What are you currently playing?

[Lain]

So I saw that "Lies of P" had a demo release and I decided to check it out.

Having not played Bloodborne, I can't say exactly how close it is but it feels like a faster version of DS3 just without the shield. The fact that you have so much base stamina make me feel like I'm using Ultra Instinct to dodge and weave past enemy strikes and get the back hit. The setting is very interesting and I am bemused by the fact that they named the Cricket "Gemini" (pronounced with an accent to make it sound like "Jiminy") as a wink 'n nod to the Disney version.

I will say though, the tutorial aspect absolutely sucks. Presumably it's because this demo is a "vertical slice" as I believe the industry calls it, but the demo poorly explains the mechanics and sometimes the explanations are in the wrong places. For example, it only told me I need to break the stamina of certain enemies to kill them...after I already beat the mini-boss that's supposed to teach you that, which I only managed to do through sheer luck as a result (I did wonder why he wouldn't die even after his health reached zero).

Overall it looks like a fun game and I will probably pick it up, hopefully I'm not completely burnt out on Soulsgames by the time I eventually beat DS3.

 

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

Well, a month has passed since the incredible co-release of SF6 and D4. I'm still playing both, but not very frequently. I've put about 100 total hours combined between the two, but now it's time to mix in other games for me to finish. And here are those games:

Brotato
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly
Season: A letter to the future
Dordogne
Persona 3 Portable
Persona 5 Strikers
Alan Wake Remastered
Diablo IV
Street Fighter 6

There's really no "must play" new releases for me until late August (AC6, Blasphemous 2, Sea of Stars), so I'm hoping to clear out a few games by then. 30XX releases Aug 9 and will probably get in the mix, also.

Persona 5.

I finally beat Akechi. Shido is slightly easier but both Akechi and Shido are tests of endurance.

I need to conserve sp better.

I'm not a particularly huge fan of turn-based RPGs that require perfection. I've thought about this a lot in recent years, moreso this year since finishing Chrono Cross and starting P3P. Some series like SMT and SaGa seem to "force" the player to play a certain way, essentially built around hard counters and specific progressions. And they also have these tests of preparation/endurance. While other turned-based series and games are more about soft counters and giving the player more freedom and flexibility on how to build their characters/team. I'm still giving P3P a fair chance. I am enjoying it and I'll just have to adapt to that restrictive mentality. And luckily I heard that it's the hardest of the 3 recent mainline Persona games, so hopefully P4G and P5R are more palatable in terms of boss prep, persona mgmt, etc.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Diablo IV
Dave the Diver
Guardians of the Galaxy

There's really no "must play" new releases for me until late August (AC6, Blasphemous 2, Sea of Stars),

Sea of Stars looks great.

 

[ef9dante_oSsshea]

The crew 2 on xbox , next up for me is exoprimal as i beat final fantasy 16(brilliant game)

 

[joxamik]

As for the new games, it's diablo 4 - it's pretty good, but there's still some work to be done. In general, I love WoW. Here u can find help with farming dungeons, gathering in a clan and killing bosses for super loot
upd:I recently bought a new game baldur gate. i really like them - bg3 and diablo 4!! but i can't find time to play two games at the same time and level up my characters. maybe i can use some kind of boost service like this? what do you think, does anyone have experience with such solutions?

 

[Meg]

Recently remembered how much I liked Dangerous Golf back when it came out, so I’m playing it again!

 

[Aurelius]

AEW Fight Forever and am absolutely loving it!

The game has some No Mercy vibes with a hint of Lucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring, Here Comes the Pain, TNA Impact… and Mario Party all thrown into one game!

 

[Lain]

Watching the new footage for Persona 3 Reloaded made me nostalgic and so I started re-playing the original Persona 1 on the PSP again.

Man, hearing the rumour that Atlus are interested in remaking both P1 and P2 after Reloaded is so wild to me since P1 at its very heart is so mechanically different than the Hashino trilogy. You can really feel the old-school style as the game is deliberately designed to be played multiple times with replay ability, given the fact that you have to recruit your Party of 5 from a group of nine and with two completely different story routes to go through, it all makes for a very different experience and I'm not sure how they would go about remaking the game without overhauling the game. It's something that interests me in seeing more so than potentially playing it.

As an aside, the fact that the Snow Queen tricked a bunch of depressed high school girls into committing suicide in order to gain power only to turn them into her ghostly servants is surprisingly dark and nothing is coming to mind in the later games that matches it.

 

[Meg]

Just started playing Disney Illusion Island. It’s great so far and exactly what I need after finishing Crisis Core Reunion with all its melodrama.

