Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 29-30)

After finishing the first episode of the expanse. I was left wanting more so I downloaded wolf among us.
It's been more than 8 years I don't play ir so I don't remember a whole lot. This game is really good and holds ery well..

Exoprimal and The Crew 2 for me on my Series X. It’s always fun to slay some dinosaurs with a team and I want some more cars ahead of Motorfest.

I’ll be heading to Vegas soon for vacation so for my flight I decided to bust out my PlayStation Vita this weekend and get a good start on The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II. I played the first one years ago and loved it, but I accidentally broke my handheld but never got around to playing the rest of the series despite owning a PS4 and now PS5.

I also picked up Gravity Circuit for the PS5. This game is rad. It’s essentially an ode to Mega Man X, only with this your combat is melee based rather than long range weaponry. It’s tough as nails, and I’m not entirely sold on the controls, but if you like 2D action platformers, this is a must play.

This weekend I'm continuing my playthrough of Trails to Azure and finally starting my co-op playthrough of Dead Island 2 with a friend.
Probably won't have much room for other games but if do, I'll continue playing Remnant 2(solo, because I have no friends who can play it).

Planning to play Diablo 4 & I have a prediction for this game (more later.)

This morning I have just been digesting all the gaming news that dropped while I slept. FFXIV is huge for Xbox and hopefully just the start of many future SE games on Xbox.

We have also had a lot of news drop about Path of Exile 2 from Exilecon that's running this weekend in New Zealand.

While I have not liked the direction of the OG PoE it's still the best arpg on the market today.

PoE 2 looks like it will cement that position for many years to come from what was shown in the initial presentation. I imagine there are some very twitchy & nervous Diablo 4 execs right now after seeing that.

So my prediction for Diablo 4. We will see it come to gamepass in June / July of 2024.

My reasoning being this is when PoE 2 is launching its betas and D4 will need to do something to offset that. So unless they have a DLC planned for then putting it on gamepass is an easy way to get eyeballs on the game and maybe get some of the folks who might be put off by PoE's hardcore reputation.

Beat Final Fantasy I, II and III last week on Switch without any knowledge about 2 and 3 and with minor knowledge about 1, alongside a replay of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and a blind playthrough of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intermission on Ps5.

Started Bayonetta on Switch which I don’t know anything about beyond having played chapter 1 and 2 on WiiU years ago.

Might start Final Fantasy IV after.

Ive finally finished ff16 (I loved it), so im taking a breather with EA pga tour golf which I managed to pick up at half price.
Ive never bought a game in the series before, but having played the free trail I found it compelling and relaxing. Exactly what I want before committing to another long epic!
It feels like Im just kicking about now until we get Starfield...

I won't be playing anything because all of my games will be sold by then. 😢

I'm currently playing

PS5 - Cyber Punk 2077

Xbox - Halo Infinite

Switch - Strange Brigade

I'm waiting for Starfield (got the premium upgrade to play early), and in the meantime slowly finishing the Homefront: The Revolution DLCs.

@Kaloudz Refer to my comments in this thread.

https://www.purexbox.com/features/soapbox-the-new-xbox-dashboard-looks-clean-but-it-still-needs-work#comment7723189

@ZYDIO I thought I was upset by the dashboard but you are on another level friend! You may end up regretting such a rash decision. I'd personally wait and see if they roll it back. It is not getting any good press at all.

I'm playing Exoprimal, SF6 and seeing if I like Serious Sam or not. It is Admittedly hard to me even in the beginning. Not sure I want to go down that road. Also playing Pikmin 3 on the Switch and Radiant Historia on the 3DS when I'm on the porch enjoying summer.

Playing Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem and Quake (in anticipation of Quake 2 hopefully in a couple of weeks).
FPS mayhem on my TV this weekend!

Trying to wrap up Quantum Break. Just finished act 4 so on the last one now. Really a fantastic game.

Picked up a ROG Ally last night. I will probably spend the next 2 days fiddling with that and testing some gamepass games. I have Gears 5, Doom Eternal and FH5 downloaded already but plan to switch them out for more games to test.

Actually playing ghost recon wildlands and Deathloop

Currently on the Tekken 8 Closed Network Test on my Series X and then I'll probably bounce between that and Pikmin 4 on my Switch

Street Fighter 6 and, inspired by a fairly recent article on this website, going through the entire Gears of War series. Finished GoW 1 (the remastered ultimate edition), now playing 2.

Mad Max.
Bought this for peanuts - great game.

Elden ring on xbox and final fantasy iv on switch

Yesterday I finished Portal: Prelude RTX which I really enjoyed outside of a couple "puzzles" that were just annoying rather than being actually challenging. The story was decent, and obviously a lot of effort went into the mod. The path-tracing looked incredible and ran beautifully at 1440p on my 4080 + 13700k setup. I would still say that Portal: Reloaded is by far the best Portal mod, but this one was pretty dang good overall.

