Whatcha Been Playing?

[Alex79]

I'm due a replay of Dark Souls 3 at some point, too. It's the only Soulsborne game that I only ever played the once. I've forgotten so much about it that it'll be like a new game to me.

[Truk_Kurt]

Isn't it funny how you can get back into games? Earlier this year I put about 40 hours into Tears of the Kingdom and was a little cool on it. I was enjoying it to some extent but was having a few problems with it too so that when the next game came along I was interested in I went to play that instead and didn't feel enticed another to return to Zelda. However a few nights ago I went back to it as I figured I should what with the game of the year podcasts coming out soon and because I didn't feel like I would get anything else finished now before Christmas when I will be getting Super Mario Wonder.
Anyway, I last left the game just outside Gerudo Town in the desert and have been having a blast playing it again this past week. There was a really cool shrine in Gerudo Town itself once I had figured out how to get there without dying, and then underneath Gerudo Town there was a really cool cavern which was almost like a mini dungeon. I'm now back in the flow and excited to play more.

[markfm007]

I've been playing a lot of Control. I was hoping to finish it before I travel for Christmas in a week's time, but I'm feeling a little burnt out on it. I didn't anticipate so many side missions. Overall I've enjoyed it quite a lot. I love the Oldest House and the paranormal investigation. It's fascinating and sometimes quite unnerving. The gameplay is an improvement over Alan Wake, although it does spam more enemies than I'd like at times. I love the connective tissue between the two as well. Don't think I'll do everything in it, might skip the DLC, but I'm clicking with it more than I expected to.

I've also been playing Donkey Kong Country on Switch Online, and decided to buy Tropical Freeze. I was enjoying DKC but reached a point where it was getting a bit painful, so thought I'd try the newer game. I haven't played much of it but I'm loving it so far. Controls like a dream, beautiful presentation, fun music. The Switch is always my go to for when I'm travelling, and especially over Christmas I'm looking forward to some platforming fun.

[pisang]

I've been playing a lot of Control. I was hoping to finish it before I travel for Christmas in a week's time, but I'm feeling a little burnt out on it. I didn't anticipate so many side missions. Overall I've enjoyed it quite a lot. I love the Oldest House and the paranormal investigation. It's fascinating and sometimes quite unnerving. The gameplay is an improvement over Alan Wake, although it does spam more enemies than I'd like at times. I love the connective tissue between the two as well. Don't think I'll do everything in it, might skip the DLC, but I'm clicking with it more than I expected to.

I’m also playing control, great atmospere and combat. I need to play it in small bursts. After a while the combat and the enviroment feels a bit repetitive. But everytime I play, I get sucked right in. It’s so cool to throw stuff, shoot and even turn enemies.

Also playing Max Payne 3. This is like watching and playing a Diehard movie. I like the cheesy interaction with his partner. And the shooting feels so nice. It also plays great on the Steamdeck.

After listening to the Hades episode, I’m giving this one another chance. Really loving it so far. I’m at the Hydra right now.

[MattL]

I've been playing a lot of Control. I was hoping to finish it before I travel for Christmas in a week's time, but I'm feeling a little burnt out on it. I didn't anticipate so many side missions. Overall I've enjoyed it quite a lot. I love the Oldest House and the paranormal investigation. It's fascinating and sometimes quite unnerving. The gameplay is an improvement over Alan Wake, although it does spam more enemies than I'd like at times. I love the connective tissue between the two as well. Don't think I'll do everything in it, might skip the DLC, but I'm clicking with it more than I expected to.

I’m also playing control, great atmospere and combat. I need to play it in small bursts. After a while the combat and the enviroment feels a bit repetitive. But everytime I play, I get sucked right in. It’s so cool to throw stuff, shoot and even turn enemies.

That summarizes my opinion on Control as well. Good, but repetitive. Lifting and throwing chunks of the environment was immensely fun, but got very one dimensional. Every encounter felt mostly the same.

[Jobobonobo]

Been wanting to play something nice and simple to finish off the year and based on liking the demo, I settled for New Super Lucky's Tale. I was not expecting anything too tough but I am amazed at how easy this game is and it is very much intended to be Baby's first 3D platformer. I am already on world 4 out of 6 and each level is pretty breezy to get through. Still it controls really nicely and the soundtrack is quite delightful as well. Really is the complete antithesis of Crash 4 which I struggled with a lot earlier this year. Nice but nothing mind blowing so far. Just a competent, well put together game.

