@nessisonett There's definitely an arbitrariness to any sort of ranking system, considering things excel in different ways. Like, I'd say, putting aside my own preferences, Portal 2, Dark Souls, Uncharted 4, Super Mario Odyssey, and Breath of the Wild could all reasonably be called 10s. But they're also wildly different games that are barely comparable in many respects.
It makes more sense if you think of scoring a game a 10 as signaling excellence instead of it being some sort of objective numerical representation of a game's ultimate value. In that respect, you could call both Dark Souls and Elden Ring 10s and still be able to maintain that one is a clear improvement on the other.
@bestuardo Definitely a fair point. I guess, for me, the thing is that, despite loving (good) horror, I have a limited tolerance for it, which keeps me from binging series like RE.
That said, these games come out infrequently enough that I could play, say, two a year and catch up sooner than later. If only I could tear myself away from these blasted 80+ hour JRPGs and open world games!
@NEStalgia Yeah, dude. The Godfather Part II; The Empire Strikes Back; Terminator 2: Judgment Day; Toy Story 3; Mad Max: Fury Road; The Dark Knight; Wrath of Khan; Dawn of the Dead; etc. etc. All corporate junk.
I will concede that it is far more common for video game sequels to be roundly superior to the original games in large part due to the 'gamey' parts being refined and expanded on over time.
I don't think 'different' equals 'flawed.' I just think that it's more often the case that inventiveness comes at the expense of refinement. My point is more that it's rarely the most polished experiences that live on as revered, immortal classics. So I think it's coherent to say that 10s can also be flawed in obvious ways.
I mostly read Ebert's reviews. Despite a lot of obvious shortcomings of his (he's given a number of very good films very contentious reviews, and too often allowed his own personal biases to cloud his judgment), I always admired the sheer joy with which he seemed to discuss the medium. Passion is infectious.
I've heard FFXIV is excellent. But online games, man. And it has a subscription model as well, right? Ugh. Maybe they'll make an offline version one day for someone like me to enjoy.
@NEStalgia I'd argue that many times the best games are obviously flawed, because they go out of their way to be different and forge a path of their own. I value that far more than any game that's merely a harmonious symphony of its parts. Actually, a ton of pretty good Sony and Nintendo games tend to hit this level, where they're super polished and well-constructed, and it's difficult to find any obvious flaws in their construction. But they lack the inspirational fire that the very best games have, y'know? They don't have that magic quality that tells you you're playing something really special.
I liked how Roger Ebert had his 0 - 4 star review system, and then hosted a separate discussion of "Great Movies," which he usually decided on with years of foresight to guide him.
Oh, you really should set aside some time and give TW3 a proper go when you can. It's far from the perfect gem of a game some of its obnoxiously fanatical fans like to pretend it is, but, all the same, I struggle to think of another modern Western RPG with stronger character writing or more elegantly constructed side-quests.
@NEStalgia "Best in genre" should easily score a 10. What's the point of a scoring system where almost nothing hits the top?
I liked Elden Ring, and I agree it does some things better than BotW (the way you can just almost randomly stumble on giant dungeons and entire underground cities is really cool, and a testament to FS' skill at excellent, multi-layered level design), but what hurt it for me is that it's almost entirely just combat. Zelda hits a better balance with combat, puzzles, character interactions, and a gigantic plethora of environmental interactions. ER also has the FS problem of having, like, no noteworthy music aside from the title theme and maybe some combat music, which is ironic considering people like to roast BotW's vastly better OST.
Somewhere between the combat and level design of Elden Ring, the traversal, environmental interactions, and puzzles of BotW, and the music, side-quests, and storytelling of The Witcher 3 is your fabled perfect, 10/10 adventure RPG, I'd say. Alas, we just have to settle for merely excellent games that do some things better than others.
Apparently this will lock out players from regions without access to PSN, which does suck.
The PS account requirement should have been communicated more clearly, and it shouldn't have been sold in territories that would eventually run into issues caused by this.
Hopefully Sony is accounting for all this and will give players in affected regions a workaround.
@colonelkilgore I feel like I'm just always going to be behind on Resident Evil, Yakuza, and the Trails series.
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, since I'll be getting the Ultimate Super editions (where applicable) for $20 or less in sales when I do get to them lol.
Always annoying when you have to juggle yet another account to play your Steam games, but considering this is a necessary step for cross-play, trophy support integration, etc. I think it's justified.
And anyway, it's an online game, so you'd expect interaction with PSN.
I've had access to these games for years on PC. Just have no interest, really. Nothing Microsoft has published in the last few years has moved the needle for me.
Really sad to see what the Xbox console brand has been reduced to. I still have a bunch of 360 games. That was an awesome platform.
@Sondheimist It's actually apparently not the only outfit that was changed. From just a casual search, I'm seeing images online of discrepancies with at least one other outfit. The predictable alteration: less cleavage.
Moreover, considering the developer has a reputation for leaning on sex appeal for their games, I find the notion that they had an "artistic" impulse to suddenly cover up the breasts in a few of their outfits at the last moment (considering the version that was shipped on discs features unaltered costumes) to be... implausible. Especially, when, let's be fair, Sony has a very recent history of making developers censor their games.
