What You've Been Playing This Week

[Cassius_Smoke]

Normally love these type of game. I saw vids and reviews and thought yeah that's right up my street.
It's just way off the mark. Like when they tested it someone said, yeah so we need to make the combat more clunky and the leveling system like a mobile game.

[Tobal]

Gunk on gamepass, a decent if a little janky PS2 era platformer with the sucking up gunk as the main gimmick to access new areas and unlock switches and leavers for the light puzzles. Could have used some more time in the oven, stuff like having the run button on the face buttons(once you unlock it), scanning info box taking up half the screen, sucking up the 4 types of materials for upgrades got quite boring and then having to wait till you ended a level to upgrade back at camp, the environmental puzzles and those for little secrets(which are just more farming points) haven't been challenging so far being an hour in having cleared the tower area. Definitely worth a point if you have GP.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Trials of Cold Steel

Graphics are basic, like it gets the job done, nothing more. However, the characters, script and in particular the voice acting all pull you in and fill the game. The combat is turn based and handled very well. I'm enjoying it very much so far.

Ys VIII

Graphics are better than cold steel, and if any thing a little too sharp. Without any volumetric fog the trees and foliage in the distance gets so sharp it stings my eyes.
Combat is great fun though.

Between these two games, I have enough hours of play for months... However...

I still have scarlet nexus to get through, the last Act of ghost of tsushima, and I've fired up aethersx2 and I'm playing through some ps2 games. I simply don't have enough hours in the day. I need that time turner Neon has...

[Travesty]

I loaned Metroid Dread from the library and played it through. I did not like the difficulty of it, but the gameplay was solid and I liked how the story of Samus progressed. Nice game,glad I played it.

I also bought Sega Ages Sonic The Hedgehog for Switch since it was on sale. Got it because of the included Mega Play version, and it's awesome, been playing that a lot too.

[Neon Ignition]

I've restarted Forza Horizon 5 now but have also been working through The Artful Escape which isn't anything special gameplay wise but as an audio-visual experience it's lovely

[importaku]

Just finished playing oxenfree my goodness what a really cool and atmospheric game, the voice acting was really good & totally sucked me in i missed quite a few of the hidden letters & the story is a bit jumbled up especially the ending as it got weird making me think that i can change things depending on the choices i got to do as towards the end you see it from a different perspective which i found neat. With all the weird time stuff i'm going to see if i can fix the clarissa thing. The game was an unexpected surprise and with the huge pile of stuff i'm working through it managed to muscle it's way to the top my play pile, best freebie from using gold coins i have gotten so far.

I loved messing with the radio while walking listening to the weird stations, it was a very interesting mechanic.

[Paddy]

Trials of Cold Steel

Graphics are basic, like it gets the job done, nothing more. However, the characters, script and in particular the voice acting all pull you in and fill the game. The combat is turn based and handled very well. I'm enjoying it very much so far.

Ys VIII

Graphics are better than cold steel, and if any thing a little too sharp. Without any volumetric fog the trees and foliage in the distance gets so sharp it stings my eyes.
Combat is great fun though.

Between these two games, I have enough hours of play for months... However...

I still have scarlet nexus to get through, the last Act of ghost of tsushima, and I've fired up aethersx2 and I'm playing through some ps2 games. I simply don't have enough hours in the day. I need that time turner Neon has...

Glad to read that you're enjoying two of Falcom's latest titles. You might feel exhausted by the end of ToCS but I feel you'll enjoy Ys VIII all the way through (its Falcom's FFVII for sure).

I'm played through Leon and Claire's scenarios in the RE2 remake again in two days. Enjoyable as they ever were. I then finally moved onto Kuro no Kiseki and although the dialogue overstays is welcome at times it's nice to see and play a new Kiseki game made for recent hardware.

[MarioMark]

Started and finished the Alex Kidd Remastered/Remake on Xbox. Man it’s hard! This version puts you at the beginning of the level when you die (thankfully!). The OG puts you to the start of the whole game. Really enjoyed replaying this and finally finishing it, it’s been on my backlog for 30 years lol. The new visuals are a treat.

Also started Ghost of Tsunami on PS5. Stunning game, especially with the 60fps enhancements.

My current “actively playing” backlog looks like this. I wanna finish these before I buy anything else.

Bowsers Fury
Yoshi’s Crafted World
Crash 4
Resi 2 Remake
Kena
The Gunk
Chorus
Ghost of Tsunami

[fuse]

I enjoyed Trails of Cold Steel a lot too, and though I started the sequel I was a little burnt out by that point and quickly dropped it for something else. But you're the second person I've seen lavish Ys VIII with praise today alone, whereas I feel like on launch it wasn't that popular!? I have got both it and IX, but haven't played either yet - maybe I should do something about that.

