Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@Th3solution Tails full name is actually Miles 'two tails' Prower. He pilots aircraft although he can fly himself. No idea how a fox became a hedgehogs best mate, fortunately he is as together they form one of the best levels in Sonic history. Sky chase.

Knuckles was a baddie in Sonic 3 as Robotnik / Eggman tricked him into believing sonic was on the Rob. He's a goodie at heart and looks after the chaos emeralds on whatever planet he comes from. The Echindas are on the critically endangered list as Knuckles is the last remaining one. That moniker does little to stop him climbing without a harness up mountain ranges though.

The rest of the cast are incredibly dull and stupidly thought out.

So I bought a few cheap games this week.

Super stardust
Demetrios cynical adventure
Enigmatis trilogy

Weirdly Enigmatis the ghosts of maple creek is in my top 3 games I have played this year as my wife has helped me. She wouldn't usually play ps4 but was quite happy to help out The ambience is quite spooky and the story is dark too. The map screen and navigation is brilliant for an indie game. Gameplay wise you view a mural and find a list of objects, which is about as fun as it sounds - until you add alcohol. The sporadic puzzles are also way better than anything telltale ever cooked up.

@RogerRoger I like the idea of not being able to play Sonic because you don't understand his motives. @Th3solution is the method actor of gaming.

@Thrillho Lol, I think you’re on to something. Games have to make sense inside my head for me to fully enjoy them. Drop me in the middle of a fictional world and then have me do random stuff for no reason with characters that don’t make sense?! Ppffshh... preposterous.
Now excuse me, I’ve got to go and pretend to be a high school student in Tokyo who carries around a talking cat and uses an app on his phone to enter a world where I fight shadows with the multiple demonic personalities in my mask in my pursuit of making the world a better place by stealing people’s hearts.

I started replaying the first Destroy All Humans game on PS4, can't wait to replay it again when the remake comes out!

So, four or so hours into Horizon: Zero Dawn, here are my first impressions:

• The environments are beautiful. Absolutely stunning. I've been abusing the screenshot button like mad so far.
• The environments might be a bit TOO detailed for their own good. It's... a bit difficult to pick things out on the ground. Tracks are difficult to see. Robots you've downed can be difficult to find without detective mode because they just blend right in to the scenery. I've had to do a ton of squinting at the screen so far.
• The character models in this game, on the other hand, are hideous. I won't go so far as to say they're Mass Effect: Andromeda levels of bad, but they're not too far off. The slightly robotic body movements and the frequently 'off' faces make these people fall on the wrong side of the uncanny valley. Child Aloy, in particular, was almost hard to look at; it was like her proportions were out of whack, and she looked sort of like a CG troll doll without the tall hair. She's easier to take in as a teenager/young adult now, but the faces... ugh.
• Why does the camera like to hug Aloy's back? It's a little better now that I'm out in the open world, but it was almost making me claustrophobic in earlier sections of the game when it was right behind her shoulder.
• I've only encountered two or three types of robots so far, but I can tell I'm really going to like these encounters. Every battle forces you to think strategically, and I think that's pretty cool. Seems a bit Monster Hunter-ish, in fact.
• This game makes me wish Sony supported gyro aiming. The DS4 has a great gyroscope, so it could totally happen if people pushed for it. Trying to line up precise shots with the right analog stick sucks, unfortunately.
• Photo mode is awesome. I'm going to be using this a lot to take nature shots in-game. I already have.
• More open world games need proper climbing systems. Every time Aloy needs to go off the beaten path, she is either forced to awkwardly Skyrim her way up a hill or else, if she finds handholds, the game suddenly turns into Uncharted. Seriously, the climbing in this game is identical to the climbing in Uncharted.
• Not sure if it's just because I'm early in the game and need to actually unlock more of the map, but I've run into that message about not being able to go any further in a certain direction twice now. It sucks, and really destroys the immersion. I'd prefer they set up natural barriers instead.
• I'm having good fun completing side-quests, finding loot in the wild, and killing mobs of enemies so far. I'll probably continue ignoring the main plot as long as I can manage.

