Olmaz

@jedinite I neved said that! : )
I said I would be coming back to the game again and again to see all the possibilities, and I added I already played the game twice. Of course I haven't seen all the possibilities yet!

@CharlieChooChoo Fair enough, but at least now you know what people may mean when they say SM2 was "safe".

@CharlieChooChoo Good question. Here are some suggestions (beware spoilers for SM2) :

1-the location : while it was fun to have more of New-York in it, one can argue it got repetitive at some point. Maybe a story based in two cities, or in two timelines with drastically different New York could have made it more surprising

2-the story : at least one major and real death should have happen at some point, either Peter or Miles, or at least MJ... the passing of the torch from Peter to Miles was handled in such a weird and fake way, killing Peter would have been the less safe but ultimately better way to go

3-the playable characters : everybody was expecting Peter and Miles to be playable but they really had to add Venom as fully playable for the third act, this would have also brought diversity to the gameplay

4-the story structure : while I applaud Insomniacs for how they managed to include so many characters in the same story like in SM1, I don't think "the real villain is only going to get revealed at the end of Act2" is good storytelling, especially when we all know who it's going to be, like in SM1. And at leat in SM1, we saw the villain's origin story, and even participated in it

5-the moral choices : Spider-Man's stories are all about the difficult moral choices between Peter's/Miles' personal life and the responsibility of a superhero. I would have loved to give the player this choice this time : let us choose the end of the game by making a choice, maybe between who is going to live, Peter or Miles, or between letting MJ or Harry die, or, as Miles, saving Peter or his mother... a lot of options, but a choice would have been great to have

I have a lot of other ideas, but for now what do you think about these?

Fantastic to see Sea of Stars in the top 10.

In any other years without heavy hitters like in 2023, Hogwarts Legacy would have easily been top 3 material. It is, imo, as good as SM2 is in what both games are trying to achieve : wonderful world, superb ambiance, good enough story and characters, and very fun gameplay mechanics.

Personally, BG3 is my GOTY : an incredible milestone for gaming that achieves enough to make you forget about the technical issues. I know it's a game I will be coming back again and again (already done 2 playthroughs) to see all the possibilities. This is the kind of experience I got with Dark Souls and Elden Ring : any other game feels less interesting than another run at BG3 right now.

SM2 is a great game for sure. It is everything a safe sequel should be : bigger world, more refined gameplay. But it's too safe : no gameplay mechanic was really game changing (except the gliding), the story, while well constructed, didn't include anything suprising, and the ideologically charged moments and side content made it cringe too often. But still a fantastic game to play and platinum in a few days.

Fine month.
I already own A Plague Tale : Requiem, and it's really good.
I was interested in trying Evil West and Nobody Saves The World, so pretty good all in all.

@MrHabushi Yeah I read through the article and he's not only autistic, but has severe autism, which can warrant hospitalization.

Add to this the violent behavior and the stalking and harassment, and the judge's decision is a lot more understandable.

For once, PushSquare's headline was pure clickbait, and I fell for it, sorry.

Dammit after all these years and the crossovers... her design still gets me every time!

WTf?! So repeated sexual or violent offenders get a few years (if even) but a hacker gets life in hospital. Clearly money is more important than lives for the judge.

Also, why in hospital? Is he sick?

Edit : after reading the BBC article, PushSquare's headline and article is pure clickbait. I won't delete my comment and I'll take the hit, but damn, these last months, I've seen a few articles like that here that misrepresented the facts, I hope it won't become the norm...

@DennisReynolds Yeah I'll disagree on this. We're not talking about secret defense here, it's just video game. Unless there is some info relative to the game industry that could show abuse of corporations, or HR issues and so on, there's nothing to gain except clicks here for the gaming outlets.

Most gaming "journalists" are not journalists : they are either shills paid by (or at least financially dependent on) publishers, or just ideologically morons that view themselves too seriously.
Investigative gaming journalism done for the benefit of all included in the industry is almost dead today, and publishing the info that leaked does not help.

Now, if an outlet found out by themselves (via hacking or confidential sources) sensitive info about a publisher/developer and then published it, then I would say "ok, that's journalism". Copy-pasting reddit posts of a leak they had nothing to do with... that's just for clicks.

@RicebinBernacky No they shouldn't pretend the info is not out there. They should report on the leak, explain they won't publish any of the info in it unless it is officially confirmed and that's it.

That's what PushSquare has done (as far as I know, and for now, hopefully they'll stick with it), and I don't think it has hurt them (but I'd be glad to have an official confirmation about this).

Principles should be held above greed, don't you think?

