I just watched the trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO1gjnmgKAM). It looks like Zelda, Terraria, Minecraft, and Starbound. From what you said about the events, it reminded me of Animal Crossing.
Thank you, again, for creating this site. I've been enjoying it as well. I also agree that the people we have here are awesome. I love how active we are here. As I told you, I always have an open tab for GMail, but I've been keeping an open tab here as well. I like how many games there are that many of us are playing. I also like how we are also playing different games and learning from each other about games we haven't played before. This site has definitely had a positive impact on my gaming. If it wasn't for this site I might never have played or known about games like Terraria, FTL, Starbound, and Diablo III.
As a life-long (self-proclaimed) writer, I really enjoy having a place I can go to write about the games that I'm enjoying. I also enjoy reading about what others are playing as well.
Thanks again, Jon, and thank you, my fellow Cheerful Ghosts.
Happy Memorial Day! I like to think that our country is more than the sum of it's parts. I'm thankful to be here, for the people that lay down their lives for me to be here, and I have hope for where we're going.
I'm also thankful for the community here at Cheerful Ghost. I'm grateful for all the different voices that come together and share this passion of video games. Something I look forward to week after week.
"Remove protective film before use"
I would think if you're putting in your own video card you'd be able to figure that one out. :)
Yeah, I did remove it too. Funny thing is I didn't notice those words until I posed the image. Funny. Kind of like the signs that say "DO NOT DRINK TOILET WATER." I mean, it makes sense for 99% of the time, but sometimes you just need too, like in Fallout 3.
On another note, I had to migrate Linux distros because the one I was using didn't support the GTX 750 in any sane way. I upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04 and it's been the best Linux distro i've used yet. I only got the max resolution out of my monitor after installing the normal nvidia driver but after that everything is buttery smooth.
No idea what they've done, maybe it's just the new kernel and updated software, but it's easily the fastest and most performant PC desktop i've ever used.
Interesting about Ubuntu being the fastest-- I've seen some chatter from some old LoCo contacts on Facebook about people jumping to Debian because 14.04 was dragging. I still need to upgrade at some point.
I was running the last Debian stable and 14.04 is so much more smooth compared to that. Perhaps under the hood Debian is faster, but the UI certainly isn't.
I was looking for the GPU chart I found months ago that convinced me to get the GTX 690, but it's apparently been updated for May 2014. Sadly my GPU isn't on the new chart (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-8.html), your's is (well the Ti model). Even though my card is worth about 10x that of yours, I'm happy for you. I've been enjoying throwing games and my new PC to see how they perform and I have not yet been disappointed. I have not yet tinkered with resolution settings. My desktop is currently maxed at 1920x1200.
I don't understand the "dialed everything to 11" part of your post. I guess that's a setting some where I haven't yet explored.
"Even though my card is worth about 10x that of yours"
Damn, Greg put you in your place Jon! ;)
"Dial everything to 11" is a reference to Spinal Tap. It just means turn everything up to the maximum graphical settings.
Also, wait a minute-- you said "I have not yet tinkered with resolution settings."
Does that mean you haven't tweaked graphical settings in your games? Because often the defaults are lower than your capabilities and with your rig you could be getting way more out of it.
Hahahahaha, I wasn't trying to belittle Jon and his new GPU. Ah, well I guess that makes sense since I'm only familiar with Spinal Tap by name. As I said in my Skyrim post, when I installed Skyrim it detected my hardware and put everything on "Ultra High" settings. Still, Jon's getting more resolution in his set up than I am. My guess is that my 24" Dell monitor is the source of my resolution limitation.
Yes, Travis, that is exactly what it means. Perhaps I should look into that. I believe the GeForce Experience can help me with that, too.
Oh man yeah. Even the ultra quality on Skyrim doesn't have *everything* cranked up. You're probably getting far less out of your games than you can.
But yeah, if your monitor only goes to 1080p, that's as high as you'll get in terms of resolution-- but there's so much more that gives you shiny graphics. Shaders, shadows, lighting, occlusion, so on. You should definitely do that :)
Er... not 1080p-- 1200p it looks like for yours.
I did turn all the fancy FOV, Anti Aliasing and the like up as high as I could.
As far as me getting the best video card on the market, this ain't it. But for the price, power draw and form factor I am not sure what is better. Plus, I don't play AAA games all day so in a way it's a tad overkill BUT will last me for many years to come.
Ok, I just updated my GeForce Experience and for the first time I went in to configure my games. Well, I only tweaked Skyrim for now. I couldn't tell which settings it was changing because my configuration for it looks the same as what it suggested, but I told it to optimize anyway. With the old PC, I was unable to utilize this feature of GeForce experience as my 8800 GTS wasn't supported.
