Intr1n5ic

I've been looking forward to this for ages. Wukong next week, Astro Bot two weeks after that, and then this and Dead Rising two weeks later. Eating good in to October.

Returnal for me and it's not even close, incredible game.

I never got the chance to play this first time around so I'm really looking forward to it now after reading this.

@breakneck I agree, they're a really talented dev team.

@breakneck Avowed has been pushed back to next year, a lot coming in the next few months for sure though.

Referencing that article on the Brazilian website provides more context. If this part in particular is true it explains its current absence a little more, "According to the developer, the console is not popular in Asia, and in addition, Microsoft has created a very overloaded ecosystem for which it is difficult to develop games".

That sounds like another example of where Microsoft's need for a Series S version is a headache for the devs.

Cheers for the writeup @LiamCroft, it's sounding a lot better than it did in the last preview round.

It looks inevitable that AI will negatively impact job roles for a lot of industries going forward. I can't help but think the conversation from the perspective of the publishers will be, you know who doesn't strike, AI.

I hope they can find a favourable resolution.

I voted for Rebirth, and like @RBMango I can only see Astro Bot potentially beating it, maybe Wukong if it ends up being incredible.

@wiiware "Also not every country have the same morals as western country, it's beyond arrogant to expect western morals anywhere that's not western."

I would argue that not advocating for the oppression of women, the trafficking of poor migrant workers, or imprisonment, lashing, and death sentences for being gay, has nothing to do with western morals, and everything to do with basic human decency.

I'm gonna sweep so many legs.

@GamingFan4Lyf It's not a bad thing unless you end up conditioning a market to expect everything for nothing. What follows is studios getting closed, even off the back of critically acclaimed releases, because a large part of the player base is no longer incentivised to directly support them.

@trev666 You should care about the bigger picture though because it's the teams that make the games you enjoy playing that will bear the brunt of it.

@trev666 That is a bargain, an unbelievable one, but therein lies the problem with this model. It's great for the consumer, not so great for the company trying to recoup years of development costs. Eventually it will also become your problem with price hikes and less investment in to potentially expensive new and existing ip.

Yes they were right. I've never believed this strategy has longterm sustainability. Either the consumer eventually gets priced out, or the quality drops because the subscription numbers can't support it.

Microsoft really backed themselves in to a corner with the day one promise, once you've set that stall out it's hard to walk it back. I'm sure they believed it would generate consistent growth but that hasn't been the case.

The two week early access to Starfield for a premium was the first sign this model wasn't performing well, the base tier no longer supporting day one only cements that for me.

@Bez87 I feel the same way every time I play a game like this and unfortunately it's the same here. They've done a good job, it's just a bit frustrating at times with the different combinations of button presses to access everything. The game is excellent though, I'm having a lot of fun with it.

I think I'm gonna look in to building or buying a PC myself around black Friday though. I've been playing Anno and Crusader King's recently and it's the same story there with the controls. I'll definitely buy this again when I do.

@Bez87 Apologies for the late reply, I just saw this.

I went ahead and bought it after reading what you said. I love the sound of scenery and decoration actually having a purpose rather than being purely aesthetic. It was only 20 quid as well, definitely worth a punt.

I should have a couple of hours free tomorrow to try it out. I'm just hoping the devs did a good job with the controller config.

Full credit to BubaMan over on hotukdeals for this, he does amazing work compiling lists for these sales, covers everything from pricing to platform.

Here's the link he provided for games with a metacritic score of 75 or higher that either match their previous lowest price, or are the lowest they've ever been - https://www.hotukdeals.com/visit/comment/52789064/17649774

@jrt87 I haven't yet. I had the encounter spoiled for me by reading something online, at that point I stopped caring about avoiding streams of people who are currently playing.

On the weekend the last two I beat were the Golden Hippo and Gaius as a 185 mage on NG+ 2, both were horrible fights imo.

I do agree with you from watching the other, phase 2 looks extremely aggressive and in parts is a visual mess. I'm looking forward to it though, I'm interested to see if the spell loadout I'm currently enjoying is viable in the small windows he gives you.

@jrt87 It was harder than anything they've done before for you, but what about those who had no issues with it?

I watched CohhCarnage kill him in 5 attempts with no prior knowledge of the fight, took him roughly 20 minutes. He got to the second phase in every attempt, lvl 202, hammer and shield build, used Commander Andreas instead of mimic. He's a 40 year old variety streamer. I've also seen people do it in NG+ at RL1 with no fragments whilst taking no damage.

