monosukoi

Same here, YouTube looks much brighter and there's more visible detail.

@nodima: You should be able to use your DualShock 4 if you connect it with USB. That's what I did yesterday since my DS3 wouldn't work.

It's pretty rough to look at these days, imo. Kinda crazy how far my personal thresholds for technical performance have changed. It's one of my favourite games of all time but playing it on a PS3 is quite difficult for me. I'll give it another shot but perhaps it's a memory best left kept in my head.

@phos: Agreed about DRS, it has made passing trivial in most cases. However, the other problem is the top 3 teams having so much more pace than the rest, that the midfield teams don't even bother to defend. Watching a Mercedes drive up through the field (like we've seen in the past 2 races) just isn't that exciting when they're 2 seconds a lap faster and have DRS.

Hey hi!

I picked this game up recently in my desire to beat all the mainline FF games, since I'd never played X before. Going into it I was super dubious of the impact that voice acting especially would have. Right now I'm about 20 hours in, although I've put a few hours into Blitzball/other stuff. So I'm a fair way into the game I'd guess, but not near the end.

I was in a very similar position to you at around Kilika, where I felt no desire to get to know these characters, why was I doing any of this, etc. I was flipping between the English and Japanese VA in a way that was detrimental to my enjoyment of the story, but I couldn't quite settle which I wanted. In the end I chose English and I'm happy I did. Yeah, the voice acting is rough in a lot of places, but I've grown to find it strangely endearing.

The game really started to pick up when I got to (and out of) Luca, which shouldn't be too far along for you, iirc. Things start to come together and the journey you're really on becomes apparent, which I think is the strongest point of the game so far - it really does feel like you're on a pilgrimage. I found that it takes a while for Tidus to feel like an integrated member of the party (which is well justified imo), but he does, eventually. The story and the world has become infinitely more interesting the further I've gone on and I can only hope you get the same reaction, because it feels really unique. I love the dynamic of the religious establishment and the insistence on not using machina. You start to realise what religion means in this world and I feel like that's a rare sight in videogames.

As for combat/the sphere grid, I can't say too much other than I think the sphere grid is not something you need to worry about. Sure, that makes it kind of a chore, but the game is absurdly easy most of the time. I've been mostly following the obvious path in the sphere grid and while I don't find it particularly interesting, it's fine. I'd hope it would be more interesting on the expert mode. Combat is quite hit or miss, I think a lot of the random encounters are kinda shitty, especially since from zone-to-zone, it often feels like you're fighting the same archetypes with a different skin/model. There are some really cool boss fights though, that use the contextual commands quite well. Ultimately I'd probably agree with you that combat is a little one-note. Oh and for enemy elemental types, make sure one or two of your party members has the Sensor ability tied to a weapon/accessory.

It feels somewhat banal but I would just say stick with it for a while yet. Meet the antagonist. Get the full party together. Play some blitzball. The game quickly goes places in the story after a fairly easy-going start, but stick with it. Anyway, I need to go finish it myself... ya?

I just finished The Witcher 2 for a second time (taking the alternative path). I played it first in 2014 and thought it was amazing back then, but playing it through again and seeing how strong the game manages to be with different events unfolding is still extremely impressive.

For all the deserved love TW3 gets, I honestly feel that 2's story and characters are more consistently strong, putting you in a series of difficult positions and presented with decisions where the outcome is never "good" or "bad". I'm always going to recommend that people play TW2 before diving into TW3. The number of people that have played 2 must be very small in comparison to that of 3, I feel.

I'll be very surprised if he doesn't give it 5 stars given how positive he's been so far about it in trailers and at E3 etc.

No?

If anything, recent events would probably inspire a few more people to buy the game.

Seconding The Witness as a suggestion.

There's no urgency and no threat. You can't fall off ledges or get too lost, and the game encourages you to look around and really take notice of the environment around you. Looking around in first person games comes second nature to seasoned players but I notice people who don't play those games don't ever take the time to really look at where they are, even if they're fairly comfortable moving and looking in a first person space. I think The Witness would be a good incentive for that.

Not worth it IMO.

If you really want upgraded audio for your PC I'd look at an external DAC. I have a small USB one from FiiO for my headphones and it's great.

Welcome new F1 fan! Enjoy the stay.