If you just want to play Civ and AOE-type games, I think you could probably get something decent for $750.

I tried to do some future-proofing with my PC when I bought it back in 2021. It cost me $1600 to do so, but I hope to get another four+ years out of it. I can still run AAA games on high--which is nice--though totally ancillary to me. I don't care about the graphics so long as I can still play what I want (even on low) in 2028.

I was always a graphics-first person, but once we hit the PS5/Xbox Series X/S era, I stopped caring. Everything looks great now, at a minimum. That, and/or my eyes got old. Honestly, half the shit I play is indies, so I'm often using a $1600 rig to look at pixel art.

I was a console gamer my entire life, but I made the switch when my friends moved to PC. Gaming is my main hobby, so I can somewhat justify the additional cost. With $500 systems, it's not like console gaming is cheap now anyway. The ability to mod games combined with the fact that I no longer monopolize the TV (just ask my fiance) is enough for me to stick with PC. I was worried about game crashes and PC-related errors, but I honestly saw more of that on Xbox than I have on PC. Steam is a wonderful thing.

I'm loving all the connections to RDR1 too. 

I used to play CoD or Battlefield nightly with a regular group from about 2010-2014 on Xbox 360.  Then the main guy wanted to try PC so I begrudgingly followed.  After about a month of CS:Go and DayZ where driver or connectivity issues were a problem for at least one person in the group almost every night I couldn't take it anymore and quit.  I'm a motion graphic artist so I'm already sitting at the computer all day anyway.  Going back there for my free time was bad enough but all the issues eating into our time put me over the edge.  I haven't gamed with those guys since and it sucks.

Having said that, I've been looking at getting a cheap 2000ish Windows 98 laptop so I can play Warcraft 2, Starcraft, and AoE. I picked up a TON of cheap PC games last winter and had a blast playing through a bunch of stuff I used to ogle in PC Gamer.  Actually that's not true, I had a blast thinking about playing all those games, when in reality I immediately got sucked into Might & Magic VI and never played anything else.

All this to say, modern PC gaming is a real tough sell for me but retro gaming has enough nostalgia to bring me back here and there.

Started Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Only a few hours in so no real thoughts yet (other than traversal being clunky and face models looking pretty poor during gameplay) but I have some thoughts on Amazon. I ordered the deluxe edition of the game and it was "delayed in transit" which means it was stolen by an employee. I had to go out and buy the standard edition. Just kind of sucks because I have the deluxe edition of the first game and it would have been nice to have the whole collection 

I beat Zelda: Minish Cap.  It was really good but some of the retro game design kept it from being amazing.  I don't have the time or patience to wander around aimlessly anymore hoping to stumble upon the thing I need to do or interact with to push the story forward.  Still, a very cool game and I'm glad I finally got around to playing it.

Being on a bit of GBA kick I started up Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, another classic from that era that I haven't played yet.  And I fell asleep.  Well, I came close.  I'm sure it's a good game but that particular evening I just wasn't feeling it and I haven't picked it back up yet.

What I have been playing is Generation Zero for the PS4.  It did not review well but I'm really enjoying it so far.  My favorite YT channel, Neebs Gaming, played through it last year and I thought the atmosphere and overall vibe looked like something I would enjoy.  So far it's clicking but I do doubt I'll see it through all the way to the end.  The world is very big but it's somewhat empty.  There are plenty of POIs sprinkled around throughout but very quickly I realized that I was looting the same house again and again and finding the same items.  There is a LOT of reuse.  The enemies are also very samey, though so far that's not bothering me as the encounters are exciting and learning the weak points for each of the different robots is satisfying.  There's also a fair bit of jank.  I had an entire setpiece barn-shed-house appear out of nowhere right in front of me at one point and the (so far) only NPC in the entire game disappeared during our second encounter.  She still talks to me so it didn't break the game but she's nowhere to be seen.  Oops.

Really... I'm just casting about trying to pass the time a bit until I find something new that will engage me in the same way that Elden Ring did. 

For those keeping score; I was right about Tina's Wonderlands or whatever it's called. The gameplay loop is pretty fun, the characters/dialogue are relatively funny, the constant managing inventory and changing out weapons for slightly better ones is tedious, and I got bored of the entire experience before I finished the game. I don't think I even got -close- to finishing the game, to be honest.

