Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@Th3solution Thanks, buddy! Am glad I was able to effectively convey the experience. Having played quite a bit more of it now, it's definitely gonna be one heck of a time-sink, so keep that (and your backlog) in mind if you ever see it going cheap.

Nothing about the game is quick. Yesterday I had to stop making steady story progress to forage for supplies and build up my equipment and ammo reserves (which I'd wasted on a big milestone) and now I've hit the point where I'm having to focus on expanding my Base Camp to support its staff, who're starting to go hungry in my absence. It's effectively a scrappier, more involved version of the Mother Base mechanic from The Phantom Pain, one that's much more present and pressing. I largely ignored all that Mother Base stuff before, so it's a steep learning curve for me.

Also, I'm sure that a lot of its thrills aren't unique to the game, and that a solid chunk of my enthusiasm is coming from "discovering" the survival genre. Yesterday I had to defend my position against three waves of Wanderers, yet I wasted all of my arrows, fences, claymores and Molotov cocktails early on, and when it got to the third (and most difficult) wave, with my back against a wall, I had no choice but to deploy my absolute last resort "nuclear" option... a flimsy handgun with a half-full mag. After a lifetime spent playing games packed with plentiful ammo, it was one heck of a rush!

@colonelkilgore What, the shot of my custom Captain? Yeah, he's a handsome chap, ain't he? I don't blame you for being tempted by his... oh wait, you meant the other shot. Ahem. Yes, well.

Part of the reason I skipped ahead in the Metal Gear timeline to play Survive now is because I realised that the game's fifth anniversary is right around the corner, which means Konami are likely gonna pull the plug on its servers at some point soon (especially given its less-than-stellar reputation). A word of warning that its platinum reportedly requires 100+ hours of grinding, so if you are seriously considering a purchase, do a little research first and make sure you're prepared to commit.

Which brings me to...

@Thrillho Survive requires a constant connection to Konami's servers. It cannot be played offline at all, despite being a majority single-player experience. This was used to rag on the game at launch and fair enough, it's not ideal, but it's no different from the recent Hitman games (which sure, you can play offline, but you can't unlock anything and don't make any progress, so there's little point).

I noticed a discrepancy when uploading my console's save file to the cloud, as its timestamp was from a good thirty minutes before I logged off and shut my PS5 down, but I didn't lose any progress, which tells me that a heck of a lot of my data (inventory items, Base Camp construction and layout, health and other status stats, etc.) isn't saved locally, but rather uploaded to Konami's servers. I'd guess that the local save data is there for trophy purposes, or for an occasional authentication handshake.

This is a tad frustrating because ten hours in, I still haven't even looked at the integrated multiplayer tab on my iDroid, nor have I played any missions alongside any other players. For me, Survive has felt like a strictly solitary affair and anyway, from what I gather, the multiplayer component is literally a copy-paste of the single player's tower defence objectives, only tougher and on a larger scale to accommodate the extra participants. You start and end them back at your own Base Camp, and the rewards you earn get applied to your ongoing single player game. From the sounds of things, therefore, the multiplayer is basically just another type of mission you can go on, really.

I'm sure I'll hit a point where the promise of better loot will get me to try it out, and I'll report back if I find that any of the above is in error, but I get the feeling that you can ignore it entirely (provided that you're happy to settle in for one heck of a lonely survivalist grind).

@RogerRoger 🤣 he is indeed

@RogerRoger My experience with the survival genre is limited. I remember enjoying the Mother Base diversion in MGS5: TPP. Beyond that, I dabbled in Subnautica a couple years ago, played a little bit of the Conan the Barbarian survival game (I forget the exact name of it), and tried that little game Don’t Starve. Each time I only made it a handful of hours into it until I gave up. I think I enjoy them; they play into my obsessive-compulsive tendencies of organizing and strategizing, but they time-sink it what really kills it for me. They seem to take forever to get ramped up and so fail to keep my attention. But I’ve always been fascinated and allured by them. I’ve come close to trying Arc Survival when it was given away with PS+. But I just don’t have the time to devote to the genre. I do better when survival mechanics are lightly sprinkled into a more narrative and action epic, like in Red Dead Redemption 2. You were supposed to feed yourself and collect food for the camp, but no one died if you didn’t. So hunting and fishing were there if you wanted it, but could be mostly ignored if you didn’t.

I think it will take a beloved franchise to pull me in. Metal Gear is definitely tempting. The fact the servers may shut down soon is going to be the death knell to giving it a try, it seems.

