Hey, just a super random follow up but this thread sparked me messing around with Bazzite again and I got some things figured out that originally did trip me up. Just set it up on a separate hard drive for dual booting to give it another chance.

Whenever I find a few minutes to sit down with the time to make the switch official, I’m probably going to install Bazzite properly over my Windows install!

Could I play something new? Sure.

Did I end up starting a new save in Stardew Valley for the umpteenth time? Yep.

I wrapped up Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown maybe a week ago and really enjoyed it, ending somewhere around 85% of completion and calling that good enough. Not sure why Stardew looked appealing but it did, I’m over the usual hurdle of Spring/early Summer Year One and just enjoying my time with it. I’ve already played for well over 500h across multiple saves and if hard pressed to pick one game as my favorite, it’s probably Stardew. This time around is a modded playthrough primarily on the Steam Deck/with a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard, so some mods are a bit clunkier than I’d like (renaming chests and chest groups is a real pain) and settling into the end of my first year now.

Honestly, it’s my assessment of turning my only PC, which is primarily gaming, into a Linux machine and the struggles there with day-to-day usage. I have no idea what OP’s comfort level with Linux or tech is in general but my assumption is it’s enough to think “Yeah, I could install Linux and do this.” which was where I was at too. Nothing I’m doing was exotic but the investment required in finding suitable alternatives that worked nearly out of the box was too high at the time.

Gaming was decent by all accounts. I think I had a few compatibility items that will iron out as developers support Linux more and the technology that enables gaming on Linux just gets better and better. I have an AMD card and from what I gather that’s better for switching to Linux. A lot of my frustrations were not related to gaming and I recognize the issue is time and knowledge on my part. If those are in short supply when something breaks, you could have a bad time is all I’m saying. Everyone’s got to start out somewhere and if you’ve had Windows forever, it can be a mental shift.

Both were on my radar as well. I want to say I tried Bazzite before Pop but one of those workflows I could not solve was a problem on Bazzite (some virtual kvm switch software I’ve used forever). Nobara was almost where I went after Pop before retreating back to Windows :)

Looks like I’ll be the negative one. I gave it a solid try dual booting for about 6 months before I went back to Windows.

I think I took for granted how much is abstracted away in Windows when it came to being my daily driver for my computer. Wrapping my head around things that “just worked” in Windows proved to be more difficult than I anticipated and I dealt with more friction. Trying to learn new concepts stood in my way of fully embracing it as well as not understanding what the “Windows equivalent” was for a given feature/function/action so I could wrap my head around it better. I also had a couple of workflows that I never got working in Linux despite all my attempts at searching for answers.

And I know people will come out of the woodwork with all sorts of questions or input on how if I just tried it again I’ll get it. For the record, I tried out Pop OS since it bills itself as a dead simple. I know the problems for me were more around my knowledge, years of built up muscle memory with Windows, and limited time to game so messing with whatever my current problem was made it more frustrating and soured me on the experience.

Definitely good to know. I don’t think I’d call it one of the best I’ve ever played but it was certainly awesome as pieces started clicking into place and I could see the outline of how it would go. I’m curious to see what else is really in there (I’ve spoiled some bits and pieces to it) and may go down that path. Thank you!

Called it quits on Blue Prince last week. 20-30h in and I hit the main goal of the game of reaching the 46th room. I started scratching at some of the deeper puzzles and mysteries to solve but I think the combination of some frustrating mechanics (drafting the right rooms, running out of resources, etc…) along with time being a premium, I had to stop myself. I just realized my excitement for “one more run” just wasn’t there and rather than sour my opinion on it, it was better to move on and appreciate the depth that’s there for people getting into it. Super impressed by everything that I’ve seen in it and definitely recommended if you’re a fan of puzzles and taking notes to piece a lot of things together.

And on what feels like the other end of the spectrum, I started Skin Deep and am having a blast. It’s such a weird, stylistic immersive sim where you’re rescuing these low-polygon cats from pirates taking over their spaceship. The humor is good and the systems interact really well. Everything telegraphs what it can do, how it can be used, and the game seems to reward experimentation. I’m trying to be stealthy but there’s no penalty to breaking stealth, and some rewarding per-mission objectives that encourage you to check everything out.

You also get to flush heads down toilets which is pretty cool (and definitely something missing from Blue Prince)

Nearing the end of the non-DLC portion of Pokemon Scarlet. I’m trying to finish my Pokedex before I jump to the DLC here and just have a little bit more focused breeding/leveling up the babies before I’m all set. I forgot how much fun a mainline Pokemon game is as it’s taken up a lot of free time as I get towards the end. I do think this has been one of the better entries and the technical issues, while present, are nowhere near game breaking from what I’ve experienced.

The open world was a little daunting at first. They give you three “quest lines” you can follow right out of the gate and I was initially stuck trying to figure out where to go and what to do, especially since two of the quest lines are literally in two different directions. The region is basically a big circle/clock face. You start at 6:00 and the first things you can do when the game opens up are at 4:00 and 8:00. Once I got the hang of the travel down it was a lot easier to do, but they throw a lot at you to start.

It’s been a while but if I remember right, MGSV has a lot up front but then dramatically drops off and is more gameplay vs. movies. There will still be SOME cutscenes but it’s nothing like the beginning of the game (which is more like the other MGS games that are cutscene heavy)

• Muppet’s Christmas Carol
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
• A Christmas Story
• Home Alone + Home Alone 2

Those have all been mainstays of some sort and we try to watch at least a couple every year we can. One of our favorites was A Christmas Story playing for 24h on TBS and we’d just “jump in” wherever it was!

