Comments 447

Re: Red Dead Redemption Out on PS4 This Month, Not a Remaster

Kang81

@theMEGAniggle

You may not see, or read this, but the way comments are laid out in Push Square/Nintendo Life/ Pure Xbox is horrible.

It makes trying to follow along in a conversation an absolute mess with needless scrolling up and down. I find it extremely annoying for what are otherwise great gaming sites.

Re: Red Dead Redemption Out on PS4 This Month, Not a Remaster

Kang81

@danzoEX

Seems to me both of those issues are on the same side.

Sub par shoddy work on the GTA "remasters," and now a lazy 1:1 port of a 13 year old game in which R* is charging $50 for, that can often be bought for under $10 on Xbox?

I had no desire to buy the GTA "Remastered" games as I'm not a fan of the series, and I have no desire to buy an overpriced copy of RDR when my 360 copy I bought 13 years ago is playable on modern Xbox consoles.

However, consumers have every eight to complain about this. R* makes Billions, mostly by just re-releasing GTA 5 numerous times and GTA Online, yet this is just being cheap and lazy.

That being said, people will still eat this up just like they did the laughable GTA "Remasters," because far too many consumers simply do not care about being hosed. 🤷‍♂️

Re: Rumour: Immortals Fenyx Rising Sequel Canned by Ubisoft

Kang81

@SuntannedDuck2

The problem with going all out on Assassin's Creed, is it will lead to burnout for some fans. I love the Assassin's Creed games, but I was burned out once before, after AC Revelations and AC3, the latter of which I generally treat like it never existed.

There are too many already, and these games take a long time to finish. I still need to finish Black Flag, Rogue, Syndicate, Odyssey, and Valhalla, I simply cannot keep up with them.

With how massive and time consuming the last two games in the franchise were, its only gotten worse. I have over 120 hours in both Odyssey and Valhalla yet I haven't even finished half of the main story in either let alone side content. Then there is all the DLC, which I haven't touched in Black Flag, Syndicate, Origins, Odyssey, or Valhalla.

So much for Ubisoft trying to spread the games out more and not release them yearly. We already have two set to release soon. It seems highly likely Ubisoft is going back to the yearly release schedule of AC.

Re: Rumour: Immortals Fenyx Rising Sequel Canned by Ubisoft

Kang81

@KaijuKaiser

No, your definitely not crazy, I'd argue people who say BotW is a 10/10 masterpiece are. BotW is highly overrated, I enjoyed Immortals Fenyx Rising so much I beat the game with 100% completion, and loved every minute of it. Is it perfect, no, but it was far more enjoyable than BotW, and I found the Tartarus Vaults to often be more enjoyable than the shrines in BotW.

Whereas BotW, I had fun for the first 10 hours or so and then just pushed myself to play it more out of feeling as though I had to so I could justify my purchase. Eventually I said enough and stopped playing altogether.

At least TotK is actually fun, it's still not Zelda to me, but it's far better than BotW.

BotW is really not that different from every other open-world game. It uses all the same tropes that are overused in other games. It uses Ubisoft towers, and no, just allowing players to manually plot markers instead of automatically showing them like most open-world games is hardly revolutionary.

It also uses the camps/forts scattered about the world every open-world game uses. It also falls into the trap that most of the world is empty, and exploring is not rewarded. Exploring places off the beaten path often reveal nothing, or perhaps a chest, with the same garbage rewards from every other chest found in the game.

The only real features BotW brings over every other open-world game are the physics and how weather/areas effect gameplay.

Re: Rumour: Immortals Fenyx Rising Sequel Canned by Ubisoft

Kang81

Well that's just great! Can a game people may actually want, like myself, but spend years on a PoS like Skull & Bones, regardless of ties to government subsidies. 🤦‍♂️

Let's just milk our few IP's ad nauseum instead of continuing with your best new IP in a long time. 😡

I hate the direction this industry is heading more and more every day.

Re: Sony Will Announce New PS5, PS4 Games During Chinese Press Conference This Week

Kang81

@ThorsHammer

F.I.S.T. was fun, I had some issues though. I disliked tying the dodge to the left thumbstick, and I'm not a fan of using combos like a fighting game in my Metroidvania’s. Similar to Guacamelee, which I never finished.

I did not know Anno: Mutationem was a Chinese developed game. I really enjoyed it and the visuals were great! I loved the art style for that game.

Re: PS5 Access Controller Costs $90, Out on 6th December

Kang81

I'm thinking of grabbing both this and the Xbox accessibility controller just to have in case they get discontinued. I have a nephew who these may be perfect for.

