Comments 1,493

Re: Sony's Japan Studio 'Forgot What It Feels Like to Have a Hit'

PuppetMaster

@ThroughTheIris56 You need to do some research before saying TGS and Gamescom aren't as big as E3.

FYI. E3 2016 only has 50K visitors while Gamescom 2016 has 345K visitors and TGS 2016 has more than 250K visitors. Both TGS and Gamescom also has live coverage by plenty of gaming and non-gaming media. Heck, i would dare to claim both TGS and Gamescom are bigger than E3 who at that point the popularity already dwindling down a lot especially among publishers. That means GR 2 has more coverage at TGS and Gamescom compare to E3.

Not to mention in 2016 Sony also held PS Experience / PSX in December and they not just brought the demo but also showed Raven DLC trailer for people who visited or watched the event from home. I say that already rectified GR 2 absent from their E3 conference.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LDBtebfXsSQ&pp=ygUfR3Jhdml0eSBSdXNoIDIgZ2FtZXNjb20gdHJhaWxlcg%3D%3D

Again. There's no such a thing as GR 2 wasn't well marketed when Sony paraded the game all around the world for almost a full year before release. Despite the effort, it just can't escape that very niche and experimental anime vibe that targeted at diehard gamers who's willing to try something new.

And delaying a release also part of the marketing. If GR 2 released in December 2016, it will be overshadowed by games like FF XV, COD IW, Pokemon Sun & Moon, and Super Mario Maker as well fight for that last spotlight with Sony's own The Last Guardian. In January, there's a lot less competitors with GR 2 released 4-5 days early than Yakuza 0, RE 7, and Tales of Berseria.

You and some people needs to accept the fact that good games can failed commercially despite they has solid marketing. It could have to do with oversaturated market or gamers change their taste / preference.

Not every cel shaded games with anime style sold well either. Capcom killer7, E.X. Trooper, and Okami for example, they are good games but they doesn't sold well. Or Bamco Eternal Sonata, Sega Valkyria Chronicles & Gungrave, Level 5 Jeanne D'Arc, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, and Platinum MadWorld.

Re: Sony's Japan Studio 'Forgot What It Feels Like to Have a Hit'

PuppetMaster

@Nem This is just my prediction but i think Ape Escape suffers like some platformers in PS2 era. Like, they were popular and sold well in PS1 era but they gradually losing their steam in PS2 era. Similar to Crash, Spyro, or Klonoa who didn't do that well in PS2 era and then pretty much gone in PS3 era until they got revived in PS4 era with remakes/remaster/port.

From what i read, Ape Escape 1 managed to sold 1.1 million copies ww while Ape Escape 2 sold around 630K ww and On the Loose sold 250K ww. I can't find Ape Escape 3 sales numbers though so possibly it sold much lower than previous games.

Also back in PS2 era, the platformers market was very stack. There was plenty of interesting platformers like Ratchet, Sly Cooper, or Jak & Daxter, Maximo, or Psychonauts and people choose them over Ape Escape.

Re: Sony's Japan Studio 'Forgot What It Feels Like to Have a Hit'

PuppetMaster

@ThroughTheIris56 Sure they made mistake for not showing the game at their E3 2016 conference. But they brought it on the show floor where everyone can try the demo.

They also showed the game at TGS 2013, 2015, and 2016 as well Gamescom 2016 where everyone can try the demo. TGS and Gamescom are just as big as E3.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wccftech.com/gravity-rush-2-gamescom-2016-hands-kat-learned/amp/

Heck, Sony delayed the game from December 2016 release to January 2017 because they want it to get full spotlight and not overshadowed by AAA games during holiday. So, saying GR 2 only had little to no marketing is just false.

And i bet a lot of people heard or seen Gravity Rush. I mean, pretty much everyone has internet. But they just didn't buy it for whatever reason.

Now if you're saying Sony barely market Puppeteer, Wild Arms, Soul Sacrifice, or Patapon then i would fully agreed.

