Comments 159

Re: 'Morale in the Studio Is at Rock Bottom': Rockstar Whistleblower Alleges Union Busting as GTA 6 Is Delayed

Kierant202

A lot of these comments read like they are from people who only know of unions from the big organised strikes and not the ground level unions.

All the talk about 'only helping the lazy' is just patently untrue in all my experience with unions and from the many rants and phonecalls of my stepfather as he works for a union here in the UK at that level.

His life consists of constant phonecalls as he personally gets to know most of the managers and many of the employees across the county within his jurisdiction.

He will patently tell a lorry driver if they have just f***** themselves because their trucks record their speeds and they ain't getting out of that speeding offence.

He will tell managers to their face bluntly if their management style is a bomb waiting to go off because of stacking minor issues that will escalate or consistent improper filing and meetings in their building.

It's stressful and constant but he does it because he really does aim to overall just make working lives easy for everyone.

He doesn't deal with pushing for big pay strikes, walkouts or any of that kind of stuff. If the staff at rockstar are being pushed in ways that go against UK working standards they had every right to try and unionise. Don't believe big company propaganda that it's all about pushing for a lazy life of more pay.

Re: In Japan, Switch 2 Retail Sales Are Already Closing on PS5

Kierant202

@UltimateOtaku91 haha yeah the people who are outraged when there isn't full game on disc are a minority of the minority of people who prefer physical copies.

As the latter is already a minority of gamers where most just like having the disc and don't care if it's all on there or not.

Even so, push square comment sections have a much higher than average proportion of these people so it's very easy to see it as more widespread an opinion than it is for sure

Re: Obsidian's Already Trying to Improve The Outer Worlds 2's Poor Presentation on PS5 Pro

Kierant202

@UltimateOtaku91 problem is for many Devs the pssr implementation is one of the lowest priorities in development I'd say. It's a small sub category of the playstation playerbase.
And if they have deadlines to meet with this being the last thing on the list of things to do then it's the most likely thing to be a launch issue fixed with patches. But that's just how I rationalize it

Re: If You've Never Played Fortnite, This Is the Season to Try on PS5, PS4

Kierant202

Eh I like Fortnite withy friends as much as I enjoy any multiplayer game. It is one of, if not THE most respectful multiplayer games to its fanbase.

  • It's updates are regular and good quality
  • It's never p2w
  • The creator content is top level
  • The effort they put into making crossovers 'work' is best in class
    Almost every skin comes with a cool lil Lego version.

Personally I prefer my RPGs and story based games but I won't disparage epic for the continued quality they put into Fortnite (at least when I personally compare it to GTA5 or cod for example)

Re: The Outer Worlds 2 (PS5) - Mechanically Fantastic RPG Struggles to Be Memorable

Kierant202

@mvhess they did publish it. And I don't think the reduction of ninja gaiden makes that list any less relevant. Msft may be a ***** company but it's just a waste to deny any games by their dev teams because of that. They were a ***** company for a long time. Long before they started making games and all they way through their best days.

And it's not like Sony or Nintendo are super nice guy consumer first companies. It's all just stupid internet posturing on social media sites and will never be anything more than that

Re: Sep 2025 USA Sales: Ghost of Yotei PS5 Boycott Fails, Sequel Sells 'Great'

Kierant202

@AstroBottom those 3 specific characters aren't exactly the best examples. 2 are cult classic franchises so most players literally haven't played them. The other was largely a generation removed from a lot of these people and the modern trilogy was good but very safe as a franchise.

They complain when female protagonists don't adhere to there specific desires in a female protagonist.

Aloy from the first game to the 2nd springs to mind. Going from liked or at least tolerated to disliked from these people. I agree the writing in the second was worse but her personality 'issue'?... Being more confident and outspoken.

Eve in stellar blade? Not the best writing or personality in gaming. But appealed to these people nonetheless.

Do we expect metroid games to sell like Stellar blade or horizon did?

When a male character is an a**hole, Like let's say max payne, it's fine, the character is an a**hole and we allow time to know his backstory and issues. He grows on us. Female protagonists are rarely given the same considerations. Especially if they don't look conventionally pretty. Like a certain shaved head in a ps5 trailer...

