I’m still playing Persona 3 Reload and I believe it finally clicked for me.
I still don’t particularly like Tartarus that much, but I’ve been able to complete each section relatively quickly so far (and without grinding) so it’s certainly not too bad. The rest of the game has definitely opened up though (thankfully, I’m about 30-35 hrs in, haha).

Slowly making my way through Jeanne d’Arc on the side - gameplay wise it’s up my alley (minus grinding…), however the story is pretty subpar imo.

Persona 3 Reload - I’m not sure whether I like it or not just yet tbh. I’m about 20 hours in (or 2 months of “in-game time”) and the plot is very slow to unravel.
I don’t like turn-based RPGs usually, so combat is a bit of a chore and the exploration of Tartarus is very samey. Social sim aspects have been fine, but I guess I expected a bit more interactivity? I’m not sure. Its been nice to learn more about side characters, albeit ones not present in the “core” team.
The only somewhat similar game I’ve played before is Fire Emblem: Three Houses and I absolutely loved it, but I was much more interested in the gameplay (T-RPGs are 100% up my alley) and social sim was okay as well.
I think my primary issue with P3R is the setting - which I didn’t think would matter so much - I really don’t relate to high school life / issues anymore and it’s making it hard for me to get into the game…
The OST is absolutely S-tier though (and it has made exploring Tartarus much more bearable!)

Ditto. tbh after hearing Ben Starr in the first few seconds of the trailer, I was hooked, but the style and gameplay showcased definitely impressed me even more.

Absolutely! You could sort of “cheese” your way into climbing some parts of the world of Zero Dawn, but Forbidden West’s climbing is much improved - to the point that I’ve been getting sidetracked a number of times already just exploring and getting to great vistas.

That’s right! It’s referenced in the video as well (and from memory Neil also mentioned it in a previous video, but I wouldn’t be able to link to it tbf)

I finally started Horizon: Forbidden West - gameplay changes compared to HZD keep trickling in and I couldn’t be happier. I love Aloy’s character so I’m really happy to be in her shoes again.

This past week was pretty disappointing before that:

• Hellblade II was good, but nowhere near as impactful as the first one for me. I’m left with a sour taste overall, although I’ll admit they did a tremendous job with cinematography and character rendering.
• Stellar Blade was insipid. Whatever could save it in my book - its gameplay - turns out stale pretty quickly, so I ended up abandoning the game midway. The story and characters were really uninteresting imo, couple that with how EVE is represented… I couldn’t really find any redeeming qualities.

I finished DMC 5 SE sometime last week (or the “primary” arc at least) and it was fun as heck.
I moved on to Stellar Blade, combat is very fun/engaging, but story is utter sh*t (so comparisons with NieR were definitely unwarranted IMO, seeing as it’s pretty much the opposite of my experience with Automata).

As far as this weekend goes, I am playing Hellblade II, which was probably my most anticipated game of the year. I am loving it so far!

Most handhelds tbh.
I didn’t really grow up with “traditional” (home) consoles, but I always had handhelds (and a PC).
I have trouble going back to most handheld games pre-Vita nowadays, even if I remember the PSP (and GBA to a certain extent) fondly, between the controls, smaller screen and cut versions of games vs their home console counterparts, it’s hard to go back. Emulation makes it somewhat nicer for me, but still.
And let’s not begin with GB or GG games, they have a certain charm, but I usually can’t stand them for more than 5 mins nowadays.

Shmups, I’m only a beginner but I have a few suggestions:

• ESP Ra.De. - somewhat slower bullet hell with pretty interesting scoring, the “Psi” re-release has a lot of useful QoL features.
• Espgaluda II - you could think of it as a successor to the former, it has refined gameplay and recent releases have great QoL features. Somewhat faster paced bullet hell?
• Ikaruga / Radiant Silvergun - Although these are two very different games, they have entirely different mechanisms to most other shmups. Ikaruga feels like a “puzzle” game a lot of the time, while Radiant Silvergun has some light RPG elements. Both are somewhat hard to get into imo.
• Dodonpachi Resurrection - great starting point re bullet hells, the recent re-release offers a ton of QoL features and the game itself has interesting scoring / gameplay. Soundtrack is awesome.
• Raiden IV - Super biased, but I love the soundstrack. Pretty great, if simple, game otherwise.

