What PlayStation games are you playing ?

Potential-Monke

I was going to do the same, but I really, really don't think it will be for me at all. Like yourself, the allure of the allegedly amazing world is what is making me itch, but I just know the combat will be the killer. Also, reading the thread, seeing people talk about how often they're dying, some cheese deaths, having to look stuff up online, mechanics not explained or not obvious... it really sounds like everything I don't like. Stupid hype...

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118749004#Comment_118749004

The world is actually far less gloomy than all their previous games. One area I was exploring last night was very stunning and vibrant. But the nature of the world is very much monstrous and mystical at its core that there will always be some element of gloom and eldritch horrors, and some areas are very destitute and barren.

I would say if you were doing a magic build, try to balance it a little with melee at the start, as oftentimes magic can take a bit of levelling up until it becomes useful and you have access to better spells. I'd also recommend watching starter videos for the best way to start as a magic build, as it tends to be more complicated than just "Hit things with weapon". Different spells can require different items and work with different skills/attributes.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118749060#Comment_118749060

I posted similar on the Elden Ring game thread yesterday, but the way to look at deaths in these games is that it isn't always a failure, but a gameplay mechanic. If you die to enemies in an area, you lose your runes (the currency you use to level up, buy items with etc). But if you can make it back there, not only will you get those back, but you'll also have earned more while trying to get back there. You should also have an easier time getting back there as you'll know what enemies are where and will have already explored for items etc. You might still die on the way there and lose everything (if you die without having picked up the runes you previously lost, they're gone), but the idea of risk vs reward is just core to everything in the game.

Elden Ring probably is the most accessible of the main Souls games (Sekiro was probably the most accessible overall as there are no starting classes, no gating of weapons/attributes, no real build variety), and there are a lot of Quality of Life things in this game that weren't in previous. As it's open world, upgrade materials and stuff feels a lot easier to find/source, and like you say if you're struggling with one thing, move away and find something else. There's an optional boss right outside the starting area that I died to too often at the start (and even a while later when I'd levelled up a bit), but I waited until I was stronger, came back and beat him.

It is very much still a Souls game. There definitely are bullsh*t/cheap deaths. One area I was in last night I was riding around on my horse looking like a glowing pin cushion because f*ckers were hitting me with giant glowing arrows from miles away in every direction. Arrows bigger than me sticking out of my head and couldn't heal quick enough. And some of the ways you're supposed to proceed to solve puzzles can be honestly quite bizarre. The lack of a pause function doesn't help either. Menus don't pause the game. In Demons Souls on PS5 you could enter photo mode which actually would pause the game, but that's not here, so it can be hard to sort out items for your quick select etc in the heat of battle.

For me though, I only started liking Souls games when I started going into them knowing and accepting those flaws. I am sometimes googling to see what I'm supposed to do with certain objects. I am sometimes googling to see what the best weapons/items for my build are and where to get them. I am googling how to complete some NPC side stuff. But at the same time, I'm also just wandering around and seeing what I can find. I'm never really going to understand the story or characters while playing, I'm just not. I'll catch an explainer video in a few months.

Open world games a lot of the time are filled with "Here are ten types of activities/collectibles and there's 5-10 of each dotted around the map. Go!" Last night I was still finding new things I hadn't experienced before 30+ hours into the game, or variances of things I had seen that I didn't even realise I was doing until I'd completed it, as I was just working my way through an area.

Also with combat, patience is just key. I was struggling against a boss for a while the past few nights (would try him a few times, get annoyed, leave, try again once I'd levelled up more. Thankfully a checkpoint right outside his area). But I was failing because I was staying too close to him, couldn't read his attacks, and couldn't get away quick enough. Last night I beat him by keeping my distance, learning to read his attacks better for a few tries (again, going into boss fights knowing you're going to die can help, but try to go in with as few runes as possible so it doesn't matter if you lose them), and then picking my openings. Jump in for a few hits, jump back out again. If you try to just wail on enemies like it's a hack n' slash game, they'll show you what hack n' slash truly is. I still get caught out with that though as oftentimes, you don't know how powerful or tanky an enemy is until you start hitting them, and usually then you're already in the danger zone.

I would genuinely say there's absolutely no issue in watching a few "Tips and Tricks before you start" or "Things the game doesn't explain to you" videos before you start. I kinda knew what to expect from this game as it's just variances of their systems from their other games, but it can be a stumbling block if you're not used to them.

recyclops

I think what I am finding most about it that brilliant is that anytime something gives me the name of an area and its highlighted on my map I know its going to be important, it could be a loot chest, it could be a boss fight it could be an NPC, it could even be all three but its up to me to find out what it is and why its there.

