J2theEzzo

@kyleforrester87 Yeah, that's fair. One's gotta pick and choose their battles, as there's so much to shout about really. I can't say I'm a vanguard of the anti- AI movement really, but I think it's worth being a little cautionary about new things before they totally take over. Add to that that we really don't know what to expect once the dust has settled!

@somnambulance Yeah, of course. Admittedly, as said somewhere above (or below?) I'm being hyperbolic about it. I think most technologies can positively promote independent learning, or creative responses, when used reasonably/ responsibly. I suppose I am suggesting that I think there's a greater number of people using it for reasons that don't align with growth and development, but rather as a shorthand for doing the work to begin with, but again, it's just a point of view!

@kyleforrester87 Hyperbole is my bread and butter pudding. 😉

But for sure, and in following up, I tried to make less biased comment, not denying it has applicable advantages. In many ways, social media also has many advantages for levelling the playing field and allowing those who have access to the technology to make a living, as by generating monetised content and so on. But I think it's fair to suppose that 'most' people don't use social media in that capacity, (and to be honest, I'm not really a fan of the whole influencer culture, in any case!). So, while technology has the capacity to be a great equaliser, I tend to feel it really just deepens divisions and widens economic gaps; those who already have generally having greater access, or advantage, to build on that and accrue greater wealth, while impoverished people see less success. (And possibly greater exploitation through increasing demand for mineral reserves...)

So, I have a bit of a negative stance on the whole thing. It isn't inherently 'evil', of course - but I think it's potentially doing more harm for a greater number of people than it is good right now. But what do I know 🤷

@kyleforrester87 I won't deny that there's practical uses, and for finding out information, or trying to get a quick bit of info as to the proper technical steps to take with work all makes sense. Similarly, if attempting a creative project and there's something I'm unsure of, I'm not against referring to chat, or google, (essentially the same thing?) to make a brief enquiry. (I maybe wouldn't refer to it in place of a therapist, but to each their own!)

The problem, as I see it, is when people just use it without taking the steps to think for themselves. Not to learn, but to replace learning. I.e., asking for the best method to solve a problem, I have no qualms with, but mostly, its application is to just solve the puzzle, (or create the work) so people don't have to do the work directly, and I fear that'll only lead to diminishing quality / intelligence / critical thought.

@Flaming_Kaiser So many possibilities to enrich our lives, by using tools to replace all the worst parts of work, and freeing up the time of individuals to be more creative, while keeping the economy fairly balanced. But instead, we get ubiquitous videos of 6 fingered old men morphing into bowls of spaghetti, coupped with the widespread deterioration of quality of life and nature, while still expected to earn more money than ever, despite less prevalent availability of work. Yup. Sounds sloppy to me.

He calls AI a 'cognitive amplifier', but it isn't really, is it? Because most people are letting it do all the thinking for them, not just using it to push themselves, and their own understanding, further.

Well, if playstation is struggling to find a major footing in Japan, and peanuts is big in Japan, makes sense to buy more of the stock, so they can exploit the potential popularity of the market in conjunction with the console, to make greater profits? A snoopy inspired PS console, for example, might make a splash there and inspire more people to make the purchase. Nevertheless, strikes me as a pretty leftfield decision.

@Kanelbulle I don't think that's entirely true, regarding BG3. A lot of the characters have a predetermined alignment, and to some extent, you can mess with that to 'rectify' the character of the... character. Typically, more of the 'evil' origins can be convinced to do a 180 on their original outlook, and certain 'good' characters can be persuaded to follow evil options to ultimately prevent a greater threat, or for personal gain, whereas some 'good' characters will outright fight you if you stray too far towards villainy. I think it's pretty nuanced, to be fair?

Enjoyed my time with this, but all the busywork between missions did get a bit tedious. Don't imagine trying to keep everyone warm at all times is going to be allure enough to get me interested in the dlc. As per first comment, also found some game breaking bugs (constant crashes everytime I sent a follower out), but maybe I'll hop back in to see if that's been sorted, so I can finish the main campaign.

Edit- Can say it sounds like this is to CotL what Iceborne was to MH, but for precisely similar reasons and mechanics, that never interested me either!

