Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 535

Me to Elden Ring, it’ll take a while to get to the dlc but I’m loving jumping in again. Finished Crow Country last weekend, and I want to get a bit of Talos Principal 2 dlc in. Still playing through Arizona Sunshine 2 on the hardest difficult, so much fun! Have a great weekend folks!

I'm playing Still Wakes the Deep again, it's a pretty decent game with brilliant voice acting ( though if there were no subtitles, I might not understand it... ). Lately, I'm totally hooked on these small indie games. I've had enough of spending hours farming XP and dealing with level-locked sections in already boring and auto-generated vast open-world games.

Finished all the single player stuff on Strange Brigade this week (& really enjoyed it tbh)… so planning on getting the mp stuff done over the weekend depending on availability.

Also, I randomly started MLB The Show 22 this week, so will try and learn to actually hit the ball this weekend 😅

Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door: I'm beginning to see why this is consistently ranked the best Mario RPG. Excellent and enduring combat, interesting locales and characters, and a genuinely intriguing story (with a great visual aesthetic to boot) are all mere prelude to the brilliance that is sure to come.

My ps premium subscription is ending soon, so I need to find a game to play and beat before that happens. Decisions, decisions...

Getting back into Destiny 2 and also some uncharted 4 both PS5.

Made my mind up last night that moving forward PS5 is now my main console platform.
So moving forward all third party titles like Star Wars outlaws etc will be on PS5. Of course the eco system comes with that as well with PlayStation Plus etc.

Of course the big change is that series x was my main platform and with third party titles.
A tough choice but I think the right one

Which also means the PS5 Pro will be all mine when released and PS6 going further forward.

This weekend going to be my off work days.
Going to dedicates a huge chunk of my gaming session to a game that I started years ago, Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Also going to "restart" my progress on Hitman WoA (bought during recent sales). I finished Hitman 2016 but not Hitman 2/3.

Might also dabble in a game that involves a witcher from Rivia.

It's been quite a while since I comment on WAYP.
Happy gaming & happy weekend everyone!

The new expansion of FFXIV Dawntrail! It’s great so far

Shadow Of The Erdtree all week and making good progress. Also coming back to Stellar Blade and Rebirth to finish those

I have hit chapter 9 on FF Rebirth and will be continuing that. It’s so much better than I thought it would be. Aside from that picked up some bits and pieces in the steam sale for the steam deck… and tear myself away from
Backpack battles though. One of the most addictive games I have played in ages!

Some Erdtree of the Shadow variety with a spot of PES 6 on the side. Mmmm gaming

Forza Horizon 4 on PC & Perfect Dark Zero on Xbox360

Ghosthunter on the 5, cold fear on pcsx2, half-life on the lappytop and some Luigi’s mansion 2 HD on the switch.

@Mustoe
Yes Xbox was my dominant platform, but not from today.
To summarise I feel better about everything Sony going forward from now into the next decade future wise.
I buy all digital and want hardware in my entertainment centre. Cloud gaming does not interest me at all. I want the best quality a game can be, 4K, frame rates etc.
Also of course I’m investing in an eco system moving forward as well.

I also believe and it may not feel like it right now apart from Astro Bot that Sony will produce the best first party games in the near future.
They are the ones that have a single platform and the studios that push console gaming getting the best out of hardware.
For example Naughty Dog etc will drop their next games starting 2025 and I will be wowed.

Playing FARCRY 6 and i'm already hooked. This game series is total carnage and so much fun clearing out the enemy with stealth or going in full guns blazing.

On PS5 Dragon's Dogma 2 I'm going to buy it after playing the demo/trial more companies should do this. I'll also play a bit of XDefiant which is surprisingly decent though the hit detection is still pretty bad at times. On Xbox Still Wakes the Deep nearly finished it and it's been OK bit disappointing tbh.

