Comments 351

Re: Poll: Are You Considering Leaving PlayStation for PC?

TimeDelayedGamer

This article sums up a lot of my thinking about moving back to PC. I originally moved to console because I got fed up with all the mucking about that came with PC and the constant arms race of upgrading your system, drivers, GPU etc. However, with the advent of internet connectivity on consoles a lot of the advantages of those systems have slowly evaporated.

I got a Steam Deck earlier in the year (before the price hike, thankfully) and I am extremely impressed with it. Valve's Proton etc defangs a lot of the inconvenience of getting games to work and offers a ton of versatility. Online play is free. Cloud saves are free. You can install mods. PS3/360 era games are readily available at silly prices (no superseded storefronts closing here) and run at better frame rates than they ever did on console. It's just so danged convenient.

I'm seriously thinking about saving for a Steam Machine at this point. If it's all going to be digital anyway, I think that Valve's open approach is a better place to be than Sony's walled garden.

(And yes, I'm aware Valve is not the benevolent messiah of gaming and are out to make a buck like all the rest. Don't bother coming at me. Cheers.)

Re: Sudden Steam Deck Price Increase Pins More Questions on PS6

TimeDelayedGamer

Hey, come on everyone, the price increases are worth it for all the AI slop videos and the vaguely accurate-maybe search result summaries, and the AI psychosis, and the shameless plundering of the collected creativity of humankind, oh and the presumed eventual terminators.

The AI bubble will burst (the sooner the better), but this will slow the march of 'progress', not stop it. The dot com bubble burst as well, and the internet is still here and crappier than ever.

@RoomWithaMoose I don't think there's anyone under the illusion that Valve is a charity.

Re: Overseas Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter Sales Propel Falcom Profits to Insane Heights

TimeDelayedGamer

Been a Falcom fan ever since playing Ys: The Oath in Felghana years ago on my PSP. Their games are made with love and a touch of fairy dust that always elevates them above their graphical and engine limitations (and their 'generic animé style', whatever the heck that means). I'm playing Trails in the Sky the Third at the moment and am having an absolute blast with it.

They deserve all the success that comes their way - as long as it doesn't change them and they continue to make the games they love, I couldn't be happier for them.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 631

TimeDelayedGamer

Work has been punishing lately, which has left me with a lot less energy for gaming than I would like. But hopefully I can get caught up a bit this weekend 🤞

Currently still playing Alan Wake 2 and Trails in the Sky the Third. On the final stretch in Third now. I've loved it but definitely going to be taking a break before launching into the Crossbell games to avoid Trails burnout.

I'm now playing the Lakehouse DLC in AW2 which has reminded me just how fantastic and eerie Control was. Estevez is a surprisingly great character (I love her world-weary gallows humour narration) and hope we see more of her in future games.

Have a great weekend folks.

Re: 'We're Going to Pull Funding if You Don't Fix This': Uncharted 4 Was Almost Cancelled on PS4 Because It 'Sucked'

TimeDelayedGamer

I loved Uncharted 4, but the Crushing difficulty is completely broken and an absolute slog to get through. It feels like it wasn't properly play-tested. Most of the stealth sections have a ridiculous number of enemies wondering around, and some of the battles towards the end, like the mansion fight, and the beach, basically become impossible on this difficulty without a huge dollop of luck or using modifiers like infinite ammo with the grenade launcher. It always struck me as odd, as the other games are pretty well fine-tuned to be tough but fair.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 630

TimeDelayedGamer

Continuing with Alan Wake 2 this weekend. It's strange that the game I chose to play as I reached a big birthday ended up having fear of getting old as one of its major themes. Cheers, irony 😂

Also continuing with Trails in the Sky the Third, up to a big boss battle that I'm currently trying to puzzle out the best strategy as I'm getting my ass whupped repeatedly.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 626

TimeDelayedGamer

This weekend I will be sheltering indoors from the delightful Scottish weather and will be playing: -

Alan Wake 2: unknowingly triggered the first bit of the Night Springs DLC last night and was not prepared for proceedings to suddenly turn into a Suda51 game. Gotta love Remedy 😂

Trails in the Sky the 3rd: I'd heard opinions were a bit divided on this one as to whether it is worthwhile, however, I'm having a great time with it. Some of the character interactions have had me in stitches, and the story is much more interesting than I was expecting. Usually I would be critical of a game that reuses so many assets from previous games, but Falcom somehow makes it work by having such a detailed and lore-filled setting.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 625

TimeDelayedGamer

Now that I've finally gone current gen again, I had been intending to play Alan Wake 2 over the last week, however, I got somewhat distracted by 'PS5 rite of passage' Astro's Playroom instead, which is, of course, excellent. As I was playing, it was reminding me of something but I couldn't think what... then it suddenly came to me: it's like a Psychonauts level if Raz went into the mind of a Playstation obsessive 😂 Such as most of us in this comments section, I guess!

Anyhow, now that I have finished with Astro's Playroom, I'll be starting Alan Wake 2 today. Bring it on!