@HRdepartment That's a good list (I say because it quite closely matches mine).
And as someone who didnt opt for GTA6; a man of culture, and class! 😉

So many good games, it's hard to pick 5 and put them in a proper order. If there was nothing else to release on PS5 next year, I'd be lretty content with picking between all this lot.

I got picked for the recent beta test, but admittedly, after downloading this I had 0 hype or excitement to even play it. Just sat on my homescreem all weekend until I deleted it. I'd be keen for a new (and good) Marvel vs Capcom, but somehow, I just don't really care that much for Tokon, lovely as the presentation is.

I like the grimdark aesthetic and character design, but after the disappointment if the original Lords of the Fallen, I never revisited the series. I know it was improved upon, but is it much more than a B- tier soulslike?

That was the cringiest advert / song I've seen in a while.
So... the game's about necrophilia?

@Fartingale Haha, I was trying to think who he reminded me of! Spot on

@JohntheRaptor That's what I thought. Didn't they try to claim there was another playable character that wasnt Leon, or was that just to try and throw people off the scent?

@nomither6 I don't know why back 4 ass was so bad. Well, I do, partly. But it's like they had a golden goose and decided to chuck it under the bus and settle for roadkill, instead.

About time someone made a game where you can punch a f'ing space bear 🐻

@StitchJones Before BG3, they did Divinity, and yes, it has turn based, point and click, combat. Slightly different how it works to BG3, in terms of action economy (how many attacks etc. per turn you can take) and it's a lot more open how you build your character. Original Sin 2 is definitely worth a look at!

Loved Divinity OS 2, and am aware Sven has said they plan to do part 3. I'd be totally hyped for it - if I could believe it's true! Would almost be 'too good' news, to me, despite their recent success, with how apparently widely unplayed Divinity is.

@TrollOfWar I'd be keen for something that apes FF7 remake's version of 'real time with pause'. Some action combat, with an energy bar or something for slinging out powers and abilities more tactically.

So, it's a more budget monster hunter game, for mobile only, with a horizon skin?

@Medic_alert Yeah, that's fair. Quite right about Ellie, too! I suppose that's the twist, that she goes from the more sympathetic role, to being the aggressor/ agitator, as you say, but fair enough if you don't identify or can't get into that perspective. Clearly, you aren't so vindictive! 😉

@Medic_alert I think that whole Jin character flaws, as you see it, really was just a hugely ingrained mental attitude for the samurai class. "Death before dishonour" and all that... I mean, I get where you're coming from, because I sure wouldn't slice my own guts out for upsetting any lord, but back then, people really were kinda crazy. 🤷

@windxtravelerx I also downloaded the demo, with the intention to try it... and promptly deleted it to make space for something else. 🤷

@DogPark Think you're basically hitting on the head with that.

Because then no one would bother to pay and play Bungie's new ill-fated shooter when it (eventually) releases to a middling reception.

No matter which way you put it, it's totally unnecessary to have forced players to activate a bunch of towers to clear the map. That's never been the case in any previous FF title, and while it may work for some open world games, I felt it was a real step back for this series and hindered, more than encouraged, my desire to explore.

On my way to getting the plat, and have enjoyed my time with it immensely. Such satisfying combat! 1 secret boss to go, and I'll have scoured the whole map!

@Rich33 The story is already pretty convoluted, with time skips, unreliable memories, mixed identities and so much other stuff - and it works and holds up reasonably well, nevertheless. When you then add a layer of multiversal antics and extraneous characters who control fate, it just seems a bit messy.

I'd love it a whole lot more if they cut all the crap with the whispers out.

In fact, give me an abridged version, that gets rid of all the faff, and runs closer to the story of the original, and I'd be immensely happier.

@Afroducc For sure. I imagine (hope) they'll realise something didn't go as planned and we'll get a quick fix. It wasnt enough to put me off playing, but it's been more noticeable to me, all the visual stutter, compared to previously.

That said, my inputs seem to not be missed, and I'll take that as a win, because thinking you've healed and getting killed to a boss is way worse than some screen flickering (unless it's the distracting flicker that kills you!) 😉

@Afroducc I'm on base ps5, and think the performance might actually be worse now, with quite frequent screen tear and some occasional visual stutter. The input lag was a nightmare before, but the resolution was mostly clear, and now it's kinda the opposite.

