whatchu playing now

I mean, I don't add most of the PS Plus monthlies to my purchases and they're literally free

if it's $0 once it'll be $0 again

Exackly

Maybe if I wait long enough they will pay *me* to download it.

my waning time on earth holds so much more weight than price when deciding whether or not to play a video game. the idea of playing a star wars game fills me with dread

Hmm, so what next? I've got a ton of stuff in my backlog. Maybe leaning toward something lighter? It's good to alternate. "Rift Apart"?

RE3MAKE. very very very very funny game coming from TLOU2. Zombies and people are all so zany, like they're having a fun time amidst it all. Little do they know the terrible suffering happening in the zombie universe next door :(

almost done of the main story in xenoblade 2. This game is much more xenogears than xenoblade 1 was. it even has xenogears's silly arcs. I like that it has a bunch of big ideas and it just throws them all together. I like how they worked the title into it:it uses the word "blade" as in bladerunner. bad parts are the sexism and fanservice. Also it is a prime example of ludonarrative dissonance as the story's explanation of core crystals does not match up with how they are used in the gameplay.

re4 remake demo is out, gotta try that soon.

xpost Hmm, I like that idea! Maybe I will try RE2 (I owned a few for the Gamecube but never actually played any RE games, not really); I hear RE3 is short and might make for a good chaser. I'm pretty sure I have RE2, RE3, REVillage and ... RE7? (Lots of good sales, lol). And I'll eventually get RE4, too, so probably good to catch up.

Hmm, though I also have all the Hitman games, that might be a more chill/goofy follow-up to Demon's Souls and LOU2.

the excavation of hobbs barrow is on switch now so i'm playing that

Did end up starting "Hitman," seems like it's going to be good, mean-spirited (but still silly) fun.

that huge hitman collection of the recent few games is pretty cool. the interface has a couple wonky bits, but having a multi-game hitman experience that feels like one big episodic game, with a few tweaks to the controls between sections, excellent

I got secondhand Nintendo Switch for about £120. It came with Smash Bros and the Ringfit system (but not the game for some reason, so it's a bit useless unless I can somehow find a copy).

Downloaded a bunch of games. I was gonna get Breath of the Wild seeing as people love banging on about it, but I figured the Switch, for me, is going to be more of a fun secondary system for certain types of games I can just pick up and have a quick go on rather than epic AAA RPGs etc (which I'll play on the PS5).

The main game I've been playing, admittedly, is the demo of Theatrhythm Final Bar Line which is a twitchy rhythm game based on the music from the Final Fantasy series. It didn't sound like my kind of thing, but it's more addictive than a big bowl of peanuts. The main game is £50 + extra for add-ons (I really want to play the Chrono Trigger one, but yikes, that's a LOT of money).

I downloaded Ori which I've had a quick go on but got a bit stuck and didn't know where to go very early on. Hollow Knight too, which I've heard is very difficult but fun if you like Metroid and Souls games (which I do!)

Really looking forward to checking out Hades properly. I'd had it on the PS for a while but never relly felt like playing it on the big screen. Feels more like something you can just have a quick run at and put away. That said, on the small screen a lot of the sprites are absolutely TINY and I fear for my eyesight.

Citizen Sleeper is another one I'm very excited to play after having heard nothing but good things about it.

Something else I'm looking forward to digging into is Civilisation VI, another game I had on the PS but never got round to playing because it just didn't feel like a couch + TV type thing.

Also got the original Final Fantasy VII which frankly looked horrid due to upscaling issues on the PS - I'm hoping it works a bit better on the Switch. Either way, it's another game I think I can just dig out on occasion and work through - a lot of my mates have deep love for that one.

Other than that, on the main PS5, I've recently gone back to Returnal which I hadn't really played since first getting the console. It's a toughy. It's not just difficult to play, but getting used the UI, the HUD, the glossary, the systems etc takes a while and I strongly recommend looking up a few guides and YouTubes to get a better idea of what's going on with all the obolites and ethers and translocators etc.

There are a LOT of different types of items with arcane names and colour coding to go with them which I'm not entirely sure I have my head wrapped around - I know purple items are malginant but also I think some purple items can also be health?? Who knows. It's a deliberately confusing game, possibly as confusing and obfuscated as your average Souls-like.

That said, I played co-op with a mate yesterday and got just a little bit further than before - finally picked up the melee weapon (thank god) and the house key and even made it to the first boss, which has never happened.

I've not really played a lot of Roguelike games before, so I'm not totally sure why on that particualr run we were able to make so much progress whereas on previous runs I'd often be running around for ages while feeling like I was getting nowhere, then running out of health and just dying.

horribly addicted to Geometry Wars 3 again

I've been saving Returnal for when I have a backup controller.

Out of interest, why is that?

I really lost interest in it early on, I must say. But I think I'm ready to get stuck in again

Downloaded Darksiders Genesis on a whim from the PS Plus Extra catalogue. Solid enough Diablo-like stuff so far.

Out of interest, why is that?

lol, only because some of the more stressful, challenging games I've played (Sekiro, Celeste) are the ones that have left my controller damaged! So much literal high-pressure on the stick...

Hitman stuff is great Josh. Strong recommend on RE7 for your next game though if you haven’t touched it. Incredible experience, wish I could play it for the first time again. Relatively short too (compared to Hitman + TLOU).

Cool! I'll make sure it's on deck. I assume Hitman 1-3 will take some time, but so far it's a hoot.

