Shepherd_Tallon

I've been loving mine. It's gotten better and better since launch.
This time of year especially it's excellent. I love popping on a Christmas movie in the parents house and playing something offline with the subtitles on at the same time.

@dschons I have one friend who I play it with every now and then, but mostly I just drop into random people's games and help out.
Normally I wouldn't be into it either, but the veteran players are all fairly communicative and pretty tuned in to the objectives in Helldivers. The game is full of new and returning players atm too, and I've come across a few chaotic groups, but nobody yet who was intentionally trying to muck up a session. Just some players still learning where/when to call in an orbital barrage for example. (Not on the landing pad just before the evac lands 😂). It's all funny stuff when it goes wrong though.

I'm still playing Helldivers, but I'm focusing more on the Christmas games now too - Alan Wake II and Dragon Age. Loving both so far. Today will be my first chance to sit down and lose a day with them.

Just Helldivers this weekend, and catching up on some reading before Christmas.

I've been off work getting the backlog out of the way. I've ended up playing a lot of Helldivers over the past few weeks. I wanted to finally get all of my ship modules unlocked.
But Alan Wake 2 and Veilguard are under the tree. I'll be starting both of them on the 25th.

@Major_Player I don't know if spending a few hundred million means a deal fell through. They both clearly wanted a deal of some kind in the short term and this was the solution to whatever blockers they're currently facing.

Also, didn't Phil Spencer say during the ABK hearing that Sony should buy their own publisher? I'm not sure if any further developments in this deal would bother MS too much. They have their own plans.

Shrewd, I would say. The kind of move they would have made before the acquisition age.
It'll be interesting to see if Kadokawa starts to sell off various arms of the company now over the next few years...

Edit: Put Kings Field and Shadow Tower on Premium you cowards!

His frequent appearances on PlayStation Access do him no harm either. The guy is legit funny.

"However, choosing not to purchase the pack will be taken as proof you aren't a real Killzone fan."

Wait, who wrote this.... (Scrolls up) Ah, but of course 😂
Khayl's articles make me chuckle like 90s GamesMaster made me chuckle.
The spirit is alive and well.

@EddieGallad I believe "Flop" is referencing "Terraflops", not PS5 being a flop.

The D&D and Armoured Core episodes were pretty good.
Concord was interesting. Maybe that's what the game should have been.
The final episode was fun too.

I haven't watched the others yet.

Nice. I have this under the tree for Christmas Day. Very excited to play it finally.

Remember those spoiled kids from school who were never told no? The same ones who could never process maturely when stuff didn't go their way?
That's what this sounds like. (Assuming nothing is lost in translation of course.)

Helldivers and Behemoth for me when I'm not watching Christmas movies. Maybe I'll play some Dragon's Dogma II on Portal while I'm watching telly.

When that The Last of Us PC trailer was shown I saw so many people complain about how ND are creatively bankrupt and how they'll never make a new game again.
The internet is a wild ride sometimes.

Edit: Just realised product placement is what we're discussing. Okay. I guess it had to be something.

I said I wouldn't stay up for it all week, but man I'm glad I didn't listen to myself.
That was an epic show.

• Onimusha
• Intergalactic
• Helldivers update
• The Witcher IV
• Nightreign
• New game from genDesign
• Crimson Desert trailer

🫠

Delighted to see Astro win the big one too.

I'd love to see Rebirth or Astro get it, but it's probably going to be Balatro.

@JustCameHereToSay I reckon this is exactly how it wil go. I wouldn't be surprised either if some of the the Kadokawa studios go under Sony Pictures/Aniplex.

@dschons I'd be the same. The sense of presence in a fantasy landscape is enough to make me feel like I'm 13 and playing Kings Field or something again for the first time.

@dark_knightmare2 I did see one review earlier that gave it a 9 tbf.

I'm surprised by the low score. I'm still looking forward to playing but I'll adjust my expectations. I've been excited for this one since the reveal. I'll be starting it tonight or tomorrow.

Too late for me. I'd stay up in the past for fomo, but I'm not too bothered with that anymore. The headlines will still be there in the morning.

@LogicStrikesAgain Kadokawa want to be bought so they wouldn't intentionally try to push Sony away.
It might be that they want to force their hand into making the buy sooner rather than later. Letting everyone know it's on the cards would definitely light a fire under Sony.

I'm just guessing btw.

Edit: Answer above from ThorsHammer is better than mine. I was under the impression that Kadokawa had leaked it.

@themightyant "the terminally online"
Excellent description.

Even when they have a massive failure like Concord they keep going up. It's scary. Imagine if they get Kadokawa's IP vault...

And they just announced 28 Years Later!🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️

Dragon's Dogma II on NG+ and Helldivers for me.
Maybe My First Gran Turismo for the craic.
Other than that I'll be taking it easy and not starting anything new until Christmas.

@Major_Player Yep, most likely.
The motion sickness doesn't hit me anymore, thankfully.

