Topic: Playstation 4 Backloggery and most wanted!

@Ralizah I’m not sure if it’s the new generation and its early stock shortages, the recent move toward digital games, or perhaps a conscious effort by Sony to maintain the value of their first party games, but the prices haven’t dropped quickly like they have before for Sony games. This week marks the 1 year anniversary of Ragnarok’s release and yet its price hasn’t really gone down, even for pre-owned.

@Th3solution I've noticed that. It does make me wonder if they're going to adopt more of a 'value conscious' approach to their game pricing going forward. Which would actually be great for early adopters, IMO.

Horizon FW has dipped into the $30 range several times, though, so maybe it's just on a case by case basis.

It wouldn't surprise me if this is just an early gen strategy for certain games, since they know most of the people buying in early on are likely to be enthusiasts.

@RogerRoger LOL! No worries. I plan to keep playing PS4 games into next year. I'm actually hoping to largely process my rather small backlog for the system in 2024. Seeing even dedicated Spidey enthusiasts such as yourself recommending Tsushima is pushing me toward it more in Q1.

@AgentCooper I've already bought Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Like A Dragon in anticipation of starting to catch up with the series. I also have Yakuza Zero on PS4.

My current goal is to catch up with the series by 2028 (not including spinoffs like Isshin and Judgment).

@AgentCooper Yeah, a year or two ago. I played through half of Yakuza 0 when it first came out, but it's been long enough I'll just start it over.

@AgentCooper I'm looking forward to playing them. The games I have lined up are considered to be the best entries in the series, so that bodes well!

Definitely excited to talk about them when the time comes.

Previous backlog:
Tokyo Xanadu eX+ (PS4) - Finished
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain (PS4) - Finished
Onrush (PS4) - Not finished

Previous upcoming purchases:
Assassin's Creed: Mirage (PS5) - Bought
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (PS5) - Bought
Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch) - Bought
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (PS5) - Not bought but played it a bit on Game Pass
Super Mario RPG (Switch) - Bought

Current backlog:
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory (Switch)
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Xbox 360)
Dragon's Crown Pro (PS4)

Upcoming purchases:
Granblue Fantasy: Relink (PS5)
Persona 3: Reload (PS5)
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (PS5)

Managed to finish most of my previous backlog. Didn't have enough time to finish Onrush back when I had a month of PS+, but if I get another opportunity then I'll probably resume it.

Also bought pretty much all of my previous upcoming purchases. I ordered Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario RPG earlier in the week, so they'll most likely arrive in a couple of days. I'm probably not going to buy Like a Dragon Gaiden now that I know it's on Game Pass. I'll just play it on there.

Got a good mix of current backlog games. I'm almost done with Kingdom Hearts and Call of Duty shouldn't take that long to finish. I just started playing Dragon's Crown, which is so much fun but it definitely feels more fitting on a handheld device. Good thing I can play it on my Portal!

In terms of upcoming purchases, I wasn't planning on getting Granblue but it looks very interesting and I need something new and refreshing among remakes like Persona 3 and FF7 Rebirth. I'm really looking forward to P3 as I'm hopeful Atlus has added a lot of new content that makes the experience much better. As for FF7 Rebirth, I really want to play it at launch but it all depends on if I manage to finish Remake in time.

My next three games, which I plan to finish by the end of February, are:

• Prodeus (SD)
• Master Detective Archives: Rain Code (NS)
• WarioWare: Mega Microgames (GBA emu via NSO)

WarioWare is probably pretty short, and Prodeus is a boomer shooter, so I foresee Rain Code being the only game requiring any significant investment of hours. That said, I have 2 - 3 weeks spent on vacation, and then hopefully a few weeks spent training for a new job, so I won't have a ton of free time for gaming regardless in this period.

No upcoming purchases are planned. Going to wait to see how P3R runs on Steam Deck, and how the new Princess Peach game reviews.

@LtSarge I shed a tear when they turned off the Onrush servers.
I have so many hours in that game, probably the best coop racing game there ever was.

It’s been a while since I reported (over two months), but I was able to complete Disco Elysium, which I enjoyed, and have made substantial progress on FFXVI, which I’m also enjoying. I’ve clocked close to 60 hours and am savoring every minute of it. It’s been a good one to play alongside other games because it is relatively forgiving and quick to get back in the flow of. Although I think the game’s easiness is overstated, and I have especially just scraped by in some of the optional hunts.

I have purchased my planned purchases — Spider-Man 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3.

So the immediate plan is —
Finish FFXVI, and
Finish A Plague Tale: Requiem, which I started with the Game Club.

After those, it will be all about Spider-Man 2 and/or Baldur’s Gate 3, depending on my mood at the time. I reckon I’ll do both in concert with one another since they are so different. We’ll see

As for planned purchases, my next is probably
Dragon’s Dogma 2 and either Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth or Crisis Core Reunion. It would be nice if they sold a bundle with Crisis Core included as a free bonus instead of Remake.

@CaptD It's a very fun game, albeit a bit repetitive due to the lack of tracks and different race types. I definitely need to continue playing it when I get the opportunity.

