Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

I guess I was expecting a bit more out of it being a remake @Thrillho? The new Nishki cutscenes looked rather different to the original ones and there was some really poorly explained plot points at times.

Things that could've (arguably should've) been improved on but looking at the release dates of Zero and then this in Japan? It was one hell of a quick turnaround and it makes much more sense to me now.

3-5 are just upscaled ports though aren't they? I kinda already expected that and will treat them as such!

I don't mind Haruka... Just with most characters in the game I don't think there was enough screentime devoted to the cast outside of Kiryu (and maybe Date) to really develop them much which is a shame

So for some reason, I decided to start up Shenmue II last night. I played through the first game back when the remastered collection came out three years ago and I remember having so many issues with it such as tank controls, having to pass time in order to progress through the story, those awful forklift missions and so on. I still liked it overall though due to how feel-good it was.

Having played an hour of the sequel now, I can first and foremost say that I don't mind the controls now that I've actually grown used to tank controls thanks to classic Resident Evil. I still don't like voluntarily talking to a bunch of people and I think that's how I'm going to approach this game differently compared to the first one. After all, it's just a chill game and I just want to experience the story. It's crazy though that the game punishes you severely if you mess up quick-time events. During the first chase scene, I got caught and had no idea what to do in order to progress. So I decided to load to an earlier save state, did the QTEs successfully and then I managed to progress. Don't know how else I would've done it, I'm sure there's a way but it's still crazy to me that the punishment for messing up events like that is so severe.

So yeah, as long as I play through it at a brisk pace and not walk around and talk to every single person I see (unless that's the objective), then I think I'm going to enjoy this game more than the first one. As I mentioned before, this is such a feel-good series that it's hard for me not to like it despite its glaring flaws.

@LtSarge Best of luck with Shenmue II there, and here's hoping you come away with a more concrete, less contradictory opinion of it than I did. I think you're definitely right to try and keep your approach focused on plot progress, as it'd be too easy to waste hours on entirely optional side stuff without even realising that it's entirely optional side stuff.

Just for the record, if you fail that opening QTE chase, you can walk around and talk to people in the vicinity and they'll eventually point you where to go, but that's because it's so early on. Most other QTEs will just restart themselves if you mess 'em up too much, although there are a small handful of sequences which feature a hard game over, or that'll reset a good ten or fifteen minutes' worth of progress if you make a wrong move, so I advise you to save as often as you're comfortable.

@Keith_Zissou just installed Far Cry 4 bud, so if you’re free next week we can bust out those co-op trophies of yours if you like 👍

@Keith_Zissou no problem, I'll be on all week so just drop me a message when you're ready to go.

Also, have a quick look on YouTube about how to get the trophies... I'll have a look too, should just expedite the process when we get on 👍

@RogerRoger Yeah, that's kinda what I thought regarding the first chase scene. They wouldn't just lock you out of progression after all. But it's good to hear that the first one was just an exception. I definitely don't mind saving as often as I can since I know how punishing these older games can be. Appreciate the advice!

Well Shenmue II wasn't doing it for me and I've just been overall very restless the past few days about what games I want to play. I've been constantly going back and forth between different titles rather than focusing on a few. Then I remembered the same thing happening to me back in June when I was only playing slow-paced games. The solution back then was to simply play something that involves more action and is basically pure fun, so I decided to put Shenmue II on hold and play Tearaway Unfolded instead.

I played the original Vita game years ago so I've pretty much forgotten most things about this game, so I feel like I'm ready to experience the PS4 version and so far I'm very much enjoying it compared to everything else I've been playing lately. There's little challenge and it's a very relaxing game, which is exactly what I need right now.

Having played this game for the past hour has made me realise just how much I miss Media Molecule games. LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway are such creative and amazing games that it's kinda sad to see MM not make games like those anymore. I'm sure people like Dreams but it's just a creation tool, not to mention that MM is literally not making any other games since they're only focusing on developing Dreams. And it feels like such wasted potential when you compare that studio with the rest of PlayStation Studios. We have all these ambitious and phenomenal games and Media Molecule is not really making anything worthwhile to contribute to that. Really wish that they will eventually drop Dreams and start making traditional games again.

@LtSarge MM are still making those experiences, just within Dreams. People really need to give it a go and see what’s been created as it’s proper extraordinary.

@nessisonett I'm not talking about those short experiences, I want another full game like LBP or Tearaway. I don't really feel like buying a game like Dreams just to play a handful of shorter titles. Not to mention that MM is way too talented to just be making a bunch of shorter experiences like that. I'd definitely love to see what they would be able to create if they made a new IP in the traditional sense instead.

@LtSarge But that’s Media Molecule’s entire ethos right there. Tying them into making ‘new creative IPs’ is just another form of shackles. It wouldn’t be revolutionary at all to force them down the traditional path when they have Dreams.

