kcarnes9051

@betasector I was just camping with 15 friends over the holiday. Most of them fans of the show. But none of us watched the finale for the obvious reason we didn't have reception. So, yes, the finale was majority impacted by the holiday weekend. This isn't to say that viewership hasn't dropped. Just not as much as indicted by these numbers.

I’ll say it, again, make a turned-based FF with iterative mechanics like Clair Obscur using Yoshitaka Amano animated art style instead of emo j-pop super realism. Bring back parties and elemental weaknesses. Use a tasteful amount of mini games. Ditch the braindead side quest open world bloat. Prioritize a fantastical story that nails the ending. Stop using FF as window dressing and actually utilize the gameplay elements that built the fan base and watch the money stream in based on word of mouth alone.

@KundaliniRising333 If you want to play the game and resell it then you would want to buy physical regardless if it requires a download or not. How are people not understanding this.

@Nepp67 Even if the game requires a download with the physical copy, you can still resell it. That would obviously be why you would want to buy physical in this circumstance. Or if you like collecting box art.

Just here to give Eternal some love since it seems to get a lot of hate. Thoroughly enjoyed it and the platforming. Thought it was a great addition, built on the first game in a good way, and mixed up the gameplay. Excited to play this new release but it sounds less dynamic for the platforming omission.

@DennisReynolds Love the game, but I don't think that a small main team necessarily excuses all criticism when they're already outsourcing portions of the development. Everything else about the game is rather polished. It's just strange to me that the heavily featured main protagonist's face feels so unpolished. I'm curious what it was about the shadowing on his face on a technical level that was so difficult and out of the budget to fix.

@Stamp_Monkey Other RPGs have had QTEs as far back as Legend of Dragoon, which this game draws inspiration from, among others. So it's only separate from other RPGs insofar as it's a sub-genre of sorts. (The recent indie Sea Of Stars has similarities, although it's easier.) By skipping the QTEs, you are missing out on a significant part of the challenge and what makes the combat intensely exhilarating. COE33 leans more on the QTEs than most and has Souls-like timing of enemy windups. So you will die as you learn the timing of attacks. It's intended to be part of the experience and the satisfaction of finally nailing it. Luckily, the runbacks to bosses in this game are exceptionally short and it autosaves often, so you can retry often without having to waste time running back from the last save point. Eventually it will click if you have some patience and lean into the learning curve. It's definitely surmountable.

@themightyant Like I said, I’m mostly surprised others have not piled on it when it jumps out at you. It’s hard not to notice.

In any case, loving the game otherwise. It’s an example of iterative turn-based combat design that I’ve been arguing FF should return to instead of shedding every gameplay aspect that formed the series’ identity.

I’m enjoying the game but I don’t understand how it’s getting a pass for its graphical issues when so many other games get absolutely piled on. The hair shadows on Gustave’s face from the opening of the game look absolutely atrocious. It’s a smallish detail but when they fill the full screen with his face it’s hard for it not to be distracting. I’m not one to harp on a game for small things, but it made me second guess my purchase when I first turned it on and made me question whether all the hype was a bunch of hot air. It bothers me less now. Still I find it strange so few are mentioning it.

Is this a surprise after they bought up half the gaming industry.

I would buy day one. Ties for favorite game of all-time with FF6.

@RadioHedge They weren’t following her through the wilderness for 5 straight years, lol. In the game, they went to Jackson on a mission to confront Tommy who was an ex-firefly. They got a tip on where Tommy was located and hoofed it there probably over a month or two. In the show, it’s implied that they know Joel is there. They were in Seattle the past 5 years stewing on revenge.

@Anthony_Daniels Their products sell like hotcakes at a high price because more people love their product than anyone else. Turns out you can demand a high price when lots and lots of people are clamoring for your product.

@AhmadSumadi The FPS, the resolution, the joysticks, the internal storage size, overall built quality, color scheme, screen size, controller connections, mouse control, social features, etc.

All changed. All improved.

And, yes, inflation has changed, too. Hence price increases. Welcome to reality.

The Switch 2's storage is 8 times larger than the original.

The console was ALWAYS going to be underpowered compared to a PS5, as Nintendo focuses on other qualities to their system. This was known.

