2026 VIDEO GAMES CATCH ALL THREAD

[Cliff Hanger]

I finally beat Chronos for the first time. Black Cloak Aspect of Selene and the kitty familiar. And 56% damage reduction because I'm still not, like, good. It was very satisfying to only use one Death Defy on Chronos, after dying 3 times on the first form my last run.

Now back to Spidey, I think. Sounds like being too broke saved me from wasting a fifty on Invincible.

[J.T.]

This Pragmata game has moved over two million units and has pretty good reviews. I guess I should probably play it, eh?

[dogwelder]

Nintendo is raising Switch 2 prices

Quote

Nintendo is raising the price of its Switch 2 console globally, “in light of changes in market conditions,” and is now forecasting a drop in sales over the next year. Starting September 1st, the Switch 2 will cost $499.99 in the US, up from its current $449.99 price.

At the same time, prices will also increase by $50 in Canada ($679.99, up from $629.99) and €40 in Europe, bringing it to €499.99 (about $587). The price increases in Japan go into effect sooner, on May 25th, and impact a greater range of Switch products. The Switch 2 will increase from ¥49,980 (about $318) to ¥59,980 (about $382), with similar increases being applied to the original Switch, Switch OLED, and Switch Lite models.

 

[odessasteps]

Still really don’t want one, as I don’t think there’s been a new S2 game I want to play.

[J.T.]

2 hours ago, dogwelder said:

Nintendo is raising Switch 2 prices

 

All of this Let's See What The Market Will Bear bullshit is killing me. Gaming is becoming a luxury. The sphere is becoming increasingly anti-consumer.

I'm guessing the Chinese and the rising price of chips are to blame or at least that is what the justification for the price hikes will probably be.

[SirSmUgly]

3 hours ago, J.T. said:

All of this Let's See What The Market Will Bear bullshit is killing me. Gaming is becoming a luxury. The sphere is becoming increasingly anti-consumer.

I think this is particularly true of console gaming, which is why I think PC gaming will continue to make massive gains in the United States.

Back in the earlier days of the commercial internet, you might pirate a game if you couldn't play it. Now, you just get a Steam account and wait for one of many sales since that's easier and safer. 

[Chaos]

4 hours ago, J.T. said:

All of this Let's See What The Market Will Bear bullshit is killing me. Gaming is becoming a luxury. The sphere is becoming increasingly anti-consumer.

I'm guessing the Chinese and the rising price of chips are to blame or at least that is what the justification for the price hikes will probably be.

It's an odd move for Nintendo too because there's been quite a few sales with the Switch 2 being well below MSRP.  I only picked up my Switch 2 because it more or less only cost me $200. 

[Technico Support]

Quick update on my Horizon journey: I gave up.  It's on me and my own peculiarities, but also the early game design bogging me down with objectives.  I'm somewhat of a completionist and too many quests overwhelm me.  Here's what happened:

I started the game and Rost told me to go to the valley to get parts for fire arrows because some mysterious shit is going down tonight.  During the course of the conversation, it was decided I'd also get food for some old lady and also visit some guy to buy a telecaster or stratacaster or something-caster.  So that's three quests right there.  What the fuck?  So I get there and start exploring, killing robots, etc., and I find a guy who asks me to go find his kid.  Quest 4.  I find the kid and she asks me to find her bow.  Quest 4 is replaced with another quest.  As I'm trying to figure out "follow her footsteps to find the bow" (yes, now I remember I could have used Aloy's scanner thing), someone is calling me.  Maybe this is part of the quest?  No, this girl on top of some rocks starts talking about her sister and gives me another quest.  So now I have FIVE open quests.  I turned it off and uninstalled.

Again, nothing against you guys, just different tastes.  You're probably reading this the way I read people saying "I couldn't get past chapter 1 in RDR2, it was so slow!"  But they way my brain approaches games, five open quests, so early into a game when I'm trying to figure this shit out, was just too much.

Edited May 8 by Technico Support

[COLETTI]

Had a sick day at work and needed a cozy game so I started Spiritfarer. Perfectly fine lil cutsie management game. I think I need to knock out a bunch of these until Control Resonant and Wolverine drop. 

[supremebve]

1 hour ago, COLETTI said:

Had a sick day at work and needed a cozy game so I started Spiritfarer. Perfectly fine lil cutsie management game. I think I need to knock out a bunch of these until Control Resonant and Wolverine drop. 

How far are you into Spiritfarer.  I remember thinking similar things when I first started the game, but by the end, I would describe it very differently.  I say that as a compliment not a criticism.  

