Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 518

I will be continuing playing Unravel with my eldest son. As well as finally starting Final Fantasy Remake. So i can then jump on Rebirth once this playthrough is done. Happy Gaming All.

Going on a date with Tifa at the Golden Saucer, what more could you ask for!

Not sure. I got bored of Banishers. I may try Avatar. Also got Brothers: A tale of two sons remake as loved the original

Final Fantasy VII rebirth! Waited so long for this.

After finishing (and platting) Spider-Man 2 on Monday, I finally got around to starting Dead Space while waiting for Thursday and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to drop through my letterbox. So as excited as I am to start Rebirth, my plan is to finish that up over the weekend first. Though I have to say, as someone who never played the original, this Dead Space remake is pretty fantastic!

I'm playing FF7 remake and on Chapter 9. I only played FF7 once over 25 years ago and yet the nostalgia hit from playing remake is so strong. Hope those playing rebirth this weekend enjoy!! Have a great weekend folks

DREDGE! I’m loving it so far. I might finish it in the next few days so I’ve got Control and Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart downloaded and ready to go. They’ve been in my backlog since forever

Final Fantasy Rebirth and the graphics, soundtrack and gameplay 👌

Finished Outer Wilds, now trying to get into NEO: The world ends with you but...I'm not 100% into it so far despite being a massive fan of the original on the DS. I might have grown out of it or something but the dialogue...it's pretty darn terrible. Music is still amazing and I'll be adding it to my playlist though for sure.

Off to Iceland this weekend so no gaming time for me.

Helldivers 2 has completely detailed me from RE4 remake which I will finish one day.

More Banishers for me, Think i'm going to make my final push to finish it tomorrow. Also tried out the demo for Unicorn Overlord, which after playing it, think I will pick up the full game.

I find myself a bit in a slump as of late. Plenty of games to play but as soon as I boot one up I just turn it off again. Except Halo Infinite. Im considering buying Helldivers 2 though... so maybe that.

Started my Elden Ring replay for the DLC

Playing Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin's Creed Mirage. Tomorrow I'll hopefully finish Gears 5 with my brother. Enjoy your weekend, everybody!

My protagonists this weekend will be Ichiban Kasuga, Kiryu Kazuma and the demon, Velvet Crow.

Finished Like a Dragon: Ishin last night so I'm not sure. Was thinking blasting through Outer Wilds before it disappears but I've read it's really bad for people who suffer motion sickness.

Hogwarts Legacy (PS5): As a big fan of Harry Potter (books more so than movies, but still) I have heard nothing but great reviews of this game, so I am very much looking forward to this.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was a fun JRPG that I ended up sinking 125 hours into across three weeks; I still may do its DLC Future Redeemed concurrent with Hogwarts.

Still playing Dishonored, just finished the main campaign and onto the DLC missions now. What a great game. I'm impressed by the impact of its story and the moral choices it throws at you - Samuel's final words to Corvo were like a knife in my chest: "I'm disappointed in you, Corvo. It's like you went out of your way to be brutal" 🤔 Er, oops😁

Yakuza: Like A Dragon (PS5): Just played a few hours and have reached Yokohama. Really digging Ichiban as the new protagonist and don't mind the turn-based combat.

Gears of War: Definitive Edition (XSX): Have never played a Gears game so I thought I'd rectify that. Have just finished the first chapter.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection (Switch): Just about to enter the PC era.

I'll be playing a bit of Helldivers 2 and Final Fantasy Rebirth really enjoying it so far. I've also got an urge to play South Park Stick of Truth so I've downloaded that.

Can only be one thing. Final fantasy 7 rebirth! Loving it so far! Will jump on Final Fantasy 14 for a bit as well too check if I get lucky with the jumbo cacpot in the gold saucer.

Rebirth. There is no other acceptable answer this weekend

Star ocean first departure Rrrrrrrr and final fantasy 7 rebirthmake on the mighty 5 and nothing on the other systems.

Continuing my duty for democracy but I need to finish off Trepang2 so hopefully a bit of that too but man I am finding it hard play anything other than Helldivers of late.

I just love the taste of that Liber-Tea.....

Happy gaming folks

Just finished up Cold Steel 1. I found most of the game enjoyable, but a bit of a drag. The ending however was really good even though I'd been spoiled (by myself) on what happened. Seeing the events play out on screen was really fun. Overall I'd say it's probably my least favourite Trails game so far, though I'm hoping it's a bit of a low point rather than an indication of declining quality from this point. The jury seems to be a bit mixed on that. Anyway, naturally I'm now in the prologue of Cold Steel 2 Finally we have a battle theme to rival that of Sky SC!

