How is Civ6 on the Deck?
Excellent. Compared to the Switch version, you can definitely feel the presence of the extra CPU power, even though the Switch's slower performance never dissuaded me from playing that version.
There's a Firaxis-created default control mapping profile available, which is nice (though I edit mine such that right trigger = left click, and vice versa).
One slight bummer is that, since the PC version doesn't have gamepad support, there's no direct 1:1 mapping from the Switch control scheme to the Steam Deck. With the presence of the trackpads, though, playing mouse-pointer style is pretty comfortable. But it would have been nice if there was an option to mix-and-match both.
I do wish there was some font/UI scaling available (Civ6 has weird resolution-dependent UI scaling that's really only for blowing up the UI on high resolution screens), although I never really have that much trouble reading anything. And the Steam + L1 button magnifier function is handy for the occasion that I need it.
Breath of the Wild - I have literally never played a Zelda game in my life (I was a Sega kid) and again, everyone describes this game as essentially perfect. But would it be good for just commuting?
This works well in both long and short sessions. It's really a game that encourages you to play it the way you want to in many ways.
One of the most common complaints you'll see about Breath of the Wild is that it's not enough like other Zelda's, so having never played one might be an advantage for you. Regardless, it really is one of the greatest games ever made, so it's worth a play commute or not.
FWIW, I played most of hades during half hour lunch breaks, so it can definitely work as that kind of game.
Maybe Terraria would work? Good for short bursts, not sure how it controls on a deck.
I found Terraria very playable on 3DS, so it's probably fine on Switch.
Forgive me if this is beyond the usual scope of this thread, but it seemed as good a place as any to pick y'all's collective brains:
So I'm currently chomping through Super Mario Odyssey after wrapping up Breath of the Wild, and this quick & crisp platforming is exactly what the doctor ordered after the deep dive into Lake Hylia.
However, I know I'll be done w/ Mr. HooHoo within the week, and I know I'll be ready to dive into a meaty RPG from my backlog when done. Problem is that I have 3-4 different backlogged RPGs that I'm having trouble choosing between, listed below in order of release:
- Final Fantasy X/X-2: Picked this up right after getting a Switch last year. I had abandoned the playthrough of my teen years after getting stuck on Seymour Flux atop Mt. Gadgazet, but I had always meant to come back & finish the job, maybe give the sequel a shot as well.
- Xenoblade Chronicles (1): An impulsive Switch pickup from around the same time as FFX. I like the idea of MMO combat but for some reason or another I bounced off after chipping away at a couple chapters. If I return, I may set it to Casual Mode just for the sake of blasting through.
- Bravely Second: End Layer: Been hanging on to this one since Summer 2015. Maybe it was that I had just beaten the original Bravely Default not long before getting the sequel. Maybe it was that I somehow burned myself out on the demo for the game before really getting to tear into the game itself. Either way, the Octopath Traveller 2 demo scratched a little bit of that Tomoya Asano itch and has me murmuring to myself "we have Octopath Traveller at home".
- Persona 5 Royal: Nobody will ever accuse me of not liking P5. I've beaten the original P5 twice between my original playthrough and a NG+ with near 300 hours of total playtime racked up. However, the furthest I've made it in my attempts at P5R has been up to the Bank Palace before falling off onto another distraction, then inevitably coming back to P5R months later and feeling like I have to start again from April. I want to do the ding-dang thing, it's just a long haul.
Right now, Xenoblade Chronicles is sitting at the bottom of the list while I'm more torn between the other 3, but I'll gladly hear out any compelling arguments for any of the above.
Please bless me with y'all's sagely wisdom, noble homies.
FFX/X-2 is a good choice. X-2 is probably my favorite of all the mainline FF games, though only in the context of having previously played X.
Have you played FFIX already? If not, maybe consider joining us in this quarter's JRPG club?
FFX/X-2 is a good choice. X-2 is probably my favorite of all the mainline FF games, though only in the context of having previously played X.
