What Are You Playing?

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Wow, Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2 (Substance) available now for PC on Good old Games: https://www.gog.com/partner/konami

Cool, but why no MG2 I wonder? Maybe there was a snag or they just wanted to save something retro for another batch down the line (MG2, MGS3, MGS4).

I used to have that edition of MGS2 for PC, and it was pretty great. Had everything, including all the VR missions, and the "Snake Tales." Dunno how it holds up now, so many years later, though.

As did I, it was a very nice release that was unfortunately plagued by technical problems on later computers (I think you and I may have even troubleshot it: was that the DEFILER pack incident? =). Still, it was a fine enough way to experience the game. I think FISSION MAILED was an actual Windows error, so even more effective!

Kinda makes me want to see Konami just go all-out in remaking MGS1 for the Fox engine, even without Kojima.

That's allegedly the plan, though I heard they've already dumped the Fox Engine. I'm not that crazy about the idea simply because I don't think there's much to be gained at this point; this game's already one of the most cinematic ever and has been remade before to diminishing returns. I'd rather they did modern remakes of MG1 and 2 that pick up where MGS5 left off, but the problem is the dialogue is so relatively sparse in those games you probably wouldn't just want to use the original scripts, but then you're getting into iffy territory rewriting and essentially reimagining them without Kojima (actually, given MGS5's less tortuously cinematic turn, maybe those games are decent candidates for a game more in the style of Ground Zeros). Eh, another reason MGS1 makes the most sense, I guess; they technically don't even need to redo the voice acting, but probably would anyway with unknowns if it was cheaper, though that wouldn't jive with the whole legacy aspect. =)
 
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while waiting for Cyberpunk 2077 i went back to some unfinished titles :

Saga Frontier (psx) : non-linear JRPG by squaresoft

TearRing Saga (psx) : tactical RPG from the creator of Fire Emblem

Knights in the Nightmare (DS) : a....weird RPG / Shoot Scrolling ??


Also trying "Amoung Us" (PC).
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Nioh 2 - I was using my old standby the Odachi, I tend to like greatswords in these games, until I discovered Nioh 2 actually has a Trick Weapon right out of Bloodborne, or more like three in one. The Switchglaive, depending on your stance, acts like an extremely fast Saw Cleaver, Hunter's Axe, or heavy hitting Burial Blade, with completely unique speeds, movesets, and damage. It's really good too! The super fast low stance saw mode is great for keeping speedy enemies occupied, the axe is also quick and perfect for crowd control, and the scythe's heavy R2 is a far reaching jump slash that you can use to rollback, jump slash and repeat until just about any enemy or boss is dead. The latter practically feels game-breaking as you can repeatedly heavy attack enemies before they can even switch from pursuing to attacking. It also scales with magic so if the weapon wasn't powerful enough you can either buff it or severely handicap your opponent. I'm a few missions in and to the second province and have to say I find the game very addictive. It's keeping me up way too late at night... just need enough Amrita for that next level!
 
Bit late for this, but here goes…

Ghost of Tsushima - This game was just too much fun; the last time I enjoyed a game so much was probably Spider-Man 2018. It’s not the most original game out there, for sure, but it was so well done and enjoyable and that’s all that’s required of a game at the end of the day. It certainly helped with the bad taste Last of Us 2 had left.

The plot was straightforward and good enough to carry the game. It had some genuinely emotional moments too ( like your first horse’s death, and the end-duel with your uncle). The samurai honor aspect of the plot was a little strange, since to my limited knowledge historical samurai defined honor differently, as in honor being defined as being faithful to your lord. If your lord required you to stab someone in the back, the honorable thing was to do that, which is pretty much the opposite from what this game is showing. This aspect of the plot (and it’s a huge one since it pretty much defines the story in many ways) is more a romanticized notion of samurai honor that a historical one. But I’m not an expert so this might be nonsense. But I didn’t mind, either way.

The world was just gorgeous. This is the only game in which I spent hours on the photo-mode, which I pretty much ignore in other titles. I loved the soundtrack too. Strangely, the collectibles were fun to gather as well, and you get enough of an incentive to go after them because of the rewards they offer.

I enjoyed the side-stories too, and how they’re well integrated into the main plot. Everything in one way or another relates to the Mongol Invasion, which makes sense in the context. Every side-mission was more or less unique, and some were pretty memorable. You certainly don’t get any of the uninspired, miserable side-mission design of titles like FFVII-R. I liked how some side-stories expanded into different missions, which cemented their cast as memorable characters, and the way they were integrated into the main-story reminds me of titles like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

For the negatives, aside from a few nit-picks here and there, my main issue was the duels. I didn’t enjoy that aspect of the game for the most part. The duels can range from challenging to downright cheap (most leaned toward the latter). And they made no sense anyway. For a supposedly realistic game, a human enemy having a gigantic health bar with you barely doing damage to him as you strike him repeatedly (and having the exact opposite happen when you’re the one getting hit), was stupid. There were duels that I had to repeat more times than I repeated some From Software boss fights. I did play on hard difficulty though, and these issues lessened as I got better, so there’s that.

Overall, a fantastic game, and for me the game of the year so far (not saying much for this year).

Uncharted 4 - I decided to go for that one next when I remembered getting it for free from PS+ a while back. I haven’t finished an Uncharted title since the second one in 2009. Nathan Drake is till the same cold-blooded mass-murdering psychopath in the gameplay, and the friendly, cheerful hero in the cutscenes (Talk about narrative dissonance). The formula hasn’t changed much, and those infuriating shooting galleries (which I hate) were still in this game unfortunately. Still, it was a fun experience overall.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 - I’m a sucker for the Yakuza series. And this one was (almost) as fun as the other titles I have played. It doesn’t reach the level of Yakuza 0 or the spin-off Judgment, but there’s no shame in that. It had the most ridiculous writing of all the Yakuza games I’ve played so far, but that’s the thing with this series, it mixes silliness and seriousness in a way that somehow just works.

Also, Nioh > Sekiro.

Ouch!

From your posts above, you seem to be enjoying Nioh 1.5 a lot more than I did. I’ll be curious to know what you think of the game after you’ve beaten it.

Actually, there is one boss in particular that I would mention here if it weren’t a spoiler (which shouldn’t matter this game, but still). A friend of mine beat him in his first try but he cheesed his way through with magic/talismans/etc. For me, it must have take about two dozen tries or maybe more. I think you’ll know him when you reach him, so I look forward to knowing how you faced him too.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Been playing a bit of Spelunky 2, which came out on PC yesterday (was PS4 exclusive for a bit). Early impressions are that it's a more refined, bigger, more polished version of Spelunky. That sounds diminutive, but it's really quite a complement, given the quality of the first game. That's a tough formula to greatly enhance. So they went the expansion route. The guy who made it, Derek Yu, likened it to moving to Super Mario World from Mario 3. Same basic game, but its given an expanded world and new mechanics.

