Mustachian video gamers - what are you PLAYING?

[eljefe-speaks]

Anyone else watch the PS5 live stream yesterday? Anyone going to pre-order the PS5 when able? I read somewhere that if it launches at 5 bills, it will be a steal based on the technology it features. Not sure if that is true.

Speaking of the live stream, the only thing that really floored me was the Demon's Souls remake. They kept a good lid on this. I had know clue that it was in the works. However, I would definitely prefer Dark Souls IV, or Bloodborne II. Hopefully that is on deck. I was really hoping for some Elden Ring news, but... crickets.

Been playing through Far Cry 5 recently. It is my favorite of the series! I have played 3 and 4. This seems to be a minority opinion.

Picked up Forza Motorsport 7 for 20 bucks. Absolutely loving it.

[Ozstache]

Anyone else watch the PS5 live stream yesterday? Anyone going to pre-order the PS5 when able?

Yes I watched it. It wasn't what I expected with the first hour being a PS5 gaming show case and the last few minutes showing what the hardware will look like but with no real detail on specs.

As nice as the showcased games looked, it was very hard to really appreciate them on a 1080p live stream when the PS4 Pro already puts out 4K. Thankfully there are 4K versions of 4 of the games shown here at https://www.youtube.com/user/PlayStation. Horizon is what caught my attention, as that is the game that convinced me to buy a PS4 Pro and the PS5 version looks breathtaking in the 4K video.

Re Pre-ordering, after many years of doing this sort of thing in my youth and usually regretting it because of initial hardware and/or software teething issues, not to mention paying a premium for the product, I will not be pre-ordering anything. Hopefully it will be out well before Christmas then will be on sale, or at least bundled with a few good PS5 titles at a good price for the boxing day sales.

I paid $A500 for my PS4 Pro and will have had about 10,000 hours out of it by the time the PS5 replaces it, which works out to 5 cents an hour's entertainment, so I have no qualms shedding out up to $A1000 for a PS5 and associated accessories because I know that I will get many years of joy out of it.

[salt cured]

Anyone else watch the PS5 live stream yesterday? Anyone going to pre-order the PS5 when able?

I plan to wait at least a few years to see which console has the better exclusives (suspect that will be PS5) and for prices to drop. I still have 100s of hours of unplayed games on my PS4 HD.

[BlueMR2]

Finally spent some of the birthday/xmas money that relatives had sent me.  Picked up a couple new homebrew Atari 7800 games from AtariAge.  Took awhile to get them, but was worth the wait.  The games these guys are doing themselves in their spare time is better than what the game studios were churning out back in the heyday of those classic systems!

[turketron]

One of my good friends is transferring to Korea for a year for his job in the Army, and although he's engaged his fiancee is staying in the US for the year, so he's anticipating a decent amount of free time so we're looking for games to play while he's gone. Our standby is Diablo 3, but we have another friend in Europe that we want to play with and so the time zones don't really work out for all of us to play anything simultaneously. As such, we have all just picked up Civilization 6 so we can play asynchronously. I've played Civ 4 and 5 but mostly single player against computers, so I'm interested to see how multiplayer goes!

[eljefe-speaks]

One of my good friends is transferring to Korea for a year for his job in the Army, and although he's engaged his fiancee is staying in the US for the year, so he's anticipating a decent amount of free time so we're looking for games to play while he's gone. Our standby is Diablo 3, but we have another friend in Europe that we want to play with and so the time zones don't really work out for all of us to play anything simultaneously. As such, we have all just picked up Civilization 6 so we can play asynchronously. I've played Civ 4 and 5 but mostly single player against computers, so I'm interested to see how multiplayer goes!

Deep Rock Galactic is getting fantastic reviews as an online multiplayer. Definitely more action oriented than Civ, not sure if you're in to that. Buy might be something worth checking out.

[grantmeaname]

It's sort of Left 4 Dead meets minecraft. I really enjoyed it until I tried to play with friends and it turns out that it won't play both voice chat sound and game sound in the same session on my bluetooth headphones, which destroys the enjoyment for me. They're an indie developer, but hopefully they find the time to address that bug at some point...

