Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 422

I have fallen back into the crazy world of Yakuza with Like a Dragon. I'm aiming to grind the jobs out a lot more than I did first time round and level up more to have a slightly easier ride. But who am I kidding, I'm going to be playing in the arcade catching toys in the crane machines for three days 😂😂😂😂😂

Finally getting around to guardians of the galaxy having just finished cyberpunk ps5 which I actually really enjoyed. May play a bit of Tony hawk as well too change up the pace

On PS5 it's still GT7, but I'm about to start Mafia 2: DE.
On Switch it's State of Mind and Worms W.M.D. I'm actually loving the Switch more than I ever expected which leads me to consider getting a PS Vita as well. Happy Easter guys!

Hooked up my PS3 to my LG C1 OLED and the AI Upscaling is AMAZING! Currently playing BLEACH Soul Resurreccion, looks beautiful on the TV!!

The Legend Of Dragoon

I've been meaning to re-play it for a good 3 years now but I finally booted up my PS3 for the first time in forever thursday evening and dived right in to this PS1 classic once again.

Having an absolute blast and have just beaten Feyrbrand the Green Tusked Dragon & The traitorous knight Greham to get Lavitz his Jade Dragoon form!

Have a good weekend everyone and happy easter!

I'm trying to finish Cyberpunk 2077 then more Elden ring.

Still playing Horizon II Forbidden West, despite having the platinum. I'm simply enjoying it too much. I might hop onto Elden Ring on and off though.

Proudly say nothing!

I finished Elden ring yesterday, the last boss fight was very tough and intense so I will be happy having some break from gaming. It took me almost 90 hours to beat the game in the last 2 weeks, which makes it 6.4 hours per day? Crazy but I enjoyed every minute of it!

I used the loophole to get PS Now for a year to get the new PS premium later on, but from the current selection, all of the games are meh so nothing good to play right now.

Lego Star Wars. I love the humour in this game, it's not afraid to take the absolute p**s out of the films.
Also some GTA Online grind and GT7 scape photos.

I played Switch games for this weekend.
1. Animal Crossing New Horizons
2. Pretty Princess Party
3. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

In Sound Mind. It's a first person horror game where you play as a psychologist visiting the dark minds of former patients.

I hadn't heard much of this game before starting it up, but I'm pretty impressed so far!

Going for the fist of the North Star lost paradise plat (or at least making some headway towards it). Still working through blue reflection off and on (but I really don’t like playing two games at once). I also bought Tales of Arise physical for £28, which I though was a bit of a bargain considering I can trade it for £18 when done. Likely won’t start it for a while for the above mentioned reason, but it is calling to me somewhat lol.

Got the platinum for Unbound: World's Apart yesterday so started Death's Door and Yakuza 5. Death's Door Is a treat and I loved the opening of Yakuza 5, I've missed being in that world can't wait to get stuck in with Kiryu and the gang once again.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Lost in random on the XSX through UGP. If I beat it this weekend I’ll also play life is strange true colours on xbox.

Gonna start fire emblem fates birthright on 3ds too.

And finally uncharted 3 on ps5. Beat uncharted 2 yesterday and loved it.

Definitely Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga for me this weekend. I knew it’d be good after reading the reviews, but I really didn’t expect to enjoy it quite this much. Pure unadulterated fun. Just what a good video game should be. I’ll no doubt also squeeze in a few races in Gran Turismo 7, which I totally adore.

GT7 (PS5)
..and running through A Plague Tale: Innocence chapters for collectables I missed on the first playthrough.
Then think I'm gonna see if I can get through Never Alone (PS4) in one or two sessions.

Have an egg-cellent weekend and happy game time people.

Decided to come back to finish king's quest. I only did the first episode back in 2015 because it was free, but saw it being discounted for just 4 sterling for full access so took the opportunity.

Elden Ring in late evening in the living room. GT7 sessions during the day (with TRS300 and mid-range pedals and play seat setup in games room). Lucky to have two PS5s (just so I can be lazy and not have to move my GT7 setup and my PS5s - I hear it’s hard to get PS5 - but I got them pretty easily each time I registered (once prior to launch to get one for launch and one a month back and I was offered chance to buy within a week).

