Topic: What PS5 Games Are You Currently Playing?

Still farming in Elden Ring. Found a sweet farming spot with some powerful but slow enemies that drop about 1k runes per enemy. That's more like it! OP Str Build here I come!

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN As you like farming so much, have you tried any of the Farming Simulator games? 🤣

@JohnnyShoulder Excellent notion, perhaps we cold combine the two disciplines - goats, sheep...and souls!

@Th3solution @Jimmer-jammer Since these are both games you have mentioned before, Jim, I know you've played both in your case, I thought I'd mention the two of you here. Sol, if you play Rise of the Ronin before your next Souls game, or particularly with regard to Elden Ring, I think if you can crack the combat in Rise you will find your next Souls game much easier. After RotR, in my case, I am hardlly dying at all whilst farming early on in ER, and I was dying quite often at the start of my playthru of Demon's Souls and the previous Souls games I played. Something about muscle memory, and transferable skills, perhaps?

Jim, I know what you're gonna say., the bosses in ER are a different story to just farming, but with an op build and the fact that I will be using spirit ashes, which the game is balanced around, I still think I will have a much easier time with it than with RotR, and no, I'm not gonna be playing the dlc.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I’m glad things are going smoothly so far. That’s interesting that you feel like RotR has helped your ER skills. I wonder if it’s helped in the “git gud” aspects of Souls combat, or if it’s just a matter of acclimatization to a certain level of difficulty or challenge. Perhaps it’s forced you to consider parrying as a legitimate combat technique. I’ve never really become adept at parry skills, despite their inclusion in the Souls genre, mostly because dodge roll has always been an option, as well as simply blocking with a shield. My understanding is that RotR, like Sekiro, has more reliance on parrying?

But I’ve never really thought about that overall principle of playing a certain game sometimes makes you better at an unrelated game. As I consider this, I do think the contrasting factor is in effect in my gameplay experience — that is, playing Souls games has made me better at, or at least more patient with, other games. Within the last year I’ve played some games with action-heavy combat like: Final Fantasy XVI, Sifu, Hogwarts Legacy, Death’s Door, Immortals of Aveum, and Spider-Man 2. Outside of Sifu, these games weren’t particularly difficult, but I found myself approaching combat, especially bosses, in a ‘Souls-like’ mindset. In other words, I didn’t get too terribly frustrated if I died, and I tried to be tactical and patient during large encounters, playing defensively when necessary, and trying to be aware of my environment at all times. I think there’s even something to be said about games fine-tuning one’s reaction and response time, and I’ve played some really ‘fast twitch’ games like Gran Turismo 7 or Returnal and then gone back to some unrelated genre like Resident Evil or Mass Effect and I definitely felt like the combat was going in slow motion. So perhaps that’s another thing that has helped in the case of RotR being more fast-paced and polishing your reflexes and instincts.

I just started Ys IX, hoping to get the platinum trophy for it before the NA version of Ys X Nordics releases. Meanwhile, I just finished my first play through of Ys: Memories of Celceta on the Vita. I unlocked the majority of trophies, so now I’m doing a NG+ run on Nightmare to get the platinum trophy. It shouldn’t take too long because I already acquired all the grind-fest trophies such as unlocking the entire map to 100%, doing all side quests, and opening all treasure chests.

@Th3solution How is your Soul's journey going? Last time we spoke you where quite away into Demon Soul's 2?

Remnant 2 has just released a trailer for its 3rd and possibly final dlc so I'll be jumping back into that when it comes out later this month!
It's a great game, it's not really Soul's but it's is, strange I know but if you ever play it you will get my gist.

I'm not currently planning more in the Soul's department yet, I do want to jump back into Elden ring for the dlc but not sure when, I also have my eye on lies of p and Lords of the Fallen although I've heard the latter is a bit disappointing. I'll wait for the price drops on both to justify it.

I'm currently trying to go through the backlog as my main aim, I'm currently playing Final Fantasy X/X-2 and after that I'll be heading on to the Metro collection or atleast that's what I tell my self!

@MaulTsir It’s going great overall! Dark Souls 2 is an interesting one. The first 40 hours or so I was fully enjoying it and kept wondering why this game was so hated amongst the fandom, and then the last 10-15 hours I’ve come to see validity of the criticism of some design choices. It’s still been a great game and great experience so far and at 70 hours, I’m still not done! I’m on the latter half of the main game but there’s a substantial amount of DLC, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I have an other 70 hours ahead of me. I’m reluctant to rush through it though, because it’s been a good enough experience that I want to savor the journey and make sure I don’t miss anything major. As you know with these From games there’s tons of content and a huge portion of it is hidden or cryptic and can easily be missed. If you ever decide to go back to the Souls series I’d definitely recommend playing DS1 Remastered first though. DS2 is excellent in its own way and does some things that I wish would have been used on DS1 and Demon’s Souls, but it also has some other mechanics that I wish were better, without getting into too much detail.

