Kienda

@Lysterao I think the fact they are adding NPC animations and interactions shows there was a real problem there that needed fixing.

Many of us noticed it and they are acknowledging it needed to be better.

The improvements to NPCs will help.

It really is a bit soulless, NPCs don’t move, cities feel sparse because of it. The fact that they don’t react to things. That guards wont get involved in fights happening right on them or the player hitting them is just a bit crap to be honest.

Glad they are fixing it, but it likely still won’t be a patch on 20 year old Oblivions NPCs though.

Is it really because it was “such a hit” or have they actually learnt they produce better games and customers get a far better product with more development time?

This type of decision makes me doubt my future with Xbox and Microsoft even more.

I own two Xbox Series consoles and I am a multi platform gamer. At the start of the generation their best efforts were game preservation, the fact I could put old physical games in my new Xbox and play them at 4K/60fps.

Now they do this nonsense, and on repeat.

As someone who is waiting patiently for a physical release of Oblivion Remastered… I am losing hope.

I don’t think this is review bombing. It’s just not that good.

Would you say that the critics ‘review bombed’ The Minecraft Movie because that’s 47% Critics vs 86% Audience.

Critics and Audience often don’t see eye to eye. And usually the ones pushing the agenda are the critics who feel like they can’t criticise anything that has a certain political view.

The media then pushes it out and we get comments like the first one calling everyone ‘incels’ for not liking a mediocre show.

All it leads to is shutting down of conversations and stopping people from being honest about what they think.

My opinion is this: The show isn’t as good as it could have been. And Season 2 is actually bad compared to the game. And both TV series are not as good as the games.

My 9 year old daughter loves this game.

It’s clearly not for most of the Push Square audience. But if you have a child that loves cats then I think this and Stray are the two best cat games (Stray is far better, and my daughter prefers that also).

@Lup but it is propaganda.

Nobody has friends. That’s a conspiracy… 😅

Brothers!

Through the howling winds of this digital storm, we must stand unyielding.

Every time we open a physical case let it thunder louder than the tempest’s roar.

When we kneel to insert those sacred discs into our consoles, be it is as if we are making a holy rite.

We must vow to never abandon the path of physical gaming.

Let the digital tides surge; we march on, unbroken, forever loyal to the true way.

A gaming site declaring that the TV remote is mightier than the gaming controller?

We used to burn people at the stake for less.

Everyone laid off has my sympathy.

EA on the other hand does not.

It makes me wonder how much different the industry would be without the greed of the biggest companies and their ‘maximise profits at the expense of everything else’ mentality.

So, the cheaters are on a global leaderboard highlighting exactly who they are for Capcom to ban?

Sounds a bit dumb to me.

But then again, anyone who cheats on an online game is not someone to look up to.

So overall a PS5 Pro with Disc Drive is £40 less. (If you really want to spin a positive).

And I wouldn’t buy the Pro without the disc drive as I’m predominantly a physical gamer.

The problem is I can’t justify the price of the Pro console. Even though I really do want to see Tifa and Aerith in 4K 60fps…

I’m sure this movie is Marmite to most people.

I’m going to watch it with my two Minecraft mad children who are already hyped for it thanks to the McDonald’s toys.

Based on the reviews above though I have no idea if we will enjoy this or not.

7 for me.

The world, environments, weather systems, graphics etc (barring some bad animations) are amazing. Everything else is quite similar to previous Ubisoft open word games. Combat is a bit basic.

Gotta say I’m a little underwhelmed outside of the graphics. But it’s still a fairly solid game.

@themightyant those are interesting stats.

Do you have a source for them? I’m interested to see the Monster Hunter Wilds ratio. Is that more popular on PC for example?

Do you know where I can find this info?

@PuppetMaster yeah, that’s fair enough. There is a lot of brain rot in the world and definitely a few have influenced many in a not so positive way.

@PuppetMaster @ChromaticDracula @Ralizah @breakneck

The people who disrespected the shrine were not ‘Western’ or ‘Caucasian’.

Please try not jump to conclusions or broad brush groups without knowing the information.

Sadly, it appears it was Asian tourists who were doing the disrespecting. Smoking, dropping cigarette butts, spitting, throwing stones, allegedly a case of defacation, and the final straw was a staff member getting assaulted.

My family is Asian (it wasn’t us! 😅) so I’m not writing this to blame a group or looking at the ‘other’.

This is not about race. This is not about culture. This is about a few individual bad actors who has ruined a nice thing for many other tourists who visited the shrine and were respectful.

