PossibLeigh

@Bingbongboyo Yep. I'm no expert, but it seems to be a bubble thing. A few people are pushing the market, speculating and trading amongst themselves and raising prices. People with too much money, basically. It will either burst and fade away, or it will gain more mainstream attraction through some as yet unknown (and more reasonably priced) application of the idea. As it stands at the moment, it's a ridiculous thing that also has an environmental impact. But if we're all living in virtual worlds in a few decades, a la Ready, Player 1, it could become huge. I'm still reeling over the concept of the first ever tweet selling for ridiculous money. Oh, and despairing for humanity. I'm doing that a lot too.

@kingbreww When did that happen?

@Dan_ozzzy189 "more smooth" made me cringe inside!

It's an accessibility issue, no doubt.

I've scanned the comments and am quite surprised no one's come up with this simple solution. Upon booting up a new save games need to ask the players level of experience and then tailor tutorials to that level, or turn them off entirely.

Simple solution, but getting it implemented industry wide would be an uphill struggle.

@LiamCroft Thanks for the extra info, Liam. Hopefully this assuages the worries of those concerned about a sequal.

@Col_McCafferty But how about just enjoying this game on its own? I'm sure if the ending noticeably set things up for a sequal, Liam would have mentioned it. There has certainly been enough people on here moaning about the possibility for it to have registered with him as a concern.

The robosaurs in Horizon always remind me of Zoids. The old, original ones, not the newer incarnations. Man, I loved those toys!

Glad to hear they are leaning into the dismemberment angle. If I recall the emphasis on its use in the original lessened as the game went on. Sounds great and looks just like I remember it.

@Grimwood Are you sure about that? I think it reviewed well at the time and I personally thought it was brilliant. Loved it. I know what you mean about history being warped, but I'm not sure this is one of those instances.

Been alright, cheers chap. Not been playing much. In fact, I've just sold my PS5 to make ends meet until I start my dream job working in a supermarket! 🤣 Also means I've got no gamepad, so haven't really been able to check out Void Bastards yet (FPS on a laptop trackpad? No thanks!). I have been playing Star Renegades though. I like it, but have hit a frustrating wall with the second worlds boss. Gonna try it again tonight, but I can see the games gonna get more complex with stat afflictions and it may just be too much for me! 😂 Hope you're good!

Looks a bit floaty, Which I didn't notice in previous trailers. Would have been nice to see the AI fight back a bit more, but understandable they wanna focus on the playable characters moves.

@Spiders Hey, man. I've just jumped back onto this old thread to let you know that roguelike FPS Void Bastards is free on Epic Games store this week. I've not tried it yet, but have heard good things about it. Apologies if you know this already!

I do not like those gerenal walking animations. Who walks with their arms totally locked out ? Especially if one is meant to be ready to throw a punch at any moment!

@Squanch But why would a unkonwn developer, with very little development history and no success, be given a highly anticipated franchise? They wouldn't. More likely is Blue Box trading on Silent Hill imagery to keep the hype train rolling. In one way I respect that high level trolling. It's a fine line to walk and if they fall the wrong side into being too blatent Konami will crucify them. On the other hand, trolling is trolling. It's bad, m'kay?

From an outsiders perspective, who doesn't really care either way, the situation, and the attendant reactions, are quite hilarious.

Sony currently have no news to share, so this will keep the fires warm for a while.

Though, as someone else suggested, whilst there is no real news out there, it would be great to see articles / interviews about / with smaller game studios on PuSq. I've no idea how easy or otherwise such things would be to do though.

So it's all an investor con and someone at Sony royally screwed up by giving them publicity. Will be fun hearing their next excuse for the trailer no show!

Such a shame as I'm really digging it's style.

@zupertramp Oooh, haha, sorry bud! A fine joke ruined by my eagerness to be a know-it-all! Per cent looks wrong to me too though. Language! Thanks for being chill about it.

I'm good, dude, thanks. Yeah, I had a feeling you might appreciate that drumming! 😃

@zupertramp I reckon it is as the point of it is to make us aware the grammar error is part of the original tweet, not the article writers error (talking about sic, not per cent, which I actually think should be percent as per cent implies per a 100th of a dollar).

@RubyCarbuncle Having now read the community rules myself, it may have been the multitude of emojis that did it.

@Kidfried There's a slightly more in depth review on thesixthaxis.com.

Edit: I feel it's okay to suggest what is technically a competitor as the sixth axis doesn't seem to have, or want a community, so no one's gonna chose it over PS, but if it's a problem just let me know.

@Spiders Star Renegades looks really good! Not sure how I missed that one. Thanks for letting me know. I've wishlisted it for when I have more money.

@Spiders wow, that was a really great think piece that makes a lot of sense to me! Especially the part about transferring meaning. Hats off, sir.

