What have you been playing recently?

[SenexBeast]

Fallout 4

 

[SenexBeast]

Starfield

 

[OneBigClam]

Mech Armada
Boltgun
Spirit Island

 

[SenexBeast]

Fallout 76

 

[SenexBeast]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

 

[Camelsruler]

Finished main campaign in Civilization VI. This game sort of lasts forever or you can play and try again and so much variety but I finished my first campaign and will probably play something else for a bit so thought to share a quick review of my thoughts so far.

This game is a blast and is massive. Just so much variety and one of the best simulators or 4x games I have ever played. Like I said so much variety it's sort of hard to explain and every playthrough would be different but I'll try. I basically just wanted to expand my reach and get a feel for all the games menus/modes. I sort of went for an "all-in" aggressive wartime tactic since an opposing computer civilization waged war on me early on and started attacking one of my cities.

I never really forgave them for that and just kept building up my armies as much as I could to keep up with the pace. I did flesh out my town and built up a monastery and some other recreational areas like a bathhouse and some monuments but generally focused my efforts on building my armory and barracks as much as possible especially after the nation next to me wanted to start beefing right away.

I eventually took their major city as well as my own back but most of my playthrough was just gathering resources to deal with this war and it lasted several centuries (haha). My next playthrough would probably start out smaller and just massively work on infrastructure/resources although I did get to expand my civilizations education system and social sciences fairly well.

The systems on display here are very thoughtful and you can customize your civilization to anything from politics, religion, science, military, engineering and social aspects as well. Be careful of natural disasters and warring nations though as they can damage your progress and send you back to the Stone ages.

 

[Kamurocho_Freak]

Picked this up at launch. Have put in 3 playthroughs so far, one with Carnby and two as Emily. I’ve enjoyed the game a lot. It has a much, much slower pace than the recent RE remakes, but has incredible atmosphere and a wonderful soundtrack that helps build to some great moments.

The game follows a similar setup to the original game, with you choosing whether to investigate Derceto Manor as either Emily or Carnby. A few twists though, the first being that rather than a residence whose owner committed suicide, the manor is now both a hospital for the mentally ill, and also a hotbed of cult activity. The second is that both characters are present for the story, with whomever you pick facing the more supernatural threat, while the other character investigates the human and monetary evils that caused all this.

I’ve played the original, and it was nice to see callbacks to both that and the second game game pop up throughout, whilst also managing to keep things feeling fresh. The many new characters you’ll meet have a Silent Hill vibe in their interactions, with true meaning and intent often being unclear on a first playthrough. It also taps into the Lovecraftian influences of the original game fully, as well as other hallmarks of the time period, such as the fascination with Egyptian pyramids, seances, and black magic. The story goes places I wasn’t expecting, both literally and figuratively, and was pretty compelling from start to finish.

Combat is what you’d expect from a modern 3rd person horror game. Funnily enough, melee definitely feels like the more OP option for once, even though your weapons will quickly break down, the many shovels and axes make short work of monsters while they last. Emily and Carnby have different starting firearms, with Carnby getting the better deal, though the later weapons are universal. Carnby has an easier time starting out, but other than that combat isn’t much different between the two.

I do appreciate the game having quite lengthy sections where puzzle solving and investigating takes priority. Some of the puzzles were quite tricky on a first run, but nothing that felt frustrating or too obtuse, which I really appreciated. You can also open up new interactions or objectives towards the end depending on what items you find, and the game does have multiple endings, so it certainly pays to be thorough.

On a technical level, the game does sometimes suffer with minor glitches. Nothing I found to be game breaking, but minor presentational issues like enemies ragdolling like crazy and occasionally catching on objects, having to mash the dodge button like crazy to break free. Not a deal breaker for me, but I understand others being less forgiving.

All in all, I thought this was an excellent take on an old classic.

 

[Camelsruler]

View attachment 1166476


Picked this up at launch. Have put in 3 playthroughs so far, one with Carnby and two as Emily. I’ve enjoyed the game a lot. It has a much, much slower pace than the recent RE remakes, but has incredible atmosphere and a wonderful soundtrack that helps build to some great moments.

The game follows a similar setup to the original game, with you choosing whether to investigate Derceto Manor as either Emily or Carnby. A few twists though, the first being that rather than a residence whose owner committed suicide, the manor is now both a hospital for the mentally ill, and also a hotbed of cult activity. The second is that both characters are present for the story, with whomever you pick facing the more supernatural threat, while the other character investigates the human and monetary evils that caused all this.

