Yes but I haven't kept up with the series in eons, have never been particularly good at it (I love fighting games but historically the only series I've been slightly better than dogshit at are Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur), and while it obviously isn't really all that important, I think it has the dumbest, least interesting, and most aggressively stupid story/lore of the entire genre. It isn't as convoluted as MK or BlazBlue but man at least I care about what's going on in Earthrealm or how Ragna and Jin are dealing with their shit. I could not give less of a fuck about seeing what the Mishimas are up to while they canonically win the tournament for the twenty billionth time in a row.

I started with Tekken 3 and my favorite characters were Hwoarang and Eddie because I loved spamming the kick buttons. I recently replayed it an an arcade and found myself having way more fun playing Law. Tekken Tag 1 was where I fell in love with Bryan and Julia, who are still my go-tos to this day. 4 was the last mainline game I owned and I remember very little about playing it besides having a lot of fun whipping the absolute shit out of my brothers with Steve. The only one I've put any considerable time into since then was Tekken Tag 2, which is probably the series high point to me. My "main" (I hesitate to use that word since I've never played competitively and have never been good enough to even consider it) remained Bryan but I wound up learning to play Kazuya really well for my skill level. That's been the last stop on the road for me though.

Something I need to shout out though are the minigames. Tekken absolutely rules at optional side content and the side scrolling beat em up mode in T3 and the bowling game in TT1 are peak childhood gaming memories for me.

I picked up GoW: Ragnarok. I barely had any time to scratch the surface, but my impressions so far:

- It picks up where we left, mostly, and they didn't change the formula, but they didn't need to.

- Awesome graphics, super-detailed armor.

- The game starts really, really strong. I don't think it can keep the pace for 40 hours, but damn if it isn't one of the best first hour of a videogame.

- The axe still feels great, it's definitely one of the best weapons in all videogames.

Really mild spoilers since it's so early (1st hours or so):

I didn't finish the last God of War game.

I had the difficulty up too high, because I thought I was some kind of badass since I was playing Dark Souls games.

The difficulty was to the point that every enemy was a bullet sponge and Kranos was so underpowered that the game became stupid.

Miraculously the ending hasn't been spoiled for me, so maybe I'll go back and finish it on a lower difficulty then get this new one.

FUCK YES, HIGHLY RELATABLE STRATEGY

The highest difficulty it's so excessive at the start of the game, some enemies become beatable only with cheesy tactics like stunlocks and axe-sniping...i didn't enjoy it at all, and i'm glad i i tried it in my second playthrough.

In ng+ however you have all the overpowered gear/abilities and it becomes much more manageable.

You beat the game and then tried again on a harder difficulty. That was the smart way to do this. Not what my dumbass did.

I'm looking very forward to picking up the upcoming Need for Speed game. Too bad it wasn't out before Black Friday.

I will likely pick this up after a while, too. I've actually just started NFS: Heat. I'm only like an hour into the game but once I finish that I'll get the new one.

Any OGs ever play the original Two Worlds? Still one of my favorite games, to this day. Shame it isn't cross compatible with the Xbox Series X, or I would be playing it much more often, since my old 360 can't take much stress before it starts roaring like the engine of a space shuttle and reaching obscene temperatures.

Just finished God of War Ragnarok. Maybe not as good as the first one but still a worthy successor. Pretty cool overall. I got 100% of the game and it didn't feel like a chore.

I finished it not too long ago and I'd say it's a 7/10, maybe 7.5. A good video game, but kinda disappointing overall.

Disappointing how?

I played that on PC years ago. It was like playing a cheesy fantasy B movie. Everything was low quality but the world was huge and it was fun to roam and discover things. The magic system was creative though. Mixing and matching cards for different spells and effects was a good feature.

I agree. The campiness and cheesiness was part of the appeal for me. It's one of the only fantasy games I've ever played where being a mage is my go-to. In the Elder Scrolls series, which is basically my religion in life, I always just go for a nord, orc, or redguard light-armored warrior. I find magic to be a little lacking without mods in Skyrim and Morrowind, but I do often enjoy it in Oblivion, when paired with warrior stuff.

Oh lord, I was kind of hoping no one would ask because, well, there's... a lot A lot of annoying little things about the game that just drag it down and detract from the experience. I'll try to explain as best as I can, a lot of those may seem like "minor" problems but they all add up and compound into an overall experience that is sometimes fine, sometimes even kinda great, but very often just aggravating.

- Let's start with the obvious: the camera. It's bad for this kind of combat, it just is. The devs insist on having the camera very close to Kratos, which makes it mostly fine for 1v1 fights but absolutely obnoxious for multi-enemy fights. It was already the case in GoW2018, but it feels worse in Ragnarok because multi-enemy fights are basically 95% of the game. The game tries to compensate by having flashing arrows warning you about off-screen attacks, and your NPC companions going "behind you, Kratos!" or "incoming on the right!" and so on (which, in itself, can get really annoying but more on that later), but it's all a band-aid for a system that is obviously clunky to begin with.

