PWB June

A bit late this month…

Play

I'm still very much on the Xbox One X train. I've had it for a few weeks now so I'm out of the "wooo, new purchase" territory and I'm still ridiculously impressed by it. It's small, it's completely silent, everything on it runs like shit off a shovel, and Game Pass has me drowning in stuff to play. Given that I absolutely hated my original Xbone, Microsoft have done an amazing job of turning things around - everything about the machine from the hardware to the OS to the controller has been improved beyond measure.

So I've been playing a bit of Forza Horizon 4 (very fun), a bit of Halo 3: ODST (surprisingly disappointing), some Wargroove (very beardy) and dipping into all the other stuff on the service as well.

In non-Xbox One news I've been having fun again with Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate on the Switch, and I've been watching my boy play Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom which looks like a very fun Metroidvania that I'm definitely going to take a look at once he's done.

Want

I'd like more time to play all the games! I'm definitely going to check out Outer Wilds soon though as it looks great. And on the PSVR front I'm very tempted by Blood and Truth as I enjoyed The London Heist so much.

Bin

After five months of the whole family being vegetarian I think we are all ready to bring it to an end - we've tried really really hard to maintain a balanced diet and eat healthily and despite doing everything we can and cooking everything from scratch (and generally really enjoing it) we're no longer able to get away from the fact that we've been more ill over the last few months than at any time we can remember. So time to call the experiment to a halt.

Play

• Sea of Thieves - still, on and off. Not much left to say, really, but it's good and if you're on an XBONE kick, might be worth checking out.
• D&D - see the Tabletop thread for an as-brief-as-I-could-make-it summary of my last campaign session, which I'm still thinking about near-constantly.

Want

• More time - I just feel like I've hardly played anything recently, mainly thanks to an inordinate amount of DIY going on at our house. Still, rooms are getting painted, albeit slowly, and I'm confident we should be in a position to move in some time in the next century.

Bin

• DIY.

Halo 3: ODST (surprisingly disappointing)

I think that's still the only one of the series that I started but didn't finish.

ODST is weird. It's supposed to be this massive departure, a game where you play a regular soldier rather than Master Chief, but you've still got recharging shields, a rocket-powered jump and the ability to flip Warthogs with one hand, so in actual fact the difference it makes is pretty much zero. Its cast of "hoo-rah" American soldiers are irritating, the facial animation is way worse than you'd expect from a game of this age, and the (pretty enjoyable) flashback sections are stitched together with a gloomy and repetitive trudge through a night-time cityscape where the main challenge is not fighting the Covenant but working out where the hell you're supposed to be going. I mean it's all still Halo so it's pretty fun on a moment-by-moment basis but it's easily the worst of the Halos I've played (although I haven't touched 4 or 5 yet).

The Master Chief Collection, though, has quietly transformed into a thing of wonder. It had massive problems at launch, was patched constantly throughout its first year or so but by the time I last played it was still in pretty bad shape, with matchmaking taking ages for anything at all. Then they revamped the whole thing about a year ago and now it's pretty much perfect. Everything runs at 4K/60fps/HDR on the X, and the multiplayer works flawlessly with very fast matchmaking in pretty much any popular playlist. The sheer array of modes, maps and weapons in here is quite staggering, and although I am appalling at multiplayer Halo, I am having a fantastic time playing it. It's going to get Halo Reach added very shortly I believe, as well as a PC release, so should hopefully get an influx of new players.

Play - lots more VR. I know people were underwhelmed by this but have been blown away by it. Playing Batman VR, just finished the excellent Statik, and can't decide whether to buy Moss or Astrobot.
Want - Expansion pass for Hitman 2 to play The Bank. Is the pass worth the money? What else am I getting. This is the game that keeps on giving on the DLC front but I seem to get everything free anway?
Bin - Shadow of the Colussus HD. Picked this up cheap. Yes it's an amazing game, and this version is such an improvement. But with each boss I've wandered (pun not intended) up to them, remembered the strategy, and killed them in a couple of minutes. Still, must be a revelation if you've never played it before.

Want - Expansion pass for Hitman 2 to play The Bank. Is the pass worth the money? What else am I getting. This is the game that keeps on giving on the DLC front but I seem to get everything free anway?

You get quite a lot actually - or you will, once it's all been released. You get two full levels (of which The Bank is the first) and two Sniper Assassin maps (the first, Hantu Port, is already out with another to follow). Then there are four Special Assignments, not sure what these are but I'm assuming they're new missions on existing maps, like Landslide or maybe the Patient Zero stuff. And some exclusive unlocks.

