It's funny how we act like Destiny 2 isn't a big deal for PlayStation and have a "who cares" mentality when it is frequently in the top 5 most played games on PS5 and never outside of the top 10. I bought a PS5 thinking Sony would release great games for it in the first year, when I came to find that in my view, the PS5 version of D2 was and still is the best game available for the system. I'm not alone in this thinking, as the sales figures reflect. I think the Bungie acquisition was very smart and will prove to be a much bigger deal than people now realize.
Now this is a proper acquisition. Don't get me wrong, the previous smaller studios recently purchased by Sony are good studios, but they don't produce system/ecosystem sellers the way Bethesda and Activision will for Xbox. While Bungie is a fraction the size of Activision financially, this acquisition represents a quality over quantity approach that could serve as a direct response to the FPS monopoly that Xbox has been working towards recently. Love it or hate it for a whole host of reasons, from a pure quality of shooting mechanics standpoint, Destiny stands at the top of its genre. No one can currently make a shooter like Bungie can. This is an outstanding choice by Sony.
Modern Warfare 2019 was my favorite. Infinity Ward makes by far the highest quality COD games, something that I think Activision is begging to realize as they base Warzone on the MW engine and even the new Vanguard runs on it.
This is the game I've been hoping From Software would make. I enjoyed the Souls series but I quickly got bored of its linear design and RPG-lite elements. I always loved the art design and environments but wanted the game to be more of a true RPG. I hope the world really is open and that build diversity actually is a thing in this one.
The vast majority of the games were children's games that could be run on Switch. Hardly a persuasive way to sell a $500 system. Sony has increasingly decided to focus on Nintendo's target market (children) but they will never beat Nintendo at their own game. What's worse, they are following in Atari's footsteps by allowing literally anyone to publish a game for their system. This is what drove Atari out of business. Back then we called those games trash, today we call them "indy" games. Sony needs to get back to what made it successful in the first place, high quality games targeting an older audience. Quality over quantity.
GT7 is the only upcoming PlayStation exclusive that I'm excited for and that I think lives up to the standard Sony set for previous early gen titles. Frankly, I think Sony should have waited for this game to be ready to release the PS5 instead of releasing the PS5 with one game, and a very short one at that (Demon's Souls) and letting the system serve as a PS4-pro plus for more than a year after.
Something other than short, story focused games, games for kiddos, or games that could be run on a mobile device. Unfortunately these three categories have dominated the PS5 lineup so far, and right now Sony is poised to play second fiddle to Xbox with the releases they have scheduled in the coming months and beyond.
I hope he's working on a first person shooter similar to Halo for the PS5. Sony has never had a good exclusive FPS game and is forced to rely on COD and Battlefield. It would be great to see a higher TTK/higher skill cap game like Halo or other arena shooters on PS5, ideally with a pvp focus (unlike destiny).
I love Marvel and I think Marvel provides a good template for games, but not the games we're seeing. Recent Marvel games too closely adhere to the sort of movie-esque game with simple gameplay, story driven, experiences that are over in a week or two and provide no depth. This is my concern with sony's direction overall right now. As they said during the recent showcase, Playstation Studios is "all about telling stories." I believe they're more focused on telling stories than making games. If I could pick a Marvel game it would be something more like Marvel vs. Capcom fighting, or something else focused more on gameplay than on stories. I enjoy a good narrative in a game, but not at the expense of gameplay. If story is all I'm getting, I'd rather just watch a Marvel movie.
I'm really excited to see Mechwarrior return to Playstation. I was a huge fan of Mechwarrior in the 90s and mech games in general. As great as the Souls games are, I think the best From Software games are the Armoed Core series, which I would also love to see return to Playstation.
It's hard to tell if this game deserves the 9s and 10s it's getting from major reviewers or if it's receiving those reviews because there are so few PS5 games in the catalog at this point that reviewers feel the need to say that something is worth playing. PS5 is off to an unprecedentedly slow start and I can't help but wonder if this game had been released in the middle of PS4's lifecycle when so many great games were being released, would it still really be considered a 10?
@Denni5m You were exactly right about this. I preoprdered WRC 10 on PS5 and played it today and it's completely unplayable in it's current state. This has to be some kind of serious mistake by the developer. They can't have honestly thought that this was in releasable condition. Hopefully they patch this soon, if not, it's not that WRC 9 is the better game than WC 10, it's that WRC 10 isn't a game yet at all.
Would you say the visuals and technical performance on PS5 are better than, worse than, or equal to WRC 9 on PS5? As long as it's not a downgrade I'll pick it up because I loved WRC 9.
Do we know if the Director's Cut save will replace the old save file or do both save files need to be on at the same time, taking up 115GB of save space?
@Flaming_Kaiser That's ok. A lot of people feel that it is. A lot more than those who feel that way about Ghost of Tsushima. This still illustrates my point about the current separation between most video game publications and video gamers.
@Flaming_Kaiser That's absolutely true, as I noted in my previous comment. However, those reviews are far short of the majority. There were hundreds of reviews on metacritic, as there are many on youtube and other forums where people could handle those things just fine, they just felt the game was boring and poorly made. Even under the most charitable view, gamers' general perception of Last of Us 2 was far less favorable than the professed view of online publications.
