The Official "What Are You Playing?" Thread (Post Screens)

[madmaltese★ 2,578]

11 hours ago, -GD-X said:

The lack of a rewind button makes Humanity pretty demotivating.  Not for the basic puzzles (which are pretty easy), but for getting the gold figures. Some require a lot of thought and planning, and the smallest oversight fucks it all up (like pushing an essential block off the area). If I had a rewind feature, I could just undo the mistake and keep progressing. Instead, I have to redo most of my steps again from the beginning. I don’t think this is for me.  

I had to stop trying for Gold after a while because of the difficulty but they do let you keep a majority of your set up from attempt to attempt so you don't need to start from scratch. Plus the fast forward feature is meant to alleviate the repetition (gets you to where you need to fix errors much quicker) but yeah rewind would've been a lot easier. 

[madmaltese★ 2,578]

Oh @-GD-X, if you have PS Extra for a month and want to try something unique, give Inscryption a go. It's a very specific niche of a genre but if it hits and you get a little bit into it, it is a game that constantly surprises. Prob fav game I've played this year.

[Twinblade★ 3,925]

FINALLY after 60 or so hours I finished FFXVI

 

Im just gonna summarize my main thoughts and get them over with as I feel like I already invested way too much time into this game

 

- The gameplay is ultimately the weakest part of the the game. The combat is flashy but pretty shallow for the majority of it. It gets better later on as you unlock more skills and can experiment with different combos including juggling enemies in mid air (which is satisfying admittedly) but its still not enough considering just how much combat there is. Many of the dungeons end up feeling like a slog as you just go down a corridor from point A to B and fight the same few waves of the same few enemy types, some of who have a ludicrous amount of HP which results in you button mashing your way through. There is basically no variety and because of the lack of rewards/progressions, it feels like you're just going through the motions. There are sizeable environments but there's no reward to exploring them besides finding the same few generic crafting materials that you won't even need to use as there are so many of them, and there's practically nothing to craft. Useful loot is non existent as well, the most abundant items are the accessories but they just have worthless passive effects like finding 5% more gold, dealing 10% more damage, a specific skill having less of a cooldown, etc.

- When it comes to towns, thats another aspect I found underwhelming. There's many of them scattered around and they do look good and you can listen to NPC chatter which fleshes out the world and lore, but there's just nothing to see or do in those areas besides a few bland quests here and there (some of the late game quests are decent though). There's also no sprawling cities which feels like a sin nowadays given how many RPGs strive to include large, living cities in them with many vendors, NPCs going about their daily lives, mini games, etc. The fact that SO6 has larger cities is a bit baffling. 

- Graphics can be pretty amazing especially during some of the cutscenes and bigger set piece moments. They're complemented by the music which is also pretty fantastic. However, the moment to moment gameplay can look underwhelming because of the color grading/gray tint the game has. Most of the colors are muted which doesn't do the technical aspects justice. Even bright sunny places like the desert manage to look overly dark.

- Story and characters are the strongest aspects I feel. There are many genuinely emotional moments and the writing is pretty solid and backed up by great voice acting from most of the cast members. I do feel like there were some characters that didn't get as much screen time as they should have had. Also, the story does go in a bit of a disappointing direction. Without spoiling anything, it basically abandons a lot of the geo politics and Game of Thrones aspects later on and basically just becomes another 'save the world' type of story that is all too familiar for this genre.

 

so yeah even though its got plenty of wow worthy moments I think as a whole it could have been quite a bit better. I give it a 7/10.

[-GD-X★ 7,746]

39 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

FINALLY after 60 or so hours I finished FFXVI

 

Im just gonna summarize my main thoughts and get them over with as I feel like I already invested way too much time into this game

 

- The gameplay is ultimately the weakest part of the the game. The combat is flashy but pretty shallow for the majority of it. It gets better later on as you unlock more skills and can experiment with different combos including juggling enemies in mid air (which is satisfying admittedly) but its still not enough considering just how much combat there is. Many of the dungeons end up feeling like a slog as you just go down a corridor from point A to B and fight the same few waves of the same few enemy types, some of who have a ludicrous amount of HP which results in you button mashing your way through. There is basically no variety and because of the lack of rewards/progressions, it feels like you're just going through the motions. There are sizeable environments but there's no reward to exploring them besides finding the same few generic crafting materials that you won't even need to use as there are so many of them, and there's practically nothing to craft. Useful loot is non existent as well, the most abundant items are the accessories but they just have worthless passive effects like finding 5% more gold, dealing 10% more damage, a specific skill having less of a cooldown, etc.

- When it comes to towns, thats another aspect I found underwhelming. There's many of them scattered around and they do look good and you can listen to NPC chatter which fleshes out the world and lore, but there's just nothing to see or do in those areas besides a few bland quests here and there (some of the late game quests are decent though). There's also no sprawling cities which feels like a sin nowadays given how many RPGs strive to include large, living cities in them with many vendors, NPCs going about their daily lives, mini games, etc. The fact that SO6 has larger cities is a bit baffling. 

