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

Heading into the final dungeon of Trails in the Sky the 3rd. I think I’m going to have to write a full review on this trilogy, there’s just so much to say. The final dungeon involves creating 4 parties of 4 people, a bit like Northern Crater and Kefka’s Tower. The whole game’s been kinda weird but I’ve really enjoyed it, the dungeon crawler nature actually suits the battle system a lot. Chapter 6 for example took me about 7 or 8 hours, you essentially replay some dungeons from the first two games in the series but with loads of boss fights against fan favourite characters. The series excels through world building and this game definitely delivers, with about 20 mini stories that expand on the previous two games and set up the Crossbell duology and even Cold Steel. One of the stories in particular is one of the darkest moments in any game I’ve played but a brilliant bit of writing. I’ll probably finish the game in a couple of days and I’ll need to put my thoughts into a coherent structure!

@KratosMD If you dislike Jak II that much, then there are alternatives to completing the game. Perhaps it could be worth reading a summary of the plot instead, or watching a video of the ending part of the game on youtube or something.

And that boardwalk mission, I can still vividly remember struggling with that back in the PS2 days. That mission, along with the one where you need to defeat the 3 enemy robots before they reach the rebel base, both took me a lot of attempts. For the boardwalk one, the approach that was best for me was taking things slowly, and clearing the enemies in front before advancing. Cheesing it with the hoverboard could work, but I'd always die quick when attempting that.

@KratosMD and having just read your reply to LN78, I get that stubborn gamer feeling. I can be guilty of that too at times. There's been times where I've persisted through something at all costs. Thinking back on it, perhaps some instances were a waste of time for me, I dunno.

All I can say is that if you're truly determined to see it through to the end, then best of luck.

@KratosMD You can't really expect to finish every game you start, that is just being unrealistic and not fun at all. You will being doing yourself more harm than good eventually. Did you not say recently you would not be doing this as much, mainly because you see it as a waste of time?

@KratosMD Blimey. I loved Jak and Daxter back in the day and very nearly bought the sequel. Sounds like I had a lucky escape!

I booted up Sims 1 for a laugh. My incredible man, Juan Kerr, has been making the moves on Bella Goth despite the fact she’s happily married to Mortimer Goth. Scandalous!

@nessisonett I never get tired of hearing people's wacky life stories from The Sims games.

Loads of EA games got added to Steam so I’ve been playing Dead Space. Never played this the first time around and I’m really enjoying it. Feels like a sci-fi Resi 4 where every enemy is a Regenerator.

@KratosMD The atmosphere’s great, it’s not usually my type of horror since it mostly focuses on jump scares but they nailed the feeling of helplessness. EA really were releasing some great IPs back then.

@nessisonett Love that you have to dismember enemies and headshots are mostly useless. Really makes you think a bit differently. Slightly rubbish zero gravity moments are the onely negative moments I can think of. The second one is just as good imo, there is one section that it an absolute masterclass in pacing and tension.

Dead Space 2 is probably my favorite PS3 game, I must have completed it 5-6 times. The first one is certainly good, but the game massively benefits from a none-silent protagonist in my opinion. I'd really struggle to call any of the Dead Space games scary though, but I guess the first one is creepier than the more action focused second game. But then I played them so much maybe I just got used to the way they do horror and it lost its impact.

Games like this, Resident Evil and Evil Within are only really scary for the first couple of hours while you build up your arsenal and learn how enemies behave.

I remember playing Dead Space on the hardest difficulty using just the plasma cutter so I could get the two trophies in one go. It was a thrill.

@nessisonett I loved the first DS game and thought the second was okay. Never bothered with the third.

I also played DS1 through with just the plasma cutter, like @ApostateMage, and that made it even more fun/tense. Playing with other weapons after that was just too easy!

The plasma cutter is one of my favourite weapons in any game, it feels so good to use. It’s a shame that the flamethrower’s a bit rubbish, I spent all my credits on it!

@nessisonett Yeah the Plasma Cutter is always useful, some of the guns and alternate fire modes in DS1 are a bit sucky (did anyone ever use the alternative fire for the assault rifle?)

The worst game of the trilogy, Mass Effect 3. My Shep opening her trap all the time without any input from the dialogue wheel just breaks the foundation on what Mass Effect was built upon. And most of the writing is awful compared to ME2.

Hades is absolutely brilliant, possibly the best rogue-like I’ve ever played alongside BoI and Tales of Maj’Eyal. Setting, charm, depth, it really does have it all. I’ve never played any Supergiant games before but now I’m definitely going to check out Transistor and Bastion. I hope Hades comes on PS4/5 since it’s hitting the big 1.0 next update.

@LN78 Yeah, they seem to have a pretty impressive back catalogue, every single game they’ve made has been critically acclaimed. I can see why though, they definitely know how to make a game ooze style.

@KratosMD Yep, I was waiting for you to get to that moment. The whole game’s a superb deconstruction of classic FPS tropes and really does make you stop and think. Not many games make me contemplate whether or not to play on because I just don’t trust the main character to make the right decisions and not force me into essentially committing heinous acts of cruelty.

@KratosMD It just does such a good job of making you really think about the choices you’re making. I’m not a fan of when games spell out the consequences of your actions as like you say, there’s no do-overs in real life.