SD cards make perfect sense for a handheld console. Lol. And they're not the same as the original. The original use MicroSD cards. This uses Micro SD Express cards. Which allows for much faster data transfers, for faster loading and installing. ANOTHER IMPROVEMENT.

Sure, the battery isn't great. That's just about the only negative compared to the original Switch.

@AhmadSumadi I mean, basically every aspect of the console has been changed but keep on drumming.

@rjejr Once you add on controllers to your iPad you're paying the same as the Switch 2, you're not playing new Mario games, and you have a clunker of a handheld. Can you Airplay at 120 FPS? Not sure.

@splinters It's not heading toward Pro pricing at all. It's $499 with a game. The Pro is $700 without a game. Also, when looking at the base PS5 models, you're comparing a 2-in-1 hybrid system with a standalone home console that would require a Portal to have somewhat close to the same functionality. There are tradeoffs in value. They add additional value with mouse functionality. Call it a gimmick if you want but it counts for something. The pricing is fine compared to the competition.

We also have to acknowledge that regardless of specs, the Nintendo is brand new. The PS5 has been out for going on 5 years and has seen a price reduction as the console has matured.

Nintendo doesn't typically do price reductions on console because the original Switch sold like hotcakes. We'll see how their model holds at this pricing with the state of the industry.

I mean, it’s a cool feature but hardly one that would make me hold onto a game if my mentality is already one where I recycle games to afford new ones. It would be cool if the feature was developed further to where interactions actually affected the story in meaningful ways, not just one-liners and buffs. The novelty of some rando orc remembering me and saying something kind of wears off quickly.

@Jey887 that would be a nice inclusion if you get tired of the constant camera movement!

While I think the game looks promising and I love the evolution of turn-based combat, the menus in combat are a little over stylized for my liking with the way the camera zips all over the place. If you go in and out of menus trying to decide what you want to do, it seems like it's going to be nauseating whipping back and forth. Hopefully that won't be the case.

The constant loading screens going in and out of buildings killed this for me. And it was just an absolute snooze.

@FanCFeast I actually think that the Remake combat system does a decent job of splitting the difference between turn-base and live action. The live action component is largely automated by just holding down the attack button, but for meaningful battles you still have to navigate menus, and there is the Active Time Battle gauge filled by your attacks, which has it's DNA in older games. I'm mostly concerned with the direction that FF16 took going full action, doing away with basically all of the game elements that game before, no party members to switch between, an undercooked equipment system, and no elemental weaknesses. Little to no strategy, just unload your Eikons. Baldur's Gate has prove that even complex modern turn-based games can be highly successful if passion is put into the project.

This is the kind of modern turn-based action with real-time elements that would be perfect for the FF franchise to iterate on if they cared at all about their roots.

@GirlVersusGame GameStop regularly has trade in deals where you earn 20% extra credit and other deals where you buy 2 get one free. If you’re a pro member you can make even more. While rare, when timed right you can sometimes get more back than you paid. At the very least you get quite a good return if you’re intentional about it. You’re only getting peanuts if you bought a brand new game years ago and are trying to trade in. If you trade in within 6 months of buying it then it’s not such a bad deal. I traded in a 3-year-old PS4 and got $200 back for it on a trade-in deal. The same amount I originally paid for it on a Black Friday deal. I circulated that $200 for like 3 years of trade-ins.

I almost exclusively buy physical games. Buy at a discount months after initial release when games are actually properly patched. And then resell once finished. I play games not more than a year old for a third of the new digital price. Saves me hundreds a year and thousands over the past several years. No brainer for me, so it would be a major bummer if physical went away completely.

@tameshiyaku Hollow Knight is as much inspired by Mega Man and also Dark Souls as it is Metroid and Castlevania. So, I'd disagree that it's not more than a good Metroidvania.

@NathanKang No, we like it because it's an amazing blend of Mega Man, Metroid, and Dark Souls with rewarding and challenging boss fights and tight, precise gameplay, and it does it extremely well within a bizarre world with interesting reveals and environmental storytelling around every corner using fantastic, unique artwork. If you think it's overrated, that's just your opinion, man.

