whatchu playing now

Yes, and the PS consoles have the ability to copy saves to USB storage as well, if you don't have PS+

yes, you can transfer both the game and the save files to external storage, the save data is tiny and can be put on any USB storage device

the game itself needs a drive specifically formatted for exclusive PS4/5 use. it's still useful because transferring back and forth from USB storage is still much faster than re-downloading and re-installing it all. besides, the PS5 (and i assume the 4 as well) allow playing from the USB drive itself so transferring it back to internal storage isn't mandatory

i believe you'll be locked into playing the PS4 version on the PS5 in order to carry your save data but that's actually a plus in this case because the PS4-on-5 version is the better way to play it anyway

Yeah, I recall reading that about Elden Ring, that for whatever reason the PS4 version on PS5 sometimes runs better than the PS5 version. Anyway, need to get a PS5 first. Hopefully this Amazon invite thing pays off; there is some suspicion that the invites (which you signed up for weeks ago) will go out on prime day to help boost/goose sales numbers.

What, so Amazon can tell their shareholders that prime day was a resounding success with $X in sales? Sounds kind of like hogwash

OK, I'm thinking next up for me will be "Ghost of Tsushima." Gonna play the PS4 version on PS5, since it doesn't seem the PS5 upgrade is worth the $20 or $30 extra, or however much it is.

(Was kind of a pain to transfer the save date from Elden Ring to PS5, btw. Maybe if I was going to transfer to the PS4 save data to the PS5 version, but playing the PS4 version on PS5 required me to download the save date to a USB drive and install it on the PS5 from there. Fwiw.)

Dicey Dungeons got an update last week with 6 more quests, so I'm sucked back in.

got woken up at 6am this morning so i figured i'd check for PS5s in stock and found one at target!!! gonna be wrapping up FFXV in 60fps then probably on to yakuza7

I'm now playing the Miles Morales Spider-Man game and Stray on PS5

I started playing Spider-man PS4 again, this time on the PS5, but I am getting the PS4 Miles from the library and using it to buy the remastered Spider-man for PS5 and start over with that instead. Can't wait to play Stray, too, but I think I'll wait for it to go on sale.

mh, thoughts on Stray so far? I'm thinking of getting it too

I didn't play very far in, just to the point where you're encountering actual non-cat seemingly sentient things, to not spoil things

My impression is that the game is going to open up a fair bit, but the beginning reminded me of a game that a friend wouldn't stop talking about, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Not in the actual gameplay necessarily, but the way you're wandering this beautiful world doing little puzzley things and the central conceit is more important than the challenges you're running into. I thought that one was kind of shallow to the point of feeling like a tech demo and quit it when I thought, "oh, I get the point" but Stray seems like it's got more around the corner.

Kind of feeling like Untitled Goose Game at moments, but there have been much fewer moving parts and it's more of an adventure than a rube goldberg machine like that one is

it is also very pleasing to be a cat in this game

https://mobile.twitter.com/catswatchstray

grinding it out in Multiversus. fun, closest anyone has gotten to recapturing Smash's "feel" but the F2P grind is a bit unforgiving

Into the Breach just got a big update, new mechs etc.

One of Stray's Steam Achievements is to finish the game in 2 hours, so I'm assuming it's not Elden Ring - size.

I think I read 6 hours or so.

xp I didn't get back to it yesterday, but my impression is that after you know where all the puzzles pieces are, you could speed through it like you could a classic adventure game

that'd be denying you time to just do cat stuff, though. kneading a rug or scratching a tree feels nice with the PS5 adaptive triggers

I have also started playing Stray. Just got to the bit where you meet the other non-cat dudes, and it definitely feels like it's opening up into another type of game. I liked just puttering around as a cat but I guess at this point it probably does need the injection of something else to keep it interesting.

Full confession: I cried at the very opening of the game when you're with your cat family because I didn't want to get split up from them and I knew it was about to happen. Man, my emotional state sucks.

completely normal reaction

(I also wished I could hang with the cat friends for longer)

Guess I’m starting Stray tonight!

