Topic: What PS5 Games Are You Currently Playing?

@JohnnyShoulder Also, Blasphemous 2 is already on my list, and I've heard that that's the superior game of the two. With the Mea Culpa DLC. How is Lords of the Fallen treating you?

Accidentally played a bit of Crusader Kings 3 last night.

Long story short-ish (edit. Or long): I set up a created character, a measly Count in Bohemia, Plzen to be precise, nothing special just a regular Jan, with the intention of playing tall, not trying to expand much at all, focusing on stewardship and diplomacy. No offensive wars of my own making, just building and investing, cosying up to the Dukes, and King of Bohemia...

But within a few years of minding his own business, and creating jobs for the people, poor Jan was hit on the head with a pot whilst riding through Plzen and got brain damage 😅 he thus could no longer administer his affairs so his wife became regent, thankfully he'd had a couple of kids already. After a few years of struggling to deal with his infirmity, Jan died at age 30, sad and confused, barely recognising his children who he had been trying to teach the lessons of humility and good rule.

I read a lot of people restart when they get the infirm trait, as it is basically a game over. But I wanted to see what happened. Jan's son, Janosh (naming pattern detected) who was only about 7 when he became the new Count of a reduced Plzen as his brother inherited the neighboring county, is now raking in more money than King's Prague and the mines of Kutna Hora. And has since taken over his devious neighbors county, whilst ignoring his brother for now, and moved his capital to a lovely new defensible castle where he can continue to ignore real expansion and focus on making Bohemia rich more effectively than the King himself.

Will the line of Jan eventually become the biggest counts in the land? 😛 Perhaps even Kings of Bohemia, making it the richest kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire? We shall have to see. There are no plans to offensively overthrow any kings, just to gather money and improve our own home and build a focused defensive force in case anyone comes a-knocking. Who knows if Janosh's children or grandchildren will see it that way, though.

Power is a fickle mistress.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I've heard some people rate the first Blasphemous game higher than the sequel, but I've yet to play it. I also hear it is recommended to play the first game as the sequel directly carries on from the end of the first game.

Yeah I'm still playing Lords of The Fallen, its all good.

@JohnnyShoulder Thanks, man. I'll add the first Blasphemous as well.

@HallowMoonshadow I’m glad to see the enjoyment persisting. It sounds like you’re approaching the game much like I did - that is, soaking up the setting and exploring a lot before moving the main story along. I agree with all your comments, including the VA work.

Although I ultimately still loved the game, it does reach a point where the open world exploration and side activities get tedious. It’s much like most open worlders in that sense, so just fair warning that many people seem to get bogged down and then fall off the game or begin to dislike and criticize the experience based on the repetitive nature of the open world. So I guess what I’m saying is that if I were to do it again I might pace myself a little better, where I do the mainline quests intermittently and then spend a little time in the open world, and then do some of companion quests (Sebastian’s is probably the best, but all are worth doing) then back to some main story, and so on. I’m sure that’s what you’re already planning on, but it’s easy to spend many hours flying around finding treasure, doing puzzles and astronomy challenges amd races and Merlin trials and popping balloons, and then before you know it you’re burned out. I never totally burned out but at the end the number of open world activities seemed endless so I didn’t end up finishing the last 15-20% of them or so. But I did all the main companion quests and the significant side quests and a lot of those superfluous activities too though.

The best side quest imo is the PlayStation exclusive one (which subsequently now was rolled out onto all platforms I think) called “Minding Your Own Business”. It won’t open up as an option until mid to late game though, but just keep that in mind if you are skipping quests by that point in the game to consider not skipping that one.

The main story is decent enough, and some people weren’t all that impressed but I thought it was quite good. Some of the latter story quests are really interesting (one in particular comes to mind that is extremely unique) so again, players who fall off early unfortunately miss out.

Here’s hoping the sequel does tighten things up a bit. I like that they have the large open world to explore but probably should work on making the side exploration content more varied and rewarding, getting the pacing better, and then getting the VA work improved as you say, and maybe some of the character development more consistent. Because they already nailed the setting, and that’s what really shines.

@HallowMoonshadow Hufflepuff was always my guilty-pleasure of a Hogwarts house tbh… if guilty-pleasure is the right term 🤔.

I’ve been looking forward to playing this for a while (pretty much since release) but finding a window for it has been tricky. I think I’ll feel quite similarly to yourself though… just the overall Potter-ness of it all will probably ensure my overall enjoyment, even if there are some shortcomings here and there.

It’ll be interesting to see how you feel as you get to the 20-30 hour playtime… who knows, some surprising hidden-depth might emerge over the next 10-20 hours to maintain the positive trajectory 🤞

Hogwarts is my next game after I finish up Last of Us Pt1.
I’m not a pothead (is that the correct term?) so I’m not sure what school I will be joining.
Shame it doesn’t support PSVR2 and normally I would wait a bit to see if it is on the horizon but at this point it would seem highly unlikely.

Having just finished Atomfall, I'm unlikely to start a new playthrough of anything until Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 releases. I'll maybe dip back into Monster Hunter Wilds or I'll visit Reddit and help some folks with bosses in Elden Ring.