Just got the Cyberpunk 2077 plat and I'm sorely tempted to fire up the PS4 version and do it all over again. Absolutely brilliant game! However, I think I'll wait a while and play some Uncharted 4 remastered and maybe a bit of Split Second. Have a good weekend all!

On playstation I am going to try and finish Tiny Tina Wonderlands this weekend and the new horror game ikai, I will also play some more elden ring, currently level 73 and just beaten radahn and boy that was hard.

On switch I will be continuing with fire emblem three houses, so far I'm on chapter 10 and I've recruited all but three of the characters possible so far.

I will also try and get a bit of anime in this weekend as well, been wanting to watch kaguya sama love is war.

Ruined King: A League of Legends Story

Very underrated...

Horizon Forbidden West which has really picked up at 40 hours in. The side missions are definitely well thought out like the Witcher. It had a slow start but its my game of the year so far. I finished Ghostwire main story and side missions and now I have gone back to Lost Judgement to beat the story at 50 hours played

I might dive back into Elden Ring.
I have been playing Lego Star Wars TSS these last few days, but I'm not liking it very much tbh. The gameplay isn't that much more satisfying than the old Lego games, they rush through the stories way too much, and it kinda runs like crap on the PS5. I'm kinda scratching my head at all the glowing reviews🤔
Ah well, have a good one everyone!

Elden ring and mlb the show 22 with some returnal and uncharted 3!

Another weekend, more Xenoblade 2. 55 hours in and still a long way to go.

Been going through my back log of games. Currently paying the excellent Lost Judgement. Really love these games & this one so far is so good.

Nioh 2 with all the dlcs.what a amazing game.one of the best games ever made.watching the nba playoffs.the nba play in was amazing now the real thing.watching the movie the night house.watching whats happening.good times.sanford and sons.martin. saved by the bell.and the Jeffersons.word up son

Still making my way through Elden Ring, but I've also picked up It Takes Two and Unravel Two, for some Easter weekend co-op gaming with the kids

Already used the start of the extended weekend to end Kingdoms of Amalur, gave some advance on Squarepants Bob (quite funny game), and I'm playing more Horizon FW, what an amazing and challenging game!! Harder than the 1st, the machines are much more aggressive and fast this time. Gonna play some Cyberpunk too, and maybe more Assassin's Creed III.

I picked up Tormented Souls on Switch after completing on PS4, felt like a portable repeat play through (but miss the old 'cross buy' days with Vita). It runs surprisingly well on the Lite, though crashed once. Also still playing Slipstream on Switch / PS4, and over on the A500 mini, working my way through the league on Stunt Car Racer. I really liked the C64 game back in the day, so interesting to compare the Amiga version.
@JamieO A500 Mini is pretty good, they've put out an update for the loader, but they really need to update the firmware to reconfigure the joystick fire buttons (though I like the bundled gamepad), and I really want ADF compatibility... hopefully will see ongoing support as with the C64!

No Man's Sky Outlaws Expedition! Then on to Diablo 3 new season.

PS5
Destiny 2
After writting this one off at launch, a mate of mine convinced me to get back in. We've been doing Witch Queen expansion on Legendary and its actually a blast...for the first time im really enjoying Destiny. If your thinking about giving it a go, nows a good time (plot doesnt really matter tbh) but it ll help if you have someone to show you the ropes or it can be confusing.

Returnal
Beat third biome last week and have been dragging my feet about returning (pun intended). Tbh doing that third area had me close to quitting...having to respec your character, every single restart is a pain, and this is from a Souls vetrean, who also loved The Persistence and Rogue Legacy etc. Love the gameplay and weird plot, just as a fulltime working dad, am tired of 40 mins progress being tossed away cause of one mistake.

Spyro the Dragon: Reignited Trilogy
Finished the first this week, will check the second. Really nice switch your brain off games, collect and explore and chill. Plus really intresting seeing Insomniacs beginings.

PC Game Pass
Aliens: Fireteam
Playing a match here and there. Am a diehard aliens fan so the novelty factor gives this lots of points, however the content is pretty bare, and after i give all the main missons a go, i dont see much point in returning.