I've also picked up FF7 Rebirth, but haven't had a chance to start yet. I see reviews mention there's more filler in Rebirth compared to Remake. That makes me slightly wary as I thought Remake had an insane amount of filler and terrible mini games. However, much like with Remake, I suspect I'll enjoy Rebirth a lot all the same. Hearing new takes on the music, seeing locations in full 3D, spending more time with the characters etc all make it worth it. And I love the battle system. To be one of "those people", I really really wish FF16 had the same battle system. That would have massively elevated the game in my opinion.

Will also get a few rounds in on Tekken 8 and thinking of spending a bit of time in Elden Ring with my end game character in anticipation of the DLC.

I'm finishing up the Warhammer 40,000 dlc on PowerWash Simulator which I may upload to YouTube. May check out the latest update in GT7. Other than that, I'll probably be helping the kids get some Mother's Day stuff for next week

I’m hanging out with Cloud and the gang the whole time this weekend… maybe distracted by joining the human race for a drink this evening… maybe…

Still jumping back into Granblue Every now and then to clean up the side quests / level up the characters. Luckily the combat controls aren’t too different to Rebirth, so not too hard to jump from one to the other.

Have fun this weekend folks!

Rebirth all the way. #teamtifa

Finished Prince of Persia last week, cheesing RE4 with an infinite ammo rocket launcher (can’t believe it was released a year ago). I really want to try Ultros and Pacific Drive, but I also want to finish LotF and replay Dead Space. Nice problem to have! So many awesome games (I’ll get around to Rebirth at some point). Have a great weekend folks!

Rebirth obviously, although I'm a bit overwhelmed at the minute with all the stuff my old brain has to cope with, it just keeps throwing shi* at you over and over,took me 20 min to find the exit in kalm.im sure it'll settle down, and why can't I edit my party in the menu option party , daft.

I WON'T be playing Rebirth yet, as I'm saving money right now and my hands are a little full of games to finish. This weekend I will be starting Yakuza 3, continuing our favorite gangster saga. I'm planning to continue the excelent Tales of Arise too, and travel more through Francia in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. There are others on the waiting too, I must free some space hahaha Sorry Seph!!

Rebirth obviously! I was expecting to of finished Avatar by now but after 80 odd hours I'm still going!However I could not wait to switch discs once Final Fantasy turned up..

On the Switch I've just started Pikmin 1 after recently finished Super Mario rpg

Elden Ring, Bloodborne, AC Valhalla and anything else.

Rebirth.

Oh, here's a couple of extra codes Amazon sent me, which they had already given different codes for the day before.
Couple of bangles.

First come first served I guess.

Midgar Bangle: QDNR-QQXB-K5HG
Shinra Bangle: JRJX-R8T2-QP5T

Like many of us here I will be playing Rebirth this weekend. Thankfully I was able to finish Persona 3 Reload in time for it. No idea how I managed two big JRPGs like Infinite Wealth and Reload in a month but I did. March is gonna be just as chaotic with Unicorn Overlord, Hi-Fi Rush and Rise of the Ronin dropping

TLOU - Im now about halfway through part 2. These games are just so ***** good imo. Not perfect in every aspect but damn near. Going through it all again is both awesome and emotionally draining and Im just so impressed with games that makes me feel this much.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps - finished it, as I’ve said before I love it but not the needlessly difficult parts that only gets annoying.

I had planned to start playing FF 7 Rebirth day 1 but given that the game needs a patch or two Im going to wait for a couple of weeks before diving in but its kind of hard as Im really, really looking forward to it 😅

I'm actually playing Crisis Core first before I dive into Rebirth since I never played and heard it's decently short. I'm already halfway through. It's pretty fun though. A solid game for sure.

Rebirth of course. I'm exploring every inch of this game.

@mac_da_man damn near perfect is accurate. Think they are as close to perfect as any game has got in my own personal opinion

Finished Endling Extinction is forever. Really nice ( and sad) game. Restarted Alan Wake Remastered after taking a break from it.

Between Helldivers 2 and FF Im completely sorted, and likely to be for months. Both are fantastic titles with a lot of game time in them. So much for making a dent in my backlog!

Whatever your playing, I hope you have fun!

I’m still enjoying my time in Infinite Wealth, scooting around Hawaii and collecting Sujimon like a manic child 🤣.

