The "What are you playing now?" Thread

[Jack Brickman]

Just bought Sea of Thieves on a whim, and because I've been having such a great time playing Vermintide 2 co-op with my friends. It's downloading now. I'll add some impressions once I actually dig into it. Got one friend who bought it already, so we should be ready for some high seas adventures.

If anyone else gets it and wants to add me, my name is the same on Microsoft's service as it is on here, space included. Same profile pic too. I'm playing on the PC. Not sure if there's cross-platform play or not.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Captain's Log: Day One

I was eaten by a shark.

 

[RuanuLaw]

I just pre-ordered the PS4 Pro that comes with the God of War edition. Im kinda excited to play it cause I never owned any of the PS2-PS4 before, so this will open the door to many new titles. And I pretty much just play single player games only lately, so the PS4 seemed perfect for that.

 

[Chris]

I just pre-ordered the PS4 Pro that comes with the God of War edition. Im kinda excited to play it cause I never owned any of the PS2-PS4 before, so this will open the door to many new titles. And I pretty much just play single player games only lately, so the PS4 seemed perfect for that.

Uncharted 4, The Last of Us, Bloodborne. Those are the three I started off my PS4 experience with, and it's 3/3. All are incredible games.

 

[Stark]

I'm thinking of upgrading my PS4 pretty soon. I've had mine since the console launched pretty much, and it's still churning along pretty well, but I don't want to go to the PS4 Pro or something similar if the PS5 is going to get announced within the next 18 months. I usually buy my console to last 5+ years.

Anybody think Sony could bombshell us at E3 within the next two years?

 

[gourimoko]

I'm thinking of upgrading my PS4 pretty soon. I've had mine since the console launched pretty much, and it's still churning along pretty well, but I don't want to go to the PS4 Pro or something similar if the PS5 is going to get announced within the next 18 months. I usually buy my console to last 5+ years.

Anybody think Sony could bombshell us at E3 within the next two years?

Definitely... I would expect either Microsoft or Sony to announce a new console around 2019.

 

[Chris]

Would MS make a new console literally right after the Xbox One X?

 

[gourimoko]

Would MS make a new console literally right after the Xbox One X?

Sony released the PS4 Pro at the end of Q3 2016; so this September would represent 2 full years after their intra-generational upgrade; and Q4 2019 would be six full years since the release of the original PS4.

I think given this timeline, and as you pointed out, Microsoft being a bit late with the Xbox One X; it's likely to expect Sony to act first simply by moving on to the PS5... If Sony thinks they can beat Microsoft to market by a year, and then release a 2-year upgrade down the road in the form of a PS5 S/Pro? Then it might make some sense for them, especially if they want to minimize Microsoft's US marketshare.

And FWIW, both companies are surely already well into the development stage of their next consoles; and since they're not actually developing new chips and new platforms, they're time to market is greatly reduced from generations past. I say that because I would expect both to be continuations of the current platforms with just updated architectures. So, both will likely be x86-64 and both will likely be AMD CPU+GPU based.

 

[Chris]

Sony released the PS4 Pro at the end of Q3 2016; so this September would represent 2 full years after their intra-generational upgrade; and Q4 2019 would be six full years since the release of the original PS4.

I think given this timeline, and as you pointed out, Microsoft being a bit late with the Xbox One X; it's likely to expect Sony to act first simply by moving on to the PS5... If Sony thinks they can beat Microsoft to market by a year, and then release a 2-year upgrade down the road in the form of a PS5 S/Pro? Then it might make some sense for them, especially if they want to minimize Microsoft's US marketshare.

And FWIW, both companies are surely already well into the development stage of their next consoles; and since they're not actually developing new chips and new platforms, they're time to market is greatly reduced from generations past. I say that because I would expect both to be continuations of the current platforms with just updated architectures. So, both will likely be x86-64 and both will likely be AMD CPU+GPU based.

I just got an Xbox One X when it came out, I sure as hell ain't buying a new console on launch next year. Really, new consoles are rarely worth buying at launch.

 

[gourimoko]

I just got an Xbox One X when it came out, I sure as hell ain't buying a new console on launch next year. Really, new consoles are rarely worth buying at launch.

My guess is that the difference between the next generation consoles and the Xbox One X won't be extreme. I would venture to guess that they'll probably use either Vega 11 mobiles or a Vega 20 mobile variant depending upon how late the consoles are released.

For a comparison, I'd probably compare the RX 580 running on an AMD FX-based CPU (so, some bottlenecking) against a Vega 56 or even potentially GTX 1080 - and without much bottlenecking at all.

So while resolution will be the same, 4k vs 4k; you'll probably see better qualitative effects being applied, better shaders, more complex and demanding graphics, greater draw distances, etc. In some cases it could be quite noticeable, but depending upon the game, it might not be -- especially since devs won't have any architectural difference between the two platforms (so they'll develop on the lower-end system for at least a year).

 

[Jack Brickman]

Got to dig into Sea of Thieves for a couple of hours tonight once the server issues settled down.