Nioh 2 - I was using my old standby the Odachi, I tend to like greatswords in these games, until I discovered Nioh 2 actually has a Trick Weapon right out of Bloodborne, or more like three in one. The Switchglaive, depending on your stance, acts like an extremely fast Saw Cleaver, Hunter's Axe, or heavy hitting Burial Blade, with completely unique speeds, movesets, and damage. It's really good too! The super fast low stance saw mode is great for keeping speedy enemies occupied, the axe is also quick and perfect for crowd control, and the scythe's heavy R2 is a far reaching jump slash that you can use to rollback, jump slash and repeat until just about any enemy or boss is dead. The latter practically feels game-breaking as you can repeatedly heavy attack enemies before they can even switch from pursuing to attacking. It also scales with magic so if the weapon wasn't powerful enough you can either buff it or severely handicap your opponent. I'm a few missions in and to the second province and have to say I find the game very addictive. It's keeping me up way too late at night... just need enough Amrita for that next level!

Wow! I didn't even know you were even that interested in Nioh. I really enjoyed my time with the first game, but I didn't get very far. I found the combat both engrossing and frustratingly complex. Is it MORE complex in Nioh 2?
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Nioh was fun enough but I found it extremely shallow. I was probably two thirds into the first game when I just dropped it out of boredom. I'd been doing all the side missions and I guess that wore me down because it gets really repetitive in the end. As a result I have absolutely no interest in the new one.
 
I found the combat both engrossing and frustratingly complex. Is it MORE complex in Nioh 2?
I wouldn't say it's more complex, since it's basically a hard-copy of the first game's system (as most of this game is a copy of the original). But it does have some new additions such as a timed-block which produces different effects depending on what you have equipped, spirit transformations, and a few new weapons here and there. Not a significant change from the original though.

Nioh was fun enough but I found it extremely shallow. I was probably two thirds into the first game when I just dropped it out of boredom. I'd been doing all the side missions and I guess that wore me down because it gets really repetitive in the end. As a result I have absolutely no interest in the new one.
Agreed, though I did play both games to the end.

Thing is with Nioh (and this is an issue with Team Ninja games in general), is that it has great action but sub-par everything else. It was the same back in Ninja Gaiden. Team Ninja knows how to make great combat, I'd never deny them this, and it's better than From Software's, but that's about it. Not much incentive to push on through the cheap bosses when there's not much to be gained from it in terms of story or exploration and so on, IMO.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
For the negatives, aside from a few nit-picks here and there, my main issue was the duels. I didn’t enjoy that aspect of the game for the most part. The duels can range from challenging to downright cheap (most leaned toward the latter).

I found the main way to mitigate that was to max out the abilities of the stance that deals with their particular weapon as much as you can. Then most of those fights go from frustratingly unforgiving to laughably easy. The duel at the end was a pain because I didn't get a chance to upgrade the stance first.

Overall, a fantastic game, and for me the game of the year so far (not saying much for this year).

I liked it, but I don't feel like anything stood out as special. It's like a member of the Hall of Very Good rather than a Hall if Famer, good at everything, but not truly great at anything except the graphics, etc. I'm probably taking how well made it is overall, especially the story elements and their integration, for granted because by comparison Nioh 2 is indeed totally lazy except for the combat. But that's kind of what I'm looking for, whereas in Ghost that felt largely perfunctory. Like most games the fix is in for you to win.

Nathan Drake is till the same cold-blooded mass-murdering psychopath in the gameplay, and the friendly, cheerful hero in the cutscenes (Talk about narrative dissonance).

The inspiration for the new Lara Croft, Tomb Filler games. At least the constant mass killing was finally addressed in that series:


From your posts above, you seem to be enjoying Nioh 1.5 a lot more than I did. I’ll be curious to know what you think of the game after you’ve beaten it.

We'll see, I went back and read your old posts because I remembered you being down on what a recycle job it is, and while it's definitely more of the same, I do enjoy what it's more of so far! The biggest thing that stood out to me from what you said before is the lack of variation. They introduce another Yokai maybe every other mission or so, but mostly I'm fighting the same half dozen enemies over and over again. If I see another Ape Yokai... well, I guess I won't do anything because they seem the most common type besides Snake Women and the ubiquitous Gakis everywhere. The final boss should just be a giant fifty foot Gaki that's eaten all the other ones.

Actually, there is one boss in particular that I would mention here if it weren’t a spoiler (which shouldn’t matter this game, but still).

Is it William? If so, youtube already spoiled that one for me, which is a real hazard these days. If you've even watched a trailer for a game you're almost garunteed to get videos recommended that spoil the fucking ending in the title. I had to quit youtube until I finished Last of Us 2 for this reason.

Wow! I didn't even know you were even that interested in Nioh. I really enjoyed my time with the first game, but I didn't get very far. I found the combat both engrossing and frustratingly complex. Is it MORE complex in Nioh 2?

Oh yeah, played 100+ hours of it, and on the more complexity, yes and no. It has a lot of features and wrinkles, and 2 does have even more, but most are passives or upgrades you set and forget until the next shrine and even with all the active combat options you're mainly going to stick with what works for you. My Nioh 1 experience was even more complex because I switched all the controls to their Soul layout counterparts, which completely screwed up the stances and even menu navigation (the former is my fault, but it really needed a separate control scheme for menus). This time I used their closest preset and just got used to the differences.

Nioh was fun enough but I found it extremely shallow. I was probably two thirds into the first game when I just dropped it out of boredom. I'd been doing all the side missions and I guess that wore me down because it gets really repetitive in the end. As a result I have absolutely no interest in the new one.

Neither did I actually, which is why I'm only trying it now, and basically to stop replaying Bloodborne by replacing it with a derivative that's at least some different content. I'm also doing all the side missions as I go, which I may have to stop as I feel fatigue setting in. But yeah, I agree most of the depth or gameplay complexity is frontloaded so that once you get used it, that's kind of it, then rinse and repeat. That could be even more true with this one. Though, to be fair, I never got into the really high level Nioh meta where you do those nightmare stages or whatever and you're fighting multiple bosses with endless living weapon active doing 10,000 DPS or whatever. :shrug:

I should also mention somewhere here I did like the historical connections, which translated into delightfully crazy pseudo-historical nonsense, and real Yokai mythologies and folklore in the first game. I'm basically ignoring the Nioh 2 plot so far.

