ThomasHL

Is this the first time we got a release window? Q4 2023

(Also note to marketers: Q4 is a business term, don't put that in trailers.)

This is a true Getting Over It sequel

The chibi style is a real disappointment - for a game based on its visual style as much as Persona, it's a fairly big deal

Who was the guy in the sting at the end? I didn't understand why that bit was dramatic

DONTNOD always put in effort with their games. They've always got new ideas, so I'll follow any game from them with interest.

The trailer voiceover seemed way better than the footage being shown.

@belmont Microsoft really wanted to attract non-gamers. That was the key to their plan - lower the cost but widen the market.

The thing about TV and films is, they're short, particularly nowadays. And a lot of it can be made cheaply, outside of your tent poles.

With them, I'm always struggling to find things to watch, because I run out of the stuff I'm interested in.

Games are the total opposite. I always own more games than I manage to play, because a good game can take a month + worth of time by itself. And they're really expensive to make. I just don't see subscription services working out, aside from giving you access to a back catalogue of older games.

The really problem TV / film streaming solved was that before streaming, you couldn't watch a TV or film at the time you wanted to. Games have never had that problem.

This isn't even a real government. No-one voted for them, and as soon as we can vote next year, they'll be gone.

An independent regulator shouldn't be swayed by them.

Cris Tales for under £7 was the only thing that caught my attention

I really enjoy Marvel Midnight Suns and would heartily recommend it, but I think there are some things going against it

1) The Marvel IP holds it back more than it helps it. My favourite characters in the game were the ones I knew least about (Magika, Nico, The Caretaker). These strategy games are mostly about getting to know your characters and it doesn't work so well for characters you already know. Amongst the bigger names, the best were those who were different from the depictions I'm familiar with (Doctor Strange). The game also doesn't recreate the feeling of being a hero, so it's not tapping into the core Marvel fantasy. Instead it's tapping into the core strategy game fantasy (which it does well).

2) The games economy systems are broken. There's an emphasis on time, choice and resources and yet you have infinite time and resources.

They've got a fair argument to make there. People are looking more and more at walled gardened ecosystems (iPhone app store) and questioning whether that's an allowable practice.

We need price competition, we all know that when Sony get on top they tend to start seeing what they can get away with. The only strong price competition Sony sees is buying games for an alternative platform.

It's an expectations thing. Did they show me games I'd love to play? Yes. Did it show what Sony is doing? No

We can't be that far off from hearing what they're working on. Days Gone came out 4 years ago. I am excited to see what it is

@JohntheRaptor what I'm saying is the trailer is throwing out some strong flags, including making the main character some half dead / half alive thing trying to reclaim their humanity. I.e. the concept of half of every Soulslike

Poor Peter always gets so cringey when he puts on the symbiote suit

@Topov81 he's growling a lot more - a sign of the symbiote affecting him.

Massive deal, Dragon Dogma is one of the few true blue RPGs out there. One that's seriously committed to it's world and making you feel like an actual walking, sleeping part of the world. An RPG that demands character growth.

Here's an example: in Dragons Dogma you can make the player character tall, short, thin, fat, muscular unmuscular - but it has real game consequences. Light characters get knocked around much more easily but aren't going to run out of stamina clambering up the kneck of a giant

Indie games (and Capcom) holding up this showcase. Neva, Teardown and this, all on my wishlist

I will never get over that they actually include the name Creative Busines Unit 3 in the marketing now.

It's cool to see someone incorporating Wuxia tropes into gameplay

@Exerion76 the guy's missing his heart, it's going to have Soulslike crap.

I'm wondering if the 66 days to live is a plot point or if this is also going to have a timer and/or roguelike elements.

@WanderingBullet Someone on this project listened to the Persona 5 soundtrack a lot

I don't want The Last Of Us 3, never mind Days Gone 2. We've had plenty of PS zombie games, and too many Sony studio sequels. Give us the new stuff

I thought it would likely end up sucking, and I only play games that I enjoy at the moment, not based on future expectations, so I'm not disappointed.

But it's still a big miss by Blizzard. If they've spent years working on something and still not got it to a fun state, why announce it?

Tales of the PS5s demise in Japan were very exaggerated:

Worldwide, PS5 sales are currently sitting at ~32% of the PS4s lifetime sales.

In Japan PS5 sales are ~36% of the PS4s lifetime sales.

@nessisonett 1 Mario Kart sold for ever 6 Switch's in Japan, that's crazily high given that some people must own multiple Switch's.

"It's not Dark Souls, it just looks like it"
I could see market research highlighting that as a concern people actual have. It's a series which has traditionally been light on reflexes and timing.

I was expecting this. Dragon Age is probably still the game I'm most excited for

There's a massive amount of potential here. We're at the very beginning of what can be done. With time we'll be able to give NPCs distinct voices, and deepen their memories and responsiveness to real situations.

