Topic: What PS5 Games Are You Currently Playing?

The Pedestrian
I normally don't have the patience (or mental ability) for puzzle games as I tend to give up when frustrated but I've been enjoying this one, albeit in small sessions. I like the way it doesn't really explain anything but still remains quite simple to grasp the new mechanics introduced in different areas.
I also like how solving fairly simple puzzles makes me feel like a genius!
Its quite a pleasant change of pace for me at the moment.

Forbidden West. Not right now, but I started it last night. Not sure if I will stick with it. It looks stunning, but it just isn't gripping me yet, not sure why. Maybe it takes itself a little too serious. I don't know

@Ravix For me it started slow. I actually didn't like the beginning. But eventually I really fell for it and ended up getting platinum and doing the DLC. It's huge and some parts of it were less interesting than others or even felt unnecessary but all in all I think it's one hell of a game.

@lotan666 maybe that was part of it. The beginning is just a little corridor area and I was trying to explore and find things on my own, but it was just dead ends and felt like bad design, but I suppose it is just a tutorial area in a way, even though it's a sequel.

Overall the series is one I like for it being its own unique concept, but it always lacked a bit of depth for questing and exploration and I have a love hate relationship with the combat 😅 (the dualsense sensory bow aiming I've tweaked to be quite nice for my own style, I used that method alot in DD2 when using a bow, forget what its actually called, but you use the motion sensor to tweak aim to varying degrees and I had to boost the sensitivity up)

But It's a game I don't mind if I don't finish it, I might go back to it and play some more (weekend is quite busy anyway) and get to a part where it opens out to more exploration, and see how long it keeps me involved. And if it doesn't grab me, just play it from time to time. And even if it does, I'll likely get a bit bored of the progression and have to come back to it at another time after playing other games, like I did with the first game

@Th3solution @Jimmer-jammer Well boys, I have finally bested Allant, got him on my first try with my complete max build. He drained one of my levels though, which I will have to farm to get back, but I still came out as the victor. Now it's on to the rest of World 4. Adjudicator awaits!

N.B Although admittedly much easier than it should be with the max strength level I still reckon it was challenging, I had to keep getting away from him in order to heal up regularly, and couldn't just wail on him sort of thing.

N.B II I usually go for the max build in these games sort of thing, but, yeah, it felt to me, even though I know I've made my character op, that this boss fight was more like a boss fight in a standard action RPG, than something out of Dark Souls Remastered or Dark Souls III , where, even though I've made my character op again, the boss fights were still significantly more challenging than in Demon's Souls , but then again, the easiest FromSoft game is still going to be significantly harder than the average game.

How are your games going?

Still grinding away on Granblue which is why I haven't been posting much.

Finished the core campaign, and have been working through the end game (which also continues the campaign too).

The game is fairly easy all the way through the campaign and for really most of the first two tiers of end game. However, by the third tier the difficulty and grind expectation does shoot up pretty significantly - at least by comparison.

This is mostly due to how the system handles resources, and it all being one shared pot. I was constantly trying new characters, and rotating new characters into my AI slots, not realising how much I was gimping myself in the process by doing this. The end game curve seems very much built around you picking a main, and three main companions, and mostly disregarding everyone else until the end, so you can focus all your resources into them and keep up with the escalation.

Thankfully a content drop landed the other day which introduced a ranged bow user and much like with Monster Hunter, she sorta circumvents so many of the things that can make a battle particularly difficult and so I went from feeling like I hit a wall to absolutely blazing through the end game again. I think I have a couple more quests before I unlock the final tier of end game difficulty.

Got my level back in Demon's Souls , the one that Allant drained away from me earlier, and now I am making my way through the first area of the Shrine of Storms level, on my way to Adjudicator!

