Topic: What PS5 Games Are You Currently Playing?

Finally started up Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Playing the Intergrade PS5 ver.
So far I really like it. It’s about what I was expecting. I’ve just done the first chapter and I like the characters all except Barrett. And I’m warming up to him gradually.

I’m not sure what the graphical upgrade is versus the PS4 version but the game looks great. I’ve been messing around with performance and graphical modes, and I’ve been leaning more graphical on other games but for some reason this feels and looks better in performance mode I think. Lots of flashy colors and particle effects, and the textures look good to me.

I like the battle system so far. I skipped FFXV so this is my first FF game since FFXIII and there’s a lot more action in combat. I chose to do the game on easy, non-classic mode. It’s probably a little too easy right now, but I’m sure it ramps up later. I’m just unclear of all the mechanics; there’s a lot going on all at the same time during combat and it’s a touch overwhelming.
Tagging @TraCuz- and @TheBrandedSwordsman since they were interested in my initial impressions. Which, like I say, I’m pretty positive with the game so far, but it’s very early.

@Th3solution Trying going back to graphical mode after spending time in performance mode. I've not tried it in this game, but in others it has been a killer for me. That's not a good thing, BTW. 😆

@Th3solution The combat is one of the best things about the game so it’s worth getting used to it if you can.

But it wasn’t until I replayed the game on hard that I really used it fully with more specific materia loads and making sure I used every character fully.

@JohnnyShoulder I agree that if you start on performance mode it’s hard to go back. It’s why I couldn’t get back into HZD for game club and it took me a while to get to grips with Yakuza 6 too.

I’m intrigued as to what witchcraft Insomniac use to get the mode with 60fps and some ray tracing. It’s interesting that Control let’s you quite happily change modes without needing to reload your game like the Insomniac ones though.

@JohnnyShoulder I tried that on Rift Apart. God, it was awful. It felt like I was underwater or something, it hurt my brain!

@Thrillho Interesting, all the games I've tried have allowed me to change it without restarting the game. The Insomniac option does sound like more advanced though. I guess they might have been working with the PS5 tech the longest and have been able figure stuff out that other devs haven't yet.

@NedStarksGhost Yeah it's like when a character is walking knee deep in snow. When I did it in Demon's Souls on PS5, it did make me a little bit queasy.

@JohnnyShoulder @Thrillho Yes, FF7R Intergrade allows you to change graphical modes on the fly.
For me, the drop in fps makes it slightly juddery and I hadn’t noticed it so much in Control. Probably it was all that thing of being accustomed to 30 fps after years of PS4, since Control was one of my first PS5 games to play. After playing over 70 hours of Returnal and 15 hours of A Plague Tale, both of which just run at 60 fps natively with no option to change it, I think my eyes and brain are now reprogrammed and spoiled to the higher frame rate. It’s what everyone had been saying and I just didn’t feel it but now I think I do. And maybe it’s game-dependent. When I eventually play Miles Morales and R&C I’m going to try out 30 fps again and see if it still bothers me.

I think my TV supports VRR, so I’m anxious to see if I can tell a difference with that enabled, if Sony ever patches in the functionality.

@Th3solution Yes you could be officially broken. Or fixed. I forget which one now.

Your TV may support VRR (it will most likely be Freesync or HDMI VRR), but unfortunately PS5 does not at the moment. There has been rumoures of it coming in an update in December however.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, I believe it’s Freesync. Have you experienced it with PC or Xbox? If anyone has feedback as to whether it makes that much of a difference I’d be curious.

@Th3solution Fraid not, only have a Switch and a PS5. Plus my TV does not support it either. It is the sort of thing that could be kinda backward engineered to some TV's that only have HDMi 2.0, but I don't hold much hope up for mine with it being a European only model.

Finally launched Ghost of Tsushima after the upgrade and it’s glorious.
I loaded up my old save but after running around for a while I decided to start a new game (not even ng+) because I have no idea how to play it anymore

@RogerRoger the combat is even easier in FFXV tbh... great game though. It was my first FF and although I thought it was terrible for the first 10 or 15 hours, I loved it by the end.

@colonelkilgore I was the opposite with FFXV, liked it all the way through but didn't like it towards the end and gave up eventually. I did have a lot of minor niggles with the game which mounted up throughout my time. The end of my time was just the final nail in the coffin.

@JohnnyShoulder out of interest, did you play the release version or the Royal Edition as I’ve heard that the final part of the main story plays out quite differently (& a lot better by all accounts) that that of the original version?

@colonelkilgore I have no idea, soz.

@colonelkilgore I think that’s the first time I’ve seen anyone describe the later half of Final Fantasy XV as better! God I hated those last few chapters 😂

@nessisonett so the Insomnia City ruins are apparently much expanded in the Royal Edition (I only played the RE, so I couldn’t tell you how much of an improvement that made) and quite a few new bosses added to that section also. So the city felt like a boss run, one of which (Omega) wasn’t in the original version but was far and away the best boss fight in the game (maybe top 10 boss fights of all the games I’ve played tbh).

@colonelkilgore The last chapter was at least alright in the base game. The problem is the previous 4 or 5. Everything after the Leviathan fight was just awful and completely on rails!

@nessisonett ah right, yeah I get your point… the ones after you travel to the other country via boat I’m guessing. If so, yeah they were very linear but didn’t take long compared to the rest of the playthrough (probably around 5% of my playtime)… not the best part of the game but I still had some cool stuff left to do after it.

I suppose what I was alluding to when I said I didn’t initially enjoy the game, was that as my first Final Fantasy game it was ‘a lot’ 😅… and I didn’t quite know what to make of it. The game had already won me over well before the linear chapters, so I wasn’t actually saying the second half of the game was better than the first, just that it took me a minute to acclimate.

@nessisonett That rings a bell, and could be about where I gave up! Was a few years ago though, so could be mistaken.

Got the platinum for Ender Lillies: Quietus of the knights earlier. That was a great game put about 40 hours into it to see everything.

Only 2 trophies away from getting the plat in GG Strive but I absolutely want to throw my dualsense when I reach Nagoriyuki. Will possibly have to find a cheese for that fight, on the plus side though Jack-o is great fun to play as.

I started Doki Doki Literature club + so I'll be playing that and also start exploring the new DLC for GoT, how is everyone finding that?