Th3solution

Man these are beautiful. 🤩
I don’t think I’ll buy but good grief I wish I could.

@Yousef- Lol, I wouldn’t doubt it.
Although, I do think the theory about PS6’s backwards compatibility being limited to the PS5 library is an interesting one. It would explain some of the motivations for doing all these PS4 Remakes. If we give Sony the benefit of the doubt, then they are doing this in preparation for next gen. If we’re being cynical, then it’s gotta be for a cash-grab and Sony is creatively bankrupt. 😅

I usually try to give the benefit of the doubt.

Another less critical theory is that it’s simply an attempt to have a synergistic release with their other multimedia products and shows. There is a market of people who will be exposed to the Lego game, the MMO, and whatever TV show comes out and will want to play the game that started it all. Sure they can just buy the PS4 game and play it, but many of them will pay top dollar for a PS5 version instead.

As for me, I doubt I’ll play the game again anytime soon. Maybe on PS6. I still have yet to play Forbidden West! I need to get on that.

Oh no. The Lego game made me think that Sony hadn’t actually lost their collective minds and greenlit a remake, but unfortunately they did. A reimagining of the original game for the Lego audience is one thing, but a full remake is quite another.

So we have TLoU and TLoU II, Uncharted 4/LL, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima, Until Dawn, and now HZD. Surely God of War (2018) is next?

Edit: Also absolutely bonkers that Bloodborne isn’t on the PS5 Remake list.

I enjoyed both Fallen Order and Survivor. Played each during the launch window and had a good time with them. Survivor is definitely the more expansive and ambitious title, and for the most part that makes it the better game, but Fallen Order had the better storyline and pacing. Both really enjoyable though, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise.

For the next one, I’m hoping they can keep some of the open world mechanics, but tone it down a little from what Koboh was. I think it was slightly too big and affected the storytelling. Some of that can simply be improved by making the collectibles more impactful to reward exploration. There’s only so many hairstyles and droid color palettes that one can use.

This gives me Puppeteer vibes.

Like mentioned by @Nei @UltimateOtaku91 I don’t know that Metacritic necessarily creates a bias against unique or experimental games. In fact, I think sometimes it helps unorthodox games gain some attention that they otherwise would not get, such as Balatro, Animal Well, Vampire Survivor, etc.

However, I agree that Metacritic scores have become too powerful of a factor. Like @LuXifer mentioned, the fact that developers’ bonuses can be tied to how a game scores is not always fair. I understand the logic of using Metacritic instead of sales to determine a reward for making a good product even if it doesn’t sell well, but the fact remains that Metacritic’s algorithm and bias is just too unpredictable and inequitable to use as a ‘absolute truth’ of a game’s quality.

Personally I almost never go to Metacritic for information on whether to play a game. I rely on smaller recommendations from Push Square and other smaller outlets, as well as word of mouth from players.

@anoyonmus @Yousef- Thanks.
I did forget to mention that they are definitely trying not to Lego of their marketplace lead.

Sony has Conquered the industry and has already given us a number of Fair Games, so why should they show us anything new? They are on Fire and Walk with purpose, no need for Bungee cords to make them bounce all over the place. They’ll be alright, even if they’ve stopped treading into Uncharted territory and have disappointed even The Last of every one of Us this generation. But they’ve done the L ast o’ covering for what they Bought and I think they learned some lessons this year.

@KidRisky Ah, makes sense. My game library is pushing 500 titles at this point so I can see the value in only restoring the license that you need. In fact it’s weird that it hasn’t been like that from the start.

@Yagami It’s absolutely the prerogative of each gamer to choose their hill to die on. I don’t begrudge anyone that right. I just think people aren’t being completely honest with themselves when we see GOTY candidates and huge bestselling games that are still coming out at 30 fps, which to me says that the ultimatum of “60 fps or bust” is probably being a tad overstated. A good game is still a good game.

@Yagami Yeah, I agree. Depending on the scope and graphical quality of the game, along with a lot of other gameplay factors, 30 fps is often reasonable. Sure, we’d all prefer to have 120 fps at 4K, but we have to be realistic. Nevertheless it’s amazing how many people threaten to boycott a game because it’s limited to 30 fps.

Oh wow, this does look nice. The customizable nature of it is much appreciated. Seeing the battery level of the controller and storage space will come in handy. Unfortunately it looks like it will still keep the feeds of intrusive advertising and useless PS content updates.

It will be interesting to see if all the “I can’t tolerate 30 fps and refuse to buy a game that is limited to 30 fps” people will show up for GTA6. I’m sure they will. Just like they made an exception for Tears of the Kingdom and Starfield and the other big games that launched at 30 fps. The way people speak in such absolutes drives me crazy — “I’ll never play a game at 30 fps…. Well, except for this one… oh and that one… well, maybe this other one too….”