You are told early in the game what your general task is, you are also told where to go to complete this task, your just not told how to complete it, in what order etc. You need to figure these things out. so its not wandering around aimlessly ( it just rewards those who do)

last night I got to one of the main bosses, it was around 5 o clock, first attempt, 30 secs dead, repeated this a fair few times but as we know doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is idiotic, so I mixed it up and managed a few hits, then I recognise I can use my horse in this boss, so that changes it up, then I recognise a few different things on the ground that'll help, a hour or so passes and I dont beat him, but now I am better prepared for when I turn it on later.

So I turn it back on around ten or so and before 11 I have him done and I feel better for it as I had figure it out. Say compared to a fight in spiderman where I am told what the enemies weakness is and how to beat him, it just feels cheaper.

Now I would say that level of effort is not for everyone and plenty will just get frustrated due to the constant dying but I would be amazed if someone didnt get a sense of achievement out of beating a boss themselves instead of being told how to beat them.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118750326#Comment_118750326

I'd even say for the most part, most minor bosses go down in 1-3 tries. I beat a few last night first try. Even two of the main bosses a few nights ago I beat on the second or third try. And one minor boss I had been having difficulty with the past few nights, I beat, and later in another area found a similar boss and was able to take him down first time because of what I'd learnt from the other.

The games are always really difficult at the start, but after that most of the deaths are usually your own fault for being too aggressive/greedy and being punished for it, or not paying enough attention to where enemies are, not luring them to deal with them individually etc. But even with difficult bosses, accepting you're going to die numerous times allows you to go into the fights and focus on learning their attacks the first few times.

But there's also a lot of help available in this game. NPC summons for a lot of the main bosses, and the ashes summons are great for taking the bosses' attention and focus so you can get some hits in, or get out to heal.

The difficulty in Souls games is really just tough at the start, then it evens out, and then there can be weird difficulty spikes just depending on what you do or where you go.

johnny_ultimate

Elden Ring’s proving a bit of a ‘genre ruiner’ for me - as in completely changing my expectations for other open-world games. The sheer variety and scope of its world mean its one of the exceedingly few massive open-world games to genuinely justify their openness. There's something very special about approaching an area and truly not knowing what kind of surprises or threats it has in store - that's a constant experience here. It's a rare case of scale with purpose and clarity - while there's some repetition, it's extraordinary how much bespoke content there is for a game of its size. To see everything placed with such purpose and care really shows the limits of many other games' more copy and paste approach to #content.

I will caveat that by saying it's effectively Dark Souls 4 - if you really didn't get along with the previous games, this may not change your mind as it's broadly similar in many ways. The more open world does dramatically change the flow of the game, and no game in the From Soulsborne games has been quite as generous in terms of the amount of player aids to adjust the difficulty curve on your own terms. But when you're fighting a tricky boss beyond a fog gate, it's still that distinct combat at its core :)

The Phantom Pain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118749280#Comment_118749280

My issue with what I've seen with the mage is that it looks kind of boring/easy to cheese. It's just the same wand animation over again and the bosses seem to completely ignore the player the moment they summon. I think I'd rather play as a close ranged melee character but without a shield if that's available.

I really do hope that I won't have to resort to googling anything tbh. I don't want to be playing a game with my phone on standby ready to look up every little thing. I want to be able to figure these things through trial and error and I sincerely hope Elden Ring enables me to do so. Like I said, I've seen the excitement and all the talk of how people are finding new things several hours later and it sounds great. Even Steph Sterling (Jim Sterling) looks like they're having a great time . They're a big Souls fan anyway but I trust Steph's opinion because they're the first to pick up on poor QOL issues and developer wankery that other reviewers normally overlook. On that note, I'm surprised they haven't brought up the fact that there's no pause button...

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118750752#Comment_118750752

Yeah a lot of the long-range magic attacks have the same animation, but as you progress you get abilities like a magic greatbow, and magic sword attacks. Some magic builds can also involve having a staff in your left hand and sword in your right hand, and you can imbue your sword with magic/fire/lightning while still using magic with your staff. Summoning can make the bosses ignore you a bit too, but it's just one tactic you can use which you don't have to. They rarely last more than half the fight anyway so after that you're on your own.

If you wanted a melee build but without shield, you can two-hand one weapon for more damage, or use a weapon in each hand. Each weapon/item has a weight though, so it'll tell you if you go into what's called 'Heavy Load', which will make your dodges slower (aka Fat-rolling). I was using two swords at the start, now I have a katana in one and I switch between shield and staff in the other depending on the enemies/circumstances.

