Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 7th)

This weekend it’s my birthday😛
I’ll be playing Switch Sports and Mario Kart 8 online
With some Super Mario games to enjoy
On ps5 it’s Horizon Forbidden West

Focus returning back to the Switch. A mixture of MK8 Deluxe, Switch Sports and FE Three Houses. It'll be interesting to see what Nintendo reveals next week to coincide with earnings results.

Bit of a disappointing month for new games so looking at some ones I’ve overlooked like Ori and the Blind Forest and Celeste

I just started Shin Megami Tensei V. Will also continue Disco Elysium on PC, which I am nearly 40 hours in, after a couple of attempts which didn't go anywhere. And maybe some Lego City Undercover on Switch as a palate changer.

Got an itch to jump back in to slime rancher so probably that

Well... I cleared Captain Commando(again) in Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle playing as Captain Commando. And, in Shovel Knight: King of Cards I cleared 1st level on 2nd map on two medals and cleared Frog's(I don't know his English name) puzzles in tavern. That's all what I've played on this week... Have a nice gaming weekend, everyone.

I’ve not really touched my Switch in a while, but I’ve been aching to finally start a big game on the handheld. Maybe something like Dragon Quest XI S or Astral Chain, perhaps? Two games I’ve owned for absolutely ages, but still not yet got around to playing. I did manage to start the excellent Octopath Traveler several weeks back, but despite having a blast with it, I only got as far as the opening couple of hours before getting distracted by Gran Turismo 7 on PS5. Either way, I’ll be playing one of them this weekend, but which one? 🤔

I'm working on my backlog at the moment to "pave the way" for the upcoming Steam Deck. I'm playing Darksiders 3 on my Switch Lite right now and after that it'll be God Eater 3 and possibly G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout.

I haven’t played any games all week sadly but I want to try and start trek to yomi on the xbox.
Also want to try and continue FE fates birthright on my 3DS.

Hope it works out but I’m just not feeling it atm.

This weekend is all about that old school gaming, as I started the day off with Road Runner's Death Valley Rally for the SNES. Currently, I'm playing Pac-Man 99, which yeah technically isn't an old school game, but it's Pac-Mac so I'm counting it. Speaking of the SNES though, I'll be starting up Chrono Trigger in a bit as well.

@Kaioken Happy Birthday!

Finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Torna middle of the week which left me depressed not just because of the ending but that's me down with Xenoblade until July. Gonna play Triangle Strategy this weekend which I recently got.

Fighting Hawk

Making my way through Metroid Dread. Just got the triple beam, now on to find the morph ball. Great game. Also recently got Zelda Skyward Sword and the game is just awesome. Was playing alot of PC before, so I stalled on getting these games.

Also playing Halo Infinite on PC mainly and some on Xbox One with my brother.

Have a great weekend!

A mix of stuff... FortNite and Kena on PS5, Wild At Heart and Trek to Yomi on XSXand just bought Monkey Ball remaster pack on Switch so more of the main story mode there.

Skul The Hero Slayer.
Really great game that Nintendo Life refuse to acknowledge exists.
If like me you loved Dead Cells then you shouldn't miss this.

Still playing Kirby with the family in between Skul on my Switch.
Going to start Just Cause 3 on my PS4.

I'm playing Trine 2 on Wii U, great game and the gamepad is very handy for accurately drawing boxes with the magician. After that I might try Axiom Verge.

Epic Chef PS4 All Day Long. 🤓🍳🥘🥗🍲🍽

I have reached level 54 for Zest and have unlocked some Synergy bonus for Thunander fish. I really enjoy this quirky game since I bought the game last 2 weeks ago. I keep experimenting with some dishes to create highest points in either Vigor / Spirit / Sophistication flavor as possible from rare ingredients especially from seafood.
And I will continue the progress this night after 7 pm.
Bon Appetit !

On playstation 5 I will be continuing with the voice of cards the forsaken maiden, so far I quite like it, it's definitely unlike anything I've ever played before and kinda wish the characters had their own voices instead of the game being fully narrated.