It's a shame, because some of the 1v1 fights are actually really really fun, including the obligatory brutal post-game boss who is a genuinely good boss fight. Too bad those fights make up a very small fraction of the gameplay...

Then there's also how healing works, which is bizarre and frustrating. Sometimes you will finish an encounter with low health, and it doesn't refill and there aren't exactly a lot of health pick-ups (they generally heal pitiful amounts anyway, especially on harder modes where Kratos is squishy as hell). So you may start the next encounter with low health and die immediately... only to respawn at full health. This happens fairly frequently on harder modes, even when you play well because again, Kratos is VERY squishy and can die in 2-3 hits easily. But yeah, just heal us after every battle or something because it's just a waste of time really, since they heal us if you die and respawn anyway!

- Now, I spoke of the companion NPCs. And oh boy, they are annoying. Warning me about incoming attacks, ok, whatever. But they don't just do that. They backseat you the whole time, whether you are fighting, or coming across a puzzle. They will LITERALLY SPOIL the puzzle solution for you, completely unprompted. "Have you tried throwing your axe to freeze this switch?" or "Maybe sigil arrows can solve this?" or "Oh, I think you need a better angle to throw your axe here, maybe try to find a higher spot?". They will blurt out these things, unprompted, sometimes the very second you come across the puzzle (so it's not like you had been sitting there a while, but even if you had, fuck off I didn't ask!). Which then makes puzzles simply a menial task to pad out the game and break up the pace, rather than a genuine gameplay element. I could forgive this if it were just in a tutorial area, but it's not. And, of course, you cannot turn this off.

And I mentioned backseating in combat, too. "You have to parry this!", "Try a shield bash!", "Why are you not blocking?!", and so on. The worst offender is when you get hit with the burning or bifrost status effects. When you are burning, you are glowing red and it's immediately obvious, but your NPCs go "You're on fire! ...But you probably already knew that" (actual quote, the other one being "Kratos, you're on fire! ...It will pass"). It feels like the game is just trolling me at this point.

- Traversal. Arrrrrgh. It's such a slog, man. Squeeze through walls, crawl under tunnels, slow-climb... all the time, everywhere. Sometimes to mask loading (thanks for keeping this last-gen, guys), sometimes to separate combat arenas from the rest of the level, but there ARE other ways to do this that don't involve pressing up for 15 seconds all the time. It wouldn't be so bad if the game was entirely linear, but the game encourages revisiting previous areas (by unlocking traversal elements, adding secret bosses, side quests, collectibles etc) and it's mind-numbingly boring. There's one Realm where you also have to switch between day and night which unlock different paths, and navigating that, only to realize "oops I have to go back to switch to night", hop on the boat, paddle along the river, touch the switch, come back, traverse 3 more wall squeezes, etc., it's a nightmare I tell you.

Worse, their insistence on using the "one-shot camera" (more on that later) means that you cannot fast travel from a menu or anything, you have to physically find a Mystical Gateway, enter it, run a bit through a tunnel, wait for the door to appear, then cross the door. If there is dialogue scripted for this moment, even if the level already loaded, you have to wait until the dialogue finishes, too -- this is made painfully obvious for when there is no dialogue and the door appears immediately.

- Pacing and story. So, that one-track camera? Yeah it's dumb. Some "artistic vision" shit that adds nothing to do the game and is actively detrimental at times. It may make for more "intimate" moments for the character interactions, but when it comes to the gameplay, well, it causes problems as I mentioned above. And story wise it's not great either, it's obvious when they circumvent this by switching POV to another character, you'll see the camera track Kratos's hand depositing his axe, the camera lingers on his axe, then moves away to the other side towards another character and then the camera just follows that character and it's just... why lol

Worse, the actual grandiose, mythological aspect suffers greatly since no camera cuts are allowed, so a lot of key mythological events from Ragnarok happen off-screen. And boy the game's pacing is weak here. This is VERY light spoilers so don't click unless going absolutely blind, but I don't actually spoil anything:



Now what is actually good about this game? Well, as I said, the 1v1 combat is pretty dang fun, especially after you unlocked Runic attacks and all the weapons. The new weapon they introduce is VERY fun to use and genuinely cool both as a concept and to play with. Visually and artistically (Asgard aside lol) it's a very pretty game with some nice vistas. And story-wise, there's a genuinely cool story twist I definitely won't spoil (it blindsided me, yet in hindsight it was telegraphed pretty well, so I dig that), and there are several honestly touching moments, one of which I'll admit even made me tear up as I thought about my own father (who is battling cancer and is on borrowed time). One epilogue scene also hit pretty hard. At its core, it's a polished action-adventure game that could have been genuinely GREAT if not for all the problems above.

