What Games Are You Playing?

Finally getting around to playing the rest of Elden Ring, I've been on and off with this one, not because I'm having any trouble enjoying it (the polar opposite in fact) but rather I wanted it to last because it is such a good game; well deserving of this year's game of the year award, unless God of War Ragnarok winds up being better (I've not played it just yet) but it's got a herculean battle for any chance of being better than Elden Ring.
Correct choice to make it last longer. This is a game that is best enjoyed at it's own pace.

I already beat the final boss with a best friend (who initially introduced me to Souls series) and that is a memory that will stick with me. my jedi master taught me, and now i have my own apprentice, we all have really good times on this game, it is something special for sure.
 
Correct choice to make it last longer. This is a game that is best enjoyed at it's own pace.

I already beat the final boss with a best friend (who initially introduced me to Souls series) and that is a memory that will stick with me. my jedi master taught me, and now i have my own apprentice, we all have really good times on this game, it is something special for sure.
It is a really good game; I'm currently up to the Fire Giant though I read that a point of no return happens afterwards so I've been doing Ranni's quest, alongside some other side content, before continuing just in case.
 
It is a really good game; I'm currently up to the Fire Giant though I read that a point of no return happens afterwards so I've been doing Ranni's quest, alongside some other side content, before continuing just in case.
correct choice, and you still have many decisions open to you
 
correct choice, and you still have many decisions open to you
It just amazes me that they were able to keep the top tier level design of the Dark Souls series while also going open world; in fact I don't think I have seen another open world game keep it's focus on level design like Elden Ring does.
 
It just amazes me that they were able to keep the top tier level design of the Dark Souls series while also going open world; in fact I don't think I have seen another open world game keep it's focus on level design like Elden Ring does.
Miyazaki et al. have been working on these ideas since the 90s, This team knows their formula, they are focused and they have perfected it over the course of decades. Built by fans for fans.
 
Miyazaki et al. have been working on these ideas since the 90s, This team knows their formula, they are focused and they have perfected it over the course of decades. Built by fans for fans.
All in all it is a rock solid formula, ever since Kings Field, From Software have been doing things differently from other JRPG's but it goes to show that sometimes the key to success is to not chase after trends but instead make them, knowing full well they may not take off for quite a while, but in the long run it can pay off; which is precisely what happened with Dark Souls.
 
Elden Ring was magical, enjoy. I need to replay it eventually. Maybe when the DLC hits.

As for me, I've finished The Callisto Protocol - frustratingly linear (is this because of Schofield's time making call of duty...?) with no horror to speak of, I understand the mixed reception.

The story is very light but this could be the kind of game to benefit immensely from a sequel. Graphics are pristine, but that's obvious.

The gameplay is punchy but the overall game design leaves a bit to be desired. A sequel needs more open areas, mood to go with the gore, silence (there's always sound, even if ambient - silence can do wonders for horror), better enemy variety and design... It needs to be less in your face all the time. It becomes predictable.

Hope they'll be able to make a second game.

For a better horror experience, everyone needs to play Signalis! Bonus points because Evangelion is a major visual influence. Great game.
 
After around 4 hours of suffering I finally beat Malenia on Elden ring, I must be a glutton for punishment because that boss was brutal.
 
Replayed a little bit of Bastion the other day as I'm pretty attached to that game and it's OST - I'm pretty bad at it so I play in the easy/can't die mode but it's a beautiful game with an interesting story etc. :)
 
Finally finished Judgement on the PS4 last night. Really enjoyed it. Another solid RGG game. I unintentionally made it execptionally difficult for myself by not taking enough healing with me into the final stretch. Fighting the final boss with only the 1 health bar meant time for cheese strats.
Still got lots of things to muck around with in the premium adventure but for now, I want to play a different game, so I nabbed God of War and started that up. It's a modern classic that I needed to get round to at some point!
 
Finished it a little earlier in the month, but have completed Soul Hackers 2. Having only really played Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers in the broader series, this was more streamlined by comparison (SH1 is a game from the 90s in fairness). Still, while not much of a challenge on the default difficulty, as most situations were just figuring out whatever the boss gimmick is and occasionally getting caught out and thats about it, I still liked the game overall and many of the things its doing in the combat make sense and seems like a pretty good, if more newcomer friendly, combat system (you can absolutely create situations where you have take no damage on characters depending on the boss if you build towards it), but its the party characters and the engaging dynamics between them (with some fun performances, I am a fan of Erica Lindbeck's Milady and Griffin Puatu's Saizo in particular) is what ultimately saves it from being just above average to me. Maybe skip the story dlc, it's not particularly good and of questionable value.

Oh, and I took a break for a bit, at some point last month they patched the game and added running as a toggle and that saved A Lot of time, to the point I cannot imagine not having it (especially for the soul matrix stuff towards the end, that would be very slow without it). The admittedly pretty repetitive dungeon design really doesn't help in that regard.

There's a lot more of this series of games I need to play more of them at some point, having tried and failed a few times to commit to playing any of the Persona games, those new ports are on the way though soon, so maybe around then... but not at the moment.
 
God of War was such an incredible surprise in how much game there actually is - how much substance. It is extremely good, enjoy!

