Month: Mar 2022

ROG Strix Scope RX TKL Wireless Deluxe Keyboard (Hardware) Review

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You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/rog-strix-scope-rx-tkl-wireless-deluxe-keyboard.2027/

It’s been a while since I’ve had a new keyboard to look at in front of me. Ever the enthusiast, I jumped at the chance to see what ASUS had coming up in a fresh new tenkeyless variety. Here we have the ROG STRIX Scope RX TKL Wireless Deluxe, and boy is it a nice one. It does have an obscenely long name however, so I’ll just be calling it the Scope from here, not to be confused with its non-wireless version that we as a site have not covered.

Now this isn’t my first ASUS keyboard, and there are a lot of parallels to be drawn between this and the ROG Claymore II I covered last year. You have the same fundamental RX red and blue switches on offer, with both Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz connectivity available on top of a standard USB C cable. You also have support for Armoury Crate, the ASUS gaming driver suite, and all its benefits and pitfalls. There’s also a few changes in terms of key configuration, some of which I like, others I’m a little more on the fence with.

At a glance, we have a fairly versatile keyboard that’s targeting FPS gaming in particular, with the lack of reliance on a numpad and the bindings you could throw onto it for something like an MMO. The idea here is that the space otherwise occupied by the numpad can now be where your hand sits, leading to some slightly more comfortable gaming sessions. Despite the numerous keyboards lying beside my desk, this is actually the first traditional tenkeyless design I’ve looked at, and I’m a little split on what’s offered. I am quite fond of the lower profile in terms of desk space, which is a positive of the design as a whole. I do feel like the folks at ASUS could have done better with the space available though, with the upper-right of the keyboard being occupied by a large ROG logo. It’s aesthetically pleasing and lights up in gamer colours, but there’s space there for three additional keys that would be much more functional.

For any long-time user of a computer keyboard, the glaring oddity on the Scope is its left control key. It’s huge, and I really don’t know why. I can understand it’s used a lot in games, and especially in first-person shooters as a means of crouching or sprinting, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard somebody complain about it being too small. It’s possible I’m just not in the right spheres to hear such whispers but for day to day usage, I found myself hitting it instead of the Windows key more often than not. It’s an odd problem to have, but I suppose if you find yourself catching the Windows key too much when gaming, this might be a boon for you.

The other odd key would be the one sitting atop F12, dubbed the “stealth key”. It has a picture of a hooded individual and everything. Though I think the branding of what is ultimately a show desktop key is rather goofy, it is a somewhat neat idea in terms of swift privacy. There are certainly worse features that could sit atop the function keys. The function keys themselves are quite interesting here too. Something I haven’t come across on my own keyboard adventures, F1 through F4 function as normal, with only F5 through F12 being set to their media functions as default. On paper this is really neat, with having easy F2 access being particularly great as somebody who spends plenty of time renaming files, and F4 for closing apps quickly. I do wish they left F5 as standard as well though, with it being one of the more useful function keys. You can of course still use it by holding the Fn key, or even change this but it feels one step away from being as good as it could have been. I will add in here that it’s possible to remap the behaviour using Armoury Crate, so assuming you don’t mind going through the software, this can be tweaked to your liking.

Looking at the switches, I still only have good things to say about the proprietary RX switches on offer. I’ve previously had the chance to use both the red and blue variants, with the reds being what I have here with me today. Though the memory of the blues has somewhat faded outside of that I really liked them, I can confidently say these are some of the smoothest linear switches I’ve used to date. Of my personal collection, they’re only really etched out by the Wooting two HE’s incredibly interesting Lekker switch. It does of course all come down to preference, but I’ve consistently enjoyed what ASUS put out in this department. As a bit of an addendum, RX switches also come with a unique stalk design, rooting the keycaps to the switch at four points, resulting in an incredibly stable keycap that really does feel great. 

The lighting for the Scope is another standard affair for an ASUS keyboard. The colours are really quite vivid and crisp, but at the end of the day they’re fairly standard across the board when looking at these big-name brands. When connected to Armoury Crate you can customise these to your liking with your usual assortment of effects. Whether you want a rainbow crossing your keyboard or a laser being sent out for every key you hit, your expectations will more than likely be met.