Boringly I'm not playing Rebirth this month so I'm grinding my to the Endgame difficulty in Granblue Fantasy Relink and playing Foamstars.

I'm also slowly making my way to the platinum for Octopath Traveler 2 and I have to sit down and give the Unicorn Overlord demo a try. Happy gaming everybody!

The Outer Worlds this game is not as short as people say, but it is an awesome RPG and bucketloads of fun. My quest log is absolutely bursting so I imagine I'll be playing that when I can 😁

Earlier in the week I finished up Resistance: Retribution and got the platinum trophy. It was a solid game, but makes me yearn for a remastered trilogy that I know more than likely won’t happen.

With that said, my main focus this weekend will be Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. I don’t often find myself genuinely excited about upcoming games, but I’ve been antsy for a while regarding this sequel, and my wife has been getting quite annoyed with my excitement (ha-ha). I’ve finished the first two chapters and it’s been an unexpected magical experience. Perhaps that’s the nostalgia speaking, but I’m enamored.

From what I’ve played so far, the game seems brilliantly paced. There have also been compelling story moments that provide genuine intrigue, and a heartfelt cast that I’m happy to see again. This is bolstered by an exemplary soundtrack that hits all of the right notes and exactly the right times.

In terms of gameplay, the combat is more refined, with the difficulty seemingly more balanced than its predecessor. There are so many added layers that enhance the action in brilliant ways. Sometimes it can be hard to manage all of the possibilities, but once things click then it’s an extraordinary battle system that just may be my favorite in an RPG.

I also love seeing the PS1 classic come to life in full force — the scope of this game is staggering. Unfortunately, much like any sequel that wants to expand on the original’s idea(s), but also become an open world game, the experience can feel daunting and overwhelming. There are a ton of systems and mechanics at work, and they all have their own leveling system. But the variety to customize your play style is really awesome and adds a lot of depth to how you approach the game.

My only complaint at the moment is the slow movement. Similar to the first game, when the game forces you to walk slowly in certain parts of the story, that mechanic is back. Sadly, those moments are intertwined with gameplay, such as climbing up yellow painted rocks, or more interactive story beats.

There isn’t much left to say since I’m not that far, but I’m highly impressed. Sure, the game could crumble beneath its feet, but if it can keep up this momentum then I think we are in for something incredibly special. I can’t wait to see how it ultimately turns out.

Playing Dragon Quest 11 again and this time I’m going to finish it!🤣

Cyberpunk 2077, I'm absolutely loving playing as stealthy katana wielding, hacking cyber dude, and the music that plays when enemies are aware of you and you have to pull out the pistol makes me feel like I'm playing a John wick game

And I'm also finally able to start FF7 Rebirth today so I can't wait!

Im playing one of the best video games ever made in the incredible dragon dogma dark arisen.im playing as a mage/sorcerer.dragon dogma dogma dark arisen have the best magic in a video games i ever play.the gameplay.the story.the boss fights is amazing.and the graphics looks good also.and i will be playing the instant classic the excellent judment.greg chun takayuki yagami.is one of the greatest protagonist ever.and the name greg and gregory is such a beautiful name.judment gameplay.graphics.story and boss fights is amazing.and i will be playing 2019 game of tbe year sekiro shadows die twice.a instant classic masterpiece.wolf is a excellent protagonist.the story.the gameplay.the boss fights and the graphics is excellent. will finish watching the Netflix horror movie Thanksgiving.its a really good movie.i will be watching my boston Celtics💚🖤 play.i will be watching legendary sitcoms tv 📺 comedy in Sanford and son.martin. and saved by the bell.word up son

HellDivers 2 still. Can’t get enough of it.

Banishers Ghosts of New Edén is the other. It’s very enjoyable and I want to wrap it up before I dive into Rebirth.

I also made progress in Grime yesterday as it’s another game from the sub service. I’ve been trying to get my money’s worth in 2024. So far I’ve finished 4 games on the service. Smaller titles but finished none the less.

I'm not feeling too motivated to play anything at the moment but I may try out Balatro on the Steam Deck.

Finished Arcade Paradise and enjoyed it very much. Not much story but appreciate how developers managed to create over 30 arcade games and its great to see them all in your arcade. Started Sifu and although it's quite difficult for a button masher like me, I am relishing the challenge.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) - Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall...oh wait, that was Sully.

Jet Car Stunts (Windows Phone) - Still doing my dailies and time attack challenges.

Lode Runner Classic (Windows Phone) - Haven't played in a few days, need to get back into it.

