Hyena_socks

@lazarus11 it's Dennis Reynolds though, at the risk of sounding like an anti-piracy ad, you wouldn't tell a GOLDEN GOD to shhhh

@rSp8 thank you my good dude! That's excellent to know, and that makes a lot of sense it would take a while to update across languages.

It's not fun scootching 2 foot from the TV to read some lore on the weirdo I just met to get a context to whatever baffling event I've just witnessed. Luckily everything else IS incredibly fun

Please sir, I just want readable text for us non-ants, sir. Maybe that and seperate buttons for Axiom Fist & sneak, Interact & jump and drop down & sit.

@GirlVersusGame reminded me of Morbid Angel too, I suppose it's not an unpopular word in metal!

@cali_kush70 this, dude. 100% agree.

It would be wonderful if digital games were cheaper than physical too, considering less is going into their production, but I know that's crazy talk.

I came into Crimson Desert luckily a week or two after release, as the devs released updates every couple days - the review gave a good idea of the state it was in, but on a base PS5 it's much more stable now.

There are still some core issues with controls, small text size, weird mechanics that are rarely properly maintained (though that's quite fun), and a so far baffling non-sensical story with a MC with the personality of a rock, but it's also superb fun with real character as a game.
Very fun combat, beautiful world, great traversal mechanics.

Looking forward to more updates though.

I'm trying not to read too much to avoid spoilers, but I'm surprised at this - I've seen huge praise levelled on this game, as a fabtastic send off to two much loved characters.

But good review, as always I'll just have the play it and see. And probably cry. More than once.

Excellent news - playing on a base PS5 and loving it, but every update is very welcome.

This is a simple but great addition: "Improved the UI so that the Save Game and Load Game menus are separated, and added save slot number labels."

Now if they can give us text at a size you can actually read and even just a clear list of moves, I'd be overjoyed.

As it stands I'm ignoring the lore entries, which hasn't been an issue but would be nice to not have to.

@Art_Vandelay all good points, and why I said as much as I dislike it, I'm also realistic that it will play a part in everything.

And you're right, once we're past the clear cut
'AI replacing humans and their jobs = bad' it does get hazy.

Artists using AI to explore ideas, get references, will happen. But the ideas, the art, needs to be consciously different, and that's down to the individual.

What I really don't want to see is people becoming over reliant on something to generate creative output, when all it does is recycle (often stolen) existing ideas. Then we end up on a slow decline to homogenony and the death of creativity.

An artist training AI on their own artwork, might be an interesting area in the future. Or as someone mentioned above, the literal busywork of creating grass, trees, etc. is not something that needs creativity, it's busy work.
It can be a great asset, but if we met it, it could be a real threat too.

This is the most practical application of the tech. I personally hate it, I think it's dangerous and causing direct and indirect harm in the short and long term. But it's also a significant technological advancement, that won't just vanish.

Keeping generative AI away from creative tasks, whilst using AI to support mundane tasks, and influence the other much older behavioural and responsive elements of game design (eg. companion or enemy behaviour), would be good.

If it can help games be built faster, whilst supporting working human beings, and letting human's control creative elements, perfect.
Just don't let it replace people, replace our creativity and homogenise and gut creative endeavours and industries. Or control military tech, ideally.

I'm keeping an eye on this, it all looks a bit brown, and the VA work sounds like it might be a bit OTT anime, but if reviews says it has a good story and characters you care about I might jump in. Enemy design looks great!

@Rich33 I completely get that! I think on a pro you'll be golden soon though.

I'm okay with bad frame rates, but only if it's consistent and I've not experienced 60fps on the game. Or if dips are only short and in harmless situations.

But when it is patched, if you like baffling open world adventures you're in for a treat!

Hopefully they'll fix the controls soon though, they really are unhinged.

@Rich33 that's fair - it's just my personal experience on a launch PS5.

I think there'll be plenty of people who can tolerate it. It's nowhere near as pretty as running on Pro, but it's mostly smooth. Not in the same league as Cyberpunk or Dragon's Dogma 2 at launch were.

But it's definitely not a stable 60fps yet, so I think you'll need to wait a bit for a patch.

I've had the game a little over a week, and there's been about 3 updates in that time, ranging from a couple GB to a few hundred MB. Seems like they are beavering away at it.

But anyone interested, but holding off due to performance on base PS5, it's absolutely fine. There are annoying things, but it plays smoothly and I've not hit any issue that impedes the game.

Besides:

• Teeny tiny text which makes reading any lore a chore
• controls that have me jumping on dogs when I mean to pet them, or flying when I just want to double jump.

But I'm sure they'll be ironed out (the issues, not the dogs)

I'm similarly intrigued - I'm not going all in on release day, I'll wait for a sale or the possible PS+ drop.

It looks very much like how I found the first Outer Worlds - fun while I played it, instantly forgettable afterwards. When I've got time to spare, it might plug a gap at some point in the year

@GamingGod that was a very funny one-two punch from your response and the dude below.

I've not played it in many many years, but it's the sort of game that stays with you.

