Tomato_Goose

@Slideaway1983 of course, we do!

Probably the game I've had most of fun with since PS5 released. Hope, more of these little gems release in future.

Sad that Motostorm is gone — that was the mayhem and madness...

Monster Train is great — an exciting rogue-like with deck-building and tower-defense mechanics. Stylistics and lore are cool, gameplay loop and all mechanics are great. But in order to get all the fun, you need to experiment with decks and cards — it is kinda too easy to find the most overpowered builds, which would carry you throughout most of the difficulty levels with ease.

Kinda funny to read all the comments saying "nobody wants this / asked for this", like there are zero Marvel fans out there.

In fact Marvel's fanbase is big enough to attract enough players to any F2P game. And if the game itself is decent, many of those fans will play and stay.

Well, I want to believe this suddenly turns out a great game and wonderful experience...
But I loved the original DA:O too much and every new entry in the series seems to stray further and further away from it.

To be honest, The First Descendant is a nice mixture of Warframe and Destiny. Movement is fluid and fast, mobs are aggressive enough not to get bored, loot is dropping often and there seems to be enough variety and complexity in theory-crafting and creating your own build. Though the story overall in quite generic, the characters seem interesting (even despite lacking some depth and presentation) and cinematics are cool. Gonna beat the main campaign at least and probably test the end-game.

It was an interesting experience with Dragon's Dogma 2.

I've never quite loved or even liked the first one, but an insane amount of funny GIFs and videos did their job and I bought the game a week or two after the release.

First of all, DG2 is all about making your own journey and messing things up, while moving to the desired location. Like "Huh, what's that strange tower in the distance with harpies flying around? Let's check!". After several in-game (or even real) days you find yourself somewhere around that tower with bags overwhelmed with loot and different junk and half-dead pawns. Just because your party accidentally burned down the only bridge nearby, fell deep into a cave, found a hidden tomb, fought a skeleton army, ran away from a golem and even tried to hunt down a dragon. Without any success, of course. And now you are standing near the tower with numerous harpies nesting somewhere above the skies. On one hand it would be better to retreat, have a rest in an inn, sell off the stuff, buy some healing thingies and return to this point again... But on the other — screw that, gonna take the risk!

And this feeling of exploration and literally creating your own journey is amazing. You need to "feel" it, touch it, sense it. If it clings to something inside yourself, you're gonna have some great time anв turn a blind eye to other things.

Brutal and "heavy" combat and those fights with HUGE enemies are cool and fun... at the first half of the game.

On the other hand, once you've acquired some good equipment and leveled up a pair of classes, you become much stronger... and starting from this point combat is not an issue anymore.

Story and quests are very basic and do not offer much. Many side missions even seem like typical MMO requests — bring me 3 items, kill 10 wolves and so on.

Moreover, worthy rewards in the open world are extremely rare. Most of the in-game weapons and armors can be bought in shops. And only the hardest quests and encounters have something interesting to offer.

Graphics look a bit outdated on screenshots, but those RT shadows in the woods are gorgeous and magical effects are juicy and bright, especially during the darkest nights.

Pawns might ease your burden and add some charm to an adventurer's life, but at the same time they might be very annoying, die from jumping in the wrong direction and even sink to death in the nearest pond.

Overall I've had lots of fun... but got tired of the game in the latter half. It is not for everyone, it is made differently from other modern games and really stands out among other games... but choices that make this game different lead to many strange game-design decisions and mistakes. It's nice Capcom gave DG2 a go and it was a success, but you'd really better try the Trial version before buying this one.

@Quintumply hey, thanks for the material, Stephen!

Seems like you've seen slightly the same fragment from the today's gameplay showcase (only extended a bit and with characters of higher level), but I still have to ask — have you noticed some kind of not-that-narrow locations? Have no sense of exploration after watching 20 minutes of current gameplay, but that's probably because of quite a linear and story-driven footage.

@Sergo well, you've described most of the loot-based ARPG games, you know. That is the essence of them: smash buttons, kill monsters, collect loot.

Seems kinda funny, how Bungie could not predict amount of players returning for the new expansion... If only this wasn't their very first add-on for their very first game! Oh, wait a minute...

