Bounced off of this a few times. I guess I'm just more of a Dungeons-and-Dragons-fantasy-nerd than a Deep-Space-Planet-hopping-nerd. The SciFi vibes just don't do much for me, which is probably why I also keep bouncing off of the Outer Worlds and Mass Effects even if a part of me really do want to experience them.
Considering how many hours I've sunk into the Elder Scrolls and modern Fallouts, Starfield really should have gripped me a lot harder than it ended up doing. I was even kinda excited for it based on the last presentation before release. Maybe I'll give it another shot after I wrap up the Oblivion Remaster.
I know it's not an uncommon practice to use dynamic pricing, but it gives me a huge ick to see it confirmed and talked about.
Can't honestly remember the last time I bought anything from either the Xbox or Playstation digital marketplaces, though, since I prefer physical.
This certainly doesn't help change that, and it is valuable to know that these companies pull this kind of ***** as we move further into the all-digital-future. My personal opinion is that it should very much be illegal.
I got it close to release, played about 3/4ths through and got clapped with a bug that crashed my game and corrupted my savefile. Got a bit salty at that. Returned and started from scratch a few years later (2017ish I think) and played it through.
Both times it played fine (until the aforementioned bug, obviously). A few visual glitches, but nothing close to the contemporary memes of horrifying character models with missing faces and staring eyes would suggest.
I always found it to be a good game. Arno was a little "Ezio 2.0" but he grew on me, and Paris as a setting was magnificent even then. I´d go back to play it with this patch, but I´m currently procrastinating my playthrough of AC:Revelations, and I can only have one ongoing AC-game at a time. Maybe after I finish Black Flag and/or it´s rumoured Remake.
Exclusives sell systems, builds attachment, and turns customers into missionaries, so yeah, Sony is well served by keeping their games locked to the PS-ecosystem.
Why the majority of gamers think this is preferable probably comes down to tribalism and brand-loyalty. And I get it. We all have a brand or two from a multi-billion-dollar corporation that we have tied up into our identity enough to champion them in fluffy internet polls and comment-sections.
It's deeply stupid, of course, since these corporations care nothing for us in return. I'm certainly not an exception to all this - I just don't have that much affinity for Sony and Playstation as brands to delight in fewer people having access to their games.
I'm surprised that Steam-sales have been that low for it to come to this. I certainly picked up quite a few PS-branded games from there, and much prefer to play them on PC over the PS5.
Considering how I've toyed with the notion of skipping the next gen of consoles altogether when/if they arrive, it's a bummer to know I might miss out on the PS franchises. But, hey, it's Sonys call not mine.
The poll is currently at 68% in favor of "Yes, PS5 exclusivity is good for the brand", which is wild to my system-agnostic-self. If you're not a PS-executive, then I think what is good for "the brand" should be considered of lower importance than more people getting to experience the games.
Maybe I should just consider myself lucky enough to have the disposable income that means I get to step away from the tribalism of the "console-wars".
So, with Sony owning BluePoint, and Bloodborne seemingly locked to some kind of PS-exclusivity, the obvious move would be to have them remake it.
Honestly, the only similar move in the entire gaming landscape that is even more obviously a no-brainer to me, would be to have Microsoft put Obsidian on a new Fallout ala New vegas.
Both those calls should have been made before the ink dried on the acquisition-contracts. I´m not expecting gaming executives to be all-knowing (or even all that smart) but I´d be utterly fascinated to hear an inside-explanation as to why neither happened.
I´m not even a huge Souls-guy. I´d much prefer a PC port than a remake if I had to choose. From what little I played on my PS4 back in the day, I don´t think it needs nearly as much love and attention as Shadow of the Colossus or Demon Souls received anyway.
Standouts to me were Kena, Castlevania, Star Wars Galactic Racers, John Wick and finally getting MGS4 out of PS3-exclusivity.
Bond and Resident Evil still look good, but I feel like I've already seen enough of them. As a part of this it's more of a reminder than an announcement.
A shadow-dropped God of War spinoff is cool - but while I'm very interested in a Greek Trilogy Remake, saying "We're doing this" doesn't move the dial for me. At all. It reeks of a Bethesda-esque "Elder Scrolls 6 is in development"-announcement. You don't get brownie-points for declaring intent. "Show don't tell", and all that.
I know I´m not the target audience for this stuff, but I loved Overwatch dearly around 2017-2019. To this day, it is the only game of its kind that I truly got into and stayed with for a substantial amount of time.
