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

It is a PS4/PS5 game, but I'm playing it on my Series X right now since they added it to Game Pass a few days ago.... Scarlet Nexus. I wasn't that thrilled by it's demo, but it's become obvious I didn't give it enough time because I didn't care much about the combat then but now I think it's great.

@KilloWertz yeah I managed a real good deal on that for £20 not long after release.... don't know when I'll get to play it but I do think I'll like it. Combat looks quite 'platinum... ey' if you get what I mean.

@LtSarge ah sweet sounds decent. I think the ape escape games were usually made to demonstrate the technology. I'm pretty sure the first one on PS1 launched with either the analog or dualshock controllers.

@colonelkilgore Even though I never finished Nier: Automata (or even Bayonetta believe it or not), I get what you're saying. It feels like a mixture of those games and Final Fantasy 7 Remake (at least with some of the environments). Mainly interior ones, but I have thought to myself multiple times "take away the cel-shading and replace it with regular textures and it would be straight out of Final Fantasy 7 Remake". Obviously they didn't copy that at all as Scarlet Nexus only came out a year after FF7R did. Just a funny coincidence that I noticed more since I just replayed FF7R on the PS5 a month or two ago.

@KilloWertz okay, I hadn’t considered it playing similarly to FFVIIR, that’s cool though. I enjoyed FFVIIR quite a bit, I quite like the art-design of Scarlett Nexus too, from what I’ve seen.

@LtSarge Xillia’s fabulous. I really liked the story and characters, and the battle system is so fast and fluid. At the moment I’m playing Arise, and am not enjoying the battle system as much as Xillia’s, as it’s slower, more deliberate, and the bosses are rather difficult. I don’t recall any particular difficulty spikes in Xillia and didn’t have any trouble with the bosses. It’s nicely paced and easy to grind if need be given the design of the overworld areas. What character did you choose to play as?

@mookysam Really glad to hear another person's opinion about this game! Seriously, after playing through Vesperia I thought most of the older Tales games were going to be like it. But Xillia is phenomenal, I've been playing it for roughly 5 hours now and I've had much more fun with this game than with Vesperia. Like you said, there aren't any difficulty spikes in Xillia and I've been able to enjoy the battles at my own pace. Not to mention that the Lillium Orb system makes the game very feasible. Being able to choose to increase HP, attack, defence and so on is such a great idea. It's a simple yet very effective system.

I also agree with your other points. The story is much easier to follow compared to Vesperia's where they introduce a new term constantly. Furthermore, the objective is always clear in Xillia unlike Vesperia. Consequently, the writing is actually good in this game and there have been a lot of genuinely hilarious moments between the characters. And yeah, the battle system is much more in-depth and actually fun this time. Vesperia's battle system was basically button mashing, while in Xillia, there are actually strengths and weaknesses you have to take into consideration while battling enemies. For example, using the right type of artes or linking with the right party member. I genuinely can't stress this enough: Tales of Xillia is such a great JRPG and much more enjoyable than Vesperia.

I decided to play as Jude. I looked up online beforehand if there were any differences and apparently, playing as Jude will help you understand the story better. But I also thought it was a better idea to choose the "weaker" protagonist rather than the "stronger" since that's how video games typically are. The protagonist starts off weak and eventually grows stronger. I wanted to have that sense of progression, even though it was tempting to play as Milla.

@colonelkilgore Maybe I didn't say it completely the way I meant to, but I meant more of how some of the areas looked more than the gameplay.

I was feeling bored so I decided to play something on my 3DS and I went with Zelda II: Adventure of Link on NES. It's one of the few Zelda games I haven't played yet and while this game is the black sheep of the series since it's a 2D side scrolling game with RPG elements, I'm actually enjoying it quite a lot. It's a refreshing Zelda experience that's definitely challenging but still doable. You have three lives and whenever you die, you start from the last place you entered a screen. When you get a game over, you still keep all the upgrades and items you've found so even though the game is tough, it's still fair.

I managed to clear the first dungeon and I'm on my way to the second one now. Don't know if i'll have the patience to play through the game until the end, but I'm definitely willing to continue it tomorrow and see if I can keep making more progress.

@LtSarge Yeah that game’s brutal. Never beat it because it’s just an evil game made by people who wanted children to suffer.

@nessisonett Haha yeah, I guess that's how most NES games were back then. I've actually finished the first Zelda on the NES (albeit with restoration points) and it gets manageable once you start getting more health and other upgrades in general. Can't imagine having to play games like these as a kid without any restoration points though, lol.

Had a good crack at the ‘extreme’ playthrough on MGS2 this evening. Beat the Harrier which is supposedly one of the hardest parts of the run… it was tough too, a lot tougher than on ‘hard’. Beat Vamp, who was pretty similar to the previous difficulty and have now made it to the sniper section, which is undoubtedly my least favourite section of the whole game. I found this part almost impossible on ‘hard’ so I know what a struggle it’s gonna be during this run, so I’ve called it a day there… I’ll try it tomorrow at some point.

@Kidfried Fata Morgana has been on my radar for years now. What I've seen of it definitely feels more gothic and explicitly influenced by literature than I'm used to with VNs, and I really dig the vast scope of the narrative overall.

tbh I kinda wish I'd grabbed the physical release of the game when it was live on LRG.

Really surprised by how much I’m enjoying the VR and Alternate missions on MGS2, a lot of them are quite imaginative and challenging. Slow going mind you, just over 25% of them done after today’s session.

@Jimmer-jammer I know right… it’s a lot! After 5 playthroughs of the main game, these VR/Alternate missions are quite refreshing.

Might be a few days until I can carry on though, tomorrow is our last day in our apartment and Friday we’ll be in our new house. We’ve sold our place fully-furnished, so while we’ve bought new sofas and beds and things… we don’t actually have a piece to out the TV on. I’m actually concerned that I might have withdrawals 😅

@Jimmer-jammer sound advice 😉

Finally made some more progress in Tomb Raider. Beat St Francis Folly which is apparently in Greece despite the somewhat oddly inconsistent naming conventions of the gods. Then beat the Colosseum which again… I guess there were some in Greece?? I don’t think I’m in Rome. Two slightly irritating levels due to the very spread out one-time saves. I hope the trilogy’s save system gets better. I quite liked the concepts of both levels and the way the maps used every inch of the space but yeah, I hope levels don’t get any more labyrinthine and punishing.

@Keith_Zissou cheers mate, I’m already stressed so god knows what I’ll be like tomorrow 😅.

Out of interest did you try any of the VR/Alternate missions when you played it previously… they’re really good?

@colonelkilgore Congrats on the new place. So new furniture but not a new TV? Would be nice to get a whole new system or is your current one already cutting edge?

Speaking of, as I mentioned earlier I feel like maybe staring up MGS2 soon and I actually have it on Vita. Having played it recently ad nauseum do you think it will translate well onto the portable?

@Th3solution thanks buddy, so we picked up a couple of new TV’s on sale during the recent Amazon Day. I haven’t taken them out of the boxes yet as they were specifically for the new house. I don’t think they’re ‘cutting-edge’ but they’re both 60hz 4K and 65Inches. One is for the lounge and the other is for my gaming room… that sucker is gonna take up the whole wall 🤣.

I’m trying to get the missus to agree to having our current tv (4K 50inch) put on the wall of the kitchen-diner but she’s having none of it so far. If not, I guess it’ll go in the bedroom.

So about MGS2 I’d definitely suggest anyone play it, it’s fantastic… I do think it’s probably better suited to playing on a TV if I’m honest but I’m sure it’s still fine on the handheld. Be sure to let me know how you’re getting on with it.