@wildcat_kickz
"The same is true for Hogwarts (though the mob came from the other side, in that case)"
An excellent case of you shouldn't judge a book by its cover!
And just as little aside, I don't know if you have read the books, but I thought there was a nice little 'touch', when the devs allowed you to turn Expelliarmus - the authors ultimate hero do no harm spell, which held a special place in the lore as Harry used it, even when told off for doing so in dangerous situations - into a damaging curse!...
Allowing the use of Avada Kedavra wasn't enough...lol
@wildcat_kickz As I say, I did really enjoy DAV as a whole - I looked past some of the bad writing (sad, because I think there was good writing in there too, even if it wasn't that deep).
Maybe it helped on my part that having found the previous games so forgettable - I went in without expectations. But I'm not sure how many who felt like I did about the previous games would have bought DAV. At the same time, I can easily see how the tone shift could alienate long term fans. Such is the problem with game series! Change things too much and people have issues - don't change them enough and people complain!
It did however get far too much bad 'press' (I use that phrase hesitantly given where the real hate was coming from), and was hard done by, based on 1 own goal.
Oh and I totally get what you mean by inclusion without labels being a good method.
@wildcat_kickz I do know what you mean, it just didn't bother me too much most of the time. As I said, I enjoyed the tone, but it could have done with a bit more seriousness and darker humour at times.
I think where you are coming from is that the writers lacked any form of subtlety at times - though not all the time. If they wanted to include a message, they sometimes were very 'ham fisted' with how they wrote it in. Though it did, as it normally does, infuriate me when some people kept referencing that 1 scene over and over to try and prove (or score) their point (admittedly it was dire though, because even the most well intentioned people put their foot in it from time to time).
Curiously (considering a certain authors views), I thought that Hogwarts Legacy (which is a particular favourite of mine), did a much better job of messaging. Subtle in the most part, with you having to piece together parts of peoples backgrounds from a number of sources. The writers also often did a good job of making you care, rather than telling you you should. Also, for a game which on the surface is quite tame, there are some seriously dark undertones in places as well. The trouble being a few scenes are messed up because of voice actor direction in my opinion.
@wildcat_kickz The gameplay, specifically the combat and combat styles, felt the biggest improvement to me. I don't know if some aren't as interesting as others - I played as a Spellblade mage.
Whilst DAV had a few cringy moments, and did have a fair bit of bloat, I did find it enjoyable, and fun. I did mostly like the tone, even if I would have liked to have seen more dark humour (I played as a Crow, which I thought fitted the spellblade nicely), and for more to have been made of your background. A couple of the characters came off as annoying sometimes, and I definitely had favourites.
The thing is, previous entries were just almost completely forgettable to me - literally, they made no impact on me whatsoever. It actually makes it very hard for me to compare why! I only vaguely remember a few small parts of DAI, in fact my main memory is being fairly bored by it for periods of time, particularly in the latter half.
Personally I thought Veilguard was the best out of all the DA games, so the upgrades to the earlier games would have to be pretty significant across the board to get me to buy in (more remake as opposed to remaster).
@AdamNovice Personally, I thought SM2 was Miles (Pun intended) better than SM1.
I suppose you could argue that the core storyline in SM1 was a tiny bit better in places, but I just felt the execution overall throughout the game was much better for SM2.
The Side quests were far better in SM2, in the most part, and I found the new map areas to be a vast improvement over those carried over from 1. Technically, SM2 was a modest improvement over MM, and a bigger upgrade from the PS5 remaster of 1.
My only criticism is that the symbiote enemies tended to be too spongy, but they didn't overstay their welcome like some of SM1 did.
@LurkerNoMore You can agree on Sony's policy if you wish. From a business standpoint it may not be financially viable for them, or there may be laws etc that they can't be bothered to jump through hoops for, etc. But it sounds like you are blaming people, who may be less fortunate than you, for being born in the wrong country.
RE Requiem is still my favourite game so far this year. I'm just hoping Onimusha is another fantastic job by Capcom as I have played and enjoyed most (if not all) this series.
@ButteredCrumpet
It's funny. I have little interest in the game - I always thought the GTA games were highly overrated (except 1 which I think was SA), and if it isn't 60fps I won't be buying, period.
But, despite this being a very high profile game, following Sony's 'future' digital template (as far as we know), I see virtually no calls for a boycott or anything similar whatsoever. In fact, I think I have seen (and bare in mind I don't have mainstream Social media) more hate directed at the likes of Wolverine, which has a physical version?!?
I would have expected this game to be the absolute focal point of this campaign... I'm pretty sure Sony will be watching.
So, is everyone who signed petitions or made comments (negatively) about Sony's decision to stop physical discs, refusing to purchase this game in any of its (digital) formats, and cancelling pre-orders already made?
I'm very skeptical of Xbox at the moment so will be awaiting the digital foundry comparison video before I think about purchasing. Most notably whether they have properly implemented Pro enhancements including the use of PSSR (2 obviously).
@ShadowRJ I don't actually see this as such a bad idea - I just see it as unlikely to succeed due to numbers.
If enough people are invested enough in physical media it could succeed.
Sony do measure metrics of this, so it could be very noticeable to them.
It also involves the user 'going without' so proves a strength of conviction, that other more disruptive methods like being loud/rude online do not.
It is at least a far more civil response than some things we have heard about.
It would be even more interesting if Sony themselves retweeted the above - effectively a 'put up or shut up' move.