@Mustoe
I was a PC gamer decades ago when Crysis was the PC test 🤣
I remember building my own ground up, what a learning curve that was.
I gave it up in the end though I always had consoles as well and game on consoles now.
I don’t even own a PC, I have a company laptop, surface pro as that is what they issue. Though any new company laptops are Dell now top end, they switched about 6 months ago.

Tales of vesperia and football manager 2024 I think. That’s if I don’t cave and buy something in the sales…

Edit: ok, so I got a couple of narrative games to kill some time in bed on the portal. Bear with Me Complete Edition and The Innsmouth Case. At £1.19 each I couldn’t resist.

@Yousef-
One of the best JRPGs ever made. But never finished it myself because of the 4th disc in paper envelope problem. I’d so love a port to PlayStation as I haven’t had an Xbox since 360 and the game is forever locked away from me.

Nothing for me I'm in sunny turkey, but other than that it'll be assassin's creed Valhalla when I'm back

I just finished Medievil remake a couple days ago with 75% trophies completion (only need Lost Souls, 10K coins, and some very easy trophies). I really don't understand why this remake got a lot of 6 or 7 and even 5/10 from Gamespot as if the game is unplayable. But for me this game is a solid & fun 8/10 action platformer. I wish Sony make a sequel or maybe remake the second game.

But with Medievil remake finished, right now i'm playing Sega Genesis Collection on PS4. I never get the chance to finished Alien Soldier which is one of Treasure best game. It's really challenging with Superhard difficulty, maybe more challenging than all Souls games that i've finished lol.

Oh and the regular grinding with SF 6 because CPT WW is next week.

Bit of a boring update for me this week as Im still playing the same games as last week, mainly due to Rise of the Ronin being a big and long game and also cause we’re at our summer place and I left the Series S at home so only playing on it when we go back to water the plants etc but I’ve got my ps5 and ps portal with me which is an awesome combo out here and works great with both machines connected with the same phone using 5g. Anyways, here goes

Rise of the Ronin - still going strong, still petting a lot of cats. Gotta catch em all 😅 Im almost immune to open world fatigue but I have a feeling this game will push me a bit. Still, gameplay is very fun so I’ll probably end up with the platinum in the end.

Still wakes the deep - I managed like an hour earlier in the week, really like this game. Expect I’ll be able to finish it the next time I’m able to play as its s short but imo a very good game.

Tales of Kenzera- Zau - Playing this as a great way to break up RotR, but means shorter sessions and not so much progress. Still fun 🙂

Beyond good and evil and Jedi Survivor.

Beyond good and evil feels dated in parts but enjoying it for the most part

I'm still on Tomb Raider Remastered. Working through the NG+ trophies, it has been surprisingly doable for 1 and 2. I thought 3 was going to be impossible but feeling more confident now. Looking forward to the speed runs, after NG+, I didn't know most of the shortcuts and glitches when I played them originally

Finally beat the last story boss in the Elden Ring DLC last night after about 3-4 hours of attempts. Had to respec multiple times which I don’t love honestly, to me any type of build should be viable especially since Larval Tears are relatively limited. Was not as disappointed in this final boss as I was in the Elden Beast but I agree that it’s second phase felt more unfair than difficult. Will watch the Euros during the day and probably jump back into Robocop which I grabbed recently when it was 50% off. Hoping Stellar Blade gets a little discount soon as I would like to play that before some Fall releases I’m looking forward to.

Still Shadow of the Erdtree. What a beauty!

I haven't been able to put down Chained Echoes for about two weeks. It's stellar

This weekend it's quite simple plan: Elden Ring DLC, EURO play-offs and little bit of Tour the France.

Enjoy the weekend and happy gaming, everyone!

It'll be Gran Turismo 7, Balatro and some other game from the backlog this weekend. Will try and watch the Euros which has been dire so far. Also might watch Tour De France.

@Mustoe
Sounds like a powerful bit of kit.
Used to go into the Bios and adjust things and overclock a little. Guess that’s done differently nowadays.

