Topic: Playstation 5 Recommendation Thread

@Th3solution @OctolingKing13 Forbidden West directly continues the story from Zero Dawn, so I say it is essential to at the very least watch a recap on YouTube. I will always go for playing the game in the first instance, and only watching a recap if I need to refresh my memory.

@JohnnyShoulder @Th3solution @OctolingKing13

Yep, the overall plot is quite weird and there is a lot of world building via holodiscs and recordings in the first game too, so it is definitely a sequel to play as a sequel. I couldn't imagine playing it without the other as it is a rather bat**** crazy twist on the genre and you would have no reference to why there are robot dinosaurs and all the different teraforming systems and AI and characters from the 'before times' that get referenced within the first 30 minutes.

I think both the Horizon games are on PS Plus though?

@Ravix Yeah, as @OctolingKing13 is new to the ecosystem, it might be worthwhile to join PS+ Extra. Both Horizons are on there, as is also FF7 Remake (Intergrade PS5 version including the Intermisson Yuffie DLC). But I know that subscription services aren’t for everyone. A year sub is $134 (you can usually get it twice a year on sale for $100/ year, at a summer sale and Black Friday), so it’s about thr cost of two full priced games. Or maybe 3-4 discounted games. So if you plan to play over 4 games from the service in a year then it’s a decent deal. (Not to mention getting cloud saves, online multiplayer access, etc). But, of course, you don’t own the games and so that is a dealbreaker for some people. Personally, I still buy some games and then play some from the service— so sort of a hybrid model of gaming.

I suspect Lies of P isn’t coming to PS+ for a while, nor Street Fighter 6 or HiFi rush.

@Th3solution that sale you mentioned is 'Days of Play' and it is usually pretty worth it for newcomers to the system and regulars, and it will be sometime soon (fingers crossed it is maybe in May again) But it is a bit random which week it falls on, and last year it was pushed back to June (according to my ps plus sub which I let expire to get it on sale a week or so later, and i'm currently due to pay June 2nd, which means that was the day the sale began last year lol)

The current pretty-rubbish sale is finished May 8th, might be a bit early to expect Days of Play to be May 8th/9th, but the sale date after that could be the winner 😆 was there rumours of a PS Showcase style event for May too?

Love a good sale and speculate 😁😁

@Ravix Oh that’s it - Days of Play. There’s usually quite a few good deals, including PS+.
I stacked an extra year right before the price went up so I’m actually good for a while.

As for this sale… I’m seriously considering RE4 for $20. I don’t think it will go less than that for at least another year or so. Question is, will I play it within the next year? 😅

@CJD87 @Th3solution @Ravix @JohnnyShoulder wow, thanks for taking the time to help me! i think im going to try lies of p, i have watched several trailers and gameplay videos and it looks like I would love it. however, i have never played any dark souls games, so we shall see how hard it is for me. i was thinking about PS Plus, but dang it’s a lot more expensive than Switch Online if you want the Game Catalog. I’ll probably get it someday, but buy all the non plus stuff i want a lot first. will definitely watch a recap if i ever play hfw or ffvii, that’ll be useful. thanks for all yalls advice 🙂

Not sure where else to pose this question, but is there anyone who can recommend Balatro?

I can’t believe I even am considering it because at face value it looks so incredibly boring. But it’s come up from several sources as very enjoyable and addictive. I have some experience with Poker, although I don’t play a ton of it, I’m well-versed in the hands and some of the different styles of poker. But I’ve never felt the least bit compelled to play digital poker. It’s a game I think is best enjoyed in person with 3 other mates and a bunch of snacks and drinks.

I know Balatro isn’t quite a Poker game, and I’ve heard some descriptions of it but still have trouble gauging whether I’d like it. I’m particularly curious now because I’m on a weird card game kick (recently loved Inscryption and now enjoying Midnight Suns; didn’t quite gel with Slay the Spire though). And I think I can get it for “free” now if I use my PS Stars reward points on it. I have no idea how often they cycle those PS Stars offerings, but I suspect it won’t be an option forever.

@Th3solution just got to chime in a sec...

