Playstation 4 Games Catch-All

I'd get the regular version of Persona 5, then it's like you're getting Hellblade for $10! That's how this works, right?

Also, I cannot even begin to wrap my head around the idea that Persona 5 is "bloated" but Persona 3 is somehow better about that. Both are 100 monstrosities with a fairly sedate pace and lots of repetition. (I'm also a little astounded by the idea of resentfully playing a game you don't like for 70 hours, but people do all kinds of weird things.)

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'd get the regular version of Persona 5, then it's like you're getting Hellblade for $10! That's how this works, right?

I've actually just dug into the DLC on the SONY Store, and it looks like a lot of the 'regular' stuff is free to download (Japanese Audio, Merciless Difficulty, the Skill and Health Pack). Some of the costumes and window dressing are free also, so it sounds like the cheaper option might be the better option overall.

Persona 5 - Christmas Costume Set
Persona 5 - Maid and Butler Costume Set
Persona 5 - 20th Anniversary Logo Morgana Car Sticker
Persona 5 - Swimsuit Set
Persona 5 - Phantom Thieves Logo Morgana Car Sticker
Persona 5 - Regular Clothes & School Uniforms Set
Persona 5 - Healing Item Set
Persona 5 - Skill Card Set
Persona 5 - Japanese Audio Track
Persona 5 - Merciless Difficulty

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I'm guessing if I'd played all the other iterations, I might want my protagonists dressed in P4 or Dance All Night garb (with accompanying BGM), but if I don't know of it, I won't miss it.

Thanks for the perspectives!

I never used the costumes simply because they didn't pass over to cutscenes. That's too jarring. A silly thing I know, but if I wanna style, I wanna STYLE.

P5 was my GOTY last year, but I'd get the regular edition if I were you.

I'd first ask "how much time do I have to devote to this game?" Seeing as you have the other Persona games and yet to play any of them, it sounds to me like you don't have the time for Persona 5. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is, at most, a 10 hour game I think, though more 5-8 on average. HowLongToBeat averages 7 hours, in fact.

Now, I'm biased towards recommending Hellblade all day every day, and unlike Tuffalo I actually appreciated the combat more than the puzzle elements but I think that just speaks to our differing tastes. But that should also go to show that it is a game with a lot to offer. So for being cheaper and better able to squeeze into a schedule, I'd go with Hellblade and if you want a Persona game, play one of the ones you have first.

I surprised myself last year when I "found" over 100 hours to put into Horizon Zero Dawn, so I guess if the game has it's hooks in me, I can "make time" (even at the detriment of already limited sleep).

I was thinking P5 might be a good way to drop into the Persona world. From what I've heard it's new characters, new school, no real legacy as such and a good entry point.

I'm also expecting a lot more free time for gaming this year. 2017 saw a LOT of catching up on major projects around the house. 2018, not so much, so more time for stuff I want to do, rather than have to do.

Hellblade is already the guaranteed purchase, P5 is the unknown quantity at this point. Specifically the "School" angle. I hated High School, the thought of returning to it, is the only real thing putting the brakes on the idea for me. It's makes sense, from a narrative point of view, as it is one of the few times we are so beholden to such regimented time tables and structures.

I don't recall it getting in the way though when I attempted a PS2 playalong of P3 with Clock a couple of years ago (or was that P2, I forget?).

m0nk3yboy wrote:

I was thinking P5 might be a good way to drop into the Persona world. From what I've heard it's new characters, new school, no real legacy as such and a good entry point.

That's what they all are, with the exception of the two games in Persona 2.

The real standout to me was Persona 4. Best localization, characters are fun, dealing with actual issues rather than "adults are bad let's steal from them". It's also not a mandatory 100 hours, though you can easily put that much time in if you want.

P3, 4, and 5, all take place in high school, but all are independent of each other, so any of them work as an entry point to the series.

However, if high school is a particularly troubling memory for you, I'm inclined to recommend you avoid 5. The beginning of the game is exceptionally dark and features several acts of abuse from a teacher, and comments on how multiple authority figures enabled this abuse. The rest of the game never quite hit that particularly infuriating combination again, but it's a hell of a start.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Also, I cannot even begin to wrap my head around the idea that Persona 5 is "bloated" but Persona 3 is somehow better about that. Both are 100 monstrosities with a fairly sedate pace and lots of repetition. (I'm also a little astounded by the idea of resentfully playing a game you don't like for 70 hours, but people do all kinds of weird things.)

