A positive thread about what you're currently playing

Yakuza 4. After playing Yakuza 3, and generally agreeing with most people that it's the weakest Yakuza game, almost immediately I knew that Yakuza 4 was an absolute improvement.

@kemuri07: I have a similar story, except I'm playing Yakuza 5 after 4. Honestly, the pacing is absolutely glacial, but unlike in 3 and 4 I'm having a lot of fun with it. 5 has some of the most likable supporting characters in the series, and a great minigame (not as good as the hostess management sims in 0 and Kiwami 2, mind). 5 was also the game that made the random encounters far less annoying than before, by removing the talky parts before and after a fight.

@theonewhoplays: I know I've heard some people aren't fans of the 4th one. You're right, 4 is slow--but I felt like I didn't mind because I liked the characters. Whereas I got bored fairly quickly of the orphanage shenanigans.

Though there is a rather gross implication in the second part of 4 that really didn't need to be there.

@mezmero: Gravity Rush Remastered is a great game that looks remarkably good for a Vita port.

It's definitely intended to control unwieldy because Kat is falling. Once you finish upgrading her she controls pretty well, though. The gameplay is fun and novel but it's really the atmosphere in that game that makes it so good, especially the soundtrack. Kat is one of my favorite video game heroes.

Had no trouble thus far with the Free Season Challenges in S1 of Rocket League outside of the 40 saves, but some of the last stage they announced today are nuts...especially with only thirteen days left to achieve them. 35 saves is gonna be my kryptonite, but the one everyone is justifiably complaining about is the 10 MVP Honors in Extra Modes. Modes that are insanely tough, no one plays, and those that do are usually pros. Bummer.

Been playing a bit of UBOAT on and off in between my usual Warframe obsession

For folk who remember Silent Hunter: It is Silent Hunter. Take missions at base with those missions generally being to go patrol a grid in your submarine, sink a few ships, and go back to get promotions and awards and upgrades. Main difference is UBOAT has a lot more systems on top. Officers (and maybe individual sailors?) are modeled so you have to deal with energy management and prioritizing tasks and so forth. So far it is still fun but I can see it getting frustrating and the game does not do a great job of conveying who should do what task. To be fair, that might not be in there yet since it is still early access. Or I just don't know what a Boatswain is.

I forget if any of the Silent Hunters (I think I tapped out around 3 because 4 had some nasty DRM?) had mid-mission events but UBOAT very much does. Did my patrol earlier and on the way back I received an emergency radio message telling me to go hunt down a freighter carrying secret technology. On a later one I had an SOS from another submarine that looks like it resulted in a short text adventure that I THINK glitched out because I totally had spare parts I could have given them.

And I haven't gone down that rabbit hole yet but from watching a few youtubes it looks like this can go hard. You can have your office compute a firing solution that more or less manifests as a lock-on for your torpedos. But you can also go manual and compute one using trigonometry, binoculars/periscope, stopwatch, and a guide book. Identify the type of ship and its size to figure out distance and relative speed and so forth. Also looks like you can do the same for navigation since there is totally a compass and ruler on the map screen and there are mechanics for losing your position if you leave the nav desk unoccupied for too long

It is very much early access but so far... I am REALLY liking it.

Finished Gravity Rush Remastered and that game is great! I love Kat (and I love cats) and I love that she finishes off almost every boss with a psycho crusher. The soundtrack is excellent as well especially considering it's originally a Vita game. Definitely a new all-time favorite given how unique and novel it is. I wouldn't mind playing the sequel in the near future.

After that I've been going through 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. I'm admittedly rather perplexed by the way the story is structured, but the more it goes the more it gets it's hooks in me. Feels like there's inspiration from all over the shop for this concept and design. Kamitani's art style is gorgeous as always, I find myself marveling at the simplicity of the various walk animations. While it's somewhat of a bummer that the tactical portions don't have nearly the visual flare I've found the actual game play to be surprisingly engaging for what it is though I'm pretty early on with that stuff.

