Topic: What PS5 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Enjoy...! IMO, Sekiro remains today as FromSoft's 'Magnum Opus' game - such an exhilarating experience. That feeling of euphoria when you nail a challenging boss is unrivalled, such an excellent game.

@CJD87 Thanks, I'm sure I will! Will you be playing Nightreign in 2025?

Beat Green Lantern this morning and just took down Batman. The confrontation with Bats in particular was pretty epic. Day 3 and still enjoying it to be fair.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN In all honesty I am not 100% sold on Nightreign...

Just seems such a strange direction for FromSoft to pivot into? For long they have been completely uncompromising in the visions for their games, standing out from the crowd and leading the charge (as opposed to trend-chasing). Nightreign just reeks a little of "big corporate" wanting to use the well-respected Elden Ring name/brand to generate capitalise on the potential $$$ yield from an online co-op game. Almost as if it wants to ride on the back of recent successes like Helldivers and Marvel Rivals? (alongside rogue elements from popular titles like Hades, with a smidge of Monster Hunter?)

I sincerely hope I am proven wrong, and that Nightreign blows us all away, but I just feel that as a product it is so far removed from what I'd actually want to see from FromSoft. Also, this is maybe the one instance where I think a title would actually benefit from using a F2P/Live-Service model..... not sure I am keen on committing to a full price experience, I'd almost rather have a free admission charge and then pay for skins etc !

Such mixed feelings. From haven't let me down before, and their track record is exemplary (AC6 I also adored)...but the whole thing just feels off. NB - Glad though to see that Miyazaki has farmed the project out to a junior member, which suggests/intimates he is busy directing/working on 'the next big thing'.

I'd love to see From announce a completely new IP, maybe something in space similar to ME Trilogy? Or even From's riff on the CRPG genre and choice-based gameplay with turn-based combat? Otherwise I'd settle nicely for Sekiro 2...

@CJD87 Miyazaki also said, after Elden Ring, that they basically wanted to try something different, and didn't want FromSoft to become known as a 'Souls' company, so I'm thinking the next game directed by Miyazaki may be something radically different to what they've done in the past, which wouldn't rule out, as you say, Sekiro 2, but yeah, Idk what elements would need to be added/removed for it to be a complete departure from the (basic) similarities Sekiro shares with the Souls games, but either way we won't get Dark Souls 4.5, got to go to the LotF (2023) game and it's upcoming sequel for that.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN That's interesting, the account of Miyzaiki not wanting to be boxed in and known as a 'Souls' company.

TBH, I'm actually fairly exhausted by the genre and have sort of 'had my fill' of Souls titles (FromSoft or imitation). I'd love to see FromSoft riff a little differently.... I was actually amazed by AC6 for example.

I'm all for From spreading their wings and trying something new on a large scale.... but the concept behind Nightreign is definitely not want I wanted to see! Hope to be proven wrong, still (and always) a loyal From fan

@GirlVersusGame Have you tried Alien: Isolation? I found it too difficult to do the stealth parts but seemed like a great game and I might replay it some day.

@GirlVersusGame Apparently on the easiest difficulty setting the alien is quite passive and you can even avoid it for your whole playthrough, according to some people, but yeah, I definitely think it's not a game for everyone.

Taking a break from the Witcher 3 so I started Alan Wake 2 while playing some Marvel Rivals. After a few games I really liked it. Iron Man so far is my main.

@Bentleyma Can you tell me how did you like Infinity Nikki? I'm tempting to try it out but I don't understand what type of game is it?

Is it something like Animal crossing?

Beat Chained Ogre, this afternoon, in Sekiro. Using Flame Vent and a YouTube strategy guide definitely made the fight feel easier. Definitely a 'Dark Souls'-style boss.

Currently playing Gordian Quest. Stumbled upon it for $2 in the latest sale. It is quite fun. A mix of rogue lite deck building rpg. I think D&D fans and Slay the Spire fans would enjoy it. It's random encounters with skill based story checks as well. You have 3 in your party as you embark, but you can swap for others depending on what you like. Well worth the $2. Id pay a bit more for it, with as much fun as I'm having. I will see if it holds up throughout and comment again then.

@Bentleyma Nice. I don't know when I heard it's free so I didn't think it would be a story single player game and my mind automatically put the game in the Live Service, Gatcha, MMO whatever genre

I guess I'll give it a try then. Thank you!

@Herculean Curious, do you think someone would enjoy rebirth only playing a few hours of the first one? I did play final fantasy 7 original to completion when that came out years ago. Rebirth looks better then the city setting and might grab me more.

@HallowMoonshadow Sorry to hear you're not getting on with it. I actually really loved it, although considering my general lack of regard for Nocturne and your dissatisfaction with P5, I get the sense we're not the most compatible in terms of MegaTen.

Kozuka's compositions are definitely different than Meguro's work in older SMT games. I will say V's soundtrack, as much as I like it (and I really like it most of the time), isn't as consistently themed as his work on IV, which is still my favorite OST in the series.

