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EvanBenner said:
Got a little juice out of my neglected Game Pass this weekend. Figured I should tackle a few titles before the launch of BHVR/Supermassive's The Casting of Frank Stone today.

Knocked out Still Wakes the Deep which was pretty dang cool. I didn't find the story too surprising (it's basically a very popular horror movie transplanted onto an oil rig), but the production/visual horror was effective. Just a handful of hours long, so an easy one-shot completion.

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Also got a start on Senua's Sacrifice: Hellblade II. I loved the first game, so eager to see how this one pans out. Currently ~1/3 of the way in based on chapter count, so should be able to wrap sometime this week.

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Next on the docket will probably be The Casting of Frank Stone. Love me some Supermassive games, and I'm excited to see how this builds on the Dead by Daylight universe. We had a lot of fun with The Quarry and House of Ashes. Gonna shoot to finish Frank Stone before the Until Dawn remake drops in October. My SO really liked that one (I only made it a bit of the way in on PS4 before setting it aside). Might make a point of cooping the rerelease along with the other Dark Pictures Anthology games we've been sitting on throughout spooky season.
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hahahah, I also started and finished Still Wakes The Deep on Friday night. I loved it, I thought it was genuinely spooky and immersive. I loveeeeee Lovecraftian horror and this felt like an incredible execution with modern tech. Its basically just a walking sim with a fun narrative, but its gorgeous to look at and the monsters/mutations were SICK to behold. Whenever it was safe to do so I would stop and try to get as close to each horror as I could and check them out from all angles.

I love how the whole place starts feeling less and less like an oil rig and more and more like you're running through the innards of some strange and massive fleshy beast. They built and released the tension very well in my opinion, I love how in the final act it feels like every room you 're sprinting through has some horrible monstrosity in it. I also think they did the whole madness aspect of Lovecraftian horror very well i.e. the longer you look at a lovecraftian horror the more your mind starts to distort and fold in on itself, they executed that so well with the visual distortions on screen. Also love how the main characters grasp on reality starts blending with fear and memory the deeper into the game you get. Made me feel unsure about what the future of the game held and kept me guessing.
 
EvanBenner said:
Got a little juice out of my neglected Game Pass this weekend. Figured I should tackle a few titles before the launch of BHVR/Supermassive's The Casting of Frank Stone today.

Knocked out Still Wakes the Deep which was pretty dang cool. I didn't find the story too surprising (it's basically a very popular horror movie transplanted onto an oil rig), but the production/visual horror was effective. Just a handful of hours long, so an easy one-shot completion.

View attachment 212697

Also got a start on Senua's Sacrifice: Hellblade II. I loved the first game, so eager to see how this one pans out. Currently ~1/3 of the way in based on chapter count, so should be able to wrap sometime this week.

View attachment 212698


Next on the docket will probably be The Casting of Frank Stone. Love me some Supermassive games, and I'm excited to see how this builds on the Dead by Daylight universe. We had a lot of fun with The Quarry and House of Ashes. Gonna shoot to finish Frank Stone before the Until Dawn remake drops in October. My SO really liked that one (I only made it a bit of the way in on PS4 before setting it aside). Might make a point of cooping the rerelease along with the other Dark Pictures Anthology games we've been sitting on throughout spooky season.
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I got about two thirds of the way through Still Wakes the Deep on Monday. Enjoying it so far. I appreciate the fact that they’ve taken care with the accents and the way people speak; it feels authentically Scottish.
 
Feel like I haven't posted in a while, lot's of game updates!

I finished Persona 3 Reload. Ended up loving it and would highly recommend. The additional voice acting and hangout opportunities/team building/whatever really added to the world building. Retains all of the charm and appeal of the original, with a bunch of QOL and modernization that only add to the experience. Seemed like the Social Links had some slightly more forgiveness to them, even though I followed a 100% guide, which made sure you got to experience all of the new content. Achievements are more lenient too, no need to max level (only need 86 for 1 achievement) and fight the super hard/very specifically setup secret bosses. Don't have to fuse all the personas - nothing really changed between versions so this just saved me some time. Would recommend doing that for a first time player, but I did all that in the P3P version they had on Game pass previously, so I don't need to prove myself again.

One thing that is slightly different, and I thought was much better, was the ending sequence for the good ending. When I originally plaid, I did not realize that the protagonist dies. I thought the mental exhaustion of defeating Nyx, along with not being able to remember, was getting to him, and in finally remembering was able to rest with his friends at his side. Dumb on my part I know, as he and Aigis have a conversation where they discuss that they remember when no one else does. ANYWAYS, I think the updated sequence does a better job of showing that the character passes away right as everyone remembers and converges on the area they all swore to meet at. I also like that this version doesn't retcon Shinjiro's death like P3P did.
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Still playing Isaac. Still trying to beat Greedier with Tainted Lost. Still losing every run to something spawning directly on top of me. Still losing my damn mind with this one.

Got the 'Rona a two weeks ago, and wanted something chill to play. Took a break from Elden Ring, and started playing My Time At Sandrock. Charming little resource gatherer/build the things/befriend everyone type of sim. Think Stardew Valley but full 3D and with more building, less farming (though you can still farm). Honestly, it's probably a bit closer to the Rune Factory series. Fun and should be relaxing, but I feel like I stress more about the time management aspect in these games than I do with fighting a tough boss in a Souls game.

Lastly, wanted to knock out a quick one after Persona, so I finally played Solar Ash. From the people who made Hyper Light Drifter. Took a little over 10 hours to 100%. Didn't do the hard difficulty or speedrun achievements though. Overall a fun game with some mostly great movement, but when that movement doesn't work as you want, it gets frustrating quick. Cool art style to it and an intriguing story that sadly doesn't seem to fully flesh itself out, or at least not in a way that felt really satisfying.
 
