Trying to fall in love with games again

[Himuro]

Once upon a time I used to play as many games as OL (he can probably vouch this?).

Around 2012 or 2013 or so I lost interest in games. It was my main hobby throughout my life. Other things came, but games remained constant since I was 4 years old. In hindsight I think it was probably due to depression because I lost interest in every other hobby I had as well.

So it's been a good 4 years since I actively played games on a regular basis besides my 3ds and when I did play games I generally thought they were awful (Tales of Zestiria for instance).

Time to play catch up.

I'm amassing a big list of games I missed on 3ds and ps4. I have never played The Last Of Us for instance. I've missed out on a lot. What are the games you think are required playing for ps4? I have FFXV, Dragon Quest Heroes II, and that's about it. The next game I plan on getting is Yakuza 0.

[Monkei]

Shovel Knight and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Best two things on PS4 in my opinion. And yeah, play The Last of Us.

[Himuro]

I had MGSV on PS3 and loved it. I'd love to play the real deal version. I have Shovel Knight and don't like it much. I thought it'd be up my alley because it's a Mega Man like game and I love Mega Man but I'm a ways into it and think it's really average for a side scroller platformer.

[Peter]

Aim for GOTYs.

That's what I did when I had the hump with gaming. That's how I came along The Witcher 3. I threw the controller down after a couple of hours because I didn't like it. It looked like a good game, but I am not an RPG guy. This is not my type of game. So I left it. But all of these reviews and news articles would not shut up, and I had to accept I was missing something, and picked up the controller again.
230 hours later, I put it in one of my top 3 games of all time.

If that's too much of a stretch, and want something a little closer to home (Shenmue related), then why not pick up of copy of Yakuza 0. I've kinda enjoyed the previous titles, but they didn't age well, plus I always was a bit sour with them in relation to no Shenmue 3. But now that's announced, I am so pumped to get this game tomorrow, with some reports saying it could take 300 hours to complete 100%. Plus it's a prequel, do no knowledge needed of the series whatsoever to play.

[Coromasta]

I agree on the Witcher 3, like Peter I put down the game 45 hours in. After a month I picked it up again and o boy, I've completed it 4 times. Pick up the goty version the add-ons are truly the best expansions I've ever played.

Also, Metal gear solid V, holy shit I was blown away.
Have been looking forward to it ever since it was announced, and I played it almost every day for a year (actually I'm itching to go back now after writing this).

The last of us Remasterd, played and completed it on launch day on ps3 with tears in my eyes.
Runs real smooth on ps4 and still looks stunning.

Pokémon Sun & Moon is 250+ hours enough?

Man I want Yakuza 0, however my fiance and I are looking for a house to buy, so can't afford it.

[OL]

Gravity Rush Remastered.
Sure, it's a port of a handheld game, but it's a game that always should have been on console to begin with. And of all the games on PS4 that I personally love, I think it's the easiest one to describe simply as "enjoyable" or "lovable." So many others aim for a more "hardcore" attitude these days. And sure, that's preferable in some cases. But I think if you're looking for something endearing, something that might make you fall in love again, it'd be hard to go wrong with Gravity Rush. It remains my favorite new IP of the past decade.
Probably have to settle for getting it digitally now, but all the same.
And with GR2 (which supposedly finishes the story) having just released, it's as good a time as any to hit it up.

[Himuro]

The Witcher 3 I have the GOTY edition. Haven't played it yet.

Been a Yakuza fan since day one. 0 will be my first one since 4.

Have Pokemon Sun and while it's a good game it's ultimately Pokemon, which I'm not the biggest fan of (though I loved Blue when it came out).

More interested in things like Life Is Strange which offer alternative gaming experiences of the Shenmue tradition. A lot of the AAA stuff bores me. But all of the suggestions have been good.

Currently playing Dragon Quest VIII 3ds. Gravity Rush Remastered is a great pick. Been wanting to play that. OL's game taste always was similar to mine. Him and Spencer. Speaking of which, got Silver Case on Steam and it's...ok. The gameplay is really bad but the writing and everything else is fascinating. Xanadu Next is also good.

[Himuro]

Alright, the list.

3ds:

Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse (own, haven't played)
Sega 3D Classics
Bravely Second
Fire Emblem Awakening
Monster Hunter Generations
Ultimate NES Remix
Ocarina of Time 3D (OoT is a top 10 game for me)
Majora's Mask 3D (Majora's Mask is a top 10 game for me)
Layton vs Phoenix Wright
Luigi's Mansion
Xenoblade 3D
Zero Escape
Zero Time Dilemma
Etrian Odyssey Untold
Etrian Odyssey Mystery Dungeon
Tales of the Abyss
Mario and Luigi Dream Team
Hyrule Warriors (depends on if it gets a Switch version)

PS4:

Life Is Strange
The Witcher 3
Gravity Rush Remastered
TLOU Remastered
Tearaway
Mirror's Edge 2
Overwatch

Aside: I like Nintendo more than Sony in my old age it seems.