FF7 Rebirth!! What a game!!

I’ll play the Unicorn Overlord demo. I’m already liking that game. Maybe get in a bit of FF7 Rebirth too.

Just started Sekiro. What a great game, and I now understand why people were saying that GoT is a rip-off of Sekiro!

PS5 Wise:
MGS 2
Sonic Superstars
FFVII Remake Rebirth
The Legend of the Dragoon

PS4 Wise:
ESO
Days Gone
Tunic
Star Wars Republic Commando

Still playing Ghostwire Tokyo, I’m really enjoying it but the grind for platinum is ridiculous. I’m sure I can have it done before it leaves ps plus

I am playing FF7 Rebirth but the combat is confusing me a ton lol

Can anyone actually explain how the sinergy abilities work? Like I can do those that you have to press R1 but how do you even do the more powerful ones?

Also, do you need the limit break bars to get summons? The summon bar appears but the actual summons are greyed out most of the time. I am super confused

This weekend is all about Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. I cleared a big ol’ path through my backlog over the last few months so that I can solely focus on Cloud and the gang. Happy weekend, everyone!

Final Fantasy VII Remake. Have to finish the last bit so I can get started on Rebirth. Also since I'm on an FF kick, I'll be trying to work in more of XVI. I stopped playing fairly early on last year because I was hooked on Street Fighter 6, but picking it back up, that game is quickly becoming my favorite non-remake/remasatered FF since the original Crisis Core release in 2008.

Trying to finish the last of the treasures and trinkets for the plat in Tchia before it leaves the subscription service. But time is limited because Yo La Tengo are playing a show tonight in a beautiful renovated old mill on the river in Saxapahaw. The beginning of concert season is upon us. The Magnetic Fields will soon be playing 69 Love Songs in its entirety at a historic theater in downtown for the 25th anniversary of the album release. And I just got tickets as a birthday gift for my son to see Ween in April. Unfortunately, it is at an amphitheater. Wish I could see them at a small club again, but my son is excited for the opportunity to see them at all. So an amphitheater it is.

going for the platinum on grime

@AFCC Yeah, the synergy abilities are confusing. There are ones you can do whenever, as long as you hold R1 and have abilities connected to your party members. But the other synergy ones, those confuse me, and I’m unsure how you build them up to use them. I have managed to use them a couple of times, but not sure how I got there in the first place. The tutorial on it is a little confusing. If you figure it out, let me know!

King Arthur Knight's Tale, end of act 2, I am really enjoying this game. Also around 40hrs into My Time at Sandrock, it's pretty chill.

@Tasuki I can't wait to see Sting wrestle one last time!

Final Fantasy VII: REBIRTH

I’m playing the impressive CYBERPUNK 2077: Phantom Liberty and I just got a (rather hard to find) physical copy of Helldivers 2 I’ll be starting once I finish the Phantom Liberty DLC. I’m very much looking forward to Helldivers 2 but I’m also in no rush to blow through Phantom Liberty either as it’s quite well done and beefy for an add-on.

Beat Saber Queen music pack and Hubris plus some Rocket League.

FFVII Rebirth it has been all weekend, and it has been a really good weekend so far!
Suspect the next many weekends will look the same, with the platinum taking approx 200 hours and being notoriously difficult to get appareantly.

Having finished my goal of beating all the Yakuza games up to Like a Dragon Yakuza I gladly received my copy of FFVII Rebirth and started it... 15hrs in and I am loving it. I do find myself missing my Station Wagon in Pacific Drive though... So I might pop on that this evening and try and break into the deep zone.

@AFCC You need at least one ATB bar for the summons, as for the big Synergy stuff? If you look under the ATB gauge you'll see five pips, most moves that use ATB will light up one of those pips (the description for each ability/spell shows how many pips it will activate. Each Synergy Ability costs a set about of pips. The Synergy Skills can be freely used and build up ATB aaaand in my experience are a bit of a pain to actually get off but are worth it.

Like a Dragon IW

@Mintie

All Yakuza games, wow that is amassive undertaking!
Props to you sir.

@AFCC Just to add to the other reply, when you've got enough synergy points built up from using the ATB abilities (well, the ones that have an icon that kind of looks like the Switch logo) then the option to do the Synergy special moves will appear in the command menu.

I have put Persona 3 Reload to ice and started playing FFVII Rebirth. Its good so far but seems much bigger thank P3 Reload in any way there is. I'll be with the Avalanche for a while now before returning to SEES.