I definitely added Remnant II to my backlog list after your strong recommendation. The list is about 40 deep, so it’s hard to know when and if, but I have it enrolled. 😄 I’m doing a slightly different way I have organized my backlog list — I’ve broken the games down into categories of what genre they are, so when I feel the urge to play a certain kind of game then I’ll go they lists or genres and pick from there. It’s easier to look at a list of 5 or 6 RPGs and choose something rather than look at list of 40 games and wade through to find the game that I feel drawn to. So for Remnant II I have it listed on my ‘Souls-like’ list and my ‘shooter’ list.

As for FFX/X-2, they are great JRPGs and I have fond memories of especially X. But X-2 is actually surprisingly good too, but thematically is a little quirky with the whole ‘dress up’ and ‘pop idol’ focus of the squad. I consider X to be #3 or #4 on my list of favorite FF games, and I’ve played about 10 of them. It’s been years though, so I’m not sure how the game holds up in 2024.

And the Metro games are some I’ve looked at many times, so I’d be really curious to hear how you like them. The Redux package of the first two games is frequently on sale for like $4 (as it is currently) I’ve hovered over the purchase button many times. I guess it’s ok to jump straight to Exodus but supposedly the first two games are good too. Hope you enjoy!

@Th3solution oh wow I’ve never pegged you as a FFX guy. Huge respect.

@Yousef- I have a few surprises up my sleeve. 😜

Actually, I know it’s probably an unpopular opinion, but my favorite is FFXII, or at least maybe tied closely with FFVI (the OG one). FFX is probably next in the ranking.

@Th3solution Glad to hear about Dark Soul's mate, hope you continue to enjoy it! Sounds like there's a lot of content still to go.

Sounds like we've both found a way to organise our backlogs. I've just started to play what I feel and I've even stopped paying as much attention to new games and stuff, just add them to the backlog for later 😅

I'm replaying FF X for the first time in about 20 years(wow cant actually believe its that long ago) but never got around to X-2 so interested to see what it's like.

Wrapping up chapter 3 in Wukong - only the final boss left, all the other optional/secret bosses already done. I heard a lot of stories about the Yin Tiger but he didn't prove that challenging in the end. Generally I'm under the impression the subsequent chapters are getting easier but that will most probably change later on

Still going through Days Gone and getting a bit bored with it, tbh. I'm probably around halfway through and it's becoming very repetetive. And the AI is still horrible.

@lotan666 I didn’t have too much trouble with Yin Tiger either, once I learned his patterns. There will becc bc a few optional bosses in later chapters that can be quite difficult, but they shouldn’t pose too much of a problem if you have the right equipment. Good luck! I beat the game and got the true (secret) ending last week. I’m taking a break before I do a NG+ and get the platinum trophy!

Started playing Sackboy: A Big Adventure today. I have mixed emotions about the game. On one hand, it's a cheerful and fun game. On the other, the game design is old and there are constant moments of frustrations from missing out on collectibles because you messed up and have to restart the entire level. The collectibles are necessary for progression, but it doesn't seem like you need to get all of them to beat the game considering some are locked behind multiplayer levels, which is also dumb. So I think I'm just going to focus on having a good time and not beat myself up if I miss some stuff.

As for the game itself, it's basically like Super Mario 3D World and it's a blast to play when you aren't bothered by the collectibles. Kinda crazy how little recognition this game has gotten considering it's a solid first-party 3D platformer on PS5. As a person who's played almost all of the LittleBigPlanet games, playing one in 3D is absolutely awesome. Can't wait to play more of it.

@LtSarge interestingly enough, it’s astrobot that made me retroactively curious about this as I missed out on it back in the day.

And yeah what you described seems like standard collectathon.

I’m not too attached to the sackboy character much so I didn’t check this out.

It’s good to hear about it from the perspective of a fan though, makes the review feel more authentic. I’ll check this out if I find the chance.

Animal Well. Very cool and atmospheric, but feel that not enough is explained about what stuff does in the game. I am having fun exploring and experimenting however. Decent use of the Dual Sense too.

A great opinion, in my book! My faves are 10 and 12.

I'm currently playing Astro Bot and it is LOVELY! My favorite 3D platformer since Super Mario Odyssey and everything I could have asked for in a follow-up to Astro's Playroom.

Also testing my memory against all the characters from PlayStation history has been fun! Haven't been truly stumped until last night where I unlocked two similar-looking characters that I have absolutely no idea what game they come from (two robot dogs!?)

Finishing chapter 4 in Wukong. Only the final boss left. I didn't get to fight the Scorpionlord boss though. I had no idea the fight is missable, if you don't approach the boss before the Duskveil fight :/

Been farming in Elden Ring. Doing the Gatefront Ruins Site of Grace site. Got to about level 25 Str. Aiming for 40 before I start farming the trolls. Then 60. Then 80.

@lotan666 Try to save this link and check periodically to know the secret bosses especially the missable ones. I don't look in the strategy and stuff because I like to experience it myself but I open it to make sure I don't miss any boss.

https://www.powerpyx.com/black-myth-wukong-boss-guide-all-bos...