 

[ef9dante_oSsshea]

Just finished sniper ghost warrior contracts 2 today on ps5, and before that i was playing remnant 2 and injustice 2 on my series x

 

[Lain]

After whetting my appetite for old JRPG's with a quick run-through of Persona 1, I decided to go deeper and revisit the depths of my childhood by playing my first ever SMT game Nocturne* via the recent HD Remaster...not featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series because I forgot to buy the DLC when I booted up the game, so I get to recruit Raidou instead.

Something that interests me is that I completely forgot how the game allows you to re-name your initial human friends in addition to the Player and so there's an awful lot of having to awkwardly dance around saying anybody's name in dialogue, but I really do like the voice acting otherwise. To this day I still have questions regarding the identities of Hijiri and the Lady in Black, the effective manner in which to use the Magatama system continues to elude me and as a child I never noticed that the Demi-Fiend has a giant horn sticking out of the back of his neck which according to the concept art is the source of his power. Lastly, although I will likely still pick the Freedom Ending, I am seriously tempted to roll with one of the Reason Endings because whilst not perfect, the Reasons are such a refreshing change from the standard Law/Neutral/Chaos Alignments the franchise is known for.

* Fun fact, due to legal reasons the original release here in Europe was called "Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call" instead.

 

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

After whetting my appetite for old JRPG's with a quick run-through of Persona 1, I decided to go deeper and revisit the depths of my childhood by playing my first ever SMT game Nocturne* via the recent HD Remaster...not featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series because I forgot to buy the DLC when I booted up the game, so I get to recruit Raidou instead.

I'm really eager to finally get around to SMT3:N HD at some point. I've only played Strange Journey and SMT4, but never got too far into either. The demon mgmt just wasn't for me. Sadly, I started P3P recently and I do like it a lot, but it has just fallen to the wayside in my backlog rotation.

But that being said, I know SMT3:N is supposed to be something profoundly special. Or specially profound. So I think I'll stick w/ it and just do the suggested approach (to ppl like me) of easy mode for farming and normal mode for story/bosses.

 

[Lain]

But that being said, I know SMT3:N is supposed to be something profoundly special. Or specially profound. So I think I'll stick w/ it and just do the suggested approach (to ppl like me) of easy mode for farming and normal mode for story/bosses.

I will acknowledge that it holds a special place in history for being the franchise's leap into 3D graphics as well as being the first SMT game to be localised, but it definitely shows its age in places and I get that because of that it isn't for everyone.

 

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

Brotato
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly
Season: A letter to the future
Dordogne
Persona 3 Portable
Persona 5 Strikers
Alan Wake Remastered
Diablo IV
Street Fighter 6

Oh, and as for my list. This list has definitely been narrowed down. Coffee Talk 2 bugged out for me and I couldn't get it resolved. Season I finished. The Persona games and Alan Wake just got lost in the shuffle.

For the next week, I plan to only play Dordogne, D4, Brotato, and Pillars of Eternity. At least in regards to any relevant play time. And in one week's time, my broad rotation of games will likely be narrowed down to like Brotato as a side game and then Blasphemous 2, Armored Core 6, Sea of Stars, and Starfield one-by-one until they are finished.

Part of me gets excited for times like this, not just because of the great games releasing, but also the fact that I know (well, strongly assume) I'll have games to truly focus on and not spread my time so much a bunch of games. There's absolutely nothing wrong with games like P3P or Alan Wake or any of the other games that get lost in the rotation. But more options makes it harder to actually decide and stick to something. However, it IS easy for me to prioritize new games over older backlog games. So AC6, Sea of Stars, etc should be pretty easy to play until I finish them.

 

[V's patron]

Persona 5 strikers

It's fun seeing Persona in a new gameplay genre.

 

[ef9dante_oSsshea]

Immortals of aveum, fun game but the performance can be all over the place

Also playing bayonetta 3 and age of empires 4

 

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

The past week, I've just been playing Armored Core 6 and Sea of Stars. It's nice to get a tighter rotation of games down, especially when it's not even by "choice", but simply by feeling compelled to just play 2 amazing games.

Persona 5 strikers

It's fun seeing Persona in a new gameplay genre.

I still question if the traditional SMT/Persona games are for me. But I love the Persona world, so I try to play any spinoffs I can. I need to get the Q games on 3DS still.

 

[V's patron]

@Dr. Cheesesteak
It's got a hack and slash feel but not as flexible as DMC. But it has a larger cast so it balances out.

 

[ef9dante_oSsshea]

Starfield , and i am having so much fun

 

[Xeroxis]

Crash Bandicoot Remake, gotta get my "Time for a nice relaxing DAMN THIS IS HARD" fix