Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 465

Still pounding the mean streets of Kamarucho in 𝐘𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐳𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐰𝐚𝐦𝐢 𝟐.

Enjoying it more than Kiwami 1, the combat is clicking more with me and the substories are better.

Also.... 🎵"Somebody said I'm good girl
With drinkin' up all wines
Every men seems so happy
To see me good"🎵

Hostess club management is back!

I loved this so much in 0. Not ashamed to admit I waste hours playing dress up dolly with my platinum girls.

Honestly I'd pay 70 quid in an instant for a fully fleshed out Yakuza Hostess game!

Enjoy your weekend and gaming everyone!

On PS5 i will be playing Wild Hearts which I'm finding more fun than monster hunter at the moment, but I'm finding it hard to find other players. Also my copy of Octopath Traveler 2 should come today so I'm looking forward to starting that.

On Switch I will be playing some Kirby return to dreamland and Fire Emblem Engage, I've also bought Harvestella which I may start today.

I've been playing like a dragon: ishin and loving the super serious historical story mixed with crazy substories. Also some hitman:world of assassination, I never played hitman 3 so am going to play that over the next few weeks and hopefully check out the new rogue lite mode when I'm finished. Have a good one folks!

Finishing up the remaining Testing Grounds in Atomic Heart. The game certainly exceeded my expectations, surprisingly so. Moreover, the music is so fricking bomb!

I’m also planning to clean up some side content in Forspoken and Hogwarts Legacy while getting ready for Wo Long next week.

s been an exciting week with PSVR 2. My mind has been blown a couple of times.

GT 7 - VR makes all the difference, its so much better. Cant really describe the feeling and the visuals other than its awesome.

Kayak - another gorgeous game, both super relaxing and quite the workout at the same time. Very good game

Horizon call of the mountain - wow, first couple of minutes really blew my mind. I’m maybe 1 hour in so cant say to much of the whole experience but it looks amazing, plays great with the bow and the physics (like lift the kid (damn autocorrect, meant lid of course but kid works too I guess…) of a box to find things inside) and the climbing is done really good imo. Really like it!

Hogwarts Legacy - about 30 hours in and still wowed. Really love this game!

Also, some Apex. To unwind, oddly enough

I'm 60 hours into Hogwarts Legacy and still hooked. I don't think I have enjoyed just exploring in a open world this much since Ghost of Tsushima.

Having recently finished The Last of Us Part I, I’ve now moved onto the Left Behind DLC and I’m having a great time with it so far. Not sure how long it is, but once I’m done with that, I have Stray, OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome to get on with. I’m really looking forward to finally getting around to all three of these smaller games, but not quite sure which to start first. Stray maybe?

[EDIT] Instead of any of those, I’ve ended up just playing the Octopath Traveler II Prologue Demo on PS5, and had to pop back here to gush about it. Both the gameplay and combat are fantastic and the visuals are utterly sublime. This has gone from a 'not particularly bothered' to a 'must play' in the space of an hour. I implore anyone with even a passing interest in RPG’s to give the demo a try. It’s awesome!

After nearly 1 years, I'm finally back on playstation ecosystem again, or more precisely sony scammed me back lol. Sony send me this nice email promotion that promise me to upgrade my (nearly expired) ps plus essential to premium for free, so I bought 2 years of ps plus and upgraded, only to find "there's something wrong" with my transaction. It seems sony need usa credit card info to upgrade (which I don't have), I usually bought ps plus with voucher so I didn't know this.

This weeks I'm playing octopath traveller 2 demo and god of war ragnarok, just bought the digital ps5 version (region 3) from my local online shop for about $26, I think the code is from ps5 gow ragnarok bundling.

Also bought a couple of discounted games since I already put $120 on my psn wallet, tales of arise, samurai shodown, little nightmares 2, and huntdown, can't wait to try it all 😃

Just Like A Dragon Ishin pretty much.

Ishin all the way, baby. I'm making great strides towards completion while slowly progressing the (so far really fun) story.