@thefourfoldroot1 Agreed. VR is where the generational leap is most apparent for me.
When I play PSVR2 I feel like I've just made the jump from Mega Drive to PS1.

I'm hyped as hell to fire up Behemoth this week.

I was going to spend the weeks running up to Christmas playing Behemoth and Helldivers.
And I don't like gacha games.
But there's something super chill about this one.

Oh go on then.

Nice shout. I would have missed these.
Going to try that Aliens game this afternoon.

When I was 14 I worked two weeks on a Christmas Tree farm in the rain in July to save enough money for a PS1.
As soon as I had the money I quit, got a lift in to Dun Laoghaire to Electronics Boutique to grab a PS1, RE2 and FF VII. I can still remember lifting each of them off the shelf.
That was a good summer.

Only Helldivers for me now until Christmas.
I'm just starting the annual family pub crawl in Wexford Town right now though so I probably won't be playing anything until tomorrow night.

I bought one the day after the Pro was announced when I saw the first article here about sales of the drive exploding. I didn't want to be caught on the hop by scalper ******** again.
I regret nothing.
It was easier to install than expected too.

@Stickleman Hopefully they'll try to sell those parts on to other companies and make some of their money back that way.

@Americansamurai1 I don't know the details of it beyond what I've been reading online unfortunately, but yes it sounds like the Japanese government either passed a new law or relaxed an old one.

@Americansamurai1 Alas, the government passed a law recently making it easier for foreign companies to acquire Japanese companies.

@Major_Player There's something like 100,000 different IPs on the table across gaming, anime and manga. This could be the deal that skyrockets Sony into the stratosphere as far as anime is concerned.
In the long-term anime could be what pushes them towards being a trillion dollar company.

Kadokawa will be bought no matter what happens. They want to be bought.
If not Sony then it'll be Tencent, Kakao or MS. If I personally had to choose which of the four I'd prefer, I'd obviously want it to be Sony.

It seems like it's just a matter of time at this point though. The question will be what does Sony do with all of those arms of the corporation that it doesn't want.

It was rumoured a few weeks back to be a fantasy game too wasn't it?
Edit: Been hoping for a good fantasy game from ND.

Nice one.
I already had RE bought and paid for, but I'll be happy to throw a tenner at Dino Crisis now too.

You might want to lock the comments section on this. The details were rough.

The modern era in a nutshell, this one.
The contrast between what was being described in the courtroom and what was happening outside the courthouse was surreal, to put it mildly - Horror crime being analysed inside, young lads trying to get selfies with Mc Gregor outside.

Given the graphic details of what he did, I was wondering how long it would take for brands to start dropping him.

I finished it on Saturday. I enjoyed it, it was funny at times and I'll probably go back for the easy plat, but it's very much a game for young kids and Horizon fans.
As long as it generates some more Lego sets I'll be happy.

As for sales, if it hits a million in its lifetime I reckon it will be doing well.

I've gotten back into Helldivers II in a big way. I'll be playing more of that.
I'm almost finished Lego Horizon so I'll put a few hours into that too, and then I'll probably go back to Stellar Blade. I'd like to get that wrapped up in the next few weeks, so I can go back to never starting Silent Hill 2...

@LogicStrikesAgain I'm in the same boat tbh.
I've been so impressed with the Portal that I'll probably pick up whatever they do next too.
Hopefully it comes a year after the PS6, and not at the same time.
My wallet won't thank me. (It never does)

I'd prefer another version of the portal that lets me install games from PS1 - PS4, but if they go the full steam deck route then so be it. I'd get that too.

@Ilyn tbh I didn't think they'd give it the Demon's Souls treatment, but the more time passes the more I think you're right.

@Major_Player I doubt if it's anything too dramatic. We tend to drift towards filling in the gaps with speculation at our end, when very often it's a non-issue and it just comes down to timing. "When will doing/announcing this have the biggest impact? Do it then." That kind of thing.
Or maybe it's as simple as the director insisting on being the one to oversee it, but not having the time.

@Major_Player Miyazaki said a few years back that it's one of their favourite titles internally and they want to do more with it, but the timing is always off and they need direction from Sony before they do anything.

Realistically there's probably been some hesitation over the years around a remaster because of the relatively slow initial sales of Bloodborne. It did well enough at launch, but it built it's big numbers up slowly over time. It's likely they don't want to release something that only a vocal community on the internet are asking for and risk damaging a storied brand. (Then again, Concord.)

As for a basic 60fps patch, I have no idea what the story is there. The Bloodborne comics are ongoing so the franchise is not dead. I can only imagine it's down to timing.

I've been on Premium and my sub ends on Sunday. (I always wait for the BF deals).
Last night after midnight I was able to extend for another year for 106.39 euro, down from just over 150.00 euro.
I was expecting 25% off, but it looks like I got 30% for some reason.

Hard mode on some of the mini games in Rebirth was infuriating. I was working towards the platinum, but stopped a few months ago because of the cactuar game.
I'll try it again before Christmas...

Generally I loved Rebirth, but toward the end I found myself dreading the mini games on hard mode.