Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 16-17)

I've went back to Cyberpunk on PS5 not got much of the story left then i can finally start Phantom Liberty and I'm hoping to finish Alan Wake 2 this weekend. On Xbox I'm playing Return to Arkham Asylum and Starfield nearing the end of both of those too.

I grabbed Cyberpunk the DLC so I'm doing a fresh playthrough. I'm currently trying Tropico out as I'm looking for a smaller-scale city builder.

I'm also playing Asgards Wrath 2 on Quest 3

Finished Soul Hackers 2 so I'll be going back to Persona 5 Strikers (before finally Tactica).
But today is going to be Segaturday with a friend playing: Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi and Virtua Fighter. Probably a few things more.

After playing the 5 hour trial, I finally pulled the trigger this week on EA Sports WRC as it was reduced to £27. It’s not exactly a graphical showcase, but still a good rally game with plenty of content. Also playing the excellent Risk of rain returns on Switch. On PS5 I’m playing Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, which I’m still undecided on, though it looks gorgeous.

I've gotten into EA WRC recently, it's surprisingly good actually, especially for the sale price I got it at. Then I've been trying to finally work my way through the Halo Infinite solo campaign, something I put in my backlog for a long time.

Still going through on my NG+ on Lies of P than Starfield, I'm hoping to squeeze in a few games on Infinite and FM. I really, really need to get back an complete Cocoon.

Balder’s Gate 3 is becoming a bit of a drag at the moment. We’re still fairly early on. I’m not sure if it’s because we’re doing too many side quests which we’re underleveled for or if our least level up wasn’t all that exciting or the loot isn't very forthcoming but yea. We need something to pop to keep our interesting going.

Other than that I’ve been playing Halo Infinite. A bit of Quick Play and Husky Raid. Firefight when I have a bit more time.

Sherlock Holmes devil's Daughter, I wanted something relax this weekend.

Playing the Dark Arisen DLC of Dragon's Dogma to finish the game before the sequel releases. In general I like it but the lack o proper fast travel and that saving does nothing and you will loose a lot of progress whenever you load needs to be highly improved in the next rekease

I'm going to have to fess up.
I'm playing Foresaken and really enjoying it. Please dont judge me, I feel dirty!

Putting my huge lapse of judgement to one side, I hope you all are playing some excellent titles. GP is bursting at the seams with worthy games, I hope you are enjoying some of them!

Dad simulator a.k.a. Yakuza 6

Yesterday I got the platinum trophy for Terminator Resistance: Enhanced Edition on the PS5. I recently got the platinum trophy for Teyon’s RoboCop: Rogue City as well. I really enjoyed the latter and wanted to give their previous game a shot. I’m so glad I did. And I have a lot to say, so apologies for the long diatribe.

To me, Resistance has the best Terminator story since T2, which isn’t a hard thing to accomplish but it’s still worth noting. The characters are intriguing, and there are some role-playing elements, albeit shallow, that really provide world building and depth to characters. There are dialogue options that really expound on backstories in ways I wasn’t expecting a AA game in this franchise to do.

The game also has that PS3/Xbox 360-era feel. It reminds me of the Resistance and Metro games in terms of gunplay and atmosphere. There are decayed buildings, underground safe havens, and people trying to survive a futile world.

One aspect I like is exploration. I am a big fan of games that are separated by different levels and feature a semi-open world to scavenge. There are notes littered about that provide world building to the barren wasteland and the inhabitants that once lived there. And there’s always something rewarding — for example; a very powerful sniper rifle was in an abandoned building behind a locked door that you can pick.

I’ve always preferred games to have a more linear structure. It’s a great way of keeping things constrained so you don’t feel overwhelmed by the difficult of some of the enemies, such as the T-800s and T-47s.

Lastly, the OST is phenomenal, from the track playing in the main menu screen all the way to the tension filled moments when T-800s are sprawled out throughout the environments. The music feels futuristic, and adds a sense of dread and adrenaline that meshes into a perfect harmony that feels like Terminator.

