It’s because interest rates went up and the free VC money tap was turned off so all these companies have to actually turn a profit, so they’re squeezing us with every lever they control.

No harm in trying it out, none of the changes are permanent. I think it’s good, even just the swap increase is good as it alleviates memory pressure.

Maybe the long-standing SMT bug? Basically, when two threads on the same core are running, and one of the threads discards its cache, due to this bug, the cache is discarded for all the threads on the same core. This causes a temporary FPS dip.

A proper fix is due in SteamOS 3.5, but you can also turn off SMT by installing PowerTools Decky plugin to see if it helps.

More info: https://www.pcgamer.com/steamos-35-is-almost-here-includes-a-fix-for-the-steam-decks-sneakiest-performance-bug/

Not familiar with PWM. I know it’s some anti-flicker tech, but nothing else. I’ve never noticed flicker on Steam Deck’s screen [edit: but I’m not very sensitive to it].

Steam Deck does have an adjustable refresh rate screen which can be set to any refresh rate between 40 and 60 Hz. It does not support VRR (real time adjustment), but usually you play around to get best FPS you can, then you lock the refresh rate to the same frequency (unless your FPS is below 30, then you lock it to twice the rate).
However, if you connect the Steam Deck to an external screen that does support VRR, Steam Deck is compatible and will work. Just not with the inbuilt screen.

Steam Deck has VSync on by default to prevent tearing, and it’s applied on top, to all games. You can optionally disable VSync by toggling the ‘Allow Tearing’ option in the quick menu.

I concur. It changed the way I play games, especially last gen and indies.

I agree that streaming might be worth considering, but instead of Steam Play, which is quite meh, try Moonlight. That’s the client, and the open source server is called Sunshine. The performance and latency is much better. If you want to take it to the next level, you can add Tailscale to the mix for seamless streaming outside your local network/WiFi. As long as the underlying connection is fast enough, it tends to work really well.

I’ve gotten to the point where if somebody tells me that a game is 100+ hours, I consider it a con. I don’t want to dedicate the next 3 months of my gaming to a single game. And in my 20+ years of gaming, I’ve learned that no game truly has 100+ hours of content. Rather, they have 20 - 40 hours of content, stretched over the remainder of the filler in bullshit ways. These days, I’m ecstatic when I find a game like Guardians of the Galaxy. Tight, well written 20 hour experience that know what it is an what it wants to be. One and done. Love that game.

I hear what they’re saying, but I’ve just never heard of anyone trying to dismiss a game for being a JRPG. Sure, they have their style and tropes, and they aren’t for everyone, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who seriously claims that a particular game is bad because it is a JRPG, as opposed to a game simply being a bad JRPG.

It seems to me that between Sony, Nintendo, From Soft, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, and even, yes, Konami, Japanese gaming culture has had a huge influence on so-called Western gaming culture.

Yeah, I’ve had this experience as well.