What Games Are You Playing?

Signalis
This would have easily made my top 5 for 2022 if I'd played it then. It nails the look and feeling of a PS1-era survival horror game while having its own identity. Thankfully it doesn't rely on jump scares, and in fact the monsters are the least horrifying part of the game. Instead the setting and world-building craft the eerie atmosphere of a Lovecraftian nightmare festering amid the carcass of an oppressive soviet-esque regime. Yet there's a surprising amount of heart to the story. It made me care about characters who only had a few lines of dialogue, and its underlying story of love, loss and obsession was effective from beginning to end.

The only downsides were that its lo-fi visuals made the environments repetitive (though this fit in with the brutalist world-building), and that it pushed the limited inventory aspect too far. I know that the six-slot inventory and storage chest is a callback to the original Resident Evil, but that game didn't have doors that needed six keys. There was way too much backtracking for inventory management.
 
Tactics Ogre Reborn - Haven’t gotten far yet but I don’t think I like this much. The battles taking 30 minutes and being full of very slow animations is really killing my enthusiasm. Especially becuase I’m so early in the game and there’s not much to experiment with.

I like that you can’t brute force things. You cannot grind beyond the Party Level (which increases as you progress in the story) and you will need to use items and pick off enemies one by one. At the same time it feels like you have to grind until to the current level cap before a major battle otherwise you will just get wiped out. And with the grinding battles feeling as long as the real bouts I feel like I’m going to need some advice from more experienced SRPG players before continuing.

Signalis sounds really good from all the impressions I’ve heard. It gets a physical edition in February so I think I will wait for that instead of getting it right away.
 
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Yeah, Signalis was a great surprise - it feels really good to bet on a title day 1 and it turns out to be incredible.

Fully agree on the inventory remarks and it's about the only negative thing I have to say about it. Maybe the way it shows its influences is a tad too transparent, but it's endearing at the same time going "oh, that's resident evil" or silent hill or Eva visuals.

As for me, I just finished Citizen Sleeper or saw a few of its endings anyway.

It's a pretty good text-based RPG albeit naturally limited by its genre. You control a Sleeper which is a biomechanical body of sorts for someone who signed off their physical body to a corporation. Personality and any other process inherent to a human body is emulated as opposed to actually taking place even if there's sentience.

That means that you interact with people on the space station where the game takes place but can also delve into the cyberspace in your quest for creating a place and relationships for yourself. The writing does wonders to establish the world and any given situation. It's cool.

Another game I finished was Sifu and what a game. The right amount of challenge, the right length, pitch perfect presentation and tone with a simple but great story of vengeance. It's so, so good. Level design is surprisingly great with shortcuts and ways for you to create distance between yourself and enemies. Lots of creativity in their presentation, too. Stunning, just stunning game.

The intro all the way to the title card is pure excellence, holy ****. I won't be putting it down anytime soon.
 
I finished God of War around Christmas time and God of War II yesterday.
Y'know, after all these open world games with so much to do it can be overwhelming, it was really really nice to go back to a classic PS2 linear game. I had so much fun with these games, I'm glad I made the effort to play them. I'm excited for God of War III, just need to get a copy for the PS4 (I still like my physical discs if I have the choice).

Next I need to go back to Yakuza 5, I took a little break. I'm also playing through Doom Eternal when I don't want to think too much in the evenings. Rip and Tear.
 
Completed Sifu a 2nd time, still absolutely stunning. Play this, seriously.

I was also supposed to come in here to say I finished Neon White but my endgame save data is gone, lol. Ridiculous. I had two levels left.

The game is incredible, almost hypnotic. The music gets into you in an almost trance-like state (the non-dramatic, Hotline Miami kind) which is ideal for the nature of the game.

You get a couple of cards at a time and must make your way through the level as fast as possible. The cards have a primary ability (normally different kinds of shooting) and an ability that triggers when you discard it - one is a bomb that kills enemies and propels you upward, another gives you a godspeed dash forward, another a downward stomp that smashes stuff... The levels are designed around these abilities.

And like Hotline Miami, it feels like solving a high speed puzzle. When you get a level perfectly from beginning to end its an incredible sensation. There are some great, intricate levels in here.

Some stylistic touches make me think of Dreamcast-era games. Maybe Saturn too.

The story is weaboo drivel with annoying voice acting but who cares when the game is this good. Just, maybe wait for a patch if your in PS4/5. I still can't believe I lost all my progress, so dumb.
 
