glennthefrog

@EchoRange It happens every day. Just look at the litany of Gaza/Israel-related protests, encampments, etc. If you want to be an activist there's no shortage of options. The idea people don't care about more important issues just because HD2 had a protest campaign is silly.

@dark_knightmare2 Yeah, I'm in the same camp. Hades was definitely enjoyable, solid 8 or 8.5, but I couldn't understand the hype train. I had a similar experience with Bastion. Didn't regret the purchase by any means but the games didn't live up to the lavish praise.

It was kind of stupid. I really dislike the idea of Cloud still thinking Aerith is alive. It destroys a major part of his character arc where he had to deal with that failure and regret. It also took the air right out of the big finale moment. Just poorly thought out overall, imo.

Nomura can't resist adding additional layers of confusion to every story he directs.

I still enjoyed Rebirth overall but the ending was dumb.

@UltimateOtaku91 It seems like AH is at least partly responsible for the lack of clear communication regarding PSN signup requirements in regions where such accounts can be created. And obviously for allowing the requirement to not be implemented initially.

However, Sony as publisher is absolutely at fault for allowing the game to be available on Steam in regions where they knew PSN doesn't have a presence, which is actually the more serious issue here. It's a publisher's job to deal with the complexities of getting a title into stores, including online storefronts, and so it's their fault that the game was available in places it shouldn't have been. AH wouldn't have a hand in that or else they'd be their own publisher.

It's also very clearly Sony's fault the requirement is not being relaxed. AH is signalling they're fine with just dumping the PSN requirement entirely, but they don't get to make that call.

So overall I'd say it's probably 80/20 with majority fault lying with Sony. They really should just take the L and give in, even Forbes is covering the topic and in a manner that isn't very sympathetic towards Sony. The C suite doesn't pay much attention to reddit, discords, etc. but I'm sure a few of them will be upset that Forbes, the world's foremost corpo boot licking magazine, thinks they're making a financial mistake. HD2 has been a massive success story, no reason for Sony to die on that hill over something so inconsequential. They had a money printer on their hands and they're letting hubris clog up the gears.

To everyone saying 'well, other publishers have launchers too', perhaps this is the tipping point where that changes?

The additional launchers are universally disliked, even if they've been tolerated in other instances thus far. If consumer action gets publishers to think twice about it in the future that's a win for consumers everywhere.

It has definitely helped. Without them PS5 would be in a much worse position.

However they haven't totally made up for the loss of variety. Sony's 1st party games used to be quite diverse, now they all seem to follow the same general formula (AAA production values, realistic art design, experience akin to playing a blockbuster movie) and we're missing the wacky or experimental stuff like Flower, Shadow of the Colossus and Parappa the Rapper.

So room for improvement, imo. We need more variety from 1st party offerings, take a few chances and try new things.

The sanctimonious tone of the commenters here is getting as bad as Kotaku.

AW2 had a lot working against it.

-Epic game store exclusivity nerfed PC sales
-Lack of physical version lost at least some PS5 sales
-Budget was way too high relative to reasonable sales expectations

The third point is really the kicker. It looks amazing and the devs should be commended for it, but from a business perspective you can't justify the expense for such a niche title. It was always going to be extremely difficult to profit on a niche game with a AAA budget.

@DiggleDog And yet you took the time to come in here and be sanctimonious. Shouldn't you be advocating for something more important? Don't waste your time on us!

@DiggleDog People are getting turned into red mist in Gaza right now. You're not allowed to worry about those layoffs, because it's less important. Homeless is exploding around the western world, you also have to discuss that before worrying about anything gaming related.

See how nonsensical that line of thinking is now? It's possible, and even necessary, for people to have multiple concerns at once. 'This bigger problem exists therefore you are foolish for worrying about that lesser problem' is not a logical argument.

Glad to see the convo has at least shifted from 'uh, there weren't any changes, this is all a hoax' to 'okay, there were changes but it's really no big deal'.

A game rated M shouldn't be toned down with a pre-release patch. Particularly after crowing about how it would be uncensored in all territories. It's absolute nonsense. Also, worth noting to those who claim this is the dev's intent, Sony has a gag order on all changes dictated to partner studios. You cannot come out and say 'Sony requested these changes, we complied' without facing legal and financial repercussions.

And the people making fun of those who enjoy risque content are as immature as those they like to claim superiority over. It's the human body, it's fine to admire it. We don't need this new form of puritanism. I didn't care for the 'moral majority' toning down content in the 80s/90s to avoid tempting sinners and I don't care for the 'social justice' crowd doing it to avoid 'the male gaze' now. Both should mind their own business.

@Nepp67 Could you point me to where Fightin Cowboy said both versions are still in the game? I saw their post showing that pre and post update the outfit was unchanged (it was the allegedly censored version in both pics) on their digital copy.

I thought I'd been had and the purported original version was in the NG+, or a photoshop, however there is also this video, from the 1.0 build of a disc version which shows the 'original' costume so it can't have been NG+:

https://streamable.com/tbvmoy

So honestly don't know what to believe at this point. I wasn't trying to spread disinfo or anything. At this point it appears IF the difference is there it only occurs on unpatched disc versions but not digital, even pre-patch digital review copies. It's possible there was a day zero patch that all digital versions have that the physical print predates. Maybe the risque version was moved to NG+ as reward. Maybe it's all a hoax. Will have to just play it tomorrow and see.

