Mintie

Looking forward to seeing if this is the game that makes me pull the trigger on a new PC... I managed to get things stable and shiny on the benchmark but who knows how the full thing will perform!

I am very ready to lose another 2-300 hours of my life all without needing PS+ for the best bit of Monster Hunter - random hunts with random people!

@EfYI A mate of mine had a mixed take on it, thought it was a good game by itself but thought it was a terrible Dragon Age game, but he hadn't replayed the others so he went in with what he 'felt' a DA game should be. Another has done what I did and replayed the franchise beforehand and loved it without reservation.

I think having the franchises turbulent designs as well as all the overarching narrative fresh in the back of your mind helps a lot.

Veilguard, to me, feels like a combination of a response to Inquisition being too sprawling and the same kind of rush and desperation that gave us DA2.

I am elbow deep in Dragon Age The Veilguard after replaying the first three games and I am LOVING it and have come to the conclusion that most of the complaints are (mostly) unfounded, obviously that could change but I'm 50hrs in so we shall see.

I finally caught up with my Dragon Age replay and now I have started Veilguard and so far it is... Great? It probably helps that all the past games are really fresh in my head because I can see the through-lines that culminated in Veilguard. It's like a reaction to Inquisition being 'too' open AND feels like the desperation that gave us DA2 (DATV being saved from GaaS hell and cobbled together in around 2 years)

I'm about 12hrs in and I cannot wait to continue tomorrow!

@rjejr Ghost will get its own SoP, we're only half way through Feb as well so there is a lot of this year left.

@Ashina I would do some unspeakable things for a new Gravity Rush... I might have to replay the first two again.

When will we stop calling Grubb reliable? he's accurate about 5% of the time at this point.

Continuing both Dragon Age Inquisition and Stellar Blade.

I also picked up a weird little indie called A Game About Digging A Hole, it's not very long but it scratched the primitive itch to go in the backyard and dig a hole.

@djlard I tend to play the story single player and then only do team stuff when I need to grind for materials.

@djlard you can play the whole thing solo like every MH game, but offline? Probably not offline.

This is just prep work to kill the emulated version on PC that people have been working on... There will be no actual improvements to Bloodborne.

If I do pick up on PS5 it'll be in a deep sale, I think it was this one I played quite extensively on PC Game Pass, racing games tend to blue into one for me.

@JustMyOpinion it's definitely not for everyone, the story it tells is good, but also a bit obtuse... but yeah the vast majority of the game is pure sandbox. They always have it on sale during the week of a new update - think its 60% off on Steam (£20).

@skaarj217 maybe a year after it first released? It's been a major part of NMS forever.

@JustMyOpinion there's several narrative threads to follow that also serve as a way to introduce some of the broader things you can do. Ultimately it's a game about setting your own goals, exploring and discovery. Some people set out to do The Big Goal of getting to the centre of the universe, some aim to make a self sustaining farm to make the most valuable item in game, some aim to max out their ships and gear and inventory... Most of us start by following the footsteps of a guy called Artemis...

Barbarian was fantastic, I hope this comes to fruition because there is real potential.

Borderlands 3 with some buddies to finish off the third DLC.

Then continue my replay of Dragon Age 2 (the not-so-secret best one) Just finished the storyline about Hawke's mum... so I'm not okay, thanks for asking.

Then I'll probably play some more Stellar Blade... which I am absolutely loving!

People focus on Veilguard too much in this instance... the loss of footie MTX money is what is really driving this, DAV is just a footnote in comparison and probably an easy target because people do like to make mountains out of molehills.

I'm a little dubious on the 'Release date with be announced 2025' slapped on at the end... it's a bit too vague for me to have my hype ticket punched.

@themightyant I didn't used to be a wait-and-see-er but my backlog gets beefier and beefier I end up waiting for complete editions and add them to my Amazon wishlist which my mum makes use of for buying crimbo presents.

@DennisReynolds I didn't! Oh the bodies I left in my wake...

Seriously though, they didn't exist so weren't a part of my enjoyment of games. They exist now and not having a complete feature in the (supposed) highest end version of a release is not cool.

I'm still waiting on the PS5 versions getting Platinum trophies, not paying for incomplete products (yes, I know its on Sony to stop being dicks)

With the cancellation of so many GaaS projects what I'd really like to see is an apology and a commitment to getting back on track... I think the best we can hope for is a Ghost of Yotei release date and third party fluff.

I Platinumed Rise of The Ronin a few days ago, really enjoyed it even if it didn't scratch that Nioh 2 itch!

This weekend i am playing Stellar Blade and Dragon Age 2!

Stellar Blade is excellent so far

Ninty consoles are always companion machines, they exist alongside which ever other console you have... for me it has always been PC+PS+Ninty... and with XBs stuff almost entirely being PC and PS now it works out even better

I kinda wish they'd kept the reset thing a secret because that would've been a cool 'ah ha' moment in the film.

I am getting close to finishing Rise of Ronin's story and I might even go on to get the Platinum

Then I'll be doing some more Borderlands 3 DLC stuff with chums!

@PuppetMaster I'm honestly willing to pretend the DCEU films never existed in order to give most of the people involved a second chance...

