Brydontk

Wow, 2022's gonna be a monster

@KidBoruto Huh. Well alright then

April Fools? I don't know, I can't see myself paying more money for Maneater.

Pets convinced me to return. Expeditions convinced me to tell my friends.

I was hoping after it happened several times, the console hubris cycle would end. But it looks like it's just gonna keep happening. Sony's got a massive ego due to how well they've been doing and they're making horrible decisions. Meanwhile Microsoft's buying a ton of game studios including Bethesda, doing Gamepass, making moves that seems like they learned from the Xbox One, etc. Seems like either Mid-PS5 cycle or the next gen are going to go the way of the PS3.

"At what point should we start feeling sorry for Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics?"

Meh, never. I'm a broken record at this point, I know. But a friend of mine told me they hate shortcuts because typically they fail and you have to take an even longer path to make the difference. That's what this was. They tried to take the "easy route" of making a ton of money with live service and now they're scrambling to make the difference.

Meanwhile, if this would've been a genuine passion project like the actual MCU, they would've been able to swim in all the money thrown their way like Scrooge McDuck

Great googly moogly those notes are massive 😳

The review nailed it. Greed sunk this game. Who on Earth thought it would be a good idea to make this a live service rpg instead of an entertaining single-player romp?

Embracing the year of the backlog and playing Odin Sphere Leifthrasir. Thoroughly amazed at how good it feels to play

@OmegaStriver Same. Nonexistent loading times have been a literal gamechanger for me.

I have Enter the Gungeon for the Switch but will HAPPILY double dip. And I've been curious about The Witness because I'm not a huge puzzle guy but I've heard such massive acclaim for it. Been looking for a reason to try it and getting it for free seems like a fantastic reason.

I think it depends on the amount of backlog you have too. As a video game reviewer, of course you're always looking ahead. I mentioned it before in another article but it took me gaining a massive backlog to understand reviewers' gripes about massive open world games.

For me personally, I don't replay games that much these days either. But I have a couple where I'll be playing a new game, and it's like... A voice in the back of my brain that's like, "Remember how much fun you had playing that?" Specifically Digimon World Next Order and Skyrim, and I end up going back to it. I'm not sure there's a logical reason for it.

EDIT: Between those two and other games I can't think of at the moment that I'll replay, they've gotta be games that give me different experiences when I replay them. So Digimon, I can have various partners as I play through the story. Skyrim, I can play as whatever class or faction that I please, etc.

Tried the demo and wasn't impressed. Very much strikes me as a game for very young kids. Which is fine, but I can't tell if that's the demographic they're aiming for.

@Loftimus Huh, fair point. That'd be cool. And come to think of it, heard rumors that their recent behavior with Avengers is weird because it seems like they're setting it up to be F2P

Why bother with Marvel's Avengers when the PS5 version is going to be released on the same day?

@Voltan Bahaha really? Maybe we haven't gone far enough yet but it helps that she's not much of a gamer, she prefers watching when I play, so my expectations were tapered a bit. Made for chill experiences.

I developed a MASSIVE backlog after January and for the first time, I get it when reviewers complain about massive open worlds. I feel like that plus having to work has made me extremely impatient with the massive worlds but I've grown to appreciate smaller experiences with more substance. I completely agree with this article.

Tried Overcooked with my girlfriend for the first time and as many times as reviewers shout from the rooftops how good it is, there needs to be more. I've never been blown away by co-op aspects of couch co-op games but I was amazed by how naturally it made us communicate and coordinate with each other. So so good

Such weak reasoning. Now I'm inclined to believe they just want people playing the game longer and grinding more so that they'll potentially buy more stuff in the multiplayer.

Good games make more money. Huh, who woulda thought?

Played this with a friend and we had a blast. I don't typically like looter shooters because it always feels like, to me, the entire genre is constantly tossing and ignoring common and uncommon weapons until something good comes along, and even then, it's not really worth crying home until you get to the top tier weapons later in the game. But the weapons in this game actually feels like something because of the perks.

Had a blast using the powers and can't wait to see more of the skills... But yeeeeah, the technical issues are pretty bad and the cutscenes are obnoxious. If I get it, I'm probably just going to plow through the story just to do the shooty/blasty bits.

Yeeeeeah, State of Plays feel like they exist just because Sony feels like it's what the cool kids are doing nowadays. And in the same vein, they always miss the mark when they try to emulate it.

@thefourfoldroot "Trying to convey a general feeling without a single piece of solid data."

It's an opinion piece...

The first one's such a masterpiece, and this one looks like it has tames!

Well this looks like dumb fun. Not for me because I have a massive backlog but I might gift it to a spider-hating friend of mine 😂

@Hyperluminal As far as the "not expecting Ratchet to be a name" thing, fair enough. But I'm stiiiiill not crazy about Wrench (don't hate me xDD). The short sounding -e with the -ch sound just sounds gross as a name. Interesting tidbit about spanners though, didn't know that.

And after looking up Rosie and Jim, I'm sorry you all were subjected to that, that also looks gross xDDD

@Scoobydrew That's right up there with an attack helicopter joke

If it's between the two... God I hope it's Rivet. For some reason, naming her Rosie makes me think of the 80's and 90's where the girl version of a popular male character needed to just be stereotypical "girl"

Edit: Just realized why, most of them end with -ee sounding names. Minnie to Mickey, Daisy to Donald, Brittany to Alvin, etc.

@Hyperluminal I feel like Wrench is a little too close to wench. Not to mention, it doesn't really roll off the tongue as someone's name.

Why though? How are they going to do the story mode? They don't really fight each other in the anime...