Re: Sony's Japan Studio 'Forgot What It Feels Like to Have a Hit'

PuppetMaster

@greengecko007 Gravity Rush 2 actually got nice marketing. There's a cool live act commercial.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tgky0MmxSqk&pp=ygUZZ3Jhdml0eSBydXNoIDIgY29tbWVyY2lhbA%3D%3D

They hired Khara Studio, the one who made Neon Genesis Evangelion Rebuild movies, for an OVA that bridge the first and second game. Heck, they even made the anime free for anyone to watch on youtube.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tFeXtu-3u78&pp=ygUXZ3Jhdml0eSBydXNoIDIgb3ZlcnR1cmU%3D

Did a collab with SE for 2B costume DLC.
https://www.ign.com/articles/2017/04/26/gravity-rush-2-gets-nier-automata-outfit-as-free-dlc

As well make solid Figma figure for Kat and Raven with Good Smile Company.
https://www.goodsmile.com/en/product/3911/figma+Gravity+Kat+2.0

The online feature got shut down one year after the game release which is unfortunate. But possibly Sony doesn't see many people used it combine with the game low sales.
https://amostagreeablepastime.com/2018/01/03/gravity-rush-2-servers-to-shut-down-only-a-year-after-release/

Re: Double Dragon Revive Is a PS5, PS4 Brawler Bursting with PS2 Energy

PuppetMaster

@shonenjump86 Well different studios means different ideas. And it's not like they can reused the same beat em up like the og arcade or NES which has been done many times. ArcSys tried with Double Dragon 4 and it's just not good.

I even say different beat em up style makes Double Dragon quite fresh. But at least they still beat em up and not RPG or soulslike.

Re: Sony's Japan Studio 'Forgot What It Feels Like to Have a Hit'

PuppetMaster

I think the biggest problem with Japan Studio was they divided themself into too many teams and too many projects.

There's team ICO, team Gravity / Siren, team Asobi, team Knack, and who knows with the staff who helped with games like Patapon, Loco Roco, Tokyo Jungle, Puppeteer, Everybody's Golf, Death Stranding, Demon's Souls remake, etc etc.

It's like the studio try to be 'jack of all trade, master of none'.

But hopefully Team Asobi can continue Japan Studio uniqueness but this time with better management and focus.

Re: Random: Killzone Superfans Want to License the IP from Sony

PuppetMaster

I don't think these guys are developers let alone has a lot of experience when comes to making games. So, probably the best they can do with the IP is either make a comic, novel, tabletop, or they hired an indie devs to make a 2D side scroller.

But good luck to them i guess.

@Keyblade-Dan Yeah it's really weird to see some people acting as if Horizon already has 20-30 games like AssCreed or CoD. What's more weird they want Guerilla to kill the franchise just because they don't like it. Gamers nowadays are so fking weird.

Re: Sep 2024 USA Sales: Astro Bot PS5 a Top Seller, Only FC 25 Above It

PuppetMaster

@Markatron84 Half joking. But i'm not surprised if Sony say something about it in their financial report since the game is a big failure with $400 million loss. Sony can't hide it from their shareholders which i'm sure many of them wants to know what Sony gonna do with their live services project and who's gonna responsible for that loss (Firewalk Studios and Hermen in the chopping block?).

Re: Double Dragon Revive Is a PS5, PS4 Brawler Bursting with PS2 Energy

PuppetMaster

@shonenjump86 "Double Dragon always seems to be a series that doesn’t know what it wants to be"

Most Double Dragon games are beat em up with only two fighting games based on the animated tv series and '94 live action movie. I say the series clearly knows what it wants to be.

The biggest different is the artstyle. Since Technos got bankrupt in 1996, Double Dragon IP was shared around to multiple developers & artist. Hence why some games looks quite different compare to the og Double Dragon 1-3 for arcade / NES.

Re: Sep 2024 USA Sales: Astro Bot PS5 a Top Seller, Only FC 25 Above It

PuppetMaster

Astro beat Zelda, Star Wars, and even Madden? Holy cow that's big. And it's also the 25th best selling game in 2024 for USA.

Combine this result with EU, i think it safe to predict Astro Bot sales numbers at the range 2+ million copies. With holiday comes up, it could be even higher.

@Fighting_Game_Loser Sony probably gonna announce the numbers at their financial report along with a couple of games like Helldivers 2, Concord, TloU 2 remaster, HZW remaster, Ghost of Tsushima PC, and Lego Horizon.

Re: The Wolf Among Us 2 PS5 Has Not Been Cancelled, Telltale Insists

PuppetMaster

I thought this game has been cancelled years ago?

iirc, they announced the game back at TGA 2019 right? That's like 5 years ago.

At this rate, i think it's best to forget this game exist. I mean, i love the 1st game and would love to play the sequel. But i don't think Telltale can finish and deliver the game with the quality similar to the 1st game.

Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report

PuppetMaster

@Gewertzx Good reviews is a proof for the publisher that the game is doing well critically, which means the developers did a good job.

And l'm pretty sure publishers also give bonus to their developers if the game got good reviews. Not sure with Ubisoft though.

But if good game with good reviews doesn't sell well then that's the publisher fault for not doing a good job at marketing. They can't blame the developers because they already delivered a good game.

Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report

PuppetMaster

The team behind The Lost Crown is also making Rayman series right? Dang that sucks. I read somewhere the game sold 300K copies back in January, which sounds good for AA games budget without plenty of marketing.

I already tried the demo and quite enjoyed it. Sadly in this economy i can't spend a lot for video games.

@Gewertzx If good games who got positive reviews but didn't sold well then that's not the developers fault but more on publishers fault who didn't give enough marketing or choose the wrong release date. Japan Studio Puppeteer for example, it's a great game that received 80% at metacritics. But it failed to sell well because Sony released it 1 week before GTA 5 and the same week with Diablo 3 for console.

Re: PlayStation, Bungie Still Going Ahead with Internal Live Service Team

PuppetMaster

One or two live service games once in a blue moon? Sure.

But don't repeat the mistakes like ol Jimbo again where he greenlight 20+ live service project and even forced 1st party studios like ND, Insomniac, etc to do live service when it's clear their specialty is single player games.

Concord should be Sony reminder to not put a lot of eggs in live service basket.

And i hope Totoki and Nishino put a leash on Hermen neck because that guy also one the biggest reason why we got catastrophical failure like Concord.

Re: Sony's Guerrilla Sounds Completely Done with the Killzone Series

PuppetMaster

@Deityjester Killzone creative team is the one who created Horizon and they're still working in Guerilla. Killzone 2 and 3 director & artist, Mathijs de Jonge and Jan-Bart van Beek, both worked on Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West. Also, the main programmer for Killzone 2/3/Shadow Fall and HZD & HFW is the same guy Michiel van der Leeuw.

Re: Sony's Guerrilla Sounds Completely Done with the Killzone Series

PuppetMaster

They already made 5 Killzone games + supervised 1 (Mercenary). So it's normal if they feel they're done with the series.

And story wise, i don't think there's still something they can use to make a new Killzone since Shadow Fall ending pretty much said no more war between Vektan and Helghast. Unless they soft reboot the series and create a new enemy. But are the fans gonna accept if Helghast isn't the enemy?

Re: Naughty Dog's Next Game Will Reportedly Put More of a Focus on 'Player Freedom'

PuppetMaster

I like what ND did with UC 4 with multiple dialogues choice and some area such as Madagascar with the jeep and the island with the boat offers more freedom in exploration as well multiple ways to beat enemies. The same with Lost Legacy, TloU 1, and TloU 2. But in the same time, these games also still quite linear with focus on combat and some puzzles.

So, i hope ND next game plays like that but not go too far in the RPG teritory.

Re: In Europe, 78% of Silent Hill 2 Copies Were Purchased on PS5

PuppetMaster

@alienwithin 'PS is so dead'
PC is free market which is the reason Sony decided to port their games. But hey whatever makes you sleep well at night i guess 🤷‍♂️

@GamingFan4Lyf How about you go play at your favorite plastic box and don't take people opinion seriously? I mean, like you said "it's a plastic box" so it shouldn't be that serious.

Re: In Europe, 78% of Silent Hill 2 Copies Were Purchased on PS5

PuppetMaster

@GamingFan4Lyf "I swear you PlayStation fans want nothing more than for everyone to simply play on PlayStation the way you all complain about how other people prefer to play their games"

Lel that's ironic considering i always see plenty of PC mustard race keep saying PS / console is dead and mocked anyone who plays on PS / console as a "pleb".

Re: Video: 2025 Is Shaping Up to Be PS5's Best Year Yet

PuppetMaster

@Cal_ 95%? Lol nah.

Fatal Fury got release date; April 21 2025.

Wolverine, Capcom Fighting Collection 2, and Lunar Collection already got 2025 release window. But the last two games definitely will come out next year. Wolverine probably will get a delay but i'm not surprise if Insomniac right on schedule since they didn't work on Spider-man 2 DLC.

RE 9 is officially confirmed in development with RE 7 director and i bet they're already working on the game since 2021 or after RE 8 finished. Big chance we will see the trailer at The Game Award or SoP. And with how successful RE 2-4 remake, Capcom definitely working on a new remake, possibly outsource like RE3R. I'm not surprise if next year we'll get two RE games.

That left Pragmata, Phantom Blade Zero, and Lost Soul Aside without release window / date. But i got the feeling one or two of them will release next year.

Re: Some Marvel's Spider-Man 2 PS5 Fans Are Furious It's Not Getting DLC

PuppetMaster

Nowadays, i wish more single players games released in a complete state where i can play it from start to finish without the need to pay more for additional story.

But i guess some gamers, possibly they're Gen X, already embraced the idea that they must spend more money to get DLC stories and if they didn't get their DLC's they will complained like an entitled babies which is sad.