I’m not really sure what restoring licenses does. I don’t think I’ve ever had to do that, but I know sometimes if there’s a little glitch with the PSN that one would have to restore licenses but I never knew this was an issue that needed to be updated.

As far as the Welcome Hub, if it’s like the Explore section then it’s mostly just advertising anyway, so I don’t think the rest of the world will be all that enthused when you really see it. Although maybe they’ve improved it.

The adaptive charging is probably the coolest part, but I have an old model so it won’t apply. Also, apparently it works just on controllers and not on the headsets? I’ll just keep plugging my stuff into an external charger. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Thank all the people who paid $700+ for their launch PS5 from scalpers for the Pro's pricepoint.

There was this narrative out there that the live-service games needed to exist in order to fund Sony’s ongoing single player gaming projects… and I think it actually looks like the opposite is happening. The single player games are keeping the company afloat.

All I can think about is: 🎵 “Get it on, Bang-a-Gong, Get it on…” 🎶

So strange that Bungie keeps following up bad decisions with even more.

The way Destiny 2 has been evolved, it’s completely walled off any new player attraction. If a player didn’t get in on the early content they now have no idea how to get into this game. It’s so inaccessible to new player and the old players are gradually leaving. Let this game die and reboot something new. Time for Destiny 3.

The post-launch support for this game has been really impressive. The base game sweeped all the GOTY awards and yet they keep improving it, and for free instead of selling the added content like most publishers would do. I haven’t seen sales numbers, so I wonder if there’s a spike in sales after each major update.

@AdamNovice Is that what he’s saying? He says, “…we don’t have that much IP that we fostered from the beginning. We’re lacking the early phase (of IP) and that’s an issue for us” and then goes on to say how creation of new IP is their focus, so that it can be distributed.

You might be right, because his statement seems a bit contradictory. But none of those you listed are “early phase” IP, they’re properties that have been around for ages and stood the test of time. Sony has a nest egg of legacy properties that they failed to keep relevant, mostly at the expense of creating new ideas. If they want a Star Wars or Mario type of property, why would they keep creating more new IP rather than mining the popular stuff to death like those you listed? I mean, Uncharted is no Harry Potter, to be sure, and neither Kratos nor Aloy are Mario or Luke Skywalker, but I haven’t seen them commit their popular creations to the level they could be. The closest we have now is Horizon which they are tapping into from all angles at this point with a show, an MMO, a Lego game, etc. (which incidentally seems to be too much and risks killing the franchise with oversaturation, imo) but Sony seems to be have been happy to move on and maintain a better diversity than their competitors by encouraging and allowing their creatives to do what they want, which is often making something new. Because that’s usually what artists like to do.

It’s an odd thing to say when it seems to me that Sony has the most original IP of the ‘big 3’. Not the most iconic or productive IP, mind you, but I think they have the largest quantity.

They just haven’t always shepherded their existing IP very well. Nevertheless, I’m all in favor of a steady stream of new IP, and yet maintain a controlled reliance of recycling older stuff. I would prefer it not become a Nintendo level of dependency on Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon; or a Xbox level of scattershot IP which mostly just die quietly. A good balance of core IP that recurs in games and media, coupled with new experimental projects, please.

Fishing — the most overrated mini game.

…Well, maybe in a tie with lock picking.

That’s unfortunate. Alas, such is life with subscription services. I never finished Midnight Suns, so I might have to buy it. I saw it pre-owned for $15, so it’s not the end of the world. Thankfully I kept my copy of Nier Replicant and have picked up HFW. I also own 13 Sentinels (and never finished it either 😅) so I’m covered there.

I wonder if Concord released on PS5 only if it would have done better. What am I saying… it couldn’t have done much worse. I think the lackluster PC reception and beta were a turn-off for console players to try it.

I suppose one fix is to just drop NPC bots into matches to speed up wait times for finding a match. Of course, then I’m not really sure what the difference is between just having a single player campaign if you’re just going to fill it out with bots. I do wonder if Concord would have benefitted from a fully fleshed out SP campaign. I think it probably would have helped sell some people on it and make the game feel less like a waste of money if you can’t find a match and if eventually the servers have to be closed.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Factions 2 would have sold better.

I’m not saying they should have released Factions 2, but if there was a hypothetical choice between promoting Concord or Factions, it’s absolutely a no-brainer.

More Dark Souls 2, Scholar edition. And will mix in Life is Strange: True Colors when I need to chill. If I get tired of all that then I’ll start up Child of Light.

