Topic: The Truth about Rime?

I was watching the latest episode of the PS I Love You XOXO yesterday when the topic of conversation turned to the now former PS4 exclusive Rime came, as I'm sure your aware that developer Tequila Works gained back control of the IP but no real reason was given as to why, especially as the studio said on Twitter "we've chosen to take back ownership of the IP". But on the podcast they read out a Neogaf post from a " supposed" insider at the studio. Now obviously take this with a huge pinch of salt but what was written would seem to make sense.
The post first said that everything that had been shown on Rime at this point were "cinematics" to mimic the gameplay and vision behind the game I.E. vertical slice. Since then the studio has been working hard to try to match the game to that but are finding it next to impossible to do so. Things seem to reach a head last month when the developer was told directly by Sony that their funding will be stopped and all the PS4 dev kits be sent back to them immediately. The reason for this is simple, Sony have not seen anything that resembles gameplay for nearly two years and are fed up.
So what went wrong? The insider claims the fault lies at the feet of former MercurySteam developer Raul Rubio who likens himself to be the next Tim Schafer, although no doubt be wasn't hoping to mimic his idol's mismanagement skills. The insider says he has no clue on how to plan, manage or budget for game development, he just comes up with bright ideas but end up making no sense, the problem is further exasperated by Raul Rubio's wife been on of the key management figures at the company, meaning he has free reign to do what he wants.
So if this post is to be believed then Tequila Works never "chose" to take back the IP in the first place, not like they had a choice to begin with because Rime wasn't there's for a start. I think most of us had a feeling something was up because Sony don't make a habit of letting go of IP's, the last time I can remember was ironically dontnod's Remember Me. Although if Sony had kept that they might have got Life Is Strange as an exclusive so it's a pity there.
Some have started accusing the studio of been scam artists but what do you think went on? Personally I think if was an overly ambitious game that was mismanaged and led by someone who doesn't have the skills required.

Since they own the IP, they can do whatever they want. Why not show the game and prove that there's actually a game? Besides, it's been a while since we've seen any footage. I don't think some gameplay footage is going to hurt the game in any way.

@Octane: If there's actually any gameplay to show, like I say Sony wouldn't have dropped the game without good reason, something clearly went wrong.

@adf86: Its a scam, There is no way Sony would do this if the game was functional.

@themcnoisy: My thoughts exactly, something was clearly going on.

@adf86: My point exactly. If there is a real game, why not just show it?

My opinion is Sony would not relinquish rights to a game that its fanbase have been clamouring for unless development was in a really, really bad place. They proved with The Last Guardian that they'll stand by great concepts, so the project must have been really going south.

Maybe not, but I'm inclined to believe something's up. Whether it's as bad as the NeoGAF poster claims, we may never know.

There can be any number of reasons why. It could be Financial - escalating costs and no closer to an end product. It could be that, as the article claims, the game-play is struggling to meet the concept. It could be a 'falling out' between both parties over something different - artistic differences - Sony demanding something that the Developers don't want or vice versa - things like 'ownership of the IP', total exclusivity (no PC, not timed), maybe even giving the game 'free' in IGC, Game-play 'ideas' etc etc.
The truth may never be known but time will tell if Rime finally sees a release. People will see if the game matches the concept we initially were led to believe etc...
It wouldn't be the first game and/or studio to be dropped by a publisher and doubt it will be the last too.

So, apparently this game turned out alright. It didn't set the world on fire, and now it's already part of this month's PS Plus games.

Are people here playing it (or planning on playing it) and how do you like it?

Me 2016
"Its a scam, There is no way Sony would do this if the game was functional."

Im great at predictions and even better at pointing fingers.

@Kidfried I got it at launch. It's very different from the early concepts they pitched.

Any traces of an open world are gone. It's mostly linear. It's short. There are puzzles, but they're very straight forward and simple. The frame rate isn't great either, but I'm not sure if they patched it or not. It's hardly original too, it relies too much on games like Journey and Zelda IMO. It feels like I've played every bit of this game before. I'm usually fine with references, but RIME walks a fine line between rip-off and reference. I think I paid €30 for it at launch. In hindsight, I would've waited until it was €10 or €15.

All in all I think it's alright. It's playable, not broken. It doesn't do anything wrong. It's just a simple short game, that is heavily inspired by Journey and Zelda.

@themcnoisy I hope Rime sold well enough. Last year can't have been easy for the studio!

Are you going to play Rime? I just started it and quite like it so far. I like how, so far, the game hasn't been pushy in any way. Even though the game is pretty linear, you have a sense of freedom.

@Octane It walks a very fine line indeed! I think they have patched it, but it still isn't great.

Wind Waker is one of my favorite games of all-time. And with Nintendo having taken that series in a direction I don't really care about, Rime does satisfy a certain... craving, I guess.

@Kidfried I will get round to it now its in my library. Ive started so many games recently only finishing 2 to a satisfactory level. If you guys are saying its average then its way behind 15 or so games already. Maybe one for a rainy day.

@Kidfried That's good, because it was pretty bad at launch.

Yeah, that's why I bought it too. But it's probably one of the most forgettable games I played last year. Superficially it looks like Zelda, but it plays more like Journey.

@Kidfried Yeah, this will go into my PS plus backlog behind Abzu, Valiant Hearts, Bound, Everybody’s Gone to Rapture, Transistor, etc. I actually want to play it though, just will wait for the right mood to hit me. If you really warm up to it and like it as you continue through it then I will definitely take that into consideration to escalate it up the line and put it on deck. I think the art style looks beautiful.

Like knack this is in my library. Don't really have an order of playing games just whatever takes my fancy at the time.

@Th3solution Valiant hearts is good, heartedly recommend that out of the bunchm you have mentioned. (Rapture isnt as good as Gone Home or Edith Finch imo)

@themcnoisy That’s useful. I have had VH near the top of my ‘on deck’ list for a long time and it keeps getting bumped. As you know, it was most recently victim to Fez which swooped in to push it down the list.
Not sure how everyone else is, but I also feel more inclined to play a game from my backlog that I actually paid money for before going to the PS plus backlogged games. I know it shouldn’t be that way since there are gems in the Plus stash, but psychologically I feel like I need to get my value out of the ones I purchased. And I’m stupid enough to keep purchasing 🤪

@Th3solution Ive been the opposite recently. Been playing Psycho pass and a shoot em up on vita I cant remember the name of for the life of me. Nier Automata, gundam vs and LA Noire are all glaring at me and Im sat around playing average psplus games lol.