@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah but how many of those accounts have a single game attached to them because they were created specifically for the purpose of selling a CD key?
I think my son has about seven Steam accounts. I have 2. I inadvertently bought Subnautica from G2A and it was a fresh account rather than a key.
@MathiasBS I'm well aware of the circle of revenge and I reference it in my post when I specifically state it's a hollow message against a backdrop of both Ellie and Abby killing hundreds of people.
I just felt Abby's side of the story, culminating in us having to fight with Ellie, was heavy handed and pretentious.
The problem with The Last of Us Part II is that Naughty Dog tried to present the idea that Joel killing Abby's father, Abby killing Joel, and Ellie hunting Abby are seen as morally equivalent. They are not.
Joel killed Abby’s father in the heat of the moment while trying to save Ellie, the girl he had come to see as his daughter. Ellie went after Abby immediately after witnessing Joel’s brutal murder. Abby, on the other hand, spent five years planning Joel’s torture and execution. These events are not comparable, and shame on Neil Druckmann for pretending they are.
And that's ultimately where the game falls flat. Trying to make us like a person who is fundamentally unlikable just doesn't work. Nor does trying to forge a narrative that revenge is bad whilst having us mow down 100s of people just trying to survive.
The mechanics were fantastic. The graphics were brilliant. Technically it's a masterpiece but, from a storytelling perspective, it's amateurish. Druckmann really struggles without Hennig.
My wife and I bought a PS4 pro the moment they came out. We just moved our older PS4 up into the spare room. It was a no brainer at the time. We just used the PS4 so much.
I was astounded to find out I've had my PS5 for nearly five years recently. Again we bought it very early, as soon as we could get hold of one, but in five years I don't think we've had the opportunity to use it anywhere near as much. It's just not been supported with quality games and those games that do exist have almost always been tuned downwards to support previous gen machines. My 5-year-old PlayStation 5 and my 5-year-old PC a perfectly capable of running the games I want to play.
And I'm not specifically blaming Sony -.we don't even consider an Xbox anymore.
Realistically games developers haven't done enough this generation to make me want to invest further. I may feel different when GTA 6 is released.
There's a lot going on here that people are missing.
Much of the negativity directed at Outlaws wasn't about the game itself but what many perceived as predatory pricing structures. Ubisoft mishandled this aspect, earning significant backlash as a result. This might have been a deliberate strategy to push players toward Ubisoft’s subscription service, and it worked—there was a noticeable spike in Ubisoft+ subscriptions at the time of Outlaws’ release. However, these subscriptions aren't counted as game sales, which distorts the picture. Meanwhile, Jedi: Survivor spent much of the year on deep discounts that allowed it to capture sales from a larger pool of potential buyers still waiting for the right price.
Like it or not, Outlaws experienced a huge amount of review bombing even before its release. A lot of misinformation circulated, often spread by individuals who admitted they hadn’t even played the game. Much of this noise centred on criticisms of "wokeness" and DEI themes that simply weren’t there. I saw two main themes in the reviews - people either praising the game for its atmosphere and open-world design or criticising it with superficial complaints—like Kay’s appearance or breast size. For that reason, I find the aggregated user scores unreliable.
The criticism about bugs was also overblown. Yes, the AI in the open world wasn’t good, and the speeder could occasionally glitch when colliding with environmental geometry, issues which have now been resolved. Beyond that, the game ran well and delivered a fantastic story. Kay was a compelling, well-rounded character whose development throughout the narrative was a highlight. Complaints about stealth mechanics being too challenging were silly and I'm disappointed the developers bowed to pressure and changed the instant fail mechanic.
We also need to consider that Disney’s mishandling of the Star Wars franchise is diminishing its appeal rather than enhancing it.
Was Outlaws an excellent game? That’s subjective, but in my opinion, yes. It had flaws, and technically Jedi: Survivor was the more polished game. However, I found Survivor overstayed its welcome - something many recent games are guilty of. Searching for collectibles just isn't good content. In contrast, Outlaws left me wanting more while still feeling satisfied with the experience. The atmosphere in Outlaws was, without question, far superior to Survivor.
It’s a shame that Outlaws performed as poorly as it did. While Ubisoft might be reaping what they sowed, the developers, who clearly poured effort into creating a deeply Star Wars-inspired experience, didn’t deserve the negative reception. Given Ubisoft’s tendency to discount their games not long after release, maybe next year we’ll be discussing how Outlaws outsold the new releases of 2025.
I don't believe this for a second. This is either a flat out lie or manipulated figures to justify getting rid of physical games completely.
