Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

Some games are stories, others are mechanical, between this and that a lot happens

I dunno about the whole gameplay vs story thing, I think you can appreciate both and how each feeds into each other. Shadow of the Colossus’ story is held in such high regard because of the way it’s fed to you and the journey you undertake. Then there are games which are largely narrative based but work much better as interactive media due to the way they designed the narrative, like 428 Shibuya Scramble, Steins;Gate and the Zero Escape series. The Metroid Prime series turned world building into a gameplay mechanic, encouraging you to scan everything not just to learn enemies’ weaknesses but to learn about the lore. The Souls series then took that concept and instead of giving you the lore in a handy database, basically encourages you to look at the Wiki. I don’t think it’s easy to say that gameplay is better or story is better as both elements are key to interactive media as a concept.

@Onigumo as a big fan of the souls series I am a huge fan of good level design... in those games in particularI get great satisfactionfrom the mental-mapping of the game world and everything seems so well thought out, from the spacing of safe-zones to item and enemy placement. I'm also a fan of good open-world design, if that can be described as good level-design... dunno might be a slightly differentthing. Still, I go back to my original point though, if the game plays like crap... I'm probablynot gonna see much of that great level design.

@nessisonett as I pointed out, I know there are many perspectives on this and it comes down to personal taste... just in my gaming the playability (& a good 'gameplay-loop') is primary to what provides the most 100% pure dopamine deployment.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy lol well I have to call an egg an egg 🤣 the game is actually good and where I'm up to so far (I'm at Iron Mike's Camp) I'm enjoying playing the game like I've said the actual game play has me entertained, I really enjoy clearing out camps and nests and riding about on the bike seeing what else the map has to offer, the weather changes and the day and night system is brilliant and really makes the game feel alive, you can tell that alot of effort has gone in to that side of the game its just a shame I can't say the same for the writing or character creation. It doesn't make it a bad game it just doesn't make it a great game in my opinion.

@colonelkilgore I agree with you about gameplay although for me it's always gameplay and story what are the most important I want a game to play well and keep me wanting to come back to find out what's happened next. For me you can have good games like Days Gone , The Division 2, GTA 5, Crash Bandicoot, World Of Warcraft and many others that have really good game play and replay value but not the strongest of stories and I'll enjoy them and play them and at the end I'll say yeah that was good, similar to Detroit Become Human great story but average game to play but I still really loved it. My favourite game of the ps4 generation was God Of War, fantastic gameplay even though gameplay is another opinion based topic some people will say games like God of War are repetitive and admittedly they are there's only so much a developers can do but when you mix excellent gameplay with an amazing story you end up with GOW, The Witcher 3, Mass Effect. And I also agree with you about TLOU 1 and 2 both have really simple gameplay but the story drives you to see the next part similar to Uncharted which is also a great story with very simple but well done gameplay.

I've rambled a bit now so I Will summarise to say I totally agree that a game needs to be fun with Good gameplay it's basically what we play games for but the last 10 - 15 years has changed in the gaming industry and if a game can deliver me gameplay and storytelling that is what I'm personally after. I also love films and TV but would say if the film had great acting and good visuals but not a good story then it wouldn't fulfil that itch similar to games.

@MaulTsir all fair and reasonable... but don't even get me started on The Witcher 3 🤐

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy so just to reiterate, I like a good story (and all the other stuff) it's just I put a premium on gameplay.

It's like visiting a restaurant, yeah I like good service, love me some nice decor, ooh live music that's nice too... but my review will 'weight' the food above all of those ancillary things... same with gameplay and games. Not all facets need to be weighed equally, even in these times of equality 😉

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Just saw your post on Nexomon. That's actually really cool how much you can customize the experience. Imagine if you combined the great monster designs and iconic imagery of Pokemon with that sort of post-launch support.

The last game I played was Death Stranding, still playing it but just on a break now. @Jimmer-jammer Have you played that? What game(s) are you playing right now on PS4?

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Yeah, the DQXI S demo is super generous. It's like the first eighth of the game or something.

The Switch port, IMO, looks amazing considering the capabilities of the system, but the PS4 version of DQXI S has some improved texture work and runs at a higher resolution, as far as I'm aware. Although the dumbed down lighting from the Switch version means it'll never look as good as the original did on PS4/PC.

Oh, and about the weird free movement during battles... you can actually disable that. I did. In the settings, you should see something called... "classic camera," I think. It makes the game pure turn-based without the nonsensical free character movement during battle. You should also be able to increase the battle speed. Combine those two, and you get some amazingly snappy battles.

I just finished Immortals: Fenyx Rising, and I came away extremely impressed. I wasn't originally going to get the game due to lackluster reviews and suggestions that it was too short for my tastes, at about 30 hours. I ended up getting it due it going on sale half off after the Holidays, and after putting 90 hours into my first playthrough, I can say that I really enjoyed it. Its a somewhat more casual experience than the recent AC games, but still fun to play, has really smart funny dialogue, and has really tight gameplay.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Yeah, I have mixed feelings about the system in DQXI where characters will sort of randomly power up. I thought the tension system from VIII added a pleasant layer of depth to the combat. One of the few things I prefer in VIII over XI.

The music is simple, but I feel like it's a good match for the straight-forward heroic fantasy of the game. Also, some pieces are just lovely. Like this one:

It definitely wouldn't top my list of best video game soundtracks, but it's about 1000x better than the MIDI version of the score from the original version of Dragon Quest XI.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy The pep powers and soundtrack are the two main reasons I kinda dropped off the game a bit through Act 2. A lot of what it does it good but it’s as if the game is trying its best to make me not enjoy playing it.

Started Resident Evil 7 today and it is amazing! I am on the search for the Serum now.

And the setting of Village will be even better!

I’m finally onto the finale of Yakuza 5 and this game has been a bit of a slog.

The fourth (and new) character was mildly interesting but his whole story leans very heavily into baseball. Luckily I have a passing interest in the sport but god help you if you don’t!

I was playing Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on New Game Plus difficulty this morning.

@TheBrandedSwordsman enjoyed Fallen Order, how's Death Stranding though... Still enjoying I hope?

@colonelkilgore I've abandoned that now. Temporarily, I hope. What were your thoughts about Fallen Order when you were playing through it? Star Wars fan in general? If so, did that heighten the enjoyment?

@TheBrandedSwordsman I used to be a huge Star Wars fan but the prequel and sequel trilogies have taken their toll on me and I don't have the same love for it any longer. Having said that though, stuff like Fallen Order and The Mandalorian really stoked the remaining embers.

I liked it basically. Wasn't my favourite of the non-From Souls-likes but im still to play a Souls-like I don't like... and it 'felt' like Star Wars (as does The Mandalorian) and that is surpringly important to me when consuming something from the Star Wars universe.

@colonelkilgore Yeah I reckon they did a good job. Cal is suitably Luke-like, wouldn't you say?

I am back in Uncharted 4 territory now and going over the chapters I previously completed to get to the point where I gave up before, loving the game so far, has anyone on here beaten the game and care to share the experience with me?