Live With It - Oculus Quest (Patreon)

Sarah shares her experience using the Oculus Quest and her recommendations for people who might be interested in one.

My model: 64 GB for $399 (out of stock at Oculus.com, in stock at Walmart and Best Buy, back in stock at GameStop 6/30, Amazon 7/24)

128 GB model $499 seems to be in stock everywhere

⦁ OLED Display

⦁ 1440x1600 Resolution

⦁ 72 Hz Refresh Rate

⦁ 6 Degree of Freedom (6DoF) - the headset tracks both your head and body movements.

The first obvious question is whether to get the 64 or 128 gb model. All the app sizes run anywhere from about 400 mb to 3-4 gb. So it’s going to fill up fast if you install a bunch of content, and there’s no real way to backup any of your games, only media transfer through a USB-C port. However, many games are also pretty expensive which might keep your storage in check anyway. 

My first 5 downloads were:

1. Dance Central - $30

2. Beat Saber - $30

3. BOXVR - $30

4. Tetris Effect - $30

5. National Geographic Explore VR - $8

        Total = $128

I have a few apps that are either free or in trial periods, so right now I’m at about a third of my total storage. It would be annoying, but I could always uninstall something I’m not playing much of when I start getting full and then reinstall it later, since I did already pay for it. 

**If you’ve got the money, go for the 128 gb $499 model…. but with VR in such early days it’s a pricey purchase for something that might feel obsolete sooner than later.

SETUP 

⦁ The headset is really easy to set up once you install the Oculus app (I’m on iOS). It charges through a USB-C cable.

⦁ The two controllers each take 1 AA battery. Assuming this is going to be a battery hog, I’ve already bought a rechargeable set and a charger. The last thing I want is to be buying disposable batteries all the time.

⦁ It’s heavy at first on my face. It feels weird. I definitely had to play around with the straps to get somewhere between not too loose and not too tight, and sitting at the right angle for maximum sharpness. The initial setup walks you through all that. 

⦁ A note about sharpness - my eyesight has gone downhill pretty rapidly over the last two years and I need glasses in front of any screen with text these days. The Oculus comes with a headset accessory meant to add a little space so you can comfortably wear your glasses under the headset, but I found that for some reason my eyes are ok looking at VR content, even text! I did try wearing my glasses and it wasn’t comfortable for me, but the option is there. 

⦁ Once you’re connected to wifi and get the hang of how to hold the controllers, you’re good to go on hardware setup. 

FIRST HEADSET IMPRESSIONS

⦁ I’m the perfect candidate for the Quest because I have no real firsthand experience with VR. I watched one documentary in VR at an event in 2016 and although the effect was very cool, I had a terrible headache afterward. So I’ve been writing off the technology as something that makes me literally sick for a few years.

⦁ The Quest doesn’t make me feel sick at all. Once you’re wearing it and ready to get started, it gives you a temporary infrared view so you can see the real world as you draw a border for yourself, AKA the safe zone of a room where you can be sure you won’t hit anything while you’re inside it. Once you draw the area border, Quest will create a vertical “fence” based on that area that’s invisible unless you get too close and then appears, and if you start to go through it, turns red. Works well, and very necessary since the experience can be disorienting. I kept walking into my fence even when I was sure I wasn’t going to.

⦁ I started by drawing a border in my small apartment, which was a dumb idea because I’d have to move my coffee table every time I wanted to have enough room to play anything. So I cleared a good 8x8 space in Studio Redwood and remade my border with plenty of padding around it. Honestly, the more room the better so you can lose yourself that much more. Oculus recommends a minimum of 6.5 x 6.5 feet. 

⦁ For those of you with kids or pets or anything else that could be underfoot, definitely worth setting up your border in a place that can be sectioned off because you will not see them coming otherwise.

VR FIRST IMPRESSIONS

⦁ Oculus walks you through an initial tutorial so you can get comfortable making fists, grabbing objects, and moving them around. There are 6 different buttons on each controller so you have to get used to it, but it feels pretty intuitive, not a huge learning curve. Also, it feels like magic. I can’t get over how quickly I lose yourself in my surroundings. 

⦁ The Oculus Store is set up like any App Store, with games, action adventure, sports, puzzles, etc. The biggest gripe people seem to have is that the Quest doesn’t have enough content yet. There feels like a ton of it to me.

⦁ Dance Central was the first game I downloaded because I used to love playing it on the Kinect. There’s a whole narrative aspect to this version but yes, the first thing I did with the Quest was dance in a club. 

A NOTE ABOUT GAMES 

⦁ I always say I’m not a gamer. That isn’t exactly true; I play lots of games, just certain kinds. I’m not very fond of games with storylines or anything FPS. If a game is called “Pistol Whip” I’m just not going to play it. I prefer meditative, geometrical games and mobile is great for that, which is why I never felt the need to buy a console. 

⦁ Like any app store, there is no way I can play everything. And with Oculus, there’s no way I can *afford* to buy them. So my experience with the Quest will potentially be completely different than yours, depending on our libraries.

⦁ A few games, such as Half Life: Alyx, only run (or support extra stuff) if the Quest is connected to a PC using Oculus Link. My single Windows laptop isn’t powerful enough according to Oculus support, so I didn’t even bother with anything that required tethering.

STANDOUT GAMES AND EXPERIENCES

⦁ Supernatural - This is Beat Saber-like but less of a game and more of an actual workout with trainers, motivation, etc. It’s a $179/year subscription with a 30-day free trial. 

⦁ The music library is impressive. I don’t know who they’re licensing with, but the music is all pretty well-known stuff.

⦁ It’s more fun than Beat Saber IMO. The locations are great. 

⦁ Oculus Venues - The idea is that you’re watching something in a theater with a bunch of other Oculus members that you can talk to. You all choose avatars beforehand. It’s so weird. You look at someone sitting next to you and Venues knows that’s the person to send your audio to, but you can hear other people’s conversations around you and jump around seats to meet people. 

⦁ YouTube VR - So much travel stuff here. It’s truly the best way to see the world if you like flying. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS

⦁ I love the Quest so much more than I thought I would. Once again I’m pleasantly surprised with a piece of technology I didn’t know I even wanted. 

⦁ If you don’t have ample physical space to dedicate to gameplay, it’s going to be frustrating. Lots of content can be navigated while sitting down or standing in place, but you’d lose out on a lot. 

⦁ The headset is too big. I’m used to it, but I know in a few years we’re all going to laugh at this first-gen round of VR and what we were putting up with. 

⦁ Since I’m using it to exercise a lot, I gently clean with disinfectant wipes between workouts and so far it’s holding up fine, but we’ll see if the headset starts showing wear and tear after getting sweaty regularly. 

⦁ This is an expensive hobby. Even after the initial purchase of the Quest, be prepared to spend another couple hundred dollars minimum. There’s plenty of free content but that isn’t enough to justify the purchase IMO. You’re going to want the big titles.