Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

You know I've never played a Far Cry game @Ralizah. In fact I haven't played anything Ubisoft, the defacto open world maker, (that isn't Rayman Legends) in over 15 years I reckon!

Well I hope Spidey grows on you. Bit too early for comparisons but... I think Ghost Of Tsushima would be preferable to you at the moment no? And even then you abandoned that just like I did (Though not for the same reasons)

@HallowMoonshadow It has grown on me. I've been playing it until my eyes are literally watering, lol. I'm about 79% done with the main story and still have a bunch of checklists to take care of, but it's quite fun. It sort of feels like a cross between the Batman Arkham games in terms of how vividly and lovingly they re-create this comic book world with the structure, action, and exhilarating movement of the Gravity Rush games. Toss in some of Sony's trademark blockbuster setpieces, and, yeah, it's a really good time.

Like Gravity Rush, it also feels the need to bore players with the occasional stealth mission. The puzzle minigames also feel like a bit of a waste of time. And SO much of the game's content is very rote.

Overall, though, it has really gotten me hooked back into my PS4. It also performs very well and looks gorgeous on the 4K set.

Well I wasn't expecting that much of a turn around!

Playing until your eyes water does remind me of my experience with the game in that my son had borrowed it from a friend of his and only bothered to tell me he had it the same time he told me he was giving it back in like four days so... I was up til like 4am the one night playing it. Luckily it was a weekend!

I don't think ANYONE is a fan of the MJ stealth sections Ral... You definitely aren't the only one!

Good to hear you're enjoying it more and I hope you enjoy the DLC stuff too (I haven't played that myself!)

(Oh and I've only played an hour or so of SMT V thus far but it's been pretty good so far!)

@HallowMoonshadow how dare you, micheal Jackson stealth missions were the best.

SMT V is quite good yes. I’ll have to get back to it, but I’ll have to switch platforms. My buddy lended me his copy via family sharing on steam but PC gaming is not viable for me these days outside of games I already played or ps2 emulation. I’m gonna hover to my Xbox, which I pre-ordered the game in advance.

@HallowMoonshadow Yeah, I can jump the gun a bit at times. Downside of being opinionated. That said, some of my initial complaint still stand. I think I just started enjoying controlling Spidey more.

I've beaten the story now. I was originally unsure if I would go for the platinum trophy or not, since mastering some of these challenges is absurd (when the game gives me a silver rank in a combat challenge when I complete it quickly and rack up a 50x combo score by not taking a hit, it makes me unnecessarily frustrated lol), but I've heard the DLC (included with my version of the game) also includes challenges for additional tokens, so I might just try for it after tackling the DLC (which won't be now, because I'm a tad burnt out atm).

Yeah, the MJ and Miles sections were almost all universally annoying. And so many of them! Ugh. MJ's last one was less annoying because she had a taser which allowed her to knock out enemies in stealth, but still. I'll never understand this NEED developers of all nationalities seem to have to stuff in unwanted and frankly unnecessary stealth sections in games.

SMT V has always been awesome. Original release had some major issues, but it's always felt like a vision for what the future of Atlus JRPGs should look like to me. Vengeance might be one of their very best releases in terms of how it actually addresses so many of the original's inadequacies. That said, it'll unfortunately never have the new game mystique the original had for me, so, despite being excellent, I'm not quite as into it as I was into the Switch original.

Started up Red Dead Redemption II today. I originally played the game for a couple of hours back when it came out in 2018. I stopped playing it due to its realistic mechanics. I'm curious to see how I'll find the game today as I'm going in with more tempered expectations and I also have a lot of free time now to get into its mechanics. Hopefully I'll find the game more enjoyable this time around.

So I downloaded Assassin's Creed: Black Flag as my last talk with Ralizah was quite enlightening in that I haven't played anything Ubisoft that wasn't Rayman Legends for the best part of... 15 years?

I heard Black Flag was one of the best AC games in the old style plus it's about pirates so that's pretty cool... Right?

... Good god I am having trouble. It's the exact same as when I tried the original title to me. It's clunky, the freerunning/Parkour activates (Or doesn't) at the worst possible times.

I'm only on the second proper mission which involves tailing some dudes and goddammit these city guards have eyes like a damn hawk!

How forced was it to get the assassin outfit in the beginning too? I'm not even gonna mention the modern day segments. I've always hated the setup for this series without even getting into the ridiculous parts of it.

Honestly very tempted to just pack it in right now... Maybe try Origins or Odyssey instead.

@HallowMoonshadow >.>…. Child of Light is the best Ubisoft game, that’s really the one you should play, if you’re a huge fan of Ray man legends.
UbiArts deserves better. V.V as Sol would attest.

... Oh wait @Yousef- I have played that. That's the RPG with all the rhyming right and the redheaded princess, only two party members? I forgot about that... I think I got towards the end before abandoning it

@HallowMoonshadow if you’ve gotten to the end and didn’t like it, that’s completely ok, you gave it a fair shake and that’s what matters more to me because I believe that’s what it least deserves :000

Honestly I really don't remember much about it (Which is unfortunate and probably rather telling of what I previously thought of it) so I might give it a look again @Yousef- if I find the time!

