PWB October

October already?!

Play

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate: it really can't be overemphasised how ridiculously huge this game is. I've been playing it for a month now and I'm still on Low Rank hunts - up to 6 star village quests and HR3 online. Truth be told, I think there are actually too many of these early quests: the difficulty curve is very flat (these hunts aren't that much more difficult than the early ones) and I've hardly needed to worry about armour sets or weapon upgrades at all, which is kind of the most fun bit of Monster Hunter. So I'm anxious to get onto the hard stuff, as at the moment it just feels like I'm fighting monster after monster without really having to engage with the game too much. The online stuff is great, but again the game's so big that finding people at your level is harder than it should be. All this makes it sound like I'm down on the game, which I'm not, but I wish it saved more of its content for end game rather than padding out the early stages quite so much.

Yoku's Island Express: started this last night in the search for something lightweight and fun to distract me from 100-hour RPGs. And it's really good! The areas are a bit samey and, as with most Metroidvanias, I'm a bit concerned that if I stop playing it for a day or two I'll immediately forget where I am and what I'm supposed to be doing, but as a palate cleanser it's perfect. I reckon it'll be Hollow Knight next for me.

Want

I still really like the look of Marvel's Spider-Man although it should be due for its first price drop any day soon, given the usual trajectory of Sony first-party releases.

Very interested in Astro-Bot Rescue Mission. Loved the little VR platforming demo it's based on and I'm hearing really good things about it.

I'd really like to pick up some new board games to play but I'm suffering a bit from board game ennui. Everything I buy seems a bit samey, and finding that balance where a game's deep enough to be interesting without requiring two hours to set up and a week to understand all the rules seems impossible right now. Recommendations welcome as ever.

Bin

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. I've given it a really, really good try, but it's time for this to go into the bin where it belongs. It's the only Final Fantasy game I've ever given up on and every step in it now feels like a slog, so no regrets on this one.

Pokemon Go. Without the constant tick-tick-tick of experience gain, my enthusiasm for playing this has evaporated. Much of what's left is hunting for shiny Pokemon, and they have such a low drop rate that you have to put hours and hours in to stand any chance of getting one; you can literally play it for days and achieve nothing of note. Haven't got time for that. Maybe when they increase the level cap or bring in Gen 4, I'll revisit the game.

Play

Spider-Man - Slowly. About 80%-ish through the story, but loads of side stuff left; think I've got 100% on one district, and around 60-something on the others. Still enjoying it, but I sort of feel like some bits are likely to be a chore if I decide to chase the platinum.

Overcooked 2 - We only manage a couple of levels every now and then, but we finished world 5 last night. It's still throwing new recipes at us, too!

D&D - Tomorrow will see the table debut of my felt-painted kobold mini, which I have been looking forward to for weeks (I missed D&D last week, as I was back in Norn Iron for a wedding).

Want

Hitman 2 - I've lost count how many times the preorder had been added to my PSN cart, but I don't know if/when I'll have the time to dedicate to it - it's not exactly a drop-in-and-out kind of thing. The non-episodic thing is weirdly offputting, too, though I can't explain why.

Sea of Thieves - Haven't played much in a while, but I want to get back into it. Since we last played seriously, they've added a whole new region to the game, a new ship type, skeleton ship battles, rowboats, and now they're working on beefing up the trading companies (especially the Merchants' Alliance, which badly needed it).

Bin

Nothing, as usual; there's a lot on hold at the moment, as we're currently between houses with a lot of stuff in storage.

Play

I'm properly in sync with Yakuza 0 now, having a ton of fun with its insane sidequests and even pummeling wannabe thugs in the street for pocket money is enjoyable after I've upgraded my skills a bit. I've just unlocked the real estate minigame(!) which seems ridiculously complex.

My backer code for Wandersong on Switch came through on launch day and I've enjoyed what I've seen of it so far - I could do with less platformy-puzzle stuff if I'm honest, but just dancing around and singing at people is quite fun.

We're approaching the end of this part of our Monster of the Week campaign, which is exciting and terrifying. Last session saw some unexpected time travel (and in hindsight there's actually a much cooler way I could have resolved it!) which has ramped up the tension and sped up some information-gathering, but I'm still not sure I've figured out how to communicate important information in a way that's neither obvious nor too subtle.

Want

No videogames - I'm going to make a definite effort to clear out some of my backlog before picking up anything new. I've got so much stuff sitting on my PS4, plus a couple of Switch titles that haven't had much love recently, to keep me busy for months.