I have a good console set up. Last month got the Sony X95L 65” mini led tv and have a very good Dolby Atmos set up for what it is.
The best improvement is the rear sounds, makes a game so much more.

My free time will probably be spent working or watching the England game this weekend. Any gaming time I get will be spent making progress on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (up to chapter 11 now), or helping my daughter mop up some bits on the new dreamlight valley star path

On PS5 i will be playing Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition, Dragons Dogma 2 and Persona 3 Reload.

On Switch its Spy X Anya and Pikmin 1&2 Remaster.

And on 3DS I'm going to start Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright.

Still playing Tekken 8 and Elden ring dlc. I did finish the dlc, but might start a ng+ run. Have not decided yet.. Have a lovely weekend folks!

Prodeus, Rise of the Ronin, and Link's Awakening (remake). Very happy with all of them.
Hope everyone has a great weekend, if you get one.

chants in Mudokon
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus.

Dreamlight Valley hanging with Mulan and working on that Star Path ^__^

Gaming is still Stellar Blade. I made a bit of progress this past week. Hopefully I get an hour or two this weekend. I find that when I'm on, I'm really on. I can power through, beat bosses and standard enemies with few issues. Out of nowhere, I get the yips and start missing blocks, miss Blinks, miss dodges, incorrectly input combos - that's when I know my session with this game is over.

Lots of home improvement on the books for the next week. Dumpster will be delivered Wednesday, and I can finally finish our garage clean out. Two of my bathrooms need new commodes, one bedroom is getting new paint, and my wife and I will be doing furniture shopping for a couple rooms as well. I'm really contemplating new floors too - that will probably have to be in next year's budget.

Dark Souls 1. I've died a lot, but I'm finally getting close to the end. And I'm also continuing with Last Window: The Secret of Cape West on Nintendo DS. That's a point and click game and a sequel to Hotel Dusk, with a new mystery to solve.

And looking at backlog, I'm thinking about finally getting round to playing Half-Life: Blue Shift and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

I will continue playing the excellent dragon quest 11 echoes of an elusive age definitive edition.i will continue playing the incredible sega genesis classic.i will also be continued playing the amazing kingdom hearts the story so far.kingdom hearts the final mix.and i will continue playing the awsome octopath traveler 2.i will be watching legendary sitcoms tv 📺 comedy shows in good times.sanford and son.the Jeffersons.and saved by the bell.word up son

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

After finishing the Wrath of the Druids DLC a few days ago, I've just started The Siege of Paris DLC. Wrath of the Druids was really good, so I'm hoping this is good as well as I continue my journey through most of the game's DLC (The Forgotten Saga being rogue-lite is not my thing).

EA sports wrc for me and the footie starts today. Have a great weekend everybody 👍.

PS5: After 115 hours, I’ve finally platinumed Horizon Forbidden West and completed all the arena and machine strike. Now moving on to Sifu and trying to promise myself I don’t need to 100% it!
Switch: continuing with my play through of The Messenger
Paused:
3DS: Chrono Trigger
Steam Deck: Vampire Survivor

Elden Ring, Sifu, Cat Quest, Eiyuden Chronicle. And I told myself I was only going to play one game at a time.

Also, football.

I completed all World Intel for Cosmo Canyon in Rebirth and I'm thinking about bumming around Junon next. Might be battling a Hurricane on Monday though so gaming will be cut short.

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Jusant (definitely)
AC Mirage (maybe)
& Starfield (probably)

Sorry, Andreja 😁

My backlog has seen me have maybe four larger/longer games on the go simultaneously for the first time which isn't as bad as I thought providing I can keep up with characters and story in each. This weekend however I'm committing to one, Wasteland 3 on Gamepass. Another gem I somehow overlooked until I watched the SkillUp video and decided to give it a go. Recommended!

