Topic: Now Playing on Xbox Series X|S

Been playing Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance the past few days. Was looking for something to play and was going through my library and forgot I got the Castlevania Advance Collection a while back. I remember owning this game on my GBA as part of a double pack with Aria of Sorrow. I don't remember playing this one mainly because I fell I love with Aria of Sorrow, so I figure I'd give it a shot now.

@GarbonZoni I think it was you that recommended playing Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. It might leave Game Pass in March, so I started it and I like the setting, the technical performance and the nice companion. It's the first Souls-like game I play. The first boss is crushing me again and again. I managed to handle the first phase easily after a while, but the second phase is too hard. Even deflecting his attacks doesn't work for me because I try to counteract afterwards and he hit me with any other attack. He has too many attacks, so I don't have time to react properly and, most of all, they are too fast, like when he dashes towards me. I don't have enough energy, cure pots or armour to survive long enough. It's overwhelming, but I'll keep trying... I wish that it would give you more time to learn each boss' battle mechanics like other games that increase the number or damage of the attacks progressively.

EDIT: Funny, I just beat him after posting this 😁.

@Banjo Yeah the first boss in WO Long: Fallen Dynasty is hard which I why I also taking a break from it (I ohterwise also liked the game). Iam actually now trying to get into a more scary game.

@oliverp Yes, I need a break after this first boss, ha ha. If you like scary games, I strongly recommend you the Project Zero/Fatal Frame games. Two remasters are available on Xbox. They are deliciously slow-paced and absorbing.

@-Banjo Oh thanks for the suggestion appreciate it.

@Banjo- It's all about the parry mechanic mate. I haven't been back to it since the dlc dropped, but i've read it's really good. But don't worry. there's another fight that will do your head in too .
Been busy with Forza since it came to GP, it's a bit of a mess but at least they got the handling model right, so been having fun with it. Gonna start the Separate Ways dlc for Resi 4 anytime. Plenty to play Banjo.

@GarbonZoni Plenty to play, indeed. By parry do you mean the deflect mechanic, right? No map is awful. Enemies respawn while you're searching the way forward. I'm not sure but It seems like you don't get any experience or advantage the longer you try a boss. It seems like you're losing rank all the time, actually. So, it's never getting easier.

Hi there fellow gamers;
So, I´ve been thinking about wanting to start playing Remnant 2 on my Series X for awhile, but just didn´t have enough storage space,(really need to get an extra SSD for my Xbox, just like I got one for my PS5) so I kept it in the drawer.
But there was a game that I also been thinking about, but not in a good way, because it is just not what I wanted it to be and that game is Starfield..... So after 35 hours I decide to uninstall it and installed Remnant 2, wich has two discs on Series X, kinda interesting.
Best decision I could have made. Remnant 2 is FANTASTIC. I´m still kinda rusty, but I´m having so much fun just shooting enemies in the face, dodging at the last second, reload and repeat.
It is as fun and intense as the first game was. With better visuals.
Speaking of the visuals, they are very polished and the voice acting of the many weird and quirky characters of this universe is also pretty good.
If any member of the PureXbox comunity want to do some co-op missions, feel free to add and join. Gamertag: RaZieLDaNtE1084
Cheers and happy gaming everyone

I've been playing Lost Planet 3 the last few days and, to be honest, I'm not quite sure if I like it! I don't mind the story so far - although it all seems a bit familiar as I suspect they've just lifted ideas from other sci-fi games/movies etc. A couple of the enemies look like they are ripped straight from Alien for example.

The main issue I have with it is that it doesn't appear to know what it want's to be. It's part 3rd person cover shooter, part (semi) open world action game & part horror shooter (like Dead Space). Only problem is though that it doesn't really do any of them particularly well.

The cover shooter sections are largely just shooter sections - the cover is pretty pointless as the enemies just rush your position and you end up just spamming the dodge-roll to avoid them. There's usually some sort of boss at the end of these sections which usually just follow the same pattern of dodging an attack and shooting their highlighted glowing red vulnerable sections.

