Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 517

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: I'm 65 hours in and greatly enjoying the story, class systems, Interlinks, and entertaining cast of side characters (Ashera being my personal favorite).

It's proving to be a strong finish to an excellent JRPG trilogy.

Helldivers 2 and Cyberpunk for me this weekend.

Ps1 games, mostly dino crisis. Older games are much better than most modern trash. Been having a blast playing the old toca touring cars games too

Just finished my FUBAR run through Spec Ops: The Line… and I think I’ll have a day or two off to recover.

I’ll be finishing off Nioh 2 next, so that’ll be a nice change of pace 😅

My mother is in hospital unfortunately so my time will be spent there with her. I hope everybody has a great weekend and spread some democracy for me 👍

Jet moto 2, slaps and beans 2, pentiment and something bigger budget if I can make a decision on what that will be.

If (and this is a big if) I can tear myself away from Balatro I will be continuing with Infinite Wealth with some Helldivers 2 for good measure.

Never ending Foamstar Party 😅🫧🫧

I finished Like a Daron Yakuza last night, absolutely loved the story, main characters and I love the idea behind Ichi percieving the world in video game terms but I wasn't the biggest fan of the turn based combat and the level grinding that inevitably entailed. Maybe it's because I had just come from playing Kiwami all the way through to Yakuza 6 and separating the series from being a brawler, but turn-based auto battler just felt not great.

I still need to play through Isshin and Bloke Who Changed His Name but not yet and Infinite Wealth will be picked up later in the year or when it hits Game Pass

Next up is Lies of P maybe OR Pacific Drive. I'm in a bit of a holding pattern until FFVII Rebirth lands on my door step.

I STILL haven’t finished RE4 remake which I’ve been playing for weeks. I’ve become distracted by Helldivers 2 which I’m really enjoying.

Passing the time playing N.sane trilogy. backseat playing BG3 with my brother. The game is huge but I'm not a huge fan of the combat. It is too long and relies on too much RNG for my liking. Getting better at it though. I will say Disco Elysium is still the best CRPG of the last 10 years.

Final Fantasy Rebirth is just around the corner so in the meantime Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload, Banishers Ghosts of New Eden, Dead Island 2 season pass

Decided to go DLC mad and will play Tropico 6 with DLC’s on my Steam Deck then I might try the new update for Dying Light 2.

Elden Ring, "we" thought we could fool Ranni, who were we kidding. Bloodborne Old Hunters, it's like a bunch of Gadcoignes, so brutal.

Will be playing Unravel with my 7 year old son mostly. But then in the evening will be jumping on Helldivers 2 with friends. The game is endlessly enjoyable and chaotic. Will also finish off Final Fantasy difficultly on FFXVI for the platinum. Happy Gaming All.

Just started FF7 remake, wow seriously impressed so far.
Also Puzzling places, the 400 piece puzzles are no joke.
Possibly starting Outer Worlds.

Probably some Helldivers 2 if i can be bothered I'm just waiting on Rebirth to release now tbh though I'm tempted to buy Banishers Ghosts of New Eden. I'm also playing Dead Island 2 on Xbox.

I'm off to buy Banishers: ghost's of new Eden so hopefully get time on that

I’m currently playing Like a dragon:Infinite wealth, and I don't want to leave. I’ve just made it to Hawaii and I’m obsessed. All of my actual backlog has been pushed aside as I am sinking into the usual bonkers Yakuza drama and loving every minute. I’m also considering going to Hawaii on holiday now so fantastic marketing 🤣❤️.

Still working my way through 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. 20 hours in and it slowly feels like I'm starting to understand what's truly going on! This story is an absolute masterpiece, I'm loving it

I couldn’t hold out for a decent price so got Like a Dragon Gaiden in the sale. Great game, although the lack of a need for full completion for the trophy campaign is a bit disappointing, especially considering the narrative campaign is shorter than most others in the series.
Apart from that I’ll be flying around in VR in Ultrawings 2, and likely indulging in a bit of turn based action on the Portal when I want to lay back in bed with Blue Reflection.

P3P on Seies X
Infinite Wealth on PS5

I've just started downloading Dead Island 2 on Game Pass so I'll most likely have a blast of that this weekend.

