If Sony had half a brain cell left they would cancel this and cut their losses.
Nobody wants this, and nobody cares. It has no audience.
It really is surprising to me that a corporation as large as Sony doesn't collaborate more between divisions, especially when investing in huge years-long projects. Sony already rakes in cash through FGO, a popular live service game. Why is that game so successful? Because it capitalizes on what was already a popular franchise, and offers plenty of sex appeal to would-be spenders.
The formula for these live service games really isn't that hard. But they require people at the helm to understand and fully commit to that market.
As someone who loves the entire FF Tactics series, I was gutted when the game FF Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles only chronicled 1 game... and not even the entire game as it is lacking the War of the Lions content, a version of the game that is nearly 20 years old.
@rjejr DQ11 brought a ton of new mechanics and features to make the game more modern while retaining that traditional turn-based RPG feel. But I agree, these types of games shouldn't take this long to make, unless they are really shaking things up...
With 2027 primed for FF7 Remake part 3, 2026 would have been perfect for DQ12, and a reveal in 2025 would have stoked the hype. At this point, it's likely going to be after FF7 is finished, so 2028 at the earliest, meaning we will have a 10+ year gap between releases...
Maybe she's taking the fall or maybe she's truly leaving on her own accord. Either way, I wish her well and commend her for leading this game to the finish line after what seems to have been a hellish development cycle.
While I think Veilguard is a bad game, I think that was always going to be the case. On such a huge project, one person can't come in to stop a ship from sinking. Dragon Age is a series where every game, including the beloved Origins, is a deeply flawed experience.
What would it have taken to get Veilguard from where it is now to a state where the masses could comfortably agree on it being flawed but good? Probably a massive script re-write, which would involve bringing in voice actors to redo lines, and having to re-animate cutscenes. Gameplay tweaks to keep the game at parity to past titles would have taken more time. All in all, the game could have taken on a few more years of development to possibly ship a better product, but all that is just more money down the drain on what was already clearly a doomed project.
@PuppetMaster Assassin's Creed and Final Fantasy are indeed good IPs to compare to, and I definitely get the sense that these IPs are suffering from a sense of fatigue too, deserved or not.
To be clear, I'm not saying I agree with that feeling, but it's hard to argue that others are not feeling that way when the evidence is around us. Best we can hope for is that Sony handles the IP responsibly, and that the "yays" outweigh the "nays".
Horizon as an IP feels like it’s overdone because it has had 5 game releases since it’s original release in 2017. The main problem there being that of those 5, only 2 are main series entries, and the first game Horizon Zero Dawn is represented 3 times.
Horizon is a high quality Sony IP and it deserves success and recognition. But at times the marketing and use of the IP seems all over the place.
I would love for that to materialize into reviving dormant franchises, but I won't hold my breath.
I especially miss InFamous and Little Big Planet... The last real entries in both series were both essentially rushed out to support the PS4 during its rough launch period of "no games" syndrome. Whereas Second Son turned out mostly good, LBP3 was too ambitious and too undercooked, falling apart at the seams, and left to decay and die after never being properly fixed.
A more focused LBP4 that goes back to the series' roots of 3-lane platforming with just Sackboy would be huge. Especially since all other LBP games had their online killed...
The first sentence of this article comes across as completely tone deaf.
This very website has helped spread the narrative that FF7 Rebirth was a commercial disappointment, with multiple articles on the subject throughout the entirety of 2024 since the game's release. All of which were in spite of there being no true metrics or data to back up the claims.
These days I mostly enjoy Push Square for the opinion pieces, but the lack of journalistic integrity in other areas is really astounding.
Legitimate question: Why is the the word "We" used continuously in the article? Is this supposed to be the author's opinion, or the author speaking on behalf of Push Square as a whole?
Either way, while I would have FF7 Rebirth much higher on a GoTY list, I can respect the a difference of opinion. It's enough to see someone recognize the game's strengths.
For me, Rebirth is a nearly perfect experience, and I really hope that part 3 doesn't over correct trying to address things that didn't resonate as much with others. Looking forward to completing a hard mode playthrough in 2025 and getting closer to obtaining all the trophies.
The platinum trophy shouldn't be a participation trophy.
Likewise, not getting a platinum trophy should not lessen anyone's enjoyment of a game.
Rebirth has a well balanced trophy list. You unlock trophies at a steady pace for completing the story, completing side quests, and completing open world objectives.
"Gamers" upset that they can't unlock a digital trophy because they can't beat a mini-game or boss challenge need to seriously re-evaluate themselves and if they even like video games.
Sonic Heroes or Shadow the Hedgehog deserve a remake much more than Sonic 06. There's too much baggage with 06, and a realized remake would be endlessly compared to the fan-made project 06.
Sonic Heroes would benefit from tweaking the stages of each team to be more unique, and rebalancing the objectives for Team Chaotix to not be incredibly annoying.
Shadow the Hedgehog being reworked to be less "Choose your own adventure" and instead more of a linear game with different neutral, hero, and evil story lines (like Hero and Dark from SA2) would be a legitimately good game.
Last year the original PS5 with disc drive was discounted to $400 and came bundled with Spider Man 2. Seems this year's deal is quite a bit worse. While the PS5 is surely a luxury item, it's just another data point that shows inflation is still rampant.
@PuppetMaster While all that is great, it's not marketing. An anime short on youtube, a Japanese commercial on youtube, and licensing for anime figures is catering only to the smallest terminally online weeb audience. A 2B costume in GR2 spreads the reach of Nier Automata influence, not the other way around. Nobody bought GR2 because of a 2B costume.
Meanwhile games like Uncharted 4, Lost Legacy, Spider Man, God of War, etc got TV commercials, youtube ads, posters in stores, and previews in movie theaters for popular blockbuster movies. Did Gravity Rush get the same treatment? No, yet it is exactly the type of game that should have.
