[itwasntme]

Will a Google Stadia bought in the US currently work in India? I think not, but just asking in case there is a something akin to a VPN hack or similar.

I do not own any console as of now, so I am not already spoilt by 4K effects from PS4 or xBox etc :-)

[Joxster]

I started playing Age Of Empires II Definitive Edition, and geez it is a complete RAM hog! I watched it eat up the whole 16GB of RAM that my system has to offer

You can see the RAM usage at the top left corner of the screenshot below. I will need to upgrade to 32GB of RAM very, very soon!

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Will a Google Stadia bought in the US currently work in India?

I wish I could help you, but I don't know the answer, sorry mate!

Cheers

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Will a Google Stadia bought in the US currently work in India? I think not, but just asking in case there is a something akin to a VPN hack or similar.

I do not own any console as of now, so I am not already spoilt by 4K effects from PS4 or xBox etc :-)

Ah sadly, I don't think it will work even with VPN - I am quite sure that the VPN tunnel will be able to manage the bandwidth. But sure that Stadia will come to India soon - will be a huge market for them.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by Joxster

I started playing Age Of Empires II Definitive Edition, and geez it is a complete RAM hog! I watched it eat up the whole 16GB of RAM that my system has to offer

You can see the RAM usage at the top left corner of the screenshot below. I will need to upgrade to 32GB of RAM very, very soon!


Cheers

Something is wrong with the game design. No way would a legacy game designed to run on 1 GB of ram would use up all available 16GB in the remastered version. I predict future game updates to fix this bug.

[Joxster]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Something is wrong with the game design. No way would a legacy game designed to run on 1 GB of ram would use up all available 16GB in the remastered version. I predict future game updates to fix this bug.

I did some reading online, and found out that it's only if you install the optional Ultra HD textures pack that the RAM usage goes up to such crazy numbers.

If you just install the game without that pack, then the RAM usage shouldn't cross 6-8GB is what people say.

Edit: Scratch what I just said. Look at this guy's feedback

RAM usage is ridiculous. It's off the charts. Without Ultra HD textures, system RAM usage is 12-13GB. With HD textures, it's 20GB

Reason Given:

The genie engine was built that way, also the graphics are not 3D rendered, so it is not going to use your graphics card as much as you want it to, all animations should be just small cut out frames of objects in a certain stance that are loaded into RAM and await to be displayed. Basically the same way how AoEII works and how AoEII HD works, in DE's case the loaded frames are just much bigger in data compared to the previous.

Source

Since I run a GTX 1080 Ti, this explanation makes a lot of sense, because my card should be more than capable of rendering the game with a lot less RAM usage, but apparently the game doesn't use the GPU very much as can also be seen in the screenshot I posted.

Cheers

[drive_angry]

Not to start a war between PS and xbox fans. But I am kind of in a pickle here to decide between PS or an XBOX

I had owned PS-2 back in the days and it was awesome. With complete locked down these days due to corona virus, I was thinking to invest in a good gaming console but not sure which one?

I am mainly into racing games and I used to play Tennis and Burnout-Revenge a lot. Based on that, would anyone here can recommend a good gaming console? are these games playable on PC?

[Chetan_Rao]

Noob question.

I'm a gaming dinosaur from the age of PS1 & PS2 consoles, and the original XBox. I've now got the itch to get myself a gaming console, primary usage single-player offline gaming, offline being the keyword. I have no use for online multiplayer modes, and will probably never use it for other streaming either.

Recommendations?

[bigron]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Noob question.

I'm a gaming dinosaur from the age of PS1 & PS2 consoles, and the original XBox. I've now got the itch to get myself a gaming console, primary usage single-player offline gaming, offline being the keyword. I have no use for online multiplayer modes, and will probably never use it for other streaming either.

Recommendations?

Unless there are exclusive games that you want to play that are specific to a single console, Ideally I would wait for the PS5 due this holiday season. A new Sony console easily lasts over half a decade.

If you must, the PS4 Pro is your best bet. I have been a PS user since PS1 and prefer the remote configuration.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

But I am getting the PS4 next year, completing Uncharted 4, Bloodborne and a few others.

5 years after I had made that post, I’ve finally completed Bloodborne! The ending was a bit overwhelming, I decided to pen down some thoughts during my free time. Please bear with me!

For a brief while I had lost touch with gaming. Picked up the PS4 sometime in end-2018 (along with some exclusives; exclusives are titles released only for a certain platform) when I had some spare time after our first Coast Guard OPV was delivered (usually it is the first ship that sucks in most of the time; the successive ones are much easier work-wise). Finished those exclusive titles, sold them off and the console was lying idle. Until one day on a weekend, a colleague who’d dropped by at my home, pointed at the console and asked me, “What does this thing do?!” Just like the way Deedee asks Dexter.