Luckily I grabbed at least one Steam controller when they were on clearance for $5 and I regret only buying one.

Re: Alan Wake 2 Dated for 17th October on PS5

Kang81

@KidRyan

So they're still with 505 then?

What a shame, after the BS they pulled with Control and it's upgrades and the BS lies with Bloodstained on the Switch I really don't want to support them. But Control was amazing and I'm excited for it's sequel.

Re: Assassin's Creed Mirage First Gameplay Looks Much More Traditional, Stabs October Release Date

Kang81

I love the original AC games, but can't say I'm too.excited to go back if only because I burned myself out by the time Unity came out. Origins was a much needed change, and while I enjoyed Odyssey and Valhalla, they went overboard in the massive open-world and too much to do style.

I'd rather have a combination of the two.

On a side note, THIS is what I expect of the Prince of Persia remake in terms of quality. Not that horrid mess originally showcased. Though I would prefer a slightly more stylized take as opposed to realism since PoP has that magical and fantastical setting.

Re: Bungie Is Bringing Back Marathon on PS5, PC, Xbox Series X|S

Kang81

Well I'm sure this and the new game from Jade Raymond's studio are the first two live service games in the list Live Service games Sony stated it had intentions to create.

Such wasted potential. I wish Live Service would go away already, but it seems I'm just an old man complaining because this is what the kids want these days. 🤦‍♂️

Re: Fairgame$ from Haven Studio Comes to PS5, PC

Kang81

This is what the new Sony studio was working on? Absolutely ZERO interest in this.

I guess this is the start of Sony’s push into Live Service? Which I had hoped was a genre finally ready to start dying off.

Re: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake Back at Concept Stage After Total Reboot

Kang81

@NEStalgia

It seems to be too hard to make new games, no major publisher wants to take risks. Of course it doesn't help consumers are notoriously picky, demanding, and spiteful.

Heaven forbid any new game doesn't have the most realistic cutting age graphics, because the mass consumers won't bother without it. That's one of the major issues with the industry. Consumers expect constant visual improvements to the detriment of actually being able to make better design and gameplay improvements due to so much of a consoles power going to rendering the top end graphics.

Another is most consumers seemingly don't want to try new IP's. They don't want to spend money on something they're unsure of so in turn the publishers are the same.

I'm in no way defending publishers, but its a joint problem. I miss the days of getting a lot of AA quality games that if succesful enough can be turned into AAA sequels or franchises. It seems I'm in the minority of that mindset though.

I would argue the original Uncharted was a higher end AA game before it turned into the massive franchise that it did. I love it to death, but outside of visuals and story, the gameplay was as basic as it could be.

Re: Soapbox: I No Longer Think Subscriptions Like PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass Are the Future of Gaming

Kang81

@PapaGlitch

Agreed.

EDIT (This reply ended up being longer than I expected)

TLDR: I simply do not have the free time to play everything I want. Subscription services just make it harder than ever to actually finish games. They are good for some, but not all. Publishers are starting their own services now and soon enough it'll end up just like streaming TV/Movies.

Consumers will need to pay for multiple services as publishers will see its better to not release their games on someone elses service when they can just create their own for all the profits.

Original Reply:

I'll be 42 this September and I simply don't have enough free time to play everything, even the games I want. My backlog is enormous and it's only been exacerbated with my purchase of the Steam Deck.

I recall hearing one of the IGN Podcast Beyond members (either Justin or Sam) bring up his solution. If a game doesn't grab him in the first 3 hours, then he shelves it as it's not worth the time investment. I agree, it shouldn't take even half that time to get invested in a game. He's also come to terms with the fact he'll never complete his backlog and that he just has to make a decision on the games in said backlog that he deems worthy of his ever shrinking free time.

I've taken the same approach since hearing that. There are tons of games in my backlog I just know I'll never be able to finish. So I've made the decision to pick and choose the ones that I really want to finish and I feel are worth my limited free time to try and finish. Everything else I just tell myself was a poor spending decision.

Services like GamePass and PS+ only make matters worse. I simply cannot play all these games, and even back in my teens and early 20's when I had endless amounts of free time I would find it extremely challenging to finish most games.

My cheap $1 upgraded GamePass subscription has run out as I was just charged about $45 a month ago for GamePass where I seem to be in the charged quarterly plan. I can honestly count on one hand, the amount of games I've played on GamePass since I took advantage of the $1 upgrade around 3 years ago. Maybe a couple more, but definitely no more than 10 games in all that time.