I’ve played the original, and it was nice to see callbacks to both that and the second game game pop up throughout, whilst also managing to keep things feeling fresh. The many new characters you’ll meet have a Silent Hill vibe in their interactions, with true meaning and intent often being unclear on a first playthrough. It also taps into the Lovecraftian influences of the original game fully, as well as other hallmarks of the time period, such as the fascination with Egyptian pyramids, seances, and black magic. The story goes places I wasn’t expecting, both literally and figuratively, and was pretty compelling from start to finish.

View attachment 1166484

Combat is what you’d expect from a modern 3rd person horror game. Funnily enough, melee definitely feels like the more OP option for once, even though your weapons will quickly break down, the many shovels and axes make short work of monsters while they last. Emily and Carnby have different starting firearms, with Carnby getting the better deal, though the later weapons are universal. Carnby has an easier time starting out, but other than that combat isn’t much different between the two.

I do appreciate the game having quite lengthy sections where puzzle solving and investigating takes priority. Some of the puzzles were quite tricky on a first run, but nothing that felt frustrating or too obtuse, which I really appreciated. You can also open up new interactions or objectives towards the end depending on what items you find, and the game does have multiple endings, so it certainly pays to be thorough.

View attachment 1166487


On a technical level, the game does sometimes suffer with minor glitches. Nothing I found to be game breaking, but minor presentational issues like enemies ragdolling like crazy and occasionally catching on objects, having to mash the dodge button like crazy to break free. Not a deal breaker for me, but I understand others being less forgiving.

All in all, I thought this was an excellent take on an old classic.

Awesome review as always. I do want to check this one out at some point as I am one of the few people out there (probably) that actually beat the original game on PC and would be interested to see what they did to this. Looks very atmospheric and creepy.

 

[SenexBeast]

Gotham Knights

 

[deuce985]

Still playing Unicorn Overlord but I added Helldivers 2.


Absolutely loving both games. Arrowhead made my favorite co-op game last gen in Helldivers and this sequel is going to be my favorite this gen. It's a totally different game but in many ways it's evolved. I hope to see healthy growth for this IP in the future. Amazing that my niche Helldivers game that I hoped to one day see a sequel from turns into the biggest commercial hit this year.


I admittedly was jaded that Sony influence changed it so much but it ended up for the better. Great job by Arrowhead with endless fun. Never gets old. Helldivers 2 is my early favorite for GOTY. Seems like each game I play this year it just gets better and better. I hope Eiyuden Chronicles lives up to my expectations.

 

[MatthewGavin10]

Still playing Unicorn Overlord but I added Helldivers 2.


Absolutely loving both games. Arrowhead made my favorite co-op game last gen in Helldivers and this sequel is going to be my favorite this gen. It's a totally different game but in many ways it's evolved. I hope to see healthy growth for this IP in the future. Amazing that my niche Helldivers game that I hoped to one day see a sequel from turns into the biggest commercial hit this year.


I admittedly was jaded that Sony influence changed it so much but it ended up for the better. Great job by Arrowhead with endless fun. Never gets old. Helldivers 2 is my early favorite for GOTY. Seems like each game I play this year it just gets better and better. I hope Eiyuden Chronicles lives up to my expectations.

I am also playing Unicorn Overlord and Helldivers 2.

I love Unicorn Overlord. I have played about 30 hours so far. I am at the battle to get to the north.

I just bought Helldivers 2 this morning, so I am going to start it tonight when I get home from work.

 

[deuce985]

I am also playing Unicorn Overlord and Helldivers 2.

I love Unicorn Overlord. I have played about 30 hours so far. I am at the battle to get to the north.

I just bought Helldivers 2 this morning, so I am going to start it tonight when I get home from work.

It's amazing how Vanillaware can do something completely out of their comfort zone and then arguably say it's near the top of their genre. I play lots of strategy games/tactical RPGs etc. and this game's gameplay is top tier. It's very well thought out and I love it. One of the knocks I have on it is the game is actually too easy on normal so I had to crank the difficult up. Usually normal gives you challenging in strategy games but in this one it really shines the more it presses you to play smarter.


13 Sentinels is one of the best visual novel style games I've played. I did not initially enjoy Vanillaware games until I gave them a second chance but now i see the love for them. Dragon's Crown was something I had to replay to see why it was good. I really want to play Muramasa but it appears the only way that may be possible is through emulation so I might have to resort to that. They will never remaster it apparently.


If any fan was ever a big Ogre Battle fan and wanted a modern one Unicorn Overlord is their dream game.

