Random Gaming Talk Thread

[bork]

Unless there’s an unforeseen screw up, this is hitting most of what I wanted out of one of these. 3.7” 4:3 960p screen, controls in the right places, grips. Should have enough power to handle all the 4:3 systems (Xbox excluded).

OLED screen, too.  Definitely on my radar, although I'm not big on the design.  Plus I got a Razer Edge for $250 recently...which also has a 2K 144hz OLED screen and more power than this will have.

But this is smaller and I like 'em tiny

[Himu]

Saw game Beezy and I would like called Parcel Corps

JSR X Crazy Taxi

[D3RANG3D]

https://www.zotac.com/us/page/zotac-gaming-zone-portable-handheld

[Svejk]

So far, Gamescom has been the most boring show this year, IMO.  Only thing I was pumped about that was confirmed to have presentation, was Crimson Desert.. and all they've shown of it were some boss fights.  Nothing from Sega or nothing. 

[bork]

Re: Retroid Pocket Mini- there's a black model coming out, too.  Looks a lot better IMO.

[tiesto]

So far, Gamescom has been the most boring show this year, IMO.  Only thing I was pumped about that was confirmed to have presentation, was Crimson Desert.. and all they've shown of it were some boss fights.  Nothing from Sega or nothing. 

Heh, I had no idea it was even going on. TBH that's always the show I least paid attention to; it feels there are much less interesting (from my perspective) announcements at Gamescom compared to TGS, the former E3, and The Game Awards.

[bork]

https://www.zotac.com/us/page/zotac-gaming-zone-portable-handheld

I like that it has an OLED screen, but I think the Ally X would be the better buy.

I'm sticking with the Legion Go and waiting to see what comes out next year.

[bork]

This is what I've been playing around with recently- the Razer Edge.  It used to go for $400, but they slashed the price a few months ago to $250 and it's great for that price.  It's a little phone-sized tablet that comes with a Razer Kishi v2 Pro controller, which iirc is $100 by itself. Specs are pretty good and it has little to no trouble running games up to PS2 and Game Cube.  Saturn runs well too. The screen is an AMOLED 2400x1080 144hz display.  It's gorgeous and super smooth, although for emulation there's really no point at using 144hz so I usually drop it down to 60hz.  It has enough power that you can run a lot of games at crazy high resolutions- PSP at 1440P on here looks really slick!  Some emulators also allow for widescreen and even super widescreen options, like Flycast. 

It can also do video-out over USB-C up to 4K 60hz.  I had some issues with this on portable monitors (mainly issues charging and doing video out at the same time), but no issues with an hdmi dock connected to a TV.  A lot of these handhelds tend to have limited or shitty video-out features, so this working so well is welcome.  Something else that's pretty cool is that when using Android's developer options for desktop mode, you get desktop style versions of apps, I.E. browsers with tabs that work like s full OS browser and not a mobile version.

There were some issues with this thing at launch including micro sd cards being restricted to fat32, meaning files over 4gb wouldn't work, but these have been fixed with system updates and now exfat works.  Just something to keep in mind if you're looking at reviews on it from 2023.

[bork]

Saw game Beezy and I would like called Parcel Corps

JSR X Crazy Taxi

There's a demo on Steam.  Gonna check it out!

[Svejk]

So far, Gamescom has been the most boring show this year, IMO.  Only thing I was pumped about that was confirmed to have presentation, was Crimson Desert.. and all they've shown of it were some boss fights.  Nothing from Sega or nothing. 

Heh, I had no idea it was even going on. TBH that's always the show I least paid attention to; it feels there are much less interesting (from my perspective) announcements at Gamescom compared to TGS, the former E3, and The Game Awards.

Yeah, the Pope'a hosting and everything made it sound hype .. it wasn't. 

TGS next month is already sounding better though with KojiPro having a big presence.

[Himu]

Saw game Beezy and I would like called Parcel Corps

JSR X Crazy Taxi

There's a demo on Steam.  Gonna check it out!

It’s also on xbox. I’ll check it

Edit: it’s not on Xbox so I guess I won’t check it out. Weird because it said there was a demo

[Polident Hive]

https://www.zotac.com/us/page/zotac-gaming-zone-portable-handheld

I like that it has an OLED screen, but I think the Ally X would be the better buy.

