Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

Yakuza Kiwami

I've been playing it the past week and with 20 hours (I put quite in over the weekend) on the in gane clock I've actually almost finished it already being on chapter 12.

You guys really weren't kidding with it being a short experience and I'd swear a good quarter of that was dealing with the Majima everywhere stuff 😅

... I'll save my extended thoughts for the games you've beat topic in a couple of days time when I finally beat it but for now all I'll say is it's a notable step down for me personally after Yakuza 0 (which out of the games I've played this year is easily my game of the year)

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy It is obviously a step down but perhaps forgivable when you consider the original was a PS2 game!

That does murky the waters a little @Thrillho but... That also doesn't excuse it for being a bit of a cheap and dirty remake done on the quick either?

Most of my gripes though are actually due to the story with it being rather poorly paced, told and honestly not very good either in my eyes with none of the emotional weight 0 had.

... I know that sounds pretty scathing... and it kinda is... But it's pretty fine mechanically at least! 😅

@Thrillho

I've actually got Yakuza 6 on my wishlist, so thank you for reminding me about it, as I forgot about since finished Yakuza Kiwami 2 last year.

I played Yakuza 5 way back in 2016, and I agree with you, it was a massive game in terms of length. It was one of the last PS3 games I played before I sold my PS3.

I have this sort of tradition where I play a Yakuza game in every even-numbered year, so next year, I will have to decide between Yakuza 6 or Yakuza 7. I really want to play Yakuza 7 on the PS5, so I'll keep an eye out for Yakuza 6.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy It is one of the weaker games in the series but it really is a basis for the whole story for the series.

And if you think that's a "cheap and dirty" remake, wait until you get to 3-5! You better get used to Haruka too

@LtSarge you got me thinking about Evil Within 1 so I have just installed it. Can hardly remember anything about it, and it had a lot of patches fixing technical issues since I played it at launch so looking forward to that as it had some pretty serious issues. Also it’ll now be running on my PS5.

Going to be juggling it with Pillars of Eternity 2 though. 50 hours in and honestly this game is SO good.

@kyleforrester87 Ah nice! Yeah, it's understandable that you didn't like it as much since you played it at launch. I think it runs great now on PS4, even on base hardware, after installing all the patches.

I actually finished the game about a week ago and it's become my favourite horror game of all time. I also played through the DLCs and they were great as well. What a phenomenal series, I haven't been this impressed by a horror game since I played Dead Space. Can't wait to eventually play the second game.

Tetris Effect, for the first time since 2019. Turns out playing it on the go on my Switch also made me want to chase the rest of the trophies in the Playstation version, lol.

I have no idea how I'm going to get rank SS on some of these levels, though.

Also, it's interesting how my hand naturally gravitates toward pushing the X button to do stuff in PS games. I had a bit of confusion when I started, because the pieces seemed to be rotating the opposite way I've come to expect. Took a few minutes to realize I'd been pressing the "A" button on Switch to rotate the pieces, but the "X" button on my DS4, which is mapped to where the "B" button would be on my Switch. So now I'm playing it by using "O" to rotate the pieces, and it's... weird, but at least the piece rotation feels better now.

I'm currently playing Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight. I played Persona 4: Dancing All Night on the PS Vita nearly 2 years ago, and I'm a big fan of their respective main titles.

At the outset, I think a player's taste and preference in music would influence their experience with P5DiS. Personally, I preferred the music from P4DAN, but P5DiS does have good songs as well. Also, P4DAN had a fairly decent story, while P5DiS doesn't really have one at all.

P5DiS is definitely a bit more challenging compared to P4DAN. I really like the different modifiers that they've incorporated into the game. There's basically Support modifiers that make the levels/songs easier or the Challenge modifiers that make them more challenging.

Playing through P5DiS has been fun, and I'm actually looking forward to playing Persona 4: Golden and Persona 5 again.