I wouldn't say it's more complex, since it's basically a hard-copy of the first game's system (as most of this game is a copy of the original). But it does have some new additions such as a timed-block which produces different effects depending on what you have equipped, spirit transformations, and a few new weapons here and there. Not a significant change from the original though.

I really like the Yokai block/parry and recommend the Brute type because even if you fuck up the timing you'll probably still stagger them a bit at least (like the blunderbuss in BB basically). The Yokai transformation isn't even that different because it's basically the living weapon power from the first game. It could even be considered a nerf given how powerful that could be. Of course, back then you couldn't do it from the start to end every boss fight when they're at a third health (it's kind of cool you have your own phase transformations to match theirs though, ”ok, I'm out of elixers, so now survive my overwhelming demon form" =).

Agreed, though I did play both games to the end.

Did you do all of the Nioh 1 DLCs? I stopped at like the second to last sub-boss, some samurai guy, of the final DLC because I finally just lost interest. Maybe I'll go back and finish it after Nioh 2 since I'll be sharp again. BTW, it sucks I can't import William to this game because I played Nioh on PC instead of PS4.

Thing is with Nioh (and this is an issue with Team Ninja games in general), is that it has great action but sub-par everything else. It was the same back in Ninja Gaiden. Team Ninja knows how to make great combat, I'd never deny them this, and it's better than From Software's, but that's about it. Not much incentive to push on through the cheap bosses when there's not much to be gained from it in terms of story or exploration and so on, IMO.

Yeah, the environments are crappily generic, "yet another war torn village!", at least in Nioh 2. It's literally just stages or arenas basically, there's no wonder or exploration here and it's not even pretending there is. Even the weapons aren't anything special mostly, it's all about rng stats, whereas with FromSoft, particularly Bloodborne, every weapon, moveset, environment, and monster feels like it matters. You also feel far more present because of that, and because the combat isn't so smooth, but there's more depth and weight to it. My biggest knock on Nioh is that even though the combat is technically superior in many ways I feel like I'm playing with action figures on playsets rather than any sort of "presence." It's that sensation you got in SotC or Souls where you really feel like you're encountering some incredible, larger than life monster or experience. Now, Nioh's still a lot of fun because it does give you a very streamlined and fun form of that style of combat, like Bloodborne crossed with Sekiro, paired with highly addictive loot farming gameplay, but you're not getting a deeper connection to that world, its lore or its inhabitants through it.
 
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I found the main way to mitigate that was to max out the abilities of the stance that deals with their particular weapon as much as you can. Then most of those fights go from frustratingly unforgiving to laughably easy. The duel at the end was a pain because I didn't get a chance to upgrade the stance first.

Yeah. I did rely more on dodging in the early parts of the game, playing it Bloodborne-style but I quickly learned that this play style just wouldn’t cut it thanks to the duels. It took a while before I mastered the perfect parry, which was kind of ironic since I had just completed a Sekiro replay before Ghost was released, and that made the duels easier.

Though I still have an issue with the “realism”. Both fighters are supposedly human and using similar weapons/armor and yet you do potato damage while your opponent takes a third of your health-bar (sometimes even more) with the same attacks. Would love to see this design approach disappear to be honest.

I liked it, but I don't feel like anything stood out as special. It's like a member of the Hall of Very Good rather than a Hall if Famer, good at everything, but not truly great at anything except the graphics, etc. I'm probably taking how well made it is overall, especially the story elements and their integration, for granted because by comparison Nioh 2 is indeed totally lazy except for the combat. But that's kind of what I'm looking for, whereas in Ghost that felt largely perfunctory. Like most games the fix is in for you to win.

Well some folks say that the positive reception Ghost got was in part due to it following Last of Us 2, which was pretty much a disaster in some aspects. There is some truth to that, and LOU2 is an easy act to follow, but it ultimately came down to giving players a good time, no strings attached (such as political agenda, some pretentious message, etc).

It was also clearly created with love, and you can tell that the developers really enjoyed making it. Ghost is basically a love-letter to Japanese culture, contrary to how the woke media chose to spin it. Projects like that usually end up working out, in my experience.

So yeah, you’re absolutely right in that Ghost isn’t anything truly great in any one particular aspect (except graphics, but even that is only temporary), but it’s the overall package that matters here, and IMO it definitely delivered on that.

As for the combat, Ghost is for sure more a power-fantasy than a game where you struggle your way through (which is part of the point in being a legendary warrior that frightens his enemies), but for me that was refreshing after spending so much time playing From Software games and their many clones. But yeah, I see where you’re coming from.

The inspiration for the new Lara Croft, Tomb Filler games. At least the constant mass killing was finally addressed in that series:

Yikes. I don’t remember Lara Croft ever being like that, pre and post reboot. Actually, even the 2013 version was a psycho killer now that I think about it…

I actually picked up Rise of the Tomb Raider after finishing Uncharted 4 since I was still in the mood for that type of experience, but I dropped it soon after. It was just so badly made I couldn’t continue with it. Maybe I should go back…

We'll see, I went back and read your old posts because I remembered you being down on what a recycle job it is, and while it's definitely more of the same, I do enjoy what it's more of so far! The biggest thing that stood out to me from what you said before is the lack of variation. They introduce another Yokai maybe every other mission or so, but mostly I'm fighting the same half dozen enemies over and over again. If I see another Ape Yokai... well, I guess I won't do anything because they seem the most common type besides Snake Women and the ubiquitous Gakis everywhere. The final boss should just be a giant fifty foot Gaki that's eaten all the other ones.

That giant Gaki sounds like a fantastic idea!

But yes, the enemy “variety” was truly exhausting. By the time I reached the end I didn’t want to see another Gaki or Snake Lady (those were awful btw with their grab attack). It didn’t help that the enemies remained or less constant no matter where you went in the world. At least in Bloodborne or Dark Souls, your current location influences what you face.

Or maybe the world just had a Gaki pandemic back in the day, who knows…

Is it William? If so, youtube already spoiled that one for me, which is a real hazard these days. If you've even watched a trailer for a game you're almost garunteed to get videos recommended that spoil the fucking ending in the title. I had to quit youtube until I finished Last of Us 2 for this reason.

I got that spoiled for me too. But no, I’m not talking about William. I’ll leave his name here for once you’ve beaten the game: Shibata Katsuie.

As for YouTube, yeah their algorithm sucks. Somehow, you can get spoilers even without watching anything. One of my buddies had the ending of Red Dead Redemption 2 spoiled for him back in 2018 in the comment section of a WWE video!

Oh yeah, played 100+ hours of it, and on the more complexity, yes and no. It has a lot of features and wrinkles, and 2 does have even more, but most are passives or upgrades you set and forget until the next shrine and even with all the active combat options you're mainly going to stick with what works for you. My Nioh 1 experience was even more complex because I switched all the controls to their Soul layout counterparts, which completely screwed up the stances and even menu navigation (the former is my fault, but it really needed a separate control scheme for menus). This time I used their closest preset and just got used to the differences.