I can´t speak to why Overwatch (2) stumbled, because I was a solidly mid-tier player. "The meta", the number of heroes, the team cooperation never really factored in for me. All my co-players were all running around like headless chickens thinking they could solo-carry, and then shouting abusive nonsense in mic when it was proven that they couldn´t. And this was in Quick Play. God knows what was going on in competitive.
All this to say; my own personal reasons for quitting was that I got tired of having to log in because I needed to grind the season-pass before it went away. It became a FOMO-fueled job to play. I could personally have kept playing OW to this day if things had stayed the same, but obviously I´m in the minority, and the player base would probably have withered past profitability.
I guess I hope this move revivifies Overwatch a bit, but I doubt it. And I´m not likely to return. At the time I left, Overwatch the competitive game was secondary to Overwatch the digital store of colourful faf anyway, and I doubt that has changed much.
My YouTube and Facebook-feed has been serving me awful-looking AI-powered slop hyping the imminent return of these games as Oblivion-style remasters lately.
As far as I can tell from the actual articles on sites like this, they're most likely planned, but there is very little substantial info about progress or release dates.
I'd be very happy to see these games getting remasters, but too many people on the internet act like if they want something enough, then surely that feeling has to be an indication that something is coming. Such a waste of energy.
I'm not saying Square-Enix are perfect (far from it) but I can think of worse developers out there who are seemingly doing better. At least SE still put out games I like - even if a good 2/3rds of them are remasters and remakes.
The Final Fantasy VII remake project has so far been delightful in my book, and Octopath Traveler II was a solid GOTY-contender for me. I just got Final Fantasy Tactics in the mailbox today, and I've been a paying subscriber to FFXIV pretty much continually since 2012 or so. If they're hurting for money it's not my fault
I'd like to see them be a bit more daring with new IPs, but that's a criticism I'd point at every single AAA developer and publisher out there these days.
I haven´t played E33 yet, but it certainly looks like it´s gonna be their night - both from the polls and the general vibe I get from the internet at large over it. Plenty of people here say they found it to be only ok, or didn´t like it at all, but the general consensus seems to be that it was quite special to a lot of people. I´ll have a look for myself when it gets a decent sale.
My hope is that Silksong gets a proper nod. Despite the years of waiting, the personal hype and a slightly unhinged fanbase, the game fired on all cylinders when it finally arrived; price, music, art, design, content. It was all on point in my book, and that makes it my personal GOTY (in a year where I didn´t really play a lot of the new games, tbf, but still).
"Content Creator of the Year" is a category that gives me the ick. I don´t think "The Oscars of Videogames" should spend time celebrating and honouring what fan with a YouTube-account and a camera had the loudest opinion on the games that came out this year. Should we also give an award to the best TikTok, or the sickest lootbox-pull from 2025?
The general consensus seems to be that the people who bought one are very happy with it. Which is good.
But the Portal really reminds me how far removed I am from the priorities and wishes of today's gamers. I hardly ever use my Switch handheld, and when the Portal was announced, I would have bet good money that a streaming-only handheld that was more similar to the WiiU gamepad than a new PSVita would completely and utterly bomb.
I still feel like it may be the single most overpriced and useless bit of gaming peripheral of the entire generation, but I can only speak for myself. If everyone else loves it, I´m happy for them.
It's very likely true that the PS6 is planned to launch in 2027. On one hand, I 100% agree the PS5 never "came into its own", and unless we get a few absolutely stellar exclusives that shake me to my very core between now and then, I'll personally consider the PS5-gen to have been a giant waste of money. Almost all of the best games I've played on it were available on the PS4, and while they look less nice there, they looked more than good enough to my aging eyes.
On the other hand; if it is back-compatible to at least the PS4, I will gladly pay whatever Sony demands for a PS6 just so I can finally get the eyesore that is the PS5 out of my living room for good. God I hate the aesthetics Sony went with this generation.
I actually kind of enjoyed the modern-day-segments of AC4, but upon watching my gf at the time play it a year or to later, it became very clear that to anyone not already interested in the overarching lore of Assassins Creed, they brought the story of Edward to a grinding halt and were generally just painful.
Taking them away is only going to make the game better imo.
I'm sure a lot of people won't agree with me, but I think the base hardware should be sold at a loss. We as customers are being asked to gamble on the future potential of a brand new console with our money, and every sold console is another potential avenue for income to Sony through game-sales throughout the generation.
They should absolutely eat the cost of the console in order to lower the bar to entry for more people, and it's really giving me the ick how much greed the three manufacturers rub in our faces these days.
Maybe it´s real - or was at some point - but I honestly can´t get invested in a FFIX remake while we have nothing concrete to go on beyond hearsay and some new artwork.
