Shepherd_Tallon

@naruball You were far more concise than me though and made the same point! I used to be good at words, I swear!

The only thing I'm surprised about is how blatant they were this time.

Everyone has been talking about "capgod" for the last few years. Every time I see it I think that people really do have short memories and I wonder why nobody remembers the launch or post launch DLC that came with the original Dragon's Dogma. It was so messy and lots of folks were pretty mad about it at the time.
Everyone forgot about it by the time the Dark Arisen version came out on PS4 packaged with all content.

Nobody seemed to care when RE2 and RE3 remakes did it either.
It was the exact same, they just waited a few weeks after launch so it didn't seem as blatant.

Launch day DLC = Negative reaction from core community
One month later DLC = Meh reaction from core community

I love Capcom, but they play us so well.
Sometimes.

EDIT: Game is still great though. You don't need the items in the DLC bundle either. By the time you reach endgame you'll have found as many of each as you need.

Mine arrived in the post this morning along with Dragon's Dogma 2. I don't know where I'll find the time to play either of them with FF VII and Helldivers taking up most of my free time.

As for this game, it seems to be scoring all over the place, from 6/10 to 9/10.
To me it always felt like one of those old games I'd pick up during the summer on PS1 or PS2. I'm not looking for anything special from it. Something by the numbers will be a nice palate cleanse after FF VII and Dragon's Dogma 2.

And just as I type this it's finished installing. Nice.

I'll certainly be comparing everything new in live service titles to how Arrowhead does it going forward.

Plus, given that it will be the culmination of a 6 or 7 year story, Final Shape needs to play like a 10 - 15 hour campaign and at the same time be as generous as Helldivers at this point.

"Report further sightings to your nearest Democracy Officer"

An excellent strategy for weeding out additional dissident minds. Well played 😌

@Frmknst Wet socks. Wet socks are more useless than 4K. Or fingerless gloves in the snow. A water balloon in a rainstorm.

But 8K if you have an 8K TV is pretty useful.
4K if you have a 4K TV is also useful.

Whether or not you personally value it is another question entirely though. It would be subjective too.

Witch Switch 2 rumoured to be delayed to 2025 I can definitely see myself grabbing this for Christmas instead 🤔

@MaddieTian Yeah, there's a lot of Twitter speculation going around atm and nothing concrete.
The part about trusting fewer devs with new tech for example, is that speculation or was it suggested?

@NieR_Dark @MomsSpaghetti Oh I fully agree with you. 100%. I meant to include that in my original comment but I was going on a bit by the end.

@MomsSpaghetti @MomsSpaghetti @MrMagic @ryan_games
I came down to ask if this was the guy who ran unconfirmed rumours about PlayStation as narrative spinning headlines in the past, but I guess it's him.
He seems to take the success or failure of PSVR2 personally because of how people reacted to his inaccuracies before.

As for PSVR2, Sony said at the start they were taking a rising tide approach and letting third party success carry the system. And TBF, there are some fantastic third party games on it.
Personally I love mine. Legendary Tales in particular is such an amazing experience and it plays so well.

But it's hard to argue with the numbers from last year.
Sony don't need to "win" with PSVR2, but there does need to be a profit. They've gone so quiet about it though. Just a few promo trailers and emails here and there.
Either they're biding their time for something, or they're not willing to invest more in marketing than they feel it's worth.

I love PlayStation and I love VR2, and I disagree that the headset needs massive first party support in order to be considered good or worth the buy in. But, clearly the masses disagree with me.

I was up all night playing Helldivers.
I'm going back to Rebirth right now.

@get2sammyb The timing seems too good to be true. This console will be all about GTA6.

@xeofate I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's actually having a good time! I was starting to think I'm just getting easier to please as I get older.

I agree btw - For me I couldn't believe how good the PS4 was. It was one of my favourite consoles, up there with PS1, SNES and GameCube.
And the PS5 is more of the same. All of my favourite PS4 games are on it + the new PS5 games... I couldn't ask for more tbh. I'm having a great time with it.