Hence, a 7. It's not a bad game. But it could have been a 9-10 had they not stubbornly insisted on some bizarre creative decisions that hinder it. It's a shame, really.

Welp, I knew I'd write way too much. LOL

I don't know, a lot of those things don't bother me at all. I actually prefer the combat close to Kratos, it's way more realistic and personal. As a matter of fact, I really hate when the game forces you to play a very tiny character for combat like they did in AC: Valhalla. Of those complains I only agree the companions are way too vocal at points, specially the clues and the combat. I feel the combat was due to them upping accessibility as much as they can, but you should be able to change it.

Other than that I also thin the first one was better, but it'd be 9,5 vs 8,5 so I'm happy with the overall result and the combat is super fun. I love that everything can kill you easier this time around.

Just been getting back into gaming a bit thanks to inheriting my brothers PS4. God Of War(2018) might be the first AAA game i've played in 15+ years, but i love everything about it. Maybe besides the lack of gore. Still 9 out of 10 masterpiece.

What do people here think of Dead Cells? I typically don't play roguelikes but it's also sort of a Metroidvania? Anyway, the new Castlevania tie-in DLC they just announced made me wonder if I need to jump on board.

New DLC for Dead Cells? That's some impressive support for an older game... Never played it, though.

Anyway, for those who don't know, fucking Mass Effect Legendary Edition is free on PS Plus this month. Three games plus DLC, remastered and improved with some QOL stuff. Phenomenal.

I think it's the best thing they've put out in quite a while on PS Plus. 2022 has been rough as far as the free games go. The Yakuza JRPG was a notable recent one but besides that... somewhat of a barren wasteland lately. Lower-tier, casual games were kinda on point, though; NFS Heat, Hot Wheels, Tony Hawk remasters, Spongebob; basically a late 90s / early 00s nostalgia trip. Apart from those and a few of the other games which I had already purchased, just a disappointing year.

It has a phenomenal gameplay loop, killer art design, tight controls and a lot of challenge. Not to mention endless support from one of the dopest developer teams ever. Get it.

Dwarf Fortress is good, y'all

I haven't seen anyone mention Callisto Protocol.

It's alright. It's the type of story I enjoy and there's some good gore.

The combat at times can be extremely frustrating. The character's inability to turn around reminds me of the early Resident Evil games. The controls aren't the same it's just the inability to quickly turn around. I haven't played Dead Space in years, but I don't remember the controls being this frustrating.

I enjoy the setting and the story, but I wouldn't go rushing out for this one.

I ended up buying this one as my girlfriend gave me a Steam voucher as an early Christmas present. I haven't started it yet but I will soon. Hopefully I enjoy it more than you do.

Yea, I was hoping I'd like it a lot more than I do. Maybe, it will be different for you.

I thought Callisto Protocol was ok. A bit frustrating, both technically (stupid stuttering everywhere) and in terms of difficulty in some parts. There's a certain part where there are waves of enemies that's absurdly hard for no reason. Those ultra big two headed mini bosses that insta kill you and take like 40 hits were also hard for no reason other than to piss people off I guess. The kind of hard that gets boring and makes you feel the game is unfair because most of the times you die are due to how wonky and hard to maneuver your character is.

Other than that I loved the atmosphere.

Yea, the atmosphere is great.

But, like you said the difficulty factor of the game comes from the game being unfair, imo.

I tried the Forspoken demo on PS5. It looks like it can be an alright game. The controls are a bit janky, and the graphics aren't close to what we've gotten in God of War or the likes, but you do have a wide selection of spells, you can move quickly around the map, and once you get the hang of switching spells, the fights can be fun. On PS5, the talking bracelet you wear talks out of the controller, which is kinda neat but could get annoying in the long run.

Yeah, I hated that part. Took me a while and decided to lower the difficulty because I wasn't having a great time.

In regards to The Callisto Protocol: I haven't finished it yet, but I feel like I'm in the last third of the game. Yes, the game is hard, and I have died a lot. Some parts are hugely difficult, and I have found that once you're in the dodging phase of their attacks, you can't reload your weapons or change to another weapon fast enough, so you have to rely on your baton or take the hit, some of which are almost insta-deaths. I'm playing on medium and haven't turned down the difficulty yet, but I might if it gets too hard. So, yeah, I'm finding the game to be a real challenge, especially with some of the buffed enemies.

With that said...damn the game is a lot of fun. The graphics and atmosphere are phenomenal. The movements of Jacob are extremely realistic. While the story isn't anything "new" per se, I'm very invested in it and the two main NPC's that ally with you through the game. The settings, both interior and exterior, are fantastic. Some players state they encountered stuttering, but I haven't had any issues with framerate or crashes or bugs (granted, my PC is quite powerful which does help). I was worried considering the mixed reviews on Steam, but I'm having a wonderful time with it and just love it, despite the difficulty spikes. I also like that, in some sections of the game, less is more when it comes to enemies. I'm very keen to continue playing and see where the story leads.