Boosting off sand dunes in the Nomad in ME Andromeda and cursing Terror Demons in Dragon Age Inquisition.

Played Still Wakes The Deep Very Good Game Unfortunately Finished It In 4 Hours 😫😫

This weekend I’m playing Beyond Good and Evil The 20th Anniversary Edition. I bought it for my PS5, but realized I’m going on vacation for a week so I decided to double-dip and pick it up on my Switch. I owned the game on the PS2 when it released in 2003, and even on my GameCube, but I never played it because I was too obsessed with other games. I’m earnestly giving this game a shot, and so far, I’m impressed.

This game reminds me of a time when Ubisoft still had creative chops and ideas. You can clearly see the early foundations of what is to come - but it’s less contaminated due to hardware limitations at the time and that’s strangely a positive. Back then, it was a revelation.

What’s really impressive is the constant engagement the game demands from the player, and everything ties back into its story and main protagonist, Jade. She isn’t a famed heroine or superhero - she’s running an orphanage and working as a photojournalist, caught between protecting her village and exposing the truth during the war against an invading alien species. It’s a unique perspective to explore.

This action adventure title has a level of meaningful depth that wasn’t entirely common back in 2003, unless you were playing an immersive sim or a deep RPG. It creates a sense of immersion that draws you into the world of Hyllis. You can speak to nearly every character, with dialogue options. The planet feels alive with an array of species to discover. There are hovercrafts flying about towns. And while the game is set in the far future, it’s grounded in realism. Inhabitants have problems that regular people in current times have — money issues, paying bills to keep electricity going, vehicle repairs, politics and government. It just feels believable.

As I touched upon earlier, BG&E knows how to keep you engaged with its activities. There is always something to do, to accomplish. Outside of its story driven “dungeons” and puzzles to solve, there are “hearts” to acquire to boost your maximum health, and items to enhance your character’s abilities. And then there are outfits to find for your characters, hovercraft races, animals and solar systems to photograph. All of this ties into the narrative, all the while creating a true sense of progression because each activity has benefits.

As for the combat, the game does show its age — it’s a product of its time. It plays similar to the Arkham games, with its free flowing mechanics. It’s not the most refined system, but it’s still serviceable and still holds up. But more than that, most of the gameplay elements are an extension of the story, and who Jade is as an individual. That is arguably the most significant detail to me, and ultimately makes her and the supporting cast very endearing and memorable.

At the end of the day, I love playing older games that I haven’t played before, particularly on modern hardware because I like to see how my view on games have changed all those years since. Looking back at BG&E, there are a lot of qualities that were ahead of the curve. It was very ambitious title, and I think it succeeded in a lot of ways. There is no wonder it’s considered a masterpiece by many. I don’t know if I’ll go that far, but it certainly is exceptional, and makes me reminisce on when Ubisoft was original and making groundbreaking games.

Dangun Feveron.

I'm finishing some games to finally pick new ones. Very close to finally end Assassin's Creed Valhalla , only some river raids and the final mission remaining. Advancing in Final Fantasy XVI FF mode too, this one will take some time. Other games for the weekend are Dave The Diver, very good and it don't slow your progress!! Every play session brings something new! And Uncharted 2 , my confort game for the weekends.

That's it, let's play and relax, we all need it.

Propagation: Paradise Hotel

Great VR horror game with some serious RE vibes. If you have a PSVR2 you need to play this!

Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara

Cute platformer with some Crash Bandicoot inspiration. A bit on the easy side but had its moments.

Fashion Police Squad

I was feeling so smart when I came up with the phrase "Queer Eye for the Doom Guy", just to discover that some damn reviewer had come up with the same thing over a year ago...

Having a great time with Anno 1800. Size of the UI and console controls and a story mode have made it quite accessible and fun to play.

Out of town for the week so I’ve been using the Portal when I can. Tonight hope to do more Rise of the Ronin, maybe try out some Erdtree 800 miles away to see how much lag does or does not exist in the Lands Between!

