mcdreamer

Got sucked back into Dark Souls 3. What a game! Will be doing my standard strength build run.

Happy New Year to you all!

I loved this game. It's pretty much the only thing I finished this year besides Trails games. I even liked it enough to play some of New Game +, which is something I very rarely do. Great combat, beautiful visuals and a really excellent soundtrack.

Due to the death of my partner I've been completely out of gaming for nearly a couple of months ago. I did manage to finish Stellar Blade, and make it part of the way through New Game+ though. Probably my game of the year.

I really want to get back into normal things now though, so over the next few days with the Dragon Quest 3 remake, which I should be able to finish before Trails Through Daybreak 2 comes out in February.

I have to say, I think this game does deserve to be relatively low in this list. I did really enjoy Remake, but the amount of filler in that game was absolutely crazy. The DLC felt much tighter and more fun. I really want to love Rebirth, but it just feels even more filled with time wasting content.

I really do think it would have been much better to remake this game over either two parts or perhaps even just the one. Thought, I have to admit what I really want is a remake of FF IX

I'd heard about this ages ago but completely forgot about it. I think I'll be playing this when it releases.

As has already been mentioned, Stellar Blade looks and runs absolutely incredibly on the Pro. I do think you really need a modern OLED TV with loads of gaming features to get the most out of the console though.

@SilentBluntman Yeah, and you definitely get all of those things with the Pro (or at least should with most titles). I'm never sure about the lazy developer argument myself, not least because I am a software developer (outside of games now, but previously having developed games) and know how hard it is to optimise large scale applications. It is however true that if extra power is on hand, developers are likely to lean into that. In many respects that's one of the reasons I bought the Pro, to ensure the best chance of continued access to 60FPS.

I think it's only really worth it if you have a modern TV with VRR, high refresh rate support and probably OLED to boot. Even then, the differences in Pro patched games are definitely there but they are indeed subtle. Stellar Blade for example really does look a whole lot sharper, and runs at 80FPS. Both of these things are noticeable but it's also not like that game wasn't excellent already on the base PS5.

I'm very happy to have the Pro, and I think it will become more important for people who want high resolution and frame rates as we get to the end of this gen, but I also wouldn't recommend it to anybody. This is for people who know what they're getting into.

@danzoEX I'm so tempted to pick up DQ3, but I've just bought loads of other games. I may crumble later on

I am indeed anxiously waiting by the door! I have to go out towards the end of my delivery window, so I'm hoping I don't miss it!

I am very, very excited to receive mine tomorrow. I did also upgrade my 8 year old TV to an LG OLED, which might end up being the bigger update, but the Pro will also bring a lot to the table. I've had the disc drive and vertical stand here waiting since pre-order day.

I'm really enjoying this game, which is a surprise as I tend to favour RPGs from Japan rather than Western RPGs. Whilst I'm still early enough that there must be lots more to unlock, the combat system is excellent and the environments are a wonder. My only real criticism is that the resolution gets quite low in performance mode at times, but fortunately from tomorrow there will be a Pro patch to solve that!

I finished Trails Through Daybreak on Monday, and as a result I've been somewhat flailing about. A year and a half of playing the same series has taken the decision about what to play next away from me! I'd love to play Daybreak 2 but a) I'm not sure about the fan translation, b) my Japanese would probably be just about good enough but also it would be very slow going and c) I probably do need a bit of a break. It's not too long to wait until the English release in any case.

I did think about diving into Ys X or Tokyo Xanadu for something a bit different, but still in the Falcom world, but I've instead been playing Stellar Blade and some of my old favourite, Doom.

Another reason not to get into anything too long now is that my Pro arrives this week and that seems like a good chance to go back to either FF7 Rebirth or BG3 to really see the system sing. I got about half way through BG3 before resuming Trails, and would love to finish it. I do remember the inventory management being a total pain but besides that it's a great game.

I'd love to read this interview, but I'm terrified of spoilers for Daybreak, 2 and Kai! Even the main image has got me thinking Looks like a really great in depth interview though and I look forward to coming back to it one day. Congratulations on scoring this!

Making more progress in Trails Through Daybreak. I love the Trails series, having pretty much played the games back to back since May 2023, but I am kind of ready for a break now. And that despite thinking Daybreak is probably one of the best games in the series.

So I did what I "shouldn't" have done last night and started Metaphor. It's going to be a wild ride and will be my main game once Daybreak is done.

Besides that I'm still continuing on through Stellar Blade. Stuck on one of the later boss battles.

