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[JimmyRustler]

Still Elden Ring.

It’s a constant up and down. I do feel burnt out and my sessions are getting shorter but from time to time it still grips me. Just wrapped up Deeproot Depths (worst area so far) and am now finally dipping into the Atlus Plateu. I feel like I’m kinda overpowered at this point but I don’t really mind as there are bosses now like every 10 minutes and I’m not too hot on learning new mechanics so often.

Also started a re-run of OG RE3.

 

[Fess]

Still Elden Ring.

It’s a constant up and down. I do feel burnt out and my sessions are getting shorter but from time to time it still grips me. Just wrapped up Deeproot Depths (worst area so far) and am now finally dipping into the Atlus Plateu. I feel like I’m kinda overpowered at this point but I don’t really mind as there are bosses now like every 10 minutes and I’m not too hot on learning new mechanics so often.

Also started a re-run of OG RE3.

Yeah I can’t stop playing, I take breaks sometimes but it’s still high up on playtime each year, was my #2 last year after Starfield, probably 150 hours just last year.
Currently have an Astrologer build going. Not sure if I should keep going with default glintstone magic or do another gravity build using meteorite staff and rock sling.

 

[karasu]

Fortnite. I've never been a Fortnite guy but then I started noticing that they've shit out more fun little seasonal game mechanics than a lot of devs ever dreamed of.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Prince of Persia - The Lost Crown.

What a fantastic game. It sucks that it didn't become a major, major hit upon launch.

 

[Mortisfacio]

Yeah I can’t stop playing, I take breaks sometimes but it’s still high up on playtime each year, was my #2 last year after Starfield, probably 150 hours just last year.
Currently have an Astrologer build going. Not sure if I should keep going with default glintstone magic or do another gravity build using meteorite staff and rock sling.

I'm also doing Astrologer. I've never done a magic build in a From game (went Samurai my first playthrough). I'm still getting used to it. Early game I feel worse than with a melee build, but I'm still in Limgrave and haven't faced Godrick yet. I have no idea what I'm doing since I don't really know how weapon scaling with magic works, so need to look into that, but happy to be back playing in prep for the DLC.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Prince of Persia - The Lost Crown.

What a fantastic game. It sucks that it didn't become a major, major hit upon launch.

Word. IMHO it is a must play for any metroidvania fan. It's right up there with Symphony and beat Hollow Knight.

 

[poodaddy]

Jumping between Yakuza 3 and Dead Island 2, just finished RoboCop and loved it.

Yakuza 3 has aged poorly but is a good game in general and has tons of heart and charm. Enemies block far too often, to the point of absurdity.

I'm liking Dead Island 2, but it's a pretty dumb, fairly brainless good time. Amazing gore system, easily the best yet, and the combat is fun if a bit simple. The gameplay loop gets old kind of fast.

 

[hollams]

Wanted to do a F.E.A.R. run. I've finished F.E.A.R., the expansions, FEAR2 and Reborn, and now working on Fear3.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Yakuza 3 has aged poorly but is a good game in general and has tons of heart and charm. Enemies block far too often, to the point of absurdity.

I agree. I tried to play it on hard like more recent entries and ended up just getting bored with doing hit and run tactics with excessive item use. I can never seem to stick with it long enough to beat it completely even if I love the plot.

 

[Fess]

I'm also doing Astrologer. I've never done a magic build in a From game (went Samurai my first playthrough). I'm still getting used to it. Early game I feel worse than with a melee build, but I'm still in Limgrave and haven't faced Godrick yet. I have no idea what I'm doing since I don't really know how weapon scaling with magic works, so need to look into that, but happy to be back playing in prep for the DLC.

I highly recommend meteorite staff and rock sling as an early game combo, you’re going to have a bigger punch in your attacks compared to glintstone pebble which is what everybody starts with.

 

[Mortisfacio]

I highly recommend meteorite staff and rock sling as an early game combo, you’re going to have a bigger punch in your attacks compared to glintstone pebble which is what everybody starts with.

I'll have to check that out. Currently just rocking starter equip and was aiming to get Meteorite Staff and probably Moonveil Katana for melee/no FP situations. Stat wise was more or less basing around this

Best Elden Ring Intelligence build: How to make a Mage or Sorcerer build

In this guide, we explain how to craft a strong Intelligence build for a Sorcerer in Elden Ring.

www.vg247.com

Started pretty rough and felt weak compared to my Samurai, but slowly building power.