I'm sticking with the Legion Go and waiting to see what comes out next year.

Saw the Ally X in a shop and it has a surprisingly good dpad. I take it the Ally X is a response to many criticisms of the original. I’m happy with the Steam Deck until a Deck 2 or a refined Lenovo device.

Wishful thinking but if one approaches my laptop power, it covers everything I’ll ever want to play. Again, maybe it’s stagnation in the industry that makes my laptop 4070 on quiet mode overkill for 1440p gaming.

[bork]

https://www.zotac.com/us/page/zotac-gaming-zone-portable-handheld

I like that it has an OLED screen, but I think the Ally X would be the better buy.

I'm sticking with the Legion Go and waiting to see what comes out next year.

Saw the Ally X in a shop and it has a surprisingly good dpad. I take it the Ally X is a response to many criticisms of the original. I’m happy with the Steam Deck until a Deck 2 or a refined Lenovo device.

Wishful thinking but if one approaches my laptop power, it covers everything I’ll ever want to play. Again, maybe it’s stagnation in the industry that makes my laptop 4070 on quiet mode overkill for 1440p gaming.

Dunno about 1440P, but with some of the new APUs just coming out, we may get crazy-good performance at 1080P.

[Svejk]

If this releases this year too....   

[demi]

Nintendo Direct was nothing but ports, remasters, and remakes lol

Highlights to me:

- Date on Suikoden 1&2 (March 6), 2025 is year of Suikoden
- Castlevania DS collection (although its goofy how the UI looks but what can you really do with 2 screens?)
- Atelier game coming to Xbox (world first?)
- Tales of Graces f released from PS3 prison
- Trails in the Sky remake (lol)

[Svejk]

Nintendo Direct was nothing but ports, remasters, and remakes lol

Highlights to me:

- Date on Suikoden 1&2 (March 6), 2025 is year of Suikoden
- Castlevania DS collection (although its goofy how the UI looks but what can you really do with 2 screens?)
- Atelier game coming to Xbox (world first?)
- Tales of Graces f released from PS3 prison
- Trails in the Sky remake (lol)

The DS Collection is huge for me.  Been waiting for this for quite some time. 

This year has been absolutely insane for me.  Year of the Svejk. 
Only thing that would launch this year to oblivion, would be SE dropping Xenogears Remake/aster of sorts.

[Polident Hive]

Yeah. DS collection is a nice surprise. Intended to replay those games with romhacks removing the touch inputs. These seem cleaner. Would’ve been nice if Harmony of Despair was added as a bonus. Think that was the last game to recycle the same sprites.

[Himu]

JONATHON!!!

CHARLOTTE!!!!

[Bebpo]

DS collection's great. Might even be better than the MvC collection for best retro game collection this year.

Graces F is hilarious because everyone thought it would be Xillia. Xillia really is the sad we don't talk about it game in the Tales series.

[Polident Hive]

Unless there’s an unforeseen screw up, this is hitting most of what I wanted out of one of these. 3.7” 4:3 960p screen, controls in the right places, grips. Should have enough power to handle all the 4:3 systems (Xbox excluded).

Well, that didn't take long to get replaced. Depends on specs, oled, grips but this Retroid 5 looks better.

[Svejk]

You had one job, Konami...
Why in the bloody hell did you make the DS Collection for PS5 only, and not for PS4, you fucking distinguished mentally-challenged fellows?!?!?!
 
You did this in the MGS Collection too and got so much backlash for it. Did you not learn??? Who the hell is handling their marketing? Because they need to be fired.

[Joe Molotov]

Buy a Switch so you can experience next-gen games.

[bork]

Unless there’s an unforeseen screw up, this is hitting most of what I wanted out of one of these. 3.7” 4:3 960p screen, controls in the right places, grips. Should have enough power to handle all the 4:3 systems (Xbox excluded).

