dan-likes-trees

Played another 20 or so hours of this Just popping in to say that this game is still cracking. Great moments, excellent characters, exceptional world design and interiors I guess some of the GTA style stuff is a bit garbage, but I've not really felt the need to play it as if it's that kind of game so I'm not too bothered really. It most reminds me of the old Mass Effect games - given the reverence that triogy has had with the rerelease, I really hope this eventually winds up getting recognition - the developers deserve a tonne of praise but it's obviously been totally drowned out!

Pyre is.. a weird one. Enjoyed it, but the dialoague is pretty weird / lots of strange writing styles in the mix, and a lot of it isn;t voice acted. Strange going back to that compared to Hades which is a lot more relateable. Enjoying seeing y'all writing up your progress as you go - the first 20 hours or so of this game, getting a little further each time, are so much fun

Oh, I've just been ignoring the little ones and focusing on the main one. Attacking minions always seems like wasting good attacks. I'll try it your way next time. Probably a bit late for this but im pretty sure you can't actually damage the main hydra when his minions are out. Might be where you're going wrong! (If I remember correctly). Early game just finding ways to get more death defiances (one of the trinkets + the mirror and you can effectively get 4 lives or so) helps a lot. The boss at the end of the section after bone hydra was a bit of a choke point for me for ages. Similar to lazyboy I first finished a run at around 30 runs. Polishes off the 9 or whatever you need for credits by 50-something. I would describe my gaming skills as bang average so you'll get there fo sho

Jumped in on this last week (patch + 20 quid on GoG seemed like a good time). This game is fucking lit!!! Feel like the general internet-deciding-it's-a mess has kind of displaced any chat of it being a bit of a corker - I'm on the bit in the hotel - just wandering around the bar area, listening in on conversations, admiring the incredible detail to costumes, character design, architecture, it's just.. on another level really. Obviously most of that's to do with what an insane budget it's clearly had but I can't remember the last game I played that has this much imagination and visual madness. I was apprehensive of the first person viewpoint but the immersion has been brilliant in places Still early doors but `iI haven't noticed a single issue or bug yet, probably 7 or 8 hours in, playing on PC with a 2060 super. Haven't really got my head around the combat yet which feels like it might be a bit of a weak spot - though I suspect I'm just a bit crap at it I really hope people wind up giving this a chance because you can feel the blood, sweat, and passion of the CJPR staffers across the game

Cool glimpsing through your evolving feelings on this game @drahkon - I started this a couple years ago, liked what I played (particularly vibes-wise) but didn't stick with it as I found the first palace / combat a bit tedious / repetitive. Nice to see you pushed through and wound up loving it - I think i'll return to it one day!

As someone who's had plus for years and recently got gamepass, I don't think Ronnie's points are totally invalid, if a bit abrasively made.. This just ain't true - even just in terms of indie games, you've got Ori, Celeste, Edith Fitch, Undertale, Spiritfarer, just for starters which are easily better games before you get to the bigger studio titles. https://www.gamepassta.com/metacritic?5ec8d577_page=1 It really is a ridiculous list and, though it's apples and pears, its, at least for the consumer, a way better platter than what sony offer. As Sheikah says though you don't actually end up playing many of them, and moreover, it's hard to see where it'll all go in future. Theres a bit of a weird vibe the last couple of years of gamers feeling entitled to endless free stuff and free games - I suppose as a result of gamepass and Epic Games weekly freebies. I guess that's why Sony released a bunch of free games last month on PSN (cracking deal!). I do think it's a fair point to bring up - obviously it's microsoft's money but it's definitely going to have a knock on effect on studios and studio staff - if your game isn't on gamepass you've got a massive chunk of your audience who increasingly think paying more than 20 quid for a game is weird. Curious to see how that all pans out in future as gamepass (presumably) gets bigger and bigger

Aye cool cheers. Let us know how you get on with it!

Been quite intrigued by this game I never got into Persona 5 because, whilst I loved the vibe, I found the palaces (or the first one at least) to be really boring, and the fighting system fairly underwhelming / repetitive. If the palaces and fighting are different, might I like this or would jumping in be confusing AF? I enjoyed Dynasty Warriors back in the day

Thirded. Impressed they've got it working on the switch what with all the crazy physics involved Genuinely think it's one of the best games I've ever played. As you say the way the mysteries unfold and how the game teaches you to progress are completely unique. Y'all are in for a treat!