Researchers have already created a game where NPCs have social lives, they talk to each other, gossip, spread rumours, hold parties, take actions and remember grudges.

It's important to remember 1) there's always going to be distinction between written content and generated content, something we're already familiar with in games. Most games these days are a mix of handcrafted and generated levels, and this just deepens that toolset

And 2) there's already a distinction between carefully crafted human written dialogue and filler human written dialogue. When you have to write 1,000 NPC barks you don't sit and carefully craft each sentence. It's pleasing background noise, not a deep thoughtful experience.

The fundamental reason for the dissatisfaction is because there have barely been any games that show off the power of the PS5 yet, and if people start targeting a Pro, it feels like PS5 owners will have never experienced playing a game truly designed for their platform.

However if a Pro means we get more PS5 targeted games, I'll make my peace with it.

I've had a lot of fun with this game. The characters who grabbed me most turned out to be the ones I knew the least about - Nico, Magik

It's caught my attention now, I shall follow its release with interest

@Art_Vandelay the big worry I have about Microsoft is a bunch of the studios they bought will get shuttered when they change their minds.

This has happened before. They're good owners whilst they're interested, but corporate winds shift and when they do you get things like Ensemble Studios being shut down, despite making great games.

Yes, the business argument for Gamepass was it would dramatically expand the playerbase. That just hasn't happened.

If anything the people who buy subscription services are even more enthusiast than the existing game audience as a whole. I could never imagine a grandparent who perhaps had a Wii but nothing else subscribing to gamepass.

I've found myself buying games that I could have subscribed for. Pay £10 on a sale for a game I'm definitely going to play and will always own feels better than subscribing for a few months and being under time pressure to complete it.

@NomNom in my opinion this is the kind of thing that shouldn't get patents. It's not some crazy technical leap, it's a product specific engineering solution.

@throwmeaname Genshin has effectively a single player campaign that continually gets updated with new DLC / expansions. You're not expected to (and almost certainly won't) collect all the characters, but collecting lots of characters is a big draw. You can also grind particular mission types to get levels etc. If you think about a game like Skyrim, lots of people play it beyond the main campaign.

Its very similar in structure to a non-sandbox MMO, just without the other players.

I never thought the rumour was true, but I understand why it existed. Vaan is so superfluous to the story it feels like he was crammed in last minute.

@Max_the_German it's just Square Enix. Other Japanese range from the hyper stylishness of Atlas, to the cohesive grim of FromSoftware

I'm definitely waiting for the review. We've seen so little that I'm worried it's going to turn out to be quite unambitious

I'm going to need to wait for the reviews. Nothing has looked bad but I haven't seen a 'reason to play it' yet.

This is an incredibly petty nitpick but I haven't liked the look of the UI in a Final Fantasy game for well over a decade now.

The last time Final Fantasy games had a really standout cohesive art style was FFX and FFXII. Ever since then they've had quite a plastic-y production line aspect that other AAA games don't.

Currently isn't gripping me, but it's hearing it during the game that really makes something click or not

@JohntheRaptor I don't think it's that as much as the writing in FW just isn't as good as ZD generally. Every character is weaker compared to the first game, especially the villains.

Probably the best written character was Zoe, and Aloy's slightly territorial reaction to Zoe moving on Varl.

EDIT: Actually I'm being a little harsh. Hekarro, Kotallo and handful of the side characters were decent too. But it was a game with some interesting intentions and very middle of the road execution.

The Utaru capital was the best city in Forbidden West. It was the way it had the working fields around it and felt like a functioning part of the environment.

I'm waiting for the series to step it up yet another level now.

@nomither6 that's part of the problem. Discoverability doesn't mean 'put everything on the front page', it's about getting the great indie games highlighted. Otherwise people switch off and dismiss the great alongside the mediocre.

I don't exactly regret buying a PS5, but the experience has been very mediocre when it comes to games.

I really should consider switching to PC next time round. The mods alone are massive.

@FenIsMightier E3 are in much closer contact with the publishers than either of us. If the publishers wanted a trade show, they'd tell E3 they wanted a trade show and it would have happened.

I just think it's very spurious to suggest that the publishers really want to do something they've shown no indication of prioritising. Every publisher who has pulled out of E3 has retained the media event aspect of the event. They have not retained the trade show aspect. So I'm not convinced that the bit they valued is the bit that they haven't retained.

@FenIsMightier the proof is in the pudding. If that really was what E3 was about, the publishers will show up on the trade floor. But if they don't, then it will be clear that that wasn't what they valued about E3, and that's it's just another one of many theories that's been generated by the outside community over the years.

@Monstermash40 I used my DualSense on a Samsung yesterday and it worked for me

I've been enjoying what I've played so far. Will definitely buy the full game at some point

I'll put my internet pride points on March 2024