This weekend I'm going to jump into the new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, and chip away at Bayonetta 3. Might play some Remnant 2 with the guys too if they are willing to stay up late with me tonight.

Radiant Silvergun

Not enough shmups about these days.

@everynowandben Bayo 3 is great but I honestly liked the Cereza Origins story even better. It's a shame they MS didn't continue to work with Platinum to bring her to these more powerful machines.

@Cashews The Origins game is still on my wishlist until I finish Bayo 3, but I'll definitely give it a go at some point down the road. I have to agree that its a bit unfortunate the newer Bayonetta games are stuck on Switch. I'd love to see what they might look like with even flashier and fancier effects and lighting.

Doom eternal, my first boomer shooter, it's so energetic and wild that I need a person just to remind me what weapons I can use.
It's very good, but some fights can get frustrating and long to finish

@ZYDIO
Don't you think selling all Microsoft related things you own only because of a dashboard is a bit too much?
Just don't make a rash decision

Well I made it through that week of early shifts. YIPPEE. 🎉 And I have lots of games played to show for it. Like Pikmin and more progress made in Trails To Azure. I did however drop a game and that’s Advance Wars. Mission 23 is just impossible even with a step by step guide and I’m just done making myself miserable. Anyways onto this week. For once I have a Saturday off so I’m finally gonna start Rain Code to celebrate and then late night finally get back to my darling FFXVI. The week ahead has mixed days of early and late so on early days I think I’ll finally start Ghost Trick and Xenoblade 3 Future Redeemed and on late days well that will be FFXVI nights. Also with the announcement of FFXIV Dawntrail I’m planning on finally getting back to and Conquering my fear of FFXIV: Endwalker in early August. Very hype for EVO next weekend and loving the FFXIV fan fest this weekend. Anime for the weekend is simple y’all already know we going Atelier Ryza, My Tiny Senpai, ZOM 100, Liar Liar and Ayaka. Music of the weekend is SF6 OST, RWBY V9 OST, Summer anime OPs and podcasts are Castle Superbeast and Into The Aether. Happy gaming and have a great weekend everyone,

@Cashews @Kaloudz @Wiiiiiiii It's not just the dashboard that I am reacting to. It's a completley broken and disfunctional industry that I have had enough of. They keep throwing sshhiitt at a Teflon wall and nothing is sticking, it's just sliding down the wall. Now the sshhiitt is just piling up and the pile is getting too big to clean up. The solution is to stop throwing sshhiitt and they just don't get it, because they are blinded by greed. From what I understand, the Insiders told Microsoft for months and months that this was a bad idea, that no one liked it, this is not what the customers want and they did it anyway. This is just one result of many that shows the problem with the gaming industry. The people who make decisions are so out of touch with what the customers want. I don't expect a company to do what I want all of the time, but when they have dedicated feedback groups that exist for that exact purpose, so they can bring the customer what they want and then they go against that feedback 100%, That's when I have a problem. On top of that, they removed features that already existed and removed options to customize and are now forcing unremovable advertising for products that I have no interest in. Additionally, all of the constant unfinished, broken games that are released and the constant anti-consumer decisions they keep making, is the reason I want nothing to do with any of it anymore. I don't want to think about any of these things when I turn on my Xbox just to play a game or watch a movie. It seems like the entire gaming industry is broken and it's never going to change unless the customers take action and say enough is enough. All of this, with the push for all digital media and eventually becoming 100% subscription to where there is no ownership is not something I'm interested in participating in. All I'm asking for is a nonsoliciting, non-harassing user experience with my device and for quality finished games to be produced. I really don't think I'm being unreasonable here. The moment that that changes and I feel like I am no longer the customer and I have become the product is the moment that I walk away. Everyone keeps saying let's see if Microsoft redeems themselves by backtracking and changing it back or whatever. That's not the solution. How many times have they done this now? They're just going to keep throwing sshhiitt at the wall and see what sticks and they still haven't realized the wall is Teflon.

@ZYDIO and my protest is with Ubi+ but I still hold out hope for you to reconsider. You never want to cut off your nose …

As for games - I went into the weekend pumped for Diablo but got sucked into Toem. Just cleared all rewards for this week and ready for today…

@AlwaysPlaying Well, I haven't done anything yet. I feel that I needed to voice my discontent and I do feel a little better now, ha. Hopefully, if enough people do the same, Microsoft will listen. If Everyone, including myself, do nothing, that is how we get in this situation in the first place. I love playing video games, it's one of my favorite things to do, but I will always stand up for what I believe is right no matter the inconvenience or cost. "No" is very powerful.

@darkswabber Do you own an Xbox?