Sony won't care one bit if people don't like this. I'm not seeing it yet, and I do hate it, but we're powerless to stop it. Likewise, when I first saw a McDonald's ad on my Series X home screen I was horrified but unsurprised. Advertising will continue to infest everything.

@Dodoo Yes, I believe they are adding several new modes on the Pro

So glad I paused Lies Of P and FF7 Rebirth earlier in the year! Really looking forward to continuing them on when the Pro arrives.

I get the feeling the queue isn't actually working? Or at least, it's not fully switched on yet. I'm also in a meeting

More Trails Through Daybreak for me.

Mostly Trails Through Daybreak. On Chapter 3. As this marks the end of my Trails journey for the time being (having started with Sky FC earlier last year), I'm taking my time. No more high speed mode. Really enjoying the game. Feels like quite a change of pace from the earlier entries.

Outside of that a bit of Astro Bot and considering jumping into Episode Aigis.

The worst part of this game, and Remake, is the insanely slow reaction time whilst walking if you want to change your character's direction. I doubt the Pro will fix that (or remove the insane amount of mini game padding).

Trails Through Daybreak for me. Can't really believe I'm finally on the latest game to release in the west. I thought it would take me years to get here but in the end it was only just over one. The game is great and really reinvigorates the series after the slightly excessive length of Cold Steel.

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.

Shadow of the Erdtree for me. I'm on to what I think is the last area now. Overwhelmingly massive, but such good fun!

Excellent news. I started Sky FC last May and I’m now up to the early hours of CS4. Once I’m done with daybreak it’ll be strange to not have the next game to roll in to right away, but at least I know it’s close!

I would love one of these, for the first party experience, but I find chiaki on the Steam Deck works incredibly well. I’m not sure I’d gain anything from the portal besides a more familiar controller.

It's Cold Steel 3 and Stellar Blade for me! As much as I love turn based games, a year of Trails has left me quite ready for some action gaming!

More Cold Steel 3 for me. Deep into chapter 3 now. I've been playing the Trails games for a year now near enough, and pretty much exclusively since the end of last summer. Really enjoying my time with them but I'm starting to be ready for another break. I think that will come with Stellar Blade next week.

The Trails series continues to dominate my time. On the second chapter of Cold Steel 3 now. I'm now starting to think there's a real chance I'll be fully caught up by the time Daybreak comes out!

Some games are ok at 30fps, but almost everything is improved by being 60. As an ex PC gamer, 60fps was standard in the 90s if you had a good enough machine. The reason to avoid consoles back then was the dreadful performance. Now that higher frame rates are a thing on consoles, they should really be the standard.

I'm not sure there's a convincing reason this needs to exist. Of course, we don't know for sure what the specs are or how Sony will position it. I'm all for higher res gaming at consistent frame rates (ideally 60FPS, please), but it's a question of how many games will be able to take advantage. That said, unless it's obscenely expensive or laughably incremental, I'll almost certainly buy one.

I'm still on Cold Steel 2. I have a few days off this week, so might end up finishing it soon. Really tempted by Dragon's Dogma 2, though picking it up with break my "no new games until I've finished Trails" rule I've set. I've picked up a couple of things since I started but I'm so heavily invested I can only manage a few hours before Trails pulls me back!

Still on the fence. I’ve got too caught up in the discussion about performance. It looks like a real problem, and is clear to see in videos, but equally I’m sure it rarely matters when you’re actually playing. Besides that it looks excellent.

Like many, I didn't really expect this to take off, but given I use my Steam Deck for streaming the PS5 around the house I shouldn't have been pessimistic. Obviously the Steam Deck is a way more capable device, but it's also a lot more expensive and the setup to get streaming working isn't hard but it's non-trivial.

I suspect the out of box experience with the Portal is really good, along with it having the native controller, so in a way I'd actually warming to the idea of getting one even though I'm using the Steam Deck.

As somebody who is firmly in the target group for such a product, I have to admit I'm also struggling with why a PS5 Pro needs to exist. We've had a few high performing PS5 exclusives and cross gen games, but in no way have any of those felt limited by the current hardware. It still feels to me like the PS5 has a lot of headroom the majority of the time. For example, we're only just starting to see major games capped at 30FPS.

Now, I would probably consider buying a Pro model despite all of that, but I wouldn't expect anything beyond faster load times and perhaps smoother frame rates in some games. At those would likely be noticeable but minimal improvements.

