Topic: What PS5 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@Th3solution They're essentially a pop rock band and some of their stuff is maybe a little too radio-friendly but I when they get a song right, they can be really good

@Voltan I really like that. Do they only sing in English? I like the vocalist and their style seems up my alley. I might just have to explore all their content

I'm determined to reach Demigod in Kombat League today but of course I started by losing more points than I initially was away from ranking up lol
The grind is real

edit: ok, I'm almost back where I started

Aaaand made it. All my gaming goals for this week have been met. Feelsgoodman.

@Voltan Good work, man. You’re a machine!

I’ve never properly played a Mortal Kombat game. I’ve dabbled with one or two many years ago, but am no good at fighters. By virtue of PS Plus Collection I now have MK11 and I considered playing it just to see what the fuss was all about. Is it similar to Injustice 2? I quite enjoyed that and it’s about the only fighter that I’ve played in the last few years. They’re both from the same developer if memory serves.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I wonder if your dedication to MK and the resultant tuning of your fast twitch reaction timing has anything to do with the ease of which you plowed through Returnal. The two things might be related.

@Th3solution So the thing with me and fighting games is that I used to play a lot of them as a teenager (that's 20+ years ago) but then drifted away from them as I had less and less opportunities to play them with friends and online was mostly crap until just recently.
My last MK I played before 11 was 4.
I haven't played Injustice 2 unfortunately. I did have Injustice 1 from PS Plus but I never got into it. I guess all NRS games have more in common with each other than with other fighting games but there are still some differences between them and MK11 was the first one that appealed to me enough to get it and learn it. However, they way basic controls work, combo strings and such, are probably similar.

Just to set it straight - the one on PS Plus Collection is MKX, not MK11. There's a number of players who consider X a much better game, I personally disagree. My opinion might not be worth much as I never actually played it but I saw enough of it to decide it wasn't for me.
The main difference is that in MKX you can get very creative with very long combos. I see how that's a fun thing. Unfortunately it means that on a higher level the game comes down to getting hit once and watching the opponent delete 50% of your health bar over what feels like forever while you can do nothing. And getting hit or not often comes down to guessing right, because the game's just too fast to decide whether to block high on low on reaction. You need to guess which attack they're going to use instead. Guess wrong 2-3 times - game over.
MK11 is significantly slower than MKX, has simpler combos and instead relies more on keeping track of your positioning in the arena and resources - the game has an offensive and a defensive meter you need for different mechanics, both of them fill automatically over time regardless of you actions (which is a mechanic pretty unique to this game) and there are many interesting systems under the surface.
So yeah, the game is as much about mastering your own character, as it is about being aware of your opponents options at any given moment and making fast decisions based on that. Also, maybe even more so, it's about quickly learning your opponent's habits and adapting to them - while they do the same with you. It's kind of surprising how cerebral a game about punching each other in the face really is

Soo if you're looking to pick up an MK I would strongly recommend starting with 11 instead of X. It seems to be on sale every other month these days.
Also, I actually decided to get MK11 after randomly watching a couple tournament streams on the PlayStation channel. The commentators there do a great job explaining what the players are doing and why things work out they way they do. It looked like a lot of fun so I picked it up after X-mas and have been playing it since - there aren't many games that I would stick with for so long.

(wow long post)

@Voltan Ah, that’s very helpful. My ignorance has really shown in that I didn’t even know which version of the game I had access to. 😅 And I’m glad you warned me. One of my least favorite things about fighting games is the combo stringing. It does seem rather overpowering and, although I guess it rewards players who invest in learning those long combo strings, it makes it less approachable and I have no time or interest to get that good.

Injustice 2 is really good, although part of the allure for me was just the DC property. The light storylines were just enough to keep me engaged to play through it and learn many different characters. The fighting part wasn’t too difficult to pick up either, although I’m sure I was just scratching the surface of what is possible with different characters movesets. I actually still boot it up to play every now and then.

So regarding MKX, you’ve saved me time, effort, and HDD space so thank you! If I ever get into the series, I’ll pick up MK11 instead as it sounds more like my style.