I still say the best method is for physical buyers to buy physical to get numbers up, not buy digital (or codes in boxes etc), and not make exception for GTA6 or similar (which could be seen by Sony).
NB you are quite right when you said physical buyers should buy Wolverine on disc - if physical buyers boycott this game, digital users will not, and the data will heavily skew towards digital. There seem to be a lot of people missing this point.
NB2 when I talk about people being rude etc, I am not talking about yourself. I know you are firmly behind Discs, have strong feelings, and comment frequently, but you have always seemed open to discussion, and well intentioned to me.
I won't be joining in - I'm interested in changes to digital policy, not discs. However, it isn't a bad idea I suppose, and certainly much better and more civil than a lot of what we have seen.
@Topov81 The trouble with that is that, unless something has changed of course, the 'physical' edition of GTA6 is a digital code in a box.
According to Sony's announcement, digital codes will be sold by retailers, once discs are stopped, meaning GTA6 is effectively following the template of what Sony are planning. Therefore any purchase of GTA6 could be seen as an acceptance of Sony's plans.
I'm not saying thats a good or bad thing, and I'm certainly not having a go. My main point is that we keep hearing about this boycott, or that boycott, but yet I suspect a lot of people are making exceptions where it truly counts, not to mention that if everyone shows their displeasure in different ways, Sony won't notice anyway.
NB, I have yet to read the article "Angry Playstation Fans propose PS5 Blackout..."
@get2sammyb Its definitely going to be a game I'm going to be paying attention to your review on, and maybe buy on sale.
I used to be very much into fighting games, but in recent years, they need a strong single player mode to get my interest. (Whereas perfect balancing is not a major concern). The SF6 World Tour mode with its character creator, and picking moves / attack style was right up my street (pun not intended). I bought it at the end of Yr1 (the game+yr1 edition), enjoyed it, and bought Yr2 and Yr3 DLC's.
@Topov81
The thing I keep wondering (and I'm being genuine here) is how many people have active GTA6 pre-orders, yet will be 'campaigning' vociferously for Physical.
They don't see the fact that Sony can likely see just what % of normal physical users will make exceptions.
Sony will definitely see how many pre-orders of GTA6 have been cancelled after their announcement.
Its almost as stupid as those who are attempting to boycott Sony games - the physical buyers will boycott, the digital users will not, leading to a massive skew towards digital user %.
Actually, (in terms of sending a message) the most sensible thing would be for physical users to buy physical versions of Sony games, even if they weren't intending to, to bump up those physical %'s.
@The_Hooligan You are quite right of course - it just feels like a bit of a cop out, particularly regarding Odin and Brok.
Brok's soul was lost as it was only 3/4 complete, so I suppose it could have traveled here by accident, but that doesn't help Sindri.
Odin is more complicated.
We were led to believe that Odins soul was destroyed completely, via the smashing of the sphere Atreus had trapped his soul in. But then they put in that (imo foreshadowing) scene of Atreus meeting the 2nd Raven (the 1st being dead). If I am correct, that raven now contains Odins soul, which wasn't destroyed - it escaped when the sphere was smashed and entered the Raven Odin was already bound with. For him to end up meeting Laufey, the Raven would need to be killed, thus freeing Odins soul to pass on.
On top of this, by the end of Ragnarok, Atreus was positioned as the key protagonist as far as Odin was concerned. All 3 hurt him, but it was Atreus that destroyed the mask which was so important to Odin, then finished him off (not counting Sindri's sphere smashing revenge). Also it was Atreus he had spent quite a long time with over the course of the story.
Thematically it would have made sense, if Odin survived, for him (though weakened) to be the main antagonist for an Atreus spin off. The father (Kratos) has already defeated the leader of 1 pantheon of gods, now the son will defeat the leader of another pantheon.
You also have the dual name theme - Atreus was Loki to Odin, and there was the scene at the end where Kratos states that Loki is leaving (on his adventure), while Atreus remains (in Kratos' heart).
Still quite annoyed we aren't getting an Atreus spin off first.
There were a lot of loose threads at the end of Ragnarok, including:
Atreus's quest to restore the Giants.
Odin may not be dead (with soul destroyed)! One of his ravens survived - Atreus talks to it after, and that could easily contain Odin's disembodied Soul.
Sindri (and maybe even Brok's) storyline was clearly not finished.
Not to mention the whole GOWR game felt like a passing of the torch.
And, unlike a few, I liked the Atreus character - he still had some growing to do of course, but that was kind of the whole point - he was very young. I actually thought he had far more mileage left as a character than Kratos.
@Boxmonkey Just to add to what @Shepherd_Tallon said, make sure you do the side content quite near the end of ragnarok, in the crater area of vanaheim. The only way to access this area is to do a side quest called "scent of survival", where you have to follow a dog. This then opens out a whole section of the map.
There is some interesting lore about Laufey in this area, which I can only assume will link to the new game.
@Pat_trick
"You're defining 'more choice' purely as 'more purchasing configurations,' while ignoring the quality of those choices."
Before this generation, Customers did not have the option of buying a Sony console without a disc drive - by them introducing optional drives everyone now has that choice.
That is not a buying configuration- that is a new option/choice.
They first did this with 2 separate models, which was not ideal as you couldn't easily add a disc drive later if you originally bought digital and changed their mind. They remedied that with Slim and Pro.
