Whatcha Been Playing?

[Sean]

@Stanshall: my dirty little secret is despite finishing Demon's Souls 6 times, I have never beaten Allant in a fair fight. It's been sneaking up behind him and deploying Poison Cloud every time. What can I say, that level is too much of a slog to get through only to die in 2 seconds because you are a ham-fisted oaf.

I've never beaten him solo. In fact there are a lot of Souls bosses where I've only ever defeated them with a co-op partner.

[Alex79]

I really wish they would remaster Demons. I would love to replay it but firstly can't be bothered sitting upstairs to play it on the PS3 and secondly I bet it's hard to get a summon these days, can't be that many people still playing it can there?

[Sean]

I really wish they would remaster Demons. I would love to replay it but firstly can't be bothered sitting upstairs to play it on the PS3 and secondly I bet it's hard to get a summon these days, can't be that many people still playing it can there?

I fire it up about once a month, and, there's never anyone on. I can't help but wonder if that's due to all my characters being pretty high level, though.

I'm still so baffled that, of all the old Souls games, the *only one* that has a remaster is Dark Souls 2. Seems like easy money for both From Software and Sony to do a Demon's remaster, but, instead...we have Knack 2.

[Chopper]

A remaster would be amazing, we can only hope.

Demon's remains my favourite platinum experience, as doing the platinum required you to engage the game on every level - defeat the special enemies, open the secret rooms, play in a style you may not normally (eg killing 'good' npcs), run the gamut of world tendencies - and really see everything the game had to offer.

Curious, are there any other platinums/100% completions that compare in the amount they add to the game, and depth of gameplay?

I am continuing with The Surge. It is very good. My lone criticism at the moment is that it's a bit too fond of having enemies jump out at you. If you see an enemy out in the open, it's almost a certainty that there's a guy in an alcove waiting to nail you from behind. Ha, you can also bank your 'souls' rather than risk losing them all.

[Alex79]

Yeah you could bank your souls in Lords Of The Fallen too, which was a mechanic where it differed from Dark Souls that I actually liked!

[James]

Currently playing Staring Out Of The Window, Waiting For A Delivery Simulator 2017: Xbox One X Edition. It's good fun!

[Alex79]

Is it a remake of the Codemasters classic?

[Stanshall]

I'm currently playing Watch Forza 7 4K Texture Updates Download Very Slowly Only To Play It In 1080p, Anyway. Probably gonna pull an all-nighter.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

Ah the joys of modern gaming! Oh to just stick a cart/disc in a console, press ‘on’ and play.

Great days...

[James]

Is it a remake of the Codemasters classic?

Spiritual successor!

[Combine Hunter]

Been playing Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, as it felt like it would be a very breezy experience. And well, it is! Having a lot of fun soaking up all those diamonds and taking in all the charming art direction. Already completed chapter 1 and I'm onto chapter 2.

[Chopper]

Still playing The Surge and getting near the end. As I do so, the shine is coming off it a bit; they've definitely entered Dark Souls II territory now with their placement of enemies in order to increase difficulty.

[Pitwar]

I've been playing Assassins Creed Origins this past week, and have put in almost 10 hours playtime.

I reviewed the game on my radio show last Sunday, and was probably a bit unfair when I described it as more Assassins Creed, so not really worth your time if you're not a fan of the franchise.

And while I do stand by the fact it's obviously in a very similar vein to previous entries in the series, I now feel it does this better than any of the older games.

I feel a lot more freedom to play how I want to play. Last night for example I only did few missions and most of those were side quests. I just spent my time exploring the world and stumbling across random areas and events.

I love the fact that if you go into a mission and try to stealth your way through but cock it up, it's not mission over. You can either adjust your play style to go in all swords blazing or get out and let things calm down. You don't feel the need to play the game a certain way, and it's a lot more open due to that.

The world looks great too (I'm playing on a PS4 Pro in 4K) and it's really given me some wow moments.

I'm looking forward to cracking on with the game, and think if you've ever been on the fence with the franchise, or maybe fell out of love with it, that Origins is well worth your time.

[duskvstweak]

I just started Dragon Age: Origins and Burnout Paradise this week. I know it's the wrong "Origins" to be talking about right now, but that's how behind I am!

[KSubzero1000]

Burnout Paradise

I'm very conflicted when it comes to this game. I wouldn't mind hearing what you think of it once you're done.

[Todinho]

So like I said Im replaying the Witcher 3 and even though I already agreed I decided to put ThirdMan's assumptions about the difficulty levels to the test, Im in Skellige now and they way I played the game was basically doing just the main quest and the side quests that spring from it(Baron,Keira,Triss,Roche,etc) so I basically mainlined the game and as it turns out I still arrived in Skellige overleveled(around level 19), not only is level 16 pretty low if you've done any substantial amount of side content but many quests there are of even lower level some are 14 or even 11.

