Xbox Game Pass - GUIDE TO BEST DEAL IN FIRST POST

[JPL]

Mine’s up in June as well. I hope it’s still around then.

[Ferine]

1 hour ago, TehStu said:

But we're knackered until it actually expires, right? Can't spend the rewards points before then. If they pull the plug, not sure if I'll just start paying the monthly fee or blow it on official storage instead.

@jonathanhoey is talking about extending an existing subscription by redeeming Gold codes, so you don't wait for your GPU sub to lapse. There's a conversion chart, but the key thing is that three months of Gold extends an Ultimate subscription by 50 days.

 

Three months of Gold costs 15,000 Rewards Points – in the UK, at least – so if you're earning an average of 300 points a day your subscription is self-sustaining.

[Mr. Gerbik]

Playing a bit more Weird West, the Arkane pedigree really shows. The menu is straight up Dishonored style in places, right down to the option of holding a button after hitting start to either quick save or quick load. Which should be standard across all console games.

 

You're encouraged to save and experiment with the emergent gameplay possibilities.

 

Stealth seems to work well. You can hide bodies.

 

You are allowed to kill everyone even essential main story NPC's. Very Morrowind.

 

So far this is all very... Oh my.

[dreamylittledream]

5 hours ago, jonathanhoey said:

 

Might already be happening.

 

I tried to help my sister do the Gold conversion trick earlier this week and she simply doesn't have the option to spend her Reward points on Gold. She wanted to do the three months for 15,000 points which converts to 50 days of Game Pass Ultimate, which I've done many times. Equivalent to exactly 300 points per day of GPU. 

 

I ended up doing a screenshare call with her to make absolutely sure she wasn't overlooking the option, but it's true. She simply doesn't have the Gold item as a redeemable/purchasable thing.

 

I do still have it (for now?) and when I sent her the direct URL to it, it kicked her back to the main Rewards page.

 

She can still spend her Rewards points directly on GPU, but it's a significantly worse exchange rate at 400 points per day of GPU. 

My sons account is the same (started collecting reward points about 6 months ago). Might also be relevant he has never had a Gold subscription (always just piggy backed on mine).
 

Redeeming for Game Pass PC still gives a better conversion rate than GPU (if you already have GPU).

 

Not as good as Gold mind

[Mr. Gerbik]

On 01/04/2022 at 21:40, Mr. Gerbik said:

Playing a bit more Weird West, the Arkane pedigree really shows. The menu is straight up Dishonored style in places, right down to the option of holding a button after hitting start to either quick save or quick load. Which should be standard across all console games.

 

You're encouraged to save and experiment with the emergent gameplay possibilities.

 

Stealth seems to work well. You can hide bodies.

 

You are allowed to kill everyone even essential main story NPC's. Very Morrowind.

 

So far this is all very... Oh my.

This is fucking brilliant. @Wiper, get in here. The first code I found was 0451. It's more of a proper Arkane game than Deathloop

[alex3d]

If they're really closing the loophole: can I create another Game Pass / Microsoft account and use this one from now on? My current sub ends in November but I don't have any relevant save games or so attached to that account. Or does it have to be the account that is linked to my WIndows license (which would be my current account)?

[Hitcher]

2 hours ago, alex3d said:

If they're really closing the loophole

It's not loophole and who said they're stopping the upgrade from Gold to Ultimate anyway?

[Mr. Gerbik]

6 hours ago, alex3d said:

Or does it have to be the account that is linked to my WIndows license (which would be my current account)?

Yes. Game Pass OC only works with the associated account. There's no sharing like on the console.

 

Just let your sub run iut, nobem isn't that far away. Worst cade scenario is you have to hunt for some 50% off GPU codes which is still a good deal. But there's no indication they're going to close the loophole. 

[pinholestar]

There’s a lot to love about Weird West and as a huge Arkane fan it’s cool to see a lot of their design sensibilities applied to a different genre and perspective of game. It’s packed with great ideas and I’ve had fun playing through 2 of the 5 stories so far.

 

Unfortunately the controls just aren’t up to the job of enabling you to really make the most of all the cascading immersive sim options it’s trying to offer, and there’s a whole bunch of irksome QoL issues that frustrate.

 

Worth playing and an original and worthy effort from a new studio but it falls short of what it’s going for in the end, I think. If they learn the right lessons a sequel or another game in the same style could be an absolute winner though.

