Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 29-30)

Another mix this past week.

PS5 - Nier Automata and Elden Ring

PC - Quake, Cyberpunk, Days Gone and Conan Exiles

Xbox - Forza Horizon 3 & 4 - although both clearly run better on the rig so will be switching back, certainly when I'm back online.

Nowt on Switch again, but am considering jumping back into BotW over the course of the weekend.

Finally have settled on a new broadband supplier that is due to go live this coming Monday. Thankfully it's my regular day off work so I can spend the time updating everything (it's been 4 months so I imagine it'll take some time!). Even unboxed and set up the Series S again in readiness for updating. Shall leave the PS3 and 360 offline though. They're both under older accounts so not necessary.

Bit of a boring update for me this week as Im still playing the same games as last week, mainly due to Rise of the Ronin being a big and long game and also cause we’re at our summer place and I left the Series S at home so only playing on it when we go back to water the plants etc but I’ve got my ps5 and ps portal with me which is an awesome combo out here and works great with both machines connected with the same phone using 5g. Anyways, here goes

Rise of the Ronin - still going strong, still petting a lot of cats. Gotta catch em all 😅 Im almost immune to open world fatigue but I have a feeling this game will push me a bit. Still, gameplay is very fun so I’ll probably end up with the platinum in the end.

Still wakes the deep - I managed like an hour earlier in the week, really like this game. Expect I’ll be able to finish it the next time I’m able to play as its s short but imo a very good game.

Tales of Kenzera- Zau - Playing this as a great way to break up RotR, but means shorter sessions and not so much progress. Still fun 🙂

My backlog has seen me have maybe four larger/longer games on the go simultaneously for the first time which isn't as bad as I thought providing I can keep up with characters and story in each. This weekend however I'm committing to one, Wasteland 3 on Gamepass. Another gem I somehow overlooked until I watched the SkillUp video and decided to give it a go. Recommended!

Still wakes the deep and goat simulator 3 multiverse of nonsens dlc with my daughter.

Just Cyberpunk for me. Bought the base game a while and really enjoying it so just going to plough through that and maybe upgrade to Phantom Liberty. Feels nice and simple to just know what I want to play when I turn on the Xbox.

I’m gonna be playing more of Crisis Core: FFVII Reunion, although I haven’t completely figured out the combat yet, and probably also finishing up the Forge of Corruption DLC for Boltgun, which was a better game than I honestly thought it would be.

XSX - Insurgency: Sandstorm & Call of Duty 2 which is thankfully backwards compatible.

PS5 - I might buy the System Shock remake.

FH4 (and thanks for the token Microsoft), Toy Soldiers HD and EA Sports footy - think I need to up the difficulty, beat Arsenal 8-0 this morning playing as Accrington.

Hopefully a bit of Order 1886 when I get back tonight. Can’t believe how visually stunning it is even on a PS4 Pro.

Thanks to Copa America and Euro, just a few hours of Age of Wonders 4 and Midnight Suns

Yoshi (NES) - Wanted a nice blast from the past puzzler and here we are!

Microsoft Bingo (Windows Phone) - I'm still just dabbing away.

After weeks of not knowing what to really focus on, in feels like I've finally settled on one main "project" per console:
On Xbox: Ghost Recon: Wildlands
On Switch: Tales of Vesperia
On PS5: Decided to pause Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance until I feel properly ready to get back into the mindset of SMTV so I guess I will get back to my PS playthrough of Trails of Cold Steel IV once and for all

I wish the rest of you folks a nice weekend.

Finally finished Sword and Fairy Together Forever, so I'm not sure. Maybe I'll go back to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (still one of the best games this year) or maybe I'll keep the chinese theme going on and finally play Dynasty Warriors 9.

I've just started cyberpunk like our friend @Scrubchub Having a great time so far! Phantom Liberty already bought!
Cyberpunk is the reason I don't buy games day-one anymore. I pay less during a sale and play the best version of the game.

In the meantime I'm struggling with Lies of P. I've never played a souls like before so I'm suffering to beat a boss called Fueco lol

Aside from wrapping up Paper Mario TTYD, I think I’m going to finally start Sea of Stars. I’m worried it only had a 12 month contract and it’ll leave Gamepass at the end of August. Might be a good idea to start that sooner than later!

