Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@TheBrandedSwordsman Yeah, unlocking the extra parts of the ledger and the fast travel really opens up the game, as I recall. And I definitely remember Herr Strauss. He’s not one of the main characters but I always tried to follow his storyline.
Are you spending a lot of time doing sandbox activities, hunting, helping civilians, searching for treasure, etc,? Or are you trying to mainline the story? Depending on your personality, there are dozens of hours of gameplay to lose yourself in, but beware that the story is long in and of itself.
As for me, I did a little of both. Didn’t do a ton of hunting for legendary animals and such, but I enjoyed following up to help out random NPC’s I encountered and searching for treasure. There are a ton of side quests though that I barely scratched the surface on however, like the digging up dinosaur fossils and things like that. Just the main story is very satisfying alone.

@Th3solution I am looking forward to utilizing those features of the game, with regard to the side content, I'm definitely trying to mainline the story, because it is, as you say, "long in and of itself". I wonder if they named Herr Strauss after the German composer!

@Th3solution How is FFVIIR going? Have you found that you're able to bond with the characters any more than previously?

@TheBrandedSwordsman Yes, I played a little more of FF7R this weekend, although not as much as I’d have liked. And yes, I really like Aerith. When I played the original game as a lad years ago I didn’t really bond with her. But the presence of voice acting has really helped to give her some personality. She’s adorable and I can better understand her and Cloud’s relationship and interactions now.
Cloud also has started to become a little less annoying by this point. To be sure, he’s supposed to be cold and boring in the early hours as part of the story, but they have done a pretty good job of gradually showing his softer side. I’m still not far enough in to give full impressions but that’s where I am for the time being.

@RogerRoger Most Ace Attorney games have an odd piece of evidence or a testimony or something where the player will struggle because there's a mismatch between the game's sense of logic and your own, but, in general, the difficulty doesn't really increase over the course of the trilogy. RFtA is probably the most difficult case in the trilogy insofar as it makes use of the increased power of the NDS to fashion new types of evidence and gameplay, but even that isn't too bad. They're about as accessible as adventure games get, IMO.

But yeah, I'd definitely manually save where possible, because you never know when you'll run into a spot of trouble. I'm pretty impressed you got through the first four cases without needing to re-load a save file at all!

I'll definitely be curious to hear your further thoughts about RFtA as you play through it. It's a gigantic case, so you'll probably be working on it for a while.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I think it was after the prison. I forget where it was. Although probably not significantly after the prison. I'll be going for the neutral ending probably, yeah. I'd prefer a return to the previous status quo over any other totalizing solution to the question of how reality should be organized. Returning to do the TDE should be fairly simple, as I've beaten all the fiends up to this point, I believe.

The last dungeon can't be as long and annoying as the one in SMT IV: Apocalypse. Probably one of the worst dungeons ever in one of the otherwise best video games I've ever played. Atlus can do great final dungeons, though. The last dungeon in P5R's third semester is probably the best one in the entire game.

RE: God of War... it starts off feeling very distinctly like a Naughty Dog game, where you have no real agency over what's happening, and the story-telling and dialogue and whatnot are fully integrated into the normal gameplay, so you feel like you're on a guided tour of that universe. It's a style of game design that only works well in something like Uncharted, IMO, and I deeply hate its application anywhere else. When a lot of the early gameplay involved solving basic environmental puzzles to help Atreus along, I felt distinctly nauseous, because I was certain this meant the entire game was going to be like The Last of Us, which eschewed the puzzles and ridiculous setpieces of Uncharted in favor of an endless string of busywork sections (pulling crates, carrying planks, etc. etc. to help Ellie cross environments) punctuated by bland, mechanically simplistic sequences where you run around mindlessly murdering mooks. I've not really been quiet about TLOU being one of the worst video game experiences I've had to date, and it looked like this was going to be a repeat of it.