I loved Judgment and its sequel, Yagami is such a great protagonist that makes every cutscene a delight. Reminds me of Geralt and how much his presence/writing enhances the game.

@RaeDra I'm just waiting for the right price to jump on Soul Hackers 2. My expectations regarding this particular game have been adjusted so I think I'll be able to enjoy it just fine.

If you can, try Digital Devil Saga on the PS2 - they're in the top tier of games the series has to offer. I loved IV on the 3DS as well. Funny enough Soul Hackers 3DS was one of the few I didn't really manage to play through. Tokyo Mirage Sessions also, but I'll get back to that one and SMT V.

I think my top 3 would be
1 - Digital Devil Saga 1/2
2 - Persona 4 or 5
3 - SMT 3 or 4

I have the Devil Survivor games on 3DS but I haven't played them (yet, let's hope). Love Shin Megaten to death
 
The funny thing about God of War was how it looked from the early reveal like it was just trying to rip off The Last of Us (a game that I simply think is ok) only for it to actually turn out to be one of the best games in the series.
 
I've really been enjoying God of War on the PS4 but it's leaving me mighty curious about Kratos' past. I know it's violent, and he's not a good man to say the least but the original games are set in Greece and all about Greek Mythology so I had to have a look. I watched a few vids of a Lets Play of the original game but it looked like too much fun to not play myself, so I looked into a way to play it and against my better judgement of starting yet another game when I'm already currently playing 3 (Yakuza 5 (idolmaster), God of War (2018) and Stray) I loaded it up and started the original God of War too 😂
I think I'll get round to 2 & 3 at some point as well. This game holds up really well being a PS2 game. Enjoying it immensely so far.
 
I played God of War as it came out so I don't know how well it has aged. I remember being pleasantly surprised with the PSP titles and how enjoyable they were.

And 3 is (was? ) an incredible action game. The beginning benefits from being the climax of everything that came before, it's spectacular in the truest sense of the word. I kinda want to replay GoW 2 because I don't remember a lot about it.

I bought a bunch of indie stuff on PSN: Hades (which I already had on the switch), Obra Dinn, Norco, Neon White, Afterparty and Weird West.

I'm really feeling an itch to play Sifu but I'm waiting for a sale.

All this to say that actually my Christmas game has been modern warfare 2 sigh. Campaign, I don't do multi-player. Really enjoying it so far, the sound and feedback are so good
 
The Last of Us Part I
I've replayed the original about once per year since it came out a decade ago, so I was hesitant to pay full price for this remake. Fortunately, the Black Friday sales took the sting out of the price tag.

This is a meticulous recreation of one of the best games of all time, and the fact that it's every bit as good as the original is no small achievement. There's better facial animation in cutscenes that adds subtlety to a lot of the performances, not to mention that all cutscenes render in real-time now. It doesn't bring anything new to the table aside from the improved graphics though, so if you're already burnt out on the original then there's nothing new here. The gameplay tweaks are so tiny as to be barely noticeable. Reviews mentioned improved pathfinding for NPCs and improved enemy AI, but I saw little to no evidence of that.

The remake is a bit glitchier than I recall the original being. There's nothing major and there weren't any gameplay bugs, but the graphics had some weird pop-in problems in a few places and there was one moment where the game world vanished altogether (granted, that happened a bit off the beaten track). It was a polished experience aside from that though, especially by 2022 standards.

Overall, this felt almost exactly like playing the original. It just looks better.
 
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I started Gungrave G.O.R.E (Gunslinger Of Resurrection) because I got it as a Christmas Present.
For those who don't know Gungrave was a short lived Japanese action game series famous for having character designs and story by mangaka Yasuhiro Nightow. The last full game was released in 2004. G.O.R.E is a sequel created by a South Korean developer who had previously released a VR game in the franchise. This game was revealed in 2018 but delayed with the developers officially claiming they wanted to make it a "cooler game".

At the start of a level a big sign swings down with the instruction "Kick their ass" and you proceed to do that for 8 minutes. There's no hidden paths or collectables . You are here to shoot literally everything and everyone in haze of explosions and gunfire. So far everything game rewards you with is a new way to blow people up and new ways to rack up points to unlock new ways to blow people up. 5 missions in and I'm having fun with it. It's the exact type of simple fun I use to relax between longer games. I only have 3 main problems: you cannot grab enemies with your chain if they at a different height so you cannot use it to pull enemies up a stairwell or rip a sniper out of their perch. You cannot remap controls so you just have to get used to the somewhat bizarre control scheme. And the sound design is lacking in areas. Playing as this slow moving brute blasting his way through metal hallways would be cooler if he had any type of footfall or stomping noises. But besides that it has just been the game I was expecting and hoping for.
 
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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!
 
Been playing God of War Ragnarok and Hades (got them both for Christmas); very nearly beat the latter on something between 10 to 20 runs, not sure exactly, I think it was my first run when Meg gets replaced as well, I so nearly beat Hades only for him to literally have a second phase while my health gauge was super low.

God of War Ragnarok is so far really good; it's one of those games that make me wake up the next day and think to myself, I'm going to play this game, first thing in the morning before doing anything else, that is the sign of a great game.
 
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