Topic: What (Non-PS4) game are you playing??

I ended up dropping The Thaumaturge for now, and focusing fully on the Banishers. I am now over the 25 hour mark with that game and have to admit, I am struggling a bit. Around hour 15, I was in love, around hour 20 some tedium was creeping in, at hour 25 I've kinda had my fill and my understanding is the game is around 40ish hours long in total.

Like I get it, the land is cursed, but literally everyone you meet being haunted and every haunting story following the exact same structure, with the exact same selection of twists layered in in exactly the same places has gotten really old. As has facing like the three enemy types in this game and their two or three variants (which all endlessly respawn if you fast travel). Navigating the open world is also absolutely horrible and is actively putting me off pushing out and doing map objectives, which are usually my jam.

Steamworld Dig 2 on my Steam Deck. I'm in the latter half of the game well. It expands pretty nicely on the presentation and concepts from the original.

Got through more than half of Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (via the Re-Boot Camp collection) in about two days. Was just cruising along. Then I hit Mission 24, and I've been stuck on that one for more than two days now. And it's not for lack of trying.

Never felt so tempted to throw my Switch at the wall, UGH.

Started playing Life is Strange: Before the Storm on Series X. After wrapping up The Last of Us Part II today, I'm now in the mood for more story-driven games and so I figured this would be a fitting game to play. I can't remember when I played the first Life is Strange, it must've been like 8 years or so ago. I don't remember a thing about the first game's story, so I'm sure this is going to go well lol.

But I'm enjoying it so far. It's nice to play a simple and relaxing game every now and then.

@LtSarge I played the spin-off as well never having actually finished the original game and remember having a good time with it, so I'm sure you won't go wrong with that if you're into the general vibe of it. I do think it's overall one of the more forgettable games within that specific genre that I've played, but it's completely inoffensive. Like you said, a nice and simple game to just pick up and play a bit off until you get to the end (which if I remember correctly... doesn't take that long here). I definitely recommend picking up Life Is Strange 2 afterwards if you haven't played it already, because I think it's by far the strongest of that series and personally one of my favourites of the whole genre.

@Tjuz I'm definitely liking the characters so far, so that's good. The "challenge conversation" mechanic is also really cool as it adds more tension to your choices.

That's a lot of praise for Life is Strange 2 as I've heard that people don't like it as much as the first game. I'll definitely check it out eventually, if it's anything like the previous games then I'll enjoy it as well.

With the show being out I thought I would finally try Fallout 76 - the only Fallout game (even including the old original PC ones) I haven't played except Shelter. I am playing solo and... first impressions are... okay. I guess. I think the game looks nicer in person than how it shows up on a lot of video content. But I dunno, so far... it just feels like a Fallout game only with a minimal amount of narrative dressing. Like I've done a lot of walking through mostly empty space, and a lot of shooting random enemies and that is kinda it so far? I only have some vague narrative push to find the Overseer or whatever, and I get that is how all Fallout games start, but usually you wander straight from the vault into a place with NPCs and start picking up quests, this world is mostly empty so far except for enemies and even those seem to come in clumps and are far spread.

Started up Trails from Zero on Switch yesterday. I haven't used my Switch in a long time and it's been a while since I played a JRPG so I felt now would be a good time to start up a new one.

I've played it for about an hour but it's worth mentioning that I also played it for a bit back when it came out on Switch. Back then I played it on Normal and didn't like how regular battles dragged on or were too challenging when I'm still in the beginning of the game. You also can't change the difficulty during a playthrough. So I decided to start a new game on Easy and just enjoy the story. Not to mention that I don't need to worry for any potential difficulty spikes later on. It would suck if I was 40 hours into the game and couldn't progress because of a boss fight á la Final Fantasy.

But yeah, I'm liking the game so far. It's been a long time since I played an entry from this series so I'm looking forward to delving into it.

Just started up Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on Series X. I've had it on my watchlist since it came out and when I read that it's been added to EA Play, I just had to play it now. Still crazy to me that I can play a game like this for only €6. One month should be enough to finish it. I also decided to play it on Xbox just in case I decide to play the Rising Tide DLC for Final Fantasy XVI now on PS5 so that I won't have to switch between two games on the same system. I also played the first game on Xbox, so I figured why not play this one there as well.

Anyway, the game is really fun so far and it feels like more of the same from the first title, which is a positive thing. I loved the gameplay in the first game and it's been a long time since I played it, so it feels refreshing to play the sequel now. I'm also glad that I waited to play it because I heard that it didn't run well at launch. Fortunately, performance mode with its 60 FPS feels incredible and I haven't run into any issues thus far.