Based on previous experiences it should go without saying that the wireless experience is a joy. I’m really fond of the fact you can store the wireless dongle within the keyboard to avoid the classic conundrum of losing the blasted thing. The switch on the back of the keyboard works well and makes it clear as to whether you want to use the keyboard wired, via Bluetooth, or via the included dongle. In each mode I can’t say I felt any noticeable lag, but as always, this should be taken with a pinch of salt as I’m not the most perceptive to it. If it is a genuine concern, using the keyboard wired for your serious gaming sessions really is no hassle at all. One aspect I was confused about in particular when looking at the keyboard was what I thought to be a useless ROG logo in the top-right, where a few keys could quite comfortably sit. After a bit of confusion, I did find you could enable this as a battery indicator using Armoury Crate, though there really isn’t much in the way of signposting to say so. I still do prefer the clear and visually quite appealing barred battery of the Claymore II, but this does do the job once setup. 

I really do like this keyboard, but whether I can or can’t recommend it largely falls on its pricing, and right now, I don’t actually know how much it’ll cost. The wired variant of this retails for £140, with it currently discounted to £90 at a number of retailers at the time of writing. If ASUS could price this close to its wired RRP I do think it’s a good buy, but much more would put it too close to the Claymore II for me to be able to recommend this over that, especially given the additional versatility of the Claymore II. The ROG STRIX Scope RX TKL Wireless Deluxe keyboard has an outrageously long name, but its unique switches and tweaks make it a joy to use. If you find yourself wanting to save space on your desk over a full layout keyboard and see this one around at a good price, it’s one to consider.

Elden Ring (Xbox Series X|S) Review

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You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/elden-ring.2021/

I’m fairly new to FromSoft’s great Soulsbornekirings series, or however they combine the their titles nowadays. Starting with Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch after seeing it on sale a few years ago, I was completely enthralled. Though these games have a reputation for their difficulty, what stood out to me was the carefully-crafted world I found myself exploring. How intentionally each enemy was placed, and how, given time, you could overcome any obstacle. To me, Dark Souls was a game of guided exploration and learning with a difficulty that scaled with your knowledge to keep your encounters satisfying and your victories triumphant. Since then I’ve spent a bit of time playing each game in the series, but none of them quite captured the same spark the bonfire of Firelink had kindled for me. For the first time in many years I wanted to beat a game that wasn’t the first one, I wanted a game to completely captivate me from start to end. It turns out I just wanted Elden Ring.

The Souls series as a whole is one defined by several notable aspects, the biggest of these for me being its combat. Weapons are heavy, attacks are intentional and both designed to punish and be punished if used poorly. Since my time playing the first Dark Souls game and moving through the franchise, I’ve noticed the combat speed up. It’s become more fluid, but it’s still undeniably Dark Souls. Elden Ring feels like a natural step forwards from what was on offer in the third game; frankly it’s a joy to play. You have 31 weapon types to hold in two hands, each with unique actions when hold, two handed, and even when dual wielded. Though much of this was lost on me when I first played due to solely using one or two weapons, my second run opened my eyes to the scale of diversity and variance on offer. I’ve used twinblades and moved into two unique short swords in my most recent run, and I just found myself having more and more fun as I stumbled across caves I’d previously missed and grabbed a weapon I’d never seen.

It’s not just the weapons though. Much like Dark Souls 3, each weapon also has a skill. Where Elden Ring differs from Dark Souls 3 however is that, for the most part, skills are equipable and transferable—to be swapped and used as you wish. These skills, called Ashes of War, only go to put a cherry on the top of this divine cake of combat. The arts vary greatly in function. Some will apply a buff to your weapon, some will cast magic or incantations without the usual casting requirements. My favourite art is something much simpler though: Bloodhound Step. It’s a fairly basic art. You vanish for a moment and then reappear in a different place. It’s a fancy dodge, and it absolutely transformed how I used the otherwise slow and immobile Greatsword thanks to how far you can move and the invulnerability granted while using it. It was like going from the Greatsword of Monster Hunter World to the Greatsword of Monster Hunter Rise with its wirebug addition, as an easy comparison for the hunters out there.