Started playing Warhammer 40K Boltgun, since that's on GamePass now. I'm torn on this one. It's fun and retro while still feeling good to play. But I also think the reviews and glowing endorsements are based a lot more in nostalgia than how good of a game this is. The lack of even a rudimentary map is something I find really frustrating, even if you dress it up as some kind of 'design choice.' And again, it's fun to play for the most part. But, like with Wonderlands, I don't know how engaged this game will keep me once I get over the 'oh, it's like the old Doom - neato!' thing.

Again, it's a GOOD game. But not the transcendent obliterator of modern AAA games that it's kind of purported to be.

Re: Borderlands - I understand that all video games are ostensibly "press button, receive pullet," but there's something about looter shooters that leaves me cold. That's not to say I never played them--I put about 300 hours into Destiny 1 and 2--but I refuse to go near them now. It's one of the only genres that I noticed the man behind the curtain. I finally reached a point where I wouldn't let him manipulate me anymore.

Initially, with Destiny 1 and 2, I was looking for an excuse to play something with friends. Now I'd rather just stay in party chat and play separately. To me, grinding for hundreds of hours only to get slightly better gear is an empty gameplay loop. I recognize that it's a somewhat silly distinction. After all, what difference does it make if you're playing for better gear or to beat a fictional boss? They're both intangible achievements.

I enjoyed my time with Borderlands and Destiny (and The Division) quite a bit but I think the problem with looter shooters is the loop just isn't satisfying enough to keep me hooked.  I have sunk hundreds of hours into iso looters like Diablo (one of my all-time favorite series) but that's because it's a lot more efficient doing boss runs than replaying whole missions or wandering around aimlessly.  That's my theory anyway.  That and maybe the sort of stat boosts associated with guns is less enticing than those attached to swords, armor, and jewellery.

I don't know.  Either way it really is quite the dumb loop when you step back and think about it (grind for small incremental upgrades that will help you kill quicker so you can grind better for small incremental upgrades) but I'll be darned if I can't help myself.

Speaking of upgrades, I restarted Hades.  I had a good weekend with it years ago but stopped playing for some reason.  I think I've run into that reason again: I don't feel like I'm making any progress.  I'm gaining the different currencies on every run but that's about it, and those currencies aren't really helping me grow stronger any more.  I can grind for 10 keys to unlock more abilities at the mirror, which will then mean more grinding for gems to unlock those abilities.  I don't know.  I really enjoy the gameplay, the story, the style... basically everything about it other than the lack of progress.  I've been to the third area (Elysium?) once after maybe 15-20 runs.  Maybe this is just a case of me not being good/patient enough for this style of game but I really thought the Rogue nature of it would bring steadier progress than what I've experienced so far.

Make sure you visit the Wretched Broker if you haven't already. He can turn 10 gemstones (which become currency just for cosmetic upgrades before long) into a chthonic key. That can expedite your progress. I think I beat the game for the first time on run 27.

There's also no shame in God Mode. The second time I played through, I went to God Mode after I beat the game for the first time. Depending on your build, the game can present a decent challenge even at max damage resistance (80%). I often struggled to beat the game with Exagryph even at a higher damage resistance.

I paid special attention to the weapons I liked the most early on (the shield and spear). While I was still rotating based on which weapon brought in the bonus darkness, I tried harder on runs with the shield or spear.

Thanks for the tips.  I traded in some gemstones for keys and, thanks to the boosts those new mirror powers gave me, did much better last night.  I made it to the bosses of Elysium a couple times which was a first.  The spear is definitely my favorite weapon and I'm thinking I might just sink all of my Titan Blood into it.  Looking around online, it seems that there will be more opportunities to get that currency later but right now I just have the 6 from beating Meg.  I still haven't managed to beat the Hydra with anything but the spear...

So all the cosmetic upgrades... does any of it unlock or trigger anything at all?  I was ignoring most of it but then it seemed like cleaning up the lounge and buying a few things for Zagreus' room did open up a few things.  I have to do like 12 more renovations to finish a contract but if none of the cosmetics matter then I'll just buy all the cheapest ones and call it a day.

Which artifact(s) do you tend to use the most?  I'm leveling the one that gives urns a chance to drop food right now.  I don't know that it's the one but it is definitely helping.

No problem. Hades is my favorite or second favorite game, so I'm always happy to chat about it.