On a side note, I've been really spoiled by games lately as so many offer 60 FPS, such as The Last of Us Part II and Control. I grew up with 30 FPS and it feels so weird to experience games like that now. I can't believe I was used to that before, the difference between 30 and 60 FPS is huge. I find that one of the major advantages with current-gen consoles is the fact that 60 FPS has become more common in games than in previous generations. And I love that!

For me I’ve been recently playing the RE4 remake. Right after I beat metal gear solid 3. After this, probably a replay of devil may cry 4. I’m playing multiple short games in a “non committal” way because earlier this year I begun playing a bunch of Pokémon and could not put the games down for several months. Made it really hard to work through my backlog and finish a variety of games. Not anymore though.

@LtSarge I’ll be interested to hear how you get along with Jedi Survivor. I really enjoyed it. It’s quite a bit bigger than Fallen Order and when you get to the first big open area you’ll see what I mean. It’s quite huge with a lot of little secret areas and places you’ll have to continually return to access. I think I spent close to 80 hrs on it, but it was well worth it and I enjoyed it more than the first game in many ways. I do think the storyline is a little weaker, or at least less novel than the first.

How are you finding the performance on Series X? One of the biggest criticisms for the game on PS5 was the unstable frame rate, which has been patched a couple times. I ended up playing the whole game in fidelity mode at 30 fps, and I really felt like the outcry about the performance was overblown.

@Th3solution I think I've spent over five hours with the game now and it's been a blast. At first it felt a bit overwhelming with the open world but then I realised that it wasn't that huge. It's actually quite fun to explore and the open world makes sense for this type of game, i.e. you return to the area when you've acquired new powers in order to open up new paths. The game has definitely clicked with me now.

The frame rate is great on Series X. The only issues I've encountered are some bugs, like BD-1 being stuck under the ground or Cal clipping through the ground. If this is how the game is like one year later, then I'm glad that I didn't play it at launch.

I've been currently playing these 2 games. After I platinum R&C3, I plan to replay R&C: Deadlocked.

Phineas & Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension (PS3, playing on my PS5 thru PS+ Premium)
Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal HD (PS3, replaying on my PS5 thru PS+ Premium)

Finally decided to check out the big Classic Patch mod for FIFA 14 on PC. Really fun so far, played the 1880s patch and it’s remarkable the amount of effort put in. I played the 1888 season as Blackburn and finished in 5th cause Preston North End are far too good but it was a fun time, the old rules such as the goalkeeper having a weird bum shape to roam in along with a touch line made it strange and also made crosses unbelievably OP even though heading that ball is a one way ticket to dementia. The snazzy facial hair on the guys was cool too, considering their faces were having to be based on newspaper drawings of the teams as there weren’t exactly 4K photos to work from. The formations were the best part though, you could choose from a few from the era such as the classic 1 1 8 or the pyramid, which is what most of us in the league used. Makes the gameplay bizarre but really cool as it’s historical. You basically just bomb up and down the pitch chasing the ball as your two defenders struggle to make an impact.

They shadow dropped a port of Samurai Warriors 4 and all the DLC on PC.

I've always liked musou games ever since I was a kid, but I've never been like seriously all in, just dabbled on titles over the years - mainly Dynasty Warriors. Initial impressions with SW4 though is this is pretty damn good.

It looks nice for a ten plus year old game, doesn't appear to be quite a full remaster but still looks good for what it is.

Combat is a little more combo focused than I seemed to remember from the old Dynasty Warriors games - but its been a while, so I may have forgotten.

In the campaign you pick two characters, one is controlled by AI when you aren't controlling them, and you'll have objectives to clear within a certain window or you fail, which prompts you to constantly switch from one character to the other depending on where they are relative to the objectives for the most efficient clear. I like this, because it gets you to explore different characters rather than just maining one and you never one who you might end up enjoying. There is a young lady who fights with a parasol for example. Sounded stupid, but then I had to play her for a mission and she is so much fun.

One really cool thing is Conquest mode, I don't remember this in any of the DW games I played before but maybe it was always there and I forgot. Its almost like a procedural RPG. You create a character and then are dropped into a map where different events spawn, you choose what missions to take on and form bonds with various characters etc I dunno the longevity on this mode but dabbling for a couple of hours with it has been fun.

Back to Yakuza Kiwami 2. Pretty nice being able to juggle my playthrough between my rig and Steam Deck. That said, I do think the small hubs of these games tend to make them feel very... samey after awhile. I can't imagine doing most of the side-content in these games. I try to do the substories where possible, but even a lot of those feel sorta tedious.

Game runs well at medium settings at 45fps on my Deck, which is nice.

I think I'm gonna do what substories and other side content that is easy and accessible, but otherwise focus on main story progression. I have a lot of these games to get through, and I feel like most of them involve me flitting around Kamurocho, which is already getting old.