This reminds me of the last time I played the first Nioh, back when Sekiro was released. I played the two at the same time, which was a terrible idea when it came to the controls, especially when mixing up one game’s controls in the other and getting yourself killed. Yeah, not doing something like that again.

I really like the Yokai block/parry and recommend the Brute type because even if you fuck up the timing you'll probably still stagger them a bit at least (like the blunderbuss in BB basically). The Yokai transformation isn't even that different because it's basically the living weapon power from the first game. It could even be considered a nerf given how powerful that could be. Of course, back then you couldn't do it from the start to end every boss fight when they're at a third health (it's kind of cool you have your own phase transformations to match theirs though, ”ok, I'm out of elixers, so now survive my overwhelming demon form" =).

I barely relied on the Yokai transformations in this one, actually. The meter for the transformation took forever to build up and even after transforming I mainly used it as a way to temporarily avoid losing health. Maybe I should have picked the Brute type after all.

Did you do all of the Nioh 1 DLCs? I stopped at like the second to last sub-boss, some samurai guy, of the final DLC because I finally just lost interest. Maybe I'll go back and finish it after Nioh 2 since I'll be sharp again. BTW, it sucks I can't import William to this game because I played Nioh on PC instead of PS4.

The last thing I remember doing was defeating that blonde Spanish boss lady in the DLC. After that I either dropped the game or the boss was just unmemorable (unlikely, since love them or hate them, Nioh’s cheap bosses are hard to forget). But yeah, I’m drawing a blank here.

I wasn’t aware you could import William into the second game, though! Would have been cool to see my William in the part where he appears.

Yeah, the environments are crappily generic, "yet another war torn village!", at least in Nioh 2. It's literally just stages or arenas basically, there's no wonder or exploration here and it's not even pretending there is. Even the weapons aren't anything special mostly, it's all about rng stats, whereas with FromSoft, particularly Bloodborne, every weapon, moveset, environment, and monster feels like it matters. You also feel far more present because of that, and because the combat isn't so smooth, but there's more depth and weight to it. My biggest knock on Nioh is that even though the combat is technically superior in many ways I feel like I'm playing with action figures on playsets rather than any sort of "presence." It's that sensation you got in SotC or Souls where you really feel like you're encountering some incredible, larger than life monster or experience. Now, Nioh's still a lot of fun because it does give you a very streamlined and fun form of that style of combat, like Bloodborne crossed with Sekiro, paired with highly addictive loot farming gameplay, but you're not getting a deeper connection to that world, its lore or its inhabitants through it.

Fully agreed.

It didn’t help that the environments were recycled even within each game. What I mean is that in both Nioh 1 and 2, you supposedly travel through the different regions of Japan, and yet some side-quests, which take place in different regions, still recycle the same maps at times. One and the same valley or shrine would exist at opposite ends of the country. It was lazy and kind of annoying. You train at the same dojo no matter where in Japan you were (though I admit this part here is a bit nit-picky, since they wouldn’t go out of their way to design different training areas). But still, you get my point.
 
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Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
It took a while before I mastered the perfect parry, which was kind of ironic since I had just completed a Sekiro replay before Ghost was released, and that made the duels easier.

I want to play Sekiro again despite distinctly not enjoying it for the most part and grinding my way through, but it has so much potential maybe it'll click this time. I'd like to fully appreciate it instead of it being like the odd duck to me.

It was also clearly created with love, and you can tell that the developers really enjoyed making it. Ghost is basically a love-letter to Japanese culture, contrary to how the woke media chose to spin it. Projects like that usually end up working out, in my experience.

Oh, were there offended cries of inaccuracy and appropriation or something? I actually read an interesting article at the time with an executive from Sega complimenting the Western developers for effectively telling an Eastern story, from their clear research efforts to how Kurosawa mode actually skipped frames to appear more authentic, etc. He also said a Japanese company wouldn't have told that story because the protagonist would have had to have been a cool young pretty boy and he was impressed they made this giant AAA title about an average looking middle-aged guy struggling with the meaning of honor. In any case, trying to be woke didn't help LoU2 gain cultural cachet in that regard anyway.

So yeah, you’re absolutely right in that Ghost isn’t anything truly great in any one particular aspect (except graphics, but even that is only temporary), but it’s the overall package that matters here, and IMO it definitely delivered on that.

True, the game may not transcend the sum of its parts, but its parts are all very good and make for an impressive overall experience, and it's serious enough without being burdensomely heavy. Lots of unique and fun mechanics too, like the one hit challenge duels where you can take out whole groups of enemies. I might need to jump back into this one too to complete the character missions.

Yikes. I don’t remember Lara Croft ever being like that, pre and post reboot. Actually, even the 2013 version was a psycho killer now that I think about it…

Yep, that was pretty striking to me in the reboot, you're just mowing down legions of people as this petite English archeologist. It made more sense after I finally played Uncharted 2 and saw the precedent.

I actually picked up Rise of the Tomb Raider after finishing Uncharted 4 since I was still in the mood for that type of experience, but I dropped it soon after. It was just so badly made I couldn’t continue with it. Maybe I should go back…

I had a similar experience with Rise, loved the reboot, picked up the sequel, but was quickly bored. I did go back to finish it some months later though. It was fine, but nothing the first one didn't do better. I never went back to Uncharted 4 because I just found the early game time jumps and constant accompanying exposition exhausting. It's when "Naughty Dog quality" started translating into Naughty Dog fatigue.

BTW, Rise of the Tomb Raider is inexplicably on Time Magazine's list of the 50 best games ever, not that they're any sort of authority anyway, but the other 49 are totally boilerplate choices you'd expect but then somebody REALLY liked the Tomb Raider reboot sequel and thought it was going to have legs into eternity despite being a totally disposable middle entry.

But yes, the enemy “variety” was truly exhausting. By the time I reached the end I didn’t want to see another Gaki or Snake Lady (those were awful btw with their grab attack).

My least favorite Yokai due to their deceptively unorthodox movement, speed and reach... well, okay, maybe after Yamanbas. *shudder*

As for YouTube, yeah their algorithm sucks. Somehow, you can get spoilers even without watching anything. One of my buddies had the ending of Red Dead Redemption 2 spoiled for him back in 2018 in the comment section of a WWE video!

Ouch, he didn't even get a chance to give it all he had. :judo:

This reminds me of the last time I played the first Nioh, back when Sekiro was released. I played the two at the same time, which was a terrible idea when it came to the controls, especially when mixing up one game’s controls in the other and getting yourself killed. Yeah, not doing something like that again.