DO NOT SPEND STARS POINTS ON GAMES. ALWAYS TAKE THE WALLET FUNDS 😱

I have never seen any game on there that isn't cheaper in store when looking at the equivalent price. This game is £12.99 and for the same amount of points you get £15 credit. I don't know if it's different elsewhere, but in the UK it is clearly weighted slighty off and the value is always in funds that you can spend on any game 😁

As for the game itself, no idea 😅

@Ravix Thanks for mentioning that, buddy! I didn’t think to do the math, I just assumed it was a discounted “price” to buy the game fully rather than convert to credits and then use them to buy. Although when I do the math on the U.S. store, the game price of 3750 points converts to a value of $15, which is the base cost of the game anyways if just bought a la carte. So there’s absolutely no incentive to buy the game straight up with the points, it’s the same difference to convert to store credit on USD. That’s so weird that it wouldn’t be a least a slight discount to use your points for the game. And it’s also weird that the UK store has it costing more than just converting to pounds. I guess the issue is that you all get a better conversion rate for your Stars points. For 3750 you get £15 which equals almost $19. We only get $15. ☹️

@Th3solution ah, yes, dollars to pounds finally paying off for something 🤑 yeah, thought it was worth mentioning as any saving is always worth it, digitally (a saving here anyway, as we now know lol) I always wondered why points weren't level to the price, but if it was designed with the US Market as a base and over there it is equal points to price it kind of makes sense that some countries get a better deal when taking the cash equivalent.

I usually just convert points any time I notice I've enough of them as the points scale to funds exactly the same regardless of which cash reward you take, so saving them up has no benefit either really.

It's been a surprisingly good reward scheme too, tbh. At first I thought it was a bit gimmicky, but the amount of games and subscriptions bought digitally add up to some decent savings, and every so often they just give you bonus points for random stuff you wanted to buy or play anyway 😁

If people that buy digitally haven't really tried it yet, they are definitely missing out on free stuff.

@Ravix It’s just a real missed opportunity for game publishers and Sony not to make the game exchanges a better deal than just cashing in the points. I would have likely purchased it if it was a little discounted during the promotional time period that they are spotlighting it on PS Stars, but now there’s no rush to buy, and in fact it could be on sale later, so I’ll just wait. $15 is really cheap, but it’s the principle of the thing. 😅 Full price = buy only if planning to play it immediately. Sale price = maybe I’ll grab it now while it’s discounted and play it later.

@Th3solution Colin incorrectly stated that it was cheaper to redeem games with the points rather than PS store credit on a recent episode of Sacred Symbols. A listener corrected him the following week! 😂

Personally I don't buy enough games of late to rack up enough points to redeem against anything. Maybe a 5 quid voucher. I maybe able to get a 20 quid one by the time PS6 comes out! 🤣

@Th3solution

I haven't played it myself but Balatro has reviewed very well on a lot of sites, should be easy enough to find some of them. Has made me pay attention too and currently sitting on the wishlist. I have way too much on my to play list to worry about it for a while though.
I also recently enjoyed the games you mentioned but don't think Balatro will be like either of those, more of a 10 minute poker game that hooks you in for hours on end. Would be interested to hear how you get on with it if you do purchase it.

@JohnnyShoulder Ah, I must have missed that, or not there yet. I’m only 1 or 2 episodes behind though. (As an aside, I finally tried Summon Sign and think I’m really going to like it)

But yeah, I’m with you, I haven’t accumulated many points and the majority have been through paying my subscription fees for PS+. Almost all my games played are physical copies or PS+ library games. But I occasionally buy a digital game outright. So I have $15 credit now! 😄.

It’s easy enough to get 50 points free for just starting up a game on their campaign lists but I can’t be bothered for what amounts to 20 cents in credits. 😂 My time is worth more than that!

@sorteddan For sure, buddy - I’ll certainly share thoughts if I do ever give it a go. But like you, I have more than I can handle on my plate right now and my interest was accelerated because I thought it might be a time-limited deal to claim the game. Since it’s not, I’m fine to wait until I reach that point where I’m ready to actually play it.

Because yeah, the reviews are overall quite positive. The one from Push Square was endorsing enough, but also Dustin on the aforementioned SS podcast was gushing about it. The description of the game is tough to really make sense of. The big hook sounds like getting jokers which can do different things to your hand and then stacking modifiers to make insane scores. I’m not big fan of ‘score chaser’ types of games. In most cases I like having a set path that has an ending. I usually ignore the scores you get in games. Even the rankings in games like Devil May Cry or at the end of Resident Evil runs or the MGS5 missions don’t particularly motivate me. I typically ignore them and am just happy to get through and complete the objective. 😅

Anyways, Balatro seems a perfect fit for my Portal also so I wanted to at least consider it.

@Th3solution Yeah I listen to Summon Sign too. I rarely listen to the whole show, as there is always a couple of games I've no interest in. Brad is a good host and knows his stuff.

@colonelkilgore I moved the discussion over here ti avoid derailing the ‘purchase’ thread —

I’m not familiar with Cosmic Star, and I’ve not yet made it to Sea of Stars but it’s been highly recommended as an old-school JRPG.