[turketron]

Deep Rock Galactic is getting fantastic reviews as an online multiplayer. Definitely more action oriented than Civ, not sure if you're in to that. Buy might be something worth checking out.

Ooo that does look kinda fun, and I'm definitely more interested in co-op gameplay vs. direct competition. Doesn't really solve the time zone issues but this might be a fun one for a few of us to play in between Civ turns. Thanks for the heads up!

[dcheesi]

I doubled down on the Baldur's Gate series; now playing BG2:EE while also dabbling with the BGEE:Siege of Dragonspear DLC. I got the latter on sale, and I'm glad I did; it's worth playing as an extension of BG1:EE, but it's not as good as either BG1 or BG2 IMHO. It's fairly linear, and sometimes cuts you off from side-quests in progress without much warning. And I feel like the ending leaves you with a bit of "whiplash" as the tone shifts abruptly and unexpectedly (and it's not exactly original either).

Basically if you want to dabble in being a war-leader it's worth it (on sale), or if you just want a little more BG1 content before jumping into BG2, but don't expect it to measure up to the original installments in terms of story or open-world feel. And it's utterly unnecessary in terms of the overall story arc.

[frugalnacho]

Axis and Allies.  Used to play the tabletop with my friends.  Recently my friend got back into it and has gotten us all on board again.  We are playing the open source variant called "TripleA".  We can all play via the internet so we don't have to meet up, which is good because we are spread very far geographically speaking, and we all have families, and it's the pandemic.  It has lots of customizable features too, you can make your own maps, make your own units, change rules, etc.  We are all playing a version my buddy made with new units for each country.

[Roland of Gilead]

Axis and Allies.  Used to play the tabletop with my friends.  Recently my friend got back into it and has gotten us all on board again.  We are playing the open source variant called "TripleA".  We can all play via the internet so we don't have to meet up, which is good because we are spread very far geographically speaking, and we all have families, and it's the pandemic.  It has lots of customizable features too, you can make your own maps, make your own units, change rules, etc.  We are all playing a version my buddy made with new units for each country.

I spent so many hours playing Axis and Allies tabletop...what has it been, like 25 years?

[Arbitrage]

One of my good friends is transferring to Korea for a year for his job in the Army, and although he's engaged his fiancee is staying in the US for the year, so he's anticipating a decent amount of free time so we're looking for games to play while he's gone. Our standby is Diablo 3, but we have another friend in Europe that we want to play with and so the time zones don't really work out for all of us to play anything simultaneously. As such, we have all just picked up Civilization 6 so we can play asynchronously. I've played Civ 4 and 5 but mostly single player against computers, so I'm interested to see how multiplayer goes!

Deep Rock Galactic is getting fantastic reviews as an online multiplayer. Definitely more action oriented than Civ, not sure if you're in to that. Buy might be something worth checking out.

I played DRG fairly extensively about halfway through early access, then put it down for the past year.  Some of my friends basically kept playing (and now have 5-10x my playtime), and finally convinced me to give it another go.  Basic gameplay loop hasn't changed, but there are a lot more upgrades/incentives to aim for, enemies to fight, as well as a more interesting 'endgame.'  It is fun and humorous, playable solo, but far better with a group where the chaos is amped up and you can take advantage of the interactions between the different classes. 

[Arbitrage]

Speaking of tabletop games, has anyone played Tabletop Simulator on Steam?  Specifically looking at Gloomhaven, but there is basically an endless amount of content available there, and it definitely looks interesting if you don't live near most of your (geeky) friends, or even if you just want to social distance while board gaming. 

[grantmeaname]

I haven't. I have played some Tabletopia, which wasn't a great experience, but I would think Tabletop Simulator would be much better

[frugalnacho]

Axis and Allies.  Used to play the tabletop with my friends.  Recently my friend got back into it and has gotten us all on board again.  We are playing the open source variant called "TripleA".  We can all play via the internet so we don't have to meet up, which is good because we are spread very far geographically speaking, and we all have families, and it's the pandemic.  It has lots of customizable features too, you can make your own maps, make your own units, change rules, etc.  We are all playing a version my buddy made with new units for each country.

