Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 505

Surprisingly I've been completely addicted to MechWarrior 5 for the past week. I have all of the DLC packs (they've been on sale) which gives you tons of content. Several campaigns, tons of mechs and weapons. The added difficulty options make it much more accessible which is nice.

Anyone who found Armored Core too hard and/or high energy would probably prefer MechWarriors slower, methodical pacing. Both games are badass though despite being complete opposites.

Edit: I guess this weekend I can mix in some more Baldur's Gate 3 with the tasty new update 👍 I love it but I seriously need to remember to save more often...

Diablo 4, my first Diablo game and I think I am enjoying it. Just focused on the story mode during the two weeks since purchase and I keep having nagging doubts whether I am having fun. I’m sure there’s more to the game once you’re past the story but I feel like there’s a similarity to each dungeon I go through. The game itself looks fantastic and it runs really nicely but I’m hoping to get more out of the game now that I have beaten the daughter of hatred. I stupidly reset my build after the story was over and now I’m left confused with no build trying to work out which barbarian build to use for tier 3.

Ralph Inseon has such a gravely voice and he’s superb as Lorath. Caroline Faber as Lilith is fantastic. If the Game Awards are doing a voice actor award they should both be involved for the running. Also, there’s a cut scene towards the end of the game where there’s a huge battle and it was one of the best cut scenes I have ever seen in a game

@BusyOlf diabolo 4 is a great game. Once you have finished the story there is still a lot of fun to be had especially the season content despite what others will tell you. I'm playing lords of the fallen and it is just getting better and better. Have a great weekend everybody and stay warm 👍

@Zuljaras I really look forwards to your Saturday morning posts to see what you are playing. I'm glad you are enjoying Gotham knights as it's a really cool game.

I'll be resuming my quest to aquire all gems in crash bandicoot. I'm a big souls fan and if you attempt this, it really is the dark souls of platformers 😂

I'm currently deep into my 9th playthrough overall of Cyberpunk 2077. The upcoming patch with new gameplay mechanics already has me thinking of a 10th run! I love the game so much that every other game can wait.

The Okumura fight nearly made me quit Persona 5 Royal, but I somehow managed to scrape through so now I can go back to enjoying the game again.

GTA san andreas - PC
Halo Infinite - PC
Cuphead - PC
Mk1 - PS5

I've been having a go at the Suicide Squad alpha - it's a weird combination of high polish (the UI, the cutscenes, the story), and absolutely terrible gameplay which feels like the recent Saints Row reboot. Bullet sponge enemies, purple orbs to shoot, heavy feeling character movement, and so on.

By coincidence I'd recently been replaying Arkham Knight, and the two are night and day - and not in a good way for Suicide Squad.

I decided to save Spider Man 2 for the holidays so it's another indie weekend for me. I will give After Us a go, it looks like a chill game.

Second playthrough of BG3 - as an open hand monk this time Also want to go back to my first save to check out the new epilogue.

Grandia, metal gear solid and bum rush cyberpunk on the 5 and maybe goldeneye and starload on the adbox subscription x

Started a PS Plus end run to empty my backlog before my subscription runs out in July. First up is Miles Morales. Only played it for an hour so far, feels a lot like SM1 so far.

Might also start up Gran Turismo 7 which I rebought now there is a lot of new content available.

Trails of Cold Steel 3 and Yakuza 5

Now I have extended storage on Ps5 Im playing some backlog Hogwarts Legacy and Horizon Burning Shores. Put a few hours in on Immortals Of Aveum and for £20 its decent. On Laptop Im playing Trepang2 and Like A Dragon Gaiden

AC Mirage – still going strong, still like that its back to the old formula. A bit closer to the end of the story but I’ve gotten caught up in a lot of side content, which I love doing, but I´m aiming to have the game platinumed sometime next week.

PSVR 2 Kayak – so they added a christmas theme to the Kings Canyon track and its pretty nice. Check it out if you have the game!

PSVR 2 Journey to Foundation – I picked it up in the sale but just barely started playing it. It seems decent enough, not as good looking as some other games perhaps but I plan to play more after finishing AC Mirage so maybe a fuller report next week 😊

Also want to play Remnant 2 on Gamepass, but not sure I´ll have the time for it.

