Topic: PS4 recommendation thread

@KratosMD I forgot about that, yeah. Some games I don’t even understand why, like the old Tiger Woods games. I can’t even play an actual good golf game since they royally screwed up the franchise.

@KratosMD From that list, I played Bioshock Infinite on PS3 and the Collection on PS4. A part from looking a tad prettier, I can’t say it was a wildly different experience but the Burial at Sea DLC is fantastic.

@KratosMD I don't have an answer for you as i tend not to double dip on games. Darks Souls remastered is the exception as I'd never finished it and had played all the other games in the series.

But I totally get where you are coming from. When I bought my ps4 I still had my 360, I hated using it as it felt so sluggish to use compared to my ps4. No wonder some are so keen on backwards compatibility for PS5 lol.

The only game on your list that I played a last ten version of and a current version of is Sleeping Dogs. I rented the 360 version from Gamefly enjoyed it and beat it. I never owned it though so when I saw it cheap on a PSN sale I snagged it as I wanted to play it again. Of course it's going to look better on PS4/Xbox One but that's a given.

My suggestion would be if you rather play it on PS4 then get it on that console. Trade in (if you can) the PS3/Xbox 360 version towards the new gen version if you prefer that one.

@KratosMD Of those I've only played The BioShock Collection and I played all of the original versions on the Xbox 360. The first two are good upgrades both visually and in terms of increased framerate, which makes a big difference as they play considerably smoother. Some people aren't keen on the visual changes to the water and some of the textures, but I think they look good.

BioShock Infinite is a decent upgrade visually - though nowhere near as pronounced as the other two (to be expected as it is more recent). The framerate is also increased, which brings rhe same benefits as 1 & 2, but there is a streaming issue carried over from the original PC release which causes the game to stutter a little. Oddly I found this decreased somewhat after I replaced the hard drive. Anyway, if you haven't yet got Burial at Sea, it's well worth getting the Collection.

@KratosMD I enjoyed Sleeping Dogs alot, I can't compare it to Saints Row IV as I never played it but I enjoyed Sleeping Dogs even more then GTA V. The story and the interactive backgrounds that you can use in fights was brilliant. It's just a shame the sequel was cancelled

@KratosMD I forgot to mention something strange regarding The BioShock Collection. At the time I initially played it (so it may have been patched since, I'm not entirely sure) 1 & 2 shared a pool of finite save slots. When I started BioShock 2 it wouldn't let me save my progress because the slots had been filled by BioShock 1 saves that couldn't be overwritten. So I had to leave the game, delete some saves and then start 2 again from the beginning. Just a heads up, so be sure to leave a few empty slots before you start BioShock 2!

@mookysam Wow, that’s a pretty weird design flaw for the Bioshock save files. I’ve not heard of that happening with other collections before.

@RogerRoger I only know Spidey through the Maguire and a few of the more recent films and had no problem with “lore/canon” for the game. In some ways it made it more fun not knowing who some characters are!

@RogerRoger Definitely get Spider-Man. It sits squarely with Spiderverse in it's glorification of Spider-Man-ness.
There are also few things quite as zen as nailing the traversal and just having a lovely time swinging about.

Would anyone recommend the Middle Earth games? I come from a Dark Souls/Bloodborne background and really enjoyed the fantasy setting. Would you say that these games are good too? I know the combat is meant to be more similar to the Arkham games, not particularly challenging, but are they still worth playing and is there a wide variety of weapons/armour available?

@RogerRoger YES. YES. AND YESS.

@RogerRoger I say you will at advantage not knowing stuff, as you will miss all the signs on how the story will pan out. For me that is one thing it did wrong in regards to the story, it was a wee too predictable for my liking. It was still a fun ride though.

@Th3solution I found it really bizarre. I've never had that with any other collection. Maybe it's just a bit of lazy coding given the games are on the same disc.

@KratosMD It's manual saves. I actually can't remember if it has autosaves (maybe between areas?).

@RogerRoger Awesome! I really enjoyed Spider-Man as you may recall. No pre-existing knowledge of the franchise is particularly required, but even if you can't get into the story or characters as much there is a lot to love about the gameplay. Watching Into the Spider-Verse may have given a few pointers regarding one character (and honestly his portrayal in the game is much less interesting).

@Draco_V_Ecliptic I played the first game, Shadow of Mordor, and I had a decent time with it. It is a mixture of a few different genres, like you say it heavily borrows from the Arkham games as far as combat systems go. It also uses the Ubisoft tower scheme which most action games do now. It has been a while since I played it so please take my information with a pinch of salt, but I don’t recall much of any weapon or armor upgrading systems. Rather it uses skill advancement more so to level up and there are some powers you add over time to learn new moves and such. I think maybe there was something like runes you add to your sword, but it’s all a bit fuzzy now.

