell how much water is in it along with how many ice cubes are there, too! LOL

Honestly, I may just pre-order a Switch. Something about Breath of the Wild makes me want to weep for joy. It's intro music alone gives me sweet shivers!

Breath of the Wild looks amazing.

I have a lot to say! Can't wait to discuss this with everyone!

Yeah, me too. I'll be sending out the Roundtable agenda soon.

(Insert expansion or new game speculation here.)
Hell, maybe we'll just hear about another Diablo III update. Also, maybe they'll tell us when the new StarCraft II: Covert Ops pack is coming.

(Insert what you want to be announced here.)
It'd be nice to know when that new Covert Ops pack is coming. Otherwise, I don't know. More Diablo would be nice in any form.

You know, I know a guy that performs here regularly. Ben Stewart. Lead singer of Songhammer. Pretty awesome guy. I met him through a friend back when he was in his old band, Conspiracy of Thought.

Here is some information about how to watch Blizzcon for free(unless you have a virtual ticket and if you do let me know, wondering if it's worth it).

https://blizzcon.com/en-us/news/20352061/blizzcon-2016-where-to-watch-11-2-2016

Watching the opening ceremony now.

Unless others disagree, keep us posted, please. :)

A few take aways i'll post on later:

* They are remaking Diablo in Diablo III
* New Necromancer class in D3 in 2017
* New Gadgetzan Hearthstone Expansion coming soon

Sweet! Did they mention when that Diablo remake might become available?

I checked in on the Twitch channel and it was like watching ESPN, but for gaming. They were talking about tournaments going on today. So, I tuned out.

They mentioned the patch going live in the public test realm next week. So not too long it seems.

Whoa, it's a patch? So that means it's free for those of us who already on D3?! Pretty cool! I never played the first one, so I don't mind that they're remaking it. I've barely played the 2nd, so I wouldn't mind them doing that one, too.

I wonder what the Necromancer class is going to be like, but I bet it's going to be pretty cool, maybe similar to the Witch Doctor (which I really enjoyed).

I tuned back into the Twitch link provided in the link you gave us, but it's still like ESPN doing Overwatch tourney talking. Am I watching the right thing?

> Whoa, it's a patch? So that means it's free for those of us who already on D3?! Pretty cool! I never played the first one, so I don't mind that they're remaking it. I've barely played the 2nd, so I wouldn't mind them doing that one, too.

This is nice because the old game is somewhat long in the tooth and i've wanted to come back and play it myself so now is a good time.

> I wonder what the Necromancer class is going to be like, but I bet it's going to be pretty cool, maybe similar to the Witch Doctor (which I really enjoyed).

Yeah, it was my fav class in D2. Lots of Skeletons and various evil incarnations. I bet they will drop more information soon.

> I tuned back into the Twitch link provided in the link you gave us, but it's still like ESPN doing Overwatch tourney talking. Am I watching the right thing?

Yeah, the opening ceremony is over and it's now eSports for the rest of the day.

Some details...

Diablo news:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3s-necromancer-and-excellent-new-armory-fea/1100-6445142/?utm_source=gamefaqs&utm_medium=partner&utm_content=news_module&utm_campaign=homepage

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-adding-a-retro-diablo-1-style-mode/1100-6445132/?utm_source=gamefaqs&utm_medium=partner&utm_content=news_module&utm_campaign=homepage

Starcraft 2 news:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/heres-all-the-starcraft-2-news-from-blizzcon-2016/1100-6445136/?utm_source=gamefaqs&utm_medium=partner&utm_content=news_module&utm_campaign=homepage

I'm stoked about the new Diablo stuff. The necromancer is great but the D1 remake? That's just cool and unexpected.

Actually the more I read about the D1 remake the less interesting it sounds. It's not a remake, just a filter over an already existing map it seems. :/

But this new armory is really amazing. People have been wanting a way to save builds for ages now.

Check out the new Necromancer video:

https://youtu.be/rt1bLufR-VA

:( I was hoping for something sooner.

The Darkening of Tristram is on PTR and it looks like it may go live in January: http://www.shacknews.com/article/97674/diablo-3-update-243-on-ptr-with-original-darkening-of-tristram-content

As for the Necromancer it's coming out "some time in 2017"
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/20324407

Yeah, the Necromancer isn't soon, which I think is fine. The Necromancer was my favorite D2 class and if it came out tomorrow I wouldn't have time for it anyway. 2017? Sounds better to me. I think by then I wouldn't mind heading through the story again too.