It’s nice to know what they’re working on, even if it’s just something like “full production”, it gives me some comfort knowing what’s coming, even if it’s years away.
Ahem… Sony on the other hand, is there anything in full production at any of your studios? We now know more about the state of Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk sequel than we do about Uncharted, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us, God of War, Horizon, etc. 😄

Not sure if I’ll try any of these, but I do like Harry Potter, so maybe? I enjoyed the first Little Nightmares so I’ll consider that too. I’ve never played an MLB game and I doubt I will start now

That’s a really good point that the huge PR emphasis on live service whilst the single player development teams stay silent is largely to blame for this disaster.

If Sony would have been upfront about the SP games in development and just said that there’s a few little service games on the side, then the vitriol would have been less

Maybe this time we’ll get Walt Disney as the final boss.

@themightyant They guy is talented, no doubt, and I don’t wish ill on him or anything like that. He’s just fallen victim to his own success, as actors are susceptible to doing. I think his Joel is fantastic. He’s been good in his other roles too, but to me most of his characters do get sounding similar - Booker, Rhys, Snow, Sam, Higgs, etc. I do think Kanji was actually a different performance. I haven’t played Far Cry and I don’t watch animated shows very often so I can’t speak to his work there. Indiana Jones is such an iconic character and Baker is such a well-known voice saturating the market, it feels like the decision for him to play the role runs the risk of being a distraction. I’ll withhold final judgment though.

@Malaise Yeah, ironically I feel disappointed that they brought in Troy Baker to play Indy. I’m sure they paid him a pretty penny, and I’d rather have had an unknown. I’ve liked Baker in most of his roles, but uh, yeah… I think we’ve heard his VA enough and whenever we hear him we can’t unhear all the other roles he’s played. For a side role or a villain (like in Death Stranding 2) it’s one thing, but to play an iconic protagonist like Indiana Jones, well I feel like we’re going to hear Joel or Booker Dewitt or Sam or Kanji, or Revolver Ocelot, etc.

So far I’ve enjoyed my Portal. It’s not perfect, but it serves a purpose for when I either don’t have access to the TV or wish to play a game on the couch or in bed. With the latency and lag, even though it’s surprisingly small, it’s still not the way I want to play a Soulslike or kinetic action game that has high risk for missed timing of a button input. It’s ideal for more laid back games where timing is a little more forgiving, which there are still tons of options there. I’d say well over 50% of the games I play would be fine on the Portal, but I know some people only play Soulslikes, fighting games , or FPS so mileage may vary per individual. With a little improvement in latency even those types of games will be perfectly fine.

In addition to shoring up the quality of latency and stability of the streaming, I’d like to see them develop a way that it can stream directly from the cloud. That would be great to not have to be tethered to the actual PS5. I have no idea if that’s even possible or not.

So there’s one of the issues with long development cycles — by the time the game is finished, the original concepts can be completely outdated.

Back in 2016 hero shooters and Guardians of the Galaxy were all the rage…

@BeerIsAwesome Yes, I’m definitely well aware. But I seriously doubt many people in China are going to be engaged with it. 😅

And after Black Myth: Wukong, the next best selling game is EA College Football. 😜

Not a surprise in the U.S. where [American] football is so popular. I suspect there’s negligible sales of the game outside the U.S.

Really impressed also with Elden Ring and Hogwart’s Legacy for their staying power. Even Spider-Man 2 continuing to chart is nice to see. Even if you don’t like the game itself, I always like seeing single player non-sports games chart in the top 10.

It’s understandable that third party games will be pulled from the service at random times due to contracts, but I’m not sure what they’re thinking with first party. Perhaps they feel like HFW will get a sales boost from the LEGO game coming out soon, but otherwise, I don’t really know why some first party comes to the service and some don’t. GoW Ragnarok still hasn’t been included, nor TLoU remakes. And yet Demon’s Souls and Returnal have been sitting there on the service since day 1. Maybe I just answered my own question - if a game sells well, don’t expect it to be on the service. Still, there’s a dartboard element to Sony’s decisions sometimes. I’ll be curious to see if Death Stranding or Ghost of Tsushima will be pulled as it gets close to their respective sequels.

Spyro the Dragon … I feel like an idiot now.

Actually 8/10 is one of my best performances though. I’m just kicking myself for guessing Insomniac on that question.

@LN78 I haven’t played vanilla, but the health gems function fine in Scholar. I actually like the hybrid system of health restoration in this game — Consumables like the herbs in Demon’s Souls along with the standard replenishing Estus Flasks (as well as the various rings and magic spells available to restore health). The life gems drop frequently from enemies and can be purchased so it has a good built-in failsafe to use until you get your estus flasks built up. They also consume quicker than drinking estus so are nice to have in the heat of battle.