But on the tabletop front, so much. With Monster of the Week ending soon, we'll either be hopping into a short 5e adventure for a bit or (in an increasingly likely scenario) I will forego playing for longer to finally get 13th Age to the table. I feel like 5e first might be the better approach, though - get everyone back into a familiar d20 system for a bit before pulling them into a totally new one.

Bin

Nothing right now - I just don't seem to be churning through things anymore.

play: GTA V. In answer to the question 'who is still buying this?'; it's me.

Something about the price point when I looked at the store on Friday was enough to convince me to buy the base game again. Couple with it scratching an itch that won't be filled by Spiderman or Red Dead until they come down in price.

Played a few hours over the weekend, all pretty relaxing and enjoyable. Don't feel any particular rush to progress so really just tooling about, moving the story forward enough to open up barber shops and clothing stores and checking out new textures and vehicles in the PS4 version. Mainly surprised how little I remember from the early part of the game.

Play

Horizon: Zero Dawn I really like this. I think. It's certainly absorbing, and I seem to just lose time to it like no other console game I've played in years, but there's something about it that just doesn't quite work, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is. It's definitely very pretty, and in many ways a very good game, but… yeah.

That's not to say that I can't think of anything specific that's bad about it - the fact that a character that's basically advertised as an incredibly agile super-ninja is so picky about what she can and can't grab hold of while "platforming" is incredibly irritating - but I feel like it's somehow both more and less than the sum of it's parts in ways that I can't quite explain.

Dead Cells Just a brilliant game, probably my favourite of the year so far. I also occasionally have a run or two on Enter the Gungeon, Nuclear Throne, City of Brass or Monster Slayers, but Dead Cells is definitely my current Roguelite of choice (and I have a lot of them).

Slay the Spire This is a statement of intent as much as anything, as it's one of the only games I ever play on Steam these days, but as I very rarely open up my Mac anymore it's being sorely neglected, despite being excellent.

Into the Breach See above.

Hearthstone Still. It's my last remaining "never-ending" game, since I kicked Destiny 2 and Rocket League, but I'm as close to giving up on it as I ever have been. In fact I might just delete it now and see how a trial separation goes…

Want

The only "new" things I can think of are the Mark of the Ninja remaster (as that came out after I sold my 360, so I've never owned it) and the Castlevania collection with Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood on it. I've got my eye on both the new Cthulhu games too though, just on the off-chance at least one of them is actually any good.

Oh, and Sekiro. Definitely, definitely Sekiro.

I mainly want to actually get around to about half of my backlog. Hitman, Persona 5, Darkest Dungeon, XCOM 2, Shadow Tactics and about 15 Metroidvania games are currently fighting to be head of the queue, though mercifully I think it might be easier for me to switch between different games/genres on the fly again after I finish HZD..

Oh, and I want to restart Bloodborne, so I can finally play the DLC, and maybe even see how feasible the Platinum is.

Bin

Um. Hearthstone, maybe?

Other than that, I think most "proper" AAA games don't really appeal in the same way anymore (no interest in any recent AC, GoW, etc), so they can probably go in here too. I've just done a run of Rise of the Tomb Raider, Spider-Man and now HZD, and despite them all being good games, I'm very much AAA-ed out, and part of me wishes I hadn't bought the first and third of those, despite getting both of them for under £15.

Pokemon Go. Without the constant tick-tick-tick of experience gain, my enthusiasm for playing this has evaporated.

Please note, Gar, this doesn't excuse you from trading me the Regirock you promised. I need one please. :D

Anyway…

PLAY

Hollow Knight - Feel like I'm getting close to the end of this one, or at least in the final stretch; one 'thing' to go, a bunch of bosses to beat, a few remaining grubs to find (which are now handily on my map since I beat the [REDACTED]. Really enjoyed this one, though it took a while to turn the corner where I felt comfortable going into boss battles. That said, even now when I've got a really upgraded nail, a bunch of crests that enhance my skills and the cloak that lets me dash through enemies without getting hurt, nothing's a pushover. Fuck the Traitor Lord and that stupid Warrior's Dream with his pounding hoops of doom.

Transformers Devastation - Made a start, got to the first boss, got absolutely annihilated. It's fucking hard, though I have put it on the highest difficulty for trophy reasons. Didn't think it'd be this bad though. I'm not having much fun at all and I suspect it'll end up in the Bin pile pretty quickly.

