pocketjazz

I'm midgame in Horizon: Forbidden West and just got to Threed in Earthbound.

Completely surprised myself. I bought Cyberpunk early in the week for like 20 bucks on PS5. I haven't even installed / upgraded my HFW yet... Really enjoying Cyberpunk. Pleasantly surprised.

Playing Olli Olli World and Pokemon Legends. Almost done with both.

Finished up It Takes Two with my partner and put a few more hours into Pokemon Legends. Up to the seventh star in the snowy world now.

finishing Metroid Dread (Switch) and starting It Takes Two (PS5) with my partner

I've hit a brick wall. Not really enjoying Skyward Sword HD, played a few minutes of War for Wakanda, meh. So I cruised through Unravel for the first time yesterday. I'll get to that deep backlog sooner or later. Happy gaming, friends.

hurricane is coming in but i’ll be playing Skyward Sword abs War for Wakanda until we lose power!

@RaZieLDaNtE cheers, pal! I'm personally really looking forward to Iki island, too!

@KingPev i tried the Switch streaming version first, and actually had no problems with it. The PS5 Ultimate is well... ultimate! ENJOY!

@RaZieLDaNtE hey pal!

I wouldn't say that it didn't click with me, but I think it has to do with some of the earlier, somewhat similar titles I played (notably Breath of the Wild and RDR2). I went from not having played an open-world game, full stop, to playing (in my estimation) the two very best back to back.

There are a lot of things that REALLY clicked for me with HZD, in truth, ultimately it was probably just my fault for reading too much and getting a little bit too much hype up before actually playing it. The aesthetic was amazing, and I'm super into some aspects of the narrative for sure. I really liked Lance Reddick's performance, maybe my favorite element of the game. Some of it maybe felt... slightly half-baked to me? Upon finishing it I spoke with a few friends who really loved it and the way they spoke about it made me feel like I played it in a radically different way. For one, I didn't think that the game made it sufficiently obvious how to engage with some of its numerous systems. That actually might be my biggest gripe. It was too easy for me to miss (apparently) really compelling and engaging stuff in the game. I'm not a 100% guy, I typically follow the story track unless the game REALLY engages me. This is probably all ultimately a criticism of me and not of the game, haha. FWIW I do intend to play Forbidden West, so perhaps I'm just an unreliable narrator.

Of the games that you snipped from my list I LOVED the Star Wars aesthetic of JFO, masterclass presentation. Maybe the best implementation of the SW IP in... decades? Ghost was also right up my alley in terms of look and presentation. The thing that nailed every category for me in this part of my list was Control. I was astonished by it.

@Gamer_Girl_ cheers! hope you get to enjoy it!

@RaZieLDaNtE Returnal and God of War are both at the top of the list. My summer is drawing to an end so I am not sure that I should commit to Hollow Knight. I appreciate the feedback! Funny thing is I didn't race through any of them. Which has been great. Obviously spending a lot of time gaming, but still has been great to wade in the waters of so many great games. The only one that left me kinda cold was HZD, which... I know is maybe... not a popular opinion.

@Gamer_Girl_ It took me 8 hours to get to the endgame. I really enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything spectacular. I was happy to have it whilst messing with Yakuza and Death Stranding though. Snagged a used copy on Amazon for $20 and feel it was totally worth it.

@Sorteddan the most common thing I'm hearing off the boards as well...

The relatively shorter run time is appealing to me as well.

@TraCuz- really appreciate your thoughts! I've been really lucky. I took the lockdown situation and just dove back into gaming after not having played anything since.... 2009 maybe?

So the week we went into quarantine I was able to snag a Switch and BOTW. What a way to get back into gaming. Then I was really really lucky and able to get a PS5 really fast and the first modern Playstation game I played was RDR2. Since then I've poured through... an embarrassing number of games, but it has been fun for me and my partner. Since January I've played through all of:

Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity
FFVII Remake + DLC
Jedi Fallen Order
Squadrons
Last of Us Remastered
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3
Super Mario 3D World / Bowsers Fury
Spiderman Remastered
Miles Morales
Red Dead Redemption (PSNow)
Shadow of the Colossus (PS4)
Marvel's Avengers (PS5)
Limbo / Inside
Cadence of Hyrule Crypt of the Necrodancer
Ghost of Tsushima
Control (PS5)
Horizon Zero Dawn
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Death Stranding
Sackboy
Kentucky Route Zero

I'd like a major change of pace because I have to agree that most of the titles that many people gush over are 3rd person action. I don't think I want to dive into a huge open-world game right now, and generally don't enjoy Assassin's Creed-like games.

Hollow Knight I was immediately impressed with, but I knew that it would require way more attention than I was willing to give it. Only played for like an hour.

I've also played most of the heavy hitters on Switch. Not sure where to go next! Not SUPER into FPS, but I think I could be convinced if there was a satisfying single-player one. That wasn't going to eat up a massive amount of time.

Shrug, an embarrassment of riches. TLOU2 is also on deck, but, again, genre similarities.

Good time to be gaming and to have a Covid safe job that permits me to have an income and spend time this way. I appreciate any and all further thoughts.

I don't mind dated mechanics - I'm finding Skyward Sword is... fairly broken in terms of the combat, but I do enjoy cruising through a mostly classic formula 3D Zelda.

Finished Sackboy (PS5) and Kentucky Route Zero (Switch) last week.

This weekend I'm hoping to make some steady progress on Skyward Sword (Switch) and also start something from the backlog....

Suggestions?

