Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 20-21)

On ps5 I will finish Tiny Tina assault on dragons keep and play some more neptunia x senran kagura

On switch I will start pokemon brilliant diamond

And on xbox I'm playing back for blood right now, want to try and complete the first act but even on easy seems hard, I will also put another hour into forza 5 as I've just unlocked my next event area. I've given up on halo infinites multiplayer, just seems too arcadey and I absolutely suck at it

I feel like I'm going to be the only one who isn't keeping up with these games, lol. I'm just too busy playing other new releases as well as clearing my backlog to subscribe to Game Pass right now.

Anyway, will be playing Pokémon Shining Pearl on Switch and Secret of Mana on PS4. Absolutely enjoying the former game, while the second one is so far not that good at all. I'm hoping it will get better over time but it just feels so dated on top of being poorly remade.

On my XSX I’m playing Forza Horizon 5, Grow: Song of the Evertree, F1 2021, and trying to finish Far Cry 6. On PS5 I’m still playing the Director’s cut of Death Stranding, which is absolutely gorgeous.

Still playing Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Definitive Edition

Also playing the Halo Infinite Multiplayer on the side.

On a separate note, there's a stream by mediatonic on Tuesday to announce season 6 for Fall Guys. Lots of rumours going around about it could finally be coming to Xbox. I hope its true.

First post on this site.

AC4 Black Flag and Master Chief Collection. Maybe The Raven for the TA challenge.

Having finished my 2nd playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 I craved for more cyberpunk. So I went for the best cyberpunk game out there: Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It'll be my 3rd playthrough. Love this game to bits (by the way, thank you Xbox for letting me play this on a current gen console).
Some Forza Horizon 5 (yes, the game is great but the world feels empty- little traffic etc) and Halo Infinite mutliplayer.

Halo Infinite!

Still going through Disciples: Liberation. Great game too...

Somebody forgot the usual poll for us to vote on the games...

Anyways, I'll mostly be playing Quantum Break this weekend as part of the Game Club here. I'm enjoying it so far. It was a bit of an adjustment going back to a 30 FPS game, but otherwise it's a surprisingly good looking game for being an early Xbox One game (kind of like the often compared Infamous: Second Son still looking really good on PlayStation).

Might dip into a little bit more of Halo Infinite as well even though I'm one of the people in the world that doesn't play multiplayer games much anymore. It's good, but not that much fun for long periods with just random people.

How to play Cloud games on Series X? I don't see any way. I thought it was available already.

No poll this weekend?

I'm trying to finish Call of the Sea before it leaves gamepass. Also I'll likely get sucked into FH5, just such a great time sink for me personally, I'm looking at trying Infinite multiplayer and i really need to wrap up Halo 5.

@gollumb82
Man I love Deus Ex: HR to bits though I'm still salty that the Foxiest of the Hounds achievement bugged out on me, twice!
I replicated my Xbox runs on PS3 and got the platinum, just to make me extra salty lol.

As for me, I just wrapped up the 100% on Borderlands 3 Guns, Love and Tentacles DLC so I'm onto Bounty of Blood. Have a good weekend all!

Forza mainly for me. As an achievement whore I really wish they hadn't added the Accolade system, so much to do. Nearly got all the Xbox achievements, just the Festival Playlist ones to get and the damn Arcade, why is it so hard to find a group. I think they should scale the objectives dependant on how many people are in the group.

Also be jumping in and out of Halo for a few games, after playing Warzone for so long it's refreshing to have a really solid arena game to play.

@BlueOcean
In my case it popped up as a tile on the dashboard. I booted up Just Cause 4 just to check it. Works great 🙂

Deus Ex: Invisible War with the "visibility upgrade" on PC. Just got to Trier. Sure it's not as good as any of the other games in the franchise, but I'm still having a great time with it.

@gollumb82 I don't see anything and I searched that game and I can only install. Thanks anyway.

@BlueOcean
Maybe the recent update hasn't installed for you yet? My console is in instant on mode most of the time so I assume the update installed itself in the meantime. Or this is a sort of rollout thing and your turn hasn't come yet 🤔
@Shigurui
Yep, Deus Ex: HR is a masterpiece. The soundtrack itself is Oscar-worthy, the plot is engaging and deep, the graphics are still decent and I love the gold tint. Oh and don't get me started on Jensen's right hook 😅 I could incapacitate enemies like this all day (actually there's a youtube clip of someone punching everyone in the game haha).

