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I don’t think it’s all that bonkers when it’s literally just a rehash of other open world games from a decade prior. There’s no reason BotW should have gotten any awards for blatantly copying other games. Zelda is supposed to break new ground. Instead they dug up a corpse, reanimated it, slapped some cartoon paint on it and everyone bowed at their feet. Like I said before, games are really bad these days.

I love love love open world games, and I've played a ton of them, and BoTW did not feel like most (any?) of them, to me. I think what they did was take a formula that had gotten both stale and bloated and stripped it back down to its essence. Which may not sound like much, but it's something that's eluded a lot of other AAA studios (lookin' at you, Ubisoft).

On a more granular level, I think the stamina/climbing mechanic, as simple as it is, is really brilliant, and I think they did a really great job balancing all the overlapping upgrade systems.

To each their own, though!

Like I said previously, I just couldn't get into Breathe of the Wild.

I'm still more of an Ocarina guy, and my best ever is Links Awakening

Not sure if I already replied to this, but: I had the same experience. But I came back a few years later, pushed through, and ended up loving it. There's definitely a little difficulty/learning curve in the beginning though.

I'd like to go back someday. I literally didn't get very far at all to be honest.

Yeah, I dig. It really is worth it, though. Once you get into the groove and do a few shrines/upgrade some stuff so you don't have to run from all but the easiest fights, the game really opens up. But the first couple of hours can be weird and alienating.

Until your sword breaks and then you gotta beat people up with a stick.

Learning how to cope with/work around that is indeed one of the things that makes it a slog at first, but it gets better. And it's way better in ToTK, the ability to fuse things together to increase durability is just a perfect way to keep the upsides of the durability system without it feeling quite so punishing.

the idea that a sword will break in a Zelda game is just ludicrous. my sense of belief can’t be suspended that much. i chalk it up to poor game design

Hey, if we Animal Crossing players have to watch our butterfly nets break constantly, you Zelda folks can put up with a sword breaking once in a while.

Also, I sent this link to Yoda earlier. Podcast about the new Zelda game:

https://the1a.org/segments/headin-to...vpbfZ95sVYanBs

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Also also, THIS game (which I backed on Kickstarter more than four years ago) is finally dropping tomorrow/Thursday/May 18! Only about three years after their projected release date! Hoping for another solid release from Cyan Worlds (the creators of Myst and Riven).

Drawing the line at swords breaking in a game with fairies is interesting.

HEY! I'm about ready to upgrade my graphics card from the NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti that has served me so well for the past 4.5 years. But I don't want to spend as much as what I paid for the whole computer.

Any recommendations for a decent, solid upgrade without breaking the bank? Doesn't have to launch me into the stratosphere. But it needs to be a solid upgrade too. Thoughts?

This is what I have now, although I paid only $170 for it, not the $370 it's listing for now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MEGB6LK?th=1

Also, I obviously don't mind paying more than I did four years ago, but I'm trying not to spend $400.

Might this one be a good replacement?

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-NVIDIA-G...63b24bcb5&th=1

For the price that's decent. But the good ones that run the brand new stuff super smoothly are just more expensive, period. You're fortunate in that the prices peaked like a year or two ago, at least, but that's still kinda in what would be considered the budget range.

Best way to go about it, though, is probably to grab the recommended (not required) specs for a specific newer game you want to play and make sure it meets those.

LINK!!!!
BWAHAHAHAHAHA. clever girl!

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Oh yeah, I totally did that on purpose.

Well, you know me and my gaming tastes. And it'll be for games such as Firmament (assuming what I have glitches a little with that game--we'll see later today). I'm not into frame rates or any of that stuff since I don't play the types of games that require too much precision or speed. (Well, except for things like THE SLIDER or Spire in Myst IV.) Just want a game to run smoothly.

I dunno, I remember Obduction running pretty badly. I don't think these games are particularly well-optimized, so I couldn't really guess. They ought to publish recommended specs somewhere though. If it roughly matches those you're probably fine.

But yeah, if you want to be 100% fine get a 3080 or better. Good graphics cards are going to be the single most expensive item in a computer now. Anything in the $200-300 range will probably technically run what you need (especially if moderate stuttering doesn't bother you) it to but it might slow down with some newer stuff. It's just totally software-dependent at that point so there's no blanket answer.

I'll decide what/when once I install the game in an hour or so and give it a look-see. Obduction ran fine for me here (at least, as much as I remember). Don't recall any graphics issues--just the usual puzzle-confusion issues that have nothing to do with the graphics card!