"Before we fight this demon that's eating all the townspeople, we must fight!"

I'd be all about this game if it was an action RPG where you could go around and, you know, slay demons.

High-quality JRPG and just a ton of fun. It definitely deserves the accolades.

@get2sammyb Same. I ended up getting it during an after Christmas sale because I suspect there's going to be a No Man's Sky type of redemption. Not to mention, a significant amount of reviews I read said, "Campaign = Good; Everything else = Bad"

I've been meaning to scoop up Odin Sphere and Vespiria. Perfect timing

Man, I've been a fan of the 3D arena fighters, especially Naruto Ninja Storm, but why is this series an arena fighter? It's about slaying demons, give me an action RPG or a JRPG!

Most Played Games:
Divinity Original Sin 2
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Persona 5 Royal

So only one was from 2020. 2020 truly was the year of the backlog.

Best PS Plus month in a long time tbh... Bugsnax came close

I subscribed to this twitter account that followed and speculated potential post-launch PS5 releases and managed to get one. Since then, I've been getting constant notifications after forgetting to unsubscribe. Because of that and the post-holiday season, I feel like the shortage should end within a few months

@Kienda I get the frustration, but when Sony sells the PS5 directly from their website, they have loads of measures to ensure they don't sell to bots. They're getting hurt by this too after all. There's reports that loads of hardware has been sold for the next gen (because of scalpers) but not a lot of software (because very little gamers actually have their hands on the system).

I'm sorta particular about 3D platformers but this one looks like it just oozes charm. Ready to give it a try!

Literally the ONLY reason I didn't play this game was because it came out right before the PS4 was released, which was just extremely unfortunate. Because people like me, trade in their last-gen consoles to make the next-gen more affordable so I couldnt play it if I wanted to.

Massive upgrade from a Slim to a PS5 and I love that I didn't have to miss a beat playing my backlog. It's also a ton of fun for me going back-and-forth between PS4 games to a PS5 game due to the Dualsense. I love how I'll go from chilling with a PS4 game to "Ahhh! The adaptive triggers and haptic feedback are back on! Yes!" Reminds me of when I first got a 3DS and would just flip the 3D on and off over and over.

Nice work Sammy! I enjoyed reading you go in-depth on the subject; like an investigative journalist. I only did Battle Pass for Fortnite (And I guess kinda Fall Guy since it's like a free battle pass) and I'm not sure I'll ever do it again. It'd have to be a game I'm head-over-heels with. I'm just not about games that don't respect my time anymore and in that sense, I feel like there's a reasonable debate to be had as to whether battle pass games are worse offenders than games that have 10 of hours worth of fetch quests. I dont like the idea that I have a limited amount of time to best use the money Ive already spent, then I have to commit a ton of time in order to get the REALLY cool stuff.

I know Infamous is Sucker Punch, but that series deserves a television series.

Between the bots and scalpers and now the weird PS Store stuff, I've never tried so hard and failed to give a corporation money.

I'm buying it and holding onto it till I get a PS5 and/or it's fixed. People forget, but Witcher III was a buggy mess when it first came out. Just not NEARLY as bad as this evidently.

@thefourfoldroot So I'm STARTING to see your position but I still largely disagree even if I feel as though it's coming from a different place than I originally assumed. Hate speech is protected under the First Amendment in America where I live, so people cannot be legally arrested for it. Plus, arresting people for what they do under private business practices goes against the free speech you vied for in your original comment and is not a rabbit hole anyone wants to go down.

I think your perspective on online gaming is misguided; it's not an open forum. If you have strong political beliefs, for example you don't go play Fortnite and talk about your thoughts on the holocaust or anti-vaxxxing or whatever to anyone who would listen. There are many many many other places to do that. When people get on the voice chat (which is mainly used to more successfully play the game, not broadcast your opinions or use it as a bullhorn for toxicity) and say hateful things or make edgy jokes or broadcast their opinions, theyre basically holding people verbally hostage.

@thefourfoldroot Paradox of Tolerance dude. It's not about "hurting people with words". I'm black and I've avoided online gaming for years because people fling the n-word constantly when they even suspect that I'm black or even if they don't suspect it and just feel like flinging around racial slurs cause apparently that's just a thing.

To gain the most freedom of speech and the most accessible gaming platform, you aim to reduce access to people who aim to make the platform less accessible and/or less welcoming. Similar to real life. You can't wander the streets saying whatever you want because, "free speech bro". There are consequences if, for example, you threaten to stab someone in the middle of the night. Even if it's just an edgy joke cause you want to watch them freak out (as an extreme example).

And it's not just about "hurt feelings", it's also just good business practice. If you want to sell online-only multiplayer games, you want to sell as many games to as many people as possible, but women and minority groups definitely tend to avoid these platforms. Hence why whenever people hear a woman on voice chat it's like a spectacle and everyone drops everything to tell her to make sandwiches and etc.

I've got a base PS4, guess I'm waiting for the PS5 before I get this 😬

@carlos82 Agreed. I love open world games but mainly because of the freedom; if the mechanics are fun, then it's just fun to do it over and over and over again in a wide open explorative area. But the actual foundations of open world games have been lacking for a good while. For a person like me who doesn't mind as long as the gameplay loop's fun, that's fine, but I can see it wearing on everyone else.

@Max2574 ... The article says why the reviews are late, I don't need the gameplay videos... But anyway, I'm aware of that, you're completely missing my point. I'm saying that the team will have to scramble to play and enjoy the game and get a timely review out. The goal's always to get reviews out before release so people can read and make an informed decision before they buy. Kinda hard to do that if they don't have the game.