@Ralizah Yeah, I was put off by the early character animations and the somewhat strange bobbing head movements when they are speaking close up. But yeah, there’s really nothing as bad as child Aloy anymore in the game. She was the worst. The robotic movements during dialog choice scenes is here to stay, but the character models get better. In fact they are very well done when static. The art direction is fabulous. Sometimes I would just admire the costuming while I was interacting with an NPC. The hairstyles alone are other worldly. 😄
Specifically the open world will yes, er.. open up. 😄 So I think you’ll be fine with that soon. You’ll get accustomed to climbing too, but I do remember being a little frustrated a few times when I couldn’t see the handholds on a few areas. Especially as you’re searching for collectibles and climbing random mountains later, there will be a time or two that can get you frustrated not knowing how you’re supposed to traverse the cliff after trying for 30 minutes, only to find the handholds hidden in the wall right in front of you the whole time. In general Aloy is a lot more quick and automatic in her climbing than Nathan Drake. More catlike in how she jumps from handhold to handhold, as long as you point her in the right direction. I really like the animation of how she moves.

@Th3solution Eh. Still feels like Uncharted 4 climbing to me.

I'm liking how you can target and knock off specific parts you need from a robot. I have to send an arrow through a cannister on a Strider's back to get the flammable material I need for fire arrows, for example.

Is there anything to find in the wilds beyond materials and robots, by the way? The scenery is breaktaking, but I feel like there's not a lot to find out in the woods. It might just be because I'm still in an introductory area or something, though.

Playing Mass Effect Andromeda as I've been fancying some sci-fi recently. They definitely fudged up some of the human faces! 😂 Some of them look quite bad, almost last gen. I went for the default female character, and in some scenes she seems to be smirking when she shouldn't be. Her eyes and lips also look a bit wierd sometimes, the latter almost like she really bad liposuction done! 😂 The alien races are bang on however. And what is up with some of the dialogue? "My face is tired" wtf. 😂

Anyway those are my only grievances with the game thus so far. I found planet scanning such a chore to do it in the previous games, and although I can see the way it is done in this game to become a bit boring, it definetly seems to be more streamlined than before. Traversal is cool with the dash boost and hover abilities offering more options in combat. The nomad vehicle also seems a lot better to drive stohnf in than in previous games.

I really dig the sense of wonderment you get whilst exploring the planets, especially when you get to the monoliths. I love it when games do this, the last game that i got this from was God of War and before that Horizon Zero Dawn. I'm in my first vault and I'm getting strong HZD vibes from when you go into one of the Cauldrons.

I'm playing Andromeda as @JohnnyShoulder but having to read subtitles helps becuase it halves the time I have to watch humans faces!

@Tasuki So not to derail this thread, can you unlock the Mass effect Andromeda one please?

https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/ps4/mass_effect_andromeda

@JohnnyShoulder it should be unlocked now.

@Tasuki Cheers buddy! 👍

@JohnnyShoulder I actually enjoyed Andromeda overall. Despite a few odd expressions and some 'dialogue' that sounded emotionless and literally reading off a script rather than voice 'acting'. Of course this isn't a massive part of the game and most was 'ok' (not the best admittedly). It seemed to impact the 'humans' but speaking to the alien races seemed better.

I agree that the 'scanning' can get tedious - having a cut scene just to move your ship from one planet to the next, then a cut scene to get into Orbit before you can scan for the 'thing' (if there was one) that's there and repeat for all in that little section to get 100% did drag on a bit.

I don't know how far into the game you are but I thought the environments you actually get to land on and do things weren't too bad overall with one in particular a standout visually - I won't say more in case you aren't that far yet. Much of it really felt like Mass Effect to me - particularly the Ark Hyperion (like the Citadel) and Tempest - also the Nomad is a lot more fun to drive and get about. I also enjoyed the combat more too because of the more 3 dimensional more open environments. The previous games were much more 'corridor' linear battles where you are battling the enemy in front of you to progress along that linear path. Here, the combat is much more free-form and not necessarily all on the same plane either. Weapons can be quite fun to use too and more so as you progress and craft some of your own.

I actually completed everything - all side quests, all scans, everything on each planet etc etc - 100% completion. All this was before numerous patches to 'improve' the eyes etc. You can see that at some point, they moved from Unreal to Frostbite 3 which wasn't so familiar to the developers (was it forced on them by EA?) and whilst it did suffer a lot of staff changes too, the biggest problem was more 'polish'. In typical EA style, they delayed it as much as they were willing to - which is always in the same financial year. It was going to release when it did regardless of whether it was 'fit' to release or not. It was clear that work was needed on the facial animations before it released but instead of giving Bioware another 6-8 months, which would have pushed the release into the next financial year, to polish and fix some of the glaring visual issues. EA has done the same before (Battlefield: Hardline for example) and then wonder why these games 'disappoint' because they don't sell as many copies as they expected - not that ME:A wasn't profitable as they were happy to state to their Shareholders, but sales were still well below projected targets.

