Gaming

[Mower Liberation Front]

Admittedly I was late to the party owing to not owning a PS5, but finally finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth... Only 164 hours to do so (and to think back in 97, I went through the whole game in 40 hours on my first go at the original)
Spent the last year avoiding spoilers/discussion of the game. Enjoyed it, but the minigames? They can fuck off, and the card game is absolute shit.



Only thing to do with those fucking moogles.

Still, roll on 2030, and the final part.

[Ducky]

Ah, the Moogles. I spent a fair chunk of my playtime saying "get fucked, Kupo!".

I loved Rebirth. Thought the pacing and variety was much better than Remake (no doubts owing to the fact it takes up a massive chunk of the original, instead of stretching the first ten hours to forty like Remake did).

Agree about the mini-games. A few would be okay, but holy shit, S-E. Disagree on Queen's Blood - played the shit out of it, but I do love me a good digital card game.

Looking forward to seeing what they conjur for the third part for sure.

[astfgyl]

Still haven't played rebirth and the only thing I've heard about it from the few mates that have is that it's very dragged out but then so was the original so that wouldn't put me off as much as the cross console element of playing the things would

[Ducky]

It's dragged out aye, but in a good way. Like if you say down to binge it over a few weeks you'd be sick of it, but there's a hape of varied content to keep coming back to, great variety of locations, and it takes in a fair chunk of the original game (unlike Remake)

[Mower Liberation Front]

It's dragged out aye, but in a good way. Like if you say down to binge it over a few weeks you'd be sick of it, but there's a hape of varied content to keep coming back to, great variety of locations, and it takes in a fair chunk of the original game (unlike Remake)

Absolutely.

And Yuffie's singing.  "I am so, so bored...."

[astfgyl]

It's dragged out aye, but in a good way. Like if you say down to binge it over a few weeks you'd be sick of it, but there's a hape of varied content to keep coming back to, great variety of locations, and it takes in a fair chunk of the original game (unlike Remake)

I enjoyed remake for what it was. Thought it was the best they could do with it to keep everyone happy

[Iliketortles]

Spent the last few months playing through Fromsoftware titles, done bloodborne first then the dark souls trilogy and just finished elden ring. Before I started them I couldn't sit down with a game before getting bored and switching the ps5 off. I was actually considering selling it due to not being into gaming as much. Fromsoftware definitely got me back into gaming in a big way.

[Ducky]

It's dragged out aye, but in a good way. Like if you say down to binge it over a few weeks you'd be sick of it, but there's a hape of varied content to keep coming back to, great variety of locations, and it takes in a fair chunk of the original game (unlike Remake)

I enjoyed remake for what it was. Thought it was the best they could do with it to keep everyone happy

I've tried to play through it twice (PS4, PS5) and burned out both times around the 20 hour mark.

[Ducky]

Spent the last few months playing through Fromsoftware titles, done bloodborne first then the dark souls trilogy and just finished elden ring. Before I started them I couldn't sit down with a game before getting bored and switching the ps5 off. I was actually considering selling it due to not being into gaming as much. Fromsoftware definitely got me back into gaming in a big way.

I've played the arse out of most of their games (Dark Souls 2 excluded, it feels "off" in a way that's been discussed to death online), and I think one of the reasons they have this sort of effect is you are forced to understand and engage with the gameplay systems.

A lot of modern games are too sanitised in that regard. No consequence for failure, can ace them without understanding the mechanics, etc., so you inevitably get bored quickly as they become little more than an interactive video.

Get on Sekiro and Armored Core 6 too if you haven't.

[Iliketortles]

Spent the last few months playing through Fromsoftware titles, done bloodborne first then the dark souls trilogy and just finished elden ring. Before I started them I couldn't sit down with a game before getting bored and switching the ps5 off. I was actually considering selling it due to not being into gaming as much. Fromsoftware definitely got me back into gaming in a big way.

I've played the arse out of most of their games (Dark Souls 2 excluded, it feels "off" in a way that's been discussed to death online), and I think one of the reasons they have this sort of effect is you are forced to understand and engage with the gameplay systems.

A lot of modern games are too sanitised in that regard. No consequence for failure, can ace them without understanding the mechanics, etc., so you inevitably get bored quickly as they become little more than an interactive video.

Get on Sekiro and Armored Core 6 too if you haven't.