The Forgotten City
Very cool this one. Witty dialogue, clever twists and great premise. Shows 12 Minutes how to do this timeloop concept properly.

I'll be playing Horizon most likely. Wow this game has been a rollercoaster for me in terms of enjoyment!

First the presentation is excellent no problem for the most part there. But then it starts and the beginning is painfully slow...like Kingdom Hearts 2 slow. Then we meet some characters I honestly don't remember at all from Zero Dawn and get bogged down in uninteresting dialogue until we finally get to the Forbidden West and then it finally starts to pick it up a bit in the story of the old world. But then we have tribal politics that just do not interest me at all surprisingly. Thankfully the combat and exploration is good even though Aloy gives way too much away during puzzle sequences.

But besides all that the thing I despise the most is how in order to upgrade your pouches you need to kill animals but for some reason a fox might drop fur or a bone but never both. This annoys the heck out of me!

But the thing I like the most is the Old World lore. Lots of interesting stuff there.

So yeah I'm kind of all over the place with this game but I'll keep pushing through.

GT7 doing endless laps of Tokyo expressway in my Tomahawk, while the grind glitch still exists, to buy some of the classic cars

Still playing elden ring (i bet nobody saw that coming) inbetween popping out to the golf course while the weathers good..enjoy the long weekend folks..

Forza horizon 5 on gamepass. I don't like how nearly all car is sliding everywhere like some rally games, but when I can drive the car properly the game is pretty good 😃

yakuza kiwami.

Still the crisp shiny Horizon Forbidden West and the artistic mysterious Elden Ring.

I'm fasting this weekend so I'll be playing elden ring to pass the time. Does anyone know how long on average it takes to finish the game in a leisure playthrough because I really want to have a game to last until May.

@SJFIR8D
For me it took about 120hrs for a full leisure playthrough without rushing and considering if your still in the early stages of the game, you will definitely be kept entertained until May. And good luck and I wish you a happy Ramadan.

Lord of the rings war in the North on x360 and ff theatrythm on 3ds.

I'm dumb so I'm playing GTAV again. I should play Cyberpunk or anything else but here I am replaying a game I beat on the PC with better graphics years ago.

Oh well.

I work all weekend so probably nothing. Hoping to start Horizon FW (PS5) on Monday.

Playing AC Origins DLC this weekend, just completed the Hidden One's, next will be The Curse of the Pharaohs. Will also be playing some GT7.

Horizon Forbidden West as usual. I'm about to cross the 100 hour mark and I still have several main story missions to do along with some side stuff. I'm on Faro's Tomb right now.

Jusp playing Judgment at the moment. On chapter 6 and really enjoying it. Make breat out thr wheel and do a few laps on something later on. I like having a race at the weekend.

I can almost see the end of horizon forbidden west so once that’s done and platty’d I’m gonna scan through my backlog and pick out some short games to blast through.

Hitman Absolution. Not my favourite entry but only on level 4. Not sure how I feel about them giving him a linear story like this

Lost in random on my Xbox and sweeping up the last achievements on Ghostwire Tokyo. Loving my time in that world, the atmosphere is amazing and makes me want to keep walking around in it

Kirby and Spiderman with the boy, Horizon FW and Super Mega Baseball 3 solo lol

@Hootnoodle I'm also planning to replay like a dragon soon again and try to level the jobs more than before. It was my first ever Yakuza so didnt really know what it was like. But now that I finished all including both judgments I wanna play it again and having fun with all the side stuff. I'm so loving those games

I'm almost 70 hours into Forbidden West. Just got one of the legendary armor from doing some of the arena.
Man, the arena is such a blast to play. It's super fun.
I'm still having a blast with the game.

I finished all 9 episodes in Lego Skywalker Saga. Honestly I'm a bit down on the game compared to most. I like how ambitious it was with the 20+ worlds to visit, but it came at the cost of removing what I felt to be the heart of lego games (longer and detailed missions, character creation etc).

Currently I'm restarting Chorus. I picked this game up the weekend before Horizon and really dug it but of course fell off in the influx of games at that time. A bit janky in parts but the gameplay and story have me hooked.