I went through the story multiple times too recently, so I don't plan on doing that again (at least for quite a while). One of the articles I posted mentioned a recommendation of creating a new character for The Darkening of Tristram. I'd like to jump back into the game, there's still a lot I haven't played around with, which is something I intend to do with a Necromancer. Right now, I'm ready for it.

I wouldn't buy it for full price but since I'm getting it for free, woo!

Saves should transfer so that's good: https://twitter.com/DCDeacon/status/743170497752371200

And both consoles are getting mods, PS4's are just more limited because Sony has crazy restrictions for add-on content like this. They can't include any new assets, just modification or re-use of existing ones.

Physics issues are just par for the course in Bethesda engine games, but this is a newer engine so some may be fixed.

I went pretty far in Skyrim and sort of stopped playing it.

Thinking this might get me back in it.

Is anyone planning to play the game differently than before? I first played as a Nord and sided with one major "faction," on the PS3. Then on Steam I played as an Imperial and sided with the other major "faction." In both games I played as a warrior with heavy armor and two-handed weapons, particularly war hammers. I'll probably repeat what I did on Steam, although I'm not sure which side I'll ally with.

@Travis thanks for the additional info! I did see something about the PS4's limited mod support. I haven't paid attention to console news much.

I have played Skyrim as various races and classes, but I can't honestly remember what most of them were. I know I went stealth archer once and that was my favorite way to play.

My Steam play-time on it is very low, but that's because I transferred my Xbox 360 save over to PC. Nearly all of my Skyrim time (and it's a lot) was on the 360.

I still have yet to play the last DLC. Generally by the time the last DLC is out I've mostly moved on and can't get back in the mood for it.

With all that I've seen about Khajiit lately (especially the stuff I've seen posted on FB and our No Man's Sky funny), I'm tempted to use that race. I've only played as a Nord (Skyrim) and Imperial (Oblivion and Skyrim). I think I tried out a Dark Elf on Morrowind, but I didn't play it long and I tried it out a few times, so I'm not exactly sure. I know there are races (like Khajiit) I haven't played before.

Make a punch cat. A Khajit will kick ass in melee. Follow this (hilarious) guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhBiNx749Zw

Language warning on that video, but I love it.

Damn that's pretty awesome! But, I love my warhammers and two-handed swords.

I'm looking forward to buying this game for a 3rd time. Buying this version will mean I have spent $200 on Skyrim. Not counting DLC (of which I bought all on Day One).

I have edited this event's time and description showing the updated release date and time along with a link to the news on the Store page. I have also added the system requirements along with it's link on the Store page.

You edited the start time to later this month. I think you want the end time then right?

It starts on 10/27 at 8pm EST and ends at 8:30pm on the same day. If you look at the event the only part of the end you see is "8:30pm" although I did selected 10/27 at 8:30pm for the end time.

I get that, that's what I'm saying. I mean is that game release "events" here have historically started when the person creates the post, and ends shortly after release. As it stands, this is a 30 minute event. Take a look at the Civ event-- it's months long. The "event" is us discussing it before launch, typically.

But ultimately I guess it really doesn't matter since it's here for everyone to chat about til then anyway. Whether you start the event now or 5 minutes before it ends. Game releases don't lend themselves well to the timeframe portion of the event system since it's a countdown where people talk about it. There's no clear spot for the event to start. Something we play together has clear limits. Something like Blizzcon has a set start and end. Countdowns are always going until they stop.

Actually, I said "have historically started when..." but that's not true. There's no real clear precedent for either. Some are months long, some are a couple of days.

Yeah game event times are strange but even a 30 minute event works when we can discuss it all the way to the launch.

I finally just looked at the system specs for it. I have the recommended on everything and only just on the video card. So it should look pretty good!

Initial impressions: Wow it's pretty. And somehow loads faster. I have no idea how but it seems to perform better than normal Skyrim.

The models don't seem to be improved from normal Skyrim but the lighting, shaders, shadows, depth-of-field, that's all obviously the Fallout 4 engine. The colors seem to pop more.

The same crappy either/or thing with keyboard/mouse and joystick applies. You can't do both. So if you have a controller connected it can tell and you have to turn it off *with* the controller before you can use the KB/M. But that's just a Bethesda thing that probably won't change. Maybe with Elder Scrolls 9/Fallout 8.