God of War (PS4)
Persona 5: Royal (PS4) - not willing to start this just yet
Resident Evil 2 (PS4)
Resident Evil 3 (PS4)
Returnal (PS5)
Uncharted Collection (PS4)
Hades (Switch)
Hollow Knight (Switch)

Sackboy and Skyward Sword HD... haha, I just kind of feel like I went from AMAZING to... eh, okay after finishing Yakuza LAD and Death Stranding.

Finished Yakuza Like a Dragon!!!!! Next up: God of War and Skyward Sword with finishing touches left to be put on Sackboy and Kentucky Route Zero.

Finished Death Stranding, and now going to make a go at trying to finish the Millenial Tower in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. If that all goes down well, might start Skyward Sword HD on Switch.

@Bentleyma- kudos - i gotta get back to it. after spending 40 minutes with Tendo and then getting KOed, i had to step away.

@Bentleyma- i thought the same thing last weekend! be careful!!!

@Col_McCafferty i think you should definitely wait until you finish it!

@Col_McCafferty nice to hear your FFVIIR thoughts. I found it to be a wonderfully lovely and engaging cinematic experience. I did the first one when I was 14 maybe, few years after it came out. Truly loved it, but found this to be a very different experience.

Hopefully, you haven't had any of it spoiled for you. No matter what happens in the future I think the sequel will be worth the wait.

Completely brick-walled in Yakuza, Millenium Tower, haven't been able to get past Tendo. Feel like the game design suffers here. Will finish eventually.

Temporarily moved on to Death Stranding. 18 Hours in. Love it!

Okay... so I just got to Tendo in the Millenium Tower... wtf

I'm level 65 and about to hop into the millennium tower in Yakuza Like a Dragon.

Hour 70...almost done... I think? I will not be going after a platinum. Really enjoyed it, but ready to be done.

Yakuza Like a Dragon - just started Chapter 6. Love the combat, especially bosses, a lot more now that I have a roster big enough to swap people out. Balance feels better.

Taking my time with Kentucky Route Zero as well - in the middle of Act II.

YAKUZA LIKE A DRAGON STILL GOING (53% according to the PS5)

Started Kentucky Route Zero as well. Good place in life.

Just want to reiterate that I'm in Chapter 6 of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and this game is ***** phenomenal.

Back from vacation!

Time for Yakuza Like a Dragon (16 hrs in and I THINK I am close to the end of Chapter 5)!!!

Will balance this by playing a little Sackboy this weekend, too. Found a used copy at Goodwill of all places for 10 bucks.

Just finished the Old Folks Home mission in Yakuza Like a Dragon, and I worked my way through Rift Apart last week. Going on a small vacation and excited to dig deeper into Yakuza!

honestly looks cool - as a single player experience, i didn't think there was anything wrong with avengers

@ItsATM Really excited for everything. About 50% of the way through Ratchet and Clank now, trying to take my time.

I am interested in Skyward Sword, but I don't quite know what to make of the decade-long revisionist history about it. I'll wait until I see how the Switch update is reviewed. Something about the proposed substitution of motion control for the right stick... doesn't seem like it will work all that well. We'll see!

Right now I am trying to decide if I go either of these two ways:

Ratchet -> TLOU2 -> Yakuza?

or

Ratchet -> TLOUs -> P5R?

Open to Suggestions, I know that either one is going to be a massive undertaking.

@TraCuz-
I'm coming off a massive run of things I was meant to play but haven't in the last 10 years. Quarantine truly helped with this.

I've also got Yakuza like a Dragon on deck as well...

Not a huge backlog, but I need to figure out how to parse these and what can share brainspace with something else. I know I am going to finish Ratchet before I'm halfway done with TLOU2.

but then I have all of the following left for the summer:

P5R (PS4)
God of War (PS4)
Yakuza Like a Dragon (PS5)
Resident Evil 2 (PS4)
Resident Evil 3 (PS4)
The Uncharted Collection (PS4)
Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door (GC)
Hollow Knight (Switch)
FFX and FFX-2 (Swith)
Kentucky Route Zero TV (Switch)

A few of these just feel too big to tackle right now.

quickly completed FF7R INTERMission, and now playing TLOU2 for the first time and popping in bits of R&C:RA in order to make it go down smooth. Saw the horrible thing in the first two hours. Immediately switched to RC. Enjoying both in wildly different ways.

After this week I'll start Persona 5 Royal (finally!).

this totally rules, the graphics mode is spectacular, and the yuffie content is great. worth playing through if you enjoyed FF7R on PS4. Lots of interesting hints and teasers at the end for driving anticipation for the next game. Easily worth the 20 in my view. I also maxed out all of the side content and it took about 7 hrs.

played a bit of HZD, I have like 5 missions left, then turning to Last of Us Part 2 and P5R. Super excited. Also... if I'm honest, I'll be digging into the Yuffie DLC for FF7R on Sunday next week.

@ItsATM will do - i've got two main quests left in HZD, not really loving it honestly, but i may come back for Frozen Wilds

P5R is more in my wheelhouse i think - i know it is... mainly(?)... a JRPG, but I'm excited that I get to go in blind.

Finished all of Control Ultimate Edition last week. Currently about 7 hrs into Horizon Zero Dawn for the first time. Honestly not really loving it, but willing to see it through to the end. I just got my copy of P5R in the mail, and I know NOTHING about it. Just the logline. I'm VERY VERY excited to check it out.

finishing up Cadence of Hyrule (Switch) and Shadow of Colossus (PS4), and finally making progress on Ghost of Tsushima... About 20 hours in, trying to retake Castle Shimura.

huge weekend:

just beat Limbo.

Friday night - I beat Marvel Avengers (Ps5) and Cadence of Hyrule.

Feeling the good times.

some THPS1+2 online after upgrade

playing Red Dead Redemption on PSNow for the first time

dabbling in some Stardew late at night!

bon weekend!