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I'm also currently giving Anno 1800 another go. I have all the DLC's, and I'm finally understanding more of the game. I think I just suck at city building/RTS games, really. I always lose money and can't figure out trading. I haven't tried going to the New World yet because I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing in the Old World. But I'm having a lot of fun playing it and building up my islands.

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Plenty of upcoming games this year that have me extremely excited. The Day Before, Park Beyond, and Sons of the Forest are just a small taste of all the games I've seen that look extremely promising. I can't wait to spend all my money and never go out and play these games. Are there any games that you guys are looking forward to?

I'm still going through Tactics Ogre Reborn right now, it's pretty damn engrossing and quite challenging at times.

After that it'll probably be Wo Long, Octopath 2, Star Wars Jedi Survivor... but I don't know if I'll buy any of those on day 1 except Wo Long.

A release day for Silksong sure would be nice...

You know, this may just be nostalgia talking, but that most recent one (I think it was Pro Skater 1 + 2) was basically the only game I really played on my PS4 last year (said PS4 is currently on the other side of the continent so suffice it to say I haven't been playing anything on it in the last few months). Absolutely no storyline, no characters, no nuance, but those two-minute skate sessions are weirdly relaxing. And the new additions to the soundtrack work really well with the classic ones. Personally I found it $20 well spent.

I'm not too familiar with what games are upcoming (other than the new Mass Effect one that's coming... sometime in the 2020s) but Wo Long looks pretty interesting! Thanks for putting it on my radar Morrigan.

Alright, turned out I was like 10 minutes from the end of The Callisto Protocol. Fantastic game with many difficulty spikes. I can't wait for the DLC!


That part was hard, yeah. What made it frustrating for me was having to get what I wanted at the Reforge every time. So I'd spend 5 minutes selling and buying items, only to die within 10 seconds and I'd have to do it again. Was a relief when I finally got past it.

But yeah, the whole game was fantastic. The ending is blatantly set up for DLC and that's totally cool with me.

Playing through Breath of the Wild for the umpteenth time in anticipation for Tears of the Kingdom. Strangely enough I've never played the DLC, maybe now is the time.

I beat it and there were aspects I liked, but as a whole the game was a disappointment.

If they make a sequel it won't be a day one purchase for me like this was. I was real excited for this game, but the controls were too clunky and the difficulty seemed to come more from debilitating camera angles than game difficulty.

That's understandable. Buying day 1 is a risk for any game, I suppose. I got this after the 2nd big patch they did so I missed all the day 1 shenanigans. I guess I liked the game more than a lot of people, if the feeling here and the Steam reviews are to be believed.

So, did anyone get Forspoken?

In 2021, I had a Pokémon obsession of unparalleled proportions, unmatched by any other game phase I have heard about. I played every generation from classics like Gold and Crystal, to the Gen Z era games like Let's Go Pikachu and Sword. Obsessed with the games, the music, the community, and especially the element of shiny hunting. In the summer of 2022, I caught COVID-19, and was quite sick, so I laid in my house and put on Elder Scrolls Oblivion. A huge obsession with Elder Scrolls soon followed, which I have yet to shake completely. I played hundreds of combined hours split up between Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. After that, I went through a few months of being really into Tekken, especially Tekken Tag Tournament 2, which has always been my favorite of the series. I also played Tekken 6 and Tekken 7, but found the latter to be a little underwhelming. Been playing a lot of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe lately.

At AU$114.95 for the regular edition, I certainly did not.

That said, I watched a streamer play it, and it doesn't seem as bad as the reviews are making it out to be. The dialogue does seem a bit cringey at times, especially the "banter" between Frey and Cuff, but I can deal with it if it means the gameplay is good. I can't stand the reviews generally, anyway, claiming it's "woke" for having a female person of colour as the protagonist. Who cares who the protagonist is, so long as the game is good.

I wouldn't mind getting it and playing it, but at its current price point, I will wait for a sale.

Reddit has a huge hate-boner for that game, but the demo wasn't so bad. You just needed to realize that they plugged you mid-game with lots of powers and that it was overwhelming. The combat needed some time to get used to but once I did it was really fun, as was the traversal. It seemed to suffer from AC-style bloat of repeated miniquests, at least on first glance, and it's also a design that Reddit has a hate-boner for. Seems like it's a 6.5-7.5 type of game, which is plenty fine if you're looking for a fantasy open world RPG, of which there aren't a ton. But it does seem to have issues, so I'm gonna wait for a sale.

https://kotaku.com/forspoken-square-eni ... 1849398320

I’m gonna wait for a sale, also. Especially, with you referring to it as “ac style bloat of mini quests”.