Weird, Alt+F4 doesn't exit. I always quicksave then alt+F4

Do you think they put it on the Fo4 engine or just updated the Skyrim engine a bit? Seems like a ton of work to upgrade engines unless they are super compatible.

I was going to ask you, Travis, what you thought of it since I saw that you were playing it. I'm planning to get it downloaded and installed tonight so the download doesn't interfere with my YouTube watching. I might check it out in the morning, but the Ark Halloween event is supposed to happen in about 12 hours.

> Weird, Alt+F4 doesn't exit. I always quicksave then alt+F4

It's F5 now.

@jon -- they said in early interviews about Fallout 4 that the first thing they did to start making Fallout 4 was to bring Skyrim to next gen. Back then it was just to get a handle on the new tech, they hadn't planned on releasing it.

But this new Skyrim has identical mod download functionality as Fallout 4, and if you've looked at the lighting effects enough in Fallout 4 you can kinda start to spot them.

But also, I don't think it's a NEW new engine. The Fallout 4 engine is just a new iteration of the Skyrim engine, since they ported Skyrim and its engine to next-gen and then built Fallout 4 on it. Same as Oblivion -> Fallout 3 I guess. Iterative changes.

@greg-- I think you misread that comment a little. ALT + F4 exits Windows programs by default, unless the developer has overridden it. I know F5 quicksaves, Alt + F4 exits Fallout 4. It does not exit Skyrim SE. My habit is to hit F5 to save, wait a couple seconds, then hit Alt + F4 to exit.

It's possible they are overriding that because people were quicksaving then not letting enough time pass before Alt + F4ing and corrupting saves.

Yeah, I forgot about that Windows shortcut because I almost never use it. I did, however, notice that one of my favorite Windows shortcuts Alt-Tab doesn't work in the game. :( Also, the sound seems low, even with the in-game settings maxed.

Alt+Tab too? Huh. I know there are some games that break when you Alt+Tab.

Oh, it looks like there's a patch for Alt+Tab. Maybe it fixes Alt+F4 too.

I haven't seen a patch yet and I've restarted Steam, though I haven't tried playing the game since my last comment.

I realized why I decided to be an Imperial, because their special ability is a charm, which I think is greatly helpful. Although I haven't really tried most of the races, so I can't quite speak for their abilities other than they didn't look as significant to me. Granted, if I played them I'd probably find more value in them.

Well don't take my word for the Alt+Tab patch. I just saw someone on Steam say that alt+tab was working now.

This is another game that Geforce Experience just balks at on my system. The game itself autodetected Ultra quality, and it runs flawlessly with everything maxed, even maxing things *past* Ultra. But Geforce Experience wants me to turn everything down to low or medium.

The game detected my hardware and set my settings to "Ultra," it looks like all the settings are at their max. I just checked Geforce Experience and it says the game is optimized. This is the first time I checked the GE settings for the Special Edition of Skyrim.

However, I did load the game back up, went to options, and clicked "reset" since I thought it changed my settings to "Ultra High" instead of just "Ultra." I obviously misread it the first time. Then, I went back into Geforce Experience and it said the game wasn't optimized. The "Grass Fade" setting was at 7 and GE said optimal was 7000, so I clicked "optimize."

I saw that you were playing Skyrim earlier and it didn't seem like the Special Edition. I'm tempted to jump in between the versions and see if I notice any difference. I think that when I played before, I was using a high quality mod or something similar.

If you did indeed pop into the original game earlier, did you notice the difference?

Also, Alt-Tab works...kind of...it seems you have to hold the Alt key and it works, sometimes. Windows-D works, taking you to your desktop. I'm also monitoring my GPU temp and with the fan on auto it looks like about just less than 1900rpm (a little over half) and 52c. Normally when I play Ark, I max out that and my PCIE fans and my GPU gets into the low 80s, which is still ok for my card.

That's exactly what I was doing-- using the same save file and checking the differences as I went to different locations.

It's still really weird to me that SE performs better with better effects. They obviously aren't going to re-make all those textures so the real differences are in lighting and shadows. The God Rays, just like in Fallout 4, are killer on the video card apparently but mine is handling them like a champ.

My GPU fan isn't even noticeably speeding up. The 960 runs so cool, it's amazing how far they've come with keeping the chips cool.

