What are you playing right now? (2 Viewers)

[Morgan Jolley]

Jeff - Psychonauts 2 is a shockingly excellent sequel. You should play that immediately after finishing the first one.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Jeff - Psychonauts 2 is a shockingly excellent sequel. You should play that immediately after finishing the first one.

That's the plan as well as Rhombus of Ruin in between (did already play that one a few years ago)

 

[Steve Y]

Yesterday I started Sea of Stars via my PS Plus subscription. It's a Chrono Trigger-inspired turn-based pixel art RPG. I like it! During battles you can choose to press a button with the right timing to increase your attacks or defense, kind of like the Mario & Luigi handheld games. It also gives players of different skill levels some options to make the game a bit easier or harder for them. The nice animation makes the worlds seem alive (aesthetically it reminds me of Stardew Valley).

My biggest complaint is that the writing is littered with minor punctuation errors. But it's a pretty small complaint.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Sea of Stars is on my list, but I have like 8 games on-hand lined up and ready to go. The fact that it's on GamePass AND PlayStation Plus makes me think I should move it to the front of the line before it disappears. Their previous game (The Messenger) was excellent, so I expect it to be good.

 

[Edwin-S]

Still working on Elden Ring. Finally decided to tackle the Margit boss. I can almost beat it, but I seriously suck at timing this stuff. I take a lot of hits.

I make sure I have expended any runes I've collected before tackling any of the bosses in the game.

 

[Steve Y]

Still working on Elden Ring. Finally decided to tackle the Margit boss. I can almost beat it, but I seriously suck at timing this stuff. I take a lot of hits.

I make sure I have expended any runes I've collected before tackling any of the bosses in the game.

I started up Elden Ring again this week too. I'm making my way through

Spoiler

Hogwarts but with creepy Burger Kings

and am beginning to think I need to be more decisive about abandoning areas in the game where I haven't made progress in a while.

 

[Edwin-S]

I started up Elden Ring again this week too. I'm making my way through

Spoiler

Hogwarts but with creepy Burger Kings

and am beginning to think I need to be more decisive about abandoning areas in the game where I haven't made progress in a while.

I've been wandering around quite a bit, before attempting a lot.of the bosses. I tend to explore the map more than get into boss fights; although, I can get fixated on wanting to beat the things once I start fighting one of them. I spend a lot if time reading "You Died". When it gets too frustrating then it is back to wandering or jump to another game for awhile.

 

[Steve Y]

I've been wandering around quite a bit, before attempting a lot.of the bosses. I tend to explore the map more than get into boss fights; although, I can get fixated on wanting to beat the things once I start fighting one of them. I spend a lot if time reading "You Died". When it gets too frustrating then it is back to wandering or jump to another game for awhile.

The boss fights are the least enjoyable part of Elden Ring for me (or any of the Souls games). I know that's a weird thing to say for a series known mostly for its boss fights. I just don't like the way hits land and the glitchy chaos of boss movements. But wandering around and exploring the world is amazing. For example, although I defeated

Spoiler

Magrit and Godrick in Stormveil Castle

, making my way through its gauntlets and side rooms and tunnels and ramparts was challenging and amazing, and the part I remember most fondly.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Jeff - Psychonauts 2 is a shockingly excellent sequel. You should play that immediately after finishing the first one.

Half way through it and loving it. Just finished a level that seemed ripped right out of The Yellow Submarine. A very highly polished version of the first game, classic platforming goodness.

 

[Ruz-El]

I technically finished Hades on the switch. I got to the credits. There's still a ton of postgame stuff to unlock and what not, and some story beats are playing out but after a bunch of post credit runs I think I'm good. I'll probably play it off and on.

I'm hoping to finish Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PS4/5 this weekend. I'm at the end of Chapter 6. I botched some side quest stuff by accidently ending Chapter 4 too soon so my completion brain shut off and I'm hitting all the main/stranger/sidequest stuff I can and not worrying about completing the hunting/dinosaur/legendary fish list type gimmicks. If I ever play it a second time I'll spend more time on that stuff. Rockstar games are never going to be a platinum trophy for me, I just like clearing as much in game quest stuff as I can and since I can't do it now, I'm good with wrapping it up before the October scary movie challenge.

Having finished Hades as my side-game, after decades of hearing how good it was and wanting to play it, I've started Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past on the Switch Online SNES. I'm not very far in, just got the first pendent, but I'm really enjoying it. It doesn't feel dated. SNES games can really hold up. It's like classic animation, that style ages very gracefully as a genre.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Having finished Hades as my side-game, after decades of hearing how good it was and wanting to play it, I've started Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past on the Switch Online SNES. I'm not very far in, just got the first pendent, but I'm really enjoying it. It doesn't feel dated. SNES games can really hold up. It's like classic animation, that style ages very gracefully as a genre.

Link to the Past is still my favorite Zelda game out of all of them by a wide margin. It's soo damn good.

 

[Steve Y]

After a promising start, I dropped Sea of Stars. After four hours, I really started to detest the combat. If you make mistakes you are taken back to your last save point, which means a lot of repeating the same very easy sections to make your way back to enemies that overwhelm you. This would be totally acceptable in the 90s, but I have too many games to play. Can't say I was hooked by the story or characters, either. It's a visual marvel, glad I played it.

