@BearsEatBeets yeah, I wasn't aiming it at you or anything, I was just going off on one saying what I'd probably do and tangenting because how some reviewers clearly play games wrong and just want to pick at everything and that can hurt games so I won't be leaning on them, too much 😄 I feel like every so often the Spirit of Swen Vincke enters my body and I can't help myself from wanting to add a general "we must support the industry" soapbox comment
Distilled, i'm hoping its good, like you. Fingers crossed they nail what they are attemtping.
@BearsEatBeets it is incredibly bold to tell people about it, for sure. During concept and writing they will have loosely planned out an overarching plot and way to fit their characters into eras they have an interest in if that was their core idea for what the story would be anyway. But to tell people that aim when the first isn't even out when you are a new studio is kind of crazy. I don't think a lot of people understood the intention, however, so they might need to come out and clarify exactly what it means for some people. I've seen some react negatively to it, too.
But I feel like it excites me more to know this is an ambitious project, and I will likely be buying it and giving them a chance, regardless of reviews. You can't always trust reviewers to judge what we actually want from games and especially very exteme RPGs that force actual player decisions as the game will be different based on what you choose to do. Robert Ramsey should be worth a read, at least 😄 and of course, we need to know the game functions, but if it doesn't... refunds exist for that, so 🤷♂️
It is also really tough to launch new IP's these days and devs need support from people. and I can confidently say that I want a cool vampire rpg game made by Witchers to be a success 😁
A very good game. Tonally it just gets it right, and, in-spite of its super modern setting, it still manages to feel like a classic. Even Lenny Kravitz can't mess it up!
Anyway... the balls on them to say "yeah, this is a franchise and this is where we are headed via multiple eras and settings" is nuts. All power too them. I'll be supporting their first effort and will hope it is impactful enough to warrant this being a franchise.
A lot of pressure on Coen being an interesting protagonist
For me, personally, there wasn't great deal of games I know I will play day 1 (or at all) but it was clearly a very, very good show, the crowd loved it, and everything felt positive.
I would have liked maybe one more big mic-drop to end it for something i'm more interested in. But I know the things i'm most interested in have already been announced via their own streams, or are games that are still a long way off. Maybe Xbox can sneak a few cool third-party updates or world premiers in on Sunday.
About half of your user base is locked on series S. You are not capable of exclusivity 🤦♂️ and next Gen will suck if those people don't upgrade, too (which they won't if they are priced out of it. And price is why they went for series S in the first place - a cheap way to use game pass) 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
The only way exclusives would make any sense is if it is Game Pass exclusive, as in: no games for sale at all. And that is a huge risk because Game Pass already peaked and it alienates people who buy games. Or if it really does just become another PC, and then it is PC exclusive.
Their options truly suck because of all the dumb decisions they made.
MS messed up hardware and much, much more. Sony messed up their live-service first party push. But Sony still sold a tonne of consoles to third party users. Only one of those companies can make exclusives work in the current state of affairs, and it is the one with a high install base.
I'm going with God Of War: Laufey shadow dropped during SGF as the 'One More Thing' and Sony being a massive troll as people will be like "grrrrr, we've literally just seen this, ffs" and then they just slap a short trailer and 'Out Now' 😂
Sony knows how to cash in on third party releases and marketing. Always has, always will. Only a matter of time until the celebratory articles on sales return.
Good. (And also, 'duh') The Spider-man series is and always will be an objectively bad open-world with a good game hidden within it, and the best parts are the actual missions, cinematics, fights, and all linear aspects. This should be all the better for focusing on what Insomniac does best!
@Th3solution oof! You and your schedules 😛 you know I'm a vibes guy and so I do forget you and a few others plan these things out a bit. I suppose, if you have no interest in GTA, you will need something to get stuck into this year, though. But it would also be cool if you threw the schedules away and started TW3 with a few others here on Push Square and shared the journey together in a Witcher 3 thread. Hint hint. Do it 💀 Yeah, definitely the novels are a slower pace, but as I was already into the world and characters, and I don't mind a slow pace (currently reading/listening to some Tolkein, ha) I was locked-in and absolutely binged them one summer after finishing Blood & Wine. For you, who knows the best approach, but if the urge to play the game is there it does feel like a good time to do just that. But, again, that is coming from an outsider's vibes perspective on gaming and if youbhave you're heart set in finishing the next novel as a lead-in who am I to argue 😄
@Skinny-Pete nice, hope you eventualy enjoy it 😄 yeah, I know exactly what you mean (I think). Part of why it took me ages and multiple attempts was I was coming from no real fantasy RPG experience, and all the crafting, maintaining, looting etc was overwhelming, on top of having all these quests, sidequests and skill trees, and then having to know all that while getting surrounded by wolves and wraiths with no idea where I was supposed to be going to get the most out of it. Eventually it all came together and the questing and combat and exploration became an easy to enjoy gameplay loop. It is 100% a game you have to discover yourself in your own time and find your own optimal path for enjoyment, though 😄 thankfully there is a hefty quest log and plenty of player-choice to do just that.
If anyone does end up starting in the next few weeks, stop by the thread in the forum and i'm sure people will be happy to read how it is going, or share any tips or pointers.
@Fiendish-Beaver for me, Geralt and Doug Cockle deserve immortality. Also, only one person can ever kill Geralt, in my opinion, and that is Andrzej Sapkowski.