I can't even imagine trying to mix those two, especially because they share so many gameplay ideas but execute them differently. Sometimes I still forget myself and hit the O button instead of X to dodge every once in a while; it's just too ingrained. BTW, I find you have to be more deliberate with the d-pad assigned items than the buttons, which isn't noticeable most of the time, but is a real problem when you quickly pop an Elixer during the tiniest window of opportunity only to notice it didn't actually pop. That, combined with the wonky dodge button and the overly punitive stagger mechanic can make for some scary and frustrating moments.

I barely relied on the Yokai transformations in this one, actually. The meter for the transformation took forever to build up and even after transforming I mainly used it as a way to temporarily avoid losing health. Maybe I should have picked the Brute type after all.

Yeah, I started as the Phantom because I liked the shark but made the switch because the parry and transformation were kind of a pain to use. I think it actually did less damage when transformed, which is about when I just wanted someone to hand me a giant monster club to Hulk out and smash with.

The last thing I remember doing was defeating that blonde Spanish boss lady in the DLC. After that I either dropped the game or the boss was just unmemorable (unlikely, since love them or hate them, Nioh’s cheap bosses are hard to forget). But yeah, I’m drawing a blank here.

Ah yes, Lady Maria NOT of the Astral Clocktower, but somehow even more annoying! I swear, I can practically face roll Bloodborne's Maria at this point, but I have no idea how I beat the Nioh version other than cheesing Sloth and Guardian Attack talismans that put her on her back. One of the most infuriatingly cheapest bosses I've ever encountered. So far nothing in Nioh 2 has come close thankfully. I just beat the last boss of the second region, cool level btw, and he was a total pushover.

Fully agreed.

It didn’t help that the environments were recycled even within each game. What I mean is that in both Nioh 1 and 2, you supposedly travel through the different regions of Japan, and yet some side-quests, which take place in different regions, still recycle the same maps at times. One and the same valley or shrine would exist at opposite ends of the country. It was lazy and kind of annoying. You train at the same dojo no matter where in Japan you were (though I admit this part here is a bit nit-picky, since they wouldn’t go out of their way to design different training areas). But still, you get my point.

To bring it full circle, they probably would have in Ghost of Tsushima. And yeah, the redundent side missions with the same relit forests and caves are becoming a chore, but I am enjoying building my Switchglaive battle mage. I just did a side mission with a battle royale at the end and spent half the time dodging and casting buffs and debuffs so that by the time I hit the Yokai enemies they basically died in one hit. I see a lot of potential in powers like Barrier, Weakness, Power Pill, and Lifeseal to melt bosses so I'll basically just use Sloth to slow them down while I cast the rest (and if you hit your Yokai parry after casting a projectile it cancels you out of the animation immediately =). I'm going to cheese the cheesers.
 
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I want to play Sekiro again despite distinctly not enjoying it for the most part and grinding my way through, but it has so much potential maybe it'll click this time. I'd like to fully appreciate it instead of it being like the odd duck to me.

I’d recommend it, of course. I think that first playthrough was not exactly the most pleasant experience for all of us, but for me, once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. New Game+ was a breeze in comparison to the first time, ironically.

So yeah, while I think Bloodborne is From Software’s finest work to date, Sekiro has that something special about it that will keep bringing me back.

Out of curiosity, what were your main gripes with it?

BTW, I heard they’re going to be releasing an update for it sometime this year (Edit: On October 29th). It’s odd they’re bringing it out so late, especially since it’s not even DLC. It’s going to have a challenge mode where you can replay any boss at any time, among other features, if I remember right. So it may be a good time to jump back in.

Oh, were there offended cries of inaccuracy and appropriation or something? I actually read an interesting article at the time with an executive from Sega complimenting the Western developers for effectively telling an Eastern story, from their clear research efforts to how Kurosawa mode actually skipped frames to appear more authentic, etc. He also said a Japanese company wouldn't have told that story because the protagonist would have had to have been a cool young pretty boy and he was impressed they made this giant AAA title about an average looking middle-aged guy struggling with the meaning of honor. In any case, trying to be woke didn't help LoU2 gain cultural cachet in that regard anyway.

Oh yeah, it was mostly charges of “cultural appropriation” and other nonsense like that. It boiled down to that bizzare logic some folks have that only <insert group here> can make products about <insert same group here>; only Japanese people can make a game about Japan, only a Asian actor can voice an Asian character, etc. I guess they should find an elf to play Puck next time they adapt Berserk, eh?

And the outrage is even more absurd when even the Japanese themselves praised this game, as the example you mentioned shows. Some people just don’t want to have a good time I guess, and they don’t want others to have it either…

True, the game may not transcend the sum of its parts, but its parts are all very good and make for an impressive overall experience, and it's serious enough without being burdensomely heavy. Lots of unique and fun mechanics too, like the one hit challenge duels where you can take out whole groups of enemies. I might need to jump back into this one too to complete the character missions.

A new multiplayer mode will be released for Ghost soon, so that may also be a good time to jump back in. I’ll be trying that along with the Lethal difficulty they released a while back.

Yep, that was pretty striking to me in the reboot, you're just mowing down legions of people as this petite English archeologist. It made more sense after I finally played Uncharted 2 and saw the precedent.

I mean, at least in TR 2013, you’re taking down enemies that are actively hunting you down, if I remember it right. In Uncharted 4, on the other hand, you’re literally killing security guards at a museum (or whatever that first area was) who are just doing their jobs. Nathan Drake doesn’t discriminate.

I had a similar experience with Rise, loved the reboot, picked up the sequel, but was quickly bored. I did go back to finish it some months later though. It was fine, but nothing the first one didn't do better. I never went back to Uncharted 4 because I just found the early game time jumps and constant accompanying exposition exhausting. It's when "Naughty Dog quality" started translating into Naughty Dog fatigue.

Yeah I was noticing certain “signs” of the Naughty Dog we got in LOU2 in U4, though this may just be because I played it after the fact.

BTW those flashback sections with young Nathan were kind of ridiculous too. I mean that section when you break into that old lady's house and you get to examine many different artifacts and Nathan somehow has total encyclopedic knowledge of them. He can look at one and even estimate the time period it dates too. That was kind of weird.

BTW, Rise of the Tomb Raider is inexplicably on Time Magazine's list of the 50 best games ever, not that they're any sort of authority anyway, but the other 49 are totally boilerplate choices you'd expect but then somebody REALLY liked the Tomb Raider reboot sequel and thought it was going to have legs into eternity despite being a totally disposable middle entry.

:magni:

Someone must not have played a lot of games. :ganishka:

Sure, I barely played it to judge it fairly, but still, top 50 of all time? I do like to cringe every now and then, so I guess I’m getting my next fix from that list.

