Comments 101

Re: These 23+ New PS5, PS4 Games Are Coming Out This Week (27th-3rd May)

PneumaPilot

@smellyplaymarky I was seriously interested in Banishers when I watched the trailer. Seemed like an absolutely awesome idea! Then I installed it from the PS Plus game catalog and the gameplay was ultra-mediocre. But that's been my experience with essentially every single game I've ever tried from Focus. The controls were clunky, the graphics and animation were sub-par, and after spending like half-an-hour in it, I couldn't say that I had had even one ounce of fun, so I hit the eject button.

I was new to PlayStation at the time, though - so my attention was being grabbed by FAR more immediately-fun titles like Astro Bot, God of War, Horizon, Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man, etc.

Re: The Last of Us Online Was 'the Best Multiplayer Game' Devs Ever Played

PneumaPilot

When I was an Xbot, my opinion of Sony Ponies was that they were all friendless losers that sucked at video games, so they had to stick to their [barely] interactive cutscene-overloaded walking simulators. Now that I have switched teams - really because of the DualSense controller and the Astro Bot demo at Walmart - I'm slowly finding out that my original read of the situation wasn't that far off the mark (despite the fact that I am an avid PlayStation fan now, and I love all these cinematic single-player games).

The reaction to Marathon was a revelation to me. The game is SERIOUSLY good, and yet only some tiny fragment of the PlayStation playerbase bought it (by all reports). I feel like if MicroSlop would have been the one to purchase Bungie, a massive proportion of the Xbox install base would bought the game. You could probably say the same for Concord.

When I was an Xbox gamer, multiplayer games and big parties of friends online playing the heck out of the newest game was the standard. Since moving to PlayStation, even IRL friends with PS5's won't add me as a friend on PSN because "they don't play that way". Maybe when all the Xbots get tired of the MS BS, they'll all buy PlayStations, and Sony's multiplayer live-service push will finally get some traction. I bet Concord was actually a good game - despite how much I cheered its downfall back when it was happening.

Re: 'This Feels Like Nothing Else Out There': Saros Devs on Making Another Standout PS5 Exclusive

PneumaPilot

Returnal was one of those games that I immediately wrote off because of the very uninteresting-looking protagonist, the weird name, and the unclear trailer (and also because it was PS exclusive and I was an Xbot at the time). Then, when I finally got a PS5 Pro for myself this Christmas, I was looking for which games would be good to install from the PS Plus catalog, and I read someone somewhere that said that Returnal was the best game of the generation. I installed it, but ignored it for a couple of months.

When I finally decided to give it a try, I was COMPLETELY blown away. I had been skipping from game to game about every hour: Astro Bot, Spider-Man Remastered, God of War, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, etc. Returnal grabbed a hold of me and wouldn't let me go for like two straight weeks. It became the only game I wanted to play - even in the midst of those other masterpieces!

I cannot wait for Saros. Housemarque makes video gamey video games, and they are the best in the world at doing exactly that.

Re: Xbox Is Flip-Flopping on PS5 Again, and It's Truly Getting Tiring

PneumaPilot

Personally, I wish all three of the major consoles would have well-developed stables of exclusive series and surprising newcomers in the exclusive space. I love the kind of focus that making a console exclusive brings - really tapping 100% into the unique power of the console. And I would FOR SURE have one of each system to be able to play all those awesome games - IF I cared about the exclusives in question. I don't have a Switch 2 now because I could care less about all those games. And if all Xbox is going to have is Halo and Gears and Forza, I could pass on that too. But if they have exclusivity to Elder Scrolls, Fable, and a bunch of new IPs that I actually care about, I'd for sure buy their system - with a huge smile on my face.

Re: Are We Ready to Admit Horizon's Online Co-Op PS5 Game Looks Good Yet?

PneumaPilot

I thought it looked pretty good from day one. Sure, I bought a PS5 Pro to play single-player games after being a Xbot (mainly multiplayer) gamer for 20 years. But I just can't let go of good multiplayer experiences. Marathon easily roped me back into the sweatfest, and Hunters Gathering immediately appealed to me for playing with my kids. In fact, when I first saw the trailer, I thought, "I'm going to need at least two more PS5s for this!" Well, we're now up to two of them in the house. One more to go!