Easily done too. Just count every interaction with the digital store. I get a "Thank you for your purchase" email every time I download the monthly games on PS+
@nekrowizard There are several films coming out this year based on books.
You OK with me sending you a private message explaining the ending to you? I mean, some of these books have been around a long time so it's fair game right?
@Mortal Tomb Raider Remastered released this week. In every way it's what you've talked about. It's been received well but it's only going to cater to die hard fans of the originals. Most players won't touch it with a bargepole.
And here we have Square releasing something which looks amazing in a way that, having played the original, I'm really excited to see. And people are concentrating much more on the 4K at 60fps.
Honestly, I played the demo on performance and didn't even notice any issue. I was just so excited to see Nibelheim once again.
@theSpectre Nor do I and anybody who posts spoilers like this gets an instant block and a "Do not recommend channel".
However, there are some YouTubers out there who are going to put this in a thumbnail with a video title that will be very clear on the outcome. My issue is that my existing commitments mean that a game with 50 hours of content will take me several months to complete. That's a long time to say unspoiled.
The Youtubers who are absolutely going to be releasing videos on the 2nd March with the title "Why Aerith had to die in Rebirth" or "How will Aerith's story unfold in Final Fantasy 7 Remake's third installment?"
@SirRealDeal No, but I'm 46 and watched those films years go. If they were re-releasing Rocky for a new generation and it was just about to come out at the cinemas, you absolutley could have done.
I think some of you need to realise that the fact that the original game is 25 years old doesn't mean it can't be spoiled. It just means that there's a whole new generation of gamers who haven't played the original.
@dark_knightmare2 Search the phrase "Baldurs Gate Act 3", read a little and then come back here and tell me it's a conspiracy theory.
Even ignoring performance issues, the game is a shambles in Act 3. Not only is it riddled with bugs, it's just flat out disappointing compared to Act 1.
Curious whether they actually progressed beyond Act 1 before releasing this review and giving this score because anyone getting past the area which was extensively tested in Early Acces are finding it's disappointing at best, unplayable at worst.
"Item drops have been slowed, as drops from Elites were nerfed."
I don't mind loot being slowed. The bigger issue is that there are too many drops and not enough quality. The result was that the game was in danger of becoming Diablo IV: Loot Management Edition.
"The best Helltide chests were nerfed, making loot chasing harder."
The fact that almost every guide said "Don't bother with anything except the mysterious chest" shows there was an issue.
"Cinders in Helltides were nerfed, making loot chase worse."
They changed the drops from certain mobs and increased the drops from items. If anything, I think it felt a bit quicker last night. I was getting 3 or 4 cinders from each Tortured Soul.
"They gated World Tiers (but reverting this), so you couldn't get XP to progress as quickly fighting higher level foes."
No. They gated world tiers to prevent people from being power levelled whilst they waited at the dungeon door. It was reverted because it was affecting genuine players pushing the envelope. If they put this back in with the capstones requiring levels 35 and 58 respectively, this won't affect anyone doing the dungeon legitimately.
"The net effect is slowing down gameplay. You take longer to engage lower-level enemies, get less XP for doing so, and get killed more easily while doing it, costing you time and resources to fix your gear and complete your objective".
The game was not challenging at all. The highest-level content was almost trivial with a decent build. They're trying to add some challenge. Yes, that means you may need to slow down a bit instead of deleting an instance.
"Heck, they made it take 66% longer to exit a dungeon! Why??"
A fix for hardcore players noping out of encounters they were struggling with. It's just to put more reliance on the scroll and death potions. It might be a sledgehammer to crack a nut but it doesn't affect the majority of players.
"Those are all universal truths."
Errr......
"My 86 melee rogue went from crushing Nightmare Dungeons and enemies +5-6 levels, to struggling to complete when the enemies were at my level."
Herein lies the problem at the crux of everything in your post. It's a Nightmare Dungeon. They're supposed to be a challenge. The fact that you were previously crushing a dungeon 5 levels higher than you is exactly the reason they've made these changes. I think you need to make peace with that.
I don't normally bother trying to defend game developers but Jeez, there are some OTT statements in here. The problem here is almost entirely the community.
Diablo 4 has been out for about 6 weeks. It had a reasonably OK campaign and, for the most part, it's been relatively stable. There have been issues but many of the people complaining the game is broken or simply not fun are the same people who have hundreds of hours invested.
They're making comparisons to an 11-year-old game which has had hundreds of balance passes and dozens of content updates and that really isn't fair.