I find that FFIX still holds up very well today. It looks a bit rough, but the charm is absolutely there. If you play it on the Steam Deck or the Switch, the screen-size helps a bit to mask the low-res backgrounds and the jagged character-models too.
It´s in my top 3 Final Fantasies, so I´d love to see what could be done with a remake, but I wouldn´t expect one to materialize while the grand FFVII-remake-series is still unfolding.
I don´t play much online at all, but when I do I certainly don´t want to pay an extra fee to do it when the PC is right there in my office. Charging for it was BS when Xbox started doing it to add "value" to their Gold subscription, and it´s still BS today. I absolutely get why people with a different gaming-preference do subscribe, but it´s not for me.
When I subscribed to PS+ back in the day, it was because of the free games each month. But it started nagging on me that the games were only "free" as long as I allowed Sony to constantly have a drinking-straw straight into my bank-account, so I dropped it many years back when subscription-models really became rampant in everything from streaming, to gaming, to the software I use to make a living. I decided to cut as many of them as I could, and PS+ was honestly one of the simplest things to let go of - so I guess it never held much value to me at all.
I prefer the original, but mostly just because it was a shorter and tighter experience, which is what I want from these types of games. I found TLoU2 to be a gorgeous game with a well told nuanced story with compelling characters and a few tragic moments that gives you a real emotional gut-punch.
The hate it got during release was overblown, undeserved and frankly extremely immature and stupid. I particularly hope the people who started harassing Abby's voice-actress have grown up a little at this point and feel some actual god damn shame over who they were back then...
It´s probably not a bad idea on paper. The Switch is obviously a success and the Portal sold way more than I expected it to, so there is probably a market for something like this.
And I´m sure Sony will be very tempted to saddle it with super expensive proprietary memory cards yet again. The poor Vita never even had a chance.
It´s a flawed masterpiece. Probably one of my favorite games of its generation, and CDPR got a lot of well-earned fan goodwill for the continued support and sheer quality of the reasonably priced DLC. A strong 9 for me - even ten years later.
I've got a soft spot for the first 2 LBP games, but it's not like Sony is doing a lot with the property these days.
The PS3 wasn't my favorite console, but it's got quite a few classics locked to its inimitable architecture at this point. Hopefully Sony will offer up a few remasters/remakes in the next few years - and if LBP gets that treatment, I'll be all over it.
Hard pass for now. My grouchy old-man-brain-goblins insist that videogames cost $60 brand new; If it's less then it's a good deal, if it's more then I'm being taken for a ride.
AAA-games are on a decent sale when they cost $40 and if I'm curious about one, it's an insta-buy at $20. I like these numbers, and I think I will keep them for now.
I really wanted to like it. I always knew I was way more into Fantasy than SciFi, but I hoped that Bethesdas gameplay-formula would be what finally got me more into these kinds of Space-adventures... but alas. Onto the shelf it goes, next to Mass Effect and Outer Worlds - both of whom I feel a lot more guilty for never getting into than this.
Eh, it was fine. It obviously wasn't what people wanted it to be, and it embodies a certain "self-serious gravitas" that Square-Enix loved to bathe their games in at the time. Having characters drone on about high-concept sci-fi plot-maguffins will never sound more pretentious to me than the crew of FFXIII going on and on about "Fal'Cie" and "l'Cie" in this first entry into the "Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy"-series.
I shelved it pretty quickly upon release. Went back 3-4 years later and finished it. Knowing what you're getting into was the key for me to see it through, and I enjoyed it for what it was.
Having said that, I recently started a replay of FFX (which I love, even if I hadn't played it in years), and maybe it's just me, but the "pretty 30-hour corridor"-design often argued as the bane of FFXIII feels like a logical endpoint to what FFX was already starting to do.
It´s a pity that a company as storied and long-lasting as WB has crumbled into what it is today over the last few years. So much art and love that countless creatives have poured into their movies, series, comics and games that now either languishes in obscurity or gets milked for soulless cash-grabs by executives who would rather burn it all down than spend even a second to consider what will be left when they bounce to another high-paying job at a different company in a few years.
I have no idea if the Wonder Woman-game would have been great - or even good - but I would certainly have given it a fair shake.
The FFVII remake project isn't for everyone. Particularly the old-school-diehard FFVII fans (like myself) seem divided between loving it for what it is, and hating it for not just being a prettier version of the 1997 game. I'm fortunately in the former category, and I'll be there day 1 to see how it all wraps up.
But I with Rebirth and FFXVI apparently not doing the numbers they hoped (it's Square-Enix so I take that with a grain of salt), I wish they would allocate a bit more money to less grandiose projects like a third Octopath Traveler before taking on a new large project where every single frame looks like it cost more than my monthly wage.