Anyway. I just finished Last Stop today. Same team that did Virginia, which was weird as heck and I liked a lot. This is a much more straightforward narrative, using - gasp! - dialogue, but split across 3 separate stories that at first share little beyond London as a backdrop. One's about a struggling single father who has a chance encounter, another's about a woman working for a mysterious private intelligence company, and the other's about a teenage girl whose curiosity about a mysterious stranger gets her and some friends in above their heads. Despite some dark moments, they're all pretty quirky, cheerful, and regularly humourous. Nothing revolutionary, but I got enough out of it. Biggest annoyance by far was there quite regularly being a disconnect between dialogue options you chose and what was actually said, but I can live with that.

Also still chipping away at Unsighted, but I'll say more in the FP thread once I'm done with that.

[Paddy]

I enjoyed Trails of Cold Steel a lot too, and though I started the sequel I was a little burnt out by that point and quickly dropped it for something else. But you're the second person I've seen lavish Ys VIII with praise today alone, whereas I feel like on launch it wasn't that popular!? I have got both it and IX, but haven't played either yet - maybe I should do something about that.

I can understand the feeling of burnout from playing the Cold Steel. Though generally good they're long by JRPG standards and see laden with lots of dialogue (as a friend mentioned once, they're almost visual novels masquerading as RPGs at times).

The next time you have some time free after finishing your current game try Ys VIII out. Its a game that you'll decide where you like it or not within 2-3 yours of playing (I'd be very surprised if you don't but everyone's different).

[wakka]

I enjoyed Trails of Cold Steel a lot too, and though I started the sequel I was a little burnt out by that point and quickly dropped it for something else. But you're the second person I've seen lavish Ys VIII with praise today alone, whereas I feel like on launch it wasn't that popular!? I have got both it and IX, but haven't played either yet - maybe I should do something about that.

Anyway. I just finished Last Stop today. Same team that did Virginia, which was weird as heck and I liked a lot. This is a much more straightforward narrative, using - gasp! - dialogue, but split across 3 separate stories that at first share little beyond London as a backdrop. One's about a struggling single father who has a chance encounter, another's about a woman working for a mysterious private intelligence company, and the other's about a teenage girl whose curiosity about a mysterious stranger gets her and some friends in above their heads. Despite some dark moments, they're all pretty quirky, cheerful, and regularly humourous. Nothing revolutionary, but I got enough out of it. Biggest annoyance by far was there quite regularly being a disconnect between dialogue options you chose and what was actually said, but I can live with that.

Also still chipping away at Unsighted, but I'll say more in the FP thread once I'm done with that.

Somehow both Virginia and Last Stop entirely passed me by. They both sound really interesting, thanks for the heads up.

[dataDave]

Fully immersed in Cyberpunk. Trying to 100% clear Watson on foot before completing Act 1. You miss so much (everything) when you drive. The city is absolutely packed with detail.

Not only does Real Time add to the immersion, but it completely gets rid of any main quest urgency which was a bit of an issue narrative/pacing-wise.

[QualityChimp]

I've dipped into a few shorter games like Hong Kong Massacre and Split/Second, but I'm getting obsessed with getting all the challenges in the former and winning each race on the latter. At some point I need to accept I'm not having fun and just enjoying seeing all it has to offer is enough as they're both great games.

Played a bit of LEGO DC Villains with my son yesterday. This is identical to any other LEGO game in that it has the same strengths and weaknesses. Some objectives are so counter-intuitive you have no idea what you're supposed to be doing!
However, the scripts are always packed with knowing jokes and are a lot of fun.
The drop in/out function is absolutely brilliant for any parent who might need to stop playing to attend to real life for a bit!

I dipped into Resident Evil 2 after getting it in the sale. Just thought I'd "pop" on for half an hour at 11:30pm.
Checked the time ten minutes later and it was actually 1:30am oops!
Going to have to reign that in now I'm back at work!

I'm really enjoying it, though. Doesn't feel identical to the original version, just similar themes, but it's been a while since I played it.
I like the trickle of unlocking, rather than an open world of a zillion things to do, for once.
Downside is that the lickers seem solid and the zombies don't die with headshots, which is Romero rules, man.
What's the score with the barricades? I keep blocking up the windows, then find some windows can't be blocked or the barricades disappear. Seems a bit pointless.

Apart from DC, these other games are proper pulse-pounders!

Trying to squeak a win as the track is exploding, slow-mo diving through a window into a room of Triads with your guns blazing or walking into a new room in the police station armed with a half-broken knife and flashlight is getting me proper hyped before bed and need to find a cooldown.

[wakka]

In Resi 2 remake I would genuinely scream like a little girl when I heard Mr X pounding towards me, eliciting a gale of laughter from my girlfriend in the other room.

I'd actually forgotten the barricades component. I think it's kind of useful but not really that essential. It's a bit tacked on and wasn't a memorable element for me.

I haven't been playing much of anything lately, boohoo always tends to happen for me around Xmas and New Year time though.

[QualityChimp]

In Resi 2 remake I would genuinely scream like a little girl when I heard Mr X pounding towards me, eliciting a gale of laughter from my girlfriend in the other room.

I'd actually forgotten the barricades component. I think it's kind of useful but not really that essential. It's a bit tacked on and wasn't a memorable element for me.

I've not got to Mr. X, so I've got that heart attack to look forward to! :/