@Northern_munkey my mental health probably is playing more a part in my enjoyment being dulled in D4. I’ve never been one to play D&D type games and when maths and stats are heavily involved in games I’ve instantly found myself turned off attempting these type of games. I’m sticking with this new Barbarian build I got elsewhere and hopefully I can settle in to really going at these increased hordes that seem to have popped up on the map. Anyway, you have a great weekend yourself mate!

Hopefully I’ll be giving the new dungeon a go in Destiny 2 at some point, and maybe continuing my playthrough of halo 2

Gonna finish the Left Behind part of TLOU1 then work on some trophies in the base game. What a fantastic looking game. So glad I picked it up in the Black Friday sale

Still...Monster Hunter World Iceborne. After all these hours still finding new combos for a few weapons, haven't even touched half of the available weapons, game's real deep. Some MAFIAIII, just trying to get that plat.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1: Underground is starting this weekend so I’ll be playing that a lot tomorrow.
Beyond that I’m trying to 100% complete Wario Land 3 and PowerWash Simulator

PSVR 2
Song in the Smoke
Tried getting into this one a couple times and it felt obtuse and dense. However its clicked with me and is a ton of fun survival title. Out of the prologue and onto the first map, got armored up and set up base, ready to tackle the new map.

Red Matter 2
Gorgeous as hell sci-fi puzzler. I preferred the first games tense near horror like atmosphere, but this is still pretty great, with more streamlined gameplay style. About halfway through...

I’m currently working my way through Final Fantasy VII Remake. I’m about to start chapter 15 and I’m having a great time with Cloud and company.

My favourite game of the entire year, admittedly to my surprise, was the fabulous Final Fantasy XVI and now I’m completely absorbed in the series. I’ve got Crisis Core lined up for after FF7R, then we have Rebirth in February. Great times indeed.

Have a wonderful weekend my friends!

I've finally gotten into Cyberpunk 2077, so I'll be playing that. Taking down bad guys, cruising down Jig-Jig Street, driving badly while shoveling augments into myself like nobody's business.

Finished Persona 5 Tactica's story last night and just working on the DLC, then NG+ to get the Platinum. After that Star Ocean Second Story R or buying Alan Wake 2 with £20 off from the gift card I got from PS Stars

Will be playing Assassins Creed Mirage as I have been every day since starting it.Absolutely love it and so far 20 hours in with loads still to do!
I'll also be continuing my Yakuza Like A Dragon journey.Just started chapter ten.I love it but gotta admit some (alot) of the cutscenes go on and on..

Disney Speedstorm I don’t Usually like racing games but I’m hooked on this one. The new season is great so far.

Dreamlight Valley getting ready for the new update and expansion next week. Can’t wait 😁

Robocop: Rogue City fans of Robocop will love this game. I’m enjoying it but not as much as Terminator: Resistance - I always preferred the Terminator movies though.

Playing FFXVI still. Also downloaded wild arms 1,2,3 as good PS Portal choices when at work and hot spotting from my phone.

Finishing up LAD: Gaiden’s platinum then maybe working on Sekiro bosses or starting a new game like Persona 5 Tactica.

Enjoying Atomic Heart ATM Really Underrated

Picked up Stranger of Paradise really cheap. Definitely an underrated gem. It doesn't have the depth nor the challenging but rewarding progression of Nioh. But theres still a lot of fun to be had here. Every class feels great to use. Story and especially dialogue can be nonsensical but entertaining lol. Music is great

Alan wake 2 and robocop cracking games games.

On PS5 i will be playing some more Exoprimal, I've put 4 hours into it so far and whilst at first I liked the gameplay loop it's now getting tiresome. The same enemies, locations and missions over and over and by my calculations it will take around 30 hours to complete the story, I may not make it lol.

On Switch I will be playing the new Dragon Quest Monsters, which so far has been quite good but man those graphics are shocking and performance is not great either, it makes Pokémon Violet look good. I will also be playing Mario RPG, such a fun and great game.

Finishing off Talos Principal 2. Might play 1 again after this. Have an awesome weekend folks!

