This is a thread for PS+ (PS Plus) members

To be fair, I don’t think either of them sees these programs as in competition with each other anymore. MS treats GWG as a vestigial afterthought, giving it a bare minimum of licensing money because that’s cheaper than the PR hit for shutting it down entirely. They want everyone on Game Pass, and that’s where anything that’s actually in demand goes. And Sony is clearly beefing up their PS+ offerings to try and at least remain in the subscription-value conversation with Game Pass, not because they give a fig about “embarrassing” GWG.

It’s a great time to be a subscriber to both.

Finally finished up Final Fantasy VII Remake. It took around 45 hours. I mostly liked it. Combat is a lot more interesting than the original. I had little trouble with the bosses. Rufus was the exception. But I got him after about 7 tries.

The story? Yeah. I guess it’s an improvement from the original in that there’s a lot more fleshed out. It did seem like just when things were starting to make some kind of sense, everything get’s tossed in a plot blender. I have no clue what the end was even about. Dementors do things. Sephiroth does stuff. Some big elemental something attacks. There’s someone named Zach. Shinra execs are cartoonishly eeeevil.

There is one line near the end that legit made me laugh out loud:
“Ex-SOLDIER!” “Local Florist!” “Lab Rat Dog!”

Alright. On to the April Offerings.

The Dementors are new, and are kind of clever in allowing them to setup part 2 to be very different from the original. Basically it’s an alternate timeline and the Whispers are like the fate/timeline police trying to make sure things stay on path, showing up when things diverge. At the end of the game you are basically fighting fate. Defeating them at the end the game causes things to veer off radically (there’s a major character still alive that should be dead).

I thought it was kind of a clever in world way for them to not tell the exact same story in the remake.

Did you get that from playing the game or after the fact? I remember RedXIII explaining the whispers. Sephiroth makes a portal? Aerith changes it I think? The game tosses a lot of this crap at you right at the very end so for me there was not sense they the story arrived at a logical place.

I’m making a dent in the April offerings:

Days Gone: Played it earlier this year. Really liked it.

Zombie Army 4: Oh hell yeah! This was just a ton of fun. I’ve played, but never quite finished, Zombie Army Trilogy and Strange Brigade. This one feel more confident and refined. I completed the Campaign without too much trouble on Normal difficulty. I think the only scenario I struggle with was a Blood Fountain in the Zoo. Now I’m dabbling the the weekly events. Super highly recommended.

On to that Oddworld game. :/

It’s not a bad game. Just set your expectations for weird ass puzzle action platform with Lorne Lanning in your ear 24/7 and you can handle it.

Yeah Zombie Army 4 is a really solid B game, I’m enjoying it a bunch

I was really impressed by the new Oddworld game, but I’ve liked the series overall throughout its history.

Zombie Army 4 scared the crap out of me the other night when I woke up my PS5 and while I was checking my phone a zombie started talking loudly through my controller…

Yeah. That’s a nice touch. Freaked my daughter out when she came into the living room to talk to me and I paused the game.

I think I’m done with Abe’s Oddysee: Soulstorm. I’ve never been a fan of the series and this one appears to be more of the same. So if you dig the Oddworld vibe, have at it.

For me, much of the gameplay appears to hinge on the “Lean by Dying” philosophy. Respawns are instantaneous and there a lots of checkpoint, so it’s not that big a deal, but like in other games in the series, the controls feel sloppy.

I got about a third of the way through and just wasn’t enjoying the challenges. I also encountered quite a few bugs. The game crashed 3 times coming back from suspend. I’ve had sligs stuck in walls but still able to see and kill Abe. I had a Bird Portal disappear and never return. So that was 4 dudes stranded.

So it’s a punishing platformer like Heart of Darkness or Another World?

For what it’s worth, Soulstorm is a remake of Abe’s Oddysee, for better or for worse. And yeah, it’s pretty punishing, especially since the game encourages you to save every prisoner along the way to get a perfect score. So if there are game-breaking bugs (like the disappearing Bird Portal), then you’re basically stuck.

Without giving too much away: Yes, it’s punishing. I completed the original, only to get the Bad Ending. So I had to go back to my most recent checkpoint and basically play a perfect game from that point forward, just to get the Normal Ending. It’s pretty brutal.

Soulstorm is not a remake. New ‘n’ Tasty was a remake, this is a sequel. It’s kind of telling the same story as Exodus I think but it’s all new levels etc. so more re-imagining than remake.

With this most current game, I can’t see anyone getting more than the “Bad” ending on their first go. It’s clear they expect you to retry levels. But in a linear narrative game, this feels off to me. YMMV, but when you play competently, a game should acknowledge that. With Oddworld games, I think the messaging makes you think you’re doing worse than you actually are. There’s a little icon in the lower left corner of the screen that tracks your “quarma”. If your don’t save enough dudes, it looks like an evil devil thing. And I’m thinking: “Hey fuck you, game. I’m trying as the best I can. I’m not evil just just because I can’t perform to your unrealistic expectations.”

Sorry, yeah I meant Exoddus not Oddysee. I know it’s not a straight remake, but yeah maybe “reimagining” is more accurate.

Sony has a lot of IP they could draw from - but I want games from my games subscription. Amusing that they’re going this route when last gen they were dunking on Xbox for trying to be an entertainment hub instead of a games machine.

That’s interesting. I liked getting Powers with it awhile back. Wouldn’t mind more movies and such. Microsoft used to give free rentals with Gold.

Big perk if they’re permanent licenses. Movies aren’t cheap these days. I stopped collecting them.

Sounds like the May PS Plus games are going to be Wreckfest for PS5, Battlefield V and Stranded Deep for everyone, which compared to the rumors (Star Wars Squadrons, among others) is real big old bag of “meh” for me. Probably won’t even bother to grab them (I don’t have a PS5).

Meh too. Still better than most of last year though.

Wreckfest is quite fun. Take a minute to add it to your account. I was laughing my ass off at the first event.