I spent so many hours playing Axis and Allies tabletop...what has it been, like 25 years?

Yeah.  I feel like it was late 90's right around the turn of the millenium (end of high school for us) that we all played.

This is the website in case you or anyone wants to download and play: https://triplea-game.org/

You can download various maps.  You pretty much need human opponents though, the AI is useless and won't be a worthy opponent. Might be fun just for the nostalgia, but you'll need human opponents to actually play a challenging game. 

[chesebert]

I don’t know where to start. I have hundreds of games through steam and various platforms and tens of games on my PS4 that are essentially new. I think my first year of ER will be to get through some of the backlogs - first world problem for sure.

[LennStar]

I don’t know where to start. I have hundreds of games through steam and various platforms and tens of games on my PS4 that are essentially new. I think my first year of ER will be to get through some of the backlogs - first world problem for sure.

I bought the FF 13 games three years ago when they were really cheap. Still have 3 other JRPGs open until I could get to those.
Bought FF 15(?) a few month ago for cheap, too.
Maybe in 2023.

[Arbitrage]

I don’t know where to start. I have hundreds of games through steam and various platforms and tens of games on my PS4 that are essentially new. I think my first year of ER will be to get through some of the backlogs - first world problem for sure.

I've mostly been better about building my Steam sale tolerance lately, but still have plenty of unplayed games there.  The biggest new "problem" is the mountain of free digital games being thrown around lately.  With Epic Games store giving away 1-2 free games per week, Twitch Prime stuff, plus Xbox Live Gold games, I'll never get to most of this.  I'm ok with it, and I think my video game spending has declined further as a result.

[zolotiyeruki]

I don’t know where to start. I have hundreds of games through steam and various platforms and tens of games on my PS4 that are essentially new. I think my first year of ER will be to get through some of the backlogs - first world problem for sure.

I've mostly been better about building my Steam sale tolerance lately, but still have plenty of unplayed games there.  The biggest new "problem" is the mountain of free digital games being thrown around lately.  With Epic Games store giving away 1-2 free games per week, Twitch Prime stuff, plus Xbox Live Gold games, I'll never get to most of this.  I'm ok with it, and I think my video game spending has declined further as a result.

What I've come to realize is that video games are here to serve me, and not the other way around.  Just because a game is free or on sale doesn't mean I have to acquire it and spend dozens of hours of my precious time on it.  And if it languishes, unplayed, in my Steam library, that's fine.  When I realize that I'm playing a game out of a sense of obligation (e.g. guilt for not finishing it), or fear of missing out (ooh! daily rewards!), and it's no longer putting a smile on my face, that's when I know it's time to set it aside.

[salt cured]

I'm playing The Last of Us for the first time and am about 10 hours in. I think it's a good, not great, game. I wish it wasn't so combat-focused, though the mass murder you engage in makes much more sense here than in the Uncharteds. I feel that Naughty Dog was still honing their story telling chops during this one because they haven't compelled me to care about the characters or the mission I'm on, or maybe I'm just a cold bastard. I've heard the side story is better, so I'm looking forward to playing that at some point in the future and will likely pick up Part 2 once it's down below $30.

[chesebert]

I don’t know where to start. I have hundreds of games through steam and various platforms and tens of games on my PS4 that are essentially new. I think my first year of ER will be to get through some of the backlogs - first world problem for sure.

I've mostly been better about building my Steam sale tolerance lately, but still have plenty of unplayed games there.  The biggest new "problem" is the mountain of free digital games being thrown around lately.  With Epic Games store giving away 1-2 free games per week, Twitch Prime stuff, plus Xbox Live Gold games, I'll never get to most of this.  I'm ok with it, and I think my video game spending has declined further as a result.

I have been super diligent about getting every single free Epic game. That reminds me - need to complete my weekly checking of Epic...