You also don't have to google anything. NPC quests aren't that big a deal. You might miss out on good rewards, but they might not suit your build/playstyle anyway. The story will progress regardless. The option is just there if you need it or if you're stuck.

bmorrissey

Just finished up Mafia 2 and Playing Kingdom hearts 2 on PS4 which has been sitting on back log for ages now. That along with FIFA 22 to break up KH2

The Phantom Pain

Thanks again @Penn for the tips. I decided to purchase Elden Ring and started it last night. I tried to watch some Youtube guides to find the best class for a Souls beginner while the game was downloading, but it was always a 20-something guy with way too many red arrows and large fonts on the video image saying and doing anything possible to inflate the runtime for max ad revenue, so I just threw myself in.

First rambling impressions: So far it’s…ok. Not really seeing the hype tbh. If anything, it’s a bit boring because the world is not exactly brimming with life. That said, I’m very early in, and at least it’s not scary/horror. I'm playing as the Confessor whose speed suits me just fine; just need to find a longer weapon to close the gaps. It’s not as difficult as I thought it would be at all so far? Enemies have short memories and short vision cones and a lot of the time the game puts trash mobs right near ‘sites of grace’ which means you could farm them to level up. Killing groups regains a health potion anyway so you’re not wasting too many items if you decide to move on. You can also just lure enemies to a spot that's easy to collect your runes from should you die there. Additionally, ‘golden runes?’ just seem to be everywhere and I found a merchant early on to sell them to which gave me loads of runes to spend early. Even if I permanently lose my runes I can quickly get them back anyway just by farming...

My first real challenge was the giant at stormgate which, I guess, is a mini boss of sorts (but probably a standard enemy for Souls veterans!) His move sets were easy to figure out and most of the time I was dying by being impatient (I like how enemies become more aggressive when either you or them are on the last bit of health to tempt you into doing something stupid), and the fact that I only remembered how to switch to two handed after defeating it (I had somehow forgot you could do that). The hardest part was the annoying ranged enemies but I just ran past them, found another ‘site of grace’ nearby and then approached them from the back. This enabled me to get the drop on the adds without the giant even noticing. Also, sneaking up on them meant that they were forced to fight me at close range from the off. I would then just cheese it by moving back so that they would try to pull out their ranged weapons which left them vulnerable to attack. Once they were taken care of it was just the giant and me and I beat it first time that way. Not the most graceful way of doing it but hey, work smarter, not harder. Admittedly, it helps that I picked up the controls pretty much right away because the recent Assassin’s Creed games use the same control scheme and A.I behaviour, with the exception that in those games square is dodge so at first I found myself pressing square when I meant to dodge and accidentally consuming a health potion instead... 

The tutoralisation, bless, you can tell the devs are trying here to make it more accessible but it’s...errgh. It will eventually become second nature but right now, really, why isn't equipment and inventory one menu?! And not having a pause button surprisingly doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would but it's still definitely a mistake. I can see why this choice was made - it forces the player to commit to a 'loadout', but all it does is make controls more messy than they need to be. For instance, if there was a pause button you could simply switch to one handed within the menu. They wouldn't need to make you fiddle with triangle and bumper. That's probably why I forgot about it. Anyway, I can live with it. For now.

The map system is very good, though, allowing you to document your journey progress rather than plonking on POI from the start. Reminds me a bit of Skyrim in that sense.

The only thing I really don’t like are the player messages. Why is this in the game? It's immersion breaking, and while some of them are, admittedly, helpful most are just spam or spoil surprises.  I know you can simply disconnect the game from the net but I hate doing that. Also, the framerate drops and pop-in are, quite frankly, unacceptable. Has to be said.

Oddly enough, I can't wait to jump back in again tomorrow evening even though it's mid so far.

Penn

Good stuff, glad you're liking it.

Regarding the lack of a pause menu, it's more to do with it being an online game. Because you can summon other players to help you or be invaded by other players, you can't fully pause the game. You're unlikely to be invaded unless you start invading other people (I'm nearly 70hours in and haven't been invaded I think because I haven't engaged with the multiplayer), as it essentially acts as an invitation, but it just means the pause function is off for everyone. Likewise the white shadows of other players are in real-time, they're other players on your server in the same area as you. I think the only FromSoftware game with a pause is Sekiro because there were no invasions or multiplayer.

