Air crash in Washington

Not an FPS, but if you like sniper type games you can try the Sniper Elite series. Maybe 4 & 5, which is pretty up to date graphics wise. Nice sandbox to mess around in. Check out a gameplay video or two on YT maybe.

I'm out of the loop a bit with FPS, playing mostly open world fantasy when I do get some time. Did you ever play F.E.A.R., DA? It's a bit dated now graphics wise but still passable and a fantastic FPS. I think I may actually fire it up again myself for a palate cleanser once I'm done with Elden Ring. Start with the original and then you can look at the expansions. DOOM of course, if you like that sort of thing. Maybe Stalker 2 - although it seems to have some pretty stiff system requirements so not sure how the laptop will handle it.

Not an FPS, but if you like sniper type games you can try the Sniper Elite series. Maybe 4 & 5,

Great games, thanks, did do

"Did you ever play F.E.A.R., DA?"

Shot Pakie, no I haven't, I will have a look at it

"I think I may actually fire it up again myself for a palate cleanser once I'm done with Elden Ring"

I almost tried this, because I hear a lot about it, just wasn' t sure if it was my thing, are you enjoying it?

I almost tried this, because I hear a lot about it, just wasn' t sure if it was my thing, are you enjoying it?

I am, but it is a "soulslike". If you've never played Souls games (Dark Souls, Demon Souls, etc.), it's a pretty unforgiving difficulty and there's no hand holding. You get dumped in the world and told "here you are, figure it out." No quest markers, no journal, vague clues and guidance if anything at all. Of course there are guides and walkthroughs online but on first playthrough I prefer to make it up as I go along as much as possible otherwise you ruin the enjoyment of your own discovery and exploration. So it's not for everyone and you really need to commit to improving your own skill and mastering the mechanics of the game if you want to progress. Maybe check out some gameplay on the Tube first. 

Will do, thanks Pakie

Did you finish RDR2

Yep, I did. I don't finish many games these days but that one I did. And I am in a second playthrough which I'll continue at some stage, depending on how many fresh shinies I have to fight off. You keep discovering something new in that game, it's crazy.

Nice to know you played competitively Stav, wouldn't have known. I'm just an enthusiastic recreational gamer

Well its not something that's really discussed much on this forum, so I never mentioned it.

An honest mistake.

And I wouldn't have brought it up had you not been bragging about your knowledge of gaming.

I'm simply making the point that game sales are based around hype and the studio's and/or franchise's reputation. There have been plenty of games that tanked despite initially selling well. The new Dragon Age being a new addition to that list...and most of the reviewers out there blame the woker than woke writing. Here's a review on how woke it is...from a person that declares themself ultra woke:

Cyberpunk 2077 did not tank after selling well. Its been a massively successful game. You can play as a gay or trans character if you want, its game world features trans advertising and there's an NPC character that's a transwomen that features heavily in one of the side missions in the game.

It meets all the criteria for being a "woke" game yet it was massively successful. Sure part of it was down to the developers reputation and hype for the game as well as Cyberpunk being a well established franchise in the table top RPG scene. But those reason's don't invalidate Cyberpunk's success any more than any other game, GTA 6's success will be partly down to hype and developer reputation as well. Cyberpunk was actually a really good game, with a really good story (the expansion was even better) and it absolutely pushed the boundaries video game graphics, on a high end PC its probably the best looking video game ever made. 

The latest Dragon Age, never sold well to begin with. It missed its sales expectations by half.

I guarantee you their will be games in the future that will be considered woke that will go on to be very successful and other ones that won't. It's ultimately down to whether a game is actually good or not to play, not a lack of wokeness. 

I'm every bit as sadistic as you when it comes to choosing difficulty. Honestly, most of the time I find that the hardest mode is probably how the games are supposed to be played. I find that playing on the hardest difficulty makes it a very different game from playing on normal mode.