However you might want to hold off. The Expansion Pass has never been on sale and it must surely happen some time soon, especially as the Gold Edition of the game is currently less than the expansion pass on its own (which is ridiculous).

After five months of the whole family being vegetarian I think we are all ready to bring it to an end - we've tried really really hard to maintain a balanced diet and eat healthily and despite doing everything we can and cooking everything from scratch (and generally really enjoing it) we're no longer able to get away from the fact that we've been more ill over the last few months than at any time we can remember. So time to call the experiment to a halt.

I've never got this… you can eat healthy and balanced without going vegetarian. If it's for ethical reasons or because you don't like the taste, fine, whatever. But balanced can still have meat in it. Good to know you're doing what's best for your health more than anything else…

PLAY
Hotline Miami 2 - Had it forever, never played it despite liking the first one. It's okay, more of the same but doesn't seem quite as fair. I'm playing on Vita though, where the screen visibility is less and enemies get the drop on you more, so I'll probably move to the PS4 when I get it set up.

DOOM - Not finished yet, long way to go. Feel like I should restart on my PS4 though, I'm just going through the motions on Switch (which is the case for every non-Nintendo game on there, I never really feel the urge if I can play it on my main console).

WANT
MK11 Season Pass - Too pricey right now at over £30, but I want it. That Shang Tsung is my jam.

The internet - Without it, my PS4 is basically useless due to how I share my account with my girlfriend. Gah.

To feel secure - Still not sure how things are going to go, won't for a good few months yet until I get into the swing of things pay-wise. But I haven't fucked up yet, so that's something.

BIN
Ants - Haven't seen one in nearly two weeks, touch wood. That's good!

Useless German people - I still don't have my own internet connection. The electrician turned up to replace the faulty cable, was there for five minutes and said he'd have to come back another day, despite knowing the scale of the job. I was fucking furious with him. My stuff has turned up now, so there's much less room for him to do what he needs to. He's back tomorrow. If he still doesn't sort it, I don't know what I'll do.

Play - lots more VR. I know people were underwhelmed by this but have been blown away by it. Playing Batman VR, just finished the excellent Statik, and can't decide whether to buy Moss or Astrobot.

AstroBot! AstroBot! Moss is great, but AstroBot is PSVR's killer app.

Play: I got a disc copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 off eBay for £17 so I’ve been attempting to play that for the last couple of weeks. Attempting is the correct description in all senses. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the pause screen while cradling a grumbly baby and then a similar amount of time googling ‘How to [ACTION] RDR2 ps4’.

When I do get to play it’s generally pretty enjoyable although I have the same gripes as most; the controls aren’t super intuitive (I’ve switched to standard FPS) and things/systems in the world aren’t super intuitive e.g. handing over meat to the butcher as a ‘donation’ instead of dropping it in his area like in the opening section. Cue dropping it beside him twice and being teleported outside of camp twice before googling ‘How to give meat RDR2 PS4’.

There’s also the issue of overload; I can’t remember what the gauges mean, which ones are for my horse and which for Arthur and I’ve no sense of whether it’s useful to send gang members to do things in combat and I’ve yet to really notice the effect of drinking a consumable.

It also has the old Rockstar dichotomy of playing a bad guy but attempting to give some concession to the player wanting to ‘do good’. I’m not totally convinced it’s flying all that well in this game but that might just be me hoping to play as a rough tough cow poke. I think they could be braver with their main character but I’m still really early in the game. It’s strange for a Rockstar game that I’m mostly sticking to whatever story(ish) missions crop up in the hope that they’ll give me the skills to enjoy the world without having to think about it too much.

before googling ‘How to give meat'

Careful now.

Play - lots more VR. I know people were underwhelmed by this but have been blown away by it. Playing Batman VR, just finished the excellent Statik, and can't decide whether to buy Moss or Astrobot.

AstroBot! AstroBot! Moss is great, but AstroBot is PSVR's killer app.

This is me too. I have loads of unplayed VR games, but didn't set up my kit while at my dad's. Now I have my own place, I'm busting it out big time - can't wait, I loved it when I played it before. Astrobot and Moss are both on my PS4 already, but I've also got silly things like Accounting+ too. And Thumper and Rez! I'm tempted by Trover Saves The Universe and the cockney wanker simulator too.