As for the messages, for the most part you can just ignore them. They're usually only worth checking out if you see a few of them close together, say in a hallway or something. They might give useful info for something you're about to face, or a possible secret/alternative area or path. You tend to become blind to them after a while and only notice them in particular circumstances. The only time they're a real pain is people putting them at the end of a ladder, meaning sometimes you end up reading the message instead of climbing. It's fairly good at prioritising actions over messages/bloodstains though. That said, it can be worth putting a few down yourself if you think it'll be helpful. If someone rates your message as good, it'll give you a health boost if you're low on health. Most of the time I've had full health anyway so didn't matter, but it's actually really helped me a few times.

And I think inventory and equipment are on different menus just because of the sheer amount of items and categories. Equipment focuses on your load out specifically, you choose what items/weapons/armour to have on you. Inventory is just everything you have, and means you can read item descriptions, view maps or letters, use items like golden runes directly from there rather than having to equip them.

The game definitely isn't perfect, and Souls games in general can be needlessly convoluted and obtuse in many regards, but I'm nearly 70hours in and still experiencing new things in the game, and there's still areas I know I haven't even reached yet.

keane2097

Yeah I found the messages good in Demons Souls but the volume of tripe being posted in Elden Ring is reckless.

RocketRaccoon

Saw talk online that people are completing elden ring in 33 minutes.

Potential-Monke

I've finished DL2 and was going to trade in for Elden Ring just to say I tried it, but no pause sounds horrible, invading would make me rage quit, and the idea of having to look stuff up is off-putting. I'm still in 2 minds, it'd be a waste of €30 for a few hours.

Penn

Just looked it up because I wasn't sure. In Elden Ring, you only get invaded if you're doing co-op, or if you use a specific item to allow it. Like I said, I'm nearing 70 hours in and haven't been invaded.

As for not being able to pause, yeah it can be a pain alright. Not sure if there's anything you can do with it (eg. Pressing PS button to return to PS menu, not sure if it pauses your game state).

The Phantom Pain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118781815#Comment_118781815

The thing is, I play offline so summoning other players is not a feature I plan on using. They really should have enabled the pause button for those who play entirely offline. Regarding the white ghosts, yeah, I figured as much that they were other players which was also immersion breaking. Anyway, I don't see the messages or the ghosts anymore so I'm assuming the offline option hadn't kicked in properly at the time. You probably know that there are NPC invasions who are always amusing to fight because it's the A.I. trying to emulate how a player would move hehe.

Admittedly, it's quite an addictive game. The boss fights have that, "just one more go" about them. I do like that, so far, however many runes I'm carrying is largely outweighed by defeating a boss so losing them is worth it when you succeed. I've beaten a few bosses so far including Margit and the Mounted Tree Sentinel. Margit has been my toughest challenge yet but the fight was fun. So many times I got the health low enough only to be thrown off the bridge lol . The sentinel was just annoying though. Why is L3 the same button as 'dismount horse'??? I had to remap it for that fight alone because I kept accidentally getting off!

In fact, I think I enjoy the boss fights the most, less so all the empty space in between.  I'm tempted to google where all the bosses are so I can just fight them and do any prep time necessary to defeating them in the meantime. The exploration side of it isn't all that great imo and so far the only benefit to it being open world that I can see is that it allows you to prep for the bosses. It might be because I just don't find the lore all that interesting though.

By the way, if you acquire a weapon that you don't have high enough stats to be efficient with why does it allow you to wield it? And what are the gameplay consequences if you do?

Penn

If you don't have the stats for the weapon, you can still wield it but it'll do less damage. Depending on the weapon type, there may be other things, such as a slower, more strained swing if you don't meet the strength requirement, not being able to use the weapon skill or passive abilities, magic not working etc. If you don't meet the strength req. you can two-hand the weapon and that might negate that (not sure how much two handing it increases your strength, I think it's at least 50% though), but if you're too low on other stats it's not worth the risk trying to use it.

The boss fights are certainly the star of the show though, and there's at least 80 or so bosses in the game. Some are variants of others, or taken on in duos later, but most are completely unique. Most of the exploration in the game will lead to another boss; sometimes at the end of tunnels/catacombs, but often just out in the open world.

The Phantom Pain

10. The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos  (DLC). (Trophy completion 100%)

11. The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon  (DLC). (Trophy completion 100%)

As I knew I wanted to get these DLCs off the backlog I was determined to replay The Outer Worlds only after I had replayed Fallout 76, believing that the transition would be less jarring due to the former’s more polished presentation. While I still think this was the best order to play these games in, I actually prefer Fallout 76 overall because the world building and setting of Fallout simply speaks to me more. Objectively, though, The Outer Worlds is a better made game. It’s also as excellent a Fallout knock-off as you’re gonna get, being made by Obsidian, who brought us Fallout: New Vegas.