Its about shifting the overton-window. If Rockstar can sell their games for $100, then other publishers may be able to add another 10 or 20 bucks to their previously-accepted tier.
And for indies, I´d welcome a change like this. God knows Stardew Valley and Hollow Knight are worth so much more than I paid for them. But I don´t think anything resembling "AAA-developers" deserve more money for their buggy, microtransaction-riddled, half-baked, game-as-a-service, skinnerboxes.
If a game is too expensive to make compared to how much they can feasibly charge, then the problem is with the management. They need to bring down the scope of the project, and if they can´t or won´t do that, then they´re not very good at their jobs. Either way I refuse the call to help cover up their inadiquence by paying more.
This whole generation has really shown me how I've aged out of being the main-target demographic for videogames.
As far as I'm concerned, a "pro" upgrade to the current gen is borderline insulting. I can't think of more than 3-4 titles that makes me feel like the generation has even properly left the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X behind.
My PS5 has mostly been gathering dust since I wrapped up FFVII: Rebirth as it is, so at this price with no disc-drive and no killer-app to sell us on it? I'mma give this a pass.
I think a Bioshock-movie focusing on a smaller character-based story set in Rapture could work really well. I don't think the people making this movie have the chops to make that film.
QB is mechanically enjoyable, and if I were to go in wanting that experience instead of the second chapter of the FFVII remake-saga, I´d probably be more taken with it.
I've only played it for 5 or so hours, but my take; It's ok. It's certainly not what I really wanted from the creators of the Arkham-games - and I'm utterly fascinated by the product exisiting in this form after we all collectively watched the Avengers crash and burn a few years ago.
But much like that game, I suspect I'll eventually power through the solo campaign and look back on it with some quaint fondness before I uninstall it and move on with my life.
I was really luke-warm on GOW2018. It was a fine game, but I overall found it underwhelming and undeserving of the hype it got. I finished it, but it was a chore for most of the playtime.
GOW:R is, to me, the same leap in quality that Assassins Creed 2 had over the previous game back in the day. And I can't really pinpoint why. Maybe I found the setpieces and locations more evocative this time around? I tried going back to GOW2018 right after completing Ragnarok, and I bounced off before completing it.
So yeah, Ragnarok is - to me - one of the PS all-time-greats. And I only got around to playing it in february of this year. Between it, Tears of the Kingdom and Baldurs Gate III, I've had a heck of a 2023.
I mean... I'm sure there are people out there who would accept that, but anything more than a tenner is taking the piss out of the term "microtransactions".
Personally, I'm really hard pressed to fork over more than a few bucks for cosmetic items. They may look neat, but I can't justify that spending - and knowing they're there means I get bummed out about the skin I do have. So I bounce off the game entirely instead.
Keep in mind I lived and breathed Overwatch back in 2017-2019. I don't think I've had quite as intense a fandom for any other game in my adult life. Even after Blizzard let the IP squander in recent years, I still want to be hyped for OW2... But if it comes with this particular level of greedy nonsense, I won't be able to hit the "uninstall"-button hard enough.
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Re: Starfield's PS5 Release Seems Practically Inevitable at This Point
Bounced off of this a few times. I guess I'm just more of a Dungeons-and-Dragons-fantasy-nerd than a Deep-Space-Planet-hopping-nerd. The SciFi vibes just don't do much for me, which is probably why I also keep bouncing off of the Outer Worlds and Mass Effects even if a part of me really do want to experience them.
Considering how many hours I've sunk into the Elder Scrolls and modern Fallouts, Starfield really should have gripped me a lot harder than it ended up doing. I was even kinda excited for it based on the last presentation before release. Maybe I'll give it another shot after I wrap up the Oblivion Remaster.
Re: Poll: Has PS5's Dynamic Pricing Debacle Changed Your Relationship with the PS Store at All?
I know it's not an uncommon practice to use dynamic pricing, but it gives me a huge ick to see it confirmed and talked about.
Can't honestly remember the last time I bought anything from either the Xbox or Playstation digital marketplaces, though, since I prefer physical.
This certainly doesn't help change that, and it is valuable to know that these companies pull this kind of ***** as we move further into the all-digital-future. My personal opinion is that it should very much be illegal.
Re: Hands On: Assassin's Creed Unity's PS5 Update Has Made Us Rethink That 5/10 Review
I got it close to release, played about 3/4ths through and got clapped with a bug that crashed my game and corrupted my savefile. Got a bit salty at that. Returned and started from scratch a few years later (2017ish I think) and played it through.