But things have improved. I've entered a point in the game where the narrative only occasionally intrudes on the gameplay, and I can choose to just poke around certain side areas if I like (some of which are actually pretty well-designed). The skills you open up throughout the game significantly improve combat and makes it a lot faster and more fun. Only one really fun setpiece so far, but the bosses are starting to become more memorable.

It won't be a "zomg 10/10" sorta game for me, but I've gone from nearly hating it to thinking it's... pretty decent. Although it has been a week since I've played it.

@Th3solution @Jimmer-jammer In RDR2 I just stole my first stagecoach and unlocked the 'Fence' to buy and sell illicit goods from/to, it amused me how the Fence's cousin (by marriage, as the Fence is keen to impress upon Arthur and Hosea), who we shot and killed for his stagecoach and possessions, was referred to as "nice people" by Hosea! when we got back to Seamus (the Fence) How are your games going?

I’m also starting to share this inclination. Recently with Returnal waiting the extra couple weeks helped to iron out early issues. I’m not sure when the next time I’ll drop everything and boot up a game on day 1 will be, but so far I’ve been content to at least wait a few days, if not a couple weeks. Forbidden West might test my mettle however.

@Jimmer-jammer Also, I'll definitely keep an eye on Strauss, from what you say, I'm sure he's going to be important! btw Swanson came up to me in the morning singing a drunken song about hurting his n*b, after drinking too much whisky (in the song), dunno if you remember that, or if it mirrors your life in some way.... 🤣

@Th3solution I think I'm going to play Kena day 1 (or maybe day 2, because I'll probably be home late on Tuesday) but that's supposed to be a short game so unless it's really broken, it probably won't have enough bugs to become frustrating in the process (was delayed quite a bit too).
Other than that - probably Forbidden West. I don't currently have any other "day 1 games" on my radar (there are tons of games on my radar that are already out though).

@Voltan A smaller game will probably be more likely to be free of gamebreaking bugs. I was surprised that Kena is going to be a short as it is, supposedly. I read the Ember Labs people say the intent was to have a high quality game that could be experienced over a weekend. Which might suggest a 6-8 hour game maybe? It explains the low price point. I’m undecided on day one for it. I’ve thrown my verbal and financial support behind the smaller studios and AA projects so I feel inclined to buy it day one but honestly my current game projects are as much reason as any to make me set it aside for several weeks. I don’t think I’ll be done with FF7R in time. I’ll be eager to see what you think of the game though.

@RogerRoger It’s a frustrating state of affairs. There’s is hardly a game released now that doesn’t have a patch needed within the first few weeks. Most of the time it works out fine in the end, and often the day 1 “gold” release state is playable and perfectly fine even if it’s inferior to the ultimate patched version, but there are times when the state of things on day 1 is just unacceptable.

If you’d have asked me 3-4 years ago (and actually I think these thoughts are archived somewhere here in these forums) what my most anticipated game was, I’d have enthusiastically told you Cyberpunk 2077. And now — the broken state of release has all but ruined any desire for me to ever invest time or money into that game. Granted, part of my cooling to the early hype was also due to the actual first person gameplay and other aspects of the game that ended up not being my thing, but the main reason was the absolute mess it was for months. Apparently it plays fine on PS5 now, but the game has left a bitter taste in my mouth and the only things that might tempt me to play it would be a really steep sale, a native PS5 version that comes out unanimously defect free and enhanced, or as a free offering on PS Plus. It’s the poster child for the broken day 1 game.

It too bad to hear that Ghost of Tsushima had bugs in the PS5 release. The original PS4 game ran perfectly when I played it close to launch (again, not on day 1 though and so I can’t remember how many patches into the game it was by the time I got to it several days later)

@Voltan Kena and Horizon 2 are my only Day 1 games right now as well. I don't mind that Kena is short as long as it's as good as we've been hoping it would be back when it was first shown. I'll keep my expectations in check to the point where I'm not expecting it to be a Game of the Year contender, but I'm hoping for close at least.

