Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (March 30-31)

This weekend I'm gonna play Disco Elysium and Monster Hunter Stories 2(big surprise, I know).
Maybe some Evil West in co-op aswell.

The finals is going hard

No, it's not Diablo 4, because the battlenet integration is a total disaster. Can't play the game because of errors, then i fix it and it works then the next day the same error appears. It keeps asking to be updated, then says update failed, gives an eror code but the error code cant be found, gives a link to support but clicking it does nothing.

Every time you open the xbox app bnet force opens, then you cant close bnet and get the error 'bnet is required to be open to use the xbox app' and so you cant even minimise it to tray.

Then you click to play the game and even though nothing changed, it didnt update, didnt fix any error, it just randomly works.

I just cannot comprehend how they could have implemented this ***** any worse.

I got the last achievement in MLB 24 last night, so needing a new game. I may go achievement hunting for a bit as well while I wait on Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on April 23.

I haven’t played much this week due to work and family visiting from out of state. Unfortunately, I won’t have much time this weekend, either. If I manage to squeeze in some gaming sessions, I’ll be attempting to finish Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

I’m currently on the last chapter and it has been an evocative experience. I’ve put in roughly 105 hours into the game, with all side quests and world region activities completed. In a way, I’m excited to see the end of the journey, but sad as well, as I’ve grown even more attached to these characters than I did in the PS1 original version.

Once I finish Rebirth I plan on starting Rise of the Ronin. Everything I have read about this game seems to be exactly what I enjoy about Team Ninja games, but expanded upon in ways I’m thrilled to experience. I’ve also been reading James Clavell’s Shogun. I finished part one a few days ago — nearly 700 pages, and I’m a quarter of the way through part two — so my mindset is honed in on this era of history that should be a good time to delve into.

@Traygor that synthwave map is still crazy 😮‍💨

@RexPowercolt - I almost gave up yesterday when trying to register but finally got past the ‘are you a human’ checks and got an account registered. I’m glad I did as I’m beginning to enjoy the game which surprised me as I thought it wouldn’t be for me.

Quite how Xbox have taken 6 months to get Diablo IV onto Gamepass and not address these front end frustrations is almost unbelievable. Yes, it’s not rocket science and once you’ve got registered it works fine, but why put these hurdles in the way? Why isn’t it a seamless process to link our Xbox account to a Blizzard one? After all, we playing on a console (which is supposed to make life easy). Just to show you how stupid the registration process is there was initially an option to link to a PlayStation account but not one for a Microsoft/Xbox account.

How dumb is that?!

Anyway, rant over….I’m looking forward to exploring more of Diablo’s world. & Happy Easter weekend everyone, go steady on the eggs.

Diablo 4 for me, hopefully some of my friends will also be playing and we can blast through the campaign in co-op

No it's not Diablo 4 but I might dip back in when the new season starts in May. Hope the folks who do jump in have fun in the meantime.

All my gaming time at the moment is being taken up with Final Fantasy 14. I played it a lot on pc but haven't touched it in years before the Xbox launch.

So much has changed (and I have forgotten a lot) that it almost feels like a new game.

One of the best changes I have found so far are the changes to required dungeons in the main story quest. You no longer need to wait in a queue to get folks to do them with you (It was a huge sticking point for a lot of folks in the old days.) You can instead go in with NPC's and run the dungeon that way. The NPC party members do a half decent job too at tanking and healing which is a bonus.

You can of course still queue to run story dungeons real folks if you want. Plus there are optional dungeons (& raids) outside of the main story that you will need to queue for if you are a completionist. Still not having to do this to progress the story is a huge QoL.

FFXIV was always a good looking game and it's still is on my Series X in 4K. There are some stutters in the main cities but outside of that I haven't really noticed any other issues so far.

Feel like I will be here for a long time. It's a nice feeling to be excited to play & explore an mmo again.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) - Finally made it to the end!

Kingdoms & Lords (Windows Phone) - Just started on this one.

