Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of July 16th
Another week another thread!
What have you all been playing this week? Anything you're particularly looking forward to in the short term?
I started Hades recently and have been enjoying it a lot. I'm debating if I should pick up Sonic Frontiers, it's been forever since I played a Sonic game.
Sonice frontiers is fantastic! Took me back to the good ole days of playing on a Sega Genesis and Dreamcast. Also a great opportunity to catchup on Sonic lore. Heres a good summary of the, though it does go over Sonic Frontiers, so beware spoilers!
I would really enjoy the nostalgia trip like that. Genesis is where I started with Sonic and became a Sega fan from then on too. Thank you so much for the link, going to check it out.
Still playing Final Fantasy XVI. The story and characters are fantastic. Now that I've put some time into it, the combat feels pretty great. Excited to see where it goes. I feel like I'm still in the first quarter of the game.
This is also what I'm playing. I'm just over halfway and I am still enjoying it, but feeling a bit let down overall. I got sucked into the hype, for once, so that's my fault. I wasn't prepared for the game to be so linear.
This sums up my feelings as well. Enjoying it but let down from expectations set by the demo.
I think I'm about 2/3 of the way through Disco Elysium.
Loved Disco Elysium. My buddy couldn't get into it. I was surprised... and bummed. I thought it was so damn... literary. Just fantastic.
Yeah. Some said it's the best book they've ever played or the best game they've ever read. To be honest the beginning was a bit slow, but has really kicked in and the world they have crafted is very unique.
More Final Fantasy 14. I've started the Heavensward post-game content (I guess you can call it that?).
I'm done with all the optional dungeons and raids you unlock after the base story, and now I'm continuing with the story quests that were added in later patches. There's just so much time-wasting, back and forth bullshit, that it's just a chore, though. Start quest in town A, go to town B for a short cutscene, go to town C for another short cutscene, go back to town A for yet another cutscene. Since you can teleport everywhere by this point, it doesn't take long, but is just so boring. That's why I'm constantly queuing for random dungeons and hang out in the Gold Saucer, basically avoiding the story.
As for classes, I've mainly played Reaper, which is fun, and today started trying out Dancer, and had a good time as well.
Post-patch content in A Realm Reborn and Heavensward are both pretty rough. Post-patch content gets a bit better later on. Look up the alliance raid series’ and the raids and do those as well to break up the monotony.
I have done the Alexander and Sky Pirates raids already, but I don't know if there's anything else I can unlock later.
Alexander was kind of a chore, because the first 8 sections or so, were all just one or two terrible fights each, then back to a cutscene that almost takes longer than the fights. It did pick up in the final sections though, along with the story, so at least it ended on a high note.
The Sky Pirate stuff was decent, although I couldn't stand the story bits. At least here each raid longer, with multiple, real boss fights.
Horizon Forbidden West - don’t like it as much as the first but I’m determined to finish it before moving on to something else
Dave the Diver. It's a great blend of Subnautica, Recettear, and absurdity.
Can't wait for this on console - it looks like it would fit so well on the Switch
Elden Ring. Always Elden Ring. It's massive. Don't know when I'll finish everything I want to.
Almost 400 hours in it according to Steam and I'm still feeling the call, thinking of new builds or things I want to try.
I'm only about 160h in, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to do another playthrough. I still have Sekiro to do. I've barely started that. Will probably call it a day for ER once I've slain Melina.
Deep Rock Galactic - I should have probably picked it up earlier. It's such a wonderful co-op game with so many memorable, epic moments happening.
Very charming atmosphere, too.
I finally got around to playing the Portal series. I played 2 first (it was a free Games with Gold pick) and thought it was great, so about 20 or so puzzles through the first Portal now. I'm kind of surprised the series ended with one sequel.
There would probably be 4 sequels by now if it was by any other company but Valve. Sadly, their priority has been Steam for too many years now. Their game development side goes at a glacial pace and all the developers that originally made their critically acclaimed games have left or are leaving.