@lacerz There was certainly a lot of review bombing related to that. However, there was also a large contingent of people that felt the game was just boring and not well made, and that Naughty Dog thought that those other elements of the story would carry the game, when they did not.
Ghost of Tsushima offers interesting insight into the state of game publications today. When it released, it received an 83 on metacritic from critics. While not a bad score by any means, it was weighed down by publications that gave it mediocre and poor reviews for being on "outdated open world game" and "failing to innovate." At the same time, user reviews on metacritic gave it a 9.2, simply because the game was well made and was fun. By contrast, critics gave Last of Us 2 a 93 on metacritic, while users gave it a 5.7. This was a game that publications felt compelled to say "innovated" in certain areas and they rewarded that. But game reviews shouldn't hinge solely on whether a game innovates, but rather is it good. Innovation is great if it makes games better, but it can just as easily make games worse. When a developer takes risks and the risks don't pay off, they shouldn't be rewarded for taking them. Innovation is a gamble and it should remain that way. If not, we will inventivize the production of games that are poorly made and not fun, simply because they do something differently. Thankfully Push Square didn't fall into this trap. I think they gave Ghost the review it deserved.
I was hoping for something different for Sony's next exclusive after Demon's Souls. When it comes to single player games, RPGs are my favorite because I enjoy the process of progression, of investing in and building a character. Rogue-likes are the opposite of RPGs in that they are the absence of progression. And when people say that the progression is in skill developed at playing the game, I don't discount that, but when it comes to skill development as the form of progression there will always only be one game that stands alone for me- Tekken.
@Feena Absolutely. This person gets it. I think it's evident at this point an acquisition arms race is going to occur, whether Sony and Micosoft call it that or not. That's just where the market dynamics are headed. However, Sony's acquisition of Housemarque does not serve as an effective first salvo in this battle. The proper response to the Bethesda acquisition by Xbox is for Sony to acquire Kojima. I know that will cost billions of dollars, but as we saw with Bethesda, that's the cost of competing in today's market.
@Th3solution Agreed. It's a step in the right direction for Sony, but if they think for a minute that this is a response to Xbox acquiring Bethesda, they are sorely mistaken.
I've never played less games than I have in 2021. Since I got a PS5 and beat Demon's Souls in December I haven't bought anything new and I can't bring myself to get interested in anything that has released this year. This is true for most of my friends as well. The drop off in gaming was noticeable with the launch of the PS5, the opposite of what you would want/except with a new console release.
I'm not upset with Bethesda, I understand why they did it. That's just business. Xbox was just thinking big picture more than Sony was and decided to buy Todd Howard for $8 billion, which was well worth it. Instead of limping along with cross gen upgrades cross gen exclusives from lesser studios, Sony needs to think big. If I were them, in response to the Bethesda acquisition, I would be thinking how much will it cost to acquire Hideo Kojima or Hidetaka Miyazaki? To compete, Sony has to think about how to monopolize things that people won't go without. I haven't owned an Xbox since the early 2000s and I did then for Morrowind. Now I will buy an Xbox for Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6.
@BloodNinja I have played all of them but Bloodborne. Thankfully, since I posted this comment, we have learned much more about Elden Ring and it looks like From Software has made many of the changes I wanted to see. They are calling it an open world game (unlike their previous linear games) and have said there is going to be much greater emphasis on character build diversity and complex RPG elements. This is both welcome and signals an acknowledgement of the limitations of their previous games, and where they could improve. It looks like they are on the right course.
I hope that working with Martin will give this game a bit more texture than the Souls games. I enjoyed the Souls series, primarily for the feeling of exploring the levels the first time through, the art design, and the combat, but the games felt a bit one note for me. I think the reason why is that they were billed as Action RPGs but were really just action games, with light RPG elements. The build diversity was extremely low, in many games the gear you wore literally had no impact on the game, and you knew that no matter what you encountered, it was going to be a hostile monster. I always wanted to see something with a more dynamic RPG world like the Elder Scrolls series, but with the art design and combat of a Souls game. I was hoping Elden Ring might be that but we'll have to wait and see.
Sony absolutely lied, not only to their customers but also to themselves. Despite this article's effort to cover for Sony with paltry evidence that PS5 exclusives are adequate, and that it is past practice to release last-gen games during the life of next-gen consoles, these carefully selected examples don't reflect an accurate picture of how past console generation transitions, all console generation transitions, have gone. PS5 is unprecedented in the slow rate at which exclusives have been released. We are 6 months into the system's life and we have 4 console exclusives, only 2 of which are non-childrens games. That PS5 launched with only one game, Demons Souls, is unheard of. Every Playstation console, indeed every console ever has released with more than 5 and some as many as 20 next-gen console exclusives. Furthermore, when Sony talks about not wanting to "abandon" the 100 million PS4 owners, they misconstrue what that means in the market. Historically, continuing to support last gen consoles meant keeping servers operational, providing any updates necessary, but no more. You don't sell new systems by designing and releasing games for last-gen consoles. It's worth noting that that despite the record sales of PS5, it's also true that a record number of those PS5's sold were to scalpers who are still trying to sell them on ebay. This is reflected in the incongruent number of players actually playing on PS5. Sony has made money selling PS5s, but not to the right people. This has resulted in games with extremely low player counts (Demons Souls is one example)- something that should concern Sony significantly if they care about long term profits. As someone who has been a fan of gaming for every release since Atari, I look at what Sony is doing as a concerned parent looks at a wayward child. I just pray they can learn from the lessons of their fore-bearers before it's too late.
