@Col_McCafferty@colonelkilgore It’s an interesting topic — that being whether it’s best to binge a game (play it exclusively non-stop in huge chunks) quickly or spread it out and mix in other games. I have times where it do it both ways. For example I binged RDR2 and Ghost of Tsushima (although I played them slow, comparatively speaking, due to time limits but I didn’t mix other games very much in the middle) but I spread out Horizon Zero Dawn and AC Origins. I guess it depends on mood and on how complicated the gameplay and story are. Some games are easier to drop in and out of, and the AC games are probably good for this. They have clear markers of where to go, the story isn’t that complex, and they are so huge that it just takes a long time. Just today, I restarted Persona 5 after a long hiatus and it was fairly easy to get back into.
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And I’ll post a follow up here @colonelkilgore that I enjoyed reading your recommendation to @ralphdibny on the other thread about what the Soulsborne games have meant to you as a person. I am not near the Souls-fan as you and most others, with my only claim to fame being loving Bloodborne but I will say by way of recommendation to ralph or anyone else considering them that the only way I came to enjoy the game was by being able to discuss the game with others who provided encouragement and advice, as well as not being shy about looking up strategies on the internet and watching boss battles on YouTube. If you go in thinking you will play it from scratch and Rambo it on your own, then you’ll quickly become frustrated. That’s my only advice — YouTube is your best friend when playing as a Soulsborne noob.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Yup google and YouTube are definitely your friends when playing through the Souls games as certain things can just be so opaque... and there is definitely no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to play them, as long as you enjoy them. Glad you enjoyed the read too... out of interest has the story of any of the Souls games (including Bloodborne) ever gripped you enough to investigate (away from the game) what was actually going on?
@Th3solution cheers for the advice but I am John Rambo! Nah jokin lol, I'll definitely check a guide if I get around to SoulsBorne. I do use guides and YouTube for some things but there is a sort of limit to it. I'd never use guides for an entire game. Sometimes I might check a guide early in a game to see if my strategy is correct or if I'm missing anything, it's more like a quick phone call to the boss to check you're doing it right before you crack on with the job. Sometimes if I'm not that invested in a game but I want to finish it and it's offering me a challenge that has become boring I might check a guide, I normally won't for a game I'm enjoying though. I also use the contents page of guides to roughly see where I am in the game so I can guage how long it's going to take me to finish! I'll also use guides for post/endgame obscure stuff like unlocking the missions in peace walker, they don't do that sort of super secret Easter eggs in games so much these days but I'm not afraid to use a guide if it means experiencing more of the game
Personally, I’ll check a trophy journey to see if there is anything missable... if so I might signpost it for when I’m about to get to any points of no return. Also, in Bloodborne for example you had to navigate ‘procedurally’ generated Challis Dungeons for one trophy and the ingredients to create the various dungeons were finite... so I looked up which Challis Dungeons were required and what recipe’s were needed to gain access.
Generally I try to play through blind for as much as I can though,
@colonelkilgore Yes, Bloodborne prompted me to investigate online explanations about the different endings. I used the save trick to get all 3 endings but I really needed the internet to explain them to me.
I haven’t properly finished any of the Souls games, only played the first for a short while and quit it and sold it back. I still remember the day I bought the game on PS3 at the recommendation of a worker at GameStop. I asked him what game was similar to Skyrim, which I had enjoyed immensely and wanted more. He told me to get Dark Souls, explained only briefly about the game’s setting and mechanics, and so I bought it. He did me a disservice by not preparing me for what playing a Souls game entails and so I didn’t really “get it.” Some of the frustration was the difficulty, but a lot of it was the cryptic nature of the story and mechanics. The game doesn’t explain things in the way other games do and I remember one problem is I didn’t (and still don’t) understand the whole concept of playing as a ghost or hollow being as opposed to regular form. So before I realized the importance of tapping into the community for assistance I had already moved on.
I think I’m a wiser gamer now and can tackle the series, but it’s just a time thing now. I feel like PS5 Demon’s Souls will be my next one to play though. We’ll see. I’ve also eyed DS3 since it’s supposedly closer to BB, but I realize jumping straight there will ruin some of the “narrative” of the series, but I haven’t decided for sure. Either way, it’s unlikely to be any time soon.