Just finished Tomb Raider 1 Remastered with a respectable 81% trophies and will now be playing the Unfinished Business expansion, which so far seems more brutal than the original. Hopefully get the plat on Roots of Patcha tonight too, and also I’ll be playing some Suicide Squad with my brother on Sunday.

Also may have to play a few missions on Helldivers 2

@Northern_munkey Sending best wishes buddy

I had a free Cyberpunk 2077 copy lying around the house so I decided to finally give the game a chance mainly just for laughs. And damn it's got its hooks in me hard, it's a really good game. I'm loving the story and characters so far

I was just supposed to mess around in it's open world for a bit while I wait for FF7 Rebirth to arrive. But now I really want to commit my full attention to it 😅

Helldivers and wrapping up the Dead Space platinum. Should have it finished in time for FFVII Rebirth and a whole week off work to play it.

@Judal27 Enjoy bro. I loved my time with that game and I played it launch week. Bought the expansion at Christmas but its going to be on the back burner until after Rebirth.

I'm sadly working all weekend so nothing really. Can we fast forward to Thursday already?!

@Northern_munkey Hope your mum is doing OK brother.

I played the wonderful Tales of Arise through the week (thanks a lot PS+ Extra) and started the intriguing Siege of Paris DLC from Assassin's Creed Valhalla. I won't be playing for the rest of the weekend as I will travel to see my girlfriend. A very happy weekend for all of us!!

Since last week I´ve narrowed it down to mainly two games, the plan is to finish TLOU part 1 and 2 and Ori and then dive into FF 7 rebirth 😊

TLOU – I’m about half way through part 1 and damn, its so good. Its a really well made remake, looks and plays great, the acting is very good and the story is just superb imo. The emotions the game makes me feel, the pieces of stories or things that happened that you pick up from notes left, bodies scattered, a childs grave… just amazing in a heartwrenching way. And this is the fourth time I play it!

Ori and the Will of the Wisps - still going slowly with this game. And same as last week, love everything about it except that is a bit difficult at times in a way that doesnt add anything but frustration imo

@TedLassoNikes thank you it's very much appreciated.

I haven’t touched my ps5 since i got steam deck oled. Just finished tomb raider legends,anniversary and now im just start Tomb Raider reboot(done playing on ps4 long ago)Going to play tomb raider underworld once im finished TR. On ps5 i just bought salt and sanctuary on sale and play a little bit. I should finish the borderland 3 on ps5 and start playing the dlc 😂i just love handheld gaming

I’m about to wrap up Spider-Man 2 this weekend. I have one last story bit to do and I’m like four or five trophies shy of the platinum. What a fantastic game! After that, I may see if I can squeeze in Crisis Core FFVII Reunion before Rebirth launches on Thursday. If not, I may just replay INSIDE, which I’ve been wanting to do for a while now.

Have a great weekend, folks!

[EDIT] Two hours later, Spider-Man 2 beaten and platinum trophy obtained. That was super fun.

Astro bot and Uncharted

I'll be switching between Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Gran Turismo 7, and going back to Xenoblade Chronicles 3. All 3 amazing games in their own right 👍

I will be playing one of the greatest video games ever in the incredible divinity original sin 2 definitive edition.the underated PlayStation apocalypse awsome days gone.and one of the best remakes ever in the excellent 2016 ratchet and clank.i will be watching my boston Celtics 💚🖤 play.i will be watching legendary sitcoms tv 📺 shows in Sanford and son.good times.and saved by the bell.word up son

Bought Chaos Gate and King Arthur this week, and loving the former. Infinite Wealth, still chugging with Gran Blue and Helldivers 2 for good measure.

And then the Unicorn Overlord demo dropped and I adore it. Now I’m more excited for this than I am FF7: Rebirth. It’s a lot to get through ahead of Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Rise of the Ronin! Backlog is going to kill me.

@Loamy Cant say I agree with improvements being far and few between… its just a really well made remake all in all on top of it already being an amazing game on the PS3. Some people though…

Well I'll be doing my part for democracy of course , anyone who isn't is a bug sympathiser.

