Topic: What PS3 game(s) are you currently playing?

just finished metal gear solid 4 haven't played it in a decade loved it again

@Yousef- yeah I think it’s only a thing I consider if I’m left feeling overwhelmingly positive when the platinum ultimately pops. It’s never a consideration if you’re left feeling something was mediocre or worse.

@trev666 I look forward to doing that again someday as well. Between my backlog and new releases, it's not really possible right now, but someday. The experience back in the day was my favorite gaming experience of all time, so I hope it holds up for me as well as it did for you.

@colonelkilgore Yeah, it’s always a debate when a great game has a great sequel. I can’t speak for the Dead Space series of course, but it’s often that the second game is actually more critically acclaimed since it makes improvements on the original formula (Uncharted, Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Borderlands, etc) but sometimes the sheer nostalgia of the new IP give the first game a boost (BioShock, The Last of Us, Dark Souls, BM Arkham Asylum, etc)
And sometimes it’s just plain up for debate and pretty much a draw (Horizon, GoW, Spider-Man, MGS, etc)
And sometimes the pinnacle is number 3 (Witcher, Fallout, Baldur’s Gate, etc) or even later (Final Fantasy, Persona, Elder Scrolls, etc)

I’m not sure where I’m going with this… 😅 but yeah, Dead Space gets a little more love than Dead Space 2, although I think from what I read DS2 takes the formula and improves it.

@Th3solution it is interesting as to what it actually takes for a sequel (or threequel… or later instalment for that matter) to be considered the best in series. As you’ve alluded too, I think it is a multifaceted formula. One of the facets being the quality and reception of the series debut. With the Uncharted, Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Borderlands games, the originals were very good in the most part but just shy of being all-time classics. So when the sequel released, catering to the je ne sais quoi that was missing, they were instantly (and still to this day) hailed as all-timers.

With BioShock, The Last of Us, Dark Souls, BM Arkham Asylum, etc, they were already complete and well-rounded products that were received as potential games of the year/decade by gaming journos and gamers alike. I think Dead Space definitely fits in this bracket too. And strange that you should bring up Arkham Asylum as although there are no overt similarities (apart from the close over the shoulder 3rd person perspective) it did come to mind quite a bit while playing Dead Space. It’s just such a perfectly formed and paced package in much the same way the original Arkham game feels.

I’ll remember to tag you with my thoughts on the Dead Space series as a whole once I’ve finished them all. Btw, check out this platinum journey for Dead Space 2… I think I’ve found my next anxiety-driven platinum attempt that might well end up in abject failure. Wasn’t planning on it being so close on the heals of the last one tbh (GTA IV) 😅:

@Malaise agreed… but even if we’re all being as objective as humanly possible, there will always be a sliver of subjectivity remaining as it’s just human nature. Therefore it’s highly unlikely everyone would agree on the best in series in all examples. Discussion is good though… I think we night have the basis for an interesting new thread here tbh.

@Th3solution @colonelkilgore It's actually interesting that there are so many good second entries of a series as it wasn't like that back in the 80s/90s. Zelda II, Final Fantasy II, Castlevania II, Super Mario Bros 2, these games are all considered the black sheep of their franchises. It's probably because the companies had a tendency back then to experiment on different formulas in order to find out which one's better. Zelda 3 (A Link to the Past), Final Fantasy III, Castlevania III and Super Mario Bros 3 were all a return to the original formula once the companies realised which entry was better received. It's rare these days to see a developer completely change a game's formula in the second entry.

@colonelkilgore @Malaise @LtSarge Interesting thoughts, and I think you’re on to something about sequels being more experimental in the past than they are in modern generations. Sony especially has been charged with being too iterative recently with their sequels (Horizon, GoW, Spider-Man) but in today’s environment where games take 6 years to make and $200 million these producers are more and more risk averse - for good or for bad. The safe route is to not mess with what was successful.

Started Alpha Protocol today and it’s an incredibly unique fusion of styles. I think that I’ll end up quite liking it but it’s difficult to fully tell rn as this first playthrough is a balls-to-the-wall loud-and-proud play style. I’d imagine my stealthy hardcore second play-through will be far my cup of tea.

@colonelkilgore that’s another sleeper I’ll need a refresher on. Looks interesting though.

still playing infamous 2 but stopped halfway to start on infamous 1

@Yousef- yeah it’s different for sure. It’s an Obsidian RPG set in a James Bond/Jason Bourne-esque espionage world. It plays with all of the tropes that go along with that and seems to work more than it doesn’t. It’s not quite the Agent game I’ve been missing since 2009… but it’s filling-a-gap.

@colonelkilgore on a somewhat unrelated note, I forgot to react to the video posted. I was gonna highlight how the content creator there is someone I watched a lot before. Pretty relaxing content.

@Yousef- the mighty keef vid… yeah he’s class. Always able to distill the multi-layered idiocy that is the current gaming industry, the gaming media and gamers into a succinct under 5 minute roast.

@colonelkilgore mighty keef is awesome, but I meant Adam McDermott xD. You linked him in this thread during your dead space deep dive. I believe I already commented on your MK post in the Black Wukong thread.

@Yousef- 🤣 ahh yeah I forgot about that… yeah there’s something really comfortable about Adam McDermot’s Platinum Journeys. I’m always glad when he’s produced a video for a tough platinum that I’m about to undertake.

Finished up my first playthrough on Alpha Protocol yesterday and started my Hard playthrough today… as expected, playing it through in stealth is far more enjoyable and more befitting the game mechanics. It’s grown on me a fair bit and glad that I took the plunge… but the ****ing trophy list is insane!

There are trophies that require numerous and many little actions/decisions through a whole playthrough… and while there is info about these out there, there is nothing absolute. As a result, I missed a couple during playthrough 1… even though I researched each trophy and completed the various actions that are required. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to pop these on playthrough 2, as the actions needed on that playthrough are in direct opposition to those needed for the missing trophies 😩… therefore I will have to partake in playthrough 3 at the very least… and I’m already starting to think that playthrough 4 is highly likely. 😫

@colonelkilgore
Nice I never played Alpha Protocol, that one seem to have passed me by which is a shame as I like a good stealth game as long as you can save whenever.
Sounds an annoying trophy list, I've just finished Weird West which I really liked but the trophy list is one missable after another and to be frank it isn't really game that I wanted to play a second time so I followed a brilliant guide (on psnprofiles) which thankfully was very concise.
Good luck with the platinum as I would imagine it is super rare at this point.

@CaptD cheers bud, I’ll need it I reckon. Yeah I don’t mind the odd missable but when there are loads of them… and they track minutiae throughout a whole playthrough, I’m officially not a fan.

Gone back to finish Mirror's Edge and Just Cause 2. Never finished Mirror's edge when I was young and only played JC2's demo (a million times)