Topic: PlayStation 5 --OT--

I see Midnight Sons is one of the games on this months PS Plus extra. It's been on my wishlist for ages and almost bought it on a few occasions.

As a general rule these days, I try only to buy games that I know I'm going to play almost straight away. Otherwise it just gets lost amongst the backlog. And if there a game I fancy playing and it is on sale, I have a quick browse through my library to see if I have a similar game which will scratch the same itch. Usually there is, and I just saved myself buying yet another game I may not got round to playing.

@JohnnyShoulder Me too, I’ve been intrigued but not enough to purchase so I’m happy with this.

Currently I’m trying to avoid the digital sales as I want everything, instead I’m slowly picking up titles for my all time collection on disc which mainly consists of exclusives and everything else I try and parse from subscriptions.

For what it is worth, Midnight Suns is one of my favourite games of all time. I never usually NG+ a game, but not only did I do it once, I then did it again. I have more hours in MS than I do in some live service multiplayer games 😂 I hope everyone who gives it a go ends up loving it. Its weird, and kind of a hot mess, but if you are the very niche audience for that title, it is gonna hit so right.

@Pizzamorg I remember reading your glowing review, which almost tempted me to buy it one point. 😁

I'll be adding it to my library fo so, but god knows when I'll get round to it! 😂

@Pizzamorg @JohnnyShoulder @Bundersvessel It’s fortuitous that Midnight Suns has finally dropped onto PS+Extra because it had really interested me recently, on the back of my current enjoyment of Inscryption. Sometimes things just work out. I was inches away from just plopping $15 for it the other day.

My only concern is that it sounds like a really long game for a deck builder — 60-80 hrs for a thorough playthrough? That’s approaching the limits of my attention span. 😅

@Th3solution I too am keen on playing Midnight suns as is @sorteddan so perhaps we should vote for it to be the clubs April game of the month. The trophy guide has it around 40 hours, there is dlc so that would bump it up although I won't be playing that.

@Th3solution Inscryption is fantastic! An experience I’ll likely never forget. Sounds like you’ve got a solid lineup of games there! I’m curious to know what you make of Dark Souls II. It’s my personal favourite in the series but I understand that it’s pretty divisive.

I’m sticking to it! Team Ninja is a seasoned enough developer that I’m not worried about it being an outright bad game, so I’m committed to taking a chance at supporting their first effort at something this ambitious regardless of the risk of mediocrity. I do fear that sub-par presentation will sink it in the mainstream and that a more accessible combat system will alienate the hardcore audience, leaving a big question mark as to who will play this. Time will tell I suppose!

@CaptD
Yes. Let's hijack game club for out own purposes... I was prob gonna get on it soon as I could anyhow. Gotta love democracy.

@Jimmer-jammer I’m a little scared of Dark Souls 2, as I got the Scholar of the First Sin version, of course, and all I read is about how difficult they made it with added enemies and such.

And when I did some wiki searching I couldn’t find any convincingly overpowered builds to adopt. I hope it will be a game I get to this year, but it all depends on the mood.

@Th3solution Hopefully you channel some cosmic energy into Jedi Survivor coming to EA play now Sol, Ta you're the best.

@Bundersvessel 👍🏼 Working on it. 😄

My Dad has acquired a PS5 slim. It seems better suited for him as the stand does seem to be less fiddly than the standard version. The disc drive and eject button is easier to access, as he forgets you can eject discs from the dash. His cabinet also has doors, which are usually closed due to the two cats. One annoyance is that the usb port for mine and his headphones is not at the back of the console instead of the front, so is more of a faff to get to.

@JohnnyShoulder That’s good to know that the Slim’s stand is more stable. I really dislike the PS5’s stand when used horizontally. It feels so haphazard and insecure. If you plug something into the back (like the Ethernet cord we were discussing over on the Portal thread) it often can push the console slightly off kilter and you have to try to re-seat the device back into that very specific sweet-spot so that it’s level and not going to fall off with the next jostle that happens. Would it have killed them to just put a small groove or something like that so the stand slides into place rather than having to adjust it to be over those tiny symbols on the back of the unit? Alas, once my PS5 is firmly in place I hate to touch it so that it won’t get out of alignment.

@Th3solution I changed the stand a few months ago, as someone recommended one on here. It wasn't the same brand, but the design was almost the same, and a bit cheaper I believe. It is a massive improvement.

When I got here yesterday, alarms bells were ringing as his PS5 was sandwiched between a load of game cases. 😂 When I picked them up them, they were hot to the touch! And the console had not been on recently. I've told him the error of his ways and to find a new space for his games.

@JohnnyShoulder Oh, Papa Shoulder… 😂

@Th3solution Tell me about it! He was also saying he couldn't get his headphones working on his PS5. When I got here, the USB dongle was still plugged into his PS4! 🤣

Has Sony officially done away with their “Greatest Hits” program? I don’t think they’ve had any added to the library since, what… Horizon Zero Dawn? It’s a program they used to celebrate the best games on each console going back to PS1 and they just shut it down? I don’t remember any official statements on this.

@Th3solution But that would require effort on PlayStation's part. It seems like things like reprinting packaging and re-doing disc art would be too much work this gen.

Seriously though, that is a good question. I never saw anything on it either, but it checks out with their silent treatment.

@Th3solution Arguably, they haven't really had any 'PS5' hits as the majority are on PS4 and require an 'upgrade' fee. Others are remasters of 'old' games too like Demon Souls for example so maybe they don't have enough games to launch a Greatest Hits for those who may have just upgraded to or joined Playstation.

Another aspect of course is that now Sony have put a greater emphasis on PS+ and those 'greatest' hits are in their PS+ Subscription service and also now being released on PC too to generate more 'sales' as well as a renewed PR cycle that boosts sales on PS5 without requiring some tacky looking repackaging...

@BAMozzy The Greatest Hits program was never exclusive to first party games. In fact the majority of games on it were third party. Stuff like Battlefield, Crash Bandicoot, Battlefront, Monster Hunter, Metal Gear Solid, LEGO, Resident Evil, and Yakuza games, to name a few from the PS4 gen GH collection.

For first party, I agree it becomes a little sticky when a game is cross gen, but some of them are sold as a package with both PS4/PS5 versions included. I also agree that the PC releases also complicate things because they seem to be releasing around the timeframe that a game would be considered a “greatest hit”. Remakes shouldn’t be a problem though since it didn’t stop them before (The Last of Us Remastered is a Greatest Hit on PS4, as is The Nathan Drake Collection)

Still, at this point I think it would easily make sense to consider games like Demon’s Souls, Returnal, Horizon Forbidden West, R&C Rift Apart, GoW Ragnarok, SM1 & Miles Morales, UC Legacy of Thieves Collection; as well as 3rd party games like It Takes Two, Resident Evil 8, Yakuza Like a Dragon, No Man’s Sky, Hades, DMC5, Deathloop, GT7, AC Valhalla, FF7 Remake, Control, Stray… etc, etc.

We’ve reached a point where there are enough games that have sold well and/or received accolades that they can be celebrated (and sold at a discount). Of course, I’ve always thought there was a weird inconsistency of which games get the special “Greatest Hits” moniker on their cover art. Games like Friday the 13th, Project CARS, and Plants vs Zombie: Garden Warfare 2 were included and yet hits like Shadow of the Colossus Remake, RDR2, and Detroit Become Human were not.

Edit: As far as a GH collection cannibalizing the subscription service, I don’t think it would. PS+ subscription numbers have remained stagnant anyways. Some people would rather buy their games and I think the promotion of being a discounted GH would help sales.