The open(ish) world sections are mostly just travelling to and from areas of the map in a mech with the occasional enemy attack thrown in to break up the tedium. Weaker enemies can just be stomped on with the mech, but the more powerful ones usually require a sort of mini QTE to block/parry their attack and then counter. The block doesn't appear to work very consistently though, so it all gets a bit frustrating and repetitive. Leaving and returning to you're base in the mech also takes way longer than it should as you having to walk the mech to/from it's 'parking spot' via a needlessly long tunnel - literally just pushing forward on the controller for a few minutes while you walk along the tunnel.

The horror shooter element is probably the best part of the game. Some of the sections exploring the ice caves and abandoned bases genuinely fell pretty claustrophobic and there is a decent sense of dread while walking through some of the dark corridors - although not sure if that's dread because of a QTE is never too far away or the slightly dodgy controls! These sections suffer from the same 'enemy rushing' issues as the regular shooter sections and when an enemy gets too close, it's really difficult to either get out of the way, or actually see it due to the camera angle. There doesn't appear to be a melee attack for close combat apart from a knife attack which only seems to be used during QTEs.

I've played about 6hrs so far and overall I'd say it's probably a 6/10 or maybe a 7/10 overall with some fairly major issues, not least the controls and the AI which can be fairly frustrating. I 've considered dropping it a couple of times due to the controls and the repetitive combat, but it keeps drawing me back for a bit more, so I guess the story is (just) compelling enough to keep me coming back.

I'm playing The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf and on top of being one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen in 60fps, the soundtrack is wonderful, the script is really funny and the platforming much more challenging than I expected, which is also a good thing. Was this game a sleeper hit? It's awesome!

@Banjo- Oh, glad to read it is good. I added to my wishlist some time ago, but I haven't bitten the bullet yet. I will gladly play a colorful and funny games this Christmas!

@HarmanSmith I have played it for a few days and it has impressed me already. I just found out that they released its sequel this month, The Smurfs 2: The Prisoner of the Green Stone. Has this site even mentioned it?

As of tomorrow, I'll be playing P5T.

I almost had to give up on P5T. There's a mission early on where you need to defeat all enemies in 2 turns. I was at it for nearly 2 hours last night and I told myself, a few more tries and if I can do it I'm Uninstalling. Thankfully, I finally got it. You had to do a very particular set of hits/personas, and movements to make it all happen. It was quite frustrating actually. The funny part is I wiped the floor with the next 3 regular battles and "get to the marked location" battles the next few times. I'm good at tactics games for the most part, but that one battle was very frustrating.

@NintendoByNature Cool that you did not gave up on it. Hope you will enjoy the rest of the game

@oliverp thank you. So far so good. Just that one minor( 2hr lol) hiccup.

Started Star Wars: Jedi Survivor last night (I have found a physical copy for a good price a couple of weeks ago but was busy finishing Star Ocean on switch).
First impressions are that it still is a ruff experience from a performance point of view and visually it is one of the worst current gen looking games. Regardless Fallen order is my favourite game from its released year and I know I will enjoy the story and gameplay of the game

@Balta666 Oh if I was not so hooked on ohter games at the moment I would very much conscider to give Fallen Order a try.

@oliverp I understand you very well. There are so many good games to play!!

Star Wars Jedi Survivor is a bigger game than its prequel which took me no longer than 12-15h. Right now I am at the 20h mark and with many things to do still. After a somewhat poor impression earlier on the game is growing on me in the way I was expecting although the novelty has gone and I am looking more fondly to Fallen Order. Imo the choice to take your crew at start was not the right one, although I understand the narrative they are going for. Gameplay wise I feel this game is quite a bit easier too (but that may well be because I am now used to Souls which this is not as much as I thought while playing the first one lol)