Sony is undeniably falling behind right now. While I don't believe that Sony needs a direct response to Game Pass in terms of a service, they do need to try to get back to what made them successful in the first place, quality games. The acquisition of Bethesda speaks volumes about Microsoft's approach to the future, and that approach could be a renewed focus on high quality games. Just this week news broke that Hideo Kojima is in talks with Xbox about his next game. While still far from confirmed, even the speculation that Kojima might make a game for Xbox and potentially not for Sony would have been unthinkable not long ago.
The release of the PS5 as the worst console launch I've seen since PS3. Almost six months into the life of the PS5 the system only has one game - Demon's Souls. All the rest of the games are PS4 games that can be played on PS5, sometimes with slightly better graphics or framerate. I'm old enough to remember the twilight of Atari and the birth of the NES, and to be honest, Sony's current approach reminds me of Atari's at the end of their reign. For those who may now know the history, Atari died in large part because they had little to no licensing requirements to make games for the system, so that anyone who wanted could make a game for it. This resulted in an ocean of terrible, low budget games that no one wanted to play. In the late 80s, Nintendo launched the NES with the idea that they would tightly control licensing and focus on quality over quantity. The result was iconic franchises that are still making Nintendo money today and the end of Atari.
A brief perusal of the Playstation store today looks not unlike the Atari section of the gaming wall in the late 80s. Endless amounts of free to play games, games made for mobile but adapted to PS5, and "indie games" which are often the same type of low budget games that tanked Atari, but with a new hipster title attached to them. These games are not next gen games of the type PS5 was designed to handle, and they do not provide adequate draw to spend $500 on a home console. If people want to play mobile games, play them on a Switch. Sony will never compete with Nintendo when it comes to cute cartoon games for kids, so I suggest they not try. Sony once knew this in 1996 when they released the first Playstation. They did so under the thinking that their market share would be games for people in their twenties. The idea was that everyone wants to be in this age group. Kids want to do what older people are doing so they will buy it, and older people who wish they were still at that age would buy these games too. The idea worked and Playstation carved out its own part of the market based on a slightly older core audience. This model carried them for twenty plus years. But today's percentage of made for switch games that dominate the Playstation store does not bode well for the future of Playstation.
I would urge Sony not to chase Game Pass and the subscription model. That's not what should scare them about Xbox's rise. What should is the Bethesda acquisition, Xbox's increasing overtures with top developers previously loyal to Sony, and above all, the fact they they only have one game for their new next gen system. I have owned every playstation system from the start and it has long been my favorite console brand, but if they don't realize the mistakes being made and change course soon, I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually go the way of Atari.
While it's sad that many of these classic games will now be harder to buy, as someone who has never purchased a digital game and intends to buy hard copies until they are no longer available, I personally don't see it as a huge loss. What's more concerning than a minor departure from from Sony's past is Sony's apparent unwillingness to match this departure form the past with any detectable focus on its future. With the PS5 essentially functioning as a PS4 pro plus and a limited catalog in the near future, on balance, I'd say Sony is focusing a little too much on the past.
It's astounding that we're almost a half year into the PS5 and this is the current catalog. I know that development difficulties have been compounded by covid, and I'm not discounting that, but this launch has been even more lackluster than the PS3 launch, with the PS5 functioning as a PS4 pro plus for most owners. That the most played games on PS5 are PS4 games is very telling, and hopefully Sony can do something to turn this around sooner than later.
I only replay games that are designed to be replayed, but those games are my favorite. Diablo, Nioh, and Monster Hunter World are some games that come to mind as having excellent replay value based on their character progression models. I never replay games that are based primarily on story.
@Divergent95 If you can't get into the Souls games that's totally understandable. While many people truly do love the games, there are just as many who love them because other people love them, not necessarily because they actually do. FromSoftware enjoyed a significant boost in popularity as a result of the PS3 allowing people to download Japanese games when those games would have previously been unavailable in the West. It allowed gamers in the US and Europe to play a game that the gaming community was advertising as hardcore and created the whole get good mentality. In truth, the games were good, but they were not as people believed them to be. I would say they are slightly above average for challenge, but there have always been games that are far more difficult than any of these. They were just most difficult than other action RPGs being put out at that time. This article does a good job of explaining the background on Souls popularity: https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2017/02/13/the-reason-why-nioh-will-not-overtake-the-souls-series-has-nothing-to-do-with-how-good-it-is/?sh=78b798d364fd
Honestly, if they didn't mention what platform it was for I would have thought it was a preview of upcoming mobile games. The fact that this is what's being introduced for the first year of a new console is amazingly underwhelming. With the exception of maybe Returnal, none of these games will use even a quarter of the PS5's processing capability.