Regardless of what the actual explanation is, considering how they chose to advertise the game, they should have communicated the changes online prior to launch.
@UltimateOtaku91 It's okay, we all do it. I grabbed Unicorn Overlord without trying the demo, despite it apparently having a VERY weird take on SRPG combat. So we'll see how that goes. Just saw it on sale and couldn't resist.
Hey, at least you still have FFVII Rebirth. Or are you done with that already?
The developer EXPLICITLY advertised it as being free of the normal censorship that plague these sort of releases on Playstation consoles on their official Twitter account. So I think it's perfectly reasonable for people to be upset with this, given those circumstances. The dev not communicating these changes makes me think they were trying to lie by omission to avoid a rash of pre-order cancellations and were just hoping people wouldn't notice for a while.
As if the sort of people who lose sleep over video game booba being covered up weren't pouring over these outfits with hawk eyes anyway lol
@UltimateOtaku91 Playing the demo would have been a much cheaper way of discovering you dislike the style of combat in this game. Just saying.
Sounds like the sort of game where the negative aspects will be patched in coming months, so I think I'll just dump it into a wishlist for later consideration.
Brilliant. I hope they patch this into previous PC releases as well.
@Kevw2006 Returnal is a bit rough, and Horizon Forbidden West drops to low framerates in spots, but everything else runs pretty well. Even former exclusives like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and The Last of Us remake.
And even then, HFW will probably be patched and optimized a bit over time.
@The_Wailing_Doom Of the big three, Microsoft's player base is far and away the most digital-centric in terms of their purchasing habits. They'll unquestionably be the first to cut off physical media entirely from their console line.
I HIGHLY doubt that. NieR: Automata is one of the very best games from last gen. Accessible but thrilling combat. Gorgeous music. Interesting themes. A fascinating story. And one of the most mind-boggling true endings I've ever seen in a game.
Only three episodes in so far, but it's a strong contender for best video game adaptation to date outside of anime. They did an amazing job capturing the look of the games.
@NEStalgia People hear "Final Fantasy" and they think classic JRPG. Even after XVI, XV, and whatever the hell XIII was trying to be. You can't escape that association, no matter how much they tried to scrub the Japanese-ness off the brand with the last mainstream entry.
Anyway, to be clear, if a pivot away from exclusivity didn't have the potential to be harmful to the brand, Starfield would have been on PS5 day one, and Microsoft wouldn't just now be sending over some smaller exclusives.
You have to weigh profit margins against the possibility of long-term damage to the brand. Although, in Microsoft's case, the push toward multiplatform publishing seems to be accelerating now. Especially since they've all but given up on gaining market share in the home console space.
Sony is heavily reliant on that sector, however, so it's in their interest to give people a heavy incentive to continue buying their hardware and remaining the de facto home console brand. Wringing a few extra million units sold from PC and Xbox ports won't solve the fundamental budgetary issues they have.
@HonestHick
"One more thing i think that is hurting Sony is they took one of their best teams in Insomniac and turned them into a Marvel games studio."
No objections on that front, dude. Like them closing Japan Studio and pivoting away from publishing a greater variety of AA experiences, it's a result of the blockbuster-itis they contracted when they began westernizing the brand.
It's really sad how I've had to write off both Insomniac (not a Marvel fan) and Naughty Dog this gen, in addition to them closing some of their smaller studios as well. Ugh.
@HonestHick Games have thrived as exclusives on one platform for generations without issue. Exclusivity used to be the norm, actually. It was only in the seventh gen that the 'everything goes everywhere' ethos started.
Exclusives were a unique area of competition between platforms. They're usually not the biggest sellers every gen (unless you're Nintendo lol), but they help to diversify different platforms and often make a strong argument for opting for one manufacturer's console over another.
Sony's problem is that they insist on making everything a $200+ million dollar photo-realistic blockbuster now because they successfully groomed their base into only wanting those, which is cutting into their profit margins for even objectively ultra-successful releases like Spider-Man 2.
Anyway, there's a reason JRPGs rarely get gigantic budgets relative to more conventionally mainstream genre. Two million at launch is still huge for any JRPG not called Pokemon. It's a niche genre, so there's not as much space in the market to expand as there is with something like a third-person cinematic action-adventure title.
@NEStalgia Hard to say. It's not like these games are selling historically badly or anything, and Sony seems to like keeping Final Fantasy exclusive to their consoles.
Sony paying to hobble the competition has been a time-tested winning strategy for them since the PS1. Even if it's not strictly necessary, they're also not letting their guard down around Microsoft. There's a reason they didn't jack up the price of the PS5 in the U.S. like they did everywhere else, after all.
Pity. This looks terrific. If it was a real exclusive I'd have bought the console just to play it.
@HonestHick Timed exclusivity deal, and shorter for this than it was for Remake. Rebirth will probably be on PC within a year. The only question for me is if Epic is going to delay the Steam version with its own moneyhatting.