I had to drop my main game Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The grindy repetitive combat and plodding story wore me down eventually. Also the cut scenes were far too long but I did appreciate the amount of work that went into the different systems and minigames. JRPGs are just not my thing anymore. I think I'll just go back to playing Mario Wonder this weekend instead.

Finishing up the main campaign on Granblue Fantasy Relink (obviously when a game takes most people 20 hours you can add at least 10+ hours onto that for me 😂), all in prep for the big Rebirth on Thursday!

Loving Relink though, and can deffo see me going back to this a lot to play the quests as different characters, level them all up etc.

BANISHERS: Ghosts of New Eden For Me Massively Underrated

The Outer Worlds and having a real blast! I cleared the first planet of every quest I could find, which was a pretty fun introduction to how the game works (lead people on until as late as possible, then pick a side 😁)

Then, I blasted into space on my fixed ship, met Phineas, and made my way to the neutral groundbreaker space port. At first that was a little overwhelming, but I picked up some quests, left some for later as I don't want to rush into those without forming an opinion, and then started to help out with local issues to get paid, got accustomed to the area and its people. And finally blasted out in to wider space to tackle some jobs and swell my bits, and by that I mean my money, not my nether regions 😁

My character is forming nicely, slightly mercenary with my approach to making money but with an overall noble goal (at the moment) I will Lie, Pursuade and Intimidate to get what I want, especially from people I don't trust, and for that sweet XP, and maybe still kill you for a bounty anyway.

I'm happy to placate the board to an extent, loved winding up Udom Bedford with some friendly banter, it has to be said 😅 but definitely open to f***ing the system, especially if they indeed left me floating frozen in space.

I have an abundance of bits and bullets, and I turned Parvati into a Power Armour wearing tank wielding Ol' Reliable (a fun weapon to find early) so come at me, Universe, I'm ready for anything 😁 (but please not while i'm on a ledge, or a slightly raised platform, as I'm scared of heights)

Playing God of War (2018) this week.
I really like the graphics and the great story so far. The character/equipment upgrades is also really well thought out.
The only part I am not enjoying is the hack and slash, does the combat get better in God of War Ragnarök?

@SolarSpirit86 I'm buying this later. Looks right up my street

Pacific drive will have to wait as I’m continuing my Ghostwire Tokyo playthrough as I’ve only got 3 weeks till it leaves ps plus

On my Series X, I'll be going through the Halo Infinite campaign with my mate. I did a solo Legendary run when the game first came out, but haven't ever played it in co-op before now. It's my mate's first time playing any Halo game. Very enjoyable campaign.

I'll also be continuing my solo run of Remnant 2, if I get chance. Great game, often very, very difficult.

On My PC, I'll be going through a trio run of Baldur's Gate 3, assuming my two friends can actually get online.

More Helldiving for me, just can't get enough, best online game in years.

Hopefully squeeze a bit of Trepang2 in, it is a decent game bit of Doom crossed with Fear, some tough levels but decent gun play!

Happy Gaming everyone

Finished Tomb Raider remastered last night, started the second this morning. The remasters are great but tough. I'd wanted to platinum the three games but some of the trophies look a faff to get which is a shame

Hopefully today I will finish the last chapter of Lost Judgment, I loved every minute with this game. If I finish the game today, tomorrow I will start Resident Evil 2 again, because I only finished the Leon's story. That's it for me during this weekend. Happy gaming everyone!

@JonnyAces. Unravel is a delightful platformer. Don’t know if you are aware, but Unravel 2 has a two-player couch co-op mode that is loads of fun. It is quite amusing working your way through the levels with another ball of yarn. And it’s frequently on sale for a fiver in the store.

On Playstation i just finished Death Stranding, loved the story and the ending was really interesting. Enjoyed it alot more than I thought I would. Now playing Kena from ps extra after recently resubscribing due to a 59% discount offered by Sony.

On Xbox I am playing Tomb Raider Remastered. Just finished tomb of khamoon in TR1, up to Opera House in TR2 and finished the jungle first level in TR3. Really enjoying the nostalgia trip and the games still hold up today

@rusty82 it's excellent hunting ghosts

@Channel42 there's a few trophies that are bugged too. Can't remember which ones but I think the collect all items trophy is one of them.

