The STR Screenshot Thread

[M.Steiner]

Few more but will make these the last

Rise of the Tomb Raider [PC]




Impressions:
- Love the exploration/hubs. Much bigger than before with lots to distract you. First few hours are very linear but once it opens up it's great.
- The challenge tombs & puzzles are great but I would have liked them to be longer, much more difficult & integrated more into the main game & story. Lack of tombs was my main complaint with the reboot so I won't complain too much as there's an improvement here, but it's Tomb Raider! Imo, Tombs should not be small, additional/optional side content in a Tomb Raider game. Ideally I'd like there to be some full level based tombs that are built around puzzles.
- Visually stunning in places with some fantastic set pieces. Performance isn't always perfect & SLI scaling isn't working as well as it should be either but it's a good port.
- Combat & platforming are decent, though can be a tad clunky at times and a bit too easy. I do like the new tools.
- Progression & crafting is good, but I think the game would have benefitted from a new game plus mode. Maybe not to carry everything across, but at least some things. Gives the player more reason to unlock stuff.
- Side missions are boring and basically just filler fetch quests for further rewards.
- Story & dialogue is not its strong point.

All things said, a good start to 2016 and I've still really enjoyed my time with it. Given this years amazing lineup (again) though, I can see this eventually dropping out of my top 10 as other promising titles come out. I can't see Rise of the Tomb Raider winning any GOTY awards (except maybe from the diehard fanboys who would have loved it whatever), but still a decent game when it comes down to it. No regrets buying & playing it but I hope they come back in the 3rd game with a much improved story and do some more with the tombs as I suggest.

Anyway, XCOM 2 on Fri and then Firewatch next Tue. The latter is one of my most anticipated games for this year so absolutely cannot wait to play that. Possibly Arkham Knight after those.

[M.Steiner]

The Tomorrow Children (Beta) [PS4]

[M.Steiner]

Firewatch [PC]








My first GOTY contender for the year

[M.Steiner]

Batman: Arkham Knight [PC]



You take any screenshots whilst you were playing it, Anny? Love it when games include a photo mode

[Anubis]

Batman: Arkham Knight [PC]
You take any screenshots whilst you were playing it, Anny? Love it when games include a photo mode

No, but I will do tomorrow if I get a chance to play!

Love your two there!

[M.Steiner]

Will look forward to seeing them if so! I've just added another 2 above as well

It's a great looking game for sure, though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still a little bit peed off thinking about the disgraceful state they launched it in. Rocksteady seem to have done a good job patching it & actually making it playable (though it will still never support SLI which is disappointing) which I'm thankful for, but it's hard to give too much praise for that when the game shouldn't have launched in such a state to begin with. Was completely unacceptable & easily the worst case I've experienced.

I'm still not overly keen on the Batmobile besides the Riddler puzzle/race missions which use it for getting the keys to free Catwoman, I really like those. Wish it had more of a limited presence in the game rather than it becoming such a big focus suddenly, and being forced to use it in so many situations. I can't blame them for wanting to introduce it as it was the logical next step for the series if you think about it, but at the same time I still preferred the games without it.

I'm not sure where it would have ultimately placed on my 2015 games of the year list just yet (looking past its launch issues, which would have been harder for me to do last year as I will have been more of the mindset that it didn't deserve a place) but it seems like a solid game so far and I'm enjoying it far more than Origins which is a good sign! They get props for casting John Noble & Jonathan Banks too

[Anubis]

Will look forward to seeing them if so! I've just added another 2 above as well

It's a great looking game for sure, though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still a little bit peed off thinking about the disgraceful state they launched it in. Rocksteady seem to have done a good job patching it & actually making it playable (though it will still never support SLI which is disappointing) which I'm thankful for, but it's hard to give too much praise for that when the game shouldn't have launched in such a state to begin with. Was completely unacceptable & easily the worst case I've experienced.

I'm still not overly keen on the Batmobile besides the Riddler puzzle/race missions which use it for getting the keys to free Catwoman, I really like those. Wish it had more of a limited presence in the game rather than it becoming such a big focus suddenly, and being forced to use it in so many situations. I can't blame them for wanting to introduce it as it was the logical next step for the series if you think about it, but at the same time I still preferred the games without it.

