koffing

Fascinating we’re four years in and the system costs are flat or rising. It’s a great time to be a gamer — but this industry is not healthy.

Atlas is trying to make a third series to go with SMT and Persona so it’s not shocking to me that they’re trying to earn trust with whoever is on the fence ahead of launch of a new product — especially since publishers are obsessed with preorder numbers. This was also obviously an expensive game so probably also their biggest gamble yet.

Ultimately if PushSquare wants they could just not make an article for each new piece of media that goes live but my guess is they’re getting a good click through rate and engagement numbers.

Yeah please just don’t write articles about the trailers and we good.

Very cool. Would have been even better as an actual surprise. Unfortunately the Atlus sales and marketing team got ahold of it. And then Push Square of course spoils it pretending they’re not spoiling it with the headline ad “you won’t see this coming” and the thumbnail absolutely showing you the entire spoiler. No words.

This month is fine. Nothing I am excited about but a good selection. I wish PS would redo some of their polls to be less hyperbolic “it’s a crap selection” just encourages more entitlement and negativity that we just don’t need.

I like buying games that have endings. But ZZZ and Honkai look compelling. Oh well, time to start Trails through Daybreak!

Having played almost all of them now… I think starting with Sky 1, Cold Steel 1, or Zero are all good options. No need to overcomplicate it.

Starting earlier in the timeline, yes, means you get more of the references and lore and the gameplay systems are simpler, but I don’t think it matters. If you love Trails you’ll probably find yourself playing them again just like rereading a favorite book.

Btw so far Sky 1 was my favorite for story/characters.

@Porco they overestimated consumer interest. They can barely get people to buy 4k content or HDR. Most people not gonna pay $500 to have a screen on their face just for “presence” when it feels bad and makes them look stupid.

Already have Turtles so SoR4 is probably also enjoyable. Not excited though. It’s unlikely to get played, just put low on the backlog.

New IP/games, Astrobot. All good things.

I guess people want more AAA single player epics and both Sony and MS have that issue.

Yeah if PC keeps getting the better version… I think it’s the other way around.

I got a PS5 but what games would I have to get for a PS6? Apparently Microsoft is going multiplat and Sony is going PC after a year. Seems like a gaming pc and a Switch are all you need to play most games now.

Sounds like — based on almost nothing — it could be awesome and a fun couch coop game.

As long as they keep making small weird titles like Paranormasight this is great news. AAA development is floundering right now.

@Littlejack 💯 you said it before me and better than I did. I don’t see what’s new here. Atlus already milks their franchises to death.

Don’t they already do this? Maybe we don’t get a new game but between rereleases and spinoffs…

I find it odd that this site is trying to get engagement off of “should X have fired someone.”

I’d love to see more first party titles. I think Sony’s core base wants deep story amazing graphics AAA single players. I think that’s difficult to do in 2024. Not sure why costs have ballooned so much but if it takes 5 years and 200 million to make one of those then we aren’t going to get many of those anymore.

If I was them I would sell the outfit as DLC for $1.

I’m not convinced this was censorship and unfortunately there’s a no way to prove it isn’t. This is conspiracy theory territory.

That said, I’m not convinced people really care that much about this specific outfit. They’re taking up valuable time and distracting from an otherwise very successful launch of a new IP. So if they care so much they can just pay $1 and get it and we can stop talking about it and the company gets compensated for their work.

I’m not even confident most people complaining own the game. Like Push Square just wants the engagement and sweet ad revenue. 💰

Beautiful game glad others can play it.

Wonder if the bonus PS+ Catalog will make a comeback for those who buy the new hardware. As a first time PlayStation owner that was a phenomenal way to start gaming on Playstation 5.

If I had to guess though it will come with six months or a year of their highest tier subscription service emphasis on games “enhanced” for or “plays best on” PS5 Pro.

@Rich33 “provided you design your game around the capabilities of the current console.”

imo that’s your real issue. Many games aren’t made first and foremost for PS5.

@Terra_Custodes it’s not. Your argument taken to its logical end is there is no need for any new consoles ever because developers should just be able to always provide 60fps for the existing console.

@Rich33 If you want to make the case that some or even many games could be more pared back to hit 60fps I agree with you.

But if you want to insist that all developers only make games that run at 60fps on your specific choice of hardware, you can but it’s an unreasonable demand.

imagine trying to insist that Ps5 games should run on PS3 at 60fps but just “remove the features” to make that work. It’s just not going to work. You don’t have the cpu, gpu, memory, or bandwidth to make it work. It would be a different game.

If 60 is that important you might want to get a gaming pc.

Sounds like you need to better educate your readers on what it takes to hit 60 fps. We have cpu limits and that’s how it is.

How about the option:

• I would rather the game not come to PS5 if I can’t get 60fps.

I don’t want UE5 games and newer pc games on my system, etc.

Missing options:

60 over raytracing almost anyday.
30 for turn based or slower games is fine.
I want 60 for twitchy.
40 is great! Balanced mode!