Oninaki, I'm about a dozen hours in and absolutely hooked. Definitely the highlight of the plus refresh for me. Have the PS5 version of Gris lined up for tomorrow, had no idea this was even out for PS5 until the other day and was a free upgrade, happy days. Have a good weekend all!

PS5 - Wanted: Dead, Like a Dragon: Ishin

Switch - Metroid Prime Remastered

Post story Stormblood in FFXIV. I always heard that Stormblood wasn't the best expansion but i really enjoyed the journey. Loved my time in the Azim Steppe.

Wild arms 2, trails from zero and legend of dragoon.

I beat Elden Ring after 120 hours just the endings away from the Platinum. Like A Dragon Ishin played for a few hours, Dead Space, Final Fantasy Reunion, Marvel Midnight Suns. On game pass Atomic Heart seems cool so far

Hogwarts Legacy again for me. I wonder how people who have a fear of 🕷 are getting on? 😂

Metro 2033 - plays wonderfully on PS5 with better FPS and faster loading.

Playing Theatrhythm Final Bar Line on the Switch and Like a Dragon Kiwami Ishin on the Ps5. Not much else this weekend. I do thoroughly enjoy both.

Having wathced the PsychOdyssey doc (yes, all of it), I am playing Psychonauts 2. I will probably start playing Horizon Forbidden West or The Quarry next.

Will be playing the long awaited Like A Dragon Ishin this weekend. You can feel in some areas this game was made as a PS3 title but it's still a fun time switching between the different combat modes and engaging in the bizarre substories the game has to offer. I'll have to resist myself from playing The Legend of Dragoon as well. Despite that game having problems that need fixing I can't keep myself away from it. Such an incredible PS1 gem. I see why so many people wanted a remake now. Crazy week for games, so much on PS outside of the two games I'm playing: Wild Arms 2, VR2 and the 40+ games with it, and Octopath Traveler II. Too many JRPGs coming out for me to keep up with!

I will complete Rift Apart and start Hogwarts Legacy.
Also I am fighting with myself to not buy Forspoken, since I heard all these awful things but absolutely loved the Demo. I even named my Hogwarts girl Frey Holland and made her look like her to cope.

Will hopefully fit some VR in today. Had 3 days booked of work so played it the first day, played it then got the motion sickness on the 2nd day so stopped playing and didnt get time on the 3rd day. Liking Kayak, especially as ive made a propper paddle to attach mu controllers too but it made me feel a bit funny as did GT7 but the real star for me so far is Pistol whip. Makes me feel like Neo and John Wick at the same time 🔫🔫 got a few demos to try like Horizon, Star wars and some Jigsaw puzzle game so my weekend should be pretty much sorted.... Unless i get roped in to other stuff.

@ItsBritneyB_tch Is that a spider or a hairy dingleberry? Both are kinda frightening, especially when working in tandem!

This weekend I’m playing Like a Dragon: Ishin (PS5). I’ve always preferred this franchise over GTA, with Y0 being my most adored. I didn’t know what to actually expect from this latest remake/spinoff. I wasn’t entirely sold on the setting with the initial trailers and announcements leading up to its release; however, after putting in several hours already, I can say that if it keeps up this pace it’ll easily sit alongside Yakuza 0 as my favorite in this long running series.

I feel as if this franchise is one of the rare series of games that are consistently good, and can somehow intricately balance intense moments that fill you with adrenaline and heartfelt emotions, to humor and downright hilarity — and sometimes both all at once. One instance would be having a serious talk in a bathhouse, and subsequently fighting a certain individual bare naked.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the writers and sub-story designers should be creating the side content for Marvel’s Spider-Man for PlayStation because their quirkiness and tone is essentially dad humor that molds right into Spider-Man personality and lightheartedness.

One thing I love about this franchise, and with this game particularly, is how it’s directed. There are some beautiful shots throughout the cutscenes and even in the moment-to-moment gameplay and dialogue between characters. It’s such a prominent staple in the Yakuza game, but more-so here because it makes you feel present with how it presents being a samurai in a western setting.