Sounds incredibly revisionist... possibly as an attempt to hide Sony leadership's own shortcomings?
Ape Escape 3 was rated but never released as a PS2 classic on the Playstation Store. Why?
At least Shadow of the Colossus got a great remake, but even then, simply re-releasing/remaking old games with no other flair or build up isn't likely to expand the audience much. New releases are still needed.
And speaking of new releases, Gravity Rush 2 had little to no marketing despite being a proper AAA open world "superhero" action game in the same caliber as Spider Man. Online support was killed very early, leaving several items including a fan favorite costume utilized briefly in the story completely unobtainable. Why?
If a parent had 2 children, but only helped 1 study for a test, is the other child at fault for failing? The blame lies solely with Sony, for not giving many of their other IPs the same respect as the likes of Uncharted, The Last of Us, God of War, etc.
The move to free-to-play alone will not salvage the IP. It needs to be completely reworked. It needs better character designs, with likeable personalities and backstories. It needs more unique gameplay options. It needs so much tweaking of the core identity that it makes more sense to just have a new IP launch without the pre-existing baggage.
What is the point of this "article"? It's a poorly written mess that is mostly speculative with little confirmed information to share. Why not wait to push an article until you've confirmed the information via other sources which are currently available? That would be real journatlistic integrity...
“If there’s too much exposure, the age rating goes up. It means we won’t be able to sell it as an all-ages product.”
Sounds more like they are self-censoring to reach a lower age rating. Dragon Quest has historically been a rate T franchise by the ESRB, including the re-releases of "Dragon Warrior 3". If that is the case, this ridiculous design and censorship is an internal issue, not a prudish American issue.
It seems like open world fatigue continues to spread amongst large portions of potential video game buyers. For better or worse, Ubisoft has become synonymous with formulaic. A new storyline, setting, and a few new tricks just doesn't entice players the same anymore.
Open world games nowadays need some "hook" to draw in players. Until Ubisoft can come up with one, I predict they will continue to flounder and deliver the equivalent of video game fast food.
"Sadly, because we’re a PlayStation-only site, we’re excluding the exceptional RPG adaptations on Game Boy Color, because it wouldn’t make sense to include them."
BOOOOOOOOOO!
Kidding... but only a bit. These are unironically the best. Simple, but not overly so, turn based RPGs with a really enjoyable progression and theming. Enough content to feel good about too.
But OK, Hogwarts Legacy is otherwise a steep increase in quality video game adaptations for the Harry Potter series. I hope there is a sequel one day that expands on it.
FF13 is the first mainline Final Fantasy I actually beat. It is also by far my least favorite, to the point I have never successfully gone back to it for more than an hour.
FF13 had so much potential. In a perfect world, I would like to see it get redeemed through a remake that completely redesigns much of the game. In a realistic world though, this would be a huge undertaking and I would rather the resources be used for something else. There are plenty of other FF games better deserving of remakes, and plenty of space for completely new games and spin-offs.
FF13 has too much baggage. Better to just leave it be...
I know this is going to make me sound like a huge fanboy, but I really wish that Push Square would stop contributing to the narrative that FF7 Rebirth is/has underperformed. It's purely speculative, based on misleading outside sources.
With the known exclusivity contract for FF16 and FF7 Rebirth long over, I have to wonder why they have yet to even announce PC ports. Perhaps there is not such a dire need to port games and make extra money? I guess it is easy to speculate after all...
Origins was great because although it seemed like a generic dark fantasy story on the surface, it was a proper RPG where you could role play a huge number of things and even influence the character arcs of your party members to an enormous degree. The choices you made in Origins impacted so much of the game. From even the simplest of choices like the sex, race, and background of your created character, the dialogue in scenes and story progression opportunities will vary greatly.
I have zero confidence in their ability to create anything close to that again, but wish them the best of luck anyways. It would be nice to have a good Dragon Age game again.
I don't necessarily disagree with a lot of the content in this review, but it does feel overly harsh. I've played the game for a few days so far and it feels like a 'fine' game. OK, mediocre, average... these are all how I would describe it currently. Feels more like a 5/10 with some potential to get better or worse in the future.
You could certainly play much worse games than this in your free time, and I feel like those games are more deserving of a 3/10. The bottom 3rd of the 1-10 sale should be reserved for games that are fundamentally not fun, have no redeeming qualities, and do not reliably function on the most basic levels.
In a year of great games and stiff competition, it is still easily FF7 Rebirth for me. Game of the Year and comfortably resting in my top games of all time now.
@Zenos Because the game actively had a widespread negative marketing campaign. The great thing about 2024 is the huge amount of quality games that are (finally) releasing on PS5. The less than great things are the flame wars and "pick me" strategies that lesser known games will try to employ.
It is not a coincidence that after initially rave reviews from critics and players, FF7 was suddenly victim to a harsh campaign where people supposedly complained about mini-games and Japanese anime tropes, right when Stellar Blade and Dragons Dogma 2 were releasing. Then, lo and behold, both of those games released to their own controversies...
As players, we should be celebrating these fantastic releases together, not tearing each other down. My 2 cents at least...
Both Astro Bot and Lego Horizon are looking like day 1 pickups. This is absolutely the kind of catalogue I want on a Sony console, in addition to the mature block busters.
That said, I hope the business suits realize that it takes time to cultivate an audience for these kind of games, especially when the Playstation brand has not been associated with them for close to 20 years now. With Lego Horizon also coming out on Switch, it will be interesting to see sales comparisons eventually.