Well, that didn't take long to get replaced. Depends on specs, oled, grips but this Retroid 5 looks better.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

Yup.  As always, with Retroid I would not buy either of these at launch and would highly recommend waiting to see what happens.  They have an unfortunate track record of launching faulty hardware that they either fix in later batches (Retroid Pocket 4 launching with trigger issues) or not at all (Retroid Flip, which they discontinued after tons of units' hinges broke).  They generally will fix these issues but no telling on the turnaround time.

Also with both models, the question is will we get regular and pro models at launch like they did with the RP4, or is this going to be another case of a better version coming out 4-6 months after release?

Right now, I still say the best bargain for something in the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro/most likely 5's price range is the Razer Edge.

EDIT: What if the Retroid Mini is the regular version and the 5 is the pro version this time around? 

[Polident Hive]

I'm in no rush. Depending on price and size I may consider the smaller option. The 5.5" screen is getting past the super portable range. Although community comparisons place it as only slightly longer than the Retroid 4 (and Switch lite?) because of its smaller bezels.

TV out is also something I care about and it's my understanding the Retroid 4 has a funky work around there. It's using a 750p iphone screen and outputs a mirror image because the chip doesn't support usb c video out. Even if it were the case again, at least it's 1080p.

[bork]

I'm in no rush. Depending on price and size I may consider the smaller option. The 5.5" screen is getting past the super portable range. Although community comparisons place it as only slightly longer than the Retroid 4 (and Switch lite?) because of its smaller bezels.

TV out is also something I care about and it's my understanding the Retroid 4 has a funky work around there. It's using a 750p iphone screen and outputs a mirror image because the chip doesn't support usb c video out. Even if it were the case again, at least it's 1080p.

I tried the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro- didn't have any issues with video out (it did support video-out over USB-C btw).  What didn't work at all was the Android experimental desktop mode setting.  I know this is a super-niche thing, but I was hoping to use it for web browsing while connected to a portable monitor and it just couldn't do this whereas the Razer Edge is able to with no problems.

The main reason I returned the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro was due to the screen being kind of shit (ghosting and just seemed to be low quality in general) and the performance not being as good as the Edge.  It's weird because I liked the Retroid Pocket 3+ screen.  With them switching to AMOLED, there shouldn't be a problem with their screens unless there's still ghosting issues.  Oddly I don't see people mentioning this in reviews.  I thought it was pretty bad.  Even the much cheaper Miyoo Mini screen looks way, way better.

[Svejk]

https://x.com/tomqe/status/1829814090942070886

  Is this because I changed my avatar?!?

[bork]

https://x.com/tomqe/status/1829814090942070886

  Is this because I changed my avatar?!?

 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Maybe he's going to Platinum to work on Bayonetta 4

[close]

[D3RANG3D]

[D3RANG3D]

[Svejk]

https://x.com/tomqe/status/1829814090942070886

  Is this because I changed my avatar?!?

 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Maybe he's going to Platinum to work on Bayonetta 4

[close]

People keep speculating he went to SE to work on FFXVII.  Seriously not buying that.  I hope he didn't go to some big conglomerate type, like Tencent or something.   

My take; He's been chatting with others who left CAP, and they were like, "Yeah man, just go start your own studio, whip out a game, then sell the studio off... Boom. Retirement."

[chronovore]

Saudi Arabia and China are still writing big checks to developers with strong histories. It's likely Tencent or similar have funded an operation.

[bork]

Saudi Arabia and China are still writing big checks to developers with strong histories. It's likely Tencent or similar have funded an operation.

  There are rumblings that Tencent and Net Ease are scaling back investments in Japan.

Net Ease did just lay off most of Ouka, the studio who made Visions Of Mana, right after the game released, with speculation they are shutting them down. 

[MMaRsu]

Concord is being taken offline on 6 september, full refunds being issued

LOL

https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/03/an-important-update-on-concord/

Biggest first party bomb I've ever seen

[Svejk]

Concord is being taken offline on 6 september, full refunds being issued

LOL

https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/03/an-important-update-on-concord/

Biggest first party bomb I've ever seen

That is just insane.  I hope this, in contrast with how well Astrobot will perform, will be a wake up call for Sony.  Sounds like this along with what's happened at Bungie and ND, a better organization and approach is being established.  Glad people are voting with their time and money.   Not everyone can be an Activision Blizzard multiplayer money maker.

