I appreciate the detailed reply. Looks like I’ll skip on a VR upgrade at least for a good little bit here.
PC VR tech & games
- Thread starter ryanja
- Start date
The Utility Room - initial and last thoughts
TL;DR - it's a walking sim that feels like Early Access - ie. it's broken
arstechnica.com
Above is a link to Isle of Pan (VR & flatscreen) in the Adventure Games thread. This is the type of game I was expecting: exploration with light gameplay elements. This isn't what I got. (FYI, it's a very flawed indie jank title that's basically a scavenger hunt - yet I enjoyed).
UR just doesn't work. It just wasn't tested. It has 2 locomotion options: teleport only and teleport with smooth moving and jumping. IIRC, the "Journey" mode is the teleport only and best for seated play. I started in teleport only mode and got to the end of a level. Almost all the levels end with you falling into a hole. In this level, if you teleport, you just land on top of an invisible floor and can't continue. So, I switched to the smooth motion and tried to enter the hole and it didn't work. In smooth mode, I restarted the level and played until the end and then I was able to progress.
On another level, I got to a point where I couldn't teleport to a platform that was obviously designed for "jumping" and not tested for teleporting. So, I switched to smooth mode and then tried to use the charged jump mechanic. You hold both grips and get an beeping noise that speeds up, but I could never get it to jump. This was the end of my journey - it doesn't work.
Even if the controls were fixed, I'm doubting this game would be fun. I feel they were going for a surreal experience, but the vignettes were far and few between. Most of the experience was walking around rock caves and rock platforms in a dark area. Though there are path "choices", the game is very linear and I'm guessing it's the illusion of choice where the path you take has the same result. So, the exploration is very bland - despite them adding in slides and falling portions (which aren't very VR friendly).
TL;DR - it's a walking sim that feels like Early Access - ie. it's broken
The Adventure Games thread
... I'm not sure why that preview is for a different post on a different page than the post it actually links to, but if anyone's looking for something vaguely Witnessy I'll recommend Manifold Garden,... The forum software grabs the first "content" it finds for a URL. If I had to guess, the...
arstechnica.com
Above is a link to Isle of Pan (VR & flatscreen) in the Adventure Games thread. This is the type of game I was expecting: exploration with light gameplay elements. This isn't what I got. (FYI, it's a very flawed indie jank title that's basically a scavenger hunt - yet I enjoyed).
UR just doesn't work. It just wasn't tested. It has 2 locomotion options: teleport only and teleport with smooth moving and jumping. IIRC, the "Journey" mode is the teleport only and best for seated play. I started in teleport only mode and got to the end of a level. Almost all the levels end with you falling into a hole. In this level, if you teleport, you just land on top of an invisible floor and can't continue. So, I switched to the smooth motion and tried to enter the hole and it didn't work. In smooth mode, I restarted the level and played until the end and then I was able to progress.
On another level, I got to a point where I couldn't teleport to a platform that was obviously designed for "jumping" and not tested for teleporting. So, I switched to smooth mode and then tried to use the charged jump mechanic. You hold both grips and get an beeping noise that speeds up, but I could never get it to jump. This was the end of my journey - it doesn't work.
Even if the controls were fixed, I'm doubting this game would be fun. I feel they were going for a surreal experience, but the vignettes were far and few between. Most of the experience was walking around rock caves and rock platforms in a dark area. Though there are path "choices", the game is very linear and I'm guessing it's the illusion of choice where the path you take has the same result. So, the exploration is very bland - despite them adding in slides and falling portions (which aren't very VR friendly).
Just saw they're making a sequel to A Fisherman's Tale called Another Fisherman's Tale. Their last game, Maskmaker, wasn't bad but it was no where near as innovative as A Fisherman's Tale. My only gripe about the previous AFT was the price compared to the length of the game.
There's no official release date but it's slated for "early 2023" and you can wishlist it on Steam, but it's not listed Quest stores yet.
There's no official release date but it's slated for "early 2023" and you can wishlist it on Steam, but it's not listed Quest stores yet.
So I just got a Meta (cringe) Quest 2... My benefits year rolled over in March, so I spent part of my wellness account on a set, and a couple accessories. I got a third-party comfort strap with integrated battery that comes with a case for the whole shebang- arriving today after the VR set arrived last night.
The default strap is really awful though. I wear glasses, and getting the set on, even at the loosest setting, smashes the glasses right up to my face, squishing them into my oily forehead. And then when taking it off, my glasses are stuck inside. I installed the glasses spacer as soon as I took the unit out of the box, but it doesn't really seem to help any. It's just the damned strap is too tight for I guess my oversized melon? It's a really terrible experience, which is why I ordered a comfort strap first thing in the morning today, can't wait till it arrives. But that's my only negative.... so far. I'll see how things go.
I am the last person to be comfortable with Facebook. I mean, I'm still using the name Facebook because I hate how they are trying to launder their reputation, and I'm not going to be a part of that effort. I quit Facebook shortly after Cambridge Analytica, and have slowly dropped off every single social media platform since then except for LinkedIn, and that's just for career reasons. So I'm like the prototypical Ludd (shout out to fellow fans of Upload) who is as anti-Facebook as they get.
But man, the Quest 2 hardware is just so compelling, and the best deal in VR going, as far as I can see. I think the ability to use a Meta account instead of needing a Facebook profile tipped me over to "buy". I ended up creating a throwaway Meta account that isn't linked to anything except my spam email account. And then I ended up buying games, so now it's linked to my credit card.
I got a used PSVR1 last year for my birthday, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. I always thought it was fuzzy as hell, and massive screen door, but would keep telling myself "it's ok, I got a good price, I'll deal". But holy shit, newer generation tech is just miles better. And now it's crazy to think that even the Quest 2 is two years old, so there's even better stuff.
I haven't tried the PSVR2 yet, but I'm loving the Quest 2. I got the lowest capacity model even though the 256GB is currently on sale so the price difference is very manageable. Would still fit in the budget of my wellness acccount. My thinking was I wouldn't be installing anything, I'm going to use it primarily as a PC VR headset. But holy shit, stuff like Beat Saber untethered is a transformative experience. Totally changes the experience. I know that newer headsets use a single cable, so they're not as cumbersome as the octopus clinging to your face, AKA the PSVR1. But totally untethered VR is pretty darned nifty. And these controllers are (obviously) a huge improvement over the PlayStation Dildos.
The games I have are Beat Saber, Space Pirate DX, Golf+, and Superhot. I don't know why I bought Superhot, I already have it on Steam. Maybe I will ask for a refund, but depending on how it goes, it might be a good game to bring to other people's houses. Space Pirate and Golf came with the headset, though I see there are other bundles out there including stuff like Beat Saber. Wish I was able to get one of those. I don't like real life golf at all, though I used to play a shit ton of Tiger Woods on OG Xbox back in college.... but that was while I was blazed as hell, so I don't think it will hold the same appeal today.
I'll still give the game a shot (pun totally intended) because hey, it's free, but I have a feeling I will end up uninstalling it to free up storage space.
