The PS5 Appears to Be Extremely Conscious of Spoilers

I just hope this doesn't mean Sony is again giving developers the tools to block scenes when streaming or capturing footage natively using the PS5. That's one of the worst, most annoying "features" from the PS4.

@RBMango You've got a good point there. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

Forget trying to search guide on youtube, the first thing I see on my phone youtube after god of war review is "god of war last boss", thankfully I'm still not wearing my glasses so I can't see clearly the thumbnails 😠

I'm glad sony trying to make the guide themselves and put it on ps5 ui rather than making player spoiled of the games story when they're searching guide on the internet.

@LiamCroft @RBMango to me is a given it's coming back, the worse was Ratchet and Clank since it blocked the movie scenes (for I guess obvious reasons).
But imagine TLoU 2 or other games with big spoilers in their main story, I do believe is fine to block capturing those scenes at least for a year or some months. Not sure how it works on streaming but it does sound absurd if it blocks viewing...

@LiamCroft do you think there will be an impact on sites that create guides, like pushsquare.com?

This kind of spoiler avoidance stuff is very welcome for me; It’s happened quite a few times that I’ve been looking for a guide to get past a part I’m stuck on and accidentally had something spoiled.

@RBMango yeah, I think Persona 5/Royal is the most annoying example. Is there a better one?

@Zedoardo We don't know yet, but the possibility is there if the feature is largely adopted and becomes popular. It is something we've been talking about.

@Gilvin It applies to native PS4 streaming, as well. Square Enix and Atlus are the worst examples when it comes to this, because they literally block entire endings, third acts, and (in the case of OG Persona 5) entire games from being viewed. I got soured on streaming natively from the PS4 a long time because the entire third act of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 was blocked from being streamed for years before they removed the restrictions only recently. It's a completely nonsensical system considering a capture card can easily bypass the system and spoiler videos are so easily circulated these days. I really hope Sony removes it from the PS5, but I have my doubts.

@ztpayne7 No, that's definitely the worst case scenario I can think of. Atlus went way beyond the pale to "protect" people from Persona 5/Royal spoilers.

@RBMango Even beyond just recording, too. I had already played Persona 5 and was watching my best friend play through Royal on Share play. When it got to the new content, it wouldn’t even let him share play it with me.

Thankfully, it was a digital game. We made a copy of his save and I logged into his account on my PS4 so we could separately play the extra content.

@RBMango not really into streaming, thanks for the info.
I can see how that can have a negative impact on both the streamer and the audience. So hopefully there's some kind of coherent balance, cases like Persona 5 for what I'm reading are completely absurd.
I understand they want to avoid spoilers (specially in features within the console like game help) and even though as you say you can always bypass it if you want to, I do understand that they block certain scenes for a period of time, even if it'll be ultimately unsuccessful, think of it like the security gadgets for cars, they dissuade a possible thief but if someone really wants to do it, they will

Having built in, spoiler free, help is going to be a game changer I think.

The problem with most walk-throughs or guides is that they are very incomplete. So if you are hunting for this or that collectable, or trying to figure-out how to achieve this specific task, that isn't required to complete the story, you are not going to be served well by most of these.

The guides that do go into this level of detail, often assume you played the game exactly like they did and your frame of reference is exactly the same. For example looking for "Collectable 8" in some random game, you will often get relative instructions like "Turn left from Collectable 7", which is a PITA if you already got Collectable 7 and you are not coming from that specific location. Now you have to back track to Collectable 7 to have the same frame of reference.

What I would like though is if you could "subscribe" to a help provider, not just rely on Sony or built-ins.

This doesn't happen for me really, usually in games like God of War ps3 collections I would CTRL F "Red orb" or the key phrases to seek out specifically where they were hidden. In the case of tough fights and bosses, getting tips is generally going to spoil the enemies move sets or such. It's just how it is. A lot of guides do collectable only sections as well and those are very handy. You should be at least trying the rest for yourself before resorting to tips, they're there for when you get stuck! I guess with RPGs it may be different if they have missables, but then I search "x game name missables" and keep in mind key words to know when I'm roughly near and need to check a guide. Only spoils I've had is when idiots on Youtube comment in a review video, they can be helpful to decide on a game with very mixed reviews but Completely ruin it before you touch it, too.

@LiamCroft to be honest, this could end up being just another feature that gets forgotten or under utilised, like many others on PS4...

@thedevilsjester Oh, that is something I have ran into before! Open world games are notorious for that. If the guides are any decent they will have an image with numbered collectables so you don't have to look too hard for the previous collectable for reference.

@thedevilsjester I like that idea! Choosing to use the guides from other websites within playstation would be very cool. ATM, My only issue with looking up guides is having to pause the game, watch or read the walk-through and then do the same steps in the game. Having the video in the same screen as the game could be really good

I hope they don't overdo it. To this day you can't take screenshots or record gameplay of Persona 5 for pretty much the entire game on PS4.

"Game Help was included as an active benefit for PlayStation Plus members in some PS5 games."

Wut? So PS+ is useful to avoid one Google search? Man, those Google searches must be expensive.

Is it really that great a feature it requires PS+, or am I missing something here?

@MS7000 It depends on your definition of required. There is no technical reason why any feature requires PS+, its just another addition to add value to being a PS+ subscriber.

It's always a balancing act when deciding which features will be given to everyone, and which features will be part of your subscription service. Each choice is not going to please everyone; but as long as they don't lock away basic features (like when Xbox users couldn't watch Netflix without paying Microsofts sub fees) then I think its ok.

@MS7000 I guess that's why I'm not too mad about this feature being locked behind a Plus paywall. It's something you can still easily do from a phone or laptop; it's just a more integrated convenience with Plus. Certainly not a selling point on its own but a nice added benefit to those who already subscribe. Seems fair enough imo.

if I want guide, I use phone. It is still faster and comfortable that some picture in picture or other console features... In almost every occasion I search for some collectible location and map screenshot with icons is enough. A few seconds action on mobile. Playstation even won't load browser in that time.

@djlard Did you not see the presentation for the UI? It looked pretty quick when they showed this off.

Having tips videos PIP or by the side is gonna be well handy. And good that they will be non spoilery too. I've had loads spoiled in the past from next video or recommendations on YouTube.

@JohnnyShoulder I have seen it (no sound) and it was 11 minutes of chaotic jumping between 5 icons... slower than game tutorials...

@djlard So when they specifically showed what this article is on about, the video was already there on the game hub, when they selected the video it started played almost instantly. Which would be quicker then having to search for it on YouTube or wherever.

@JohnnyShoulder As I mentioned earlier, I'm looking for map with icons, not video. Only once in my life I was searching for video walkthru how to pick up some bugged orb under bridge in AC syndicate.

@djlard I imagine they will have that kind of stuff on there too, to satisfy your map icon finding needs.

@710King Well would you like too hear the ending of a movie you just started watching?

I can understand that developers dont like it when their game is streamed from start untill ending. And i can understand that i with help i dont want too see the rest of the game spoiled.

@JohnnyShoulder Heh, so I'll give it a try (once in a year, when I search for that help) 😉

@Flaming_Kaiser I really don't care.