Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

Oooh nice to hear your early impressions about Concrete Genie @Th3solution . Wasn't too sure what to make of the game myself admittedly, plus I'd much prefer Medievil as my smaller 8 hour+ Sony joint

Had a little go of the Disgaea 4 Complete demo.

Troy Baker is still a delight as the bumbling Valvatorez with his love of sardines.

Only did the tutorial fight with the prinnies mind you... I'll have a proper go tomorrow.

The voice switching however for Valatorez is increcibly jarring in this which I understand is due to the additions they had in the vita version?
Only happened in the battles so far mind.

Much as I like Matt Mercer he cleary doesn't sound like Troy in the slightest... Why didn't they redo the entire voice track?

My journey through Drangleic and Dark Souls II:SotFS is going well too. Got to the Harvest Valley.

The boss in the Huntsman's Copse is sooooo stupidly easy I don't feel bad at all using the npc summon sign of Creighton to try and make it a bit harder with the hp boost they get.

Covetus demon is going down! And so is Mytha, the Baneful Queen!

@Kidfried Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good! Even written and video guides for the hard golf course have numerous holes where no one has a clue how to get anywhere near the hole. I still have the bingo one to go at some point..

General Kiwami thread: https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/ps4/yakuza_kiwami

@KratosMD Are you pushing for the vacant mod role?

But that’s fair enough seeing as the 3-5 remaster was announced since that thread started. Although you can never have too much Yakuza!

Well seeing as I'm off work for the week (More or less) thanks to half term I'm gonna put Dark Souls II:SotFS on hold so I don't burn out on all the rpg's I've been playing

Gonna spend some time on Rayman Legends and the Crash N.Sane Trilogy

Also completely unrelated but I like the avatar pic change @KratosMD ! It's only just started showing up on the mobile version of the site now!

I've been a bit quiet on here for the last couple of weeks, but there has been some gaming going on. I finally started Shenmue II and I've finished the Hong Kong section and have just travelled to Kowloon.

Unlike the first Shenmue game, which I played to death back in the day, I've never really experienced the second instalment outside of a few brief goes. As a result, I was both nervous and excited at starting it, and it seems like both emotions were justified. It has aged badly in places, just like the first one, but if you can learn to ignore its issues (QTEs, Ryo's cumbersome movement, that massively punchable guy who you do the crate carrying with) it can be a relaxing, almost transcendent experience.

I think part of the reason it took me so long to get around to Shenmue II was because, at the back of my mind, I felt like it was all in vain, given that Ryo's story would never be continued afterwards. Now that the third game is happening (and is nearly here) I've completely immersed myself in it all. As a result, my hype levels for Shenmue III are rapidly starting to build. At this rate I'll be driving around in a forklift truck and spending all my wages on Space Harrier within a week.

@RogerRoger Yeah, you'll be fine. For me, the big thing was picking the right time to play it. It's best played when you're not in a rush, and are feeling forgiving. It can be very calming if you treat it as some sort of bizarre meditation game. The QTE's can do one though, to borrow your phrase. They were tolerable in the first game, but the sequel ups the quota significantly.

@RogerRoger Ha, yeah, it is a strange combination of soothing and infuriating. Whenever it starts to annoy me I go and play darts or buy capsule toys for half an hour.

I don't think I've ever looked forward to a game in the same way I'm looking forward to Shenmue III. I guess Sonic Mania was kind of similar. I just can't wait to get the game and lose myself in it. I was going to wait until Christmas, but I'm considering day one, if only for the inevitable hilarious bugs.

@Gremio108 I'll be with you on day 1 for Shenmue 3. It is my one and only game which I funded through Kickstarter. I've never played a Shenmue game before and I have no idea whether I'm going to like it or not!

@JohnnyShoulder That's brave. I think it's going to be great. Believe.

I spent quite a bit more time with Concrete Genie this weekend. I’m still not finished but I’d guess I’m about halfway. I’m finishing up the underground sewer section, as a reference for anyone has played it.

I am really torn with this game. I have so many criticisms of the game. It has a lot of glaring weaknesses and profound faults, unfortunately. However it is simultaneously brilliant and fantastic. That sounds weird, I know.

I’ll do a full review later after completion with the details of why I describe the game with such diametrically opposed praise and criticism. I will say that when I’m not playing it, I’m thinking about it and anxious to get back into it. There are some itches that it is obviously scratching for me.

@RogerRoger Yeah, I’ve experienced a range of emotions during my 4 or 5 hours with the game so far. At times I get upset at the game or mumble under my breath at it when I experience one of its shortcomings. Then I’ll have moments of pure slack-jawed wonder and giddiness when I see some of the great things it does. In addition to it invading my idle thoughts when I’m not playing, another bit of evidence that it’s doing something right is that I have been using it’s photo mode. I know that’s one of your particular interests. I’m typically pretty lazy about doing screenshots and I don’t think about it while I’m playing, but the game is slow paced and the creativity aspect of it breeds a desire to capture some of the images.
I will try to post some of my screenshots eventually; I know I’ve said that before but never have. I just need to work out the whole process first. So is the best approach to upload the images to an online web image storage site via the PS4’s web browser? I’ve never attempted that before but I think that’s what I was going to try. I don’t want to fiddle with memory sticks and jumping things back and forth to a computer.

