Weez

@get2sammyb There certainly is a lot of negativity out there, but I think hand-waving genuine complaints as simple negativity isn't fair either. Just look at the indie space - plenty of positivity. Same with retro-gaming, which has seen massive growth. To me, that indicates that the industry is failing to meet the needs of (a subset) of its audience.

@BAMozzy The polish of first party titles always impresses, but I think a number of sequels have taken a step back in other regards. Take Spiderman. The sequel cost more than 3 times as much to develop. The visuals saw improvement, and gameplay got some nice enhancements. But much of that budget went to the 300 minutes of cut scenes. The writing took a step back - pacing was poor, with Miles, Peter and many plot-lines being underdeveloped, while the villains where paper thin and the dialogue was... serviceable. Not what I'd call return on investment.

To me, personally, it feels like Sony has the wrong priorities. First party titles simply cost too much, and take too long to develop as to allow the experimentation or risks taken in previous generations. Cinematic, character driven story telling is great, but not every game has to try and replicate the success of Last of Us; You need a premise and cast suited to it, and writers with the chops for it.

Unless Sony invests heavily in memorable new IP, I won't be picking up a PS6. I have cause to keep a powerful PC, so the only meaningful reason to own a PS, beyond nostalgia (been along for the ride since the PSX), is the exclusives.

Previous generations had a number of legitimately memorable games. Games I still think about and return to. I can't imagine myself doing the same for the PS5 line-up 10 years down the line.

@EfYI While I mostly agree with the sentiment, it's for different reasons. Those time-honoured studios are nothing but a name. The quality of the products associated with them comes from the people behind the name. Some of those people left content with a long career. Many where systematically removed from the industry. Sometimes that was the result of external stakeholder pressure or the excessive commoditisation of the process leaving creatives frustrated. Often times it was from within the studios they helped establish - petty politics, infighting and new "talent" feeling entitled to a legacy they could never sustain.

The technical excellence one sees is the product of evolving pipelines, disproportionately more processing power and team sizes ballooning by a factor of 10-100. One can easily mass-hire for graphical fidelity. Legitimately imaginative worlds, iconic characters, memorable stories and innovative game systems... Not so much. At this point, seeing these studios shuttered leaves me conflicted. It's the end of an era, but also, in many cases, a mercy killing. No amount of funding can change the fact that, internally, they bear no resemblance to what they once where.

@judgmentarrows I'd rather they not - what you described is already a sizable number of AAA titles. For games leaning heavily into grit/realism (Last of Us), mundane designs are justifiable. For those not, how are "boring looking" character design not regarded as a negative - they always where, and would be for any other facet of art direction in that context?

I can understand not liking stripperiffic designs - that's certainly a matter of taste. I can't say I understand the aversion to female characters appearing feminine though.

As much as I'd like to see new IPs, or even main-series entries from TN, I'm looking forward to this. Been ages since I played Fatal Frame.

Yotei certainly is popular. As someone who loved the art direction of Tsushima, liked Jin's characterisation and the mythic tales, but found the combat lacklustre and open world to drag (a lot in late-game), is it worth trying?

@nessisonett Most titles, including massive first party titles, leave lines on the cutting room floor. It's not solely a matter of budget, it's a matter of perceived value of content and the logistics of the design, casting, approval, iteration and integration cycle not being feasible (most VOs are recorded late in production). I'm simply stating that there's a subset of lines, idealistic hypotheticals aside, that would have never made their way to an actor.

I'm generally not an advocate for "AI". I'm opposed to its use outside of simplifying and accelerating tedious tasks that undermine creative workflows (skinning, UVs, foley pre-processing); But even automating those could reduce job human work hours or job security. As do a litany of non-AI choices made over the past decades - licensing engines, use of asset libraries, short-term outsourcing. Hell, even procedural generation. Where does one draw the line? If the bar is set at "reducing job security", practically every AAA studio is guilty as sin and has been for a while.

@nessisonett Yeah and no. If they are lines which budgetary or logistical constraints would have precluded, which are pretty common, they would have never found their way to an actor to begin with.

Nah, plenty of backlog to work through and frankly, after the first, I have little interest in the second.

The writing used to be a big part of the charm of Obsidian games; After Outer Worlds and Avowed, it's now a reason to avoid them.

@tselliot Fast-paced, challenging and complex/varied gameplay. Many are equally confused by the appeal of cinematic heavy games in a medium defined by its interactivity. To each to their own.