@Shepherd_Tallon Acolyte is a great show, and it contradicts Canon in ZERO instances. The show is quite refreshing and there are some of the best combat ever filmed in the franchise. Don't listen to the haters, watch and judge for yourself.

@colonelkilgore I highly recommend RedMamba on YouTube. I just started MLB24 this year and struggled to hit. After watching some of his stuff I am hitting 3-4 HRs per game and am considering bumping up the difficulty to All Star from Vet.

@KilloWertz Despite being a rogue like, the Forgotten Saga is not really hard. I got all trophies there, in about 7 runs. Just leave it for last, after the Ragnarok DLC (storywise is after too). When you reach it, you will be pretty strong and good in the game already. It's fine.

The really hard thing in the game is the mastery challenges. I did at least bronze medal in all, but gold is too complicated, some of these challenges are broken. Bronze medals cover the narrative aspects of the DLC.

I haven't really played anything this week and haven't yet finished persona 3 reload. So probably play that tomorrow.

Platinum rush happening this weekend. Got Infinite Wealth, Dredge, Dave The Diver and Nuclear Blaze all completed. Really enjoyed Nuclear Rush, very much in keeping with the SuperNintendo days of my youth. It’s dirt cheap on the PS store fyi.

Started Nine Sols and I'm having a blast with it.

OverWatch. After a six year absence. they have reissued the pink Mercy skin as a fundraiser for breast cancer research. The last time, it raised over 12 million dollars. I generally don’t spend money for cosmetics, but it’s for a good cause. And it is just so damned cute.

Taking my time with Shadow of the Erdtree. I won’t have much time this weekend but I’ll keep chipping away.

I’ve been playing on Portal and it’s been generally been great but I’ve died about 15 times today on an annoying platforming section and I’m sure it’s because of lag so I need to switch over to the tv.

Series X: BG3. Finally starting to get the hang on this game. Been playing blind for 25hrs but had no idea what I was doing. Started googling everything, going back if the rolls messed up and respec my character. Now Im killing everything and things are moving along, finally.
Soon wrapping up the basegame of Witcher 3 for the third time as well.
PS5 and Switch: Nothing.

Despite already getting the Platinum trophy in Stellar Blade, I’m still addicted to it. It will be Stellar Blade and WWE 2K24 this weekend.

I played PS4 games on my PS5 machine. 😊
1. Youtubers Life 2
2. Ratchet & Clank

@freddquadros Thanks for the tips about some of the DLC. I'm not sure I will do it all, but I will definitely finish The Siege of Paris and then do Dawn of Ragnarok. Then I will have finished at least the 3 major DLCs after already doing Wrath of the Druids.

By the time I'm done with The Siege of Paris and Dawn of Ragnarok, I may want to move on to another game. I'll see though.

No gaming for me this weekend, I’ve decided to make the fatal error of visiting London this weekend.

@Hootnoodle Well, when you arrive and realize that London is a rainy, busy nexus of misery you'll be happy to know that games are legal there. So once you've gotten soaked, stuck in traffic, and gone down the pubs you can just play games the rest of the time.

@Shepherd_Tallon Ok!! Keep watching, you won't regret it. The last episode released is mind-blowing!!

Finally getting around to playing my first console version of an Assassin’s Creed game (I played AC 3 on the Vita and wasn’t overly impressed) - ASSASSIN’S CREED: Odyssey - and quite enjoying it. Absolutely blown away by how big the map is and how detailed all the locations are!! Really solid game and I’m having quite a good time with it so far.

God Of War Ragnarok, picked it up second hand last weekend, never played it. I find the kid damn annoying as is the game practically telling you what to do lol. But smashing monsters with blades on chains never gets old, stunning looking game too.

I finished Tales of Kenzera, very mediocre game, technical issues and it felt quite empty.