On a separate unrelated (to Souls games) topic, but appropriate to the thread — I noticed you have Mad Max in your backlog wi try plans to return this year. I keep forgetting about that game. I have it in my library on PS Plus and have heard plenty of praise for it. Is it worth playing now and does it hold up?
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@colonelkilgore oh yeah I did that for shadow of the tomb raider actually. Seeing as I kept popping the trophies, I thought I might as well go for the platinum so I did check to see if there were any point of no return trophies on it!
Yeah I think the Demon’s Souls remake is definitely the way to go for your reintroduction to the ‘series’. Then if it does grip hold of you, you can always play the whole Dark Souls trilogy at any point after that... and the whole Hollow/Spirit form mechanic changes front game to the other. In Demon’s Souls you can not the World Tendency in Spirit form but your health is halved (which in turn can be supplemented to 75% with the Cling Ring [maybe the best name of any game item ever!]). If memory serves, in Dark Souls you can summon co-op help if in human form but can also be invaded. Also, you can build ‘humanity’ in human form which can boost certain boss souls weapons. In Dark Souls 2 I think it was pretty similar to the original only without the ‘humanity’. In Dark Souls 3 it was again pretty similar to the previous games but you could receive ‘free’ levelling if you were ‘hollowed’ sufficiently. It is one of those things that is only ever fully understood when you are in the process of a play through and quickly becomes murky afterwards.
In regards to Mad Max... it seems pretty much like a ‘Mad Max version’ of the Middle Earth Games or Assassin Creed Origins and Odyssey. The combat is very Arkham (not my cup of tea... not the Arkham games themselves, just the combat). The gunplay seemed really weird... intentionally so as it doesn’t seem to be a big part of the game as ammo seems incredibly scarce. There are also some survival mechanics too, which seemed to fit really well with the post-apocalyptic brand. Driving and the upgrading of the cars also seemed appropriately important and fleshed out. All in all, it seemed pretty good during what was an incredibly intense two day period where I managed to cram in everything required to ensure a couple of online tasks were completed prior to the server being closed down.
@Th3solution I quite liked mad Max. I think it's worth a play if you like the movies, there's an open world aspect to it but the story is pretty linear. It does have the open world tropes that you can choose to do if you like. Overall it's not a mega long game and I did everything on it except some of the more difficult races in the post game
@ralphdibny@colonelkilgore Sounds like a decent enough game. I’m not inherently a fan of the movies. I liked the second one, I think it was, then was kinda “meh” in Beyond Thunderdome. So I never even watched Fury Road, or whatever the most recent one was. I heard it was good, so maybe I should try the movie first and see if it inspired me to delve into the game. Alas, again — it will probably be a while since I’m set gaming-wise for a pretty good while. 😄
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Yup the second Mad Max film ‘Road Warrior’ is pretty much perfect as an 80’s action film... it is a treasure. Mad Max 1 a tough watch due to its low budget production and the fact that it was barely scratching the surface of what the franchise was to become. 3 ‘Beyond the Thunderdome’ was kinda like the Hollywoodisation of the series and it really suffered as a result.
Fury Road on the other hand is great... not as great narratively speaking as Road Warrior but still very good in that regard. For me it is the world and production values where Fury Road excels though... it is a B-E-A-Utiful movie. I do have a slight problem with the recasting... I’m not the biggest Tom Hardy fan and I always struggle with recasting. Don Cheadle as War Machine still doesn’t sit right with me and he has probably done 100 times as many minutes as Terrence Howard had in the original Ironman. Personally, I’d still have had Mel as Max in Fury Road even with his age and all the baggage that would have come with that choice... that’s just me though.
@colonelkilgore I forgot actually that there is a dubbed version of the first Mad Max film. If I remember correctly it was dubbed with American accents for release over there. I can't remember whether I have the American dub or the original Australian version on dvd
I completely forget that the first Mad Max isn't even really the post apocalyptic style of the Road warrior onwards, it's kind of more just a dystopian style movie.
In comparison to beyond thunderdome, Fury Road kind of has the Hollywood budget without the Hollywood BS that comes with it. So it kinda feels more like a film the guy actually wanted to make but with loads more money thrown at it by the studio with less interference.
@Th3solution I guess the game was made to tie in with Fury Road but I don't really remember there being much of a connection. The style of it is somewhere between the old films and Fury Road. The films are all kind of standalone anyway if I am remembering correctly and they do contradict plot details from eachother too so I'd expect nothing less from the game! I basically remember the game being pretty good, I kind of thought it was going to be rubbish but I was pleasantly surprised by it
Thanks Colonel, good point about metacritic. I find what people say here way better info.