Now, the game isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Graphically, there’s a lot to be desired. Textures are muddy, and character models aren’t the best. The voice acting is also not too great; it seems rushed a lot, with poor lip syncing and facial animations. The writing is actually quite good, but the execution in how it’s delivered falls flat.

Another gripe is the amount of resources you find. Although I love exploring and scavenging for items, there seems to be an over abundance of it. Its novelty wears thin after a while. And with resources comes crafting — a system that I enjoy but is quite shallow at its core. The weapon upgrade mechanic is cool, but it’s way too limited. I would have loved to see it expand to all weapons such as being able to create scopes, lasers, silencers, or terminator knives to attach on your weapon to act as a bayonet.

Regardless of my few minor grievances, this game is an underrated gem. I wonder what Teyon has next up their sleeve because they are a solid studio. In fact, it would be great to see Sony acquire them because they deserve to create games with a bigger budget. Their love for the 80s and early 90s shines super bright, and I can only imagine what they are capable of when given the right opportunity.

Half Life 2 on Series X. Now running better than ever

I bought code Vein on the Countdown sale. I will give that a go and then maybe some Farcry 5 … thought I would play 5 before 6 in case it leaves

Callisto Protocol for me. Getting close to halfway through it. It's uhh... not even close to as good as Dead Space. Feel like about 1/4 of the game is crawling through vents and shimmying through narrow passage ways.. Strange they don't seem to understand what made Dead Space fun to play. Still, I'm enjoying it enough to keep going.

Ice Age Village (Windows Phone) - Doing dailies and building my town.

Chickens Can't Fly (Windows Phone) - Finishing this up this weekend.

Plants vs. Zombies (Windows Phone) - Now starting on minigames.

Frontiers of Pandora,
all around the clock 😊

@Feffster defo one of the best games ever. Remember being blown away by the demo on a friend’s PC when it first released, then waiting a couple of years or so for it in Xbox. Throwing the saw blades around never got dull.

Some Lego Fortnite and Alan Wake 2

Xbox - Gotham Knights,
Pc - just cause 2, halo Infinite

I'm going hard on the gaming front this weekend and I love it.
PS5: Alan Wake 2 and GoWR Valhalla
Series X: Baldur's Gate 3
Switch Oled: TotK and Metroid Dread

@gravelmonkey - agreed. I’m 2/3 of the way through and loving every minute. The recent unofficial fps boost for Series X/S makes it play like a modern remake and the graphics hold up brilliantly at 4k60fps.

I feel kind'a lost and empty after I platiniumed "Lies of P"
I need to find an another good game to bury myself into...

I keep intending to get back to Starfield at some point, but Hogwarts Legacy just hasn't allowed that to happen. The so-called controversy surrounding the game due to Rowling's remarks about one thing or another don't concern me whatsoever, and I was never the biggest Harry Potter fan by any means, but the fact remains that Hogwarts Legacy is just an engaging and fun game to play.

Got back into Pinball fx this week so will be grinding that out over weekend. Trying to improve some of my high scores. Some Civ 6 and No Man's Sky to relax with.
Keeping an eye on sales, waiting on Pinball fx table packs going on sale as they said they would be around Xmas and my MS rewards points have me around £100 in xbox credit. Finally at the "need an expansion card" stage. Res Evil 4 on sale, and a bunch of other great games. Rise of the tomb raider 20 year celebration for a fiver and Mad Max for £3 are must buys at those prices. Highly recommended.

@Gonzo_Me and Starfield, well.... Isn't 😂

Oh *****!
It's already been a week?
Time flies I guess.

Anyway.
This weekend I'm continuing to play Trails of Cold Steel(the PS4 version) after I finally got through Trails to Azure last saturday.

Don't think I'll be playing anything else until I beat this one.
But I did install Clash: Artifacts of Chaos so I may play that in between my Trails sessions.

Against the Storm on PC game pass via GFN. An exceptional game, been playing for a week now and can't get enough.

Coral Island on the box. A really well made game too - especially after the few patches.

@BIG3 That's a stacked line up - enjoy!

@Titntin did you mean Forespoken on the PS5? I thought you meant Forsaken the N64 that got a remaster on last gen consoles.

