What Games Are You Playing?

[Dai]

2022 has been a weird year for games. Very few AAA games were released, while many of the ones that did come out were either in franchises that don't interest me (Elden Ring, GoW Ragnarok) or had major problems that led to me not buying them yet (Gran Turismo 7, Saints Row, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet). Meanwhile AA and indie games had a good year, though reviews indicated that many fall into the 'pretty good' category rather than great.

I ended up not buying a lot of 2022 releases, partly for the reasons above and partly because I was playing some older JRPGs that sucked up most of my available gaming time. From the few I did play, my GotY list looks like this:

1. Atelier Sophie 2. While I haven't played every Atelier game yet (there are a lot of them), this is the new high water mark for the ones I have played. The story, characters, locations, music, battle and alchemy systems are all top-notch.

2. Metal: Hellsinger. Proving that size isn't everything, this short but compulsively replayable metal-themed rhythm FPS is the best shooter I've played in years.

3. Horizon: Forbidden West. An excellent sequel that only missed out on the No. 2 spot because of how much it recycles from its predecessor.

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. The brawler renaissance continues with this nostalgia-fuelled love letter to the 80s cartoon and arcade games. It's the best TMNT game to date, and is almost as good as Streets of Rage 4.

I played a few other 2022 releases, such as Stray and Ghostwire: Tokyo, but none of them were really GotY material.

 

[Aeon]

I didn't really finish many games this year, much less so one's that came out this year, as I've been starting to make a game of my own (it's literally still in the planning stages of development so I have a loooong way to go) and have spent the better part of this year considering how it will work; I've generally thought out the story, now I just need to think of how the gameplay will work as well; next year is gonna be super busy so I will probably not be able to make much time for playing games so this coming month might be a bit of a last chance for me to clear as much of my backlog as I can.

The only games I beat that came out in 2022 I can remember were Elden Ring and Stray, I have given Elden Ring a full review in the rate the last game thread I created and I honestly cannot try to be original and give something else GOTY, not when Elden Ring is so ahead of the competition; with that said I am currently playing God of War Ragnarok and that will probably get a very good spot as well.

 

[DragoStark]

I don't think I actually finished any games that were released in 2022. I'm playing through Stray at the moment but that was gifted to me for xmas. I don't usually play games when they are released. I have such a huge backlog, I can never justify myself getting newer, more expensive games when I still have so many old ones to get through. I think there will be some exceptions, for example I will probably get Mass Effect 4 whenever that comes out but for this year, nothing compelled me. Elden Ring was close but I'm so bad at the souls games. I'll give it a go in a few years probably ha.
I completed quite a few games this year though. I played through Unchartered 1, 2 & 3, finished Nier Automata, The Outer Worlds, Mass Effect Trilogy (bro what a series), Ghostrunner, DBZ: Kakarot, Yakuza 3 & 4 (playing through 5 atm), Judgement, The Last of Us Remastered, Shining Resonance Refrain, Sonic Maina & God of War (2005). I played a few small indie games as well, as well as blowing plenty of time on never ending games like Apex Legends, Overwatch, Sea of Thieves etc.
The mission to get through more of my backlog continues, as well play some older classics (I really need to get through the Metal Gear Solid series)

 

[awadama]

I think the only new games I played in 2022 were Stray and Sonic Frontiers.

Stray was OK, but way overhyped. I wouldn't have paid for it, but it was nice as a "free" game.

I only got Frontiers a few days ago - I'm really enjoying it so far, but I have a feeling it might get a bit repetitive!

 

[Ian Wolf]

I think the only new games I played in 2022 were Stray and Sonic Frontiers.

Stray was OK, but way overhyped. I wouldn't have paid for it, but it was nice as a "free" game.

I only got Frontiers a few days ago - I'm really enjoying it so far, but I have a feeling it might get a bit repetitive!

I got Frontiers for Christmas. I’ve been enjoying so far, but I see where you are coming from.

 

[Aeon]

Just before the year is up I decided to get in a cheeky bit of Elden Ring, to make it my last game I play this year, only to discover an entirely new area that I had never been to before; just in case I needed another reason to put this as my game of the year.

 

[Lordhippos]

What games do people like in the JRPG genre?

I've tried a couple of VN's but I think mostly I don't want to just do a lot of reading, so prefer games where there is something for me to do elsewhere between cut-scenes or story elements. OK with sort of hybrid VN style a bit like 13 Sentinels where the kaiju battles break up the story stuff.

