LtSarge

Tried Signalis for a while on Game Pass and it pleasantly surprised me. Very cool game! Definitely need to get around to playing through it.

Will be playing God of War Ragnarok on PS4, Pokémon Violet on Switch and Sonic Frontiers on Series X. I'm hoping to finish off at least one of these games before the end of the year!

I'll also be checking out some games on EA Play, like Battlefield V, Unravel Two and Need for Speed (2015).

Will be pretty much only playing new releases this weekend. On Switch I'll be playing Pokémon Violet, on PS4 God of War Ragnarok and on Series X Sonic Frontiers. Really enjoying all of them thus far!

I was a bit hesitant in buying this game at launch because I was concerned about the game's performance and how it would affect the PS4. But it doesn't seem to be much different than the 2018 game. I remember that one also putting my base PS4's fans into overdrive and I was fine with it because of how good the game was. So I think I'll be getting it on day one after all!

I have to agree that's it a bit too long. Considering the game relies on you exploring the world without any hand-holding, that means tons of backtracking which extends playtime by a greater amount than necessary. Actual progression can take ages and when you realise that you've been playing for over a dozen hours and there's still so much more of the game left, then you start to lose the motivation to keep playing.

Would be weird to not think it's moving in the right direction when they're appealing to both old school and new school fans now. It's literally better than if they continued to do only open world RPG games. Now we're getting different kinds of AC games, and not yearly either. Last AC game was Valhalla in 2020. When Mirage comes out, it'll have been 3 years since the last AC title, or 8 years if you're counting since Syndicate in terms of the traditional formula. On top of that, we're getting an AC game set in feudal Japan by the Odyssey team.

Couldn't be more excited for the future of this series.

@UltimateOtaku91 Was hyped until I saw the name "Konami".

@GreatAuk Well that's your opinion, but personally I'm very much interested in hearing what other people on social media think, especially from Japanese people. It's always interesting hearing different perspectives. But people tend to confuse opinions from social media as news outlets trying to state that they're representative of people as a whole, which they aren't and which the outlets aren't stating at all. They're simply showing a different side on things.

This mentality of disregarding news just because they come from a small group of people will lead to a less holistic perspective and a more restrictive/out of touch mindset.

@torne Ahh, the old "I know you are but what am I?" argument. It takes me back to kindergarten.

Telling the staff to stop posting articles because you don't like them isn't feedback. That's called trying to enforce selective news. If you want to only read news that you agree with or that makes you happy, I'm sure there are plenty of other sites like that.

If you want to give actual feedback, then to do so here: https://www.pushsquare.com/contact

Don't derail the topic. It's as easy as that.

@torne Great, then read the articles and then move on. Instead, you're writing comments that don't contribute to the discussion at all. There's absolutely zero reason to leave a comment about them making too many of the same articles. They've done this for years and people have left comments like this for years as well. It's not going to change anything. At this point it's getting way more annoying seeing these comments than seeing the same articles.

Will be playing a lot of games on my newly purchased Series X, such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Cyberpunk 2077 and TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. Gonna be a lovely time!

Will be playing Concrete Genie on PS4, Beyond: Two Souls on PS3 and Muramasa: Rebirth on PS Vita. Lots of PlayStation gaming this weekend!

@Lorcan I've heard so many people say that Trails in the Sky has bored them and it makes me glad that I started out with Trails of Cold Steel. Sure, the first ToCS is also a bit slow-paced but man does it get better and the second game is an absolute roller-coaster. Then the third and fourth titles continue that streak.

I mean sure, if you want to experience the entire story then starting with Trails in the Sky is the way to go. But if you lose interest in the series because of one game, then what's the point in playing it. I'd rather start with the good stuff so that the series can draw me in. And now I'm hooked, so I'll happily play anything Legend of Heroes, even if it's "boring". I just love this franchise so much now.

I miss E3 as well. It was the one time of the year where you as a gamer could get really excited for something. All companies had announcements and it was all compiled during a short period of time. One exciting conference after the other, it truly was like a second Christmas as others have described it.

Sure companies don't need E3 to announce their games. But the stakes were higher when you showed up at E3 and had to show stuff that really wowed people. Now the companies can show off anything they want and it doesn't matter if it doesn't generate enough excitement. There's a much lower risk now for not delivering compelling announcements and a higher risk that we, the viewers, will be disappointed.