Re: Spider-Man 2 Won't Receive Any PS5 Story DLC

PuppetMaster

@Rodimusprime1313 Lol no way Sony expect 20 million copies in less than a year when the first game needs a couple of years to reach 20 million copies and that when PS4 has bigger userbase than PS5. And no Sony 1st party games sold that numbers less than a year either, not even GT, GoW, or TloU.

A big company like Sony can't lie about their financial report. If the numbers match with what they claim Spiderman 2 is a big success then it is what it is.

Re: Spider-Man 2 Won't Receive Any PS5 Story DLC

PuppetMaster

@Rodimusprime1313 "Sony did comment that they were not happy with Spider Man 2 sales"

I can't find any official statement from Sony that said they're not happy about Spidey 2 sales. On the other hand, they said the game is "a great success" in their financial report.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/05/marvels-spider-man-2-swings-11-million-sales-as-sony-calls-ps5-exclusive-a-great-success

As of this April, the game already sold 11 million copies and it's still selling as we speak. Not just it manage to break even but also brought good profits for Sony in less than 6-7 months after released.

Re: Spider-Man 2 Won't Receive Any PS5 Story DLC

PuppetMaster

@Octaslasher "I already said back then that they have become shady and greedy AF"

Sorry to say this but you're not making any sense here when you blame Insomniac for not moneytizing Spidey 2 with paid DLC's from the get go but then called them 'shady and greedy af' despite their games doesn't even have MTX.

Heck, Insomniac could put price tag for those FREE costumes DLC but no those costumes still stay FREE.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 551

PuppetMaster

@gaston Yes there's a good strategy behind them.

Example for Archer, their best position is at high ground or a watch tower so they can easily snipe monsters from a good range. They're good at dealing with small and flying monsters.

Or Shaman is for healing arts and you can place them behind Soh, melee fighter, or around the Divine Maiden in case she got injured.

Or Ascetic that can build a barrier to slow down monsters who touch it. This role is quite important because there are monsters who has good speed and they will moves quickly to kill your Divine Maiden. If the Divine Maiden death then it's game over.

And Woodcutter also not just good as melee fighter but they can also fixed broken bridge or destroy some road blocks that trap the villagers.

Also, you can build contraptions like traps or barrier to damage the monsters and temporarily blocked their moves or magic symbol that gives buff for your party.

The daytime and night also affect the monsters strength. At daytime they usually easier to beat and but at night they're stronger.

At very early stage, Soh hack & slash can do the job easily. But later, the monster will comes with plenty of multiple waves, stronger, and from many directions.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 551

PuppetMaster

@gaston "Concerning Kunitsu-Gami, likely I do not really understand how to play it, but I found it a bit boring"

Your mission in Kunitsu Gami is to purified villages from evil spirits with the Divine Maiden help. Each stage has some villagers who got trap and if you freed them you can assign them to specific role like Archer, Woodcutter, Shaman, Spearman, etc that will help you in the mission with their own specialty.

And after the mission, you can return to your basecamp to upgrade your party as well build the basecamp.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 551

PuppetMaster

I bought Travis Strikes Again: NMH from PSN sale and i had a blast with the game. The fun combat, cool retro artstyle, references for movies/anime/manga, breaking the 4th wall, and the humor. I just don't get it why this game got low scores reviews (IGN & Gamespot gave it a 6/10 and Eurogamer gave "Avoid"). Currently i'm just finished with the 3rd Death Ball world.

I'm also playing SF 6 after took a month break from the game. My Ed feels quite rusty but i manage to stay in 1400+ MR. Gonna do some grind so i can get to 1500 MR.

Have a fun weekend guys 🍻

Re: Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Web Swings to PC in January 2025

PuppetMaster

@belmont I doubt uncle Gabe gonna check if a Steam user used VPN to mask their country.

It's the same with PSN. I live in SEA and i made a US account in 2007 and back then my country not yet have PSN. But so far my US account is still working just fine including buying games from US store. Heck, i created Japan and EU account not long after that and Sony doesn't give a single ratass about it.

Also, i'm pretty sure i created PSN and Steam account without input my debit / credit card numbers.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Metaphor: ReFantazio?

PuppetMaster

From the demo, i'll give it at least an 8/10.

My only cons are it feels like a Persona game than a complete new IP. I could understand the similarity if it's a Persona spin-off just like Persona has plenty of similarity with SMT because it's a SMT spin-off. But Atlus market this as a brand new IP.

And there's some bad frame drop as well plenty of loading screens. I don't mind with the graphics though considering the art style looks nice.

The full game probably offer better experience but I'll wait for complete edition.