Shepherd_Tallon

@springer17
I had been holding back on Hell is Us because it looked a little stressful, and I tend to save those experiences for FromSoftware games.
It's not frustrating to play then?

@Rodster Welcome to the party!

But yes, your last point about sub burnout is one I've been thinking about a lot lately. That and social media burnout.

I recently deleted all of my social media accounts, and you know what? Nothing happened. The sky didn't turn purple and the far left/right/up/down/woke/anti-woke crowds didn't come for me while I wasn't watching.
Currently I'm subbing to PSN, Crunchyroll, Prime, Netflix, Disney Plus, Sky TV... I can't see myself ever getting rid of PSN or Crunchyroll, but, as with my social media accounts I don't imagine the world will end when I eventually let the rest of them expire without resubbing.
There are too many subs now. The bubble needs to burst.

Just Helldivers this weekend. Although my friend has been trying to convince me for years to play Hollow Knight, and since the sequel came out she's in Hollow Knight overdrive, so I might give the first game a go.

@BearsEatBeets Such a good show. I remember they used to walk us through Meatloaf's stunts on his music videos even.
You can still find them on YouTube btw.

Very often I'm glad I come from a time where we exclusively got our gaming news from magazines or shows like Movies, Games and Videos, when anyone who wanted to comment on something had to write out a letter, think about what they were writing, send it, then wait for a month to maaaaaybe see it in the back of the mag or at the end of the show, and that's if what they wrote was even deemed to be worth posting by the eds.

Is PS5 overpriced atm? Yup. All of the consoles are.
Does this sound like an excuse for the shareholders? Also yep.

@TrollOfWar tbh I think the main reason Sony wanted Haven was because they had some patented online development tech. I remember they seemed more excited about that than the actual game.
So if Fairgames is dead, I reckon Haven is dead.

The last thing Sony needs is another flop, and whether this game is good or not you get the feeling nobody is interested.
I was all for them trying out a few different gaas titles of their own, but they nailed it at the start with Helldivers, MLB and GT7. All pre-existing franchises. Nothing else has been able to stick.

Helldivers is the way. If they're still adamant they need more live service wins then build on Helldivers, fix Bungie and Destiny, maybe revisit the Kadokawa decision and go from there.

Edit: Obligatory "maybe give Factions to Haven" comment.

Wow. I wasn't expecting a 9.
I had cancelled my pre-order (wanted to see what Lost Soul Aside came out like), but I'll order again now.

Taking it easy this weekend. Some Nightreign on PS5 and maybe a little Bulwark (Falconeer Chronicles) on Steam Deck.

I watched the launch trailer earlier and thought the dialogue sounded pretty uninspired.
Access are streaming it right now. I'll give it a look but so far I'm not feeling this one. It never really felt like a Day1 buy for me.
If the combat is fun though I'll pick it up later on sale.

@Oram77 The Baker House and House Beneviento from RE8.
Every time I think to myself I might give 8 another play through, I remember the effin dollhouse.

I've installed it along with the 1.001.001 patch, but after reading this I think I'll just move it over to my external drive and play it in a month or two.

Added it out of curiosity. Be interesting to see if they revoke it.

2027 / 2028 is plenty of time. I'll be a Day 1 buyer, but yeah we still have a lot left to see this gen yet.

Doing a bit of a detox this weekend. At most I'll do a few rounds on Nightreign with my usual group, but other than that I think I'll take a few weeks off games before going back to chasing the plat in FF VII Rebirth.

@carlos82 I remember one occasion before when buying PS1 games on PS5 (that I had previously bought on PS3), a few days later I received an email telling me I had paid for something I already owned and would be getting a refund.

I had to buy Resi 2 this morning, which I thought I already owned. Maybe I'm wrong but it'll be interesting to see if I get the email again.

Resi 3 was just available for download though. I even looked for an option to pay for it but there was nothing 🤷‍♂️

@Titntin Exactly this.
It's hindsight presented as a revelation.
We all know they went a bit nuts during the GAAS charge, but there's been a significant course correction since then.