[salt cured]

I'm playing The Last of Us for the first time and am about 10 hours in. I think it's a good, not great, game. I wish it wasn't so combat-focused, though the mass murder you engage in makes much more sense here than in the Uncharteds. I feel that Naughty Dog was still honing their story telling chops during this one because they haven't compelled me to care about the characters or the mission I'm on, or maybe I'm just a cold bastard. I've heard the side story is better, so I'm looking forward to playing that at some point in the future and will likely pick up Part 2 once it's down below $30.

Wow the last half of the game far outstrips the first half. I still think the game doesn’t live up to the potential of the world and concept, but I’m really looking forward to the sequel. From the games I’ve played, the studio learns and improves all the time. Kudos to them for pushing the envelope even if they don’t always succeed.

 In the end, I get Joel’s motivation, but I would have let the surgeons do their work. I actually tried, but there was no choice, lol. The ending still got me though.

[jojoguy]

Oh, wow! I really loved this one scene from Last of Us. I agree with Ellie here.

https://imgur.com/WqLb1u5

[farmecologist]

Hi all, it has been a LONG time since I have visited the site. 

Anyways, I started playing Elder Scrolls Online as a *single player* game when they recently released the 'Skyrim' addition.  It is working out very well because there are some character builds that allow you to solo pretty much everything.

ESO has a staggering amount of content...even in the base game.  Frankly, I think it is one of the best deals in gaming right now. 

Any other ESO'ers out there?

[secondcor521]

Anyone want to get better at Overwatch?

Shameless plug for my son, who has been Top 500 pretty much every season and has made it into Top 10, and is also one of the best Overwatch coaches out there.

He streams free coaching on Twitch of all heroes all levels on (some of the) VODs submitted via his Discord, and also has a Patreon if you're interested in more.

Discord community:

https://discord.gg/Hype4wz

Twitch (streaming daily):

https://www.twitch.tv/coacheon

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/CoachEon

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7m3O8bwCE7oH-vaNzbm-1w

[grantmeaname]

Whoa! I will have to check it out, though I may be hopeless

[Arbitrage]

Hi all, it has been a LONG time since I have visited the site. 

Anyways, I started playing Elder Scrolls Online as a *single player* game when they recently released the 'Skyrim' addition.  It is working out very well because there are some character builds that allow you to solo pretty much everything.

ESO has a staggering amount of content...even in the base game.  Frankly, I think it is one of the best deals in gaming right now. 

Any other ESO'ers out there?

I did the same for a while (think I posted about it), but quit after about 4 months, simply because there were other games I wanted to play more by that point.  It's definitely solid when played as you described, which I did basically other than some of the dungeons that are either impossible to solo due to mechanics (or just ridiculously hard/requiring specific builds and highly geared characters), or some of the Elite dungeons...or whatever they're called. 

At the moment I'm into Dying Light.  Glad to have picked this one up during the latest Steam sale - I think I had previously chalked it up as 'just another survivor/zombie game,' but it's truly quite fun as a first-person melee/parkour game.  I've played it mostly solo, but also cooperatively with a buddy of mine I managed to convince to pick it up, and it works well that way as well.

[eljefe-speaks]

I am currently hopelessly hooked on Nioh 2. I made the commitment to beat every boss solo, so far so good. The difficulty is sometimes ridiculous. Funny how I think every single new boss is the ONE that I simply will not have the ability to beat. Then, through the course of 10's and 10's of losses, I finally have the enemy's move set mastered and I am able to pull off a win. That loop, plus the constant supply of new gear, keeps me totally addicted. Great game.

[Ozstache]

I am currently hopelessly hooked on Nioh 2. I made the commitment to beat every boss solo, so far so good. The difficulty is sometimes ridiculous. Funny how I think every single new boss is the ONE that I simply will not have the ability to beat. Then, through the course of 10's and 10's of losses, I finally have the enemy's move set mastered and I am able to pull off a win. That loop, plus the constant supply of new gear, keeps me totally addicted. Great game.