Lode Runner Classic (Windows Phone) - Also at the end of this as well. Then it will be time to delete and move onto the next one in the list...

Mutant Year Zero, Remnant 2 with friends, and maybe I'll check out Diablo 4

Dragons Dogma 2 when I get the time. About 10hrs in and have been exploring a lot because it's so easy to do so. But TBH the loot isn't particularly rewarding so I'm going to focus on the main quest from now and build up my mystic spearhead having switched from fighter.

Trying out Open roads but it’s not much of a game more of pick something up and it’s useless and put it down… hopefully can do this for the achievements and move on to something more interesting…

On game pass just finished Open Roads which was a nice little story experience like Edith Finch, also thought the art style was awesome. Mostly now I got Dragon's Dogma, Ronin and Rebirth on the go

Xbox - Hoping to finish No More Heroes 3 so I can start Diablo 4.

Pc - Tales of Symphonia

Nintendo - Astral Chain

Sony - nothing

I'm going to start a brand-new playthrough of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. Planning to ascend Antea this time!

No diablo for me, P3R is the star of gamepass for the forseeable future.
And Super Mario RPG on Switch

Jedi survivor... it's really good perhaps GOTY contender.
I cancelled my subscription to game pass cause that's all I'm playing

Going old school this weekend hide and seek we the lads were all late thirtys so hopefully nobody gets freaked out and calls the law
Atari: Donkey Kong
Megadrive: sonic and knuckles
I might bang some sticks together aswell just for the buzz

@fabisputza007 i need to play that one yet. But I have been busy listening to Bombita Rodriguez all day.

Checking out some Outlast Trials. It's pretty fun when you play with people (even though I just play with randoms), but I can see it getting very repetitive quickly. Plus I think the player base is already suffering cause even though I have crossplay enabled it can time out for taking to long to find a match/group. But when you do find a full group it has been fun.

@AlienigenX hahahah (or should I say jajajaj)

Finishing Samurai Warriors 5. Don't know what I'll play after that.

Wife & I finished the content of Lightyear Frontier this week. Good fun with a solid foundation but definitely early access.

I’ll likely play some Halo Infinite multiplayer as always. The exp per rank getting to me! 60k For the next one and that’s nothing compared to where it’s heading. I don’t know how long Infinite will be around but the grind to Hero is daunting.

@Chaotic_Neutral I had a ton of fun playing the campaign with my friends. Enjoy!

Trying to finish everything in Dead Island 2. All side quests.

The Mark of Kri.

FF 7 Rebirth - just finished the game, and what a game it is! So much fun to play, great story, goofy and silly at times but powerful and emotional at times. Perfect combo. And what a world they’ve created to explore and some fun minigames and QB. This game is high on my all time favorites now and does so many things better than Remake. Simply awesome!

Stellan Blade demo - very impressed, this is going to be a good one!

For the most part, Spider-Man Miles Morales on PS4, and Diablo IV on xbox. Sparingly, I've been playing PM: Color Splash

It's got to be Diablo 4, right? No.

As interesting as it looks, Diablo 4 is not in my cross hairs for a while yet. I've got too much to check off the backlog before I commit to something like that. I was playing Hellblade and although I enjoyed the first couple of hours, I got bored pretty quick, so I'm done with that.

Now I'm playing a myriad of games and dipping in and out of each of them. I have a feeling I'll be playing the same rotation for quite a while!

FIFA 23 - player career mode
Mcpixel 3
Doom
Goldeneye
Dead island 2
Back for Blood
WWE 2K22
Alan Wake remastered

I’ve just finished Horizon Forbidden West & Burning shores on PS5. However, I’m now looking for a new game but am torn between 3 choices - Dragons Dogma 2, Banishers Ghosts of New Eden, or The Rise of the Ronin. I honestly can’t decide 🤔

Finishing up Two Point Campus DLC, just got the 3 medical schools left to do. I don't plan on starting anything else as I've got a gaming PC being delivered this week and I can't wait to jump in to Helldivers with the boys.

