Rudy_Manchego

Ghosts is one of those games that was not on my radar but my twitter feed (and here) is awash with great gifs and images and I ended up using some ebay money to get a copy this weekend.

I think it is insane that this generation Sony has launched multiple new IP's and one offs. Knack, Nioh, The Order, Until Dawn, HZD, Days Gone, Ghosts, Astrobot Rescue, Bloodborne, Detroit, Death Stranding, Spiderman, The Last Guardian, Farpoint, Blood and Truth...

Would love to be playing Ghosts of Tsushima but I am not as I don’t have it.

Might play more Iron Man VR and pick up more Mirrors edge catalyst

Great review - this is out on Apple Arcade so I will give this a go I think. I've seen some user reviews saying it was too simple or repetetive but I dont think that sounds like the case.

I have No Mans Sky and played a few hours but I find the grindy mining too slow - loved the exploration and atmosphere and the soundtrack is awesome.

Ah I thought this was going to be a toxic simulator but turns out I have to make others be nice... boooo!

Would like this game but can’t afford it this week. Ah well!

Wow Ubisoft are really listening to what people want. Seriously the market cannot support multiple live service games and they have failed with Divison 2 and Ghost Recond: Breakwind to make the money they were expecting or wanting.

Now maybe the project was failing and maybe this will be better than what was going to be released but how many of these games can they manage to support at any one time. Secondly, as @Octane said, there is a game that does something very similar and that has struggled.

Taking a step back, there has always been a complaint, largely from PC players, that exclusivity limits people to being able to play all titles on their platform of choice. I get that, it would be great as a consumer to be able to do so.

However, in my opinion, this generation has proven that first party content from the likes of Sony and Nintendo is essential to the game industry because third party AAA publishers rarely fund the type of games that first parties make because their business model is different. I mean would Activision or Ubisoft have sunk the kind of money into games like Breath of the Wild, God of War or The Last Of Us - expansive single player games, with no MP or monetization options? Of course not.

First party games are designed to attract different player bases to your system and create an element of brand loyalty, which yes, is about locking people to their eco system to get more money. At the same time, the benefit is it means it has fuelled some truly unique games.

Phil Spencer's interview is baffling - MS is still paying for timed or console exclusives or promoting major third party games on Gamepass so that isn't true. They are investing in acquiring game studios which will clearly make console exclusive titles. So that isn't true.

Everyone knows that most publishers target two generations at the start of a new one to make sure they can cover their investment because the amount of early adopters is lower than the previous install base. It isn't about player choice. Ultimately, however all publishers will want to push next gen and games after 1-2 years will only be possible on new gen tech.

I get that PC gamers can run on lower end hardware and that developers provide for them but at a certain point, that also stops or the experience is so degraded it makes it pointless. In fact, one could argue that PC gamers are held back because majority of users don't all have high end systems that can run.

The whole interview is baffling.

Oh boy - so basically release dates and a new Far Cry game? I really wish Ubisoft would flex its muscles and try new things. They created a whole host of subgenres then stopped and kept pushing them out.

Yes but it is a different scenario. The PC market has competition - users can go to alternate store fronts or buy steam codes elsewhere. Therefore there is more natural competition. Sony has no competition if you have a Sony device.

You don't mess with Lo Wang.

Well still TLOU2 for me but I am itching to get into Iron Man VR that I picked up today!

@zimbogamer Oh the humanity!

YES !!!! Umbrella Corps is cheap. Can't wait to pick this up and play with [checks player base] myself...

@AdamNovice Of course mate and I think that it is totally fine to have a genuine critique of the game and I think ND must have known that their direction would ruffle a few feathers in terms of fan reception. Indeed, I am slightly convinced that Sony's review embargo was specifically designed to limit that fallout.

@johncalmc You are wrong - the dangers are worse than that. Lack of taking risks leads to Coldplay, Coldplay leads to Keane.

@AdamNovice I'd argue that the two are separate points. I don't think Naughty Dog brought it on themselves because regardless of whatever they chose to do, no one should get abuse and hate for releasing a game.

