Community The MetaVerse VR thread (hardware/software/etc, all platforms)

Alextended

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Alextended

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A little Metroid-like freebie from the developer of a long line of non-VR FPS/RPG type in-depth hybrid games, which he has been converting to VR these days.
 
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Alextended

Segata's Disciple
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Li Kao

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How is Raw Data ? It's discounted on Occulus Store.
 

Amzin

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How is Raw Data ? It's discounted on Occulus Store.
I just finished it, it's very arcadey but relatively fun for a discount. I think I got it as part of a bundle? I could see it being really fun with friends for co-op (up to 4 people I think) but I played it solo. The character they have you start with, pistol guy, is by far the most boring though.

Posted-too-soon edit: I'm trying to finish up RuneSage and also working on Transpose right now. RuneSage is super low budget and the puzzles are very mixed quality but overall it's a very like 7/10 puzzle game, maybe 6.5. Transpose is a little more polished so far but it's the first time I'm really struggling with tracking with my Odyssey+, throwing that damn cube around is way more iffy than it should be. Might just be the game itself, have no way to compare it.

Pistol Whip remains my VR GOAT but will see how HL:A fairs. Also looking forward to mucking about in Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades which I overlooked in my initial VR game acquisitions.
 
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Durante

Durante

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How is Raw Data ?
Raw Data is a game I played early on in VR in coop, and I still think it's one of the best VR-only action games. It has a really good difficulty curve, very varied classes, and several neat moves. The best thing about it is that you can really see how your skill as a player grows with more practice (and in a quite different way from any "flat" game).

I'd recommend it, especially if you can play it in coop.
 
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Alextended

Segata's Disciple
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So much VR goodness alongside Alyx (btw most of it is on PC too, even if it name drops the Quest) :)

Edit: for posterity but as to not bump this thread since I made another for the Facebook stuff (unless they show something cool like Lone Echo II):
 
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Alextended

Segata's Disciple
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Long awaited Saints & Sinners localization patch with an assortment of other improvements and fixes.
Localization:
  • The game is now available in French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese-Brazilian
    • This is Gameplay and UI Text only, no audio. Please enable your Subtitles in the Options > Audio menu.
  • Language selector is available in the Options Menu


Additions/Improvements:

AI
  • Combat Retreat and Maneuvering Improvements for Human AI


Audio
  • Improved Weapon sounds
  • Frying Pan should now have a satisfying “Clunk!”


Gameplay
  • Health and Stamina bars have been added to the Watch
  • New Menu Option to disable HUD (removes the Health and Stamina bars from the center of the your view)
  • Bow should now be easier to pull


Physical Crouch
  • Hybrid Seated/Standing Mode is now on by Default
  • True Player Height mode added
  • Various crouching collision fixes


Optimizations
  • Improved performance in Rampart
  • Misc Backpack/Inventory optimizations
  • Misc code optimizations
  • Various Improved LODs


Bug Fixes:

Audio
  • Spatial Volume fixes in The Shallows, Bastion, Via Carolla, and Old Town.
  • Misc audio bug fixes


Gameplay
  • Chaperone should now correctly appear in Standing/Roomscale for SteamVR
  • Removed bad collision in Rampart kitchen area that blocked players from grabbing items
  • Severed body parts should now appear as the correct model when you load a save game
  • Misc UI jitter fixes
  • Misc other gameplay bug fixes
Also, this released, it looks good for the genre.
 
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Wok

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This is about VR in general:

Can Half-Life: Alyx make the case for consumer VR?

The odd thing about reviewing Half-Life, Alyx is that it isn't just a game. It isn't even a system-seller, in the traditional sense of that term. It has been specifically designed to make the argument for an entire medium, to do for capital-V-virtual capital-R-reality what Super Mario 64 did for 3D. So asking if it's the best VR experience we've ever had isn't quite enough. (For the record, though: allowing for the fact that Tetris Effect is almost as good on a Tv as it is inside a headset, while Alyx is completely VR-native, yes, it is.) The question instead becomes: is that enough?