My least favorite Yokai due to their deceptively unorthodox movement, speed and reach... well, okay, maybe after Yamanbas. *shudder*

One of those killed me through a fucking wall early in the game, with a knife toss. I swear, when it comes to designing annoying enemies, Team Ninja is totally ingenious.

I can't even imagine trying to mix those two, especially because they share so many gameplay ideas but execute them differently. Sometimes I still forget myself and hit the O button instead of X to dodge every once in a while; it's just too ingrained. BTW, I find you have to be more deliberate with the d-pad assigned items than the buttons, which isn't noticeable most of the time, but is a real problem when you quickly pop an Elixer during the tiniest window of opportunity only to notice it didn't actually pop. That, combined with the wonky dodge button and the overly punitive stagger mechanic can make for some scary and frustrating moments.

Yeah, I generally dislike relying on the d-pad so much, especially in games like these where you’re expected to have impeccable reaction time. Sekiro occasionally had that problem too. I hope those input delay problems will be addressed in future games like Elden Ring, because they really shouldn't have been there to begin with.

That stagger mechanic is diarrhea. I hate it. But at least it applies to both you and the enemies, so there’s that. Not everything in the game is totally unfair, I guess.

Yeah, I started as the Phantom because I liked the shark but made the switch because the parry and transformation were kind of a pain to use. I think it actually did less damage when transformed, which is about when I just wanted someone to hand me a giant monster club to Hulk out and smash with.

Now I’m regretting going with the shark for the whole playthrough. It did look cool, though! I mean, you may as well look great while getting thrashed around.

This applies to all the armor you wear too, which is nothing more than cosmetics in these games, another gripe of mine. I mean if you’re going to be one-shotted anyway, what armor you have equipped shouldn’t matter, so I ended up wearing the better looking ones.

Ah yes, Lady Maria NOT of the Astral Clocktower, but somehow even more annoying! I swear, I can practically face roll Bloodborne's Maria at this point, but I have no idea how I beat the Nioh version other than cheesing Sloth and Guardian Attack talismans that put her on her back. One of the most infuriatingly cheapest bosses I've ever encountered. So far nothing in Nioh 2 has come close thankfully. I just beat the last boss of the second region, cool level btw, and he was a total pushover.

For me, the boss I keep mentioning in Nioh 2 is worse than anything I’ve faced in the first one. Or in any game actually. The only thing that rivals him in pure cheapness is the Valkyrie Queen in God of War 2018. These two bosses must have taken some years off my lifespan.

But yeah I co-oped my way with Spanish Maria because I had just lost patience by that point, so my comparison of her with the Nioh 2 is a little flawed. It goes to show you how cheap the overall series is, when you can’t decide which boss is the worst!

Bloodborne’s Maria is one of my favorite bosses, on the other hand. I’ve always enjoyed that fight, so I’d often help folks fight her online too.

To bring it full circle, they probably would have in Ghost of Tsushima. And yeah, the redundent side missions with the same relit forests and caves are becoming a chore, but I am enjoying building my Switchglaive battle mage. I just did a side mission with a battle royale at the end and spent half the time dodging and casting buffs and debuffs so that by the time I hit the Yokai enemies they basically died in one hit. I see a lot of potential in powers like Barrier, Weakness, Power Pill, and Lifeseal to melt bosses so I'll basically just use Sloth to slow them down while I cast the rest (and if you hit your Yokai parry after casting a projectile it cancels you out of the animation immediately =). I'm going to cheese the cheesers.

If they make a Nioh 3, and if by some miracle I decide to get it, I’ll be playing it like that too I guess. I’m not even sure if that qualifies as cheesing the game. Maybe they want you to play it like that and I just made the first two much harder than they should have been by barely using talismans and Onmyo magic, and hence my sour relationship with this series. But yeah, I don’t think I have it in me to play another Nioh “fairly”.
 
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Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I’d recommend it, of course. I think that first playthrough was not exactly the most pleasant experience for all of us, but for me, once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. New Game+ was a breeze in comparison to the first time, ironically.

I did play quite a bit of NG+ too, but I think I got back to the Owl Father fight and said see ya later.

Out of curiosity, what were your main gripes with it?

A few things... in a nutshell it's specialty wasn't what I was a fan of in previous FromSoft games. I wasn't a fan of the emphasis on blocking, parrying, and posture for instance, or being limited to a short sword. I also didn't like a lot of the movement controls, like the running and dodging while locked on, I'd often get awkwardly turned around, plus the aforementioned issues with d-pad assigned controls not being as certain as a button press for healing, etc. Like Nioh, I also wasn't a fan of the scale, it was more pulled back, smaller, everything felt a little bit more miniaturized if that makes sense. Same thing with the enemies, bosses, and setting. It's not that any of this is objectively bad, it's just none of it is my thing.

BTW, I heard they’re going to be releasing an update for it sometime this year (Edit: On October 29th). It’s odd they’re bringing it out so late, especially since it’s not even DLC. It’s going to have a challenge mode where you can replay any boss at any time, among other features, if I remember right. So it may be a good time to jump back in.

I remember hearing about that but thought it was already out. Exciting indeed, especially after all this time; now they just need to release a Chalice Dungeon update for Bloodborne.

I mean, at least in TR 2013, you’re taking down enemies that are actively hunting you down, if I remember it right. In Uncharted 4, on the other hand, you’re literally killing security guards at a museum (or whatever that first area was) who are just doing their jobs. Nathan Drake doesn’t discriminate.

Yeah, he's sold short being called a thief since he's like a sociopathic mass murderer casually cracking jokes after a particularly exciting slaughter. =)

BTW those flashback sections with young Nathan were kind of ridiculous too.

You're telling me, I quit the game!

One of those killed me through a fucking wall early in the game, with a knife toss. I swear, when it comes to designing annoying enemies, Team Ninja is totally ingenious.

I'm in another creepy forest with an EVIL EYE that draws them to me. I put three cannonballs in it to knock that off, but yeah, every once in a while I'll still get insta-killed by some never-ending combo. It may be that I never use the guard feature since it's the wrong button. =)

Actually, I should see if I can switch it and the long-range weapon button, since I don't need that in the heat of the moment.

That stagger mechanic is diarrhea. I hate it. But at least it applies to both you and the enemies, so there’s that. Not everything in the game is totally unfair, I guess.

I hate how it just leaves you sitting out there for eternity, it's maddening. Barrier basically eliminates that, giving you almost instant ki regeneration, particularly useful in the Dark Realm.

Now I’m regretting going with the shark for the whole playthrough. It did look cool, though! I mean, you may as well look great while getting thrashed around.

