Comments 613

Re: Ubisoft Confident Assassin's Creed Shadows Will Make February Launch

Ainu20

@Shinnok789 You're probably right, but it's not exactly shocking that a company only reacts when they start to feel it financially, is it? Whatever the reason might be, if AC Shadows ends up being a better and more polished day-one experience as a result, that can only be a good thing.

The customer base voted with their wallets and it looks like Ubisoft got the message.

Re: Dragon Age: The Veilguard (PS5) - The Best BioWare Game Since Mass Effect 3

Ainu20

@themightyant I know exactly what you mean and as a long time viewer of Skill Up's channel, I definitely agree he can dislike games to the extent that his reviews stop being as balanced as they usually are. I continue to appreciate him as probably my favourite reviewer, but I do wish he could sometimes take a step back and let the heat of the moment pass, so to speak.

But like you say, it's his opinion and he still goes to great lengths to explain it, so fair enough. What annoys me more is that he is starting to attract a following that treat his reviews as gospel. The sentiment seems to be that he's the only one with any integrity and the rest are all shills.

That's not how opinions work either, the rest of them aren't any less valid. I think his disclaimer at the start, that it's just his opinion, is just as relevant to that line of thinking than it is to those who start hating on him.

Re: Random: Killzone Superfans Want to License the IP from Sony

Ainu20

@Vault_Mcfly It couldn't hurt Sony to have slightly more variety, but it doesn't help your argument when you include such silly statements like 95% of Playstation exclusives being generic open world games. Looking at releases of the last 5-ish years, only 3 IPs could be counted in that category: Horizon, Spider-Man and Ghost of Tsushima.

This is up against a list that includes Ratchet & Clank, Gran Turismo, God of War, Astro Bot, Helldivers, The Last of Us and borderline first party titles like Demon's Souls and Returnal. The situation is clearly much better than the picture you're trying to paint, but I'll grant you that a good single player shooter would be welcome. I doubt that the answer is bringing back a franchise that had run its course, whose developer has moved on to vastly more successful things, however.

Re: Random: Killzone Superfans Want to License the IP from Sony

Ainu20

@Keyblade-Dan You're definitely not alone in that, it's one of the more absurd recent developments on here, combined with completely fictitious alternative histories where certain older series were wildly successful and beloved.

People on here claim Horizon is being milked to death and we need more Killzone, when there were no less than 4 mainline entries and 2 handheld games in that franchise over a period of 9 years. There's so much stuff being said in comments on here that simply has no basis in reality.

Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report

Ainu20

@DennisReynolds That sounds a bit harsh. At the end of the day, you can't buy every game and even if you could, you can't play them all. Someone might've looked at this game's price and thought, I can buy two other indies instead and support those devs, and then get this one later.

As a side note, I remember getting Tales of Kenzera which was pretty similar and released around the same time, because I felt that studio would need the support more. That team also ended up shutting down, so sometimes it feels like no matter what we do, it all crashes and burns anyway.

Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report

Ainu20

@Gewertzx Your posts on this subject lack any sort of nuance. Suggesting the developers didn't do a good enough job when it is among the highest rated games of the year, just because it didn't find commercial success, doesn't make any sense. There's no need to keep repeating it either.

There are obvious other reasons for this apparent failure, such as the unusually high price point for this type of game (seriously, they usually go for half that price), the expectation of deep sales for Ubisoft games and the fact that 2D metroidvanias are still a pretty niche genre after all. It all points to Ubisoft misjudging the market for this type of game, rather than any sort of failure on the dev's part.

And honestly, I'm wondering if it even failed at all. It sold 300,000 copies within 2 weeks, that's a fairly promising start for this type of game. If their expectation was that it would sell millions, well then Ubisoft are even more out of touch than I thought. Not every metroidvania can pull a Hollow Knight.

Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report

Ainu20

It pains me to say that I'm part of the problem. Despite loving metroidvanias and having every intention of playing this, I still haven't bought it. There are just so many games and this had a fairly hefty pricetag for this type of game.

It might not have made much of a difference, but still, I wish I had bought it now. Based on my impressions of the demo and the game's reception, the team deserves better than this.

Re: Sony's Guerrilla Sounds Completely Done with the Killzone Series

Ainu20

@ZeroSum CoD wasn't really that big of a deal yet back then. When Killzone 1 released, and even when that infamous Killzone 2 trailer aired, we had only had CoD 1, which was more of a cinematic WW2 shooter in the vain of Medal of Honor.

Killzone was actually positioned as a Halo killer, despite the stylistical differences. Obviously, it all went down very differently, but that was how it started.

For what it's worth, I actually thought Killzone 2 was excellent back then, but the series had sort of run its course by the time Shadowfall released. Perhaps it's worth bringing back to life at some point, Space Marine 2 style, but if it never happens, it's worth remembering we got 4 mainline entries out of the franchise.

Re: Sony's Guerrilla Sounds Completely Done with the Killzone Series

Ainu20

@ecurb7 Agreed. We all have our personal preferences but, by and large, the choices made by Sony's first party studios have paid off, both critically and commercially. No one can confidently claim that Guerilla should abandon Horizon and return to Killzone, beyond personal taste, because the reality simply paints a different picture.

Re: Naughty Dog's Next Game Will Reportedly Put More of a Focus on 'Player Freedom'

Ainu20

I really don't get where these Ubisoft comments come from. Is that really what people think of when they hear "player freedom"? I'm thinking more along the lines of immersive sims, something I could definitely see ND include elements of in a next game, especially if it's the rumoured sci-fi game.

