Second this. I usually don't like the kind of things ME tried to do but the series works very well as an intergalactic space opera. Skirts just the right line between campy and serious.
Gaming The RedCafe General/Random Gaming Chat Thread
- Thread starter Olly Gunnar Solskjær
- Start date
I don't recall the gameplay being that bad in 2/3. It was serviceable at the very least. In 1 however it's really poor.
Re Outer Wilds. I've tried two or three times to get into it. Theoretically it's a game I should love, but there's something I can't quite put my finger on with it and I struggle to preserve with it. I feel it's possibly too obtuse from the outset.
I may grab it on the Steam Deck and see if I can into that way. I want to love it.
Same, I've tried as I've had OW recommended so often. I genuinely can't get invested. For me, I just didn't like the look of it or the controls.
Games are expensive now, huh.
I guess it’s not for everyone. That’s sort of what makes it incredible. Making it any more accessible would reduce its uniqueness.
For example it’s obtuse nature (or lack of handholding) is essential to the sense of discovery
I've basically let myself build up a back log so I can play everything at a cheaper price.
That’s I’ve done for ages now. Games at full price are a rare occasion for me.
I have backlog of ME 2-3 to finish off and Cyberpunk to play but always struggle with FOMO when it comes to games on release!
Yeah I got GOW on release but I think for the most part unless it's a sure thing I'm happy to wait until it's cheaper. As long as I have other games to keep me occupied in the mean time!
CEX is still a decent place to get games a bit cheaper but even then you'll have to wait until someone trades it in.
Yeah, I totally get that and I really love games like this but for me, it really was as shallow as I didn't like the graphics, the look of the environments or the fuzzy controls. Tbh, I had the same with The Witcher 3. Looked lovely, obviously a fantastic game but I really didn't like the controls so I found it hard to connect.
It was grand for years. But now this year
There's so many games I want to buy, I'll need to really pick and choose what. There's like 5 already out within the first 3 months.
Back log and/or subscription (which produces a backlog).
I do still get some games on release but they're the exception than the norm. GoWR I got day one for obvious reasons. HFW I didn't get despite playing HZD - can wait for that. Ratchet & Clank I can wait for too and if I have an itch there's a bunch of R&C games on PS+. I didn't get Plague Tale Requiem despite enjoying Innocence.
I got FFVII Remake day one but will probably wait for FFXVI and am waiting on Crisis Core.
Yep. GamePass helps somewhat. But 3rd party AAA are expensive.
This new Hi Fi Rush game is ok, so far.
The biggest issue with Outer Wilds is that god damn Unity engine.
Yeah, CEX isn't bad, have traded in a few games but my local one still has a terrible PS5 catalogue. It's so bad that what I was doing instead was trading in PS4 games for others to get free PS5 upgrades etc.
I'm so conflicted about Nioh 2. While playing it, the lacklustre level design, repetitive missions and complete bullshit boss balancing has constantly annoyed me, and yet here I am still doing NG+ stuff, 120+ hours into it. 
Brilliant and addictive gameplay in a not so great total package, is how I would sum it up. A slightly more refined version of the first game.
Brilliant and addictive gameplay in a not so great total package, is how I would sum it up. A slightly more refined version of the first game.
It turns out that I own goldeneye because of Rare replay.
I'm going to play until I get bored.
So, 20 minutes? It's also, 30fps?!
I'm going to play until I get bored.
So, 20 minutes? It's also, 30fps?!
It looks gorgeous. Love cel-shaded stuff. That's the first time I've been jealous of Xbox having an exclusive since Ori.
Thinking of getting a PS2 just to play the original PES games.
just gave up near the end of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. The most irritating gaming experience I have ever had, without a single redeeming feature. Frustrating, boring, repetitive and just no fun at all.
I dis not like that much Watchdogs from Ubisoft, and found Far Cry 3 three times longer than it should have been, but this was in a level of its own of gaming done badly. I think this is the last game from this shit company I will ever play.
Let’s hope I have now some fun in Red Dead Redemption 2.
I dis not like that much Watchdogs from Ubisoft, and found Far Cry 3 three times longer than it should have been, but this was in a level of its own of gaming done badly. I think this is the last game from this shit company I will ever play.
Let’s hope I have now some fun in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Wot? Sea shanties, sailing the seas, ship battles.
Completed Persona 4 and god that was exhausting. A lot of fun too but i was almost ready to scream "end, please end!!!" if it had gone on any longer. 75 hours! A reminder that it's not only open world games that can feel bloated.