I think they are doing well. Quit while it's good.
Finally getting around to playing the halo infinite campaign. Fingers crossed it’s okay for an old geezer who’s been playing since the original Xbox release.
Ori and the will of the wisps on the switch. I like the game and it seems to have improved many things over its predecessor but keeps stuttering on this switch port. Not sure I can persevere ! Anyone had similar issues? Maybe something I can change in settings...
Lots of overtime sapping my will and time to play games.
Horizon: Zero Dawn, almost non-stop. The mechanics can be a bit finicky sometimes, but the story and world building keep me coming back.
There are a lot of little things that I really don't like about it and these almost certainly exist because it was originally exclusive to Playstation. I sometimes find my self a bit irked because there was so much more they could've done to make it a classic. Instead, it's just good enough.
I've been seeing a lot of good stuff about Baldur's Gate 3, but for a variety of reasons a bunch of other CRPGs I've played haven't clicked with me. So, since I owned Divinity: Original Sin 2, I decided to pull that back out and focus on it for a bit to see if it got my attention this time. The very early start up trying to break out of the fort is a bit rough, but once you get past that it gets compelling fast. The tactics play out really enjoyably, and I really find it enjoyable to take bigger encounters, if I get stomped, and figure out the optimal positioning I can set myself up in to beat the odds on the next try. After a good few too many hours I'm finally off the first island and it's starting to open up for real.
This might have convinced me to the BG3 first and save Starfield for a while, even though that and FF16 both look damn good too.
Primarily playing Guild Wars 2 and getting prepared for the new expansion around the end of August! I’m also super stoked for Baldurs Gate 3 and going to jump in with some friends!
Borrowed Metroid Dread at the library. I love the game, but I'm having a real tough time. It's a little too hard for me, but I'm still hoping to finish it.
Warhammer 40k Boltgun
Surprised nobody else has said Tears of the Kingdom yet. I’m like 110 hours in and still haven’t beaten the main story. There’s just so much to do!
I'm still playing it, too.
Also I’m playing Tomb Raider AnnIversary on the PSP.
I'm still there as well, so much to complete still. I want to finish it so I can go back and finish Hogwarts legacy so that I can go back to my regular scheduled program of FFXIV.
Doing another run in Satisfactory. I'm building a mega base building vertically and horizontally. I'm around 30 hours in in this run, made coal after about 6 hours and I'm still working on oil, but getting there. I've gotten to the last tier before, stayed a while, but never pushed long enough to obtain the employee of the planet cup or to buy everything in the awesome shop.
Stardew Valley. But I’m trying to decide if I want to buy a console to play Hogwarts Legacy.
I don't know what you expect from hogwarts legacy, but heres my 2 cents.
If you come for a Hogwarts lifesim, a sort of Bully but set in Hogwarts, with the feeling of attending the school and classes, and take part in school life and interacting with other students, dont buy a console for Hogwarts Legacy.
All these parts are severely underdeveloped and dissapointing. While there are many students standing about all the time, you will only interacty with anyone when a quest requires you to. 90% of npcs you will meet twice: when they give you a quest, and a secend time when you return to them to finish the quest.
If you come to Hogwarts Legacy for a decent action game (i wouldnt call it a rpg, there are numbers involved, but they are absolutly meaningless) with huge collections to aquire, and the pretty, Harry Potter flavoured, visuals, then you will have fun with the game. But maybe don't buy a console just for Hogwarts.
Thanks for the feedback. I was sort of looking for that experience of being a student with some adventure alongside. I’ll have to think some more about this!
For this week and the next I'm hoping to complete Vampyr.
A bit disappointed with the floaty melee combat, but eh not that many vampire games on PS4 at the moment.
I just finished Jedi Survivor. It was a hell of a run, fun, super enjoyable and absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to start the new game + and try to get all the achievements
Got back to Minecraft - probably not for long as it was mostly something to fill the time rather than a real need to play it again. It's a good game for that anyway.