I ended up ordering AC Origins. On a different note would anyone recommend Immortals Fenyx Rising?
Some reviews said there wasnt a lot of choices and one was just led through the game more.
“Anyway, Persona 5 (and Royal, which is a slightly improved Persona 5) represents, to me, the peak of that particular series. Every previous game I've played had deep, fundamental issues with mechanics and dungeon design. Persona 5 addresses virtually every problem in previous games: negotiations are back and actually fun, unlike in the first two; guns are back; dungeons are actual, specifically designed, and thematically fascinating locations filled with story and setpieces, as opposed to randomly generated chains of hallways; the soundtrack has a lot more range to it; battles are the best they've ever been, even if I think the battle system is still too easy and exploitable (but that's true of the last two Persona games as well, and battles in P1 and P2 just suck); sections of towns and cities you explore and larger and denser than ever before; etc. I love it.”
Yep, Persona 5 fixed the boring dungeons from PS4 and kept the good things about the game. Voted best JRPG of the year and even ever released on the PS4. I love the game, best 100 hours of my life.
The PSVR is the best VR system on the market today.
Not sure where to pose this question; figured this is as good a spot as any —
I have a $5 credit at GameStop which expires next week. I’ve been trying to hold off on spending any money, saving it all for my PS5 and a couple PS5 games (Demon’s Souls, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank, and maybe Miles Morales), but of course it’s looking like that may be a few more months away before PS5 is an option.
So in looking at what games I might use my credit on, I have interest in The Last of Us 2 which will only be about $23 with applied credit, not bad. I have some other minor interest in a few cheaper titles that I could get for around $10-15 but honestly, those titles will probably just go deep into the backlog and so even though they’re quite cheap, the game I’d actually play within the next few months would be TLoU2, but I don’t want to get the game now then find out that a special edition PS5 version is going to be released soon. Has anyone heard anything definitive whether an enhanced PS5 version is forthcoming? They did it with the first game pretty quickly on PS4. Getting ray tracing, dualsense integration, additional content like the MP mode, and any other goodies might convince me to wait a little longer. I think I’ve all but convinced myself... looks like I’m going to just flush my $5 credit and wait. 😅 Unless anyone can convince me otherwise.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I was going to wait too but when it went to half price in the sale, it was too good to turn down.
It still looks great on the PS4 and pushes the console to its limits. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an upgraded version seeing as they released lots of little patches and updates initially and have since gone quiet.
I guess it depends on how much that $5 matters to you and how big the backlog is at the moment!
@Thrillho Yeah... spend $20 to save $5 is enticing but that’s how they get you! Clever little devils. But there are plenty of times when I regret not taking advantage of a sale or promo when I see the price much higher later. In the case of TLoU2, I’m confident that it will eventually be a Greatest Hits, at the very least, so $20 will be its long term price probably by the end of the year. If they release a PS5 “remastered” or “enhanced” version, then it will probably hit market at $40-50, especially if it has the MP content baked in. So I don’t know.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Anyone else noticed buying the ps4 version of games that include the free ps5 upgrade are cheaper than buying the straight up ps5 game? For example...fifa, sackboy, and miles morales were added for me this way. Of course I wish I had the ps5 game boxes for discs but not a big deal.
@Thrillho Amazingly, I have stayed clear of major spoilers, however just the general discussion around the game since release has me pretty suspicious of a few of the story beats. I’ve not read or heard specifics, but I’m fairly certain about a couple things, just from process of deduction surrounding fanbase reactions.
Yeah, I might just browse the store for some small game to pick up for a few dollars. Most of the indies don’t get physical releases though, which is a bummer. Most of the $10 games are like prior year Madden/FIFA/NBA games, Battlefield 4, Thief, etc. Tempted to take a chance of something completely out of the blue like Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story or Nobungada’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence. 😂 But I want at least something I have some modicum of confidence in, otherwise it’s better to not spend the $5.
@Th3solution I’ve had a look at some of the slightly more obscure games I’ve enjoyed recently and found you can get the bundle of both Yooka-Laylee games for $18.
I never played the first game but the second one was great if you enjoy old school platformers.
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