There are a few settings in-game that you can change that aren't in the launcher, that's what I was talking about boosting past ultra.

Looking forward to either or both of you reviewing it. I decided to pass on getting this for now but am looking to in the future.

It's kinda hard to review. I mean it's just Skyrim with a shiny coat of paint. But I'll definitely write up some thoughts.

What will be interesting to see is whether they treat this like a game release and fix bugs and stuff that have been around since the original release, or add new things to it. A patch released long after the game's release added horse combat, for instance.

@Travis that's great that that's what you were doing.

I agree it is strange that SE performs better with better effects. That doesn't make face value sense, but I guess maybe it's better optimized "under the hood." The game also gave me "Ultra" quality settings after detecting my system, with the 690, the first time I played it (on Steam that is) and it ran fine, though I didn't monitor my temps.

I also agree that "it's amazing how far they've come with keeping the chips cool." I know when I ran Ark with the 690 it reached the 80s mark and performance suffered, however even though my 980 Ti gets there, performance doesn't suffer.

@Jon I'm looking more at Travis to tell us his thoughts on it. I'm still busy with Ark, so I'm not sure when I might actually sit through the full game again, but we'll see. Also, why didn't you get it? Do you not own all the DLC? If you do, it's free.

I also agree with Travis's statement about "it's just Skyrim with a shiny coat of paint." I'm also hoping to see some bugs fixed, which might be what I notice and actually look for more than the fresh "coat of paint." Physics in the game on PC and PS3 were a bit wonky. I also remember at least one quest that I ran into an issue with. Even though I'm hoping the things I noticed were resolved, I thought they just gave it a visual upgrade and left everything else alone.

One thing I read about why things might run better is the benefit of the Fallout 4 engine. Because of the new needs in Fallout 4, Skyrim can handle way more going on at once.

I just have base Skyrim on steam so I didnt get the HD version. Reason I didn't pick up the DLC is that I have a couple other games I'm playing right now and if I was going to play a larger open world game I'd finish up Fallout 4, which I've been wanting to do lately.

That said the rest of the DLC was like $28 bucks so I imagine I can pick up the new version at that price when I'm looking to play it again.

Skyrim is a really special Elder Scrolls game so it's nice they upgraded it this way so it can be enjoyed for long into the future.

@Travis Sweet! I haven't really read anything about it yet. I noticed some things in the game's Steam News section that I was going to check out, but I think I got distracted.

@Jon That's understandable. I skipped out on Hearthfire on the PS3 because I didn't really think it added anything to the game I really wanted or needed. I already owned multiple properties in the game. I did, however, get it all for PC and I enjoyed it.

I agree with your statement about Skyrim being a really special ES game. However, when I read or heard about the rumor that there was going to be a remastered ES game, I was hoping it would have been Morrowind or Oblivion. I only tried playing Morrowind a few years ago after I had played Skyrim (on the PS3 at least). It was kind of difficult and no where near as beautiful. I later (again after playing Skyrim) got Oblivion (on the PS3) and I fell in love with it. In fact, it's difficult to say if I like Skyrim or Oblivion better. I read some reasoning behind giving Skyrim the face lift and it was understandable (popularity and ease of doing it). Still, it'd be great if they could give those older ES games a bit of the same treatment. I saw some videos about them working on the next game in the series, but it seems their waiting on technology to catch up to what they want to do.

Paying $28 for the DLC and thus getting SE doesn't sound like a bad deal.

Since you mentioned Fallout 4, I still haven't tried Nuka World.

Ok I just read this article (link below) that's included in the game's News section on Steam. The only mod I used was the high-res texture pack from Bethesda, mentioned in the article. If anyone has more articles to share, feel free! Also, if you want to keep talking about it and perhaps with more ease, I can extend the event, just let me know.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/10/28/skyrim-special-edition-pc-changes/

Yeah, I was hoping for Morrowind or Oblivion as well but their reasoning makes sense. With Skyrim, it's just a matter of porting the game. With the others they'd have to re-create the textures and everything, and it would be nearly the same time investment as a new game, at least for some departments.

Plus honestly, some of the charm of Oblivion is those faces, right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bja-UQTsgQw

Anyone play with Skyrim mods? If so, let us know which.

