Comments 4,324

Re: PS Studios Show Support for Marathon's PS5 Launch with Brilliant Artwork

somnambulance

@Northern_munkey @species Personally, I felt Concord was a 7-ish too. I enjoyed it for the most part and agree with most of the points in their review. Concord was a solid game that was marketed poorly and failed spectacularly because Sony didn’t respond to “the internet.” They never properly sold the game or addressed the player numbers or hate the game received and that was a bigger problem than the actual game itself. Also, 7/10 isn’t a review score that sells people on games anymore.

I don’t need reviews to tell me which games to buy and I frequently disagree with many reviews I read, but I’ve been reading Pushsquare for well over 10 years now and they’ve always been honest and followed the beat of their own drum. I don’t read it because it follows my thoughts, but rather because there may be a perspective I didn’t know or agree with and I learned something from it. If you need others reaffirm your thoughts, that’s ok, but don’t expect it in the Pushsquare reviews. In this world, we’re all tired of things being iterative and playing it safe for the sake of “their audience” in our media. Why ask a review site that doesn’t do that to start?

Re: PS Studios Show Support for Marathon's PS5 Launch with Brilliant Artwork

somnambulance

@species It’s great to see them resist the art of imitating the voice of their audience and present an honest opinion. Personally, I trust Pushsquare’s reviews precisely because they aren’t always iterative of the internet echo chamber that is modern gaming journalism. They are aware of the trends, aware when there will be pushback, but they speak their truth. It’s honest. Whether I or anyone else in the audience agrees or disagrees is irrelevant. We have the option to respond in the comments, and many of us respond. A lot. That is good journalism in that it spawns discussion.

Re: 'We're Not Hiding Anything': Crimson Desert Dev 'Sick' of Claims Around No PS5 Footage

somnambulance

@lazarus11 I watched a few of the preview for the game now and I feel genuinely interested. It sounds like some people had a buggy time and others did not. Seeing the Elden Ring and TotK comparisons is music to my ears, but something in my gut is telling me to wait. It’s probably because I’ve been suckered into buying too many “hype games” and coming away from them disappointed the last few years.

Re: Marathon PS5 Is Out Here Turning Its Launch Trailer into a Music Video

somnambulance

@OneWingedShadow I think what I’m saying is getting lost. I mean, yeah, you could argue any game is meaningless, but my thing with extraction shooters is that I don’t get the point of what is going on. It doesn’t feel narrative driven or designed with a “need to win” type of loop. In what I’ve played of Marathon, Arc Raiders, and various other examples of the genre, I’ve just sort of had this vibe that you’re basically looting for the sake of looting and that’s it. It didn’t feel like there was any goal beyond that. When I was playing the server slam, I couldn’t tell if I just didn’t know what to do to enjoy the game. Extraction shooters just might not be for me. Thus far, I don’t think I’ve ever found a genre that confuses me as deeply as this genre does.

Realistically, I’d like to “get it” because I really enjoy the style of the game and the gunplay that Bungie brings to the table.

Re: 'We're Not Hiding Anything': Crimson Desert Dev 'Sick' of Claims Around No PS5 Footage

somnambulance

I’m sure it’ll run fine. I just don’t know if the game will be good or not. There’s so many systems and gameplay elements going on that I’m not sure how to feel about the game. I’m cautiously excited and entirely skeptical of the game all at the same time. It’s not like the developer has a history of excellent titles for me to trust them at this point yet either. This game is such an unknown.

Really, if they want to ease fears, the best thing they can do is put out a demo.

Re: Bungie Confirms First Two Marathon Seasons, Both Adding Free Content

somnambulance

Let me know when they add team death match or some other mode. I already don’t get the point of the extraction shooter loop and having it reset is even more mystifying to me as to what would compel someone to play it longterm. I wanted to like Marathon, and it’s got a lot that could be good, but the format of it being a hero/extraction shooter is just… no…

Re: Opinion: If Sony's Doubling Down on Its Most Popular Franchises, Where's Uncharted?

somnambulance

Man, I would love it if Sony would do another Uncharted. Gotta be honest, Uncharted on PS3 was THE franchise. I overlooked the series for a while too, thinking it was a Tomb Raider clone. Foolish me. When Uncharted 3 came out, I binged the first three games, figuring why not? Tomb Raider was good again, maybe this was worth it too. It sort of blew my mind.

In fact, I remember being disappointed by TLOU 1 when it came out because it felt worse than Uncharted for me. For the life of me, I’ve been baffled that Sony has stopped making games like it for a long time now. I just don’t get why publishers don’t understand that there’s a market out there for people that want fun, cinematic third person adventures that are about 10 hours long. Resident Evil gets it. The rest of the industry needs to remember.