I needed this laugh so bad.

www.thegamer.com

I’m Worried The Robot in Astro Bot Isn’t Attractive Enough For Me To Enjoy

Astro Bot is, apparently, fantastic. But how can I enjoy it if the main character isn't hot?
www.thegamer.com www.thegamer.com

But for real, Astro Bot is (unsurprisingly) incredible. I've cleared two galaxies so far.
If you're debating between regular and deluxe, know that the cosmetic bonuses are only early unlocks. My partner bought the regular before I bit the bullet, but I quickly unlocked the Bloodborne bot skin anyways, so I got what I wanted without the deluxe price bump. The real difference is in the art book and soundtrack.
 
I think when all is said and done, this generation will be considered a dud. Most of the games they showed are able to be played on PS4. Simply looking at it from a game perspective, it feels much more like a mid generation upgrade than anything else. GTA 6 will probably be the first actual current gen game, and that'll be 5-6 years after the consoles released.
 
Yeah the idea of dropping what will probably be over $1000 CAD with tax, PLUS another $115 for a drive to get better graphics for like 2 years until they bring out a PS6 PLUS they just RAISED the price of their garbage ass stick drifting controllers makes me want to just bail on everything Sony.
 
ayayrawn said:
No disc drive, vertical stand only + $300 dollars more than the original digital version.

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Stand actually sold separately 😂. I (wrongly) thought the company would make a more gamer focused turnaround after Jim Ryan left, but damn what miss. Will be interesting to see how this console sells.
 
ayayrawn said:
I think when all is said and done, this generation will be considered a dud. Most of the games they showed are able to be played on PS4. Simply looking at it from a game perspective, it feels much more like a mid generation upgrade than anything else. GTA 6 will probably be the first actual current gen game, and that'll be 5-6 years after the consoles released.
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we're still playing certain games at 30 fps on these consoles.

I love my Series S (I know, I know) but this generation has definitely been disappointing in terms of the leap from the previous generation. Covid didn't help, but at some point it is what it is.
 
EvanBenner said:
Got a little juice out of my neglected Game Pass this weekend. Figured I should tackle a few titles before the launch of BHVR/Supermassive's The Casting of Frank Stone today.

Knocked out Still Wakes the Deep which was pretty dang cool. I didn't find the story too surprising (it's basically a very popular horror movie transplanted onto an oil rig), but the production/visual horror was effective. Just a handful of hours long, so an easy one-shot completion.

View attachment 212697

Also got a start on Senua's Sacrifice: Hellblade II. I loved the first game, so eager to see how this one pans out. Currently ~1/3 of the way in based on chapter count, so should be able to wrap sometime this week.

View attachment 212698


Next on the docket will probably be The Casting of Frank Stone. Love me some Supermassive games, and I'm excited to see how this builds on the Dead by Daylight universe. We had a lot of fun with The Quarry and House of Ashes. Gonna shoot to finish Frank Stone before the Until Dawn remake drops in October. My SO really liked that one (I only made it a bit of the way in on PS4 before setting it aside). Might make a point of cooping the rerelease along with the other Dark Pictures Anthology games we've been sitting on throughout spooky season.
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what are your thoughts on Hellblade 2? I played through both, one after the other, when Hellblade 2 came out and found people's takes on both games pretty interesting, so since you're playing, and maybe done at this point, I figured I'd ask
 
Tillman said:
what are your thoughts on Hellblade 2? I played through both, one after the other, when Hellblade 2 came out and found people's takes on both games pretty interesting, so since you're playing, and maybe done at this point, I figured I'd ask
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Been a helluva few weeks with work, so I haven't picked it back up yet. Astro Bot kinda took precedence in my off hours this week.

I'm good with 2 overall so far. I think the first game really nailed Senua's inner turmoil which is what made it so effective. Can't really retread that. Curious to see where they take things now that it's less of a personal story. Weirdly, some of the new elements are giving me Control vibes. However, I'm finding that one of the few elements I don't enjoy as much is the combat, which is a little too stagey and not much of a challenge with the mirror ability. The insistence on perfect parries strips the spontaneity out of things.
 
Tillman said:
we're still playing certain games at 30 fps on these consoles.

I love my Series S (I know, I know) but this generation has definitely been disappointing in terms of the leap from the previous generation. Covid didn't help, but at some point it is what it is.
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Yeah just looking at the stats and what they're saying about the Pro, it's basically that you can now play quality mode at 60 fps instead of 30. For $1000. No thanks. The 60 fps performance modes are generally close enough to the quality modes in most games that it's not worth the difference for me. If I could play PC high settings at 60 then that's a different story for that price.
 
EvanBenner said:
Been a helluva few weeks with work, so I haven't picked it back up yet. Astro Bot kinda took precedence in my off hours this week.

I'm good with 2 overall so far. I think the first game really nailed Senua's inner turmoil which is what made it so effective. Can't really retread that. Curious to see where they take things now that it's less of a personal story. Weirdly, some of the new elements are giving me Control vibes. However, I'm finding that one of the few elements I don't enjoy as much is the combat, which is a little too stagey and not much of a challenge with the mirror ability. The insistence on perfect parries strips the spontaneity out of things.
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I don't disagree with what you pointed out with the combat, but I definitely preferred 2's combat more. it's not the most amazing combat, but neither was 1's combat, which also had its issues.

I think not playing part 1 earlier than I did didn't help things for me. like, I understand the reviews when the game was released, but playing it all these years later I wouldn't have rated it so high... but I find part 2, while far from a perfect game, to be more enjoyable than part 1. I don't want to go too much until things since you're not done with it, but overall I liked 2 more, but the general consensus is that 1 is the better game.
 
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