Buuuut... locking him in a magically sealed dungeon and having an antagonist torturing Geralt and Yen to try and get control of Ciri? That I could get behind, and it feels very 'on brand'. I can also think of a fitting antagonist for that being a potential thread of our main tale.
Either way, exciting times in the world of The Witcher 😄
Gather round, fine fellows, and let me tell you a tale. I was once exactly the same as you, as Sol well knows, and yet now my name here is based on an alias from one of the short stories from The Witcher book "The Last Wish" after having completed the game and the DLC's and read all the books, in full, and realising just how good all of it is. CDPR has done a phenomenal job in adapting a world and set of characters, but also making a hugely detailed game with enough of its own charm to be a standalone.
It is a very common phenomenon with this game, that it takes a while to get into (multiple years and attempts in many cases, and I know many people that had a similar experience to me), but then, one day, it will grab you and then you will realise that the two DLC's are basically better than a lot of games, too... but then that won't be enough, and you will want more so then you get all the books and / or audiobooks and start to take others under your wing that once stuggled to get into the game and witness their journey into getting hooked, themselves 😄
My one tip for getting the most out of the game is picking up contracts as you enter a new location, and using those as a way to experience all of the side stories and exploration outside of the main quest, rather than just going "question mark hunting" which can lead to fatigue.
Also, always 'save before cave' making a hard save before entering any caves or more linear areas so your autosaves don't overwrite and mean you have no escape to the open-world if you get stuck at any point 😁
Honestly, there's a reason the game won hundreds of awards. Just sometimes you have to play it until you discover why yourself and that can take a while. Hopefully it gets you on your next try, but if it doesn't, remember... it took many people 3 or 4 attempts over a span of years for the game to click, so never give up completely or you may miss out on something you would love 😄
@Th3solution might as well check in with where you are in terms of books at the moment? Have you reached a point where you are ready to jump into the game again? It feels like a good a time as any 😁
I'm still reserving my excitment to play it for whenever it is out. If that is somewhere between November and March, so be it. It's one of those games to not get too hyped about until it's fully installed and playable, and at that point we will get to witness stuff we have never seen before as they push the consoles hard for their open worlds.
A week or so before release the internet might crash a few times before it fully implodes on release day. It feels like everyone and their dog will be talking about it, playing it, hating on it, glazing it, analysing how woke it is, posting clips, sharing secrets, spoiling it for others because they are d***s. It's going to be a mad old time.
@dardel they got wrapped up in short-term trends, I think. That was the main issue. Make good interesting shooters and sports games and people will always play them.
They could use countless IP's. Even a Breaking Bad live service would be less of a gamble than the niche stuff they have tried 🤷♂️
Also, i'm pretty sure the top 4 (the absolute behemoths) naturally evolved over time to monetise and provide new modes/seasons etc as they grew and grew, they didn't just release as predatory money vacuums, they started as games people wanted to play and adapted to the fact that people wanted to keep playing them. These days everyone is trying to start with the predatory aspect and work back and try and fit a game into it, and that is an awful way to design a game.
@somnambulance he states big as in meaning a big empty world (the type which take a long time to explore doing pointless sidequests about nothing, or there is simply nothing to do) and it has nothing to do with length of time spent in the game itself, which is why he mentions BG3, which is
well established as a 200-2000 hour game 😂
He also mentions Gothic's world, where the area is small but the content is still worthwhile
They are seemingly trying to make a game that is set in a not too overwhelming game world, but full of characters that mean there is a lot of questing to be done in that locale as it will be inhabited by residents that matter to the game.
It probably means we get one city, a few towns and villages and the forested land between, with mountains surrounding the area which won't be passable.
Will it turn out to be a worthwhile 50-70 hour game, as reactive and interesting as they say, that will be the question. It also seems like they want to make it so if you don't like a quest or character you can just move on and do what you actually want to do instead, potentially leading to more unique playthroughs person to person.
@Snowrunner in a way this is right, crime games should be far more prominent a genre and people should not expect GTA (ooh, maybe rockstar has been sabotaging all of those that tried, too). But something strange has been going on all along with this company. Game was supposed to be a free part of another game called Everywhere which didn't release for whatever random reason. They then forced this unfinished game out to cover losses and moaned that people didn't like their genuinely broken game that was definitively forced out too early. The CFO and a few others left the company only weeks before this game launched. Then the open accusations of sabotage and the fact they monitored employees (possibly illegally?)
People having high expectations didn't casue many of these issues, only the perception of how good or bad it may be.
Just as an example, on release this was Push Square's review. And I don't think Aaron Bayne is a shill, nor do I think he has been influenced by high expectations or a movement against the game.
MindsEye is a broken, boring mess of a game that has somehow been allowed out in the world. It has little glimmers of something semi-entertaining in there with its cutscenes and story, but it’s bogged down by a vapid large scale map that is at odds with its aggressively linear campaign, and padded out with a dull repetitive gameplay loop that is nothing short of archaic.
Incredibly blurry image
Stilted and dull gunplay
Repetitive and drawn out campaign
Poor performance
No substance to the experience
Feels like an unfinished product
BAD 3/10
It would be hard for any game to come back from that, even if it is kind of an okay game currently, it'd have to have been Cyberpunk levels of good now to make up for the start it had and alter the this perception that it earned.
The following is actual footage of Leslie Benzies and the BaRB execs making one last run to the bank as they move to announce liquidation and vanish (it is definitely not the music video for Sabotage)
@Westernwolf4 a criminally undervalued acting talent who is also a videogame and animation legend. If you haven't seen The Lowdown check it out right now!
