Just Ordered a Series X. What's Next?

[LetsEatSnacks]

Hey all,


So, some background: Wario 64 posted today about Wal-Mart having the monthly payment plan version of the Series X available (with 24 months of Game Pass Ultimate!) and I thought, "Well, I can do 35 dollars a month, even though I have a PS5." Jumped on the deal and was approved!

All of that said, I haven't owned an Xbox since the 360 so I'm super out of the loop. I know the main selling point of the console is Game Pass but I'm wondering what else I should know about owning this thing? Any tips and tricks for someone who's been out of the Microsoft ecosystem for such a long time? Settings I should know? Games that I may have missed over the last 8 years that are must haves on Game Pass?

I admittedly love Sony first party stuff and the main reason I haven't bought a Series X is because none of the exclusives really jumped out at me so I'm hoping that this wasn't a misuse of money considering I'm now locked into paying for 2 years. Help me feel better about my purchase!

Thanks!

 

[HardRojo]

Just to wait for it lol, since Game Pass is included in that promo. I've had mine for a few months and it's been great, the console works great.

 

[Anustart]

Wait for it to be delivered.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Refresh the page and read the responses to your thread.

 

[nadbmal]

Disappointment

 

[Heysoos]

Start downloading Psychonauts 2 as soon as you get the console.

 

[DuvalDevil]

Well. First thing you should do is subscribe GP and enjoy the pure fun that the services provides.

Then try all of the games that you've missed. After that you relax and wait for all of the games that are already announced. You're in for a wild ride in the next months and years. It's gonna be incredible.

Misuse of money? Na man. Thanks to GP you should save a lot of bucks in the upcoming future. Just hang tight and enjoy :)

 

[Elyian]

Sift through gamepass to see if there's anything that catches your eye. If not, wait till some of the big stuff starts dropping.

 

[Phellps]

Well, you're probably going to save some money with Game Pass, so I guess that evens it out.

 

[pswii60]

Download all your old 360 digital games and reminisce. Then download everything from Game Pass. Take a year off work.

 

[kmfdmpig]

Use GamePass as a way to try games you might be interested in. You'll find gems that you really enjoy that way. Children of Morta was one of those for me as were the Yakuza games.
Hivebusters, included in gamepass, is a fun and quick playthrough (it's a standalone DLC for Gears 5).
If you enjoyed Crackdown 1 back on the 360 then 3 is worth playing, although it's not always great.
Wasteland 3 is fun. If you have a good PC then your GPU will let you delve into PC games through GamePass as well (which is how I played Wasteland 3 and Gears tactics).

 

[Sirhc]

Prepare to not have enough time to play all the stuff hitting gamepass...like 13 more games announced today... nobody has this much time MS plz.

 

[CubeApple76]

If you still have some of your 360 games, check the backwards compatibility list and find which ones you can play on it. It's trippy to be able to load up a Perfect Dark Zero cloud save I made on Xbox 360 back in like 2006 on the Series X. Just note that the save obviously needs to be copied into the 360 cloud save system for it to work on the X.

Other than that, just wait till you get it, open up the Gamepass catalog, and download whatever grabs your fancy. If you're into racing games at all, check out Forza Horizon 4 (and 5 when it releases). Best racing game series bar none at the moment. Also since you missed this gen, I recommend playing Gears 4 and 5 and Halo 5. Halo 5's story is maligned but the gameplay is still good, and it will be good context for Infinite. The two Coalition Gears games in my opinion are great, and 5 is probably my second favorite in the series after 3.

 

[kubev]

Game Pass probably has you covered. Be sure to check out Sunset Overdrive, which is currently on Game Pass but is also discounted digitally right now.

 

[JaseMath]

1. GamePass
2. Forza Horizon 4
3. Install Retroarch
4. Create a custom controller

 

[TheMadTitan]

Get on a whitelist for emulators and homebrew games.

 

[vixolus]

Was going to say to load up 3 years of Gold then convert, but you got it through All-Access so that's a no-go. Still a good deal.

Just wait, unbox it and set it up and start downloading everything you want. Hit up the MS first party titles you missed. Psychonauts 2 is a MUST.

Get started with MS Rewards and you can get free shit for little effort, especially since you have GPU (and thus, Cloud access).

 

[Bear and bird]

My highlights from a 1st party perspective from the last 8 years:

Gears 4 and 5
Forza Horizon 4
Ori 1 and 2
Killer Instinct
Rare Replay
Sea of Thieves (can be played solo, but it's primarily a multiplayer experience)
Sunset Overdrive
Psychonauts 2

I've only tried bits and pieces of Halo TMCC, but it has gotten really good from what I've heard.

