relaxplease

Didn't KFC develop a console at some point? It could do 4k/60 with raytracing and heat your chicken dinner at the same time. They also offered D4 Early Access Beta codes with the purchase of a Double Down chicken sandwich

Seems like KFC missed an opportunity here. Xbox stole their thunder

@FatalBubbles I don't think that's true. Game pass quests, the rewards app on xbox, the daily set and searching bing on edge/mobile are still offering 17-18k per month, same as it's always been

The only thing that's changed is the structure of the game pass quests, but they offer the same amount of points and are largely the same activities as before, just slightly longer, or more involved.

And now moving the daily achievement to quests instead of the app. We'll see how many points they offer for that. It could well be lower than before.

@frosty360 the links I provided are for US. I looked on reddit and you should be able to do them there in the UK. Try to replace the "us" with "gb" in the /en-us/ part of the link.

If that doesn't work there is a pretty active rewards community on reddit, they provide the links there if you search for "reddit microsoft rewards fitness challenge uk" it will come up.

@FatalBubbles it hasn't been lowered, you're just choosing not to participate. Which is fine, keeping up with daily tasks is not for everyone. But that's essentially all the rewards program is

@frosty360 I'm in the US and I know it varies by region but I don't know the details on that

@shoeses it sounds like you need to do a clean install of windows.

Why can't you navigate edge? It's a basic chromium web browser

The fitness videos and shopping game were right on the rewards page on edge in the "more activities" section a while back and then I bookmarked the pages.

For the fitness thing find the short videos in the 7, 14, and 30 day challenges. Lots of 1-2 min videos available.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/fitness-challenges/

For the shopping game scroll down the page halfway and there is a blue section where you guess the lowest priced of 3 products 10 times. If you get it right you get 10 pts each time.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/shopping

@shoeses can you install the xbox app on your pc? Because you download and install game pass games from that, not the MS store. I don't play much on pc, I just load up the MS Solitaire Collection and that counts for the offer.

@FatalBubbles The xbox app (different than the game pass app) on my tablet has 3 daily offers worth a total 165-185 pts a day. 1 is play one level of Jeweled which launches directly from the app, 2 is play any pc game pass game, 3 is login to the xbox app on mobile once per day. Takes 2 mins.

On Edge there's the 2 fitness videos for another 40 per day. The shopping game which will usually get you 40-50 a day, just blindly guessing. Takes another 5 mins.

The weekly game pass quests are worth as much as the old monthly quests, you just have to actually play the games now and it's spread out over 4 weeks.

They've shifted points around, but it's definitely not less than it was before. There's more points available now, by almost 50%. It's 35k pts for 3 months GPU, and I'm earning that in 6 weeks, spending ~10 mins a day. I'm at 23,786 pts this month and that's without spending any money, with 3 days left and the new weekly quests that I haven't done yet, and missing the last several days of the achievement offer that hasn't been working.

I encourage everyone to go check out Rewards Hunter on youtube. He has a great channel that keeps you up to date on all offers and does step by step videos on how to earn all of the weekly game pass quests. I usually don't need his videos, but when I do they are really helpful. He also just seems like a pretty decent guy.

@Chuffer that's not true. I'm earning more points now than ever before. ~25k points a month on free offers. It used to be 17-18k.

that trex busting in like the Kool Aid man and the wall just shatters into perfectly rectangular chunks lmao

@grumpypotato you can skip dialogue, hold B. There will be mounts. You can choose which ring to replace by pressing Y to compare then holding Y to change which slot you're comparing.

I didn't play the story much at all, saving it for June. I did level each class. It's pretty good. There's definitely a lot of meat on the bone.

My only real concern is the side dungeon layouts and objectives. These will be main end game activities and they were fairly basic and repetitive. Exploring the overworld felt great though, even with other players around. I wish we could have had access to mounts.

Druid and barb were slower but not weak by any means if you experimented a bit. Not all classes were equal in D2 either and it was just fine.

It got its hooks in me, in a way D2 did 20+ years ago (D3 was good not great), I kept thinking I was done and coming back to try one more thing over both weekends. I can't wait to get the whole enchilada in June to really sink my teeth into. I'm hungry now

I would like to try it at some point, but I use pc for work all day and I really just prefer to play games in an easy chair with a controller. Still staring at a screen, but it feels different lol

I would pay extra for a GPU tier that includes DLC. So when they give it for free feels good man

The way I look at it is sort of... what if D3 was actually really good? That's how D4 is. The atmosphere is pretty great and what Diablo should be. Time will tell if the gameplay stays slower, I have a feeling it will speed up significantly in endgame. I kind of wish I had the overworld to myself, but some of the events were fun with a group. I think a week or two after launch or new seasons that shouldn't be an issue though.

I'm looking forward to trying Necro and Druid next weekend. Really ready for June. The game is gonna be massive, even without playing every season it should be worth it.

I played Mass Effect LE, and Skyrim SE because they're some of my favorite games, they're on game pass and I could get the achievements again.

