First Impressions: Oculus Quest 2

Over the Christmas weekend, Santa-Odin-Claus delivered to us an Oculus Quest 2 (Meta Quest 2?).  I had been eyeing the system for some time and like my approach to console gaming, I was less likely to be able to afford a high enough end laptop that could run VR well enough so instead I forked over (Santa made) the money over Black Friday sales and picked one up (Santa delivered).  Last weekend was my first real experience playing higher-end VR apart from the Nintendo VR Labo (that I talked a bit about here and here) and the one day at my uncle-in-law's house where I played the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges and took on a platoon of Stormtroopers.  So while I have had the Oculus Quest 2 in my possession for just about a month, last weekend was my first time using it.

I will spare you a lot of the set-up details and minutia, but I will say that what ended up taking the longest was connecting the Oculus Quest 2 (OQ2 from here on out) to my phone (after downloading the app) and syncing it to my computer.  There were a few other instances of the set-up process taking a little longer than anticipated, but that would be boring reading and frankly, I do not remember all of the steps I took to get the Quest working.

Before I actually get to my actual experience, I wanted to add that I did get (Santa's Elves created) a few accessories, one of which I will be returning.

First off, I got some control grip covers for the controllers (specifically the ones from NCBeyong), often read that having additional texture on the grips was a good thing especially if you are going to be playing longer than 15 minutes sessions as your palms are likely to get sweaty.  Plus instead of just a wrist strap that comes attached to the controllers, there is a palm strap that allows you to not have to hold the controllers without them falling out of your hands and can help reduce cramping.  I also ordered some rechargeable batteries because I could double up with the four-pack and use them with the Wii U Wiimote.  I also ordered the official Oculus Link cable-thing so that we could stream the video of whoever is playing to the computer and not just rely on the Air-Link.  Plus I liked the idea of being able to (possibly) play other VR games from my laptop, but that is not as likely to happen; I also had to buy a USB C to USB adapter so that I could plug the Link cable into the computer as the cable is only a dual male USB C cable.  

Lastly, I had read a lot about the standard head strap not being of good quality so after reading a number of reviews, I picked up the BOBOVR M2 Headstrap, which I was not at all happy with for several reasons.  First and foremost, I never felt like the BOBOVR head strap was securely on my head, like it was only coming to an inch above my ear and that if I turned my head quickly that it would fling off and against the wall.  The two top pads also played a part in feeling like it was keeping the head strap up high on my head.  Then there was the front and back padding which seemed to be sliding on my hair, pushing the head strap up when I tightened it, plus I knew that I would end up sweating a lot because the material did not feel breathable.  Lastly, the few times I felt like the headset was somewhat securely on my head, the screen was very blurry, and only adjusting the headset again to an uncomfortable position did the screen clear up.  Oh, and then there were two additional straps that seemed to secure the headset to the Oculus unit that was not in any of the pictures and one was missing completely from all of the videos on BOBOVR's website.  And on top of all that, upon trying to initially return the product to Amazon, I find that the store page no longer exists.  So I reinstalled the regular head strap that came with the OQ2 and my only complaint is that sometimes it can be a little irritating on the back of my ears (or whatever that bit that connects your ears to your head is called).

Now onto the games!

I did buy a VR Bundle through Fanatical for $15 which seemed like the way to go as far as starter kits for the OQ2 goes.  One of the games I was already planning on purchasing, Accounting+ as it was made by Crows Crows Crows, who are some of the same guys who made The Stanley Parable, The Beginner's Guide, and Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist. Now, as of this writing, I have gone through the game but I know there is stuff that I missed, but holy damn was that a fun and hilarious game. I also started Zombieland: Headshot and have some positive/mixed feelings, but there will be an article on that likely in January or February.  I also bought the Vader Immortal series as a bundle (being 45% off) and played through the first of three chapters.  Then I downloaded a bunch of free-to-start games like Tripp, Epic Roller Coasters, Mission: ISS, and a couple of demos for games like SUPERHOT VR and  Beat Saber.  I will just say that I now understand why Beat Saber seems to be the titular Oculus Quest 2 game and also why it has never gone on sale and that I have now played through the SUPERHOT VR demo at least four separate times and I will definitely buy that game, but only after it goes on sale because again, I do have games from the Fanatical VR Bundle that I would like to play.

And there are a surprising number of documentaries and educational VR experiences that I was not expecting such as Anne Frank House VR and Traveling While Black and a whole slew of 360-degree videos optimized for VR; and a lot of videos that you would think might be great but you have no control over the camera and once you have a taste of that kind of freedom, it is hard to go back.

As far as the actual experience of VR, I was pretty surprised by a couple of things.  First, I have been able to play for about 30-60 minutes at a time, depending on the game, without feeling nauseous.  For Vader Immortal and Accounting+, there were no issues, but with Epic Roller Coasters, I was good after about 5 minutes, and then I started feeling a little dizzy.  What really surprised me was the feeling of movement as the coaster banked and dove along the track.  It was a very entertaining and slightly disorienting feeling having your brain telling you that you are accelerating and making a steep banking turn but your inner-ear and the rest of your body are not sensing that at all, even if you do lean and throw your hands up as the coaster goes into a steep dive.  Interestingly, I have gotten motion sick, but the few times that it has happened, was about 10 minutes after I stopped playing and had taken the headset off, but I cannot find anything about nausea occurring after the fact not during.  I have also had the feeling of sea legs or something similar after playing Vader Immortal for about 45 minutes, like the ground, was not moving and my brain was expecting it to be when I walked.

Lastly, there is the issue with having to use your Facebook login or an existing Oculus login when you first turn on the machine and before you start playing.  There is a bit of information tracking and you can only limit the unit so much without unlocking it and I do try to limit how much information I am giving Facebook.  Currently, I have voice commands disengaged and while the hand-tracking beta feature is very intriguing, there is additional privacy information if you allow hand-tracking to happen, which I have yet to do.

There is going to be a lot to unpack here as I explore more of what you can do with the Oculus Quest 2, and play different types of games from point-and-click, to first-person shooters, to third-person adventure games, to guided meditation.  I am a fan.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Instrumental

P.S.  After I finished the article for today, I went ahead and purchased Beat Saber for a couple of reasons.  First, I really enjoyed the demo and so did Conklederp. Secondly, I have read that the game, at least on the Oculus Quest 2 store, has never gone on sale and is likely not to any time soon because it sells so well that there is no incentive for the price to be temporarily discounted.  Well, the marketing team's decision on that worked on me because I did buy the game at full price.  I had previously read that there were only 10 songs in the base game with optional song packs and while this felt a bit on the slim side, I was happily surprised to find out that there are in fact xx songs included with the current version of the game when you buy it.  Anyway, having a fun time there, and look forward to a MIDI Week Single article or two featuring some of the tracks that Conklederp and I have been vibing to.