Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

Horse Club Adventures

Sniper Elite 5.

I've finished Chapter 2 Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana.

So... That came outta nowhere.

It's bad. REALLY bad.

I quite like everything else though.

Hummel's got a mystique to him that I like. I don't really like his moveset all that much so far though sadly and I don't think I'll ever drop Laxia from my party either to switch him in unless I don't have a choice.

I really like the slight metroidvania-esque design with the adventure tools and I enjoy roaming the island and finding your fellow castaways and the whole help unblock/uncover new areas mechanic too.

And the combat has only gotten better and better to me. It's so goddamn fast and exhilarating!

I'd say the narrative is the weakest link at the moment. But honestly the gameplay is so enjoyable I frankly don't care and I have no doubt it'll pick up soon 😄

@HallowMoonshadow I can totally see why you didnt like that part. The first 2 chapters as you said aren't the best of the story . Chapter 3 onward it gets a lot better though, at least in my opinion. The story picks up a lot of pace there. Just like you i didn't mind the story of the first 2 chapters that much since the rest was so enjoyable. Good to see you like it overall.

I’m playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered. It’s really good, but I still think Drake’s Fortune is the best game in the PS3 trilogy.

I beat chapter 3 of Ys VIII yesterday @Lavalera and I'm wondering now that I'm on the north side of the Island if I'll get to play some Dana sections thanks to Adol being linked to her? Either way I'll be very interested to explore this part of the island with all the primordials.

Falcom sure likes their slow burning plots though. Have you played any of the other Ys games or the Trails series?

Still not sure what Hummel's deal is at the moment. Still quite like him and interested in finding out what he's looking for.

I do like Ricotta though. She's so fast compared to Sahad and with all the stat buff potions and exp powders I hadn't used til then I did manage to boost her up significantly so she's basically on par with the others stat wise too.

Plus she has Mango maces for weapons... What's not to like?

Maybe, maybe not I can't answer that question without giving away spoilers so not gonna answer that.

It was my first ever falcom game tbh but I got a lot of their games in my backlog. Haven't been playing jrpgs for that long but after playing games like Yakuza like a dragon, Scarlet Nexus, the Nier series and Tales of arise last year I became a jrpg fan. So in different sales I picked up Ys 8, 9, origins and Memories of Calcetta. And trails of cold steel 1 to 4. But with trails I'm waiting until trails from zero and into reverie drop, because what I understand from a jrpg expert 1 and are perfectly fine to play without the others but 3 and 4 are heavily linked to zero and reverie. Ys 9 is currently 3rd on my list for next game to play since I like to differentiate types of games but looking forward to that. From what I heard it isn't as good as 8 but still a good game

And agreed on Ricotta. After I unlocked her Sahad went onto the bench and mostly I played with her in the party. Her skills are just so much fun.

Just completed a run as the Paradox in Enter the Gungeon, possibly one of the most broken runs I’ve ever done as I got Glass Cannon, Metronome and Ancient Hero’s Bandana. Anybody who’s played the game will understand why that’s ridiculously broken! Anyway, that launches you straight into an attempt to unlock Gunslinger… at which point I beat the run but forgot to pick up the Bullet from the Blacksmith. So all of that was for nothing as it just launched me into the credits instead of taking me to the past. Great.

I’m playing Akiba’s Beat. The Push Square review was correct when it said that it’s mostly a visual novel, as you do spend a lot of your time staring at animated character portraits. It’s all voice acted in English, which I do appreciate.

I’m really enjoying the combat. It basically plays exactly like one of the older ‘Tales of’ games. You have basic attacks and special attacks that you can set to X and the analogue sticks.

One thing I’m not keen on is the pinkish purple colour the developers decided to use for the menus and the HUD. It looks awful. I don’t get why they went with that colour.

Started Sniper Elite 4 this morning and really like it so far. The map on mission 1 was excellent, so I can only image how impressive they’ll get later on in the campaign… quality game!

I recently platinumed my replay of Assassin's Creed II, great game (despite it's age) and would highly recommend.

Right now I'm near the beginning of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, about to pass where I stopped playing it in the past. Everything going forward will be completely new to me.

@RogerRoger A true glutton for punishment, indeed. The only thing more shocking would be if you posted your first screenshots from your playthrough of Elden Ring. Or Madden’22.

@RogerRoger Haha, well - never say never, right? 😂
As far as Shenmue 3, I did very much enjoy your reviews of the previous games, and there’s a certain fulfillment that I feel like the games probably give the player too. I’ll be curious how this third one sits with you. From what I understand, it’s more of the same and so the same struggles and complaints regarding the gameplay will likely be no surprise, but I think where the fandom got salty was the lack of narrative conclusion. I might be wrong about that, but I hope for your sake that the dozens of hours you spend driving a forklift (or whatever it might be this time) will at least result in some satisfactory story and character closure. Good luck!

