It's stupid but I hope this "stabilizes" the new animated backgrounds. The old ones work perfectly fine, but if I do the fireplace or animated seasonals, whether from hard off or standby mode, half the time the animations doesn't kick off until I move away from the page and back or sometimes even have to scroll down into the page and fiddle with something before it will start animating. This is on a Pro as well, so don't know if that's specific to that or not. It doesn't even really matter, just first world problems.
@Runex2121 Interesting take. I am glad to hear that it's not as terrible on newcomers as I have built up in my mind (after playing everything over 2.5 years).
So for Metaphor in particular, I am still waiting around to see if they make a "Royal" version of it. They poisoned that well pretty hard. Why would I buy one of their mainline games in the first three years?
If it wasn't for the animal iconography I would say it's related to the new Darksiders. The faces look like the collectible souls, there's a bunch of skeletons in armor, and I would absolutely be using the throwing glaive to stab that giant eyeball thing to open the door.
I rated the library as great, but not for anything Sony has specifically done. It's been a really good run for 3rd party RPGs these last few years. The console itself has been really good, but I will never forgive how big and ugly it is.
The answers are all always a bit nuanced. I won't play mobile games. That's just a me preference. I don't care if they make mobile games. To answer the actual headline question, I don't think they will be successful, because mobile or not, they are just pushing their GAAS agenda on a different platform. Who knows though, maybe they will get lucky. Being a giant publisher with all the money in the world still guarantees nothing.
I finally completed my Legend of Heroes journey by finishing Daybreak 2 this last week. I am now completely caught up with the series. So what do I do to celebrate, I start Trails in the Sky FC Remake. Honestly, the battle system is kind of a breath of fresh air. You get the free move system Daybreak added, but with no weird SCM positioning constraints, no Boosts required for S-Breaks, everything is simple and open, at least in the early going.
This has me thinking now. I get that the high-stakes action style spy novel wouldn't work as an open-world game, but what if it were lower stakes, cold war maybe. Just wandering around, setting up listening posts, sneaking in as a plumber to drop some audio bugs, spend a while doing some stealth surveillance with a camera through a window, maybe leave some dead drops. Do all the boring spy ground work that James Bond never seems to actually do because he's a super hero and pretty bad at actually being a spy. Would it actually be fun, I dunno?
I started the first one and got side tracked like so many other games. I plan to go back to it eventually, and I will pick this up eventually assuming I enjoy the first one.
This is one of those surveys where the question could have been worded a little better. Is TikTok in competition with games, at least for time and attention? Sure of course. Is it in competition for my time? Not at all. But I have accidentally lost hours to Youtube instead. That's because I have an Android phone, logged in with Google, and Youtube is automagically installed, so I open it for a very specific purpose and then the algorithm happens. Games are, for me specifically, more in competition for my time with streaming services with longer form content though. That's where I purposely spend the time I am not gaming. That hasn't really changed over time though.
I will play it some day on a deep discount as a nostalgia fest, but I am not buying it day one. I never even owned an XBOX, but enough good times were had in the multiplayer playing at my friend's house that it still gives me a little bit of the feels.
I am definitely on the higher end of games purchased. I drop a lot of stuff in my wish list and then buy it when it's on sale, even if I don't really have time to play it. I play a lot less games than I actually buy though which is definitely a me problem. Clair Obscur was such a breath of fresh air, only being in the 30-40 hour range, considering I still have Trails Through Daybreak 2, FF Rebirth, Baldurs Gate 3, and Metaphor Refantasio, all 100+ hour games, to get to at some point, and that's ignoring the rest of the backlog.
@ShogunRok Walking all over Liberl like you do in the first game definitely gives the world a sense of space that you start to lose in the later games.
@ShogunRok Response to #33, I still haven't finished DB2. The time hopping is part of it, but the actual dungeons and combat almost feel like they've been forgotten about. You run around a new town, talk to everybody, story beats for an hour or two, even the side missions are just running around and talking to people, and then finally it remembers to give you 30 minutes of a non-descript sewer or warehouse dungeon. If you want more combat, go run the Marchen Garten... again. I like the story bits sure, but you have to balance it out.
EDIT: Also, does Zin feel sufficiently big? I feel like between his original Trails sprite and his DB 3D model, he lost too much bulk.
I was in my PCMR phase at the time so I wasn't especially interested until FFVII came out, but after that it was one of the best RPG boxes of all time. Admittedly though, I missed a lot of those games until later.