@naruball User mileage may vary, but considering I published almost 20 levels across LBP1 and LBP2 and couldn't complete anything in LBP3 due to technical reasons, I would call it a failure on all counts. Losing work due to game crashes and profile saved data corruption was a constant threat. User generated content for LBP3 never really took off the same way LBP2 did, and its entirely because it wasn't worth the headache of trying to work with a creation suite in an unstable game.
I guess it's more accurate to say; when you release a game in that kind of state, it takes a lot of work to earn back your reputation. Sure Hello Games earned back a lot of goodwill, but that was by constantly improving No Man's Sky for the past... 7 years? Same difference really...
By comparison, LBP3 was never fixed. Since then the series has seen 1 spinoff game that was good, and more recently made headlines for shutting down online servers for the games, killing off a huge legacy. Not exactly a thriving IP that people are confident in.
@naruball If you are/were pretty into the LBP fandom at the time, you’ll likely remember that LBP3 was a catastrophic release that not only caused lasting harm to the reputation of the IP, but was also never fixed. Even at its peak, and despite being cross gen on PS3 and PS4, LBP2 was much more popular than LBP3, simply because the game actually functioned online and in creative mode.
Sackboy’s Adventure is a quality title, but it takes time and often more than one good game to earn your reputation back. And with how they have been treating the LBP games over the years, I doubt they will recover anytime soon.
In a vacuum the best thing they could've done is stay completely true to the original. The original scene in the forgotten capitol is still beautiful, but having it remade in the FF7 Remake style would have been even more breathtaking.
If they had done that in FF7 Rebirth though, it would've made the whispers, the theme of defying destiny, and the meta teasing about this being an unknown journey feel pointless.
I'll admit, when I saw a certain sequence, I was initially floored (in a good way). Then the confusion set in.
Overall, I currently think the endings is "fine". I feel that I mostly understand what their vision is for this FF7 remake series. Seeing as how the other parts of the story that have thus far been changed have all added significant improvement and context, I'm willing to put my faith in Square that the concluding part of this series will have the payoff we expect for everything.
Basically, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here. It will be tough waiting a few years for these questions to be answered though.
@NEStalgia Your own comparison highlights the differences. Demon's Souls PS5 is a remake of a then 10 year old PS3 game. FF7 Remake is a PS4 remake of a then over 20 year old PS1 game. Remaking FF7 involves remaking nearly everything. The world and environments of the original game are not scaled with realistic proportions due to hardware constraints at the time.
The game's story takes the cast on a trip across and through an entire planet. To make that scale believable a staggering amount of work is required. The team involved clearly understands this, and that you also need to fill your world with content. I don't want FF7 Remake to feel like a series of locations crammed into the size of my neighborhood for the sake of finishing development faster. And neither do I want to simply traverse from story point A to B in a huge empty world. The logical conclusion is to create an ambitious open world JRPG that captures the same feeling that was created in 1997, but in the 2020s.
I'm confident there will eventually be an all in one package for the entire FF7 Remake series, likely at the same time part 3 releases. Anyone too disturbed by not having the full story now can wait until then. I'll happily play and experience the game in chunks if it means I can do it earlier. See you in 2027.
@NEStalgia This is such a clown take. Anyone that thinks jamming the original FF7 into whatever the newest, shiniest dev engine is, with no other changes to gameplay or script would result in anything other than a laughing stock is deluding themselves. I admit it would be funny to see Cloud and the gang leave Midgar, and then take 30 steps to arrive at the next town though.
Once the remake series is finished, history will be very kind to it. The gameplay, voice acting, and graphics are all phenomenal. The story threads that are added and fully fleshed out are improvements to the original that elevate the characters to being more likable members of the cast than the original. The controversies arise over the unresolved mysteries that, after completing Rebirth, I have full faith Square will stick the landing on in part 3, and deliver a satisfying resolution.
Meh, different strokes for different folks. The original was a divisive hit. Ask any fan and they will tell you DD was a janky game with a great artistic vision and lots of potential. Also can’t really put much stock in user reviews on metacritic. Anything on there could have a score boosted or tanked by bot farming and trolls…
I loved the first game enough to platinum it, but I also got it 90% off a few years after its initial release. DD2 looks like more of the same. While I definitely want to experience more DD in the future, it still isn’t worth full price for me.
Meanwhile FF7 Rebirth has been a breath of air and I can’t put it down. Builds on the original with so much with all new combat systems and tons of gameplay variety to keep things from ever getting too same-y.
As the years go on ignoring digital sales and comparing figures to games from several years ago is becoming more of a logical fallacy.
Digital continues to grow.
FF7 Rebirth has an amazing digital dual pack where you get FF7 Remake, Intermission DLC, and FF7 Rebirth all for the price of just buying Rebirth normally. The only reason someone would not get this version would be if they didn’t know about it, or are dedicated to buying physical games.
Hard to take this anything other than Sony sending Kat out to die. Again...
Gravity Rush is a fantastic series. It deserves more recognition from the wider gaming community. It is just as good as the Insomniac Spider man series.
But if a remaster is only of the the 2nd game, it will do little to draw in a new audience. Something between a remaster and a remake is needed. Both games need to be packed together, or ideally blended together into a seamless narrative. The story, while very good, makes little sense if you're just jumping in at Gravity Rush 2 with no context.
FF7 Remake's trophy list was fun and nothing crazy. Basically a list to see all the content the game had to offer.
Hard mode was a blast and was designed with a level of thoughtfulness to it that surprised me. Very much looking forward to 100% completing FF7 Rebirth too.
@wiiware Take the monster catching genre out of the equation. The relevant point is Pal World directly ripping off Pokémon character designs. Actually, it’s now being found they used ripped models from Pokémon. It’s straight up copyright infringement. Even if they change the designs “later” they are currently profiting by using illegal assets.
Pokemon has been utter trite for nearly a decade now. The IP definitely needs serious competition, if such a thing even exists.