[chronovore]

Concord is being taken offline on 6 september, full refunds being issued

LOL

https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/03/an-important-update-on-concord/

Biggest first party bomb I've ever seen

I desperately want a postmortem on this game.

Yes, charging full retail and adding a premium currency model on that is likely the main cause, but holy shit, why not pivot to F2P?

[chronovore]

Saudi Arabia and China are still writing big checks to developers with strong histories. It's likely Tencent or similar have funded an operation.

  There are rumblings that Tencent and Net Ease are scaling back investments in Japan.

Net Ease did just lay off most of Ouka, the studio who made Visions Of Mana, right after the game released, with speculation they are shutting them down. 

China's buying spree has reminded me of France's same moves in the late '90s. It's a land grab, with the understanding that they won't hold all of it.

[Polident Hive]

https://twitter.com/retroid0fficial/status/1831175799988240861
(Don’t know how to embed twitter)

Interesting how the Retroid Mini and 5 have the same chip. Leaning back towards the mini. There’s enough to do PS2 and GameCube without compromise.

[bork]

I think the Razer Edge has a better processor, so still glad I went for it with the price drop.  Liking that the Retroids will have Linux support as an option now as well.  Maybe we'll get some Portmaster stuff.

Also interested in the Mini, but again this is definitely a brand whose products I'd wait at least a month or two on to let the early buyers beta test first.

[Polident Hive]

Used Batocera on the Raspberry Pi and played around with the Steam Deck version. It’s a great avenue for a dedicated emulation device. If no drop off in performance vs Android, having the Retroid Mini setup to play everything before 2005 sounds pretty great.

[Svejk]

Bruh....



Sean be like...

[Bebpo]

Uh oh, they're going after my jrpg weakness of fishing mini-games.

[chronovore]

I couldn't get past the fishing minigame in Dragon's Dogma. I was completely shit at it.

[Himu]

No man’s sky looks incredible. Game came out almost 10 years ago and still gets support. Insane for a non MMO to get that kind of longevity.

[MMaRsu]

Concord is being taken offline on 6 september, full refunds being issued

LOL

https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/03/an-important-update-on-concord/

Biggest first party bomb I've ever seen

I desperately want a postmortem on this game.

Yes, charging full retail and adding a premium currency model on that is likely the main cause, but holy shit, why not pivot to F2P?

Probably because barely anyone played it when the beta was free. I dont think many ppl are going to be invested in a F2P game if it has a reputation like this.

I bet they just send this one out to the pasture.

[chronovore]

Eight years, though. I know how the sunk costs fallacy works, but even so I'd expect a little more effort in propping up Concord other than 2 weeks of bad sales.

Look at how SQEX ralled on FF XIV Online. That looked like a goner, but it was turned into a very successful game.

[Polident Hive]

I think the Razer Edge has a better processor, so still glad I went for it with the price drop.  Liking that the Retroids will have Linux support as an option now as well.  Maybe we'll get some Portmaster stuff.

Also interested in the Mini, but again this is definitely a brand whose products I'd wait at least a month or two on to let the early buyers beta test first.

There’s some twist in how they’re selling it. Not so much for the Mini, as it’s unchanged with only a $10 early discount. With the Retroid 5, they’re adding 2GB of ram and Android 13, so release price potentially going to $230 and up. Preorder price is $200. It’s a risk for saving $30+.

I’ll admit I don’t understand the controversy. Something about Switch emulation? Mini has that lesser ram and Android 10. Doesn’t seem to impact emulators I care about. And only the Mini has the Japan Saturn colors. Goofy but tempting over black.

[D3RANG3D]

[bork]

I think the Razer Edge has a better processor, so still glad I went for it with the price drop.  Liking that the Retroids will have Linux support as an option now as well.  Maybe we'll get some Portmaster stuff.

Also interested in the Mini, but again this is definitely a brand whose products I'd wait at least a month or two on to let the early buyers beta test first.

There’s some twist in how they’re selling it. Not so much for the Mini, as it’s unchanged with only a $10 early discount. With the Retroid 5, they’re adding 2GB of ram and Android 13, so release price potentially going to $230 and up. Preorder price is $200. It’s a risk for saving $30+.