Playing

• F1 Manager 2023 (XSX) - got my first constructors points with Williams in Miami with Albon getting a 10th place finish. Looking to move Sargeant on at the end of his contract by signing the current F2 leader as a rookie for next year.
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS5) - just started and have finished the tutorial level. I’m hopeless at Souls-like games so not sure how far I’ll be able to push through before bailing.
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) - cleared the Great Plateau (4 shrines, 18 korok seeds) and am heading towards Kakariko Village.

Paused

• Divinity: Original Sin (XSX)
• Yakuza: Like A Dragon (PS5)

Backlog

• Days Gone
• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
• Persona 3: Reload
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Mostly Evil West and Live a Live. But I had a hankering to play Alttp as well so I did the initial dungeon. Might keep playing it til the end. We'll see!

@Duck_Farmer
I mean, Sekiro's not really a souls-like despite having similar elements.

It's honestly what I would call a Sekiro-like given it has huge focus on deflecting attacks rather than dodging them.
I also would call Sekiro a tougher game in general due to later bosses kinda expecting you to master the deflection mechanic on top you being expected to have a firm grasp on the game's systems and generally knowing what you're doing.
But that's just my personal observations.

Fantastic game though and one I'm glad to see be single-player only.
Really makes you have to earn each victory.

...I say that but still haven't beaten the game to this day, the final boss with it's total of 4 different phases really broke me, I remember that I spent a single 12-hour session on just trying to make it past the first two phases of the fight before I gave up.

Going to start Forza Horizon 5. Played the others but never got around to this one.

Still wakes the deep and nearing the end … too many missable achievements so at some point will need to do a second run to get that 100%.

Can't talk right now. Still deeply lost exploring the expanses of the universe in Starfield with mods. Please send snacks. And plenty of Yorkshire Tea. Thank you.

Series X: BG3. Finally starting to get the hang on this game. Been playing blind for 25hrs but had no idea what I was doing. Started googling everything, going back if the rolls messed up and respec my character. Now Im killing everything and things are moving along, finally.
Soon wrapping up the basegame of Witcher 3 for the third time as well.
PS5 and Switch: Nothing.

Street Fighter 6, need to get back into it.

Playing a couple of shorter games this weekend: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons on Game Pass and Cat Quest II on Steam

Clone Wars and FFXV fishing on ps4

Animal Well. Pretty chill.

You're very much in the mood to play Forza Horizon 4 following the recent news? I think you might be wired backwards. I'm very much in the mood to never play another Forza Horizon game. I'm not interested in anything temporary. I'm happy I didn't really enjoy that one because imagine if I had - now I'd be losing it. Unacceptable. Imagine if, for example, Ocarina of Time was erased from existence one day. No thank you. I'm going to do my best to never play a game that's not going to be available at the end of time.

@karlhendrikse Nobody is losing it. It will no longer be for digital sale. Anybody who owns it will still be able to download and play it. Anybody who has a disk can still stick it in a console and play it that way too.

I’m mostly focusing on Shadow of the Erdtree. I had bought the Kimgdom Hearts Collection on Steam but it was almost unplayable on Steam Deck with how much it kept freezing. I returned it and ordered the Metal Gear Solid Collection and Hogwarts Legacy instead. I fired up MGS for the first time since beating it on PlayStation.

@gravelmonkey The Order is such an underrated game. It gets a ton of hate for being short, but I don’t need every game to be a 25+ hour experience. Sure, it could have been a bit longer, but I loved it regardless.

@Fishysensei I'll be interested to see how far I get in Sekiro. When I'm under pressure I tend to go into button mash mode which looks like is not going to work.

@Duck_Farmer
I wish you the best of luck. 😁
Also, I apologize if my comment came across as mean-spirited or demoralizing, I promise you that was not my intention.

@Fishysensei
If I make it through I'll let you know. If I can beat it, you definitely can beat the final boss!

Forza Horizon 4

I love that the online component is very active right now. Was able to get a bunch of online related achievements. It will sadly be much harder to play those game modes when the game is delisted in a few months.

Just more Octopath Traveler 2. I'm 20 hours in and really loving it. I've got my main squad kitted out with secondary jobs now, and the battle mechanics are even more fun than before. What an excellent game.

Finished Hellblade 2. One of the biggest disappontments of my life, especially since Hellblade 1 is one of my favourite games ever. Now playing Gran Turismo 5, Football Life 2024 and some Uncharted: Lost Legacy. Also looking for a new game to play on Game Pass. Still Wakes the Deep looks nice, might try that.