My favorite thing about V is how fair the Hard mode feels. It's hard, but not, like, crazy, unplayable BS like in Nocturne.

I've been playing Spider-Man 2 for the last week or so and an maybe three quarters of the way through so I guess I've played enough to state that, for me, it's just a bit of a disappointment. Don't get me wrong it's a fine game, plays well and looks great so I've been getting all introspective and trying to work out why it hasn't really clicked for me.

I really enjoyed the first one and even Miles Morales, though that was more like a DLC for the first one in my opinion. Maybe it's that superhero fatigue and I'm just not that hyped for Marvel stuff anymore. Maybe my expectations going in were too high and I was expecting a 8'or 9 out of 10 and it feels more like a 6 or 7. Maybe it's not really attempted to do anything new so it's just more of the stuff I was doing years ago. Or maybe I've just changed my tastes in the intervening period between the last installments and this one.

The combat seems repetitive, I can't really be bothered with the random crimes that keep popping up as I'm swinging around the city anymore, the collectables just seem like padding busywork and even the more cinematic main quest parts are just extended QTEs.

I am going to persevere and finish it, hopefully over the next day or two so maybe the climax will turn it around but it's not a game I will look back on particularly fondly.
How did anybody else feel about it? Is it just me?

@sorteddan I feel like you about most of Sony's first-party games in general, specifically the sequels as they're just more of the same. I mean sure, you can glide in Spider-Man 2 and I prefer the sequel to the first game. But it's largely more of the same game. I didn't even like the first Spider-Man to begin with lol. Although I did enjoy Miles Morales a lot. It could be because it was a shorter experience and Miles' abilities are more varied and fun than Peter's.

@LtSarge @sorteddan I really quite enjoyed SM2, and felt it was one of the best games I played this year. The final quarter of the game does mix things up somewhat so you might enjoy it a little more, although it doesn’t suddenly become a tactical shooter or a complete gameplay subversion or anything. I do think the Marvel fatigue doesn’t help with the feeling many people have of it feeling too samey with the last games. The short run times of the games makes it feel less monotonous to me than say, the final 20 hours of Persona 5 or Red Dead Redemption II, or even TLoU2, which are games I felt just dragged a bit toward the end.

There’s also just an expectation that I think we have now because of the long development times and the increased innovation and variety we have in games. So “safe” sequels are becoming harder to swallow when one has to wait 5 years between entries. The Uncharteds, the Assassin’s Creeds, the BioShocks (at least the first two), the God of Wars (originals), the Mass Effects, etc, etc were also really iterative with their sequels but often the second game was felt to be the best. I think back then the first of a series was a testing ground and then a couple years later the studio released the real polished version with all the tweaks on the first to make it better and it made for a real big splash for people wanting more. In the current environment, it’s so competitive for our game time that expectations are that each release is polished from the get-go and a sequel should innovate and give a grand new experience. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have these expectations, I just think that’s where we all are.

I have yet to play Forbidden West or GoW Ragnarok, but I do expect they will be just polished versions of the first game. Even Astro Bot, if you call that a sequel 😅. Also Ghost of Yotei. I think TLoU2 innovated the most among the first party sequels and the experimentation with gameplay seemed to be a hit but the subversion of expectations with the narrative made many fans upset. So I think there’s always a risk either way, whether the studio plays it safe or tries a new direction.

@Th3solution God of War: Ragnarok was so underwhelming to play compared to the previous one. It definitely felt like more of the same. I agree though that The Last of Us: Part II is the most innovative one, I had an absolute blast with that one.

The fact that so many games in general are just more of the same is making it easier for me to avoid buying them at launch. I don't feel a sense of urgency to play them as soon as they are released.

Imagine growing up in the 90s during the PS1 era. Most of the new AAA releases were such unique experiences, like Final Fantasy 7, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil and so on. That'll never happen again, which is so unfortunate.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Level grinding in the postgame.

@HallowMoonshadow Bah, more blasphemy against P5's utterly incredible soundtrack. You're lucky you're so likable.

So, that's the thing with Nocturne: the hard mode is utterly ludicrously hard, to the point where it's not fair, but on Normal, you can cheese 90% of the bosses with Fog Breath + Charge + [Insert Strongest Current Physical Attack on Demi-Fiend]. There's no balance whatsoever. While I'm not necessarily a fan of the Persona-esque approach to buffs/debuffs taken in SMT V, it is a game that feels wonderfully balanced in the Hard mode, always keeping me just on the edge of what would be too hard, but never falling over that line.

The big downside to it in the original was the narrative, but Vengeance adds just enough to not feel unfinished like the original campaign. I'd actually say, on the whole, it's better than Nocturne in terms of making the main campaign finally feel substantive, whereas that game hid its extra narrative behind infodumps in an optional dungeon instead of making a better campaign like they did with Vengeance.

Nocturne slander aside ( ), I'm sorry to hear you're ill. Is it the flu?