[Tolkientaters]

I've been playing Frontiers of Pandora via Ubisoft Plus, and to start off it looks incredible on Series X, probably the best looking open world game I've ever played on a technical level.

The gameplay is really fun with really good movement and what almost amounts to platformer mechanics around the world. It plays like a mix of Crysis and Mirrors Edge with consistency engaging encounters.

Unfortunately the story and characters are remarkablely bland, which is a shame since it is a focus of this game. Best 7/10 game this year.

[Alex79]

Been playing a couple of 'modern retro' indie titles on Evercade the last couple of days. I got the Demons Of Asteborg / Astebros double pack and today arrived the Alwa's Awakening / Cathedral double pack.

I have mostly been playing Demons Of Asteborg which is a gorgeous, 2D hack and slash platformer, visually very Castlevania but more like the older, linear games. Looks lovely, handles very nice and is really fun to play. I also started Alwa's Awakening this afternoon which is a NES style Metroidvania, and also really nice to play. Very pleased with both of these carts.

[Cornelius_Smiff]

Hey peeps,

Hope you are all well and yes it has been a while for me.

I played Dark Souls II recently to the end and honestly will never play it again. A game that I really enjoyed in places and would have enjoyed in totality if it did not go out of it's way to be a big bag of dicks. Some of the design choices are baffling and compared to the first and third games it is a slog in the worst possible way.

I also finally finished Sekiro and absolutely fell in love with the combat. I did briefly try Lies of P but then realised I was a little burnt out on punishing action RPG games. Ironically this has left me with nothing to play and I am going through one of my usual gaming malaise periods where nothing seems to stick for too long or rather long enough to hold my attention.

If anyone is doing any fun MP games that are either available on Game Pass or free, give me a shout and I may be up for some randomness.

[duskvstweak]

Started two games right before break ended, Chaos Reborn and Super Mario 3D World. Not sure about Chaos, it seems fun enough but I didn't realize it was primarily a multiplayer game with a tacked on single player mode. I could get lost in it, but we'll see if I find it worthwhile. As for Mario, it's a bit of a comedown after just finishing off Odyssey, but once I realized what it was doing, I'm excited to go through it. Finished the first world and having plenty of fun with it.

[Rhaegyr]

Hey peeps,

Hope you are all well and yes it has been a while for me.

I played Dark Souls II recently to the end and honestly will never play it again. A game that I really enjoyed in places and would have enjoyed in totality if it did not go out of it's way to be a big bag of dicks. Some of the design choices are baffling and compared to the first and third games it is a slog in the worst possible way.

I also finally finished Sekiro and absolutely fell in love with the combat. I did briefly try Lies of P but then realised I was a little burnt out on punishing action RPG games. Ironically this has left me with nothing to play and I am going through one of my usual gaming malaise periods where nothing seems to stick for too long or rather long enough to hold my attention.

If anyone is doing any fun MP games that are either available on Game Pass or free, give me a shout and I may be up for some randomness.

Welcome back!

Glad you liked Sekiro - still the combat high point in FROM's library for me, absolutely stellar.

[oni-link]

I'm current playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Sea of Stars on Xbox Series X

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails on PS4

Super Hang-on on a modded Wii hooked up to a Trinitron CRT

And finally Dragon Quest II, playing on an RG35XX handheld (though I'm playing the fan translated SFC version)

I'm really enjoying all of them, though I think Valhalla is a step back from the two previous games

Sea of Stars is great, a modern take on really comfy older JRPGs

Nayuta is a mix of the Trails games and the Ys games, but has just all around solid action combat and platforming, even if the story is somewhat middling

Super Hang-on, for a game that's older than me (just) still looks and plays fantastically, and the soundtrack is great. It also looks so smooth on a CRT display. It's a perfect game to pick up and play for 5 or 10 mins every now and then when you have some time to spare

DQII is also a lot more forward thinking than I expected it to be, though it really just throws you into the world to figure things out for yourself. I'm 7 hours in and still don't really know what I'm doing, so just exploring and talking to people for the moment

[MattL]

Started Spider-Man 2 and Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection recently.

My initial reaction to Spider-Man, is, yeah, this is a continuation of SM1 and SM:MM. Everything feels very familiar. Sometimes maybe a little too familiar. I'm seeing lots of reused animations and side activities so far. This isn't bad, mind you, because the animations are good and the combat in these games are fun, but Miles' struggling to write a college entrance essay and high school flashbacks with Peter aren't drawing me in yet.