Are these extra choices in favour of digital users - yes, but not at the real detriment physical buyers. Of course they wanted to add more options for digital users - why would anyone want to pay extra for a disc drive they are not going to use, and with digital users increasing, and physical buyers decreasing, they had to act and increase options.
"But physical buyers lost an integrated drive and gained a separate purchase, an online activation requirement, and another piece of hardware that depends on Sony's continued support."
These things aren't exactly difficult to fit, and they come with a nice cover that perfectly integrates them. Its not like they need connecting with a cable away from the console taking up additional space. They need a one time connection to link.
Even if every PS5 had a disc drive, Sony would still be able to stop supporting discs in a year and a half.
In terms of the future.
I am still on the fence about their decision to stop supporting discs, and I will be until I see what plans they have in regards to digital.
I understand Sony's decision will upset those who still only buy discs.
I will add though that some of the extreme silliness I have heard and read does not really endear this cause to me, and that includes people attacking / insulting those who don't see Sony's decision as wrong. There has been some incredibly bad behaviour from some, even here on this site (in comments sections).
To a lot of people, Sony's decision is just the next logical step due to decreasing physical sales. I am not quite in this 'camp" either though.
I said, from pretty early on that if physical users want to send a message to Sony, they should do this in a noticeable way, refusing to buy digital (particularly in the case of games like GTA6 where there is no other option). I would even extend this to games that don't put the whole code on the disc, although I would not include Indie/ small dev teams who realistically have no choice.
If there truly are enough people to whom discs are important, Sony will notice.
The trouble is other options people are taking are not being helpful. The bombarding of comments may just look like a loud angry minority. Boycotting Sony games will actually skew sales heavily towards Digital (if physical buyers don't buy, digital buyers still will). And 'kicking the can down the road' when people say they won't buy PS6 won't be noticed by anyone.
@Pat_trick I'm not confusing anything. And to reiterate, as per my original post, I am not talking about what happens in a year and a half (as we do not know the full details yet) - I am talking purely about the change to make the disc drive an optional add on, as you were in the post I replied to.
Customers didnt have the choice to save some money and buy a console without a disc drive, and now (after this change to disc drives being optional), customers do. That is more choice.
What's more, from the slim onwards Sony made it so that even if you want to add (or replace) a disc drive later, you could - more choice.
You have had (for years) the option to buy a console with a disc drive, and you still do. Thus "preserving the functionality people already had". I don't see a one off linking as much of an inconvenience.
I didn't say that the move to optional disc drives had increased choice for Physical buyers - I said it had increased choice for consumers / gamers ie overall. It is yourself that is blinded by your own point of view, as you seem to only consider physical buyers. I'm not even considering that physical disc purchases are now firmly in the minority. The decision to make the disc drive optional did not remove any choice from yourself as a physical disc user, but it gave extra choice to those who don't want a disc drive, thus overall, choice was increased.
@ShadowRJ RE your post #180 I'm fully with you on the subject of optional drives.
Back when I had an Xbox360, I had 2 consoles die from disc drive errors. (It didn't do Xbox any favours when I made my decision to return to Sony for PS4). 1 under warranty, 1 not - even though the first didn't cost me anything, it was still a hassle. A replaceable disc drive would have saved me a lot of money/hassle.
PS I also agree with you on games that become non functional due to devs shutting down servers, when parts of them can be 'saved'.
@Pat_trick Its a fantastic thing that Sony removed the disc drive. Now a lot of people don't have to pay for a disc drive they will never use.
If you want a disc drive, you can buy one and add it on.
If Sony were not to offer an Optional add on disc drive for PS6, and with no method of converting a disc into a digital licence, I would say that would be a bit silly on their part due to some users's disc based back catalogues. BUT, this is not a reality yet - we know nothing of their plans in this area.
@Boucho11 I think you have misread what I was saying. My point was that the physical supporters who are trying to boycott Sony / this game are not doing themselves / their cause any good whatsoever.
@ShadowRJ And I'm sorry but genuine Physical Supporters should support and campaign for the Physical version of this game, and boycott any AAA (or maybe AA) game that doesn't have a physical version instead.
Anything else, and they will prove Sony right, and destroy their own cause: ie if Physical supporters don't buy, digital gamers still will, and this will massively skew the sales figures towards Digital. If overall sales are affected, Sony won't notice - they will just think there is less interest in Wolverine or something similar.
@Swandivetotheasphalt @wildcat_kickz I thought we had already seen provisional specs and that the handheld was indeed somewhat less powerful than base PS5 - though it may have the ability to run a version of PSSR, which if so, could be a game changer. I might be wrong and am only going off memory.
I agree with what a few others have said - they may talk about someone providing the majority of the original budget and that the comments "cannot be considered an accurate reflection", however, at no point do they outright state that Xbox didn't pay a sum for exclusivity that was greater than the development cost of the game.
To me, this just gives credence to the original comments made about how much Xbox paid. They say a lot, but don't actually deny the claim made.
I got a tiny bit bored of themes - I think I actually prefer the individual game windows / backgrounds (particularly with music). It was nice when Sony added the anniversary themes for PS5, but I soon reverted to standard. I also used the log fire background on the welcome screen over Xmas.
It probably does have a lot to do with the hardware, but the PS4 UI was painfully slow, and perhaps even more so on 4Pro (as every time you come out of a game it had to shift data out of the slow RAM into the main RAM - something that doesn't cause an issue on 5Pro). But, I also find PS5 less cumbersome.
