I initially started Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered a few days ago, but I wasn’t really in the mood for that game, so I ended up going back to The Witcher 3 to start (and hopefully finish) both DLCs (I’m part way through Heart of Stone atm and have yet to start Blood and Wine).

As for feedback, although weekly might perhaps be too often, maybe a “Show us your collection / show us your setup” kind of thread? This could generate some engagement and lead to interesting discussions imo.

Oh the sudden wave of nostalgia, I had no idea Galactic Battlegrounds received that many mods or fan patches! I’ll have to check those out, cheers for that :)

Well, that’s a good exercise, I’ve actually completed more games in the past year than I thought I did…

• Lunar: Silver Star (Story Complete) - I’m not usually fond of “typical” turn-based RPGs, but there was something about Lunar’s fairly simplistic gameplay, beautiful art and sound design, the quirky translation from Working Designs, it’s just a very “charming” game and it’s been on my mind for a while since then, everything kinda comes together to form a really memorable experience. I’m looking forward to playing Eternal Blue sometime soon-ish.
• Uncharted: Golden Abyss - Okay, hear me out: Golden Abyss is sort of the black sheep in the Uncharted franchise and I wouldn’t say I love it - it can be very frustrating at times, the story is somewhat subpar compared to mainline games and as a showcase for the PS Vita, it can also be pretty gimmicky - however, it was my first Uncharted game, back in 2012, and I had to wait until I got a PS5 (in 2020) to finally experience the other games. It was well worth the wait, I absolutely love the series and that’s why I wanted to replay Golden Abyss (for that bit of nostalgia) last year.
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice - I’ve been on a (fairly recent) journey to try and explore my own mental health through various mediums, with video games being one of my primary passions/hobbies/time sinks, I’ve been trying to find games that explore this subject specifically - Hellblade is, of the ones I’ve played yet, the one that does it best. It’s a very intimate game and it can be really sensory heavy at times (I don’t think I would’ve been able to play it, were I in a less than ideal mental state at the time), but it’s such a rewarding experience, being able to see and feel Senua’s tale that way. I can’t wait for the second game.
• A Plague Tale: Requiem - This is the most memorable and emotional experience I’ve ever had in a video game, bar none. I played Innocence and Requiem back to back and I enjoyed it so much, I can’t recommend it enough. I fear my words wouldn’t do the game(s) justice tbh. And that OST is wonderful.
• Nier: Automata - What does it mean to human? I would say this is one of the games which had me reflect on our own condition and society the most, haha. Beyond that, I really enjoyed the gameplay (that’s usually more my kind of RPG - Action focused), with various other interesting mechanics (shmup gameplay, etc). The OST is one of the best I’ve ever heard. One of those games you wish you could erase from your memory and relive all over again.
• GRIS - Another game with a focus on mental health. Simple, beautiful, emotional. No spoken words, yet I felt like I went on a journey at a time when I feel I needed it most, I cried multiple times, but I’m really grateful for what I experienced. Probably the most memorable sound design I’ve experienced last year!

I’ve just finished FF XVI, and while it’s certainly not a perfect game, I really had a fantastic time with it.

Now onto either of Soul Blazer, Parasite Eve or Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, I’ve yet to decide which to start with.

This one is on IzzyOnDroid and has been working great for me

This would depend on the search engines enabled and/or the default language/country set (if any) for that particular instance, you can find those in the settings of the instance itself (and enable/disable whichever you’re most interested in, as well as a few other relevant settings).

Exactly, I’ve noticed this over the past few months, actual relevant results are being pushed much further down the stack.

If you want to explore alternatives, I’ve been using SearXNG, a so-called “metasearch engine”, where you can get a combination of various search engine results, based on your preferences. It’s pretty good, when it works (it tends to get rate-limited fairly often… or at least some of its results / search engines do, which can get annoying).

There’s tons of indie games everywhere nowadays, PS5 included, and some of them even launch(ed) day one on PS Plus Extra (Stray, Tchia, to name a few). There’s a great digital selection (you might as well check it out now, since it’s the PSN Summer Sale), and if you’d rather own (physical), then LRG and other limited print companies have been releasing a number of those indie games on PS4/PS5.