I get it that PlayStation people like their single player games. I do too. But it's good to have some solid multiplayer experiences too. This one looks great.

And I still need to get into Helldivers II...

Re: PS Plus Value Called into Question as Xbox Slashes Game Pass Price

PneumaPilot

I probably don't need PSPlus Premium. I mostly play games that I have purchased. It was an absolute WONDER when I first switched teams to PlayStation after Christmas, though. I suddenly had a ton of games to play on a platform that I had ignored for 20 years. Now, the service is not as useful to me, but there's no way I'm going cut myself off from the possibility of streaming something directly to my Portal that I don't have installed. I just like the feeling that I can do that if I want to. It's great for not having to install large free gacha games too!

Re: You Might Not Want to Know How Much It Reportedly Cost Bungie to Make Marathon

PneumaPilot

Live service games don’t make back their investment on launch day. They steadily grow a player base and continually give that player base things to purchase. I think we’ll eventually see the total number of copies moved of Marathon be quite high, and the rewards passes and skins sales will put it in a fairly nice spot. 300K+ daily active users is no joke. I’ve personally bought two copies of the game and all the skins in the shop.

Re: 'They Realised They Let Me Go Prematurely': God of War's OG Kratos Talks About Reprising His Role

PneumaPilot

The Norse games completely won me over. I was out of the PlayStation space for roughly the entire original trilogy era (and all the way down until three months ago). Never liked what I saw looking over into the blue room from the green room. But the father/son dynamic really started drawing my attention. When I finally switched teams after Christmas this past year, GoW 2018 quickly became one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Such a brilliant game in every way - and I already adored Christopher Judge from SG1, so that was just delicious icing on the cake.

Re: Poll: Vote for Your PS5 Game of the Month (March 2026)

PneumaPilot

Marathon all the way! I do believe that it's the best multiplayer game we've ever had. Would love for them to fully resurrect the IP and make the current game just one part of a larger whole. I don't want them to add single player content to current Marathon, but a single-player game in the same universe would complement it very nicely. And they could even do the old Blizzard thing where when you play one, you get rewards in the other, to really encourage folks to dive in with both feet.

Re: Following CEO's AI Doubts, Take-Two's AI Team Is Shrinking

PneumaPilot

Anyone who works with AI a lot knows that all of the boomer pipe dreams about what it will be able to do are just dumb. I like to think of it more akin to the next evolution of the word processor or Photoshop (depending on the use case) rather than some alien intelligence that will replace humans. It's just a more powerful tool than we've had before, and a lot of people jumped really far out to untenable conclusions that will never be reached. C-suite execs were some of the most easily deluded.

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for April 2026 Announced

PneumaPilot

I've bought Lords of the Fallen twice - once on Xbox and once on PlayStation. I have not been able to find a single ounce of fun in the thing. I suppose I just have to come to grips with the fact that I hate the very DNA of Soulslike games. I haven't been able to enjoy a single one of them - Darksouls Remaster, Sekiro, Elden Ring, and Lords of the Fallen are all zero fun to me and all feel ridiculously cheap. Wuchang Fallen Feathers was SLIGHTLY enjoyable, but ultimately couldn't interest me for long. I've only played about 10 minutes of Stellar Blade (three months ago when I bought it), but I'm afraid I will end up not liking it too.

Dang, I want to like these things - people obviously do - but I just can't force myself to have fun.

Re: Opinion: Does Starfield Suck? People Keep Telling Me to Skip Its PS5 Release

PneumaPilot

It "kind of" sucks. I was super positive about it when it first came out. I was really enjoying it for a few days, but I couldn't shake the feeling that a 'soul' or something was missing from the game. It didn't have that magic like Skyrim (despite actually having some "magic" like Skyrim ). After about a week or two, my interest just sort of petered out.

And this is coming from a guy who hundred-percented Assassin's Creed Valhalla and had 1200 hours in Morrowind. So take that as you may.