 

[NeverYouMind]

I'll have to check that out. Currently just rocking starter equip and was aiming to get Meteorite Staff and probably Moonveil Katana for melee/no FP situations. Stat wise was more or less basing around this

Best Elden Ring Intelligence build: How to make a Mage or Sorcerer build

In this guide, we explain how to craft a strong Intelligence build for a Sorcerer in Elden Ring.

www.vg247.com

Started pretty rough and felt weak compared to my Samurai, but slowly building power.

Meteorite staff is great early equipment as it only requires the opening of a trap chest next to the starting area (Dragon Burnt Ruins) dungeon escape and short swamp search. I would advise against Rock Sling. It is boring. Glintstone Arc and Carian Slicer/Greatsword are more fun and reminiscent of top down action rpgs.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Playing Chrono Trigger on my Ally on the couch is pretty damn cozy. A fun adventure so far. Arrived in the future where everything has gone to shit.

 

[VenomousCoffee]

Finally finished Alan Wake 2 today. And I have wildly conflicting opinions.

On the plus side, I think that two elements are absolutely top tier. The first is Saga Anderson; I really feel like her voice actress, motion capture, and the writing really come together in a way you rarely see in gaming. Just a great performance. The second is the thematic stuff they were going for with the Dark Place. Art and 'darkness' come together in a way that's fundamental to humanity (that's how I interpreted their intentions), which is something I believe, so it really resonated with me. Oh, I'll add that I was glad that Homeland Guy showed up in something else. He did good work, too.

What I didn't like was playing as Alan Wake and really just playing it in general. The combat is absolutely terrible. Yes, the transporting enemies are bad, but there's also a half-second delay to eveything, so that over and over again it was like I'd pull the trigger to shoot, then the game would decide that I was about to get hit so the character would just stand there, then I'd get it. Garbage. And there were way, way too many places where I felt like I was just redoing things to find the right combo of doors, lights, and rewrites to be able to progress. And none of it was interesting. When you have to make the main character announce, "I am now making progress" because it won't be obvious to the player, there's something more fundamental going wrong with your design choices.

I would have loved to get a game that's "Saga Anderson talks to coffee-obsessed weirdos who might be up to no good," but that's only about 1/3 of what's here. (I LOVED the two weirdo brothers, especially their tv ads.)

 

[Lunarorbit]

Harmony of dissonance from the castlevania advance collection. Playing on the portal.

Extremely smooth game. Doesn't do anything crazy in terms of castlevania from this time period but a solid game.

 

[Hudo]

Unicorn Overlord

 

[drganon]

Beat persona 3 reload. Just starred One piece odyssey.

 

[fart town usa]

Nier: Automata

This game is effing amazing. I wasn't paying attention to modern gaming from 2012 to about 2019. I knew this game was highly praised but wow, it's pretty much everything I love about retro gaming rolled into a modern streamlined experience. I'm 3 hours in and absolutely in love with this game.

 

[bender]

Kind of in a gaming funk. I was really enjoying Balatro until the last challenge mission which is sapping away my will to live. I've purchased all these RPGs (Persona, Final Fantasy, Yakuza, Unicorn Overlord) and have barely booted them up. I just finished the intro section of The Last Guardian which I haven't played since I finished it upon release. I remember it being enjoyable but my least favorite of the Team Ico trilogy. I'm having a good time with it as their visual style is immediately noticeable and has the natural, warm beauty to it. I also adore the animation style. If we consider games as art, their games would be great examples. But as much joy as this game brings me, it also makes me pine for a time that has passed and an iteration of Playstation that long seems dead. Gaming is in the weird spot for me. I've argued for a while now that the average quality of games is much higher than during the late 90s/early 2000s but that we rarely hit the high notes that those gaming eras provided. That's not to say that there aren't great games on the regular, I just find myself wanting to play older games these days rather than the newest releases. It's probably why my most anticipated game this year is Thousand Year Door.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

Nier: Automata

This game is effing amazing. I wasn't paying attention to modern gaming from 2012 to about 2019. I knew this game was highly praised but wow, it's pretty much everything I love about retro gaming rolled into a modern streamlined experience. I'm 3 hours in and absolutely in love with this game.