But that’s just one art. There are so many that completely change how you play the game, not to mention the few unique arts that lie within special armaments. Not to spoil them for you, but some strong to the point of being game-breaking. I can’t fully express just how fun it is to wander around the map and stumble across a weapon or art that completely shifts the path you’re on. Something so unique or fun that your entire build pivots to accommodate it. There was just too much for me to try in one journey, leaving me excited to explore the rest in subsequent playthroughs.

This scale is present beyond the game’s diversity in combat however, bleeding into the design of the world and how you interact with it as a whole. Elden Ring isn’t going to be boasting about having the biggest map to grace the open world scene, but what matters is that what is there is filled with life—with a story unfolding naturally and regardless of your presence. Enemies might be fighting amongst themselves, sat around a campfire, patrolling a road or pulling a carriage. Some may run to fight you, but others will just carry on with their lives. The world is large, but not to the point of feeling empty. Micro-narratives are organically presented throughout, leaving you with an incredibly rich and interesting landscape that you’re likely to view differently based on which parts you ended up visiting. I never thought an open world could feel so intentional in its design while still giving the player the freedom to engage or not engage, but here we are.

Naturally there’s another aspect of this world I’ve neglected to mention to this point. Perhaps the most notable aspect of this franchise out of its notorious difficulty: the bosses. You’re looking at more than 150 of these red-barred menaces, and while these aren’t all unique, I was surprised to see how well the duplicated encounters were handled. One fight that stuck with me was the Godskin Apostle. I first encountered this dastard in a small rectangular room in a basement area. He’s a large enemy that mostly relies on close-range attacks and closing distance quickly. In this arena, you had limited room to run away and nothing to really hide behind when in peril. It was a methodical process of learning attack patterns and finding openings to attack up-close. There just wasn’t the room to use the magic I had to that point favoured. It was a fight I enjoyed a lot, despite it not being the flashiest affair. It was a few days later where I found myself exploring a new area where I stumbled across this familiar face, now standing in a very open part of the overworld at the top of a hill. In this setting, I had more space, the ability to put distance between myself and the boss. On top of this I had access to fighting on my horse should I want that degree of mobility. These factors gave me a choice in how I wanted to deal with this enemy, transforming it into a completely different fight. Later yet into the game I came across my old Apostle friend, this time paired with another enemy for a duo boss fight. One more time this familiar boss was transformed, putting a heavier reliance on positioning to split them up from their partner and rewarding the use of spirit summons that could aid in drawing attention. I’m not going to pretend every boss fight is a joy—I ran into plenty of frustrating walls on my first playthrough, most of which I just left along for a while. What I do appreciate however is how far these small changes can go in putting a fresh face in what could otherwise end up feeling like a repetitive fight. It’s an attention to detail that really makes me look and laugh at the state of Izalith in the first Dark Souls game, and celebrate just how far we’ve come.

If I had such fun with the bosses that appeared multiple times, it should go without saying the unique bosses are spectacular. In not wanting to ruin somebody’s first encounters with these foes I’ll keep the details light, but each major fight managed to solidify itself as a milestone in the journey. Some of these bosses are fresh takes of previous creative ideas, but others are completely fresh and utilise everything that’s been put into the game. Of course on top of these you have a few optional bosses behind the scenes that act as a true test of strength, and I feel these are where the devout fans will find the most fun.

Though I somewhat glossed over it in an earlier paragraph, having access to a mount in Elden Ring really is a gamechanger. As something you can collect in the first ten minutes of play, the game guiding you towards the location you get it from, the horse is essential in making the open world work well. Instantly summonable at the press of a button, you’re free to hop on and off to aid in traverse the map, flee from battle, or even engage in cavalry combat. However you choose to use your horse you’ll find yourself appreciating the fluidity of summoning it. One button and it’s there and you’re riding. No annoying menus, no pause as you wait for it to stroll across the map and no awkward jostling to climb onto it. This is how every mount should be, and it shouldn’t be overlooked.