"The upgraded PSSR's sharpen feature is added, but more crucially, a native AA mode is added to the 30fps quality mode, essentially running the game at native 4K, using PSSR for anti-aliasing alone - and the boost to the overall look of the image is significant." - Digital Foundry
Could I check what settings you use, by the way, just incase the frame drops can be reducded in other ways for you, as, to me, the 30fps mode is the smoothest overall when engaging VRR in 120hz mode, but not using V-Sync. But it may be different eyes, different sensitivity levels, as since using pro I usually use an unlocked high frame rate, but in this game balanced feels a bit off for me.
@DennisReynolds oh, no. I was right about how people are using x. I bet thousands of people are doing the same.
Because of GTA people think you have to hold X, but you don't. Tap it once and you go faster, tap it a few times and you sprint. No holding is ever needed there, and holding x will ruin your experience needlessly.
There needs to be a PSA on this. People are just assuming it's the GTA run controls.
@ErrantRob i've left it for the clicky l3 and r3 as usual, so it helps with puzzles and is satisfying when doing that 'leafy punch' thing (making up the name for it, but you'll know what I mean) and then it will be handy when unlocking axiom combat moves where you have to press R3 and other buttons simultaneously. I can't wait to unlock the swing launcher i've seen in skills tree, so that will be like l3 hold release, square r3, which in back paddles is pretty easy.
@NieR_Dark try turning off 3d map nodes in the menu. Saw an exchange where it solved it for people. Obviously a full fix is needed but this seems to do the trick for now
As long as it is an option so those of us who don't mind learning new controls can carry on learning them as they are. Back bumpers help a lot in the game, though.
The only cumbersome thing i've found is with selecting weapons and stuff like that as you have to fiddle around in a menu.
Tapping x once to initiate a run is hardly egregious, it's actually a breeze.
So I am interested to know what people are struggling with most.
@Icey664 all games that use PSSR1 will be automatically affected by the update via the toggle in the system menu.
Games like Spider-Man 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Hogwarts Legacy, Stellar Blade for example. Whereas the other games listed already have dedicated patches that they have tested themselves.
@Zeke68 baked lighting usually takes much longer to produce so games will actually come out sooner with RT being embraced more.
I feel like Push Square may need to do an in depth deep-dive into the pros and cons of using RT rather than leaving it up to the people on this one 🫡
maybe you could interview someone at CDPR, @Get2Sammyb ? that would be some content that would be quite interesting for the site. Remember, their plan is to release 3 or 4 games in quite a short span of time. You could find out if this is part of what will allow that, and updates on their collaboration with Unreal. You know, interesting feature articles about actual games in development and not just fluff about "PlayStation Power User Pyo" 🤷♂️ (I don't mean this to come off negative in tone, you need the clicks, but I think there is only so much "news" about random people's opinions on the internet that anyone can really take before they completely give up on gaming news. I'm sure you don't love that this is what you have to write about to get engagement these days either)
@GirlVersusGame thanks for the tag. I hadn't thought about CD for a few days and wasn't expecting any news yet 😁 I was likely going to get it day one anyway, even if there are minor issues, but it's good to see the performance aims.
4K with Ultra Ray Tracing sounds quite tempting to try out, too, and I will definitely want to see how far they can push it on consoles with PSSR 2.0. The other modes seem good, no sacrificing the core elements of how they chose to build the game world in their engine with RT a key part of it.
Hmm.. 100% they are going to have to keep publishing on PlayStation if they are cutting their user base even more by pricing out all of the series S users. Sometimes I wonder if Xbox even remembers that a lot of their current users don't even buy the most expensive console they offer now 🤷♂️
This game isn't in the top 10 'popular games in your country' on the PS store yet. Pre-orders never made it anywhere near to the top ten, either. Less than 1% of my friend list are playing the game, and most of those are live service/shooter/sports casual gamers. I.e the target audience. These things always interest me as an observer.
So yeah, I wouldn't say it is doing well on console based on those trends. It is usually obvious when a game captures the audience to some degree. Helldivers it is not. And that is not great for a company supposedly at the peak of this scummy section of the industry (yeah, maybe 10 years ago they were) and a company that was basically helping guide SIE'S liveservice push 👍👍
So, a hearty round of applause for Bungie doing 'fine' on steam. And proving once again that they just can't help being c***s. Just look at the way they price things! People should be mad at that and thus hate this part of the industry, these games are aimed at kids and designed to fleece people ffs, so i'm not going to remain neutral despite initially thinking I would 😂😂
@Th3solution 2 or 3 weeks might be when i'm starting a 3 month trek into the Crimson Desert. Being part of the Slow Paced Gamer's Club and wanting to experience many different games is a conundrum we are still yet to solve. How close were we to making 36 hour days a reality? Not close at all, you say? Hmm, we must redouble our efforts on that front as well!
@GirlVersusGame @Th3solution I second (or third) this notion!
I think I downloaded it on ps4 and never played it, downloaded it on ps5 and never played it. So now I will download it for a third time and maybe actually play it (lord knows when)
Maybe we should synchronise (lazy pun intended) our playthroughs for motivation 😅
@NavalHistorian it was some live-action advert marketing PS5 a few years ago, almost like a soft-relaunch featuring all the franchises with PS5 games that are out or coming soon: spider-man 2, God of War: Ragnarok, Horizon FW etc. But it also featured a woman with a torch, which didn't directly resemble any Sony ps5 game, so people thought it meant it was Uncharted 5 and that would be announced at some point. But then it wasn't.