- Graphics can be pretty amazing especially during some of the cutscenes and bigger set piece moments. They're complemented by the music which is also pretty fantastic. However, the moment to moment gameplay can look underwhelming because of the color grading/gray tint the game has. Most of the colors are muted which doesn't do the technical aspects justice. Even bright sunny places like the desert manage to look overly dark.

- Story and characters are the strongest aspects I feel. There are many genuinely emotional moments and the writing is pretty solid and backed up by great voice acting from most of the cast members. I do feel like there were some characters that didn't get as much screen time as they should have had. Also, the story does go in a bit of a disappointing direction. Without spoiling anything, it basically abandons a lot of the geo politics and Game of Thrones aspects later on and basically just becomes another 'save the world' type of story that is all too familiar for this genre.

 

so yeah even though its got plenty of wow worthy moments I think as a whole it could have been quite a bit better. I give it a 7/10.

I’m so glad I didn’t cave and get this. A lot of my co-workers share your views. 

[JonDnD 2,636]

Glad i skipped that too. Sounds like shit.

[Mr. House 3,371]

There hasn't been a Final Fantasy game with a good story and characters since 2006 so that's a phenomenal achievement. 

[Remij 4,682]

58 minutes ago, Ramza said:

There hasn't been a Final Fantasy game with a good story and characters since 2006 so that's a phenomenal achievement. 

Typical overhyped PS exclusive game 

[Twinblade★ 3,925]

3 hours ago, Ramza said:

There hasn't been a Final Fantasy game with a good story and characters since 2006 so that's a phenomenal achievement. 

 

TBH I think FFXV might have had a more entertaining story overall, mainly because the pacing was way better.

[Sabo 442]

I don't think I agree with XVI having a good story or even good writing. I've seen quite a few random cutscenes and I found every single one of them to be dry and flaccid. It's like it WANTS to be seen as interesting and serious but the writing doesn't do a good job of making me want to stay engaged.

 

 The tone shifts are an issue too, one moment the game is a "a drama for grown ups" but then shifts into typical "JRPG nonsense for teenagers". The game doesn't do a good job balancing the two and it's because the writing just isn't good. They try, they really do try but sometimes effort doesn't make up for lack of talent.

 

Unless the game is being made by Matsuno, FF should avoid trying to take on serious themes.

[madmaltese★ 2,578]

Played through Amnesia: The Bunker. Really enjoyed it. Loved the setting and was really short (finished in 3h 8min on Easy). Highly recommended

[Twinblade★ 3,925]

9 minutes ago, madmaltese said:

Played through Amnesia: The Bunker. Really enjoyed it. Loved the setting and was really short (finished in 3h 8min on Easy). Highly recommended

 

Nice, thats an impressive run time. You must have been really efficient with how you used your fuel and other resources.

[madmaltese★ 2,578]

2 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 

Nice, thats an impressive run time. You must have been really efficient with how you used your fuel and other resources.

Pretty much tried to never use anything unless fully needed. Practically never had combat, always ran away and always was trying to get a specific thing or go to a specific location. Rarely wandered around aimlessly or explored. 

Honestly thought the bunker setting during war was such a cool horror location that worked really well in terms of level design too. Easily my fav Amnesia game i reckon. 

[Twinblade★ 3,925]

1 minute ago, madmaltese said:

Pretty much tried to never use anything unless fully needed. Practically never had combat, always ran away and always was trying to get a specific thing or go to a specific location. Rarely wandered around aimlessly or explored. 

Honestly thought the bunker setting during war was such a cool horror location that worked really well in terms of level design too. Easily my fav Amnesia game i reckon. 

 

It took me around 4.5 hours but I was definitely taking it very slow. Every time I heard the monster or anything that sounded menacing I immediately dropped into a crouch and moved around at a snail's pace  The sound design in the game was so damn good.

[-GD-X★ 7,746]

3-4 hours? Shiiii I think I found my next game lol. It’s on gamepass, right? 

[Twinblade★ 3,925]

9 hours ago, -GD-X said:

3-4 hours? Shiiii I think I found my next game lol. It’s on gamepass, right? 

 
yeah it’s on there

[madmaltese★ 2,578]

Started Sea of Stars. We'll see how this hits

[Sabo 442]

On 2023-08-30 at 3:56 AM, madmaltese said:

Started Sea of Stars. We'll see how this hits

I've been enjoying it. Too early to really give a definitive opinion but so far I'm pretty positive on it.

[-GD-X★ 7,746]

1 hour ago, Sabo said:

I've been enjoying it. Too early to really give a definitive opinion but so far I'm pretty positive on it.

I downloaded it and will fire it up on Sunday

[JonDnD 2,636]

I tried the demo for Shadow Gambit. This game is pretty good. Ill snag it up first time it goes on sale.

[-GD-X★ 7,746]

Sea of Stars is such a charming game.