Timeline wise, both Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos take place before the final mission of the main game. Murder on Eridanos was the second to be released of the DLCs but the one I played first, and I’m glad I did because it’s the superior of the two by a country mile.  A CGI cutscene of a noir murder mystery opens the game and you, “Captain Hawthorne”, have been tasked with playing detective to figure out who killed this famous actress and why. I’m proud to say I chose right. Beating Return of the Obra Dinn and the recent-ish Sherlock Holmes titles has trained me to look for soft clues and not just rely on hard evidence alone - even though, from what I hear, there was actually hard evidence against the murderer that I somehow missed. 

Continuing the high quality writing of the base game, all of the characters in Murder on Eridanos are interesting to get to know so caring about them, as people, greatly aided my investigation. It was enjoyable finding out the backstories of the suspects, their relationship to the victim and what motive they could possibly have with each revelation causing me to swing back and forth between trust and doubt. 

It’s also with Murder on Eridanos where my chosen playstyle felt more validated than ever before. My “Captain Hawthorne” (in-game joke) is a smooth talker who is good with guns but can’t take much damage in a fight. Luckily she can always talk her way out of conflict before any shots are fired. This gave me the advantage of being able to pry information out of my suspects that otherwise I wouldn’t have discovered. In general, I just can’t imagine playing The Outer Worlds any other way because it’s one of the few RPGs that truly allows you to resolve conflict with dialogue only. Last time I checked, you can complete the critical path without killing a single person on Supernova (highest) difficulty. You also get so much XP for speech checks that it further cements in my mind that the game fully recognises talking as a legitimate skill. Even your companions’ unique abilities can aid you in speech depending on who you choose. Additionally, if you spec into guns like I did you end up conserving ammo but, on top of that, a maxed out Persuasion makes enemies cower constantly during battles, preventing them from shooting you. 

Although… in 2022 I’m not 100% sure if a pacifist run is entirely doable anymore. Hilariously, the Obsidian developers were so salty after having underestimated the player’s ability to avoid fighting the final boss in the main game that they raised speech checks to 150. Further salt added, they’ve only awarded a bronze trophy for doing it (as opposed to a silver for killing one of the bosses) in the Peril on Gorgon DLC and, even then, you can only pass speech checks if you find a certain combination of items/information. Murder on Eridanos just outright forces you into a basic bitch final boss fight but it’s so easy that I can only speculate that Obsidian didn’t want to throw high speech players off balance. 

I digress. One of the reasons why throwing all the points into speech makes The Outer Worlds so enjoyable is because the actual writing is  sharp, the characters are interesting and the quest lines serve the overall world building. The whole, “capitalism is bad!” message is still laid on thick but whereas in other forms of entertainment media this message almost always comes across as hypocritical when injected, it’s done in such a clever and witty way here that never feels preachy or forced. And though in-engine dialogue cutscenes have the deadpan-stare-into-the-camera thing, The Outer Worlds provides a unique take on it by putting this dark hue around the NPC you’re talking to which almost makes it seem like a dim spotlight is being shone on them. It also speaks to how good the world building is that I still felt like a spacefaring, planet hopping captain in another galaxy without being made to suffer through boring physics-obsessed mechanics. Unlike a certain similarly named game…

That’s not to undersell the combat at all by the way - the shooting is still very good for this style of RPG. Obviously, it’s not Bungie level, few shooters are, but it’s how I imagine a Fallout game would be without the (loveable) jank.  The variety of weapons all look and function in such a cool way that you may get analysis paralysis. I think that is why The Outer Worlds has a respec feature - for fear that players will never get to experience some of the wacky weapons that only someone with high Science can get the best out of. On the note of weapons, inventory still needs better sorting, as in, it literally needs a dedicated ‘sort’ button. You will be swapping out gear a lot since they have unique game changing stats, and having to scour my entire inventory to look for a  helmet that gives me +5 lockpick, for instance, is a pain. That being said, the carry weight is about 300 odd when with travelling companions which is the bare minimum you can get without having high Strength. Coming from Fallout 76 where that’s about the max you can get felt like a literal weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Unfortunately, The Outer Worlds is not perfect. It still has two notable problems that didn’t bother me so much on my first playthrough but becomes really apparent with these add-ons. The first is that there is just too much content(™) in this game. Not to be confused with too much fat, as almost everything here is worth doing and rarely feels like filler. What I mean is that The Outer Worlds is a game that assumes different players will do different side missions and only a handful of them at best. That’s not an unreasonable assumption at all but if you’re a completionist like me then you’re gonna do everything. And in doing everything I found I was so overleveled for these DLCs that it rendered combat almost trivial - I don’t think I died once. Furthermore, even though Obsidian raised the level cap to 36 I hit the max level long before my time with Murder on Eridanos was through and so I was doing all these quests and passing all these speech checks and getting no credit for them.  Bearing in mind that I hadn’t even started Peril on Gorgon at this point, and the entry level for that is just 25… (This game also has the best ‘you’ve levelled up’ music ever that really makes you feel like you’ve hit a new milestone so I began to miss that.)