The 3rd party library very is similar to Playstation's, but maybe you'll find a few games that you've missed on PS4/5?

 

[Deleted member 10188]

Disappointment

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He brought a Series X not a PS Vita.

 

[Disco Infernal]

Disappointment

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Did you mistake this site for Gamefaqs?

OP, now you sign up for MS Rewards and try to never pay for a game again.

 

[Bedameister]

Play Prey

 

[Tyrius_Wolfe]

I got my Series X like a month ago. Unfortunately there isn't much in the way of exclusives, but Game Pass is cool and I've played a few games that I've been interested in, but never enough to drop cash on them.

Also buy Death's Door. Game is brilliant.

 

[Deleted member 9584]

Tales of Arise

 

[Lobster Roll]

Disappointment

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[Squirrel09]

Play Psychonauts 2 for the best new recent game.
Play Gears 5 for a crazy graphical showcase
Play Sea of Thieves for some dumb fun (bonus points if you can get friends or an coordinated group to play.)
Play Hades if you haven't
Play Halo:MCC collection if Halo seems interesting to you at all. the first game is aged in gameplay. But 2 onward are solid in my opinion.

Forza Horizon 5 releases in November
Halo Infinite releases in December

All of these you have access through Gamepass that came with the deal.

 

[LetsEatSnacks]

Was going to say to load up 3 years of Gold then convert, but you got it through All-Access so that's a no-go. Still a good deal.

Just wait, unbox it and set it up and start downloading everything you want. Hit up the MS first party titles you missed. Psychonauts 2 is a MUST.

Get started with MS Rewards and you can get free shit for little effort, especially since you have GPU (and thus, Cloud access).

Click to shrink...

So, I have been getting Bing rewards points for years and have spent them on a ton of stupid crap with no return. Are these related at all? Should I start hoarding those Bing points for other stuff? I know some people use it for GPU but with 2 years covered, seems a little bit like a waste.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Play Returnal until your Xbox arrives. Then play some GamePass games and more Returnal.

 

[Ringten]

Just putting it out there that you bought it quite expensive. Total price is $820. Console price is $500, so you essentially payed $320 for GPU which you could have 3 years of for $120

 

[ArrogantBastard]

Gamepass, gamepass, gamepass.

Disappointment

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Yes, you will be disappointed when you have to pay for games again.

 

[Fiksi]

You can get the Xbox app ready (can use it to set up the console more easily and when the time comes it's good for downloading games remotely etc).

Learning menu navigation is useful. LT and RT (L2 R2) are great for quickly going through stuff. The Xbox button popup is your friend and can be customized in settings.

Setting up Xbox rewards is definitely useful if you're in the US especially, it can be converted to Xbox store credit in masses (for free or discounted games or DLC to GamePass games etc).

 

[Fabtacular]

The first thing you should do is stack more Game Pass, if you can.

• Your console will come with a code or a card or whatever for two years of Game Pass.
• Before you redeem it, go buy a 1-year card for Xbox Live Gold from Amazon for 1 year and redeem it.
• Then sign up for a trial month of Game Pass for $1. It will convert your Gold to Game Pass Ultimate.
• Then redeem your two-year card.

By doing the above you'll have added another 12 months to your Game Pass subscription for $60 instead of $180.

If you wanted to get more aggressive / spend more, you could stack up to three years.

 

[CubeApple76]

So, I have been getting Bing rewards points for years and have spent them on a ton of stupid crap with no return. Are these related at all? Should I start hoarding those Bing points for other stuff? I know some people use it for GPU but with 2 years covered, seems a little bit like a waste.

Click to shrink...

Yes exactly. 1000 big points is roughly a dollar, so I think 14,000 turns into a month of Game pass ultimate. Alternatively you can convert straight into xbox gift cards and use that to buy games

 

[Rumenapp]

You'll have a massive library of games just from gamepass.

Sunset Overdrive is a must.

 

[Biske]

With gamepass you are about to have more games than you know what to do with.

Then Microsoft rewards will cover anything not on gamepass

 

[vixolus]

So, I have been getting Bing rewards points for years and have spent them on a ton of stupid crap with no return. Are these related at all? Should I start hoarding those Bing points for other stuff? I know some people use it for GPU but with 2 years covered, seems a little bit like a waste.

Click to shrink...

Bing rewards should be the same thing as MS Rewards, yeah. I do my searches/dailies on Bing on PC and you can do Game Pass Quests via xbox/cloud/mobile to get even more points. You can hoarde them towards MS gift cards and buy games 'for free' or spend them on topping off your sub monthly, etc. You can auto-redeem $10 every month for a discount (like 8500 points or so, essentially $8.50 worth of points). However, you must use any redeemed credit within 90 days.