Banishers of New Edén for me.

Beyond that I’ll be Helldiving all weekend. I can’t stop! For Liber-tea!

Started FF7 Remake on the PS5 yesterday, since i only played the PS4 version with release and never played the DLC. Not sure if im able to finish it before Rebirth though.

During the week I finished Separate Ways and Shadows of Rose DLC's just to fully wrap up RE4 and Village. After that I tried several games from ps+ but nothing really clicked with me (Evil West, Calisto Protocol, Oddworld Soulstorm, SH Short message) so jumped into AC Mirage I have from day1 but have other games as priority. Played 1 hour yesterday and it's quite good so will continue today. Plan to finish some shorter games from backlog before my next big thing - FF16. I played demo last year and liked it a lot. Considering a purchase of Prince of Persia The lost crown too but should definitely finish some games first I already have

Have a great weekend and happy gaming!

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered and with a few tweaks to the modern controls, this is Tomb Raider at its best.

Playing these remasters made me realise how much Tomb Raider shaped the gaming industry we know today. And how each game that followed raised the bar even further. They really were groundbreaking for their time.

I read that sales have been good, so hopefully we’ll get a second collection for IV and V.

@MrGilly69 I'm pretty sure that happened to me for the first one because of the Atlantis item behind a wall bug from the original 😭

Not Final Fantasy VII Rebirth so who cares?

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) - I'm still loving the banter between Nate and Sully.

Jet Car Stunts (Windows Phone) - Still doing daily runs.

Lode Runner Classic (Windows Phone) - Slowly making progress in this as well.

After over two years the preorder for my Polymega Deluxe Bundle was finally delivered yesterday so in what little time I have I’ve managed to install two PS1 games, Medal of Honor and Sled Storm. And WOW I’m impressed so far, only 300+ more PS1 games to install. LOL

@Stevemalkpus yeah, we bought the bundle for £5. Which included both games. But my son wanted to go from the start rather than jump straight into number 2! so far we are both enjoying it.

Just finished Trails of Cold Steel 3, thought it was amazing - but also happy to finally have beat it. Will probably just grind some final levels in FFVI and play FIFA until Rebirth next week.

Throughout the week I beat Final Fantasy 7 Remake and it was absolutely phenomenal. I had a rocky history with this remake. To provide some context - I played the game when it originally came out in 2020, and I got to chapter 14 before the game bricked my PS4. I lost all desire to replay the game until recently.

During my replay, especially the last third of the game — the point I was at years ago — was incredibly strong, and the emotional beats were perfect, with foreboding visions yet to come to fruition. There was a scene where Cloud said, “Bring it on, B****!” and it gave me chills. There is no way I’ll attempt to platinum this game because I find the combat way too difficult. I really can’t wait to play Rebirth, and I’m glad to see the reviews for the game are immensely positive.

As for what I’m playing this weekend, I’ll be focusing on Resistance: Retribution. The platinum trophy is pretty easy to obtain too, so that, along with it being a short enough experience to play through before Rebirth comes out makes it a good palette cleanser. Furthermore, it’s just a great game. I wish this franchise would make a return, particularly the first game, and with trophy support. Why there isn’t a remastered trilogy on current generation consoles is beyond me. The entire premise is tantalizing, with an awesome setting, compelling characters, and varied weapons that’s bolstered by fun gameplay.

I also purchased Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden on the PS5. I’m not very far — an hour or two at most, but so far it’s pretty interesting. It definitely has that AA quality feel, similar to A Plague Tale, which is quite satisfactory to me. The combat is also reminiscent of the modern God of War games. And the characters seem to be well written and acted, too. I think this could be one of those sleeper hit gems, but unfortunately it’s releasing at a time when a lot of big games and news are taking over the media outlets.

Granblue fantasy reliink

Starting disc 3 of the PS4 port of FF7. First playthrough in over 20 years!

Then some Helldivers 2

Final Fantasy XVI - Started playing a few days ago. Made it past the prologue section. Really enjoying the battle system & seeing the story play out now.