I plan on going through all of that this year, in addition to Mario Odyssey, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Yakuza 0, Fire Emblem Echoes, Persona 5. I'll probably put the Witcher 3 off until last because it'll probably be the longest.

[Rakim]

Just don't play video games. You don't owe it them fall back in love with them. Do something new.

[Himuro]

I tried that.

These days it's not my main hobby. The reason I picked so many portable games is because I don't have to commit to them. I can play two hours of a game at work a day and finish most long games within a month of consistent play. But consoles require commitment and me to sitting on a couch and stare at my tv and feel like I'm wasting my life away.

Another thing is most of the PS4 games I picked (besides Witcher and Overwatch) aren't time extensive so there's less reason to commit.

I still like games. But I recognize the type of game I like just aren't available on non-Nintendo systems any longer. I know the days of me buying a hundred games (I have over 100 ps2 games) are over.

I realize I'm now what some consider a retro game player I guess. I love me some Famicom, Super Famicom, Genesis, Saturn, PS1, Dreamcast, PS2 still. But the HD era kind of lost me. That said, I'd say this generation is shaping up to be better than the last.

Exercising and learning how to code take precedence over games for me. But I'd still like to appreciate new ones. For me it's like not watching movies anymore.

[Thief]

^ in that case I can only give the following recommendation based on my experience. Do not play Shin Megami Tensei. It's a lot of work and a lot of time (and ultimately I don't think it's worth it). They're designed in a way to be cheap, instant death upon immediately entering a random battle kind of thing, and the strategy (at least in the first version of IV) is not really all that compelling. It's basically find the weakness and stagger them, repeat. Absolutely do not recommend, especially for those who're looking for a lighter gameplay experience.

Fire Emblem, I'd probably recommend that if you're looking for an RPG type thing. It comes in chapters so you can just sit down and play one of them and be done with it. It does have some frustrating aspects to it (like random stat-gains that can make a character useless), but overall the games are pretty easy/medium difficulty and the gameplay is decently fun.

I don't play many games myself these days, so I can't be of much help further.

[shredingskin]

I get really bored with the witcher 3, it's like I feel like doing a chore while waiting for "something" that never comes.

Recently I played GTA V and now I'm playing the lost and the damned, and I'm actually having fun (when Highway Star starts playing I lose my shit).

Yakuza 0 seems like a great bet, old school fun, very well done, lots to do, and seems like the best entry yet (so fucking salty about not being on pc).

Life is Strange is kinda overrated IMO, I would go with Gone home that is only a couple of hours and it's fairly enjoyable, or even better The Stanley Parable makes you laugh every time, and stretches quite a bit the domain of narrative in games (and in the same vein you have The Begginer's Guide, that is fucking amazing if you care about the topic).

Also undertale is great, and one playthrough is like 10 hours.

[Himuro]

LOL Thief. Sorry but I've been an SMT fan since 2004-2005 and it's one of the most consistent rpg series for me. When Final Fantasy had lost its shit and Suikoden was dead, there was always Suikoden and Dragon Quest. I can understand SMT not being your thing but it's my second favorite jrpg franchise these days (after DQ of course). I've played about every major SMT related game. I'm all about that old school shit so I know I'm in a niche audience.

Fire Emblem is something I'm truly new to though and I'm looking forward to Awakening.

[Thief]

haha, well you can at least understand then why I wouldn't recommend it to someone who wants to have a lighter game experience :P

[Himuro]

Haha, gotcha. It's not that I want a lighter game experience. It's hard to explain. A lot of the games gamers yap about these days don't really click with me. Like the new God of War game. It looks all cinematic and I think it looks terrible but gamers think it looks exciting and new and my instinct is to barf all over it but no one wants that. Most of the games people talk about now are western and while I won't berudge western gaming of talent because they certainly have it, I tend to have a more Japanese game taste (if you can't tell by my list). I also feel like playing console games these days is boring. Even when I have a game I do like, such as FFXV, I end up getting tired of playing it on my tv. That's what I mean by commitment, not hard as fuck game mechanics (this is good). With a portable system I am allowed flexibility. I can play it at work or on the train or in my bed or on whatever. But a game console can only be played on your tv which requires you to, as a busy ass adult with a life and obligations it means planning ahead for a session. And when that comes with long ass games that gets tiring. That said, a genuinely great game supersedes this criticism and if games like Witcher 3 are as good as people say, I won't have any problem planning a sesh. In a lot of ways I feel like I'm a game player left behind and Nintendo is the only game system maker who satisfies the games I crave. Everyone else tends to make overly cinematic stuff that I feel takes itself too seriously.

I keep forgetting to play Undertale but it genuinely seems like something I'd love.

I should add Dark Souls 3 and maybe Bloodborne to my ps4 list. I think the Souls series is overrated and I absolutely hate the fanbase (wonder where these Souls fans were when games like Dead Rising 1 and God Hand were made if they care about games with difficulty so much. Were probably shitting on them for being too hard) but they look like good games.