I have many more shmups in my backlog (Ketsui, Dodonpachi Daioujou, Battle Garegga, Rolling Gunner, etc) which I’m sure I could recommend, but seeing as I haven’t played them first hand yet… I’ll leave it there for now.

Just finished Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty, which I enjoyed greatly, despite all the jank!

I’ll likely move on to DMC 5 now, since I left it unfinished a few years ago and would like a shorter / fast-pace game atm.

I’ve also been playing a fair amount of Guilty Gear Strive on the side, first real fighting game and it’s a blast so far trying to learn the right combos, cancels, etc…

Maybe? You would need to know rooting a TV is even a possibility in the first place, I had no idea that was the case and I’ve had my LG TV for over 4 years.
I’m just pointing out some specifics of the prerequisites, which the article did a pretty bad job of highlighting imo, and how this is not the miraculous solution it’s somewhat touted to be.

Not to be a Debby Downer, but you’d either need a LG TV which is already rooted, or one you can root (per the repo’s README, “RootMyTV is unlikely to work on firmware released since mid-2022” and given firmware downgrades are impossible…).
AFAIK firmware updates are opt-out by default, so as long as you connect your LG TV to internet, you’re likely to have received one, but I could be wrong.

Cyberpunk 2077. I just finished Act 2 last night and I’m (probably) about to begin Phantom Liberty.
Really enjoying most of the story and side quests so far!

PSP, hands down. So many incredible games, it was a RPG powerhouse, that screen was great for the time and for me it was an “everything” device (I remember browsing the web and reading mangas on the PSP… Janky but incredible all the same).

The Vita comes close - nigh “home console” games on the go and the OLED screen to make those shine.

Oh, that could likely be it - you might want to look into replacing the laser as they’re pretty cheap and easy to find (but that’s not really what you’re interested in atm I suppose).

Anyways, the emulator you want to look into is DuckStation. It is pretty much full featured (save states, fast-forward/rewind, etc) and the de-facto PSX emulator to beat.

I only played through most of the first one, but really enjoyed it! The second one is firmly on my backlog.

As for FFT (WotL), do you have a Vita lying around? Its around $10 USD on the store iirc. Same on Android, but I’m not sure about gamepad support.
A physical copy shouldn’t be much more, be it for the PSP or PSX versions.

I used to be like you OP, PC-only gamer for a long while, but as I’m getting older (and got back into gaming a few years ago), I’ve mostly been using consoles or equivalents:

• PS5 40% of the time
• Xbox Series X 20%
• Steam Deck 20%
• Switch 10%
• Super Nt / PS3 / Analogue Pocket / Miyoo Mini Plus / 3DS / Vita, remaining 10%

Enjoy! Remake is really great and I’ve heard it runs like a charm on pretty much any recent handheld

I finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth a couple days ago after about 110 hours, what a journey!

I’m currently playing a few shmups since I just purchased a (very cheap but perfectly adequate) arcade stick, easy modes for now and “moving up the chain”:

• DoDonPachi Resurrection
• ESP Ra De
• Espgaluda II
• Radiant Silvergun

After that, I’ll probably pick Cyberpunk 2077 back up (only 10 hours in from the free trial a few weeks ago).

I’ve only quickly skimmed through, but another two:

• A Short Hike, adventure/exploration game with relaxing gameplay, I really recommend this one
• ZeroRanger, “old-school” shmup with awesome gameplay and ost, if you’re into shmups it’s almost worth getting the bundle for this one alone tbh