It’s been another week of Monster Hunter: World here at TSA Towers, though I’ve also found some time to review Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. Sadly it doesn’t quite hold up to Capcom’s uber-hit, but there’s fun to be had for Final Fantasy fans. I’m following not up with a helping of Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition and I’ll be writing about it over the weekend. Hopefully it’ll be slightly more thoughtful than “It’s so cuuuuuutttteeeee”!
Tef was first to drop in this week, and he’s still resisting any urge to buy Monster Hunter: World. He doesn’t know what he’s missing out on, but he’s kept himself busy playing Bayonetta 2 on Switch, revisiting Total War: Arena, digging into the co-op Dwarf ’em up of Deep Rock Galactic and playing Overwatch in stunning 4K on the Xbox One X, which he says put the level of support the PS4 Pro has to shame.
Speaking of Overwatch, Jim’s been managing his multiplayer addiction action by hopping back and forth between Overwatch and Monster Hunter: World. He’s also been getting stuck into Dynasty Warriors 9 for our upcoming review, and he’s played some PS2 classics thanks to his backward compatible PS3.
Although it still looks great for a game of that era, The Getaway controls are a trainwreck compared to modern day standards, so much so that I couldn’t even clear the first gunfight! I had way more fun poking at the original Yakuza and the English dub isn’t that bad to be honest. I wanted to get at least an hour under my belt, so I could directly compare it to Yakuza Kiwami.
It was more time in LA Noire on Switch for Jake, where he’s been promoted to Vice after solving “like a million homicide cases.” He also started Shadow of the Colossus on PS4 and enjoyed jumping back into A Hat in Time.
There was a lot of excitement this morning when we actually heard Miguel’s voice for the first time, which was not what any of us were really expecting. He might lend his voice to a video or two on TSA down the line, but in the here and now, he’s been reviewing Seven Deadly Sin on PS4, dabbling with Dandara on Switch, and racing around on a motorbike in Breath of the Wild.
Another to be ensnared by the “claws, fangs, talons, tentacles, tendrils and proboscis” of Monster Hunter: World was Steve, who’s largely been playing solo, but still making some good progress and feels like he’s finally found a Monster Hunter game he can live with. There was also a fair bit of Immortal Redneck for an upcoming review, World of Final Fantasy and LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 with his son.
From monstrous games to monstrous software, Tuffcub’s been playing with Cubase 8.5 when he hasn’t been continuing with AC: Liberation on Vita and The Witcher 3, while Dave reviewed Dragon Quest Builders on Switch, Sairento VR for Vive and went to Hever Castle to play Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom.
Ade played a whole lot of co-op in Aegis Defenders, and went on to give it a glowing review. To sum it up here, he says:
It’s an awesome game and has resulted in a bunch of ‘punch the air’ moments. Usually because we’ve only just survived a massive onslaught with some last minute improvisational defence.
Finally, Kris played the three year old Cut the Rope: Magic on iOS. “I like the Cut the Rope series though,” he said. “Good puzzle games, well done for mobile.
And now it’s over to you. What’s been on your playing rota this past week?
MrYd
Finished off the main story in AC Oranges. After 30+ hours, it suddenly throws a stealth section (well, if you want to live) playing as the other, rubbish character. And then just ends because they obviously decided you have to pay extra for the rest of it. Put me off doing all those extra bits, really. For now anyway. Overall, still a good game, just seems to have been highly overrated.
And then the PS+ games have entertained me a bit.
Rime is a bit of a rubbish Journey rip-off. Don’t like the art style. All a bit too linear. And the things that technically count as “puzzles” just slow things down. Which it doesn’t need, because you walk too slow anyway. Is there a story to it to explain why you’re doing these things? I haven’t seen any hint of one in the first 2 chapters.
And then Knack. Which isn’t totally crap, but just highly flawed. Worst checkpoints ever. Might bring myself to work though it eventually.
Grand Kingdom, however, is a surprise. Wasn’t that keen on it from the beta, but I gave it another chance. And I’m loving it. Seems the story is more of a tutorial, and the main game is a sort of RPG sandbox. I think I killed one of my own characters with a healing potion too. Throwing a glass bottle at someone obviously hurts before it heals them. Makes perfect sense. It amused me anyway.
And Mugen Souls Z has 30+ bits of free DLC. Forgot how painful that is to download from the store on the PS3. They’re a bit game-breaking too. Early enemies in an RPG should be weak, but still take more than 1 hit to kill.
Also need to have another go at Accounting+ now it seems to have had an update with a new level. Hopefully full of swearing and silliness.
Jbumi
I cleared all the question marks (with the exceptions of killing the elephants), did all the side quests, found all the scrolls & their respective loot, got a trophy for completing the map, but still couldn’t finish Oranges main quest!! I’d left the main quest for last at “Way of the Gabiniani”. Got past that fine, but I’m unable to defeat that damn “boss” ship in “Aya: Blade of the Goddess”. That’s ok – it was fun, but now I’m done!
I’m currently waiting for Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition to show up in the mail.
tactical20
Got CoD Infinite Warfare for 99p on eBay to play through the campaign. Only a few missions in, but 99p seems about right, ha!
hornet1990
Yeah, I paid a fiver for the legacy edition which is totally worth it for MWR alone, but really wouldn’t pay a penny for the IW campaign.
ron_mcphatty
I’ve finally started Red Dead Redemption. It’s impressively good looking for a nearly eight year old game and already oozing western and Rockstar charm. I’m only seven or eight missions in but already I can’t believe I didn’t get this at launch, RDR2 is now preordered and even though it arrived yesterday Shadow of the Colossus might as well be a coaster for all the attention it’ll get!
Andrewww
This week I finished the story of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which is quite stunning, really. It’s not without it’s faults, well, it’s part a fighting game, and that is a genre I find mostly boring. But the game is stunning visually, and the riddles are quite good.
And, what Hellblade does best is that it makes sorely obvious that so many games nowadays got an emotional depth of a Mickey Mouse book. Hellblade is different, and that’s why it stands out so much. I wish more developers realised that it takes quite a bit more than a Pegi 18 rating to make a game which is really for adults.
TSBonyman
I completed Horizon Zero Dawn and then completed the second half of Scavengers Odyssey.
Also tried Rime but didn’t really warm to it. Might give it another go but Farpoint is up next..
ron_mcphatty
What do you think of Horizon, did it live up to the hype?
TSBonyman
It certainly lived up to the hype, Guerilla have done an amazing job all round on this. They matched the visuals with an excellence that they’ve applied to every aspect of the game. Bravo!
Steelhead
Bought Persona 5 in the recent sale. I’m currently 16 hours in, cleared the first palace and I’m enjoying quite a bit. Not sure on the new demon interrogation bit, but the cast seems quite likable.
Also dived into Fire Emblem Heroes while I was off work with a nasty sinus infection and couldn’t muster up the energy to head upstairs and boot up the PS4. I’ve stuck to the single player so far, it’s a decent little distraction.
gernboes
Completed Uncharted 3 on PS4, now I can finally play part 4. Also played Gravity Rush 2 and resumed playing Persona 4 Golden, hopefully I’ll finish it this time… Did another elusive target in Hitman and of course a lot of Monster Hunter!