Re: People Don't Buy Anywhere Near As Many Games As You Think

Kierant202

I have bought probably at least 1 new game a month this year and also bought several other older games in sales. On top of game pass letting me play some indie titles or expedition 33 this year too. I'm at 4? Games bought this month on release already. (I have now canceled games pass since the price rise though)

Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff

Kierant202

My favourite comparison between franchises I loved, played to death for a near decade and then got fed up with are rainbow six siege and destiny 2.

The former has a higher player count and turns 10 years old later this year, it's got a steady playerbase and releases content like clockwork (I'd rather more though). And I can convince friends to 'give it a go' and actually have them stick around.

Then I compare it to destiny where it's all but impossible to get your friends to come give it a go because the game is an absolute mess for onboarding and then I need to tell them that some exotics and the like require more purchases to go do older content. You could pay for scams like leveling a character through the fastest part of the grind -the pre soft cap, pay to skip campaigns etc. Almost every holiday event has had skins money locked too. It makes money because people with money dedicate everything that have to getting everything in destiny 2. Because you never know when they will just take the ability to get them away from you.

Re: Almost 800 People Are Working on Ambitious Anime Open World Ananta

Kierant202

Have you seen the videos showing the various games across the last decade that ananta has effectively copy and pasted animations from. From qte scenes to swing animations and combat. It has taken heavily from a lot of games going back as far as some of sleeping dogs combat moves. And I'm talking near Frame perfect copies

Re: Borderlands 4 (PS5) - A Chaotic Return That Shoots Straight, Even if Its Performance Stutters

Kierant202

@Flaming_Kaiser and I fully respect your decision to wait for a price you believe the game is worth to you.

I am fully aware I have a generally lower standard of tolerance for game release states than most in comment sections like these. That being said I did tell my friends day one after playing when they asked that there is a memory leak and if they are susceptible to motion sickness from frame rate issues to wait. This was before any article mentioning memory leak was even out yet.

I have a core group of friends and we have played every borderlands on release and have replayed them many times. Borderlands 2 still has a LOT of connectivity issues and frame rate drops for one of my friends even years later yet we don't begrudge the games.

I tolerate a lot in games so long as the game satisfies any of the conditions I need to enjoy a game.

1. Solid gameplay (mindless or tactical)
2. Immersive story
3. Comfortable atmosphere
4. A good time with friends.

For me borderlands 4 satisfies points 1 and 4 well enough for me to not regret a full price purchase regardless of poor UI and the occasional need to restart.

As for cyberpunk I first played it on a series s at launch to no issues yet I have never supported cdpr for the state they released it on on previous generation. It's not on the consumer to know a game is unplayable on their console nor have a stated as much regarding bl4. But neither am I surprised people in comment sections have. These places are a subset of a subset of gamers. And rarely the middle of the road lot

Re: Borderlands 4 (PS5) - A Chaotic Return That Shoots Straight, Even if Its Performance Stutters

Kierant202

@Flaming_Kaiser I have had not a single issue that actually required a forced restart nor had any boss fight issues anywhere.

I have thoroughly enjoyed playing the game and am still going now well into the post game at over 60 hours. There isn't much more important to me than that. I got what I perceive as my money's worth. No level of internet anger is going to void that.

I also never said it 'restarting was not a big issue'. I had exactly 1 time where the memory leak got so bad that the performance dropped to a level I felt 'forced' a reset. The rest was mostly just preventative and to reset a bunch of spawns anyway. If it's too much for you and others don't buy it. I enjoyed what I've paid for and will continue to do so

Re: Borderlands 4 (PS5) - A Chaotic Return That Shoots Straight, Even if Its Performance Stutters

Kierant202

@UltimateOtaku91 completely agree. 8-8.5/10 for me.Just finished main campaign. Some performance issues but as much as it pains me to say it. Restarting the game didn't take long and was a bearable quick fix.

My biggest issue is the fact you are punished for doing all the side content. Specialisations are post game only but level via xp. And it's not retroactive. So the xp from all side content is better off saved for post game. But doing so cheapens the story and characters (which can't afford to be cheapened)

Don't see why 'repetitive' is a con losing marks here but most all open world games are in exactly the same position including most of Sony games

Re: Poll: Are You Playing Borderlands 4?

