Topic: Your Latest PlayStation 5 Purchase

My copy of Death Stranding 2 just turned up 😁… now I have to actually find time to play it 😖

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2

Never played any Warhammer game, and this looks similar to Gears Of War. This game received great reception, and as is on sale where I live, I grabbed a copy.

Kingdom Come 2 - god knows when I’ll play it (I still haven’t played the first one!) but it was a decent offer so…

@graymamba
Nice, you’ll have to pencil KCD1 in soon as you want a decent gap between 1 and 2 otherwise Henry is gonna end up feeling a bit worse for wear.

@CaptD well… I’m scheduled up to Jan 1st 2033 and KCD1 doesn’t figure anywhere in all that if I’m honest 😅. Now that you mention it, I think I might have to rectify that 🤔

@graymamba Sounds familiar, brother. Of the sprawling open 100+ hour RPG genre I feel like if I can fit in 2 per year then that’s quite an accomplishment. So I’ve got Baldur’s Gate 3 well underway (50-ish hours into it and not even through Act 1 of 3 yet). But I have KCD 1 (yet to buy 2 but it’s a matter of time), DA: Veilguard, Dragons Dogma 2, Divinity Original Sin 2, Witcher 3 all in the backlog in the ‘Epic Medieval Fantasy’ genre. Although, it’s hard to categorize KCD, as it’s maybe closer to a historical RPG. I think it lacks the essential element of dragons which are a fantasy game staple. And magic… I don’t think there’s magic.

Regardless, I feel like I have to space KCD out from these other ‘sword and shield’ based Western RPGs.

@Th3solution You could also include Elden Ring + DLC in that list. Or do you compartmentalise that into a different section in your mind space?

@JohnnyShoulder Lol, I actually thought about that. It definitely fits into the large epic fantasy (dark fantasy specifically) rpg genre too, although also is the Souls genre which is kind of a separate thing in my head. Theres definitely overlap with many of these games. 😅

The litmus test is whether I think it would feel too redundant or too samey to play the game back-to-back with another in its family. In my mind there’s enough difference between ER and BG3 that I would probably feel ok to go straight from one to the other, despite a lot of shared themes (dragons, magic, open world, equipment and weapon swapping, etc.). But would totally avoid going straight from BG3 to KCD or W3. I think the narrative structure has a lot to do with that. In the subconscious Venn diagram modeling in my head, there’s just too much overlap thematically and formalistically.

So a logical question might be, would I play back-to-back another branching narrative epic that wasn’t medieval fantasy themed. So would I follow BG3 with Mass Effect or Fallout 4 or RDR2…. Yes, I think I would.
Or would I be okay with following BG3 with another epic rpg like FF Rebirth, and again - yes, since it’s jrpg themes and style is different enough.
I’ve considered rolling straight to Expedition 33 and that’s a tough one. Trying to determine where the heaviest overlap of the Venn circles is hard to say. I think I’d probably not feel bored of playing it in close sequence to BG3 (although I probably won’t) because even though it shares a fantasy setting, rpg roots, western art aesthetic, and turn based gameplay, I think it feels different enough and also not quite as sprawling and huge as a BG3 or W3. I don’t know. Some games defy classification. I reckon I’ll play it safe and follow BG3 with something like Uncharted 2 or Mafia.

These are the mental gymnastics that my brain does in my idle time. 😂

@graymamba
@Th3solution
There is magic in KCD1, the magic to make Henry hungry five minutes after eating a large meal.
My problem with kcd1 and the reason I put it off for quite a while is that the platinum (and more so the 100%j seemed quite daunting. There seemed a good amount of planning and remembering what you can and can’t do until particular points in the game.
However when I eventually started it everything went quite smoothly and the massive information dumps out there weren’t really needed at all, just a few dos and don’ts.

The 100% is quite fun and quite easy relative to how scary the trophies may seem. I’d actually recommend going the extra mile and getting the 100% over the plat due to the “no kills” trophy which if planned correctly will get you the hardest dlc trophies.