Yes, whatever the original point was between MJF and I have been lost and obscured by lots of 'but you said' on both sides, hence me loosing track. The sad part being he and I probably have a lot more in common musically than we don't, if we'd only been able to bridge the divide.

Anyway, I've realised there is an ignore option and used it. I feel much happier now!

@Spiders ah, actually not sure about that. I'm playing on my laptop as my gaming PC is stuck in China with a lot of my possessions and my girlfriend! 🤣 Bloody pandemic! The bulk of the game is turn based tactics and I find they always play best with a mouse (or mousepad in my case). But at least Steam has a two hour refund policy! Kinda wish Sony would follow suit.

@Ninjadeath2023 yeah, I beat Hades twice and then kind lost interest. The vauted story telling pretty much amounts to characters giving the same comments again after a while.

Don't get me wrong, it is a good game, just not the classic everyone else thinks. I have had the same reaction to other Supergiant games though (Bastion and Transistor) so maybe I'm the problem! 🤣

Glad to hear I'm not alone regarding Hades though!

@mrtennis1990 A silver lining! Good job on staying positive there.

This weekend I won't be playing much as I'll mainly be focusing on painting, but when I do play I'll be getting on with Death Stranding. Late to the party, I know, but I'm slightly addicted to setting up zip-line networks!

I'm looking forward to that Hades review as I've played it on PC and didn't love it as much as everyone else seems to, so am interested in PS's opinion.

@Jayofmaya 😂 My rightous sense of keyboard warrior justice keeps dragging me back in!

Check out the songs 'The Season' and 'Winter'. The album Visiter is really good, but then, for some unknown reason, they added a xylophone player (previously a two-piece). Nothing against xylophone as an instrument, but on every song it gets a little tired!

I didn't know that about the bassist and one of the singers of C.M.! That's very, very cool. Especially the Gorillaz connection.

Haha, I've just checked out the meaning! 'Crazy food'! I'm kinda glad they expanded out from that initial remit!

@MJF manufactured pop ends up in the mainstream. That's what it aims for, that's where it ends up. It is its entire reason to exist. But is it the whole of the mainstream? Of course not.

You're operating under a misunderstanding that my use of 'manufactured = mainstream' meant that's all I think the mainstream is. Which I did not intend, otherwise I would have said Mainstream = manufactured pop. I'm aware that the mainstream is many things, but you can't deny that all music created for the express purpose of making money, rather than a combined desire to make money and be artistically creative, aims for the mainstream, because that's where the most money is. The lowest common denominator.

Basically, I celebrate individuality and expression, you champion generic and cynically produced music. Cool. You go do you. And, again, I'm not saying that doesn't have value (it's normal for peopel to travel through the mainstream before they look harder and find something that appeals to them on a more personal level. It's generally part of most people's musical journey, some people get stuck there and that's their choice).

You've ascribed a duality of thought to me (everything is either this or that with no in between) I never intended to present. I used 'manufactured = mainstream' as a short hand that I thought easy to understand by anyone who was actually engaging in debate (as I believed you were). Others seemed to understand it, but you've just used it as a vehicle for petty, pedantic commentary that adds nothing to any ongoing conversation.

You are intentionally getting hung up (or not, I suspect you don't actually care and this is you're idea of fun) on a facet of a wider opinion whilst ignoring other points. Probably for the purposes of winding me up. It's a horrible way to behave and I suspect you wouldn't dream of behaving in such a way in the real world.

And before you say it, yes, there can be creativity in the mainstream, but it's usually from background staff; the actual song writers and producers, who don't need their names up in lights. Any genre of music can fall under this extended meaning of the word 'manufactured', which is why I used the word standing alone in that context, rather than singling out a genre, such as pop.

So you now say you do know the meaning of the term manufactured pop! Which makes your earlier protestations of it's use as a term look rather silly.

It really didn't have to be this way. I think (but could be wrong) it was you saying you are an 'old head' citing Dylan and others in a previous comment? If so, then we probably have more in common taste wise than you'd care to admit, but rather than find some middle ground, you take an adversarial stance over something so petty.

You believe I'm wrong, I made clear what I believe about you already. Let's, for the sake of the poor moderators, just leave it at that, eh? I'm never gonna change your mind, you're never gonna change mine.

If you continue, you're just confirming your intentions to inflame, rather than discuss. It's the weekend, the weather's nice (where I am, anyway). Let's call a truce here and walk away. (It's actually a bit embarrassing to look back and see how much energy we've both wasted on this)

@Spiders Star Renegades sounds interesting, I'll check that out, thanks!

Yeah, I went from Returnal to Curse... Some adjustment was necessary! 😂

Returnal is a good game, even if it could do with some more variety in it's guns. It is a great game for getting in the zone though and the boss fights get the blood pumping fantastically. I'm glad to see it's giving the genre more exposure, along with the likes of Hades. Unfortunately, I got too annoyed with loosing progress due to bugs and crashes, so sold it before it's second hand value dipped. The curse of the early adopter!