I haven't mainlined a game all year the way I just did Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry. I know. It's fucking bonkers to me too. It has a lot of questionable jokes but as a big fan of the first two games in that series (even if I recognize they are hugely dated), it gets the spirit of those two right in a way I really wasn't expecting. It's a fine line between dorky and lovable and it nails that.

It's not going to be for everyone. A lot of the jokes are questionable and I recommend you at least look at the QL. But if you liked the old school Sierra versions, check this one out. It's a completely solid, occasionally great reboot.

I am playing Just Cause 4. I just really love these games, even though this is basically Just Cause 3 in a new map. The new additions, such as the grappling hook modifications, do absolutely nothing for me, so I've completely ignored them. However, it's still a good time blowing shit up on a tropical island.

Love the idea of this thread! I also love The Witcher 3, I've bought both DLC's but not started them as of yet. Making my way through the books too and figured it'd be a nice winter game to play as the weather gets colder!

I'm currently playing through Assassins Creed Valhalla and loving it to be honest! Perfect balance of open world goodness and some really fun combat. Got me quite interested in viking/anglo culture again. As someone who lives in England, i was taught a lot about the history of this but there is actually some really cool landmarks near where i live. I plan on taking the doggo out on some adventures and doing a bit of a history tour.

I love when games inspire you like that, The Witcher 3 was another one that inspired me to start writing short stories for fun again etc.

Playing Control (PC) for the 1st time and it is amazing. I'm playing on PC to avoid those console-related issues mentioned on the bombcast.

@demonsoul: That first time playing Control made me believe in videogames again.

On another note, I thought that Baldur's Gate III early access is almost exactly what I think a modern rendition of the series needs to be and I am loving it. I am a huge fan of the previous games and have never stopped replaying the series at least once a year since release. I am not a fan of the Divinity games that have been (deservedly) dominating the genre the last few years. Despite this, Larian is really capturing the feeling I had playing the older games all those years ago in a way most modern RPGs haven't been able to. Can't wait till the game comes out in full as I have finished the available content twice now in wildly different ways and want more!

I'm playing Darks Souls 2 for the first time. Going straight from replaying the original to this is jarring and even made a bad first impression. However it really picks up after the first few zones and I'm really enjoying it. The level and boss designs might not be as good as the other games in the series, but I'm having fun with them nonetheless.

I fell off of Dark Souls 2 hard. I beat Dark Souls 1 multiple times back to back and loved every minute. DS2 was boring as hell right out of the gate.

I started playing Carto. I'm about a couple hours in or so. It's a cute little indie game, that's kind of like an adventure game but if the world was a Pipe Dream puzzle. You have a map broken up into squares that you move around in specific ways that create new paths, or bring characters together, or create puzzles to solve, that give you new pieces of map, to continue on. So far the puzzles have all been a fun level of challenging. Just enough to tease the brain.

@amingo: DS2 dlc is better than anything else in the series. Nothing gets to the same level of challenge and level design. Good luck with fume knight + lud & zallen. Level up until you get the agility stat to a decent level for iframes. You'll need them.

Great thread! I’ve been playing Survivng the Aftermath and loving it. It’s unlike any city builder/survival game I’ve ever played. All of the random events and the big tech tree have kept me really engrossed for the 40 or so hours I’ve played. Can’t wait to see what the game looks like when it leaves early access.

Picked up a few games with the various Black Friday sales going on.

Ghost of Tsushima earlier in the week when Best Buy's sale went live for $40. I am loving the game. I haven't played an open world game in quite a while and the levels of side missions/content has been great.

Super Mario Bros. Switch Deluxe - I might be in the minority here...but I think I like 2D Mario more than 3D Mario. Don't get me wrong Odyssey and Galaxy are great. However, there is something so fun and nostalgic playing 2D Mario that I don't get from the 3D ones.

