Topic: Now Playing on Xbox Series X|S

I'm going to be playing Redfall, ravelok, and benedict fox for the next week until totk drops.

@NintendoByNature that is a lot!

@Balta666 well, I'm already not feeling ravenlok. Still need to dive a little further in. And benedict fox isn't as fun as I thought it would be. So it might just be Redfall.

@KromCompany The original FH does look good on the Series X. I started it a few months ago after playing FH3 and doing everything I wanted to do in that game. FH3 was my introduction to the series so I decided to go back and start with 1 and I was amazed how well it was.

Well I just bought RE8 since ravenlok and benedict were not setting the world on fire for me. So looks like it'll be that and redfall this weekend.

Has anyone else tried ravenlok? The first 30 minutes were walking sim/fetch quests and it really set the tone for being a tad...boring. I Uninstalled after 45 minutes of literal nothingness.

And benedict fox was quite the disappointment for me. Looks amazing, but plays poorly imo. After a few hours of trying it out, I Uninstalled that as well. Spent an hour just treading water trying to find the sheets of paper and getting nowhere. I even gave up and looked up where to find them but for some reason the items never showed up during my playthrough. Really stinks because the game was one I wanted to like. Beautiful looking metroidvanias are my favorites. Hollow Knight, Metroid Dread, Ori all come to mind. And those do it far better than benedict unfortunately.

@Sebatrox lmk what you think and if I'm way off base. I feel bad about uninstalling it so if someone gives me a solid reason to retry it, I just may.

@Sebatrox yea I retried it again and got the sword/shield. At only a 3-4hr run time I'll just power through it.

@NintendoByNature RE 8 is a amazing game

@TeamAndromeda soon enough! I ended up waiting as I'm still playing thru redfall. I figure two horror fps games( if you'd ever call re8 an fps) might be a bit much for my scaredy cat blood lol.

Has anyone played Ninja Gaiden Sigma? I started playing it because there is a chance it could leave Game Pass in June.

Thing is, it hasn't "clicked" with me yet. I am struggling to find motivation to play it. I don't really enjoy it and I don't enjoy dying frequently and restarting from the save point.

I don't know whether to bin it off, drop down to Easy difficulty or just persist with it. I think I'm just struggling to motivate myself to even play it.

Does it get better? Does it click for people later in the game? Are there any tips for it? I think I'm finding blocking and hitting quite difficult, just on a basic level.

@ralphdibny Hi there friend.
As a Ninja Gaiden Fan, who as played every iteration and every version of those games, let me give you my opinion.
These games are meant to be quite challenging. Even the minor enemies can defeat you no problem.
Wich means, people have to understand how to control Ryu and use every ability and weapon in your disposal, as well as every game mechanic.
One of the major tips I can give is keep moving and jumping. For instance, use wall jumps to both avoid and attack enemies.
As well as practice how to block, dodge, jump and attack against the initial enemies.
learn what each button can do, wich kind of combos you can do with each weapon.
For example, with the Dragon Sword, one of the best combos is XYXXXY (I´m assuming your playing on Xbox). That is one of the bread and butter combos that you will be able to use even with some other weapons of the game.
The Sigma version also has a new weapon, Dragon's Claw & Tiger's Blade, wich you can get during Chapter 3 and it is quite good for single and multiple enemies.
It is also a game were you should try to explore every nook and crany so you can get all the upgrades for your health and magic (Ninpo).
Speaking of Ninpo, use it often because it is another tool can you can use in difficult enemy and Boss fights and since you´ll get a few, try all of them to see wich one works best in different situations.
As for "click", with some games it just takes some time to get used to the games mechanics, how everything works as well as flow of combat.
Hopefully the game will eventualy click for you.
Cheers and happy gaming

@ralphdibny My mate! I just saw I have some replies from you and I have been slow responding!

On the subject of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, I must say that I bought the trilogy on Switch when it came out - they were games I wanted to try for some time.

Now, I must say that prior to the remastered trilogy, the only NG game (of the new ones, of course) was Ninja Gaiden II (the X360 one), when it was on Game Pass (IIRC, they retired it before the announcement of the trilogy). It was very hard, and I didn't finish it. I liked it, but every other level had a boss which killed me, like, in no time .