If you’d rather play on a smaller screen then you might be better off with a Switch or a Steam Deck (and you might even get a few more indie games on the latter, but that’s debatable), otherwise I don’t really see any reason to trade in your PS5 - but to each their own!

I’m part of the club! Although tbf I haven’t touched it much since getting it about a year ago (I just haven’t played that much retro stuff these days or most of it has been with my Super Nt).
One great addition I got recently was a 3D printed grip case, it made long play sessions sooo much more comfortable (obligatory “not affiliated” and I’m not the one making these, but I really like the quality which is why I’m linking it here).

As far as what I’ve been playing on it recently… really just pick up and play, SoR 2 or Turtles in Time, but I completed Metroid Fusion (first time) a few months ago on the Pocket (that’s what made me get a grip case, it really wasn’t too great wrt shoulder buttons comfort).

For most games, I’m like you - It’s been a gradual shift for me, as I used to play very sandboxy type games before (although I could never get into Minecraft), but have been heavily focused on story-heavy / experience-based games for the last 3+ years.
I will say that I really liked BotW though, and am looking forward to playing TotK eventually (in the next 2/3 years or so) and Starfield has got me really intrigued, so we’ll see.

Then there’s the “intrinsic me”, I guess, I don’t mind playing some games for the sake of it, with no goals in mind - Forza Horizon just going from one end of the map to the other, or the same loop of various arcade games whenever I don’t feel like doing anything else - sure there’s some sort of objective, but ultimately when you’ve seen and done it that many times, it’s not far off from it not being there at all imo, and I still enjoy it just as much.

Story-heavy: Uncharted series (between 10 and 16 hours per game), Hellblade (around 8 hours) and - if you can spare another 10 hours or so and Action RPGs are your thing - Nier Automata is really worth it (around 30 hours).
Gris was impactful enough for me that I’ll mention it here, since it was super short (4 hours at most).

I don’t know that it really qualifies as a VN (because there’s some RTS - and I guess Adventure - aspects to it), but 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Oh yeah… I was still very much into console wars at the time it released, rooting for the Vita against the 3DS, haha.
I ended up importing it from HK to get it a few months (perhaps mere weeks even) before launch and I even made unboxings, reviews and news “coverage” on YT at the time. I loved that handheld to bits.
I don’t have my day one console anymore, but I do still have one (hacked 2000 model, I’d love to get a Hori grip for it but those are way too expensive nowadays…).

GRIS. Such a wonderful experience, that I highly recommend to anyone

FF XVI, Starfield, Spider-Man 2 and Hellblade II are on my “most hyped for” list.
I haven’t played the demo for FF XVI yet and I’m trying to keep away from spoilers and media until release day

haha, sorry to hear, but i’m not even surprised at that all failed login and almost-but-not-quite-refund debacle, that’s why i only ever set up local accounts on windows nowadays.
i’d be interested to get your opinion on the Ally once you’ve had a chance to play a bit more with it, especially compared to the Deck.

ChimeraOS and HoloISO are pretty good options for 3rd party handhelds, but I agree, it would be so much better/easier if Valve did that and ultimately it would probably be a win-win for them.

Some do, but much fewer than on Game Pass, it’s not the model Sony is trying to push.
That being said, you’ll usually find first-party titles after a year or so (but they might not stay indefinitely).
I would recommend taking a look at gamika.me if you want to get an idea of how both services compare. I personally enjoy both, maybe for slightly different reasons? I still think PS Plus Extra is a great deal though!

Finally back into DMC 5, because I’ve been playing My Day Job: The One To Pay The Bills for the past week and a half (and that wasn’t fun…)

I’m lazy so I’ll just link to my comment on this very thread.
I haven’t actually reinstalled MSFS since upgrading from a Series S to a Series X earlier this year, so I can’t confirm whether stuttering on the X is still a thing, but performance on the S was pretty much flawless. I didn’t install Lost Odyssey on the S back when I had it so I can’t tell, sorry!

As for performance and graphical fidelity in other games, it will vary, and you’ll likely notice it, as did I, coming from a PS5 - especially on 1440p/4K set. As a game pass machine though, it’s really hard to beat price-to-performance wise.