CorrodedCranium

I'll start by saying I had a bit of trouble wording the title but I'll try to elaborate on it. I find it can be a bit daunting at times figuring out what a decent entry point is in a series of video games without searching online first. Sometimes there will be ten games released across three different generation of consoles with reboots, prequels, and remasters and you can feel a bit left out of the loop if you start with the most recent release.

I'm wondering where people would recommend starting in other popular series like Nier, Final Fantasy, Armored Core, Ace Combat, Assassins Creed, Metal Gear, Metroid, Resident Evil, and so on.

It might make for a fun bit of Friday discussion and encourage some people to try out some new games.

Here's my example:

With the Fallout series I'd say you could easily start with any game because you have a new protagonist each time and a lot of the lore is reintroduced. The exception being Fallout 2 because it feels a bit more like a direct sequel to the original.

I would probably recommend Fallout New Vegas as a starting point because it's the fan favorite, has a few quality of life upgrades over Fallout 3, Fallout 4 adds a lot of extra mechanics to the game so going backwards in the series if you wanted more Fallout could feel a tad awkward and take some readjusting if you are accustomed to them, and the classic Fallout games can be a bit of a challenge if you aren't used to old school RPGs.

Between Microsoft killing Windows Mixed Reality in November 2026, the lack of replacement parts for things like the Rift S's cable and PSVR 2 replacement controllers, and Meta's quick discontinuation of the Quest Pro and pushing software updates that cause issues with legacy headsets it feels like most headsets are destined to quickly become paperweights.

The situation reminds me a lot of feature phones with their proprietary connectors, how useless they are without a cellular network, and the lack of a strong modding community.

Things do seem to be getting better, I haven't heard a lot of complaints about the Valve Index, but it's a bit disappointing to see so many posts and comments talking about how much potential different headsets had.

Might seem like a silly question but I'm curious.

Maybe a movie with a lot of action or decent soundtrack for example

Call me lazy if you want but I don't think someone should need to look up a guide on how to buy a video game without feeling scammed. I feel like I've been seeing this more and more lately with abstractly named tiered bundles, complete editions that don't contain everything, and remasters of games that feel like they should have been updates.

I've listed a few examples below but can you think of any others?

Examples:

The photo I attached is a buying guide for Hitman 3. A game that still confuses me. For those that don't know Hitman 1 and 2 can be played in Hitman 3 but the game is sold in bundles. I believe part one contains missions from the first game but the standard edition, the next level up, does not contain all the levels for Hitman 2 but does have all the levels for Hitman 3. The deluxe edition has all of Hitman 2 and a good chunk of the small DLC like cosmetics and challenge missions but not all of them.

Before Hitman 3 was rebranded as World of Assassination I believe you could avoid repaying for the games you already own (at least on Steam) but I don't think that's the case any more.

So as someone who owns the original Hitman I believe I essentially need to rebuy it as part of the deluxe edition if I want to play Hitman 1 and 2.

Intravenous for example was released in July 2021 and from my understanding is being remastered with features from the sequel, Intravenous 2 (released August 2024), as a DLC for the sequel under the name Intravenous IV2.

I thought this was kind of neat and might save someone the time of downloading individual files. There's a list of mods and a Google Drive download link for the pack in the post.

I don't frequently see mod packs being put together for Sims games. Even repacks of the games typically only contain stability related mods. I imagine the lack of packs or bundles has to do a lot with mod authors putting out explicit disclaimers that they don't want their mods redistributed and posted elsewhere.

To be clear I know what multipoint is and it's not what I am looking for. I don't want to toggle between two audio sources. I want to combine several various audio sources into one set of headphones. I searched online for this and a lot of people were asking why someone would want to do this. It's so I can do things like play Elden Ring on my Steam Deck and listen to a podcast on my phone. Zoomer stuff.

One way I'm pretty sure I can do this is with Bluetooth audio receivers, a X in 1 out audio mixer, a USB hub and power source, and a Bluetooth audio transmitter.

I am not sure if using the same cheap audio receivers would cause issues or what kind of latency that would produce. Given how many people use Bluetooth headphones these days and the existence of Bluetooth DACs I thought something would exist (even if it was limited to a niche Tindie product). Ideally something that makes the pairing process easier than using screenless audio receivers and is a bit more portable.

I would appreciate any tips or suggestions to simplify this setup.

Disclaimer: I haven't eaten raw chicken. Not looking for Reddit quips telling me to go to an emergency room.

Was just wondering if salmonella is pretty much guaranteed when eating raw chicken or if it's something like 50/50 and an easy preventative measure like throwing out expired/damaged cans of food or washing fruits and vegetables before you eat them. I feel like I've seen a lot of people in TV shows and movies eating raw eggs.

I've had issues with my Oculus Rift S for years now and it seems like the proprietary cable finally broke (I made a post about my current issue you can see here on [email protected]) so I'm thinking about making a change but I haven't really been tracking the scene in a while. That's not to say I haven't done any research but it's largely limited to LTT reviews I've had sporadically recommended to me and those don't really take into account follow ups after extended use and updates.