But this... is just not how to do it. This game is obviously made with generative AI doing most of the character designs. Too many monsters rocket way past the sense of being inspired by Pokemon to being downright ripoffs. From the proportions, eye shapes, fur, and details, the plagiarism is obvious. This game is disgraceful, full stop.
P4 Golden is one of my least favorite, because it just seems like TV show intro. All it does is introduce the main cast. Gives me Full House vibes.
Persona 3 Reload and 5 Royal look stunning visually and give a good feeling for the game they're covering.
Persona 5 (original) though, is just perfect. Great visuals, amazing theme song, and the choreography of it all just seals it. The characters sliding along makes it seem like the game is beckoning you to start playing. It says so much, without really giving anything away about the game.
It's a "filler" patch intended to tie us over until THE filler patch for lunar new year. In all honesty, it looks fun. The new event gameplay looks interesting and the returning beetle fights have been fun in the past.
That said I am disappointed we are not getting a winter themed event to enjoy around the holidays. This will be the 2nd year in a row, after we got the tone deaf spooky Yokai event around Christmas last year. Bringing back some of the Dragonspine activities from version 2.3 "Shadows Amidst Snowstorms" and giving players a permanent Dragonspine themed teapot setting would've been "peak". At least we're getting the Fontaine theme.
As much as I love the P5 cast, and as much as I want to like this, it just doesn't do it for me. This review helpfully cemented that feeling, for better or worse.
Can it be called a series if it is comprised of only 1 game (and a re-release)? I kid, but only because I would've liked this IP to have had the chance to grow into an actual series.
As it stands my take-away from Tearaway was that is was fun, charming, but not ground breaking. Good but not great. A solid entry that deserved another chance or two in the spot light before being locked away like most of Sony's IPs now...
@nessisonett Unfortunately, everything can eventually fall victim to inflation. There are a lot of complexities in a large market, but any economist worth their salt will tell you that inflation is ultimately because all across the board people want more money. That's all there is to it. Calling it greed may make it sound insidious, but it's simply human nature.
What do most working people want/expect at around a yearly interval? A wage raise.
In a competitive environment, people will naturally use the leverage they have to negotiate for more money. In many cases, the leverage is simply time invested. Businesses will renegotiate contracts knowing that it is easier to pay out more than it is to start over and find a new partner.
People and businesses will continue to push the envelope and ask for more money.
Another nod for Dragon Star Varnir. Game is very solid once it get's going. Legitimately good story and combat.
Also recommend the following: Shining Resonance Refrain Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online
Very obviously lower budget games when you look at graphics and overall production value (Shining Resonance is a remaster too), but they are solid mechanically, with good controls and gameplay.
You know what Sony IPs would make even more sense to promote along side the new Spider Man 2 release and are actually genre adjacent open world super hero games?
OK so some of the difficulty concerns I get, but not around the platforming specifically. The game isn't built around precision platforming (whatever that means) nor does it expect it from the player. Even in the video clips shown above, all I see are mistakes on the player part, and failure to correct and save themselves at every opportunity.
I really hate to oversimply something as just get good, but seriously... as someone who does not play a lot of platformers, Frontiers' platforming is not difficult.
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Re: Sony's Troubled Live Service Game Fairgames Just Can't Catch a Break
If Sony had half a brain cell left they would cancel this and cut their losses.
Nobody wants this, and nobody cares. It has no audience.
It really is surprising to me that a corporation as large as Sony doesn't collaborate more between divisions, especially when investing in huge years-long projects. Sony already rakes in cash through FGO, a popular live service game. Why is that game so successful? Because it capitalizes on what was already a popular franchise, and offers plenty of sex appeal to would-be spenders.
The formula for these live service games really isn't that hard. But they require people at the helm to understand and fully commit to that market.
Re: Interview: Final Fantasy Tactics Veterans on Remastering an All-Time Classic RPG
As someone who loves the entire FF Tactics series, I was gutted when the game FF Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles only chronicled 1 game... and not even the entire game as it is lacking the War of the Lions content, a version of the game that is nearly 20 years old.
Re: Dragon Quest 12 Still in Limbo as Another Dragon Quest Day Has Nothing to Show
@rjejr DQ11 brought a ton of new mechanics and features to make the game more modern while retaining that traditional turn-based RPG feel. But I agree, these types of games shouldn't take this long to make, unless they are really shaking things up...
Re: Dragon Quest 12 Still in Limbo as Another Dragon Quest Day Has Nothing to Show
Expected, but still a shame.
With 2027 primed for FF7 Remake part 3, 2026 would have been perfect for DQ12, and a reveal in 2025 would have stoked the hype. At this point, it's likely going to be after FF7 is finished, so 2028 at the earliest, meaning we will have a 10+ year gap between releases...
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 May Be Closer Than We Think as Cloud's VA Is Back in the Booth
They're 100% targeting a 2027 release date. It's too important a year for anniversaries and marketing.
7th anniversary of FF7 Remake series
30th anniversary of FF7 the original
40th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series
The only question is WHEN in 2027.
Re: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Director Is Leaving BioWare
Maybe she's taking the fall or maybe she's truly leaving on her own accord. Either way, I wish her well and commend her for leading this game to the finish line after what seems to have been a hellish development cycle.
While I think Veilguard is a bad game, I think that was always going to be the case. On such a huge project, one person can't come in to stop a ship from sinking. Dragon Age is a series where every game, including the beloved Origins, is a deeply flawed experience.
What would it have taken to get Veilguard from where it is now to a state where the masses could comfortably agree on it being flawed but good? Probably a massive script re-write, which would involve bringing in voice actors to redo lines, and having to re-animate cutscenes. Gameplay tweaks to keep the game at parity to past titles would have taken more time. All in all, the game could have taken on a few more years of development to possibly ship a better product, but all that is just more money down the drain on what was already clearly a doomed project.