Persona 4 and Persona 5 are, of course, classics of the genre. And Disco Elysium is one of the highest regarded CRPGs and a very unique experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I’m not sure about the 10/10 accolades, but definitely up there as one of the more unique experiences of the current gen for me. All three of those would be great places to spend your ‘action diminished’ gameplay time.

I don’t think there’s any weird touchscreen controls on P4 to consider. 🤔 I think there’s a minor use of the touch screen but I don’t recall any backscreen hand-gymnastics that some Vita games have you do in place of L2/R2 shoulder buttons. Those always give me frustration and cramps even with 2 fully functional hands. The P4 platinum is a beast though. Getting all the social links really requires a guide, and there’s a trophy that also has some frustrating RNG involved (the infamous “Hardcore Risette fan” trophy). So for a 100 hr game, it might be something to consider, because if you miss something along the way that is essential to max out a social link, then you’re screwed because the in-game days permanently progress and your schedule to get everything done has very little wiggle room. You do have the ability to make multiple saves though, iirc, so can always go back to a prior save if you discover you missed an limited opportunity but often you don’t know that until dozens of hours later.

P5 is also in a really long game that can go north of 100 hrs. Also has a specific timeline, but I think it’s less punishing for the trophies.

So you could be in for a long torture session if you end up not clicking with either of the Personas. Honestly, P4 fits your situation better I think because it is less 3D and has simpler inputs, but is less approachable than the more mainstream targeted P5, which was designed to be a decent jumping in point for newcomers. ToCS follows a similar recipe to the Persona games with the social interactions and visual novel type of story parts intermixed with dungeon crawling periods of turn based combat. Also a long game, which I never finished. I’ve heard horror stories about DQXI’s length too.

I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you haven’t already heard before, but I’ve never thought about these in the context of which you’ll be playing. Aside from considering the physical restrictions, I guess you could just look at what your interest might be because you have a wide range of settings there to choose from — fantasy, modern, Japanese high school, European post war political, military academy, etc. So that along with the total game length commitment would be the two factors I’d add to your decision tree. I really want you to have a good turn-based experience! 😅

@Th3solution I shouldn’t be surprised really… but thanks for your detailed response buddy. It really does give some food for thought. Still don’t really know what game I’m gonna choose and in all probability will pull all the options out a week before and maybe watch a few review vids to help mull them over. For some reason, I am leaning a little towards the JRPG as opposed to the CRPG for some reason but that could quickly change knowing me 😉

So I’ll preface this with the disclaimer that I’m not sure I’ll actually get around to following any recommendation for a while, so perhaps this is an academic exercise, but here goes…

I really enjoyed Borderlands and Borderlands 2. The second game especially was a fun ride. It’s been easily 8 years or more since I played it. For some reason, I never have come around to playing another one, despite thinking about it several times.

With the announcement of Borderlands 3 being added to PS+ Essential, I have once again thought about jumping back into the series at some point. The question is, which of the available games would be the best to play first?

• Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
• Borderlands 3
• Tiny Tina’s Wonderland

I figure they are all similar but is there one of those that sticks out as more of a ‘must play’?

@Th3solution
As you say you enjoyed the first two I would say to go with the pre sequel, it's pretty much more of the same though on the moon so you have to manage oxygen I recall. Again Borderlands 3 is more of the same but for me it really dragged on a bit too long (took around 50 hours to 100% and I'd had enough after 30+). It also added a climbing mechanic so included more platforming throughout the levels which I'm not sure I thought necessary -though it is more recent so it may look a bit flashier.

I completed the Tiny Tina game just last week and while it does still feature the same looting and gunplay for me it was somewhat spoiled by the tabletop parts of the game which you have to utilise to get around the world map. it just throws you into random encounters and navigation is not much fun. Also it's leaving PS+ extra next month if that matters.

With all three I think you'll have more fun if you can find a co-op partner or two. But yeah in order of preference: Pre sequel, B3 then Tiny Tina.

@sorteddan Ah, I forgot about Tiny Tina being pulled from Extra. They did the same thing with BL3 where it was on Extra for merely a couple months and has now become an Essential game so maybe TT will end up the same.

But that does simplify my options since there’s no way I can get to any of them within the next few weeks. A couple years ago I got so far as downloading the Pre-Sequel into my hard drive and choosing my character (I’d planned to go with Athena) and then never got around to actually starting.

Appreciate the feedback. BL3 overstaying its welcome was something I’d heard from others too.