Comments 392

Re: PS6 Could Be Cheaper Than Expected, Despite $1,000 Concerns

kcarnes9051

The idea that anyone thinks that the next gen console will increase another $300 sounds absolutely insane. Unless there’s even more substantial market disruption it will likely land around where the current console is priced. MAYBE a PS6 Pro lands at $1000 if current conditions persist.

Re: Crimson Desert's Mandatory PS5 Update Sparks Debate About Games Which Break Street Date

kcarnes9051

@FuzzieGinge88 but it sounds like after the official release date you still need to download an update to play. That update will always be required. This game doesn’t have a playable game on disc that doesn’t require an update like you said should happen. You’re undermining your own point. This is indeed anti consumer. It would be one thing if the update was only needed to unlock it up to a certain date, and after that date any purchases of the disc game would not require the update. They could implement that. The best of both worlds to avoid leaks but still protect consumer license ownership to a playable game on disc. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Re: Step Aside PS Portal! The Best Way to Use PS5 Remote Play Is Getting Better

kcarnes9051

I realized I paid for this app years ago and it never worked that well so I deleted the app and completely forgot about it and gave up on remote play. Wasn't sure if it was my network or the app. But I just fired it up with this new update, and, damn, it's working really well for me. I was able to restore my purchase of the app and get access to the new features without paying, again. At first, I noticed a little bit of lag playing Astro Bot and was a little disappointed, but then I went into the settings and found some advanced options that helped reduce it, and now it's super responsive at 4k upscale. The advanced options say it needs to be on a good network and it increases power consumption and heat on your device, so unsure if that'll have any long-term effect on my iPhone. But it is extremely playable!

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for March 2026 Announced

kcarnes9051

@Bluemoon2008 Extra is a different tier. Games having been on Extra is irrelevant to Essential. This is for people on Essential who never got access to it on Extra. There will inevitably be frequent overlap between Essential and Extra. Games often hit Extra before they hit Essential because they don’t want to give away newer games long term on Essential. So it’s an inevitability that many games that appear on Essential will have already been on Extra. This isn’t a new thing. Why people complain about this almost every month is bonkers.

Re: Hands On: God of War: Sons of Sparta Shows Real Promise with Lovely Pixel Art and Punchy Combat

kcarnes9051

@dark_knightmare2 why are you being intellectually dishonest? I said they have bold colorful cartoony art designs. Both do. They share this similarity. You said they’re nothing alike. Yet they are alike in this way. Yet you come at me with an irrelevant argument that Fortnite didn’t invent its style and Horizon has more detail. Did I say anything about who invented it? Do two styles need to be exactly the same in detail to share similarities? Stop being dishonest and stop coming at me with irrelevant points.

Re: Hands On: God of War: Sons of Sparta Shows Real Promise with Lovely Pixel Art and Punchy Combat

kcarnes9051

@TheArt The horizon art style is colorfully bold and cartoonish, and feels juvenile and more like a modern kids cartoon. Every character also feels like it’s made by committee. For this God of War title it is more muted pixel art that’s more reminiscent of what people who grew up in the early days of gaming have some nostalgia for. Horizon feels like it’s targeting younger generation who play Fortnite while this title feels like it’s targeting an older generation.

Re: 'These Guys Are Top of the Line': Actor Tony Dalton Talks Up Naughty Dog and Intergalactic

kcarnes9051

@scottXedgar TLOU2 has some of the tightest gameplay mechanics ever created in a 3rd person survival game. Suggesting that the upcoming won't have tight gameplay based off ZERO evidence is bonkers and is the absolute worst way to be a contrarian. Furthermore, TLOU2 was quite innovative when it comes to contextual animations and the way that both NPCs and the player character reacts to the environment when in movement. For example, the way that the player character can squeeze between gaps mid combat on the run wasn't done at the time so fluidly. Suggesting that ND won't innovate at all suggests you actually don't know how they've innovated in the past.

Re: 'It's a Huge Upgrade': PS5 Pro Poised to Improve Massively in 2026

kcarnes9051

@nessisonett Have you tried pressing the lower thumb part of your palm into the joystick so it depresses and then vigorously rotating for about a minute in each direction. I had three controllers with drift and was about ready to buy new ones until I read this trick. Tried it out and it fixed all three of the controllers. Even if you don't get crumbs and such around your controller, dead skin cells can accumulate over time and get into the inner workings, and I theorize that this technique breaks up debris.

Re: Expedition 33, Ghost of Yotei Have Started Scooping Up GOTY Awards

kcarnes9051

@lazarus11 The "more" in the saying "Less is more" refers to the preference for a less complicated, refined core experience, which is the game philosophy in E33 compared to KCD2. "Less is less" is redundant and self-evident, and bringing it up on your part, as some kind of clap back, is an intellectually dishonest diversion made in bad faith from the meaning of the original saying. Some people don't want a complicated RPG. They just want a refined core experience. E33 does that well, and it won in part because of that, not in spite of it.