@ElPenitente I never had a PS3, and didn't spend long enough on one to comment. But I did have a PS4 / 4Pro, and was certainly not disappointed when I first saw the PS5 UI.
Personally, I've always thought PS5 was a much better UI system than PS4. Much easier to get to where I want to go for things, and quickly see what I want to see.
Not to mention that the PS4 UI was really slow and clunky (almost broken feeling at times near the end of the gen), but thats likely more to do with the SSD, and memory transfer speed.
Themes were OK, but I like the individual game windows - particularly if they have their own music (which a lot of the games I play do).
The welcome page is decent enough, with a couple of widgets I like to use.
The trouble is (as I see it), that Sony mentioned about retailers selling digital codes, yet some clearly did not read / listen to that part. So if Sony do speak out, how much will get 'missed' or 'misinterpreted'.
It is a very difficult one, and they will have to tell people their plans at some point.
@MidnightDragonDX I think it will calm down after a bit. You can already see that a lot of people are getting tired of all of the sillyness.
And, I do (very much) agree with your point that people should vote with their wallets. But as I said earlier today, I wonder if that is having any impact, or if people are 'making exceptions' (like keeping / making pre orders for certain digital only games) thinking Sony can't see this behaviour.
@ButteredCrumpet
If it were me, I would have given more info in the first place.
However, after the vocal backlash, I probably would have gone silent - why bother when some won't listen. And I would likely stay silent until things calmed down.
Btw, you forgot that those trophies aren't permanent and can be removed by Sony at any time. Lol.
@Northern_munkey I'm not p*ssed either. In fact the only thing that even annoys me is how badly a few of those in support of this "cause' have behaved.
I'm just waiting until we get some answers to their plans around digital.
@Zuljaras And there is NO evidence to suggest Sony will have or are after a monopoly.
In fact, the opposite is true and there is evidence against this - the already stated digital codes available for retailers to sell - thus no monopoly.
(Not to mention, I'm quite sure Sony and their legal team know they wouldn't be allowed to get away with a monopoly).
Comments 3,883
Re: Amidst Sony's Disc Debacle, Capcom Sales Data Is a Brutal Reality Check for Fans of Physical Media
I agree with the figure being calculated by some based on this data (assuming PC is all digital) that 20% of console sales here are physical.
But, I just don't know how financially sustainable this is, given the initial outlay.
It needs to be taken into consideration that Physical is in decline, and 1 and a half years from now, this 20% will be lower.
Re: Dragon Age Can't Get the Mass Effect Remaster Treatment Because of Dev Difficulties
@wildcat_kickz
"The same is true for Hogwarts (though the mob came from the other side, in that case)"
An excellent case of you shouldn't judge a book by its cover!
And just as little aside, I don't know if you have read the books, but I thought there was a nice little 'touch', when the devs allowed you to turn Expelliarmus - the authors ultimate hero do no harm spell, which held a special place in the lore as Harry used it, even when told off for doing so in dangerous situations - into a damaging curse!...
Allowing the use of Avada Kedavra wasn't enough...lol
Re: Dragon Age Can't Get the Mass Effect Remaster Treatment Because of Dev Difficulties
@wildcat_kickz
As I say, I did really enjoy DAV as a whole - I looked past some of the bad writing (sad, because I think there was good writing in there too, even if it wasn't that deep).
Maybe it helped on my part that having found the previous games so forgettable - I went in without expectations. But I'm not sure how many who felt like I did about the previous games would have bought DAV.
At the same time, I can easily see how the tone shift could alienate long term fans.
Such is the problem with game series! Change things too much and people have issues - don't change them enough and people complain!
It did however get far too much bad 'press' (I use that phrase hesitantly given where the real hate was coming from), and was hard done by, based on 1 own goal.
Oh and I totally get what you mean by inclusion without labels being a good method.
Re: Dragon Age Can't Get the Mass Effect Remaster Treatment Because of Dev Difficulties
@wildcat_kickz
I do know what you mean, it just didn't bother me too much most of the time.
As I said, I enjoyed the tone, but it could have done with a bit more seriousness and darker humour at times.
I think where you are coming from is that the writers lacked any form of subtlety at times - though not all the time. If they wanted to include a message, they sometimes were very 'ham fisted' with how they wrote it in.
Though it did, as it normally does, infuriate me when some people kept referencing that 1 scene over and over to try and prove (or score) their point (admittedly it was dire though, because even the most well intentioned people put their foot in it from time to time).
Curiously (considering a certain authors views), I thought that Hogwarts Legacy (which is a particular favourite of mine), did a much better job of messaging. Subtle in the most part, with you having to piece together parts of peoples backgrounds from a number of sources.
The writers also often did a good job of making you care, rather than telling you you should.
Also, for a game which on the surface is quite tame, there are some seriously dark undertones in places as well.
The trouble being a few scenes are messed up because of voice actor direction in my opinion.
Re: Dragon Age Can't Get the Mass Effect Remaster Treatment Because of Dev Difficulties
@wildcat_kickz
Oh and part of what I was meaning is as you suggested - if they were to do these games, I would like to see coherence in the gameplay.
Re: Dragon Age Can't Get the Mass Effect Remaster Treatment Because of Dev Difficulties
@wildcat_kickz
The gameplay, specifically the combat and combat styles, felt the biggest improvement to me. I don't know if some aren't as interesting as others - I played as a Spellblade mage.