Thinking back on it, a lot of my resentment is because I played P3P, P4G, and then Tokyo Mirage Sessions before playing P5. I think I just burned myself out on that formula and P5 100% sticks to the same Persona thing where Tokyo Mirage Sessions did something new and different. P5 felt like it took a bunch of steps back. So, I'd say to someone who has never played a Persona game that P5 is probably the best place to start because it does have several quality of life improvements.

And yes, I do lots of irrational and self-punishing things when it comes to playing games. I have yet to figure out why I do these things.

Glances over at the pile and sees Tokyo Mirage Sessions - Fortissimo Edition, (because, stickers and sh*t)

At least I know what to play after P5 now

Skyforce Anniversary which I finally decided to download & give a go today was a delightful experience, I've had it in my library a right few months since it came on PS Plus.

Its a slower more methodical experience than the likes of Resogun, its a good alternative with an addictive upgrade system that has you replaying levels multiple times to get stars (your currency) to then go back to the hangar to upgrade your cannon, add lasers to your ship, magnet that pulls the stars in towards you etc.

Fun game that makes coming back to levels a joy once you've beefed up your ship in the hangar.

Spikeout wrote:

Skyforce Anniversary which I finally decided to download & give a go today was a delightful experience, I've had it in my library a right few months since it came on PS Plus.

Its a slower more methodical experience than the likes of Resogun, its a good alternative with an addictive upgrade system that has you replaying levels multiple times to get stars (your currency) to then go back to the hangar to upgrade your cannon, add lasers to your ship, magnet that pulls the stars in towards you etc.

Fun game that makes coming back to levels a joy once you've beefed up your ship in the hangar.

Learning (and recalling) the attack formations across multiple waves really reminded me of some of the older SHMUPs I used to play.

Highly recommend the title for people who want a good progressive challenge, without it becoming a "bullet hell" experience.

Agreed. Learning the patterns & knowing what's coming from multiple playthroughs of any of the stages will net you better scores & higher potential to attain the medals.

I've unlocked the hard & insane modes by getting all the medals:

*kill 70% of enemies
*kill 100% of enemies
*rescue all humans
*stay untouched

Which is gratifying not just with the higher challenge but knowing that the stars you can earn goes up quite a lot.

The music & visuals add quite a lot to the games charm, its a super little package.

Shadow of the Colossus arrives tomorrow. This will be my third time buying it. I swear, this time I'll actually finish.

I missed it earlier, but did the Persona 5 vs Hellblade decision wind up being Persona? That makes me sad.

Spikeout wrote:

Agreed. Learning the patterns & knowing what's coming from multiple playthroughs of any of the stages will net you better scores & higher potential to attain the medals.

I've unlocked the hard & insane modes by getting all the medals:

*kill 70% of enemies
*kill 100% of enemies
*rescue all humans
*stay untouched

Which is gratifying not just with the higher challenge but knowing that the stars you can earn goes up quite a lot.

The music & visuals add quite a lot to the games charm, its a super little package.

Yall should download it on your phone. Great experience there too.

Any particularly recommended couch-co op for couples on ps4? cooptimus and googlefu seem to often suggest;
-Divinity; original sin
-orderlands (though I'm not entirely clear which borderlands, i've only played the first on pc and she none).

Do you want a shared experience, or shared gaming? The best experiences we've had lately have been single player adventure games, passing the controller back and forth, like Until Dawn, or Tales of the Borderlands

krev82 wrote:

Any particularly recommended couch-co op for couples on ps4? cooptimus and googlefu seem to often suggest;
-Divinity; original sin
-orderlands (though I'm not entirely clear which borderlands, i've only played the first on pc and she none).

Diablo 3. I'm waiting for Divinity 2 for some coop-fun, it's not been announced for consoles but I'm sure it'll come.

Others have had better luck than me with Divinity: Original Sin in co-op. I found it painfully slow on top of an already painfully slow opening act.

Magicka 2 is a lot of fun, but getting coop to work with an account that didn't have PS+ was a pain in the ass.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Others have had better luck than me with Divinity: Original Sin in co-op. I found it painfully slow on top of an already painfully slow opening act.