@Arugula Well said. It does have a nearly hypnotic effect because of the stunning visuals. And yes, the map is one of my points of dissatisfaction.

Started playing Resident Evil 2 REmake. I kinda knew what to expect as I played the demo, but the game looks top notch. Very gruesome and with the updated more detailed graphics some of the sights are pretty grim. Also sounds really good, I spent a few minutes not doing anything and listening to all the background noise. Creaking floorboards, a groan from near by, a window smashing etc. All adds to atmosphere.

For life of me I can't remember who i played in the original, I seem to remember starting off in a shop and a guy helping find a way out, but I now have a feeling it was the third game.

Nope you're remembering right that is the original version of RE2 @JohnnyShoulder (I played it earlier in the year in fact)

Whomever you play as first ends up in the Kendo gun shop

In the third you start off in warehouse.

Good to hear you're enjoying it. The second is my favourite overall of the series so I really need to get my hands on the remake soon

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Cheers, this one starts out a bit differently then.

I went with Claire in the end as I'm pretty sure I only did a Leon playthrough back in the day.

@Th3solution If you are not on social media like me, the only way i found that works is when you send the screen shot to someone. If you have the PS messages app, you can then download it to your device.

@RogerRoger What's MyFace?

I started The Last Guardian this weekend and so wanted to leave a few early impressions.

I’m about 2 hours into the adventure, so I can’t be definitive about anything, but it’s a positive experience so far. When they call it a “spiritual successor” to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, they are certainly being accurate. It feels closer to Ico, and with the similar art style, setting, design, and character movement - it could almost be marketed as a direct sequel. Graphically and functionally it is so close to Ueda’s previous works that it does feel a little ‘last gen’. Being an early PS4 entry, some of the graphical infidelity and dated controls might just be a sign of its development times. On that note, I have yet to really see why the game has such a long drawn out development cycle. The game doesn’t feel like a game that took 7 or so years to develop. I know from reading about it that it was a victim of a small studio biting off more than they could swallow with the PS3’s difficult programming architecture. In transferring over the project to PS4 and turning over technical development to Sony Japan Studio, a lot of time was lost, but there was an obvious attempt to keep the vision consistent with what Ueda’s team produced on the PS3, and it shows. Not that it’s a bad thing, the game’s strength appears to be in its thematic integrity and artistic design, which I’m grateful Sony let Ueda continue to influence and oversee the project after Team Ico’s departure. But it does make the game feel a wee bit dated, despite being lovely and charming.
As opposed to my recent thoughts on Concrete Genie’s character designs, I think the simplistic cel-shaded appearance here of the boy, Trico, and the environment make for a timeless presentation that remains beautiful even after game design progress has things looking more and more photo realistic.

Gameplay-wise, the well documented frustration of dealing with Trico’s independent AI is apparent to me already, but since I had read about this I was prepared for dealing with it. It’s reminiscent of Agro in Shadow of the Colossus, who was actually in my mind the star of the game, and so I expect I’ll feel similarly about Trico by the end. Having him or her act independently like a real animal is part of the narrative point, I think, even if it results in gameplay frustrations.

Anyways, overall the game is the peaceful and contemplative work of art that seems true to the visionary’s “design by subtraction” philosophy. I adore Shadow of the Colossus, with all its warts, and liked Ico as well. I’ve no doubt that this game will be among my favorites this generation — perhaps not because of groundbreaking technological achievement, but because of its emotive power.

But it’s early. I reserve the right to be disappointed or to be blown away by the conclusion. 😛

Tagging @Kidfried because I seem to recall your championing of this game as one of your favorites and you might be interested in these early thoughts on the game.

Playing through River City Girls. I am really enjoying this game. It's a nice addition to the Kunio series and I can see that this game will have alot of replayability. If you enjoy old school beat em ups then you will surely enjoy this game.

@Th3solution I absoulety adored The Last Guardian, i think you will appreciate the way Trico behaves a bit more if you've ever had a cat or dog. I grew up having them in the house, so picked up the behavioural language from him. His obedience levels do get better at a certain point in the game.

Oh and I would not class the graphical style as cel shaded. That would be something like Borderlands or Sly Racoon. It also came out three years after the PS4 was released, so would not class this as an early PS4 game either.

Started Spider-Man earlier. The web swinging is excellent, you can tell Insomniac put a lot of effort into making zipping around New York feel like it is a lot of fun. Graphically in cut scenes it's good, but in normal play I think it looks a bit average looking? I suppose sacrifices had to made due to the speed that you traverse through the city most of the time.

@JohnnyShoulder Lol, I’m not sure I can confidently say what cel shaded is, but it’s just that sort of painted appearance, at least for the boy. It’s fairly unique, I’ll say that.
I’m pretty sure I’ll really like TLG the more I play. I like this kind of game every now and then.

Good to see you’re enjoying Spider-Man. Yes, the visual strength is in the animation and kinetic feeling. Spidey himself also looks fantastic even in cut scenes up close in nearly every suit. Otherwise, like you say, it’s pretty standard visuals for an open world game. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

@Th3solution From Wikipedia:
"Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades."

Hope that clarifies things with you. 🤣