I'll also be continuing with Trails in the Sky the Third, which I started last weekend. It's so good to be back in the company of these characters again.

Have a good one folks.

Re: 'Sony Finally Understands': Over 70% of PS5 Fans Agree with Decision to Scrap PC Ports

TimeDelayedGamer

@Hugoku And which system would you recommend I play those games on?

It's disingenuous to compare exclusive games to those monster franchises you mention (all of which are multi-platform). Absolutely nothing compares to the sales and player base of those games. 4 million sales for most products would be considered a massive success.

It's really not hard to see why exclusive games are a positive for a system. Do you think the success of The Last of Us TV show was harmful to Playstation console sales, for example?

Also, if you want to see the power of brand exclusivity, just look at Nintendo.

Re: 'Sony Finally Understands': Over 70% of PS5 Fans Agree with Decision to Scrap PC Ports

TimeDelayedGamer

@MisterMonster Yes, and what's your point? Selling consoles as cheaply as possible, and having quality games exclusive to the console, among other strategies, all have the same aim - to coax consumers onto your gaming ecosystem instead of someone else's.

If console exclusivity doesn't matter, then please explain the continued success of Nintendo, who guard their franchises jealously for a reason.

Re: 'Sony Finally Understands': Over 70% of PS5 Fans Agree with Decision to Scrap PC Ports

TimeDelayedGamer

@Dyd87xz Okay, but I think to an extent you're comparing apples to oranges there. Just because exclusive games sell less well than juggernauts like GTA5 or Fortnite doesn't mean they aren't a factor when people are choosing a system to purchase.

If you had a choice between a system with 'all the usual games' on but few exclusives, or a system with 'all the usual games' plus some high-quality exclusives only on that system, which one are you more likely to go for?

That's certainly not the only factor, but it's in there. There's a reason the term 'system-seller' came about for big games.

To put it another way, why are Playstation gamers happy that Xbox seem to be bringing all their exclusives to PS5? Answer: because now we don't have to buy another system to play them.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 623

TimeDelayedGamer

This weekend I'm playing one of my favourite games of all time - Alan Wake. I've played it many times, and every single time it has me on the edge of my seat. It's so packed with atmosphere that I find even just the action of running around and shining your torch on the scenery to be incredibly tactile and satisfying. I love everything about it, (deliberately) hokey storytelling and all.

I'm giving it another run through in preparation for playing the sequel, which I'm hoping to start on my shiny new PS5 next weekend 😃

On the side, hopefully will be playing some Patapon this weekend as well.

Have a good one, folks.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 622

TimeDelayedGamer

This weekend I'm playing Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. Having not long played War for Cybertron, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I couldn't resist moving straight onto Fall, which I'd heard is even better. And it absolutely is.

War for Cybertron was a relatively straightforward shooter, while Fall really mixes things up in unexpected ways. The whole thing is a massive power fantasy for any Transformers fan and I love it.

Have a great weekend, fellow Push Squarians.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 620

TimeDelayedGamer

I finally finished with Red Dead Redemption last weekend. What an incredible game. That ending... at first I wondered where they were going with the story, but when the conclusion finally came, it hit hard. I think it's going to stay with me for a long time.

After completing the epic RDR, I decided that I wanted a good old-fashioned linear blast to cleanse my palate. I plumped for Transformers: War for Cybertron... and it's just what Ratchet, er, I mean the doctor, ordered. An absolute blast (both figuratively and literally).

As a child of the 80s, Transformers is one of the fondest things from my formative years, so I've been playing through the campaign with a big stupid grin on my face the whole time. Playing as Megatron facing off against Omega Supreme? My inner child did a back flip 😃

I'm almost finished with the campaign now but I'll be launching straight back in again this weekend to play as some of the other characters. It's just a ton of fun. I might even see if I can persuade my daughter to play the campaign co-op with me... though it's probably not really her thing.

Also continuing to play Patapon in my spare moments when I'm not fragging Cybertronians.

Have a great weekend, carbon-based units.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 617

TimeDelayedGamer

Continuing to live the life of John Marston in Red Dead Redemption this weekend, and also drumming my army to victory in Patapon.

Also, I finished Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles at the beginning of the week, and for anyone who is interested, permit me to wax lyrical for a moment: I was expecting it to be a little primitive compared to later entries, and for Ys 1 that's certainly true of the boss battles, but taken as a package it's just a brilliant Ys adventure. Ys 2 especially is essentially a fully-fledged 2D Ys game. All the basic elements are there - the sense of discovery, exploring maze-like environments, the addictive gameplay, and the standing around for 30 seconds at a time waiting for your health to regenerate (lol). It really went beyond my expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 616

TimeDelayedGamer

More Red Dead Redemption and Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles for me this weekend.

I'm onto Ys 2 now and the design has improved significantly from the first one - much better boss battles, for one thing, and more options in general gameplay thanks to the addition of magic. The two games work really well together as a single package. The lovely 2D visuals and gorgeous soundtrack don't hurt either.

Enjoy your weekend guys and gals.