Space Pirate was fun as hell, even though the game play is kind of very simple when you think about it. I was really surprised by this game because all the reviews I've read make it sound very shallow, and more of a tech demo. But I got a good workout, and really justified the VR set as something to spend health benefits on. The bullet time mechanic I think is a really good feature that adds a slight bit of complexity, but more importantly is something that takes advantage of roomscale VR really well, and adds more physicality to the game than you'd have otherwise. Means it will probably appeal to more people than if it was just a shooting gallery game.
Beat Saber, man, Beat Saber... one of my favourite games of all times for a few reasons. Game play is obviously hella good, the music is fun and varied, but it really opened my wife's eyes to how diverse gaming experiences can be, and how they can be for everyone, if you find the right title for you.
Guardian is implemented REALLY well. One of the big issues with Beat Saber for my wife (who is the most non-gamer you can imagine) was that she kept running into stuff with the PSVR. She actually really enjoyed the game itself, which is rare for video games, but losing track of where she is turned her off something she was otherwise really enjoying. It was great to see the huge smile on her face as the realization dawned on her that video games aren't just about shooting things with fiddly little sticks. But then really disheartening to see her constantly get frustrated because she didn't have a sense of where she was spatially in meatspace. Can't wait till she gets a chance to try Beat Saber with Guardian to assist her.
I still haven't even hooked it up to my PC because I'm having so much fun with Beat Saber. I like that I can take it to someone's house, and it won't be an issue. I am looking forward to hooking it up to the PC, and playing stuff like Rogue Squadron. I'm really looking forward to the massive graphics improvement PC will provide over the PS4, and even the Qualcomm XR in the Quest 2. Wanna give Alyx a try too, even though I never really got into the Half-Life universe. Still looks like a really good title for people who aren't intimately familiar of the series..
I'm going to review this thread, check out the recommendations, and then ask any follow up questions later on. Wish me luck, I hope to do some PC VR gaming after work today!
The default strap is really awful though. I wear glasses, and getting the set on, even at the loosest setting, smashes the glasses right up to my face, squishing them into my oily forehead. And then when taking it off, my glasses are stuck inside. I installed the glasses spacer as soon as I took the unit out of the box, but it doesn't really seem to help any. It's just the damned strap is too tight for I guess my oversized melon? It's a really terrible experience, which is why I ordered a comfort strap first thing in the morning today, can't wait till it arrives. But that's my only negative.... so far. I'll see how things go.
I am the last person to be comfortable with Facebook. I mean, I'm still using the name Facebook because I hate how they are trying to launder their reputation, and I'm not going to be a part of that effort. I quit Facebook shortly after Cambridge Analytica, and have slowly dropped off every single social media platform since then except for LinkedIn, and that's just for career reasons. So I'm like the prototypical Ludd (shout out to fellow fans of Upload) who is as anti-Facebook as they get.
But man, the Quest 2 hardware is just so compelling, and the best deal in VR going, as far as I can see. I think the ability to use a Meta account instead of needing a Facebook profile tipped me over to "buy". I ended up creating a throwaway Meta account that isn't linked to anything except my spam email account. And then I ended up buying games, so now it's linked to my credit card.
I got a used PSVR1 last year for my birthday, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. I always thought it was fuzzy as hell, and massive screen door, but would keep telling myself "it's ok, I got a good price, I'll deal". But holy shit, newer generation tech is just miles better. And now it's crazy to think that even the Quest 2 is two years old, so there's even better stuff.
I haven't tried the PSVR2 yet, but I'm loving the Quest 2. I got the lowest capacity model even though the 256GB is currently on sale so the price difference is very manageable. Would still fit in the budget of my wellness acccount. My thinking was I wouldn't be installing anything, I'm going to use it primarily as a PC VR headset. But holy shit, stuff like Beat Saber untethered is a transformative experience. Totally changes the experience. I know that newer headsets use a single cable, so they're not as cumbersome as the octopus clinging to your face, AKA the PSVR1. But totally untethered VR is pretty darned nifty. And these controllers are (obviously) a huge improvement over the PlayStation Dildos.
The games I have are Beat Saber, Space Pirate DX, Golf+, and Superhot. I don't know why I bought Superhot, I already have it on Steam. Maybe I will ask for a refund, but depending on how it goes, it might be a good game to bring to other people's houses. Space Pirate and Golf came with the headset, though I see there are other bundles out there including stuff like Beat Saber. Wish I was able to get one of those. I don't like real life golf at all, though I used to play a shit ton of Tiger Woods on OG Xbox back in college.... but that was while I was blazed as hell, so I don't think it will hold the same appeal today.
I'll still give the game a shot (pun totally intended) because hey, it's free, but I have a feeling I will end up uninstalling it to free up storage space.Space Pirate was fun as hell, even though the game play is kind of very simple when you think about it. I was really surprised by this game because all the reviews I've read make it sound very shallow, and more of a tech demo. But I got a good workout, and really justified the VR set as something to spend health benefits on.
The bullet time mechanic I think is a really good feature that adds a slight bit of complexity, but more importantly is something that takes advantage of roomscale VR really well, and adds more physicality to the game than you'd have otherwise. Means it will probably appeal to more people than if it was just a shooting gallery game.Beat Saber, man, Beat Saber... one of my favourite games of all times for a few reasons. Game play is obviously hella good, the music is fun and varied, but it really opened my wife's eyes to how diverse gaming experiences can be, and how they can be for everyone, if you find the right title for you.
Guardian is implemented REALLY well. One of the big issues with Beat Saber for my wife (who is the most non-gamer you can imagine) was that she kept running into stuff with the PSVR. She actually really enjoyed the game itself, which is rare for video games, but losing track of where she is turned her off something she was otherwise really enjoying. It was great to see the huge smile on her face as the realization dawned on her that video games aren't just about shooting things with fiddly little sticks. But then really disheartening to see her constantly get frustrated because she didn't have a sense of where she was spatially in meatspace. Can't wait till she gets a chance to try Beat Saber with Guardian to assist her.
I still haven't even hooked it up to my PC because I'm having so much fun with Beat Saber.
I like that I can take it to someone's house, and it won't be an issue. I am looking forward to hooking it up to the PC, and playing stuff like Rogue Squadron. I'm really looking forward to the massive graphics improvement PC will provide over the PS4, and even the Qualcomm XR in the Quest 2. Wanna give Alyx a try too, even though I never really got into the Half-Life universe. Still looks like a really good title for people who aren't intimately familiar of the series..I'm going to review this thread, check out the recommendations, and then ask any follow up questions later on. Wish me luck, I hope to do some PC VR gaming after work today!
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I feel like if Apple released a headset using an Apple Silicon chip, it would be very competitive with Steam Deck performance. Depending on how much they optimize for battery life, it could even be significantly better. If they are ok with Quest 2 battery life, it'd be pretty damned compelling from a performance standpoint.... but it's Apple, so they will never do that.
More problematic is that you'd have deal with Apple's approach to gaming, which is.... no strategy whatsoever other than throwing out a bone every 5 years or so just to make it look like they're doing something. You'd probably end up with a game library of a bunch of Pay to Win shovelware that is just a 2D game on a virtual screen floating in front of you, and maybe one hit game every 5-7 years.
Quest Pro and Vive Elite seem to be justifying their price because of the significantly more comfortable form factor. That's a huge deal for many people, current headsets are just too hot and heavy for many, many people. The Quest Pro just saw a very big permanent price drop, so it looks like better value, despite the same hardware inside.