Both times it played fine (until the aforementioned bug, obviously). A few visual glitches, but nothing close to the contemporary memes of horrifying character models with missing faces and staring eyes would suggest.
I always found it to be a good game. Arno was a little "Ezio 2.0" but he grew on me, and Paris as a setting was magnificent even then. I´d go back to play it with this patch, but I´m currently procrastinating my playthrough of AC:Revelations, and I can only have one ongoing AC-game at a time. Maybe after I finish Black Flag and/or it´s rumoured Remake.
Re: 'Sony Finally Understands': Over 70% of PS5 Fans Agree with Decision to Scrap PC Ports
Exclusives sell systems, builds attachment, and turns customers into missionaries, so yeah, Sony is well served by keeping their games locked to the PS-ecosystem.
Why the majority of gamers think this is preferable probably comes down to tribalism and brand-loyalty. And I get it. We all have a brand or two from a multi-billion-dollar corporation that we have tied up into our identity enough to champion them in fluffy internet polls and comment-sections.
It's deeply stupid, of course, since these corporations care nothing for us in return. I'm certainly not an exception to all this - I just don't have that much affinity for Sony and Playstation as brands to delight in fewer people having access to their games.
Re: Rumour: Sony Backtracking on PC Strategy, Shifting Towards PS5 Exclusivity Again
I'm surprised that Steam-sales have been that low for it to come to this. I certainly picked up quite a few PS-branded games from there, and much prefer to play them on PC over the PS5.
Considering how I've toyed with the notion of skipping the next gen of consoles altogether when/if they arrive, it's a bummer to know I might miss out on the PS franchises. But, hey, it's Sonys call not mine.
The poll is currently at 68% in favor of "Yes, PS5 exclusivity is good for the brand", which is wild to my system-agnostic-self. If you're not a PS-executive, then I think what is good for "the brand" should be considered of lower importance than more people getting to experience the games.
Maybe I should just consider myself lucky enough to have the disposable income that means I get to step away from the tribalism of the "console-wars".
Re: Sony's Left Bloodborne Fans More Frustrated Than Ever Following Bluepoint Shutdown
So, with Sony owning BluePoint, and Bloodborne seemingly locked to some kind of PS-exclusivity, the obvious move would be to have them remake it.
Honestly, the only similar move in the entire gaming landscape that is even more obviously a no-brainer to me, would be to have Microsoft put Obsidian on a new Fallout ala New vegas.
Both those calls should have been made before the ink dried on the acquisition-contracts. I´m not expecting gaming executives to be all-knowing (or even all that smart) but I´d be utterly fascinated to hear an inside-explanation as to why neither happened.
I´m not even a huge Souls-guy. I´d much prefer a PC port than a remake if I had to choose. From what little I played on my PS4 back in the day, I don´t think it needs nearly as much love and attention as Shadow of the Colossus or Demon Souls received anyway.
Re: Poll: How Would You Rate State of Play for February 2026?
It was pretty good.
Standouts to me were Kena, Castlevania, Star Wars Galactic Racers, John Wick and finally getting MGS4 out of PS3-exclusivity.
Bond and Resident Evil still look good, but I feel like I've already seen enough of them. As a part of this it's more of a reminder than an announcement.
A shadow-dropped God of War spinoff is cool - but while I'm very interested in a Greek Trilogy Remake, saying "We're doing this" doesn't move the dial for me. At all. It reeks of a Bethesda-esque "Elder Scrolls 6 is in development"-announcement. You don't get brownie-points for declaring intent. "Show don't tell", and all that.
Re: Overwatch Ditches the 2, Launches 5 New Heroes in Blizzard's Bid to Revive the Shooter
I know I´m not the target audience for this stuff, but I loved Overwatch dearly around 2017-2019. To this day, it is the only game of its kind that I truly got into and stayed with for a substantial amount of time.
I can´t speak to why Overwatch (2) stumbled, because I was a solidly mid-tier player. "The meta", the number of heroes, the team cooperation never really factored in for me. All my co-players were all running around like headless chickens thinking they could solo-carry, and then shouting abusive nonsense in mic when it was proven that they couldn´t. And this was in Quick Play. God knows what was going on in competitive.
All this to say; my own personal reasons for quitting was that I got tired of having to log in because I needed to grind the season-pass before it went away. It became a FOMO-fueled job to play. I could personally have kept playing OW to this day if things had stayed the same, but obviously I´m in the minority, and the player base would probably have withered past profitability.
I guess I hope this move revivifies Overwatch a bit, but I doubt it. And I´m not likely to return. At the time I left, Overwatch the competitive game was secondary to Overwatch the digital store of colourful faf anyway, and I doubt that has changed much.
