Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 539

Back into Shadow of the Erdtree, and wrapping up Nobody Wants to Die as well. What a fantastic narrative it has been!!

Otherwise some MLB The Show Diamond Dynasty and maybe diving back into Rise of the Ronin.

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Princess Peach Showtime!: Like so many, I've been itching for a Peach playable adventure and this is both a vibrant and cleverly inventive one. It's great to see Princess Toadstool in the spotlight and hopefully she'll get another chance soon.

Oxenfree 2 and giving Remnant 2 a try. Hoping I can get into it

I would love another decent Track and field game like the one in the thumbnail. Used to play that for hours back in the day.
On topic- i will be playing some more GT7 over the weekend on ps5. Im finding after the new update the traction on super soft tyres is crap. Its like driving in the wet when braking in to a corner and im not convinced its more realistic. Maybe some more unicorn overlord if i get time and on switch i will be playing Famicom detective club: The girl that stands behind.
Have a good one.

I’ve still been playing First Descendant, despite me at first being very negative. I have half-change my opinion but it sure is addictive!

Just bought Elden Ring so will be starting that alongside some various boosting commitments and a little more Dungeons of Hinterberg which seems promising. Have a good weekend everyone 👍

I’m still playing Supermarket simulator which I’ve been playing on and off. I’ve been itching to jump back into a RPG of sorts, so I’m toying with the idea of playing Horizon Forbidden West and actually finishing it.

Completely engrossed in Kingdom Come deliverance. It’s now one of my favourite games ever. Like a real world Elder Scrolls but without the crap level scaling and with an actual engrossing story. The sequel has just jumped to the top of my most anticipated list. Main thing that needs to be fixed is the clunky combat (not being able to lock on to whom you choose or manoeuvre strategically mainly) and I’d like them to do away with timed mission. Other than that though very happy with more of the same.

After finishing Rise of the Ronin I felt I needed a bit of a break before playing the next "big" game which I think will be Stellar Blade but No one wants to die might slip in between. Will decide today or tomorrow 🙂 Anyways, I've been playing:

The first Descendant and Asphalt Legends Unite - both free to play, not the best games ever but suites my gaming mood for now.

Dungeons of Hinterberg - I've played for about an hour but its not what I hoped it would be. Might give it some more time but will likely drop it.

CoD MW 3 campaign - So yeah, MS finally drops a CoD on gp and its the worst game in the series 😒 The opening mission in the campaign is pretty good, its CoD as it should be, but then the open world missions that follows are not good at all and not what I want from a CoD game. Such a shame, would have been better to not have a campaign than this ***** imo. And ffs MS, release the older CoDs on gp already!

hello and happy weekend to everybody

I'm desperately trying to finish Diablo IV Season in time: I started very late... so I'm in a rush!

plus I have bought Forspoken and enjoyed it so far.

happy gaming to you all 🥳

Getting my ass kicked on Blasphemous. Really cool game.

I’ll be playing rise of the ronin on the 5. Black mesa and for some reason leisure suit Larry magna cum laude on my lappytop and some blast corps on my ipotato.

Just finished off the extreme run on Strange Brigade, now I’m gonna make a start on my Paladin run on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow… great game but damn do they make you work for that plat!

I've been playing the closed beta for New World Aeternum and I'm surprised to say I'm quite enjoying it so far. Also working my way through Outcast New Beginning but it's one of the most glitchy games I've ever played which is a shame as it's actually quite fun. On Xbox I've just started Kona.

@colonelkilgore ohhh Strange Brigade! I own this game on a couple of Systems but forgot about it.
thanks for the remind.