I agree that there is a question to be answered by ND's response to valid critique but that is very different to a lot of the online hate. I am also worried that the visuals and innovation on the game came at a human cost via crunch but again. However, that doesn't mean that abuse should be given.

Stuff like this I liken to Star Wars The Last Jedi. I seriously disliked that film as a Star Wars fan. My response was that I haven't watched it again and didn't bother with Rise of Skywalker. I didn't go online, do petitions to retcon it, abuse actors, writers, directors because I didn't like it.

EDIT - not stating that you support abuse at all!

I mean here is the thing - regardless of legitimate critique of the game, the vitriol and online hate is just disgusting and completely unncessary. This is a game that even if terrible, just needs a sensible, didn't like it response.

The game is a very good game. I think, and I am only something like 16 hours in, that is has a few problems but never for a second would I spread online hate or even dismiss based on pre-conceptions.

I'd argue as well that ND's reaction to legitimate critique has been handled badly and I don't think the story embargo was a good practice. However we need to not confuse the two - they are separate points.

All this vitriol just means companies will want to play it safer in future.

A nice game and reminiscent of a time when smaller scale but engrossing games could take a risk. It wasn't industry changing but it told an engrossing story in an interesting setting with some solid gameplay.

I am intrigued by this game and love the setting but another large open or semi open world third person game just seems tooooo long and huge for me.

@get2sammyb Most likely, though I also wonder if there are just those type of games that people don't want to buy but do want to try - Destiny 2 being a good example, how many people played the first few hours then gave up but would never have bought it?

As opposed to say, Bloodborne, that was pretty much in fans collections already.

Sonic Forces and Shadow of the Colossus? I really thought Bloodborne was going to be in there.

I am not a racing fan but I know how passionate these are. I don't see why you wouldn't make these configurable. A full sim for people that want it and a mode where you can add it if not.

I dislike Rowling's comments and general however I don't believe that this should affect what amounts to a piece of fiction set within that universe by a very different team.

Ha ha I nearly bought Erica for £4 the other week and I didn't. HA HAHAHA for once I did right.

Though I did buy Rise of the Tomb Raider new at launch. Ahem.

Going to probably get this day 1 though it will be queued behind TLOU2. I played the demo at EGX and just loved it and really want to give this a good go. An 8-10 hour campaign is more than I was expecting to be honest.

TLOU2 obviously. Only up to Day 2 but still enjoying if that is the right word.

I mean what is he going to say? Ultimately, it is the games. If they come out with some spectacular first party style games at launch, great. Competition is such an important thing but from an exclusive perspective they really suffered last gen. I think Sony dominated the marketing message last gen and I feel that going forward as well.

Depends very much on the game and genre but for where there is a campaign or story, I have played very few games this generation that truly justified going over the 20-30 hour mark. That isn't to say there aren't any but my sweet spot is about the 15-20 hour mark. This means I can normally enjoy the game fully and complete it in a couple of weeks maybe. Playing an 80 hour game means I don't play much else for potentially weeks and months and that is a big investment and has to really keep my interest.

I don't equate length with value and I personally agree. For story driven narrative games, such as those that Sony specialises in, I think 15 hours is fine for the price. I also think that too many games have filler in them - even in good games. Assassin's Creed Odyseey was a very good game but the amount of really good content was far less than all the busy work. I also feel that some games, like Odyssey use size as a financial opportunity - escape the grind by spending more.

Always exceptions to the rule. The Witcher 3 was huge and the content pretty solid across the board. But I get his point - if it takes 4-5 yrs to make every game and you aren't charging more, you are more likely to look to alternate financial models.

I'd like to see more games of the size of say, A Plague Tale: Innocence. Solid 12-15 hour game that tells a compelling story at a good launch price point.

Obviously TLOU2 despite someone spoiling plot points on Twitter.

Wow this thread... I don't see the point of review bombing because of this. A review is supposed to be a well rounded opinon of a game. I think, given what I have read, that it would be next to impossible to objectively give TLOU2 a 0. That would have to mean the graphics, sound, gameplay, story etc. were all utterly unplayable. What it seems to be is that some people don't like the story for whatever reason.