So I randomly decided to upgrade my hardcopy of Uncharted 4 to the digital Legacy of Thieves Collection for $10. I've already finished Lost Legacy and have gotten about 25% through 4. Uncharted 4 is without a doubt my favorite entry in the franchise and LL is like my third favorite (it would be second if not for Nadine - Boo hoo, I've lost ownership of my warmongering private military corporation which I inherited from my father, boo hoo). The writing in these games always feels great and I love the treasure hunt motifs. I really hope Naughty Dog hasn't shelved this series permanently.

[Alex79]

I totally unexpectedly got a PS5 for Christmas with Spiderman 2 and EAFC 24. I've not made a proper start on Spidey yet (although the kids have finished it!) but been replaying 2018's God Of War. I forgot how satisfying and weighty the combat was in that game. That axe lands with a heft that you don't get in any other game, I think. Coming towards the end of it now and trying to decide whether to play Spiderman 2 next or replay Days Gone or The Witcher 3. I think I might do Spiderman.

Also, I started playing Tears Of The Kingdom a couple of days ago, and I really like it. I've not managed to build anything beyond a simple plank with wheels and a fan so far, and I've only just got the paraglider so not too far in yet, but it's nice being back in the world of Zelda.

[Alex79]

So I randomly decided to upgrade my hardcopy of Uncharted 4 to the digital Legacy of Thieves Collection for $10. I've already finished Lost Legacy and have gotten about 25% through 4. Uncharted 4 is without a doubt my favorite entry in the franchise and LL is like my third favorite (it would be second if not for Nadine - Boo hoo, I've lost ownership of my warmongering private military corporation which I inherited from my father, boo hoo). The writing in these games always feels great and I love the treasure hunt motifs. I really hope Naughty Dog hasn't shelved this series permanently.

Love both of these games so much. They're my top two in the series for sure, I definitely want to replay them on PS5. Am I right in thinking you only need to own the PS4 version of one of the games to 'upgrade' it to the PS5 versions of both? As in you effectively get a free game by upgrading?

[MattL]

So I randomly decided to upgrade my hardcopy of Uncharted 4 to the digital Legacy of Thieves Collection for $10. I've already finished Lost Legacy and have gotten about 25% through 4. Uncharted 4 is without a doubt my favorite entry in the franchise and LL is like my third favorite (it would be second if not for Nadine - Boo hoo, I've lost ownership of my warmongering private military corporation which I inherited from my father, boo hoo). The writing in these games always feels great and I love the treasure hunt motifs. I really hope Naughty Dog hasn't shelved this series permanently.

Love both of these games so much. They're my top two in the series for sure, I definitely want to replay them on PS5. Am I right in thinking you only need to own the PS4 version of one of the games to 'upgrade' it to the PS5 versions of both? As in you effectively get a free game by upgrading?

That is correct. You only need to own a hard copy of one or the other. When you buy the $10 upgrade, you get both.

[Truk_Kurt]

I totally unexpectedly got a PS5 for Christmas with Spiderman 2 and EAFC 24. I've not made a proper start on Spidey yet (although the kids have finished it!) but been replaying 2018's God Of War. I forgot how satisfying and weighty the combat was in that game. That axe lands with a heft that you don't get in any other game, I think. Coming towards the end of it now and trying to decide whether to play Spiderman 2 next or replay Days Gone or The Witcher 3. I think I might do Spiderman.

Also, I started playing Tears Of The Kingdom a couple of days ago, and I really like it. I've not managed to build anything beyond a simple plank with wheels and a fan so far, and I've only just got the paraglider so not too far in yet, but it's nice being back in the world of Zelda.

Play Spider-Man otherwise you may as well have just stuck with a PS4 replaying these old games!

[Alex79]

Haha not in 60fps though

[Scrustle]

Been playing some of The Crew lately, as recently Ubisoft announced the game is getting shut down soon, and since this game with an extensive single player career mode has an always online requirement, that means it'll be totally unplayable after that point. So it's now or never. I've long been somewhat curious about this series since the beginning, as it's something of a successor to the Test Drive Unlimited games, but after seeing the reception to this and being unimpressed with a free trial I played back in the day, I've never put any real time in to it before now.