Just finished Gear of War Judgement which is lovely with the FPS boost. Will also be trying My Friend Pedro, and likely a bit of Forza because I can't seem to have a day go by without that at the moment!

@gollumb82 I manually checked and there was an update available so I triggered it. The clouds appeared everywhere 😂. Thank you 🤗.

@gollumb82 I have only played (and completed) the Deus Ex game that was ported to Wii U and it runs horribly on that console. @NEStalgia what was the deal about Deus Ex on Xbox? I forgot 😂.

I never have been a fps person, yet I decided to try playing halo for the first time and it has been really fun. I started with Reach, and am really loving that. I am also playing vikings:wolves of midgard, and that is really fun too. Finally figured out a build that i like, though the leveling system (1% in a certain category) is not explained anywhere.

@Dydreamr I think that you might like Gears of War as well, it's basically shooter genre but also adventure and a bit of horror. I've played all the campaigns this year for the first time.

Xbox: Halo and forza horizon 5

@gollumb82
Mate that right hook is epic! Smacking the snot out of Jaron Namir with one punch is pure gaming gold. Such a shame it got removed in the Director's Cut.

Halo infinite until it's dry season in Forza Horizon 5 again, so that I can get that last XP board in the middle of the dam. 😆

@Shigurui
That's why I kept the original version 😁 Also, I didn't like the Missing Link part about the Director's Cut. It felt tacked on.

I'm playing Pokemon Shining Pearl..

@gollumb82
Yeah, I still have the original too, with a cherished manual save right outside the Namir boss fight room lol.

Totally agree on Missing Link. It's decent standalone DLC when played as originally intended and does makes some sense for continuity, filling the gap of the boat journey I guess. It just feels wrong that it got retrofitted directly into the DC and really breaks the flow of the game.

Pokémon Shining Pearl and SoSFoMT on my Xbox in between. My brother doesn’t want me to get too far ahead of him.

Series S: Halo Infinite (of course), Forza Horizon 5, Flight Simulator GOTY. I said it a while ago and Ill say it again. Xbox releasing these three titles the first year of the next gen is pure genious as these IPs are games I can play for the whole generation.

Nintendo Switch: Metroid Dread (unless my gf decides to kidnap my Switch to play the Pokémon Shield DLCs).

Ps5: Death Stranding DC.

With the black Friday sale going on on all platforms I'm considering buying Ghost of Tsushima DC, Tales of Arise and Monster Hunter Rise. R.I.P. Wallet.

Happy gaming everybody!

@BlueOcean Thanks for the recommendation.

@Dydreamr You're welcome.

Xbox: Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City - Halo Infinite - Paladins

Mobile: Some match 3 games - Super Mecha Champions

Other consoles are tidied away for now.

Need for speed heat & been playing the sly cooper trilogy on ps now on the 3rd game now

vanguard and fh5

@BlueOcean unfortunately that game is worse on Xbox then wiiu. It's a ps360 game that that remaster was made for wiiu and pc. Then ported to PS4 and x1. The x1 version never got a 1x patch so it's a 900p mess. The "best" way to play is PS4 pro or PS5 where there's a pro patch (or pc).

It's a worthwhile play though even if x1 is the only way to play. It's not as good as human revolution though. Game is fugly and shows it's age. But it at least gets some bc improvement on x1x/series.

On PC there's fan patchthat make it better of course.

Horizon 5 and Shin Megami Tensei 5. Gonna be at these two awhile I think, as I’ve just sorta lost motivation to play first person shooter multiplayer. Will probably still wrap up Vanguard’s campaign and then take a break before season 1 proper begins. Plus I snagged Mass Effect Trilogy Remastered and Guardians Of The Galaxy in sale. Should be good for a good long while. Or until the eShop Black Friday sale begins 😉

I am playing the messy San Andreas. It is a terrible port but the game is still so much fun. Also playing Crash 4 every once in a while (on switch)

@NEStalgia Human Revolution is the game that was ported to Wii U, I already played it.. Do you recommend the other(s) on Xbox?