@naruball I totally agree. I stopped buying dlc after the first one because it's not necessary. You only need to buy dlc if you want the new characters or stages. Since it takes nearly a lifetime to get proficient with a single character, unless you have a real driving desire to change, once you have your main, you can ignore dlc. In my opinion T7 is the best fighting game since T3.
Turok 2 was an awesome game with highly underrated multiplayer. I still remember using the Cerebral Bore, one of the most annoying weapons in the game. I would love to see a full remastered edition of that game, it would bring a much needed addition the the FPS genre which has become somewhat monotonous and boring in my opinion.
I would actually look at the value proposition much differently than this review does. For those who already own Nioh and Nioh 2 on PS4, the upgrade, while perhaps minimal, is a nice boost and is entirely free. For those who have not, $70 for both games is a bargain as nothing else outside of Monster Hunter World competes for next-gen adapted action-RPG content volume and quality. The great thing about Nioh is that it has combat mechanics on par with many fighting games, loot like Diablo, and a world system similar to Demon's Souls. Speaking of which, when you compare the price of this collection (for newcomers, who are the only ones who have to pay for it) to the same price for Demon's Souls, you are getting significantly more content for the money. I loved Demon's Souls, but you could fit that entire game into two of the regions in one of the Nioh games, and unlike the Souls games where NG+ changes virtually nothing in the game, Nioh is like Diablo in that the real game is focused on builds and doesn't even begin until your second playthrough. I think viewed through this lense this collection warrants a much higher score.
As much as I enjoyed the Demon's Souls remake, WRC 9 is my favorite PS5 game so far. Best rally game I have every played and makes excellent use of the PS5's features
While I agree that it's great to have backwards compatibility for almost all PS4 games, and I particularly appreciate it in cases where there are noticeable enhancements, I worry that backwards compatibility could become a crutch that reduces the impetus to develop and release new games for the PS5. With previous systems that weren't backwards compatible, as soon as the launch titles became stale there was a very real and urgent commercial need for Sony, Nintendo, Sega to work with developers to get new games out. Without that commercial need, compounded by the game development delays caused by the pandemic and the shortage of PS5s leaving many gamers on PS4s, I fear that it could take much longer for PS5 to amass a next gen library that rivals its predecessors at similar stages in their life cycles.
If they had only included the classic death match multiplayer I would definitely pick this up. I was really hoping for the return of arena multiplayer on console, but I can't get into the new battle mode idea.
This is my most anticipated game on PS4. Nioh was my favorite game for the system and I'm glad to hear this one doesn't mess with a good thing too much. Nioh by far an away outdoes the Souls games in every way for me. I found Sekiro a huge step back from Nioh 1 and am glad Nioh 2 is finally here.
Comments 68
Re: Bungie's New Destiny Expansion Amasses One Million Pre-Orders
It's funny how we act like Destiny 2 isn't a big deal for PlayStation and have a "who cares" mentality when it is frequently in the top 5 most played games on PS5 and never outside of the top 10. I bought a PS5 thinking Sony would release great games for it in the first year, when I came to find that in my view, the PS5 version of D2 was and still is the best game available for the system. I'm not alone in this thinking, as the sales figures reflect. I think the Bungie acquisition was very smart and will prove to be a much bigger deal than people now realize.
Re: Sony Buys Ex-Halo, Destiny Developer Bungie for $3.6 Billion
Now this is a proper acquisition. Don't get me wrong, the previous smaller studios recently purchased by Sony are good studios, but they don't produce system/ecosystem sellers the way Bethesda and Activision will for Xbox. While Bungie is a fraction the size of Activision financially, this acquisition represents a quality over quantity approach that could serve as a direct response to the FPS monopoly that Xbox has been working towards recently. Love it or hate it for a whole host of reasons, from a pure quality of shooting mechanics standpoint, Destiny stands at the top of its genre. No one can currently make a shooter like Bungie can. This is an outstanding choice by Sony.
Re: Site News: Our Greatest Ever Game of the Year Schedule Starts Tomorrow
Game of the year 2021, lol
Re: Video: Which Call of Duty Game Is the Best?
Modern Warfare 2019 was my favorite. Infinity Ward makes by far the highest quality COD games, something that I think Activision is begging to realize as they base Warzone on the MW engine and even the new Vanguard runs on it.
Re: Elden Ring Looks Awesome in 20 Minutes of Gameplay Action
This is the game I've been hoping From Software would make. I enjoyed the Souls series but I quickly got bored of its linear design and RPG-lite elements. I always loved the art design and environments but wanted the game to be more of a true RPG. I hope the world really is open and that build diversity actually is a thing in this one.
Re: Talking Point: Did You Enjoy Sony's Latest State of Play Livestream?
The vast majority of the games were children's games that could be run on Switch. Hardly a persuasive way to sell a $500 system. Sony has increasingly decided to focus on Nintendo's target market (children) but they will never beat Nintendo at their own game. What's worse, they are following in Atari's footsteps by allowing literally anyone to publish a game for their system. This is what drove Atari out of business. Back then we called those games trash, today we call them "indy" games. Sony needs to get back to what made it successful in the first place, high quality games targeting an older audience. Quality over quantity.
