Rise of Ronin on PS5 Pro. Graphic mode+ RT limit Frames(60FPS) At launch the graphics & frames were not great. Especially as I was playing horizon West, finished it. And switched to to Rise PS5. It was not good. I dont know how updates were done before the Pro. But the pro makes the game so much better. It's play able. I'm back on it. RT makes a huge difference for seen lighting
What Are You Playing Right Now?
- Thread starter Explosive Zombie
- Start date
I should get around to playing this eventually. It's been in my library for like a year nowSW: Jedi Survivor. Got it for $0.99 via EA Play one month. Looks good on PS5 Pro.
I've heard really positive things about both Unicorn Overlord and Granblue Fantasy.
What flavor of JRPG are you in the mood for?
I'm playing a tactical RPG made by a western dev, but very clearly inspired by FF tactics and emblem at the moment.
I played the older one and felt kind of mid about it. Hoping they maybe learned and improved for the sequel.
Granblue is a decent game. One of the better action rpgs I’ve played this gen. Great music. Fun combat and build crafting options. Story is complete junk. I would be interested in playing a sequel or expansion tho. You can get a good 40 hours from it without needing to sink into the co-op endgame loop.
Resolution was bad tho. Any improvements for pro? I haven’t played it since it launched tbh and dlc didn’t seem like story content.
I've just finished playing Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, a turn-based strategy game by Dancing Dragon Games. Playing on the hardest difficulty, I think you're likely to average about 60 hours into this title. Collectively, it took me a little over 80, with some AFK time in there.
The game is inspired by games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, etc. and you take on the role of a young academy cadet, who gradually builds their army from nothing to fight against cults and empires. The story is... truthfully not very good, haha. It's about the level you'd get from things like Final Fantasy III~V; however, it's perfectly serviceable for moving the story from mission to mission.
As I just mentioned, the game revolves around missions which you deploy your armies into. Each of these missions have not only main objectives, but also optional side objectives, or even challenge parameters. Many of the optional side objectives involve seizing chests with rare items, or mines with rare materials. However, the challenge objectives are often a bit tricky, requiring you to complete a mission within X number of turns, or similar tasks.
Outside of missions, you can build some basic relationships with your companions. More importantly, you'll spend your time recruiting conscripts from a mercenary board, purchasing items from the market place, and investing these resources into your troops to boost their combat potential. Here, definitely, is where the game stands out from a lot of tactical RPGs. You can be EXTREMELY micro-managing with your squads, to the point where I easily spent hours just managing my army.
Every unit not only has a branching unit rank progression (soldiers can evolve to knights, or heavy pikeman, etc.) but also elemental aptitudes which effect their statistics, and up to three feat slots. Every unit can also be designated as a squad leader, not just story characters. You can use items bought in the market place to change a unit's elemental affinity, or give them feats like boosting their ability to crit a damaged enemy, or a magic barrier at the start of combat. Some feats only apply if that unit is assigned as the squad leader.
What works really well is that the game has a "capacity" system on your squads. Units have a stat called LDR (Leadership) which augments the capacity of a squad they're a leader on. As you add units to a squad, the marginal capacity needed for each additional unit increases. Likewise, there are items called "Artifacts" which you add to a squad to augment their abilities, or how they operate on the battlefield. When you play around with this a lot, you can make some really really goofy squads, like the example in the screenshot below of "Lysander's Squad." Artifacts also require capacity to apply to a squad, so you'll also be juggling item management across 15+ squads for most the game.
I enjoyed my time with the game, but I don't think I can generally recommend it to all gamers. I think you'd have to be someone who likes tactical RPGs, and furthermore is willing to overlook a fairly generic story in exchange for some pretty great gameplay. Some downsides for me included the final boss, which I thought was a bit of a tedious mission, and some missing quality of life features. The main one being the inability to check your squad capacity from the squad overview menu, meaning you'll do a lot of clicking into your squads individually to check if they're full.