@GADG3Tx87 Well they've already stated that they'll be adding Returnal to Extra so that's a good start in my opinion. I've been wanting to check out that game but not for €70. If they can add other titles like Demon's Souls and Sackboy, that would make Extra worth subscribing to for a month at a time. Who knows, maybe games like Horizon Forbidden West will get added next year.

@danzoEX No, it means that countries that don't have cloud streaming won't have access to PS3 games but in return they'll pay less for Premium.

@IonMagi You could be right actually. They said that they'll add up to 340 PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games and 300+ of those could just be the PS3 games from PS Now and the rest are the ones available on PS4.

PS Plus Extra is very enticing to me so I'm going with that. I haven't subscribed to PS+ for years but that might finally change now.

Definitely most interested in PS Plus Extra as it's basically Game Pass Ultimate. Even the monthly pricing is on par. This is what I've been wanting to see on PlayStation, different options to experiencing games. Returnal e.g. looks interesting to me but it's not worth paying €70 since I don't know if I'll like it or even finish it. But at least through PS Plus Extra I get to try it out for only €14.

Good job Sony!

@Snake_V5 In terms of PS3 games, I think they are just including all the ones from PS Now. I don't know about PS1, PS2 and PSP though. Maybe they'll just add all the ones that were on the PS3/Vita stores.

@Snake_V5 "At launch, we plan to include titles such as Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal. We’re working closely with our imaginative developers from PlayStation Studios and third-party partners to include some of the best gaming experiences available with a library that will be regularly refreshed."

@Niktaw $18, €17 or £13.49 each month depending on your region.

PS Plus Extra sounds just like Game Pass Ultimate, so I'm definitely interested in that.

But PS Plus Premium is too expensive just to get access to old games.

@get2sammyb I honestly think that Capcom and Square Enix are safe since they are doing well for themselves. I can't imagine them being willing to sell. Sega however isn't doing as well comparatively. I think if there's one Japanese publisher that will be acquired, either by Sony or Microsoft, it has to be Sega.

Sony is looking to make more live service titles, they want to acquire a company in Japan, PlatinumGames stated today that they want to make more live service titles and they're located in Japan. I think it's a strong possibility that they will be acquired by Sony.

@NEStalgia Excellent write-up! Well said.

@Shepherd_Tallon But the thing is that Sony keeps raising the bar of success for their studios that it becomes harder and harder for them to keep up. When Sony realises that they don't need to spend over $100 million to create single-player games anymore and instead they can spend less money on a live-service game that will yield much more dividends in the long run, then the other studios will have to keep up and adapt this model as well or else they will be shut down or reallocated. Because that's how Sony operates, they will always follow the business model that yields the most amount of revenue, even if it means abandoning single-player experiences and the studios that make them.

Which is why I don't like their model and I don't agree it's "harsh reality". It's reality for people who support PlayStation, but that's not the way other companies do things. Take Microsoft for example, everyone knows now that their primary business model is subscription services, i.e. Game Pass. And what does MS need to make Game Pass stand out compared to other services? Exclusives. They want everyone to subscribe to Game Pass, but not everyone likes narrative-driven games or multiplayer games. Some like JRPGs, some like visual novels, some like sports games, some like niche titles and so on. That's why it's important for MS to add all kinds of games to Game Pass, not just whatever is the most successful. Because game sales don't matter for them anymore, what matters is the amount of people that are subscribed to Game Pass. That's why you hear things like "20 million people have played Halo Infinite" and "18 million people have played Forza Horizon 5". They want as many people as possible to subscribe to Game Pass and for that, they need studios like Activision with Call of Duty or DoubleFine with Psychonauts 2. It doesn't matter how successful these games are as long as people keep subscribing to Game Pass and not to other services.

Which is why I prefer their model because that means they don't all have to produce the same kind of experiences (compared to PlayStation Studios, i.e. narrative-driven games). Studios don't have to worry about sales and they don't have to worry about getting shut down because Microsoft wants more and more exclusives on Game Pass. I mean, they've even stated in the Xbox documentary from December that they regret shutting down Lionhead (the Fable developer) because they could've used them now.

It just so happens that the games Sony makes now align with what we want. But that could just as well change with live-service games and suddenly, Sony has a much bigger audience but we aren't a part of that anymore.