I will also be continuing with elden ring and the trails of cold steel 1, currently have it in easy and turbo mode so I can breeze through it and try and get the whole series done this year.... Maybe

On switch I will be doing chapters 15 and 16 in fire emblem three houses with the golden deer House and some more xenoblade chronicles 2. I will also boot up some splatoon 2 so I can do the campaign which I've never even attempted in the 4 years I've owned the game 😅

Also, I'm trying to hunt down and UK copy of a 3DS game called The Legend of Legacy but no where is selling it and for some reason it's not on the Eshop anymore, and I know its available in Europe as years ago I tried a demo

This week I will be mostly playing

Fire Emblem Awakening

@Freek I absolutely loved Dead Cells but never heard of this Skul game. Should I check it out?

@Kaioken Happy birthday fellow Ninfriendo!

Just started Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. Really good fun so far. Definitely need another Borderlands. Part 3 was amazing

@moodycat your username is accurate, my dude

I haven't played much of anything this week, but I'll probably get back into Lego Star Wars: the Skywalker Saga today, and I'm thinking about returning to Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin or one of the Story of Seasons games.

Also in the cards: working on my sweater, doing housework, seeing Doctor Strange tomorrow and maybe getting a new Lego set.

Just got a used discounted Kirby forgotten land today. Been playing for 6 hrs and have collected all the waddle dees up to the 3rd boss who I’m struggling to beat without taking damage

Making my way through 'Elden Ring', or as I have affectionally nicknamed it from the screen I see the most, making way through 'You Died'

❗️Just finished 'Catherine: Full Body' and will now start 'Doki Doki Literature Club'.

I've been meaning to get back to playing Bayonetta 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so I might return to those two this weekend.

'Tis the second and estimatedly last weekend of my rare PS4 streak (at least for the visible future), so the previously mentioned handful of Dualshock-demanding titles remain guaranteed on the menu - especially the expectedly awesome Horizon Zero Dawn and NFS Payback (for all the flack the fandom routinely gave it, it's really shaping up to be one of my top faves in the franchise, essentially feeling like a juicy blend of Black Box and Criterion open-worlder recipes but with some QoL perks to stand above each, be it appreciably more room for off-road beelining or appreciably shorter crash animations😄), but not quite neglecting Days Gone or Bloodborne either. Bloodborne in particularly, despite me still sucking at it and the subgenre as a whole, ended up motivating me to seek even more masochistic experiences of the kind - resuming Dark Souls on Switch, starting Nioh on PS4 (although I won't be spending much longer with it now because it's proven manageable on Vita controls for once; Bloodborne still isn't)... I'm even considering more of The Surge on the laptop, besides the latter platform's common pastimes like ESO, JC2, FFXIII, AC or Torchlight.

As for Switch, the aforementioned Dark Souls should be accompanied by other familiar playthroughs like Xenoblade, Don't Starve, DerQ, RF5, Bioshock 2 and/or Immortals - but I'm hoping to add a few more library items this fortnight as well, so the planned targets like Automachef, Help Will Come Tomorrow or Beautiful Desolation may see some action fresh off the boat, too. And of course, I still don't rule out some handheld stuff - Etrian Odyssey, Endless Frontier, God Eater, RPS Simula- er, Xenogears and whatnot.

Me trying to play Eastward:

Oooh this game reviewed well and it's a Zelda-esque game with Earthbound style story telling! My my my!
1 - hour in
I am gonna come right back to this, but you know I haven't played Pikmin 3 in awhile.
8 hours later
Definitely gonna crack down and play this beautiful game now! People have only said great things about it!
Plays for 2 hours
Woah! Metroid Dread was just the best game last.year... maybe I could?
**Another 8 hours later*
But I have also heard Monster Tale on the DS is supposed to be good*
12 hours later
Ugh I guess I'm gonna make myself play Eastward

I'm sure it's great, I just am having trouble getting into it! But maybe I'll play Bowser's Fury instead... 🤔

continuning in my Kirby and the Forgotten Land playtrough, in the final world of the game, 299 Waddle Dee saved so far.