@Americansamurai1 Pricey? Sure.
Still cheaper than buying a new VR head-set? Absolutely.

@matekomlosi sure!

I can't play several big game in a row, too, especially when they all run the same formula with a big open world, hundreds of exclamation marks on a map and so on. Small indie games help to get a break, because they usually try to add some innovative things or at least their own approach to gameplay mechanics. No need to say that they usually require much less time to complete compared to modern AAAs and have much batter overall value compared to £70 releases.

But calling something "the first good one this year" is at least a bit exaggerative.

@Frmknst so Helldivers 2, Dragon's Dogma 2, FF Rebirth, Balatro, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, Persona 3 Reload, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Stellar Blade, Granblue Fantasy and some other games are kind of a joke to you?

@GamingFan4Lyf it is pretty hard to find right angel and zoom, trying to figure out, whether the pawn has gone mad or not. And missing that moment may result in loosing the whole party. So, nope, that is a nice addition. And this function could be done with ease, because rotating and zooming was already present in game during the character creation.

@get2sammyb thanks you for the review! Almost all things sounds exactly like my thoughts after playing the demo, so I''ve already pre-ordered Stellar Blade.

One question, though: is there a photo-mode available at the moment? I've read that the Devs might add it, if that's what people want, but nothing more has been added to the initial statement since that moment.

So, a new gameplay trailer but still no certain release date...

@Godot25 listening and trusting all those marketing things like "4K @60FPS all around" is silly. Even high-end PC rigs struggle to maintain those numbers and require some kind of scaling technologies. And the games themselves become hungrier for system resources every year.

Happy for Andrew Wincott with his Raphael in Baldur's Gate 3. That opera was awesome. Still kinda sad for the narrator in BG3, though.

@ChrisDeku yep, sure, you are right. My bad.

@Czar_Khastik they are all kinda different. Fallout 1, 2 and brotherhood of steel are isometric RPGs, 3 and New Vegas - more like TES Oblivion but in post-nuclear-punk setting and with some fallout features (like VATS, different character development approach, etc.) and Fallout 4 as for me is even more of a shooter than RPG. They all have own weaknesses and advantages, so give a try to one you find interesting the most.

I've never played this one, but gonna give it a try at some moment - gameplay looks interesting and the game has nice style.

I've been playing Dragon's Dogma for a couple of days only, but have not seen any of those transactions, to be honest. The game itself has so much content and provides such a nice sense of exploration, that I am almost drown in it. And I am perfectly fine with an ability to buy some of in-game items, if there is no multiplayer aspect in the game (in order not to give someone uneven advantage) and all the items from the store can be
acquired without paying additional money for them.

Though I doubt that those reputation risks are worth a couple of players, who will be willing to buy some shards or whatever else can be bought in DD2.

@BeautifulCreatures from what I've read throughout the internet, DD2 is heavy on CPU, not GPU and rumors suggest PS5 Pro won't improve it that much. So, even though many other game will supposedly benefit from better GPU and run at higher frame rate, I doubt that DD2 will reach stable 60 FPS this gen.

@AlienigenX there is a demo on Steam, if you are interested. The game itself has some cool visuals and scenes for an indie project, but is kinda shallow in terms of gameplay and story.

IMO the best game from internal Xbox studios this gen. Had tons of fun with it.

Oh, my... One of very few things I still did like in Destiny was its setting and universe, providing such a good level of immersion. But these stupid integrations feel neither here nor there.

@Blofse wow, mate, Balatro is entirely different from VS and has much more content even now in terms of deck building and strategies.

Hope some sort of GoT 2 announcement is not that far away.

> cross-play battle action game
Well, looks like a mobile title.

@TrickyDicky99 @SgtTruth why not?

I am not a fan of VR in general. But owing both PS5 and a beefy PC I might give PSVR2 a go, if it becomes compatible with PC. Having access to both PS and PC game libraries is better in my mind than playing just on one platform.

@Toot1st modern gaming society is toxic and sarcastic.

Though PR and marketing form some expectations in peoples' heads. When the final outcome (the game itself) matches or even exceed expectations, it results into positive reactions. When not - people shout and whine.

