Topic: Playstation 4 Backloggery and most wanted!

@MaulTsir Like you say, I’m the exact same for Witcher 3 — on paper it should have been exactly my kind of game. I really like classic fantasy and magical settings. Add to that the universal praise as being one of the greatest games of all time, and it should have been a shoe-in. But I just couldn’t get along with it.

I suspect timing plays a role, as you or Rog mentioned earlier. It possible I tried it at the wrong point in my life. I kept it and when the PS5 version drops there is a possibility I’ll retry it. I can’t remember if they said it’s going to be a free upgrade from PS4 to PS5. CDPR did it for Cyberpunk (which ironically I’m playing right now) so maybe they will for W3.

@Th3solution they said it will be a free upgrade when they announced it.

@jdv95 Ah, thanks for the info. Surely they won’t retract on that offer now since they are still trying to rebuild their goodwill with gamers.

@Th3solution Definitely not. Despite the debacle release of Cyberpunk 2077, I still trust them to actually follow through with what they say otherwise, especially since they need to rebuild their reputation like you said. That and the fact that they just recently released the upgrade for Cyberpunk 2077 for free.

Oddly enough, I didn't love The Witcher 3 like most did. I still enjoyed it more than you did since I finished it, but I loved the characters and the story much more than the actual game itself. That's also a big reason why I was really excited about the Netflix show and have really enjoyed it so far. Maybe I'll give it another shot as well when he PS5 version comes out, or at least do the game's supposedly phenomenal DLC at some point.

@MaulTsir Agreed about the DLC for Mass Effect. I still have yet to play the remastered Mass Effect 3, but after playing through the first two last year for the first time in a long time, I thought the DLC for Mass Effect 2 was great. One of my favorite characters in that one was DLC (Kasumi). I ended up using her more than most of the regular characters.

Commenting on another thread made me think about my backlog plan. It’s been nearly 4 months since my last update, so here goes…

>>>>>>Previous Backlog plan —
PS5
Demon’s Souls - Done! and loved it.
Dirt 5 - Done! and platinum!
Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Done! and platinum!
The Pathless - Not started. Ironically the shortest game on my list I still haven’t got to it. Chose to play Kena instead.
PS4
Mass Effect - Done! and enjoyed it.
Resident Evil 4 - Not started. I chose to play TLoU2 instead, which I loved.
Vita
MGS2: Sons of Liberty - Not started. I can’t explain why I just can’t muster any time for my Vita.
>>>>>>Previous Planned Purchases —
GT7 - Nope.
Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection - Nope.

Not too bad. I followed my plans fairly well. Now for the next couple months…

🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮

>>>>>>>>New Short-Term Plan —
PS5
Kena: Bridge of Spirits - I’m probably halfway through the game and should finish this soon. I have enjoyed it and each play session is better than the last. I’ll probably drop an official review on this one.
Immortals: Fenyx Rising - I’m ready for another open world Ubisoft game. It’s been a minute.
Yet undetermined multiplayer live-service game - Ugh, none of them look compelling. But I feel like I need to force myself to sample the unappetizing fruits of gaming’s future.

PS4
BioShock 2 - Playing this with the Game Club and I play too slow to finish with the group, but I do want to complete it on my own time. The game is… not terrible.
Life is Strange 2 - I might finally start this as a side-by-side companion to an open world action game. Some discussion on other forum threads have my interest piqued again.
Uncharted 2 - I think enough time has passed since my playthrough of TLoU2 to enjoy another Naughty Dog game.

(I just noticed, that’s a lot of “2’s”)

Vita - I’m not even going to state a plan. Doubt I’ll do any handheld right now.

>>>>>>>>Next Planned Purchases —
Horizon Forbidden West - It’s not ‘if’ but ‘when’
Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection - ditto
Sifu - this is a wildcard. I could see myself impulse buying this if it goes on sale. For some reason I’m curious.

@Th3solution Curious what kind of live service games youre looking at. There are many types of games in the live service domain, both pvp or pve. From f2p shooters to pay per month mmorpgs, games like Path of Exiles/Diablo 2/3 etc. I can recommend Elder Scrolls online (if youre a fan of the elder scroll rpgs), the base game is often on sale for 5 euro/dollar/pound.
Path of Exiles is a f2p version of diablo 2 if you like that type of game.
If you want to look at shooters i enjoyed THe division 2

@Lavalera Thanks for the ideas! Those are some that I hadn’t considered.
I did love Skyrim; it’s the only Elder Scrolls I’ve played. I think ESO might be one I’d enjoy, but I was worried that, like some of these big multiplayer online games, if you’re late to the party that you’ll be lost or don’t have access to the base content and story. So many of these seem unwelcoming to newcomers. If the entry level base game for ESO is only $5 and there isn’t monthly sub fees, I might consider that. I don’t want to be locked into monthly fees in order to play, otherwise I would look further into FFXIV. Even with the free trial of that game, I’m scared off of the subscription part of it.