Re: Rumoured Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas Remasters Not Expected to Be Out Any Time Soon
My YouTube and Facebook-feed has been serving me awful-looking AI-powered slop hyping the imminent return of these games as Oblivion-style remasters lately.
As far as I can tell from the actual articles on sites like this, they're most likely planned, but there is very little substantial info about progress or release dates.
I'd be very happy to see these games getting remasters, but too many people on the internet act like if they want something enough, then surely that feeling has to be an indication that something is coming. Such a waste of energy.
Re: Key Square Enix Shareholder Publicly Criticises Weak Game Sales, Company Management
I'm not saying Square-Enix are perfect (far from it) but I can think of worse developers out there who are seemingly doing better. At least SE still put out games I like - even if a good 2/3rds of them are remasters and remakes.
The Final Fantasy VII remake project has so far been delightful in my book, and Octopath Traveler II was a solid GOTY-contender for me. I just got Final Fantasy Tactics in the mailbox today, and I've been a paying subscriber to FFXIV pretty much continually since 2012 or so. If they're hurting for money it's not my fault
I'd like to see them be a bit more daring with new IPs, but that's a criticism I'd point at every single AAA developer and publisher out there these days.
Re: Talking Point: The Game Awards 2025 Nominations Announced - Who Are Your Winners?
I haven´t played E33 yet, but it certainly looks like it´s gonna be their night - both from the polls and the general vibe I get from the internet at large over it. Plenty of people here say they found it to be only ok, or didn´t like it at all, but the general consensus seems to be that it was quite special to a lot of people. I´ll have a look for myself when it gets a decent sale.
My hope is that Silksong gets a proper nod. Despite the years of waiting, the personal hype and a slightly unhinged fanbase, the game fired on all cylinders when it finally arrived; price, music, art, design, content. It was all on point in my book, and that makes it my personal GOTY (in a year where I didn´t really play a lot of the new games, tbf, but still).
"Content Creator of the Year" is a category that gives me the ick. I don´t think "The Oscars of Videogames" should spend time celebrating and honouring what fan with a YouTube-account and a camera had the loudest opinion on the games that came out this year. Should we also give an award to the best TikTok, or the sickest lootbox-pull from 2025?
Re: PS Portal Still a Huge Success as Sony Reportedly Preps PS6 Handheld
The general consensus seems to be that the people who bought one are very happy with it. Which is good.
But the Portal really reminds me how far removed I am from the priorities and wishes of today's gamers. I hardly ever use my Switch handheld, and when the Portal was announced, I would have bet good money that a streaming-only handheld that was more similar to the WiiU gamepad than a new PSVita would completely and utterly bomb.
I still feel like it may be the single most overpriced and useless bit of gaming peripheral of the entire generation, but I can only speak for myself. If everyone else loves it, I´m happy for them.
Re: Talking Point: PS6 In 2027 - How Do You Feel About Sony's Next-Gen Console?
It's very likely true that the PS6 is planned to launch in 2027. On one hand, I 100% agree the PS5 never "came into its own", and unless we get a few absolutely stellar exclusives that shake me to my very core between now and then, I'll personally consider the PS5-gen to have been a giant waste of money. Almost all of the best games I've played on it were available on the PS4, and while they look less nice there, they looked more than good enough to my aging eyes.
On the other hand; if it is back-compatible to at least the PS4, I will gladly pay whatever Sony demands for a PS6 just so I can finally get the eyesore that is the PS5 out of my living room for good. God I hate the aesthetics Sony went with this generation.
Re: Rumour: Assassin's Creed 4 Remake Makes Big Changes, Drops Modern Day Story and Adds RPG Elements
I actually kind of enjoyed the modern-day-segments of AC4, but upon watching my gf at the time play it a year or to later, it became very clear that to anyone not already interested in the overarching lore of Assassins Creed, they brought the story of Edward to a grinding halt and were generally just painful.
Taking them away is only going to make the game better imo.
Re: Rumour: To Avoid Even More PS5 Price Increases, Digital Edition to Get Reduced SSD Space
I'm sure a lot of people won't agree with me, but I think the base hardware should be sold at a loss. We as customers are being asked to gamble on the future potential of a brand new console with our money, and every sold console is another potential avenue for income to Sony through game-sales throughout the generation.
They should absolutely eat the cost of the console in order to lower the bar to entry for more people, and it's really giving me the ick how much greed the three manufacturers rub in our faces these days.
Re: Final Fantasy 9 Celebrates 25th Anniversary, But the Rumoured Remake Is Nowhere to Be Seen
Maybe it´s real - or was at some point - but I honestly can´t get invested in a FFIX remake while we have nothing concrete to go on beyond hearsay and some new artwork.
