This week has been all about Final Fantasy. That’s partly down to the fact that I reviewed it, and partly because after one of the longest development cycles of recent times it’s not only turned out to be a critical success but also a commercial one. Of course, Final Fantasy remains one of the most bankable properties out there, but players have been put off from purchasing titles for far less than XV has suffered. It’s great to see that the care and attention that’s gone into bringing the game to market has paid off – but it’s not without some controversy.
Games shipping incomplete isn’t uncommon these days, in fact it happens more often than not, but adding to a story after a game has come out seems like an unfair punishment to early adopters, as is changing how whole chapters play. This is a title I’ve really enjoyed, but reworking Episode 13 will remove one of the worst portions of the game, and chances are that alone will mean it’s considerably better. Are early adopters beta testers? They obviously shouldn’t be, but once again, they are.
Jake was very happy to catch a shiny Pichu in Pokémon Sun & Moon, and that he bought some Pork Buns in Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition. He was even happier at how well he was playing Halo 5 and Titanfall 2’s multiplayer. It’s been a good week if you’re Jake.
Our Kris has finished off the Titanfall 2 campaign, and while he wasn’t as wowed as some people expected him to be it still had a few highlights like the [spoiler] level, and the factory level. I didn’t put a spoiler warning over the factory level as every game has one of those, right? He’s also been playing ALL THE SOLITAIRE. I’m not sure why he was shouting about it, but I backed away slowly so as not to enrage him further (I think he actually likes Solitaire).
Tuffcub has had a heavily VR-flavoured week, with EVE: Valkyrie and the Star Wars Battlefront Rogue One: VR Mission, both proving to be excellent. This month’s PS+ offering Hyper Void also has VR DLC so he’s tucked into that before finally removing the headset to try out Stories, the Paladins’ alpha and some more Titanfall 2. He’s now eyeing up a PS4 Pro as a Christmas treat.
Dave has been suffering a little with the PC port of Dead Rising 4, which he’s sent advance warning out about some serious stuttering when things get too zombie-rific, which surely misses the point of the game a bit. He’s also put some time into Dragon Quest VIII on 3DS and Mekazoo on PC for a review. Steve meanwhile finished the “sublime” Inside, continued to plug away at his Tyranny review, and gave up ever getting the platinum for Ratchet & Clank on the Vita thanks to the horrible controls.
For Aran there’s been a lot of RIGS on PSVR, where he’s steadily rising up the ranks, and is looking forward to the future content they’ve promised. Besides that he’s working on a review of The Little Acre which will appear next week. Miguel has been in “stress city” this week, which given he lives in the US could be any number of places, and as such he’s only managed a few minutes of Pokemon Sun and Fate Grand/Order.
Jim has been reviewing Ubisoft’s Steep while loving his time with The Last Guardian. So much so that he immediately embarked on a second trip through the story, which completely cemented his adoration for Trico. There’s a couple of trophies for completing it in under 5 hours which he just missed out on so play through number three is probably not far off!
Finally, our leader Tef dropped in after a week of severe technical problems:
My most played game this week has been “PC Diagnostics Suite”, in which I try to figure out how to fix my PC. The “fun” started on Saturday night when I installed a PCIe capture card and it stopped booting properly. Sunday was then spent removing components until it was bare as it could go… and still nothing.
I think I know what’s wrong with it, that the BIOS has been corrupted somehow – and a CMOS reset didn’t help – so I’m trying to figure out how to reflash it, but the information online is as clear as mud.
Also Oxenfree, Adrift and Inside.
It’s alright, he’s got it back up and running now thanks to a very poorly documented reset trick.
Now then, what have you played?
Pixel_nme
Once again Monday night was Riptide with Forrest and R1MJAW,Tuesday in the afternoon picked up the Platinum for No Mans Sky then in the evening some Destiny with heedbaw and Forrest,rest of week has been Steep,Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 along with Ark,tonight will be GTAV with R1MJAW Forrest and heedbaw and whatever else I fancy later.
The Lone Steven
Still playing Dragon Age Origins. On my second restart. Restarted the first time as i bleeped up with the build and kinda wasn’t happy with how things were. The second time, twas due to me rushing it. This time, I’m using poisons on my warriors(they use it once I get the first level of poison making)) and avoiding becoming complancent. Just need to control everyone more. My Warden is directly controlled by me and a lotta side quests will be done. Tons and tons of content to get through.
