bkeswick

Haha... Phil Spencer can be such a joker. Now I want to hear him say the same about Nintendo games like Mario Kart.

I'm happy enough with the upgrade path if the survival mode is decent. I don't think I'll do a full playthrough of the main campaign again though.

30 fps only is disappointing for a remaster of the old gen.

Not sure if I'm being cynical, but setting a high bar first, before "climbing down" seems to be a common strategy now with live services. It happens to rarity, pricing, etc.

@Luigia I get that's a possibility, but my point was, a manufacturer wouldn't add a drive option and count on people's laziness when the current model achieves the same (or arguably better) without the risk.

So the main purpose is something else. It's rather obvious to me that the point of re-modelling is to have 1 production pipeline for both models.

@Luigia

... how many people buy the detachable disc drive as people will probably just wanna save money and go fully digital...

In any case, Sony said years ago that they will just let the users decide and they will go with whatever outcome.

If they wanted to push digital, they wouldn't have bothered making the new detachable model as the current method would be more effective at pushing people into digital.

@Luigia

they’ll want people buying the digital version first pushing them away from physical media.

I never understood that line of thinking. If they want to push the digital, they should continue making the current digital edition and reduce the supply of disc edition.

The new digital edition can be eradicated entirely by attaching a drive any time; digital models will be given the option to practically be extinct with the new model. Whereas with the current digital edition, you're stuck with digital forever.

So I think this detachable model is entirely about streamlining the manufacturing pipeline.

Among the best this year for me, high 9 overall. A bit more RPG elements and I would've given it a 10.

lol. I'm not sure if I want to know given the reactions in the thread. Let's just say I admire the dedication of the netizens to their hobby and craft.

I enjoyed Cold War's single player back when PS5 came out, with adaptive triggers and such. I would give it a go if you like that sort of thing.

It took some practice, but the combat started to get real good after I got the hang of weaving in a magic burst in between every melee (and optionally follow up with Torgal's ravage if you don't wear the auto ring).

It seems they built this system to be as mashy or clinical as you want to make it, which makes sense. It's kinda clever and neat.

Haha bold style indeed, now it has my attention. Although, it was always going to get my attention. It looks experimental, but it has to happen to something, and it might just as well be this.

I still think the journey SE (and Tokyo RPG Factory to some extent) took from The 4 Heroes of Light to Bravely Default 2 was a superb example of how wobbly experiments can pave the way to something great.

The soundtrack I've heard so far has been amazing. Excellent melodic composers are common in Japan, but I get the impression that Soken threw everything at FF16 to make it a landmark achievement for him.

It's been a long time since I last looked forward to the music just as much as the game itself; it used to be a common occurrence for me in the old days.

@KidRyan Play the demo. It's only a couple of hours long and it was compelling enough that now I'm embarrassed that I even considered putting my backlog ahead of it.

Just looking at it in a vacuum, I haven't seen anything quite like it. I think it's shaping up to be something that will be remembered for a very long time.

I'm now accepting bets (#1) on FF16 Remake incoming in 2048, after 25 years of absence.

#1 All payments to be settled a year later in 2049.

Putting aside "FF series" for a moment, I've never seen anything quite like this. The combination of factors make it incredible.

BTW, an advanced combat demo unlocks in the title menu after beating the demo story.

As if Naoki Yoshida's team isn't amazing enough already, it's an epic collaboration on top.

@Th3solution It does look like that, doesn't it. But upon a closer inspection I find that the combat is methodical over the stagger phase and damage phase. I thought it's more obvious in boss fights.

My guess is, the way it looks (HP bar and all) will feel right once we wrap our heads around the context and then watch the combat in that context. We'll see how it goes.

I like how excess potions are used automatically when one is lying around. It seems you can be quite far away and still pick them up.

@Th3solution

The settings are all so dark. .... endless dark corridors.

There's a floating light source you can use. I wonder if there are different levels to the brightness because it is a bit dark in parts.

Monsters looked like damage sponges - until I started to grasp the stagger-to-dps cycles they go through to bring one down. It's a familiar system which I sometimes like or dislike depending on how it's done, but I think I like the way FF16 has done it.