I liked just puttering around as a cat but I guess at this point it probably does need the injection of something else to keep it interesting.

Yeah 100% agree, as soon as it started trying to move my attention from "hey I'm a cute cat doing cat stuff" to "right, you should unlock the mysteries of this post-apocalypse world" or whatever, I put it down and haven't felt very motivated to go back to it.

I'm also a bit disappointed that the tone is generally dark and creepy and has layers of medium peril etc. My cat-adoring 5 year old would absolutely love this if it was just the realistic cat simulation bits in a chill environment, but he's a sensitive little dude and he definitely wouldn't be ok with some of the more tense moments (which seem to come pretty frequently really).

yeah at a certain point the aesthetic starts to look like it's fucking Doom. still playing because the mechanics are fun enough but the end better be me back in the upper world frolicking with my cat buds.

Still haven't bought it, but based on what I know about it this game seems ideal for DLC, especially an expanded sandbox (litter box?) where you get to do more cat stuff and go on more cat missions.

After a few false starts with it over the years, I had a lot of down time this past week while on vacation and decided to give Divinity: Original Sin 2 another go. Those first few hours are rough, not knowing the mechanics and having next to no gear makes the early game a steep climb, but once you’re over the hump it really is fantastic. So many different ways to approach a situation, allows for a lot of creativity (and re-playability). There’s real depth in character builds, skill choices, and the synergy you can create with your party make-up. Can see myself running through it again trying different approaches if I don’t hit burnout by the end.

I bounced off Stray after it made me do a bunch of boring puzzles. I have a cute cat at home already so that's not really enough to keep me going.

I don't play games at all, but I do watch youtubers with my daughter sometimes. We watched someone play Stray over the weekend. We both really liked it, so I decided to check and see if anyone on ilx was talking about it. I guess you are!

I've reached the cross of Citizen Sleeper arms I'm really loving it.

*credits, and

Dicey Dungeons Is good. Not as good as Slay the Spire, which seems to be the model.

I picked this up a few weeks ago and finally got around to playing it and for me it actually has MORE legs than STS, specifically because it doesn't feel like it'll completely swallow my life.

I will say that playing as the Witch is hard af.

did i say power wash simulator in here? because i beat that lol. good game to play while you're watching something or waiting for something

Such as waiting for myself to get my life together??

I mean I'm always trying to do that and I enjoyed the game!! So yes!!

Finally been playing through Spider-man, and it's pretty thin stuff. The swinging around part is the best, the story/game/writing itself is pretty mediocre. In some ways it feels like the sort of game that would come with a system to show off its features, or the sort of movie you play to show off a new TV. It's fun, it's fine, but I'm not sure it's much better than any of those Batman games.

i'm not much of a videogame consumer activist -- whatever that means. one version is when players feel really entitled. "WHY CAN'T I STORE MY INVENTORY IN A REMOTE BOX?!", "WHERE IS THE BOSS RUSH MODE?!", "IT'S BEEN 5 YEARS, WHERE IS THE NEW CONTENT??" (I reserve that last complaint for Stars of the Lid)

i do have to say, though, if you have a switch, buyer beware on the new indie game Cursed to Golf, which is a rogue-lite. 18 holes, if you die (go over par on any hole) you go back to the beginning. there are "Ace cards" you can play with abilities, bosses...it's pretty great. it's gotten good reviews so far, and as soon as i read about it i knew i'd probably get it because it's right up my alley.

unfortunately, it crashed every single time on the first boss, after the 4th hole. After the 7th attempt/crash in a row, I gave up and waited for the patch. The patch came out today and purportedly fixes the first boss crash.