@Th3solution I think the games are most fun if you're willing to put some time into training mode. They're also definitely most fun against a human player - single player modes can be found but they will never be what it's all about. However - you need to be prepared to learn by losing, there's literally no other way

As for MK11, it either has a pretty good skill-based matchmaking system or I'm a very-slightly-above average player - I do have more wins than loses but it's pretty close - like maybe 55% sets won this season.

I'm currently playing Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone

I ended up playing literally nothing during the weekend. Just now I played 5 sets of Kombat League (and won 4 of them which doesn't suck after a 2 week break) but it's technically already Monday

I also played the Scarlet Nexus demo over the weekend (with both characters). The combat's cool and looks like it could have decent depth later in the game, requiring you to mix up the "borrowed" abilities if you want to live. Some parts of it were still a little confusing but I'm sure they would become clearer in a longer playthrough.

There was hardly any story in the demo though so I'll be looking to learn some more about that before buying. JRPG's tend to be rather good with stories though so for now I'm interested.

Other than that - more of that MK11 grind but I also finally went back to Immortals Fenyx Rising to play the DLC. It took a while to get back in the groove with the controls and the rhythm of the combat etc. but I'm really enjoying "The New God" so far. Doing all the challenges for 1 of the 4 gods took about 2.5 hours so it's looking like a decent amount of content (and then there's the other 2 DLC packs).
If anyone played the game but hated doing the vault puzzles, they might wanna skip this one though

Playing Immortals Fenix Rising and it has been good fun. Quite easy going now that I've unlocked a few more abilities and increased my stamina and health. I started off in quality mode which was fine but when I switched to performance mode and then eventually back again, my god did the game feel sluggish to play! It looks gorgeous enough in performance mode that I don't mind missing out on stuff like slightly better lighting effects.

@JohnnyShoulder I've heard its good, I enjoyed Breath of the Wild and ive heard I:FR is very similar so I'm quite excited to play it.

If you've played BotW, how would you compare it in terms of quality?

@colonelkilgore Yeah I loved BOTW and it does feel like a more polished BOTW in terms of graphics and general presentation. The characters in Immortals I don't like that much as I find them all quite annoying, so I prefer how they were handled in BOTW. In terms of gameplay there is no weapon stability and the survivalist stuff is very light, and you a free to upgrade your character how you want. So most of that is just down to individual preferences and what you like.

I liked Immortals a lot. The dialogue/narration borders on cringe sometimes but I actually enjoyed it for the most parts. Otherwise it's a well executed open world game with exploration, combat and puzzles.

I just finished the first DLC last night (fair warning: if you're one of those people who thought vaults were the worst part of the main game, do not get "A New God", you'll hate it - luckily I always liked them) and I'm going to start the second one tonight.

@JohnnyShoulder hmm, well the weapon stability was one of the few things that annoyed me, so I'm already even more keen on I:FR for ditching that.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a little loathe to start a PS5 game when I still have PS3 games to clear out of the log-jam... but I have quite fancied playing I:FR since it was released (and I have it sitting there on my shelf... looking all greek-mythy). I might have to make some time for it.

@colonelkilgore I think it's on sale now too (although tbh it seems like it's been on sale all the time almost since launch)

@Voltan yeah I managed to grab it for £25 a couple of months after its release. I do find ubisoft games seem to get reduced more than pretty much any other publishers games.

Which is fine by me, as although their often the whupping-boys for a lot of gamers, I enjoy quite a lot of their output.

@colonelkilgore Looking all Greek myth-y eh? Are you a GoW fan? The reboot was definitely a Souls-like 😉 .Although that's obviously more Norse mythology, did you like the original GoW games on PS3?

@colonelkilgore Yeah you are boring me now with this talk of your schedule! 😂

I didn't mind the weapons breaking in BOTW so much as there were so many to be found. For Immortals there are less frequently found and they feel less unique from each other. Like I have several weapons, they may have different stats but they all feel the same to use.