Now, when I got to the trilogy, I played the first one almost to completion - It was an overall better experience (I think the trilogy is less difficult than the originals, but not quote me on that because I may be wrong) and I achieve to get to the last missions (or levels, I don't remember how they are called). But I dropped it, because...well, I got lost on one of the last levels, I forgot what was the place I go to go, and then I jumped to another game (I don't remember which - maybe it was Shredder's Revenge or something like that). Now, it sits on my eternal backlog with a little way to finish it, but I will need a guide to remember what I have to do!

I understand your case - after the brutal difficulty of Ninja Gaiden II, it took me some time to "like" Ninja Gaiden Sigma - and then, even if I objectively liked it, and it wasn't as hard as I thought, it just didn't stick with me long enough to actually finish it. Some day, maybe, but when? I don't know.

And like @RaZieLDaNtE said, it has some cool mechanics, combos and gameplay.

@RaZieLDaNtE @HarmanSmith thank you both for your replies.

I've tried to think about the tips you've given me. I think I've got the kind of block before striking down but I'm still struggling.

It's like I turn off the game because it's too difficult. Then I turn it on at a later date and get through whatever I was struggling with before in no time at all. Then almost immediately I'm faced with something else that's too difficult so I end up turning it off again.

I think overall, I've come to the opinion that I hate this game. This isn't a decision I take lightly but I am going to pack it in completely. Life's too short to force myself to play a game I'm too anxious to even turn the Xbox on for. As well as learning the ins and outs of it.

It's not often I give up on a game, normally I'll play through a game or series in its entirety before I feel like I deserve to say I hate it. Ya know, like Gears of War and Halo, I don't exactly hate them but I don't think they are very good but I've played every mainline game in both series so I feel like it's fair for me to have that opinion. But those games were easy to get through, not very challenging on medium difficulty so the biggest struggle I faced was staying awake through the tedium.

But NGS is just too hard for me. I'm on mission 4 so I'm not very far in but I think I've given it a fair shake. It fills me with great regret, but I think I am going to stop here and leave it while I still have my sanity.

Thanks again both for sharing your tips and your experiences but I think I just have to accept that this game isn't for me.

Got a month of Game Pass because it's been so long since I was subscribed to the service. I finished up Tunic yesterday and I'm currently playing through Redfall as well as Contrast. Redfall is a lot better than I thought. People have been saying stuff like it's the worst game of the year and I thought it sounded really bad. But I've played it now for around 5 hours and I'm enjoying it a lot. It's a very fun game, it's basically Far Cry meets vampires. It's been a while since I played a Far Cry game, so Redfall has got me instantly hooked.

Contrast on the other hand is pretty janky. I think the puzzles are cool but it just feels like a low quality game. I like it though but after having had it on my watchlist for basically a decade now, it hasn't lived up to my expectations.

@LtSarge I remember playing Contrast on my PS4 when I first got it. Even then it was an interesting concept and some of the puzzles were fun but it felt like a PS2 game to me. It's definitely a pallette cleanser game.

@Tasuki Agreed. I'm actually struggling a bit to get through it because it just doesn't do a good job to keep you interested. So I'll have to play it whenever I want a break from Redfall.

@LtSarge I will admit, I only got through the game because That and Assassins Creed 4 were the only games I owned on my PS4 when I got it, lol. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have finished it.

@Tasuki Ah makes sense. That's usually the case when you buy a new system and there aren't that many games on it.

I actually finished up Contrast today and it did get better over time. The puzzles became more interesting, e.g. one part where the game became a 2D side-scrolling title like Limbo or when you started pulling objects in and out of the shadows. Really cool stuff! The plot twist at the end was really good as well.

I was skeptical about Compulsion Games but I'm a bit interested now to see what they're working on next!

Ghost Recon wasteland is a revelation to me. What an immersive game, and so difficult. Anyone else playing this game right now? If so, what's your best set up with weapons?

After a break of 1.5 month's (mostly due to to TotK) I am back to Kingdom hearts. I have managed to finish the 1.5+2.5 Collection and started the 2.8 one. Dream drop distance is actually the only game from the series I have played prior to starting the collection on Xbox. At the time I got stuck on a boss where I could not beat in time (due to its time mechanic) but I feel this time my knowledge of the series will help me in moving forward from that point.