I have Sekiro ready to go but I want to be in the right mindset. I installed and uninstalled bloodborne a few times until I got that mentality of: "OK I want to complete this regardless of how long it takes". Then I spent a month and half trying to complete it and did. The gas thing is i did not summon unless it was an npc as I hated the whole online thing mostly due not understanding it. So I completed it myself which looking back is crazy! That and dark souls 1 i completed without summons. Then I got into the online in the remaining games and haven't looked back. Would you believe dark souls 2 is my favourite of the trilogy. When playing through 3 I was missing it!

[astfgyl]

It's dragged out aye, but in a good way. Like if you say down to binge it over a few weeks you'd be sick of it, but there's a hape of varied content to keep coming back to, great variety of locations, and it takes in a fair chunk of the original game (unlike Remake)

I enjoyed remake for what it was. Thought it was the best they could do with it to keep everyone happy

I've tried to play through it twice (PS4, PS5) and burned out both times around the 20 hour mark.

Heard of a few lads giving up on it in similar fashion tbf. Where it failed for me was in capturing any of the atmosphere of the original but I still found it okay once I got past the initial shock of it not simply being the old game with better graphics.

[Ducky]

Spent the last few months playing through Fromsoftware titles, done bloodborne first then the dark souls trilogy and just finished elden ring. Before I started them I couldn't sit down with a game before getting bored and switching the ps5 off. I was actually considering selling it due to not being into gaming as much. Fromsoftware definitely got me back into gaming in a big way.

I've played the arse out of most of their games (Dark Souls 2 excluded, it feels "off" in a way that's been discussed to death online), and I think one of the reasons they have this sort of effect is you are forced to understand and engage with the gameplay systems.

A lot of modern games are too sanitised in that regard. No consequence for failure, can ace them without understanding the mechanics, etc., so you inevitably get bored quickly as they become little more than an interactive video.

Get on Sekiro and Armored Core 6 too if you haven't.

I have Sekiro ready to go but I want to be in the right mindset. I installed and uninstalled bloodborne a few times until I got that mentality of: "OK I want to complete this regardless of how long it takes". Then I spent a month and half trying to complete it and did. The gas thing is i did not summon unless it was an npc as I hated the whole online thing mostly due not understanding it. So I completed it myself which looking back is crazy! That and dark souls 1 i completed without summons. Then I got into the online in the remaining games and haven't looked back. Would you believe dark souls 2 is my favourite of the trilogy. When playing through 3 I was missing it!

Ha, yeah I did Dark Souls 1 back on the PS3 completely offline! I've never used the online summons either (outside of a cursory "what's this about" gawk), but I did use the Mimic Tears in Elden Ring as some of the boss encounters are clearly designed around it.

I believe the shizzle with Dark Souls 2 is it was developed by Fromsoft's "B" team, as their main team were busy making Bloodborne at the time.

Speaking of, The Old Hunters Bloodborne expansion is well worth it.

Word of advice for Sekiro - it's not a Souls game. It's a straight up action game, with almost zero scope for building your character (outside the typical action game unlocks). The systems are so damn tight that pure skill can see you go from getting wrecked by the first few enemies, to being invincible. I fell somewhere in between - struggled like never before, but got good enough to Platinum trophy/100% it on PlayStation.

Even though I have about 200+ hours for each game across Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 and 3, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, I'd put Sekiro as their masterpiece.

[Ducky]

It's dragged out aye, but in a good way. Like if you say down to binge it over a few weeks you'd be sick of it, but there's a hape of varied content to keep coming back to, great variety of locations, and it takes in a fair chunk of the original game (unlike Remake)

I enjoyed remake for what it was. Thought it was the best they could do with it to keep everyone happy

I've tried to play through it twice (PS4, PS5) and burned out both times around the 20 hour mark.

Heard of a few lads giving up on it in similar fashion tbf. Where it failed for me was in capturing any of the atmosphere of the original but I still found it okay once I got past the initial shock of it not simply being the old game with better graphics.

Yeah I think what killed the buzz for me is you spend most the of play time running around the drabbest areas of the original game. That's where Rebirth is leagues ahead - massive variety of locations to take in and explore.

[Ducky]

Was just on my way out the door there and realised my copy of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was on the doorstep. Won't get a chance until the weekend to play, but pretty hyped to do so.

Anyone else play it yet? It's supposed to be the best RPG released in years.

[Mower Liberation Front]

Currently playing Final Fantasy XVI. So far, the most unFFlike FF game I've played, I think. So far, it's as linear as 13's early stages, (at least no Hope whining through it) But only controlling the one character is odd. Enjoying it though, decent story so far, though it appears to be set in Yorkshire.
And you can kill chocobos! Only come across one moogle so far, and you can't kill it, but here's hoping later on in the game...