I'm not sure where it would have ultimately placed on my 2015 games of the year list just yet (looking past its launch issues, which would have been harder for me to do last year as I will have been more of the mindset that it didn't deserve a place) but it seems like a solid game so far and I'm enjoying it far more than Origins which is a good sign! They get props for casting John Noble & Jonathan Banks too

Yes, John Noble is PERFECT as Scarecrow - I absolutely loved Scarecrow in the game, truly a fantastically played character. You know who else I loved too, but...spoilers

As I said last night in chat, I actually give huge props to Rocksteady for it. I can only assume what reviewers said about the game at launch were accurate, but I didn't have a single issue save one that a Windows Update caused in 52 hours. I was very impressed by the quality overall, so Rocksteady must have done a hell of a job fixing it up. I'm very glad Witcher 3 stopped me from playing it until they'd done that.

As for the Batmobile - I ended up liking it actually. I do wish they'd used it a little less in the main story, but I thought it was a good addition. I still spent 9/10 of my 52 hours (so far ingame) not in it, so it's not like it's essential for every moment either. It was a BIT overplayed, but given it's their last game with the franchise...can't say I blame them.

Going to head ingame for a few pics now, but given I've completed the game they'll be in sandbox mode sadly!

EDIT: I'm not the best at screenshots so forgive me if these aren't amazing...

[M.Steiner]

Some nice pics there! (most of my pics were taking whilst free-roaming too so that's cool)
Open world games like this are great for taking screenshots in I find. Lots of photo opportunities! Give the photo mode a try on the main menu too if you haven't already mate, gives you more control over the camera, among other goodies (as well as removing the HUD). It's nice to see more developers include such a mode with their games, I hope more continue to follow

Happy to report that I haven't had any issues with the game either since I started it this time. I have noticed the odd frame rate dip here and there (nothing significant though) but I think that's more to do with having the game maxed out without being able to use both of my cards in SLI, rather than optimization or whatever. Launch was a different story though. I actually felt physically sick trying to play it due to the erratic frame rate and stuttering (even after lowering settings), and that's from someone who played through Unity at release too for comparisons sake heh. Really bad.

Will post some more pics tomorrow if I can, I've been playing away most of the evening hehe. Game is great

[M.Steiner]

Last screenshots for Arkham Knight
Not gonna spoiler tag the text below so if you haven't played it yet, don't read!




Just finished it now & I encountered maybe 2 issues?

• The first was during the boss fight with Pyg. When you stun him/get him at the other side of the table you're supposed to finish him off with a takedown prompt. The prompt wouldn't appear for me. Had to redo that fight quite a few times and in the end it still wouldn't appear, but I managed to get through it by button mashing (what I googled to be space + left mouse) around the table until I found a sweet spot where it triggered it for me. Annoying, and I had wrist pain by the time I was done (lol) but not to worry.
• Second issue was at the end of the game and could either be considered a game breaking bug or just bad game design. As I usually do, I wrapped all of the side content up (except for the Riddler stuff, so 13/14) & then went on to finish the main story. I'm then left with "apprehend 1 more of Gotham's Most Wanted to activate the Knightfall protocol" which for me, only left the Riddler. Now there's the "Incomplete" Knightfall ending, and the complete one. To enact the incomplete one you only needed to have completed 7 of the 14 side quests, which I'd already passed. Whereas completing all 14 side quests triggers the complete one. So because the game told me to apprehend one more person with only the Riddler left at 13/14, it had permanently locked me out of the incomplete ending whilst also locking the complete one behind 243 riddles. How wonderful is that?

Those 2 issues aside, I thought it was bloody fantastic.
Loved the story & its (complete) ending, the Batman/Joker dynamic was brilliant throughout, the combat was as satisfying as ever and is still some of the best melee there is in games and whilst I didn't bother with a lot of the challenges (I'm not all that keen on replaying stuff for better times/scores), the rest of the side-quests & activities were all interesting & enjoyable. To my surprise, I even grew to like the batmobile which I went in pretty much hating. Especially liked the Catwoman puzzle sections too and to be perfectly honest, they kinda put the tombs in RotTR to shame as far as fun & their solutions went. John Noble was incredible as Scarecrow too, I'd like to see him take on more roles in video games as he's only done a handful and he's a brilliant actor (side note: give the tv show Fringe a look if you've not seen it!)
Haven't played or bought any of the DLC yet (I know you recommended the Most Wanted Expansion, Anny) but I'll probably pick that up (and maybe a couple others) in a week or so. Will leave it installed until I do!

Need to let it sit a bit as I may feel differently once I have, but I'm actually leaning towards this being my favourite Arkham game too, for which Asylum has always remained. If so my rating would be Knight > Asylum > City > Origins.
Shame about the dreadful launch, the months of patching, the lack of SLI and those couple of issues I had but there's a fantastic game here. Very glad I decided to keep my copy rather than claim a refund when I could, though saying that I still probably wouldn't have played it for another few months had Anny not been singing its praises on Discord. Ty for encouraging me to bump it up my list mate, very glad I did

[Anubis]

Right, debated splitting this off into its own thread but hesitated due to the screenies - may reserve the right to change my mind on that (or you can if you feel it fits best!