@kyleforrester87
Have a great time. I went to York last summer whilst on holiday. Had so much fun drinking there. All 9 of us get so drunk even my youngest daughter who was 16 at the time had no problems getting served. Went to a brilliant old pub near the yorkvic center which served some great local brews. I probably missed a bit of culture but we all had great fun. The kids were perfect age to drink with, 16,19,19,21,23. Think it was the punch bowl we had a lot of fun at.

@Shepherd_Tallon exact same as me! Has been the same for about a month!

I will now add WWE 2K22 with King of Fighters 15 and Persona 4 Arena.

Twisted Metal 2 (PS) - I feel that a Twister playthrough is in order this weekend.

Age of Empires: Castle Siege (Android) - Can't seem to get the workaround to play offline working on this version.

ExZeus 2 (Windows Phone) - Beaten the game, just going after high scores.

I’m out of town this weekend, but when I get back home Sunday evening, I’ll be playing more of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. I just got to chapter 5 and have completed all known side quests, and they have been a blast. This game is easily one of my favorites of the year and can’t wait to play more.

Going to start my first Yakuza game after watching Tokyo Vice on HBO! Happy weekend everyone!

A big chunk into Tales of Arise and it's so damn good. I heard some people think the game is too hard because of the bosses, needing to grind, and limited amount of resources. But honestly I just read that as it being harder to just button mash your way through the game, and you're no longer hoarding a bunch of items you never use so now you need to actually put some thought into what you use and how to spend your money

It's been a fantastic challenge and I've hardly needed to grind

Away for Easter so Elden Ring and Dirt from Steam on the Go.

Wish I had GT7 with me also. Happy Easter!

@mrtennis1990 which entry are you starting with?

@MightyDemon82 starting with Yakuza 0! Any recommendations? I’m brand new to the series.

I'm finally picking up my PS5 tomorrow, so I will start with Astro Bot, Nioh 2 (collection), Ghost of Tsushima, and Kena.

@mrtennis1990 What do you mean? I would just say that it is a game that is quite difficult to stop by a deadline, so I would say it's best to play it when you can extend your play session by half an hour to 1 or two hours.

I've rekindled my addiction of League of Legends......... Please shame me😔😔😔 If you want to ruin your life I suggest this game, especially if you're competitive.

This weekend I’m taking a break from the big games. On Switch I’m trying my best to escape Hades. And on PS5 I’m replaying Yoku’s Island Express for the 3rd time. To put it like Jeff Gerstmen from Giant Bomb “it should be illegal how good that game is!” Have a great weekend everyone!

@mrtennis1990 That's where I started.
I'm Just at the beginning of Yakuza 5 I've loved every entry but always take a break between playing them. Enjoy!

@MightyDemon82 @Apfelschteiner definitely will do that! Thanks!

@lolwhatno It's basically the ranked experience that is so addictive and is what 99% of the community is centred on, I've probably clocked up over 10k hours on it and spent over 3k on cosmetics and multiple accounts when I was a teenager, can gladly say I haven't spent a dime in 2 years. This is a warning to anyone who is interested in the game, STAY AWAY. it is literally the most toxic fanbase out of any game bar maybe CS Go, if you think toxic little 12 year olds on call of duty is bad you haven't seen it. The game brings out emotions and toxicity in normally passive people IRL but goddamn it feels so good when you beat someone who was trash talking you in the previous game and taking their LP. No other game even compares to the thrill of League of Legends, but man I wish I was never introduced to the game 8 years ago, this game is basically cocaine🤮

@gollumb82 you should get a Vita, it's amazing.

@MightyDemon82 I love Yakuza, but I'm struggling to catch up on the old ones as I don't have that much free time for games and often I don't even feel like starting another Yakuza game. I started 4 about a year ago, then went back to it and it was the next game on my list. Now, I got invited to buy a PS5, so I did and now Lost Judgment has jumped ahead along with a few other games that take advantage of the PS5 hardware.