I find that FFIX still holds up very well today. It looks a bit rough, but the charm is absolutely there. If you play it on the Steam Deck or the Switch, the screen-size helps a bit to mask the low-res backgrounds and the jagged character-models too.
It´s in my top 3 Final Fantasies, so I´d love to see what could be done with a remake, but I wouldn´t expect one to materialize while the grand FFVII-remake-series is still unfolding.
Re: Poll: 15 Years of PS Plus - What Do You Think of Sony's Subscription Service?
I don´t play much online at all, but when I do I certainly don´t want to pay an extra fee to do it when the PC is right there in my office. Charging for it was BS when Xbox started doing it to add "value" to their Gold subscription, and it´s still BS today. I absolutely get why people with a different gaming-preference do subscribe, but it´s not for me.
When I subscribed to PS+ back in the day, it was because of the free games each month. But it started nagging on me that the games were only "free" as long as I allowed Sony to constantly have a drinking-straw straight into my bank-account, so I dropped it many years back when subscription-models really became rampant in everything from streaming, to gaming, to the software I use to make a living. I decided to cut as many of them as I could, and PS+ was honestly one of the simplest things to let go of - so I guess it never held much value to me at all.
Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About The Last of Us Part 2, 5 Years Later?
I prefer the original, but mostly just because it was a shorter and tighter experience, which is what I want from these types of games. I found TLoU2 to be a gorgeous game with a well told nuanced story with compelling characters and a few tragic moments that gives you a real emotional gut-punch.
The hate it got during release was overblown, undeserved and frankly extremely immature and stupid. I particularly hope the people who started harassing Abby's voice-actress have grown up a little at this point and feel some actual god damn shame over who they were back then...
... but I wouldn't bet any money on it.
Re: PS6's Rumoured Handheld Is Getting More Tangible by the Day
It´s probably not a bad idea on paper. The Switch is obviously a success and the Portal sold way more than I expected it to, so there is probably a market for something like this.
And I´m sure Sony will be very tempted to saddle it with super expensive proprietary memory cards yet again. The poor Vita never even had a chance.
Re: Poll: 10 Years Later, What Are Your Thoughts on The Witcher 3?
It´s a flawed masterpiece. Probably one of my favorite games of its generation, and CDPR got a lot of well-earned fan goodwill for the continued support and sheer quality of the reasonably priced DLC. A strong 9 for me - even ten years later.
Re: LittleBigPlanet Erasure Continues as Sackboy Removed from PlayStation Productions Logo
I've got a soft spot for the first 2 LBP games, but it's not like Sony is doing a lot with the property these days.
The PS3 wasn't my favorite console, but it's got quite a few classics locked to its inimitable architecture at this point. Hopefully Sony will offer up a few remasters/remakes in the next few years - and if LBP gets that treatment, I'll be all over it.
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your Thoughts on Potential $80 PS5 Games?
Hard pass for now. My grouchy old-man-brain-goblins insist that videogames cost $60 brand new; If it's less then it's a good deal, if it's more then I'm being taken for a ride.
AAA-games are on a decent sale when they cost $40 and if I'm curious about one, it's an insta-buy at $20. I like these numbers, and I think I will keep them for now.
Re: Starfield Could Have Released on PS5 Already, Work Has Been Ongoing for a While
I really wanted to like it. I always knew I was way more into Fantasy than SciFi, but I hoped that Bethesdas gameplay-formula would be what finally got me more into these kinds of Space-adventures... but alas. Onto the shelf it goes, next to Mass Effect and Outer Worlds - both of whom I feel a lot more guilty for never getting into than this.
Re: 15 Years Ago, Square Enix Released the Most Divisive Final Fantasy Game
Eh, it was fine. It obviously wasn't what people wanted it to be, and it embodies a certain "self-serious gravitas" that Square-Enix loved to bathe their games in at the time. Having characters drone on about high-concept sci-fi plot-maguffins will never sound more pretentious to me than the crew of FFXIII going on and on about "Fal'Cie" and "l'Cie" in this first entry into the "Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy"-series.
I shelved it pretty quickly upon release. Went back 3-4 years later and finished it. Knowing what you're getting into was the key for me to see it through, and I enjoyed it for what it was.
Having said that, I recently started a replay of FFX (which I love, even if I hadn't played it in years), and maybe it's just me, but the "pretty 30-hour corridor"-design often argued as the bane of FFXIII feels like a logical endpoint to what FFX was already starting to do.