Returnal is great, it’s just a big first hurdle with that initial level out of the gate. Not knowing the mechanics and without much unlocked, you’re gonna die a lot there. More than any part of the game, most likely.

Weirdly front-loaded with the difficulty. But it’s worth sticking it out, found it tremendously addictive and satisfying once the guns started opening up and I knew how to navigate it.

Did two full play-throughs from scratch within a few months which I never do.

I'm semi-interested in Resident Evil - never played any of them. What's a good place to start? Does it matter?

remake of 1 or original of 4 if you are down with older graphics (theyre both from gamecube/ps2 era), remake of 2 if you want something more recent

I’d say start with remake of 2

I’d say start with remake of 2

I'd say start with remake of "I'd say start with remake of 2"

Boy am I terrible at Hitman, though on the plus side, even terrible can apparently work. Still, I aspire to more than "messy amateur," so maybe I will start this level over again and try to do better.

think of it as a big puzzle game

The secret to Hitman is the only thing guns are good for is shooting out security cameras

I think I also need to figure out or master the mechanics. Like, I can poison food ... but how do I make them eat it? Or just fundamentally the differences between detection status. If I'm compromised, can I just find a new disguise to reset? I'm having trouble figuring out all the different alerts (suspicious, combat, searching, hunting or whatever, et al.), how to stay sneaky/hidden versus what attracts attention, but unlike most games it's pretty fun to fail at this one. Like, if you drop a light fixture on someone, of course it attracts attention! But, for example, setting off the fire alarm, I don't really know what that does, or what advantage it gains me. Same with murdering non-targets. You can kill pretty much everyone, but why would I want to? I'm sure I'll figure that out, too.

Hitman's entire premise is based on playing the level multiple times, imo. The first time (or partial attempt) is always kind of disappointing because you either miss the timing or don't run across something obvious. Then in the second attempt, you know that if you knock out a chef at the right time, you have time to poison the food a waiter is about to deliver to the member of the illuminati or whatever.

imo it's more about making a hypothesis about cause and effect -- I know that the fire alarm will heighten security, but might also make people leave a place that I want to meddle with. Or people will leave a building in a certain way if I pull the fire alarm, so I can plant a bomb under the spot where my target will be outside the building

yeah, a lot of the game mechanic is patience plus trial and error. i'm bad at patience and dealing with error so i've never got too deep into them but i love watching them played well

well, I'll say this much, I'm learning!

for sure I'm used to more aggressive games, so it's taking some work to downshift and alter my practiced approach.

Following the Mission Stories will walk you through some satisfying goofs

I think that's the way to go. Or am I thinking of what they call "opportunities"? Anyway, those method-specific missions that provide a bit more guidance. Still challenging, but also fun and less daunting than just being set loose in a huge sandbox to try and devise some nutty plot. Though of course that is still always an option. On the first real mission, I successfully drugged the guy's cocktail and drowned him in the toilet (as more or less directed), but then managed to disguise and sneak my way up to the third floor where I somehow managed to stab the second target with scissors (not planned) and escape to a helicopter. I considered that win enough to move on to the next story level, but I can totally see returning to this level and trying different ways to be a devious murdering bastard.

I think the sheer level of freedom is what stops me getting deeper into these games

It's overwhelming! Like I mentioned, why does it let you murder random people? Why would I even want to? I dunno! Is there some sort of "kill everyone" challenge? Wouldn't surprise me. But it all feels weirdly low stakes, which adds to the fun, I suppose.

Because they're there to teach you the mechanics of the game, though in some other game modes, those randoms can sometimes be your targets.

I got so deep into the first one of these that I did go through and kill everyone on the Sapienza level and then hid all of the bodies in the meat locker at the butcher's shop just to see if you could.

OK, case in point. The poison cocktail "opportunity" comes up when you overhear two people talking about the bad guy's love of a certain cocktail. Then it directs you to find the recipe, find the poison, find a staffer with the right uniform to steal, get to the bar and mix the drink. And then you just wait there until the bad guy shows up and drinks it, which happens pretty soon. But you are able to get the recipe, and the uniform, and the poison without ever overhearing the conversation and triggering the "opportunity." Had I successfully poisoned the drink on my own, with no prompting, and waited at the bar, would the bad guy have eventually showed up to drink it? Or would I have to wait there for several minutes, if not longer? Or might it never have happened at all? That is, do the "opportunities" trigger specific events or chains of events that only occur if triggered? Or do they walk you through things that you could naturally do with no guidance, too?

you do stuff and it works if it’s meant to work. if you learned it on a previous play through just think of it as the hitman’s intuition

you can come up with wild ideas and they work sometimes, but may not necessarily result in achieving a goal, too

Yeah, the details in this game are kind of mind blowing. So many overheard conversations and specific interactions, some no doubt intended as clues/cues, others just in passing. I'm learning to slow way down and take it all in, scanning around for stuff that is interactive and seeing what works, embracing the Looney Tunes silliness. I did the mission where I dress as a male model and walk the runway. Then I followed the target like a creep and just stood there listening to her scheme with a minion for a few minutes before getting impatient, quickly killing them both and stuffing them in a closet. Gotta strike when the opportunity presents itself!

Is there any advantage to simply subduing people vs. killing them?

irl questions

I'm pretty sure that you get points taken off for killing non-targets so there is an incentive to knocking out and stashing bystanders if possible.

Wait, there are points? Just as ... achievements? Or is there an incentive to get a higher score?