Completely agree with that. That's always been the case when you compare portable performance to desktop (except the very first generation of PCs, i.e., the Compaq Portables compared to PC XT and AT). You're never getting a generational equivalent of a 3090 that fits on your face. But there's still a lot of performance left to be tapped for PC-less VR, even using technology commercially available today. Basically, while the gap will never be closed entirely, it can be narrowed compared to what we have today.
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How heavy, loud, and hot is the Steam Deck? (I know "very" is the answer
) Well, the rumored "leak" for the Quest 3 boasts a headset that half the thickness of the Q2. It's also rumored to use an unreleased CPU that's about 1.5x+ faster. It's also said to use the new "pancake" lenses that work better than the Q2 all around and are much slimmer.
To put things into perspective of power, the current Quest 2 is about twice as fast as a Switch. But, the Quest has to work much harder for a higher resolution and framerate minimum.
For more context, the Steam Deck can run Half-Life:Alyx at only about 20-40 FPS - well under the minimum required to prevent motion sickness. By the time headset hardware was able to run Alyx with reasonable sound, heat, and performance levels; PC's will be even further ahead in generations.
If they made a belt for VR that held the CPU/GPU, that's the only way a standalone headset would get anywhere near the performance of a low/mid tier PC. It would be quite inconvenient and not much different from having to use a long cable for a PC connection.
Apple's chips are streets ahead of what's in other systems right now. Apple could run circles around the Deck when it comes to heat/noise. Their issue is going to be no native games or apps that they themselves haven't built.
Knowing Apple's ecosystem, that will be a short-lived problem, but it will certainly mean that Apple VR/AR will never be able to access the entire world of games. This may not matter for the vast majority of people that eventually jump into VR/AR, but it's an issue now.
Knowing Apple's ecosystem, that will be a short-lived problem, but it will certainly mean that Apple VR/AR will never be able to access the entire world of games. This may not matter for the vast majority of people that eventually jump into VR/AR, but it's an issue now.
It's a Canadian one, I don't think it would cover many people at Ars.
And yeah, it's very, very logical. I got a really good workout in Superhot VR in the 20 minutes between work ending and my son coming home from daycare. Time I don't think I would have every been able to put towards fitness, since I hate typical gym workouts, and prefer real-life activities. Not enough time to change into jogging clothes, and then go for a long run enough to actually get my heartrate to go up. I think other companies should really push this as an alternative.
I never played this game in VR. It's a totally different experience.
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It's about 15-20% on most benchmarks. Prices aren't listed, but I'd hazard to guess based on all historical Apple price data, that it's vastly more expensive and runs way hotter (5nm vs 4nm).
Let's face it though, Apple has never been about games (despite their blatant lying "I'm a Mac" campaign). The App Store is the closest thing they have to a major gaming market (very accessible stuff) - far from the niche VR game market. Former team members have stated that there was no focus on games for their VR development, and that makes sense. They're also not interested in using controllers - which also fits their history of removing as many device buttons as possible. You'd only get accessible type games without controllers. I'd expect Apple to be more AR than VR and I'd expect the rumored XR headset to be 2K+. Non-gaming usage also doesn't require the massive horsepower, so maybe they'd cut costs by using an older gen mobile chip. However, "lower priced" has never been Apple's motto.
"Apple VR/AR will never be able to access the entire world of games"
Yep, we agree on that completely. It's never been their focus and they're not designing for it.
Oh, I agree with you completely. Mobile performance will ALWAYS lag a desktop. I think what we have available now is sufficient for probably everyone but hardcore gamers, though, and I think we're probably not far off from something that will be good enough for 85% of people, in terms of performance. I'd rather see VR hardware get more comfortable and with clearer optics (including OLED instead of LCD) before I want to see increases in performance, if I had to choose. Because like you said, something standalone will never be able to compete with a tethered system.How heavy, loud, and hot is the Steam Deck? (I know "very" is the answer
[...]
For Quest users, is there anyway to permanently say "OK" to the warning when you plug in a headset to a PC, and want to access the file system? As it stands, I need to take off my glasses, pick up the headset, hold it to my face, also remember to pick up the controller, and then select OK. I'd rather just have it automatically connect to my personal computer.
And I'm working on a solution for the glasses, I'm probably going to get removable prescription lenses in the near term. But still, this is annoying.
@Jackass JoeJoe Reminder, the Deck is running portable x86 hardware, not ARM. AMD has done some very impressive tuning for their SoC, but Apple has the advantage of having designed it from the ground-up for portability and its specific use-cases. I really do think Apple has engineered a coup with their M series of chips. The question really arises if they want to put in the work to tune their stack for VR/AR.
The control question is an interesting one. Arguably, they could solve that with what the Hololens did. Map the hands directly and use that for gaming. It still restricts the whole world of gaming, but would make sense with Apple's design philosophies. Great for fully immersive games that understand how to build for a controllerless world, but hard for other systems.
The control question is an interesting one. Arguably, they could solve that with what the Hololens did. Map the hands directly and use that for gaming. It still restricts the whole world of gaming, but would make sense with Apple's design philosophies. Great for fully immersive games that understand how to build for a controllerless world, but hard for other systems.
You can "always deny", but not "always accept". This bugs me as well. However, you can use hand-tracking to click "OK". It will default to hand-tracking when you first start, unless you click a button on one of the controllers.
I finally got a chance to try PC VR using the headset. I'm using a wired connection with a Ryzen 5600G and ASRock Phantom Gaming X570 ITX-TB3. The motherboard is relevant to mention for a reason I'm about to get into. I was having a lot of issues connecting the headset, but it turns out the 10Gbps USB-C port on the motherboard doesn't like the Quest 2 for some reason. Doesn't matter what cable I tried, either the one that came with the headset (very, very short so annoying to test with), or a third party one which is advertised as being compatible with the Quest 2.
Luckily, my third-party USB-C cable came with a USB-A adapter. I plugged into a slower 5Gbps port that is on my case (i.e. USB motherboard header) and it worked no problems. I tried only Rez Infinite, in Oculus VR mode. Not SteamVR mode. I own the game on Steam. I honestly don't know the difference, but it works, so whatever.
The experience feels like listening to a Beatles album you've loved your whole life for the first time on a really, really good stereo using a CD player instead of cassette tape for the very first time. This is probably my favourite video game of all time, and damn... I though the PSVR version was damned good, but this is something else. I'm noticing all these details that I haven't noticed before. And the second Oculus controller is a way more natural trance vibrator than something like the DualShock. I unfortunately never got to try a real Trance Vibrator.
Newer remakes of Rez have been way better than the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, mostly because it's easier to hookup headphones simply due to the way newer consoles are designed (headphone jack on controller, for example), but this is totally something else. It completely changes the game, even over the PSVR1 version. Sadly, it's almost too easy now. One nice thing about the PSVR version is that I used the head controls to aim, and the Cross on the DS4 to fire. With Quest, I kind of rely on just the Oculus controller, but the head controls cause a lot of jitter of the cursor because both work based on motion, and they work against each other. Even worse, the way you hold the Oculus Controller and the location of enemies on screen mean you end up bending your wrist in weird unnatural ways. I could see wrist pain being a serious issue after extended play session. I'll see if I can use the head controls for aim, turn off the Oculus Controller, and use something like a DualSense or Elite 2 for fire instead.