@Th3solution Yeah, I think I'm the same. As much as I'm enjoying Survive, the realisation that people back at my Base Camp would start getting sick and dying without my input was a tad stressful, to the point where I reached for my phone and quickly looked up where to easily find them some potatoes to plant (the only time I've had to use a guide thusfar). I'm hoping that I can build up Base Camp to the point where it runs itself, but I have a feeling I have to make more story progress in order to unlock the facilities to do so. How fine that line becomes is what might make or break the experience for me.

I really like the sound of how Red Dead 2 handles the concept, making it optional like that. Funnily enough, I was talking about Survive to my friend Emma last night (she of much screenshot competition fame) and she made a comparison to Subnautica as well. There are also shades of No Man's Sky in the crafting mechanics, based on my (very) limited time with that game, and my partner's currently playing The Survivalists on Xbox, so some of this stuff isn't entirely alien to me. Like you say, it's just taken an established franchise to get me to experience it for myself. Heck, if there was a Star Wars moisture farming survival game set on Tatooine, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation!

When Konami shut down the servers for MGSV on PS360, they gave plenty of notice and then issued a patch to make the game entirely playable offline. Although I haven't fully explored its multiplayer aspects yet, I have a feeling that they could easily do the same for Survive.

@RogerRoger I forgot about No Man’s Sky (ironically forgotten since I was surveying my PS5’s memory drive last night and was tempted to finally delete it off there… as it turns out I left it on. One day maybe! 😅). There’s definitely the supply gathering part of things, and some worlds have that oxygen and temperature monitoring mechanic. So chalk another one up to “survival games I didn’t stick with”!

And that’s so funny, in a “great minds think alike” sort of way, that I was wondering if Star Wars could pull off a survival game. I’m surprised it hasn’t been done!

@Th3solution Yep, same. I spent the entirety of my fleeing time on No Man's Sky wishing it was part of an established sci-fi licence that I liked, because then I would've had more motivation to stick with it. Like you, I keep seeing it get updates and patches on my PS4 and wonder why it's still installed, but then leave it there because at least I have the very best of intentions!

I'm surprised, too! Build your moisture farm, scavenge the Dune Sea for materials, prevent Jawas from stealing your stuff and defend against Tusken Raiders... it writes itself, so why hasn't it happened?!

So I’m going through the backlog & I’m playing Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 & DMC:4 special edition.

Ninja Storm 4 is just fantastic. CC2 are the best in the biz when it comes to anime -to-game adaptation. I would have loved to have seen their take on Final Fantasy 7 Remake- that launch trailer with Jiraiya doing the voice over is unforgettable.

I don’t know why but DMC4 is just bad? The camera is the hardest enemy there is. Nero is alright, but give me Dante any day.

Also it’s funny to me that both games use the controller mic feature.

Not posted in a while.
Took a break from GT7 (sorry GT crew) and have been dividing my time between Elden Ring and Judgement.
Elden Ring brilliant but need a break after 25 hours. I’ve enjoyed Judgement as my first Yakuza game, but I’m not really seeing what the fuss is about. Characters are quite well done, but the gameplay is so basic. Fighting is janky and incredibly easy so far. The gameplay while doing story mission is mindless, everything is so clearly signposted I don’t have to engage my brain at all. Mini games are OK but not my kind of thing. It has been quite relaxing though, so I’ll keep playing.
Also been playing some NHL22 on EA Play. Very easy to pick up and play, really fun.
Since I’m enjoying the Last of Us TV show I picked up Last of Us 2, and have just started it.

@MB81
Well at least it sounds like you have a healthily varied gaming diet! I haven't booted up GT7 in months so should probably go check out the new stuff at some point. Also feel I should get around to TLoU2 one day, how are you finding it?

@sorteddan only an hour in, so not much combat so far. But the storytelling, dialogue and world building are top tier. Very much like playing a movie. Feels good to be back.
Picked up a used copy for about ¥1000 (£7).

@Fight_Teza_Fight Love me some Ultimate Ninja Storm (any game in the series, I'm not fussy). Can't quite recall how Storm 4 uses the controller's microphone, though...?

@RogerRoger oops sorry for the late replyyy!
UNS4 has actual gameplay dialogue & some sounds playing through the microphone.
Each mission is split into parts, but they are all continues. It usually goes still or cutscene, followed by gameplay, then qte. They might repeat one or two after with longer mission. The narrative is constantly flowing as there’s no exploration (Adventure mode is unlocked after beating Story mode).
It’s an interesting take.

i was playing Mortal Kombat 10/X earlier today. was playing around in the Valentines Day Tower and some other tower

Unlocked Dark Emperess Kitana and the Kahnum Mileena outfits.