I'm going to let GamePass go after my quarter is up. I just don't use it enough to justify the price. Same with PS+ Premium that I used deals to extend for a fraction of the price. Not to mention that PS+ Premium is definitely not worth the asking price. PS+ Extra seems to be the sweet spot, but I'll likely go back to the basic plan when my pre-paid subscription eventually ends in a couple more years.

Also, as you said, these game subscription services add up the more consoles a person owns. Plus, publishers like EA and Ubisoft have their own subscription services. These services are going have the same outcome that Netflix had. Companies will ask themselves why they are putting their games on someone else's service when they can just create their own service. Then will be in the same predicament we and over saturated amount of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc.

Re: Super Promising PS5 Action RPG Atlas Fallen Gets May Release Date, Fresh Screenshots

Kang81

@themightyant

I agree. At this point I'm tired of CGI trailers despite how good they look. At the same time, I understand it in some ways.

If gameplay is shown and it even slightly differs on release from what was previously shown then so many entitled gamers cry about it and I don't blame developers for not wanting to deal with that.

At the very least I want to see in engine footage even if it is just cut scenes.

Re: Super Promising PS5 Action RPG Atlas Fallen Gets May Release Date, Fresh Screenshots

Kang81

This was actually one of the games most excited for. Although I am being cautiously optimistic about it.

The devs made some decent games. I generally don't enjoy souls like games but I did enjoy Lords of the Fallen. Well, what I played of it since I suck at soulslike games and gave up halfway through.

I tried out the Surge as well, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Lords of the Fallen.

I know the reveal was mostly CG with a "possibility" of actual gameplay at the end, but I hope this delivers. It's what I miss about the early years of a new console generation. Cool looking new IP's. So far the PS5/XBSX generation has been underwhelming. It's just sequels with the occasional new IP.

I know new IP's have released, but it just doesn't feel as exciting as say the PS3/360 era. Perhaps I'm just jaded and older now. 🤷‍♂️

Re: Poll: What PS5, PS4 Game Are You Most Looking Forward to in January 2023?

Kang81

TLDR; Nothing really, Atomic Hearts looks interesting for February, but there isn't much I'm looking forward to at all right now.

I voted for Dead Space, but to be honest, I'm not really excited for anything. Dead Space is a great game, but I've played it numerous times and playing it again only graphically better (as of now) is just OK.

As with the LoU Part 1 remake, I feel it's a game that didn't need a remake as the original is perfectly fine and still holds up. I would have preferred to see something older and unavailable for play via modern consoles to be remade.

As for Forspoken, my interest was only ever minimal. The story and setting look bland. Visually the game looks nothing like a next gen (current gen) game. It looks more like an early PS4 game to me.

I'm not sure what it is. It could be a combination of things. The in house engine Square Enix uses is outdated and needs vast improvements, and the design of the world is ugly. The reveal was much more appealing, and the actual game is just another case of a major downgrade from the reveal footage. I'm beyond tired of seeing that scenario. It's basically false advertisement in my eyes.

I feel the game is too drab and brown. I would expect vibrant colors and more fantastical design coming from Square Enix. It's like the latest Sonic game. Why is a talking anthropomorphic blue hedgehog put in an ugly representation of a more realistic world? The designs clash, are ugly, and just make me lose interest.

The parkour was the real reason I was interested in Forspoken. The demo was ok, but the game desperately needs customizable controls. I feel now that consoles have customizable controls at the system level, developers have grown lazy again in offering ways of customizing controls. Console wide control changes are annoying because it changes everything, even traversing the console menus. If consoles can save customized settings on a per game basis, then I would no longer complain...much.

So far this entire new generation is lackluster. Covid or not, new games are just playing it safe and I miss the old days of being wowed by the concepts brought about in games when a new generation hits. I dont know, maybe I'm just old and jaded now. 🤷‍♂️

Re: God of War Ragnarok Update Adds Anticipated Photo Mode, Fixes a Bunch of Bugs

Kang81

"PhotoMode is now in the game! Access photo mode by pressing the Square Button from the options menu."

No quick option for photo mode??

Games that force me to press start and then choose photo mode are not only annoying, but they completely ruin the timing for getting great action shots.

I hate it.

Why no accessibility option or control layout option to trigger photo mode?

We can already map useless button prompts (for me at least) to swipes on the touch pad. Why not an option to apply photo mode to the touch pad? 🙄

Edit

Also, navigation assist is still useless. I don't really need it, but why does it only point in the direction of Mystic Gateways? I can choose to track a side quest yet it fails to point in the direction of the side quest.

What's the point of even having navigation assist if you can't choose what the assist tracks? 🤦‍♂️

Re: Poll: Did You Buy The Callisto Protocol?