I’ll preface this by saying I’ve not played DS3, Elden Ring, or Sekiro yet, but I’ve played the other Soulsborne games and am currently doing my first playthrough of DS2 (playing Scholar of the First Sin edition). So far I’m really liking it and have thoughts on this debate. Compared to its predecessors here are some of the things I like that DS2 does differently; and some things I dislike:

Things I like and appreciate —
> Enemies not respawning after killing them a certain number of times. Especially since you have the flexibility built in to easily join the Covenant of Champions if you wanted to keep farming souls.
> Immediate fast-travel warping between bonfires from the get-go with no need for cryptic items (cough Lordvessel cough) or numerous shortcuts to get between major areas. The map layout is definitely disjointed and doesn’t hold a candle to DS1’s masterclass of interconnected map design, but including bonfire fast-travel really helps save a lot of the trekking back and forth.
> Majula is the best hub space I’ve experienced in the series so far. It feels like a safe homebase, and yet still part of the map. Especially DS1 lacked a good hub, and I understand that’s part of the whole genius of the DS1 map, but I liked having a safe haven like Hunters Dream and the Nexus, and Firelink Shrine just wasn’t it — Partly because it didn’t feel separate and secure and partly because it lacked a Emerald Herald / Maiden in Black / Plain Doll nurturing NPC.
> the funny inside jokes and quirky NPCs. Playing dress-up with Rosabeth, the rivalry between Pate and Creighton, Sweet Shalquoir, Laddersmith Gilligan, Galvan, etc, etc. I think this game has the best and most creative side characters.

Things that I don’t like —
> Bosses not as creative in art design or combat design. Bloodborne still the best with that.
> Fragrant Branches of Yore can get bent. Why would you cut-off significant areas, bosses, and items with an extremely rare item? Especially since you can use the branches to open statues which are actually completely superfluous also. Branches are easy to waste and difficult to obtain. The game already has Pharros Lockstones and keys to locked doors, so why do we need another item to gatekeep areas, key NPCs / merchants, and items?
> Gank squads. The game will often overwhelm you with multiple enemies, especially frustrating when multiple hidden archers or invisible enemies are involved.
> Too much poison and cursing. C’mon FromSoft, one poison themed area should be the limit.
> The Pursuer. How many times am I going to have to kill you?
> The gradual degradation of your max health with each death. I know it eventually levels off at around 30% reduction, but it’s still annoying.

Overall a great game though, so far. Not sure where it will land in my final FromSoft rankings yet.

@JohnnyShoulder Putting them on my wishlist seems to have some effect. 😄

Not too shabby. Been curious about Wild Hearts and Cult of the Lamb.

Downloaded this on my phone and then forgot about it 😅
I need to give it a whirl the next time I’m idle

I actually have less concern about the gameplay as I do the story delivery. Journey to the West is a classic tale and has been the inspiration for many other games and shows before, but many haven’t been successful at it. The trailer shows some really great visuals and dynamic looking gameplay but is stitched together a bit randomly. Like that last sequence after the release date and preorder information seemed a bit out of place. There is just a basic difference between Eastern and Western storytelling styles, so that might affect things.

@PSme Great minds, and all that. 😄

Another one you might keep on your radar then is Jusant. I haven’t played it yet but heard it’s in this same general family of games.

It’s good to have a few of these ‘Journey-likes’ in the library for balance. They serve as good palate cleansers. I have enjoyed mixing in Abzu, The Pathless, Rime, Bound, the Team Ico games and other of these types between larger narrative action games.

I’m more fascinated by the fact that he’s putting the long term outcomes of Balatro into his will. I wonder if that’s common amongst creators. Maybe if I ever create something that has any reasonable monetary value in this world then I’ll be able to relate.

On a separate note, I really need to try this game. I picked it up on a sale for $10 and just haven’t taken the time to play it yet.

@rjejr I get what you’re saying, especially with the fact that the most played games on the console are cross gen or also on PC, but isn’t this what the public asked for? There was a huge emphasis on the fact that this generation needed to be backwards compatible and if it wasn’t it would have been the death knell for the brand. So Sony wisely chose to double down on backwards compatibility.

But I agree that as a result the “we believe in generations” quote hasn’t aged well. However, there’s still probably more PS5 exclusive games than most people give them credit for. Even discounting the third party PS5 (console at least) exclusives like Stellar Blade, RotR, FF7Rebirth, FF16, etc. and the many, many multiplatform generation exclusives which are not playable of PS4.