Re: Sony Stands with Japan's Creators in AI Copyright Crackdown

kcarnes9051

@ShieldHero you are not understanding the fundamental issue with people using AI. It robs people of the capital they built in time and effort they’ve put into learning a skill or craft. A person who perfects an art or creates something unique has invested a massive amount of time into doing that. They can then leverage that to make money off their time and effort earned skill. When an AI ingests that content and puts it at the fingertips of thousands if not millions of people it robs the person who originally learned the skill of the capital in time and effort that they invested. Now people can get it easily for free and even claim it as their own. And these people who use AI generation have not earned the skill, but they’ve certainly robbed the person that has. When you read a book and borrow a plot idea, as you mentioned in another comment, you still need to be able to write competently and craft a narrative and create characters that have unique characteristics that are not exactly the same as the original writing you’re borrowing from, otherwise it would be copyright infringement. So you still need to invest the time and effort to earn that capital in writing. AI circumvents that and robs artists of the capital they’ve built in honing their writing craft.

Re: Halo Confirmed for PS5, Remake of First Game Out in 2026

kcarnes9051

I have very nostalgic memories of playing through the campaign with my brother during Christmas on my cousin's Xbox because my family didn't have that console. We'd basically play through the entire campaign while visiting family down in California, and that was, at the time, our only opportunity to do so. I've since, as an adult, replayed the remaster. But I can't wait to relive some of those memories playing this with my brother, again—if I can talk him into it as we live in separate states—with modern graphics and improved gameplay on my preferred console. Can't wait!

Re: 'The Game Looks Fantastic': Insider Shares Wolverine PS5 Tidbit Ahead of Rumoured Re-Reveal

kcarnes9051

@DogPark No other character in the X-Men comic books has been explored more than Logan’s. He has more story arcs than any other character. And he has a history spanning 200 years dealing with PTSD, amnesia, moral conflict, failures at being a father, the curse of longevity, the loss of countless loved ones, seeking forgiveness and redemption, codes of honor, control, exploitation, regret. Your opinion that his character lacks depth is not backed up by objective reality.

Re: 'The Game Looks Fantastic': Insider Shares Wolverine PS5 Tidbit Ahead of Rumoured Re-Reveal

kcarnes9051

@DogPark Awful take. If you don’t like the character as a lead that’s fine. But he objectively works as a lead given the many leading roles he’s had with great success. He objectively has been more than a support character for the majority of his history. This is factual. Saying his character is 2D suggests you don’t actually know his comic history. He’s been everything from a trained, mind controlled assassin to a school teacher to the leader of multiple teams in books that have ran for decades including his own, which is the most bankable solo book in X-Men history, not to mention being the most recognizable and popular character in the films. He’s a nearly 200 year-old Canadian that’s lived much of his life in Japan and the U.S. and beyond. He struggles with his feral, violent side, while simultaneously longing for peace and solitude. You can find plenty of 2D depictions of him, but you can say that for pretty much any comic character. I would admit his character could use some new growth, as he hasn’t changed a ton in recent years (comics like to maintain their status quo) but recent years really don’t do the depth of his character’s justice.

Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Finally Out on 4th September

kcarnes9051

@Oram77 I got an email with your previous comment but don't see it here, so maybe you deleted, and sorry to beat a dead horse, but to be clear I'm not defending the quality of the game. I'm defending it from an uneducated opinion. You can have an opinion, but that doesn't make it as valid as an educated one, and that does not shield your uneducated opinion from outside criticism when you post to a public platform.

I said I don't hold an opinion on this game. Me defending it against an unfair, uneducated opinion is not contradictory. These are two different things.

To repeat, defending something against an uneducated criticism is not the same as holding an opinion about that thing.

Furthermore, all it takes to understand the hype is to have empathy and to listen to other people as to why they're excited. Just because you're personally not excited for the game does not preclude you from empathetically understanding the reason why others are hyped.

Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Finally Out on 4th September

kcarnes9051

@Oram77 No, you said, "JUST competent" after saying you didn't understand the hype. The implication you're very clearly making is not that the game is good but rather that the game is nothing special. It's JUST competent. Again, you haven't played the game. If you'd played the first so as to understand the context and reasons stated by other games as to why they're hyped then you would know. But that doesn't seem to be the case. These are bizarre statements to make from someone who has not played the game. And you are very much hating by devaluing it before even playing it.

I have not played Silksong. And I have not stated and I do not hold an opinion on it because I have not played it. Why you're asking me this is equally bizarre.

I do understand the excitement around the game because I played the first and understand why a large contingent of gamers are excited. It's not hard to understand if you know the reasons why other gamers are excited.

Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Finally Out on 4th September

kcarnes9051

@Haruki_NLI If the game is as good or better than Hollow Knight then fans will be satisfied. There's no more hype than that. Plenty achievable. The devs have already proven themselves highly competent at creating tight platforming, challenging and creative boss designs, and rewarding metroidvania exploration. Nobody is expecting anything else.

Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for August 2025?

kcarnes9051

@KundaliniRising333 PS+ Essential is $9.99 a month and GP Ultimate is $19.99 a month. So not remotely the same. You have to use the Core conversion hack to get them comparable, but that is not the normal retail pricing. If everyone was using the Core hack I’d wager they wouldn’t be able to sustain the business model. It’s questionable as is with Microsoft propping it up.

I also am a big fan of the genre and haven’t played it yet and I’m sure there’s many others like me. It’s also selling used for nearly $50 at GameStop, a price indicating it’s still plenty desirable. I think you’re underestimating the number of people who will now be doing their first play through because of their sub.

Re: 'We Won't Make You Do the Same Thing Over and Over': Ghost of Yotei PS5 Will Keep You Guessing

kcarnes9051

@RoomWithaMoose I appreciate your effort to needle down on this further, but you're kind of misrepresenting what's being discussed here by being too granular and bringing up absolutes. I'm completely willing to acknowledge that all games require some level of repetition. Everything in life requires some level of repetition. Making yourself a sandwich requires repetition. Learning music requires repetition. Taking a shower requires repetition. Sports involve repetition.That's just the nature of reality and life. But that is too granular, and akin to how you're framing things, and not what's being discussed in relationship to these games. What's being discussed here in regards to lacking variety are mundane tasks like follow a fox for the 20th time to a collectible. This is unimaginative and frankly boring, lead-players-by-the hand game design with no challenge involved. It is the kind of brain dead repetitive task that the players who've actually played the game complain about. And it is the kind of repetitive task that the game designer is hopefully here acknowledging improving upon. But you wouldn't actually know EXACTLY the kind of repetition that is being discussed because you have not played the game. And you have not followed the fox for the 20th time to a collectible that's probably meaningless at later stages in the game. You're not engaging at the same practical level based on the experience of playing the game that the developer or myself are engaging on this topic. Is there going to be some repetition. Sure. Fine. Whatever. But it does not require much imagination to improve upon the follow the fox task to make it not repetitive and meaningfully engaging. Change the animal and the traversal required to follow it. Introduce more platforming mechanics that actually make following it challenging. Don't do the same follow activity for the same type of reward. Mix it up. This is just one of many brain dead tasks in this game the are repeated many times. Soak in a hot spring. Write a haiku. All with basically the same rewards. Terrible enemy variety. Etc. Quest markers telling you everywhere to go to make the repetition feel worse. These elements can be improved upon to make them far more varied. And that is the spirit of what is being discussed here. Not an absolutist notion that every trace of repetition will be gone. That is not the spirit in which I was addressing your comment. And it is not what the game designer was indicating when they said that game would have more diverse experiences.

Re: 'We Won't Make You Do the Same Thing Over and Over': Ghost of Yotei PS5 Will Keep You Guessing

kcarnes9051

@RoomWithaMoose I did not say you have a COMPLETE lack of understanding. But you were commenting as if you weren’t acknowledging the nuances, as you stated that “The nature of open-world SIDE-CCONTENT kinda NECESSITATES repetition.” This is simply not true in regards to SIDE CONTENT, especially from a big budget AAA studio, so long as they don’t get distracted by shiny things like gigantic empty maps in lieu of quality content. I illustrated games that did not NECESSITATE repetition in SIDE CONTENT.

That said, almost every game in existence will have a central gameplay loop that involves repetition. This repetition is overcome by depth in mechanics and enemy variety, which multiplies encounter variability and strategy.

Enemies encounters that have depth and variety, even though you might call it repetitive due to the central
Loop, is very different than following the 20th fox to an idol to get a stupid collectible. It’s just mindless bloat.

Those are two very different degrees of repetition.

Over-focusing on the “necessity” of a central gameplay loops downplays what is achievable through creative and varying mechanics throughout the central loop and side content. It is absolutely achievable. You could plug in Hazelight’s varying gameplay mechanics into an open world RPG to great success. FF Rebirth proves it. Yakuza proves. The bloat repetitive tasks that those games do have only reinforces that over repetition makes those games worse and that finding creative ways to vary and iterate and build up the core mechanics creates a richer experience.

There was absolutely a trend in open world games that bigger is better. More gameplay hours is better regardless if it’s spent just running aimlessly around and doing the most basic of fetch quests.

This is the kind of repetition that is not needed. It can be overcome. And game designers that continue that path are indeed displaying a failure in imagination.

Re: 'We Won't Make You Do the Same Thing Over and Over': Ghost of Yotei PS5 Will Keep You Guessing

kcarnes9051

@RoomWithaMoose you’re commenting on two games that you have not played and are not understanding the difference in variety between them in regards to side content. The only games that maybe have more varied side content than FF Rebirth is maybe Yakuza games. There are tons of totally different mini games that make the world feel rich. Ghost has none of that. All side content are repetivite tasks. They are drastically different in game design decisions. There are some repetitive elements in FF Rebirth but it could have done without them. It would have been a long enough game without the towers and summon shrines. Open world game designers need to learn that less is more. Fewer unique side quests in a denser, smaller map is far superior than a sprawling map with repetitive tasks galore. And, yes, this would be achievable if developers weren’t so focused on gameplay hours and moreso on quality of content.