RBMango

I can't speak for the price, but I also think PlayStation isn't doing this game any favors regarding marketing and release timing outside of China. Besides a PlayStation Experience demo way back in 2017 and its inclusion in a single State of Play, there has been minimal buzz about this game in the United States. Unless they have something to hide, I think some more exposure and a public demo would help the game a lot. It also doesn't help that Sony is dropping this $60-$70 unproven IP in the middle of a release window that also contains Delta Force, Gears of War, Shinobi, and Metal Gear Solid 3 remake. Maybe they're banking on it being a big hit in China, but I don't see this having anywhere near the same buzz as similar stuff like Black Myth Wukong and Phantom Blade Zero.

I really hope this is good. I've been rooting for LSA since the very first trailer dropped back in 2016.

“all eight billion people could summon a researcher, an analyst, or a coding agent at their fingertips”

I pray I'm long gone from this world before this becomes a reality with AI.

@get2sammyb Shuhei was responsible for discarding Demon’s Souls outside of Japan, and that is quite possibly the biggest PlayStation blunder of all time next to Concord. He definitely made some mistakes, but the man undeniably has the eye for creativity and talent. His legendary track record of producing and cultivating nearly all of PlayStation's powerhouse franchises speaks for itself. Even PS5 era successes like Returnal, Astro Bot, and Death Stranding 2 exist because of him and others like Andrew House and Shawn Laydon having good taste and creative sense. I believe you either have the eye for creativity or you don't, and I have not seen much evidence that Hermen Hulst has the eye. And that greatly worries me as well.

I hate to keep bringing it back to Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst because I sound like a broken record, but this case of not having the data-driven foresight to take advantage of the booming anime market for your much-publicized live service initiative is insane to me. You don't need an MBA from Harvard to understand why this was a no-brainer opportunity.

"It’s made more frustrating when you consider PlayStation’s search for a live service success story appears to be singularly obsessed with shooters."

This is because Ryan, Hulst, and their ilk have no taste and creative foresight. Outside of Tōkon (and even that was an XDev idea), it speaks to how lacking they are in creative thinking that they wouldn't take advantage of the anime empire they have at their fingertips. Even back in 2020 when Genshin Impact first exploded in popularity, PlayStation would have had tons of data pointing to this market's massive potential and plenty of time to bring their own anime live services to market. But they stupidly didn't pursue this. Instead, they chose to get into bed with projects like Concord, Marathon, and Fairgames. It's crazy what happens when leadership has the creativity of a piece of dry, bland toast.

There's no way there won't be a Yotei version of Legends.

I don't possess the vocabulary that does justice to my adoration for Expedition 33's music. It's easily in my top 10 video game soundtracks of all time.

@AdamNovice I did see that. I know the trailer teases Daredevil, Thor, and the Fantastic Four in the background, but I hope that translates to roster inclusions. Teasing Murdoch and then not having him duke it out with Spider-Man or Doctor Doom would be a major missed opportunity.

Getting my prayer circle ready for the reveal of Wolverine, Hulk, Daredevil, or Punisher.

I'm still amazed they haven't done this single-game SoP format for most of their published games.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..............

Whoever is doing the programming of these movies has very good taste. I would have swapped out Ran with Yojimbo or Sanjuro, but that's just me.

@SuperSilverback Getting the clan Sakai armor at the end of mythic tale would be sick.

He's definitely going to be a mythic tale.

"You don't pick to hunt down any of the six members of the Yotei Six in whichever order you like..."

This tidbit was one of my only major concerns, so this is a great relief to me.

As said, PlayStation deserves a lot of criticism this gen, but their willingness to add substantial free stuff to their games post-launch mostly without pimping microtransactions is really commendable. I still can't believe Ghost of Tsushima Legends didn't come with a rotating item shop and battle passes.

I think I'm done after that second season and if Mazan is calling the shots going forward, but I can't wait for him to make Abby's sex scene even more strange and awkward. That's going to be unintentional comedy gold if he tops the bizarre moment between Ellie and Dina from season two.

Well, at least it didn't get any writing noms. That's a silver lining.

It feels so strange that Barlog teased his next project at the beginning of the PS5 gen, and here we are a few years from the end and we still don't know what it is.

I'm glad they got Clare Uchima back. Her voice is incredible.

I think the game overall looks really cool, but I don't know what to make of that card system. They didn't do the best job explaining why they decided to go with it and how it encourages freedom. As others have said, it seems like smoke and mirrors. I'm also still not sold on the nonlinear path to taking down the Yōtei Six. I'd prefer a much more linear and curated main story path from a pacing standpoint.

But, like I said, everything else looks like exactly what I want from a Ghost of Tsushima sequel.

Definitely rocking that Miike mode. The more blood sprays, the better.

Once I saw 2B, I knew Cloud would be there at some point. Getting Sephiroth after finishing that hard as hell final level was icing on the cake.

@Kraven GUN is very underrated. I wish we had more western games like it.

