Topic: What PS5 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@KilloWertz yes your right that's what I meant!

I met a huge bear earlier near a big tree and we became close friends! Well I must of had something he wanted because he just kept chasing me around.

@MaulTsir The bear was probably just trying to follow instructions. He saw your name on your back and figured he was supposed to maul you.

@RogerRoger

Halfway through Detroit: Become Human and wow I wish I hadn't shelved this game as long as I had. I really enjoy the story and can see myself doing a second playthrough to choose different actions than I have done. I look forward to Quantic Dream's next game and hope Detroit: Become Human gets a sequel.

@KilloWertz That must be it, I'll have to change my name, I'm thinking something like HumpAlot? Mabye that will improve the situation 🤔

@MaulTsir Lol, maybe.... but I think that might be more GTA and less Elden Ring.

Decided with the Last of Us delayed on PC and both Part 1 and Part 2 on sale on the store, I would just bite the bullet and at least enjoy the game while I am watching the show. I dunno if this post is going to be too long for the intention of this thread, but I couldn't really work out where to post this?

Difficulty is really frustrating in this package. Using just the default balanced difficulty almost all of the enemies are both hilariously, cartoonishly, blind and deaf, to the point where it feels kinda too easy and a bit silly.

I was kinda happy about this though, as the frustration from the forced stealth clicker sections had scarred me so deeply, I had avoided replaying this for years. Sadly, whatever stupid code activates for all the other enemies, apparently doesn't apply to the one enemy I wanted it to apply to the most. And more than that, I forgot how gruelling these opening hours are, as they for some reason frontload you with going from location, to location, having to deal with clickers in each of these locations. It is just clicker after clicker sequence maybe in three or four locations in a row before you finally get a break.

In the end I just turned the difficulty down to the lowest and shot my way through everything. I don't care about the sanctity of these sequences or whatever, these sections are just complete anti-fun misery. I had hoped the more granular difficulty options would make them more enjoyable. They did not. At least they are over now and I can just enjoy the game at least until the next forced stealth Clicker encounter.

This is a pretty incredible package, though, those frustrations aside. I feel like until you see this game in person, you almost can't really appreciate what an upgrade this actually is. Especially in the context of the PS5 where it feels like we've had a lot of broken promises in terms of the level of presentation and performance we can expect from our titles this generation, and weirdly at least on a technical level Part 1 feels more "next gen" than a lot of actual supposed next gen titles.

As soon as you play it, you are suddenly immediately aware of how old the game is, admittedly. But they have done some work in offsetting some of the jank with things like gyro aiming, improved companion AI and the ability to just flat out skip all the "puzzles".

It is usually the small things of lesser care that end up standing out the most, like how the stealth takedown animation is always exactly the same, and doesn't even vary between infected and regular humans. Or how you are always moving through identical metal doors with identical chains to pull. They stand out so starkly in a game so otherwise rich with care and detail.

Although I think I have played Part 1 on PS3 once, and on PS4 twice, I have never played Part 2. At the height of the discourse around that title my PS4 was gathering dust in a cupboard somewhere as I focused almost entirely on PC gaming with a little bit of Switch sprinkled in, so I was able to step away from it all. Knowing they are going to adapt it into season 2 of the show though has made me want to actually play it, and I understand it had a Pro patch so it at least has gyro/60 fps, so I don't mind playing a PS4 version on PS5.

Gonna be really interested to see where I land on it, given how polarising the title is. The absolute worst part about Part 1 for me is whenever you have to actually play it, and I only suffered through it as many times as I did as I absolutely love Joel and Ellie's story. I hear Part 2 is almost the inverse of this, where they have made massive leaps in the gameplay front and massive step backwards on the story front, but I gotta make it through Part 1 first to find out.

@LN78 I'm with you on the story and writing being a huge disappointment for me. Like you, I thought it was a technical masterpiece and had great gameplay, so I was able to still enjoy most of it. I would consider it a good game, but the I would never defend the story, especially with how it treats Ellie in the end. I am still interested to see what they do with all of it on the show, but I may never play the game ever again even thought the technical and gameplay aspects are as good as almost anything else.

I absolutely love the story and writing of part 2!

@Voltan Well, good for you. I'll bake you a cookie.

@Pizzamorg It’s interesting to read your experience so far with TLoU Part I. At the risk of my coming across as a shameless self-promoter, I’ll offer you a link to my TLoU Part II review here:
https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/retro_and_other_gaming/user...

I tried to be as spoiler-free as possible and I’d be honored if you checked it out, but don’t feel obligated. I mostly include the link as an alternative to my repeating myself here when I have those more comprehensive thoughts documented over there on the review thread. As I look at it now and re-read what I wrote, I was clearly caught up in the afterglow of the experience, but my thoughts then (not quite one year ago… seems like so much longer!) still apply now. The ensuing discussion there is really interesting as well if you want to take the time, as the varied opinions on the game are all valid too. If you’re the type of gamer who’d rather be going into an experience as blind as possible then I can also fully understand and respect skipping it on that reasoning.

Short version is that it was a very moving and fascinating experience for me, emotionally speaking, despite the fact the game has some indefensible elements. I believe I considered it my personal 2022 GOTY last year even though (as I say in the review) I’d most likely rank Part I higher. All that said, I don’t know when or if I’ll ever replay Part II. I have a feeling I’m better off leaving it alone, nestled fondly in my memory, because the warts of the game might be more glaring on a subsequent run.