Kierant202

Been playing it on ps5 but it's giving me the worst motion sickness I've ever felt on a game. When you get multiple legendary gear that all makes a lot of particles and explosions... And all the loot on the ground... The framerate almost becomes a slideshow

Re: 'More People Will Experience Our World': Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trilogy Sheds PS5 Exclusivity

Kierant202

People saying being multiplatform on release wont change sales much are baffling to me. Final fantasy 13 and especially final fantasy 15 sold exceptionally well by final fantasy standards.

The only reason many of the older games boast higher numbers is their many rereleases over the years.

It takes an exceptional game to post good sale numbers on a console or pc releasing a year later. Once a game leaves the zeitgeist it's release sales plummet without a very good incentive for players to grab it instead of the hot new game of the week

Re: Xbox Game Pass May Make Devs 'Wage Slaves', Says Ex-PlayStation Exec

Kierant202

I don't think subscription models are going to significantly drop the overall quality of mainstream gaming.

The landscape of mainstream gaming ultimately caters to shareholders and profits. That's why live service is king to all publishers. They all need their 1 golden goose to justify every other game. For ms that means they want a live service game (or franchise -CoD) on game pass.

It's not on a company like ms to 'train' gamers to behave better and buy games lol.

Ultimately over expansion during COVID and often even now is one of the largest contributers to Devs being laid off now as well as typical corporate money moving shenanigans to spin things to shareholders.

I personally have heavily partaken in games pass. At the same time I consume less gaas than the average consumer. (People in these comments sections or general social media don't actually represent majorities, sad but true). Game pass hasn't made me buy less games. I try games that wouldn't normally have been on my radar. I've bought almost the entire Yakuza franchise since playing 0 when it came to gamepass. A franchise I barely new existed before then.

'real gamers' exist in a little social bubble and sometimes don't seem to see the gaming world with the average consumer in mind at all I swear

Re: Sony Job Listing Implies More PS5 Exclusives Will Be Ported to Xbox, Nintendo

Kierant202

People who exist in these gaming spaces don't seem to grasp what gaming is to the majority of the playstation playerbase.

Even the best selling of the ps5 exclusives was only bought by a fraction of the playerbase. 20% on the highest end of the ps5 exclusives like Spiderman 2.

The majority of modern gamers are playing the live service games and little more. They go where their friends and community are because they don't care for the slightly more complex efforts involved in cross platform communication like discord integration.

Sony also won the pivotal 1st true step to digital generation. Now people have a library that follows them each generation. And that has a mental weight to it. Even a majority of Xbox fans aren't budging because they are just playing the same live service games each year with their friends who play on an Xbox too.

Putting their exclusives on other platforms isn't going to significantly shift the needle for console sales for Sony because the vast majority of their money makers are entrenched in the ecosystem and community they've built up.

Aiming for higher sales numbers on their first party single player games doesn't surprise me in the slightest though I would be surprised at day 1. The 'console wars' just aren't fought the way most of us grew up with them through the 90's and 00's

Re: Xbox's Phil Spencer 'Not Retiring' After Dark Day of Cancellations and Job Cuts

Kierant202

@Fiendish-Beaver most of the reporting about these layoffs across media online have been aiming to fan flames tbh.

Most of these layoffs are of course upsetting but as far as layoffs go most of these make some mediums of sense. Forza Motorsport (not horizon) has had several not fantastic releases, perfect dark apparently was a wreck, an mmo is one of the toughest things to make and likely a tax write off, call of duty studios (plural) are pretty bloated in staff numbers. None of this is good but layoffs happen, especially in the current state of the industry. I wish people would just think more instead of giving into internet hate and anger so easily.

Re: Interview: Final Fantasy Tactics Veterans on Remastering an All-Time Classic RPG

Kierant202

@Jey887 and yet they are adding new weapons and cosmetics for pre orders and deluxe editions...

Meanwhile they remove 2 characters with ties to other beloved games, the entire multiplayer and several side story content fleshing out other characters.

All while deciding to actually use the war of the lions dialogue for the classic English translation...

