This is getting out of hand. The other day I saw the requirements for "Hell is Us" game and it's ridiculous. My RX6600 can't play anything anymore. I've downloaded several PS3 ROMs and now I'm playing old games. So much better than this insanity. This is probably what I'm going to be doing now, play old games.
Edit: I wanted to edit the post for more context and to vent/rant a little.
I don't want to say I made a mistake, but I buy everything used, and I have scored a good deal on two 27" 4k monitors from Facebook marketplace. Got both monitors for $120.
They're $800 on Amazon used. Great monitors and I love 4k. I also bought an RX6600 AMD GPU for $100 from Facebook. It was almost new. The owner upgraded and wanted to get rid of it. My whole build was very cheap compared to what I see some folks get (genuinely happy for those who can afford it. Life is too short. Enjoy it while you can).
I can't afford these high end GPUs, but now very few games work on low settings and I'd get something like 20 FPS max. My friend gave me access to his steam library and I wanted to play Indiana Jones the other day, and it was an "omfg, wtf is this horrible shit" moment.
I'm so sick of this shit!
I don't regret buying any of these, but man it sucks that the games I want to play barely even work.
So, now I'm emulating and it's actually pretty awesome. I've missed out on so many games in my youth so now I'm just going to catch up on what I've missed out on. Everything works in 4k now and I'm getting my full 60FPS and I'm having so much fun.
Obligatory reminder that Titanfall 2 is pretty great, runs great (its built on a modified Portal 2 era Source branch) looks great... and with Northstar, people figured out how to mod the client to work with custom servers and mods... and it all works on linux as well, literally has its own custom Proton branch.
But uh yeah, the new AAA graphics paradigm is:
Everything is a dynamic light, game devs don't optimize shit anymore because they're all being slave driven by corporate...
...because everything is built for stupid high graphical realism fidelity, few AAAs make any novel or engaging, fully fleshed actual gameplay...
But hey, nobody has to bake light and shadow maps anymore!
Assuming, of course, your card can support real time raytracing, which it can't, so we had to invent intelligent frame upscaling to replace well optimized AA methods, but that also isn't enough, so we had to invent (fake) frame gen.
Oh and all the cards that can do this are all sitting around double MSRP, because board partners can do whatever the fuck they want, and retailers don't even bother to attempt to stop scalpers.
...
The 9060 XT launches this week, and its supposed to MSRP at $350, for the 16 gig model.
My guess is we will get maybe 12 hours of prices between $350 and $450 (for the fancier partner models)... and then $500 to $550 will be the new 'baseline' price for whatever is left by next week.
If you're planning on trying to get a 9060 XT, good fucking luck, you're almost certainly gonna need it.
...
The GPU market is largely doing the same thing thats happened with cars, housing: everything is a luxury model, none to few viable economy options even get newly mfg'd, then the entire consumer base goes into debt to keep up their lifestyle, then all the debt bubbles pop and consumer spending ability craters... and... maybe then, 6 months to a year after that, the GPU mfg'rs could possibly start releasing actual economy models? Maybe?
...
Either way, a whole lot of AAA studios are either going to keep monetizing harder and harder... or realize that as we enter this 2nd Great Depression... that shit ain't gonna work for a mass consumer base, people just won't have the money.
Or I guess Klarna and Afterpay come built in to GTA 6 Online shark card purchases.
Why not?
Damn, you fucking spoke my heart. This is the whole point of my post. I won't repeat what you said, but thank you for crafting this comment. Nailed it.