Finishing up Diablo 4 on the Series X (hopefully). I didn't like this game as much as I thought I would. But, I'm currently level 50 and on my way to fight Lilith, so I'm just about done.

@ZYDIO I know where you're coming from pal, you just have to try your best to accept where we're at now, as hard as that can be sometimes.
I'm well into my 50's and I've been gaming since the start and it's mad to think how much it's evolved to where we are now.
I realised years ago that they don't really make games for my generation anymore but that's fine as theirs still loads out there.

But on a positive note. We have got several great platforms to game on, more games than ever to play, games look better than ever and with Epic, Game Pass, Ps Plus and Steam and all the deals they offer it's cheaper than ever.
Don't give up your hobby mate .
And yes, the new dash is gash!

Xbox - Fenyx Rising and Raiden 4 Mikado
PS5 - Resogun and Miles Morales
PC - Mame

@GarbonZoni I don't think I could actually part with my Xbox collection. I got the original Xbox on day one and also have every generation of Xbox since then. So I've been collecting the games and the consoles for over 20 years and I put a lot of work into doing that, so I might not just walk away so easily. I, Also have been gaming pretty much since the beginning as well. I remember having to put color overlays on the screen to make it a different game. I remember controllers being ungodly uncomfortable and only having one button. I also remember the days of when you bought a game it was finished and fun, they never asked you for any more money and they would never take it away from you and last but not least you were the customer that determined the success of their company. I will say this though, I am definitely going to reduce my spending with Microsoft until I feel like I am the customer again. I already decided that I will not buy the next generation of consoles if they do not include disk drives, even though the game being on disc doesn't mean much anymore, it still means they cannot deny me access to my license as long as I have that disc. I will say this though, if they keep going down this road, there will be a point where I will actually walk away. So Microsoft if you're listening, take this as a warning. I'll say it again, I am not brand loyal, I am brand tolerant.

With that being said, to answer the question that the thread is about.

I am playing through Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order again before I play Star Wars Jedi: Survivor both on Series X and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger for the Xbox 360 but playing it on Series X. I have played through the entire series of Call of Juarez and this is the last game. I have enjoyed all four games even the Cartel game that people seem to dislike. I was actually on Xbox strike for a few days but I guess I'll start playing them again.

@Romans12 I own an Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One and XSX yeah.
But I’m on vacation and didn’t bring them.

If you look at my comment history you can see I mentioned owning/playing on my XSX plenty of times.

@ZYDIO I feel you. Buy a Switch and stick with Nintendo. Problem solved. Seriously they don't pull this crap like ever. Nintendo is the better game company.

@everynowandben Bayo Origins is still my personal game of the year. Nothing has beat it out yet.

@Cashews I would agree with you but they have a habit of closing down their Eshops and then you can no longer download your purchases, the same as Sony has done with their older generation hardware. Microsoft and Xbox seem to be the only ones not doing that and is one of the reasons I have stuck with them because they seem to be the most consumer friendly. Maybe I am overreacting a little bit, I just look to the future when I see something happening now and that's what I react to. I can't stand Nintendo's hardware either, it's old, slow and their controllers suck and don't fit my hands. The Pro controller for the switch would probably work, but if I had one I'd want to use it mobile. I tried it and it just does not work for me. I would like to like the Nintendo switch but I don't really care for hardly any of their games either.

@Kaloudz I am probably not going to do what I said I was going to do. I got it out of my system, I said my piece and the main purpose of it was to add to the discontent that everyone else was stating. I just like to crank things up to 11. I'm either 1 or 11, no in between. My statements were completely true and accurate and my emotion about the situation is genuine. I feel very strongly about things. I just hope that it does some kind of good. I really sat and thought about all the work I would have to do to get rid of this stuff and I decided to be lazy, plus I really don't want to get rid of all the stuff. I wouldn't have it if I wanted to get rid of it so easily. I really feel that there may be a day that I actually do it because they will give me no other option. I hope it never comes to that though. This isn't my first rodeo. I did it with all of my Sony products and Playstation stuff when they stole from me and I did it with all of my Apple products after working for them and finding out what a crooked company it is. I have worked for Microsoft as well and that's one of the reasons I stick with Xbox because of my experience working for them.

@ZYDIO You have been mis-informed friend. Nintendo has never, for any system shut down your purchases on any of their eshops.

They shut down the eshop for CURRENT purchases but you can still access your previous purchases. That includes the wii shop, wii u and 3DS shops.

It's your life but imho Nintendo games, and the 3rd party games supported, are endlessly better than 95% of the games on the other two platforms - and the waterfall of releases can't be beat. Sure there is an occasional can't miss on these guys - Elden Ring, Hogwarts, "realistic" FPS, etc. but from a pure gameplay perspective it isn't very close. Take it easy and good luck finding what you like.