 

[MatthewGavin10]

It's amazing how Vanillaware can do something completely out of their comfort zone and then arguably say it's near the top of their genre. I play lots of strategy games/tactical RPGs etc. and this game's gameplay is top tier. It's very well thought out and I love it. One of the knocks I have on it is the game is actually too easy on normal so I had to crank the difficult up. Usually normal gives you challenging in strategy games but in this one it really shines the more it presses you to play smarter.


13 Sentinels is one of the best visual novel style games I've played. I did not initially enjoy Vanillaware games until I gave them a second chance but now i see the love for them. Dragon's Crown was something I had to replay to see why it was good. I really want to play Muramasa but it appears the only way that may be possible is through emulation so I might have to resort to that. They will never remaster it apparently.


If any fan was ever a big Ogre Battle fan and wanted a modern one Unicorn Overlord is their dream game.

Yeah, there has only been one battle that gave me any trouble. It was a battle in the Elven territory where the boss traveled between entrances to the castle. A lot of the enemies were too fast for my units and I had switch them around to make it work.

I think Renault is like a cheat code in the game. He is OP.

 

[SenexBeast]

Mortal Kombat I
Tekken 8

 

[SenexBeast]

Fallout 4

Current gen update!

 

[SenexBeast]

Star Wars: Jedi Survivor

 

[deuce985]

Finally beat Unicorn Overlord and have now moved to Eiyuden Chronicles. Enjoying it so far. Feels like a love letter to Suikoden fans. Playing Stellar Blade and Helldivers 2 as well.


Looking forward to Wuthering Waves later in May.

 

[1CreditBlades]

My focus has been clearing ESP Ra.De. I have made it to the TLB several times now. I think I am almost there.

Other than that, beat Ratchet & Clank (2002) a couple of weeks ago, and it's great. Way better than that shitty 2016 remake. No-damage'd the final boss. Same with Crash 1, all Plat relics and no damage'd each boss.

Not sure what else I'll pick up in the interim. Perhaps Ratchet: Deadlocked, Wanted: Dead or Rhythm Heaven Fever. Gunvein is on hold for now.

Been a bit since last time, but since then, a lot of Outrun. 1CC'd all the tracks in the Switch version and the PS2 remake. Also cleared a game called Dynamite Duke, which ruled.

These days, been participating in a high score team competition (we're winning!) on a Shoot 'Em Up Discord someone I know is running. I've also almost cleared Giga Wing. My next project after Giga Wing is pending, not sure what I'll play. Maybe finally time to tackle Death Stranding.

 

[Kamurocho_Freak]

The recent remasters really have reignited my love for classic Tomb Raider in a big way. While I still have TR3 and Lost Artifact to finish, I’ve also started to hunt for the many obscure spin-off games that were released over the years to see what I missed out on. Starting off with Lara’s first handheld game, and Nintendo debut.

A pretty short and sweet experience, Tomb Raider does a fine job of adapting the console experience to handheld. You’ll still have plenty of platforming to do, alongside puzzle solving, mostly of the “hit the switch” variety, plus simple combat. It keeps a brisk pace throughout, and gets quite punishing, with many an instant death spike pit. Platforming definitely takes some getting used to due to the two face button system. Thankfully the short nature of the game means you never lose too much progress, so it never gets rage inducing.

The story and locations are all original, and I must say that I do like the animation a lot here. Very fluid, and looks really cool when you nail a tricky section of the game. Sound is weak. I know the system is obviously very limited in that regard, but there has been some great GB music over the years, and the main Tomb Raider series has always sounded beautiful, so this was still a let down.

I paid around £20 for a boxed copy. Game was short, but enjoyable, and really interesting as a fan of the franchise.

Looking into Lara’s mobile adventures further, there are other GBC, GBA and DS games available, and most don’t seem too pricey, so checking out this side of the franchise is gonna be my new project over the coming months.

 

[Camelsruler]

Beat Madagascar Escape 2 Africa. There was actually a trailer for this game on the Kung Fu Panda game and it looked pretty decent so decided to try it out.

This game is a lot better than it has any right to be and is probably my favorite licensed game since G-Force. The game is a 3D platformer/mini game compilation with an open world and is pretty unique. This is actually one of the last games Toys for Bob did before getting into Skylanders and you can tell because the gameplay is very solid.

Speaking on the gameplay it is a traditional 3D platformer with various mini games to progress. Mini games such as target practice, diving, soccer, photography, fishing, helicopter landing, musical chairs, hot potato and the list really goes on.

The 3D platforming sections are all top notch mainly due to Alex (lion) moveset and weaponry. You also get to swap out with the other 3 animals, zebra, hippo and giraffe and they each have unique abilities to progress through the certain areas. You also have a few penguin levels that have some stealth sections and the little squirrel monkey has a section too.