Greg:
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-750-vs-GeForce-GTX-690
AT 10X less the price the 750 holds it's own pretty well against the 690. That and, due to it's high power draw, I don't think I could use it in my PC much less it's form factor. :godmode:
Ok, I was able to optimize Starcraft II and Diablos III. Why didn't I think of this before? I was playing those two games on lower quality settings. So, thank you Jon for your post and Travis for your comments. Now I have some optimized games. I wonder how they look now....
Also, the 690 looks like a spaceship. Which is to say, awesome.
Thanks for the link, Jon! That is an awesome comparison. What I gather from it is that while mine costs about 10x more, your's does a really good job of coming close to my performance. It seems as though you got a good deal. =) That's something I learned with that chart on TomsHardware.com, that just because a model has a higher number doesn't mean that it's better. One thing that surprises me (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) is that mine is quieter than your's. I'm not sure that this makes sense, but I do know that my new PC is VERY quiet.
Yup. The 690 smokes the 750.
http://www.hwcompare.com/17305/geforce-gtx-750-ti-vs-geforce-gtx-690/
Still, for what it is and the price, I dig it. For my next PC I might trick it out to be a bit more like yours Greg. That said, I kind of like starting with something modest and upgrading it over time too. Oh well, i'll have lots of options for when the time comes that's for sure. I love that the guts of my PC (I7, 8G RAM) are still really great.
Haha, imagine that, a spaceship-looking GPU in an Alienware PC. This isn't the default GPU that came with this build, I was able to customize it and specifically chose the 690 because TomsHardware.com showed me that even though it's expensive, it's a bad ass GPU.
Also worth noting, that when you bought your card Greg, the 750 wasn't out yet. Nvidia just launched it a few months ago and I was waiting to read reviews and see how they faired with gamers before I bought one.
What GPU came with your rig initially?
Also, Greg, the Geforce experience still may not get your games tweaked as well as it could. If you go into the game settings once you've launched the game, try bumping things up that the Geforce Experience didn't bump all the way up, and see how it looks/feels.
For example, it wanted me to turn my Skyrim settings all the way down for some reason, but I can play it just a few settings away from the Ultra High defaults. It isn't perfect.
Greg: Also, that 690 has 3 DVI ports are you running dual monitors on it? When I work I have my Macbook screen and then my Monitor thus giving me a dual monitor setup, which is great.
I haven't done it for a gaming yet, but it's nice for work for sure.
Looking at the Alienware website (http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-aurora-r4/pd?oc=dpcwny2&model_id=alienware-aurora-r4), it looks like it comes with a 770 by default, which has half the memory of the 690. I'm not sure if that option has changed since I got mine.
I'll look into it, Travis. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.
Jon, I used my 50" Samsung plasma TV as a "second monitor" on the old PC. I have not hooked the new PC up to it.
Skyrim settings are maxed out, I believe they've been maxed out this whole time I've been playing. The game is beautiful and it doesn't seem to have any lag. Granted, objects are still behaving strangely. The last time I talked to Maven Black-Briar, a few objects took flight after I opened the door and entered the room. A wooden plate was stuck on Maven's neck, like a collar. I should have taken a screenshot before she moved, which is what removed the plate from her head. I also found a Mammoth stuck in ice. Oh and one of the dragons I fought kept nose-diving down and flew back up after it hit the ground with it's head.
I think your card is better than mine. I'm using a Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1Gb. I know little about the relevance of certain features on cards these days. I like that yours has a low power draw. I'm sure that keep the system nice and cool. With the demands of some of the newer games, I was contemplating upgrading processor and GPU sometime this year, but this upgrade would be significantly expensive. Is there a market for selling used components?
Craigslist has a healthy PC used market.
What's your CPU?
Core i5 2500K @ 3.3GHz
That should still be great right?
It is, and it's been working really well. There are instances where I'd like to see a game perform at higher settings (Rage, Skyrim, etc.), but maybe an updated GPU would suffice. What I'm getting at the moment is still gorgeous, so I'm not complaining by any means. Just curious to see how much more there is to see :).
Awesome review, thanks Travis.
A few questions:
* I am at the part where I got out of the sub. About how far am I though the game percentage wise?
* How long did the game take you to beat? So far, I think I am at 10 hours.
* What difficulty do you play on? I am playing it on the... middle one? The one that is harder than normal.
Oh and did you beat the Wolf 3D homage level? I tried it 3 different times and died each time getting just a little further each time.
ALSO, Polygon did a nice video on the history of Wolfenstein that is quite good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SKK74gDUDw&app=desktop
* I guess I would ask-- which sub? Are you referring to the thing you pilot yourself as a sub or are you talking about the sub you stow away on? If the first, you're about halfway through chapter 10, if the second, you've just started chapter 11. There are 16 chapters.
* It took me about 10 hours to complete. For my first playthrough I didn't focus on exploration. I plan on playing through a second time and scouring the place.
