Video games...what ya playing? And what are you looking forward to? (16 Viewers)

[Big League Chew]

Just started Xbox again. Do we have a group that gets together regularly? I’m down to squad

 

[ShamrockPride]

Just started playing days gone actually.  Got it for free from those monthly ps plus games.  Pretty damn good

Upgrading your bike was one of my favorite parts of that game.

 

[ShamrockPride]

Really enjoying HZD after coming back to it. But my god, it has maybe the worst voice acting I've ever heard from a AAA title.

It's as if the voice director was like to the actors, "I wanna hear every last damn syllable clearly enunciated". They all sound like robots, except for Aloy. She's like the only decent VA in the game.

And the facial animations are horrid as well. I know the game was really meant to shine light on how good the PS4 could look, but damn I was just listening to this hermit on a mountaintop that just got robbed and threatened with his life, and the dude has what looks like a smile on his face the entire conversation. Just really distracting.

 

[supermike80]

Went with Last of Us 2 on PS4.   Decent game but I admit I am finding myself skipping the cinematic scenes more often than not now.  They are too long and I just don't care that much.  

Finished Last of us 2.   Gotta say I didn't love it.  It was ok...I think I paid $20 on a PS Special, so that was definitely worth it.  Still, not loving it as much as the reviews say.

Grabbed PGA 2k21, so that should be fun.   

 

[Poke_4_Life]

• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.  I've argued elsewhere that this game is kind of a mashup of Dark Souls and Batman, only with light sabers.  It's nowhere near as hard as Dark Souls -- I'm mainly talking about the level design and overall style of combat, not the difficulty.  
  
• Control.  Not sure if this is technically an RPG, but it's in the same general mold as HZD or something like that.  It's just that it takes place in a big building instead of an open world.  This is a criminally overlooked title IMO.  It kind of chugged on the PS4 but I'm sure it would run great on PS5.  Combat is fairly fast-paced and improvisational, which I liked.  Also, Control features a deeply weird, trippy story that might not be everyone's cup of tea but you can't accuse them of coloring by numbers.  
  

I downloaded both of these this week, will give them a go.  Fallen Order (PS5 version) was on sale for $15 and Control (PS5 also) was free on PS+ a while back.

Will report back later. 

I'm still finishing up the DLC on Ghost of Tsushima and debating on getting the platinum.  I'm not usually a completionist, but I think I'm already pretty close.

 

[Hawks64]

Horizon: Zero Dawn is the best storyline I have ever experienced in a (single) game... ever. Based on the fact you didn't care for it, I'll not waste your time with any of my recommendations. 

I wouldn't say best ever but it is a good story for sure, really enjoyed the whole thing, even listening to and reading most of the collectibles. I don't typically do that.

I remember why I stopped playing Horizon Zero Dawn originally.  The game spends the first 15 levels or so teaching you how to play stealthily.  That's how I tend to build my characters in open world games too.  Then after that, the game starts to put you in boss fight situations where stealth is not an option at all.  So the way I built my character ended up being worthless.  

Open world games are better whey they are like Far Cry in that any way you choose to tackle an objective is viable.  In this game, I'm forced to put it on the easiest difficulty level to just cheese my way through.  I'd normally just stop playing, but I'm invested in the story.  Poor game design.

I was able to play stealthy for 90% of the game, even the big baddies. I really learned how to use the ammo types to stay hidden but do tons of damage to armor/make them vulnerable to attack. The only places where stealth wasn't possible was the cauldrons and those were very hard. The most difficult fighting in the game IMO.

 

[Scoresman]

Are there any open world games where the side quests and optional areas are almost required to be able to advance through the main story? 

I recently played through Far Cry 6 and while it's great, I never needed to upgrade my weapons once I got the scoped rifle and a couple other early upgrades.  Everything else ended up being fluff.  I never felt like I needed to do the side stuff/collectibles/whatever to be able to progress the main story.  Looking for something where I need to do all that stuff in order to even get through the main game.

 

[ShamrockPride]

Finished Last of us 2.   Gotta say I didn't love it.  It was ok...I think I paid $20 on a PS Special, so that was definitely worth it.  Still, not loving it as much as the reviews say.

Grabbed PGA 2k21, so that should be fun.   

Let me know how 2k is. I picked it up for free a few months back when they had it for PS Plus, just haven't touched it yet. I haven't played a golf game since 2k has been making them.