Day one patch also appears to alter a couple outfits, reducing the amount of skin shown. If you have the physical version and don't update it the original version is intact on disc. Just a friendly warning for those that want an uncensored experience.

And an extremely bizarre situation since Shift Up specifically marketed the lack of censorship as a selling point recently. Why crow about that only to have a bit in a day one patch?

They found a way for Shadow to whip out guns and not make the audience cringe. Well played, Sega/Paramount. Well played.

@NEStalgia Yeah, Rift didn't grab me the same way as past entries either and R&C is my favorite 3D platformer series outside of Mario. Ratchet 2016 and Crack in Time are best in the series imo.

Honestly, this makes me a lot less confident it's going to end up being a good game. I have much more faith in old Ubi than modern Ubi when it comes to gameplay. Should have just touched up the visuals, added a few QoL adjustments and called it a day.

It just takes longer to port those two, that's all.

I'd say 8.5/10. In many areas it's a clear improvement over the original P3, but it also loses a bit of the original's vibe. It's far less spooky, particularly the introductory scenes.

The lack of FES content and the female MC are also too much to ignore. Especially when we all know Atlus is going to milk us for one or both of those next year.

So overall a great game, but not the definitive version of P3. At least not yet.

@AhmadSumadi I think it's the novelty of a developer who is unashamed to shoot for sexy. It goes against the grain these days, with so many devs reluctant to show skin or create 'unrealistic' beautiful female characters.

If this game had come out in 2007 that selling point would not be so interesting. Tons of other devs were chasing the same at that time.

I see it as a reaction to what some gamers perceive to be female characters becoming uglier, and/or devs being guided by puritanical values when designing costumes (Mortal Kombat shying away from skin, but still tons of gore, is a good example). This set are eager to vote with their wallets, and vocally support the iconoclastic bent of this developer in hopes the pendulum begins to swing away from abhorring sexiness or things that please 'the male gaze'.

@Mephisto2869 The difficulty spike was only really bad if you didn't stumble upon the Sotenbori Battle Arena, which was also introduced at that point in the game. That arena levels you up quite a bit in no time. I'd bet you and I found and participated in that while others didn't.

@naruball Not sure a life sentence is 'well deserved' for this particular crime. Guy could have beaten someone half to death and gotten less.

Not to say there should be no repercussions, but the actual harm caused by this crime is essentially zero. GTA6 is still going to sell like crazy, the leak did no harm whatsoever to the IP or the ability to profit from the product. This is a corporation grinding a (not morally upstanding, but also mentally challenged) person to dust for daring to give them a pin prick.

My guess all along has been that the'll kill Tifa this time.

It would be super dumb, and not really jive with the lore surrounding Aerith's death and how it affected the quest to save the planet, but I just can't shake the feeling.

Swapping Aerith's death for Tifa's is superficially clever, but thematically stupid. It's Nomura bait all the way.

I honestly would prefer it just be canceled. I have zero faith a modern remake would respect the original work enough to leave the original gameplay/narrative alone, and with it being in development hell it's going to be even harder to produce a solid final product.

Story is pretty good, visuals are great. Gameplay is not very good. I think 7/10 is very fair considering the whole package. I don't understand the 10s, it didn't reach those heights for me.

8/10 for me. The first SM is still the best in the series. This one is on par with SM:MM. The formula isn't completely done to death, but it doesn't wow like the first time anymore.

Well, that was really stupid of them.

Probably for the best, sad as it is to say. I had no faith in any Embracer subsidiary being able to do justice to the original. Aspyr in particular was never going to make a AAA game of quality, that seemed obvious.

@Ooccoo_Jr You don't HAVE to play the original, you won't exactly be lost, but it would help if you did.

I can't say too much without going into spoilers, but the Remake is not quite what it seems.

And in any case the original is a brisk play compared to modern JRPGs. Especially if you go with the modern remaster with the QOL improvements, you can blast through it in 15 hours easily.

It makes sense that when PS5 console finally became widely available we'd see a huge leap. Tons of people had money saved and ready to go, but no console to spend it on. And Sony typically dominates Europe.

I think we'll see really high PS5 hardware sales the rest of the year and then it will settle down a bit in 2024. Switch sales holding steady indicates that the PS5 is feeding off pent-up demand of people already committed to eventually upgrading from PS4, not necessarily displacing the competition. Nonetheless a great sign for Sony, they needed to see this after the frustrating supply issues of 2020-2022.

My hype for Horizon 3 has plummeted since the death of Lance Reddick. The plot is going to suffer tremendously. Sylens was the best character in the series by far, imo. It was obvious they had big plans for Sylens at the end of HFW and even more with Burning Shores but all that is surely getting removed now. Nothing Guerrilla can do about it, just a tragic loss.

Sylens was the best character in Horizon to me. I hope they continue whatever plans that had in store for that character even though a new voice actor won't be nearly as iconic.

@NecroNomnom I thought for a moment they might be referring to Bleemcast, but the compatibility list says it's not playable.