Since I'm sweeping up stuff for my Lego star wars platinum, I decided to start the next game on my backlog list.
Fist of the north star lost paradise. Made by Ryu GA Gotaku, the studio also responsible for making the Yakuza games. It's based on a popular manga from the 80s. The story is a psot apocalyptic survival story based on mad max
The main character Kenshiro is based on Bruce Lee, his fighting style is a, what a surprise, martial arts one. Haven't played much yet but the combat feels more like Mortal Kombat and those kind of games and also a lot more blood than the Yakuza games. Pretty interesting until now

Assassin's Creed Origins

It's really nice to finally be playing this in 60 FPS. I originally played it on Xbox, but wanted to give it a second chance on my PS5 now that the patch is out. Playing it today, you can kind of tell it was their first open world game, as the combat isn't quite as smooth as it is in Valhalla (and even Odyssey if I remember correctly). I've gotten used to it again for the most part.

@KilloWertz I know the 60fps patch might be changing things, but overall how would you rank the three last AC games? Not just based on gameplay, but on the whole package of enjoyment. I’ve only played Origins at this point (and obviously it was pre-patch)

@Th3solution I know I'm going to go against the masses, but I didn't love Origins as much as most did, which is another reason why I'm replaying it on my PS5. I've been wanting to give it a second chance for a while. I didn't really care for the ending, which obviously leaves an impression for everybody for most games. It might be a silly reason to some people, but I didn't really care for the fact that Bayek and Aya broke up in the end. I felt it was forced in the end just so they would be split up and off doing Hidden Ones stuff by themselves when they could have just done it together. Maybe I'll feel differently about it this time around.

So, with that, I would rank them Odyssey, Valhalla, and then Origins. I don't want to raise expectations too high, but Odyssey was my favorite game of the last generation, so that automatically would be at the top of course.

@KilloWertz Good to know. I think all 3 have their fans, for sure.
I can see where you are coming from on the Origins story. The specific plot issue you mention isn’t necessarily what bothered me, but the Bayek character in general was a little drab in my opinion. I ended up really liking the game and he definitely grew on me throughout the course of the campaign, but he lacked the personality of an Ezio, and lacked the interesting background of a Conner. Apparently Kassandra is a much more interesting protagonist.

Since I have a copy of Odyssey then your endorsement helps to solidify that I should play it next when I want to reach for an AC game. Rather than Valhalla, which would be one of the few PS+ Extra service games on the list so far that would entice me to subscribe. And actually, I’m not sure the subscription service is the ideal way to play an enormous game like Valhalla since it would likely take me a couple months to finish, and there’s a chance the game will get pulled eventually.

<A side note, but I do wonder if there will be a nice discount for PS+ subscribers who start a game on the service and want to buy it after it leaves the catalogue. I would hope so, since GamePass apparently does that.>

Regardless, I can only do one AC game per year, maybe two if they are separated by at least 5-6 months. I’m actually impressed you can jump into a large open world game so quickly after HFW, even though you cleansed your palate over the last week or two with True Colors. Open world fatigue might be imminent. 😄

@Th3solution And Kassandra is just a bit better looking...

It's technically part of Ubisoft+ Classics, so it would be up to them to pull it. I would think it would be on there for a while given that it's the only Assassin's Creed game on there and the only thing relatively new to try to get people to subscribe to Ubisoft+. Still, Assassin's Creed games have always been on sale frequently over the years, so even if you want to buy it eventually it shouldn't cost that much by then. I'd probably still play Odyssey first given that the real world story is the one thing that continues from each of the three games (and is actually fairly decent in Odyssey for once).

It's Sony, do that's questionable, but it would be pretty bad if there wasn't a discount at least right before it is scheduled to leave the service. Game Pass gives you a discount on the games until they have left the service.

I played Cyberpunk 2077 before True Colors as well. It is an open world game as well of course, but the GTA kind of open world game, so that makes it different too in a sense. I definitely won't be playing another open world game after Origins though. Maybe an Uncharted 4 replay via the Legacy of Thieves Collection like I originally planned before the 60 FPS patch dropped for Origins.

@KilloWertz @Th3solution I actually enjoyed Origins, exploring ancient Egypt was pretty fun, you can definitely tell it was their first attempt and an open world and there are a few snags here and there but overall I thought it was a pretty solid game. Oddesy was much better though I enjoyed it that much I even went for the plat. Kassandra is a good character and the supporting cast are more interesting than that of Origins. The main part I did not like in Origins was the part on the boat so when I heard you spend alot more time in a boat in Oddesy I was really put off but they did it alot better so it's actually quite enjoyable.

I am yet to try Valhalla but like you Sol I need at least a 6-8 month break because of how big the games are, I Will most likely jump in to Valhalla some point as its part of the new plus extra.