Playstation 5 Catch-All

If you play for Walmart +, there will be PS5s and Xbox Serieses available Monday at 4 EST. Refreshing on the hour.

Happy hunting

For the Black Friday sale, I bought Deathloop, Mafia: DE, Sackboy, Resident Evil Village and Ghost of Tsushima: DC.

And in full kuddles style, I immediately downloaded the Legendary Edition and started playing Mass Effect for the 4th time instead of any of those.

I was tempted by both Sackboy and Returnal, but cheapness had me leaning on the hunch that they'll be PS+ free games someday. In the mean time...prompted by the Anniversary Edition upgrade, I'm currently on my literally-three-hundred-somethingth hour of Skyrim.

Returnal does seem likely at some point since Sony bought them. But we'll see. I had a ton of fun with it already.

I want Deathloop but I've still got God of War and going to try to play HZD and actually finish this time since both got some patches this year. Plus Nioh 2 I finally installed from my old PS4 disc and applied the free upgrade. I think that's enough PS5 good stuff to carry me through winter.

Edit: And I did buy GotG for half price this weekend so that will keep me busy too.

Edit: Wrong thread.

Resident Evil Village is definitely one of the best games released this year, so snagging it on sale should be a no brainer. It was so good.

Got one!!! Should be here before Xmas!

Congrats! I was actually keeping a lookout for an extra one for you because you seemed to be getting anxious LOL.

One of us, one of us...

Thanks guys. I finally get my Christmas present for 2020 in 2021!

Spoiler:

Now to go to Galaxy’s Edge and get my 2020 birthday present.

May end up having to send my week old PS5 in for repair. Instead of waking or turning on it will flash a blue light. I’ve tried a number of things and it will work for a day or so and then do it again. Tonight I reset it and reinstalled the system software. Thankfully my saves were all backed up. If it happens again then I’ll probably be contacting Sony.

That sucks, no question about it. But better it happens under warranty.

Yes, definitely and it was unexpected that I even have a PS5 at this point so if I have to send it and be without for a couple weeks it’s not a big deal all things considered.

Aristophan wrote:

Today I started playing Kena Bridge of Spirts, which is a beautiful game.

My gaming time has been limited the past few days, but I have been able to put a few more hours into Kena. The combat can be challenging, but if you fail an encounter, you respawn close to it, so it's not too punishing. After you get a bow, the game presents an area where you can explore and do some combat, traversal, and puzzles in whatever order you wish and that was a lot of fun tonight. I have gotten stuck in a few areas, since they don't give too many hints regarding puzzles. My advice is to just look around everywhere.

Stele wrote:

Ok that was surprisingly easy. Screwdriver that came with my heatsink was a lifesaver though. I don't have any Philips heads that small.

I did think I screwed up for a minute because I was having trouble popping the cover back on. Maybe my heatsink was a little more centered to the connection side than the screw-in side? Could have made it snug. But anyway it's back together.

Started up and it asked me to format. Then it reported the speeds at 6600, well over the 5k required, and near the 7k that that drive is supposed to max out at. Moved most of my PS4 games over to it for now. Although maybe I'll make it the primary drive? Just wanted to test it out with a few things first and see how it goes.

Thanks for posting this info btw. I saw the SN850 on sale again at Best Buy for $150, and managed to find a manager who applied this 15% recycling coupon (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/recycli...) on top, so the final price ended up being around $130 with tax. The manager accepted an old tiny flash drive for the recycling. They had trouble getting the deal to work in their system, so this may be a your mileage may vary situation for anybody else who wants to try for it.

Used the same Amazon heat sink you recommended. Watched a couple videos and got it installed last night with just a few minutes of work. Working great!

I've been slowly making my way through Kena myself, and completed the first major boss/zone and moved into the second.