I also purchased Octopath Traveler 2 (Nintendo Switch). It’s rare when I buy a physical copy of a game these days — I prefer digital, but I own the first game physically and the artwork is superb. I’ve played an hour of it; I chose Hikari as my starter, and it’s great so far. I thoroughly loved the combat in the first game but found the story convoluted and overall repetitive. Hopefully, this one will remedy those two concerns, and from what I’ve read in several reviews, the characters are much better written than the previous installment.

@Relygon I'm playing Atomic Heart too and I concur, the music is fantastic, I suppose it was never really in doubt with Mick Gordon at the helm! I did originally say the game was about a 7/10 for me but having put some more time into it I'm leaning more to a 7.5, having a blast.

Happy Gaming Folks.

Continuing with Elden Ring.
I'm about 30 hours in and no longer dying every 2 minutes so must be getting better.

I may eventually do some gaming this week. I've been watching the ESA marathon on Twitch, so at least my mind has been on gaming in some capacity this week.

AC Origins, Valhalla, Ghost of Tsushima, Elden Ring. Might start Horizon Forbidden West second run, I miss it!

Resident evil Village VR and Horizon CotM. Both phenomenal games. Will jump into Kayak Mirage too and maybe some Pistol Whip in between. What a platform PSVR2 is, everything I could possibly hope for at such a low price.

Edit: Just found out no trophies are unlocked in VR mode of Resi Village. My play is immediately on hold therefore until they are implemented.

This should have been something mentioned by Capcom before release as I simply would not have bought the game if I knew this was the case. Very very disappointed if they don’t get added in. This has gone from a 9/10 to a complete non-game for me. Get it sorted Capcom!!!!!!

Hogwarts of course but i might give scarlet nexus a peruse later on as i've been intrigued by it since launch. Have a good weekend everybody 👍

I’m finishing up Hogwarts legacy which has very much kept my attention. Apart from that I’m itching to start playing some Persona 3 at some point; but I don’t know if I have the stamina currently for another longish game.

Hopefully I'll get Hogwarts Legacy finished this weekend then maybe start Atomic heart on gamepass or Gotham Knights on ps5.

Im playing the amazing divinity original sin enhanced edition.im playing the fantastic void bastards .im playing the excellent cuphead.and im playing the wonderful little nightmares.im about to finish watching the sony horror movie the invitation.so far its a good movie.i will be watching college basketball 🏀 Michigan wolverines is playing.i will be watching my💚🖤 boston Celtics play.i will be watching legendary sitcoms 📺 tv comedy in saved by the bell.and martin.word up son

I am playing Gotham Knights. Really a fantastic game.

I finally finished the story in Ragnorok! Got lots to clean up and might got for the platinum eventually. Been very wrapped up in playing Wild Hearts which is great fun despite the performance issues. Gotta team up again this evening fo try to beat the Deathstalker.

After Ghost Recon Breakpoint couldn't connect to the Unisoft servers during the week, rendering it useless, I restarted AC Black Flag for the first time in 10 years, and it seems I still love it as much as I did back then. So, I'll be plundering on with that this weekend.

Enjoying VR2 . I'm a VR newcomer and I have been blown away by PSVR 2. It feels like a new experience in games. Happy gaming everyone.

I'm travelling this entire weekend, so no gaming for me until monday. When I return, is Ace Combat 7 time. Love this series!!

Final Fantasy VII Remake and Sonic Frontiers

Hogwarts legacy ,78hrs and still not been to the bottom half of the map ,fantastic game ,can't praise it enough

Start new game+ on Dead Space and a spin on the Wu Long demo methinks.

Mostly jumping between Hogwarts Legacy and Metroid Prime remastered. In Hogwarts I’m level 23, played around 25hrs, with about a dozen main quests still to do. I still haven’t unlocked flying mounts, or explored the bottom of the map! (South Sea bog downwards). I’m also looking forward to unlocking the 3 “unforgivable curses”! Anyone who hasn’t yet tried fidelity mode on PS5 I highly recommend giving it a go. I usually prefer performance mode, but in HL fidelity mode is super smooth.