@DennisReynolds One article was written within the perspective of Marvel Rivals success. The other was written from the perspective of Sony's entire mostly failed enterprise into live service. Two different authors written from two different lenses. There's nuance here and a discussion to be had within the gulf between these two articles that does support pursuing live service in a more focused, limit way despite the failures. And that discussion largely would revolve around focusing on strong IP, working with developers who have experience in this arena, narrowing down prospects to the strongest before investing hundreds of millions, and investing more into market research, among other things. Live service can work. But the recklessly aggressive way Sony went about it was dumb.

@Runex2121 My PS5 Pro with the disc drive sits perfectly level with no wobble when you put the new feet on that the disc drive comes with. Did you swap out the feet?

@Nepp67 John Wicks character is literally a retired assassin. He’s supposed to be old. Nathan Drake in his first outing is not. Lol. And Wick is doing mostly gun play. Not climbing things like a monkey. Furthermore, Nathan Fillion is a has been B-list actor at best, and does not have the clout to carry a franchise in the same way as Keanu Reeves. Good gracious.

Established successful IPs have a stronger chance of success based on recognition when made decently—what a shock!

@Nepp67 Nathan Fillion is in his 50s and would be in or near his 60s in a third and fourth film. That is just too old for the kind of stunts Nathan Drake is known for and not a good way to establish a new movie franchise. Holland while boyish has the growing physique and athleticism necessary and will hopefully age into his role, as will Wahlberg.

@Itachi2099 Palworld and Pokemon are not PS exclusives, so it's not an issue a PS-oriented site would write about as it relates to company first party studios and what might constitute as a ripoff of their intellectual property.

It took me 3 days of constantly responding as fast as possible to in-stock notifications using the Hot Stock app to finally land a drive for my Pro through GameStop. Such a headache.

It’s definitely a privileged problem, but it’s straight up ridiculous that the stock on drives is so low. It absolutely feels intentional on Sony’s part so that those that want a drive get complacent and buy a few digital games in the meantime. They’re conditioning us.

Didn’t work on me though. 90% of games I will always buy discs. For about $200 through GameStop I landed Alan Wake 2, Jedi Survivor, Spider-Man 2, Sekiro, Lies Of P, Star Wars Outlaws, and Hogwarts. It would have cost me twice as much, if not more, had I bought digital. And I will trade in all of these games for about half as much as I paid for them. In the end, it will have costed me a quarter of the price of buying digital, and I will have saved hundreds if not thousands over several years gaming.

Discs are a no brainer for me.

@colonelkilgore If even the 10-15% of hardcore PS gamers are complaining about the price of the Pro, do you really think enough gamers who have console mentalities are going to shift over to PC, which is going to set the average gamer back $1000 plus to have equivalent tech that is less convenient. Consoles have the plug-and-play convenience factor and are cheaper. It seems highly doubtful a meaningful number of your average gamer is going to give up that convenience for something even more expensive, when even the most diehard gamers are loath to pay even more in the console market. PCs are finicky, inconsistent, and require far more fiddling with settings for your average gamer who just wants to pop into their game and not have to mess around with steam controller settings to get their game working correctly.

@Voltan that’s ridiculous if European retailers are selling above Sony’s price. I feel for you!

@Oram77 @Voltan I was able to get a disc drive by using the Hot Stock app, which notifies you when online stores get them in stock. It's free if you just sign up for notifications. But there are a couple paid options that allow you to get notifications sooner or for an auto-buy feature. I just used the free option. They get bought up almost instantaneously but if you stick with it and work on getting through the checkout process as quickly as possible you can land one. It took me a few days of trying and I finally got one through GameStop. I'm in the US, so if you're in another country I'm unsure if it's possible to get them elsewhere doing the same. Best of luck!

@VRjunky this is great to hear and I was kind of thinking that the poor reception was based on misplaced expectations. I played Deadspace Remake over six months ago and loved it, but it’s been long enough now to where I don’t remember the controls so the muscle memory shouldn’t cloud my impressions of this game hopefully. Thanks for lending your impressions.

@Rich33 if a game sells well regardless of quality then there isn’t really the incentive to improve it. However, an underperforming game can benefit from additional work put into it, even if it was already quality to begin with. It sucks, but thats how incentive works.