I've been playing some more elden ring and found my way to Volcano manner. Still blown away by how unique all of the areas feel. Playing some more tunic also, it's rock hard, perhaps too hard but the sense of discovery is just so good. @gollumb82, I'd be interested to hear how you get on with state of mind. I've seen it on deep sale on switch a few times and the art style looks great but have just never pulled the trigger

@R1spam
I can already tell you to get it if you're at least slightly interested in it. It's my second playthrough (first one on XSX a year ago) and I bought it for the Switch as well. Great art style, soundtrack, interesting characters and story. It's not a long game (an advantage in my book) but pretty memorable. Perfect to play in between AAA+ games. I highly recommend it!

The platinum bug has bitten me again. Can't put down Horizon Forbidden West until I have this one in my collection as well.

@misak192 if your looking for something completly nuts and criminally overlooked to play on PS NOW, give Asuras Wrath a spin. Its kind of like Dragon Ball Z meets Heavy Rain. Its one of a kind, the first 10 mins will let you know if your onboard for it or not, so worth a look if your bored this weekend.

@mrtennis1990 most important advise I can give you take your time. The whole charm in the yakuza series lies in the whole diversity of activities to do. Darts? Karaoke? Baseball? Dance game? Shogi? All there just to name a few, then there is also the businesses you can lead in several of them to earn money. It's also an absolute Rollercoaster of emotions, one moment you're rolling on the floor laughing the next one you're almost brought to tears because of a sad side story. If it hooks you it hooks you good. After my first one I got addicted, there just isn't something like it

@Apfelschteiner You can always just blast through the story and do side stuff at a later date.

I thought the third game was a bit of a step back but can't be helped for obvious reasons. I loved 4 though and 5 has me intrigued story wise at the beginning of the game at least. I have Judgement but I'll pick up lost judgement and LAD once I'm done with 5,6 and Judgement.

Just completed Hoa. Good art direction, soundtrack, but very short and sparse gameplay (6-7/10). Will do some more levels/completing in thes 3 --> Sackboy: A Big Adventure/The Pathless/Kena.

@Lavalera thanks!

Got 2 of the master levels left on doom 2 then going on doom 64

@KilloWertz they really missed an opportunity for a good boss fight with that one

@gollumb82 next time it's on sale, I'll pick it up and give it a try 👍

I'm currently on Ghostwire Tokyo, only about 5 hours in but it's really enjoyable so far, very intriguing atmosphere!

Also blasting some Cannon Fodder on the A500 mini - classic, it is a shame the mouse isn't great but the nostalgia is truly flowing.

@JamieO Cheers, hope you have a good bank holiday too! I played a bit of Super Cars II earlier, its one I never played back in the day, but it seems fun and I like the humour. I also started playing The Lost Patrol to try out the mouse and its a really unique game, the music is excellent too. Certainly a lot of great games on the A500, even before you add any games. Once I do, will be the Lotus games from my old Retro Gamer cover disc. Would have been great of they could have included Last Ninja Remix and Dungeon Master... used to play that with my friend on his Atari ST, would have been a great choice for the Mini, but I don't think FTL even exist anymore.

I was playing Ghostwire: Tokyo but man, I just can't anymore, after Forbidden West and Elden Ring, this one just feels so by the numbers, it's like they didn't know what kind of game they wanted to do.

I just got gold on the S-10 license in GT7. I feel on top of the world LMAO. But for the rest of the weekend it’s probably just a combination of GT7, Ghostwire: Tokyo and The Ascent.

@Tsushima I know it’s only April but I also think Horizon Forbidden West will be my game of the year. Story was fantastic especially for a sequel and the side missions didn’t feel like endless chores. Can’t wait for DLC!! Also I’m about 3-4 hours into Ghostwire and enjoying it as well.

I downloaded Tiny Tina (the old one from PS+), played half a level and concluded that I still don’t like Borderlands.
Welp, deleted and back to Guilty Gear, I guess

@F1at8mot0 thanks for the recommendation! It’s only £3.19 at the moment!

FINALLY finished Yakuza 6 - thank you for the memories Kiryu-san (since the PS2 days).

- I am going through my backlog and I'm torn between Ni No Kuni II OR Kingdom Hearts III (the trailer for IV got piqued my interest) = what would you all recommend?