Other than a few exceptions, I'm not going back to any game to replay it anymore, there's just too much else to play, let alone for some minor graphical improvements.

I'm not paying for remakes or remasters.

I guess if someone was really into GTAV Online this might make sense?

Meh got 100% a couple days ago. Logging i to D4 beta now!

Been playing today for several hours. I see a lot of reviews in the store saying it crashes on xbones constantly but it's running great on SX. I spent so much time on Civ 5 that I just never bothered with 6, but some of the improvements are pretty nice so far.

I will definitely look into the dlc you guys mentioned.

@Ashadelo in the 2nd weekend yes. The first weekend for early access no, only pre order and other promo codes can access the beta

St. Patrick's Day 2023... gettin drunk and slayin demons. Just as god intended

Friendly tip, search the full name Diablo IV Open Beta in the xbox store or it won't show up.

Excellent. It's got a nice slot along side MC Legends to keep me busy until Redfall.

Just finished the last 2 achvs in Wo Long, pretty great game overall. Diablo 4 the next 2 weekends, Civ 6 until Ghostwire, then Redfall back to D4 until Starfield. That's basically the rest of the year sorted lol

Oh yeah, maybe some Motorsport, Flintlock, Lies of P, Benedict Cumberfox, hopefully Stalker 2

I tried this on pc a while back and I really don't get it. Maybe I'm missing something but nothing about it stood out to me.

@RentedPanda Frostpunk is pretty good. It's a city builder mostly, with some rts elements. It's pretty hard, you really have to manage resources to make it through the cold. It's still on there, if you're interested. I enjoyed it

I liked Hades, I can recognize it's well made, I just don't really like action roguelikes. After a few runs I'm just not into starting all over, running through the same sections. I like the deckbuilders though, like slay the spire, monster train.

5/10 and 2 of the others, Hades and Frostpunk, had their first installment on game pass, so there's a chance those make it too, eventually.

Halo 2 was when I actually played and cared about MP. That was the most fun for me. Don't even think I played the campaign through until a couple years ago with MCC, but it didn't matter to me at all at the time.

3 out of 4 aint bad. I know I'll play Benedict Fox and Legends. Homestead Arcana looks like maybe it could be good, I like farm games sometimes, but can't tell.

Everspace coming in summer, competing with Diablo 4 and that other space game... oh yeah Starfield. Even though it looks decent just probably won't have time for that. Maybe in fall depending on what's still in the pipeline.

wo long. I think it's the best 3rd party game they've added day one on game pass

@Kaloudz try the Liu Bei set, the dual swords have really cheap OP martial arts. The X skill only costs 142 and mimics guarding while you hold it down and charges up an attack that triggers when you release the button. So you basically can't take damage while anything close to you gets shredded, then release for big damage. The armor has a pretty good effect too, a small heal on every deflect and then a spirit generation buff that triggers whenever you heal.

@GeeEssEff can you choose where to help? Like, what if I want to help but not Lu Bu lol

@AlwaysPlaying I felt the same way, ME, Stargate or maybe The Expanse. Some remnant of alien technology that allows humans to reach distant star systems. More grounded than Stargate or ME though.

@Tharsman others might not, but I would also include the port of AOE 2 and 4, which aren't new but are a huge step in the right direction for MS as a platform agnostic publisher and for console gaming in general.

In the same vein as MSFS, people downplay the significance, but it's a really good thing that those previously pc only games are being delivered in high fidelity on more affordable hardware.

SOTN is GOAT, for 3 bucks

I see they fixed the Biscuit quest so I can get my completion and uninstall.

Hopefully the sequel isn't a Ubisoft open world collectathon with zero depth and instead focuses on immersion and actually having fun things to do in Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.

@Moonglow Legends looks like it could be doing some really interesting things with rts. Not sure how popular that will be mainstream, but I'm excited for it.

I liked dungeons until I ran out of arrows and couldn't play my ranged multi shot build. They said it would be gear creating the character class and being based on minecraft, which has infinite possibilities, dungeons felt very limited. Maybe it's a bit harsh, but I just didn't stick with it very long.

@mousieone isn't it the same map though? How much of a new game is it? Zelda sequels aren't really a thing, makes me feel like they didn't have new ideas and are just expanding on BotW to cash in.

@Edward1871 I'm being positive actually. September is earlier than many expected. That's a good thing.

Lots of people were saying November. So it's coming out 2 months early!

@Chuffer I looked at the map and saw that in part 2 my completion bars were not full even though I had gotten all the flags, so I scrolled through and noticed that there are Main Battlefields and Sub Battlefields. I recognized the Main Battlefields as the story ones I had done, but I didn't recognize the Subs so I guess it's like an optional side area or something.
I stopped at about the same place as you, right in front of I think Lu Bu, and haven't had a chance to go back to it yet.

I will probably try Elden Ring goty edition at some point. I'm still reluctant based on how much I didn't like DS though. I think the fervor by reviewers and fans puts me off a little too.

