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

Played some of that Total War game that’s free. I do not understand Total War. I’m OK at the battle part mostly but I’m not very good at managing armies, the enemies seem to build up vast armies and grind my progress to a halt. Plus the AI’s really annoying, they pester you every turn for resources or something else inconsequential and it’s a pain. The setting’s great though and there’s loads of charm. Paris looks like Orlando Bloom which is a nice nod to Troy, that ill-fated movie.

@RogerRoger Yep, so good I’m playing it twice 😎

@nessisonett I've never been that great at the strategic management in Total War games either. The games are more fun for me when I turn the difficulty down to easy, make a massive army, then destroy all who dares oppose me.

@crimsontadpoles I love how the narration paints my guy as practically a god among men and then I get crushed by some wee warlord that captures Mycenae, thus essentially winning the Trojan War.

So I started playing Next Stop Nowhere yesterday. It's the new game from Night School Studios, the developers behind Oxenfree and Afterparty. To my surprise and disappointment, I only happened to come across it by accident since no one seemed to be talking about it. Very confusing since I feel like their games have been quite well received, until I realised the culprit. The game is exclusively on Apple Arcade. I am lucky enough to have a sister with an iPad who was kind enough to lend it to me for the purposes of playing this game whenever she's not using it, but if not for that, I would not have been able to play it. It's a bit strange since most Apple Arcade games seem to have Windows releases as well, or at least have them scheduled, while I couldn't find any information about this coming to Windows at any point in the near or late future. Seems like they've cut off a very large percentage of their fanbase and/or possible customers with this choice, and it's a shame that the game will probably remain in relative obscurity because of this. Hope the buckets of money Apple must've given them were worth the sacrifice!

Anyway, I've only played about the first hour or so, but it's been an enjoyable ride. It's a bit strange playing on an iPad, considering I'm not used to mobile gaming in the slightest, but luckily with the control scheme of their games it's not that hard to adjust to it. There are these flying obstacle scenes which are a bit annoying with the touching and swiping, but nothing I couldn't manage to do within two tries. So far the story is fairly simplistic, but as with all of their games so far, it's starting out slow only to ramp up at a later point I'm sure. The basic premise is that you're a space courier who comes across a bounty hunter whose son is missing and wanted, and as your typical nice guy video game protagonist you offer to help her find her son before the bad guys can get to him. I can't really comment on the quality of the larger storyline since the first hour is very much introductory, but it's been well set up so far and I like the characters we've gotten to meet. Solid, funny writing with some great voice acting are present as expected. I did experience three crashes in the first hour I've played, which isn't great, but it wouldn't be a newly released Night School Studio game without a plethora of bugs. Luckily the game autosaves all the time, so it's only a minor inconvenience. Nothing gamebreaking so far. I'm excited to see where they'll go with the storyline, and I'll probably put in my next hour later tonight.

@Tjuz This is on my play list and I'm hoping to review it for another outlet.

Apple Arcade is an absolutely fantastic service (there is of course a But coming). At £4.99 per month I have played a bunch of games that I have loved - NeoCab, Mutazione, What the Golf, Little Orpheus, Over the Alps, Necrobarista, Assemble with Care, Sayonara Wild Hearts. I have Beyond A Steel Sky to play as well. The games are well curated, not extra costs and normally well maintained by the Devs and I'd honestly have paid £10-15 for some of these titles alone.

The issue is that you need to have a fairly recent Apple device and ideally, that device needs to be something that is comfortable to game with. I am lucky in that I had an iPad, iPhone (an 11 from work because I could not afford it without it) and we have an Apple TV in the house that I got as my Chrimbo pressie from my wife. These can all use a PS4 controller natively now so I can easily play with controller which I just need for anything that requires movement. So I'm all set and the service is well worth it - before Covid I used to travel a lot for work so taking the iPad or my DS4 with a phone holder was a cool way to game on the go. However, if you don't have the hardware, it is really hard to recommend the service since it is waaaay too expensive to buy just to game (unless, like me you use the iPad as a parenting subsitute).

Luckily a lot of these games are timed exlcusives I think or do release on other platforms. I know that Sayonara Wild Hearts is cross platform, and several others are planning to roll out to other platforms later.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is class. Top soundtrack, too.

Giving some old SNES games a go on the switch to curb my final fantasy playtime on it. It's basically my portable Final Fantasy console now with 7, 8, 9, 10 and 15 on it.

@RogerRoger I'd say it's definitely worth a look for 5 dollars in a sale one day, assuming it comes to PS4 one day. It's very noticeably lower budget, and nothing about it screams must-play really. Certainly an option if it's cheap and you're into the genre, however! It's not bad in any way.