 

[belljr]

Let me know how 2k is. I picked it up for free a few months back when they had it for PS Plus, just haven't touched it yet. I haven't played a golf game since 2k has been making them.

i love 2k....its tough with the harder settings

 

[jobarules]

Are there any open world games where the side quests and optional areas are almost required to be able to advance through the main story? 

I recently played through Far Cry 6 and while it's great, I never needed to upgrade my weapons once I got the scoped rifle and a couple other early upgrades.  Everything else ended up being fluff.  I never felt like I needed to do the side stuff/collectibles/whatever to be able to progress the main story.  Looking for something where I need to do all that stuff in order to even get through the main game.

Agreed. Far Cry 6 is ok but nothing like the previous versions. I'm level 5 and using the same gun and scopes I started with.

 

[belljr]

i love 2k....its tough with the harder settings

To add, still lacks the career department, but I prefer the realism vs tw

 

[Todem]

Agreed. Far Cry 6 is ok but nothing like the previous versions. I'm level 5 and using the same gun and scopes I started with.

FC3, FC4 and FC Primal were the last truly great games in this series. FC5 and New Dawn and FC6.....one giant Meh from me. 

I actually loved the tower system.....made things very interesting and you could approach them differently and replay them etc. 

I think they tried a new formula for FC5 and beyond......and guns meant nothing anymore. Agree 100% with that. All fluff. 

I am probably going to go back and replay FC4 again at some point. That was a stunning landscape. And that gyrocopter gave me some of the most fun crazy kills I ever had with this series. Death from above!!!

Plus hunting meant something on FC3 thru Primal. 

 

[jobarules]

FC3, FC4 and FC Primal were the last truly great games in this series. FC5 and New Dawn and FC6.....one giant Meh from me. 

I actually loved the tower system.....made things very interesting and you could approach them differently and replay them etc. 

I think they tried a new formula for FC5 and beyond......and guns meant nothing anymore. Agree 100% with that. All fluff. 

I am probably going to go back and replay FC4 again at some point. That was a stunning landscape. And that gyrocopter gave me some of the most fun crazy kills I ever had with this series. Death from above!!!

Plus hunting meant something on FC3 thru Primal. 

Also agreed on hunting. Prior Far Cry games (I never played 5 and maybe thats the issue) I would spend hours hunting to upgrade my gear. I havent hunted once yet. I just feel like getting through the story at this point.

 

[Todem]

Also agreed on hunting. Prior Far Cry games (I never played 5 and maybe thats the issue) I would spend hours hunting to upgrade my gear. I havent hunted once yet. I just feel like getting through the story at this point.

Hunting was pointless in FC5. It was to collect trophies not upgrade your gear. 

 

[phandango]

Please posts thoughts on Deathloop. I'm playing it now. No spoilers, but just an age-specific comment: I'm in my late 40s, and even though I've been playing games since Atari, I'm having a tougher time following games with hours-long learning curves. I'm probably 6-8 hours into Deathloop, and even though I was progressing, I kept saying to myself, "WTF is even happening? What am I supposed to do? How do these things work?" I'm finally to a spot now where things have cleared up and the goal is apparent, so I'm more excited to keep going, but there were some moments when I was seriously thinking, Maybe I've gotten too old to play these games. 

I'm probably a good 25 hours into Deathloop. Now that I've figured out the "rules" to the world, it's absolutely worth it. The gist of it: You repeat the same day every day on an island run by eight "visionaries," all of whom you need to kill to "break the loop" of repeating days. But if you don't kill them all in the same day, then everything resets. There are four parts to the day: morning, noon, afternoon, evening. There are also only four parts of the island. So you can spend all "morning" on one part of the island, spend as long as you want there, and then when you leave that area, it advances to noon, and you can go to a different part of the island. If you do something in the morning, it affects what happens the rest of that day. So a lot of the game is figuring out how to get multiple visionaries into the same location at the same time of day so that you can kill them efficiently and end the loop.

The same developer made the Dishonored games, so if you like those, you'll probably like Deathloop. You have devices that give you invisibility, telekinesis, teleportation, etc., but you can only equip two powers, which is annoying. You have a third power that essentially gives you two extra "lives" per level, which you can't unequip. This is related to my main gripe: You can't save your game mid-level. The game only saves when you leave a level and the day advances (morning to noon, noon to afternoon, etc). So you really need to plan to have a good 1-2 hours free to complete a level. (This is annoying for me, because I have only about 1-2 hours to play every night, and I hate going to bed late.) 

Pretty fun game so far, glad I didn't get frustrated and quit in the beginning. 

 

[fasteddie_21]

I have enjoyed many many AAA titles. 