WANT

Things - Spider-Man, Red Dead 2, the new Castlevania bundle (which I've already pre-ordered… £12.49 is an okay price for that, I guess), that Astro Bot game which looks ace and will give me an excuse to bust out the VR headset again. Animal Crossing on Switch!

More things - Need to stop lusting over pieces of stupid transforming plastic. It's getting silly now, and I just don't have the money for them all, let alone the space to display them.

Circumstances - Don't think I'll get the job I went for back at Nintendo, I came out of the interview feeling really deflated and disappointed in myself. Need to get things locked down for Sweden then, so that doesn't fall through. I apologise in advance to the people of Sweden for negatively affecting their claim of being, on average, the happiest people in the world.

BIN

Feelings - Found out over the weekend that my ex now has a new partner and it's thrown me for a loop. The thing that gets me is that I'm furious at myself for caring… we've been apart for coming up three months, it's her business, as long as she's happy then it's fine. So why the fuck do I care? I knew the end was coming long before we broke up and I didn't think I was that affected by it as the last few months have passed, but it seems apparently I was - it just took this concrete element to bring it home. That I found out through my kids hurts more too, especially as a few comments were a bit depressing. I feel like I've been taken for a mug, still paying the bills there while some guy's getting his rocks off in what used to be my bed. Ruined the whole day I spent with the kids on Saturday and now my head's just a mess of noise and depression. Ugh. Would be so much easier if I could just forget her or erase her from my brain, but the kids mean I have to deal with her on a regular basis. Feelings suck.

Really sorry to hear that, Mart.

OK, own up guys, which one of you is it?

Play
The Switch!
I'm loving it. The hardware is solid, the TV/Handheld functionality is so sharp and I'm loving how easy it is to play wherever I want. Zelda is fantastic (I'm starting to get an idea of how big the world is(, Mario Odyssey is better than I expected (I'm at about 280 Moons!).

D&D
I put one super-tough boss fight in my campaign and I think my players are heading straight for it. Could be my first TPK…

Want
Towerfall Switch and another pair of controllers.

Bin
In a week our dog arrives. I'm not sure yet how I feel about this. Dogs are great, but good food do I not need another lifeform to care for.

Dogs are great, but good food

Remember: a dog is not just for Christmas. You can eat the leftovers for Boxing Day too.

You might think that was a typo… Time will tell.

Play - Still tinkering away at any games I can find time for is my plan. Work has been dreadful since I went back, I've started a new role and spend all my time being middle management now and no time preparing or planning my teaching. Issue I have is I can finally start saving for a house now with the extra money so it's a balance of just being unhappy or finding a less well paid role. Into the Breach is brilliant, loving that.

Also at Play Blackpool at the end of the month so looking forward to that.

Want - I wanted the little ships game, more so the ships. But think I am going to try and have another month sitting purchases out.

Bin - Got a preorder for the Playstation and not sure if I am going to go through with it. Still weighing it up.

Play

FFXII: The Zodiac Age

I'm quite enjoying it at the moment, but have only begun to scratch it's surface, it feels good playing it via Remote Play though.

Fortnite

I try this occasionally but could never really "get" it but am enjoying it at the moment

GT Sport

I mostly do time trials on this to unlock the daily workout car and practice ahead of some races with people from RLLMUK but unlike with Forza on X360 I absolutely suck at it

Want

Yakuza 0 - can't afford any games right now so it's on my Christmas list. Although I'd give absolutely anything to reverse the rest of this post.

Bin

Life in general. Personal issues that led to a major decline in my mental health and nearly messed up my entire family last year aren't exactly healed over and Charly has recently been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, so we're both unemployed and battling that together. The younger kids are going through a trying time too and they've really been pushing me, which id find tough at the best of times but Charly being so ill has made it even more difficult and the stress has brought my heart burn back and I've begun having nosebleeds too, add in that our eldest has just started year 10 and is giving us the normal teenager issues (although she's now also being assessed for autism) and I'm left just wishing life would give my family and I a fucking break for a change. This is the first time I've discussed any of this "publicly" too.

Shit Wev, that is a hell of a lot to be dealing with all at once. I have dealt with a lot of it myself (autistic child, fully unemployed, depression, wife in need of a lot of support) so if there is anything I can do to help, give me a shout.

You are still carrying on though and you are managing to find a little time to keep yourself sane, so you are doing that right!

I saw some of what your partner's going through on the 'muk, adding in all the other stuff must be megashit. Can offer nothing more than a random human on the internet's words of support, but I hope things level out soon :(

Shit… and I'm here moping about something really pointless and selfish. :(

Really sorry to hear it, wev. Doesn't mean much to say, as cav said, but I hope things get better soon.