70+ hours so far.
DividSmythe
I got the platinum out of Tomb Raider Definitive Edition yesterday. I’ve also played PES, Stories The Path of a Destinies (which I’m getting bored of now) and Color Guardians which I didn’t like.
MrYd
Mostly FFXV. At the point where I’m just doing loads of sidequests and hunts to get strong enough for (a) the last chapter, and (b) a certain optional boss the size of a mountain.
Eldave0
Picked up Rise of the Tomb Raider in the PSN sale so I’ve mostly been playing that. Cracking game and the visuals are fantastic. I’m tempted to stop playing it for now until I pick up a 4K TV and a PS4 Pro (hopefully before the end of the year).
blast71
I’ve got myself a xbox one s in the cyber Monday deals, but, due to working 12 hour days it’s still unopened in its box under my bed. Hopefully get around to setting it up soon and playing something other than Resogun, which is all I’ve played for a couple of weeks as it’s quick to start-up and play for Half-hour before bed.
Avenger
You need to get on my friends list now! Did you get any games bundled with it? Can recommend some cheap and exciting coop titles going cheap digitally on cdkeys.com.
However I can sympathise with the 12 hour days. It’s been at least a month since I managed to play something for a proper amount of time,and even then it was just for a day or two.
blast71
I managed to get a pretty good deal, xbox one s plus minecraft, forza horizon 3, and 2nd controller for £217.99. I also got Battleborn for less than £4, and the Master Chief collection for less than a tenner.
Avenger
Master chief collection can be coop’d, as can FH3. Pretty good bundle.
Andrewww
I need to chuck you from my friends list now, traitor..!
Just kidding, will be interesting to hear how the experiences compare.
blast71
Well, if past experiences count for anything, it’ll probably just mean a bigger backlog to get through ;)
Ps3, ps4, and now xbone games to stack, I’ll try to make a little house or something out of all the cases ;p
TSBonyman
I tried some of the plus content, didn’t get very far with Tiny Troopers because the third step of the mandatory tutorial would not let me progress until i had purchased some rockets – yet no funds were provided to me in order to purchase said rockets. Hyper Void was more my thing, the sort of game i’ll happily dip into for a quick blast when i don’t have time for anything more substantial.
Mostly though it’s been NMS, pretty much parked in one system now that i’ve built a base there and am using it as a hub as i gather resources from a few nearby systems. My home planet – “33° Burn”, which can be found in “A Star System” in the Euclid Galaxy – is a bit hot but not too extreme except when there is a storm… which there often is … i kinda wish i’d noticed the storms before i set up camp there but at least it keeps things interesting! :)
Andrewww
Hyper Void is quite good, not sure whether you got the PSVR, but there are free PSVR levels which I played to level 8 last night. Quite good Sony hands out games with PSVR content with Plus.
TSBonyman
I spotted that there was some PSVR extras alright, neat for those who’ve invested already and i’m sure i’ll be glad of any extra content whenever i get around to picking one up myself.
ron_mcphatty
I’ve been playing Ratchet and Clank, which is gorgeous and good fun most of the time, it’s old school simplicity has been occasionally boring but mostly fun, especially now it’s getting harder. Looking forward to trying No Man’s Sky with the new update but a mate still has the disc, nuoooo!
Andrewww
Most of the week I couldn’t play the games I wanted as my PS4 was busy downloading updates and patches for them.
The little time I had to actually play anything, I spent with Inside, which I find much less spooky than Limbo but still very good, especially the submarine bits, and during a PSVR session with a colleague, including Danger Ball and Scavengers Odyssey, which I really enjoyed, but which left me slightly dizzy.
Oh, I almost forgot about the free multiplayer weekend of Titanfall 2, which I enjoyed a lot. The game’s much better than I expected, am highly tempted to get it soon.
Maybe the updates were not that bad overall, as I still managed to play a few things, but sometimes they’re an enormous pain.
tactical20
Been cracking on with AC2 on PS4. Forgot just how much of an epic it was! Just arrived in Venice, so about half way through, but already put in 20+ hours.