Donkey Kong DLC for Mario+Rabbids - First off, don't sleep on Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle. It's a blast to play. I finished it last year, but saw that the eShop had the Donkey Kong DLC on sale for $7. Highly recommend it.

Dragon's Dogma.

I still don't know how this got an anime adaptation, but I'm ready for a Dragon's Dogma 2.

I've been playing Destiny 2 since lockdown, but been spending more time with it since Beyond Light came out. I've run through Deep Stone Crypt, the newest raid, four times so far, with one of those times done during the opening weekend.

Beyond Light in general is probably the most I've enjoyed Destiny, while Deep Stone Crypt is probably my favorite thing I've done in Destiny.

Been continuing through Witcher 3, and while I'm enjoying that game a lot more than I was forty-fifty hours ago, that game is too fucking long. I've only been doing the side content connected to story characters; don't care about Gwent, horse races, or witcher contracts. Certainly not the myriad quests strewn about the map(s) or the countless points of interest, but it's still taking an age to complete.

In between that I've been playing some old(er) stuff:

Parasite Eve is still a good game and that ending chase sequence is still bullshit.

Played through the original Front Mission, which is decent enough but pretty limited in terms of character customization, and a little too easily exploitable as the game moves along (killed the final boss in literally one attack). Continued on with another couple of SNES mech games: Cybernator and Front Mission: Gun Hazard. Cybernator's alright, but Gun Hazard has kind of blown me away. Really wish Square had made another Front Mission game along those lines; it's an excellent first attempt.

art of rally.

When I was younger games were far more likely to create this euphoric feeling of joy and wonder. It all seemed so new and amazing. Age and a disposable income has lessened this a great deal but occasionally some games come along and I'm back in my early teens.

As a big fan of rally games and last year's Lonely Mountains: Downhill, art of rally hits all the pleasure points in my brain. The controls just feel so right, the art is beautiful and the music just completes the experience. It's just sublime, makes me feel like Michele Mouton.

I finally played through all of Mario + Rabbids earlier this year in the start of quarantine, and yeah, that game is pretty good. The walkin' around and puzzle solving start to drag a little near the end, but the combat is pretty fun throughout. Also yeah, that DK DLC is wild, since they retheme the entire game to actually be a Donkey Kong Country game that just happens to feature Rabbid Princess Peach and Rabbid Kong.

It's a pity Ubisoft hasn't done any other Switch-specific games that I can think of; they're good at it when they want to be.

Been in my "play American Truck Simulator while listening to Phoebe Bridgers" stage of this second lockdown-like situation and I must say, ATS is very relaxing.

I am (I think) pretty close to finishing Yakuza 7, and have enjoyed it all the way through.

This is not my first attempt at a Yakuza game. I own Yak 0 and the first Kiwami, but burned out on both long before the end. Not because I wasn't enjoying the general aesthetic, but because I just got tired of the combat. Switching to a simplified turn-based system was an inspired decision that got combat mechanics out of the way of what Yakuza does best - tell great stories in an obsessively well-crafted game world with a big spoonfull of wacky bullshit thrown in.

Hopefully this sells well and they retain the JRPG-like system in the next game.

Playing Pathfinder Kingmaker,

so far about 30h in. Probably best rpg since baldurs gate 2, heavy on mechanics and love letter to tabletop games. Great payoff for patient gamers who enjoy good lore, stats, and a lot of reading.

@bisonhero: Definitely agree with what you said. It's really cool to see how they were able to re-skin the game in a DK vibe. I'm sort of hoping that they make a sequel someday, but I'm not sure how well it sold.

@gundato: That is awesome to hear! I'm an old Silent Hunter sea dog, and I've had UBOAT on my wishlist for quite some time now. Has there been any indication of a release date yet?