Also playing Unicorn Overlord on Switch, and it also feels kinda tedious. The gameplay is unique, for sure, and the progression is phenomenal, but I don't see this becoming an all-time favorite of mine. There's definitely a lot of strategy in unit builds and whatnot, but it very much lacks the tension and excitement of something like Fire Emblem for me. And the characters are all pretty forgettable so far.

@Ralizah They shake it up over the series, though 0 and 2 are nice with the long amount of time spent in Sotenbori (my fav), each one does spend time other places, but Kamuro is always the hub. But Kamuro changes so it feels the same but different often. I kind of like that about it, it might be samey but it feels like a real place you're really in because you spend so much time there over so many eras that you see it change like a real place. RIP Nakamichi Popo. You were so convenient.

I pretty much binged Kw2 through 6 all in a few months, did all the substories, and of COURSE the hostess clubs since major substory and even ability stuff is locked behind them. Kind of sad how few people do even the substories, to me that's the best part of the game with the best Kiryu rather than the dodgy poorly written main stories where Kiryu's always an idiot. Did you start with 0 or Kw1?

@NEStalgia I'm doing the substories where it makes sense. But I don't have any sort of completionist urge regarding them. And sweet jesus keep me far away from the hostess club stuff!

Generally they're pretty formulaic, I've noticed, and tend to end in the same place: with Kiryu beating up con artists and yakuza.

I actually started with 0 back in 2017, but only played half of it before BotW and Persona 5 consumed my time for months. Got back properly into the series a couple of years ago when I played Kiwami 1 via PS+. I'm hoping to make better progress through the series now, although the repetitive nature of these games might stop me.

It's an okay series, although once you get used to the randomness and weird sexual stuff, it loses a lot of its luster. I'm hoping this becomes more of an action spectacle soon, because Kiwami 2 is VERY slow so far.

The best part of this series so far was the Majima Everywhere thing in Kiwami. His Bugs Bunny-esque disguises and antics really kept that game feeling fresh.

@Ralizah I forget which games show you the substories and which ones require an upgrade/item to show you the substories, but to me, the substories are the reason to play the series. The main quest is usually somewhere between so-so and eyerolling nonsense. The "heart" of the series is the characters and that's all in the substories (please no Majima Construction though.)

LOL I spent MONTHS on the Y0 hostess game. But the thing is you have to do it because A) You need the cash. B) Half the best side sidestories are locked in it, C) Entire movesets are locked behind it. I flipped out when that game came back in Kw2. It's basically dumbed down Cooking Mama, but it's so time consuming. Then for a change of pace I finally played Fist of the North Star and WTF do I get? THE HOSTESS CLUB MINIGAME! FU!

FWIW, I'd rate Y0 as the best main story, and the best side quests in the series, so gauge the rest of the series based on how much you liked Y0. Y0 had a different writer that was much better than the main writer. 1 & 2 also have a different writer than the rest of the series so it can be jarring. Most of the rest is worse. Good, but worse. But also note that 1 and 2, being the oldest, also have the most boring, generic, and least interesting sidestories. Notice they're much less varied and story based than 0's.

OTOH Kw2 is considered one of the MOST "action spectacle" of the series, soooooo....... If you think Kw2 is slow you're in for a rough time with 3 which is, by far, the slowest in the first half. Also please look forward to 5 when Haruka is a playable character and gets and entire chapter....no, she's not caving in thug's heads, she's engaging in dance battles. Karaoke becomes the combat for an entire chapter. Please be excited. Tell me after you're done 5/6 because there's a whole freight train full of "WTF writers?" going on there to talk about

I loved the weirdness of Majima Everywhere, but they also don't know what they want to do with Majima. He's never that crazy again, he gets more serious (or just absent) as the series goes on. But I also HATED playing Majima Everywhere. It's just an increasing progression of identical damage sponge boss battles. It really wasn't fun, even if the theme was fun (the zombie motif was good fun.)

But the side stories definitely get better, closer to Y0 as the series goes on. 1&2 were very bland MMO side story fetch/kill x monster kinds of things.

@NEStalgia God knows how long it'll take me to get to 5/6. I'm toying with the idea of just playing Like A Dragon next. How essential are the references from games 3 - 6 to appreciating it? I'll play em eventually, but I'm a lot more excited to play the modern, turn-based entries.

Oh, I very much can avoid the hostess club in Y0. I don't care how much side-content it gates me out of. I don't boot up my PS4 to play mobile resource-management sims. And why would you need money anyway? I literally buy nothing in these games, because enemies are carrying loads of potions and weapons on them at all times.

Yeah, there's like a fun Batman/Joker dynamic in Kiwami with Majima and Kiryu, but now he's just sort of awkwardly hanging around in the background of the story like some ex-boyfriend you never fully moved on from.