Thoughts:

• This game is immensely more fun with a friend. Me and one of my buddies used the smaller of the two ships (there's a one/two man sloop and a three/four man galleon). It's a hell of a lot easier and more practical to sail with someone else than by yourself as I was doing last night, as you can have one person steer and keep an eye on the wind while the other plays lookout, tends to damage (if your ship starts leaking it needs to be repaired), and mans the cannons when necessary.
• I haven't dug much into combat. We exchanged some cannon fire with a couple of ships, but mostly we just tried to steer clear of them. We ran into a couple of galleys and, given the massive difference in firepower and the fact that they'd have one to two more people, it's a lot more practical to just run, as the sloop is faster.
• The bulk of the game is essentially fetch quests. Thus far, that hasn't really bothered me. The game essentially boils down to finding the island(s) a quest requires and then finding whatever items are necessary to complete said quest. Sometimes you're given a map of the island and can then find it by consulting your big map and locating it by its shape. Other times you're simply told what you need to find and it's up to you to find an appropriate island (for example, we had to capture a couple of chickens and bring them to a specific location within a specific amount of time). There are also PvE combat missions that send you to kill skeletons. When you kill enough, a skeleton captain appears and you can collect his skull once he's dead to sell it.
• You can use money to change the look of your ship, your weapons, your items, your clothes, and your appearance. The game is basically about creating a character for yourself and then tricking out that character in whatever crazy ways you want en route to earning enough reputation to become a pirate legend, at which point a secret hideout unlocks and you get to the end-game content.
• Right now, we're just having fun sailing the seas, finding shipwrecks and looting them, and killing skeletons.
• The game is gorgeous. The water effects look incredible, and the visual style in general is very pretty and colorful. The characters also have a unique visual style that stands out.
• Outside of the server issues, the game seems to run very well. I'm on the highest settings and never even see a frame drop. There was some rubber-banding at times, but that's obviously a server issue that I assume will get ironed out as we get further away from release and the servers are less slammed all at once.
• Combat is a bit clunky. It's also pretty basic.
• Storms in the game are genuinely frightening. You see some absolutely massive waves and any damage you have repaired on your ship previously can come undone, forcing you to fix it again lest you sink.
• Fuck sharks, man. We found a shipwreck and, when I dived in for a second run after dropping a chest off on my ship, there was a shark swimming right beneath the water. Scared the shit out of me. Luckily, he didn't get me, although he did bite my friend once.

Generally, it's just really fun to sail around and see all the sights. We played for several hours and only visited a handful of the dozens of islands in the game, and none of the bigger ones outside of outposts (which are where you can get new missions and turn in quest rewards). There are some really big islands in the game that offer quite a bit more than the tiny ones we've been visiting. I'm looking forward to exploring more. The game loop is pretty simple, but right now it's very enjoyable. There's a certain peace in sailing around this digital world.

 

[Chris]

Sea of Thieves definitely looks fun but I really question the longevity. I may try it down the line.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Sea of Thieves definitely looks fun but I really question the longevity. I may try it down the line.

Yeah, I question the longevity as well. It sounds like Rare intends to support the game with free updates, though, so there's certainly plenty of opportunity for new content. I'm guessing there will be constant updates adding new cosmetic items as well, as that takes minimal effort on their end and keeps giving players something new to work toward buying.

I got a brief taste of how much fun having a crew member who communicates can be earlier today when I did a random match with a galley and got three random crew members. Only one of them was talking, but the other guys could hear us and so we took point on navigation and let them handle roles like steering that are easier just listening. We were on our second or third mission together when the servers went down.

I had a great time playing it tonight with someone I knew, though. There's just a level of trust there when you're playing with a friend you know is competent. I know I can tell him to do something and he'll fucking do it right, and he knows I'm capable of the same. If he steers, I don't have to worry about him crashing into a rock and can focus on getting my shit done. Similarly, if he's scouting I know I don't have to double check to make sure he hasn't missed anything, and can simply focus on steering where he tells me and manipulating the sails as needed.

It's basically the same thing as with Vermintide. You play with randoms, you might get a good team. Hell, you might get a great team. But when I play with my three friends that have the game, I know for a fact I've got a competent team. No one is going to run off and be a hero. No one is going to leave someone to get dragged off by a hookrat. I know everyone will fall into appropriate roles when the shit hits the fan. It's comfort. We may not be the best four Vermintide players in the world, but we know how to work together and everyone is capable of doing their part.

 

[RuanuLaw]

Does anyone know if Sony has made any production changes from the first PS4 Pros that were released? I'm just wondering if they have made any updates the the internals for the better. Or are the current PS4 Pros exactly the same inside as the first releases of PS4 Pros?

 

[gourimoko]

Does anyone know if Sony has made any production changes from the first PS4 Pros that were released? I'm just wondering if they have made any updates the the internals for the better. Or are the current PS4 Pros exactly the same inside as the first releases of PS4 Pros?

There are two hardware revisions for the PS4 Pro, AFAIK: the 7000 and 7100. The 7100 runs slightly cooler and quieter, and is also cheaper to manufacture. Performance-wise, there is no difference.