My point is it's all relative. What's artificially difficult and poorly designed for you because you found it too hard, is a complete cakewalk for others.

I do think some of the visual aspects of it need cleaning up though, which would definitely help with a certain moveset in phase 2.

@Bez87 Really, you place it above Planet Coaster and Openrct2?

I just read a few reddit posts after seeing your comment and it seems to be held in high regard.

Poor things, they tired themselves out stamping their feet 👶

There's something about the colour palette of this game that makes everything look so drab. I'll check it out if it reviews well though, been a big fan of these sims since the original Theme Park.

@Mustoe Yeah I agree. I think some of the comments here are simply an unwillingness to accept that.

@2here2there He listed three devices he believes failed because they were all digital, I don't agree with his reasoning. I mentioned Steam because not only do Valve have an incredibly successful all digital handheld, but they also have one of the most successful digital storefronts in a market that's now growing faster than console. If they were able to completely revolutionise PC gaming and help make physical obsolete, why is the likelihood of the same thing happening to console in the future an impossibility?

If you take a look at what's going on in every market, be it music, film, gaming etc, you'll realise they're all declining year on year in physical sales. Whether we like it or not, that's clearly the direction we're heading in.

I see it reviewed poorly here but I'll give NHL a go, I loved ice hockey games growing up.

@Maubari How's Steam doing?

It's coming, I think that's inevitable. As someone who likes to buy physical that's not something I'm looking forward to but I understand it.

There's an environmental angle to this as well, something a lot of us probably disregard. Discs are made from materials which are both non-renewable and aren't biodegradable, so most of them end up in landfills.

@LikelySatan Yeah, you can create a private game at the start that is completely offline.

@LikelySatan There are different servers you can log in to, both pve & pvp. You can also host your own private lobby and just play the game solo or with friends.

I just hit gear lvl 30 and I'm having a ton of fun with it. My only gripe is the controls and lack of options to remap them, I'm still struggling with the L2 camera movement and abilities during fights.

Holy s***, Football Manager, Crusader Kings and Anno is hundreds of hours of gaming for me. Those three alone will last me months.

Sounds amazing, I can't wait.

I was hoping for a return to the Dragon Age of old, I'm realising that will likely never happen with most of those devs now gone.

There was one thing that caught my eye in the preview that I wasn't keen on, it was the short animation sequence when she punches someone. It happened multiple times and gave me the impression there isn't any variety to the close combat animations.

Other than that I thought the rest of it looked great. In spite of what's being said I'm still looking forward to seeing how it comes together.

@Jacko11 I applaud your use of emojis 😄

“I want to give you the choice on how you play your games, and who you play with, and not try to do slimy platform things to force you to do what I want you to do,”

And that's why I cancelled the release of Starfield, Redfall and Indiana Jones on PlayStation as soon as I bought them.

I actually thank Phil for the first two, and I suspect I'll be grateful for the third after seeing the combat in yesterday's showcase.

@themightyant Elder Scrolls as well.

@UltimateOtaku91 I missed it as well during the showcase. I thought it might be an associated name like Sid Meier when I read it here, turns out it's a contrast between light and dark in art.

@UltimateOtaku91 It's there, 4 down.

@Ainu20 I won't lie, I had to Google who that was. I really should have known after the excellent job he did on Final Fantasy.

@Icey664 Not announced exactly as they've passed, but we've already had 3 excellent games this year that can only be played on PS5 currently, and of course Helldivers 2 as well.

Expeditions 33 was the standout for me, looking forward to that.

They'll be fine after they've had their turkey twizzlers, beans and capri sun.

I have a few smaller titles in my backlog I want to start so it will either be Shakedown Hawaii, Huntdown or Narita Boy.

@get2sammyb Agreed, I'd buy that neon dream controller in a heartbeat as well.

I'm so excited for this, it looked incredible.

It was saved by Astro Bot, that looked phenomenal.

I'm gonna start my first playthrough of Blasphemous 2.

I saw parts of a streamers playthrough yesterday, full game from start to finish took him 5 hours 50 minutes. What I saw looked visually stunning, and I thought the sound mixing and overall audio was phenomenal. That said, had this released on PS5 it would have cost £50, and to me a game you can finish in under 6 hours is not worth that price.

Had this not been on gamepass I think the positive discourse around it would be very different.