Does anybody have any PC specific game pass games they can recommend? Time to finally get full use out of my Ultimate subscription.

Started Diablo 4 today, never played one before and apart from issues registering, I am really impressed. I too, didn’t think it would be my type of game but pleasantly surprised. Also picked up Penny’s big Breakaway after purchasing it in the sale, so need to put some time in with this. Not that I need to bother with either of the above as my backlog could last me absolute years of games I have barely started (Witcher 3, Cyberpunk, Red Dead 2, Starfield, Alan Wake 2, Resident Evil 4 remake etc etc).

Unicorn Overlord is taking over my life (and I love it)!

The weather is finally beautiful here, so this weekend's going to be all about open windows, cranking the Grateful Dead (I'm actually an old road warrior Deadhead), drinking loads of Yorkshire Tea, and having a revisit of Lost Odyssey on my trusty ole Xbox Series X because that's just how we roll around here... Peace & Love & Nothing Left To Do But Smile Smile Smile!

Played Skull & Bones with my friends last night and we could not get ourselves to stop. If you try it out, just remember it has a slow start but once you get your first ship with cannons it's a blast! Haha (Sleep deprived dad joke

A mixed bag of game really.

Helldivers 2,
Battlefront Classic Collection,
Kingdom Hearts,
Diablo IV,
And Battlefield 4.

After taking some time on Good Friday to properly get to grips with the game, I’ve been really having a blast with Dragon’s Dogma 2. I’ve put the main quest aside for a while and taken some time to fill in the blanks on the map, explore, and generally get into trouble.

Vampire Survivors and possibly some Wild Hearts as my son has convinced me to give it a go

Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Unicorn Overlord - Xbox Series X
Stellar Blade demo - PS5
Pepper Grinder - Switch

Definitely Diablo 4. Bethesda acquisition finally paying off.

Dragon dogma 2 all weekend for me. I'm hooked

I finally started Alan Wake 2 - love the shared universe with Control! Also running through The Talos Principle 2 and Let's Cook Together with my wife. Helldivers 2 late night carnage too I'm sure.

For me it's Unpacking, I'm going to see how long it takes me from start to finish

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5) - I'm about two-thirds of the way through the game but will probably put it down for a bit now and pick up where I left off in Yakuza: Like A Dragon.

Gears of War: Definitive Edition (XSX) - I've just completed the third chapter and will try to push through and complete it in the next day or two so I can start on Diablo IV.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch) - finally finished this. Way to much grinding for my taste and the final chapter didn't really respect my time with hundreds of repetitive combat encounters and fighting the final boss through multiple stages. I also found the combat, systems, and story overly convoluted. Happy to close the chapter on this one.

Half-Life (Steam) - have just got a Steam Deck and am catching up on classics I haven't played when I'm not losing my life in Balatro.

The Show 24 and starting Diablo 4

Demon’s Souls on PS5, such an addictive game. When I wake up I’m already making up my next strategy in my mind.

I’ll be playing solely PS Plus games for the next three months. After my subscription runs out I’ll fire up my Series X again.

@Kieduss *Blizzard acquisition

Final Fantasy rebirth still, 70 hours in and loving it.
Tried the Steller Blade demo too and Im now looking forward to it.

Im resolved to breaking out the fighting stick today, and playing some selections from my shoot em up collection. I gotta scratch that itch sometimes!

Happy easter to you all - whatever you are playing, I hope you are having fun!

I sold my Steam Deck OLED yesterday and I’m playing waiting for my ROG Ally to arrive. Happy Easter everyone!

Just downloaded and started Diablo 4, enjoying it.

Also playing the Show 24 and PGA 23 (series S).

And some a Sly Cooper on Vita.

Steamdeck: Statis bone totem

Xbox series X: Call of duty

Ive been using the Cyberpunk free trial weekend to 'try before I buy'. Really enjoyed the first few hours. Just waiting on a sale now.