When Alyx was first revealed, it was accompanied by a sense that even the fans who've spent the last decade clamouring loudly for another Half-Life game were resigning themselves to not being able to play this one — largely due to the sheer cost. Alyx not only has to sell people on the dream of VR, it has to sell them to the tune of almost £1,000 (plus a sufficiently brawny PC to do it justice). This is, admittedly, only if you want the best possible experience. Valve is supporting pretty much every PC VR platform you could possibly name (which for most of us is a pretty short list). We play through Alyx on an Index, but also test it on the considerably cheaper Oculus Quest (linked to a PC) and HTC Vive. While the visual downgrade is noticeable, it doesn't hurt the game too much. The bigger constraint, for our money, isn't a technical one at all. It has to do with space.

Valve is trying to solve this by making Alyx as flexible as possible in terms of how it's played. You can play at full room-scale, free to wander as far as your physical walls will allow — but, as long as you've got enough room to swing a head-crab, there's also the option to play it standing up or even sitting at your desk. (In this case, crouching and standing is handled with a button press, and as long as you're not too prone to motion sickness, we'd recommend switching to the stick-based 'continuous motion' mode, which means the whole thing controls more like a traditional FPS.) These are important accessibility considerations, and though it hasn't been implemented in the build we play, Valve is working on a single-handed controller scheme.

But provided you are able to play the game at room-scale, it's clearly the best option. The freedom of movement opens up so much of what makes Half-Life: Alyx great, letting you duck and dive and occasionally lose all sense of your position in the real world. And with that in mind, here's the ugly truth: your enjoyment of this game is going to be directly proportional to the amount of space you have to play it in. Being able to potter around freely without fear of destroying furniture or squashing beloved pets is hugely important.

With VR, physical space becomes an extra system requirement to take into consideration — and even those of us who find the allure of Alyx enough to drop a grand on an Index are unlikely to also shell out for a new living room. And even that might not be enough. We play in optimal conditions — a spacious room, all but cleared of obstacles — and still frequently find ourselves brushing up against the translucent boundary wall in-game.

Some of Alyx's best moments involve you being in the dark, or a tightly enclosed space, and often both. VR is excellent at creating tension in these moments, wrapping you in the absence of light, squeezing on your sense of claustrophobia. But the effect is somewhat marred by the presence, if you happen to be stood in the wrong place, of a gridded cage that cuts through the darkness. It's far from a deal-breaker — clearly, given how much we enjoy Alyx — but they are the kind of things you need to be willing to shrug off as a limitation of the technology. Which, when you're trying to convert people to the joys of virtual reality, is not the greatest sales pitch. Worse, it's a problem we can't see a solution to, at least not from a technical perspective — and warehouse-sized VR arcades, much as we'd love to see them, don't feel like a realistic prospect.

This all gets to the strange contradiction that's right at the heart of VR. The common argument for the technology is immersion: that with this virtual world wrapped all around you, it's easier to convince your brain it's real. But there's also more that can wrench you out of it - the occasional tug of a cable, or the occasional itchiness of foam pressed firmly against your forehead. These are the kinds of problems currently sat at the top of Valve's to-do list, hardware-wise, but the simple fact of simultaneously existing in two overlapping spaces means you're playing not just playing the game itself but often a second metagame, as you try to reason where you are outside of the headset and whether you're about to bump into something.

Occasionally, even with the presence of that gridded wall, we manage to let go of that second layer. The game envelops us entirely, and it's a magical moment - until we bump shin-first into a chair, or punch a wall. Honestly, the experience of playing Alyx is worth these minor battle scars, but VR more broadly? We're not sure whether it ever will be.
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Alextended

