Amnesiac

I’ve been having a ball with this, even though the musical styles are not my thing. Wailing away on the drum kit is so fun that I could care less what I’m bashing along to. It’s perfectly intuitive and the stick flipping mechanic makes for a great risk/ reward system. Just a great experience for aspiring drummers, or people who like to rhythmically beat on things.

@cburg Sure, there’s a lot of crowing in this thread, but to be fair, this is a Playstation enthusiast site. After all, it’s Push Square, not Push Square, Press Y, or Tap X.

@PressTurn That’s a fair point. Not sure if it’s an editorial decision or if something else is in play. I guess only those within the hallowed halls of PushSquare towers know for sure…

@PressTurn I was wrong, I thought the charts were from GameIndustry.biz but it seems it all originates from GfK analytics which must include additional data, likely behind a paywall.

Still, my guess is what you really wanted to say was "Look at how much better Octopath sold on a musty 7 year old tablet than on PS5!" And now you have. Well done, you.

I picked this up for PSVR1, and although the move controllers made it a bit fiddly, it was still very engaging. Looking forward to trying it with the fancy new controllers. Also, the developers are donating proceeds from the Ukraine historic site DLC, so good on them.

@PressTurn I don’t think that’s a PushSquare thing. The source charts from GameIndustry.biz don’t break them out.

I just started Call of the Mountain, and holy crap what an amazing looking game. I regularly find myself just staring at random things, like the fabric of a character’s clothing or the vines on a wall. I haven’t met Alloy yet, but when I do I hope she doesn’t think I’m staring because she’s vertically challenged.

@NEStalgia Upgrade paths have really been a pebble in the shoe of this console generation. If it takes more than short sentence to explain to consumers how to buy your product, your marketing team isn’t doing a very good job.

Given the reasonable upgrade cost, this was a no-brainer. There’s still nothing else really like Thumper. It manages to balance stress and fun almost perfectly, and the soundtrack is pretty amazing. Reminds me or early Liars stuff, dark and drummy.

We’ve hit the point with remasters where I’ll only bite if it’s a game that I really want to experience again. I played through The Outer Worlds and really enjoyed it, but I’m perfectly happy with what I got out of it and don’t feel the need to replay it, even with shiny new bells and whistles. Definitely nice for anyone who didn’t take the plunge on the first go around though.

I’m really excited to play this and am very happy that it's on PS5. I just need to dig out from this unusual late winter avalanche of games that’s wiped out much of my money and time.

I was really tempted to add this to my shameful PSVR2 splurge given the very reasonable price, but I get frustrated and exhausted enough in real life.

Just wanted to say that “peppered with wonderful moments” is a great turn of phrase. Everything in life should be peppered with wonderful moments.

@dskatter It’s published by NIS, so the chances of a free upgrade are slim to none. That being said, I enjoyed the PS4 version, though you can definitely tell that it’s built on the bones of a Vita game. Lots of interesting ideas and a unique, pre-visualization approach to battles, but I don’t think it all completely comes together. Worth a look for JRPG fans though.

“The wai-a-a-ting is the hardest part…”

Off to check if the doorbell works. Again.

Well that’s adorable. They’ve really made some great costumes for A Big Adventure. A few abominations too, but on the whole, cute as can be.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t play the original and don’t plan on playing the remake. I just don’t do gore. But this was a great read! I like the idea of “corrupting” a theme through traditional instrumentation rather than processing. Fascinating stuff.

@TrickyDicky99 “ it's the exact same game.”

Yes, other than the visuals, performance, and load times, they’re exactly the same. Enjoy waiting for whatever generation racing game you’re hoping for. I’ll keep enjoying GT7.

@TrickyDicky99 Or is it a PS5 game with PS4 diminutions?

@Jey887 “Alternate between L1 and R1”

Exactly, and it frees your thumbs up for all the stick shenanigans.

Loving this so far, and although some of the stick work is a little fiddly, I don’t really miss the 3DS stylus. Looks and sounds great and the progression system is really engaging. Also, its a good reminder that although FF13 was divisive, it’s packed with great tunes.

Team Push Square is doing some heavy lifting with all of this VR2 coverage. Great stuff! Sony isn’t exactly making it easy on you considering the enormous amount of content available at launch.

Today was one of the only days I can remember where I was happy to see an unseemly charge go through on my credit card. Good times ahead.

Dungeon crawlers aren’t really my thing, but that transformation animation was fantastic!

@orangeblossom Great news! Puzzling Places is a fantastic little game, and the devs seem like good people. They donated the proceeds from their Ukrainian cultural heritage site DLC to aid those displaced by the war.

Oh, thank god! For a second there I thought the “Sony hates Japan” crowd was going to have to rethink their narrative, but it turns out it was just this guy. What a relief.

That’s nice! I’m also committed, as the game has been a good bit of fun to play so far. Seems like the knives were out early on for this one, which just seems to happen sometimes.

@GeneJacket DC fan?

I kid. I’m actually surprised that it rubbed you the wrong way. I fell completely head over heels for it. It’s a bit ugly, but I found the card mechanics addictive and the social elements felt very classic Marvel. The only thing missing was a Claremont style softball game on the Abbey grounds.

I didn’t find much to fault in the writing either, though the voice work took some getting used to. Then again, I’m a sucker for old, corney Marvel. You know, “by the hoary hosts of Hoggoth”, “I say thee, nay!”, “no quarter asked, none given.”, and all that. ‘Nuff said.

I may not like it, but a quick glance at the top selling games on the PS Store or a look at the Steam concurrent player stats make a strong case for doing it.

@tgt Yes, I saw that subtle bit of stereotyping woven through an otherwise sensible seeming post and wondered if anyone else found it more disheartening then the rest of the childish complaints littering the comments. Glad it wasn’t just me.