I decided to check out the physics issue I noticed before. This is particularly noticeable in the first house that you visit. At the table where two characters sit and talk with you, you will see the food and plates jump around like crazy, at least that's how they behaved on the PS3 and the original version of the game. In SE, during my one time experience in that scene, at least one vegetable moved a little bit back and forth, but it wasn't crazy like before. I could do more testing by trying it out again on the old version.

Looks like they are going to fix some issues. http://kotaku.com/bethesda-says-its-going-to-fix-skyrim-special-editions-1788365568

I read a similar article last night. I'm glad they're working on fixing it, I noticed the volume is too low.

@Greg "I noticed the volume is too low."

The audio in general is overall worse quality now, not just too low. It seems (as the article Jon posted states) they compressed the hell out of the sound files. It isn't very noticeable if you haven't gone back and forth between them but it's definitely not the quality of the original. It's just weird that the PC version is the one struck by this, since it's the one where disk space matters the least.

Doesn't look like the console port is going well:

http://kotaku.com/skyrim-special-edition-is-too-janky-1788491838

FWIW the PC port is also janky according to some reports. It seems a lot of the bugs on console are similar to bugs on PC when the framerate is uncapped.

Thought this was funny: http://i.imgur.com/IIVGGCo.jpg

Everyone wanted to bash that kids face :D

Skyrim SE patch in beta, along with some details.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/skyrim-remaster-patch-fixes-audio-downgrade-and-mo/1100-6445093/

Patch live, check out description below taken from Steam:

Skyrim Special Edition 1.1 Update Live on Steam
posted by gstaffBethesda @ 04:07PM on November 07, 2016
Skyrim Special Edition 1.1 Update (All Platforms Unless Otherwise Noted)

Fixes

General performance and optimization improvements
Fixed rare issue with NPCs not appearing in proper locations
Fixed an issue with interface elements not appearing correctly on certain
displays (Xbox One and PS4)
Fixed issue with saves erroneously being marked as Modded, even though no mods are active
Updated some sound files to not use compression

So, I mentioned that I thought SE was too quiet. I did some testing after the patch and it seems as though SE and the original are both more quiet than I'm used to. Ark, on the other hand is much louder. Perhaps it has something to do with my sound settings within Windows, or perhaps it's just how the games are. In both games, I have the sound settings maxed.

Other than that, I didn't notice any other issues with sound quality. Travis, obviously did, but I know he has musical aptitude that I lack and I imagine such people have a better ear for sound differences. Still, I'm glad they released a patch. I'm not yet ready to dive back into the game, but I intend to do so, it's now on my short list of games to play.

Patch 1.2 in beta now, which includes a fix for the Alt-Tab shortcut:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-skyrim-special-edition-patch-arrives-on-pc/1100-6445293/

FYI I fixed my sound volume issue by enabling Loudness Equalization under Enhancements in Speakers/Headphones Properties. It didn't sound loud enough until I enabled that.

Oh and can someone explain to me why Run is Shift, but it makes me walk slow? Also, Alt-Tab is working perfectly.

Run doesn't mean the same as sprint. Run is on, shift makes you un-run. It's weird terminology that I've always hated in Bethesda games.

Sprint is alt I think and uses your stamina.

Yeah, I have auto-run on and Shift by default makes you walk slower. I decided to switch Shift with Alt, so now, like any other game, I run with Shift.

Yeah I think shift was sprint in Fallout 4. It threw me off when going back to Skyrim.

Oops, I thought the Imperial special ability (Voice of the Emperor, I think) was to charm, but it's calm, there's a big difference. Still, it helped me out in one mission when I had to get into the Dwemer Museum and all the guards were after me and I had a 1k+ bounty on my head. Once I got outside and surrounded, I used the Voice and was then able to Fast Travel out of there. I went back to pay my bounty, but after I stored my stolen goods so I wouldn't lose them. I stole my Ebony Warhammer, so I definitely didn't want to lose it.

@Travis, thanks for the Quicksave (F5) tip, it's real handy, I'm not sure I used it before.

It's cool playing Skyrim again. I'm not sure I notice the Special Edition visual bonuses, but perhaps. It does look really good, but it did before although I was using the High Resolution Texture Pack DLC. I'm getting tempted to play Oblivion again, but I was thinking about that before I started playing Skyrim SE.

I'm close by, but won't be able to make it. I'm in Boise, ID.

Oh too bad! It's a fun event and well worth a drive but maybe not 8 hours

Can't wait! Should be a great time!