Is it perfect? No. Is it a good game? Yes. It is. Is it better than D3 was at launch? Absolutely. Let's keep some perspective.
There are lots of people complaining that this patch destroyed the game and yet there are many others getting on and enjoying it.
Balance is difficult and it's naive to think that you should only balance by buffing weaker classes. You fix the outliers. As a result, sometimes nerfs are necessary. Many of the nerfs that went in on Tuesday are the removal of bugs and unintended interactions within builds and you cannot build a computer game around defects so, upsetting to some as it may be, those bugs must be squashed before real balancing begins.
Let's not forget this is standard Blizzard operating procedure. Nerf first, balance upwards later. In the meantime, chill.
@grapetrap Demons Souls was a 12 year old game when it was re-released and is a fundamentally different game. It looks hugely different and plays substantially differently from the original. The original was also quite buggy and the remake fixes thus.
More than 20 years passed between Final Fantasy 7 and it's Remake. It isnt just a different game, it's a different genre. The story is substantially different, it's fully voiced, its barely recognisable.
TLoU P1 plays the same. The assets don't look hugely different. The story, motion capture, voicing....all the same. It's a graphical upgrade for a game that was only release 9 years ago, and already has a remaster.
So, if you want to know why people are reacting differently, it's because it's been treated differently.
I wonder if this is a big miss-step from Naughty Dog and Sony. Multiple polls show the vast majority of players aren't interested in buying it.
We all accept it looks great, but we're just not putting our hands in our pockets so it will be really interesting to see where it lands on the sales chart.
I get the feeling they've spent a lot of time on this but that it might end up costing them.
My concern is that I'm not sure where I fall on this one - I do want companies to learn from their hubris but I also love ND games.
Let's be real here, nobody is cancelling their sub. You buy PS+ for the online multiplayer, not the "free games". And if you are paying just for the monthly games, you're a dope anyway.
The truth is, if it wasn't for the online component, the amount of people paying for PS+ would be a tiny fraction of what they're getting now.
That said, this has just gone from "Ooh, I might give that a try. Cool" to "Yeah, probably not going to add that to my library. *****"
These companies need to understand that, sometimes, these free games come across as insulting and, at that point, it's better just to give away something much smaller. This is one of those times. Own goal here.
@kingbreww I was the first person in my group of friends to buy it. I beat the first boss but struggled after that. I recommended it to one of my friends and suggested the other three leave it alone.
Later my friend took my advice and bought it. He's struggling but he likes things like Dark Souls. Word of mouth is a hell of a thing. Word got out that it's hard.
I buy all my games physically. They're cheaper when they're new, they're much cheaper when they're older, I can buy copies that have been traded in which are cheaper still and I can trade them in myself to recover costs. They install quicker, I'll always have them even if the server's went offline tomorrow. Most of them get delivered the day before release.
The only upside to buying digitally is that you can don't have to swap the discs out.
There also seem to be people arguing that costs have to go up to support the cost of making high quality games. So answer me this, why are they cheaper on Xbox? Why are they even cheaper still on PC? Is the PlayStation that much harder to develop for?
I love my PlayStation exclusives - I haven't owned an Xbox since the 360 - but I won't pay £70 for them and, fortunately, I don't have to. I'm patient enough to wait till they fall to a reasonable price.
The answer is simple. Stop buying them till they fall in price. To those of you that didn't see this coming and bought a digital only version of the PS5...sell it now and get a disc version. You will recoup your costs if you act quickly.
The fact this patch contains so little is amazing. It's actually one of those things where you have to question if it's even a good idea to release it.
If this launched in 2022 and there were other, next gen only, games available, we wouldn't be talking about it.
It only stands out from the competition because there is none
It's a good looking game but it's level design is basic. There's very little in the way of story and most of that is delivered, cheaply, through audio logs akin to any low budget indie. There's a smattering of weapons, some almost useless, and it has a lot of bugs. It's also really inaccessible for 80% of its players due to difficulty and the amount of time needed to finish later runs.
It asks a AAA price (and then some) but it's not a AAA game.
I can't see this being anything other than a disaster.
Films based on video games are, nearly always, terrible. This always felt like miscasting - designed to add in a popular actor rather than bringing in a solid actor who fit the role.
Abandoning the last gen versions would be suicidal.
They offered refunds but asked everyone to hold on to it because they were going to fix it. To not follow through with that would kill their reputation once and for all.