Also, the sad truth is that it's probably more lucrative on S-E's end to accept Sony's money than it would be to port the game to Xbox. JRPGs didn't do well on Xbox BEFORE Microsoft trained its base to pay their monthly dues and wait for the 'free' versions of games they want.
There's a lot of games out there, limited time in my life, and, frankly, I don't want to spend hundreds of hours on any one title. I like the variety afforded by exclusively playing single-player story-based games.
I'll sacrifice a considerable amount of graphical fidelity to achieve smoother performance in my games, so it's important to me on stationary platforms.
That said, I've never passed up a game for performance reasons, and I don't plan to start now.
@NEStalgia I actually totally agree. Soul Hackers 2 seems like a perfect hybrid game. Designed, even, by the Tokyo Mirage Sessions people. Environments are small, dungeons are labyrinths, etc. Yet the dummies seem intent on making it impossible to play that way. It doesn't even run well on Steam Deck for some godforsaken reason.
Meanwhile, yeah, let's make this way more ambitious SMT game that has enormous environments, to-scale demons lumbering everywhere, and tons of advanced visual effects exclusive to Nintendo's latest toaster.
For my Switch OLED, of course, just like I snagged Muramasa, Dragon's Crown, and Odin Sphere on Vita. Vanillaware games shine brightest on OLED handhelds.
@NEStalgia Megami Tensei is pretty much the OG monster collecting franchise, yeah, even going back to the original games on the Famicom.
The lack of that element in Soul Hackers 2 is a big reason I didn't stick with that game, I think.
I've already played SMT V all the way through on Normal and halfway through on Hard. Going for another full playthrough of the new route when this comes out. It was flawed, but I LOVED SMT V.
The new content all looks awesome. I feel like I'm getting a new SMT game.
Guess I'm buying it a third time!
@UltimateOtaku91 No, they're different story routes. Nothing has indicated understanding one is conditional on playing the other.
@AccessibleDaydream Persona and SMT share similar spell names, monsters (although they're called demons in SMT), fusion mechanics, etc. Persona games tend to split the focus between social simulation gameplay and more streamlined JRPG gameplay, whereas SMT games ARE combat and exploration-focused the entire time.
Persona games feature a larger emphasis on humor and character development in magical realist contemporary settings, whereas SMT games tend to be either apocalyptic fantasy (III and V in particular) or have more of a science-fiction/dark future setting (I, II, the IV duology, and Strange Journey), which is also generally apocalyptic. SMT games also tend to focus more on questions of morality, through the filter of a tabletop RPG-like Order/Chaos dichotomy, with characters taking sides in ideological conflicts where their factions are typically supported by different Gods.
As a result of this, unlike Persona, SMT games have stories that change depending on the choices that characters make, typically leading to some wildly different in-game scenarios and endings depending on which faction they support.
SMT games also tend to have a very Abrahamic religious bent to them. You're typically mixed up in a supernatural war of some sort between Heaven and Hell.
Persona games feature more... casual friendly gameplay, whereas SMT is more hardcore and combat-focused.
SMT also have a laser focus on more explicitly supernatural themes. The demons in SMT are explicitly drawn from world mythology. Any similarities in Persona are because they're reflections of the collective unconscious in that series. That said, you'll have a stricter focus on actual mythological entities in SMT.
SMT, especially SMT V, is also much more of a monster-collector. In Persona, your monsters tend to act as equipment for your cast of characters, but in SMT, you're actually fighting alongside your demons. A comparison to Pokemon comes up a lot. As a result, you tend to have a lot more freedom in terms of party experimentation and builds, like in a Pokemon game.
So basically: one series is more casual-friendly and has the social simulation/wish fulfillment/dating sim Japanese teenager elements (Persona), and one series is more hardcore, speculative, and focused on challenging combat and exploration (SMT).
And also, they have different development teams within Atlus. So different people are making these games.
@sanguinekhajiit Presumably their market analysis expands beyond the confines of Push Square article comment sections, and they think they can make a profit on the port.
That, indeed, shouldn't be too complicated to figure out.
Companies will chase this type of game because of how lucrative a lot of these older titles are, but it's a bit of a trap, because this gold rush is unsustainable. Existing games already command the attention and wallets of an ingrained majority of Playstation owners, so with every successful live service game, there's less and less room for newer titles to make it big. Doesn't mean they can't (Helldivers 2 is making that VERY clear), but more and more resources are being poured into a type of game that has less and less to offer newcomers to the market.
Meanwhile, single player games may be less lucrative per title, but there's an ever cycling appetite for new ones. Companies just need to learn to control their budgets a bit.
@Specky Ah. It has been pretty sad watching the Americanization and homogenization of the Playstation brand over the last several years.
The mainstream of Western gaming has become toxic, which is why I stay shut up in my indie/Japanese AA/Nintendo bubble. Those have some issues too, but not nearly to the same degree, and I'm rarely disappointed by new releases I'm looking forward to.
@Specky Then branch out? Play more Nintendo games. Play more indies. Play more Japanese AA titles. Whatever looks fun.
