There's been more overlap than I'd like, but not as much as IGN suggest. I think Yotei has inspired this article because it's the first time it's gone from feeling a bit samey (Drake in Unchated 4 has a similar "time to let go" arc to Kratos in GOW etc.) with revenge in particular being common. Yotei is the most egregious- very rote BUT when the gameplay this good, who cares? Naughty Dog have got Sony covered on truly good narratives (come at me TLOU2 reddit haters) - most games just need enough story to keep the player motivated and any sofa backseat gamers semi-engaged.
Brilliant game - Lethal difficulty was inspired, although by the second half it was actually too easy (because you had about 9 different 1hk moves you could spam at the start of each fight). And the different stances had less (nearly no) impact vs. other difficulties BUT when the stars aligned - in that first chunk we're Jin has the least tricks up his sleeve - Lethal was perfect
I'm a console gamer through and through, and love RDR2 (I've done the story 3 times). But this feels like one where us console gamers are going to get shafted; there are some PC Mods for RDR2 which are materially tiny, but add loads to replayability; food, thirst and sleep bars for roleplaying; online activities in SP etc. Hobbyists have managed to do these in their spare time on someone else's code. But R* will likely ignore all that, port over the bare minimum resolution and framerate hotfix, and we'll lap it up and pay for it.
I'm not asking for a full Resident Evil 2 style 'Remake', but I feel like the bar for 'Remaster' is insanely low
I'm glad the era of Xbox exclusives is truly dead so we can get great games **like** this one (even if everyone saying this was a boring, bloated sequel to the excellent first game is 100% correct)
I'm reminded of an article I read about Tom Cruise.
AI voice gen was suggested as a way to generate non-English language voice performances from English-speaking actors. Actor learns a character / accent / delivers a performance; then that performance trains an AI; then the AI duplicates the performance in different languages. Sounds grand.
The problem is that Tom Cruise has a very specific guy he uses for ALL of his German dubs - because he likes and respects the way that particular guy does it (I don't remember the name, let's call him German Tom Cruise)
"German Tom Cruise", "Japanese Darth Vader" and all the other "alternative version" voices are done by real actors, real artists who deserve protection.
It's a pipe dream but I'd love either this game (or GTA VI) to meaningfully evolve how the blend of story progression vs. free-roam plays to feel 'this gen'. The whole thing where the story just pauses, infinitely, until you walk to the yellow dot or whatever - that was fine for last gen, but I'd love to see the lines get a bit more blurred.
Domino effects where the order in which story beats unfurl is changed by what you do and when; cause-and-effect where "this thing" happening changes "that thing" elsewhere on the map.
I could see Yotei having one or two revenge targets in fortresses or similar that you can infiltrate/siege/strategically dismantle in different, open-form ways (or indeed GTA VI having important quest-givers or hit targets who live little scheduled "lives" moving across the map, rather than waiting forever on the big yellow map dot).
Nobody wants to miss story content of course, but it'd be cool to see when it becomes available and how it pans out become a bit more dynamic. The line between story progression and free-roam "side quest time" feels like it could be more blurred. Cyberpunk kinda-sorta did this a bit... but I think there's more to be done there.
Doubtful we'll see this (at least this gen) - but I can dream
Remaster looks great, plays exactly like PS4 version which is a shame - I love Days Gone, but can agree that it felt unpolished. A remaster with these graphics and just a tiny bit more stuff to do in the open world would be amazing; honestly just a few more wildlife types, a few more enemy types, couple of new weather effects is all it needed.
So it's a £10 resolution update on a not-quite-finished game. Still having fun, but it's a missed opportunity by Sony to correct their mistake the first time around and give it that first-party polish.
The problem with Days Gone on PS4 was never the graphics - it was the load screens / transitions. Cinematics would end at precisely the moment gameplay began, but they'd fade to black, load, and fade back in to gameplay that would begin precisely where the cinematic ended.
If this was a true remaster they'd be implementing the Last of Us / God of War style gameplay-cinematic-gameplay seamless transitions they were so CLEARLY were gunning for on PS4 but ran out of either time or money to complete.
It's one of those changes that would be a lot of work for a small change; but a small change that'd make a gigantic difference to gamefeel and polish.
That, and more stuff to do in the open world. Everyone is banging about more hordes in free-roam; it had that already, remember? It had plenty of hordes. Remember how hordes were actually the ONLY thing to do in free roam? There was exactly three other random events, and even though I haven't played Days Gone in years but I remember them vividly because they happened so often; two raiders would go by on bikes you'd shoot them with the sniper rifle; or three copy-pasted wolves would run by the bike so you'd shoot them with the sawn-off; or a single deer would cross the road and Deek making the same, lame "deer crossing?" joke again and again and again. Rinse, repeat.
That's what needs fixing; don't add more modes, just finish the single player. Sort the loadscreens / cinematic to gameplay transitions; add some actual stuff to the freeroam besides "extra hordes to go with your hordes" and do whatever the 4k / 60 fps patch is. Then you've got a remaster worth £10.
Comments 8
Re: Talking Point: Are You Getting Sick of Sony's Supposedly 'Samey' Approach to Story Telling?
There's been more overlap than I'd like, but not as much as IGN suggest. I think Yotei has inspired this article because it's the first time it's gone from feeling a bit samey (Drake in Unchated 4 has a similar "time to let go" arc to Kratos in GOW etc.) with revenge in particular being common. Yotei is the most egregious- very rote BUT when the gameplay this good, who cares? Naughty Dog have got Sony covered on truly good narratives (come at me TLOU2 reddit haters) - most games just need enough story to keep the player motivated and any sofa backseat gamers semi-engaged.