@LemonHaze That's a very limited point of view. A lot of people are using PC monitors because it provides a cleaner experience than a TV. 1440p is not a standard in PC gaming but it's certainly getting there. There is no reason for Sony not to implement this.
As for saving money, you're forgetting that a lot of people just want to have one display for both PC and PS5. Moving to a 4k monitor isn't cheap. There's the cost of the monitor and, for many, a new graphics card. Alternatively they can force their shiny new console to downgrade itself to 1080p and upscale it through the monitor to 1440p.
You could be looking at quadrupling the price of the PS5 because Sony overlooked something silly.
PS Plus needs to consider several factors when pushing out monthly games.
How old is it? People tend not to want something that is so old that it's technology isn't very good. Age also leads into the next consideration. How many people already own it? The older a game is, or the more popular it was at release, the higher likelihood that people already have played it. God of War was an excellent game from last year but, if they released it this month, it would mean nothing to me. Already own it. How good is it? A triple-A title that got really bad reviews isn't going to garner much favour. What is the cost to buy it? PS Plus recently had a price hike. If the free game is on sale at £4 regularly then, again, it can be underwhelming.
Where PS Plus used to really shine was finishing that sweet spot. Games from 2 years ago which reviewed well but we're overlooked, is exactly what you want to be offering. Sadly, it doesn't look like they've had many successes recently.
All of this information about who played what, what it costs, how it reviewed etc is available to Sony. Why aren't they using it?
The price went up, the number of games went down and the quality isn't really hitting it for me. I personally haven't had a PS plus game I'd play in months.
Comments 45
Re: 'Everyone Focuses on Steam Concurrents, But PS5 Is by Far Our Biggest Community': Test Drive Unlimited Dev Hits Back
@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah but how many of those accounts have a single game attached to them because they were created specifically for the purpose of selling a CD key?
I think my son has about seven Steam accounts. I have 2. I inadvertently bought Subnautica from G2A and it was a fresh account rather than a key.
Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About The Last of Us Part 2, 5 Years Later?
@MathiasBS I'm well aware of the circle of revenge and I reference it in my post when I specifically state it's a hollow message against a backdrop of both Ellie and Abby killing hundreds of people.
I just felt Abby's side of the story, culminating in us having to fight with Ellie, was heavy handed and pretentious.
Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About The Last of Us Part 2, 5 Years Later?
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Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About The Last of Us Part 2, 5 Years Later?
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Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About The Last of Us Part 2, 5 Years Later?
The problem with The Last of Us Part II is that Naughty Dog tried to present the idea that Joel killing Abby's father, Abby killing Joel, and Ellie hunting Abby are seen as morally equivalent. They are not.
Joel killed Abby’s father in the heat of the moment while trying to save Ellie, the girl he had come to see as his daughter. Ellie went after Abby immediately after witnessing Joel’s brutal murder. Abby, on the other hand, spent five years planning Joel’s torture and execution. These events are not comparable, and shame on Neil Druckmann for pretending they are.
And that's ultimately where the game falls flat. Trying to make us like a person who is fundamentally unlikable just doesn't work. Nor does trying to forge a narrative that revenge is bad whilst having us mow down 100s of people just trying to survive.
The mechanics were fantastic. The graphics were brilliant. Technically it's a masterpiece but, from a storytelling perspective, it's amateurish. Druckmann really struggles without Hennig.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think of the PS5 Pro, Six Months Later?
@neillaw And.....what word would that be? I'm sorry but your comments don't make sense.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think of the PS5 Pro, Six Months Later?
@neillaw "For people who "wait" for PS6, why not wait for 7, 8, 9...?
Whole concept seems like a cope"
Huge false equivalence. Not having a PS5 Pro doesn't prevent me from playing PS5 games.
Not having a PS6, PS7 or PS8 will prevent me playing games released for those platforms.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think of the PS5 Pro, Six Months Later?
My wife and I bought a PS4 pro the moment they came out. We just moved our older PS4 up into the spare room. It was a no brainer at the time. We just used the PS4 so much.
I was astounded to find out I've had my PS5 for nearly five years recently. Again we bought it very early, as soon as we could get hold of one, but in five years I don't think we've had the opportunity to use it anywhere near as much. It's just not been supported with quality games and those games that do exist have almost always been tuned downwards to support previous gen machines. My 5-year-old PlayStation 5 and my 5-year-old PC a perfectly capable of running the games I want to play.
And I'm not specifically blaming Sony -.we don't even consider an Xbox anymore.
Realistically games developers haven't done enough this generation to make me want to invest further. I may feel different when GTA 6 is released.