@Tecinthebrain Yes, that's exactly what I'd want.

"Gaming journalism" today is already 95% corporate marketing done by ideological shills. Such an action would cleanse the industry in a drastic manner that could only be beneficial.

Believe me, Sony really doesn't need these 95% of media outlet to reach most of their customers, and most gamers out there would rejoice in seeing these outlets be forced to change or die.

I really hope Sony will boycott every media outlet that published any content of the leak. Just imagine Eurogamer and Kotaku (and others) not getting any games, demo, invitation, previews, updates and communication from Sony anymore. The gaming world would be so much better for it.

This looks really fun! On my radar too!

Do the people in marketing and design know how pompous and vacuous their "explanations" sound to normal people?

""The sharp, cutting edges of previous handprints have also been smoothed out, creating more fluid shapes. This reflects our commitment to addressing Frostbite's rougher edges, creating a smoother experience for creators and players."... seriously???

I was really expecting a discount on Spider-Man 2, even just a small one. But hey, what can you do...

Tinykin and Salt and Sacrifice for me.

The former looks really fun, and I loved the predecessor to the latter.

@trymer89 I should give it another try then, maybe I wasn't in a good mindset to appreciate the return to the oldschool gameplay.
Thanks for the feedback mate!

Finished my second playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3 (an evil Dark Urge one, no less), and now switching between Teardown (since the "invert Y" toggle has finally been added) and Spider-Man (to prepare for SM2, which I plan to play and finish during the holidays!).

@trymer89 Tell us how it went for you!

I'm in the same boat as you : big fan of the franchise since the first AC on PS3, with my favorites being AC2, Unity and Origins. Odyssey was already getting tiresome for me, and Valhalla was a chore to finish (couldn't bother with the expansions!).

I thought Miracle would be a return to old school AC gameplay... and it is. But sadly, it is also very boring. After close to 6-7 hours of playing it, I just can't see any reason to continue : the characters are clichés and not charismatic, the story is as basic as you can and the city makes you feel you've seen it all with AC1 and Origins already. But maybe I should power through a few hours more, just in case something happen to make the game interesting...

@McBurn Well, look at the headlines. We have "Fortnite Massively Cuts Prices of Criticised Rocket Racing PS5, PS4 Microtransactions" instead of "Fortnite still massively overcharges Rocket Racing microtransactions despite heavy criticism".

It was the same with Mortal Kombat 1, when this site applauded the fact some fatalities were going to be "free" (which wasn't exactly the case) instead of putting in the headlines that "Fatalities Season Pass" was coming.

I get what you say, but sadly I think lowering your prices right now garner enough positive press from media outlets that it has an impact Even if very engaged gamers like us don't bite into it, most average customers will see the headlines and leave it at that.

@McBurn Or their goal was always the current prices, and they used the old tactic of setting too high an initial price just so they can "look good" when they lower it.

@BamBamBaklava89 Same here. I can't pinpoint it, but something felt off. Like the sensation that what we were shown was barely holding on together and would break down the minute the camera looked away...
I hope I'm wrong though, it's a game I'd love to see be great.

I'm disappointed with no Dragon Ball Sparking Zero.

I guess only old people like me remember how fantastically great was Budokai Tenkaichi 3...

@Rhaoulos I agree with you, except please don't put Hogwarts Legacy with AC Valhalla! Hogwarts was miles better than ACV in every way, the way its open world was denser and more interesting just one of them (and I say that as a huge fan of the AC franchise since the first game, while being very mildly interested with the Harry Potter franchise...)

Also : +1 pour la référence à Raoul!

I must be getting cynical in my old age, because the only thing that really got my heart pumping was Dragon Ball Z Sparking Zero!

Hell yeah Budokai Tenkaichi is back, hopefully they will manage to keep the mtx to a minimum...

@Northern_munkey I'd say the reason they are doing this is simply because they know people have moved on from Skyrim, so the backlash will be relatively minor excepted in the hardcore modding community (and even there, some modders like the idea to earn some money from them mods).

Then, one year later, they can pretend this is the "industry standard" and do the same with Starfield or Fallout 76...

@Fiendish-Beaver How did you get to 300 hours for one playthrough?!
My first playthrough was quite thorough, and I may have missed one or two minor places to visit, but I genuinely tried to do everything and ended up with 120 hours... more than twice that time, I really wonder if I missed a whole another game within the game?! : )

The most incredible stat to me is this :
"By Act 2, 30,4% of players have given in to their illithid side and flexed their powers."