First off, awesome screenshots as ever mate, and I'm REALLY glad you enjoyed the game and had so few issues! I knew you'd love it the moment you got into the story properly! I am sorry to hear you had any issues though - that last one in particular sounds nasty...by the sound of it that would have hit me too if I hadn't already arrested Riddler and everyone else by the time I started the finale. Guess I was lucky!

As I said on Discord, I've actually come to the same conclusion myself about it being the best Arkham game. Asylum was pretty perfect, and was definitely the best environment out of the three (as it kept it contained, pressured, and focused on the story), and it's always been one of my favourite games since I played it...but frankly, Knight's story is superb and really blew it out of the water. I ADORED the Joker interplay and felt that was masterfully done throughout, and I thought Scarecrow was also played perfectly. I'd say that his performance is the best "main villain" one of the series by quite a way. It was also a very dark story, which is exactly what Arkham needs to work best - don't get me wrong, I love the Joker, but I felt the game really improved by having a serious villain as the main protagonist.

Now, DLCs. I've bought and played all the story ones. Here's my recommendations for you if you are considering them (I enjoyed everything, but to varying degrees):

• Season of Infamy: Most Wanted Expansion - Definitely get this. You get four extra villain stories, which finish off the stories of villains we've met in the past who didn't quite make it into Knight. Some of the stories (Mr Freeze in particular) are really good. I really enjoyed this.
• Catwoman's Revenge - The gameplay in this is nothing special - just a predator bit then a combat bit. But I really recommend this for the banter between Catwoman and Riddler (Riddler's voice actor is so good). I was laughing like crazy through it. It's cheap, so I'd definitely say pick this up.
• Red Hood Story Pack - This is probably vying with the Robin DLC for the "least" of them, which is a shame as the character and implementation wasn't too bad. There just wasn't tons here story wise is all...it's alright, but it never made me invested like Catwoman managed through dialogue.
• Harley Quinn Story Pack - This was quite fun. It was pretty cool to play as Harley, and see her psychosis implemented through mechanics. She has a few cool abilities and I enjoyed playing things as she would. It's not amazing or anything, but it was enjoyable.
• A Matter of Family - This is the longest DLC aside from the Most Wanted expansion. There's a lot to do here, and it focuses on Batgirl before Joker crippled her. I felt the story was not QUITE what it could have been to make this amazing DLC, but it's definitely good enough to recommend for the price.
• GCPD Lockdown - This one is similar to the Catwoman DLC in that the dialogue is the main reason to enjoy it, but it's nothing like as good as the Catwoman/Riddler banter. Penguin tries to escape GCPD and Nightwing has to contain it post-Knightfall. Fun, but nothing special I would say. A little too short I felt.
• A Flip of a Coin - You play as Robin, on your first mission post-Knightfall. To be honest I enjoyed this least, but if you were at all invested in Robin or where Gotham would try and go from here it may be worth a pickup given the price.

Also, on an unrelated side note, did you guess the scene I fell in love with and took me by complete shock? Here's a hint

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[M.Steiner]

Thanks for the rundown of story DLC, bud. Much appreciated!
I appear to already own the Harley Quinn story pack (probably from pre-ordering the game originally) but after double checking, the season pass seems to include all of those (as expected) too. Think I'll just grab that as I can get that cheaply atm and then play through them based on your feedback - Either working my way down the list, or perhaps it would be better to work my way up it so as to end with the best & finish on another high note. [Edit: Just bought it for £6.64)

And yep, I knew as soon as I got to that scene in the movie studios that it must have been the one you were referring to. Sooo well done, genius gaming scene lol. I purposefully failed that section so I could watch it again too haha. (It's very different (more like something you'd see in Saints Row), but there's a particular scene in Tales from the Borderlands which I know you're gonna love too. The one I'm thinking of is in episode 4 when you get to playing them ^^)

(I'm fine either way with the posts btw. I posted my thoughts on Rise of the Tomb Raider along with my screenies of that too, and it can be quite nice when screenshots spur some discussion afterwards I think. No objections if you decide to split them though!)

[M.Steiner]

Been playing around in Photoshop, turning a few of my screenshots into painting-like wallpapers. Wasn't sure whether to post these but figured, why not?


