mcdreamer

@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!

I've been mostly playing Trails From Zero over the Christmas holidays, which I've now finished. I went straight into Trails To Azure, already finished the prologue. I will ramp down a bit now and play some other games to avoid burnout, though with Trails burnout is starting to feel impossible - it's that good!

As for other games, I've been playing Lies of P which I got for Christmas. I'm normally a bit sceptical about Soulslike games, as they're often pale imitations, but Lies of P totally nails it. It makes me tempted to try out Lords of the Fallen too.

Everything about this event will still be hopelessly cheesy, even without the cringe inducing "world premier" announcements. I never watch it, but even the clips I do see are a difficult watch. It's a shame as overall the idea of an award ceremony for gaming is a good one.

This is unforgivably bad. I've never touched an Assassin's Creed game, or any of these other huge franchises such as CoD, but what can't happen is for those giants to normalise this practice. We need less advertising in society, not more. Hopefully JRPGs are niche enough to be protected from this kind of thing, but I suspect that's wishful thinking.

@PSPancho Yeah, same here, but it's two says so I'd save like 8p, then seemingly need to pay full price. If I could get 25% off to go from Essential to Plus I'd probably do it, but this offer just makes no sense.

Very excited to dig into this! I really enjoyed the main game so this was a nice surprise. As the review says, I also anticipate the biggest issue being remembering how to play the game! Shouldn't take long though.

I've still got BG3 on pause. As much as I love it, 50 hours in and about half way through Act 2 I just needed a bit of a break. It may end up being a few months before I go back but I'm excited to finish it when I do.

I've played some AC6 and MK1 but most of my time has been dominated by Trails In The Sky SC on Steam Deck. Closing in on the last part of the game now. So far the Trails series has not disappointed. Even these slightly older games feel really fresh and modern. And certainly very engaging. I'm totally sucked in to the series. I've got all the other games released so far on Switch/PS5, bar Sky The 3rd, which I will pick up as soon as SC is over.

I've also been eyeing a Meta Quest 3 for a couple of weeks now (having tried one a fortnight ago). With the addition of MR I feel like this is a great point to jump into VR, even if the software side for MR is somewhat limited right now. There seem to be a few standout games, with something of a multiplayer focus, but the store seems stuffed with lots of small "tech demo" style experiences. It's right on the edge of feeling like a good value proposition for me. Does anybody have any experience with the Quest? Any thoughts on what it's like for single player gaming?

Finished off Separate Ways this week. I absolutely love all of the RE remakes. I'd like to go back and finish off 7 but I really do miss the over the shoulder perspective. I paused Shadows of Rose because I realised it would probably hit harder after finishing 7, but now I'm tempted to finish Rose's story off first. I wonder if I'll really be missing that much?

Also tried out a bit of Honkai Star Rail. Seems good but something about it being FTP makes me hesitant to really get into it. Shame it's not a full release as it seems fairly solid.

Working my way through Trails In The Sky SC as usual.

Other than that, more BG3. In Act 2 at the moment. Still absolutely loving the game. Feels like I'm a long way from the end still!

I’m still mainly on BG3 like so many, and have also dipped in to the Cyberpunk 2.0 update. BG3 is so overwhelming but in a positive way that I’ve never experienced before. Getting into the groove now having started Act 2.

Also been playing the RE4 DLC, some Nayuta and Sky SC. I love Trails!

Exciting stuff! I'm still on Sky SC having started a few months back. Hope to be at Crossbell at least by the time this releases!

I'm joking, and perhaps I'm the only one laughing, but hopefully one of the DLCs adds turn based combat

This week it’s been mostly AC6. Balteus didn’t give me too much trouble but the first boss of chapter 2 was a nightmare. Took about 20 attempts. Now I’m stuck on the final boss of chapter 2. Excellent game.

Like many others I’m also waiting for 5pm and BG3. I have it on steam deck but I’ve only really dipped my toe in there. The performance is good but I want to play it in its full glory on PS5.

Made a start on Armored Core 6 yesterday. I can tell I'm going to love this game. As everybody knows by this point, it's definitely not a Soulslike, but it's got really tight combat and a huge amount of "character" customisation. This is what From do best. I also got stuck on the first boss for about 20 minutes, which made me feel right at home.

Besides AC6 I'm continuing on with Trails in the Sky SC on Steam Deck. I'm dipping in and out of BG3 on the Deck too, but at this stage I'm just waiting for the PS5 version where I'll start a new character.

This looks really nice in terms of the raw hardware, but it still feels pointless. For only a bit more money you could get a Steam Deck, setup chiaki4deck on it and enjoy PS5 streaming along with the full handheld the Deck is.

The only thing it's got going for it is it'll be way more straight forward to setup - it ought to be plug and play really. A lot of people will pay for that and would find the Steam Deck too technical.

@Zuljaras It's great fun! I often feel making games is more fun than playing them!

I do like the fact that GML has been massively improved over the last few years. Coming from other languages like C++ it felt like a lot was missing before. Stick at the coding and I promise it will get easier in time!

I'm not much of an artist but I really try with my graphics. Sometimes I surprise myself but I have a long way to go to improve.

@Zuljaras Your game looks good! What are you using to make it? It's been ages since I've worked on any of my games. I started way back in the 90s writing Assembly code to push pixels, used XNA, wrote my own engine and these days I just use GameMaker Studio 2. GMS has its quirks but is pretty good for 2D games. Most of what you need is included in the box.

As for this weekend's gaming, I've finished my first Trails game with Sky FC! Now on to SC.

Looking at the PS Store I wasn't sure whether the standard edition grants access to the beta or whether you need to go for the deluxe edition. Reading the article it sounds like either version will do, so I must have missed something. Does anybody know for sure?

Been a bit on the fence about the game, but getting a bit more interested in it now. Though hearing it's slower than earlier games is a bit of a red flag as I already find MK in general to be quite slow.

I've been mostly on Steam Deck this week. Getting close to the end of Trails in the Sky FC. What a great game. I've play around 10 hours of SC on Vita already, so I'll need to decide whether to pick up that save or start again on the Deck (which has the advantage of higher resolution, fast forward button etc).

I've been playing a little bit of Remnant 2 on Series X. Just got to the first work. Enjoyed what I've played so far. The first boss was great and did give me some Soulslike vibes. Also downloaded an played a bit of Quake 2.

PS5 and Switch getting a bit of a rest this last week, which is quite unusual! Will get back to Diablo 4 on PS5 at some point but Armored Core 6 is probably next up on that console.