And before you yell, “just turn up the difficulty! Problem solved!” I’ve beaten The Outer Worlds on Supernova difficulty and that doesn’t help the second and compounding issue that the game makes it too easy to be a jack of all trades and a master of…many. I suspect there is going to be some major rebalancing in the sequel to prevent this but right now it’s far too generous. Yes, I’m mainly a smooth talking, gun toting cowgirl, fragile but hard hitting…and with just one drink I can bring my body stats to average so I don’t have to be as careful in a fight anymore. With some change of clothes I can lockpick most doors like a trained thief or hack most terminals like a computer engineer. I mean, being able to find every secret in an area is awesome but it does mean there are far less gameplay consequences and leaves little wonders to explore. What makes RPGs so fun, to me at least, is what you don’t discover. It’s what gives the genre such high replay value.  Perhaps the most notable example of this issue is the character flaw feature the game allows you to choose in order to make combat more challenging. I chose ‘robophobia’ which means I withstand less damage from robots in theory but my two most used companions, Parvati (engineer) and Ellie (doctor), offset this. And this is all before the respec station by the way. It just reeks of a developer being petrified that the player is going to miss all the hard work they put in.

At least with Murder on Eridanos the quests are still fun to do even if I eventually stopped receiving more tangible rewards. The same can’t be said for Peril on Gordon which is a sobering reminder of why I don’t generally like DLCs. Like most “expansions”, Gorgon feels merely like a bunch of stuff that was ripped out from the base game and repackaged as additional content(™) for more money.  It suffers from the same issue that the Frozen Wilds add-on for Horizon Zero Dawn did where the new weapons and perks you acquire do not feel like endgame additions. The map is a slog to traverse - the fact that it has two levels means you tediously have to locate elevators to get to lower or higher ground. Its story, which is quite good in isolation, dictates that the map be dead empty which makes Gorgon, as a planet, not very fun to explore either. This is further highlighted by the fact that one main quest takes you back to one of the main game locations, Byzantium, which is brimming with life. There’s also a bug where I could not turn in a side quest so I had to make the opposite moral choice instead which was a real bummer - especially because it was a long collectibles-based quest where all the items were held hostage to main quest advancement. Reloading an earlier save did not work and it’s apparently a bug that has been in the DLC since its launch. None of this sours an otherwise great game, though it is unfortunate that Peril on Gorgon will probably be my last memory of The Outer Worlds before the sequel. 

Overall, though, The Outer Worlds is a wonderful RPG where every choice you make feels developer-approved. Even though the ability to be a jack of all trades means your roleplay choices aren’t as meaningful as they could be, the amount of options available to tackle any task means that this game is very accessible for those who don’t play many RPGs. Additionally, the fact that the game is so stuffed with content means you can breeze comfortably through the main quest lines without feeling like you have to grind. But if you are serious about doing absolutely everything and you prefer RPGs where you are locked into your choices no matter what, then just be aware that the challenge can become non-existent very quickly. Still, I don’t think the lack of challenge will ruin the experience so if you enjoyed The Outer Worlds and have already completed the main game you should definitely buy Murder on Eridanos. It’s a genuinely compelling, well paced mystery and the season pass is worth it for this expansion alone. Better yet, if it’s cheaper, just get Murder on Eridanos by itself. Peril on Gorgon isn’t terrible but it’s content(™) that The Outer Worlds doesn’t need any more of. Thankfully, Murder on Eridanos was the last of the DLCs released and, as swansongs go, it’s a great finale to one of the best RPGs released in the last 5 years.