What I do remember is the Nemesis system, which is the series real claim to fame and it’s main innovation. It’s quite impressive, especially for a early PS4 game and a cross gen title to boot. Although I do hear that the PS3 version was nerfed with regard to the Nemesis system not working the same. Basically the Nemesis system involves the orcs each having unique personal traits and depending how they perform in battle against you can be promoted to captains within their ranks, often gaining extra skills that you’ll have to deal with if you fight them later. Not only that, if you injure them in battle but don’t kill them they will hunt you down throughout your playthrough until you defeat them. And each successful encounter they have with you they can become stronger and then harder to kill the next time. There are secret strengths and weaknesses for these higher level / mini-boss captains (for example they may be immune to certain attacks that you would try in them) and if you can gain intelligence through interrogation of another orc about the captain then you will have a leg up when you do encounter it. There were a couple times when I had a nemesis orc captain that escaped a couple times during a conflict, only to grow stronger and gain immunity to a couple of my favorite attacks and they became pretty hard to kill; and you’re being forced to use one of your lesser utilized skills to bring them down sometimes. But for the most part the difficulty is not nearly on par with a Soulsborne game as your skills and abilities become pretty overpowering most of the time. The sheer number of enemies in a conflict can be a challenge though when you’re trying to target the leader who is more powerful and will often run away while you’re busy and then, he grows stronger in the process by virtue of his survival of the conflict.
Furthermore, you do gain the ability to brand orcs to turn to your cause and create havoc within enemy ranks.

The Nemesis system is pretty impressive, especially for the time the game came out. I was amazed at how many unique orc character models, voices, and personalities there were. There are many, many orcs that are just fodder to slay, but through playing through the game once, I seem to remember that I had to deal with dozens of the captains and they were remarkably each unique and not as “cut and paste” as you would have expected for the sheer number of enemies the game has. Impressive stuff.

Visually, the game is decent, the world of Mordor is incredibly bland, as you might expect, which fits the source material well but makes for a less interesting game setting. The orcs are well done artistically, and the hero Talion is ... okay. I didn’t love him, nor did I dislike him. Other characters were also largely forgettable compared to the people and lore of the books and movies.

Shadow of War is supposed to be even better by all accounts. I never played it, but have come close to getting it because it’s been dirt cheap for a while now. Unfortunately, as you might recall, the game’s release was marred by microtransaction controversy and so I think it drastically underperformed. At the time, many games were trying to tap into the MT craze and SoW was caught in the crossfire of the backlash. Apparently the MT are not essential to the experience and can be perfectly ignored and the game still be enjoyed fully, but I can’t speak from hands on experience. I think the story is better in SoW (the story of the first game is a bit “meh” but not bad) and the game is a little bigger. The Nemesis orc system is still at its core though, I believe, and the combat is still the Arkham style.

Overall, if you’re really into LotR right now (and from seeing your posts on the ‘Books you’re reading’ thread you certainly seem to be) then I think it’s worth a go at the games. I’ve no idea if jumping straight over to the better Shadow of War is advisable because it is a follow up to the first game story-wise, but I would guess that it would be better to start with the first game if you’re the type of person who likes to follow the story aspects of games. Just don’t expect narrative quality on par with the original Tolkien storyline. I bet you could pick up both games for under $20 and you’d have probably on the order of 50-60 hours of Orc killing goodness to pass your time with between novels. 😀
(Sorry about the long post 😛)

@RogerRoger. A bit late to the party here, but I really do think you’ll like Marvel’s Spider-Man given you have enjoyed the Batman Arkham games. As others have said, I’m certainly more into Marvel than the average Joe, but I didn’t really know a lot of the characters in the universe outside of Peter, MJ, Aunt May, and a few of the villians, and it didn’t taint my enjoyment of the game, even if it delves into the comic book lore a bit heavily on rare occasion as a bit of fan service to the few who might pick up on something. I think you’d be fine learning some of the lesser known characters with the rest of us. Like has been said, your recent movie viewing will probably help some. I think it’s well said that the sequel will be a big outing on PS5, so that’s another reason to try it out. I can’t wait to hear how it goes for you, should you decide to play it. 😃

@Draco_V_Ecliptic Yeah, the first game was pretty great and the nemesis system is really unique. It can probably be picked up for next to nothing now.

I didn’t play the second game as it was one of the main culprits for loot boxes and micro transactions. That’s all been dropped now but it’s still left a sour taste in my mouth. Plus, there was a lot focused on building your own army and recruiting orcs (where the pay to win aspect came in) which sounded a chore and especially if you wanted to hit the “true” ending.

@RogerRoger Excellent news sir! I look forward to reading your thoughts on the game and the inevitable grabs from it also.

@KratosMD I hope you didn’t pick up the Bioshock Collection already! (unless you don’t have PS+ anyway..)

Guys, so Bioshock Collection will be free for PS Plus owners so I’m not sure if I should ask this here but, Considering I am the biggest scary cat of all time (Jump scares and Scary atmosphere are not my thing), but I somehow managed to play thru 4 hours of RE2 and drop it after another encounter with Mr.X. So the question is should I play any of the Bioshock games if I am very easy to scare?

@ZeroOverOne BioShock definitely has a very unsettling atmosphere. It took me about three times to really get into it and make myself keep going. Eventually you will get used to it, but there will be some tense moments throughout.

BioShock Infinite however, is not scary at all. It's a completely different setting with entirely different characters, and it's all a lot more bright and pretty. Still atmospheric with many darker themes throughout, but nothing that could really unsettle you or scare you. It's also easily the best game in the franchise in my humble opinion. If you try out the first BioShock and find out that maybe it is too scary for you, I'd still recommend you try Infinite since it's a totally different experience!