I think it's a system of 2 halves in each cycle, to accentuate the change of pace going from a slower probing of the opponent to offloading all cooldowns to max out DPS.

I think what they've shown is a tiny bit under-geared / under-levelled so that they can show the skills. I suspect most players would have grinded to be stronger, so that 1 cycle would finish most monsters. Maybe.

@kyleforrester87 Communicating past events is challenging due to shifting narratives influenced by changes in the fanbase and our current context. Technological advancements also make it difficult to convey the nuances of the past; FF1-6 look the same today and are often trivialized.

To oversimplify, FF4 and FF5 created factions: one seeking an advanced version of FF3 with the Job system, while the other embraced FF4's narrative approach.

A new rivalry with Dragon Quest emerged, as FF3 became its strongest entry. Should FF compete based on its system or dramatization?

FF5 received mixed reactions, with some considering it a return to form - what FF4 should've been - and others seeing it as a bombshell. Claims were made that FF2 and 4 were not true FF. Others advocated for FF4's narrative approach. FF6 aligned with the latter.

The saving grace was, agreement of sorts existed that FF should be grounded in crystals shaping the world, accompanied by classic RPG elements like castles, dungeons, treasure chests, and customizable weapons and armor.

Chibis became a staple across six and a half instalments. Don't under-estimate what 6 games can do to a series; not many series even reach 6.

While I'm not personally dogmatic, there is a sense of a missing historical chunk when discussing FF's definition. SE's fluctuating ideas can deepen division or provide opportunities for a significant minority with a clear stance.

The point is to never give up on what FF17 and FF18 can become. FF7 set a new course for the series, and FF16 is about to do the same. But!! It doesn't have to be that way. The future is unwritten.

@kyleforrester87

I’m not sure

I am sure, but I should've clarified that I meant in Japan since I grew up there. There were certainly hell of a lot of people around me of that type and Yoshida has mentioned it in the past as well.

That being said, there might be some differences in the west in a sense that perhaps the series had a "cleaner" slate prior to FF7 due to fewer titles being released. Still, none of this matters to the fact that there was a spectrum of views.

Anyway, before my original point is lost somewhere in this side chat - just to be clear - my earlier point was, if you make enough noise, perhaps FF17 might bring back turn-based. It has happened before, it can happen again.

After much murmuring that a true FF game has chibi characters and the crystal has to be at the heart of world building, and that FF was trend-following with realistically proportioned characters, the devs finally buckled under pressure and made FF9 for that segment of the fanbase.

The debate as relevant today as it was back then.

So... all this discussion over Imran Khan saying something about SE.

It's an interesting idea for a game design. NPCs have their own thoughts and actions, and you're thrown in in their environment. You intervene so that you shape the future you desire.

I think the devs tried to somewhat simulate the butterfly effect of real life at a manageable scale. Maybe this type of game will continue to improve as the current wave of AI tech improves.

(Question 7) Neil Druckmann's appearance was tied to Factions 2 in my mind. So if one goes missing, the other goes missing.

Come to think of it, Factions 2 showed up with Geoff Keighley so maybe they're just being consistent by putting it in Keighley's show.

Factions 2 also leaked just before the show which took away the surprise, so maybe Keighley might get its gameplay reveal as a compensation.

So now I expect to see Neil Druckmann in Summer Game Fest...

Make them all less samey shooters and I will be OK with that. I main traditional games, but every now and again I play shooters so I can see myself getting into quality GAAS shooters.

Just to cast my vote, shooters are good. I like shooters. If it has to be live service, make it a shooter. It's also a popular genre so Sony should be happy.

If there's going to be 12 of them, maybe make every combination and permutation of shooters, and I should be able to find at least 1 or 2 I like.

It's actually a more interesting one out of the lot. I look forward to getting more detail.

BTW you should make a dedicated live services section to clean up the comments. All this bickering from people who just dislike live services gets old when it's repeated tirelessly under every article. Give them the option of filtering out live services stuff.

Personally, Factions 2 is the one I wanted in the showcase. It's so weird that they announced it and even did a second round on a stage talking about it, and then it goes missing when its release is supposedly approaching within this fiscal year.

@get2sammyb Yeah there's something distasteful and lousy about it. But I also know live services tend to get bashed anyway.