I was the same with Nioh 1 and that started me on a quest to play all Dark Souls-like games out there, which I am close to achieving. As you say, the boss fights can be so hard but when you finally beat them it is so satisfying. Nioh 2 is definitely on my to play list, when the price comes down a bit. 

[Lucky13]

Hey friends. 6.5 weeks until I’m FIRE’d and already building a queue a games to play! console gamer here, Xbox & Switch. Right now playing Minecraft Dungeons (don’t laugh) but want to get into a deeper RPG when I have more time.

Anybody on Twitch or know of a retired streamer that I can tune into when I have my days free? :D   I’m in PST time zone (and only speak English unfortunately). 

[secondcor521]

Anybody on Twitch or know of a retired streamer that I can tune into when I have my days free? :D   I’m in PST time zone (and only speak English unfortunately).

My son is not retired, but he speaks English and streams on Twitch in the afternoons PST:

https://www.twitch.tv/coacheon

[Lucky13]

My son is not retired, but he speaks English and streams on Twitch in the afternoons PST:\
https://www.twitch.tv/coacheon

TY! I will check it out!

[E.T.]

I've been having a ton of fun playing No Man's Sky on PC. They've put out a lot of free updates and it's at the point where you can do full planet exploring multi-player now. It's the exact type of crunchy, resource gathering, exploration game that I can see myself sinking a lot of hours into, making it a very mustachian purchase.

[eljefe-speaks]

Nioh 2 is definitely on my to play list

Absolutely 100% worth playing. I would call it better than Nioh 1. There is still some cheap stuff going on - enemies stacked on top of more enemies - but not so bad as Nioh 1. (Thinking here of that level in Nioh 1 where you had to capture the bridge. They throw, like, six enemies at you simultaneously while you have to fight them on a narrow bridge... with holes in it that you can easily fall in for instant death. Sadistic!)  The secret for me, to enjoy the game more, is to mess around in coop after ever major boss. You get to level up and it is a relaxing breather in between those stress inducing fights.

[salt cured]

I'm enjoying hopping in and out of Rise of the Tomb Raider. I hope the sequel goes on sale or is free at some point soon. I also picked up Far Cry 5 for $10, which is quite fun but has involved a lot of trial and error in learning how to play. They kind of just throw you to the wolves. I wish the text was larger/easier to read.

Maybe I need to upgrade my TV? I have a 46" 1080p Samsung from 2007. Would a newer TV of roughly the same size make it easier to read text? Or do the higher resolutions result in smaller text?

[rocketpj]

Still playing Apex Legends most of the time.  I even splurged and spent the $9.50 for a 'Battle Pass' last year, which works out to about $.05/hr so far. 

My kids pooled their cash and bought a PS4 some years ago, and we all split the cost of a PS+ membership, which provides various free games every month.  More than I can reasonably play.  A lot of very good games.

On my PC I tend to just play board games on Board game arena, which has a huge variety of game options.

[LennStar]

I'm enjoying hopping in and out of Rise of the Tomb Raider. I hope the sequel goes on sale or is free at some point soon. I also picked up Far Cry 5 for $10, which is quite fun but has involved a lot of trial and error in learning how to play. They kind of just throw you to the wolves. I wish the text was larger/easier to read.

Maybe I need to upgrade my TV? I have a 46" 1080p Samsung from 2007. Would a newer TV of roughly the same size make it easier to read text? Or do the higher resolutions result in smaller text?

That is a definit "depends on several things".
Do you have currently a bad TV? Do will get a good one? Can you up the resolution?
What you do not want is to feed 1080p into a 4K screen. It is very likely you will get worse results. (If you want to dig in the techs, look for the difference of integer scaling and float scaling. Hint: It is very unlikely you will get the first, better one)

[RWD]

I'm enjoying hopping in and out of Rise of the Tomb Raider. I hope the sequel goes on sale or is free at some point soon. I also picked up Far Cry 5 for $10, which is quite fun but has involved a lot of trial and error in learning how to play. They kind of just throw you to the wolves. I wish the text was larger/easier to read.