@nessisonett I dunno, I feel like this entire project has limited them a lot considering it took them seven years to develop Dreams and so far I haven't seen anything revolutionary from that game. Sure you have a very sophisticated creation tool system at your disposal but it's not something that will appeal to everyone. MM even has to pay people to make ambitious levels in Dreams and I just don't see what the point is for me as a casual player. I don't really care what others create, only what MM has made. And MM are limited to creating with only the tools that are available in Dreams. Furthermore, I just don't see the point in playing games created in another game, I might as well just play other games with higher production value and that includes indie titles.

Like I get that the notion of being able to create and play anything you want, as much as you want sounds compelling but it will never be the same as playing actual games that have been developed for years by teams of hundreds or even dozens of people. It's far more of being an interesting concept rather than a practical one if you ask me.

@LtSarge I think Tearaway is a really nice game that I wish would have inspired Media Molecule to make more games like it.

Little Big Planet on the other hand isn't really that much an inspiring platformer itself. The creation tool is great, but I like whatever's possible with Dreams or Mario Maker better.

So yeah, I agree with tou that I'd want more Tearaway-like stuff, but I disagree about LittleBigPlanet, that project always was closer to Dreams than Tearaway. And in my opinion, the MM stuff in Dreams is way more fun than MM's LBP levels.

(Also, Chicory is one of my games of the year and scores a 10/10 on the "game that lets you be creative but is very much still a game" scale)

Also, I don't think Media Molecule are wasting their time. They're creating something that is a fulfilling experience for a lot of gamers, even though those gamers might have different tastes.

Same with the Fortnite dev, they could be making a new time, but they'd rather improve the Fortnite experience, which a lot of people are happy about. Even though I am not one of those people!

Triple post, but whatever. I hit the 100 hour mark on Persona 5 after 10 months of play. Time for a very short evaluation:

• I still love the game
• But the gameplay does have real issues
• I still love the music
• But the game should have a more varied soundtrack
• I love the story
• But the writing is sometimes so very lazy

Well, we'll see how I feel after I'm at the 200 hour mark!

@Kidfried I haven’t played Royal yet but I absolutely agree about Persona 5. A game I loved but despite the issues.

@Kidfried Yeah, it would've been cool to see what MM could've created on PS4 after Tearaway. Here's hoping that they'll make a proper game in the future.

Out of curiosity, are you playing Persona 5 vanilla or Persona 5 Royal? And is this your first Persona game?

@LtSarge It's my first! And it's Royal! I've been a gamer for quite a while, but I always looked at the games at being "portable games," so I kind of skipped them. Not meant to diss portable consoles, but only 3% (estimate of course!) of my gaming time is spent on them, so I missed out on a lot of games probably.

And I'm with you that I'd love to see a more traditional project from them, even though I loved making music in Dreams.

Persona 5 would have been pretty much ideal with actually balanced combat like in SMT games, where you can't just clean up trash mobs in five seconds and you actually have to strategize and plan out your skill load-outs for bosses (boss fights in P5 and P5R are wars of attrition).

Royal desperately needs an ACTUAL hard mode.

And that one boss fight from Royal needs to be re-designed again. You know the one if you've played through the game. It's the one everyone hates, and for good reason.

@Kidfried A fairly comprehensive playthrough of Royal (obtained the platinum trophy and maxed all but one or two of the confidants) took me about 150 hours. Where are you in the game?

@Kidfried Ah, okay. It's interesting that you feel like you do with the Royal version because I had the exact same complaints as you did, but for the vanilla version, haha. Obviously you wouldn't notice the differences if you haven't played the original version, so it's interesting to hear your perspective on Royal.

As a whole, I liked Persona 5 Royal a lot and certainly a lot more than the vanilla version. But I still prefer Persona 4 Golden on Vita simply because it's more cheerful and it has a better cast of characters. Maybe you would like that game even more than P5.

Anyway, hopefully you'll be able to get through the rest of P5R and see the end of the game! Don't worry if it takes a couple of months more, I think it took me roughly 1.5 years before I finally finished the game myself back in August.

@LtSarge @Ralizah I'm nearing the end of the space palace. I have tried to stay clear of spoilers (though I couldn't dodge 'em all, because I had to look up how certain mechanics worked), so I have actually no idea how far I am. And since I have played this game with long stretches between sessions, I don't even know the number of my current dungeon. Anyway, I expect the game to last a year, so I now should be be at 60% or so?

Whether I will max many confidants remains to be seen, because I had no clue how to play this game. So I started out focusing on social stats fully. Now I'm spending most of my time on confidants, though I am guilty of sometimes save scumming, whenever I made a terrible decision. But the game basically screams "save scum" at me, because often stuff can be so unfair, and I don't want to lose too much progress for dying unfairly again, which already happens quite often anyway.

I also take a lot of time running between the twins and save rooms, so I can register and fuse persona's to fill up my collection. Oh, and I grind a lot for money too, it's so easy and I don't really want to end up in a situation where I'm not able to do something or get stuck, because I don't have the money.

So obviously, there's probably a lot of time spent doing those things, but that's just normal when playing such a game for the first time.