Horizon - Call of the Mountain

Ghost of Tsushima 😎

Headset arrived on wednesday so dropped all other games to dive into it:

PSVR2
Horizon: Call of the Mountain
We always knew this would be a tech marvel but what about the rest? Im a big VR nut, so im spending lots of time going off path to interact with objects and drool about vistas. I usually dislike VR platforming, but this title does a great job at giving you new tools and challenges to keep it intresting, plus stealth while climbing is well suspenseful. Combat aint bad, it does a solid job of bringing series style to first person...although i miss the melee follow ups. The main character and plot are dull, but all the rest is incrediable...its 8/10 material for me so far.

Gran Turismo 7
Never played this series nor really got into racing titles (asides Mario Kart)...but in VR? Just wow. So addictive. Cars handle great, theres so much customisation and things to do, im hooked. Its amazing how appealing a title i wouldnt look twice at, is so much fun in VR.

Resident Evil Village
Just started it the other night. This isnt some rushed port, Capcom have done a baffiling good job at bringing motion controls to this, and all for no extra cost...and holy crap, the haptics from shooting the shotgun! It plays great so far but am going to pause until finishing Horizon, then give this my full time.

I'm still going through Nioh 2 DLC and now Way of The Nioh (NG+4) because I hadn't realised that Wise wasn't the last difficult.

I've also started the new No Man's Sky Expedition, this game will never stop being endlessly fascinating AND comforting for me.

I also wrapped up Destiny 2 Witch Queen with it being currently free and I think I might have to jump in day one with Lightfall.

Hoping to start Ishin this weekend if I can finish Hogwarts Legacy this weekend but if not oh well. I'm not rushing through Hogwarts. It's too good to do so.

I'll also play some PGA 2K23 since they added ranked matches earlier this week.

@Kidfunkadelic83 dont worry, you will adjust, just call time out straight away if you feel quesy, then the tolerance builds quicker. Also play round with customisazation options and see what works best. Im a long time VR user but still cant tolerate smooth turning, i do fast locomotion with snap turn on everything...everyone is different though, have a play to see what works for you.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

It was a bit of a bumpy right earlier when things felt like they were blocked off and it was hard to find what to do next, but ever since I've broken through about 12 hours of playtime ago, it's been great. I'm definitely glad I stuck with it. I'm at roughly 27 hours now and I look forward to the next 27 (or however many are left).

Taking a break from being a Wizard in Hogwarts to being a superhero in Spiderman Remastered! Going for plat on Spiderman.

@ThorsHammer
Same here. Also full locomotion with snap turning after years in VR. It really doesn’t impact any game negatively though, plus it removes any type of motion blur from turning the camera.

Both the children are sick, so when I have time it’ll be starting Hogwarts Legacy

I checked out the Humanity demo and I’m a sucker for puzzle style games so this is my jam. That music too.

Lastly, I hope to play through Bright Memory Infinite. Feels like a solid shooter even if it’s only two hours or so in length.

This week I finally started Dad of Boy Ragnorok. I'm about half way through the story according to a mate I was talking to. Great stuff so far and I have all sorts of twisty ideas for how things could end up resolved, and who will be left standing by the end. Trying not to mention spoilers for anyone who hasn't got around to it yet.

Doing all night shifts this weekend, but took my PS5 along with me to play Hogwarts.

Mostly Hogwarts Legacy

81 hours deep into One Piece Odyssey. For someone like me, who's watched the whole series, this game's the ultimate.
I can't imagine how anyone would figure out what was happening if they didn't know One Piece's whole series going in.
It's written for the devoted fans, they leave newcomers in the total dark at figuring out the world and characters.
Not that I'm complaining! Just makes me laugh.
It's rare to see developers who do such an extreme tone of "Go watch the show if you want to know. We're telling you nothing. You either know or you don't." 😄
They didn't give a single f*** about selling to the mainstream.