For example I've played/enjoyed the following over the last couple of years:

• Persona 4 Golden
• Persona 5 Royal
• 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses
• Triangle Strategy
• Octopath Traveller
• AI: Somnium Files (and the follow on nirvanA)
• Nier Automata
• Ys VIII - Lacrimosa of DANA (playing at the moment!)

With electric prices being high and the weather being generally more cold/dark I find that these kinds of games work well at this time of year, less power consumption than your AAA games and generally pretty long playtimes.

On my to-do list after Ys VIII:

• Ys IX
• Bravely Default 2
• Nier Replicant
• Yakuza Like a Dragon (I decided to avoid the original Yakuza games for now, there are too many of them will consider coming back to the rest much later).
• Dragon Quest XI

Anything else I should consider adding? I like modern quality stuff ideally so nothing too clunky or grindy. I prefer PS5 or PC but Switch is possible I just have to borrow one for some games like FE Three Houses which was switch exclusive. I have access to game pass on the PC and PS Extra on the PS5 so bonus points if the games are on those, but not necessary.

Extra bonus points if there is some romance options like in P5R or FE Three Houses, but secondary to actual gameplay.

 

[HWR]

I’m giving High on Life a go at the moment.

 

[João Gomes]

What games do people like in the JRPG genre?

I've tried a couple of VN's but I think mostly I don't want to just do a lot of reading, so prefer games where there is something for me to do elsewhere between cut-scenes or story elements. OK with sort of hybrid VN style a bit like 13 Sentinels where the kaiju battles break up the story stuff.

For example I've played/enjoyed the following over the last couple of years:

• Persona 4 Golden
• Persona 5 Royal
• 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses
• Triangle Strategy
• Octopath Traveller
• AI: Somnium Files (and the follow on nirvanA)
• Nier Automata
• Ys VIII - Lacrimosa of DANA (playing at the moment!)

With electric prices being high and the weather being generally more cold/dark I find that these kinds of games work well at this time of year, less power consumption than your AAA games and generally pretty long playtimes.

On my to-do list after Ys VIII:

• Ys IX
• Bravely Default 2
• Nier Replicant
• Yakuza Like a Dragon (I decided to avoid the original Yakuza games for now, there are too many of them will consider coming back to the rest much later).

Anything else I should consider adding? I like modern quality stuff ideally so nothing too clunky or grindy. I prefer PS5 or PC but Switch is possible I just have to borrow one for some games like FE Three Houses which was switch exclusive. I have access to game pass on the PC and PS Extra on the PS5 so bonus points if the games are on those, but not necessary.

Extra bonus points if there is some romance options like in P5R or FE Three Houses, but secondary to actual gameplay.

I'm ignoring your directive of the games being on PS Extra/Gamepass because I don't know what is or isn't there.

Looking at my games list on PS.... I have the main 3 Utawarerumono games which are VNs with SRPG battles sprinkled in-between, the story is apparently very good. Being truthful, I've played a handful of minutes of the first game so far, maybe others can advise on those.

The re-releases of Final Fantasy games are JRPG classics and have quality of life improvements such as 2x/4x speed, infinite health, etc. They will never not be worth it. I'm talking about VII, VIII and IX, but X and XII are also great (I think these actually are on PS extra?).

Ni no Kuni games seem like they could please you, although there's no romance elements.

Valkyria Chronicles is an SRPG masterpiece. That and 4 are maybe worth looking into.

Chained Echoes is getting lots of acclaim - a new JRPG style game made by a single dude that excels in just about every department and I'm getting that soon myself.

On Switch, you've got the whole of Xenoblade which are stunning games. 3 was my #2 GOTY this year. Live a Live is also great (of what I've played).

For safer bets you can always fall onto Tales of and Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest XI is massive, and I'm enjoying Tales of Arise. You've otherwise got Vesperia and Berseria for instance.

If you want an action JRPG, Scarlet Nexus is surprisingly great with a cool story.

 

[Lordhippos]

I'm ignoring your directive of the games being on PS Extra/Gamepass because I don't know what is or isn't there.

Yep that's fine, it's more of a bonus if I can just play it without having to pick it up separately, but not a requirement at all

The re-releases of Final Fantasy games are JRPG classics and have quality of life improvements such as 2x/4x speed, infinite health, etc. They will never not be worth it. I'm talking about VII, VIII and IX, but X and XII are also great (I think these actually are on PS extra?).

Yep that's a big series as well, I have played the FF7 Remake but I don't think I've ever completed the original, I think I mainly grew up on strategy and FPS games so a lot of the classic RPG games passed me by, that and the fact I didn't have a Playstation when I was younger, just a SNES/N64.

Ni no Kuni games seem like they could please you, although there's no romance elements.