Kang81

I rarely buy games day 1 anymore, with a few exceptions. Those being Sony Santa Monica games or games from Insomniac.

I love the Dead Space series, even DS3, despite EA's meddling. I wasn't hyped up for The Calisto Protocol, mainly because I'm a big wuss and don't like playing scary games. The Dead Space Trilogy and Alan Wake as the only exceptions.

I also felt this game raised a bunch of red flags when the review embargo was the day of release. I'll never buy a game that puts a review embargo on the day of release, even a few days before. This just screams concerns and lack of faith by the developers and publishers. So why should I spend my hard earned money when I'm unsure of a game or when these companies themselves seem unsure? No thanks.

After all the reviews, and no I don't care about a score and never have, but reading about the criticisms is enough for me to wait. I'll probably just rent it.

Re: Rumour: PS Plus Essential PS5, PS4 Games for December 2022 Leaked Early

Kang81

I love the Mass Effect series, but I have no real desire to replay it. It'd take far too long, and I dont have the same amount of free time or drive to play massively long games anymore. It's a great addition for anyone who hasn't played them yet though.

As for BioMutant, it isn't great, but it is fun...in that janky old school AA level of games. The low end of the AA spectrum that is. I do wish it was as good as the trailers portrayed, but I enjoyed the time I spent with it when I rented it. I didn't play more than 8-9 hours, but I'd probably pick it up on an 80%-90% off deal down the road just to finish it. If it's indeed added to PS+, all the better for me.

So if you just go into playing BioMutant with the mindset it's a low tier AA game from the 360/PS3 era and are ok with those (I usually was), then there is fun to be had with it.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Gotham Knights?

Kang81

@AverageGamer

I'm playing on PS5. I see some random civilians every now and then, or random GCPD patrol stops on the road.

As for enemies, I only see them after a map icon shows up, or I get close enough to them and then a map icon shows up. So it seems like I only see them in predetermined places, like bank robberies, hold ups, or any other crime that is plotted on the map. I've yet to see them just roaming the streets of Gotham even as a glide by as Batgirl.

I'm only just now starting the mission to go to Blackgate and find Harley, so perhaps things change later?

But if it's this barren playing solo, I can't imagine playing with 3 others.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Gotham Knights?

Kang81

I still need to finish the original 'A Plague's Tale. As for Gotham Knights...I'm not too far in, maybe a few hours. That being said, I'm losing interest. The city is barren, seriously, the only enemies I see are the marked events on the map. A far cry from the claims by the developer in multiple interviews where they claimed bustling citizen activity.

To quote an interview...

"Speaking with PlayStation Blog, Creative Director Patrick Redding revealed the story isn’t spread out across one night. Rather, the studio intends to showcase “the mid to long term growth of the hero.” Villain Crimes, for example, will take several nights to complete. These types of encounters, Redding explains, constitute “a series of encounters where the player has to do a certain amount of legwork and detective work to hunt down the villain at the next major confrontation.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the Creative Director touched on what to expect in terms of the city’s population. Players will see everyday citizens roaming around, going to work or traveling to the store. Many will be present in instances of congested traffic, while others utilize the city’s trains. This sounds as though it could be a welcomed far cry from Arkham’s open-worlds, which exclusively featured criminals running wild."

I get that it's not an "Arkham Game", but while it is somewhat enjoyable, it's a major letdown for me.

I dont like some of the changes to combat. Removing the counter attack option really bugs me, but if that wasn't enough, they also removed hopping over enemies. So far we have two attack buttons and a poor dodge button.

I've been playing solo and still have a lot to unlock so hopefully it improves. Perhaps it's better in co-op, but no-body I know bothered to get the game.

I will say, I hadn't noticed any performance issues yet that everyone mentions.

Re: Trio of PS Plus Assassin's Creed Games Won't Be Playable on PS5

Kang81

@Constable_What

I'm not, but the game would definitely give me major headaches playing too long.

I just had a similar bug in Cyberpunk on Steam Deck. Thank God I'm not prone to seizures, because I would have had one today. It only lasted about 30 seconds, ut I did get a headache from it.

Re: PS5 Firmware Update Makes Massive User Interface Improvements

Kang81

Nice additions. Now if I can only manually update games from within my library instead of hitting play, going to the home screen, closing the game, then checking another.

I dont like automatic updates and only check for new ones when I want, in case a change to a game is not to my liking. I also hate how the PS5 tries to auto update every time you start a game. I have to cancel it manually. Annoying.

I'd like to be able to pin more games to the home screen as well. Or pin the new folders, unless that's an option, I haven't tried yet.