How does the combat compare to the first one?

@Reptilio thanks. Civ 4 wouldn't make much sense, but wasn't sure lol

The link says Civ IV but links to Civ VI. I already suck at Roman numerals... which game is it in real numbers?

@Chuffer yeah I ended up changing that too. It is still somewhat frustrating even with two enemies when I want to fatal attack one that I'm not targeting, like after I parry the other's critical. I kind of wish it was auto lock on parry instead of melee, maybe that would be worse, not sure. That fight though man, just so much stuff flying at you lol, it almost broke me, but then I ended up playing for 3 more hours so it's doing something right. As far as other bosses I'm not sure, but I did see there are sub battlefields, have you tried those yet? Not sure what those are.

And for those saying "I don't like Souls games." Me either, it's not one size fits all. I find them ugly and slow and without a story to motivate me, the challenge isn't enough to keep me going (at least DS 1 + 2, haven't tried the other From games). Wo Long combat isn't really very much like Dark Souls, for me that works. I like Jedi Fallen Order too. I think Lies of P might end up good also. Is Flintlock soulslike? That looks pretty good, should be coming sometime soon

I think it's pretty good. The magic could be cheaper to use, sometimes it feels pointless. Locking on, dealing with the camera, and switching between enemies, especially when there are several all attacking you at once, like Zhang Rang boss fight, can be frustrating. The legendary heroes I've come to know and love from ROT3K seem somewhat underwhelming in combat, but I kind of get it, they don't want the allies to beat the bosses for you. I just wish reviving them didn't almost guarantee that you would get hit for half your health. Usually I just let them die.

Overall it's really fun and challenging with a great ancient Chinese mythology vibe and really good voice acting in both Japanese and Chinese. Clearing areas feels rewarding and you can approach the encounters methodically working your way through the levels. I found that switching gear to different resists and countering the boss' elements with wizardry actually makes a difference, which is something I haven't really encountered since classic WoW.

@GamingFan4Lyf Always online! Outrage! proceeds to throw tantrum

jk sounds awesome, keep the open world fresh. Sounds similar to the Starfield dynamic random encounters system they talked about in a recent video.

Side note, while playing Wo Long (burn in hell Zhang Rang!!!), I got a pop up from xbox store letting me know the ESRB for Redfall had been updated to M-17+. Makes me more excited than before lol

My only gripe with FH in general is that the progression is not rewarding at all. Too many cars unlocked too early means I'm bored quickly. Make the career mode meaningful by giving me a broken down jalopy as my first car instead of a Ferrari. Make me earn my way into the festival, be the best and come out on top.

If it's open world it needs to feel like we're going on a journey, not just driving around a map, and if there's nothing to gain but different biomes, then there is very little incentive to keep exploring.

I think, unfortunately, that with the massive popularity of FH5, they will do more of the same though. I wouldn't expect big changes in 6, maybe in 7.

I mostly played Dicey Dungeons. I played Atomic Heart for one day, didn't really care for it for several reasons, then it wanted a 67gb upgrade with my data near the cap and I just never went back.

At least Wo Long is good this month.

Playing Wo Long, but the other post about which was the best February game pass addition reminded me I want to try Soul Hackers 2. So I'll probably give that a try as well. Games like Wo Long I can only do for shorter sessions. I like something more relaxed to take a break when I get too sweaty, so hopefully Soul Hackers fits that bill.

Also, I have one achievement left in Dicey Dungeons so I might give that a few tries, although it's just hunting rng for a specific equipment so it's not really engaging at this point.

@GamingFan4Lyf @Jonnybekeww I look at is as similar to cash back on a credit card.

So, the first boss was soooo hard, until I realized I was overweight and I couldn't deflect or dodge. Then he was not that hard. The little red icon showing overweight didn't show up until I had died about 15 times though, wondering what I was doing wrong.

2nd boss was pretty tough until I realized Zhao Yun just gets in the way, disrupts the timing and combos. Way easier without a recruit. Which is unfortunate in a way.

I really wish there was a way to disable the tutorial popups that stay on half the screen through the entire boss fight. I know what to do, it just might take me 10 times to do it. Maybe I just didn't see it in the game options.

Pretty great game so far. I love ROT3K but never played Dynasty Warriors, so this is a first for me in the 3K action genre.

It worked for me with Moonscars. It's pretty easy to get 3 in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Make it to the 2nd mirror, about 10 mins into the game, which takes you to the sculptor and you will make a clayborn mould for the 1st achv.

Then select the hammer as your special weapon, it stuns enemies, you need to stun 25 enemies for the 2nd achv.

Die 10 times for the 3rd achv. Dying is the thing you will be doing most in this game anyway.

@FraserG start with D2R honestly. D3 is more accessible but if you want to know why so many people love Diablo, it's because of of D2.

Also, many of the convenient modernizations in D3 will make D2 feel archaic if played in reverse. Just my 2 cents.