As for what I'm currently playing: American Truck Simulator

They released Colorado not too long ago and it's really good. They also released a new truck, the Western Star 49X, at the same time as Western Star themselves released the real truck. I thought that was neat bit of co-marketing. The truck is quite good in the game, too. It's light on customization (probably because of the release date of the actual truck), but I'm sure they'll add more to it over time.

Still playing and loving Hollow Knight after it was made available to PS Plus users last month. I found myself confused about its appeal in the first hour, but my enjoyment skyrocketed since then.

Also, if anyone happens to have any personal tips regarding how I can stop banging my head against the wall of beating the Pure Vessel in the Pantheon of the Knight, I will GREATLY appreciate the advice on how best to progress.

Watch Dogs: Legion. I got it during the Black Friday sale. At first I was skeptical, because of the QL Brad did of the game which gave off the impression that the game was lackluster, but I was wrong. WDL, while not as good as WD2, is a very fun sandbox game. The story isn't as bad as Jeff and the main staff make it seem during their talks about the game, and videogame London never looked better with its well implemented ray-tracing and 4K resolution. An online mode is coming soon, and based on how the game operations, it has the potential to be really fun. We'll see.

Golden Sun on a real gba sp for the first time. It’s insane how feature rich and good looking this game is on such a small and underpowered device.

I finally just started Divinity: Original Sin 2 on steam.

I always used to love the idea of D&D style RPGS, usually spending a few hours in character creation, then after an hour or 2 I lose interest or engagement (at no fault of the game, just my own playstyles).

I have found the world of Divinity fun, vibrant and the narration to be really engaging, moreso than I was expecting. That, in combination with the main characters/ 'origin' character stories are really fun and unique. It's taken some of the focus on frontloading character creation and I'm enjoying how the characters develop over time. I don't feel like I've made a wrong build or decision thanks to a nice blend of difficulty modes for all types of player (I am going with easy?/story focus which I think is default now as I'm also rubbish at these kind of games and do prefer story over the combat puzzles).

I'll look forward to finishing it in some form over the next few weeks/months and will happily now look at BG3 when it is out of early access maybe late 2021.

@scutteh: Div2 is excellent, a modern classic if ever there was one. I also played this this year and its crazy how flexible and well designed it is.

I'm over 40 hours into Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and I'm having a fantastic time with it. I loved Odyssey, and the ways this expands on the RPG elements of it (such as building relationships (and romances) with NPC's in the settlement) definitely hits the right buttons for me. I don't think I'll have it done before Cyberpunk comes out, so now I'm debating if I'm comfortable buying Cyberpunk before finishing it... hopefully I can have some self-control and wait.

I also have been making my way through the Control DLC; I finished the first one a couple weeks ago and am into the second one now. It's been a while since I played the base game, so I've been really enjoying getting back into that, and I'm liking the Alan Wake references of the second DLC.

Finally, though sales and Game Pass, my friend and I now have three games-as-service we're "playing" together: The Division 2, Avengers, and Anthem. Oddly enough, of the three... I think I've had the most fun with Anthem so far. I bounced off it after doing the trial when it came out, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is still a lot of fun, and playing with him helps make it more enjoyable than matchmaking with randos. I enjoyed the campaign in Avengers, but the multiplayer seems pretty repetitive, and I don't enjoy it as much as either of the other two (or Destiny 2, for that matter, which I'm waiting for the Series X update to jump back into).

Also that same friend and I finally finished up Chris's campaign in Resident Evil 6, and that game is still one of my favorite games of all time. I know it's a bad game, but I love how unabashedly over-the-top and crazy it is. I'm glad for the direction that RE went afterwards (I loved the RE 2 Remake), but part of me still would love to see them deliver a more polished version of RE6's over-the-top action in the future.