@FuriousMachine Thank you for pointing out the problem being the character of individual people, not their background.

@get2sammyb if you want to update the article as there is more information available now. I’m sad to say it looks like it was South Korean tourists (the comment above links to an article with more information and here is a link to images: https://x.com/mrjeffu/status/1904327369982132731). The vagueness of ‘who done it’ can sometimes lead people to make their own minds without the facts. Ultimately these acts should not smear any group but the individuals who did it.

Also, the shrine will still allow foreign tourists (although more restricted), but they must show respect or they won’t be allowed entry.

@DennisReynolds I’m talking about the Hideout upgrades.

The reason they have them in the store is because it takes a while to farm them, so why not just pay real money.

It’s just a practice I don’t like.

@ChrisDeku we shouldn’t be accepting it.

I haven’t touched Diablo 4 because of what they did with Diablo Immortals, which I played then realised it was pay to win. There is a video of someone who spent $10k getting one shot by someone who spent far more.

The gaming media should be calling that out and the community should be boycotting greedy companies rather than accepting it. Instead we have so many, who claim to care about the average person, instead shilling for multi-billion dollar companies.

It’s quite sad really.

The success of the game is not a surprise (I’d argue it would have been more successful if they didn’t make so many missteps).

However, it’s quite sad to see practically the entire gaming media world playing defense for Ubisoft and seemingly engage in this culture war political nonsense.

The game looks amazing. It’s definitely an achievement in that. It has good gameplay, but nothing special. No improvement over the previous games. And the combat is limited and simple. It has a task driven gameplay loop that isn’t innovative either.

It gets worse though. In parts it is downright anti-consumer with some of its mechanics that should be objected to. (And yet no reviews mention this). They purposely made it harder to farm stuff so you’ll be enticed to pay money in game [Edit: the entire in game real money store is problematic in single player games]. Not to mention some dodgy decisions in development, their plagiarising of others work (remember that Yasuke sword they displayed that was from One Piece?), and a myriad of other controversies.

Politics has stopped gaming journalists from doing their jobs. This not helping Ubisoft improve or the gaming community get better games. It’s pandering to mediocrity that holds the industry back.

Anyways, I look forward to ranting more at the next fawning article that overlooks all controversies and bad practices. 😇

I’m not sure AC Shadows is a system seller, as such, but with games having this much improvement, it might prove to be a reason to upgrade.

However, I think it should be noted that the solid 60fps on base PS5 and the still good graphics you get with it, kinda make it so that you don’t have to upgrade.

I always thought the Pro would make developers lazy and that we’d get terrible PS5 base versions. But Ubisoft have actually delivered on both consoles in terms of graphical fidelity and performance, which is very impressive.

Thanks for the review. It seems like it’s a solid Assassin’s Creed game.

However, I am going to respect the Japanese and get their verdict on this before I consider buying.

People can defend Ubisoft all they like, but really the developers have been extremely lazy with respecting Japanese culture with this game; ripping off sacred artefacts and googling stuff rather than consulting Japanese experts, the previews were full of mistranslated stuff, wrong cultural practices (like writing sideways on a scroll) and inserting Chinese stylings into Japanese culture.

If they have fixed that stuff, then good. If not, then they won’t get my money. Sorry.

@Skeletor85 it was literally my first time using the word waifu and I got called out. 😅

What’s wrong with the word anyway? It seems to accurately portray what Tifa is viewed as?

My hope for Ronald is that he gets hooked and becomes and avid gamer.

Tifa is the complete package.

There are lots of female characters with big breasts that didn’t make the cut, so anyone saying that is the reason has missed the point (or is distracted by the two points?).

This isn’t only about big breasts. Most men want an attractive waifu, of course, and Tifa is attractive, but they also want someone who is loyal, caring, and strong, but isn’t dominating or overpowering.

Most female characters written today are girl bosses in all the bad ways. They are angry, feisty, argumentative, dominating, belittling the male characters etc.

Most men don’t act like that and don’t like other men who act like that, let alone women acting like that.

Tifa isn’t those things, but is one of the most kick ass female characters there is.

Developers could learn a thing or two. Make female characters attractive, feminine, but also tough in a way that compliments not competes with the male characters, and you’ll be on to a winning formula.

@nessisonett it’s kind of the opposite in my house. I will be playing this so much my kids will be telling me to stop.

I don’t want it.