What's the cockney wanker simulator? London Heist. Loved that. And seriously, the bit where you are smoking a cigar. If I could play that ten times a day I'd quit smoking.
Accounting+ gave me my first VR injury. Embarrassing to admit you smashed your hand up against a wardrobe whilst trying to throw an egg defence lawyer through a window.

Blood and Truth is the “full game” version of London Heist, came out a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t had much time with it so far but it’s pretty spectacular.

What's the cockney wanker simulator? London Heist. Loved that.

Yep, Blood and Truth. Very tempted, though I'll wait for a sale.

Play
Hyrule Warriors. I've never played Dynasty Warriors, so this is all a bit mental. How do you know where to go? I'm failing objectives without really knowing I had an objective (but still completing the mission). It's fun though; there's definitely something satisfying about sending hundreds of troops flying with a single flail. And it's showing with startling clarity how Nintendo are holding my nostalgia hostage. The barest jingle of a Zelda tune, even in this unrelated game, and I get a little internal flutter.

Red Dead 2. I was in awe at the beginning, became bored during the story and now, in freeroam after the finale, I've finally started enjoying it. The world they've created is second-to-none, and it's a joy to explore.

Steamworld Quest. Great fun, and easy to dip into for a quick blast.

Shenmue. Wonky controls. Low quality audio. Small map. Crap fighting. I'm enjoying this despite the game being desperate for me not to. I'll show it!

Ah, Hyrule Warriors is brilliant but it can be a bit confusing initially. You need to learn to keep an eye on the text at the bottom of the screen as the other characters jabber constantly. Also anything that needs attention should flash on the minimap. However it does give you a lot of less relevant side missions to deal with as well as critical objectives and over time you will work out what you need to pay attention to and what you don't. Occasionally you might need to play a level a couple of times so you know what's going to happen and where the danger points are. The learning curve is fairly smooth though so just keep playing and it'll all make sense.

The minimap is your friend. However it's all a bit small to read in handheld so while you're learning the game I'd definitely recommend playing it on the biggest screen you can.

Adventure mode is where the real fun is, hundreds and hundreds of mini challenges to complete across ten massive maps, but it's worth completing story mode first to get all the unlocks and to level up a bit.

I’ve created a MK tournament

2878-7929-4507

Should be on from about 9pm

Play
Borderlands 2 - I finished the free DLC yesterday. It was fine, nothing spectacular but it nice that it tied in the Tales From the Borderlands. The new option to start a new character at level 30 was nice and it's given me the opportunity to try out the characters I haven't played before without sinking twenty hours into levelling. I also finished my NG+ playthrough with my Siren, and unlocked NG++, not sure I want to run through the whole thing again though.

Amiga Classics - I've recently been playing Cannon Fodder and Chaos Engine. Still great. Small though. Like, going back to your primary school small.

D&D - My weekly game is still going well. They are currently exploring what is basically a Dark Eldar void ship while the apocalypse happens all around them.

Want
I just noticed that there's a sale on the on the Switch, I think I am going to go buy Wargroove.

Bin
You know, everything.

Red Dead 2. I was in awe at the beginning, became bored during the story and now, in freeroam after the finale, I've finally started enjoying it. The world they've created is second-to-none, and it's a joy to explore.

Played a bit more – the story missions are super straight forward so far but still feel a little bit overwhelmed at times when I come across something in the world and can't figure out how I should be interacting with the thing/event.

e.g. saw a prisoner being transported and the horse & cart came up as a dot on the map. Followed it for a bit, tried to shoot the guards but had dynamite equipped and ended up blowing up the horses + guards and being wanted for Animal Cruelty.

Yeah the controls are needlessly complicated. And there's no consistency, with different buttons being used for the same action at different times. You need to keep an eye on the button prompts at all times, which takes away from the immersion they've worked so hard on.

Any game that assigns "look at this person and have a friendly chat" to the same button as "aim your gun at this person" needs to have a word with itself.

Any game that assigns "look at this person and have a friendly chat" to the same button as "aim your gun at this person" needs to have a word with itself.

I gunned down a newspaper seller the other night. It was heartbreaking.

I gunned down a newspaper seller the other night. It was heartbreaking.

… and then you went home and played more Red Dead, I assume?

Any game that assigns "look at this person and have a friendly chat" to the same button as "aim your gun at this person" needs to have a word with itself.

I gunned down a newspaper seller the other night. It was heartbreaking.

This happened again except this time it was a stranger giving a quest. I had to load a save which took me back to just before a tedious mission involving a lost New Yorker who needs escorted back to a town.