Nice to see Nina in fine form, and I’m sure her sister won’t be far behind. It’s almost enough to make me want to dig out my copy of Death by Degrees. But I think I’ll settle for a few rounds of Tekken 7 instead.

I’m not finding the dialogue particularly bad so far, though to be fair I’m in the early goings. The swearing borders on being excessive, but it’s nowhere near the F-bomb per minute mark of the average Scorsese movie.

It does seem like “the writing is bad” has become the complaint du jour. It can be a valid critique, but without at least a little explanation as to what’s bad about it, it rings hollow.

The only dark lining to these silver clouds is that it strengthens Microsoft’s case that they can’t compete without reducing consumer access to one of the world’s top selling game franchises.

Hmm. When put that way, it doesn’t really sound like a move that’s pro-competition. Regulate away!

@NEStalgia “ It's easy to "lead" a successful company in good times.”

A global pandemic, war in Eastern Europe, and rampant inflation. Let the good times roll.

@BeerIsAwesome It’s one of those words that says more about the person using it than what they’re trying to describe.

@get2sammyb It’s kind of interesting how many people view these discount codes as a reward. As someone who worked in the nefarious field of marketing many years ago, these campaigns are usually about recapturing lapsed customers or squeezing an extra sale out of mid-tier shoppers. If you already spend a ton at the store, the marketing team has already done its job and there’s no reason to incentivize you.

@themightyant It’s kind of odd, but the first Jumping Flash made a huge impression on me when it released. The feeling of watching the world fly away beneath you as you launch into the sky was totally exhilarating at time when most of my 3D gaming experiences had been powered by “mode 7”.

Nice! Jumping Flash was the first game I took for a spin on the new PS Plus service. This is a good excuse to hop back in.

The Atari Recharged series is great, but I have to admit, Caverns of Mars is not ringing any bells.

Ah, I just learned that it was exclusive to the Atari home computers, so as a member of the 2600 underclass I wouldn’t have played it. Still, it looks entertaining enough so I’ll probably give it a go.

@Shepherd_Tallon And I’ll echo yours. I preordered it as part of a shameful year end splurge and have enjoyed what little I’ve played of it so far. And since I don’t do physical games, I’ll put it next to my copy of Valkyrie Elysium on the shelf in my mind.

@Flaming_Kaiser I can’t speak for the live service or online part of the game, but the single player experience is worth a go. Fleeing the Hulk, fighting off AIM with piecemeal Iron Man armor, and the space level were all memorable moments that can be enjoyed without engaging with the live service aspects. It’s ok to eat the sandwich and leave the crust.

@Browny And yet it was, and still is, a fun little single player adventure with Kamala stealing the show. Unfortunately it’s also a whipping boy for people who hate live service games. There’s plenty to enjoy if you can get past that aspect of it and the horrendous menus that came along for the ride.

Just came here to applaud the subheading. I’ve never gotten into Sword Art, but it seems popular around the world, so maybe if I did a little homework and tried one more time, I’d get lucky and find that it’s something I enjoy.

@NEStalgia It would be interesting to see how they handle GaaS projections considering how difficult it is to get them to stick. I understand why companies keep trying, given the long-term revenue prospects, but finding a receptive audience is a bit like winning the lottery and the failure rate is spectacularly high. Give that, I’m guessing they add a bunch of risk when forecasting for them to avoid accounting disasters.

It definitely seems like they offered up Rabbids and Just Dance as scapegoats for investors. My best guess is that they bumped forecasts up to cover holes in their release schedule and increased marketing spend to try to hit those numbers, but it wasn’t enough.

As expected, lots of copy pasted comments complaining about copy pasted Ubisoft games. Yet the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry titles that the usual suspects moan about are what keep Ubisoft afloat. Their underperforming Switch releases in Q4 and repeated delays of major releases seem to be the biggest contributor to this year’s losses.

Many commenters say that they don’t want the same old Ubi games but are certain that their new IPs are terrible and destined to fail. Reading between the lines, it seems there’s a sizable group that just want to see a company that employs 20,000 people burn to the ground. Schadenfreude at its best.

On a more pleasant note, I hope they get their 4 day work week.

@Ralizah I don’t think I’ve ever heard the argument that “nearly ever PS4 version of a demanding game was an "inferior version."

Probably because comparing a console release to a PC release is meaningless given the staggeringly wide array of PC set ups out in the wild. I’m pretty sure I’d be playing an inferior version of any game I ran on my work laptop.

…Not that I would ever install unauthorized software on company property.

…Please don’t fire me.

@ShogunRok I was being a bit facetious. If anything, Switch games should cost more considering the difficulty of porting modern games to a 7 year old tablet that can barely display its own storefront without breaking into a sweat. My little Switch is strictly for the occasional Nintendo exclusive and games of…questionable taste that Sony shies away from these days.

“Paying roughly the same amount of money for an inferior version of a game? “

It’s disappointing but I’m pretty sure Switch owners have this problem all the time!

Thanks for the PSA. Looks like I’ll have to do some housekeeping to avoid the disappointing ‘failed to download’ error from popping up in my near future.

Midnight Suns is a gem of a game. I put off playing it until after the holidays and am now completely hooked on the battle, socialize, explore loop. Not sure what the soft sales mean for future Marvel adaptations that try for something different, but I’m glad we’ve got this to enjoy.

I can’t wait to play this! I adore early 90’s fighting games. It was a time when everyone wanted some of that Street Fighter success which led to a steady stream of 2D fighters of varying quality. Nearly all of them were worth a round or two though! Bring out a Sunsoft or Data East fighting collection and I’ll really be a happy camper.