@theheadofabroom Dad Of Boy. 😄

@Northern_munkey Ooo, Scarlet! If you like Japanese style games, it's slick.
Everything was good.Likable characters, great gameplay/controls. Top quality stuff.
I loved it.

Atomic Heart mostly, and it's very, very good. I'm a large chunk (20hrs) into the game now and currently in the more open-world (think Crysis 1) phase. Having a dream with the combat, weapon upgrades and the pacing of puzzles between. I've also been quite surprised with the story keeping me involved as it is. The soundtrack is fantastic too!

Personally I feel a few of the lower reviews, especially ones like Push Square, were way off the mark with this one. When this starts to go on sale and people are picking it up later on I'm sure it'll become a cult classic. They'll be able to do wonders with a sequel...

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. Rhythm games are fun especially when it's to music you love and I adore FF music. I just wish it wasn't so punishing. It asks the utmost precision of you otherwise you'll get great or lower on notes. Very hard to get all criticals in this game compared to the 3ds games

Hogwarts Legacy. I just did that PS exclusive quest and it's definitely been the best side quest in the game so far. Lost of cool visual effects and fun puzzles to solve. Hopefully there's more like that

Monster Hunter Rise. Just made it to HR 80 so I'm getting close to whatever is waiting for me at 100. Slowly killing monsters and working my way up

@burning_as_souls am I wrong?

I’m still hunting Kemonos in Wild Hearts.

Finishing up the FeMC route of Persona 3 Portable and then probably move on to the male one to get the platinum. After that, back to Hogwarts Legacy to clean up for the trophies and then most likely Like a Dragon: Ishin after.

Taking my time through Dead Space Remake.

Still in Hogwarts, there's so much to do!

Finished Hogwarts Legacy... put about 75 hours into it loved it. Don't know if I'll ever replay it though. Now I'm playing Octopath 2. I like the tweaks they made with the battle system but otherwise feels like a copy/paste of the first one.

Played about 10 hours of Hogwarts Legacy, the presentation and world are truly top notch but the game design just didn't work for me, so I put it down. Might try Octopath 2, if Slay the Spire let's me.

I'm a little undecided at the moment jumping between Atomic Heart, Gotham Knights, Arkham Knight and Mad Max...

Just finished my first ever playthrough of TLOU 2. Not so sure why it was SO divisive. I understand a lot of people didn't like the ........'main plot point'... towards the beginning of the game that essentially drove the rest of the story, but to me it was logically sound, fit the narrative & the world the story was told in and was a nice twist. I just don't get why everyone seemed to raaaave about the game. I'd agree the first one (including the EXCELLENT MP) was a '10/10', but in no way shape or form was part 2 a '10/10'. More like an 8.5/10 at absolute best (at least IMHO). Overall I liked the game and the storytelling was largely quite good, but there were definitely a few things that could have been done better. I liked splitting the story between Ellie and Abby and thought that was a great idea, effective, and really drove the point home that there are no 'good guys & bad guys', but everyone is morally grey. But WOWWWWW was the story waaaaayyyy too long!! They should have really trimmed it down a good bit. The pacing felt a bit off at times with some of the slower narrative sections. And what in the heck was with Abby's massive man-like arms?? I mean, even the game itself sort of joked about that at one point. Anyway, I could go on about the game, but suffice it to say I'm glad I played it, mostly enjoyed it, but I'll also be glad when I'm done with the second partial playthrough for platinum.

I was looking forward to starting The Legend of Dragoon this weekend but after hearing about all the bugs I’m gonna hold off and hope for a patch. I’ll probably now just be chipping away at MH Rise with a few beers.

I’ll be diving into more Elden Ring. Just hit Volcano Manor but I’ll be taking a detour to do a few side quests first. I set up my PS VR 2 last night but the controllers needed charging so I’m starting Horizon: Call of the Mountain whenever I get home. PS VR 2 blew me away just with the set up process!