The sound is pretty great utilizing African style themes and dance music throughout. The larger hub world/ open world is connected very nicely and is easy to traverse. There are a lot of collectibles here and the multi-player mode is very fleshed out being able to play all listed mini games and a few new ones as well. A little on the shorter side but most areas have collectibles and require repeat playthoughs so this can be overlooked. All in all a fantastic game.

 

[deuce985]

The recent remasters really have reignited my love for classic Tomb Raider in a big way. While I still have TR3 and Lost Artifact to finish, I’ve also started to hunt for the many obscure spin-off games that were released over the years to see what I missed out on. Starting off with Lara’s first handheld game, and Nintendo debut.

View attachment 1174038

A pretty short and sweet experience, Tomb Raider does a fine job of adapting the console experience to handheld. You’ll still have plenty of platforming to do, alongside puzzle solving, mostly of the “hit the switch” variety, plus simple combat. It keeps a brisk pace throughout, and gets quite punishing, with many an instant death spike pit. Platforming definitely takes some getting used to due to the two face button system. Thankfully the short nature of the game means you never lose too much progress, so it never gets rage inducing.

The story and locations are all original, and I must say that I do like the animation a lot here. Very fluid, and looks really cool when you nail a tricky section of the game. Sound is weak. I know the system is obviously very limited in that regard, but there has been some great GB music over the years, and the main Tomb Raider series has always sounded beautiful, so this was still a let down.

I paid around £20 for a boxed copy. Game was short, but enjoyable, and really interesting as a fan of the franchise.

Looking into Lara’s mobile adventures further, there are other GBC, GBA and DS games available, and most don’t seem too pricey, so checking out this side of the franchise is gonna be my new project over the coming months.

Was thinking last night I might want to get the remasters. They're apparently in great shape and I loved the original TRs over the modern ones personally.

 

[Kamurocho_Freak]

Was thinking last night I might want to get the remasters. They're apparently in great shape and I loved the original TRs over the modern ones personally.

PSN has me at 110 hours put into the collection as a whole, and I still haven’t done TR3 or Lost Artifact, lol. TR1 and 2 absolutely kick the shit out of the Survivor trilogy!

I was not expecting to be as drawn into this world as I have become. They’ve done a really good job at making the games look like they did on the front of the box, rather than in game, lol. Just a ton of really cool effects and details added, like the mist when you enter Lost Valley for the first time. They also included elements that were in game, but not accessible without modding, such as Lara’s garish Nightmare in Vegas costume.

There are certain areas that I prefer in the original games though. I’m really glad you can swap back and forth in game with a simple button press, because on my first run of each game, whenever I see something interesting I like to do a comparison.

This is the area I always point to for when I want to praise the original visuals. I really love how the Coliseum looks at night. Just gives the entire level a completely different vibe and atmosphere. I also think it does an excellent job of using the PS1 tech and it’s low draw distance to its advantage, since a ton of enemies in this level burst from the void and get the drop on the player.

They’ve been really fun to trophy hunt too. With the first two games, I did a blind run, then a run with a walkthrough for all the secrets. Did a few miscellaneous runs for random trophies as well. Still not at 100%, but certainly not bored of these games yet, so plan to shoot for more.

 

[1CreditBlades]

1CC'd Giga Wing.


Playing through Drakengard now.

Its gameplay is very, very bad, but the narrative is so Berserk-influence heavy that I am interested in continuing.

 

[Kamurocho_Freak]

Tomb Raider 3 remastered

Lara’s 3rd adventure was another delight to experience, and definitely felt like a massive step up from Tomb Raider 2. When I gave my thoughts on that game, I enjoyed the variety of environments and liberal interpretation of what constitutes a Tomb, whilst getting pretty sick of the high amount of human bullet sponges that were a chore to fight, and took away from the isolation and sense of one woman Vs a hostile and uncharted environment that made the first game so magical.

TR3 still has some human enemies, but they’re generally few and far between, way less bullet spongey, and more varied to suit the location. Big, big thumbs up from me!

Viewing TR3 through the context of the remastered trilogy, I like that there is a consistent increase in difficulty across the three games that makes them feel incredibly rewarding to beat back to back. I literally died less than 10 seconds into the first level, so no return to training wheels after finding the Dagger of Xian. The actual puzzles and platforming are so incredibly satisfying to overcome, even as I suffered many a death upon the way.