@Questionable_Duck Steam doesn't have graduated scores - you either recommend or do not recommend a game. That score means 94% of players didn't think it bad, not that the average player thought it a 9.4

I really liked the dark 80's OVA-inspired aesthetic of NG1 & 2, and that seems largely absent in this one. Not sure I'm a fan of Ryu playing second fiddle either, or the girls not making it in as playable characters. Who am I kidding? It's a NG game. I'll put at least a hundred hours into it; Nothing quite compares, action wise, if you take the time to get good.

@Brundleflies21 You missed the extended cutscenes, drip fed amidst the genocide yet chock full of self-righteous indignation, that alone nearly bankrupt studios. Jokes aside, some are really good, but I am growing tired of every game feeling the need to embrace "gritty realism" and hours worth of cutscenes in what is meant to be an interactive entertainment medium.

@nessisonett It's a tricky one - one I'm not sure anyone "comes back stronger" from. 4 studios very publicly cut ties based on spurious claims, removed his contributions and in the case of EA, vowed to never work with him again. There've been no public retractions or apologies by said studios. It's a stigma he will likely have to carry, largely due to the response of the studios (and press) - presuming guilt.

You're right, stepping back is the professional response. Messy public witch-hunts based on unverified claims, not so much.

@nessisonett I remember reading that he and Mitsoda had concerns about the design of the game from the outset, so maybe there was no saving it? Everything hinges on executives actually listening to veteran developers concerns.

As for his firing, it should have never happened. There's a reason why presumption of innocence is the basis of any competent legal system.

@Romans12 Pretty much my feelings. Playing through the remake now and it really is excellent. Spooky souls on the other hand was a disappointment. It should have never released with Silent Hill in the title, for its own sake.

Disappointing, but unsurprising. They should have kept the original team, and Chris Avellone.

@Oram77 Unless that monopoly, in a misguided attempt to see return on investment, tries to "westernize" anime and lands up butchering it much like Netflix.

If nothing else, monopolies represent a single point of failure.

It sunk a studio; I doubt there's any conspiracy. Part of the problem was marketing - I know people who refused to redeem the free copy offered by EGS because of how the marketing rubbed them the wrong way. A simpler explanation would be that people who enjoy that flavour of writing find themselves in the company of similar tastes. Just many amongst the existing player base have different tastes. Subjective.

With that said, I'll admit that around the 5 hour mark, the "saints" became less overtly aggravating and more just boring and forced. I'm not sure if the writing improved or I simply became desensitized to it. By that point though, the uninspired gameplay was already taking its toll. Not what I personally would call a good experience.

@Rich33 While I appreciate that's subjective, and am glad you enjoyed it, the issue for me, and pretty much everyone I've spoken to it about, wasn't so much the new cast. It's that the new cast was thoroughly unbearable and the humour didn't land.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I'm not liking the art style. Some of the character designs are just weird, and a step back compared to the original.

@Questionable_Duck Fair point. "Currently, there's not really too much of a possibility of having 'Nioh' on Xbox platforms. " Given that Sony published them outside of Japan, I'm not sure we'll see that change.

As for the story connection, hard to say. People see 3 and assume continuity if not familiar with the franchise. I can see that impacting sales.

@Questionable_Duck It's not a timed exclusive and Team Ninja previously said Nioh games where never coming to Xbox. I'd say it's highly unlikely.

Maybe they figure the rest of the series being absent will see less adoption, unlike the Fatal Frame franchise which has launched most titles on Xbox?

@LogicStrikesAgain It has a simultaneous PC/PS launch. No mention of Xbox.

@GirlVersusGame I'd wager that attractive, even sexualised characters, aren't intended as a substitute for "real contact". Nor are they at odds with maturity. Aesthetics has implicit appeal and that's not going to change. A vocal minority just attempted to associate shame with that simple reality.

On a tangent, it's worth noting that the original cultivation theory paper that popularised the "games reinforcing misogyny" argument and prompted the moral panic bordered on academic malfeasance, has yet to be reproduced successfully and has been contradicted numerous times, with more robust studies finding the opposite. This parallels decades worth of research indicating violent videogames have no meaningful impact on aggression, but do decrease cortisol levels which are implicated in reactionary violence. Poor research was accepted without merit and became a political football. Jack Thompson all over again.

@Paleblood On the upside, looking at this comment section, performative pearl clutching as a pastime is on the decline.