/Internet hug/

Fuckin hell, wev. If there's anything I can do, over the internet from hundreds of miles away, just let me know.

Thanks everyone. We're getting through and I'm confident she'll beat it (but obviously still worried), she has her third round of chemo on Thursday, which she has every 21 days then she's got surgery around Christmas for a massectomy before more chemo, radiation therapy and then hopefully reconstruction. It's an uncommon type of cancer that she has but tbh I'm mostly angry that it's been missed as she went to the GP and breast clinic a few times over 6 months saying somethings not right, they initially said it was a hormonal lump, then an infection for which she undertook three rounds of antibiotics and it was only by chance that they took a biopsy and discovered it was cancer. If they had listened to her (and both our GP and the staff at the breast clinic know she's a nurse) they would have caught it sooner and it would have been much simpler to treat

Also Mart, just coz I've dumped shit news on everyone you don't need to downplay how events in your life are getting to you. If the past 3/4 years have taught me anything it's that you shouldn't trivialise stuff that's happening to yourself just because someone else may or may not be going through worse.

Sorry to hear that Wev. Sending positive vibes to those in the Soc needing it.
Mental health is a fucker. On a personal note, after nearly six years of this shit I'm four weeks in to the kind of therapy ive wanted for ages. Really seems to be helping.

I'm really sorry to hear of everyone's troubles. My heart goes out to you and I'm happy to chat if anyone sees me online. (I have my own history if depression and a marriage spectacularly failing).

When you might see me us another thing, though. Because…

New Play

Fatherhood. I have a baby daughter. This is day 10. So far, so good (I think).

Want

Just, like, 5 minutes on the PlayStation without leaping into action because of [a worrying sound].

Bin

My life before baby. It is gone now. TBH, I can barely remember it.

Good to see that 'Another baby' doesn't appear in your Want list. God knows, you won't for a very long time, if ever. :D

(Congrats!)

Congrats Prole, really happy for you!

Congrats, Prole!

Well this thread has been quite the emotional rollercoaster. Congratulations to Prole, sympathies and positive vibes to Wev and Charly, well done to Jimbob and best of luck with everything to Mart.

I'm terrible at this stuff, but I wish everyone well. :<

Yeah I am now regretting the moaning about being promoted angle I opened with, talk about first world problems. Wev on the off chance I can help with anything to do with your daughter let us know. I think I mentioned this on the old boards but I used to do one to one with a few kids with Aspergers, autism and dyslexia prior to becoming a full teacher. As my school had a specialist and behaviour centre. So might be able to help if you have any questions about any of the jargon, acronyms and info you may be getting swapped with, or at least ask the SEN cordinator at my school anything I can't assist with.

I remember Brian saying he doesn't like the term on the spectrum, and I've spoken to parents before about how that's because we've tainted the word with perception as a society. I used to say that if every student channelled the traits that we all possess that are often deemed autistic. Many of use would be better learners. One pupil I had could remember virtually every list I ever wrote with him whilst doing revision, and yet people used to say 'he only responds to lists' like that sort of immense memory recall was a negative.

I'm terrible at this stuff, but I wish everyone well. :<

Yeah, same. Been truly speechless for you, wev, really hope things work out for you.

And grats, Prole! The best advice I can give about babies is this: they stop doing it eventually. Sometimes things can feel interminable, but she will settle down.

Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone.

Thanks everyone!

Congrats Prole!

Also sorry to be the dick who starts talking about videogames again, but I'm going to start talking about videogames again.

Play
No No Kuni 2. I'm about 15 hours in now and this is, without question, my favourite JRPG. It's just so relentlessly bloody lovely. Has anyone else played it? I think it got a bit of stick when it first came out for being too easy, but they've since patched in a hard mode that rewards you with better loot and makes the (simplistic) strategy menus and town upgrades necessary.

It has none of the usual JRPG frustrations, and generally feels like a refreshing breeze of loveliness.

Want
Forza Horizon 4. Think I'll sign up for Game Pass when I get home.

Yeah, let's talk about games again! Games are good. Better than life, anyway.

Additional WANT:
Astro Bot: Rescue Mission - the reviews are incredibly glowing for this, so it's taking all of my strength to not just buy it now. Will wait until after BAFTA and then, if it's not in there for voting on, I'll grab it.

No No Kuni 2. I'm about 15 hours in now and this is, without question, my favourite JRPG. It's just so relentlessly bloody lovely.