Re: The Last of Us Complete Out Today at $99.99 on PS5, Physical Collector's Edition Drops in July
Neil Druckman trying to release The Last of Us more than George Lucas released Star Wars.
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Devs 'Actively Looking' at Adding Harder Difficulty Mode
Some may remember that Unisoft faced criticism that Star Wars Outlaws was too tough and forced stealth elements were bad.
Now they're facing criticism in Shadows for making it too easy and pushing people away from the stealth mechanics.
People are just going to criticise anything and everything.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for March 2025?
A lot of people said they wouldn't play Veilguard even if they were giving it away.
Bioware just said "Hold my beer!"
Re: 2023's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Outsold Ubisoft's Outlaws in 2024
There's a lot going on here that people are missing.
Much of the negativity directed at Outlaws wasn't about the game itself but what many perceived as predatory pricing structures. Ubisoft mishandled this aspect, earning significant backlash as a result. This might have been a deliberate strategy to push players toward Ubisoft’s subscription service, and it worked—there was a noticeable spike in Ubisoft+ subscriptions at the time of Outlaws’ release. However, these subscriptions aren't counted as game sales, which distorts the picture. Meanwhile, Jedi: Survivor spent much of the year on deep discounts that allowed it to capture sales from a larger pool of potential buyers still waiting for the right price.
Like it or not, Outlaws experienced a huge amount of review bombing even before its release. A lot of misinformation circulated, often spread by individuals who admitted they hadn’t even played the game. Much of this noise centred on criticisms of "wokeness" and DEI themes that simply weren’t there. I saw two main themes in the reviews - people either praising the game for its atmosphere and open-world design or criticising it with superficial complaints—like Kay’s appearance or breast size. For that reason, I find the aggregated user scores unreliable.
The criticism about bugs was also overblown. Yes, the AI in the open world wasn’t good, and the speeder could occasionally glitch when colliding with environmental geometry, issues which have now been resolved. Beyond that, the game ran well and delivered a fantastic story. Kay was a compelling, well-rounded character whose development throughout the narrative was a highlight. Complaints about stealth mechanics being too challenging were silly and I'm disappointed the developers bowed to pressure and changed the instant fail mechanic.
We also need to consider that Disney’s mishandling of the Star Wars franchise is diminishing its appeal rather than enhancing it.
Was Outlaws an excellent game? That’s subjective, but in my opinion, yes. It had flaws, and technically Jedi: Survivor was the more polished game. However, I found Survivor overstayed its welcome - something many recent games are guilty of. Searching for collectibles just isn't good content. In contrast, Outlaws left me wanting more while still feeling satisfied with the experience. The atmosphere in Outlaws was, without question, far superior to Survivor.
It’s a shame that Outlaws performed as poorly as it did. While Ubisoft might be reaping what they sowed, the developers, who clearly poured effort into creating a deeply Star Wars-inspired experience, didn’t deserve the negative reception. Given Ubisoft’s tendency to discount their games not long after release, maybe next year we’ll be discussing how Outlaws outsold the new releases of 2025.
Re: Like It or Not, This Is Why PS5 Pro Doesn't Have a Disc Drive
I don't believe this for a second. This is either a flat out lie or manipulated figures to justify getting rid of physical games completely.
Easily done too. Just count every interaction with the digital store. I get a "Thank you for your purchase" email every time I download the monthly games on PS+
Then count the DLC purchases......
Easily done.
Re: Helldivers Turn on Arrowhead Following Undemocratic Firing of Community Manager
Which one was it that called players "toddlers" after the recent nerfs?
You shouldn't be a Community Manager if you can't deal with complaints professionally, no matter how unfair those complaints are.
Re: Random: New York Times Posts Decades-Old Final Fantasy 7 Spoilers on Front Page
@nekrowizard There are several films coming out this year based on books.
You OK with me sending you a private message explaining the ending to you? I mean, some of these books have been around a long time so it's fair game right?
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PS5 Demo Patch Available Now
@Mortal Tomb Raider Remastered released this week. In every way it's what you've talked about. It's been received well but it's only going to cater to die hard fans of the originals. Most players won't touch it with a bargepole.
And here we have Square releasing something which looks amazing in a way that, having played the original, I'm really excited to see. And people are concentrating much more on the 4K at 60fps.
Honestly, I played the demo on performance and didn't even notice any issue. I was just so excited to see Nibelheim once again.
Re: Random: New York Times Posts Decades-Old Final Fantasy 7 Spoilers on Front Page
@theSpectre Nor do I and anybody who posts spoilers like this gets an instant block and a "Do not recommend channel".