@Pigrotto it’s a solid… more than solid actually third person shooter, enjoy 👍

Im still playing one of the greatest rpgs ever made the 2014 game of the year winner in the incredible Dragon age inquisition game of the year winner.i will continue be playing one of the best jrpgs ever made in the excellent tales of arise.i will continue be playing the indie hit the wonderful tunic.i will also be playing one of the best video games trilogy ever in the awsome mass effect legendary edition.and i will be continued be playing one of the best indie games ever.in the in amazing beat em up instant hit sifu.i will be watching legendary sitcoms 📺 tv comedy shows in good times.the Jeffersons.sanford and son.and saved by the bell.word up son

Nintendo Switch: final level on The Messenger. I’ve enjoyed my time with it (especially the writing, graphics and music), but I’m ready to be done with it

PS5: final boss on Sifu - playing through the first levels again first to bring my age down

I will continue my journey throgh the crazy galaxy of Borderlands 3, exploring the depths with Dave The Diver and pushing foward my FF mode playthrough on Final Fantasy XVI.Lot's of gaming awaits!!!

Will be playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon on PS5 and DiRT 3 on Series X. I'll probably be able to wrap up DiRT 3 this weekend as I'm nearing the end of the game. As for Yakuza, I'm 5 hours in and it's been rather fun but it's a slow burn. Can't wait to play more though.

Ps5 Dark Souls 3 and Nobody Wants to Die. On game pass really liking Kunitsu-gami path of the goddess and I got Suicide Squad for free with Prime so might be worth checking out for that

I've been playing the slow burn Shenmue.

Jeanne D'Arc and Unicorn Overlord. Both very good, but the latter in particular just keeps blowing me away with just about everything it does. Also dabbling in Borderlands 3 even though I don't really like it, just as a palate cleanser.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok

Haven't made as much progress on it over the last week as I would've liked to, but still plugging away at it and enjoying it.

Having been abroad for a couple of weeks so my Vita has been getting some love, finished Batman Blackgate and a good chunk of the rage inducing Super Monkey Ball!! The Vita was excellent
Back to big screen gaming now though and I am on Still Wakes the Deep. Brilliant game in a brilliant setting, Rennick is hilarious.

Happy gaming everyone

I'm playing a lot of PlayStation titles, so I'll comment here this week instead of in Nintendo Life as usual.

I'm playing through Daxter, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier and Final Fantasy VII Remake on the PS5. I'm playing through LocoRoco Remastered and Far Cry 3 on the PS4. I've recently finished watching the Fallout series with my partner and we're going through a bit of a fever, so we're both playing Fallout Shelter on the iPad and I've started Fallout 3 on the Deck.

This week i finished J&D: The Precursor Legacy on PS4 with 70-75% completion. I'm glad i have one less game on my backlog. I bought it 3 years ago when it was on sale but i only played it a bit and it became one of my longest backlog. Imho it's a pretty fun platformer with interesting story, solid core gameplay with good level design, nice music, and likeable & funny characters. My only complaints; the UI is pretty dated but it's a 23 years old game so i can tolerate it. But the vehicles control feels bad and it has some nasty frame drop which i'm not sure if the PS2 ver or PS3 remaster also has it. I rate the game 8 / 10.

So, with Precursor Legacy finished, right now i'm playing Jak II on PS4 (why the title doesn't have Daxter and just Jak?). So far, i have mixed feeling with this game. It has somber / darker tone and i found it really weird after the bright & cheerful tone of the 1st game. I want to know why ND decided to made the sequel with dark tone because it's a big contrast compare to the 1st game. I enjoyed the more open exploration like GTA style running around the town completing errand. Sadly the vehicles control still like crap and it's not fun when comes to racing or mission with limited time. My other biggest complaint is it has more nasty frame drop compare to the 1st game, especially when running around the town with many NPC. These frame drop makes the game less fun to play. But i will try to finish it.

Outside Jak II, i'm still playing Rogue Galaxy (currently at chapter 7) and SpongeBob: The Cosmic Shake (at the Pirate world) on PS4.

Still being wowed by the PSVR I picked up off eBay a month or so ago (my life is about 7 years behind everyone else!). Got the Aim controller last week and am loving Far Point and Doom, prancing around the living room no doubt looking like an idiot whilst my wife shakes her head!. Also spending a lot of time playing Wipeout in VR which is stunning. Spent a few hours playing ‘Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes’ yesterday with my son which was fun (and infuriating!). Looking forward to the year 2031 when I get a PSVR2 😂

I am playing Dave the Diver, which is as delightful as everyone says.