Very pleased.
I'm surprised by the performance on integrated graphics, especially given that the Oculus app gives a big warning at the top that my PC does not meet the new minimum specs, but I do admit, this is a relatively lightweight title graphically speaking. I have an RTX 2070S, but I need to build a computer with it in order to use it for VR, because it's in a Mac Pro right now, and that thing doesn't even have USB3. I have all the parts for a Ryzen 2600X build, but I just don't have the time to put it together. Maybe this weekend, and then I can try some PC VR titles the way they were meant to be played. I do have a PCIe USB3 card, so I dunno, the Mac might still be an option. Just seems very power hungry for less single-threaded and same multi-threaded performance as the 2600X, but it is the path of least resistance.
It's still the work day, or I could see myself getting sucked into this for hours on end. lol.
Luckily, my third-party USB-C cable came with a USB-A adapter. I plugged into a slower 5Gbps port that is on my case (i.e. USB motherboard header) and it worked no problems. I tried only Rez Infinite, in Oculus VR mode. Not SteamVR mode. I own the game on Steam. I honestly don't know the difference, but it works, so whatever.
The experience feels like listening to a Beatles album you've loved your whole life for the first time on a really, really good stereo using a CD player instead of cassette tape for the very first time. This is probably my favourite video game of all time, and damn... I though the PSVR version was damned good, but this is something else. I'm noticing all these details that I haven't noticed before. And the second Oculus controller is a way more natural trance vibrator than something like the DualShock. I unfortunately never got to try a real Trance Vibrator.
Newer remakes of Rez have been way better than the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, mostly because it's easier to hookup headphones simply due to the way newer consoles are designed (headphone jack on controller, for example), but this is totally something else. It completely changes the game, even over the PSVR1 version. Sadly, it's almost too easy now. One nice thing about the PSVR version is that I used the head controls to aim, and the Cross on the DS4 to fire. With Quest, I kind of rely on just the Oculus controller, but the head controls cause a lot of jitter of the cursor because both work based on motion, and they work against each other. Even worse, the way you hold the Oculus Controller and the location of enemies on screen mean you end up bending your wrist in weird unnatural ways. I could see wrist pain being a serious issue after extended play session. I'll see if I can use the head controls for aim, turn off the Oculus Controller, and use something like a DualSense or Elite 2 for fire instead.
Very pleased.
I'm surprised by the performance on integrated graphics, especially given that the Oculus app gives a big warning at the top that my PC does not meet the new minimum specs, but I do admit, this is a relatively lightweight title graphically speaking. I have an RTX 2070S, but I need to build a computer with it in order to use it for VR, because it's in a Mac Pro right now, and that thing doesn't even have USB3. I have all the parts for a Ryzen 2600X build, but I just don't have the time to put it together. Maybe this weekend, and then I can try some PC VR titles the way they were meant to be played. I do have a PCIe USB3 card, so I dunno, the Mac might still be an option. Just seems very power hungry for less single-threaded and same multi-threaded performance as the 2600X, but it is the path of least resistance.
It's still the work day, or I could see myself getting sucked into this for hours on end. lol.
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I came across this by just playing around, and unfortunately, it seems to be the best option.
I got a third-party head strap, and it makes it way less painful of a process. It's a hard strap, similar to the PSVR one, so you can simply swivel the strap up out of the way and it will stay there, out of your way. You can then hold the goggles to your face. Works ok, but I wish there was an "Trust this computer" option.
It's probably complaining about the USB port. Did you do a speed test to make sure it's actually not falling back to a slower speed? My old ass mobo has 2 USB3.0 ports, but the Quest 2 only negotiates USB 2 speed. Before getting Virtual Desktop, I was going to buy a USB card because of all the issues I read about onboard USB.Very pleased.
The Oculus Software has a USB Test when the headset is connected under [Devices > Quest 2 And Touch > USB Test].
Good guess, but that doesn't seem to be it. It says Compatible Connection, and 2.7Gbps which matches a lot of other people online with third party cables.
That's plenty fast enough. So I'd also think the integrated graphics would be the weak point then. I definitely wouldn't try Virtual Desktop with one, since the encoding works it really hard.
Yeah, integrated graphics are definitely the issue. I tried Rogue Squadron and it was a juddery, unusable mess.
Will definitely have to try this out on my 2070S.
Does anyone have experiences with Wireless bridges? I got the D-Link one, but haven’t taken it out of the box yet. Not sure if it’s worth doing so, or just returning it. Sounds like you definitely need a hardwired connection, which isn’t problem, but if it can’t keep up with the link speed demands, I dunno if it’s worth keeping.
YouTube reviews make it sound ok, but you can never really trust those.
Will definitely have to try this out on my 2070S.
Does anyone have experiences with Wireless bridges? I got the D-Link one, but haven’t taken it out of the box yet. Not sure if it’s worth doing so, or just returning it. Sounds like you definitely need a hardwired connection, which isn’t problem, but if it can’t keep up with the link speed demands, I dunno if it’s worth keeping.
YouTube reviews make it sound ok, but you can never really trust those.
I managed to put my X570 mobo as-is with 5600G in a new case, and add the 2070S quickly in about half an hour, and man, it's night and day compared to just the APU graphics. I'm happy this was quick, otherwise, I'd have to downgrade to a 2600X which is quite a bit slower than the Zen 3 CPU.
I got very adventurous and took the headset downstairs to the living room. The WiFi bridge is mounted high up on a bookshelf at the top of the stairs (there's an extension cable with a nice desktop stand to plug the USB into), and I could still get a pretty decent stream one floor down. My house is drywall and wood framing, your results may vary.
There were a handful of slight hiccups that would really bother someone who plays competitively, or ranked multiplayer, but the stream was relatively smooth for me as a casual player of largely single-player games. Image quality was decent, clear enough to read my desktop's two monitors, and do some web browsing in Edge. I honestly can't tell much difference in terms of IQ with wired Quest Link.
There was nothing at all to the setup. You simply plug it in, and use it like normal Air Link. No drivers to install, nothing to change in Windows, no configuration in the Oculus app.
I used the default settings for bitrate. I bumped it up to 200Mbps after I was done playing around with it, but don't have time to test tonight.
I think it's pretty amazing value, TBH. At the Meta store (not the cheapest place, but the best way to compare pricing), the official Quest Link Cable is $79.99. The Air Bridge is just $20 more at $99.99. Almost equivalent performance, but wireless, is very worth it IMHO. The Quest cable is really expensive because it's fibre optic, but that does mean you get a lot of range compared to significantly cheaper third party cables.
There's definitely an advantage to the cable in terms of unlimited battery life, but my third-party comfort strap has a built in battery that extends play time to 6 hours. Beyond that, and I would worry about eyestrain.
A lot of third party straps offer this, and the one that comes with the headset is total garbage, so I feel like a new strap is a required purchase anyway.
I'm happy this was quick, otherwise, I'd have to downgrade to a 2600X which is quite a bit slower than the Zen 3 CPU.So... go out and buy this now. Highly recommended. I'm doing everything D-Link doesn't recommend, and it still works great. It's hooked up to a computer that's using WiFi for LAN (AX, fortunately), and there is no line of sight at all. The computer is upstairs in the office, and I could play Rogue Squadron just great seated a couple feet away. But it gets better.
