General gaming discussion

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122396321#Comment_122396321

You're probably not even as close to the end as you might think, TLOUP2 makes the last 40 minutes of Return of the King seem tight. It's pretty telling that they're adapting Part 2 across 2 seasons of the TV show.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397390#Comment_122397390

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397459#Comment_122397459

Finished it. Finally !!!! I'm all NaughtyDog'd out. Free at last !!

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397819#Comment_122397819

Verdict?

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122398541#Comment_122398541

Art, visuals, sound, music, ui, controls, animation, feel, technology are great. Some brilliant sections with the infected, especially one in a hospital basement, and one descending from a wrecked building. The game really shines here.

I really could not warm to any of the characters. The main two are psychopaths, and the rest of the characters are two dimensional. It's all very jarring. The game is too long and too many copy/pasted encounters with non infected, and too many press X to continue sections. I think they should have kept the story "small" and more nuanced like the first game; rather than the bombastically violent revenge loop it is.

Retr0gamer

Yeah I'm with you on all of that. Really thought the story managed to say an awful lot about nothing. Violence is bad and when you realise it's a both siding take on the Israel/Palestinian conflict it makes it even dumber. There's a whole heap of ludo narrative dissonance as well and they effectively ruined Ellie, she just didn't come across as a real believable person.

Potential-Monke

I'm wondering if they'll follow the game story with regards Pedro… I assume that whole part of the story will be re-written? Keeping in mind I've never played the second one but I believe it happens early on, but surely not with Pedro?

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122399243#Comment_122399243

Spoiler Warning

It'll definitely happen. Episode 2 at the latest. The entire story centers on it.

Potential-Monke

Didn't realise it was that big of a deal. Will be interesting. He's not Sean Bean!

Exclamation Marc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122399292#Comment_122399292

Sean Bean would not have made it out of the first season. 😂

recyclops

if they dont it'll be a jump the shark moment and I wont return, no time for tv shows dragging for nothing happens far too much nowadays

Penn

What's the thoughts on Divinity Original Sin 2? I know it's obviously similar but different to Baldur's Gate 3 and the gameplay is near identical, but is it worth playing or is it really too similar to BG3 that it's probably not worth it?

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122399690#Comment_122399690

Heard nothing but good things about it so worth a go I'd say if you want something like BG3

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122399811#Comment_122399811

Yeah from all I'm seeing, it doesn't have the story or character development/performance/side-stories to the same degree as BG3, but it's a lot less restricted in its combat and levelling up because it's not constrained by DnD rules.

I probably will pull the trigger on it, but now not sure whether to go Steamdeck or PS5. If there is one thing that annoys me about BG3 is that at some points using the controller to try select items, manage inventory, or move the camera to try pick where you want to move to during battle can be a pain. But I also don't want to play on PC so I'm guessing DOS2 will be the same regardless.

Grumpypants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122399072#Comment_122399072

I felt the same after my first play through. Really enjoyed it but I couldn't get past some of the story choices and ended up kinda ruining it for myself.

A few years later I played the next gen update again. Freed from the burden of not knowing what was going to happen (and most importantly now knowing where the ending was) I was able to get out of my own way and enjoy it far more. I wasn't trying to finish it, I was just enjoying exploring the world. Stuff I completely missed the first time really hit hard this time.

The way they could push you towards one character, then flip it so you ended up relating more to the enemy and hating the character you had been so invested it. And then spin it again, and again was impressive.

Zero-Cool

That cyberpunk noir detective game 'nobody wants to die' is out and only 25 euro, 22.50 on psn if you buy before end of July. Looks super polished for a AA game, but sure how long it's supposed to be but great asking price on looks alone. Interested to know if anyone here is getting it?

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122400028#Comment_122400028

They got everything right except the story and length for me. I was lucky to get to play both games for the first time in their best versions on PS5 and on an OLED TV.

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122400082#Comment_122400082

I'm interested in both that and Dungeons of Hinterburg right now, but truth be told I just bought a new ereader so I'm spending more time catching up on books rather than games. 🙃

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122401565#Comment_122401565

Check out the nerd with his reading. NNEEEEEEEERRRRDDDD

CastorTroy

Showing my age when I saw ereader and first thought was one of those games where you scan barcodes, like Barcode Battler or maybe the Gameboy e-reader.

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122401612#Comment_122401612

It's only Prima Game Guides, I swear!!!!!!!