The cosmetic upgrades sometimes trigger new dialogue, but if you've already repaired the damage Cerberus did to the lounge, just pick the cheapest items. There are a few non-cosmetic items worth buying--and I'm not even sure all of them are purchased with gems--so prioritize the mirror for now. There's a statistics fountain(?) for Zagreus' room (which allows you to see your run statistics) and upgrades for the chambers themselves. Stuff like increased obols dropped from golden urns.

Once you buy all the mirror upgrades, the keys become worthless, too. Then you can trade the keys and gems for better currency.

This is kind of a cop-out, but all the boons are good if used correctly. That said, on my first playthrough, I couldn't beat the game without Ares' Doom boon. I think the game is pretty well-balanced, but Ares' Doom-based boons are completely OP, especially when you get to the point that they're adding 150 damage per attack. Zeus' chain lightning and Athena's Divine Dash are also incredibly strong. If you use your cast a lot (I didn't), Dionysus' boons are good.

Outside of the God boons, go for the Daedalus Hammer. The hammer changes the way your weapon functions, but 80% of the time, it's for the better. And if you're on a run with a boon you love, go for the Poms of Power. They upgrade your boons.

You may have done this already, but if you haven't, give Skelly a Nectar. You can then use his Keepsake, the Lucky Tooth.

Finally, if you ever see a room with a "?", you almost always want to visit it. It'll give you free darkness, multiple poms of power, or replenish your resurrections.

While I generally don't like games like Hades, I actually put Hades in probably my top fifteen, maybe even top ten games ever. I had a TON of fun with it and will probably be revisiting it eventually. I'm not going to pretend I can distinctly recall the different power ups and alt-attacks for weapons and such, but I remember being pretty enamored with the spear and the shield. The shield being able to bounce all over the map was pretty damn handy. It's definitely not what I'd call a mellow, easy playing experience, though. It's easy to ENJOY it, but there's a pretty strong difficulty curve if you want to be -good- at it. In my opinion.

I started Days Gone against my better judgement (because I'm picking up Dragon's Dogma 2 tomorrow and I expect to give the finger to all other games for a good few weeks, minimum - not because I thought DG would be a bad game). I really don't know how I feel about it. A lot of people say it's kind of the anti-UBISOFT open world because it doesn't litter the map with markers but like... it still does the exact stuff Ubi open world games do; it's just 'bandit camps' all over a map by a different name.

Which isn't to say it can't be good. A lot of Ghost of Tsushima gameplay is exactly that, and I LOVE that game. This one is just.. weird. I find that I'm not overly excited when I turn it on, but I also struggle to want to turn it OFF once I get going. The only things I adamantly do not like are the crafting/collectible aspect, and the zombie hordes. Oh, and the term 'Freakers.' Let's break that down:

Crafting; It just feels REALLY inconsequential. I think within 20 minutes of booting up the game I had already filled myself up on every crafting resource. But they're EVERYWHERE, so every area I go to is littered with red letters saying 'MAX' or whatever. So I'm meticulously raiding enemy camps and exploring areas on the map for.. what, exactly? I can't even pick up anything else.
What's the point of the limited carrying capacity? It's not like it matters when there's SO much on the map that you can't really run out. Like with fuel. The game wants you to be stingy with fuel by doing things like coasting downhill to conserve gas, but there's fucking gas EVERYWHERE in this game. So really I don't understand what the point of it is. Another enemy camp with a hundred things I can't pick up because I already have enough. Exciting.

TLOU, especially on hard, does this WAY better. You're basically perpetually short of having enough supplies to craft everything you need unless you're very stingy with using anything, but the game still gives you all you need to enjoy the systems it offers and complete the game in a fun way. That's definitely my benchmark for a good 'survival-action' game.

Zombie Hordes; I just find these frustrating. I get that it was billed as a major element of the game and so maybe I'm just not the -audience- this game had in mind, but it feels like it MASSIVELY breaks immersion and turns into an entirely different game for this. I go from sneaking around, carefully planning out my attacks and getting into short, frenetic shootouts to trying to run backwards while mowing down hundreds of zombies at once? It's jarring and also just kind of not fun at all?

Freakers: What a stupid fucking name for zombies. I'm actually so goddamn sick of every piece of zombie media acting like the word 'zombie' doesn't exist, or that no one would use it to describe what is very obviously a zombie. It's not original, or fun, or unique. It's dumb. It's fucking dumb. And if you tell me that the remnants of humanity would settle on the term FREAKERS when describing zombies, I will fucking slap you in your stupid fucking mouth because you're stupid and have a stupid fucking mouth that deserves to be fucking slapped and fuck you. STUPID.