I got very adventurous and took the headset downstairs to the living room. The WiFi bridge is mounted high up on a bookshelf at the top of the stairs (there's an extension cable with a nice desktop stand to plug the USB into), and I could still get a pretty decent stream one floor down. My house is drywall and wood framing, your results may vary.
There were a handful of slight hiccups that would really bother someone who plays competitively, or ranked multiplayer, but the stream was relatively smooth for me as a casual player of largely single-player games. Image quality was decent, clear enough to read my desktop's two monitors, and do some web browsing in Edge. I honestly can't tell much difference in terms of IQ with wired Quest Link.
There was nothing at all to the setup. You simply plug it in, and use it like normal Air Link. No drivers to install, nothing to change in Windows, no configuration in the Oculus app.
I used the default settings for bitrate. I bumped it up to 200Mbps after I was done playing around with it, but don't have time to test tonight.
I think it's pretty amazing value, TBH. At the Meta store (not the cheapest place, but the best way to compare pricing), the official Quest Link Cable is $79.99. The Air Bridge is just $20 more at $99.99. Almost equivalent performance, but wireless, is very worth it IMHO. The Quest cable is really expensive because it's fibre optic, but that does mean you get a lot of range compared to significantly cheaper third party cables.
There's definitely an advantage to the cable in terms of unlimited battery life, but my third-party comfort strap has a built in battery that extends play time to 6 hours. Beyond that, and I would worry about eyestrain.
A lot of third party straps offer this, and the one that comes with the headset is total garbage, so I feel like a new strap is a required purchase anyway.
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Had a similar experience. I bought the Quest Link cable when I got a Quest 2 last year, pre-price hike, luckily. The cable was a complete waste of money. I set up the Q2 on a dedicated Wifi 6 router (Asus RT-AX55) and I get a pretty much perfect Air Link connection, even through a brick wall. Playing without the wire is just sooo much better.
I'll grab Rez Infinite on your recommendation, had a lot of fun with Tetris Effect lately
I'll grab Rez Infinite on your recommendation, had a lot of fun with Tetris Effect lately
Ohhhhh.... I LOVE Tetris Effect. It's the only version of Tetris I've really got into since the Game Boy original. Not that any other versions are bad, just nothing else really captured the magic.
My favourite song is the very first one in Journey mode, The Deep.
Rez Infinite is very similar to Tetris Effect in the sense that the more you get into the gameplay, the more the music gets intense, complex and layered.
I got the Quest version. Tempted to spring for the Steam version, though I don't think I'd ever play it in 2D (I'd use my Xbox for that).
If there was a Tetris Effect treatment of Dr. Mario, I’d be all over that like white on rice, because Dr. Mario is totally my jam. But, of course, licensing.
My favourite song is the very first one in Journey mode, The Deep.
Rez Infinite is very similar to Tetris Effect in the sense that the more you get into the gameplay, the more the music gets intense, complex and layered.
I got the Quest version. Tempted to spring for the Steam version, though I don't think I'd ever play it in 2D (I'd use my Xbox for that).
If there was a Tetris Effect treatment of Dr. Mario, I’d be all over that like white on rice, because Dr. Mario is totally my jam. But, of course, licensing.
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I missed this when it first came out, but the Bigscreen team are making a VR headset of themselves. The interesting, attractive thing they're aiming at that is unique in the market is clear focus on having it personalized out of the box, and as light as they can physically make it. I have to say I think it's a really strong design concept within the niche they're aiming for.
Definitely not a VR headset for everyone, but I'm legitimately impressed with their design thinking.
View: https://youtu.be/z3k0T1mvahY
Definitely not a VR headset for everyone, but I'm legitimately impressed with their design thinking.
View: https://youtu.be/z3k0T1mvahY
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2177750/HalfLife_2_VR_Mod__Episode_One/
Yes, another Half-Life VR mod is releasing next week. It's the same team that did the HL2 VR mod. So I'd expect it to be mostly identical in mechanics. I also expect the same issue (ie. massive motion sickness) to still be there too.
FYI: Vertigo 2 releases tomorrow. This is an almost parody of the Half-Life universe. The first game was a solo project from a former Valve employee. I played the Vertigo Remastered version and it was fun but indi-jank shooter.
There's a demo for Vertigo 2 on Steam that I played long ago (2019?) that I really enjoyed. I highly recommend trying this demo if you're even slightly interested in a shooter or a humorous look at the Half-Life-Like world.
There's a demo for Vertigo 2 on Steam that I played long ago (2019?) that I really enjoyed. I highly recommend trying this demo if you're even slightly interested in a shooter or a humorous look at the Half-Life-Like world.
Vertigo 2 - initial thoughts
TL;DR - great Half-Like experience, questionable difficulty
It's what you'd expect. It's a goofy and exaggerated version of Half-Life. It had been a few years since I played the demo, but the initial part of the game is the demo. I've played about 3 hours of the game, but the first 30-40 minutes was the same content as the demo.
V2 is a lot like V1 (Remastered). It's obsessed with scale and spectacle - not a bad thing. Unlike V1, V2 handles the experience much better and is much more optimized. If you've ever listened to the HL commentary tracks, you'll be aware of the crescendo/vignette mechanics. These are little moments between fights or exploration that give some color or excitement. V2 is full of the neat moments and it has a lot of neat ideas.
V1 was complete indie jank, but had it's charm. V2 has a surprising amount of polish and options, and you'll forget that this is an indie tittle at times. It, however, is not without it's issues. There's a seated mode and an option to set the height of your ammo reload. If you duck, it screws with the placement of the ammo and your flashlight. I'm surprised these issues slipped through. Also, you've the option of head or hand direction. For smooth locomotion, you'll follow the direction pointed with your head/hand. The issue here is that the direction is your left hand (non-dominant) and that completely conflicts with 2 handed weapons. Moving with a 2 handed gun is completely unintuitive when using hand direction mode. If the guns had a vertical front handle, this might have fixed this issue for the most part.
I remembered how much of a pain one part was, so I put the game on easy. Even with this mode, I took a surprising amount of damage. I left it on easy and still died a lot more than expected. In fact, the last area had large waves of enemies that I kept dying from, especially since they just gave me a gun and I had no practice reloading it. There's no auto-reload for guns and each gun reloads differently. This is the second time the game has given me a new gun and then expected me to deal with a wave of enemies. Pressing the "eject" button for this new gun didn't actually remove the cartridge, so you still have to manually remove it (unlike all the other guns). That's just a major dick move.
You have a left hand inventory. You can carry health with you and there's health stations on walls, just like in HL. The same issue with inventory in Alyx is present in this game. To use it, you must put away your gun, take out the items, activate the item, and hold it in your chest for a health boost or pull a pin for a grenade. You're not going to be able to do any of this during a gun fight. Switching weapons, however, works great. I just think a left handed way to use inventory items would have been better.