I saw that Chris Avallone settled for more than a million dollars and secured retractions from some accusers this week.
Wonder if he'll be back in the industry
Wonder if he'll be back in the industry
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...
After recently purchasing an iPad Pro and finding out what a wonderful feature remote play on the PS5 really is!
I've now started exploring iPad/Mobile games currently playing through Fantasian, which was a great surprise i loved Lost Odyssey and always wondered what happened to Mistwalker and now i know, helps that the game is very similar style as i love an old school turn based JRPG.
Anyone else got any recommendations for iPad games which are more full game releases like the one mentioned, i have Oceanhorn games lined up as next.
I've now started exploring iPad/Mobile games currently playing through Fantasian, which was a great surprise i loved Lost Odyssey and always wondered what happened to Mistwalker and now i know, helps that the game is very similar style as i love an old school turn based JRPG.
Anyone else got any recommendations for iPad games which are more full game releases like the one mentioned, i have Oceanhorn games lined up as next.
They stayed at the same price point for years, I can remember buying the original Final Fantasy 7 back in 96/97? and it was £50 at the time (Majority of my Christmas money and so worth it), and until the last couple of years it stayed at that level for a new release.
Mostly don't bother with new releases these days, if you have PS+ or Gamepass or wait for Steam Sales you will eventually get it as a bargain.
Here's some more random gaming thoughts on stuff I played these past 2 months:
- Nioh 2. Excellent combat, poor level design, very inconsistent difficulty balancing. I enjoyed it enough to spend 100+ hours on it and get the plat, so that's something. I'll probably try Wo Long as well at some point, but I'm not expecting any major improvements to be honest.
- Gorogoa. A charming and creative puzzle game where you manipulate and move around inside paintings to make progress. Short but sweet.
- Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition. It's a 2D metroidvania with a twist: you don't actually move in the traditional sense, but only by jumping to specific surfaces in a straight line, and there's no gravity (or an up or down for that matter). The pixel art is pretty good and once you get used to it, the movement does feel fluid. It lacks precision during tense moments though, and combat isn't great. Not among the better metroidvanias I've played, but I still enjoyed my time with it.
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Never played it before, so I felt it was time. I enjoyed the first half of the game, but after the "turning point", I gave up pretty quickly. That second part didn't really feel fun or worth it anymore to me. Having played Bloodstained before I got to experience this one means it just didn't have the same impact.
- Psychonauts 2. I initially thought it was a bit dull. Never played the original, so I had no nostalgia or affection for its characters, and the gameplay is nothing special. It grew on me though, and by the end its charm had won me over. It's a lovely game. Bit too heavy on the collectibles though.
- Blasphemous. A heavily Dark Souls-inspired 2D metroidvania, so right up my alley. The pixel art is sublime, with a constant theme of religion, penitence and suffering. The whole thing is oppressive and gruesome as feck. Enemy designs are a particular highlight. Despite all that, it's not as good as I'd hoped. The gameplay and combat are nothing special and I feel it just goes too far with how obscure everything is. It makes the whole thing a bit exhausting to play. I'm nearly at the end and will finish it, but probably skip trying to find every little secret. Excellent premise and style, flawed execution, but I'm glad it exists.
- Remnant: From the Ashes. I'm about 12 hours into it, playing solo, and I think I'm going to give up. It's a bit boring, unfortunately. The procedural level design isn't necessarily terrible, but the environments are just too drab to make it work. The gunplay is decent enough, but the whole thing always feels a bit janky. There's just not enough here to convince me to keep playing.
Don't really know what to play next after I'm done with Blasphemous. Possibly Yakuza Kiwami, it's been long enough since Yakuza 0 now and I need to make some progress if I'm ever going to play through the entire series.
- Nioh 2. Excellent combat, poor level design, very inconsistent difficulty balancing. I enjoyed it enough to spend 100+ hours on it and get the plat, so that's something. I'll probably try Wo Long as well at some point, but I'm not expecting any major improvements to be honest.
- Gorogoa. A charming and creative puzzle game where you manipulate and move around inside paintings to make progress. Short but sweet.
- Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition. It's a 2D metroidvania with a twist: you don't actually move in the traditional sense, but only by jumping to specific surfaces in a straight line, and there's no gravity (or an up or down for that matter). The pixel art is pretty good and once you get used to it, the movement does feel fluid. It lacks precision during tense moments though, and combat isn't great. Not among the better metroidvanias I've played, but I still enjoyed my time with it.
