Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN Ahhh I see. Playing guitar sounds pretty tough. I’m glad it’s bringing

Haha, no problem! I’m glad to be here! I haven’t been doing much personally. Just playing some ps2 stuff.

I've come to the conclusion that traditional jazz is too "rigid" for me to enjoy 100%, need some free jazz or jazz fusion elements to open things up a bit, then it's perfect.

Edit: I refuse to go back to rock!

@Th3solution As someone, who I know is prone to play a plethora of different games and is open-minded when it comes to the games he chooses to play, I was wondering if you had played this and if I could get your take on it or your two cents? Idk if people in the U.S still use that expression anyhoo?

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN oh yes, I did play that last year! (And yes, we still “give our two cents” when we share a small personal opinion about something). 😄

Stray was actually a game played together on the Game Club forum, so there’s quite a lot of a discussion there from last year, including my own.

If you’re interested in reading my full comment after finishing the game, it can be found in the Game Club discussion thread here. But here’s an abridged version of those impressions from last year:
“Overall I found it to be a wonderful experience. It’s very polished and well made for a AA level game. There’s some very gorgeous visuals and art design.
The gameplay is decent, and personally I liked the platforming. I did have a number of times when the jump icon prompt wasn’t appearing very intuitively and it created some mild frustration, but nothing too bad. The puzzles are well done and usually strike a good balance of challenge and simplicity.
The story was better than expected. Before playing the game I knew there was some basic futuristic setting, but I really didn’t know much more than that. I really enjoyed the world and the lore involved. I even grew attached to some of the characters, including the protagonist, which is saying quite a lot in a game with no real voice acting and very limited social interactions.”

Feel free to follow the link to the discussion from myself and various other users when we played. It’s mainly contained in comments #171-192.

In retrospect now a year later, I do think back fondly of the game. I’d say it’s better than expected, and a pretty short game that was well worth my time. I played it for “free” on PS+ Extra, so cost didn't affect my review of the game. It looks like it’s $30, which is probably a little steep for a 5-6 hour experience. So it all depends on your financial tolerance. Generally speaking I think of $2 per hour of gameplay is a reasonable low end target (a very subjective measure, I admit), so this is a wee bit on the high side (at $5/hr) there of that arbitrary scale. But the quality of the product is definitely there and as I said in my post-game impressions, it’s surprisingly well polished and beautiful rendered.

If you are a cat-lover, add a couple extra bonus incentive points. 😄

@Th3solution Thanks for that valuable and informative review! I definitely aim to pick it up at some point.

@Th3solution @BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN

Just to chime in, as I loved Stray 😁

It was honestly my game of the year (after Elden Ring) if ER didn't exist Stray would have been it, for me, that year.

It's short overall, but it is well crafted enough a world that you can still get lost in it for a few hours a night. So if you like getting immersed in game worlds it is great for that. Not a game to rush though, more a game to experience and exist within for as long as you can drag it out. Gameplay wise sometimes that amounts to following the trail of a small puzzle, sometimes it is literally curling up on a pillow while listening to music for a while.

And the characters are better written than half the stuff you see these days, despite them never really speaking 😍

It's published by Annapurna too, who have experience with more independent movies, and are actually releasing a fair few games now. There's a few coming up that were shown in the Xbox showcase, and because of Stray and the kind of films and games they back, I think that makes them worth keeping an eye on too.

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN I can also vouch for Stray, I really enjoyed my time with it. It definitely feels a bit different to what I normally play, so if you feel like straying from the path I reccomend it.

@JohnnyShoulder Like what you did with the wordplay there!

@BlAcK_SwOrDsMaN @JohnnyShoulder
Agree with Johnny that if you’re feline the urge to stray from your usual games, it would be a purrfect fit, so be sure to pounce on it if you find it on sale to save yourself some scratch.

Good evening. Cool to see the chit chat thread in PS still active. Hope everyone is enjoying their day and weekend.

@Kidfried
I prefer cat than dog.

I feel a bit guilty for not finishing Stray. It’s very nice to look at and I respect what it goes for, I just don’t think it grabbed me.

Also think I’m typing remarkably well considering I lost count of how much I’ve had to drink in an attempt to forget the Scotland game.

@Malaise Hahaha, honestly not a big drinker these days, usually stick to the non-alcoholic stuff so it’s like riding a bike except the bike makes you feel sick!

@Th3solution 🤣

@Th3solution I'll just add one I think you may have missed - You gotta be kitten' me!

Well it's my first day of vacation and I'm already bored. I just want to go back to work lol. Thankfully, I'm moving to a new apartment in a few weeks so that will keep me occupied. I'm so looking forward to moving as I've bought a lot of new stuff, including a new TV. I've had a 37 inch HD TV since 2010 and now I've bought a 65 inch 4K OLED smart TV. It cost a pretty penny but it was worth it. Genuinely cannot wait to play my PS5 and Series X games in 4K, HDR and all that.

@LtSarge
Oh nice. I also decided to treat myself to an OLED TV which is due to arrive tomorrow after a lifetime of mostly buying more budget friendly boxes. Now I'm thinking I should aim to play some more graphically taxing and pretty games rather than the retro style pixel art stuff I tend towards. Maybe Death Stranding or Horizon Forbidden West, Spider-Man 2 or something? How about you?

@sorteddan Same here. I'm actually intentionally holding off on playing games with good graphics until I move and get my new TV. I'm playing right now Far Cry Primal and I can easily say that I'm not missing out by playing it on my new TV lol.

But yeah, I was also thinking about some first-party games on PS5. Horizon seems like a good choice and also Ghost of Tsushima. Maybe Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart as well? I've also looked up games that support 120 FPS and I think the new Resident Evil games (2, 3, 4 remakes as well as 7 and 8) have PS5 upgrades that support that. Might give that a try as well. I've become obsessed with every game having 60 FPS performance, so the best thing would be to find games that support 4K and 60 FPS.

I honestly think it's a good time to get a 4K TV now simply because more games have that option now that PS5/Series X are out. And I'm sure future games will have that option as well, such as the new Astro Bot game as well as Silent Hill 2 remake.

@LtSarge @sorteddan Every time I’ve upgraded my TV technology I’ve been really pleased. After going 4K OLED recently, now when I go back to my standard 1080p set (which was a perfectly good TV), I think it looks blurry and muted. Congrats and absolutely give some of the newest games a try and enjoy the beautiful graphical fidelity! Spider-Man 2 looks fabulous and has the 4K/40 fps option. Rift Apart is beautiful as well. Others I’ve played that look great on my OLED are FFXVI and FFVII Remake (haven’t played Rebirth yet but it’s supposed to be gorgeous), A Plague Tale Requiem, and SW Jedi Survivor. I’m looking forward to HFW, which many have said is the the most beautiful game on the PS5. I also can’t wait to check out Hellblade 2 in all its 4K OLED glory, which is arguably the most stunning game made this generation.

@Th3solution Oh right, I should continue playing FFVII Remake on my new TV. It'll probably look much better.

I'm kinda tempted to replay Hellblade II just to see how it'd look on my new TV.