I don't know if fantasy themed games are your bag or not, but Wildermyth on PC is pretty good. I was really enjoying it, but have hit a bit of a difficulty spike on one of the harder difficulties. It's pretty inventively structured, even if nothing it does is totally original, apart maybe from the way magic is handled as infusions into objects, which can then be exploded or otherwise manipluated to ruin the bad guys days. It adds another layer to the tactical turn based battles.

That's really impressive! I wonder what the thermals are like...

@MJF You are being willfully pedantic. Of course everything non natural is maufactured. The meaning of my statement was clear to others. The use of the term 'manufactured' to mean cynical, packaged pop meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator has been widly used for decades.

It's strange how someone so au fait with the music industry as yourself seems unaware of this.

@get2sammyb You're on to a looser there, Sammy, but good effort all the same! 🤣

@Spiders For me I think the thrill of the arcade was a sensory one; the sounds, lights and smells were intoxicating (okay, maybe not the smells!). I remember when arcade games began evolving with added accessories. Afterburner and Outrun. Operation Wolf was a favourite from that era.

Since it's become a mostly home based hobby I've graviated away from arcade like experiences to focus more on narrative and overall style (Okami being one of my favourite games ever).

I think you've mentioned something interesting about roguelikes there that I've not considered before. They definitely have that 'one more go' feel the best arcade games had. I love the variety on a theme the best examples provide. Recently I've been playing Curse of the Dead Gods on PS, which is a pretty good one. The hardest thing in that game is not overcommitting your stamina reserves and leaving oneself short. Are you a lucky PS5 owner and if so did you try Returnal? I'd like to know your thoughts on it. Oh, and I freely admit to getting a bit lost over the difference between a roguelike and a roguelite, so forgive me if I make that particular faux pas.

You've mentioned three games I've not played (I only actually know of Downfall from those three), which just shows how broad the industry is now. So I'll be looking those up later, thanks!

Overall, I think I'm glad that games have expanded their scope, but there's definitely a place for good old fashioned old school arcade games.

I've a fondness for twin stick shooters too (Smash TV!), so I'm tempted by The Ascent, but don't really wanna get into a loot grind (one of the less appealing aspects of modern games).

@Jayofmaya Ah, fair enough, chap. We differ there. I quite like a monotone running in the background. Reminds me of a French artist called Camille (kinda hip hoppy) who did a whole album with one same monotone running on the background of each song. I'm guessing you'd hate that, but I thought it was quite clever. Due to listening to everything on random, I didn't actually realize until a friend pointed it out!

If you haven't already, it's worth checking out some more Cibo Matto. Most of their stuffs a bit more hip hop orientated than that one tune.

Totally different and a bit random, but it just popped into my head, are you familiar with the Canadian band, The Dodos?

@MJF Kids! You're getting arrogant their, friend.

@Jayofmaya Oh wow! That must have been a good gig! Would love to see them live!

@MJF I agree! Pop is a favourite genre of mine - indie pop, scandi-pop etc... Great riffs and hooks with catchy lyrics distilled into 3 or so minutes. What's not to love? It's manufactured pop I don't care for.

@Spiders Big indie fan here, too. It's where most of the innovation lies these days.

@Spiders oh, man reaches for rose tinted specs that Star Wars arcade game was epic! I do lament the downfall of arcades a bit, but my sofa is so much more comfortable!

@rjejr hah, yep, I somehow missed that! Cheers, chap!

A lot of it sounds like post game content, but I can totally understand you being reluctant to go through the whole thing again to get those 'extended storylines' - unless they are also post game content. Like little epilogues for the characters, maybe. I've not made it to the end yet, so I don't know what happens.

@Spiders Haha, sorry chap. I'm not used to being asked my opinion! I think it went to my head and resulted in that very long stream of consciousness! 😅

@Jayofmaya well, you sound very eclectic, mate, so there's probably not much I know that you're not already familiar with! How are you with Baltic rock? Gogol Bordello are pretty special.

My tastes vary but tend to gravitate towards folk, indie, jazz, bluegrass, a bit of world, a fair bit of scandi pop, some French stuff, some Asian... Oh, do you know Cibo Matto? Moon child isn't very typical of them, technically it's R&B (though not real R&B, but what passes for it these days) which isn't a genre I like, but this song, man. Gets me in the feels every time.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3y3C6jAmC2w

@zupertramp Yeah big fan of slow and sad myself. Some people say music like that is miserable, I think it's beautiful.

I'm guessing from the hours that you post that you're in America? Have you heard a British band called Tindersticks? They are very, very English so might not tickle your fancy, but at their best they are supremely atmospheric. Some of their songs perfectly conjour the atmosphere of a rainy London Sunday. Another Night In is a good example and The Hungry Saw is good if you want something a bit more up tempo. Only a bit, mind.