Whilst DAV had a few cringy moments, and did have a fair bit of bloat, I did find it enjoyable, and fun.
I did mostly like the tone, even if I would have liked to have seen more dark humour (I played as a Crow, which I thought fitted the spellblade nicely), and for more to have been made of your background.
A couple of the characters came off as annoying sometimes, and I definitely had favourites.
The thing is, previous entries were just almost completely forgettable to me - literally, they made no impact on me whatsoever. It actually makes it very hard for me to compare why!
I only vaguely remember a few small parts of DAI, in fact my main memory is being fairly bored by it for periods of time, particularly in the latter half.
Re: Dragon Age Can't Get the Mass Effect Remaster Treatment Because of Dev Difficulties
Personally I thought Veilguard was the best out of all the DA games, so the upgrades to the earlier games would have to be pretty significant across the board to get me to buy in (more remake as opposed to remaster).
Re: Spider-Man 2 Gets Enhanced PS5 Pro Support Today, Plus New Suits
@AdamNovice
Personally, I thought SM2 was Miles (Pun intended) better than SM1.
I suppose you could argue that the core storyline in SM1 was a tiny bit better in places, but I just felt the execution overall throughout the game was much better for SM2.
The Side quests were far better in SM2, in the most part, and I found the new map areas to be a vast improvement over those carried over from 1.
Technically, SM2 was a modest improvement over MM, and a bigger upgrade from the PS5 remaster of 1.
My only criticism is that the symbiote enemies tended to be too spongy, but they didn't overstay their welcome like some of SM1 did.
Re: GTA 6 Region Locks Raise More Questions About PSN's Flaky Infrastructure
@LurkerNoMore
You can agree on Sony's policy if you wish. From a business standpoint it may not be financially viable for them, or there may be laws etc that they can't be bothered to jump through hoops for, etc.
But it sounds like you are blaming people, who may be less fortunate than you, for being born in the wrong country.
Re: Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata Get Updated Sales Figures as Capcom Stays Winning
RE Requiem is still my favourite game so far this year.
I'm just hoping Onimusha is another fantastic job by Capcom as I have played and enjoyed most (if not all) this series.
Re: GTA 6 Region Locks Raise More Questions About PSN's Flaky Infrastructure
@LurkerNoMore
"or moved away by this point it's entirely on them."
Immigration form
Reason for Immigration request (eg Family, Work): "You have PSN in your country, I don't in mine"
I doubt this would be an acceptable reason?! Plus, I'm sure people will be queuing to leave their countries/ families just for PSN access.
Re: GTA 6 Region Locks Raise More Questions About PSN's Flaky Infrastructure
@ShadowRJ
My backlog will be stacked by the time it comes out!
Re: GTA 6 Region Locks Raise More Questions About PSN's Flaky Infrastructure
@ButteredCrumpet
It's funny. I have little interest in the game - I always thought the GTA games were highly overrated (except 1 which I think was SA), and if it isn't 60fps I won't be buying, period.
But, despite this being a very high profile game, following Sony's 'future' digital template (as far as we know), I see virtually no calls for a boycott or anything similar whatsoever. In fact, I think I have seen (and bare in mind I don't have mainstream Social media) more hate directed at the likes of Wolverine, which has a physical version?!?
I would have expected this game to be the absolute focal point of this campaign... I'm pretty sure Sony will be watching.
Re: GTA 6 Region Locks Raise More Questions About PSN's Flaky Infrastructure
So, is everyone who signed petitions or made comments (negatively) about Sony's decision to stop physical discs, refusing to purchase this game in any of its (digital) formats, and cancelling pre-orders already made?
Re: 'The Way It Was Meant to Be Heard': Tone-Deaf Sony Pushes Vinyl Turntable After Killing Physical Games
Lol, Sony marketing at its best here....
(To be fair its been awful most of the generation, except some of the advertising dept, so we shouldn't have expected much better).
Re: Fable PS5 Has Run 'Uncomfortably Beyond Budget', Sources Claim
I'm very skeptical of Xbox at the moment so will be awaiting the digital foundry comparison video before I think about purchasing. Most notably whether they have properly implemented Pro enhancements including the use of PSSR (2 obviously).
Re: Angry PlayStation Fans Propose PS5 Blackout in Protest of Sony's Disc Decision
@ShadowRJ
I don't actually see this as such a bad idea - I just see it as unlikely to succeed due to numbers.
If enough people are invested enough in physical media it could succeed.
It would be even more interesting if Sony themselves retweeted the above - effectively a 'put up or shut up' move.
I still say the best method is for physical buyers to buy physical to get numbers up, not buy digital (or codes in boxes etc), and not make exception for GTA6 or similar (which could be seen by Sony).
NB you are quite right when you said physical buyers should buy Wolverine on disc - if physical buyers boycott this game, digital users will not, and the data will heavily skew towards digital. There seem to be a lot of people missing this point.
NB2 when I talk about people being rude etc, I am not talking about yourself. I know you are firmly behind Discs, have strong feelings, and comment frequently, but you have always seemed open to discussion, and well intentioned to me.
Re: Angry PlayStation Fans Propose PS5 Blackout in Protest of Sony's Disc Decision
I won't be joining in - I'm interested in changes to digital policy, not discs. However, it isn't a bad idea I suppose, and certainly much better and more civil than a lot of what we have seen.
