Topic: Playstation 5 Recommendation Thread

@Th3solution LA noire is a “weird R* game”.
Now, R* has two kinds of good games; undeniable masterpieces and bizarre experimental games, you can guess which one LA noire is, given the fact that for starters, it’s non-open-world open world.

Believe me, that makes more sense than you think. It’s a fantastic game, great story, great driving, great detective mechanics, great pacing, great references and homages especially to its setting; it uses both the period and location, the QoL features are fantastic, letting your partner drive FOR you, the driving convos are great however so don’t skip them and it’s overrall a game R* needs to give a second go.
So what’s exactly holding it back from goat status?

The open world.

@Yousef- to be fair R* just published it, same as they did with Max Payne, untiI Max Payne 3? (I think)

Excuse to post a Sam Lake .gif. even though the convo is about LA. Noire and not Max Payne. Ah, Why not? 😁

@Ravix you’re right! I’m not sure how I missed that given that I’m the resident R* fanatic 😂 time to revoke my license
You gave me weird validation though, now I feel a lot less weird about being weird about LA 😂
You’re right about MP, 1 and 2 were published by them, but they did actually develop MP3 player
To add even more to the weirdness, Team Bondi only made LA… then they went silent 💀

Has anyone played Unknown 9: Awakening? It’s a game that seems to have flown under the radar and looks like the kind of AA hidden gem that I usually like. The Push Square review is complementary and gave a 7/10. It’s on a nice -75% discount in the PSN sale, along with a 50% discount for Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Nobody Wants to Die from my watchlist. I probably will just wait for the likely PS+ inclusion for any of these because I’m saving my shekels for some of the big stuff coming later this year. But the big discount for Unknown 9 caught my eye.

@Th3solution my understanding of it is that it was a half decent stealth game set in period India with fantasy elements (which all sounds pretty good to me) but got beaten to death with a stick for being woke. I’ve almost picked it up a couple of times for £20… I probably will at some point.

@graymamba It looks good to me. It’s $12 now. Seems a fair price for what it is. I just don’t have space in the schedule. In a choice between all the other good looking AA games, I have to see which will make the cut. Right now I’m waiting for the Clair Obscur reviews because that’s the one I’m most interested in. To say nothing of Lost Souls Aside, Hell is Us, and Where Winds Meet, among others.

The AAA output is going to pull my attention too. The closer that Death Stranding 2 gets, the more I feel like I might have to play it at launch. I don’t know. I’m going to have to push back and wait on Indiana Jones and any others coming this summer.

When people who say there are no games to play it just blows my mind.

@Th3solution I can afford to buy most games I'm interested in at full price or a load of games on sale, I just choose not too as I don't won't fall into the trap again of feeling overwhelmed by the amount of games I've yet to play.

My general rule thumb is I try to only buy games I know I will play shortly. Most of the time I find they eventually turn up on PS Plus anyway.

I know mate, it’s such a strange time to live in in general, with the gaming-lens just being a microcosm for society as a whole really. People just want to complain about anything and everything these days… and the problem is that it’ll cause a ‘Boy who cried wolf’ reaction, which will cause genuine complaints to be lumped in with the disingenuous ones.

@graymamba and so say Brother Kilgore.

Preach.

I genuinely dislike following gaming news now, even though gaming one of my most beloved hobbies, as every new release goes through the same exact cycle with the waves of idiots deciding it's the worst thing since the last game that came out 2 weeks before.

Eventually the gaming community will just melt and stop caring about any new, original and exciting games because they have been worn out by those parasites.

@JohnnyShoulder I do admire your discipline.
I think having PS+ Extra (and now Premium, actually) has helped with my purchasing restraint. Having access to the catalogue has effectively doubled or tripled my backlog size due to the access of lots more games I want to try, and if I’m on the fence about picking a game up it’s easier to resist the urge when I know there’s a high chance the game will go onto the service before I get to it. (The approach I’ll likely take with Unknown 9). The exception is when the deal feels too good to pass up and then I’ll be willing to take a chance. Also, the PS+ service has been around long enough that I’m getting a feel for the type of games that go onto the service and those that don’t. For example, FromSoft games never go into PS+ (or GamePass, to my knowledge). Commercially successful games also rarely get included (Which is why I was a little surprised to see Hogwarts Legacy announced this week).

But I still sometimes get a little therapeutic buzz when I buy a game. I work hard and I don’t have other expensive hobbies so I’ll rationalize that this is my version of other people blowing a $100 on a night out or a massage or a round of golf or an amusement park, or $1000 on a weekend getaway. And I don’t really collect anything else anymore, like comic books, coins, stamps, antiques, etc. so it’s a form of collecting too. I’m also more apt to do impulse buys for physical copies since I know the game still has inherent resale value to flip it for another game later on.
Are any of your games physical or are you all digital?

@graymamba That’s so true. Not only in gaming but in every walk of life. The reach of each individual’s voice has been amplified by social media and technology, so everyone seems to feel the urge to air their grievances. Beforehand people might write letters to the editor with the hope that their personal crusade or social gripe would get a little publicity, but now, there’s immediate access to self-promote one’s crazy thoughts and hare-brained ideology.

@Th3solution I don't always stick to it, like I bought Hades a few months back but not even started it yet. But I am certianly a lot better than the early part of the PS4 generation.

Most of the games I play are digital as they are on PS Plus. I very rarely purchasing anything these days though. If it is on or close to day one which again is rare it will usually be physical, but that would eventually be traded in for some 2nd hand games.

Like I said, it is not a money thing for me, more about time and not getting overwhelmed cos i've bought half a dozen games every time there is a sale on PSN.

@JohnnyShoulder Seems like a good approach.

I also have Hades sitting in the backlog. I really should get around to that before the sequel comes out.