However, there are some YouTubers out there who are going to put this in a thumbnail with a video title that will be very clear on the outcome. My issue is that my existing commitments mean that a game with 50 hours of content will take me several months to complete. That's a long time to say unspoiled.
Re: Random: New York Times Posts Decades-Old Final Fantasy 7 Spoilers on Front Page
You know what I'm really worried about?
The Youtubers who are absolutely going to be releasing videos on the 2nd March with the title "Why Aerith had to die in Rebirth" or "How will Aerith's story unfold in Final Fantasy 7 Remake's third installment?"
Re: Random: New York Times Posts Decades-Old Final Fantasy 7 Spoilers on Front Page
@SirRealDeal No, but I'm 46 and watched those films years go. If they were re-releasing Rocky for a new generation and it was just about to come out at the cinemas, you absolutley could have done.
Re: Random: New York Times Posts Decades-Old Final Fantasy 7 Spoilers on Front Page
I think some of you need to realise that the fact that the original game is 25 years old doesn't mean it can't be spoiled. It just means that there's a whole new generation of gamers who haven't played the original.
This is bad etiquette.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Tracks How Much Your Crush Hearts You on PS5
In the original release, the only way to take Tifa on the date was to be an ass to Aeris at every possible opportunity .
Hopefully, now Tifa will feel secure enough around us that we don't need to be obnoxious to Aerith.
Typically, I've always found that women don't like it when a man is horrible to another woman in front of them.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 (PS5) - One of the Greatest RPGs of Our Time
@dark_knightmare2 Search the phrase "Baldurs Gate Act 3", read a little and then come back here and tell me it's a conspiracy theory.
Even ignoring performance issues, the game is a shambles in Act 3. Not only is it riddled with bugs, it's just flat out disappointing compared to Act 1.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 (PS5) - One of the Greatest RPGs of Our Time
@lindos I'd really like to see what parts you're buying for a PC that will play this game at 60 FPS at 4K that only costs £550.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 (PS5) - One of the Greatest RPGs of Our Time
Curious whether they actually progressed beyond Act 1 before releasing this review and giving this score because anyone getting past the area which was extensively tested in Early Acces are finding it's disappointing at best, unplayable at worst.
Re: Diablo 4's Huge Patch Backlash Prompts Damage Control Chat with Blizzard Devs
@MFTWrecks
"Item drops have been slowed, as drops from Elites were nerfed."
I don't mind loot being slowed. The bigger issue is that there are too many drops and not enough quality. The result was that the game was in danger of becoming Diablo IV: Loot Management Edition.
"The best Helltide chests were nerfed, making loot chasing harder."
The fact that almost every guide said "Don't bother with anything except the mysterious chest" shows there was an issue.
"Cinders in Helltides were nerfed, making loot chase worse."
They changed the drops from certain mobs and increased the drops from items. If anything, I think it felt a bit quicker last night. I was getting 3 or 4 cinders from each Tortured Soul.
"They gated World Tiers (but reverting this), so you couldn't get XP to progress as quickly fighting higher level foes."
No. They gated world tiers to prevent people from being power levelled whilst they waited at the dungeon door. It was reverted because it was affecting genuine players pushing the envelope. If they put this back in with the capstones requiring levels 35 and 58 respectively, this won't affect anyone doing the dungeon legitimately.
"The net effect is slowing down gameplay. You take longer to engage lower-level enemies, get less XP for doing so, and get killed more easily while doing it, costing you time and resources to fix your gear and complete your objective".
The game was not challenging at all. The highest-level content was almost trivial with a decent build. They're trying to add some challenge. Yes, that means you may need to slow down a bit instead of deleting an instance.
"Heck, they made it take 66% longer to exit a dungeon! Why??"
A fix for hardcore players noping out of encounters they were struggling with. It's just to put more reliance on the scroll and death potions. It might be a sledgehammer to crack a nut but it doesn't affect the majority of players.
"Those are all universal truths."
Errr......
"My 86 melee rogue went from crushing Nightmare Dungeons and enemies +5-6 levels, to struggling to complete when the enemies were at my level."
Herein lies the problem at the crux of everything in your post. It's a Nightmare Dungeon. They're supposed to be a challenge. The fact that you were previously crushing a dungeon 5 levels higher than you is exactly the reason they've made these changes. I think you need to make peace with that.
Re: Diablo 4's Huge Patch Backlash Prompts Damage Control Chat with Blizzard Devs
I don't normally bother trying to defend game developers but Jeez, there are some OTT statements in here. The problem here is almost entirely the community.