[COLETTI]

41 minutes ago, supremebve said:

How far are you into Spiritfarer.  I remember thinking similar things when I first started the game, but by the end, I would describe it very differently.  I say that as a compliment not a criticism.  

Last I remember was 12% although that was when I started up another hour or so of play time. I like the way it's progressing and I have already dropped off one spirit, so I'm looking forward to how it continues to build.

[tbarrie]

3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Again, nothing against you guys, just different tastes.  You're probably reading this the way I read people saying "I couldn't get past chapter 1 in RDR2, it was so slow!" 

I couldn't get past the first chapter of the first Red Dead Redemption, but not because of pace. It was more that I was expecting to have some control over my character's personality, but as it turned out, not so much.

3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

But they way my brain approaches games, five open quests, so early into a game when I'm trying to figure this shit out, was just too much.

So - if a quest is open in your log (or journal or whatever), do you feel some pressure to, like, actually do it? If so, never play a Bethesda game; you'll go crazy.

(Not trying to criticize or start a fight or anything; I'm genuinely intrigued by the different ways people approach video games.)

[Casey]

Starfield would make @Technico Support’s head explode probably lol

[odessasteps]

I think this NG+, I must have 20 or 30 sides quests/activities I haven’t bothered doing. 

[dogwelder]

2 hours ago, tbarrie said:

So - if a quest is open in your log (or journal or whatever), do you feel some pressure to, like, actually do it? If so, never play a Bethesda game; you'll go crazy.

(Not trying to criticize or start a fight or anything; I'm genuinely intrigued by the different ways people approach video games.)

Hell, almost all open world games are like that now.  I'm replaying Cyberpunk 2077 for the third time because of the PS Pro update and after the initial part there's tons of things you can do without needing to continue the main plot line.

[Technico Support]

5 hours ago, tbarrie said:

I couldn't get past the first chapter of the first Red Dead Redemption, but not because of pace. It was more that I was expecting to have some control over my character's personality, but as it turned out, not so much.

So - if a quest is open in your log (or journal or whatever), do you feel some pressure to, like, actually do it? If so, never play a Bethesda game; you'll go crazy.

(Not trying to criticize or start a fight or anything; I'm genuinely intrigued by the different ways people approach video games.)

Yeah, playing Spider Man, if I had side quests open, I’d do ever possible one and clear them out before continuing the main.  

[Craig H]

God, Starfield, what a disappointing game. One of the few games I went from thinking was amazing to...realizing it's just the same shit over and over and nothing you do actually matters on top of a game world that's completely barren.

[Technico Support]

13 hours ago, dogwelder said:

Hell, almost all open world games are like that now.  I'm replaying Cyberpunk 2077 for the third time because of the PS Pro update and after the initial part there's tons of things you can do without needing to continue the main plot line.

That’s a nightmare for me.  I hate multitasking, I get salty if someone asks me to do something when I’m in the middle of something else, and I despise having open items hanging over my head.  I mentioned Spider Man and how I’d knock out all open side quests before continuing the main, but at least it was usually a reasonable one or two quests, and they were usually fun and quick.  But if I’m doing one side quest and another pops up right then, my “shoot the TV like Elvis” response is activated.

Edited May 9 by Technico Support

[Ramo2653]

15 hours ago, dogwelder said:

Hell, almost all open world games are like that now.  I'm replaying Cyberpunk 2077 for the third time because of the PS Pro update and after the initial part there's tons of things you can do without needing to continue the main plot line.

It's the curse of open world games, you do all the side stuff and by the time you get back to the main quest you're comically over powered and blow through everyone. I was so over leveled by the end of FF15 that I killed Ardyn before he could finish his monologue. Witcher 3 sort of counters that with a recommended level for each quest and reduces XP based on how many levels above a quest you are.

1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

That’s a nightmare for me.  I hate multitasking, I get salty if someone asks me to do something when I’m in the middle of something else, and I despise having open items hanging over my head.  I mentioned Spider Man and how I’d knock out all open side quests before continuing the main, but at least it was usually a reasonable one or two quests, and they were usually fun and quick.  But if I’m doing one side quest and another pops up right then, my “shoot the TV like Elvis” response is activated.

Witcher 3 had my friend like this because of all the marks on the map once the world opens up.

Personally I can only play a game with a bunch of side quests once a year or so. Of course this is why I haven't touched either Horizon game, Ghosts of Tushima or Cyberpunk since I've reached my capacity the last few years. I still need to finish FF7 remake!

