Xbox Game Pass for PC

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DjchunKfunK
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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by DjchunKfunK » Mon Aug 09, 2021 9:15 am

Mantis wrote:
Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:09 am
It's increasingly winding me up how bad the PC app for this is. Tried playing The Ascent in coop last night and just could not get a lobby going at all despite nearly two hours of troubleshooting it.

The Xbox game bar social interaction side never seems to link up with the actual Xbox app properly and both are constantly plagued with crashing.

It really seems that whenever you want to play a Game Pass game online with friends you're probably looking at 50/50 odds of it just not working at all. The choice on offer in the catalogue is great, but what's the point if half the multiplayer titles don't function properly.
Some of that has to be down to the developers surely as forming a party in some games in straight forward. The Ascent has had particular issues with coop that they have been patching.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Mantis » Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:08 am

The connection woes probably are down to the devs but the constant app crashing and the interface not working so invites just either don't show up, or time out, or crash the app entirely are definitely down to the shoddy Xbox app.

Generally I find that most of my problems come from just getting invites to show up and respond in the Xbox interface. Connection issues within the games themselves have largely been absent apart from the recent issue with The Ascent, and that is well documented online as being a bit dodgy and in need of patching.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Snowy » Mon Aug 16, 2021 9:54 am

Not had the opportunity for any co-op in The Ascent yet but what a cracking little game! Really enjoying it so far.
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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Mantis » Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:05 am

We're about a quarter of the way through the main missions and have hoovered up a bunch of side quests too at about level 14 right now.

It's really one of the most fun I've had with a new release in a long time. I just don't get sick of exploring the amazing world they've built, and some of the gadgets I've unlocked so far have been delightfully brutal to use on large groups of enemies.

Absolutely fantastic game, I don't understand why it's been so polarising. All I've really had issue with currently is the technical hitch with coop not working, but that seems to have been resolved with patches now.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by DjchunKfunK » Mon Aug 16, 2021 1:39 pm

Mantis wrote:
Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:05 am
We're about a quarter of the way through the main missions and have hoovered up a bunch of side quests too at about level 14 right now.

It's really one of the most fun I've had with a new release in a long time. I just don't get sick of exploring the amazing world they've built, and some of the gadgets I've unlocked so far have been delightfully brutal to use on large groups of enemies.

Absolutely fantastic game, I don't understand why it's been so polarising. All I've really had issue with currently is the technical hitch with coop not working, but that seems to have been resolved with patches now.
I enjoyed the game, played through to completion solo, but I can see where the game has problems. I think there is too much running backwards and forwards with the run speed making this feel even worse. At a certain point you have enough money to just pay for a taxi but even then there can be a lot of running to objectives. Not being able to have multiple objectives on the map at once is another issue as it means you have to turn objectives on and off to see which ones are in a certain area so that you can do a bunch together. The one final issue I had was the weapon system, I think the upgrade system isn't the best, it is very easy to pour resources into a weapon that then becomes outclassed when you find better ones later in the game. You are also forced to pick two and stick with those as the resources you need to upgrade them are scarce and I think this limits player choice and combat variety.

One final point, the game has clearly been balanced in such a way that you need to have done nearly all the side quests before taking on the final few story missions, they ramp up the levels of the enemies rather rapidly after you hit a certain point with them suddenly being 2-3 levels higher than me. I managed to level enough towards the end that I could take the final boss out even though they were two levels higher than me but it took multiple attempts. Personally I don't think this is the right way to scale a game as then the side quests are not really optional.

The world really is excellent though and I ended up quite enjoying the story.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Mantis » Mon Aug 16, 2021 1:55 pm

Agree with you mostly, it would have been nice to be able to extract upgrade components from guns as I'd levelled the rifle up to mk5 by the time I found the heavy machine gun which just seemed better in every way. Likewise with the way points, even doing side quests all in the same area you are in and out of the map quite a lot changing them around to see which is closest.

Disagree on the difficulty though, I think it's refreshingly tricky at times and always enjoy a harder game. Maybe it's because I'm playing coop but nothing has been unsurmountable so far and we often end up fighting enemies 3-4 levels higher than us when we stray into dangerous areas. It just forces you to play in a more frantic and defensive style and be more creative with funneling them into your abilities. Even enemies at a higher level typically can't withstand a combo from the exploding corpse augment and stasis explosion gadget. Line them up right and you can chain together entire areas of enemies to very satisfying gory effects.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by DjchunKfunK » Mon Aug 16, 2021 6:57 pm

I don't think it is too difficult, I didn't struggle until the final boss, I just think the ramp up to the final boss is a bit too steep, unless you do all the side content first.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Animalmother » Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:37 am

I've just gone up against my first real boss and
Spoiler
a big ED209 type mech
am getting destroyed as he can hit me while I can't even see him. It's the one thing that I find very frustrating about the game.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by DjchunKfunK » Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:42 am

Animalmother wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:37 am
I've just gone up against my first real boss and
Spoiler
a big ED209 type mech
am getting destroyed as he can hit me while I can't even see him. It's the one thing that I find very frustrating about the game.
Do you mean off screen? I think the mechs all generally have AOE attacks which are marked out on the ground making it a bit easier to dodge. The being hit from off screen is a bit of an issue at times and is part of the reason why I stuck with the gun that has homing bullets.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Mantis » Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:39 am

The mechs all leave huge red targeting areas on the ground that give you a second or so to dodge roll out of. For regular enemies who sometimes annoyingly shoot at you from off-screen, I've found the best way to force the AI to make them move position closer to you is just by taking cover and crouching behind a wall for a bit.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Animalmother » Fri Aug 20, 2021 10:58 am

Out on nowhere a remastered Quake is now available on Game Pass console and PC.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Drarok » Fri Aug 20, 2021 1:13 pm

I looked last night, but it seemed like you needed the "Ultimate" pass to access it?
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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Animalmother » Fri Aug 20, 2021 1:56 pm

Drarok wrote:
Fri Aug 20, 2021 1:13 pm
I looked last night, but it seemed like you needed the "Ultimate" pass to access it?
Well that sucks seeing as it's an MS property now.

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by DjchunKfunK » Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:02 pm

Drarok wrote:
Fri Aug 20, 2021 1:13 pm
I looked last night, but it seemed like you needed the "Ultimate" pass to access it?
You shouldn't need to as it is on PC Game Pass, might have been a release day bug?

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Re: Xbox Game Pass for PC

Post by Alan » Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:14 pm

You’d think rtx Q2 would have been much more likely to show up but Q1 is a much better game so it’s the better choice!
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