I am still in Daybreak 2 because it's been a very long couple of months with very little gaming. I am skipping the Sky remake. I don't need to play it again, however pretty it may be.
I watched some of the promo videos because somebody's name attached to it was notable for some reason (I can't remember now) and they all looked generically 3rd person hack and slash. In a universe where everything is trying be a "maybe it's a Soulslike" that's not enough. And then I read the reviews and they basically all said the same kind of thing, "decent game, lots of caveats" and that was enough to make me decide I had better things to play.
I think I have been on "Essential" since the very beginning. It used to be easy to buy multiple years through incredibly cheap, discounted keys, and then that went away. I have gotten a billion free games. I think I have played maybe three. I don't really play multiplayer games. At this point, I think I stay subscribed since they have locked PS5 saves into this weird limbo where there isn't a good way to archive them any other way than paid cloud saves and I am paranoid about losing them all through a catastrophic failure of some sort.
After watching Bungie flail around trying to figure out what to do with the Destiny games for years now. Why would I be excited to see what they do next?
I imagine it's easier to remaster the newer games onto the current consoles, but I discovered Tales during the PS3/XB360 days. I want to play the ones that came out before then.
@Kienda I think if I had watched it as a teenager, I might've made it through ok. Instead, I accidentally waited until after I had a kid. That movie destroyed me for a week.
Lol at the arguments over the bewbs. I like pretty ladies. I don't mind if they are scantily clad. When artists draw their chests like this though, it reminds me of Rob Liefeld's feet. They just look silly.
I won't play it because it will be a gatcha ridden hellscape, so it's all irrelevant anyway.
It may be THE open world game, but I don't like open world games. I get overloaded, wander around a bit and then get bored. The longest I have spent in any of these games was Vice City because I liked the music and aesthetics, but then I got to the tank mission, and well, I just drove around in the tank for a few hours and decided it would all be downhill after that.
Hmmm... I don't know how I feel about this. I played the Steam release a few years ago (also on the SNES when it was new) and I still think it holds up, moreso than a lot of the games from that time period. Maybe give it a good pixel remaster once over to make it look a little better in higher resolutions and then port it to modern systems and I think it's good.
I have been watching the gameplay of CO and I don't know how I feel about the QTE stuff. I turned all of that off after a while in the accessibility options when I played through Sea of Stars because I was terrible at it. For myself, Trails Through Daybreak's semi-strategy turn-based system is where it's at. I actively dislike and avoid the action system they put in, although I hear that is improved in the second game. I am almost there. Also, generally, I have always appreciated that the Trails games have always given you a turn order and lots of ways to manipulate it.
I don't like the Elder Scrolls games. I don't like first person. I don't like open-world. I don't like the absurd amount of jank those games have for as much as they cost to make in time and money. I don't like the idea that those games pretty much require mods from the community to be playable. I didn't necessarily even like Morrowind, but Oblivion felt like such a step down in how imaginative the world was. I think I got Oblivion free with a video card and still couldn't be bothered to play more than a couple of hours of it. Anyway, sorry for the negativity, hope everybody is having fun.
@Lowdefal And I figured as much. My problem with open world games is that my completionist brain starts down the side content hole, I wander off the beaten path and then I just get bored and quit. The obvious thing to do would be to laser focus on story and ignore that stuff, but I am weak and my willpower is low and I self sabotage.
Comments 181
Re: New PS5 Firmware Update Is Available Now, Here Are All the Patch Notes
It's stupid but I hope this "stabilizes" the new animated backgrounds. The old ones work perfectly fine, but if I do the fireplace or animated seasonals, whether from hard off or standby mode, half the time the animations doesn't kick off until I move away from the page and back or sometimes even have to scroll down into the page and fiddle with something before it will start animating. This is on a Pro as well, so don't know if that's specific to that or not. It doesn't even really matter, just first world problems.
Re: For the First Time Ever, the West Is Caught Up with Falcom's Massive Trails RPG Series
I just picked up my preorder on my lunch break. I'm doing my part! insert Starship Troopers meme
I'm going to start it installing tonight and then I have to leave town for four days, but next week...
Re: Trails beyond the Horizon (PS5) - Trails Takes an Impressive Step Towards the End
@Runex2121 Interesting take. I am glad to hear that it's not as terrible on newcomers as I have built up in my mind (after playing everything over 2.5 years).