@Th3solution I really like your writing style, very emotive and eloquent, I think you articulated some really complex stuff into a very readable way and I am jealous I can't write like you 😂 Maybe in my younger days I could have, but now it is just me always moaning about difficulty as I am old and frail.

@Pizzamorg Thanks! That’s very kind of you and I’m glad you enjoyed it. I find that writing something down tends to solidify my thoughts and feelings in my own mind. Unfortunately I think that I tend to be too long-winded sometimes, but for me the process of writing it down helps my critical thinking skills.

And hey, give yourself some credit. Your mini-impressions post there was
very effective and captivating. It definitely made me think about playing Part I again. And I’m eager to hear how you get along with Part II when you eventually play it. 😄

I wouldn't say the game feels modern, and I think the animations are extremely repetitive, but I will say that gameplay does get better over time. Those frustrating opening couple of hours clearly scarred deep, because I had kinda seared it into my brain that that was the experience all the way through, which isn't really true. Joel's arsenal grows, the durability of his equipment increases and resources begin to flow more readily, which means a lot of the frustration is smoothed out, without losing much in the way of the tension.

I also think the game does a much better job at sculpting encounters with human enemies and that extended sequence in the Financial District where you are taking down the Hunters is honestly kinda excellent throughout. Like, yeah, the game only has one takedown animation (for some reason) and the humans are weirdly more stupid than the infected are, but the game does a really good job of making your gameplay look like you are completing a properly choreographed action scene from a movie, without it feeling like it is completely on rails.

I will say that the dated elements aren't all necessarily bad things, either. One thing I really remarked as I've been playing through this, is how much I miss games like this. It seems like every game wants to be this massive open world these days, and scale often comes at the cost of detail. There is still some repeated stuff in the Last of Us too, but I dunno, as the game steered me through it, I just appreciated a world that felt curated throughout, rather than just the next piece of space with some assets plonked onto it so they can up their Km2 marketing buzz. There is so much beauty and detail packed into the environments here, so much environmental storytelling to just soak in, which is really enhanced by the prompted and unprompted observations Joel and Ellie make, too, which then feeds back into the way in which their dynamic organically grows.

I started on Two Point Academy last night and got up to 2* level on the (very easy) first level.

Seems like a nice twist on the genre so far. No real challenge in the first level other than trying to get to grips with new mechanics and the controls but I’m sure there are bigger challenges ahead!

@Thrillho I see you play quite a few of those games. What would you recommend for some one that is novice of the genre? I struggled to get past the tutorial of the last couple I played (townsmen: a kingdom rebuilt and civilization vi). I quickly find my self getting overwhelmed when I start running out of resources and things like that.

@JohnnyShoulder One issue is that the genre is quite vast from chilled city builders to objective or level based games.

Civ 6 is magnificent but can be really tough to get your head around everything. The tutorials are quite good and playing on easy is a good way of getting to grips with it but it is still quite intense.

Surviving Mars is a great concept but tough as nails! Cities Skylines is less objective based so I’m not such a fan and get bored quite easily.

The Tropico games are quite good ones which have a decent balance between micromanagement and just getting on and having fun. T5 is a little old but still good. I enjoyed T6 but it had some serious frustrations too. I even wrote a review!

https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/retro_and_other_gaming/user...

Two Point Hospital is great though and the levels introduce mechanics etc really nicely and slowly ramp up the difficulty with lots of different challenges. You can pass the level with a 1* rating and move on or really push on to get 3* if you wish, meaning you can play to the level and difficulty you like.

Jurassic World Evolution follows a similar style with a handful of levels you move between. It’s been a while since I played but it was quite neat and building your own park and unlocking dinosaurs is always cool! I’ve still not played the sequel.

Evil Genius 2 is a fun concept as you set up your own evil lair but it got very samey and the fact you have the one base throughout means that any design mistakes can be annoying to undo.

I can’t remember if you have it but Tropico 5 and Evil Genius 2 are both on PS+ Extra (along with Cities Skylines and Surviving Mars) so they might be worth a go. Two Point Hospital would easily be my recommendation though!

After beating Ghostwire, I started Gotham Knights

The city is very big and looks nice but unfortunately so far it seem all that space might be a little wasted due to a lack of fun open world activities - but I'm still early in the game so maybe something gets added later, we'll see. Combat is definitely not as good as in the Arkham games either.
On the story front it seems solid. Many familiar characters seem rather well executed. So far so good (again, I'm still near the start).

I wish it had at least a 40 fps mode for 120hz screens though. 30 fps don't bother me as much as some others but 40 makes a surprising amount of difference. If you can't get the game running at 60, at least do that.

@Thrillho Cheers for the detailed response!

I've played Jurassic World Evolution and did initially really enjoy it but eventually found it a bit samey. Tropico 5 (I think) I played when it came to plus year ago, but didn't get far with it, so may give that another go. City Skylines I also tried, but I seem to remember coming across a glitch which halted my progress.

I played Frostpunk, and finished the campaign which is probably the last one of these games I managed to do so.

The Two Point games I would like to try, if only to experience the humour which is supposed to be up my alley.