Tears of the Kingdom - Trying to stick with the story, but easily distracted when a side quest or shrine comes up. Hopefully can get the second temple completed this weekend.

Blast Corps - First game I ever rage quit. Giving it another go 27 years later now that it’s on NSO.

I cashed in my Stars points last night and got a twenty quid credit for Like A Dragon Gaiden. I know what’s coming in the game but I fear I’ll be a sobbing mess.

Helldivers for me also, I just love spreading democracy whilst singing that Mickey Mouse song in Full Metal Jacket.

@starbuck2212 thanks man, I'm probably gonna end up playing them both side by side. I don't want to just stop playing it but I really want to start rebirth as soon as it arrives

And damn I'm glad you still ended up enjoying the game at launch. Since all you'd ever hear about the game was the state it launched in

Helldivers 2 and replaying Red Matter for the plat.

Literally read every single comment and only saw pacific drive mentioned twice. Crazy

I'm gonna give it some love this weekend

@CaptD enjoy! I also recently played FF7 Remake and was super impressed by it as well. I’d recommend Outer Worlds! It’s refreshing to have a realy good RPG with great dialogue in style of a Bethesda game.

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy, Tomb Raider Remaster Collection, and Tekken 8.

Helldivers 2. Its addictive and so much fun 😊

Whatever your playing have a great weekend.

Still working through Persona 3 Reload. I have the second half of the Rebirth demo to play, but I think that's still going to be a sale game for me. Not overly impressed. Just downloaded the Unicorn Overlord demo too, so I'll give that a spin.

Other than that, it's going to be cleaning rain gutters, trimming trees, and prepping for the great garage clean out of 2024. Hm. Maybe a few more floors in Tartarus while my saw is charging.

@GuttyYZ Are you me?

I would like to say thank you to everybody who has posted their best wishes. Unfortunately the news is not good at all and I'll be absent from the forums for a while. Again thank you all and I really appreciate it.

On about chap 10 of RE4 on PS5, probably won't be finished by the time Rebirth drops on the doormat, what with the Separate Ways and Mercs extras. All good though, I don't mind it sitting on the shelf for a while.
It might even be a patch or 2 in before I start it up.
A bargain at the £20 of me own money spent as I got a £50 Amazon voucher from work in the new year.

Tekken 8 and Final Fantasy XVI.

Playing through Rollerdrome which is an incredibly fun and rather addictive game. Also playing through RESISTANCE: Retribution for nostalgia’s sake and because I really enjoy (and miss!) the RESISTANCE series. Controls and graphics are terrible but it’s nice to have another RESISTANCE game on the trophy stack. I wish they would make a new one. Either that or a remaster of Fall Of Man with trophies!

So... errr... about 5mins after posting this morning I acquired Pacific Drive aaaaaaaand 6hrs have just vanished in a haze.

This game both passes the spoopy vibes check and does weird ***** with real life time.

Busy with my 2nd playthrough of RE Village VR and i recently bought Vertigo 2 so i'll be giving that one some attention too. Maybe a little Vampire The Masquerade Justice or Saints & Sinners 1 thrown in the mix as well

I innocently started playing Unicorn Overlord thinking it would be a turn-based RPG, luckily there is a demo, so I didn't spend money for nothing.

Tekken 8. Have a great weekend folks 😄🤘

1. Granblue Fantasy: Relink (PS5)
2. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (PC/Steam Deck)

As long as the servers are decent I'm putting all of my free time into Last Epoch.

@Northern_munkey You don't know me personally, munkey but i do hope your mom makes a full recovery as soon as possible. Sending you my best wishes for you both! Take care bud.

Got dead island 2 on offer so enjoying that. Also a bit of granblue fantasy versus rising.

PS5 wise:
MGS2
Ghost of Tsushima
Persona 3 Reload
Returnal

PS4 wise:
ESO
Star Wars republic commando
Tunic

Still knee deep into emulation and this weekends console is the og xbox along with some model 2 games. Playing these games in 4k with some settings adjusted is like playing a brand new game 👍

I'm finally jumping back into Final Fantasy 16. Held off playing anymore after downing Titan just due to life happening. Really excited to start finishing up the story. In all honesty for me this is probably the best main line FF since FFX.

