The Old Sony Megathread

[Colly]

Same, I've been playing it two weeks and the collectables aren't irritating which makes a change. There's things that you always have to get right in certain games, and getting around in a Spiderman game is an absolute priority, they've nailed it here so you aren't even bothered they just nicked the fighting from Arkham.

Also my three year old is disturbingly good at it, despite referring to the baddies as "Barrys" which I am definitely never correcting. @Lineker

[Draevyn]

10 hours ago, Lint said:

I picked up Spider-Man on Saturday because I found out I had $9 in store credit at Gamestop.  Man, I wish I picked the game up earlier.  Its so damn fun just web slinging around NYC.  Only on the 4th story mission and am in no hurry to go farther because its so fun much going around the city that I'm actually trying to get all the collectibles I can so far.  Already got all the crime tower things fixed, almost all the backpacks and about half of the landmark pictures.  The combat is fluid but frantic and this is just such a perfect game

Yeah I am enjoying it as well. I'm a lot like you in that I've been doing most of the side stuff instead of the missions. The fighting is fun but can be frustrating at times when you're clearing hideouts and such and get overrun with so many people. Also getting to the final wave and then getting caught and having to start back at the beginning is a bit of an annoyance.

[probablyoliver]

Spider-Man was excellent, but I found some of it a little repetitive, especially towards the end when the side stuff seemed to be a bit copy and paste. Still, swinging about was always an absolute joy.

Also rumour has it that Last of Us Part II is coming in February. 2020 is going to be stacked, and my wallet is going to take a massive hit between September and May next year. Oy.

[Your Mom]

I will buy the super special edition of TLOU 2 with the janky plastic statue and the stickers and the useless DLC I don't give a fuck  

[Skummy]

I'm playing Valkryia Chronicles now - an impulse purchase based on vague memories of it being spoken about as one of the great JRPGs. It's pretty good, and mind-bogglingly complex, but not at all what I thought it would be. As much as I like - but am admittedly terrible at - a tactical RPG, there being no real exploration element to it is putting me off investing too much time, as just battles interspersed with cut scenes isn't the most engaging of gameplay.

[Bobfoc]

I think calling Valkyria Chronicles a JRPG isn't very accurate. Yes, you can level up your characters, but I'd call it more of a turn-based strategy game, albeit one that's on a slightly smaller scale than most. The story is completely linear and there's no exploration, so it's definitely not in the same bracket as Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger and whatever else.

I must say that the encouragement to grind put me off a bit, but I played on PC and just used Cheat Engine to get my troops up to the recommended levels, and I say that with no sense of shame because the most common way to grind requires no skill. Besides that, there are a few really jarring difficulty spikes that can take you unawares.

Even so, I enjoyed it. It's almost sickeningly twee at times, but I thought it was a lot of fun to play and I ended up getting quite attached to the characters. The personalities system adds a nice flavour too.

[Liam]

18 minutes ago, Skummy said:

I'm playing Valkryia Chronicles now - an impulse purchase based on vague memories of it being spoken about as one of the great JRPGs. It's pretty good, and mind-bogglingly complex, but not at all what I thought it would be. As much as I like - but am admittedly terrible at - a tactical RPG, there being no real exploration element to it is putting me off investing too much time, as just battles interspersed with cut scenes isn't the most engaging of gameplay.

It is quite good to do a mission at a time. I never felt hugely like sinking many hours into it in one go.

[Paton]

Just started The Witcher III for the first time. Looking forward to it, I saw that Spider-Man got a hell of a praise on here so I might try that after I finish this one.

[Ruki]

1 hour ago, Skummy said:

I'm playing Valkryia Chronicles now - an impulse purchase based on vague memories of it being spoken about as one of the great JRPGs. It's pretty good, and mind-bogglingly complex, but not at all what I thought it would be. As much as I like - but am admittedly terrible at - a tactical RPG, there being no real exploration element to it is putting me off investing too much time, as just battles interspersed with cut scenes isn't the most engaging of gameplay.

The first one or the fourth?

 

I just finished the fourth, and while I enjoyed the game, near the end I was rushing to end it (and looking up strategies to beat the bullshit fights). Most of the game can be won with Scouts + Defense Up order. And you can replace the slow and useless lancers with Shocktroopers + Demolition Boost order. 

[Krabby]

1 minute ago, Ruki said:

The first one or the fourth?

 

I just finished the fourth, and while I enjoyed the game, near the end I was rushing to end it (and looking up strategies to beat the bullshit fights). Most of the game can be won with Scouts + Defense Up order. And you can replace the slow and useless lancers with Shocktroopers + Demolition Boost order. 

whats the deal with 1 and 4 but no 2 or 3?

[Ruki]

Just now, JMarushin said:

whats the deal with 1 and 4 but no 2 or 3?

2 & 3 were on PSP, and 3 not released outside of Japan I believe. 

 

There was also Valkyria Revolution.... that was a disaster of a game. 

[Krabby]

7 minutes ago, Ruki said:

2 & 3 were on PSP, and 3 not released outside of Japan I believe. 

 

There was also Valkyria Revolution.... that was a disaster of a game. 

Ahh got it, thanks. What was revolution>?

[Ruki]

8 minutes ago, JMarushin said:

Ahh got it, thanks. What was revolution>?

Third person action game. But it was.... bad. And about 2 hours of cutscenes (or maybe that's what it felt like) before getting to play. 

 

[Draevyn]

I need to get The Witcher 3. I think it's the only game currently out that isn't a remake that I don't have and that I actually want.

[Ruki]

I own it, have barely played it.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I've totally missed out on Borderlands. Is it as good as people say? I'm considering Borderlands 2 'cos of the PSVR update.

[Lint]

57 minutes ago, ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster said:

I've totally missed out on Borderlands. Is it as good as people say? I'm considering Borderlands 2 'cos of the PSVR update.

I think the trilogy is free on PS+ this month

[Bobfoc]

33 minutes ago, Lint said:

I think the trilogy is free on PS+ this month

It's only 2 and Pre-Sequel.

I only played the first Borderlands. It was quite fun, but I didn't come away wanting more. I understand that Borderlands 2 was better, but loot games have never excited me much and I don't have anyone to play co-op with.

[Lint]

7 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

It's only 2 and Pre-Sequel.

I only played the first Borderlands. It was quite fun, but I didn't come away wanting more. I understand that Borderlands 2 was better, but loot games have never excited me much and I don't have anyone to play co-op with.

My bad.  I've never played any Borderlands game so I thought "The Handsome Collection" was the trilogy

[Skummy]

It's the first Chronicles that I'm playing. You're right that it's not really a JRPG, just that's the bracket it had always fallen into in my head, I'd always heard people comparing it to other games in that genre.

It's a lot more fine-tuned, strategically, than I'm used to, so there's a definite learning curve, though the battles tend to be intuitive enough that if you fail at first you soon figure out what you're meant to be doing. I just had my first battle run out of turns, though, against Maximillian's tank, which is an absolute bastard.