Topic: What PS5 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@Jimmer-jammer The second game sounds like it will be a significantly more enjoyable playthrough then, I will try to unlock that talisman asap, as per your recommendation.

@CJD87 Yeah, with further regard to what I said above Rise of the Ronin ,their next game looks to be much more of an ARPG even than the Nioh games, with difficulty settings and everything apparently, a much more "accessible" experience. Do you reckon you will play that one as well?

Edit: I am sure, from what I have seen and a brief attempt at Nioh a few years ago, they are basically harder versions of the Souls games but, as you say, presented in an ARPG format, definitely hardcore gamers fare, they even said in a press release for Rise of the Ronin that the hardest difficulty setting will present the experience that the hardcore Soulslike fans are looking for, so I would say, to conclude, that even though they are essentially ARPGS, they share some of the same DNA with the Souls and Soulslike games.

@TheBrandedSwordsman yeah sloth is in Nioh 2 albeit a somewhat nerfed version by all accounts.

In regards to the difficulty of the series, compared to From’s games… I reckon it’ll be down to a case by case (or player by player) basis. I say this as a souls-like player whose main defence has always been dodging and rolling. These are considerably impaired in Nioh (& even more so in Sekiro as it goes) as there are no i-frames. It takes a lot for me to break from my modus-operandi and to start focusing on blocking for some reason but once I do, I see the difference.

@TheBrandedSwordsman I'm currently in a state of 'handheld only', with a Switch OLED and a SteamDeck 256GB (LCD). I don't have high hopes for Ronin running well on deck, as Wo Long was a bit of a disaster. (strange, as the Deck can quite capably run the likes of CP2077, Elden Ring, Sekiro... and even Baldurs is playable!)
I'm interested that the devs are actually putting in difficulty sliders/settings... as I know that the Souls community considers this sacrilege in some corners of the internet! I suppose though that as long as the devs are clear that the hardest setting is what Souls players "are looking for" then they've avoided alienation of their key audience whilst welcoming new players on board. I hope the game lands well!

Finally completed my build in DeS. It currently stands at: 50 Vit, 18 Int, 34 Str, 50 Magic - and I haven't levelled any of the other base stats, started as Royalty. Weapons: Crescent Falchion+1 , Dragon Bone Smasher +2, Shield: Adjudicator's Shield. Armor: only Fluted Greaves for ease of movement, and to maintain a little dignity, haha. Spells: Curse Weapon (to be used with DBS+2) .Rings: Cling Ring, Regenerators' Ring.

I had some trouble finding Ed the Blacksmith to get my DBS levelled up, and had to resort to YouTube to find how to get to him, and I traded with Sparkly for the second colorless demon's soul. (The first I obtained from 1-1 after obtaining PWW in that world, and found it in a secret area near the start of the level).

I am playing Horizon Call of the Mountain on my new PlayStation VR2 and it’s pretty impressive.

Made me wince at the end.

Started Death's Door, and some of the references to Dark Souls might be a bit too on the nose for some lol. So far I've met an over enthusiastic NPC called Pothead who is very similar to Onion Knight, and a mini boss who is basically Smough.

As for the game, I'm liking it so far. The combat and puzzles are pretty easy going so far in the main, which is what I was after at the moment.

I'm finally getting around to Immortals Fenyx Rising. When I'm not doing a puzzle I'm enjoying it. You can't go five feet without a puzzle tho.

Finished FF XVI, it was an amazing game, and now playing CP 2077: Phantom Liberty

@Splat It was pretty much the same for me. Having a poor experience with Breath of the Wild probably didn't help, but eventually the puzzles started to take away from my enjoyment of the game. The gameplay, story, etc. otherwise was enjoyable enough, but especially later on, the puzzles were pretty frustrating and even borderline tedious. I do think it's a good game for people who are more into the Breath of the Wild type games though.

@TheBrandedSwordsman just caught this new vid and remembered our recent chat about Nioh 2 and the level of it’s difficulty. It’s obviously all subjective but a lot of what these guys said did ring true for me at least:

I am playing Resident Evil Village a brilliant game, i was worried after finishing RE4 recently that Village may be bit of a let down i couldn't have been more wrong.

@Max_Headroom Did you play RE7 beforehand?

I’m trying to decide what order to go with for my next RE game. I was wanting to do all the mainline entires in order, so I’ve gone 1, 2, 3, (remakes) and 4 (PS4 remaster)… but I never finished 4 because it was just not clicking for me and I found it a bit of a chore to go back to and eventually decided to abandon it about 5 hrs in. Unfortunately the experience sapped my interest in the series. But the praise for the RE4 remake has me curious enough to maybe just try it again through the remake and then go from there. But another thought was to skip ahead to RE7 or RE8/Village. I just don’t care for first person viewpoint in my games, but I can tolerate it for special circumstances.

I am new to RE games so am well impressed you may not be having played them before, i read a couple of reviews for RE4 so i decided to give it a go and then i read that Village was similar so decided to also give it a go.

@Max_Headroom The first 3 games are really great. The first one even as a PS4 remaster is pretty old, but holds up fairly well. The tank controls work for it because it’s survival horror and more tactical in the way you approach it, it’s more focused on puzzles and the combat is more limited. The RE2 and RE3 remakes are both fantastic and have similar gameplay as RE1 but the controls are fluid and updated and so they play a lot easier. RE4 original has semi-tank controls and yet it has high volume combat encounters with hoards of enemies occurring frequently and so that’s what put me off.

You might like RE2 and RE3 remakes if you’re still in the mood for more after Village; highly recommend both. Or RE7 supposedly has the same protagonist as RE8/Village and has similar gameplay, from what I understand.

The good thing about RE games is they drop in price fairly quickly, so the barrier to try them is relatively low

"You might like RE2 and RE3 remakes if you’re still in the mood for more after Village; highly recommend both. Or RE7 supposedly has the same protagonist as RE8/Village and has similar gameplay, from what I understand"

Thanks.

In addition to continuing my trek through Valisthea with Clive and co., I started Power Wash Simulator on a whim. It was on one of the PS editors GOTY lists so that was the nudge I needed to try it out. I also had a 2023 goal to try a “Sim” game and so that was the other motivation. I left a few expanded thoughts on it over on said Resolution thread. So far, the game is mostly what I expected, although after the initial short learning curve it has a certain addictive nature that appeals to me. I’ll probably drop in and out of it from time to time. There’s more strategy to it than meets the eye and it is a good diversion for people who are a little on the obsessive-compulsive side, like myself. There’s just enough gameplay and problem solving to keep it interesting, at least so far. And yet, it’s quintessential mindlessness. It is indeed one of those games that you start playing and before you know it, you’ve lost two hours. 😅

@Th3solution I feel you will be missing out on some important story beats if you play Resident Evil 8 without playing the previous game, seeing as the story continues almost directly on.

The Touryst. Fun game, though not sure what genre it is. XD

@TheBrandedSwordsman I’ve had some quality time with Lies of P. While at first it didn’t strike me as much more than a mashup of Bloodborne and Steelrising with an extra sheen of polish, I’m really starting to see it come into its own now. Krat is a great location, bosses have been fantastic, level design is top notch and the game puts its own unique spin on just about everything, like the grindstone that imbues weapons with elemental properties. The lying mechanic and weapon customization are super interesting. Safe to say it’s got its hooks into me now. How goes the journey through Boletaria?