@BlueOcean whoops I forgot which was which. HR is the one that's 360 bc only. Fugly and dated but playable and amazing. Directors cut was made for wiiu and steam, and eventually ported to ps360. It fixed bosses but broke other aspects of the game and destroyed the lighting. Pc players prefer modded og human revolution to directors cut because it broke the sequence of several things (and taking away the gold filter actually sucks)

Mankind divided is the one that is best on PS4 on pro or 5 because there's a 4k pro patch but no 1X patch. It's one of the games released in the year after pro but before x launched and it sold poorly so they didn't bother adding it.

Both games make up part 1 and 2 of the prequel trilogy for which part 3 is awol because square wants Eidos Montreal trapped in avenger hell forever.

The og pc game is legendary but I wouldn't recommend anyone to play it today. It's 1999 gameplay and not in a good way, but the actual game was amazing.

The forgotten sequel was so so, invisible war, and that's the one og Xbox game I dreamed and dreamed of bc support for....rip.

@BlueOcean I had to download and update the system. Then it popped up. Don’t forget get to update your controller too!

I’m already getting bored with FH5. So I dipped into Halo Infinite. Super fun to play some good old CTF. I’m also about finished with my second play through of Jedi Fallen Order. I think it might be the best SW game since KOTOR.

@F1at8mot0 Yep thanks, for some reason it didn't apply the update automatically.

@NEStalgia I got lost because you don't use the names but prequel trilogy, forgotten sequel...😅

I'm pretty obsessed with Panzer Dragoon Orta at the moment, so that and Forza

I only got in one match of Halo Infinite today but I played about a half an hour of Halo ODST (forgot it was its own thing and skipped to 4 from 3, it's fairly short from what I read so I'll play it before resuming 4). I got to the part of Psychonauts with the milk man. All on XSX, of course.

On Switch, I played some ACNH. Redesigning my island has been more lax since it doesn't feel like I have to live up to false expectations I made for myself when the game was new. It's coming along okay. Also some Hyper Light Drifter. That game is not that easy but a great Zelda-like (I plan on playing Death's Door at some point, don't you worry).

I hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend.

@BlueOcean
Original games (Warren Spector/ion storm)
1 Deus Ex (pc, 1999)
2 Deus ex: invisible War (og Xbox, pc 2003)

Prequel trilogy (eidos Montreal):
1 Human revolution (ps360, pc)
Hr directors cut (wiiu, ps360, pc) (inferior remaster)
2 Mankind divided (PS4/pro, x1 (not 1X), pc)
3 ???? (Squeenix being squeenix)

I finally finished the campaign for Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, and although the fun in an MMO is never over, going to take a bit of a break and maybe play some Far Cry 6

Mainly playing Forza5 and Blacksad

More Horizon 5 for me. Also brought out the SNES and cranked up Donkey kong country 2. The memories.

@NEStalgia Thank you! The "squeenix" game doesn't exist, right? It was cancelled. Then the only game I can play on Xbox apart from Human Revolution is Mankind Divided unless Invisible War is backwards compatible...?

@BlueOcean @NEStalgia Not sure you guys care about the full range of the Deus Ex franchise, but just in case you or someone else reading this does:

The original was ported to PS2 as:
Deus Ex: The Conspiracy.

Then there's also:
Deus Ex: The Fall for PC/Android/iOS
Deus Ex Go for Android/iOS.

Also there's the "not technically a Deus Ex game":
Project Snowblind for Xbox/PC.

Edit: I suppose technically Deus Ex: Breach for PC would count as a separate entry since it was released as a FTP standalone, even though it was originally just a separate mode in MD.

@everynowandben I don't really care about those mobile games. Do you know if Invisible War is backwards compatible? Otherwise I might play Mankind Divided although it's a shame it was not enhanced for Xbox One X.

@BlueOcean Unfortunately Invisible War isn't backwards compatible. I'd recommend playing that on PC if possible anyway for widscreen support and higher frame count. I'd also recommend playing the original before IW as it's a sequel and would make less sense story-wise without the context of playing the first one beforehand. I liked MD a lot for what it's worth. I know some people have issues with MD's narrative structure, but the gameplay is incredible.