The game is inspired by games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, etc. and you take on the role of a young academy cadet, who gradually builds their army from nothing to fight against cults and empires. The story is... truthfully not very good, haha. It's about the level you'd get from things like Final Fantasy III~V; however, it's perfectly serviceable for moving the story from mission to mission.
As I just mentioned, the game revolves around missions which you deploy your armies into. Each of these missions have not only main objectives, but also optional side objectives, or even challenge parameters. Many of the optional side objectives involve seizing chests with rare items, or mines with rare materials. However, the challenge objectives are often a bit tricky, requiring you to complete a mission within X number of turns, or similar tasks.
Outside of missions, you can build some basic relationships with your companions. More importantly, you'll spend your time recruiting conscripts from a mercenary board, purchasing items from the market place, and investing these resources into your troops to boost their combat potential. Here, definitely, is where the game stands out from a lot of tactical RPGs. You can be EXTREMELY micro-managing with your squads, to the point where I easily spent hours just managing my army.
Every unit not only has a branching unit rank progression (soldiers can evolve to knights, or heavy pikeman, etc.) but also elemental aptitudes which effect their statistics, and up to three feat slots. Every unit can also be designated as a squad leader, not just story characters. You can use items bought in the market place to change a unit's elemental affinity, or give them feats like boosting their ability to crit a damaged enemy, or a magic barrier at the start of combat. Some feats only apply if that unit is assigned as the squad leader.
What works really well is that the game has a "capacity" system on your squads. Units have a stat called LDR (Leadership) which augments the capacity of a squad they're a leader on. As you add units to a squad, the marginal capacity needed for each additional unit increases. Likewise, there are items called "Artifacts" which you add to a squad to augment their abilities, or how they operate on the battlefield. When you play around with this a lot, you can make some really really goofy squads, like the example in the screenshot below of "Lysander's Squad." Artifacts also require capacity to apply to a squad, so you'll also be juggling item management across 15+ squads for most the game.
I enjoyed my time with the game, but I don't think I can generally recommend it to all gamers. I think you'd have to be someone who likes tactical RPGs, and furthermore is willing to overlook a fairly generic story in exchange for some pretty great gameplay. Some downsides for me included the final boss, which I thought was a bit of a tedious mission, and some missing quality of life features. The main one being the inability to check your squad capacity from the squad overview menu, meaning you'll do a lot of clicking into your squads individually to check if they're full.
I've just finished playing Abzu, an atmospheric exploration adventure game by Giant Squid. The game is generously about an 1~2 hour playthrough, even doing a bit of the optional collectables sprinkled throughout the game.
The game is much more akin to an interactive animated film than some more gameplay focused titles. You play as a mysterious diver who follows a shark deeper into the ocean, uncovering the mysteries of this strange world along your journey.
For me, this game reminded me a lot of those interactive aquarium games which used to be all the rage back in the 90's. There is no text, voice lines, or otherwise narrative features aside from the environmental story telling, and some animated sequences with the shark. However, the game is a rich tapestry of aquatic wildlife, letting you swim alongside schools of fish, or ride manta rays (like the first of the images below.) Many areas are essentially giant fish tanks where you can "meditate" from a statue, and take on a god mode style viewing system, which allows you to see through the eyes of any of the fish in the zone.
The art direction and music on this game are very pleasant, and elicit a dreamlike quality to the experience. They toe the line between the surreal beauty and haunting emptiness qualities which, having scuba dived myself, feels not dissimilar from the experience of diving in the ocean. From a gameplay perspective, the diver "dives" more or less the way you'd expect them to operate; however, there are basically only five commands in the game "dive," "accelerate," "interact," "ride," "meditate." While the movement speed feels appropriate in most cases, there were some exploration sequences which had me wishing they could swim just a bit faster.
I could only see myself recommending this game to someone who enjoys relaxing atmospheric games, as there is truthfully not much else here besides beautiful art, pleasant music, and a relaxing atmosphere. However, having just come off a very long game, this was just the right bite sized experience for which I was hoping.
The game is much more akin to an interactive animated film than some more gameplay focused titles. You play as a mysterious diver who follows a shark deeper into the ocean, uncovering the mysteries of this strange world along your journey.
