Topic: PlayStation 5 --OT--

Frustrating that you can’t buy PS credit on Amazon with a gift card balance anymore. No clue what to spend it on and was going to use some on the sales in the PS Store but the discs are way more expensive on Amazon. Plus it means you essentially can’t buy Baldur’s Gate or Alan Wake using Amazon vouchers.

@nessisonett Huh, I was about to do that as well to renew my PS Plus sub. Bummer. There are some games I could use my gift balance on, like I see Wild Hearts is about 12 quid I believe. They sometimes have good deals on 4K movies, but I prefer to support my local HMV who sometimes do 2 for £30/25.

@JohnnyShoulder I was going to grab Mortal Kombat XL and Far Cry 5 which are much cheaper in the store than they are physically. It’s just a big inconvenience.

@nessisonett Gutted for you mate. I almost made that mistake trading in my Microsoft reward points at the end of last year. Ended up going through Argos in the end.

@nessisonett Apparently it is because people were abusing it and requesting refunds on codes they had already used.

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2023/12/04/playstation-c...

Little Devil Inside is still alive after all!

@colonelkilgore We (mostly) called it (last September). Sad to see but the writing was on the wall.

@Octane Genuinely made up to see this news, was wondering what had happened. Some seriously pissed off people on Kickstarter though. I thought Sony had backed this project?

Thanks for posting 👍

@CaptD what’s that bud?

@colonelkilgore The total **** state of Sony and their gaas strategy, and the predictable turmoil that would ensue.

@CaptD oh right… yeah, all collapsed a bit quicker than I thought it would tbh.

@Bundersvessel Yeah, the comments on Kickstarter is a mess. People don't really understand the concept behind KS, it's just a way to donate money to a project, but people feel that they are entitled to the end product as well. And it seems a lot of people are upset the devs cannot develop a large scale game with the mere $200,000 they collected 10 years ago... Like, it's clear these guys need additional funding. But since the original goal was that it was going to be a PS4/XOne/Wii U game, people also expect them to somehow release it on those platforms still, or they demand a refund. Whatever, it's a big mess.

I do agree that their way of communication has been lacklustre, but at the same time, they don't owe anyone anything. And if it's still years from releasing, there's no point in monthly updates.

When Sony backed the game people got again very upset because they expected it to be a multiplatform game, which I kinda understand. But at the same time I'm just happy they found an additional source of funding.

I'm looking forward to it when it's done, but I'm also not stressing about it. It may take another year or two, but at least it allows them to create whatever they want to make, and it hopefully won't end up being rushed.

Perhaps I’m hitting a patch of periodic complacency for new releases, but I’ve gradually lost hype for the avalanche of games coming out this first quarter.

FF7 Rebirth - still want to play it but I’m fine waiting a while. Probably because I played 80 hrs of FF16 recently
Rise of the Ronin - seems like it’s going to be a decent game, but nothing screams “play at launch” to me yet
Dragon’s Dogma 2 - right now this leads the pack as a game I might pick up in the launch window, as I loved the first one, but I still don’t know if it look new enough to set it apart from DD1
Stellar Blade - the biggest unknown entity for me. Nier Automata was probably top 5 for the PS4 era for me but I get a sinking suspicion that SB is going to disappoint.

All four of these are games I think I’ll play eventually, but I’m surprised that I don’t feel like I’m in a hurry. Perhaps the hype will ramp up when reviews drop for some of these.

Some of the AA offerings might end up taking precedence like Unicorn Overlord, or Hi Fi Rush, but even those are games I’m feeling lukewarm about.

@Th3solution Interestingly, I find myself at a similar resolution as yourself but for different reasons. I’m feeling less complacent and more overloaded. Every one of these games are likely to be good to great. I couldn’t be more hyped to play them all! It’s such a great time to be a gamer.

Personally, I’ve chosen a new release and just committed to it. I’ve had a huge run of fantasy and horror games recently and am itching for something a little more grounded. Being that I’ve loved what Team Ninja has done over the last number of years and am a real lover of history, Rise of the Ronin was a fairly logical landing point for me.

Speaking generally, it’s easy to treat games like a drug but I feel like if all one is chasing is that next mind blowing experience, you’re likely to be left disappointed more often than not. For me, that creates an unhealthy relationship with one of my favourite hobbies. It might be helpful to just jump on whatever you personally find most interesting at the moment, whether it be a particular art style you’ve been into, a compelling narrative device you’d like to see play out, a topic you’ve been researching or just a world you’d like to occupy for a time. It’s far rarer to find a game that is the entire package. When I give myself more avenues to appreciate a game, I find both indecision and disappointment are managed in a less stifling way.