Re: Returnal Update 2.0 Finally Lets You Suspend Your Run
Can you use the photo mode to pause the game?
Re: Gran Turismo 7 Continues Behind the Scenes Look with Car Collectors
GT7 is the only upcoming PlayStation exclusive that I'm excited for and that I think lives up to the standard Sony set for previous early gen titles. Frankly, I think Sony should have waited for this game to be ready to release the PS5 instead of releasing the PS5 with one game, and a very short one at that (Demon's Souls) and letting the system serve as a PS4-pro plus for more than a year after.
Re: Talking Point: State of Play - What Do You Want to See?
Something other than short, story focused games, games for kiddos, or games that could be run on a mobile device. Unfortunately these three categories have dominated the PS5 lineup so far, and right now Sony is poised to play second fiddle to Xbox with the releases they have scheduled in the coming months and beyond.
Re: Halo Co-Creator Building New EA Studio to Make First-Person Games
I hope he's working on a first person shooter similar to Halo for the PS5. Sony has never had a good exclusive FPS game and is forced to rely on COD and Battlefield. It would be great to see a higher TTK/higher skill cap game like Halo or other arena shooters on PS5, ideally with a pvp focus (unlike destiny).
Re: All PS5 Game Reviews
With a couple of exceptions, what a sorry ass line up nearly a year after launch.
Re: Rumour: Konami Planning Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Castlevania Revivals
Enough with the remakes
Re: Poll: Do You Want Even More PS5 Marvel Games from Sony?
I love Marvel and I think Marvel provides a good template for games, but not the games we're seeing. Recent Marvel games too closely adhere to the sort of movie-esque game with simple gameplay, story driven, experiences that are over in a week or two and provide no depth. This is my concern with sony's direction overall right now. As they said during the recent showcase, Playstation Studios is "all about telling stories." I believe they're more focused on telling stories than making games. If I could pick a Marvel game it would be something more like Marvel vs. Capcom fighting, or something else focused more on gameplay than on stories. I enjoy a good narrative in a game, but not at the expense of gameplay. If story is all I'm getting, I'd rather just watch a Marvel movie.
Re: MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Launches a Surprise Attack on PS5, PS4 Later This Month
I'm really excited to see Mechwarrior return to Playstation. I was a huge fan of Mechwarrior in the 90s and mech games in general. As great as the Souls games are, I think the best From Software games are the Armoed Core series, which I would also love to see return to Playstation.
Re: Deathloop (PS5) - Arkane Does It Again in Confident Shooter
It's hard to tell if this game deserves the 9s and 10s it's getting from major reviewers or if it's receiving those reviews because there are so few PS5 games in the catalog at this point that reviewers feel the need to say that something is worth playing. PS5 is off to an unprecedentedly slow start and I can't help but wonder if this game had been released in the middle of PS4's lifecycle when so many great games were being released, would it still really be considered a 10?
Re: Round Up: What Was Announced at PlayStation Showcase 2021?
@Blackjay for sure
Re: Round Up: What Was Announced at PlayStation Showcase 2021?
Too many movie games, not enough video games
Re: WRC 10 (PS5) - Rough-Edged But Robust Rally Racing
@Denni5m You were exactly right about this. I preoprdered WRC 10 on PS5 and played it today and it's completely unplayable in it's current state. This has to be some kind of serious mistake by the developer. They can't have honestly thought that this was in releasable condition. Hopefully they patch this soon, if not, it's not that WRC 9 is the better game than WC 10, it's that WRC 10 isn't a game yet at all.
Re: WRC 10 (PS5) - Rough-Edged But Robust Rally Racing
@Denni5m Really? In what way specifically? That's discouraging.
Re: WRC 10 (PS5) - Rough-Edged But Robust Rally Racing
Would you say the visuals and technical performance on PS5 are better than, worse than, or equal to WRC 9 on PS5? As long as it's not a downgrade I'll pick it up because I loved WRC 9.
Re: Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut Could Take Up a Healthy Chunk of Your PS5 Storage
Do we know if the Director's Cut save will replace the old save file or do both save files need to be on at the same time, taking up 115GB of save space?
Re: Poll: Should Sony Do More PS5 Director's Cuts?
Enough director's cuts and remakes. Let's see some new games. I've never seen a lazier time in my 33 years of gaming.
Re: Poll: Ghost of Tsushima Released One Year Ago Today - What Review Score Would You Give It Now?
@Flaming_Kaiser That's ok. A lot of people feel that it is. A lot more than those who feel that way about Ghost of Tsushima. This still illustrates my point about the current separation between most video game publications and video gamers.
Re: Poll: Ghost of Tsushima Released One Year Ago Today - What Review Score Would You Give It Now?
@Flaming_Kaiser I think Skill Up does a good job of summarizing how a lot of people feel about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB20A8CitRU
Re: Poll: Ghost of Tsushima Released One Year Ago Today - What Review Score Would You Give It Now?
@Flaming_Kaiser That's absolutely true, as I noted in my previous comment. However, those reviews are far short of the majority. There were hundreds of reviews on metacritic, as there are many on youtube and other forums where people could handle those things just fine, they just felt the game was boring and poorly made. Even under the most charitable view, gamers' general perception of Last of Us 2 was far less favorable than the professed view of online publications.
Re: Poll: Ghost of Tsushima Released One Year Ago Today - What Review Score Would You Give It Now?
@lacerz There was certainly a lot of review bombing related to that. However, there was also a large contingent of people that felt the game was just boring and not well made, and that Naughty Dog thought that those other elements of the story would carry the game, when they did not.
Re: Poll: Ghost of Tsushima Released One Year Ago Today - What Review Score Would You Give It Now?
Ghost of Tsushima offers interesting insight into the state of game publications today. When it released, it received an 83 on metacritic from critics. While not a bad score by any means, it was weighed down by publications that gave it mediocre and poor reviews for being on "outdated open world game" and "failing to innovate." At the same time, user reviews on metacritic gave it a 9.2, simply because the game was well made and was fun. By contrast, critics gave Last of Us 2 a 93 on metacritic, while users gave it a 5.7. This was a game that publications felt compelled to say "innovated" in certain areas and they rewarded that. But game reviews shouldn't hinge solely on whether a game innovates, but rather is it good. Innovation is great if it makes games better, but it can just as easily make games worse. When a developer takes risks and the risks don't pay off, they shouldn't be rewarded for taking them. Innovation is a gamble and it should remain that way. If not, we will inventivize the production of games that are poorly made and not fun, simply because they do something differently. Thankfully Push Square didn't fall into this trap. I think they gave Ghost the review it deserved.
Re: Soapbox: What Makes Returnal So Special
I was hoping for something different for Sony's next exclusive after Demon's Souls. When it comes to single player games, RPGs are my favorite because I enjoy the process of progression, of investing in and building a character. Rogue-likes are the opposite of RPGs in that they are the absence of progression. And when people say that the progression is in skill developed at playing the game, I don't discount that, but when it comes to skill development as the form of progression there will always only be one game that stands alone for me- Tekken.
Re: Sony: We're Not Going Around Making Random Acquisitions
@Feena Absolutely. This person gets it. I think it's evident at this point an acquisition arms race is going to occur, whether Sony and Micosoft call it that or not. That's just where the market dynamics are headed. However, Sony's acquisition of Housemarque does not serve as an effective first salvo in this battle. The proper response to the Bethesda acquisition by Xbox is for Sony to acquire Kojima. I know that will cost billions of dollars, but as we saw with Bethesda, that's the cost of competing in today's market.
Re: Sony Confirms Acquisition of Returnal Dev Housemarque
@Th3solution Agreed. It's a step in the right direction for Sony, but if they think for a minute that this is a response to Xbox acquiring Bethesda, they are sorely mistaken.
Re: Feature: Your Top 10 PS5, PS4 Games of 2021 So Far
I've never played less games than I have in 2021. Since I got a PS5 and beat Demon's Souls in December I haven't bought anything new and I can't bring myself to get interested in anything that has released this year. This is true for most of my friends as well. The drop off in gaming was noticeable with the launch of the PS5, the opposite of what you would want/except with a new console release.
Re: Bethesda Apologises to PS5, PS4 Fans 'P*ssed' at Exclusivity
I'm not upset with Bethesda, I understand why they did it. That's just business. Xbox was just thinking big picture more than Sony was and decided to buy Todd Howard for $8 billion, which was well worth it. Instead of limping along with cross gen upgrades cross gen exclusives from lesser studios, Sony needs to think big. If I were them, in response to the Bethesda acquisition, I would be thinking how much will it cost to acquire Hideo Kojima or Hidetaka Miyazaki? To compete, Sony has to think about how to monopolize things that people won't go without. I haven't owned an Xbox since the early 2000s and I did then for Morrowind. Now I will buy an Xbox for Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6.
Re: Mini Review: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (PS5) - A Marginal Upgrade on Backwards Compatibility
Sony needs to stop with the paltry "upgrades" of PS4 games and actually make games for PS5.
Re: Poll: Did E3 2021 Suck?
With the exception of Elden Ring, it sucked for Playstation. It was good for Xbox though.
Re: Elden Ring Dated for January 2022 on PS5, PS4 in New Trailer
@BloodNinja I have played all of them but Bloodborne. Thankfully, since I posted this comment, we have learned much more about Elden Ring and it looks like From Software has made many of the changes I wanted to see. They are calling it an open world game (unlike their previous linear games) and have said there is going to be much greater emphasis on character build diversity and complex RPG elements. This is both welcome and signals an acknowledgement of the limitations of their previous games, and where they could improve. It looks like they are on the right course.
Re: Elden Ring Dated for January 2022 on PS5, PS4 in New Trailer
I hope that working with Martin will give this game a bit more texture than the Souls games. I enjoyed the Souls series, primarily for the feeling of exploring the levels the first time through, the art design, and the combat, but the games felt a bit one note for me. I think the reason why is that they were billed as Action RPGs but were really just action games, with light RPG elements. The build diversity was extremely low, in many games the gear you wore literally had no impact on the game, and you knew that no matter what you encountered, it was going to be a hostile monster. I always wanted to see something with a more dynamic RPG world like the Elder Scrolls series, but with the art design and combat of a Souls game. I was hoping Elden Ring might be that but we'll have to wait and see.
Re: Talking Point: Did Sony Lie About PS5?
Sony absolutely lied, not only to their customers but also to themselves. Despite this article's effort to cover for Sony with paltry evidence that PS5 exclusives are adequate, and that it is past practice to release last-gen games during the life of next-gen consoles, these carefully selected examples don't reflect an accurate picture of how past console generation transitions, all console generation transitions, have gone. PS5 is unprecedented in the slow rate at which exclusives have been released. We are 6 months into the system's life and we have 4 console exclusives, only 2 of which are non-childrens games. That PS5 launched with only one game, Demons Souls, is unheard of. Every Playstation console, indeed every console ever has released with more than 5 and some as many as 20 next-gen console exclusives. Furthermore, when Sony talks about not wanting to "abandon" the 100 million PS4 owners, they misconstrue what that means in the market. Historically, continuing to support last gen consoles meant keeping servers operational, providing any updates necessary, but no more. You don't sell new systems by designing and releasing games for last-gen consoles. It's worth noting that that despite the record sales of PS5, it's also true that a record number of those PS5's sold were to scalpers who are still trying to sell them on ebay. This is reflected in the incongruent number of players actually playing on PS5. Sony has made money selling PS5s, but not to the right people. This has resulted in games with extremely low player counts (Demons Souls is one example)- something that should concern Sony significantly if they care about long term profits. As someone who has been a fan of gaming for every release since Atari, I look at what Sony is doing as a concerned parent looks at a wayward child. I just pray they can learn from the lessons of their fore-bearers before it's too late.
Re: Poll: Is PlayStation Losing Ground to Xbox?
Sony is undeniably falling behind right now. While I don't believe that Sony needs a direct response to Game Pass in terms of a service, they do need to try to get back to what made them successful in the first place, quality games. The acquisition of Bethesda speaks volumes about Microsoft's approach to the future, and that approach could be a renewed focus on high quality games. Just this week news broke that Hideo Kojima is in talks with Xbox about his next game. While still far from confirmed, even the speculation that Kojima might make a game for Xbox and potentially not for Sony would have been unthinkable not long ago.
The release of the PS5 as the worst console launch I've seen since PS3. Almost six months into the life of the PS5 the system only has one game - Demon's Souls. All the rest of the games are PS4 games that can be played on PS5, sometimes with slightly better graphics or framerate. I'm old enough to remember the twilight of Atari and the birth of the NES, and to be honest, Sony's current approach reminds me of Atari's at the end of their reign. For those who may now know the history, Atari died in large part because they had little to no licensing requirements to make games for the system, so that anyone who wanted could make a game for it. This resulted in an ocean of terrible, low budget games that no one wanted to play. In the late 80s, Nintendo launched the NES with the idea that they would tightly control licensing and focus on quality over quantity. The result was iconic franchises that are still making Nintendo money today and the end of Atari.
A brief perusal of the Playstation store today looks not unlike the Atari section of the gaming wall in the late 80s. Endless amounts of free to play games, games made for mobile but adapted to PS5, and "indie games" which are often the same type of low budget games that tanked Atari, but with a new hipster title attached to them. These games are not next gen games of the type PS5 was designed to handle, and they do not provide adequate draw to spend $500 on a home console. If people want to play mobile games, play them on a Switch. Sony will never compete with Nintendo when it comes to cute cartoon games for kids, so I suggest they not try. Sony once knew this in 1996 when they released the first Playstation. They did so under the thinking that their market share would be games for people in their twenties. The idea was that everyone wants to be in this age group. Kids want to do what older people are doing so they will buy it, and older people who wish they were still at that age would buy these games too. The idea worked and Playstation carved out its own part of the market based on a slightly older core audience. This model carried them for twenty plus years. But today's percentage of made for switch games that dominate the Playstation store does not bode well for the future of Playstation.
I would urge Sony not to chase Game Pass and the subscription model. That's not what should scare them about Xbox's rise. What should is the Bethesda acquisition, Xbox's increasing overtures with top developers previously loyal to Sony, and above all, the fact they they only have one game for their new next gen system. I have owned every playstation system from the start and it has long been my favorite console brand, but if they don't realize the mistakes being made and change course soon, I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually go the way of Atari.
Re: Reaction: Sony's Storefront Closures Put PS5, PS4 Backwards Compatibility Efforts Back in Focus
While it's sad that many of these classic games will now be harder to buy, as someone who has never purchased a digital game and intends to buy hard copies until they are no longer available, I personally don't see it as a huge loss. What's more concerning than a minor departure from from Sony's past is Sony's apparent unwillingness to match this departure form the past with any detectable focus on its future. With the PS5 essentially functioning as a PS4 pro plus and a limited catalog in the near future, on balance, I'd say Sony is focusing a little too much on the past.
Re: Upcoming PS5, PS4 Games for April and May 2021
It's astounding that we're almost a half year into the PS5 and this is the current catalog. I know that development difficulties have been compounded by covid, and I'm not discounting that, but this launch has been even more lackluster than the PS3 launch, with the PS5 functioning as a PS4 pro plus for most owners. That the most played games on PS5 are PS4 games is very telling, and hopefully Sony can do something to turn this around sooner than later.
Re: Soapbox: Why Do You Replay Games?
I only replay games that are designed to be replayed, but those games are my favorite. Diablo, Nioh, and Monster Hunter World are some games that come to mind as having excellent replay value based on their character progression models. I never replay games that are based primarily on story.
Re: Elden Ring Fans Think That News Could Finally Be Near
@Divergent95 If you can't get into the Souls games that's totally understandable. While many people truly do love the games, there are just as many who love them because other people love them, not necessarily because they actually do. FromSoftware enjoyed a significant boost in popularity as a result of the PS3 allowing people to download Japanese games when those games would have previously been unavailable in the West. It allowed gamers in the US and Europe to play a game that the gaming community was advertising as hardcore and created the whole get good mentality. In truth, the games were good, but they were not as people believed them to be. I would say they are slightly above average for challenge, but there have always been games that are far more difficult than any of these. They were just most difficult than other action RPGs being put out at that time. This article does a good job of explaining the background on Souls popularity:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2017/02/13/the-reason-why-nioh-will-not-overtake-the-souls-series-has-nothing-to-do-with-how-good-it-is/?sh=78b798d364fd
Re: Talking Point: Did Sony's State of Play Livestream Meet Your Expectations?
Honestly, if they didn't mention what platform it was for I would have thought it was a preview of upcoming mobile games. The fact that this is what's being introduced for the first year of a new console is amazingly underwhelming. With the exception of maybe Returnal, none of these games will use even a quarter of the PS5's processing capability.
Re: Tekken 7 Teases DLC Character from Poland
@naruball I totally agree. I stopped buying dlc after the first one because it's not necessary. You only need to buy dlc if you want the new characters or stages. Since it takes nearly a lifetime to get proficient with a single character, unless you have a real driving desire to change, once you have your main, you can ignore dlc. In my opinion T7 is the best fighting game since T3.
Re: Turok 1 and 2 Appear on PlayStation Store with February Release Date for PS4
Turok 2 was an awesome game with highly underrated multiplayer. I still remember using the Cerebral Bore, one of the most annoying weapons in the game. I would love to see a full remastered edition of that game, it would bring a much needed addition the the FPS genre which has become somewhat monotonous and boring in my opinion.
Re: The Nioh Collection (PS5) - Backwards Compatibility Causing a Conundrum
I would actually look at the value proposition much differently than this review does. For those who already own Nioh and Nioh 2 on PS4, the upgrade, while perhaps minimal, is a nice boost and is entirely free. For those who have not, $70 for both games is a bargain as nothing else outside of Monster Hunter World competes for next-gen adapted action-RPG content volume and quality. The great thing about Nioh is that it has combat mechanics on par with many fighting games, loot like Diablo, and a world system similar to Demon's Souls. Speaking of which, when you compare the price of this collection (for newcomers, who are the only ones who have to pay for it) to the same price for Demon's Souls, you are getting significantly more content for the money. I loved Demon's Souls, but you could fit that entire game into two of the regions in one of the Nioh games, and unlike the Souls games where NG+ changes virtually nothing in the game, Nioh is like Diablo in that the real game is focused on builds and doesn't even begin until your second playthrough. I think viewed through this lense this collection warrants a much higher score.
Re: All PS5 Game Reviews
As much as I enjoyed the Demon's Souls remake, WRC 9 is my favorite PS5 game so far. Best rally game I have every played and makes excellent use of the PS5's features
Re: Soapbox: PS5 Backwards Compatibility Has Kept Me Glued to My Next-Gen Console
While I agree that it's great to have backwards compatibility for almost all PS4 games, and I particularly appreciate it in cases where there are noticeable enhancements, I worry that backwards compatibility could become a crutch that reduces the impetus to develop and release new games for the PS5. With previous systems that weren't backwards compatible, as soon as the launch titles became stale there was a very real and urgent commercial need for Sony, Nintendo, Sega to work with developers to get new games out. Without that commercial need, compounded by the game development delays caused by the pandemic and the shortage of PS5s leaving many gamers on PS4s, I fear that it could take much longer for PS5 to amass a next gen library that rivals its predecessors at similar stages in their life cycles.
Re: DOOM Eternal - The Best First-Person Shooter on PS4
If they had only included the classic death match multiplayer I would definitely pick this up. I was really hoping for the return of arena multiplayer on console, but I can't get into the new battle mode idea.
Re: Nioh 2 - Team Ninja Plays it Safe with Excellent, Action-Packed Sequel
This is my most anticipated game on PS4. Nioh was my favorite game for the system and I'm glad to hear this one doesn't mess with a good thing too much. Nioh by far an away outdoes the Souls games in every way for me. I found Sekiro a huge step back from Nioh 1 and am glad Nioh 2 is finally here.