Outside of your horse, there are a huge number of summonable entities in the Summoning Ash items. Giving you convenient access to NPC allies that you can pick and choose between, Summoning Ashes can be brought into boss battles and certain areas to aid you in your quest while you’re otherwise playing solo. I adore this system. Though you only start with one ash in a lovely trio of wolves, you’ll find a brilliant variety of ashes on your journey, each with their own benefits and each able to be levelled up for better utility. You might have skeleton archers, punchy crystal friends, or a happy hawk assisting you from the sky. With the ability to only summon one of these in your fight, you might find yourself picking or choosing, or just focusing on one that you like. The best part of this system is that it’s completely optional, and doesn’t replace NPC summons in the game. If you think having three wolves gnawing at the knees of a pointy-hatted lady with little in the way of poise trivialises the fight, you’re still free to tackle it in the way you find most fun. These options are great, and while they don’t necessarily provide the game with the easy mode many people ask for with these titles, I feel they go a long way in aiding accessibility and enhancing your available arsenal when you come across a fight you struggle with.

Really though, Elden Ring is a game that’s as difficult as you want it to be. Thanks to its more open design, it’s by far the most accessible Souls title to date, assuming you’re happy to embrace everything the game has to offer. There’s many a deeply challenging experience to be had. Playing with no armour, fighting only the essential story bosses, beating the game without levelling up, or even just cutting out the new features like Spirit Ashes. That core challenge still exists for those who want it. But for people new to the franchise, they have so much to play with to ease themselves in. The game gives you so many tools, and I don’t feel there should be any shame in using them. Elden Ring doesn’t have to just be one gruelling session of learning boss pattern after boss pattern. It can be, and frankly is, so much more.

As a brief note before finishing off the review, it’s worth saying this review is based in its entirety on my experience playing the Series X version of the game. You can find great analysis of the game’s performance on other sites, but I can at least say the game felt great for me as I was going through it. It’s definitely not a solid 60fps experience even in performance mode, but the Series X supporting VRR meant I really didn’t feel the shifting framerate. The single exception to this was in one of the final fights of the game, where an enemy swings a hammer with a large AOE effect coming after slowing the game for a moment.

Elden Ring is the best game I’ve played in many years. It completely captivated me from start to end, and is also the first game I’ve got every achievement for in many years. Having said that, it is still a Souls game. Despite the leaps and bounds it’s made, I don’t think this is the game that will change the mind of somebody who knows they don’t enjoy this style of game. And that’s fine. For those of you who have been patiently sitting on the fence though, and most certainly for those of you who have played and loved a past title, Elden Ring is a masterpiece. It’s everything I look back fondly on from my first playthrough of Dark Souls on a grander stage and executed magnificently. If you get the chance to pick it up, I can only suggest you do so.

I don’t know why this exists – several months with an E-Ink music player

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You can find this editorial in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/i-dont-know-why-this-exists-several-months-with-an-e-ink-music-player.609048/

Ah E-Ink. Wonderfully reproducing that paper feeling to limit eye strain for reading, a brilliant canvas for electronic notebooks, and… Listening to music? Sure.

About six months ago I was on holiday in Northern Ireland. Sat in a cottage on a traditionally rainy day, I was browsing the web for unique and interesting devices. Having reviewed the reMarkable 2 a while back and having owned a few eReaders, E-Ink was something I was familiar with and enjoyed using. It intrigued me. It intrigued me enough to start looking for fun things that incorporated it. To my surprise there was plenty out there. Want a secondary E-Ink monitor to read documents on while you work? You can buy it. A laptop with an E-Ink display on the outer lid? That exists. But the standout oddity was the one I saw that had just released: the HiSense Touch.

Now this is marketed oddly. On (electronic) paper, it’s a music player. You know, those things famous for having their screen off 90% of the time they’re in use? I suppose it just baffled me. Who would think this was a profitable venture to pursue, and how long would it take to arrive if I ordered it that day? I actually remember turning it on for the first time, despite it being months ago now. It was a deep sense of dread and regret, and it’s rare I look at a purchase like this. I went into this device knowing its absurdity and bought it anyway, and a part of me was terrified by that. This wasn’t some cheap AliExpress punt, this thing came in at £290.