You could still look back at it and say "well, there's some Samurai types riding away from a burning location" which could have been a Yotei hint way before it's release, if one wanted to revive such rumours of the Torch Woman meaning Uncharted 5 👀 but I wouldn't want to do that...
Also, Enjoy the PS5 😁 Plenty of games to get stuck into for a new owner!
@KoopaTheGamer honestly, thank you for being rational and correct. People don't seem understand how it makes a difference to assets and character models, and how it can make games look flat or dated in certain ways during gameplay. The cutscenes and most of the game will still look good enough, great even, I'm sure. But character models, reflective surfaces, and the overall colouring will still stand out as worse when compared.
Maybe people just don't notice it, or their brains get tricked by the other stuff that does look good, which is fair enough. I know I thought The Witcher 3 looked good, but then they released the RT update patch and I instantly thought, oh... well now it actually looks way better and the old version without RT looks washed out and kind of fake. Sometimes you have to experience the change directly, but it is so obvious when you do. I'm sure if these people had a pro or PC and switched from RT off to On in RE:R they too would see the differences.
And sure, the thumbnail is a bad angle, people, but it is from the actual gameplay with no RT, it is not a lie which seems to be the current general response 🤷♂️
On PS5 Pro: PSSR 2.0 allows for RT global illumination and reflections at 4k 60 output. It is as simple as that. The base ps5 cannot support that, so that is why there is a comparison between RT on and off. For the ps5 to reach 60fps, using FSR like upscaling, the PS5 has to sacrifice the RT lighting and reflections and in some places this will stick out like a sore thumb
This is a video of RT off/RT On/Path Tracing on. It is the same game with the same graphical settings recorded on the same PC. I challenge anyone to pretend it isn't any different 💀
@djlard maybe people like it because it doesn't do that? What it actually does is make it more natural and immersive, and make it look like people and objects belong in the environment. The previous lighting techniques usually leave games artificially lit/washed out or simply dull with less depth in comparison.
Comments 2,198
Re: PS5 RPG Dawnwalker Isn't Even Out Yet, But Its Modern Day Sequel Just Got a Crazy Teaser Trailer
@BearsEatBeets yeah, I wasn't aiming it at you or anything, I was just going off on one saying what I'd probably do and tangenting because how some reviewers clearly play games wrong and just want to pick at everything and that can hurt games so I won't be leaning on them, too much 😄 I feel like every so often the Spirit of Swen Vincke enters my body and I can't help myself from wanting to add a general "we must support the industry" soapbox comment
Distilled, i'm hoping its good, like you. Fingers crossed they nail what they are attemtping.
Re: PS5 RPG Dawnwalker Isn't Even Out Yet, But Its Modern Day Sequel Just Got a Crazy Teaser Trailer
@BearsEatBeets it is incredibly bold to tell people about it, for sure. During concept and writing they will have loosely planned out an overarching plot and way to fit their characters into eras they have an interest in if that was their core idea for what the story would be anyway. But to tell people that aim when the first isn't even out when you are a new studio is kind of crazy. I don't think a lot of people understood the intention, however, so they might need to come out and clarify exactly what it means for some people. I've seen some react negatively to it, too.
But I feel like it excites me more to know this is an ambitious project, and I will likely be buying it and giving them a chance, regardless of reviews. You can't always trust reviewers to judge what we actually want from games and especially very exteme RPGs that force actual player decisions as the game will be different based on what you choose to do. Robert Ramsey should be worth a read, at least 😄 and of course, we need to know the game functions, but if it doesn't... refunds exist for that, so 🤷♂️
It is also really tough to launch new IP's these days and devs need support from people. and I can confidently say that I want a cool vampire rpg game made by Witchers to be a success 😁
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 636
007: First Light
A very good game. Tonally it just gets it right, and, in-spite of its super modern setting, it still manages to feel like a classic. Even Lenny Kravitz can't mess it up!
Re: PS5 RPG Dawnwalker Isn't Even Out Yet, But Its Modern Day Sequel Just Got a Crazy Teaser Trailer
I bet one of their games has a Vampire Pope
Anyway... the balls on them to say "yeah, this is a franchise and this is where we are headed via multiple eras and settings" is nuts. All power too them. I'll be supporting their first effort and will hope it is impactful enough to warrant this being a franchise.
A lot of pressure on Coen being an interesting protagonist
Re: Poll: How Would You Rate Summer Game Fest 2026?
For me, personally, there wasn't great deal of games I know I will play day 1 (or at all) but it was clearly a very, very good show, the crowd loved it, and everything felt positive.
I would have liked maybe one more big mic-drop to end it for something i'm more interested in. But I know the things i'm most interested in have already been announced via their own streams, or are games that are still a long way off. Maybe Xbox can sneak a few cool third-party updates or world premiers in on Sunday.
Re: After Describing Them as 'Antiquated', Xbox Now Says It 'Must Have Exclusive Content and Services'
About half of your user base is locked on series S. You are not capable of exclusivity 🤦♂️ and next Gen will suck if those people don't upgrade, too (which they won't if they are priced out of it. And price is why they went for series S in the first place - a cheap way to use game pass) 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
The only way exclusives would make any sense is if it is Game Pass exclusive, as in: no games for sale at all. And that is a huge risk because Game Pass already peaked and it alienates people who buy games. Or if it really does just become another PC, and then it is PC exclusive.