Basically just this though innit? Interested to see how this collection will review. I played ME2 for the first time last year and generally really enjoyed it, but I have to say that with no nostalgia goggles the gameplay is reaalllyy repetitive - very mid-00s corridor shooter stuff. The writing holds up really well but for younger audiences coming to it fresh for the first time, it'll be a bit of a weird one! Nonetheless - the trailer is ace. Nailed to tone

Yeah this is pretty on the money, I'd say, sadly. I've played about 15 hours of Valhalla lately and there's so much more of a range to the gameplay, the mysteries and events around the map, and even the emotional range of the characters, stories, and random events. GoT by contrast I found felt incredibly repetitive, most of the stuff you find on the map doesn't really affect the wider gameplay, and the characters and story are really one note and a bit portentous. It could all do with a bit more humour and at least some side quests that didn't involve a bandit camp or a 'surprise' ambush. That said - I do also agree in part with @Goafer in that, despite there not being much of interest to interact with, the quality of the art design and the polish meant I was still enjoying the experience, playing about with photo mode, all that jazz, a fair bit. I stopped about halfway through act 2 but will probably go back since so many people have praised the last act. I feel like a sequel could be really great if they focused on a wider range of gameplay and a wider tonal spectrum to the same level of beauty and polish Also, the thing that does set this game apart are the one on one duels. I'd definitely much prefer this game if there were 50% less content and enemies, and more focused on these and the journey between them, Shadow of the Colossus style. Some of the sets they take place in are so incredible. Loved the mythic quest that involved beating 5 ronin around the map; breathtaking stuff and the difficulty is just right

Ended up getting in leui of a stable Cyberpunk.. played a few hours, I'm really loving it!! The new 'mysteries' on the map are excellent, all unique little discoveries, amusing, and diverse in their gameplay, unlike say Ghost of Tushima or thre previous two games. Combat is maybe a bit weak but feels chunky and satisfying. So far the writing and voiceover performances are way way better than Origins or Odyssey - those awful accents really put me off those games. The first few hours have nice warm Skyrimish feels, the raids have a cool Two Towers feeling, and it's got a bunch of personality. Love it!

Anyone got this? General impressions seem to be pretty good, though watching SkillUp's review is seems like it has a load of the annoying bullshit that put me off Odyssey after a while (deeply repetitive gameplay, ridiculous unwarranted length, general jankiness). That said others have said all the stories are weird and inventive, which is the kind of thing I want out of a game like this. I'm still making my way through Tshima which will probably keep me going until cyberpunk, but it would be great to hear thoughts on anyone who's played it

Finished (a run on) this muthafuckeererrrrrrr Such a great game! Love how the game sort of justifies its structure and post-game stuff. For me I've found almost every run to be completely different, technique-wise. For instance, nearly finished the game a couple runs back with a ridiculous boon that charged up my call gauge in about 2 seconds. Then my winning run turned my As @LazyBoy says a huge part of it is how any one boon can totally change things up; take you from a poor run to a suddenly amazing one - getting a gamechanger of a perk at the end. Felt like it's perfectly paced in terms of total playtime feeling just right, and generally feeling a sense of progression both overall with cumulative perks and with each individual run getting a little further. Never felt like I needed to check a guide / tips online as you get just enough time with the bosses to figure them out before you start over. Feel like if the final boss was about 20% harder I'd have hated it and it might've felt like a slog to finish, so definitely a tricky balancing act for the devs. I'll definitely be playing more of their back catalogue - I didn't get on with Pyre that well but will revisit that one too.. playing Hades makes me wish there was more games with this kind of gameplay and deeply illustrative 2D style (Similarly Banner Saga). I'd love a big action RPG with this level of art direction and quality voiceover. Hopefully the amazing surge of indie games over the last generation will keep on rolling along!

Got this on Sunday and can't stop playing. IT'S SO BLOODY GREAT. Never really liked the idea of roguelikes but I love how this keeps throwing in new surprises at every new run, forces to you mix up your strategy and such. Got to the boss at the end of Elysium just now off the back of mainly upgrading my dash a tonne to do a load of damage and stagger and whizzing around the levels. With some weapons it feels like Geometry wars or something, others more like Zelda. Also love how it doesn't really tell you anything and leaves it up to you to work out what all the visuals mean and relate to. Most of all, just so gratifying to smash shit up