@CaptD That’s good to know. I don’t think that I’ll approach it with a completionist mindset (although I’m certain colonel mamba will) but I’m glad to hear that the intimidation factor for the game might be overblown. For me it’s the combat which is notoriously finicky that scares me. But I had no idea there was a ‘no kills’ route and perhaps I can play it as a complete passivist and avoid the combat entirely? Also, what are your thoughts on skipping the first game and jumping to KCD2? I don’t think I want to do that since I play these games mostly for the story, but I hear KCD2 is a massive upgrade in gameplay over the first. I already bought the KCD1, but I think I only paid like $5 for it so it wouldn’t be too much of a waste if I chose to ignore it.

@Th3solution KCD1, to me, is better (despite learning curve and bugs) but KCD2 is pretty close to being as good but also it is upgraded in every aspect of gameplay and graphics and it is easier. I can imagine everyone who likes KCD1 will at least like KCD2, but not everyone that likes KCD2 will like KCD1. If that helps with a decision 😛

I feel like I had to use my brain more in KCD quests, but to KCD2's credit it just popped me in a new area let me do whatever the hell I wanted in a slightly more narrative friendly RP way, as in there was no rush to go and do the main quest, there was this loose objective always there, but you could decide how long felt right for that event to take place. It was basically "here you are in this new county, you will have to earn money to survive and become a part of the community before attending an event" and that meant you could either power through following a guide like a madman, or just walking everywhere, planning journeys based on if it made sense to trek to a new location at that moment or not, getting work where you can, helping people out to gain favour, earn a reputation, and slowly get ready for the event that could feasibly be in 2 weeks time or 3 months time as it has no set date. And that's just part of part 1 of KCD2 before you lurched into something else and end up flying by the seat of your braies 😁

The logical thing to do is to play KCD ASAP so you can then play KCD2 ASAP 😛 considering it is a series based on a continuous story that directly picks up from the end of one into the other it makes sense to start with the first.

@Ravix Ok, that was my plan (starting with KCD1) but a few things I heard on podcasts were encouraging people to skip it and go straight to 2. At this point there’s no FOMO from launch so I can just take the games in order to keep the narrative as cohesive as possible.

Buy first, BG3. 😅 I forgot to drop my detailed thoughts so far… I’ll definitely get to that. 😁

@Th3solution
I’ve yet to buy Kcd2, I’m waiting to see if they do a complete edition although I’m probably thinking not due to size etc... but we will see.
Anyway I would play kcd1 first, you need to follow Henry’s path from a likeable rogue (not that type) to a lean mean killing machine (as long as it is one on one otherwise it is possible death).
The no killing trophy, required for the plat, is totally against what the game is all about but whatever. I did a normal playthru and then a no kills, hardcore speedrun (Henry was a lean mean running machine).

@Th3solution I get you mate, while KCD is definitely more historical than mythic fantasy, I definitely group it in with those… just due to the knights in armour/sword & boardiness of it all… that and the time investment to, as you referred to.

I’ll de fight to it eventually… it’s just finding that right time in the diary. They all feel like games where full-immersion (ie time off work) is required if you know what I mean.

Tony Hawk came a day early! This is the first game I’ve gotten on release outside of a FIFA since Elden Ring.

Just picked up Akimbot for around £8 in the recent sale. Meant to be a decent Ratchet and Clank knock-off considering the AA budget.

In keeping with my approach of buying games from my watchlist when they go on sale for $10 or under, I picked up Nobody Wants to Die to add to the backlog. I also don’t feel too guilty because I’m always looking to keep a stockpile of these short narrative driven games which are great palate cleansers.

The sale has a few others that are on my list that I’m curious about but I don’t foresee getting to for a while so I’ll hold off (namely Octopath Traveler II, Unknown 9 and that Indiana Jones game)

@Th3solution Let me know about Nobody Wants To Die. That game is on my radar!

@Th3solution I'm pretty sure that was on PS Plus, as that would be how I would have played it. It most likely dropped off the service.

I enjoyed it and was a fun experience. There were a couple of difficulty spikes, but they were soon over come by levelling up your characters and their abilities. Speaking of which, some were a bit bonkers, and felt quite unique to play as. Horse FTW.

@JohnnyShoulder
Are you getting confused with Nobody saves the world?
And yes horse ftw

@Th3solution
Just looked at that and it looks very good, nice saving as well so I will probably buy it as well. Sale ends today if anyone else is interested. 60% off for ps plus peeps.