Finally out of school! Once I take my SAT, I’m going to reward myself with a Kirby and the Forgotten Land marathon, as I’m going to try to finish it by the end of the weekend.

Also, can someone please tell me what the shortcut for bolding is on this website? I don’t know where to look to find the answer and don’t want to embarrass myself. Italicizing and spoiler shortcuts would also be appreciated.

Probably a bunch of Ruined King: A League of Legends story since it was on sale and I just completed another watch through of the absolutely amazing Arcane: LoL. Pretty fun so far (just got my girl Miss Fortune to join up) even if it is just basically Battle Crashers with a different coat of paint.

Waiting for Dying Light to arrive Tuesday so maybe I can finish Ruined King before then.

@JakedaArbok Just put a * before and after what you want bolded, don't use the others so I'm not sure besides the oldschool [/i] way.

Continuing onward with Roguebook -deluxe: I’ve played with 8 of the 10 possible pairs of characters and I’m at epilogue 4 (of 20) in new game+. Each playthrough has been taking me about 3 hours so I break after each chapter to play golf story, Toodee Topdee, House of Fata Morgana—of which I just got to the first plot twist. I’ve also been making further progress in Fez and Slay the Spire.

Dug up the Wii U from its grave to start up Paper Mario Color Splash. A game which I originally scoffed at but having found Origami King to be a lot more quality that I would have thought combined with views of some fans that the game is quite good I decided to give it a shot. Still very early so I don't have a solid opinion on it yet but I'm not quite as captivated as I was with Origami King. The more linear level design isn't really doing it so far but we'll see. The rather forced Wii U pad incomporation is annoying also.

In the meanwhile I also got some of the N64 games available on system before they're gone from the world forever, one of the games was one of my childhood games Pokemon Snap which I decided to just playthrough there and then and boy, I knew it was short but I didn't remember really how lacking it was in content in addition of being short. Only a few stages to play on with around 10 Pokemon to photograph each and the variation that you can reallly do with each stage is sorely limited considering how little there is to begin with. This one has not aged well and sure I liked it as a dumb kid but posthumously I still feel kind of bad having made my father get this one for me back in the day with those insane N64 cart prices.

Rimworld is taking a bit of a break for now and instead I got bit of an inspiration to work on my SRPG Studio project.

Nothing but working.. but then I'll be off for a week and a half so I'll be plowing through both World End Syndrome and Diablo III: Eternal Collection.

@moodycat If I haven't heard of it then it's probably not interesting, lol .. What was interesting was finishing 13 Sentinels this past week. Absolutely epic! Now time for World End Syndrome!

@BlueGBAMicro Hell yes.. impeccable taste

Alice Madness Returns dlc and Turok on x360, and now I have a new 2ds, play some of the many games I bought recently after everything downloads of course.

Just nobody saves the world. I gave up on that turd that Is triangle strategy. I'm done with critic reviews of square games because none of them are honest.

Halo Infinite S2 Lone Wolves & Tetris 99 are the nightly routine until Sunbreak comes out! I finished Kirby Star Allies & Katana ZERO this past week. Dabbled some Team Sonic Racing but I couldn’t fall in love with it as I have with MK8 or the previous Sonic kart racer

More LEGO Skywalker Saga, Picross S5, NSO Paper Mario, and Triangle Strategy. Some of these decisions in Triangle Strategy are starting to get serious man

@Picola-Wicola
Yeah definitely.
I'm loving it atm.
You swap out your head and can carry 2 at a time which can change your abilities, there are over 130 skulls in the game as well as buffs that also add more variety to the game
After each run you can also level up.
It is a great take on the Dead Cells formula, The Prisoner's skull is even in the game!

I'll be playing Super Star Wars (SNES), Shin Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers (3DS) and Bully (PS2 and PC)

I'm continuing my attempt to play through (almost) every "Castlevania" game of the two collections that I haven't beaten before. I'll probably skip "Simon's Quest" and "Adventure".
Already finished the original and "Super Castlevania IV" and enjoyed both quite a bit. I'm at "Dracula's Curse" at the moment and that has the potential to become one of my favorites in the franchise. Stunning visuals and music for an NES title, a lot of variety and it plays rather satisfying.
I'm a little bit worried about the later levels. Usually that's when the cheap difficulty ***** starts.