I have a long weekend coming up for St. Patrick's Day. I'm going to spend most of it playing Helldivers, Final Fantasy VII or Unicorn Overlord. 🤷

@somnambulance I've been trying to play fewer games. I want to play the games I love more, rather than just finishing one and immediately moving to the next.
When I was a kid we'd get a game for Christmas and maybe one for our bday, but we'd play the crap out of it for the year.

But the current release schedule is making that impossible.
FF and Helldivers just came out, and in the next 4 - 8 weeks there are four other new titles I can't say no too.
I can't wait for the summer tbh, so I can have a period of nothing new where I can just play the games that I have.

@somnambulance Agreed on all points.
I don't have anything to add to what you've said other than to mention how I haven't been able to keep up with the games that have been coming our way since 2017.
I remember playing FF VII when I was 13 or 14 and imagining what games would be like by the time I was 40. What I pictured is pretty much what Rebirth is.

And it's not just AAA titles that are blowing me away either.
Bulwark is out in a few weeks. A city builder set in the Falconeer universe. I can't wait to get into that too. It's going to be the perfect game to play on my Portal.

As someone who just wants to play good games, I'm feeling fairly content, and I have been for a long time.

@somnambulance @UltimateOtaku91
Doom and gloom. That's exactly it. It seems like we're only happy when we're miserable sometimes.
PS5 and PSVR2 between them are giving me a gaming buzz that I think, in my mind, only the SNES or PS1 eras can match.

In ten or fifteen years a bunch of 30-40somethings will be complaining about how great things were back in 2024 when Sony took risks on games like Helldivers and Square made epics like Rebirth.

I don't think we need to worry about the overall sales for this one.
It has a metascore of 93 and so far the only bad thing I've come across is the crunches mini game.

Whatever magic they bottled when they made the original Final Fantasy VII, they clearly poured some of it in to the mix for this title.

This one will sell for years.

@Titntin It won't take anything away from this game for me because I love it so much, but it is a little annoying.
Capcom tend to do something similar with the Resident Evil games too.

@Ernimus_Prime This is the only thing I'm waiting for.
Folders were nice on PS4 and all, but I don't care about them anymore.
Fully integrated Discord is what I'm hoping for now. I mean I can live without it, but the convenience of not having to use my phone when I play Helldivers with PC friendos would be nice.

Maybe I'm too easily pleased, but the new shutdown animation is cool.

@LowDefAl I don't know if it's the kind of PR that matters.
The overwhelming majority of PlayStation's customers won't be aware of any of that, and a good investment is a good investment.
It's not uncommon to cut costs before an acquisition or investment.

It probably won't be Shift Up, but Sony will definitely be looking at Arrowhead.

I wonder if the folks at Sony are checking their back pockets 🤔
A minority interest wouldn't do any harm given the success of Nikke.

Arrowhead being the priority of course (we assume).

400 V-BUCKS OFF.
Well that's profanity waiting to happen if ever I've seen it...

I'll always remember one of the lead devs at E3 (I think) when Fortnite was new talking about how gamers would want the latest skins to keep up with the other kids on the playground.
Promoting peer pressure essentially.

...buck off.
...zero bucks given.
etc etc

As mentioned above, it's sounding like a solid 7 or 8 out of 10.
It looks like something I would have picked up and loved during the summer on PS2. I'll definitely give it a go, but it will have to wait until after FF VII and Dragon's Dogma. And Unicorn Overlord. And Bulwark.
Helldivers 2...

I was going to player fewer games this year.

@lacerz Friday was a bit buggy like that for me too. It seemed okay by Saturday. I didn't notice a patch so it must have been an issue at their end.

My Monarch Edition for Unicorn Overlord just came this morning. The box art is typically gorgeous, as with every Vanillaware game.

I'm delighted to see it pop in to the Top 10.
I'm not sure when I'll have the time to play it between Helldivers and FF VII though.

@ceedj The frogs and the parade for me. It took me an hour each to get the highest tier scores. I was getting so mad while doing them, but at the same time enjoying every second.
It's emotional and nuts at the same time.

@Titntin It was the original FF VII that gave me the habit of looking behind everything in every game to make sure there are no missed chests or items. I had forgotten where that habit came from until I started having flashbacks during this game.