Just an incredibly incongruous set of decisions

Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About The Last of Us Part 2, 5 Years Later?

Kierant202

Nothing against it. Gameplay pacings and styles are not to my tastes. Creating builds in RPGs or faster passes action oriented gameplay are my preferences over 3rd person psuedo stealth games.

Doesn't help that the original tlou gameplay was in my opinion just too sluggish and kind of put me off the franchise going forward.

I do think the central story premise is one of the best I've seen though.
I do love a good 'end the cycle of revenge' story and this one took it to the dark conclusion unlike many others

Re: The Next Xbox Is a PC, So What Does That Mean for PS6?

Kierant202

People talking about the new xbox being a reskinned pc and not wanting to deal with the complications involved are missing large parts of the information given about the handheld and future Xbox.

They have already said they will have a dedicated 'gaming' launch mode that needs none of the bells and whistles if pc launchers. Id also expect buying games on this to default to Xbox store.

Re: Switch 2 Can't Achieve a Great Experience on Big Screens, PS5 Boss Implies

Kierant202

I have every console. I have favourite games across multiple genres and systems. Sony has had games this generation I liked. But nothing of the ps5 generation of 1st party games has actually really immersed me and had me think of it as a favourite. Closest would be Spiderman 2 which has a large buff via IP and love of the 1st.

I have never, and will never, be gaslit into believing I need raw graphical power to be immersed in a story/world or gameplay.

But that's also not really what he was saying. The article is exaggerating

Re: This Is How Gears of War Reloaded Looks and Plays on PS5 Pro

Kierant202

From what I remember having played all gears games. Even though they aren't my favourite shooters I liked the horde Modes with friends you could turn off the camera shake in the newer ones but it still remained slightly when sprinting.

Stylistically and aesthetically it will always look like a 2000's shooter but to be honest I'd say a lot of that is because it almost encapsulated that era of aesthetic the most and arguably the best with it's tone and themes.

But haters gonna hate etc etc

Re: 'People Are Less Willing to Pay': Dev Speaks Out Against Day One Releases on PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass

Kierant202

I only have so much free time to game and am rarely 100% sure I want a game if it's a new IP or a late series sequel I've not played before.

I have game pass and it first introduced me to Yakuza 0 a few years ago. Now I've bought every game in the franchise and have (almost) caught up.

I hadn't bought expedition 33 or metaphor because I had other chunky RPGs on my backlog but because the former was in my library when I finally finished persona 5 royal it immediately got played and now I've purchased it on my ps5 for the better gaming experience (only have a series s) after that I will play metaphor.

Countless indie games like the brilliant slay the spire and monster train I never would have played without game pass because it's just not easy to sort through games nowadays when reviews are so polarised by internet negativity.

Gaming is a growth driven industry that started to saturate and die. The same IS going to happen with game pass etc. I know it but for now it has given me a bit of breathing space for game selection at times and introduced me into some of my all time favourites

Re: Days Gone Dev Hit with Layoffs, Loses 30% of Staff

Kierant202

@OldGamer999 same if only 1 generation behind (I ain't that old). Also owned all Nintendo hardware from N64 onwards, every Xbox and even a dreamcast.

I've had favourite games on each console and still have done to this day. It's just a rough world to be a gamer who plays everywhere and calls out each company as sees fit these days

Re: Poll: How Would You Rate Summer Game Fest 2025?

Kierant202

@Odium yeah I quite enjoyed it too. Probably because I have quite a wide taste in gaming.

Sonic racing brought me back to all stars racing transformed days ,
Lies of p dlc (remember when people were interested?) ,
More from Yakuza franchises ,
Code vein 2 (I liked the first anyway),
Re9,
Jurassic park SIM 3 (the other 2 are popular)
Atomic heart 2 (I'm only mildly interested as the first wasnt the best),
Onimusha always a win for me,
Lego party I'll probably get on sale as mario party is never known sale,
Dice of destiny ill probably get to play with my partner and my younger brother

And I know I'm forgetting others I was interested in when they were shown off. I don't particularly care for all the overhype in the big franchise games like GTA or the over the top cinematic games I see paraded a lot (death stranding frankly bored me too much too fast)