(Batman: Arkham Knight, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Firewatch)

Played through all of the DLC last week btw, Anny. My top 3 were: Season of Infamy: Most Wanted Expansion, A Matter of Family & Catwoman's Revenge. The expansion was easily the best of the bunch & I ended with Mr Freeze too which was my favourite & quite bittersweet. Thought A Matter of Family offered a substantial amount of content & story compared to most of the others & whilst I did enjoy the others, I could probably give or take most of them. Also, thinking about it after playing Catwoman's Revenge... a Catwoman stealth game would be something I'd be quite interested in playing tbh!

[M.Steiner]

Stardew Valley [PC]


Been playing this non-stop for the last week and absolutely love it. This is a must buy for any Harvest Moon fans here, you will not be disappointed!

Kotaku | Stardew Valley’s Creator Has Won The Hearts Of PC Gamers
Trailer:

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[Anubis]

I LOVE the painting effect shots you've done! They look absolutely stunning! Painted landscapes are my kind of art too

I'm starting TR in the next couple of days so will try and remember to take a few of that myself...

[Isileth]

Yeah I agree those painted landscape shots are awesome.

[M.Steiner]

Thankies!, I shall do some more at some point. They do make great wallpapers

Hope you enjoy RotTR when you start it, Anny (and shall look forward to seeing your screenies if you take some!). Stunning looking game for sure, though I was kinda disappointed with it at the same time (as you may have seen from my impressions further up). Still a decent game but probably best to lower your expectations a little when it comes to story, I'd say

[M.Steiner]

Planet Coaster (PC Alpha v0.1)

[Thunderbird]

Found this while browsing the Sound Voltex Station (the game's unlock system) on Sound Voltex III -Gravity Wars- (arcade)...

[M.Steiner]

Quantum Break (PC)

Kinda hard to take good screenshots of this so these may be all I post from QB.

Performance on PC aside (definitely needs some patching but it is playable for me, unlike Arkham Knight was at release), the game seems pretty great from what I have played. Story has been decent so far (giving me Fringe vibes <3) and the live-action episodes are fitting in really nicely I think & feel part of the game, just like longer cutscenes tbh. The cast is fantastic so as you can expect, so is the acting. Combat is a lot of fun! - don't think of it as a cover shooter. There IS cover, but if you're trying to play at is one you're playing it wrong & you'll probably get your arse handed to you anyway as the enemy will work to flank you. I'd say it's like a cross between Max Payne & inFamous Second Son, damn good imo.

My opinion may change when I've finished it ofc but if you've been on the fence about playing this or not, I would recommend it. My only advice would be to wait until they (hopefully) improve the performance on PC before buying it

[M.Steiner]

Mirror's Edge Catalyst (PC Closed Beta)

[Anubis]

Whilst they're lovely screenshots as always, I always really despised the art direction of Mirror's Edge

[M.Steiner]

Whilst they're lovely screenshots as always, I always really despised the art direction of Mirror's Edge

Wow, really? Different tastes I guess! I've always been very fond of Mirror's Edge for its art & architecture. Very minimalist but at the same time, very colourful & unique. The first game still looks beautiful to this day imo:

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Overwatch (PC Beta)

I'd encourage you guys to try this (open beta is 5th - 9th) if you weren't already planning to do so. It is soooo much fun. Will post a few more pics if I take any before the beta ends but this is another game which I love the art direction of, it runs really well too

(Should have some pics of Ratchet & Clank & Uncharted 4 over the next week or two as well <3)
[Edit: Added 2 new shots]

[M.Steiner]

Ratchet & Clank (PS4)

[M.Steiner]

Last screenshots for now but will be posting some from Uncharted 4 next week!
- Since you guys liked the last ones I did of these, I decided to do some for Overwatch:

Overwatch (PC / Photoshop)

Used the tracer image as part of my new Twitter header & desktop wallpaper hehe

[M.Steiner]

Have you guys heard about Nvidia's Ansel software btw?

Ansel, a sophisticated tool for taking in-game screenshots. Unlike typical screenshot tools, Ansel hooks directly into the game engine—developer permitting—allowing users to free-roam around a specific scene, rotating the image, cropping it, and applying filters. Even better, because the tool ties directly into the frame buffer, users can take screenshots at resolutions higher than their monitor, up to a Photoshop-busting 61,000 pixels wide. There's even a mode to take 360-degree screenshots for viewing in VR headsets like the HTC Vive, or via the Nvidia Android app and a Google Cardboard. Games supporting Ansel at launch include The Division, The Witcher 3, and No Man's Sky.

More here.

I've used free-cams before (through Cheat Engine for example) & always downsample my screenies but as someone who (clearly lol) loves video game photography, I love it when developers make a point of including a photo mode in their game so a tool like this sounds absolutely wonderful. Older GPUs will be supported too (including the 970 which several people here own, myself included) & not just the upcoming GTX 1080. Exciting times!