General Gaming thread

punchesjudy

Ok so I've progressed more with Elden Ring and the part I'm currently on is pretty awesome. 
The open world stuff I find really very tedious though. I do most open world games to be fair. It's like Zelda BotW without the fun... For me at least. 

Sporky

Recently I very much enjoyed Death's Door. That was ace. I'm on Blue Fire at the mo; good, but the platforming is jolly tricky at times. 

punchesjudy

Deaths Door is amazing! 

ThePrettyDamned

punchesjudy said:

Ok so I've progressed more with Elden Ring and the part I'm currently on is pretty awesome. 
The open world stuff I find really very tedious though. I do most open world games to be fair. It's like Zelda BotW without the fun... For me at least. 

I am loving it - but it, so far, doesn't have the same "grab" of dark souls or bloodborne for me. That's not unexpected - bloodborne is basically a perfect horror action game, and dark souls is always going to be... Perfection in every way. 

However, the more time I spend in it (4.5 hours or so, so far, so not long at all!) the more I like it. It's a different pace - it's more like lulling me in, instead of dark souls or bloodborne absolutely blowing my mind in 15 minutes. In dark souls and bloodborne I search for action and speed, but this is more like a chilled exploration punctuated by challenging action. 

So glad I'm not doing a magic build. I'm going to do a dex build, which is a shame as no dex weapons found yet and a few strength weapons have been! However, that's dark souls all over. Magic in souls games is so overpowered for pve. The combat is excellent - it's very dark souls. I have two swords equipped, and one of them I can parry with which is excellent. 

Love the voice overs. 

Not loving how much music there is. It's always got music. Bloodborne only has music when it's... Beneficial to the player. So I'm going to drastically lower the music volume.

The story is a complete embafflement. Excellent - exactly what I want. I want several play through before I understand what the hell I'm supposed to be doing.

The visuals are genuinely incredible, and the "feel" is right.

Stealth is an... Interesting addition. I like the idea of running away from stuff (per standard soulsborne behaviour!), so I am not going to use stealth as much as possible. It feels wrong!

punchesjudy

@ThePrettyDamned I'm just glad I'm past hating it ha.

 Im finding it hard to play in long sessions like I can with DkS and Bloodborne/Sekiro but I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing. I can take my time and enjoy??? It bit by bit. 

I'm strength build, no magic for me. Never enjoy using magic. You'll be happy to know I've found a couple of Dex weapons and I'm about 8 hours in so depending where you go you may end up with some soon. 

I get the feeling it won't be a game I return to much if at all like I do the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne. Same with Sekiro for me. After initially rinsing it I didn't play it again for an age. 

TeleMaster

Maybe a silly question but I’m playing as a Samurai and if I press L1/L2 it goes to the bow. How do I quickly get my sword back? I’ve been cycling through with the right D pad to re-equip it but this seems long?

Sporky

I just tried Golf Club Wasteland. Then I submitted my first ever Xbox refund request. What an awful, drab exercise in frustration that game is... 

RedRabbit

I think you'll be able to get back to the sword by holding triangle and pressing R1.  Might need to do it twice depending on whether you want to two-hand it or not.

I'm playing as a warrior and I'm going for a strength build - possibly a quality build if I find a weapon with decent strength and dex scaling.  I've not found any weapons of note yet though.  Certainly nothing with decent scaling.

Anyway, after running into a bit of a wall yesterday I've been exploring a bit more today.  Found some interesting looking things that I've got no idea about at the moment.  Hoping it becomes clear but I'm not counting on it!

While I was wandering about I think I went about half an hour without running into an enemy (other than the wildlife I was "hunting") which just isn't something I'm used to in a souls game.  The game made up for it though when I found an area with plenty of them and a mini-boss behind a fog gate.  Crawled out of there with only a sliver of health left and no flasks lefts.

CavemanGrogg

meltedbuzzbox said:

CavemanGrogg said:

I was really looking forward to getting a PS5, I gave up on the Xbox platform shortly after buying an Xbox One, but I've never got round to doing it.  I really liked the first Horizon Zero Dawn game, was really excited about a second one.  And now somehow I been taken in by real time stratergy games, the Civ series and such, which though available for consoles, and are identical to their PC counterparts on all the platforms they are available, just don't feel right on a console.  This weekend for example, instead of firing up the PS4, I've been playing in a Civ multuplayer match.

Civ is amazing but a real time sink.
The amount of times I've sat at my pc, all red eyed saying one more turn...