That was it! Took out the dusty controller from the drawer, cleaned it, fired up the console and loaded Shadow of the Tomb Raider (SOTR) just to show him a brief demo. And that rekindled the 10-year old in me! Started SOTR and wrapped it up within a week. I picked up Bloodborne’s GOTY edition (GOTY – Game of the Year) which includes the only DLC – The Old Hunters (DLC - Downloadable Content).

Enough has been said and praised about this game, including the difficulty, learning curve, the NPCs, the H. P. Lovecraft inspired enemies, adrenaline-pumping boss battles, real world Gothic and Victorian-era inspired level designs from the Czech Republic and Romania and so forth. Since I had completed Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, the learning curve for Bloodborne wasn’t steep. For the Soulsborne titles, within the gaming communities, we usually say the most hardest title is going to be the first one you’d play. Once you’ve learnt the ropes, you’ll master it like no other! The first level/chapter is going to be the make-or-break deal - here's where you'll end up dying the most since you’re just starting off and the enemies are a couple of notches harder/leveled up than your character is. Try revisiting the first level towards mid-game and you’ll be one-shotting most of them! The first level is also where you’ll grind the most, learn the move-set, the brutal parry-visceral combo, collect the early loot, level up a bit, face the first boss etc.

There are plenty of similarities with the other Souls games – lighting up a lamp (instead of a bonfire) within the level to save your progress and teleport to the central hub - the Hunter’s Dream where you’d find the NPC which helps you level up (the Doll), the central hub also has the workbench where you’ll upgrade, repair and infuse your weapons with gems, trade items with the cute little Messengers with the Blood Echoes (souls from the other games which is essentially the in-game currency) or Insight (a stat which is gained with certain items, visiting boss arenas and beating bosses), die and all the enemies in the level respawn (except bosses) and you’ll lose all the blood echoes with the bloodstain lying on the spot of death OR an enemy who has absorbed the souls which would have glowing eyes, much of the in-game lore is left to the player to read from the different items and understand, accessing doors and elevators for shortcuts, join different covenants by accessing their badges, summon helps from NPCs before boss battles and needless to say, dying a gazillion times! There's no in-game soundtrack except during the boss battles and this lends an eerie atmosphere while playing the title. I played it on my good ol' 10 year old Samsung 40 incher and a set of stereo speakers; folks with larger displays and home theater setups are going to have a lot of fun I reckon.

Speaking of soundtracks, one of the reasons boss battles in this game is terrifying is because of the epic musical score. Each boss battle comes with its own intense theme, one that heightens the sense of terror during the battle. In our gaming communities, we used to joke, if you're constantly getting rekt (for all you grammar nazis, rekt is short for wrecked we use in our gaming communities) and want to learn the boss' moves, the first thing is to lower the music volume! The soundtracks were developed by a cross-cultural collaboration of artists from the east and west, recorded at London’s prestigious AIR Studios.

Check out a behind-the-scenes clip from a recording session:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHIkUzmNmc0

Oh and please be assured, you’ll see this on your kickass LED TV several times through the course of your gameplay:



Deaths are a mentally painful affair (I cringed every single time I died) because we lose all the blood echoes (the only in-game currency!) at that spot, all the enemies have respawned and you start at the lamp which may be far from your death spot. In short, your progress just took a big hit and there's no guarantee you're going to reach the spot safely. With some luck, you may manage to reach there but you may just fall off that ledge and die or get bludgeoned to death by a brick troll and die or get mauled by a pack of rabid dogs and die. But, as you manage to play, level up and carefully tread your way through, you’ll git gud at it!

All that being said, there are a few minor differences from the other Souls titles too. For instance, the left hand no longer wields a shield. Instead, it’s a firearm – pistols, blunderbusses, cannons and wait-for-it, a gatling gun! How cool is that! Except for the cannon and the gatling gun, the firearm is not exactly a weapon. It is meant to initiate a parry followed by a massive critical attack! Just like the ripostes in the Souls games. But miss a chance and you’ll lose a chunk of your health with the enemy landing an attack on you! It has a super cool animation with the blood spattering all around. However, not all enemies can be parried. The first level is the best place to practice this move-set and will come in incredibly handy for the rest of the title.

