@Th3solution I just started DeS last week, and loving it! Let me know if you begin, and perhaps we can help each other out with summons/bosses etc should things get too challenging...
For what its worth, I would recommend Hades>Kena... especially if you are soon to be starting DeS. Kena is a great game, but some elements (particularly boss fights) are quite 'Souls-Like'... to the point that it felt like a slightly watered down DeS and missing all the RPG mechanics/levelling etc.
Hades is outstanding, and something that can be satisfying to play in either short bursts (20 mins can be an average run) or longer sessions. Its a fairly unique rogue-lite also in that every run feels like progress made, and there are many 'carry-over' items/upgrades/techniques so you never feel like time was wasted. The characters and story-telling are top-class, as well as the level of variety per run. I believe you can grab it for basically very little £££..... I still drop in and out of it, total about 80 hrs (Switch).
If you're the kind of person who is blessed with the ability to multi-task and play different games side-by-side, I think DeS and Hades would compliment one another nicely. (The former being a 'sit-down' and concentrate hard game, whilst latter is more 'pick up and play')
@CJD87 That’s great feedback and I am excited to sink my teeth into Demon’s Souls. I wanted to put some space between it and Returnal, out of concern for my own mental health 😉, but it’s been a couple months and about 7 games played since my finishing of Housemarque’s opus, so my gamer resolve is fully replenished and ready for a challenge again.
Cooperating sounds like a great idea and I’m definitely open to it, but I am running into the holidays and game time has been sporadic to say the least and who knows when I’ll get the time. And I really plan to complete Rift Apart before opening up a new game, so it could be a while. I’ll keep you posted on when my situation to start it arises.
I do multi-task decently (although one game tends to get the short end of the stick) and usually I play 2-4 games side by side, but I’m at the 3 game mark now and I also shot my wad as far as gaming budget. Still, you’re tempting me a lot with Hades. It’s only $20 right now and sounds well worth it. It’s good to hear it could be easily mixed in with other more intense games like DeS and so that might push it further to the top on my wishlist. When I do concurrent games I do like them to compliment one another (be of differing genres or art styles, etc)
I will say that I have a slight reluctance about Hades because the last (and only) Supergiant game I played was Transistor and despite widespread praise I heard about it, I thought it was just ‘okay.’ I was a little disappointed and only finished it out of sheer feeling of obligation. Still, I know Hades is a whole different thing and I’m sure it will sit much better with me.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Yeah it's definitely much simpler if you already have the latest console. I just don't have money to spend on consoles right now, especially since PS5 can cost up to €800 due to how rare they are. That's why I have to rely on my base consoles and seeing as how a lot of games work well on them but some don't, it just irritates me. If there was some consistency among developers, then I wouldn't have to worry about which version to get. I kinda wish there were some regulations that you have to offer a standard level of specs in order to sell your game. That way it doesn't fall onto the consumer to find out which version is good or bad.
But yeah, I guess it's also because I'm the type of person who buys all three major consoles while most people only have one or two. I think I'll change that going into the next generation.
@Kidfried Well now both Microsoft and Sony don't seem to mind that their consumers are playing on PC considering they're both releasing more first-party titles on PC. But if that's the case, then that could mean that they won't release new iterations of PS5 and Series X mid generation if they don't care about competing with PC anymore. So who knows, based on your reasoning, maybe I can just buy a PS5 and not have to worry about a new model coming out! We'll just have to see, but I'm glad you brought up that argument as I didn't even think about that.
@LtSarge Looked at the DF piece on it. Is the framerate just crashing and making the game pause for seconds at a time on Xbox One? That's what it seemed like, anyway. tbh I've never seen anything like that in a game before on a console!
I do think it's probably the exception to the rule. It's a late-gen, especially demanding game being played on the weakest (non-Nintendo) console at the time.
Most games run basically fine on the consoles they're on, though, and the Pro hardware is rarely necessary to have a good time. And I wouldn't expect these performance issues to keep cropping up on the next-gen consoles anyway, which are fairly beefy in most regards (even the Series S, which has a strong CPU and an SSD, even if the video card isn't great compared to the X/PS5).
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
Tales of Arise [PS5] - It's taken an age for me to get through this, but I'm slowly getting there.
Metroid Dread [Switch] - Another game where progress was initially slow, as I struggled with the wretched E.M.M.I enemies. Now getting though it at a reasonable pace.