High on Life was a mixed bag with sometimes funny jokes and gameplay that felt clunky at times - the fast travel system was also lacking.

I’m now replaying Bully: Scholarship Edition via my XSX.
 
Just been trying to go for 100% on God of War Ragnarok; I've discovered something about Kvasir's poems it turns out that they are referencing other Sony games; to think I've only noticed this today.
 
João Gomes said:
Yeah, the covers actually show what games they refer to ( I was lost on one or two). They're in a shelf at Sindri's place.
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I've yet to see them at Sindri's place but I just remember opening the journal, as I often do, after finding one, I think it was called celestial construct or something like that and I noticed from the journal sketch that the cover looked very familiar so I went back to the PS5 dashboard, as I had recently played Astro's Playroom, and found out that it was literally Astro Bot on the front cover.
 
I finished Yakuza 5.

I cried.

Again.

It was going so well but that finale man. The tears were rolling.

Definitely the longest game in the series so far, and I didn't even touch half of the mini games. Looks like 6 goes back to just Kiryu which I think I'll be glad to see. Two games back to back with swapping protags, especially with how long 5 took, was a lot. The plot was a little bit messy too but it was still a fun game.
Now I'll take a break from Yakuza for a little while as I know I'll be absolutely bawling my eyes out while I play Kiryu's final game.

I suppose now it's time to finish up some games I've been neglecting. I think I'll give my time to Stray and finish that up and then maybe go back to Death Stranding. I've left that game in limbo for months.
 
Just 100% completed God of War Ragnarok yesterday, it's not often that I go for 100% in games, as many of them tire me out just by the time the credits roll, but this game was an absolute ride.

I've also played Dragon Ball FighterZ for the first time, courtesy of PS Plus, so far it's proving to be really good but I've only seen up to the very early parts of the Frieza saga of the anime so I seriously need to make this the year I sit down and properly watch the show up until the end.
 
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Aeon said:
Dragon Ball FighterZ
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I played this with my friends a couple years ago. Difficult game... they very enjoyed it as they learned it well and knew how to have some intense fights. Most fighting games require some dedication, but this really takes it up a notch. If you put the effort in it is clearly very rewarding.

As for the anime... it is of course amazing, you should keep watching. If you are early Frieza you absolutely should keep going because the conclusion of that is absolutely wonderful, one of the best shots (is this even the correct term for animation?) I have ever seen in anime. Those of you who have seen it probably know which one I mean...
 
Aeon said:
Just 100% completed God of War Ragnarok yesterday, it's not often that I go for 100% in games, as many of them tire me out just by the time the credits roll, but this game was an absolute ride.
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I've recently started this. Miss the old "Boy" though lol!

tZReIbR.png
 
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Having finished Bully again yesterday I booted up Persona 3 Portable on my Steam Deck and started this afternoon.
 
I am playing Gnosia on the Switch because I needed more games to play on that console.

It's really really fun. It's quite basic, but it knows what it wants to do and does it well. I am someone that enjoys simplicity when it is done well.

The art is beautiful and the soundtrack is really cool.

This is a game that is easy to play and I will recommend to anyone that is a bit interested.

 
I can't imagine watching DBZ older, I remember even as a kid being really impatient about the pacing - supposedly Kai clears all that, but Goku going super saiyan, Trunks' first appearance, etc etc... So many all-time hype moments for me, no doubt because of how impressionable I was back then, but they stayed with me.

Anyway, all this to say that I've bought FighterZ twice and played it for maybe 30 minutes lol.

Animation-wise Arc gave CC2 a run for their money, just outstanding work (and more consistent than the anime....) love the fanservice with the finishers etc, you feel a kind of reverence for the source material, it's great.

I'm playing Norco and Tales of Arise and enjoying both (maybe Norco more than Arise so far). All this just waiting for Dead Space anyway.

@Lordhippos that's that good stuff! One of Ragnarok's greatest triumphs is the real evolution in their relationship, loved that
 
João Gomes said:
I can't imagine watching DBZ older, I remember even as a kid being really impatient about the pacing - supposedly Kai clears all that,
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Kai is definitely my preferred way to watch DBZ. It hacks over 100 episodes of bloat out and nothing of value was lost. The only downside is that the new footage sticks out, since the digipaint colours are over-saturated compared to the original cel art.

I've been chipping away at the original Dragon Ball for the last few years, and that desperately needs a Kai version too. Every time someone throws a punch or raises an eyebrow you get five minutes of reaction commentary from the peanut gallery.
 
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