Maybe I need to upgrade my TV? I have a 46" 1080p Samsung from 2007. Would a newer TV of roughly the same size make it easier to read text? Or do the higher resolutions result in smaller text?

That is a definit "depends on several things".
Do you have currently a bad TV? Do will get a good one? Can you up the resolution?
What you do not want is to feed 1080p into a 4K screen. It is very likely you will get worse results. (If you want to dig in the techs, look for the difference of integer scaling and float scaling. Hint: It is very unlikely you will get the first, better one)

Sending 1080p to a 4K screen is perfectly fine, it's an exact 4x scale. It's pretty much impossible to find a good TV without a 4K resolution these days. What is important for text readability is that the TV supports 4:4:4 input.

Is the text readable if you get closer to the TV? If so then another TV of the same size is unlikely to help. If it's not crisp enough to read even when you move closer then it could be your current TV doesn't support 4:4:4 inputs.

[salt cured]

I'm enjoying hopping in and out of Rise of the Tomb Raider. I hope the sequel goes on sale or is free at some point soon. I also picked up Far Cry 5 for $10, which is quite fun but has involved a lot of trial and error in learning how to play. They kind of just throw you to the wolves. I wish the text was larger/easier to read.

Maybe I need to upgrade my TV? I have a 46" 1080p Samsung from 2007. Would a newer TV of roughly the same size make it easier to read text? Or do the higher resolutions result in smaller text?

That is a definit "depends on several things".
Do you have currently a bad TV? Do will get a good one? Can you up the resolution?
What you do not want is to feed 1080p into a 4K screen. It is very likely you will get worse results. (If you want to dig in the techs, look for the difference of integer scaling and float scaling. Hint: It is very unlikely you will get the first, better one)

Sending 1080p to a 4K screen is perfectly fine, it's an exact 4x scale. It's pretty much impossible to find a good TV without a 4K resolution these days. What is important for text readability is that the TV supports 4:4:4 input.

Is the text readable if you get closer to the TV? If so then another TV of the same size is unlikely to help. If it's not crisp enough to read even when you move closer then it could be your current TV doesn't support 4:4:4 inputs.

It's fine close up, but I'm sitting about 15ft away. Not interested in a bigger TV, but I did find a zoom in function in the PS4 system menu, so I'll try that.

[Feivel2000]

I say one sentence: Oculus Quest and enjoy the future.

[LennStar]

Sending 1080p to a 4K screen is perfectly fine, it's an exact 4x scale. It's pretty much impossible to find a good TV without a 4K resolution these days. What is important for text readability is that the TV supports 4:4:4 input.

Yeah, if it does integer scaling. If not you just get a more squishy picture than if you would use a 1080p screen. Because it does NOT simply do x4 (which would be integer scaling). That is the core of the problem.
Some do it good, others not. It is highly dependend on the exact model.

[jojoguy]

I`m still playing Sekiro and I am at the end of the first New Game+ and doing some more exp grinding. I`ve got all of the prosthetic upgrades and skill trees. Now, I am grinding for attack power.

I also bought Ghost of Tsushima. I have only played it a little, and it has been great.

[RWD]

I just finished playing all of the main line Ys games (or at least the newest remaster of each) in chronological order. It was quite a journey:
Ys Origin
Ys I & II Chronicles
Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Ys: Memories of Celceta
Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim
Ys Seven

I also played the original Ys I before anything else. So I covered ~30 years of games from this series.

Playing in chronological order really helped to get a better feel for the world and main character and there was some nice continuity details that might be missed otherwise. For example, in Ys VIII you start the game with the same sword you had at the end of Ys V even though those games were released 21 years apart!

Best story: Ys Origin and Ys V
Best gameplay: Ys Origin and Ys VIII

The stories aren't as deep in comparison to something like Final Fantasy (for that you'd need to play the Legend of Heroes series) but I really enjoy the fast paced gameplay (Falcom literally invented the Action RPG genre). Beating a hard boss is more than just grinding enough levels and is really gratifying when you pull it off.

So now I am up-to-date and ready for Ys IX which should be coming out over here next year.