Their options truly suck because of all the dumb decisions they made.
MS messed up hardware and much, much more. Sony messed up their live-service first party push. But Sony still sold a tonne of consoles to third party users. Only one of those companies can make exclusives work in the current state of affairs, and it is the one with a high install base.
Re: What Time Is Summer Game Fest 2026 Livestream?
Was there a mad predictions thread yet?
I'm going with God Of War: Laufey shadow dropped during SGF as the 'One More Thing' and Sony being a massive troll as people will be like "grrrrr, we've literally just seen this, ffs" and then they just slap a short trailer and 'Out Now' 😂
(Disclaimer: Mad Predictions)
Re: PS5 Price Hike Has Flushed UK Hardware Sales Down the Toilet
Sony knows how to cash in on third party releases and marketing. Always has, always will. Only a matter of time until the celebratory articles on sales return.
Re: Wolverine PS5 Is a Linear Single Player Action Game, Not Open World
Good. (And also, 'duh') The Spider-man series is and always will be an objectively bad open-world with a good game hidden within it, and the best parts are the actual missions, cinematics, fights, and all linear aspects. This should be all the better for focusing on what Insomniac does best!
Re: You Can Turn Off Wolverine PS5's Blood and Gore If You Want To
If I can get a version where it makes rubber duck squeaking sounds during impalements then i'm all for giving that a go
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 635
50% of all Push Square readers today:
I'll be joining you soon 😁
Re: Third Witcher 3 DLC Is Real! Songs of the Past Comes to PS5 in 2027
@Th3solution oof! You and your schedules 😛 you know I'm a vibes guy and so I do forget you and a few others plan these things out a bit. I suppose, if you have no interest in GTA, you will need something to get stuck into this year, though. But it would also be cool if you threw the schedules away and started TW3 with a few others here on Push Square and shared the journey together in a Witcher 3 thread. Hint hint. Do it 💀 Yeah, definitely the novels are a slower pace, but as I was already into the world and characters, and I don't mind a slow pace (currently reading/listening to some Tolkein, ha) I was locked-in and absolutely binged them one summer after finishing Blood & Wine. For you, who knows the best approach, but if the urge to play the game is there it does feel like a good time to do just that. But, again, that is coming from an outsider's vibes perspective on gaming and if youbhave you're heart set in finishing the next novel as a lead-in who am I to argue 😄
@Skinny-Pete nice, hope you eventualy enjoy it 😄 yeah, I know exactly what you mean (I think). Part of why it took me ages and multiple attempts was I was coming from no real fantasy RPG experience, and all the crafting, maintaining, looting etc was overwhelming, on top of having all these quests, sidequests and skill trees, and then having to know all that while getting surrounded by wolves and wraiths with no idea where I was supposed to be going to get the most out of it. Eventually it all came together and the questing and combat and exploration became an easy to enjoy gameplay loop. It is 100% a game you have to discover yourself in your own time and find your own optimal path for enjoyment, though 😄 thankfully there is a hefty quest log and plenty of player-choice to do just that.
If anyone does end up starting in the next few weeks, stop by the thread in the forum and i'm sure people will be happy to read how it is going, or share any tips or pointers.
Re: Third Witcher 3 DLC Is Real! Songs of the Past Comes to PS5 in 2027
@Fiendish-Beaver for me, Geralt and Doug Cockle deserve immortality. Also, only one person can ever kill Geralt, in my opinion, and that is Andrzej Sapkowski.
Buuuut... locking him in a magically sealed dungeon and having an antagonist torturing Geralt and Yen to try and get control of Ciri? That I could get behind, and it feels very 'on brand'. I can also think of a fitting antagonist for that being a potential thread of our main tale.
Either way, exciting times in the world of The Witcher 😄
Re: Third Witcher 3 DLC Is Real! Songs of the Past Comes to PS5 in 2027
@Th3solution @Killionaire @Skinny-Pete
Gather round, fine fellows, and let me tell you a tale. I was once exactly the same as you, as Sol well knows, and yet now my name here is based on an alias from one of the short stories from The Witcher book "The Last Wish" after having completed the game and the DLC's and read all the books, in full, and realising just how good all of it is. CDPR has done a phenomenal job in adapting a world and set of characters, but also making a hugely detailed game with enough of its own charm to be a standalone.
It is a very common phenomenon with this game, that it takes a while to get into (multiple years and attempts in many cases, and I know many people that had a similar experience to me), but then, one day, it will grab you and then you will realise that the two DLC's are basically better than a lot of games, too... but then that won't be enough, and you will want more so then you get all the books and / or audiobooks and start to take others under your wing that once stuggled to get into the game and witness their journey into getting hooked, themselves 😄
My one tip for getting the most out of the game is picking up contracts as you enter a new location, and using those as a way to experience all of the side stories and exploration outside of the main quest, rather than just going "question mark hunting" which can lead to fatigue.