Re: Horizon Hatred Simmers Once More As Sony Announces Movie Adaptation
@PuppetMaster Assassin's Creed and Final Fantasy are indeed good IPs to compare to, and I definitely get the sense that these IPs are suffering from a sense of fatigue too, deserved or not.
To be clear, I'm not saying I agree with that feeling, but it's hard to argue that others are not feeling that way when the evidence is around us. Best we can hope for is that Sony handles the IP responsibly, and that the "yays" outweigh the "nays".
Re: Horizon Hatred Simmers Once More As Sony Announces Movie Adaptation
Horizon as an IP feels like it’s overdone because it has had 5 game releases since it’s original release in 2017. The main problem there being that of those 5, only 2 are main series entries, and the first game Horizon Zero Dawn is represented 3 times.
Horizon is a high quality Sony IP and it deserves success and recognition. But at times the marketing and use of the IP seems all over the place.
Re: Sony Promises It Hasn't Abandoned the Famous Franchises from Its Past
I would love for that to materialize into reviving dormant franchises, but I won't hold my breath.
I especially miss InFamous and Little Big Planet... The last real entries in both series were both essentially rushed out to support the PS4 during its rough launch period of "no games" syndrome. Whereas Second Son turned out mostly good, LBP3 was too ambitious and too undercooked, falling apart at the seams, and left to decay and die after never being properly fixed.
A more focused LBP4 that goes back to the series' roots of 3-lane platforming with just Sackboy would be huge. Especially since all other LBP games had their online killed...
Re: Square Enix Insists Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Hasn't Been the PS5 Sales Disaster It's Been Painted As
The first sentence of this article comes across as completely tone deaf.
This very website has helped spread the narrative that FF7 Rebirth was a commercial disappointment, with multiple articles on the subject throughout the entirety of 2024 since the game's release. All of which were in spite of there being no true metrics or data to back up the claims.
These days I mostly enjoy Push Square for the opinion pieces, but the lack of journalistic integrity in other areas is really astounding.
Re: Game of the Year: #7 - Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Legitimate question: Why is the the word "We" used continuously in the article? Is this supposed to be the author's opinion, or the author speaking on behalf of Push Square as a whole?
Either way, while I would have FF7 Rebirth much higher on a GoTY list, I can respect the a difference of opinion. It's enough to see someone recognize the game's strengths.
For me, Rebirth is a nearly perfect experience, and I really hope that part 3 doesn't over correct trying to address things that didn't resonate as much with others. Looking forward to completing a hard mode playthrough in 2025 and getting closer to obtaining all the trophies.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Sequel's Platinum Trophy Won't Make You Want to Jump into a Mako Reactor
The platinum trophy shouldn't be a participation trophy.
Likewise, not getting a platinum trophy should not lessen anyone's enjoyment of a game.
Rebirth has a well balanced trophy list. You unlock trophies at a steady pace for completing the story, completing side quests, and completing open world objectives.
"Gamers" upset that they can't unlock a digital trophy because they can't beat a mini-game or boss challenge need to seriously re-evaluate themselves and if they even like video games.
Re: Sonic X Shadow Generations Producer Wants to Remake the Worst Game in the Series for PS5
Sonic Heroes or Shadow the Hedgehog deserve a remake much more than Sonic 06. There's too much baggage with 06, and a realized remake would be endlessly compared to the fan-made project 06.
Sonic Heroes would benefit from tweaking the stages of each team to be more unique, and rebalancing the objectives for Team Chaotix to not be incredibly annoying.
Shadow the Hedgehog being reworked to be less "Choose your own adventure" and instead more of a linear game with different neutral, hero, and evil story lines (like Hero and Dark from SA2) would be a legitimately good game.
Re: PS5 Slim Price Drop Confirmed, $380 Until 24th December
Last year the original PS5 with disc drive was discounted to $400 and came bundled with Spider Man 2. Seems this year's deal is quite a bit worse. While the PS5 is surely a luxury item, it's just another data point that shows inflation is still rampant.
Re: Sony's Japan Studio 'Forgot What It Feels Like to Have a Hit'
@PuppetMaster While all that is great, it's not marketing. An anime short on youtube, a Japanese commercial on youtube, and licensing for anime figures is catering only to the smallest terminally online weeb audience. A 2B costume in GR2 spreads the reach of Nier Automata influence, not the other way around. Nobody bought GR2 because of a 2B costume.
Meanwhile games like Uncharted 4, Lost Legacy, Spider Man, God of War, etc got TV commercials, youtube ads, posters in stores, and previews in movie theaters for popular blockbuster movies. Did Gravity Rush get the same treatment? No, yet it is exactly the type of game that should have.
Re: Sony's Japan Studio 'Forgot What It Feels Like to Have a Hit'
Sounds incredibly revisionist... possibly as an attempt to hide Sony leadership's own shortcomings?
Ape Escape 3 was rated but never released as a PS2 classic on the Playstation Store. Why?
At least Shadow of the Colossus got a great remake, but even then, simply re-releasing/remaking old games with no other flair or build up isn't likely to expand the audience much. New releases are still needed.
And speaking of new releases, Gravity Rush 2 had little to no marketing despite being a proper AAA open world "superhero" action game in the same caliber as Spider Man. Online support was killed very early, leaving several items including a fan favorite costume utilized briefly in the story completely unobtainable. Why?
If a parent had 2 children, but only helped 1 study for a test, is the other child at fault for failing? The blame lies solely with Sony, for not giving many of their other IPs the same respect as the likes of Uncharted, The Last of Us, God of War, etc.