Besides that, I got a craving for some good old PSP fun and jumped on two games there - Pangya: Fantasy Golf & Ridge Racer 2.
Despite the fact I don't really care about golf (neither real nor in video game form), Pangya is pretty fun. Nice graphics, simple but enjoyable gameplay. Just started so I'm curious how difficult it'll get later on.
As for Ridge Racer 2... played A LOT of it when I was younger, never finished it though. Still as good as remember. I'm also surprised how much of the game stuck with me - guess I had way more fun with it then I thought.
Horizon Forbidden West - don’t like it quite as much as the first but want to finish it up
I've been playing a mix of Remnant: From the Ashes and Stellaris.
I've completed Remnant now, and am just gearing up for the DLC, but the problem with it is that you have to erase your campaign progress (character progress stays) before you can start the DLC, so I'm running around the campaign world to try get the things I might have missed before I can dive into the DLC.
For Stellaris, I've been playing a modded playthrough, with a mod named GigaStructures, which has been absolutely ridiculous in the power scale. The start of the power creep is turning small moons into hyperpowerful attack ships, aptly named Attack Moons. I then progressed to turning planets into ships, which was yet another order of magnitude. Finally, you can convert 5 moons and 4 planets into a stellar craft, using a local star as it's power source and core component. The power scale with these mods is pretty wacky
Barony! This game scratches my roguelike itch perfectly.
I am looking forward to Blackout Protocol on the 19th! One of my most played demos during Steam's Next Fest.
I'm playing Tom Clancy's The Division (using GeForceNow). And I'm really liking it. Dying is not really frustrating, but challenging at most. Progression is not hard and the story is really enjoyable.
And I'm playing Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist. This is my first Tom Clancy game and I'm loving it.
Out of curiosity, do you experience any crashes/disconnects?
I quit playing the game due to heavy crashes in the middle of missions. Was a widespread and known issue.
EDIT: forgot to mention, PC wise. Not console.
I haven't played since last week, but I've never experienced any crashes. Anyway, I've seen that on Reddit someone was complaining about the same problems as you.
Borderlands 3
I'm enjoying it overall, but good GODS can I tell it was 100% not designed to work for PC players.
I've been playing Diablo 4 this week; I can't even begin to tell you how many gleeful hours I put into Diablo 2 back in the day, but this one is feeling more like a chore than fun. There's a part of me that wants to just grind out to 100 to get there but I recognize sunk-cost fallacy when I see it, so I'm at least taking a break for a while.
A friend gifted me Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor during the Steam sale so that's probably on the menu for this weekend. My 12-year-old has played a couple from that series and enjoyed the puzzles so I'll see if they want to play it with me. I also picked up the stealth puzzle game Gunpoint and am looking forward to giving that a go.
I'm super looking forward to Pikmin 4 coming at the end of this week 🙏. Been waiting a long time and everything I've seen looks great so far
Felt the itch to play some Dead Cells again, so I did that and finally got around to playing the new Castlevania DLC. Always a blast.
And I also finally got around to playing Ghost of Tsushima. Haven't gotten very far yet, but so far I like it. The combat is a little slow and janky for my taste but the enviroment and sheer beauty of the world make me want to keep playing it.
working towards 106% in Crash 4. it's tough as nails and it's not a game that shies away from slapping you and laughing in your face for the smallest screw up. The 106% demands literal perfection on each level.
but it's a lot of fun and slowly conquering this behemoth is super satisfying
I've been playing a ton of Factorio. Trying to get a megabase going steadily
Super Mario Galaxy, I didn't own a Wii, and not much of platformer gamer.
There's some really fun parts, but the motion control is annoying for the surfing section, and I still have problems aiming my stomps at enemies.
Deleted the game after a frustrating fight with that giant mandibug boss (can't aim my stomp), came back, reinstalled the game, and defeated it after watching YT video on the timing. I will give it another try later.