As far as settings go this time, you have the jungles and temples of India, the rocky desert of Nevada and Area 51, a cannibal village in South Pacific, the rooftops and sewers of London, and finally Antarctica. All feel incredibly varied and will test you in different ways. Outside of the beginning and end, you can approach these in any order, which is a nice change. There is a very cruel trap here as well, but that’s part of the fun, even if it did get me. If you know, you know!

Nevada starts off platforming centric, before switching to a more cautious and stealthy approach as you raid Area 51. South Pacific is the most combat heavy, with the aforementioned cannibals and eventually a return of an iconic enemy type, while London is definitely the most puzzle centric. All had some incredible moments to experience, and lead to a great finale in Antarctica that will test everything.

Gameplay wise, Lara has slightly more mobility options thanks to now being able to crawl and monkey swing. The new vehicles add a lot as well. The quad bike is pretty fun aside from a few jumps that require more precision than the controls can quite handle. The underwater submersible makes navigating the long stretches of London sewer much more bearable. The kayak is brutal, being tough to control, but also working really well as a means of giving you something to struggle with as you navigate the rapids of Madubu Gorge. When I first hopped in that thing, my heart sank at how hard it was to control, but I ended up loving that level!

There is also a boat, which acts as a handy way to get from point a to point b without freezing to death in the Antarctic, but also isn’t too exciting.

Storyline wise this one is kinda insane. Especially Area 51, where Lara is captured by the government, imprisoned, leads a prison riot, kills US troops, then steals from an alien spacecraft, and seemingly suffers no further repercussions whatsoever, lol. Australian army Vs dinosaurs was a cool subplot, and the homage to The Thing in the later levels put a nice bow on everything.

The remastered visuals mostly looked lovely, but once again there were definitely areas where the PS1 outshone the remaster in my eyes. This was definitely the most gorgeous of the PS1 games anyway, with many locations really impressing me this time around. Pretty much the entire London section definitely felt better to me in the original Vs the remaster.

The lighting definitely plays a big role. There is something about the mood of PS1 darkness that absolutely cannot be replicated. But here, even the architecture in the PS1 version looks so much better to me, as does the choice of cityscape effect in the background. The entire section was full of moments where I was amazed how much better the original looked. Definitely makes me happy that the remasters let you swap back and forth so effortlessly.

All in all, I cannot praise this game enough. It beats Tomb Raider 2 in every conceivable level, and recaptured a lot of what made me love the original so much. Not quite sure if it tops the original for me, but we’ll see how I feel when I inevitably replay to grab all the secrets.

I still have Lost Artifact to play through, but am definitely starting to feel some poignancy in knowing that I’ve almost gone through everything this collection has to offer for the first time.

There really is nothing like this in the modern age, and I can’t help but feel some sadness at how generic the modern games feel in comparison to the unique experiences that came before.

Really hope that rumour about a Last Revelation and Chronicles remaster has some merit to it.

 

[Redfield64]

After a long hiatus, I tried to ease myself back into Overwatch 2 these past couple of weeks, largely due to my nephew picking up the game on his Switch, and I thought it would be cool to play it alongside him.

As a self respecting cringey weeb, I settled on maining D.va (the Korean mech-driving gamer girl) and Kiriko (the cheeky, sassy Japanese ninja girl).
After playing all my placement matches for the current Competitive season, I got placed in Silver 1 for Tank and Gold 5 for Support. I would have felt more at home in the bottom Bronze tier kiddie pool, but hey ho.

Kiriko also got a banger new skin last week in the shop, and after being very indecisive for a week, I ended up biting the bullet and bought it for myself. Activision-Blizzard's exec's can now buy themselves a couple of private yachts because I was unable to resist the temptation to buy my ninja waifu some sweet new duds. Smh.

 

[mr_chun]

Haven't had a lot of time to game lately. Been spending most of it fighting for Democracy in Helldivers 2 lol

 

[Auron99]

Haven't played much recently other than Tekken 8 and a replay of Bloodborne. Bloodborne is going pretty well, I selected Waste of Skin as my initial build for a challenge and went with an arcane/strength build.

Just cleared Byrgenwerth and the Forsaken Cainhurst Castle last night. It's weird because I normally have a hell of a time against Martyr Logarius' first form due to the homing blast and AOE attack he has but I played a lot more patient and it was a breeze. Love his second and third form cause parrying his attacks is so satisfying. Onto Yahar'gul so I know the difficulty is about to seriously pick up.

 

[Redfield64]

Cainhurst Castle has always been my favourite part of Bloodborne. Love the Dracula vibes, especially the bit where the mysterious carriage first takes you to the castle.