For me, this game reminded me a lot of those interactive aquarium games which used to be all the rage back in the 90's. There is no text, voice lines, or otherwise narrative features aside from the environmental story telling, and some animated sequences with the shark. However, the game is a rich tapestry of aquatic wildlife, letting you swim alongside schools of fish, or ride manta rays (like the first of the images below.) Many areas are essentially giant fish tanks where you can "meditate" from a statue, and take on a god mode style viewing system, which allows you to see through the eyes of any of the fish in the zone.
The art direction and music on this game are very pleasant, and elicit a dreamlike quality to the experience. They toe the line between the surreal beauty and haunting emptiness qualities which, having scuba dived myself, feels not dissimilar from the experience of diving in the ocean. From a gameplay perspective, the diver "dives" more or less the way you'd expect them to operate; however, there are basically only five commands in the game "dive," "accelerate," "interact," "ride," "meditate." While the movement speed feels appropriate in most cases, there were some exploration sequences which had me wishing they could swim just a bit faster.
I could only see myself recommending this game to someone who enjoys relaxing atmospheric games, as there is truthfully not much else here besides beautiful art, pleasant music, and a relaxing atmosphere. However, having just come off a very long game, this was just the right bite sized experience for which I was hoping.
Playing Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. I took a break from this when it released because of other games coming. I just love the story. Pretty fun so far.
Gf picked up Mario Party Jamboree last week and we've been playing it off and on. We bond over our disdain for the CPU characters and the desire to make sure they have a bad time.
I also got DQ3 HD-2D on launch, played that a few hours. It's alright, but I think it's one I'll have to play in small spurts because it's a little bland.
Yesterday, I started playing MySims on Switch. A lot of the discussions I've seen about the MySims Cozy Bundle have been leaning toward the negative side, and I understand because the controls are pretty rough to get used to, there aren't many QoL improvements, and the character customization leaves a lot to be desired. Despite its flaws, I've been enjoying it, but it could be nostalgia/rose colored glasses.
I also got DQ3 HD-2D on launch, played that a few hours. It's alright, but I think it's one I'll have to play in small spurts because it's a little bland.
Yesterday, I started playing MySims on Switch. A lot of the discussions I've seen about the MySims Cozy Bundle have been leaning toward the negative side, and I understand because the controls are pretty rough to get used to, there aren't many QoL improvements, and the character customization leaves a lot to be desired. Despite its flaws, I've been enjoying it, but it could be nostalgia/rose colored glasses.
Still playing through Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Almost 80 hours into the game. Halfway through Act 2. Doing every side/companion/region quest as well as finding all the treasure chests and completing the activities that give you increased maximum health and skill points. Love the environments, combat/gameplay is excellent and the story/characters is really good. Boss fights are great.
Honestly anything.
Have you played Romancing SaGa 2? i'm hearing it's a challenging JRPG and to me that sounds perfect. Something with deep gameplay systems and great music would be nice.
Romancing Saga 2 is on my wishlist to pickup. The last JRPG I played was FFXVI. Next will probably be Metaphor.
I also have Ni no Kuni and Octopath Traveler sitting in my library that I haven't gotten around to starting yet. I also have the new Yakuza games, which I hear are a pretty funny take on JRPGs.
I'll keep you in mind when I play any JRPG titles and let you know my thoughts.
I'd prioritize Yakuza 7 LAD and Metaphor. Those are some of the best JRPGs ever made. I really resonated with Y7 becuase rarely do you get a japanese game with an older cast, it was fantastic. Metaphor, I'd describe it as a PS1, or even a PsP/DS JRPG but modern lol, with an excellent story and cast. I'll also add I get very addicted to grinding in ATLUS games so the job system was quite fun for me.
I think i'll take the plunge on Sonic x Shadow alongside Romancing SaGa 2. Ys X, Granblue Relink, and Unicorn Overlord gonna have to wait a bit longer... But I have until MH Wilds to clear up the games I missed at launch. The goal is to clean up the games I have listed above, as well as finishing Dragon Age.