I just have to decide if I spending the extra $10 is worth it for the Deluxe Edition of Kena or not. I'm leaning towards not, and I plan on finally putting in my pre-order very soon.

@KilloWertz I was on the fence on that as well and went with the regular version in the end. Mostly because I've been spending a bit lately though.
You still get the extra hats for pre-ordering any version

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Wow. I haven't actually looked up the requirements for how to get which ending, but other than telling off my psycho friends at every point (I officially beat the game last night), I also agreed with and supported Yuko when I could, which might be the key. The "freedom" ending is really associated with Yuko's Reason. It's a pretty unambiguously happy ending for everyone involved, which feels a bit weird, but I guess if someone literally beats up a sun god, they deserve it. There's no indication if your friends actually remember any of what happened, though (hopefully not, since the whole 'turning into gross, otherwordly abominations and trying to murder you' thing might make get-togethers a bit awkward).

I'll probably go back and finish off the last kalpa in order to unlock the TDE (I finished the others, and I believe I killed all the fiends) at some point, but I'm pretty satisfied with this ending.

I loooove the dungeon design in the Etrian Odyssey games. No other video game comes close in that regard, frankly. I thought most of Persona 5 vanilla's dungeons were fine as well: stylistically distinct, thematically interesting, and most of them had unique puzzle-y elements to them. Big improvement for the series, IMO. I've been playing Persona 4 on PS2, and the dungeons suuuuuuck.

The Diet building is an interesting dungeon, although, in practice, all one has to do to avoid getting tricked is to check the map, since it shows the correct doors to enter every time. I like the paintings at the ends of hallways and the little puzzle around finding out which statue is actually Mot.

While I didn't mind most of the final dungeon in Nocturne, I'll admit, the teleporter section before you fight Chiaki was really testing my patience. So much of this dungeon feels like it's designed just to waste your time. Ugh.

RE: TLOU - Yeah, I didn't think much of the story. It's almost interchangable with so many other post-apocalyptic stories I've read and watched over the years.

As for God of War, it's difficult to even say it has much of a story thus far. You and your kid apparently have to upend Heaven and Earth in order to try to get to some mountain to dump your wife's ashes (Kratos is destined to always have rough luck with the ladies, it seems), and the lackeys of some strung-out looking God are hunting for you. The rest of the game has just been slaughtering nearly everything you come across in the meantime.

@RogerRoger Wow, you really tore through that case! I'm impressed.

5 - 6 hours playtime sounds REALLY low for that case. I guess if you're a really fast reader and never got stuck it might be possible, though. You might be a genius when it comes to Ace Attorney games, Rog.

I believe RFtA has the most amount of evidence of any case in this series. It's a great story (you were obviously correct to suspect Gant; I suppose the crazy design and boisterous personality probably screamed "final boss," though, thinking back), but a lot of it was very... extra. The lack of tightness compared to other cases is probably its biggest downfall. It is probably the most... complete... feeling case in the series, though. It introduces characters, a mystery, and wraps everything up in a satisfying way without reference to anything else, whereas the other best cases in the series tend to be heavily reliant on characters, worldbuilding, and conflicts that are set-up through other cases. In that sense, if the rest of the series feels like a cable drama, then this case feels like a movie in comparison.

Interesting to hear how the HD port handles the gimmicks. As it turns out, it does so in the least imaginative way possible, but I suppose the idea was to design the game to easily work as a multiplatform release, which would mean no unique utilization of the touchpad or gyro sensor. And yeah, the case had a LOT of using the touch screen to rotate objects and find clues, scatter dust (before blowing on the system to reveal fingerprints), etc.

I'm glad you ended up enjoying this game so much. Is the plan still to immediately move on to the sequel, or are you going to put that on the backburner for the moment?

@RogerRoger Wow, the bug really bit you, eh?