Re: Capcom's Promising New PS5 IP Pragmata Ready to Release

PneumaPilot

I enjoyed the demo, but the game didn't seem to be all that deep just from that look. Despite that, I'll probably preorder it the day before it comes out to be sure to get the preorder goodies. Capcom has been firing on all cylinders here lately, so it's probably going to be at least worth what they're asking for it.

Re: Starfield PS5 Needs a Serious Chunk of Your Console Storage

PneumaPilot

Have they fully outlined what the "gameplay improvements" are yet? I'd like to know how different/improved this is from when it first dropped. I liked it okay the first time around, but my interest just sort of fell off after about 20 hours or so. I WANT to like this game, but the magic just wasn't there like in Elder Scrolls games.

Re: Here's What a Jak & Daxter PS5 Remake Could've Looked Like

PneumaPilot

@AdamNovice I, for one, am glad that Guerilla moved on. I absolutely love the Horizon stuff. Didn't care a bit for the Killzone stuff. I also like what Sucker Punch are doing with the Ghost series, but I wouldn't mind a more mature return to the Infamous series. They could really deepen that lore and make it cool as hell in this or the next generation.

Re: Round Up: 'Already a GOTY Contender': 5 Things We Learned from Saros PS5 Previews

PneumaPilot

I only recently got into PS5 - bought myself a PS5 Pro for Christmas, ending a 20 year run as an Xbot. I installed Returnal on day one because it was free in the PlayStation Plus subscription. Didn't play it until a couple of months later. When I finally did, all other games became bland and boring by comparison - even God of War 2018, which had been dominating my time until then. Saros immediately went to the top of my wishlist. This game looks like the absolute SAUCE!

Re: This GTA-Inspired Anime Open World Deserves a Place on Your PS5, But Maybe Not Your Pre-Order

PneumaPilot

NTE had to pivot after the reveal of Ananta. Now they are both going for that "Anime GTA" vibe. I still think Ananta is going to be the king in this space, but NTE has shown some impressive stuff recently. I don't think Ananta is going full gacha for the main character experience, though, so it should come down to which business model you prefer most, since both are essentially aping each other in every other department at the moment.

Re: Crimson Desert Looks 'Rough' on Base PS5, Here's 25 Minutes of Direct Capture Footage

PneumaPilot

I'm going to be honest: it looks pretty rough on the PS5 Pro too. In fact, it made a HORRIBLE first impression on me last night. The "conversations" with NPCs feel like they come from some international port from the late 90s. The UI was made by amateurs. The controls are universally bad. And the game crashed my PS5 Pro about 20 minutes in when I looked at the map for the first time. I had to hard reboot the system. Color me crushed and not impressed.

Re: Review in Progress: Marathon (PS5) - Bungie's Extraction Shooter Is Brilliant, and It Only Gets Better

PneumaPilot

I absolutely love Marathon. I can't stop thinking about it. I watch videos about it while I'm working. I'm thinking of new strategies and making new plans with squadmates for when we get home from work. Absolutely stellar game, and the story is exactly my cup of tea. Going to watch Event Horizon with my older kids tonight (on Friday the 13th) just to celebrate.

Re: 'No One Is Buying This on PS5': PC Port Begging Already Unbearable as Sony Switches Strategy

PneumaPilot

Clearly Sony is making the right decision here. Keep your exclusives exclusive. If you make enough super-killer games for your platform, then real gamers would be stupid not to buy in. I finally joined the Sony Ponies after two decades of being an Xbot, and it was because I wanted all those sweet games. And now that I'm here, I'm loving every square inch. Returnal is phenomenal, and I'll be picking up Saros day one!

Re: Arknights: Endfield (PS5) - Automation Turns Busywork into Bliss

PneumaPilot

This game is so redundant after playing Genshin, ZZZ, and Wuthering Waves. Honestly, it's hard to see where one ends and another begins. I've been looking forward to this game for over and year, and almost the second I started playing it I started feeling guilty for immediately wanting to uninstall it. Sorry, Endfield, I've just done this WAY too much already.