* The same, I think. I changed it a few times while playing so I'm not sure where I ended up.
* I did not beat it. It's surprisingly hard!
Yeah the Wolf 3D tribute is really hard. I'll get it one of these days.
OK so I am still at chapter 10 then. 10 hours into the game myself. I am exploring everything and taking my time. I am also stealthing wherever I can, which means levels take longer to complete than otherwise. Well, that and dying. I am at a higher difficulty so I die more than I have in other games. I dig it though, it's a fun challenge.
Awesome! Can't wait to play :)
You'll go to many different amazing places, including a secret underwater compound, and one that's so awesome I don't even want to mention it here.
Is it the Fuhrermuseum?! That would be kinda sick if it was.
It isn't, but now I want one.
Actually, do you remember the secret area in the final boss stage of Quake 2 that had a "credits" room, where pictures of the dev team plastered the walls? I'd love something like that with a retrospective of Wolfenstein enemies. You start off with the Wolf 3D sprites and work your way up to The New Order enemies.
I'd like a level made out of Burritos.
Uhhhh...
But I bet iD tech 5 couldn't handle it so I'll just dream.
iD tech 5 = too week for burritos
Travis, I just wanted to say this is a stellar piece of writing. Someday I might be able to crank something out like this
I had a bunch of links I wanted to put into a post BEFORE the game dropped, but I didn't have time so here you all go.
Interesting comparison art of the new game VS the old:
http://imgur.com/a/lAIRj#0
The Onion did a for pay video about the new Wolf game, it's very funny, as the Onion is.
http://www.theonion.com/video/sponsored-new-wolfenstein-game-lets-players-choose,36009/
New(old) launch trailer. (it would have been new if I posted it a week ago )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENTC-mAQ0tI
That Onion video is hilarious. Oh, Canada...
I went to see XMen: Days of Future Past last night and there was a Wolfenstein trailer. They spoiled the location Travis didn't want to spoil in the trailer. I was like "FUCKING SPOILER ALERT I'M NOT AT THAT PART YET!"
Fucking movie trailers with spoilers. Is nothing sacred anymore?
Agh, that's horrible! And lame that they showed that spoiler! ;)
Kidding! Was X-men any good?
We just got back from it. It's awesome. Better than all of them except maybe X2. But maybe better than that.
Also, damn they spoiled the burrito factory?
HAHAHAHA No, they spoiled the thing I don't want to spoil. Duh.
I know, I was being funny. Trying to be anyway :)
:godmode:
One major complaint I have on my second playthrough-- for a game that has so many hidden items, it really punishes people who are trying to find everything. If you miss something and go to a different section of the map, it's often impossible to backtrack without restarting the whole level. Oh I slid under that obstacle and there was an enigma code 5 feet before? Well, I guess I'm screwed. That's getting a little annoying.
USPS forgot to put my package on their truck today. Fuckers. I'll get it tomorrow. Hopefully.
Damn. What system are you getting it for?
You know, scrypt, I keep reading today about how over-promised Watch Dogs was. I think you may have made a good call. I still want to play it-- from what I hear it's still fun-- but there's a lot that just seems unfinished about it.
@jdodson - PS4
@Travis - Confession: I got both. I saw some picture of an Asian child shrugging her shoulders, and it moved me. Trying out Watch Dogs as I'm typing this, and I'm really liking it. It's less like Assassin's Creed and more like Red Dead Redemption, but in Chicago, with hackers. I haven't read the reviews, but the gameplay feels like it's on par with what has been shown in pre-release videos. Granted, I'm only an hour or so into it, but I've covered a lot of the city (underground, and water systems). It's quite the playground.
Interesting. Honestly Watch Dogs doesn't intrigue me at all. Since I don't understand the draw of it... What's the draw of it?
I tend to favor sci-fi/tech over fantasy, even though the margin is thin. The significant things about Watch Dogs are the nuances that separate it from the other sandbox titles. The size of the world isn't that big of a deal, though it is absolutely beautiful. The way you can observe and affect the environment, and people in it, however, is creepily fun. You can hack cameras in the city to map out your plan of attack, or use the cameras themselves as extensions of you. Everything is connected, as they say, so you can jump from camera to camera, then hack a remote detonator on a guard, the explosion will draw the attention of another guard who has a camera on his phone, hack into that, then he carries you over to his post, where on the wall you can see the security panel for building access, hack that, and keep going. Or you can just take the guards out John McClane style.
There are problems with it, evident even in what little I've played. Everyone in the city has an identity. Everyone. Ubisoft did a pretty good job at making them diverse, but you can see repeating patterns here and there. Dialog could have been a little more diverse, too. In one motorcycle ride across town, I can't tell you how many times I heard the exact phrase "We have roads for a reason!" A "Hey, asshole, keep it on the asphalt!" or "Unless your mowing it, stay off the lawn!" would have been nice. I did swing around a corner once, taking out several newspaper racks and a light pole, and some lady shouted a very timely "What...the...fuck!" That was entertaining :).