I'm playing Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions on Xbox 360, Hellblade 2 and Spanky the Monkey on PC and Touch Dic on DS. I might get around to playing some Dragon Wang if I can manage to pull out the Sega SG-1000.

I'm recording Spider-Man and Hellblade 2 on my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/zydio1103

@gollumb82 I'm playing Hellblade 2 and I think it's awesome, I don't know why everyone is speaking badly about it. It is one hell of an experience so far. If you think Hellblade 2 is one of the biggest disappointments of your life, maybe you should play ET on the Atari 2600 or Superman64 on the Nintendo 64. I could go on with a list of hundreds and maybe thousands of games that are worse than Hellblade 2. Speaking of a more modern game, maybe try Gollum and report back.

@UltraGuy Call of Duty 2 is really hard. I just suck at it I guess.

@ZYDIO It depends on the difficulty you're playing on. I'm currently playing on Hardened, it's best to use cover more and use smoke grenades when dealing with turrets. My only issue is the enemies can throw a grenade back but you cant.

@UltraGuy I probably just have it on normal difficulty maybe even easy. There was some part where I have to defend against all these dudes coming in from outside and they just kept infiltrating and I couldn't get past it. I tried so many times and just gave up.

@Foxx_64740 if you're enjoying Cyberpunk then check out the Netflix show. I'm not an anime fan but that one is great fun and a good companion to the game.

@munstahunta I have played through all the Goat Simulator content available with my youngest son. It is a blast! Perfect silly game for an afternoon of parent/kiddo bonding.

I just wanted to say to a fellow gamer parent: have a great time!

Well here we are with another wonderful WAYP. It’s been one of the craziest weeks here. Start of the week had me conquering one of my biggest fears with Persona 3 Reload and now I’m further then I’ve ever been before in it. Also made it to the finale of Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth too. But the big day of the week had to have been Friday. Going to NYC for Friday Night SMACKDOWN and getting to get the Japanese Xenoblade 3 art book and go to Nintendo NYC as they were having a Luigi’s Mansion 2 launch event? Pretty cool. But going to Madison Square Garden and getting to see Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Cody Rhodes, Tiffany Stratton, and so many more in person was just a thing of magic it was the greatest night ever. Then I followed that up yesterday with the start of Dawntrail and honestly it’s kinda been the greatest weekend ever. Thinking the rest of the weekend will maybe be a Persona 3 Reload weekend. Feeling kinda under the weather since Friday so maybe it’ll be no games and just an early nights sleep. Otherwise I’m thinking this week is mostly gonna consist of some Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, Paper Mario, more P3R and maybe some Stellar Blade. And some more Dawntrail and hopefully starting Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD and Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. Very excited for those two and Trails Through Daybreak too. Didn’t watch any anime this week so really I’m just gonna shoutout one of my favorites that I’m always always gonna shoutout which is Urusei Yatsura. Love Lum. Podcasts of this week gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast,Minnmax, Jeff Gerstmann, Kit and Krysta, Last Stand Media, Easy Allies, Second Wind, Nextlander, Cultaholic Wrestling and Remap Radio. And yet we wouldn’t be done without an incredible huge magnificent lovely shoutout to my dear friend over at twitch.tv/akibread and their wonderful streams please give them a look. As always yall stay safe, be incredible to each other. Have an excellent weekend and of course Happy Gaming. And Happy Pride Yall.

@ZYDIO
Perhaps I should clarify my comment. Hellblade 2 is a disappointment to me as a sequel to Hellblade 1. It’s not a terrible game. Actually, in terms of graphics and audio design it’s great. This is where the positives end for me and I agree with the Pure Xbox review that the plotline is disjointed and its use of the supernatural feels out of place. Senua’s Sacrifice was amazing because it kept you guessing what’s real and what isn’t, what is a figment of Senua’s imagination due to psychosis, yet it still stayed somewhat grounded. Also, the ending to HB was way more satisfying than HB2. The puzzles were better, the combat was more diverse and you were allowed more freedom to explore than in HB2 which is basically a walking simulator. The boss fights in HB1 were also mucb better and creative than HB2. I could go on and on, but I think I said enough for you to know that I’m not hating just for the sake of it. Oh, I forgot- Hellblade 2 was the game I was most hyped for when XSX launched. So much so I got one at launch. Lastly, I really wanted to see the crazy shaman Senua from the early trailers- alas, it was just a trailer.

Goat sim 3, defiant grind to lvl50 and mad max which I’m really enjoying

@Scrubchub 100% agree that show was great