Re: Rumour: Starfield PS5 Release Date Locked in for April as Xbox RPG Targets Lower Price Point

somnambulance

@Colour To be frank, the game is sort of all over the place in terms of quality, but the hatred for the game felt overblown to me. I know a lot of people that hate it too. But, at the end of the day, it’s an ambitious game that didn’t utilize its ambitions the way I would’ve wanted it to. It’s the biggest Bethesda game, but it feels the smallest because of how the game is built. It’s a weird game. It’s good and it’s bad and it needs to be played to be understood. It’s a game where one person could love it and the next person could hate it and then someone like me would have a hard time deciding if I’d call the game a 5 or a 6 or a 7 or an 8 or even a 9/10 at times. You can certainly feel all the points of view on this one. I think I’ve settled at this one being a 7/10 for me, but it’s an interesting game. At times, you feel the magic, but then the next moment it can be downright boring, and then the next minute after that, it’s compelling again. It’s worth a play at least, but it’s so, so strange as an experience. You’ll know what I mean if you play it.

Re: Shuttered Dev Bluepoint Wanted to Remake Bloodborne, FromSoftware Blocked It

somnambulance

Well, it sounds like, despite From blocking this, Bluepoint was fully mismanaged by Sony. All their proposals were turned down and it basically seemed like they were begging for another project, anything Sony would want, and Sony just didn’t use the resources with hopes that a remake studio would strike gold making a live service game.

In 10-15 years, this generation in gaming will be studied as a generation that made misguided mistakes constantly.

Re: 140K+ Players Slam Marathon Servers in Pre-Launch Test, and That's Just on PC

somnambulance

@RBMango @Korgon @RoomWithaMoose Bungie could definitely turn this into a compelling single player experience. It has all the elements, outside… well… a narrative, I suppose. Also, not gonna lie, I’m starting to miss things like team deathmatch in modern shooters. Bungie was the zenith of the genre with Halo. Halo was so darn fun.

The sad thing is that I’ve got friends that really want me to play this one and friends that are disappointed I never play multiplayer games anymore, but they just don’t make them fun anymore, it feels like. I haven’t really liked a new online shooter this entire generation of gaming. I was really hoping Marathon would be “the one,” but I’m starting to think multiplayer gaming may no longer be for me

Re: 140K+ Players Slam Marathon Servers in Pre-Launch Test, and That's Just on PC

somnambulance

Tried it last night. I really like the art style, but… is it just me or does the game sort of… not tell you what to do? And the menus were so small that they were impossible to read without me getting closer to my TV too, so that didn’t help either.

Gameplay feels great… when there’s gameplay… but it didn’t feel like there was much that happened in any round I played. I played three rounds and felt impressed with the atmosphere, but perhaps less interested in the game overall than I was at the State of Play.

I just don’t quite know what the point of the game is. You just run around and get random junk out of boxes and go to a point to end the match? I felt the same way about Arc Raiders too, honestly. Maybe I need to play with friends or something, but even doing that, I felt a disconnection with Arc Raiders. Maybe extraction shooters aren’t for me.

To be honest, it was frustrating to play because I liked the level design and atmosphere and gunplay, but I just felt lost with it. It made me think, “Why couldn’t this game just have a campaign?” Bungie used to do a fantastic job with those…

Re: Did You Get In? Beta Invites for Horizon's Divisive PS5, PC Multiplayer Game Out Now

somnambulance

@Shepherd_Tallon You know, I can see that. When I was a tad bit younger, I thought my kids were going to usher me into gaming more than I was when they were babies, but as they’ve gotten older, they don’t want to play multiplayer. They want their OWN single player experiences and then my gaming time is watching them rather than playing anything myself a lot of the time! I should’ve known this was coming! Lol.

Re: WB Games Is Bringing Back Its 'Biggest Franchises' Starting Next Year

somnambulance

@Divergent95 That’s basically exactly what I want out of a sequel to HL. Plus have Quidditch be in the game instead of pitched to a live service title. Something else I would say is to not lock the end of the game behind a ludicrous side quest barrier. I’d hope the story to be a bit better too and more enemy variety. It sounds like I’m being critical of the game, but honestly… a sequel could be a 10/10 game and I’d like to encourage them to jump the hurdles.

HL, even with its flaws, is one of the best games this generation. It’s the epitome of a solid 8/10 that is more fun than some games that are technically better than it. It did so well on the gameplay, level design, and atmosphere.

I genuinely wonder where they will go with the sequel. Would be sort of neat to start with an actual first year. Tricky thing with anything Harry Potter related is that you have to go back in time significantly to avoid risking conflict with existing lore.