Re: 'If People Want It, Companies Should Provide It': Rockstar Co-Founder Dan Houser Joins PS5 Disc Debate
@Topov81
The trouble with that is that, unless something has changed of course, the 'physical' edition of GTA6 is a digital code in a box.
According to Sony's announcement, digital codes will be sold by retailers, once discs are stopped, meaning GTA6 is effectively following the template of what Sony are planning. Therefore any purchase of GTA6 could be seen as an acceptance of Sony's plans.
I'm not saying thats a good or bad thing, and I'm certainly not having a go.
My main point is that we keep hearing about this boycott, or that boycott, but yet I suspect a lot of people are making exceptions where it truly counts, not to mention that if everyone shows their displeasure in different ways, Sony won't notice anyway.
NB, I have yet to read the article "Angry Playstation Fans propose PS5 Blackout..."
Re: Poll: Are You Buying Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls?
@get2sammyb
Its definitely going to be a game I'm going to be paying attention to your review on, and maybe buy on sale.
I used to be very much into fighting games, but in recent years, they need a strong single player mode to get my interest. (Whereas perfect balancing is not a major concern).
The SF6 World Tour mode with its character creator, and picking moves / attack style was right up my street (pun not intended).
I bought it at the end of Yr1 (the game+yr1 edition), enjoyed it, and bought Yr2 and Yr3 DLC's.
Re: Poll: Are You Buying Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls?
Unless a fighting game has a very strong single player mode like SF6's World Tour, I'm just not interested in them any more.
Re: 'If People Want It, Companies Should Provide It': Rockstar Co-Founder Dan Houser Joins PS5 Disc Debate
@Topov81
The thing I keep wondering (and I'm being genuine here) is how many people have active GTA6 pre-orders, yet will be 'campaigning' vociferously for Physical.
They don't see the fact that Sony can likely see just what % of normal physical users will make exceptions.
Sony will definitely see how many pre-orders of GTA6 have been cancelled after their announcement.
Its almost as stupid as those who are attempting to boycott Sony games - the physical buyers will boycott, the digital users will not, leading to a massive skew towards digital user %.
Actually, (in terms of sending a message) the most sensible thing would be for physical users to buy physical versions of Sony games, even if they weren't intending to, to bump up those physical %'s.
Re: 'It's Setting Up for Something So Amazing': Sony Confirms New God of War Starring Kratos
@The_Hooligan
You are quite right of course - it just feels like a bit of a cop out, particularly regarding Odin and Brok.
Brok's soul was lost as it was only 3/4 complete, so I suppose it could have traveled here by accident, but that doesn't help Sindri.
Odin is more complicated.
We were led to believe that Odins soul was destroyed completely, via the smashing of the sphere Atreus had trapped his soul in.
But then they put in that (imo foreshadowing) scene of Atreus meeting the 2nd Raven (the 1st being dead). If I am correct, that raven now contains Odins soul, which wasn't destroyed - it escaped when the sphere was smashed and entered the Raven Odin was already bound with.
For him to end up meeting Laufey, the Raven would need to be killed, thus freeing Odins soul to pass on.
On top of this, by the end of Ragnarok, Atreus was positioned as the key protagonist as far as Odin was concerned. All 3 hurt him, but it was Atreus that destroyed the mask which was so important to Odin, then finished him off (not counting Sindri's sphere smashing revenge). Also it was Atreus he had spent quite a long time with over the course of the story.
Thematically it would have made sense, if Odin survived, for him (though weakened) to be the main antagonist for an Atreus spin off. The father (Kratos) has already defeated the leader of 1 pantheon of gods, now the son will defeat the leader of another pantheon.
You also have the dual name theme - Atreus was Loki to Odin, and there was the scene at the end where Kratos states that Loki is leaving (on his adventure), while Atreus remains (in Kratos' heart).
Re: 'It's Setting Up for Something So Amazing': Sony Confirms New God of War Starring Kratos
Still quite annoyed we aren't getting an Atreus spin off first.
There were a lot of loose threads at the end of Ragnarok, including:
Not to mention the whole GOWR game felt like a passing of the torch.
And, unlike a few, I liked the Atreus character - he still had some growing to do of course, but that was kind of the whole point - he was very young. I actually thought he had far more mileage left as a character than Kratos.
Re: PS5's Next Big Exclusive Dated, and It's Closer Than You Think
@Boxmonkey
Just to add to what @Shepherd_Tallon said, make sure you do the side content quite near the end of ragnarok, in the crater area of vanaheim.
The only way to access this area is to do a side quest called "scent of survival", where you have to follow a dog. This then opens out a whole section of the map.
There is some interesting lore about Laufey in this area, which I can only assume will link to the new game.
Re: PSN Was Down for 6+ Hours, But All Services Now Up and Running
@Pat_trick
"You're defining 'more choice' purely as 'more purchasing configurations,' while ignoring the quality of those choices."
Before this generation, Customers did not have the option of buying a Sony console without a disc drive - by them introducing optional drives everyone now has that choice.
That is not a buying configuration- that is a new option/choice.
They first did this with 2 separate models, which was not ideal as you couldn't easily add a disc drive later if you originally bought digital and changed their mind. They remedied that with Slim and Pro.
Are these extra choices in favour of digital users - yes, but not at the real detriment physical buyers. Of course they wanted to add more options for digital users - why would anyone want to pay extra for a disc drive they are not going to use, and with digital users increasing, and physical buyers decreasing, they had to act and increase options.