Yesterday I installed F-Zero 99 (free download) on the Nintendo Switch. This is one of "those" battle royale games like Tetris 99 or Super Mario Bros. 35, but it uses the SNES aesthetic (including the music) from the original F-Zero. It plays GREAT. Fun as heck. Hard as heck, too. But I fear Nintendo will yank it eventually, just like they did with SMB 35. I would gladly pay a few bucks for a single-player version that I can play in single-player perpetuity.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Steve - sounds like you are looking for...uhh...the original F-Zero, then?

I finished Final Fantasy XVI recently and enjoyed it. It was...an experience, to say the least. The big moments are BIG and it definitely feels like a next-gen FF game, but the quiet parts in between the big parts are really boring. I enjoyed my 50 hours of it but I have no interest in playing New Game+ even though it's gotten a lot of praise for improving the main game.

Now I'm playing FFV Pixel Remaster on Switch and started Stranger of Paradise: FF Origin on PS5. After those, I have Crisis Core: FF7 Reunion on PS5 (yeah, a lot of FF games, going through the recent back catalog). I also plan to take October to play through The Quarry on PS+.

 

[Steve Y]

Steve - sounds like you are looking for...uhh...the original F-Zero, then?

I love the original, but F-Zero 99 has subtle but nice graphical improvements and new features like the skyway shortcuts. I also think it controls better, and appreciate how many more vehicles they're able to fit onto the track. I'd love an F-Zero Plus!

The big moments [in FFXVI] are BIG and it definitely feels like a next-gen FF game, but the quiet parts in between the big parts are really boring.

I had the opposite reaction. The quiet moments (especially after the second disorienting story leap) really engaged me. They're what sold me on the game. They feel like the quiet portions of an epic movie after the intermission (only this game has several intermissions). Keep in mind I've completed (and enjoyed) every side quest they've thrown at me, too. And I say that as someone who got really bored with the endless road trip in FFXV.

I'm still playing through the original FFVII on the PS4. I haven't touched the remake yet, but I'm thinking of waiting until all the parts are released, assuming it happens in my lifetime. Because who wouldn't love 300 hours of awesome FF?

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I liked FFXVI overall quite a lot, but just not enough to go back and get the Platinum trophy stuff. I did all the hunts and sidequests but by the end I was just skipping all the chatting scenes for sidequests because the game is made so that cutscenes and conversations go way too slow. There's an awkward, almost intertial-jitteriness to the game that reminds me a LOT of PS2-era JRPGs...in a bad way. That said, a lot of the story-related cutscenes were good and held my attention. Except for when they ran on for like 15 minutes straight...multiple times in the same 1 hour chapter.

FF7 Remake was good but it definitely was designed and planned odd so it really sags in the middle. They turned a few hours of the original into a 30-hour game and it really didn't need that kind of expansion. There are a lot of good additions to the story to make it more sensible and whatnot, but then they left some of the awkward/cringey stuff in (like a lot of Barrett's lines). I don't think playing all 3 games in one go will be a good idea since you can't transfer save data, there are going to be changes to the gameplay between games, and there's a lot of stuff to do through replays that would likely burn you out after each one.

 

[Ruz-El]

If your a weirdo like me and want to play some of these in chronological to release order, the "Collection of Saga Final Fantasy Legend" pack featuring the gameboy series and "Collection of Mana" feturing the gameboy Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana and Tears of Mana are both on sale for 50% off on the Switch.
I started playing them, but now holding off for the Final Fantasy 1-6 series to go on sale. Mana breaks off from Final Fantasy on the Gameboy or some thing.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The Gameboy Final Fantasy Legend games are Mana games but Square didn't think anything would sell in the US unless it had "Final Fantasy" in the name so they renamed them for the US. They're not FF games at all.

I bought the FF1-6 pixel remasters on Switch. Overall, they're excellent but the one big issue I have is that they're all made in the same style/engine so playing them one right after the other is almost like playing a fan remix of the same base game. That said, it's a great base game.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

I loved FF7 Remake on PS4 to death, thought it was an amazing game. I loved FF16 as well, but would still put 7 Remake over it.

Now before Rebirth comes out in Feb, I'm planning on doing Crisis Core on PS5, Remake Integral on PS5, capped off with Rebirth. So much FF!

 

[Ruz-El]

I wrapped up Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PS4/5 last night, just in time to start the scary movie challenge this year as planned. It took awhile for me to warm to it, but I loved it. I don't think it nails the story quite as good as the first one did, but then few games do in my opinion. It did make me think about doing a replay of the first one. Despite the credits rolling, there appears to be some post game things to do and I think once the horror challenge is done, I'll do some of them before starting another main game.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Jeff - I'm playing Strange of Paradise: FF Origin right now. If you enjoyed 7R and 16, I suggest you take a look at it. The story is bizarre and very overwrought Japanese/anime-style, but the gameplay is really fun. It's basically a hack'n'slash action game with some RPG elements, similar to FF16. It's a little challenging but not as much as I thought it would be.