Unfortunately, while that patch was being delayed by nintendo, some of the people who have been able to get past the first boss crash realized that the third boss (presumably after the 12th hole I'd guess) has an even worse crashing problem. the top scores in the entire world are for hole 13 - I don't think anyone on Switch has been able to get past it without a crash, for a week now.

when the patch went out today, the notes casually mentioned that they noticed this third boss crash after the first boss crash problem, and had submitted a new "hot fix" to Nintendo to fix it, which should go out net week.

it's not a huge deal because the game is so difficult (for me) that i doubt i'll get to the third boss before the patch comes out. but it seems super weird to me to have 2 gigantic, game ending crashes on the Switch that presumably would have been caught if someone had attempted to beat the game using a Nintendo Switch before it was released on Nintendo Switch

(the pc version seems to be fine, fwiw)

at the same time, indie developer, yada yada. i'm so glad i'm not involved in anything to do with development or testing, seems like a stressball

thats a nice game idea, at least. but yeah switch ports of games not developed specifically targeting switch are the wild west

clustertruck has a switch port and i think that game is pretty much unplayable without mouselook (great game though)

As I understand it there is something about coding for the Switch that is particularly troublesome, which is why there are so many Switch delays and bug patches above and beyond what all consoles face.

unless you are talking about companies trying to squish down AAA games to fit into the Switch I haven't read anything about that? in fact the endless torrent of cheap games released every week would suggest that it's in fact too easy for anyone to code for it.

Played through a significant portion of Tunic but I got to a boss I couldn't beat, Boss Ravager I think was its name. Taking a break from it.

Disco Elysium. I did the first day following what I think was the main quest, and on the second day I just fucked around a bunch. Seems to blow Planescape Torment out of the water --wisdom and charisma you say? how about we go with 24 conversation attributes instead
Based on my responses, at the end of the first day the game decided I was a moralist, but no, I just wanted to solve a mystery. I went with Communist to make things more interesting. It's interesting that in the path I went through, moralist and ultraliberal were advocated by reasonable characters, and fascist and communist had very negative characters speak on their behalf.

i've always been curious about the yakuza games so i'm playing the one that's free on ps+ this month and ... does it continue to be 95% cut scenes or do you eventually get to do more than run from one cut scene to another?

dunno which one you're playing but they usually open up into a more open experience with lots of side quests, side content, etc after the first couple story chapters

if it's the newest one (like a dragon) then that one is just straight up an actual JRPG and not a beat-em-up like the previous ones so it might be more cutscene heavy idk i haven't played it yet

There are a million of those games, I think I bought "Yakuza 0" when it was super cheap, since people said it was as good or better a place to start as any. But I haven't played yet. I don't even know the tone of the game yet, since clips seem to veer from serious RPG to silly. Same thing with the "Hitman" games, too. I guess I'll find out some time.

unless you are talking about companies trying to squish down AAA games to fit into the Switch I haven't read anything about that?

I think AAA games take more work, but I think indies often have to work extra, too, right? Like "Cult of the Lamb," though maybe there were problems on all systems.

switch is far less powerful than ps5 and xbsx and modern pc and possibly even ps4 and x1 iirc. i know we have to consider everything we do for switch first and foremost for new content (cos thats the one that'll turn into a fireball if we get too fancy) and those are our platforms anyway. i can ask tmrw.

switch is quite a bit less powerful than a ps4

I have no idea why I’m guessing at unfounded speculation but I guess we’re doing that until will comes back with actual industry experience but…

I don’t see Switch patches as any more frequent than other platforms, maybe less, unless you mean all the additional content in Animal Crossing or w/e

I think a lot of indie devs use Unity or Unreal engines, and that means tweaking things for performance when you port to Switch, but it’s otherwise similar. Input methods need tweaking but are abstracted and just need implemented and tested

I think it’s a less-powerful platform that needs performance tweaking, has fewer people buying indie games compared to (I believe, in order) PC/xbox/PS4,5 and Nintendo’s store is less hype-focused so it’s downstream from others

i was under the impression that indie games sell way better on switch than the other consoles but maybe it's just the ones that nintendo assists in marketing