One half of me says I see what you mean, the other half of me says we barely know what it is. It's just been announced for goodness sake.

Mixed feelings. I'm a fan of Days Gone and it was harshly reviewed, but the studio isn't blameless on day 1 either.

Leave it a few dev cycles and I think the IP will return to a warm welcome in 10 to 15 years. Sometimes it's better that way.

It does look interesting. Hard to say anything at this point, too little information.

It's more single player oriented with coop option according to them so I'll give this one a try.

I just realised this studio is also the one behind Project Awakening which they showed in a PS4 show.

I'm curious enough so I'll give it a go. I played Splatoons quite a bit when it came out on the Wii U.

@BeerIsAwesome Haha I think I know what you mean. I think it's fine for marketing, but it only gets weird when observers start to perceive virtues and righteousness in them which seems to be common on twitter.

@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah thanks hehe. I'll look into it. I'm aware these are different games, but I was just curious because it was clear to me that it was of a different genre.

@UltimateOtaku91 Thanks, that's helpful. Granblue Fantasy Relink thing was a fighter game I played for a while - I think that was from PS Plus Essential - so I kinda recognized the characters, but the showcase one was vastly different so I'm curious.

And that Zelda looking one too. I guess the show had quite a lot in it. It was hard to tell during the show. It's all mixed up in my head.

So Helldivers 2 and Foamstars aren't going to Xbox, interesting. Must be part of Sony's 12 live services then? There were some BOTW looking anime ones, I need more detail on those.

In hindsight it was such a mish mash, no boundaries to indicate what's what.

They held back again which makes sense since they have no incentive. It was a well paced, general showcase so it would work on the general public, which was probably what they were going for, but frustrating for me since I wanted to see Sony's own projects.

Where is factions 2, I thought that was supposed to be coming soon.

I saw some updated visuals they did recently and I ended up ordering a physical copy today. It seems they cleaned it up quite a lot.

@FenIsMightier I think it's a sort of MMO version of "Playstation exclusive"

Great, it's actually useful. I only return to FF14 every couple of years when an expansion comes out, and sub for a month or so to play through the single player story.

Last time I ran into the whole Asmongold train and barely got to log in for 6.0, so this encourages me to return and continue before 7.0 arrives. Is 6.4 a good time to return though?

A large chunk of their profit pie comes from subs and 3rd party transactions, so it is a tight rope in a long run. I have a feeling they know they can't go very far with it unless they can successfully introduce their own PC launcher, but even Epic and GOG stores seem to be struggling at times.

The day the PC gamers enthusiastically flock to Sony launcher for 3rd party games and monthly subs is the day Sony will truly liberate themselves from PS, but that just seems practically impossible.

I think their best bet is to do PC releases in between generations to fill the revenue gap during the transition period, except for live services which might benefit more consistently from PCs.

I'd like to see Sony look into reviving some old exclusives titles from Japan if possible, but for the most part I think 3rd party partnerships is fine. Same with indies.

They don't need to do it internally to have an effective investment. You can tinker around the edges, but they seem to be more or less on the right sort of track to me.

@themightyant

Just when I thought this series was indigestible enough you floor me with those first 2 points.

It is mad. I limited the list within certain constraints of relevance to avoid confusion, but it gets worse if you expand.

For example, Tokyo Xanadu on PS4 is a spinoff (same producer) of The Legend Of Xanadu (1994) which is the eighth chapter of Dragon Slayer, which in itself came from Xanadu (1985) which is the second chapter of Dragon Slayer.

Also, in English some versions have trimmed "The Legend Of Heroes" as well. I think there's a chance they might trim it for good in the future. If they do, it would be the second time they trim the title.

For example, the full name of Trails In The Sky should be Dragon Slayer VI The Legend Of Heroes VI Trails In The Sky. Subtitles keep taking over the mainline title.

Haha you just had to have that Global Superstar before his name.

The action was fun, I liked the gameplay although I had to use custom settings to tweak it to my liking.

I think there are still too many smooth, aloof and/or wooden characters, in an old English period drama sort of way.

Aloy doesn't help either in that regard, but Seyka in the DLC is much more interesting and went in some way to help the overall feel.