It's subtle, but if I have any complaint about the game so far, it's that you can tell the creators of this game are animators first and game designers second. It might be an odd thing to say, but I think a lot of it comes down to what New Frame Plus discussed regarding anticipation. I also don't want to claim that the game is bad or doesn't feel responsive, but it certainly feels at times that Kena herself is sluggish compared to the speed of the combat. The game clearly has a tad bit of Dark Souls inspiration in addition to Zelda and other titles, but there's incongruencies in things such as the length of recovery animations, regular light attacks having a bit too much wind-up, and the weird unpredictability of where I-Frames are in the dodge animation (and, of course, the lack of a dodge-interrupt/cancel).

Now, I'm no animator myself, and I still have some attention to pay to the animations of enemies and the player alike, but it has kept an otherwise solidly designed action system from feeling as neatly polished as it otherwise could be. Simultaneously, it makes me reflect back on Death's Door and how I felt the game's excellent design of encounters, primarily through careful distribution of enemy classes/types in a given brawl, seemed like it hasn't been given nearly as much acknowledgement as it should be (partially because that's the sort of thing that, when done right, feels invisible to most players) and how Kena can sometimes feel off in that regard.

Nonetheless, it's been a fun game, and I am scratching my head at some of the games press calling it "derivative" when... I mean, yeah, obviously inspired by Zelda with a dash of Dark Souls and some Prince of Persia platforming and stuff, but it also doesn't feel like any one of those things.

Wish I could play it off Steam, though. PS4 is starting to chug even with this game, and while I'm currently not fond of giving Sony money at this time, I'm even more against giving Epic money. In the end, wanting to support a new developer whose work was being called "derivative" won out over objections of business practices, but man would it have been nicer to play on my PC.

New, physical version of Deathloop is $24 at Gamestop right now.

Oh, man, I bought it a few days ago when it was $25! I been ripped off!

I'm pissed that I spent $30 on the PSN Store last week and I will also be pissed when it is down to $10 two years from now and I still never got around to playing it.

Some GameStop locations opening with PS5 stock today at 5pm

Search here

steinkrug wrote:

May end up having to send my week old PS5 in for repair. Instead of waking or turning on it will flash a blue light. I’ve tried a number of things and it will work for a day or so and then do it again. Tonight I reset it and reinstalled the system software. Thankfully my saves were all backed up. If it happens again then I’ll probably be contacting Sony.

Well, it's weird... After reinstalling the system software from USB, it did it again the 3rd of 4th time I woke if from rest mode. Since then I have only turned it off and have had no issues with it turning on from being fully turned off. I've also never had any issues while it is running.

It's a bummer to not be able to use rest mode, though. I used that a lot with my PS4. You can set up a repair request online, but I suppose I'll call support first and see what they make of it.

Yes, rest mode is the best. Getting back into games quickly is extremely helpful the last few years.

Aristophan wrote:
Aristophan wrote:

Today I started playing Kena Bridge of Spirts, which is a beautiful game.

My gaming time has been limited the past few days, but I have been able to put a few more hours into Kena. The combat can be challenging, but if you fail an encounter, you respawn close to it, so it's not too punishing. After you get a bow, the game presents an area where you can explore and do some combat, traversal, and puzzles in whatever order you wish and that was a lot of fun tonight. I have gotten stuck in a few areas, since they don't give too many hints regarding puzzles. My advice is to just look around everywhere.

I've reached the second area, like ccesarano, and the combat is proving to be a bit too difficult for what I want out of this game, so I dropped it to "story mode." The final straw was an area where the challenge was that it was super cramped, and thus situational awareness was really low. It just did not feel satisfying to beat hose encounters, and I'm glad I could drop down the difficulty.

I also noticed that to get a Platinum on the game, you have to beat it on an unlocked difficulty level. No thanks.

Aristophan wrote:

...I also noticed that to get a Platinum on the game, you have to beat it on an unlocked difficulty level. No thanks.

My feeling about Platinuming ("Platinumming"?) a game is that you're venturing into the territory of the game playing you rather than you playing the game. You "win" a game by enjoying it; everything else is sand thrown in your eye.

Need more caffeine. Plus side, finally scored a PS5. Ghosts of Tsushima here I come.

Evan E wrote:
Aristophan wrote:

...I also noticed that to get a Platinum on the game, you have to beat it on an unlocked difficulty level. No thanks.