I interpret it this way : presented with new very good powers, people were so deep into the role playing they didn't make the "gamer decision" of minmaxing their character. Really impressive!

This or people just couldn't trust the Emperor...

@ATaco Or maybe seeing the success of F2P like Genshin Impact pushes Western publishers to go even harder into the F2P live service thing, because they don't see themselves competitive in any other way.

Which, by the way, is sadly true in our current system.

If you think opening the door to China because of a few games you liked is a good idea, I can place a bet right now you're going to be sadly disappointed in a few year...

Seeing Genshin there should be a reminder to everyone that the Chinese marketplace opening to the world changes everything. There are an estimate of more than 650 millions gamers in China, more than there are people in the US or in the EU. The Chinese marketplace alone is potentially as big as the the North American, European and Japanese marketplace combined.

There is no way videogame publishers will not pander to China, because they see the potential profit, and they see how competitive Chinese games like Genshin Impact can be if they don't reciprocate quickly.

Now what it means in term of content, types of games and of economic dependence in the videogaming world, well, we'll see soon enough I guess.

@Blaze215 Oh no, I know the answer we get when we point out the obvious double standard, sit down now :

Fighting against oppression necessitates an inversion of values. By ridiculizing the idolized male member, we use the patriarchy's own tool against it and it acts as the empowerment of women, while the "boob jiggle" is based on the millennia of oppression the male gaze imposed on women with their depiction in media. As proof, see how we still censor words like "d*ck" and "c*ck" but write "boobs" openly.

I've read too much of this sh*t I can't unread it anymore...

For me it was :
1-Baldur's Gate 3 (even with the technical issues)
2-Hogwart's Legacy
3-Spider-Man 2
4-Street Fighter 6 (would have been higher without the ridiculous MTX)
5-Octopath Traveler 2

@Jaz007 I disagree with the "gaming standards", as the game as it launched was an incredible achievement in my opinion.

But I agree there were issues that should have been made more clear to everyone, mainly a rush ending and an almost unplayable Act III (which really became unplayable after a patch). We're here in the grey area of GOTY with this kind of game : what it aimed to do and what it achieved to do surpasses every other in such a way a lot of people manage to not see (or not care about) its pretty big flaws.

As for the marketing, I agree 100% : I'm very saddened at the way Larian made a point of putting "bear sex" in the forefront (and I'm even more disappointed in the general reaction about in gaming media), or even hyping out the "horniness" of the game. The game really didn't need this to be hyped and the marketing around it felt gross.

Just to be fair, at least this time they didn't even acknowledge the d**k physics in their patch, but maybe that was intentional : letting someone discover it made it even more newsworthy in their mind... idk

Weird how when people complain about the lessening of boob jiggle in a game (Zenless Zone Zero), they're considered "immature", "toxic" or even "incels", but then the people applauding the addition of d**k jiggle are not viewed the same.

Double standard much?I am for myself an universal jigglist, not a selective one. : )

The game looks fantastic and will definitely scratch my fantasy JRPG itch, bu my oh my this Vyrn thingy is annoying!
I certainly hope there's a toggle for it...

"While at camp, you can now access and manage the inventories of companions who aren't in your active party."
F*** yeah!!!!

Fingers crossed, as I loved the original. But we have to admit it is lacking in the graphical department, as was the first one.

But when the first one surprised us and came out of nowhere, this one has to face heavy expectations. Too much expectations in my opinion, and I'm afraid people will be disappointed.

While the first one was a breath of fresh air in the ARPG genre, and had very fun fighting mechanics, it was graphically ugly in many places, and the story was uninteresting. If they do not improve on both front (and we've already seen the graphical part being lacking), this looks like another sad 7/10 for an overhyped game.

Let's hope I'm completely wrong!

@trev666 I'm with you on this, while it's not my GOTY (BG3 is), the complete snub irks me a lot as it's a great game with a lot to like.

@Ravix My first playthrough was 120 hours long at the end, but I can tell you a 2nd playthrough goes a lot faster now you know where to go and how to play best.... especially if you're doing it like me as an evil Dark Urge, where the best solution is (almost) always to kill everyone! : )

@Nekomichu Found it thx!