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That's a fairly shit and cringey article, it doesn't say enough about the game or about VR in general which is an even larger topic. Standing VR is fine, it's not the first VR FPS to judge that by, whether standing or room scale your room is not going to be as big as the game worlds so you'll always resort to other locomotion methods, how soon you will do so doesn't reduce immersion radically. Basically, room scale, unless for tech demos like Unseen Diplomacy and Tea for God, or full location VR avenues, is not for traversal through the worlds but for nearby interactions (lean around, step in cover, reach for objects and items and so on, not to travel through the world and constantly retrace your steps). And why the fuck do they have chairs and walls within the boundaries they set up for them to bump into shit or fear they're about to? You're obviously not meant to set the boundaries right where your walls or furniture are but to set them up to warn you long before you come close to actually hitting something so you can play without fear knowing that even when in the moment you see the boundaries pop up you still have enough room to finish up. It doesn't even explain much of anything about the gameplay in this game or VR in general to make the claim it's for people without VR to get an idea. It doesn't say anything about your hands, manual interactions, physically aiming weapons, etc. And the conclusion is Alyx is worth any minor annoyances they brought on themselves but that VR in general which offers so much more than just a single great game isn't? Nonsense.

 
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Alextended

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Not like you didn't know already but for posterity, yeah it's out.
This guy is always too good, that's with DEADEYE, ie, he has to aim properly, not let the game auto aim as in default while focusing on the rhythm and stuff.
 
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Amzin

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I've played 2 hours of HL:A so far and love it, but have a question - there's physics stuff everywhere but I can't really... do anything with it? I expected to be able to hurl bricks or wield pipes that I found for at least like, a stagger or something, but so far it doesn't seem to do anything at all.

It seems weird especially with the smaller amount of ammo you're getting so far, feels like you should be conserving it by physics'ing at enemies.

It's still fun to rummage around though
 

low-G

old school cool
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I've played 2 hours of HL:A so far and love it, but have a question - there's physics stuff everywhere but I can't really... do anything with it? I expected to be able to hurl bricks or wield pipes that I found for at least like, a stagger or something, but so far it doesn't seem to do anything at all.

It seems weird especially with the smaller amount of ammo you're getting so far, feels like you should be conserving it by physics'ing at enemies.

It's still fun to rummage around though
What surprises me is that there's no tricky physics puzzles. With these fancy physics I expected rube goldberg machines and crap.
 

Alextended

Segata's Disciple
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Also a small Alyx patch already. Yay, smooth turning and stuff:
  • Improved turning options in Preferences:
    • Added "Continuous Turn", and associated turning speed options.
    • Renamed "Quick turn" to "Snap Turn" to make its functionality clearer.
    • Added option to disable controller turning.
  • Improved hand-over-mouth pose usability for Windows MR controllers.
  • Improved the resolution of impact decals on enemies.
  • Improved automatic detection of default Quality settings for some machine configurations.
  • Fixed an issue where some sounds didn't play as intended.
  • Fixed an issue where the main menu could become less responsive if you had many save games.
  • Fixed several crashes.
Also, damn:
I just got past the part with the blind enemy, what a finely crafted adventure this is, though I believe it bugged for me while messing around throwing bottles all over the place as it was NOT roaming the cramped area with the battery cell behind the crank powered gate so I got off easy there.
 
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fantomena

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So apparently according to Twitter, Paper Beast (released on PSVR yesterday) is a timed exclusive, so it will release on PCVR at some point.

Still waiting for Ghost Giant and Ace Combat 7 VR missions, no idea why they aren't on PCVR yet. AC7 VR missions timed exclusivity ended in january.
 

C-Dub

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Still waiting for Ghost Giant and Ace Combat 7 VR missions, no idea why they aren't on PCVR yet. AC7 VR missions timed exclusivity ended in january.
Same reason we never got RE7 on PCVR: it was released so long ago and now the developer isn't going back to it.

Timed exclusive VR modes are a hex, because they are de facto exclusives in the end.
 