You don't need to be "hyped" to find countless fun games to occupy your time if you look outside of the usual heavily-marketed AAA fare.
Even if you just stuck with Playstation, there are so many games on the platform that I guarantee you haven't played that there's not really any reason to be bored or pessimistic.
It is sometimes frustrating to see these genius-level video game fans who create these amazing looking games have years of work erased when they're inevitably hit with C&D letters.
Glad she was able to rebrand and re-release this. Sony should help fund a port to the PS5.
"Very telling that CDPR has made better games than all of the above. Even 2077 is better on launch than anything Ubisoft has released in the past decade"
Um, no. 2077 was a broken mess of a game at launch. At least on console.
Meanwhile, Ubisoft published high-quality games like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, both Mario + Rabbids games, South Park: The Stick of Truth (not developed by Ubi, but published by them), Trials Rising, Child of Light, etc. I don't recall any of those launching with game-breaking bugs or terrible optimization on their target platforms.
The PS5 has sustained itself off the incredible momentum achieved during the PS4 generation, but it's far from being a great console like that was, and looks unlikely to outsell it (let alone the PS2 lol).
As a software publisher, Sony has arguably never been as weak as it is right now, stuck in a rut of occasionally releasing safe, prohibitively expensive sequels to existing properties and little else of consequence in-between.
Moreover, Sony is continuing to expand the availability of its software outside of the Playstation ecosystem, making the PS5 a console that's arguably only necessary for the biggest Playstation fans. It wouldn't surprise me if they eventually get to the point where the window between console and PC releases for big blockbuster tentpoles is non-existent.
Comments 5,884
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Stellar Blade?
@nessisonett There's definitely an arbitrariness to any sort of ranking system, considering things excel in different ways. Like, I'd say, putting aside my own preferences, Portal 2, Dark Souls, Uncharted 4, Super Mario Odyssey, and Breath of the Wild could all reasonably be called 10s. But they're also wildly different games that are barely comparable in many respects.
It makes more sense if you think of scoring a game a 10 as signaling excellence instead of it being some sort of objective numerical representation of a game's ultimate value. In that respect, you could call both Dark Souls and Elden Ring 10s and still be able to maintain that one is a clear improvement on the other.
Re: Rumour: Resident Evil 9 Reveal and Release Imminent, Out in January
@bestuardo Definitely a fair point. I guess, for me, the thing is that, despite loving (good) horror, I have a limited tolerance for it, which keeps me from binging series like RE.
That said, these games come out infrequently enough that I could play, say, two a year and catch up sooner than later. If only I could tear myself away from these blasted 80+ hour JRPGs and open world games!
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Stellar Blade?
@NEStalgia Yeah, dude. The Godfather Part II; The Empire Strikes Back; Terminator 2: Judgment Day; Toy Story 3; Mad Max: Fury Road; The Dark Knight; Wrath of Khan; Dawn of the Dead; etc. etc. All corporate junk.
I will concede that it is far more common for video game sequels to be roundly superior to the original games in large part due to the 'gamey' parts being refined and expanded on over time.
I don't think 'different' equals 'flawed.' I just think that it's more often the case that inventiveness comes at the expense of refinement. My point is more that it's rarely the most polished experiences that live on as revered, immortal classics. So I think it's coherent to say that 10s can also be flawed in obvious ways.
I mostly read Ebert's reviews. Despite a lot of obvious shortcomings of his (he's given a number of very good films very contentious reviews, and too often allowed his own personal biases to cloud his judgment), I always admired the sheer joy with which he seemed to discuss the medium. Passion is infectious.
I've heard FFXIV is excellent. But online games, man. And it has a subscription model as well, right? Ugh. Maybe they'll make an offline version one day for someone like me to enjoy.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Stellar Blade?
@NEStalgia I'd argue that many times the best games are obviously flawed, because they go out of their way to be different and forge a path of their own. I value that far more than any game that's merely a harmonious symphony of its parts. Actually, a ton of pretty good Sony and Nintendo games tend to hit this level, where they're super polished and well-constructed, and it's difficult to find any obvious flaws in their construction. But they lack the inspirational fire that the very best games have, y'know? They don't have that magic quality that tells you you're playing something really special.
I liked how Roger Ebert had his 0 - 4 star review system, and then hosted a separate discussion of "Great Movies," which he usually decided on with years of foresight to guide him.
Oh, you really should set aside some time and give TW3 a proper go when you can. It's far from the perfect gem of a game some of its obnoxiously fanatical fans like to pretend it is, but, all the same, I struggle to think of another modern Western RPG with stronger character writing or more elegantly constructed side-quests.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Stellar Blade?
@NEStalgia "Best in genre" should easily score a 10. What's the point of a scoring system where almost nothing hits the top?
I liked Elden Ring, and I agree it does some things better than BotW (the way you can just almost randomly stumble on giant dungeons and entire underground cities is really cool, and a testament to FS' skill at excellent, multi-layered level design), but what hurt it for me is that it's almost entirely just combat. Zelda hits a better balance with combat, puzzles, character interactions, and a gigantic plethora of environmental interactions. ER also has the FS problem of having, like, no noteworthy music aside from the title theme and maybe some combat music, which is ironic considering people like to roast BotW's vastly better OST.