It seems relatively dominated by the Meta Quest 3 but I can't tell how much of that is it being the new thing. I am also quite wary of Meta after how they handled the Rift S with updates and replacement cables.

Some other considerations I have are

• Works with my desktop PC running Windows 11 so that I can play games I have on Steam and elsewhere like Arizona Sunshine and EmuVR. As well as watch VR movies. If it can pair up with a PC running Linux that would be even better.

• Doesn't have proprietary parts that I will likely need to replace at some point.

• Minimal to no mounting of lighthouses and as little cables as possible.

• Something that won't require an abundant amount of troubleshooting. The inability to just put on my Rift S headset caused it to gather dust a lot of the time.

• I'd prefer not to buy a Meta product. I am not super set on this as long as they've been better about their more recent products.

• Some kind of passthrough mode so that I can walk around my place and do things like wash dishes and fold laundry would be nice.

• I'd prefer to spend $700 or less. I am not sure how often or what headsets are expected to go on sale and for how much. I feel like there are options out there for this price that would be an improvement over Rift S and original PSVR that I've used.

If the Quest 3 is my best bet is there anything I should know about it? Maybe concerns over how it would connect to a PC?

The lead up:

It was working a couple months ago. The headset was just sitting on a stand with the cable loosely looped back and forth in like usual so I'm hoping it's not a cable issue.

I decided to play around with it today and the Meta Quest software updated automatically and after that I was getting weird disconnect messages, a black screen, and static. Now I am getting no signs of life from the headset in terms of LEDs or other lights; only chimes that something is being connected and disconnected to my computer.

I previously had issues getting my Rift S headset to work likely due to some kind of power related issue on my old PC. A couple months ago it would work fine with no issues.

Most posts seem related to "Port Reset Failed" errors.

My troubleshooting steps so far have been:

• I swapped around the DisplayPort and USB connection (USB 3.2 and with a PCI-E USB expansion card) and reinserted the connector on the headset

• I went into Device Manager and uninstalled "Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)" and "Rift USB Hub" before plugging the USB cord back in.

• I plugged the USB cord in and waited before plugging in the DisplayPort cable.

• I tried reinstalling the drivers using the oculus-driver.exe found in ./Oculus/Support/ and the Oculus software all together.

• Downgrading the drivers using instructions from the Oculus subreddit doesn't appear possible because it requires the Rift S to be recognized during the Oculus setup process.

• Straightening out the cable and feeling for any irregularities.

• Rebooting multiple times during all of this.

• Verified the ports on my computer are working.

• Disconnecting the headset end while the other side is connected to my computer

Steps that might help but I would like to avoid:

• Verifying the headset works using a different PC. As mentioned at the top my old PC had it's own set of issues with the Rift and I don't have friends to reach out to borrow a PC.

• Purchasing a new cable. They are proprietary and cost more than the headset by itself and aren't sold by Meta.

• Reaching out to Meta support. They seem to recommend the same steps of reseating the cable, reseating the headset, rebooting the PC, and uninstalling things in Device Manager. In a few posts they seem pretty dismissive and refer to the Rift S as old. There's a lot of unresolved posts on the Meta community forums.

• Reinstalling Windows. It sounds like this rarely works and it would be a hassle.

If it does come down to spending $100 on the cable I might just consider getting a new headset that doesn't have anything to do with Meta. If you can think of one that it isn't crazy expensive let me know. The Meta Quest 3 looks neat and decently priced but I am real tired of dealing with Meta and how they handled the Rift S.

I was thinking about the Sandy Hook Promise: Gun violence warning signs video where a stereotypical teen romance story plays out and in the background someone gives off warning signs that they're going to go on a shooting spree and it's made me wonder if there are movies that follow a similar setup of building something up in the background just to have it completely overtake the main story line.

Like an average city girl following in love with a prince but you see protests and other signs of civil unrest in the background and the prince gets assassinated at the wedding. Maybe some kind of story that ends in 9/11 or the Cold War turning hot. Some kind of discount M. Night Shyamalan-style twist.

It appears like it's recommended over WiiU USB Helper and I would like to give it a go (considering I can't get the title keys section in Wii USB Helper to work anymore) but WiiUDownloader is freezing anywhere from two to ten minutes into downloading or decrypting games. It doesn't appear to be consistently at the same spot or with the same game. I've only tried it on the one computer running Windows 11 but it should have more than sufficient specs.

I've searched /r/ROMs and the only posts that had responses and weren't snarky comments telling people to search the megathread or another community seem to say different versions, connecting to a different network, or repeated attempts are the possible solutions. I'm wondering if anyone has come across a more consistent solution before I resort to downloading directing from the Internet Archive and decrypting the games myself or trying to navigate their Discord channel.

Could also be useful information for people who run into issues in the future.

Edit: I still haven't found a solution and resorted to using .wua files that combine the game and updates.

I am thinking of playing Breath of the Wild on my PC with Cemu and was wondering if any mods or tweaks were worth trying.

I'm mostly looking at quality of life stuff.

I know Game Banana has a lot.