Ratchet & Clank 2016. About 75% through it. Enjoying it. Hoping to finish it this weekend. Not amazing but just good fun. Playing almost completely on Portal.

Felt the need for something untaxing and chill so made a start on Omno (PS4). So far it's lovely, reminds me a bit of Journey. Also should finish should Signalis this weekend.

Have a good weekend and happy gaming peeps.

I am playing the Closed Beta for Suicide Squad with friends and although I am worried what the Live Service elements will entail, the game is actually a lot better than I expected, but I wouldn’t like to play it on my own.

Also playing Call of Duty Black Ops 3. Just Veteran no checkpoint and Realistic to secure the 100% completion on the game left to do. That has been a lot of fun!

Tower of Fantasy, started it a few days ago and I'm hooked. It's really rough around the edges with a story that's so wtf it makes the DoA 5 campaign look sane but looking past it's many issues there's a solid combat engine in there that's really enjoyable. Have a good weekend all!

@nomither6 some solid choices there mate👌
What's your PC like? I wanted to try out Halo but my PC is pretty haggard 😬

Im playing the amazing desperadoes 3.a instant classic game.fantastic graphics.a excellent protagonist.the gameplay is excellent.the story is fantastic.the boss fights is wonderful.andthe dualshock vibration is incredible.im playing the excellent toukiden kiwami.the gameplay is excellent.you get to use different weapons.the sword is my favorite.the story is n.i.c.e.the graphics is cool.the boss fights is excellent.cool dualshock rumble especially when you do a super special moves.toukiden kiwami is a fantastic monster hunter like game.and im playing the classic the incredible crisis core final fantasy 7 the reunion.zack fair is a wonderful protagonist.the graphics looks really good.the gameplay is better than ever.the boss fights is excellent.the story is amazing.i enjoy the vibration on crisis core final fantasy 7 the reunion.something the psp didn't have.the dualshock vibration is excellent.its a amazing game.my boston Celtics 💚🖤 play last night and won.so its a good.they are chilling.i will be watching my Pittsburgh Steelers 💛🖤 play tomorrow.here we go steelers here we go.and i will be watching legendary sitcoms 📺 tv comedy in Sanford and son.good times and saved by the bell.word is bond.word to god.word life.word to your mother.word up son

@playstation1995 Toukiden is an awesome game. I'm a big MonHun fan so its an easy one to love 😌

After finishing journey to foundation this week (not the best, not the worst game, still very good voice acting and a not too bad story) I picked up mass effect 3 (legendary edition which I got via ps+). I played 1 and 2 in quick succession and liked 1 much better than 2 (unlike most people, I think). But, I also really like 3 so far. Anyway the gameplay of journey to foundation is so similar, and I always was thinking how awesome mass effect would be in VR (e.g. with fracked's cover mechanic). I really hope that one day there is a VR port, remaster or remake of the mass effect trilogy.

More Cyberpunk 2077 for me.

@KilloWertz this is my next platinum run

Platted Gotham Knights a few nights ago from Extra, now slowly levelling up gear for Heroic Assaults and Showdowns for 100%. Gotham Knights campaign ain't nothing special but stuck with it and ended up really enjoying it overall. Finally started Hogwarts Legacy last night for few hours, good first impressions so far. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series and Jet Rider aka Moto have been a nice welcome improvement for me on Premium. Need to play more of Teardown at some point too, looking forward to it

Balancing games from all PS Plus tiers and purchased games of my own is proving to be quite a challenging game within itself

I won’t be gaming much this weekend. My one year anniversary with my wife is Sunday, so we are going to enjoy the weekend together alone since our kiddo is gone. Next weekend I have a surprise trip planned for us, so that’s should be a blast.

Whenever I get the chance I’ll probably be playing Octopath Traveler II. It’s one of my favorite games released this year. Originally, I played it on the Switch and finished every story except for two characters. I picked it up on the PS5 because it was on sale. My goal is to play it to completion and earn the platinum trophy.

I also completed Lies of P — an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion. The final (optional) boss, Nameless Puppet, was a pain in my rear end for a hot minute. I readjusted my level(s) and killed him on the first attempt. I said it last week, but I think it stands toe to toe with Bloodborne.