Somewhere between the combat and level design of Elden Ring, the traversal, environmental interactions, and puzzles of BotW, and the music, side-quests, and storytelling of The Witcher 3 is your fabled perfect, 10/10 adventure RPG, I'd say. Alas, we just have to settle for merely excellent games that do some things better than others.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Stellar Blade?
@NEStalgia "The 8 is as much a joke as PJ OReily giving Dragon's Dogma 2 a 10/10 while it stutters and stammers"
In fairness, the highest-rated game of all time ran around 20fps most of the time.
So what 10s would you give away, out of curiosity?
Re: Family Friendly Level-5 Boss Would Love to Make Violent, Erotic Games
Professor Laidton. Ni no Coochie. The possibilities are endless.
@Savage_Joe Too late. He's more of a pony now.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Stellar Blade?
@NEStalgia What would Stellar Blade need to do to boost that bad boy (girl?) up to a 6.9? Just curious.
Re: Helldivers 2 PC Players Blindsided by Seemingly Sudden PSN Account Requirement
Apparently this will lock out players from regions without access to PSN, which does suck.
The PS account requirement should have been communicated more clearly, and it shouldn't have been sold in territories that would eventually run into issues caused by this.
Hopefully Sony is accounting for all this and will give players in affected regions a workaround.
Re: Rumour: Resident Evil 9 Reveal and Release Imminent, Out in January
@colonelkilgore I feel like I'm just always going to be behind on Resident Evil, Yakuza, and the Trails series.
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, since I'll be getting the Ultimate Super editions (where applicable) for $20 or less in sales when I do get to them lol.
Re: Helldivers 2 PC Players Blindsided by Seemingly Sudden PSN Account Requirement
Always annoying when you have to juggle yet another account to play your Steam games, but considering this is a necessary step for cross-play, trophy support integration, etc. I think it's justified.
And anyway, it's an online game, so you'd expect interaction with PSN.
Re: Korea Announces Bold Plan to Buff Nation's Nascent Console Market
@R_Ryder tbh after seeing some of their crazy propaganda cartoons, I'd be deeply curious to know what a North Korean video game might look like
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Sales Remain Muted in the USA, Compared to Past Games
The context is definitely different.
Direct sequel to a previous game, and also somewhat confusingly titled at that.
Released as an exclusive on a platform that has half as many units in the wild as the PS4 when FF7 Remake was dropped.
Remake released during COVID.
And, frankly, probably much of the nostalgia appeal of a release like this was expended with Remake.
This was always going to be one of the major issues with Squeenix's 'trilogy' approach to FF7.
Re: Talking Point: What's Next for Xbox Games on PS5, PS4?
I've had access to these games for years on PC. Just have no interest, really. Nothing Microsoft has published in the last few years has moved the needle for me.
Really sad to see what the Xbox console brand has been reduced to. I still have a bunch of 360 games. That was an awesome platform.
Re: Stellar Blade PS5 Fans Irate Over Alleged Censorship
@Sondheimist It's actually apparently not the only outfit that was changed. From just a casual search, I'm seeing images online of discrepancies with at least one other outfit. The predictable alteration: less cleavage.
Moreover, considering the developer has a reputation for leaning on sex appeal for their games, I find the notion that they had an "artistic" impulse to suddenly cover up the breasts in a few of their outfits at the last moment (considering the version that was shipped on discs features unaltered costumes) to be... implausible. Especially, when, let's be fair, Sony has a very recent history of making developers censor their games.
Regardless of what the actual explanation is, considering how they chose to advertise the game, they should have communicated the changes online prior to launch.
Re: Stellar Blade PS5 Fans Irate Over Alleged Censorship
@UltimateOtaku91 It's okay, we all do it. I grabbed Unicorn Overlord without trying the demo, despite it apparently having a VERY weird take on SRPG combat. So we'll see how that goes. Just saw it on sale and couldn't resist.
Hey, at least you still have FFVII Rebirth. Or are you done with that already?
Re: Stellar Blade PS5 Fans Irate Over Alleged Censorship
The developer EXPLICITLY advertised it as being free of the normal censorship that plague these sort of releases on Playstation consoles on their official Twitter account. So I think it's perfectly reasonable for people to be upset with this, given those circumstances. The dev not communicating these changes makes me think they were trying to lie by omission to avoid a rash of pre-order cancellations and were just hoping people wouldn't notice for a while.
As if the sort of people who lose sleep over video game booba being covered up weren't pouring over these outfits with hawk eyes anyway lol
@UltimateOtaku91 Playing the demo would have been a much cheaper way of discovering you dislike the style of combat in this game. Just saying.
Re: Another Crab's Treasure (PS5) - Undersea Soulslike Is as Good as It Is Buggy
Sounds like the sort of game where the negative aspects will be patched in coming months, so I think I'll just dump it into a wishlist for later consideration.