Stoked! Been putting this one off. Now seems like a good time to jump in. I just got my Pro but I’m waiting on the disc drive to arrive. Callisto Protocol has just been sitting in my digital library since it was given away as part of PS+. I was dissuaded from playing it when it got lackluster reviews at release. But I have a feeling it got unjustly bagged on. Can’t wait to fire it up to see how good it looks with the Pro.

DLC content has been verging on sequel territory for a while now. Just because it’s baked into the base game shouldn’t mean that it couldn’t essentially be a game unto itself. Some sequels are rarely entirely different beasts compared to their predecessors and often only make changes around the edges. Erdtree perhaps does enough of that to be considered a sequel in its own right, by the standard of how much tinkering some other sequels do, even if it’s not as large as the base game. Regardless, I think Ertree would be an important inclusion in the GOTY category, if only to incentivize other publishers to put as much time and craft into expansions in the future.

Finished the game a week ago. It was fun enough. Saw plenty of side boob already. Yawn. Sold it to GameStop for credit to put toward a Pro. No interest in playing further dress up.

I don’t mind long games so long as they’re not filled with repetitive fetch quests and generic scenarios and dialogue. Side quests should have impact and feel substantial, and they should flesh out the story in meaningful ways. Helping someone find their cat or some flowers is hella lame. Quests shouldn’t feel repetitive like running through a checklist. Every region shouldn’t have the exact same tower activities and the like. It gets boring fast breaks immersion. Find ways to vary mechanics and objectives to keep things fresh.

@Tomato_Goose Unless you're comparing the differences on a 65" Tv the differences in detail aren't really going to be noticeable. Most people aren't watching the YouTube videos on this site on a large TV screen. So if your request to see comparisons was fulfilled you still wouldn't notice much of a difference if you're looking at them on a small screen.

@Absymbel Yikes, those prices are ridiculous. It just seems like a miscalculated decision from the beginning, and they’ve tried to make up for it by forcing the physical ultimate edition on top of keeping the price as if it’s a new game. Or maybe that’s been the strategy all along. None of us can really run the numbers of it to know if it would have actually been better for the consumer and the developers simultaneously had they released the physical from the beginning. Regardless, the outcome feels manipulative.

I would have bought the base game at release if it was released physically. Now that the the game has released physically it’s $80 with DLC and I can’t get a standalone version like people could when the digital version was released. This rubs me the wrong way. I don’t like this weird release method and it’s off-putting. It’s been so long now I can wait a little bit longer for a used copy of the physical edition. Even though I’m eager to play it, my excitement has died down, and there’s plenty of other games to play until I can get it cheaper.

I love being able to see my head phone and control battery charge levels at a glance, and being able to position that widget so it’s first. That’s my primary use case. Accessing storage via its widget is also more convenient than menu hopping.

Is there any word whether game load times will be further improved at all for games? They’re already great on the PS5 but I appreciate any time save and it could push me over the edge for getting the Pro.

@NEStalgia Let's not forget about both Spider-Man leads, and we might as well throw in Wolverine. Also, while Kojima Productions isn't a Sony first party studio, both Death Stranding Games are exclusives, and should be counted if we're counting Stellar Blade.

Astrobot is fairly gender neutral, but I wouldn't be surprised if most everyone refers to Astro as a he. But that's a bit of a stretch.

The number of male and female protagonists start to look pretty balanced when you include those (maybe not Astro), as well as Ratchet, since there's not indication that he's been replaced or abandoned.

Clearly, we're in a cultural moment where studios want to feature women since they haven't had the spotlight quite as much as men. Sure, the pendulum could swing a bit more toward women for a while, or appear that way, but I wouldn't exactly call this a trend toward a matriarchy. It's more a trend toward balance.

FF needs to go back to the roots that made it successful and cater to its most dedicated fans, much in the way that BG3 and ER stayed true to its fan base. Iterate on turn-based combat. Fantasian shows new interesting wrinkles can be added to the genre. Ditch the hyper-realistic j-pop boy band aesthetic, and lean into animation using Yoshitaka Amano’s drawing as inspiration for the art style. Finally bring us into the world that Amano envisions in the cover art and character drawings.