Topic: Pure Xbox Game Club - On Indefinite Hiatus

@TheComebackKid Just drop me a message on Xbox and I'll go over everything. My Gamertag is listed.

@GamingFan4Lyf AH, OK; I'll do that when I go home for lunch!! Thanks!!

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Hello everyone, we are getting to that time of the month where we need to ask for a few more votes, however it is clear that September will be a slow month around here as everyone and their mothers will be playing Starfield (some even from the first day of the month) therefore I will be proposing to add a vote to Gris which recently was announced to be released early in the month and it is a very short game (about 3h). Obviously the majority of the votes still rules but I feel it is is the only way to have at least someone playing something in the club next month

Current list of game and votes below.

Cheers.

Amnesia Collection -
As Dusk Falls -
Broken Age -
Dordogne - 1 (R1s)
Cassette Beasts -
Coffee Talk/Coffee Talk Ep 2 -
Contrast -
Fe -
Fuga: Melodies of Steel - 1 (Blt)
Genesis Noir - 1 (Blt)
Gris - 4 (Blt, Nbn, Bbe, Tma)
Hypnospace Outlaw -
Maquette -
Max: The Curse of the Brotherhood -
McPixel 3 - 1 (Nbn)
Metal Hellsinger -
Planet of Lana - 1 (R1s)
Quake -
Screamride -
Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath - 1 (Rdb)
Sunset Overdrive - 3 (Blt, G4l, Rdb)
Tunic -
Unravel -

I'll stick in another vote for sunset overdrive

@ralphdibny vote added, cheers!

@Balta666 I'll toss a 2nd vote for Gris. And McPixel3. Both seem shorter, so I'll get some time with them and hopefully finish them.

However, I will be mostly tied up with both starfield and sea of stars. So the shorter the better.

@NintendoByNature votes added!

Gris works for me

I managed to get back to ori and make some progress in the Wellspring. I enjoyed blind forest but will of the wisps really is a step up! What shards are/were folks rocking? I'm going with the wall climb, reckless damage and orb collection.

@BaldBelper78 okidoki, vote added!

@Balta666 Gris is a lovely game. I really enjoyed it's elegant simplicity on Switch... and yes it's short. I won't be playing but will give it a vote.

@themightyant vote added!

I took some time for Ori last night. One thing I didn’t really do the first time I played was listen to the game.

For context:
I play using Dolby Atmos for Headphones.

I decided to switch from Movie setting using the Detailed EQ preset to the Game Setting with Performance Mode disabled and EQ set to Off. It started out as a test just to see the difference between the two as Movie option was recommended even for games.

Wow. Just. Wow.

Look, if you have a good set of headphones, I highly recommend using them. The game was mixed with Dolby Atmos as well, so Atmos for Headphones is the best fit.

There was so much little detail to the audio design to the game. I don’t know if Game Preset heightens certain frequency ranges for games, but the whole game’s audio just woke up - more than just “oh that enemy is above me” like I got with the Movie setting.

Theres little creaks of wood as you jump around.
The vegetation audibly “buckles” and crunches under Ori when moving.
Birds chirping.
Bugs buzzing around.
Wind rustling in the trees.
Water trickling through rocks.
Gentle rumbling of waterfalls as you approach.
Wet viscous sounds coming from slug-like enemies.

It all sounds like you are in this tangible place full of life, mystery, danger, and beauty.

I was standing in one spot in the game on my way to Wellspring and I thought my cat was thumping around and playing with something over my left shoulder (I have an opening between my living room and kitchen that has a counter with home decor on it).

I turned around and saw nothing. I took my headphones off to listen for a thump and I heard nothing. Put my headphones back on and the thump over my shoulder came back.

I have no idea what background noise that was supposed to be in the game, but it definitely had looking around my house when I heard it. 😂

Anyways, the next time you fire this one up, just listen to it. It’s just another beautiful touch added this already great game.

@Balta666 I don't really have space in my gaming schedule for the next few months to participate in the gameclub. Too many interesting new games coming out which will keep me occupied for the coming months. But if a games is being played that i already finished i will comment and share my experience

@Lavalera fair enough! Do you want me to remove you from the tag list meanwhile so you're not bothered by the notifications?

@Balta666 You can keep me on the list. That way I will know if a game is chosen that i already played or if some unexpected gap opens up in my game time I might still join My comment was mostly meant to inform you since i probably won't be playing the games i'll keep myself from voting on any games

@Lavalera ok, cool.

Played a bit more Ori today. Been quite busy this month so I am allocating the next two days to finishing it up (providing my brain doesn't give me too much of the all encompassing "need to do something productive" thought pattern to distract me)

I don't think I'm very far. I'm on the way to meet Kwolok and I've picked up the dash. I must say that I don't think I'm very keen on the trials having tried one. I don't mind doing a few tries to complete something but I think that was around 6-7 tries? The map is a bit too confusing/unfamiliar to do a fast paced race to a goal leaving the ghost behind so I can come first. At least retrying is straightforward and you get taken back to the beginning after you complete it. No quick retry mid-race if you know you've flopped is a bit of a bummer though but I guess you can just kill yourself and retry. Might be more tedious in later trials once you have more life to drain.

I've also increased the sharpness in the settings to maximum. Looks more like a game now than the kind of blurry fairy tale look but I'm not sure what the point of 4K@120hz is if everything just looks blurry?

@ralphdibny I don't ever recall 'everything' being blurry, in fact I remember the graphics on the layer you play on are super crisp. But the foreground and background layers often have a blur to differentiate where you were playing and give it that ethereal look which I appreciated.
.

@themightyant ok maybe not everything lol. Just the default sharpness setting seemed to be at odds with the boast of the 4K@120 setting. I tried to tell myself it was for the ethereal aesthetic you mentioned but I've caved and whacked sharpness up to maximum, will see how I get on!