3 hours? Dude you have no clue, I am stoked to hear some updates once you get further in. It's a really special game.

Kind of in a gaming funk. I was really enjoying Balatro until the last challenge mission which is sapping away my will to live. I've purchased all these RPGs (Persona, Final Fantasy, Yakuza, Unicorn Overlord) and have barely booted them up. I just finished the intro section of The Last Guardian which I haven't played since I finished it upon release. I remember it being enjoyable but my least favorite of the Team Ico trilogy. I'm having a good time with it as their visual style is immediately noticeable and has the natural, warm beauty to it. I also adore the animation style. If we consider games as art, their games would be great examples. But as much joy as this game brings me, it also makes me pine for a time that has passed and an iteration of Playstation that long seems dead. Gaming is in the weird spot for me. I've argued for a while now that the average quality of games is much higher than during the late 90s/early 2000s but that we rarely hit the high notes that those gaming eras provided. That's not to say that there aren't great games on the regular, I just find myself wanting to play older games these days rather than the newest releases. It's probably why my most anticipated game this year is Thousand Year Door.

The low hanging fruit has been picked, so although there are extremely polished games with high production values, we don't get too many games that wow us with "that hasn't been done before". Team Ico games are that perfect AA space that can garner critical acclaim, but isn't hitting the top of the sales charts. Still very important for the platforms, but you see dev teams and publishers shying away from these the past several years. Sometimes it's nice to go back and replay old classics, or even experience something new from an older school of game design. I'll join you on the hype train for TTYD though, I still own the GCN version but I love it so much I'm gonna get it again on Switch.


Glad there is some time before TTYD though, I am taking my sweet time playing through FF7 Rebirth. About to finish chapter 7, I am still in awe how they brought the world to life and modernized the formula. It's everything I wanted FF to become after FFX, and I thought all hope was lost. Even FF7 Remake was amazing, but I had concerns about the world map and that feeling of adventure. They nailed it, this is the formula I want them to iterate on for any new FFs. If 16 kept the story, music, lore, characters, etc and implemented this style of gameplay, it would have been a strong contender for GOTY last year. Can't praise the FF7Re team enough, bravo.

 

[Hypereides]

Call of Juarez: gunslinger

In the mood for a western. Continued from where I left off. Also doing a hard mode run.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Still working on Terminator Resistance.

I’m leaving the Resistance hideout to kill some of these Tin cans on a mission to see what was going on with something. I get stopped in the hallway because one of the guys wants me to listen to something he thinks I’ll like - but his boombox is busted. So hey, if you see a boombox out there in these charred and bombed buildings bring it back.

I’m like sure dude. So as I’m battling these walking murder robots like we’ll see in the future, I hear…music? There’s music playing?! And I come across get this…a boom box. What are the odds right? The batteries are still good, which speaks volumes for the brand used.

So I grab it because I’m trying to keep leveling up you know, and I get back and do my usual social rounds. My girl is talking some shit about maybe leaving. I’m like wtf? So I sweet talked her because I haven’t gotten in her pants yet.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

makes me pine for a time that has passed and an iteration of Playstation that long seems dead.

If it helps, Unicorn Overlord is essentially Ogre Battle. But I get what you mean.

I’m currently playing on a real N64, Ocarina of Time and Paper Mario. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had in gaming for a while.

 

[fart town usa]

3 hours? Dude you have no clue, I am stoked to hear some updates once you get further in. It's a really special game.

It's amazing dude. I'm probably 8 hours in now and absolutely loving everything about it. There is a game crashing bug when played on PS5, when you go into the hole that opens up in the city. Crashes each time when you try to go down the hole. Have to ignore the flying worm type enemies/fall in the hole in the far left side.

Outside of that it's smooth sailing and pure enjoyment. Gonna go through Replicant when Automata is through, on PS+ too.

 

[Lions Gate]

Got back to elden ring, Warming up for DLC

 

[fart town usa]

If it helps, Unicorn Overlord is essentially Ogre Battle. But I get what you mean.

I’m currently playing on a real N64, Ocarina of Time and Paper Mario. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had in gaming for a while.