Re: Cancelled Wonder Woman PS5 Game Was 'Gorgeous and Expansive'
It´s a pity that a company as storied and long-lasting as WB has crumbled into what it is today over the last few years. So much art and love that countless creatives have poured into their movies, series, comics and games that now either languishes in obscurity or gets milked for soulless cash-grabs by executives who would rather burn it all down than spend even a second to consider what will be left when they bounce to another high-paying job at a different company in a few years.
I have no idea if the Wonder Woman-game would have been great - or even good - but I would certainly have given it a fair shake.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 Story Now Complete, Game Is on Schedule
The FFVII remake project isn't for everyone. Particularly the old-school-diehard FFVII fans (like myself) seem divided between loving it for what it is, and hating it for not just being a prettier version of the 1997 game. I'm fortunately in the former category, and I'll be there day 1 to see how it all wraps up.
But I with Rebirth and FFXVI apparently not doing the numbers they hoped (it's Square-Enix so I take that with a grain of salt), I wish they would allocate a bit more money to less grandiose projects like a third Octopath Traveler before taking on a new large project where every single frame looks like it cost more than my monthly wage.
Re: Would You Pay $100 for GTA 6?
Its about shifting the overton-window. If Rockstar can sell their games for $100, then other publishers may be able to add another 10 or 20 bucks to their previously-accepted tier.
And for indies, I´d welcome a change like this. God knows Stardew Valley and Hollow Knight are worth so much more than I paid for them. But I don´t think anything resembling "AAA-developers" deserve more money for their buggy, microtransaction-riddled, half-baked, game-as-a-service, skinnerboxes.
If a game is too expensive to make compared to how much they can feasibly charge, then the problem is with the management. They need to bring down the scope of the project, and if they can´t or won´t do that, then they´re not very good at their jobs. Either way I refuse the call to help cover up their inadiquence by paying more.
Re: PS5 Pro Announced, Costs $700 and Out in November
This whole generation has really shown me how I've aged out of being the main-target demographic for videogames.
As far as I'm concerned, a "pro" upgrade to the current gen is borderline insulting. I can't think of more than 3-4 titles that makes me feel like the generation has even properly left the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X behind.
My PS5 has mostly been gathering dust since I wrapped up FFVII: Rebirth as it is, so at this price with no disc-drive and no killer-app to sell us on it? I'mma give this a pass.
Re: Big Daddy Expectations Lowered as Netflix Douses BioShock Film Budget
I think a Bioshock-movie focusing on a smaller character-based story set in Rapture could work really well. I don't think the people making this movie have the chops to make that film.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Acclaimed CCG Queen's Blood Could Get Expanded
QB is mechanically enjoyable, and if I were to go in wanting that experience instead of the second chapter of the FFVII remake-saga, I´d probably be more taken with it.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?
I've only played it for 5 or so hours, but my take; It's ok. It's certainly not what I really wanted from the creators of the Arkham-games - and I'm utterly fascinated by the product exisiting in this form after we all collectively watched the Avengers crash and burn a few years ago.
But much like that game, I suspect I'll eventually power through the solo campaign and look back on it with some quaint fondness before I uninstall it and move on with my life.
6 out of 10. Not bad.
Re: Poll: Is God of War Ragnarok Still One of Sony's Best Games, One Year Later?
I was really luke-warm on GOW2018. It was a fine game, but I overall found it underwhelming and undeserving of the hype it got. I finished it, but it was a chore for most of the playtime.
GOW:R is, to me, the same leap in quality that Assassins Creed 2 had over the previous game back in the day. And I can't really pinpoint why. Maybe I found the setpieces and locations more evocative this time around? I tried going back to GOW2018 right after completing Ragnarok, and I bounced off before completing it.
So yeah, Ragnarok is - to me - one of the PS all-time-greats. And I only got around to playing it in february of this year. Between it, Tears of the Kingdom and Baldurs Gate III, I've had a heck of a 2023.
Re: Would You Pay $45 for an Overwatch 2 Character Skin? Blizzard's Curious to Know
I mean... I'm sure there are people out there who would accept that, but anything more than a tenner is taking the piss out of the term "microtransactions".
Personally, I'm really hard pressed to fork over more than a few bucks for cosmetic items. They may look neat, but I can't justify that spending - and knowing they're there means I get bummed out about the skin I do have. So I bounce off the game entirely instead.
Keep in mind I lived and breathed Overwatch back in 2017-2019. I don't think I've had quite as intense a fandom for any other game in my adult life. Even after Blizzard let the IP squander in recent years, I still want to be hyped for OW2... But if it comes with this particular level of greedy nonsense, I won't be able to hit the "uninstall"-button hard enough.