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Alextended

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It just looks like just another WMR kit, that initiative failed for a reason, unknown degree and point of the Valve collaboration some choose to focus on or not. It seems to sport the same 2 front cameras and no lighthouse trackers on the HMD. A good successor to the Samsung Odyssey would be nice indeed but only if it costs way less (just like Odyssey now that it's discounted to hell and back, it certainly wouldn't be a good competitor when its launch price was inbetween Oculus and Index levels, hence the 50% discounts they soon did and continued to increase) than Oculus which has superior tracking range and quality yet this appears to be aiming to be a premium expensive product rather than something to fit in the budget category that even Rift S is a bit above. With Microsoft seemingly abandoning WMR and sticking with the old tracking/controller standards such products aren't going to be very interesting no matter what cool display or audio technology varied manufacturers add. If it's not actually WMR based then there's no reason to collaborate with Microsoft at all. Maybe they've somehow worked on some hybrid implementation that means they use WMR inside out tracking yet the superior controller technology/form factor of the Index with compatibility modes for both depending on the game/app, that could be interesting but it doesn't seem likely, WMR has controller standards as well as tracking standards, Samsung was the only one to deviate from the template design and it was to improve the form factor and build quality, they couldn't change or add inputs. If HP can deviate from WMR so much this time then why not also add a couple or more tracking cameras and match Oculus performance on that (software too) front? That's already a huge compromise right there even though they're pimping it as a premium no compromise product. We'll see.

Nice Vox Machinae update (new hub links don't show the update title and content preview, meh):



 
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Arkanius

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Do we know anything about the new HP headset that as announced in collab with Valve?
I'm about to pull the trigger on the Index, but I'm fearing that something way better might be coming out for a lower price.
 
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lashman

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Do we know anything about the new HP headset that as announced in collab with Valve?
I'm about to pull the trigger on the Index, but I'm fearing that something way better might be coming out for a lower price.
not yet, no ... but i wouldn't worry about it being better and cheaper :p it'll probably be one of those REALLY cheap ones ... just a bit better than the previous WMR batch
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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It'll open up VR to people on the lower end of the market who want an affordable and acceptable product.

It's not going to be an Index Killer, however. Frankly, I'd be surprised if they matched the Rift S.
 
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Alextended

Segata's Disciple
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Alextended

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Durante

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I'm not sure why you'd want to disable dynamic resolution in HL:Alyx.

It's very well implemented, so basically, that just means you'd end up with lower quality in less demanding scenes if you want to maintain the same performance level.
 

Alo81

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Just finished Alyx. So god damn cool.

I'm not sure why you'd want to disable dynamic resolution in HL:Alyx.

It's very well implemented, so basically, that just means you'd end up with lower quality in less demanding scenes if you want to maintain the same performance level.
I was actually looking to do the above to force myself into reprojection + high resolution territory now that I'm done so I can look at the larger environments all pretty and sharp even if the framerate cuts.

I do agree their implementation is really great, the game felt real smooth all the way through.
 
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Alextended

Segata's Disciple
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I don't like dynamic anything myself, I like consistency, in and out of VR. Just like one locks fps in a happy medium rather than get a variable 30-144 framerate. At least until we get true eye tracked foveated rendering in VR where it can keep up and seems just as good as consistently high quality rendering would. I guess I also wouldn't mind some game with a clear divide, ie, indoor sections @ 4K and outdoor more demanding @ 1440p or whatever works for my PC.


 
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Alextended

Segata's Disciple
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finishing Alyx has me real thirsty for more VR to play. What games are people jumping to after having beaten Alyx?
I've underlined a couple similarly serious action/adventure stuff in the ol recommendation list.
And here is a preliminary, not necessarily updated with all the latest things (so, just participate in the thread, duh) list of VR games I can basically recommend, obviously always depending on your preferences (and excluding obvious must have shit like Beat Saber and Half-Life: Alyx):

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is an immersive sim-lite with great action & some resource scavenging.

Budget Cuts is a stealth puzzle adventure with nicely integrated teleport mechanics and a new sequel.

Apex Construct is a sci fi immersing adventure game with archery action at its core.

Stormland is an open world shooter, more limited than it seems at first but still fun as hell.

The Room VR is a wonderful continuation of the famous puzzle adventure series, perfectly adapted to VR!

The Thrill of the Fight is a boxing sim, if less fancy than the gamey Creed and its Rocky license.

Journey of the Gods is a Zelda-lite linear action adventure that's simple but polished and works really well.

Pistol Whip is the new kid on the rhythm game block, I love it like it’s a funky musical Virtua Cop-like.

