Gaming PlayStation Plus

Bosws87 said:
Valhalla is boring and goes on for about 60 hours too long GOT is miles better just for the combat alone.
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I'm going to give Valhalla a go purely to see how it feels/looks on the PS5, essentially just for some next gen gaming kicks. There's no way to skip some of the boring stuff, though? I always feel AC is interesting for 3-4 hours and then just piles on 50 hours of mediocrity (which I never see through of course).
 
amolbhatia50k said:
I'm going to give Valhalla a go purely to see how it feels/looks on the PS5, essentially just for some next gen gaming kicks. There's no way to skip some of the boring stuff, though? I always feel AC is interesting for 3-4 hours and then just piles on 50 hours of mediocrity (which I never see through of course).
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The story is actually quite fun and the norse mythology, but after you have done the same activity for the 654th time its a little tedious, i don't understand how anyone champions these games but there is obviously a big market for it.
 
Bosws87 said:
The story is actually quite fun and the norse mythology, but after you have done the same activity for the 654th time its a little tedious, i don't understand how anyone champions these games but there is obviously a big market for it.
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They should have a short version of the campaign. A 20-25 hour playtime for a game with AC's quality of writing (not great) would work well.
 
I like what I've played of Ghosts so far. Was underwhelmed by the graphics but I'm sure Horizons graphics make everything look a little, behind. It is pretty much a remastered PS4 game to be fair.

But yeah I'm enjoying it, got used to the combat, like what I've seen of the story and characters (but I regularly watch Asian cinema), can't wait to get back to it.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
I'm going to give Valhalla a go purely to see how it feels/looks on the PS5, essentially just for some next gen gaming kicks. There's no way to skip some of the boring stuff, though? I always feel AC is interesting for 3-4 hours and then just piles on 50 hours of mediocrity (which I never see through of course).
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I hated Valhalla when I first tried it but ended up enjoying it by the time I completed it. I actually fancy a revisit to stomp around again... It is extremely long though, but who cares? Deffo get your money's worth with it. Better than it being too short.
 
Must admit, I like the double meaning behind Crash 4's title.

You can take it was being an expression of relief, or perhaps anguish, given the time it took to develop; for it was 12 years between the release of Crash 4 and its predecessor, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.

You can also take it as a literal response about the game's story which concerns the titular character Crash or his sister Coco, who are tasked with saving the multiverse from domination by Doctors Neo Cortex and Nefarious Tropy.

It also works in this case as a response to fans who've been clamoring for its inclusion in the PlayStation Plus Monthly Games package. Not a demographic I'm personally familiar with but I'm sure they're out there.

Again, it's very clever.
 
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amolbhatia50k said:
Even if you're not looking to get all anal about collectibles but just wanting to progress?
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Even then. It's doable of course, especially if you enjoy platformers, but it does ramp up in difficulty relatively quickly.

Getting 100% is genuinely ridiculous though.
 
Since they've introduced these new tiers, I'm way more interested to see what they do each month to refresh the Extra and Premium levels. I think the PS Plus games have been fairly mediocre for a while, so hopefully, they can bring some excitemnt there instead.
 
Vidyoyo said:
Anybody else finding Crash 4 a little on the easy side? Feels like you need to be blindfolded and have one arm chopped off for it to pose any sort of challenge
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Really?

I'd heard it was really difficult.

Or is this a joke post?
 
For me the big problem with Valhalla was the combat. It’s absolutely crap. Think it was far better in Odyssey. It’s a shame as the world and lore is cooler in Valhalla but I think if you’re expecting someone to put in 100 hours you have to nail the combat and it’s just wide of the mark.
 
I love the idea of returnal.. but it’s so hard.. took me hours and hours to get past the first boss.. then it never feels like you’re making real progress or getting stronger/better each life.
 
muller said:
I love the idea of returnal.. but it’s so hard.. took me hours and hours to get past the first boss.. then it never feels like you’re making real progress or getting stronger/better each life.
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Its a bit too much of a crapshoot with drops. Even in the runs that start well you can just start running into endless malignant drops after an hour. Feels kind of artificial at times, like its saying 'you've gone far enough, im going to turn off the usable items tap now'.
The difficulty level being set at the level its at just leaves very little room for maneuver in terms of bad drops.
 
Observation - short little game. Very intriguing narrative with great sound design and voice acting. Only drawback is that gameplay mechanics are a bit basic / limiting. 8/10

Now trying out Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. First hour has breezed by but it's a little clunky.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Observation - short little game. Very intriguing narrative with great sound design and voice acting. Only drawback is that gameplay mechanics are a bit basic / limiting. 8/10

Now trying out Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. First hour has breezed by but it's a little clunky.
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I tried Observation a while ago but couldn't get into it, the gameplay felt too constricted. From your complaint I take it it doesn't open up after the initial stages?

Have fun with Bloodstained, I just finished it and enjoyed most of my time with it. I found it clunky in the beginning as well, coming from other 2D games that feel more responsive, but I got used to it.
 
Ainu said:
I tried Observation a while ago but couldn't get into it, the gameplay felt too constricted. From your complaint I take it it doesn't open up after the initial stages?

Have fun with Bloodstained, I just finished it and enjoyed most of my time with it. I found it clunky in the beginning as well, coming from other 2D games that feel more responsive, but I got used to it.
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It doesn't. I'd say the narrative, atmosphere and intrigue kept me interested and the tension ramped up in the perfect manner. The gameplay kept being as limited for the most part and was mostly was just something to do to get to the next event
 
Just noticed that Sony have introduced a tier system for Playstation Plus. Anybody upgraded yet?
 