Shin Megami Tensei V [Switch] - Having two Switch games on the go was probably a little silly, especially considering this drains the battery faster than any other game I've played. Alternating between this and Metroid and rather enjoying it.
strong]Things to fish out the backlog pile[/strong]
Quite a few odds and ends to finish by the end of the year, including the half-complete Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and perhaps some Assassin's Creed Odyssey DLC, but the following are the main ones I plan on playing. For now, anyway.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Bought this in the current PSN sale, and although it's a massive time investment I adored the game first time round and can't wait to replay it.
Pokémon Shining Pearl - Meant to cancel my preorder and forgot. I won't touch it until SMTV is completed.
Ys: Memories of Celceta - I shall march onward with my noble quest to get through the Ys series. The games are great fun, so looking forward to playing this.
Ratchet & Clank: Nexus - Carried over from my previous list.
Things to buy
Pokémon Legends: Arceus - This is the only game on the horizon I've committed to buying. Nothing else has caught my eye yet, but that's great because it gives me time to properly play all of the above.
Old currently playing
Nier Replicant ver. lots of numbers - Just one more playthrough to go, which can now wait until next year.
[del]Ys Origin[/del - Completed as all three characters and even finished a few more Ys games!</ul><u>Old Backlog
Mass Effect 2 Legendary Edition - Didn't get to this.
Persona 5 Strikers - Got partway through it and then got distracted by Tales. I don't particularly like it. The Persona 5-ishness is great, but the Musou elements are mediocre.
Fire Emblem Awakening - Haven't touched it, as I'm prioritising Ys.
Ratchet & Clank: Nexus - Nup.
Old things to buy
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Bought, played and completed!
Deathloop - I lost all interest in buying this and have completely gone off the idea of ever playing it. So I'll just replay Dishonored instead.
@LtSarge Thinking about what I said? Who does that?
Like others have said, I still think trying to stick with one console as your main one is viable. The last generation was the first one with mid-gen refreshes/add-ons in a long time, but I don't think the amount of games with big enough performance issues to ruin the experience was large enough to force you to own a PlayStation and an Xbox just to get a good experience with most games. Guardians is a rare example of a game that had performance issues when the resolution was dropped as low as it was, and Control had performance issues on every version of an Xbox One or PS4 until they released the Ultimate Edition. That's on Remedy just like Guardians' issues are on that developer, but also both games are easily more than perfectly playable even with framerate issues.
I'm not a fan of the mid-gen refreshes either. I understand them doing it last gen to an extent given the quick rise in interest in 4k content, but I actually do hope they skip it this gen. The only thing would be to improve things enough so basically all games can run on the systems in 4k/60 with no issues unless the developer is just poor at optimization, but I do believe the hardware is just fine the way it is and things should get better with framerates and such in time. I also would feel pretty confident in still buying a PlayStation Studios release as their developers manage to get more out of aging hardware than most.
PSN ID/Xbox Live Gamertag: KilloWertz
Switch Friend Code: SW-6448-2688-7386
@KilloWertz Good points there and well made. Don't worry, it happens to all of us now and again.
I'm the same with the mid gen upgrades and think there is less of a need for one this gen. 4K was way more popular when the Pro came out than 8K will be in a even a couple of years I reckon. Especially as the PS5 is supposed to be 8K capable too. Of course there are other things they can do like improve the storage and memory, but that will come at a significant price increase and I'm not sure Sony will go down the 'Premium' console route.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
@Ralizah I thought it looked cool when it was revealed, but the more Sony showed over the summer, the more I thought it maybe wasn’t for me. A friend bought it at launch and really didn’t like it, mostly because of the repetition at the core of the gameplay. The idea of having to repeat everything over and over is offputting, as it’s something that drives me up the wall in other games. One thing I really enjoyed about Dishonored is the freedom in dealing with targets, whereas in Deathloop it seems there is only one way. Other Arkane games have quite quickly dropped to £10, so perhaps when it’s really cheap and my backlog has withered to nothing I might get it.
@mookysam What are your feelings on Nier Replicant? I picked it up in a sale for a nice price a few weeks ago and just don’t know where I’m going to fit it in my game schedule. I have it somewhere in the middle of my backlog, so probably 10-12 games down the road. But every now and then I feel like pulling it out earlier. I adored Nier Automata. It’s just that Replicant hasn’t had much buzz from the community and sounds like it’s not nierly (…😂) as well received.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution It's not as batsh*t bonkers as Automata, that's for sure! Automata is the better, more polished product, but I really quite liked Replicant. The story is the main draw and has some surprisingly emotional moments, packing a heavy punch in places. The main quest is really quite short, but to see everything requires three (four if you don't make a save before the final dungeon in route C) partial playthroughs. Thankfully runs two and three resume from the original midway point, so it isn't quite as much as it sounds. While they aren't as varied as Nier Automata's multiple routes, each new run inserts additional scenes that reveal more of the story, gradually shifting the players perception. Things the players assumes in route A are suddenly not all that clear cut even by the end of route B.