Valkyria Chronicles is an SRPG masterpiece. That and 4 are maybe worth looking into.

Sometimes these games are stand-alone and sometimes they are part of a wider story, I guess with Valkyria Chronicles you don't actually need to play them in any order?

I've heard of but never played Ni No Kuni games.

Chained Echoes is getting lots of acclaim - a new JRPG style game made by a single dude that excels in just about every department and I'm getting that soon myself.

I checked it out before but actually the art didn't do much for me personally speaking, looks good though if that isn't a requirement.

On Switch, you've got the whole of Xenoblade which are stunning games. 3 was my #2 GOTY this year. Live a Live is also great (of what I've played).

Same question again are these meant to be played in order, or is there a different setting in each one?

For safer bets you can always fall onto Tales of and Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest XI is massive, and I'm enjoying Tales of Arise. You've otherwise got Vesperia and Berseria for instance.

I totally forgot to include Dragon Quest even though it's on my radar, I have it on the PS Extra sub so it's sat there waiting for me to get around to it. The Tales series I haven't really dug into yet.

If you want an action JRPG, Scarlet Nexus is surprisingly great with a cool story.

Not heard of this one will check it out.

 

[Aeon]

What games do people like in the JRPG genre?

Honestly for me it depends on how I'm feeling as well as the length of the game; more often than not, JRPG's are too long for their own good though some get around this either by being a much more reasonable length of around 20 hours (Star Ocean First Encounter, Chrono Trigger, etc) while some others are so good that they manage to keep me engaged for most of their gargantuan length (Dragon Quest 11, Shadow Hearts Covenant, etc), one thing I almost always like doing though is finding the one way to cheese the game; case in point, I remember there was a certain move with a certain buff I used in Rogue Galaxy that made the rest of the game a cakewalk and that game is known for being really hard.

For one on PS Plus Extra, I would recommend giving Dragon Quest 11 a go, it's kind of old school but it does have a ton of quality of life improvements compared to old JRPG's that make it work for the modern age, it's also one of my best JRPG's, also I think the first Star Ocean game is on PS Plus and that one is a pretty decent one which has a good length to it that doesn't overstay it's welcome.

My personal favourite JRPG is Shadow Hearts Covenant, though this one is on PS2 and therefore is out of print, it's not the hardest PS2 game to find but it isn't cheap either; I recall the copy I got on Ebay was around 30 to 40 quid and that was a while back.

On top of that, some other JRPG's I liked include:
Lost Odyssey for Xbox 360; last I checked it's pretty cheap but an Xbox is needed.
Tales of Arise was pretty good for the first 15 hours or so, though I would recommend waiting until is comes to PS Plus as it does lose it's steam afterwards.

 

[João Gomes]

Yep that's a big series as well, I have played the FF7 Remake but I don't think I've ever completed the original, I think I mainly grew up on strategy and FPS games so a lot of the classic RPG games passed me by, that and the fact I didn't have a Playstation when I was younger, just a SNES/N64.

Oh, if you've started the VII Remake "project", then you should eventually try Crisis Core Reunion - but wait for a price drop or PS extra inclusion, I love FF so it's worth it to me, but it's a PSP game through and through. Even if they did wonders with the combat and graphics.

Sometimes these games are stand-alone and sometimes they are part of a wider story, I guess with Valkyria Chronicles you don't actually need to play them in any order?

You can just pick up and play, no problem. Each game is its own thing, as I understand it.

Same question again are these meant to be played in order, or is there a different setting in each one?

You can play the first two in the order you want, really. 2's DLC is a prequel to 2. 3 has elements of 1 and 2 in the foundation of its world, but you can still enjoy it on its own, you'll miss out on a couple of characters and tidbits. But it's a new cast.

Other suggestions would be SMT III and Legend of Heroes (which has like a ton of games and subseries)

 

[Lordhippos]

Thanks for the suggestions @João Gomes and @Aeon got me some options to chew on. Might take me a while to get through the stuff I had listed but I can just refer back to this when I'm after new stuff!

For upcoming stuff I'm quite looking forward to the new Harry Potter (I hope I can join Slytherin and become a dark wizard), with Diablo 4 launching mid-year so sort of hopeful that will be good as well.

 

[João Gomes]

Yeah, Hogwarts looks crazy in scope, wonder if there's a catch or if it's just gonna be that good.

I'm all in on Final Fantasy XVI hype and in more immediate terms, Dead Space Wanted Dead looks like it could be a solid 6 game or a catastrophic 2 - need to wait on reviews but I feel like playing a game of the sort!

I'm also thinking of getting Relayer off of PSN, looks like a cool mecha game!