Diablo 4 has been out for about 6 weeks. It had a reasonably OK campaign and, for the most part, it's been relatively stable. There have been issues but many of the people complaining the game is broken or simply not fun are the same people who have hundreds of hours invested.
They're making comparisons to an 11-year-old game which has had hundreds of balance passes and dozens of content updates and that really isn't fair.
Is it perfect? No. Is it a good game? Yes. It is. Is it better than D3 was at launch? Absolutely. Let's keep some perspective.
There are lots of people complaining that this patch destroyed the game and yet there are many others getting on and enjoying it.
Balance is difficult and it's naive to think that you should only balance by buffing weaker classes. You fix the outliers. As a result, sometimes nerfs are necessary. Many of the nerfs that went in on Tuesday are the removal of bugs and unintended interactions within builds and you cannot build a computer game around defects so, upsetting to some as it may be, those bugs must be squashed before real balancing begins.
Let's not forget this is standard Blizzard operating procedure. Nerf first, balance upwards later. In the meantime, chill.
Re: Breaking News! Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Will Have a Story
And yet, despite this being a total non-story, you still managed to publish an article about it.
Re: Poll: Did You Buy The Last of Us: Part I?
@grapetrap Demons Souls was a 12 year old game when it was re-released and is a fundamentally different game. It looks hugely different and plays substantially differently from the original. The original was also quite buggy and the remake fixes thus.
More than 20 years passed between Final Fantasy 7 and it's Remake. It isnt just a different game, it's a different genre. The story is substantially different, it's fully voiced, its barely recognisable.
TLoU P1 plays the same. The assets don't look hugely different. The story, motion capture, voicing....all the same. It's a graphical upgrade for a game that was only release 9 years ago, and already has a remaster.
So, if you want to know why people are reacting differently, it's because it's been treated differently.
Re: Poll: Did You Buy The Last of Us: Part I?
I wonder if this is a big miss-step from Naughty Dog and Sony. Multiple polls show the vast majority of players aren't interested in buying it.
We all accept it looks great, but we're just not putting our hands in our pockets so it will be really interesting to see where it lands on the sales chart.
I get the feeling they've spent a lot of time on this but that it might end up costing them.
My concern is that I'm not sure where I fall on this one - I do want companies to learn from their hubris but I also love ND games.
Re: Godfall's PS Plus Version Is All Endgame Content, No Story Campaign
Let's be real here, nobody is cancelling their sub. You buy PS+ for the online multiplayer, not the "free games". And if you are paying just for the monthly games, you're a dope anyway.
The truth is, if it wasn't for the online component, the amount of people paying for PS+ would be a tiny fraction of what they're getting now.
That said, this has just gone from "Ooh, I might give that a try. Cool" to "Yeah, probably not going to add that to my library. *****"
These companies need to understand that, sometimes, these free games come across as insulting and, at that point, it's better just to give away something much smaller. This is one of those times. Own goal here.
Re: Is Returnal DLC Being Teased by Developer Housemarque?
@kingbreww I was the first person in my group of friends to buy it. I beat the first boss but struggled after that. I recommended it to one of my friends and suggested the other three leave it alone.
Later my friend took my advice and bought it. He's struggling but he likes things like Dark Souls. Word of mouth is a hell of a thing. Word got out that it's hard.
Re: Is Returnal DLC Being Teased by Developer Housemarque?
I mean.... trophy's show a ridiculously low completion rate.
Perhaps add a difficulty setting now? For some people that would be adding 5 new biomes.
I know I won't be buying the DLC.
Re: Challenging PS5, PS4 Brawler Sifu Won't Have Difficulty Options at Launch
It's their game. They have the right to make it however they want.
And I have the right to spend my money elsewhere.
Re: Talking Point: Is Sony Being Stingy with PS5's First-Party Pricing?
Damn, there's some idiots in this comment thread.
I buy all my games physically. They're cheaper when they're new, they're much cheaper when they're older, I can buy copies that have been traded in which are cheaper still and I can trade them in myself to recover costs. They install quicker, I'll always have them even if the server's went offline tomorrow. Most of them get delivered the day before release.
The only upside to buying digitally is that you can don't have to swap the discs out.
There also seem to be people arguing that costs have to go up to support the cost of making high quality games. So answer me this, why are they cheaper on Xbox? Why are they even cheaper still on PC? Is the PlayStation that much harder to develop for?