Speaking of which, I'm playing through Dirt 2 now on 360 and it reminds me heavily of Onrush. Which isn't surprising since both games were developed by Codemasters. It's also a very fun game. Codemasters is simply the best at making fun racing games like Onrush, Dirt and Grid.

@LtSarge Yes there is definitely a lack of content in Onrush and I consider that to be its main reason for its failure, there simply wasn't enough content for the price. It should have released at a budget price point.
As for feeling like Dirt 2, Onrush was actually the first project by the Ex-Sony Evolution team who were taken on by Codemasters. This is why it also feels like Motorstorm albeit nowhere near the scope. I loved the Motorstorm series and Sony were idiots for closing that studio, I only wish Sony would port the Motorstorm trilogy to PSVR2.

Next three purchases:
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (well, technically already purchased, but I count it as it hasn't been released)
Hogwarts Legacy
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
Apart from Banishers, that list is very tentative though and, depending on sales, may take the back seat to others. For upcoming releases, there aren't really any that I'm 100% certain that I'll buy, but there are quite a few that are highly likely. I'm itching for Persona 3 Reload, but I'm still hurting a bit as I had just purchased the remasters of the third and fourth Persona games when this one was announced and I feel that neither of the P3 are the total package. It is likely that I'll bin the remaster and go for Reload, though (pending good reviews)

Backlog:
The Last of Us Part II (have had the PS4 for a long while, unplayed, and just upgraded to the PS5 version. Must get this done before season 2 drops)
Sexy Brutale
Cyberpunk 2077

Still, need to finish Control first. Not even halfway through, so might be a while

June 2022

Gran Turismo - Finish a further 3 tracks at gold on circuit experience. (Yup)

Judgement - Start it up properly (Yup and hated it)

FF8 remaster - Complete the initial 5 hours (1000g on xbox with all side quests complete)

February 2024

Elden Ring - Beat some more bosses (just beat Godrick the grafted after 22 hours rofl 🤣)

Mario Wonder - Get to the northern area

Warriors Orochi 4 - Get all camp upgrades

To buy

1 more Wales interactive fmv game.

Ori and the will of the wisps

@xeofate Tekken 8 is really good. It's a similar level to Street Figher 6 with a vast suite of great offline and online modes. No avatar fighters this time but with a significant amount of fighters with the base game, I didn't miss that feature.

One thing I will say, both are very offense heavy. And for a defensive counter fighter like myself, they both make me yearn for another soul calibur.

Welp, still haven't made progress on Rain Code. Prodeus and WarioWare are a wrap, though.

CURRENTLY PLAYING:

• Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (via the Reboot Camp collection on Switch) //would have been done with this a week ago if the last few missions weren't so intimidatingly difficult//

ON HIATUS:

• Master Detective Archives: Rain Code //Progress on this has been weirdly slow; just can't get into it//
• Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut //Haven't really been able to get back into this since getting back from my trip//

NEXT NEW BACKLOGGED TITLE:

• Super Mario RPG //This one is apparently reasonably short, approachable, and runs beautifully on Switch, so I definitely am looking forward to playing it//

NEXT LONG-TERM UNFINISHED GAME:

• Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe //Haven't played since early last year, but I doubt getting back into it will be much of an issue//

NEXT POTENTIAL PURCHASE:

• Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance //Despite having blown a fair bit of money on the original Switch version, I'm still excited to have an improved version on more capable platforms//

@Ralizah Out of curiosity, since you said you can't get into Rain Code, do you feel that you're not as interested in visual novels as before? I feel that has happened to me now. Maybe it's because I've gotten older or that my taste has changed, but nowadays whenever I want to play a game, I don't want to just read, I want to actually do something in it. Even though I don't mind reading in a game that has a lot of text such as Persona 3 Reload, I mostly look forward to getting to the dungeon crawling part and actually doing something.

I don't think I dislike visual novels. It's just that I'm never in a mood to play them anymore, which is really unfortunate as there are still plenty of ones I want to experience, such as Rain Code.

@LtSarge Nah. It wasn't that long ago that I played the heck out of adventure games like AI: The Somnium Files and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. I just don't think it's done enough to hook me tbh. The Danganronpa games leaned heavily on memorable characters and an immediately engaging premise, but the only character who has lived up to that standard at all so far is the game's mascot, Shinigami.

I'm still not very far in, so hopefully it improves as it goes on.

@Ralizah Ah I see. I agree that the beginning wasn't as captivating as the Danganronpa games. It focused more on gameplay rather than story elements. Have to force myself to give it another go soon as I tend to love these games. It just needs to click for me and then I'm all good.

Whittled it down and planning to make my next few games, but not necessarily in this order, to be the following;

Rise of the Ronin Digital Deluxe Edition
Resident Evil 2 Remake
Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition
Silent Hill 2 Remake Deluxe Edition
Death Stranding Director's Cut Digital Deluxe Edition
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Deluxe Edition
Elden Ring SOTE Deluxe Edition (aim to plat)
Nioh 2 Remastered Complete Edition
Stray
Lords of the Fallen
Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition
Death Stranding 2 : On the Beach
Dragon's Dogma II Deluxe Edition
Black Myth: Wukong
#BLUD