Xbox is taking a break ahead of Starfield. Currently going though Final Fantasy 16 and Tears of the Kingdom. Awesome pair of games.

@Cashews I guess I have been misinformed, or more like I misunderstood what I read or saw. I thought when they closed down the eshops for the Wii, the Wii U and the 3DS they were saying that everyone needed to download their purchases before a certain date or they wouldn't be able to. If that's not the case and it is just shut down for current purchases, that is completely different. I really don't know why they would shut them down. I'm sure there are plenty of people that would still be purchasing games on those eshops. That does make me feel a little bit better about Nintendo, because I thought they were just following what Sony was doing by shutting down the stores completely and not allowing people to download their purchases after that happened. Speaking of Sony, why are they the only ones doing that, yet everyone keeps buying their stuff? I just can't, in good consciousness, purchase anything from Sony knowing that they can and most likely will just take it away at any time. That has happened to me in the past by Sony for different reasons.

@ZYDIO It is a crummy practice. A lot of people complained about Nintendo shutting down the eshop - but they gave us almost TWO YEARS notice to wrap up any purchases we wanted.

I get it - they have to maintain security and focus on the new, much more popular shop. It isn't just leaving the lights on - they have to ensure everyone's accounts are secure as well as make sure no one is stealing for their sake and the sake of their partners.

I think it's okay to shut down after a long enough period.

Out of the three Nintendo is the most pro-consumer - no contest.

RE4 and Dishonored 2 on PC.
Amnesia: The Bunker and Tekken 8 CNT on Xbox.

@hypnotoad I'm a big fan of the SHMUP genre too. Have you tried Crimson Clover on Switch? That's a good one. Also, there are some proper classics on Antstream Arcade.

I've been playing Exoprimal over the weekend, really enjoying it.

@RetroMan71 I haven't tried it yet mate but I will.
I'm playing a real retro shmup at the mo - Radiant Silvergun on Series X.
I already own it still sealed for The Saturn.

@Cashews I don't know about that. Microsoft still has the 360 store open and doesnt plan on closing it anytime soon. I'm not 100% sure how they handled it, but I'm guessing it's because they integrated it into their newer system. So the 360 store is actually part of the new store somehow and they can keep it going like that forever. It will just be part of one big store that gets maintained as one entity. Also the fact that they still sell all of those games and sell original Xbox games is something that no one else is doing except for on the PC side. The PlayStation 3 and the Wii have shut down their stores, while the 360 store is still going strong. That says to me that Microsoft is supporting the older hardware better than the other companies.

@Kaloudz Me too, I really like this community. Even if I did get rid of all my Xbox games, I more than likely would have stuck around anyway. It's funny because in the last two days I've added about 30 disc games to my collection. I have been buying them up quite a bit lately, because I will be relocating to a different part of the world at some point and I don't think they have very much Xbox stuff there. Plus I've noticed just in my area that disc games are going up in price quite a bit lately and the older games are getting a lot harder to find complete and in good condition.

@Kaloudz That's one thing I consider myself, at least a little bit crazy, but in a good way. Yeah, I became a collector inadvertently. I just never sell my games because it takes a lot of effort to get money out of them. I buy them, play them and keep them forever. Unless it's a game I don't like, then I get rid of it. The collecting has increased quite a bit since I decided to leave the country. Now I'm doing it on purpose. I've been buying consoles and controllers to refurbish and then I pack them up for use when my current one breaks and I have a few for parts. I have quite a few original Xboxes and Xbox 360's that I have put back now and I may get another Series X before I leave, but that's just because of availability and price as it's not as important because of the backwards compatibility. As long as the new consoles that come out have the same backwards compatibility then I just get the newest console and I'm good.

@Kaloudz I had a Dreamcast for a long time and a ton of games for it. I had it put up because I didn't play it very much. I had a friend that needed some entertainment for his children and didn't have a lot of money to spend at the time, so I gave him the Dreamcast and all the games. I regret my decision as well. I don't think they took very good care of it either.

@Kaloudz I can't say I have ever heard of that, but yes I think it was absolutely amazing for the time. My friends would come over and be confused as to what it was. All of them still had PlayStation 1 or Nintendo 64 and when I would turn it on they would be amazed by the entire thing. They about had heart attacks and fell over dead when I showed them I could play online.

@Kaloudz What country are you in? I've never heard of anything like that here, so I figured maybe you're in a different country.

@Kaloudz I'm in the US, but moving to Iceland soon.

@Kaloudz I remember connecting my Dreamcast to dial up, but it just dialed my normal ISP number, which was a local number and there was no charge for dialing it and then I just paid my normal monthly fee for internet access. I did get the ethernet adapter and connect it to broadband for a short time before I stopped playing it online. Was Dream Areana a separate charge on top of the normal internet access cost?