Oh I seem to think you’re a dishonest, instigating time waster, huh? What makes it seem that way, the part where I directly accused you of it?

I’m not sure why you’re so resistant to it but I’ll just move on.

Oh, sorry yeah I can clear that up.

The reason I don’t feel like dancing for you is because you’re dishonest, aggressively self righteous, and obviously just want to fight about something meaningless for no reason.

Spend the extra forty bucks for something official if you don’t trust used, and don’t start dumb semantic arguments with people if you’re gonna want their help after. Not that I think you really do, mind. Just pointing out how ridiculous that whole pretense is.

Anyway, yeah. Probably is best if you moved along

But ultimately none of this is that high stakes

Been saying that for four comments now lol

Yes consoles are often the more economical choice

This right here is the main idea, yeah, even when looking at the used market for PC components. Glad we found our way back, and even ended up in complete agreement at the end

As for the help you requested sifting through listings, used and refurbished are different things, you should know. Refurbished direct from Sony is $400, looks like gamestop will do it for $370. This sets a hard cap on used prices, so you’ll notice all the used listings (that actually sell) are below that.

You should also know they have websites for you to track what actually sells, and not just the listings that are left standing for a while because the price is mediocre. Worth checking that out so you know where to watch, and have a good chance of getting a good price when it appears. Best of luck to you

And “well below” $300 is not $285-$330

You’re equivocating. In that instance I am responding directly to your claim that it’s far fetched to find a used one around the $300 point.

You’ll notice when you quoted me you also excluded the word “dips”. It’s dishonest for you frame my position as misrepresentative of the market by presenting my numbers without the couching I presented them with.

And why do you want to quibble over $50 when it doesn’t affect the discussion at all? Let’s just work with the higher prices, or even the brand new prices for that matter

Same, yeah I mean once you’re established the actual cost of games on steam is ludicrously small depending on your habits. I’m pretty much locked-in to pc gaming simply for the love of indie titles that more often than not do not get published to consoles. Lots of those games are just straight up free

We also have to consider the value the computer itself serves beyond just gaming. If you’re gonna get a $500 ps5 and you’re already going for an $800-$1200 computer, well hey. You could really get the best of both worlds without affecting the budget. Probably could even save money

But I think there’s also a big group that isn’t in that situation. I know plenty of people who rock like a chromebook and the cheapest xbox. Or people who only play like NBA 2k or something. Or people who play 1-2 big titles a year when they get caught in the hype train, and can enjoy them at 4k60fps for the much lower upfront cost

Why not? Like I said the certified refurbished directly from Sony is $399. Plenty of listings up right now for $285-330

But even if we compare new consoles to used PCs I think the conclusion is the same

Certainly, but we’d then have to compare with the used ps5 market, which dips well below $300.

Can a used pc or a build with used components be had with comparable performance to ps5? Even with a much larger budget of say, $800?

A certified refurbished ps5 can be had right at this moment for $399, $450 new. I game on PC for many other reasons but the performance for value is pretty amazing on the ps5

Yeah plenty of people develop these feelings about laser focussed games. Sekiro is a good example. Not gonna be your game if you don’t like parrying. Lots of comments online from such people who write the game off as “spam parry to win” as tho there’s no depth to it.

Huge parry fan on the other hand? Probably your favorite game, and you’re bewildered by those comments because you feel like you could write a novel about how interesting the system is and how rewarding it is to master all the way into your seventh charmless NG+ run.

I think at the end of the day, when the gameplay is simply not catered to our preferences we’re not really going to appreciate what makes it so great at what it is

Virtual Ricochet Projectile :p

It’s the game’s in-game (Crossworlds) terminology for the charged shot that bounces around, yeah. They cover it in the tutorial but the main cast basically ‘nerd emoji’s’ Sergey and they simply refer to it as “balls” for the rest of the game lol

timing-&-angling annoyances

But yeah, like I said, you just don’t like the central mechanic. It’s valid. This is the main point of contention for the minority of people who don’t click with the game, as is evidenced by filtering for negative reviews on steam

But imagine if you didn’t find it to be an annoyance, and instead found it to be inherently satisfying? One of my favorite parts about Crosscode is how unafraid they are to present you with puzzles that are not only difficult to solve in the typical sense, but also difficult to perform once you know what to do. It’s a rare treat, most games instead lean hard only into one direction (purely cerebral puzzling or purely focussed on action)

It’s a game that just gives and gives, and to the contrary of your experience, I found the constant innovation of the puzzles throughout the game is what brought it from A to S tier. I finished the final dungeon wishing there was more game to play. Imagine my delight when the DLC dropped and added another 20 hours of timing & angling goodness. Replayed the game 3 times over the years.