Definitely one of the more unusual entries story-wise, and gameplay, but agreed. Seeing it with a proper graphics bump up, and a few refinements to the combat (less grinding MP) would be excellent...until the absolute ***** of a final boss.

This looks oddly appealing, I'll keep an eye out for reviews. Could be a cheap game to chill to with music

@GamingGod I'm not sure I agree, FFXVI sold about 3 million copies in its first week, there's not been much of an increase since then, but 3 million is pretty significant for a single player only game.

But 8 is AMAZING, 100% agree! And in desperate need of a fresh lick of paint. But it was also divisive even at the time, I think 9 is the safer bet financially speaking. 8 would be a dream, but I think 9's the more realistic.

8 was my first though, it's a big part of what got me into gaming as a kid.

@CielloArc I mean its bad because of the reason in the article, it's directly replacing a human who has worked hard and has a difficult skill set to get to where they are.

AI is a direct threat to many peoples lifelong livelihoods, with fewer and fewer alternatives for them.

I don't know what you mean by inserting political takes but typically when I hear that I have a feeling a disagreement is incoming, so I'll stick to the "AI replacing jobs is bad because jobs are quite helpful in regards to survival and having a life that's not always terrible"

I bought this game at the weekend and playing on the base PS5 - so far it's absolutely grand. No weird glitches, visuals are decent to good.

I don't have a super TV or anything, I feel at this point I'd comfortably recommend it to anyone. Tonne of fun even if it is also completely bonkers in its early hours.

Why am I arm wrestling this guy? Why do I need to sweep a chimney? Do I still need the broom? Why is everyone terrified when I start fishing, then angry at me because they threw their own rod in the river?

@Hylian-Likely hate to break the façade, but it's almost all in Tesla shares, a large proportion is to his own (questionable) foundation and there's tax brakes if you give 5% of a business' profits to charity (though to be fair, it wasn't even that much he gave away last year).

The US really is a capitalist nightmare - I know there's issues with our UK NHS, but at least we won't literally die if we lose our job.

I'm glad they were called out and will resolve it, health will be confidential but not to the people making redundancy decisions I'd wager.

It'll be a toss-up between Double Exposure, which I never finished, before LiS Reunion, Crimson Desert which I'm just going to try out (I played Cyberpunk at launch and still had fun), and more of the near-endless Divinity: Original Sin 2 - over 100h in I might finally make it to Act 3 of 4/5.

But it's also a nice day so maybe I'll guilt myself out to enjoy it.

Looks a no-no sense blast of fun, excellent! Though enemies look a bit bullet-spongey, I like good meaty shotguns and physics in these sorts of games.

A new Judge Dredd would be fantastic, loved their PS2 game. I felt the latest Robocop came close to that

I'm definitely intrigued - looks like an interesting premise, a fun mix of genre and a distinct art direction. Could be one to watch.

@ShogunRok great review! I have a base PS5 but lots to entice me still.

But I have a feeling I'll die a lot in this game - is there a 'save anywhere' option, or generous auto saves if there's only save points?

@johncalmc how very dare you go after the Chuckle Brothers like that, two of them made a career out of four words. If they were running PlayStation...I have no idea actually, but I bet it would be better.

But I also completely agree with the sentiment, Sony seems to be cutting costs and focusing in all the wrong places.

I'd love to see a new entry in the franchise - I don't think a remake would have been great, the gameplay and story really became its own in 2 and 3, one was very fun but simplistic.

The sequels were entirely their own thing - unless I've missed the other cuddly side-kick family games holding a dark, 'mature' (in the loosest sense) theme that blended GTA bedlam with platforming.

Closest we got was High on Life, but even that was worlds apart.

@Ambassador_Kong disappointed or negative comments on a bad game are one thing.
But there's also been a shouty contingent at this game's throat from first announcement, who take annoying pleasure in a game missing the mark they don't like. Which is a bit sad really.

But a game that looked promising missed the mark, it's a shame, let's all move on with our lives and go back to shouting at inanimate objects we injure ourselves on.

Who knew a medieval lesbian adventure game would attract such passionate comments, delighting in its low score and/or getting conspicuously defensive?

It's a shame the game's not great though - it's always a fascinating setting, and had a unique hook for it that could have been fascinating to properly explore.

Maybe I'll just check out the OST on this occasion though.

@Yousef- I love the LiS games, particularly Max & Chloe iterations, but it would threat to become the new new "Jack Bauer's daughter has been kidnapped." If it wasn't being marketed as the end to their canon storyline.

@1970sGamer using the luddites as an insult doesn't really work, they were right - industry did destroy their livelihoods.

AI is directly affecting livelihoods and creative roles are being particularly hardly hit. This is a relatively minor example, but the more you give the more will be taken.

If you want a world where creative endeavours are the product of devoured and regurgitated assets, go ahead and big-up AI.

I believe it can be a useful tool, but never for directly creating content. To explore ideas, education, boring busy work, sure - but you have to ensure it never goes in a final product.

Hi @LiamCroft, I think there's a small error here, it says we have until '20th January' to play them, hoping that's 20th April?