Is the battle system better than the first game? I just couldn't get along with the realtime pokemon-switching headache it used - which is a shame because otherwise it was lovely.

Yep it's entirely different. The Pokemon are gone.

It's an ARPG now – light attacks, strong attacks, dodging, hold R2 for specials etc. It's not God of War but it's much better than the first game.

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission - the reviews are incredibly glowing for this, so it's taking all of my strength to not just buy it now. Will wait until after BAFTA and then, if it's not in there for voting on, I'll grab it.

I want this too. I've got so much to get through, but it looks lovely. Might have to buy it now just to support stuff like this at launch.

I've got NiNoKuni 2 sat on my shelf after Charly bought me it for my Birthday alongside Nier Automata. I'm trying to avoid starting and never finishing lots of games so finished Persona 5 first (and FFXV before it) before starting on FFXII (after trying DOOM and it not really clicking, nothing wrong with the game just not what I'm looking for)

I hated Ni No Kuni 1 combat too, still wold have beat it if I didn't have to bother with the PS3 though. But this sounds great.

Forza Horizon 4. Exactly the same as 2 and 3 but with roundabouts. I find the universal critical acclaim baffling.

On that note, I got another 14-day trial of Game Pass last night, just sat on my dashboard. I don't think Microsoft want me to pay for any games ever again.

Well, this thread took a rurn… best wishes and positive vibes to all, really hope everything works out for everyone.

Back to gaming - I’d totally forgotten RDR2 was out this month, and can’t decide if I want it or not…

I have binned Hearthstone as planned though. That’s probably long overdue.

Played a couple of rounds of Laser League last night, just 1v1 with Sarah. I am so bad at it. It's already kind of confusing with just two players, I imagine with the full eight it's utter chaos.

Isn't it only 3v3, not 4v4 (I think)?

I can understand what you might be thinking. Thing is, if you just solely concentrate on your player and your surroundings, it's much easier to evade and plan things out. I really liked it when I played… I hope the boost in numbers for PS+ means there are people actually playing online now. It's such a good game.

Another play:

Onrush. I like that it's trying to do something different. I'm not sure what it's trying to do is good, or if it's entertaining in any way, but I respect it. Had more fun on it in an hour than I did on Forza Horizon 4, anyway.

Another play:

Onrush. I like that it's trying to do something different. I'm not sure what it's trying to do is good, or if it's entertaining in any way, but I respect it. Had more fun on it in an hour than I did on Forza Horizon 4, anyway.

How much did you pay for it? It's a stupid £60 on the PSN store, but I've seen it going for £12 on Amazon since no-one bought it and they're desperate. If it ever hits that level on the digital store, I'd probably bite.

It was in a sale on PSN about a week after launch, though I can't remember how much they'd taken off it.

Not enough. I think it came down to about £25, which wasn't enough to trigger my insta-buy reaction.

It's free on GamePass. Which I'm doing the two months for 2 quid thing, just so I could try it and Forza Horizon 4.

I imagine it'll be given away on another service shortly. The servers are near deserted and it sold about 7 copies.

I also tried Sea of Thieves. Seemed interesting (weird clouds though). Is it possible to play it for a bit without people joining to get to grips with it, or is it multiplayer only?

Multiplayer-only, I'm afraid. It probably benefits from playing with people to get to grips with though, just so you're not left juggling the sails, steering, anchor and navigation all by yourself from minute one. (And that's before you add any combat to the sailing.)

I really like Forza Horizon 4, just to stick up for it. (Not that it needed the support looking at the reviews.)

I agree the reviews seem a bit enthusiastic, and it's another example of an open world racing game where the open world hinders enjoyment rather than adding it… But anyone who can leap across the Yorkshire Dales in a Land Rover while Hall of the Mountain King blares out and NOT smile needs examining.

I also tried Sea of Thieves. Seemed interesting (weird clouds though). Is it possible to play it for a bit without people joining to get to grips with it, or is it multiplayer only?

Multiplayer-only, I'm afraid. It probably benefits from playing with people to get to grips with though, just so you're not left juggling the sails, steering, anchor and navigation all by yourself from minute one. (And that's before you add any combat to the sailing.)

To be fair, we've usually found it fairly easy to avoid other crews, and just do our own thing (until the last intended handin of the night, which invariably becomes a 45-minute chase around the entire map).

Additional want: Oh God, Dragon Quest XI has a proper menu battle system, that's basically my Kryptonite. 😭

DQXI looks really, really good. It's on my list for sure.