Just reupped for 2 years after letting it lapse for a couple of days. The real trick is to make sure auto subscribe is turned off and letting the sub run out. I think it is on by default.
Thanks, guys. Time to start looking for cheap Xbox Live time. I think Newegg had a 12 month for 50 bucks deal within the last few weeks, hope they repeat it soon.
Gladguy
4393
Anyone else having trouble downloading Mass Effect LE? It dropped today, but GamePass gives me an error message on install, and EA Desktop just shows the three-dots “loading” icon…
I’m thinking the servers are maybe being hammered? Is that still a thing in 2022?
Yeah. And it’s totally still a thing in 2022. As someone who works in IT, I suppose it’s ultimately a good thing…
Gladguy
4395
That’s exactly the error I’m getting. I thought AWS/Azure was supposed to save the world from this sort of nonsense…
I guess I’ll just keep trying.
EDIT: If anyone else is having this issue: from the “hamburger” in the top-left of the EA app, click Help->App Recovery, then Clear Cache.
Got it working for me.27 minutes to download 106.3GB…
stusser
4396
I couldn’t get it to install from the Xbox app, but the EA app worked fine.
Sucked me right in, played like 6 hours of ME1. It’s such an old game, the traversal is terrible and the UI feels like KOTOR, but it’s delightful.
Game Pass’s super helpful error support strikes again:
Thankfully it was a trivial problem, but for fuck’s sake MS. If you’re going to use a search instead of an actual answer, make sure there are some results.
I can’t get over how gorgeous “The Pedestrian” is. I mean, it’s presumably an Indie game about a stick figure, and yet it almost looks like a triple-A game. Crazy.
I’d say it’s overkill and yet, it’s actually the gorgeous visuals that keep me coming back for more. If it was just stick figures, I’d probably have stopped playing in the warehouse.
I’m currently playing Ori and the Will of the Wisps, a game I’d avoided because Blind Forest was so incredibly frustrating. And let me tell you, I nearly gave up after half an hour, I was finding it extremely hard and getting dispirited that I couldn’t even play the opening level. But then, as these things often do, it clicked and I started doing a lot better (once I got the ability to stick to walls, the lack of which was my no. 1 frustration with Blind Forest). Now I’m having a great time, although it’s definitely pushing my platforming abilities. I’ve just reached Mora the spider boss fight. Oh boy, this is going to take a while! In fact I may try another area, this one was tough.
But I get the appeal of Game Pass now. I’d possibly have refunded this if I’d bought it on Steam, worried that I’d play beyond the 2 hour refund cut-off. I shouldn’t let it influence me but it does.
I need to get back to Ori and the Will of the Wisp. I think I got to the Frog battle before getting distracted by some other game.
My now 8-year old nephew is so incredibly good at Hollow Knight, of which I’m in awe, but when he found out I beat Ori and the Blind Forest, he was in awe of me! Ha! I still think of Hollow Knight as much harder than both Ori games, but he views it the opposite way.
robc04
4401
I agree with you. It’s not even close. Ori had several challenging sections, but nothing compared to the hard parts of Hollow knight.
Timex
4402
Some friends and I started playing Anvil, which showed up on Gamepass a month or so ago.
I had first played it some, but it kind of bounced off me, as I was playing it alone.
Playing it alone is really not that cool.
However, if you play it with friends, it’s pretty neat. It reminds me of Gauntlet, almost. It’s a multiplayer twin-stick shooter rogue-like.
I figured out Anvil wasn’t for me after I watched Splattercat play through it. Looks like it pretty much requires you to play with other people.
Timex
4404
I think that’s accurate.
Without other players, it’s much less forgiving.
That being said, you CAN just use matchmaking to find parties to play with, and that does work. If you play it alone, I’d recommend you use the matchmaking to find a party in game. The gameplay’s straightforward enough that you don’t actually need to communicate with them, you just need them in the game with you.
But if you have one or two buddies to play with, the game is much better.
I started Olija last night, and if you have deep nostalgia for Another World, you’ll get tingles in that part of your brain with Olija. Not that it’s exactly the same, but the animations feel similar, as does the one-screen-at-a-time structure. Otherwise, it’s kinda Metroidy? The setting is evocative and weird in a cool way. Non-zero chance it unseats something on my current top ten of 2021 (which I’ve otherwise got all ready to go once the Quarterlies open!).
I enjoy movement and dexterity (especially in FPS games), but here my brain just can’t handle the level of complexity Ori demands. I tried another area in Ori (Luna Pools) and holy heck this is even harder than that damned dark spider area. The worst part is everyone saying how easy it is! :p Trouble is, if I take a break from it I’ll forget the meagre skills I have picked up and never come back. Hollow Knight, I think I got as far as unlocking the train, but I was done.
The train! Ha! But yeah, I know what you mean. I gave up on Hollow Knight too. But seeing how good my then-7-year-old nephew was shamed me into trying it again, and it finally clicked with me. There’s a couple of mental obstacles that it took getting over for Hollow Knight to finally click, but I encourage giving it a go at some point. (It’s also on Game Pass). It’s really good if you can click with it.
KevinC
4408
First world problem and all, but I was put off by lack of ultrawide support. Well, less a lack of support and rather the developer’s reasoning for intentionally not supporting it since it might create an unfair advantage. In a PVE game. Just… what?
Anyway, there was plenty of other games to play so it was an easy one to skip past at the time.
So I gave in and looked at a playthrough for Luma Pools. The guy got past all the obstacles I’m having trouble with using an ability I’ve never seen, so clearly I should not be here yet. I guess I’ll try one of the other wisp locations instead.
Cormac
4410
Yeah… I got as far as the Frog chase (boss fight) at Luma Pools and just couldn’t finish that and thus gave up on the game. Real pity since everything else about the game was really fun. Those damn boss fight chases are just too much for my controller skill level. Hate that they killed the whole game for me due to that one 45sec sequence.
Here’s the game thread btw.