Can't wait for Dragon's Dogma 2. Frustratingly, I'm sure I will forget all the controls for Days Gone by the time I finish playing DD2 and all the progress I made will disappear as I have to start over and re-learn everything. But that's fine because I am way more excited to play DD2 than to continue Days Gone.

Don’t people have to physically die first and be reanimated to technically fit the definition of a zombie?  I don’t think the Freakers ever died and reanimated. They just got infected and mutated. They are still technically alive. Same with most of the TLOU infected. Best definition is just infected. If a freaker or infected tears out the throat of the victim, the victim won’t turn and just stay dead.  I think they can only change if the victim survives the bite wound or something. If a Resident Evil 1 zombie bites you and kills you, the body will reanimate a short time later even with chunks of their body were eaten off. But yeah it’s all zombie games to me as a generality

Anyways, I just started Rise of the Ronin. First impressions, it is a poor man’s version of Ghost of Tsushima. Lots of similarities in game progression. Visually The graphics in Rise are not as good as Ghost. The layout is better as you are on the mainland rather than an island like in Ghost so there’s much more to see. However Rise looks like a PS4 game and in some cases a borderline PS3 game. I have not played a Ninja Gaiden game since the NES days but if Rise is using a similar control layout, it is rather annoying as I think Ghost had a better control layout. In fact I kept reverting back to Ghost controls instinctively and getting hit in the middle of a fight. I’m using default controls so I may have to modify it later. 

That said, I’m actually having fun with the game because the difficulty on medium is still pretty tough and it’s mostly because of the control layout of the game, yet I can’t stop. Jin Sakai moves and plays better, but these Blade Twins have better fashion sense. Lol. 

@leor  I mean, yeah, we could technically say things like 'Freakers' are actually 'ghouls' - living monsters that eat human flesh. But in an apocalypse situation who is making these nerd-level distinctions? Especially when the word 'zombie' has infiltrated our vernacular in such a way that we even refer to people as zombies for zoning out watching too much tv on their phone and shit, right? Like, in the situation presented in Days Gone, there is basically zero chance people would collectively come up with and continue to use a stupid-ass word like 'Freakers' when 'zombies' is RIGHT there in the public discourse already.
Even if it didn't technically fit, that is absolutely what people would say.
One could also argue for calling them 'the infected.' And certainly some people might say things like 'freaks' when talking casually. But NO ONE is saying 'Freakers.' And no one is avoiding the word 'zombie' like they have a goddamn allergy to it as they do in some of these games.

I have no problem with TLOU's use of 'Infected,' though. That fits both thematically, in-universe, and is accurate. Although I still think -someone- would call them zombies at some point, even if that didn't catch on and become the regular terminology.

So I've put a good many hours into Dragon's Dogma 2 on Friday and over the weekend. It's good, with some caveats.
The BIG one is Capcom being absolute cunts by making it so you not only cannot create multiple characters, you also can't create a new game. EVER. Once you start up with your character, you are apparently locked in forever. There's NO new game option. You can't start over. And that seems purpose built to sell you on using REAL money to change your character's appearance (since there's only one other in-game way to do that and you WILL NOT be able to do it until you're at least a few hours into the game, as it requires in-game currency and access to a certain NPC).

That is, without a doubt, some of the bullshitest bullshit that ever bullshitted.

Add in that, like with Elden Ring, you cannot have multiple saves so you can go back if you don't like your choices. You have two saves. Your current auto/hard save, and your SUPER hard 'I slept at an Inn' save. That's it. So if you mess something up (and I did - totally by accident), you're fucked. You get to enjoy that or, maybe, go back 10 hours to the last time you were at an inn and lose all that progress.

As a positive and negative at the same time; the game feels a little like Elden Ring in the sense that it doesn't like to tell you things. There's definitely -more- hand-holding than Elden Ring has, by a LOT. But also like.. way less than in most RPGs I've ever played. That does make the world feel more interesting and more open to exploration and discovery. But it can also get frustrating when you just want to get something done.

The pawn system is both interesting and problematic/stupid. The in-universe explanation of pawns is just.. so dumb. And there's some other things, like vocations, that are handled 100% "in character" in the world and I just... I don't know. I'm not really a fan of when games try to incorporate all of the actual gameplay mechanics into the world itself. Like I gotta go to an actual NPC in a city and 'register my vocation' to change from one to another? It's weird and actually pulls me -out- of the immersion a lot more than just an out-of-world menu would.