Download the MS Rewards app to see what you can do.

 

[Det]

GP as you mentioned, but what types of games are you into?

 

[vixolus]

The first thing you should do is stack more Game Pass, if you can.

• Your console will come with a code or a card or whatever for two years of Game Pass.
• Before you redeem it, go buy a 1-year card for Xbox Live Gold from Amazon for 1 year and redeem it.
• Then sign up for a trial month of Game Pass for $1. It will convert your Gold to Game Pass Ultimate.
• Then redeem your two-year card.

By doing the above you'll have added another 12 months to your Game Pass subscription for $60 instead of $180.

If you wanted to get more aggressive / spend more, you could stack up to three years.

Click to shrink...

I forgot about this. Do this if you can splurge a little ($60). That way you have 3 years GPU total when you add your 2 years GPU from All Access. Alternatively, you could do what Fabtacular says and stack up to 3 years and convert, then hold on to the all access code and redeem that in 2 years... just keep in mind you can only have 3 years of GPU, so redeeming anything beyond that won't count.

 

[werezompire]

I don't have an Xbox Series S/X (feel like between my laptop, PS5, and Switch, I'm covered), but if I did, I'd be using it primarily for Game Pass freebies, and enhanced backwards compatibility (mostly 360 games, but also a few original Xbox games like Panzer Dragoon Orta). Plus, check and see if any multiplatform PS5/Xbox games run better on Series X.

 

[LetsEatSnacks]

Just putting it out there that you bought it quite expensive. Total price is $820. Console price is $500, so you essentially payed $320 for GPU which you could have 3 years of for $120

Click to shrink...

Well aware of that but I think over 2 years, that 200 dollars is worth not dropping all of the money at once. I'm a librarian, so my income isn't exactly conducive to making large single purchases. Generally keep some money put away for emergencies. An Xbox isn't an emergency. :)

 

[Naner]

Unless you wanted to play everything you wanted to on PS4 in terms of third-parties, a lot of the XB1 games got 60fps updates or FPS boost, making them much more enjoyable to go through.

 

[Ouroboros]

Gamepass is a treat and BC is amazing.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

LetsEatSnacks What kinda screen do you have?

 

[Splader]

If you can, play through Halo 5 with 3 others. It's designed entirely for coop play and it shows.
While it may not have been the best game solo, with a group it really shines well.

 

[Fabtacular]

I forgot about this. Do this if you can splurge a little ($60). That way you have 3 years GPU total when you add your 2 years GPU from All Access. Alternatively, you could do what Fabtacular says and stack up to 3 years and convert, then hold on to the all access code and redeem that in 2 years... just keep in mind you can only have 3 years of GPU, so redeeming anything beyond that won't count.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I feel like anything beyond just doing the year is a risk.

Me, personally, I'd probably end up losing the 2-year card/code before being able to redeem it.

 

[christocolus]

pray for more hours in a day to keep up with all the GP offerings.😇

Disappointment

Click to shrink...

Is this a throwaway account?

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

Well, I'd download the two Series X next gen exclusive games in Flight Sim and The Medium, even if you don't care much for games of either genre, they're free and relatively worth the time spent downloading them.

Then I'd recommend you play through the Halo games before Halo Infinite.

Then I'd suggest playing ReCore (but definitely turn HDR off) because while it isn't perfect, it's a damn fun and charming game in my opinion

 

[Deleted member 39144]

Don't forget to redeem your free Games with Gold with your GPU subscription as well. The Xbox One games are pretty bobbins, but the 360 titles you own permanently even if your subscription lapses. Zone of Enders Collection is available now.

 

[Tathanen]

I think there's video games on it?

 

[Budi]

Now you play all the amazing games you get to play insanely cheap with Gamepass. Happy for you, have fun!

Edit: To name a few

Control
Hades
Psychonauts 2
Flight Simulator
Wasteland 3
Yakuza (series)
Wolfenstein (series)
Doom (series)
Wreckfest
What Remains of Edith Finch
Ori and the Blind Forest/Will of the Wisps
Thronebreaker
The Walking Dead (series)
The Ascent
Prey
Dishonored (series)
Hellblade
Grim Fandango
Full Throttle
Gears (series, don't skip Tactics)
Frostpunk
Desperados 3
Darkest Dungeon

I could go on, but this should be enough to get anyone started. Excellent games in wide variety of genres, some old and some new.

 

[Prine]

Do you like JRPGs? You might like Octopath Traveler.