Amazed no one’s playing Returnal endless run
It’s completely hooked me again.
Bloody love the game

Happily wandering my way through Horizon Forbidden West. Hands down one of the best games I have ever played.

@MightyDemon82 6 was my first Yakuza game and I absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, none of the older games compare with the quality of presentation and gameplay and systems, and that really detracts from the other games. 0 has a such a great story that I can almost ignore those problems. 7 reversed the freedom of going into fights seamlessly and fights spilling into shops etc. I only played the demo for 7, but I will probably get round to it eventually if I can psyche myself up and find it on steep discount. It's a shame that they changed the combat to turn-based, because everything looks amazing, apart from I can't understand why they went from fully voiced in 6 to the annoying text-only sections in 7.
I have mainlined all of the Yakuza games apart from 6, for which I got the platinum, and 0, which I have almost completed. I do plan on getting back to all of the games and at least finishing the substories, but honestly there are just so many of them! Next stop will be Lost Judgment!

This weekend it’s going to be Ghostwire: Tokyo, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and Dying Light 2! All three games have been an absolute amazing experience!

It isn't a big deal and tbh it was honestly worth it considering how much I played the game and it and if I average it out per year I only spent about $450 a year. Only thing I wish I got back was the time I should of spent on year 12, but then again I never wanted to go to university because I knew that money doesn't lead to happiness. Damn I was even a little wise at 18, still makes me laugh how immature I was back then for a boy.

@Apfelschteiner I don't mind that they've changed the combat to turn based for a new protagonist, it'll be a welcome change after playing 0-6. Still got the Judgement series for the real time combat.

@Shepherd_Tallon I suspect theres a few of us in this position.
I too am about 100 hours into Elden Ring, with a a little time off occasionally for some GT7, i just finished the cafe menu completely last night.
I was a bit late to Elden Ring as I finished HFW first and it took me over 130 hours - I enjoyed every minute
Great time to a gamer, hope everyone has a great holiday.

Deep into Bloodborne's dungeons this weekend, playing through all of the fixed ones. Almost done with them, finished Hintertomb, Loran, Isz. Now I'm already in Pthumeru Ihyll Layer 3, on my way to kill the Queen for the Trophy. Once that's done, all that remains are the 3 endings to get the Platinum (second one actually, on a different account).
Even found the Uncanny Burial Blade by chance in a Sinister Lower Ailing Loran Root Chalice, and that got me the Hunter's Essence Trophy without even killing Gherman ^_^ (I advanced the NG all the way to German and finished the DLC, but stopped until I finish the dungeons... trying to get the Platinum in 1 playthrough). Was planning on buying it after letting myself get killed by the Moon Presence, but I forgot about this idea that any of the 3 weapon variations counts towards the Trophy... nice surprise!

@KidBoruto
How was Kirby? I have a big Nintendo catalogue of games for my switch but haven’t bought that as thought it might be too easy?

@JamieO Nice one Jamie, Cannon Fodder is probably my favourite Amiga game although Syndicate was close dispite me never being able to finish it. I am scouring the internet for a game called Egyptian Run which was shareware back in the day, it was super addictive even though it was so simple (probably rubbish today, lol).
Great find on the Amiga magazine, really great memories of demos and shareware being stuck to the front of them! I have been picking up the Evercade magazines (4 so far) which are an excellent read if you don't already have them.

@KidBoruto
Cheers for your thoughts.
I’ll most likely get it at some point once my back log is less.

@MightyDemon82 Turn-based combat is just not a good choice for Yakuza, which is all about kinetic, heart-racing combat. it is now just about waiting for ages for cool-at-first animations that soon wear thin. Also, not being fully-voiced is unforgivable.

@Apfelschteiner All the games I've played so far (0-4) haven't been fully voiced either there is always the odd bit that you just have to read 5 is the same and that's only in the opening hours. Unless you mean something different?

@MightyDemon82 6 was fully-voiced, and was my first experience of the series. Every other entry just feels cheap, and it feels like a major stumbling block for the series to go truly mainstream, because there is so much potential.