I’ll admit I don’t understand the controversy. Something about Switch emulation? Mini has that lesser ram and Android 10. Doesn’t seem to impact emulators I care about. And only the Mini has the Japan Saturn colors. Goofy but tempting over black.

(Image removed from quote.)

Not sure what controversy you're referring to, but it is to my understanding that Switch emulation needs 8GB of ram to work properly.  At least for 3D games.  Maybe that's it?  Dunno.

I would still advise against the FOMO and recommend waiting until after release to see what happens.  Can't say it enough- these guys have a bad track record with product launches but they do fix the problems with later batches.

[Polident Hive]

I think the Razer Edge has a better processor, so still glad I went for it with the price drop.  Liking that the Retroids will have Linux support as an option now as well.  Maybe we'll get some Portmaster stuff.

Also interested in the Mini, but again this is definitely a brand whose products I'd wait at least a month or two on to let the early buyers beta test first.

There’s some twist in how they’re selling it. Not so much for the Mini, as it’s unchanged with only a $10 early discount. With the Retroid 5, they’re adding 2GB of ram and Android 13, so release price potentially going to $230 and up. Preorder price is $200. It’s a risk for saving $30+.

I’ll admit I don’t understand the controversy. Something about Switch emulation? Mini has that lesser ram and Android 10. Doesn’t seem to impact emulators I care about. And only the Mini has the Japan Saturn colors. Goofy but tempting over black.

(Image removed from quote.)

Not sure what controversy you're referring to, but it is to my understanding that Switch emulation needs 8GB of ram to work properly.  At least for 3D games.  Maybe that's it?  Dunno.

I would still advise against the FOMO and recommend waiting until after release to see what happens.  Can't say it enough- these guys have a bad track record with product launches but they do fix the problems with later batches.

That essentially answers it. Originally the two models were Android 10 and 6GB ram. People complained, I suppose, and the Retroid 5 got bumped to Android 13 and 8GB ram. Mini is releasing this month so they have the option to flash Android 13 but no hardware changes. With a 4:3 handheld, I don’t think people are looking to play Switch.

[bork]

[Polident Hive]

Mini review for the 8bitdo 2C controller.

Tried a pricier version with a dock and extra features some time ago and didn’t like it. Got this updated cheap version because I needed a controller and it’s under $30.

+ plug in dongle and it works on PC and Steam Deck. No setup.

- weird color choices. I got the orange and green one.

+ Dpad feels nice. Clicky but not too clicky somewhere between Vita and SNES. Older one was stiff and mushy.

- Dpad is imprecise. Like it’s biased for the diagonal direction. It’s easy to press off the cardinal directions because they feel like a sliver of input. Noticeable playing Mario 3.

+ all other main controls and comfort are good.

Good for the price. Has extra features like a third set of shoulder buttons and turbo. Impressive how decent third party controllers are these days.

[Himu]

youtube links not loading on this page for anyone

[demi]

Works fine on mobile and desktop for me

[Himu]

Works fine on mobile but not on desktop. It’s my end.

That video is fun as fuck

[demi]

2025 is Retro Revival

- Suikoden 1&2
- Lunar 1&2
- Soul Reaver 1&2

New games OUT

Old games IN

[Svejk]

Lunar Collection! Joyyyyyyy! 

[Himu]

Always wanted to play Lunar. Looking forward to it

[Svejk]

Always wanted to play Lunar. Looking forward to it

Big question will be if they're just going to up and copy the WD translation, or redo it.  I thought it was fine, but others hated it.

Man... If they offered the option for the Sega CD version OST for L1, loads will be dolloped.  It's so much better than the PS1 remake OST (which is still good). 

Or, if they also had the PSP remake on there too... It was solid AF as well with beautifully redone sprites and back drops, but still used the PS1 OST.

[Svejk]

I hope to hell that Dino Crisis coming to PS classics will allow individual purchase.  I really don't want to have to up my tier just to play it on there.  Shammon, CAP.. Don't pull this RE:DC bullshit on Dino Crisis too.

[Himu]

Did psp remake use WD translation?