Started Stellar Blade and I like it a lot
My favorite part is the monster design but overall it's fun and very pretty with only a couple downsides so far (janky platforming, which luckily there isn't a whole lot of, and the bulletin board quests being as basic as they get)

@Black_Swordsman Nice work, man! Glad to have that mountain behind you, I’m sure. I firmly believe the Souls games are designed to be beaten in whatever way the player sees fit, whether that be becoming an overpowered monster, scraping by as a frail weakling or outright breaking the game via imagination. Congratulations!

On my end, I finished Echoes of the Fallen (the final boss on FF mode is no joke!) and started The Rising Tide, still chipping away at Unicorn Overlord (which is a real joy) but mostly haven’t been able to pull myself away from Rise of the Ronin. I may actually end up getting the platinum for it after all. Also, I ventured to the city to pick up Stellar Blade but found a great price on Prince of Persia instead 😄

@Jimmer-jammer Thanks, man. I appreciate your words and yeah, it is great to finally have all that farming pay off. Congratulations for finishing Echoes of the Fallen with the extra difficulty of FF mode to contend with. I've got Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on my Gaming Wishlist as well, if that is the same one? Hope you get the plat for RotR, apparently it's not actually that hard to get, so I was thinking of platting it as well after finishing DeS, planning to plat RE2 Remake at some point soon too as well.

As I say, I don't think the RotR plat will be hard, just time-consuming, as it is, obviously, an open-world game, plus there's that mandatory single mission on 'Midnight' difficulty to contend with.

Playing Powerwash Simulator and Dave the Diver, both games I feel I can only play two or so levels/runs before having enough for the day. There is nothing terrible about them per say, just that there is not a great deal of game there to keep me interested for longer.

Although there is something strangely therapeutic about getting everything clean in Powerwash Simulator! 😆

@Black_Swordsman Yeah, The Lost Crown. I played the demo and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, it’s a series I’ve always really enjoyed! The plat for RotR doesn’t seem too hard, as you say. There’s a lot of content here and I think it mostly needs to be completed in order to get bond levels up and the skill points to level up but honestly, I’m finding the busywork super enjoyable. More so than I usually do for these types of games. There’s some kind of special sauce here that’s hard to articulate.

I might actually finally try the Stellar Blade demo I've had downloaded since it was available 😅 (i'm surprised there is no chat thread for the game on here considering all the articles and hype)

I just feel like I'm in gaming Limbo since DD2 and nothing is grabbing me or calling out to me to play it. Horizon and it being bow based just doesn't scratch that combat itch for me atm, and Stellar Blade is just sitting their with swordplay waiting to be tried out.

My main game is Stellar Blade, which I am enjoying. I'd definitely say it's up there with some of Sony's other big releases. My side game is Sea of Thieves in co-op with my brother. I am absolutely loving it. It's one of those games that gets me excited about gaming and reminds me why it's such a great hobby.

@Ravix Most of the conversation I've seen for Stellar Blade has been about people being offended by Eve or Sony's 'censorship', and very little about the actual game unfortunately.

I probably would have got it, if the Elden Ring DLC was not round the corner.

I liked the demo of Stellar Blade but I have one question. I haven't really played that type of games before. If I were to try - is Stellar Blade a fairly unique game or is it heavily inspired by some classics which I should maybe play first to get more familiar with the genre and also not to spend $70 on something I may end up not enjoying in the end?

@lotan666 It's a fairly unique mix of things it borrows heavily from, if that makes sense
The closest thing I can think of would probably be the Jedi games (Fallen Order and Survivor).
I believe the first one was on PS+ a while back.

@Voltan Oh, that's a bit surprising. Certainly not a comprison I was expecting I liked Fallen Order quite a lot and Survivor is also on my list for this year. Thanks.

@lotan666 It's mostly that the next map after the one from the demo is significantly more open and there's a lot of optional activities (even if they're rather simple) and nooks and crannies to explore - made me think of the main planets in those games.
And they both are inspired by Souls games in some ways but aren't quite the same thing.

@lotan666 Yeah, @Voltan hit the nail on the head when he said it's like the Jedi games. If you liked the gameplay of those, then it's pretty likely that you'll enjoy Stellar Blade. The game is surprisingly open.