Right now I play Nier Automata, not to far into the game yet, however in one section the game crashes 90% of the time. Bah.

On the Xbox I started State of Decay again, rough around the edges, but so much fun.

Happy weekend yˋall.

Wuthering Waves
Warframe
Honkai StarRail

I’m mostly focusing on Shadow of the Erdtree. I had bought the Kimgdom Hearts Collection on Steam but it was almost unplayable on Steam Deck with how much it kept freezing. I returned it and ordered the Metal Gear Solid Collection and Hogwarts Legacy instead. I fired up MGS for the first time since beating it on PlayStation.

Playing Elden Ring DLC and loving it. I’m on NG+, level 200, and the difficulty feels pretty perfect to me. Beating most bosses after just a few tries. Not ashamed to use NPC summons and mimic tear though

I’m playing Gran Turismo 5 and Football Life 2024 (ROG Ally). Might throw in some Uncharted: Lost Legacy into the mix.

All about exploring Tural in FFXIV Dawntrail for the foreseeable future. Over the last week I scoured the Realm of Shadow clean of loot and bosses so Elden Ring is done until I decide to move to a new game plus and try fiisting my way through everything.

Erdtree! Erdtree! Erdtree!

It's Megaton Musashi W: Wired for me! I haven't been hooked on a game like this for ages! 👌🏻

Well here we are with another wonderful WAYP. It’s been one of the craziest weeks here. Start of the week had me conquering one of my biggest fears with Persona 3 Reload and now I’m further then I’ve ever been before in it. Also made it to the finale of Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth too. But the big day of the week had to have been Friday. Going to NYC for Friday Night SMACKDOWN and getting to get the Japanese Xenoblade 3 art book and go to Nintendo NYC as they were having a Luigi’s Mansion 2 launch event? Pretty cool. But going to Madison Square Garden and getting to see Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Cody Rhodes, Tiffany Stratton, and so many more in person was just a thing of magic it was the greatest night ever. Then I followed that up yesterday with the start of Dawntrail and honestly it’s kinda been the greatest weekend ever. Thinking the rest of the weekend will maybe be a Persona 3 Reload weekend. Feeling kinda under the weather since Friday so maybe it’ll be no games and just an early nights sleep. Otherwise I’m thinking this week is mostly gonna consist of some Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, Paper Mario, more P3R and maybe some Stellar Blade. And some more Dawntrail and hopefully starting Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD and Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. Very excited for those two and Trails Through Daybreak too. Didn’t watch any anime this week so really I’m just gonna shoutout one of my favorites that I’m always always gonna shoutout which is Urusei Yatsura. Love Lum. Podcasts of this week gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast,Minnmax, Jeff Gerstmann, Kit and Krysta, Last Stand Media, Easy Allies, Second Wind, Nextlander, Cultaholic Wrestling and Remap Radio. And yet we wouldn’t be done without an incredible huge magnificent lovely shoutout to my dear friend over at twitch.tv/akibread and their wonderful streams please give them a look. As always yall stay safe, be incredible to each other. Have an excellent weekend and of course Happy Gaming. And Happy Pride Yall.

Trying to kill time until August when Black Myth and Outlaws come out. Not gonna swing for Shadow of the Erdtree or Final Shape until they hit a sale.

At the moment, I've been playing Diablo IV nonstop with my friend and I've got The Division 2 and Sekiro going on my PS5. Oh, and I may have also started Another Crab's Treasure on my Steam Deck...

I have been playing Ape Escape 2 since it was added to the PS Classic collection. Pretty nostalgic game. I played it back when I had swine flu in middle school. Mom rented it from blockbuster and I played it that whole week. A lot easier than it was for me back then lol.

@FOXHOUND_MGS5 Megaton Musashi W: Wired for Switch here! Such an AMAZING game!

@bestuardo I’m with you on that, I’m all for summoning. The devs put it in there so I’m ok with using it!