Re: PS5's Hyperpop Collection Adds Three Striking New Colours for DualSense, Console Covers
I kind of like them, but they also mostly remind me of the rear end of a diesel truck.
Re: 'It's Coming to a Turning Point': Persona, Metaphor Director Says Atlus RPGs Must Attract 'A Wider Audience'
So for Metaphor in particular, I am still waiting around to see if they make a "Royal" version of it. They poisoned that well pretty hard. Why would I buy one of their mainline games in the first three years?
Re: Two Trails beyond the Horizon Demos Out Now, and One Is Exclusive to PS5, PS4
I am completely caught up and ready finally. Even played through the TitS1 Remake. Let's do this thing.
Re: PS5's Welcome Hub Adds Its Cosiest Animated Wallpaper Yet, Complete with ASMR Audio
@Gremio108 I dunno, it's pretty warm if I stand next to my PS5 Pro while it's running.
@Topov81 Because technically it is still Autumn until the Solstice on the 21st.
Re: Jaws' Infamous NES Adaptation Is Getting Ported to PS5, with All-New Features
I remember renting this as a kid and thinking it was garbage then.
Re: Cryptic Game Awards Statue Teaser Reportedly Not Related to Diablo 4, Elder Scrolls 6
If it wasn't for the animal iconography I would say it's related to the new Darksiders. The faces look like the collectible souls, there's a bunch of skeletons in armor, and I would absolutely be using the throwing glaive to stab that giant eyeball thing to open the door.
Re: Poll: Five Years of PS5 - How Would You Rate Sony's Console?
I rated the library as great, but not for anything Sony has specifically done. It's been a really good run for 3rd party RPGs these last few years. The console itself has been really good, but I will never forgive how big and ugly it is.
Re: Talking Point: Will PlayStation's Mobile Push Be a Success or a Flop?
The answers are all always a bit nuanced. I won't play mobile games. That's just a me preference. I don't care if they make mobile games. To answer the actual headline question, I don't think they will be successful, because mobile or not, they are just pushing their GAAS agenda on a different platform. Who knows though, maybe they will get lucky. Being a giant publisher with all the money in the world still guarantees nothing.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 607
I finally completed my Legend of Heroes journey by finishing Daybreak 2 this last week. I am now completely caught up with the series. So what do I do to celebrate, I start Trails in the Sky FC Remake. Honestly, the battle system is kind of a breath of fresh air. You get the free move system Daybreak added, but with no weird SCM positioning constraints, no Boosts required for S-Breaks, everything is simple and open, at least in the early going.
Re: Poll: Does the Steam Machine Pose a Threat to PS5?
I already bought a little mini-pc running bazzite for the older lower resource PC games in my backlog. I don't need a second one.
Re: We Never Got Rockstar's Agent Because an Open World Spy Game 'Doesn't Really Work'
@REALAIS People play a lot of games that I personally find very boring. shrug
Re: Mini Review: 1000xRESIST (PS5) - Story-First Experience Is a Marvel
I just realized that I have 1000xRESIST and Hundred Line Defense Academy confused. I don't know that I necessarily care about either, but oops anyway.
Re: We Never Got Rockstar's Agent Because an Open World Spy Game 'Doesn't Really Work'
This has me thinking now. I get that the high-stakes action style spy novel wouldn't work as an open-world game, but what if it were lower stakes, cold war maybe. Just wandering around, setting up listening posts, sneaking in as a plumber to drop some audio bugs, spend a while doing some stealth surveillance with a camera through a window, maybe leave some dead drops. Do all the boring spy ground work that James Bond never seems to actually do because he's a super hero and pretty bad at actually being a spy. Would it actually be fun, I dunno?
Re: Talking Point: If Xbox Drops the Cost, Would You Be Happy Still Paying for PS6 Multiplayer?
I don't really care what they do with multiplayer, just let me backup PS5 saves locally and easily for goodness sake!
Re: Poll: Do You Play Horror Games Around Halloween?
I don't really like "horror" games, I have too much anxiety as is. But I do like action games with horror elements like Control.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing The Outer Worlds 2?
I started the first one and got side tracked like so many other games. I plan to go back to it eventually, and I will pick this up eventually assuming I enjoy the first one.
Re: Talking Point: Is PS5 Really in Competition with TikTok?