@mcdreamer Cold Steel 1 is a 40 hour prorogue to the Cold Steel arc. CS2 is one of my personal favorites - really fantastic game!

Just finished Persona 3 Reload last night. Man, what an ending.

I played a bit of the Junon portion of the Rebirth demo. I still don't like the combat. I'll wait until it hits the bargain bin with whatever expansions they put out for it. Not in a hurry to play it, but I'm loving some of the mods I'm seeing for the original. Maybe I'll tinker with that a bit.

Not sure what's next yet. Star Ocean 4, Dragon Quest XI, Octopath Traveler II, Trails into Reverie, Jedi Survivor, and the first Like a Dragon are all on the shelf. I may take a break and do some reading. I picked up The Sunlit Man in hardback last night.

Obviously playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth till my nose bleeds….but only after a bit of Disney Dreamlight Valley with my son. FF7 Rebirth is outstripping my ridiculously high expectations…I’m in gaming heaven Kupo

Well here we are with another jam packed WAYP. Been a pretty quiet weekend. Skipped the switch mostly because of seeing Dune 2 on Friday and getting a nice solid start on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on Saturday. Both absolutely beautiful and amazing works of art. Got a super duper early shift at my new store I’m working at on Monday so I think I’m gonna keep it light and chill on Sunday with just some Trails of Cold Steel IV. Finished up the Xenoblade 3 DLC: Future Redeemed this week and that was absolutely amazing as well. Leaves just the Pokémon DLC The Indigo Disk and the Splatoon 3 DLC Side Order to tackle tho with luck and help from a friend I should be able to wrap up all the Pokémon stuff tomorrow. Which means I’ll probably just focus on really trying to knock out Cold Steel IV while fitting in some time for Penny’s Big Breakaway and a copy of Unicorn Overload that I have coming in this week. Very extremely excited for that Vanillaware games are always a great time. Oh and trying to wrap up Rain Code too. Other than that mostly just a solid rotation of games on PS5 too like Tekken 8 and Granblue Fantasy Relink and Persona 3 Reload. And wrapping up Post Endwalker with the last patch 6.5 Growing Light. Anime of the week gotta go to Frieren and Mashle and High Card and Urusei Yatsura as always. Big special shout-out to Shameless again I’m absolutely addicted to that show. Podcasts of the week again gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, Summon Sign, Windbreaker and Firelink and RPGsites Tetracast. And as always a big shoutout to my good friend over at twitch.tv/akibread keeping dreams and hopes alive. If the weather is as nice where any of y’all are at as it is here make sure to get out and enjoy it it’s beautiful and feels like a summer day. Make sure to stay safe out there and have awesome weekend and as always Happy Gaming.

I've been playing Rebirth. All good so far except for one thing.

1. Why bring Chadley back when he's clearly an irritating character.
2. Why make him pop up ALL THE TIME. I'm practically playing Final Fantasy Chadley at this point.

What is with developers being so out of touch with reality?! Anyone and I mean literally any person on the planet would realise there is way, way, way too much Chadley. It's literally ruining the game!

Continuing my playthrough of Judgment so I can get back to the mainline Yakuza games. Also, got FF16 from my brother so I’ll be finally diving deep into that. Really loving it so far. I loved the demo so I’m not surprised it’s great.

@kyleforrester87
Thanks for sharing, I love this story!
Although I personally would have looked at a guide after giving it a good go and just not finding it, game time is precious.

@Mintie When did you start this? An how long did it take you?
It's something I have been on the fence to try for a long time but the time commitment is putting me off.

@nocdaes Chadley is fine, an android too which explains alot of how he is. It works well as a device to introduce, carry and be the checkpoint of a bunch of side content.
Although I can appreciate he isn't for everyone.

@Rosona I concentrated on just the main story of each game and side stories if I came across them. I played (and loved) Yakuza 0 a few years ago and so I started with Yakuza Kiwami on January 18th this year and went HAM... I finished Yakuza 6 on February 4th. Yakuza 7 was the longest game and I didn't finish that until Feb 23rd.

If I were to do this again I would take longer on each game just to better pace myself, but I'm glad I have the whole story now firmly planted in my head.

Have recently decided to give Warframe another go since the last time I played was years ago and then it was a stuttering pile of trash, walk into a relatively small populated area and my PC would grind to a halt.
Nothing to do with my pc spec it was the game being horrendously optimised, anyway I digress as I installed it again five days ago and haven’t played anything else since, love it, such a good game, anyway must dash I have an egg incubating and need to see if it’s hatched haha