I did play some of the first Division game and it was okay. I never made it very far and it didn’t hold my interest very long but I hear the second game is better.
I’ve never been keenly interested in the Diablo style games but it’s probably mostly from lack of exposure to them.

I’ve considered trying anything from Genshin Impact to Ark Survival to Red Dead Online. But I’m wanting something that will A) grab my attention and not have a huge time commitment to learn a bunch of complex systems B) won’t penalize me for not being an early adopter and/or playing the game already for hundreds of hours and C) has minimal up front cost, preferably something I already have access to via PS+ or F2P.

As far as genre, I like third person story driven, but am open to most things. I’ve played some Rocket League and that didn’t click with me, I played a tiny bit of Fortnite, and a little Battlefront 2 online. I have never get compelled to get absorbed in any of these, and I’m starting to get a complex wondering what’s wrong with me? 😅 Why does the world love this style of gaming and yet I can’t get into it? Sony is shifting toward these and I feel like I need to get on board the train before it leaves me behind.

When I posed the question a couple months ago on another thread, I had a couple recommendations to try Fall Guys, so I have that in the back of my mind to download, and in fact went to do it and was confused which version to download because I own it through PS+ and it’s also now F2P and it looked like there was two different downloads…? Anyway, it was enough to just skip it at the time.

@Th3solution Live service games aren't for everyone. Everyone has their own preferences. Some people like to play single player story driven games other prefer fortnite with friends. Some people prefer pvp some pve.

Eso is actually beginner friendly and has no monthly subscription. The biggest plus of it is the scaling. The world around you level scales to your level so that means you can play wherever you like whenever you like. I play it here and there as a side game alone with quests or party up with others of do stuff in a guild. The biggest plus is since it's no monthly cost you feel less forced to login. I also play ffxiv and while that is often considered as the best mmorpg of this time, I understand people dont want to pay the monthly cost.

I also hope that with this new live strategy we also get games where you can basically chose to play it alone or with others. So not only pvp shooters or that kind of stuff but also enough action rpg adventure type of stuff

@Th3solution Just popping in to plug for The Pathless. It’s a wonderful game that really stole my heart. It’s hard to think how an action/adventure game with such simple mechanics (you can’t even be killed) could be so engaging but it really is. A real gem.

@Jimmer-jammer Thanks for the rec, I’ve heard a lot of positive comments about the game and it seems to have really flown under the radar for a lot of the gaming public. I have my disc copy and will definitely still play it at some point. I was struggling with where to place it thematically; I do have a method to my gaming schedule madness whereby I try to line up my games in a diverse manner so as to not get too much of any one type of game back-to-back. I’m not even sure what kind of game The Pathless is, but it’s got a colorful animated look to it and has a young female heroine who uses a bow and arrow… so I figured I’d put a little distance between it and Kena. 😅 I know, I know, it makes sense in my own head.

@RogerRoger A missed opportunity there for a rare quintuplets of 2’s!
But no worries, I’ll eventually get MGS2 played. I just need to go on a trip or something like that to force me to use my Vita and leave my consoles alone. 😄

Dropped it, so close enough. Really wasn't enjoying it.

Not quite, although I got pretty far in.

Yep.

Nope. Didn't even boot it up before my PS+ sub expired.

Purchased and completed Triangle Strategy.

Purchased and completed Kirby.

No, through no fault of my own, because, of course, this was indefinitely delayed after Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

New list. One which will focus more on my gaming habits.

Over the next few months, I'd like to:

• Complete The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC on PC.
• Complete a 100% re-play of Super Mario 3D Land on 3DS.
• Grind enough daily and weekly challenges in order to finally get the platinum trophy for Rayman Legends on PS4.
• Get up to HR100 in Monster Hunter Rise on NS.
• Purchase and begin playing through the Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak expansion.
• Purchase and complete Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course on NS, which is the upcoming expansion for that game.
• Purchase and begin playing through Xenoblade Chronicles 3 on NS.
• Start playing an unplayed backlogged game of some sort.

My PS4 backlogs:
Horse Club Adventures
Kitaria Fables

Next PS4 games purchase:
My Little Pony
Paw Patrol On the Roll
Paw Patrol Adventure City Calls

@Th3solution hey, that sounds like as good a methodology as any! If I could sum up The Pathless concisely, I’d say it’s a puzzle exploration game with unique traversal elements and fantastic boss encounters. Beyond that, it has a beautiful art style, an incredible verticality (seriously, you can fly to impressive heights) and a truly outstanding OST. I had a good time with Kena as well, though they are very different games despite the similarities! The Pathless has a timeless quality for me that lifts it into my hypothetical top 5. It’s a quantum leap from Abzu as a game and I really can’t wait to see what Giant Squid is up to next.