Favorite character overall is definitely Miles Edgeworth. He enjoys tremendous personal growth over the course of the first three games, to the point where I'd argue he's the single most developed personality in the original trilogy. I really love his evolving relationship with his family, with Phoenix, and, in general, his dry, sarcastic demeanor resonates with me.

I really like all of the major characters in the original trilogy. It has the best companion character (Maya Fey), the best villain (you'll meet them later in the trilogy), my favorite comic relief character (Larry Butz), two of the three best prosecutors, and three of my five favorite cases in the series.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy This sort of thing is why I kept pretty evenly spaced out save files in my playthrough. Didn't want to trap myself into a route I didn't care for. Thankfully, my neutral route playthrough was a success (I've seen it argued that the freedom ending is actually just a less edgy chaos option, but whatever; it feels neutral).

PS4 version will be a good opportunity to pursue all of the endings again, since you need them for trophies. If I wasn't so stuck on playing Nocturne in portable mode, I'd have opted for the PS version for trophy hunting purposes.

RE: P4 - It's going better now that we're into the game proper and out of that painful 6+ hour hump at the start that's like a visual novel. The kid didn't mind the endless talking in Persona 5, but, for some reason, that section at the start bored us both to tears.

The actual game is... fine. It's fun. A bit harder to go back to after both P4G and P5R, but the formula just works.

Mementos would have annoyed me if it had been the only dungeon in P5, but as a sort of randomly generated dungeon crawl, it works well. The stamps and flowers added to Royal make it even more engaging. And, frankly, it's insanely fun late in the game when you can literally just mow down underpowered enemies with the Morgana-mobile. With the way P5 is structured, it's like you get Nocturne/DDS-style real dungeons + an improved version of the randomly generated labyrinths from P4. I hope they don't move away from real dungeons or demon negotiations in the next entry. This system in P4 where you randomly pick a Persona card in a minigame is one of the worst aspects of that game.

With that said, Nocturne's dungeons haven't aged well, IMO. Stuff like the diet building and the prison still work, but there are waaaaay too many dank dungeons in this game without real puzzles or much in the way of rewards to be found. And the teleporter sections are just infuriating. SMT I has some, but they're more... well designed. They're like a puzzle. The ones in Nocturne are pure trial-and-error. Time-wasting. Good thing the game holds up in other ways.

And yeah, while neither is my favorite thing in the world, I'll take the dysfunctional dad simulator over Toxic Masculinity: The Game any day.

@RogerRoger Yeah, I appreciate when games go the extra mile to actually justify their tutorials. It's a clever set-up, even if it isn't the most clever mystery in the world. I'm interested to see your reaction to the tutorial in the third game since, IMO, it blows away the tutorial cases in the first two games.

Case rankings are always interesting, since so many people come away with extremely different opinions of the mysteries in these games. And you, in particular, tend to not fall in line with what might be termed "popular consensus" about most things, so it'll be interesting to hear your thoughts.

What do you think of the new prosecutor?

@RogerRoger You could always make a dedicated thread for the series if you feel like you have a lot you want to talk about regarding it. I'd definitely be interested in participating in the discussion as well as your journey through the series.

Just started playing Lego Marvel Super Heroes and I managed to finish the first two levels of the game. It's been a while since I've played a Lego title and I've been in the mood for some mindless fun so I thought why not give this game a go. It's so much fun thus far and coincidentally, I'm also craving superhero media right now as I'm watching Supergirl on HBO. So this game is definitely checking all the right boxes for me. Although I've already played a couple of levels years ago, I'm excited to finally check out the rest of the game now.

@RogerRoger You’ve pretty much aired all my thoughts but in actual grammatical sense! Don’t worry, it gets better from here 😂

@RogerRoger I played this back in the day when it was on the DS. Reading your thoughts it’s reminded me just nuts this game is. I’m going to have to pick it up sometime to relive the craziness. It’s really the epitome of Japanese games.