I jus like seeing developers try to stay independent vs being bought up.....a little more creative freedom per say. 

But Sony studios exclusive titles have been outstanding (I am a playstation guy) but the fact Microsoft bought up Bethseda is going to lead to me o eventually caving and picking up an XBOX X console (maybe this Christmas.....maybe not) because I am sure I am going to see Starfield, Elder Scrolls VI and The Outer Worlds II and want those games.....badly. 

Time will tell. 

I am at the end of the road with Sports games. I have stuck with MLB The Show 20 and won’t be getting any new Show titles probably the rest of the PS5 cycle......done with SDS. They cut out too many core features on 21 and I don't expect them back for 22 at a minimum.....plus I do not like the design direction they took with 21. They lost me. It wa a great run from MLB 09 thru MLB 20. And MLB 20 is the pinnacle for me being a classic roster nut. I have dozens of historical rosters that keep the replay value unlimited. 

Madden.....LMAO......don't get me started. 

NBA2K22 was my first one since 2K18 and I only ever really played 2K hardcore on 2K11 and 2K18. 2K22 is the end for me......fun game....I don’t need he new ones moving forward. 

Sports games are a lost cause for me being an offline franchise mode only player......they are now purely focused on card modes and microtransactions......the end of my era indeed. And that’s ok. I have so many great sports games to hold me over the rest of my life. I still play my PS3 sports games too. 

I am purely focused on offline single player action RPG and RPG games. The single player experience is what I value the most and fortunately you still get fantastic single player games being made. 

This is me, esp your last sentence. I downloaded Yakuza 0 and trying that series as well as Days Gone.
 

Days Gone begins tonight. Excited for it. Thanks for the recommendation y’all!

 

[GroveDiesel]

I’m itching for an RPG to play on PS5. Anyone have a suggestion for something similar to Skyrim. I like the fantasy aspect, getting to choose class/style of play, at least somewhat open world, etc. Any suggestions?

 

[fasteddie_21]

Don’t laugh, but did/does anyone else find it a bit frustrating in Days Gone at how faint the items appear in the world? I’m nitpicking, but it feels easy to miss stuff to pickup…?

 

[Poke_4_Life]

Don’t laugh, but did/does anyone else find it a bit frustrating in Days Gone at how faint the items appear in the world? I’m nitpicking, but it feels easy to miss stuff to pickup…?

May want to check your brightness settings?  I dunno.

 

[Poke_4_Life]

Got my platinum for Ghosts of Tsushima this weekend.  

Barely started Jedi Fallen Order, watched too much football.  Oh well.  

 

[MTskibum]

I’m itching for an RPG to play on PS5. Anyone have a suggestion for something similar to Skyrim. I like the fantasy aspect, getting to choose class/style of play, at least somewhat open world, etc. Any suggestions?

Fallout 4 - probably too obvious

Dragon Age Inquisition - I like the series, if you don't mind playing an older game you may want to start at the first dragon age, however the first one can be difficult if you have not played many of the old bioware games.

Kingdoms of Amalur - never played, but it is a skyrim ripoff, even the lead of the project came from the elder scrolls series

Divinity Original Sin 2 - Everyone who has played the game loves it. All my friends have raved about this game and always recommend it to me, but it is very long.

Dragons dogma - It is a skyrim ripoff, generally positive reviews.

kingdom come - deliverance - It is a more realistic take on Skyrim, my brother really liked it, but other people said the realism can be frustrating at times.

Cyberpunk - I will play this eventually, but am waiting for the PS5 version.

 

[Steady Mooobin]

I’m itching for an RPG to play on PS5. Anyone have a suggestion for something similar to Skyrim. I like the fantasy aspect, getting to choose class/style of play, at least somewhat open world, etc. Any suggestions?

Witcher 3?

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is absolutely fantastic and looks amazing on the newer gen systems. 

 

[Steady Mooobin]

kingdom come - deliverance - It is a more realistic take on Skyrim, my brother really liked it, but other people said the realism can be frustrating at times.

I love it but do admit- You must be able to be content with the decision you make changing the story around you. There is no saving every 5 seconds to redo your choices. 

 

[Steady Mooobin]

I would have loved dragons dogma but it feels like a single player mmo. Your party members are basically uninteresting bots. The monsters you fight are probably my favorite of any game except for maybe the Witcher 3 bosses. 

 

[thecatch]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Halo Infinite campaign. The multiplayer seems fun too, but I’m apparently well past my Halo prime. I’m definitely the old guy jumping around, failing to hit anything and single handed my sabotaging my team’s k/d ratio. I haven’t decided if I’m going to dedicate myself to getting decent, or will move on to a different game. 