 

[Spark_Heal]

Oh hey, thanks for the meaning of that acronym, I was curious about it.

Having loved and played the hell out of Overdose, I've had this one on my radar ever since I found out about it but I'll be waiting for a considerable sale - it looks like a solid 6 at most.

Hope it has a few extravagant characters besides all the shootbang!

It feels like there will be more characters later but the focus is on Grave for the early parts. Waiting for a sale is the right move. It's fun but probably not worth an incredible amount. Especially as the developer have been patching and updating things since launch. They even added a Cell-Shading filter recently.

I've finished God of War Ragnarok. There's still post-game content to go through but the ending was satisfying enough that I don't feel the need to explore it. Besides the one section in the middle that is a real drag it was a really rewarding experience. It has a different tone and scoop than God of War (2018) so I can understand why people would prefer the previous game instead of the more spiralling and messy sequel. But at the same time they found a way to improve basically every aspect of the core gameplay, form combat to puzzles to exploration. It even made some of the characters I was indifferent to pervious into my favourites. The mot impressive thing to me is that the side-quests were insanely detailed. There are giant set pieces with full cutscenes and meaningful character moments that would be in the main plot of any other game but are totally optional here. As somebody who doesn't really connect with open-world games, Ragnarok is probably as big as you can get before losing me because they made most of the content feeling meaningful and I'm impressed they threaded the needle so well. Interested to see what Santa Monica Studio's next game is, what this director does next and what's next for God of War.

 

[Lordhippos]

Yeah, Hogwarts looks crazy in scope, wonder if there's a catch or if it's just gonna be that good.

I am not sure if my idea is even possible but we can hope

I've finished God of War Ragnarok. There's still post-game content to go through but the ending was satisfying enough that I don't feel the need to explore it.

Is next on my list I think on the PS5, I have it downloaded and ready to go, just been slacking on starting it!

 

[Dai]

Yep that's a big series as well, I have played the FF7 Remake but I don't think I've ever completed the original, I think I mainly grew up on strategy and FPS games so a lot of the classic RPG games passed me by, that and the fact I didn't have a Playstation when I was younger, just a SNES/N64.

If you haven't played the Final Fantasy games from the PS1 or PS2 era, those should definitely be the priority.

I guess with Valkyria Chronicles you don't actually need to play them in any order?

They're pretty much standalone stories with different casts, though they're set in the same continuity. 1 and 4 are both excellent. 2 and 3 were PSP games that made too many compromises to squeeze them onto a handheld.

Yeah, Hogwarts looks crazy in scope, wonder if there's a catch or if it's just gonna be that good.

As with any modern game, the most likely catch is whether it's released as a broken, unfinished mess.

I'm also thinking of getting Relayer off of PSN, looks like a cool mecha game!

Try the demo first. I was looking forward to Relayer, but the demo completely killed my interest.

 

[João Gomes]

If you haven't played the Final Fantasy games from the PS1 or PS2 era, those should definitely be the priority.

They're pretty much standalone stories with different casts, though they're set in the same continuity. 1 and 4 are both excellent. 2 and 3 were PSP games that made too many compromises to squeeze them onto a handheld.

As with any modern game, the most likely catch is whether it's released as a broken, unfinished mess.

Try the demo first. I was looking forward to Relayer, but the demo completely killed my interest.

Yeah, the temptation to be skeptical sure is there...

I've looked for the Relayer demo on the PS store and when I click the link on Google, it opens the app but nothing comes up.

I thought it was like SRW (of which I only played Alpha 3 but loved it), is it not the case? I need my srpgs snappy, can't lie.

 

[Dai]

I've looked for the Relayer demo on the PS store and when I click the link on Google, it opens the app but nothing comes up.

I thought it was like SRW (of which I only played Alpha 3 but loved it), is it not the case? I need my srpgs snappy, can't lie.

I checked the PS app and it's still on there. If you look on a PS5, demos are buried in the three dots sub-menu of the product page for the main game.

The story of Relayer is told in a cheap, poorly directed VN style, and that whole side of it feels amateurish. Even by game standards the writing was awful. The battles in the demo (and what I saw from reviews) seem to mostly take place on identical, featureless grids. The whole thing was a lot sloppier than I expected, like a budget title made by teenagers, but sold at full price.

 

[Aeon]

After 10 sucessful runs out of 25 I've just about finished Hades; it was pretty fun for a while, despite the fact that I'm not the biggest fan of rogue likes, it's always satisfying finding the right upgrades and removing entire chunks out of the bosses health bars in seconds but having to beat the game 10 times took it out of me.