Also, always 'save before cave' making a hard save before entering any caves or more linear areas so your autosaves don't overwrite and mean you have no escape to the open-world if you get stuck at any point 😁
Honestly, there's a reason the game won hundreds of awards. Just sometimes you have to play it until you discover why yourself and that can take a while. Hopefully it gets you on your next try, but if it doesn't, remember... it took many people 3 or 4 attempts over a span of years for the game to click, so never give up completely or you may miss out on something you would love 😄
@Th3solution might as well check in with where you are in terms of books at the moment? Have you reached a point where you are ready to jump into the game again? It feels like a good a time as any 😁
Re: In an Alternate Universe, We're All Playing GTA 6 on PS5 Now
I'm still reserving my excitment to play it for whenever it is out. If that is somewhere between November and March, so be it. It's one of those games to not get too hyped about until it's fully installed and playable, and at that point we will get to witness stuff we have never seen before as they push the consoles hard for their open worlds.
A week or so before release the internet might crash a few times before it fully implodes on release day. It feels like everyone and their dog will be talking about it, playing it, hating on it, glazing it, analysing how woke it is, posting clips, sharing secrets, spoiling it for others because they are d***s. It's going to be a mad old time.
Re: Review in Progress: 007 First Light (PS5) - James Bond's Origin Adventure Is Highly Entertaining
@LifeGirl yeah... so like Bond, then?
Re: Ahead of Humongous State of Play, Sony Trademarks New PS5 Game 'Break In'
Can't wait for all the responses. "Break In, bad."
Wait a minute...
Re: PS5 Will Reveal the Most Played Games with Steam-Like Player Numbers
@dardel they got wrapped up in short-term trends, I think. That was the main issue. Make good interesting shooters and sports games and people will always play them.
They could use countless IP's. Even a Breaking Bad live service would be less of a gamble than the niche stuff they have tried 🤷♂️
Also, i'm pretty sure the top 4 (the absolute behemoths) naturally evolved over time to monetise and provide new modes/seasons etc as they grew and grew, they didn't just release as predatory money vacuums, they started as games people wanted to play and adapted to the fact that people wanted to keep playing them. These days everyone is trying to start with the predatory aspect and work back and try and fit a game into it, and that is an awful way to design a game.
Re: Random: Now You Can Smell Like a Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 NPC with This $200 Fragrance
Swap Elderflower for Marigold and i'm in.
We all need something to hide the smell after we've pulled the sheep guts out from the creatures rectum.
Re: 'I'm Tired of Games That Are Too Big': Open World RPG Dawnwalker Doesn't Want to Waste Your Time
@somnambulance he states big as in meaning a big empty world (the type which take a long time to explore doing pointless sidequests about nothing, or there is simply nothing to do) and it has nothing to do with length of time spent in the game itself, which is why he mentions BG3, which is
well established as a 200-2000 hour game 😂
He also mentions Gothic's world, where the area is small but the content is still worthwhile
They are seemingly trying to make a game that is set in a not too overwhelming game world, but full of characters that mean there is a lot of questing to be done in that locale as it will be inhabited by residents that matter to the game.
It probably means we get one city, a few towns and villages and the forested land between, with mountains surrounding the area which won't be passable.
Will it turn out to be a worthwhile 50-70 hour game, as reactive and interesting as they say, that will be the question. It also seems like they want to make it so if you don't like a quest or character you can just move on and do what you actually want to do instead, potentially leading to more unique playthroughs person to person.
Re: MindsEye Saga Hits a New Low as Mass Layoffs Cripple PS5 Flop's 'Comeback'
@Snowrunner in a way this is right, crime games should be far more prominent a genre and people should not expect GTA (ooh, maybe rockstar has been sabotaging all of those that tried, too). But something strange has been going on all along with this company. Game was supposed to be a free part of another game called Everywhere which didn't release for whatever random reason. They then forced this unfinished game out to cover losses and moaned that people didn't like their genuinely broken game that was definitively forced out too early. The CFO and a few others left the company only weeks before this game launched. Then the open accusations of sabotage and the fact they monitored employees (possibly illegally?)
People having high expectations didn't casue many of these issues, only the perception of how good or bad it may be.
Just as an example, on release this was Push Square's review. And I don't think Aaron Bayne is a shill, nor do I think he has been influenced by high expectations or a movement against the game.
MindsEye is a broken, boring mess of a game that has somehow been allowed out in the world. It has little glimmers of something semi-entertaining in there with its cutscenes and story, but it’s bogged down by a vapid large scale map that is at odds with its aggressively linear campaign, and padded out with a dull repetitive gameplay loop that is nothing short of archaic.
Incredibly blurry image
Stilted and dull gunplay
Repetitive and drawn out campaign
Poor performance
No substance to the experience
Feels like an unfinished product
BAD 3/10
It would be hard for any game to come back from that, even if it is kind of an okay game currently, it'd have to have been Cyberpunk levels of good now to make up for the start it had and alter the this perception that it earned.
Re: MindsEye Saga Hits a New Low as Mass Layoffs Cripple PS5 Flop's 'Comeback'
The following is actual footage of Leslie Benzies and the BaRB execs making one last run to the bank as they move to announce liquidation and vanish (it is definitely not the music video for Sabotage)
Re: Lords of the Fallen 2's Idea of Female Armour Is Downright Embarrassing
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Re: Lords of the Fallen 2's Idea of Female Armour Is Downright Embarrassing
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Re: Can Keith David Sell You Starfield on PS5? Bethesda Thinks So
@Westernwolf4 a criminally undervalued acting talent who is also a videogame and animation legend. If you haven't seen The Lowdown check it out right now!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 627
Consuming all the calories and checking out the scenery in Crimson Desert
Re: Crimson Desert Patch 1.02 Brings Big Quality of Life Improvements, Headgear Toggle, PS5 Pro Upgrade, and More
@Kiefer-Sutherland just for anti-aliasing.