 

[The Tick]

Agreed. Far Cry 6 is ok but nothing like the previous versions. I'm level 5 and using the same gun and scopes I started with.

I felt that was the case with most Far Cry's, it felt like there was gun, scoped gun, silenced gun, and bow and arrow, that was it most of the time

 

[jm192]

Out of your list, I've played GoT, Outer Worlds, and HZD.

Ghosts and HZD both follow the tried-and-true Ubisoft model of game design.  Neither is actually made by Ubisoft, but they're both basically vastly superior reskins of Far Cry / Assassins Creed.  I liked them, but admittedly it is really tired game design.  I can't blame anybody for being bored with this.  

Outer Worlds was phenomenal for a couple of hours.  Then my character was an overpowered demigod who who could effortlessly talk people into selling their children into slavery while casually murdering scores of enemies without taking a scratch.  They messed up the difficulty curve on this one.

A few that I might recommend to varying degrees:

• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.  I've argued elsewhere that this game is kind of a mashup of Dark Souls and Batman, only with light sabers.  It's nowhere near as hard as Dark Souls -- I'm mainly talking about the level design and overall style of combat, not the difficulty.  
  
• Control.  Not sure if this is technically an RPG, but it's in the same general mold as HZD or something like that.  It's just that it takes place in a big building instead of an open world.  This is a criminally overlooked title IMO.  It kind of chugged on the PS4 but I'm sure it would run great on PS5.  Combat is fairly fast-paced and improvisational, which I liked.  Also, Control features a deeply weird, trippy story that might not be everyone's cup of tea but you can't accuse them of coloring by numbers.  
  
• Days Gone.  Okay, it's Far Cry only with zombies, but it's good.  Takes too long to get the "horde" mechanic going.
  

Fallen Order is fantastic.  

 

[formerfourdigit]

Guardians of the Galaxy on PS5 is a pretty fun single player romp.  Good story, combat and voice acting.  Nothing earth-shattering but it's fun.  After done I'll either pick up the HZD DLC (any thoughts?) or start Death Stranding Directors Cut.  I started Cyberpunk 2077 but like most I put it down and waiting for the next patch and full PS5 version.

 

[Poke_4_Life]

First reports are coming in about Horizon Forbidden West.

I'm in.  Read and watched just enough to know first thoughts are positive and then stopped.  I don't want to let the previews spoil anything for me.  I really enjoyed the prior game and they may have actually taken it up a notch.  

 

[jobarules]

First reports are coming in about Horizon Forbidden West.

I'm in.  Read and watched just enough to know first thoughts are positive and then stopped.  I don't want to let the previews spoil anything for me.  I really enjoyed the prior game and they may have actually taken it up a notch.  

This is a day 1 purchase for me. The original was in my top 3 games ever (GoW, HZD, TLoU)

 

[Todem]

I have finished the main story in God of War and am now doing all the exploration of the realms and doing favors and side story stuff. Having a blast. I still cannot believe I never played this back when it came out.

The game is simply amazing. From combat, story, voice acting, graphics and environments, the epic monsters and dragons and plenty of different enemy types and so many ways to go about combat. A gem of a game. 

 

[Poke_4_Life]

This is a day 1 purchase for me. The original was in my top 3 games ever (GoW, HZD, TLoU)

To that end, I went ahead and did the preorder.  

 

[Scoresman]

First reports are coming in about Horizon Forbidden West.

I'm in.  Read and watched just enough to know first thoughts are positive and then stopped.  I don't want to let the previews spoil anything for me.  I really enjoyed the prior game and they may have actually taken it up a notch.  

I'm skeptical they are going to change the combat enough to fit all playstyles which was my biggest gripe with ZD.  I spent the first part of the game using a stealth approach to combat which is pretty much what I like doing in all open world games like this.  Then I ran into the first of many boss fights where you have no options on how to approach the situation and stealth became worthless.  Putzing around with traps and ropecasts and elemental damage didn't appeal to me.  

Still purchasing and will play on easiest difficulty for the story if need be.  

 

[Poke_4_Life]

I'm skeptical they are going to change the combat enough to fit all playstyles which was my biggest gripe with ZD.  I spent the first part of the game using a stealth approach to combat which is pretty much what I like doing in all open world games like this.  Then I ran into the first of many boss fights where you have no options on how to approach the situation and stealth became worthless.  Putzing around with traps and ropecasts and elemental damage didn't appeal to me.  