Hogwarts Legacy continues to keep me enthralled! I can’t wait to jump back in later today. The atmosphere is first rate and I’m really enjoying combat. I would love to see a sequel!

Jetpack Joyride (Windows Phone) - Always playing in bursts nowadays.

Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition (Windows Phone) - Finally almost completed the entire game.

Hitman GO (Windows Phone) - This is technically my first intro to this franchise, but I'm really enjoying this puzzle game!

I'm jumping between GOW on PS5 and the Gears of War Series on Series X.

1. Hogwarts Legacy (SteamDeck)

Away again this week. PS5 taking a rest (finished GOW... fantastic game!) and setting up PSVR2 will need to wait a bit.

Hogwarts is also amazing as a handheld game. Finished One Piece Odyssey (great jRPG) on my last work trip, so it came out just in time.

Finished Hogwarts legacy after about 60 hours. The castle and hogsmeade were the best parts of the game for me. The open world not so much. Back to playing dead space. Trying my luck at a plasma cutter only run and then an impossible play through for the platinum. Playing Bioshock on the steam deck. The game is great and holds up really well.

Completed the excellent new Switch version of Metroid Prime, so finally getting around to playing Alan Wake through the 'remastered' version. Also picked up Grim Guardians as thought has a good look of the GBA / DS Castlevania games, it's most reminding me of Portrait of Ruin.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe. I'll play some Wonder Boy Collection if I finish before the end of the weekend.

Resident Evil Village currently plus Frogger & Kula World via PS1 emulation on the old phone earlier today.

Horizon FW is on hold this weekend as I’m on the road for work. So it’s all Switch for me. I’m digging into Metroid Prime Remastered and Golf Story. I’m having a lot of fun with both of them. Have a great weekend!

@DETfaninATL @DETfaninATL I agree with your point about the story being too long. The last third or so of the game really dragged for me and I was more or less forcing myself to finish it, which I eventually did. They needed to cut several hours off the main story.

PSVR2! So much more fun than I had with the psvr1. About half way through Horizon. Playing Pistol Whip and Zombieland as well.

I tried Kayak once and aside from pretty looking water, I think I bought into the hype on that one. Drums Rock is also a lot of fun, but the difficulty ramps up so fast, I'm not sure how I feel about it.

As for non VR I'm thrilled with the quarry. Started chapter 3 but think I'm going to restart as I missed to many cards

Hogwarts Legacy. Game actually makes me smile when I play it. Surprised there weren't more mentions.

@h15c0r3r nice, you have something awesome to look forward to.

Its a bit tricky to find the sweet spot but follow the instructions and you’ll be fine. I dont have a blurry image. Dont know if people cant set it up correctly or had way, way to high expectations.

I need a longer list. I think I bought half of the psvr2 launch lineup and just keep trying to play as much of it as I can as often as I can right now. GT7, Horizon, Runner, Star Wars I caved and bought, demos for the games I don't have, drums rock, unplugged, kizuna ai, demeo, song in the smoke, thumper, dyschronia, garden in the sea, kayak...I think I'm forgetting some. NMS but something is just wrong with the VR in that, the graphics are blurry as heck so I won't be playing it much if they don't patch it. Just trying to get to everything all at once! So many games, so little weekend. Also still binging Yakuza series now and then. And will probably get back to starting hfw after cotm since I've been horizon binging since January

No Man’s Sky has dragged me away from Dead Space , 30 hours in in less than a week, loving it

@Shigurui. Thank you. I was not aware of the PS5 upgrade for Gris. That is such a beautiful contemplative game. Looking forward to revisiting for the plat.

After 4 months sparing every free minute on this game I've finally finished Witcher 3 complete edition (about 30 tries on defeating Dettolff). And now got my hands on Wolfenstein New Order.

@Stevemalkpus - You're welcome. I found out purely by accident when I saw the Xbox X|S version on sale so I checked my PS5 library and discovered the free upgrade. Enjoy your revisit!