The performance of the game has been very good and it performs way better than the demo. So, keep that in mind if the demo has some minor performance issues. Even though I'm still underpowered (and using Virtual Desktop), there's now a ton of graphics settings (and plenty of presets) to tailor your experience. At the start of the game, I felt quite a few hitches from disk access, but haven't really experienced much after that. Also, I noticed a lot of geometry pop-in at the start and none since. Maybe they learned a lot since making the demo content and made it smoother. One of the things they've done is split the game into smaller levels, so they can still use big set pieces without too much of an issue.
TL;DR - great Half-Like experience, questionable difficulty
It's what you'd expect. It's a goofy and exaggerated version of Half-Life. It had been a few years since I played the demo, but the initial part of the game is the demo. I've played about 3 hours of the game, but the first 30-40 minutes was the same content as the demo.
V2 is a lot like V1 (Remastered). It's obsessed with scale and spectacle - not a bad thing. Unlike V1, V2 handles the experience much better and is much more optimized. If you've ever listened to the HL commentary tracks, you'll be aware of the crescendo/vignette mechanics. These are little moments between fights or exploration that give some color or excitement. V2 is full of the neat moments and it has a lot of neat ideas.
V1 was complete indie jank, but had it's charm. V2 has a surprising amount of polish and options, and you'll forget that this is an indie tittle at times. It, however, is not without it's issues. There's a seated mode and an option to set the height of your ammo reload. If you duck, it screws with the placement of the ammo and your flashlight. I'm surprised these issues slipped through. Also, you've the option of head or hand direction. For smooth locomotion, you'll follow the direction pointed with your head/hand. The issue here is that the direction is your left hand (non-dominant) and that completely conflicts with 2 handed weapons. Moving with a 2 handed gun is completely unintuitive when using hand direction mode. If the guns had a vertical front handle, this might have fixed this issue for the most part.
I remembered how much of a pain one part was, so I put the game on easy. Even with this mode, I took a surprising amount of damage. I left it on easy and still died a lot more than expected. In fact, the last area had large waves of enemies that I kept dying from, especially since they just gave me a gun and I had no practice reloading it. There's no auto-reload for guns and each gun reloads differently. This is the second time the game has given me a new gun and then expected me to deal with a wave of enemies. Pressing the "eject" button for this new gun didn't actually remove the cartridge, so you still have to manually remove it (unlike all the other guns). That's just a major dick move.
You have a left hand inventory. You can carry health with you and there's health stations on walls, just like in HL. The same issue with inventory in Alyx is present in this game. To use it, you must put away your gun, take out the items, activate the item, and hold it in your chest for a health boost or pull a pin for a grenade. You're not going to be able to do any of this during a gun fight. Switching weapons, however, works great. I just think a left handed way to use inventory items would have been better.
The performance of the game has been very good and it performs way better than the demo. So, keep that in mind if the demo has some minor performance issues. Even though I'm still underpowered (and using Virtual Desktop), there's now a ton of graphics settings (and plenty of presets) to tailor your experience. At the start of the game, I felt quite a few hitches from disk access, but haven't really experienced much after that. Also, I noticed a lot of geometry pop-in at the start and none since. Maybe they learned a lot since making the demo content and made it smoother. One of the things they've done is split the game into smaller levels, so they can still use big set pieces without too much of an issue.
Had a similar experience. I bought the Quest Link cable when I got a Quest 2 last year, pre-price hike, luckily. The cable was a complete waste of money. I set up the Q2 on a dedicated Wifi 6 router (Asus RT-AX55) and I get a pretty much perfect Air Link connection, even through a brick wall. Playing without the wire is just sooo much better.
I'll grab Rez Infinite on your recommendation, had a lot of fun with Tetris Effect lately
I never bothered with any 3rd party hardware beyond the router my ISP gave me. There were very occasional glitches, but it connected up wirelessly well enough to let me play through the entirety of HL:Alyx. My PC is fairly mid-range nowadays (8700K, RTX 2080) and it worked astonishingly well; I can truthfully say I was somewhat blown away by the experience.
Vertigo 2 - Final Thoughts
TL;DR - great value for the price, lots of little rough edges to get passed
V2 is the everything and the kitchen sink of action games. It tries to to everything and does a pretty good job of it. There's vehicle moments, large monsters, weird aliens, robot, weapons upgrades, and a zany plot that's quite hard to follow.
It's a "cool" game with a lot of neat ideas. The game engineered a lot of moments into the game, so there's a lot of scenery variety and memorable moments. The gameplay, however, is mostly just shooting with some teleport platforming. There are boss fights, but the game likes to find ways to throws waves of enemies at you.
This will satisfy you Half-Like needs - especially the soundtrack.
Now, for the rough parts:
The upgrade system is very limited. You'll get enough to upgrade 1 weapon fully and partially upgrade a second. Some of the upgrades are worthless (and sometimes required for the upgrade tree). The holographic sights for guns are terrible. If you close one eye, it shows you 3 dots on the sight once you line it up. You're never going to need to be that accurate or that slow in shooting. This is an fast paced action game and that limiting sight and the suppressor for silent shooting makes no sense in this game.
Every weapon has a reload system with auto-generating ammo. Each gun has different reload mechanics and the ammo regens at different speed. You will run out of ammo for the most powerful guns pretty quick, especially if you upgrade the shooting speed.
The gun reload mechanic seems to reward switching weapons instead of reloading for raw DPS. The problem is that you'll not have the guns to switch between for most of the game. You'll get a pistol, a revolver, a shotgun, and an SMG to use for about half of the game. The revolver isn't good and the shotgun is your first crowd control weapon that's awkward to move, aim, and reload. The shotgun also points more upwards than any weapon and feels wrong when aiming. I only used it until I got the SMG - since the SMG has a mode that basically makes it a better shotgun.
V2 has a REALLY bad habit of giving you a new gun and expecting you to use it under pressure. It's just dumb and a dick move. What's worse, is that some weapons are secrets that you only use once. What's terrible is that you can't swap weapons in some scenarios. I thought the game was bugged, but it just locked me in a room with a new weapon and expected me to use it against swarms. One time I didn't even know there was a required weapon (since it just looked like a bugged corpse) and reloaded the game several times until I just tried to pick it up as a goof.
The inventory system has the same issues as Alyx. You can't interact with it unless you put away your gun. This is also your main source for healing items. The game, however, wants you to pick up quest items and takes one of your precious slots. Required items shouldn't have storage limitations, since this cuts you healing item's by 1/3rd.
Teleporting is require and executed via pressing the thumb stick. Too many times, I fell of a cliff because it's hard to press the stick without moving. If there was an option to disable smooth movement while pressing the thumb stick, this would solve that issue.
The difficulty isn't balanced. The very first boss fight is the hardest fight in the game. Even lowering the game to easy difficulty, I died several times. Enemy damage is all over the place. Some of the enemies introduce mid-game do more DPS than the "harder" enemies in later game. There's also a boss fight that has 2 targets to destroy. Though both targets look identical, the first target is destroy quickly while the second takes several phases. It made me think the game was bugged and I just wasn't doing any damage.
And so on and so on. There are a lot of rough spots that still need attention. None of them ruin the game, but a few really interfere with key parts of the experience. The game is being updated constantly (4 updates in the paste few week). Even today, there were bug fixes and 2 balance issues addressed in a patch.