There are certain games that, IMO, simply need to be played with an actual N64 controller. OOT is definitely one of those games. I played through it on real hardware the other year, such an awesome game. It was a bootleg cart too but actually a blessing in disguise because it's the 1.0 version, the Fire Temple music and symbols were unaltered.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

Started ff15 (Picked up Royal edition, aeons ago)
Combat so far is kind of fluffy and imprecise.
Too early to give a informed verdict but I understand why people think this needed longer in the oven.
Usual character tropes.
I get the impression there's going to be plenty of busy work, but I'm one of those masochistic people that actually love that.
Dipping in and out of Hades and Monster hunter Rise/Sunbreak.
Divinity original sin 2 is still evaporating my time (In the best possible way)

 

[Flyingpanther]

Just bought a new gaming pc, playing rdr 2/dead space remake

 

[Fess]

Back into Elden Ring. 500+ hours. #2 best game of all time.

 

[stn]

FF7 Rebirth (PS5) - first run
Banishers (PS5) - first run
Granblue Relink (PS5) - trophy hunting, 80% done
MK1 (XSX) - achievement hunting, 80% done
WWE 2K23 (XSX) achievement hunting, 30% done

 

[Fbh]

Jedi Survivor.
Really enjoyed the first game but the tech issues in the sequel kept me away until now.
So far I'm enjoying it, I like the bigger maps and I've been enjoying exploring them and doing all the optional side content, I actually liked how I've come across a lot of side stuff on my own without the game having to use waypoints and holding my hand. Still love the platforming too.

The performance mode is decent now on Ps5, still a bit soft and with notorious FSR artifacting but much better than the launch version. I've switched to the resolution mode a few times to see if it makes a big difference and the upgrade isn't that notorious IMO, definitely not worth sacrificing the 60fps.
That said it still has issues, I've encountered several bugs (floating enemies, randomly getting launched into the air, bugged finisher moves) and if you move the camera around too fast it has these distracting white spots (like the level isn't loading fast enough to keep up with the camera).

Also the difficulty isn't great. On the hardest mode regular encounters are fine but all the bigger or special enemies just constantly spam unblockable attacks that either do massive damage or straight up instakill you

 

[Yerd]

I'm sticking to Helldivers 2 until DD2 comes out. There were a couple indy games I was interested in, but I don't want to get distracted.

I have a hard time finishing games, even games I love. So I'm keeping all other distracting games away until I finish DD2.

Back into Elden Ring. 500+ hours. #2 best game of all time.

Behind Barbie Horse Adventures? Really? I didn't think anything could top it.

Still working on Terminator Resistance.

I’m leaving the Resistance hideout to kill some of these Tin cans on a mission to see what was going on with something. I get stopped in the hallway because one of the guys wants me to listen to something he thinks I’ll like - but his boombox is busted. So hey, if you see a boombox out there in these charred and bombed buildings bring it back.

I’m like sure dude. So as I’m battling these walking murder robots like we’ll see in the future, I hear…music? There’s music playing?! And I come across get this…a boom box. What are the odds right? The batteries are still good, which speaks volumes for the brand used.

So I grab it because I’m trying to keep leveling up you know, and I get back and do my usual social rounds. My girl is talking some shit about maybe leaving. I’m like wtf? So I sweet talked her because I haven’t gotten in her pants yet.

Are you just relaying your fever dream?

 

[lughnasadh123]

Going through The Outer Worlds and it's surprisingly enjoyable so far. It does a good job on sanding down the edges of stuff I didn't care much about from Fallout making it align more with my tastes. Going through dialog trees can be exhausting but the rest is solid.

 

[Fess]

Behind Barbie Horse Adventures? Really? I didn't think anything could top it.

Super Metroid is #1 !!
But there is lots of nostalgia there, not sure anything could ever top it.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I'm sticking to Helldivers 2 until DD2 comes out. There were a couple indy games I was interested in, but I don't want to get distracted.

I have a hard time finishing games, even games I love. So I'm keeping all other distracting games away until I finish DD2.

Which indie games did you have your eyes on?

 

[SmokedMeat]

Are you just relaying your fever dream?

Believe it or not this is the game. Terminators are just a side attraction.

 

[adamsapple]

Finished VII Rebirth, reupped Gamefly for 3 months.

Currently playing Tekken 8 with Banishers Ghost of Eden coming in a day or two.

Afterward: Dragon's Dogma 2, Ronin, Alone in the Dark etc.

