Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@Thrillho I had the same problem. It all feels very overwhelming. I decided I'm just going to do the story and only bother with side-content during the campaign if I don't have to go out of my way to do it. I can always go back and do it later.

I started playing Dead by Daylight. It's good. It's not great, but it's good and a good Plus offering as I would never have tried it otherwise and it's a different game which I appreciate. I feel like it's balanced pretty well so far and they made both fun, so you don't always want to play as the killer. I wonder how hard that is, to make sure being the killer is awesome, but being a survivor is also lots of fun since you need 80% of the people playing survivor.

@Kidfried @Ralizah I haven't done a single story mission today but have just played the Cabaret Club minigame and done all the training for Yuki as well as beat the first big club.

@Kidfried
I have actually taken the same approach with JRPG's and have tried to be selective with which I purchase to reduce getting bored of them. I will still try and push on for now and hope the story picks up enough to capture my imagination.

@Kidfried I've just been replaying the first area over to complete all the special training for the first platinum hostess. And then just beaten the Club Mars "battle".

They're quite good fun and can be a little challenging. I've hoovered up all the potential hostesses from the map plus the ones from previous sub stories so have a good roster to use. It's more entertaining than the real estate business for sure!

@Kidfried I've heard BotW stressed some people out. I found it supremely relaxing in general, though: one of the few games where I could really "lose myself" in the world. I think, beyond the fantastic layers of interactivity in the open world, it's also because of the singular focus on open, freeing exploration. Most games, even games I like, I tend to still have one eye mentally on the clock... but this one I could just be immersed in for hours.

With Yakuza 0, the game isn't really one I can lose myself in. The vectors of interactivity are very limited, and the game is tightly structured: full of chapters, involved cutscenes, organized lists of optional activities, entire systems and subsystems to explore within the context of the narrative, etc. The entire game is one giant, segmented "to-do" list. Which doesn't make it a bad game, by the way: I think it does certain things very, very well, and I tend to enjoy my time with it. I just don't see it being one of those "do whatever" games I can relax with.

@Ralizah @Kidfried One of the interesting things about Yakuza 0 (and I assume all the Yakuzas are the same style, i haven’t played others yet) is that the side content can hit you randomly. I might be making a beeline to the nearest phone booth to save and quit the game for the day, and an optional side quest pops up spontaneously on my way there. And I almost never say “No” when an NPC asks for help so there I go, thinking that I’ll just complete this one request before I quit for the day and there goes another hour. 😂
But I do think it’s refreshing how it is spontaneous like that, rather than just opens up all the icons at once and has you go through in an organized fashion. Rather I might play Side quest #25 within my first couple hours but for you it might not pop up until hour 10, if at all. The randomness is kinda nice, and then kind of frustrating at the same time. For example I would have like to knock out early all the missions that involve getting an NPC available for recruitment later in the real estate or cabaret mini games, but it’s just chance as to when you cross paths with those people.
I haven’t completed Yakuza but I have liked it and I think I might try to blitz through the story if I can ever get back to it. I’m just letting my mood guide me and when I’m in the mood then I’ll return to this and Persona 5 — two long, long games that require some dedication.

@Th3solution Oh yes. The game is very good at making it difficult to quit without completing at least one more side activity that has recently revealed itself.

The side content is charmingly strange, though. Unlike anything I've ever encountered in any other game I've ever played.

@Kidfried True but the real estate business is a bit annoying to have to keep going back to.

Could they not at least have put a taxi near that part of town??

I really didn't like LA Noire when I tried it on Xbox 360. The high-detail motion captured faces were an interesting innovation at the time, but I just didn't enjoy trying to tell when people were trying to lie to me, the button prompts often didn't line up well with what my character ended up saying, and the game feels very... restrictive.

Started playing A Way Out with my son and we are enjoying the game alot. It's a very unique game play mechanic and the story is great too. To me it feels like we are playing a buddy flick type game. Can't wait to see this one through.

@Kidfried I actually forgot about it too, till my son got it from Gamefly and asked if I wanted to play it with him. We are actually having a blast with it and the co-op get.play is brilliant. Even when we fail at parts we have a good laugh and then I find ourselves discussing how we messed up and possible ways to get past the point.

@Kidfried Yeah, definitely play it with someone else be it a friend, family member etc. I don't know if it would be the same feeling online maybe if you had mics but definitely really shines with people in the same room.