Edited May 9 by Ramo2653

[Technico Support]

19 minutes ago, Ramo2653 said:

It's the curse of open world games, you do all the side stuff and by the time you get back to the main quest you're comically over powered and blow through everyone. I was so over leveled by the end of FF15 that I killed Ardyn before he could finish his monologue. Witcher 3 sort of counters that with a recommended level for each quest and reduces XP based on how many levels above a quest you are.

Witcher 3 had my friend like this because of all the marks on the map once the world opens up.

Personally I can only play a game with a bunch of side quests once a year or so. Of course this is why I haven't touched either Horizon game, Ghosts of Tushima or Cyberpunk since I've reached my capacity the last few years. I still need to finish FF7 remake!

I keep bringing up the Spider Man games as an example, but yeah, as soon as a collectible (backpacks, Spider Bots, Speedball challenges) came up, I’d just put everything aside, listen to a podcast, and do the whole thing.  I’ve never considered any sort of neurodivergence, but maybe I should rethink that

[Cliff Hanger]

I think this thread has helped me understand why, after loving open world games in the PS2 era, I have bounced off basically everything not called "Saints' Row" or "Spider-Man" for the last 15 years (I played GTA5 at launch and got as far as the preparations for the bank heist, but then got a PS4 and--despite having gotten it on PS4 and 5 cheap, and PC free, have never gotten to the jewel heist again let alone further.) I have a half dozen games i got a quarter of the way into, or less, but just mostly don't have it in me anymore. 

(One could argue the RGG games count, but those for me are more about the fucking around and so I never feel weird about doing or not doing side quests)

[SirSmUgly]

4 hours ago, Ramo2653 said:

It's the curse of open world games, you do all the side stuff and by the time you get back to the main quest you're comically over powered and blow through everyone. I was so over leveled by the end of FF15 that I killed Ardyn before he could finish his monologue. Witcher 3 sort of counters that with a recommended level for each quest and reduces XP based on how many levels above a quest you are.

Is that a curse to you? That's what I want out of my games. After thirty-five hours, I just want to punch Doc Ock in the face without having to die and replay any part of the multi-part final boss fight. 

What I don't like are radiant quests like those apparently in Starfield; those feel like the ultimate pointless neverending side quest filler. I'm not expecting the bulk of sidequests in every game to feel meaningful. Games with multiple interesting side quests like the ones in Fallout: New Vegas or The Witcher 3 are rare, I know. But Fallout 4 is a bad game with shitty quests that rely on spitting braindead radiant quests at you. That's a problem (the base building also sucked and was a major part of the game, which is another problem). 

I love my single-player action-adventure and role-playing games, though, and open world ones that are worth playing to me tend to be the ones that catch my eye. I'd love to play shorter, more linear single-player games in that vein, but very few come out that interest me. Pragmata looks exactly like the type of game that I'd find goofy as heel, for example, but I'm glad that it is a successful release because maybe more companies will make those sorts of games. Maybe we'll get more Souls-likes that aren't all Western fantasy focused or something. That'd be great, too. 

[tbarrie]

36 minutes ago, SirSmUgly said:

But Fallout 4 is a bad game with shitty quests that rely on spitting braindead radiant quests at you.

I wouldn't call Fallout 4 a bad game. The cliche "Good game, bad Fallout" got stuck to it for a reason. It's weak in a lot of areas where the Fallout series has traditionally been strong, but I still had a lot of fun with it. Just not the sort of fun that would put it in my upper echelon of games.

36 minutes ago, SirSmUgly said:

That's a problem (the base building also sucked and was a major part of the game, which is another problem). 

Eh. I would never say the base building was particularly well-executed, but I found it kind of fun anyway. It's also completely optional and easily avoided, of course. The fact that the game plays out quite differently based on whether you agree to join the Minutemen (and the related but different question of whether the character you're playing even gives a shit about the people of the wasteland) is what gives Fallout 4 better replay value than a lot of other Bethesda games. In my opinion, anyway.

[SirSmUgly]

To me, Fallout is good because of the quest and world building and writing, along with just enough RPG character-building goodness with build decisions that feel meaningful to keep me hooked. If you stipulate that these things are weak in Fallout 4, from my perspective, I'm don't see how what's left constitutes a good game. The gunplay is mediocre. The base building is janky. To each their own, obviously, but there wasn't a single mechanic in that game that made me ever want to come back to it after I finished it. 

[odessasteps]