Edit: That's not to say Sony didn't blunder massively during that period btw. I'm just wondering if these analysts are any more qualified than the likes of us in a comments section.

As Sammy asks, did Sony "get rid" of all of those people like Pachter is saying here?
Or did those people leave?

And haven't we already had a course correction + multiple GAAS projects shelved? It was a messy and wasteful period, but this feels like the "analyst" equivalent of trying to cash in on Peloton a few years after Covid.

I just read the update. This is gross.

Death Stranding 2 still for me. Roads, roads and more roads.
Going to take some breaks for BF6 though. Having a great time with that.

Still looks great, but the camera during combat feels like it's too high or something. Hopefully there's a slider for that.

@Nakatomi_Uk I'm counting on this too. Expecting both games to show up in my library like RE1 did.

RE2 and RE3, been waiting all summer for those two. Haven't played them in decades.

Also Unicorn Overlord, one of my favourite games from last year.
If you like fantasy based strategy games give it a look. Or if, like me, you just love everything Vanillaware does then definitely give it a look.

I was hoping for this and I'm relieved tbh. I'm still playing Death Stranding 2 and Nightreign, I have to play Khazan and Crosscode, Ghost of Yotei and Battlefield 6 aren't far off, and Resident Evil won't be long coming after them.
It feels like the gaming schedule has been packed for years now.

Massive nostalgia hit from that theme at the end. Loved ODST.

@DrVenture69 I'd had my eye on Crosscode for a while without really knowing much about it. Then the other day I read someone describing it as the spiritual successor to Alundra.
I bought it there and then.

Still Nightreign and Death Stranding 2.
I'm thinking about starting Crosscode at some point too, and I'll have to go back to Khazan eventually. You'd think there'd be enough time between now and Christmas to be finished with them all...

August Bank Holiday!

Lions Vs Australia Test 3 right now, then BBQ in my cousin's house up in the hills, and games all day Sunday and Monday.

Death Stranding 2 and Nightreign I'd say. Need to do those last two dark bosses in Nightreign and build more roads in DS.

I gave Witchfire (early access) a go on Steam Deck last night too, but the longer I played the muddier the textures got. Got the refund and decided to wait for a console release instead.

Gimme Jean, Cyclops and Logan and I'll play this game for years.

@Oram77 I believe Phil Spencer has said something along the lines of PS4/XBOX One gen being the one that needed to be won, because relatively few people will be shifted from those libraries.

I don't see why it would be any different than their PC approach.
Sony values the PlayStation brand too much and still wants it to be their main pillar for games.
I could definitely see first party games going to X-Box, but not before they go to PC.

@Oram77 Was just going to say - After PS4 and how big my digital library became that gen, there's no way I'd switch to another primary platform.

@Czar_Khastik Ah now, give them some credit...
Fattle Bield, surely.

I'm not one for these kinds of legal cases. When Nintendo tried to sue Palworld I thought that it was like Star Wars suing Space Balls.

But in this case I think I get it. It just looks so similar it's bordering on shameless.

@Titntin
Right? The second one was the last LotR game that I loved. Now I can't make it run on my PC without installing plugins and jumping through hoops first. Thankfully the XBOX version still runs on my old 360.
Bloody great game.

I was hoping Tales of the Shire would turn out to be something fun at least. Stardew Valley in the Shire, it sounds like an easy win.

It felt almost inevitable, but it's still disappointing.
Someone just do a spiritual successor to the Battle for Middle-Earth games at this point. Who do I have to beg or bribe to make that happen?

Watching Lions V Australia atm. Epic game so far. Delighted to see this performance from Australia.

After that though, I got the plat for Nightreign the other night but there are a few dark bosses I want to beat too.
And then back to building roads in Death Stranding 2.

I'd definitely consider Avowed, but a Fable collection would be an instant buy for me.
Well, maybe not instant, just in case they release it digital then 6 months later drop a physical version.