In terms of negatives, many of the side quests are mediocre, to the point where the game even jokes about it, but these can for the most part be comfortably ignored. That said, some later side quests do add to the richness of the world, with valuable snippets of dialogue here and there. Enemies are rather visually and mechanically repetitive, which is a shame, as although the combat system has been radically improved, the enemies don't really match it. There's also a lot of to-and-froing across the map. Thankfully Nier moves as fast as the wind, and there's a rather cute boar mount available in some areas. Later in the game a fast-travel-of sorts is unlocked, too.
I didn't play the original Nier myself, but based on what I've seen and read, the combat system has been drastically overhauled to be closer to an Automata-ish hack-and-slash, and the localisation has been spruced up. The latter point is quite important in terms of what it means for the two supporting characters and representation in gaming, as I believe it was wrong for the original release to cut it out. The original Nier was an ugly mess, so the visual improvements are very welcome, and while the original score was highly acclaimed, it too has been remastered to sound quite a bit punchier. In all it's a nice package and I'd recommend fans of Automata check it out.
@mookysam Wow, thanks a bunch for the excellent extended impressions! Perfect.
I think I’ll like the game, but I do remember that, like you say, reviews remarked that the side quests are pretty poor. I had heard the enemy variance was subpar as well. When the game was announced, I was initially excited about Replicant, but then lost a little of the anticipation when the reviews came out as middling. So I kinda forgot about the game for a while — and then when there was some recent talk about Nier Automata on the forums it woke up my interest in the franchise and I kept my eyes open for a sale and grabbed it. I was also encouraged by Dustin on Sacred Symbols citing it as probably his personal GOTY, although he was very careful not to recommend it universally to everyone. Your impressions seem to gel with that idea that it’s a flawed game but one that fans of Automata should really enjoy.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution You're welcome, although now I really hope you like it. 🤣 Looking forward to reading your thoughts. It's still quite a unique title, and I really appreciated the care put into the remaster, given the sloppy efforts other companies have released this year.
I’ve been trying to organize my thoughts and plans and figured I ought to update…
>>>>Previous Plans —
PS5 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - done and platinum! Demon’s Souls - Not done yet, but edging closer and closer, making consistent progress.
PS4 Rime - done and platinum! 13 Sentinels - nope. The Last of Us 2 - nope.
Vita Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - nope.
>>>>>>>Previously Planned Purchases -
Kena: Bridge of Spirits - not yet
Hades - not yet
Gran Turismo 7 - not yet
🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅
>>>>>>New Short-term Plan —
PS5 Demon’s Souls - I’m going to be sad to see this end, and would be tempted to restart with another build after I finish it, but the backlog looms. First task is to properly finish the game and see the ending though. Maybe within the next week…? Won’t be long now. Dirt 5 - I’m halfway through the game, and although the repetitive nature of the game is now on full display, taking a drip-feed approach to playing just a handful of races intermittently has kept it fun enough to stay with it. I’ll probably end up trying for the platinum. Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Embarrassed to say I still have this in the backlog. I keep meaning to boot it up but something else keeps pushing it down. It might be time. The Pathless - I’m keeping this on deck for the next month or so, as I think it will be a good change of pace indie style game to throw in the mix somewhere.
PS4 Mass Effect - I anticipate this will be my main game soon. Depending on how it goes, I might just abandon all other well-developed plans and just play the sequels too. Resident Evil 4 - I’ve been deliberating which zombie game to play next and I’m leaning toward experiencing the next installment of the RE series, so switching out TLoU2 for this.
Vita MGS2: Sons of Liberty - I almost didn’t put this in my plans again, since I have been negligent toward my Vita, but there’s an off-chance I’ll get some portable time over the next month or so.