I love my PlayStation exclusives - I haven't owned an Xbox since the 360 - but I won't pay £70 for them and, fortunately, I don't have to. I'm patient enough to wait till they fall to a reasonable price.
The answer is simple. Stop buying them till they fall in price. To those of you that didn't see this coming and bought a digital only version of the PS5...sell it now and get a disc version. You will recoup your costs if you act quickly.
Re: Poll: Did You Buy Battlefield 2042?
Nope. I don't pre-order because the industry is completely broken. If they fix it, I'll buy it, but I'm not paying to beta test their game.
Re: Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.3 Adds Free DLC, Very Long List of Updates, Fixes
I....
Er...
I'm stuck for words.
The fact this patch contains so little is amazing. It's actually one of those things where you have to question if it's even a good idea to release it.
Re: Talking Point: How Would You Improve PS Plus?
A family plan would be nice, and long overdue.
I currently pay £160 a year to Sony and it's ridiculous they don't offer a discount.
Re: PS5 Firmware Update to Fix Annoying Operating System Oversights
Hey...you know what would be cool.
Not having to press 13 buttons to turn your PS5 off.
Baffling how much of a backstep the PS5 UI is fr the PS4.
Re: Soapbox: What Makes Returnal So Special
If this launched in 2022 and there were other, next gen only, games available, we wouldn't be talking about it.
It only stands out from the competition because there is none
It's a good looking game but it's level design is basic. There's very little in the way of story and most of that is delivered, cheaply, through audio logs akin to any low budget indie. There's a smattering of weapons, some almost useless, and it has a lot of bugs. It's also really inaccessible for 80% of its players due to difficulty and the amount of time needed to finish later runs.
It asks a AAA price (and then some) but it's not a AAA game.
Re: Tom Holland Doesn't Sound Particularly Happy with His Portrayal of Uncharted's Nathan Drake
I can't see this being anything other than a disaster.
Films based on video games are, nearly always, terrible. This always felt like miscasting - designed to add in a popular actor rather than bringing in a solid actor who fit the role.
The two together doesn't bode well.
Re: Cyberpunk 2077 Approaching Two Months Absent from PS Store
Abandoning the last gen versions would be suicidal.
They offered refunds but asked everyone to hold on to it because they were going to fix it. To not follow through with that would kill their reputation once and for all.
Re: Sony Thinks PS5's Storage Space 'Should Be Fine'
You all seem to be forgetting those homes where a console is shared between multiple people.
There will be three people using the main console in our living room, all with completely differing tastes in games. 665gb is nowhere near enough
Re: Report Suggests PS5 Won't Support 1440p Output
@LemonHaze That's a very limited point of view. A lot of people are using PC monitors because it provides a cleaner experience than a TV. 1440p is not a standard in PC gaming but it's certainly getting there. There is no reason for Sony not to implement this.
As for saving money, you're forgetting that a lot of people just want to have one display for both PC and PS5. Moving to a 4k monitor isn't cheap. There's the cost of the monitor and, for many, a new graphics card. Alternatively they can force their shiny new console to downgrade itself to 1080p and upscale it through the monitor to 1440p.
You could be looking at quadrupling the price of the PS5 because Sony overlooked something silly.
Re: Rumour: May 2019's PS Plus Games Possibly Leaked by PS4 Menu Screenshot
PS Plus needs to consider several factors when pushing out monthly games.
How old is it? People tend not to want something that is so old that it's technology isn't very good. Age also leads into the next consideration.
How many people already own it? The older a game is, or the more popular it was at release, the higher likelihood that people already have played it. God of War was an excellent game from last year but, if they released it this month, it would mean nothing to me. Already own it.
How good is it? A triple-A title that got really bad reviews isn't going to garner much favour.
What is the cost to buy it? PS Plus recently had a price hike. If the free game is on sale at £4 regularly then, again, it can be underwhelming.
Where PS Plus used to really shine was finishing that sweet spot. Games from 2 years ago which reviewed well but we're overlooked, is exactly what you want to be offering. Sadly, it doesn't look like they've had many successes recently.
All of this information about who played what, what it costs, how it reviewed etc is available to Sony. Why aren't they using it?
The price went up, the number of games went down and the quality isn't really hitting it for me. I personally haven't had a PS plus game I'd play in months.
Re: ANTHEM Explains Ways It Will Attempt to Prevent Players from Absconding to The Division 2
EA shouldn't be focusing on stopping Anthem players leaving for the Division 2. Right now it needs to focus on stopping players going back to Destiny.
At this rate there won't be any players next week, let alone next month.