So, here's my pitch: If you like this genre (sci-fi action shooter or Half-Like), it's a must play game. There are way more good parts to the game than bad parts. You might want to wait for more patches, but it's still a good experience even with all the rough spots. The previous game was updated several times over several months, so expect good support. 30 bucks for 10 hours (or more from ng+ if you're OCD) is a great value if you play now or wait a bit.
TL;DR - great value for the price, lots of little rough edges to get passed
V2 is the everything and the kitchen sink of action games. It tries to to everything and does a pretty good job of it. There's vehicle moments, large monsters, weird aliens, robot, weapons upgrades, and a zany plot that's quite hard to follow.
It's a "cool" game with a lot of neat ideas. The game engineered a lot of moments into the game, so there's a lot of scenery variety and memorable moments. The gameplay, however, is mostly just shooting with some teleport platforming. There are boss fights, but the game likes to find ways to throws waves of enemies at you.
This will satisfy you Half-Like needs - especially the soundtrack.
Now, for the rough parts:
The upgrade system is very limited. You'll get enough to upgrade 1 weapon fully and partially upgrade a second. Some of the upgrades are worthless (and sometimes required for the upgrade tree). The holographic sights for guns are terrible. If you close one eye, it shows you 3 dots on the sight once you line it up. You're never going to need to be that accurate or that slow in shooting. This is an fast paced action game and that limiting sight and the suppressor for silent shooting makes no sense in this game.
Every weapon has a reload system with auto-generating ammo. Each gun has different reload mechanics and the ammo regens at different speed. You will run out of ammo for the most powerful guns pretty quick, especially if you upgrade the shooting speed.
The gun reload mechanic seems to reward switching weapons instead of reloading for raw DPS. The problem is that you'll not have the guns to switch between for most of the game. You'll get a pistol, a revolver, a shotgun, and an SMG to use for about half of the game. The revolver isn't good and the shotgun is your first crowd control weapon that's awkward to move, aim, and reload. The shotgun also points more upwards than any weapon and feels wrong when aiming. I only used it until I got the SMG - since the SMG has a mode that basically makes it a better shotgun.
V2 has a REALLY bad habit of giving you a new gun and expecting you to use it under pressure. It's just dumb and a dick move. What's worse, is that some weapons are secrets that you only use once. What's terrible is that you can't swap weapons in some scenarios. I thought the game was bugged, but it just locked me in a room with a new weapon and expected me to use it against swarms. One time I didn't even know there was a required weapon (since it just looked like a bugged corpse) and reloaded the game several times until I just tried to pick it up as a goof.
The inventory system has the same issues as Alyx. You can't interact with it unless you put away your gun. This is also your main source for healing items. The game, however, wants you to pick up quest items and takes one of your precious slots. Required items shouldn't have storage limitations, since this cuts you healing item's by 1/3rd.
Teleporting is require and executed via pressing the thumb stick. Too many times, I fell of a cliff because it's hard to press the stick without moving. If there was an option to disable smooth movement while pressing the thumb stick, this would solve that issue.
The difficulty isn't balanced. The very first boss fight is the hardest fight in the game. Even lowering the game to easy difficulty, I died several times. Enemy damage is all over the place. Some of the enemies introduce mid-game do more DPS than the "harder" enemies in later game. There's also a boss fight that has 2 targets to destroy. Though both targets look identical, the first target is destroy quickly while the second takes several phases. It made me think the game was bugged and I just wasn't doing any damage.
And so on and so on. There are a lot of rough spots that still need attention. None of them ruin the game, but a few really interfere with key parts of the experience. The game is being updated constantly (4 updates in the paste few week). Even today, there were bug fixes and 2 balance issues addressed in a patch.
So, here's my pitch: If you like this genre (sci-fi action shooter or Half-Like), it's a must play game. There are way more good parts to the game than bad parts. You might want to wait for more patches, but it's still a good experience even with all the rough spots. The previous game was updated several times over several months, so expect good support. 30 bucks for 10 hours (or more from ng+ if you're OCD) is a great value if you play now or wait a bit.
Are there any sites that do VR reviews for video cards? I don't really know how things like NVidia's DLSS 3 and DLSS FG do in a VR game (when supported), but the 4070 is tempting as the basis for a whole system upgrade intended for heavy VR play. I really wanted to get into No Man's Sky VR, but couldn't get the graphics crisp enough for all the text. A video card upgrade seems like it would help a ton.
But the Ars reviews ignore VR, and it's hard to find anyone else that does.
But the Ars reviews ignore VR, and it's hard to find anyone else that does.
You can just compare it to older cards that people used and there's plenty of VR performance reviews for the 3080. Since the 4070 is generally 29% faster than a 3080, you can guess it will perform on par or better than the reviews.
It sounds like a settings issue for blurry images. Upscaling will make things blurry if you're not upscaling to a high enough resolution, or if you're using a high performance vs a high quality setting for upscaling.. So, I'd try it without any scaling at all first to see what things should look like. If you're using Air Link or Virtual Desktop, it's also doing encoding - so you don't want any pre-scaling before those system do their scaling and encoding.
I get that from a general performance perspective, but I was more curious about the subjective experience of VR with some of NVidia's software trickery involved. Like, if DLSS FG might induce a sense of vertigo from imperfect injected frames.
And my card now can't do things like NMS on normal scale without just dumping a nauseating framerate at me. But the text is nice and clear, for sure.
And I've got an Index, so at least it's a direct connection.
And my card now can't do things like NMS on normal scale without just dumping a nauseating framerate at me. But the text is nice and clear, for sure.
And I've got an Index, so at least it's a direct connection.
I've been using Virtual Desktop's Spacewarp since it was introduced and it's great. Injected frames are always better than frame drops. I've been running my headset at 90 fps, so I only get motion sickness from games that really fling the camera around. The jumpads in Vertigo 2 started to affect me, so I had to take a break.
I'd have to assume Nvidia's implementations would be as good or better than spacewarp.
I finally found a few YouTube videos that at least were about the 4000 series GPUs, and they come to the same conclusion. Always fun when they say things like "YouTube's video compression is going to destroy the visual comparison, so you'll have to trust me it's worlds better."
Hah, sometimes you just have to check out the specialist areas to find out what's going on. I was looking at new SkyrimVR modding, and a bunch of the high-end stuff now requires a minimum of 16GB VRAM to use, meaning the 4070 is out, and a used 3080 would be a better option. Wild it's come to that, but modders gonna mod.
FYI, Memories From Beyond a Coral Sea had an update to add locomotion and is still free. I'll need to check it out again.
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Another Fisherman's Tale - initial thoughts
TL;DR - Can't capture all the magic of the first, but still good and better than Maskmaker
The presentation of this game is fantastic. It still does a bit of that "perspective" thing that the first game did, but it's more for dramatic effect than gameplay. It also runs very smoothly, something I couldn't say about the first game. You don't need much of a system to run this game at High settings, but it also has Medium/Low settings.
I'm already about half-way through the game (Chapter 3) and was warned this game is short (like 2 hours max). The gimmick of this game is that you can throw your hands to get objects and can also throw your head to get a different perspective. So, you can move your body one direction, move your thrown hand another, and move your head a third. It's not as complicated as it seems, but the game literally has a tutorial island to teach you all about these mechanics and controls. Later, you can replace your hands with other tools, but that's all the mechanics I've discovered and expect to discover.