And then some, I've not long finished a multiplayer map, granted huge, 4 players, 4 bots, no turn limit, only natural wonders, military victory, and one or two speed settings below normal way slower than multplayer speed, diety difficulty for the bots.  We started the match Friday afternoon, that's 3 days ago.  It's no wonder I haven't used the PS4 for gaming for so, I'm gamed out for the week.

DefaultM said:

Civ is what my wife plays on Nintendo Switch, which im sure isn't as good as the PC version but I suppose at least you can just sit on the sofa and play it casually.

We're playing Civ VI on tablets, if you have big enough tablet it's identicle in everyway to playing it on the PC barr the use of your finger instead of a mouse, menus system and layers are identical, cut scenes, voice overs... the works.  It is by far the most impressive mobile game that I've come accross, granted it costs the same to  buy on Android and IOS as to buy it for the PC and consoles, and you have to have internet connection to begin an offline single  plsayer match - you can disconnect once the match starts, but we're finding it a much more enjoyable way to play Civ than through a PC/laptop, we'd actually rather play it on a console than a PC

TeleMaster

Haven’t died in Elden Ring yet. Done a boss in a cave and done a little village. Playing Bloodbourne all these last few weeks has definitely prepared me. It’s good!

If anyone wants Gran Turismo you can get 15% off with code RACE at Currys but you have to pre order.

RedRabbit

TeleMaster said:

Haven’t died in Elden Ring yet. Done a boss in a cave and done a little village. Playing Bloodbourne all these last few weeks has definitely prepared me. It’s good!

I suspect you've taken a similar path to me.  I didn't die in the cave but it was close towards the end of the fight.  I did die the first time I tackled the soldier encampment though.  It's the gate after this that I got stuck at - I can take down the big troll type thing but it leaves me with so little health/flasks that I daren't go through the archers.  I'm hoping some adventuring will reveal either a bigger sword or at least some upgrade materials so I can start smithing.  I've always gone for a hit harder rather than smarter approach with dark souls.

TeleMaster

RedRabbit said:

TeleMaster said:

Haven’t died in Elden Ring yet. Done a boss in a cave and done a little village. Playing Bloodbourne all these last few weeks has definitely prepared me. It’s good!

I suspect you've taken a similar path to me.  I didn't die in the cave but it was close towards the end of the fight.  I did die the first time I tackled the soldier encampment though.  It's the gate after this that I got stuck at - I can take down the big troll type thing but it leaves me with so little health/flasks that I daren't go through the archers.  I'm hoping some adventuring will reveal either a bigger sword or at least some upgrade materials so I can start smithing.  I've always gone for a hit harder rather than smarter approach with dark souls.

I’m okay with the troll now. Stay behind him take the legs out. It’s the fact that like you, I have no health/flasks so the remaining troops going up the hill are hard. What a game though. 

Sporky

Is it worth a go if I found Demon Souls pointlessly hard and frustrating? I'm fine with it just not being my sort of game. I did complete Rogue Legacy so I don't mind difficult when it's done well, but I am not a gaming god. 

RaymondLin

I see the Souls game like football.  I love watching it, i love the drama but I suck at playing football so I won't even try as I would just be embarrassing and fustrating. 

I am at peace with that.

TeleMaster

I was so bad at Bloodbourne that I gave up after a few hours. I saw Elden Ring and thought, I’ll give it another go. I persevered and basically completed it. 

Yes I did attempt bosses like 50 times and I smashed a plate once, but if you keep going, you’ll get better. 

FarleyUK

Trust me, you cannot be as bad as I am at SoulsBourne games. I've yet to defeat a dungeon boss in Elden Ring.

CavemanGrogg

FarleyUK said:

Trust me, you cannot be as bad as I am at SoulsBourne games. I've yet to defeat a dungeon boss in Elden Ring.

Is that a challenge or bet I hear?

TeleMaster

I have beaten Margit the Fell Omen with help from my wolves and a summoned tarnished. Very difficult. 

Can you parry with any shield or is it impossible with a wooden shield against larger, harder enemies?

ThePrettyDamned

Sporky said:

Is it worth a go if I found Demon Souls pointlessly hard and frustrating? I'm fine with it just not being my sort of game. I did complete Rogue Legacy so I don't mind difficult when it's done well, but I am not a gaming god. 

It's comfortably the easiest. 

Demon's souls isn't terribly frustrating, it just demands attention. All of these games punish mistakes but reward good play. You definitely don't need to be a gaming god.

I've been exploring, ignored the main quest and found other fun stuff. Now I'm in a cave of some kind. Fun stuff, but I'm getting back to main bit afterwards, it's lost some direction - typical open world I guess! 

ThePrettyDamned

@Sporky with that said, if it ain't your bag, don't bother - plenty of other great games out there