There needs to be more games like Dave and Moonlighter where you dungeon/environment crawl and then sell all the stuff you collected at a shop you can personalize. I don’t know why that loop is so satisfying, but it is!

Welp I have Finshed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and it was awesome! Definitely my GOTY so far. On a whim I started Bloodborne and just beat Daddy Gastro Coin last night. I have thoughts and feelings on the game but overall I'm enjoying it. Star Ocean 2 Remake is still on the back burner (mostly cause I forgot where I was and what I was doing) but I intend to beat it before my next game purchase which is Sparking Zero

Have a great Gaming and Olympic weekend folks!

Trying to end the Blight in Ferelden.

I have several games I’m tackling, but the main one I’m eager to discuss is Nobody Wants To Die. After six hours, I got the platinum.

The game is a very linear, narrative driven experience. It’s set in a futuristic cyberpunk New York City, with flying vehicles and other advanced technology, but has a 1940s aesthetic. The atmosphere really draws you in immediately. It’s akin to Blade Runner, Sin City, with BioShock-esque environmental story telling, with antique film reels and posters, and propaganda strewn about run down walls and buildings. It’s such a unique premise.

You star as James Karra, a detective that is a self-aware cliche, taking a break from the job due to a police force accident, lost his wife, and resorts to drinking to cure his blues. Suddenly, he’s partnered up with Sara, who is trying to make a good impression for a promotion. The two of you are tasked to investigate an alleged suicide of a famous politician.

Gameplay wise, it’s a walking simulator, but since you’re a detective the game is very interactive. When investigating crime scenes you can use UV lights to examine blood, photograph dead bodies, find clues throughout the environment, and even use time manipulation to form pieces of the puzzle as to how crimes took place. Subsequently, you’ll put them altogether to unearth a new mystery to inspect.

However, the real highlight of the game are the characters. They are incredibly well written and voice acted. As mentioned earlier, James is your typical disgruntled detective, and knows it. And when it comes to discovering the truth of a crime, he’s keen on toeing the line of right and wrong, but produces truthful results.

As for Sara, she is very by the books. She wants things done properly, orderly, and by the rules. But she strives for the truth as well. When she is partnered with James, she often realizes truth is more important than procedure, and comes at a cost. They will bicker with one another, and even themselves. This results in two different people pursuing answers in separate formalities, and being fundamentally different thematically, but ultimately sharing the same goal. It’s a brilliant dynamic.

What makes these characters even better is that you hardly meet them. All of the acting is through voice alone, conveying so much emotion. It’s almost as if you, the player, can visualize a real person in front of you. It’s rare when a video game can do that. It’s all the more amplified by dialogue options that flow seamlessly into the next sentence and narrative piece without missing a beat, regardless of which option you choose. Nothing feels forced, despite various outcomes depending on how you respond.

By the end, you feel emotionally attached to these characters and their motivations. There aren’t many games than can capture powerful performances that evoke such raw emotion, but this game does it. Not only does it make the game better, it made me appreciate how beautiful this art form is.

Trying to defeat the shadowblood queen in queens blood (FF7 rebirth), and progressing towards the end of the adventure will likely be my gaming weekend

@Hootnoodle Go for it! And try the Burning Shores as well if you can. It's fantastic 😃

@Matroska I'm interested in both of these but never got around to the Unicorn overlord demo before needing more SSD space for Rebirth. Is it worth it?

@3Above Yeah, definitely. Despite being retro in style and inspiration, it's a very fresh take on all the elements. It's like Ogre Battle (not Tactics Ogre), Fire Emblem with a kind of FFT feel to the story.

A great thing is you don't just go "cutscene, battle, cutscene, battle..." like most SRPGs. Instead you walk around a huge world map like, say, FFVI, in between fights. There's side quests, main battles, special battles where you reclaim territory, you can upgrade towns you've retaken, talk to party members, do mock battles (basically little puzzles where you have to wipe out the enemy unit in one round), etc etc. It's all pretty non-linear so the order you get characters in, and thus who you have available for different battles, will change. Also dialogue choices that actually change things (basically if people die or join your party, but it's obvious which is which, so don't worry).

