It’ll be the cheapest place, by an absurd margin, to play Baldur’s Gate 3.

  • @janNatan@lemmy.ml
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    5010 months ago

    Series S is the cheapest way to play the game by an absurd margin? Steam Deck is only about $100 more and it plays the game just fine.

      • @lemillionsocks@beehaw.org
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        710 months ago

        It’s literally 1/3rd more expensive and thats not an insignificant amount. If your rent increased by 1/3rd tomorrow you’d probably be pissed and if you had a 33.33 percent chance of getting struck by lightning by stepping outside tomorrow you’d probably stay indoors that day.

      • @ObiGynKenobi@beehaw.org
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        310 months ago

        $100, plus the cost of the mandatory microSD or SSD you’ll need to add to even install the game on Deck, plus the $50 discount for the Series S if you have a modicum of patience. The difference is more like $175-200, and last year the Series S was $100 off for Black Friday. Assuming the game is targeting holiday 2023 for Xbox, you could potentially grab the Series S + BG3 for under $300.

      • @janNatan@lemmy.ml
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        10 months ago

        I play at 900p60. Turn literally everything to low or off except textures at medium. Enable the AMD upscaling to the highest quality setting (forget what it’s called). Be sure to turn off Antialiasing (don’t really need it at high resolutions) and God rays. Turn off all optional things but those two are the most important. Also, if BG3 is installed to an SD card, then enable slow HDD mode.

        It still stutters a little when transitioning to cut scenes, but I believe that exists in all PC versions.

        Edit: And I have made it (what I think is) mostly through Act 2. I’ve also hosted an online session with my friend (who also plays on Steam Deck using my settings) and my husband (gaming laptop) with no issues.

      • @ObiGynKenobi@beehaw.org
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        210 months ago

        It’s only able to hold a relatively stable 30fps in act 1. As soon as you hit act 2 it struggles to escape the teens, even on low settings. It was so bad that I had to abandon playing on Deck and move to my PC.

    • Jordan Lund
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      710 months ago

      Not currently, no. They burned enough dev cycles trying to get split screen co-op on the S that now BOTH the S and X versions are delayed, which I guess is better than “not happening at all.”

      The S has every right to exist, but as soon as it starts interfering with Series X development (which has been for a while now), it’s time for it to go.

      Microsoft needs to cut it loose like the boat anchor it is and just release a discless Series X and call it good.

    • @Ashtear@lemm.ee
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      710 months ago

      Asking out of genuine ignorance here: is there a setup that allows a 100+ GB game to be played on the 64GB Steam Deck?

      • Dangdoggo
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        10 months ago

        You can plug in an SD card and install it there, it will have longer load times but shouldn’t affect gameplay much otherwise.

        Edit: You can also expand the USB slots and get an external SSD

      • @BrownKong@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        128GB micro SD cards are like $12. 512GB is maybe 40$. Can get a 1TB SD card for $100 but I think the 512 is a good middle ground between price and storage.

        • @Ashtear@lemm.ee
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          310 months ago

          Yeah, 256 is around $20 last I looked, too. Not bad. Been considering getting one, probably not for anything with an install this large, but it’s nice to know I’d have the option.

          • conciselyverbose
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            110 months ago

            You can also replace the internal storage yourself. The cost doesn’t get that meaningful until 1 TB + for the new drive.

        • @rgb3x3@beehaw.org
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          210 months ago

          God damn, I’m still somehow extremely impressed by how small storage has gotten. That’s wild.

          • Jordan Lund
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            110 months ago

            Doesn’t even need dedicated power… runs off the port.

      • @janNatan@lemmy.ml
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        310 months ago

        Yes, a 256GB+ SD Card. Be sure to enable slow HDD mode in BG3 settings if you’re installing to an SD Card. (It will help loading screen times at the cost of using more RAM.)

    • JackbyDev
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      410 months ago

      Am I misreading your comment? You’re saying Series S is not the cheapest because Steam Deck is more expensive? Did you have a typo? Am I suffering CO poisoning?

    • people_are_cute
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      10 months ago

      My cheap mainstream laptop runs the game on mid settings just fine. It cost ~500 USD.

    • @narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee
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      210 months ago

      I’d imagine it doesn’t look very nice on a big screen TV while providing decent performance on the Steam Deck.

    • @Dardlem@lemm.ee
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      110 months ago

      Or you can stream it to your phone/laptop/android tv via GFN. As long as you bought it on Steam and your internet connection is ok.