@ceedj You've picked the words out of my brain. I simply can't be objective with any game that has "Final Fantasy VII" in the name.
The side quests remind me of little bits from the first game, so I'm happy to go through them during this first run.
It's like meeting a friend from school or something.

@Jersa7Darkangel I hope so. I'd like to be able to enjoy the plot in my second run without the need to worry about the busy work.
I'm loving ticking off the side stuff in my first run, but I know I'd like the option to skip it on my next few runs.

@ShogunRok I can see your point about the pacing.
Personally I'm loving it, but I've hit a point where the pacing has dropped for sure. Again, it changes nothing for me and I'm adoring this game, but you definitely have a point.

I'm hoping the side missions are handled the same way as the first game, in that when it comes to NG+ the game considers them complete and you only have to activate them if you want a specific outcome.
My second run will just be a tear through the main plot on hard mode if that's the case.

atm though considering what I've played it remains a 9 - 10 for me.
I don't mind the slower pacing because it gives me more time in a setting I've loved for 25 years, but I can imagine it not being the same for newcomers.

It's pretty straightforward - Anything costing more than 200 million, or that's live service, definitely benefits from being on more platforms.
You want to attract people to your own platform too obviously, so a brief window of exclusivity does no harm either, plus the usual platform exclusives.

@MaddieTian With regards to games going back to £60, that ship has sailed I believe.
I have no doubts that the cost of developing games will be reduced, but we'll still be paying the new prices on every platform.

I've spent a lot of time in the Dragon's Dogma character creator already, but I'll go back to Helldivers for the morning, then Final Fantasy VII.

Helldivers was crashing a lot for me yday, and twice we didn't get any of our rewards. If it's still doing that I'll wait for a patch.

Looks like a great time.
If you can't find anything to play there, you're on the wrong platform.

It seems like it's only a matter of time before this happens tbf.
I'd be surprised if we don't hear about Helldivers Mobile in the next year or two.

There's some interesting stuff there.
That Meteora game in VR2 especially has my attention, but all five sound fun.

I suppose this is the safest strategy for Sony:

• Blockbusters from first-party.
• Smaller scale AA games from burgeoning partners in the Hero projects.

@UltimateOtaku91 @Cloud39472
Agreed.
I was just dropping down here to mention that for me personally I feel like I'm in a golden age regarding the games that I'm playing.
For as long as I can remember people have been saying creativity is dead in the industry, but that's never been true in my experience.

With the exception of the demo for Bulwark (do yourself a favour if you like city builders and check that out), Helldivers II and God of War: Ragnarok, everything else on my home screen atm is a Japanese game.
Over the past two gens games from Japan have been going from strength to strength. And I don't even play Persona or Yakuza because there's no time - Unicorn Overlord is out next week and I'm only on chapter 4 of FF VII.

I keep mentioning that I've witnessed firsthand how companies across the entire industry, and in the wider tech sector, have been readjusting after overhiring during covid. It's been a horrible time.
But once this brutal period is over, the companies who were able to adjust, maintain their profits plus hold on to as much talent as possible will be in very strong positions.

Loving it still. My hype for it hasn't faded since launch.
My old Destiny 1 crew has even gotten back together to play this. We hadn't played anything together in years.

The fact that you can do the war bonds/battle pass at your own pace too makes the journey towards unlocking the gear you want a lot of fun.

Gods be with the days when people could say "I like/don't like this, this is/is not for me," without having to justify it either way with selective facts/non facts.

I'm a little relieved to hear this news.
I've only played one Monster Hunter game (World) but I loved it. Like many I've thought the Horizon world would be a great fit for a MH style game so I'd definitely like to see how this game turns out.

I assume the mmo is the mobile game?
It wouldn't be for me but I'm definitely curious to see how that develops too.

As for notions that they are struggling to get online projects off the ground, I think Sony's only mistake in that regard so far was announcing that they had so many live service titles in development. Projects like these are cancelled all the time and revealing them before they were ready has created a narrative with a life of its own.

So far this gen they've released GT7 and Helldivers II.
If the remaining games are half as fun as either of these I'm here for them. (And I'm sure Factions will turn up again at some point in some form.)

@Totheteeth Same here.
It was hammered at the time for using the same dungeon environment repeatedly and just changing the layout slightly (so many games have done this), but it had an excellent story.
Definitely my favourite of the three games in that regard.