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Never played it before, so I felt it was time. I enjoyed the first half of the game, but after the "turning point", I gave up pretty quickly. That second part didn't really feel fun or worth it anymore to me. Having played Bloodstained before I got to experience this one means it just didn't have the same impact.
- Psychonauts 2. I initially thought it was a bit dull. Never played the original, so I had no nostalgia or affection for its characters, and the gameplay is nothing special. It grew on me though, and by the end its charm had won me over. It's a lovely game. Bit too heavy on the collectibles though.
- Blasphemous. A heavily Dark Souls-inspired 2D metroidvania, so right up my alley. The pixel art is sublime, with a constant theme of religion, penitence and suffering. The whole thing is oppressive and gruesome as feck. Enemy designs are a particular highlight. Despite all that, it's not as good as I'd hoped. The gameplay and combat are nothing special and I feel it just goes too far with how obscure everything is. It makes the whole thing a bit exhausting to play. I'm nearly at the end and will finish it, but probably skip trying to find every little secret. Excellent premise and style, flawed execution, but I'm glad it exists.
- Remnant: From the Ashes. I'm about 12 hours into it, playing solo, and I think I'm going to give up. It's a bit boring, unfortunately. The procedural level design isn't necessarily terrible, but the environments are just too drab to make it work. The gunplay is decent enough, but the whole thing always feels a bit janky. There's just not enough here to convince me to keep playing.
Don't really know what to play next after I'm done with Blasphemous. Possibly Yakuza Kiwami, it's been long enough since Yakuza 0 now and I need to make some progress if I'm ever going to play through the entire series.
Ah man I loved Remnant! Such a fun game I thought.
The battle system on fantasian is fantastic.
I really like the way you can collect the random enemies then fight them all at once at a later time, really helps with the grind of random battles!
I really like the way you can collect the random enemies then fight them all at once at a later time, really helps with the grind of random battles!
I'm playing Wo Long now and haven't played Nioh 2 and that's probably word for word what I'd say about it.
Did you play it solo or with team mates? It feels like the sort of game that could be fun in co-op, but falls apart in solo play.
It was the same with Nioh 1, it's basically what I've come to expect from these guys. Their games are definitely worth playing, but they could be so much better.
Yeah, it's fun, but could be way better.
What's frustrating is they basically made a Sekiro clone but completely failed to improve on the main flaws with Sekiro, and with a worse (but still good) combat system.
Out of those I’ve only played Remnant which I enjoyed. I wouldn’t say it was amazing but among I thought it was one of the few Soulslikes’ that got the combat right. I found the gun play super satisfying and that got me hooked.
Nioh 2 on the other hand im just not able to bring myself to play (yet) as I found the first game so disappointing. From what I’ve read it’s a better version of that game which for me isn’t a good thing.
Also my thoughts on the games I’ve played these past few months
- Ratchet and Clank : Just brilliant. What a perfect title for the PS5 to have early in its life cycle. It is gorgeous looking, tightly written, plays extremely well, gorgeous looking and just a good old fun video game. Did I mention that it’s gorgeous looking? Because fecking hell it feels like a Disney animated film you can play. For me, the absolute greatest gaming experiences are the ones you can lose yourself into. But leaving those barely few per generation titles aside, these kind of AAA games which may not be very complicated but give you a balls out fun video game ride, are great. It’s like Miles Morales but much better.9/10
- The Forgotten City : I really enjoyed this one. Gameplay wise it has its roots in a different era of gaming which makes sense given it was borne out of a Skyrim mod. But I have a thing for out of box games and this one in its premise, concept and story was definitely one. It’s not a long game but I’d recommend it to anybody who wants to play something different. You just have to get past the first hour or so where it comes across as purposeless 8/10
Ghostrunner: I don’t tend to finish games I start off hating but with did that with Ghostunner. I was initially turned off big time by the seemingly janky controls / combat / movement and one-hit kill concept, but it grew on me and as I began to get a hang of it, the whole ‘one more level’ thing clicked. I mean that’s pretty much the hook of this game - that it’s hard to put down. Essentially this is Cyberpunk FPS Hotline Miami. If that’s your jam then go for it but while I enjoyed (okay enjoyed is not the word for a game that revels in the frustrate - rush of success cycle) it I wouldn’t put it up there with the game that I imagined inspired it. 7.5/10
Rest next time!