Play
Slay the Spire

Want
To be playing Slay the Spire

Bin
Times when playing Slay the Spire is not possible

Play

Borderlands 2 - This is a very underrated game in terms of being a solid FPS imo, it has one of the most satisfying head shot feelings in the genre imo, especially since it can combine the normal fps feel of 'I just lined up a long shot and this gun has some punch to it too' with the RPG 'ooh a juicy crit' into one.

Playing this since they released the free Lilith DLC, I tried it with Lv30 boosted Zero (you can boost any of them, it's awesome, beat the DLC then go back to the main game which will be at the final quest, beat it and start New Game plus with the Level 30+ character you have) and honestly it's made me hard regret rolling Mechromancer now.

If you're rolling Mechromancer you're probably running an Anarchy build and there is no greater joy that can immediatly turn sour than an Anarchy Mechromancer whose entire gimmick is she gets a damage stack up to 500 times for a frankly ridiculous 500% damage boost every time she runs out of bullets. If she reloads by accident she bleeds stacks, if she gets downed she bleeds stacks and if she dies or (worst part maybe) you load up a save she loses them all and the re-build of stacks while not super long if you play her right (fast reload gun with short clip) it still sucks the fun out of the character every time it happens.

Meanwhile, Zero goes invisible and fires a fucking bullet through 5 people at once and one shots them all. ANYWAY. It's been a hot minute since I played B2 (since 360 version besides my current Gaige playthrough on Ps4 I started years ago) but I actually really really fucking loved this game, I've beat it with Gunzerker, Siren and Krieg with Krieg being the most fun character in the game for me. All I can say is, it's a damn fun game and I don't think it gets the recognition it deserves for how solid a game it is honestly.

Borderlands Pre-Sequel - This is kind of meh T_T. Theb est thing I can say about it is the classes are great and Ican see people liking them or preferring them even. I'm playing as Lawbringer and her special ability is literally Aimbot headshots, simple but fun for a pistol focused build. Playing with a friend but all I can say is I hate the level design (it's set on the Moon, it's VERY repetitive and dull imo) and the Gravity mechanic, floaty jumps are okay in combat, horrible everywhere else since you have platforming designed around it. At least then ew Cryo element is great, hopefully it's in 3. Saywhat you want about this game, it's part of the Collection (why not B1 instead tho?) so if you want B2 you get this too and it's worth a shot

Right there with you. I've really enjoyed revisiting B2 and getting my Siren up to level 53 (Siren is my favourite, Mechromancer 2nd - I got her up to level 44, the trick with Anarchy is to only use shotguns which run out of ammo every time you pull the trigger.)

The Presequel is not great. Level design is annoying, baddies are dull. I'm only at level 7 do I feel like I haven't given it a fair go yet, but it sounds like I would have more fun with a level 30 Zero in B2.

Yeah, seems like Zero is a glass cannon, I've also seen him wipe out the entire Bar Brawl mission with his Capstone melee skill where he goes invisible and melee one shots everyone, no one knowing what is going on, just people dropping dead. Which is not the skill tree I'm going to use, and there you go, Borderlands skill trees are varied and good.

My main issue with the Pre-Sequel is the fucking Moon, what a shit location compared to Pandora which had all those different zones, lol.

After I beat that and the F R E E (if you have the collection on PS4, it's not a one off standalone sadly) Siren DLC, I actually have the Tales from the Borderlands to get to at some point. Then I'll be ready for B3 (not that I care if I miss anything) nd open to co-oping it if anyone wants maybe?

Tales From The Borderlands is one of my favourite games.

Today I have been playing Wizards Unite.

I’m enjoying it much more than Pokemon Go - although I’ve had a load of crashes, timeing out issues, google account issues too.

But I’m up to lvl 6!

I like the growth tree for building up skills and the quality of the graphics.

I like it so much I went for a walk around the block tonight to finish levelling up.

I reckon a few updates and it’ll be in good order.

I'm up to level 5, and haven't even walked anywhere yet.

EDIT: Friend me, jerks: 3800 7700 9834 ⚡

I'm starting this today, since it only went up on the Play store here in Germany late yesterday. Let's magic this bastard.

EDIT: Wahgwan, Hufflepuff brethren - 1267 1859 4299

I dunno, it just seems like a reskinned Pokemon Go to me. You've got Foundables instead of Pokemon, Energy instead of Pokeballs, Portkeys instead of Eggs, but it's all the same stuff. And thematically it's nowhere near as strong, it's always going to more fun to catch a Mewtwo than it is to get a sticker of Hagrid.