This time though I'm having an alright time with it. One of the biggest things that really rubbed me the wrong way when I first played this was the handling model. It felt like an uncontrollable mess. At first my revisit to this game went much the same way. By default, this game controls awfully. Cars are really unresponsive and swing around wildly whenever they finally do decide to react to input, and generally feels very spongey. The game does however include a lot of options that let you tweak how it controls in some pretty extensive ways. This always existed, but no matter what I tried I could never get it feeling good before, because for all the options they have, none of them are explained or labelled. This time however I managed to get it feeling way better with not much fiddling. So much that it's kind of hard to believe how much a difference such a little change can make, and confusing that wasn't the default setting to begin with. Simply turning down the steering linearity and bumping up the sensitivity works wonders. Cars are so much more predictable and responsive after doing that. I still wouldn't say it's a great handling model after the changes, it's still a bit floaty, but it's good enough to be enjoyable and reliable.

Another big change is that the game got a big graphics overhaul at one point. It got a new lighting model and I think stuff like better reflections and ambient occlusion as well. I remember it looking kind of dull and bland before, but these new graphics actually look pretty nice. The game goes for this kind of filmic and somewhat gritty look to it, but before it came off as a bit drab and lifeless. With these new effects it retains that same kind of feel, but the world has a lot more personality and visual depth to it, with a bit more colour as well. Some areas look better than others though, and I wouldn't say it's one of the best looking games even around the time it got this upgrade, but it's actually nice to look at most of the time. I have seen there are people out there who say this game is actually better looking than the sequel, and honestly I can see why.

It does have quite a lot of technical hiccups though. Although my PC should be easily within the range of the recommended specs, the performance can be pretty unstable at times. MSAA is massively expensive too, and if you want to turn it on you have to make huge sacrifices elsewhere to make up for it, to the point where it's not worth it. So you're forced to stick with subpar FXAA that creates a very pixelated image. It also has very frequent microstuttering. This is apparently a common problem across all PC specs and there is no known fix, no matter what graphical settings or frame rate you play at. I suspect it might not be a graphical thing and might actually have something to do with the constant online requirement given its ubiquity. But for a game that relies on constant motion, it is incredibly distracting. I can deal with the aliasing, but this stutter is having a pretty big negative impact on the experience.

This game also leans pretty hard in to its story, and it's a huge misfire. It's kind of funny how the this series is named after the criminal street racing gangs that play a big role in this story, yet sequels totally abandon this despite keeping the name. It's bad. It tries to build this thriller around getting revenge for the murder of the main character's brother, going undercover in to the criminal organisations connected to it, going up against the dangerous people found there. It's way too self-serious, and the characters are all totally bland and shallow. The progress of the story itself feels like an afterthought slapped in at the last minute to hastily justify a mission objective. When this game first came out it was in the wake of the first Watch Dogs getting criticised for a lot of the same narrative and thematic issues, and this got lambasted for being a repeat of the same dumb pitfalls. So far out from release I suppose the intensity of the hate has died down, but honestly none of the criticisms feel unfair or inaccurate at this stage either. When I first jumped back in to this game I was annoyed that because of the online requirement I couldn't start a new file from scratch. You only get the one save file attached to your Ubisoft account. In retrospect I think it was for the better, so that I could skip past the early hours where it tries so hard to get you invested in this stupid story.

I don't expect I'll finish this game. Although it plays alright after tweaking the settings, and it can be visually nice sometimes, it's not that exciting to be honest. It's fine. It feels like it's lacking a true spark of inspiration and leans heavily in to focus-tested checklist design of the era it released in. I still think it's a great injustice that it's getting shut down though. All the work that went in to this game, the huge amount of content that is here, the money customers spent on it, all gone because Ubisoft mandated it have a built-in death sentence for some reason. Usually the reason isn't hard to work out, it's just profit seeking, but that doesn't even make sense here. Sure, turn off the multiplayer servers if that's costing money and no one is playing. But surely it would cost more in the first place to force single player progress to be tied to that server as well. I really hope someone will be able to find a way to hack this game and get it working offline after it shuts down, but I'm not that confident about it. This game is hardly a cult classic that people want to preserve.

[Jobobonobo]

Just started up Yakuza: Like a Dragon. While I would have liked if this game was a later episode of Volume 13, I have to say I am liking it so much so far that I am already at Chapter 3 in a single day so I might get it done for the episode! Since I like turn based JRPGs already, I have no problem with the change of gameplay and Ichiban is a really fun protagonist who is a million miles away from the stoicism of Kiryu. The voice acting in English has also been pretty solid so far. While House of the Dead and Shenmue are good for a laugh, it is really something to see how voice acting has gotten so much better in the modern era of gaming and definitely am glad that the standard has gotten so much higher than it was in the late 90s to early 2000s. Really loving this so far, can't wait to play more of it.