@nessisonett How does nanite influence "design styles" beyond tempting developers to put more geometry on screen? Lumen is entirely optional, and the engine allows the use of no, baked or custom GI solutions. The NvRTX branch, which includes RESTIR (used in Cyberpunk's path tracing mode), is also freely available. Spoilers, it doesn't have much impact on "design styles". Only the fidelity and cost of modelling light transport.

At a stretch, one could argue that PBR and the stock ACES colour grading have influenced the look of many titles, but you'd still be making excuses for developers prioritizing "realism", and aping cinematic lighting/post techniques, over developing interesting, unique art direction. That, and the overuse of photogrammetry libraries.

Not enough explosions

Hot take if ever there was one - like faulting Doom 2016 because the gameplay involves shooting things and "Hurt me plenty" wasn't enough of a challenge.

I suggest trying mentor or master ninja, as they outright require precise positioning, move selection and UT execution.

@LogicStrikesAgain

> that it is diverse as the cause of why a product is bad, instead of the real reasons like awful writing, acting and acting etc.

There's a difference between the general notion of diversity, and the practicalities of the financially incentivised corporate pursuit of it. Diversity requirements in a company, in my experience, usually start at the behest of executives/stakeholders. Seminars and consultancy follows, always nebulous with little to no thought of context or execution. Less "lets make a different character or cast", more intersectionality. Any opposition, regardless of motivation, is dealt with harshly. This In practice lends itself to a lot of uncertainty, often resulting in the "safest" choice as to not risk offending or creating something "problematic".

The simplest example I can provide is seeing a bunch of compelling vignettes, complete with exposition and legitimately endearing character beats, scrapped because they made a female character seem "vulnerable"; Despite her being immensely capable during gameplay, it was an explicitly discouraged characterisation. The outcome? A colleague disappointed and demotivated, criticisms of an unrelatable, cold protagonist and plot points lacking motivation at launch.

> they fail to make a compelling product around their pursuit of inclusiveness

And that's my point. The corporate climate which prioritises DEI, practically, more often than not imposes substantial constraints on the design space. The social climate that enforces it impacts morale and investment within the team. Both can significantly undermine the quality of output.

> It sucks that you have to work in an environment that only focuses on representation.

It's a fairly small industry with a lot of talent shuffling about. From what I hear, it's not uncommon.

@DonJorginho Hear, hear!

@nessisonett

Diversity in itself is neither here nor there, until it becomes a development priority (where gameplay/experience/entertainment value should always come first).

> It goes without saying that no dev would want to add elements to a game unless they were a certain quality

There are explicit diversity requirements to be eligible for a number of game awards. For publicly traded companies, there are also strong financial incentives to meet DEI milestones, resulting in frequent, superficial inclusion/check listing. These range from well thought out, to obnoxiously performative (the progressive term rainbow capitalism springs to mind as an example), to at odds with the themes, tone or general tenets of good story telling/character development. In practice, these forced considerations, coupled with cultivated press outrage (this article being one of a litany of examples), means design meetings are dominated by concerns of representation and potential offense. Suddenly, entertainment isn't the primary consideration of an entertainment industry. Creatives walk on eggshells while expected to be creative. As someone working in it, that is my personal gripe; The current climate has stifled the creative process.

> Instantly jump towards questioning the motivations of the writers or use of DEI practices if there are minorities present

Calling it bigotry is reductive; People have enjoyed minority and/or female protagonists for decades. I think it's more cynicism. Poor games and films often spotlight diversity to draw attention away from an otherwise underwhelming product. It's the fault of the the executive/marketing departments, but none the less it establishes a negative correlation. So does using those characters for ham-fisted contemporary social commentary or lacklustre characterisation to speed run your quarterly social requirements checklist.

The amount of coverage and insiders trying to generate hype comes across as a little desperate tbh. I'd rather spend my time playing something enjoyable and follow up on any announcements.

Yes, and it's magnificent.

@Rich33 While I'm fond of the original voice acting, I'd be more concerned about Amy Hennig not returning.

@ShadowofSparta Why? People disagree with content. Execution can make it more or less egregious. A "woke list" is no different to all the press asides about Eve's sexualization - they indicate content.

I agree there's room for nuance, and it's up to every player to make an informed decision when buying a game, but I fail to see the issue with someone being informed of what's in it.

@MeanBeanEgg I'm not sure if comments like these are intentionally reductive or not, but it's not hard to understand.

Different people respond differently to different content. Some folks didn't like the fan service in Stellar Blade, many don't like blatant identity politics in their escapism. The prominence, execution and influence on gameplay that these elements have dictate how much of a negative they're perceived as. People weigh negatives against positives when deciding how they feel about a game.