This applies to all the armor you wear too, which is nothing more than cosmetics in these games, another gripe of mine. I mean if you’re going to be one-shotted anyway, what armor you have equipped shouldn’t matter, so I ended up wearing the better looking ones.

Yeah, early on I detected almost no difference in the damage taken between heavy and light armor, so I just go with the highest defense that keeps me below 30% for fast dodging and rolling.

For me, the boss I keep mentioning in Nioh 2 is worse than anything I’ve faced in the first one. Or in any game actually. The only thing that rivals him in pure cheapness is the Valkyrie Queen in God of War 2018. These two bosses must have taken some years off my lifespan.

I don't recall that GoW one, was it the flying bug thing? Anyway, there's one worse than Maria in this game? Ugh, I better quit those side missions and save my patience. Hopefully whatever their gimmick is I'll have an answer in my bag of tricks.

If they make a Nioh 3, and if by some miracle I decide to get it, I’ll be playing it like that too I guess. I’m not even sure if that qualifies as cheesing the game. Maybe they want you to play it like that and I just made the first two much harder than they should have been by barely using talismans and Onmyo magic, and hence my sour relationship with this series. But yeah, I don’t think I have it in me to play another Nioh “fairly”.

I usually play straight warrior/soldier type, "default" essentially, and it was actually Maria that caused me to respec from a straight Odachi build to add magic/ninja skills. Here it just so happened the weapon I like best scales with Magic so might as well use it. I also just think it's a more fun and interesting way to build your character up instead of just straight scaling your defense/damage and using the same physical combat tactics the entire game.
 

XionHorsey

Hi! Hi!
Still mostly playing Love Nikki(a far deeper game than you think). I was, however, playing Dragon Quest 2 and am at the Final Boss. Need to get back to that as it is adorable.
 
I did play quite a bit of NG+ too, but I think I got back to the Owl Father fight and said see ya later.

I didn’t even know the Owl (Father) boss fight existed in the game until NG+, when I was working my way toward other endings. So yeah, my first time fighting him was NG+ and you can imagine how well that went. To me, this boss is second only to Sword Saint Isshin as far as Sekiro is concerned.

Still, it was an epic fight and it felt quite good to beat him again. He’s such a great dad, isn’t he?

A few things... in a nutshell it's specialty wasn't what I was a fan of in previous FromSoft games. I wasn't a fan of the emphasis on blocking, parrying, and posture for instance, or being limited to a short sword. I also didn't like a lot of the movement controls, like the running and dodging while locked on, I'd often get awkwardly turned around, plus the aforementioned issues with d-pad assigned controls not being as certain as a button press for healing, etc. Like Nioh, I also wasn't a fan of the scale, it was more pulled back, smaller, everything felt a little bit more miniaturized if that makes sense. Same thing with the enemies, bosses, and setting. It's not that any of this is objectively bad, it's just none of it is my thing.

Fair enough, and I do know some folks who have the same or similar gripes with Sekiro.

For me, I struggled with the parry system in the beginning since I generally suck at timed actions in any game, and I relied mainly on dodging in Souls-borne; I used shields mainly as cosmetics as early as Demon’s Souls.

But still, even with all these issues, I think the game can still click. The action is quite thrilling, and I enjoyed the story too (which was an uncharacteristically non-depressing tale for a Miyazaki game). I find it helps not to compare it to its predecessors and think of it as something entirely new.

I remember hearing about that but thought it was already out. Exciting indeed, especially after all this time; now they just need to release a Chalice Dungeon update for Bloodborne.

I’m still awaiting an announcement for a Bloodborne 2 :carcus:

I don’t even need an update for Bloodborne, after reading your post in the Bloodborne thread. After 5 years of playing this game, I had no idea all that secret content existed. I’m jumping into these secret chalice dungeons next time I fire up that game.

I don't recall that GoW one, was it the flying bug thing? Anyway, there's one worse than Maria in this game? Ugh, I better quit those side missions and save my patience. Hopefully whatever their gimmick is I'll have an answer in my bag of tricks.

For GoW, I mean this one:


Even though the person in the video makes her look (relatively) easy, she was absolutely disgusting to go against, and I wasn’t even playing the hardest difficulty.

As for Nioh, remember I played a mainly physical build, spear combos with the occasional sloth talisman and my useless shark transformation. Your experience could be completely different, so there’s that.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I didn’t even know the Owl (Father) boss fight existed in the game until NG+, when I was working my way toward other endings. So yeah, my first time fighting him was NG+ and you can imagine how well that went. To me, this boss is second only to Sword Saint Isshin as far as Sekiro is concerned.

The Isshin fight is among the top in the FromSoft canon. I know there's guys that perfectly dodge/parry him to death and make it look easy, but I found that marathon daunting.

Still, it was an epic fight and it felt quite good to beat him again. He’s such a great dad, isn’t he?

Hey, at least he's kinda, sorta proud of you for killing him!

For me, I struggled with the parry system in the beginning since I generally suck at timed actions in any game, and I relied mainly on dodging in Souls-borne; I used shields mainly as cosmetics as early as Demon’s Souls.

Yeah, I'm a dodge first, second, and third kind of player at this point. Never had as much success with shields or parries, outside of Bloodborne anyway. But, like I said, I've actually enjoyed the shift parry mechanic in Nioh 2, so that's an achievement for them.

But still, even with all these issues, I think the game can still click. The action is quite thrilling, and I enjoyed the story too (which was an uncharacteristically non-depressing tale for a Miyazaki game). I find it helps not to compare it to its predecessors and think of it as something entirely new.

I actually like how differently it's organized from a story standpoint, much more traditional yet it has some branches too. Problem is the setting is almost a little too traditional, bordering on common. Not that dark fantasy isn't, but that's where FromSoft's weirdness makes it unique. I'll put it this way, the only boss fight that's presentation really wowed me was the Dragon God, and it was one of the simpler fights. Guardian Ape might have been the most memorable all around.

I’m still awaiting an announcement for a Bloodborne 2 :carcus:

I'm not holding my breath, especially until there's some news on Elden Ring. With any luck, Elden Ring will scratch that itch anyway.

I don’t even need an update for Bloodborne, after reading your post in the Bloodborne thread. After 5 years of playing this game, I had no idea all that secret content existed. I’m jumping into these secret chalice dungeons next time I fire up that game.

Yeah man, it's pretty cool how much messy depth there ended up being to those Chalices on top of an already perfect game.

For GoW, I mean this one:


Even though the person in the video makes her look (relatively) easy, she was absolutely disgusting to go against, and I wasn’t even playing the hardest difficulty.

Ah, now I remember, it's one of the optional fights. I think I fought one of these and then focused solely on the main quest thereafter.