Right now, I’m chipping away at NG+. I’m halfway through my second play through and I restarted it yesterday. I never immediately replay a game after I beat it, so that’s a testament to how much I adore LoP. I’m hoping to get the Platinum trophy on my third playthrough (I’m dreading the final boss fight already). I had one trophy glitch(?) on me only because I performed a very minimal task correctly, but out of order.

And I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but that post credits scene was fantastic. I’m definitely excited for the future of this franchise, which is undoubtedly getting a sequel. The stories available to tell are endless.

Going to play Sonic Superstars and Bluey with my kids and some Rocket League.

I just saw Killers of The Flower Moon and it's got me in kind of early 20th century USA mood, so after trying to decide between revisiting Mafia and Red Dead Redemption 2, I've gone with the latter (I know, it's technically 1899).

Still in the phase of getting used to 30fps again. Thanks Rockstar (and 2K for not updating Mafia trilogy).

I’m knee deep in Lies of P after testing it out on GamePass then buying it in the PSN sale. What a video game! I’m loving the setting, the enemies, and the side characters. Neowiz really has a special series on its hands.

I’ve been super into Far Cry 6 for the past few weeks. Slowly plucking away and finding it to be a comfort game. Also picked up Pokémon Scarlets DLC since I had some cash on my account to ease the pain of full price.

It’s sad Pokemon Scarlet is still jank. The vision is there but the execution isn’t.

@Loamy nvidia 3070gpu, 16gbram, intel i7 127k , nothing spectacular . halo infinite can run on the original xbox one so i dont think you’d need much

@Kraven Lies of P was such an unexpected joy right? My expectations were low.... but honestly this would have absolutely been my GOTY, had I not begun playing Baldurs Gate last week!

NG+ is interesting, the first 80% I steamrolled through... and then the last few bosses, Simon especially, had me pulling my hair out. I scummed endings, so only needed 2 playthroughs for 100% achievements. I could see myself going back for more though!

And yeah,.... that post-credits scene is so good!

Hopefully finishing off Robocop which has been a joy, I love the film, one of my favourites so I am bit biased but it is brilliant. I accept Robo walks a bit slow but he does in the erm... real life! Also hope to try out Goodboy Galaxy on my Evercade

Happy gaming everyone!

I'll be trying to get to Driver Ranking B on GT7 Sport, race C at Grand Valley has been a joy this week. Enjoying Bloodborne in between, having previously trying and failing to get into Demon's Souls and Elden Ring, Bloodborne has been a brilliant experience so far. Currently trying to reach and get past Father Gascoigne, learning with each death my character takes.

Final Fantasy VII Remake for PS5.

I have 3 games in my backlog that have been there for a while that I feel bad for never finishing.
Xbox: Shadow of Tomb Raider
Switch: Metroid Dread and TotK
PS5: Nothing
Might pick up something new next week if they run any Game Awards sales.

I’m currently playing the very fun game of Christmas shopping in the Shambles with 1000 brain dead NPC’s. Apart from that I’m got my switch loaded up with Pokémon diamond for some mindless fun.

I am playing Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island Expansion. I enjoyed the main game,so I thought, why not check Iki Island. 🙂

I played a little bit with Gran Turismo 7 yesterday. Well, I am not sure I will enjoy this game, I guess I need to spend a bit more time... or it will unlock more options later in the game ?

Anyway I switched to Ghost of tsushima for the weekend, and I love it.

Alan Wake 2 Platinum 117 this weekend.

Then some smaller titles. Maybe Gungrave Gore, Sanabi, Gal Guardians or something before hitting two big heavy hitters…..

Lords of the Fallen and BG3!

That’s all. Enjoy your weekend all!

I don't have a concrete plan this weekend, but I think i will play Disco Elysium, Uncharted Remastered Collection and Final Fantasy XVI. There are other games in the roll, and if I feel the urge, I play one of them as well.

After finishing the Ascent, I play some Talos Principle 1 and TWD Season 2 from the Definitive Edition.

@Loamy. Definitely.yes toukiden is a excellent game.word up son

Downloaded Parappa the Rapper 2, a game I never got around to back in the day. I've not been this excited to play a game for a while. I'm serious.