The Phantom Pain

1. Firewatch.

2. Virginia.

3. Abzu.

4. Gone Home. 

5. Outer Wilds.

6. Mafia II: Jimmy’s Vendetta (DLC). 

7. Mafia II: Joe’s Adventures (DLC). 

8. Fallout 76: Wastelanders (DLC).

9. Fallout 76: Steel Dawn (DLC). 

10. The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos  (DLC).

11. The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon  (DLC).

12. The Artful Escape (PS5). 

13. The Artful Escape (PS4).

Completed and platinumed both versions. I took a chance on this one as it looked interesting, visually and conceptually. Now, I rarely say this but I genuinely believe in my heart that The Artful Escape is a video game best engaged with by children. And to be clear, I’m not saying that if you enjoy this game that you have the mental capacity of a child obviously. What I am saying is, as far as recommendations go, I honestly cannot fathom how an adult could admire this on anything other than a pure visual level. 

Usually, I can at least see why people like a game I didn’t. For instance, I can see how someone could enjoy Days Gone and what Sony Bend tried to do even if I believe that game fails at all of its ambitions. However, The Artful Escape which, just to be clear, is better than Days Gone (although being fisted is better than Days Gone) just feels like one of those games made for the sake of being made. I hesitate to call it a ‘platformer’ since the central conceit means that there’s zero consequences for falling to your “death”. There is one engaging sequence where you have to customise your character and that’s about the extent of the “gameplay” I got. The final act is also very good, bolstered by Lena Headey’s performance but she’s wonderful in everything so I’m not giving it credit for that.

One advantage that indie game development has over AAA blockbusters, other than their healthy runtimes, is that being budget constrained forces developers to be more creative with what they have, and not hide behind superficial aspects like graphics. However, The Artful Escape is so shallow that it thinks that just visually assaulting the player with every colour of the rainbow is enough to hide the fact that the gameplay has only one colour: beige.

At only £15 (or whatever the euro equivalent is) I think the price is fair and you can beat it in around 4 hours so at least it doesn’t outstay its welcome. But there’s nothing to say here - The Artful Escape is a game that exists. If you enjoy pressing your left joystick for 4 hours and the occasional button on the right side of the controller for some laughably easy rhythm mini games while scrolling through sledgehammer dialogue then, sure, go for it. But otherwise get it for your kids instead. They'll enjoy it.

The Phantom Pain

So, I've platinumed both Elden Ring and Bloodborne and the only games I wanna play at the moment are souls games. It's weird because I'm pretty sure I hate them and yet nothing else quite scratches this weird itch I've had since. It's hard to explain.

Thinking of doing another run of Elden Ring on PS4 or getting the Demon's Souls remake - even though the latter is said to have the needless farming repetition Bloodborne has (nothing that a bit of save scumming can't fix). Or maybe even getting the Old Hunters DLC for Bloodborne which is said to be ridiculously hard, but I doubt it's harder than Elden Ring.

@Penn I'm assuming you've played the Bloodborne dlc and Demon's Souls. Any tips/thoughts as to what to expect?

Denny61

I'm playing GHOSTWIRE TOYKO . Its different and it's good Lush graphics..and good story line ..I was playing elden ring jst got bored of it .dark depressive place..samey samey environments And running around .slash hackem .demon souls is far richer and nicer graphics but I'm so glad i bought GHOSTWIRE. It's a breath of fresh air

brady12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118844991#Comment_118844991

really want play that but playing too much . it's short enough ?

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118844967#Comment_118844967

I played most of the Bloodborne DLC. It's great. It's definitely a step up in difficulty, some really tough new enemies and bosses. Only reason I didn't complete was I got to the last area, already knew what was coming and what the final boss was like, and just wasn't feeling it any more. It's at least on par with the difficulty of late-game Elden Ring, if not more difficult. Final boss is meant to be one of the most difficult in all SoulsBorne games. Got partway through the last area and just decided I'd hit my limit. The second-to-last boss was just terrific, maybe my favourite boss fight in the entire game. For me it just wasn't going to top that.

I absolutely loved Demon's Souls. Technically it was my first "Souls" game, as I'd only played Sekiro and Bloodborne before it. I'm sure going back to it having played Elden Ring it's going to feel very archaic in much of the design, and without the quality of life improvements that have come with the later Souls and Elden Ring games. If going for the platinum (which for some strange reason, I assume you would be), you'll definitely have to follow some sort of guide. The game has these weird systems (World Tendency) which are very badly explained, and affects things like NPCs, side paths in the games, enemy and item locations etc, so even outside of save-scumming for the different item/spells trophies there are things you need to do or not do which could be difficult to remedy if you don't get it right.