This is one of those surveys where the question could have been worded a little better. Is TikTok in competition with games, at least for time and attention? Sure of course. Is it in competition for my time? Not at all. But I have accidentally lost hours to Youtube instead. That's because I have an Android phone, logged in with Google, and Youtube is automagically installed, so I open it for a very specific purpose and then the algorithm happens. Games are, for me specifically, more in competition for my time with streaming services with longer form content though. That's where I purposely spend the time I am not gaming. That hasn't really changed over time though.
Re: Poll: Will You Be Buying Halo: Campaign Evolved on PS5?
I will play it some day on a deep discount as a nostalgia fest, but I am not buying it day one. I never even owned an XBOX, but enough good times were had in the multiplayer playing at my friend's house that it still gives me a little bit of the feels.
Re: People Don't Buy Anywhere Near As Many Games As You Think
I am definitely on the higher end of games purchased. I drop a lot of stuff in my wish list and then buy it when it's on sale, even if I don't really have time to play it. I play a lot less games than I actually buy though which is definitely a me problem. Clair Obscur was such a breath of fresh air, only being in the 30-40 hour range, considering I still have Trails Through Daybreak 2, FF Rebirth, Baldurs Gate 3, and Metaphor Refantasio, all 100+ hour games, to get to at some point, and that's ignoring the rest of the backlog.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for October 2025?
Yeah, and no. I think the selection is good, but I just finally picked up Cocoon on a sale last month.
Re: PlayStation's New 'Rewards' Program Goes Down Like a Lead Balloon
I think this is kind of a cute idea, but calling it a "rewards" program is a complete misnomer. This is an elite merch club.
Re: Hyper Light Drifter Dev Confirms PS5 Release Date for Stylish Action Game Possessor(s)
Looks nice. I need to play the last dozen "search adventure" games I bought. I really like that term.
Re: Controversial Disco Elysium Follow-Up Zero Parades Confirmed for PS5 in 2026
The look is there. Time will tell if the writing is.
Re: Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter (PS5) - This Is How You Remake a Classic RPG
@ShogunRok Walking all over Liberl like you do in the first game definitely gives the world a sense of space that you start to lose in the later games.
Re: Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter (PS5) - This Is How You Remake a Classic RPG
@ShogunRok Response to #33, I still haven't finished DB2. The time hopping is part of it, but the actual dungeons and combat almost feel like they've been forgotten about. You run around a new town, talk to everybody, story beats for an hour or two, even the side missions are just running around and talking to people, and then finally it remembers to give you 30 minutes of a non-descript sewer or warehouse dungeon. If you want more combat, go run the Marchen Garten... again. I like the story bits sure, but you have to balance it out.
EDIT: Also, does Zin feel sufficiently big? I feel like between his original Trails sprite and his DB 3D model, he lost too much bulk.
Re: Poll: Did You Buy a PS1 at Launch?
I was in my PCMR phase at the time so I wasn't especially interested until FFVII came out, but after that it was one of the best RPG boxes of all time. Admittedly though, I missed a lot of those games until later.
Re: Could You Be Persuaded to Watch a Call of Duty Movie?
I mean sure, I already watch all the terrible non-video-game war movies, what's another one on the pile?
Re: Ys X: Nordic's Controversial Re-Release Skips PS5 for Switch 2 and PC
Good, now I don't feel bad for buying the original version. shrug
Re: Anticipated RPG Trails beyond the Horizon Locks In January Release Date on PS5, PS4
I am still in Daybreak 2 because it's been a very long couple of months with very little gaming. I am skipping the Sky remake. I don't need to play it again, however pretty it may be.
Re: 'Increasingly Selective Consumers' to Blame for Underperformance of Blades of Fire
I watched some of the promo videos because somebody's name attached to it was notable for some reason (I can't remember now) and they all looked generically 3rd person hack and slash. In a universe where everything is trying be a "maybe it's a Soulslike" that's not enough. And then I read the reviews and they basically all said the same kind of thing, "decent game, lots of caveats" and that was enough to make me decide I had better things to play.
Re: The 90s Anime Vibes Are Immaculate in Full Metal Schoolgirl on PS5
The plot is hilarious but the look of the game is kind of "we have ZZZ at home."
Re: Poll: 15 Years of PS Plus - What Do You Think of Sony's Subscription Service?