Have you played FFIX already? If not, maybe consider joining us in this quarter's JRPG club?
I haven't, and I appreciate the invite! I'll pop my head in the thread but I can't guarantee joining in - last time I tried to keep up w/ the JRPG club, I bought Dark Cloud 2, futzed around for 20 minutes, and haven't touched it since. However, the quarter is young and I've a strong FF bias, so consider me intrigued!
Otherwise, thank ya for the X/X-2 recc.!
Dark Cloud 2 is definitely a rough game to get through these days. I know I played it (and Dark Cloud 1) during its original release, though I don't remember if I beat it.
Dangit, now I kinda want to play Dark Cloud 1/2.
I found Terraria very playable on 3DS, so it's probably fine on Switch.
It is great on the Switch save one thing. It takes a really long time compared to even my 7 year old PC to generate and load worlds. It's the only place I've played it through endgame, though. My kids and wife have, too.
I've never tried it in handheld mode, though. But there's scaling and zooming built into the game, so it should be perfectly fine, and all platforms are now on the same version.
Just wait, it goes on sale on the eShop constantly. You missed the last sale by like a day, it looks like.
Holy shit you were NOT kidding. The core game just went on sale for $5.99, with the whole shebang $24.99.
Well, at least I've got until the 17th to buy it.
Friends, I could use some help. I just finished my second run of Cyberpunk 2077, and I kinda want more in that same vein. Large, open world, lots of stuff to do, fun ways to murder and so on.
I thought Diablo 4 might scratch the itch, but it really isn't, sadly, so I'm open to suggestions. While I'd prefer something modern (I've played all the modern Far Crys, Divisions and Ghost Recons, for example), I'm not against going fantasy or historical.
Light right now I'm leaning towards maybe Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (which I've barely touched) or Valhalla (which I've not played at all).
So, friends, I'm open to suggestions as to what open-world murder spree simulator to play next. Thank you.
odyssey was great. Do that.
odyssey was great. Do that.
Sir yes sir. I was also reminded that Mad Max exists, gonna try that too.
It's not so much "open world" as "sandbox," but I've been playing the hell out of Middle-Earth: Shadow of War since discovering that it runs great on my Steam Deck, and MAN is it a good game.
I tried the first of those middle earth games and died within 20 minutes. I was just so bad. Maybe I should try again.
I tried the first of those middle earth games and died within 20 minutes. I was just so bad. Maybe I should try again.
The second game has selectable difficulty levels that can be swapped on the fly if you need to. The basic gameplay is very similar to the Batman: Arkham games, which I put a LOT of time into, so it felt pretty natural to me, but you're not the only person I've heard say that the difficulty was a barrier.
It definitely has that reverse-difficulty-curve thing where you start out pretty underpowered in order to make you feel like that much more of a badass later on when you start unlocking more abilities. Early on, the game expects you to stay in stealth most of the time and try to approach any given engagement with a plan, lure a couple dudes away from the group and pick them off one-by-one to even the odds, look around the environment to try to find a caragor cage to open or a fly nest to drop or explosive barrel to set off to create some chaos and keep too many enemies from ganging up on you, etc.
Even then, sometimes things will go pear-shaped and you'll find yourself overwhelmed, and if that happens, it's okay to run away and try to break line of sight, get back into stealth, re-evaluate, and decide whether to re-engage or back out, do some other stuff, and come back to this mission later.
Later on you'll become a one-man army and gain the ability to summon an actual army, but early on, you shouldn't expect to be able to take on the world.
Ohhh, I'll try the second one then. The first one is the one I kept butting my head against. Thanks!
I used to do respite care for a mid-twenties guy with moderate Down Syndrome, his hand-eye coordination and especially response time weren't great, and we played through the second game pass-the-controller-on-death style. I'd switch the difficulty to the easiest for him and the hardest for me, and we both had a great time. He loved the orc captains' little speeches about how they were going to murder you, they scratched the same itch for him as watching wrestling. When he'd see one that he particularly liked, we had to drop everything and recruit him. "That guy's awesome, we've got to get him on our team!"
