So today is December 3rd. Release day on Xbox. I had a look at the Crate forums to see people’s impressions of the Xbox port.
Generally it sounds like the same game, but they don’t have the option to scale the UI, so nearly everyone is complaining that they can’t read the text from their couch. I can sympathize with that! On the default font in Grim Dawn, I can’t even read it in my computer chair sitting two feet from the screen.
But it sounds like the developers are on it, and working on having a scalable UI.
I hope they go for a more userfriendly approach than the one on PC. On PC it’s a slider, basically, and any size that I play on makes the text readable but the game looks way uglier because of the way the font scales up, it doesn’t quite fit the UI in the same nice aesthetically pleasing way anymore. So screenshots of the game always look way better than my own screenshots, which look ugly in comparison because of my bigger font.
Hopefully on Xbox they can do small, medium, large, that type of thing, and make sure each one looks good.
Wish they had done it before release.
I play GD on PC from my couch on the 4K TV and yeah the opening menu and options etc are TINY. Have to stand up and move close to use them.
But I thought they already had an in-game scale, since I recall that being readable, so possibly it’s a task that won’t take too long.
Daagar
3585
Good on them for working on it, but seems like one of those things they would have done waaay early on if anyone had thought to try it on a big screen. I had to use a font mod even on PC (and not 4k or anything…)
Dejin
3586
I had the same problem with Slitherine’s Order of Battle on the Xbox. Tiny font, completely unreadable. A bunch of us complained on their forums and they didn’t even bother replying to us. It really pissed me off.
Don’t these people even bother playtesting their stuff under normal console play conditions? Also unlike the PC Order of Battle, there is no free version. We all played $20 for something that they hadn’t even bothered to try playing from couch distance.
I hope 7m game + DLC sales counts as a huge success for them. What a great game.
That’s cool. I just started playing and it’s addicting. I like it better than Titan Quest. It’s pretty well designed. They put transport points in good spots so if I have to leave I can get back to where I left off easily.
There’s also scaling for the interface so it’s easier to see on high resolution. The inventory shell game does get old though. And playing at high res I do wish there was a way to make the cursor stand out better.
138
3590
How is this on console? I seem to remember some complaints when it was released?
Silent
3591
If it’s an option, I would recommend PC just for the mods. Controller support is great.
There’s enough reviews complaining about things on the Xbox version that I’ve stayed away so far, even though I thought I’d buy it right away when it hit Xbox.
The PC version is really good, and has great controller support. According to the forums the developer doesn’t have an Xbox development kit, so can’t really optimize well for the console without one. So there’s performance issues, and unlike PC, you can’t scale the UI so everything is really tiny as far as writing on the screen.
It’s so great to see the game be such a success. It was the first thing I ever supported on Kickstarter, nearly 10 years ago now. I really do wish they’d have planned another game of the same genre, though, even if not a direct sequel.
Analog
3594
I’m with you. I really hope they make another ARPG at some point in the future as Grim Dawn is the best of the genre in my opinion. It’s a fantastic game and they’ve been continually improving and supporting the game for years now.
I do love the game, and have played quite a lot of it over the years, but I have never reached anything close to the end game.
As someone who likes trying different things out, I restart a lot and it all gets repetitive due to levelling up along the same linear path with zero variation every time. Characters seem to revolve around a couple key skills, and take a long time to expand those meaningfully.
Is there any approach to combat this kind of early-game fatigue? Because yeah, I’m thinking of starting up another character… :)
Rock8man
3596
Hmmm, I’ve finished the starting difficulty with a lot of characters, but never the 3rd difficulty tier. Is that the one you mean by end game? Or just the campaign?
If the latter, then I would advise:
- Play with a controller (more fun moment-to-moment, less temptation to start new character).
- Play on Veteran difficulty (more challenging, less temptation to start new character)
- Start your character in the campaign until you hit level 2 and then play a few rounds of the crucible first. That way you get the early leveling out of the way and get some star chart thingies as well. Then start the campaign. Enjoy being over powered in the early area.
- If a skill doesn’t make you think “Hell yeah”, don’t use it. Yes, I know, on paper it sounds awesome, but don’t pay attention to just that. It has to feel good, and there’s lots of those, so focus in on the ones that make you say that internally every time.
If you just mean you’ve never reached end game meaning finished the 3rd difficulty tier, then yeah, I haven’t either. It’s tough. Maybe too tough.
Cheers, I do mean the campaign, in that it’s a bit of a slog playing through all that same stuff multiple times to try new characters.
One of the best things Diablo 3 did was basically scrapping the campaign in favour of Adventure Mode. And their campaign at least had some procedural elements to area layouts.
I’m guessing there’s nothing like that I’ve missed? I have never tried Crucible and was not even sure what it was!
I always play with controller btw. :)
Grim Dawn is on sale for $22 on Xbox this week. I managed a few good saving throws against this sale for the first few days but last night I couldn’t resist anymore.
So here I am again.
They have indeed added UI scaling. On the biggest scale possible the UI looks the same on my monitor as it does on my PC. So basically the game plays and looks identical to PC. I have to admit I’m a little disappointed. I was hoping I would immediately notice something, anything that plays differently or looks better. But no, it’s exactly the same game again, of course.
I imagine I’ll really only start noticing a difference in the late game. On my PC when things got super busy on the screen my PC was CPU-constrained so it would get pretty low frame rates. So I imagine that’s where the Xbox version will finally prove better for me.
It is kind of weirdly liberating to start over with a new small stash, a limited inventory space, and no ingredients or recipes. It’s like starting a new season! I like it.
I started with an Archon that AdamB was praising upthread, aiming for vitality damage. I did the Crucible to level 19 and then restarted the campaign and am breezing through on Veteran.
I noticed that was on sale and was kind of tempted. I haven’t played on PC so I don’t know which method would work better for this particular game.
Clarification, what do you mean by “which method”. You mean PC vs Xbox?
Yes. Which platform, I guess I should have said.