Re: Sexy Lara Croft Posters Will Return in Next Tomb Raider Remastered Patch
@Gamer83 You underestimate the ability for anything and everything, regardless of intention, to be subsumed by the culture war.
I'd give it a few weeks max before somebody found a way to connect this incident to Sweet Baby Inc, lol
Re: Sexy Lara Croft Posters Will Return in Next Tomb Raider Remastered Patch
Thank god. Now I don't need to have this thrown in my face online as an example of "SJWs" destroying video games for the next ten years.
And it wouldn't be cool to deliberately remove that sort of thing in a post-release patch anyway.
Re: Atari Hires WayForward to Make Yars Rising, Out for PS5, PS4 This Year
Incredibly random announcement, but I'm down for more WayForward action platformers.
Re: Sony Reveals PlayStation Overlay for PC Ports, Supports Trophies, Friends List
Brilliant. I hope they patch this into previous PC releases as well.
@Kevw2006 Returnal is a bit rough, and Horizon Forbidden West drops to low framerates in spots, but everything else runs pretty well. Even former exclusives like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and The Last of Us remake.
And even then, HFW will probably be patched and optimized a bit over time.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Helldivers 2 Returns to Top 10 in Quiet Week for New PS5, PS4 Releases
@The_Wailing_Doom Of the big three, Microsoft's player base is far and away the most digital-centric in terms of their purchasing habits. They'll unquestionably be the first to cut off physical media entirely from their console line.
Re: Stellar Blade Is a Better Game Than NieR: Automata, Yoko Taro Reckons
I HIGHLY doubt that. NieR: Automata is one of the very best games from last gen. Accessible but thrilling combat. Gorgeous music. Interesting themes. A fascinating story. And one of the most mind-boggling true endings I've ever seen in a game.
Re: TV Show Review: Fallout - RPG Series Marks Another TV Triumph
Only three episodes in so far, but it's a strong contender for best video game adaptation to date outside of anime. They did an amazing job capturing the look of the games.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Has Sold Around 2 Million Copies, PS5 Player Data Suggests
@NEStalgia People hear "Final Fantasy" and they think classic JRPG. Even after XVI, XV, and whatever the hell XIII was trying to be. You can't escape that association, no matter how much they tried to scrub the Japanese-ness off the brand with the last mainstream entry.
Anyway, to be clear, if a pivot away from exclusivity didn't have the potential to be harmful to the brand, Starfield would have been on PS5 day one, and Microsoft wouldn't just now be sending over some smaller exclusives.
You have to weigh profit margins against the possibility of long-term damage to the brand. Although, in Microsoft's case, the push toward multiplatform publishing seems to be accelerating now. Especially since they've all but given up on gaining market share in the home console space.
Sony is heavily reliant on that sector, however, so it's in their interest to give people a heavy incentive to continue buying their hardware and remaining the de facto home console brand. Wringing a few extra million units sold from PC and Xbox ports won't solve the fundamental budgetary issues they have.
@HonestHick
"One more thing i think that is hurting Sony is they took one of their best teams in Insomniac and turned them into a Marvel games studio."
No objections on that front, dude. Like them closing Japan Studio and pivoting away from publishing a greater variety of AA experiences, it's a result of the blockbuster-itis they contracted when they began westernizing the brand.
It's really sad how I've had to write off both Insomniac (not a Marvel fan) and Naughty Dog this gen, in addition to them closing some of their smaller studios as well. Ugh.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Has Sold Around 2 Million Copies, PS5 Player Data Suggests
@HonestHick Games have thrived as exclusives on one platform for generations without issue. Exclusivity used to be the norm, actually. It was only in the seventh gen that the 'everything goes everywhere' ethos started.
Exclusives were a unique area of competition between platforms. They're usually not the biggest sellers every gen (unless you're Nintendo lol), but they help to diversify different platforms and often make a strong argument for opting for one manufacturer's console over another.
Sony's problem is that they insist on making everything a $200+ million dollar photo-realistic blockbuster now because they successfully groomed their base into only wanting those, which is cutting into their profit margins for even objectively ultra-successful releases like Spider-Man 2.
Anyway, there's a reason JRPGs rarely get gigantic budgets relative to more conventionally mainstream genre. Two million at launch is still huge for any JRPG not called Pokemon. It's a niche genre, so there's not as much space in the market to expand as there is with something like a third-person cinematic action-adventure title.
@NEStalgia Hard to say. It's not like these games are selling historically badly or anything, and Sony seems to like keeping Final Fantasy exclusive to their consoles.
Sony paying to hobble the competition has been a time-tested winning strategy for them since the PS1. Even if it's not strictly necessary, they're also not letting their guard down around Microsoft. There's a reason they didn't jack up the price of the PS5 in the U.S. like they did everywhere else, after all.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Has Sold Around 2 Million Copies, PS5 Player Data Suggests
Pity. This looks terrific. If it was a real exclusive I'd have bought the console just to play it.
@HonestHick Timed exclusivity deal, and shorter for this than it was for Remake. Rebirth will probably be on PC within a year. The only question for me is if Epic is going to delay the Steam version with its own moneyhatting.