@N1ghtW1ng I recently finished (and platinum’d) P5 Dancing in Starlight. I had previously played P4 DAN and also P3 Dancing in Moonlight. I agree that musical preference plays a role in how well one might enjoy the games, but there is adequate variety for most players to at least enjoy part of the music. The cast plays a big role too in which of the games is most enjoyable for you too. I think I liked the cast for P4 a little better than P5. And I think I liked the music in P3 the best. Perhaps it was because it had been the longest since I played the base Persona 3 game, so I wasn’t overdosed with the music like I was with the P5 tunes, having just completed Persona 5 a few months ago. Regardless, I think if you enjoy the rhythm games, you should check out P3 DIM at some point too. The structure is really similar to P5 DIS in that it doesn’t have the full storyline quite like P4 DAN but it actually relates to the series with overarching connections. Of course, if you plan to ever play the base P3 game (and have a PS2 or PSP lying around to do so), it would be good to do that first to learn the characters. It’s a great game and many consider it the best Persona game.

@Th3solution

It's really cool to be able interact with someone that has played the Persona Dancing spin-off games!

I will admit, that since Persona 4: Golden was my first Persona game, I prefer that cast of characters, so perhaps there's a hint of bias in my opinion on P5DiS and P4DAN. Also, I think the opening theme of P4DAN is better than P5DiS's.

What I did really enjoy about P5DiS is, despite the lack of a narrative-driven story, all the interactions between and amongst the Phantom Thieves in the Social part of the game. It was also quite nice to see each member's room as well, as in the main game we only have access to Ren's and Futaba's rooms.

What were your favourite tracks from P5DiS? I enjoyed all the tracks for Makoto, Futaba and Haru. I also liked Life Goes On for Yusuke. I was bit disappointed that the original version of Beneath the Mask is only available as paid DLC.

I think if I do play P3, then I will definitely get P3DiM. I played the demo of P3DiM a few years ago, and I really enjoyed the Burn My Dread (remix) level.

Playing Amplitude, a modern cult classic. I don't know if I ever sung praises of this game, but I've been using it as my game for whenever I'm in between new games to play. And since I beat two games yesterday, this seemed to be the right moment.

It's a rhythm game from the makers of Guitar Hero, only you play using a controller and different instruments at once. It's a really simple game, with forgettable music, some weird gameplay choices, but a guaranteed nice time.

Also, beating @Quintumply 's high scores is a nice pastime

@N1ghtW1ng Persona 4 Golden was also my first Persona game, but I preferred the tracks in P4DAN over the ones in P5DiS simply because a lot of the remixes in P4DAN were just phenomenal while the ones in P5DiS were kinda underwhelming. Like I would genuinely listen to the remixes constantly in my free time because they were so good. It's also too bad that P5DiS doesn't include the additional tracks from Persona 5 Royal, such as Colours Flying High, Take Over, I Believe and so on. I think if they had included them, as well as some remixes, then the overall package would've definitely been better.

@Kidfried I really like Amplitude and I think it doesn't get enough praise. It's not only the gameplay or the music that makes it such a great game but the visuals as well. Everything just meshes together in a delightful mix of stimuli overload and the result is an intensive but wonderful experience, especially on the higher difficulty settings. It's definitely one of the most underrated games on PS4 as I rarely hear people talk about it these days. Glad to see that you're enjoying it!

@Kidfried Haha enjoy, I'm sure they're not too difficult to beat Great game!

@LtSarge That's so cool that you know of the game as well! And I agree!

@N1ghtW1ng 😄 Yeah, the Jrpg enthusiast bunch is a niche crowd already, and there are even fewer of us that get into the music spin-offs, so you don’t see the games referenced all that much. It took me a while to even consider playing them but I found them to be great for the Vita, which has a small enough library that I was really having to get experimental with games to play on the device. Fortunately someone convinced me to give P4DAN a try and then I was hooked and had to play all 3 of the games. I did spread them out and played about one per year or so, and that helped to keep it from getting too samey because the basic gameplay is nearly identical, with just the difference being the music and the characters. The games are great palate cleansers between bigger games, and really do add some character nuance and extended story to the games.