Re: Concord Devs Tinker with PC Files, Spurring Free-to-Play Speculation
The move to free-to-play alone will not salvage the IP. It needs to be completely reworked. It needs better character designs, with likeable personalities and backstories. It needs more unique gameplay options. It needs so much tweaking of the core identity that it makes more sense to just have a new IP launch without the pre-existing baggage.
Re: Genshin Impact's Big New PS5, PS4 Story Has Been Downgraded in English
What is the point of this "article"? It's a poorly written mess that is mostly speculative with little confirmed information to share. Why not wait to push an article until you've confirmed the information via other sources which are currently available? That would be real journatlistic integrity...
Re: Dragon Quest Veterans on Dealing with 'Ridiculous Country' USA Amid Censorship Row
“If there’s too much exposure, the age rating goes up. It means we won’t be able to sell it as an all-ages product.”
Sounds more like they are self-censoring to reach a lower age rating. Dragon Quest has historically been a rate T franchise by the ESRB, including the re-releases of "Dragon Warrior 3". If that is the case, this ridiculous design and censorship is an internal issue, not a prudish American issue.
Re: Ubisoft Board Orders Internal Investigation and Review into Company's Financial Woes
It seems like open world fatigue continues to spread amongst large portions of potential video game buyers. For better or worse, Ubisoft has become synonymous with formulaic. A new storyline, setting, and a few new tricks just doesn't entice players the same anymore.
Open world games nowadays need some "hook" to draw in players. Until Ubisoft can come up with one, I predict they will continue to flounder and deliver the equivalent of video game fast food.
Re: Poll: What's Your Favourite Harry Potter Game?
"Sadly, because we’re a PlayStation-only site, we’re excluding the exceptional RPG adaptations on Game Boy Color, because it wouldn’t make sense to include them."
BOOOOOOOOOO!
Kidding... but only a bit. These are unironically the best. Simple, but not overly so, turn based RPGs with a really enjoyable progression and theming. Enough content to feel good about too.
But OK, Hogwarts Legacy is otherwise a steep increase in quality video game adaptations for the Harry Potter series. I hope there is a sequel one day that expands on it.
Re: Square Enix Has Got Fans Talking About a Final Fantasy 13 Remake, Not a Remaster
FF13 is the first mainline Final Fantasy I actually beat.
It is also by far my least favorite, to the point I have never successfully gone back to it for more than an hour.
FF13 had so much potential. In a perfect world, I would like to see it get redeemed through a remake that completely redesigns much of the game. In a realistic world though, this would be a huge undertaking and I would rather the resources be used for something else. There are plenty of other FF games better deserving of remakes, and plenty of space for completely new games and spin-offs.
FF13 has too much baggage. Better to just leave it be...
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PS5 Sales Still a Secret as Square Enix Reports Year-on-Year Decline
I know this is going to make me sound like a huge fanboy, but I really wish that Push Square would stop contributing to the narrative that FF7 Rebirth is/has underperformed. It's purely speculative, based on misleading outside sources.
With the known exclusivity contract for FF16 and FF7 Rebirth long over, I have to wonder why they have yet to even announce PC ports. Perhaps there is not such a dire need to port games and make extra money? I guess it is easy to speculate after all...
Re: BioWare Will 'Finally' Return to Its Roots with Dragon Age: The Veilguard's Storytelling
Origins was great because although it seemed like a generic dark fantasy story on the surface, it was a proper RPG where you could role play a huge number of things and even influence the character arcs of your party members to an enormous degree. The choices you made in Origins impacted so much of the game. From even the simplest of choices like the sex, race, and background of your created character, the dialogue in scenes and story progression opportunities will vary greatly.
I have zero confidence in their ability to create anything close to that again, but wish them the best of luck anyways. It would be nice to have a good Dragon Age game again.
Re: The First Descendant (PS5) - A Mindless and Repetitive Grind
I don't necessarily disagree with a lot of the content in this review, but it does feel overly harsh. I've played the game for a few days so far and it feels like a 'fine' game. OK, mediocre, average... these are all how I would describe it currently. Feels more like a 5/10 with some potential to get better or worse in the future.
You could certainly play much worse games than this in your free time, and I feel like those games are more deserving of a 3/10. The bottom 3rd of the 1-10 sale should be reserved for games that are fundamentally not fun, have no redeeming qualities, and do not reliably function on the most basic levels.
Re: Nudity Confirmed for Dragon Age: The Veilguard: 'This is a Mature RPG'
A bit ironic that the first Dragon Age with nudity will be the one with the ugliest art style yet.
Re: Talking Point: What's Your PS5 Game of the Year for 2024 So Far?
In a year of great games and stiff competition, it is still easily FF7 Rebirth for me. Game of the Year and comfortably resting in my top games of all time now.
@Zenos Because the game actively had a widespread negative marketing campaign. The great thing about 2024 is the huge amount of quality games that are (finally) releasing on PS5. The less than great things are the flame wars and "pick me" strategies that lesser known games will try to employ.
It is not a coincidence that after initially rave reviews from critics and players, FF7 was suddenly victim to a harsh campaign where people supposedly complained about mini-games and Japanese anime tropes, right when Stellar Blade and Dragons Dogma 2 were releasing. Then, lo and behold, both of those games released to their own controversies...
As players, we should be celebrating these fantastic releases together, not tearing each other down. My 2 cents at least...
Re: Reaction: You Said You Were Sick of PS5's Sad Dad Sims, So You Better Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Both Astro Bot and Lego Horizon are looking like day 1 pickups. This is absolutely the kind of catalogue I want on a Sony console, in addition to the mature block busters.
That said, I hope the business suits realize that it takes time to cultivate an audience for these kind of games, especially when the Playstation brand has not been associated with them for close to 20 years now. With Lego Horizon also coming out on Switch, it will be interesting to see sales comparisons eventually.