Also, the sad truth is that it's probably more lucrative on S-E's end to accept Sony's money than it would be to port the game to Xbox. JRPGs didn't do well on Xbox BEFORE Microsoft trained its base to pay their monthly dues and wait for the 'free' versions of games they want.
Re: SMT 5: Vengeance Teases New Story, New Gameplay, and New Demons in Fresh Trailer
SMT V can finally shine on competent hardware!
Glad they opted to drastically alter the narrative elements in the new campaign, since the story was a major weakness of the original.
Amazing year to be a MegaTen fan!
Re: Stellar Blade Director Emphasises Importance of 'Single-Player Games with an Ending'
There's a lot of games out there, limited time in my life, and, frankly, I don't want to spend hundreds of hours on any one title. I like the variety afforded by exclusively playing single-player story-based games.
Re: Indie Smash Hit Vampire Survivors Is Finally Coming to PS5, PS4 This Summer
Endlessly addicting game. Good lord, I was hooked for weeks on the PC Game Pass release!
Re: UK Sales Charts: Helldivers 2 Takes a Dive, Elden Ring Spirit Springs Back to the Top 10
@BaldBelper78 New Switch owners. A gigantic chunk of purchasers grab it alongside their new console.
Re: Poll: How Much Do You Care About 60fps on PS5?
I'll sacrifice a considerable amount of graphical fidelity to achieve smoother performance in my games, so it's important to me on stationary platforms.
That said, I've never passed up a game for performance reasons, and I don't plan to start now.
Re: SMT 5: Vengeance Trailer Teases New Enemies, Dungeons, and More
@NEStalgia I actually totally agree. Soul Hackers 2 seems like a perfect hybrid game. Designed, even, by the Tokyo Mirage Sessions people. Environments are small, dungeons are labyrinths, etc. Yet the dummies seem intent on making it impossible to play that way. It doesn't even run well on Steam Deck for some godforsaken reason.
Meanwhile, yeah, let's make this way more ambitious SMT game that has enormous environments, to-scale demons lumbering everywhere, and tons of advanced visual effects exclusive to Nintendo's latest toaster.
Re: Unicorn Overlord Development Began in 2016, When It Was Originally Planned for PS Vita
Just ordered a copy this morning.
For my Switch OLED, of course, just like I snagged Muramasa, Dragon's Crown, and Odin Sphere on Vita. Vanillaware games shine brightest on OLED handhelds.
Re: Dragon Quest 12 Still MIA as Series Producer Is Reassigned at Square Enix
Honestly, Dragon Quest XI (especially S) was a lovely celebration of the series. If it ended there, I wouldn't be too sad.
Re: SMT 5: Vengeance Trailer Teases New Enemies, Dungeons, and More
@NEStalgia Megami Tensei is pretty much the OG monster collecting franchise, yeah, even going back to the original games on the Famicom.
The lack of that element in Soul Hackers 2 is a big reason I didn't stick with that game, I think.
I've already played SMT V all the way through on Normal and halfway through on Hard. Going for another full playthrough of the new route when this comes out. It was flawed, but I LOVED SMT V.
Re: Front Mission 2 Remake Drops More Mech Action on PS5, PS4 This Month
I'm just patiently waiting for the remake of the third game.
Re: SMT 5: Vengeance Trailer Teases New Enemies, Dungeons, and More
The new content all looks awesome. I feel like I'm getting a new SMT game.
Guess I'm buying it a third time!
@UltimateOtaku91 No, they're different story routes. Nothing has indicated understanding one is conditional on playing the other.
@AccessibleDaydream Persona and SMT share similar spell names, monsters (although they're called demons in SMT), fusion mechanics, etc. Persona games tend to split the focus between social simulation gameplay and more streamlined JRPG gameplay, whereas SMT games ARE combat and exploration-focused the entire time.
Persona games feature a larger emphasis on humor and character development in magical realist contemporary settings, whereas SMT games tend to be either apocalyptic fantasy (III and V in particular) or have more of a science-fiction/dark future setting (I, II, the IV duology, and Strange Journey), which is also generally apocalyptic. SMT games also tend to focus more on questions of morality, through the filter of a tabletop RPG-like Order/Chaos dichotomy, with characters taking sides in ideological conflicts where their factions are typically supported by different Gods.
As a result of this, unlike Persona, SMT games have stories that change depending on the choices that characters make, typically leading to some wildly different in-game scenarios and endings depending on which faction they support.
SMT games also tend to have a very Abrahamic religious bent to them. You're typically mixed up in a supernatural war of some sort between Heaven and Hell.
Persona games feature more... casual friendly gameplay, whereas SMT is more hardcore and combat-focused.
SMT also have a laser focus on more explicitly supernatural themes. The demons in SMT are explicitly drawn from world mythology. Any similarities in Persona are because they're reflections of the collective unconscious in that series. That said, you'll have a stricter focus on actual mythological entities in SMT.