This weekend I finished the 2 missions that come pre-installed with The Dark Mod and looking into some of the other downloadable campaigns. Its crazy that it feels/plays almost exactly like Thief when its actually a Doom 3 mod. I was having some performance issues with it on my Steam Deck but I installed the Linux version instead of the Windows version and that helped quite a bit, though I still can't get it to run steady past 45fps without taking an intolerable hit to the resolution. 45 isn't too bad, but when I'm used to 90 on Steam Deck, the difference is pretty drastic.

Mostly I'm still playing Deus Ex: 2027 and Princess Peach: Showtime. 2027 is very good, though I ran into a bit of trouble figuring out what to do in Moscow, and there aren't really any guides I could find that helped. I was trying to play both sides of the conflict, but I wasn't really able to progress with one of them. Oh well. Off to Siberia now!

I also played the first level of Alien Trilogy just to see if I could map the controls like a normal FPS on my Steam Deck, which of course you can. It doesn't exactly make it feel amazing, but it's a major improvement.

@SacredPYRO Here's a few I'd recommend on PC:

Arx Fatalis

Quake 4

Wolfenstein 3D

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Evil Within on PC has the DLC included and playable from the start

Don't forget you can get the EA App and link your Game Pass account to play games on that app for "free" that are not technically on Game Pass (such as Crysis Remastered 1-3, some of the old Star Wars games, etc)

Some games are not exclusive to PC but you get a much better experience regarding frames per second and other graphical features not on console such as:

-Dishonored 2
-Redfall
-Plague Tale: Requiem
-Hypnospace Outlaw (just make more sense with M&K - though I know you can technically play it that way on console as well)

Not on Game Pass, but the original version of Doki Doki Literature Club is free and without saying too much, the PC version specifically will blow your mind by the time you get to the end. Never seen a game do something quite like that before.

I'd also recommend other free games/mods like:

The Dark Mod (standalone)

Wolfenstein (abandonware)

No One Lives Forever (abandonware)

Portal Revolution, Portal Prelude, Portal Reloaded, Portal Stories: Mel (Portal 1/Portal 2 mods)

Deus Ex: 2027 (Deus Ex mod)
-Also heard the Nameless Mod is amazing but I haven't played it yet.

Thief: The Black Parade (Thief Gold mod)

I haven't played Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age (Thief 2 mod) yet but I hear its great.

Sorry that was probably way more than you were looking for! 😅

Tried Diablo 4. Nicknamed it "connection error simulator". Tried Starfield again. Nicknamed it "loading screen simulator".
So back on the much better than Starfield space simulator, No Man's Sky... Not a loading screen or connection error in sight, and the new update just makes it far superior. And pinball fx. Competition with my mates is intense on that one!

Bought Diablo 4 when it came out and not really a massive fan; Dragons Dogma 2 for me - Frustrating and fun in equal measure!

Dead Island 2 (With friends)
Young Souls (Couch coop with brother)
Ni no Kuni II: Ravenant Kingdom - Prince's Edition

Advent Rising and Horizon: Zero Dawn on PC and Forza Motorsport 7 and/or 8 and The Elder Scrolls Online on Series X.

@Kraven I just got a Playstation 5 slim and my first purchase is going to be Rise of the Ronin!

Still working throug AC Valhalla. Enjoying it. Next up is dead island 2 and finally starting halo infinite. Evil west / diablo on my list too. Game pass has been great last few months for me

@everynowandben Awesome, thanks for the list. I look forward to checking those out.

@Kraven You always comment about how much you are enjoying your PlayStation, here in PureXbox, in these very same articles, every week. What's the point? just curious.

@fbnaulin I also do it on the Nintendo sister-site. My point is to talk about games. For the past months I’ve been on a PlayStation kick with their games, but if I was playing an Nintendo or Xbox game I would also post it on the other sites as well. I enjoy discussing games regardless of the platform. I have a passion for the medium and I enjoy reading what people are playing as well — it gives me insight on certain games I may not have had my eye on that I should maybe pay attention to.

@Kraven I understand. Thanks for your kind reply.