With Skull and Bones being developed for 7+ years, lack of experience and solo projects from Ubisoft Singapore, all those postponements, lack of some features previously seen even in AC4 and claims that the game is AAAA title and worth 70 pounds... Well, as you sow, so you reap.

In my opinion too many new titles have missed the mark with too high prices. Especially talking about GaaS games - they do need many players at the very beginning in order to provide interesting gaming experience and to fund future development (patches, DLCs, new functions, etc.). But they place a 69.99 price tag on a game, get bad reviews from people who can't justify paying so much for not a perfect game and afterwards nobody buys the project. But pricing those titles with 40/50/even 60 pounds from the start could make such a great difference in a long perspective. Shame.

Seeing so many 1 out of 10 votes seems insane to me.

I've been playing games for decades and can hardly remember anything, I could mark with such a low score from the heart. And judging from reviews or streams Suicide Squad is not that bad. It is not the best game in the class and it does have it's own problems and downsides, but is it 1/10 for real? I doubt. But will give my vote only after playing it.

When I've bought XsX a couple of years ago, the very first thing to install was Halo Infinite, praised by critics and players... Well, to be honest I could not make it through the campaign. Seemed boring and dull. But Gears of War felt awesome even despite it's initial release date. Maybe it's just me, but I'd place Gears much higher than Halo on the list.

@Shepherd_Tallon I see... thanks, mate!

@Shepherd_Tallon I did have during the Granblue Fatnasy demo, but could not understand whether one can play as other characters from the party or only as a main protagonist, could you clarify this point?

Btw season 3 in Diablo is pretty good and fun after a couple of patches, moreover there is a time-limited event running at the moment with some decent cosmetics to gain for free.

@danzoEX I've been playing it for the last 12 years! Even though FF7 Rebirth is already preordered

Thanks for the review! Was a bit interested, but now I'll skip this one.

That's a nice one. Could be a little more awesome with more projects from Sony Studios. But even this way damn good.

@Neverwild yep, imagine getting all those visual boosts like new textures, more particles and slightly revamped lighting for free if you own the original version of the game... Oh, no, in this case people won't buy our exactly the same game the second time for the full price!

But as stated in the text, we still need to see the overall quality of the final product to judge. Whether it s a remaster / remake / whatever else.

Remasters, remasters everywhere... Sigh...

@JB_Whiting well, you could pick Gollum and Kong games and write an article about the worst games of 2023

Joker's traversal animations look slick though - starting at 9:10

@TheCollector316 you forgot "officially play this official game", mate

Looks cute and kinda stylish. Even though I prefer the overall stylistics of the first one. Still gameplays is the heart of the game, so I'll wait for the reviews for this one.

@Ken_Kaniff well, I do. Because I like different builds and character development theorycraft in general.

Even though I have very little hope in Suicide Squad this aspect might convince me to try it in some kind of subscription (PS Plus or Gamepass) or during free trials / weekends.

My, my... This Sphinx alone could have sold me a game. Such a cool looking character.

@MattBoothDev even if we talk about £1000 throughout 15 years it is less than £70 per year. Still good value for a game in which I spend more time per year than in any AAA title. And it is absolutely optional, especially nowadays, when you can get so many skins for free.

But I agree with you that our world could be a much better place without all those insane amount of money wasted on F2P and mobile gaming segments.

@MattBoothDev there are different cases. For example, I've been occasionally playing League of Legends from the early access times and I've bought dozens of different skins throughout the years. Hundreds (if not even thousands, can't even remember now) of pounds throughout 15 years. But I've never felt robbed by Riot, because all those deals were transparent and clear - I give them money and they give me cool skins to enjoy.

But 99% of mobile games which force you to buy things in order not to fall behind paying players during different events or PVP stuff and different lottery mechanics such as loot-boxes and so on - those are horrific. Alongside with crazy prices like modern Blizzard does with their in-game items in OW2 and Diablo 4.

Wow, F2P games cost money nowadays... Nonsense!

To be honest I'm OK with supporting devs for making good games and this usually leads to buying some skins I like or even battle passes or item packs in something like PoE, League of Legends, some other minor games.

But bringing monetization aspects straight from greedy mobile garbage games is something I won't accept. And the best way to show your attitude towards these things is to stop buying anything in the game.