The puzzles aren't as involved or mind-bending as the previous in the series. This is a negative for me. It's still enjoyable, but having to really think outside the box to solve puzzles was more rewarding. This still isn't standard puzzle solving, but it's a more accessible.
This game is more story based and there's a lot of narration. It's well done, but nothing has matched the dramatic scale of the first game interspersed with some story.
Much like the first game, I don't recommend it at full price. 24 bucks is quite a bit much for such a short game. I was hoping they learned better pricing from Maskmaker, which was longer and only 20 bucks. Maskmaker also was more puzzle based like the first Fishman's tale.
EDIT: final thoughts. Really enjoyed the last 2 chapters 4 & 5. Still, wait for a sell - it's short. Oh, and I called the "twist" in the story at the beginning of the game. Also, you can easily play the entire game seated and the game directly supports it.
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Another Fisherman's Tale - initial thoughts
TL;DR - Can't capture all the magic of the first, but still good and better than Maskmaker
The presentation of this game is fantastic. It still does a bit of that "perspective" thing that the first game did, but it's more for dramatic effect than gameplay. It also runs very smoothly, something I couldn't say about the first game. You don't need much of a system to run this game at High settings, but it also has Medium/Low settings.
I'm already about half-way through the game (Chapter 3) and was warned this game is short (like 2 hours max). The gimmick of this game is that you can throw your hands to get objects and can also throw your head to get a different perspective. So, you can move your body one direction, move your thrown hand another, and move your head a third. It's not as complicated as it seems, but the game literally has a tutorial island to teach you all about these mechanics and controls. Later, you can replace your hands with other tools, but that's all the mechanics I've discovered and expect to discover.
The puzzles aren't as involved or mind-bending as the previous in the series. This is a negative for me. It's still enjoyable, but having to really think outside the box to solve puzzles was more rewarding. This still isn't standard puzzle solving, but it's a more accessible.
This game is more story based and there's a lot of narration. It's well done, but nothing has matched the dramatic scale of the first game interspersed with some story.
Much like the first game, I don't recommend it at full price. 24 bucks is quite a bit much for such a short game. I was hoping they learned better pricing from Maskmaker, which was longer and only 20 bucks. Maskmaker also was more puzzle based like the first Fishman's tale.
EDIT: final thoughts. Really enjoyed the last 2 chapters 4 & 5. Still, wait for a sell - it's short. Oh, and I called the "twist" in the story at the beginning of the game. Also, you can easily play the entire game seated and the game directly supports it.
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Hong Kong Obscure
TL;DR - this is not a game
I was expecting something along the line of Isle of Pan, you walk around and discover things. This, however, is someone that messed around in an engine and then experimented a little and tried to sell it as a game. The store page purposely redacts any description to make this a mysterious meme. Isle of Pan is complete jank, but it's a crafted experience. This is just a basic city level someone created with a few random things thrown in as an after-thought.
The entire world in the game is not centered and will give you a headache. Everything is tilted like 5 degrees. It's unpleasant. For Quest 2, the only locomotion that worked was teleport and the turn degrees was way too high and I'd lose orientation really easy.
So, for 9 bucks - I highly do not recommend this. There was a neat city to explore as a base, but they didn't do anything with it.
TL;DR - this is not a game
I was expecting something along the line of Isle of Pan, you walk around and discover things. This, however, is someone that messed around in an engine and then experimented a little and tried to sell it as a game. The store page purposely redacts any description to make this a mysterious meme. Isle of Pan is complete jank, but it's a crafted experience. This is just a basic city level someone created with a few random things thrown in as an after-thought.
The entire world in the game is not centered and will give you a headache. Everything is tilted like 5 degrees. It's unpleasant. For Quest 2, the only locomotion that worked was teleport and the turn degrees was way too high and I'd lose orientation really easy.
So, for 9 bucks - I highly do not recommend this. There was a neat city to explore as a base, but they didn't do anything with it.
Quest 3 launching this fall at $499. Just in time because we were looking at a Quest 2 but I'd rather have the new shiny.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AKl_cEB26c
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AKl_cEB26c
The 3 big changes are a 2X speed graphics chip, a much thinner design, and pancake lenses. It's still just as heavy, but probably more comfortable because it's close to your face - less leverage/pressure on your cheek bones. The color passthrough may or may not be a big thing. They really need a "killer app" to sell that feature. For a game like Cubism or Puzzling Places, passthrough is a neat feature, since you'll be in the head set for a long time.
I'd be happy with a version that just lets me use my existing controllers, if I could save some big money.
At the same time, Meta just announce the next headset update for Quest 2 will at 20% speed improvements to existing apps/games. The app, however, will still need to be updated to take advantage of the improvement. I think they're just raising the clock levels, since the system was underclocked by design at launch.
Plus, they just announced a bunch of games and I'm not really exited for any of them. 6dofreviews did a review video of all the upcoming games and gave good insight. They're talking more about the developers than the actual games. "This dev also made X, so this might be good" was a common theme.
I'd be happy with a version that just lets me use my existing controllers, if I could save some big money.
At the same time, Meta just announce the next headset update for Quest 2 will at 20% speed improvements to existing apps/games. The app, however, will still need to be updated to take advantage of the improvement. I think they're just raising the clock levels, since the system was underclocked by design at launch.
Plus, they just announced a bunch of games and I'm not really exited for any of them. 6dofreviews did a review video of all the upcoming games and gave good insight. They're talking more about the developers than the actual games. "This dev also made X, so this might be good" was a common theme.
If this was from any other YouTube channel, I'd think it was a 2 minute click-bait video. This, however, is from 6DOFReviews - a site I frequent an have only ever thought 1 or 2 videos were bad. That's a damn good ratio.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjXum4pe6BA
The new Apple swimming goggles is a WTF of a product. No controllers, external battery pack (still only 2 hours), and a massive price tag (3.5K). This, nor the Quest Pro, looks like something you want to work in (for prolonged exposure). Yet, this is the AR/MR experience Apple is selling this as.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjXum4pe6BA
The new Apple swimming goggles is a WTF of a product. No controllers, external battery pack (still only 2 hours), and a massive price tag (3.5K). This, nor the Quest Pro, looks like something you want to work in (for prolonged exposure). Yet, this is the AR/MR experience Apple is selling this as.
That's the first time I've actually seen them. I have very little interest as I can't see how this would be any use to me for work or for music (my main hobby on the computer).
I do know that every time I've tried one of those all-in-one mask and snorkel sets--on paper it's a great idea!--I get so damn claustrophobic I tear them off and go back to a regular mask and snorkel. Masks are something you wear because you have to in order to see, they are far from comfortable! (sorta kidding, this might be the height of comfort for all I know). And VR anything causes me to barf, so maybe at $35.00 I'd take a flier once the tech trickles down to the knockoffs
I do know that every time I've tried one of those all-in-one mask and snorkel sets--on paper it's a great idea!--I get so damn claustrophobic I tear them off and go back to a regular mask and snorkel. Masks are something you wear because you have to in order to see, they are far from comfortable! (sorta kidding, this might be the height of comfort for all I know). And VR anything causes me to barf, so maybe at $35.00 I'd take a flier once the tech trickles down to the knockoffs