We started this over the last week - the opening is very slow and a lot of systems are pretty obtuse to begin with. It took going to a guide for me to understand why we couldn't level up abilities beyond level 1, for instance - turns out to level it up to 2, it costs 2 points so you have to bank them between levels. Why the game didn't explain this is beyond me. That being said, now that we're getting into the groove of it, it's enjoyable to play together, though not lighting up my world. Just look up some tips and quicksave often.

We've also done Borderlands 2 together which was a lot of fun. Not sure how it works couch co-op, we were playing on PC long-distance. No need to play the first one before playing 2.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is awesome and adorable and frantic fun. It was a PS+ game a few months back if you subscribe to that.

Chaz wrote:

I missed it earlier, but did the Persona 5 vs Hellblade decision wind up being Persona? That makes me sad.

Hellblade was purchased, and I picked up the 'vanilla' version of P5 as I had almost exactly the correct amount of funds left in my wallet after Senua came calling.

I did pick up a additional $15 top up though, so I could get "A Boy and his Blob" for under $5 to play on my Vita

m0nk3yboy wrote:
Chaz wrote:

I missed it earlier, but did the Persona 5 vs Hellblade decision wind up being Persona? That makes me sad.

Hellblade was purchased, and I picked up the 'vanilla' version of P5 as I had almost exactly the correct amount of funds left in my wallet after Senua came calling.

Hooray! I have nothing against P5, though I did bounce off it after around 8 hours. I just loved the hell out of Hellblade, as my super exclusive GOTY list shows.

Chaz wrote:

Shadow of the Colossus arrives tomorrow. This will be my third time buying it. I swear, this time I'll actually finish.

I missed it earlier, but did the Persona 5 vs Hellblade decision wind up being Persona? That makes me sad.

My second time buying it & I've never been so glad not to play a game when the remake was announced. I bought the Ico & SOTC HD remaster for the PS3, I started Ico & must have put a good 15-20 hours into Ico & it started to become a chore, which in turn put me off SOTC so I never got around to playing it. Since then I've completed The Last Guardian which was superb so I'm ready for one of the great PS2 games that I missed.

garion333 wrote:
Spikeout wrote:

Agreed. Learning the patterns & knowing what's coming from multiple playthroughs of any of the stages will net you better scores & higher potential to attain the medals.

I've unlocked the hard & insane modes by getting all the medals:

*kill 70% of enemies
*kill 100% of enemies
*rescue all humans
*stay untouched

Which is gratifying not just with the higher challenge but knowing that the stars you can earn goes up quite a lot.

The music & visuals add quite a lot to the games charm, its a super little package.

Yall should download it on your phone. Great experience there too.

I didn't even know it was on phones, surely it would pale in comparison to using a controller on console or PC.

Sony killed it with this image from their latest promo email.

https://imgur.com/a/cBozi

I ended up getting Shadow of Collossus, I can't believe this used to be a ps2 game at one point.

krev82 wrote:

Any particularly recommended couch-co op for couples on ps4? cooptimus and googlefu seem to often suggest;
-Divinity; original sin
-orderlands (though I'm not entirely clear which borderlands, i've only played the first on pc and she none).

I've been REALLY digging Gauntlet: Slayer Edition. Each character plays quite differently, and it's a very fun co-op experience that can be played couch or online or both.

To those interested I made a Catch-All for DONTNOD's Vampyr, which has a release date of June 5th.

I gotten five colossi into SotC, and it's real good. I feel fine taking time off Monster Hunter to play this.

I've also been messing around with the photo mode a bit, and I really wish there was a better way to get screenshots off the system than sharing them to social media. Ideally, it'd upload them to their network, and I could go to the website and pull them down. But I suspect they don't want to pay for the storage that'd require.

I always just put them on a thumb drive, then share whatever way I prefer from that.

Having played SotC four or more times in both its PS2 and PS3 configurations, I'm not feeling a huge pressure to actually kill Colossi. But I'm sinking a huge amount of time into just riding around the landscape, seeing the land again for the first time, playing around with photo mode (the depth-of-field controls are kind of impenetrable; I really prefer Horizon & Lost Legacy's photo mode for that and for the ability to set time-of-day/weather/sun angle), and snacking on fruits & lizard tails. It's really an extraordinary port, far greater than I could have ever imagined.