The Cainhurst Knight armour is always a must, and it remains my go-to drip until I get Lady Maria's attire and weapon later on.

 

[Auron99]

Cainhurst Castle has always been my favourite part of Bloodborne. Love the Dracula vibes, especially the bit where the mysterious carriage first takes you to the castle.

The Cainhurst Knight armour is always a must, and it remains my go-to drip until I get Lady Maria's attire and weapon later on.

I like how the level almost feels like a 3D Castlevania nod. They even made the boss weak to the second form of the threaded cane since its the closest thing to Castlevania's whip.

Agreed on the Cainhurst Knight armor looking awesome. Definitely my favorite armor set in the game until Maria's stuff, although I think I went into the boss fight with the white church set since I wanted as much arcane resistance as possible.

 

[deuce985]

Haven't played much recently other than Tekken 8 and a replay of Bloodborne. Bloodborne is going pretty well, I selected Waste of Skin as my initial build for a challenge and went with an arcane/strength build.

Just cleared Byrgenwerth and the Forsaken Cainhurst Castle last night. It's weird because I normally have a hell of a time against Martyr Logarius' first form due to the homing blast and AOE attack he has but I played a lot more patient and it was a breeze. Love his second and third form cause parrying his attacks is so satisfying. Onto Yahar'gul so I know the difficulty is about to seriously pick up.

This section of the game is one of my favorites because I always had personal speculation on some lore aspects as it's heavily implied in this section they were vampires. I also liked the section under the medical clinic where you find a massive pile of dead bodies which added to my own speculations lore wise.


What I would give for a remaster to this game 60 fps with no frame pacing issues...


How this has not happened yet with FS at their highest level due to Elden Ring popularity. Seems like easy money to me.

 

[Kamurocho_Freak]

Stellar Blade. I knew very little about this one going in, beyond cute girl, big sword, lots of monsters. I’m glad I was in a position to let this game surprise me, because this was a wonderful experience indeed.

Combat feels incredibly fluid and responsive, with combo chains to pull off, as well as different skill types. Everything looks seriously badass as you perform it, and this becomes even better once you get good at weaving in those parries and different dodge types. I usually suck at parrying, but here it’s relatively easy to get the timing right, and aided by more powerful enemy attacks having tells that let you know when best to parry and when best to evade.

The world itself is absolutely stunning. Earth may be a referred to as a wasteland, but there is plenty of beauty to take in here. Ruined and flooded cities with gorgeous architecture, deserts and scrap lands that nevertheless hold plenty of rich detail, and the crazier locales late game all offer plenty to see.

As far as progression goes, I enjoyed how they mixed it up with both linear story centric areas, as well as the open sections where you fulfill side quests. It ensured the side stuff never felt like a chore, even though only a handful of these quests were narratively interesting.

Story itself took a while to really pull me in, but the final act where everything got dialled up to 11 made for an excellent payoff. And I do like Eve a lot too. Way more personality and drive than I was expecting going in, which I definitely appreciated.

Not gonna jump straight into new game plus, but definitely hope to do so soon. The game informed me that new abilities and skills are only unlockable here, so curious to see how this mixes things up.

 

[Kamurocho_Freak]

Picked up the Sonic Origins Collection for PS5. It features Sonic, Sonic 2, 3 and Knuckles, and Sonic CD, complete with all the original music, and widescreen support. You can select classic 4:3 if you prefer, but the visuals looked lovely blown up on my tv, and I don’t feel I’m missing out by picking the newer look.

Games are as fun as ever. Whenever I revisit these classics, I always feel a little sad at what a meme the franchise is these days. The early Mega Drive stuff really was incredibly special.

This also marked the first time ever I knocked this particular achievement off my bucket list. Never managed it as a kid, but was pretty simple here.

This also marked the first time I got to experience the true Sonic 3 and Knuckles saga. 3 was one we didn’t have when I was a kid, and I don’t think it was as prevalent on later collections/virtual consoles as 1 and 2 were. So it was my first time seeing a lot of those levels, and also my first time going through the “and Knuckles” stages with Tails as my partner. I do think this is definitely the best of the bunch. Soundtrack and presentation are just that little bit better, and the levels do the best job of balancing the need to go fast with the need to explore. Some epic payoffs towards the end too!

Blasted through this entire collection, and got the Platinum trophy in just under a day. Crazy how much more gigantic these games felt as a kid, lol. Nevertheless, these games are still an a ton of fun!

 

[Auron99]

Holy crap I had no idea about the Sonic Origins collection. I've been dying to play through Sonic 3 again for years, will definitely have to pick that one up.