Still chopping away at getting 100% on the trophy stack for all the COD games. Just finished Advanced Warfare last week so now I’m on Infinite Warfare. Also slowly chipping away at the ridiculous trophy in Modern Warfare III for 50K kills in zombies. Heck of a grind but at least the mode is pretty fun. Also gonna start on Spider-Man 2 at some point when I get tired of all the shooting at zombies 🤣

ALSO: Just saw Godzilla Minus One and it was such a good film it really made me wish there was a good Godzilla game out there. And no, the PS4 game is NOT a good Godzilla game.

@DrVenture69 Croteam have really outdone themselves with this sequel. Guess I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect but I’ve been pretty blown away with how they’ve built off of the first game. Just made it inside of the mega structure.

I'll be switching between some more outpost buidling in Starfield on the Series X and progressing through the main storyline of the Cyberpunk DLC on PS5. I'm dying to start with Super Mario RPG and Star Ocean Second Story R as well, but I promised myself to finish the other two first.

Can I buy more time with PS store credit?

@Jimmer-jammer , absolutely agree. I was pretty disappointed in Serious Sam 4, but they’ve redeemed themselves with this. So good! I wished they’d go back to Serious Sam 1 and do another game like that (with tonnes of secrets)

BG3 for me, with some "light" relief as I work through trying for golds on the GT7 licences. There has been so much talk in the thread of Lies of P. I tried it on Gamepass & adored it. Really keen to sit down & give it some more time - want a physical copy on ps5.
BTW, the portal has been getting an absolute kicking everywhere I look. Can I add something about my own experiences? It's fantastic to sit on the sofa with BG3 while my wife watches Netflix. I also link it to 4G when away to progress Sea of Stars. No issues at all. It has limitations of course but what's not to like with that - I'm loving it?!

@Hootnoodle I managed about 20 mins of Christmas shopping before 'uninstalling'!

Just got a new laptop so I've been getting back to more PC style games. Found Paradise Killer was included with premium so I've been playing that. And with the Dragons Dogma 2 announcements I found the first one on Steam for $5 so I'm gonna be playing that on PC because I just can't take 30fps anymore.

I’ve just started Final Fantasy XV and I’m really liking it so far. Beautiful graphics and the more realistic setting surely help as I couldn’t get into FFX-X2.
Also, waiting for my Steam Deck OLED to arrive in two days.

Abit of the dailies in gt7 ,trying to get to A grade ,at B at the moment ,it's a real grind but love a challenge in trying to get there ,I will get there ,its just not if but when lol,and a bit of the fabulous teardown which is something so different and maybe abit of the relaxing powerwash simulator which is great as well

Horizon Zero Dawn, I guess.

Getting towards the end of the excellent Tinykin. Highly recommended

Tried Gotham Knights but I can see why it got bad user reviews. Combat feels way off. Feels like it was a live service game and they swapped it out at the last min after backlash to avengers. Either that or they are clueless lol

Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League alpha. Then when I finish that I'll go back to The Crew Motorfest.

Actually changing up the gaming plans this time. Gonna guide a buddy via Screenshare on his 1st playthrough of Arkham Knight on PS5 via back compat. Have fun yall!

@Bentleyma I played this at launch and also again a few years ago. I enjoyed it well enough but I think it's one of those games that you remember being slightly better than it actually was. I remember they patched and rebalanced the combat but there is still too much trial and error and enemies are too overpowered. It's enjoyable enough but not a masterpiece as some make it out to be.

Just finished the Ivarr arc in AC Valhalla. What a psycho. Going to also give Sable a crack as I've been mildly interested in it for a while and it's now on PS Plus.

I just platinumed RE2 and RE3 (I now have the RE3 plat on PS4 and PS5) and so am now moving onto RE4. I also began a new playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 with the Phantom Liberty expansion.

In between final exam and term project trying to get into Tales of Vesperia on Switch and Star Ocean Divine Force on PS5 Portal.

Not in the mood to play anything. Some hiking and TV series. It is snowy and cold here in Poland and i actually like this kind of weather -3 Celsius atm.

@Tr3mm0r
Nice to see a fellow Pole in these parts 🙂 Milej niedzieli!