"The upgraded PSSR's sharpen feature is added, but more crucially, a native AA mode is added to the 30fps quality mode, essentially running the game at native 4K, using PSSR for anti-aliasing alone - and the boost to the overall look of the image is significant." - Digital Foundry
Could I check what settings you use, by the way, just incase the frame drops can be reducded in other ways for you, as, to me, the 30fps mode is the smoothest overall when engaging VRR in 120hz mode, but not using V-Sync. But it may be different eyes, different sensitivity levels, as since using pro I usually use an unlocked high frame rate, but in this game balanced feels a bit off for me.
Re: Crimson Desert Dev to Patch PS5 RPG's 'Uncomfortable' Controls
@DennisReynolds oh, no. I was right about how people are using x. I bet thousands of people are doing the same.
Because of GTA people think you have to hold X, but you don't. Tap it once and you go faster, tap it a few times and you sprint. No holding is ever needed there, and holding x will ruin your experience needlessly.
There needs to be a PSA on this. People are just assuming it's the GTA run controls.
Re: Crimson Desert Dev to Patch PS5 RPG's 'Uncomfortable' Controls
@ErrantRob i've left it for the clicky l3 and r3 as usual, so it helps with puzzles and is satisfying when doing that 'leafy punch' thing (making up the name for it, but you'll know what I mean) and then it will be handy when unlocking axiom combat moves where you have to press R3 and other buttons simultaneously. I can't wait to unlock the swing launcher i've seen in skills tree, so that will be like l3 hold release, square r3, which in back paddles is pretty easy.
Re: Crimson Desert Dev to Patch PS5 RPG's 'Uncomfortable' Controls
@NieR_Dark try turning off 3d map nodes in the menu. Saw an exchange where it solved it for people. Obviously a full fix is needed but this seems to do the trick for now
Re: Crimson Desert Dev to Patch PS5 RPG's 'Uncomfortable' Controls
As long as it is an option so those of us who don't mind learning new controls can carry on learning them as they are. Back bumpers help a lot in the game, though.
The only cumbersome thing i've found is with selecting weapons and stuff like that as you have to fiddle around in a menu.
Tapping x once to initiate a run is hardly egregious, it's actually a breeze.
So I am interested to know what people are struggling with most.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 625
Crimson Desert
where I am:
Meeting Goblins with shoes for hats
Throwing bandits off of things
And being unexpectedly killed by, seemingly harmless, pretty glowing plants 💀
Re: Crimson Desert Looks 'Rough' on Base PS5, Here's 25 Minutes of Direct Capture Footage
Pouring out a cold one for the base PS5
Re: Round Up: Crimson Desert Reviews Are a Major Disappointment
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Re: PS5 Game Devs Collectively Clown on Nvidia's Controversial DLSS 5 Tech
Can I... erm... can I get that Lamb's phonenumber? 👀
Re: 'This Is Finally Living Up to Its Promise': PS5 Pro Owners Thrilled with PSSR 2 Upgrade
@Icey664 all games that use PSSR1 will be automatically affected by the update via the toggle in the system menu.
Games like Spider-Man 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Hogwarts Legacy, Stellar Blade for example. Whereas the other games listed already have dedicated patches that they have tested themselves.
Re: PS5 Pro Firmware Update Adds PSSR 2 Upgrade to PS5 Games Today
Full steam ahead!
Re: Europe Is Putting Harsher Age Restrictions on All the Things You Hate About Modern Gaming
Just add age verification to gambling and predatory games and be done with it!
Pegi 18 never stopped us from playing violent video games when we were wee kids, did it?
Re: As PS6 Delay Rumours Swirl, Fans Debate Ray Tracing's Worth
@Zeke68 baked lighting usually takes much longer to produce so games will actually come out sooner with RT being embraced more.
I feel like Push Square may need to do an in depth deep-dive into the pros and cons of using RT rather than leaving it up to the people on this one 🫡
maybe you could interview someone at CDPR, @Get2Sammyb ? that would be some content that would be quite interesting for the site. Remember, their plan is to release 3 or 4 games in quite a short span of time. You could find out if this is part of what will allow that, and updates on their collaboration with Unreal. You know, interesting feature articles about actual games in development and not just fluff about "PlayStation Power User Pyo" 🤷♂️ (I don't mean this to come off negative in tone, you need the clicks, but I think there is only so much "news" about random people's opinions on the internet that anyone can really take before they completely give up on gaming news. I'm sure you don't love that this is what you have to write about to get engagement these days either)
C'est la vie, I guess.
Re: Crimson Desert's PS5, PS5 Pro Modes Revealed, PS5 Pro Offers Substantial Upgrades
@GirlVersusGame thanks for the tag. I hadn't thought about CD for a few days and wasn't expecting any news yet 😁 I was likely going to get it day one anyway, even if there are minor issues, but it's good to see the performance aims.
4K with Ultra Ray Tracing sounds quite tempting to try out, too, and I will definitely want to see how far they can push it on consoles with PSSR 2.0. The other modes seem good, no sacrificing the core elements of how they chose to build the game world in their engine with RT a key part of it.