>>>>>>Next Planned Purchases —
GT7 - depending on reviews and whether I feel compelled for more racing Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection - I want to replay these games at the highest fidelity available
Previous backlog: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (3DS) - Finished Call of Duty: Black Ops (360) - Finished Shadow of the Colossus (PS4) - Finished Kingdom Hearts III (PS4) - Finished
Previous upcoming purchases: Grandia (Vita) - Not purchased Lunar: Silver Star Harmony (Vita) - Not purchased Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (PS4) - Not purchased Oninaki (PS4) - Not purchased
Current backlog: Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PS4) Forza Motorsport 6 (Xbox One) No More Heroes (Wii)
Upcoming purchases: Tons of 3DS and Wii U digital games
I have such a hard time buying planned games because I constantly change my mind. Which is why I'm only going to write a broad statement this time for 3DS and Wii U titles since there are a lot I want to buy on the eShops but I'm not sure if I want to buy exactly everything.
In terms of backlog, it took some time to get through KH3 and Shadow of the Colossus but I finally managed to play through all these games! I expect little difficulty with most of the current three titles as I'm already almost done with Diablo 3 (on the final act now) and I'm halfway through Forza Motorsport 6's career mode (which is probably my favourite racing sim of all time). However, I'm having so much trouble getting through No More Heroes. I haven't been this unmotivated to play a game in a very long time. The issues with it are 1) you are forced to do boring side missions in order to unlock the story missions, and 2) the story missions get progressively worse over time as there are boss fights with massive difficulty spikes and the levels become shorter and repetitive. I'm basically halfway through the game but it's taking me much longer than expected to get through it because it's so unrewarding. I can only do a few side missions and one story level each day before I'm completely drained. I still want to get through it since it's been in my backlog for over a decade.
@LtSarge I personally would avoid Odin sphere. On paper it sounds like my cup of tea but it gets tedious really quickly. Some of the mechanics have not aged well.
I can see why it was well regarded over on the PS2 when long games were restricted to 3d RPGs, but now with the plethora of long games to waste time. It doesn't stack up.
@Th3solution the mass effect remake was my GOTY sol. The first one is good, the second is a masterclass. The third is actually better than I recall. I think the ending might be different as well
Currently playing:
Ghost of Tsushima: Finish the campaign
Chess Ultra: get into the 1500s where I belong
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania: Complete world 4
To buy:
Gran Turismo 7
Forum Best Game of All Time Awards
PS3 Megathread 2019: The Last of Us
Multiplat 2018: Horizon Zero Dawn
Nintendo 2017: Super Mario Bros 3
Playstation 2016: Uncharted 2
Multiplat 2015: Final Fantasy 7
Not very exciting, but will throw my hat into the ring nonetheless!
Purchased, pending delivery:
Elden Ring (PS5), pre-ordered from Base.com and hoping/praying for early delivery on release day!
Purchased, in backlog:
SIFU (PS5), downloaded off the hype regarding it being a 'difficult' game. Having beaten Returnal and DeS last year, I feel like another challenge could be on the cards!
Pokemon Arceus (Switch), brought recently.... not had a chance to boot up yet due to another Switch game consuming me!
Currently playing:
Ghost Tsushima Director's Cut (PS5), loving this game. Played through and platinumed the base game on 'hard' difficulty, then ramped up to 'lethal' for Iki Island! Lethal is a solid challenge, and some of the duels in particular are quite rough! Beautiful game, and I think Iki is perhaps the most remarkable DLC I have ever come accross. The story really fleshes out Jin, who I perceived as a bit stoic in the base game. Iki also has some (brilliantly) campy 'horror' vibes... reminds me a bit of Resi 4 in places, which is meant as a compliment! But basically just great.
Salt and Sanctuary (Switch), this game is a MUST for anyone looking to kill a week or so before Elden Ring drops. Basically a 2D Dark Souls, with really great mechanics and a rich build/skill-tree system. Was cheap on e-shop and I took a punt based on recommendations... can't put it down!
The plan:
Polish off the final Iki trophies on GoT (just collectibles) and then perhaps delve into NG+... but realistically I think I might quit Ghost after getting all the Iki trophies and then move onto SIFU instead.
Idea is to hopefully finish SIFU prior to Elden Ring arriving, depending of course on my resilience to tackle the challenge!
Continue with S&S on Switch when I am travelling with work, which is fairly frequent.
(nb. Horizon is exciting me also... BUT I never played Zero Dawn, and also I think it would be foolish to think I could/would enjoy 'double dipping' alongside Elden Ring. Will hopefully pick up in a sale. I generally like to have just 1 PS5 game running at a time, with 1 Switch game on the side)
@themcnoisy Looking forward to it. If it has the Noisy seal of approval, it should be awesome. I played ME2 and 3 back on PS3, so will be happy to start at the beginning this time.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
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