Oh, yeah that initial load time was so long that I worried my deck had crashed. I just left it for 3-4 minutes though and then it was fine. Every boot up after that worked immediately, no long load time, and no having to change proton packages!
Star Ocean: The Second Story R. It was a game literally made for a handheld, remastered to look even better on a handheld, benefitting from one of the greatest handheld upgrades we’ve seen.
How does Hogwarts Legacy run?
I have 1000+ games in my library but only four of them have HDR support.
I tested: Gotham Knights, Back 4 Blood, Mortal Kombat 11 (broken HDR) and Doom Eternal.
Honestly it was pretty disappointing, especially considering the download sizes. Back 4 Blood was the only one where the HDR difference was noticeable, and I don’t really have any plans to play that more on the Deck.
Hopefully the platform gets better and more frequent HDR support soon.
Definitely one of the most creative posts I’ve seen on the steam deck subreddit. A far cry from the repetitive “is anyone else spam refreshing their OLED Deck delivery?” posts.
Suikoden. I own all the games on PS2 and PS3 - but when the store got shut down, they became really difficult to play. The quick save function is really handy considering how difficult and obscure some character recruitment missions are.
Besides that: Dissidia Duodecim, Peace Walker and Crisis Core were all basically made for the Steam Deck. They’re such great pick up and play portable titles, with short missions that work great when you’re gaming on the go.
Don’t worry, it’s not a placebo. I’m not great with technical stuff, but some testing was done to show that the 90hz rate makes games feel more responsive. In a lot of cases there’s 0.2-0.3ms faster inputs with games. Here’s a video explaining it better!
I’m with you on the screen! It’s interesting that the most advertised feature was the most disappointing part of it. Not that it’s bad, just I’m actually happier about all the other improvements. Especially the weight. I can hold it one hand now without difficult balancing it. I’m curious how the LE feels.
Glad you’re having a good experience with it so far, hopefully you get more time to use it soon!
I notice the 3-5 business day estimate turned into a 8-10 today estimate after I managed to check out 30 minutes in, and I wasn’t sure which bracket I’d been placed into.
Really sorry to hear that. It’s happened to me a lot where I’m banking on a promised delivery date for reasons. A lot of people have to plan around delivery dates. It sucks when they’re unreliable…
You worded it perfectly. Sorry for the crude analogy, but it reminds me of how the sign of a great blacksmith used to be how well they distributed the weight in their weapons - the Steam Deck feels like that but applies to technology. It doesn’t feel like they wasted any space, but also didn’t overload it either.
Can’t confirm that it’s identical to the LE, but can confirm that the materials and buttons are a solid improvement regardless. The old deck never felt cheap or anything, but the OLED definitely feels more premium.
Oh really? Wi-Fi 6 sounds exciting, I just wish I could use it! Is it true that the range is very limited, like you can only benefit if you’re in the same room as the router?
I’m very curious if Wi-Fi 6 makes game streaming even more powerful. If so then I’d be tempted to upgrade my router.
They really could have released it as a Deck 1.5. Sometimes it’s not all about better performance, as the QoL makes the biggest difference for usability.
Good approach! I’ve heard it’s hard to go back to vanilla after A New Threat, because of how rough the vanilla gameplay balancing is.
Yeah the voice acting made me actually think about who I wanted in my party for certain plot points. It just makes the party feel so much more expressive and alive when you can hear them talk. It makes me not want to miss any dialogue.
There are a few fun Easter eggs too, like if you get the rocket password correct first time without experimenting, >!then Cid will insult you for being a filthy cheater who looked up the solution.!< I love that they had a bit of fun with it.
I set up seventh heaven manually a few months ago for a run with voice acting (EchoS did a great job, every single line, even the very situational and rare lines of dialogue) - it was 100% worth it.
It was a bit of a hassle, so I’m glad someone had made it easier. I really recommend it for anyone wanting to catch up on FF7 before Rebirth. Even A New Threat works, with new game content and balancing (albeit at the cost of no voice acting)
Same here! The moment I started adding emulation a few months in, I got choice paralysis. Generally it’s best to only tinker once you begin to get bored or want more from your device. Doing it from the start is often incessant.
I feel like I’m witnessing Steam Deck history with this post. I wonder how many new owners will have the same dilemma, not realising it’s a touchscreen.
I hope it’s not a placebo effect, but it even just feels better to the touch for me. So responsive. It felt like touching an iPhone screen for the first time, instead of the god awful 2008 LG touchscreen phone I had beforehand.
They redesigned the Steam OS to be darker and less bluey, so I imagine the menus benefit most from the new OLED displays. I can’t wait to see it in action myself. Was the sound difference as noticeable for you, by any chance?
To vaguely quote Skill Up: “if you told me this was 30g lighter, I wouldn’t believe you. The weight difference is immediately noticeable and makes the steam deck easier to handle”
Any drops at all, or is it consistent? That’s awesome!