Either way fair enough to each their own!

@Tasuki that takes me back. I remember getting a “Clockwork Rocket Bot” from Winter Veil back in the day.

Giving Avatar it's last chance

Baldur's gate 3.
I restarted it after playing it for 1 hour...and omg the story already changed quite a bit.
I can already see this is something special

super mario rpg should be finished tonight. On xbox, dead space remake. if I finish both I'm starting Ittle Dew and Psychonauts 2

Also might play some retro stuff on the Pi

@Hutchilawd Oh, don't get me wrong. I love Starfield too, and have probably close to 120 hours exploring it. Will definitely jump back in soon enough. I hadn't played Hogwarts until it went on sale recently, so I honestly wasn't expecting it to be as good as it turned out to be is all. Pleasant surprises are the best of all surprises really. Both Starfield and Hogwarts had their share of hype and criticism, but as far as I'm concerned, they are both fun and worthwhile to play.

@Tasuki WoW is one of those games I wish I could go back and experience for the first time again. I hope he enjoys it.

My wife and I played Retail from the tail end of Burning Crusade to the some point in Cataclysm. Didn’t get to Mists of Pandora.

Divinity 2 . Planned on starting baldurs gate but I like the thought of playing as an undead, plus I prob not a bad idea to player older game first. Also playing crusader kings 3 which has started to be something of a Christmas tradition for me. This year vive la France!

I finished my game-of-the-year, Alan Wake 2, last weekend ao today will be playing the repackaged Terminator: Resistance - agree with @Kraven that it’s a pretty decent game for an AA one, and I really must pick up RoboCop in next few weeks…

@AlwaysPlaying you too!

Halfway through Sea of Stars before i delve into BG3. An amazing little gem that's on Game Pass. Highly recommend.

Wrapped up Dead Space remake and now starting Alan Wake 2.

@somnambulance hell yes, Battle Chef Brigade! Love that game.

Alrighty bit of a interesting week this week. To start with of course this weekend was full of Indigo Disk and man is it one heck of a time so far. Definitely a toughie of a DLC but won’t lie I’m liking it more then The Teal Mask so far. Also got to have some excellent matches in Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising with a friend and that is just a absolutely excellent fighting game. (shoutout Ouji_Senpai.) Gotta say think my main is gonna be Vira or Yuel. As for tonight and tomorrow actually I’m thinking of skimping on switch gaming I definitely wanna do some Super Mario RPG like I voted on but tonight I’m going to see The Boy and The Heron with my best friend and I’m really excited for that and then thinking afterwards will just be some low key Like A Dragon Gaiden time I ain’t played it in like two weeks. IM FINALLY FREE OF MORNING SHIFTS. Except for Wednesday but that’s it. So I look forward to wrapping up Alan Wake II this week as that game has just turned absolutely stellar. And otherwise I really just wanna zone in hard on some FFXVI. Would really like to beat it by Christmas and I’m 88% of the way there so here’s hoping I can do it. Otherwise most of the week is gonna just be some minor switch games like Star Ocean 2 and Persona 5 Tactica and some minor PS5 games like some more matches and story mode of Granblue. Honestly now it’s about time to start writing up the top 10 lists for the year. Very excited to share those. As for anime of the week again it’s the excellent quartet of Eminence in Shadow, Jujutsu Kaisen, Frieren and Spy X Family. Getting close to the end of the season and the end of a lot of those shows so here’s hoping for excellent finishes for a lot of them. Podcasts of the week of course are Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into the Aether, RPGsites Tetracast, Minnmax, Nextlander and Friends Per Second. Without saying why I can now comfortably stamp that one with approval for the foreseeable future. Also for anyone who saw last weeks journal where I shouted out a special friend and their redebut stream that stream was absolutely stellar and I just wanna shout them out again so y’all can still go give them love on the daily. That would be my friend over at twitch.tv/akibread. As always y’all have a excellent weekend and Happy Gaming.

Alan Wake 2. Almost done, I think.

Starfield. Just completed The Man Who Erased His Name. If I get some breathing room, I start Diablo IV and Baldur's Gate. There's also AWII to get back to.