Re: Did You Get In? Beta Invites for Horizon's Divisive PS5, PC Multiplayer Game Out Now

somnambulance

@Shepherd_Tallon the weird thing for me is that I feel like I might actually have the time to play the games… if they’d put out a darn release schedule, so I could budget my gaming time. The biggest reason I tend to drop games is because I get overloaded and sometimes games I’d otherwise play, I’d drop and sometimes return, sometimes don’t, but then I’ll usually have a month here or there in the year where I don’t feel like playing anything I have. The way the industry works these days is weird. Piling Marathon on top of RE9 is a good example of this practice. The industry has to know this type of scheduling drives some people bonkers.

Edit: I didn’t get in on Horizon either

Re: PlayStation Visited Kojima Productions Lately, But What For?

somnambulance

In a perfect world, it was a Kojima showcase with OD as a 2026 release, Physint is far further along than we realized, and Policenauts and Snatcher are remastered for modern consoles. There was even a surprise third game that no one knows about! Sony execs then played Death Stranding 1 and 2 ports for Switch 2 with exclusive Mario themed content where you can acquire Cappy for Sam to wear.

I’m delusional. I know. I’ll let myself out.

Re: Marvel's Wolverine PS5 Release Date Announced

somnambulance

Well, Sony thought long and hard about what they could do to generate likes and positive feedback following Bluepoint, didn’t they? Seems like this is a crowd control moment.

That said, Sony, I have no interest in Wolverine. Can I get Kena’s release date too? 😂

Re: Roblox Is Being Played More Than PlayStation and Steam Combined

somnambulance

It’s utter trash. I won’t let my kids anywhere near it and have warned my son about it. Fortunately, while he knows everyone his age plays it, he can see that it’s not content safe. He’s been exposed to it and would rather stick to his character platformers, Minecraft, and Dreams.

I know a kid that was making more than double my personal salary creating content for the game, but had a nervous breakdown from content they were digesting on the platform too and now won’t touch the game. It’s obscene that this “game” exists as it does. I’d not be shocked if this game had ties to some of the unsavory people in the ruling class that are getting exposed nowadays.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give God of War: Sons of Sparta?

somnambulance

@graymamba I wonder if that’s my PS3 era account or if that’s someone else. Lol. I remember being a little annoyed when my typical handle was in use when I bought my PS4 years ago now, though the same thing happened even further back when I first joined Xbox Live in the very early 360 era. There’s another somnambulance out there, but who are they!?

My current PSN is spiritvoices.

Re: 'I'm Confident in the Direction We're Headed': Under-Fire PlayStation Boss Tries to Explain Baffling Bluepoint Closure

somnambulance

@wittedbugle I would hope that we’re not in a full blown live service doomscape within 10 years. I honestly don’t think things will come to that because that would require
GAAS titles that actually sustain a modicum of success. If we use Sony as an example, for instance, there’s no current evidence to support that Sony will be able to continue making first party games at all with the path they’ve taken.

Let’s postulate that Fairgame$ gets cancelled and that the Horizon game flops. If this happens, how much more will Sony need to close to survive misguided gambles. I’d imagine there goes at least two more studios. Let’s say Marathon only garners moderate interest, what will be cut because it was expected to be a hit?? There’s more shut downs and cuts. I’m definitely curious what their expectations are for even single player content like Saros.

Rather than a continuation of live service dross, it’s entirely possible that Sony will be forced to pivot away from that to survive. We’re hearing that Sony’s contemplating delaying PS6 for years. This may not be as simple as them being concerned about a chip shortage, but also to ensure that they’ve got a more viable brand trajectory. I know that, with the way things are going with Sony, I’m in no rush for a PS6.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give God of War: Sons of Sparta?

somnambulance

@graymamba I could definitely recommend a fair number of Metroidvanias to you if you’d like if you don’t mind giving me specifics for what type of gameplay you like best out of the genre.

I’ve been playing the genre since Super Metroid came out and have stayed up to date, meaning I’ve played maybe 4 or 5 of them a year for 30 years or so. I’ve got a lot of experience in the genre.

I do think Sons of Sparta’s a decent beginner Metroidvania. I do believe the developers that it’s authentically a passion project more than one that was designed to sell millions and millions of copies. The people that don’t see the heart in it at least, in spite of where it falls short, are a bit baffling to me.

Re: 'I'm Confident in the Direction We're Headed': Under-Fire PlayStation Boss Tries to Explain Baffling Bluepoint Closure

somnambulance

Honestly, I feel like Sony, without competition, may not realize that they are setting up themselves to have hungrier competition that will leapfrog over them. While they’ve made the sales now, I’m not sure how much they realize that people are leaving the Sony ecosystem. I’ve got friends that have sold their PS5s at this point because, in their minds, Sony isn’t making anything interesting anymore. Everything’s on PC.

PlayStation is eroding confidence in the exact same way that Xbox did two, three years ago by making choices that actively alienate their fanbase. It certainly feels like the industry may be cooked at this point if we don’t see a dramatic shift back to taking care of the people that actively support the industry. The whales may give you more money now, but they don’t have the same level of loyalty as console enthusiasts.