Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@colonelkilgore It's in a way amazing how much opinion has changed on the game over the last 8 years. I read through some of the comments on the review here and it was all doom and gloom basically. Now people are highly enjoying the game.

Gameplay wise, it's basically a lesser Victorian-era Uncharted, which isn't necessarily a bad thing really. Especially since, like you said, the lore and aesthetic are both top notch. So are the voice acting and facial animations of course.

Unfortunately I'd be shocked if a sequel was ever made. Sony seems to completely abandon a lot of games/series, especially ones that they think bombed. It would have been interesting to see Ready at Dawn tackle different eras, which they clearly planned on doing given the title.

@KilloWertz I think the reason that people are liking it more now than they did back when it released is due to it being so cheap nowadays. People’s main complaint was the game was full price and could be finished in a few hours. Saying that, I bought it for full price at release and didn’t regret it at all.

@Bentleyma Comments here after the review was posted 8 years ago suggested people here gave up on the game before it even came out, but yeah, overall that seemed to be one of the main complaints about The Order: 1866 elsewhere. I do think the game would have been more successful now even if it was short if it was highly reviewed though as there are other short games that have been successful, although obviously a lot of them weren't $60.

It's price now obviously doesn't hurt at all, and that combined with the new perception of the game definitely contributed to me buying the game either early this year.

@KilloWertz Yeah, I hadn’t thought about the short game length being more acceptable now versus 8 yrs ago. I do agree that clearly the full price tag for the game was its largest issue, but also in the context of 2015 there was a real movement toward the longer epic games, a trend which has continued until the current year. But now I feel like the pendulum is swinging back toward gamers being more open to have AAA quality experiences that are more manageable and less bloated. An example is how Assassin’s Creed is really promoting AC Mirage as being “back to its roots” as a shorter, more focused game after the series gradually grew more bloated since AC Origins in 2015. The shorter length is actually being used a selling point.

But in 2015 there was a lot fewer games to choose from that had the long epic feeling. So the The Order 1886’s contemporaries from that year like Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, and GTAV all set high expectations for what a $60 AAA game could be. As many may recall, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes had also just taken it in the teeth from the public for being too short for the price, and The Phantom Pain came out in 2015 and redeemed that prior issue.

So if The Order would have released at $40, certainly that would have helped, but I think it still would have been panned because of its length. Whereas now, a similar short AAA release could attract better press since gamers have a boatload of 100+ hour games to choose from along with mountains of eternal live-service games to sink thousands of hours into. The shorter, tight narrative-driven AAA and AA space is a niche that really needs to be filled in better, imho. I really enjoyed The Order 1886 for what it was.

I’m really looking forward to Baldur’s Gate 3 despite never really playing the first two games and their expansions. Well that’s changed now! I’ve binged the first Baldur’s Gate for the last few days and have now moved onto the Siege of Dragonspear expansion. Definitely one of those games I’d wish I’d played sooner. Despite the aged graphics I’ve not played a game that’s immersed me so much in ages. The world is a joy to explore. You show up in a town and don’t know what adventures await you. The sense of adventure is unmatched, even by games like Skyrim and The Witcher 3.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

I'm only a few hours in, so it's way too early to give my opinion on much of the game yet, but I am enjoying it so far. A lot of it will likely come to down which side of the fence I end up being on in regards to the crew.

Blasphemous

I've beaten the first two proper bosses in the game and explored over 30% of the map now.

Aside from thinking the zappy lightning ghosts in the Chapel of the Burned Visage area are highly annoying (And instant death from falling on spikes is a bit cheap) I'm really enjoying it.

I guess I'd also say the bile flasks (The "Estus" flasks) can feel a bit on the stingy side with the amount of hp they restore at the moment but other then that it's REALLY good.

Maybe not as good as Hollow Knight but it's pretty dang good none the less!

Okage: Shadow King

I've got to chapter 4 now an beaten 3 evil kings already and am in the dungeon for the 4th.

Honestly my thoughts are still pretty much the same as they are in my impressions piece of it. Odd, charming with witty dialogue, a unique art style but the turn based combat is pretty basic.