I think I have been on "Essential" since the very beginning. It used to be easy to buy multiple years through incredibly cheap, discounted keys, and then that went away. I have gotten a billion free games. I think I have played maybe three. I don't really play multiplayer games. At this point, I think I stay subscribed since they have locked PS5 saves into this weird limbo where there isn't a good way to archive them any other way than paid cloud saves and I am paranoid about losing them all through a catastrophic failure of some sort.
Re: Meet Callina Liang: The New Chun-Li in Legendary's Live Action Street Fighter Movie
@16BitHero She's wearing those boxing gloves just to confuse her opponent.
Re: Anticipated JRPG Trails beyond the Horizon Delayed into January 2026 on PS5, PS4
Oh thank goodness! I am still trying to finish Daybreak 2. I have stalled a bit.
Re: There's a Brutal Lack of Interest in Marathon from Hardcore PS5 Fans
After watching Bungie flail around trying to figure out what to do with the Destiny games for years now. Why would I be excited to see what they do next?
Re: Next Tales of Remaster Announcement Confirmed for This Summer
I imagine it's easier to remaster the newer games onto the current consoles, but I discovered Tales during the PS3/XB360 days. I want to play the ones that came out before then.
Re: Here's Your First Look at Project Spirits, the Next Flagship Title from the Makers of Stellar Blade
@Kienda Oh no!
Re: Here's Your First Look at Project Spirits, the Next Flagship Title from the Makers of Stellar Blade
@Kienda I think if I had watched it as a teenager, I might've made it through ok. Instead, I accidentally waited until after I had a kid. That movie destroyed me for a week.
Re: Here's Your First Look at Project Spirits, the Next Flagship Title from the Makers of Stellar Blade
Lol at the arguments over the bewbs. I like pretty ladies. I don't mind if they are scantily clad. When artists draw their chests like this though, it reminds me of Rob Liefeld's feet. They just look silly.
I won't play it because it will be a gatcha ridden hellscape, so it's all irrelevant anyway.
Re: Poll: Do You Care About the Death of PlayStation Stars?
The money for points for money was convenient, but I didn't really bother with any other part of it.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing DOOM: The Dark Ages?
I still have Doom 2016 on the shelf and haven't got around to it. It seems like it will be fun, one day, when I have the time.
Re: Poll: Are You Hyped for GTA 6 After Trailer 2?
It may be THE open world game, but I don't like open world games. I get overloaded, wander around a bit and then get bored. The longest I have spent in any of these games was Vice City because I liked the music and aesthetics, but then I got to the tank mission, and well, I just drove around in the tank for a few hours and decided it would all be downhill after that.
Re: Poll: Vote for Your PS5 Game of the Month (April 2025)
I haven't played any of them, but Clair Obscure is the only one I am really interested in.
Re: Rumour: Chrono Trigger Remake Leaked by Dragon Quest Creator
Hmmm... I don't know how I feel about this. I played the Steam release a few years ago (also on the SNES when it was new) and I still think it holds up, moreso than a lot of the games from that time period. Maybe give it a good pixel remaster once over to make it look a little better in higher resolutions and then port it to modern systems and I think it's good.
Re: Expedition 33's Sublime Success Sparks Chatter About Final Fantasy's Future
I have been watching the gameplay of CO and I don't know how I feel about the QTE stuff. I turned all of that off after a while in the accessibility options when I played through Sea of Stars because I was terrible at it. For myself, Trails Through Daybreak's semi-strategy turn-based system is where it's at. I actively dislike and avoid the action system they put in, although I hear that is improved in the second game. I am almost there. Also, generally, I have always appreciated that the Trails games have always given you a turn order and lots of ways to manipulate it.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing Oblivion Remastered?
I don't like the Elder Scrolls games. I don't like first person. I don't like open-world. I don't like the absurd amount of jank those games have for as much as they cost to make in time and money. I don't like the idea that those games pretty much require mods from the community to be playable. I didn't necessarily even like Morrowind, but Oblivion felt like such a step down in how imaginative the world was. I think I got Oblivion free with a video card and still couldn't be bothered to play more than a couple of hours of it. Anyway, sorry for the negativity, hope everybody is having fun.
Re: Poll: 5 Years Later, How Do You Feel About Final Fantasy 7 Remake?
@Lowdefal And I figured as much. My problem with open world games is that my completionist brain starts down the side content hole, I wander off the beaten path and then I just get bored and quit. The obvious thing to do would be to laser focus on story and ignore that stuff, but I am weak and my willpower is low and I self sabotage.