Re: Media Molecule's New Project Is 'More of a Game Than a Creative Tool' Says Co-Founder
@naruball User mileage may vary, but considering I published almost 20 levels across LBP1 and LBP2 and couldn't complete anything in LBP3 due to technical reasons, I would call it a failure on all counts. Losing work due to game crashes and profile saved data corruption was a constant threat. User generated content for LBP3 never really took off the same way LBP2 did, and its entirely because it wasn't worth the headache of trying to work with a creation suite in an unstable game.
I guess it's more accurate to say; when you release a game in that kind of state, it takes a lot of work to earn back your reputation. Sure Hello Games earned back a lot of goodwill, but that was by constantly improving No Man's Sky for the past... 7 years? Same difference really...
By comparison, LBP3 was never fixed. Since then the series has seen 1 spinoff game that was good, and more recently made headlines for shutting down online servers for the games, killing off a huge legacy. Not exactly a thriving IP that people are confident in.
Re: Media Molecule's New Project Is 'More of a Game Than a Creative Tool' Says Co-Founder
@naruball If you are/were pretty into the LBP fandom at the time, you’ll likely remember that LBP3 was a catastrophic release that not only caused lasting harm to the reputation of the IP, but was also never fixed. Even at its peak, and despite being cross gen on PS3 and PS4, LBP2 was much more popular than LBP3, simply because the game actually functioned online and in creative mode.
Sackboy’s Adventure is a quality title, but it takes time and often more than one good game to earn your reputation back. And with how they have been treating the LBP games over the years, I doubt they will recover anytime soon.
Re: Rumour: Next Tomb Raider Said to Be Open World, Set in India
This is a concept that could go great, or horribly wrong.
I found Tomb Raider 2013 to be the best of the reboot trilogy, by far, which is kind of unfortunate as it is the first one released in that group.
My pipe dream for the series is to pivot towards being a dungeon crawler survival game with puzzle elements.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Ending?
In a vacuum the best thing they could've done is stay completely true to the original. The original scene in the forgotten capitol is still beautiful, but having it remade in the FF7 Remake style would have been even more breathtaking.
If they had done that in FF7 Rebirth though, it would've made the whispers, the theme of defying destiny, and the meta teasing about this being an unknown journey feel pointless.
I'll admit, when I saw a certain sequence, I was initially floored (in a good way). Then the confusion set in.
Overall, I currently think the endings is "fine". I feel that I mostly understand what their vision is for this FF7 remake series. Seeing as how the other parts of the story that have thus far been changed have all added significant improvement and context, I'm willing to put my faith in Square that the concluding part of this series will have the payoff we expect for everything.
Basically, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here. It will be tough waiting a few years for these questions to be answered though.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 Expected to Release Around 2027, Says Square Enix
@NEStalgia Your own comparison highlights the differences. Demon's Souls PS5 is a remake of a then 10 year old PS3 game. FF7 Remake is a PS4 remake of a then over 20 year old PS1 game. Remaking FF7 involves remaking nearly everything. The world and environments of the original game are not scaled with realistic proportions due to hardware constraints at the time.
The game's story takes the cast on a trip across and through an entire planet. To make that scale believable a staggering amount of work is required. The team involved clearly understands this, and that you also need to fill your world with content. I don't want FF7 Remake to feel like a series of locations crammed into the size of my neighborhood for the sake of finishing development faster. And neither do I want to simply traverse from story point A to B in a huge empty world. The logical conclusion is to create an ambitious open world JRPG that captures the same feeling that was created in 1997, but in the 2020s.
I'm confident there will eventually be an all in one package for the entire FF7 Remake series, likely at the same time part 3 releases. Anyone too disturbed by not having the full story now can wait until then. I'll happily play and experience the game in chunks if it means I can do it earlier. See you in 2027.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 Expected to Release Around 2027, Says Square Enix
@NEStalgia This is such a clown take. Anyone that thinks jamming the original FF7 into whatever the newest, shiniest dev engine is, with no other changes to gameplay or script would result in anything other than a laughing stock is deluding themselves. I admit it would be funny to see Cloud and the gang leave Midgar, and then take 30 steps to arrive at the next town though.
Once the remake series is finished, history will be very kind to it. The gameplay, voice acting, and graphics are all phenomenal. The story threads that are added and fully fleshed out are improvements to the original that elevate the characters to being more likable members of the cast than the original. The controversies arise over the unresolved mysteries that, after completing Rebirth, I have full faith Square will stick the landing on in part 3, and deliver a satisfying resolution.
Re: Not Everyone Is in Love with Dragon's Dogma 2 on PS5
Meh, different strokes for different folks. The original was a divisive hit. Ask any fan and they will tell you DD was a janky game with a great artistic vision and lots of potential. Also can’t really put much stock in user reviews on metacritic. Anything on there could have a score boosted or tanked by bot farming and trolls…
I loved the first game enough to platinum it, but I also got it 90% off a few years after its initial release. DD2 looks like more of the same. While I definitely want to experience more DD in the future, it still isn’t worth full price for me.
Meanwhile FF7 Rebirth has been a breath of air and I can’t put it down. Builds on the original with so much with all new combat systems and tons of gameplay variety to keep things from ever getting too same-y.
Re: Sony Polls Players on Favourite Games That Aren't Bloodborne
No Sackboy?
No Gravity Rush?
No InFamous?
Major bleh...
Re: Japan Sales Charts: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Tops, But Doesn't Even Come Close to Remake
As the years go on ignoring digital sales and comparing figures to games from several years ago is becoming more of a logical fallacy.
Digital continues to grow.