Surprised how much time I've spent on this since launch. I've hardly touched Ghost of Tsushima this week! Getting a good handle on the best tactics for each of the rounds. Top tip on Seesaw - jumping parallel to the angle (ie toward the angle) makes you way less likely to slip down. Had a funny game where only me and one other person made it through Slime Climb and ended with that stupid tail game chasing back and forth for a few minutes. One reason the game really succeeds, I think, is that it's basically a new genre - 'competitive platforming', It seems such an obvious idea but just having platforming / racing combined with multiplayer (and knockout rounds) is such an obviously great fit for gaming. I'd actually love it it someone took the platformer race knockout premise and made a more kind of 'hardcore' version. Love Fall Guys for what it is (more of a fun party game) but it definitely opens up a bunch of possibilities for similar games going forward. Am I missing anything? I can't think of any multiplayer platformers that aren't co-op or more arena based (towerfall, for example)

Played a bit more of this - defo working a little more smoothly than yesterday. Won a round! I actually think it could do with a little more tension in the final round (less players, or maybe one more round?) as it's a slight anticlimax at the end. Nonetheless - Great fun! I think the devs are british - cool spotting the influences; there's certainly some 90s childrens gameshows in there, 50:50 and the like, alongside takeshi's castle and total wipeout. Also a few of the modes remind me of the multiplayer maps in Diddy Kong Racing 64, alongside obvs Rocket League et all Feels like the race modes are definitely the pick of the bunch; great, funny stuff. The physics seem a bit too off in the football modes though, and the tile match and tail grabbing modes get a bit boring quickly. Like @drahkon , I'd imagine it might not keep me playing that long but I'll certainly dip back in and out as they add more courses and modes in future. Perfect PS+ game!

Fall Guys is so fucking funny man. Definitely pretty broken in places but hopefully that's just day 1 issues. Living that Takeshis Castle dream!!

Yep, was in two minds whether to buy this but it seemed a good lockdown game (especially as my hol to Japan was cancelled ) I looove it so far! I can see the critisms - tonnes of games like this around and it doesn't add THAT much new to the mix. But.. lots of little touches make it really work - Strolling through the countryside feels so chillers - lovely ambience with the natural sound design and the occasion chime of music - a nice tonic after the constant stress of tLoU2 - Love the Haikus! - Game has a great sense of overarching direction / mood / vibe to it. The particle team could probably chill out a bit but the world feels really wonderful and cohesive, even down to the nice paint wash animations on the storyteller cutscenes and the UI. - It's basically an Assassin's Creed game but it's so dope to see what those games could be - not falling apart at the seams, no level gating bollocks, voice acting that isn't hammy AF, not crumbling under the weight of a billion stats and systems Not totally sold on the main chap and his voice actor. Bit bland / po-faced. Also feel like I may have seen half of what the game has to offer in my first couple of sessions - but hoping the game can spring some surprises - looking forward to playing more!

Great hearing everyone's thoughts on the game. Finding myself talking more about things I didn't like or wasn't sure of just as that stuff is all quite interesting, so would like to confirm that I thought it was fucking brill. Keep us updated on your progress @Fierce_LiNk - it's about where you are that the game starts to get a bit more divisive in peoples opinions, so would love to hear your blow-by-blow thoughts!

Finally finished the other day too. So much to chew on. What an epic! What a videogame! Ultimately found it a really interesting and rewarding experience - I've been enjoying finally getting to read through all the spoiler tags and writing about the game elsewhere online (Also had a little look at the LoU2 sub and instantly bailed out - what a bunch of nutters). Feels incredibly reductive to boil this game down to upsides and downsides BUT to spare y’all a massive essay... Overall I’ve spent so much time thinking about this game that, though I’m not yet sure where I ultimately land, I’m really glad it exists, that Naughty Dog have taken so many risks and unusual choices, and ultimately pushed the medium forward narratively - and for all the bits I found distasteful or punishing, it's been ages since I've been so continually keen to get back to my ps5 after work and play more. Whew.