I finally cracked into Phase 4 of Satisfactory when I haven’t been able to do that before, so I’m enjoying seeing some new things but also feeling a bit analysis paralysis on where to go/what to focus on. Currently trying to build a cool sky train that connects my bases. Also working on the Castlevania DLC for VS and doing my best not to just “look up the answers” to all the new content. I don’t have a ton of nostalgia for Castlevania outside of Aria of Sorrow, but I’m enjoying the sheer amount of new stuff they added in.

And lastly, Rise of the Golden Idol came out yesterday and consumed my evening. I loved that first game so much that this was a no-brainer.

I think it’s fair to say I’m more patient than I was. Having kids has slowed me down on playing games constantly, but I’ve also drifted towards more indie games and away from big tentpole $60-$70 releases. Some games will be a day one purchase based on enjoying their past work(s), like Tactical Breach Wizards and Steamworld Heist 2, and the cost barrier ends up lower. The last time I went for the big AAA game on or close to launch was Hogwarts Legacy, and that was mostly for the wife since she loves all things Harry Potter.

With the sheer amount of games being released and being able to find just about anything you could want, there’s not really a need to be in on the hotness. There are plenty of games to enjoy while those other ones get cheaper and cheaper. The launch day excitement/rush of discovery is always nice though and I do wish there was some kind of a “book club but for games” where a group could go in and have a fresh experience with a game that’s already released.

Satisfactory. It hit 1.0 about a month ago and I’ve been chipping away at a new world. It is so satisfying to build a working factory and figuring out the right input rate for your resources…it just feels so zen like.

I’m also weirdly feeling an itch to purchase and get into either Pokemon Scarlet or Violet. I can’t explain it, but I’ve apparently crossed the threshold of holding off and it just keeps floating around in my head.

I think it’s fair to say that I would remember SOME things that took a lot longer to figure out the first time, but the specifics are gone that I still could not finish the game outright if I reinstalled it right now.

Also I’ve had two kids since it first came out and my memory is shot so that helps too!

Agreed. I’ve played the game twice, once when it came out and the second when the DLC came out. Fortunately enough time passes, you can easily forget the puzzle solutions and just lose yourself in the world again.

Hmm…440 hours on Steam…probably another 125 on the Switch…

I love this game. It’s so cozy and comfortable. I found SDV after my divorce just when it had originally released and I was drawn into the cute world and how much character oozes from every corner. Every person you meet has something going on or you can just be a weird hermit building out your farm in peace. There’s enough of a story to propel you forward but never overbearing and it gets out of the way when it’s “done”.

As time has gone on from my first playthrough, I’ll typically dive back in when the itch strikes or a new content update comes along. The last few playthroughs I’ve done a lot to mod the game and introduce new things into the world to discover, some of which just feels indistinguishable from the official content and others that just help reduce barriers that I want to skip over (like fishing).

Stardew Valley is a game I will likely always go back to. I’m sure it will eventually eclipse my current most played game (Team Fortress 2 @ ~800 hours). I’ve tried other games like it and while they’re fun, none seem to have the staying power that Stardew has over me. While I will absolutely check out his next game, I’m hoping Stardew Valley never really stops being updated over the years.

We’re deep into second kiddo territory (6 weeks) and I think I’m just feeling a bit burned out. The jump from zero to one child is HUGE and there was a lot of mourning the loss of our freedom/life for both my wife and I. We’re feeling the same dip now that we’re back into dealing with a newborn ~2 years later and while not as severe, I can tell for myself it’s there and bothering me. I’ve also been back to work the last three weeks so my schedule is basically go to work (from home) all day, take the baby most of the evening while we chase a 2 year old around, get the 2 year old to bed, then hand off the new kiddo around 8:30 - 9 so I can go to bed and I get them back somewhere around 10-11 depending on the last bottle for the rest of the night. Both kids have been good sleepers (thank god) but I’m still getting woken up somewhere around 3am for that middle of the night bottle.

No time for really much else. I know intuitively it will get better because I saw it happen before, it’s just rough right now. No time for the mrs, hobbies, friends, etc…and I think we were figuring it out with number one really well. Just all hitting me the last few days.

Luckily both kids are freaking adorable and the older one is overflowing with personality as they’re learning, saying, repeating more and more from daycare. It’s been awesome to see them just explode in their development. I also understand now why some parents would have leashes for their toddlers.

I think original Sims made the biggest impact on me since I probably played that one the most. Our PC couldn’t handle The Sims 2 when it came out, and I only tangentially tried 3 and 4. Mostly enough to build a cool house and spend a few days with the Sims I created. Sims 1 I probably poured a ton of hours into it.

One thing I did discover and never fully completed in the later games was trying to do some sort of haunted house family. As in, have someone move in and intentionally die in a way that created a new color of ghost. Get all of the different ghost colors in one house/lot then move a normal family in. I don’t think it really mattered in any way, I just loved the idea of a regular family cohabitating with a rainbow of ghosts.

There’s something both so unique and also so simple to the Sims that I’m surprised it’s taken this long for folks to try and “go for it” the way Cities:Skylines went for Sim City. Like, you have to craft interesting stories within the game but you don’t need to wholecloth invent a galactic empire/fantasy world/etc…you can broadly look at our world and copy/paste for inspiration. With Paralives and Life By You “coming soon” in some fashion, there’s going to be some interesting competition here.