Do we really see ND suddenly create a big open-world RPG? I can't see it.

Re: Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Dev Surgent Studios Puts Game Team on Hiatus

Ainu20

@GeeEssEff Sadly it seems like it's become almost impossible to simply talk about games. Almost every discussion gets hijacked by shouts of woke or DEI or whatever and it's exhausting. I honestly don't know what the best way to deal with them is. Ignore them and hope they go away? Or call them out and contribute to the derailing of topics?

It's a sad state of affairs. I'd like to think we're witnessing the death throes of a movement that's fighting a losing battle and therefore getting louder and louder. No idea if that's accurate, but I'm trying to stay optimistic.

Re: Silent Hill 2 Dev Bloober Team Done with Making 'Shitty' Games

Ainu20

That seems a bit harsh. I've only played The Medium by them and while that game disappointed me after its promising start, it was definitely not *****. Average at worst I would say. They're clearly ambitious though, so good on them, let's hope they can build on their new-found success.

Edit: it's a little ridiculous that the swear filter doesn't let me repeat a word that appears in the article's title.

Re: Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Dev Surgent Studios Puts Game Team on Hiatus

Ainu20

It's a shame to see another studio go but not a huge surprise to me. Tales of Kenzera was unfortunately a pretty mediocre metroidvania.

I bought it after hearing Abubakar Salim talk very passionately about it on a couple of podcasts, and I truly believe he was being genuine. While that did come across in the game's setting and story, it definitely didn't in its design.

Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Statue Manufacturer Pulls Controversial, 'Insensitive' Design

Ainu20

I think this one was purely accidental, they just should've had a better vetting process. I'm assuming most Japanese would instantly see that this was a no go. Ubisoft has seen the criticism and are taking action, I take that as a positive.

Some people are suggesting cancelling the game, which is an insane suggestion and I can't really wrap my head around why anyone would want that. What they need to do is release it in a good state (which hopefully the delay will take care of). There's always a place for these massive open-worlds. A lot of people complained about Valhalla, but that sold a ton of copies and there were plenty who loved it.

Re: Try Ys X: Nordics' Fast-Paced Combat in PS5, PS4 Demo, Available Now

Ainu20

@PuppetMaster I'm also looking forward to this change of pace. I didn't play 7 but I did complete Celceta, 8 and 9 and despite loving them, constantly switching characters to try to max all their skill levels got a bit tiring.

Anyway, it looks great, naval combat looks like a fun addition and these guys can't do much wrong at this point.

Re: Random: Hideo Kojima's Chronic Back Pain Symptom of Carrying Video Game Industry, Fans Say

Ainu20

It probably shouldn't be taken too seriously, but carrying the entire video game industry? As in, the biggest entertainment industry on the planet, with numerous games that sell dozens of millions of copies across a wide range of genres and a vibrant indie scene that is bursting with creativity and innovation, being carried by a single man who occasionally releases a triple A game?

Yeah that makes total sense.

Re: Random: Internet Trolls Tried to Downgrade Our Silent Hill 2 PS5 Review Score

Ainu20

@AgentMantis Knowing which character most of the complaints are about and the nature of the traumatic events that define that character's appearance in the original game, just makes the entire "controversy" even more perverse.

I'm not sure if it is ever a legitimate complaint - I can't think of anything - but in this case it absolutely isn't.

Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Reportedly Has a Co-Op Game Mode in Development

Ainu20

@UnlimitedSevens I think the current iteration of Ubisoft has huge problems and they need serious changes, but it would be a very sad day for video gaming if they were to stop existing. They have such a rich history dating back to the 80s, full of memorable games and IPs. It would be a big loss.

We don't need them to go away, we need them to do better.

Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Reportedly Has a Co-Op Game Mode in Development

Ainu20

Nothing wrong with a bit of co-op with friends, it makes almost every game more enjoyable. As long as the single player experience isn't impacted, I'm all for it.

Having said that, I doubt they're in a position to spend extra resources on this at the moment, they need to focus all their attention on the core experience first.

Re: Epic Games Boss Says Firm Now 'Financially Sound', Following the Firing of Over 800 Staff

Ainu20

Happy to announce that "Fortnite and the Epic Games Store have hit new records in concurrency and success" and made billions in revenue, but still needed to lay of 800+ people to be financially sound.

Does anyone actually believe a single word coming out of all these exec's mouths? I'm sure all those who lost their job are delighted to hear about all the milestones and peaks their ex-employer reached while they were still working there.

Re: Ghost of Yotei's Gorgeous Open World Will Be Less Repetitive Than Tsushima's

Ainu20

My biggest wish for this game, other than a more compelling narrative, is that the world is more RDR 2 than Ubisoft. Less structured, less formulaic. So this sounds great to me.

I've seen the Hokkaido of that era described as a lawless part of Japan, which automatically makes it seem more like a Western. The music in the trailer also gave it that Western vibe. I love everything I've read and seen about it so far.

Re: Report Finds Lack of Star Wars Outlaws Sales Disturbing

Ainu20

@DennisReynolds It has (whisper it) a wooman, so it must be pandering.

It's clear that a lacklustre preview cycle hurt the enthusiasm around the game. That, coupled with a conditioned expectation of significant discounts within the first 6-12 months, has led to these sales.

The only way Ubisoft can turn this around, is by focusing on quality at launch. That will lead to better previews, a better day one experience and eventually, better sales. For Outlaws, it might already be too late, unless they can do almost a soft relaunch with a huge update.