@Ralizah MHR: Sunbreak is also on my to-do list for end of this month...

I loved my time with MHR, put in around 200hrs and got to hunter rank ~130 (from memory, not 100%).
Put it down around a year ago when the weekly event quests got a bit stale.

Been watching a lot of update videos on Sunbreak, and some of the weapon updates and new switch skills look amazing. I main Greatsword, and it looks like Capcom have really given it a new lease of life!

@CJD87 I mained Hunting Horn through the majority of Rise, but I'm learning how to use Long Sword again. I dropped it after finishing, but before the big content updates released, so I have a lot of event quests and whatnot to dive into between now and Sunbreak.

I was marveling how well the game runs on the system the other day. Capcom did a tremendous job creating one of the most technically ambitious yet utterly stable releases on the platform.

Previously;

Ghost of Tsushima: Finish the campaign !Done!

Chess Ultra: get into the 1500s where I belong !Failed! Ended on 1380 or so worse at chess now than at school

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania: Complete world 4 !Done!

To buy:

Gran Turismo 7 !Done!

So Ive been using Gamepass and have played 65 games so far this year and my gamerscore sits at over 100k, bear in mind my profile has lay dormant since the 360 days. Not bad. I will be back on the Playstation in a few months once Ive mullered the last 30 on my play later list, and these are what's coming on my PS5.

Gran Turismo - Finish a further 3 tracks at gold on circuit experience.

Judgement - Start it up properly

FF8 remaster - Complete the initial 5 hours

@themcnoisy That’s an impressive number of games played through GamePass, boss! Are you planning to sub the Extra or Premium PS+ also?

@RogerRoger You may not have checked off your prior plan but you have played some monster games nevertheless. Well done.

Interesting to see PS All-Stars and RE3 on deck. Both should be really solid if my experience is anything to go by. Also both are fairly brief so can be completed rather quickly, especially in comparison to the hours that I assume Shenmue III will require. It seems that maybe Injustice whet you’re appetite a little bit for playing another fighter (PS All-Stars). The different win and fail system of these platform brawlers do take some getting used to, but I think All-Stars was better than it got credit for and I wouldn’t mind a resurrection of the franchise. Not sure if you’ve played Super Smash Bros. but I could never wrap my head around the combat in that, but I was able to platinum All-Stars. It’s probably mostly because I had higher motivation to stick with it because of my love for the characters.

@RogerRoger So many memories with the All-Stars roster… many dormant characters there. Kat was a DLC character. I think there was Fat Princess, which just feels… awkward to even say now. Sweet Tooth, who is making a comeback. The aforementioned Cole, Parappa, Radec…
Could you imagine if we had a new one with Aloy, Spider-Man/Miles, Ellie, Jin, Sam Bridges, Astrobot, Ash from Concrete Genie, Trico… the character roster could probably rival Super Smash.

@Th3solution Not for now Sol, there are literally never ending games on Gamepass. I can't keep up.

I really want to buy and play Demon Souls or HZD2 on my PS5 when I can. Either game would be better* than the stuff I have been playing graphically and as an overall package. Although when you can give Lawn Mower simulator a spin, complete Yakuza 6 then play pacman for twenty minutes there's something great about it in itself.

Also as a bit of a tight git these days. Ive only ever had 3 months Gamepass since January which my mum in law got me. Supplementing the sub by depositing Microsoft rewards points for monthly subs and now it doesn't run out until April.

That boon will pass as it's not as if I can play 65 games every 6 months. Or will want to keep playing the games on the weekly / monthly challenges. So I will enjoy it for the short term.

How are you anyway mate?

@RogerRoger Oh mercy, that’s one fantastic lineup. Substitute Tifa for Cloud and add Cal Kestis, Selene from Returnal, Jesse from Control, and 2B and I’d pre-order in a heartbeat. Special Edition even.

@themcnoisy Doing great, chief. Sounds like a nice set up with so many games to choose from. A real gaming cornucopia. I’m mulling over the PS+ Extra tier, but honestly, my existing backlog is a library in its own right, so there’s always something I’m in the mood for in my pocket. So we’ll see.

But yes, Demon’s Souls Remake is super-duper, you’ll love it if you like the Souls challenge. And I’m also getting close to buying the Horizon sequel. That game looks absolutely stunning. My problem is a lack of free time. Working like a dog and never seem to have as much game time as I want.