@gollumb82 Vice Versa

Finally going to finish up Act 3 of bg3 after the latest update. Put 200+ HRS into it before I got distracted by Lords of the Fallen, Lies of P, and weird west.

Finishing up Spider-Man 2 and CoD for me this weekend.

Started Red Dead Redemption 2 last week and haven’t put it down, will be continuing to play that this week too and more than likely the week after and so forth haha

Just finished Talos Principal 2, and I’m straight back in to Talos Principal 1. If you like games like The Witness and Portal 1/2, it’s definitely worth checking (especially for £24.99 for 93 hours of gameplay!)

I have a choice between mopping up final tasks in Saints Row, or starting Star Wars Survivor, with AC Mirage as back up. Think it'll be Star Wars, I haven't played a Stars Wars game since N64 days Rogue Squadron.

PS5 - Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

Switch - Super Mario RPG, Batman: Arkham Asylum

More Baldur's Gate 3 for me... Getting Not sure how big Act 3 is but I seem to be drowning in an ocean of things to do!

Whilst I was waiting for the patch I also started a full replay of Control (To finally get around to the expansions)

@Danbottomburp
Don’t rush. Enjoy the ride (pun intended) as it’s one of the most memorable ones in gaming history. I actually envy you. I wish I could erase it from my mind to experience it again.

Well here we go with another week of WAYP. Been one crazy week this week. Update from last week I beat Sonic Superstsrs but not just that game tho we’ll get to that later. This weekend I not only saw the new Nicholas Cage movie Dream Scenario and the new Godzilla movie Godzilla Minus One but I also beat Spider-Man 2 as well. All three were superb in different ways and a great time all around. Got some nifty new joycons this week too. The Pastel Purple and Green they’re very pretty. Unfortunately this week is nothing but early morning work shifts for me like back in the summer so truthfully the only PS5 game I can say is gonna get a lot of love from me is gonna be Alan Wake II most likely on my day off. Think I’m gonna try to snag a preorder of Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising this week too. The shiny Deluxe edition so I can nab the season pass with it. With the Game Awards coming up I’ll probably check that out with friends and vote on it like today I’m thinking. Also for the rest of the weekend I’m thinking of abandoning my plans to 100% all of Super Mario Wonder for now and probably just try to beat it tonight. With luck I can say that about a lot of games this week. Pikmin 4, Pokémon Scarlet The Teal Mask so on and so forth. Excited for those Game Awards tho definitely. As for anime of the week I won’t lie I slacked a little this week so I’m only going to give credit to Spy X Family and Shangri La Frontier this week. Podcasts this week of course gotta be Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, Remap Radio, RPGsite Tetracast, Minnmax, Nextlander and Weapon Wheel. As always yall hope you have a wonderful weekend and happy gaming.

@gollumb82 So far it’s been excellent

Final Fantasy XV ps5

@gollumb82 I'm at ACT 3 it started very boring for me, but it pick up now.

@SV22
Kudos to you for not giving up on the game. It’s really something special and you’ll see what I mean by the end. Enjoy!

@gollumb82 Thanks mate, very recently I finished the FF7 remake again. I do love FF games.

@SV22
I started FFXV two days ago and I’m really liking it so far.

@gollumb82 it is a beautiful game. The world is so well-made. The characters are likable.

@gollumb82 I just finished FFXV and to be fair that's the weakest in the series.
The camera during fighting is horrible.
The fight is so casual and lacks so much.
The story is kind of ok at some point it doesn't make sense at all.
The texture loading is poor and glitchy.
Not too many weapons for an open-world game.
The first 15 hours are boring as hell.
I'm giving 3☆ just because I'm a fan of FF.
But that game is a disaster.
Not close to FF7, FF-X, X-2.

@SV22
Appreciate the feedback friend, but I’ve moved on from PS5. I sold it and bought a Steam Deck OLED and I’ll be keeping it as my main gaming platform from here on out. I have FFVIII, FFIX, FFX, X-2 and XII lined up to play on a PS2 emulator so I suppose I won’t bother with XV. Handheld gaming makes the most sense to me in my sitiation in life (working 2 jobs, a wife and a daughter to support) so I prolly won’t be frequenting this site anymore. Best of luck to you and Merry Christmas!