I’ve been playing Skyrim again. Nothing compares to the VR toybox that are the Creation Engine games. Statue of Azura too small? Stick in a mod that makes it 4x as big.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-05/facebook-s-oculus-developing-smaller-lighter-quest-vr-headset
It sounds like a revision, more than a Quest 2.
Sounds like that’s when I’ll be replacing my Rift, then.
Meh. I want more pixels. All of them. And more fov.
The screen door effect really is noticeable as is the limited FOV, but honestly my priorities are overall weight, weight more evenly distributed for comfort, and better battery life. Also the index knuckles style controllers are just obviously the way to go. That’s the sort of innovation everybody needs to steal right away. And speaking of stealing innovation, halo-style headstrap too.
I specifically do not think the Quest product line needs better graphical performance. It’s fast enough for what it is, right now. Focus on getting weight down, comfort and battery life up, and then those that want it can stream PC games either via a cable or over wifi.
rowe33
3680
Haven’t been playing much VR lately in quarantine as it seems every room’s been more crowded than usual. But then I remembered we have a backyard so I’m going to try that out tonight. Will give me a nice big space to try out w/ the Quest!
If the screen door effect is very noticeable, I’m screwed. I have to buy LCD projectors as those DLPs are horrible for me with the screen door…my parents and kiddo dont notice it when I’m fully complaining. I was going to buy a Quest for me and the kiddo but I hate screen door so maybe not.
Matt_W
3682
As a second opinion, I’ve never noticed any screen door effect on the Quest
I’ve always found quality issues with any headset I’ve owned. Little, bothersome problems are visible when I’m thinking about them but as soon as I focus on playing the game instead, I don’t notice them anymore. Probably some sort of life lesson in there.
You must have poor eyesight, it is very visible to me if I look for it. You get used to it no problem, but higher resolution would certainly be better.
LMN8R
3685
I started a separate thread but no one cares :-(
Anyways, you guys should check out Echo VR:
There is a difference between screen door effect (that refers to the gap or distance between the physical pixels) and the resolution (or even better expressed for VR, resolution per degree of vision). You can be good at one thing and bad at the other.
In Quest case, the screen door is fairly subdued, from a technical standpoint. The resolution, like in most other headsets, still has to improve a ton to compare with a normal monitor. There is something more to add, and it’s that the effective clarity of the screen is less than others with the same resolution and screen door, because it uses a pentile screen, that has less subpixels than a rgb screen.
Stormland continues being good at its core strong point: combat and movement. It’s so sweet. Although the plot is almost forgotten beyond the initial premise, a pity in that regard. Also, it’s lacking in basic features like game slots or difficulty options (in this point, it seems it tries to “do a Diablo” and later you can do new game+++ ).
(days later)
I started the Escalation thing from Stormland, level 0 right now. I have seen some interesting new stuff, like a new sidequest (about a drone you have to follow), random ‘quests’ like of type ‘kill x with y’, and more meaningful, new upgrade options for you robot, like 2 new arm types and new upgrade perks for your slots. There many more than it seemed at first!
That said, I think it’s painfully obvious the game needed one more year of development, or more probably, they planned to developed it more after release with meaty content updates but then were bought by Sony. For example, if you get x keys you can open a vault in some maps. The underground vault has a series of room with chests, the chests are very Borderlands-like in that they open up and a platform rises and expand to show off the weapon or item you are rewarded… except after all the problem of opening the vault, you get the same old 6 weapons the game has and the same 3 grenades. The game so clearly was intended to have some random loot element put on top of the actual system.
In fact that’s the biggest problem, as a normal single player story driven action game, the game doesn’t deliver in things like variety and story. But that’s ok because with the whole Escalation system, it’s clearly intended to be some kind action-rpg coop/roguelite in VR. Cool. Well, they have a good combat and movement core to built around it, but they don’t have no where the enemy variety (it’s really needs three more enemy types, at least), island variety or the systems like for example random loot to be what we could call a good ‘repeatable’ game.
A random video showing off the game
Thanks for the writeup. I was pretty keen on this back before it released but was turned off by reviews saying it was short and repetitive, lacking content.
It still seems fun, I will pick it up next sale!
Okay, I finally have my new setup almost complete. I upgraded from the original HTC Vive to the Vive Cosmos, but wasn’t happy with the inside out tracking. I finally got my Elite faceplate so I can go back to the Vive Wands and the Lighthouses. Wow, the graphics are so nice and now with the increased tracking fidelity I am in love again with VR. The main reason I did the Vive is because I use their Wireless adapter and don’t think I can ever go back to a tethered experience. I also have the Valve Index controllers on back order once they get a new supply back in and might add a third light house for the front part of my space.
Of course, now I have an original vive headset, breakout box and cables. Is Ebay the best way to offload this do you think?
Matt_W
3690
I built a new gaming pc and can now run VR to my Quest via OL. Half life Alyx and Lone Echo look mighty nice and play smooth as butter. I about tossed my cookies playing X-Plane though. It’s super nice to be able to line up on the runway by looking over my shoulder or glance at the instruments just by looking down at them, but maybe not so much with the acrobatics.
Try some Dirt Rally! It’s super-fun too, but be warned that driving sideways around turns while “looking” out the side windows is also upchuck inducing.
Ebay worked out well for me both times I upgraded my VR hardware and sold my older headsets. In my experience, this gear holds its value.
Today I played Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin. That was two hours of good fun (and as it’s usual for VR, the price is a bit too expensive for only 2 hours). It’s incredible (not really) the difference of what a VR product can be when you have a veteran team behind instead of 3 guys with a shoestring budget, they are able to do something very solid thanks to good art and sharp writing. VR is what I call a ‘videogame multiplier’. If you have good art, VR will make it pop up more. If you have good characters, VR will make you empathize more with them. But, you need to have these base qualities from the start, or it will multiply nothing at all.
Speaking of I also tried Gunhert yesterday and ended refunding it.
Matt_W
3694
Do you recommend buying the Steam store version? I’ve read that that Oculus store one is purpose-built for VR and runs better.
I really like the new seamless Casting controls on the Quest. Works with Link too. I start Casting to my TV at the Quest homescreen, enable Link to go to my Rift home (which is awesome btw. I’ve already spent a couple of hours customizing. They really need to add that to the Quest native), and the Casting follows. Virtual Desktop from the Rift screen works flawlessly and I can plop down a cinema screen, cue up Netflix and watch to my heart’s content. It’s all finally starting to come together to be the VR experience we all imagined.