@Fight_Teza_Fight No worries, buddy! And I didn't realise that about the microphone; might have to go back and mess around with my settings, as I might've deactivated it for some reason.

In terms of the story it covers, UNS4 went way off the edge of the map for me, as I'd stopped reading the manga a while back (had gotten up to somewhere in the early stages of UNS3, if memory serves). I therefore appreciated its more linear adaptation of the source material, and only getting to mess around in an open world afterwards, as it meant I didn't get too distracted. It was a good way to experience it all for the first time, and would recommend it to others as such.

The version I got included all the Road to Boruto stuff, as well. That was cool.

So after having having beating Resident Evil 2 twice I have Iam for that think is breif moment gone back to playing Uncharted 4 and GTA-V. Two games a started way back. After that I plan to again return to the action horror genre and a game Iam very much looking forward to play. Exciting times. Speaking of Uncharted 4 I feel its way better then its predecessor and the game I basically wanted and actually thought the first Uncharted games would be.

The missus and I started that Full Swing docu-series on Netflix over the weekend… and it has just left me jonesing for some golf action. So I started that PGA 2K21 that was on PS+ about a year or so back. Graphically I’m quite shocked by how bad it looks but it plays fairly well and that’s the most important thing.

It's been ages since I last posted on the Push Square Forum, but I think it's time to return. University has kept me extremely busy for the last year, and it will continue to do so for next 3 years, but I always keep up with gaming through Push Square, so I thought I would be more interactive and social.

I recently started and completed Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (UDF) from the Nathan Drake Collection (NDC). I originally played UDF way back in January 2008 on the PS3 (I traded my copy of Assassin's Creed for it, and I think I got the better deal).

I can vividly remember the lush colour palette and the excellent water graphics. I enjoyed the gameplay quite a lot, being a big fan of third person shooters. At the time, I felt it was truly one of the first games to showcase what the PS3 was capable of (Assassin's Creed also fits in this category).

I completed UDF and then later in the year I traded my copy of UDF for Dark Sector (this time, I don't think I got the better deal). When the PS3 version was patched to support trophies, I reacquired a copy of UDF in 2009, and managed to obtain the Platinum trophy for it.

More than 13 years later, I returned to UDF, but this time on the PS4 thanks to the NDC giveaway a few years ago. I've played all the Uncharted games, excluding The Lost Legacy (currently in my backlog/library ATM), and I can honestly say that it's one of the franchises that I simply adore.

What I really appreciated about UDF on the PS4 is that the game runs at 60 fps. I feel it really allows the combat to be fluid and to be fun. The loading times were greatly improved as well, which was a blessing when compared to the PS3 version.

The game does look dated, especially when looking at the character models of the main cast, but it's not a big issue at all. UDF's story is simplistic, when compared to the later entries, but again, UDF was the first game in the series, so I won't be too harsh on it in terms of story.

What really suprised me is my reaction to that part of UDF which was polarising back in the PS3 days. It's the part of the game where the Descendants (undead/zombies) are introduced and the game takes a bit of a turn towards a survival-horror theme.

Originally on the PS3, I hated this change and thought it didn't really connect well with the game as a whole. However, during my PS4 playthrough, I actually enjoyed this section, as it allowed me to change up my strategy and the tension it introduces is, IMO, a nice change to the game.

Playing on the Crushing difficulty, there were some parts of the UDF which were quite frustrating (The Cistern and the courtyard from Chapter 6 being notoriously difficult for me). Mercifully, the final chapter was brief (but also brutally difficult) so in the end, I managed to complete the game.

I did some trophy collecting and managed to get the Platinum (again) for UDF. Overall, I'm quite happy I decide to start and finish UDF. I'm looking forward to replaying Uncharted 2: Among Thieves next year, especially at 60 fps.

@N1ghtW1ng I never played the first Uncharted game but beating any of them on Crushing is not to be sniffed at so congrats on that!

As you say, I can imagine these games feeling great to play at 60fps, even if the graphics don’t match the frame rate.

@N1ghtW1ng Yeah, add another round of applause for your 'Crushing' playthrough from me. I got the game's platinum on PS3 a while back, and so know it's no joke. Very impressive! Welcome back to the forums, and I hope you enjoy Uncharted 2: Among Thieves as much, as and when!

Horizon Forbidden West