"But physical buyers lost an integrated drive and gained a separate purchase, an online activation requirement, and another piece of hardware that depends on Sony's continued support."
These things aren't exactly difficult to fit, and they come with a nice cover that perfectly integrates them. Its not like they need connecting with a cable away from the console taking up additional space. They need a one time connection to link.
Even if every PS5 had a disc drive, Sony would still be able to stop supporting discs in a year and a half.
In terms of the future.
I am still on the fence about their decision to stop supporting discs, and I will be until I see what plans they have in regards to digital.
I understand Sony's decision will upset those who still only buy discs.
I will add though that some of the extreme silliness I have heard and read does not really endear this cause to me, and that includes people attacking / insulting those who don't see Sony's decision as wrong. There has been some incredibly bad behaviour from some, even here on this site (in comments sections).
To a lot of people, Sony's decision is just the next logical step due to decreasing physical sales. I am not quite in this 'camp" either though.
I said, from pretty early on that if physical users want to send a message to Sony, they should do this in a noticeable way, refusing to buy digital (particularly in the case of games like GTA6 where there is no other option). I would even extend this to games that don't put the whole code on the disc, although I would not include Indie/ small dev teams who realistically have no choice.
If there truly are enough people to whom discs are important, Sony will notice.
The trouble is other options people are taking are not being helpful. The bombarding of comments may just look like a loud angry minority. Boycotting Sony games will actually skew sales heavily towards Digital (if physical buyers don't buy, digital buyers still will). And 'kicking the can down the road' when people say they won't buy PS6 won't be noticed by anyone.
Re: PSN Down for 6+ Hours, PS Store Still Being Repaired
@Pat_trick
I'm not confusing anything.
And to reiterate, as per my original post, I am not talking about what happens in a year and a half (as we do not know the full details yet) - I am talking purely about the change to make the disc drive an optional add on, as you were in the post I replied to.
Customers didnt have the choice to save some money and buy a console without a disc drive, and now (after this change to disc drives being optional), customers do. That is more choice.
What's more, from the slim onwards Sony made it so that even if you want to add (or replace) a disc drive later, you could - more choice.
You have had (for years) the option to buy a console with a disc drive, and you still do. Thus "preserving the functionality people already had". I don't see a one off linking as much of an inconvenience.
I didn't say that the move to optional disc drives had increased choice for Physical buyers - I said it had increased choice for consumers / gamers ie overall.
It is yourself that is blinded by your own point of view, as you seem to only consider physical buyers.
I'm not even considering that physical disc purchases are now firmly in the minority.
The decision to make the disc drive optional did not remove any choice from yourself as a physical disc user, but it gave extra choice to those who don't want a disc drive, thus overall, choice was increased.
Re: 007 First Light Updated with New TacSim Missions, Available Now on PS5
My number 2 GOTY so far, just behind RE Requiem, and finally a very Bond feeling 007 game.
Re: PSN Down for 4+ Hours, Sony 'Working to Resolve Issues'
@Pat_trick
No, I see much greater choice in the current situation.
Now, I (and many others) don't have to pay extra for a console, just to have a disc drive that I am not going to use.
But, if I were to suddenly decide I wanted a drive, I can buy one and add it on (with a simple, one time only verification).
That's adding flexibility and choice for me as a consumer, and saving me money as well!
Re: PSN Down for 4+ Hours, Sony 'Working to Resolve Issues'
@ShadowRJ
RE your post #180
I'm fully with you on the subject of optional drives.
Back when I had an Xbox360, I had 2 consoles die from disc drive errors. (It didn't do Xbox any favours when I made my decision to return to Sony for PS4).
1 under warranty, 1 not - even though the first didn't cost me anything, it was still a hassle. A replaceable disc drive would have saved me a lot of money/hassle.
PS I also agree with you on games that become non functional due to devs shutting down servers, when parts of them can be 'saved'.
Re: PSN Down for 4+ Hours, Sony 'Working to Resolve Issues'
@Pat_trick
Its a fantastic thing that Sony removed the disc drive.
Now a lot of people don't have to pay for a disc drive they will never use.
If you want a disc drive, you can buy one and add it on.
If Sony were not to offer an Optional add on disc drive for PS6, and with no method of converting a disc into a digital licence, I would say that would be a bit silly on their part due to some users's disc based back catalogues. BUT, this is not a reality yet - we know nothing of their plans in this area.
Re: PSN Down for 4+ Hours, Sony 'Working to Resolve Issues'
Just rechecked, and things are sometimes working, but only intermittently.
I am still having no issue whatsoever launching games bought digitally.
Still having issues with:
Re: PSN Down But Slowly Recovering After Amazon Web Services Outage
Just booted up for 1st time today (after update 2 above)
Re: There's No Doubt About It, Wolverine PS5 Looks Awesome
@Boucho11
I think you have misread what I was saying.
My point was that the physical supporters who are trying to boycott Sony / this game are not doing themselves / their cause any good whatsoever.
Re: There's No Doubt About It, Wolverine PS5 Looks Awesome
@ShadowRJ
And I'm sorry but genuine Physical Supporters should support and campaign for the Physical version of this game, and boycott any AAA (or maybe AA) game that doesn't have a physical version instead.
Anything else, and they will prove Sony right, and destroy their own cause: ie if Physical supporters don't buy, digital gamers still will, and this will massively skew the sales figures towards Digital. If overall sales are affected, Sony won't notice - they will just think there is less interest in Wolverine or something similar.