What have you been researching lately? Listening to lately? Reading? What have you been gravitating towards in general?

I don’t have ps so please excuse the question but is it possible to search somebody’s ID from just their email address on ps5? I ask because somebody is using my bank details to pay their subscription and PlayStation won’t help me stop this because it’s not my account

@CuriousGeorge I do not believe so. I don't think the email associated with the account is visible to others even when you're "close friends" on PlayStation (which is when you can see the person's full name and such).

Sorry to hear that btw, that's terrible - maybe your bank could do something about it instead?

Thanks for the reply Voltan. Even though I’ve cancelled my card with the bank and they put a block on PlayStation from taking the money, they can still take the money due to something called continuous debit.The bank have told me to get in touch with PlayStation and say that there is fraudulent use but as soon as I ring PlayStation they say they can’t speak to me because I’m not the owner of the account. You can’t make it up! So PlayStation are complicit in this fraud.So frustrated with this,it looks I,e the only solution is to change banks. Check your bank statements regularly folks.

@Th3solution The past year or two, I’ve had problems “getting into” certain video games. I buy ‘em, but I just don’t seem to enjoy ‘em like I used to. So, what’s changed? Is it me? Is it the game? Am I getting too old for video games? Nope!

I realized that what I’m missing now (since I now have enough money to buy a game on day 1 if I want it), is the excitement and feeling of anticipation. It’s the anticipation that makes the payoff feel even better. It’s the waiting! Too much instant gratification is killing my gaming experiences and taking the joy out of playing.

So, what do I do about it? Aha! Now I “test” myself when I buy new games. When I buy a new game, I make myself wait a bit before playing it.

Case in point: I bought Clue and Helldivers 2 last Friday. Clue was on sale for, like, $9 and Helldivers 2 was $39.99. I was semi-interested in Clue, but I knew I’d end up playing a lot more Helldivers 2 than Clue. That said, I felt I wasn’t super super excited for Helldivers 2 like I thought I would be.

Long story short, I wanted to “maximize” my excitement and anticipation for Helldivers 2, so I’ve been playing Clue after work. It sounds stupid, but the more I’m sitting at work and thinking about wanting to play Helldivers 2, the more excited I get…but when I get home from work I play Clue. Why? I know that when I finally do play Helldivers 2 in a couple of days, it’ll be a reward to myself…and I know I’m gonna love that damn game even more because I waited.

To get fully pumped about Helldivers 2, I booted it up when I first got it and ran myself through the tutorial and then played 2 quick missions—about a half hour of gameplay— and then I closed it down. It was just enough to whet my appetite and build that excitement even more!

Am I an idiot for buying a game and then waiting to play it? Maybe, it’s working for me. So far, it’s been working great at getting me ready to dive into that new game. And now I can’t wait until I turn on Helldivers 2!

As an aside, I see that Hades is now 50% off on the PSN store. That game was the first and only game I could get into when I first bought my PS5. So, if you’re having problems getting into video games, try that one. You have to beat the dang thing about 10 times before you finally reach the completed, finished story.

@jgrangervikings1 There is nothing wrong with waiting to play a game. I had Final Fantasy VII Rebirth at launch, but waited about a week to play it as I had real life issues going on at the time. Given how much I had been anticipating it up until real life issues hit, I knew it would be the right call to wait until things got back to normal. I'm glad I waited as I'm loving the game now. Not exactly the same, but I'm sure it will work out for the both of us in the end. Getting as much enjoyment out of a game is more important than playing it right away.

Actually, I think it’s a little bit of both for me too. There’s an overloaded part to it all, as well as a diminished hype compared to what I previously had leading up to this busy release schedule. Kinda like the ‘analysis paralysis’ one gets when trying to find something to watch on Netflix, or choosing what to order from the menu at the Cheesecake Factory.

I’ve not really been gravitating toward much, although I’m as surprised at how I’ve enjoyed Inscryption. I usually don’t have interest in card games, but I’m seriously skipping everything else in my backlog and jumping into Midnight Suns, of all things. We’ll see. I have a whole plan about what I have slated over the next few months and I’m fairly excited about those (Spider-Man 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, Uncharted replays, Dark Souls 2, …) and prevailing expectations would be that I’d want to mix one of those new games somewhere in the next couple months, but so far I don’t think I will. Like I say, the hype may return if there’s an outpouring of praise for something.

But I do like the idea of just picking one from the mix and committing your hype energies to that one. It makes for less ‘analysis paralysis.’ So you think that if RotR releases to lackluster 6/10 reviews and Stellar Blade gets 9’s and 10’s will you stick to the plan? 😄