That's fine - you do you and sure, if you were going to review you would knock some points off of it it you thought the story was bad. If enough people thought that, meta critic would take that into account and while critically well received, it might have a lower user score. That is the entire point of meta critic.

Bombing it is just juvenile - I didn't like something as much as someone else, i am going to give it a ridiculous score to show my disapproval. I love TLOU and like any fan, I'm worried the story won't go in a direction I like. I may not like the story of this game.

I see PSVR 2 to be a mid gen or later release focusing first on backwards compatibility with the existing headset. I would love for PSVR to not need an external box on PS5.

Wow that is mad that a) they would drop it that low and b) not expect crowds of people.

Hell, I'd buy a spare for that price!

@Nah900 Right leg right leg!!

Well after getting through Bloodborne chalice dungeons I am battering through the lovely new Chinese Room game on Apple Arcade. If I get time some more Mirror’s Edge Catalyst as I wait for TLOU2 to arrive!

I still think this will be an Uncharted Lost Legacy situation. Same city, same type of missions, limited to no gameplay changes other than a few new abilities, possibly the ability to play the full spidey campaign but ultimately less than 10 hour campaign for Miles.

Nice review. I'm on the fence about the semi open world that ND has been moving to since UC4 however, I loved the world of TLOU so this may be a match made in heaven.

Regardless, I was always going to play this day one. I bought a Playstation for the first time since the PS2 primarily to play this game and it was the first PS4 game I played and it got me back into gaming big time.

The tin hat wearer in me almost thinks its like Activision WANT you to be only able to fit a few games on your HDD so you'll keep it installed and go back to it more...

... or they are just too cheap to pay for good optimization of disc space.

Little Big Planet 4 by Sumo is my guess.

I have lots of the easy platinums in my list, including a few cross plat ones for Vita and PS4 (I have no shame). In terms of difficulty, a few that caused me some issue but to be honest, in comparison to those above they are way easier. Probably the ones that were 'skill' based were Wolfenstein the New Order and Old Blood just because it had a lot of challenges however those were fun plats. I looked at the trophy list of the The New Colossus and thought... nah not a chance.

This weekend will be dominated by what I hope will be the final push on getting the platinum for Bloodborne. Thanks to @Shigurui ‘s encouragement, I got passed the Watch Puppy then smashed the defiled Amygdala, farmed the last few resources for the final chalice dungeon and am on the Phtumerian Descendant. Other than that, possibly some more Mirrors Edge Catalyst

I loved some of the lore bits in TLOU - Ish in the bit after Pittsburgh was a great bit of storytelling, even though it was through notes etc.

Bloodborne is one of those games that really did make people buy a PS4 to play - not necessarily in huge numbers but, for example, Souls games get a lot of views on Youtube and on Twitch and I know several youtubers comment that they have a PS4 as well as PC for this game.

I think that if Bloodborne comes to PC it will be a good thing as it will open the game up and possibly fuel funding and desire for a second game or something else which will also start as a PS4 exclusive.

As anyone who has followed my comments over the last few years the answer is Bloodborne. I have played the campaign several times, and am now going for the platinum. The truth is, I don't know why. I suck at the game - it takes me ages to do any bosses and I get proper stressed at it. I just love the world and lore I think as well as the atmosphere.

@Shigurui No Fear mate - had another bash and down to 20% health. This puppy will be mine...

... then another week on the defiled Amygdala!

Well haven’t gone back to Bloodborne after failing to do much more than tickle The Watchdog Pooch on defiled chalice. May give it another shot. Sort of killing time now while I wait for Last of Us 2. Maybe some more Wipeout 2048 on vita and start a smaller backlog game. Possibly the Sexy Brutale

Fast Travel is a must for me given my time but I do like to at least ride or walk through each new area once rather than just dart from objective to objective. I still miss things but at least I get a feel for the location.

Backwards compatibility is a big deal for me - particularly my digital PS4 library which is pretty hefty. If those come with me to PS5 it would naturally make me favour the PS5 over other games and also mean I would be more happy to get PS5 nearer launch since i can continue with my backlog.

I think older generations would also be great but to be honest, less of a priority. I believe that platform holders are missing a trick by not giving a full library out there.

@JohnnyShoulder Wow, glad I was quick!