Check out this short clip demonstrating a parry + visceral attack combo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kstMEKPE_OM

And because there is no shield in the game, the developers were kind enough to equip the character with 20 blood vials – each vial restores a portion of the lost health. You can equip a few more with the help of runes. Plus, in combat, the player can regenerate a part of the lost health while attacking the enemy back in quick succession. Unlike the Souls titles which encourages the player to tread the level carefully with the shield raised at all times, in Bloodborne, you are advocated to be a lot more aggressive and agile with faster combat moves. Without shields, the player is encouraged to face the enemy head on, learn its move-set by constantly dodging, rolling and quick stepping. The downside? Enemies are equally aggressive! They have superior tracking abilities while being confronted.

There is a unique concept in Bloodborne which is not found in any Souls titles so far. There are plenty of dungeons which are not linked with the main storyline or the playthrough and, the player can visit them to farm for some rare gems which increases the weapon’s attack drastically or infuse them with fire/lightning/magic. While dungeon crawling isn’t unique to RPGs, some of the dungeons in Bloodborne can get tiresome and repetitive. The enemies in these dungeon levels are basically from the central playthrough save for a few unique ones.

While this is an RPG, the progression is nearly linear, in the sense that you’d be progressing through the chapters as you kill each boss which unlocks the next area. You have the ability to visit some areas early on but the enemies would beat the crap out of you prompting you to level up and revisit the level later. Some areas (and their bosses) are optional and can be completely skipped but at the cost of missing the blood echoes, loot and dare I’d say, the lore and experience too. The level designs are M-I-N-D B-L-O-W-I-N-G! Oftentimes, I end up staring at the landscape just admiring the views! I love the way shortcuts are designed in each level. If you see a door or a gate early on in a level, chances are it cannot be opened from this side yet. Doors and elevators are usually accessed from the other side which grant invaluable shortcuts from the start of the level. Can you imagine spending close to 2 hours reaching the end of the level only to die at the hands of a boss or an unfortunate fall to the depths and traversing all the nightmares once again to reach the boss? FromSoft devs were a little kind in that sense. Almost all boss arenas have shortcuts right from the start of the level cutting down on the time drastically.

Low on the level or some particular item such as health vials, bullets, sedatives or even pebbles? Revisit some earlier levels to farm them! There are a few levels which becomes easier once you have access to better/improved weapons and the enemies can be one shot. It is worth revisiting these levels to farm on blood echoes or items which may come in handy before a boss battle or a particular section of a level.

Throughout the title, while every adversary proved formidable right from the annoying crows to the man-eater boar, there were a few badass ones which stood out, scared the hell out of me and had my heart pumping much faster, every single time I ended up facing it. This post would rather be incomplete if I didn’t list the winners.

• Snatchers
  
  
  
  Standing tall with a hood over their face and a bag over their shoulders, these buggers begin to appear right after a particular boss is defeated (Don't want to reveal it for spoilers' sake!). While they walk slow once they detect the player (or until the player aggros them), they have an incredibly high amount of health and an equally high damage output. After they lose a portion of their health (usually a couple of attacks), they will get into a frenzy (with a super-quick animation) and will become a lot more aggressive, sprinting towards the player and flinging their gunny bags. They have a unique grab attack with which they will grab the player, raise him/her in the air, squeeze the blood through the neck and slam them on the ground, instantly one-shotting them! This is one of the most brutal ways to die in the game. Check out this clip to know what I meant:
  
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLvTNtuvOF4

  
  
  Good thing they disappear once a particular boss is defeated mid-way! *Phew*
  
  
• Brainsucker
  
  
  
  Resembling the mindflayer, with tentacles popping out of this head, the first encounter gave me nerly a heart attack! It just grabbed me, a large tentacle popped out and sucked the head draining the Insight out of my character (2 at a time), inflicting a high damage. Whatever Insight drained is lost permanently. This was quite depressing!
  
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dCtn1UtEsw

  
  
  Fortunately, I realised its vulnerability to fire and a simple fire torch on the left hand set it ablaze, without sparing it an option to do anything!
  
  
• Winter Lantern
  
  
  
  As much as the name sounds sweet, this abomination with several eyes and mouths, roams around in unwary areas towards the later parts of the game. The moment the player comes in contact within its line of sight, the frenzy meter builds up instantly and the health drops. She starts off with a grab attack but it doesn’t kill the player because by the time the player encounters this beast, the health bar is large enough to survive at least one grab attack. Best to keep some sedatives equipped while traversing through these areas to nullify the frenzy build up.
  