The majority of the gameplay is very much a pared-down Elden Ring though. Combat is Souls combat, without things like weapon arts and jump attacks like in Elden Ring (still have light/heavy/charge attacks). No jumping also means trying to get around side-paths involves dodge-rolling off ledges with good timing etc, which can be frustrating. There are also far fewer checkpoints, though you can still open shortcuts. It means if you die to a boss, you're not respawning outside their fog door and trying again; you're back to the start of the area and either fighting or running your way back to them with whatever shortcuts you've unlocked. But the game is also much shorter. It's divided into 5 separate areas with 3-4 stages in each. As you can pretty much tackle them in any order (Worlds are referred to as 1-1, 1-2, 2-1 etc), it means depending what order you do them in, some of the areas and bosses you do last you might be pretty overpowered for. So if you do all worlds in order, you can have a very easy time in World 5. Or you can do the first stage of each world, then the second stage of each world for more natural progression, but some items might be more beneficial to have earlier, like an item in 3-2 might be great to have in 5-1 etc.

So it's fairly subjective. Some of the things people might not like about Demon's Souls, I found to be part of its charm. It also looks and plays great on PS5 and was designed for it, so much better Dualsense features than Elden Ring or anything.

But I know what you mean about Souls games causing an itch you can't scratch. That's why I recommend knowing their flaws before you go into them, and knowing those things are going to annoy you. There can be so many things in these games that feel pure bullsh*t, or poorly explained, or "How the f*ck was I meant to deal with that?!" But once you accept those, and accept you'll die repeatedly etc, you enjoy the games' strong points so much more, and the actual core of the games in terms of gameplay, level design, boss design, and even the amount of choice you're given, are just so satisfying.

IP freely

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118745450#Comment_118745450

Hi H3llR4iser,

You see this is where you are coming at this game all wrong.

The GT brand is all about the car experience and culture surrounding it. The racing is mearly a byproduct of that. Granted it wont be to everyones taste but what the Cafe forces you to do is in essense the reason the games exsist. The culture and history around the cars themselves and the collections that go with it, like the rally cars, or Americian muscle.

Onto the racing and it is fantastic its a big jump up in realism which makes it a tricker game to master but once you do its great. Also my advise would be to bypass all the daily races and join a racing league. The one I am part of is starting up tonight again races daily at 8pm you can do all or just sporadiclly compete, multiple lobbies each night grouped togeteher on pace.

Edit; Got a PM asking, search for midway racing league on facebook you'll find the league.

Penn

Started Tiny Tina's Wonderlands last night. Seems okay so far. Obviously very much like Borderlands, but seems to have enough small differences at the start that might evolve into bigger differences later. Only played just over an hour but might restart and go for a different build. I went Spellcaster or whatever it's called, but the Action Skill is terrible.

The maps feel incredibly bland so far though.

Kingp35

I'm about 7 hours into Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order. I'm not a Star Wars fan and I have seen none of the newer films/series however I am enjoying the game so far. It looks great and the gameplay is nice and varied so far. My biggest gripe is the map system, it's absolutely terrible and I've a feeling i will become very frustrated later on when I need to backtrack to find chests etc.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118850284#Comment_118850284

You will. Trying to backtrack is definitely the most frustrating part of the game. I was enjoying the game enough to want to platinum it, but that really started to make it a struggle at the end. It is a great game though.

Markitron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118850284#Comment_118850284

Yea the map system is bad, which is compounded by the fact that you can't fast travel. It isn't a huge problem if you just play through the game in a linear fashion, but it is a pain if you are going after secrets.

JimBurnley

Yeah, the map, and the constant respawning of enemies you've already killed, did my head in on this. Enjoyed it early doors but soon became a grind, quit about half way through and no intention of going back tbh. Shame as enjoyed the combat and atmosphere of the SW universe, that part felt well done

Penn

Not really digging Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. It's fine. It's Borderlands. Has a few new things to try differentiate it, but nothing that makes a huge difference so far. The saving graces are the bits with Tina herself, Wanda Sykes and Andy Samberg, the writing and performances are some of the best since BL2. Will Arnett has been great too but is used sparingly so far thankfully, not like the dingbats that were the antagonists in BL3.

The general gunplay is still enjoyable, but Wonderlands was a great opportunity to do something really different to freshen things up, and this game just doesn't. Everything is the same just with different names/symbols/models. It's even throwing popular BL characters in new roles but doing their same schtick, when they really had a chance to create new characters instead.

EoinMcLovin

Yeah feel the same with Wonderlands. Story is much better than BL3 and so are the side quests. One thing I'm not liking is that loot drops are not great. I'm around level 24 and most of the drops I get have lower damage than my current weapons/spells. Like I have spells that do 633 damage and any spells that are dropped are usually giving 100 damage. I heard that to get the good loot you have to collect all the golden dice hidden in each map. Also the lack of armor customization is bad given the amount of customization options for the character head