That makes sense, thanks scrypt.
Scpyt, she's totally Hispanic, not Asian :) That picture is taken from an Old El Paso commercial.
And yeah, I didn't have as much hype for Watch Dogs as many people did. I still definitely want to play it. I'm thinking $30 is the right price so I'll wait it out.
My bad! I was going from memory. All I remembered was dark hair and not white. Shoulda looked...
Finally got to play a bit of Wolfenstien. Just a bit passed the sex scene. Really, really liking it. This is the new standard for shooters this generation (at least for consoles). Everything feels and looks and sounds so good.
Yeah I know why you like it.
"the sex scene. Really, really liking it"
Yep.
;)
Hahaha.
It's worth noting that there are some *major* problems with this port right now. They apparently wrapped it instead of doing a full port, and the wrapper they used is causing problems on certain hardware. I guess a better way to say it is, it's only working properly on certain hardware.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTY5ODM
Hopefully this eon thing gets better OR they release a native port. I picked it up but plan on playing it when I get my steam machine. Hopefully it's sorted by then. I sort of dot care about the HOW porting happens as long as it isn't shit.
That said, native seem like the best approach even if it may be the most technically complicated in certain cases.
Yeah exactly. I don't care if it's native as long as it works as you would expect. But single threading, and only working on certain models of a certain vendor's cards is not good.
They've got a good track record of fixing problems though. Hopefully they get to it soon.
Fair enough, and I went to the steam community thread where a developer of the company that provided the wrapper tech responded. I kind of don't blame people for being so upset, that said it says in the fine print that it doesnt work with AMD or Intel cards. No one really reads that and maybe Steam should pop up depending if the hardware they are buying it on doesn't pass the spec.
That said, people should be civil BUT maybe this is all kind of a good case for a sane 1-2 day refund policy or something based on it working like shit on your system(if it passes spec and crashes or something). Anyways, lot's of edge cases but I bet Valve is thinking about it because getting an unfortunate port isn't awesome.
You can't expect civility from the Steam community forums. :)
But damn, I didn't realize they had said it doesn't work with AMD and Intel. That's a big chunk of the market. But even top of the line nvidia cards are underperfoming significantly. That's something I bet they can fix though.
Apparently Wine does just fine with the game, even on AMD. So it's a bit of a surprise they went with a proprietary vendor for their wrapper.
It was my understanding that SteamOS, as a whole, doesn't support AMD and Intel graphics at the moment.
Well, they released it for Linux as a whole, not just Steam OS.
BUT, there is support for AMD and Intel in Steam OS now. There wasn't initially, and the page for it still says it's "coming soon," but support is now in there as of January.
Thanks for clarifying :). I see that they've pulled the whole Witcher 2 store page down on Steam. They'll get it sorted. Valve has magic faeries on retainer.
Yeah, I guess so many people complained that they pulled it. I hope it gets updated because I bought it before it was pulled
It will, I'm sure. How does it work with your new video card in Linux? Just curious if your nvidia is one of the ones it has issues with.
I haven't tried it yet. I want to wait until they sort out most of the issues first.
Geez, I need to move to portland.
Yes you do. When you figure out the details let me know and i'll help you unpack at your new place.
This sounds awesome! Sorry I can't make it. I mean, I guess it's ONLY a 16 hour drive assuming I make no stops except for gas...
It's so weird, it took us 15 hours, not counting stops, to get from VA to Kansas City, but it takes 16 hours for you to go two states. We divided up this land mass in a very odd way.
California is a very long state.
It is at that.
That thumbnail is just way too happy. How dare you!
Pharrell liked it. 
Listened to the RT while cooking dinner tonight. Great episode everyone!
It was a fun romp. Nice to sit in with Cap again. You were missed!
Yeah, this was a fun one. Can't wait for the next episode.
I was just on another game site (for shame...) watching a dev diary for Valiant Hearts, a new game in the UbiArt pipeline coming out next month. One of the comments under the post said "Ubisoft are doing indie better than the indies." This is a ridiculous statement, and is exactly what I'm talking about. When did "indie" become an aesthetic? No wonder people want to dump the monicker. It's been misappropriated to the point of falling under vague urban definition. Next step: games that are solely created in the state of Indiana = Indie games.
If Ubi can't produce a game more polished that a few people working for free then we have a problem. And yes, I agree, that statement is very ignorant and i'd hazard a guess the comment was from someone that doesn't play many Independently developed games OR doesn't like them. Too bad too, lots to love.
That said, Ubi, like many huge companies are realizing that making many smaller games can be a better way to go. Blizzard is too and Hearthstone is one such game. Doesn't mean they are Indie though.