Drop Dead is a fun riff on The House of the Dead, not nearly as tight but maybe the best of the genre in VR.

In Death is an archery based rogue-lite I spent many hours in early on despite the limited scope.

SUPERHOT VR is a puzzle action shooter with cool slow motion mechanics. Be like Neo!

Racket Fury is a very polished table tennis game, the realism was surreal at first despite the sci fi.

Catch & Release is a fishing game. Who doesn’t like fishing? I want Twilight Princess fishing in VR now.

Moss is a third person action adventure, you lead a sword wielding mouse as if in a diorama of a fairy tale.

Down the Rabbit Hole is yet another fairy tale adapted to VR, with its own twists, turns and unique style.

Asgard's Wrath is a made-for-VR action RPG with a Viking theme that many people seem to enjoy.

Space Junkies is a PVP zero gravity arena FPS, like Quake in space, great for some instant action.

Ultrawings is a flight game, not quite a sim, maybe a bit like pilot wings, goals and stuff to get through.

Windlands 2 is an action adventure with not-web-swinging and archery, it’s also co-op capable.

Vox Machinae is a PVP mech combat game with awesome cockpits.

Raw Data is probably the best of the arena/wave shooters with different classes, progression & co-op.

Onward is my favorite “standard” FPS, PVP focused, some co-op & the best feel for weapons/gadgets.

Lone Echo is a must play astronaut adventure, the free PVP Echo VR and its $10 Combat DLC rock too.

Red Matter is another sci fi adventure with a different spin than the above and great interactions.

Blade & Sorcery has the best physics based melee combat but doesn’t yet have progression etc.

V-Racer Hoverbike is a cool futuristic racer where you can lean to realistically control your jet moto thing.

There are many great early access games too, I like where Vengeful Rites is going as a VR RPG action adventure with sword wielding, spell casting, the works and there’s also the free-for-now A Township Tale alpha to try for some online rpging/surviving/crafting alongside social playgrounds like Rec Room, VRChat, even Bigscreen. VTOL VR is a great indie combat flight sim with wonderfully interactive cockpits. There are also ports of non-VR games or games that are both for VR and regular play, which are done very well, as long as you like the base games. Titles like Skyrim VR, No Man’s Sky, DCS, Elite Dangerous, DiRT Rally 1 & 2, PayDay 2, IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad and others were converted very well. Some like Fallout 4 VR weren’t as successful however so some caution is necessary before purchase. Others have been converted by fan modifications, MotherVR is a great mod for Alien Isolation, without hand tracking, while the same creator is working on ReclaimerVR, a mod for Halo: The Master Chief Collection that will include that and another guy works on an Outer Wilds mod with hand tracking as well.
I need to go back and add stuff like The Room VR I guess (edit; did). The next in line might be Lies Beneath on April 14 (for PC, it's already out on Oculus Quest).
 
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low-G

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Hmm Asgard's Wrath is finally on sale on the Oculus Store but I can't check out right now. Looks like a server error.

 

AHA-Lambda

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Is there a detailed list anywhere of Oculus Store exclusive titles? Anything I can find on google is fairly bitty =/
Even the Oculus Originals page on the Oculus website doesn't appear to be up to date.
 

low-G

old school cool
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BTW the Asgard's Wrath sale is working now. Yeah 12% isn't great, but it hasn't been on sale otherwise.
 
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Durante

Durante

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I don't like dynamic anything myself, I like consistency, in and out of VR.
From my perspective a good dynamic quality implementation does that -- it gives you consistency in the most important aspect: frametime.
I guess there could be people who prefer lower but consistent image quality -- but in my experience good dynamic systems (like in Alyx) will primarily only drop quality in scenes where it's truly unnoticable -- even for people attuned to IQ like me (e.g. a grenade exploding).
The only other way to maintain a consistent experience in terms of framerate in such situations is to vastly over-provision performance, which must mean that you get significantly lower IQ than you could be getting the vast majority of the time.
 
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Alextended

Segata's Disciple
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Alextended

Segata's Disciple
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