@bane no idea. Can't see any roadmap but also didn't look too deep

----

So played Astrobot the other night and that may be the greatest launch (for me) night console experience ever. Incredibly cute game with controls that are solid enough for what it is but clearly designed to not outstay its welcome. 2-3 hour experience unless you go for all the collectibles (and it is worth it, but come back later). Very much shows off WHY you bought that console with the focus on fast load times and adaptive trigger shenanigans that show just how much they can make you think you are pulling back a spring between resistance, fine grain vibration, and sound. Great walk down memory lane and Sony were even smart enough to end it with a straight up ad for all the peripherals you didn't bother to buy during the mad rush to add things to your cart.

And on a more general note: I am pretty outspoken in how little I like Mario Odyssey. It is fine, but compared to something like even 3d world it is just lacking in every way. And I fully acknowledge a lot of that is I have very little nostalgia for Mario. I liked SMB1-3 (the good 2, not the bullshit one) and 3d world is fun but I like Mario for platforming and not for his lore. Went NES->PC->PS1. So most of odyssey fell flat for me.

In comes astrobot that has me grinning like a lunatic because they totally put in a Jumping Flash reference or because one of the trophies references a game I loved as a kid or because cute little astrobots are totally riffing on a Bloodborne fight (look, I have spent a LOT of time with Souls games over the past 11 years). Sure the actual platforming and level design is very much "fine". But I definitely had that same "holy shit, this is awesome. I want to 100% it even if it is more of the same" reaction.

Okay no judgments: Fallout 76.

It’s on gamepass now and I’m having a surprisingly good time, though if my expectations had been any lower they would have lacked semantic content.

It feels like that point in a Bethesda RPG when you’ve finished the main content and you’re mopping up side stuff and making your own fun.

It’s also much more scenic than past Fallout games, almost Skyrim-esque walking-in-nature vibes at times. And the new creature designs are some of their best.

The TL;DR of me coveting certain armor sets and weapons in Monster Hunter World:

Clearly, I am not complaining.

I'm just about finished with Ghost of Tsushima. It's pretty wild that someone at Sucker Punch just went "Hey, we should just make that Assassin's Creed game set in Japan that everyone has been asking for since Assassin's Creed 2."

I'm a couple hours into Haven. I'm not sure how to describe this game so far. It's like a simplified ATB style RPG, with Mario Sunshine-like mechanics of cleaning up gunk in the environment, but instead of a plumber with a water pack, you're two lovers with hover boots gliding around an uninhabited planet. I'm really enjoying the characters so far. They're just fun flirty goofs. A fairly light-hearted and cute game so far.

EDIT: Oh, also, pretty good soundtrack so far. Developed by The Game Bakers, who also put out Furi, which also had a great soundtrack.

I've been playing Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (the infamous FF game that was made exclusively for the US audience because early 90s Square thought that US players felt RPGs were too hard to understand) on the SNES for the first time. It's actually not that bad of a game if you have a RPG itch to scratch, but don't want something that feels like a huge time sink or has points where you feel like you have to grind for hours just to beat a boss. I'm about 10 hours in, and nearing the end if the walkthroughs I've checked are any indication, so it's a nice little romp compared to most other RPGs that are 5 or 6 times longer than that.

Plus, the soundtrack overall is pretty good. The boss music especially slaps in an early 90s video game way that I like.

I'm currently 6 hours into Röki. So far, I am loving it. It's an adventure game based around Nordic folklore. It is really touching so far, has great puzzles (that aren't too obtuse), looks great and has an awesome soundtrack. Highly recommended to anyone with even a passing interest in adventure games.

Just started Immortals: Fenyx Rising!

I'm really enjoying it so far, but I'm having a rough time with the combat. Anyone have any tips to get better? I'm trying to use the dodge more, but was banging my head against a wraith fight tonight. Maybe I just need to get more powerful gear?

Cyberpunk 2077

I'm two hours in on Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, which is a breezy and cozy game set on an idyllic, small Spanish island. You are playing as a girl named Alba who is visiting her grandparents and, along with her friend, seeking to stop the mayor of the island's village from his plans to build a luxury hotel on top of a natural reserve.