Overall it's just such a high quality thing, an obvious passion project rather than some churned out product. It feels like you've discovered a lost SNES or PS1 masterpiece.

Still back on MH Rise, adding some World Iceborne too, what beauties! Monster Hunter deserves to be Capcom's best selling. So much content, can't get enough of the hunting and crafting loop.

@Mikey856 100% this although I just use the end of my t-shirt, you've took it a step further with your special sock 🤣

@Matroska Jam! That's sounds great!! Definitely gonna give the demo a try and put it on my To-Play list. Thank You 😃

@Kidfunkadelic83 I am struggling with the understeer on gt7 after the update and I have to wait until I'm collector level 25 before I can race the new circuit. Track and field takes me back but I was always a hypersports aficionado. I have great memories of Daley Thompsons decathlon too..so this weekend it's all about gt7 and a spot of golf..have a good weekend everybody 👍

Currently playing Shadow (Scadu? 😉) Of The Erd Tree despite its reluctance to include trophies and I’m thoroughly enjoying being back in The Lands In Between. Hard to match FromSoft’s formula but it would be a little better to hear that sweet trophy ‘bling’ after beating these seriously difficult bosses! 😉

I'm still playing Cyberpunk 2077. Usually I'm a 'Main Quest Player', but this game made me stray a little bit and play the secondary ones.
During the weekend I'm giving COD MW III a chance too. Haven't played a COD game since a long time ago and I'm having a good time with it.

And still no poll here.

Look at your sister site Nintendo Life doing this way better.

Shadow of the Erdtree, and I've also restarted Dark Souls for some reason

PS5 wise: Returnal, P3 Reload, Ghost of Tsushima and MH Rise.
PS4 wise: ESO, Days Gone, Castle Crashers, Sonic Origins and Dragon’s Dogma.

Dragon Dogma 2, SVC Chaos SNK vs Capcom, Tekken 8.

All-in on Jeanne d'Arc until I complete it - currently on Chapter 6 out of 8, I believe. What a delightful little strategy game out of nowhere, now this is the kind of 'classic' I want to see more of.

Finally playing Elden Ring! About 22 hours into it and I'm having a genuine blast with it.

@Northern_munkey yeah im finding understeer too. Going to have to tinker with all my tunes now. Golf as in EA PGA or golf as in actually out playing golf? Ive just got back from the driving range 😂⛳

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak on PC

Will be cracking on with the Echo episode for Destiny 2. As well as dipping into Mortal Kombat to acquire the platinum. Happy Gaming All!

Singularity on PS3 and Madison in PSVR2

@Kidfunkadelic83 actual golf. There is a family run 9 holer near to where I live and you can play as much as you like for £15 so I usually go out there to practice my short game. It's such a nice friendly atmosphere and the people who play there are from all skill levels and share techniques and help players who struggle. I don't need an excuse to get out there.

Immortals of Aveum - when it was free on PSPlus a month or 2 ago, i didnt play it because of crap performance but kept it on hold until after the AMD FSR3 Frame generation update, which has solved a lot of the issues.

Apart from for the aforementioned performance issues this game did not deserve a lot of the comments at launch, its not the best game ever, but now its pretty decent.

Finishing up my replay of Persona 5 Royal tonight (literally on the last day saying goodbye to everyone 😭😭😭) then I’m at a loss to find what’s next to play. I want to buy Baldur’s Gate 3 but I want it as a physical copy. Costs too much in Larian’s store. I don’t want to replay a game since I’ve replayed both Witcher 3 and P5R back to back. I don’t know what to play 😭😭😭

@Northern_munkey nice. Weve got a Kingsway golf near us which has a pitch & put, crazy golf and a 9 hole course. I did that last week with my boss and it was good fun. Only got my clubs a few weeks ago but ive had a couple of sessions down the range with one of my mates who plays off a handicap of 5 so hes bloody good. Im getting there slowly. Hard game to get good at tho.