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122401737#Comment_122401737

Man, i actually took stuff down from the attic a few weeks ago and found my old PlayStation magazines, bang of nostalgia reading through that, forgot how many phone sex ads there were in those gaming mags 😂

Potential-Monke

Have played a few hours of Dungeons of Hinterburg yesterday. Unique little game, the screentone and art style is actually quite nice. Playing it on Gamepass on PC, getting close to a stable 60fps, but not constant and I get screen tearing with no v-sync option. Dropped the resolution and some settings, but still not perfect. Must get my Series X back and see what this claimed 120fps on console is like…

Game is quite fun. Each day has 4 stages, Morning to have a quick chat with someone and decide where which of the 4 areas you're going to today (I have 3 unlocked after only a couple of hours). It then changes to Noon, and each area then has a certain number of dungeons which you need to find, with some enemies along the way. The dungeons themselves are easy to hard, so you'll be jumping in between each area as you move along. Complete a single dungeon to end the day and return to town, or you can just chill out instead. You then pick what to do in the evening, be it relaxing or socialising. And finally night, here you can go straight to sleep or stay up late for a stat boost but next-day penalty.

The socialising part is what I'm not looking forward to, but a review I read suggests it goes hard and heavy with the real life references so maybe there's more to it. You have to socialise to unlock perks, and so far it has been a few quick screens of text which can be quickly read or skipped if you wish.

So far I'm enjoying it. On normal and it's far from difficult. Has basic combat but I believe this evolves as you unlock more perks. Light/Strong attack, basic combos, 2 magic abilities depending on the area you're in. Couple of small things so far that annoy me is there appears to be no cosmetic changes to gear you equip, she gonna look like she currently looks for the whole game by the looks of it. I think the sword does change though.

I recommend people give it a lash if they have Gamepass. Wouldn't be sold on buying it outright yet though. And have to remember it's made by 2 people.

RedXIV

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122401636#Comment_122401636

Just as an aside, I finally bought a Barcode Battler recently! I remember seeing them as a kid but spotted it in local retro shop a few months ago and had to pull the trigger. No idea how it works properly yet but still, a piece of history!

Grumpypants

I've had the PSVR2 out for the last two or three weeks. Driven mainly by the kids getting into VR and wanting to play some of the music games and Demos.

But since it was out of the box I've found myself playing it way more too.

So I went back and got the VR update for Resident Evil 4. Just wrapped up the opening village scene, that was amazing. Worth the price of admission on its own. Shot gun head shots in VR 🥰.

No mans Sky also got a VR update. Taking of in your ship and flying it across the planet surface into the clouds and out of the atmosphere is up there with one of the best gaming moments I've had in my 40+ years of playing.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122405893#Comment_122405893

Sounds excellent. Im about 5 minutes into James Blunt's documentary but feck that Im going on VR now instead.

Luna84

I was on a role today with gaming finished up Figment and started a short game and finished it. Went ahead to sart Figment 2 and it was taking off GamePass. Typical just when I was going to play the game. Looked up it on the store €25. I cannot be arsed to pay that for it. Into the list of I may play that game some day.

Retr0gamer

Seems the Ace Combat 7 Switch port is really good:

https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2024-ace-combat-7-is-one-of-the-most-impressive-switch-ports-weve-ever-tested

Luna84

Still wakes the deep. Started it a while ago. It's weird.( in a good way, it's also a horror which I wasn't expecting) I forgot how to turn on the head lamp after escaping into tanks and was wandering around for about two minutes.(for those who played it the screen went all funny) so I thought it was part of the game and around the two minute mark I was like this cannot be right so pressed a few buttons and turned on head lamp and all was good again.

johnny_ultimate

Been playing a fair bit of Shin Megami Tensei V. Really enjoying it. My heart still lies with Persona due to the variety and flow of the loop, but the SMT combat is richer and fully formed here… which is good as that’s basically the game :) Nice multi-layered yet contained areas to explore too, but it’s really about the monster fighting (and chatting). Definitely a few more strategic layers than Persona despite the broadly similar mechanics, though sometimes all the proper nouns and menu and submenu mechanics can get a bit confusing to keep track of.

The game is nowhere near as stylish or distinct as Persona (the UI and battle animation, for example, are functional but lacking the sheer dynamism of its sister series), but it more than does the job and has a more somber, ominous tone running throughout. Glad I waited til this version, as it runs great on Steam Deck after what seemed to be a mess of an initial Switch release. Playing through the OG story though rather than the new one.

Retr0gamer

I love Persona but think the mainstream SMT games are just as good, although they are a very different less accessible and more hardcore games (with exceptions, SMT4 is very accessible and perhaps too easy).

One thing I'm enjoying about the new SMT games is the new Atlus composer Ryota Kozuka. Shoji Meguro is excellent but I think Kozuka could be on par. The SMTIV soundtrack is one of the all time bests and SMTV is really growing on me. Hoping to finish off a few more games that I'm currently playing and get stuck into V Vengeance.