Beyond that, the install base for the Pro will be very small which will not incentivise much Pro specific functionality in games. Just look at what's happening with the PSVR2 software lineup.

Still on Cold Steel 2. Just started act 2. Hoping to get this game done in the next couple of weeks or, not least because the story seems to be really ramping up and I want to know what happens!

The reissuing of definitive games with no upgrade path is quite annoying. Even the PS5 re-release of P5R with no upgrade path was disappointing. I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion, but this I'm less inclined to worry about.

At the very least, this is not something specific to Atlus. For example, I believe you had to buy the entire expansion pass for Xenoblade 3 Future Redeemed (which admittedly was a better value package than this pass, though only just).

Ultimately businesses exist to make money, and they need to do that in order to survive. As a fan of a series/developer it can be perhaps slightly annoying to pay a little more to gain access to the games you love, but the outright anger is misdirected.

Continuing on with Cold Steel 2, Rebirth and a bit of the Unicorn Overlord demo. Thinking I should really wait on Unicorn Overlord as I just won't have the time to do it justice, and it truly deserves it.

CS2 has hooked me in (unsurprisingly), and on reflection I've realised I enjoyed CS1 more than I realised at the time. Can't wait to continue on with the series!

Just finished up Cold Steel 1. I found most of the game enjoyable, but a bit of a drag. The ending however was really good even though I'd been spoiled (by myself) on what happened. Seeing the events play out on screen was really fun. Overall I'd say it's probably my least favourite Trails game so far, though I'm hoping it's a bit of a low point rather than an indication of declining quality from this point. The jury seems to be a bit mixed on that. Anyway, naturally I'm now in the prologue of Cold Steel 2 Finally we have a battle theme to rival that of Sky SC!

I've also picked up FF7 Rebirth, but haven't had a chance to start yet. I see reviews mention there's more filler in Rebirth compared to Remake. That makes me slightly wary as I thought Remake had an insane amount of filler and terrible mini games. However, much like with Remake, I suspect I'll enjoy Rebirth a lot all the same. Hearing new takes on the music, seeing locations in full 3D, spending more time with the characters etc all make it worth it. And I love the battle system. To be one of "those people", I really really wish FF16 had the same battle system. That would have massively elevated the game in my opinion.

Will also get a few rounds in on Tekken 8 and thinking of spending a bit of time in Elden Ring with my end game character in anticipation of the DLC.

Looks incredible. I cannot believe this comes out on the same day as SMT:V!

Along with P3R, this is a big year for double dipping on Atlus titles! A seriously incredible game, which should be even better with the improved visuals and added content.

An absolutely incredible game (see my avatar ). Would definitely double dip!

@Deoxyr1bose 13 Sentinels was so good. Never tried any other Vanillaware games as they look like they can't quite hit those heights. As a fellow FE fan this looks like it will!

One of my most anticipated games of the year. It looks absolutely incredible.

I'm juggling Cold Steel 1, P3R with some Tekken 8 in between. This will probably be my line up for a little while, at least until I get to Cold Steel 2. Trying to buy fewer games this year, so not sure whether I'll pick up Rebirth at release, but that will probably what I play next after P3R outside of Trails.

As for Cold Steel 1, coming from the previous 5 games I'm finding it a bit of a slog. It seems like a lot of people feel the same about it. The changes to how orbments work make the system quite a lot more basic and less fun. The characters are growing on me, but they didn't really impress out of the gate. The tone feels quite different overall, though I don't know if that's mostly because of the shift in graphical style. A lot of this is probably just the "first game in an arc" thing you get with Trails, it just feels a bit more accentuated this time. Having said all of that, a "bad" Trails game is still a good game overall. The references to previous games, locations and events are as fun as ever. Cold Steel 1 is really just another piece building on that, and I'm confident there will be pay offs further on in the Cold Steel series.

Finished up Trails To Azure last night. It went places I wasn't expecting! Next up is Cold Steel 1. I started the game about 10 months ago, getting about 10 hours in. I wasn't sure whether to restart, in order to enjoy some of the references I'll now understand back to the older games. Reading through the quest log I kind of feel caught up with where I left things, so I'm going to carry on from my save. The first game in a sub-series is usually more about setting up the new cast in any case, especially over the first hours. Looking forward to digging into the game. Slightly missing the art style of the earlier games though!

Other than Trails, Tekken 8. I'm more of a Street Fighter player really, but enjoying the game so far.

This is probably my most anticipated game of the year at this point. I really hope it turns out to be great!

Happy New Year all!