@Northern_munkey Hope you're okay fella

I am catching up on a few smaller games while I wait for Rebirth to drop so have been bouncing between Darksiders: Genesis and F.I.S.T. I am enjoying both pretty well.

Helldivers 2 and maybe restarting Death Stranding on Steam Deck

Just platinumed Helldivers 2, playing Pacific Drive which is a nice surprise considering I’m not a big fan of survival games. Nice time killer while I wait for my pre-download for Rebirth.

I'm about 25 hours into Banishers. So, this weekend is all about that. I ran into a bug today that prevented me from continuing the story. I had to go back to an earlier save to get past it but I'm back to where everything is running smoothly.

No Man’s Sky and some rhythm games on PSVR2. I’ll break that up with Rocket League. I might start dead space or Hi-Fi Rush as I picked them up cheap at Christmas.

@MFTWrecks Well if you're me ... Then who am I?!?!

Still playing and absolutely enjoying Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen.

Well it’s been a busy busy WAYP for sure this time ahahahaha. This weekends been full of Splatoon 3, Side Order amd lovely FFXIV. Aiming to do some more Cold Steel IV today. Definitely gonna wanna take a small break between beating it and doing Reverie. Splatoon tho is excellent and I’m loving Side Order. Think I’m gonna be playing a good amount of Splatoon 3 this week as I wanna get to Level 15 in the Catalog before the Season ends on Thursday so I can get the Sherlock Holmes looking outifit. Also think maybe if I put that nose to the grindstone this week I can knock out the rest of the Post Endwalker Patch MSQs. That too has been a absolutely excellent little mini story. Tho this is the big week of course with FFVII Rebirth. Absolutely can’t wait. Gonna try to get some digital currency so I can also get a copy of Penny’s Big Breakaway for Switch and Hi-Fi Rush for PS5. Those were some absolutely hype announcements this week. Also as a aside thanks to a absolutely humbling gift from my stepdad I got like 10 amiibos this week. He gifted me Byleth and the rest of the Splatoon set I need and I also picked up on my own a Sora amd Terry amiibo. I got that fever again hahaha. But yeah basically the gaming plans this week are simple. Beat Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Future Redeemed, Get to Level 15 in Splatoon 3, and do more Side Order. Beat the Post Endwalker MSQ so I’m all set to focus on FFVII Rebirth AND I’m all set for Dawntrail this summer. And maybe dabble in some Octopath Traveler 2 and Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth. Again absolutely excellent games. Anime of the week are simple. Again much love to Shangri La Frontier, High Card, Delicious in Dungeon, Frieren and Urusei Yatsura. Big shoutout this week to a show I’m absolutely addicted to the point of watching episodes in the middle of playing Like A Dragon and that’s Shameless or as I’m starting to think of it the FFXIV of TV Shows. Podcasts this week are simple of course, Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into the Aether, Windbreaker and Firelink, RPGsites Tetracast and Summon Sign. And of course we wouldn’t be complete without a big love filled shoutout to my good friend at twitch.tv/akibread. As always y’all keep safe, keep happy and have a awesome weekend. And Happy Gaming.

Going with pure Ragnarök

Bit late to the party, but i needed something to fill the gap between finishing Infinite Wealth last week and FF7R release.
So i booted up the ol' AC valhalla and played the stuff i hadn't done yet.
Siege of Paris was pretty fun, as where the puzzle tombs they added. I then started on Dawn of Ragnarök and am blown away! It's like a whole different game, with some very fun new mechanics and an absolutely gorgeous play world. Will be having fun with this for the whole week until the FF7R release.

Today is my Sunday so I’ll be capping off my weekend with some more Judgment. I’m 6 hours in and only at chapter 2. I decided to start this after finishing Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza 0 so that I could cross it off the list before it leaves PS Plus Extra. I actually decided to start play the Yakuza series after experiencing the first hour of Judgment and being blown away by the story telling. I’m glad I did because now I’m hooked. I’ve bought all the games RGG has made in the yakuza series including spin-offs. If I need a break from Judgment I’ll probably be dipping into either Helldivers 2, RE4 Remake, and or Callisto Protocol.