What Games Are You Playing?

Played some First Descendant on the weekend just gone with a friend (they had a beta up), good fun so far, it's a free to play sci-fi shooting game, reminds me a lot of The Division in how it plays. I reckon we'll play some more of that on release.

This was on the PC, but it's coming to other platforms for the final launch I think. The game looks and runs good.

Some gameplay footage and things here, looks like quite a bit to it in terms of things to do.


I've been playing Hellblade 2 here and there (not to be confused with Helldivers 2), it's amazing graphically speaking, true marvel of technology that we can have environments like this. Senua's voices in your head must be how it feels to be Gollum in Lord of the Rings. Playing this on the PC.

I've pre-ordered Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance from TGC Outlet via Ebay for the PS5, I had a £10 Ebay voucher via Nectar points and the game was on sale for £45 after the Ebay voucher was added. 15% off with code MAYPAY15. So total cost was £35 cash with the £10 voucher I had, can't complain there :)

www.ebay.co.uk

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance (PS5) PRE-ORDER - RELEASED 14/06/2024 - NEW | eBay

A Tale of Vengeance or Creation - Which path will you choose?. As order and chaos crumble around you, forge your own path to dictate the fate of humanity. th Jun 2024. Xbox Series X. When can I expect it to arrive?.
www.ebay.co.uk

Still milling around in Ghost of Tsushima some as well. Still great game and the PC port is really good.
 
Lordhippos said:
Played some First Descendant on the weekend just gone with a friend (they had a beta up), good fun so far, it's a free to play sci-fi shooting game, reminds me a lot of The Division in how it plays. I reckon we'll play some more of that on release.

This was on the PC, but it's coming to other platforms for the final launch I think. The game looks and runs good.
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I tried the PS5 beta last year. It made a decent first impression with its controls and gunplay, but the fundamental game structure killed my interest. Playing solo, practically every combat encounter dragged on 5-10 times too long. Early game AI is dumb as a lamppost too; either rushing me or standing around like a plank while I stand in front of them and shoot them in the face. I was getting bored to the point of quitting every few minutes. I presume co-op rebalances this, but I couldn't find any matchmaking options for the main story. Maybe some of these problems have been addressed since last year?
 
I think they've improved things a lot, though the way the co-op system works isn't really perfect, or I lacked some understanding of how it was meant to work.

My friend would do a support request and invite me, we're then together and in the same party for the over world missions, these were generally short/fun to do, and we'd pick up the odd random person who was near us to join in as well.

Then we had some bigger missions that we couldn't join as a party, and that made me a little sad, because we had to try and hit the matchmaking option at the same time. Once it worked, and once it didn't. I hope they're still ironing this out a bit because ideally I would want to just co-op all the missions.
 
Eternights
There are two ways to look at this game. As an action game it's a fairly janky, budget affair. In an attempt to copy the template of licensed blockbuster action games from 20 years ago, it tries to do a bit of everything and ends up not doing any of it especially well. Combat is stiff, unresponsive, and feels pretty basic even once you've unlocked all available abilities. It especially suffers from me playing it immediately after the far superior Stellar Blade.

Locations are bland, boring to explore, and suffer from abnormally poor lighting. I suspect the developers wanted the protagonist's glowing arm to act as a light source a lot of the time, but it casts light in such a short range that some parts of levels are completely black.

It also tries its hand at mandatory stealth segments, a motorbike chase, scavenger hunts, and some basic minigames. It's ambitious for what is clearly a lower budget production, but all the gameplay elements feel undercooked. So as an action game, Eternights is playable, but not particularly good.

If you look at it as a dating sim though, it's relatively lavish. It has 3D animated characters instead of the usual 2D portraits and is fully voiced. While the models fall a bit short of the 2D key art used for certain scenes, the game's saving grace is how expressive and funny the characters are. It's a pleasure to spend time with them, though the post-apocalyptic setting does limit the kinds of activities available. The budget does show on this side of things too though, mainly in how the whole game feels like it's on fast forward. Considering how much emphasis it places on relationship building, individual dialogue scenes tend to be pretty short and the game can comfortably be finished in 10 hours.

I would really only recommend Eternights for the entertainment value of the characters. It's not expensive and is frequently discounted, so it's just about worth a go if it interests you as a dating sim. I might play it again at some point to try one of the other girl's routes, but it's not high on my replay list.

Also, if you do play it, make sure you have a phone with a QR code reader handy during the end credits. I won't spoil why, but it doesn't give you long to scan the code.
 
Dai said:
I would really only recommend Eternights for the entertainment value of the characters. It's not expensive and is frequently discounted, so it's just about worth a go if it interests you as a dating sim. I might play it again at some point to try one of the other girl's routes, but it's not high on my replay list.
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I watched a quick Youtube video about it and one of the top comments was "budget Persona", may give it a go at some point if it's cheap and fairly quick to play :)
 
I finally finished a Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough. Unsurprisingly, it took me 2 1/2 months and around 140 hours lol. I had a great time, although near the end I was losing the desire to play. I think I just played too much (I'm also doing another playthrough with some friends at the same time) but overall, fantastic experience. I will defo try the durge playthrough at some point (although I don't know if I can really pick the cruel options. Some of them are, oof.)
I did boot up Yakuza Like a Dragon the other week so I'm getting into that now. It's no secret that I love the Yakuza games and this is looking like another solid entry, having a great time. The turn base isn't as good as the beat em up style but it still has the Yakuza feel and I'm still enjoying it. I'm getting used to it.
I also planned to play Dragons Dogma 2 after I finished BG3, so that's on the cards to play next too. Plenty to keep me occupied. Not to mention Elden Ring DLC in a few weeks as well. Phew!
 
I’m coming to the end of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth now and it’s been a solid experience except for one overarching issue: the mini games. They’re a mixed bag and some are just awful. Queen’s Blood is fun though and I’ve almost beaten every player now.

I’m also not keen on some story changes and how bits and pieces have been moved around but this has been a better experience than the first remake was, mainly owing to me not being the biggest fan of the Midgar section of the original game in the first place.
 
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