This experiment not only confirmed what ThirdMan said but it fully semented my conviction that the whole level system that permeates the entire game is god awfull let me explain. The quests being a bit easier wouldnt be so much of an issue if this didnt mean that you dont get XP from it, given how witcher 3 is structured running into these quests later on means that you arent getting the optimal amount of xp and you're not gonna reach the max level you could've if you did all those quests in a order where they'd give you their full xp, once again this wouldnt be that big of an issue if it also didnt tie in with the gear system which is gated by level, remember that great lvl 37 sword you saw at the beginning well you aint never gonna get that sword if you dont play the game in a really disjointed way because there simply wont be enough xp in quests for you to get to that level unless you spend another 100 hours going through each and every question mark in every map to get the xp necessary.

[KSubzero1000]

I've been diving into Batman: Arkham Knight these past few days.

I knew about the overall tepid reception this game garnered at launch going into it, but so far I can't really see what all the complaints were about. The Batmobile segments are indeed being used quite extensively, but they're fun for the most part and the predator segments are as great as ever. The combat system still has these little unfortunate combo-breaking quirks that keep it from reaching action game nirvana, but is otherwise as fluid, cathartic and deeply enjoyable as I've come to expect.

Despite my dislike for the many game development issues and design trends associated with big budget western productions, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the Arkham games. I think they come very close to being true classics of the medium, and the reason for that is their strong sense of identity. While the rest of the industry tends to move towards standardized and uber-safe design choices, Rocksteady decided to craft something unique and memorable instead. The Freeflow combat system was a breath of fresh air when Asylum came out and still hasn't been topped by any of its many clones, the score is fantastic and at least the main theme is instantly recognizable, the cool gadgets are enjoyable to use and the many secrets are fun to discover, the decision to center the gameplay around both combat and stealth fits the character of Batman like a glove, and the character design / voice acting / overall presentation manages to walk a very fine line between stylised and believable. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the Arkham universe is probably my favorite interpretation of the Batman mythology in general. The look and feel of these games is simply on point. Even the random thugs you encounter have so much personality and I've lost count of how often their little moronic conversations have made me giggle.

I haven't finished it yet but so far it feels like, as with Dark Souls 3 before, my experience has been significantly improved by letting the cycle of pre-release hype and post-release reactionary backlash and franchise fatigue pass me by entirely and simply waiting a few years to play the complete version at a more reasonable price point and with lowered expectations.


In short: I'm having fun!

[Scrustle]

Been continuing with Super Mario Odyssey. I've passed the 500 moons point now. I'm still enjoying it a lot, but I think I'm starting to see me moving on from this game at some point in the not too distant future. This post-game section has been somewhat different to how I was expecting, or how I was lead to believe. I've heard/read from several places about how the game really changes and comes alive in this point, with the challenge ramping up quite a bit too. I generally haven't found that. It's been mostly more of the same for me. There's a lot more to do, and I suppose I can see a slight buildup of complexity and challenge, but it's still been not that tough. I've gone through all the worlds again, picking up moons I missed before, generally going about it the same way as I did before. Just going with the flow of the game and doing whatever thing I happen to stumble across, but not really going out of my way too much. I have been trying to get better at all the moves, and I think I have improved, but rarely have my skills been seriously tested. That said, there's still a lot left to collect, and there have been a few times when I've come across a challenge that seemed like it was out of my reach. But that has been rare, and when I did come across them, I usually just quit (after an honest try) and just go for something else instead. So while I still really enjoy the game, I haven't really seen this huge shift that people have been talking about. At least not yet anyway.

I have a feeling that I'm at the point where it's about to hit. After collecting those 500 moons and clearing up a few other things I had hanging, I tried out that final endgame level you unlock at that milestone. I've not given it a serious go yet, but it seems pretty hard. Got a feeling this is beyond my level of ability, and even though it unlocks at 500, it's still only meant for the most skilled players. Something that you don't really need to be to technically reach this point. I guess going back and doing all those harder moons will be training for that. This is the point where I can see myself dropping off though. Not sure I'm really up for that kind of super hardcore Mario. At least, not with the very first game in the series I've been able to get along with for more than a few short hours. I'll give it a go I suppose, but I'm not too bothered about success. I can probably walk away from the game at this point, or very soon, and still be more than satisfied with what I've played.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

I've been diving into Batman: Arkham Knight these past few days...

I haven't finished it yet but so far it feels like, as with Dark Souls 3 before, my experience has been significantly improved by letting the cycle of pre-release hype and post-release reactionary backlash and franchise fatigue pass me by entirely and simply waiting a few years to play the complete version at a more reasonable price point and with lowered expectations.

I kinda do the same thing. Although, my copy of Arkham Knight (PS4) is still sitting in the shelf, unplayed. Got it at a much more reasonable price though, like yourself, and eventually I'll get to it.

[DomsBeard]

Been playing the Horizon Zero Dawn dlc.

More of the same so if you like Horizon and want to play it in a snowy setting then you will not be disappointed. I have not touched the story as I like to explore the map at my own pace. I started the DLC at level 45 and had my arse kicked immediately (the recommended level is 30). There are a few nice little twists on the normal game too.

Also you can do snow angels in photo mode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!