I have started Days Gone again. I didn’t get far in my first play through (I think I got distracted by Death Stranding), but man is it fun. Riding motorcycles and shooting zombies. I can’t believe I ever quit playing it.

@Kidfunkadelic83 I hope you stick with it..not a sport for people with a short fuse 🤣

Rule of Rose and Cold Fear.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. I’m in the 2nd half of the game and it’s ramping up the difficulty. Still loving it!

Worst possible time to get ill over the week, been doing some decorating and had hoped to be full finished by the weekend but noooope... almost done and almost recovered but I haven't had much time to do any gaming, just enough to finish The First Descendant's campaign and begin the real game - farming for Ultimate Bunny! (and obviously getting properly geared up so I'm not dying constantly)

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (3DS) - In the mood for a decent metroidvania and this will somewhat fit the bill.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) - Onto chapter 7 in my Hard playthrough.

NBA Jam (Windows Phone) - Still playing a few games of this a week as well.

Been playing Lies of P and what a great game it is. Need one more trophy to get the platinum so should be wrapped up by Sunday.

@Matroska I'm playing it now, am halfway through Elfheim and just absolutely adoring it. The battle system is so wonderfully deep, and even after 40 hours I'm not getting bored of messing with all the tactics and unit compositions. I can't wait to play more!

Nothing, I’m on a nice relaxing vacation with the family. If I’m not sleeping I’ll play Sekiro on Steam Deck, but that’s the only way I’ll be gaming.

I’m playing my 3rd or 4th run of Ghost of Tsushima on PS5. Such a masterpiece.

Been playing Final Fantasy: Rebirth after finishing up Yakuza 3 Remastered and Resistance: Retribution (PS5) recently. I’ve also been dipping into Yakuza 4 Remastered, XDefiant, and MW3 multiplayer.

Mostly Cold Steel IV for me. However, I've just picked up a leverless fight stick, so I'm falling back down the fighting games rabbit hole. Mostly been getting used to the controller with Street Fighter 6, but I'm also going to relearn GG Strive.

Finished my plat run for dark souls(painful at times) and just brought balatro on switch tried the demo on PlayStation and thought it would be ideal on switch as I have gone away for a couple of days.

@PuppetMaster The short answer is because of the success of GTA III at the time.

PS: If you can also play the Jak games either on a PS3 or on PS5. The ports to the PS4 and the Vita have notable known problems like FPS drops.

@Rich33 I really enjoyed it. It felt unique for what essentially is an FPS

Dark Souls Remastered on PS5...finally done with Blighttown yesterday, so happy to move on to next area

Starting my 2 weeks off work, hopefully spend some great time with my family and do some progress on the game.

Have a nice weekend and happy gaming, folks!

Playing FFVII Rebirth. I'm in Chapter 9 and finally the main story is getting more interesting. I guess it's my 2nd favorite game this year so far.

@Northern_munkey defenately not. Id say its the hardest sport to get consistent and good at. My mate is mustard tho 👌 dropping it on targets 250yds away 🙄

@Kidfunkadelic83 nice. I play off around 16 at the moment but I do have bad days. I drive the ball on average around 280 yards but I've hit a 359 yarder. My go to club off the tee is my 5 iron which is more like a 3 iron and I'll drop that around 235 yards.

@Northern_munkey i cant use a diver. I have to use an iron off a low tee or the ground. If i use a driver i hook it left something wicked and it something i just cant shake. I enjoy just getting out tho. Gives me something to do.
Ive got the plat on EA PGA tho so i must be good at golf, even if its just virtual 😂⛳

@Kidfunkadelic83 🤣

The New World Aeternum beta and a bit of Asphalt Legends Unite and The Division 2 on the side.

@FreasurePlanten Yeah GTA 3 and Vice City was really really big back in 2001-02. I'm not surprised if ND got inspired by both games when they developed Jak II, especially with some missions feels like they copied straight from GTA 3.

I heard Jak HD remaster has smooth frame rate but they changed something that makes the graphic looks darker compare to PS2/PS4 version.