One of my all-time favorite gaming memories.
Daggerfall Unity.
I'd love a game recommendation for an upcoming trip. I'll be going on vacation in a couple weeks, spending a week in CA wine country, and I'll be bringing my Switch for travel plus some cozy downtime. If anyone has a good recommendation for a good, cozy Switch game that would be great for a trip -- kind of like a beach read, but for video games -- I'm all ears!
Have you played Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door?
Last year I played Pikman 4 on vacation and it was real nice.
Cozy Grove is my favorite cozy game but it's not a very binge-able game. Stardew Valley obviously jumps to mind.
Isles of Sea and Sky is awesome if you're more into puzzles.
A Short Hike is, well... short, but it's a great cozy game for an afternoon on the beach.
TOEM is another great collectathon cozy game.
If you lean more into the visual novel side of "beach read," playing the Ace Adventure trilogy could be a good option.
Thanks guys!
I played Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door years ago, maybe when I was in grad school? It was great and could be fun to revisit. Haven’t tried Pikmin 4 yet, though I’ve played 1 and 3, and liked both of them.
A Short Hike is fantastic! Loved that game, it was on my GOTM list a few years ago.
I’ll have to check out TOEM and the Ace Attorney trilogy. I’ve actually never played any Phoenix Wright game!
Are the professor layton games available?
I didn't write back ahead of my trip, but I ended up going with Dave the Diver, which really hit the spot. Coming back, now, for another recommendation. After being very heavy into a JRPG (Octopath Traveler II) over the past few weeks, I'd love something else. Here's what I'm looking for:
- On PS4/PS5 so that, when I'm playing it, I leave the Switch available for my wife
- Action- or platforming-oriented. Metroidvanias would be good fits.
- Not crazy long - I don't need another big project. Indies might fit the bill.
- Tight controls.
- A relatively short gameplay loop, like I could play a satisfying amount in 30-45 minutes, and feel good about putting it down. Hades would be great if I hadn't already played it.
I'll throw out a recommendation, Klaus is a story driven platformer, the controls were very good from what I can remember (I played it in 2016 or 2017) & you can play it in short chunks, making steady progress.
It's easily one of the most underrated indie games of all time. Literally no one else played Klaus on this forum, none of my friends, nobody at all I knew. It's so creative in its level design, the delivery of the story as you go through the levels was unlike anything I'd experienced.
The art style while minimalistic just hits, there are enough moving parts in the background that the game nails the atmosphere its going for. It's weird & trippy but in a great way, there are little twists on gameplay mechanics that feed beautifully into the level design.
I wouldn't even watch a trailer (if you need to watch the first level on YouTube or look at some screenshots) because the gameplay trailer spoils a genuinely cool moment later in the game plus some of the more interesting & visually pleasing areas that you eventually get to.
If you do go for it, please post your impressions, I'd love to hear someone else's take all these years later.
Death's Door is such a great game, one that I all but ignored until I decided to play it on a whim. The trailer looked simplistic to me, I just didn't think there would be much depth there. It's one of the best smaller seeming games I've played in the last few years. The game and gameplay is not dissimilar to Tunic (another amazing game I would recommend, if you have not played it).
Death's Door is such a great game, one that I all but ignored until I decided to play it on a whim. The trailer looked simplistic to me, I just didn't think there would be much depth there. It's one of the best smaller seeming games I've played in the last few years. The game and gameplay is not dissimilar to Tunic (another amazing game I would recommend, if you have not played it).
Coincidentally, I came across this video earlier in the day with a solid lost of indie titles and Death's Door got a strong recommendation. I just downloaded it and am having a good time so far.
Any games out there that are similar to the old Delta Force games, but without the cheats? Large maps, accurate physics, more than just run and gun gameplay? Emphasis on a good anti-cheat system.
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