@everynowandben I've only played Human Revolution. I think it was a nice game but performance, resolution and even visibility was awful (on Wii U).

Ok so i finally tried infinite and man....it's good. It's just feels good and is so much fun. I'm not good either and still enjoying myself so a win for me.

I also played call of the sea on my system... through xcloud. That was great and I'm definitely a fan of streaming a game vs downloading something just to try it out.

Wound up playing, and co -leting, Guardians of the Galaxy. Pretty fun but nit sure much replay value.

Mostly Forza 5, Halo Infinite, and Pokemon Diamond lately.

@everynowandben I really wouldn't recommend anyone play the original anymore. The story was amazing, but the gameplay was questionable in the last third even at the time, and in 2021 no part of the game plays remotely well. It's one of my favorite games of all time, and even I wouldn't play it again in 2021

@BlueOcean Right, just those two. The third one isn't cancelled, "Deus Ex remains an important property to us and we have some ideas for the future of that series" (but we're still stuffing Montreal on the failed avengers game forever...) . They said something about being unable to work on both at once etc. It'll eventually get made, but FFIII Versus "eventually" got made.... Who knows if we'll be alive to see it. I really really hoped invisible war would be BC, but it seems that dream has died.

@NEStalgia Thank you.

@fabisputza007 How’s Blacksad going for you? I tried playing it earlier this year on my Series X and was incredibly disappointed by all the performance issues and didn’t get far at all. I was wondering if it was running better since I saw it on sale and got to wondering about it again.

I am still playing Forza 4 🙂. I saw the dlc on sale and finally jumped on it so I’ll be giving the new stuff a shot. I still can’t believe how much stuff there is to do since the only extra story related stuff I’ve finished is the fastest rental car stuff. I think I’ve finished the main campaign but it’s hard to tell because the map is a mess lol.
Also picked up a couple games from Targets Black Friday sale- 3 month GP subscription cards( digital) are $25 also if you haven’t seen. I’m going to load up on those hopefully to last the year.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Halo infinite. And then I’ve actually went back to Halo 5 to review the story before Infinites campaign releases. And Forza Horizon 5 when I want something casual.

@Mamabear
It's too early to tell, Didnt have much time to play this weekend. Maybe im like 40 minutes in, and so far so good. I am not expecting much after all the backlash in the reviews. So far it's good performance wise

@NEStalgia I have to disagree. I played the original for the first time in 2021 and thought it was amazing. It's dated in many ways, sure, but it's still quite easy to appreciate it for what it is. Anyone into imm sims should definitely play through the original Deus Ex.

@everynowandben haha I played it at launch and.... It was kinda janky at times even then... We're you playing with modern mods perchance?

@NEStalgia Sortof. I was having a hard time with the mouse and key setup (even though I'm in my late 30s, I'm new to PC gaming) and couldn't figure out a good controller mapping solution, so while I did play through a bit of the Revision mod on PC, I ended up playing through the PS2 version. That version has it's own pros and cons, but for me, playing it with a controller and simplified menus/UI was worth the tradeoff of a lower resolution and framerate.

@everynowandben Ahh, the PS2 version. That might explain your experience. I had forgotten that even existed. I've never played it but, yeah, it would have greatly simplified controls and probably accellerated/automated some behavior that the PC version makes more tedious. It was a game with one of the more cumbersome UIs and used most keys on the keyboard, surpassed only by the D&D RPGs and space/flight simulators. I can't imagine what they trimmed down to get it onto a PS2 controller but it probably looks like an even more simplified version of the modern trilogy to control given there were less buttons than modern consoles. Plus compared to the original PC graphics (excluding modern mods) it actually should have looked a little better. The PS2 was actually notably more powerful than even powerful PCs when it came out, so the OG PC version was meant for weaker hardware than the PS2 port. It was pretty impressive tech that had us PC gamers with our "new" screaming rigs pretty jealous of console for a while. GPUs were really behind! PS players had the impressive FFX as a showcase while on PC we were hyped for Diablo II in all it's 640x480 (the expansion pack made it 800x600 and stuttered!) sprite-based glory!

(An exaggeration, Blizzard always sucked, but really, PS2 was more powerful than even upper range single GPU PCs.)