[LennStar]

Wow, that's a lot of gaming! I only played the Origin I think.

Did you play Grandia II? The main point of the story was quite predictable, but it was done tremendously good.

[RWD]

Wow, that's a lot of gaming! I only played the Origin I think.

Did you play Grandia II? The main point of the story was quite predictable, but it was done tremendously good.

I highly recommend Ys VIII for someone that doesn't want to play all the games. The battle system feels so good to play and it has some excellent bosses.

I have not played Grandia II but I've heard good things.

[The Fake Cheap]

Still playing Apex Legends most of the time.  I even splurged and spent the $9.50 for a 'Battle Pass' last year, which works out to about $.05/hr so far. 

My kids pooled their cash and bought a PS4 some years ago, and we all split the cost of a PS+ membership, which provides various free games every month.  More than I can reasonably play.  A lot of very good games.

On my PC I tend to just play board games on Board game arena, which has a huge variety of game options.

Apex Legands is what I've spent 95% of my significant gaming hours playing over the last year and a half.  I decided to get the battle pass in season 2 just because I thought the game was so well done, I thought the developers earned my contribution.  Since then, I earn enough points (or whatever they are called) each season to buy the next season battle pass.  I normally play solo, so often good squadmates are had to find, but still normally a lot of fun. 

[eljefe-speaks]

I say one sentence: Oculus Quest and enjoy the future.

Can than oculus do non VR games? I was wondering if it can offer just a static, non-immersive recreation of a screen that you just look at as if it were, well, a screen. That is how I would want to use it most often, I think. But it also seems like it would get really uncomfortable after awhile.

[Feivel2000]

For Netflix and Amazon Video, you get a cinema or a living room with a big TV.

More generic would probably something like Virtual Desktop:
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/911715622255585/

[RWD]

Sending 1080p to a 4K screen is perfectly fine, it's an exact 4x scale. It's pretty much impossible to find a good TV without a 4K resolution these days. What is important for text readability is that the TV supports 4:4:4 input.

Yeah, if it does integer scaling. If not you just get a more squishy picture than if you would use a 1080p screen. Because it does NOT simply do x4 (which would be integer scaling). That is the core of the problem.
Some do it good, others not. It is highly dependend on the exact model.

I just looked closer at my 4K TV and noticed computer text is slightly blurry..... Damn, I stand corrected. Looks crisp if I send a 4K signal directly from my computer but that's not ideal for a variety of reasons for me right now (can't use old receiver, video card struggles, Linux inconsistent handling of window scaling).

I guess the easy solution (for me) might be to find a receiver that does integer upscaling. Any idea how to find one?

[LennStar]

Sending 1080p to a 4K screen is perfectly fine, it's an exact 4x scale. It's pretty much impossible to find a good TV without a 4K resolution these days. What is important for text readability is that the TV supports 4:4:4 input.

Yeah, if it does integer scaling. If not you just get a more squishy picture than if you would use a 1080p screen. Because it does NOT simply do x4 (which would be integer scaling). That is the core of the problem.
Some do it good, others not. It is highly dependend on the exact model.

I just looked closer at my 4K TV and noticed computer text is slightly blurry..... Damn, I stand corrected. Looks crisp if I send a 4K signal directly from my computer but that's not ideal for a variety of reasons for me right now (can't use old receiver, video card struggles, Linux inconsistent handling of window scaling).

I guess the easy solution (for me) might be to find a receiver that does integer upscaling. Any idea how to find one?

I have no idea i the fields of TV, but I would guess nowhere.
Integer scaling is just coming to gaming graphic cards (gamers complained that their 4K games where crisp on their $500 card, but when they had the Desktop on with normal HD to avoid tiny letters at older programs is was blurry).

It makes sense if you know the internals of GPUs - they run everything on floating points. Integrating Integer needs additional silicon or some heavy coding to "simulate" it.
I doubt you get this on consumer's TV electronics. But maybe I am wrong, I really have no idea. I never heard any "can do integer scaling" advertised, but that isn't actually something any TV ad would ever have, because nobody knows about it.