@ThomasHL I was just joking really. Those are valid points, but I dont think the designers care so much about consistency, as just making them characterful.
That said, if you take the more stripped back look of some characters, they are wearing gi's, or whatever else at least!

Just recently picked this up, and I definitely noticed some inputs not registering, or a bit of latency on some button presses, which was boggling my mind at first. Nice to see it's getting fixed, as I'm right at the endgame. Should make the new game plus run all the better!

@ThomasHL Well, that's not entirely true; they all have, and represent, their personal story as a character archetype.
Eg, Kazuya is the authoritarian businessman, who also happens to be a devil... Jin is the typical mysterious loner with a dark past... who also happens to be a devil. Kuma is a bear, come bodyguard, trained by a maniacal man with electric hands. All very clearly reflected 😉

How to take one of the most brutal martial arts, and make it look lame. Probably a reason why they dropped this character for so long. Sagat is the best example of a muay thai fighter done right. (With a shout out to Bruce from Tekken!)

Oversaturation, combined with the overwhelming push towards digital only preferences and subscription models (including live service trends), taken up by hordes of casual gamers = the death of the market as we know it.

There was a time when you'd get a year with a lot of high quality games, but it never felt like too much. Now, there's literally not time, space, or funds to keep up with what's coming out, across all platforms and genres. And all the shovelware and sub-par releases amongst that too!

If all the free players just gave up on Genshin and Fortnite, and bought a game every so often, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess... 😉

Will they limit the powers, maybe, or items across all players (similar with couch coop)?

Because otherwise that's gonna be absolutely mental to look at. 😂

@Dom_31 I was thinking, surely the primary player would be doing most of the work, while player 2 just dodges/ stays clear of enemies and puzzles them up. Spose there's a few asynchronous 2 player games like that on PS already, so not so far removed from reality!

@Yozora146_ For sure, and in pokemon I feel it's a bit less egregious... as was pointed out, they're entirely silent protagonists. I also havent played any beyond handheld consoles, and I guess I didn't mind it so much as a kind of retro throwback.

Baldur's Gate 3 also has a mute protag, (edit: mostly mute!) but the narration does so much good work, and you actually get to choose your responses, so I feel it still works well. In the case of digimon, I felt it just made all the dialogue a bit of a chore to sit through. A more vocal character with sone personality, or else the option to choose a response and influence things would have made those segments more enjoyable for me, but it's all subjective, of course!

@Slayer25c I somewhat enjoyed the demo, but while the gameplay and graphics were solid, I couldn't wait to get through all the stilted dialogue and cutscenes.

@Dalamar For sure, there's really no justification for it. Forgiveable on a pixel adventure on a handheld console; not so much on a modern home setup on the big screen!

The presentation was fantastic, but the delivery of the story and the voiceless protagonist really made it feel like a slog. The game would definitely have benefited from focussing more on time in player hands, with bigger areas to just battle and raise your 'mon

@JB_Whiting For sure, would completely agree.

Absolum is out 9th October, which should be good, (also has a very good demo on steam!) and I got eyes on the new Scott Pilgrim, whenever that's out... They seem like they'll have a bit more nuance to get involved and lost in.

Just to say, there's currently a (multiplayer) playable demo you can download for free on steam. Gives you a fair chance to play a couple of levels as most of the unveiled cast.
In short: it's quite tricky, the coop abilities work nicely and lend it some freshness, but to be honest, playing it solo (and after seeing everyone's moves), it's a bit dull. The novelty/ nostalgia wore off fairly quick, but I think it'd be more fun with a full team.

Rocket racoon was a bit *****, but she hulk was cool!

@Smackosynthesis Yeah, on PS4 it was. But they tried to make it play like God of War, not like the old ones, so I left it.

@Smackosynthesis War in the north was great. Felt like an updated/ ps3 version of the old hack and slash Baldur's Gate games.
Would like to see more games of that ilk this gen, but seems it's of an age never to be revisited.

Give them EA, and all the sports games, for all I care. Let them put their favourite djs in every team as a cameo, till they progressively lose money and are forced to sell at a loss. 😈

People didn't seem to care much when PS stars were ending (with a few exceptions, and I among them), but now we're being offered this tat in return, everyone's up in arms. Well, should have fought harder for what little good stuff we had, before it was gone!