Re: Poll: 5 Years Later, What Do You Think of Ghost of Tsushima?
Brilliant game - Lethal difficulty was inspired, although by the second half it was actually too easy (because you had about 9 different 1hk moves you could spam at the start of each fight). And the different stances had less (nearly no) impact vs. other difficulties BUT when the stars aligned - in that first chunk we're Jin has the least tricks up his sleeve - Lethal was perfect
Visually gorgeous - excellent ambience
Re: Red Dead Redemption 2's PS5 Version Could Be Announced Next Week
I'm a console gamer through and through, and love RDR2 (I've done the story 3 times). But this feels like one where us console gamers are going to get shafted; there are some PC Mods for RDR2 which are materially tiny, but add loads to replayability; food, thirst and sleep bars for roleplaying; online activities in SP etc. Hobbyists have managed to do these in their spare time on someone else's code. But R* will likely ignore all that, port over the bare minimum resolution and framerate hotfix, and we'll lap it up and pay for it.
I'm not asking for a full Resident Evil 2 style 'Remake', but I feel like the bar for 'Remaster' is insanely low
Re: Hellblade 2 Announced for PS5, Out This Summer
I'm glad the era of Xbox exclusives is truly dead so we can get great games **like** this one (even if everyone saying this was a boring, bloated sequel to the excellent first game is 100% correct)
Re: Fortnite's AI Voiced Darth Vader Is Causing More Chaos in the Games Industry
I'm reminded of an article I read about Tom Cruise.
AI voice gen was suggested as a way to generate non-English language voice performances from English-speaking actors. Actor learns a character / accent / delivers a performance; then that performance trains an AI; then the AI duplicates the performance in different languages. Sounds grand.
The problem is that Tom Cruise has a very specific guy he uses for ALL of his German dubs - because he likes and respects the way that particular guy does it (I don't remember the name, let's call him German Tom Cruise)
"German Tom Cruise", "Japanese Darth Vader" and all the other "alternative version" voices are done by real actors, real artists who deserve protection.
Re: Talking Point: What Should Ghost of Yotei's Biggest PS5 Improvements Be?
It's a pipe dream but I'd love either this game (or GTA VI) to meaningfully evolve how the blend of story progression vs. free-roam plays to feel 'this gen'. The whole thing where the story just pauses, infinitely, until you walk to the yellow dot or whatever - that was fine for last gen, but I'd love to see the lines get a bit more blurred.
Domino effects where the order in which story beats unfurl is changed by what you do and when; cause-and-effect where "this thing" happening changes "that thing" elsewhere on the map.
I could see Yotei having one or two revenge targets in fortresses or similar that you can infiltrate/siege/strategically dismantle in different, open-form ways (or indeed GTA VI having important quest-givers or hit targets who live little scheduled "lives" moving across the map, rather than waiting forever on the big yellow map dot).
Nobody wants to miss story content of course, but it'd be cool to see when it becomes available and how it pans out become a bit more dynamic. The line between story progression and free-roam "side quest time" feels like it could be more blurred. Cyberpunk kinda-sorta did this a bit... but I think there's more to be done there.
Doubtful we'll see this (at least this gen) - but I can dream
Re: Site News: Where's Our Days Gone Remastered PS5 Review?
Remaster looks great, plays exactly like PS4 version which is a shame - I love Days Gone, but can agree that it felt unpolished. A remaster with these graphics and just a tiny bit more stuff to do in the open world would be amazing; honestly just a few more wildlife types, a few more enemy types, couple of new weather effects is all it needed.
So it's a £10 resolution update on a not-quite-finished game. Still having fun, but it's a missed opportunity by Sony to correct their mistake the first time around and give it that first-party polish.
Re: PS5 Fans Are Pondering the Point of Days Gone Remastered After Graphics Comparison Emerges
The problem with Days Gone on PS4 was never the graphics - it was the load screens / transitions. Cinematics would end at precisely the moment gameplay began, but they'd fade to black, load, and fade back in to gameplay that would begin precisely where the cinematic ended.
If this was a true remaster they'd be implementing the Last of Us / God of War style gameplay-cinematic-gameplay seamless transitions they were so CLEARLY were gunning for on PS4 but ran out of either time or money to complete.
It's one of those changes that would be a lot of work for a small change; but a small change that'd make a gigantic difference to gamefeel and polish.
That, and more stuff to do in the open world. Everyone is banging about more hordes in free-roam; it had that already, remember? It had plenty of hordes. Remember how hordes were actually the ONLY thing to do in free roam? There was exactly three other random events, and even though I haven't played Days Gone in years but I remember them vividly because they happened so often; two raiders would go by on bikes you'd shoot them with the sniper rifle; or three copy-pasted wolves would run by the bike so you'd shoot them with the sawn-off; or a single deer would cross the road and Deek making the same, lame "deer crossing?" joke again and again and again. Rinse, repeat.
That's what needs fixing; don't add more modes, just finish the single player. Sort the loadscreens / cinematic to gameplay transitions; add some actual stuff to the freeroam besides "extra hordes to go with your hordes" and do whatever the 4k / 60 fps patch is. Then you've got a remaster worth £10.