 

[Dante-]

Picked up the Sonic Origins Collection for PS5.

I was stunned when I saw you on my friends list playing this! I was always under the impression you despised all of Sonic.

 

[Kamurocho_Freak]

I was stunned when I saw you on my friends list playing this! I was always under the impression you despised all of Sonic.

Nah, this stuff is legit. The problem is everything that came afterwards. There have been a few times where I’ve been tricked into jumping back in, Generations being a big one, but I’m always disappointed. I also played the one that let you make your own self insert fanfic hero to team up with Sonic, since I recall that being free on Plus.

So it’s no wonder, if you ever saw my takes on those, that you would consider me a Sonic hater!

 

[Auron99]

Oh God, I totally forgot about that one where you could make your own fanfic hero to team up with Sonic. That feature alone probably made it Chris-Chan's favorite Sonic game of all time.

Anyway, picked up Origins last night and started a new game of Sonic 3 using Knuckles. Already having a blast with it, and I like how the gameplay is true to the original but at the same time they added new cinematics. The opening one was good, but what was really enjoyable was seeing the one at the beginning of Sonic 3 where Knuckles gets tricked into thinking Robotnik is good and Sonic/Tails are evil. I know I laughed out loud seeing Sonic and Tails evil depictions with the mean looks on their faces and otherwise being more rough around the edges.

 

[Kamurocho_Freak]

Oh God, I totally forgot about that one where you could make your own fanfic hero to team up with Sonic. That feature alone probably made it Chris-Chan's favorite Sonic game of all time.

Anyway, picked up Origins last night and started a new game of Sonic 3 using Knuckles. Already having a blast with it, and I like how the gameplay is true to the original but at the same time they added new cinematics. The opening one was good, but what was really enjoyable was seeing the one at the beginning of Sonic 3 where Knuckles gets tricked into thinking Robotnik is good and Sonic/Tails are evil. I know I laughed out loud seeing Sonic and Tails evil depictions with the mean looks on their faces and otherwise being more rough around the edges.

All those animations were really cool. Another good thing about these games is just how much character and personality everyone has without saying a word, and it’s really reflected in those.

Also like how the collection presents the 5 games as one long continuous story, even if Sonic CD being treated as the first sequel was certainly news to me!

 

[Auron99]

All those animations were really cool. Another good thing about these games is just how much character and personality everyone has without saying a word, and it’s really reflected in those.

Also like how the collection presents the 5 games as one long continuous story, even if Sonic CD being treated as the first sequel was certainly news to me!

Agreed. It's funny because both your paragraphs encouraged me to check out Sonic 1 since I felt the need to see the opening cinematic and wanted to try and experience the game from start to finish (even if I'd rather not play Sonic 1 cause I have played it numerous times over the past decade as opposed to Sonic 3).

Sure enough I started it up and had no idea you could play through it as Tails or Knuckles! What an awesome way to add a new twist to a classic, and it reminded me of when I first got Sonic and Knucles and tried to plug the original Sonic into the top of the cart thinking "there's got to be a way of playing as Knuckles in Sonic 1 if he can be brought into Sonic 2". Nearly 30 years later, wish granted!

 

[Karkashan]

Glad to hear they ironed out most of the problems that Sonic Origins Collection had on launch. I have a couple of like, super hardcore Sonic fans as friends so I got to hear all about it when it first came out. (and by like, super hardcore Sonic fans I mean they have like, almost complete collections of the Archie comics and could probably repeat scenes from Sonic Underground verbatim)

 

[Auron99]

Hmm, I remember those Archie comics. Only bought one though. Was never big into comics because I was always a completionist when it came to that sort of thing and I didn't have the money or resources to pull that off.

 

[deuce985]

I put Stellar Blade down to play Wuthering Waves. Way better than Genshin Impact in my opinion. It focuses around skill too which makes it far more interesting plus all the player kits feel a lot more fun to play in this game even low tier character. Chuxia is considered low tier but she's so damn fun to play.


The Pokemon collecting echo system is something I can see myself sinking time into. You kinda have to anyway since it's basically your "gear" in this game. You equip them, they give you stats, but you can also morph into them and use abilities so there's much more than them just being stat modifiers.


I love the art in this game. The character designs are absolutely beautiful and so is the animations. The combat is fluid, visceral, eyegasms, and it's fun to play.


The beginner banner the only character I didn't want is the one the game gave me(of course) in cat ear lion boi but he's surprisingly unique and fun to play. Luckily though, they give you a banner behind it to pick the 5* you want any of them. I'm going with probably the monk martial arts girl Jianxin she's beautiful. The Sephiroth looking dude looks super cool too.