Plenty of gaming downtime for me until the 24th.

@Kairuuu Although I don’t have plans to play it at launch, I’m really curious about Clair Obscur. It looks like Persona and The Order 1886 had a baby. It also stylistically looks has a dash of dark fantasy, a la Dark Souls etc., but with selective colorful flashiness in its design. For some reason it reminds me of that old PS3 game Folklore, as far as style. Has an 1800’s European vibe that is picturesque and also dark thematically and artistically.

I’m still chugging away at The First Berserker: Khazan. I’m 80 hours in and doing all optional side content. I have two main bosses left to beat. I’m not sure I’ll go for the platinum just yet because some trophies bugged out for me — I’m ready to be done with the game — but I’ll eventually get it in the future.

Giving up on Sekiro now. I got up to Guardian Ape, I wasn't struggling too much but I realised that I feel like I didn't give the win in Elden Ring enough time to sink in before embarking on another Miyazaki directed journey. And, given the difficulty of Sekiro combined with my five previous Souls victories ,I feel like this is a good place to leave it. I feel like being a jazz guitarist is a better fitting identity for me at this time in my life, and if I return to gaming again one day, I definitely may very well revisit Sekiro.

Edit: I got interested in the Souls games during a low point in my life, when I hadn't been gaming for a while, and playing other games hasn't felt the same, Sekiro is a great game, but after beating the mainline Miyazaki-helmed Souls games I feel like I have turned a corner, and can close that chapter in my life now. I've made some great friends here, and have other hobbies and interests that I like to talk about, so I'll still be posting in General Discussion.

Thanks for reading,

Regards,

Black Swordsman.

Edit II: As I am only two bosses away from the end I may return on a rainy day and finish it off then and give up on gaming for a while after that, or alternatively, as others have implied in the comments below, never return to the worlds of Souls and Miyazaki-directed games again.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN you’re missing out pal, Guardian Ape is one of the great boss fights in all of gaming.

@GirlVersusGame Thank you for the sage words, I completely agree.

demon souls made me so frustrated that i wanted to destroy controller and all. Never again. Final fantasy much more fun, squat challenge is the bomb

@GirlVersusGame Yeah, my experience with Demons Souls put me off souls game for awhile or maybe forever. I have tried both dark souls and Bloodborne and its just frustrating, it feels like the game wants me to play in a certain way, and i just want to have some fun. I dont want to block the sword in some rigid pattern to win, i want to win in some kind surprising fashion. I dont know, maybe i am lost in the online world where strange things can happen. Dont get me wrong, i do appreciate the artistery of the souls games and their dedication to the craft of gaming. The atmosphere of the games is one of a kind.

At the moment iam playing Ghostrunner, which has the one hit, you die and then roll back to the checkpoint rule. Its hard at times, one level had me dying atleast 340 times before i finished it. I dont know if you have ever played it but there is one level where this supercomputer is of the rails and shooting lasers everywhere, its a ***** show of death. You just die if you dont move, after 10 or 15 deaths i was ready to quit but suddenly i had a moment when everything flows and progress came. I still died atleast 200 times but i conquered that level in the end. Maybe i am lacking this moment in Souls. I havent given up Souls yet.

I think the last game i gave up after frustration was the last X-com game. I absolutely love the game but there was this level where alot of high level aliens came together and absolutely erased my team completely. At that moment, after starting over a couple of times, after reloading several times, changing difficulty, i just couldnt handle starting over again. Sometimes games are just too unforgiving. Thinking about it now, i am tempted to start over again.

I am not gonna break my controller, its way to expensive in these Trump Times

Cracking on with Hogwarts.
I must say that I’m quite enjoying it, yes there is an element of the Ubi formula with all the collectibles but the world and characters are interesting.
I have just acquired a broom so the wizardy world is my oyster.

@graymamba @GirlVersusGame I had another go this morning, despite yesterday's melodrama. And I think I have realised that these games, even Sekiro, are like 90% strategy. I feel like I know what works for his first phase now and am getting much better at putting it into practice. I got him down to his second phase the first time I tried it today, and left it there after practicing a bit at the second phase ,learning the timings etc. and I definitely feel a lot better and a lot less frustrated now, less of a banging your head against a wall kind of feeling. So I think breaks, patience and learning is the key to these Miyazaki masterpieces.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Never give up, never surrender - Commander Peter Quincy Taggart

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN @graymamba

@GirlVersusGame
Glad you are enjoying it especially as some people seemed to have dropped off it quite quickly, it does seem a little bit of a Marmite game.
Yes I remember that “you have a couple of moonstone” quest, I didn’t have 500 but i was pushing three figures.
I do enjoy the various Merlin and Ancient Magic puzzles although some of the Hogwarts castle puzzles are a bit out there and basically amount to try various spells until you find what works with which statues.
I too will probably go for the platinum as I do like my platinums, one tip though is to have a list written down of the enemies types hit by ancient magic (killing is not necessary). There are 34 but there is no way of knowing which you have done. The trophy is called Finishing Touches.