A LOT of people have been sounding the alarm about Game Pass's blindingly obvious unsustainability for many years. The difference now is that many more people don't believe Xbox leadership's nonsense about GP being profitable and encouraging more spending on their platform. Anyone with a basic grasp of economics and how video games are made knows Phil Spencer's honeyed words about the service and its viability are almost all lies.

And for anyone reading this who is upset that I'm directly calling out Spencer, maybe you should be more upset at him for spoonfeeding you bull**** over the past two generations and fracturing Xbox's console health and culture beyond repair.

I get that the last Forza Motorsport underperformed big time and Horizon has become the new hot brand for Microsoft, but the assumed death of the series is really sad to see from a cultural standpoint. Turn 10 and FM have been Xbox staples for multiple generations.

I'd say a 7. I think it's VERY good. Very close to great in my eyes but not quite there for me. I'd go for an 8 if the main story was a tad shorter and some key scenes didn't land with a thud for me.

I couldn't care less if PlayStation brought all of their recent multiplayer games to Xbox. I'm more curious if Xbox gamers will actually buy this since it's not on Game Pass day one. If there was a time to put their money where their mouths are, this is it.

Finished Death Stranding 2's main story a few days ago. Absolutely deserves the #1 spot.

Reinforcements inbound!

@UltimateOtaku91 I'm very unfamiliar with the Wasteland series, but I imagine those don't cost anywhere near as much to make compared to most of Xbox's other games. With Clockwork, as great as it looks, I have no idea what it would need to do to be "successful" in Xbox's eyes because their metrics of success seem to frequently change internally.

@UltimateOtaku91 I think InXile will be okay, but I'm stunned we haven't heard anything about Ninja Theory.

The Initiative is one of the biggest gaming failures in recent memory. They was supposed to be a super team of industry vets, but it's clear that the project management was absolute ass. It didn't help either that Xbox's own project managers during that time were infamously "hands off" with their management style.

What a disaster all around.

"Xbox is great. I'm great. Enjoy the unemployment line." - Lord High Commander Diety of all things on this planet Phil Spencer

1 million players is pretty bad considering this was available both on Game Pass and PS Plus Extra day one. Also, couldn't anyone just login once, play for an hour and dip, and still be considered a "player"?

Stick to what you're good at, Remedy!

It amazes me what acquiring ActiBliz did to the Xbox brand. Sure, it generates huge revenue for them, but the long-term consequences have fundamentally changed what Xbox even is. And being forced to feed the colossal beast that is Game Pass certainly hasn't helped create a healthy ecosystem.

However, it has been amusing to watch the really hardcore loyalist cult of Phil Spencer twist themselves into a pretzel to praise Xbox's trajectory towards total platform agnosticism, despite them crying bucketloads on the inside that the days of true Xbox exclusives are practically dead.

Square Enix could straight-up steal the exact same combat and skill systems from E33 for FF17 and I'd be perfectly fine with that. Hell, use the Rebirth combat system for all I care. Because whatever confused and misguided action tripe they were trying to do with 15 and 16 is not what I want from modern Final Fantasy.

I get what he's saying, but he shouldn't feel like a fraud. He was fantastic and made a significant contribution to the emotional power of Expedition 33.

@AdamNovice If I were a gambling man, I'd bet on the next batch of characters (no doubt including Wolverine) being announced at either San Diego Comic-Con next month or EVO USA in August. It would be nonsensical to miss either of those two opportunities for a big splash with this being a Marvel fighting game.

I very highly doubt Tōkon will be here. I'm sure PlayStation is eager to save that for EVO or whenever their next State of Play is.

I've dropped almost 140 hours into this now, and Level-5 seems intent on keeping me hooked.

I'm really curious to see what this looks like because I'm fully onboard with PlayStation embracing different genres using their more popular IPs. Lego Horizon Adventures was a major bust, so hopefully this will work out a lot better.

Expedition 33 is my favorite of the year by a gigantic margin.

Fantasy Life i and Blue Prince are great too.

Please God no.

@Balaam_ Which extensions do you use? Like you, I'm sick to death of looking at so many of these gutter trash grifters being recommended to me by YouTube.

I'm 100% confident this won't get cancelled, but even with a delay, I still don't think Marathon will reach the level of success that PlayStation and Bungie want it to.

Again, what a gigantic waste of nearly $4 billion on Sony's end.

Look, I think Marathon is in deep $**t, but this article is very obvious clickbait. You can write articles about Marathon's woes without having to resort to using poll results on your own website full of people who are not Bungie's target playerbase. I expect better from this site, to be frank.

It could be free and I still wouldn't play it

@Ainu20 100% agree. Tōkon is a step in the right direction of what Sony's live service philosophy should be. As you correctly said, it's all about recognizing genre and niche demands and seeing what you can do to satiate them. A stylish and tag-team Marvel fighting game is absolutely a void that PlayStation has the unique leverage to fill.

Maybe PlayStation executives (including Hulst) hyping themselves up into a delusional frenzy calling generic dreck like Concord "the future of PlayStation" and a "Star Wars like IP" was part of the problem too.

Also, if they have really learned anything, they'll cancel Fairgames and gut Bungie's C-suite ASAP.