@Rudy_Manchego Ah, that's cool you review games for a different outlet! I've seen you talk about playing games such as Mutazione before and I've always been like... does this dude have the exact same gaming taste as I do? Haha. I haven't played that one myself yet but it's installed and ready for a spin some time! Little Orpheus is also definitely an Apple exclusive I'd like to check out.

Unfortunately, I'm now about two hours in and I've run into a gamebreaking bug. The crashes I mentioned earlier consistently happened with each loading screen to a new area, but this latest loading screen has got me crashing without fail. I can't imagine this is happening to everyone so I'm sure my iPad is part of the problem, but it's a shame since it's keeping me from progressing no matter what. Just as something really interesting was happening story-wise too! I tried to alert the developers about it and hopefully there will be an update soon that means I'll be able to continue, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If I can't continue during the trial I probably won't play it until it ever comes to consoles or PC, if ever. Hopefully you don't experience same crash, Rudy!

@Tjuz Thanks - I'm just starting to get into it, I tend to do podcasts and stuff but just enjoying getting back into writing.

Mutazion is a wonderfully chill game - just a lovely story telling game with great characters. Very little gameplay apart from some fun mini game style things but it works really well on mobile as something you can pick up and play. Great soundtrack too.

One thing I have noticed with Apple Arcade is for launch games to release with bugs. Little Orpheus had a few though none game breaking. I wonder if there is deadline pressure or if it is just having to support so many different devices - bearing in mind it has to work on phones, Mac OS and Apple TV OS. That said as well, I played After Party at launch on XB1 and it was very very buggy and is the same studio. Dunno!

Been playing through every Picross game that's available on the now discontinued DS. I really enjoy these games which I only really became aware of because of the DS. I'm thinking of getting a Switch Lite as a replacement for my handheld gaming. The only thing that puts me off is the price of the games.

I’ve been playing Morrowind again, always heard talk of it having ‘better gameplay’ and I can understand why some would say that having not played the game in 20 years. I like the setting, the graphics have that Half Life/ Deus Ex boxy charm and the music’s good if repetitive. The problem is that it’s insanely inaccessible. Look, I love a good RPG with heaps of stats and stuff but a game pre-widespread Internet shouldn’t require the very helpful £20 Prima Games guide in order to grasp basic concepts. It just dumps you in with a dodgy journal, a strange levelling system and enemies that absolutely slaughter you. I’ll probably get used to it but there are so many strange outdated mechanics that it’ll take a while.

@nessisonett Nostalgia tends to put a rosy glow on things we loved when we were younger. You young whippersnappers will understand one day.

But seriously, I kinda want to play Daggerfall someday. Still blows my mind that one of the biggest open world games ever made came out in the mid 90s.

@Ralizah Yeah, I’ve played Morrowind a bit over the years but always bounced right off it. Part of me likes some of the deep stuff that was later removed in Oblivion and Skyrim like the phrase based dialogue similar to FF II. I spent a whole day preparing to kill 2 rats and still died about 5 times. It’s brutal.

Actually got Sunset Overdrive out again after a discussion on here. It's not too bad actually. I think from looking at it the game could've done with another 12 months development.

@SirAngry Like 90% of games these days. Hopefully it gets remastered on PS5 and then maybe a sequel.

@JohnnyShoulder ain't that the truth. Now if you can just tell that to the two companies I'm currently doing freelance work for I'd be really grateful. All joking aside, Sunset Overdrive feels like a nearly great game. Just needed a little more gestation to sort out the mission structure and a few generic elements that were bland and Insomniac could've had a classic on their hands. The movement and traversal were both brilliant, the controls were tight, the shooting was fun and satisfying and the set pieces and tone were unique and gratifying. Just wasn't polished enough. I'd happily take another more polished Sunset Overdrive.

So after 5 hours of gameplay in Morrowind, I am now level 2. This game is bizarre but the more shortcuts and idiosyncrasies I find, the more I’m enjoying it.

@Kidfried Not sure if you played it but the DLC for Oblivion, Shivering Isles was pretty darn weird!

Playing the Ys I + II collection on PC.

I think I expected the first game to feel more archaic than it does, so this is either a really good remake, or Ys I is wildly ahead of its time. I'd still prefer an actual combat system, but bump combat isn't nearly as annoying as I thought it'd be.

@Ralizah Yeah, I played them last year and they felt more like an RPG Maker game from the early 00s than one of the grandaddies of RPGs. Really did enjoy them although one tip I’d give is that levelling is ludicrously important. Just one level can completely change how you approach certain enemies or make you do more than 0 damage. Also save every 5 seconds.

@nessisonett I'm going out of my way to overlevel, given how much less control I have over the flow of combat.

I'm playing on the 2001 graphical setting and really like the older style of character design present in the character portraits.