@Shepherd_Tallon Yes, but just like @IonMagi points out, Sony will quickly shut down studios or future projects if they didn't meet expectations. Japan Studio titles didn't sell well, so they downsized the company and got rid of so many talented people. Days Gone sold well but didn't have a critical reception compared to other PS titles, so Bend Studio won't be making a sequel. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that Sony would definitely reallocate more resources from their other studios if they see that the live-service games are doing exceptionally well. I mean, wasn't there an article last year about how Sony wanted to absorb Bend Studio into Naughty Dog because they needed more resources?

From my perspective, Sony basically only cares about their most successful franchises. If it didn't meet expectations, you won't get a second chance.

I'm personally worried about this news because what will happen if live-service games prove to be more popular than Sony's single-player experiences? When Sony sees that live-service games is giving them much more revenue compared to single-player experiences, they're going to focus more on live-service titles. I mean, just look at Rockstar right now. They're barely making any new games because they're earning so much money from GTA 5.

I think the lack of PS5s could hurt Sony in the long run because people who are waiting to buy one are seeing the news about Microsoft acquiring huge publishers like ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard and they might change their minds and buy an Xbox instead. It's one thing if people have already bought a PS5, but there are still so many who wants to buy one and Microsoft has the opportunity to convince them now to purchase an Xbox instead, especially since the Series S is available everywhere.

So yeah, the shortage of PS5s could definitely hurt them in the long run because it's not certain that there will be as many potential buyers throughout the coming years as there are now. Not to mention that Microsoft is most likely going to buy another huge publisher in the foreseeable future and that will give people more incentive to buy an Xbox.

@get2sammyb Awesome, thanks a lot!

I can't find the Trails of Cold Steel games?

But yeah, I'm definitely voting for Persona 4 Golden, Danganronpa 1 and 2, Steins;Gate 1 and 0 as my favourite games on the Vita.

Will try to wrap up Mass Effect Andromeda this weekend and I also finished up Steins;Gate 0 yesterday. Might throw in some Fez here and there as well since it's such a relaxing game to play. Great smaller title to play in between all the big ones!

Most people here view this list and see a bunch of dead franchises. When I view this list, I see a bunch of potential games that will be added to Game Pass: Blur, Singularity, Prototype 1 and 2, Geometry Wars, Timeshift, True Crime and more. Except for Prototype, these are all games I don't really find worth purchasing but I'd love to give them a try on Game Pass and see if I'll like them. At least they will be given attention and who knows, some might see a new entry if enough people play them. I'd love to see them make Prototype 3 as an example.

@Rob_230 I think you're confusing console wars with competition between companies. If a company has the opportunity to position itself better than its competitor, then it will take that opportunity. Just like how Sony told people in 2013 that you can share used games with your friends while Microsoft was initially against it. That wasn't fuelling console wars, that was taking advantage of the opportunity to put themselves in a better position than their competitor. It's normal market behaviour, you tell consumers why they should choose your product over the competition's.

Will be playing Mass Effect: Andromeda on PS4, Steins;Gate 0 on Vita and Sonic & Knuckles on PS3. Really liking the first two games so far and it's fun checking out classic Sega games.

Great news because when Extraction was shown, it wasn't received particularly well due to its shift in tone. But now that it will be available on Game Pass, I think a lot of people who weren't planning on getting it, including me, will be playing it thanks to the lower cost.

@Bleachedsmiles Wholeheartedly agree. More and more games will be hundreds of GBs in size and I don't want to constantly wait before playing a new game. Not to mention having to always download patches. Being able to stream games without any waiting time is definitely how I want to do things in the future.

I think it's fair to say that the ending isn't for everyone, but I genuinely thought the gameplay loop was brilliant. I'm the type of person who usually hates time-loop themes in media, but this game handled it very well. One thing this review doesn't bring up is that as you progress though the game, you will gain shortcuts on a frequent basis so that you don't have to repeat everything you've done to reach that point. It's not even that long of a game, it's roughly 4-5 hours long and I managed to finish it in one afternoon, which surprised me since I rarely finish games in one go but this one really captivated me. I've even seen people finish it in only 2-3 hours if you're lucky enough to do all the right things on your first try. So I'd definitely recommend giving it a go.

The Vita is home to my favourite games of all time: Persona 4 Golden, Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2, Danganronpa 1 and 2, Steins;Gate and while it's through PS1 BC, I'm absolutely loving Final Fantasy 7 on my Vita. It's definitely my favourite handheld of all time and it deserves so much more love.