Here is the official explanation of the issue :
"In Patch 4 we introduced a fix that would prevent the Scrying Eyes in Moonrise Towers from immediately calling the guards on you when stealing, even if you were sneaking, or invisible for example.
This fix had the unintended consequence of causing unnoticed thefts & acts of vandalism to remain stuck forever within the ‘did anyone see me’ pipeline, rather than timing out and moving on, as is intended. Essentially, your ‘DM’ - in a real-world sense - constantly thinks about the acts of theft & violence the player keeps doing, without ever moving on or verbalising them. Mulling on it ad infinitum.
These unnoticed and eternally-active acts of theft & violence eventually bogged down the game. The more a player commits those acts, the more the game is trying to keep that all up to date and in memory, and so the more slowdowns start happening. Essentially, the ‘DM’ eventually becomes unable to operate. By Act 3 this caused slow-down issues, which after some sleuthing we’re extremely happy to say we’ve solved in Patch 5, which is in testing and scheduled to release this week."

What a weird thing, devs' job is a sisyphean task really! : ) But still, to let a game's whole act 3 unplayable for a month is not good...

@Nekomichu Hmmm, so what matters is when you started the run? Ok, that makes sense.

Any source on that? And do you know if the devs are working on it?

@Ravix @Tomato_Goose I'm flabbergasted by what both of you are saying. Are you sure you're playing on PS5? Are you sure the game is updated?
There are enough reports on the net about the unplayable state of Act III on PS5 right now to know I'm not dreaming it. As I said, before the last big patch, it was playable. I finished the game with only a few framerate drops, some textures not loading and very heavy audio sync issues during the end mission, but it was still playable.

Right now, it's not. When every 10-15 minutes, my companions just freeze in place; when any action can cause the game to freeze for minutes; when loading times are getting multiple minutes-long; when textures, and sometimes even characters, don't load during cutscenes; when cutscene dialogues take time to appear, the game is not playable anymore.

And I'm not trying to bring down the game. It's my GOTY by far, I absolutely love it and consider it a major achievement in gaming. But I can criticize what should be, and right now, the game's Act III is not playable for me on PS5.

Please make Act III playable again on PS5!

After barely being able to finish the game on my first playthrough (the last hours of gameplay were filled by a lot of restarts to get in sync audio, bearable loading time and textures), after the last big patch, Act III is simply unplayable : characters freeze, actions take minutes to be registered, loading times get worse, textures (and even whole characters) don't load, it's a complete mess...

What a sad state for one of the most amazing games I've ever played!

@ear_wig Why would it be misogynistic to depict women of a certain type. "Jiggly-breasted and oversexualized" women exist for real you know...

Aren't you extremely judgmental about how the female body should or should not be represented, and which type anyone should or should not enjoy to look at?

@Cloud34156 Why "pathetic" or "cringe" though?

Most males enjoy "titties" in their entertainment now and then, and would like for the option to stay available as long as possible, so any attempt to censor, or even lessen, the amount of boobs you can have in a game is viewed suspiciously...

You may not care about boobs, but why would not having the same view on the subject than you be pathetic or cringe?

@mrbone "kind of"?

@EchoRange May I ask, what exactly do you find embarrassing here?

I see people taking 2 kinds of issue here :

• one is about sexiness in character design : in a day and age where characters, especially female ones, are less and less represented in what is traditionally considered sexy (especially in the West), don't you think it's normal a mainly male (and young) audience is sad to see character design made "less sexy" (even if it's not your boat for these specific designs)?
• the second issue is one of censorship, and especially self-censorship. I personally view any kind of limitation imposed on an artistic product (or even just an entertainment product for adults) a bad thing in general, unless it is overtly illegal. Why would anyone lessen something as innocuous as a "boob jiggle" in a game that is not meant to be mature (in the real sense of the term) nor realistic?
  I get your second embarrassment feeling, but I don't see why you get it in this case.

It looks quite fun and interesting. The art is nice but lacking in the animation front.

This is a good example of why AI will be used more and more in the gaming industry : the creation of animation frames with AI based on static drawings will greatly help making indie games like this more fluid.

@TheArt I haven't been able the finish Divinity Original Sin 2. I tried 3 times, and every time I feel it gets repetitive and a slog.
In my opinion, BG3 is a huge step up from DOS2 regarding narrative, freedom of action and diversity of gameplay.

@TheArt I've finished it (first playthrough 120 hours!) with a lawful good run.

After finishing it, I tried : Star Wars - Jedi Survivor, then Assassin's Creed Mirage, then Lords of the Fallen. I played all of them for 8-10 hours and all the time, I was just thinking about BG3.

So I stopped playing these milquetoast games that didn't offer anything new, and went and started a new paythrough, this time a chaotic evil Dark Urge, and I'm just coming into Act 3.

BG3 is as tremendous a game to me as were, in their time, Civilization, Dark Souls or Elden Ring : so good that playing anything else seems like a downgrade of my entertainment time... And I'm very rarely that hyperbolic about a game!