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

After buying Grid Legends and adding it to my backlog, I decided to use the rest of my month of EA Play playing through Grid (2019). It's not as good as Grid Legends, so I find it fitting to play it through EA Play instead of buying it. It's still a great racing game overall and I'm enjoying it a lot.

I've been enjoying my time with the Grid series this past week so much that it's become my second favourite racing series after Forza. It's such a good racing series! I'm shocked that not more people talk about it. There's always talk about Forza and Gran Turismo, but Grid is also a solid racing experience. It's so much fun exploring different series and I can't wait to try out Dirt, Project Cars, Burnout and also play more Need for Speed games.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS5) - Just did the thing where you beat the "final boss" but it's not the final boss (looks like I have one more regular level & then the true final boss left to go), which for various reasons I was expecting. It definitely seems a bit more challenging overall compared to your average platformer, but the fact that it's not quite as tight to play as Mario or Astro Bot might play a part. It definitely has some memorable levels though.

Samurai Maiden (Steam) - A surprisingly pretty competent action game (sometimes you can't tell with these ecchi games), so far I think a 6 or 7 would be a fair assessment. So far I've completed the first 8 story missions and a few of the "bubble pocket" side missions (which are pretty much required for upgrade purposes). I wouldn't call it a straight up warriors clone though, and would say it mixes elements of Ninja Gaiden/Bayonetta type games, yes a bit of Warriors, and I'll guess & even say a bit of Souls (though this is just a guess as I haven't played any of those).

I finally got around to sorting out my James Bond shelf (almost two years behind schedule, but hey) and it put me in the right frame of mind to replay From Russia With Love (PS2).

Separate from my general ambivalence towards Connery's Bond, it's nowhere near as good as I remember it being. It might boast the prettiest explosions to ever grace the PS2 but the framerate is wildly unstable, and the camera feels sluggish and uncooperative. The jetpack is great fun, but the driving is a disaster. Shooting a grenade off of an enemy's belt is cool, but stealth isn't, because the A.I. scripting seems wonky and unpredictable. For every good thing about it, there's a bad balance.

Awesome soundtrack, though. It's not long, so I'll see it through 'til the end.

I’m finally playing Metal Gear Solid 2. It’s the one MGS game that I never finished.

I’m playing the HD remake by BluePoint on the Vita. It’s early hours, but my qualms with the game so far have to do with the Vita controls. The hybrid of top down viewpoint with FPS mixed in is a little off-putting to my current gaming muscle memory. Still, I’m enjoying the Kojima marriage of quirky and philosophical.

@Th3solution That game is a subversive bloody masterpiece. Enjoy!

@Th3solution MGS2 is bonkers and the story if kind of baffling but I think is possibly even more relevant today. Loads of stuff which is really important in the whole MGS timeline too.

It’s probably the MGS game I played the most as I got every single dog tag in the game. Some of the boss fights on extreme difficulty were just insane!

Even though I'm a huge fan of Metal Gear Solid 4, with it possibly being my favorite game of all time, I've never played any of the Metal Gear or Metal Gear Solid games previously. I should get the HD Collection and remedy that at some point given how good 2 and 3 are supposed to be.

At the very least, 4 would be my favorite experience of all time given that it was my first real cinematic gaming experience of that level, especially with it having an hour and a half long ending.

MGS2 is a subversive po-mo masterpiece, and its themes become more eerily relevant the further out we get from its initial release.

Never could get into MGS3 as much as the first two, unfortunately. I really missed the enemy vision cones on the radar.

@KilloWertz Whereas MGS4 is literally the only major game in the series that I haven't played at all. Almost every other notable PS3 exclusive released on something else eventually. But not that!

@Ralizah @KilloWertz Yeah, MGS4 is quite divisive. My memory of it is fond. It garnered a lot of 10/10 reviews, and then later there was a backlash against it because of the excessively long cutscenes, and now the pendulum has swung back after MGS5 whereby I hear more people praise and appreciate 4 and dump on 5.

I’m actually surprised how many cutscenes there are in MGS2, for a PS2 game. I’m
still only around the 3 or 4 hour mark, but I’m enjoying it, even with the semi-frustrating controls and older gen graphics.
But I think this game in the series shows more than any other that Kojima, for all his quirks and self-indulgence, has some creative and visionary talents. I’m not sure where MGS 2 will land in my rankings, but so far, so good. @Thrillho @LN78

@Ralizah You could have just bought a PS3 and then the problem would have been solved.

Sony kept a vise lock grip on that game, and I get it given how big it was. I got my PS3 probably slightly passed the halfway point of that generation, and it was one of (if not) the first game I played on it. That and some other of the exclusives completely changed the type of gamer I still am today (no more online gaming).

@Th3solution Like I've already said, MGS4 may be my favorite game of all time, at least partially because of what I said above about that being the first of several games to completely change the type of gamer I was. I beat it shortly before they finally implemented trophies, so I wouldn't mind going back to it someday. That was one reason why I wanted to and eventually bought another PS3 earlier this year.

I'm actually the opposite where I liked 4 a lot more than 5. If I had more time to game and it wasn't such a long game, I would love to go back to 5 and see if my opinion changed. Given how much I loved 4, it would be nice to give 5 a chance at redemption, but I'm not sure there will ever be a real opportunity.