Well here we go with another awesome WAYP. Been a cool week around here. Just been doing more work on the games of the summer. Got to try Arranger thanks to Netflix tho and that game is amazing and adorable I see it’s only like 5 hours long and that may be like the first game I play fully on my phone. Dabbled in some Under Night In Birth 2 Sys: Celes and the new character Uzuki and she’s so fun and that game is definitely on GOTY contender lists. Did some more Dawntrail and I gotta say that expansion is finally clicking. Don’t get why people hate it I really don’t. The rest of the weekend will just be a Persona 3 Reload weekend I think. We’re finally in November so all that leaves is December and January. Snagged all those things I talked about in the last WAYP like the Tekken 8 season pass and the Guilty Gear Strive Season 4 Season Pass. And the previously mentioned UNIST 2 Season Pass too. And a copy of Star Wars Outlaws. Got to play some Lidia Sobieska for Tekken and honestly she’s so much fun it’s great they added her in 8 after she was so forgotten in 7. Picked up another pack of PSN cards this week tho and that bundle is gonna go to probably my last digital preorders for now which will be the Deluxe Edition of Dragon Ball Sparking Zero and Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered. Think I may also make a attempt to pick up a copy of Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ too. Very excited about that Dragon Ball tho it gets 3 day early access AND the season pass for that game. Otherwise I’m thinking this week is mostly gonna consist of some Paper Mario, more P3R and some Stellar Blade, Monster Hunter Stories, Trails Through Daybreak, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, FFVII Rebirth, Kunitsu Gami and countless others I’m probably missing ahahaha. Goal is same as before just clear out most or all of the first half of years of games before the second half really kicks off. Definitely gotta think about how to tackle games like Dragons Dogma 2 or Rise of the Ronin. Still incredibly hype for WWE Summerslam too that’s gonna be so hype on Saturday I seriously can’t wait for Solo Vs Cody, Rhea Vs Liv, LA Knight Vs Logan Paul, CM Punk Vs Drew McIntyre with Special Guest Referee Seth Freaking Rollins and so many more seriously it’s like 10 matches so far. Excited to see more Jacob Fatu in action and maybe the Return of Roman Reigns and maybe just maybe some Wyatt Sicks spookiness? Anime of the week gotta go to Kaiju No.8, Oshi No Ko, Delicious in Dungeon, Plus Sized Elf and Urusei Yatsura of course. Plus Sized Elf is wonderfully perfectly silly and I recommend it highly. Finished off Kaiju No 8 and Urusei Yatsura and I’ll just say this Kaiju No 8 was pretty good and had some cool things going down in it but Urusei Yatsura? A genuine work of art that was absolutely beautiful and I think everyone should check out and I hope to one day proudly own all of it. Podcasts of this week gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast, Minnmax, Jeff Gerstmann, Kit and Krysta, Last Stand Media, Easy Allies, Second Wind, Nextlander, Cultaholic Wrestling, Aetheryte Radio and Remap Radio. Think I’ll try to enjoy some of the Olympics that are on and I hope all of yall do too. Rooting for Team USA Basketball, Skateboarding and Swimming baby. Bring home the Gold everyone. As always yall stay safe, be incredible to each other. Have a terrific weekend and of course Happy Gaming.

@rusty82
Yes, it is. Apart from the performance (which made the game unplayable to me until the recent update), I really dont get the hate for the game. There are things I would change like the "magic" just being shots of red/blue/green energy but I prefer the story driven adventure. Plus its a decent length with several different environments.

No gaming for me this weekend, but when I finally beat the final boss of erdtree, I’m going to try out the Ronin demo.

Believe it or not..just bought Kingdoms of Amalur: Re Reckoning...played a LOT of that! Streamed CF25 and FFXVI (im 60 percent finished with that game (good one too) which is a feat in and of itself lol)..also started another oldie Elex...kind of on a solo rpg fix here. Looks like everyone is having fun!

Beat both Splintercell Conviction (did both endings) and Battlefield 3, in each weekend day so that was a fair experience. I usually don't care much what I play and just chip away at a few different games but those days I beat them both campaigns.

Back and forth between Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Like a Dragon, longing for a new release even though Infinite Wealth is not even six months old.