I really want them to start releasing pack-in demos on disc again. I get that digital is cheaper and all, but mmm love me a good demo disc. Mmm Nostalgia.

It’ll depend on how good it is. Seems unlikely to work as well as DLSS 3 or the newest release of DLSS 2 both of which have existed for years. BUT if it’s better than FSR 2 that would be great.

It’s fine! Especially because there are so many other choices — including different in-game costumes as well as other games. It’s not 1998 anymore where the only female protagonist games are either pink Barbie or sexed up Lara Croft. And that was the exact point I took away from Tropes vs Women in Gaming was making 10 years ago — diversity and representation matters. It doesn’t mean you can’t have a sexed up action game or that that form is bad, it just shouldn’t be the only option.

Atlus makes great games but I don’t trust anything about a “final” anything. I expect a new edition sometime next year or more dlc.

I’m waiting for Metaphor.

Yay! I just finished going through Sky 1,2, Azure, Zero, Tocs 1234 and Reverie. Phew!

P5R 2x (ps4 and switch, will get again on Steam Deck)
P5 Strikers 1X (PS4)
P5D 1X (PS4)
P4G 2x (Steam and Switch)
P3P 1x (Switch)

7 apparently… and I think this illustrates one of the big challenges for Sony which is all things being even I would prefer to play these games on a portable and Sony doesn’t have one

I’m excited about the new Trails game! Just finished Reverie on my Steam Deck. So excited for Calvard!

Sifi and Hello Neighbor

I just wish the leaders were held accountable for their poor choices, not the talent.

If you have an unsustainable business model that is the leadership’s fault. If you aren’t getting what you need from talent, that is leadership’s fault.

But it’s always the heart of the organization — line workers, in this case a community manager wtf — who gets shown the door.

I feel like this article is playing devil’s advocate on behalf of a large multi-billion dollar corporation.

Sony has a lot of options they don’t need to fire 8% of their employees to up their profit margins.

This is the most angry I have been on this site. This is dumb. They’re your talent. Without your devs you have a pc that doesn’t run anything.

@somnambulance 💯 game needs a demo. Honestly I wouldn’t care if so many publishers didn’t use preorders as THE measure of success.

@__jamiie you’re not the only one a lot of people had that expectation BUT I wonder why people thought that. I wonder if gaming news sites perpetuated that myth. Sony marketing was talking 8k and that was just repeated by our gaming press with almost no critique.

Yet customers also had the expectation that the image would also improve, not just the crispness (resolution) or smoothness/lag (framerate). We could have PS4 games at 4k/60-120 but not PS5 level games.

There are $1500 pcs that would struggle to get 4k/60/raytracing/more detail/more physics so it’s just not a healthy expectation for a $500 device to somehow make that happen.

Midlife crisis! Panic!

Xbox games going to other systems. Maybe day 1 maybe like Sony after some initial delay. My bet is no fixed delay but not always instantaneous.

Xbox console “the best way to play” said at least once. Console investment continues.

Xbox continuing to find ways to get GamePass streaming on other platforms.

I can’t imagine ever buying any digital film from Sony ever. And yeah, if I generally am going to prefer Steam to the PStore. Not a good look Sony.

Missing: maybe I would just play them on another platform like my Steam Deck where many of them already work.

@colonelkilgore I think that’s fair. Polls like this are often just a gut reaction. They’re going to show extreme feelings, not measured takes.

I bet a lot of people are still upset by the price hike. Others don’t want Sony pursuing live service games or anything multiplayer and are going to ding Sony just for giving them a multiplayer game. Etc etc.

Sometimes I think gaming is like spaghetti sauce https://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_choice_happiness_and_spaghetti_sauce — someone might do well to offer different subs based on types of games. I would want jrpgs and indies almost exclusively. /shrug

I like the concept of physical but I hate how licensing makes them worse to use because the disc has to be in and the noise from disc spinning. My PS5 is loud enough.

For Switch we do physical if at all possible.

The article text does not explain the title or subtitle. What tech?

Now that is a name I have not heard in a long time.

That’s awesome that the company supports their fans and customers this way. I hope this inspires other publishers.

Golden makes me the happiest, 5 original fits the narrative the best.

Aside: I ❤️ 5 Royal and it’s my fav way to play but the extra semester imo detracts from a perfect P5 ending.

@ChrisDeku the past always seems shinier. This was an amazing year in gaming!

I wish gaming news sites did the work for us.

Did more 2023 games review score higher on average than previous years? (Were the games just better across a similar # of titles?)

Did we see significantly more games that also were quality games this year? (Eg was it a boom year?)

Was it the best year for certain platforms? (Eg maybe this was the best Nintendo year since 2017)

If we compare the top games between years which year would win?

My instinct is that yes absolutely 2023 was a banger. Best ever tho? Err… you specify the criteria for that and we can discuss.

I totally get people who own these games not being happy about this month but I don’t know what you would expect to be better. If every month was like this I would expect most people would be happy.