As for Nioh, remember I played a mainly physical build, spear combos with the occasional sloth talisman and my useless shark transformation. Your experience could be completely different, so there’s that.

Well, half the time I get killed it's because I'm trying to get too cute casting shit when you're better off just going dodge, attack, repeat. I'm thinking making spears my secondary weapon since I'm leveling magic and constitution almost exclusively now.
 
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Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Nioh & Nioh 2 - As promised I went back and beat the human boss I left off at in Nioh 1, and I could see why I left because he's a real bitch that can literally kill you as soon as you enter the room. I almost had him traditionally, got his final phase to a sliver of life, but by this point he's constantly throwing fire, lighting and energy balls around and I just ran out of healing and rng. So I switched things up and tried every trick but I eventually just floored him with repeated Guardian attacks so he couldn't even go into his second phase. I think the 2nd phase prompt actually helped because instead of attacking again he'd hesitate before starting that animation, leaving you free to knock him down again instead; of course, I didn't know that the first few times I tried this so was too cautious, allowing him to make the change several times.

So, that was really annoying, and then back in Nioh 2 it turned out I was at another annoying boss, Shibata Katsuie, who had basically become a giant Yokai boar, but was also super fast, aggressive and like the previous fight was hitting me as soon as I entered the boss room. Fortunately, he didn't hit as hard despite his appearance, and was susceptible to poisoning, so he wasn't so bad once I hit him with that along with sloth and blindness to keep him off me.

Since then I beat the final boss of Nioh's last DLC, which was relatively easy because you automatically have an unkillable helper character, so you can just stay away for the most part and let them do the work. In Nioh 2 I've progressed a couple more stages and took down a few more bosses including a literal giant, which was pretty fun. After my first earnest attempt, which took like 15 minutes because it's a gimmick fight where you have to break up certain parts of his body to do a pre-set amount of damage when he staggers, I think I spent more experimenting with different weapons and abilities and exiting than actually fighting him. Finally, I settled on a super tanky build so I didn't have to worry about random insta-kills and he went down easy after that.
 
went back to Persona 2 (PSX) right now, way better than Persona 3 & 4 in terms of gameplay. Its basically a SMT .

i dont know if buy Star Wars : Squadrons (PS4) , i feel a disturbance in the force.......
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Nioh 2 - The giant sized gimmick bosses that are more like obstacle courses are getting boring. Not what I'm here for so interest has waned, haven't played it earnestly in a few days.

Mortal Kombat X - Wanted to get in some Reptile reps, though this one still leaves my blood cold, but led me back to...

Mortal Kombat 11 - Was practicing Scorpion in preparation for the new Reptile skin coming next week. Towers mostly, getting down his combos, nothing serious, but then I went online for some real action and wasn't quite ready yet with Scorpion, though I think I had a little bad luck too running into a couple of guys that knew what to do, how to block, etc. Of course, when I switched back to Shang Tsung I scored some wins, even getting my last opponent to rage quit. It felt good, so I think I'm back. =)
 
If you all were to play one Resident Evil title on the Ps4 which would it be? Restated, which would you recommend to a relative noob to the series that appreciates immersive, challenging games that do not really waste your time?

The only one I have ever played myself was RE5 , which was mainly because of the couch co-op opportunity, but I know it doesn't compare at all to the other ones. For most series, I usually like going in chronological order as best I can, regardless of how great certain games in a series are compared to others, but probably do not have the bandwidth with all the titles there are.

On the Ps4, I was thinking RE2 Remake (2019), RE 4 remake, RE 3 Remake (2020), or RE Remake (2015) in my order of preference as of now.

As a side note I am waiting for the remake of Mass Effect before ever trying that series out in order. Seems to be delayed for now.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Still knee-deep in Baldur’s Gate. Superb game so far. I’ve had to stop playing it before bed, because I’ll stay up half the night saying, “Just one more quest” or “just one more area.”
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
If you all were to play one Resident Evil title on the Ps4 which would it be? Restated, which would you recommend to a relative noob to the series that appreciates immersive, challenging games that do not really waste your time?

If you're not averse to playing old games, then you should play the originals and not the remakes. Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, (Resident Evil 3 is pretty short and good, but I'd say optional), then Resident Evil 4. The others can be ignored. If you really want to play the remakes instead, well, I'd just play REmake and the Resident Evil 2 remake.

As for Mass Effect, it was honestly a great game, one of the best of the last 20 years to me. Was it perfect? No. But nothing guarantees at all that a modern remake of it will recapture the magic. I would just play the original. The sequels had better gameplay (more action) but the story (kinda important in an RPG) never reached the highs of the first game.
 
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Oburi

All praise Grail
As a side note I am waiting for the remake of Mass Effect before ever trying that series out in order. Seems to be delayed for now.

I read that they were working on a rerelease of that (maybe someone told me) but regardless I recently replayed the whole series for my son to see and it was perfectly fine. The first game is certainly outdated by now and some parts can be bland but like Aaz said, with all rpg's the story and characters and the world they created is what's most important and that never changes. I found the sequels much better than I remember too, especially with all the DLC and additional content integrated from the beginning. The third one looks like it could have been a new release. I was impressed.

By the way, does anyone else have the problem when replaying a heavy multi choice game where you want to take a different path to change it up but end up making the same choices as before? I just can't be an asshole, even in video games. :ganishka:
 
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Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
MK11 - Working overtime in Kombat League for that Reptile skin, only another five days until it's mine! Really enjoying it besides.

Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods, Part 1 - Either I'm extremely rusty on the gameplay loop or this is a pain in the ass.

Nioh 2 - Checked in just long enough to pass that annoying tentacle boss, but not feeling the drive anymore.

If you all were to play one Resident Evil title on the Ps4 which would it be? Restated, which would you recommend to a relative noob to the series that appreciates immersive, challenging games that do not really waste your time?

Hmmmm ... *calculating* RE2 Remake. It's pretty much the cutting edge of the series packaged around its best classic game. If you like that, try more. Like Aaz said, the original RE1 and 2 are real classics, but I don't know how they go over to a new player today without previous investment, unless you're really into PS1 retro gaming. If you want to split the difference and start from the "beginning," there's HD REmake. It probably feels old enough now to seem like the original if you don't know better. =)

Anyway, if you want optimal efficiency, REmake and RE2make kind of run the gamut of the series, story and gameplay-wise. REmake gives you the classic pre-rendered background, tank style control survival horror, and RE2make incorporates all the advancements since then.
 
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Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
Currently enjoying the boss rush mode on Sekiro.

It's nice being able to go back and just annihilate the bosses without having to go through the story again. Isshin, the Sword Saint is easily the greatest boss, so I've already fought him about 10+ times, three of those taking no damage at all.
 
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