Baldur's Gate 3 is an exceptionally well made game. Unsurprisingly it sells well, despite how a subset of its playerbase might feel about some of its content.

@GymratAmarillo I get where you're coming from, and largely agree that past a point it becomes a nuisance, but a definitive no from FromSoft would have precluded a lot of that. Either way, the PC crowd got tired of waiting, built an emulator and can already play it at 60fps. Seems like money left on the table tbh.

@Michael2008ish Sure thing, it's an opinion. It didn't entertain me, so I refunded it.

With 3 multi-plat titles and one PS exclusive under my belt, albeit in a more technical role, I'd like to think I've had a hand in creating something...

@Michael2008ish The art style. Disney-ish, as in overly saturated and noticeably stylized - not my first choice for dark fantasy...

It wasn't about rainbows, no, which is what made the tone, characterization and general dialogue choices so frustrating. They where fundamentally at odds with the story (and series), undermining any actual sense of severity. I personally found it unengaging as a result, and found myself disliking characters in a short span of time. Rook included, largely due to the bland, toothless dialogue choices, at which point I figured it wasn't for me.

@somnambulance The dialogue and characterization is rather juvenile, they did away with a lot of the gore and pushed the art style in a distinctly Disney direction while the gameplay has shifted towards accessible ARPG fair. If anything, the marketing reflects the overall design choices quite well.

I opted to pick it up on Steam instead of PS to draw my own conclusions, and unfortunately refunded it for the above reasons. Modern Bioware just isn't for me.

I'm not sure what relevance TGA has, beyond keeping a roof over Dorito Pope's head tbh. It's a relic of the past, much like E3.

With the rise of digital platforms, player based game awards make more sense. Well advertised in platform, with an extended voting period. A hard requirement that you own and have put x number of hours into the game before being eligible for voting.

Assuming the nomination pools are large, it'll aid game discovery and the ultimate winner will reflect the sentiments of the platforms users.

I don't believe further consolidation of two industries already plagued by it is a good thing.

The only incentive FromSoft has is additional capital - in a time where excessive budgets, wasteful spending and misguided publisher priorities have caused a number of closures. Leave them be, they don't need the money.

From an manga/anime perspective, Sony has made their stance on wanting to appeal to global markets clear. All too often this means homogenization. Not a big anime fan, but it would be a shame to see a distinct medium watered down.

@wildcat_kickz Best remake, while one is at it.

Please sell enough to bankroll another NG game.

@PuppetMaster I also thought Vikander did a good job as Survivor-trilogy Lara. Certainly put a lot into the role.

That said, I miss old Lara. Not everything has to be serious. Given the decline of the Indiana Jones franchise, I dare say there's room for a more playful, adventure focused film.

I can't say I see it. Her acting isn't anything to write home about, nor does she strike me as being especially physical. For the purists, she's lacking two other important qualifications.

Choosing Yasuke as the protagonist for an AC game set in Japan was an odd choice in terms of player expectation. In the decade plus of fans requesting such a game, I can't say I've seen anyone ask for Yasuke (or any other non-Japanese protagonist).

Doubling down on historical accuracy as the justification when the Yasuke-samurai conjecture is disputed, and was popularised by a single western author who wrote 400+ pages based loosely on a handful of paragraphs that never stated he was a samurai, or a lord, was a terrible choice.

Characterising all opposition to said choices as racism is just willful ignorance when both "diverse" AC titles and other media featuring black samurais have, and will likely continue to succeed (on their own merits).

Studios seem to be ever increasingly incapable of accepting critiscm.

PC having the best looking and performing version of Bloodborne was not on my 2024 bingo card.

That's a point, I need to pick up the Shadows of the Damned remaster.

@themightyant Origins certainly was, and truthfully I'm still hoping for a "true" sequel to it.

While less atmospheric, apocalyptic and grotesque, qualities I missed in 2, it still maintained some of the oppressive atmosphere; Mundane hopelessness, if you will. It also had a number of legitimate gut-punches. I certainly wouldn't call In Hushed Whispers heroic fantasy. I would call the overwhelming majority of Inquisition exactly that.

My concern from the outset, with that god awful announcement trailer, has been that Veilguard will steer further in that direction - with rapid-fire whedonisms and bright flashes of color to mark the franchise's transformation into yet another generic, overly "safe" fantasy action property.

Given Bioware's trajectory as of late, the gameplay footage and writing I have seen (albeit with limited context) and that there's no reason not to wait, I'll do exactly that, is all.