For some, the following sentence may persuade you to take a look at the game. My favorite game from last year was A Short Hike, and this game gives similar vibes that that game gave me. Maybe not the exact same vibes, mind, but very similar. The gameplay between them is different however. Whereas in A Short Hike the traversal and exploration through jumping, climbing and gliding were the key elements (and were utterly sublime), in Alba the player is strolling, skipping and narutoing leisurely around the island on the ground trying mainly to identify the various animals inhabiting the nature by taking pictures of them. You also help some animals and fix things more directly. Nothing considered complicated. It's simply a pleasant time.

At one point, as I was walking around the island, I felt for a brief moment as if I was missing the absorbing and brilliant non-diegetic music found in A Short Hike that is ever-present and changes depending on where you are on that island (and even within the handful of areas on A Short Hike's island the instruments and their arrangements shift coming in and out), but I almost immediately replied to myself in my head that the music of Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is the sounds of the (mostly) birds - the sounds of nature. The game does also have region-specific, i.e. Spanish, music, and there are even a few radios with dials, so the aural atmosphere is more of a natural and diegetic one.

I'll probably finish the game today going about the island at my own leisurely optimized pace. And probably smile often doing so.

I recently played through "Journey" on the PS4.

Absolutely magnificent, really gorgeous piece of art. I got a little frustrated in the last chapter, however. I think it bugged and kept looping me to the same area, so I had to restart and redo the mountain chapter.

I wouldn't say it "moved me" like it did everyone in 2009, but it was still a fab way to spend 3 hours.

4/5

I've been playing a ton of Monster Sanctuary on switch, and I gotta say I don't know why it isn't getting more attention. It has legitimately made me wonder why Pokémon hasn't tried to turn into a metroidvania at some point. If you're looking for a Pokémon alternative (I guess more of a Dragon Quest Monsters alternative really) then give the game a shot. I might just be really late to the party since it was in early access for a year prior to coming out fully a few days ago.

Destiny 2: I did not buy Beyond Light or the Season Pass, but all the talk about the game made me want to check back in. I mainly didn't buy the expansion - even though it gatekeeps most of the new missions and abilities - because I saw its content compared to Shadowkeep which I did buy and got nearly nothing out of. Overall Destiny still feels purely great to interact with, and I'd left the Forsaken campaign half-finished which was a lot of fun to plow through. Now I'm back on the loot grind and...you know, all I'm looking for is something new to listen to podcasts while playing, and I was thinking this would be the one...

Cyberpunk 2077: Currently debating whether or not to get a refund for this game considering how massive its file size is, which is preventing me from playing Destiny 2 because they just released a patch that's too large to install. This is the something nice thread, though, and I do truly appreciate this game showing me how broken games can be. I've never experienced anything like this before, and like FFVII Remake's weird crossover of PS2/PS3/PS4 graphics I find looking at it totally fascinating. It's not very good as a podcast game, though, and runs so poorly I worry over whether I'm going to have a great time like my first night with it or terrible time like my day after, so...

Civilization VI: It's so awesome that this game runs as well as it does and controls as easily as it does on PS4. There are some goofy oversights in control that don't totally make sense, mostly to do with ranged attacks, but just use those units for a few turns and you internalize it. I love Civ IV and Civ V but my iMac is from 2008 and my laptops' keyboards no longer work (but were also from 2011) and neither could run a Marathon/Epic length game on a Large map to conclusion without major graphical glitches or straight up crashing which is the way I enjoy these games best, just total eternal slogs that seemingly never end. Anyway, again, it just almost feels like a charity that Civ Revolution could eventually pave the way for a full blown Civ on console and I'm grateful for it, even if this game overall might rank slightly below Civ V and a decent amount below Civ IV for me overall. How does the saying go - your first Civ is always your favorite Civ?

Choosing between Cyberpunk 2077 and Vergil is like trying to pick your favorite child.

Sam and Max Save the World is great. Still great. The remaster is great.