Played more of Assassins Creed Origins over the past few days. Still enjoying it and really like the combat. I like the different strategies you need to employ. Some enemies you can block their strikes with your sheild and get a few hits in. You can also use your hard strike to stagger enemies which is useful for shielded enemies to create an opening. But some can do the same to you so you need to either dodge or riposte their strikes. Others with have huge shields who you can't stagger so you will need to dogs their strikes or move round behind hit em. And then there are archers and wildlife which can come into play. I'm sure there will be more enemy types introduced later too.

I'm finding that I am varying what weapons I'm using too. Usually with games like the Soulsborne games i tend to stick to the same type (mostly cos I don't have enough points in the right stat)of weapon. With Orgins you are free to use any weapons as long as it is not a level higher than your current one. So the heavier maces and hammers take a lot longer for each strike to land, but do a devastating amount of damage. Then you got stuff like the twin blades which are super fast but you have get in real close to land any hits. Each type of weapon also has it own super move which you can pull of by filling out a meter and finishing move, which are pretty brutal.

I see some have commented on the Odyssey review round up article that the side quests can get a bit samey. I've not got to that stage yet as I've not done a great deal of them. Probably helps that I'm not playing it frequently. There is loads to do, if I can i always try to vary the tasks if I need to grind a couple of levels, that way i find it helps to prevent the repetion setting in.

@JohnnyShoulder Thanks for your impressions of AC Origins. It’s interesting to read them as I have it in my backlog and have had trouble finding the time to play it. The feedback has been pretty positive all around for it, but it’s hard not to look past it at Odyssey first. But reading your enjoyment of the game helps to steel my resolve to play Origins first and wait for the inevitable price drop on Odyssey later on.

@Th3solution No problem at all!

I think you mentioned elsewhere that the last AC game you played was Black Flag, which is the same as me. I never did finish that game, I seem to remember I just had other games to play rather than not enjoying it.

The only fault I can think of is that it does that Ubisoft thang of filling up your map with icons, so can feel a bit overwhelming. Usually with open world games I would feel inclined to mop up all the icons. But for some reason I've not done this here and I've tried to move on in the story missions as much as possible. I think one of the reasons is that some of the places I've gone to had enemies which were too powerful for me to take on. So rather than struggle or level up for hours, I've just moved on to something else.

I almost bought it as it was in the Ubisoft sale on the PS store, but I will wait until my Dad has finished with it. He is currently struggling with it so hopefully he will give up on it lol.

@JohnnyShoulder Sometimes I like it when a game with lots of side activities has some that are clearly high level enemies because it kind of forces me to move on through the main storyline or to do other activities first. I prefer to know the suggested level first before I waste my time starting something and then get destroyed by the enemies there. But the high level enemies gives the game some better flow than if you open a new area and there are 20 icons all of a sudden and you feel like you have to do them all right away.
In some games, like Horizon Zero Dawn for example, the menu will show the suggested level for the side quest and so it’s easy to know whether you should wait and come back later. Does Origins guide you in this way or is it just trial and error to find out if you’re underleveled?

@Th3solution Yeah the Quests tab in the menu details quests that are outstanding and the reccomended level. Anything you see in the world which will destroy you will have a red icon above their head. I think a couple of levels higher than you will be a challenge but still doable, these and enemies at the same and lower lever have a white icon above them. The enemies with a red icon will almost one hit kill you, well they have done to me whenever I've faced em lol. If I see any of those I stay well clear of them.

It kinda works how i remember it in Falout 4 and The Witcher 3. You can accidentally go into a camp or whatever but the game gives you enough warning so that you can do a runner. Like I fast travelled to an eagle point forgot that it was where all these lions were who all had red skull icons above em (which is never a good sign). I thought I was trapped and I jumped down into the hay and they were all around me. But luckily they were all sleeping so I managed to sneak away a bit, until they noticed me and then I had to run until I got to higher ground.

And you are encrouged to use your eagle to scout ahead, who can directly control now and tag enemies and points of interests. That is one of my fave things to do in the game.

I'm five or so hours into Okami HD now. Having not played it since 2007, I was worried the gameplay wouldn't hold up, but it hasn't aged a day. Absolute gaming bliss, that's what Okami is!

@JohnnyShoulder @KratosMD That sounds pretty awesome. I will play Origins eventually. I actually haven’t played Witcher3 yet either [*cowers in gamer shame 😔 *] so I might have to flip a coin when it comes to that. I actually think that after finishing Sot Tomb Raider that I’ll play something else from this year first in order to get some of the 2018 stuff under my belt first before year’s end. Like all the GotY candidates
such as maybe Detroit, GoW, Red Dead2, or Spider-Man. Not sure. I will completely let my mood dictate what I tackle first.