My feeling about Platinuming ("Platinumming"?) a game is that you're venturing into the territory of the game playing you rather than you playing the game. You "win" a game by enjoying it; everything else is sand thrown in your eye.

I have absolutely ruined my enjoyment of a game by trying to get a Platinum in years past. Still, it is a process I enjoy from time to time. My complaint here is that Kena presents itself as a chill game about exploring and collecting cute creatures and hats, and in fact it has a brutal combat system beneath the surface that you must engage with if you want to get all the trophies.

Basically, I hate difficulty trophies.

Yeah, I try to just think of trophies as an additional way to get some fun out of a game if I really like it. I do like them most of the time. I have very few platinums that require real investment though because I rarely want to dive that deep into a game. Even games I love I have not “platinumed” though a few I have come close. The ones I have are all really easy to get.

I'd prefer difficulty-based trophies and achievements over multiplayer ones, personally, especially if they end up getting weapon-specific. Those are just tedious, especially if you have to go into a multiplayer mode you don't really care for and use a weapon you're not very good at. I don't consider those a challenge.

Granted, it also depends on the game, because a lot of higher difficulty modes are also just more tedious by giving all enemies a health boost and dropping the player's own health. If the game has good enough systems, then sure, going through higher difficulties can be a blast, but most of the time it's just an exercise in frustration. Still, it's at least an actual skill-based trophy/achievement, and therefore feels like more of an accomplishment.

I'm undecided on if I'd give Kena a whirl on a higher difficulty, but at the moment I'm leaning towards "no".

My years as a broadband customer for BT - formerly 'British Telecom', the UK's legacy provider of telecommunications services - have been rewarded with a PS5 (or more precisely, the opportunity to buy a PS5... which I have taken).

My new PS5 disc edition is arriving later this week, but now I have to find something to actually play on it. I'd love some recommendations from fellow GwJers.

Deathloop seems to be the marquee title, but - having played both Dishonoreds - I'm not sure that I want to play another one of 'those'. Are the loop and 'invasion' mechanics enough to differentiate Deathloop from its predecessors, and make it a must play?

Is there anything else either new-and-exclusive to PS5, or that harnesses the power of console in a way that makes it a particularly compelling experience?

As a benchmark, I've watched gameplay footage of Guardians of the Galaxy and Madden 22, and it's not obvious to me that PS5 versions of games are substantially better than their PS4 alternatives.

detroit20 wrote:

My years as a broadband customer for BT - formerly 'British Telecom', the UK's legacy provider of telecommunications services - have been rewarded with a PS5 (or more precisely, the opportunity to buy a PS5... which I have taken).

My new PS5 disc edition is arriving later this week, but now I have to find something to actually play on it. I'd love some recommendations from fellow GwJers.

Wow. I can't imagine this. At all. It's so beyond what I'd expect from our scummy providers in the states. Take, take more, never give, ever.

detroit20 wrote:

Deathloop seems to be the marquee title, but - having played both Dishonoreds - I'm not sure that I want to play another one of 'those'. Are the loop and 'invasion' mechanics enough to differentiate Deathloop from its predecessors, and make it a must play?

Is there anything else either new-and-exclusive to PS5, or that harnesses the power of console in a way that makes it a particularly compelling experience?

As a benchmark, I've watched gameplay footage of Guardians of the Galaxy and Madden 22, and it's not obvious to me that PS5 versions of games are substantially better than their PS4 alternatives.

I picked up Deathloop when it was on sale recently and I'm really glad I got it on sale. It was fun for a few hours, but now I guess I'm just in the loop and, well, here I am...in the loop. I'm probably not the best to weigh in on this but if you were meh on Dishonoreds for whatever reason, you'll likely be meh on this too, and for me the game's highly overrated for the experience it offers.

My $0.02: You want exclusives that show off the PS5, go Returnal or Demon's Souls if you're ok with a challenge, go Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart or Spider-Man: Miles Morales if you're less sadistic. Astro's Playroom is free and is a great title to show off the new haptics as well.

If you didn't try them on PS4, Nioh 2, Tsushima, and Control all run great on the new hardware to the point where you notice.