I tried remastered Mario 64, and quit since I have issues with the flying control. Tried sunshine but somehow it doesn't stick.
If you shake and stomp at the same time it will autotarget an enemy if they're close by.
Viewfinder comes out tomorrow, I'm looking forward to that. I played the demo on steam and confirmed that it is something I'll almost certainly enjoy.
Thanks for the heads up, will be a fun play.
Approaching the end of ffxvi. Then gonna hit Diablo 4 season 1, hope it doesn't suck too much.
Been playing through Tunic finally when league friends aren't around.
Been playing the absolute hell out of the new League Arena when they are around!
I played Super Mario Galaxy, and was having difficulties with motion control and aiming the stomp (even after doing the spinning stomp move), then I reached a place with underwater level, I bailed out. Personally for me, it's probably better suited for short bursts of gameplay than longer period of streaming the game.
Right now I am replaying Zero Time Dilemma. I am still enjoying it.
Just finished DREDGE. It was a lot of fun, and the first game I ever gained all of the achievements 😄.
Beat hazard 3. It's in early access and I love the simple concept of "music creates the stage". You can use digital copies of songs, or in this new fangled age of streaming it allows for a plethora of other streaming services and even just desktop live audio if you happen to have some dj streaming on twitch open.
It's basically asteroids with upgrades, bosses, and waves upon waves of musically generated ships to blast.
Each track completed awards a unique new ship to pilot, procedurally generated. There is a galactic conquest mode where all your music is made into clusters in it's own galaxy. And the solo dev of the whole thing went ahead and added upgradeable special attacks in the most recent update, which is why I've been playing this week.
Trails in the Sky, Yakuza Like a Dragon and D4 when friends are on it. Actually excited for the D4 season, I am going to play a class I know nothing about and not use any guides; see how far I get.
Been playing through Borderlands 3. I always loved the pretense and style of the older ones, but the shooting just never felt good enough moment to moment to stick it out. This one's finally got it and I've been enjoying my time, even though the characters and dialogue are funny at rare times, and mostly pretty terrible.
Still Vampire Survivors and Satisfactory, if I can get a break in Vampire Survivors...
Alan Wake Remastered. I bounced off of this when I was a kid playing on the 360, but I wanted to go back and give it another try in anticipation of Alan Wake 2. Also sprinkling in some Midnight Fight Express and Rollerdrome.
Looking forward to Baldur's Gate 3 and Lords of the Fallen.
Binding of Isaac Repentance is my main game at the moment. I'm also trying to squeeze some Need for Speed Underground 2 on the PS2. Gaming is no longer my primary hobby so it's no more than an hour or two per day. Still, looking forward to the other NFS titles on the PS2. I might try to finish the first Underground and go for 100% on both before moving on.
Just before this week finished the second act of Pentiment, and waiting for a bit before starting the third one. Don’t want the game to end..
Just got a handheld emulator console, been trying some Pokemon rom hacks, Rocket Edition in particular. Been loving it! I've sort of lost the patience to sit down and play a longer game, so these handheld games are perfect for sitting down and playing for a bit while I watch a YouTube video. This is also the first time I've played Pokemon Pinball and it's fantastic! I'm kinda terrible though!
Also my coworkers started a minecraft server and it's been fun going back after years away from minecraft.
I just finished Jedi Survivor. It was a hell of a run, fun, super enjoyable and absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to start the new game + and try to get all the achievements
I'm currently playing though The Messenger, it makes me feel dumb sometimes because some of the backgrounds look like foregrounds
Mainly spending my time on Cities Skylines, trying to contain the hype for the 2nd one. Really excited to see what Blizzard does with the D4 seasons... Also excited to play Ratchet again after not owning a PS since the PS2.
Horizon Forbidden West - don’t like it as much as the first but I’m determined to finish it before moving on to something else