FF7 Rebirth has an amazing digital dual pack where you get FF7 Remake, Intermission DLC, and FF7 Rebirth all for the price of just buying Rebirth normally. The only reason someone would not get this version would be if they didn’t know about it, or are dedicated to buying physical games.
Re: Rumour: Gravity Rush 2 Remaster Dropping onto PS5, PC, Reveal Coming in May
Hard to take this anything other than Sony sending Kat out to die. Again...
Gravity Rush is a fantastic series. It deserves more recognition from the wider gaming community. It is just as good as the Insomniac Spider man series.
But if a remaster is only of the the 2nd game, it will do little to draw in a new audience. Something between a remaster and a remake is needed. Both games need to be packed together, or ideally blended together into a seamless narrative. The story, while very good, makes little sense if you're just jumping in at Gravity Rush 2 with no context.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Long Trophy List Revealed, 61 to Unlock
FF7 Remake's trophy list was fun and nothing crazy. Basically a list to see all the content the game had to offer.
Hard mode was a blast and was designed with a level of thoughtfulness to it that surprised me. Very much looking forward to 100% completing FF7 Rebirth too.
Re: Shuhei Yoshida Eyes 'Pokemon with Guns' Phenomena Palworld for PS5
@wiiware Take the monster catching genre out of the equation. The relevant point is Pal World directly ripping off Pokémon character designs. Actually, it’s now being found they used ripped models from Pokémon. It’s straight up copyright infringement. Even if they change the designs “later” they are currently profiting by using illegal assets.
Re: Shuhei Yoshida Eyes 'Pokemon with Guns' Phenomena Palworld for PS5
Pokemon has been utter trite for nearly a decade now. The IP definitely needs serious competition, if such a thing even exists.
But this... is just not how to do it. This game is obviously made with generative AI doing most of the character designs. Too many monsters rocket way past the sense of being inspired by Pokemon to being downright ripoffs. From the proportions, eye shapes, fur, and details, the plagiarism is obvious. This game is disgraceful, full stop.
Re: Poll: Which Persona Game Has the Best Opening?
P4 Golden is one of my least favorite, because it just seems like TV show intro. All it does is introduce the main cast. Gives me Full House vibes.
Persona 3 Reload and 5 Royal look stunning visually and give a good feeling for the game they're covering.
Persona 5 (original) though, is just perfect. Great visuals, amazing theme song, and the choreography of it all just seals it. The characters sliding along makes it seem like the game is beckoning you to start playing. It says so much, without really giving anything away about the game.
Re: Genshin Impact Settles Down for a Fontaine Festival in 4.3 Update
It's a "filler" patch intended to tie us over until THE filler patch for lunar new year. In all honesty, it looks fun. The new event gameplay looks interesting and the returning beetle fights have been fun in the past.
That said I am disappointed we are not getting a winter themed event to enjoy around the holidays. This will be the 2nd year in a row, after we got the tone deaf spooky Yokai event around Christmas last year. Bringing back some of the Dragonspine activities from version 2.3 "Shadows Amidst Snowstorms" and giving players a permanent Dragonspine themed teapot setting would've been "peak". At least we're getting the Fontaine theme.
Re: Persona 5 Tactica (PS5) - Quality Combat Sends the Phantom Thieves Out in Style... Hopefully
As much as I love the P5 cast, and as much as I want to like this, it just doesn't do it for me. This review helpfully cemented that feeling, for better or worse.
Re: Tearaway's Wonderful Music Coming to Streaming Services as Series Turns 10
Can it be called a series if it is comprised of only 1 game (and a re-release)? I kid, but only because I would've liked this IP to have had the chance to grow into an actual series.
As it stands my take-away from Tearaway was that is was fun, charming, but not ground breaking. Good but not great. A solid entry that deserved another chance or two in the spot light before being locked away like most of Sony's IPs now...
Re: Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 Reveals Its Protagonist
Cautiously optimistic. Face animations during dialogue looks really off and uncanny, so hoping that gets a lot more attention post alpha.
Re: Sony on PS Plus Price Increase: We Want to Make PlayStation Plus Great
@nessisonett Unfortunately, everything can eventually fall victim to inflation. There are a lot of complexities in a large market, but any economist worth their salt will tell you that inflation is ultimately because all across the board people want more money. That's all there is to it. Calling it greed may make it sound insidious, but it's simply human nature.
What do most working people want/expect at around a yearly interval? A wage raise.
In a competitive environment, people will naturally use the leverage they have to negotiate for more money. In many cases, the leverage is simply time invested. Businesses will renegotiate contracts knowing that it is easier to pay out more than it is to start over and find a new partner.
People and businesses will continue to push the envelope and ask for more money.
Re: Mini Review: CRYMACHINA (PS5) - Interesting Worldbuilding Can’t Save This Dull Action RPG
@AndyKazama @Foxhound
Another nod for Dragon Star Varnir.
Game is very solid once it get's going. Legitimately good story and combat.
Also recommend the following:
Shining Resonance Refrain
Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online
Very obviously lower budget games when you look at graphics and overall production value (Shining Resonance is a remaster too), but they are solid mechanically, with good controls and gameplay.
Re: PS Studios Celebrate the Launch of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 with Awesome Art
You know what Sony IPs would make even more sense to promote along side the new Spider Man 2 release and are actually genre adjacent open world super hero games?
InFamous and Gravity Rush.
Why are these never seen anymore?
Re: Sonic Frontiers' Final Horizon DLC Proving to Be Surprisingly Difficult
OK so some of the difficulty concerns I get, but not around the platforming specifically. The game isn't built around precision platforming (whatever that means) nor does it expect it from the player. Even in the video clips shown above, all I see are mistakes on the player part, and failure to correct and save themselves at every opportunity.
I really hate to oversimply something as just get good, but seriously... as someone who does not play a lot of platformers, Frontiers' platforming is not difficult.