- Ratchet and Clank : Just brilliant. What a perfect title for the PS5 to have early in its life cycle. It is gorgeous looking, tightly written, plays extremely well, gorgeous looking and just a good old fun video game. Did I mention that it’s gorgeous looking? Because fecking hell it feels like a Disney animated film you can play. For me, the absolute greatest gaming experiences are the ones you can lose yourself into. But leaving those barely few per generation titles aside, these kind of AAA games which may not be very complicated but give you a balls out fun video game ride, are great. It’s like Miles Morales but much better.9/10
- The Forgotten City : I really enjoyed this one. Gameplay wise it has its roots in a different era of gaming which makes sense given it was borne out of a Skyrim mod. But I have a thing for out of box games and this one in its premise, concept and story was definitely one. It’s not a long game but I’d recommend it to anybody who wants to play something different. You just have to get past the first hour or so where it comes across as purposeless 8/10
Ghostrunner: I don’t tend to finish games I start off hating but with did that with Ghostunner. I was initially turned off big time by the seemingly janky controls / combat / movement and one-hit kill concept, but it grew on me and as I began to get a hang of it, the whole ‘one more level’ thing clicked. I mean that’s pretty much the hook of this game - that it’s hard to put down. Essentially this is Cyberpunk FPS Hotline Miami. If that’s your jam then go for it but while I enjoyed (okay enjoyed is not the word for a game that revels in the frustrate - rush of success cycle) it I wouldn’t put it up there with the game that I imagined inspired it. 7.5/10
Rest next time!
If you didn't enjoy Nioh, there's no point trying the second game. If we're being harsh, it could definitely be called Nioh 1.5 instead of Nioh 2. The strength of the core gameplay got me through both games, which is a testament to how good I found it, but it really fails in so many other areas.
I absolutely adored Ghostrunner, such a fantastic aesthetic, soundtrack and addictive gameplay. Nailing a particularly tricky section in style makes you feel like a boss. I've yet to try the DLC, but I'm planning to do it at some point. Fun little aside, but I actually saw a live set last year here in Antwerpen by the guy who did the soundtrack, it was basically the entire soundtrack live I think. When you've played sections over and over again that many times, the music tends to stick with you.
Anyone intrigued by Meet Your Maker ?
Coincidentally I’d downloaded Forgotten City the other day in anticipation of finishing the Witcher 3. Glad you enjoyed it, it’s got decent reviews and is on PS+.
Dreading the Witcher 3 ending but reality bites, I’ll need summat to plug the gap.
Booted up Bioshock Infinite for the first time in 10 years this Easter and I am shocked by how good it looks. The art design, the colours, the music, first 30 mins are an amazing introduction into Columbia. Pity that the gameplay is a bit bland but it is a gorgeous world.
I think it has a strong argument as one of the best intros in gaming, this beautiful world, setting up a mystery then showing how corrupt and vile it really is.
I think it has a strong argument as one of the best intros in gaming, this beautiful world, setting up a mystery then showing how corrupt and vile it really is.
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Finished Signalis yesterday. Has anybody else played it?
It's sort of like a cyberpunk lovecraftian horror love story that's set in space but with the type of descent into the metaphorical abyss horror - the same idea applied in the latter part of Silent Hill 2.
The atmosphere is sombre and brutal but it has a relatively satisfying gameplay loop. It has the same do-some-puzzles and find-keys-for-locked-doors mechanic that Resi does.
Combat isn't a strong point and the inventory limitations mean you'll need to wander about each area several times while returning periodically to storage crates. The bosses aren't brilliant but thankfully there's not many.
Also, the story is intentionally cryptic which some people on reddit seeming to really vibe with this but personally I think it flatters to deceive, although the tone really is excellent and the ending(s) hit a strong emotional note.
I would recommend this game for people who enjoy survival horrors.
It's sort of like a cyberpunk lovecraftian horror love story that's set in space but with the type of descent into the metaphorical abyss horror - the same idea applied in the latter part of Silent Hill 2.
The atmosphere is sombre and brutal but it has a relatively satisfying gameplay loop. It has the same do-some-puzzles and find-keys-for-locked-doors mechanic that Resi does.
Combat isn't a strong point and the inventory limitations mean you'll need to wander about each area several times while returning periodically to storage crates. The bosses aren't brilliant but thankfully there's not many.
Also, the story is intentionally cryptic which some people on reddit seeming to really vibe with this but personally I think it flatters to deceive, although the tone really is excellent and the ending(s) hit a strong emotional note.
I would recommend this game for people who enjoy survival horrors.