With the Touch using its own strain of Android, the setup process is about what you’d expect. It’s simple enough, but with this being something not available in western markets, you’ll be stuck with non-Google apps and unique bloat. Thankfully you’re able to set things to English from the get-go, but you still have to deal with the bundled apps until you install your own. Functionally, everything works fine out of the box. It’s rough around the edges and the English UI isn’t perfect, but you’ll have no issues using it. You get a unique home screen layout with icons across the bottom for music, apps, settings, and books. Tapping these will load you straight into the respective app while keeping you in the home UI for a really seamless experience. If you want more apps you can use the bundled app store, but I’d generally advise against this unless you’re a native Chinese speaker, as this isn’t translated. Sideloading will be your best bet.

It’s a bit awkward using the bundled keyboard and browser, but it didn’t take me long to find a Firefox and Gboard APK online for something a bit more familiar. With these tools at my disposal, I set out to fix my biggest irritation with the phone: the bundled eReader app. As one of the four apps so nicely integrated into the home screen, and representing a genuine selling point for such a pocketable device, my heart sunk when I saw the eReader app was almost entirely Chinese and difficult to navigate. Were it not for KOReader this thing would’ve been on eBay months ago. KOReader was a game changer. An absolutely beautiful open source app, KOReader gives you an eReader experience on any Android device, but my God does it elevate an E-Ink device to something higher. It’s like it was made for it, and gives you an experience on par with the likes of Kobo and Kindle. You can install dictionaries, use bookmarks, highlight snippets, and even use the volume buttons to turn pages. I keep the Touch in my pocket and love to take it out on the train or during a break at work for some brilliantly portable reading. This is the device’s biggest selling point, and it’s not even something I knew about prior to getting it.

Though I tend to use it as a pocket eReader, I feel like I should probably address the elephant in the room: it’s a music player. It’s just not the best one out there. There are a few basics you want out of a music player, especially one at this price. You want a headphone jack. Okay it has that, that’s the bare essential. Outside of this though, you want plenty of storage to actually keep your tracks. This is a 128 GB device with no expandability, and 26 GB of that is taken up by the system. 100 GB can go a long way, but if you’re wanting to load it up with large lossless audio you’ll be running out of space sooner than you’d want. The bundled app and general listening experience is fine, seeming to put a little more power to my headphones than the NWZ A15 Walkman I was using previously. My 20 ohm Audeze LCD-GX don’t need all that much power to sound good, but it naturally won’t compare to the desktop experience you can get by hooking them up to something more powerful. I will add here that the built-in speakers pack a surprising punch for a device this small. It’s not really a feature you see on many music players nowadays, with the focus being on the headphone listening experience, but it is pleasant to have and see done well.

When it comes to specs you have an adequate 4 GB of RAM on offer, which has proved to be fine in my time using it. To go with this you have a 1.8 GHz octa-core Snapdragon 460 processor and the aforementioned 128 GB of internal storage. The 3000 mAh battery keeps the device powered for a few weeks at a time when used lightly thanks to the limited power an E-Ink screen actually pulls. The device also features a ES9038 DAC and ES9603 amp chip, though I don’t know enough to comment on how great these are when compared to other offerings.  Perhaps the weirdest inclusion is a front facing camera, allowing you to recreate A-ha’s hit music video for Take On Me in the included camera app. The device runs fine, but what was constantly on my mind as I used it was a single word: why?

The HiSense Touch remains a mystery to me, and one I really couldn’t recommend to the majority of people with it costing just shy of £300 when I bought it. It’s a novelty that slaps an E-Ink screen where one really isn’t needed and while I appreciate what it offers, I feel there’s better value to be found elsewhere. The HiSense Touch grew on me and has become something I use regularly, but not so much as a music player. For the vast majority of people, a phone is more than adequate for an on the go listening experience, and for those who want more, you have better offerings from the likes of FiiO and other well known music player creators. If you’re just wanting an eReader, there’s cheaper dedicated options. It’s a collision of worlds that shouldn’t exist, but a small part of me is glad it does.