I don't necessarily think its the way the developers intended the game to be played. Sometimes it is but I think sometime the developers intend a game to be played multiple times and that they want you to play on the lower difficulties to learn the game first before tackling the higher difficulty levels. I'm 100% sure neither Doom Eternal nor the last Wolfenstein game was meant to be played first time on the one life highest difficulty mode.

I wouldn't know what the second hardest difficulty on Eternal is like since I only played it on the hardest. And things DID one-shot me constantly. Even once I'd upgraded my health and armour to max, I'd be doing fine and then my health bar would suddenly vanish.

There is no difference other than you when you die on the hardest mode its game over, you have to start again and can only save at the end of the mission. You fight the exact same number of enemies with the exact same A.I and damage.

What game did you play competitively? I'm hoping it's Street Fighter  or an RTS... and not COD.

Yes Street Fighter 4 was the game I played the most seriously, though I've played a lot of different games and genres. I was pretty good at the original Company of Heroes which was an RTS as well. I did play a fair bit of a combat flight simulator as well called IL-2 Sturmovik. Other games I played a fair bit where Day of Defeat (3.1/Steam and Source), Unreal Tournament 2004, Company of Heroes 2/3 as well Street Fighter 5. I did play a lot of the first two Call of Duties but the later games much less so. While I enjoyed them, I just found them too repetitive.

I never finished Dark Souls, got about halfway through just past O&S and Anor Londo before some new shiny thing probably drew my attention. 

I literally only beat Dark Souls Remastered a few weeks back. Have owned Dark Souls for years and probably first played it over 10 years ago, but like you something shiny distracted me and only got back to it over Christmas this year.

Then I went a long time without playing any Souls, but I got Elden Ring on Steam's winter sale and I'm having fun with that now. Incredible world to explore, I go "what the hell is that" more than I've probably ever done in an open world. Will go back to DS and finish it some day and probably take on some of the others as well, unless Fromsoft comes up with a new shiny before then. But I'll be busy with ER for some time still, it's huge and I take my time exploring everything. Best game I've played in a good while.

Yeah Elden Ring is a brilliant game. Enjoy it.

Not an FPS, but if you like sniper type games you can try the Sniper Elite series. Maybe 4 & 5, which is pretty up to date graphics wise. Nice sandbox to mess around in. Check out a gameplay video or two on YT maybe.

Ah yes the Nazi nut cracking simulator. Best 7 out of 10 game services ever made. Just finished the latest game Sniper Elite Resistance, its good but its pretty much exactly the same as 5.

I'm out of the loop a bit with FPS, playing mostly open world fantasy when I do get some time. Did you ever play F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R is another all time classic. A combination of really good A.I and excellent gun feel and bullet time affect make it one of the best single player FPS games around even now nearly 20 years later.

Stav, here's something picked up in Singapore over a decade ago now...

I guessing yours was Mad Catz.

I much preferred the Square gate in mine...Octagonal and Round never felts as efficient as Square. 

Haha this stick was a bit special at the time, as it could be used on PS, XBox and PX. 

...of course the buttons are Sanwa.

...and by coincidence, my flatmate in Oxford was the lead sound coder at Rebellion...who made AVP and more recently the Sniper Elite series, and was a demon Ryu player.

"There is no difference other than you when you die on the hardest mode its game over, you have to start again and can only save at the end of the mission. You fight the exact same number of enemies with the exact same A.I and damage."

DA, Overwatch 2 is fun...and free to play. 

Stav, here's something picked up in Singapore over a decade ago now...

Pakie...

Fine Stav, you're not a casual.

Plum I heard of Nioh 2 from a dude with a gaming channel on Youtube, FightingCowboy who spoke highly of it, and he is a seasoned souler. Just checked and he actually streamed it again a month ago. The few gameplay videos I watched immediately after I heard of it the first time didn't particularly grab me, but I'll check out this recent stream of the dude to get a better idea of the gameplay. Might give it a shot if it goes on sale again.

"DA, Overwatch 2 is fun...and free to play"

Used to play Tekken, but I assume there are other better fighting games out there as well