[Mr. Gerbik]

2 hours ago, pinholestar said:

There’s a lot to love about Weird West and as a huge Arkane fan it’s cool to see a lot of their design sensibilities applied to a different genre and perspective of game. It’s packed with great ideas and I’ve had fun playing through 2 of the 5 stories so far.

 

Unfortunately the controls just aren’t up to the job of enabling you to really make the most of all the cascading immersive sim options it’s trying to offer, and there’s a whole bunch of irksome QoL issues that frustrate.

 

Worth playing and an original and worthy effort from a new studio but it falls short of what it’s going for in the end, I think. If they learn the right lessons a sequel or another game in the same style could be an absolute winner though.

It makes a great first impression and I'm still way at the start but I was indeed worried about the shooting. I'm hoping I'll get used to it but I'm using all the immersive sim options to avoid shooting so what you're saying was a niggling doubt at the back of my mind.

 

Bloody love it so far though, it's *exactly* my kind of game. 

[deerokus]

The shooting is indeed too imprecise.

 

Dunno what it is about arkane and related games, they always have some control problems.

[Popo]

I saw Xbox Live Gold 12 month cards in Peter Jones (John Lewis on Sloane Square) in the Microsoft section of their tech department for £40 a pop, which is a few quid cheaper than CD Keys we’re when I checked to compare. Are they normally that price, or is that a bargain?

 

Hoping that price holds until November, when my All Access is paid off, and I can finally do the upgrade trick. 

[Darren]

They’ve been £40 for ages, unless they’ve had a price hike very recently.

[Fletch]

I just renewed for a year with a cdkeys code and it was about 40 quid. I only do a year at a time as I like to live dangerously. 

[Jarik]

Psychonauts 2 is really rather good.  It's the first game but improved in almost every way.

[Jg15]

2 minutes ago, Jarik said:

Psychonauts 2 is really rather good.  It's the first game but improved in almost every way.

I really enjoyed it, felt such a blast from the past but in a good way (and I know some on here didn't like it for that reason). 

[moosegrinder]

Mechanically it's fine but the execution and the imagination and the creativity make it excellent.

[Mr. Gerbik]

Still playing Weird West and loving it. The aiming is definitely imprecise, but it doesn't make the game too frustrating so far because I have all kinds of powers, all kinds of stealth and traps, and environmental options, that shooting is just a way to mop up the last remaining stragglers.

[TehStu]

Crazily late to the party but as I think I only played 1 and 2 and honestly can't remember much, I just kicked off an MCC play through. Something I can actually play in front of the kids. Crazy difference when you toggle original/remastered rendering with the pad button.

 

Struggling a bit though, the design of the scenery is making it difficult to find the survivors of the big ship going down in CE. I'm wondering if I've become too reliant on Ubisoft open world games pointing me to the next thing to do.

[Quest]

This is coming to Game Pass in May:

 

 

I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I like the look of it.

[Quest]

Unconfirmed I think, but seems about right. Life is Strange and Lost in Random will do for me.

 

[reef]

Very happy. I've been waiting for Life Is Strange True Colors to arrive - patience is a virtue. I can finally play it and then listen to the TCGS spoiler special which has been sat in my podcast download list for ages.

[Mr. Gerbik]

Cool, I can take LiS off my wishlist Thank you, Game Pass!

[Harsin]

My GamePass spidey sense serves me well, held off on LiS because I was certain it would end up on GamePass.

 

/commence 10 page boreathon argument about the stats that people with GamePass spend more on games yet again.

[Wiper]

Ah, you're all in for a treat, True Colors is fantastic. I hope it's arrival on Gamepass isn't a reflection of it having flopped; it deserved to do well! 

[moosegrinder]

Confirmation.

[Wiper]

I have to say, Chinatown Detective Agency looks the business: 

 

 

A nice use of the aesthetic and chunky interfaces of older point and click adventures, without actually committing to the limitations of their palette. No idea of it'll be any good, but I'm looking forward to finding out! 

 

 

[Lorfarius]

I remember clubs!

[womble9]

Sorry to be off topic (Mod's please do delete if my judgement is deemed poor ) but seeing as this thread gets more Xbox owner posts than the Xbox thread itself, I thought I'd pop this likely limited time wise Elite series 2 controller deal in here.

 

 

[deerokus]

That offer isn't appearing for me, so probably already run out.