 

[LimanimaPT]

Finished Demons Souls on PS5. I'm not sure were did I got the patience to finish this. Repeating the same stuff again and agian is annoying for sure. I used a glitch to kill two of the bosses including the last one.
Graphically. Seriously? Unbelievable the level of detail on this game and runs very smoothly. Great job!!

 

[Yerd]

Which indie games did you have your eyes on?

I don't think this one is that new, but it just hit my eyes the other day. Still in early access. Reminds a little of Graveyard Keeper.

This one looks like a more active Kingdom game. Looks like the same engine and art style even.

 

[Celcius]

Unicorn Overlord. It feels like a mix between Final Fantasy Tactics and Valkyria Chronicles. An instant classic.

 

[BlueAlpaca]

~70 hours in Elden Ring and I've never thought I'd ever say this but it's... easy? It varies, but a lot of the time I feel over leveled and I don't think I've spent a lot of time farming runes, maybe in total less than an hour, probably 20-30 minutes.

So many bosses are done in one attempt, I just swing and swing and they melt.

Just beat Radahn, was expecting an epic Nameless King or Isshin Sword Saint tier fight - it was a joke. Second attempt and it was over. The cave on the beach was much harder. Googled and it seems they nerfed him hard.

Black Blade Kindred was a really tough and great boss, expected more though. Lots of copy and paste (Midir again and again).

Still loving the game. What I don't like is the oppressive and intense atmosphere. It's Dark Souls after all, but it's open world and it's all just this bleak and depressing world. The music especially, like in Caelid it's as if they took the music from a horror movie climax and put it on repeat. It's too much for me.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I don't think this one is that new, but it just hit my eyes the other day. Still in early access. Reminds a little of Graveyard Keeper.

This one looks like a more active Kingdom game. Looks like the same engine and art style even.

Sons of Valhalla looks really cool! I have added it to my wishlist. Thanks for sharing!

 

[BlueAlpaca]

Just accidently killed an NPC (boc). Last words were heartbreaking.

Fuck FromSoft. I can't go one session of playing their games witout being reminded of their flawed game design.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Just accidently killed an NPC (boc). Last words were heartbreaking.

Fuck FromSoft. I can't go one session of playing their games witout being reminded of their flawed game design.

You can revive him with a Celestial dew.

 

[BlueAlpaca]

You can revive him with a Celestial dew.

Didn't work.

I went to church of vows and gave a dew for absolution and talked to turtle pope. He's not back, at least not at the grace where I accidentally killed him, Lucaria east gate.

I thought he was an enemy and hit him, he didn't die but became aggressive. I reset and came back and he was still attacking so I thought maybe I should kill him. I think I should have done the absolution after hitting him but before killing him.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Didn't work.

I went to church of vows and gave a dew for absolution and talked to turtle pope. He's not back, at least not at the grace where I accidentally killed him, Lucaria east gate.

He'll probably pop up at Leyndell when you get there. He moves from Lucaria after a certain point.

 

[adamsapple]

Trying a bit of Y's VIII. Because why not pick up another RPG in the midst of the biggest RPG onslaught in the last decade.

 

[Paltheos]

Started ff15 (Picked up Royal edition, aeons ago)
Combat so far is kind of fluffy and imprecise.
Too early to give a informed verdict but I understand why people think this needed longer in the oven.
Usual character tropes.
I get the impression there's going to be plenty of busy work, but I'm one of those masochistic people that actually love that.

FF15's more interesting for dissecting than enjoying as a product. 'How did a game (in a franchise I love) with such a troubled development turn out like this?' There are so many parts of the game wonderfully polished and then others which just don't fit together or were clearly developed or put together at the last minute to create a finished product. In that light, it's a lot easier to accept all the parts of the game that suck. It's really interesting too because again there are some great moments in this game but goddamn the rest of the crap.

Trying a bit of Y's VIII. Because why not pick up another RPG in the midst of the biggest RPG onslaught in the last decade.

Solid pick. I prefer the solo Adol games myself, but of the party-based Ys games 8 earns its reputation as the best one.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Trying a bit of Y's VIII. Because why not pick up another RPG in the midst of the biggest RPG onslaught in the last decade.

It’s one of the best I have ever played. I still listen to the music.

Celceta was a letdown, but Monstrum Nox is good so far.

 

[AlphaMale]

AC Valhalla

(I always play AC games later cuz I wait for all the patches to fix things)