SMT, especially SMT V, is also much more of a monster-collector. In Persona, your monsters tend to act as equipment for your cast of characters, but in SMT, you're actually fighting alongside your demons. A comparison to Pokemon comes up a lot. As a result, you tend to have a lot more freedom in terms of party experimentation and builds, like in a Pokemon game.
So basically: one series is more casual-friendly and has the social simulation/wish fulfillment/dating sim Japanese teenager elements (Persona), and one series is more hardcore, speculative, and focused on challenging combat and exploration (SMT).
And also, they have different development teams within Atlus. So different people are making these games.
Re: PSP Dungeon Crawling RPGs Class of Heroes 1 & 2 Delve to PS5 Over a Decade Later
@sanguinekhajiit Presumably their market analysis expands beyond the confines of Push Square article comment sections, and they think they can make a profit on the port.
That, indeed, shouldn't be too complicated to figure out.
Re: New Hollow Knight: Silksong Age Rating Fuels More Speculation
It has been shown off by both Nintendo and Microsoft so far. Might as well complete the triad.
Re: Older Live Service Titles Take Up Over 60% of Overall Playtime, Report Says
Companies will chase this type of game because of how lucrative a lot of these older titles are, but it's a bit of a trap, because this gold rush is unsustainable. Existing games already command the attention and wallets of an ingrained majority of Playstation owners, so with every successful live service game, there's less and less room for newer titles to make it big. Doesn't mean they can't (Helldivers 2 is making that VERY clear), but more and more resources are being poured into a type of game that has less and less to offer newcomers to the market.
Meanwhile, single player games may be less lucrative per title, but there's an ever cycling appetite for new ones. Companies just need to learn to control their budgets a bit.
Re: Rumour: Sony to Host Big PlayStation Event Next Month
@Specky Ah. It has been pretty sad watching the Americanization and homogenization of the Playstation brand over the last several years.
The mainstream of Western gaming has become toxic, which is why I stay shut up in my indie/Japanese AA/Nintendo bubble. Those have some issues too, but not nearly to the same degree, and I'm rarely disappointed by new releases I'm looking forward to.
Re: PSP Dungeon Crawling RPGs Class of Heroes 1 & 2 Delve to PS5 Over a Decade Later
@Flaming_Kaiser Pretty much my point.
The game exists. If you can port it to a modern system and make more money from it, why wouldn't you?
Re: Rumour: Sony to Host Big PlayStation Event Next Month
@Specky Then branch out? Play more Nintendo games. Play more indies. Play more Japanese AA titles. Whatever looks fun.
You don't need to be "hyped" to find countless fun games to occupy your time if you look outside of the usual heavily-marketed AAA fare.
Even if you just stuck with Playstation, there are so many games on the platform that I guarantee you haven't played that there's not really any reason to be bored or pessimistic.
Re: Bloodborne Kart Rebrands as Nightmare Kart, Out for Free on PC This May
It is sometimes frustrating to see these genius-level video game fans who create these amazing looking games have years of work erased when they're inevitably hit with C&D letters.
Glad she was able to rebrand and re-release this. Sony should help fund a port to the PS5.
Re: PSP Dungeon Crawling RPGs Class of Heroes 1 & 2 Delve to PS5 Over a Decade Later
I'll stick with the Etrian Odyssey series. Pretty much every other first-person dungeon crawler I've played has been a disappointment in comparison.
@sanguinekhajiit "fun little dungeon crawler, but ... why?"
...the same reason almost any older game is ported to modern consoles?
Re: Unicorn Overlord Sales Top Half a Million, Could Be Vanillaware's Fastest Selling Game
Makes sense. Sales data seems to suggest it sold better on Switch, and unlike 13 Sentinels, it was there at launch.
Re: Microtransactions Don't Belong in a Single Player Game, Says The Witcher Dev
@Specky
"Very telling that CDPR has made better games than all of the above. Even 2077 is better on launch than anything Ubisoft has released in the past decade"
Um, no. 2077 was a broken mess of a game at launch. At least on console.
Meanwhile, Ubisoft published high-quality games like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, both Mario + Rabbids games, South Park: The Stick of Truth (not developed by Ubi, but published by them), Trials Rising, Child of Light, etc. I don't recall any of those launching with game-breaking bugs or terrible optimization on their target platforms.
Ubisoft isn't JUST AssCreed and Far Cry.
Re: Jim Ryan Leaves PlayStation as PS5 Set to Become Its 'Most Successful Console Ever'
The PS5 has sustained itself off the incredible momentum achieved during the PS4 generation, but it's far from being a great console like that was, and looks unlikely to outsell it (let alone the PS2 lol).
As a software publisher, Sony has arguably never been as weak as it is right now, stuck in a rut of occasionally releasing safe, prohibitively expensive sequels to existing properties and little else of consequence in-between.
Moreover, Sony is continuing to expand the availability of its software outside of the Playstation ecosystem, making the PS5 a console that's arguably only necessary for the biggest Playstation fans. It wouldn't surprise me if they eventually get to the point where the window between console and PC releases for big blockbuster tentpoles is non-existent.