I need to play Bloom & Rage, it deleted my save and I couldn't be assed replaying Tape 1 through again straight after, but it's been long enough and I want to see how it ends

Looks like I have a choice to make, which divisive time sink with the poor narrative but fun exploration do I pick up: Avowed, Starfield or Crimson Desert?

That's right, none of them, because Britain is a bad western where all the town mayors own your utilities and push up prices at the slightest provocation, meaning I can only afford Life is Strange: Reunion this month.

None of that sounds a major disappointment, it sounds exactly like it always did - a game that's taken the best of all other open world games, but may not have the heart & soul.

It sounds fun, a game to lose yourself in for a while, and the sort of game some will grow bored with and others will absolutely adore.

I'll see how PS5 reviews are, then pick it up soon when I'm done with my backlog.

Why did they kick up such a fuss around not showing base PS5, it looks fine!
You'd expect a graphical drop-off, so if they'd just said plainly "it runs fine, please note it won't be as pretty" everyone would understand.

I am still going to wait for reviews, Cyberpunk, BG3 and others all had a noticeable drop in quality later into the game - something hopefully reviews will identify.

This is pretty standard these days, not that I like it. But about 99% games released always need a day one patch to avoid various states of dismay.

As long as it’s good to go without internet after that, it’s still nice to have the box.

As always, just waiting on the reviews with my money sat waiting.

I’ve not heard of a game running perfectly on PS5 Pro but not base PS5, so this all sounds perfect. I can live with a game that’s not as pretty, as long as it doesn’t crash as soon as I’m out of the tutorial area.

More importantly, looking forward to hearing if the game is FUN. Sometimes people get so caught up they forget to look for that.

The first one was…weird. I genuinely don’t know if I lover it, if I hated it. It was just kind of bland but also kind of fascinating but also I can’t remember a single character although I remember there being good roleplaying.

Looks like this sequel is completely in the same vein. I’ll give it a go at a discount or PS+, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy my time with it.

As long as they’ve ditched the world’s worst made up language/accent. Great idea, abysmal execution

I bought both of these at launch, ploughed hours and hours into them, and somehow not finished either.

DD2 is genuinely different, quite a unique experience and incredible combat that gets very wild at times:
battling a dragon, a gryphon and bandits, jumping onto the gryphon as it takes off and killing it mid-air before leaping off and delivering the final blow to a dragon.
And all that unscripted, not a set piece, just (bad? Good?) luck.

FF16 has TERRIBLE pacing, but when it’s at a peak it’s edge of your seat, tremendous story telling. Some of the strongest in the series

Anyone know if this is a ‘save point’ game, or are there generous checkpoints?

I do sometimes like a good horror (which I don’t finish because I wuss out), but having to replay long stretches always gets on my nerves and removes the tension for me.

I wonder if the Game Over scene is you being bricked up alive, true to the lore.

I was thinking of this the other day, couldn’t for the life of me remember the title.

I miss those heady days fresh out of the worst of the lockdown, excited for what the PS5 could give us. Now there’s numerous games that look as good, with better frame rates, and there’s no other real hook provided.

‘Old’ indeed! Just because the youth of today are weird idiots, holding their phones and having conversations on speaker, and making up dumb words, does not make me ‘old’.

Anyone younger is just doing their best to act especially young - are they 25 or 15? Who knows. Maybe they’ll yell it into their phones at the back of the bus.

Back in my day zombie dogs jumped through windows, and the world was a better place for it.

I don’t trust it, the name sounds too sensible. Also I imagine it’ll be the same as it always is, the consoles leap frogging with one being more powerful and more expensive than the other. It’s Xbox’s turn this time.

I’ve never played any of the SAO games, but this looks a solid starting place. A bit of a less weird Dragon’s Dogma meets Elden Ring with a good bunch of classic JRPG thrown in the mix.

@Randomninja that’s a wild take my dude, the original Halo was an incredibly influential game on PC and later Xbox. And, frankly, it’s still a wonderful experience.

That said I’ve had very little interest in their games as they’ve moved away from single player experiences, and have zero interest in this.

It’s unusual to release a game and then say “but don’t review it yet, we’re not finished!”, but intriguing.

But people, it means we’ll never see the mods PC gamers can create. We’ll never see the Ghost of Yotei defeating the Yotei Six with a slinkie, or play an arcade shooter blasting enemies away with a Thomas the Tank Engine Gatling Gun.

This is a tragedy.

I do also hope Microsoft don’t respond in kind, Sony might lose out if we’re pushed to buy a computer or Xbox for their exclusives.

@undeadly to be fair gamers these days get a worse, if not broken game, at launch for a tidy sum more than they used to cost. Nor can thry rent them over a weekend to check them out these days.

I’ve ‘only’ been a gamer for some 30-ish years, but things are very different.

All that said, gamers are a whiny lot regardless, and always have been. But sometimes it’s justified

I can’t help but imagine another Cyberpunk - I think it’ll be an excellent, very fun game, but just have a feeling we’ll see massive technical issues given its scale.

More than happy to be proven wrong, I’m putting money aside to buy it new…after reviews come in.