Played a couple more hours of Red Dead Redemption II and the game has finally clicked with me. Its realistic mechanics don't feel as bad as back when I played the game for the first time. And the most important thing is that the game feels like the first Red Dead Redemption now in terms of the gameplay. All the realistic mechanics made the game feel vastly different from the first one initially, but not anymore. I'm really enjoying it now!

@LtSarge weirdly enough, the mechanics were never what bothered me. It’s the fact I’m not huge into cowboy dramas, which is why undead nightmare was my favorite >.>

I 100%ed the DLC campaigns for Marvel's Spider-Man, so now I'm back to the main game, doing an Ultimate difficulty NG+ run for those final two trophies.

In terms of the DLC, I feel like the first episode was extremely strong, but the other two fail to live up that same standard. Overall, though, it's extremely good stuff, and in some respects I enjoyed the DLC's narrative more than the one in the main game.

I really hope Screwball doesn't come back in the later games, though. Her vocal performance is almost unlistenable at times. I literally muted the TV during some of her challenges because the actress' screeching was giving me the beginnings of a headache.

I'm not saying the performer did a bad job. Just that the end result, even if they achieved their vision for the character, is unpleasant to listen to.

Silver Sable is a fantastic personality, though, and I loved how prominent her role was in the final DLC episode.

I'm 100% playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2 at some point. But I think I'm satiated for now (definitely by the time I finish up this NG+ run). By the time I get to Miles Morales, we'll probably be hearing talk about Spider-Man 3.

After this, I have a number of games I could play next on PS4. I thought about going back to Ghost of Tsushima, but... eh. I feel like I've probably forgotten the controls for that game anyway at this point and should just start over at some point in the future. Besides, while Sony blockbusters are very good fun when I get into them, I also have a limited appetite for them. I think I'll probably opt for Sakura Wars or 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim instead, which have sat unplayed on my shelf for many moons.

And to think last month when you started it seemed like you were unsure if you'd even stick with it

Good to hear the DLC's have some good qualities to them too! Most people just talk about the base game so... Good stuff!

On and put me down for a tag if you play Sakura Wars or 13 Sentinels.

There's something about 13 Sentinels that's never piqued my interest compared to Odin Sphere or Dragon's Crown so I'd love to hear some impressions.

And for Sakura Wars I just haven't heard anything at all really but always been interested (Even moreso now I've gone into a bit of a Bleach kick again and know Tite Kubo does the character design in that game)

@Malaise Sakura Wars it is, then! Honestly, yeah, I have limited familiarity with the franchise overall (never had the opportunity to play the Wii/PS2 entry that came over years back), so I'll be curious to see what it has to offer. I'm a bit disappointed it's not an SRPG anymore, but eh.

@HallowMoonshadow Wow, really? The DLCs honestly feel like they should've been main story content. Really fleshes out the Spider-Man/Black Cat dynamic in the first episode, gives a proper character arc to Yuri Watanabe, and bridges the gap between the main game and Miles Morales.

I've always been very interested in 13 Sentinels, but resisted buying it for years because I wanted it on Switch (or Vita, but that obviously wasn't happening), then not long after I get it on PS4 it comes out on Switch. So I've been obstinately ignoring it until now. I thought about just selling my PS4 copy at a loss and repurchasing on Switch on sale, but eh. I kinda want the platinum for it, so I'll stick with this version.

Sakura Wars is interesting insofar as it's one of the few remaining third-party Playstation exclusives. It's never been ported anywhere else over the years. Even Sony's own games all seem to be heading to PC.

Been playing Tales of Berseria

Finally got back into Diablo 4 - just started from scratch with sorcerer and having fun!

So I had about a 45 ~ 60 minute long gaming session of Atelier Ryza last night @Ralizah.

It having only a Japanese dub I was a little worried that Ryza might have a high pitched giggly voice (my nails on a chalkboard) but thankfully her voice was rather nice and I like her tomboyish/headstrong personality looking for adventure after being stuck in the boonies all her life.

The nerdy guy friend is a bit of a wet blanket personality wise. The knight looking guy is okay though.

The music was absolutely delightful of what I heard so far.

... I'm a little mixed on the combat system though.

It's turn based but has a timeline/atb like system to it showing the party and enemies actions. You don't control the two other party members though (You can switch over to them, but it's way too fast to control two, yet alone three).

I'm not a big fan of automation (I infamously played OG FF XII without using gambits) so... We'll see how it fairs. I did think it was strictly turn based so that's on me.

It is a bit basic for combat to start with and I surprisingly wasn't actually given any healing items for the starting dungeon (with Ryza actually dying/on 1hp only a few fights in).

It was only the first dungeon and I don't think it actually wanted me to fight everything... But I wanted that EXP.

Oh and there's a photo mode and the game in general looks rather nice too.

@HallowMoonshadow Sounds pretty good so far. Was there any crafting? Supposedly this series features a huge focus on crafting, which is a big part of why I've hesitated to try it.

Also, FFXII without gambits?! You're a madwoman.