Though I did find out that some status effects like silence work a bit differently with a severity or levels to them.

Getting hit with lvl 3 silence makes it so you can't attack, use skills or even items which is pretty cool actually and kinda wish all the status effects worked this way to add more tension.

just started playing Trails of Cold Steel 1 for my Playstation 4 an hour ago. impressed with how big the first town/city is to walk around before heading to the academy.

After a couple of false starts (I originally intended to play it in October 2020) I finally started Dragon’s Dogma this morning and I have to say it’s grown on me pretty fast. It’s a bit rough around the edges and a little haphazard… but it’s got character… and freedom. Looking forward to how it all pans out to be sure.

@colonelkilgore I look forward to reading your thoughts as you get further in. I really enjoyed the pawn system. Beyond the now infamous chatter they provide, it’s a great asynchronous multiplayer addition. I love that kind of stuff like the shared structures in Death Stranding and the player messages and death animations in the Souls games. I can’t wait for DD2 where I’m sure the pawn system will be even more fleshed out.

Assassins Creed Valhalla, I am about 24 hours in.

@Th3solution well I probably put around 8-9 hours in today and am definitely agreeing with the hidden gem status oft attributed to the game. I had a spot of luck too, a few guys on my friends list must have played it and gone pretty deep, so I was able to enlist their pawns who are pretty high level.

The combat obviously feels a little archaic compared to the action RPGs of today but I reckon it is still a step Obote the Elder Scrolls games. A real shame it got looked-over at release (on PS3 & PS4) but hopefully the sequel will be awesome and redress the balance.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through Blasphemous now.

Granted I've only played 4 Metroidvania's before (Hollow Knight, Bloodstained, most of Monster Sqanctuary and a bit of Symphony Of The Night) but I think I'd easily put this in second to last place (with Monster Sanctuary dead last).

Aesthetically and artistically I'd say it's the strongest one but... There's a lot of design decisions that are adding up in my mind that are bogging the experience down.

Restrictive is probably the key word I'd say for a lot of things wrong with the title in my opinion.

• The bile flasks give way too little health to start with and making them restore more health means sacrificing one. Makes sense with the context of the game but... I saw very little gains from doing it a first time. Wind up using them takes a while too.
• I had two charms/Rosary bead slots (buffs) for about 12/13 game hours in before I could finally add more charms to my Rosary.
• I've only had 4 prayers (spells) for the longest time and they've not been very useful.
• The teleport is godawful. Not the teleport between "bonfires" that was added in a patch later on (I don't know how you'd ever know how to get it without looking it up mind you) but the in game teleport rooms are in perhaps the worst and most useless locations you could ever imagine.
• Traversal just isn't fun. There's no dash, double jump or ANYTHING like that to increase your mobility or movement options meaning it's just an absolute chore to get around the long sprawling hallways.
• The bosses are aesthically great... But I didn't find them all that engaging to fight and there's only been... 4? It's felt REALLY light on those.
• The soundtrack is pretty subdued and more atmospheric. Which is fine... But it hasn't really gelled with me all that much.

I don't want to say it's style over substance... But it unfortunately feels that way to me.

Spellforce 3 reforged, no idea what made me start it but I'm really enjoying it.

Decided to buy a month of PS+ Extra. Saw that Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is on there, so I started playing it first. It's a lot of fun! I can't believe that I haven't experienced this series much earlier. The concept is so simple yet so fun. I'm glad that I have three more games to play after this one.

i heard that Persona 4 Golden for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch, that the game has a new game feature where you can turn on or off EXP booster.

Is that true?

@LN78 😂 Other search engines are available, such as Bing... if that still exists.

@JohnnyShoulder I'll ask Jeeves.

Still playing Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain, which is getting more and more fun. I just unlocked the Prawler class which lets me swing around like Spider-Man. So much fun!

I also started up Onrush as I saw that I had it in my PS+ library. Another game that's tons of fun! It's basically Motorstorm but actually good. I've only played the first Motorstorm but I gave up on it since it was so difficult to play. Onrush is much more streamlined. I'm definitely enjoying it way more than Motorstorm.