Damien said:
I was grandfathered into the top tier for three years as I had both PS+ and Now. For the time being I'd say Extra is the best tier to go for.
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I was already signed up to Playstation Plus until Dec 2023 so just went for Premium but can't see where to access all the Now stuff?
 
I see it now. Must have been taking a while to update the account.
 
muller said:
I love the idea of returnal.. but it’s so hard.. took me hours and hours to get past the first boss.. then it never feels like you’re making real progress or getting stronger/better each life.
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Same. I'm so glad I didn't give in to temptation and buy it. Lovely looking but overall just a bit meh. I'm sure people love it but not for me.
 
Volumiza said:
Same. I'm so glad I didn't give in to temptation and buy it. Lovely looking but overall just a bit meh. I'm sure people love it but not for me.
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I'm approaching the end of it. Level 5 yeterday. Really dont think its loved to be honest.
Less than 50% of players beat the first boss according to the achievements. Which is pretty bad but wouldn't be so bad if that 50% were maintained throughout the game. But they're not. Its 1 in 3 for the 2nd boss, 1 in 4 for the 3rd boss.
Thats kind of disastrous isn't it?
 
muller said:
I love the idea of returnal.. but it’s so hard.. took me hours and hours to get past the first boss.. then it never feels like you’re making real progress or getting stronger/better each life.
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That's the gameplay loop of all rogue-lites.

Sometimes you become insanely OP, others you'll struggle to neat basic enemies. It's what offers the replayability.
 
b82REZ said:
That's the gameplay loop of all rogue-lites.

Sometimes you become insanely OP, others you'll struggle to neat basic enemies. It's what offers the replayability.
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To some extent, i'd say in most basic enemies are manageable regardless of your drops and it'd be pretty rare to become insanely OP. Definitely applies to returnal which has serious issues with feast or famine drops.
 
caid said:
To some extent, i'd say in most basic enemies are manageable regardless of your drops and it'd be pretty rare to become insanely OP. Definitely applies to returnal which has serious issues with feast or famine drops.
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I think Returnals issue is it's too slow at explaining it's upgrades and giving you new weapons.

But it follows the same basic loop as all the good rogue-lites. Isaac is the GOAT for action based roguelike games and that can also be feast or famine in your first few runs. Once you gain an understanding of the mechanics and enemies they become a lot easier.
 
b82REZ said:
That's the gameplay loop of all rogue-lites.

Sometimes you become insanely OP, others you'll struggle to neat basic enemies. It's what offers the replayability.
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You don't start from scratch in all though. In Hades you can make a lot of improvements to your character through the mirror upgrades and new weapons or weapon modifications. Curse of the dead gods gives you new weapons, buffs and of course its levels once done are actually done.

I'm hoping Returnal gives players some relief at least? As although I really enjoyed something like Hades, starting absolutely from scratch is really not a gameplay mechanic I'm a fan of.
 
b82REZ said:
I think Returnals issue is it's too slow at explaining it's upgrades and giving you new weapons.

But it follows the same basic loop as all the good rogue-lites. Isaac is the GOAT for action based roguelike games and that can also be feast or famine in your first few runs. Once you gain an understanding of the mechanics and enemies they become a lot easier.
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I think its issue is its too hard. I think its an 8/10 or a 9/10 game dragged down to a 6 or 7 by a really, really poorly judged difficulty level. I think they could cut enemy damage in half for the first few levels and by even more in later levels and the game would still be really hard. You still have to deal with the game randomly deciding to not giving you healing items for 5+ rooms in a row and nothing but malignant items.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
You don't start from scratch in all though. In Hades you can make a lot of improvements to your character through the mirror upgrades and new weapons or weapon modifications. Curse of the dead gods gives you new weapons, buffs and of course its levels once done are actually done.

I'm hoping Returnal gives players some relief at least? As although I really enjoyed something like Hades, starting absolutely from scratch is really not a gameplay mechanic I'm a fan of.
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That's why I compared it to Isaac. Returnal follows the same loop as that. There are unlocks but you can't boost your stats before a run starts.

The games you mention lean heavily on the lite part of rogue-lite. That makes them more newcomer friendly but make the game easier because you can gear yourself to be OP before a run truly starts.

caid said:
I think its issue is its too hard. I think its an 8/10 or a 9/10 game dragged down to a 6 or 7 by a really, really poorly judged difficulty level. I think they could cut enemy damage in half for the first few levels and by even more in later levels and the game would still be really hard. You still have to deal with the game randomly deciding to not giving you healing items for 5+ rooms in a row and nothing but malignant items.
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I don't think it's that hard. Once you learn the patterns and attacks the first few biome become trivial.

afrocentricity said:
I'm still playing it and I platinum'd it ages ago.
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This guy knows.
 
caid said:
I think its issue is its too hard. I think its an 8/10 or a 9/10 game dragged down to a 6 or 7 by a really, really poorly judged difficulty level. I think they could cut enemy damage in half for the first few levels and by even more in later levels and the game would still be really hard. You still have to deal with the game randomly deciding to not giving you healing items for 5+ rooms in a row and nothing but malignant items.
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It’s definitely too hard early on. Biome 1 is where I died far, far more than any other biome. A lot of it is based on luck with items and weapons you get.

Once you get over that hump though and start regularly pumping through biome 1 it gets brilliant and progress becomes waaaaay better.
 
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