Still purchasing and will play on easiest difficulty for the story if need be.  

There's some info in that link about new movement and attack mechanisms.  Might inform your decision somewhat.  

 

[Hawks64]

To that end, I went ahead and did the preorder.  

said I would never pre-order anything again but this game was simply spectacular. Favorite game since FO4 and ES.

 

[hagmania]

Teamfight Tactics, Teamfight Tactics and a good sprinkling of Teamfight Tactics.

I hit Master rank, which is top 1% of the player base. Gonna go for Challenger next set.

 

[Instinctive]

Apparently Pokemon Legends Arceus is kind of like Skyrim with Pokemon which sounds pretty sweet. 

 

[Riddick02]

Picked up Wildermyth on Steam sale.  Exceeded my expectations.  Mini D&Dish type campaigns with the XCOM turn based combat style and world/map management aspects.  Logged about 50 hours and spent $19.  Recommended.  Think it may be PC only though.   

 

[fasteddie_21]

Enjoying Days Gone, albeit relatively still early in. 
 

The tension is real when you unexpectedly run into a massive horde and have to skedaddle quick to avoid being overrun!

 

[Todem]

Enjoying Days Gone, albeit relatively still early in. 
 

The tension is real when you unexpectedly run into a massive horde and have to skedaddle quick to avoid being overrun!

Wait till you get far into the game. The most fun I had was strategically taking out all the hordes on the map. That was awesome sauce. 

A highly underrated game. I really enjoyed it. And the story was great. Best zombie survival game in the genre imo. Dying Light would be next for me....loved that too.

 

[belljr]

Wait till you get far into the game. The most fun I had was strategically taking out all the hordes on the map. That was awesome sauce. 

A highly underrated game. I really enjoyed it. And the story was great. Best zombie survival game in the genre imo. Dying Light would be next for me....loved that too.

I didnt enjoy Dying Light - the control mechanics seemed off to me.

I may try days gone

 

[Thorn]

Finally got the time to play The Last of Us 2.  Wow.  It's a masterpiece.  Heavy but just so well done.  Reminds me of a great novel, where you get done and wonder what the characters are doing after the story ends.

 

[Kanil]

Just played "Lost in Random" with Kaniljr (10yo).  The fight mechanics were really unique and fun but since the game was designed for kids, it was a bit too easy.  Great game for anyone who has kids around the 9-12 range.

 

[jm192]

Been on The Guardians of the Galaxy for a little bit now.  A lot of fun

 

[Maik Jeaunz]

Anybody played UFC4? It’s one of the PS Plus games for February. I’m thinking of creating a Dana White clone, and then just letting him get the #### beaten out of him every fight. 

 

[steelerfan1]

Are there any open world games where the side quests and optional areas are almost required to be able to advance through the main story? 

I recently played through Far Cry 6 and while it's great, I never needed to upgrade my weapons once I got the scoped rifle and a couple other early upgrades.  Everything else ended up being fluff.  I never felt like I needed to do the side stuff/collectibles/whatever to be able to progress the main story.  Looking for something where I need to do all that stuff in order to even get through the main game.

I’ve just glanced here, but if you haven’t already played Days Gone, that may be an option for you. I think it would be very difficult to get through without getting bike upgrades, weapon upgrades and finding key items to keep going. Definitely a top 5 game for me, but I’m also limited to having to play 3rd person games as the first person thing makes me nauseous…

 

[gkza]

Here is a pretty cool interview with Hugo Martin, director of Doom Eternal.  

https://youtu.be/_wTsFUIBjkY

 

[Scoresman]

About 3 hours in on Dying Light 2, and it's pretty good so far.  The parkour is the highlight and is so fun. Combat is all melee so far and really not bad. Story seems meh but standard fare for these games.

 

[ShamrockPride]

Cyberpunk PS5 upgrade is now available.

From what I've been reading, it's a lot of small quality of life improvements that add up to a significant overall improvement. Reading a lot of positive opinions around the interwebz.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Started Hitman 3 this past weekend.  I'm only on the second mission, but I really love what they did with this franchise.  After a little fiddling, I was able to get all my unlocked stuff from Hitman 2 to carry over, so I got to start off with things like emetic poison and sniper rifles already unlocked.  That doesn't really affect the challenge of the game because you're eventually aiming for a "no extraneous kills, no alerts, no bodies found, suit-only" run where you won't be able to use most of your gear anyway, but it makes some of the sub-plot related scenarios a little funnier to pull off.