The pawns also talk WAY too fucking much, say the same goddamn things over and over, and can RUIN your entire game by going insane and killing everyone while you sleep. So that's cool, right? Finding decent pawns is also kind of a nightmare. You're relying on either Capcom-generated ones, or player-generated. Here's the issue:

Capcom Pawns are shit. I don't know why. I'm not sure if it's my bad luck, or an intentional choice to push you toward the online elements of engaging with other players. But the couple of times I used Capcom-created pawns, they were absolute fucking trash. Like tanks that don't tank, mages that don't heal sort of trash.

Player-generated Pawns are also shit, but for a different reason. I just find that out of all the ones that appear in the Rift, there's usually maybe one that I can tolerate using. Granted, I do like to take games like this fairly seriously. This isn't Borderlands where I expect goofy craziness. So no, I don't want to use pawns that look fucking ridiculous, or have idiotic names. For a game that seems steeped in immersion, I can't see how anyone didn't think this would be a problem for maintaining that immersion. It's a minor complaint because there are a lot of pawns and you can exit and re-enter the rift to load new pawn choices as many times as you want, as far as I can tell. Still, meh. I'd rather be allowed to create my own new pawns every 4-5 levels.

The Brine is just John Marston Can't Swim on steroids. But I guess.. good for them in coming up with an in-universe reason why your character never learns how to swim?

I'm complaining a lot, but let me also say something; this game is fantastic and, if it weren't for bullshit like the lack of multiple save slots and ability to make multiple characters, might land on my top 20 of all time list. It's a LOT of fun, even with the frustrations. I love how the game encourages you -very- strongly to try out different vocations, and how easy it is to do so. I always go Fighter or whatever the sword-and-shield guy is in a game. But I probably spent 9 hours playing as an Archer because it was required for a quest and I just stuck it out for other quests as well because I was having a lot of fun. I started the Thief vocation yesterday and that's pretty fun too (although I don't like it as much as some people seem to). I don't think I've ever seen a game before that encourages you this much to play different classes while making it easy and fun to actually do that.

I'm not sure how invested I really am in the story, which might prove a problem in another 10-20 hours because I don't see there being too much more variety of enemies than what I've already seen. We shall see, though.

Last night before I shut it down, I got into a crazy fight with a Griffon and this thing FLEW THE FUCK AWAY with me on it. Luckily, when it finally landed, my whole group sort of appeared. So I not only killed a griffon, but I got all the extra loot from its nest. That was cool. Very cool. The negative side is that I was currently on a mission requiring you to escort an NPC. I have no idea where that NPC disappeared to or if I've now auto-failed that quest, which sucks.

And that's something that is also both good and bad; it feels like an abnormal amount of quests are 'okay, let's go!' as soon as you agree. You tell an NPC you'll help them and you need to help them now or they'll run off on their own or disappear. You've also gotta watch and make sure none of the quests you grabbed are timed (there's an hourglass beside those ones in the menu).

Anyway... really long post. Sorry guys. It's a really good game - even an amazing game - with some really serious flaws and intentional bullshit decisions that are hampering it. But I'm glad I bought it and I'm still naively, desperately, hoping they put out an update that adds new game/multi-save options. But to be clear, I paid 100 dollars for this fucking game (Canadian) and anyone at Capcom that thinks I'm going to give them any more real money for basic quality of life features that should be in the game is out of their goddamn mind.

It’s possible the Freaker name caught on better because they acted more like drugged out humans high on something dangerous rather than your typical zombie. High on Uppers, not downers that make them zoned out. It’s possible the media in that world made that distinction first and it just caught on. I’m not sure how far you got with days gone but there are more explanations why they act more like freaks than zombies. And yes, most likely some people in Days Gone called them zombies too at some point but it probably wasn’t as popular in that world   

slight spoiler:

Their behavior patterns are more in line with savage wild animals than the typical zombie. Even how they eat is different than a typical zombie that just wants human flesh for some reason. The way their physiology works is still closer to something alive than normal zombies. They smell bad because they are covered in their own waste but they are not rotting away like your typical zombie. None of freaks could survive having whole chunks of their body blown off. You won’t see them crawling on their arms with their lower half blown off and still be “alive” and needing a headshot. The freakers are really closer to the TLOU initial infected, not the clicker or bloater.