  
• Shark Giant
  
  
  
  The developers clearly went overboard with this one. I am so glad this dude was featured only in the DLC and not in the main game! Otherwise, we’d have seen a whole lot of players crying about this beast. This enemy is nothing short of a boss with a super high health level, being incredibly agile wielding a boat's anchor in a hand flinging it all around and with a pouncing attack which covers a great deal of distance. Luckily, there are only four of them in the entire game! The most devastating attack is when it grabs the player, chews him/her and swallows the player in the process! Quite clearly these guys haven’t eaten in ages! Check out the clip:
  
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uMLF-FhRlw

Here is a collage of all the boss battle trophy screenshots (the PS4 has a neat feature wherein it saves the screenshot every time a trophy is unlocked):



Here is the end-game stats for my character:



And here is a neat little hack to unlock all the endings in one playthrough - once you're back to the Hunter's Dream, the Doll would prompt you to meet Gehrman and talk to him. At this point, exit from the game and copy the save file to a FAT32 formatted USB drive. Consume no more than 2 One Third of Umbilical Cords and speak to Gehrman. Yes and No gives you a unique ending each. Consume 3 One Third of Umbilical Cords, talk to Gehrman and say No for the last ending. Here's proof that I got all the 3 endings in one playthrough:



Summing up, Bloodborne was quite the experience! Just like Demon’s Souls which was the first Souls title I had played. This piece was written back in January; I ended up finishing Dark Souls II: SotFS during February and that was a good title too. Maybe some day, I'll pick up Dark Souls III and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Here's the Amazon link for the title and nope, it is not a referral link. So those who're planning to pick up this game, good luck and have fun! You can't step out of your home for the next couple of weeks so now is the time to play all those titles you wanted to but never found the time to.

PS: I am playing Marvel's Spiderman as we speak.

[bigron]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

5 years after I had made that post, I’ve finally completed Bloodborne! The ending was a bit overwhelming, I decided to pen down some thoughts during my free time. Please bear with me!


PS: I am playing Marvel's Spiderman as we speak.

What an opportune time for you to pen this. I have just re installed this game today to actually start playing it.

I bought it when it was released and could not make heads or tails of it so off it went into the cabinet. Out of the blue I got it out and thought of giving it a serious look. This game can be quite frustrating from what I ve figured in the few hours i ve put in. I am hoping it will start getting better as I play along.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

5 years after I had made that post, I’ve finally completed Bloodborne!

Wow, nice to see a post from you on this thread again! And Bloodborne - nice to see you enjoyed the game. Did you play Shadow of the Tomb Raider? Heh, I have it on Stadia and PC and am playing it again to finish side quests etc.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by bigron

Unless there are exclusive games that you want to play that are specific to a single console, Ideally I would wait for the PS5 due this holiday season. A new Sony console easily lasts over half a decade.

If you must, the PS4 Pro is your best bet. I have been a PS user since PS1 and prefer the remote configuration.

Thanks.

Follow-up question.

Given my work schedule, I really can't invest time into games with detailed storylines. I'll probably be focusing on sports & racing based games (FIFA/PES, NBA, F1 etc.) You know, pick up and play types that I can play for 30 mins to an hour at a time.

Does that weigh in the decision which console to pick? I don't mind picking up an older gen model because it doesn't look like my needs justify the latest & greatest gadget.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Thanks.

Follow-up question.

Does that weigh in the decision which console to pick? I don't mind picking up an older gen model because it doesn't look like my needs justify the latest & greatest gadget.

First of all, how much you want to invest in a console. Please bear in mind PS5 will be almost double the price of current PS4 pro pricing. This is why I will suggest you to get Ps4 and the kind of gaming you are looking to do it will be perfect.

On the topic of Bloodborne. I just downloaded it today. Was in library since long but didn't had the time to play. Now time to spare thought of giving it a shot. Let's see how frustrating it will be

[bigron]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Thanks.

Follow-up question.

Given my work schedule, I really can't invest time into games with detailed storylines. I'll probably be focusing on sports & racing based games (FIFA/PES, NBA, F1 etc.) You know, pick up and play types that I can play for 30 mins to an hour at a time.

Does that weigh in the decision which console to pick? I don't mind picking up an older gen model because it doesn't look like my needs justify the latest & greatest gadget.

No. EA sports, PES and other independent developers have you covered on either console.

If you dont want to wait for the PS5, PS4 Pro should do just fine.

Originally Posted by harry10

First of all, how much you want to invest in a console. Please bear in mind PS5 will be almost double the price of current PS4 pro pricing. This is why I will suggest you to get Ps4 and the kind of gaming you are looking to do it will be perfect.

On the topic of Bloodborne. I just downloaded it today. Was in library since long but didn't had the time to play. Now time to spare thought of giving it a shot. Let's see how frustrating it will be

PS5 will not be double the price of a current gen console. No one is going to spend 800 USD on a gaming console and SONY/Microsoft knows that.

You are looking at a 499 USD price point, less maybe but not more.

[karan561]

Some Rumour has been going around that GTA VI is going to be announced on 25th March 2020.