Re: There's No Doubt About It, Wolverine PS5 Looks Awesome
Loved the Spiderman games, and really looking forwards to this one.
(The only other thing to add is that Insomniac really are the absolute pinnacle when it comes to technical standards, visuals and performance)
Re: My Most Anticipated 'Train Sim World 6' Route Is Finally Almost Out on PS5
@get2sammyb
Everyone's an editor these days!
(And I too am just having a friendly laugh)
Re: Horizon PS5 Remaster Updated for Probable PS6 Handheld Support
@Swandivetotheasphalt @wildcat_kickz
I thought we had already seen provisional specs and that the handheld was indeed somewhat less powerful than base PS5 - though it may have the ability to run a version of PSSR, which if so, could be a game changer. I might be wrong and am only going off memory.
Re: Horizon PS5 Remaster Updated for Probable PS6 Handheld Support
I want MORE POWER!
(Sorry, I had to)
Re: STALKER 2 Dev Refutes Claims About Xbox's Funding for Timed Exclusivity
I agree with what a few others have said - they may talk about someone providing the majority of the original budget and that the comments "cannot be considered an accurate reflection", however, at no point do they outright state that Xbox didn't pay a sum for exclusivity that was greater than the development cost of the game.
To me, this just gives credence to the original comments made about how much Xbox paid. They say a lot, but don't actually deny the claim made.
Re: New PS5 Firmware Update Is Available to Download Now, Here's What It Does
@TheArt
Very true.
I got a tiny bit bored of themes - I think I actually prefer the individual game windows / backgrounds (particularly with music).
It was nice when Sony added the anniversary themes for PS5, but I soon reverted to standard. I also used the log fire background on the welcome screen over Xmas.
It probably does have a lot to do with the hardware, but the PS4 UI was painfully slow, and perhaps even more so on 4Pro (as every time you come out of a game it had to shift data out of the slow RAM into the main RAM - something that doesn't cause an issue on 5Pro).
But, I also find PS5 less cumbersome.
Re: Prime Yourself for Marvel's Wolverine on PS5 with This Prequel Comic
As others have said, it would have been better if the comic was included in game, or maybe as part of the digital deluxe release.
Re: New PS5 Firmware Update Is Available to Download Now, Here's What It Does
@ElPenitente
I never had a PS3, and didn't spend long enough on one to comment.
But I did have a PS4 / 4Pro, and was certainly not disappointed when I first saw the PS5 UI.
Re: New PS5 Firmware Update Is Available to Download Now, Here's What It Does
I never understood the dislike of the PS5 UI.
Personally, I've always thought PS5 was a much better UI system than PS4. Much easier to get to where I want to go for things, and quickly see what I want to see.
Not to mention that the PS4 UI was really slow and clunky (almost broken feeling at times near the end of the gen), but thats likely more to do with the SSD, and memory transfer speed.
Themes were OK, but I like the individual game windows - particularly if they have their own music (which a lot of the games I play do).
The welcome page is decent enough, with a couple of widgets I like to use.
The only loss from PS4 was folders.
Re: Sony Imposes 'Strictest Ever Social Media Guidelines' on Staff Due to PS5 Disc Debacle
@ShadowRJ
That is a very fair point.
The trouble is (as I see it), that Sony mentioned about retailers selling digital codes, yet some clearly did not read / listen to that part. So if Sony do speak out, how much will get 'missed' or 'misinterpreted'.
It is a very difficult one, and they will have to tell people their plans at some point.
Re: Sony Imposes 'Strictest Ever Social Media Guidelines' on Staff Due to PS5 Disc Debacle
@MidnightDragonDX
I think it will calm down after a bit.
You can already see that a lot of people are getting tired of all of the sillyness.
And, I do (very much) agree with your point that people should vote with their wallets. But as I said earlier today, I wonder if that is having any impact, or if people are 'making exceptions' (like keeping / making pre orders for certain digital only games) thinking Sony can't see this behaviour.
Re: Sony Imposes 'Strictest Ever Social Media Guidelines' on Staff Due to PS5 Disc Debacle
@ButteredCrumpet
If it were me, I would have given more info in the first place.
However, after the vocal backlash, I probably would have gone silent - why bother when some won't listen. And I would likely stay silent until things calmed down.
Btw, you forgot that those trophies aren't permanent and can be removed by Sony at any time. Lol.
Re: Sony Imposes 'Strictest Ever Social Media Guidelines' on Staff Due to PS5 Disc Debacle
@Northern_munkey
I'm not p*ssed either.
In fact the only thing that even annoys me is how badly a few of those in support of this "cause' have behaved.
I'm just waiting until we get some answers to their plans around digital.
Re: US PS5 Sales Down Almost 20% Year-Over-Year, Rounds Out Tough Month for Industry
19% down at this point in the generation seems pretty expected, if not good going. I seem to remember Sony going all out to sell units last year.
Re: 'They May As Well Eliminate the Hardware Too': Japanese Dev Says Sony 'Doesn't Understand' the Feelings of Fans
@Zuljaras
And there is NO evidence to suggest Sony will have or are after a monopoly.
In fact, the opposite is true and there is evidence against this - the already stated digital codes available for retailers to sell - thus no monopoly.
(Not to mention, I'm quite sure Sony and their legal team know they wouldn't be allowed to get away with a monopoly).