I'm probably not the target market though: I loved PoGo when it was relatively simple, all about walking around and seeing what you could find, but as they added more and more complexity in the form of raiding, trading, missions, events, and so on, I gradually drifted away from it. A reskinned PoGo with added complexity is pretty much exactly not what I want.

I think, having played it for an hour or so before getting too hot and coming home (28° here, folks), I'm the opposite. I love Pokémon Go, but I barely touch it these days because there's nothing to do now - I've got all of the first three regions 'mon bar the R3 regional exclusives and nothing particularly exciting or new is happening in the game right now. I don't know anyone here who plays, so I don't have a raid group (and the language barrier is a bit of a bind), so I can't do the bigger raids I need when they happen. It's just a bit dull.

This, on the other hand, is completely new and scratches my itch. I'm not entirely convinced yet, especially by the way it just says 'Here's the category' for an object and then you hope it's something you need, but I like the extra layers of complexity and the battling raid system where you can do it alone, not necessarily require others. It's definitely just a reskin, but it's a very well done reskin and that'll do me for now.

Additional PLAY:

Dandy Dungeon - It's out on Switch! I loved it on phone, but fell out of it because the gameplay was broken up too much by the IAP demands and I didn't want to spend more cash. Here, they're gone so it's just the game. Weird, funny, a little repetitive if you play for ages (it's really designed as a bite-size chunk thing) but it's great. So, that's nice.

Interesting. So it works without all the IAPs? Much as I dislike IAPs, I can understand that some games are balanced around them; so are there now in-game ways to earn the things you would previously have bought?

It's been a long time since I played the phone version (I don't think you can even get it any more!) but from memory, the main changes are:

• No energy bar that depletes every time you do a dungeon, meaning you're not waiting for that to build back up.

• No Mamazon shop, but there is an item shop added to Yamada's game where you can spend in-game gold to buy spells, medicine, etc. There are also now rare clovers which can buy things… I don't remember those being in the phone game, but I might be wrong.

• You get a lot more gold in dungeons now.

• The characters you can send into towers to get loot for you are recharged with gold now, not Rice Balls (which are only for you to continue in dungeons).

• Things like bonus dungeons appear a lot faster and organically, they're not tied to events or anything else (and they're permanently replayable, not one-use).

It's definitely more of a game now. The actual main mechanic is the same, and obviously that's geared to be like a mobile experience with the short levels and replaying dungeons for different loot. But it works as a real thing now. I'd bloody hope it does too, since it's £13 or thereabouts.

Final Fantasy XIV's new expansion, Shadowbringers, launched into Early Access last night and I'm still playing it like 14/15 hours after launch, I hit the new Level Cap of 80 or I drop, those are the rules! >:(

So far it's a fucking FANTASTC story omg, it has my favourite area in the game, something I can only describe as the Shire from LOTR, but super gay. I took so many pics tbh. It's hard to go into it without spoiling it, since both Wev and Gar are still into the game but they did so good with the premise for this game.

stuff previously said about Dandy Dungeon

Yeah, this is great. It just keeps adding more content, there's loads to do and plenty of systems in play. Much happier spending a bit of cash and playing this than doing it on mobile and potentially getting bled dry.

Last time I played FFXIV I left it right at the end of Heavensward, so I’ve got a full expansion to play before I catch up with all the cool kids. Still how can I resist something that’s described as “The Shire but super gay”? Let me know if they do any Welcome Back campaigns any time soon.

Did you beat Heavensward or just 3.0? Because there's a whole story of Nidhogg's revenge (the boss from the Aery, he's way angry). If so, I wouldn't be too put off, it gets better and better

And dude, if I can I'll post pictures in spoiler tags. Once youu unlock flying in this game you turn in to a photographer I swear.

Just 3.0 really, maybe a quest or two more but I didn’t make a dent on the lead-in to Stormblood. So I’ve actually got more to do than I thought.

It's good, much higher stakes than the plot of 3.0.

I hit the new Level Cap of 80 or I drop, those are the rules! >:(

At like 9am this morning, I finally hit 80. Over 50 or so hours of dozing off, playing XIV non stop bar food/shower breaks. Despite being tired at several points (after a while, you stop feeling tired for a bit though, like there's a threshold you can passbefore you reach another one and inbetween that you awake) I didn't feel too bad but I woke up at 6pm today and felt really sick and had a terrible headache. I think we can quite conclusively conclude, that I am a fucking idiot.

But I'm level 80 now. <3