I see your point a lot more clearly now - actually I don't necessarily disagree and am probably too early in the game to say for sure where I land - as I say, some of the stealthing does seem pretty dated - I'll come back to this thread when I'm done to see if my opinion changes. The game that I really think of reading your post, though, is Red Dead II. I wound up quite liking that game but all the discourse seemed to be about story rather than how awful and totally monotonous the gameplay was but still garnered insane critical acclaim - and that game has much more of a gameplay > cutscene > gameplay structure. Here, I do think the gameplay here supplements the story - As Julius notes, it's not told just through cutscenes, and much of the relationships are fleshed out by 'unlocking' optional conversations whilst exploring nooks and crannys (there's one lovely early section in a synagogue which fleshes out a secondary character) - the gunplay feels suitably desperate to the story it's telling, finishing fights with your last bullet, scrambling to find a melee weapon to kill off a last, rather than arbitrary in the way of many AAA games. @Julius has covered a lot of it in his (excellent) post so I won't repeat too much, but I agree, touches like how beautifully constructed the guitar mini-game is really elevate those moments above putting your controller down and watching them Lastly - I think it's a good sign when a game inspires this much heated (and well written) debate from all sides. Whether or not you like what it ends up doing, it's great to see a massive game that's divisive in this way (similar in a way to sayDeath Stranding last year - not for me but I'm glad it exists) especially given how bland and 'safe' a lot of AAA games are these days. Yeah my bad you are right - I'm always getting confused between the titles of that and Rise of Skywalker (generico names don't help). My points apply to the latter so I basically agree with you. I don't think LJ is a great film (I thought it was ok, LOVE knives out tho) but certainly the online hate was way overboard and as you say there are certainly parallels. As with that film though - just because a load of internet folk hated on it doesn't mean it was a failure, as you note - and same with this game. I would also throw in that some of the hate for LJ was bound up with...

This is such an odd point to end on. People like games for a variety of reasons - they don't have to be the reason that you happen to play games. Equally, many people didn't get into MGSV for the reasons you state. The games that have really stuck with me over the years - Outer Wilds, Shadow of the Colossus, Edith Fitch, Inside, even something like Celeste, haven't done so solely because of the gameplay, but because of how the gameplay has supplemented a story or 'vibe' that has resonated with really me. People always talk about LoU's story because the gameplay is perfectly tailored around the story that it's telling, capturing the desperation of the characters. It's cool if you prefer games that just feel great to play, but that's your preference - it doesn't mean that other people are engaging with games for the wrong reasons. See the strong sales and critical acclaim of Life is Strange of early Telltale games. Again - I've read a lot of books - I did an English degree! But games can be unique in how they can tell stories - and it's a diservice to games to claim otherwise. As an example, in a weird way, no other medium has managed to capture the experience of losing a parent and the strange relationship between father and son afterward as God of War did for me. Lastly, there are some parallels to Last Jedi but in the case of that film, its failure was ultimately more about the execution of that film - a totally whack, poorly directed mess - than simply that it didn't show how they imagined their characters to end up. For Lou2's flaws, (from a few hours in) it feels like it's doing exactly what its creative leads are setting out for it to do. (Side note: totally see where @Goafer's coming from (not opened that spoiler mind). This game isn't for everyone - I can totally see why people wouldn't want to engage with this game - that's cool - again it just shows how games now are way more diverse than ten years ago, and that different games are for different people)

Interesting that all the negativity on this thread is from people who haven't played the game, whereas everyone who's played it seems pretty positive? (Just skimmed through mind, given I noticed a couple of spoilers). Anyways just popping my thoughts in the mix - about 5 hours in and it's such a masterful game, certainly in terms of directing and of technical finesse. I've always found the 'read a book if you want a story' argument a bit bizarre. I read a lot, but I also play games because they can tell different stories in unique ways. Last of Us and this sequel are I think a pretty great example of that, where a lot of the story of the world is conveyed through optional environmental storytelling. Figuring out the story of deceased survivors through letters and clues scattered around abandoned buildings still makes for some really beautiful moments. That said the game certainly suffers from so many games in recent years having been inspired by the original - the gameplay feels a lot more familiar, and it hasn't really evolved as much as one would hope in 7 years - still a fair bit of moving boxes around et all - and think I've thoroughly had my fill of stalking through long grass and pressing triangle in games at this point. Still - excited to play more. The most notable and impressive thing for me (alongside the directing of sequences and the way the music works) is the quality of the acting and VOs across the board. Really puts into perspective what a complete embarrassment 95% of games are in this regard - one of the few games where my partner will actively sit down and watch me play rather than have to leave the room because the acting is so awful (looking at you, every assassins creed game). Can't praise the leads highly enough - and the writing feels so much more engaging than Unchartered - that's what really carries the game for me.

Sign me up to team 'console looks nasty AF' Loads of great stuff on how there - very to my taste with lots of cool indie or stylised sort of stuff. Even if not many are exclusives, makes me excited about games over the next couple of years. Kena and Little Devil inside I loved; loads of personality. Deahtloop, Jett, Returnal, ghostwire, cat robot game, rocket league smash em up game, all look a blast. Camaan! Surprised so many of y'all are up for the digital version. Disk all the way for me