And yeah, frankly we should compare it to Zelda, the most celebrated and beloved puzzle adventure series of all time developed and supported for 40 years by one of the largest and most influential video game companies of all time. No joke, I think this is actually exactly where Crosscode stacks up. It’s up there for me with my favorite Zelda titles

Not a sequel, just their next game! Combat and UI look similar so far. They’re doing dev streams on their discord

I thought crosscode had the best puzzles haha. The way they built it out with the elemental system, the enemies that required puzzle mechanics you had learned, the tight timing where you had to send a ball flying and then race it to various objectives, the myriad of subtle environmental puzzles in the overworld. Could go on and on, but yeah the VRP is the game’s central mechanic so if you simply don’t enjoy lining up your shots then I imagine the game would be pretty rough lol

Crosscode for sure! They have a new game in the works as well, it looks like it will be just as good. Great time to get into it

Either you drive responsibly, or you don’t drive.

And yet, despite your repeated proclamations to this effect, they continue to be allowed to drive. You say one thing, yet reality is different. Curious. How would you explain this contradiction?

I’m not saying you should be taken to prison

Just to clarify, people are taken to prison for these infractions. This is not you and I comparing hypotheticals

up to them to figure out an alternative

There are no alternatives. Our communities have been systematically ravaged by car companies. They literally paid to tear trollies out of cities and pave over the rails. Zoning laws have deliberately pushed people away from places they can work. Walking and biking is impossible. There isn’t a bus anywhere near you or your work.

We are once again not comparing hypotheticals. You’re just repeating your opinion (driving is a privilege which should be taken away from those who abuse it) without addressing the reality (driving is a necessity for most people in the US)

Well, they aren’t allowed to do it while they are in prison, right? Are you proposing people should be barred from car ownership forever after, even with a heavily limited provisional license? Are you equally motivated to extend that logic to any other type of crime?

Not to take the side of serial speeders and the like, not at all. But there’s a lot of legal and ethical context to unpack, not to mention the practicality of actually “taking away” driving from someone. We just don’t have a magic wand that solves the problem

If people drive despite not having a license then they should get their car taken away.

Yeah I mean it’s simple and it’s complicated. Like in theory if you senselessly endanger people’s lives, we keep you off the roads. Easy peasy.

But in the US driving is simply not optional in many places. It may be the only way you can get to work or medical appointments, and most places don’t have public transit set up to handle that reliably.

In fact most (all?) US states have a system in place that allows unlicensed people to drive when they absolutely need to, in some cases even young teenagers below normal driving age. It’s often personally tailored: for example, a repeat OUI offender may get documents stating they are only allowed to drive at certain times of day, to certain predefined locations, and only in a specific car that requires a breathalyzer to start.

But even in that most extreme and egregious case, after everything and even after jail time and a permanent license suspension, they still end up on the roads regularly. So in the current legal framework there really isn’t a viable mechanism to take away their car

Re: remote tracking; Based on quickly looking up the actual devices being used they do appear to collect and report telemetry, but it’s a bit muddy as they appear to be more commonly used in commercial fleets. So sure, there may be room for some doubt on the matter. Modern cars in general are more likely than not actively equipped to report your information directly to the police, so who knows, maybe the personal ISA systems themselves are designed not to bother with it after all

Per the article, it is in fact a remote tracker, which uses GPS to determine the speed limit of whatever road you’re on.

Be grateful that you dont get your driving license revoked.

Also per the article:

A federally funded study found that 75% of people with suspended licenses continued to drive.