I'll continue Iconoclasts on the Switch, both handheld and docked. The story is starting to get creepy.

Happy gaming everyone!!

Paper jam, zombie army 4, and super c.

Twisted Metal 2 (PS) - Only need to beat the game with three more characters now.

CarneyVale: Showtime (Windows Phone) - At the end now.

ExZeus 2 (Windows Phone) - Still trying to improve high scores in the later levels.

Skyrim but planning on starting Earthbound soon for the backlog club. Also trying to ween myself off slay the spire again as I seem to be in remission

Tetris 99, Luigi's Mansion 3 and Mr Driller Drill Land for me.

Ahhh… well my little one stayed home with covid this week and gave it to me now as a Mothers Day gift. 😅
So I’m riding the couch, with plenty of time for Nintendo therapy for the next few days, if not the energy.

I’ll give Slay the Spire a few good runs at least, or play whatever is easy and accessible, like Lego Star Wars or Spelunky, or maybe finally start an ambitious backlogged game like Crosscode. Just don’t make me get off the couch. 😑

Happy Mother’s Day to all the gaming moms out there! 💕

Mario Golf Super Rush. Although I hope to start 13 Sentinels this weekend!

I've been playing MegaMan X8 on my Switch lately to finish up that second playthrough I didn't finish. Besides that, I've been playing The Last Blade's NGPC game too since my copy of PMM+ isn't in yet.

I’ve completed my Dex in both Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, just shy of the three Gen IV mythicals (which I might go for shortly, if not early next week), as well as Celebi and Deoxys which remain unobtainable.

And I might get back into Legends Arceus after a short hiatus and Spelunker Party (Japanese version).

Shiny hunting in Pokémon Legends Arceus since the game basically turns you into a shiny hunter in the post-game 😎

A lot of Pavlov Shack.

Midevil on PS4. I'm not talking about my switch backlog as it may open a hole in reality that I can not escape from.

Kirby on Switch. Surprised at how much fun I'm having with that game.

I finished Gear.Club Unlimited 2 this week. The endurance races, with their tyre and fuel strategies, were a real change of pace. Pun intended. I have nothing left to do on single player, but may return to multilayer from time to time.
Next up, I'm trying to clear Pixzel Lines DX from my backlog. Only 3 more categories if ouzzle to go. When I dance a little more actio, I'll play Titan Quest or Crysis.

I’ve completed Captain Commando, and made it to the Wily stages in Mega Man 10. I’ll try to get through the latter, and maybe go through some stages in Lego DC Supervillains. On Xbox, I found Scott Pilgrim on sale for 5 bucks, so I figured I’d double dip!

In honor of Star Wars Day, I also started watching the Phantom Menace on Disney+. I’m less than halfway through, but I’ll try to finish it this weekend. I’m enjoying the movie so far!

I finished a playground of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, which was a joyless experience for me. Thank you save states and rewind! I’m joyful to move on the A Link to the Past.

Also playing some Donkey Kong Country to remember what fun is. And will try some more to defeat Raven Beak in Metroid Dread.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

I'm playing the rather good metroidvania chasm on my PSV.

I started Ys VIII and the game is quite addictive...and before I go to bed I play Triangle Strategy almost every night.

I'm currently 20 hours into Xenogears and man this game is getting quite interesting! I think I'm about halfway into disc 1? So far so good!

With Kirby out of the way, I've finally got some time for my backlog. I'll be playing Bayonetta 1 to start out with, as I want to finish it and 2 before Bayo 3 releases.

I wanted to get LEGO Star Wars, but they didn't have any left on the store where I buy games, so I got Switch Sports instead, and I'm loving it a lot! Playing it alongside my children. And for the Force dose I need, I'm playing Jedi Fallen Order on PC after buying it on the awesome sale SW games have on Steam. Really great game, I'm enjoying it so far.

@Fizza I got stuck after Rusty Bucket Bay and have no clue where to go to open up Click-Clock Wood.