 

[deuce985]

Loving this game! Beautiful character designs.


Yangyang's hair looks like feathers in the back but it glows when her ability is available to use. Looks really neat. Aesthetic in this game is amazing as are the animations but more importantly, I really like the combat. I'm starting to see some "harder" content and it presses the player much more than GI ever did. This game pretty much targets all the flaws of GI in my opinion so I think that stands out in it to me. It's definitely not a clone though it might look like it on the surface.


I'm glad I gave this one a shot despite being F2P. Devs have been very generous too giving us three 5* while being able to select 2 that you want. This one is up there with Balatro for surprise of the year for me.

 

[Camelsruler]

super hardcore Sonic fans

 

[Camelsruler]

Beat Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I have a weird relationship with Zelda games in that for some reason I play them like 10 years late. Regardless of me doing this I do always take my time with them I am just usually very late to the party. I am glad I made it around to this one though and won't really add much more to this discussion that's probably already been said a million times before. It's a fantastic game and the best Zelda game to date they somehow still managed to push the series forward while not losing a lot of the core things that makes Zelda Zelda. I really enjoyed traversing this land there was always so much to do and I geeked out considerably on this title. Highly recommended.

 

[SenexBeast]

Immortals of Avenum

 

[deuce985]

Beat Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I have a weird relationship with Zelda games in that for some reason I play them like 10 years late. Regardless of me doing this I do always take my time with them I am just usually very late to the party. I am glad I made it around to this one though and won't really add much more to this discussion that's probably already been said a million times before. It's a fantastic game and the best Zelda game to date they somehow still managed to push the series forward while not losing a lot of the core things that makes Zelda Zelda. I really enjoyed traversing this land there was always so much to do and I geeked out considerably on this title. Highly recommended.

I think this is partly why I like WW and GI so much. Those 2 games seem to take heavy influence from this game. In WW's case above, they've expanded and improved on Zelda's traversal system. I always found the traversal fairly unique in BOTW in an open world game. The problem with it is it becomes too time consuming.


So, I much prefer in a game like WW above which allows you to simply wall run over anything and as you move about the world - as long as you're not in combat - it doesn't consume stamina. Way better traversal system because it keeps some of the strengths to BOTW but adds their own flair to it by not intentionally slowing the player down.


When it comes to the open world genre I really think these games are the future because verticality traversal feels like it adds an additional layer to the genre that feels almost untapped on potential. Someone is going to take this inspiration and bring it to the next level.

 

[gencid]

I've played little more than Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in the past 2 months. And it seems like I am near the end of the game, even though I am not ready to forever close the chapter on it yet. I am also nearing completion of Mario vs Donkey Kong on the Switch, which feels less than a chapter in the FFVII Rebirth in its entirety.

 

[SenexBeast]

Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2

 

[Kamurocho_Freak]

Managed to snag the Platinum for the Castlevania Advance Collection. Did most of the work for this when the collection launched a few years back, but I finally cleared out the extra modes and collectibles.

Magician mode in Circle of the Moon was very fun, since it lets you experiment with the full array of abilities right from the start. Your actual damage output is heavily limited though, so the mode requires a lot more tactical thought than just spamming the most powerful spells.

Did two playthroughs of Harmony of Dissonance. A regular run with a guide to find all of the furniture, and another in Maxim mode. Maxim definitely has an interesting play style, with speed and ninja abilities definitely feeling unique within the context of this series.

Aria was the biggest time sink, since I still needed to collect every soul in the game. Wanted to start from scratch and enjoy the adventure, rather than just picking up my completed file from a few years back. The drop rates on some of these souls felt insane, and this was the one trophy where I definitely had to grind a bit, and switched from enjoying the excellent soundtrack to catching up on a few podcasts whilst slaying what felt like a million Nemesis’.

Glad I saved Julius mode as the last trophy, since it ensured this ended on a high. Beat Aria of Sorrow with no frills, just the classic Castlevania abilities and trusty whip.

 

[Karkashan]

Aria was the biggest time sink, since I still needed to collect every soul in the game. Wanted to start from scratch and enjoy the adventure, rather than just picking up my completed file from a few years back. The drop rates on some of these souls felt insane, and this was the one trophy where I definitely had to grind a bit, and switched from enjoying the excellent soundtrack to catching up on a few podcasts whilst slaying what felt like a million Nemesis’.

If I remember right the one soul I got last in my Platinum run was that one in the water catacombs, that I think you had to freeze time to kill?

Sky Fish, that was it.