Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 17-18)

This weekend I’m playing Chained Echoes on my Xbox Series X via Game Pass. I’m nearing the end of Act 1, and I have got to say - this game is phenomenal and deserves more attention. It’s essentially a love letter to throwback SNES JRPGs. It’s best compared to Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI in that regard.

The combat is fantastic and is always evolving in unique ways as the game progresses. There is also an overdrive meter that (admittedly some people aren’t a fan of, but I am) creates a nice strategic balance in combat. It’s one of those mechanics that really keeps each combat encounter engaging rather than spamming the same action prompt. When it comes to combat, you acquire SP points after the battle and those can be used to upgrade your skills since traditional leveling up via experience points isn’t a component in this game.

As you roam the world, you’ll collect items and come across battles that will reward you - kill this amount of enemies; receive this prize, and this will give you material to craft different gems to put into your weapon and armor to make you stronger. Everything has a propose.

Furthermore, the game offers an incredible amount of lore. The first few hours of the game creates a sense of scope, and builds on its world and characters. And, as many typical JRPG tropes do, there’s a variety of characters that have intertwined stories and they all eventually connect and create a party. However, it’s their back stories and motivations that really create more than a one note character. With that said, I wish there was more emphasis on character expressions and reactions when something occurs.

Other than that quibble, there is not much that is wrong with this game, including the great soundtrack - a must have staple in any classic JRPG. I hope more people play this game and review it. Those who have critiqued the game have praised it tremendously. It’s definitely a diamond in the ruff and a true hidden gem.

The Witcher 3, Chained Echos and Monster Hunter Rise

Still playing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. Taking longer than expected, but it is so good.

I'm playing High on Life and LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Sega on xCloud.

I also recently got a Playstation and I've spent some time sorting my backlog. I might start with Spider-Man Miles Morales and Stray.

On game pass Im playing High on Life which is fun so far. Finished Return to Monkey Island. Need to get back to Walking Dead Final Season, Prodeus and Nobody Saves The World, Midnight Fight Express. Also I need to check out Pentiment, Metal Hellsinger, Signalis, Ghost Song

Continuing on with Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Though I must admit the story has kind of lost me at this point and it feels like it's being dragged out a bit too much. Still I think I am near the end so I will push on through I guess.

I tried WWE 2K22 via the Free Play Days. I am not sure what is wrong but everything from selecting menu options to triggering moves in a fight feels like it has a 1 second or so delay before anything happens. Made the fights I tried really frustrating and not fun. I bounced off it quite hard.

With Pathfinder being such a dense story and mechanics driven game I am looking for something a bit simpler that I play for a palate cleanser before I dive into The Witcher 3 current gen upgrade.

Looking at Diablo 3 at the moment as it's the sort of game I don't have to think about too much and can catch up on some podcasts while I play.

Open to any suggestions for similar "don't need to think too much" style games. Thx in advance for any suggestions 🙂

@BBB Vampire Survivors! Perfect podcast listening game.

I'll be playing high on life on xbox and some witcher 3 on ps5 also got god of war to get back into and possibly some mw2 multiplayer.

I’ll definitely be checking out the Series X|S versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt this weekend. Other than that, I’m in the back half of God of War Ragnarok on PS5 and having an absolute blast! Oh and I’ll also give High on Life a try. Hopefully I’ll find it as funny as it’s meant to be. Either way, what a great time to be a gamer!

I'm going to try out High On Life..

Decided to play Fortnite with the new Chapter and Map but found it hard to get into with the changes they’ve made. Looks amazing though, have to be honest about that.

Lego Star Wars: Skywalker Saga, a 2nd playthrough of Psychonauts 2 and the usual mix of Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite.

I've got the worst hangover but trying to ease some of it with some games and crimbo movies with the family. Tried some high on life earlier and while some of the humour hasn't hit, some has. It looks pretty incredible though, I'm surprised at the quality of the graphic. Hoping to play a bit more stray later too and though the world is interesting and the cat is cute, it has never really grabbed me. I've traded in a few games and have 50 quid in CEX vouchers and am trying to decide between sekiro (love souls games but have always been unsure as this game seems harder than any other souls game) and xenoblade chronicles 3 (last jrpg I played was nier automata) as I've heard nothing but good things about the story.