I think it makes much more sense to give the developers more time to get a game up to standard, fit for release - which in turn could sell better than projected because its not having memes made mocking the game, not getting 'mediocre' reviews, not having a 'negative' reputation that will put people off - not just those that would be sat on the fence, but even the fans of the franchise. The one big thing that Sony (as a publisher with numerous Studios - like EA) have done very well this generation is give their Developers time to get the game up to a very high standard for release (maybe not so much with Driveclub and Days Gone) which has paid off in both critical acclaim/awards as well as Sales too. ME:A was released on more platforms and the fourth game in a beloved franchise yet Horizon: Zero Dawn sold significantly better. The Witcher 3 may be the third in the franchise but it was a change in its structure and for many gamers, this was their first time with the franchise. it certainly wasn't as well known as Mass Effect but that's sold 20m. I know it had some minor performance issues but it shows you what can happen if you get the majority right at launch.

I get more concerned when EA delay a game until 'March' because that signifies that the game has until then to get everything right or at least a small day 1 patch to bring the game up to a reasonable state because the game had to be sent off weeks before to make the physical edition. If you look at the games that have been delayed from EA, that's games like ME:A, BF:Hardline and most recently Anthem, it says everything.

As I said, I played ME:A to its conclusion and its not worth full price - even after the patches - but its also not the worst game ever. You almost have to forget that its 'Mass Effect' and approach it more from the perspective that its a game heavily influenced by the trilogy. Now that it is greatly reduced in price, I think it offers a 'decent' campaign with decent combat and some impressive environments to spend time in. Its a 6.5/10 game at full price but if you are a BIG Mass Effect fan expecting a 10/10 'next gen' and worthy entry into the franchise, then that score could well drop an extra point or two. Its like expecting an Xbox One X and getting an Xbox One S all-digital edition...

I think I'm nearing the end of Tales of Zestiria. The last big story event I cleared was the fight against that dragon at the battlefield and now the party is all jazzed up about preparing for the "final battle", so we'll see.

Quite a bit of sidequests have opened up, so I'm focusing on those for now. Beat both the Medusa type bosses in the village of Forton, then I dealt with the art dealer who had those kids killed, so I wrapped up those side arcs I believe.

Currently playing Red Dead Redemption 2 which I picked up during the Days of Play sale. It’s been a bit slow to get going but I’m impressed by the visuals and overall production value. I hope things will pick up once I get to the meat and potatoes of the game and it isn’t just an interactive movie. Also playing NBA 2K19 and will start MK 11 which I also got last week.

@klky Yeah, things do pick up, pace-wise, but never reach a very fast pace. The game is fairly slow and methodical in how it’s constructed, but the open world is so unique and interactive that it’s nothing near an interactive movie. In fact, most people veer from the story for dozens of hours doing random things in the world like hunting, robbing, exploring, doing side quests, etc. It’s a long haul, but we’ll worth it if you can make the long slow journey to the ending.
Most people who enjoy it have embraced the pace of the game. Just consign yourself to the moseying cowboy pace of the game and take your time soaking up the expertly crafted world.

@RogerRoger If RDR2 gets too boring, I'll simply stop and move on to something else. There are far too many good titles to be playing something you don't fully enjoy. Admittedly, I can be quite impatient with open world games if they don't draw me in almost immediately which is why I'm more reluctant to pick those up. Even with all the hype surrounding RDR2, it is only now during the Days of Play sale that I decided to try it out. Same reason I still haven't pulled the trigger on Horizon Zero Dawn!

@Th3solution Thanks for the feedback and advice. I'll see how it goes! The whole Western theme isn't necessarily my thing, but because it's a Rockstar title (and was discounted during DOP), I decided to give it a try.

@klky Yeah, I know a lot of people don’t like the “keep playing it because eventually it gets really good” advice that comes with so many of these types of games, but I have to say, the story is top shelf once it gets going. And Rockstar has made the most detailed world I’ve ever experienced in gaming. No other game gets close, really. The world really feels alive.