Just one trophy left for the plat in Nightreign, but I'll probably spend most of my time building roads in Death Stranding 2.

Nightreign and Death Stranding 2 for me still. Watcting Lions V AUNZ right now though.

Just did a quick search to see if anyone in EU was selling it and saw a PS1 version for pre-order on a site called entertainmentearth. (Looks like a US site too)
I think that's the one I'd go for, but not before the house is done.

Edit: Zaavi Ireland is selling the PS2 one for €23.49. I'm definitely interested in these.

@tdolla2000 tbf corporations are all the same, but in the case you mentioned I think that studio was shut down so Sony could startup a new one under it's own umbrella with most of the same people. Or at the very least the same key people.
Don't quote me on that though, I'm just remembering it from when it happened.

Rugby from 4am to 10pm today. Watching the Lions right now, but I have Death Stranding 2 going on the Portal.

@naruball Exactly. There's too much glee in being outraged it seems. Outraged by everything, offended for everyone, zero self-awareness.

The real issue is nobody stops to think about their first thought anymore, because if they do they'll miss their opportunity to post first.

This game was always going to end up on XBOX though. It's a very successful live service title, the player numbers are consistent, and there's always a significant spike when an event kicks off. (I was just hoping they'd drop it on XBOX during an event when it looks like we're losing and there are no reinforcements left... Would have been epic.)

They'd be mad to not release it on Switch 2 as well. I'm assuming that's sold millions of units already.

As for diluting the platform, I mean I can't play Death Stranding 2 anywhere else right now, and Ghost of Yotei is just a few months out 🤷

This whole thing is just another advertisement for why we don't need social media anymore.

With live service titles it's about players in the game.
With first-party exclusives it's still about players on the platform.

I imagine this is the way Sony are thinking now.
It makes sense.

@dardel Let us know how you get on with it!
Don't be afraid to try a few maps on the lower difficulties to get a feel for it too.

@dardel It's easy to jump into. If you're worried it's too late to join in or you've missed too much (as is the fear with returning Destiny 2 players for example), don't stress.
There's no "campaign" really or any NPCs with real character to interact with. Everything is objective based. Think of yourself as one of the little units running out of an infantry mill in a strategy game, because that's essentially all we are.

I will say that there's an overarching propaganda based meta-narrative that's been running since launch, but you could find that online summed up in a paragraph and then you'd legit be up to speed.

As for how far other players might have progressed ahead of you, it's a level playing field. A lvl 1 player has all of the same stats as a level 150 player. The only difference potentially is the stratagems that we unlock as we play. That's your main objective really - Farming resources, upgrading your ship and unlocking more stratagems so you can eventually be one of the people on the map raining fiery hell down on everything.

You'll also find that the players who no longer need resources are happy to farm if they see lower level players in the squad. The community is really cool like that.

@rjejr No I don't work here 😂

One thing in particular that you said there struck a chord with me - They can't come after all of us.

I'm in Ireland. During austerity here the government tried to introduce a water tax. The idea was that they would use that money to maintain the reservoirs, the pipes, the filtration systems. Everything.
The thing is, we already pay taxes which are used to maintain the reservoirs, the pipes, the filtration systems... So we would be paying a second time for the same thing.
Naturally there was uproar. The government said there would be fines and prosecutions for anyone who didn't pay.

So nobody paid.

It was like everyone had the same thought all at once - If none of us pay they can't come after all of us.

And it worked 🤷‍♂️ They realised how many people they would need to prosecute and just gave up, on that attempt at least.
Sometimes our refusal is our most powerful resource. Something as simple as a boycott, when used against the powerful, at the very least it frustrates them.

I don't do political alignment personally. I look at the issue, see whose plan makes the most sense re solving the issue, and I vote.
For me the divide has always been about the classes, and all the political divide does is keep us working class folks at each others throats.

@rjejr This. Any student of history will be wondering when the next class revolution happens and what form it will take.
Surely people can only take this crud for so long.

Silent quitting on a massive scale? I dunno.