I want Horizon 3 more than any of the side projects, will I be there day one at the cinema for the film? Hell yeah!

I do worry the side projects maybe be diluting focus from the third game, I'm hoping we see the announcement for H3 sometime towards the backend of this year with a release before the PS5's life cycle 'ends'.

Rampaging through Rise of The Ronin and having a good time! I was worried going in because Nioh 2 is my personal pick for best ARPG of all time... But I've been able to keep myself in check and not get grumpy over RoTRs combat.

@get2sammyb Yeah, I'm all for the actors doing what they have to to get their due, but the missing lines give me the mental equivalent of a stubbed toe.

I hope this doesn't launch with missing voice lines again... does anyone know if the missing lines have been patched into the last update?

@Darude84 Infinity Nikki has no right being so damned compelling and wholesome... Not sure how it performs on the PS5 but on PC is so well polished. As long as it passes the Vibes check with you you are in for a treat!

Everything else aside... I can't wait for Freedom Wars! I hope it does well enough to revive it as a potential franchise!

I also hope it holds up as well as I'm expecting on a big screen!

Playing Borderlands 3 with some chums. FFXI is still free to play for a while longer so I'll be on there doing Stuff.

I'll also be starting on the Christmas Pile of Newness! Decided to organise them in order of worst reviewed to best so the order is

• Rise of The Ronin
• Stellar Blade
• Silent Hill 2
• Dragon's Dogma 2
• Spider-man 2
• Metaphor - Refantazio

Gonna be busy for a while!

Caravan Sandwich.

Not even on the list.

How has there never been a biggish budet Thomas game????? How!?

Is this now my life's obsession to bring it about?

Maybe!

@CrispyMango92 the second season was stunning, but yeah at the moment it can only be found on YouTube... it felt oddly appropriate watching it uploaded to YT considering the shows themes!

[Edit/update - Scratch all that, free FFXI login campaign BABYYYY!]

I've been in more of a show bingeing mood than gaming, kinda in a holding pattern until crimbo) so I picked up a month of Netflix's cheap tier for a fiver and I've been watching stuff like Pantheon (fantastic) Dandadan (So goood) Delicious In Dungeon (Need more now) and other stuff.

Actual games - I decided to replay Nioh 1 because I never did the expansions and Infinity Nikki even though i got put off that by a nasty interaction with a member of the Nikki community.

I'm going to spend a good chunk of next year playing big games I missed this year... but Godsdamnit if my backlog isn't going to grow a whole lot next year.

Anyone who looks at that list and doesn't see something they're excited for should consider quitting gaming as a hobby

@ChimpMasta I'm in 100% agreement, it's why I love games that have character creation. Given the choice I'll always plays as someone different to myself, my choices usually go with what has the coolest armour.

I think my main question is, given a game with a set character, why someone would deny themselves access to an amazing experience purely because of how the main character is presented? It'd be like someone who loves treasuring chasing adventures and playing Uncharted but turning up their nose at trying Tomb Raider because of Lara.

@JustMyOpinion I'm genuinely curious, why only male protagonists? I had a mate who had a similar thing - he couldn't bring himself to make a female avatar in MMOs or RPGs - but he passed before I ever got a coherent reason from him.

@NeonTiger Not really a justification if the mechanisms are in the games' narrative

The alternative is that Nightreign will be a fun game that mixes a whole bunch of bosses and mechanics and it doesn't really matter how The Nameless King ended up in some multiversal version of Limgrave.

If it's really bothering you that much it might be time to go get a Greggs steakbake and sit on a park bench for a bit.

@NeonTiger there's nothing about Nightreign that goes against established lore for Dark Souls or Elden Ring... Dark Souls 3 established that worlds and time could converge and meld. The Lands Between are just that a land between other places, nothing is certain beyond the sea surround those lands riddled by the touch of the Outer Gods, similar beings hold Yharnam in their clutches... The fun thing about the Soulsborne lore is that it is mutable.

@DennisReynolds I'm just picturing some basement dweller finally taking a shower and crying in the stall all because they were tricked into playing a buff blonde lass.

@Oram77 Stuff like this ends up being more of a 'we're hiring' event. I'll be happy to forget it exists until closer to release when proper trailers drop... unless it goes the way of a lot of well meaning start-ups that bite off more than they can chew.

Been saying for years we need a sci-fi spacey game from Naughty Dog!

Even though I don't think the actual reveal was that good the new genDESIGN game has ALL of my attention because Ico, SoTC and Last Guardian are all stellar!

A small project in an existing game world... sounds like the idea proving ground for newer developers and devs trying out new roles. I'll be all over it, wonder if we'll finally find out who the gloam eyed queen is!

think of 00:00 as midnight and 12:00 as midday, anything after and including midnight is AM, anything after and including midday is PM... it's a pain in the butt and why most of us have moved to 24hr... it's dumb and I blame analogue clock faces

@tameshiyaku 'You must h-hungry?' no Mr/s Pam-man, I'm good ta!

@djlard way I remembered it as a kid was At Morning and Passed Morning. The real meaning is ante meridem (before midday) and post meridem (after midday)... hope that helps.