I don’t want it in my house.
I don’t want it on my screen.
I don’t want it in my memory.

Why did you make me look, Sammy?! 😅

Wash, wash, wash, indeed.

@nessisonett I would imagine only about 5% of the player base even knows this drama is taking place.

That’s not the player bases fault. That’s just the way it is for most games.

@Ooccoo_Jr I was meaning it as a compliment. I love a good nugget of info, and you provided.

@Ooccoo_Jr

Thanks for sharing that.

I’m glad to see you too are a Noble Enthusiast for Reliable Data.

I think there might be an acronym for that… 😁

It’s gonna be a royal rumble when the DEEEER Simulator sequel comes out.

Yeah, I don’t want this in games.

I’m actually okay being forced down dialogue and story paths.

It’s the same way that I don’t want interactive books with multiple endings either. I’m happy experiencing a story as it is intended and me playing through a characters predetermined path.

I was halfway through this game when my Xbox 360 got the ‘red ring of death’ and I never completed it.

I still have the game and have been tempted to put it into my Series X and play it…

@Enigk I agree with you. I think this whole rental thing is too expensive.

I was just thinking about the face grease those VR headsets must accumulate. Hehe

@Enigk probably for the deep clean it needs before the next rental.

“Most important is the pub's average Metascore…”

This is why it’s important to support your local drinking establishment.

@thefourfoldroot1 yeah, the infrastructure isn’t there for playing it everywhere. But I found problems even at home.

I would be willing to pay extra money for a dongle that I could stick into my PS5 and get a good connection to on the sofa.

I’m not a fan.

The Portal is the only product I’ve ever returned from the big gaming companies.

I couldn’t get a smooth connection from it and it just ruined my immersion. All I wanted was a WiiU like experience of playing my PS5 on handheld and having seamless 60fps gameplay with no input delay while my wife watched TV. Instead it was a jittery nightmare.

I get much better results from my laptop, which I still use for remote play.

I know people love it, but for me it is a massive disappointment. A real missed opportunity.

Kinda cool having a split review.

I wouldn’t mind two people playing single player games and reviewing them in future for multiple perspectives.

@nomither6 pay is one thing.

However, it doesn’t change the fact that people pour a lot of themselves into creative works and to have that work (years of it) now be effectively thrown in the trash and never see the light of day is still not a good feeling.

I want game developers to be in their jobs for more than just money. Because I play these games for my passion and I want passionate people in the industry making the best games possible.

This type of thing is heart breaking for the fans, gut wrenching for the wider gamer community, and absolutely soul destroying for the developers who have poured so much into it.

I feel for them all.

The execs on the other hand…

@nessisonett has Richard done some controversial things or something?

@get2sammyb I agree, Sammy, these acquisitions suck. It is frustrating that we as gamers are often so powerless to stop these bad moves.

I don’t think it is necessarily wrong that some cheer them on (although it is naive). I think it is okay for gamers to have hope that an IP they love could be revitalised or saved because of an acquisition. Or that a studio they admire is getting some much needed funding.

There are only a few who praise these acquisitions for the potential that they will damage their rivals in the console wars. And those people are just toxic and either don’t care about or don’t understand the industry outside of their narrow selfish desires.

The thing is, most gamers are not paying as much attention to the industry as people like yourself.

Not many can predict what the people at the top will do when they try to save themselves a few bucks, even if it comes at the expense of thousands of people losing their livelihoods and the expectations of millions of gamers being thrown down the pan. (Although, I think even the most naive are starting to understand the pattern…)

The lack of a built in disc drive killed my interest for it.

@KidRyan thanks for the info. I will check it out on Prime.

@Nakatomi_Uk the nostalgia!

Even though kids these days have everything at their fingertips, few will ever experience such greatness.

A couple of months ago I was singing the Samurai Pizza Cats theme song while cooking and my kids questioned my sanity.

I never imagined there was enough interest in this series for a game to be made. I am over the moon.

Plus, the top comment on the video alerted me to the fact the entire series is on YouTube. I can force my kids to watch it with me now. Happy days!

@Oram77 deflecting blame to Microsoft doesn’t change the fact Sony is doing anti-consumer moves.

The difference is Microsoft allows accounts to be made in many more countries. So do Ubisoft, EA and so forth.

Sony is limiting access simply because it can’t be bothered with the certain countries. (A whole 130 of them). And that’s the problem.

Steam is available in those countries. Sony is restricting people in those countries because of their own requirements.

That’s not good.