I will say that by getting the platinum for each game, there was a lot of repetition of hearing the songs over and over 😄. There’s quite a bit of grinding at the end to get all the items and unlock everything. It’s a testament to the quality of the music that I could tolerate listening to some of the songs probably dozens of times in order to get all the trophies.

As far as P5, I really like “Keeper of Lust”and “Rivers in the Desert.” — I forget who is the main character associated with those songs. There was one of Makoto’s songs that I really like too, but I can’t remember which one it is.

I wish other game series would do something similar with their OST and have associated rhythm games. It makes for a fun way to reconnect with the game. Personally, I’m not sure if I have a full replay of P5 or P4 in me since they are both such long games, but I am considering playing Persona 5 Strikers at some point, since it is, like DIS, a sequel in a way.

As far as my favorite Persona game — having played P3, P4, and P5, I find it hard to say. I probably lean toward P4 also, but there are aspects of each of the series that have an edge over the others, for me. (P5 palaces are better, P4 characters are a little better, P3 music is a little better, etc.). So in the end, they are all probably about on equal ground in my book. Can’t wait to see what they do with Persona 6!

@Kidfried

Amplitude was one of the games that Sony gave away for free last year right? I'll definitely check it out, as I do enjoy rhythm games.

@LtSarge

I totally agree with you, the tracks in P4DAN were excellent. In particular, the opening theme track Dance! and the remixes for Shadow World, Heaven, Your Affection and Heartbeat Heartbreak were my favourites.

I think P5DiS was probably in development prior to Persona 5 Royal, so it was probably too late for Atlus to include the newer tracks in P5DiS without delaying its release.

@Th3solution

I don't play JRPGs that often, as they're quite the time sink, but I do enjoy them when I do get to play them (I'm currently playing Final Fantasy X on the Vita). I was quite lucky that I purchased P4 DAN on sale, when Vita sales were still a thing. I managed to purchase a physical copy of P5DiS, which I will never let go.

I totally relate to the grinding needed to get the platinums for both P4DAN and P5DiS. At least it's made a bit more bearable by rotating through tracks that you like listening to. To spare my wife's sanity, I always play P5DiS with earphones on.

I think Keepers of Lust is one of Ryuji's tracks, with Rivers in the Desert being part of Ren's selection. When I played P5, I didn't really like Rivers in the Desert, but after playing through it a few times on P5DiS, I've actually come to like it.

Again, I agree with you, this time about having the strength to replay P4G or P5. I'd love it, absolutely love it, if Atlus would consider remaking P4G in the P5/P5R engine. I think that's one way to guarantee another jaunt through P4G.

Overall, I like the setting of P5, but the cast of P4G is marginally better. P4G's music is, for me, better than P5. I really hope that Atlus changes the series up a little for P6. Perhaps setting the game in a university rather than a high school?

@N1ghtW1ng I’m also not a big Rivers in the Desert fan. I love the Persona 5 soundtrack for the hip-hop inspired beats more than the rockier tracks. Which is interesting because I love 3’s soundtrack and that’s a lot heavier.

@N1ghtW1ng They gave it away for free? I must have been sleeping, because I bought it in November or something. Whoops!

@nessisonett

For me, Whims of Fate and Beneath the Mask are the best tracks in P5. Before playing P5DiS, I couldn't even recall when/where exactly Rivers in the Desert was played during P5.

Also, with P4G, Heaven hit me really hard, emotionally speaking, as it was the theme for the dungeon where Yuu rescues Nanako. With Nanako's backstory about her deceased mother, that song hit me right in the feels.

I really enjoyed P4G's soundtrack, which was a mix of catchy pop tunes with some jazz added in. One thing is certain though, one of the Persona series' defining features is the outstanding soundtrack for each game. I'm looking forward to hearing P6's soundtrack in the future

@Kidfried

I thought about what I wrote earlier, and I must apologise. I mixed Amplitude up with Thumper. Thumper was the game that was given away by Sony last year as part of their Play@Home initiative.