I hope you continue to enjoy MGS2. Maybe someday I'll get the HD Collection for PS3 and actually play through the old Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid games. It's another thing that's more of a thing that would be nice to do, but time may never make it so. We'll see.

@Th3solution MGS2 was massively divisive for the fanbase when it first came out, for reasons which will become obvious as you play further into it. As usual, hardcore fans were closed-minded about the way the game subverted expectations come from the original. Over time, though, people became fonder of it, and it's widely considered one of the best games in the series now.

@KilloWertz I would have bought a PS3 if the price hadn't been so ridiculous early in the gen when I decided on which console I wanted. I don't regret my choice to go with the 360, though. Multiplats ran much better, and, for most of the gen, it had a better selection of exclusives overall.

It's just a shame the game was never re-released. One of the few major Playstation 3 games to still be trapped on that particular console.

@KilloWertz I played MGS4 prior to trophies and then went back to replay for trophies after they were added. I wouldn’t mind a third playthrough, but like you say — the time may never present itself.

It might be recency bias, but MGS5 is my favorite of the series, closely followed by MGS3. MGS1 is such an old game that it’s hard to judge, but for it’s time it’s simply amazing. The Psycho-Mantis boss fight by itself it reason enough for it to be included in the best PS games conversation.

@Ralizah I’m excited to see how the story unfolds and I’m already at one of the controversial parts after the Tanker section ends. Over the years I’ve had that surprise spoiled, as it’s almost impossible not to have. But I’m sure there’s plenty more twists and turns, if I know Kojima.

Konami is just inexplicable in its complete neglect for its valuable IP. Castlevania notwithstanding, something should be done with the older Metal Gear Solid games. At least a remastered HD package of 1-4 onto PS4, should have been done a long time ago. It’s criminal that the PS4, the second best selling console in history, only has MGS5 and Metal Gear Survive available on it.

@Ralizah That's fair I suppose about the price, and I also really enjoyed my 360 up until I bought a PS3. There were a lot of great experiences on there with games like Oblivion, Bioshock, and the Gears of War portion of the series that was on there.

Yeah, Konami loves to sit on their IPs even though they would make plenty of money off of remakes or remasters of some of their huge classics. At least Square Enix sold off several of their IPs earlier in the year so somebody else could utilize them.

@Th3solution I think I remember you saying that before as it's not the first time several of us have discussed Metal Gear Solid.

Off topic, but I also just finished The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Overall I really enjoyed the season. I definitely didn't see the double twist that happened in the season finale. I didn't expect Sauron to be either of the characters, let alone one of them being a brother who is actually good.

@KilloWertz Glad you liked Rings of Power. I just wish we were getting season 2 sooner. That’s what I get for watching a show as it’s released.

And yeah, I think the ranking of MGS games is an oft traveled path around here, but up until now I’ve not been able to truly include MGS2 in my repertoire. I’ll drop more detailed impressions when I complete it.

@Th3solution It will only be mildly better for me since it's not likely coming out until sometime in 2024. I get it in a way since it's such a large production even though it's only 8 episodes. As long as they don't release it almost at the same time as House of the Dragon again, I'll watch it as it airs this time around.

I can't rank them really at all other than obviously saying I like 4 more can 5. The unfortunate price of not being the gamer back then that I am today. I definitely would have played them all if they had released now.

@Th3solution @KilloWertz Konami has actually been way better these last few years after a decade or more of pure, unfettered, almost malicious levels of incompetence, MGS V aside.

Multiple really good re-releases of older Castlevania games.

They're remastering and re-releasing the first two Suikoden games.

Silent Hill... look, I'm still VERY wary of Bloober Hill 2, but it at least looks like they're trying to do justice to the original work, and Silent Hill f looks like it might be an interesting, more culturally Japanese take on the mythology of the franchise. I'd have preferred they tracked down the original Team Silent members for a new game, but it seems like these games should at least be decent experiences in their own right.

Is this as good as Konami in their golden age? Absolutely not. But they're also not just endlessly squatting on a gold mine of classic IPs and doing nothing with them other than releasing themed pachinko machines.

@Ralizah Yeah, you’re actually right - they seem to be waking up from their hibernation a little bit and I hear the retro anniversary collections are well done for Castlevania and TMNT. The Castlevania anime was also a big hit. eFootball is apparently getting better and like you say the Silent Hill revival has finally arrived. It does make me wonder if MGS will resurrect also. They really fell flat on their face with MG Survive.

@Th3solution I completely forgot about the Ninja Turtles collection, but you're right, that was another high-quality offering.

I do somewhat wonder if their resistance to re-releasing guaranteed best-sellers like the older MGS games is down to continued bad blood between them and Kojima. Wouldn't surprise me if some level of personal pettiness is at work. Corpos are just as human as we are, after all. And remember, this is the same company that went out of its way to memory hole PT by completely removing access to it on PSN for everyone.

I really should replay MGS2 now that people mention it. I’d find it hard to choose between that and the first MGS for my favourite in the series.

@Th3solution It’s funny you say the older gen graphics because at the time the game was incredible from that point of view.

The opening sequence as Snake jumped onto the tanker was incredible at the time and then so much of that opening section was also unlike anything before with that battle with Olga where you can shoot the lights out etc feeling proper next gen at the time.