Re: PS6 Rival Xbox Helix Could Cost as Much as $1,200
Hmm.. 100% they are going to have to keep publishing on PlayStation if they are cutting their user base even more by pricing out all of the series S users. Sometimes I wonder if Xbox even remembers that a lot of their current users don't even buy the most expensive console they offer now 🤷♂️
Re: 'We're Discussing Ways to Improve': Marathon Dev Tweaking Monetisation and Difficulty as FPS Fails to Blow Up
This game isn't in the top 10 'popular games in your country' on the PS store yet. Pre-orders never made it anywhere near to the top ten, either. Less than 1% of my friend list are playing the game, and most of those are live service/shooter/sports casual gamers. I.e the target audience. These things always interest me as an observer.
So yeah, I wouldn't say it is doing well on console based on those trends. It is usually obvious when a game captures the audience to some degree. Helldivers it is not. And that is not great for a company supposedly at the peak of this scummy section of the industry (yeah, maybe 10 years ago they were) and a company that was basically helping guide SIE'S liveservice push 👍👍
So, a hearty round of applause for Bungie doing 'fine' on steam. And proving once again that they just can't help being c***s. Just look at the way they price things! People should be mad at that and thus hate this part of the industry, these games are aimed at kids and designed to fleece people ffs, so i'm not going to remain neutral despite initially thinking I would 😂😂
F*** em 🫡
Re: Some PS5 Users Really Are Paying More for Their Games on PS Store Than Others
Targeted sales with a dynamic price - fine
Logging in after seeing a lower advertised price and it only being available to you for a higher price - not fine (and not legal?)
Re: Assassin's Creed Unity Gets a 60FPS Patch on PS5 Tomorrow
@Th3solution 2 or 3 weeks might be when i'm starting a 3 month trek into the Crimson Desert. Being part of the Slow Paced Gamer's Club and wanting to experience many different games is a conundrum we are still yet to solve. How close were we to making 36 hour days a reality? Not close at all, you say? Hmm, we must redouble our efforts on that front as well!
Re: Assassin's Creed Unity Gets a 60FPS Patch on PS5 Tomorrow
@GirlVersusGame @Th3solution I second (or third) this notion!
I think I downloaded it on ps4 and never played it, downloaded it on ps5 and never played it. So now I will download it for a third time and maybe actually play it (lord knows when)
Maybe we should synchronise (lazy pun intended) our playthroughs for motivation 😅
Re: Bandai Namco Teases 'New RPG', to Be Revealed This Week
Looks like their version of Legend of Zelda
Re: Opinion: If Sony's Doubling Down on Its Most Popular Franchises, Where's Uncharted?
@NavalHistorian it was some live-action advert marketing PS5 a few years ago, almost like a soft-relaunch featuring all the franchises with PS5 games that are out or coming soon: spider-man 2, God of War: Ragnarok, Horizon FW etc. But it also featured a woman with a torch, which didn't directly resemble any Sony ps5 game, so people thought it meant it was Uncharted 5 and that would be announced at some point. But then it wasn't.
https://youtu.be/01Exo-_rbCA?si=XUbufjROkCEwcQb3
You could still look back at it and say "well, there's some Samurai types riding away from a burning location" which could have been a Yotei hint way before it's release, if one wanted to revive such rumours of the Torch Woman meaning Uncharted 5 👀 but I wouldn't want to do that...
Also, Enjoy the PS5 😁 Plenty of games to get stuck into for a new owner!
Re: Opinion: If Sony's Doubling Down on Its Most Popular Franchises, Where's Uncharted?
Remember when 'Live from PS5' got everyone excited? 💀
Re: 'It's the Real Deal': Tech Experts Praise PS5 Pro's Upgraded Upscaler
@KoopaTheGamer honestly, thank you for being rational and correct. People don't seem understand how it makes a difference to assets and character models, and how it can make games look flat or dated in certain ways during gameplay. The cutscenes and most of the game will still look good enough, great even, I'm sure. But character models, reflective surfaces, and the overall colouring will still stand out as worse when compared.
Maybe people just don't notice it, or their brains get tricked by the other stuff that does look good, which is fair enough. I know I thought The Witcher 3 looked good, but then they released the RT update patch and I instantly thought, oh... well now it actually looks way better and the old version without RT looks washed out and kind of fake. Sometimes you have to experience the change directly, but it is so obvious when you do. I'm sure if these people had a pro or PC and switched from RT off to On in RE:R they too would see the differences.
And sure, the thumbnail is a bad angle, people, but it is from the actual gameplay with no RT, it is not a lie which seems to be the current general response 🤷♂️
On PS5 Pro: PSSR 2.0 allows for RT global illumination and reflections at 4k 60 output. It is as simple as that. The base ps5 cannot support that, so that is why there is a comparison between RT on and off. For the ps5 to reach 60fps, using FSR like upscaling, the PS5 has to sacrifice the RT lighting and reflections and in some places this will stick out like a sore thumb
For anyone curious:
https://youtu.be/JGkGscHxZzU?si=KYMmOYLHqipPfVa4
This is a video of RT off/RT On/Path Tracing on. It is the same game with the same graphical settings recorded on the same PC. I challenge anyone to pretend it isn't any different 💀
Re: 'It's the Real Deal': Tech Experts Praise PS5 Pro's Upgraded Upscaler
@djlard maybe people like it because it doesn't do that? What it actually does is make it more natural and immersive, and make it look like people and objects belong in the environment. The previous lighting techniques usually leave games artificially lit/washed out or simply dull with less depth in comparison.
RT on vs Off example from Digital Foundry:
