astro911

I’m absolutely delighted to hear this.
Well deserved! Despite its flaws it quickly became one of my favourite games of all time. Hoping they bring out some DLC for it somewhere down the line…

After 133 hours I finally got the platinum in Rise of the Ronin on Thursday night. By no means perfect but I absolutely loved my time with it. I don't think I've been so engrossed in a game since Cyberpunk 2077!

I'm now playing Stellar Blade and just arrived in Xion. Just like Nier Automata I love the design of the main character, the dystopian setting, and the soundtrack in this game. Unfortunately, just like Nier none of the enemy types or designs in this game appeal to me at all. Platforming and traversal leaves a lot to be desired, too. But now that I've reached the city I'm really looking forward to the story opening up and there being more things to do.

@Kyushutrail I predominantly use my Japan PSN account but sometimes use my Australian one to buy games that didn’t get a release in Japan (e.g. Dead Island 2) or are heavily censored compared to the western versions (e.g. Until Dawn). The only time it sucks is when the western versions don’t include Japanese text support for my language study haha. Anyway I strongly suggest you make a PSN account for another region if you don’t have one already.

As always, it's fascinating to see a wide range of opinions and be reminded of just how much my gaming preferences differ from others. For those who have been disappointed with 2024 so far, please be happy for the likes of me! Thanks to Rise of the Ronin and Helldivers 2 I can't remember the last time I had this much FUN as a gamer! Together with Ghostwire Tokyo, Returnal, and Cyberpunk 2077, my purchase of a PS5 finally feels justified. And with Stellar Blade to look forward to at the end of this month? Amazing!

Have sunk about 50 hours into Rise of the Ronin and still can’t get enough of it!

@LikelySatan Interesting! One of reasons RotR greatly appeals to me is that it’s more grounded in history and has fewer supernatural elements compared to the likes of Sekiro and Nioh. To each their own! 😊

I think the current metacritic score around 75 is pretty fair if you’ve played your fair share of open world/souls games and not particularly interested in Japanese history.

For me though, having previously lived in Japan and studied the Edo period at uni, I absolutely adore this game and simply can’t get enough of it.

In many ways it’s as if Way of the Samurai and Tenchu got together and had a baby! 😍

@Philpmarlowe GOT is in many ways a more refined and polished experience, but I prefer the historical setting, weapon variety, and characters found in ROTR.

These days I watch a lot more gameplay videos on YouTube rather than read reviews to see if I will enjoy a game or not. I recommend checking out theRadBrad’s videos covering this game on YouTube to help you decide whether you should pick it up ROTR now or wait for a sale. Hope this helps.

I’m about 30 hours into Rise of the Ronin. I think it’s safe to say that this game will not only be my game of the year but also likely one of my favourite games of all time. No it’s not perfect but I absolutely adore it and will be devastated once I’m done with everything it has to offer.

After watching a couple of YouTube videos I decided to bite the bullet and grab Rise of the Ronin. It’s only downloaded the first part of the game so I’ve been taking my time with the character creator and tutorial. Looking forward to playing it more tomorrow!

The deluxe edition of Returnal is currently on sale on the PSN store so I decided to finally grab it. I last played it about a year ago when I was subscribed to PS Plus Premium and still had the game installed on my PS5. Much to my delight (and horror!) it immediately booted up to my last previously saved loop - I have completely forgotten the controls and am no doubt going to die very soon haha. I also forgot just how good the sound design is in this game, which is now even better thanks to the new Pulse Elite headphones! Happy gaming everyone.

I’m one of those players who bought and finished Remake in 2020, but have had no desire to buy Rebirth. I’ve watched some gameplay on YouTube to see if it would convince me to jump back in but nothing is grabbing me. And my goodness, some of the writing and acting…I don’t remember Remake being so cringeworthy? It definitely seems like I’ve outgrown the series. That’s alright, plenty of other games to play…

Thanks very much for the great review. I’m a huge Vanillaware fan and own multiple copies of Dragon’s Crown, Odin Sphere, and Muramasa. I also adored the story in 13 Sentinels and even got the platinum trophy despite not being a huge fan of the tower defence gameplay. But just like GrimGrimoire there is something about this game that doesn’t seem to quite gel with me. If it had more hands-on gameplay like Grand Kingdom I think I would be all over it. It’s without doubt a very pretty game but I miss George Kamitani’s signature touch with the art style. Hope everyone who bought the game has a blast playing it. I’ve also been impressed with how much advertising this game has been getting, so I hope this catapults Vanillaware into the limelight and encourages more players to discover their other gems. Vanillaware games and Basiscape soundtracks are an amazing combination.