Been playing Voez which I got in the sale and loving it.
Also working my way through Blue Reflection Second Light which I don't see mentioned much but is a solid and quite peaceful JRPG.

I picked Okami and Mayhem Brawler that we’re both on sale so I’ll give those a play through. Along with Kirby Forgotten World.

Me and Wife:

• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
• Boomerang Fu (Switch)
• Power Rangers Battle for Grid (Steam)

Only me:

• Dicey Dungeons (Switch)
• Street Fighter V: Champion Edition (Steam)
• Slay the Spire (Steam)

I watched Norman Caruso's new documentary on Super Mario World, which inspired me to play through it for the billionth time this afternoon. I've also gotten back into Shin Megami Tensei V after having dropped it for Pokémon Legends Arceus. I shamelessly admit I'm using the DLC mitama packs to give myself a more relaxed experience. I'm old and don't care about challenge, I just want to enjoy a breezy playthrough.

@Kaioken enjoy your birthday weekend

Playing: Star Wars the Old Republic Online (PC), Horizon Zero Dawn (Steam Deck), Animal Crossing (Switch), and some other games.

On Switch, playing a little more Xenoblade Chronicles 2, doing some blade quests and the like. I also purchased Final Fantasy VII so going through that as well. On PS4, I'm still running through Persona 5 Royal, just reached the third palace and really enjoying my playthrough.

Ok, I've been playing 15 hours of the Switch version of Darksiders 3 the last 3 days (I have restarted a couple times before that and I have a total of 35 hours in the game) and I am going to do a mini review of the game.

Performance is good 95% of the time (now I haven't played the last 25% of the game - explanation further down); there's is an area about halfway into the game (just after your encounter with angels) with some rather large structures in the distance where the game is struggling quite a lot (mainly when loading in new assets), but not really during combat in my experience.

The game's tough on several levels it has to be said though:
1. There's no manual as such (something the Switch - contrary to the PS Vita - does not provide unless it's part of the game itself) which means you have to figure out most of the game's layers, mechanics, system, menus etc. yourself (and the game DOES indeed have a quite a lot layers - upgrade items for upgrading weapons and equipment, souls acquiring in 2 different ways to level up health, damage and arcane (special) damage etc.)
2. Combat is tough until you get to level up (especially damage is important in my experience).
3. Progression through the world can be difficult until you learn the various mechanical systems PLUS the level layouts - as there's no map (you CAN however fast travel to a lot of locations when you have discovered them - the map is not that big, but it IS open world - well the first 75% of the game at least - more about that in a moment).
4. The game throws a pretty difficult boss at you in the first 2 minutes or so. Not very nice IMO, but the developers were apparently inspired by the Souls games.

Verdict:
This is what I used to call a mid tier game (nowadays you call it an AA game, I think); the graphics are not completely top notch, but it's still good looing pretty good.
The good news is that for the first 75% of the game, it's a really good AA/mid tier game; gameplay's interesting; the mechanics (though tough to learn) works well (and are satisfying to execute) with good button configuration as well; the story is quite interesting and well told; the game's is often frustrating at first, but it wins on consecutive playthroughs in my experience (when you've of learned the ropes so to speak).
The bad news is that the last 25% of the game is very repetitive and pretty much linear plus it becomes very action oriented with a lot of tough enemies and some less stellar bosses; the game is simply too long for its own good IMO plus the story gets a bit too much IMO (didn't even play all of it, just watched Youtube for story mainly).

Final verdict: first 75% of the game is worth replaying on a higher difficulty (the game's got New Game+ option too if you can stomach playing through the full game that is), because the exploration and mechanics are interesting (but I would forget about the last 25%).

Score: 8 out 10

gave it to me now as a Mothers Day gift. 😅

@Teksetter Ah mon Dieu. I hope you're both alright.

Is this a red potion or a blue potion kind of illness? Should I consult my Skyrim alchemy notes to see what sort of compounds you might need? ... I see that StS is on sale. Perhaps solidarity would help? My own experience didn't leave me couch-bound, but I'm one of the lucky ones.

Take care of yourself, OK? I look forward to hearing more about arcades and pinball and stuff. I wish you the very best of Mother's Days, and many happy returns!

This weekend will be much as the last for me: I'll be swimming in bullets (Danmaku Unlimited 3) since the water's still too cold hereabouts. In lieu of destroying my Pro Controller in case of defeat by the 4th boss, I'll alternate by playing something easier, like Thunder Force III (AC), or Thumper.

I've been engaged in much spring cleaning of late to get ready for fur-shedding season, and in order to clear desk space, which I will need to trace my own pencil-and-paper maps in games like Legacy of the Wizard, and some CRPGs I've been longing to play. Long is the road to éliteness!

Opening the backlog:
First order of business: Astral Chain

@CANOEberry Thumper was excellent.

I somehow have had a Switch since 2017 and have not played Super Mario Odyssey. Started it this week and can’t stop. Absolutely merits the acclaim. Incredible game.

I just finished replaying Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart on the PS5 and I just adore the gameplay in the game .

@Zuljaras Belmont's Revenge is one of my most beloved games! So many good memories from that... I hope you enjoy it.

trying to clear out my backlog of games before mario strikers and xenoblade 3/hoping for special edition gets a release date soon currently playing lego star wars skywalker saga unlocking all characters and ships.

Wii U: Metroid: Other M
3DS: Kirby's Dreamland
Switch: Rocket League, Big Brain Academy

Picked up Lego Marvel Collection so I'm going through those games right now.

Sleep. I work 50 hours a week and don't have the energy for much gaming these days. I'm going to ATTEMPT to get some progress in Borderlands 3.

@Zuljaras I just started Vahalla on the PS5. I'm 2 hours in and feel like I haven't done anything. Playing Horizon West before it was probably a huge mistake. The two games are night and day in the character animations, level design and story. I never finished Horizon Dawn Zero, just go bored mid game. That never happened once in Horizon West. Easily my GOTY, so far. If GOWR comes out in 2022, it's probably going to be a different story all together.

Late to the party, but I finished Cyberpunk 2077 over the weekend. It is amazing!

@moodycat Then I'm going to cry 😭

@JustMonika I failed.

I WANTED to play DDLC but then I found myself in GAME and after spending 💷30 on two £15 E-Shop scratchcards, had downloaded the Pkm Shield Expansion Pass.

I really want to get the exclusive pkm so I can finally move Sword to the side.

@CANOEberry

Hi CB, thank you for checking on me, and I'm so sorry for the way late response - I took a bit of a Nintendo Life sabbatical while I recovered. My daughter is back in school, I'm back to work, and really the two of us had mild cases.

Throughout my couch adventure I played a lot of StS (had a couple of near-wins against the final boss, but still haven't slain that spire) and even started CrossCode and played that a little.

I hope you've had fun and are enjoying Timbits during a lovely Northern Spring!

@Teksetter Thanks much for the update! 😀 You did seem upbeat, but it's nice to hear you've definitely recovered. I can't imagine seeing your daughter's case was easy, but kids seem to be mostly OK.

The damned thing is really circulating widely right now, it seems, particularly in N. America and E. Asia. I mean, poor Kate lives in what was probably the least-touched area of Canada, but it has been stronger even there. I hope your workplace was supportive and that you don't feel like you've lost too much time/ground.

I've been putting a lot of effort into securing a 3DS (at least, one in decent shape), aaaaaaaannd I missed that StS sale on Steam. ☹ I'm not proud of myself there... but I suppose waiting for a Switch sale is better. The game's presentation still doesn't appeal to me, but several trusted opinions from people like you have convinced me to give it a real try. I've actually been playing a lot of action games (Mega Man, shoot-'em-ups) lately, so it'll be a nice change of pace.

I feel like I want to swap more gaming opinions here, but let me close by asking: do you have anything nice planned for summer? I'm planning that New Hampshire trip for August (thanks again!), as part of a longer car camping trip down east. I think I'll indulge some Timbits then, when I'm more geographically proximate to you and Kate 😜