I loved all three, for the record. Mainly the first two for the mix of high and dark fantasy.
The third game has a bit of a shift in tone but it's still great.

@naruball @Bez87
People became very used to doing things a certain way over the last 4 years and the readjustment to some kind of half way point is difficult for some.
I think there's definitely a new normal on the way, but everyone will need to meet each other half way before we get there.
We're actually quite flexible on our project when people tell us what they need. And our bosses are flexible with us too.
A small number of individuals always assume the worst is happening though. No clarity sought. Just assumptions. I've seen them from all walks of life and all along the political spectrum (if that's considered relevant).
All of them very impatient with anyone who doesn't share their views of how it all should be.

Disclaimer: I realise if you change a few words around I could almost be talking about politics here, but you'll have to forgive me for that. That was not my intention.

I'm firing up Helldivers II atm for a quick run or two, then I'll be going back to Final Fantasy VII until the sun comes up tomorrow.

Enjoy the weekend, folks!

Devotion to democracy is not optional.

But yeah, two or three games most nights, same as @UltimateOtaku91.
I'm mainly focusing on FF VII right now, but I still manage 40 minutes a night at least for Helldivers.

I was just looking at the reveal for this again today. Been craving more info.
We're getting so many excellent fantasy games lately. More more more please.

@Robocod Agreed again. It's a confusing story.
There are elements on both sides of the argument that leave me guessing.

It all sounds like a mismanaged series of events from the beginning, no matter what way we look at it.
Maybe whatever they're working on is amazing?

I just did a mythology tour in Dublin the other day and the guy was saying it's a shame there are not many games based on Irish myths.
There are lots of references in Japanese games and anime tbf, but most folk wouldn't know them if they were not already aware of them.

It's an action RPG too.
I'm definitely into this.

@Intr1n5ic Yeah true. That's a fair point. It's definitely interesting in that at first it was a misunderstanding, but then it was a payout. Hard to argue with that.
The only thing I would add is that I've seen well meaning fools make blunders that caused a lot of trouble. They had the best of intentions, but a complete lack of knowledge with regards to local legislation and culture, or even company/department culture often results in a dumpster fire.
And the easiest way to put out a fire is money.

Empathy could solve a lot of these problems before they happen.

@Intr1n5ic I have no idea what's happening at Firesprite but I try to not be dismissive at all about claims of toxicity in any workplace unless I know 100% what is actually happening.

That Eurogamer article is very fair though.
It states that some people in the studio are of the impression that the changes were bad, while others felt that the changes were needed.
That's what raises my eyebrows.

In that scenario, based on my own experiences, I find it hard to make an assumption as to the truth one way or the other.
(Maybe both versions are true, depending on who you speak to.)

@Anthony_Daniels @Bez87 I was thinking something similar.

Last year I needed a guy to do his job but he was throwing a tantrum because he didn't like what he had to do that week.
I had previously trained him on the task so I knew he could do it. I told him it needed to be done, and that we can't always do the stuff that we're creatively drawn to. (The usual guy was out and this guy was the backup, which he already knew.)
By the next day he was telling people on the team I was toxic and I was trying to get him fired, so I informed my boss then called the guy back to make sure there were no misunderstandings.
He had some spiel prepared about me bullying him, so I told him I'd see about transferring him under another manager in the project as he clearly no longer had trust in me.
Then he panicked and fell over himself trying to back peddle.

Turns out he was just happy with his cushy role and didn't want his remote routine interfered with. The task I was asking him to do was time based, and meant he couldn't get to his local feckin shop before the lunchtime rush.

Because of that, he was willing to paint a picture for the junior members of the team of me being a toxic bully. In their view of the world, that's what I was that week. Just because a guy doesn't like change.

I'm convinced he really believed I was bullying him too, just because I didn't say "sure okay" when he said he'd prefer to not do the task he was the backup for
🤷

@RaZieLDaNtE @Titntin
It's really an experience isn't it?
Every narrative driven game I've played for the last 25 years, I've compared them all to the original FF VII.

Everywhere I look in this game I'm bombarded with nostalgia.