The game market is completely oversaturated. The Covid bubble has well and truly burst and given current interest rates and inflation, costs are only ever increasing for studios and publishers. It's very sad for those affected by all these cuts but there are likely more to come, especially as AI evolves and plays a more prominent role moving forward.

The reality is people only have so much free time and disposable income to dedicate to games. More and more of us also have ever-growing backlogs, and, given the current state of the economy, are showing far greater restraint when it comes to purchasing new games.

Shawn Layden warned everyone years ago that the growing development costs for AAA games were completely unsustainable. The fact that it cost more to develop Spiderman 2 than what PlayStation spent to acquire the damn developer shows just how insane things have become. Pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into AAA development for only a 6% margin gives very little room for error.

Bearing this in mind, can you blame Jim Ryan for looking at live service games as an alternative to make far greater margins off much smaller investments? The problem with live service games is they tend to cannibalize each other far more compared to single-player games. I'm currently enjoying Helldivers 2 - it's great fun, has tight gameplay mechanics, encourages cooperation, and isn't bogged down by excessive story arcs and cut scenes. However, in order for me to dedicate time to playing Helldivers 2, I've had to sacrifice time spent playing another live service game, Rocket League (a game I've invested more than 500 hours into since it released on PS Plus back in 2015). It therefore comes as little surprise that Sony is now cutting back on other live service projects given they could indirectly stunt the growth of Helldivers 2 and its potential to generate profits.

Personally, I am actually delighted to hear that no new major existing franchise titles are being released by Playstation in the next fiscal year. As a business, I appreciate that they have focused on existing IP to generate recurring revenue up until now. But everything first-party has become so boring, stale, and predictable. I couldn't care less about another Horizon, God of War, TLOU, Uncharted, Spiderman or Marvel game. So credit to management for trying to diversify with 2nd party titles including the upcoming Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin - without them I don't know what the next Sony-published game I would be buying. There is also a plethora of indies and 3rd party games I'm interested in - if only I had the time and money to play them all...

Having a fantastic time on the PS Triple. Just finished Max Payne 3 which was an absolute blast despite the choppy frame rate. Now I’m getting back into Lollipop Chainsaw after a long hiatus and I forgot how much stupid fun it is! Will also do a few races on Blur when I feel like changing things up. Another cracking game that is still playable online!
(^o^)/**(^o^)/

Decided to start playing through Dragon’s Crown again! I own it on PS3, Vita, and PS4, so I’m uploading the save data and playing it on whichever console I feel like playing on. 🤣

I let my Australian account lapse and downgraded my Japanese account to Essential after trying Premium and not utilising its features. I really wish there were a basic level of PS Plus that would just allow me to pay for cloud saves, play online multiplayer and access the additional store discounts for members. I can’t remember the last time I actually played one of the free monthly games despite adding them to my library. PS Plus membership peaked for me when I could get a PS3, PS4 and Vita game monthly. There was often a free monthly theme, too! Haha yes I’m super nostalgic for that era of PlayStation…

I was about three hours into Phantom Liberty but dropped it as I just wasn’t feeling it (despite it being my most anticipated release of the year). Decided to dive into my PS3 backlog and chose Never Dead. I am surprised it reviewed so poorly as I’m having a great time with it despite its shortcomings. It could be the nostalgia goggles talking but I do miss a lot about the PS360 generation. Gaming (and life!) was simpler back then.

I’m so happy to hear this news! I really enjoyed what I played of it on the Vita back in the day. The developer was very clever to first launch the game on Vita - they knew it had a vocal and dedicated fan base to push sales via word of mouth, and they didn’t need to compete with a crowded release schedule on Switch for market share. It never got a physical release on Vita so I will definitely pick up the PS4 version. This will, incidentally, allow me to remote play on one of my Vitas haha. 🤣

@WolfyTn @Nepp67 Horses for courses… this is definitely my game of 2023 so far! Bought the HELL-A edition which includes the expansion pass so can’t wait for the updates! If you’re looking for a deep, serious story in a Dead Island game you’re going to be disappointed but if you’re looking for some mindless fun you’re going to have a great time. 🙃

Very slowly making more progress in Death Stranding. Just delivered my first “live” cargo which led to a lovely reunion between a young couple amongst all the rubble and despair. 😉

With the hype surrounding Alan Wake 2 I decided to install and play the original which has been sitting in my backlog for months. Holy crap this game throws you straight into the action doesn’t it! No build up or foreplay required, just dive straight in. 😂

I also tried the Street Fighter 6 VI demo but couldn’t get into it. Might try it again later but with so much else to play it’s not a priority right now. Happy gaming everyone!

Unbelievable… you pay extra for early access and not only does it not work but you also have to pay for a micro transaction as a workaround to get licence issue fixed? Sony should offer a partial refund to those affected at the very least…

I really enjoyed my time with Trek to Yomi. Definitely need to play through it again. Can’t believe it’s already been over a year since it came out…

After contemplating putting it on hold Death Stranding has finally got its claws into me and won me over. Would love to stay and chat everyone but I have to move some cargo and meet up with Fragile at the distribution centre south of Lake Knot City. 😉

@RaZieLDaNtE Thanks very much for taking the time to explain the basics to me. 😊 I think I’ll stick with it but don’t feel compelled to jump straight back in. I think it will scratch the itch when I feel like something different but not too intense (aside from getting caught by the BT!).

Aside from Death Stranding, I’ve been making my way through They Always Run. It’s a very cool cyberpunk/western themed action platformer where you play as a bounty hunter. Very much recommended to anyone who enjoyed Dex but wants something a bit more fast-paced. 😉

@Mgene15 I just got to Port Knot City. Might put it down and play something else for a bit before going back to it for another go.

I’ve started Death Stranding and I’m several hours in now. The opening hour was fantastic and really pulled me in but the great pacing dropped off and it’s all a bit tedious now. Carry goods, avoid BTs and Mules, bring another location online, get a pat on the back and improve your social rating, have a bit more backstory explained, spend some time resting in the private room. Is that pretty much it or does it get better? Or is this game simply not for me? 😅

Always wanted this back in the day on my Saturn but could never find a local copy. Ended up playing the demo for Disney’s Hercules on the PSOne countless times instead (pretty sure I own the digital classic copy on the PS3/Vita, too). 😉

I’m just delighted to see Dead Island 2 still in the top ten!

Just finished the main story of Dead Island 2! Hats off to Dambuster Studios for making such a solid, enjoyable game. Going to spend some time doing some side quests to mop up a few more trophies.

Dead Island 2, baby! It’s pretty much what I was hoping for and I’m more than satisfied with what I’ve played so far. I bought a copy of the Hell-A Edition for both the PS4 and PS5, and plan to give the latter as a present to a mate who got me into the series since the PS4 version comes with a free upgrade. I will probably get a digital copy down the line when it’s on sale to further show my support. I’m so grateful this game exists after 10 years of development hell!

@Link41x Nice! Respect you for going back for more. 😎👍

@ApostateMage Yeah it’s definitely an amazing game, warts and all. I’m looking forward to getting the platinum all over again! Enjoy your time in NC. 😝

@Link41x Good luck with the final stages of Hitman Go. You’ll have to play it again on the Vita so you get the trophies. 😉

@ApostateMage 6th!? 😳 I take it you played it all the way through the PS4 version more than once before transitioning to the native PS5 version? 😝

@Mintie I’m very sorry for your loss but I’m glad you’re able to honour and pay tribute to your friend through gaming.

Enjoying my run as a Corpo in Cyberpunk on the PS5 in anticipation for the Phantom Liberty expansion. With Dead Island 2 only a week away I’m not in the mood to start anything new in the backlog. 😉

PSVR2 certainly has its work cut out for it. Even if you are fortunate enough to be able to afford it in a tough global economy you have to ask yourself if you can justify the purchase. I certainly can't at this point in time given the size of my current backlog and my previous experience with PSVR. I know I would be infatuated with the VR2 for a short period of time but then go back to playing other games and the unit would just gather dust and take up room in my apartment. I hope I can pick one up in a few years when it is much cheaper and has a selection of games I actually want to play on it. By that time the system may already be dead. So be it. That's Sony's problem to figure out, not mine.

Playing Twelve minutes on the PS4 again, and again, and again… 😉

Just finished Dead Island Riptide so I’m all ready for DI2 next month. Going to turn my attention to Battlefield: Bad Company next since I’ve never played it and they’re delisting it next month.

In anticipation for Dead Island 2 I recently finished Escape from Dead Island and have now started Dead Island Riptide! Hopefully I will have finished it by the time the much anticipated sequel comes out. 😉

It’s a bit early for April Fools’ Day, isn’t it? Of all the things PlayStation could’ve done with controllers and console covers and they choose this?

All the excitement about the rerelease of Goldeneye has been the perfect excuse for me to pull Goldeneye: Reloaded out of my backlog for the PS3. I just finished the first mission - I wouldn’t stay it has held up particularly well but it seems entertaining enough. Other than that I’ll be back to playing more of Wet.

I’m playing Wet on the PS3! Looking at the trophies I’m about half way through and really enjoying my time with it. Should finish it before the game that inspired me to play it, Wanted: Dead comes out next month.

@F1at8mot0 I agree with everything you said, especially about playing games rather than watching some pretty story unfold. To be honest my backlog across PS3, PS4 and Vita will last me a lifetime so maybe it’s a blessing in disguise there aren’t so many titles coming out to add to the pile.

Off the top of my head these are the six I’m most looking forward to in order of release dates:

1. Wanted: Dead
2. Dead Island 2
3. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
4. Stellar Blade
5. The Wolf Among Us 2
6. Rise of the Ronin (2024)

All I will say is thank god for second and third parties! In my opinion Sony are victims of their own success and playing it way too safe with their studio output these days. Everything feels so generic, formulaic and predictable now. Not interested in yet another Marvel, Last of Us, Horizon, GT or GOW game.

Am I the only one who would much rather experience Ragnorok in Valkyrie Elysium as opposed to playing GOWR?

As a 38 year old I think I’m craving more original and unique experiences. Returnal convinced me that next-gen had arrived and pushed me to upgrade to a PS5. I feel that Sony’s first party games are extremely well-polished but not offering anything new. I don’t blame them for what they’re doing as the figures don’t lie and the majority of the market is happy to lap up more of the same.

Be that as it may I really miss the PS3 and PS4 era where Sony tried different things on smaller budgets via Japan Studio including the likes of Tokyo Jungle, Gravity Rush, and Everybody’s Golf. Hopefully Sony have something novel up their sleeve. I will credit them for making Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin console exclusive.

I’m also tempted to try PSVR2 in a few years when the price and games available are lot more appealing. In the meantime, very grateful to third parties and indies for keeping me satiated!

Just got the platinum trophy for the PS4 version of Cyberpunk. Promptly installed the native PS5 version to see what the improvements are like. 😂 I have so many other things to play in my backlog but I plan to make my way through the story again very slowly in the lead up to the expansion coming out next year.

I wonder if PlayStation were waiting to see how TLOU Part 1 sold before giving this project the green light?

It's becoming clear that PlayStation is trying to build various IP into their own little ecosystems. Games are being re-released to coincide with the launch of any related movie/TV show/streaming series.

I wouldn't be surprised if PlayStation eventually try to turn Destiny into Star Wars with all the associated spin-off series and merchandise. As with live-service games, the potential for additional streams of revenue is huge!

As an older gamer who prefers single player experiences, I am not a fan of PlayStation's current trajectory. However, from a business perspective I can hardly blame them for the path they've chosen. At least they've tried to placate me by securing Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin as console exclusives.

I just finished watching it. Being limited to 10 episodes means it felt rushed in places and prevents you from learning more about some characters or developing any kind of real connection with them. Having said that, I really appreciated their attention to detail and being faithful to the source material. I found myself smiling whenever I recognised a location or song from the game, and was fascinated by the choice of songs from the soundtrack and the scenes they used them in. Overall it exceeded my expectations and would give it a solid 8/10. I highly recommended The Ghost in the Shell series to anyone who enjoyed Edgerunners. Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop are pretty much the only other anime series I can still watch these days without feeling like I’ve outgrown the medium.

On the PS3 I’ve recently started Army of Two: The 40th Day and liking what I’ve played so far.

On the PS4 I’ve started playing Carrion and I’m absolutely loving it! It is everything I hoped it would be from the trailer.

On the PS5 I’ve been playing the Valkyrie Elysium demo. I love my hack n slash games and it’s better than I thought it would be. The music is fantastic, too! May not be enough to tempt me day one but I’ll definitely pick it up sooner or later.

@XandertheWise Nice! I played it for the first time last year and really enjoyed it. Have to get around to playing the second game on of these days...