Probably Sea of Thieves. I’ve been playing a bit of Fortnite too and if I’m in the mood Halo Infinite but honestly the winter contingency 2 is out next week. So I might give it a break until then.

Street Fighter 6 closed beta and Disney Dreamlight Valley

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (PS2) - Finally coming back to start on Episode II.

Rayman Jungle Run (Windows Phone) - Nearing the halfway point with this one.

Age of Sparta (Windows Phone) - Working on upgrading buildings and fortifying my defenses.

Xbox Series X - Sonic Frontiers, Dead or Alive Ultimate

PS5 - God of War: Ragnarök, Gotham Knights, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion (so far, it's just wanted from a remaster of one of my favorite PSP games)

Witcher 3, enjoying a new play through with shiny updates. I played High on Life for about half an hour, hoping it would be better than the reviews suggested. It wasn't.

Mario Kart 8 for the new tracks on Switch and some High On Life on my Series S...
Retro wise perhaps some Columns (Mega Drive) as it's been added to the Switch Online Expansion service..

Mostly High on Life for this weekend. May check out Vampire Survivors dlc, too, and keep chugging along with Monkey Island

High on Life and still a lot of Persona 5 Royal to go...

Alternating between High on Life and finishing A Plague Tale Requiem.

Been playing some spyro on the switch, followed by lego star wars and high on life on xbox GP. Waiting to see if there are any treats by xbox un second half of the month

Hi there fellow gamers,
This weekend I´ll be playing some Guilty Gear Strive online on my PS5, continue my Bayonetta playtrough on my Switch and be all over The Outer Worlds on my Xbox Series X as I´m having a pure blast with it.
I was going to play Halo Infinite, but I was very curious to try this game and I´m super glad I did.
Been a while since I´ve played a western rpg that felt this engaging and imersive.
Love the dialogue options like Persuade and Lie, the sci-fi setting wich is one of my favourites, the wacky characters and even the gunplay, wich could be a little better tough.
If Starfield is any similar to this, then it´s going to be a banger.
Cheers, stay safe folks and happy gaming weekend to us all

Revisiting the Witcher 3 for a 3rd time. I completed it once in PS4 on release date. Also got very far when I bought it on the switch. It now makes sense to play it on Xbox series S. It is still the best game ever created and I'll take my sweet time to complete it once more.
Also playing High on life (on short doses this game is actually fun)
and continuing a bit with Disco Elysium (awesome game)
Sunday Argentina plays so no gaming, just celebrating on the streets (I hope)

Stuck high on life on to take a quick look and that was 4 hours ago, loving it 👍

Been teaching my mom how to play video games again with Unpacking. She used to play games like Kid Icarus and Zelda on nes when I was a kid, but the most she plays nowadays is candy crush or wordle on her phone. It's been really fun seeing her reactions and watching her deliberate on where to place items. It's also kind of the perfect game for her to get the hang of the controller because all the button icons are on the screen and the controls are so simple.

I'm hoping this gets her up to speed enough to play As Dusk Falls with me and my brother, while we're all here together for Christmas.

I'm playing GTA 3 Definitive Edition

Just finished Rangorok - wow.
Gone back to High on Life. Its a kinda 6/10 experience for me, but I do want to finish it.
The Witcher 3 is calling, though thats another huge commitment!

Have fun y'all!

I'm back in The Witcher 3 and loving every minute, with Lost Judgment and Tales of Arise around it.

I'm about 1/4 of the way through A Plague Tale: Requiem and so far, so good. Playing the PC version for the extra frames. I'm loving everything about it. The graphics and art direction are fantastic, and the story is great so far. The gameplay mechanics are clever and fun, like a cross between the old Thief games and the newer Tomb Raider games, both of which are some of my all time favorites. Good stuff! Highly recommended.

I’m hooked on crusader kings 3 can’t seem to make a good run tho

This week I’ve been sick of everthing else i was playing so I jumped back into my second play through of the Halo Infinite campaign. Its a nice thing to go back to. Ive also been staring to get some pretty long runs in Vampire Survivors. I think that might be my favorite game this year. Just a fun change of pace. Have a great weekend!

I mentioned last week I'd wanted to start Immortality, but wasn't in the right headspace. I started that this weekend, and really glad I did. I'm very engrossed, and love how it's all put together. I've not played anything like it.

Looking forward to playing some more this week.